Technology

For years, major governments around the world have routinely conducted wargames and simulation exercises to test their military readiness, crisis response, and supply chain resilience. For the first time ever, we're about to see how one plays out.

Based on its hit 2025 podcast of the same name, Sky TV has developed four-part docuseries The Wargame, which explores how a fictitious UK cabinet — made up of former MPs from multiple parties — could responded to completely made-up threats and eventual attack from Russia.

Here's how it works. Our cabinet (listed below) will face an escalating simulated crisis, beginning with the suspicious murders of two RAF soldiers. While the Russian side, and any international players, are being given instructions by producers, every decision we see from the UK side is being made in the moment.

With four episodes dropping nightly on both Sky and NOW from September 21, I won't sugar coat it: The Wargame is an absolutely terrifying watch. If you've ever seen anything like Threads, When the Wind Blows or the BBC 1966 film The Wargame, it's the same sense of impending dread... just from the other side of the table.

But, don't get me wrong — this might just be the most important piece of television of the 21st century. As the UK's War Book is being redrafted in real time to advise the public on how best to be prepared, consider that Sky TV is granting us an important head start

We can no longer bury our heads in the sand over just how unprepared the UK is, and artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the main reasons we'll be able to realize this.

The Wargame is the most important TV show you'll stream in your lifetime — just be prepared

Before we drill deeper into what you'll soon see, here's our full list of players and their assigned roles:

• ● Prime Minister: The Rt Hon. the Lord Gove PC
• ● Deputy Prime Minister: The Rt Hon. Nicola Sturgeon PC
• ● Defence Secretary: The Rt Hon. Dame Penny Mordaunt DBE PC
• ● Home Secretary: The Rt Hon. the Baroness Harman KC PC
• ● Foreign Secretary: The Rt Hon. Jim Murphy PC
• ● Attorney General: The Rt Hon. the Baroness Warsi PC
• ● Director of Communications: The Baroness Hazarika MBE
• ● Chief of Defence Staff: General Sir Richard Barrons KCB CBE
• ● National Security Adviser: The Rt Hon. the Lord Kim Darroch KCMG
• ● Intelligence Chief: Christopher Steele
• ● Nato Secretary General: The Rt Hon. the Lord Robertson KT GCMG PC
• ● US Secretary of State: Anthony Scaramucci

As you can see in the above trailer, Sky has been incredibly upfront about its use of generative AI visual effects to create scenes showcasing Russian missiles hitting numerous UK targets. This is normally the part where I'd do my "AI is unnecessary in the creative arts, why couldn't they have just used CGI instead?" tirade, but actually, I'm glad that this decision was made.

Why? Not only is there a poetic irony of using AI to depict missile attacks mere weeks after the global public was told that there's a 10% that AI could kill us all within the next decade, but its use feeds into a wider point that The Wargame is trying to make. We've become so used to a certain type of 'peacetime life' and concerned ourselves with other issues (such as AI) that we've lost any kind of resilience we've ever had since World War II.

While the exact military capabilities of the UK are made up, seeing just how weak and unprepared we are if direct conflict was to strike our shores will hopefully be a wake-up call to anyone watching. As Sturgeon tells us, these choices are often like picking between "bad and worse," and it's nice to see our politicians slightly more humanized, even if the docuseries doesn't fill me confidence as to how international conflict could be handled.

With a fake COBR-style boardroom, military ops room, and press room all in use, it does feel as though this is the closest we'll ever get to an all-politician version of Big Brother. But, fake TikTok clips from real-life influencers capturing their reactions to the fictional breaking news brings the effects straight back home.

What do our players hope we take away from watching? "Governments have to, of course, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. And that's not just about defence spending," Sturgeon said at the show's launch event. "There's a whole debate about preparedness of the population and some really basic things that we're just not at the races of, in terms of being prepared for even a fraction of this unfolding.

"So, getting rid of the optimism bias that this won't happen, to starting to think seriously about the prospect of this possibly happening." Deep breaths, people.

• Malware botnets route traffic through the internet connection on many smart TVs
• Roku, Fire TV, Tizen and webOS all affected
• Some manufacturers are removing affected apps

LG, Samsung, Roku and Fire TV televisions and devices may have apps downloaded to them that mean they can be used as part of a malicious "botnet" — and millions of TVs could be affected, though LG and Samsung have committed to removing the relevant apps,

FlatpanelsHD rounded up pieces of this puzzle, stretching back several months. Back in April, it emerged that many apps and games included a feature called "residential proxy" that could be abused by bad actors.

The tech means the TVs were being used to bypass IP range blocks that affected AI data centers: because each individual TV has its own unique address, such blocks could easily be evaded by seeming to be 'real' traffic. And because the proxy feature doesn't require the app to be open, TV owners would be none the wiser that their device is being used this way — and that's partly because in many cases, you wouldn't assume that was the real purpose of the app.

One example of a residential proxy system, IPIDEA, had enlisted millions of smart TVs in a network that could crawl the web for AI training or even carry out coordinated attacks by groups in China, North Korea, Iran and Russia.

According to security researcher Harrison Sand at Mnemonic, one of the apps in question was a Pac-Man game, likely to be downloaded by kids, that Samsung featured as an Editor's Choice.

And according to security firm Spur, 26.5% of apps for Samsung Tizen smart TVs and over 42.5% of LG webOS apps could be used in this kind of way. That's a truly shocking statistic.

LG's webOS appears to be the most affected, with researchers claiming that over 42.5% of webOS apps contained reproxies (Image credit: Future)What is a residential proxy, and how can it be used maliciously?

A residential proxy or "reproxy" transmits data through your device, in this case your TV, to make it look as if your TV is the sender of that data.

The feature isn't necessarily malicious — it can be used for testing and advertising purposes — but as security expert Spur explains, it also "provides attackers with a scalable way to hide automation, bypass geo-controls, and evade reputation-based defenses."

Spur's website goes into more detail of how they operate and how they differ from services such as the best VPNs.

It seems likely that at least some of the potentially dodgy apps weren't made maliciously; developers who use certain software development kits that have residential proxy features may not know those features are there.

LG and Samsung have now vowed to ban any smart TV apps that contain residential proxies. IPIDEA is already banned by Amazon, Roku and Google TV, and they have also restricted the new Bright Data network.

LG says that it working with developers to remove the functionality from their apps, and that it will suspend any apps that don't remove it. Samsung has restricted new app registrations for apps, and is "working to identify and remove all apps… that contain these components."

What worries me isn't so much that the malware exists — the more our TVs become like PCs, the more PC-like attacks will target them — but that it's made its way into so many TVs and is presumably still there on many of them, despite being publicized back in April.

It just adds to my distrust of smart TVs more widely: with features such as Automatic Content Recognition and ad injection (and here in the UK, prominent placing of TV channels I don't want anywhere near my TV on the home screen), plus too-frequent updates to terms and conditions that I just know mean more tracking, it seems to me that smart TVs are becoming both privacy and security risks.

Which is why I treat my smart TV like it isn't smart at all: it's merely a monitor for my Apple TV 4K.

• Lidl is relaunching its affordable dehumidifier on September 27
• It packs dehumidifying and drying settings, with a 2.1L removable tank
• As well as the appliance, you'll also get washable filters, a drainage hose, and garden hose adapter

Sometimes, supermarket appliances are more than enough to meet your tech needs, and Lidl's new dehumidifier is designed to help you keep on top of your laundry over the winter months.

Lidl’s Tronic dehumidifier will land in stores this week on September 27 as part of the supermarket’s home event. Compared to models from brands like Meaco, Lidl’s version is listed for £79.99, making it a budget-friendly appliance that arrives just in time for winter, when it gets harder to dry your laundry in a cost-effective way.

As well as the appliance itself, Lidl’s new dehumidifier comes with a 30cm drainage hose, a garden hose adapter (both of which are ideal for continuous operation), and removable and washable filters.

The dehumidifier itself has dimensions of 27 x 20.5 x 42.2cm (W x D x H), making it more compact than the Meaco 12L Low Energy Dehumidifier (24.8 x 32.5 x 48.5cm) for example. Lidl’s version also comes with four castors, so you can easily move it between rooms.

However, don’t underestimate it because of its sub-£100 price and compact size — it doesn’t compromise on features.

(Image credit: Lidl)

Packing two main programs, the appliance has distinct settings for dehumidifying and drying laundry, and can extract up to 10L of moisture over 24 hours. The only downside is that its removable water tank has a 2.1L capacity, so it’s not the biggest, and will require frequent emptying.

Despite this setback, the tank features a window allowing you to see how much water has been collected, with a warning signal that alerts you when the tank is full. If you somehow miss this alert, fear not, the dehumidifier has overflow protection to stop spills.

As the winter nights draw closer, many people are looking appliances to not only help dry clothes in the colder months, but dry clothes in the most cost-effective way. Dehumidifiers are just such an appliance.

If drying clothes at a lower cost takes priority over drying speed, we recommend compressor dehumidifiers, which draw damp air over a cold set of coils, allowing the water vapor to condense and is then collected in the tank. You can read more about which dehumidifier type is best for your needs by checking out our rundown of compressor and desiccant dehumidifiers.

Every now and then supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi replenish their middle aisles with affordable alternatives to devices from premium brands. Aldi recently did this with its Dyson and Shark stick vacuum rival.

Likewise with Aldi’s Specialbuys, Lidl’s upcoming appliance restock will be limited, so if your plan is to use your tumble dryer as little as possible this winter, get down to your nearest Lidl store as soon as you can when the dehumidifier drops this weekend.

• Acer's CEO claims RAM supply is still "quite large"
• Jason Chen does acknowledge that PC prices will rise in Q4, though, by up to 20% on average
• However, those prices will fall by mid-2027, the CEO predicts, asserting that: "It's impossible for the shortage to last until 2030!"

Not everyone is being totally downbeat about the RAM crisis, with Acer's CEO stating that he's hopeful that PC prices will drop from the middle of 2027, even if price rises are on the cards for the rest of this year.

VideoCardz higlighted a (translated) report from Taiwan's Economic Daily News that shares the most recent thoughts of Jason Chen, chief executive of Acer, on the RAM crisis.

