• Russia has launched 32 Rassvet satellites, though coverage remains limited
• Rassvet remains vastly smaller than Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation today
• Russia plans 156 satellite launches in 2026, 292 in 2027, 318 in 2028, and about 900 in 2035

Russia has launched 32 Rassvet communications satellites as Moscow works toward building a domestic network capable of competing with Starlink.

The current fleet, however, remains too small to provide continuous service, while reported orbital problems have raised further doubts about progress.

Russia still plans commercial operations from 2027, although reaching that stage depends on expanding the constellation and overcoming serious technical limitations.

Thirty-two satellites leave Russia far from continuous coverage

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence chief, Oleh Ivashchenko, said the existing constellation cannot yet deliver reliable communications across the areas Russia intends to serve.

“We know that today the Russians are trying to put satellites into orbit. But so far, there are not enough of them, and their effectiveness is low,” said Oleh Ivashchenko, chief of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence.

Ivashchenko did not disclose the spacecraft’s orbital paths, operating frequency, or the Ukrainian regions where the system currently provides coverage.

However, he maintains that Rassvet remains far smaller than Starlink, which has more than 12,000 satellites in orbit and continues adding around 200 spacecraft each month.

The much smaller constellation means Rassvet cannot yet provide the same level of continuous coverage as Starlink.

Moscow has committed 102.8 billion rubles, or about $1.3 billion, to Rassvet as part of efforts to establish domestic broadband connectivity.

Russia plans to launch 156 satellites in 2026, followed by another 292 spacecraft by 2027, when authorities expect commercial operations to begin.

The programme ultimately aims for 318 satellites by 2028, while later plans envisage expanding the network from 250 spacecraft toward 900 by 2035.

Those figures reveal the scale of work remaining, since the existing fleet represents only a fraction of Russia's planned communications infrastructure.

Technical problems could make expansion considerably harder

Reports indicate that some Rassvet spacecraft faced difficulty gaining altitude, with certain satellites drifting downward after reaching orbit.

Defense Express reported on August 25 2026 that one Rassvet-3 communications satellite was lost, while two others faced possible atmospheric reentry.

Such incidents could complicate Russia's schedule because each failed spacecraft reduces the already limited constellation and creates additional pressure on future launches.

Building the planned network would require at least 18 Soyuz-2.1b missions, despite Russia currently carrying out only six to eight launches annually.

The launch requirement therefore creates another obstacle, especially if replacement spacecraft become necessary after further technical failures during orbital operations.

Rassvet could eventually provide communications links for unmanned aircraft and military units operating beyond the practical limits of conventional radio systems.

That possibility gained greater attention after Ukraine and SpaceX restricted unauthorized Starlink terminals reportedly used by Russian forces during February 2026.

“We are working on this. Russia’s ‘Rassvet svg’ must turn into a ‘zakat svg,’” said Oleh Ivashchenko, chief of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence.

Russia continues developing Rassvet despite these setbacks, but the current constellation remains unable to provide continuous connectivity expected from a fully operating network.

Via United24media

Apple has officially entered the folding phone market with the passport-sized and quite attractive iPhone Duo. I know, we all thought it would be called the Ultra, but perhaps Apple will save that superlative for another day (or product).

In some ways, the iPhone Duo is exactly what we expected. A 5.4-inch external display and a large 7.6-inch internal or main, unfolded one. The size, shape, and specs are somewhat similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. But there are several exciting differences.

Folded and in my hand, the iPhone Duo feels, quite honestly, nothing like any iPhone that's come before it. Heck, Apple even redesigned iOS to accommodate the unusually shaped displays, putting the dock and other controls on the right side (no word on whether you can move them to the other side). For larger screens, that might make everything more thumb accessible.

The 5.4-inch external display is bright, sharp, and features a Center Stage camera (not in the center of the display, despite the name).

As with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the shape does take some getting used to, but Apple's decision to use curved chrome edges and curves on the right side (when you open it, you see four rounded corners) serves the device well. It's comfortable to hold.

I wasn't entirely successful at folding and unfolding with one hand, but I did do it easily with two and noted the solid feel of the hinge and that I could open and close it to varying degrees. It's hard to believe that this is also an IP68 (for dust and water resistance) device — but Apple does love its challenges.

The 7.6-inch main display, though, is astonishing. Apple went a little wild on the layering, mixing in numerous sheets of custom polymer, the OLED panel, a couple of glass layers, and a titanium backing (all held together with flexible glue that lets them slide back and forth against each other), but the really exciting part is the topmost layer.

The texture layer

When I talk to folding phone curious consumers, they all ask me the same thing: "Is there a crease?" Look, I explain: these are folding devices, and the engineering has to accommodate the folding without breaking any of the various layers and, yes, the thin glass. There has to be a tiny bit of curvature remaining when you unfold.

Even on the excellent Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, the crease is slightly perceptible in certain lighting.

The crease is gone on the iPhone Duo. I can feel it with my finger, but cannot see it, because Apple decided to put a special nano-texture covering on the main display. This has the effect of dispersing the light, especially around any spots where, normally, the crease might be visible.

This also gives that big screen a matte finish that looks and feels unusual in the smartphone space, is unheard of for a foldable, and is generally lovely. I was seriously impressed.

Let's play

I didn't get a ton of time with this star of the show, but what I saw bodes well for Apple's first folding device.

Apple really thought through, for instance, the handoff from the cover screen to the main display. I tried this with a game and with Netflix, where I'd open the app on the cover screen and then slowly open the iPhone Duo: the handoff from one screen to the other is perfection, a precision of connection that should please users and might excite anyone who ever wondered, "Why buy a folding phone?"

I briefly played a console-level game on it, which showed off the fresh power of the new 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip, and took photos with all the cameras, including the 48MP main and 2x optical zoom. On the latter, I'm not thrilled that I get just 2x zoom, but at least it's optical. Also, it's pretty clear that this thinner-than-the-iPhone Air (when unfolded) probably can't accommodate a longer telephoto lens.

There are a variety of settings for managing the cover screen and cameras so that, for instance, you can use the former as a viewfinder for the best camera for top-notch selfies.

The main screen also hides a new FaceTime Camera, which I noticed effectively disappeared when you're not using it.

I love that you can set up the iPhone Duo as a desktop clock, though I noticed that it wasn't entirely obvious how you put it in StandBy mode without docking it or putting it to sleep.

The main screen is also big enough for multitasking, and I tried my hand at splitting it between Photos and Messages: you drag an app into a side dock, and then it opens on one side. After I opened Photos and Messages, I dragged and dropped a photo into a message. It was a smooth operation.

The reorganization of the iOS interface might throw some, but it made intuitive sense to me as I was playing with the iPhone Duo. I found, though, that the Control Panel still works the same way as it does on other iPhones.

Oh, the Pencil

Two other things of note. The iPhone Duo will be the first iPhone to work with the USB-C Apple Pencil. That is a huge deal. I've been complaining for a while that the wonderful Galaxy Z Fold line lost that digitizing layer.

I cannot wait to try the Apple Pencil on that big screen (there were no Pencils in the demo space). I bet the nano-coating will even make a difference in how the Pencil feels on the Display. I do not yet know if the iPhone Duo will also accept Apple Pencil Pro input, though I hope it does.

The other thing is that, yes, the iPhone Duo includes MagSafe. There are, by the way, two batteries that are promising "all-day" battery life.

This is also Apple's most expensive iPhone, starting at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499 for the 256GB model. Naturally, Apple will tell you it'll be far more obtainable with a trade-in and the new leasing option (pay a fixed monthly sum for two years and then return it for a new one),

Overall, this is an exciting start for Apple's first foray into foldables. Sure, it stands on the shoulders of giants, but as is often the case, Apple's done all this in a very Apple-ly way, and in this case, that looks like a very good thing.

Brand new Apple CEO John Ternus has hosted his first ever Apple launch event — we'll miss you, Tim Cook — and he had a lot to introduce. We got Apple's first foldable phone, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, two new smartwatches, and plenty more.

To help you make sense of the 78-minute event, here's your essential rundown of everything important that Apple talked about. As well as the main headlines, there are some smaller reveals that you might have missed.

1. The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable

The big one: after many years of rumor and counter-rumor, Apple has released its first foldable phone, ready to compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold. Like the Galaxy Z Fold 8, it uses a wider, 'passport' style form factor that gives you a more tablet-like experience (measuring 7.6 inches corner to corner) when it's opened out.

You can get the iPhone Duo in star white and night sky, with pre-orders opening on Friday, October 16, and full availability on Friday, October 23. Hopefully, you've been saving up: it starts at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499 with 256GB of storage.

• Read more: The iPhone Duo lacks Face ID, a telephoto camera, and the Action Button, but I still want it more than every Android foldable I've ever tested — here's why

2. iOS 27 has learned some unique tricks for the iPhone Duo

Apple has clearly put a lot of thought into the iPhone Duo experience, and that extends to iOS 27 and the native apps that run on top of it. When the phone is folded closed for example, the key navigation buttons shift to the right of the screen so they're easy to tap with your thumb.

You can put apps side-by-side on the big screen, and pin pairs of apps together to make it easier to get back to them. Apple has included some clever camera tricks as well including a selfie preview that uses the outer screen in combination with the rear cameras.

3. The Duo brings Apple Pencil to the iPhone for the first time

Squint a little, and the iPhone Duo looks like an iPad mini when it's opened out. Adding to that impression is Apple Pencil support for the handset — it's the first time you've been able to use a stylus with an iPhone (apologies to Steve Jobs).

You don't get the Apple Pencil bundled with the iPhone Duo, and there's no storage slot as there is on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, but you'll be able to use the accessory on either screen to make selections or get creative.

• Read more: 'Who wants a stylus?' — Steve Jobs famously mocked them, but Apple Pencil support could be the iPhone Duo’s secret weapon

4. The Duo's two screens are the same aspect ratio

Another nice touch we've noticed with the iPhone Duo: both the 5.4-inch outer screen and the 7.6-inch have the same aspect ratio, which Apple says ensures "visual continuity" as you open up the phone and close it again.

The aspect ratio in question is 1:1.4, and should mean that you don't have a jarring experience switching between the displays. The larger main display can also be used in portrait as well as landscape mode, with apps adjusting to fit.

5. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max have some serious camera boosts

During Apple's reveal of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, the cameras took center stage. We've got a 48MP main camera that adds a variable aperture for the first time on an iPhone (for better light control), as well as a new sensor behind it.

Apple is also talking up a new "computational imaging pipeline", improved Photographic Styles, and extra professional controls in the Camera app, enabling you to take more control over how your images are captured.

• Read more: I'm a pro photographer — here’s why the iPhone 18 Pro’s variable aperture is its biggest camera upgrade

6. The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the ultimate iPhone for battery life

Another plus point on the iPhone 18 Pro Max: it's very much the iPhone to get if you value battery life above everything else. You can get up to 45 hours of video playback on the eSIM version of the iPhone 18 Pro Max between charges, a new iPhone record.

The iPhone 18 Pro is no battery slouch either, and can manage up to 36 hours of video playback on a single charge if you're using the eSIM version. Charging speeds have been upped over last year's models as well.

• Read more: iPhone 18 Pro vs iPhone 17 Pro — 5 key differences between Apple's newest and previous best smartphones

7. The A20 Pro chip is a big leap forward

At the center of the iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max we've got the brand new A20 Pro chipset. It boasts a 6-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, and two 16-core Neural Engines for all your AI needs.

Add in an upgraded vapor chamber, and we can expect major performance upgrades over the 2025 models. Apple says there's as much as a 40% sustained performance gain on the iPhone 18 Pro compared to the iPhone 17 Pro.

8. The new base AirPods 5 come with ANC

On to the new open-ear AirPods 5, which come in two different versions, both of which have Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) that Apple is calling "best-in-class". Thanks to changes in the design of the earbuds and the algorithms they're using, you can expect up to 50% more noise removal compared to the AirPods 4 with ANC.

The improvements don't stop there, because the Transparency mode has been upgraded as well, so when you need to hear voices and nearby sounds through your AirPods, they should be more accurately represented.

9. Siri Recap is creepy, always-on audio feature for the Apple Watch 12

Here's one feature we're a little less sure about: the Apple Watch 12 comes with a Siri Recap feature that essentially listens to the conversations you're having and lets you see a summary of them later, just in case there are details you need to remember.

It might come in handy in certain situations, but we can see users having a few concerns. Apple says Siri Recap processes audio in real-time and never recordings anything, and that no one — not even Apple — can access the audio feed.

• Read more: Thanks to Siri Recaps, your Apple Watch is always listening as you go about your day — but Apple may be risking a Meta Glasses-style backlash

10. iOS 27 will launch on September 14 with Siri AI

It's been a long wait for iOS 27 since Apple first announced it back in June, but the operating system update is finally going to make its way to millions of iPhones worldwide from Monday, September 14.

The headline new feature is of course that big Siri AI upgrade — we've been waiting for that for even longer. Expect a digital assistant that's more on a par with ChatGPT and Gemini, able to interact with your apps and give comprehensive answers.

11. The new Apple Watches have a Health Sensing System

Apple didn't neglect its smartwatches during the event, and says that the Apple Watch 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 both offer "the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable", which is quite the claim.

That's achieved through higher-frequency heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements, via new optical and electrical heart sensors. It's part of a wider Health Sensing System that gives users a more detailed look into their fitness.

12. There's a redesigned Health app as well

To match the new features on the latest Apple Watch wearables, as well as some other changes (including Apple Intelligence upgrades), the Health app on the iPhone is getting a redesign — including a new Insights tab with "timely health information".

There's also a new Longevity tab, which shows you deeper health insights over a longer period. There's a Health Age reading here, for example, which shows how certain fitness metrics are matching up with your actual age.

13. We’ll have to wait longer for a new Apple TV 4K

One of the no-shows at the 'Surprise and Shine' event was a new Apple TV 4K. As a reminder, the last model (the third generation) was launched all the way back in 2022, so we're overdue a new one.

Some of the pre-show rumors had suggested Apple would refresh its streaming box, but there's nothing yet. A new device has been showing up in Apple software code, so it shouldn't be too long before it appears.

14. There’s no new base iPhone 18 (yet)

Wondering where the iPhone 18 is? Well, we don't think it's been canceled. Rumors have been swirling all year that the standard model phone would be pushed back to March-ish, to launch with the iPhone Air 2 and the iPhone 18e.

There are multiple reasons, according to the leaks: Apple wants to spread out its revenue more evenly across the year, reduce the pressure to get hardware and software out every September, and better compete with manufacturers who launch their handsets earlier in the year (looking at you, Samsung).

15. Apple largely spared us from price hikes

It was a mixed bag in terms of pricing at the Apple event, though it's fair to say that the price hikes we did see weren't quite as severe as we might have expected given the ongoing memory shortage affecting the whole industry.

Both the iPhone 18 Pro and the Pro Max are starting at a $100 higher price than their immediate predecessors, but the new Apple Watch models are sticking to the same prices as last time, while the AirPods 5 are actually cheaper than the AirPods 4 were at launch.

• Thailand has frozen 166 data center projects pending new national rules
• Officials found major gaps in data on existing data centers
• Large data centers are putting new pressure on water supplies

Thailand has halted 166 data center projects while officials work on new rules for electricity, water, locations, safety, and economic returns.

The pause covers 49 facilities already being built and another 117 projects still waiting for approval from government agencies.

Officials say the review aims to keep attracting investment while ensuring data centers provide jobs, technology gains, and useful services for Thailand.

Thailand puts data center growth under review

The decision followed a recent meeting of the national data center policy board, which ordered four groups to draft standards within one month.

Four subcommittees will each examine a different area: economic benefits, infrastructure needs, site and location standards, and environmental protection.

The review comes after agencies found limited information about the country’s total data center activity, including facilities already running and projects awaiting approval.

Information from 16 government bodies showed that 35 data centers were operating, with 11 receiving investment support through Thailand’s Board of Investment.

Another 24 facilities gained approval through other routes, while several smaller centers were operated by financial institutions.

The government now wants one central system showing project locations, approval status, electricity sources, water supplies, planning rules, and other key details.

That system would allow agencies to examine the combined effects of multiple facilities instead of reviewing each project through separate approval channels.

Bangkok has also begun checking existing sites, with six projects seeking approval and each requiring between 9 MW and 23 MW of power.

Three received approval and began operations from 2022 through 2024, while the remaining applications will stay frozen until national standards are ready.

Water, power, and economic gains shape new rules

The planned rules will cover electricity demand, water use, site selection, construction safety, backup fuel storage, environmental effects, and distance from nearby buildings.

Officials are also reviewing whether facilities using more than 2 MW should face rules similar to those applied to industrial businesses.

Large centers need constant power and significant water for cooling, creating concerns about pressure on local networks and supplies.

The government also wants prices for water and electricity to account for direct and indirect costs linked to large facilities.

That approach is intended to prevent households and other businesses from carrying costs tied to data center resource use.

Future projects could face a competitive approval process that weighs employment, technology transfer, clean energy use, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said data centers matter to Thailand’s economy, although the government lacked complete information about existing facilities and planned developments.

The government is now seeking full details on data centers so it can develop laws that will guide future investment decisions.

Rather than expanding server capacity without assessing their demand, Thailand wants to gain more value from incoming projects.

The pause does not signal an end to Thailand’s data center ambitions, since officials continue seeking investment while examining how growth should proceed.

Via The Nation

• Watch Patriots vs Seahawks FREE on TVNZ+ (New Zealand)
• Unlock your stream with IPVanish (save up to 83%)
• Patriots vs Seahawks kick-off: Wed, Sep 9 at 8.20pm ET / 1.20am BST (Thu)

The Patriots famously didn't show up for the 2026 Super Bowl, so here's hoping they know this season's NFL Kickoff Game is taking place a day earlier than usual.

The Seahawks tore the Pats apart in February's showpiece. Honours were even in the touchdown count, with each team scoring twice, but Seattle's points haul was fleshed out by five field goals. New England scored none, had two interceptions and a fumble, and allowed Drake Maye to be sacked a staggering – literally – six times.

It's been an interesting summer to say the least for Mike Vrabel, who cheered himself up by getting three-time all-Pro receiver AJ Brown on board. The return of offensive lineman Will Campbell can only be good news for Maye too. However, after drawing a favourable schedule last season, they've been handed a stinker this term, with their first four fixtures dripping with danger.

For all of the terrifying brilliance of "The Dark Side", the Hawks have been largely overlooked by the NFL fortune-tellers. Losing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak was far from ideal, but it's worth remembering the reigning champions put together one of the most dominant campaigns in National Football League history. Mike Macdonald has had his first team-talk done for him.

Read on as we explain how to watch Patriots vs Seahawks for free.

Can you watch Patriots vs Seahawks for free?

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How to watch Patriots vs Seahawks live streams in the US

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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.

Apple's 'Surprise and Shine' event unveiled long-awaited devices including the iPhone 18 Pro and the long-anticipated iPhone Duo, but Apple Watches also had their time in the spotlight.

The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 are the latest models to join Apple's family of wearables, and both pack quite a punch on the features- and health-tracking front, thanks to the combination of the new Health Sensing System and deeper Apple Intelligence integration.

Of course every new Apple Watch offers improvements over the previous generation — the question is always whether it offers enough to make it worth the upgrade. To help you decide, I've compared the new Apple Watch Series 12 against its predecessor, the Apple Watch Series 11, so you can see all the changes side-by-side.

Apple Watch Series 12 vs Apple Watch Series 11: Specifications

Design

We weren't expecting a visual overhaul with the Apple Watch Series 12, and nor did we get one.

The new model packs the same digital crown and side button that you'll find on most Apple Watch models, and size-wise the only difference is that the Series 12 is 1mm wider; if you can spot that in real life, you have sharper eyes than I do.

