Technology

• iRobot launches new flagship Roomba Max 705 Vac with AutoEmpty Dock
• It has slightly more suction than other Roombas but is otherwise much simpler
• It costs $899.99 / £699 and is available for preorder now

iRobot has unveiled a brand new flagship robot vacuum – the Roomba Max 705 Vac, alongside AutoEmpty dock. And while it looks like a very capable robovac, I can't help but feel rather underwhelmed, and a little confused, too.

It looks like the only area where this robovac improves on the rest of the range is that it has a higher maximum suction level. That's great – cleaning power is pretty key if your robovac is going to be useful, after all – but it's not the most exciting attribute for a flagship model.

What's more, there are several ways where the Max 705 Vac is lacking compared to the other Roombas. It's the only model not to offer mopping capabilities alongside the vacuuming, which also means the dock is significantly more basic than the AutoWash one that comes with the 405 and 505 models.

(Image credit: iRobot)

I'm not averse to a vacuum-only robot, and I don't believe in complicating for the sake of complicating, but it is confusing to have a flagship model with a feature list that's so much shorter than the models beneath it.

The reason I know it's a flagship model is because it has 'Max' in the name. The naming scheme for iRobot goes Roomba (good), Roomba Plus (better), Roomba Max (best).

To be fair, the pricing does reflect this relative simplicity. The Max 705 Vac costs $899.99 / £699, compared to $999.99 / £699 for the Roomba Plus 505 beneath it. That's significantly more affordable than most robovacs' top-of-the-range models – many of today's very best robot vacuums have list prices well into four figures.

(Image credit: iRobot)

Elsewhere, you're getting the brand's most advanced LiDAR navigation ('ClearView Pro') and object detection technology ('PrecisionVision AI'), two rubber rollers to effectively pull up hair and whisk it into the bin, an auto-empty dock capable of holding up to 75 days' worth of dust and dirt, and a slick design that includes textured sections to blend more seamlessly in with your home decor. All great features, but none unique to the Max 705 Vac.

It will automatically boost suction when it senses it's on carpet, which might be a unique feature, although the Plus 505 can "intelligently adapt for deep cleaning' which sounds like it could be the same thing.

This sucks

Aside from feeling underwhelmed by the new launch, I'm also frustrated to see that iRobot appears to have gone back on its plans to publish suction specs for its robovac line. Instead, it's insists on conveying its bots' cleaning powers comparative to the 600 Series. Not only does that make comparison with other brands' models impossible, but it's also not exactly a modern benchmark given the 600 launched over a decade ago.

Based on iRobot's specs, the 705 Vac offers "180x more power-lifting suction" than the ancient 600 Series, while the rest of the range merely offers 70x more. But without a figure in Pascals, I can't compare that to what other brands are offering with their robovacs.

(Image credit: iRobot) A late addition

The Roomba Max 705 Vac is an unexpected straggler following a major iRobot reboot last month. In mid-March, the brand scrapped almost its entire fleet of robovacs and replaced them with new models. The new Roomba features included overdue upgrades like the introduction of LiDAR for navigation, alongside more innovative features like a bot that squishes the dirt in its onboard bin so you don't have to make room for a bulky auto-empty dock.

The only model to survive the cull was the Roomba Max 10 Combo, which at that point was still rather new. I pointed out at the time that this was a shame, because that model hadn't been massively well received, and looked rather dated compared to its new stablemates.

It looks like the Max 705 vac is replacing that model. It seems like it'll be a better robovac, with basic features in line with the rest of the range, even if there's nothing especially new. The 705 is also less than half the price of the Max 10.

I'd assume that a Combo model is in the works and will be joining the range at some point, although that's purely speculation.

The Roomba Max 705 Vac Robot + AutoEmpty Dock is available for pre-order now, with the official launch due on 11 May 2025. Direct from iRobot it costs $899.99 / £699.

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• The senior game designer for the original The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion is impressed by Bethesda and Virtuos' remaster
• Bruce Nesmith thought the game was going to be a texture update and doesn't think calling it a "remaster" doesn't do it justice
• Nesmith would categorise the game as "Oblivion 2.0"

Bruce Nesmith, the senior game designer for the original The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, has shared his thoughts on Bethesda and Virtuos’ new remaster and doesn't think the term "actually does it justice".

In a recent interview with VideoGamer, Nesmith said that he spent years working on the original game and that "A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it", but revealed he hadn't heard about the remaster until the game leaked online ahead of its official announcement.

"I intimately knew every single scene that they were showing. And they looked amazing," he said.

The game has been rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 and features all-new character models, a new lighting system, environment improvements, and a rework of the game mechanics.

The enhancements are so significant that Nesmith doesn't think calling it a remaster is doing the game justice.

"I was assuming this was going to be a texture update," he explained. "I didn’t really think it was going to be the complete overhaul that they’ve announced it to be… I would not have batted an eye at that.

"But to completely redo the animations, the animation system, put in the Unreal Engine, change the leveling system, change the user interface. I mean, that’s, you’re touching every part of the game. That’s a staggering amount of remastering. It almost needs its own word, quite frankly. I’m not sure remaster actually does it justice.”

