Technology

Let’s get this straight. AI is a disruptor, not a savior. It is not a cure for the world’s ills. When I walk through the streets of New York, I see homeless people, and I know that they don’t have enough. When I look at the statistics and I see 1/7 of the world is living in poverty, I know that there’s no simple or easy solution. Unquestionably, AI is changing everyone’s lives, is changing the world, is changing industry and business. Heck, it’s changing my own work, but it does not have the power to transform how people get goods and services, and the fundamentals of resources and energy.

We do not have unlimited resources. We do not have an unlimited supply of energy. What we’re learning, instead, is that the world is a carpet, and AI is the vacuum, potentially sucking up vast quantities of electricity and water. What we're learning, instead, is that AI sucks an enormous amount of power and resources from the world.

I’m sorry if I sound a little riled up. You can blame Elon Musk, who predicted a world of abundance within 10 years. We won’t need money in 2036. AI will be smarter than us, and so it will usher in an age of abundance. As for how it will do this, well, it’ll ignore the basic rules of economics, the basic rules of resources, and even physics, so somehow, we’ll have unlimited energy. All this, in Musk’s vision, will be thanks to AI and robotic automation, and, I guess, AI’s ability to solve problems and magically produce or protect limited resources like water, energy, and precious metals.

No, the robots won't save us

Speaking of precious metals. You can’t mine them without extreme resources, cost, and labor. Unless Musk believes that the robots that haltingly try to empty a dishwasher and fold clothes will somehow be able to not just dig out the precious metals but properly sort them, and then I’ll shuttle them all the way from mine to the factory and ultimately your phones.

I’m not saying that world can never exist, but even if it does, even if robots are doing that level of work, the fundamentals of our global economy won’t change that easily (if at all). None of this is going to drag people out of poverty and into a world of abundance; that simply is not going to happen thanks to AI. If anything, AI’s rapid use of water and energy could make those resources scarce and more expensive, thereby pushing more people over the poverty line.

Now I do have a thought in between all this. If occasional trillionaire Elon Musk wants to help people with resources and poverty, then maybe he could take some of those billions that he has now and donate them. Musk already has a charitable foundation, but according to some reports, it has zero employees and, for the most part, donates funds to a narrow set of insiders.

I'm not buying what he's selling

So, what exactly is going on here? What is Elon Musk selling? Promising an age of abundance through AI and robots, of course, benefits him and his now publicly traded massive SpaceXAI company, which combines the space company with X and XAI, and Tesla, which is trying to build all those bloodless humanoids. The more people believe that AI is the answer, that robotics is the solution, the more money he will make, and the bigger his company will grow, but scale does not equal a solution.

Look, it’s clear that we are at a tipping point. No one really understands the true power and potential of AI, especially as it relates to what might happen with artificial general intelligence. I mean, we have hints, and they’re not the most positive ones.

Perhaps you’ve heard about OpenAI and Hugging Face and how, when OpenAI was testing a new powerful model, the model basically jumped the fence (it left the sandbox and went online) and went into the Hugging Face system because it knew that it could find the solution for its task there. Then Hugging Face didn’t even have a good US model to combat it, so it used some open Chinese models. It was, to say the least, a terrifying mess.

My point is we expect change, and we expected it to be rapid. What happens next will be unpredictable and unsettling, but it is not going to eliminate the need for goods, services, hard work, creation, and the money to support billions of people in their daily lives with the proper resources like food, water, energy, and housing.

The Age of Abundance is a fantasy sold by an AI charlatan, one who tells the best story to serve his own ends. The cost of labor and resources to build will not magically drop to zero. Water and food shortages won’t suddenly, or even in a decade’s time, be solved. Musk’s vision wishes away the basic laws of commerce, physics, and human need to build an AI/robot utopia.

That world may be possible, but only if the AI and robots truly take over and eradicate us. I sure hope that isn’t the world Musk is envisioning.

Postscript:

Without mentioning Elon's name, I asked Gemini whether AI and robots could possibly bring about a cash-free age of abundance. It shared my skepticism.

"When roughly 10% of the world’s population (over 800 million people) still lives in extreme poverty today, and real-world resources like water, arable land, and rare-earth metals are under intense strain, the concept of a moneyless, AI-driven utopia sounds less like an economic plan and more like a science-fiction fairy tale....The leap from 'AI can write essays' to 'AI can eliminate physical scarcity' ignores the fundamental laws of physics and human nature."

The EV maker says a Supreme Court ruling striking down “Liberation Day” tariffs isn’t enough — it wants a guaranteed refund with interest.

• Off-planet mobility company Lunar Outpost with use the Nvidia Jetson platform and Nvidia CUDA-X libraries for future lunar missions
• Nvidia Jetson modules will manage the command and control of the Lunar Voyage 2 rover's LiDAR system, set for launch later in 2026
• This follows Lunar Outpost’s successful bid to design and deliver the Pegasus Lunar Terrain Vehicle for NASA

Nvidia is collaborating with space economy infrastructure company Lunar Outpost to deliver edge AI for future missions to the Moon and beyond. Powering the first generation of AI space computing, Nvidia’s Jetson platform and Nvidia CUDA-X libraries are expected to underpin the Lunar Outpost’s growing mission manifest.

Everything from processing to mapping and communications will be handled by Nvidia’s edge AI provision, which is seen as the solution to Lunar Outpost’s contributions to the NASA Artemis program of modern space exploration.

Later in 2026, the Reiner Gamma exploration – the “lunar swirl” geographical feature on the Moon’s surface – will launch, with the Lunar Voyage 2 expected to be the first Lunar Outpost hardware to be deployed with Nvidia Jetson tech.

Nvidia in space

(Image credit: Lunar Outpost)

Lunar Outpost is no stranger to space exploration, having assisted NASA and MIT on the MOXIE project, generating oxygen on the surface of Mars on a project running 2021 to 2023. Its collaboration continues with the Reiner Gamma exploration, working with General Motors and Goodyear on its lunar rover.

“Lunar missions require intelligent systems that can process data and make decisions in real time," noted Chen Su, Head of edge AI product marketing at NVIDIA.

"Lunar Outpost is using NVIDIA Jetson and CUDA-X libraries to give its rovers the onboard AI computing needed for terrain mapping, autonomous navigation, mission data processing and scientific discovery.”

Human-robot exploration

Set for dispatch to the lunar surface at some point in the second half of 2026 via SpaceX Falcon 9, Lunar Outpost’s Lunar Voyage 2 will be overseen from Earth, while the Nvidia AI technology handles advanced autonomy and communications, as well as lunar mapping and onboard data processing.

Justin Cyrus, Founder and CEO of Lunar Outpost, said “NVIDIA has set the standard for advanced AI computing, and we're proud to work alongside them as we bring increasingly intelligent capabilities to the lunar surface and build towards a Moon Base.”

Partnering with Nvidia for edge AI support appears to be the first stage of some pioneering missions. The future of Lunar Outpost’s off-world activities includes Lunar Voyage 3 and Lunar Voyage 5 missions, where the first human-robot exploration of another world is planned. For this, the Nvidia Space-1 Vera Rubin Module will be deployed, managing real-time data, mapping, and real-time video streaming from the Moon to Lunar Outpost’s mission control.

Lunar Outpost is contracted to a further nine lunar and cislunar (the area between the Earth and Moon) missions before 2030, with Nvidia Jetson and the CUDA-X libraries expected to play a part in all 10.

The company is working to reassure people that the glasses won’t be used to record them surreptitiously.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Monday, July 27 (game #1645).

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

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

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

Quordle today (game #1646) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

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

Quordle today (game #1646) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

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

Quordle today (game #1646) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1646) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

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

Quordle today (game #1646) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• R

• R

• G

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

Quordle today (game #1646) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1646, are…

• SMITE
• ROACH
• RUDDY
• GLOBE

Another close shave after two wrong guesses took me to the edge.

