Technology

• watchOS 26 has removed several watch face designs
• They include the Gradient, Toy Story, and Vapor looks
• At the same time, there are no new faces to replace them

Typically, you expect big software updates to add features, not take them away. Yet sometimes a handful of things disappear in the process – and if you’re fond of a select few Apple Watch faces, you might be out of luck, as Apple is removing a number of well-known faces with the watchOS 26 update.

As spotted by Reddit user flogman12, Apple has ditched five faces in watchOS 26: the Fire and Water, Gradient, Liquid Metal, Toy Story, and Vapor designs.

It’s not known why these faces have been removed – Apple never gives a reason for removing faces or even announces that they’re gone – but they will likely be sorely missed by their fans. It’s possible that the faces were simply less popular than other options, and have been cleared out to make way for others.

Still, it’s not all bad news, as watchOS 26 has updated a bunch of new faces that are available for all of the best Apple Watches. While the company didn’t add any brand-new designs, it did bring its Liquid Glass visual style to a number of faces, bringing more translucency and light refraction to your Apple Watch.

Losing face

(Image credit: Future)

This isn't the first time Apple has cut a selection of faces from its watchOS operating system. It did so last year with watchOS 11. It’s not an unusual move for the company, and it often does this to make room for other additions when it releases a major new watchOS update.

This may also have been done simply to keep the list of watch faces at a manageable number. After all, if you’re faced with a daunting list of hundreds of different designs to choose from it might feel a tad overwhelming.

The fact that the Toy Story face has been dropped is interesting, as this was the first feature-length film released by Pixar while Apple founder Steve Jobs was Pixar CEO. You would think that would give this watch face a solid connection to Apple, but that wasn’t enough to save it from being axed.

While watchOS 26 hasn’t added any all-new options to the Watch face gallery, it has brought a bunch of new features in other areas. Be sure to check out our picks for the best watchOS 26 features to see what’s new.

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• Apple quietly got rid of four Watch faces in watchOS 11, and furious users want them back

• Apple’s Wallet app got a big iOS 26 update at WWDC 2025
• There are new features for travel, from passports to boarding passes
• Virtual car keys are coming to more vehicles, too

At its WWDC 2025 event earlier this week, Apple took the time to showcase some new features coming to its Wallet app in iOS 26. This could make it easier than ever to manage your passports, boarding passes and more, and there are also new additions coming to connected cars that use virtual car keys using Wallet.

For starters, Apple Wallet is adding the ability to store virtual passports. Apple says this “is not a replacement for a physical passport, and cannot be used for international travel and border crossing in lieu of a U.S. passport.” Still, it can be used at various TSA checkpoints “for identity verification purposes during domestic travel.” Right now, it’s unfortunately limited to US passports.

Speaking of travel, Wallet can now provide you with more information on your stored boarding passes. These include Live Activities that show your flight’s progress, maps to your assigned terminal and baggage checking point, and information on your arrival terminal, gate, baggage claim area, and more.

Wallet’s upgrades are not just limited to airline travel, as it’s now able to display driver’s licenses and state IDs to websites for age and identity verification. This currently works with services like Chime, Turo, Uber Eats and U.S. Bank, plus the Arizona MVD, Georgia DDS, and Maryland MVA.

Apple Intelligence and car keys

(Image credit: Apple)

Thirdly, Wallet has also been refreshed with Apple Intelligence, which can now be used to identify, summarize and show order tracking info that it finds in your emails. The iOS 26 update also means you can pay in installments or with rewards when making in-store purchases using the Wallet app.

The Wallet app isn’t just used for purchases and travel, though – it can also store virtual car keys that unlock a connected vehicle using your phone. With iOS 26, that’s coming to more manufacturers, as spotted by 9to5Mac.

At the moment, virtual car keys work with 20 vehicle brands, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, and Volvo. At WWDC 2025, Apple said 13 more brands would be adding the feature soon, with manufacturers like Cadillac, GMC, and Porsche on the list (scroll down for the full list). We don’t yet know when these brands will add support, but with Apple teasing them as coming soon, hopefully we won’t have long to wait.

That all means that Apple’s Wallet app is going to be a lot more capable when iOS 26 launches this fall (although you can already try it out by downloading the iOS 26 developer beta).

Whether you’re traveling or paying for something on the go, it could be a great option, and with Apple agreeing to let users choose different payment apps in the EU, we could see some of these features come to rival iOS apps as well.

• Acura
• Cadillac
• Chery
• Chevrolet
• GMC
• Hongqi
• Lucid
• Porsche
• Rivian
• Smart
• Tata
• Voyah
• WEY

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• OpenAI brings Google Cloud on board for cloud computing infrastructure
• Microsoft is no longer OpenAI's sole provider after a shakeup
• Google shares are up, Microsoft shares down

Despite having a long history with Microsoft, OpenAI is believed to have signed a deal with Google Cloud to help it meet rising demands for cloud computing services.

Reuters reports the deal was finalized in May 2025 after months of negotiating, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.

The finer details of its Google Cloud deal are unknown, but the move reflects OpenAI's effort to reduce its reliance on a single vendor – in this case, Microsoft – having recently announced its own $500 billion Stargate Project earlier in 2025.

OpenAI agreement with Google Cloud

Although Microsoft has fuelled much of OpenAI's growth with cloud infrastructure throughout a period of rapid expansion, the company stopped being its sole partner in March 2025, when OpenAI brought CoreWeave on board in a deal worth around $12 billion.

Now, Google Cloud will also provide resources to help OpenAI train and run its AI models.