Bethesda shadow dropped The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered the day it was revealed, and the game quickly garnered over 190,000 concurrent players on Steam.

Seeing the reception to the 2006 remaster, Nesmith said the number one thing he feels is "pride".

"A game that I worked on has the longevity to still generate interest 20 years later and to be worth the effort—it sounds like considerable effort—and time that Bethesda put into remastering it," he said.

Since Nesmith thinks that the term "remaster" doesn't do the game justice, he thinks "The closest that could come [to categorizing it] is Oblivion 2.0."

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is now available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Game Pass for $49.99 / £49.99 and $59.99 / £59.99 for the Deluxe Edition.

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Have you ever watched a trailer and thought: "this is going to be the best or the worst thing I've ever seen"? If not, watch the trailer for Heads of State embedded below.

The movie, coming to Prime Video on July 2, stars John Cena as the US President and Idris Elba as the UK Prime Minister. And in this movie, they're action heroes.

You read that right. In Heads of State, two of the world's leaders are ass-kicking, wise-cracking, gun-toting action heroes.

I've watched the trailer a few times now and I honestly don't know if this is going to be absolute genius and become one of the best Prime Video movies or if everyone involved should be kept away from cameras for the rest of their lives.

Heads of State could be the strangest Prime Video movie yet

Here's the synopsis: "UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) and U.S. President Will Derringer (John Cena) have a not-so-friendly and very public rivalry that jeopardizes their countries’ 'special relationship.' But when they become the targets of a powerful and ruthless foreign adversary—who proves more than a match for the two leaders’ security forces—they are begrudgingly forced to rely on the only two people they can trust: each other."

That means teaming up with Priyanka Chopra Jonas's secret agent, going on the run and finding a way to thwart a conspiracy that threatens the entire world.

It's a strong cast: in addition to the three leads the film also stars Paddy Considine, Stephen Root, Carla Gugino, Jack Quaid and Sarah Niles. And its director, Ilya Naishuller, made the Bob Odenkirk-starring Nobody, which gave us John Wick meets Better Call Saul, which was a hoot.

Heads of State is clearly very silly. But if like me you loved the daft action movies of the 80s, this could be an absolute blast.

Heads of State will be on Prime Video, one of the best streaming services, from July 2, 2025.

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• Google is asking workers to come back to the office three days per week
• Different teams will have slightly different mandates
• Those unwilling or unable to adhere to the new policy will be asked to leave

Google is reportedly enforcing a new hybrid work model whereby employees are being asked to come to the office at least three days per week, and those who fail to comply could face consequences.

A CNBC report claims workers unwilling or unable to comply with the hybrid working policy will be offered voluntary exit packages.

However, it's not entirely black and white, because it looks like Google is not enforcing a company-wide mandate, and decisions could vary by team.

Google is heading back into the office

According to the reports, Google Technical Services workers must adopt the new hybrid working routine or accept the exit package. Employees from its People Operations (HR) team must return to the office three days per week if they live within 50 miles of an office, and remote-only workers could be ineligible for promotions unless they go hybrid.

For the AI Division, boss Sergey Brin has mandated in-office presence, adding that 60 hours per week is optimal for productivity.

It's not just renewed office working policies that are affecting Google staff, because the company has initiated numerous rounds of layoffs over the past couple of years, including redundancies in its HR and cloud divisions and further job losses in the Pixel and Android teams.

Despite efforts to cut costs, Google is still managing to perform well each quarter. In its final quarter of fiscal year 2024, it posted a 12% year-over-year increase in revenue. On February 5, CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company would "invest approximately $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025."

Google isn't the only company to be enforcing new return-to-office (RTO) mandates, with IBM asking its workers to follow a similar three-day routine just last week.

TechRadar Pro has asked Google to confirm the details of its newly enacted policy, but we did not receive an immediate response.

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• New usage limits up the amount of messages per week for o3 and o4-mini
• You get 100 messages a week for o3 and 300 a day for o4-mini
• You can see the date that your usage limits will reset

ChatGPT has updated its usage limits for Plus users, meaning you now get more time with its latest models like ChatGPT-o3 and ChatGPT o4-mini.

With a ChatGPT Plus, Team or Enterprise account you now have access to 100 messages a week with the ChatGPT-o3 model and a staggering 300 messages a day with the o4-mini model. You also get 100 messages a day with the programming-focused o4-mini-high.

OpenAI describe ChatGPT-o3 and ChatGPT o4-mini as their “smartest most capable models yet”, and emphasise that they contain “full tool access”, which means they can agentically access all of ChatGPT’s tools.

This tools include web search, analyzing files with Python, deep reasoning and what OpenAI calls “reasoning with images”, meaning it can include analyzing and even generating images as part of its reasoning process.

In our testing we’ve been most impressed by the speed of both new models.

The new usage limits are effectively a doubling of the old rate limit for the o3 and o4-mini models, and mean we can all enjoy more time using them, provided you are a Plus subscriber, which costs $20 a month (£16 / AU$30) a month.

