Technology

• The US government is using 'eminent domain' to force landowners to sell property to make way for new data center infrastructure
• Power companies are turning to the government as a last resort for acquiring land needed for power transmission projects
• Americans are not happy with the mass buildout of new AI data centers

It’s no secret that there is a big divide between AI companies looking to expand capacity and the general public who don’t want a data center constructed in their back yard, particularly in the US.

Recent polling has put that number up to as many as 7 in 10 Americans who are opposed to data center construction, with environmental concerns and reductions in quality of life cited as the biggest reasons.

But AI companies and energy firms alike are reportedly turning to ‘eminent domain’ - the government’s ability to seize the private property of landholders without the need for the owner’s consent.

Government seizing private property

Eminent domain has typically been reserved for critical infrastructure projects including power and transport, alongside government projects and public utilities.

Eminent domain was also famously used to seize land for the construction of the Minuteman nuclear missile deterrent across the United States during the Cold War.

Drawing on a similar patriotic tone expressed during the construction of silos in the 1960s, President Donald Trump has said that the development of AI technologies is crucial to the national security and economic security of the US, and therefore capacity must be expanded.

As data centers require enormous amounts of electricity in order to function, they require dedicated power lines and infrastructure connections. In order to construct this infrastructure, power companies approach local landowners and offer to buy the land upon which the power lines will be built. However, if the landowners say no, the power companies can call on the government to use its power of eminent domain.

The Fifth Amendment of the US constitution requires the government to provide the landowner with “just compensation,” generally based on fair market value for similar property in the local area.

Data centers accounted for roughly 10-20% of US electricity consumption in 2024, with that number having risen significantly since then. Some data centers under construction will use more power than some US cities, such as Meta’s Hyperion campus in Louisiana which is expected to consume three times the power consumed by the city of New Orleans.

Some states have been more prolific in their use of eminent domain, with residents in Georgia being forced to sell property to the Georgia Power transmission project - a capacity expansion that will primarily benefit data centers. Other landowners in Maryland have begun erecting signs on their property that state, “No eminent domain for corporate gain.”

The opposition to data centers is fast becoming a people versus the government issue, with many complaining that AI companies are becoming extremely wealthy without providing any benefit for the average working class American - something that Senator Bernie Sanders hopes to remediate with an AI sovereign wealth fund that would force AI companies to offer up 50% of their stock to be used to fund projects that benefit Americans.

Via Fortune

Sony PS-LX3BT: Two-minute review

The Sony PS-LX3BT is one of the first new turntables to leave Sony’s R&D department in years. It comes some time after the launch of the Sony PS-LX310BT, one of what TechRadar rightfully deems to be the best turntables for beginners — and has big shoes to fill, accordingly.

And fill them it sort-of does, at least in the most literal of senses. It shares a lot of physical attributes, aims for the same sleek aesthetic, and seeks to corner the same, well, corner of the market with user-friendly interfaces and a no-nonsense approach to playing records. It’s a shame it doesn’t quite stick the landing.

Price is the major sticking point for me — its launch price far overshot similarly specced, and better-featured, turntables in the same market. This was the backdrop against which certain bugbears became serious missteps — from a stylus that Sony insists you need to replace through them, to a cheap-feeling body that feels like it’s come from a device a third of the price.

These things overshadow the PS-LX3BT’s capable performance with audio, via its decent on-board preamp and its star-of-the-show press-and-play Bluetooth connectivity. It could be good — it is good, by some metrics — but not for where it’s asking to sit.

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)Sony PS-LX3BT review: Price & release date

• Unveiled February 2, 2026
• Priced $399.99 / £299 / AU$469

The Sony PS-LX3BT is a fully automatic, Bluetooth-enabled plug-and-play turntable, with an eye cocked squarely at the upper limits of the entry level. At its launch price of $399 / £299 / AU$469, it’s not what I would call cheap; in fact, it’s undercut by a fair few near-equivalent competitors — most compelling of which is the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT.

Then, there's this turntable's own sibling (they actually launched together), the Sony PS-LX5BT which is pricier but adds a more delicate stylus pressure of 2.0g ± 0.5g, a thicker and more premium rubber mat, a tweaked circuit design engineered to suppress unwanted vibration, a dedicated gold-plated audio jack out port (something not present here) with a cable in the box, plus a slightly more high-end, all-black finish.

Most other competitors in the market, though, do not have ‘Sony’ tastefully emblazoned on the chassis. Sony is a tried-and-tested household brand for AV tech, be it TVs, games consoles, CD players or integrated hi-fi systems.

Hence, the brand is likely better-trusted by new or returning vinyl enthusiasts to deliver something intuitive, fuss-free and of a minimum quality. Is this trust well-founded? The 2019 Sony PS-LX310BT was a huge success, but it was also a lot cheaper (depending on where you lived), having launched at $199 / £200 / AU$399. So, you can see the issue…

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)Sony PS-LX3BT review: Specs

Dimensions

430 mm x 117 mm x 366 mm

Motor

Belt drive

Platter

Die-cast aluminum

Phono preamp

Yes

USB

No

Bluetooth

4.2

Speeds

33 1/3, 45 RPM

Stylus

Moving magnet

Extras

USB-C power adapter, 45 adapter

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)Sony PS-LX3BT review: Features

• Fully automatic operation
• AptX Adaptive Bluetooth output
• Built-in phono preamp and gain control

The Sony PS-LX3BT is an automatic turntable; this means it can be operated entirely by the array of buttons and switches adorning its anthracite-hued surface. Simply select the size and speed of your record, then use the buttons at the front to control the placement or removal of the tonearm. The platter’s rotation is triggered by moving the tonearm past a certain point, so even if you want to use the PS-LX3BT manually (by virtue of the silver finger-rest protruding from where the headshell would be) you literally only have to lift a finger to play a record.

Automatic turntable mechanisms are not so new, and this mechanical design doesn’t sound especially new either, with some familiar clunks and whirrs I know from my old Rotel system. What is, at least slightly newer, though, is Bluetooth connectivity, which the PS-LX3BT quite proudly has. More specifically, there’s aptX Adaptive Bluetooth transmission, for low-latency, high-resolution streaming from the turntable to your Bluetooth receiver of choice and accessed via a suavely flush button in the front-left corner of the chassis face.

On top of this Bluetooth connectivity, the LX3BT has connections the old-fashioned way, via a hard-wired stereo RCA cable out from the back. It’s an odd choice to use a permanently attached cable instead of a port – and at that, given the audience for this thing, I’m surprised there isn’t a 3.5mm Aux out either.

Still, that RCA cable feeds a built-in and switchable phono preamp, which means you can plug your turntable in most any amplifier without needing an extra gain stage. On top of that, there’s a gain switch that lets you boost or attenuate your turntable’s output by 4dB. Surprising in a different way; thoughtful, even.

The LX3BT has, like many other entry-level turntables of its ilk, a completely built-in cartridge arrangement with a replaceable stylus element. The stylus part here looks strikingly like one of Audio-Technica’s AT-3600 series, but is “designed specifically for this turntable”, according to Sony’s website FAQ. With a bit of sleuthing, the stylus does appear to be Audio-Technica’s AT3600LAX, a conical stylus with a carbon-fiber cantilever – though Sony’s specs point to a slightly heftier 3.5g tracking force. (Incidentally, my own tracking-force measurements of the tonearm put its exertion at a, for me, troublingly high 3.7g.)

Crucially, this thin layer of proprietariness creates an uneasy route to self-replacement, or indeed upgrade. Sony would prefer you go through its dealers or customer service department for a like-for-like stylus replacement, indicating that “other styluses are not supported”. Built-in cartridges and replaceable styli can be clever entry-level phenomena, and can be executed transparently well, but here, in this manner, it trends a little too close to being anti-consumer for my liking. Minus thoughtfulness points.

• Features score: 3 / 5

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)Sony PS-LX3BT review: Sound quality

• Warm, clear sound from stylus
• Faultless Bluetooth transmission
• Clean, clear built-in preamp

For all the grumblings I’ve leveled at the Sony PS-LX3BT thus far, I will contend that it actually does sound good. That definitely-not-an-AT-3600L-in-a-moustache cartridge presents a perfectly reasonable quality of sound — great, even, for its place in the market.

True to the marketing copy, the LX3BT sounds warm, the general color of its cartridge being a little on the soft side with some noticeable roll-off towards the upper reaches. Future Islands’ As Long As You Are sounds no less rich for this character, all big, warbly synths and croon-adjacent missives throughout. It's an enjoyable listen.

Testing the 7-inch functionality of the automatic mechanism, I chucked on early-80s groover Emergency (Dial 999) by Loose Ends (a DJ-set staple, and an undeniable bop besides — fight me). It ended up being a great conduit by which to recognize the strengths of the PS-LX3BT’s built-in phono preamp. Often in budget turntables, these can be brittle or a little saturating; this one is clear and full, rendering those snappy standout snares and breakout vocal refrains in gratifying detail.

The whole outfit seems to benefit guitars and vocals over anything, though everything sounds, to some extent, present and fulsome; Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Risky, featuring Iggy Pop, is a sparse arrangement benefited by Iggy’s game attempt at a Let’s Dance-era Bowie impression — his voice is a raspy little joy all the time, but rendered to some good effect here.

Unobtrusively good sound quality notwithstanding, the aptX Adaptive Bluetooth connectivity is arguably the star of the show. It’s fast to connect to, and, with regards to fidelity, sounds indistinguishable from its analog alternative. I had a whale of a time in the kitchen listening to Mitski’s Nothing’s About To Happen To Me, in all its full and heartbreaking glory, fuss-free.

• Sound quality score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)Sony PS-LX3BT review: Design

• Cheap-feeling construction
• Easy to set up
• One-touch Bluetooth

Pulling the PS-LX3BT out of the box, I found the chassis to be quite light. Surprisingly light, even. Putting it together, it became clear that almost every element was some form of plastic — besides occasional aspects, and the die-cast aluminum platter. It’s not a reassuring weight, though the turntable is undeniably stable on its feet.

I’m more disappointed by the perceivable cheapness of the construction on display here. A series of design decisions were made that preferred cost to user experience, leading to a pretty nasty-feeling finish on the chassis shell, a flimsy tonearm rest clasp that doesn’t actually clasp, and a spring-assisted tonearm that inspires little confidence.

At least the LX3BT is an easy thing to set up — as easy as seating the platter belt, plugging in a power adapter and delivering the hardwired stereo RCA cable to your amp or speaker of choice. It couldn’t be more plug-and-play, nor more foolproof to use via its clearly labeled buttons and knobs.

Again, the best bit of the Sony PS-LX3BT seems to be its Bluetooth. Where many other devices struggle unduly with one-touch connectivity, connecting this turntable to my portable speaker was the easiest time of my life; a single button press, a modicum of patient waiting with speaker held (camply) in-hand, and it was paired.

This aptX Adaptive connectivity can be utilized simultaneously to the PS-LX3BT’s analog outputs, too. This means dual-zone listening; I got to enjoy hi-res Mitski in the kitchen while my wife bopped along in the living room, too. And, again, it sounded great! A positive side-effect design decision, that pitches the Sony LX3BT well for casual home listening.

• Design score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)Sony PS-LX3BT review: Value

• Great-sounding entry-level turntable…
• …that’s fundamentally overpriced
• And doesn’t allow self-replacement of stylus

To be completely frank, I find it difficult to square the price of this against its own quality, let alone the standards set by other turntable brands. It’s the top end of the entry level, and yet it has the same unfriendly design principles as the cheap-and-cheerful, ten-a-penny budget turntables it’s meant to outclass.

The caveat is that it does, ultimately, deliver on its core purposes. It’s an automatic turntable, and it does indeed automate much of the turntable-playing process — for the most part successfully, too. It’s a Bluetooth-enabled turntable, and its Bluetooth just works, which is something you can’t say for some other devices. And through it all, it sounds pretty darn decent.