However, there are some design changes worth talking about. The key one is that as well as being available in Aluminium and Titanium, as the Watch 11 is, there's also now a Ceramic version — the first since the Series 5.

The Ceramic Watch 12 comes in two colors, Pearl White and Night Blue, while the Aluminum model is available in Space Gray, Black, Light Gold and the stunning new Dark Bronze shade, perfect for both casual and smart wear. The Titanium versions come in Radiant Gold and Natural.

Sticking with the Apple Watch 11? Then your choices are between Space Gray, Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver for Aluminum, and Slate, Gold, and Natural Polished in Titanium. And to reiterate, there is no Ceramic Watch 11 — so if you want that, you'll need the new model.

Features

Minor design changes aside, the key reasons to upgrade to the Apple Watch 12 relate to its health-tracking smarts.

Many of these stem from its new S11 chip. Apple — inevitably — describes this as its "most powerful wearable chip", and it powers the new Health Sensing System and Audio Intelligence features.

Let's start with the Health Sensing System, the redesign of the previous generation's LED heart rate sensor array. The Series 12's electrode surface area is now bigger, allowing for better skin contact for ECG tracking. It also packs new optical-sensing photo diodes to capture light more efficiently, while its brighter green LEDs support accurate HR in motion. In short, it's the most accurate Apple Watch ever, tied with its sibling the Apple Watch Ultra 4.

It records heart rate continuously, up to every five seconds, and heart rate variability (a key part of sleep tracking and recovery metrics) up to every five minutes. That's a massive 24x more frequently than it did before, ensuring peak accuracy (in theory).

However one of the new standout features is the new Readiness Score, which has finally arrived on Apple Watch. Every other health wearable seems to have one, and Apple's Readiness Score will combine your rings, vitals and other health metrics into a single actionable, frequently updated number.

There are also a significant redesign of the Health app which thrusts Apple Intelligence to the front of the experience. Now, Apple Watch lets you explore health profiles while offering personalized guidance thanks to Apple Intelligence. Once the Health app gets a sense of your health habits, it will tweak its recommendations so that they align with your health levels and data.

Health Age is another new feature that aligns your metrics and fitness level with your actual age, similar to features on Whoop and Garmin.

The Series 12 is packing tons of new fitness features, but Apple Intelligence — or at least, audio intelligence — is brand new and unrelated to health.

Audio Intelligence is comprised of four features. The Series 12 can listen out for sounds, be that a doorbell, traffic, or oncoming pedestrians, and will send alerts right to your watch face — which is ideal for users who are hard of hearing. You can also Shazam songs from your wrist.

Slightly more suspect are Live Rewind and Siri Recaps. Live Rewind allows you to go back 15 seconds to remember parts of a conversation. Didn't catch what the waiter said was new on the menu? Just double-press the digital crown and your watch will generate a transcript for you to read. Siri Recaps is a feature that, when active, listens constantly in the background, providing you with a summary of your day in the evening, including conversations.

We've covered these two features in more detail here, including Apple's privacy assurances and why the Cupertino giant might not be reading the room on this feature, as surveillance-capable wearables are receiving a lot of pushback at the moment.

You can pre-order the Apple Watch Series 12 now, which will be available starting September 18.

Apple's September 9 'Surprise and Shine' event has come and gone, and we've learned a lot about Apple's latest crop of devices. While we've got new AirPods and iPhones (including Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo), it's the Apple Watches that have caught my eye as TechRadar's resident fitness and wearables writer — specifically, the Apple Watch Ultra 4, the latest version of Apple's flagship watch series.

But how does it compare to the previous gen, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 — and is it worth upgrading? Read on for a full comparison of both watches, so you can make an informed decision.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Specifications

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Price and availability

• Price is unchanged from last year
• $799 / £749 / AU$1,399
• Available from September 18

Here's an easy one to start with: the Apple Watch Ultra 4's price is unchanged from last year, at $799 / £749 / AU$1,399. It's available from the September 18, so if you were considering getting an Apple Watch Ultra 3 but were holding out, there's no reason not to wait a few days for the latest model.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: design

Physically, little has changed in terms of looks, but there have been subtle tweaks. The titanium case is still there, slightly wider and slimmer than last year, and it lasts six hours longer than the Ultra 3 to make it to two days, or 18 hours with continuous GPS use.

The watch's heart rate accuracy is even better thanks to the new Health Sensing System. This redesign of Apple's LED optical heart rate sensor tech offers better skin contact thanks to an increased electrode surface area. Heart rate readings are now being taken up to every five seconds, with heart rate variability, an overnight measure of rest and recovery, being read up to every five minutes.

This makes Apple's heart rate sensor the most accurate of any wearable, according to Apple. It has apparently conducted tests against rivals using ECG chest straps, much like we do in our reviews.

I can attest that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is as accurate a wearable as it gets, so I'll be intrigued to test the new Ultra 4 against my trusty Polar H10.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Features

• Finally, a Readiness Score
• New Audio Intelligence features
• Redesigned Health app

At last! Apple Watch gets a Readiness Score, a feature almost every other fitness wearable has had for years. Typically from Apple, it looks like the bee's knees, feeding into Vitals to generate a holistic overview of your night, and updating throughout the day, like Garmin's Body Battery function. A new Health Age feature also compares your current fitness level to those in your age group, much like Garmin's Fitness Age or Whoop's, er, Whoop Age.

It's unclear at the moment whether the Ultra 3 will get these features, or if it will be an Ultra 4 / Series 12 exclusive. But all the Apple Watch Ultra 3 features, including LTE and satellite connectivity, are available on the Ultra 4.

An incoming redesigned Health app on iPhone is Apple Intelligence-forward, offering personalized AI-powered insights, and what is clear is that this will also work with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and all Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhones. This Health App will show you Readiness, Longevity, and allow you to measure your VO2 Max using a coached guided workout on your iPhone's camera, then update it according to your activity levels and metrics.

Audio Intelligence features are exclusive to the Ultra 4 and Series 12, and include Shazam on your wrist, Sound Recognition (your watch will let you know the doorbell's rung or a siren's going off, for example), and two more features which are sure to prove controversial.

Live Rewind has your watch listen to and instantly recall a conversation up to 15 seconds previously, by double-tapping the crown of your Apple Watch. Siri Recap listens throughout the day and uses Siri AI to process live audio files, serving you a summary of the day in the evening. There are numerous controls and privacy safeguards in place here, but there's no doubt they'll come across as creepy to many. You can read all about Audio Intelligence on Apple Watch here.

• MagNav uses Earth’s magnetic field to guide aircraft without GPS signals
• Q-CTRL uses quantum gravimetry to navigate ships without satellite signals
• Saab uses quantum timing to keep radar networks synchronized without GPS

Global positioning systems (GPS) have long served as the invisible backbone guiding ships, aircraft, and military operations across the planet.

That reliance now faces a genuine challenge, as adversaries increasingly jam or spoof satellite signals to disrupt navigation entirely.

Three organizations on three continents have each tested working alternatives within the span of a few short weeks.

A wave of independent breakthroughs

The combined progress of these teams suggests the technology is edging out of laboratories and into active field conditions.

The US Defense Innovation Unit, a Pentagon organization tasked with fielding emerging commercial technology for military use, confirmed a successful flight test of its magnetic navigation program, known as MagNav.

The route carried an Embraer 170 aircraft over the Pacific Ocean, running from Seattle's Puget Sound toward southern Alaska and back again.

After four hours and 23 minutes without satellite guidance, the system improved location accuracy by 89% compared to older backup navigation methods.

"This is a significant win for the department's quantum sensing priorities, showcasing that MagNav capabilities are no longer a distant research goal," said Kyle Norman, deputy director of DIU's Kill Web portfolio.

Separately, Q-CTRL, an Australian quantum computing firm, announced a maritime field trial in the Coral Sea; its quantum gravimeter kept location errors within one nautical mile across the entire mission.

That figure reportedly beat conventional satellite backup systems by more than ten times during the same test window.

"Q-CTRL's demonstration shows a credible path to accurate navigation without reliance on external satellite signals," said Steve Sklenka, a retired Lieutenant General with the U.S. Marine Corps.

The company’s founder Michael Biercuk added that the technology is ready now, calling it proof that quantum tools can already support active defense missions.

Radar networks join the shift

Saab UK also reported a milestone, working alongside Aquark Technologies and Britain's Royal Navy to test radar timing without satellite input.

Multiple Giraffe 1X radar units operating from separate locations kept a single, coherent air picture using independent quantum timing sources.

Engineers introduced deliberate timing errors to mimic jamming conditions, then confirmed the network recovered once synchronization returned.

"This trial is a great example of how collaboration can accelerate innovation," said Andy Fraser, Group Managing Director at Saab UK.

Jason Ralph, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Liverpool, noted that gravity sensing remains the only passive alternative technology that works globally and resists jamming or spoofing attempts entirely.

The trials arrive amid rising concern over deliberate satellite interference, with roughly 978,000 jamming events recorded worldwide during the first quarter of 2026 alone, most concentrated in the Middle East.

Taken together, these three trials suggest quantum navigation is edging closer to practical deployment rather than remaining a theoretical concept.

Whether it can fully replace GPS, rather than simply back it up during outages, still depends on further testing and cost considerations.

Apple has announced the iPhone Duo, its first-ever folding phone, calling it “the most transformational iPhone experience since the original.” Like every other tech fan in the world right now, I want one.

As detailed in our Apple Event 2026 recap, Apple has decked out its first foldable with a range of high-spec specs befitting the phone’s Duo branding and new ‘Intelligent Personal Hub’ concept.

It gets a 5.4-inch cover display, a 7.6-inch inner display, and an A20 Pro chipset. It also comes with a 48MP wide-angle camera, a 48MP ultra-wide camera, a 12MP selfie camera on the cover screen, and an under-display camera under the inner screen. Apple also claims the iPhone Duo lasts up to 24 hours on a single charge when both screens are used equally. Put simply, this thing is a beast.

I’ll say it right now — I want the iPhone Duo more than I’ve ever wanted a folding phone. I’ve used plenty of the best folding phones in my time as a tech journalist, penning TechRadar’s Honor Magic V5 review and Oppo Find N5 review, but the iPhone Duo’s combination of Apple finesse and futuristic form factor has put it squarely at the top of my shopping list — now all I need is a spare $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499.

However, the iPhone Duo comes with some caveats that could upset long-time Apple fans. It lacks Face ID, a staple since 2017. It also loses the Action Button, which you'll find on all but a few iPhones released since the iPhone 15 Pro launched in 2023. And it misses out on the telephoto camera boasted by its sibling, the iPhone 18 Pro, and similar zoom lenses sported by competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold.

Even if you don’t use these features much, some Apple fans are bound to feel let down by the fact that the iPhone Duo misses out on key hardware found on cheaper models. But I’m not one of these people — here are five reasons why I still want the iPhone Duo more than any other folding phone.

Ecosystem and software

It’s been said a million times, but I’ll say it once more — Apple’s ecosystem prowess is not to be underestimated. Despite a few wobbles with the launch of iOS 26 last year, the Apple ecosystem is still the cleanest, least ad-infested, and most seamless software environment on the consumer tech market.

Having a folding phone join the fray gives Apple the opportunity to merge the function of the iPhone and iPad in new ways, bringing together the company’s experience across mobile and tablet development. We saw this during the Duo's announcement — Apple has created a fluid transition between folded and open states with a seamless Liquid Glass animation; it's moved core controls to the right side of the screen for easier access; and it's optimized all of its own apps for the Duo's new form factor. And, of course, the Duo is still keyed in to AirDrop, AirPlay, and other Apple conveniences.

If Apple is sensible enough to equip the Duo with the iPad versions of productivity and creative apps like Pages and Final Cut Pro, the new device could be a genuine portable workstation like nothing Samsung or Google have ever released. Apple simply has access to better software than Android folding phones; it just has to leverage it.

The iPad legacy

On the subject of iPads, Apple has the best track record of any small tablet maker, bar none, thanks to the quality of the iPad mini, so the iPhone Duo already has a model of success to follow. Our list of the best tablets highlights the iPad mini as the best compact tablet, and has done so for years.

We saw the iPhone Duo used in split-screen mode during the keynote, with Apple showing off optimized apps from Netflix, Slack, and Detail, and telling us all about the performance of the A20 Pro mobile chipset. Considering the MacBook Neo, a full-on laptop, runs on an A18 chipset from two generations back, I’m pretty confident that the iPhone Duo will be as powerful as any true tablet bar the M-series iPads.

I’ve used and reviewed tablets from other manufacturers, and while I’ve been impressed on occasion, these devices typically come nowhere close to the iPad’s smooth performance and software optimization. And other folding phones have to contend with some jank as phone makers try to make the Android and off-the-shelf chipsets play ball with their specific screen size, resolution, and processing requirements.

Apple's display pedigree

What good is software without decent hardware to experience it on?

The iPhone Duo comes with two screens that share the same 10:14 aspect ratio, offering more consistency than taller foldables, with a nano-textured upper layer laser-lithographed to create a lens for each pixel. Apple also claims that the screen “doesn’t degrade over time” due to a system of layered polymers that slide over one another as the screen moves.

As folding phone screens are known to peel and wear down, I won't pass judgment on the folding inner screen until I see it in person, but the excellence of Apple's previous iPhone and iPad displays gives me faith (at least when it comes to quality).

Build quality

Apple spent plenty of time in the keynote talking about iPhone Duo’s durability. The phone is made of glass, ceramic inserts, and grade 5 titanium, and achieves the IP68 dust and water resistance that Samsung and Google only recently achieved with their foldable devices. Also, its larger vapor chamber means it offers 35% better sustained performance than iPhone 18 Pro, by Apple’s own metrics.

In fairness, Samsung and Google build folding phones exceptionally well too — but even at the sky-high prices foldables command, this isn’t a given. I’ve used some folding phones that wobble around when partially opened, don’t stay fully shut, or show signs of screen peeling after just a few weeks of use. Apple will still have to earn my trust with the iPhone Duo, but the keynote suggests its engineering teams are on top form.

The missing features aren't *that* important

Comment section debaters, get ready. Part of the reason I still want the iPhone Duo is that its missing features just don’t matter that much — at least to me.

While the iPhone Duo does lose Face ID, I’ve always preferred in-button fingerprint scanners to any other kind of biometric security — they’re faster, easier to use, and won’t get blocked by a scarf or sunglasses. I love the scanner on my Oppo Find N6, for example.

I think I’d miss the Action Button and telephoto camera, but these don’t preclude the iPhone Duo’s software potential. With the iPhone Duo’s wide unfolded form factor, I can see why Apple ditched the button, as it may not be useful when the phone is unfolded.

And TechRadar Phones Editor Axel Metz made peace with the iPhone Air’s single camera, so I’m sure the iPhone Duo’s dual camera system would be perfectly usable, even without the reach of the zoom lenses found on competing foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro Fold.

So, for me, Apple's first foldable iPhone was worth the wait — at least on paper. I can't wait to get my hands on one and put it through its paces.

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and its September 9 'Surprise and Shine' event, but how does it stack up against last year’s mighty iPhone 17 Pro?

Among other things here’s the powerful new A20 Pro chip, and the main camera’s new variable aperture, but these mean the iPhone 18 Pro costs a little more than its older sibling.

If you’re weighing up the two iPhone Pros, these are the five key differences you’ll need to consider before you make your choice…

1. Variable aperture

If you care about photography this is easily the biggest iPhone 18 Pro feature: variable aperture.

Normally phone camera apertures are locked, meaning the aperture has to strike a compromise between maximizing depth of field and maximizing night and low-light performance by letting more light in. With its variable aperture the iPhone 18 Pro’s 48MP fusion main camera solves this problem by adapting to meet your needs for each shot.

The iPhone 17 Pro lacks this capability, though its camera array is still very solid, even if it lacks the latest model’s versatility.

2. Battery life and specs

As you’d expect, the iPhone 18 pro boasts better specs thanks to its A20 Pro chip. According to Apple its CPU’s two supercores are 20% faster than what you’ll find in the iPhone 17 Pro, and its GPU is 40% faster. It also boasts improved neural accelerators for better AI performance — meaning on-device Siri AI assistance should feel snappier than before.

The change you’ll notice the most, though, is the bigger battery.

While the iPhone 17 Pro achieved a 33-hour battery life in Apple’s internal video playback tests, the 18 Pro managed to last for 36 hours — the same length of time as the iPhone 17 Pro Max. If you were wondering, the iPhone 18 Pro Max can hold out for a whopping 45 hours.

3. iPhone Pro colors

The iPhone 18 Pro comes in classic Silver and Black, as well as Glacier (a sort of lilac) and Burgundy if you want a more bold and unique look for your new smartphone.

Meanwhile the iPhone 17 Pro comes in Silver, a dark Deep Blue, and that Cosmic Orange hue that people either love or hate.

I was a big fan of Cosmic Orange, but Burgundy takes the cake for me. It looks iconic without looking silly or sickly — traps the orange could sometimes fall into. Though this design choice will be entirely personal, and let’s be real — you’ll probably just put it in a case anyway, whichever model you get.

4. Dynamic Island

As was teased by leaks ahead of the reveal, the iPhone 18 pro boasts a smaller Dynamic Island — which should make it a less annoying permanent distraction on your screen compared with the iPhone 17 Pro’s Island.

At the same time it has become a little more versatile too. The iPhone 18 pro’s Dynamic Island can now support three live activities at once, up from the previous maximum of two.

5. Price and availability

The iPhone 18 Pro was only just revealed, but it’ll be up for sale globally at $1,199 / £1.199 / AU$2,099 for 256GB of storage from September 18, 2026. You can preorder starting Saturday September 12 to lock in a unit early if you decide it’s the smartphone for you.

Meanwhile the iPhone 17 Pro can be picked up right now with a lower list price of $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,999.

On paper that $100 difference isn't major, but given that the iPhone 17 Pro is a year old we can expect to see its price drop further, especially as we head into the Black Friday sales period. And with Apple hiking prices of its other iPhone 17 models on the Apple Store by $100 / £100, the 17 Pro — which has been discontinued, so won't be affected — suddenly looks like a relative bargain.

The Apple Watch 12 was introduced at today's September Apple Event, along with the AirPods 5, iPhone Duo, and iPhone 18 Pro. Apple's newest smartwatch is packed with new features and is officially available to preorder.

The Apple Watch Series 12 features new Apple silicon and advanced health sensors, which Apple claims are the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. Apple's newest Health Sensing System, along with its S11 chip, offers a suite of health and fitness features including a new readiness score. The Series 12 also includes advanced workout and sleep tracking and offers up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours during an outdoor workout, a 25% improvement over the previous model.

The Apple Watch 12 starts at $399 / £369 for the GPS-only 42mm model and $449 / £419 for the 46mm size. The Cellular version starts at $499 / £469 for the 42mm model and $549 / £519 for the larger 46mm size.

As of writing, Apple is the only retailer where you can preorder the Apple Watch 12, but I'll update this page when more become available. Apple is currently offering a preorder trade-in deal that allows you to save on the new smartwatch when you trade in an older device.

Where to find the best Apple Watch 12 preorder deals

Below, you'll find the best Apple Watch 12 preorder deals available online in the US and UK.

Apple Watch 12 deals in the US

• Apple: save up to $430 with trade-in
• Amazon: check retailer
• Best Buy: check retailer
• Walmart: check retailer

Apple Watch 12 deals in the UK

• Apple: save up to £390 with trade-in
• Amazon: check retailer
• Argos: check retailer
• Currys: check retailer

How much does the Apple Watch 12 cost?

The Apple Watch 12 starts at $399 / £369 for the GPS-only 42mm model and $449 / £419 for the 46mm size.

The Cellular version starts at $499 / £469 for the 42mm model and $549 / £519 for the larger 46mm size.

