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Google Wallet just got two big upgrades to help you track parcels and breeze through airports — here's how to use them

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 06:31
  • Google Wallet now lets you track parcels
  • It also now includes TSA PreCheck Touchless ID
  • But these features only work in the US

Google Wallet is becoming a lot more than just a wallet, as two new features have just rolled out for it — one of which helps you track parcels, and the other of which could speed your journeys through airports.

First up, there’s now the ability to see receipts, tracking numbers, and the shipping status of parcels you’re waiting for, directly from Google Wallet. For more detailed tracking information you’ll still have to head to the carrier’s website, but a new ‘track package’ button in Wallet will take you straight there.

You’ll see all deliveries that are due soon alongside your passes on the Google Wallet home screen, while your other orders can be seen by tapping ‘view more’.

That said, all of this will of course only appear if your order is linked to your Gmail account, and even then, only if it’s from a supported merchant. You'll also need to have package tracking enabled, which can be done from the Gmail app on your phone by heading to Menu > Settings, then tapping your account name, followed by General > Package tracking.

So it’s not quite a comprehensive package tracking solution, but it’s a good step in that direction — though right now this feature is only available in the US.

A travel upgrade

(Image credit: Google)

As for the other new Google Wallet update, it has become the first digital wallet to support TSA PreCheck Touchless ID. This means that rather than having to show your ID at security, you can pre-register with the TSA through Google Wallet.

If you’re eligible, you can do this by first creating an ID pass in Google Wallet using your passport information, and then adding a boarding pass to Google Wallet. You’ll then see a ‘get started’ button on the pass that allows you to securely share your ID and boarding pass with the TSA.

Once done, you’ll be able to use the express TSA PreCheck Touchless ID line at the airport, saving you time.

However, this currently only works at 65 US airports and with 100 participating airlines, so while it’s quite widespread it won’t work on all flights from all US airports.

Categories: Technology

Hurry, the Amazon Ember Mini-LED is a ‘perfect World Cup TV’ and this great Prime Day deal ends very soon

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 06:16

Prime Day is nearly over, ending midnight tonight, so today is your last chance to get Amazon's own TVs for a great price. There's no better model than the Ember Mini-LED and right now, you can get the 55-inch Ember Mini-LED for $499 (was $819.99) at Amazon US.

Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

In the UK, the same 55-inch Ember Mini-LED is £599 (was £849.99) at Amazon UK. While it is a very good TV, Amazon Prime Day is the only time to buy this TV. Any other time, it's overpriced and faces tough competition from other budget mini-LEDs form TCL and Hisense. But, during Prime Day, this TV is great value.

I've got my full thoughts on this TV below, but really, its strength is in how good for sports it is out-of-the-box. So, if you're still on the hunt for a TV for the World Cup (with over three weeks of the tournament still to go), this could the TV for you.

Today's best Amazon Ember Mini-LED TV deals

The Amazon Ember MIni-LED is the best TV in Amazon's TV lineup. It delivers rich, natural colors, decent contrast and stong motion out-of-the-box in its sports mode. It's also well suited for gamers with 4K 144Hz and VRR support. Prime Day is the time of year to buy this TV, and the 55-inch model is down to $499.99 — a great price. Other sizes:

65-inch: was $1,089.99 now $879.99
75-inch: was $1,499.99 now $1,099.99View Deal

The best time of yeat to pick up the Ember Mini-LED is Prime Day, as the 55-inch has dropped to £599.99, its best price. This TV is great for sports, gaming and movies, delivering natural colors, smooth motion and a good suite of gaming features. Other sizes:

65-inch: was £1,149.99 now £769.99
75-inch: was £1,599.99 now £999.99View Deal

A World Cup companion

(Image credit: Future)

I've tested the majority of Amazon's own TVs, and the Ember Mini-LED (formally known as Fire TV Omni Mini-LED) is easily the best in the lineup. I awarded it four stars in my review, but one its highlights was not what I expected.

When I test sport on TVs, I often find I have to do lot of motion settings tweaks, unless its one of the very best TVs (and even then there's still some work to be done). So I was surprised, and impressed, by just how accurate the Ember Mini-LED's motion was out-of-the-box.

I often avoid the Sports picture mode on a TV as its motion can be heavy-handed and the picture can look artificial, with over-sharp textures and too-bright colors, but the Ember Mini-LED's mode was ready to go and as I watched a soccer game on Prime Video, the action looked smooth with no signs of artifacts and the picture was solid throughout. A pleasant surprise for a mid-range mini-LED.

For other content, the Ember Mini-LED produces natural, but punchy colors that looked great in movies like La La Land. For darker movies, its contrast was solid and while black tones weren't perfect, they were decent enough. Textures on the other hand were very good, balancing a lifelike and crisp look.

The Ember Mini-LED has a suite of features that competes with the best gaming TVs. It supports 4K 144Hz, FreeSync Premium Pro, Dolby Vision gaming and ALLM. It has a measured 13.4ms input lag time and while playing Battlefield V, I found snapping between targets and moving around to be smooth with pretty quick response times.

More Prime Day deals in the US More Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

New GTA 6 details may confirm players can switch between Jason and Lucia and complete missions as a duo, encounter random world events, and more

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 06:13
  • New Grand Theft Auto 6 details might have emerged from an Amazon Brazil listing
  • The game apparently features NPCs with their own routines and "random events"
  • Players may be able to switch between Jason and Lucia during missions

Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders have officially begun, and thanks to Amazon Brazil's listing, new details about the game's open world may have emerged.

Alongside a larger Vice City map, which Rockstar has previously said will allow players to explore several regions of Leonida, the product listing description also states that players will be able to switch between co-protagonists Jason and Lucia during the story and "participate in missions as a duo."

This sounds similar to GTA 5, so we could expect certain missions to be playable by either character, but it could also mean players can choose who to complete a mission with, regardless.

It also looks like GTA 6's world will be highly detailed with a "greater sense of immersion", as non-player characters (NPCs) will have their own "routines", which could mean daily and nightly activities, "random events" that players can encounter, and "interactive establishments."

The latter could be a reference to shops, tattoo parlours, and salons, but could also describe places like strip clubs, bars, and gun stores, which haven't been revealed yet but can also be found in GTA 5.

The mention of "random events" sounds like a feature drawn from Red Dead Redemption 2, allowing players to come across them while roaming the map, including things like isolated interactions and unmarked encounters.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar

GTA 6 will also reportedly feature "integrated social networks" that mimic real life, and players can "watch viral videos, follow influencers, and discover world events through your in-game mobile phone."

The game is built for current-gen, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Series S, and the description confirms that it will offer "next-generation graphics" that include "advanced lighting, dynamic weather, more natural animations, and a high level of detail in environments."

At the moment it's unclear whether these details have come from Rockstar themselves, or have been added by a third-party but they certainly sound very plausible.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 and will cost $79.99 / AU$129.95 / £69.99 for the Standard Edition and $99.99 / AU$159.95 / £89.99 for the Ultimate Edition. Pre-loads begin on November 12.

However, physical copies won't have a disc and only include a digital download code in the box.

Categories: Technology

What's New on Peacock in July 2026? 'The Five Star Weekend,' 'Married at First Sight' and More

CNET News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 06:01
Jennifer Garner leads an all-star cast in Peacock's newest original series.
Categories: Technology

3 reasons you should ditch stick vacuums and just buy a corded upright — trust me, I'm a vacuum cleaner tester

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 06:00

For two years, I was TechRadar's chief vacuum tester. That wasn't my actual job title (more's the pity) but that is mostly what I was doing. My main takeaway from those very housework-heavy times is that most people should ignore the flashy cordless stick vacuums and just buy a corded upright. And that's especially true for anyone with pets, lots of carpet, or a home with many people living in it.

I'll get into exactly why I've turned into such a corded upright evangelist below, but I'd like to flag up first that if you were going to convert, now would be a great time to do so. We're just nearing the end of the Amazon Prime Day sales and there are a ton of discounts on corded upright vacuums from Shark — if you're quick. (Want to see? Skip my waffle and jump straight to the deals.)

View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Why buy a corded upright?

Why are corded upright vacuums the superior type of vacuum? Three big reasons:

#1. The suction is better

The main reason to choose a corded upright is because, as a general rule of thumb, the suction is almost always better than on a cordless model. If you have carpet, hairy pets, or a high-traffic household, it's just going to be much more effective at keeping it clean.

#2. They last longer

Speaking generally, corded uprights are typically more robust and longer-lasting than cordless options — possibly because often, on a cordless vacuum, the first thing to expire will be the battery. A decent lifespan on a cordless stick vac might be 2-5 years, whereas many upright models can run and run... my mum has a corded upright that used to belong to my grandmother, and has been in use for maybe two decades. It's still going strong.

#3. You can clean, uninterrupted, for longer

With a corded vacuum, you're never going to run out of juice mid-clean. Perhaps even more significant is that the dust cups are much bigger — the cup on a cordless stick vacuum generally be 0.8L at the most (many are smaller), whereas it's common to see 2L cups on uprights. If you're dealing with pet hair in particular, it's such a blessing not to have to traipse to the bin every 10 minutes.

Shark cordless upright deals

Okay then, let's get into the deals. We're nearing the end of Amazon Prime Day, but there are still some bargains to be had, if you're speedy. These Shark corded uprights all have decent discounts that are well worth checking out.

Shark Powerdetect Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner Az3900uktbk

Shark Detect XL Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner La791ukt

Shark Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner Nv602uk

Shark Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner Nz801ukt

Shark Detect Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner La450uktbk

Shark Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner Nv602ukt

Which should I buy?

How do I tell the difference between these vacuums, I hear you ask? Well, some of them are slightly older models, but that might not be immediately obvious. Most are designed around the same 'lift away' system, where you can remove and hold the canister while you use the floorhead on the wand attached to the flexible nozzle.

A key differentiator to pay attention to is the attachments included. Most will come with your standard narrow nozzle and 'multi-tool' but some might also have a mini motorized head that's designed for use on furniture, and is especially useful at getting hair off upholstery.

The fanciest models will also have some advanced 'detection' features — for instance, they might be able to sense carpet or room edges and increase suction in response. The PowerDetect Upright has a nifty trick where it will suck up (rather than showploughing) debris when it's being pulled backwards. That feature makes a surprisingly big difference to how fast you can clean.

Cordless alternatives

Not convinced? There are some situations where a cordless vacuum is still a better choice. For instance, if you have mostly hard flooring (so don't need a ton of suction power for effective cleaning), or your home has lots of stairs (which would require some awkward traversing with a bulky, heavy upright), or you're trying to navigate many nooks and crannies (in which case the cord and chunky form factor is going to get annoying).

Here are the Prime Day deals I'd recommend on Shark cordless stick vacuums:

Shark Shark Stratos Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner With Anti Hair Wrap Plus, Clean Sense Iq & Anti-Odour Technology, 60 Mins Run-Time, Removable Battery, 2 Attachments, Charcoal/rose Gold Iz400uk

Shark Shark Stratos Cordless Pet Pro Stick Vacuum Cleaner With Anti Hair Wrap Plus, Clean Sense Iq, Duoclean, 60min Run-Time, Removable Battery, 4 Tools, Anti-Allergen, White/navy Iz402uktsb

Shark Shark Powerpro Cordless Stick Vacuum | Reveal Technology | Anti Hair Wrap | Floordetect Technology | Multi-Surface Cleaning | 50 Min Runtime | Iz381uk

More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

When might Supergirl be released on HBO Max?

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 06:00

Supergirl has finally taken flight in theaters — and, if you're weighing up whether to see it, read my Supergirl review first to find out if it's worth doing so.

If you've already made up your mind about not seeing the DC Universe (DCU) movie on the big screen, though, you might be wondering when it'll be available to watch at home.

So, when might the Milly Alcock-fronted superhero film make its streaming debut? Below, I've offered my thoughts on its possible HBO Max release date, so read on to see when it might come to one of the world's best streaming services.

Does Supergirl have an HBO Max release date?

Supergirl and Krypto's first joint big-screen adventure will drop on HBO Max later this year (Image credit: DC Studios/Warner Bros. Pictures)

No. One of this year's many new movies only landed in theaters globally on June 26, so it'll be a while before it airs on Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) streaming platform.

That said, we can use some recent examples of WBD movies releasing on HBO Max to take an educated guess at when it may join the service's library.

For starters, Superman, the first DCU Chapter One flick, dropped on HBO Max on September 19, 2025. That means it came to the platform exactly 70 days after its initial theatrical release on July 11, 2025.

Ruthye is one of many supporting characters you'll see in Supergirl (Image credit: DC Studios/Warner Bros. Pictures)

If Supergirl follows in Superman's footsteps, it would make its HBO Max bow on September 4, 2026 — but, how likely is that to happen?

Well, Warner Bros. movies that have come out this year and are now on HBO Max include Wuthering Heights, The Bride!, and They Will Kill You. Curiously, this trio all launched on the service 77 days their original theatrical release dates.

Should other films yet to launch on HBO Max, such as Mortal Kombat II and Lee Cronin's The Mummy, also arrive 77 days after their theatrical debuts, Supergirl may similarly follow this release pattern, and be available to stream at home on September 11.

However, considering the aforementioned date is when the 9/11 attacks, aka one of the most tragic events in US history, occurred, I'd be very surprised if the movie formerly known as Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comes out on that date. My best guess, then, is that Supergirl will make its streaming bow on September 4 or 18.

What is the runtime for Supergirl?

Supergirl's first silver screen story in 40 years clocks in at under two hours (Image credit: DC Studios/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Supergirl is one of the shortest superhero films of all time. Indeed, at just one hour and 47 minutes, Kara Zor-El's second-ever standalone film, which includes its end-credits crawl, is certainly on the punchier side.

