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Asustor Lockerstor 2 Gen2+ AS6702T v2 review

TechRadar News - Sun, 10/11/2026 - 01:20

Asustor AS6702T v2: 30-second review

Asustor is, for those curious, the storage arm of Asus, and for years it has sold NAS that sit between basic home boxes and full business servers. The Lockerstor range is pitched for prosumer and small-business use.

Today, I’m looking at the Lockerstor 2 Gen2+, model AS6702T v2, which refreshes the 2022 Lockerstor 2 Gen2. The biggest change is networking, where two 2.5GbE ports have become two 5GbE ports, but sadly the rest of the hardware carries over, including the Intel Celeron N5105 processor and 4GB of RAM.

That makes this a more specialised NAS than the entry-level models that most home users migrate. It has four M.2 slots alongside its two SATA bays, an HDMI output, two 10Gbps USB ports and an all-metal chassis. The x86 processor also means it can run Docker containers and virtual machines, which ARM-powered rivals can’t match. It is built for people who want speed and flexibility rather than the lowest possible price.

The obvious question is why you would pay this much when the Ugreen DXP2800 lists at $346.99 / £349.99 and the DXP2800 GT at $399.99 / £459.99. For many buyers, the honest answer is that you wouldn’t. Both Ugreen models use newer processors, and the GT adds a 10GbE port. The Asustor fights back with build quality, storage flexibility and a longer warranty, and some people will value those aspects more than a better paper specification.

Overall, the AS6702T v2 is a very capable two-bay NAS for fast networks and NVMe pools. As a pure value proposition, it is much harder to defend. It deserves a place in our best NAS device for those specific needs, but not as a bargain.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Asustor AS6702T v2: Price and availability

How much does it cost? From $517/£486/€616
When is it out? Available now
Where can you get it? Online retailers, including Amazon and Newegg

Asustor’s suggested US price for the AS6702T v2 is $569.99, but the street prices are lower, with Amazon, Newegg and B&H all listing it at $516.99 in the US.

In the UK, Amazon.co.uk shows £504. Which, if we do the exchange rate calculation, makes it the equivalent of $673 in the UK, or 30% more expensive for UK customers. In Europe, the Amazon cost is €616.06, which is $693 in US dollars, or even more inflated. Not sure why Asustor dislikes Europeans so much, the way they price their hardware.

But to be frank, irrespective of where you source it, this is a lot for a two-bay NAS with 4GB of RAM and no drives. The Ugreen NASync DXP2800 lists at $349.99 / £349.99, which makes it well over $220 cheaper. The DXP2800 GT lists at £365.99 in the UK and $399.99 in the US, with current promotions.

Synology’s DS225+ is the other obvious rival, priced at only $310.24 on Amazon.com. It has a slower Celeron J4125, 2GB of RAM and no M.2 slots, but its DSM software is the benchmark that Asustor’s ADM is judged against.

What the AS6702T v2 delivers is speed and flexibility rather than savings. If you want four NVMe slots in a two-bay chassis, it is an unusual and relatively affordable option. If you don’t, you are paying for features you won’t use.

At these prices, the AS6702T v2 seems overpriced by at least $100 or more.

Value: 3.5 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Asustor AS6702T v2: Specs

Item

Spec

CPU:

Intel Celeron N5105 (4 cores, 4 threads, 2.0GHz, 2.9GHz burst)

GPU:

Intel UHD Graphics (24 EU)

RAM:

4GB DDR4 SODIMM (two slots, expandable to 16GB)

Internal Storage:

8GB eMMC for ADM

SATA Storage:

2 bays (3.5 or 2.5 inch mechanisms), hot swappable

M.2 Storage:

4 x M.2 2280 NVMe (PCIe 3.0 x1 each)

Ports:

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A (10Gbps)
1 x USB 2.0 Type A
1 x HDMI 2.0b

Networking:

2 x RJ45 5GbE (also 2.5GbE, 1GbE and 100Mbps)

OS:

ADM 5.1

Maximum Capacity:

2 x 18TB SATA (36TB)

RAID Modes:

Single/JBOD/RAID 0/RAID 1 on SATA
RAID 0/1/5/6/10 on M.2 volumes

PSU:

65W external adapter

Power:

21W operating, 13.5W disk hibernation (Asustor figures)

Noise:

17.7dB with drives idle (Asustor figure)

Dimensions:

H163.5 x W108 x D230 mm

Weight:

2kg

Warranty:

3 years

Asustor AS6702T v2: Design

Metal chassis
Screwed trays
Hidden slots

The AS6702T v2 is a plain, businesslike NAS. There is no flashy trim, just a black metal case with a plastic face that suits Asustor’s more business-oriented Lockerstor range. At 163.5mm tall, 108mm wide and 230mm deep, it is almost exactly the size of Synology’s DS225+, although at 2kg it is noticeably heavier.

The two drive bays sit at the front and pull out with a latch. Beside them are status lights and a single 10Gbps USB Type A port. At the back are the two 5GbE ports, a second 10Gbps USB port, an HDMI output, a USB 2.0 port and a 70mm fan.

My main ergonomic complaint is how the drives are fitted. Every 3.5-inch drive uses four screws to attach it to its tray, and Asustor supplies two bags of them in the box. Tool-free trays have been normal for years, and even Asustor’s own AS4002T had them almost a decade ago.

Does it come down to cost? Because given the price of this hardware, it shouldn’t.

The only NAS I’ve seen recently which needs screws for mounting drives came from Beelink, since all of the main players transitioned to tool-less trays years ago.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

But then, the upgrades are just as fiddly. To reach the four M.2 slots or the RAM, you have to open the case, which means removing more three more screws. Thankfully, the M.2 drives themselves need no tools once you are inside. The empty RAM slot is reasonably easy to reach, but the stock 4GB module sits on the underside of the board and needs far more disassembly to swap.

Almost every other brand, including Synology, has a removable panel or other means for accessing the memory slots without dismantling the whole NAS.

In the box, you get a 65W power adapter, two network cables and the screws. Cooling comes from a single 70mm fan, and Asustor rates the NAS at 17.7dB with the drives idle. Those numbers seem accurate, and this is a quiet NAS that won’t disturb you while you sit at the desk.

What I can’t fault is that Asustor has supreme confidence in its hardware, offering a three-year warranty. That’s a year more than Ugreen, and the same as Synology.

Design: 3.5 / 5

Asustor AS6702T v2: Features

Celeron N5105
Four M.2 slots
Dual 5GbE

The AS6702T v2 uses the same Intel Celeron N5105 as the 2022 model. This quad-core chip has four threads, runs at 2.0GHz, and turbo boosts to 2.9GHz. It includes UHD Graphics, which handles hardware video decoding and transcoding for media apps.

That was a sensible choice in 2022, when Asustor launched its predecessor. Today it looks tired. Intel’s N100, which powers the Ugreen DXP2800, arrived in 2023 with better efficiency and a higher peak clock of 3.4GHz.

The DXP2800 GT goes further with an AMD Ryzen Embedded R2514, which has four cores, eight threads and a peak of 3.7GHz. The N5105 remains perfectly capable of file serving, backups, Plex, and light containers, but it can no longer be considered a power platform unless you compare it to ARM-based NAS.

Memory is the other soft spot. The AS6702T v2 ships with a single 4GB DDR4 SODIMM and a second empty slot, allowing 16GB total from two 8GB modules. That’s the maximum this platform can support, because Intel didn’t consider that anyone would want a Celeron N5105 system with more than 16GB of memory on it.

The only positive aspect of this arrangement is that the memory will work in single-channel mode, enabling it to still function if you mix memory sizes. That allows you to put an 8GB module alongside the 4GB option and get 12GB. That is a useful upgrade, and more than the 6GB that the Synology’s DS225+ gets. But it's dramatically less than some competitor devices which come with 8GB and can be upgraded to 64GB.

The four M.2 slots are the most unusual feature, and frankly it’s slightly misleading for those thinking that they’re getting more SSD throughput than some NAS with dual slots.

They accept 2280 NVMe drives and can be used as a cache, as a storage pool, or even as the main volume for ADM and its apps. M.2 volumes also support RAID 5, 6 and 10, which the two SATA bays cannot offer, since it only has two drives.

The catch? Each slot runs at PCIe 3.0 x1, so a single drive tops out at around 1GB/s, no matter how fast the drive is rated. That still beats any hard drive several times over and is enough to feed a 5GbE link.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

But again, one of its competitors, the original Ugreen DXP2800, has two slots: one PCIe 4.0 x4 and one PCIe 3.0 x2. Therefore, its combined throughput on the two slots is 10GB/s, whereas the AS6702T v2 tops out at 4GB/s from the SSDs.

In both cases, unless you’re processing heavily on the NAS, the best use for the SSD slots is to cache the hard drives, but I’d recommend running any system with that arrangement on an uninterruptible power supply to avoid a power outage corrupting the data volumes.

Networking is where Asustor earns its premium badge. Both RJ45 ports run at 5GbE and fall back to 2.5GbE, 1GbE or 100Mbps, so they work with any switch. They support link aggregation, and with SMB Multichannel, Asustor claims up to 10Gbps of bandwidth.

However, the HDD storage in this unit can’t reach those levels, and two drives will struggle to saturate one 5Gbps LAN port even in RAID 0 mode. Without an SSD cache, you can’t make the most of the 5GbE LAN ports.

There is no 10GbE upgrade path, though, because the two-bay model doesn’t take the optional card that the larger Gen2+ models can use. In theory, you could run an M.2 to 10GbE LAN adapter if you are careful, but I’m not sure what advantages that might unlock.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Two 10Gbps USB ports support up to two four-bay AS5004U expansion units, bringing the total to ten drives. Each expansion unit works as a separate storage pool with its own RAID rather than adding to the main volume.

With these expansion options attached, the 5Gbe LAN ports do make more sense, but again SSD caching will be required to make it fully worthwhile. The issue is that if you want to have a 10-bay NAS, there are cheaper and more effective ways than buying a 2-bay NAS and adding two $320 expansion boxes to it.

A positive aspect is that power use is minimal. Asustor quotes 21W in operation and 13.5W with the disks hibernating. I estimate that the running overhead for this NAS with two hard drives and four SSDs would be about 400Wh over 24 hours, which is greater than the 275Wh you might use for a Synology DS225+. But then, this is a more powerful NAS.

Asustor’s specification page lists 36TB as the maximum, which is two 18TB drives, but that looks like the largest size tested rather than a hard limit. I’d be surprised if 40TB drives, or larger, wouldn’t work with this hardware when they become widely available.