Chen asserts that there isn't much of a DDR4 and DDR5 memory shortage at present, and that the "supply is quite large" for this RAM — we must bear in mind there may be some nuances lost in translation there — and also that there isn't much shortage of processors either.

The CEO does acknowledge that the prices of components are currently "fluctuating" at a high level, and that PC prices will continue to climb in the fourth quarter of 2026, with an average price rise of between 5% to 20%.

However, the good news, according to Chen, is that he believes PC prices should drop from mid-2027, and with more chip production coming online — especially in China — the memory shortage won't last for the rest of the decade.

Chen is pretty firm on that one, claiming that, "It's impossible for the shortage to last until 2030!"

Analysis: new hope for some stability?

(Image credit: Unsplash / Liam Briese)

As to whether there isn't much of a RAM shortage currently, almost everyone else begs to differ on that — although I accept that Chen's meaning may be altered in translation somewhat here, as noted, and perhaps the gist is that supply isn't as bad as some in the industry would have you believe.

Whatever the case, Chen is clearly sounding a more optimistic note than most. There have certainly been some analysts and prominent industry figures who are suggesting that the RAM crisis will indeed last until 2030, and those are the people who Chen is clearly directing that last comment at. The CEO does appear to be talking more about the Chinese market than the global picture here, though, and we should also bear that in mind.

Still, it's a relief to hear some more positive thinking on the RAM crisis, although there's one point that everyone can agree on: namely that prices are going to rise over the rest of 2026 and into 2027. Even Chen's predicted fall in PC pricing isn't forecast to come about until the middle of next year, and so for the time being, it's clear enough that we're stuck with rising prices.

The cost of RAM in particular has been soaring of late — against all odds, as it was already exorbitantly high — and GPUs are now being subject to some worrying price hikes (the top-end in particular is getting ridiculous), with more to come I expect. It's not pretty out there for consumers, and nothing is going to get better for some time — the question for me right now is: how much worse might things become?

I hope Chen's more positive noises here are indicative of at least some stabilizing around high pricing for PCs and components alike.

President Trump has unveiled his latest plan to combat concerns around AI by appointing a new "czar" to oversee the technology, and also establish an "AI force" to help enforce this.

However there's just one problem - as anyone who actually pays attention to the technology industry news cycle will be well aware of, Salesforce recently revealed its latest interface platform for AI.

Its name...AIforce.

Which AIforce is best AIforce?

Unveiled at its recent Dreamforce 2026 event, AIforce was the headline announcement for the company, promising no less than a new way of interfacing with the data and AI together to help unlock productivity and efficiency in the workplace like never before.

Described by Salesforce CEO and Chair Marc Benioff as "really the most exciting thing I've ever seen for Salesforce," AIforce was a huge presence at the show, one of the biggest technology conferences on the calendar, with posters and displays splashed around the venue.

The problem is, no-one seems to have told President Trump.

Let's be honest, the man is hardly a master of coming up with good names for anything ("Space Force"/"Big Beautiful Bill"/"Gulf of America") - and is currently seeking out views on an alternative name for the concept of Artificial Intelligence itself.

In a typically rambling post on his Truth Social site, the President noted that his administration “will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry. Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”

He also linked the idea of the AI Force to his creation of the Space Force, which he claimed was a “tremendous SUCCESS.”

The President gave no further details about the AI Force, such as when it might be announced or launched, nor who he had in mind to lead it. Luckily for all of us know, Trump has insisted that “Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!” for the position of AI Czar.

Mr Benioff - maybe it's time to give the President a call and avoid a copyright issue?

• Disney has denied that ad-free tiers on Disney+ will start showing ads during movies and shows
• Last weekend, reports emerged that ad breaks would become commonplace for all fans
• Some users closed their accounts over the incorrect claims

Disney+ fans have been left angered — and then confused — after incorrect reports suggested they'd be subjected to ads even if they were subscribed to one of its ad-free experiences.

Last weekend (September 19/20), images were shared on the ResetEra forums and other social media platforms that showed an updated Subscriber Agreement for European users.

One screenshot of the revised document appeared to indicate that even those subscribed to the more ad-free expensive tiers — i.e., Standard and Premium — might soon see "promotional content, sponsorship, and advertisements before/after playback of Content and in channels, live/as-live, special events, and any third-party services content".

Soon: No more escaping ads on Disney+! https://t.co/ouAhn2xsF2September 21, 2026

Understandably, it didn't take long for users to lash out at Disney over the supposed change. As fan fury gained traction online, numerous outlets picked up on the story and ran with it, too, further fueling subscriber indignation.

However, it turns out that everyone had jumped the gun. In a statement shared with German language website anime2you.de, Disney said the rumors weren't accurate, and clarified that ad-free subscribers wouldn't start to see traditional ad breaks while watching movies and TV shows. Furthermore, a moderator post on the Disney+ Reddit page confirmed Disney's stance, adding that "nothing" has changed for Standard and Premium customers.

Responding to a request for comment from TechRadar, Disney reaffirmed that Standard and Premium users wouldn't be shown during movies and TV shows.

Before publishing this story, TechRadar also investigated whether ads had been added to the Standard and Premium experience. And, while trailers and other promotional materials appear before and after a movie or TV show begins (NB: Disney+ has done this for a while now), we confirmed that ads do not interrupt your viewing experience on these plans.

A minor inconvenience, or a big blow?Comment from r/entertainment

So, why the confusion? As explained in the aforementioned Reddit thread, Disney — and other corporations, for that matter — occasionally make changes to their terms of service agreements. These tweaks are made to make things clearer for anyone who reads such documents — and, by proxy, reduce the legal risk posed to major companies.

The irony, of course, is that, by updating its user agreement, Disney didn't make things easier to understand, because this online maelstrom wouldn't have happened if it had.

Comment from r/entertainment

As much as the House of Mouse has tried to limit the damage created by this, the episode has further eroded trust with small sections of its fanbase and, as the above Reddit posts exemplify, even led to some viewers canceling their Disney+ subscription.

Admittedly, those that have unsubscribed over this will be a mere drop in the ocean of the streamer's 100 million+ user base. Nonetheless, it's done a small but seemingly significant amount of damage to the reputation of Disney+. We'll see if it takes a further hit if, in October, the entertainment giant announces the inevitable yearly price hike to Disney+ and Hulu that's been a staple of the industry for the last few years.

Work as you know it will be a relic of the past.

You wake up, pour a coffee and join a call. The first ten minutes are spent talking about why a colleague typed 1524 units in cell B4 of your shared spreadsheet. It should be 1759 units, obviously.

In the afternoon, you complete your third rewrite of an offer for a new prospect. You get a message just as you finish it. The scope has changed. Again.

This is a normal day for most knowledge workers. In five years, this type of day will seem archaic, and as strange as it sounds, we’ll probably miss it.

We’ve been here before after farming gave way to factory work, and then that turned into the knowledge work most of us do today. New tools automated the old jobs, and the nature of work changed with them. AI agents are doing the same to desk jobs.

Brilliant and useless at the same time

We recently worked out how to turn AI from a just question-and-answer machine into something that does actual work. Coding is a clean example. Two years ago, AI coding was mostly defined by autocomplete and small scripts. Today, engineers at Anthropic report AI now writes up to 90% of their code, with some no longer coding by hand at all.

So why do hallucinations and basic errors still happen? Every few weeks a new example makes the rounds: a model can’t count how many Rs are in strawberry; another insists you walk to the car wash because it is only 50 meters away (stepping through the suds, sprayers and rollers doesn’t seem like a great idea). The labs patch each one and a fresh embarrassment turns up the next day.

AI researcher Andrej Karpathy calls this jagged intelligence. Models crack extremely complex problems and then trip over something a child would get right. The lesson is that you can’t tell in advance which you’ll get.

In other words, you can’t extract a human from the process, drop in an agent and assume the output is fine.

What to hand over

What an agent can be trusted with hinges on two questions. What does a mistake cost, and what does checking it cost?

Error cost is the damage when the model gets it wrong. A hallucinated citation in a court filing is expensive, i.e. fines and reputational damage. A rough draft of a meeting summary not so much.

On the other hand, verification cost is how easy it is to check if what the agent produced is right. Mathematics sits at the inexpensive end of the spectrum, since proofs can be checked programmatically whereas a business strategy sits at the highest end, as you need deep expertise to properly evaluate it.

Gauge your tasks against those two questions. The higher a task scores on either, the more human verification, oversight and expertise is needed.

One point to keep in mind here is that what we see as one task can often involve several. Customer service, for example, might look like one task, but there is a big difference between routine first-level interactions, which have lower verification costs and clear escalation paths, and more complex second and third-level interactions, where the cost of errors and verification is much higher.

Klarna found this out very publicly, going hard with automation then hiring people back once quality dropped. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski's conclusion was that customers need to know a human is always there if they want one.

Why partial automation makes people more valuable

ATMs spread through banking in the 1970s, and there are now more than 400,000 of them in the US alone. The obvious prediction was fewer bank tellers. Instead, the number of tellers went up, and so did their wages.

Radiology is the modern version. AI tools now read some scans better than people do. Radiology departments aren’t sitting idle, however. Open positions can’t be filled and demand has never been higher.

Nobel-winning economist Michael Kremer’s O-Ring theory describes how modern knowledge work is multiplicative rather than additive. In other words, one faulty step drops the value of the whole output to zero.

In automation, a single weak link sinks the whole output, unless a human catches it. That makes the remaining humans more valuable rather than less; they're now gatekeeping a far larger volume of higher-quality work. Demand only falls when the whole chain automates, and as long as jaggedness and hallucination are with us, that's tough to picture.

The focus effect

Automation frees up time, and where that time goes decides whether any of this pays off. If it’s spent well, it goes to the bottleneck tasks, like building relationships with a potential client, understanding what a client really needs and making judgement calls, it can improve the quality of the finished work and raise the bar for what gets automated next.

But to make this happen, leaders have to identify what agents can do, actively hand them over and then restructure processes so people can move to this higher value work rather than babysitting the machine.

Five years from now

Picture this: a dozen agents running in parallel, drafting offers, qualifying leads, clearing support tickets. The tedious and repetitive work is gone. Your cognitive load is higher because you’re having to mentally juggle all these tasks, giving feedback, while making sure nothing slips through the cracks.