What Apple Watch 12 deals can you expect?

The only Apple Watch 12 preorder deals you can typically find are on Cellular versions, offered by phone carriers.

The Apple Watch Series 12 is officially available on Friday, September 18, and that's when we might see small discounts from third-party retailers like Amazon. If you want the best Apple Watch 12 deals, you'll have to wait for the next big holiday sales: Amazon's October Prime Day and November's Black Friday shopping event.

You can also see today's best AirPods 5 preorder deals.

More of today's best Apple Watch deals

Big news in the world of iPhones today, as not one, not two, but three new iPhones will soon be available to preorder worldwide. Alongside the expected iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple's lineup will now include the new iPhone Duo, the brand's first-ever foldable device.

If you're looking to upgrade, you'll find everything you need to know laid out in a no-nonsense guide right here. As of writing, we have confirmed pricing, a full picture of specs and features, and the opening deals from both Apple and major US carriers. Details for the UK are more limited, but Apple has confirmed trade-in rebates for unlocked devices.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro preorders will start this Saturday, whereas iPhone Duo preorders will start mid-October. Since details vary for both devices, I've separated everything out into sections for each device. If you're looking for specific information, just scroll to the relevant section on this page.

Note: While we have a good picture of Apple's opening promotions and major carriers in the US, we still don't have any details for UK networks or smaller prepaid carriers. If I spot anything, I'll be sure to update this page. Also, make sure you check in this Saturday, as I'll be rounding up the best deals for our readers once they go live.

For an overview of these devices, scroll to the bottom of the page or check out our live coverage of Apple's event.

iPhone 18 Pro preorders: what you need to know

• Live Saturday, 12th September
• 5AM PT, 8AM ET, 1PM BST
• iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 / £1,199
• iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299 / £1,299
• Trade-in rebates of up to $1,200 / £885 off
• Apple leasing from $34.99/mo

As is usual with iPhone preorders, there's a short wait time between the actual announcement of the devices and the opening of the preorders window. You'll be waiting until this Saturday until you can actually preorder an iPhone 18 or iPhone 18 Pro at both Apple and major carriers.

As always, however, you can navigate to the Apple Store to check out the various options, pricing, and deals that are going to be available ahead of the preorders window. Apple likes to give prospective upgraders some time to mull over their options before committing, which is pretty useful when you're potentially paying over $1,000 for a new phone.

As someone who's covered iPhone launches for a few years, I can tell you that the opening deals are pretty much in line with the usual fare. The main bulk of the deals revolve around trade-in rebates, which are currently listed as up to $1,200 off at major US carriers and up to $885 / £885 off for unlocked devices. The unlocked deal here is a little better than the usual rate we see at Apple, but the carrier deals are roughly what you'd expect.

One thing that's new this year at Apple is a focus on leasing. There's a new Apple Upgrade program that you can investigate if you want to pay a flat monthly rate for a device with a guaranteed upgrade at the end of your lease. Prices start at $34.99/mo for a two-year lease on the iPhone 18 Pro, which adds up to just under $840 in total. That is extremely competitive in my opinion, although there is the obvious caveat that you're not actually the owner of the device.

Note that the leasing program is currently available in the US only, so UK readers will likely have to get a device on a network contract if they want something similar. The major networks haven't updated their websites with exact details yet, so you might have to wait until Saturday to see what you can get.

iPhone 18 Duo preorders: what you need to know

• Live Friday, 16th October
• 5AM PT, 8AM ET, 1PM BST
• 256GB device starts at $1,999 / £1,999
• Trade-in rebates of up to $1,144 / £855
• Apple leasing from $57.99/mo

If you've got your eye on the shiny new Apple Duo, you'll have to wait a little bit longer to place your preorder. Apple's first-ever foldable phone will be available to preorder just over a month from now - Friday, 16th of October, to be exact.

As with the iPhone 18 Pro devices, you can already navigate to the official Apple Store page to see all the same details. The device will start at a rather eye-watering $1,999, but you'll have options to trade in or lease if you're looking to cut that price tag down to size.

Apple's own trade-in rebate is capped at $885 for unlocked devices, whereas major carriers are listing their rebates as $1,144, which is curiously lower than those that are available on the 18 Pro Max. These could be provisional rebates to be confirmed at a later date, or the major carriers could be expecting higher demand for the iPhone Duo. They might be thinking that people will bite the bullet and accept a lower rebate for Apple's first-ever foldable.

As with other devices, you can take advantage of Apple's new leasing system with the iPhone Duo if you're inclined. Prices start at $57.99/mo for a 24-month lease, which adds up to just under $1,400 in total. Again, this is an option that could be worth exploring, but it does incentivize you to really lock in long-term so you can get those included upgrades.

What's new with these 2026 iPhones?

The biggest news, of course, is the iPhone Duo. Apple's first-ever foldable iPhone combines a 5.4-inch outer display with a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR inner screen for an intriguing 'passport-like' design. We can't wait to get our hands on it here at TechRadar, as it looks like Apple has added a ton of software features designed to take advantage of the larger folding display

For the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, the biggest camera upgrade is a variable aperture on the 48MP main camera. This allows users to open the aperture wider for more light in low-light photography, or close it down to increase depth of field and capture more detail. Both models are powered by the A20 Pro, which delivers a claimed 20% faster CPU and 40% faster GPU than its predecessor. Battery life has also improved, with the iPhone 18 Pro offering up to 36 hours of video playback, matching last year's 17 Pro Max, while the 18 Pro Max reaches up to 45 hours.

The Duo also features the same A20 Pro chipset and camera array as the Pro-level devices here, so it should be a very, very quick device indeed. Over the next few weeks, we'll post our full review of all these devices, so stay tuned.

• OpenAI is leading the race to “quietly” open a data center in the Patagonia region of Argentina
• Argentine energy giant Pampa Energia is in talks to develop a 500 megawatt data center site
• The Loma de la Lata thermal power plant would provide the data center’s electricity, burning gas from the nearby Vaca Muerta shale gas formation

OpenAI is among several cloud and AI computing companies looking at Argentina’s Patagonia region as a possible location for fuss-free, opposition-avoiding data centers. Supported by low temperatures to aid cooling, and a clean energy source, a suitable site is currently being explored, following OpenAI signing a letter of intent with Sur Energy in 2025.

The OpenAI-Sur Energy partnership appears to have sparked growing attention on Patagonia, where other major hyperscalers are also said to have shown interest -- these include Google and Apple.

Widespread opposition to data centers in the US have prompted companies like OpenAI, Google, Apple, and Meta to look elsewhere to develop their cloud and AI facilities. However, communications limitations may prove difficult to overcome, and there is uncertainty about Pres. Javier Milei’s long-term future, factors which may explain OpenAI’s slow pace on the project.

Letter of Intent

While OpenAI and Sur Energy initially formalised their collaboration with a letter of intent in October 2025, there seems to have been little movement toward selecting a site, let alone breaking ground.

Sur Energy and Pampa Energia are not direct competitors. Rather, Pampa Energia is a large independent energy company, whereas Sur Energy is a specialized developer within the energy industry. Both organizations would typically be involved with the development of a data center in Patagonia, whether OpenAI’s Stargate Argentina or a rival build. Similarly, many other companies could be involved. For example, FlexDomes is reportly looking for investors into a data center in Patagonia.

Developments in Patagonia may not be limited to the energy from the Vaca Muerta shale field. Hydroelectric may be selected as an alternative; elsewhere, Green Capital is looking at wind and solar farms for a possible site in the Chubut province.

Will it really be easier?

However, whether Sur Energy provides the OpenAI plant with energy or Pampa Energia successfully attracts a data center from a rival cloud AI company, there remains a couple of key challenges.

While Argentina offers tax breaks and regulatory stability with its investor-pleasing RIGI incentives, shale gas energy, and minimal resistance to large projects with an ecological impact, it does not currently have the data links required to make a modern data center viable. That requires considerable investment in upgrading and (for large areas) installing fiber links.

But there is another potential challenge to establishing a data center in Patagonia. Less “anti-data-center” and more “anti-development,” the local area is occupied by the Mapuche Indigenous families, who have previously sued oil giant Exxon, French company Total, and BP-owned Pan American Energy for contracting an Argentine company that dumped waste illegally. Switching data center development to Argentina may have more attractive power and cooling options, but it is not without challenges for OpenAI and its competitors.

• NFL 2026 season: Wednesday, September 9 to Sunday, February 14
• Find Full Week 1 Schedule Here
• Free Streams: 5 (UK) / 7plus (Aus) / TVNZ+ (NZ) / VM Play (Ire) / Twitch (US)
• Use IPVanish to watch from anywhere – 83% off

Watch NFL 2026 live streams as as the 32 franchises of the AFC and NFC fight it out for a chance to play at Super Bowl LXI on February 14. Below we have all the info on how to watch NFL football from anywhere in the world with details on worldwide TV channels, broadcasters and free streams.

After head coach Mike Macdonald and inspirational QB Sam Darnold swept them to the franchise's second Vince Lombardi Trophy, the Seattle Seahawks will now be looking to assert themselves as a dynastic team. Despite failing to win a preseason game, they come into the 2026 campaign with all their major stars fit and firing. While Drake Maye and co of the new England Patriots will hope their encouraging summer preparation will catapult them to go one better than Super Bowl losers last time out.

Outside of last year's two finalists, the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs look like the strongest sides in the AFC, while the LA Rams (with fresh out of retirement Aaron Donald), Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions are all expected to go deep in the playoffs come January. The Las Vegas Raiders will just be hoping and praying that their Heisman Trophy-winning no. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza will change their fortunes.

It all begins again with Week 1 and a very familiar looking matchup... a repeat of February's Super Bowl LX between the Seahawks and Patriots at Lumen Field on Wednesday! The season goes international early this year, with the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia hosting 49ers vs Rams as the country's first ever regular season game. Back in the States, Bills vs Texans, Cowboys vs Giants and Broncos vs Chiefs all standout as much-watch games this week.

Here's where to watch NFL 2026 live streams online from anywhere – starting with FREE options.

Can I watch NFL in 2026 for free?

Yes! In some countries around the world you can watch the NFL for FREE.

• 🇬🇧 5 – UK
• 🇦🇺 7plus – Australia
• 🇳🇿 TVNZ+ – New Zealand
• 🇮🇪 VM Play – Ireland
• 🇺🇸 Twitch – US

5 in the UK, for example, will show two matchups per gameweek (both on Sunday), which can be streamed live on the 5 website and app.

Similarly, Australia's free-to-air Seven Network and 7plus streaming service will broadcast games from Thursdays and Sundays, playoffs and Super Bowl LXI. That's in addition to the much-anticipated San Francisco 49ers vs Los Angeles Rams game at the MCG on Friday, September 11.

And in New Zealand, three matches per week will show on its free-to-air TVNZ 1 and Duke channels and online TVNZ+ platform, plus all playoff matches and Super Bowl LXI live and for free. They'll also show the first game of the season and that big game across the Tasman Sea in Melbourne.

In Ireland, Virgin Media will broadcast at least 22 games this season on TV and its Virgin Media Play platform. That has been confirmed to include 18 Sunday games, three playoff games and the Super Bowl.

That's not to forget the US, where all Thursday Night Football games (except in Week 1 and Thanksgiving) will be streamed on the popular Twitch platform.

Remember that, if you're traveling away from home, you can use a VPN to watch free NFL 2026 streams from overseas on your usual streaming service. More details below.

NFL 2026 Week 1 schedule

Wednesday, September 9
Patriots vs Seahawks: 8.20pm ET | Stream FREE on 7plus & TVNZ+

Thursday, September 10 – International Game, Melbourne, Australia
49ers vs Rams: 8.35pm ET | Stream FREE on 7plus & TVNZ+

Sunday, September 13
Bears vs Panthers: 1pm ET
Buccaneers vs Bengals: 1pm ET | Stream FREE on TVNZ+
Saints vs Lions: 1pm ET
Bills vs Texans: 1pm ET
Ravens vs Colts: 1pm ET | Stream FREE on 5
Browns vs Jaguars: 1pm ET
Falcons vs Steelers: 1pm ET
Jets vs Titans: 1pm ET
Cardinals vs Chargers: 4.25pm ET | Stream FREE on TVNZ+
Dolphins vs Raiders: 4.25pm ET
Packers vs Vikings: 4.25pm ET | Stream FREE on 5 & TVNZ+
Commanders vs Eagles: 4.25pm ET
Cowboys vs Giants: 8.20pm ET

Monday, September 14
Broncos vs Chiefs: 8.15pm ET

Use a VPN to watch any NFL 2026 stream

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. One of our favourites is IPVanish – it does everything and comes with a 83% discount now.

Using a VPN is incredibly simple:

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, IPVanish is one of our favorites.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're visiting the US and want to view your usual Aussie service, you'd select an Australia server from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your usual local streaming service and watch NFL.

How to watch NFL 2026 live streams in the US

As ever, coverage of the 2026 NFL season is shared between a dizzying array of TV channels and streaming services. They include:

• Amazon Prime Video/Twitch: Thursday night, Black Friday
• CBS/Paramount+: Sunday afternoon, Thanksgiving
• Fox/Fox One: Sunday afternoon, Thanksgiving
• NBC/Peacock: Sunday night, Thanksgiving
• ESPN/ABC/ESPN Unlimited: Monday night, SUPER BOWL LXI
• NFL Network: International games
• Netflix: Season kickoff game, Christmas

And then there's NFL+ that, from $6.99 per month, let's you watch live local and primetime games on mobile during the regular season and postseason, together with those NFL Network exclusives.

If you're a cord cutter and wondering how you'll get access to the big TV networks, covering all your bases may not be quite as tricky as it looks.

Sling TV, for example, is an OTT service that gives access to a good proportion of games. Its Sling Blue package ($46 per month) offers local NBC and Fox channels in selected markets as well as NFL Network and access to the Fox One platform, while Sling Orange ($5 per day, $46 per month) carries ESPN (and ABC simulcasts). Go for an Orange + Blue plan for $61 per month, then, and you'll get access to a large number of NFL games, including both primetime and local broadcasts.

For a tailored sports experience, the Fubo Sports + News plan, which includes CBS, Fox, ESPN, ESPN Unlimited, ABC and NFL Network – nearly all the TV channels you need to tune into the NFL this season. Prices start at $64.99 a month but new users get a FREE Fubo trial.

Similarly, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV are other comprehensive OTT options, both of which you can try before you buy thanks to their free trials.

How to watch NFL 2026 live streams in the UK

As mentioned above, Channel 5 and 5Action on TV and its 5 streaming platform is showing two games every Sunday, together with the Super Bowl, NFL London, Paris, Madrid and Munich games, and Super Bowl LXI absolutely free.

The most comprehensive NFL coverage in the UK comes courtesy of NFL Game Pass on DAZN, which shows every minute of almost every regular season and every playoff game, plus the Super Bowl. DAZN's Season Pro pass costs £179.99, or spread it out over 12 monthly payments of £18.99. Note that the two games shown by 5 will land on DAZN 24 hours later.

And the omnipresent Sky Sports will show more than half of all NFL games live throughout the season across its various channels – including Sunday double-headers, primetime matchups, Thanksgiving game, Playoffs and Super Bowl.

How to watch NFL 2026 live streams in Rest of World

NFL Game Pass is the National Football League's dedicated streaming service, which allows die-hard football fans to watch every single game, including the playoffs and Super Bowl.

It's available via DAZN everywhere except for the US and China. Prices vary from country to country, and get progressively cheaper throughout the season.

Most countries also show games on TV and online domestically, too. For example, the following official broadcasters:

Africa

The NFL broadcast rights for Africa are held by ESPN, which provides coverage to sub-Saharan countries:

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Americas

• Canada

CTV is the free-to-air home of the NFL in Canada showing a "full slate of weekly Sunday afternoon games" during the regular season, leading up to the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl. TSN will show Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, and Thursday Night Football. CTV is now streamed through the Crave website and app, requiring your TV provider details to watch live streams.

• Latin America

ESPN has the broadcast rights to the 2026 NFL season across Latin America.

• Brazil

While ESPN is the main NFL broadcaster in Brazil (meaning streams also available on Disney+), selected games are also shown on SporTV and the ge TV YouTube channel.

• Mexico

The 2026 NFL rights are split between ESPN, Fox Sports, TV Sky Sports and TelevisaUnivision in Mexico.

Europe

DAZN holds the exclusive broadcast rights to stream the NFL in many countries across Europe:

Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland.

Many countries, including some of those listed above, also have some NFL 2026 coverage on traditional TV networks:

• France

Free-to-air M6 will show one 2026 NFL game every Sunday in France, plus a selection of playoffs games and the Super Bowl.

Further coverage is available via beIN Sports.

• Germany

While DAZN is the main NFL rights-holder in Germany, select games will also be shown on RTL.

• Ireland

As explained above, Virgin Media and VM Play will show a selection of games every wee absolutely free. Sky Sports has more comprehensive coverage,

Asia

• India

Star Sports has the rights to the NFL in India.

• Japan

NTV G+ has the rights to show all NFL live streams in Japan, alongside DAZN/Game Pass.

Oceania

• Australia

Channels on Australia's free-to-air Seven Network will show at least two NFL games per week, both on TV and online via 7plus, as well as Super Bowl 61. Several weekly games will be shown on ESPN and via Kayo Sports and Disney+ online.

• New Zealand

TVNZ will show at least two NFL games for free each week, plus playoffs and the Super Bowl. Additional games will be available to watch on ESPN.

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• Multiple states have revealed tax exemptions have cost more than $1 billion in lost revenue, more than 10 times some estimates
• Data centers are 'playing God' with their frontier models and need to face more regulation, Bernie Sanders says
• An Act issuing serious consequences, such as prison time and 'corporate death sentences', has been submitted

For many states across the US, the best way to lure lucrative investment from big tech companies was to provide tax exemptions on the equipment they would buy to furnish their data centers.

Before the AI data center boom, this was seen as a fair trade for citizens and politicians alike. But now that multiple states have revealed they have missed out on billions in tax revenue the tune is quickly changing.

Coupled with the growing national opposition movement, revelations that numerous construction sites have been using illegal generators, and frequent breakouts of AI models undergoing testing, it's no small wonder that politicians across the country are calling for greater regulation and greater taxation on big tech and AI.

‘They seem to have more money than God’

Ohio is the catalyst for this exemption withdrawal. The state projected the tax exemptions would cost them just $136 million in lost revenue for 2026 - a worthy cost to attract new investment and potential jobs for a state that has seen a long-term decline in its traditional industries and slow recovery following the 2008 financial crisis.

The loss in tax revenue turned out to be $1.6 billion - 10 times more than expected, or just over 5% of Ohio’s total tax revenue for the 2026 fiscal year. Following the revelation and associated public fallout, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine issued a pause on applications for the sales tax exemption.

But Ohio representatives, such as Democratic Rep. Tristan Rader, believe there is more to be done. Rader has called for a renegotiation on the tax exemptions offered to hyperscalers such as Amazon, Meta, and Google. “They seem to have more money than God and they’re able to build without the need for these types of incentives,” Rader said (via WSJ).

Rader is now calling for AI data centers and their respective companies to face additional requirements before projects are approved, including higher taxation and requirements that companies pay more for the energy infrastructure they rely upon.

Ohio isn’t alone in losing out on such a significant sum. In 2021, Virginia’s data center tax exemptions were predicted to cost $57 million, and Georgia predicted a tax revenue loss of just under $500 million in 2025. Both states have revealed their data center tax exemptions have led to a tax revenue loss of almost $2 billion each. Texas has seen just over $1 billion lost in tax exemptions for data centers.

But extra taxes aren’t the only repercussions hyperscalers and AI companies are facing.