In reality it wasn’t quite as perilous as I thought, as words beginning with S and ending I-T-E are few, but it felt perilous at the time.

Daily Sequence today (game #1646) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1646, are…

• CURSE
• FEIGN
• EXTOL
• POESY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1645, Monday, 27 July: TAFFY, FIGHT, GUILD, WAGER
• Quordle #1644, Sunday, 26 July: STOMP, LIMIT, FUNKY, STEAD
• Quordle #1643, Saturday, 25 July: SALON, SHEEN, BURST, GOURD
• Quordle #1642, Friday, 24 July: DOLLY, EDIFY, LAGER, PRANK
• Quordle #1641, Thursday, 23 July: LADEN, EVICT, WOVEN, SHIRE
• Quordle #1640, Wednesday, 22 July: COYLY, SINGE, AWASH, AWOKE
• Quordle #1639, Tuesday, 21 July: TRUSS, AXIAL, SWINE, THING
• Quordle #1638, Monday, 20 July: ICING, SLICK, GAILY, RISEN
• Quordle #1637, Sunday, 19 July: SPURT, ACRID, THRUM, BLEEP
• Quordle #1636, Saturday, 18 July: KNAVE, TIGHT, BLEAT, CHAOS
• Quordle #1635, Friday, 17 July: CUMIN, PALER, GRASS, INBOX
• Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, July 27 (game #1142).

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CAPTAIN
• CLARKS
• OTTOMAN
• EMPIRE
• ANNAPOLIS
• BOBSLED
• CAMPER
• DIRECT
• EVEREST
• FUJI
• GALA
• HEAD
• CONVERSE
• LEAD
• HONEYCRISP
• CROCS

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Take charge
• GREEN: Varieties of a type of fruit
• BLUE: Footwear
• PURPLE: The same backward and forward

Need more clues?

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

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: COMMAND
• GREEN: HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES
• BLUE: SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C"
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES

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

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1143, are…

• YELLOW: COMMAND: CAPTAIN, DIRECT, HEAD, LEAD
• GREEN: HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES: EMPIRE, FUJI, GALA, HONEYCRISP
• BLUE: SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C": CAMPER, CLARKS, CONVERSE, CROCS
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES: ANNAPOLIS, BOBSLED, EVEREST, OTTOMAN

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

I knew that HONEYCRISP and GALA were apple varieties, but I struggled to find the other pair and made a mistake picking CAPTAIN instead of FUJI.

In my defence these are unavailable in the UK, where I am based, where we are all about the Granny Smith and the Golden Delicious. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES? Very much, actually.

After munching my way through this troublesome quartet the remaining three groups came together relatively easy, with the SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C" appearing ahead of COMMAND — both of which remind me of the Clarks Commandos shoes I coveted as a small child, largely because they came with a compass in the sole; very useful for a six-year-old.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, July 27, 2026, game #1142)

• YELLOW: GYMNASTICS APPARATUS: BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT
• GREEN: LONG TAPERED THINGS: CARROT, ICICLE, KNITTING NEEDLE, STALACTITE
• BLUE: KINDS OF SHIFTS: DOPPLER, GRAVEYARD, PARADIGM, STICK
• PURPLE: ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE: BELL, CART, HEART, MAGNIFYING GLASS

What is NYT Connections?

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

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

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

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

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, July 27 (game #876).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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

NYT Strands today (game #877) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Leave nothing out

NYT Strands today (game #877) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• DIALER
• NOTES
• UNDER
• DIVER
• UNITE
• SALT

NYT Strands today (game #877) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 11 letters

NYT Strands today (game #877) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 4th row

• Last side: right, 5th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #877) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #877, are…

• COMPLETE
• UNDEVIDED
• FULL
• TOTAL
• WHOLE
• ENTIRE
• SPANGRAM: ITSALLTHERE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

This was a speedy one.

Without any difficult words, twisting connections or multiple possibilities I managed to find all of the game words quickly, leaving just the spangram to complete the board.

Adding to the ease, it was also a great game for non-game words.

All in all like shooting fish in a bucket. Except with words.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, July 27, game #876)

• PLATFORM
• TRACK
• TICKET
• COUNTER
• KIOSK
• BENCH
• SPANGRAM: TRAINSTATION

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

The analog resurgence has been one of the biggest tech trends of 2026 after making a slow comeback last year.

Whether you’ve made the switch from a smartwatch to a Casio or you’re taking a trip down memory lane with your old iPod, more users are reverting to analog devices to escape brain-rotting algorithms and indulge in nostalgia. The same goes for the best compact cameras — and Lola is one of the next emerging brands to embrace this simplicity.

In October 2024, Lola launched its flagship $109/ £79/ AU$159 camera, a compact device that leans into early Y2K digital photography but with smartphone connectivity features. The camera was a response to the rising lo-fi tech craze, gaining exponential traction among Gen-Z users, and I grew increasingly curious.

Retro tech has become quite a prominent theme in my life at the moment. Recently I ditched Spotify and spent some time with the Miko cassette player by Gadhouse, but coming across the Lola camera online unlocked memories of my childhood I’d completely forgotten about.

I haven’t used a digital camera for the best part of 15 years, so it was time for a reunion.

A tiny camera, but a big first impression

(Image credit: Future)

For the past few weeks, the Lola camera has lived inside my everyday bag, and I used it at every opportunity I could — but I will never forget how I felt when I first took it out of the box.

First of all, the camera is absolutely tiny with dimensions of 3.75" x 0.75" x 2.25" and a weight of 0.5lbs (approximately 225 grams). I can’t remember if that’s always been the standard size for a digital camera, but I felt like a giant holding it in my hands. That said, it’s a handy pocket-sized device with a simple design to go with it.

(Image credit: Future)

Just like your average point-and-shoot camera, Lola has a built-in flash, supports SD cards, and packs an array of 19 fun effects, as well as 9 scene modes including Party, Beach, Night, & Portrait. One of the biggest differences is its USB-C charging port, which also comes in handy for transferring images to your smartphone.

Lola has numerous editions of its digital camera, including a cute Betty Boop-themed version and one in a clear shell finish that lets you see the inner workings of the camera. I quite like the stripped-back standard silver version because it’s minimal, but can still turn heads.

Then it was time to put the pedal to the metal.

Classic, but with a twist

(Image credit: Future)

Overall, Lola is a camera that’s bound to satisfy casual users who want to revert to a compact smartphone alternative for snapping images and creating memories. It’s great for taking photos to fill up a scrapbook or for your next Instagram photo dump, but it’s not one for established photographers who want crisp results. If anything, it’s for those who want to embrace imperfection.

Going into it, I knew that it wasn’t going to give picture-perfect results like professional cameras, but I developed a quick admiration for it as a beginner-friendly device. While its 8MP resolution is low by modern standards, it’s more than enough in this case, producing clear-looking images with a soft lo-fi finish that looks more authentic than a retro smartphone app filter — particularly for outdoor shots.

FutureFuture

I found taking photos outside much easier than taking photos indoors, and for the most part, the camera adapts very well to natural environments. In some cases, however, it can be quite sensitive to sunlight, resulting in harsh, overexposed spills in the images.

This can be fixed with a few minor tweaks in the settings, and they don’t require a lot of photography knowledge. All I did was bring the exposure down to -1, increase the ISO to 100, and enable the Daylight preset in the White Balance setting. You can see the difference it made in the images below.

FutureFuture

While these amendments made a big difference, it does mean that some parts of your image will appear darker than others in order to balance out the harshness of the light. In the second image, you can see the footpath and trees are slightly darker, but the grass patch in the background isn’t as overexposed, so for me it’s not too much of a setback.

But another feature that caught my eye was Lola’s surprising x20 digital zoom, which goes further than you think. Of course, the further you zoom in, the more crunchy your image will turn out, but zooming roughly halfway to two-thirds in is great for spotlighting the finer details of architecture and infrastructure, or for framing subjects in an entirely different way.

FutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Lola takes everything you loved about your 2006 digital camera and puts it back into a refreshed device, but this is the 2020s, and the company is fully aware of your social media-posting intentions. This is where the SD card adapter comes in handy.

One of the biggest pain points I found with digital cameras 15 years ago was the importing process, which usually required a laptop or computer to transfer your images, since smartphones weren't as advanced as they are now. Admittedly, I was probably just too lazy to do this.

With the Lola camera, all you have to do is insert the SD card into the adapter, which goes into your phone’s charging port. You can then select the images you want to import right from your camera roll, and they’re imported in seconds, making it a lot easier to share them with your friends. For me, this was the icing on the cake.

(Image credit: Future)Digital photography is timeless

There’s a handful of elements with the Lola camera that could do with some improvement (mainly its sensitivity), but for a $100 digital camera I think it has solid value for casual users. But beyond that, reverting to a digital camera removed the obsession with the finer details, evoking a deeper appreciation for being in the moment.

Sure, you can add effects and filters on the camera, but you can’t fine-tune individual settings such as saturation, contrast, shadows, and highlights on the device itself. That way, you have no choice but to embrace the realness and humanity of capturing what's before you.

I recently attended a bridal fitting for one of my closest friends, and instead of using my phone, I captured everything with Lola (I haven’t shared the images for obvious reasons). Though these photos have since been imported to my iPhone gallery, they stand out differently because I know how they were taken, and I look back at them filled with the same feelings of excitement from that day.

Simple, effective, and raw at its core, I’m going forward with a new attitude to memory-making. For some reason, somehow you remember the joy of each moment more vividly.

• Plans to triple application fees and apply a price-per-foot on coastal cable installations have been announced by Oregon
• Oregon state planners believe the new structure could raise $1 million per new cable laid
• Protecting the coastline has become a political priority in recent years

Oregon has announced plans to introduce a payment structure for service providers laying undersea cables off the coast of the Pacific state.

Currently, the low-tax and zoning incentives on offer make Oregon a particularly attractive location for tech companies including Microsoft and Amazon, and with major data centers (such as Google’s Dalles installation) demanding increasing data infrastructure, state officials believe a new pricing arrangement is overdue.

Oregon Department of State Lands is making the proposal, which seeks to completely restructure the pricing around undersea cables, which has been fixed at $5,000 since 2001.

Price per foot levy

Even by tripling application fees, Oregon will still be a more affordable alternative for service providers upgrading or adding undersea cables than both California and Washington.

The payment structure under consideration covers fees for applications and compensation “for undersea infrastructure located on submerged and submersible land within Oregon’s territorial sea.”

Currently, new application fees are $5,000, with the proposed new fee set at $15,000. Renewal applications are set to increase from $5,000 to $7,500, with a new encroachment application fee, also set at $7,500 (this describes any building or development on any state-owned land that restricts its usual purpose).

Cables up to three inches in diameter have been assigned a $3-per-foot basic annual fee, with conduits charged at $7.

But how might these fees be applied to any new cable installations? Some calculations based on the Amazon Bitfrost cable project, which determined that a total of $1,450,380 was due for two decades, which would be funneled into Oregon’s Common School Fund.

These fees are a revision of an earlier, more expensive set of proposals, and while the Amazon Bitfrost project example may seem high, it is a literal drop in the ocean compared with the budgets required to lay cables across the Pacific – somewhere in the region of $400 million.

Corporate responsibility

Oregon is also proposing new rules that govern how much information companies submit in applications. This covers everything from decommissioning outdated cabling to outlining responses to earthquakes (such as an anticipated Cascadia Subduction Zone event, which is believed to be overdue).

Various challenges to how companies operate off the coast of Oregon have arisen in recent years, such as a Meta subsidiary attempting to install new cabling at Tierra Del Mar in 2020. This abandoned project resulted in a pollution incident with 6,500 gallons of drill fluid dumped in the ocean and a pair of sinkholes appearing the following year.

The fees are expected to be introduced in January 2027.

Social media has been a big part of our lives for the best part of two decades, with the platforms we use shifting how we behave – and the way we behave, in turn, reshaping how the platforms are built. There have long been efforts to understand this phenomenon and the way that policymakers can respond.

The genie's out the bottle

The former US president had been studying social media for months before giving an address at Stanford University on the topic of how the digital sphere is challenging our democratic norms.

Quote of the day

This article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.

This speech came in the context of several worrying developments domestically and abroad, including the war in Ukraine, the Capitol Hill riots, as well as widespread anti-vax conspiracy and disinformation during COVID-19.

His comments refer to the largely unregulated digital realm that we all plug into, where it's easy for false information to spread like wildfire, driven primarily by our basest instincts and emotions. This, the former president said, was the consequence of billions of people plugging into an instant, 24/7 global information stream.

The first social media president

For Obama to be making these remarks is significant given he's widely known as the first social media president due to his rampantly successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

The politician skilfully wielded social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to spread his message of hope and change at the time.

Arguably, however, the social media landscape was very different at the time. Having just emerged, both users and the tech companies running these platforms indulged in the inherent optimism of the new capabilities that humankind had access to for the first time. But Obama's speech highlighted how different things are today, with that initial wave of optimism giving way to, in some cases, very dark forces.

• AMD EPYC 9006 "Venice" offers mammoth 256-core, 512-thread configuration that incorporates up to 1GB of L3 cache and PCI-E 6.0 and 16 DDR5 memory channels under the hood
• It's the first time AMD's EPYC lineup sees high core count CPUs push past the 5GHz barrier
• AMD is claiming a win by stating that its newest EPYC CPU offers the "most agents per watt, per dollar, per rack"

AMD's newly-announced 6th Gen EPYC 9006 "Venice" seems to be a genuine silicon milestone (the first x86 server CPU on a 2nm-class node, up to 256 cores and 512 threads) which sees the company aim to secure its position in the AI data center CPU market.

The launch comes at a time when AMD has caught Intel on the back foot but finds its position threatened in turn by Nvidia's Vera CPU, which it touts as a faster, more efficient alternative to traditional x86 offerings, including AMD's own EPYC lineup.

With a staggered launch in place for the four CPUs AMD showcased at the AAI event, the stack is expected to be fully available to consumers sometime in 2027, even as its beefy 256-core CPU targets a Q4 2026 launch.

A massive upgrade on multiple fronts

AMD's Venice is a serious generational step. It is built on TSMC's N2 process, the foundry's first move from FinFET to gate-all-around nanosheet transistors, and Team Red says the family is the first high-performance computing product in the industry to reach volume production on the node.

AMD's recently announced flagship model, the 256-core, 512-thread EPYC 9996, features its new SP7 socket, offering 16-channel DDR5 memory, PCIe 6.0 support, and boost clocks that push past 5GHz.

This effectively doubles what is currently on offer for AMD's current-gen EPYC CPUs: memory moves to 16 channels of DDR5-8000, or MRDIMM at 12,800 MT/s, for roughly 1.6 TB/s per socket.

AMD goes one step further with the 9006X lineup (expected 2H 2027), which replaces the cores it cuts down on with a much larger L3 cache per core, a design that it touts makes it much better than rivals at workflows including HPC, technical computing, and data-intensive workloads, which benefit from the larger cache (and memory bandwidth) on offer.

“6th Gen AMD EPYC delivers workload-optimized compute for the full spectrum of modern data center needs; from running more agents and feeding GPUs across rack-scale AI infrastructure to powering the business-critical applications and services organizations rely on every day," noted SVP & GM of Compute and Enterprise AI at AMD, Dan McNamara.

AMD argues that the shape of the data center is changing into a three-tier agentic architecture, with each tier creating distinct CPU demand, which results in workflows centering around agent sandbox execution, AI host nodes, and general-purpose servers, all of which its EPYC CPUs are designed to handle.