Protect your mental bandwidth, keep the agents working for you rather than the other way round and spend what you get back on the things only you can do.

Otherwise, we’ll look back in a few years and wish we could argue about cell B4 again.

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• Logitech report finds not even a third of companies involve IT/AV teams at the early stages
• Failed audio and dropped connections are costing workers time
• Businesses should use tech downtime as a productivity metric

Logitech's latest Workplace Experience study has claimed technology teams are often brought into projects far too late, after important decisions about offices and meeting spaces have already been made, and it's leading to suboptimal tech and friction that could be impacting worker productivity.

In the UK, for example, fewer than one in three (31%) workplaces involve their IT and Audio-Visual (AV) teams before space planning begins.

It means that tech decision-makers are then having to piece together hardware in a room that's already being designed, rather than being able to integrate the smartest solutions from the ground up.

IT teams should be involved in office planning, Logitech says

With hybrid working now commonplace, Logitech's data found that failed audio and dropped connections alone caused a median productivity loss of 12.2 minutes per person per poor meeting.

Despite poor IT team involvement, most business leaders agree that a strong workplace experience has a direct link with productivity (86%) and collaboration (90%).

However, upgrading tech and involving more teams from the get-go isn't quite so straightforward. Only half (56%) feel confident that have the right ROI data to justify workplace experience investments, with only 29% treating it as a core business strategy today.

Logitech's solution focuses firsts and foremost on aligning teams more closely. The report calls for greater collaboration between IT, HR and Real Estate earlier on in projects. By itself, planning rooms as a well-coordinated team could reduce long-term costs associated with upgrading legacy and unsuitable hardware.

But to further help with ROI justification, the study also introduces tech downtime as a metric, with impacted productivity serving as sufficient proof that office spaces need to perform better.

Unsurprisingly, things took absolutely no time at all to kick off in MobLand season 2.

Turkish gangster Gakbu has been eliminated during a messy meeting at the dog track, but that feels like the least of Harry's (Tom Hardy) concerns.

Not only has Jan (Joanne Froggatt) asked him for a divorce, but Harrigan arch-rival Kat (Janet McTeer) as acquired her own version of Harry via Colin (Toby Jones), who has so far only been described as a "prick on a scooter."

But even they can do the world of damage. So, when does MobLand season 2 episode 1 arrive on Paramount+?

What time can I watch MobLand season 2 episode 2 on Paramount+?

MobLand season 2 episode 2 will drop on one of the world's best streaming services in the US and Canada on Friday, September 25 at 12am PT / 3am ET.

Here's when it will be released in other nations globally:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 5pm AEST
• New Zealand – 7pm NZST

When do new episodes of MobLand season 2 come out?

(Image credit: Paramount+)

MobLand season 2 will have a total of 10 episodes, with new entries airing weekly. That gives us the following schedule:

• Episode 1: out now
• Episode 2: September 25
• Episode 3: October 2
• Episode 4: October 9
• Episode 5: October 16
• Episode 6: October 23
• Episode 7: October 30
• Episode 8: November 6
• Episode 9: November 13
• Episode 10: November 20

I do most of my gaming on the PS5, but I still think the Xbox has the superior controller because it's more comfortable and intuitive. If you're a fan too and want to pick up a new one for your console, PC, or mobile device, you'll be pleased to see the Xbox Wireless Controller is down to £39.99 (was £59.99) on Amazon.

This is a return to the lowest price I've seen this year, and so it's a price that's unlikely to be beaten until Black Friday in November. Even then, I expect it will only be up to £5 cheaper than this, based on previous price history during major sales events, so there's potentially only a slightly smaller saving up for grabs if you want to be patient.

While the white and black versions are down to this low price, you can also get the Shock Blue, Velocity Green, Pulse Red, and Deep Pink colourways for £42.99 if you'd prefer to add a bit of pizzazz to your gaming setup. That's just £2 more than previous record-low prices for these more adventurous colours.

Today's best Xbox controller deal

Multiple colour variants of the latest Xbox Wireless Controller are now available from as little as £39.99 at Amazon. This well-loved and easy-to-use gamepad is compatible with most Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles, PCs, tablets, and mobile phones. This is a good price to bite on as I've only seen these controllers for £5 less in the past, and that hasn't happened for a long time.View Deal

A gamepad that "offers a more premium feel without the price tag," is how we described it in our four-star Xbox Wireless Controller review. As I mentioned up top, our review also praises the design and feel of the controller, making it a very comfortable and satisfying gamepad to use.

And while more premium options from the likes of Razer and Turtle Beach may offer more fancy features and stylish touches compared to the relatively plain official controller, it simply gets the job done — and does it well. All for a reasonable price, too, especially after this current discount.

• Google's Gemini AI broke out of a testing environment and hacked into three third-party companies
• The agents guessed passwords and used a public repository of passwords to hack into computer systems
• The incident occurred in May 2026, with AI testing lab Irregular stating that the incident was caused by the "same issue" that caused incidents by Anthropic and Meta

Google’s Gemini has joined the ranks of AI models that have been involved in testing-turned-breakout events, alongside Meta, Anthropic, and OpenAI.

During capture-the-flag testing by AI lab Irregular, Google’s model autonomously accessed three computer systems belonging to third-party companies by guessing passwords and accessing an online repository of publicly listed passwords.

Google said that the incident occurred in May 2026, potentially marking it as the earliest AI models to escape testing ahead of the other incidents that took place in early July.

Google Gemini jumps the gun

“In a standard evaluation, the model found public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it thought were part of the test,” Heather Adkins, vice president of security engineering at Google, said in a statement. “In all three of these instances, the model stopped.”

Google also noted that a bug in the testing environment was responsible for allowing agents access to the internet. Contrary to incidents disclosed by other AI developers, Google’s agents ceased their intrusion once they had determined they had accessed company systems outside of the testing environment.

The testing was being conducted by Israeli AI lab Irregular. Irregular was also conducting the testing of Meta and Anthropic models during AI testing breakouts in July.

“This is the same issue that was already reported and does not represent a materially separate incident,” an Irregular spokesperson said in a statement (via CNBC). “All relevant labs were notified in late July, and affected entities were contacted as part of the investigation.”

Google said it was informed of the incident by Irregular in late July.

Debate over AI safety intensifies

The first disclosures of AI testing break outs - alongside several subsequent disclosures of more recent incidents - have coincided with increasing opposition to AI and the upcoming midterm elections in the United States, where AI has become a make-or-break topic.

The debates currently raging circles around who should control the pace of AI development. Some big tech leaders, such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, have aligned their views with those of President Trump. Trump recently stated that AI development cannot be allowed to slow down because “whoever wins AI, wins!”

Huang’s views follow a similar line. The Nvidia head has argued that AI companies should pace themselves, rather than being subject to oversight. At Dreamforce 2026, he argued that AI companies should, “run as fast as you can...but if you feel at any given point in time the company’s out of control or the product’s not going to be safe, take a pause and make sure you get it right.”

Other AI heads, such as Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, are more skeptical. Following the resignation of an Anthropic researcher, Amodei published an essay arguing in favor of ‘pacing the frontier’ - where AI companies slow development to advance alignment and regulation.

Numerous political action committees (PACs) have been channeling millions of dollars of funding into pro-AI candidates, with Nvidia setting up its own PAC to help shift US policy in the company’s favor.

Several previously pro-AI data center candidates have shifted their tone in response to their constituents' views which have become increasingly hostile to AI technology. Numerous states have also rolled-back tax exemptions for AI data centers after seeing billion dollar revenue losses.

As prices rise and the war in Iran continues to push up fuel prices, working class communities are banding together to oppose AI data centers that have pushed up energy costs and bills with new grid connections and unprecedented electricity demands in regions with existing capacity constraints.

Home security is going in all-new directions this year. I tested Abode’s sensors for gates, garages and more in my home.

For years, cybersecurity experts have warned about the risks of autonomous AI systems being used to identify vulnerabilities, evade defenses and launch attacks at machine speed. Until recently, however, those concerns remained largely theoretical.

That changed when an autonomous AI agent powered by OpenAI models reportedly breached its intended testing environment, gained internet access and targeted external systems, including infrastructure associated with AI platform Hugging Face and another three or four organizations.

OpenAI described the event as an "unprecedented cyber incident" and warned that similar occurrences could become more common as frontier AI models become increasingly capable and autonomous.

With 86% of enterprises already deploying AI, only 34% say they trust the technology, highlighting a growing gap between adoption and confidence. As organizations race to integrate AI into business processes, security operations and decision-making, this incident raises difficult questions about governance, containment, accountability and risk.

If AI has indeed crossed a cybersecurity red line following the OpenAI incident, the conversation must now shift from what these systems might be capable of doing to how organizations can safely control, monitor and defend against them.

Weaknesses in OpenAI

The OpenAI attack raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the safeguards and containment measures designed to restrict autonomous AI systems. If reports are accurate, an AI agent was able to move beyond its intended testing environment, gain access to the internet and interact with external systems, indicating that existing controls were either insufficient or incorrectly implemented.

Importantly, this appears to be as much a human governance and configuration issue as a technology failure. AI systems only operate within the boundaries defined by their developers and operators. The testing environment should not have provided a pathway that allowed the agent to become internet-facing or interact with external infrastructure without appropriate controls and oversight.

AI agents can process information far faster than any human, compressing tasks that might take a traditional attacker a week into just a few hours. By analyzing vast datasets in real time, they can assess multiple attack paths simultaneously and uncover opportunities for exploitation with remarkable efficiency.

Reports suggest attacks conducted by OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta are extremely disruptive than those carried out by humans. Their ability to operate continuously, execute actions in parallel and make decisions at machine speed can generate a substantial increase in alerts, investigations and response activity for security teams, while also raising the risk of widespread unintended consequences.

When a human launches an attack, we have some concept and understanding of the side effects that may occur. However, with AI attacks, autonomous systems can operate at machine speed, pursue multiple objectives simultaneously and adapt their approach in real time, making their actions and potential consequences far less predictable.

Organizations are clearly struggling to understand what AI tools are already in use within the business.

The challenge that enterprise risk and governance teams now face is how do they map, manage and block these services to protect enterprise data?