The result is a platform that is strong on networking and storage flexibility, but short on processor and memory headroom. The choice of the Celeron N5105 was critical, as was the choice not to upgrade it in the V2 generation. This CPU can only address 16GB of RAM, has few PCIe Express lanes and can only use DDR4 memory. And in 2026, that looks a bit light on expectations.

Features: 3.5 / 5

Asustor AS6702T v2: Software

ADM 5.1
No flexible RAID
TrueNAS and UNRAID possible

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The AS6702T v2 runs ADM 5.1 (5.1.4.RM62), which Asustor originally released in late 2025. It is the first version to support post-quantum cryptography, adding hybrid TLS encryption designed to resist attacks from future quantum computers.

Setup is straightforward. You find the NAS with Asustor’s Control Center app, or by browsing to its address on port 8000, and ADM then downloads and installs in about ten minutes.

I’ve seen some reviewers declare that they had a system full of drives up and running in half an hour, but I doubt that. In my instance, it took nearly four hours to deliver an initialised machine with two 2TB hard drives in RAID 1 (Mirror) configuration and a single 1TB SSD configured for a read cache. Larger drives will take longer, so don’t assume you will be up and running the same day the hardware arrives.

ADM looks and behaves like a simple Linux desktop, and it has a good search tool for finding settings. There are around 150 official apps in App Central, including Plex Server, Download Center, EZ Sync and the LooksGood media player. Docker, VirtualBox, Btrfs snapshots and cloud backup are all included, and most are well designed.

Depth is the weakness. Surveillance Center is simple and well behind Synology’s equivalent, VirtualBox is awkward to use, and the Snapshot Center works on whole volumes rather than individual shared folders. None of the backup or sync apps offers file versioning either, which makes it harder to recover from accidental changes.

Overall, ADM 5.1 is competent but hardly revolutionary.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The file system offers Ext4 or Btrfs, and on the latter you can have WORM (Write Once, Read Many) volumes to provide immutable, tamper-proof, and ransomware-resistant data storage in shared folders.

However, there is also no equivalent of Synology Hybrid RAID. ADM supports only standard RAID options, so mixing drives of different sizes simply wastes space. This feature is also available on TerraMaster hardware, and the UNRAID platform. According to my research, it is possible to run UNRAID, TrueNAS or OpenMediaVault on this hardware and dispense with ADM, but that would probably negate your warranty to some degree or another.

Conversely, TerraMaster and, on occasion, Synology have included HDMI ports on their NAS with no means for the users to access this feature for outputting media. On ADM there is a mechanism for doing that via the Portal app, which curiously uses Firefox to create the web interface. This approach seems somewhat flaky, and it would probably be better to use JellyFin on the machine and stream it to a TV using a Firestick or Google TV dongle.

For home users and small offices, ADM is a solid foundation. It just isn’t the reason to buy this NAS.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Software: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Asustor AS6702T v2: Performance

5GbE speed
Hard drive limits
NVMe pools

Two 5GbE LAN ports promise speed, but storage determines what you will actually see. Typical drives manage about 150MB/s each depending on spec and size, so RAID 0 tops out near 300MB/s. RAID 1 should write at the speed of one drive and read marginally faster.

Configured in RAID 1 with two WD Red Plus 2TB drives and a single SSD as cache, I measured about 230MB/s reads and 181MB/s writes, limited by my 2.5GbE test network.

Without the read SSD cache, the numbers changed to 234MB/s reads and 183MB/s writes, which probably indicates RAM is being used for caching.

Switching to RAID 0 (Striped) delivered 232MB/s reads and 236MB/s writes without an SSD cache, but obviously if either drive fails, the data on it will be lost. And finally, I configured the single SSD to be a shared folder, and curiously that transfer didn’t go any faster than the RAID 0 volume. It should have saturated my 2.5GbE network, so that it didn’t was odd.

Since I’d made so many changes without a restart, I rebooted the NAS, and after that it managed sustained read and write at 280MB/s, the full capability of a 2.5GbE network.

That is why the 5GbE ports make little difference with hard drives alone. It’s also worth saying that while network switches with 2.5GbE and 10GbE LAN ports are relatively easy to find, ones with specifically 5GbE aren’t that common.

Asustor’s own figures show what 5GbE can do when the storage keeps up. Using SSDs, it quotes about 591MB/s in each direction over a single link, and around 1,050MB/s with both ports aggregated through SMB Multichannel. Those are lab results from optimised hardware, so expect less in a typical home or office.

The caveat is that getting that magical 1000MB/s+ level of performance assumes you have either dual 5GbE LAN ports on the host system or 10GbE; if it’s the latter, you might want to consider a NAS with a 10GbE port and dispense with SMB Multichannel.

Asustor AS6702T v2: Final verdict

The AS6702T v2 is a capable, well-made NAS that solves network speed issues in a two-bay chassis. The dual 5GbE ports and four M.2 slots give it options that most rivals can’t match, and the metal build and three-year warranty inspire confidence.

However, it looks like it was designed for a future where NVMe SSDs were cheap, and that’s not the multiverse we ended up in.

And, even if you have a drawer of unused SSDs, what holds it back is everything around those headline features. The Celeron N5105 is ageing, 4GB of RAM is stingy, the screwed trays and hidden slots are irritating, and ADM lacks the depth of Synology’s NAS operating system. And don’t get me started on Asustor’s naming convention, which seems to be taking its cues from German Komposita. What’s wrong with “AS6702T 2026 Edition”?

And then there is the price, which seems to assume that Asustor NAS are built to a higher quality than other brands. Where the reality is that Ugreen and Synology are equally well-made, and TerraMaster isn’t far behind.

The US cost of $516.99 is even harder to accept when the newer DXP2800 GT costs only $399.99 on Amazon.com and comes with 8GB of RAM and a 10GbE LAN port.

If you have a multigigabit network and want an NVMe pool alongside a pair of hard drives, it might be an excellent choice. Everyone else should look at the Ugreen alternatives first, or wait for a seasonal discount.

Should you buy a Asustor AS6702T v2?

Value

Seems pricey considering it uses an old CPU

3.5 / 5

Design

Straightforward, but still using screwed trays

3.5 / 5

Features

x86-based, but M.2 slots are only Gen3 x1

3.5 / 5

Software

WORM volumes and lots of apps, but no Hybrid RAID

4 / 5

Performance

Two drives limits throughput without SSDs

3.5 / 5

Overall

A great 2022 NAS, but its 2026

3.5 / 5

Buy it if...

You have a 5GbE or 10GbE network
The two ports negotiate down to 2.5GbE and 1GbE, and with SMB Multichannel they can combine for up to 10Gbps. With NVMe storage behind them, this NAS can use that bandwidth in a way hard drives never will.

You want NVMe in a two bay NAS
Four M.2 slots can serve as a cache, a storage pool or even the main volume, with RAID 5, 6 and 10 available on the SSD side. That flexibility is unusual at this size.

Don't buy it if...

You are watching the budget
The Ugreen DXP2800 costs well over £100 less, with a newer N100 processor and 8GB of RAM. With hard drives over 2.5GbE, you will see similar speeds.

You want a better future proofed platform
The Celeron N5105 is an older design, and 4GB of RAM won’t go far. The DXP2800 GT offers a stronger processor, 10GbE and a 64GB RAM ceiling for less money, so start there if you plan to run Docker containers or virtual machines.

For more NAS solutions we've collated the best NAS hard drives around

Categories: Technology

A wakeup light is my secret weapon against dark and depressing mornings — here are 9 worth picking up as we head into autumn

TechRadar News - Sun, 10/11/2026 - 01:00

The mornings are just starting to draw in, and if the idea of waking up to darkness fills you with doom and gloom, perhaps it's time to invest in a sunrise alarm clock (sometimes called a wakeup light). The idea is simple: these lamps are designed to brighten gradually in the morning, to rouse you gently from your slumber in a way that mimics the sun.

They're also meant to help you dodge that groggy feeling you get when you're awoken aggressively from deep sleep, so you're more alert and better equipped to tackle the day. I've tested a few sunrise alarms, and can confirm they're a whole lot gentler and more soothing than an aggressive phone alarm bleeping you awake.

There's a wide range of options on the market. At the cheapest end of the scale you'll find wakeup lights that just have a basic, brightening setting. More advanced options let you choose the duration of brightening and can offer a range of sounds to go with the light; Lumie's priciest options offer a massive range of sounds, from rainfall to kittens purring, cafe noises, tree frogs and even ping pong. My top tip is not to pick a noise that might naturally occur in your bedroom — I chose birdsong, and mistook seagulls having a midnight chat for my call to start getting ready for work.

Many sunrise alarms also have features to help you drop off peacefully on those dark winter evenings. Look for a sunset feature — which dims gently over a period, to help you wind down — and white noise options, if that's something that helps you drop off. If you're hunting for an all-in-one solution, a number of models have radio built-in too.

Lumie's Bodyclock range is one of the most popular sunrise alarm lineups. I've tried a couple of these and was impressed, but they're not the only option on the market. Scroll down for a roundup of well-reviewed wakeup lights from respected brands including Philips Hue, Beurer and Hatch.

Rise and shine

Lumie Sunrise Alarm

Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300

Lumie Bodyclock Spark 100

Lumie BodyClock Glow 150

Hatch Restore 3

Philips Wake-up light

Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-up Light

Beurer Wl75 Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock

Dreamegg Sunrise Alarm Clock

Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 700

Categories: Technology

Brits still aren't comfortable handing over too much control to AI

TechRadar News - Sun, 10/11/2026 - 01:00

84% of Brits fear handing too much control over to AI agents
Concerns about the potential for AI agents to commit fraud or other illegal acts were also expressed
2,000 British adults were surveyed, with just 9% stating they have no worries about AI

The results are in and it’s clear: most Brits are uncomfortable with AI taking the reigns, and there are even concerns that an AI agent could turn to a life of crime – in your name.

Quizzed on their comfort using AI, 84% responded that they would give AI only moderate or low access to their lives, or none at all.

Instead, 27% of the 2,000 surveyed Brits are happier for AI to prepare things and wait for approval, while 23% are okay with letting AI carry out routine tasks, preferring to hold permission for the more important tasks instead.

Agentic fear

Exploring Brit’s concerns over the use of AI, the survey (conducted by Censuswide) found that 34% wouldn’t be comfortable with any AI control. But these results don’t mean that Brits are scared of AI. While they have “rogue AI” worries (40% believe the company that created the AI should be held responsible), only 19% consider AI to be a “threat to humanity.”

Meanwhile, just 9% say they’re not worried about AI at all.