For those of you with small bladders, though, that means you might only need to take one bathroom break during your screening, if you need to take any at all!

Does Supergirl have any end-credits scenes?

Does Lobo make an appearance in any Supergirl post-credits scenes? (Image credit: DC Studios/Warner Bros. Pictures)

You'll need to read my Supergirl ending explained piece to find out. It goes without saying, but that article is full of spoilers, so only read it once you've seen the DCU flick.

Haven't done so yet, but want to find out more before you do? First, read up on everything you need to know about Supergirl. Then, check out my Supergirl cast and character guide to learn who's joins Alcock in DC Studios' latest film.

Categories: Technology

I've hand-picked the best last-minute Prime Day deals at Amazon UK — 105+ offers on TVs, appliances, wearables, gaming, and top tech gadgets I'd buy before the sale ends

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:56
Amazon Prime Day 2026

(Image credit: Future)

Jump to...
1. Today's best deals
2. Deals under £50
3. Appliances
4. Fans
5. Amazon devices
6. Televisions
7. Laptops
8. Smartwatches & Wearables
9. Headphones
10. Health & Beauty
11. Gaming
12. Live updates

Amazon Prime Day is almost over. It may be the final day of the retailer's annual four-day mega-sale, but you've got a few more hours to bag a last-minute deal before they disappear for good or sell out completely. I'm here to find you all of the best ones, using nearly a decade of experience covering the sale to handpick the deals that are actually worth it.

See all last-minute Prime Day deals

There have been some strong deals this week across Amazon devices, wearables, appliances, TVs, fans, and more — and several have proven so popular that they're out of stock on the final day of the sale. That's why I wouldn't wait around if some offers catch your eye, as they could sell out before the end of the day.

As well as top tech items that have been tested and come recommended by the experts across TechRadar, I've also picked out a few essentials worth stocking up on and bargain gadgets that you might like to treat yourself to today.

I'll also bring you live updates on the best remaining deals, shouting out the ones I don't think you should miss, and giving stock updates where possible on the offers most at risk of selling out. At this point, though, outside of the near-limitless Amazon devices, my advice is that if you see it and want it, now's the time to buy.

Remember that you need an Amazon Prime membership to access almost all of the deals available on the final day of the sale. But in a neat trick, you can still make use of the 30-day free trial if you haven't signed up before.

Amazon Prime Day deals — quick linksMy top 20 last-minute Prime Day deals

This half-price offer gets you an easy-to-install Ring Indoor Camera for a new low price. The Alexa-enabled plug-in security camera features motion-activated notifications, 2K resolution video support, a privacy cover and two-way talk to allow you to see, hear and communicate throughout your home.View Deal

We've tested other walking pads and treadmills from Mobvoi and are huge fans. This is a great low price for the manufacturer's basic walking pad, which is easy to assemble, easy to use, and well-constructed. It's a great way to get your steps in while working, or when the cold months set in and you can keep up your fitness levels at home.View Deal

This Warmco Portable handheld fan is a slightly more high-tech and serious-looking device. Again, we haven't reviewed it, but it does have good Amazon reviews and the price is right thanks to an Amazon Prime Day deal. According to the user reviews, this looks to be a surprisingly powerful little fan that's capable of 2.5 hours of operation per charge.View Deal

The Philips OneBlade 360 is a quick, simple and affordable electric razor that's suitable for a wide variety of face and body grooming needs. This jam-packed bundle is now down to the lowest price I've ever seen, making it a great buy. Even more so, as this bundle includes the handle, as well as two spare blades, three combs, a body kit, and a USB-A charging cable.View Deal

I'm not sure how I feel about smart rings, but our fitness editor, Matt Evans, is a big fan of the Oura Ring 4. He said it was "nearly the perfect fitness tracker" in our review, praising the design, ease-of-use, long-lasting battery and detailed health information it offers. This fascinating bit of tech is now down to its lowest-ever price on Amazon.View Deal

This Ninja Creami ice cream maker has become all the rage as a quick and convenient way to make all of your favourite frozen treats, milkshakes and sorbets at the touch of a button. While it's been a little cheaper over Black Friday, this is still a good price for the appliance that will only be more popular now that we'd all love some chilled treats within touching distance.View Deal

The Kindle Colorsoft just fell to its lowest-ever price as part of this year's Amazon Prime Day sale. As Amazon's first colored Kindle, it's a must-have if you love reading travel guides, graphic novels, and other genres with a lot of images and photographs — or just want to view your entire ebook library in its full colour glory. The ereader is also USB-C and wireless charging compatible, lasts up to eight weeks on a full battery, and has enough storage for thousands of books.View Deal

The G50 is very budget-friendly even at full price, but now it's even more so thanks to this deal, which takes it under £100. A maximum suction of 4,000Pa is extremely good for the price, and the onboard bin is surprisingly generously sized at 600ml. For this price, expect basic navigation and a design suited to general whole-home cleans rather than anything more specific. Although we haven't reviewed this specific model yet, we generally rate Eufy highly as a brand, and the value for money is impressive.View Deal

I've got one of those AnySharp knife sharpeners to keep my kitchen knives up to scratch, but if you want to go all the way with a convenient knife block with a built-in sharpener, then this is a great price for a premium set from Ninja. You'll never suffer from dull knives again with this extremely handy kitchen gadget, with its six-piece set of stainless steel knives and included paring scissors.View Deal

Display - 15.6 inches
Processor - Snapdragon X
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 1TB

This is a great price for a relatively modern laptop that comes with a well-performing and efficient Snapdragon X CPU. On top of that, you get 16GB of RAM, a surprisingly large 1TB SSD for storage, and incredible battery life, which represents good value for money overall. I like it as a light, portable and capable all-around everyday machine.View Deal

I did a lot of research before picking up this pressure washer for myself a couple of years ago — and it's been an excellent buy for simple cleaning tasks around the home, such as patios, decking, walls and cars. While we haven't tested this model at TechRadar, it's been praised elsewhere for its solid build quality, strong water pressure and portability. You also get a good selection of attachments in this bundle.View Deal

As the successor to the excellent LG B4, the B5 is one of the best budget OLED TVs you can buy. This 55-inch model offers a good option for most spaces if you don't want the screen to dominate the room. Picture quality is excellent, with impressive brightness, strong contrast, and rich blacks for general viewing and sports, while the gaming features are top-tier for a smooth and responsive experience on PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox consoles.View Deal

The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD is an external drive that works best for photographers, videographers, and other creatives who need to manage large files on the go. It is drop-tested up to three meters, IP65-rated water and dust-resistant, and has a built-in carabiner hook that makes it ideal for outdoor adventures. This is the lowest price it's been all year since the storage crisis really picked up.View Deal

The Suri 2.0 Sonic Electric Toothbrush is 25% off at Amazon for Prime Day. This is a strong offer for the fantastic, eco-friendly alternative to other electric toothbrushes. In fact, we scored it four-and-a-half out of five in our Suri 2.0 Sonic Toothbrush review. I've found that it performs and cleans well, offers an impressive 40-day battery life, fast wireless charging over USB-C, a useful pressure sensor, and comes with handy extras like a magnetic wall mount and UV cleaning travel case.View Deal

The Ninja Foodi Max is the ultimate air fryer for many and it's now down to a great low price at Amazon. It offers six different functions, including Max Crisp, air frying, roasting, baking, reheating, and dehydrating. With two baskets, you get two independent cooking zones with the option to have them sync or match up, depending on your needs. Its extra large capacity is perfect for family cooking or batch cooking as it gives you plenty of room for a 2kg chicken or 1.4kg of fries in each compartment.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 4050
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB

It's a rare thing these days to see a gaming laptop for under £600, and better yet, this Asus TUF actually features a decent RTX 4050 graphics card. If you're looking for the basics, then this machine is definitely going to cover you well for a great price. The RTX 4050, in combination with the Ryzen 7 chipset, is going to play all the latest games — and should do well, granted you're willing to tweak a few settings here and there on the most demanding titles.View Deal

Treat yourself to one of the best pairs of bone conduction headphones at their lowest-ever price — one that we last saw during Black Friday. Not only do they deliver outstanding sound, but they're also incredibly comfortable. They're highly recommended by our Fitness & Wearables Editor, Matt Evans, and are now more affordable, making them a great buy for runners and gym goers.View Deal

The Nintendo Switch 2 is currently sitting at £369 at Amazon UK, but you can use a handy coupon code to knock a further £10 off the price at checkout. While that's a price we've seen before, it is a match for the record-low price on this ever-popular console. View Deal

Yes, there's apparently a "deal" on this popular set of Corsair RAM, but when you look back and see the very same set was as low as £80 in late 2025, it feels terrible to even consider buying at these prices. Still, if you're in desperate need of some quality RAM, it likely won't get any better than this for a while.View Deal

Willing to spend a bit more? Amazon's early Prime Day deals feature the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation for their lowest price ever. These AirPods 4 feature a new comfortable design, handy controls, and Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalised spatial audio and voice isolation. There's also that all-important ANC to block out distracting noises and outside sounds, which is great when you want to focus at work or are commuting.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Top deals under £50

I don't know about you, but I've been fully wrapped up in World Cup fever since the first kick off. So now, if you're keen to make your kickabout in the park or weekly five-a-side game more like playing over in the USA, Canada or Mexico, then this replica of the official FIFA ball is 33% off at Amazon.View Deal

I've seen a lot of people talk about and use Loop earplugs lately so if you want to see what the fuss is all about then this entry-level pair is down to a record-low price. Use them to block out noise on a commute, help you focus in the office, protect your ears from loud music at bars or concerts, or help you create a better environment for sleep. They're reusable and can last for up to five years so a good investment if you'll be a regular user.View Deal

The latest wireless Ring Doorbell has been discounted to a new record-low price for Prime Day. We've tested this and have been impressed with the video quality, high zoom, and night vision colour, but it's a shame that some of this device's value is usable exclusively with a Ring Protect subscription. However, if you're fine with paying for a subscription or already using a Ring-based home security system, it's worth the cost.View Deal

After burning my hand on my steering wheel, I decided to invest in a cheap reflective screen for my car. This Spigen shade comes from a trusted brand and looks a lot better than the cheaper options out there thanks to its snug all-purpose fit. It's much easier to store than the foldable versions (it comes with its own little bag), and has two possible sizes so you can really tailor it to your car.View Deal

Can you ever have too many USB cables? The box full of them under my desk would suggest you can. However, if you want a couple more to leave around the house or take with you when out and about, this pair of USB-C to USB-A cables from top brand Anker is now super-cheap for Prime Day.View Deal

Get the highly rated Renpho smart scale on sale for under £20 for Prime Day. The smart scale has over 300,000 reviews on Amazon and holds a solid 4.5-star rating. You can use this smart device to measure your body fat ratio, BMI, and weight via the Renpho app.View Deal

Amazon's new Fire TV Stick 4K Plus streams shows and movies to your TV in ultra-high-definition 4K resolution. This updated version now supports Dolby Vision for improved colours, Wi-Fi 6 for better connectivity, and includes 2GB of RAM for faster performance. This Prime Day deal is a new record-low price and excellent value for an all-around streaming device.View Deal

If you want a cheap and basic hair dryer, then it's hard to go wrong with this BaByliss Power Smooth Hair Dryer for under £22 ahead of Prime Day. It has all the essential features you need, with powerful, fast drying and a lightweight design that makes it easy to use.View Deal

What's better than 99 AA batteries for cheap? How about a flat 100 AA batteries for a super-low price? Sure, not many people are getting excited about buying batteries, but if you need to stock up, then now's a great time to do so while you can bag so many at such a bargain price.View Deal

The Ninja Blast Portable Blender is a powerful all-in-one portable blender – and it's now down to a great low price for Prime Day. It has a 530ml container with a leakproof lid and sip spout, while the carry handle means you can take it with you to the gym or on your walks. It’s capable of blending ice and frozen fruit, as well as any liquids and powders, while one charge gives you up to two hours of battery life.View Deal

This half-price offer gets you an easy-to-install Ring Indoor Camera for a new low price. The Alexa-enabled plug-in security camera features motion-activated notifications, 2K resolution video support, a privacy cover and two-way talk to allow you to see, hear and communicate throughout your home.View Deal

I actually bought a Levoit Core Mini for myself when moving into a new house that hadn't been lived in for a while to get rid of the dust and debris, and I also think it works as a great option for any allergy problems. What I like most is that it's small and quiet, so it is perfect for all sorts of spaces, such as the living room and bedroom. It's now also very affordable at 15% off.View Deal

If you want a cheap and basic Bluetooth speaker, then you can't go wrong with this Anker Soundcore 2 for under £25. Sure, it's not going to give you the biggest and boldest audio quality, but it's still a solid option at an affordable price. Battery life is an impressive 24 hours, too, so it's great to use around the home or take it with you when on the go.View Deal

If you need a cheap and cheerful printer, this DeskJet 2921 is a great budget choice that supports wireless printing, scanning, and copying. This bundle also includes three months of HP Instant Ink, so you can save cash on your first few rounds of prints.View Deal

Amazon's best-selling Echo Show 5 is down to £49.99 for Prime Day. The latest version of the Echo Show 5 features a compact 5.5-inch display but packs impressive sound with deeper bass and clearer vocals. Voice controls are enabled through Amazon Alexa, while you can use the smart screen to listen to podcasts, watch movies, stream videos, play music, and more.View Deal