Traditional cyber defenses may struggle against AI-powered attacks

Traditional cyber defenses are largely designed to recognize known patterns, attack techniques, vulnerabilities or trigger events. Once suspicious activity is detected, security teams investigate the incident, determine its cause and impact, and then implement appropriate containment and remediation measures.

However, AI-powered attacks rarely follow a single attack path. AI agents can simultaneously test multiple techniques, identify vulnerabilities at speed and rapidly adapt their approach when a particular route is blocked. This allows attacks to evolve far quicker than traditional defensive processes were designed to handle.

Traditional tools currently deployed in most organizations are still quite reactive. They wait for a known event to happen and be fully confirmed before carrying out a counter reaction such as, isolating devices, removing phishing emails or executing predefined incident response playbooks, to help remediate and ultimately stop the incident in its tracks.

On the other hand, AI powered attacks can overwhelm existing security teams. While, AI defensive tool sets are being embedded into security technology to mitigate attacks, many still rely on a “human in the loop” to respond to threats, but only once they have all the information to then confirm 100% that it is a genuine attack and not a false positive.

This can be a significant challenge for Security Operations Centres (SOCs), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) providers and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) platforms as excessive alert volumes and false positives can consume valuable analyst time and resources.

As AI becomes more deeply integrated into security operations, it has the potential to enrich threat intelligence, accelerate investigations and automate routine decision-making. However, organizations should expect a period of adjustment as these tools are deployed and refined, with false positives remaining a challenge until models and workflows are properly tuned.

Over time, as security teams develop greater confidence in AI-driven capabilities and gain a better understanding of emerging attack techniques, these tools will help organizations detect, investigate and respond to threats at a speed and scale that would be difficult to achieve through human effort alone.

Steps to strengthen cyber defense

Resilience is a key word that is being used very heavily by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) ensuring that businesses can defend against any form of attack. This starts by understanding what needs to be protected, identifying critical systems, data and business processes that would have the greatest impact if compromised.

Once established, assess the most likely attack paths including third-party and supply chain risks. If a managed service provider (MSP), supplier or business partner was compromised, would abnormal activity be detected quickly enough to prevent further damage?

Organizations should also assess their external boundary. What can an attacker see about me? What information is already out in the public domain that would be advantageous to an attacker? What externally facing vulnerabilities do you have? When was the last time you had a vulnerability assessment or penetration test? These are all questions security teams should be asking.

The growth of AI-assisted vulnerability discovery is increasing pressure on organizations to keep pace with patching and remediation. But there are automated tools to help enable quicker patching to try and keep on top of the thousands of vulnerabilities released every week.

Many organizations focus on external threats but it’s critical to also prepare for when an attacker breaches the internal infrastructure and networks.

Limiting the damage

How can you limit the damage once they are inside? This is where role-based access control (RBAC), segregation of duties and to some respects zero trust is key.

This should also include areas like cloud hosted infrastructure as a service (IaaS) or platforms as a service (PaaS), Azure, AWS and Google, and ensuring that other ways of getting to these platforms through tokens, SSH keys, certificates and APIs are all treated with the same containment and separation of duties as you would with a normal user account.

Review the AI tools already in use across their environment. A growing number of platforms can help identify AI capabilities embedded within existing software, as well as uncover unsanctioned or "shadow AI" tools being used without formal oversight. Once organizations have visibility of their AI estate, they can implement appropriate governance, controls and risk management measures to reduce potential exposure.

Organizations should also consider AI-specific purple teaming exercises. Using AI-driven tools, these simulate attacks against the organization while working alongside defenders to evaluate whether existing controls, monitoring and response capabilities are effective.

This helps identify gaps in visibility, detection and response, allowing organizations to understand why certain attacks may have been missed and what improvements are required. They also provide valuable insight into how AI-powered threats might target an organization's external attack surface and whether current security controls can respond effectively.

There is no doubt that AI tool sets are here to stay purely from productivity improvements that organizations gain. But businesses need to make sure that they understand what is being used, where it's being used, how it's being used and how to defend against things that might happen because of what's being used. If not, they risk creating security blind spots that attackers – whether human or AI agent - will be quick to exploit.

We've featured the best endpoint protection software.

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

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

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete review: two-minute review

Dreame’s flagship X60 Pro Ultra Complete is one of the most feature-filled, efficient and reliable hybrid robot cleaners this writer has so far reviewed — and I've reviewed many. Its class-leading 42,000Pa of suction power is certainly attention-grabbing, but the cleverness of this autonomous floor bot goes well beyond brute suction force.

Like some Roborock models, the X60 Pro Ultra is equipped with a retractable LiDAR turret that allows the unit to scoot under the lowest of furnishings with a floor clearance of just 3.5 inches (9cm). Better still, it can also tackle thresholds up to 3.9 inches (10cm) in height, so doorways and awkward transitions are much less likely to bring its cleaning mission to an abrupt halt.

Dreame has also addressed one of the biggest weaknesses of robot cleaners – getting properly into edges and corners. Where most premium bots are able to extend one of the mops by a couple of inches, this one is capable of extending it's edge-cleaning mop to an extremely impressive seven inches (18cm), and you can see the amazing results of this when it's working along skirting boards and around chair legs. Likewise, its front side-mounted sweeper brush can also reach up to four inches (12cm) into corners for a much more thorough sweep.

Dreame appears to have thrown everything it has into this flagship model, and the results are very impressive. Granted, it’s expensive, possibly over-engineered and perhaps more robot cleaner than most people actually need, but if your idea of luxury is never having to sweep or mop floors again, this model is a very tempting proposition, despite some minor anomalies in the obstacle avoidance department. The fact it comes with a surfeit of extra accessories — including spare dust bags, filters and rollers — is the icing on a very substantial cake.

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete review: price & availability

• List price £1,299 / €1,499 / $1,699.99 (X60 Max Ultra)
• Launch date July 2026
• Availability UK and parts of Europe

(Image credit: Future)

At the time of writing, the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete is available in the UK for £1,299, with retailers including Dreame, Amazon and John Lewis & Partners listing it. It is also available in most parts of Europe, priced at €1,499, with some discounts taking it to a much lower €1,199.

In the USA, Dreame is concentrating on the X60 Max Ultra Complete, a slightly different variant with lower suction power (35,00Pa) than the UK-spec X60 Pro Ultra Complete. You can purchase the Max version via the US Dreame store for $1,699.99 or Amazon where it shifts for a slightly discounted $1,614.99.

At the time of writing, the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra doesn't seem to be available in Australia yet.

In the UK, the X60 Pro Ultra Complete is firmly in premium robot-vacuum territory, so there are plenty of alternatives worth considering. The Roborock Saros 20 is an obvious rival that offers a similarly sophisticated low-profile design for a shade under £1,000 and the Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni is another strong contender, particularly if mopping performance is a priority. Dreame’s own X40 Ultra is also worth considering if you want many of the flagship brand’s features without spending X60 Pro Ultra money.

However, for design, performance, impressive specs and the horde of spare parts it comes with, the X60 Pro Ultra Complete is difficult to ignore. While its combination of 42,000Pa of suction power, extendable cleaning hardware and highly automated dock puts it firmly at the expensive end of the market, I think it's a price worth paying.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete: specs

Robot dimensions (W x H)

13.77 x 3.5 inches / 35 x 8.9cm

Cleaning dock dimensions (H x W x D)

19.64 x 17.95 x 15.35 inches / 49.9 x 45.6 x 39cm

Suction

42,000Pa

Cleaning dock bin size

3.38 quarts / 3.2 liters

Clean water tank size

4.43 quarts / 4.2 liters

Dirty water tank size

3.17 quarts / 3 liters

Navigation & obstacle avoidance

Pathfinder VersaLift ToF LiDAR paired with AI OmniSight System 3.0 + LED

Carpet detection

Yes

Threshold crossing

ProLeap with dual retractable legs for up to 3.93 inches (10cm) clearance

Mopping functions

Dual heated rotating mops + dock-based maintenance

Robot noise level

65dB at five feet

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete: design

• Whopping suction power
• Can climb tall thresholds
• Mop extends by up to seven inches

Before we take a look at design of the X60 Pro Ultra's robot and dock, I should add that, right out of the box, this model has been extraordinarily reliable and more efficient than the majority other models I've reviewed these past few months.

Robot vacuum cleaners are among the easiest of smart home products to set up and this one was one of the most efficient. Yes, it arrived in a large box but because it comes with just three main parts — the robot, the dock and its clip-on ramp – I had it on the floor and ready to map my open-plan area within minutes. And, boy, did it map it well, even to the point of accurately pre-naming the four spaces it had located – Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen and Hall — simply by noting the type of furnishings in each room.

This was a great start, in my opinion, because most robot vacs normally settle for generic terms like Room, 1, Room 2, etc. Of course, it's extremely simple to change the names of the rooms and just as easy to divide or merge them, but to have a robot that maps a living space so accurately from the off is a major plus.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover the true meaning of this model's 'Complete' moniker because I spotted a huge array of accessories in the box. Most floor bots only come with a spare side brush, a spare dust bag and, occasionally, a tiny bottle of floor cleaning solution. But this model comes with three extra dust bags, a spare side brush, two dust box filters, three pairs of extra mop pads, a large one-quart (1L) bottle of cleaning solution and, rare for any robot, a spare pair of roller brushes. This is a major boon given that these are all items that one would normally need to purchase further down the line of ownership. Chapeau to Dreame.

Finally, if you purchase this bot today, sometime in 2027 you'll be able to use it in cahoots with Dreame's next sci-fi offering, a staircase-climbing robot module called the Cyber X. Unveiled at IFA Berlin, this amazingly clever slice of robotic tech functions as an autonomous carrier for the X60 so it can be transported up and down stairs. Can’t wait to see that in operation.

(Image credit: Future)Robot design

The Dreame X60 Pro Ultra is available in black or white and is a striking example of just how much robot vacuum design has advanced. From the outside, it remains recognisably circular, but almost every component here has been engineered to tackle many of the shortcomings that have made some robot cleaners largely frustrating to live with. In short, this is a robot designed not simply to clean the floor, but to get into more places, deal with more types of mess and spend less time getting stuck.