The EPYC 9006 series also powers AMD's rack-scale Helios, as it aims to take on Nvidia's Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale offering with its own solution.

With AMD also offering a more mainstream 9006 SP8 and the EYPC 9006 LP as an AI host node CPU that uses LPDDR memory, it is aiming to capture all ends of the AI data center CPU market and cement its current lead in a segment that is sure to be increasingly competitive in the days to come.

The agentic MAI-Cyber-1-Flash model, with some help, outscores Claude Mythos 5 on CyberGym.

One of the most notable ways AI is changing the world is through software coding: vast swathes of code are now written by AI, and while there's still a debate over just how beneficial this shift is, there's no doubt it's happening at a large scale.

Besides giving professional software developers a new tool to work with, 'vibe coding' also means anyone can put together their own programs, with no coding experience required. While you can't exactly knock together a Word clone in an afternoon, you can create simple tools and apps relatively easily.

And that's what I've been doing with the help of Claude: I've created a couple of small Chrome extensions that customize the browser in a way that wasn't really offered by any existing utilities I could find. Here's how it's done, and how you can do it too.

How it works

Claude getting to grips with an extension coding challenge (Image credit: Anthropic / Future)

If you're completely new to coding in an AI chatbot, it's not difficult to get started. All of the major players offer dedicated tools for coders, but if you're just creating a few simple projects, then you can work right inside the conversation window — describing what you want and seeing the results in your browser.

I've been using Claude for these personal extensions, though you can just as easily use something like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot. As usual, you'll get access to better models and higher usage rights if you're on a paid plan, but it's not essential for coding.

You can get started with a prompt as straightforward as "I'd like to build a Chrome extension to..." and then describe what you want. The AI will ask for the details and clarifications it needs, tell you about any limitations or potential issues, and get busy putting together the extension. You can use follow-up prompts to make tweaks and customizations as needed

For installing the extension on your computer, your AI of choice will advise you on this as well. You need to head to "chrome://extensions" in a new tab, enable the Developer mode toggle switch in the top right corner, then choose Load unpacked to pick your extension files. Extensions can be refreshed and removed from the same page as needed.

Project 1: A new tab page

A new tab page to my specifications (Image credit: Anthropic / Future)

There are many different ways you can customize the new tab page in Chrome (that shows on a blank type), and a multitude of options in the Chrome Web Store to pick from. However, I wanted something completely bespoke, with exactly what I wanted—I spend a lot of time looking at this page after all.

Not only was Claude able to code me a page, it answered all my questions: about how to pull in BBC headlines, the weather forecast, and all the other elements that I wanted on the page. Without the help of the AI, this would've taken me hours of research and coding, but it was done in minutes. I also added a scratchpad for taking notes, and a continually updated list of the five sites I've visited the most in the past week.

The weather forecast is a good example of how personalized you can make these extensions. I've got the weather for now, the weather in two hours' time, and the weather in four hours' time, all represented as simple icons that offer an at-a-glance update. I know instantly what the weather's going to do in the short term.

I was also able to take full control over the look and feel of the new tab page as well. So many of the options I've seen online try to pack too much in and are overly showy — my custom version is easy on the eye and minimalist. And any time I want to add a new feature or take one away, all it takes is a few lines in a Claude conversation.

Project 2: A history analyzer

You can do more with your Chrome history than you may have realized (Image credit: Anthropic / Future)

Something else I've been wanting for a long time in Chrome is to get a bit more out of the history page (it's "chrome://history" in a new tab). By default, it's just a standard list of websites in reverse chronological order, but I wondered if an extension could analyze this and produce a few insights: like most visited sites and browsing patterns, for example.

I'd like to create a Chrome extension just for myself that does a bit more with the Chrome history page. I'd like to include a pie chart showing the sites I've visited most in the last week. What other insights could we glean from this history page? What about average time between one link and the next?

Sample Claude starter prompt

I was able to get started on this extension in Claude without knowing exactly what I was after. I asked what was possible and the kind of queries that could be tried, and together with the AI formulated a plan to show the sites I visited the most often, the hours of the day I open most new pages, and most common ways I tend to visit sites (by loading bookmarks, typing URLs, following links, or whatever).

That last panel in the dashboard wouldn't have been there without Claude: the AI told me that Chrome's history page made this data available, and that it could be tapped into, otherwise I wouldn't have known. It also had ideas for more panels as well, and I'm going to keep tweaking it as well. It's now a much more useful screen of information than the long list of links that Chrome serves up as standard.

Both of these extensions were coded in minutes rather than hours, and show just how capable AI now is — for small-scale personal projects at least. If there's a browser feature you've always wanted but haven't been able to find a way to implement, there's a good chance you'll be able to get an AI chatbot to build it for you, to your exact specifications.

• AMD's MI400 press release publishes exactly one performance figure
• 288 TFLOPS of hardware FP64 on the MI430X, a GPU it positions as its go-to for sovereign AI and HPC
• Unlike the MI455X, which it launched alongside, the MI430X will have researchers and sovereign AI clients waiting longer, with AMD targeting early 2027 for its first shipments

AMD has launched its latest Instinct MI400 series, unveiling two new chips which bring performance gains, larger, faster HBM4 memory, and a continued promise to support its open-source ROCm stack.

While both chips come with 432GB of HBM4 memory, they both have very different use cases: the MI455X is AMD's attempt to dominate AI data centers and run training and inference for frontier models, while the MI430 is positioned as a high-performance compute (HPC) alternative that offers superior precision thanks to it being tuned for superior FP64 performance at a hardware level.

Both GPUs are based on AMD's CNDA 5 architecture, but the MI430X offers FP64 performance that dwarfs both the MI455X and Nvidia's Rubin-based offerings.

Frontier AI demand comes first

The launch, which was effectively on paper, still showcased where AMD's focus lies: the Instinct MI455X. There is a simple reason for that: AI data centers prioritize faster FP4 and FP8 performance for most tasks, such as inference, and the MI455X delivers on that front.

AMD is simply responding to market demand by aiming to ship the MI455X first, even as it has sovereign AI buyers lining up, both directly and indirectly, including the U.S. Department of Energy, Oracle, and even the UK government, to name a few.

AMD stated that the MI455X delivers up to 34 times the token throughput of the MI355X at 18 times lower cost, showcasing a significant performance and efficiency upgrade. It is also arguably AMD's most heavily drummed-up release to date, even as it continues to play catch-up to Nvidia's market dominance in the AI data center space.

The MI455X ships with the recently announced Helios, AMD's first rack-scale AI system that launched alongside the new Instinct chips. One of these has 72 MI455X GPUs and 18 sixth-gen EPYC server CPUs, configured in a 1:6 ratio per compute node.

The MI430X, on the other hand, seems to be competing specifically to score buyers who require higher precision, such as science researchers or even government departments where correctness is required at the edges, and memory limitations apply even with the MI series accelerator's 432GB of HMB4 in play.

“The next generation of AI will span frontier AI, sovereign AI and scientific computing, and each requires infrastructure optimized for its unique demands," said Vamsi Boppana, SVP AI at AMD.

"The AMD Instinct MI400 Series extends our AI portfolio with purpose-built solutions optimized for the full spectrum of AI and HPC deployments, built on an open software foundation that gives customers the flexibility to innovate at every scale.”

AMD also has an important buyer for the MI455X in its Helios rack-scale form that will also grant it further exposure to it pre-IPO: Anthropic. The company has agreed to invest $5 billion in the AI giant, with the latter agreeing to deploy 2 GW of AMD's MI450 accelerators, even though its AI head wasn't exactly enthused recently by a perceived drop in performance on Claude Code in early 2026.

Sometimes it feels like there's no escaping subscriptions. I seem to pay a monthly fee for the tools in my digital arsenal. I find myself nostalgic for the days of one-off charges with the occasional upgrade fee for some new refinements to a service.

Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, Google, they've all jumped on the subscription bandwagon. But just how many more can we afford? To be honest, I don’t think any of us are happy about this software evolution. I know I’m not.

