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• A striking design for a potential Nothing book has emerged
• The design appears inspired by notable design elements from Apple and Nintendo
• While attractive, it is unlikely we will see a Nothing book any time soon

A striking concept design for a potential Nothing laptop (commonly referred to as the “Nothing book”) has emerged,

Conceived by designer Nikita Bukoros (@bukoros.design), the notebook form factor computer would sport both a secondary, low-fidelity display and a partially translucent chassis, which evokes memories of a great laptop from the past, but the approach is very different.

The design has been met with wide support among Nothing aficionados, many of whom have been waiting for a laptop from the UK-based smartphone and audio company since the possibility of a laptop was floated in 2024.

The Nothing book concept is giving iBook G3 Clamshell

A glance at the underside of Bukoros’ Nothing book render demonstrates a key callback to one of the most notable laptop designs of all time. Apple’s low-priced iBook series initially ran from 1999 to 2001 (succeeded by the G3 Snow), with Blueberry, Tangerine, Graphite, Indigo, and Key Lime options, the colors decorating both the outside of the Clamshell.

Portions of the iBook G3 Clamshell computers were translucent, offering a hint of the internals, but the Nothing book concept also resembles a translucent game console variant like the Game Boy Color “Atomic Purple” edition, and a modern gaming PC.

However, it is arguably the low-fidelity secondary display that makes this concept really stand out. While the Nothing phones initially launched with a collection of differently-shaped lights on the reverse – provided to relay various information, such as alerts, or charging status, to avoid you unlocking your device – this Glyph Interface has more recently been evolved into the Glyph Matrix.

Appearing on the Nothing Phone (3) is a disc-shaped matrix of 489 mini LEDs, while the Nothing Phone (4) is planned to sport a Glyph Bar of nine LEDs in a row. Reflecting these “instant information” displays, Nikita Bukoros has added an LED display on the top of his Nothing book concept, and envisages it as a configurable display for alerts and custom messages alike.

The Nothing Book concepts lean into the striking pastel colors of the Nothing Phone 4 series. (Image credit: Nothing)Will this encourage development of a genuine Nothing book?

While the idea of a Nothing book has been around for a while – with wish lists demanding everything from mechanical keyboards and minimal ports (which are included in Bukoros’ concept) – it appears to be wishful thinking.

Nothing appears to be fully focused on smartphones and the Nothing Ear and Nothing Headphone audio devices, and in 2025 spun its budget phone brand, CMF, into a standalone company. This does not suggest the business is considering expanding beyond its core market any time soon.

But if it does, Nikita Bukoros’ design is an excellent starting point.

A compact workstation from one of our favorite mini PC makers is currently on sale at Newegg for a limited time. The barebone version of the Minisforum MS-01, which delivers desktop-class performance, is currently available to buy for just $655 (was $1199).

Designed for developers, engineers, content creators, and IT professionals, it packs high-end hardware into a surprisingly small chassis while offering top notch expandability.

The MS-01 combines an Intel Core i9-13900H processor with a highly flexible design, allowing you to add your own memory and storage to suit your workload. Featuring 14 cores, 20 threads, and boost speeds of up to 5.4GHz, the chip provides more than enough performance for virtualization, software development, AI workloads, media production, and demanding productivity tasks.

Today's top Minisforum MS-01 deal

Powered by an Intel Core i9-13900H processor, this compact workstation supports triple-display output, ultra-fast 10Gb networking, expandable DDR5 memory and storage, plus optional RTX graphics, making it ideal for demanding professional workloads and virtualization.View Deal

The MS-01 features two USB4 ports capable of driving displays at up to 8K resolution, alongside an HDMI output that drive up to three displays.

Dual 10Gb SFP+ ports support blazing-fast wired transfers and link aggregation, making the system particularly attractive for professional networking, NAS deployments, and enterprise environments.

Two additional 2.5Gb Ethernet ports provide even more flexibility for advanced networking configurations.

The system supports DDR5-5200 memory alongside PCIe 4.0 M.2 storage, with compatibility for larger U.2 enterprise SSDs that can provide enormous storage capacities.