Unsurprisingly, there is a split in demographics. In the over-55 group, 47% would refuse to give an AI agent control over their lives, while 20% of 25-34 year-olds consider themselves to be comfortable with high levels of AI agent control.

AI liability

But when it comes to AI potentially committing illegal acts, things look a little different, with 14% concerned about the impact of AI on their ability to stay out of legal trouble. It’s a figure that grows to 21% among the 18-24 year old age group.

“I think it’s important that we have a debate about AI liability - and this survey is important as part of that debate,” noted Jonathan Armstrong, a Partner at legal company Punter Southall. “Too many people assume that AI is the Wild West - legally that just isn’t the case.”

Consequently, it is people – those using the AI, who will be liable for criminal acts. “In most cases you’ll be responsible for the AI you use and the consequences - and sometimes even if it took you by surprise. There are many great use cases for AI but they should all start with knowledge of the risks and doing what you can to reduce that risk."

With the growth of AI agents offering a seemingly endless stream of automation possibilities, concerns from Brits should be no surprise. The onus is the user to understand what they’re using AI for, and to use it responsibly.

Categories: Technology

Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered review: Welcome (back) to China

TechRadar News - Sun, 10/11/2026 - 00:00

Revisiting one of Omega Force’s most beloved works via Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered has been interesting. I got into the series quite late, so I’ve never had the same reverence for the earlier games that many other fans do. I’m happy to say that has changed with this remastered version.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Release date: October 1, 2026

This is a very different game compared to modern entries like Dynasty Warriors Origins or Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Objectives are straightforward, battles (for the most part) tend not to last as long, and your KO count per battle is much lower than the thousands you rack up in newer installments.

Satisfaction lies elsewhere in Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered. It trades bombastic theatrics and ‘rule of cool’ battlefield domination for a more grounded approach. Instead of tearing across battlegrounds like a Category 5 hurricane, you’ll need to pick your fights more carefully and move with your army. Even basic peons are far more aggressive in this game, so ditching your allies isn’t exactly the wisest decision.

There are some cool quality-of-life additions, such as being able to counter enemy Strong and Special attacks with your own. A handy checkpoint feature lets you rewind the battle to key moments if you die, and there’s an honest-to-goodness dodge button that helps even the odds and can even be followed up with a counter if timed correctly. Alternatively, you can set the entire game to a ‘Classic’ mode, ditching all of this in favor of the original gameplay experience.

It’s an incredibly thoughtful remaster in that regard, offering options for newcomers, purists, and everyone in between. The visual facelift is nice, but not overbearing. Plus, additional content from the Xtreme Legends expansion is included here, too, making Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered an extremely beefy package for its relatively budget price tag.

Same as it ever was?

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered, as ever, presents a loose interpretation of Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Which in itself is a romanticization of this turbulent wartorn era of Ancient China.

As an earlier entry, Dynasty Warriors 3 pretty much gives you the highlights rather than delving deep into character drama or motivations. It’s quite refreshingly simple, though individual playable officers do get their own cutscenes, endings, and the like.

You’ll spend the majority of your time in Musou Mode — effectively the game’s campaign. You will then choose an officer from one of four factions: Wei, Wu, Shu, or Other. The latter of which featuring officers with no set affiliation like Lu Bu, Dong Zhuo, and Diaochan.

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Each officer has their own bespoke Musou Mode route, though some are longer than others. Even so, your goal on each map typically boils down to defeating a key enemy officer, while ticking off smaller objectives to boost your side’s morale or rob the enemy of powerful weaponry.

That might sound repetitive, and it can be if played over longer sessions. However, I think Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered is tailored to shorter bursts of play, and the bite-sized Musou Mode campaigns for each officer support that. Playing through a campaign will bolster that officer’s stats, as well as earn them new weapons and equippable items — the latter of which can be shared between all officers.

Part of the beauty of Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered is that it feels like a snowball of unlockables. You’ll routinely be bagging new playable officers, more powerful weapons, and potent rare items should you meet their conditions during a stage.

Some stages can also grant you an officer’s fourth or fifth weapon. These are extremely strong, but are typically gated behind higher difficulties and some rather stringent objectives so be sure to bring upgraded officers and plenty of patience for these.

Old and new

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

One of my favorite things about Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered is that it has options for basically everyone. You can play the entire game in either modern or classic modes. Classic is just that: Dynasty Warriors 3 as it played on the PlayStation 2, for the most part. No fancy extras. Does it feel a bit dated? Yes absolutely, but I’m happy it’s here as an option for purists.

The more modern take applies a bunch of quality-of-life changes and gameplay additions. As mentioned at the top, these include Strong and Special attack counters, a dodge, and a quick mount option for your horse. It helps the game feel a lot more fluid, in my opinion.

Was I still getting juggled to death by lowly peons for daring to take on an officer on my lonesome? Yep. More than a few times. But ultimately I did appreciate the more humbling experience here when I’m so used to treating enemy armies like mowing the lawn in more modern Musou games.

Best bit

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered is a reminder of how cool unlockable content used to be in this era of gaming. You’ll have to put the work in to unlock most characters as well as their signature weapons. It’s the kind of stuff that’ll keep you busy for potentially tens of hours without feeling overly tedious.

What’s nice is that if you’re somewhere in the middle — say, wanting a hybrid modern/classic experience — Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered supports that. Quality-of-life additions can be toggled individually in the options menu, allowing for a widely customizable experience.

Additions aside, Omega Force has elected to keep the original game’s amazing soundtrack and cheeseball dialogue fully intact. I love this because there are some truly hilarious line deliveries across cutscenes, and the overt mispronunciation of officer names just adds to the charm of it all. Battles have been spiced up with combat lines from later entries like Dynasty Warriors 8, though, which is a nice touch.

Should I play Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered?Play it if…

You’re a newer Musou fan
If you’ve only recently gotten into Omega Force’s Warriors franchise, I implore you to give this one a go. It’s a great change of pace from more modern entries and very much bears a ‘substance over style’ approach.

You love unlockables
There are boatloads of officers and weapons to unlock, and most play rather differently from one another.

Don't play it if...

You’re not keen on repetition
There isn’t really any grinding to be done here, but replaying Musou Mode with many different officers can grow tiresome. Oh, and as a bonus pro tip: you only have to do a particularly aggravating objective during the Nanman campaign mission once, but my word is it a slog that first time.

Accessibility features

There aren't any dedicated accessibility toggles in Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered such as subtitles or colorblind modes. However, individual game settings can be toggled based on preferences. These include target-facing assists, dodging, power guards, and strong attack counters.

How I reviewed Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

I played Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered for 15 hours on PC via Steam for this review. Being a remaster of an older title, my Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 was more than enough to run the game on maximum settings with zero hitches or issues.

My gamepad of choice was the Valve Steam Controller (2026), and I often hooked up my RIG 900 Max HS gaming headset to enjoy the game's banging soundtrack and corny dialogue sequences.

The majority of my playtime was spent in the main Musou Mode, unlocking characters, weapons, and optional rare items. Though I did delve into the Free and Challenge modes for a change of pace, too.

First reviewed October 2026

Categories: Technology

Researchers build sailboat drone prototype that can 'fly' — we think it's more like falling with style

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 19:20

ALBATROSS turns an aircraft release into a controlled ocean landing system
The 1.1 kg drone can deploy without carrying powered flight hardware
Its rotating descent slows the fall before the vehicle reaches water

ALBATROSS, a drone built by seven engineers at Singapore university SUTD, is a lightweight sailboat drone designed to reach the water successfully after an aerial release.

The 1.107 kg prototype rotates while descending, which slows its fall before landing, and then converts into a wind-propelled vessel.

Its unusual launch method gives the machine a claimed operating range above 100 km while avoiding powered flight during deployment.

A drone that drops before it sails

ALBATROSS uses rigid wingsails to control its descent, causing the craft to rotate instead of dropping directly toward the water.

That spinning motion reduces falling speed and limits landing forces, allowing the vehicle to enter the ocean without landing hardware.

After landing on the water, the craft automatically returns to an upright position before switching into sailing mode.

“ALBATROSS is designed to be released from an aircraft or UAV, passively enter autorotation for a controlled, low-impact water landing, self-right without actuation,” said the SUTD research team.

The drone does not come with a landing gear, so it uses three control actuators with three main sensors, while a rudder provides directional movement through lateral motion for steering.

That rudder functions similarly to a fish tail, generating thrust while helping the small vessel steer after reaching the water.

Range and design give the concept its edge

The researchers say ALBATROSS could cover roughly above 100 km, substantially exceeding the approximately 7km range reported for SailMAV.

Its low mass allows aircraft or UAVs to carry it into areas where rapid deployment could matter during environmental events.

It also has an advantage over autonomous sailing platforms such as Saildrone or Sailbuoy, which may require external support during some operations.

That edge comes from its design, which integrates aerial and aquatic functions without relying on the separate mechanisms typically needed to manage those modes.

"Unlike many hybrid aerial-marine systems, ALBATROSS eliminates the need for aerial propulsion, complex mechanical reconfiguration, or active stabilization during the air-water transition and can sail back to shore at the end of a mission," the team said.

That ability could make aerial deployment useful for placing sensing equipment in areas where ocean conditions change quickly.

Wind-powered movement would then allow the vehicle to remain useful without carrying a propulsion system for continued surface travel.

This operating model differs from larger sailing drones, which can require management from shore facilities or vessels during active missions.

The prototype therefore combines low mass with a descent mechanism intended to reduce hardware requirements during the transition into water.

Whether the concept works reliably outside controlled testing will depend on consistent descent, self-righting, steering, and sailing performance overall.

Via The Register

Categories: Technology

PSA: Best Buy's 'Techtober' sale ends this Sunday — here are 50+ tech deals I'd buy on Apple, TVs, laptops, Google Pixel 11, and more

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 18:53

Just a quick PSA, folks. Best Buy's currently hosting a massive 'Techtober' sale until this Sunday, so there isn't long left to score what are quite possibly some of the best deals we'll see this side of Black Friday.

The retailer is currently hosting discounts on everything from the latest LG OLED TVs to cheap laptops — and I've been busy scanning through its listings to pick out the best deals. You can see a full list of recommendations based on our product testing at TechRadar just down below.

• Browse the full Best Buy Techtober sale

Highlights include this excellent value 55-inch TCL QM5K Mini LED TV for $499 (was $799), which is a fantastic price for such a premium display. There's also this HP OmniBook X Flip with an OLED display for $599 (was $799), and the Google Pixel 11 for $799 (was $899). The Pixel 11 has just been released, so this is a great little discount on an unlocked device.