‘We can’t allow a handful of greedy people to play God’

Senator Bernie Sanders has renewed his calls for greater regulation on AI technologies. Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic have all recently revealed that their frontier AI models have escaped testing environments and wreaked havoc on third-parties.

There are also concerns that the guidelines behind the Trump administration's testing of AI tools could be hiding corruption, with Sanders stating that the control of AI technology is driven by “oligarchy & the power of Big Tech billionaires”.

In a post on X, Sanders wrote, “We can't allow a handful of greedy people to play God & determine the future of humanity.” Sanders also said that “CONGRESS MUST ACT” in a post accompanying the announcement of the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, sponsored by Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar.

The act seeks to pace US artificial intelligence development in line with international agreements, and implement export controls that would prevent AI superintelligence being developed anywhere in the world. The ultimate goal of the act is to prevent the development of AI technologies that exceed humanities control.

Casar added that, “Despite its potential deadly consequences, cutting-edge AI technology is less regulated than the average food truck.”

The Act also goes a step further than previous attempts at regulating AI. Companies and individuals who fail to align themselves with the Act’s regulations would face repercussions such as prison sentences of up to 20 years and, as Sanders put it, a “corporate death penalty”.

After watching Apple's iPhone Duo launch I was struck by one detail — its support for the Apple Pencil.

When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone in 2007 he famously posed the rhetorical question “Who wants a stylus?”. His argument was that you already have the best stylus you’d ever need with you at all times — your fingers.

Touchscreen displays have gone on to dominate smartphone and tablet design, and have proved far superior to the stylus as a way of navigating a software interface; but the humble stylus has always had its advocates, and it has never really gone away.

Some Samsung devices in particular can be used with a stylus — the S Pen. And, of course, Apple eventually capitulated and introduced the Apple Pencil for the iPad Pro, turning the tablet into a digital drawing pad for illustrators, artists and anyone who simply likes to sketch out ideas.

Perhaps I should clarify that Apple's first successful stylus was the Apple Pencil (2nd edition), rather than the original Apple Pencil. The original Apple Pencil had a terrible design that meant you had to remove a tiny, easily lost cap to charge it, and worse, the Pencil’s Lightning connector plugged directly into the iPad. That left the Pencil sticking precariously out of the tablet, so it was easy to knock, and seemingly designed to snap either the connector or the iPad’s port at some point. It also had no built-in way to attach securely to the iPad for storage.

In terms of Apple’s design failures, the original Apple Pencil is right up there with the Apple Magic Mouse, which has the charging port placement underneath, so it can’t be charged and used at the same time. Amazingly, that’s still the current design of the Magic Mouse, but Apple quickly did something about the Apple Pencil.

The Apple Pencil was fixed with the second-generation, which was released alongside a redesigned iPad Pro in 2018. Instead of plugging directly into the iPad’s Lightning port (such a bad idea) it attached magnetically to the iPad’s side, where it effortlessly paired, charged wirelessly and stayed stored. That eliminated both the precarious protruding connector and the removable cap.

Turning in his grave?

So would Steve Jobs really be turning in his grave right now to know that Apple’s new phone works with its stylus? I’m not so sure.

I went back and watched ​​the original iPhone keynote from 2007. Talking about styluses Jobs said, “Yuck! Who wants a stylus? You have to get ‘em, put ‘em away and you lose them. Nobody wants a stylus! [...] We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world. We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with. We’re born with ten of them, we’re going to use our fingers. We’re going to touch this with our fingers.”

Looking back, we can forgive him some of the hyperbole about the stylus at the launch of the iPhone because he was introducing what, for many people watching, was previously unthinkable — a way of using a screen-based smartphone that relied on just your fingers, and he had a battle to win people over and a point to make. In the broadest sense, he was right — touchscreen displays have proved far superior to the stylus as a way of navigating an interface; but the stylus has never really gone away.

The iPhone Duo’s secret weapon

Of course, back in Apple’s history there was another device that had a stylus, the Apple Newton MessagePad. It launched in 1993, came with a plastic stylus for writing, tapping and using its much-mocked handwriting recognition software. Jobs killed off the Newton in 1998, shortly after his return to Apple.

Apple generally called the Newton’s stylus a pen, rather than giving it a standalone product name. So the Apple Pencil wasn’t Apple’s first stylus. It was the company’s return to pen input after Steve Jobs had famously ridiculed styluses when introducing the iPhone.

The Apple Pencil was introduced four years after Jobs’ death in 2015, but I think he would have approved. People genuinely seem to love the Apple Pencil, despite it still having some flaws (there’s no eraser on the other end, for example) and it could even be the secret weapon in Apple’s new iPhone Duo’s success.

The fact that you can use the Apple Pencil with the new iPhone Duo immediately locks Apple’s new foldable phone tightly into Apple's ecosystem of connected devices. The Apple Pencil is expensive, but a lot of iPhone Duo buyers will already own an Apple Pencil, because Apple households tend to have quite a number of Apple devices already in them. (It would be wise to check which version of the Apple Pencil you own though, since the Apple press release only says the "iPhone Duo will support Apple Pencil with USB-C).

And that’s what could make Apple Pencil support much more than another feature on the spec sheet. The iPhone Duo’s folding screen gives people a larger canvas, but the Pencil gives them a reason to use it — for drawing, handwriting, annotating documents and editing photos with precision. Jobs’s real objection was to a stylus you needed simply to operate a phone; on the iPhone Duo, your fingers would still handle that perfectly well, and the Pencil would step in when it was genuinely the better tool. Far from turning in his grave, I suspect Jobs might have appreciated the distinction.

The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 have landed, along with a revolutionary folding iPhone at this year's Apple event, but despite major advancements under the hood, the feature that is standing out to me is a software-based one.

Siri Recaps is a new Audio Intelligence feature that turns your Apple Watch into an always-listening device. The idea is that Siri Recaps, which lives on the Siri app, uses the Apple Watch's sensors to provide a summary of your day, including conversations that have taken place. It can be toggled with a schedule, or at the top of the Smart Stack.

It's a little like the Amazon Bee, which is a microphone attached to a smart band, which is used to capture and summarize conversations. While I can see this feature as being useful for people who attend lots of meetings (having a virtual assistant taking minutes in the background all day long could be very useful), there are understandably privacy concerns here.

We're told the Recaps feature doesn't record or store audio and it can't show a transcript. Instead, it processes events live as they take place, using Siri AI to turn that raw data into actionable notes, never written into permanent storage. Below is a screenshot from Apple's presentation:

Your watch, like a smartphone or smart speaker, already has to always listen for a wake word (like 'Siri' or 'Alexa'), but the audio it's listening to is not logged or recorded: only interactions starting with the wake word are.

But add an always-listening AI assistant into the mix who's taking notes on your day-to-day, including your conversations with others who may not know they're being surveilled, and suddenly Apple's latest handy feature starts to look a lot creepier. Apple's other big new Audio Intelligence feature for watches is Live Rewind, which can produce a transcript of the last 15 seconds of audio on your watch face — whether a wake word was said, or not.

I'm frankly surprised Apple even went through with this feature at this time, considering the bans and backlash other AI-powered surveillance wearables are getting.

I'm thinking, of course, about Meta, and its smart glasses being banned in some public spaces and generally disparaged with names like 'pervert glasses'. Smart glasses have obviously garnered a real stigma thanks to people drilling out the LED recording light and using them to discreetly record inappropriately and without consent for clout, content, or their own personal use.

This has created a general feeling of malaise around wearables equipped with discreet cameras and microphones in general. Like Meta Glasses, the Live Rewind and Siri Recaps features have accessibility potential for those hard of hearing, but they're going to make most people uncomfortable.

Watch: Audio Intelligence features being announced

Apple is keen to evidence its trustworthiness, with on-device AI and Private Cloud Compute and an insistence that it doesn't record or log audio and transcripts. However, if people think they're being discreetly recorded without their permission, it's possible Apple Watch wearers could experience their own slice of the abuse hurled at Meta Glasses wearers.

I wrote earlier this year that wearable tech has to separate itself from surveillance capitalism if it wishes to be cool again. It seems Apple has taken a step in the other direction.

Update: Apple has published an article on its website, specifically about Audio Intelligence, and much has been made about how Audio Intelligence protects user privacy and is used responsibly. You can read the full article here.

In short, Apple says audio is not recorded or stored because "there is no recording to share, forward, or produce if requested by any party, because no recording exists". Instead, audio data is processed by Siri live, and raw audio "is never accessible".

Your data is not accessible to Apple either, thanks to Private Cloud Compute, and "independent security experts can verify this promise at any time". Siri Recaps auto-delete after seven days too. Apple is serious about getting users to trust this feature.

• Apple introduced a mechanical aperture for the first time in an iPhone camera
• It's included in the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max's main camera
• The hardware-based feature offers (limited) manual control over exposure and depth of field

In Apple's big iPhone 18 event, the headline upgrade in the new iPhone 18 camera, from my perspective as a professional photographer, is the company's first mechanical aperture ('variable aperture', as Apple likes to call it).

This feature is not only a first for Apple, it's a rarity in smartphones — Huawei equips several of its flagship devices with one, including its Pura 80 Ultra and other current models.

My 'proper' camera gear has this feature too — whether that's a premium compact camera like my Ricoh GR IV, or the lenses I pair with my pro Nikon mirrorless camera.

But what is a mechanical aperture, why would you want one, and how will it impact the camera experience in the latest crop of iPhones? Let's dive in.

What is aperture and why is it important?

Until now, all iPhones, and indeed the majority of smartphones, feature a fixed-lens aperture. The main camera in the iPhone 17 Pro, for example, has a bright f/1.78 aperture.

That just changed with the iPhone 18 Pro series, and its six mechanical aperture blades, which are thinner than a human hair, and made from a polymer composite.

When I'm using my proper camera gear, aperture tends to be the first manual exposure control I think about — for me it's the single most important camera setting for getting the image to look the way I want, and I change it based on what I'm photographing.

Aperture size determines how much light reaches the camera's sensor; a bigger aperture lets in more light (useful for capturing detail in low light, like at night), while a smaller aperture lets in less light (ideal for, say, a bright sunny day to avoid overly bright images).

Aperture also impacts depth of field; a bigger aperture equals shallower depth of field (useful for punchy portraits when you want to blur backgrounds), while a smaller aperture results in more of the scene being in sharp focus (which is what you might want for, say, landscape photography).

With no control over aperture size, and with small sensors, most phones including iPhone rely on computational photography (software-based) to get effects such as background blur or punchy low light shots — think the portrait and night settings on your phone.

A mechanical aperture, on the other hand, can be opened-up and closed-down, according to the scene you're capturing. The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra, for example, features a f/1.6-4.0 aperture main camera. The user can manually adjust how much light is reaching the sensor at the aperture level. (Shutter speed is the other main factor of exposure.)

Did iPhone cameras just get serious?

I want to be clear from the off — the smaller the sensor size, the less impactful a mechanical aperture is regarding depth of field control.

The iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max's sensor size appears to still be smaller than the 1-inch type in Chinese flagship's such as the Xiaomi 17 Ultra and Oppo Find X8 Ultra. As such, there's less need to close down the aperture to increase depth of field.

But you'll also notice that the iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max's mechanical aperture range starts at f/1.48 and can be closed down to f/4 — so there's more light entering compared to the previous generation of iPhones too. Apple says this makes it great for indoor portraits and astrophotography.

Exposure control and image sharpness are the big other benefits here, though. Stopping aperture down from f/1.48 to f/4 reduces the amount of light hitting the camera's sensor, and is certainly useful when shooting in bright light.

It enables slower shutter speeds, which is super handy for video recording which natively needs slower shutter speeds compared to photography for smooth motion (and Apple has added the ability to change the shutter speed when video recording), and even for long exposure effects.

A smaller aperture can also increase image quality because you're more likely to get more in focus, and you're using the sharpest central area of the lens, which should deliver the crispest possible detail, without the softness and lens distortion that you typically get with a wide open aperture.

I still expect that that the iPhone's computational skills deliver more obvious improvements in image quality, both creatively and technically.

Portrait mode convincingly blurs backgrounds. Night mode increases light hitting the sensor at a shutter speed level, paired nicely with processing that increases dynamic range and sharpens detail.

But a mechanical aperture is sure to please serious photographers and filmmakers shooting with iPhone. For certain users and situations, it takes on some of the work rather than software doing all of the heavy lifting, and providing us more control.

It's just unlikely to suddenly make your iPhone shots way better just on its own, but I'm excited for the extra control it gives me.

• The city of El Reno, Oklahoma, has condemned a Bitcoin mining site after roughly 3.8 million gallons of water leaked, affecting schools, businesses, and even the county courthouse
• The leak happened despite a stop-work order issued by the city in 2023, which it never followed up on or attempted to enforce
• The water came from an unpermitted private fire hydrant and suppression line, even as the mining facility remained, as per filings by the operator, air-cooled for its operations

A city of roughly 20,000 people in central Oklahoma spent two days hunting for water that was pouring into the ground at an alarming rate.

When crews finally traced it, the source was a fire hydrant nobody at City Hall knew existed, on the grounds of a Bitcoin mining site that had been ordered to stop building three years earlier but had never followed through.

The city of El Reno has now condemned the property, issued a ten-day abatement notice, and scheduled an administrative hearing for September 14 2026.

Flaws in the handling of its own orders

City officials say the leak came from a private fire hydrant and the suppression line feeding it, not from cooling equipment. KFOR reported that Athlon had told El Reno its hardware was air-cooled and would not need water for cooling, and that the line in question was supposed to serve fire protection only.

Interim City Manager Ken Brown told reporters roughly 3.8 million gallons were lost, revising up an earlier estimate of about three million. The property is owned by Athlon BT, described in Canadian County assessor records as a company running data centers for AI storage and Bitcoin mining, and its structures are logged as mobile mining containers.

The company identifies itself as "Athlon Blockchain Technology Corporation" on its website, which is currently undergoing "scheduled maintenance" and is under fire for what is being seen as an unauthorized or unplanned water hydrant.

Ironically, the company has, at least on its website before it went dark recently, advertised "hydro-cooled solutions" in addition to its air-cooled offerings, which should raise a few eyebrows about its current claim, even as the brunt of the focus lies on the city's failure to shut down the endeavor.

The offending hydrant was installed without notifying the city, does not appear on municipal records, and was reportedly found concealed under a large pile of brush.

Brown said the city issued a stop-work order in June 2023 citing electrical, construction, and fire safety violations, along with expired building and electrical permits; gave Athlon until December 2023 to comply; and then never followed up. The company consequently continued building and, the city believes, began operating without a certificate of occupancy.

It doesn't help matters that there is little, if any, information about the operator beyond its website, which is currently under maintenance. KFOR's Spencer Humphrey traced the company to founder and CEO Tony Jiang Shi, a Stanford graduate based in Palo Alto who has registered several other LLCs used mostly for real estate.

The city has, for its part, claimed that residents will not pay for any of this and that it will bill the property owner for water, overtime, and equipment used to locate and repair the leak.

Finding the owner might be easier said than done, however; county records list Athlon's address as an El Reno house a couple of miles from the site, which the station found apparently abandoned, with packages piled on the porch addressed to Shi. Calls and emails from multiple outlets have gone unanswered, and Athlon has issued no statement since the situation started.

• 3 points

Data centers across the United States have been criticized for harming local environments sourcing power - sometimes illegally - from gas burning turbines that can release harmful pollutants into the air surrounding local communities.

But dozens of data centers have been accused of releasing harmful chemicals, heavy metals, and rare bacteria with the wastewater they release into nearby treatment facilities and waterways.

Violations have been logged for data centers in Wyoming, Virginia, New York, and Georgia, but the problem likely extends far across the rest of the US. Information on water usage and discharge for many data centers is hard to come by - or is being actively blocked.

Pollutants released into water across the US

In Wyoming, Meta was recently forced to halt water discharges from the construction site of its enormous 960-acre Cheyenne campus after a resistant bacterium - Cupriavidus gilardii - was found within a local water treatment facility.

The bacterium was identified after regulators tested a sample of the 801,000 gallons Meta had discharged into Cheyenne’s sewers. Following concerns that local residents could inhale droplets of the contaminated water if it was used for irrigation, local officials decided to stop accepting wastewater from the construction site.

Two water treatment facilities were forced offline as part of a multi-month decontamination and cleanup operation. Meta’s contractor responsible for the site, Goat Systems, is appealing the decision of officials to stop accepting wastewater from the site.

Multiple data centers across Virginia are facing enforcement actions from local authorities for violating wastewater and wetland regulations. In one such case, a data center under construction in West Virginia has funneled stormwater runoff into a local residential area, causing flooding on two occasions.

A data center near Lake Seneca, New York, is facing criticism from the Seneca Lake Guardian organization. The site was previously a cryptocurrency mining data center, but has been transitioning towards handling AI workloads instead. Seneca Lake Guardian has said that wastewater from the site flows directly into Lake Seneca at temperatures of up to 108F (42C), which can harm fish living in the lake and cause blooms of toxic algae.

The company behind the data center, Vulcan Infrastructure and Power, says it complies with all relevant environmental laws.

Multiple new data centers in Georgia have been approved to draw water from the Chattahoochee river, but local environmental guardians, such as water policy director at Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Chris Manganiello, are being blindsided by a complete lack of information on how much water will be taken from the river, and what will be put back in.

“We need to know what is in this wastewater but there is a void of information,” Mangeniello told The Guardian. “I would like there to not be more Pfas [forever chemicals] going into the river but there is this level of anxiety because we don’t know what’s there.”

Don’t throw the Pfas out with the cooling water

Data centers pump water through miles of pipes crisscrossing their hardware in order to draw away excess heat. While there have been moves towards “closed-loop” cooling technology - where the water used is recycled within the system - there are still valid environmental concerns associated with these systems.

Before using a closed-loop system, the pipes need to be flushed through with water to wash away any debris or contaminants that were deposited within the pipes during assembly. This water is then released back into sewers to be cleaned by local treatment plants.

But many water treatment plants simply aren’t built to handle filtering water that contains industrial contaminants. These contaminants can include heavy metals or Pfas that can cause health problems in humans and animals.

Data centers are also being built in drought-hit regions, largely because the land is cheap, placing additional strain on already struggling water tables. Data centers can use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day to stay operational, and while closed-loop systems ensure this water is only taken out of the cycle once, it is still a significant sum of water to remove from regions experiencing droughts.

• Microsoft has fixed no fewer than 974 vulnerabilities in its latest Patch Tuesday release
• Two were already being exploited in the wild, 114 categorized as 'Critical'
• AI is to blame for boosting CVE discovery and also intensifying attacks

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday has become its biggest security release on record, with the company issuing fixes for a staggering 974 vulnerabilities across the entire stack.

According to the company's release notes, an overwhelming majority (723) of the vulnerabilities addressed related to Windows, with Office coming in at second place with 111 of its own vulnerabilities being addressed.

While it's clear that the number of vulnerabilities is going up year-over-year, it's likely that the company was also simply able to find more of them that would otherwise have slipped through the net thanks to AI-assisted discovery tools.

This is Microsoft's biggest Patch Tuesday ever

Speaking about the September 2026 Patch Tuesday in a blog post, Dustin Childs explains that this could be the start of the "new normal." Childs goes on to reveal that Microsoft has patched 2,760 CVEs this year to date – more than double any other year that precedes it.

Childs' figures show that the company patched 1,139 CVEs in the whole of 2025, and a much lower 492 a decade ago in 2016. According to the post, 114 of the vulnerabilities patched in this latest update were 'Critical' – more than one in 10.

In its own notes, Microsoft described CVE-2026-85880 and CVE-2026-81963 as especially notable because they're both being actively exploited, hence the push to get them fixed and for customers to install the update.