RAID 0 and RAID 1 support also gives you the choice between maximum performance or additional data protection.

The MS-01 also offers future upgrade potential, including support for RTX 3050 graphics cards, allowing you to add dedicated GPU acceleration for creative applications or AI workloads if your requirements grow over time.

With its powerful Intel Core i9 processor, enterprise-grade networking, extensive storage options, and exceptional expandability, the Minisforum MS-01 is a fantastic choice for professionals.

In our review, we said the MS-01 “offers unprecedented flexibility and expansion options. Perfect for a development or media server, ready for 10GbE out of the box and easy to enhance with extra internal storage and a PCIe slot. A small form factor dream solution.”

For more top-performing picks, check out our round up of the best mini PCs we've tested, as well as the best mobile workstations.

Also consider: More mini PC deals at Newegg

Powered by an Intel N150 processor with 16GB LPDDR5 memory, this compact mini PC doubles as a NAS, offering up to 24TB of expandable storage, dual 2.5Gb Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, and efficient cooling for home or office use.View Deal

Powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 H 255 processor with Radeon 780M graphics, this compact mini PC includes 32GB DDR5 memory, a 512GB SSD, triple M.2 expansion, Oculink eGPU support, and quad-display connectivity for demanding creative workloads.View Deal

Powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS processor with Radeon 780M graphics, this compact mini PC features 32GB DDR5 memory, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, triple-display support, and extensive expansion for demanding productivity and creative workloads.View Deal

Powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 graphics, this compact desktop features 32GB DDR5 memory, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, Wi-Fi 7, and support for up to four displays.View Deal

• See all mini PCs at Newegg

• The Blood of Dawnwalker director, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, wants the game to feel like a "pen-and-paper RPG"
• He says the game's big choices and consequences will deepen players' immersion
• He adds, "My biggest goal is to create a game that you will still remember in the next 10 or 20 years"

The Blood of Dawnwalker game director, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, thinks the game's big choices and consequences will offer players a more immersive experience that he hopes will be remembered for years to come.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at an event where we went hands-on with the upcoming dark fantasy role-playing game (RPG), Tomaszkiewicz discussed its narrative choices and explained why he believes player freedom within the sandbox world Rebel Wolves has created will provide a deeper, immersive experience.

"We believe that as much freedom and different choices will add to the game and different playthroughs, so that we deliver for the players," he said. "It will be better because it will boost immersion, and it will show people that our goal is creating a narrative sandbox. We want an experience that is close to a pen-and-paper RPG, where the game master adjusts for what you are doing. That was our goal to show it from the very beginning in the prologue."

Tomaszkiewicz recalls playing Warhammer as a game master when he was 12-years-old and how, after hours of play, he couldn't remember the details of the room around him because the experience was so "intense." This is the feeling the director wants to mimic with The Blood of the Dawnwalker and believes the RPG's freedom can achieve.

"This is my holy grail: to create a video game with this kind of immersion," he said. "One that allows you to forget where you are sitting, gives you the feeling that you just lived through an adventure in a different world, with different skills, different people, and with real emotions.

"First of all, it's to give you freedom, because I believe that the freedom in the game is one of the big parts of the immersion. If we give you the freedom in your choices in the story, in your choices in the combat, because you can shape the combat as you want, and in different places, the immersion will be bigger and you will remember the game for a long time.

"My biggest goal is to create a game that you will still remember in the next 10 or 20 years."

The Blood of Dawnwalker arrives on September 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC.

Star Wars: The Experience premiers in 2027 and shows fans what it takes to bring the Skywalker saga to life.

• Fairphone has poked fun at the Nothing Phone (4b)'s visible screws
• The company highlighted in an Instagram story that they're just 'for show' rather than being accessible
• The Fairphone 6, on the other hand, has visible screws that users can access

The Nothing Phone (4b) was unveiled earlier today, and it sounds like a reasonable budget handset, with a 6.77-inch 120Hz screen, a 5,200mAh battery with 33W charging, a 50MP wide camera, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM. But despite having visible screws on the back, it might not be very easy to repair or to replace its components.