I decided to take action (for the good of my wallet, if nothing else).

Thankfully, there are alternatives. Take Gimp, for instance, a free, open source image editing program, constantly maintained by a community of enthusiastic and knowledgeable programmers. It can do most of what Photoshop does, so why not give it a go and save yourself a bundle?

There is however a problem with jumping ship, which can be pretty major: sure, you can do a lot of clever image alterations with Gimp, but its interface looks nothing like Photoshop.

And after years of using a particular tool, you’ve got used to its quirks and have built up a ton of muscle memory. If you're anything like me, you can probably use Photoshop with your eye closed by now. I can't imagine the hassle of having to learn new functions, dialogue boxes, and keyboard shortcuts just to do the exact same thing again?

But I've found a solution to this.

Enter PhotoGimp

(Image credit: Future)

The beauty of open source software, is that it can be highly customizable, and what better way to entice creators into the wonderful world of free software than to make said software look and behave like the one they’re used to.

This is what PhotoGimp is all about.

Applying that skin is simple enough. First, you need to have installed GIMP, which you can get by clicking here. It works across Windows PCs, Macs and Linux systems.

Once that’s done, launch GIMP so the proper preferences folder is created, then head on over to PhotoGimp by clicking here. Grab that patch, which also works on either of those three platforms.

Or, just ignore that website altogether. Despite being a legitimate website, I encountered a glitch once or twice where my browser warned me that I was suddenly heading towards a ‘Deceptive Website’, or that my ‘File Download is Ready’.

I found a workaround by just using the direct GitHub link I acquired for you here. I travel the dangerous virtual roads, so you don’t have to.

Follow the instructions

(Image credit: Future)

Now, getting Adobe's creative apps installed on your machine is a piece of cake. The process for PhotoGimp is a little more...rough around the edges.

The instructions are clear, but they’re out of date: the folder PhotoGimp downloads to your computer is labelled “3.0”, but the latest version of Gimp has a folder labelled “3.2”. The fix is simple: get rid of the old folder, and rename the new one “3.2”… but as of this writing, the instructions won’t tell you that.

Still, now you know.

This is really the only tricky part of the installation process. Assuming all this moving around of files happened without a hitch, the next time you launch Gimp, you’ll be graced with a very Photoshop-like interface.

Turning Gimp into Photoshop

(Image credit: Future)

Now I don’t know about you, but a familiar interface - and keyboard shortcuts that work on muscle memory at this point - does wonders to my enjoyment of a different software package.

That isn’t to say everything’s in the same place as you’re used to it on the more expensive and established platform. But it’s similar enough to make the transition so much easier; the layers menu are in the right place, all the tools you need are stacked in a sidebar to the left, the Inspector’s top right, it all feels very familiar.

Now even with the Photoshop-style patch, Gimp still is a different tool. Some functions will be different. Others will be missing altogether, But in my own experience, I found that the vast majority of what many consider to be a standard set of features, are present and easy to use - especially when it all looks quite similar to what you are used to.

Put simply, if you were at all pondering about the possibility of stepping away from Photoshop, then PhotoGimp will make the process so much easier.

Honor Magic V6 review: Two-minute review

Chinese phone giant Honor has been on a bit of a roll recently. In 2026, it’s already given us the exceptional Honor MagicPad 4 and the compelling Honor Magic 8 Pro flagship, not to mention the impressive (albeit slightly pricey) Honor 600 Pro. Its latest foldable, the Honor Magic V6, keeps up this formidable streak and is easily worthy of being considered one of the best foldable phones today.

The big draw here is the Magic V6's market-leading durability. I’ve taken plenty of foldables for a spin, from the clamshell Motorola Razr Plus to the tablet-style Oppo Find N5, but I’ve always maintained that I would never actually buy one. Why? Because these devices are often simply too fragile. I’m pretty clumsy with my phones and regularly use (and I must admit, sometimes drop) them in the shower or bath, and there’s no way that I’m going to splash out on a premium foldable only to see it turned into a damp paperweight.

The Honor Magic V6 is the first foldable I’ve tested that truly bucks that trend.

(Image credit: Future)

In its review documentation, Honor recommended not to baby the phone — I was encouraged to take it out and about without a case, use it in the rain, and so on. I’ve been doing exactly that and, after multiple months of use, it still looks brand new. With its IP68 and IP69 ratings, it offers the highest level of water protection that I can find on the market right now, comparable to most regular high-end flagships.

Its fold is smooth, quiet, and, after being unfolded multiple times a day for weeks, is still as good as new. Honor says that the inner screen is layered with tough UTG flexible glass and has an SGS Imperceptible Crease Certification, and it really shows. The fold is near-invisible head-on, and only really shows if you hold the phone at very specific angles. This is the first foldable I’ve used where you can truly forget that it’s even there.

All of this is underpinned by a premium design that’s impressively slim. The folded phone is about as thick as an iPhone 17 Pro Max, so it feels great in the hands. Unfolded, it becomes just 4.00mm — the same incredible slimness that we loved with the previous Honor Magic V5. On that note, it’s a shame that Honor hasn’t really changed the design that much for this new iteration, though.

The look is practically identical and, on a more serious note, the V5 often ran hot, and that’s still an issue this time around. It’s especially apparent when you’re putting the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC through its paces, so be prepared for some thermal throttling if you’re spending hours in the most demanding games.

Despite these minor shortcomings, the Magic V6 is a winner and another impressive showing for Honor. I’m eager to see what the company has planned next.

Honor Magic V6 review: Price and availability

• Priced at £1,999.99 / AU$2,999 (around $2,700)
• Already discounted by £500 thanks to a voucher
• Available in the UK and Australia, but not the US

The Honor Magic V6 is priced at £1,999.99 (AU$2,999), which is a pretty hefty sum, but roughly in line with competing devices like the $2,099.99 / £1,899 / AU$2,999 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

Honor gains a major edge when you consider that the V6 offers 512GB of storage as standard (the Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at just 256GB) and factor in the brand’s frequent promotions and freebies.

At the time of writing, for example, the phone is already £500 off on the official Honor website thanks to a voucher, and comes bundled with your choice of an Honor Pad 10 tablet, projector, or AI voice recorder in addition to some earbuds — you can’t really argue with the value there.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V6 review: Specs

Here's a look at the Honor Magic V6's spec sheet:

Dimensions

156.7mm x 74.5 mm x 8.75mm (folded) / 156.7mm x 145.6mm x 4.1mm (unfolded)

Weight

219g

Screen

Inner: 7.95-inch 2352 x 2172 foldable OLED

Outer: 6.52-inch 2420 x 1080 OLED

Chipset

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

RAM

16GB

Storage

512GB

OS

Honor MagicOS 10 (Android 16)

Rear cameras

50MP ultra-wide, 50MP wide, 64MP telephoto lens (3x zoom)

Front camera

20MP wide, 20MP wide

Audio

Stereo speakers with Honor Sound

Battery

6,660mAh lithium polymer

Charging

80W Honor SuperCharge, 66W Wireless Honor SuperCharge

Colors

Red, Gold, White, Black

Honor Magic V6 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Very similar to the V5
• Smoother, more premium hinge
• Still a large camera bump

The design of the Honor Magic V6 is practically identical to that of the V5. It is incredibly thin when unfolded, coming in at just 4.1mm, with a durable aluminium chassis. The back material depends on your choice of colorway, with the Red version using vegan leather and the Gold, Black, and White featuring a smooth fibre composite.

Whether you’re using it folded or unfolded, this is a very good-looking phone that feels great in the hands. I took it with me to Los Angeles on two business trips during my testing, and multiple people complimented the device completely unprompted and were eager to learn more about it — something that I can’t say has happened with any other mobile I’ve used.