Elsewhere in the industry, Microsoft isn't the only company addressing a higher volume of bugs. Childs also highlighted high activity from Adobe, while a number of browser developers including Google, Mozilla, Brave and Microsoft itself have doubled the release cycle to two weeks in order to get fixes into customer hands more quickly.

Besides fixing exploitable bugs, Microsoft also used the opportunity to issue fixes to known issues – including fixing Teams and Outlook crashes on Arm64 PCs – as well as to upgrade Copilot+ AI components.

• Watch Napoli vs Arsenal FREE on Virgin Media Play (Ireland)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save up to 75%)
• Napoli vs Arsenal kick-off: Wednesday, September 9 at 3pm ET / 8pm BST

Watch Napoli vs Arsenal live streams as last season’s beaten finalists visit the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona hoping to start the Champions League 2026/27 league phase with a victory.

After the heartbreak of losing on penalties to PSG in the Champions League final, Arsenal have rebuilt strongly this summer. Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa and Christos Tzolis have added plenty of quality, with the trio all featuring in recent weeks as the reigning Premier League champions have begun the domestic campaign with three straight victories. After the weekend's 2-1 come-from-behind win against Chelsea, the Gunners will hope to carry that form into Europe and inflict a third successive defeat on Max Allegri’s side.

Napoli failed to make it out of the league phase last season and come into this year’s competition on the back of two disappointing results. Beaten 2-1 by Como, the Little Donkeys then threw away a two-goal lead on Saturday to lose 3-2 to reigning Serie A champions Inter Milan. The one positive for the Italian side is the form of Rasmus Hojlund, who bagged in both defeats, but they must do without Scott McTominay while the Scot undergoes a minor heart operation for a mild benign arrhythmia.

Here's how to watch Napoli vs Arsenal in the 2026/27 Champions League from anywhere in the world.

Can you watch Napoli vs Arsenal for free?

Yes. Napoli vs Arsenal is being shown on free-to-air Virgin Media Two in Ireland, with live streaming available via Virgin Media Play.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Napoli vs Arsenal for free as if you were right at home.

Napoli vs Arsenal team news

Napoli XI: Meret, Olivera, Marin, Rrahmani, Di Lorenzo, De Bruyne, Lobotka, Gilmour, Santos, Hojlund, Politano

Subs: Favasuli, Badiashile, Neres, Contini, Lucca, Vergara, Beukema, Milinkovic-Savic, Spinazzola

Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie, Rice, Merino, Odegaard, Saka, Eze, Gyokeres

Subs: Kepa, Meslier, Tzolis, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Salmon

Use a VPN to watch Napoli vs Arsenal live streams

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How to watch Napoli vs Arsenal live streams in the US

In the US, the Napoli vs Arsenal game is being shown on Paramount+.

The streaming service, which is showing all 189 games of the 2026/27 Champions League campaign, starts at $8.99/month or $89.99/year.

However, you can access Paramount+ virtually for free with a Walmart Plus 30-day trial for $1.

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How to watch Napoli vs Arsenal live streams in the UK

In the UK, Napoli vs Arsenal is being shown on TNT Sports 2.

You can add TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or get an HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports. Prices start at £25.99/month if you commit to a

Visiting the UK from Ireland? Get NordVPN and access your free Virgin Media Play stream during your stay.

How to watch Napoli vs Arsenal live streams in Australia

Napoli vs Arsenal, along with all 189 games of the 2026/27 Champions League season, is available to watch on Stan Sport in Australia.

Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$9.99/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 Napoli vs Arsenal live streams in Canada

The Napoli vs Arsenal game is available to watch on DAZN in Canada.

DAZN, which is showing all 189 Champions League 2026/27 fixtures, starts at CA$24.99/month, for a plan that also includes EFL, Carabao Cup, Bundesliga and NFL coverage.

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.

• Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid: Wednesday, September 9 at 8pm BST / 3pm ET
• Free Stream: RTE Player (Ireland)
• Away from home? Use NordVPN to unblock your live stream

Watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid live streams as Reds head coach Andoni Iraola takes charge of his first European match in a potential Champions League 2026/27 classic at Anfield.

The Basque boss recorded his first win as Liverpool boss last Friday, a 2-0 win at Ipswich after worryingly topsy-turvy 2-2 draws with Newcastle and Nottingham Forest. Alexander Isak's early brace at Portman Road was a positive sign that the Swede is coming back into form after a tough first season on Merseyside, while Barcelona loanee Ronald Araujo added solidity to a hitherto creaking defense at right-back. Bradley Barcola, recently signed from PSG, is pushing for a start.

Atleti slipped up at the weekend, losing 3-0 to Iraola's alma mater Athletic Bilbao after opening La Liga with seven points from their opening three games. The three-time beaten finalists are desperate to go one better this year and was why Diego Simeone dug in his heels to prevent Argentine compatriot Julian Alvarez from joining Barcelona this summer. The 26-year-old forward is being reintegrated into the squad after agitating for the move, while Colchonero captain Koke, now 34, will make his 150th Champions League appearance if he features tonight.

Here's how to watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid in the 2026/27 Champions League from anywhere in the world.

Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid team news

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Araujo, Van Dijk, Jacquet, Kerkez, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Barcola, Ngumoha, Isak

Atletico Madrid XI: Oblak, Llorente, Pubill, Romero, Hancko, G. Simeone, Barrios, Koke, Baena, Kang-in, Alvarez

Watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid for FREE

You can stream Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid for free on RTE2 in Ireland and via the RTE Player streaming service.

This doesn't require an account sign-up or any subscription.

Abroad? Unlock your free Champions League stream with NordVPN.

How to watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid 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 and extra three months for free...

How to watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid live streams in the USA

In the US, you can watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid in the UCL on Paramount+.

Paramount+ subscriptions start at $8.99/month, rising to $13.99 to remove ads. You can also get a Paramount Plus trial with Walmart+ for $1 as with this sneaky trick we found.

Outside of the US? Use a VPN whilst you're traveling away from home to unlock your stream.

How to watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid live streams in the UK

In the UK, Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid is being broadcast on TNT Sports 1 and their streaming platform HBO Max.

You can add TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or get an HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports. Prices start at £25.99/month if you commit to a year.

Those visiting the UK from Ireland can explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access the free stream.

How to watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid live streams in Canada

In Canada, DAZN is broadcasting Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

You'll need DAZN's soccer package, which starts at CA$24.99/month.

Not in Canada? Use NordVPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your preferred Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid coverage from anywhere.

How to watch Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid live streams in Australia

A Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid live stream is available in Australia on Stan Sport.

You can pick up a Stan Sport subscription for as little as AU$29.99 per month for the basic plan containing adds. That price consists of the AU$9.99 Stan subscription fee plus the Sport add-on for AU$20.

Outside of Oz? You can use NordVPN to access your usual Champions League coverage.

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.

• Nearly half of the top mobile apps collect your browsing history
• Social media apps are the worst offenders
• Avoiding in-app browsers can limit data collection

You probably assume your web browser is the only app keeping tabs on where you go online. According to new research from Surfshark, that assumption is incorrect.

The cybersecurity firm analyzed 40 of the most popular Android and iOS apps and found that 18 of them, or 45%, report collecting users' browsing history in their app store privacy labels. In other words, nearly half of the apps you open every day may be logging the websites you visit.

Even the best VPN cannot fully stop an app from recording what you do inside its own walls, which makes understanding what you are signing up for more important than ever.

What Surfshark found

Surfshark's team looked at 40 leading apps split evenly across four categories: generative AI, social media, e-commerce, and messaging.

For each one, the researchers checked whether its Apple App Store label reported collecting "Browsing History" and whether its Google Play label reported "Web Browsing History."

Social media came out as the biggest collector by far. Nine of the 10 social apps studied collect browsing history on at least one platform. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Pinterest do so on both Android and iOS, while Reddit, LinkedIn, and Snapchat collect it on Android only. Discord was the only social app that collected it on neither.

E-commerce came next, with half of the shopping apps analyzed collecting the data on at least one platform.

Messaging was less hungry, with only Rakuten Viber, Messenger, and LINE gathering it, echoing earlier findings on how much data messaging apps collect.

In the generative AI category, Google Gemini was the only app of the 10 to report collecting browsing history.

NEW: Leave No Trace — A weekly newsletter on digital privacy and online surveillance.

Leave No Trace investigates the companies and governments putting our digital freedom at risk — and the people fighting back.

📩 Subscribe now to get every edition delivered to your inbox every Friday, launching this September.

Why apps want your browsing history

The logic is straightforward: the more an app knows about where you go online, the more precisely it can target ads and shape the content in your feed.

As Surfshark's lead system engineer Karolis Kaciulis explains, many apps now route external links through their own "embedded browsers," so the moment you tap a link, they can track what you search for and look at.

The important thing to remember here is that most of these social media and shopping apps do not need your browsing history to provide their services. The practice is not related to providing value to users, and simply takes place to benefit the app companies.

Kaciulis argues that consent for this is usually buried in the fine print, and that the apps fighting hardest to keep you inside their own browser tend to be the ones selling ads rather than the ones that need your history to function.

How to stay safe

There is no single switch that turns all of this off, but a few habits can go a long way.

The easiest is to sidestep in-app browsers: when you tap a link, use the "Open in default browser" option or paste the URL into your default browser, which stops the host app from watching where you go next.

Pair this with switching to a privacy-focused browser, and you'll be able to avoid a lot of the worst data-collecting practices without much effort.

• NordVPN blocked over 5 million malware attempts in January alone
• 99% of phishing attacks impersonate just 300 brands
• AI tools and fraud kits mean attackers no longer need advanced skills

We are well past the days when a cyberattack meant mass-mailing a poorly spelled virus. In 2026, cybercriminals are heavily leveraging generative AI to make their scams highly personal, industrializing fraud on a massive scale.

That is the stark warning from the Consumer Cybersecurity Report: Dismantling the Evolving Threat Landscape, published today by NordVPN. Analyzing threat intelligence data from the first half of the year, the prominent cybersecurity and best VPN provider uncovered that the most exploited vulnerability right now isn't outdated software; it is human trust.

Armed with unrestricted AI models and ready-to-use fraud kits, scammers have drastically lowered the entry barrier for digital crime. The focus has decisively shifted from complex technical exploits to highly targeted campaigns that weaponize greed, urgency, and our faith in familiar brands.

"Bad actors are weaponizing our natural instinct to believe what we see and hear," says Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN, warning that these attacks no longer require advanced skills or significant resources. "Anyone with an internet connection can launch them."

It's in this context that "A single human error is now more likely than ever and likely to be more devastating than ever," Briedis added.

The numbers behind the threat

NordVPN analyzes 12 million unique URLs daily, blocking an average of 130,000 malicious pages every 24 hours before they can reach a user — a critical defense mechanism as NordVPN’s antivirus tool continues to block massive volumes of malicious sites.

Malware remains the single largest threat by volume. January 2026 saw a massive peak of over 5 million blocked attempts as attackers preyed on post-holiday shoppers. Most of these were infostealers aiming to grab saved login credentials.

The US was the hardest hit with 4.89 million attempts across the first half of the year, followed by the UK (2 million) and Germany (1.32 million).

Phishing is equally rampant. NordVPN blocked over 4.4 million phishing attempts in the first half of the year, noting that 99% of these attacks impersonate a narrow list of just 300 brands, often disguised as fake job recruiter campaigns.

Microsoft was the most impersonated company (16.12%), followed by Roblox (12.32%), Google (9.94%), and Netflix (5.99%). Adding to the danger, attackers frequently exploit the trusted .com domain, which accounts for 43.2% of all intercepted scams.

NEW: Leave No Trace — A weekly newsletter on digital privacy and online surveillance.

Leave No Trace investigates the companies and governments putting our digital freedom at risk — and the people fighting back.

📩 Subscribe now to get every edition delivered to your inbox every Friday, launching this September.

Hijacked sessions and the Dark Web

While users are increasingly wary of downloading fake apps or clicking shady links hidden in pirate sites, attackers are finding stealthier ways in.

Between January 1 and May 26, 2026, a staggering 94 billion cookies were exposed online. Of these, 1.2 billion were active session cookies, which cybercriminals can use to hijack accounts without needing a password, often completely bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Once data is stolen, it is swiftly commodified. Using its Dark Web Monitoring tools, NordVPN identified 8.4 million compromised accounts in just 90 days.

Frighteningly, over 47% of the exchanged data involved physical addresses and full names, allowing attackers to weave digital and real-world identifiers together into comprehensive victim profiles.

Telephony isn't safe, either. Between the service's launch and June 16, NordVPN blocked nearly 29,000 scam calls and issued spam warnings to over 525,000 users.

How to stay safe

Because technical barriers for criminals are lower than ever, defensive strategies must evolve. NordVPN's report stresses that consumer protection now requires a mix of both technological defenses and behavioral resilience.

Alongside using security tools like a virtual private network (VPN) and antivirus software, users must cultivate a healthy skepticism. If a message, email, or website demands urgent action or offers something too good to be true, pause and verify.

In the age of AI-driven fraud, a moment of hesitation is your best line of defense.

• The official trailer for Mike Flanagan's Prime Video adaptation of Carrie has been released
• All eight episodes of the series are set to drop on October 7, 2026
• Summer H. Howell stars in the titular role

The official trailer for Mike Flanagan's Prime Video adaptation of Carrie has been released, which you can catch up with in full below.

Following the same narrative as the Stephen King novel and subsequent 1976 horror movie starring Sissy Spacek, we can expect the new eight-episode series to "pull back the curtain on the urgent and arresting reinvention, bringing new depth and complexity to its beloved characters while exploring the forces that shape Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) as she navigates the cruelty and pressure of the modern world - building toward a single, shattering night.

"But how much do we really know about Carrie — or what happened in Chamberlain?"

Series regulars include Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White, Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, Alison Thornton as Chris Hargensen, Joel Oulette as Tommy Ross, Josie Totah as Tina, Arthur Conti as Billy, Thalia Dudek as Emaline, Amber Midthunder as Miss Desjardin, and Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle.

Given that streamable titles such as Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher are all already under Flanagan's belt, you might have expected the below trailer to feel a little more... spooky.

However, I think that there's a clever reason why it doesn't, and it's all thanks to Amazon.

Opinion: Prime Video's Carrie series looks frustratingly like yet another YA release

Even just within 2026 alone, Prime Video has an exceptional track record when it comes to creating popular young adult (YA) dramas. Shows like Off Campus, Every Year After and Sterling Point have helped to cement its status as the go-to streaming service for the genre.

As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So if YA is a successful Amazon niche, why not make as much of its content fit the bill as possible? I watch the trailer above and don't see disturbing scares, but fairly run-of-the-mill teenage drama.

Of course, I'm getting ahead of myself here to a certain extent. Flanagan is seemingly allergic to creating bad (or bland) TV, and if a trailer is doing its job properly, what's waiting for us is hidden away rather than shown. It could be the case that the Carrie trailer is a total red herring for what's actually to come... and that idea is incredibly exciting.

I really hope I'm right — as brilliant as Prime Video's YA stories are, I don't want to see another in this instance. Bring on the pig's blood, that's all I'm saying.

• CISA, NSA, FBI warn Chinese AI firms of industrial‑scale knowledge distillation
• Companies like DeepSeek, Moonshot, Alibaba allegedly extracted billions of tokens from US frontier models
• Advisory urges detection of malicious prompts, deceptive responses to distillation, and cross‑provider intelligence sharing

Chinese AI companies’ core development strategy is to steal proprietary functionalities and capabilities from their US counterparts, law enforcement agencies have warned.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published a new security advisory, drafted jointly with the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), warning American AI companies about an ongoing “aggressive, malicious, and targeted distillation activities at an industrial scale,” and sharing recommended mitigation steps.

Knowledge distillation

IBM defines knowledge distillation as a “machine learning technique that aims to transfer the learnings of a large pre-trained model, the ‘teacher model,’ to a smaller ‘student model’.” It is used in deep learning as a form of model compression and knowledge transfer, it added, particularly for massive deep neural networks.

So, knowledge distillation is not illegal or malicious, per se. Its goal is to train a more compact model to mimic a larger, more complex one. In the security advisory, the agencies stress it is “recognized as a legitimate and useful technique in AI research,” but add that China-based AI companies are using it in ill will.

In other words, the agencies claim that instead of spending months and millions developing new capabilities for their models, the Chinese are simply sending huge numbers of carefully designed questions to US models and extracting the answers.

Which companies are engaged in knowledge distillation?

Apparently, all companies worth anything. DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI all allegedly “extracted billions of tokens across millions of exchanges/requests from US frontier AI models, including variants of Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Grok, since at least late 2024.” CISA also stressed that this was likely done with the awareness of the Chinese government. It hasn’t outright said, “with its blessing”, although it could be read between the lines.

The advisory shares a thorough list of all the models that were being trained, as well as all the models being taken advantage of.

On the Chinese side, they include DeepSeek R1 and V3 models, Moonshot’s Kimi-K2 and Kimi-K3 models, and MiniMax’s M2 model. On the US side, they start with earlier models such as GPT-4, Claude 3.7, and Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview, all the way to Claude Fable 5, GPT-5, and similar.

When done in good faith, knowledge distillation is not illegal. However, the report says the companies routed the requests through multiple accounts, different API access points, multiple cloud providers, third-party AI aggregators, proxy services and “transfer stations”, as well as premium subscriptions shared between developers, all in an attempt to work around defenders trying to disrupt the process.

“This represents systematic extraction of proprietary functionalities and capabilities threatening U.S. technological leadership. Addressing industrial-scale distillation merits a coordinated response across the AI ecosystem, including effective information-sharing, spanning the U.S. Government, private industry, and allied nations,” the agencies concluded.

What US companies should be doing

To defend their intellectual property (and thus remain ahead of Chinese competing models) US AI companies should implement comprehensive detection and mitigation, the agencies said. That means hunting for anomalous and malicious prompts, accounts, networks, and behaviors. Furthermore, they should monitor subscription-to-usage ratios, immediate maximum usage from new accounts, and enterprise-scale throughput patterns.

The second step is to “deploy targeted response changes”: “Subtly alter responses for suspected malicious distillation attempts to attenuate the payoffs to companies conducting industrial-scale distillation campaigns.” In other words, AI companies should make sure their products lie when they spot they were being distilled for knowledge.

Finally, US AI firms should set up cross-organization intelligence sharing, correlating activity across model providers, cloud platforms, and API aggregators.

The latest Nintendo Direct has concluded, and what a cracker of a show!

It delivered a huge number of titles for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 owners to look forward to, with some big new entries in major franchises like Kirby and Metroid.

There were also plenty of exciting ports, like three new Resident Evil ports, two Far Cry games, and more. Lots of existing titles also got big upgrades in the form of new Switch 2 Editions or free updates.

There are more maps coming to Mario Kart World later today, for example, and Pikmin 4 is getting a comprehensive Switch 2 upgrade.

If you didn't manage to catch the show, you can see a bullet point list of all the announcements in the order that they happened below.