We won’t know for sure until someone has done a teardown of the (4b), but Fairphone has shared an Instagram story pointing out that while quite a few screws are visible on the rear of the device, you can’t actually get to them without breaking into the glued-on cover.

The Instagram story — an image of which can be seen below — shows the Fairphone 6, complete with its own visible screws, overlaid with text reading “every screw is functional on Fairphones. Nothing is for show.” Then, at the bottom, directed at the Nothing Phone (4b), it says, “next time, maybe the screws can be… outside?”

A fair criticism

(Image credit: Fairphone)

And it’s a fair point. The Fairphone 6 is a reasonably stylish handset itself, with the visible screws helping it stand out, much like on the Nothing Phone (4b).

But the difference is that the Fairphone’s screws are accessible, making for a modular design where you can easily swap out components, rather than having to replace the whole phone.

So, if you want a handset that’s designed to last, you might want to consider a Fairphone instead of the Nothing Phone (4b) — though Fairphone’s CEO recently teased that two new products are on the way, so you might want to wait for those first, since one of them is likely to be the Fairphone 7.

And, of course, we'll be testing the Nothing Phone (4b) for ourselves in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for our real, experience-backed verdict on that device.

• Website maps open source accident data onto an interactive map
• Users can see the most dangerous roads around them
• Collisions are graded in severity

Cyclists, pedestrians and careful drivers could find the data offered by interactive online mapping service RoadRisk invaluable when attempting to plan the safest routes for getting from A to B.

The online tool, which uses OpenStreetMap at its core and STATS19 accident reports from police forces in England, Scotland or Wales, handily plots all collision data from the year 2000 to 2025 onto an easy-to-navigate map.

Simply punch in a post code and the website will reveal all accident data from some 350 local authorities over the past 25 years, colour-coding each based on the severity of the collision: slight, serious and fatal.

Not only can you see the most dangerous routes in your area, or in a proposed location, you can also delve into the data to see date, time, location, road and junction details, weather and surface conditions, as well as full records for each vehicle and casualty involved.

The STATS19 data does not contain names, addresses, phone numbers or vehicle registration details, with only age, sex and an area-level deprivation score given.

Interestingly, the site’s homepage also lists the worst roads for fatal crashes (that will be the A38) and the worst local authorities for collisions, which is Birmingham.

RoadRisk says the UK’s Department for Transport typically publishes each year's accident data around September of the following year, with the maps updated shortly after each release.

Analysis: A handy tool for parents and cyclists

(Image credit: RoadRisk)

RoadRisk is an interesting proposition and, while you can’t plan a route using the software and navigate via the ‘safest’ roads, it is a great tool for scoping out accident hotpsots in the local area.

As a parent with children old enough to walk to school alone, it was interesting to explore the roads near me with the highest accident rates. More interestingly, many of those involved individuals aged between 11 and 15.

Those shocking results backed up my decision to walk them across some of the most perilous routes before waving them off in the mornings.

Similarly, there are a number of roads in my local area that appear to be hotspots for collisions involving cyclists, which could well inform the next route I take into town.

What’s more, RoadRisk says anyone can use the data to quote statistics, take screenshots, and use the information for any purpose — a boon for anyone lobbying the local authority for safer roads.

The Neuron Academy launched on July 7 with self-paced AI courses for professionals who want to use ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini more confidently.

The post The Neuron Launches AI Training Platform for Everyday Professionals appeared first on TechRepublic.

• New Zealand's Education Minister denies any plans to restrict or ban VPNs
• Reports previously alleged it was part of the teen social media ban package
• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also confirmed "no plan to ban VPNs"

The New Zealand government has officially denied any plans to restrict or ban VPN apps as part of its upcoming under-16 social media ban, putting an end to intense speculation and a rapid backlash from digital privacy advocates.

The saga began following a report from The Post that Education Minister Erica Stanford said the government was considering any restrictions on VPNs as part of the country's under-16 social media ban.