(Image credit: Apple/OpenAI) How do I know how much I have left?

There is no way to determine how many messages you have left in your current week while using ChatGPT Plus, however, you can check the date that your weekly usage limit restarts at any time by highlighting the model in the model picker drop-down.

When you hit your limit you’ll no longer be able to select the model that you’ve maxed-out on in the model drop-down menu.

What's next for ChatGPT?

The next release from OpenAI will be o3-pro. In a message on the updated usage limits page OpenAI say “We expect to release OpenAI o3‑pro in a few weeks with full tool support. For now, Pro users can still access o1‑pro.”

While it won’t affect people using ChatGPT.com, the usage limits also apply to developers using the API, which has recently had image generation capabilities added.

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• Nvidia's stock woes may be coming to an end based on one reputable leaker's sources
• Multiple online retailers are reportedly receiving RTX 5000 series GPUs
• The RTX 5090 supposedly isn't among the new batch of GPUs

Nvidia's RTX 5000 series GPU launch has been one of its most controversial yet, with inflation, scalping, and low availability issues - and fortunately, the latter problem may finally see a shift in a positive direction soon.

According to Moore's Law Is Dead on YouTube (MLID), Nvidia is improving its supply of RTX 5000 series GPUs - notably the 70-series GPUs and the recent RTX 5060 Ti - based on information from multiple major online retailers. MLID also mentions some RTX 5080 GPUs included, but there's still no sign of significant stock relief for the RTX 5090.

It's a big potential change based on the launch of the flagship GPU, the RTX 5090, alongside the RTX 5080: both of Team Green's powerhouse Blackwell GPUs have had little to no availability since their launch, with most consumers left at the mercy of retailers selling partner cards with inflated prices (if any were in stock to begin with).

However, if this leak is legitimate, it could spell good news for those who are waiting for the Founders Edition options if those will be available again via Nvidia alongside partner cards being restocked; tariff uncertainty is still present across the board for all things tech (especially for partner cards), but consumers may have a better shot at obtaining the RTX 5000 series GPUs at launch price when buying directly from Nvidia itself.

Regardless, the problem of scalpers still remains - so even if Team Green has more Founders Edition cards, the only measure stopping scalpers is its 'limited' Verified Priority Access scheme.

(Image credit: Nvidia) This is another reminder of why the Verified Priority Access scheme should be permanent for Nvidia

Just to clarify, the leaks from MLID indicate that major online retailers are seeing an influx of RTX 5000 series GPUs, so there's no guarantee we will actually see significant restocks for Founders Edition cards from Nvidia. However, if this does happen, it reinforces the importance of the Verified Priority Access (VPA) scheme.

This gives consumers who have made an Nvidia account by a certain date (currently January 30) in the US, an opportunity to buy the Founders Edition cards at their launch price. It's a measure created to fend off scalpers, and while it doesn't completely eliminate the issue, it certainly makes life easier for genuine buyers.

The problem is that the VPA scheme is only available in the US and is seemingly only implemented during periods of low availability. As I've stated previously, I feel this should be a permanent scheme going forward; there's always going to be high demand and scalping for Nvidia's GPUs, regardless of controversies such as poor drivers and missing ROPs, especially for flagship GPUs and the RTX 5090 is a prime example.

It's not the same for online retailers, as each will have different policies regarding purchases - and I don't think inflated pricing will get better anytime soon on that end, unfortunately. Despite that, I think a combination of more Founders Edition stock and a permanent VPA scheme could do Team Green wonders.

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• A special B&O A9 speaker design, limited to 30 speakers
• A rock legend photographed by a photographic legend
• £3,995 (about $5,300 / AU$8,300)

Bang & Olufsen has just unveiled a very limited-edition version of its premium Beosound A9 speaker, featuring an iconic photo of David Bowie.

The design has been created in collaboration with acclaimed British music photographer Denis O'Regan, and it's going to be limited to just 30 speakers.

Each buyer will also get a 12-inch by 8-inch limited edition print signed and numbered by Regan alongside a printed box "sleeve" and a Certificate of Authenticity.

The go-to guy for photographing rock royalty

Denis O'Regan caught the music photography bug when he sneaked a camera into London's Hammersmith Odeon to capture Paul McCartney, and he became the most prolific photographer of Bowie.

He's shot everyone from AC/DC to ZZ Top, was an official photographer at Live Aid, and has been the official photographer for Bowie, Duran Duran, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen, Neil Diamond, Bee Gees, Pink Floyd and Thin Lizzy. He was also the first ever Artist in Residence at the Albert Hall.

Talking about the Bang & Olufsen collaboration, O'Regan said: “Throughout my career I've been privileged to hear fans and collectors describe one of my images as their 'favourite picture of Bowie'. Five years after crouching in the aisle at Newcastle's City Hall to capture this image, I set off on one of two stadium tours accompanying David around the world as his chosen photographer. This favourite of mine is the image I've selected as my chosen moment for the B&O A9 speaker cover.”