Everything announced at Nintendo Direct – 09/09/2026

• Monster Hunter Wilds Nintendo Switch 2 port shown, includes all updates — launches on December 4
  • Ascendance expansion is also coming in 2027
• Final Fantasy 7 Revelation trailer shown — launches on April 8, with pre-orders beginning later today
• Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion launches on Nintendo Switch 2 later today
• Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity Definitive Edition coming to Nintendo Switch 2 with visual upgrades and new modes — out February 25
• Viral hit Meccha Chamelon is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 later today
• Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass DLC is adding some cute new accessories later this year
• Star Fox is getting a free update with four split-screen players in battle mode, plus three new stages
• Star Fox Adventures from the Nintendo GameCube is coming to Nintendo Classics later today
• Some Nintendo Switch 2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered footage shown — out September 29
  • Songs of the Past expansion also shown — coming in 2027
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Royal Edition is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027
• Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave new trailer shown — game still set to launch on September 17
• Professor Layton and the New World of Steam finally gets a new trailer showing puzzle gameplay — set to have the biggest number of puzzles yet when it arrives on December 10
• New Yokai Watch game revealed — Yokai Watch 2 Haunted Domain currently in development
• Nintendo Switch 2 Edition version of Pikmin 4 confirmed — adds voice commands, new mode, and more when it comes out
• Onyx The Dead Grip — new horror game from Bloober Team launches as a Switch 2 exclusive next year, can only be played in handheld mode
• New sizzle reel for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
• Stage Fright, a new spooky game from the developers of Overcooked shown — comes to Switch and Switch 2 next year
• Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Keepsake Sea — the game's next paid expansion with underwater areas
• Ondeh Ondeh Kaya's Tasty Tale — a charming rhythm adventure out in 2027
• Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight finally releasing for Switch 2 on September 18
• New Kirby Air Riders amiibo will launch on November 12
• Cairn port arriving in early 2027, with demo out today
• Resident Evil 2 Deluxe Edition, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition all coming on October 16
• Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis Switch 2 trailer shown — out February 12, 2027
• New Nintendo Switch Sports Resort trailer showing free island exploration — Switch 2 exclusive coming October 22
• New 2D Metroid title revealed — Metroid Ravenous, out January 28, 2027
• Big free update with ten new courses, plus two new knockout tour routes, is coming to Mario Kart World today
• Mega Man: Dual Override gameplay trailer shows off Proto Man
  • New Mega Man and Proto Man amiibo also revealed
• New RPG Eternal Anima shown — comes to Switch 2 on March 4, 2027
• Danganronpa 2x2 port revealed with new 'Slayhem' mode out on January 14, 2027, for Switch and Switch 2
• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves port is on the way in October
• Metal Slug Ultimate Collection revealed with loads of games — out for Switch and Switch 2 next year
• Yo-Gi-Oh! Tag Force GX port revealed for Switch and Switch 2 — launches February 16, 2027
• Romance Saga 3: Destinies United remake for Switch and Switch 2 also out February 16, 2027
• 007 First Light is actually launching at some point this year, apparently
• Far Cry 3 Classic Edition coming to Switch in 2027
• Far Cry Blood Dragon Classic Edition on the way too
• The Crew Motorfest Switch 2 port shown in the sizzle reel
• The Apothecary Diaries: The First Imperial Brother out in early 2027
• House Flipper 2 out October 15
• Sonic Pico Park spin dashing on to Switch and Switch 2 on November 12
• Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World out on December 3
• Torneko's Mystery Dungeon Classic HD is available later today
• Hela port launching on December 1
• Criksholm The Stolen Dream is coming to Switch 2 on December 3
• Stellar Blade Complete Edition shown with Bayonetta crossover costume
• The Ascent Complete Edition is out in December
• It Takes Two comes out on October 15 for Switch 2
• Palia Nintendo Switch 2 Edition out in December
• Bluey's Happy Snaps — brief bit of new footage shown
• Hot Wheels Infinite Rush dropping on September 10
• Fading Echo out on September 17 — demo later today
• Hell is Us port shown, out October 8
• Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Encore Edition dropping on November 5 — pre-order today
• Surprise Persona 4 Revival trailer shows off loads of new gameplay
• Persona 6 logo shown on screen
• The final announcement is a new Kirby game that looks almost open-world — called Kirby and the World Beyond and out in Spring 2027

VOD

You can also catch up with the video on demand (VOD) version of the stream via YouTube below.

What did you think?

• Some Android Auto users are missing the Google Maps speedometer
• The feature only recently rolled out to a wider group of people
• Real-time traffic data on the map has also vanished for a number of users

Google Maps has only recently started showing speed limit information on Android Auto screens — so recently that it hasn't reached everyone yet — but now users are reporting that the speedometer has started disappearing unexpectedly, together with real-time traffic data in some cases.

Reports appearing on Reddit (via 9to5Google) suggest the problem isn't affecting everyone, and comes and goes intermittently, but is definitely a real issue. Stop signs and traffic signals also appear to be affected by the same bug.

Some commenters on Reddit are saying that the speedometer shows up in Android Auto when connected to the phones of some family members but not others. That might indicate the problem is related to a specific Android or app version somehow.

Other users say the bug is connected to switching to or from the beta versions of Android Auto and Google Maps, which could be another explanation of what's happening. For now though, Google hasn't officially acknowledged that there's an issue.

Affecting some but not all

The problem of real-time traffic information not showing up has actually been going on for longer, and seems to be sticking around. Again, it doesn't look like a vast number of users are affected, but the bug is definitely having an impact for some.

With so many different Android device models, software versions (including betas), and vehicle types involved, it's perhaps no surprise that annoyances like this crop up from time to time — but that doesn't make the experience any less frustrating for users.

At least one Redditor in the main complaints thread has already quit Google Maps over the decision to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America in the app, under the direction of the White House, which does mean no need to worry any more about these bugs.

The good news for everyone who's sticking around is that Google regularly rolls out updates for Android, Google Maps, and Android Auto, and so we're hoping that these problems are sorted sooner rather than later. In the meantime, if you're seeing these issues, you'll just have to sit tight and wait for a fix to appear.

• Windows 11's latest update has arrived
• The September update brings in the ability to move the taskbar
• There are also new options for resizing the Start menu, and a really useful tweak for Windows 11's search function

Windows 11's latest update has arrived, and it packs some important new features for the interface of the desktop OS.

Bleeping Computer flagged all the additions in the September 2026 update for Windows 11, and there are three major highlights, which I'll pick out here, before providing a general roundup of some of the other tweaks that Microsoft has brought in this month.

As ever, some of these features are being rolled out in a phased manner, so even if you do install the September update today, you may still have to wait a while for certain pieces of functionality to make their way over to your PC.

1. A movable taskbar

Thanks to the September update you'll finally be able to move Windows 11's taskbar away from the bottom of the screen, to the top instead, or the sides if you prefer (an option that people with an ultra-wide monitor often want to use, as it suits that aspect ratio much better).

This is an ability which has always been in Windows 10, but was dropped for Windows 11 because porting it over was a thornier issue than you might think (or so Microsoft told us).

Finally, however, Microsoft has got its act together and the taskbar can now be repositioned in Windows 11 – although I've a feeling this will be one of the features on a slower rollout. Hopefully I'll be wrong on that score and you'll get this ability promptly if you've been keenly awaiting it for the last five years.

It's also worth noting that there's another option introduced here which can make the taskbar smaller, so it takes up less screen real-estate on devices with small displays.

2. The Start menu can now be resized

Want a more compact Start menu? Your wish is Microsoft's command, as this choice has now been introduced to the Settings app for the Start menu. You can elect to have a standard (large) menu, or a small one, rather than leaving it at the default 'automatic' setting whereby Windows 11 chooses the size itself based on your device. The problem with leaving the OS to decide is that sometimes you get the bigger menu on a laptop screen, where it pretty much eats the whole desktop – and so in these scenarios you can now manually choose the more compact Start menu.

With options to remove sections of the Start menu coming on top of this, you can now trim this part of the interface down so it's truly minimal. This choice will be more important than the movable taskbar for many folks – myself included – and it's great to see it now being rolled out.

3. Windows 11 search improvements

Another notable boon with the September update is that there are a few changes for Windows 11's core search functionality, and the most important is a new option that lets you turn off web results in search.

When you're searching for a file on your local drive, those web results often get in the way, so it'll be a relief for many to be able to switch them off. As well as web results (which open in Edge, with searches in Bing, of course), you can also turn off Microsoft Store suggestions. Essentially this is a general decluttering of Windows 11 search which is long overdue, frankly.

Other features in Windows 11's September Update

There's a performance boost for File Explorer in that the Home page now loads faster, and switching between virtual desktops in Windows 11 is now snappier, too.

Microsoft has made some reliability tweaks as well, including ensuring that the app history information in Task Manager is correct, and also that interacting with the Display panel within Settings is now more stable.

Furthermore, Microsoft informs us that there are some design tweaks here: "This update introduces updated progress indicators across Windows, providing a more consistent and modern experience during startup, sign-in, restart, shutdown, and update installation."

It's also worth noting that the weird mouse bug that affected the preview version of this September update (the optional update released at the end of August) has been resolved.

There's a fair bit happening here, and as one Redditor put it: "What's left for the 26H2 [update] then?"

Well, not a great deal in truth, and if you've been following along with Microsoft's annual updates, you may recall that 26H2 is going to be a very minor upgrade that doesn't do a lot. Indeed, some folks are wondering why Microsoft didn't save these juicy new interface features for 26H2, given that it's out next month.

The reason is likely to be because Microsoft wants to ensure that 26H2 runs as smoothly as possible (with no bigger changes involved). Although to be fair, as noted, due to the rollout process, a lot of folks won't be getting the new Start menu options and taskbar repositioning until October (or possibly later) anyway.

• Sony has seemingly been caught testing dynamic pricing again
• PS5 users are seeing different discounts for Star Wars games based on unknown account factors
• Some regions seem unaffected by the experiment

Dynamic pricing is back in the gaming news, as PS5 players are yet again seeing the wild disparity between discount amounts for the same game — and its all-digital future feels ever more like a nightmare.

When looking at buying Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order while logged into their PlayStation account Reddit user Bluemonkey88 was told it would cost them CA$19.24, or a roughly 65% discount from its RRP. Meanwhile the sequel Jedi: Survivor would set them back CA$23.39 (a 74% saving). As soon as they logged out Fallen Order dropped to CA$10.99, an 80% drop from full price, and Survivor fell to CA$13.49, or an 85% discount.

In the replies, we can see folks being offered the games for CA$13.99 and CA$18.19, though further muddying the waters a couple of US users — one with PS Plus and another without — both see the games at $7.99 and $10.49, suggesting not every region or user is subject to the same price testing.

What is dynamic pricing?

If you haven’t heard before, dynamic pricing is where a product’s cost fluctuates based on who is buying the product, or when they’re buying it.

It goes by other names you might have seen like surge pricing on Uber — when everyone is trying to book a cab, say just as a concert ends or if the weather turns bad, you’ll see costs rise because demand is up.

In Sony’s case here the pricing seems more algorithmic. There’s an unending supply of digital games, so instead the discount amount folks are seeing looks to be based on how likely it is you’ll buy the product, and adjusting the sale until it just tips you over the edge.

For example someone who maybe plays a couple of games a year or isn’t a mega Star Wars or action adventure game fan might see a steep discount as they’ll need more convincing. Whereas a mega fan of Star Wars, or a gamer who digests a new title every other week might be willing to pay more.

It’s like how airlines and hotels are accused of upping costs for folks who have filled their search history with holiday plans to a dream destination — if they’re desperate to go to, say, Paris, then they’ll be willing to maybe pay that little bit extra compared with a more agnostic traveller.

No thank you

This isn’t the first time Sony has been caught testing dynamic pricing. In fact, some kind of experiment has been going on from as far back as November last year.

And it’s as scummy a practice then as it is now, and it will continue to be as awfully anti-consumer as some of Sony’s other recent moves (i.e. killing physical games media).

Though if you’re thinking of jumping ship to Xbox it too has been caught with its hand in the dynamic pricing cookie jar. In its case it appears Microsoft is offering deeper Game Pass discounts to some accounts than others, with current subscribers unable to see the deal at all.

A digital-only gaming future already has so many downsides when it comes to ownership, game archiving, offline access and more, that we simply don’t need to add dynamic pricing to the mix.

Maybe Sony will reverse course, though its efforts for the past year suggest that dynamic pricing is here to stay. The best thing we can do is point it out every time it’s spotted, and making sure we don’t get suckered in with higher prices.

The bottleneck on sophisticated cyber operations that target nation states is breaking. Conducting a large-scale cyber attack used to mean scaling expert talent.

When the cost of adding a capable attacker approaches the cost of compute, the economics of offense fundamentally change.

This is already operational: Dream's threat research recovered an autonomous multi-agent framework that ran intrusion campaigns against government entities in Asia, executing twelve attack waves in four days with eight parallel agents, compromising 85 government accounts, and using a closed learning loop to adapt after failure.

The advantage is shifting from the number of experts to how effectively their expertise can be scaled.

AI benefits both attackers and defenders, but defenders start with a unique advantage: they already own the map attackers must discover.

Defenders that understand their environment can use AI to turn that knowledge into operational scale.

The Autonomous AI Government Hacker

In July, our threat research team recovered the operational workspace of an autonomous multi-agent framework that had been conducting intrusion campaigns against government entities in Asia.

Over roughly four days, the framework executed twelve attack waves and ran up to eight AI agents in parallel. Built on the publicly available Hermes and OpenClaw frameworks, it compromised 85 government employee accounts and used 84 of them to pivot through a government single sign-on environment.

What’s really intriguing is its autonomous operational decision making.

Assigning confidence scores

Every discovery was assigned a Bayesian confidence score to assess different paths and then chose how to proceed, just like an actual team.

Similarly, when an attack path failed, the framework automatically entered what it called a Learning Cycle, searched vulnerability databases and security research techniques relevant to that government's technology stack, and tried again. The framework audited itself – it created a closed learning loop: investigate, validate, act, observe the result, update its operational knowledge, and try again.

This was not a self-improving model. It was a self-adapting cyber attacker – there is a real expert behind it, embedded as AI system. The fundamentals of this attack weren’t even particularly impressive or novel. It is the scale – and the prospect for nearly infinite scale – that is daunting.

Until recently, one of the limiting factors in scaling sophisticated offensive operations was the expert reasoning required to decide what to investigate, validate findings, connect them into viable attack paths, and adapt when those paths failed. It was expensive, both in dollars and in expertise. That scarcity placed a natural constraint on offensive scale - scaling a sophisticated operation meant scaling skilled people, time and coordination.

AI is beginning to automate precisely that expensive layer of the operation: deciding what to investigate, validating hypotheses, learning from failure and choosing what to try next. Talent still determines the quality of those decisions. But the number of talented people no longer has to determine how many times those decisions can be made in parallel.

What happens when scaling an offensive operation no longer requires scaling the number of experts behind it at the same rate?

As someone who has spent 15 years in both offensive and defensive cyber roles, it’s becoming clearer every day that AI has changed that equation - the historical relationship between the amount of expert talent an organization has and the scale at which it can operate is beginning to break down.

AI does not eliminate talent - it changes what talent can scale.

An Attack Surface the Size of a Country

Government IT infrastructure is an interconnected ecosystem built over decades. It consists of ministries, municipalities, operational technology, legacy applications, cloud services, contractors, suppliers, and countless trust relationships connecting them together.

These connections typically exist for legitimate operational reasons (or at least historically legitimate reasons).

Of course, every connection is also a potential vulnerability.

This is how modern government attacks spread - not necessarily by exploiting one critical vulnerability, but by chaining together many ordinary ones.

Historically, this challenged both sides. No defensive team could continuously reason over every asset, identity, configuration, vulnerability and trust relationship across an entire country. But attackers faced a version of the same constraint. Their experts also had to decide where to spend their time to find a viable path from intrusion to crown jewel

Autonomous systems change that.

An autonomous attacker does not need to understand the entire government environment in advance. It can explore it continuously: discover a relationship, form a hypothesis, test it, learn from the result and move to the next one.

For the first time, governments may face adversaries capable of reasoning over national-scale attack surfaces faster than the institutions responsible for defending them.

The Race to Change the Outcome

The dramatic decline in the cost of offensive cyber expertise, via leveraging and weaponizing agents, is a tectonic shift. Until now, this was a skill limited to a select few and came with a high price tag.

Today, discovering, prioritizing and combining these techniques into viable attack paths is cheap, and one can repeat the process at machine speed.

With the pace of AI development, that statement becomes more true every day.

Offensive capability is becoming cheaper, faster and easier to reproduce.

But there is another side to this equation.

Defenders have always had structural advantages: more telemetry, deeper context, persistent access to their infrastructure, and knowledge of its configurations, identities and relationships, while also have a much better ability to act.

They too had the constraint of human capacity. No team could continuously reason over all that information, across every asset and relationship, all the time. The same AI that benefits attackers may operationalize defender’s historical edge at scale too.

This is where time plays a key role. Analyzing everything is not the same as defending everything. If AI detects a compromised identity in seconds but the credential remains active for six hours, the attacker still has six hours. If it identifies an exploitable path to a critical system but remediation takes three weeks, that path remains open for three weeks.

The opportunity, then, is not simply better analysis. It is reducing time-to-effective-action: the time between understanding a risk and changing the outcome.

And "effective" matters- disabling an identity, changing a firewall rule or patching a vulnerability is not enough. The system must verify that the attacker can no longer achieve its objective.

The defensive loop cannot end with intelligence - or even with action. It has to end with a verified security outcome.

The Gap That Matters

AI does not inevitably favor the attacker.

The framework we recovered had to steal its map of the environment, one probe at a time. Defenders already have that map. Every configuration, credential, telemetry stream and trust relationship could take an attacker – even an AI attacker – days to weeks to discover. What defenders could never do was reason over all the assets they had, continuously, due to the lack of talent capacity to do that.

AI begins to remove that human-attention constraint. It allows defenders to amplify expert talent across thousands of investigations in parallel, continuously identifying attack paths, prioritizing those that pose the greatest risk, and focusing action where it matters most.

Attackers get the same leverage. But they don't start from the same place. Defenders have a home-field advantage: they already know and control the environment the attacker must discover.

The gap that matters is no longer simply the number of experts on either side. It is how effectively each side can scale that expertise- and direct it toward the right risks first.

Ultimately, the race is not about who can know more.

It is about who can scale talent in the right way- and turn that scale into an outcome first.

We've ranked and reviewed the best antivirus software available.

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

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

While I was rewatching season 1 ahead of diving into The Paper season 2, one thing quickly became apparent: the internet was incredibly divided on Esmeralda (Sabrina Impacciatore).

Self-centered, brash and oblivious, she's usually found tearing though the office of the Toledo Truth Teller like a bull in a China shop. She's incredibly hesitant to absorb (or even listen to) other people's ideas, and that comes back to bite her in new episodes.

Without giving anything away, Esmeralda is set up to face more than one brutal reality check across the 10 season 2 episodes, which all land on Peacock on September 9. But perhaps the damage has already been done — some fans think she's too overpowering and narcissistic, although others fully buy into her unique brand of silliness.

Has any of this affected how Esmeralda appears in The Paper season 2? According to Impacciatore herself, she's very much still "a work in progress."

"I don't think so," Impacciatore tells me when I ask her if fan opinion has affected how we see Esmeralda in season 2. "I think Esmeralda, like every other character, is a work in progress. The show itself is so alive. It's something that changes every day. Somehow, we keep exploring new things, and that direction changes day by day.

"We talk a lot with [the show's creators] Greg (Daniels) and Michael (Koman), going to the writer's room. I think we all enjoyed things more this year because we felt more relaxed. But I'm still figuring out how Esmeralda is perceived. I surprise myself when I watch the series... things sound new to me. It's an interesting process."

In my opinion, what will be even more interesting is whether fan opinion of Esmeralda will change following the events of The Paper season 2 — and for now, you'll have to trust me when I say that her upcoming storyline certainly has the power to do just that.

Don't get me wrong, though: in many ways, she's still as annoying as she ever was. If The Paper does get picked up for a third season and beyond, which we're yet to find out, I'm still doubtful that she'll ever fully leave her self-obsessed ways in the past.

• The Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete is Dreame's new flagship robovac
• World's first robovac to use heated steam at 180°C as part of its mop system
• Can also clear double-step thresholds up to an impressive 3.9in / 10cm

When I spoke to a load of major robot vacuum brand execs about where they thought robovacs were heading in the next five-to-10 years, a common theme cropped up: the desire to close the performance gap between manual and robotic floor cleaners. That's not just the vacuuming power, but the mopping prowess too.