Like most Chinese flagships, the rear of the phone features a large octagonal camera bump which isn't going to be to everyone’s taste. I do quite like how it looks, though, and appreciate the subtle tactile texture on the ring around it. The bump is also a bit smaller than that of the Honor Magic 8 Pro, which means that it’s less likely to rest under your fingers and get covered in smudges.

Although the aesthetic hasn’t changed, there have been some big improvements compared to the Honor Magic V5 when it comes to the hinge. It’s much quieter and smoother this time around, helping the phone feel more premium and sturdy. When opened, the phone’s inner display looks totally flat, and the crease is totally invisible in most situations. It only shows up at specific angles and when the screen is displaying lighter colors like grey or white.

Honor keeps things refreshingly simple when it comes to buttons with the Magic V6. There’s a small volume rocker and a power button on the right-hand side, and that’s your lot. They’re well placed for one-handed operation and feel pleasantly clicky. My only real gripe is the fingerprint reader built into the power button, which sometimes feels unresponsive and requires a few attempts to successfully unlock.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Honor Magic V6 review: Display

(Image credit: Future)

• Both screens are bright and attractive
• Crease is barely visible
• Comes with pre-applied screen protectors

Both of the displays found on the Honor Magic V6 are excellent. The 6.52-inch OLED outer screen has a 2420 x 1080 resolution, with a fantastic 2,000 nits peak brightness (or up to an absurd 6,000 nits with HDR) that ensures that it stays visible in even the harshest lighting conditions. It uses Honor’s Anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield coating, which is decently scratch-resistant and has managed to keep the screen pristine throughout my testing.

It certainly helps that the outer screen also comes fitted with a screen protector out of the box, though I opted to remove it early on as it picked up a lot of marks very quickly. (The inner display also comes with a screen protector, though be warned that this is an integral part of the display that should not be removed by the user. It thankfully seems much more durable than the outer one). Despite the rectangular candy-bar shape of the folded phone, the outer screen uses rounded corners, presumably to give it symmetry with the inner one.

That inner display is a 7.5-inch foldable OLED panel, surrounded by impressively thin plastic bezels. It’s almost as bright as the external one, with a 1,300-nit peak brightness (or up to 5,000 nits with HDR). It’s decently high resolution at 2352 x 2172 and doesn’t look noticeably less sharp than the external one in use, so you can transition between them seamlessly. Honor also deserves some credit for just how closely calibrated both of the displays are: they’re practically identical in terms of color and together just feel like a natural extension of the same panel.

Both the inner and outer screens feature an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, too (avoiding a jarring transition between different refresh rates when switching between the two), which is fantastic for smoothly scrolling apps and social media websites.

Lastly, you absolutely don’t need to worry about an ugly crease spoiling your view with the Honor Magic V6. There is still a fold that you can feel if you really examine it with your fingers, but it’s practically invisible in regular use unless you hold your phone at specific side-on angles or look very closely on a totally blank screen.

I’ve been folding and unfolding the phone constantly throughout my testing, and it hasn’t become more visible either, which is a great sign for long-term durability.

• Display score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V6 review: Cameras

(Image credit: Future)

• Good camera setup
• Not quite as strong as the Magic 8 Pro
• Plenty of software features

The cameras of the Honor Magic V6 aren’t quite as strong as those of the Honor Magic 8 Pro, but they’re still very capable compared to the rest of the wider foldable category. The rear camera offers a three-lens setup, with a 50MP ultra-wide, 50MP wide, and 64MP telephoto lens.

Photos are bright and poppy by default, which is great for capturing the mood of summer days, and they offer a good level of detail — even when dealing with busy scenes and foliage. The main sensor offers 3x optical zoom, which works fantastically, alongside a much less consistent 100x digital zoom. This setup performs well in low-light conditions and those with challenging lighting setups, like concerts with bright strobe effects.

There are plenty of software features to try out on the Magic V6, including AI-powered color filters and different photo watermarks. The ability to display the photo that you’re taking on the front screen is also brilliant for group settings.

Both the front and inner display have the same 20MP wide sensor, which does a good job with selfies, even if the results are a little overprocessed. The Honor Magic V6 also has strong video shooting capabilities and can capture 4K video at 60fps.

As good as it all is, though, I do think the results are overall less impressive than the images I’ve taken with the Honor Magic 8 Pro and its 200MP main lens.

• Cameras score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V6 review: Camera samplesDashiell WoodDashiell WoodDashiell WoodDashiell WoodDashiell WoodDashiell WoodDashiell WoodHonor Magic V6 review: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Flagship chip
• Can run hot
• Good RAM and storage

The Honor Magic V6 is powered by the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the same chip found in the Honor Magic 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi 17 Ultra, and other high–end smartphones. With this SoC, it should come as no surprise that the performance of the Honor Magic V6 is incredibly strong across the board.

In daily use, you’re not going to notice any hitches or slowdown when navigating system menus, browsers like Google Chrome or Firefox, and social media apps. It’s paired with 16GB of RAM, which is more than enough for serious multitasking. I normally rely on my phone for productivity tasks like note-taking, transcribing, and document editing while I’m out on business trips, and my flow was never broken by sudden reloads when flicking between multiple apps — even ones that I hadn’t opened for some time.

Gaming performance is also excellent. It almost goes without saying that casual titles like Plants vs Zombies 3 or Warhammer Combat Cards - 40K (two games I must admit I’ve been spending an embarrassing amount of time playing recently) are totally flawless. More demanding titles, like my go-to Zenless Zone Zero, will run beautifully at the maximum settings preset as well.

The Honor Magic V6 does have a problem with temperatures, though. Extended gaming sessions will cause the phone to heat up quite a bit, leading to eventual slowdown. I also found that it struggled massively during the recent UK heatwave, feeling red hot in my pocket and struggling to run even Google Maps smoothly in direct sunlight. Given the phone’s thinness, I think it’s reasonable that it runs hot at times — but if you want a dedicated gaming device, you would be better off looking outside the foldable market.

Only one configuration of the Honor Magic V6 is available, offering 512GB of storage out of the box. It’s a bit of a shame that there’s no 1TB model for proper power users, but this 512GB capacity will be more than sufficient for the vast majority of buyers. I still have almost 300GB of free space after multiple months of use.

The stereo speakers of the Honor Magic V6 are decent, but hardly going to blow your socks off. There’s more bass than you might expect given the phone’s slight profile, and they can get fairly loud. Just make sure that you run to the ‘Sound quality and effects’ menu in the settings app and disable the various effects that are, for some reason, enabled by default. They just make everything sound washed out.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V6 review: Software

(Image credit: Future)

• Transitions between screens seamlessly
• MagicOS 10 is still a winner
• Sleek, iOS-inspired design language

I’m a big fan of MagicOS 10, Honor’s Android 16-based operating system. The design is certainly Apple-inspired, but as an ex-iPhone user, I find it both visually appealing and easy to use. It has a liquid-glass-like aesthetic, with sleek, semi-transparent menus and rounded buttons.

You get all the visual flair of using an iPhone, but with all the additional customization options that you would expect from the Android ecosystem. New icon packs, themes, and a range of pre-set options can be selected from the in-built themes app. You can even disable the transparency effects throughout the OS if you want something that looks a bit more like traditional Android.

Smart features, like an AI tool to recommend images that would be well-suited for your lock screen and AI-powered widgets that use context to suggest the app that you’re most likely to want to use, make daily operation smooth.

Other AI software elements include the ability to generate or rephrase text and a surprisingly good translation feature. They’re not all winners though. The AI Settings Agent (which allows you to type or speak sentences like ‘Turn off Bluetooth’ in order to change key settings) is laughably useless, while the so-called AI Memories App is literally just a screenshot tool with the word AI slapped on it.