During its first quarter of 2025, Google Cloud generated $12.3 billion in revenue, or nearly 14% of Google's total revenue. A deal with OpenAI could significantly increase the cloud division's revenue.

However, ChatGPT's success has allowed OpenAI to explore in-house opportunities.

Besides the Stargate Project, in collaboration with SoftBank and Oracle, OpenAI is also working on its own AI chip, which could spell disaster for Nvidia, which has once again taken prime position as the world's most valuable company, with a market cap of $3.510 trillion.

Sceptics are also uncertain about how Google Cloud's deal with OpenAI could impact its existing operations and customers, with the cloud hyperscaler already struggling to meet demand on occasions.

Google shares rose 2.1% after the news, with Microsoft shares dipping 0.6%, pulling it into second position with a market cap of $3.500 trillion.

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• OpenAI brings Google Cloud on board for cloud computing infrastructure
• Microsoft is no longer OpenAI's sole provider after a shakeup
• Google shares are up, Microsoft shares down

Despite having a long history with Microsoft, OpenAI is believed to have signed a deal with Google Cloud to help it meet rising demands for cloud computing services.

Reuters reports the deal was finalized in May 2025 after months of negotiating, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.

The finer details of its Google Cloud deal are unknown, but the move reflects OpenAI's effort to reduce its reliance on a single vendor – in this case, Microsoft – having recently announced its own $500 billion Stargate Project earlier in 2025.

OpenAI agreement with Google Cloud

Although Microsoft has fuelled much of OpenAI's growth with cloud infrastructure throughout a period of rapid expansion, the company stopped being its sole partner in March 2025, when OpenAI brought CoreWeave on board in a deal worth around $12 billion.

Now, Google Cloud will also provide resources to help OpenAI train and run its AI models.

During its first quarter of 2025, Google Cloud generated $12.3 billion in revenue, or nearly 14% of Google's total revenue. A deal with OpenAI could significantly increase the cloud division's revenue.

However, ChatGPT's success has allowed OpenAI to explore in-house opportunities.

Besides the Stargate Project, in collaboration with SoftBank and Oracle, OpenAI is also working on its own AI chip, which could spell disaster for Nvidia, which has once again taken prime position as the world's most valuable company, with a market cap of $3.510 trillion.

Sceptics are also uncertain about how Google Cloud's deal with OpenAI could impact its existing operations and customers, with the cloud hyperscaler already struggling to meet demand on occasions.

Google shares rose 2.1% after the news, with Microsoft shares dipping 0.6%, pulling it into second position with a market cap of $3.500 trillion.

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The Last of Us creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have confirmed what fans of the game already expected: The Last of Us season 3 is going to centre on Abby's story, with Kaitlyn Dever's character taking center stage.

Where The Last of Us season 1 followed the beats of the first game pretty faithfully, the second game is more complex and needs more time to tell its story – so where The Last of Us season 2 centered primarily on Ellie after the horrendous events of episode two and only covered part of the story arc, the third season is going to do the same switch of protagonist we experienced in the game and give us much more time with Abby.

That suggests that the rumored fourth and final season (which the show's composer Jake Staley suggests is definite, telling The Last of Us podcast Savage Starlight that "there'll be at least two more seasons, no question") will return to Ellie for its heart-stopping and desperately sad climax.

What to expect from The Last of Us season 3

As the Hollywood Reporter explains (with some spoilers for season 2's big moments), season 3 is going to feel different. “It’s more of a water season than a fire season,” Druckmann revealed, as Mazin added, “It’s a wetter season than a hotter season.” And "season three is going to be starring – spoiler alert – Kaitlyn."

I'm excited about season 3, albeit with some reservations: as someone who loved and was probably deeply traumatized by playing The Last of Us Part II, I felt that season 2 of the TV show didn't feel like the game did.

That's inevitable with any adaptation, I know, but there were two things in particular that stood out for me (and for my teen, who's also a fan of the games): Bella Ramsay's portrayal of Ellie, and Kaitlyn Dever's casting as Abby.

In the game, Ellie's a monster – and Abby is built like a tank, her muscular body a huge contrast to Ellie's more slender build. But in season 2 Ellie's sad, not mad, and Kaitlyn Dever doesn't have the physical presence of her in-game equivalent. But her rage is just as terrifying, so maybe I just need to forget about the game and let the show do its own thing.

I think one of the things Mazin said about the show explains the different tone of the TV program compared to the game: "For me, this is not a show about revenge," he said. "It's a show about grief." But if you've played the game to the end, you'll know that it's about both: it's a meditation on the damage grief can do to people, both to themselves and to others.

The Last of Us season 2 is streaming now on HBO Max.

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The Last of Us creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have confirmed what fans of the game already expected: The Last of Us season 3 is going to centre on Abby's story, with Kaitlyn Dever's character taking center stage.

Where The Last of Us season 1 followed the beats of the first game pretty faithfully, the second game is more complex and needs more time to tell its story – so where The Last of Us season 2 centered primarily on Ellie after the horrendous events of episode two and only covered part of the story arc, the third season is going to do the same switch of protagonist we experienced in the game and give us much more time with Abby.

That suggests that the rumored fourth and final season (which the show's composer Jake Staley suggests is definite, telling The Last of Us podcast Savage Starlight that "there'll be at least two more seasons, no question") will return to Ellie for its heart-stopping and desperately sad climax.

What to expect from The Last of Us season 3

As the Hollywood Reporter explains (with some spoilers for season 2's big moments), season 3 is going to feel different. “It’s more of a water season than a fire season,” Druckmann revealed, as Mazin added, “It’s a wetter season than a hotter season.” And "season three is going to be starring – spoiler alert – Kaitlyn."