And so, at IFA 2026, we have the world's first robot vacuum with steam cleaning powers: the Dreame Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete. It's an exciting prospect, but based on the demo I saw, I'm not sure I'd be throwing out my manual steam cleaner any time soon.

The Aqua20 Pro Ultra (I'm not typing the full name each time) vaporizes water into 356°F / 180°C steam, which is pushed out through four outlets along the roller edge. This steam is designed to loosen tough, dried-on stains. The roller then gently scrubs them away, using hot water.

On the demo I saw, the steam function seemed quite gentle — there wasn't enough to be visible on a still photo, although you can see it in the video clip above. My first concern about the system is that there might not be enough steam to really make an impact.

The second is that because the heating happens inside the bot itself, using it has a big impact on battery life. I spoke to Dawn Chen, a Director at Dreame, and he confirmed that with the steam function on, the robot's runtime is around 30 to 40 minutes, compared to around four hours with it off. Steam needs to be switched on and off manually, in the app, and can only be used for a zone that's less than 10 square meters in size. Chen explained that the function is meant for spot-cleaning only; to tackle stubborn and dried on stains.

That runtime is fairly limiting. It makes it difficult to use the steam function as part of a more extensive cleaning session, which is a situation I expect will be common.

Making it work

The process of adding the steam function caused Dreame a few headaches. "During this R&D process, we faced two main problems. The first is about the limescale. Because we are turning the water into steam, this process will produce a lot of limescale," Chen explained. "To solve this problem, we added some limescale remover inside the robot, in the pipeline."

The second — and perhaps bigger — challenge was to do with controlling the temperature inside robot itself. "Because we put this kind of heat inside the robot body, the heat it produces will affect other components, especially the electronic components inside the robot body," Chen told me.

To address the issue, the engineers had to add internal insulation to protect the different components. And that was easier said than done — Dreame had to completely redesign the inside of the robovac to add the steam components, and insulation, while still maintaining the streamlined shape and size.

All the talk of limescale and preventing damage to internal components instills a certain amount of fear in me. I can't help but wonder if iRobot might have had the better approach — that brand's new Roomba Max 875 expels warm mist rather than steam, and the active heating happens in-dock rather than on-bot.

The demo showed a much denser cloud of mist than Dreame's bot was expelling, and because the Rooma bot itself isn't doing any active heating, using the mist function has a minimal impact on battery life. Of course, the really important thing is how effectively each robot cleans, and we won't know that until we've had a chance to test them.

Other upgrades

Back to the Aqua20 Pro. Aside from the headline steam feature, you'll also find an upgraded 'Proleap' system that can now bump the bot over single steps up to 2in / 5cm, or double steps up to 3.9in / 10cm. That's the tallest threshold clearance I've seen from any brand (so far) although in the demo it sometimes took a couple of run-ups to make it over.

Dreame has also added enhanced AI vision with adaptive learning — so the robovac can apparently react to moving objects and re-plan its route, in real time, in response.

The roller can kick out from the side of the robovac by up to 8cm / 3in — much further than its predecessor, the Aqua10 Ultra Roller Complete — to get nice and close to the edges of rooms. To avoid unwanted dampness while all this is going on, the main vacuum roller and side sweeper can both lift (by 5mm and 10mm respectively) while the mopping is happening. The roller can also lift 15mm when the bot is traversing carpet.

The Dreame Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete is due to launch on September 21 in Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland, followed by a number of other European countries. I don't have a launch date for the UK yet, but Chen promises it'll arrive before the end of the year. Due to FCC regulations, launch in the US is unconfirmed.

• Aldi is bringing back its cheap KitchenAid-rival stand mixer
• It's available in-store from September 13
• It costs £35, and packs four attachments and eight speed settings

Aldi is replenishing its Specialbuys range once again, and this time it’s bringing back an old friend — its popular classic stand mixer that's a cheaper alternative to KitchenAid and Kenwood appliances.

Returning to shelves this weekend (September 13), Aldi’s £35 stand mixer will be available to purchase again after its last in-store appearance some six months ago. The mixer also arrives just in time for the long-awaited return of Bake Off, so you can aim to take your baking skills from novice level to being worthy of the ‘Hollywood handshake’.

For its cheap price, Aldi’s stand mixer packs all the basics you need for home baking and comes in two colors — a soft, baby green, and a vibrant red. So, if you’re not too worried about missing out on premium features, it’s enough to get you by.

Firstly, it comes with four dishwasher-safe attachments including a beater, whisk, dough hook, and splash guard, adding a dash of versatility to its baking options. And because of its swivel motor head, it makes it easier for swapping out attachments and general bowl access.

Speaking of its mixing bowl, this is where Aldi’s appliance wins over the likes of its big dog rivals. Compared to the KitchenAid Artisan Plus’ 4.7-liter bowl, Aldi’s slightly bigger 5-liter capacity allows for baking in large batches, ideal for if you’ve got a big family of hungry mouths to feed or whether you’re a keen meal prepper who wants to get ahead on your weekly delicacies.

It doesn’t fall short on its speed functions either, packing eight different settings so you can combine ingredients at the correct speed needed for your recipes. Additionally, the pulse function is a handy tool for when you need short bursts of high power, giving you added control.

Aldi is stacked with affordable versions of premium appliances — it hasn’t long launched a cheap Dyson-style stick vacuum and £20 air fryer — but there’s a reason why its products fall on the cheaper end of the spectrum. It doesn’t boast the advanced features that set KitchenAid mixers hundreds of pounds higher and it uses more power (420W), but aside from this, Aldi’s version is certainly enough to get you by if you’re not worried about missing out on the finer details.

As mentioned Aldi will be relaunching its stand mixer on September 13, and if you’re a seasoned Specialbuys customer by now, you’ll know that once its stand mixer has been cleared from the shelves, your chances at scoring one will be slim.

• Steam achievements of upcoming and unannounced games have leaked
• The achievements include spoilers for games like Control Resonant, Kingdom Hearts, and Persona 6
• Valve hasn't commented on the achievements or recent prototype leak on Steam

Steam achievements for both upcoming and unannounced games may have been leaked by Valve and spotted on the third-party site Exophase.

As reported by PC Gamer, the leak includes nearly 90 games, including Control Resonant, Kingdom Hearts 4, Gears of War E-Day, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, and Persona 6.

The leaked achievements are listed for each title on Exophase, including spoilers for major plot points, character reveals, and even weapon unlocks (notably for Kingdom Hearts 4), despite missing full descriptions. It's effectively created a minefield of spoilers to avoid, which is made worse since the list includes games that don't even have a release date.

It's not exactly clear how this leak occurred on Valve's end, but it doesn't appear to be a breach of the Steam platform. Instead, it may very well be an issue with Valve's API exposure, at least according to Exophase owner Mike Bendel, who claims it's a "possible screw-up on Valve's end", which makes this the second slip-up in just a few weeks.

Recently, around 12TB to 13TB of early prototypes, unreleased titles, and scrapped builds of games between 2003 and 2013 were leaked from Steam, including games such as GTA 5, The Binding of Isaac, and even some of Valve's very own games like Left 4 Dead.

It's possibly the worst spell of game leaks for publishers launching games on PC platforms like Steam, especially with the leak of builds for games like Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Forza Horizon 6 before launch.

There's clearly a major security issue at hand with Steam, and until it's addressed, game leaks seem inevitable. Game achievements, while potentially spoiler-filled, are minor in comparison to the very recent game prototype leak.

Valve hasn't made an official statement on the Steam prototype or achievements leaks, but with its impact on both publishers and consumers, it wouldn't be surprising to see both cases addressed soon.

Looking for the perfect compact everyday shooter for travel or street photography? The brand-new OM System PEN could be a fantastic option for you. Preorders are now open for this affordable new rangefinder-style camera ahead of an October 1st release date, and several retailers have already updated their sites with listings.

Probably the best option for preorder today is over at Adorama, where you can get yourself a free wrist strap alongside both the body-only and kit-lens options. The strap in question is a black Clever Supply Skinny Wrist Strap worth $54, so it's definitely a nice little freebie that should complement your new camera nicely.

If you're in the UK (or USA but would prefer to order a camera elsewhere), I've attached a roundup of other options below. Major retailers like B&H Photo, Wex Video Photo, and Park Cameras are all stocking the camera today, so there should (hopefully) be plenty of stock available for early adopters.

Note that the OM System Pen starts at $999.99 / £849 for the body, with additional kit lens options. The lens kit, meanwhile, with the new M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III, is just an additional $100 / £100, which could be a better value option if you're new to the system, and looks like a particularly good option for travel photography. Not only is this kit a bargain, but the lens is also weather-sealed (unlike previous iterations).

Where to buy the OM System PEN

What's new with the PEN?

• 2.36-million-dot OLED EVF
• IPX1-rated dust-and-splash resistance
• BLS-7 battery with USB-C charging

Much of the PEN's spec sheet will seem familiar to fans of the brand. As with most releases from OM System, the PEN is essentially re-using a lot of pre-existing tech in a new body at a lower price. However, its combination of a retro compact body, built-in viewfinder, image stabilization, weather resistance and accessible price makes it an attractive entry-level mirrorless camera, particularly for smartphone users.

Unlike the previous Olympus EP-7, the PEN now features a 2.36-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder as well as IPX1-rated dust-and-splash resistance. Internally, you're still getting the familiar 20.4MP Micro Four Thirds sensor with 5-axis image stabilisation rated to 5.5EV, but the 121-point phase-detection autofocus with subject detection is a key upgrade.

Other upgrades include OM System's latest computational photography features, namely Live ND, new color profiles, and two Cinema picture modes aimed at 4K video. Like the higher-end OM-3, the PEN is designed from the ground up for JPEG customization thanks to a new color/monochrome switch which provides quick access to film-inspired looks.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that the PEN debuts a new BLS-7 battery, rated for an impressive 410 shots per charge, as well as support for USB-C charging - another massive boon for travel photography.

Is the PEN worth preordering?

We haven't fully reviewed the OM System PEN yet, but my initial impression of the camera is positive. It's 'nothing new', so to speak, but the rock-bottom price that the brand is aiming for has the potential to make this one a crowd favorite.

For one, I don't think any other brand is offering a package quite like this for $1,000. With inflation and various tariffs, we've become accustomed to spiralling costs, so it's refreshing to see a brand-new camera with a viewfinder, weather sealing, and a stylish design for this price.

Perhaps the closest competitor to the OM System PEN is the Fujifilm X-M5 - one of our favorite entry-level cameras here at TechRadar. Both cameras share a stunning rangefinder-style design and enticing price point, but the PEN looks like the better choice for photographers, in my opinion. The X-M5 has far superior video specs, but it lacks image stabilization, a viewfinder, and weather sealing.

With such features, the PEN looks like a very, very compelling budget option compared to the likes of the Fujifilm X-E5. That's another one of our favorite rangefinder-style bodies, but it comes in at an eye-watering $1,799 / £1,399 for the body-only. In comparison, the PEN is a more entry-level body, but it's definitely a good option if you're happy with 20MP.

Over the past few years, I've become absolutely fascinated and have fallen in love with BenQ monitors. I love how they have become more Apple-esque, yet they include some features that most people wish Apple would add to their monitors. While I would love to have a studio display someday, I think that the quality would be amazing.

I am absolutely loving my MA series monitors across several of my workstations. I'm still loving my MA320U on my main desk in my home office studio, but the MA270S has made its home as the vertical monitor in my setup, where I currently have my RD monitor as well.

This panel is unbelievably crisp, integrates with everything in my DisplayPilot 2 app, and offers extra ports. It's got a halfway decent speaker for virtual meetings, though I wouldn't listen to music through it beyond background lo-fi. All around, this monitor has been an absolute treat for a ton of reasons.

BenQ MA270S: Price and availability

The BenQ MA270S retails for just under $1,000 on BenQ's website. It's also widely available from online retailers, including Amazon.

If that price doesn't scare you and you're looking for a 32-inch variant, they do have an MA320UG panel that is the same type of panel, just 32 inches. Make sure you check that one out if you're interested.

BenQ MA270S: Unboxing and First Impressions

The unboxing experience for this monitor is much like that of every other BenQ monitor I've tested. It comes in a simple brown box that's somehow still very well packed and secure. In the box is the monitor or panel, the stand, documentation, and every cable you could possibly need.

That is one thing I will always appreciate about BenQ: they include every single cable, regardless of how you use this monitor. If there's an HDMI option, they include an HDMI. If there's USB-C, they include USB-C, so you can get up and running right away.

The first time I laid eyes on the monitor, I immediately recognized how glossy the first panel was. Of course, that could be an issue if you're in a high-glare area, but I decided to put it to the test anyway. It took me exactly one second to know exactly what I wanted with this monitor.

I added it to my test setup that already has a BenQ R/D monitor. I knew this would be a perfect vertical monitor, even though there's a difference between the slightly matte display on the R/D monitor and the glossy display on this one.

Plus, to the left of my desk is a window. I have a semi-transparent shade on it, but still, there's a window. I did worry for a moment if there was going to be too much glare, but after setting everything up, I completely forgot that it was a concern. I was able to get to work immediately. Now, 100 days later, I am absolutely thrilled with this monitor.

BenQ MA270S: Design & Build Quality

As I briefly mentioned above, this monitor is incredibly clean. It comes with everything in the box, which is awesome. It has a fairly high-gloss finish. This is the kind of glossy finish that you would find on a studio display.

This is the kind of glossy finish that you would find on a MacBook or on a high-end creative laptop. It's beautiful. It's not just glossy for the sake of being glossy, but it's glossy to show just how sharp the image is, how beautiful the blacks are, and how vibrant the colors are.

That, plus the native integration with Apple's walled card, makes this monitor an absolute dream to use with a Mac. While I have used this desk setup with a PC, I prefer to use it with my MacBook Pro M4 Pro 14-inch. I can plug in a single cable through a docking station, technically, too, and run both these monitors without any problem.

When I need to just listen to a little bit of music or join a virtual meeting and I don't want to use my soundbar, I can run the audio through this monitor. While it's not great, it could get the job done before a virtual meeting if that's all you need it for, or maybe some lo-fi background music. If you're trying to actually listen to music or need to play audio for some other reason, I would suggest using headphones or an external speaker.

The bezels on this are sharp. The port access is phenomenal, and the ability to fit a clean Mac desk setup is truly uncanny. Sure, there's still a part of me that wishes I could have a studio display; however, with every upgrade to the BenQ Mac-specific line-up, that desire shrinks a little bit, by little bit, by little bit.

To bring me back to the ports for a moment, I genuinely appreciate that BenQ doesn't try to hide their ports under some sort of breakable plastic cover. Instead, they make the cables highly accessible, pointing directly over the monitor to avoid the cable dangling down underneath the bezel and being visible from the front.

The ports are firm yet not difficult to plug things into. They are well spaced, leaving room for even awkward cables, and they're in a good position. All around, a big win for me.

I've said it once, maybe even twice now, but I'll say it again: this is essentially BenQ's version of a 27-inch studio display. While the studio display has better speakers and a built-in camera and mic, this display wins out in pretty much every other category.

It's easy to set up and easy to use with both the Apple ecosystem and others, in case you need to plug in something else. It's got spectacular color accuracy, a beautiful panel, high resolution, a nice gloss, and it functions just as beautifully as it looks.

BenQ MA270S: In use

Looking back at my arrival date, I've had this monitor for exactly 166 days as of this review. In that time, it has lived almost every single one of those days on my desk in the photos as a vertical monitor paired alongside my BenQ RD series monitor.

It truly is a remarkably good 5K monitor, especially with the built-in features that let me adjust brightness and volume directly from my keyboard. I've used this monitor for accessing emails.

I always have my calendar, some messengers, and reminders up on this monitor, as I can have it scaled up to the smallest size Mac offers and still see every single line super crisp. Unlike the Studio Display, what I really appreciate about this monitor is that it doesn't just have USB-C. It has USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, and others to make these a lot easier.

BenQ MA270S: Final verdict

At the end of the day, most Mac users decide whether they care about the Studio Display. Since it was released, most people with an X-ray monitor have thought about switching to the Studio Display, but usually see the cost and change their minds.

That's where this monitor comes in strong, serving as a shield unless you are sitting on cash to burn or need the proprietary one for some other reason. This BenQ monitor feels like a true MVP.

I have absolutely loved using this monitor for work, and I look forward to continuing to use it as much as possible in the future. For me, this is one of the best photo editing monitors I've ever used.

For more top picks, we've tested the best monitors for Mac mini and the best monitors for MacBook.

• Check Point Research exposed coerced insider flaw in ChatGPT’s agent architecture
• Containers shared metadata via internal service, enabling cross‑account prompt injection and data theft
• OpenAI closed the path, but CPR warns similar risks may exist in other AI platforms

ChatGPT’s AI agents were allowed to pull sensitive data from one account shared with an entirely different account because, colloquially speaking, all agents used to walk down the same hallways, experts have warned.

A new report from security experts Check Point Research (CPR) dubbed the flaw “coerced insider”, since it revolves around persuading the agent instead of abusing a vulnerability.

Coerced insider

When an AI agent is given a task that needs code execution, it handles that task in an isolated container which also sometimes needs to install software. To enable that, without giving containers direct internet access (which would be too risky), OpenAI routes those packages through an internal JFrog Artifactory instance. As a separate security contingency, containers from different accounts cannot talk between themselves.

However - they can reach the same internal service (our proverbial hallways), which exposes an item management feature that lets the containers attach text or binary properties to a repository item. As a result, any container can read back the properties written by any other container.

“Check Point Research confirmed the isolation gap directly: a property written from one account’s container was fully readable from a different account’s container moments later, with data too large for one property simply split into chunks and reassembled on the other end,” the researchers explained.

“The package delivery metadata effectively became a shared clipboard between containers that were supposed to be walled off from one another.”

From there, the exploit turns into your usual, off-the-shelf prompt injection. The only difference is that the malicious prompt is not delivered directly to the victim, but rather left in the hallways, and the results are not shared with the attackers directly, but rather left in those same proverbial hallways, too.

The attacker then delivers a prompt or a shared conversation that instructs the agent to check the same storage during its next ordinary reply. The agent checks, sees the malicious instructions, executes them, all the while replying to the victim’s question in the usual manner. The victim is oblivious to the fact that data theft is taking place in the background.

What kind of information can be stolen?

But this is just half of the equation. How destructive this attack ends up being still depends on the amount of data being shared with the victim agent.

The bare minimum is the information shared while chatting to the agent. It then grows with every connected app: Gmail, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, GitHub, and similar. “In Check Point Research’s demonstration, ChatGPT retrieved the victim’s email data through their connected Gmail account and delivered it to the attacker’s session, all within a single ordinary turn,” CPR stressed.

The good news is that you’ll likely never be exposed this way, at least not via ChatGPT. CPR says it disclosed the findings to OpenAI, who then confirmed that the specific internal Artifactory instance identified in the research has been commissioned. In other words, the hallways attack path has been closed.

The bad news is that this doesn’t automatically mean everyone’s safe. This particular path might be closed, but the architectural pattern behind the flaw could be present in other platforms, CPR warns.

“Any AI assistant that operates inside an organization’s trust boundary, holding credentials, running code, and reaching connected services, can become what Check Point Research calls a coerced insider,” the report states. “The model itself does not need to be malicious. It only needs to be persuaded, through text it was never meant to trust, to use access that was granted for entirely legitimate reasons.”

Going forward, businesses are advised to learn which AI tools their employees are using, and what those tools are connected to. Then, they should govern what AI tools and agents are allowed to do, treating all of their actions (not just output) as something that needs to be monitored.