But these are all things that turntables a third cheaper can offer. You deserve so much more for $400 / £300 than a brand logo; if you let it, that same amount of investment could buy you a solid turntable that delivers better quality sound, and gives you the keys to the kingdom vis-a-vis calibration and repairs too.

Here, it is worth my acknowledging that, in the intervening weeks since the LX3BT’s launch, there seems to have been a post-launch price-adjustment of sorts; many outlets are offering it at $348 / £250, or even slightly less. This makes the turntable a much more palatable prospect investment-wise, but I do think my criticisms stand — and that other turntables have met the moment a little better.

• Value score: 2.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)Should I buy the Sony PS-LX3BT?Sony PS-LX3BT scorecard

Attribute

Notes

Score

Features

AptX Adaptive Bluetooth and a fully automatic mechanism let down by an opaque approach to stylus and stylus replacement

3 / 5

Sound quality

Warm, full sound; a clear preamp and unobtrusive Bluetooth connection make for clear and easy listening

4 / 5

Design

A quintessential Sony design, sleek and minimal — but cheap in-hand, in a number of places

3 / 5

Value

A hard turntable to recommend at its launch price — cheaper and better-specced competitors exist

2.5 / 5

Buy it if…

You want simple, and your needs are simple
As far as turntables go, this is as foolproof as it gets. It has a hardwired RCA output for connection to conventional hi-fis, aptX Adaptive for Bluetooth connectivity to anywhere in your home, and automatic mechanisms for play at the press of a button.

You want an austere-looking turntable
The executive colour scheme is a good friend to minimalist living-room aesthetics — if you want something that blends in, this is it.

Don’t buy it if…

You’re buying for the long term
The Sony PS-LX3BT is a closed device, with a proprietary built-in cartridge and no adjustability or upgradeability whatsoever. If and when your hi-fi needs exceed the entry-level capabilities of this turntable, you’ll have to buy something else anyway.

You’re looking for the best bang-for-buck
It’s an unfortunate truth, but there are better turntables out there that cost less than the Sony PS-LX3BT, while possessing almost exactly the same features — and a little more repairability, too.

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Also consider

Sony PS-LX3BT

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT

FiiO TT13

Dimensions

430 x 117 x 366 mm

110 x 400 x 330mm

114 x 450 x 350mm

Motor

Belt drive

Belt drive

Belt drive

Platter

Die-cast aluminum

Die-cast aluminum

Die-cast aluminum

Phono preamp

Yes, switchable

Yes, switchable

Yes

USB

No

No

No

Bluetooth

SBC / aptX / aptX Adaptive

SBC / aptX / aptX Adaptive

SBC / aptX / aptX LL / aptX HD

Speeds

33 1/3, 45 RPM

33 1/3, 45 RPM

33 1/3, 45 RPM

Stylus

Moving magnet

Audio-Technica AT-VM95C

Audio-Technica AT3600LA

Extras

Dust cover, 45 adapter

Dust cover, felt mat, 45 adapter, 1m RCA cable

Dust cover, remote control, RCA cable

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT
For my money, the question that the Sony PS-LX3BT is trying to answer has already been asked and answered by the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT. It's another automatic, aptX Adaptive Bluetooth-connectible turntable aimed at the entry level, but which comes in much cheaper and at a much higher quality of design and build. Get this one!
Read our Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT review here.

FiiO TT13
If sleekness is the name of your game, the FiiO TT13 has it in spades. This is another decent fully automatic turntable, with a replaceable AT-3600LA stylus and a phono preamp (though, unlike with the Sony or Audio-Technica, you can’t toggle this one off). It’s also got pretty lights!
Read our FiiO TT13 review here.

How I tested the Sony PS-LX3BT

• Tested for 4 weeks
• Used as a part of a living-room hi-fi system
• Tested with a Cambridge hi-fi amplifier and Dali Sonik 1 bookshelf speakers

The Sony PS-LX3BT spent a month or so atop my living-room hi-fi stack, as my primary means of listening to records. As such, its output was treated by a Cambridge Audio A2 integrated amplifier, which itself fed a pair of Dali Sonik 1 bookshelf speakers.

Bluetooth connectivity was tested with my trusty kitchen speaker, a Soundcore Motion 300. For testing, I listened to a wide variety of favored records across genres, to get a comprehensive feel for the LX3BT’s performance.

• Read TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee
• First reviewed: July 2026

• Ofcom is now implementing its proposal to use more 6GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi and mobile broadband
• The upper band of 6GHz will be used for better performance in both cases, though it'll be Wi-Fi only to start with
• 6G mobile will be part of the recipe in the 2030s, and both Wi-Fi and 6G will be able to share the same frequency band thanks to Automated Frequency Coordination tech, which is likened to air traffic control

Ofcom is aiming to boost Wi-Fi speeds in the UK, and eventually mobile data too, by opening more of the 6GHz spectrum to facilitate this improved connectivity.

Thus far, only the lower band of the 6GHz spectrum has been used, but following a previous consultation, Ofcom just greenlit the use of the upper band, from 6425Mhz to 7125MHz. The idea is that Wi-Fi will get priority access to the bottom 160MHz slice of this upper band (6425 to 6585MHz), with "non-prioritised access" to the rest (6585 to 7125MHz).

The idea is that the bigger chunk of the spectrum will be shared between Wi-Fi and mobile broadband, with the latter getting priority — although mobile won't happen until the 2030s. For now, only the Wi-Fi spectrum is being expanded in the UK. As Ofcom puts it: "This approach allows earlier use of the band by Wi-Fi while preserving the ability of mobile network operators (MNOs) to introduce mobile services in the future."

Notably this is the first time that both mobile and Wi-Fi services will be allowed share the same frequency band, and this is facilitated by a technology known as AFC or Automated Frequency Coordination.

As Ofcom explains, this hasn't been possible before because of the risk of crossed signals and interference therein, but AFC — which is effectively like an 'air traffic control' system for wireless signals — means that bands can now be shared in this way.

David Willis, Group Director for Spectrum at Ofcom, commented: "Everybody in the UK wants faster Wi-Fi and better mobile performance. Our decision today will allow mobile and Wi-Fi services to share the airwaves in the future, helping make this need a reality."

Note that a router must support Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 to tap the 6GHz spectrum, and of course the devices you wish to use on the wireless network must as well.

Analysis: a flexible solution

(Image credit: Unsplash)

So, this move is bringing in more bandwidth, and therefore more breathing room, for wireless signals in the UK, starting with Wi-Fi and paving the way for next-gen 6G mobile connections down the road.

The end result will be faster performance and a greater capacity in dense environments where a lot of devices are trying to grab bandwidth, such as apartment blocks, offices, or stadiums. Ofcom notes that in the latter cases: "Outdoor and higher power use is also permitted, but only where devices operate under the control of an Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system."

The sharing approach using AFC makes sense in terms of giving both Wi-Fi users and mobile network operators a slice of the pie, and it lends a good deal of flexibility to the implementation. In remote or rural areas, for example, where 6G isn't deployed, the entire higher part of the spectrum will always be available for Wi-Fi usage.

Of course, the proof will be in the pudding with the rollout in busier areas, and how AFC actually works in signal-dense environments.

• A digital rights group unveils a new version of its free, open-source VPN
• FreeSocks v2 adds Xray-based pluggable proxy to evade VPN blocks
• Post-quantum encryption has also been added for maximum security

With state-sponsored internet blocks growing more sophisticated worldwide, ordinary citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to stay connected. Now, one privacy-focused non-profit is fighting back by completely rebuilding its popular censorship circumvention tool.

Unredacted, a US-based non-profit dedicated to internet freedom, has launched the second generation of its free VPN service, FreeSocks. First released in 2023, the original service successfully issued over 60,000 access keys to users trapped behind digital firewalls.

However, as Unredacted noted in a blog post, censors have refined their blocking skills and become more efficient in blocking VPN and proxy protocols designed to circumvent Internet censorship. "We realized we needed to build FreeSocks from the ground up via a highly flexible system," the group explains.

Today (July 20), Unredeacted announced the new version of the app, adding that "It's now time to punch more holes in the closed Internet."

FreeSocks v2 is now live and promises to provide an incredibly powerful, fully anonymous alternative designed specifically for high-risk environments.

Unredacted’s mission against a closing web

Why the urgent need for a censorship-resistant VPN? 2025 was the worst year on record for internet shutdowns, and state censors are deploying increasingly advanced deep packet inspection (DPI) to identify and block traditional proxy traffic.

Unredacted’s stated mission is to "Operate with absolute transparency, morality, and empathy to directly benefit users and citizens globally." As governments crack down, everyday users, like Iranians overcoming unprecedented internet censorship, are forced into a daily struggle to access outside information.

Censors got better at blocking VPNs, so we rebuilt ours from the ground up.FreeSocks v2 is out today, with harder-to-block protocols, accounts that collect no personal data, and no IP logging anywhere.It's free forever. Share it with a friend behind the censored Internet.July 20, 2026

This mirrors global trends where VPN providers have radically adapted how they dodge blocking technology. Rather than relying on easily identifiable connections, modern circumvention demands dynamic VPN obfuscation technology.

Unredacted embraces this approach by shifting away from the easily blocked Outline (Shadowsocks) protocols to a new primary backend running Xray.

By supporting pluggable proxy backends, FreeSocks v2 can instantly pivot if censors catch on. This ongoing cat-and-mouse game continues to pose a broader question to the industry: is the future of censorship-resistant VPNs no VPNs at all?

Upgraded privacy, hardware, and post-quantum encryption

(Image credit: Unredacted)

Beyond evading blocks, FreeSocks v2 offers aggressive privacy guarantees. Users don't need an email or password to sign up. Instead, solving a proof-of-work challenge generates a random 32-digit account number. Furthermore, Unredacted explicitly confirms: "The application never stores a client IP address anywhere – not even hashed."

Security is also heavily bolstered by hybrid post-quantum encryption. FreeSocks v2 adds X-Wing, a hybrid protocol that combines classical X25519 and post-quantum ML-KEM-768 algorithms. In simple terms, it ensures that your data remains secure even against hypothetical future quantum computers designed to break modern encryption.

Crucially, Unredacted is cutting ties with third-party hosting, too. "FreeSocks v2 is launching fully on hardware that we own, colocated in Kansas City, MO," the team confirmed. This hardware ownership prevents upstream providers from interfering with user traffic or handing over server logs.

While the core service remains free, users can purchase an optional $5 monthly membership to remove traffic limits. Unredacted also accepts cryptocurrency and fiat donations.

In a unique philanthropic twist, every donation made to the platform directly funds a shared bandwidth bonus that is automatically split across all free users on the network every month.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18: One-minute review

A hefty laptop in every sense of the word, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 bolsters its beefy design with high-end componentry, including a flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU. It’s an 18-inch gaming machine that’s capable of running the latest titles at the best quality.

If this blockbuster performance comes at a cost, it’s portability: the ROG Strix Scar 18’s size and weight make it a desktop replacement rather than a lightweight travel companion, unless you have a big bag and a strong back.

The speakers and trackpad feel like they could be better, but this is otherwise a solid all-in-one package for gamers (and creators) who value performance.

(Image credit: Future)Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review: Price & release date

• How much does it cost? $6,299 / £5,699 / AU$8,379
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

You’re not hallucinating: the ROG Strix Scar 18 really is that eye-wateringly expensive. For that price, you are getting a state-of-the-art gaming laptop, and it’s a perfect balance in terms of CPU, GPU, and display, delivering desktop-like levels of performance in a fairly portable unit. But it’s still just so much to spend on a computer, and you start to wonder where higher prices due to tech shortages end, and sheer profiteering begins.