Because a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can easily spoof a user's location and bypass local network blocks, the technology was viewed by some officials as a potential roadblock to enforcing age verification mandates.

New Zealand VPN ban's privacy backlash

The notion of banning vital encryption software sparked immediate political and public pushback. Coalition partners quickly distanced themselves from the idea, with the ACT party reportedly marking any anti-encryption measures as a strict red line — The Post reported.

The Free Speech Union also lambasted the concept. Critics warned that a VPN ban would undermine digital free speech and put New Zealand in the same category as oppressive regimes that strictly control internet access.

“The Government wants the power to prohibit technologies New Zealanders use every day, because those technologies make it harder for the state to control what we see and say online. That is not child protection, it is censorship infrastructure," the organisation said in a statement.

Following the uproar, the government changed its tune.

In a recent media stand-up, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon put the rumors firmly to rest. "I can reject that outright. There's no plan to ban VPNs at all," Luxon said. "I don't know where that reporting or where that story came from, but I can reassure you that's not the case".

Shortly after the Prime Minister's remarks, Stanford’s office officially clarified its position, stating that the Government is "not looking at restricting or banning VPNs". For anyone relying on the best VPN to secure their personal data, the rapid reversal is a significant victory.

Circumvention tool or essential security?

(Image credit: BlackJack3D/via Getty Images)

The brief controversy in New Zealand highlights a growing global debate surrounding age verification laws and privacy tools. As governments worldwide attempt to regulate how minors interact with the internet, VPNs have increasingly found themselves in the crosshairs of lawmakers seeking foolproof ways to enforce their legislation.

Because a VPN encrypts your internet connection and masks your IP address, it is commonly used to bypass geo-blocks and content filters. This makes it an obvious workaround for teenagers looking to dodge age gates.

However, treating VPNs purely as circumvention software fundamentally misrepresents what they do. They are essential security tools used by millions of businesses, journalists, and everyday citizens to protect sensitive data from hackers, intrusive ISPs, and mass surveillance.

New Zealand’s flirtation with anti-VPN measures mirrors the shifting role of VPNs in the UK. This friction is also visible in Europe. The EU recently signaled that VPNs could be targeted next to prevent users from bypassing local rules.

The reality is that age verification has changed the internet, and authorities are desperately searching for ways to enforce digital borders. Yet, as Australia's social media ban shows, heavy-handed child safety measures are incredibly difficult to implement — with or without a VPN.

Ultimately, lawmakers must strike a delicate balance. Enforcing a social media ban should never come at the cost of weakening the cybersecurity infrastructure that protects the wider population.

The question remains: could the UK’s social media ban, or New Zealand's, lead to real VPN restrictions? For now, at least in New Zealand, the answer is a resounding no.

• Samsung is targeting 2028 to commercialize its floating data centers
• Land shortages and application processes would be avoided
• Saltwater challenges need to be ironed out

With terrestrial data centers under increased scrutiny over water and energy consumption, and facing intensifying local opposition, cloud providers are being forced to think more creatively, and Samsung is now dreaming up a floating data center.

Its Samsung Heavy Industries group subdivision now has plans to commercialize floating data centers by as soon as Q2 2028, and even plans to secure orders before installations.

By floating compute on the water, Samsung would be able to overcome land shortages but also reduce cooling requirements by keeping them at a more stable temperature.

Samsung to float data centers on the water by 2028

The company's plans include developing a dedicated barge to house servers, electrical infrastructure and on-board power equipment, however initial deployments would primarily use shore-based electricity, tapping into existing grid infrastructure but benefiting from the cooling properties of water.

Earlier concepts also proposed the idea of using LNG-fuelled solid oxide fuel cells, while renewable sources like solar and wind could also be considered.

Samsung also argues that floating facilities could be delivered more quickly than traditional terrestrial facilities because they can avoid lengthy permitting processes and use existing shipbuilding manufacturing processes and tooling.

However, the concept also has some complexities that need to be addressed, like water ingress and humidity, the corrosive nature of saltwater, and stability in tides and currents.