While you'll get that lovely signed print as part of the package, the fun here is really having that striking image on display on a large speaker that's already design to showcase its looks. It's bigger and more expensive than most of our picks of the best wireless speakers – but in this limited-edition version, it's especially hard to resist.

The Denis O’Regan Edition A9 Speaker will be available via west-contemporary-editions.com from Friday 25th April 2025 at 12:00 BST, with a price of £3,995 (roughly $5,300 / AU$8,300).

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Roku has just announced a bunch of new products, and we're delighted with the new mini-LED Roku Plus Series TVs, which bring that screen tech down to an unbelievably new low price – considering how much we liked the previous Roku Plus Series and the Roku Pro Series TV with mini-LED, we're excited for the value of these new models.

Roku also announced some new streaming sticks, and this is where things get, uh, sticky. There's nothing wrong with the sticks themselves, which replace the old Roku Express models in Roku's range – one delivers budget streaming with HD only, and one delivers 4K HDR for a little more money.

But it means that Roku's streaming stick lineup is now stupidly confusing if you're looking for a 4K option.

There are three products in Roku's stick range: the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, and the Roku Streaming Stick. Let me ask you a couple of questions about them…

You have a 4K TV, and you want a 4K streaming stick, obviously; which should you buy? The 4K model, of course. Well, except, the Plus also does 4K.

Okay, now you know this, here's a follow-up: Which is the best model in the range, with the most advanced features for 4K HDR viewing? Probably the Plus, right, since it does 4K, but it's Plus. It's more.

Wrong, the Streaming Stick 4K is the only one with Dolby Vision HDR, and is the higher-end model in the range.

This naming convention is so obviously confusing that the official Roku site actually refers to the Plus model as the Roku Streaming Stick Plus (4K) whenever it's mentioned in written text.

Here are the details on the new stick range (plus the Roku Ultra box, for context):

I don't blame Roku for having a more expensive model for Dolby Vision, because Dolby charges hardware makers a fee to include its products, which isn't the case for basic HDR10 or HDR10+.

But I don't really understand why you'd bother with the Streaming Stick Plus at all in this case. The Streaming Stick 4K has been out for a while now – could Roku not bring its price down by $5, so that we wouldn't really need the Plus at all, to keep it simple?

I have to assume that we're in a strange transitional stage of Roku's lineup. The Streaming Stick 4K has been around for a while, so I'm guessing it may be removed soon and there might be a new product coming – maybe something a little pricier than 4K model that splits the difference between the Plus and the $99 Roku Ultra.

Or maybe Roku will just remove the 4K model from the lineup eventually and say 'If you want Dolby, pay $99' – though if it does that, hopefully it'll actually release the Ultra in countries such as the UK…

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff/Future)

Roku is far from the first tech company to release a confusing range of devices – and this isn't even the first streaming stick range to have too many similar products in.

Amazon used to offer the Fire TV Stick Lite, Fire TV Stick HD, Fire TV Stick 4K, and Fire TV Stick 4K Max all at once (though it has since removed the Lite).

That always felt like more products than were really needed, and likely to cause confusion – except that Amazon's lineup has clarity in the product names. It's perfectly clear which sticks do 4K, and which is the best of the bunch.

Roku's range needs a little realignment – and I expect it might be coming later this year. In the meantime, just make sure you read the specs carefully before buying if you want to add one of its sticks to one of the best TVs…

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• The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are getting two major AI updates
• AI camera features are rolling out to countries in Europe
• Live translation tools are rolling out everywhere the glasses are available

Following the rollout of enhanced Meta AI features to the UK earlier this month, Meta has announced yet another update to its Ray-Ban smart glasses – and it's one that will bring them closer to being the ultimate tourist gadget.

That’s because two features are rolling out more widely: look and ask, and live translation.

Thanks to their cameras, your glasses (when prompted) can snap a picture and use that as context for a question you ask them, like “Hey Meta, what's the name of that flower?" or “Hey Meta, what can you tell me about this landmark?”

(Image credit: Meta)

This tool was available in the UK and US, but it’s now arriving in countries in Europe, including Italy, France, Spain, Norway and Germany – you can check out the full list of supported countries on Meta’s website.

On a recent trip to Italy I used my glasses to help me learn more about Pompeii and other historical sites as I travelled, though it could sometimes be a challenge to get the glasses to understand what landmark I was talking about because my pronunciation wasn’t stellar. I also couldn’t find out more about a landmark until I learnt what it was called, so that I could say its name to the glasses.

Being able to snap a picture instead and have the glasses recognize landmarks for me would have made the specs so much more useful as a tour guide, so I’m excited to give them a whirl on my next European holiday.

(Image credit: Meta) Say what?

The other tool everyone can get excited for is live translation, which is finally rolling out to all countries that support the glasses (so the US, UK, Australia, and those European countries getting look and ask).

Your smart specs will be able to translate between English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Best of all you won’t need a Wi-Fi connection, provided you’ve downloaded the necessary language pack.

What’s more, you don't need to worry about conversations being one-sided. You’ll hear the translation through the glasses, but the person you’re talking to can read what you’re saying in the Meta View app on your phone.