• CD Projekt Red says The Witcher 3 Remastered and its many upgrades helped realize Songs of the Past
• Game director on Songs of the Past, Jakub Rokosz, says the team had a "certain vision" for the expansion, but there were technological challenges
• He says the remaster "helped with applying optimization" to the expansion

According to CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's upcoming expansion, Songs of the Past, may not exist without The Witcher 3 Remastered and its many upgrades.

If you missed the bombshell news the Polish studio dropped during Opening Night Live, The Witcher 3 Remastered is a massive free update arriving on September 29. It offers many improvements to the base game and the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions, such as upgraded visuals, a refined combat system, new Witcher Signs, transmogrification, and more.

The remaster will essentially rework the game in its entirety, giving fans of the 11-year-old role-playing game (RPG) an excuse for another playthrough, ahead of the upcoming expansion Songs of the Past.

Now, in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, Jakub Rokosz, CEO of Fool's Theory and game director on Songs of the Past, and senior quest designer Despoina Anetaki shared that without these technological improvements, their vision for the expansion may not have been fully realized.

"The stars had to align, so to say, because a few things had to happen," said Rokosz, who was also one of the original senior quest designers for The Witcher 3. "The Songs of the Past expansion and Letten itself, the area that it takes place, it had a certain vision. We had a certain vision for it, and it posed us certain specific technological challenges that was impossible to realize without the remaster changes.

"So the conditions had to grow for the remaster to appear on the horizon for us to be able to realize this, so this is actually two things meshing together to make it a reality."

The developer explained that Letten's lush vegetation, small bushes, and dense forests caused issues during development, but were resolved with the remaster's advancements.

"One of the challenges when we started prototyping the area was [that] it was impossible to ride with a horse through it, basically," he continued. "So we had to do some improvements on the horse handling side, right? So it feels more organic or more natural."

Letten also features a big lake in the middle of its map that allows players a view of the horizon, and as Rokosz explained, having this huge amount of open space where you can see fishermen fishing "posed a challenge in terms of how the engine was handling this. So the remaster helped with applying optimization."

Songs of the Past is due to launch in 2027.

• Qualcomm has detailed its next flagship Snapdragon chipset
• It features a Hexagon NPU that reduces the reliance on RAM for AI tasks
• It also includes the world's first 5GHz mobile CPU

AI is transforming technology, but it’s also causing some real issues, especially with regard to RAM, which is now in high demand and short supply (cue spiraling RAM prices). But Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship smartphone chipset could help address this issue.

In a series of blog posts, the company has revealed that its new, as-yet-unnamed mobile silicon brings AI processing closer to the chipset, reducing its reliance on RAM in the process.

It achieves this in large part through a new Hexagon NPU (neural processing unit), which uses various techniques to power “larger-model-class AI experiences with low power consumption and memory requirements” so that AI on phones can be both responsive and private — in other words, it won’t need masses of RAM or to communicate with cloud servers so frequently.

As a result, it’s possible that phones will be able to keep up with growing AI demands without enormous RAM requirements, which in turn could help ease the RAM crisis.

Additionally, the Hexagon NPU includes an Element Accelerator that speeds up AI operations, and it has 50% more Large Shared Memory, which “helps keep model state, context, and KV-cache data closer to the accelerators, reducing trips to external memory and helping agents answer, revise, plan, and act with less waiting” for a smoother experience.

Big upgrades to the CPU and GPU as well

But the NPU is not the only significant selling point of this chipset, as Qualcomm also explained that its new silicon sports the world’s first 5GHz mobile CPU — which, unsurprisingly, means it’s also the world’s fastest mobile CPU.

This CPU also includes a new FlexCache feature, which reduces how often the cores need to reach system memory, helping ensure peak performance is maintained even when memory is limited — which, as with the changes to the NPU, could reduce reliance on RAM.

The GPU, meanwhile, is the largest generational leap yet for Qualcomm, promising major gains in graphics performance and power efficiency. And this element of the chipset helps with AI too, as it includes Adreno Matrix Cores, which are AI-dedicated GPU cores, “designed to run advanced AI models directly inside the graphics pipeline.”

It also includes Adreno Neural Fusion — an AI-driven rendering technology that improves visuals while reducing power consumption.

So, it sounds like this could be a comprehensive upgrade, and while Qualcomm hasn’t confirmed which phones will use this as-yet-unnamed chipset, it’s likely at least some models in the Samsung Galaxy S27 series will ship with it early next year, while other high-end Android handsets from Oppo, Xiaomi, and Honor could get it even sooner.

• Rivals season 2 part 2 release date confirmed for November 11 by Hulu and Disney+
• Begins with a three-episode premiere followed by weekly releases
• Upcoming episodes will feature 'a Hunt Ball, a chaotic Bonfire Night and a very Rivals Christmas

Breathe a sign of relief, Jilly Cooper fans: Rivals season 2 part 2 returns to Hulu (US) and Disney+ (international) from November 11, 2026.

The season's second half is set to kick off with a three-episode premiere, with weekly releases of the remaining three episodes following after.

Our core cast is set to return — well, all except for one, which we'll get to in a minute — but we'll also see the introduction of three important new characters.

Rachael Stirling will play Lady Monica Baddingham’s vampish younger sister Araminta Pemberton, Rupert Evans is erudite headmaster David Hawkley, and Santiago Cabrera takes on the role of Argentinian Polo legend Alejandro Mendoza.

While overarching plot details have been limited to episodes featuring " a Hunt Ball, a chaotic Bonfire Night and a very Rivals Christmas," the shock part 1 cliffhanger tells us exactly where we'll be picking the action up... and that's a bittersweet thing.

Rivals season 2 part 2 first-look images tease a Lizzie-Freddie reconciliation

Spoilers for Rivals season 2 part 1 ahead.

Rivals season 2 part 2 is set to pick back up with Monica's (Claire Rushbrook) funeral, with the full mid-season synopsis reading: " Picking up after the gut-wrenching mid-series finale, Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) and Declan O'Hara's (Aiden Turner) battle for the Cotswolds crown reaches fever pitch, while Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) is forced to confront his own personal demons.

"Against a backdrop of hedonistic parties, Bonfire Night chaos, the Hampshire Hunt Ball and a turbulent Christmas, affairs unravel, alliances fracture and rivalries intensify. Caught in the middle of the frenzied franchise war, Taggie O'Hara (Bella Maclean) must find the courage to follow her heart, while those around her face the consequences of ambition, power and secrets that can no longer remain hidden. But as series two draws to a close, who will get their happy ending?"

Not only does this signal that Taggie and Rupert will find their way back to each other before the season ends, but the above first-look image also teases an much-anticipated reunion between Freddie (Danny Dyer) and Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson).

After almost being caught together in the first half of season 2, Lizzie decided to be the bigger person and end things with Freddie before their colliding worlds got any more complicated. Has this decision made her happy? No, so you know that it's not going to last for long.

Expect "secrets, betrayals and explosive twists," and if we're being honest... that's just the start of it.

Proton's Unlimited plan has dropped $120, making now the cheapest time to ditch Google entirely, should you wish.

The plan includes everything you'd expect from Google's privacy-unfriendly suite: Docs, Drive, Calendar, Mail, Sheets, and so on. But, it also throws in extras such as Proton VPN, one of the best VPNs available, and Proton Pass, a premium password manager which includes the super-handy email aliasing feature.

Normally, the Proton Unlimited bundle costs $12.99 per month over two years, billed as $311.76.

This deal brings a 38% discount, making it $7.99/month. That saves $120, bringing the total 2-year cost to $191.76.

Unlike Google's suite, all of Proton's tools are end-to-end encrypted and ad-free. This means whatever you send, upload, or create is protected from snoopers looking to intercept your information to use maliciously or sell online.

This is the lowest Proton Unlimited price we've seen in 2026 but we don't know how long it'll last. So, if you're interested, sign up now to lock in the deal, and you can always make use of Proton's 30-day money-back guarantee if you change your mind.

While ditching Google entirely might seem scary, Proton is taking steps to make it as simple as possible.

Its 'Easy Switch' tool sits at the heart of this. It allows you to sign into your old email account, from which Proton automatically pulls information such as your emails, contacts, and calendar.

Files aren't quite so slick but Proton has guides for transferring from services such as Google Drive, OneDrive and more to help you get started.

I've used Proton's privacy suite for nearly two years now. Since the addition of Meet and Sheets (alongside Calendar, Docs, Drive, Mail, Pass and Wallet) it now feels more like Google Workspace than ever, and it's all far more secure.

All of the tools included can be signed up for separately. Most are pricey on their own but the Unlimited bundle makes it really good value.

• The Ninja Crispi DualZone is an air fryer designed to cook two foods at once
• It has two glass containers that you can take from fridge or freezer to table
• It's on sale in the UK today (September 9) for £299.99

Ninja has launched another version of the Crispi glass air fryer — this time with a pair of cooking zones so you can prepare two different foods at once, and time them to finish at the same time so your meal is ready to serve with no effort on your part.

Like the original portable Ninja Crispi and the family-sized Ninja Crispi Pro, the Ninja Crispi DualZone Air Fryer has non-toxic glass dishes with resealable lids, which you can use to store, cook, and serve food without any mess. The two CleanCrisp containers have a capacity of 3.8 litres each, and are thermal shock-resistant so you can start cooking your food direct from the freezer, and immediately place the dishes on cold stone work surfaces once your meal is ready.

Like the Ninja Crispi Pro, the Crispi DualZone has eight cooking modes (Air Fry, Bake, Max Crisp, Roast, Dehydrate, Re-crisp, Keep Warm, and Prove), and the twin cooking zones mean you can use two different settings at once.

Once you're done, the glass containers, crisper plates, and lids are all dishwasher-safe, unlike conventional air fryer baskets, which require careful hand-washing to avoid damaging their non-stick coating.

The Ninja Crispi Dual Zone air fryer is available to buy now direct from SharkNinja for £299.99 in the UK, and comes in three colours: Cyberspace (dark blue), Bone (off-white), and Rose Quartz (pastel pink). We'll be putting it to the test soon to see how it compares with traditional dual-zone air fryers, and the rest of the Ninja Crispi range.

• Qualcomm to help build custom silicon and optical networking for AWS data centers
• Amazon will acquire 25 million Qualcomm shares, worth over $4 billion
• AWS data centers are more efficient than the industry average, but behind Google's

Qualcomm and Amazon have announced what they have describing as a "multi-generational product collaboration," in which Qualcomm will help build future AI data center infrastructure for AWS.

Because this isn't a one-off project, instead of announcing a single component, the companies are likely to work together across multiple generations of infrastructure spanning both custom inference silicon and high-speed optical connectivity.

Together, the two companies are expected to combine their expertise in AI infrastructure and data centers to improve performance, power efficiency and cost efficiency for a future where data centers exist in even higher volumes.

AWS and Qualcomm to work together on future data centers

The project spans two key areas – custom AI silicon and networking hardware. On the silicon front, Qualcomm will help produce custom AWS silicon with a major focus on inference, giving the chipmaker a potentially big entry into the data center semiconductor market – one that Nvidia has seen major success in.

As for networking, Qualcomm will be behind high-performance optical connectivity for AWS data centers, covering connections of up to 1.6T initially but plans to scale.

With data centers under intense pressure from all angles to boost efficiency and reduce resources consumption, operators are being forced to make progress in all areas, and reducing losses between components with efficient networking is often overlooked compared with outright chip efficiency.

"As AI demand accelerates, data center infrastructure will require advances in both computing and connectivity to deliver greater performance with more efficiency,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon summarized.

In Amazon's 2025 sustainability report, it declared a global average PUE of 1.14, which was nearly 9% better than the public cloud industry average of 1.25. Still, Google says it managed a fleet-wide average of 1.09, so Amazon's work with Qualcomm could be key to it overtaking Google.

"By working together on customized silicon and advanced connectivity, we’re delivering more performant, efficient, and cost-effective infrastructure for our customers," AWS VP Prasad Kalyanaraman added.

As part of the deal, Qualcomm has issued warrants for Amazon to acquire around $4.03 billion in stock, per a SEC filing – the equivalent of 25 million shares priced at $161.26. Qualcomm is currently trading at $174.09, up nearly 5% in five days.

• The final season of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has been revealed
• It includes a Doom crossover and lots of Halloween content
• Only one new multiplayer map is being added, however

Activision has lifted the curtain on the content coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in its final season ahead of the Modern Warfare 4 launch.

With a new game on the way, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that this update is going to be a smaller one. Still, it includes plenty of spooky Halloween content as part of the series' annual The Haunting event.

This includes a bombastic Doom crossover, allowing players to unlock loads of Doom-themed rewards in a new limited-time event pass. As usual, this pass will be divided into two tracks: a free one and a premium option.

The free track contains new operator skins for Wei Lin and Falkner, plus an adorable Mini Slayer weapon charm and a range of other rewards. Completing the entire track will grant you the Roc 20mm special weapon — a massive, almost cannon-like rifle that fires devastating 20mm rounds.

The premium track, on the other hand, unlocks the Doom Slayer himself as a playable operator in the JSOC faction. By default, he's wearing his Doom: The Dark Ages attire, but the premium track's final reward is an alternate classic 1993-style skin.

Other weapons introduced in the upcoming season include the TR41 Para Assault Rifle, which will be available at launch, and the Arcblade melee weapon added later on. There are also some new weapon attachments on the way for the VS Recon Sniper Rifle, Dravec 45 SMG, and Sokol 545 LMG.

Unfortunately, the offering is pretty sparse on the map front, with only one new one being introduced. It's called Quantum, and it looks like an appropriately ruined laboratory. There is at least also a new version of the existing Homestead map, called Bloodstead, for you to explore as well.

The cool Hordepoint mode will be returning from previous games in season too, challenging players to face off against a rival team and spawning waves of zombies.

All of this comes alongside a fresh battle pass full of new skins and unlocks, not to mention additional content for the Zombies and Endgame modes, plus the free-to-play Warzone battle royale.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Xbox One.

• Invoke Studios head Dominic Guay says Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons' imp companion Skev provides narrative and gameplay assistance
• Skev will provide lore to the player as they explore Darkon, but can't be controlled in combat
• Guay says the imp is "his own character" with his own personal motivations

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons' imp companion Skev serves multiple purposes for the player, but was designed to be "his own character."

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, Invoke Studios head Dominic Guay offered more insight into Skev and his relationship with the warlock protagonist Kaatri, revealing that the imp will assist the player as they navigate the open world of Darkon both narratively and with his utilities.

However, while Skev will act as a companion to Kaatri, Guay stressed that he still has his own motivations, including seeking out his lost master, just like how Kaatri is searching for someone too.

"We iterated a lot on him. So he actually is his own character," Guay said. "That was important to us. He wasn't born to be a sidekick. That was the mentality. He used to be the advisor to the ruler of Darkon, so in a way, he had a really important role in that land before his master vanished, and his quest is to find his lost master, and Kaatri's quest is to find someone too.

"So, he tags along, and Kaatri's kind of like, 'Oh well, he knows this place, and that's useful.' So he gives you a lot of insights as you travel around. You find new places."

The studio head said Skev will offer lore about new locations as players explore, adding that he thinks of the imp as "your unreliable guide to Darkon."

Skev won't be controlled by the player either, Guay confirmed, so he won't die in combat or get in the way, but will sometimes help in certain instances, like by picking locks.

"You can actually decide how you want to upgrade his abilities throughout the adventure," he added, "So [there's] some practical application."

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons arrives in 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.

• iRobot has unveiled its new flagship Roomba Max 875 Combo
• It sprays out heated mist to dislodge dried dirt from hard floors
• There's a seal around the vacuum to maximize pickup power

iRobot has revealed its latest flagship robot vacuum, and I've just seen it in action at IFA 2026. The Roomba Max 875 Combo is a combination robovac-and-mop, and boasts some intriguing features on both of those floorcare prongs.

One that caught my attention in particular is the mopping setup. Robot vacuum mopping has historically been rather underwhelming, but the latest models are showing some significant improvements. iRobot's Roomba Max 875 Combo's USP is its 'ThermaMist' function. I got the low-down from Adam Pope, Chief Engineer & Vice President of Product Planning & Development at iRobot.

"The ThermaMist is a pretty interesting technology," he tells me. "It's an ultrasonic warm mist, meant to pre-treat stains. So it'll detect stains and pre-treat them before it mops. The customer can also activate it in a certain area if they want to just do that whole area.

"The heat gives you a little better power to break up some of the oily or sugary stains that might be sticky. So that's the reason that we have the heat in there, really, try to help break those up."

Unlike on Dreame's new mist-expelling robovac, which heats the water on the robot itself, here the heating happens in the dock. From an engineering perspective, what's interesting is that the on-bot process of creating ultrasonic mist also naturally generates warmth.

"The dock can put hot water in the robot, but the actual ultrasonic ThermaMist part of that process, it does actually heat the water as it's coming out," explains Pope. "When [the water] goes through that process, it comes out warm, even if there's room temperature water in the robot."

The fact there's no active heater on the robot itself is good news for battery life. "With the ThermaMist on, it's going to have a small impact on the battery life, but not a large one, because the process of heating is part of the ultrasonic component," Pope confirms. "It's not like there's a special heater that you're running all the time."

Unfortunately, iRobot wasn't demoing the ThermaMist feature when I visited the booth. However, based on the video (above) I was sent over later, it looks promising — there's a good amount of mist created, and it's being delivered evenly. In theory it sounds like a truly interesting innovation, and one that has plenty of potential to deliver strong mopping results.

iRobot has also extended the mop, which is larger in diameter and spins faster than its predecessors, for extra scrubbing power. It can kick out to one side to get close to the edges of rooms, and there's a shield that will slide under the roller as extra protection against unwanted sogginess when the bot is moving over carpet.

Sealing the deal

There's interesting innovation on the vacuuming front too. iRobot has added a 'SealForce' system, which is essentially a kind of skirt around the suction inlet on the Max 875 Combo, which lowers to form a loose seal against the carpet fibers.

"The SealForce brings a component of the cleaning head down to the floor, so you get all that airflow going right through the deep fibers of the carpet, trying to pull everything deeply out of the carpet, or even out of crevices, grout lines, that sort of thing," says Pope. "It's really kind of applying the suction where you need it most."

In the demo, the 'SealForce' seal wasn't as dramatic as I had been expecting. You can see the moving frame around the suction inlet below, and in the right-hand photo it's about as extended as it gets. That small shift could be enough to make a big difference to the suction, through — we'll need to test it out to find out.

iRobot is traditionally shy about publishing its suction specs, but here it has done: the Roomba Max 875 Combo offers 35,000Pa, which is right up there with the highest numbers you'll find anywhere. I'm increasingly of the opinion that it doesn't really matter anyway. The suction is only as effective as the wider design you put it into — and if it works as intended, this seal could make a big difference to the Max 875's pickup power.

Saving grace

The past few years have been a rocky time for once-supreme robot vacuum brand iRobot. Its bots have fallen behind the pack when it comes to features, so it's exciting to see the company starting to find its footing again when it comes to innovation.

The iRobot Roomba Max 875 Combo is on sale now in the UK, priced at £1,099. (equivalent to about $1,490 / AU$2,060). iRobot has a presence in Australia, but I don't yet have launch details for the 875 Combo there.

What about the US? Due to the new FCC ban on foreign-made "advanced" robots, the Max 875's launch is on pause for now. iRobot was founded in the US, but at the start of the year it was taken over by Chinese manufacturing company Picea. However, this takeover isn't to blame for the fact the brand can't now sell its new products in the US; the ban refers to where the product is manufactured, and Roomba bots have long been made outside of the US.

In terms of future plans, Pope has this to say: "We're working through with our advisors on how we continue to sell in the US. So we have multiple plans that we're working through and multiple strategies that will come to fruition, and we'll still be able to bring cool technology to the US as well."