Technology

• Radeon AI Pro R9700 targets local AI workloads and multi-GPU setups
• The new workstation-class GPU shares its name with a 20 year old ATI card
• New GPU features 128 AI accelerators and 32GB GDDR6 RAM

At Computex 2025, AMD announced the Radeon AI Pro R9700, a workstation GPU aimed at local AI tasks and multi-GPU compute environments.

For those familiar with the history of graphics cards, the name might ring a bell. Over 20 years ago, the original Radeon 9700 Pro marked a turning point for ATI. It was one of the first GPUs to beat Nvidia convincingly in both performance and delivery, and its launch back in 2002 helped shift market dynamics.

Fast forward to today, and AMD, which acquired ATI for $5.4 billion in 2006, is reusing the 9700 name for a very different card. The AI Pro R9700 is not for gamers, but for developers and professionals working with large-scale AI models.

Tuned for AI

The Radeon AI Pro R9700 features 128 dedicated AI accelerators, 32GB of GDDR6 memory, and a PCIe Gen 5 interface. Power draw is rated at 300W.

AMD says it can hit 96 teraflops of FP16 performance and deliver 1531 TOPS for AI inference.

Unlike GPUs built for rendering or gaming, this one is tuned for local inference and training. AMD claims it can run models with up to 32 billion parameters without cloud offload.

In a system with four cards, that scales up to 123 billion. The AI Pro R9700 is optimized for multi-GPU configurations and workloads like LLM training, simulation, and AI-accelerated rendering.

It ships with ROCm support on Linux, with Windows support expected later. Availability is set for July 2025.

While the AI Pro R9700 was AMD’s headline release for professional AI workloads at Computex, the Ryzen Threadripper 9000 Series and RX 9060 XT GPU rounded out the line-up with options aimed at creators, enthusiasts, and gamers.

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• AMD has received quite a lot of flak for making an 8GB version of the RX 9060 XT
• A Team Red exec has argued that this VRAM loadout is fine for 1080p
• Some gamers remain unconvinced and also feel AMD has badly named this new pair of 8GB and 16GB GPUs

AMD has shot back at critics after coming under fire for producing a version of its newly revealed RX 9060 XT graphics card that has an 8GB loadout of video RAM (VRAM).

The RX 9060 XT was revealed earlier this week in both 16GB and 8GB versions. The latter is causing anger, as some argue it is not enough for modern PC gaming, and there are other worries here, too.

Michael Quesada, who runs a Spanish YouTube channel on the topic of PC gaming, aired an indignant post on X asking why AMD (and Nvidia) keep making GPUs with 8GB of VRAM, questioning how that’s justified in 2025.

VideoCardz noticed that Frank Azor, AMD’s head of consumer and gaming marketing, was drawn to reply, as you can see below.

Majority of gamers are still playing at 1080p and have no use for more than 8GB of memory. Most played games WW are mostly esports games. We wouldn't build it if there wasn't a market for it. If 8GB isn't right for you then there's 16GB. Same GPU, no compromise, just memory…May 22, 2025

Azor observes that most gamers are still running at 1080p resolution and, therefore, don’t need more than 8GB of VRAM. The AMD exec notes that the most popular games are esports titles, which are less demanding, and that Team Red wouldn’t make an 8GB graphics card if there wasn’t a demand for it.

Azor concludes: “If 8GB isn’t right for you then there’s 16GB. Same GPU, no compromise, just memory options.”

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)Analysis: No compromise, but plenty of cynicism

To be fair to Azor, there’s some truth to what the executive says here. Certainly, for a more casual level of gaming, as well as esports titles that are built for fluid frame rates in general, as that’s more important than graphical bells and whistles to competitive players, 8GB is likely enough.

As others point out, it’s not enough for all PC games, even at 1080p resolution. Although tweaking graphics details suitably and making some compromises, you can generally get by, albeit there are notable exceptions even at 1080p.

But despite the noise made by the ‘8GB just isn’t enough these days’ camp on social media – and it is a fair old racket, make no mistake – some of the negative feeling here is more about deceptive naming.

Rather than having the RX 9060 XT 8GB and RX 9060 XT 16GB, there should have been a clear naming delineation between these two variants. The most prevalent suggestion is that AMD should’ve called the 8GB spin the plain old RX 9060, dropping the XT suffix.