(Image credit: Meta)

Outside of face-to-face conversations I can see this tool being super handy for situations where you don’t have time to get your phone out, for example to help you understand public transport announcements.

Along with the glasses’ sign-translation abilities, these new features will make your specs even more of an essential travel companion – I certainly won't be leaving them at home the next time I take a vacation.

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• Nintendo has warned that it may not be able to meet Nintendo Switch 2 demand in Japan
• "approximately 2.2 million people" have applied to buy one there
• Pre-orders are currently live in the US and UK, though very hard to get

Nintendo has issued a warning that it may not be able to meet the huge demand for Nintendo Switch 2 units in Japan.

In a recent statement posted to X / Twitter that we have machine translated, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said that the company has "been procuring many material[s] and proceeding with production in advance" in order to deliver enough Nintendo Switch 2 consoles to customers.

Unfortunately, the company has been inundated with "approximately 2.2 million people in Japan alone" applying to purchase the console via the My Nintendo Store. This number "far exceeds" expectation and "the number of Nintendo Switch 2 consoles that can be delivered" on the June 5 launch day.

As a result, he states that "a significant number of customers" will not be offered the chance to buy one. Those affected will thankfully not need to apply to purchase again, though, as applications will "automatically carry over" to the next sale date.

"We deeply apologize for not being able to meet your expectations despite prior preparations," he continued. He also reassured fans that Nintendo is "currently working on further strengthening our production system."

Other retailers in the region will be opening Nintendo switch 2 pre-orders tomorrow, which could give shoppers another chance to buy if they missed out.

"We plan to continue producing and shipping a considerable number of Nintendo Switch 2 units in the future," he concludes. "We apologize for the delay in our ability to meet your expectations, and we appreciate your understanding."

Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are currently open at retailers in the US and UK, though demand seems similarly high. It's very tricky to get your hands on a console, though we do have seven Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order tips that might help.

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• A new report claims the iPhone 16 is gaining in popularity
• The iPhone 16 Pro, meanwhile, seems to be losing sales
• This all makes sense due to the iPhone 16’s great new features

The iPhone 16 is one of the best iPhones you can buy, and it looks like the data might agree, with this model apparently selling in phenomenal numbers. That’s according to a report published by CIRP (via 9to5Mac), at least, and it paints an interesting picture of Apple’s phone lineup, with the iPhone 16 Pro in particular seeming to miss out.

The iPhone 16 appears to have been the main winner among Apple’s phone offerings, making up roughly 20% of sales as of March 2025. Contrast that to March last year, when the iPhone 15 counted for about 14% of Apple’s iPhone sales.

Conversely, CIRP’s report claims that “The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max together accounted for 38% of iPhone sales in the quarter, down from the 45% share for the similarly positioned iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max one year ago.” Much of that change seems to be down to the iPhone 16 Pro, which accounted for 17% of sales this year – down from 22% in Q1 2024.

That suggests that consumers are opting for the more affordable iPhone 16, rather than stepping up to the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro. At the end of the day, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Increasingly attractive

(Image credit: Future)

I love my iPhone 16 Pro, and I’ve found it to be a massive step up from the iPhone 12 Pro I had before. Its combination of 120Hz display and excellent photographic capabilities mean it offers me something that the regular iPhone 16 can’t match.

But at the same time, I can see why people would want to skip the Pro model and opt for a more affordable alternative. The iPhone 16 came with some significant upgrades over its iPhone 15 predecessor, including improved Camera Control, a better A18 chip, an Action button, and more. None of these features were available to this iPhone tier before.

It’s likely that Apple gave the iPhone 16 a sizeable upgrade to help differentiate it from the iPhone 16e, which became the company’s 'budget' option when it launched in February 2025. Otherwise, there may not have been much to help separate the two models.

In the end, we have to take these figures with a pinch of salt, as they are not official sales numbers. But they certainly make sense, and I’m not surprised to see Apple fans snapping up the increasingly-attractive iPhone 16.

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• Security researchers found an unprotected Amazon S3 bucket
• It belongs to WorkComposer, an employee tracking app
• The bucket contained 21 million screenshots

A major time-tracking company has been leaking sensitive screenshots on the open internet, putting countless people and organizations at risk of identity theft, data breaches, wire fraud, scams, and more.

Cybersecurity researchers at Cybernews found an archive of “millions of real-time screenshots” generated by WorkComposer, which calls itself an “employee productivity monitoring tool”.

These screenshots show what the employee is working on at any given time, which could include sensitive communications and emails, login portals, passwords, intellectual property, proprietary data, and more.

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It uses zero-knowledge encryption and offers features like two-factor authentication, dark web monitoring, secure file storage, and breach alerts to protect against cyber threats.

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Millions of screenshots

Leaking these screenshots is a major privacy violation, and could spell trouble for the company, if data watchdogs and privacy organizations get involved.

Cybernews said that WorkComposer exposed more than 21 million images in an unsecured Amazon S3 bucket. The company claims to have more than 200,000 active users.