While not especially unique, the X60’s retractable LiDAR turret is one of its smartest design flourishes. Rather than permanently sitting proud of the robot, the turret can retract to help the machine achieve an incredibly low 3.50 inch (8.9cm) profile. That might not sound like much on paper, but it makes a substantial difference in practice, allowing the X60 to venture underneath beds, sofas, TV cabinets and any other furnishings with a minimum floor clearance of just 3.54 inches (9cm).

Dreame has also addressed another common robot-vacuum weakness: thresholds. My home doesn't have any thresholds but if it did, this is the model I'd choose because its two pop-out legs give it the ability to climb double-layered obstacles up to 3.93 inches (10cm) and single steps up to 2.04 inches (5.2cm) in height, giving it an impressive ability to move between areas of the home without requiring any makeshift ramps. It also means far fewer situations where you return home only to discover that your expensive robot has spent half the day stranded on the lip of a doorway.

(Image credit: Future)

The X60 Pro Ultra's class-leading figure of 42,000 Pascals of suction is colossal even by today's standards, and this is especially useful when engaging the robot's Large Particles Boost mode which gives the X60 Pro Ultra additional oomph when it encounters larger pieces of debris.

Combined with the unit's twin tangle-free rubber rollers and a retractable pressure plate that creates a semi-sealed vacuum chamber, this level of suction is particularly relevant for pet owners, where clumps of hair can present a much greater challenge than everyday dust. Moreover, the X60 Pro Ultra also features an obligatory spinning side brush which extends much further than the norm — up to four inches (12cm) — for better corner cleaning.

(Image credit: Future)

Many modern floor bots feature at least one mop that's able to extend by a couple inches when cleaning along skirting boards, in corners or around furniture legs. But this one takes mop extension to a whole new level of stretch by offering a reach of seven inches (18cm). When I first saw this in operation I thought a piece of furniture had ripped its arm out of a socket. The spinning mop pads, meanwhile, are thermally efficient and exert up to 15 Newtons of downward pressure, providing considerably more physical contact with the floor than a robot that merely drags damp pads behind it.

When it comes to robot vacuum cleaners, navigation and obstacle avoidance are arguably just as important as suction because all this fancy hardware is pretty pointless if the robot can’t find its way around the home.

(Image credit: Future)

The X60 Pro Ultra’s impressive navigation system is built around Dreame’s advanced VersaLift retractable hybrid LiDAR, which scans its surroundings using lazer beams to create detailed maps of the home and plan efficient cleaning routes. It’s also backed by AI-enhanced 3D Proactive Light Detection and intelligent obstacle recognition of around 320 object including, according to Dreame, 'tiny objects of 10mm'. We'll have to see about that.

On the battery front, this model is fitted with a 5,000mAh battery that recharges from empty to full in about 100 minutes and, according to Dreame, is capable of charging 25% of its capacity in about six minutes.

Score ref: 5/5

Dock design

The Dreame X60 Pro Ultra’s charging dock is as impressive as the robot itself. With its tall, sophisticated design and glossy facade replete with a subtle pinstripe effect, this is one robot dock you might not mind having centre stage. More importantly, it’s packed with a raft of technology that's designed to keep the X60 in readiness for action with minimal human intervention, aside from periodically discarding the dock's dust bag and servicing the two water tanks.

Speaking of which, you get the usual dual water tank combo comprising a 4.43 quarts (4.2L) fresh water tank and a smaller 3.17 quarts (3L) tank for the filthy stuff. Instead of tainting the sink area with stinky water, I always flush the contents of the dirty tank into the toilet bowl and then give the container a quick rinse under a tap. This model also comes with a liquid floor detergent dispenser situated next door to the dock's dust bag department.

The Dreame X60 Pro Ultra comes with one of the most stylish docks on the marketFutureBig water tanks for the mopping systemFutureA bigger-than-average dust bag with detergent dispenser on the leftFutureThis dock cleans itself without human interventionFuture

As to be expected in this day and age, the X60 Pro Ultra dock also takes care of all self-cleaning duties, including preparing the mop pads before use with scaldingly hot water. Since the mops themselves are thermally efficient enough to retain heat, the floor has a better chance of being properly cleaned. When the robot returns to the dock, the mop pads are washed with hot water — apparently 212F (100C) — before drying them using hot air to help prevent build-up of bacteria and nasty smells.

The dock is also fitted with a generous 3.38 quarts (3.2L) dust bag, which is larger than those fitted to many competing robot vacuum docks. This means that more debris can be stored before you need to replace the bag, reducing one of the few genuinely tedious jobs associated with owning a robot vacuum. The fact you get three spare bags with this specific 'Complete' model can be considered a major bonus.

Score ref: 5/5

• Design score: 5/5

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete: performance

• Supreme vacuum power
• Very good navigation
• Average obstacle avoidance

Navigation performance

To give you some idea of how impressive Dreame's current crop of robot vacs are, I installed this model's stablemate – the extra-large Matrix10 Ultra – in our village hall where it has been running for the past eight months without any hiccups. The hall is a huge 130 square meters — two-thirds of a singles tennis court – and divided into various sections, including two toilet areas and a kitchen.

Where other robots I've installed in the hall have had issues where their LiDAR-written maps have been corrupted due to the vast size of the work space and presumably the reflective windows surrounding it, the Matrix10 Ultra has not had any issues at all. In fact, it continues to this day, having successfully completed 395.65 hours of reliable operation over an area of 25,018 square meters, equivalent to a massive 6.18 acres. Not bad for a robot vacuum cleaner!

Needless to say, this model's navigation is equally impressive in the way it has mapped my home, negotiated a lot of furniture including a cluttered dining area, and never once having got lost, trapped itself under furniture or snowplowed a loose rug.

Mind, its first mapping session did produce one amusing moment when it reached the area around our garden door. Since this model uses LiDAR to navigate, its laser beam had scanned beyond the open door towards the garden, thinking it had detected another room. All LiDAR robots do this but very few have the ability to scale a tall threshold. This one, of course, has excellent ability in that department so you can see where this is heading. In fact it was sheer luck that I happened to enter the room just as it was in the process making a beeline for the garden. You've got to laugh.

Another thing I should add is that I have had to raise the valance on the lounge sofa because the camera and laser system treats fabric valances as a solid obstacle. I personally don’t consider this a major issue because almost every LiDAR-governed robot I've reviewed has also refused to punch through a sofa or bed valance. To rectify this I now occasionally tuck the sofa's valance up out of the way so the X60 can clean underneath.

Score ref: 5/5

Obstacle avoidance

(Image credit: Future)

Having read the glowing headlines on Dreame's website about this robot avoiding objects as small 10mm (0.39 of an inch), I simply had to give it a go by placing some much smaller items than usual in its path, including a Hue remote, a phone cable, a small bottle of essential oil and a tiny lighter. I made sure I'd selected every option in its intelligent obstacle avoidance setting and crossed my fingers as it proceeded to travel from the hall to the kitchen.

While it deftly avoided all the objects I usually test robot vacs with — including the low circular dog chew, remote and phone cable — I was very surprised when it thundered straight over the bottle and lighter as if they weren't even there. While I don't consider this a major strike against the X60's obstacle avoidance — many other robot vacs have fared worse — I do think that if a company is going to state that their robot can avoid objects as tiny as 10mm, they really need to back it up with a level of real-world performance that matches the claim.

While the X60 is no match for the DJI ROMO when it comes to obstacle avoidance, I still think it deserves a respectable 4/5 because it has avoided everything else in its path for the last six weeks, and I have never once had to remove the roller brushes to extricate something it had tried to swallow. In short, I'd say this model's obstacle avoidance is better than average but with room for improvement.

Score ref: 4/5

Vacuuming

I've been using the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra for the past six weeks and have never had to think about it. I've never looked at a rug after hearing it perform a scheduled task and thought it needed another clean with a cordless stick vac, I've never had to untangle it from the tassels of a rug, and I’ve never had to extricate an item too big to swallow from its rubber rollers.

Nevertheless, needs must so I scattered my usual potpourri of obstreperous ingredients over the hardwood kitchen floor and a similar handful over a piece of carpet, and watched it do its thing.

FutureFuture

For a robot vac faced with far more detritus than it would ever come across in the real world (at least I'd like to think so), the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra made surprisingly short work of cleaning up the scattered cornflakes, muesli, oats and rice, swallowing up both the fine particles and larger ones with impressive consistency, even though it needed two passes to complete the task. The X60's 42,000Pa suction rating and Large Particles Boost Mode clearly paid dividends here, though I should add that this bot is louder in volume (up to to around 68dB) when cleaning in full-power mode.

I then applied the same test to a carpeted rug and it performed just as well though, again, it required two passes – one horizontal, the other vertical – to fulfil the task. Yes, there were a few small flakes left behind on the periphery but that's because they had been flung beyond the working zone I had previously programmed.

Score ref: 4.5/5

Mopping performance

(Image credit: Future)

As I've stated umpteen times before, I'm no fan of robots that also mop and would much rather have a vacuum-only robot with a huge dustbin in its dock. For mopping I generally prefer sticking to my Roborock F25 Ultra wet-and-dry vac or use a paper towel to wipe up a small spill of milk.

However I can see the appeal of having a robot for hard floor-cleaning duties if it mops practically every day. And this model excels at just that, partly because of the incredible reach of its extendable mop that genuinely cleans to the edge, in corners and around table legs, and partly because its clever blue Proactive Light Dirt Detection system does seem to spot stains better than other models I've tested.

Anyway, for my extreme kitchen test I accidentally-on-purpose spilt a glass of milk and programmed the X60 to run a zone clean. After about five minutes of mop preparation, including heating the pads using hot water, it trundled over and mopped up half the milk before returning to the dock. I thought that was that until I realized it was having its mops washed in readiness for the second run I had previously programmed.

I'd say the final results were perfectly acceptable given that I would never command a robot to mop up a spill when I can perform the task a thousand times quicker with some paper towels.

The main take away here is that its day-to-day performance has definitely been a cut above many of its competitors and there's no denying the practicality of the robot's extendable mop arm which really does work wonders.