I'm excited about season 3, albeit with some reservations: as someone who loved and was probably deeply traumatized by playing The Last of Us Part II, I felt that season 2 of the TV show didn't feel like the game did.

That's inevitable with any adaptation, I know, but there were two things in particular that stood out for me (and for my teen, who's also a fan of the games): Bella Ramsay's portrayal of Ellie, and Kaitlyn Dever's casting as Abby.

In the game, Ellie's a monster – and Abby is built like a tank, her muscular body a huge contrast to Ellie's more slender build. But in season 2 Ellie's sad, not mad, and Kaitlyn Dever doesn't have the physical presence of her in-game equivalent. But her rage is just as terrifying, so maybe I just need to forget about the game and let the show do its own thing.

I think one of the things Mazin said about the show explains the different tone of the TV program compared to the game: "For me, this is not a show about revenge," he said. "It's a show about grief." But if you've played the game to the end, you'll know that it's about both: it's a meditation on the damage grief can do to people, both to themselves and to others.

The Last of Us season 2 is streaming now on HBO Max.

You may also like

• The Last of Us season 2 won't be the end of the story
• The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann confirms another game, but it's not another Last of Us
• The Last of Us season 3 - what we know so far

• Sam Altman says humanity is “close to building digital superintelligence”
• Intelligent robots that can build other robots “aren’t that far off”
• He sees “whole classes of jobs going away” but “capabilities will go up equally quickly, and we’ll all get better stuff”

In a long blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has set out his vision of the future and reveals how artificial general intelligence (AGI) is now inevitable and about to change the world.

In what could be viewed as an attempt to explain why we haven’t achieved AGI quite yet, Altman seems at pains to stress that the progress of AI as a gentle curve rather than a rapid acceleration, but that we are now “past the event horizon” and that “when we look back in a few decades, the gradual changes will have amounted to something big.”

“From a relativistic perspective, the singularity happens bit by bit", writes Altman, "and the merge happens slowly. We are climbing the long arc of exponential technological progress; it always looks vertical looking forward and flat going backwards, but it’s one smooth curve.“

But even with a more decelerated timeline, Altman is confident that we’re on our way to AGI, and predicts three ways it will shape the future:

1. Robotics

Of particular interest to Altman is the role that robotics are going to play in the future:

“2025 has seen the arrival of agents that can do real cognitive work; writing computer code will never be the same. 2026 will likely see the arrival of systems that can figure out novel insights. 2027 may see the arrival of robots that can do tasks in the real world.”

To do real tasks in the world, as Altman imagines, the robots would need to be humanoid, since our world is designed to be used by humans, after all.

Altman says “...robots that can build other robots … aren’t that far off. If we have to make the first million humanoid robots the old-fashioned way, but then they can operate the entire supply chain – digging and refining minerals, driving trucks, running factories, etc – to build more robots, which can build more chip fabrication facilities, data centers, etc, then the rate of progress will obviously be quite different.”

2. Job losses but also opportunities

Altman says society will have to change to adapt to AI, on the one hand through job losses, but also through increased opportunities:

“The rate of technological progress will keep accelerating, and it will continue to be the case that people are capable of adapting to almost anything. There will be very hard parts like whole classes of jobs going away, but on the other hand the world will be getting so much richer so quickly that we’ll be able to seriously entertain new policy ideas we never could before.”

Altman seems to balance the changing job landscape with the new opportunities that superintelligence will bring: “...maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year; or from a major materials science breakthrough one year to true high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces the next year.”

3. AGI will be cheap and widely available

In Altman’s bold new future, superintelligence will be cheap and widely available. When describing the best path forward, Altman first suggests we solve the “alignment problem”, which involves getting “...AI systems to learn and act towards what we collectively really want over the long-term”.

“Then [we need to] focus on making superintelligence cheap, widely available, and not too concentrated with any person, company, or country … Giving users a lot of freedom, within broad bounds society has to decide on, seems very important. The sooner the world can start a conversation about what these broad bounds are and how we define collective alignment, the better.”

It ain’t necessarily so

Reading Altman’s blog, there’s a kind of inevitability behind his prediction that humanity is marching uninterrupted towards AGI. It’s like he’s seen the future, and there’s no room for doubt in his vision, but is he right?

Altman’s vision stands in stark contrast to the recent paper from Apple that suggested we are a lot farther away from achieving AGI than many AI advocates would like.

“The illusion of thinking”, a new research paper from Apple, states that “despite their sophisticated self-reflection mechanisms learned through reinforcement learning, these models fail to develop generalizable problem-solving capabilities for planning tasks, with performance collapsing to zero beyond a certain complexity threshold.”

The research was conducted on Large Reasoning Models, like OpenAI’s o1/o3 models and Claude 3.7 Sonnet Thinking.

“Particularly concerning is the counterintuitive reduction in reasoning effort as problems approach critical complexity, suggesting an inherent compute scaling limit in LRMs. “, the paper says.

In contrast, Altman is convinced that “Intelligence too cheap to meter is well within grasp. This may sound crazy to say, but if we told you back in 2020 we were going to be where we are today, it probably sounded more crazy than our current predictions about 2030.”

As with all predictions about the future, we’ll find out if Altman is right soon enough.