That's just a small selection of highlights. You can see a full list of over 50 deals below, covering most categories. I've separated everything out into easy-to-navigate sections, so don't hesitate to skip ahead to a relevant section if you're looking for something specific.

Best Buy Techtober sale — quick links

Apple: up to $500 off MacBooks & AirPods
Appliances: up to 40% off
Cameras: up to $1,000 off Sony, DJI & Canon
Gaming: PS5 & Switch games from $19.99
Headphones: Apple, Sony & Bose from $9.99
Kitchen: up to 50% off Ninja & Breville
Laptops: from $189
Phones: up to $1,200 off iPhone & Samsung
Smart home: up to 50% off cameras & doorbells
Smartwatches: up to $200 off Apple & Google
Speakers: up to $400 off LG & JBL
Tablets: up to $100 off iPad & Lenovo
Toys: up to 50% off
TVs: from $69.98
Vacuums: up to 40% off Dyson & Shark

Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, October 11 (game #1721)

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 18:00

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Saturday, October 10 (game #1720).

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

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

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

Quordle today (game #1721) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

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

Quordle today (game #1721) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

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

Quordle today (game #1721) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

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

Quordle today (game #1721) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

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

Quordle today (game #1721) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• L

• I

• T

• S

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

Quordle today (game #1721) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1721, are…

LILAC
INLET
TRIAD
SHAPE

Despite having four letters in the correct position I held back on guessing SHAPE as there were so many options.

Fortunately my hesitance paid off and my new winning streak has kicked off without a single incorrect guess, start words aside.

Daily Sequence today (game #1721) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1721, are…

ETHIC
FLUME
SEDAN
SULLY

Quordle answers: The past 20

Quordle #1720, Saturday, 10 October: SWEAT, THIRD, RURAL, CLASP
Quordle #1719, Friday, 9 October: OLDEN, DUNCE, SWATH, HILLY
Quordle #1718, Thursday, 8 October: MINTY, ROWER, BROOD, RESET
Quordle #1717, Wednesday, 7 October: PALER, FROTH, DOZEN, ERASE
Quordle #1716, Tuesday, 6 October: FRESH, SKULK, BATCH, ENSUE
Quordle #1715, Monday, 5 October: SIXTH, SPEAK, SEDAN, HEIST
Quordle #1714, Sunday, 4 October: INFER, RAINY, THING, ARENA
Quordle #1713, Saturday, 3 October: CHORE, FLYER, STICK, PURSE
Quordle #1712, Friday, 2 October: IVORY, SADLY, ANGEL, LLAMA
Quordle #1711, Thursday, 1 October: NAVEL, SHEER, BIRTH, TACKY
Quordle #1710, Wednesday, 30 September: CHOKE, BATCH, MOSSY, EAGER
Quordle #1709, Tuesday, 29 September: BILGE, MEDAL, LODGE, PORCH
Quordle #1708, Monday, 28 September: BRUNT, TORSO, STONE, HEATH
Quordle #1707, Sunday, 27 September: VALET, CHEST, VIGIL, PUREE
Quordle #1706, Saturday, 26 September: SNORT, BIBLE, LAPSE, CRANE
Quordle #1705, Friday, 25 September: SWEAR, FLOOD, GUPPY, GROAN
Quordle #1704, Thursday, 24 September: TOPIC, METRO, SCALP, FREED
Quordle #1703, Wednesday, 23 September: SHEET, BLAND, JOIST, GUAVA
Quordle #1702, Tuesday, 22 September: COMFY, LOBBY, DRESS, PANEL
Quordle #1701, Monday, 21 September: WAXEN, HIPPO, PETAL, LEASH

Categories: Technology

NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, October 11 (game #1218)

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 18:00

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, October 10 (game #1217).

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #1218) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

HARNESS
MAP
PERUSE
PHONE
GLOVES
CABLE
APPLY
PATRICK
ELECTRICITY
WIELD
ICE SCRAPER
UTILIZE
EMPLOY
REGISTRATION
SYNTACTIC
INTERNET

NYT Connections today (game #1218) - hint #1 - group hints

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

YELLOW: Deploy
GREEN: Paid off 12 times a year
BLUE: Hidden in your car
PURPLE: Final risks

Need more clues?

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

NYT Connections today (game #1218) - hint #2 - group answers

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

YELLOW: PUT TO USE
GREEN: MONTHLY BILLS
BLUE: THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND IN A GLOVE COMPARTMENT
PURPLE: ENDING IN GAMBITS

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

NYT Connections today (game #1218) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1218, are…

YELLOW: PUT TO USE: APPLY, HARNESS, UTILIZE, WIELD
GREEN: MONTHLY BILLS: CABLE, ELECTRICITY, INTERNET, PHONE
BLUE: THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND IN A GLOVE COMPARTMENT: GLOVES, ICE SCRAPER, MAP, REGISTRATION
PURPLE: ENDING IN GAMBITS: EMPLOY, PATRICK, PERUSE, SYNTACTIC

My rating: Hard
My score: 3 mistakes

Congratulations if you saw ploy, trick, ruse, and tactic at the end of the four purple tiles.

This wasn’t the only thing that passed me by today.

After successfully getting the four utilities that made up MONTHLY BILLS and the THINGS YOU MIGHT FIND IN A GLOVE COMPARTMENT (I’d add a pack of mints, cheap sunglasses and a scrap of paper with an unknown phone number on it) I floundered over the yellow group, as I was convinced EMPLOY was one of the four.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, October 10, 2026, game #1217)

YELLOW: USEFUL WHEN WRITING A PAPER: DRAFT, NOTES, OUTLINE, THESIS
GREEN: PRESUME: FIGURE, GATHER, IMAGINE, SUPPOSE
BLUE: SOCIAL MEDIA SECTIONS: FEED, MESSAGES, NOTIFICATIONS, PROFILE
PURPLE: ___BOXING: BEAT, KICK, SHADOW, UN

What is NYT Connections?

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

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

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

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

Categories: Technology

NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, October 11 (game #952)

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 18:00

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, October 10 (game #951).

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

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

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

NYT Strands today (game #952) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… They don’t make ‘em like they used to

NYT Strands today (game #952) - hint #2 - clue words

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

LARGE
BOXES
PRAM
RETOLD
SLOT
GORE

NYT Strands today (game #952) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 12 letters

NYT Strands today (game #952) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: top, 3rd column

• Last side: bottom, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #952) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #952, are…

PAGER
ICEBOX
INKWELL
TYPEWRITER
TELEGRAM
SPANGRAM: OLDFASHIONED

My rating: Hard
My score: Perfect

I am old enough to remember when the heft of your Filofax demonstrated the level of your success — much as today the number of your social media followers, regardless of how many of them are AI bots, is a measure of self worth.

It’s all, of course, just a phase, as this selection is redundant — as once cutting-edge technology demonstrates.

Annoyingly I got OLDFASHIONED after spotting PAGER and ICEBOX (I really thought that X was going to be a fax machine) and regret that I didn’t spend longer trying to add to my Spangram First collection.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, October 10, game #951)

HONEY
SYRUP
TREACLE
MOLLASSES
GRENADINE
SPANGRAM: STICKYANDSWEET

What is NYT Strands?

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

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

Categories: Technology

Elon Musk Eyes ‘Complete Phone Coverage in America’ as SpaceX Clears Hurdle

CNET News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 12:56

Starlink Mobile satellites could eventually improve enough to pass their signals through walls, dense foliage, and hilly terrain.

Categories: Technology

Does a VPN protect your privacy when using ChatGPT or Claude? What network encryption can and can’t hide from AI

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 09:59

A VPN is great at hiding where you are and what your internet provider sees. However, when you’re chatting with ChatGPT or Claude, your privacy depends on something far more complicated than a tunnel through the internet.

Even the best VPNs won’t stop AI companies from reading, storing, and learning from everything you type. In this article, we’ll unpack exactly what data these platforms see, why encryption has limits, and what you can actually do to protect yourself.

What chatbots see (and what a VPN actually hides)

(Image credit: OpenAI / Future)

Without a VPN, OpenAI (ChatGPT) and Anthropic (Claude) can typically see a lot about your connection. Your IP address reveals your approximate geographic location. Device metadata follows alongside that, including your browser type, operating system, and unique device identifiers.

According to OpenAI’s privacy policy, the company collects your IP address; device information, including unique identifiers; cookie data; and your location, along with your email address and payment information.

Anthropic does the same. Their policy covers location, connection details, and device usage patterns, especially on the mobile app. Different wording, same result: both companies can see roughly where you are and what you’re using to talk to them.

A VPN helps with some of this. It successfully masks your real IP address from the AI platform and encrypts your traffic so your ISP can’t see that you’re using AI services. However, this is where the protection stops. Once your encrypted tunnel ends at the VPN server, the AI company still sees everything that arrives at their doorstep.

The limits of encryption: What a VPN can’t hide

(Image credit: Getty Images)

This is the critical part many people miss. A VPN protects your data while it travels across the internet, but that protection ends the moment your prompt arrives on OpenAI or Anthropic’s servers. Your message has to be decrypted for the AI to process it.

Once decrypted, your data sits on the AI company’s systems, governed by their policies rather than yours. A VPN does nothing to hide the content of your prompts, any files or images you upload, your account details and conversation history, or your payment information.

The encryption protects the connection between you and their servers, not what happens afterward. No matter how strong the VPN tunnel is, everything you type is fully readable on the other end.

What AIs remember and how to actually stay private

Here’s where things get tricky. Most consumer chatbots keep your conversations on file indefinitely and may use them to train future models. You have to manually adjust settings and delete chats yourself if you want them gone.

For ChatGPT specifically, OpenAI may use your content to improve services unless you opt out. You can navigate to Settings > Data Controls, then toggle off the option to improve the model for everyone. However, even with this disabled, chats may still be stored for safety and legal reasons.

Claude works similarly. Anthropic requires all consumer users to choose whether their chats can be used for training, and the toggle is on by default. If enabled, data can be retained for up to five years, compared to 30 days if you decline.

You can disable the setting anytime in your account preferences or use Incognito mode to keep conversations out of your saved history. Paid business tiers come with stricter privacy agreements by default.

The verdict and privacy-first alternatives

A VPN is a solid first step for network security in that it hides your location from AI providers and keeps your ISP from monitoring your activity. However, it won’t stop AI companies from reading, remembering, and learning from your prompts.

If privacy matters to you, adjust your settings by turning off data training in both ChatGPT and Claude, use ChatGPT’s temporary chats or Claude’s Incognito mode, and avoid sharing sensitive information.