Why is making that naming distinction important? Because what can happen with both graphics cards being called the ‘RX 9060 XT’ is that system builders simply list that as the GPU in any given PC, with no accompanying memory details. Less informed consumers may not even be aware that there are two different variants of the RX 9060 XT.

They may have perused opinions or reviews of the 16GB flavor and assume that’s what they are getting in their shiny new PC, when in fact it has the somewhat inferior 8GB GPU.

PC builders may deliberately not make that clear, because the system is cheaper to produce with the RX 9060 XT 8GB, but they won’t drop the price to consider that. In other words, this is a knowledge trap for the unwary and a way for system makers to take advantage of them. And it’s an avenue AMD could have shut off with different names for the 8GB and 16GB cards.

AMD might argue that it intends to have an RX 9060 vanilla GPU in the future, so it couldn’t use that name, but surely it could’ve found some suitable way of denoting the difference. Such as calling the 16GB version the 9060 XTX (although that’s a suffix reserved for the flagship GPU, you get the idea).

There’s a level of unhappiness and cynicism around the naming here, in short, and we should note this applies to Nvidia as well as AMD (with Team Green’s xx60 Ti models that have both 8GB and 16GB versions in the same vein).

AMD does get some credit here for ensuring it hasn’t further hamstrung the RX 9060 XT for some gamers with older motherboards by halving the number of supported PCIe lanes. Still, I won’t go into that here, as it’s getting sidetracked really (and it’s something I’ve discussed elsewhere).

(Image credit: Getty Images / luza studios)

To summarize: 8GB should be okay for a lot of games at 1080p resolution, with some down-tuning of graphics details as appropriate – but it won’t work well for everything, and the level of future-proofing feels wonky indeed.

On top of that, be careful of prebuilt PCs that list an RX 9060 XT graphics card with no accompanying spec info – it’s almost certainly going to be the 8GB version, and you may be paying more for it than you should.

For those buying a standalone RX 9060 XT, it makes sense to pay the premium for the 16GB version. It’s worth doing so for future-proofing alone, and it promises to be an excellent graphics card for the money overall.

That said, this assumes the premium is roughly 15% extra as per the MRSPs and that demand for the 9060 XT 16GB doesn’t considerably inflate the price. If it does, then that muddles the value equation a lot more. Hopefully, stock won’t be a problem, though, if the rumors are right. It’s only if supply is thin that jacked-up prices start to rear their ugly heads.

If another rumor is correct, the 16GB board will be the RX 9060 XT model predominantly stocked at retailers, so that’ll be the one you mostly see if you’re on the hunt for an AMD GPU, anyway.

Although that also brings the suggestion that the 8GB flavor is being kept more to PC builders, which could fan the aforementioned flames of cynicism around this whole affair – assuming this is anything more than empty chatter.

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• Microsoft is digging its own grave with Windows 11, and it has to stop

• Valve's SteamOS 3.7 stable has official support for the Lenovo Legion Go S
• It also features limited support for other AMD-powered handhelds
• It's promised future support for other devices

Microsoft's Windows 11 has been present on most handheld gaming PCs, notably the Asus ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go. However, that may be on the verge of changing, with Valve's Linux operating system first making its way to a new handheld.

As reported by VideoCardz, Valve's SteamOS 3.7 stable has been released with full Lenovo Legion Go S support, along with other AMD-powered handheld gaming PCs. While solutions like preview drivers or beta builds have been available, this is the first time Valve has provided gamers with installation instructions (specifically for the Lenovo Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally).

Compatibility includes other AMD-powered handheld gaming PCs, but it's important to note that Valve has stated that only the Legion Go S (and, of course, the Steam Deck) will have official SteamOS support. However, it highlights that it's continually working on improved support for other handhelds.

Fortunately, gamers still have other options such as Bazzite, which is essentially a SteamOS clone with additional features like Handheld Daemon for greater handheld functionality; most importantly, it arguably has more support through updates for desktop PCs, laptops, and handhelds.

It could be a while before we see SteamOS at its full capacity on non-Steam Deck devices, so Bazzite, ChimeraOS, and other SteamOS or Linux distros ideal for handheld gaming are certainly ones to look towards in the meantime.

(Image credit: Future)Another reason for Microsoft to step it up for handhelds with Windows 11...

Besides the issues with anti-cheat games not running on Linux (specifically SteamOS), running Microsoft's Windows 11 on handheld gaming PCs has few benefits.