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• This is what really happened with Siri and Apple Intelligence, according to Apple
• The 7 big Apple Intelligence announcements from WWDC 2025
• OpenAI's high-minded approach to AI-human relationships ignores reality

• Sam Altman says humanity is “close to building digital superintelligence”
• Intelligent robots that can build other robots “aren’t that far off”
• He sees “whole classes of jobs going away” but “capabilities will go up equally quickly, and we’ll all get better stuff”

In a long blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has set out his vision of the future and reveals how artificial general intelligence (AGI) is now inevitable and about to change the world.

In what could be viewed as an attempt to explain why we haven’t achieved AGI quite yet, Altman seems at pains to stress that the progress of AI as a gentle curve rather than a rapid acceleration, but that we are now “past the event horizon” and that “when we look back in a few decades, the gradual changes will have amounted to something big.”

“From a relativistic perspective, the singularity happens bit by bit", writes Altman, "and the merge happens slowly. We are climbing the long arc of exponential technological progress; it always looks vertical looking forward and flat going backwards, but it’s one smooth curve.“

But even with a more decelerated timeline, Altman is confident that we’re on our way to AGI, and predicts three ways it will shape the future:

1. Robotics

Of particular interest to Altman is the role that robotics are going to play in the future:

“2025 has seen the arrival of agents that can do real cognitive work; writing computer code will never be the same. 2026 will likely see the arrival of systems that can figure out novel insights. 2027 may see the arrival of robots that can do tasks in the real world.”

To do real tasks in the world, as Altman imagines, the robots would need to be humanoid, since our world is designed to be used by humans, after all.

Altman says “...robots that can build other robots … aren’t that far off. If we have to make the first million humanoid robots the old-fashioned way, but then they can operate the entire supply chain – digging and refining minerals, driving trucks, running factories, etc – to build more robots, which can build more chip fabrication facilities, data centers, etc, then the rate of progress will obviously be quite different.”

2. Job losses but also opportunities

Altman says society will have to change to adapt to AI, on the one hand through job losses, but also through increased opportunities:

“The rate of technological progress will keep accelerating, and it will continue to be the case that people are capable of adapting to almost anything. There will be very hard parts like whole classes of jobs going away, but on the other hand the world will be getting so much richer so quickly that we’ll be able to seriously entertain new policy ideas we never could before.”

Altman seems to balance the changing job landscape with the new opportunities that superintelligence will bring: “...maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year; or from a major materials science breakthrough one year to true high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces the next year.”

3. AGI will be cheap and widely available

In Altman’s bold new future, superintelligence will be cheap and widely available. When describing the best path forward, Altman first suggests we solve the “alignment problem”, which involves getting “...AI systems to learn and act towards what we collectively really want over the long-term”.

“Then [we need to] focus on making superintelligence cheap, widely available, and not too concentrated with any person, company, or country … Giving users a lot of freedom, within broad bounds society has to decide on, seems very important. The sooner the world can start a conversation about what these broad bounds are and how we define collective alignment, the better.”

It ain’t necessarily so

Reading Altman’s blog, there’s a kind of inevitability behind his prediction that humanity is marching uninterrupted towards AGI. It’s like he’s seen the future, and there’s no room for doubt in his vision, but is he right?

Altman’s vision stands in stark contrast to the recent paper from Apple that suggested we are a lot farther away from achieving AGI than many AI advocates would like.

“The illusion of thinking”, a new research paper from Apple, states that “despite their sophisticated self-reflection mechanisms learned through reinforcement learning, these models fail to develop generalizable problem-solving capabilities for planning tasks, with performance collapsing to zero beyond a certain complexity threshold.”

The research was conducted on Large Reasoning Models, like OpenAI’s o1/o3 models and Claude 3.7 Sonnet Thinking.

“Particularly concerning is the counterintuitive reduction in reasoning effort as problems approach critical complexity, suggesting an inherent compute scaling limit in LRMs. “, the paper says.

In contrast, Altman is convinced that “Intelligence too cheap to meter is well within grasp. This may sound crazy to say, but if we told you back in 2020 we were going to be where we are today, it probably sounded more crazy than our current predictions about 2030.”

As with all predictions about the future, we’ll find out if Altman is right soon enough.

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• New update for Windows 11 24H2 packing gaming fixes was paused for some PCs
• Those devices had a ‘compatibility issue’ meaning they needed a revised update
• Microsoft said this tweaked update should be out for all Windows 11 users by now, but some are still reporting that they don’t have the patch

Windows 11’s latest update has arrived, packing important fixes for PC gamers running version 24H2 of the OS, but it’s suffered an unusual technical glitch that’s causing some confusion.

Windows Latest noticed that Microsoft hit the pause button with the rollout of the June update (formally known as KB5060842), at least for some users after it started to be deployed yesterday.

As Microsoft let us know via the Windows message center: “Note: This update is being gradually rolled out to devices running Windows 11, version 24H2 throughout the day. We’ve identified a compatibility issue affecting a limited set of these devices. If your device is affected, you’ll receive a revised update with all the June 2025 security improvements by the end of the day.”

Microsoft didn’t specify what the compatibility problem is, but given the language used in terms of a ‘limited’ amount of devices being affected, the issue is being played down.

However, looking at a couple of Reddit threads – primarily the official announcement of the patch from Jen Gentleman of the Windows engineering team – there are quite a number of confused Windows 11 users wondering where their update is. Also, there are people with multiple PCs indicating that one has received the June patch, but others haven’t.

In theory, at the time of writing, yesterday ended a few hours ago (based on US Pacific Time, as used in Microsoft’s post on the message center) – and so everyone should have the patch by now. (Either the original, or tweaked update to resolve the compatibility wrinkle, which seemingly has a slightly different version number).