Score ref: 4.5/5

Dock performance

I have nothing but good things to say about the X60 Pro Ultra's dock. Yes, it's a pretty large item to have in a small space but, on the plus side, I think its reflective pin-striped glass-like facade is one of the most attractive finishes I've seen since the Roborock 10R.

From a functional point of view, this dock does everything from emptying the robot's dust bin and servicing the robot’s mop system with hot water, washing the mops and then drying them, to self cleaning its own mop tray at the touch of a button on the app.

Only once did the dock's suction not correctly empty the contents of the robot's bin after a full house clean, and this was because I had activated the Hair Compression setting in the app. I'm not sure how this function works but the robot's bin was so tightly clumped with loads of winter-shed hair from my two labradors that the contents refused to budge when the dock's suction kicked in. Thankfully I've had no repeats of this since switching off the Hair Compression setting and, as a result, I am not losing any sleep over it.

Score ref: 5/5

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete review: app functionality

• Extremely comprehensive
• Brilliant for tech nerds, not so much for luddites
• Encourages a lot of experimentation

The Dreame X60 Pro Ultra’s Dreamehome app is extraordinarily well featured, giving you an almost ridiculous level of control over what the robot does, when it does it and how it cleans each area of your home. The problem is that it can initially feel like you’ve been handed the controls to an airliner.

As per usual, once the X60 has mapped your home, the app presents a detailed map that lets you merge or divide individual rooms, define cleaning zones and set no-go areas and virtual barriers. You can specify whether particular areas should be vacuumed, mopped or given both treatments, and adjust cleaning intensity according to the room or floor type.

(Image credit: Future)

There are also extensive options for scheduling and short-cut tasks, along with a myriad of settings for suction power, water usage, mop behavior, carpet type, floor direction, obstacle crossing, obstacle avoidance, even if you want pet hair in the robot's bin to be compressed.

The sheer depth of the Dreamehome app is undeniably impressive, but it does come with a steep learning curve that encourages a lot of experimentation. It can also take a while to work out where everything lives, particularly if you’re the sort of person who prefers to press a couple of buttons and get on with more important things. Nevertheless, once you’ve mastered this app, it becomes one of the X60 Pro Ultra’s biggest strengths.

• App functionality score: 4/5

Should you buy the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete?Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete: score card

Section

Notes

Score

Value for money

While in the premium bracket, I think the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete is fair value for money, especially given the on-board tech and huge amount of included spares.

4.5/5

Design

Slick, sophisticated and impressively engineered, the X60 Pro Ultra and its glossy dock ooze premium quality.

5/5

Performance

The X60 Pro Ultra delivers outstanding vacuum performance and better-than-average mopping, but its obstacle avoidance system could be better.

4.5/5

App functionality

The Dreamehome app is impressively comprehensive, offering deep control over all aspects, but its sheer number of settings can feel overwhelming.

4/5

Average rating

4.5/5

Buy it if

You want great vacuum performance

Powerful 42,000Pa suction tackles stubborn household detritus with aplomb

You have hairy pets

This model has several functions designed with pets in mind

You have low furniture and high thresholds

The X60 cleans beneath very low furniture and climbs most thresholds

Don't buy it if

Your home is cluttered with tiny toys

The X60 most likely won’t evade small toys like Lego bricks

You're not very tech savvy

The X60 Pro Ultra's surfeit of features may overwhelm less technical users

Your home is on the small side

This model would be overkill, as would the large dock

How I tested the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete

TechRadar takes its product testing very seriously so I lived with the X60 Pro Ultra for a few weeks having set up various weekly schedules and routines to gauge how efficiently it performed the tasks it was designed for. I also monitored the amount of times I had to rescue it from entanglement or some other anomaly but, aside from some minor obstacle avoidance issues, the X60 functioned reliably throughout its trial.

If only to prove its capability for cleaning up heavier doses of debris and mopping up spills, I also performed a few extreme tests that no robot should have to endure in its lifetime.

First reviewed September 2026.

Traditionally set in North America, the Silent Hill series has been known to stray beyond the continent on occasion, most notably with the recent Silent Hill f, which takes place in sixties Japan.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, PC
Release date: September 24, 2026

With Townfall, we’re headed to nineties Scotland, but that’s not the only change: we also get a new perspective — in more ways than one.

Not only is the game in first-person, rather than third-person, but it's developed by a series newcomer, Screen Burn Interactive, formerly known as No Code. This small Scottish outfit doesn’t exactly have a long resume, but it's already proved itself with its two previous outings. 2017’s Stories Untold was an interesting, modern take on the text adventure, while 2019’s Observation, another first-person horror, won the Bafta for Best British Game in 2020.

Now the team brings its Caledonian spirit to bear on Konami’s flagship horror franchise, but does the new locale and camera angle represent another step in the right direction for a series keen on extending its recent purple patch?

Everybody’s aff to the rapture

(Image credit: Konami)

We open in typical horror story fashion: a man crawls out of the water onto a dock, not knowing where he is or where he came from.

Best bit

(Image credit: Konami)

Sneaking around the streets of St. Amelia. Its layout is ripe for creating your own paths to avoid enemies, and escaping their clutches by running down back alleys and hiding in cupboards is always a thrill. Plus, you get to explore a town that’s been lovingly and realistically rendered, with homes, shops, and features that offer a glimpse back to a simpler time.

This man is Simon Ordell, wearing an outfit almost identical to Travis Grady’s from 2007’s Silent Hill: Origins, and denoting his everyman-ness. As you make your way up from the harbour, a cutscene plays, and a tarp blows away from a sign, revealing the town’s name: St. Amelia

And so the game proper begins, as you make your way through the seemingly abandoned town to find out what’s going on. Along the way, you’ll take control of two additional characters besides Simon — Zoe and Richard — and the plot unfolds gradually to reveal the trio’s connection to one another.

(Image credit: Konami)

The first thing that struck me as I paced through the streets was the fantastic art direction. As expected from a Scottish team, Screen Burn has nailed the feel of a small Scottish town.

St. Amelia is lovingly crafted and perfectly captures its mid-nineties period, containing plenty of features recognizable to those this side of the pond, from period-correct storefronts and pebble-dashed houses to public telephone booths and post boxes.

Virtually every frame looks cinematic (there’s even a letterbox mode enabled by default). The perennial fog is, of course, present and correct here, and looks better and moodier than ever. Hues of white, red, and blue are prominent throughout as well, and look eerily beautiful as they shine through the mist and are backlit by streetlamps. This is a game made for screenshotting, although unfortunately it doesn’t have a native photo mode.

I played through the game in Performance mode, as is often my preference, and I couldn’t discern any visual downgrade from Quality mode. Naturally, though, Performance mode offered a much better frame rate, and I only encountered one section where things got a little choppy, but this was brief and far from ruinous.

(Image credit: Konami)

Complementing the visuals is the score, another feature that’s always stood out in Silent Hill titles. Here, though, regular series composer and sound designer Akira Yamaoka is, for once, not involved. Instead, the honors go to Pilotpriest, who’s done a fantastic job of replicating the off-kilter sounds and melancholic melodies fans have come to know and love, while adding a modern twist.

Pieces are more sparse and muted than before, often with heavy doses of reverb. They match the tone of the gameplay brilliantly, and compositions open up during cutscenes when some emotional weight needs carrying.

Unfortunately, the characters’ facial animations are less capable at this. They’re often stilted, which can work when they seem detached and dejected, but they fail to sell terror or emotional breakdowns when required.

This is doubly a shame since it lets down the largely great performances of the voice actors, of which Kezia Burrows’ Zoe is worthy of highlighting. She has a greater range of traits and emotions to convey than the other two, and she does so with aplomb.

Another disappointing aspect of the game’s design is the monsters — this for a series renowned for its strikingly original creations. Virtually every one is some kind of faceless alabaster humanoid with no details of note, and some are mere rehashes of past favorites, such as the fleshy straight-jacketed figure, although this time it has a plank driven through its head.

Less attention has been paid to their symbolism, too: there are suggestions that they reflect aspects of the inner turmoil of the main characters, à la most Silent Hill monsters, but there's little about their design that shows this in an interesting way.

Monster hunting

(Image credit: Konami)

Looks aside, though, the monsters are more dangerous than ever. There are a handful of basic pawns, such as those that wander around slowly, and the aforementioned straight-jacketed plank heads that move much faster and more erratically and are equally troublesome.

If either catches you, you’ll have a basic button-mashing QTE to avoid them if you have enough health, but if not, it’ll be instant death. In certain sections, a larger monster appears with blobs on its back, which is unkillable as far as I could tell. There's no chance to QTE your way out of its grip if it catches you, either.

Sneaking around enemies, therefore, can be a tense and terrifying experience, accompanied by a huge sense of relief when you succeed. Often, the environmental design expertly facilitates this stealth gameplay. The outside sections in particular are laden with cut-throughs and hiding places, and more impressive is the fact that this design is so firmly planted in the real world.

You’ll be sneaking around abandoned cars and peeking out over low walls, scooting down narrow back alleys and distracting enemies with bottles or radios. There’s a surprising degree of player freedom that makes these sections more satisfying to play through than your typical survival horror fare.

(Image credit: Konami)

What also helps is the excellent player movement. All three move in the same way, which is to say they’re responsive and agile, as well as being reasonably fast when sprinting, although this is no arena shooter — but then again, I wouldn’t want it any other way in a horror game. There’s also an option to use motion controls for aiming, with fast and precise movements, and it is my preferred method.

There’s a peek mechanic, too, which again is very useful. It may be lifted straight from classic first-person horror games, most notably Alien: Isolation, but it gives you a great deal of freedom to not just strafe laterally, but also to peer up over barriers or down over ledges, whether standing or crouched.

To detect threats more easily, Simon picks up a handheld TV (or CRTV) early on that can tune into enemy locations. They’re rendered in silhouette against a red background, serving as the game’s ‘detective mode’. This gives you a real advantage, but its screen is just obscure enough to avoid you using it the whole time.

You also lose focus on your surroundings while equipped, again preventing you from relying on it wholesale. Keeping track of multiple enemies can be hard as well, since you have to toggle between them one at a time, and those long passed or on a different level remain in the CRTV’s memory.