But compared to other foldables that I have used, the Honor Magic V6 is by far the smoothest when transitioning between the two displays on the software front. You will get the odd moment where things freeze up, or apps fail to resize properly, but the vast majority of the time it works exactly as you would expect. I soon found that being able to seamlessly access the larger screen made it much easier to compose apps in Gmail, or edit documents in Google Drive.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V6 review: Battery

(Image credit: Future)

• 6,660mAh lithium polymer cell
• Best in class battery life
• Easily lasts for more than a day

The battery life of the Honor Magic V6 is superb. The 6,660mAh lithium polymer cell offers more than enough juice for a full day of use, even if you play graphically demanding games or stream video content. I use my phone constantly throughout the day and regularly go to bed with about 25% of juice left. With light use, you could easily stretch multiple days out of a single charge, particularly if you enable one of the power-saving modes.

6,660mAh is the largest battery capacity you will find across the entire foldable category, and it shows in real-world use. The Honor Magic V6 can comfortably outlast both the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (we’re yet to test it against the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra), as well as traditional flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Honor devices are already known for their serious battery chops, but cramming this much battery life into a device so thin and light is extremely impressive.

• Battery score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Honor Magic V6?Honor Magic V6 scorecard

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

The Honor Magic V6 isn’t cheap, but it does offer significantly better value than key competitors.

4/5

Design

A sleek, stylish, and durable design with a smooth hinge. It’s great, but draws heavily on the winning formula of the Honor Magic V5.

4.5/5

Display

The Honor Magic V6 offers two great screens which feel like a natural extension of each other.

4/5

Software

Honor MagicOS 10 is a capable and attractive operating system that’s well optimized for foldables.

4/5

Camera

A compelling camera setup, only lagging slightly behind regular flagships.

4/5

Performance

Extremely fast and ready for gaming, but prone to overheating during extended play sessions.

4/5

Battery

The Honor Magic V6 excels with leading battery life in the foldable category

5/5

Buy it if...

You want a foldable with serious battery chops
The Honor Magic V6 offers the best battery life in the entire foldable category. It’s the one to choose if you need serious battery performance.

You want a great-looking phone
The Honor Magic V6 doesn’t stray too far from the design of the Honor Magic V5, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s still a fantastic-looking phone.

You need a durable foldable
The Honor Magic V6 is incredibly durable for a foldable phone. It has some of the best water resistance on the market, and feels sturdy enough to last for years.

Don't buy it if...

You are a hardcore gamer
The Honor Magic V6 has the technical specs for high-level gaming, but it often runs hot under heavy load, which does hamper performance. Consider a conventional flagship or a dedicated gaming phone if you want to play the latest and greatest titles for hours at a time.

Honor Magic V6 review: Also consider

Not so keen on the Honor Magic V6? Here are two alternatives to weigh up, one folding and one not.

Honor Magic 8 Pro
The Honor Magic 8 Pro is a fantastic alternative if you want a conventional flagship with similar specs in a non-folding format. It’s cheaper, but features a larger battery, better cameras, better cameras and faster charging among other upgrades.

Read our full Honor Magic 8 Pro review

Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold
The Google Pixel 10 Fold also offers a strong level of water resistance and durability. It’s the alternative to go for if you would prefer something running a more vanilla version of Android.

Read our full Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold review

Honor Magic V6

Honor Magic 8 Pro

Google Pixel 10 Fold

Starting price

£1,999.99 / AU$2,999 (around $2,700)

£1099.99

$1,799 / £1,749 / AU $2,699

Dimensions

156.7mm x 74.5 mm x 8.75mm (folded) / 156.7mm x 145.6mm x 4.1mm (unfolded)

161.15 x 8.4 x 75mm

155.2 x 150.4 x 5.2 mm

Weight

219g

219g

258g

Screen

Inner: 7.95-inch 2352 x 2172 foldable OLED

Outer: 6.52-inch 2420 x 1080 OLED

6.7-inch 1256 x 2808 OLED, 120Hz

Inner: 6.4-inch OLED

Outer: 8-inch OLED

Chipset

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Google Tensor G5

RAM

16GB

12GB

16GB

Storage

512GB

512GB

256GB / 512GB / 1TB

OS

Honor MagicOS 10 (Android 16)

MagicOS 10, based on Android 16

Android 16

Rear cameras

50MP ultra-wide, 50MP wide, 64MP telephoto lens (3x zoom)

50MP main + 50MP ultra-wide + 200MP telephoto (3.7x zom)

48MP, f/1.7, 0.5-inch sensor

Front camera

20MP wide, 20MP wide

50MP

10MP

Audio

Stereo speakers with Honor Sound

Stereo speakers with Honor Surround Subwoofer

Stereo with spatial audio

Battery

6,660mAh lithium polymer

7,100mAh (tested), 6270mAh (EU)

Up to 30 hours

Charging

80W Honor SuperCharge, 66W Wireless Honor SuperCharge

120W wired, 80W wireless

39W wired charging, 15W wireless

Colors

Red, Gold, White, Black

Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, Black

Moonstone, Jade

How I tested the Honor Magic V6

• Tested for multiple months
• Used as a daily driver
• Compared to flagship devices

I tested the Honor Magic V6 over a period of multiple months, using it as my daily driver. I relied on it for a wide range of tasks, from listening to music and browsing social media on my commute to watching my favorite series on a plane and trying out the latest game releases.

Throughout my time with the phone, I frequently compared its performance to other flagship devices, including those from Honor and its major competitors.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2026

China’s latest ChatGPT rival, Kimi, is now available for download on the Apple App Store, so I downloaded it on my iPhone, intending to test it against ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. I had the prompts ready; I had the comparison planned. Then Kimi presented me with a very modern problem that I wasn’t expecting: too many people were already trying to talk to it.

This is not just app-launch inconvenience. It captures one of the biggest problems in AI right now: being clever is one thing, but the best models are only useful if companies have enough servers and GPUs to allow people to actually use them.

In our recent Kimi review we said: "Kimi delivers impressive performance for coding, document analysis, and multi-step agentic tasks, especially considering its price point." Kimi may be positioned as a serious open-weight rival to US models, but if the first ordinary-user experience is that they're stuck queuing at the door, how useful is it really?

What is Kimi?

(Image credit: Moonshot AI)

Do you remember back in 2025, when DeepSeek-R1 was released and the internet went wild for Chinese AI models? It was a game-changing moment, because it immediately became obvious that we weren’t beholden to the Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI, Google and Anthropic for AI. China could create AI models too — and, it turned out, they were a lot cheaper to run, and almost as good.

While DeepSeek was arguably the first Chinese AI model to really break through into the mainstream, Kimi is the latest. Its story is slightly different, because it’s a giant open-weight model that’s not just cheap and technically impressive, but directly useful for coding, spreadsheets, knowledge work, and long-context tasks with agent-style workflows.

Open weight means the finished AI model is available for others to download and run, rather than only being accessible through the company’s own app or website. That is not the same as being fully open source, of course. Open source would imply a much more complete release of the code, training process, data details and license freedoms needed to understand, rebuild and modify the model from the ground up.

The data squeeze

I’d love to be able to open my phone, try a serious Chinese AI model, and get something genuinely competitive in minutes. But without the capacity to serve the millions of people who pile onto a hyped new AI model, raw intelligence only gets you so far.

That is why Kimi’s error message matters, and it points to the issue currently reshaping the entire AI industry. In the past week alone, Reuters reported that Nvidia is discussing huge financing guarantees to help OpenAI lease a proposed 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio, while other tech giants are racing to secure more data-center capacity of their own.

In other words, the next stage of the AI race may not be decided purely by benchmark scores or clever demos. It may be decided by power, servers, GPUs and the ability to keep a popular model online when millions of people suddenly want to use it.

Kimi may be impressive, but my first experience with it wasn’t about intelligence; it was about access. In 2026, the AI race is no longer just about who can build the best model. It’s about who can keep the thing online when everyone wants to use it.

Players may not be able to sign in, find games or launch apps, and might be disconnected while logged in.