The Razer DeathAdder is the wired gaming mouse I used almost exclusively back in my PC gaming glory days, and at this ridiculously low price, I'm tempted to pick up one again. More advanced gaming mice are available, but, as the name suggests, this has all the essential features you need for accuracy, performance, customisability, and longevity. And it's hard to argue against for less than £20.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Fans

This Warmco Portable handheld fan is a slightly more high-tech and serious-looking device. Again, we haven't reviewed it, but it does have good Amazon reviews and the price is right thanks to an Amazon Prime Day deal. According to the user reviews, this looks to be a surprisingly powerful little fan that's capable of 2.5 hours of operation per charge.View Deal

Finding a traditional floor fan on sale in today's Amazon Prime Day sale is like finding gold dust. Most of the decent deals are already sold out, but there is this listing on a Cost Way 20-inch model. I think this one is quite a basic affair, but it is decently sized for the money so it should kick-out a fair bit of air flow!View Deal

We haven't reviewed this Midea 2-in-1 tower fan on site, but it looks like a good option today. Like the Levoit above, it's a rare example of a branded fan that's actually on sale in the Prime Day sale with a heavy price cut. As a 2-in-1 model, it provides cooling and a built-in HEPA filter, which could be useful if you suffer from summer allergies. Other features include an LED display and smartphone integration.View Deal

Most standing fans are sold out or not on offer in today's Prime Day sale. This Levoit Smart Silent Tower fan is an exception, however, and it actually has a pretty decent price cut. We haven't reviewed this model personally at TechRadar, but we have tested other products from this brand and been impressed. This particular model features quiet operation, an energy-efficient brushless motor, and smartphone integration, so it's a pretty high-tech fan overall. View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Appliances

This weather makes an ice-cold drink extremely appealing right now, and the unique Ninja Slushi just fell back to its Black Friday price at Amazon. This kitchen appliance makes all sorts of chilled and frozen drinks, including juices, cocktails, milkshakes, and more. We loved it in our Ninja Slushi review, praising its ability to make quick and delicious drinks easily in a fun and entertaining package.View Deal

This Ninja Creami ice cream maker has become all the rage as a quick and convenient way to make all of your favourite frozen treats, milkshakes and sorbets at the touch of a button. While it's been a little cheaper over Black Friday, this is still a good price for the appliance that will only be more popular now that we'd all love some chilled treats within touching distance.View Deal

Sage makes some of the best coffee machines we've ever tested here at TechRadar, so I definitely want to shout out this offer on its excellent The Barista Express. We awarded it 4.5 stars in our review for its ease of use, bevvy of customisable settings and tasty results. While it's still a pricey machine, it's worth the investment if you really want to get into your coffee-making at home.View Deal

The Ninja Foodi Max is the ultimate air fryer for many and it's now down to a great low price at Amazon. It offers six different functions, including Max Crisp, air frying, roasting, baking, reheating, and dehydrating. With two baskets, you get two independent cooking zones with the option to have them sync or match up, depending on your needs. Its extra large capacity is perfect for family cooking or batch cooking as it gives you plenty of room for a 2kg chicken or 1.4kg of fries in each compartment.View Deal

Ninja's recent space-saving air fryer is just £5 more than its lowest-ever price, which is still a bit of a steal for the popular and well-rated appliance. We loved it at TechRadar, scoring it full marks in our Ninja Double Stack Air Fryer review and even putting it in our best air fryer buying guide. Well-built and great-looking on any countertop, it offers five cooking levels across two drawers and two racks, while the 9.5L capacity is ideal for medium to big families.View Deal

Here's a best-ever discount on Ninja's portable air fryer — and a great Prime Day deal. This bundle includes the PowerPod lid, plus two resealable glass containers to carry your dishes until you're ready to cook. According to our testing, it cooks exceptionally quickly, is easy to use and a breeze to clean, making this one of the best air fryer deals I've seen this year.View Deal

I've got one of those AnySharp knife sharpeners to keep my kitchen knives up to scratch, but if you want to go all the way with a convenient knife block with a built-in sharpener, then this is a great price for a premium set from Ninja. You'll never suffer from dull knives again with this extremely handy kitchen gadget, with its six-piece set of stainless steel knives and included paring scissors.View Deal

The Ninja Blast Portable Blender is a powerful all-in-one portable blender – and it's now down to a great low price for Prime Day. It has a 530ml container with a leakproof lid and sip spout, while the carry handle means you can take it with you to the gym or on your walks. It’s capable of blending ice and frozen fruit, as well as any liquids and powders, while one charge gives you up to two hours of battery life.View Deal

A smart kettle feels like a bit of a gimmick, but if you make a variety a different hot drinks that taste better when brewed at specific temperatures, then I could see a reason why you'd want to invest in this Ninja Perfect Temperature Kettle. With this discount, it's much easier to justify a purchase compared to the steep full price.View Deal

The Shark Detect Clean & Empty Cordless Vacuum offers convenient automation features and versatile cleaning technology, including a special brushroll that works on both hardwood and carpeted surfaces. Its self-emptying dock doubles as a charging station, which makes it easy to keep fully charged, even though it runs for up to 40 minutes at full battery. For under £200, it's hard to pass up such a high-tech and highly rated vacuum.View Deal

The G50 is very budget-friendly even at full price, but now it's even more so thanks to this deal, which takes it under £100. A maximum suction of 4,000Pa is extremely good for the price, and the onboard bin is surprisingly generously sized at 600ml. For this price, expect basic navigation and a design suited to general whole-home cleans rather than anything more specific. Although we haven't reviewed this specific model yet, we generally rate Eufy highly as a brand, and the value for money is impressive.View Deal

I actually bought a Levoit Core Mini for myself when moving into a new house that hadn't been lived in for a while to get rid of the dust and debris, and I also think it works as a great option for any allergy problems. What I like most is that it's small and quiet, so it is perfect for all sorts of spaces, such as the living room and bedroom. It's now also very affordable at 15% off.View Deal

I did a lot of research before picking up this pressure washer for myself a couple of years ago — and it's been an excellent buy for simple cleaning tasks around the home, such as patios, decking, walls and cars. While we haven't tested this model at TechRadar, it's been praised elsewhere for its solid build quality, strong water pressure and portability. You also get a good selection of attachments in this bundle.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Amazon Devices

Amazon Kindle Unlimited: free for three months
Save £24 and get yourself unlimited access to over a million books, magazines, and audiobooks for three months with this exclusive deal for Prime members ahead of Amazon Prime Day. Read and download books onto any Kindle, iOS, Android, PC or Mac and enjoy offline reading anywhere with this rare extended free trial.View Deal

Audible membership: free for three months at Audible
Audible is Amazon's premier storefront for audiobooks, with a vast library of over 1 million titles. Right now, as part of an early Amazon Prime Day promotion, Prime members can get a full three months of membership on the house! Normally costing £5.99, the standard membership includes unlimited access to the non-Plus library and one free book token per month.View Deal

This excellent value bundle includes a Blink Outdoor 4 security camera and a Blink Video Doorbell at an incredibly low price. It's one of my top picks from this year's early Prime Day deals if you want to dabble with some cheap smart home tech. The 4th-generation outdoor security camera features two-way audio, a two-year battery life, and works with Amazon Alexa for hands-free control and interconnectivity with other smart devices. Meanwhile, the Blink Video Doorbell is a cheap and easy way to get alerts to your phone when motion is detected or when guests are at your door.View Deal

The new Blink Mini 2K+ has a couple of nice upgrades compared to the previous model, including an in-built spotlight, night view in colour support and the option to use it outdoors with the weather-resistant adaptor. Aside from that, it offers the same raft of security features such as motion detection, two-way audio and smartphone app integration. Get it now for a record-low price.View Deal

The Blink Outdoor Camera 2K+ is packed with the essentials. It has 2K video clarity, so you can see what’s going on more clearly. You can also zoom in on what’s happening with 4X zoom, before using the two-way audio to talk to a delivery person or whoever is spotted. It’s simple to set up and weatherproof, with two AA batteries powering the device for up to two years.View Deal

The latest wireless Ring Doorbell has been discounted to a new record-low price for Prime Day. We've tested this and have been impressed with the video quality, high zoom, and night vision colour, but it's a shame that some of this device's value is usable exclusively with a Ring Protect subscription. However, if you're fine with paying for a subscription or already using a Ring-based home security system, it's worth the cost.View Deal

The newest Ring Battery Doorbell Plus model drops to £50 in Amazon's latest sale. Its camera features 1536p HD resolution, night vision with color, and an improved motion sensor. It also includes an increased head-to-toe field of view of 150 by 150 degrees.View Deal

Amazon's best-selling Echo Dot is down to under £30 for Prime Day – an OK offer, but far from the previous record-low of £22.99. Nevertheless, the Echo Dot offers an improved audio experience, plus a new temperature sensor and all the handy features from Alexa, like playing music, answering questions, and checking the weather completely hands-free. As far as a cheap and cheerful smart speaker goes, it's one of the better options out there.View Deal

Amazon's Echo Spot smart clock is over £25 off for Spring Deal Days — that drops it to about £10 more than the record-low price. As well as a time display and wake-up alerts, this compact bit of kit can play music, check the weather and control other smart devices throughout your home.View Deal

You can get the upgraded version of Amazon's standard Fire TV Stick for £16.99 — a new record-low price. In our Fire TV Stick review, we found the original version was a cheap way to add essential smart features to your TV, including access to streaming apps in HD, Alexa voice controls, and the ability to control other smart home devices.View Deal

Amazon's newest 4K streaming stick is down to its lowest-ever price for Prime Day. Considering it's only a few quid more than the cheaper HD version, you might as well pay for the upgrade and get access to higher resolution streaming — as long as you have a 4K TV. It lacks a few premium features found in the more expensive Plus and Max models, such as improved Wi-Fi and Dolby Atmos, but this is more than enough to cover general everyday use.View Deal

Amazon's new Fire TV Stick 4K Plus streams shows and movies to your TV in ultra-high-definition 4K resolution. This updated version now supports Dolby Vision for improved colours, Wi-Fi 6 for better connectivity, and includes 2GB of RAM for faster performance. This Prime Day deal is a new record-low price and excellent value for an all-around streaming device.View Deal

This is a return to the record-low price for Amazon's premium streaming device. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max streams the same content at the same quality as the standard 4K version, but the extra power inside delivers faster app navigation. Plus, it uses Wi-Fi 6E technology to deliver a more stable, consistent streaming experience.View Deal

The latest version of the standard Kindle is on sale as part of the annual Prime Day sale. It's a basic ereader, but it still boasts a four-week battery life and space for thousands of books. Given it's £55 cheaper than the Paperwhite, this is clearly a better pick for the infrequent reader who's after a more budget-friendly option. At £75, though, this Prime Day deal is a little underwhelming, given it's been as low as £69.99 before.View Deal

Amazon has brought back its decent — but not spectacular — Black Friday deal on the latest Kindle Paperwhite for Amazon Prime Day. We found in our Kindle Paperwhite review that it's packed with features to suit all avid readers, including a 12-week battery life, glare-free 7-inch screen, adjustable warm light, and storage space for thousands of books. This is a good buy and one of the best ereaders out there; it's just a shame that the days of even bigger discounts are well in the past.View Deal

The Kindle Colorsoft just fell to its lowest-ever price as part of this year's Amazon Prime Day sale. As Amazon's first colored Kindle, it's a must-have if you love reading travel guides, graphic novels, and other genres with a lot of images and photographs — or just want to view your entire ebook library in its full colour glory. The ereader is also USB-C and wireless charging compatible, lasts up to eight weeks on a full battery, and has enough storage for thousands of books.View Deal

The Blink Video Doorbell is down to its lowest-ever price right now at Amazon, which is great news if you're interested in buying your first smart doorbell. This latest model comes with a head-to-toe HD view, infrared night vision, and two-way audio – all you'd want in a basic video doorbell. You can watch packages get delivered and answer the door in real-time from the Blink app, but you can't save footage without a Blink Subscription or a Sync Module (which you can add for £5). Thankfully, you get a 30-day Blink Subscription Plan trial with your purchase, so you can try before you buy.View Deal

This half-price offer gets you an easy-to-install Ring Indoor Camera for a new low price. The Alexa-enabled plug-in security camera features motion-activated notifications, 2K resolution video support, a privacy cover and two-way talk to allow you to see, hear and communicate throughout your home.View Deal

Amazon's best-selling Echo Show 5 is down to £49.99 for Prime Day. The latest version of the Echo Show 5 features a compact 5.5-inch display but packs impressive sound with deeper bass and clearer vocals. Voice controls are enabled through Amazon Alexa, while you can use the smart screen to listen to podcasts, watch movies, stream videos, play music, and more.View Deal

Amazon's larger smart display just got its biggest discount yet for Prime Day. The Echo Show 11 boasts a vibrant 11-inch full HD screen and spatial audio support for room-filling sound when listening to music or watching videos. With Alexa+ support, too, you get access to all of its advanced AI features, and an easy way to connect and control other smart devices around your home.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Televisions

Amazon's Prime Day sale includes this 32-inch TV on sale for a record-low price of £129.99. While the Amazon 2-Series TV is just a basic HD display, you get smart capabilities with the Fire TV experience and Amazon Alexa on board for hands-free control at a bargain price. It's far from the best TV in the world, but if you need something small and basic for the kitchen or a kid's room, then this is fine for the job.View Deal

The perfect gaming screen upgrade ahead of GTA 6 — fantastic OLED image quality, with full HDMI 2.1 support on all four HDMI ports, plus a great smart TV system. This is a good price for a TV this good at this size, although it was £30 cheaper earlier in the sale.View Deal