(Image credit: Konami)

Zoe, on the other hand, is saddled with a pager, a far less effective item since it doesn’t directly reveal enemy movements. Instead, bars around the sides fill up to show their approximate direction and proximity. Both gadgets, though, are effective at grounding Townfall in the real world. At certain points, the CRTV can be tuned to show recorded messages that help develop the story or provide hints. The pager, meanwhile, receives mission- and story-related communication.

This grounding is something the game as a whole does well. From the environments and puzzles, right down to the save system, which has always been a quirky thing in Silent Hill games. Usually, it’s something obscure and surreal, such as interacting with a well or a red square on a wall, but here you use landlines (no mobile phones in St. Amelia 1996) and dial 100 — the in-game number for the coastguard.

The map screen is as helpful and skeuomorphic as ever. Scrawls in red marker pen appear to show rooms you’ve entered, locked doors, and story clues. You can also zoom and pan around it with ease.

When the sneaking goes wrong, you aren’t completely defenceless. You don’t exactly have a military arsenal at your disposal, but some humble series staples are here, including wooden planks and metal pipes. They degrade this time, though, so they won’t last long. Firepower comes later, but ammo is scarce, making the game’s intentions for a stealthy play style clear.

(Image credit: Konami)

All this isn’t to say the weapons are useless. On the contrary, they’re very effective, and just the right amount of difficult to use. Melee combat is a basic affair, with one button for attack and one for block, but a lot of enemies can be disposed of quite quickly. The revolver and shotgun are even more effective, as you would imagine, but reload times are slow. All weapons feel impactful and satisfying to use, too, and the controls aren’t awkward.

Healing items are more generously distributed. There’s gauze for minor wounds and first aid kits for major ones. You can also combine alcohol with the former for a larger heal, while empty IV bags can be combined with IV fluids to automatically revive you if you die.

Aside from combat and sneaking, you’ll of course be solving puzzles. These are more ingenious than past efforts, and expertly combine that aforementioned verisimilitude with the series’ penchant for the weird.

One of my favorites had me reading out patient charts as Zoe to an aggressively condescending doctor, chastising her and me if I gave the wrong information. I then needed to find medicines dotted around the medical center, beginning yet another monster-avoidance section, which was as tense and as exciting as those in the streets of St. Amelia.

There are plenty of documents and computer emails to read and collect, providing clues to puzzles. There’s also a handy mechanic where you can hold a button to bring up the relevant clue while interacting with a puzzle, although, bizarrely, this is limited to only a few occasions.

Nothing personal

(Image credit: Konami)

While I certainly had a good time with Townfall, certain sections drag on a little too long. But on the whole, the game does well to vary the environments and puzzles (the enemies less so) throughout to keep you hooked.

I didn’t find normal difficulty too troubling: the puzzles are pitched just right, and those I spent a long time figuring out weren’t frustrating or unfair; in fact, they’re proved more satisfying to solve than the series’ typical offerings.

Sneaking and combat, on the other hand, are more challenging. Enemies can come upon you quickly, and since there can be long stretches before you reach a save point, you can find yourself trudging back through the same section if you perish. But mostly, their presence adds real stakes and rewards you with a sense of achievement once you make it past them.

(Image credit: Future)

It took me just over 20 hours to complete a single playthrough, and that was at a gentle pace. There’s little beyond the main objectives at hand to seek out, aside from some mysterious coded postcards that’ll have fans scrabbling to decipher, as well as hidden phone numbers to find. There are also unlockable outfits and weapons, and five different endings to get.

Townfall isn’t particularly scary. There’s the occasional jump scare, but it doesn’t rely on them for cheap thrills. The game is a slow burn, with plenty of quiet, contemplative moments as you explore your surroundings. As with many Silent Hill games, the horror is more psychological.

But herein lies a problem. While the story is commendable for sustaining the mystery for as long as possible, there’s a lack of character exploration, contrary to many other stories in the franchise.

The characters’ dialogue is mostly cryptic, so you never get much of a grasp on their thoughts and feelings until the end — and even then, there are still plenty of questions left unanswered, as they should be. But the three of them are by turns confused and forlorn throughout.

This mixture works to conjure that strange, uncanny tone the series is known for, but it also means the trio fails to elicit the same level of emotional investment garnered by past protagonists, such as Harry and Heather Mason, James Sunderland, and Mary.

(Image credit: Konami)

Social commentary seems to be Townfall’s primary concern: the main theme is one of corporate negligence and its devastating impact on a community, which is certainly relevant in today’s world. And it’s true that once the three collide and everything comes to a head, it starts to resonate emotionally. But this is a long time coming, and Zoe ultimately feels underserved by the story’s conclusion, a shame given the aforementioned excellence of her actor’s performance.

It’s entirely possible, though, that other endings will give her a larger role than the one I reached, although I have no idea how these are achieved yet.

Ultimately, I found Townfall less impactful than Silent Hill 2 or Shattered Memories. It won't haunt me for as long as those entries, but it’s an intriguing journey nonetheless, with mysteries that remain after completion to keep fans busy with their theories.

No doubt some will also see Townfall as departing too far from the Silent Hill formula, a debate that’s already begun. But to my mind, the new setting and perspective fit the mold perfectly, so despite a few reservations, it still marks another triumphant reimagining of the series.

Should you play Silent Hill: Townfall?Play it if…

You love sneaking and puzzling
Sneaking around enemies is often thrilling, and the memorable puzzles mix realism with the series’ unhinged tropes masterfully.

You want great art direction
Screen Burn has managed to haul a small Scottish fishing village into the world of Silent Hill beautifully. It looks and sounds fantastic.

Don't play it if…

You want the best monsters
The monsters are certainly less memorable this time round, a shame given the series’ pedigree in this area.

You want more emotion from your characters
Mostly, the three protagonists are quite stilted in their tone. The botoxed facial animations don’t help, either.

Accessibility features

Compared to other modern releases, Townfall’s accessibility features are a little lacking. There are no content filters for blood and gore, and visual assists for color and contrast, and the like, are also missing. You can toggle subtitles and closed captions separately, though, and you can adjust the opacity of their backgrounds.

There are three difficulty modes to choose from: Story, which reduces the threat posed by enemies; Normal, which is how the developers intend the game to be played; and Nightmare, which increases enemy power and makes your flashlight detectable by them.

Puzzle difficulty is handled separately, although there are only two modes for this, with the only difference being red highlights of salient text clues.

How I reviewed Silent Hill: Townfall

(Image credit: Konami)

I played Townfall for just over 20 hours, completing the game once through on normal difficulty. I also toggled the puzzle difficulty between Normal and Hinted modes at various points.

I played the game on a standard PS5, largely in Performance mode, although I also tested Quality mode for a time, too. I used a Lenovo Legion R27qe monitor and the Skullcandy Crusher PLYR 720 headset for audio.

I’m a long-time fan of the Silent Hill series and have played many games in the series, including the recent Silent Hill f and the 2024 remake of Silent Hill 2. The original Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories rank among the best horror games of all time, in my mind.

First reviewed September 2026

Full spoilers immediately follow for Lanterns episode 6.

Lanterns episode 6 has made its debut on HBO Max — and while it didn't answer every big question I had heading into Lanterns' sixth chapter, it does include a cameo from someone who's an incredibly important part of the Green Lantern mythos.

Titled 'Bad Optics', this week's chapter sees John Stewart return to Rushville 10 years after the town's near-destruction to investigate the apparent death of Hal Jordan. Before his mentor's funeral, Stewart meets and interacts with a character who has strong ties to Jordan in DC Comics, and whose presence in this DC Universe (DCU) TV show further cements the wider worldbuilding — or should that be universe-building — of this nascent cinematic franchise.

So, who is this mystery individual? What's their relationship to Hal Jordan? And could we see their superhuman alter ego at some point in the DCU? Let's take a look at the latest comic book character to be referenced in the hit HBO Max show.

Who is Carol Ferris in Lanterns? Hal Jordan's love interest in DC Comics, explained

Carol Ferris has been a part of Green Lantern lore for over 60 years (Image credit: DC Comics)

Created by John Broome and Gil Kane, Carol Ferris is not only Hal Jordan's long-time love interest but was also one of his most noteworthy foes for many years.

Making her debut in Showcase #22 in late 1959, Carol was introduced to readers as the only child of aerospace mogul Carl Ferris and the vice president of her father's company, Ferris Aircraft. After hiring Hal Jordan as a test pilot for said corporation, Carol quickly falls in love with the soon-to-be Green Lantern, but their romantic relationship doesn't last.

The reason? Carol is abducted, brainwashed, and turned into one of Jordan's arch-nemeses in the form of Star Sapphire by the Zamarons. Formerly part of an alien race called the Maltusians, the female members of this species became the Zamarons after parting ways with the male Maltusians, who then rebranded themselves as the Oans — or, to call them by their more common name, the Guardians of the Universe.

With the immortal Guardians no longer requiring their female counterparts to procreate, the Zamarons left them to their devices, developed a warrior-like cult, and — to cut a long story short — soon became fierce rivals to the Guardians.

Carol Ferris was the first DC character to assume the Star Sapphire mantle (Image credit: DC Comics)

But back to Carol. Following her kidnapping, she's infused with an incredibly powerful space stone known as a Star Sapphire, which turns her into a superhuman capable of going toe-to-toe with a Green Lantern.

Abilities-wise, Star Sapphire's powerset includes — but isn't limited to — the ability to fly, create energy blasts, constructs, and force fields, survive in space, alter people's minds, and even heal individuals with the power of... well, love.

Read my Lanterns coverage

- Lanterns episode 1 ending explained
- Sinestro in Lanterns explained
- Lanterns' Manhunters explained
- Lanterns' Guardians of the Universe explained
- Lanterns episode 4 ending explained
- Lanterns episode 5 ending explained

Anyway, ever since Star Sapphire's first appearance in October 1962's Green Lantern vol. 2 #16, Carol and Hal have battled each other on a regular basis as their superpowered aliases. Whenever Carol isn't possessed by the space gem she's synonymous with, the pair get on pretty well (for the most part) and have been romantically entangled on an on-off basis through the decades.

More recently, Star Sapphire has taken on the role of a superhero rather than a supervillain. In fact, as of 2007's Green Lantern vol. 4 #20, Carol is the leader of the Star Sapphire Corps, otherwise known as the Violet Lantern Corps. This group has purple power rings, which are charged/powered by the emotion of love, and are now viewed as allies of the Green Lantern Corps.