"Floating data centers represent a major new opportunity for the shipbuilding and offshore industries," Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Sung-an Choi concluded.

(Image credit: MOL)

Samsung is not the first technology heavyweight to moot the potential of floating data centers, especially as power demands rise due to AI pressures.

Recent reports detailed how startup Panthalassa, backed by Peter Thiel, is developing floating data centers using wave energy and ocean water cooling systems.

And in May 226, a floating data center project in Japan gained significant backing from Hitachi, which signed a memorandum with shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines to develop and operate the facility.

Chinese authorities and private engineering company HiCloud Technology also recently announced the launch of a jointly-developed $226 million installation of an underwater data center where sealed server modules operate beneath the ocean using seawater for passive cooling.

This 24-megawatt installation processes artificial intelligence workloads, 5G services, and large-scale data annotation operations requiring substantial computing capacity.

Microsoft also previously tested submerged data center capsules through its Project Natick initiative, conducted near Scotland and California before discontinuing commercial development efforts.

All of this while talks of data centers being sent up into space are playing out, of course, and while it's unclear which may solve the problem long-term, floating data centers certainly look to be more realistic on a shorter timeline.

Via Seoul Economic Daily

CNET, Lifehacker, Mashable, PCMag and ZDNET are holding prediction contests to see which readers can best guess what Apple will do this year.

In 2026, buying a new laptop, whether that's the best Windows laptop or the best MacBook, is still a fairly involved process that requires balancing an ever-expanding array of features and specs with your everyday requirements.

With the proliferation of AI, as both a new set of features and a branding exercise (think Microsoft's Copilot+ PC, for example), the list is only getting longer.

However, one universally essential feature everyone needs is above-average battery life.

A common mistake when assessing your options might be to simply rely on the manufacturer's “up to X hours” claim or watt-hour rating. Both of these are useful signals, but they don't tell the full story.

While a bigger battery can definitely help, going on pure numbers alone does not guarantee better battery life. Two laptops with similar battery sizes can actually last very different lengths of time.

A more useful frame of comparison is looking at how efficiently a laptop uses its available battery capacity, including whether its CPU and GPU are tuned to maximise battery life over raw power.

In recent years, Apple has been an expert in this domain, eking out longer and longer video playback and everyday usage times by optimising its M-series of chips specifically to use as little power as possible.

(Image credit: Future)Why battery capacity still matters

Of course, we're not saying that battery capacity doesn't matter – a larger battery should offer longer times between charges in most cases, in the same way that a car with a bigger fuel tank can travel further between stops.

The rub is that laptops are rarely equal, and while a bigger machine might have more space for a larger battery, it almost certainly pairs that with a bigger display, a faster CPU and GPU, more cooling demand, and so on.

Every component of a laptop needs power, and these can eat into any advantage gained from having a purely larger battery capacity.

Physics applies its own limits, too. A bigger battery is naturally thicker and heavier, often defeating the point of modern ultraportables like the MacBook Neo that prioritise being thin and light.

There's also a practical ceiling: many laptop batteries sit below the 100Wh limit used for regular air travel, so manufacturers cannot simply scale capacity forever.

Checking the watt-hour rating and manufacturer claims of "all-day usage" is still worthwhile, but these tell you more about how much energy your laptop's battery can store, not what it looks like in practical day-to-day use.

(Image credit: Future / James Holland)The display is the biggest everyday drain

Any consideration of battery life has to start with the display, which can often be the easiest thing to overlook, despite being the feature you use the most.

The main factor at play is brightness. To state the obvious, a laptop used at 100% brightness – especially when working outside or under bright lights – is going to drain its battery a lot faster than on a lower setting.

On top of that, resolution, panel type, and refresh rate (especially for newer variable displays that go up to 120Hz or 144Hz) can all dramatically increase energy usage.

3K and 4K displays look absolutely fantastic, especially for creative work or watching films, but they will kill your battery life fast. OLED displays are in a similar category, offering incredibly deep blacks due to local pixel-dimming while consuming lots of power to show bright webpages and documents.