LG's best value OLED hits its lowest ever price with this Prime Day deal, with the 48-inch LG B5 hitting £567, beating the previous cheapest price by £60. Perfect for bedroom gaming, the B5 has a full suite of gaming features and delivers smooth gameplay. View Deal

The 50-inch Amazon Ember TV is the mid-sized version of the budget-friendly 4-Series range and it's now down to its lowest-ever price. It's a nice buy if you're on a budget, as the premium 4K resolution delivers excellent clarity and picture quality for TV shows, movies, sports and general viewing. All major streaming apps are ready to go, too, plus there's voice control support through Alexa. It's an all-around solid TV for the price that I'd buy if I needed an affordable and capable display.View Deal

Here's a quality and good value big screen TV from Hisense. The QLED displays ensure vibrant colours and excellent brightness, even in a brighter room, while 4K resolution support gives you top-tier picture quality. As far as large TVs go, this is one of the better options I've spotted in the Prime Day sale that balances price and features really well if you're on a tighter budget.View Deal

Amazon has taken the biggest step up in terms of quality with its latest Omni Mini-LED Series Fire TVs. That's clear in the price, which puts these very close to top-end OLED displays from the likes of Sony, Samsung and LG. However, you still get a lot for your money with this Amazon option, including a large 55-inch Mini-LED panel that boasts fantastic contrast, colors and image sharpness, a 144Hz game mode for a fast and responsive experience on consoles, and smart features.View Deal

Amazon's Ember QLED Series is a big step up in the otherwise cheap and cheerful range of smart TVs. This set boasts premium features, including a QLED display for better brightness and contrast, HDR and Dolby Vision for brighter and more vivid colours, local array dimming for richer blacks and HDMI 2.1 support to deliver a top-quality picture for all-around viewing and fast response times for gaming. It's not always easy to find a TV of this size and with these high-end features for just over £400, so it's an excellent buy for the budget-conscious without compromising on quality.View Deal

This is an incredible price for a 55-inch OLED TV that's as good as this. The S84F is basically the same as the Samsung S85F, which we gave 4.5 stars to — this cheaper version doesn't have Filmmaker Mode and lacks some minor lifestyle features, but has all the essentials. It's a bargain.View Deal

As the successor to the excellent LG B4, the B5 is one of the best budget OLED TVs you can buy. This 55-inch model offers a good option for most spaces if you don't want the screen to dominate the room. Picture quality is excellent, with impressive brightness, strong contrast, and rich blacks for general viewing and sports, while the gaming features are top-tier for a smooth and responsive experience on PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox consoles.View Deal

The LG C5 covers all the bases, with OLED picture quality and razor-sharp performance for movies, sports and gaming. There's a reason it tops most of our best-of lists. The 55-inch model has dropped to £969 at Amazon, a new record-low price. View Deal

This is essentially the same TV as the TCL C6K, which we rate as the best cheap TV available right now — and it's better value than most TVs that actually aimed to be budget sets in the first place. The picture quality feels far more premium than the price — it's a great low-price big-screen upgrade.View Deal

This TV is a great price, given the premium mini-LED tech inside, and the support for 4K 120Hz gaming on new-gen consoles. It's a big, bright, dazzling premium TV.View Deal

Samsung's lineup of Crystal UHD TVs is less feature-rich compared to the pricier OLED and QLED displays, but they are a capable and affordable option for general everyday viewing. This 75-inch model is now available at a tempting low price in the latest Amazon sale if you don't need all the fancy features of a premium TV and just want one of the biggest screens you can buy. For the money, you get a large and modern TV that supports high-quality 4K resolution and all the most popular streaming apps.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Laptops

Display: 14 inches
Processor: Intel N100
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB

I want to be clear that this is far from the best laptop you can buy, but I can't deny that it's incredibly cheap. The spec is incredibly low-end, with an entry-level processor, only 4GB of RAM and a small 64GB hard drive. At least it's a Chromebook, which can get more from weaker components, but this is only a good buy if you want to spend very little money on a very basic machine for infrequent, light use.View Deal

Display - 15.6 inches
Processor - Intel Core 3
RAM - 8GB
Storage - 256GB

This version of the Lenovo Chromebook offers an impressive amount of power for the price. It includes a fairly basic Intel Core 3 processor, but you do get 8GB of RAM to boost performance, boot times, and load times. There's also 256GB of storage and battery life is excellent at 12 hours on a single charge. That's more than enough to last a full working day. At close to £200, it's a bargain for school or college, or just as a home laptop that you use for light use and everyday tasks.View Deal

Display - 16 inches
Processor - Intel Core i5
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 512GB

This is a great price for a relatively modern laptop that comes with a well-performing Intel Core i5 CPU. On top of that, you get 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD for storage, and incredible battery life, which represents good value for money overall. It's slightly larger with the 16-inch display, which could hamper portability, but it's a solid everyday machine for the price.View Deal

Display - 15.6 inches
Processor - Snapdragon X
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 1TB

This is a great price for a relatively modern laptop that comes with a well-performing and efficient Snapdragon X CPU. On top of that, you get 16GB of RAM, a surprisingly large 1TB SSD for storage, and incredible battery life, which represents good value for money overall. I like it as a light, portable and capable all-around everyday machine.View Deal

Display - 13 inches
Processor - Snapdragon X Plus
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 512GB

The latest Microsoft Surface Laptop is one of our favourite Windows devices and received a glowing five-stars in our Microsoft Surface Laptop review, so I'm obviously going to call out this solid saving at Amazon. This particular specification includes a powerful Snapdragon X Plus processor, a healthy 16GB of RAM and a reasonable 512GB SSD. That storage feels a little light for the price, but the levels of performance and battery life from the CPU are top-tier to go alongside the swish-looking display and keyboard.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5070
Processor: AMD Ryzen AI 9 365
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB

Wow, it's been a while since I've seen an RTX 5070 gaming laptop with 32GB of RAM hit this kind of price. The Acer Nitro V15 is still a relatively budget machine, but in terms of specs, this higher-end configuration really ticks all the boxes today. You get a great GPU, an up-to-date chipset, and 32GB of RAM right out of the box. View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core i7-13620H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB SSD

This mid-range RTX 5060 configuration is really hitting that sweet spot in terms of bang for the buck, in my opinion. The chipset is a little on the older side, and you're only getting 16GB of RAM, but I still think this one is a real bargain for £799. If you're just looking to play all the latest games smoothly at 1080p, then this particular listing is definitely worth considering. Getting a more spacious 1TB SSD is also a meaningful upgrade.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 4050
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB

It's a rare thing these days to see a gaming laptop for under £600, and better yet, this Asus TUF actually features a decent RTX 4050 graphics card. If you're looking for the basics, then this machine is definitely going to cover you well for a great price. The RTX 4050, in combination with the Ryzen 7 chipset, is going to play all the latest games — and should do well, granted you're willing to tweak a few settings here and there on the most demanding titles.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Smartwatches

I'm not sure how I feel about smart rings, but our fitness editor, Matt Evans, is a big fan of the Oura Ring 4. He said it was "nearly the perfect fitness tracker" in our review, praising the design, ease-of-use, long-lasting battery and detailed health information it offers. This fascinating bit of tech is now down to its lowest-ever price on Amazon.View Deal

Here's a new record-low price for the Apple Watch SE 3. Apple's cheaper smartwatch is currently our pick for the best Apple Watch to buy if you're on a budget, as it delivers a full health and fitness tracking experience, all the convenient on-wrist features you need, and that familiar Apple style, but at a fraction of the price.View Deal

The latest Apple Watch 11 is down to its lowest-ever price in the latest Amazon Prime Day sale. The thinnest Apple Watch yet, with a wraparound LTP3 OLED display, it's a great-looking watch with Apple Intelligence-powered smarts and a boosted battery compared to previous devices, clocking in at 24 hours of average use.View Deal

The Fitbit Charge 6 is one of the simplest fitness trackers around, but it works very well, and is now back to a record-low price for Prime Day. It has a small screen that shows the time, how many steps you’ve taken, and your current heart rate as well. It’s subtle, so it fits on your wrist well – whether you’re at work or working out. Extensive battery life of up to seven days means minimal hassle, too.View Deal

The Fitbit Versa 4 is down to around £100 at Amazon, which is a record-low price for the manufacturer's classic all-purpose smartwatch. It's a great buy for fitness and sleep-tracking enthusiasts, as we wrote in our Fitbit Versa 4 review. It comes with loads of handy connectivity features like Google Wallet, Maps, and Bluetooth calls, as well as six days of battery life, loads of workout profiles, and advanced sleep tracking. View Deal

The discount may be small, but I reckon the Fitbit Inspire 3 will be a popular Prime Day deal at Amazon for this price. It's an excellent value-for-money device for newcomers or those curious about the usefulness of exercise tracking. The battery lasts for a lengthy ten days and it's packed with features and content that a beginner needs to get started.View Deal

Here's a healthy over £100 saving on one of Garmin's best running watches. The smartwatch delivers amazing performance and an abundance of features that accurately track your runs. We also love the AMOLED touchscreen that delivers bright visuals, even on a sunny day.View Deal

The Garmin Venu 3 once sat atop our guide to the best Garmin watches, with our fitness experts calling it "the best for most people". It's now been replaced by the new Venu 4, but this last-gen model still offers an excellent balance of advanced sports metrics and communication features at an affordable price that makes it a true Apple Watch alternative for fitness fans.View Deal

This is the biggest price cut yet on Google's latest and best smartwatch. We scored it an impressive 4.5 stars in our review, praising the unique Actua 360 domed display, the handy in-built Gemini features, and the excellent battery life. It's an all-around solid smartwatch companion if you're pairing it with an Android handset.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Headphones

This is a new record-low price for Apple's newest buds. The AirPods 4 feature a new design for all-day comfort and pack Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalized spatial audio and voice isolation. You also get a redesigned case with 30 hours of battery life and support for USB-C for wireless charging. Just be aware that this cheaper version does not support active noise cancellation, so it may be worth paying the extra to get that benefit with the deal below.View Deal

Willing to spend a bit more? Amazon's early Prime Day deals feature the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation for their lowest price ever. These AirPods 4 feature a new comfortable design, handy controls, and Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalised spatial audio and voice isolation. There's also that all-important ANC to block out distracting noises and outside sounds, which is great when you want to focus at work or are commuting.View Deal

Apple's newest premium buds feature improved Active Noise Cancellation, outstanding audio, a comfortable in-ear design, and new features such as live translation and heart-rate tracking. To use, these are the do-it-all buds that offer excellent audio quality and top-tier noise-cancellation. Today's deal is the best price you can find on Apple's newest AirPods, and just £5 more than the record-low price.View Deal

If you want more affordable over-ears that don't compromise on quality, then consider these Bose QuietComfort Headphones while they are down to their lowest price this year at Amazon. As with the Ultra version, you get impressive noise cancellation, top-tier audio quality and 24 hours of battery life, but in a much more affordable package that's never been as low as this before..View Deal

The newer XM6s are a solid upgrade over this older model, but the Sony WH-1000XM5s are still a fantastic pair of headphones — especially at this new low price. You don't get a foldable design, but they're still a comfortable, smart, great-sounding pair of headphones that block outside sound highly effectively.View Deal

As it stands, you can still grab the incredible Sony WH-1000XM6 for £100 off — but it may not last. These headphones offer beautifully balanced audio output, top-tier touch controls, ergonomic comfort, and noise-crushing active noise cancellation. They're fantastic all-rounders, as our Sony WH-1000XM6 review digs into.View Deal

Bose's affordable earbuds offer top-tier active noise cancellation, but without a top-tier price tag. In our 4.5-star Bose QuietComfort Earbuds review, we said they were already "arguably best-in-class value" at full price, so for this price they're especially great. We praised their comfort and sound quality as well as the amazing ANC.View Deal

Treat yourself to one of the best pairs of bone conduction headphones at their lowest-ever price — one that we last saw during Black Friday. Not only do they deliver outstanding sound, but they're also incredibly comfortable. They're highly recommended by our Fitness & Wearables Editor, Matt Evans, and are now more affordable, making them a great buy for runners and gym goers.View Deal

While these Shokz OpenRun aren't the latest model, they are still an impressive pair of bone conduction headphones — and you can get them for less than £100. Their all-purpose functionality means that they are suitable for both running and stationary activities, packing a battery life of eight hours on a full charge. This means that if you enjoy longer training sessions, then they will last the duration of your workout, as well as doing justice to bass-heavy music.View Deal

Beats' latest sports earbuds get a nice discount, making it even more tempting to take advantage of their built-in heart-rate sensors, so you can track your runs with minimal other tech on you. In our Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review, we also liked the head-tracked spatial audio, good stamina, huge range of features, and comfortable and lightweight fit — the latter is obviously super-important for sports headphones, and these deliver.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — Health & Beauty

I've seen a lot of people talk about and use Loop earplugs lately so if you want to see what the fuss is all about then this entry-level pair is down to a record-low price. Use them to block out noise on a commute, help you focus in the office, protect your ears from loud music at bars or concerts, or help you create a better environment for sleep. They're reusable and can last for up to five years so a good investment if you'll be a regular user.View Deal

The Suri 2.0 Sonic Electric Toothbrush is 25% off at Amazon for Prime Day. This is a strong offer for the fantastic, eco-friendly alternative to other electric toothbrushes. In fact, we scored it four-and-a-half out of five in our Suri 2.0 Sonic Toothbrush review. It performs and cleans well, offers an impressive 40-day battery life, fast wireless charging over USB-C, a useful pressure sensor, and comes with handy extras like a magnetic wall mount and UV cleaning travel case.View Deal