It could also spell trouble if it turns out that cybercriminals found the bucket in the past. At press time, there was no evidence that it did happen, and the company apparently locked the archive down in the meantime.

WorkComposer is basically a surveillance tool built primarily for remote workers, allowing bosses and managers to keep track of what their employees are doing. It logs hours, app use, but most importantly - it grabs screenshots every 20 seconds.

Undefended, or poorly protected databases are one of the most common causes of data leaks. Just this year, more than 2.8 billion records were leaked across the web, as businesses of different sizes and in different industries were found holding sensitive data in an unlocked cloud instance.

Security researchers are warning that many companies don’t truly understand the concept of “shared responsibility” when it comes to securing the cloud, and have urged organizations to secure their databases and monitor the logs for unauthorized entry.

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• 20th Century Studios has released the first trailer for Predator: Badlands
• The sci-fi action franchise's next movie is hiding some big secrets in plain sight
• Its teaser contains an Independence Day Easter egg and strong ties to the Alien franchise

Almost 20 years have passed since the last Alien vs Predator (AvP) movie landed in theaters.

But, based on the first trailer for Predator: Badlands, another installment in the much-maligned crossover film franchise – and an entry that could redeem that movie series in many people's eyes to boot – might be here sooner than anyone expected.

That's because Badlands, one of this year's new movies that'll arrive on November 7, drops some not-so-subtle hints that it's an AvP movie in all but name. Oh, and there's also an unexpected reference to another sci-fi film franchise that indicates that it may exist in the same universe as the Alien and Predator movie series.

But enough waffling! Watch Badlands' first teaser below and see if you can spot the aforementioned clues before I explain all.

As you'll have noticed, there's a very clear reference to the Alien movies in Badlands' first-look footage via Elle Fanning's character, who's called Thia.

For those who might have missed it, though: at the 0:25 mark, Thia's eyes roll back into her head to reveal a telling sign that's not actually human, but an android.

Thia is no ordinary robotic humanoid, either – as *ahem* eagle-eyed viewers noted a logo imprinted onto the back of her eyes indicating that she was created by the Weylan-Yutani Corporation. That's the sinister fictional megacorporation that exists in the Alien franchise, which prioritizes profits and experimentation on dangerous alien lifeforms over the lives of its employees.

Elle Fanning's Thia is a Weyland-Yutani synthetic android? Interesting... (Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

That's not the only reference to Weyland-Yutani in Badlands' teaser. It's hard to make out but, at the 0:50 mark, a smashed-up, orange-colored truck can be seen on the right side of the screen – and it's adorned with the Weyland-Yutani logo too.

Oh, and before I forget: scroll back to the very start of the teaser and, amid the other skulls that are hung on the wall of what's likely the Predator's dwelling, look closely at the skull sitting at the center of the collection. Look familiar? That's because it's the skull of one of the aliens in the Independence Day film franchise.

Neat, eh? Although, that now begs the question of whether those movies also exist in the same universe and the Alien and Predator films...

Why Predator: Badlands could secretly be the third entry in the Alien vs Predator movie series

Alien: Romulus was well received by fans and critics alike last August (Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Of course, those Weyland-Yutani Easter eggs could be nothing more than simple reminders that xenomorphs (the aliens in Alien) and the yautja (the actual name of the Predator species) exist in the same universe. However, wouldn't it be cooler if, at some point, Badlands performs a narrative bait and switch and turns into an AvP film?

Awful though the previous two AvP movies are, I certainly hope so – and that's down to the individuals who have revived the Alien and Predator series, two stalwart film franchises of the '80s and '90s.

Dan Trachtenburg, who directs Badlands, is also the filmmaker behind 2022's Predator prequel movie Prey. That flick, which is available on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally), is a film I labeled as "the best Predator movie since the 1987 original" in my Prey review.

With Trachtenburg also on directing duties for Badlands, I'm confident he'll deliver back-to-back brilliant entries as part of his wider Predator franchise reboot. Indeed, Prey and Badlands notwithstanding, another Predator film – an animated anthology flick called Predator: Killer of Killers – will also make its debut this year. It'll be available to stream at home from June 6.

Did you spot the Weyland-Yutani logo on this damaged vehicle? (Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

As for the Alien movies, filmmaker Fede Alvarez gave us that franchise's best installment since 1986's Aliens with last year's Alien: Romulus. With a sequel to that big-screen offering currently in development, the future looks similarly bright for the xenomorph and facehugger-starring sci-fi horror film series.

Okay, but what's all of this got to do with the possibility that Badlands is actually an AvP movie? The trailer's Weyland-Yutani nods aside, Alvarez has previously outlined what he'd like to see from a new AvP film.

Speaking to Collider in February, the Argentine said: "The way I would do it [a new AvP film], most likely, if it could be done this way… It’s harder to keep secrets online… The best AvP will be the one that you don’t know is AvP until the other guy shows up.

"You think you’re watching a Predator movie, and then they land in some place and there are creatures, and f*****g hell, it’s a Xenomorph. That would get me. 'F**k yeah!' You’d go crazy.