Even with tools like Armoury Crate on the Asus ROG Ally, Microsoft has yet to acknowledge and support portable devices. Further, with the run of game-breaking bugs from Windows 11 24H2, I was convinced to install Bazzite.

I must say, I'm glad I did, as the SteamOS user experience for handhelds is significantly better than Windows 11. It helped me further appreciate the sleep function on the Steam Deck, which is a pain to deal with on Windows, as games can crash completely upon waking up your device. It's not an issue now since it's possible with other handhelds using SteamOS via distros or Valve's SteamOS distribution.

There are plenty of reasons why Microsoft should step it up with better Windows 11 features for handhelds, but now is the best time to act. Once devices other than the Legion Go S and Steam Deck have greater SteamOS support, I suspect even more PC gamers will turn away from the popular operating system...

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• Bosgame M5 mini-PC features an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor
• Integrated Radeon 8060S Graphics, up to 128GB of RAM, dual PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs
• There's also a performance switch, but what it actually does is a mystery for now

A new mini PC featuring AMD’s high-end Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip has surfaced, but this one didn’t come from a major brand like HP, Dell, or Lenovo.

The Bosgame M5 AI Mini Desktop has quietly gone up for pre-order, priced at $1,699 (a saving of $1,000 off its usual MSRP of $2,700), and it's raising some interesting questions about AMD’s rollout strategy for its powerful Strix Halo processor line.

The compact M5 comes with integrated Radeon 8060S Graphics and includes support for up to 128GB of RAM, dual PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD slots, a USB 4.0 front port, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.4. A dual-fan cooling setup and three heat pipes aim to keep thermal performance under control.

Performance switch

As Notebookcheck observes, the M5 has already appeared in Geekbench results. The listing shows a single-core score of 2,852, which is in line with expectations, but a lower-than-average multicore score of 16,044. This likely points to early firmware or software issues, as the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 typically averages around 21,000 in multicore tests.

One curious detail about the M5 is the inclusion of a "performance switch" button, shown briefly in Bosgame's promotional material. It’s unclear what this toggle actually does. It might be linked to TDP profiles, fan curves, or some kind of AI workload optimization, but for now we have no idea.

The Bosgame M5 AI Mini Desktop includes dual USB4 Type-C ports, multiple USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 ports, full-sized HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 outputs for multi-monitor setups, and a 2.5Gbps RJ45 LAN port for stable wired networking.

A full-size SDXC card slot offers convenient media transfer for photographers and videographers, while dual audio jacks ensure flexible sound input and output.

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A win in Naples for Gli Azzurri will see it seal the title.

It's win or bust for Simone Inzaghi's men in the last game of the Italian season.

• Volvo will be one of the reference hardware platforms for Google's dev work
• Volvo cars will be the first to receive Google Gemini in the vehicle
• The Swedish company showcased an EX90 with Gemini at Google I/O

Volvo has announced that it will be a key player in Google’s delivery of Android Automotive updates, acting as one of the tech giant’s reference hardware platforms to speed up the introduction of new in-car features.

Showcasing the partnership at Google’s recent I/O 2025 event, the Swedish marque said that it will be among the first in the world to debut Gemini’s ‘conversational’ AI in its vehicle, highlighting what that could look like with an EX90 demonstration vehicle.

Volvo, alongside sister company Polestar, were among the first automakers to use an Android Automotive operating system, introducing the Google platform into the car and allowing for a more seamless, tablet-like infotainment experience.

Now, Volvo customers will be among the first in the world to be able to make use of Gemini, which harness the power of AI to offer a more conversational approach to the typical voice assistant.

Alongside being able to ask detailed questions about the vehicle (‘how do I change a tire?’ or ‘when is my next service due?’ are just a few examples), drivers will be able to easily navigate to locations based on conversational requests.

Navigating to a charging point that’s close to a highly-rated cafe will be as easy as posing that question, rather than having to make several clunky inputs into Google Maps.

Reducing driver distraction is arguably the key driver behind the technology, negating the temptation to search the web for suggestions when behind the wheel or interacting with a cumbersome touchscreen.

Volvo says that this kind of natural conversation can help reduce “your cognitive load so that you can stay focused on driving, reducing distractions for everyone onboard”.

Analysis: Gemini has the potential to revolutionize navigation

(Image credit: Google)

The announcement is great news for drivers, as it means Volvo – arguably the final word in automotive safety – will have an active input into the new connected experiences provided by Google.