However, there are comments on the above Reddit thread along the lines of: “Is it not past midnight now? Still no update yet. What’s going on with this ‘compatibility issue.’”

Analysis: what’s going on – and what’s the big deal anyway?

(Image credit: Future / Jasmine Mannan)

Microsoft may have slipped with its deadline here. I’d hardly be surprised if this is the case, and it could just be a minor delay. However, what’s a bit more worrying is some scattered reports on Reddit of people ending up with broken operating systems (frozen on green screens or black screens) after applying this June update. There aren’t enough of those complaints to be truly concerned yet, but this is something to keep an eye on.

Could those be folks who accidentally got the update through for a PC vulnerable to the compatibility bug, before Microsoft put the brakes on? Maybe, but that’s just guesswork. Still, if you are getting impatient – and gamers might be in particular – I’d strongly advise against manually installing the June update if it’s not being piped to your PC via Windows Update automatically. Mainly because you may not be receiving it for a good reason, and by forcing the upgrade through, you might encounter a showstopping problem.

Gamers in particular will be keen for KB5060842 because this patch applies some crucial tweaks as mentioned at the outset. That includes the fix for problems with some PC games locking up in Windows 11 24H2 and improvements with stability for Nvidia GPUs (as well as a possible resolution for issues with mouse or keyboard lag). All this was seen in the preview version of this patch last month.

Another new feature introduced with this patch is cross-device resume. This allows you to seamlessly resume working on OneDrive files between your PC and smartphone (and it’s going to evolve into a grander vision of this functionality eventually).

There’s also a bunch of exclusive powers for Copilot+ PCs, including an Ask Copilot option for the Click to Do feature, and a change that has come in from left-field which wasn’t in the preview update in May. This is a limit of 60 days that has been imposed on system restore points, so from now on, restore points that are older than two months will vanish into the ether.

For the uninitiated, system restore is a feature that allows you to take a snapshot of the current configuration of your PC in a working state, so that if some kind of bug wreaks havoc on your device, you can in theory (assuming you can access the desktop) rewind time back to that point. Not that there’s any guarantee it’ll work, mind, but it’s an option that’s worth trying when troubleshooting.

This is a feature that Microsoft hasn’t touched in a long while, so why mess with it in this way now? That’s a good question, and I can’t think of a good answer, really. If I had to guess, maybe system restore just isn’t used so much these days, so it’s being scaled back.

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• New update for Windows 11 24H2 packing gaming fixes was paused for some PCs
• Those devices had a ‘compatibility issue’ meaning they needed a revised update
• Microsoft said this tweaked update should be out for all Windows 11 users by now, but some are still reporting that they don’t have the patch

Windows 11’s latest update has arrived, packing important fixes for PC gamers running version 24H2 of the OS, but it’s suffered an unusual technical glitch that’s causing some confusion.

Windows Latest noticed that Microsoft hit the pause button with the rollout of the June update (formally known as KB5060842), at least for some users after it started to be deployed yesterday.

As Microsoft let us know via the Windows message center: “Note: This update is being gradually rolled out to devices running Windows 11, version 24H2 throughout the day. We’ve identified a compatibility issue affecting a limited set of these devices. If your device is affected, you’ll receive a revised update with all the June 2025 security improvements by the end of the day.”

Microsoft didn’t specify what the compatibility problem is, but given the language used in terms of a ‘limited’ amount of devices being affected, the issue is being played down.

However, looking at a couple of Reddit threads – primarily the official announcement of the patch from Jen Gentleman of the Windows engineering team – there are quite a number of confused Windows 11 users wondering where their update is. Also, there are people with multiple PCs indicating that one has received the June patch, but others haven’t.

In theory, at the time of writing, yesterday ended a few hours ago (based on US Pacific Time, as used in Microsoft’s post on the message center) – and so everyone should have the patch by now. (Either the original, or tweaked update to resolve the compatibility wrinkle, which seemingly has a slightly different version number).

However, there are comments on the above Reddit thread along the lines of: “Is it not past midnight now? Still no update yet. What’s going on with this ‘compatibility issue.’”

Analysis: what’s going on – and what’s the big deal anyway?

(Image credit: Future / Jasmine Mannan)

Microsoft may have slipped with its deadline here. I’d hardly be surprised if this is the case, and it could just be a minor delay. However, what’s a bit more worrying is some scattered reports on Reddit of people ending up with broken operating systems (frozen on green screens or black screens) after applying this June update. There aren’t enough of those complaints to be truly concerned yet, but this is something to keep an eye on.

Could those be folks who accidentally got the update through for a PC vulnerable to the compatibility bug, before Microsoft put the brakes on? Maybe, but that’s just guesswork. Still, if you are getting impatient – and gamers might be in particular – I’d strongly advise against manually installing the June update if it’s not being piped to your PC via Windows Update automatically. Mainly because you may not be receiving it for a good reason, and by forcing the upgrade through, you might encounter a showstopping problem.

Gamers in particular will be keen for KB5060842 because this patch applies some crucial tweaks as mentioned at the outset. That includes the fix for problems with some PC games locking up in Windows 11 24H2 and improvements with stability for Nvidia GPUs (as well as a possible resolution for issues with mouse or keyboard lag). All this was seen in the preview version of this patch last month.

Another new feature introduced with this patch is cross-device resume. This allows you to seamlessly resume working on OneDrive files between your PC and smartphone (and it’s going to evolve into a grander vision of this functionality eventually).