Refresh rates have become more of a factor in battery usage in recent years, too. A fixed 120Hz or 144Hz panel can naturally make scrolling and animations feel smoother, but it also refreshes the screen more often, requiring more power.

Taken together, you should at least consider the type of display and its impact on battery life when choosing a new laptop – a top-end 120Hz OLED panel sounds awesome right up until you try to work all day away from a plug.

(Image credit: Apple)Efficient chips change what “all-day” means

As the success of Apple's M-series chips shows, the chip inside your laptop plays a huge part. Gone are the days when processors were simply about speed; the better question is how much computation you can get for your battery draw.

Apple Silicon, found in both Macs and iPhones, is designed specifically for Apple’s hardware and software, so macOS and iOS can make very efficient use of the available power, especially during everyday tasks.

In recent times, Windows laptops have also made big strides.

Intel’s Core Ultra chips, AMD’s Ryzen AI processors, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips, utilising Arm-based designs, are all part of the same wider shift towards prioritizing performance per watt.

Modern chips optimize for extended battery life in several clever ways. For example, low-power cores can handle lighter jobs, integrated graphics can take care of basic visual tasks, and dedicated media engines can play video more efficiently than if the main processor has to do all the work itself.

Taken together, these innovations mean that newer laptops with similarly sized batteries can dramatically outlast older generations.

(Image credit: Microsoft)Windows, macOS, and apps all affect the final number

Hardware only gets you so far. A laptop can have an efficient chip, sensible display, and decent battery capacity, but the operating system and apps still decide how often those components are being pushed.

Apple has the clearest advantage thanks to its end-to-end hardware and software designs. macOS only has to run on a handful of Mac laptops and desktops, all of which are built around Apple Silicon chips, displays, and power management – everything is tightly controlled.

On the other hand, Windows has to work with a near-infinite combination of hardware and software from thousands of OEMs around the world. It must run across Intel, AMD, and Arm-based laptops, with different screens, drivers, utilities, and manufacturer settings.

This situation doesn't stop Windows laptops from having great battery life – as our extensive testing of the best laptops has found – but it is a real barrier, and there is a wider variation between makes and models.

Beyond the OS, apps matter just as much: having tens or hundreds of Chrome tabs open is very likely to nuke your battery life. Arm-based laptops also face the potential issue of running apps through compatibility layers, increasing the power demands and reducing battery life.

(Image credit: Claude / Future)GPUs, AI features, and heavy workloads are the hidden traps

How you actually use your laptop makes a big difference and the rise of AI workloads – alongside traditional heavy hitters like 3D rendering, compiling code, and video editing – are surefire ways to go from 100% to 30% in no time.

Dedicated graphics are a big part of this. A powerful GPU can be brilliant if you need it, but it is also one of the most power-hungry components in a laptop.

Lots of modern machines now use hybrid graphics, switching between integrated graphics for lighter tasks and a dedicated GPU when more performance is needed.

New laptop chips increasingly include Neural Processing Units (NPUs), which are designed to handle certain AI tasks more efficiently than a CPU or GPU. That can help when software is built to use them properly, but heavier local AI workloads can still drain the battery quickly, especially if they lean on the CPU or GPU.”

(Image credit: Future / Shutterstock / Primakov)Read manufacturer claims and lab tests carefully

Manufacturers understandably want to present their laptops in the best light and so make some... optimistic claims about real-world battery performance. None of these claims are untrue per se, but they do rely on lab conditions.

Video playback is a good example. Looping a film at controlled brightness with few background tasks can produce a very different result from a normal workday full of browser tabs, emails, calls, and everything else.

Brightness, volume, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, keyboard backlighting, refresh rate, and background apps can all shift the result. Even the browser you use or the number of tabs you keep open has an effect.

Treat such claims as a baseline – an ideal, if you will – and go from there. For a clearer picture, reviewers like ours at TechRadar actually put laptops through their paces and have tests that simulate messy real-world usage.