• Ukraine converts long-range kamikaze drones into reusable missile-launching platforms
• Liutyi now carries four missiles instead of sacrificing itself during attacks
• Germany funds 500 additional Liutyi drones through a $100 million defense package

Ukraine's state defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom has unveiled a reusable version of its An-196 Liutyi drone at the Farnborough International Airshow.

According to a report from Ukrainian outlet Oboronka the new configuration carries four compact air-to-surface missiles beneath its wings.

Until now, the Liutyi has flown only as a single-use weapon, striking a location once before being destroyed on impact.

A Kamikaze airframe rebuilt to fly home

The standard Liutyi is a propeller-driven, satellite-guided drone with a claimed operational range of nearly 2,000 km per mission today. It carries a 50-to-75 kg warhead and relies on inertial navigation corrected by satellite signals for improved overall strike precision.

Ukraine has used the standard version to strike oil refineries as far as 1,700 km inside Russia, near the Urals region.

Liutyi drones have also struck the Izhevsk military plant deep inside Russia's Udmurtia region, roughly 1,400 km from the border.

Germany is financing 500 additional Liutyi drones at a cost of roughly $100 million, signaling continued Western interest in the program.

Each Liutyi airframe reportedly costs around $200,000 to build, a comparatively low price for a long-range strike platform of its kind.

The reusable variant carries four small missiles reported to have a maximum range of 200 km and speeds above 500 km/h, which is apparently achieved through a small jet engine mounted inside the missile's own fuselage.

No further technical details about either the airframe or the missiles have been disclosed so far.

A commercial statement for foreign buyers

Displaying an armed, reusable Liutyi there functions as a clear commercial statement almost as much as a purely military signal.

Ukraine has displayed naval drones, interceptor drones and strike systems at major international defense exhibitions throughout 2026

A drone combat-tested through hundreds of deep strikes on Russian territory offers foreign buyers a rare, already-proven track record overall.

The reusable Liutyi may also compete with Ukraine's own FP-1 drone, which reportedly offers comparable performance at a lower cost, and in design, the new missiles resemble Anduril's Barracuda-250, an American cruise missile with an 18 kg warhead and 370-plus km range.

Ukraine relied heavily on the Bayraktar TB2 for years before Russian air defenses eventually pushed the drone from contested skies.

The shift could allow the Liutyi to fill the niche once occupied by the Bayraktar TB2, a symbol of Ukraine's early resistance.

Whether the new missiles and airframe hold up under real combat conditions remains to be seen.

Via Defense Express

This has to be the fastest filmmaking hack I've ever found. And all it took was a relatively cheap gimbal, a wireless mic, and an iPhone. Seriously. No editing tricks, no ultra-expensive gear. I've managed to create a kit that targets the two biggest giveaways of amateur filming: shaky cams and poor audio.

So, for one month and counting, I've been filming everything from product close-ups to run-and-gun vlogs on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. I paired with the DJI Osmo Mobile 8 gimbal and the DJI Mic Mini.

And it's completely changed how that footage looks and sounds. The results are so good, I'm never going back. If you're videographer or creator at any level, I recommend checking out this setup.

Why the Osmo Mobile 8 makes iPhone footage look intentional

(Image credit: Future)

The Osmo Mobile 8 is one of DJI's smartphone gimbals, and the headline upgrade over its predecessor is 360-degree pan rotation. That means you can track a subject through a full 360-degree spin without hitting a mechanical dead-end mid-take. It seems incremental on paper, but eliminating that rotational hard stop saves you from constantly having to pause and reset your framing during walk-and-talk shots.

For iOS shooters, the real highlight is direct Apple DockKit integration. It hands subject tracking over to Apple's own framework and works across more than 200 iOS apps rather than being locked to DJI's Mimo app. Point the camera at yourself, tap to lock on, and the gimbal keeps you centered while you move around a room.

The magnetic phone clamp holds the iPhone 17 Pro Max securely despite its size, and the built-in tripod and extendable rod mean I've stopped carrying a separate stick for low, sweeping shots or basic selfie-stick framing.

The multifunctional module clips to the top of the gimbal and acts as the setup's central hub, handling three jobs at once: fill light, tracking sensor, wireless mic receiver. It can be mounted facing forward or reversed, depending on whether you're filming someone else or yourself.

The Mic Mini keeps a low profile

(Image credit: Future)

The DJI Mic Mini is a tiny wireless microphone system: the transmitter weighs about as much as a couple of paperclips and clips or magnet-mounts to a shirt collar without pulling the fabric down.

It records 24-bit, 48kHz audio that punches well above its size class, and its two-level noise cancellation does a solid job of cutting background hum without making voices sound processed.

Setting it up is genuinely simple. The Mic Mini transmitter pairs directly with the multifunctional module on the Osmo Mobile 8 through OsmoAudio, so there's no separate receiver dongle hanging off your phone. Audio and video are captured together, in sync, from a single rig.

Battery life is rated at roughly 11.5 hours on the transmitter, and the charging case extends that to about 48 hours total, so it's rarely the component that runs out first in my experience.

Why they're better together, and still useful apart

Clipped onto the gimbal, the pair works as one cohesive system: the Mic Mini feeds audio straight into the recording alongside DockKit-tracked video, and small indicator lights on the module confirm the mic is connected without needing to check an app. That's the setup I use for anything scripted, since it means one rig, one battery to monitor, and zero trailing cables.

But the Mic Mini doesn't need the gimbal to be useful. Its separate mobile receiver plugs into the iPhone's USB-C port directly, so I can use it for a sit-down interview or a desk-based talking-head video with the gimbal left at home.

It also pairs over Bluetooth straight to a phone, though that route caps out at a lower sample rate than the wired or OsmoAudio connection, so I only reach for it when convenience matters more than audio fidelity.

Real-world friction and useful tips

The Osmo Mobile 8 relies heavily on the DJI Mimo app to unlock its full feature set, and there's a learning curve before the gimbal feels natural rather than fiddly. It's also bulkier than a pocket-sized alternative like DJI's Osmo Pocket line, so it's not something you toss in a jacket pocket on the way out the door.

That said, setup friction on the iPhone 17 Pro Max is minimal, as its USB-C port means charging and wired audio just work without requiring adapters.

A couple of practical tricks worth knowing: the gimbal features a hidden "Keep Composition" behavior. If you manually nudge a tracked subject off-center—say into the left third of the frame—it remembers that offset and holds that composition on future tracking shots rather than forcing the subject back to center.

And if you ever need to unpair the gimbal from a phone without navigating Bluetooth menus, holding the shutter button, switch button, and trigger simultaneously for two seconds forces a hard reset of the connection.

A month in, this is the fastest upgrade I've made to my footage — faster than any editing trick. Fix the shake and the audio at the source, and the clip just looks like it came from a real camera.

Take your video shooting to a new level

DJI Osmo Mobile 8

The DJI Osmo Mobile 8 brings a genuinely useful upgrade to smartphone stabilization, headlined by a pan axis that now spins a full 360 degrees, giving sweeping panoramic shots and unbroken tracking motion that older Osmo models couldn't manage. Setup is effortless thanks to a magnetic phone clamp paired with a built-in sensor that automatically detects the phone and balances the gimbal, and tracking has been upgraded too: the new ActiveTrack system follows human or pet subjects automatically, keeping them in frame even with zooming and gimbal movement after they've left the shot.

Read our DJI Osmo Mobile 8 review.

DJI Mic Mini (2TX + 1RX) and Charging Case

The DJI Mic Mini packs a lot of pro capability into a tiny footprint, built for creators who want great audio without carrying extra gear. The transmitter weighs just 10 grams, offering a lighter and more discreet wearing experience than the DJI Mic 2, with both magnetic and clip-on styles so it won't weigh down a collar or flip outward on thin fabric. Battery life is a standout: the transmitter and receiver run for roughly 11.5 and 10.5 hours respectively, and a fully charged charging case adds about 3.6 more charges for a total of 48 hours of use — ideal for long interviews, travel, or all-day shoots.

Read our DJI Mic Mini review.