There’s also a bunch of exclusive powers for Copilot+ PCs, including an Ask Copilot option for the Click to Do feature, and a change that has come in from left-field which wasn’t in the preview update in May. This is a limit of 60 days that has been imposed on system restore points, so from now on, restore points that are older than two months will vanish into the ether.

For the uninitiated, system restore is a feature that allows you to take a snapshot of the current configuration of your PC in a working state, so that if some kind of bug wreaks havoc on your device, you can in theory (assuming you can access the desktop) rewind time back to that point. Not that there’s any guarantee it’ll work, mind, but it’s an option that’s worth trying when troubleshooting.

This is a feature that Microsoft hasn’t touched in a long while, so why mess with it in this way now? That’s a good question, and I can’t think of a good answer, really. If I had to guess, maybe system restore just isn’t used so much these days, so it’s being scaled back.

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• Chinese police are preparing to monitor VPN and Telegram users with AI-powered tools
• AI technology was a key element at the largest policing tech expo held in Beijing last May
• People in China cannot access Telegram, the most popular social media app, and international news sites without a VPN

When considering the future of policing, China reserves the spotlight for AI-powered surveillance – and VPN and Telegram users are among the targets.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, AI technology was the key element throughout the 12th China International Exhibition on Police Equipment, the largest policing tech expo held in Beijing last May.

Alongside DeepSeek-inspired LLM models that support criminal investigations and identify high-risk individuals, two tools are set to make the lives of millions of Chinese people who regularly use the best VPNs even harder.

China's AI crackdown to online dissent and censorship

While it's difficult to estimate the number of people using a virtual private network (VPN) in China, we do know that the tool is crucial for accessing the likes of WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, as well as international and independent news sites – the South China Morning Post included.

As Freedom House wrote in its latest report, "Chinese internet users have faced the world’s worst conditions for internet freedom for a decade."

Severe legal repercussions for online activities and strict censorship, the report explains, are complemented by the work of authorities restricting access to anticensorship tools like VPNs.

Today, only a handful of VPN services for China function under these adverse conditions. Despite this, however, China's law enforcement seeks to become even more effective at blocking them.

This is, at least, what a technology company from Nanjing, a city in Eastern China, plans to do. During the event, the firm "showcased a tool capable of detecting such use [of VPNs]," the South China Morning Post reported.

A VPN is security software that encrypts users' internet connections while spoofing their real IP address. The latter skill is exactly what lets people bypass strict content geo-restrictions in place in China. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Most of the people using a VPN are likely to do so to access Telegram, among other things. The popular messaging app and its official website have been blocked since 2015 in China, following a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on its servers.

If you cannot prevent it, you can control it, right? This is what the Third Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security – the country's top police body – proposed to do with its new tools that, they say, can monitor Telegram.

This surveillance software is said to be able to monitor all Telegram accounts with Chinese mobile phone numbers, as these include strict real-name requirements.

"To date, the tool has collected more than 30 billion messages and monitored 70 million Telegram accounts, as well as 390,000 public channels and groups," said the group, as per the South China Morning Post.

Most crucially, however, this tool also seeks to target online dissent by scanning all Telegram messages related to politics and Hong Kong.

"The Institute cited the widespread use of Telegram by anti-government protesters in Hong Kong in 2019 as one of the reasons for developing the tool," wrote the South China Morning Post.

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• Chinese police are preparing to monitor VPN and Telegram users with AI-powered tools
• AI technology was a key element at the largest policing tech expo held in Beijing last May
• People in China cannot access Telegram, the most popular social media app, and international news sites without a VPN

When considering the future of policing, China reserves the spotlight for AI-powered surveillance – and VPN and Telegram users are among the targets.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, AI technology was the key element throughout the 12th China International Exhibition on Police Equipment, the largest policing tech expo held in Beijing last May.

Alongside DeepSeek-inspired LLM models that support criminal investigations and identify high-risk individuals, two tools are set to make the lives of millions of Chinese people who regularly use the best VPNs even harder.

China's AI crackdown to online dissent and censorship

While it's difficult to estimate the number of people using a virtual private network (VPN) in China, we do know that the tool is crucial for accessing the likes of WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, as well as international and independent news sites – the South China Morning Post included.

As Freedom House wrote in its latest report, "Chinese internet users have faced the world’s worst conditions for internet freedom for a decade."

Severe legal repercussions for online activities and strict censorship, the report explains, are complemented by the work of authorities restricting access to anticensorship tools like VPNs.

Today, only a handful of VPN services for China function under these adverse conditions. Despite this, however, China's law enforcement seeks to become even more effective at blocking them.

This is, at least, what a technology company from Nanjing, a city in Eastern China, plans to do. During the event, the firm "showcased a tool capable of detecting such use [of VPNs]," the South China Morning Post reported.

A VPN is security software that encrypts users' internet connections while spoofing their real IP address. The latter skill is exactly what lets people bypass strict content geo-restrictions in place in China. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Most of the people using a VPN are likely to do so to access Telegram, among other things. The popular messaging app and its official website have been blocked since 2015 in China, following a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on its servers.

If you cannot prevent it, you can control it, right? This is what the Third Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security – the country's top police body – proposed to do with its new tools that, they say, can monitor Telegram.

This surveillance software is said to be able to monitor all Telegram accounts with Chinese mobile phone numbers, as these include strict real-name requirements.

"To date, the tool has collected more than 30 billion messages and monitored 70 million Telegram accounts, as well as 390,000 public channels and groups," said the group, as per the South China Morning Post.

Most crucially, however, this tool also seeks to target online dissent by scanning all Telegram messages related to politics and Hong Kong.