You could buy a lesser model (a 5070 model with 32GB RAM and a 2TB SSD is about $/£2,000 less) and add more RAM and hard drive capacity when you’ve got enough in your pension to afford them, but the GPU is fixed here, and this is arguably the most important bang-for-buck component to upgrade.

So yes, it’s extremely expensive, and extremely powerful – but whether you’re getting what you’re paying for is debatable.

• Value: 3 / 5

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review: Specs

Price:

$6,299 / £5,699 / AU$8,379

CPU:

Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX

Graphics:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

Display:

18-inch ROG Nebula HDR QHD+ (2560 x 1600), Mini-LED, 240Hz

RAM:

64GB DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM (Dual Channel)

Storage:

4TB SSD

Ports:

1x 2.5G LAN, 2x Thunderbolt 5 (Type-C), 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A.

Wireless:

Intel Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) 2x2 + Bluetooth 5.4

Weight:

7.27 lbs (3.30 kg)

Dimensions:

15.71 x 11.73 x 0.93 ~ 1.26 inches (399 x 298 x 23.5 ~ 32.0 mm)

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review: Design

• Mammoth 18-inch footprint
• Droolworthy, pixel-packed high-contrast screen
• Fun AniMe Vision display

Let’s start with the obvious: this is not a small laptop. 18 inches is basically the most humongous laptop you can buy at the moment, and it’s not exactly portable. It won’t fit into a standard backpack, and it probably won't leave your house outside of a suitcase.

At 7.27 lbs (3.3 kg), just lifting the unit is a workout in itself, and the power brick adds another 2.2 lbs (1 kg), so you’ve got a hefty unit that you won’t be pulling out in a café, unless it has very stable tables. But it’s a gaming laptop, and portability is at the very bottom of the requirements here.

As is subtlety. Instead of at least trying to design something that gives a lighter, airier impression, Asus has leaned into an angular, beefy design language. Add in the RGB LED lighting strip around the bottom edge, and the entire thing looks like it’s about to take off and become a new target for the Rebel Alliance.

(Image credit: Future)

That’s not the only lighting trick the ROG Strix Scar 18 keeps up its sleeve: on the rear of the screen, there’s what Asus dubs AniMe Vision, essentially a programmable Wall Street-style ticker tape readout for your laptop. It’s monochrome, and very low-res, but it’s actually really neat: you can use Asus’ software to customize what it says, so you can broadcast scrolling messages of love or hate, depending on who you’re sitting opposite.

On the other side of this screen is the main display itself, which is thankfully higher-resolution and more colorful. Much more colorful. While not full ultra-HD, its 2.5K resolution (2560 x 1600) and 240Hz refresh rate is a perfect match for an 18-inch screen. It’s also mini-LED, which makes colors utterly pop, even from oblique viewing angles.

(Image credit: Future)

Asus has included a keyboard replete with enormous trackpad and full-size number pad. There’s a decent amount of depth to the keys, and while there’s no mechanical clunk, they’re responsive and comfortable enough for long gaming and typing sessions.

The trackpad doesn’t quite meet Apple’s almost supernaturally interactive standards, and it’s prone to accidental touches, but most users will likely be pairing this laptop with a mouse. The speakers, too, are a little disappointing and tinny.

(Image credit: Future)

On the underside of the laptop is a grill of air intakes for cooling, and this whole panel can be detached without tools so you can upgrade the RAM and SSDs. Around the edge of the laptop there’s a gamut of ports: three USB 3.2, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, Ethernet, 3.5 mm headphone jack, SD card slot — no, wait, not an SD card slot, just a vent that looks an awful lot like an SD card slot. Cheeky! I would have loved an SD card slot on a laptop of this size and price.

• Design: 4 / 5

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review: Performance

• Nvidia RTX 5090 is an absolute beast
• Phenomenal DLSS support
• Gets crazy loud in Turbo mode

Having such a huge screen works wonders here; its slightly wider aspect ratio adds a movie-like expansiveness to more cinematic games.

The test laptop we received packs an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU with 24 GB VRAM. Memory weighs in at a substantial 64 GB DDR5 dual-channel, and I’m never going to come near filling up the 4 TB SSD.

It has the gaming panache where it counts. 007 First Light hits 62 FPS on ultra graphics settings, with Bond’s glassy eyes melting my heart at any given opportunity. Lower the quality and the frame rates hit new heights — up to 170 FPS in 007, and it still looks really good, if a little last-gen.

Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 Benchmarks

3DMark: Night Raid: 84,346; Fire Strike: 41,166; Time Spy: 21,574; Port Royal: 14,368
Geekbench 6: Multicore: 26,101; Single-core: 2,340
Total War: Warhammer III: Mirrors of Madness (1080p, Ultra): 176.7 fps; (1080p, Low): 411.7 fps
Cyberpunk 2077: (1080p, Ultra): 129.8 fps; (1080p, Low): 149.9 fps
Dirt 5: (1080p, Ultra): 197.2 fps; (1080p, Low): 296.0 fps
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 3 hours and 3 minutes

Likewise, the hard, ray-traced light of Pragmata looks gorgeous when it hits those solid surfaces, and I was able to turn ray tracing on and hit 60 FPS at full res, which is just right. Diana’s flowing locks alone are worth the price of admittance.

Asus includes preset modes (Silent, Performance, Turbo), which can be toggled in-game with a handy function key, making it easier to unlock higher frame rates — I watched 007: First Light jump from 100 to 150 FPS (at low settings). However, Turbo also makes the fans kick in and, despite Asus’ vapor chamber cooling the whole thing becomes a bit jet engine-like.

(Image credit: Future)

Raw settings are only half the story now, though. Nvidia’s 5090 includes DLSS, and this is a quick and easy shortcut to match the 240hz refresh rate of Asus’ glorious panel. In 007: First Light, I can bump the settings all the way up and hit an epic 225 FPS, bringing it back to cinematic life.

I also had a quick dabble in my interminable Adobe Premier/After Effects project, and this is a laptop that’s as suited to creators as it is to gamers. 3D tracking, which was a stumbling block for my 2023 MacBook Pro, is almost instantaneous here, and it can take on 8K video timelines without missing a beat. Its game-centric looks may not please all designers, but for streamers and YouTubers it’s good to know it’s got the graphical grunt where you need it.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future)Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review: Battery life

• Expect five hours-ish for general computing
• Drops substantially when gaming

For a high-performance gaming laptop, battery life is actually pretty impressive. PCMark 10’s battery life benchmark, which simulates general day-to-day computer use like you’re some idealized executive who’s on Zoom calls that decide the fate of the planet, came in at five hours and three minutes. Running a 1080p video on a continuous loop in VLC gave a five-hour and 18-minute result — exactly enough time to watch all three Venom movies, and, wait, there’s a third Venom movie?

(Image credit: Future)

Heavy gaming sessions inevitably drag the battery life down to the sub 90-minute duration, so you’re never going to want to be far from a wall socket.

• Battery life: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18?

Attribute

Notes

Score

Features

Outstanding display tech, with easy upgrade potential

4.5

Performance

Desktop-grade productivity and gaming frame rates

4.5

Design

Bold, heavy aesthetic that trades portability for performance

4

Value

You’ll need a wallet as large as the PC itself

3

Buy it if…

You demand uncompromised gaming power
Combining the RTX 5090 GPU and Core Ultra 9 CPU creates a Double Dragon-esque combo that will take on any game with ray tracing cranked up.View Deal

You want a stunning desktop replacement
18-inches hits the sweet spot for a laptop that’ll rarely leave the desk, feeling expansive and cinematic, and the 240Hz refresh rate and brilliant brightness are exceptional here.View Deal

You are a creator who needs desktop-class grunt
So long as you’re OK with the brutalised aesthetics, with 64GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD, this machine chomps through 8K video rendering, 3D tracking, and intense multitasking.View Deal

Don’t buy it if…

You need a laptop that you can actually travel with
At over 7 pounds (not counting the hefty 2-pound brick), this is an absolute unit that will struggle to fit in a normal backpack or survive on a café table.

You're sensible with money
Crossing the five-thousand-dollar threshold makes this a luxury purchase. Solid gaming performance can still be had for half the price.

You want high-end built-in speakers
For a laptop this large and expensive, the speakers are surprisingly tinny and weak, meaning you'll almost certainly want to pair it with a headset.

Also consider

Razer Blade 18
A sleeker, aluminum-unibody alternative that offers a similarly premium 18-inch display and high-end specs, but usually commands an even steeper price tag.

Read our full Razer Blade 18 review

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i
An understated and slightly smaller option that strikes a far better balance of performance-per-dollar – even if it lacks the ostentatious design of the Scar 18.

Read our full Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 10 review

How I tested the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18

(Image credit: Future)

• Used as my daily driver computer for a month
• Tested according to TechRadar’s guidelines
• Put through its paces with games including 007 First Light, Pragmata, and Forza Horizon 6

To truly put the Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 through its paces, I lived with it as my main computer for several days, testing it both as an everyday workstation and a high-end gaming battlestation. I made sure to test the system in various power profiles, monitoring the thermal performance and fan volume during long gaming sessions.

All benchmarks were run using TechRadar's standardized testing parameters—V-Sync was disabled in the Nvidia control panel, the power mode was set to "Best Performance" in Windows, and the laptop was fully charged and plugged into its massive 450W brick to unlock its maximum potential.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: July 2026

• Hugging Face discloses cyberattack where malicious code hidden in a dataset exploited flaws in its systems, enabling privilege escalation and credential theft
• The incident was unique in being orchestrated end‑to‑end by an autonomous AI agent, which launched thousands of short‑lived sandboxes and migrated C2 infrastructure across public services
• No customer data or public models were tampered with, but the attack highlights the emerging “agentic attacker” scenario long predicted by the industry

Hugging Face, one of the biggest platforms for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), disclosed recently suffering a cyberattack supercharged by an AI agent.

“This one was different from anything we had handled before in one important way: it was driven, end to end, by an autonomous AI agent system - and we detected and dissected it largely with AI of our own,” Hugging Face explained in its announcement, noting that the attackers hid malicious code inside a dataset, which they then uploaded to the platform.

When Hugging Face’s automated systems processed that dataset, they exploited two software flaws which allowed the attackers’ code to run on one of the company’s servers.

Orchestrated by an autonomous AI agent

This twist to the classic code injection attack allowed the attackers to expand their privileges and gain more control over the system, steal authentication credentials to access Hugging Face’s cloud infrastructure, and pivot to other internal systems.

But carrying the attack out mostly with an AI agent is what made this incident unique, Hugging Face explained.

Instead of a human threat actor typing commands, Hugging Face believes the attack was orchestrated by an AI-powered autonomous agent which, entirely on its own, decided which systems to probe, which vulnerabilities to exploit, which credentials to steal, and how to move laterally throughout the compromised infrastructure.

“The campaign was run by an autonomous agent framework (appearing to be built on an agentic security-research harness - used LLM still not known) executing many thousands of individual actions across a swarm of short-lived sandboxes, with self-migrating command-and-control staged on public services,” Hugging Face explained. “This matches the "agentic attacker" scenario the industry has been forecasting.”

In other words, the agent kept launching thousands of temporary computing environments, making it extremely hard to stop the attack (since there isn’t a single machine to block). At the same time, the infrastructure controlling the malware kept moving, likely by using legitimate public cloud or online services. Therefore, when the defenders blocked one control server, the attacks would simply come from another.

Currently there is no evidence of tampering with customer data, public user-facing models, or Spaces.

• Sleepy Hollow is getting a reboot at Sony, according to reports from Deadline
• Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney is believed to be leading the cast
• Lindsey Anderson Beer will direct the new movie, which has been dubbed as "an erotic retelling of the Sleepy Hollow story"

A Sleepy Hollow reboot wasn't something I was expecting, but it's happening at Sony according to reports from Deadline.