A heavy use of Gemini AI will not only reduce the amount of distractions that modern automotive infotainment systems suffer from, but should also limit the amount of clunky voice inputs that are currently required to send a message or navigate to anything other than a very precise destination.

Particularly in the world of electric vehicles, where quickly navigating to nearby charging stations is often required on-the-fly, Gemini will be able to whittle these results down to the fastest outlets, those near public conveniences or even points with the lowest cost per kilowatt.

Plus, the ability to plug into Google’s ratings and reviews platform also means it will be easier to quickly locate and even book the best places to visit, while greater integration with G Drive, Calendars and more will hopefully make those hours on the road slightly more productive.

Above all else, all of these features will hopefully reduce the temptation for drivers to resort to picking up a smartphone in frustration, increasing safety on our roads.

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• Hospitality businesses are among the worst at maintaining good password health
• 123456789 and P@ssw0rd were among the top 20 most used
• Using better passwords and MFA is the best advice

A new study by NordPass has revealed just how widespread weak and predictable passwords can be, particularly within the hospitality industry.

According to the research, hotels, restaurants and other similar businesses are failing to secure critical systems like reservation platforms, POS systems and even staff accounts by opting for weak passwords that could put guest data and business operations at risk of cyberattacks.

NordPass also realized that many businesses are reusing similar or outdated passwords across systems, meaning that if a hacker can gain access to one platform, they may be able to move laterally within the business.

Hospitality businesses are really rubbish at passwords

Five password categories were highlighted as common options for businesses in this industry, including simple numeric sequences (123456789), general terms (Reservattions2021!), brand-related terms (Ramada@123), easy-to-guess patterns (P@ssw0rd) and developer or role-related terms (developer2). The five examples given aren't simply examples – they appear in NordPass's top 20 most commonly used passwords in hospitality.

"In hotels and restaurants, guests expect great service – not for their personal data to be on the menu," Head of Business Product Karolis Arbaciauskas commented. "The presence of multiple 'reservations' variants and brand-related terms suggests that many businesses still lack clear password hygiene policies," the notice reads.

The company, known for its password manager, shared four pieces of advice, beginning with the most obvious – to avoid predictable passwords that can be easily guessed or extracted via social engineering, which continues to be the most common method of entry for attackers.

Businesses should also implement multi-factor authentication for further protection, store their credentials in password managers, and build a security-aware culture with frequent and comprehensive training.

NordPass has three separate business-focused plans – Teams, Business and Enterprise – which offer features like SSO, secure sharing and compliance features.

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• Solidigm’s monster 122.88TB D5-P5336 SSD is now officially available
• It's designed to meet demands of modern hyperscale data infrastructure
• Initial estimates suggested $14,000, but you can order it for "just" $12,399

Originally announced in November 2024, the 122.88TB model of Solidigm’s D5-P5336 SSD has officially gone on sale.

If you’ve ever wondered how much one of these giant-capacity SSDs might set you back, the answer is: maybe not quite as much as you’d expect, as although early estimates placed its price close to $14,000, but you can actually pick up the drive from Tech-America for a much more affordable $12,399.

Obviously, this isn’t a drive for your typical PC rig - it uses a PCIe 4.0 interface and comes in U.2 (available now) and E1.L (expected later this year) form factors. It’s aimed at enterprise storage environments handling large-scale AI, machine learning, and data-intensive workloads.

Longer lasting QLC

The drive is built with 192-layer QLC NAND. With endurance rated at 0.60 drive writes per day and a total of 134.3 petabytes written over five years, the 122.88TB model is designed to last longer than earlier QLC offerings.

Solidigm, a US-based subsidiary of SK Hynix, reportedly tested the drive under extreme conditions. Running 32KB random writes at full load, the drive operated continuously for five years and retained around 5 percent of its life.

Performance claims include up to 930,000 IOPS for 4K random reads and 7.4GBps for sequential reads.

Solidigm markets its large SSD as a solution to space and power constraints in data centers, claiming that replacing traditional hybrid systems with its all-QLC drives could reduce rack usage from nine to one and cut power consumption by around 90 percent.

The drive joins other high-capacity SSDs announced in 2024, including models from Phison, Samsung, and Western Digital. Phison’s SSD supports PCIe Gen5 and offers faster peak throughput, though the D5-P5336 delivers a higher endurance rating and greater storage density.