The iO range is usually a more expensive option in Oral-B's range of electric toothbrushes, but this is a decent deal on the entry-level option that's also bundled with a few handy extras. It doesn't boast many high-end features but it has the basic ones you really need to brush your teeth effectively and efficiently, including a two-minute timer and a visible pressure sensor. Plus, you get spare brush head and a carry case included for free.View Deal

The Philips OneBlade 360 is a quick, simple and affordable electric razor that's suitable for a wide variety of face and body grooming needs. This jam-packed bundle is now down to the lowest price I've ever seen, making it a great buy. Even more so, as this bundle includes the handle, as well as two spare blades, three combs, a body kit, and a USB-A charging cable.View Deal

If you want a cheap and basic hair dryer, then it's hard to go wrong with this BaByliss Power Smooth Hair Dryer for under £22 ahead of Prime Day. It has all the essential features you need, with powerful, fast drying and a lightweight design that makes it easy to use.View Deal

Get the highly rated Renpho smart scale on sale for under £20 for Prime Day. The smart scale has over 300,000 reviews on Amazon and holds a solid 4.5-star rating. You can use this smart device to measure your body fat ratio, BMI, and weight via the Renpho app.View Deal

We've tested other walking pads and treadmills from Mobvoi and are huge fans. This is a great low price for the manufacturer's basic walking pad, which is easy to assemble, easy to use, and well-constructed. It's a great way to get your steps in while working, or when the cold months set in and you can keep up your fitness levels at home.View Deal

Amazon Prime Day — gaming

Grand Theft Auto 6 is available to preorder now at Amazon UK. Considering this is just a code in a box (meaning you will have to download the full game, as there's nothing on the disc), I'm less tempted to pick it up myself and just go digital. However, if you love having at least something physical, then you can pick up a PS5 or Xbox copy here.View Deal

The Nintendo Switch 2 is currently sitting at £369 at Amazon UK, but you can use a handy coupon code to knock a further £10 off the price at checkout. While that's a price we've seen before, it is a match for the record-low price on this ever-popular console. View Deal

Ideal for younger gamers, the Nex Playground comes with games out of the box and relies on intuitive motion controls. It's a locked-down system designed specifically with young children in mind. View Deal

A chunky discount on the PS5 Slim here, with 1TB storage and the disc reader attachment included out of the box. This discount takes its price well below the current going rate of the Xbox Series X, making it my top pick for a console right now.View Deal

If you're truly wedded to the Xbox ecosystem, the Xbox Series S is definitely the better value of the two right now thanks to this modest discount. It's much less powerful than the PS5, with half the internal storage, but it is substantially cheaper, so worthy of consideration.View Deal

The standard black Xbox Wireless Controller with a USB-C charging cable is available from £39.99 in the Amazon Prime Day sale. 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 we've only seen these controllers for a couple of quid less in the past.View Deal

The Razer DeathAdder is the wired gaming mouse I used almost exclusively back in my PC gaming glory days, and at this ridiculously low price, I'm tempted to pick up one again. More advanced gaming mice are available, but, as the name suggests, this has all the essential features you need for accuracy, performance, customisability, and longevity. And it's hard to argue against for less than £20.View Deal

Yes, there's apparently a "deal" on this popular set of Corsair RAM, but when you look back and see the very same set was as low as £80 in late 2025, it feels terrible to even consider buying at these prices. Still, if you're in desperate need of some quality RAM, it likely won't get any better than this for a while.View Deal

Live updatesDawn of the final day — 12 hours remain

(Image credit: Future)

Yeah, I've butchered that Majora's Mask reference in the header, but please cut me some slack, I've been on Prime Day duty since Monday and the deals delirium has fully set in now. The intent is what's important, though: Prime Day ends in 12 hours, so there isn't much time left to bag one of the best deals from this year's sale.

That's what I'm here to help with, by sharing all of the top offers I've spotted over the last few days that are still available so you can get them in your basket before they sell out or vanish until the next big bargain bonanza.

Stay tuned for all of my favorite buys, as well as recommendation on highly-rated tech from the wider TechRadar team that we think are well-worth buying at today's sale prices.

Here's one to kick things off

(Image credit: Getty Images / Steve Limentani/ISI Photos)

Oh yeah, be ready for lots of puns over the next 12 hours — that's the stage I'm at right now. And this deal isn't even for tech, but I wanted to share it as I've heard a lot of people (parents, in particular) whose children are all asking for a World Cup football. Well, here's your chance to get one — and it's 33% off.

Score it for less, while you can. Sorry.

Hy-Pro Officially Licensed FIFA World Cup 2026 Football: was £15 now £10 at Amazon

Read all about it: this is a favourite in every Prime Day sale

(Image credit: Amazon)

I'm sure any Prime Day regular won't be surprised to see that several Amazon Kindle models have been discounted for Prime Day. The standard Kindle, premium Kindle Paperwhite, and fancy Kindle Colorsoft have all got decent price cuts — with the Colorsoft being the standout as it drops to a record-low price.

Amazon Kindle: was £94.99 now £79.99 at Amazon
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite: was £159.99 now £119.99 at Amazon
Amazon Kindle Colorsoft: was £239.99 now £154.99 at Amazon

Grab some of the world's best headphones for less

(Image credit: Peter Hoffmann)

Scoring an impressive 4.5-stars in our review, here's your chance to get the fantastic Sony WH-1000XM6 for a record-low price. I'm more than happy with my pair of Bose cans, but there's no denying that these are a tempting buy for audiophiles who love the over-ear design, high-quality audio, and industry-leading noise-cancellation.

Sony WH-1000XM6: was £399.99 now £283.99 at Amazon

Don't brush this one aside

(Image credit: Future)

I picked up the original version of the Suri Sonic Electric Toothbrush a few months ago, and I can't tell you how happy I am with that decision. Yeah, it's a bit of an investment in a toothbrush, but for something that I do twice a day, I'm happy to spend a bit on something that's genuinely very good at what it does. And, best of all, it's much nicer to use than plastic brushes, and the battery life is phenomenal. This newer 2.0 version is now 25% off.

Suri 2.0 Sonic Electric Toothbrush: was £105 now £78.73 at Amazon

Let me loop you in on something

(Image credit: Future)

I've given these Loop earplugs a shoutout in several of the last sales events and they're always a best-seller. Whether it's for blocking out noise while you sleep, muting that awful screeching from certain lines on the tube (yes, looking at you, Northern line), keeping your ears protected at a gig, or just to bring the noise down a bit while you're out for drinks, they're a popular buy. Even more so at this super-low price.

Loop Quiet 2 Ear Plugs: was £19.95 now £15.95 at Amazon

Some of the best Prime Day deals are free

(Image credit: Audible)

Amazon Prime Day isn't just about getting discounts on the latest tech, it's also a great opportunity to cash in on exclusive perks. As always, Amazon is running some promotions on its live services for Prime Day that are well worth a look.

Right now, for example, you can get an extended three-month free trial at Audible, plus a £10 voucher to spend on the Audible Store. Normally costing £5.99 per month, the standard membership includes unlimited access to the non-Plus library and one free book token per month. Audible is Amazon's premier storefront for audiobooks, with a vast library of over 1 million titles, so there's plenty of scope here for bagging some classics.

Prime members: 3 Months Free + £10 Audible voucher at Audible UK

TechRadar readers! Have your say What's the best TV deal this year?

(Image credit: Universal Pictures / Future)

I've been surprised by the relatively small number of TV deals in this year's Prime Day. Of course, there are all the usual Amazon Fire TVs (now called Ember TVs) that we see on sale, but other choices are somewhat lacking.

I thought Amazon would go big given it's the World Cup at the moment and many might be looking for an upgrade. If that's you, though, then I have spotted an excellent £300 off the LG B5 OLED TV. That makes one of the best budget OLED TVs an even better buy this week.

LG B5 55-inch OLED TV: was £999 now £699 at Amazon

Some of the year's best price cuts on Amazon devices

(Image credit: Future / Amazon / Blink / Ring / Edited with Gemini)

As is tradition, with every Prime Day sale, Amazon devices have been slashed to some of the lowest prices all year. While not everything is as cheap as it's ever been, there's a good number of smart speakers, doorbells, cameras, and streaming sticks that are now available for super-cheap, with prices starting at £13.99. Just be aware that some are already selling out.

Browse all Amazon devices deals for Prime Day

Let me point you in the right direction

(Image credit: Razer)

The puns. They just keep on coming. It's what's keeping me going at this point. This time I'm referring to a gaming mouse, specifically, the Razer DeathAdder Essential.

Now, I'm sure the pro gamers out there are probably scoffing at the idea of picking up this mouse, but back in the day, it used to be my go-to option. I've since moved to a wireless mouse from Logitech, but I can't deny that, at around £15, this is impossible to beat in terms of what you get for the cash if you need a basic budget gaming mouse.

Razer DeathAdder Essential: was £29.99 now £15.29 at Amazon

The price won't be frozen this low for long

(Image credit: Shark/Ninja)

I can't be the only one wishing they had a Ninja Creami right now. Any one of the frozen treats that this cool little kitchen appliance can make would go down so well right now, and it'll feel better on the bank balance following this £70 price cut. If, like me, you're not a fan of the odd stone gold colour, the classic black version is also just £10 more.

Ninja Creami: was £249.99 now £189.99 at Amazon

If you like it put a ring on it

(Image credit: Future/Matt Evans)

One of the biggest and most popular deals during this year's Amazon Prime Day has been this record-low price for the Oura Ring 4. We called it a "future-proof smart ring" in our review so it'll be a great buy for a long time going forward to track all of your key health and fitness metrics.

Oura Ring 4: was £349 now £199 at Amazon

New section! Fans!

We had a fans section in our live blog the other day, but pretty much every fan we recommended sold out in short order (as you can imagine).

Nonetheless, I've been scanning through the retailer's sale to try and find some rare examples of fans that are actually on sale. Luckily, I've found a few, so I've added a fans section back into our hub page.

Categories: Technology

Know your agent: building the foundation of autonomous commerce

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:47

Artificial intelligence has officially entered its execution phase. After years of experimentation, businesses are rapidly deploying AI not just to analyze data, but to act on it.

At the forefront of this shift are AI agents, autonomous systems designed to execute complex tasks, automate workflows, and interact with other digital systems on our behalf.

Their adoption is accelerating at an incredible pace, with a recent McKinsey study finding that 62% of organizations are already experimenting with them. It’s easy to see why, as Agentic AI offers a relatively straightforward path to embedding powerful automation deep into business processes.

However, as these systems evolve from passive tools into autonomous agents, we are entering a new era of digital risk. The conversation is no longer just about building smarter agents, but whether the entire agent economy can function without a trust layer underneath it. Identity verification has evolved beyond being a basic security feature into the infrastructure that makes autonomous commerce possible at all.

When an AI can access sensitive databases, interact with third-party systems, and execute commands, a critical question emerges: how do you know who, or what, is really on the other end of that API call? Without a robust framework for agent identity and accountability, true agentic commerce will not be possible.

The real-world risks of unchecked AI agents

The appeal of agentic AI is its autonomy, but this is also its greatest risk. An unchecked or compromised AI agent operating within a corporate network can become a powerful vector for malicious activity. These risks are not new, but are a direct extension of existing cyber threats, amplified by the speed and scale of AI.

The most defining threat vector in the era of agentic AI is prompt injection. This is unique to AI agents as it weaponizes the very natural language capabilities that make them so powerful. Unlike traditional cyberattacks that rely on exploiting software bugs or cracking passwords, prompt injection bypasses standard security perimeters by feeding maliciously crafted text directly into an agent's processing stream.

This essentially tricks the AI into overriding its core system instructions and executing the attacker’s commands as if they were legitimate tasks. In an enterprise environment where agents hold permissions to access CRMs, process invoices, or alter databases, a successful injection can instantly turn a helpful digital assistant into an undetected insider threat.

Through prompt injection, agents can be instructed to exfiltrate data or escalate their privileges. An agent designed to access a customer database for legitimate analysis could, if compromised, be instructed to copy and transmit that entire database to an external server. Similarly, privilege escalation becomes a major concern, as an agent with limited permissions could probe the network for vulnerabilities or exploit a flaw to grant itself higher levels of access, effectively becoming a rogue administrator.

AI-to-AI interactions present a new frontier of security risk. As one business’s AI agents begin to interact with agents from partners or customers, the potential for supply-chain compromise grows exponentially. Without a way to verify the identity of the interacting agent, every AI-to-AI connection becomes a potential security blind spot.

Building a framework for agentic trust

In the emerging agent economy, trust hinges on answering three questions, only two of which today's standards meaningfully address: “who is this agent?” (addressed by identity primitives like W3C DIDs, increasingly applied to agents), “does this agent have authorization to spend this money on a user's behalf?” (frameworks such as FIDO Alliance-stewarded standards such as AP2 and Verifiable Intent, contributed by Google and Mastercard), and finally “what is this agent's reputation and track record?”, a question the current standards stack leaves open.

Together, they form the essential trust and payment stack required to move agentic commerce from experimental sandboxes to mainstream, high-value transactions. Zero trust architecture is also more critical than ever for securing systems against agentic threats. An agent's identity must be re-verified for every single transaction or request, and its permissions should be limited to the absolute minimum required for its specific task, based on the principle of least privilege. This means even if a trusted agent is compromised, its ability to cause widespread damage is severely restricted.

This same logic extends well beyond the corporate perimeter, in both directions. On one side, AI agents are beginning to transact on behalf of consumers: booking, buying, paying, returning. On the other, businesses are deploying agents to fulfil those same orders, onboard new customers, automate supply chains, and run entire back-office functions. What's emerging is a new trust triangle between consumers, businesses, and agents, operating simultaneously on both sides of every interaction.