Who plays Carol Ferris in Lanterns?

Amie MacKenzie, seen her in 2025 Netflix medical drama Pulse, plays Carol in the DCU (Image credit: Netflix)

That'll be Amie MacKenzie. Viewers might recognize her from Better Call Saul and The Madison on Netflix, Dexter: Original Sin and Yellowstone spin-off 1923 on Paramount+, Mountainhead on HBO Max, and MacGruber on Peacock.

Lanterns' latest chapter doesn't indicate whether we'll see Carol again. While her appearance at Hal's poorly attended funeral suggests they were together at some point prior in the DCU, it seems her inclusion is simply to make diehard DC comic book fans imitate that famous Leonardo DiCaprio meme from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Don't expect to see MacKenzie as Carol's superpowered alter-ego at any point in the DCU, then.

Anyway, this isn't the first time Carol has appeared in a live-action project. She was portrayed by Blake Lively in 2011's Green Lantern movie, which starred Ryan Reynolds as the titular hero and was slammed by fans and critics alike upon release. But, hey, Reynolds and Lively fell in love, got married, and had kids after meeting on that film, so something good came out of it for them!

How Carol Ferris' cameo might be hinting at the creation of more Lantern Corps

Has Sinestro founded the Yellow Lantern Corps in the DCU yet? (Image credit: DC Studios/HBO max)

In spite of what I've just written, though, it's possible Carol's appearance could point to the formation of other Lantern Corps in the DCU.

Okay, that already appears to be a given. Sinestro's brief appearances in the DCU Chapter One show and Lanterns' title card slowly changing from green to yellow imply that it won't be long before Sinestro creates the Yellow Lantern Corps, if he hasn't secretly done so already.

Regardless, with Carol showing up in the sci-fi crime drama, we've now met individuals with ties to three of the seven Lantern Corps that exist in DC Comics, all of which harness a specific feeling on the emotional spectrum: Green (willpower), Yellow (fear), and Violet (love). The others are Red (rage), Blue (hope), Indigo (compassion), and Orange (greed).

Will we see any and/or all of these interstellar organizations in the DCU? It's possible, although recent comments made by the head of HBO have me fearing the worst about Lanterns season 2. If another season of this successful TV series isn't greenlit, we'd have to hope that they're part of a Green Lantern movie — maybe an adaptation of the acclaimed 'Sinestro Corps War' comic storyline, perhaps? — on the big screen instead.

• Listen to One Man In audiobook for free with Audible trial (US)
• Abroad? Use NordVPN (Save 75% + Try 30 days)
• Audiobook runtime: 5 hours 26 minutes

One Man In tells the remarkable story of former British special forces soldier Christian Craighead and the events of January 15, 2019, when he responded to the terrorist attack on Nairobi's DusitD2 complex.

Published on September 15, 2026, Craighead's memoir is available in hardcover, ebook and audiobook editions in the United States – although not the UK currently.

If you're abroad and want to access your usual US ebooks or audiobooks, use NordVPN (get our 75% off deal below).

Here, we'll show you how to get One Man In online and when abroad, plus the different ways you can read/listen to Christian Craighead's jaw-dropping story – including for free.

Listen to One Man In audiobook for FREE

One Man In is out now in the US, with readers able to choose between physical, digital and audio editions of Christian Craighead's memoir.

Listen to One Man In for free with Audible's 30-day FREE trial (includes 1 book)

Or, if you're a Prime member, you can get a 2-month Audible trial for $0.99.

Running for 5 hours and 26 minutes, it is read by Craighead himself, meaning listeners hear the former SAS soldier recount the events in his own voice.

Prefer to read? Amazon lists the hardcover edition at $30, while the ebook has a $14.99 list price. The publisher's unabridged audio download is listed at $19.99.

TRAVELING ABROAD? ACCESS AUDIBLE FROM ANYWHERE WITH NORDVPN

Access from anywhere

If you're from the US but traveling abroad, you might find your usual streaming services, websites and subscriptions are geo-blocked.

Obi-One Nairobi fans traveling or working outside the States may need to use a VPN to access One Man In when roaming abroad.

There are lots of VPNs, but NordVPN is the one you can rely on to unblock almost any service – save 75% and get 30 days to try it out risk-free.

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Access Audible free trial when abroad

It's really easy to use a VPN to access your US Audible account.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is the best choice.

2. Choose the location in the VPN app. For instance, if you're visiting Europe and want to use your US Audible account, you'd select US-based server location.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Audible and get your local free trial or paid subscription for audiobooks.

Who is Christian Craighead?

Christian Craighead is a former British Army soldier who joined the military at 16 and served for 28 years.

His career included service with the Parachute Regiment and Pathfinder Platoon before he joined 22 SAS, where he spent almost 15 years.

Craighead served in locations including Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming internationally known following his involvement in the response to the January 2019 DusitD2 attack in Nairobi.

He retired from active service on September 7, 2020 and was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.

In September 2026 he made his second appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast and provided a blow-by-blow account of the DusitD2 attack.

Which devices are compatible with Audible?

• iPhone
• iPad
• Android phones
• Android tablets
• Apple Watch
• Mac
• Amazon Kindle
• Amazon Fire tablets
• Amazon Alexa devices

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.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, September 20 (game #1700).

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

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

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

Quordle today (game #1701) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

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

Quordle today (game #1701) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1701) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1701) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

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

Quordle today (game #1701) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• W

• H

• P

• L

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

Quordle today (game #1701) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1701, are…

• WAXEN
• HIPPO
• PETAL
• LEASH

For one of my words I had “rhino” stuck in my head as it featured an H, I and O, which meant I managed to ignore the other animal answer of HIPPO.

The far bigger challenge, though, was arriving at WAXEN — a word I had pondered earlier in the game but ruled out because of the rare letter X. Eventually I had no choice but to take the plunge.

Daily Sequence today (game #1701) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1701, are…

• ANGEL
• OLIVE
• GRIMY
• MARCH

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1700, Sunday, 20 September: DERBY, LIMBO, GAWKY, REIGN
• Quordle #1699, Saturday, 19 September: SCOPE, HEIST, PULSE, CHAMP
• Quordle #1698, Friday, 18 September: MUCUS, MIRTH, APPLE, TILDE
• Quordle #1697, Thursday, 17 September: CRIER, CHIRP, NEIGH, FREER
• Quordle #1696, Wednesday, 16 September: SPEAR, PRICE, BLUNT, FISHY
• Quordle #1695, Tuesday, 15 September: SHUSH, LITHE, DELTA, BUGLE
• Quordle #1694, Monday, 14 September: ZEBRA, LEGAL, RATIO, TROLL
• Quordle #1693, Sunday, 13 September: LUCID, SPRAY, MANGE, EMAIL
• Quordle #1692, Saturday, 12 September: SUPER, BRUSH, RESET, SOWER
• Quordle #1691, Friday, 11 September: PLUSH, PAINT, RIVAL, AFOUL
• Quordle #1690, Thursday, 10 September: AGENT, EXILE, TITAN, PUREE
• Quordle #1689, Wednesday, 9 September: HAPPY, GONER, SMACK, MOTIF
• Quordle #1688, Tuesday, 8 September: FLUNG, DIARY, HALVE, BERTH
• Quordle #1687, Monday, 7 September: VISIT, CLANK, FEVER, OCEAN
• Quordle #1686, Sunday, 6 September: PILOT, HONOR, BOWEL, TAUNT
• Quordle #1685, Saturday, 5 September: GNASH, GEEKY, WHELP, PUTTY
• Quordle #1684, Friday, 4 September: QUICK, BEEFY, TRUCK, SNAIL
• Quordle #1683, Thursday, 3 September: SIGMA, ESSAY, MERRY, LLAMA
• Quordle #1682, Wednesday, 2 September: INCUR, FELLA, TITAN, FROZE
• Quordle #1681, Tuesday, 1 September: NASAL, ROUTE, ANKLE, MIGHT

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, September 20 (game #1197).

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #1198) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• COMPOSE
• CHECK
• FLY
• BEET
• BRAH
• WORM
• SPAM
• MATE
• CASTLE
• CHUM
• VIVA
• SENT
• CHOP
• CAPTURE
• DRAFTS
• SPINNER

NYT Connections today (game #1198) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Messaging tabs
• GREEN: Used in angling
• BLUE: Words relevant to board game
• PURPLE: Classical open

Need more clues?

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

NYT Connections today (game #1198) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: EMAIL BUTTONS
• GREEN: WAYS TO ATTRACT FISH
• BLUE: CHESS VERBS
• PURPLE: STARTS OF COMPOSERS' NAMES

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

NYT Connections today (game #1198) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1198, are…

• YELLOW: EMAIL BUTTONS: COMPOSE, DRAFTS, SENT, SPAM
• GREEN: WAYS TO ATTRACT FISH: CHUM, FLY, SPINNER, WORM
• BLUE: CHESS VERBS: CAPTURE, CASTLE, CHECK, MATE
• PURPLE: STARTS OF COMPOSERS' NAMES: BEET, BRAH, CHOP, VIVA

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

I came close to creating a group containing BRAH, MATE, and CHUM but stopped myself after failing to find a fourth tile of friendship slang.

CHUM, I then decided, must have something to do with fishing — a thought triggered by salty sea dog QUINT in the classic Spielberg movie Jaws and his bucket of CHUM.

EMAIL BUTTONS, meanwhile, contained four words that you see nearly every day of your working life but blank out for that very reason; somehow I was able to force myself to link COMPOSE, DRAFTS, SENT, and SPAM.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, September 20, 2026, game #1197)

• YELLOW: ROUND FLAT THINGS: BLU-RAY, COASTER, SAND DOLLAR, TORTILLA
• GREEN: ASSOCIATED WITH KENTUCKY: BLUEGRASS, BOURBON, DERBY, FRIED CHICKEN
• BLUE: VAMPIRE MOVIES: BLADE, NEAR DARK, SINNERS, TWILIGHT
• PURPLE: _____BOARDS YOU RIDE ON: HOVER, SKATE, SNOW, SURF

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

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