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• Kioxia CM9 Series SSDs use 8th gen BiCS FLASH for enterprise performance
• Faster NAND speeds and power efficiency support AI and data centers
• Offers 61.44TB max, dual-port design, and massive write improvements

Kioxia has announced its CM9 Series PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs, marking the first enterprise drives built using its 8th generation BiCS FLASH 3D TLC memory.

With PCIe 5.0 and NVMe 2.0 support, the CM9 SSDs are designed to meet modern standards for data center storage by offering high-efficiency storage capable of supporting AI, machine learning, and high-performance computing.

These new SSDs feature CMOS directly bonded to array (CBA) architecture, an update designed to improve performance, power efficiency, and memory density. Kioxia’s use of CBA-based flash architecture promises faster NAND interface speeds and lower latency, which helps the drives deliver quicker data access and improved power efficiency.

Top-tier bit density

Compared to the previous CM7 series, the CM9 line shows increases of about 65% in random write speeds, 55% in random read, and 95% in sequential write speeds.

The CM9 SSDs, currently sampling to select customers, are built to handle read-intensive and mixed-use workloads in enterprise data centers and offer capacities of up to 61.44TB in 2.5-inch form and 30.72TB in E3.S configurations.

The drives are compatible with both the NVMe-MI 1.2c and OCP Datacenter NVMe SSD 2.5 specifications, and support dual-port configurations, making them suitable for enterprise environments where reliability and continuous access are critical.

Kioxia, which recently helped Linus Tech Tips smash the Pi calculation world record, says gains in power efficiency include roughly 55% better sequential read and 75% better sequential write performance per watt.

Although it’s early in the lifecycle of the CM9 Series, the specs and performance numbers suggest the company is aiming to strengthen its position in high-performance enterprise storage.

Axel Stoermann, Vice President and CTO for Embedded Memory and SSD, Kioxia Europe GmbH, said, “Alongside processing power and energy efficiency, memory is fundamental to enable AI, machine learning, and high-performance computing applications. The CM9 Series powered by our BiCS FLASH generation 8, is designed to address these storage demands, providing top-tier bit density, rapid data transfer, and outstanding power efficiency, all of which contribute to the superior performance of our SSDs."

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• Adata teases Project Titan SSD with possible 8K video output
• Early signs suggest Titan may combine fast storage and monitor support
• Titan points to future hybrid devices with both speed and display capabilities

Memory and storage maker Adata is setting its sights on building what could be among the fastest SSDs to date.

Under the banner of its new enterprise brand Trusta, the company is teasing a concept called Project Titan.

Although very few details are available, what we've seen suggests this drive will not only push speed boundaries but also feature a DisplayPort output, hinting at possible direct 8K monitor support, an unusual move for a storage device.

Cross-functional potential

The SSD is part of Adata’s wider showcase at Computex 2025, where it's focusing on products for AI, gaming, and edge computing.

Project Titan is featured alongside other Thunderbolt 5 external drives, some already capable of reaching up to 6,000MB/s transfer speeds.

What sets Titan apart is its potential for cross-functional use, possibly allowing creators to transfer large files at high speed while also outputting video directly to a monitor. That could mean less reliance on multiple devices and a more streamlined workflow for professionals.

Project Titan’s inclusion in the mobile storage lineup signals that Adata sees a shift happening in how people interact with high-speed storage. If the video output function is fully realized, it might pave the way for a new category of hybrid storage-visual devices.

While the technical specs remain under wraps, the branding and placement of Titan at the front of Adata’s product range hint at ambitious performance goals, likely aiming to top 10,000MB/s read/write rates seen in current Gen5 drives.

Adata isn’t revealing much about Titan just yet. Still, its positioning among other high-performance SSDs and its project name (which could well change) suggest it's intended to be a flagship product for the company.

This isn't the first Project Titan in the tech world. The name was previously used for Apple’s decade-long electric vehicle effort, which was ultimately scrapped, and for a Google project involving solar-powered drones designed to fly base stations over remote areas of the planet.

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• Amazon is aiming to introduce some Prime Video shows to new audiences
• The Rings of Power and Citadel could air on terrestrial channels outside of the US
• The aforementioned pair are two of the most expensive Amazon TV Originals ever made

Two of the most expensively assembled Amazon TV shows ever created could be available to watch on platforms other than Prime Video.