If a hypothetical laptop maker says its laptop can deliver "all-day battery life", but a review finds that the device lasts for just a few hours under heavy usage, that's grounds for being a bit cautious.

(Image credit: Future)What laptop buyers should actually look for

So what should you actually look for when buying your next laptop?

Firstly, capacity is still worth checking, if only to get a sense of how big your laptop's battery is and roughly what you can expect as a baseline.

But there are lots of specs to check alongside raw watt-hours. Display type, resolution, refresh rate, chip generation, graphics hardware, and software support can all be just as important once you start using the laptop properly.

A good review is likely more useful than a manufacturer’s headline claim. Look for tests that reflect the way you actually work, which can often be in sub-optimal conditions. A laptop with slightly lower quoted battery life may still be the better choice if it performs well in ordinary day-to-day use.

Analysing your own habits can also be useful. If you are a heavy Chrome user that likes to keep 200 tabs open at once (because you never know when you might need that recipe from two years ago!), adjust accordingly.

Similarly, if you edit video, play games, or use demanding creative tools, you should expect shorter runtimes and pay closer attention to charging speed.

Battery life is more than one number and results from dozens of design and hardware choices working together, and the best laptop for you is the one that uses its battery well for the things you actually do.

Shark makes some of the best fans we've tested here at TechRadar, including several models that spray a super-fine mist of water that evaporates on contact with your skin for an enhanced cooling effect. Interested? Good news: there's a sale happening right now at Amazon, with big discounts on three of my favorite misting models.

My personal top pick is the Shark ChillPill, which is now $99.99 at Amazon (was $129,.99). This is the same as its Amazon Prime Day price, but this time you don't need to be a Prime member to get the deal. The ChillPill is a pocket-sized fan designed for use on the move, and comes with three attachments: a regular fan, a misting fan with a built-in water reservoir, and a metal cooling plate to use on pulse points when you need fast relief. Check out our full Shark ChillPill review for more details.

Want a full-size fan to keep you comfortable at home? The Shark FlexBreeze Pro Mist is now just $179,99 at Amazon (was $249.99), with its extra-large water tank and rechargeable battery so you can carry it around the house, or even use it in the yard. It comes with two bases too, so you can use it as a standing fan when you're working in the kitchen or watching TV, and a table fan when you're at your computer.

Today's best Shark misting fan deals

The ChillPill is back down to its Amazon Prime Day price right now, but this time you don't need to be a Prime member to save $30 off the list price.View Deal

Get a huge $70 off this super-versatile fan, with an extra-large water tank that enables it to spray an extra-fine mist for hours. This is just a few dollars off its lowest-ever price.View Deal

We gave this powerful portable misting fan four stars out of five, and it's 15% off if you grab it now. You might need to add it to your basket to see the discount.View Deal

Looking for a great deal on a Shark fan, but don't think you'll use the misting feature? Good news: the original version of the Shark FlexBreeze is also on offer, with a $30 summer price cut. Like the FlexBreeze Pro it has a rechargeable battery so you can take it anywhere indoors or out, and it can be used as a standing fan or a table fan by simply swapping the base.

Similar to the FlexBreeze Pro above, but without the misting feature, this cordless oscillating fan has received a $30 summer price cut at Amazon.View Deal

If you're not in the US, here are today's best offers on Shark fans where you are.

Round two of CNET's prediction game has begun. Guess correctly about Apple news and events, and you could win.

• The Blood of Dawnwalker director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz says the team knew the game's day and night system would be "expensive as hell"
• However, Rebel Wolves knew the concept would be "unique"
• The director says he was inspired by the werewolf tale, but from a vampire perspective

Rebel Wolves knew The Blood of Dawnwalker's day and night system was going to be challenging as well as costly, but wanted to deliver a "unique" experience for players.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at a preview event for the upcoming role-playing game (RPG), director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz likened The Blood of Dawnwalker to "two different games" because of its day and night cycle.

In the game, protagonist Coen can be played as a human during the day and a vampire at night, and each version offers different abilities and ways to complete quests.