In that world, agent identity becomes a commercial problem as much as a security one. A business needs to know that the agent placing an order holds a valid, scoped mandate from a real human who authorized it to act. But equally, a consumer's agent needs confidence that the business agent fulfilling that order is legitimate, authorized, and traceable. Trust has to flow in both directions, and at machine speed. That's a verification challenge of a fundamentally different order to anything we've dealt with before, and one the industry is only beginning to standardize through frameworks like FIDO's Agentic Payments Protocol. Getting KYA right is foundational to enabling a function agent economy.

Finally, businesses need systems that continuously monitor agent behavior to create a baseline of normal activity, making it possible to spot anomalous actions. If an agent suddenly attempts something outside its regular function, such as accessing a new database, connecting to an unusual IP address, or executing commands at a much higher frequency, this behavior should instantly trigger an alert and, potentially, an automatic suspension of the agent’s permissions.

Trust as a catalyst for innovation

Some technology leaders hold the view that strict security measures are a barrier to innovation, however in reality the opposite is true. By building trust and safeguards into AI agents from the ground up, businesses can innovate without fear. They can confidently deploy agentic solutions to drive efficiency, reduce operational costs, and unlock new revenue streams, all without exposing themselves to the catastrophic risks of uncontrolled autonomy.

The agentic AI era is here, and it has the potential to reshape how enterprises operate. Autonomy without oversight is liability, but autonomy with verified identity, scoped mandates, and continuous trust signals is the foundation of a new commercial layer. As agent architectures mature, trust certification will become a precondition for being transacted with at all. KYA isn't a security cost. It's how you stay in the game.

We feature the best ecommerce platforms.

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

Categories: Technology

Microsoft extends Windows 10 support out of the blue — consumers now get updates for another year to October 2027

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:43
  • Windows 10 is getting extended support through to October 2027
  • That's an extra year on the original deadline, although Microsoft didn't formally announce the extension
  • It gives those who were worrying about what to do next with their Windows 10 PC (especially if it wasn't compatible with Windows 11) some welcome room to breathe

Microsoft has given consumers another year of extended support for Windows 10 without any formal announcement of this move.

Windows Latest spotted that Microsoft changed its info on Windows 10's Extended Security Updates (ESU) scheme to indicate that support now runs through to next October.

The section about the deadline now reads: "Windows 10 support has ended. You can enroll in ESU any time until the program ends on October 12, 2027. If you're already enrolled, your coverage will automatically continue through that date — no action needed."

So, as noted, this means that if you're signed up for the ESU, you will continue to get updates not for another four months — as the original deadline for support ending was October 2026 — but for 16 months. It's still possible to sign up for the ESU program if you haven't yet done so, too.

Microsoft confirmed to Windows Latest that this isn't a mistake in the text, and the ESU does indeed now run for another year.

Analysis: a commendable move from Microsoft – but a jaded reaction

(Image credit: Getty Images)

I still run Windows 10 on my main PC (Windows 11 is on my secondary PC), and I was about to fire up the upgrade most likely next month, or perhaps August — but soon, anyway. This gives me, and no doubt plenty of others, some extra breathing room. A lot of it, actually, which is very welcome.

I may still upgrade to Windows 11 this year, but given my procrastinatory ways, I might well wait until next year now. Especially seeing as Microsoft is busy fixing Windows 11 in all sorts of ways currently, so it kind of makes sense to wait until all that work is done anyway.

Clearly enough, this is a positive move for consumers, and I'm pleased to see it. I've argued before that a year of extended support wasn't enough — considering the hardware requirements rule out many PCs from upgrading to Windows 11 — and that Microsoft should give consumers a second year. (Especially given all the e-waste issues raised around Windows 10's end of the line in the past).

With that second year now confirmed, I'm rather surprised that Microsoft doesn't appear to have announced this anywhere, and just made the change to its website info quietly in the background.

Perhaps the idea is to keep it on the down-low, so as not to put off any imminent upgraders? At any rate, much of the reaction to this decision is pretty muted. One of the most upvoted comments on this Reddit thread is: "So are they finally admitting that Windows 11 isn't good enough almost 5 years later?"

You don't have to look far to find other jaded commentary like: "The moment the support expires I'll go with Linux."

Also, some folks have taken the line that it's not a surprise to see Microsoft extend support, and indeed that it always does this. And yes, that's true for businesses, where the company may support an outgoing Windows version for multiple years. But this isn't the case for consumers; remember Windows 10 is the first time Microsoft has ever offered extended support outside of the business world.

As a reminder, the support is free (as long as you're willing to sync your PC settings to OneDrive, which isn't that big a deal, at least not in my opinion), or you can pay $30. If you've already signed up, there's no extra charge for the second year, as you might hope.

As observed by a Redditor above, it's almost five years since Windows 11 was launched — and the OS was formally announced half a decade ago this week, in fact. I just wrote about that at length, and how I'm more optimistic about the future of Windows 11 at this point than I've ever been. Still, as mentioned, I won't be rushing to upgrade just yet on my primary computer, but I'll put the trigger on that update eventually.

Categories: Technology

3 of the best earbuds for travel — all rated 5-star buys by our Audio Editor

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:40

Heading off on holiday? You'll probably want to arm yourself with a good pair of earbuds. Even if you didn't want to use them for city mooching or poolside relaxing, they'll almost certainly come in handy during those long hours riding on planes, trains, and buses.

At TechRadar, our audio expects have tested hundreds of pairs of headphones, and they know exactly what to look for to you keep you, and your ears, happy. And it just so happens that right now, three of the very best headphones for travel are discounted in the Prime Day sales. All of these have been personally tested by our esteemed Audio Editor Becky Scarrott, and every pair scored a perfect five stars — and that is not a score we are giving out lightly.

Let's take a look...

Top earbuds for happy holidays

First up, the Nothing Ear (a) Wireless Ear Buds, which for me are the standouts, because they're both very good and very affordable. I personally find it stressful to have any of my pricier gadgets with me when I go away; I want headphones that no one's going to want to nick, and which aren't going to be too pricey to replace if I leave them in a hotel room. Becky calls these headphones "a sure-fire hit", with shout-outs for the noise cancellation, sound quality, comfort and battery life, all of which she says are far better than you'd expect at this price point.

Happier spending a bit more on your buds, and keeping a closer eye on them on your travels? Consider one of the following two options… First up are the second-gen Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. The main reason we recommend these for travel is because the noise cancellation is second to none. Becky writes: "These buds are the most sonically exuberant listen I've heard to date in this type of form factor, a fact only enhanced by their rock-solid, near-impenetrable active noise cancellation (ANC), which you can usefully tweak on a slider when creating Bose's hugely successful 'Modes'."

Finally, we have the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8. Becky was blown away by the "incredible levels of detail and dynamism" and called these "a highly competent set of earbuds and a joy to wear". They're also especially great for using on flights, because you can plug the case's USB-C port into the headphone jack on an in-flight entertainment system, and it'll work as a wireless audio transmitter. Like the Bose buds, the ANC is also great — ideal for blocking out noisy fellow travellers, and the drone of a plane engine. More importantly, they manage to nix background sound without creating a too-tight seal that can lead of painful eardrum pressure.

Nothing Ear (a) Wireless Ear Buds

Read our full review

Pros
  • Fun, zealous, expansive sound
  • Vastly improved active noise cancellation
  • Smaller, more pocketable case
Cons
  • No wireless charging support
  • No flagship sound profile curation

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Bluetooth Earbuds (2nd Gen)

Read our full review

Pros
  • Bose's noise cancellation is still top of the class
  • Tailored immersive profiles add value
  • Excellent device agnostic spatial audio with head tracking
Cons
  • Earbuds are still a touch big
  • No guided hearing tests
  • EQ tweaks limited to three tabs

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 In-Ear Wireless ANC Earbuds

Read our full review

Pros
  • Incredible levels of detail and dynamism
  • Vastly improved comfort; better stamina
  • Effective ANC
Cons
  • Lacks ear-tip or fit tests
  • No proprietary spatial audio
  • Battery life can still be beaten
More travel headphone bargains to consider

None of those look quite right? We're a bit spoiled for choice when it comes to headphone deals, so I have some more options for you. None of the options below scored less than four stars in our tests, and they all shine in different ways.

I've included over-ears for those who find in-ears uncomfortable, open-ear options for situations where you need to be more aware of your surroundings, and bargain headphones for anyone whose idea of 'great travel headphones' is just the pair that won't break your heart if you leave them on a train or drop them in the pool.

Sony WH-1000XM6 wireless noise cancelling headphones

Read our full review

Pros
  • Class-leading noise cancellation
  • Excellent audio performance
  • Super lightweight and comfortable
  • Highly intuitive touch controls
  • They're foldable again!
Cons
  • Price increase over previous model
  • Battery life is nothing special
  • Still not waterproof
  • Some may find them to be a tad bulky

Nothing Headphone (a) 2026 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones

Read our full review

Pros
  • Great sound that's a big upgrade over Headphone (1)
  • Fantastic on-ear control options and app
  • Gigantic battery life
Cons
  • Still heavy, with a strong clamping force
  • Some rivals offer better sonic detail
  • No auto-pause feature or case

Apple Airpods Pro 3 Wireless Earbuds

Read our full review

Pros
  • Wall-of-silence active noise cancellation
  • Much comfier and more secure fit
  • Heart-rate monitor adds value
Cons
  • Still questionable stamina (with all features deployed)
  • Case button will be missed
  • Live translation requires work to set up

HUAWEI Freearc Open-Ear Earbuds

Read our full review

Pros
  • Top-tier sound
  • Competitive price
  • Comfortable fit
Cons
  • App download pains
  • Middling battery life
  • Would benefit from ANC

CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro

Read our full review

Pros
  • Excellent hearing tests, unexpected at this level
  • Emotive, circumaural sound
  • Exemplary battery life
Cons
  • ANC isn't amazing
  • Energy slider feels a tad gimmicky
  • No hard carry case or USB-C charger in the box

Sony WH-CH720N Wireless Over-Ear Headphones

Read our full review

Pros
  • Great sound balance
  • Lots of detail in audio
  • Effective noise cancellation
  • Full of useful features
Cons
  • Sound feels constrained
  • Noise cancellation leaks in low sounds
  • Plastic feels a little cheap

JLab Go Pods ANC

Read our full review

Pros
  • Solid ANC
  • Lightweight build
  • Truly low price
Cons
  • Poor eartip fit
  • Lean battery life
  • Aggressive transparency mode

SoundPeats Clip1 open-ear earbuds

Read our full review

Pros
  • Fantastic listening test
  • Comfortable build
  • Competitive value
Cons
  • Low max volume
  • Cheap-feeling case
  • Touch control issues
More Prime Day deals in the US
Categories: Technology

9 Reasons your SEO rankings are up, but traffic is down

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:31

You open Google Search Console, and it is full of green arrows. Position 4 turned into position 2. Position 2 turned into position 1. You did the work, the work paid off, and then your traffic graph started pointing at the FLOOR.

I have watched this happen to sites with clean rankings, fresh content, and zero penalties. It is one of the most confusing things in SEO right now, and most of the noise about it just repeats the same reasons.

See, ranking and traffic stopped being the same thing a while ago. In 2026, the gap between them is the widest it has ever been. But before we get into the reasons, one truth lies beneath them all.

Your clicks are leaking out of Google through several holes at once. AI Overviews is only the loudest one.

Seer Interactive tracked organic Click-Through Rates (CTR) and found a 61% drop on queries that show an AI Overview. Fair enough; that is the reason everyone talks about. But on queries with no AI Overview at all, clicks still fell 41%.

So, if AI Overviews were the whole story, that second number would be pretty flat. It isn't. That clearly means something bigger is shrinking the entire click economy – and we’re going to talk about just that.

1. The demand simply isn't there anymore

Start with the boring reason, because it is the one everyone skips.

Sometimes your traffic drops because fewer people are searching. Not because you slipped. The market shrank, and your rankings are just sitting on top of a smaller pile.

This used to be a seasonal thing. A tax tool loses traffic in June. A swimwear brand loses traffic in December. Normal stuff. But there is a newer version of this in 2026, and it is structural, not seasonal. People are running fewer searches overall because they get their answers somewhere else first (more on this below).

What to do: Open Search Console and pull the full 16-month view, then lay it next to the same months last year. Drop your main keywords into Ahrefs or Semrush and look at search volume over time. If demand fell and your rankings held, you did nothing wrong. You are winning a race with fewer runners.

2. AI overviews are answering the question for you

(Image credit: Future)

Ahrefs re-ran its study on SERP clicks in December 2025 across 300,000 keywords. Surprisingly, they found that when an AI Overview shows up, the top-ranking page loses 58% of its clicks. That is nearly double the 34.5% they measured back in April 2025. It is getting worse, not better.

Pew Research found the same thing from the other direction, by tracking real people instead of tools. The study proved that users clicked a result only 8% of the time when an AI summary appeared, versus 15% when it didn't. And only 1% clicked a link inside the overview itself.

So you can rank number one and still lose, because there is now a box sitting above your number one that answers the question before anyone scrolls.

What to do: Split your Search Console keywords into two buckets, the ones that trigger an AI Overview and the ones that don't. Both Ahrefs and Semrush have a filter for this. Then change the goal. Stop trying to rank below the overview. Start trying to get cited inside it. Pages cited in the overview actually keep their clicks.

3. People get their answer from AI before they open Google

A chunk of your missing traffic is made up of searches that never happened. Someone asked ChatGPT or Perplexity instead. They got their answer, made their decision, and never typed anything into Google at all.