According to Amazon MGM Studios Distribution chief Chris Ottinger (as quoted by Variety), viewers may soon see some of the studio's first-party TV titles on another service.

Indeed, programs like The Rings of Power and Citadel, which are believed to be among the costliest Prime Video projects, might make their way onto terrestrial channels in non-US territories.

Per Variety's report, Amazon is already shopping the aforementioned duo around. Indeed, the distribution arm of its entertainment division is said to already be in talks with UK broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV, German networks RTL and ZDF, and Italy's Mediaset.

If any of the above parties decide to beam Citadel and Amazon's Lord of the Rings prequel series into people's homes in their respective nations, though, they won't come cheap.

Citadel season 1 crashed and burned following its April 2023 premiere (Image credit: Prime Video)

Speaking about The Rings of Power specifically, Ottinger told Variety: "We would want premium pricing because it’s a premium product.

"Season 1 was the biggest TV series premiere in the history of Prime Video and season 2 was the most-watched returning season ever on Prime Video at the time. Ultimately, it depends on the partner and where they plan to place it. If someone wants it for Thursday at 8 p.m. – a prime slot – I expect top dollar."

It's unclear how much money Prime Video is seeking to syndicate – a fancy industry term for the distribution of movies and shows – its first-party titles.

Nevertheless, Ottinger is confident this is the right strategy for Amazon to take. That's based on the success that its streaming rivals, such as Netflix, have enjoyed, including the sizeable bump in viewership and subscribers that Netflix secured upon licensing the Meghan Markle-starring Suits in 2023. With that in mind, it's an approach that Prime Video hopes to replicate by offering out its Movie and TV Originals to others.

"We brought premium library titles to market to test their performance on Prime Video while they also aired on third-party platforms," Ottinger added.

"One of the goals was to see if they’d benefit from a Netflix-style boost or if they’d end up cannibalizing our own viewership. The effect we saw was neutral to positive for Prime Video."

Amazon wants more eyes on (and monetary compensation for) some of its most expensive TV shows (Image credit: Prime Video)

Will Amazon shop around less expensive films and TV series in the future as well? That remains to be seen. The company's entertainment division has plans to offer two other shows – Countdown and Butterfly – to third-party channels. However, they'll only be available after an 18-month exclusivity period on Prime Video.

Nobody knows how costly this pair were to make, either, so it's hard to discern if Amazon needs to make its money back on those two like it does with The Rings of Power and Citadel.

The Rings of Power season 3 is currently in development and, once it debuts on one of the world's best streaming services, it'll be over halfway through its five-season run. Well, as long as one of the best Prime Video shows isn't canceled ahead of time.

Meanwhile, the future of Prime Video's spy-thriller franchise Citadel is less certain. In April, Amazon canceled second installments of Citadel's two spin-offs. And, while work is ongoing on the main series' sophomore outing, Amazon's acquisition of the James Bond franchise in February might have unofficially sounded the death knell for the Russo brothers-produced Prime Video Original.

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Designed to imitate the functions of a half-frame film camera, the tiny point-and-shoot digicam offers an enjoyably different shooting experience. However, its price is less enjoyable.

• Hundreds of thousands of phishing emails are anime-themed
• The victims are mostly Gen Z'ers
• Anime has never been this popular

Hackers are increasingly disguising malware as anime shows, taking advantage of the rising popularity of the Japanese animation format.

This is according to cybersecurity researchers Kaspersky, who analyzed phishing attacks occurring between Q2 2024 and Q1 2025, and found more than 250,000 being anime-themed.

Anime is a style of animated entertainment, first made in Japan. It spans TV series, films, and other adjacent formats. Kaspersky claims the format has never been as popular as it is today, among the Gen Z’ers (those born roughly in the early 2000’s).

Exclusive access to... malware

Apparently, two-thirds of the generation (65%) regularly watch anime, which has never been the case before. Not only that, but they also “connect to the characters,” the researcher said, and become “emotionally invested” in the shows.

That makes them quite susceptible to anime-themed phishing. Naruto seems to be the number one choice among threat actors, with roughly 114,000 attempted attacks. Demon Slayer was second with 44,000, followed by Attack on Titan, One Piece, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

The criminals are usually promising “exclusive episodes”, “leaked scenes”, or “premium access”, in order to get the victims to click on links, download malware, or share sensitive information.