At the moment, the new movie has just been announced but we do know that it will be an "erotic retelling" of Sleepy Hollow, directed by Pet Semetary: Bloodlines director Lindsey Anderson Beer.

In addition to this, Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney will reportedly be leading the cast of the new Sleepy Hollow movie, but further stars have not been announced.

Anderson Beer's new story follows Katrina Van Tassel, who was played by Christina Ricci in the 90s movie. Instead of being the love interest for the protagonist, his time, Tassel will be the hero in a mystery that will feature a "seductive supernatural love triangle."

The story is also said to blend "gothic atmosphere, psychological intrigue, and erotic thriller elements into a contemporary, high-concept reinvention of the classic tale."

Syndey Sweeney is best known for her role as Cassie in HBO's Euphoria. (Image credit: HBO)

Sleepy Hollow is not the first horror movie Sydney Sweeney has starred in, as she had the leading role in the religious horror movie Immaculate in 2024. So it will be interesting to see how she leads an adaptation of an iconic story.

Of course, it isn't a straight adaptation of the Sleepy Hollow novel by Washington Irving. Anderson Beer is publishing a companion novel to go alongside her Sleepy Hollow movie, which is expected to be released in fall 2026.

The horror genre has been booming recently with plenty of hits coming in, like Backrooms and Obsession. This has caused studios to start looking at other ways to expand the horror universe, such as upcoming Creepypasta adaptations like Siren Head.

• PIA rolls out phased network upgrades, urging users to update their apps
• Updates are aimed at routing, capacity, and everyday reliability
• It has been since 2024 that PIA hasn't released a substantial app update

Private Internet Access (PIA) has just announced network infrastructure updates rolling out across parts of its system, and is asking users to update their apps to get the full benefit.

The changes are less about flashy new features and more about the plumbing: routing, capacity, and the day-to-day reliability of staying connected. PIA says the latest app versions include logic built to work with the upgraded backend as it rolls out region by region.

The announcement comes after a long quiet period from PIA. It has been since 2024 that the provider hasn't released a substantial app update.

While it remains a strong pick among the best VPN services thanks to rock-bottom pricing, deep customization, and a repeatedly audited no-logs record, its pace of visible improvement had lagged behind rivals like NordVPN and Surfshark.

What PIA is actually changing

(Image credit: Private Internet Access)

As described in a blog post, the update centers on three practical improvements.

The first is smarter automatic reconnections. PIA's teams routinely take VPN servers offline for maintenance, and older app versions sometimes left users with dropped connections or manual reconnects. The refreshed logic is designed to ride out maintenance more smoothly and cut avoidable interruptions.

The second targets a persistent user gripe: CAPTCHAs. Because large VPNs funnel many people through shared IP addresses, websites often flag that traffic and throw up endless verification prompts.

The company says it has made routing and IP-management changes to distribute traffic more evenly, which may cut those challenges, though whether a site decides to throw a CAPTCHA at you or not is ultimately out of PIA's hands.

The third improvement concerns location accuracy. PIA has updated parts of its localization data so selected locations line up more accurately with the region you chose, meaning more relevant local search results and other regional content.

A phased rollout

These upgrades are not landing everywhere at once. PIA describes the rollout as phased, with some locations already on the newer platform and others still being migrated.

That is why it is nudging everyone to update now, as keeping your app current ensures you benefit the moment the improvements reach your region.

The latest versions span Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and tvOS, available through the App Store, Google Play, or a direct download from PIA's site.

Does it address the criticism?

Such a substantial update is a meaningful, if measured, step from PIA. Still, it doesn't touch the areas where PIA has slipped most against rivals. These include raw speed — where our latest testing recorded a notable drop — and streaming unblocking, which has grown patchier.

That said, the provider's core strengths remain intact, including its large US server footprint, open-source apps, port forwarding, and a no-logs policy Deloitte has now verified across three audits.

For existing subscribers, the takeaway is simple: update the app for steadier connections and possibly fewer verification loops.

For anyone weighing PIA against the competition, these updates smooth over some rough edges without changing the wider calculation. It remains one of the best-value, most customizable VPNs around, just one still with ground to make up on speed.

If you're looking for a mini PC that can comfortably handle work, study, and everyday computing without taking over your desk, I've found a great deal on the Geekom A5 Pro.

Powered by AMD's Ryzen 5 7530U processor, a six-core, 12-thread chip with boost speeds of up to 4.5GHz, the Geekom A5 Pro is now $513 (was $699) at Amazon, a saving of 27%.

The mini PC comes paired with an upgradeable 16GB of DDR4 memory and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD, both of which can be upgraded later if your needs change. It will be able to handle multitasking, office applications, video meetings, web browsing, and light creative work. In the UK, the same spec mini PC is now £442 (was £519) at Amazon.

Today's top Geekom mini PC deal

Powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U processor, the Geekom A5 Pro includes 16GB DDR4 memory (upgradeable to 96GB), a 1TB SSD, quad-display support, Windows 11 Pro, Wi-Fi 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet in a compact mini PC.

In the UK: now £442 (was £519)View Deal

In his review, our mini PC expert Alastair called the A5 Pro "a well-balanced and genuinely impressive home and office mini PC."

Despite its compact size, the A5 Pro mini PC supports up to four displays via its dual HDMI and dual USB-C ports, making it a practical choice for anyone who works across multiple windows or applications.

It also supports resolutions up to 8K, delivering crisp text and detailed visuals for documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and media.

For connectivity, it offers 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, four USB ports, an SD card reader, and HDMI 2.1.

Windows 11 Pro comes pre-installed, providing business-focused features such as BitLocker encryption, Remote Desktop, and domain support all straight out of the box.

The A5 Pro uses Geekom's IceBlast 3.0 cooling system to keep temperatures under control while maintaining low noise levels. The company backs the system with a three-year warranty, considerably longer than the single year offered by many rival manufacturers.

Priced at just over $500, the Geekom A5 Pro offers an attractive combination of performance, connectivity, upgradeability, and compact design. In the US, you can also pick up the A5 Pro with a Ryzen 5 7430U chip, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD for $399, down from $449. Or, a model with a Ryzen 5 7530U CPU, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD for $449.10, down from $549.

Whether you're replacing an aging desktop, setting up a home office, or simply need a capable everyday PC that takes up very little space, this is a terrific money-saving deal at Amazon.

For more top picks like this, these are the best mini PCs we've tested and reviewed.

• Shop all mini PCs at Amazon

• The Valoi easy35 V2 is an at-home film scanner for digitizing 35mm film negatives
• It requires a digital camera, a 1:1 macro lens, and negative conversion software
• It's a compact, portable unit with a built-in light source

Shooting film is an expensive business, and I’m always on the lookout for ways to make it cheaper. As such, the Valoi easy35 v2 immediately caught my attention, with its promises to make the process of scanning film negatives at home into something, well, easy. Okay, I’m interested.

Paying to get negatives scanned and digitized is an ongoing cost that adds up over time — and since I live in a fairly small apartment in a city, a large flatbed film scanner isn’t a practical option for me. The Valoi easy35 V2, however, is a compact cube with about the same desk footprint as a large coffee mug. Even with its raft of accessories, it’s easy to store, easy to transport — and at $272 / £199 / AU$337, it’s cheaper than high-end scanners, too. Color me even more intrigued.

The main scanning unit is very portable. (Image credit: Jon Stapley)

But before you get too excited, be aware that this is not a standalone film scanner. Portable self-contained film scanners do exist, like Kodak’s ultra-cheap Slide N Scan, but their quality is pretty poor. Instead, the Valoi Easy 35 V2 works by connecting to your high-resolution camera and your 1:1 macro lens. You do have a high-resolution camera and a 1:1 macro lens, right?

Indeed, this isn’t necessarily the super-simple, anyone-can-do-it film scanner that the word ‘easy’ in the name perhaps implies. But if you’ve got the kit and you scan a lot of film, it could save you money in the long run — and as I found when I tried it out, the process can get pretty addictive.

Valoi easy35 V2: In use

The Valoi easy35 V2 comes as a kit — as well as the cube-shaped scanning module itself, with its built-in light source, you also get a couple of extension tubes for ensuring your lens can operate at the correct focal distance, and some step-up adapters that allow you to connect lenses of various filter thread sizes to the 62mm-thread tubes. While the unit itself is smooth plastic, these accessories are all metal, and feel suitably premium as a result.

These step-up filters allow for the attachment of different lenses (52mm thread not pictured as it was on my camera). (Image credit: Jon Stapley)

In terms of compatible lenses, the distance between your negative and the front of your lens needs to be less than 230mm. Valoi recommends that if you’re using a full-frame system, you’re best off with a lens with a focal range between 55mm and 105mm; for APS-C, it’s 40mm to 70mm; and for Micro Four Thirds, the makers recommend between 35mm and 60mm.

I was using a Fujifilm X-T5, since with its generous resolution of 40.2MP, it would easily offer enough pixels to make the scanning process worth the effort. I paired it with the TTArtisan 40mm F2.8 — an affordable manual focus macro lens that is Valoi’s budget recommendation for use with the scanner.

The whole kit, together with a selection of negs. (Image credit: Jon Stapley)

Fitting the parts together is simple enough — I only needed to use one adapter and extension tube, but depending on your lens, you may need to stack multiple. The unit itself has one-button operation; you simply turn it on to activate the light (it's battery-powered and recharges via USB-C). Negatives are loaded carefully into the holder at one side, fed through the scanner for your camera to snap, before emerging out of the other side. You'll need to ensure that the negative is correctly focused — it helps to use a nice clear shot with a well-captured subject, ideally a person. And then, you’re away.

Negatives should always be handled carefully to avoid fingerprinting. (Image credit: Jon Stapley)

That’s when I started to get addicted. See, I have a lot of negatives. Like, a lot, a lot. And once the Easy 35 V2 is in position and your lens and camera are set up correctly, the process of scanning is incredibly quick — feed, snap, feed, snap. You can scan entire rolls in minutes. I will say that on my first few attempts, a lot of my scans came in a little crooked and I couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing wrong — but fortunately I had enough latitude to crop and straighten without impacting the image too much.

Of course, once you’ve got those digitized negatives, you still need to convert them. You have a number of options — it brings me no pleasure to say this as I am on the record as an Adobe critic, but by far the quickest and best is pairing Lightroom Classic with the plugin Negative Lab Pro, the latter of which offers a free trial of 24 conversions and then costs a one-time price of $99. There are other options, but they tend to be either excessively complicated (Darktable) or a bit too rudimentary (Lomography’s free online tool).

The software will automatically chop off any borders left on your scans before converting — though you may sometimes prefer to leave them on for artistic effect. (Image credit: Jon Stapley)

Negative Lab Pro takes the RAWs of your digitized negs (oh, yes, you really should shoot in RAW) and automates the conversion process into a single click. Once this is done, it provides an editing panel, and you shouldn’t be afraid to get stuck in and make the final image look the way you want it, editing attributes like color temperature and tint to taste. If you don’t have the time or patience to tweak sliders, NLP offers a few presets for a quick spruce-up — I found that the ‘Kodak’ profile generally delivered pleasing results from Kodak negatives, naturally. You can see a few of my resulting scans below.

Jon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyJon StapleyThe software will prompt you to take the borders off, but sometimes I think they look kind of cool. Jon StapleyValoi easy35 V2: Is it worth it?

I love this thing. I really love it. Setting it up was a pain — I had to get hold of some pretty specific gear, and lay it all out on my floor for want of a better working surface. It all feels a bit rustic and inelegant — for me, the camera and the box didn’t sit level when connected. I ended up wedging the spare film holder underneath to balance it, and was later amused when I watched a video on Valoi’s YouTube channel and they recommended doing exactly that.