Now, do not panic and blame AI for everything. The referral numbers tell a calm story. Cloudflare measured every AI search engine combined (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity) at under 0.28% of search referrals in April 2026, while Google still sent 87.52% of them. So AI is not stealing your clicks by quietly sending traffic somewhere else.

The damage is sneakier. It happens upstream, where the search just disappears. And inside Google's own AI Mode, Semrush found that 92% to 94% of searches end with no click to any website. More than nine in ten, just gone.

What to do: Start tracking your branded search volume in Search Console, because that is the footprint AI leaves behind. When someone hears about you inside an AI answer, they often Google your name later. The new win is being the brand the AI names, not just the link it skips.

4. The search page got crowded

(Image credit: Future)

Think about what a Google results page looked like five years ago. Sponsored ads followed by ten blue links. That was it.

But now, a Google results page generally shows:

  • An AI Overview
  • A People Also Ask box
  • A local pack with a map
  • Shopping results
  • A video carousel

Now, your blue link is still there. It is just buried under a pile of other things that all want the same click.

FirstPageSage found that the top three organic results take 68.7% of all clicks on a clean page. But fewer and fewer pages are clean. Every feature Google adds pushes your link further down and hands the searcher one more place to go instead of you.

What to do: Actually look at the search results for your top ten keywords. Count what sits above your link. If a snippet is eating your click, write a tighter answer and go take the snippet for yourself (snippets pull a 42.9% click-through rate, higher than a normal number one). If a video carousel is winning, maybe you need a video.

5. Reddit quietly took over your category

(Image credit: Future)

If you run a review site, a comparison site, or anything with the word "best" in your titles, this one is probably half your problem.

So, Google fell in love with Reddit. Between July 2023 and April 2024, Reddit's visibility in Google search jumped 1,328%, and it climbed from the 68th most visible site in the US to the 5th. On the product review and "best of" searches that used to land on editorial sites, Reddit is now everywhere.

So when someone searches "best running shoes" or "is X worth it," they are not landing on your carefully written guide.

(Image credit: Future)

They are landing on a Reddit thread because Google decided real people arguing in a forum beat a polished, well-researched article.

What to do: Find the Reddit threads ranking for your keywords. Then show up in them, genuinely and helpfully, not with spam. You are not going to outrank Reddit on those terms, so the smart move is to be present inside the thread that already won.

6. You won some keywords and quietly lost others

This is the blind spot that fools smart people.

You are tracking 100 keywords. Twenty of them climbed, and you are celebrating. But your traffic comes from thousands of keywords, and you are not watching the other 900. Some of them slipped, and that quiet slip is bigger than your loud win.

Your rank tracker only shows you what you told it to show you. It says nothing about the long tail that was actually paying your bills.

What to do: Ignore your tracked list for an afternoon. Go into Search Console, export every query, and compare clicks against the same period last year. Sort by clicks lost. The pages bleeding the most traffic are almost never the ones you were watching.

7. You rank higher but fewer people click

Sometimes the ranking is genuinely up, and the click-through rate just collapsed. Well, in such situations, the most common reason is embarrassingly simple. Your title still says 2025 and the year is 2026. People scan the results, see a stale date, and skip you for the fresher-looking result below. You ranked number one and lost the click on a detail you could fix relatively quickly.

There are other causes too. A weak title. A meta description that misses the point. Or your page matches a search whose intent it does not actually serve.

What to do: Pull your top pages by impressions, then look at the ones with a poor click-through rate. Update the year. Rewrite the title so it matches what the searcher actually wants. Small change, fast result, and you do not need to rank any higher to get it.

8. Your impressions are lying to you

This one is technical, so here is a simple way to see it.

Imagine your page used to show up for 50 searches a day, all of them a perfect fit, and people clicked. Now Google shows your page for 500 searches a day, but 450 of them are only loosely related to what you offer. Those extra people see you and scroll past, because you are not really what they wanted.

Your impressions shot up. Your average position might even look better. But your click-through rate fell off a cliff, because Google is matching you to searches that were never yours.

And "average position" hides all of it. It is an average. One number is smoothing over a hundred different stories, most of which you cannot see.

What to do: In Search Console, find the queries where impressions jumped but clicks stayed flat. That gap is the loose-match junk. It is not really a problem to fix; it is a number to stop trusting. Judge yourself on clicks from queries that fit, not on raw impressions.

9. Mobile is dragging you down (and no, it is not AMP)

Your desktop rankings can look great while mobile quietly tanks – and most of your traffic is mobile.

Two things make this worse. Mobile users click far less than desktop users. And on a small screen, an AI Overview plus a couple of SERP features eat the entire first screen. Your link is somewhere down there, after a lot of thumb-scrolling.

(Image credit: Future)

Now, an important correction, because half the internet still gets this wrong. The fix is not AMP. Google dropped the AMP requirement for the Top Stories carousel back in June 2021, killed the lightning-bolt badge, and the big publishers have all walked away from it. AMP gives you no ranking advantage today.

What to do: Open the device tab in Search Console and compare desktop against mobile honestly. Then fix the thing that actually matters: Your Core Web Vitals (how fast the page loads, how fast it reacts, how much it jumps around while loading). A fast, normal, responsive page beats an AMP page in 2026.

Conclusion

Here is the mindset shift that makes the whole thing click.

Stop treating rankings as the finish line. Ranking number one is now just the price of admission. It does not promise you clicks.

Run the diagnosis in order. Check if demand fell. Check if AI Overviews or AI Mode are intercepting the answer. Check the rest of the search page. Check the keywords you stopped watching. Check your titles, your impressions, your mobile experience, and your analytics. Nine times out of ten, the answer is not one of these reasons. It is three of them stacked on top of each other.

And then the bigger shift, the one that matters more every month. Start measuring visibility, not just clicks. Being the answer inside an AI Overview. Being the brand platforms like ChatGPT, names. Being the thread that ranks. The click was the old goal. Showing up is the new one.

Your rankings being up is not a lie. It just stopped being the whole truth.

Categories: Technology

Why your streaming app detects your VPN – and how to avoid it for the World Cup 2026

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:30

The World Cup draws millions of viewers who want nothing more than to stream the action live. For many fans, this doesn’t just mean watching any broadcast; it means accessing their home country’s service to hear commentary in their native language.

Yet when you travel abroad, live sports streaming often hits a brick wall. Streaming platforms are increasingly aggressive in detecting and blocking VPN connections, making it surprisingly tricky to access familiar home broadcasts from your hotel room or airport lounge.

Understanding how these apps spot your connection and knowing how to bypass their defenses with the best VPN services is key to keeping your viewing experience uninterrupted.

Why streaming services block VPNs (and how they do it)

Streaming services block VPNs because they have strict licensing deals based on location.

Broadcasters pay for exclusive rights to show matches in specific countries. If a user logs in via a VPN to watch games they aren’t licensed for, it breaks those agreements.

To honor these agreements, platforms have no choice but to block these workarounds. For football fans, this creates a frustrating loop: you try to connect, the app spots something is amiss, and you’re hit with an error message before kickoff.

The most common method streaming services use to spot VPN traffic is maintaining a huge, updated blacklist of IP addresses known to belong to data centers. If your connection comes from one of these flagged numbers, you’re blocked immediately.

Beyond IPs, platforms analyze behavior. A genuine user travels slowly over days, whereas a VPN user might appear in London one minute and New York the next, triggering alerts.

Even if your main traffic is hidden, small background requests such as DNS queries can slip outside the VPN tunnel, revealing your real location.

Some services use deep packet inspection to recognize the unique “fingerprints” of popular VPN protocols. If the data looks like it’s running through a tunnel rather than regular browsing, it gets flagged.

How to avoid VPN detection

Navigating these streaming app blocks starts with picking the right settings. While protocols like WireGuard are the best option for raw speed, they don’t inherently hide your traffic better from detection systems than other VPN protocols.

The real key is often the server you choose. Just because one server is blocked doesn’t mean the whole country is out of reach. Sometimes a heavily used server gets flagged while a smaller, less popular one flies under the radar. If you run into trouble, start by switching locations before tweaking anything else.

Before you even test a connection, make sure your browser isn’t working against you. Clearing your browser’s cache and cookies is crucial because old location data stored there can contradict your new IP address and trigger an immediate block, making a good server appear broken.

If problems persist, experiment with your protocol. Although WireGuard is the default choice of many VPN providers – and the fastest – OpenVPN over TCP can sometimes work better on restrictive networks, particularly when those networks block or interfere with UDP traffic.

The best streaming VPNs counter blacklists and leaks by rotating fresh IPs, maintaining private networks to avoid data center flags, and using obfuscation to mask traffic.

Norton VPN: now only $39.99 for 12-month coverage

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Don’t let distance stop you from streaming the World Cup

Knowing how streaming services block access can help you watch the World Cup online from anywhere.

Choose a quality VPN, configure it properly, and stay ahead of detection tricks to keep your connection steady.

For answers on which VPN works best for specific services or where to watch your national team this summer, check our streaming guides and full World Cup coverage.

Categories: Technology

Steam Machine is ridiculously expensive — here are 9 PCs (and a $1000 laptop) that easily surpass Valve’s controversial gaming console

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:29

Valve’s Steam Machine has generated a lot of negative publicity because of its price tag. At just over $1,049, it is expensive for what is essentially a very, very powerful mini PC. But are we being too harsh on Valve given that the timing of the launch sadly coincided with the worst component crisis we’ve witnessed over the last 20 years?

Amazon Prime Day provides us with a great window to check out how prices compare. My colleague Matthew Hanson has been looking at the component prices should you want to build your own Steam Machine-slayer console (loaded with SteamOS rather than Windows 11). Read his analysis.

The CPU on the Steam Machine is equivalent to an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 or a 8400F or an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or a Core i5-14400T. Its GPU roughly matches an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060/RTX 5050 or a Radeon RX 7600M XT/S. Remember that the Steam Machine operates with a very strict TDP of 30W and its GPU has only 8GB VRAM.

The rest of the spec sheet is as follows: 16GB DDR5, 802.11ax, GbE Ethernet and Bluetooth 5.3. It also has a microSD card reader and a tiny form factor - a 16cm cube that can be customized. Let’s get one fact out of the way: no Windows mini PC can match with the Steam Machine’s price-performance. Not one.

You will have to check standard gaming PC and the odd laptop to find real alternatives to Valve’s cultural phenomenon.

AMD Ryzen 7 250 | RTX 5070 GPU | 16GB DDR5 | 512GB

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Choose your Steam Machine rival

ABS Flux II | Intel Core 5 120 | RTX 5060 | 32GB | 1TB

CyberpowerPC CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme | Intel Core i5-14400F | RTX 5060 | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB

Thermaltake Thermaltake LCGS Quartz i1460 | Intel Core i5-14400F | RTX 5060 | 16GB | 1TB

Acer Acer Nitro V15 | i7-13620H | RTX 5060 | 16GB | 1TB

Stormcraft Stormcraft Viper | Intel Core i5- 14400F | RTX 5060 | 16GB | 1TB

HOENGAGER Hoengaegr Panorama | AMD Ryzen 7 5700x | Intel Arc B580 | 16GB | 1TB

MSI MSI Codex R2 | Intel Core i5-14400F | RTX 5060 | 16GB | 1TB

Lenovo Lenovo LOQ 15.6" | AMD Ryzen 7 250 | RTX 5060 | 16GB | 512GB

Hasee Hasee S8 | i7-13620H | RTX 5060 | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB

More Prime Day deals in the US
Categories: Technology

Stop Killing the Internet: inside the global movement that wants to save the open web

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 05:28

When the soon-to-be ex-British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, told the nation last week that a full social media ban for all under-16s from social media was “the right choice" for the country, a group of people was watching closely, and thinking about what to do next.

For them, policies like these are problematic. They require all users (adults included) to undergo mandatory age verification checks. That means face scanning or ID document sharing to prove that any user is old enough to access content and social media services – and that’s something that privacy advocates and technologists have long warned is "a cybersecurity disaster waiting to happen".

But for this group, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Today, it’s your face they’ll want to scan. Tomorrow, it’ll be your messages.

So, after a social media ban in Australia, the development of Canada’s Bill C-22, the expansion of mandatory age verification in Europe, the EU's Chat Control debate, and discussions on children’s online safety proposals in the US Congress, the UK’s announcement was the final straw

On June 16, 2026, just 24 hours after Starmer's speech, that the Stop Killing the Internet campaign was officially unveiled with its mission to defend the open internet against state policies that could trigger mass surveillance and excessive control.

"Any restriction that restricts people's human rights and right to access the open internet is what we're opposed to,” Programme Manager at the Open Rights Group (ORG), James Baker, told TechRadar.

(Image credit: Getty Images / NurPhoto)

The ORG is just one of many high-profile UK digital rights groups that have come together to form Stop Killing the Internet, along with Big Brother Watch, and Index of Censorship. They are calling to arms other worldwide organizations committed to finding rights-based solutions to online social problems to join in.

“We hope to expand globally because it affects people in all countries, including places like India or China, where the internet is a lot more restricted."

Ahead of the launch, Baker and the rest of the group have already held urgent meetings with over 20 organizations, listened to the perspective of young people about the UK's proposed teen social media ban, and decided it was time to take action.

Stop Killing the Internet was formed as a sister campaign of Stop Killing Games, a movement created by the gaming community to advocate for legal protections to prevent publishers from shutting down video games.

But why have gamers joined forces with digital rights advocates to challenge ongoing children's online safety policies? And, most importantly, which solutions is the group proposing instead?

Why restricting the internet for teens is a bad idea

(Image credit: StockPlanets/ Getty Images)

We can divide children's online safety policies into two main strands — each has its critics warning of dangerous unintended consequences.