While anime most certainly works well, it’s not the only thing hackers are using to target Gen Z’ers. Shrek, Stranger Things, Twilight, Inside Out, and Deadpool & Wolverine, are all popular choices, accounting for more than 43,000 attack attempts. There was a notable spike in early 2025, too, coinciding with the latest release of the Shrek trailer.

As usual, Kaspersky is warning everyone that things sounding too good to be true - usually end up being just that. Those interested in watching the latest shows should sign up for well-established, reputable streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+, and not resort to pirated or otherwise questionable sources.

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• Elden Ring is getting a movie adaptation, produced by A24
• Alex Garland is set to direct, but no plot or casting details have been confirmed
• TechRadar Gaming's Rhys Wood said: "I’m not exactly expecting a masterpiece"

Elden Ring was a huge success, receiving a perfect five-star review from TechRadar Gaming, as well as other outlets. Given its popularity, it's now headed to the big screen with director Alex Garland at the helm.

It appears Garland isn't resting on his laurels one bit. He's just written the hugely anticipated horror follow up 28 Years Later alongside Danny Boyle, while his recent A24 movie Civil War is among our best HBO Max movies, and his latest movie Warfare only just left theaters.

Now, he's got his eyes on the fantasy roleplaying game Elden Ring, collaborating with A24 once again. We don't know anything about Garland's direction or storyline just yet, so it's still early days.

Initial thoughts on the Elden Ring adaptation

(Image credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment)

It's natural to feel some level of apprehension when any game is adapted for the screen. We've seen mixed results, ranging from HBO's stunning The Last of Us TV series down to the abysmal Eli Roth Borderlands movie, where I wrote that "the era of good video game adaptations is officially over".

Perhaps I was being dramatic about that, but it's endlessly frustrating when some of our beloved video games are adapted so poorly.

One of the biggest concerns about the A24 adaptation is the sheer size of Elden Ring. Its open-world universe is huge, and while players can comfortably clock hundreds of hours on a video game, movies need to condense things considerably.

This was part of my concern when Prime Video adapted Fallout, but thankfully, the creative team there managed to bring the Wasteland to life very well indeed, so all hope is not lost.

Speaking about the Elden Ring movie, TechRadar Gaming's Rhys Wood said: "You can make a solid argument that Elden Ring is the crowning achievement of developer FromSoftware’s back catalog.

"But in all honesty, I can’t help but think translating the open-world action RPG to the silver screen is a fool’s errand. Even with a director as accomplished as Alex Garland attached to the project.

"Elden Ring, the game, is made special by its encouragement of player expression. From how players like to build their characters, to the order of discoveries they’ll make on that first playthrough, that’s something a linear fantasy movie simply isn’t going to be able to capture.

"I’ve no doubt that the Elden Ring movie will be a polished and well-made project with Garland at the helm, so I’ll keep an open mind for now, but I’m not exactly expecting a masterpiece."

Right now, the TechRadar team at large remains on the fence about Elden Ring's movie treatment, but perhaps we'll be proven wrong. Garland's history of knotty, weird movies could certainly suit the material well, but that won't help if it turns out to just be too unsuited to a movie runtime. We'll just have to wait patiently for more updates.

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• Three in four developers see AI integration as a pain point when building apps
• GenAI and agentic AI is freeing up more time for creative tasks
• It's also democratizing app development to new skill sets

Integrating AI into applications as a significant or moderate pain point.

However, the strong momentum for AI continues, with CEOs especially interested in agentic AI and many businesses still exploring their generative AI strategies.

According to Gartner research, the AI application development platforms market could be worth $5.2 billion – a figure that's only expected to rise.

Engineers are fed up with integrating AI into apps

Gartner VP Analyst Jim Scheibmeir said: "Even with business leaders focusing more on this technology and despite the growing hype, execution is not easy."

On the flip side, artificial intelligence is starting to become more useful in the application development process, with AI agents allowing developers to focus on complex and creative elements instead of having to handle repetitive workloads.

AI is also democratizing app development, which Gartner sees as a positive thing. Traditionally, the industry has been dominated by those proficient in the STEM fields, however team members with a focus on design, psychology and the arts can offer new perspectives and approaches.

By 2028, 40% of software team members could come from "nontraditional software engineering or technical backgrounds," or double the number that we see today, and that's thanks to advancements in generative AI.

However, AI is best seen as a human aid and not a replacement, therefore hiring for strong foundational skills like logic building and algorithm development remains essential.