"The Institute cited the widespread use of Telegram by anti-government protesters in Hong Kong in 2019 as one of the reasons for developing the tool," wrote the South China Morning Post.

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Even the best Wi-Fi routers will struggle with larger spaces. That's where a decent mesh system can make the difference.

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The second most popular TV show on Netflix worldwide comes straight outta Scotland, and it's racking up rave reviews, making it one of the best Netflix shows. Dept. Q deserves every one of the five stars it's getting, because it's an absolute blast.

Dept. Q has so far spent two weeks in the Netflix top ten for global TV, with 8.9 million views and 73,400,000 hours – so almost everyone who starts watching it keeps watching it.

On the face of it, the show is just another cop drama. You know the type: maverick cop battling demons, a woman in peril at the hands of a sinister figure. But it's much more than that, which is why I pretty much inhaled every episode.

What's so great about Dept. Q

The show is based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Danish detective stories, but the action has been moved to Edinburgh in Scotland. Matthew Goode plays detective Carl Morck, and it's clear that the man is an insufferable ass who is rightly loathed by many of his colleagues, even after he survives a murderous event. That event has terrible consequences for his friend and partner, played by the always brilliant Jamie Sives, and it's clear that Monck is increasingly weighed dow by the guilt of that.

Monck is given the job of investigating cold cases, and gets a team of fellow misfits: former Syrian police officer Akram Salim (Alexjev Manvelov), a lovely man with many secrets, and the well-meaning but traumatised cadet Rose (Leah Byrne). Together they focus on a single case: the disappearance of lawyer Merritt Linguard (Chloe Pirie).

What follows is an extremely tense race against time to find and save Merritt, interwoven with the interpersonal dramas of Monck, his team, and his home life. It's often very funny, especially in the home bits, and the script is whip-smart and razor-sharp throughout. And the cast is brilliant, with fine performances throughout and the very welcome appearances of Mark Bonnar, Kelly Macdonald and Sanjeev Kholi.

Without giving any spoilers I do need to warn you that the central disappearance teeters very much on the edge of voyeurism: I'm not a big fan of seeing women (or anyone else) undergoing terrible treatment and I think in a couple of instances the camera lingered a little too long on things in much the way that the Idris Elba show Luther sometimes did. But maybe I'm just easily upset.

If like me you're a Scot there's also fun to be had nitpicking: why does everyone in Edinburgh have a Glasgow accent? Don't they know that pub is nowhere near that bit of town? Do Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives have to appear in everything (not that I'm complaining)? And it's interesting to compare what you can do with a Netflix budget compared to the much more modest means of Scotland's own broadcasters: I'm often excited by the arrival of a new homegrown drama only to be deeply disappointed. Whereas I loved this.

Dept Q currently has 84% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics, and 94% from viewers. It's available to stream on Netflix now.

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• Sales of the Nintendo Switch are off to a very strong start
• More than 3.5 million units have been sold in just four days
• It's now the fastest-selling Nintendo console ever

Nintendo Switch 2 sales have got off to a very strong start, with the console smashing through records in less than a week following its June 5 launch.

The Nintendo Switch 2 sold more than 3.5 million units worldwide in just four days, making the fastest-selling Nintendo console ever. As Nintendo's biggest launch, it's currently outpacing sales of previous successes like the Wii and Nintendo DS.

To put that figure in context, the original Nintendo Switch, which was a highly popular console by any measure, sold 2.74 million units in its launch month.

As Mat Piscatella, executive director of video games at market research firm Circana, points out, the sales of any console within its first week is largely down to how much supply is available.

We already know that Nintendo has been preparing for the Nintendo Switch 2 launch for quite some time, having significantly more Nintendo Switch 2 units ready at launch than its predecessor.

The deciding factor in the console's success will be whether it maintains this trajectory. As market research firm DFC Intelligence predicts that the Nintendo Switch 2 could shift 100 million units by the end of 2029, it seems likely.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is available now. It costs $449.99 / £395.99 . A bundle that includes a digital copy of Mario Kart World is also available for $499.99 / £429.99.

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• Mindseye has launched with numerous bugs and performance issues
• Players have taken to social media to share clips and frustrations
• The developer insists fixes and improvements are in the works

Developer Build A Rocket Boy's Mindseye has officially launched, and first impressions haven't exactly been glowing. No shortage of players have taken to social media to express frustrations regarding the game's performance, price point, and a smattering of inexcusable bugs and glitches.

Some rather unfortunate screenshots and clips have surfaced on sites like X / Twitter. One shows a character stretching into an eldritch abomination after being hit by a buggy. Another shows that facial animations aren't exactly what we'd call realistic, to put it lightly.

Another rather humorous post shows that Mindseye's non-player character civilians have a hard time fighting back when attacked, either by firing their gun into the air or wandering off into busy traffic.

Creepiest Bug I have ever witnessed since AC Unity #MindsEye pic.twitter.com/qHOgYmHRIgJune 10, 2025

Mindseye's Steam page tells a pretty grim tale, too. At the time of writing, the game sits at a 'Mixed' 42% rating with roughly 800 user reviews.

"It’s got that typical bad Unreal Engine feel to it," says the top rated review. "The story is somewhat interesting, but the gameplay is just unplayable, it’s nowhere near optimised."

"The game suffers from some serious technical issues," reads another, "objects and environments load way too slowly, and you literally see them pop into existence right in front of you. It breaks immersion completely and gives the whole experience a very choppy and unfinished feel."