According to Tomaszkiewicz, he was inspired by the concept of the werewolf, but from a vampire's perspective, and the dual gameplay loops allow for a unique structure within the open world.

"I have this idea to create a creature which is similar to the werewolf, but from the vampire side: they are human in the day and a vampire at night, and start from this," he said.

"We said, okay, this is the cool idea, but if you have a human in the day and a vampire at night, you know that you need to create two gameplay loops. If you create those gameplay loops and put them in an open world structure, we’ve decided that, basically, we're doing almost two different games, and it's crazy."

Tomaszkiewicz added that the team knew the idea was "expensive as hell, but we thought it's worth it because it's unique and different."

"It would deliver something new to the market and deliver something different to players," the director said. "That idea was from the beginning. When I started to think about the protagonist, and the company, and the setting, and the saga we wanted to create, let's create a protagonist who will be something different."

The Blood of Dawnwalker launches on September 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC.

• The Blood of Dawnwalker game director, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, says the game's 30-day time system offers a "sense of urgency"
• The game will give players 30 days to rescue Coen's family, and the timer will add "emotional impact"
• Tomaszkiewicz says, "the world is living and it's not waiting for you"

The Blood of Dawnwalker game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz wants players to feel driven by a "sense of urgency" through the role-playing game's (RPG) unconventional time-limit mechanic.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at a hands-on preview event, Tomaszkiewicz explained why Rebel Wolves chose to include a time system that gives players only 30 days to rescue protagonist Coen's family.

Every time players take on a quest, time moves forward within the game's world, so choosing how to spend time is vital. It's a unique feature for an RPG because these games typically allow players to explore for hundreds of hours without consequence. However, as Tomaszkiewicz explained, in The Blood of Dawnwalker, "The world is living and it's not waiting for you."

"If you have some particular goal and you decide to go and do some stuff which is not connected with this goal, you have some consequences, right?" he said. "I think that in the games and the RPGs where time is not important, you lose this sense of urgency, and you lose this belief that this goal is real.

"If we give you the goal that your family is in the castle and something bad will happen to them, but if time wouldn't move and events wouldn’t move it forward, you wouldn't feel this sense of urgency and any emotions connected to it, because you know that they are there, and you will go there whatever time you want."

Tomaszkiewicz added that the timer also allowed the team to tell a story that has "a bigger emotional impact" and while it may look like a small thing, it changes almost everything and "changes your thinking about the content."

"It's not only giving you the feeling that you are there, but you need to think what you want to do, and sometimes, to decide when not to do something," the director explained.

"Going there and doing something is your choice, but not going there is also your choice, and it will have consequences. It adds to the non-linearity of the game, because you know the world is living and it's not waiting for you — stuff will just happen."

The Blood of Dawnwalker arrives on September 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC.

• The Blood of Dawnwalker director, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, says experience with The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 helped in the game's creation
• He says the team learned from CD Projekt Red's "complex" mechanics
• Tomaszkiewicz reveals that optimization was prioritized to avoid launch issues

The Blood of Dawnwalker might not exist if not for the experienced developers at Rebel Wolves who worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077.

That's according to game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who told TechRadar Gaming during a hands-on preview event that without the former CD Projekt Red developers' experience gained from these role-playing games (RPGs), "it wouldn't be possible to create a game like this."

"A game with so many complex choices and consequences, with so many unique mechanics. We build on what we learned and what we co-created in the past," Tomaszkiewicz said.

The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 famously launched with significant performance issues. They were so bad with Cyberpunk 2077 in fact that the game was temporarily removed from the PlayStation Store. Both games did eventually receive major improvements and are now considered two of the best RPGs of all time.

To avoid similar issues with The Blood of Dawnwalker, the director revealed that the team prioritised optimization at the start of development.

"We learned how to approach the optimization of the game," he said. "When we started work on The Blood of the Dawnwalker, we already had people working on the optimization of our game all the time, right from the beginning.

"We didn’t want to be in a situation where we deliver a great game, but there are problems when we release it on consoles or some performance problems."

The Blood of Dawnwalker launches on September 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC.