Technology

If there’s any one word that describes the Macan EV, it’s refined. Porsche hit the ground running in 2019 with the release of its first modern electric, the Taycan – an expensive sports car that quickly proved legacy automakers could readily compete with Tesla on its own terms. That release also gave Porsche an advantage over other automakers in the then-burgeoning mainstream EV market, allowing them to refine their electric offering before other major car companies would even announce plans for electrification.

Conversely, the electric Macan arrived in early 2024 (late 2024 for Australians) to drastically different market conditions – interest in Tesla’s cars was feigning, particularly with challengers from China offering competitive products, with such market conditions carrying through to today. Indeed it feels like Porsche and similarly established automakers are now the ones playing defense, with Chinese rivals like Polestar, Xpeng and IM ready to snatch up the market of drivers excited about electrification now that the tech has progressed a bit, prices have come down and charging infrastructure is a bit further along.

These brands offer models that are competitively specced and priced to the Macan Electric… though they do all lack one key thing: they’re not Porsche.

Porsche Macan EV specs

Specs

Porsche Macan Electric

Country of manufacture

Germany

Price

Porsche Macan Electric: $78,000 / £68,500 / AU$128,400

Porsche Macan 4 Electric: $81,600 / £71,200 / AU$134,400

Porsche Macan 4S Electric: $88,000 / £76,900 / AU$149,300

Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: $109,500 / £96,900 / AU$184,400

Range

Porsche Macan Electric: 315mi (EPA) / 333mi – 398mi (WLTP) / 536km – 641km (WLTP)

Porsche Macan 4 Electric: 308mi (EPA) / 320mi – 380mi (WLTP) / 516km – 613km (WLTP)

Porsche Macan 4S Electric: 288mi (EPA) / 318mi – 376mi (WLTP) / 512km – 606km (WLTP)

Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: 288mi (EPA) / 321 mi – 233mi (WLTP) / 518km – 590km (WLTP)

Battery size

100kWh

Power / torque

Porsche Macan Electric: 250kW / 563Nm

Porsche Macan 4 Electric: 285kW / 650Nm

Porsche Macan 4S Electric: 330kW / 820Nm

Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: 470kW / 1,130Nm

Maximum charging capacity

11kW (AC) / 270kW (DC)

Quoted recharge speed (DC)

10% to 80% in around 21 minutes

Drivetrain

Porsche Macan Electric: RWD

Porsche Macan 4 / 4S / Turbo: AWD

Dimensions

4,784 x 1,938 x 1,623cm (L x W x H)

Boot capacity

540L / 1,348L including rear seating

The electric experience, refined

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

A big touchscreen, heads-up display and minimalist, digital-first user interface aren’t innovative things in the automotive industry anymore, not even for a luxury automaker like Porsche. Tech like this has simply become synonymous with EVs, and is now a bit of a heel when done poorly. This is why I’m so thrilled with the Porsche Macan EV – because it’s not just utilising all these things, it has mastered them.

The infotainment system in the Macan EV feels thoughtful. Text is rightly sized, icons aren’t too small for a fingerpress, and indeed there are enough physical controls (for things like air conditioning) for the car to properly be driven without ever needing to tap the screen.

The inbuilt navigation app is well-made and can be relied upon, though with the car’s well laid-out interface, it’s no hassle to connect your phone and fire up Android Auto or Apple CarPlay – though with the former, I found my phone would often be quite laggy when placed on the Macan’s wireless charging pad.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

One of the most impressive parts of the Macan’s dashboard is its concave instrument cluster. The screen behind the steering wheel is curved, giving it depth and ultimately making it look a lot better than similar digital clusters from other automakers. The screen can be adjusted to include up to three gauges, or it can simply be switched to portray a speed indication and a live map, giving you easy, glanceable directions on the road. It’s by far my favourite instrument cluster of any EV – or even any car – I’ve tested.

The heads-up display is the icing on the cake. In cruise control, the display will demonstrate the lines of distance you have between the car in front of you and yourself, which it will maintain like any other car with adaptive cruise. It’ll also visualise the lines it can currently see on the sides of the road – helpful for making sure lane assistance is enabled on a poorly-marked road.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Driving dynamics of the Porsche Macan are, as you’d expect, brilliant, with the car offering punchy acceleration and great road handling. It’s quite a big car and its turning circle suffers as a result, but it’s a brilliant vehicle regardless for comfortable travel in and out of town. It’s quite wide and has big 22-inch wheels, so if your idea of a Porsche is a low-to-the-ground track toy, I think you’ll be mostly disappointed with the electric Macan – though you won’t mind its exceptional handling, and with a lot of boot and rear seating space, it’d definitely be a comfortable car for holidaying.

Range and recharging speed are also a non-issue, with the gigantic 100kWh battery capable of facilitating a weekend-away’s worth of driving. A 270kW DC recharging capacity is also right for the price, though considering rivalling Chinese EVs in the luxury segment are besting this (or even EVs well below the luxury segment – the Xpeng G6 is half the Macan’s price and capable of 280kW) I’d note that this may seem unimpressive at some point in the near future. Not too near, though, as public DC chargers tend to max out at 350kW, and any greater capacities would require major infrastructure changes.

One last thing worthy of note. Thanks to having smaller motors, many electric cars are able to provide additional storage space under the bonnet. The Macan has a useful amount of under-bonnet space, but it outdoes other automakers by having a dedicated bonnet-open button on the keyfob. This gives the space actual utility, showing up other automakers that offer the space but lack an easy way to pop the hood. Cool!

But is it enough?

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

A starting cost of $78,000 / £68,500 / AU$128,400 is going to be unreachable for most people and will no doubt keep many buyers away from the Macan – though I think it's unlikely that Porsche will change this any time soon. Porsche has earned the right to price the Macan like this: every aspect of the car is luxurious – although there are aspects that some potential purchasers may think are a bit much.

Similar to the preceding Taycan, there are charging ports on both sides of the car with only one equipped for fast DC charging. These ports open with the most overdesigned doors I’ve ever seen – via rolling motors that slide the ports open and closed. I think this is just unnecessary, even for a luxury car: it adds mechanical complexity to open the doors, which could break one day. A pop-open door will do.

Additionally, some of the more expensive Macan trims feature a third touchscreen display positioned in front of the front passenger seat for its occupant. It’s a cool idea, I guess, to give your passenger control over stuff like music playback from a convenient screen in front of them, but I don’t really see the point, especially with music streaming apps able to play music in groups, with multiple phones controlling the current song – it just seems excessive.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Moving onto the unexpected, I encountered a critical operating system freeze when starting the car one morning. The infotainment system locked up on the Porsche logo and I couldn’t interact with it, and needed to manually reset it. I’ve encountered this with cars in the past and it’s never not annoying, but I was kind of shocked to have dealt with it in such an expensive car.

Apart from these things, I don’t really think there’s much to dislike about the Porsche Macan Electric. The company has worked really hard to polish this car to a point of undeniable quality.

Should you buy the Porsche Macan Electric?

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

It’s easy for me to recommend something as expensive as the Porsche Macan Electric, but obviously it’s not for everyone. It has an unrivaled level of quality, and among luxury electric SUVs, it very much deserves to be at the upper-end of the market. My colleague Leon Poultney went hands-on with the Macan electric a bit before me and argued that it would be a shame if Porsche scaled back its EV ambitions when cars like the Macan feel so mastered – and I very much agree: Porsche has nailed the assignment and I think it offers some really special cars in the electric space.

If you’re chasing a similar level of quality, I’d recommend to you both the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4, Audi Q6 e-tron or the BMW iX. Generally speaking, these cars each compete with the Macan Electric while also undercutting it on price.

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• Garmin Fenix 8 Pro is likely to arrive soon with LTE capability
• Rather than use a third-party data plan, leaks indicate Garmin is expanding its inReach messenger service
• In-app code reportedly reveals four new subscription tiers

The Garmin Fenix 8 Pro looks set to be coming soon. While it's hard to improve on a five-star, super-premium watch like the Garmin Fenix 8, the 'Pro' tag seems to indicate a feature that the standard models don't already have: LTE capability.

For the uninitiated, LTE connectivity allows users to connect a device to the internet or a satellite network using a data plan. On the best Apple Watches and best Android watches, this is commonly done by extending your phone's data plan to also include your smartwatch for an additional fee.

The smartwatch user can then use their watch like a 'mini phone' of sorts, exchanging messages, accessing internet services such as email, and even taking calls without a connected mobile phone nearby. It seems like Garmin wants to get in on this action.

However, new leaks via Gadgets & Wearables seemingly reveal it's not doing this using third-party networks like other smartwatches. Instead, it sounds as though Garmin's going to be expanding its pre-existing inReach service, a satellite messaging functionality accessible on dedicated Garmin devices such as the InReach Mini 2 pictured below, used to find weather information, communicate location, and send messages outside of the reach of a normal cellphone.

Rather than streaming music and accessing emails for convenience, the Fenix 8 Pro is likely to be positioned as the best Garmin watch to keep you connected while deep on the most remote trails, able to go places other watches can't – hence the 'Pro' moniker.

(Image credit: Garmin)InReach subscription tiers

Gadgets & Wearables found, in the Garmin Connect app, lines of code detailing four new inReach tier names: Enabled, Essential, Standard, and Premium.

While nothing has been announced, this is likely a new expansion of the inReach service, and rather than allow the Fenix 8 Pro to be tied to a plan from the likes of EE or Mint Mobile, Garmin will be keeping everything in-house.

The multiple subscription tiers do, at first glance, raise eyebrows: while you pay to connect a watch to a data plan, multiple tiers means that rather than pay a set price to unlock all the LTE-enabled features on the watch, you're again paying by tier, with features artificially locked behind yet another paywall.

The situation has echoes of the backlash to the Garmin Connect+ premium tier we experienced earlier this year, when hundreds of readers emailed in to voice their displeasure that Garmin was locking features behind a paywall in its fitness app.

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Now that summer is coming to an unfortunate end, it's time to start thinking about what you're going to be streaming during the beginning of the fall months, and Paramount+ is the place to go in September 2025.

Out of all the 127 new movies, the first one that caught my eye was Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic Arrival (2016), a personal favorite of mine. But it doesn't end there, and if you're a horror fan, hold on to your hats.

Not only are the first eight installments of the Friday the 13th franchise arriving on September 1, you can catch other exciting horror staples including The Woman in Black (2012) and Sleepy Hollow (1999). Alternatively, if horror isn't your thing but a good comedy movie is, you can always opt for the parody flick Scary Movie (2000) – a movie I can't wait to see return for its sixth chapter.

Everything new on Paramount+ in September 2025

Arriving on September 1

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (movie)
Addams Family Values (movie)
Afflicted (movie)
Along Came A Spider (movie)
Angel Heart (movie)
Approaching The Unknown (movie)
April Fool's Day (movie)
Area 51 (movie)
Arrival (movie)
Asylum (movie)
Below (movie)
Beneath (movie)
Blade (movie)
Blade II (movie)
Blade: Trinity (movie)
Body Cam (movie)
Brick Mansions (movie)
Burke & Hare (movie)
Cesar Chavez (movie)
Cloverfield (movie)
Cursed (movie)
Daybreakers (movie)
Disturbia (movie)
Dracula III: Legacy (movie)
Face/Off (movie)
Fatal Attraction (movie)
Frida (movie)
Friday the 13th (movie)
Friday the 13th Part II (movie)
Friday the 13th Part III (movie)
Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (movie)
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (movie)
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (movie)
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (movie)
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (movie)
From Dusk Till Dawn (movie)
From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (movie)
From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (movie)
Galaxy Quest (movie)
Gattaca (movie)
Geostorm (movie)
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (movie)
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (movie)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (movie)
Jacob's Ladder (movie)
John Carpenter's Escape From L.A. (movie)
Kiss The Girls (movie)
La Bamba (movie)
Labor Day (movie)
Life (movie)
Like Water for Chocolate (movie)
Loosies (movie)
Margaux (movie)
Mommie Dearest (movie)
Murder On The Orient Express (movie)
National Lampoon's Animal House (movie)
Nick of Time (movie)
Nobody's Fool (movie)
O (Othello) (movie)
Overlord (movie)
Patriot Games (movie)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (movie)
Phantoms (movie)
Piñero (movie)
Quinceañera (movie)
Road to Perdition (movie)
Safe (movie)
Scary Movie (movie)
Scary Movie 2 (movie)
Scary Movie 3 (movie)
Scream 4 (movie)
Seven Psychopaths (movie)
Sleepy Hollow (movie)
Small Soldiers (movie)
Spell (movie)
Spontaneous (movie)
Student Bodies (movie)
Super 8 (movie)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (movie)
Sweet Dreams (movie)
Teaching Mrs. Tingle (movie)
The Addams Family (movie)
The Commuter (movie)
The Crow (movie)
The Crow: City of Angels (movie)
The Crow: Wicked Prayer (movie)
The Devil Inside (movie)
The Faculty (movie)
The Gift (movie)
The Grifters (movie)
The Haunting (movie)
The Hunter (movie)
The Island (movie)
The Last Exorcism Part II (movie)
The Longest Yard (movie)
The Loved Ones (movie)
The Mechanic (movie)
The Monster Squad (movie)
The Night Clerk (movie)
The Parallax View (movie)
The Reckoning (movie)
The Relic (movie)
The Ring (movie)
The Stepford Wives (movie)
The Sum of All Fears (movie)
The Terminal (movie)
The Uninvited (movie)
The Woman in Black (movie)
To Catch a Thief (movie)
Twisted (movie)
Universal Soldier (movie)
Up in Smoke (movie)
Vampire in Brooklyn (movie)
Venom (movie)
Vertical Limit (movie)
Virtuosity (movie)
Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000 (movie)
Wes Craven Presents: They (movie)
Winter Spring Summer or Fall (movie)
Witness (movie)
World War Z (movie)

Arriving on September 3

Wolves (movie)

Arriving on September 4

NCIS: Tony & Ziva (TV show)

Arriving on September 5

Old Henry (movie)
Superhero Movie (movie)

Arriving on September 7

2025 Video Music Awards (live event)

Arriving on September 8

The Wedding Banquet (movie)

Arriving on September 9

Thirst Trap: The Fame. The Fantasy. The Fallout (documentary)

Arriving on September 10

Personal Shopper (movie)
The Tiny Chef Show season 3 (TV show)

Arriving on September 12

The Reunion season 1 (TV show)

Arriving on September 14

Primetime Emmy Awards (live event)

Arriving on September 17

Air Disasters season 22 (TV show)
The Adventures of Paddington season 3 (TV show)

Arriving on September 21

Tulsa King season 3 (TV show)

Arriving on September 22

A GRAMMY Salute to Earth, Wind & Fire Live: The 21st Night of September special (TV show)

Arriving on September 23

Bodyguard of Lies (documentary)

Arriving on September 24

Survivor season 49 (TV show)

Arriving on September 25

The Amazing Race season 38 (TV show)

Arriving on September 28

60 minutes season 58 (TV show)
48 hours season 38 (TV show)

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• Qualcomm unveils Dragonwing Q-6690 with onboard RFID eliminating need for external modules
• Processor combines RFID, AI, and advanced wireless support for retail logistics and industry
• RAIN Alliance says integration could transform operations and create new connected markets

Qualcomm has announced a new enterprise mobile processor that integrates RFID directly onto the chip, something no other mobile CPU has offered previously.

The Dragonwing Q-6690 brings together RFID with built-in 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and ultra-wideband support.

The processor has been designed for use in devices across retail, logistics, and industrial environments, as Qualcomm says it can support rugged handhelds, point-of-sale systems, kiosks, and other commercial form factors.

Software-configurable packs

By embedding RFID directly, the processor does away with the need for separate RFID reader modules, resulting in slimmer devices.