For genuinely private AI interactions, consider Proton AG’s Lumo. Built by the team behind Proton Mail and Proton VPN, it uses zero-access encryption so only you can decrypt saved conversations, keeps no logs on their servers, and doesn’t train on your data unless you opt in. It runs on European infrastructure under GDPR and Swiss privacy laws.

One step further than this is to run open-source models offline with tools like Ollama or LM Studio, keeping everything local so nothing ever leaves your machine.

Categories: Technology

Carrie review: an emotional, modern retelling with changes that will certainly divide fans

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 09:00

Prime Video's Carrie has quickly shot to the number one spot on the streaming service, as it leads this week's streaming recommendations. The anticipated adaptation of Stephen King's novel is finally here, and there's a lot to unpack.

Series creator Mike Flanagan has impressed horror fans over the years, especially with his Netflix shows including The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. His new version of Carrie marks his sixth adaptation of King's works, following movies including Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep.

With that in mind, we've all been interested to see how Flanagan handled Carrie, King's first story. I can confidently say I enjoyed the series, but there are some differences from it here that will cause division.

The eight-episode season follows Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) after her father dies in a tragic accident, prompting authorities to send her to a public school for the first time whilst her mother Margaret (Samantha Sloyan), re-enters the workforce.

Attending a new school is daunting for anyone, but Carrie knows very little of the outside world, after being raised by overbearing religious parents and schooled at home. Her struggle to adjust among other teens is the catalyst for her story, after she is baffled by everyday things such as a school shooting drill and getting her first period, both of which scare her to the point she fears as though she is about to die.

Carrie, in my opinion, is one of Stephen King's most likable protagonists. Howell portrays her brilliantly, focusing on her compassion for others and her desperate need to fit in, trying to relate to her fellow students even though she has never used a computer, nor does she have a cellphone. In the eyes of the school she is "weird", and the perfect target for bullying.

Flanagan's decision to set the story in a modern world resonated with me, and I liked this change. With technology being both wonderful and anxiety-inducing, he uses things like social media, camera phones and the internet at large to torment Carrie even more than she was in the book.

Chris Hargensen and Sue Snell contribute to Carrie's downfall (Image credit: Prime Video)

The school bullies are an important part of Carrie, and the casting works well here too. Alison Thornton's performance as Chris Hargensen, the ringleader of the bullies, is great and she makes some horrifying decisions throughout the series. But instead of turning her into a cartoonish villain, Flanagan also focuses on Chris' own issues, and the collapse of her family life at home.

Additionally, Siena Agudong's Sue Snell is shown as a complex character here, who does begin to feel remorse for Carrie's ongoing torment, whereas the group around her doesn't. I really liked Sue in this and she's one of my favorite characters as a result.

Characters in the Carrie series felt well-rounded to me, and for the most part, I was happy with the changes and the nuance. But there's one character who I was disappointed in, and that was Margaret White, who is portrayed a lot more sympathetically in the series.

In my opinion, I think Margaret should have been crueler. We do see her intense and suffocating religious beliefs, but she is more empathetic towards Carrie, and I wasn't a fan of the way her character was softened here. Margaret's resentment of Carrie in the book and the Brian De Palma film contributed to Carrie's eventual breakdown and use of her power for destruction, something I think is important.

In the original story, Carrie never found any comfort at home, but some decisions in the series felt out of character for Margaret. By supporting her daughter, I felt like it took away from the crippling isolation she is supposed to experience, resulting in the iconic, violent prom scene.

The ending is also different, which I have noted some fans may not be impressed with. I didn't mind the ending as much, but I still would have preferred if Margaret's characterization had been more faithful to the source material.

That's my only major gripe with the series, though, and I do think Mike Flanagan's Carrie is a good retelling of the story for the modern era, particularly when it comes to her fellow students and a school faculty that ultimately fails her.

So if you're keen to see a different take on Carrie, you might enjoy the Prime Video series. We've known for a while that it wasn't trying to copy the book directly, and it's certainly the most unique adaptation we've had.

Categories: Technology

Which mini Xteink ereader should you buy? I've compared its 4 models

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 09:00

The Xteink S4 might be the tiny ereader you’ve been waiting for, as unlike other Xteink devices — and rival products like the Boox Picco — this runs Android.

That comes with various upsides, not least the ability to directly access the Kindle and Kobo apps, the absence of which is something I’ve been lamenting about my Xteink X4 Pro, but it also has some downsides.

So should you wait for this currently China-only ereader to get a global release? Or are you better off sticking with the Xteink X4 Classic, the X4 Pro or the even tinier X3? I’ve compared these devices below, to help answer that question.

Xteink S4 vs X4 Pro vs X4 Classic vs X3: specs comparison

Below you’ll find a closer look at the key features of every available Xteink model, but first here’s how their core specs compare:

Xteink S4

Xteink X4 Pro

Xteink X4 Classic

Xteink X3

Dimensions:

6.98mm thick

111 x 69 x 5.95mm

114 x 69 x 4.9mm

97.6 x 63.7 x 5.1mm

Weight:

94g

72g

68g

58g

Display:

4.3-inch, 219ppi

3.7-inch, 259ppi

Touchscreen:

Yes

Front light:

Yes

Storage:

32GB built in

microSD - 16GB included

Battery:

1,400mAh

1,100mAh

920mAh

650mAh

Charging:

USB-C

Proprietary

Operating system:

Android 11

Proprietary

Magnets:

Yes

Xteink S4 vs X4 Pro vs X4 Classic vs X3: price and availability

The Xteink S4 (Image credit: Xteink)

The Xteink X4 Classic, X4 Pro, and X3 are all available directly from Xteink and from some third-party stores like Amazon. They ship to much of the world, and the cheapest is the Xteink X3, which costs $69 / £69 / AU$102.

Then there’s the Xteink X4 Classic for $79 / £79 / AU$116, while the Xteink X4 Pro will cost you $99 / £99 / AU$146.

The Xteink S4 is so far only available in China, but I’d expect it will cost at least as much as the X4 Pro, if not more.

Pricing

Model

US price

UK price

AU price

Xteink X3

$69

£69

AU$102

Xteink X4 Classic

$79

£79

AU$116

Xteink X4 Pro

$99

£99

AU$146

Xteink S4

TBC

Xteink S4 vs X4 Pro vs X4 Classic vs X3: design

The Xteink X3 (Image credit: Xteink)

All of these devices look similar to each other, as they’re all small rectangles and look a bit like a tiny phone — albeit with larger bezels than most modern smartphones.

They all have buttons and charging ports on the sides, but the Xteink X3 and Xteink X4 Classic each also have two long, narrow buttons on the bezel below the display, while the Xteink X4 Pro and Xteink S4 instead have a single circular button, like a much smaller version of the home button on very old iPhones.

The Xteink X4 Classic and X3 are both available in a choice of Space Black or Mist Gray (the latter of which is sometimes referred to as ‘Frost White’ instead), while the X4 Pro is currently only sold in Space Black, but pictures of it exist in a gray shade too, so that will probably launch sooner or later. In China, the Xteink S4 is available in black and white shades, and it’s likely the color options will be the same when it goes global.

So there’s not much difference there either — the main design difference is in their weight and dimensions. The Xteink X3 is the smallest and lightest of the bunch at 97.6 x 63.7 x 5.1mm and 58g. Then there’s the Xteink X4 Classic at 114 x 69 x 4.9mm and 68g — making it slightly slimmer but otherwise larger.

The Xteink X4 Pro is 111 x 69 x 5.95mm and 72g, so it’s not quite as tall as the X4 Classic but is thicker and heavier than both that and the X3. And then there’s the Xteink S4, which we don’t have full dimensions for yet, but which we know is 6.98mm thick and 95g, making it the thickest and heaviest of them all.

All of these devices have built in magnets though, allowing you to attach them to the back of a phone — though they’re quite vulnerable like that, so you might prefer to put them in a case anyway.

Xteink S4 vs X4 Pro vs X4 Classic vs X3: display

The Xteink X4 Classic (Image credit: Xteink)

The Xteink S4, X4 Classic, and X4 Pro all have a 4.3-inch screen with 219 pixels per inch, while the Xteink X3 has a smaller 3.7-inch screen with 259 pixels per inch.

So you’re getting a slightly crisper display on the X3, which could make all the difference as personally my X4 Pro isn’t quite as sharp as I’d like — especially when you compare it side-by-side with other devices like the ViWoods AiPaper Reader with its 300ppi display.

On the other hand, you’re also getting a truly tiny screen if you choose the X3, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your preference — it makes this all the more compact, but also means you’ll constantly be turning the page.

Beyond those differences, the Xteink S4 and Xteink X4 Pro have touchscreens — though you can also turn pages with buttons if you prefer — whereas the X3 and X4 Classic are purely reliant on buttons for interactions.

The Xteink S4 and X4 Pro also both have a front light, which the other models lack, meaning these are the only two you can read on without external light sources.

Xteink S4 vs X4 Pro vs X4 Classic vs X3: performance and software

The Xteink X4 Pro (Image credit: TechRadar)

The Xteink X4 Classic, X4 Pro, and X3 all run a proprietary Linux-based operating system. It’s an operating system that personally I didn’t think much of, and I’m not alone judging by forum comments. But Xteink’s devices can handily be bought with unlocked firmware, making it easy to flash alternative operating systems onto them.

I’m running an open source one called CrossInk, which I’m quite pleased with. But there’s a major limitation with any of the options in that they can’t run the Kindle or Kobo apps (or any other apps), making it harder to get books onto them than with most ereaders — you need to download DRM-free versions or remove the DRM, and then transfer them to the device.

That’s a real pain, and it’s a problem the Xteink S4 solves, as this runs Android 11. And while I can’t yet confirm exactly which apps work with it (since there are sometimes compatibility issues on ereaders), Xteink claims it supports “mainstream reader apps.”

Still, there are two potential problems with this approach as well — one is battery life, which I’ll get into in the next section, and the other is security and support. Android 11 is six years old now, and it could be increasingly vulnerable to bugs and malware, since Google is focused on patching newer releases. Besides which, Android ereaders tend not to receive Android updates anyway, so it may not receive security patches or new Android versions.

Eventually, apps will also stop supporting Android 11, so while Android is likely to give you a slicker experience, having such an old version comes with major drawbacks.

As for storage, the Xteink X4 Pro, X4 Classic, and X3 are all purely reliant on a microSD card — they each come with a 16GB one included, but it’s a low quality one, so you might want to replace it. There’s support for cards of up to 256GB.

The Xteink S4 takes a different approach, with 32GB of built in storage, but Android probably takes up a sizable chunk of that, and there’s seemingly no microSD card slot.

You’re also limited to very few book formats on the Xteink X3, X4 Classic, and X4 Pro, with just EPUB and TXT being supported, alongside JPG and BMP for images (or seemingly just BMP in the case of the Classic). We don’t have a full list of supported formats for the Xteink S4, but the company claims it supports “10+ native formats," so it should have the edge there.

Xteink S4 vs X4 Pro vs X4 Classic vs X3: battery

The Xteink X4 Classic (Image credit: Xteink)

The Xteink S4 has a 1,400mAh battery, and while we don’t know exactly how long it lasts, Xteink claims its “generous battery keeps sessions long.”

That’s higher capacity than the other models, with the Xteink 4 Pro having an 1,100mAh battery, the X4 Classic having a 920mAh one, and the X3 having just a 650mAh one.

Xteink only appears to have released battery stats for the X3, which it claims can last up to 10-14 days, based on 1-3 hours of reading per day. It’s likely then that even with their larger screens, the Xteink X4 Classic and X4 Pro will last even longer, given their far higher capacity batteries, and that certainly seems to be the case in my experience of the X4 Pro.

Granted, I’m not running stock firmware, which could affect things, but I seem to be getting months off a single charge, albeit with perhaps more like just 30 minutes of reading a day.

You might assume then that the Xteink S4 will last even longer — and perhaps it will — but I’d be surprised, as Android tends to be far more battery hungry than the lightweight operating systems used by the other models. I suspect, based on my experience with the Android-powered ViWoods AiPaper Reader, that the S4 might actually have the worst life of the bunch, but that remains to be seen.

So that’s the other downside of it running Android, but it does have one advantage on the battery front too, as it has a USB-C port, which makes charging convenient. The other models all use an annoying proprietary charger.

Xteink S4 vs X4 Pro vs X4 Classic vs X3: verdict

The Xteink X4 Pro (Image credit: Xteink)

There’s no clear winner between these devices. If you simply want the smallest and lightest ereader possible, then you should go for the Xteink X3 — especially as that’s also the cheapest.

If you want something a bit bigger — or you think you’d benefit from a touchscreen or a front light — then consider the Xteink X4 Pro. For all of that plus Android, the only option is the as-yet-unreleased Xteink S4 — though that also comes with downsides when it comes to security and potentially battery life.

The only one that’s harder to make a case for is the Xteink X4 Classic. This slots between the X3 and the X4 Pro with a bigger screen than the X3 but no touchscreen or light. Those features I feel are important enough that if you want a bigger screen you should choose the Pro over the Classic unless money is really tight.

Personally, I’m happy with my Xteink X4 Pro, and wouldn’t choose any of the other models over it. Other than the S4 it’s the most full-featured, but the compromises that come with the Xteink S4’s Android version make it unappealing to me. What I really want is a model running Android 17, but even then, if that meant significantly worse battery life I might think twice.

The only things I’m certain I want that the X4 Pro lacks are a sharper screen and USB-C, so hopefully a device that ticks all those boxes is in the works.

Categories: Technology

How to watch Man Utd vs Tottenham for FREE: Live streams, TV channels for Premier League 2026/27 game, team news

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 08:30

Man Utd vs Tottenham: Saturday, October 10 at 5.30pm BST / 12.30pm ET / 4.30am AEDT (Sun.)
Streams: Sky Sports (UK), Peacock (US)
Outside the UK? Use NordVPN to unblock your streaming account

Watch Man Utd vs Tottenham in the Premier League 2026/27 season, as two struggling sides look to pick up a much-needed win as the English club game resumes after the three-week international break.

Man Utd have won only one of their first five league games, despite facing two promoted teams and two sides who finished in the bottom half of the Premier League last term. The Red Devils are also out of the Carabao Cup, meaning Michael Carrick is already coming under pressure after getting the manager's gig permanently in the summer. Patrick Dorgu and Benjamin Sesko have returned from international duty injury, but Carlos Baleba may be fit to make his United debut, most likely from the bench.

Tottenham's record is even worse, with no wins and just two points from their first five outings to sit bottom of the pile after back-to-back 17th-place finishes. Roberto De Zerbi was heavily backed in the summer transfer market, yet Sandro Tonali, Savio, Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke have struggled to make much impact, while the latter has returned injured from Netherlands duty. De Zerbi has bemoaned a lack of conditioning for his side's travails — can three weeks drilling them have helped?

A win here, the uglier the better, for either side would lift the respective moods considerably.

Here's how to watch Man Utd vs Tottenham in the 2026/27 Premier League from anywhere in the world.

Man Utd vs Tottenham team news

Man Utd XI: Lammens; Yoro, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Tielemans, Mainoo; Amad, Fernandes, Cunha; Mbeumo.

Tottenham XI: Kinksy; Gray, Senesi, Van Hecke, Udogie; Gallagher, Tonali, Bergvall; Savio, Solanke, Kudus.

How to watch Man Utd vs Tottenham for FREE

Free Man Utd vs Tottenham streams are scarce but there are a couple of options.

In the US, the Premier League 2026/27 fixture will be on NBC, which is available free to anyone with a TV antenna or cable.

Matches shown on NBC can be accessed via OTT streaming services such as YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV Stream, which all have free trials of varying lengths.

Not in the US? You need a VPN to unlock your FREE stream — find out more below.

How to watch Man Utd vs Tottenham from anywhere

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How to watch Man Utd vs Tottenham live streams in the USA

Soccer fans in the US can watch Man Utd vs Tottenham in the Premier League on NBC. You can watch for free with TV antenna or cable, or stream via NBC.com by inputting your provider details.

Streaming service Peacock also provides access to live NBC content. You'll need a Peacock Premium Plus subscription, plans start from $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year.

NBC content is also available via YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV Stream, which all have free trials of varying lengths.

Outside of the US? Use a VPN whilst you're traveling away from home to unlock your stream. We like NordVPN best.

How to watch a Man Utd vs Tottenham live stream in the UK

(Image credit: Future)

Sky Sports is broadcasting Man Utd vs Tottenham in the UK on its Premier League and Main Event channels.

Packages cost £35 per month for new customers, or £22 per month if you already have a Sky TV contract. The Sky Go app lets you watch on your laptop, mobile or tablet.

Fans can also tune in using a NOW Sports Membership, with 24-hour passes costing £14.99.

Not in the UK for Man Utd vs Tottenham? Use NordVPN to access your usual Premier League streams.

How to watch Man Utd vs Tottenham live streams in Canada

Fubo is the Premier League's broadcast partner in Canada and it has live coverage of Man Utd vs Tottenham.

Prices start from CA$31.49 per month for Fubo's Sports Monthly package. However, the best option right now is the Quarterly Package which costs just CA$27.99 CA$14.99 for each of the first three months. You can also watch Fubo's content if you have a select DAZN subscription in Canada.

Not in Canada? Use NordVPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your preferred coverage from anywhere.

How to watch Man Utd vs Tottenham live streams in Australia

(Image credit: free)

A Man Utd vs Tottenham live stream is available in Australia on Stan Sport.

You can pick up a Stan Sport subscription for as little as AU$29.99 per month for the basic plan containing adds. That price consists of the AU$9.99 Stan subscription fee plus the Sport add-on for AU$20.

Outside of Oz? You can use a VPN to access your usual Premier League coverage. We recommend NordVPN.

What is the Man Utd vs Tottenham start time?

Man Utd vs Tottenham kicks off at 5.30pm BST / 12.30pm ET / 9.30am PT on Saturday, 10 October.

If you are in Australia, the game will be broadcast at 4.30am AEDT on Sunday, 11 October.

What is the Man Utd vs Tottenham head-to-head?

Of the previous 207 meetings between the sides, Man Utd have won 97 to Tottenham's 58, with 52 draws.

Man Utd had the upper hand last season, drawing 2-2 away from home and beating Tottenham 2-0 at Old Trafford.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Categories: Technology

Microsoft: AI is 'the hill-climbing machine' of every company - just make sure you don't get locked in

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 08:20

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is great at generating valuable insights, but what companies end up doing with those insights - that’s where true achievement lies, and that’s what companies should be focusing on.

This is one of the core messages delivered by Ryan Waite, Director of Open Source Ecosystems and Incubations at Microsoft, during his keynote, “From Open Source to Agentic Systems: Building the AI Native Era” at the Open Source Summit.

Waite described the interaction between AI and human expertise as a learning loop, a kind of hill-climbing machine that helps businesses improve, and keep on improving.

The knowledge belongs to the business

AI models are great at processing enormous amounts of information and generating insights at a scale humans cannot match (and sometimes cannot even fathom), but people bring something arguably more important to the table: context and judgement.

Putting insights into wider context, and using that to make conclusions, helps employees turn information into knowledge, and that knowledge later becomes part of the organization’s collective expertise. And with every iteration the knowledge grows, helping businesses climb further up the proverbial mountain.

Sovereignty and ownership seem to be an underlying theme to most of the keynotes here at the Open Source Summit, and Waite’s presentation is no different. As AI generates insight, and humans turn that insight to knowledge, it now becomes vital to secure that knowledge and make sure it remains under the organization’s control.

“It's based on your data,” he said. “It's based on your people. It shouldn't be given off to an AI model, that's separate. And that's why we believe that for organizations to build their own hill-climbing machines, to build their own learning groups, they need to build control with the sort of learning loops and not be beholden to a single AI provider.”

After all, everything AI generates is based (or at least, should be) on proprietary business information, and the decisions made based on those insights depend on employees and their understanding of the company. So, businesses need to make sure ownership of the knowledge accumulated through these interactions are not handed over to an external AI provider - a challenge that will probably grow bigger and bigger as businesses become more dependent on AI tools.

The knowledge generated through these tools could become tied to a particular model, or provider. What happens when businesses want to adopt better technologies as they emerge? To future-proof these processes, Waite argues businesses should build their own learning loops and maintain control over the information, processes, and technologies that make them work.

Choosing the right AI model

One way to do that is to make sure you’re not tied to a single AI model. Many businesses, Waite says, begin their AI journey with proprietary frontier models, especially when tackling problems they don’t fully understand themselves. However, as they become better and understand their tasks more, they might not need expensive frontier models any more - they can move to specialized models that could be smaller, or cheaper. They could even move to open-weight models they can operate themselves.

“Having the ability to move between different models is important, especially as you think about your algorithms. Which models are you going to use? You shouldn't be trapped with a particular kind of model because it has your knowledge,” he concluded.

So, what’s important here is to retain the freedom to switch and move along the way. That also means businesses need to control where their AI workloads run, whether that’s within sovereign infrastructure governed by local regulations, on-prem systems, or public cloud environments (where they can take advantage of greater scalability and cost advantages).

Open source technologies provide the foundation for this flexibility, Waite concluded.

Categories: Technology

One dev is recreating 7 Adobe apps in Rust for free — so I tested it out

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 08:00

An AI developer has taken on Adobe, the undisputed 800-lbs gorilla of the creative software space. Announcing the 'launch' over on Reddit, the "a 15-year industry veteran" explained that he used Opus 5.5 to help "recreate 7 of the top Adobe apps in 100% pure native Rust".

Adobe's all-consuming subscriptions seems to be the main reason for recreating Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, After Effects, and InDesign using the modern programming language.

That's something I can fully appreciate. After all, what if you’re not a fan of their business practices, like charging you a fair chunk of change every month to be able to use their software, and the moment you stop paying, you can no longer work on your files and projects?

So, of course, I just had to check out how it compares to Adobe's own creative suite.

ArtCraft: New apps for the same job

The ArtCraft names are pretty self-explanatory: PhotoCraft is for images, LightCraft for image cataloguing, VectorCraft for vectors, DesignCraft for desktop publishing, FilmCraft for filmmaking, EffectCraft for creating special effects, and PrintCraft is for working with PDFs.

These apps aren't only free, they’re also multi-platform, available for PCs, Macs, and Linux systems, and there are even web-based versions, would you believe it. If you’re curious yourself, you can download them all from the Get ArtCraft website here.

Sound too good to be true? I know what you mean. Plus, is it even legal? I’m not a lawyer, so I haven’t got a clue, but the developer claims it’s all clean code and nothing copyrighted was copied. Make of that what you will (I’m sure I can hear lawyers scurrying through that code like ants at a picnic). But I know what would be a crime: if I didn’t check this software out, and compared it with the original.

I thought I’d look at two packages I use regularly, image editing and filmmaking, and get a feel for how they square up against Photoshop and Premiere Pro. I’ll be using my trusty 16” Intel-based MacBook Pro to check how the software runs on a computer that’s been around the block a few times.

(Image credit: ArtCraft // Future)Installing ArtCraft

Installing the software could hardly be simpler. You select the app you’re after, click on ‘Download’, and run the installer, which in my case simply involved dragging the app’s icon into my Applications folder.

Now first things first, you may be as surprised as I was by the software’s size. On my machine, Adobe Photoshop eats up 6.4GB of storage space. Premiere Pro is a little hungrier, coming in at 6.8GB.

I guess that’s what you should expect for modern software, right? After all, Apple’s Final Cut Pro is 7.7GB, DaVinci Resolve is 9.29GB, Canva Affinity is 3.51GB, and Pixelmator Pro is a svelte 814MB.

But these Craft apps? They’re positively anaemic. PhotoCraft is 80MB, while FilmCraft, 90MB. How can they be so small yet still claim to offer the same features as their… gargantuan counterparts?

PhotoCraft vs Photoshop

(Image credit: ArtCraft // Future)

Let’s highlight the positive first, shall we? You don’t need an account to run PhotoCraft, nor do you need to be online for it to work. Just double-click on the icon and you’re good to go (I’m assuming that’s the case for each of the other 6 apps on offer). You’ll also be pleased to see it kinda looks Photoshop-y.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and in fact, PhotoCraft failed for me at the very first hurdle: it can’t read the HEIC format.

Now that’s a problem for me as I carry an iPhone, and Apple have used that format by default for all photos taken with such devices since 2017. I guess 9 years is just too short a time to write software that can handle that format.

To be fair to PhotoCraft, many apps and services still have an issue with HEIC… but Photoshop doesn’t.

After having transformed some shots to JPG (necessitating the use of a different image editor - oh the irony), I tried again.

My subsequent experience afterwards was relatively uneventful. I was able to work with various objects, apply colour correction to one or multiple layers, select items, move them around, add a title… all pretty basic stuff, yet admittedly, what Photoshop is most often used for.

(Image credit: ArtCraft // Future)

But it wasn’t a slick experience. For one thing, the software isn’t optimised for Macs - I can’t tell you how much I miss my menu bar at the top of the screen.

More crucially, when trying to select part of an object - especially when using the ellipse tool - the selection wouldn’t hold, and I had to repeat the process multiple times until it did. Moving an object around moved its outline, until I released the mouse button, and then the whole object was shunted to its new location. How very 80s.

And what’s perhaps the most damning thing of all, when I decided to save my project, PhotoCraft saved it… as a JPG. There was no file format option and the only one available destroys any possibility of going back to your project and continuing your work.

If PhotoCraft doesn’t yet have its own file format, why is there no option to save your work as a PSD document instead? Other competitors like Pixelmator Pro let you do that. But not PhotoCraft. That’s, for lack of a better word, bad.

FilmCraft vs Premiere Pro

(Image credit: ArtCraft // Future)

Launching FilmCraft is lightning fast, and I was greeted with a demo project featuring multiple layers, and some transitions. But that won’t help me understand how the software works, so I created a fresh new one and added my own footage.

First off, the interface has a very familiar look to it which is very welcoming. I also definitely appreciated the menu bar being where it’s supposed to be this time. Creating a new project, importing clips, adding them to a new sequence, working with multiple layers, everything was as expected.

(Image credit: ArtCraft // Future)

So far so good, right? Well except that the rest felt a little clunky to be honest. Like I couldn’t manually trim a clip in my sequence. I could use the blade tool for sure, but mousing to the end of the clip and dragging its edge inwards? Sorry, no can do. I’d view that as the absolute most basic action you should be able to perform on a clip.

Aside from that, I could access color correction, apply transitions and other effects… but just like PhotoCraft, it’s crazy slow. I know I purposefully chose an old machine to run this on, but the latest versions of Photoshop and Premiere Pro run rings around these apps on the same hardware.

And then there’s the killing blow: for whatever reason, the audio from the clips I was using were completely unusable. All I got when I tried playing the footage back was static. Very loud static. It’s bound to be a lack of a specific codec again, but frankly, in this day and age, codec support for a vast array of media should be baked in from the start.

Final thoughts

(Image credit: ArtCraft // Future)

Alright. Here’s the good news: these apps look good, feel very familiar, and provide some of the tools that are used most often. It’s impressive what has been achieved, but truth be told, there’s a heck of a lot of overpromising and a huge amount of underdelivering, I’m afraid. These apps are slow, some crucial features are missing, and there are some big bugs that haven’t been dealt with yet.

But part of the reason is these software packages are not even full version releases. PhotoCraft is at 0.20, while FilmCraft’s on 0.2.1. They’re far from ready for prime time. So, I have hopes that they're only going to get better once the time comes.

If you’re looking for free alternatives to the Adobe hegemony, these are not the apps you’re looking for. At least not yet. Let the developer cook a little longer, but if you just can’t wait for your independence, there already are some free alternatives out there I recommend.

Sure, you’ll have to familiarise yourself with new interfaces, but these apps have been delivering the goods for years now and are well worth exploring. I’m thinking of Canva Affinity, and DaVinci Resolve. Personally, I'd check those out until ArtCraft is ready for primetime (and the coast is clear of lawyers).

Read more: The best Adobe Photoshop alternatives and the best Premiere Pro alternatives.

Categories: Technology

Opera adds free 3GB travel eSIM to its Android browser —and I've tried it

TechRadar News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 06:00

There's a lot of convenience and flexibility that comes with an eSIM, which is why phone manufacturers and consumers are adopting them more and more: they take seconds to set up, you can switch between them quickly, and you don't have to swap over any physical cards (or wait for one to arrive in the post).

eSIMs are typically stored and managed via your phone's operating system, but third-party apps can configure them too. Browser maker Opera has now added eSIM capabilities to its app on Android, and is even throwing in 3GB of free data for the first three days.

It's perfect if you're heading abroad in the near future. eSIMs are even more useful when traveling, as you can connect to local networks with minimal hassle — and thanks to Opera's new offer you'll be able to get online without paying anything or even entering an email address or payment details.

Too good to be true? I gave it a go to find out — but first, the small print.

Here's the deal

Opera for Android now comes with an eSIM (Image credit: Opera)

You can take advantage of this 3GB eSIM deal from Opera if you have a carrier unlocked phone that's eSIM compatible, and that's running Android 10 or later — so the vast majority of current handsets are going to qualify. Opera hasn't suddenly become an eSIM company though: it's partnering with Holiday.com for this.

The 3GB of free data is available if you live in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, or Poland. As mentioned above you won't have to enter any personal details, like an email address or your credit card information, to make use of the 3GB of data, and the allowance kicks in as soon as you're abroad.

Your free 3GB can be used in 47 destinations: Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Türkiye, the UK, and the US.

If you then decide to go on and buy an eSIM, you can make your purchase and use it in any location covered by Holiday.com (that's more than 150 countries). Plans are available with 3GB, 5GB, and 10GB of data, and last for 30 days after the first activation. Opera says pricing is typically 33% less than with "other major eSIM providers", though you should of course do some shopping around before buying.

Like most travel eSIMs, this is a data-only deal. The new eSIM won't replace your phone number and will work alongside your current eSIM or physical SIM to get you online in foreign climes — and give you access to the web, WhatsApp, Google Maps, and everything else that works with cellular data. The connection will be via 5G if it's available, otherwise you'll fall back to the next best thing.

Here's how it works

Setup takes just a few minutes (Image credit: Future)

While standard eSIMs are stored in phone memory, when it comes to travel eSIMs that focus on data abroad, you typically have to download and install another app from the eSIM provider. That app then handles all aspects of paying for and installing eSIMs, and getting you connected in whatever country you happen to be in.

Opera takes care of all of this for you, and recommends setting up your eSIM at home on a solid Wi-Fi connection. In the Android app, you need to tap your profile picture (bottom right), then eSIM, then follow the instructions. Tap Claim now, and choose your destination country from the list — your allowance is valid for three days after the first connection abroad, and there's no need to register any of your details.

After choosing your destination, you'll be taken through the eSIM setup process for your device, which will vary depending on your Android phone maker of choice. On a Pixel, it's just a couple of simple taps, and your new Opera 3GB eSIM (powered by Holiday.com) then shows up in Settings > Network and Internet > SIMs.

It's a proper eSIM too, and not just for browsing through Opera: you can use it with Google Chrome, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google Maps, or any app you like. You just need to activate it through your phone's SIMs menu and through the eSIM menu in Opera, and you're up and running once you cross the border.

Sadly, I'm not vacationing in the near future, but I did test out the eSIM in the UK. Speeds were actually faster than on my regular O2 SIM, which must be something to do with mast locations, and I could get online across all my apps without issue.

Your mileage may of course vary depending on country and cell network coverage, but I had no problems with setting up or connecting to my free 3GB data plan.

Categories: Technology

The iPhone Duo’s Unfolding Animation Is Giving Z Fold 8 Owners FOMO, but Not Me

CNET News - Sat, 10/10/2026 - 04:00

Commentary: While there are ways to recreate some of the iPhone Duo’s style on an Android device, it feels a little desperate to me.

Categories: Technology

Vacuums, hair dryers… toothbrushes? I asked Jake Dyson how the brand decides what gets to be a Dyson product

TechRadar News - Fri, 10/09/2026 - 20:00

It had been a while since Dyson had genuinely surprised us with a product launch, but then the brand unveiled its first toothbrush. Dyson is already a familiar name in personal care, thanks to its now well established hair-styling gadgets, so a move into oral care wasn't entirely left-field. Still, when the CameraJet made its debut, it was still quite the swerve – taking Dyson from the dressing table to the bathroom sink.

The first product has to be radically different... otherwise we wouldn't consider it

Jake Dyson

When I caught up with Jake Dyson — son of founder, James, and Dyson's chief engineer — at the brand's Unveiled event, I wanted to know what prompted such a move. And, more broadly, how a brand might end up with such a twisty, turny product roadmap.

(For clarity, throughout this article I'll be using "Dyson" to mean the brand, and "Jake" to mean the person.)

So, if a toothbrush can become a Dyson gadget, is there anything that couldn't be? "No, it doesn't," Jake declares. "It has to be radically different."

He expands: "The first product has to be radically different, and have performance claims, and a difference against a competitor by a magnitude; otherwise, we wouldn't consider it."

Remember when every hair dryer didn't look like this? (Image credit: Future)

In short, the brand isn't interested in having a go at anything; it wants to make a splash in markets that have grown stagnant. The launch of the first Dyson Supersonic hair dryer in 2016 is a great example — it blew new life into a market that had barely seen change in decades.

And the CameraJet is far from your average toothbrush. It's kitted out with a camera that will stream a live view of the inside of your mouth back to you, and is trained to recognize gaps in your teeth and shoot water/mouthwash at them, to take care of flossing. Whether or not it enjoys the success of the Supersonic remains to be seen, but it certainly checks that "radically different" box.

Striving for perfection

The potential to shake things up is essential, but before a new-category product is launched, other criteria must be met. "It's got to work properly," asserts Jake. "I mean, we probably could have launched [the CameraJet] two years ago, but it wouldn't have hit every gap perfectly, and that's not acceptable."

If we're going to go into a new area, then we'll do that knowing that we've got more products behind it

Jake Dyson

It's unfortunate then that shortly after our conversation, reports of CameraJet faults began rolling in from early adopters. Dyson has blamed this on an isolated production issue that's now under control, so I'll give the company the benefit of the doubt in this instance.

Barring any further hiccups, you should expect more unusual oral care products to also be hitting the market before too long; Jake's third golden rule is that you never launch with just one product. "If we're going to go into a new area, then we'll do that knowing we've got more products behind it," he tells me.

When pushed if he means further iterations, he clarifies the brand aims for "expansion in that category, quite quickly", and confirms it will start with a roadmap of multiple products.

Doubling up

Breaking new markets is an expensive business, but Jake is savvy about not wasting effort. "I think you try not to do things twice that take an awful long time and a lot of investment," he says. "You try to use it again in another product."

He talks about innovations that the brand wants to "platform". A great example is the shrunk-down mechanics and battery system that Dyson developed for its Airwrap, and which also appears in its Supersonic r hair dryer. A version of it is used in the brand's new hot brush, and it also features in the PencilVac and now the PencilMop.

Dyson's shrunk-down mechanics are now used across multiple products (Image credit: Future)

As for exactly how the innovations make their way across team lines, it isn't a defined process. "It happens naturally. You cross-pollinate, you join the dots. 'If we put that with that, we could do this.'," says Jake. "And as a company, we're getting much better at predicting that before we do it."

He explains that this cross-pollination will also sometimes highlight the gaps that Dyson needs to fill. "It makes us realize there are other technologies we need to develop ourselves — which we are, behind the scenes — to enable us to go into those new areas and do something better than anyone else."

What "radically different" products might be on the horizon at Dyson? I'll be watching with interest.

Dyson product tour

Here's a quick rundown of some of Dyson's newest releases — hit the View Details button to read more about each one.

Dyson R1 Nurovi Dry

Dyson R2 Nurovi Wash+Dry

Learn about the R3 model (not yet on sale): "It will light up your home like a bowling alley" — Dyson's new Nurovi robot vacuum has a UV light to show up invisible spills, but I'm not sure I'm ready to see what's on my floors.

Dyson CameraJet

Review: This game-changing toothbrush offers liquid flossing, precision-brushing, and a camera that doubles as a dental endoscope — I tried it for a week.

Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai Robot Vacuum

Read our full review

Pros

Good hardware
Great at little-and-often cleaning
Excellent self-cleaning
Smart obstacle avoidance
Auto vacuuming works well
Bagless design

Cons

Some navigation issues
Unreliable self-empty
Loud in every mode
Large vacuum and dock
Hair wrap on roller
Transparent bins display dirt

Dyson HushJet Mini Cool Fan

Pros

Powerful concentrated air flow
Runs for up to 6.5 hours on a single charge
Stylish, unusual design
Significantly cheaper than closest competitor

Cons

Air intake holes are easy to cover with your hand when holding

Dyson Supersonic Travel

Pros

Fast drying for a compact dryer
Impressively light
Universal auto-voltage (100–240V)
Intelligent heat control
Compatible with Supersonic Nural attachments

Cons

Reduced airflow versus full-size
No travel case included
Only one attachment in the box
Price sits at the very top end of the travel dryer market

Dyson PencilWash Wet Floor Cleaner

Read our full review

Pros

Extremely lightweight
Comfortable and easy to use
Effective wet and dry cleaning
Super flexible articulated floorhead
Compact size is ideal for small homes

Cons

Costs the same as a good wet/dry floor cleaner
Doesn't reach right to the edge of baseboards
Dirty water tank can be messy to empty

Dyson HushJet Purifier Compact

Read our full review

Pros

Super fast reaction times
Whisper-quiet
Covers very large rooms
Easy-to-use app
Five-year electrostatic filter life

Cons

Expensive for purifying only
Larger than its 'compact' name suggests
Very limited on-device controls
No carry handle

Dyson V16 Piston Animal Submarine

Read about the regular version in our review

Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones

Read our full review

Pros

Ultra-light and extremely compact
Very nimble and maneuverable
Soft rollers excellent on hard floor
Compression maximizes bin capacity
Lasers illuminate hidden dirt
Useful screen counts down runtime

Cons

Not the most powerful suction
Angled floorhead awkward for edges
Not suitable for carpet
Still rather a small bin
Particles get stuck in bin casing

Categories: Technology

AI price gouging might have indirectly hit HP's notebook output as supplier reportedly halted shipment

TechRadar News - Fri, 10/09/2026 - 19:05

Quanta reportedly halted HP notebook production for about a week after price talks stalled
The dispute centered around ODM-bought parts like PCBs, batteries and power chips, while HP already assumes most memory CPU and GPU costs directly
Shipments were resumed once HP executives renegotiated a hike

Quanta Computer, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer that builds a large share of HP's laptops, reportedly stopped producing HP notebooks for about a week in September 2026 after the two companies failed to agree on prices.

DigiTimes reports that Quanta cut off supply to press HP into paying more, drawing on a server business that has grown to dwarf its laptop operation.

A fuller account comes from Taiwan People News, which cites supply chain sources saying Quanta co-founder and vice chairman C.C. Leung personally ordered the halt once September negotiations stalled with production resuming only after senior HP executives stepped in with a cost adjustment that Quanta accepted.

AI servers changed the math as buyers continue to pay the price

The story does lack official confirmation, as Quanta told the Taiwan People News that it "does not respond regarding individual customers," and German outlet heise reported that HP has not commented on the issue to date.

Despite this, something that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago, is now entirely plausible, even if one cant find direct evidence for it. The historical improbability has a reason: contract manufacturers rely on scale to spread their fixed costs, and a large order ties up purchasing, capacity and staffing, so even unattractive pricing rarely leads an ODM to switch off a major account.

Heise, which describes HP as Quanta's largest notebook customer, states that HP had refused to share rising production costs and insisted on previously agreed prices, unlike other PC brands, and that HP sent supply chain executives to Taiwan to deal with Leung directly. What it had to give up to get shipments going again has not been make public even as Digitimes states it forced HP to raise prices.

The two companies have some legal history here that seems prudent to highlight: HP won a $438.7 million optical drive price-fixing judgment against Quanta's subsidiary Quanta Storage before settling confidentially in June 2020.

It is important to provide context: most of the more expensive components: GPUs, CPUs and RAM are all sourced directly by HP and it has already pushed price increases back to consumers. The parts Quanta buys on its own account are a different list: printed circuit boards, passive components, lithium batteries, power management chips and Wi-Fi chips, all of which have faced price pressure lately.

When those rise, the cost lands on Quanta unless the contract is reopened or renegotiated, and swapping in cheaper parts brings its own bill for redesign, certification and one-time engineering fees. Quanta seems to be extremely well-fed to want to bother with shouldering additional costs in an industry that is dwarfed by data center servers that make up as much as 80% of its revenue thanks to a surge in AI demand.

There is however a lack of corroborating evidence that this happened: Quanta does not break out shipments by customer, but its totals show no obvious September hole. The company shipped 4.2 million notebooks in September, up 61.5% from August and down 8.7% from a year earlier, according to the same Anue report.

There are reasons a halt might not show up in those totals. Quanta also builds laptops for Apple, including the MacBook Neo, and other customers' volumes could cover an HP gap relatively with ease. Alternatively a one-week production stop also need not become a one-week shipment gap if finished inventory was on hand or output was caught up before the month closed.

Irrespective of whatever happened and whatever was potentially agreed to in Taiwan, the bill flows downstream and consumers are ultimately asked to pay the price. For two decades, PC brands could make their contract manufacturers eat cost increases because those manufacturers had few better places to put their factories.

Quanta now has one if the account holds and other ODMs with fast-growing server businesses will have noticed that a week without HP did not sink Quanta. HP's competitors will have noticed the same too and it might factor into their own negotiations or renegotiations in the future even customers continue pony an increasingly large bill.

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AI price gouging might have indirectly hit HP's notebook output as supplier reportedly halted shipment

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