However, the scanning process itself was unbelievably fluid, easy and even fun. I could have fed my negatives through this thing for hours. I still might! And having this setup on standby at home would mean I’d never have to pay to have negs scanned again, which is a mightily tempting thought.

I don’t think it's true to say that the Valoi Easy35 V2 makes scanning accessible to the masses. The masses don’t all own sharp macro lenses with the correct filter thread size (you should have heard the noise I made when I realised that the Fujifilm XF 30mm f2.8 R LM WR Macro wasn’t going to fit, even with all those step-up adapters). But for those who have the capacity, it makes negative scanning at home joyous and fun, and on that note I’m going to step away from my keyboard so that I can go scan some more.

With thanks to Wex Photo Video (UK) and Fujifilm who loaned some of the equipment used for this article.

If you loved Netflix's take on Little House on the Prairie and want more, don't worry — it was renewed for season 2 long before we even saw a single episode.

With production now in full swing, we still don't know exactly when new episodes will be released (though I'd bet good money on that being in mid-2027). However, we do know that season 2 will adapt the next book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's original novel series, On the Banks of Plum Creek.

Having left their little house on the Kansas prairie, which is exactly what we saw at the end of season 1, the Ingalls family travels by wagon to Minnesota, settling on the banks of Plum Creek (who'd have guessed?).

But will Netflix stay faithful to the text or add in some unexpected surprises along the way? According to star Alice Halsey, who plays Laura Ingalls, it's best to keep an open mind heading into Little House on the Prairie season 2.

'I want to be able to figure out how Laura changes in season 2'

(Image credit: Netflix)

"Season 2 is definitely gonna be really exciting," Halsey tells me. "They're going to build a house by a creek, they're going to plant lots of wheat. They might make some friends, but they will make one particular enemy."

Here, Halsey is referring to Laura's rival Nellie, who is set to be introduced at some point in season 2. Played by Willa Dunn, Nellie is described in the book as a spoiled, affluent classmate who represents the clash between town merchants and rural farming families.

"I think that there's gonna be a lot of exciting things happening on the prairie, and some things that you might not expect."

The book covers a five-year span of Wilder's childhood, so we could see the Ingalls stay there for a while should the Netflix series continue to be renewed.

But how is Laura herself set to change? "I think that being able to watch season 1 has been a big reminder to me that Laura is like a big character," Halsey continues. "She has a lot of growth over the course of the series, and in the books. I want to be able to figure out how Laura changes in season 2, how all that was gonna plan out.

"For season 1, I was really prepped. I wanted to figure out how I was going to portray her. read the books, scripts, listened to podcasts to really figure her out. I think that Laura is also going to be changing a lot. In season 2, and I think her arc might be revolving around figuring out the kind of person that she wants to be.

"Not just her career and stuff, but also if she want to be honest, or have a lot of friends. Does she want to be tutor herself? Little things like that."

It's really a marvel that Halsey is only 11 years old, but I think that her wise-beyond-her-years personality makes her Laura Ingalls exceptional... and will continue to.

If you're looking for one of the best smartwatches with industry-leading GPS accuracy, ECG capabilities, and a super-long battery life, then it has to be the Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2).

Better still, right now you can snap up the Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) at Best Buy for $549.99 (was $799.99). That's a huge $250 saving on a 4.5-star smartwatch that is a worthy contender to be amongst the best running watches.

Despite previously dropping to $500, the latest sale price still represents fantastic value for money, and there are no guarantees it'll return to its record-low price any time soon. For the money, you get a high-performance smartwatch from one of the best brands out there.

Today's best Garmin Epix Pro deal

A superb price for one of the best sports smartwatches on the market at the moment. This is the 51mm Sapphire Edition with fiber-reinforced polymer boasting carbon gray DLC titanium and a black band. Not only does it look fantastic, but with accurate GPS, outstanding navigation tools, and a bright flashlight, this smartwatch is a superb all-rounder for sports enthusiasts.View Deal

When our Senior Fitness and Wearables Editor, Matt Evans, carried out our Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) review, he gave it a solid 4.5 stars, praising its outstanding Garmin Fenix 7 base and new torch that works well during night runs, as well as hill and endurance scores that are more accurate than much of the competition's.

Matt described it as "an undoubtedly high-performing endurance watch that operates wonderfully, and the new widgets that debuted with the Pro work very well and got me thinking about my training in new ways."

If you've done your research, then one factor might be putting you off: its age. But we'd urge you not to let that deter you. The Epix Pro (Gen 2) boasts up-to-date parts delivering accurate metrics, making its hardware as reliable as the day it was released. Matt is also quick to point out that "it also features Garmin's most powerful heart rate sensor, the Elevate V5, which is also used on the current-gen Fenix 8."

This deal is part of Best Buy's Black Friday in July sale, which means it will only last until Sunday. So, if you're tempted, I recommend moving fast.

• Microsoft's XML formatting is making some files 'inconvenient' and others unreadable, LibreOffice claims
• It says users need formats like ODF which are open and not managed by one single vendor
• Sovereignty is about choice, not about blocking certain companies

The Document Foundation, which is responsible for the LibreOffice software suite, has claimed Microsoft's Office file formats are creating unnecessary vendor lock-in by making it harder for users and workers to switch between vendors.

The organization's blog post specifically slates XML-based formats, like DOCX and XLSX, which were introduced in 2007 as successors to the more open DOC and XLS formats.

Post author Italo Vignoli argued these formats act as more or less proprietary formats in practical terms because files opened by other programs, like LibreOffice, don't behave the same and can have formatting issues.

Microsoft slates over its XML document formatting

The Document Foundation asserts that, while Microsoft has circumnavigated potential lock-in accusations by allowing other software to fully access XML documents, their functionality can be drastically reduced. Fonts, bullets, headings, tables and other formatting could be prone to change, depending on the tools used, leading to inaccessible and inconsistent documents.

Vignoli described the issue as "a silent and persistent friction that makes any work outside the Microsoft ecosystem seem slightly off, slightly unreliable, slightly unprofessional," rather than any type of technical barrier.

He noted that, while for consumers the result could be a mere "inconvenience", it could create major problems for legal firms and hospitals who want to step away from Microsoft.

The post also warns that evolving document formats could lead to problems later on down the line. With only a handful of companies properly implementing certain formats, and those formats retiring, some documents could be unreadable in a decade or two – a major compliance and regulatory issue.

As digital sovereignty demands play out globally, with many European enterprises and agencies looking to adopt more local or open-source alternatives, Vignoli highlighted the role that open standard like the Open Document Format (ODF) can play.

ODF's "specifications are published, freely implementable and managed by a body independent of any single vendor."

Vignoli's conclusion is that digital sovereignty isn't about being anti-Microsoft or pro-LibreOffice. It's about giving companies and consumers the choice and free will to use the software they prefer without unnecessary hurdles and barriers holding them back.

If a big studio movie gets leaked online in its high-quality entirety long before it's supposed to be released on a major streaming service, you know that the schedule and strategy for both have gone completely wrong.

Alas, this is exactly what happened to Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender back in April 2026, causing the release date to be brought forward by three months to July 25. On top of this, Paramount+ has relented to a dogged campaign by fans to get the new movie screened in theaters, compromising on a limited theatrical release in New York and LA between July 25 and 30.

In essence, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender had been badly done by long before this review embargo had even lifted. Though the original cartoon had millennials in a chokehold in the early 2000s, Netflix has now swept in to control the public's perception of the IP with its continuing live-action series.

If you're of the same school of thought as me and find that the real-life Avatar: The Last Airbender is missing something, you've been yearning for the return of the animation. Now it's here... well, it feels like a misshapen birthday cake that's melting in the sun.

Between its abysmal release strategy and a storyline that's not under scratch, Aang's first return in two decades is a massively missed opportunity. But if you're prepared to put up with the issues, some nuggets of gold are still waiting to be found.

I'm completely floored by Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender's animation — but that stings

Here's a brief rundown of what actually happens during the 99-minute runtime. Thirteen years following the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai and the end of the Hundred-Year War, Avatar Aang (Eric Nam) discovers a surviving airbender named Tagah (Dave Bautista) and learns of a powerful staff that could restore his culture. With the help of his friends, they embark on a global quest to find the relic before a group called The Denied can claim it and upend the peace they fought to achieve.

When hours upon hours of handcrafted artistry are poured into something we get to watch, it's as if magic is unfolding in front of our eyes. Unsurprisingly, the visuals are the strongest element of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, to the point where I'm still thinking about them days after watching.

The new movie's understanding of perspective, movement, and detail is absolutely astonishing, moving through the Four Nations with such awe-inspired wonder that you want to live in each frame, like a kid visiting Disney World for the first time.

But this comes with a bittersweet feeling: are we really getting the best out of these gorgeous details on an iPhone, tablet, or even a TV? To me, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is clearly a movie that needs to be seen and appreciated on the biggest screen possible, something which a streaming service can never truly allow for.

Hooray for accessibility, but Paramount has completely fudged the wider potential for its release. Why does the eventual theatrical release feel so unnecessarily limiting when demand for it feels sky-high? If you are one of the lucky few with tickets and the right geographical location, let me know if I'm right about this.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender's character reunion is the most special part of the new movie

(Image credit: Paramount+)

In fact, the animation is so good that you almost sidestep the fact that the film's storyline is almost non-existent. Tagah might look like a character who is obviously voiced by a ripped muscle man like Bautista, but he offers very little in the way of new satisfaction.

For starters, he is discovered buried alive in ice — exactly like how Aang was at the start of the series — which feels far too on the nose. He encourages Aang's unquenchable first to learn (which is a beautiful, life-affirming reminder), but would the film otherwise be different if Tagah vanished? I doubt it.

But never mind! We're here for the reunion for the core team, bringing back the core team of Aang, Katara (Jessica Matten), Soukka (Román Zaragoza), Toph (Dionne Quan), and Zuko (Steven Yeun), who are 13 years older than when we last saw them.

Time may have changed how they look, but their goofy and fun-loving personalities definitely haven't. The animation is able to capture the level of confident silliness that Netflix's live-action series has always lacked, meaning that their well-worn-in camaraderie feels like sinking into a warm bath. What's more beautiful than forgetting your troubles in a fun, fantastical world like this?

Watching the group laugh, play, and discover new things almost overshadows everything that's gone wrong with Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender... almost. But when the storyline dips, you're quickly reminded of just how badly the creative teams have done by the older Aang's comeback.

Next time Avatar: The Last Airbender is revived, and it inevitably will be, let's let the fans be in control. They've got the biggest chance of getting the most right, after all.

While the tech world is gearing up for the debut of Samsung’s new foldables at Unpacked next week — with the company teasing some major changes to its lineup — here in the UK we’re finally able to get our hands on the Samsung Galaxy XR headset.

It's now available outside the US and Korea for the first time since its launch in October of last year, and I’ve been taking the headset for a spin after Samsung sent me a review a few weeks ago, and seeing how it compares to my trusty Meta Quest 3.

Now, I could just rehash a lot of what our Editor at Large, Lance Ulanoff, said in his Samsung Galaxy XR hands-on — praising the OLED screen, describing the comfort of the headset over several sessions, and listing the apps I love in XR that elevate the Android experience beyond what's possible on a phone or laptop. But I won't do that here.

Instead I'm putting my body (well, head and neck comfort) on the line to bring you the return of my favorite VR headset testing format: can I spend a whole week wearing the Samsung Galaxy XR?

The short answer? Yes, but it could be comfier. Read on for more about my experience.

I last spent a week in VR with the Meta Quest Pro... (Image credit: Future)Into the Android XR-verse

Just to be clear, I didn't wear the Galaxy XR headset 24/7 — I haven't been walking around my local supermarket immersed in XR, or sleeping in my Samsung headset .

I spent my whole working day in the headset (taking it off only for my lunch breaks, and to use the bathroom), and also wore it for a couple of hours each evening, to unwind with a movie or a game.