"The future will be dominated by composable or fusion product teams that consist of software engineers, UX designers, product managers and even data scientists coming from both technical and nontechnical educational backgrounds," Gartner Principal Analyst Nitish Tyagi added.

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It's hard to believe that almost seven weeks have passed since The Last of Us season 2 made its debut. But, with its finale set to be released very soon, it's nearly time to bid farewell to the dystopian survival drama once more.

So, when will the seventh chapter of The Last of Us' latest season be with us? Below, I'll tell you when the hugely popular HBO TV Original's next entry will come out. I'll also reveal where you can stream it in the nations with the biggest audiences.

What time can I watch The Last of Us season 2 finale?

Depending on where you live, The Last of Us TV show's forthcoming episode will arrive on different dates and at different times.

Here's when you can stream it in the US, UK, and Australia, and some other nations (NB: if your country isn't listed below, you can use the following launch times to work out when you can watch it):

• US – Sunday, May 25 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Sunday, May 25 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Brazil – Sunday, May 25 at 10pm BRT
• UK – Monday, May 26 at 2am BST
• India – Monday, May 26 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Monday, May 26 at 9am SGT
• Japan – Monday, May 26 at 10am JST
• Australia – Monday, May 26 at 11am AEST
• New Zealand – Monday, May 26 at 1pm NZST

Where can I watch The Last of Us season 2's final episode?

If I ever were to lose you… #TheLastOfUs pic.twitter.com/1lgtQ2hxDsMay 20, 2025

In some cases, one of the best Max shows is unsurprisingly going to be released on Max.

However, one of the world's best streaming services isn't available worldwide. If you live in a region where you can't access the soon-to-be rechristened HBO Max, fear not, because HBO's live-action adaptation of Naughty Dog's hugely successful video game franchise is available on a variety of other platforms.

Read on to find out where you can stream it:

• US – HBO and Max
• UK – Sky and Now TV
• Australia – Max and Foxtel
• Canada – Crave
• Brazil – Max
• India – JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar
• Singapore – Max
• Japan – U-Next and Max
• New Zealand – Neon

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• Shopify announced 150+ changes to its platform
• Many of the changes are AI-powered
• You can now use AI to generate site themes and edit blocks

Shopify, one of the best website builders, has just announced the Summer ‘25 Edition, a collection of major, minor, and mid-sized upgrades across its platform. The company promises easier and more efficient operations, improved shopping experiences, and more store customization as a result.

With the launch of Horizons, Shopify's new design foundation, themes take center stage. This includes the addition of 10 new store templates and an AI-powered block editor to help make them your own. Alternatively, you can use the new AI store theme builder to create a theme from a simple description of your brand - although you can only generate up to 3 personalized themes for free.

Shopify has added 10 new, free templates to its library. (Image credit: Shopify)

The ecommerce platform's assistant, Sidekick, has seen a significant update to offer enhanced reasoning abilities. According to Shopify, users will be able to ask things like “Why did sales decline last month?” and get thorough analyses with data from inventory levels, marketing campaigns, and seasonal trends.

Sidekick now also supports 20 languages, can be voice-controlled, and can be used to generate images.

'Multiplier of human ambition'

Other updates include the launch of AI shopping agents (connecting products to conversational platforms such as Perplexity), Shopify checkout in Roblox (allowing your customers to checkout physical products in the digital world of Roblox), and the Shopify Knowledge Base App, which automatically generates AI-readable FAQs based on the store's policies and settings.

Shopify unlocks a new sales channel with its Roblox integration. (Image credit: Shopify)

Shopify has also introduced Storefront MCP, a feature that allows developers to build AI agents that can make product recommendations based on a shopper’s intent. They can answer questions, create carts, and guide shoppers to the checkout.

“At Shopify, we believe AI is a great multiplier of human ambition, amplifying what's possible when entrepreneurs dream big,” the company said in its blog post. “That’s why we’re weaving powerful and intuitive AI tools into every part of our platform, so that building your business feels as natural as chatting about your dreams over coffee.”

As part of Shopify's bi-annual updates, there are more than 150 changes to the platform. So, if you’re a Shopify user, we recommend reading through the whole thing here to discover how the updates can help you.

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• Shopify is hiring ChatGPT as your personal shopper, according to a new report
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The president is putting pressure on the world's biggest tech company to move manufacturing stateside.