The first are access barriers which cut children off from online spaces and content thought to be unsuitable for their age.

Policymakers first started by barring children from adult-only sites with age verification checks. Then came total platform blocks such as Australia's world-first under-16s social media ban, which the likes of the UK, France, Malaysia, and other countries are also looking to follow.

Baker believes that, ultimately, these bans won't work — an idea backed up by recent data from Australia — but it’s the nature of the approach that bothers the ORG’s Programme Manager.

"If there was rowdy behavior or a fight in a town hall or a public square, you'd try to police it and solve it — you wouldn't completely shut down the space for everyone,” he said.

“Yet the response to internet problems is to try to shut down the space and exclude people based on their age."

The second group of child protection policies focuses on content scanning.

An example here is Keir Starmer's ultimatum to Big Tech to find a way to prevent children from accessing explicit images on their devices. It's a plan that so unpalatable from a privacy perspective that it prompted private messaging platform Signal to say that it "would rather exit the market than undermine the technical guarantees that people trust for their privacy".

Content scanning is an old idea that continues to arise on lawmaker agendas and, often, fails to translate into actual legislation.

One incarnation of this client-side scanning was initially part of the UK's original Online Safety Act, but it was halted until "it's technically feasible to do so" in a privacy-respecting manner. And there's been no mention of it since, with regard to OSA, most likely because it's easily said by politicians but next to impossible in practice.

In the EU, another message scanning movement, commonly referred to as Chat Control — the nickname for the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) proposal — has been in negotiations for over three years and still there's no final text that's convincing enough for privacy experts to accept.

In reality, though, according to Stop Killing Games' Strategy Lead Moritz Katzner, all of these copycat policies, wherever they are in the world, have very little to do with child safety at all.

"You have to seriously ask if this is actually about protecting children. As someone who was recently part of that demographic, I do not believe them, because they did not care about me, nor my gaming communities, for a very long time," he told TechRadar.

Katzner explains that a crucial part of the Stop Killing the Internet campaign is indeed making people understand that there is no difference between chat control, age verification, and ID verification.

"They are all reasoned from the same agenda," he said. "It is an escalation ladder where they start by scanning your face, then require ID, and eventually start scanning your chats."

How Stop Killing the Internet plans to reset the debate

(Image credit: Stop Killing The Internet)

For the people involved in Stop Killing the Internet, it's a non-negotiable — what's needed to protect both children and the open web is to shift the focus of the online safety debate.

"Our primary goal is to force a hard reset of the debate,” said Katzner. “To do so, we should listen to what experts have been saying for three decades and look at the algorithms, because these platforms are addictive to adults, too."

And how do they plan to do that?

Stop Killing the Internet aims to make the knowledge of academics, computer scientists, civil societies, and other experts, mainstream directly via social media content creators. This strategy would allow them to bypass mainstream media, which, they believe, has mostly failed to critically report on this issue.

An important goal of the movement is to expose the global network of funding that they say backs up these laws. According to Katzner, it's vital to make a clear distinction between genuine advocacy and corporate lobbyism.

"Meta spent millions in the US and UK lobbying for platform-level age verification because it serves their interests, and politicians are being misused in this process," he said.

While Big Tech plays hot potato with the responsibility of children's safety, how the laws land make a huge bearing on the likes of the gaming community, according to Katzner. Gaming platforms are also included in age verification and social ban policies. Yet, as Katzner explains, there's also a tactical reason for Stop Killing Games to be involved in this fight.

Stop Killing Games has material successes in its fight to date. It brought its cause to the political agenda and helped the Protect Our Games Act to pass California’s Assembly vote — as reported by The Guardian.

“We are now bringing the strong muscle of online communities into this campaign," Katzner added, with reference to the broader internet freedom fight.

What's next for Stop Killing the Internet?

While Stop Killing The Internet is expected to fully launch on June 27, 2026, — and reveal all the people involved — Baker from Open Rights Group said that it has already attracted interest from organizations and individuals from Australia, Canada, the United States, Africa, and Europe.

In the coming days, we will also know what the movement's first step will look like.

What's certain, however, is that the problems with children's online safety policies are only its starting point — the goal is to save a free and open internet from all forms of online restrictions.

Categories: Technology

One small step for headphones, one giant leap for audiophiles: why this super-small invention could make your next headphones sound a lot better

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 04:59
  • Knowles has found a way for headphones to use balanced armature drivers
  • This could let future headphones offer greatly improved sonic qualities
  • Currently, no headphones offer this tech, only earbuds — but they will

While earbuds makers have been tripping over themselves to bundle more and more drivers in their buds — the Soundpeats H3 have three and they cost less than the AirPods Pro 3 (which don't have three), while the Status Between 3ANC pictured below sport dual Balanced armature drivers and one 10mm dynamic driver — it's a race that's not yet reached the best headphones.

Hold the phone: it has now reached them, thanks to Knowles' new design. The company, best known for its Balanced Armature (BA) driver because in 1955, Hugh Knowles invented it for the hearing aid market, thinks it's finally ready to revolutionize the headphone game.

Knowles has unveiled a new hybrid design for headphones, which allows its small and light BA drivers to sit alongside the much bigger dynamic drivers typical in over-ear designs. While the dynamic driver would handle the same frequencies as always (typically lower-end ones), the BA driver would add a bit of high-end sparkle.

Basically, headphones might soon sound a lot better, and have a lot more room under the ear cups to add extra features.

At the time of writing, no headphones have been unveiled with this tech, but hopefully, we'll start seeing cans which benefit from it roll out very soon.

Knowling Me, Knowling You (ah haaa)

(Image credit: Future)

Traditionally, most headphone makers have believed that multi-driver systems in headphones is a bad idea. It's a shame, because in earbuds, each driver can focus on a different range of frequencies, instead of relying on one to do as much as possible. And when done well, (see Campfire Audio's lineup for several gorgeous examples) it can sound utterly sublime.

For a combination of reasons like phase avoidance, complications with spatial audio tuning and ear positioning, most (though not all) headphones have a single driver. It's because the drivers are further from your ears than in buds, where they're up close and personal with your ear canal, which complicates matters.

However, BA drivers are popular for being small and lightweight, so they add some much-needed versatility within the acoustic architecture.

Knowles' design for cans features one dynamic driver with two BA drivers, which sit in front of the dynamic unit, pointed precisely at your ears.

According to Knowles, this is one of the main draws: a hybrid design can be used "without significantly changing industrial designs, comfort, or overall product dimensions". So they won't be heavier than your standard cans — if anything, they might be lighter.

However, reading between the lines, it sounds like a precise fit will be even more important on over-ear headphones with this architecture. I imagine that it rules out the tech being implemented in on-ears, which I've always found to fit quite loosely, and possibly also workout headphones, due to the natural shake of exercises.

Knowles has already put BA drivers in buds from JBL, Status (pictured above this text), JLab, Edifier and Baseus, so these companies may well be the first to take Knowles up on its offering and release over-ears using the tech. But only time will really tell — so for now, we wait.

Categories: Technology

Anthropic could be about to release Claude Cowork for mobile

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 04:15
  • X screenshot shows new Claude Cowork mobile remote UI
  • OpenAI already has a Codex remote control tool in the mobile app
  • Anthropic has already indicated that Dispatch is in beta – launch could be imminent

Anthropic could be testing a mobile companion feature for Claude Cowork, giving users remote access to the autonomous agent that handles long-running tasks on their computer.

Cowork will remain a desktop-only tool for carrying out longer tasks autonomously, like arranging and analyzing local files and generating documents, with the mobile addition only serving as a remote control to check in on progress.

Importantly, users may also be able to start tasks remotely from their phone, giving the mobile app near-identical functionality to the desktop app even though it doesn't actually run those tasks locally.

Claude Cowork could soon get a mobile controller

Screenshots of the upcoming feature were shared in an X post, implying that the remote functionality can be used both on the mobile app and on the web.

The company has not officially announced the rumored update, but it would make sense following OpenAI's introduction of a Codex controller within the ChatGPT mobile app in May.

Adding remote access would strengthen Claude Cowork's position as an always-on digital colleague, rather than just a conversational chatbot, allowing it to carry out tasks even when a human user may be otherwise occupied.

The Cowork web page does indicate that pairing a phone is now available in beta, but the finer details are unconfirmed – such as which accounts might get access first.

A separate support article also implies that Dispatch, the remote tool, is available in beta for Pro and Max plans, noting that an active internet connection on both devices is required and that the desktop must also be active.

All in all, the fragmented information hints at an imminent launch.

Categories: Technology

The dual approach: why AI is both an enabler and a responsibility in telecoms

TechRadar News - Fri, 06/26/2026 - 03:48

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

It may be a line borrowed from Spider-Man, but it captures the inflection point facing the telecoms industry today.

Telecom networks are the invisible infrastructure of modern life. Every message sent, video streamed and connected device depends on the vast digital highways that telecom operators build and maintain.

But the industry is now at a crossroads.

As UK telecoms intensify their journey toward Net Zero and with 6G on the horizon, AI is emerging as both a transformative enabler and a sustainability challenge.

A dual approach to AI

Telecoms has entered a new phase of AI-fueled growth. Data demand is surging, networks are becoming denser, and the next wave of innovation is pushing digital infrastructure to new limits.

With this growth comes a clear opportunity to lead on sustainability – but to seize it, the industry must unlock AI’s full potential responsibly. On one hand, AI enables smarter operations across the telecoms system, from network traffic optimization to supply chain analytics and carbon reporting. On the other, it brings rising energy and water demands driven by compute-intensive workloads.

A dual approach is therefore central to ensuring technological innovation supports the climate agenda. That means advancing both AI for sustainability – using AI to reduce emissions, optimize resources and accelerate progress towards Net Zero – and sustainable AI, ensuring that AI itself is designed, deployed and governed in a way that minimizes its environmental impact.

This is the defining tension of the next decade: scaling intelligence without scaling impact.

Pinpointing high-impact AI use cases

AI is already creating new possibilities for progress, but real value lies in prioritizing use cases that drive both business value and environmental benefit. Not every use case delivers equal value—and in a resource-constrained world, prioritization is critical.

First and foremost, energy optimization is an area of significant opportunity. Energy consumption accounts for up to 40% of telecoms’ network OPEX, and GSMA Intelligence indicates that operators could reduce OPEX by 4% for a 20% reduction in energy costs through power efficiencies.

Here, AI can assist with network load balancing to help distribute traffic evenly and reduce unnecessary energy consumption. Meanwhile, energy use in data centers can be reduced through intelligent workload distribution, predictive cooling and server optimization, all of which lower overall demand. In effect, AI enables networks to think more intelligently about how and when energy is used.

On the reporting side, AI is also playing an increasingly important role. It’s being used to support customer carbon reporting, particularly in analysing large datasets from multiple sources – estimating notoriously obscure Scope 3 emissions and helping customers better understand their impact.

For example, a network operator seeking to assess B2B customer emissions can integrate data from traffic records and device energy use, linking it with customer profiles to generate more accurate insights. What was once opaque is becoming measurable, and therefore manageable.

Establishing the foundations for sustainable AI

Without the right foundations, scaling AI risks putting the cart before the horse. Organizations must establish strong governance to ensure AI is used ethically and sustainably – and that requires close collaboration across sustainability, technology and operational teams.

A centralized governance body can accelerate decision-making, enforce accountability, and ensure AI initiatives are aligned with wider sustainability goals. It also provides the guardrails needed to scale AI with confidence.

This oversight should extend across the full AI lifecycle — from design and development to training and deployment — embedding environmental, social and ethical considerations from the outset, rather than treating them as an afterthought.

For instance, organizations can adopt a “decision tree” approach to evaluate whether AI is needed at all, and if so, what type is most appropriate, considering alternatives that may deliver similar outcomes with a lower environmental footprint.

Assessing and mitigating environmental impact

Understanding AI’s environmental footprint must be the starting point for responsible adoption. After all, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. In truth, only a minority of companies are actively monitoring and disclosing the environmental footprint of their AI models, and even fewer have set reduction targets. This indicates a broader need for lifecycle assessments and accountability in AI operations.

But this is a daunting task on a few levels. Many organizations lack transparency from AI providers regarding energy efficiency and carbon footprints, which is crucial for informed decision-making – and without clear, standardized metrics and greater visibility across the value chain, organizations are left making critical decisions in the dark. Addressing this gap will require closer collaboration across the ecosystem to establish common standards, improve transparency and embed sustainability into AI decision-making.

A responsibility that extends beyond telecoms

The impact of telecoms sustainability decisions goes far beyond the industry. Telecoms already account for at least 1.6% of global carbon emissions. Decisions made here influence energy demand, emissions reduction and resource efficiency across national economies. By acting decisively, telecoms can set a standard for other sectors, demonstrating that AI-powered growth and sustainability are not mutually exclusive.

But there is work to be done. As AI adoption accelerates across networks, customer operations and enterprise services, understanding and managing its energy impact will become increasingly important. Ultimately, the challenge facing telecoms is not simply to connect the world, but to do so responsibly.

We feature the best business phone systems.

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

Categories: Technology

Today's NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, June 26

CNET News - Thu, 06/25/2026 - 21:08
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for June 26.
Categories: Technology

Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for June 26, #641

CNET News - Thu, 06/25/2026 - 19:04
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for June 26, No. 641.
Categories: Technology

Here We Go Again: Microsoft Raises Xbox Prices Amid Memory Shortage

CNET News - Thu, 06/25/2026 - 17:34
This is the third price hike for Xbox consoles since May of last year.
Categories: Technology

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