I also made sure to spend at least a day relying on only the hardware in the Samsung Galaxy XR’s box — i.e., the headset.

Software-wise, I used everything I’d normally rely on my PC or phone to work and stay entertained, and also had access to the Explorer Pack — a suite of software and subscriptions worth £665 that you'll get for free with a purchase of the Galaxy XR until December 16.

A quick aside on this pack: with a year's access to premium Gemini models (and 5TB of digital Google Cloud storage), plus a year of YouTube Premium, a Calm subscription, and plenty more, it's a really solid addition to the XR experience — I'll be writing more about my experience with its services soon.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Anyway, back to the headset itself…

Things got off to a good start on day one. Thanks to the XR multitasking I was able to have a giant floating Slack window keeping me in touch with my TechRadar colleagues, and a second giant floating YouTube window featuring the latest episode of one of my many podcasts or music playlists to keep me engaged, flanking a Google doc page for whatever I was working on, which I wrote in using a floating keyboard that reacts to my finger movements.

I could open Google Chrome tabs too, and conveniently flick through and between windows using eye controls — the headset relies on eye-tracking to determine what buttons I want to press, which I indicate by simply pinching my fingers while my hand rests lazily in front of me.

I was even able to join meetings virtually, with digital avatars that were good, but not yet great at representing me or mimicking my real-world facial expressions. My Galaxy avatar looked a bit too cartoonish for work meetings, and my Google avatar looked permanently distressed (which I don’t think is my general state of being), and was also missing my glasses, which felt weird — I always wear them, so it felt like the avatar was missing some of my identity.

That aside, I quickly found that any job which relies on lots of basic operations (essentially anything that isn’t something like intense video editing, though there are Play Store apps for less sophisticated video editing needs) is a breeze on the Galaxy XR headset. However, as the novelty faded, I hit my first hurdle: speed.

(Image credit: Samsung)Gotta type fast!

Eye-tracking controls are neat, and generally XR controls are incredibly intuitive, but the keyboard is not as responsive as even the most basic physical keyboard. This slowed my typing pace to a crawl, and with deadlines looming over me I couldn’t spend my days steadily working through sentences at a snail pace.

The ideal alternative would be a Bluetooth keyboard that pairs with your headset, and most standard models will get the job done after you’ve connected one. I gave one a quick try, and it was much more effective than the virtual keyboard for actually working productively in XR — the brief pause I had to contend with between virtual key presses was eliminated.

My predicament gave me an excuse, however, to see how the headset works when paired with a PC — giving me the massive virtual displays of XR combined with the convenience of a fully powered desktop.

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro (Image credit: Peter Hoffmann)

The perfect setup would involve a Samsung Galaxy Book, which pairs more seamlessly with the headset, like the Vision Pro and a MacBook pair for Apple users. However I don’t have a Galaxy Book, so I instead had to turn to Virtual Desktop.

It’s an app I’ve used previously to pair Meta headsets with my PC, and it’s very effective. The connection, even in a room a few meters from where my router lives, is seamless, with next to no delay between what I do on my PC and see on my headset’s view. Plus, with the ability to drag displays around and resize them, I could create the ultimate multi-monitor setup.

The downside is that you can’t access the full multitasking capabilities of the Galaxy XR headset within the Virtual Desktop app. Other apps seem not to suffer from these issues; however the trouble is that several, such as Google’s PC Connect, weren’t available in the UK when I was conducting my tests, and it seems that every app has a downside (for example, PC Connect only lets you stream a single monitor, not multiple).

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

This compatibility friction with non-Samsung PCs would be the biggest change I’d like to see addressed from a productivity standpoint, as otherwise the Galaxy XR excels on the software side.

My other two big changes would be to the design: the addition of a silicone facial interface and a top strap.

I can’t feel my head when I’m with you

The UK, where I’m based, has been buffeted by heat waves in recent weeks, including while I was testing the Galaxy headset. In homes designed to retain heat, and which lack A/C, this means things can get pretty hot and sweaty, which isn’t ideal when a headset is strapped to your face — and it’s even less ideal when you can feel that sweat being soaked up by the fabric facial interface.

If I was in charge of making headsets I’d mandate that all facial interfaces are made of silicone, or at least that headsets come with a swappable silicone interface, or a silicone cover for the fabric interface, in the box. Unfortunately I can't force such a change on Samsung, but hopefully it’s a change it’ll make for the Galaxy XR 2; it’s more hygienic, and makes the headset easier to share, and I’ve found it doesn’t impact the comfort at all (if anything it makes me feel more at ease in the headset, as I know I’m not immersed in months-old sweat).

As for a top strap (one which runs over the top of my head rather than simply around it), I firmly believe it would help to make the headset comfier to wear for long stretches, as it would further spread the weight of the device across my head.

Day one wasn’t too bad, but by the midpoint of day two I was feeling a little discomfort. By day four I was ready to give up my challenge; and the end of day five couldn’t come fast enough.

Samsung gets so much else right in terms of the Galaxy XR's comfort — chiefly moving the weight of its bulky battery to an external puck, so that you’re only carrying 545g on your head — so it’s a shame that the headset is let down by something as simple as its headband.

For a few hours I found it was fine, but for my extreme testing sessions it didn’t hold up.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Yet again, then, I’ve found that I don’t really want to spend my whole day inside a VR headset, even though the Samsung Galaxy XR headset represents a serious improvement in terms of visual performance (courtesy of its superb OLED screen), the usefulness of its features, including eye-tracking (which I’ve previously found is quite gimmicky), and delivering solid multitasking performance (aided by the expansive app library of the Play Store) compared to the last time I tried a similar exercise with the Meta Quest Pro a few years ago.

Even if I won’t be spending all my time in the Galaxy XR, I plan to wear it plenty more, albeit just for more casual sessions, and I’ll definitely be taking it on a flight, as soon as I have the opportunity, to see how it fares — perhaps that’s where it’ll really shine.

Black Friday: the two words that strike a mix of fear and excitement in me as a deals hunter for TechRadar. I didn't expect to see them so soon, but Best Buy has decided to kick off a Black Friday in July sale this week. So, even though it's earlier than planned, I've dug into the retailer's surprise sale and picked out 35 of the best deals that I'd consider buying now.

• Browse the full Best Buy Black Friday in July sale

As with every Best Buy sale, this week's event features a usual mix of savings across TVs, appliances, laptops, headphones, smartwatches, and more. And while it may be light on record-low prices, there are still some strong offers for this time of the year that rival what we usually see around Black Friday.

We're in back-to-school sales season and I think that one of the strongest offers is this HP OmniBook 3 for $549.99 (was $949.99). With its Snapdragon X processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD, this is a powerful and efficient all-around option for school, college, work, and even just general everyday use.

I also want to shout out this Nintendo Switch 2: Choose Your Game Bundle for $499.99. It includes a Switch 2 console and a free copy of a game of your choice: either Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Pokémon Pokopia. That represents a saving of up to $29.99, which we'll take in this era of price hikes on games consoles.

I've picked out several more standout deals below in several categories, so have a browse and see if anything interests you. The Best Buy Black Friday in July sale runs through the whole of the week and ends on Sunday.

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — quick links

• Apple: up to $500 off MacBooks & iPads
• Appliances: up to 35% off
• Cameras: up to $1,000 off Sony, DJI & Canon
• Gaming: PS5 & Switch games from $9.99
• Headphones: JLab, Beats & Bose from $19.99
• Kitchen: up to 50% off Ninja & Bella
• Laptops: from $189.99
• Phones: up to $1,100 off iPhone & Samsung
• Smart home: Ring & Echo from $9.99
• Smartwatches: up to $250 off Apple & Garmin
• Speakers: up to 50% off Samsung, Bose & JBL
• Tablets: up to $500 off iPad & Kindle
• Toys: up to 30% off
• TVs: from $69.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Dyson & Shark

Top 10 deals from the Best Buy Black Friday in July sale

Nintendo Switch 2 bundles have been a rare sight in recent months, so it's good to see this customisable option available at Best Buy. As well as a console, you can also choose between a downloadable copy of either Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Pokémon Pokopia, for a saving of up to $29.99.View Deal

Apple's newest premium buds feature improved Active Noise Cancellation, outstanding audio, a comfortable in-ear design, and new features such as live translation and heart-rate tracking. These do-it-all buds really are 100% flagship audio and the noise-cancelling quality is outstanding. Today's deal is the best price you can find on Apple's newest AirPods, and a return to the record-low Black Friday price we saw at the end of last year.View Deal

Get a cheap streaming device with Amazon's standard Fire TV Stick on sale for $19.99. In our Fire TV Stick review, we found that the original version offered a cost-effective way to add essential smart features to your TV, including access to HD streaming apps, Alexa voice controls, and the ability to control other smart home devices.View Deal

Here's a chance to get a strong $250 saving on the excellent Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2). The 4.5-star smartwatch is an excellent buy for dedicated and enthusiast runners, thanks to its top-tier health tracking and GPS navigation features. You also get a clear AMOLED display with a scratch-resistant sapphire lens and titanium bezel. As far as premium smartwatches go, this one is tough to beat after such a big price cut.View Deal

If you want more affordable over-ears that don't compromise on quality, then consider these Bose QuietComfort Headphones while they are down to their lowest price this year at Best Buy. As with the Ultra version, you get impressive noise cancellation, top-tier audio quality and 24 hours of battery life, but in a much more affordable package.View Deal

This weather makes an ice-cold drink extremely appealing right now, and the unique Ninja Slushi just got a $100 discount at Best Buy. This kitchen appliance makes all sorts of chilled and frozen drinks, including juices, cocktails, milkshakes, and more. We loved it in our Ninja Slushi review, praising its ability to make quick and delicious drinks easily in a fun and entertaining package.View Deal

Display - 14 inches
Processor - Snapdragon X
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 512GB

This is a solid discount on a modern laptop powered by one of the efficient Snapdragon X CPUs. As well as excellent levels of all-around performance, this device boasts a huge all-day battery life, so you won't need to worry about being attached to a charger at all times. There's even 512GB of SSD storage, which you don't often see in combination with those other strong performance components at this price point. This is an all-around excellent laptop for everyday, college and business use.View Deal

Best Buy has slashed LG's 48-inch B5 OLED TV to a great low price of $600. Released as the successor to the popular B4 OLED, the LG B5 is easily one of the best budget OLED TVs on the market. This 48-inch version delivers an exceptional picture with brilliant colors and sharp contrast. You also get excellent gaming features, thanks to the four HDMI 2.1 ports, which ensure smooth and responsive gaming on current-gen consolesView Deal

The newest version of the best-selling Apple AirTag is on sale for $89.99 in the latest Best Buy sale. This four-pack of trackers is a great way to keep an eye on a child's backpack or luggage. Simply attach it to anything you don't want to lose, and your iPhone will locate it.View Deal

Here's a super-tempting record-low price for one of the best action camera bundles in the world right now. The camera offers an impressive 5.3K video resolution inside a rugged and completely waterproof body. A sweet deal just in time for your summer adventures.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Televisions

It's one of the smallest and cheapest TVs you can buy, but if that's all you need, then this Insignia F20 is very hard to beat. Definitely don't expect the best picture quality or the fastest performance, but if you just need a display for infrequent streaming in a kid's room, the bedroom, or kitchen, then it's up to the job — and it doesn't cost very much at all.View Deal

If you're looking for a big-screen budget display, Best Buy has this 65-inch 4K TV on sale for $299.99. It won't rival the premium QLED and OLED displays, but this entry-level TV from Samsung still packs a solid 'Crystal' UHD 4K processor, the easy-to-use Tizen operating system, and full HDR support. That's good value for money if you need a straightforward but capable display for your everyday viewing and media streaming.View Deal