#PredatorBadlands arrives in theaters and IMAX November 7. pic.twitter.com/6LIzcYbg54April 23, 2025

"Or, vice versa," Alvarez continued. "You’re in an Alien movie, and then suddenly a mysterious creature is there, and you can hear that sound, and you see the cloak, and you go, 'Is that a f****g Predator?' And then turns out it is. That would be the way to do it, don’t you think? Once you put it in the title, it’s like, ‘Spoiler alert.'"

When pressed by Collider as to whether he'd ever team up with Trachtenburg to make such a film, Alvarez added: "I can’t speak for Dan. At some point, once there’s another Alien, and I know he’s working on a sequel to Prey, one day if we feel like, 'Yeah, that’s what we cannot wait to see, I think that’s a movie we could do."

Is all of that Alvarez's coded way of suggesting Badlands could be another AvP film? Probably not, but I live in hope that I'm wrong!

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• Nintendo has confirmed the Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube controller will work with some regular games
• However, there may be issues due to the controller's layout
• It also won't be compatible with the original Nintendo Switch

Nintendo has issued an update on the Switch 2's wireless GameCube controller, stating that it will be usable with games outside of the Nintendo Switch Online GameCube library.

However, players should expect to encounter issues or inconsistencies. In a statement to Nintendo Life, a Nintendo spokesperson said:

"The Nintendo GameCube controller is designed for use with the Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics collection of games and is an optional way to play those games.

"Since it doesn’t have all the buttons and features found in other controllers that can be used with the Nintendo Switch 2 system, there may be some issues when playing other games. The Nintendo GameCube controller can only be used on Nintendo Switch 2 and is not compatible with Nintendo Switch."

The Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube controller does have some notable additions to keep it more in line with the Joy-Con 2 and Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller. That includes Home, Capture and GameChat buttons, as well as a 'ZL' button at the top presumably to act as a bumper opposite the 'Z' button.

While most buttons do seem present and accounted for compared to other Switch 2 controllers, the GameCube's face button layout is certainly unorthodox and this may be where those aforementioned issues stem from.

It is a curious thing that the new GameCube controller won't be compatible with the original Nintendo Switch given that console got its own wired GameCube controller that launched alongside Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Hopefully, this new variant will eventually have control schemes built in for some Nintendo Switch 2 games. Potentially the upcoming Kirby Air Riders or a future Smash Bros. title. Fingers crossed..

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• Sony has deployed a new PS5 software update which adds two new features
• PlayStation’s 30th anniversary classic console designs have returned and now be accessed
• The PS5 now has a new Audio Focus feature to increase immersion

Sony has released a new PlayStation 5 software update that sees the return of its classic console designs.

The update rolls out today and, as detailed in a new PlayStation blog post, contains two new enhancements based on player feedback.

The first and most notable feature of the update is the return of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary PS5 UI designs, which honour the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PS4.

These retro console designs were limited time when they were first released, but Sony has decided to bring them back.

Players will be able to find the designs under a new feature called ‘Appearance’ under the Settings menu.

“Due to the overwhelmingly positive response from our community, we’re happy to bring back the look and feel of the four console designs for players to customize the home screen on PS5!” Sony aid.

(Image credit: Sony)

Then there’s the new PS5 Audio Focus feature, which is designed for increasing immersion through presets that “amplify soft sounds to meet your hearing preferences, ensuring a clearer audio experience when using headphones or headsets.”

These presets will make it easier for players to distinguish sounds like in-game character dialogue, subtle sound effects, and party voice chat, “for a more immersive gaming experience”.

PS5 users can find the new feature in the sound settings, or the control centre during gameplay, and can choose between four presets, each with three different levels, including Weak, Medium, and Strong. You can check out the presets below.

• Boost Low Pitch: Amplify low-frequency sounds like roaring engines and rumbling noises.
• Boost Voices: Amplify voice chats, character voices, and other middle-frequency sounds.
• Boost High Pitch: Amplify high-frequency sounds like footsteps and metallic noises.
• Boost Quiet Sounds: Amplify low-volume sounds in a wide range of frequencies.

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• "Verified on LinkedIn" feature is being expanded
• Other sites, such as Adobe's Content Authenticity and Behance can now display the same badge as well
• LinkedIn wants to help combat identity theft and online fraud

LinkedIn is expanding a feature designed to combat one of the biggest problems in online business - identity theft and authenticity challenges.

The site is taking its “Verified on LinkedIn” feature even further, extending the verification system beyond its platform.

External sites, such as Adobe’s Content Authenticity app and Behance, can now integrate LinkedIn verification as well, allowing creators to display the “Verified on LinkedIn” badge on their profiles, too.

Get Keeper Personal for just $1.67/month, Keeper Family for just $3.54/month, and Keeper Business for just $7/month

​Keeper is a cybersecurity platform primarily known for its password manager and digital vault, designed to help individuals, families, and businesses securely store and manage passwords, sensitive files, and other private data.

It uses zero-knowledge encryption and offers features like two-factor authentication, dark web monitoring, secure file storage, and breach alerts to protect against cyber threats.