It's not all bad, though. Near unanimous praise seems to be levied at Mindseye's early story beats which point to an enjoyable sci-fi premise and setting. Others also feel that the gunplay and driving are satisfying, as you'd expect from a studio that features ex-Grand Theft Auto talent.

Mindseye did launch with a day one patch that's yet to be deployed on Xbox Series X|S consoles, and the developer has taken to Reddit to promise further performance improvements (thanks, Eurogamer). But for now, you're probably better off avoiding Mindseye until it's received some substantial improvements.

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• James Gunn has confirmed that a new Wonder Woman movie is in the works
• The DCU Chapter One film is "being written right now", Gunn says
• DC fans have drawn up a wish-list of actors they want to play Diana Prince

Diana Prince is coming to the DC Universe (DCU) earlier than anyone expected after James Gunn confirmed that a new Wonder Woman movie is in development.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly (EW), the co-chief of DC Studios surprisingly revealed that a Wonder Woman film is not only "being written right now", but also being worked on separately to Paradise Lost.

The latter is a Max TV show that would be a Game of Thrones-inspired project based on Themyscira, aka the idyllic, all-female island nation Diana Prince hails from. Paradise Lost was announced as part of the DCU Chapter One lineup in January 2023, but, as Gunn also told EW, progress is moving slowly on this series' development.

It'll be a few years before we see Wonder Woman make her DCU debut (Image credit: DC Comics)

A Wonder Woman movie announcement isn't a shock in itself – after all, the Amazonian is a member of DC Comics' iconic Trinity of superheroes. If you weren't aware, the others are Superman and Batman.

Still, considering that Paradise Lost was meant to act as a precursor to Wonder Woman's eventual arrival in the DCU, I don't think anyone predicted that Gunn would confirm a Diana Prince-led project is already being worked on. I say that after Gunn sparked excitement over Wonder Woman's DCU debut less than a month ago (at the time of publication, anyway), too.

Which actor do fans want to play Wonder Woman in the DCU?

Gal Gadot is the latest actor to portray Diana Prince on the big screen (Image credit: Warner Bros)

It'll be a few years before Wonder Woman returns on the big screen. We don't actually know how much work has been completed on its screenplay, nor do we have any idea about which actor will follow in the footsteps of Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter, who've previously played Diana Prince in a live-action capacity.

For his part, Gunn told EW he and fellow DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran haven't opened the casting call yet. That hasn't stopped DC devotees from drawing up a shortlist of actors they'd like to see tackle the role. Indeed, threads on the DC Cinematic and DCU Leaks Reddit pages, as well as one on ResetEra, are full of suggestions from comic-book fans and casual observers alike.

Lots of great options are being proposed, too. Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown, Fubar), May Calamawy (Moon Knight), Charlee Fraser (Anyone But You, Furiosa), Melissanthi Mahut (The Sandman), and Elizabeth Dulau (Andor) have all been fan-cast since the news broke.

Comment from r/DCULeaks

However, it's another Star Wars alumnus – one who joined Dulau on Andor's cast roster – who's the clear favorite among many DC fans: Adria Arjona.

I could see that happening. I think any of the aforementioned actors would be a good fit to play Diana Prince, but Arjona would certainly be my top pick to assume the role of one of DC Comics' most popular heroes.

She's shown she has the capabilities to play such a multidimensional character in numerous projects, including Andor, Hit Man, Blink Twice, and Good Omens. Make it so, Messrs Gunn and Safran, and I'm sure you'll make plenty of people happy.

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• Salesforce UKI CEO declares it's time for the "digital labour revolution"
• AI agents set to play an increasingly vital role at firms everywhere
• Agentforce can be "the agentic layer for your enterprise", Salesforce says

The next stage in business AI adoption will see agents become a vital part of the workforce, no matter your industry, Salesforce leaders have declared.

Speaking at its Agentforce World Tour London event, Zahra Bahrololoumi CBE, Salesforce UKI CEO, said it was time for the “digital labour revolution” as AI agents take a more central role in businesses everywhere.

“This is a moment where we get extend our teams and unlock additional capacity with AI agents working alongside us,” she declared, “and we need this now more than ever, because customers expect more.”

AI agents everywhere

Bahrololoumi highlighted the increasing role of AI agents as the next step along a technological journey that has seen businesses embrace the Internet, cloud computing mobile, and now AI.

Salesforce has been able to support its customers along each step of this journey, she noted, and wants to play a key role in AI adoption, a move which she noted is, “quite possibly bigger than the arrival of the internet.”

Today’s consumers and business clients want personal and human experiences, proactive scheduling and more interactive experiences in their business dealing, she noted, “customers want this 24/7 - but the reality is many customers are struggling to keep up.”

Instead of having to choose between quality and scale, or burning out human workers, AI agents can play a key role, Salesforce believes.

Bahrololoumi explained that Agentforce can offer "workforces without limits...agents with real agency, they don't just talk, they take action and they resolve your customer's issues 24/7.”

"Agentforce isn't just a suite of tools, it's the agentic layer for your enterprise," she declared, “it's time for companies to take advantage of the digital labour revolution."

To back up these views, Salesforce revealed its Digital Labour Trends Report, which claims UK C-suite businesses leaders believe digital labour will provide a 25% boost in productivity.

The research also found UK firms are now fully embracing AI agents, with over three-quarters (78%) of organizations already using AI agents, and 14% planning to adopt the technology in the next six months.

“Every board and business must prepare for this organizational transformation, equipping their people for a workforce that is both human and digital,” commented Bahrololoumi, “this is the digital labour revolution.”

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