Best Buy has slashed LG's 48-inch B5 OLED TV to a great low price of $600. Released as the successor to the popular B4 OLED, the LG B5 is easily one of the best budget OLED TVs on the market. This 48-inch version delivers an exceptional picture with brilliant colors and sharp contrast. You also get excellent gaming features, thanks to the four HDMI 2.1 ports, which ensure smooth and responsive gaming on current-gen consolesView Deal

This is my pick for the best Hisense TV deal in the latest Best Buy sale. You get a lot of top TV tech for the money in a reasonably sized display, including a bright and vibrant QLED panel with excellent contrast, and a high 165Hz refresh rate support for smooth images. It will excel as a TV to watch the World Cup, as well as stream all of your favorite shows and movies, and play the latest games.View Deal

For a high-end OLED TV, consider this huge $1,300 saving on the 65-inch Samsung S90F. It may be a generation behind now, but this scored an impressive five-star rating in our Samsung S90F review. We praised this display's outstanding picture quality, handy gaming features, and terrific value for money. Altogether, it's a brilliant buy if you've got some cash to spend on one of the best TVs available right now.View Deal

Samsung's brand-new R85H just got a solid discount to make it an even more competitive buy if you're shopping for a premium TV. These Micro RGB displays boast excellent color and image quality, with superior brightness and fantastic contrast, to deliver a smooth, sharp and vibrant picture. Gaming and sports are handled well, too, thanks to smooth 144Hz and variable refresh rate support.View Deal

The LG C5 OLED is TechRadar's best-rated TV, and Best Buy has the 65-inch model on sale for $1,299.99. The five-star OLED display delivers an outstanding picture thanks to LG's Alpha 9 AI processor Gen8, impressive gaming features, and a comprehensive smart platform featuring all-new AI capabilities.View Deal

Sony's 65-inch Bravia 8 OLED TV has an impressive $400 discount at Best Buy, bringing the price down to $1,599.99. Sony's Bravia 8 features a sleek, slim design with a wide viewing angle, brilliant images with deep contrast, and cinematic sound from the entire screen.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Laptops

Display - 14 inches
Processor - Intel Celeron N4500
RAM - 4GB
Storage - 64GB

This HP Chromebook 14 is a basic device, but it's cheap, making it a great buy for light use such as general browsing and schoolwork. It also boasts full-day battery life thanks to the lean but perfectly functional Chrome OS from Google, meaning it's best suited for students or those always on the move. If you have around $200 to spend and need a cheap laptop, then it's one of the best options right now.View Deal

Display - 16 inches
Processor - Intel i3
RAM - 8GB
Storage - 128GB

This version of the Acer Chromebook Plus offers a solid amount of power for the price. It includes 8GB of RAM and an Intel i3 processor, boosting performance, boot times and load times. Storage of 128GB is a bit underwhelming, but you do get a large and bright IPS display, and decent battery life of around 12 hours — that's more than enough to last a full working day. At a little under $350, it's a smart buy for school or college, or just as a home laptop for light use and everyday tasks.View Deal

Display - 14 inches
Processor - Snapdragon X
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 512GB

This is a solid discount on a modern laptop powered by one of the efficient Snapdragon X CPUs. As well as excellent levels of all-around performance, this device boasts a huge all-day battery life, so you won't need to worry about being attached to a charger at all times. There's even 512GB of SSD storage, which you don't often see in combination with those other strong performance components at this price point. This is an all-around excellent laptop for everyday, college and business use.View Deal

Display - 16 inches
Processor - Intel Core Ultra 7
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 1TB

This powerful and versatile HP OmniBook Flip offers impressive performance for the price, with powerful components such as a modern Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, a healthy 16GB of RAM to boost performance, and a decent 1TB SSD for storage. You can comfortably handle everyday tasks, demanding work, video calls, media streaming and more with this laptop, all with the option to flip it around to a 16-inch touchscreen tablet when needed, too.View Deal

Display - 16 inches
Processor - AMD Ryzen AI 9
RAM - 32GB
Storage - 1TB

There's a massive $500 price cut on this powerful high-end laptop, which boasts an AMD Ryzen AI 9, a performance-boosting 32GB of RAM and a large 1TB SSD. This is a great pick for business and productivity needs, with enough power to multitask with ease and battery life that lasts a full day.View Deal

Display - 13.6 inches
Processor - Apple M5
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 512GB

Our reviewer called the newest MacBook Air M5 "the best ultraportable I've ever used" and awarded it 4.5-stars, so it's every bit as good as its already excellent predecessor. As well as the powerful and efficient M5 chip, the latest MacBook Air boasts a slick 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD as standard. Those are solid overall specs for all-around use, productivity, and creative tasks. This is the best offer we've seen since the recent price hike, too.View Deal

Best Buy Memorial Day sale — Appliances

This weather makes an ice-cold drink extremely appealing right now, and the unique Ninja Slushi just got a $100 discount at Best Buy. This kitchen appliance makes all sorts of chilled and frozen drinks, including juices, cocktails, milkshakes, and more. We loved it in our Ninja Slushi review, praising its ability to make quick and delicious drinks easily in a fun and entertaining package.View Deal

This will never be one of the best coffee makers you can buy, but there's no denying that it is dirt cheap. It's a basic and no-frills drip filter coffee maker that can brew up to 12 cups at once, has a programmable timer so you can wake up to a fresh pot, and dishwasher-safe components that make it easy to clean.View Deal

The Bella Pro is exclusive to Best Buy, and we have seen this four-quart model a little cheaper in previous sales. However, for under $60, this is excellent value for money this weekend if you just need a compact air fryer for a small household or kitchen.View Deal

You can get $250 off Dyson's best-selling V11 vacuum during Best Buy's latest sale. This vac nails the basics, offering strong suction and excellent manoeuvrability. Information is displayed on an LCD screen that shows exactly how long you have left before the battery runs out in the current power mode, too.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Headphones

Best Buy's latest sale has the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation available for $149.99. This isn't the best offer, given that they were down to $99.99 in previous events. Still, if you must buy now, these AirPods 4 feature a new comfortable design, handy controls, and Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalized spatial audio and voice isolation – alongside that all-important ANC.View Deal

Apple's newest premium buds feature improved Active Noise Cancellation, outstanding audio, a comfortable in-ear design, and new features such as live translation and heart-rate tracking. These do-it-all buds really are 100% flagship audio and the noise-cancelling quality is outstanding. Today's deal is the best price you can find on Apple's newest AirPods, and just $20 more than the record-low Black Friday price we saw at the end of last year.View Deal

Bose is the best brand around for providing excellent active noise cancellation features, and you can now get these fantastic and affordable earbuds for a great low price. With the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, you get fewer options than the high-end range, but you still get up to 8.5 hours of battery life, the ability to adjust the equalizer and a very comfy fit. They’ll instantly make your commute, your runs, or your walks far more enjoyable.View Deal

If you want more affordable over-ears that don't compromise on quality, then consider these Bose QuietComfort Headphones while they are reduced at Best Buy. As with the Ultra version, you get impressive noise cancellation, top-tier audio quality and 24 hours of battery life, but in a much more affordable package.View Deal

The Beats Solo 4 are getting old now, but this is a great price for a pair of solid headphones. This model supports lossless audio that you can listen to via USB-C or 3.5mm audio cable and Spatial Audio that uses head tracking to enhance your listening experience. These headphones also last up to 50 hours on a single charge and can regain five hours of playback time in just 10 minutes of charging.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Smartwatches

Here's a chance to get a strong $250 saving on the excellent Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2). The 4.5-star smartwatch is an excellent buy for dedicated and enthusiast runners, thanks to its top-tier health tracking and GPS navigation features. You also get a clear AMOLED display with a scratch-resistant sapphire lens and titanium bezel. As far as premium smartwatches go, this one is tough to beat after such a big price cut.View Deal

This Garmin smartwatch might be the previous generation, but we gave it a full five stars and can guarantee it still delivers where it matters most. Now, with $100 off, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better watch for this price if you need a rugged wearable for health and fitness tracking.View Deal

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

This is only $20 more than the record-low price for the Apple Watch SE 3, so it's still a solid bargain. The Apple Watch SE 3 is currently our pick for the best Apple Watch to buy if you're on a budget, as it delivers a full experience and all the style you need, but at a fraction of the price.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Phones

The Google Pixel 10 is $200 off in this week's sale at Best Buy. The Google Pixel 11 is almost here, so it's a good chance to save on the previous generation flagship phone. It has a beautiful 6.3-inch display, a compact frame, extended battery life, a new telephoto camera, and support for magnetic PixelSnap accessories.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Smart Home

If you're looking for a cheap and capable smart speaker, the Amazon Echo Dot is down to a great low price in the latest Best Buy sale. Amazon's best-selling smart speaker offers an improved audio experience, plus a new temperature sensor and all the handy features from Alexa, like playing music, answering questions, and checking the weather completely hands-free.View Deal

Amazon's Echo Spot smart clock is $40 off in the latest Best Buy sale. As well as a time display and wake-up alerts, this compact bit of kit can play music, check the weather and control other smart devices throughout your home.View Deal

Get a cheap streaming device with Amazon's standard Fire TV Stick on sale for $19.99. In our Fire TV Stick review, we found that the original version offered a cost-effective way to add essential smart features to your TV, including access to HD streaming apps, Alexa voice controls, and the ability to control other smart home devices.View Deal

Amazon's best-selling Echo Show 5 is on sale for only $49.99 in today's sale. The 2023 Echo Show 5 features a compact 5.5-inch display but packs impressive sound with deeper bass and clearer vocals. With Amazon Alexa, you can listen to podcasts, movies, music, and more.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Gaming

Nintendo Switch 2 bundles have been a rare sight in recent months, so it's good to see this customisable option available at Best Buy. As well as a console, you can also choose between a downloadable copy of either Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Pokémon Pokopia, for a saving of up to $29.99.View Deal

Best Buy Black Friday in July sale — Apple

This isn't the lowest price we've seen for Apple's newest AirPods 4, as they've been as low as $79.99 in the past. Nevertheless, the AirPods 4 feature a new design for all-day comfort and pack Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalized spatial audio and voice isolation. You're also getting a redesigned case with 30 hours of battery life and support for USB-C for wireless charging. Just be aware that this cheaper version does not support active noise cancellation.View Deal

Willing to spend a bit more? Best Buy's latest Apple sale also has the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation available for $149.99. This isn't the best offer, given that they were down to $99.99 in previous events. Still, if you must buy now, these AirPods 4 feature a new comfortable design, handy controls, and Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalized spatial audio and voice isolation – alongside that all-important ANC.View Deal

Apple's newest premium buds feature improved Active Noise Cancellation, outstanding audio, a comfortable in-ear design, and new features such as live translation and heart-rate tracking. These do-it-all buds really are 100% flagship audio and the noise-cancelling quality is outstanding. Today's deal is the best price you can find on Apple's newest AirPods, and a return to the record-low Black Friday price we saw at the end of last year.View Deal

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

This is only $20 more than the record-low price for the Apple Watch SE 3, so it's still a solid bargain. The Apple Watch SE 3 is currently our pick for the best Apple Watch to buy if you're on a budget, as it delivers a full experience and all the style you need, but at a fraction of the price.View Deal

The brand-new Apple iPad A16 is down to its lowest-ever price in the Best Buy Memorial Day sale, so it's worth taking advantage of if you have an eye on the latest Apple slate. The biggest upgrade compared to the previous generation model is the latest A16 chip for faster performance. You also get double the storage of 128GB as standard, a sharp 11-inch Liquid Retina display, and solid 12MP front and back cameras.View Deal

There's a decent $100 saving on the latest iPad Pro 11-inch at Best Buy, matching the record-low of $899 we saw on Black Friday. This is still a pricey tablet, but you do get the brand-new M5 chip, high-quality tandem OLED display and 256GB as standard. Expect this to be one of the better offers we see on the tablet until later in the year.View Deal

Display - 13.6 inches
Processor - Apple M5
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 512GB

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Digital commerce has historically focused on optimizing the customer experience through interface design, structured navigation, and carefully engineered conversion processes.