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Host of new threats

Identity theft and social engineering are one of the biggest methods of cybercrime today.

Major criminal organizations, including state-sponsored groups such as North Korean actors Lazarus, often create fake accounts on LinkedIn and use them to target high-profile individuals such as CEOs, software developers, or government employees.

In fact, one of the biggest crypto thefts happened after Lazarus created a fake recruiter profile on LinkedIn and a fake job, and invited a blockchain developer for an interview. During the interview process, the developer was dropped a piece of malware, which enabled the theft of roughly $600 million in different tokens.

This attack campaign has been ongoing for months, with cybersecurity researchers dubbing it Operation DreamJob.

Other groups have followed suit, on both sides. Besides creating fake recruiter profiles and fake jobs, they would also create fake software developer personas, landing jobs at major companies and using privileged access to steal sensitive data.

“Verified on LinkedIn” was originally launched in April 2023, initially as a free verification system that allows users to confirm their identity, workplace, or education, using government-issued IDs, work email addresses, or third-party services such as CLEAR, or Microsoft Entra. LinkedIn users that verify their identities get a badge added to their profile page, showing other platform users that the person is authentic.

A year later, the company expanded this feature to include recruiter verification, as well, in an attempt to combat job-related scams. Verified recruiters receive a checkmark badge on their profiles, as well.

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• Windows 11 24H2 caused a plane to completely disappear from GTA: San Andreas
• A lengthy investigation determined it was a coding error in GTA, and not Microsoft’s fault
• The error in the plane’s Z axis positioning, which was finally exposed by the 24H2 update, effectively shot it into space

A two-decade-old game has produced a marked demonstration of just how strange the world of bugs can be, after Windows 11 24H2 appeared to break something in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – though I should note upfront that this wasn’t Microsoft’s fault in the end.

Neowin picked up on this affair which was explained at length – in very fine detail, in fact – by a developer called Silent (who’s responsible for SilentPatch, a project dedicated to fixing up old PC games, including GTA outings, so they work on modern systems).

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released way back in 2004, and the game has a seaplane called the Skimmer. What players of this GTA classic found was that after installing the 24H2 update for Windows 11, the Skimmer had suddenly vanished from San Andreas.

The connection between applying 24H2 and the seaplane’s disappearance from its usual spot down at the docks wasn’t immediately made, but the dots were connected eventually.

Then Silent stepped in to investigate and ended up diving down an incredibly deep programming rabbit hole to uncover how this happened.

As mentioned, the developer goes into way too much depth for the average person to care about, but to sum up, they found that even when they force-spawned the Skimmer plane in the game world, it immediately shot up miles into the sky.

The issue was eventually nailed down to the ‘bounding box’ for the vehicle – the invisible box defining the boundaries of the plane model – which had an incorrect calculation for the Z axis (height) in its configuration file.

For various reasons and intricacies that we needn’t go into, this error was not a problem with versions of Windows before the 24H2 spin rolled around, purely by luck I might add. Essentially, the game read the positioning values of the previous vehicle before the Skimmer (a van), and this worked okay (just about – even though it wasn’t quite correct).

But Windows 11 24H2 changed the behavior of the code of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, so it no longer read the values of that van – and with error now exposed, the plane effectively received a (literally) astronomical Z value. It wasn’t visible in the game any longer because it was shot up into space.

And so the mystery of the disappearing seaplane was solved – the Skimmer, in fact, was orbiting a distant galaxy somewhere far, far away from San Andreas. (I feel a spin-off mash-up game coming on).

(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Analysis: Too quick to pin the blame

This is a rather fascinating little episode that shows how tiny bugs can creep in, and by chance, go completely unnoticed for 21 years until a completely unrelated operating system update changes something that throws a wrench into the coding works.

It also serves to underline a couple of other points. Firstly, that there’s a complex nest of tweaks and wholesale changes under the hood of the 24H2 update, which comes built on a new underpinning platform. That platform is called Germanium, and it’s a pivotal change that was required for the Arm-based (Snapdragon) CPUs that were the engines of the very first Copilot+ PCs (which was why 24H2 was needed for those AI laptops to launch).

In my opinion, this is why we’ve seen more unexpected behavior and weird bugs with the 24H2 update than any other upgrade for Windows 11, due to all that work below the surface of the OS (which is capable of causing unintended side effects at times).

Furthermore, this affair highlights that some of these problems may not be Microsoft’s doing, and I’ve got to admit, I’m generally quick to pin the blame on the software company in that regard. My first thought when I started reading about this weird GTA bug was – ‘what a surprise, yet more collateral damage from 24H2’ – when in fact this isn’t Microsoft’s fault at all (but rather Rockstar’s coders).

That said, much of the flak being aimed at Microsoft for the bugginess of 24H2 is, of course, perfectly justified, and the sense still remains with me that this update – and the new Germanium platform which is its bedrock – was rather rushed out so that Copilot+ PCs could meet their target launch date of summer 2024. That, too, may be an unfair conclusion, but it’s a feeling I’ve been unable to shake since 24H2 arrived.

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