“The Dragonwing Q-6690 combines integrated RFID, AI, and next-gen wireless capabilities in a single, scalable platform, designed to accelerate innovation across industries including retail, logistics, and manufacturing,” said Art Miller, vice president and head of retail at Qualcomm.

“We are particularly excited about working with retailers today that need platforms that are not only powerful and connected, but also adaptable to evolving customer expectations, from smarter kiosks and handhelds to real-time inventory analytics and contactless experiences.”

Qualcomm views the new platform as a tool for contactless applications such as access control, asset tracking, product authentication, and real-time inventory management.

The platform offers software-configurable packs which will allow manufacturers to customize computing power, multimedia support, camera capabilities, and peripheral options for specific devices.

These packs will be upgradable over the air, doing away with the need to redesign hardware, which should help in reducing certification demands, as well as speeding up product launches, and extending device lifecycles.

For retailers, the new chip could be used for product tracking and store operations, while for industrial and logistics settings the integration could speed up and simplify processes that rely on RFID scanning.

A number of device makers, including Zebra, Honeywell, Urovo, HMD Secure, and CipherLab, say they plan to release products powered by the processor, with commercial availability expected in the coming months.

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Yellowstone Universe shows: Key Information

- There are currently 3 shows that have finished their run, and 5 planned series in the Yellowstone Universe

- Shows that have already aired are: Yellowstone, 1883 and 1923

- Future shows are: 1944, a Beth and Rip Wheeler drama, The Madison, Y: Marshals and 6666

- Paramount’s CEO told showrunner Taylor Sheridan: “We can just make this his [Sheridan’s] home for as long as he wants to tell stories.

The success of neo-Western Yellowstone has now become so mighty, that the Yellowstone Universe is now starting to rival that of DC Comics or Marvel; a host of sequels, spin-offs, prequels and other series to arrive over the next few years, all mined from the original IP.

The five-season show – fronted by Kevin Costner – kicked off on Paramount+ in 2018, and showrunner Taylor Sheridan evolved it into an even bigger pop-culture juggernaut when the first prequel series, 1883, launched in 2021.

Executive producer David Glasser told Variety at the time that there were big hopes for the Dutton Ranch franchise: “I think this universe as we’ve seen, with the success of 1883, it can grow and it can have other offshoots and build out a world around it. We’re going to keep our head down and keep making the content and hopefully audiences and our peers will recognize it the way they have been.

Keep ‘em coming, said David Ellison, Paramount’s CEO, buoyed by the roaring cowboy-centred hits: “We can just make this his [Sheridan’s] home for as long as he wants to tell stories.” In July 2025, Paramount took the commitment even further, when it was announced that Sheridan and Paramount were launching 450,000-square-foot production studios in Fort Worth, Texas.

But with so many TV shows coming from the same original series, it can get confusing as to what is what. So here, in chronological order as to when they’re set, is every show in the Yellowstone Universe, including series that have already been broadcast – and everything we know about future shows due to launch soon:

1883

1883 is the earliest of the Yellowstone prequels (Image credit: Paramount Plus)

The prequel series – set in the same year of its title – tells the story of how the Duttons managed to establish their Yellowstone ranch and the show began Paramount+ on December 2021. It starred Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May and LaMonica Garrett, and had some pretty stellar guest spots too, including Tom Hanks, Billy Bob Thornton, Rita Wilson and even a cameo from the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan.

The action follows the post–Civil War generation of the Duttons as they leave Tennessee and make the journey to Fort Worth, Texas, and join a wagon train undertaking the arduous journey west to Oregon, before finally settling in Montana.

1883 was a limited, 10-part series that finished in February 2022. Paramount’s commission of further episodes was reversed as they decided to focus on a sequel instead, 1923. Sheridan told Deadline that he considered 1883 done and dusted as the series ended: “We wanted to make a ten-hour movie that ended, and that’s what we did.”

1923

1923 only ran for two seasons. (Image credit: Paramount Plus)

Another sequel series, set 40 years after 1883, that focuses on the challenges faced by the Duttons – in this case, the spectacular duo of Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton and Harrison Ford as her husband, Jacob Dutton.

If you’ve even a passing interest in American history, you’ll know that it was a turbulent time and the shock waves of the Prohibition, a drought and the early stages of the Great Depression hit Montana just as badly as elsewhere in the country.

The cast of 1923 also boasted Brandon Sklenar, Julia Schlaepfer, Jerome Flynn, Darren Mann and Isabel May, who once again reprised her role as narrator, Elsa Dutton.

In the end, 1923 ran for just two eight-episode seasons – and the exorbitant costs might have had something to do with this. Each episode was estimated to have cost $30-35 million to make, and Sheridan told Deadline: “I would argue that 1883 was the most expensive first season of a TV show ever made. This was much more expensive. Much more expensive.”

1944

1944 will feature the ancestors of 1923. (Image credit: Paramount Plus)

This new historical prequel will have the life-altering event of World War II at its centre, and will explore the Dutton’s family experiences during that era. But details on this series are extremely scant at the moment, and there’s only really been the confirmation of the series announced back in November 2023, when it was also announced that Yellowstone would be wrapping up.

As for plot and characters, In previous storylines, we’ve been told that Spencer Dutton fought in the first World War before 1923, meaning that it's possible that his son, John Dutton II, will fight in World War II. And we could possibly see a return from Spencer too. Actor Brandon Sklenar told Variety: “I know they're planning on doing 1944, and maybe we'll see Spencer in 1944. I would be interested in doing it. I love this character."

There's no release details as yet for this, but we'll update when we know more.

Yellowstone

The series that launched (almost) a thousand spin-offs. (Image credit: Paramount Network)

The original series that birthed the entire, hefty universe. Yellowstone – co-created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson – premiered in September 2018 on the Paramount Network, and ran for five seasons, until it ended for good in December 2024.

Kevin Costner was the star talent here, playing John Dutton III, Governor of Montana and owner of one of the biggest cattle ranches, Dutton Ranch, in America, and the audience took the tales of family, legacy and the and the clash between old and new ways of life in the American West to heart, and the show stealthily built up a huge fan base.

But Costner dropped a bombshell in June 2024, and announced he was leaving the series, saying on his Instagram account: “Thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love. I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue, season five or into the future.”

A post shared by Kevin Costner (@kevincostner)

A photo posted by on

But, on the show went, the season 5 premiere pulled in 12.1 million viewers, and Costner departed at the end of part one of season 5.

Beth and Rip Wheeler drama

The as-yet-unnamed series will likely be another hit with fans. (Image credit: Paramount Network)

Not called Dutton Ranch, as some first predicted – the title is still actually still TBA – but this series, set in the present day after the end of Yellowstone, will see Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser back in their legendary roles of Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler. Finn Little who plays Carter will also be returning.

Deadline has reported that the spin-off will pick up where season five ended, which saw (spoiler alert) Dutton being sold to the Broken Rock Reservation. It will be “led by Yellowstone characters, played by the same actors in the same present-day time frame; the new offshoot shares the most DNA with the mothership of any shows in the Yellowstone universe to date.”

Bloomberg says to expect a late 2025 launch sometime in September, October and November for this one, but the network is still yet to reveal an exact date.

The Madison

The Madison will feature a very wealthy family from New York in Montana. (Image credit: Paramount Network)

The Madison – previously titled 2024 – is a present day spin-off, which will follow the McIntosh family, originally from New York City, who live in the Madison River valley of central Montana.

It’s being fronted by by Michelle Pfeiffer as Stacy Clyburn, the mother of two daughters, one who marries into the wealthy McIntosh family, and also features the likes of:

• Patrick J. Adams as Russell McIntosh
• Elle Chapman as Paige McIntosh
• Matthew Fox as Paul
• Beau Garrett as Abigail Reese
• Amiah Miller as Bridgette Reese
• Ben Schnetzer as Van
• Kevin Zegers as Cade
• Rebecca Spence as Liliana Weeks
• Alaina Pollack as Macy
• Danielle Vasinova as Kestrel

Filming began in September 2024 and wrapped by the end of the year, which means it won’t be long to wait until this one hits the screens, but there’s no exact date released yet. However, it's predicted for the end of 2025, or the beginning of 2026.

Deadline have also reported that The Madison has already been picked up for a second season, such is the faith that the network has in Sheridan.

Y: Marshals

Y: Marshals will focus on Yellowstone themes of family, loyalty and duty. (Image credit: Paramount)

Y: Marshals (apparently still a working title) is the spin-off with Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton. With his days at the ranch behind him, Kayce joins an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana. Alongside themes of family, duty and loyalty – issues that run deep at the heart of every show in the Yellowstone universe – Dutton will find out, the logline promises, the “high psychological cost that comes with serving as the last line of defense in the region’s war on violence.”

Alongside Grimes, the only other cast member confirmed so far is Logan Marshall-Green (last seen as Adam in And Just Like That…) would join the cast alongside Grimes. He will play Pete Calvin, a military veteran whom Kayce befriended during his time in the Navy SEALs.

The 13-episode show will be broadcast on CBS, and is pencilled in for late 2025 or early 2026.

6666

6666 will feature a rival cattle ranch to Yellowstone. (Image credit: Paramount+)

Paramount announced back in February 2021 that 6666 (again, likely a working title) was currently in development, and slated to be broadcast on Paramount+.

“Founded when Comanches still ruled West Texas, no ranch in America is more steeped in the history of the West than the 6666,” the announcement explained of the concept behind the series. “Still operating as it did two centuries before, and encompassing an entire county, the 6666 is where the rule of law and the laws of nature merge in a place where the most dangerous thing one does is the next thing… The 6666 is synonymous with the merciless endeavor to raise the finest horses and livestock in the world, and ultimately where world class cowboys are born and made.”

The show will take place at the real 6666 (“Four Sixes”) ranch in Texas. It was featured in season 4 of Yellowstone, with Jimmy Hurdstrom (Jefferson White) sent to work there, so while no cast have been confirmed as yet, it’s likely that it will be led by White and could potentially feature Jefferson White: as Jimmy Hurdstrom and Kathryn Kelly: as Emily, Jimmy’s girlfriend. But there’s no confirmation of the period this show will be set in – a historical era, or present day.

There’s also no release date as yet, but updated news announced that it will now be broadcast on Paramount Network first, and that the series will be executive produced by Sheridan, John Linson, Art Linson, David Glasser, Ron Burkle and Bob Yari.

• Prime Video customers can now access Peacock Premium Plus directly through their existing app
• The plan costs $16.99 per month or $169.99 per year
• Prime Video sometimes does great deals on its 'channels'

As of August 28, 2025, Prime Video subscribers can now access Peacock Premium Plus directly through the app. It's part of an expanded partnership with NBC Universal, and basically means we're getting more ad-free streaming goodness. In fact, for many of us, it's the ad-free streaming goodness we're missing from Prime Video itself, but let's not complain.

In its own words, the new add-on offers "thousands of hours of on-demand entertainment, news, and sports content." Think TV shows including Poker Face, Yellowstone, and The Office's new spinoff, The Paper – all in one place alongside Prime Video's movies and shows. Dreamy.

Currently, the cost of Peacock Premium Plus (whether a standalone subscription or included with Prime Video) is $16.99 per month or $169.99 per year. But given Prime Video often has some of the best streaming deals around on its channels, just like this new Peacock option will be, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a fantastic deal on this option in the near future.

Peacock ad-free streaming on Prime Video is worth keeping an eye on for bargain prices

I already need to sort out a full Peacock subscription ahead of new episodes of The Paper, and now I'm more likely to do so through my existing Prime Video account. Currently, the Amazon streamer has one of the best free trial windows out of its competitors (30 days), a huge variety of expanded add-ons ranging from MGM+ and Starz to Paramount+, and some of the best streaming deals on the market – and as recently as July, we say some great deals on this kinds of add-ons.

Thanks to the formerly separate Freevee app that's now been fully integrated, there's even more movies you can watch at no extra cost on Prime Vudeo (as long as you're okay with a few short ad breaks). With limitless binge-worthy opportunities at rock bottom prices, ad-free streaming via Peacock is only the cherry on the cake – and I'd bet good money on plan prices coming down too.

This isn't all Prime Video has planned for its NBC Universal merger, though. You'll be able to get the Peacock app on all Fire TV devices, Xfinity X1 and Xumo customers will have seamless access to Prime Video, and more hit Universal Pictures Home Entertainment releases will be available to buy and/or rent through the streamer.

Head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Mike Hopkins said in a statement, "At Amazon, we are always working to make customers’ lives better every day and these new agreements with Comcast NBCU are fantastic for millions of customers, who are looking for the fastest and easiest way to find all their entertainment and sports in one place.

"Adding Peacock to our growing list of subscriptions – while renewing our long-standing agreements for Fire TV, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, and Xfinity X1 – deepens an incredible working relationship with Comcast/NBCU, and we look forward to a future of mutual distribution that benefits our shared customers."

Frankly, I'm all for it. If you need me, I'm never getting up from my couch.

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• Scientists hope Surya extracts insights from the Sun’s complex magnetic processes
• Researchers processed nine years of imagery from the Solar Dynamics Observatory
• Surya achieved a reported 16% improvement in flare classification accuracy

IBM and NASA have introduced Surya, the first open source foundation model for solar physics.

IBM says the AI model, whose name comes from the Sanskrit word for the Sun, is trained to forecast solar activity such as flares and storms that can disrupt satellites, navigation systems, and power grids.

It has been made available through Hugging Face, GitHub, and IBM’s TerraTorch library, alongside a dataset collection called SuryaBench.

From Earth data to solar forecasts

The project comes as reliance on space-based technology expands, from aviation and communication to future deep space missions.

Predicting solar weather remains a difficult task, given that these events originate millions of miles away on a body whose physics are still only partly understood.

“We’ve been on this journey of pushing the limits of technology with NASA since 2023, delivering pioneering foundational AI models to gain an unprecedented understanding of our planet Earth,” said Juan Bernabé-Moreno, the IBM director in charge of the scientific collaboration with NASA.

“With Surya we have created the first foundation model to look the Sun in the eye and forecast its moods.”

This collaboration follows earlier work by IBM and NASA on AI-driven models for Earth and weather prediction, which led to the development of the Prithvi model that analyzed satellite data to aid studies of climate and atmospheric systems.

With Surya, they are attempting something similar for the Sun, turning years of high-resolution solar imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory into a kind of digital twin.

Scientists hope the model will allow forecasts that go beyond whether a flare will happen.

Early reports suggest Surya can generate high-resolution visual predictions of flares up to two hours before they occur, doubling the lead time of traditional methods.

That would mean additional preparation time for astronauts and operators of critical infrastructure on Earth.

To build Surya, researchers processed nine years of imagery from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, which captures the Sun every 12 seconds at multiple wavelengths.

They employed a long-short vision transformer with spectral gating to manage the immense data load.

The model was trained not only to analyze current conditions but to infer what future observations would look like, testing its accuracy against real data.

“We want to give Earth the longest lead time possible,” said Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo, a solar physicist at the Southwest Research Institute and a lead scientist on the project.

“Our hope is that the model has learned all the critical processes behind our star’s evolution through time so that we can extract actionable insights.”

Like other large language models and AI tools, Surya raises questions about whether its outputs should be treated as discovery or as augmentation of human expertise.

However, its backers emphasize automation and efficiency, pointing to a claimed 16% improvement in flare classification accuracy.

Still, forecasting remains far from certain, as the Sun’s activity involves many processes that remain poorly understood.

While Surya is described as a step toward better anticipation of solar threats, researchers are careful not to present it as a final answer.

Instead, they frame it as a bridge that may help scientists work with massive data more effectively.

As with any AI writer or LLM, its predictions are limited by the data it has been trained on and the assumptions built into its design.

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North and South America aren't invited to the party this time around, but will still be able to see the blood moon.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Aug. 30, #811.

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Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for Aug. 30, No. 1,533

• Workers between 22-25 years old seem to be most affected by AI
• Software development and customer service are highly affected
• Roles subject to higher automation are most at risk

A new paper by researchers at Stanford University has uncovered six truths about AI’s effects on the workforce, and it might not be so good for younger workers.

The data shows that younger workers, aged 22-25, in the most AI-exposed jobs have seen substantial declines in employment since late 2022 – this includes roles like software development and customer support.

This, the researchers say, has led to stagnant youth employment overall despite total US employment rates continuing to rise.

AI could be taking younger workers’ jobs

By July 2025, for example, employment for software developers in this age group was down nearly 20% compared with late 2022. On the whole, employment in the most AI-exposed roles declined by around 6% for this young demographic, but older workers (defined as 35-49) saw a 6-9% increase.

The Stanford paper goes some way to explaining why youth employment has been relatively flat despite some overall national growth.

Brynjolfsson, Chandar and Chen – the researchers behind the paper – go one sterp further by splitting AI into two distinct categories – automation and augmentation.

Younger workers were most affected by AI as automation, which substitutes tasks and leads to declines in entry-level jobs.

In contrast, older workers were more likely to be affected by AI as augmentation, where it supports human work. In this case, the researchers saw no decline, and sometimes even growth.

They found employment rates to be hit harder than wages in most cases, with headcount reductions more likely to occur than pay cuts. Already this calendar year, the tech industry has seen over 81,000 layoffs, though this is down from a 2023 high of 264,000+ (for the full year).

However, the paper suggests that all hope may not be lost, pointing to previous trends such as the IT revolution that “ultimately led to robust growth in employment and real wages following physical and human capital adjustments.”

With that in mind, it’s possible that AI could indeed enhance the labor market all-round, but only after an initial period of turbulence that affects lower-skilled workers disproportionately.

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• Geekom A9 Mega launches on Kickstarter with Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor
• Compact CNC aluminum chassis with dual USB4 ports, extensive connectivity, and strong cooling
• Supports up to 128GB memory and 8TB SSD storage for AI workloads

Geekom has announced the A9 Mega, a compact mini PC powered by AMD’s flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor.

For those keeping track, this is the 20th product so far to feature this 16-core, 32-thread Strix Halo chip, and we’re still waiting for Dell to show us what it could do.

Geekom is bringing the A9 Mega to market via Kickstarter. Pricing is planned to start around $1,899, and although Geekom is an established name, backers should be aware that crowdfunding is not without its risks.

Plenty of ports

If you prefer to wait until the product arrives in Geekom’s store, there’s a good chance it may not cost too much more than the Kickstarter price, as the company often discounts its products shortly after launch. For example, the Geekom A9 Max, which runs an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX370, is usually priced at $1,299 but is currently available for $999.

The A9 Mega’s CNC-machined aluminum body measures 171x171x71mm. Inside, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 includes Radeon 8060S graphics and an XDNA 2 NPU capable of 126 TOPS.

With support for up to 128GB of LPDDR5X 8000MHz memory, the integrated GPU can act as an accelerator with a large shared pool for AI models such as Stable Diffusion or LLaMA.

The system can house two M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs, providing up to 8TB of storage.

Cooling is managed by IceBlast 5.0, which uses dual fans, copper heat pipes, and thermal controls to sustain a 120W TDP.

Geekom says the CPU, GPU, and NPU can run at peak simultaneously without throttling, and wireless support includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

Connectivity is what you might expect for a system of this size. The front includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C for data, an SD card slot, and a power button with integrated fingerprint sensor.

On the back, there are two USB4 Type-C ports supporting 40Gbps with DisplayPort 2.1, two HDMI 2.1 FRL ports, two 2.5Gb Ethernet jacks, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, one USB 2.0, a 3.5mm headset jack, and DC power input.

The A9 Mega comes preloaded with Windows 11 Pro and is compatible with Linux, as Geekom is positioning it as an alternative to traditional workstations and Apple’s Mac Studio.

While details on broader availability remain unknown, the A9 Mega mini PC looks like a capable option for compact AI workloads and creative use cases.

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• A couple of Lenovo's concept products have been leaked on X
• One is a laptop with a screen that rotates into portrait mode
• The other is a self-adjusting laptop stand that seemingly uses AI to position the notebook for optimal ergonomics

Lenovo is apparently set to show off a new concept laptop at the IFA show next week which features a screen that can be rotated into a portrait position, along with an innovative laptop stand.

Lenovo has a habit of showing off concept devices at trade shows, some of which are precursors to shipping products -- a la the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 w/ rollable display -- while others will never see the light of day. At next week's IFA/Innovation Week, that concept will be a… pic.twitter.com/PMIJdowgHGAugust 28, 2025

As The Verge reports, according to renown leaker Evan Blass, the laptop is known as 'Project Pivo' (which is an internal codename) as per a post on X.

As you can see, the screen rotates independently of the lid, so you can twist it around 90-degrees so that it's upright in portrait mode. Presumably there's some slick mechanism to facilitate this movement, but obviously we don't get any clues as to what; just an image and basic explanation of the concept.

Blass also provides us with a glimpse of 'Project Ballet' from Lenovo, which is an AI-powered laptop stand, apparently. The leaker explains that the AI taps the laptop's internal sensors - microphone, camera, and more besides - to work out the user's position relative to the device and stand, then adjusts the positioning of the notebook appropriately.

(Image credit: Evan Blass / Lenovo)Analysis: An improbable duo - or a perfect combo?

I really like the idea of the laptop stand - this is AI fine-tuning the ergonomics of your laptop usage in real-time.

However, the concept is one thing, the execution entirely another. And there's clearly the possibility for a self-adjusting notebook stand to get things wrong and become extremely annoying.

The rotating screen laptop looks pretty nifty too, but this is rather a niche product. How many people really need to spin their screen round into a portrait orientation? Not that many, but of course it can be useful for some folks (coders, maybe writers, or graphic designers perhaps).

What worries me about these concepts that introduce fancy mechanisms is that those moving parts represent a lot more potential for stuff going wrong with your notebook. And, say, if your screen ends up stuck at a 65-degree angle midway between portrait and landscape; that's going to be no fun. Still, maybe the AI laptop stand will be able to fix all the wonky ergonomics for you - perhaps that's Lenovo's grand masterplan here?

In all seriousness, as Blass points out, a lot of laptop concepts are punted about and never realized, and that may well be the case with these ideas. Some of them do make the cut, though, like the ThinkBook laptop with a rollable screen which was released.

Hopefully we'll get a better idea of how these two fresh innovations might work at IFA next week, where TechRadar will be in attendance, furnishing you with all the pivotal developments - rotating laptop screens included.

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PC gaming giant Valve has started to bow to the UK’s Online Safety Act by requiring Steam users to verify their age with a credit card in order to access games with mature content.

“In order to access Steam store pages for mature content games as well as their associated community hubs, you need to be logged into an active user account and explicitly opt-in through the account settings page.” Steam’s Support page details. "For UK users, this opt-in process requires age verification. Your UK Steam user account is considered age verified for as long as a valid credit card is stored on the account.”

The Online Safety Act stems from a goal to prevent children from seeing inappropriate, sexual, or generally mature content across a myriad of online platforms and services. As such, users of services and sites that host mature content, even if not exclusively so, need to verify that they are 18 years of age or older.

Often this requires things like a facial scan or credit card details, which privacy-centric people might be concerned about parting with, given verification tools can be delivered via third-party organizations with their own rules on data collection and use. Notably, a credit card is asked for as in the UK you need to be 18 years old to apply for one.

“Having the credit card stored as a payment method acts as an additional deterrent against circumventing age verification by sharing a single Steam user account among multiple persons,” noted Valve.

While I understand the need for such verification, and do hope that it will protect young people from some of the more unsavory content one can find online if so inclined, as a 38-year-old Steam user, it’s a minor annoyance and another hurdle to hop when logging into the gaming platform on different PCs or devices.

It’s also a bit annoying as there are still people who don’t have credit cards; for example, I only got one that I actually use back last year.

Protecting privacy

For people like me who can be a little iffy about handing over credit card details, Valve’s process is to have the credit card stored as a payment method so it won’t be using an off-platform third-party verification service, which should mean your credit card details are kept secure.

“The data processed in the verification process is identical to that of the millions of other Steam users who make purchases or store their payment details for convenience,” said Valve. “The verification process therefore provides no information about a user's content preferences to payment providers or other third parties.”

So this makes me feel a little more comfortable with the whole thing, and should hopefully be a one-and-done process. I’ve become so used to how easy Steam is to use from making secure payment to logging in via the mobile app, so I do hope this adapting to the Online Safety Act won’t erode that feeling of ease.

It’ll be interesting to see if other countries follow the UK’s example or if Valve decides to roll out such verification for all users and a one-stop-shop way to allow ‘safe’ access to mature content. I guess time will tell.

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• SK Telecom suffered a data breach that was discovered in April 2025
• It affected roughly 27 million people
• The company was fined for it, and will need to make significant changes to its operations

SK Telecom (SKT), one of the biggest telecommunications services providers in South Korea, was fined almost $100 million for failing to protect user data.

In April 2025, the company discovered a malware breach that allowed threat actors to lurk within its systems for years. Some researchers even claim the attack started in August 2021.

The miscreants targeted SKT’s Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and other critical infrastructure, exposing sensitive subscriber data, including USIM authentication keys (KI), International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers, IMEI device identifiers, phone numbers, email addresses, and possibly other personal data.

"Very weak condition"

Approximately 27 million people were affected by the breach.

Now, Reuters reports that the government-run Personal Information Protection Commission issued a statement, confirming the fine of about 134 billion won ($96.53 million) for “neglecting its duty to take safety measures” and for “delays in notifying the leak to customers”.

The statement also claims SKT’s systems were in a “very weak condition” which allowed threat actors to access the company’s intranet. There were no passwords, or other safety measures, defending the servers from outside influence, and operating systems were outdated and running without the latest security patches.

Besides being forced to pay the fine, the company will also have to “strengthen safety rules on information protection” and revamp its governance.

Responding to a Reuters inquiry, SK Telecom said it “felt a grave responsibility” and will make protecting customer information a “top priority”.

In response, it launched an “Information Security Innovation Plan”, that includes implementing zero-trust architecture, expanding encryption, forming a red team, elevating the CISO role to report directly to the CEO, and adding cybersecurity experts to the board.

Customers received free USIM card replacements, and were offered 50% off August subscription fees. Furthermore, whoever wanted to cancel their contract prematurely was allowed to do so without extra fees.

Via Reuters

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