Over time, merchants have improved these experiences to reduce friction and support decision-making at every step of the purchasing lifecycle.

While AI historically played a limited role, restricted to basic chatbots or shopping assistants, rapid advancements mean AI agents are now prepared to execute transactions directly on behalf of customers.

This shift is driving a fundamental transformation across the ecommerce sector.

This new ecosystem is agentic commerce, where software agents initiate and complete transactions within clearly defined constraints.

To accommodate this, payment infrastructure is moving closer to the point where intent becomes execution, introducing protocols that make platforms machine-readable so AI can safely complete transactions in real time.

It is a major leap forward for retail technology, and enterprise readiness is urgent.

The Enterprise Blueprint: Brand vs. Non-Brand Agents

For large enterprise merchants, this shift introduces both an immediate opportunity and a critical defensive necessity. Enterprise adoption will likely begin on a merchant’s own digital properties through brand agents, which are dedicated AI assistants designed to improve conversion, capture valuable data, and keep the consumer firmly within the merchant’s ecosystem.

Eventually, these properties must open up to external, non-brand agents controlled by consumers or procurement departments. As AI agents become the primary interface for ecommerce, enterprise merchants who fail to make their platforms discoverable and transactable risk losing market share to competitors who are ready.

Securing the Payment Layer, Navigating Discovery

To capture these autonomous sales, a merchant's infrastructure must interact seamlessly with software systems. When autonomous agents handle procurement, they process data directly rather than navigating traditional user interfaces.

While optimizing product catalogs and metadata for LLMs is vital for discovery, enterprise merchants do not need to tackle this layer alone; they can solve this through specialized discovery and platform partners. The core operational challenge for the merchant remains the payment layer.

Because AI agent activity makes transaction volumes highly dynamic, minor inefficiencies or a single failed authentication step can terminate an entire chain of transactions.

The priority for merchants is establishing a robust payment architecture capable of verifying human intent and explicit consent, recognizing and authenticating the specific AI agent, and processing transactions securely across multiple rails in real time.

Shifting to Modular Business Models

The applications of agentic commerce vary across sectors due to distinct transaction models, regulatory systems, and the structural maturity of different digital verticals. However, a recurring theme is the transition from rigid, packaged bundles to highly granular, modular transactions.

For example, instead of requiring a fixed monthly or annual subscription for software-as-a-service (SaaS), an AI agent can dynamically subscribe a user to a platform precisely when needed. The agent continuously assesses usage and pays for the appropriate tier automatically. This allows subscription models to match real-time demand, aligning perfectly with customer utility.

Similarly, online learning platforms can deploy micro-transaction frameworks. Rather than purchasing full courses, users can access a single lesson or group of lessons at a bespoke price point. Agents can combine individual lessons from multiple providers to create a tailored learning experience, while the underlying payment infrastructure fragments and distributes the value seamlessly across all accessed merchants.

Programmable Monetary Flows

At the heart of agentic commerce is the transition from traditional payment infrastructure to programmable monetary flows. In this environment, systems execute transactions based on continually evaluated conditions of intent and permission. Confirming human consent is vital, as it serves as the primary defense protecting merchants from claims of unauthorized or fraudulent AI activity.

To enable this, payment environments must interpret delegated instructions, enforce spending constraints, and execute transactions instantly. Agent-bound payment credentials facilitate these purchases, allowing agents to act autonomously while preserving financial control and traceability for the end user. Global card schemes are already formalizing the components of this model, signaling a broader evolution of delegated payment frameworks.

Security infrastructure must also evolve to counter malicious actors attempting to counterfeit legitimate agent behavior. Regulatory updates, such as the upcoming PSD3/PSD4 frameworks in Europe and the EU AI Act, are setting clearer expectations for accountability, making compliance more critical than ever.

From Complexity to Simplification

Navigating this new terrain involves balancing real-time agent authentication, compliance with shifting regulations, and programmable credentials, all of which introduce undeniable operational complexity. But preparing for it doesn't mean overhauling your existing systems.

The path forward lies in a single integration point that abstracts this protocol churn away from your business. By partnering with the right payment layer expert, enterprise merchants can simplify the complex backend architecture, shielding their operations from technical friction while ensuring they are ready to accept machine-to-machine payments seamlessly.

The protocol-level reset for digital trade is already accelerating. Competitive advantage belongs to organizations that secure their payment infrastructure early, start by assessing whether your payment architecture can verify intent and authenticate agents today.

We list the best mobile credit card processors.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Ecopetrol confirms ransomware attempt in which attackers stole data from 3,300 user accounts but failed to deploy the encryptor due to security controls
• Stolen files were pseudonymous, with no user identities or credentials compromised; transactional systems and partner networks remained unaffected
• The company ousted the attackers, launched an investigation, and notified Colombian authorities; no ransom demand details or data leaks have surfaced so far

Latin American energy producer Ecopetrol has revealed it was victim of a ransomware attack, and while the threat actors managed to get away with sensitive data from thousands of user accounts, they were unable to deploy the encryptor and thus disrupt the company’s day-to-day operations.

In a statement shared with the public, Ecopetrol explained how an unidentified threat actor accessed their IT infrastructure and pulled data from 3,300 user accounts. The attacker then proceeded to install an encryptor but was stopped by the company’s security controls.

Despite failing to deploy the encryptor, the threat actor still reached out to the company demanding payment. We don’t know how much money they asked for, in exchange for not sharing the stolen files. The database has not yet leaked, it seems, and no one claimed responsibility for the intrusion. At the same time, Ecopetrol says the stolen files are pseudonymous, suggesting that they might not be particularly useful to the attackers:

Notifying the authorities

“The identity of the users of the 3,300 accounts that were illegally infiltrated was not affected, nor were the respective user access credentials captured,” the machine-translated announcement reads. “Ecopetrol S.A. confirms that no compromises have been identified in the transactional technological solutions of its digital ecosystem, those of its subsidiaries, or those of its network of commercial allies, financiers, providers, and clients.”

Ecopetrol said that it managed to oust the attackers and stop further data exfiltration. It also launched an internal investigation and notified relevant authorities, including the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, the Joint Cyber Command of the Military Forces, and others.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Ecopetrol is Colombia's state-controlled oil and gas giant. It runs production, refining, transportation, and exploration operations, and is present in multiple countries, including Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. Its annual revenue is around $30 billion.

Via Cybernews

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Today's best budget HP laptop deal

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The best IT experience is the one employees never have to think about.

A business laptop stays fast. A video call does not freeze. A virtual desktop launches without delay. An application works when it is needed most.

When everything runs smoothly, employees do not praise IT. They simply keep working.

That quiet experience is the goal. It is also becoming an increasingly important objective for enterprise technology teams.

For years, IT teams have been trapped in a reactive operating model. A user reports a problem. Support gathers logs, investigates the issue, identifies a root cause, and applies a fix after productivity has already been affected.

That model worked when environments were simpler, users were mostly in the office, and technology change moved at a different pace.

Today’s environments look very different. Employees now work across physical devices, virtual desktops, cloud workspaces, SaaS applications, home networks, office networks, identity systems, security layers, and collaboration tools. The experience can break at any point. When it does, employees rarely care where the issue originated, they simply know that work has stopped.

As workplaces become more distributed and interconnected, visibility remains important, but organizations increasingly need systems that can interpret data and act on it. The next phase of IT operations will not be defined by better dashboards alone.

It will be centered around intelligent systems that can detect issues, understand what is happening, and fix problems before employees ever need to report them.

From visibility to action

Digital Employee Experience (DEX) changed the way IT teams understood the workplace. DEX gave organizations a clearer view into performance, reliability, sentiment, device health, application behavior, and the friction employees face every day.

Visibility on its own does not solve problems. Dashboards, experience scores, and alerts help IT understand where issues exist, but they still rely on people to investigate and respond. The larger opportunity is using those insights to identify likely causes, recommend corrective actions, and automate routine remediation where appropriate.

This shift is driving the emergence of Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM). While DEX helps organizations understand employee experience, AEM extends that capability by using AI and automation to identify root causes, recommend corrective actions, and resolve many common issues without waiting for manual intervention.

The goal is not to eliminate IT oversight, but to reduce the time between detection and resolution while preventing avoidable disruptions from affecting employees in the first place.

Why AI matters now

The challenge for IT has never been a lack of data. Most enterprise environments generate enormous amounts of telemetry. The problem is that the data is fragmented, noisy, and often disconnected from the user experience.

A device may show high CPU utilization, a virtual desktop may show latency, an application may crash, a network path may degrade or a user may report that everything feels slow. Each signal matters, but the value comes from connecting them quickly enough to understand the real cause.

This is where AI changes the equation. AI can correlate signals across devices, applications, networks, identity, sessions, and infrastructure. It can identify patterns that would take humans much longer to spot. It can summarize what changed, why it matters, and what action is most likely to resolve the issue. It can help IT move from searching for clues to acting with confidence.

The value of AI in IT operations extends beyond conversational interfaces. Context matters more than conversation. The ability to understand what changed, determine likely causes, and recommend the most appropriate action can dramatically improve operational efficiency.

Combined with real-time telemetry and automation, AI becomes part of the operational framework used to manage the digital workplace rather than simply another productivity tool.

The power of self-healing IT

The most meaningful advances in IT operations may be largely invisible to employees. A device that begins slowing down because of excessive memory consumption can be identified and corrected automatically before the user contacts support.

The same approach applies to recurring application crashes, virtual desktop performance issues, and other common disruptions. Rather than waiting for tickets, platforms can identify patterns, determine likely causes, and initiate corrective actions before productivity is affected.

Similarly, when a virtual desktop session begins showing signs of degraded performance, AI-assisted analysis can help determine whether the cause is resource contention, network latency, profile corruption, or application behavior, allowing IT teams to address the issue more quickly.

This is what self-healing IT looks like. The objective is not to create more visibility for employees. It is to reduce disruptions before they interfere with work.

For IT organizations, success increasingly means fewer outages, fewer support tickets, fewer escalations, and fewer situations where employees are forced to troubleshoot their own technology problems.

IT teams remain central

AI does not replace IT professionals. It gives them leverage to work more efficiently.

The modern IT organization is being asked to do more than ever. IT teams are expected to support more devices, secure increasingly distributed environments, manage a growing portfolio of applications, improve employee experience, control costs, support hybrid work, and enable AI adoption, all while the complexity of the digital workplace continues to increase.

AI helps reduce noise, accelerate root cause analysis, automate repetitive tasks, and direct human expertise toward areas where judgment, governance, and strategic decision-making are required. The goal is not to remove people from the process. It is to eliminate unnecessary effort that prevents teams from focusing on higher-value work.

Where the industry is heading

Across the industry, enterprise IT is moving toward platforms that can see what is happening in real time, understand context, and act safely at scale.

Digital Employee Experience remains foundational. Organizations still need deep visibility into how employees are experiencing technology across physical endpoints, virtual desktops, cloud workspaces, applications, networks, and infrastructure. But visibility alone is no longer enough. The next layer is intelligent, autonomous action.

The digital workplace has become the front door to productivity. When that experience breaks, the business feels it. When it runs smoothly, employees stay focused on their work, customers are served better, and IT becomes a strategic enabler of the business.

The next chapter of IT

IT operations are becoming more predictive and increasingly automated, but the objective remains unchanged: keeping employees productive.

Organizations seeing the greatest value from AI are building systems that can identify issues, understand context, and resolve common problems before users are affected.

When technology works as expected, employees stay focused on their jobs rather than the systems supporting them. AI is helping IT teams achieve that goal more consistently and with less manual effort.

We list the best small business software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit