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Fridges are one of the most important home appliances to keep powered during an outage. Our lab testing revealed the power stations that can keep yours running the longest.

• Ubisoft has revealed that The Crew Motorfest is coming to Nintendo Switch 2
• The port will release on October 8, 2026
• A physical edition is planned in addition to the digital version

With all eyes on the recently released Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, there's a strong chance that one of Ubisoft's most interesting announcements has passed you by. Last week, the company quietly confirmed that The Crew Motorfest is coming to Nintendo Switch 2.

Under the Radar

Under the Radar is our way of highlighting great games that might have passed you by. Through a regular mix of news stories and features, we'll cover great experiences that we feel haven't found the audience they deserve. Read the full series here.

In my eyes, this is pretty excellent news as the Switch 2 has been in serious need of some more quality racing games.

Sure, you have the excellent Mario Kart World (not to mention Kirby Air Riders), but if you want something a bit more realistic, your only real option so far has been Grid Legends: Definitive Edition, which focuses solely on track racing.

The Crew Motorfest is a proper AAA open-world experience that lets you drive anywhere in hundreds of officially licensed cars, plus a handful of planes and boats when you want to spice things up.

It's set in a massive recreation of Hawaii, with loads of real-world towns and landmarks represented, in the midst of hosting a huge international car festival. Yes, it's a very similar premise to the Forza Horizon games — but is that really such a bad thing?

It's a proven formula and, with no word of a Forza Horizon 6 Nintendo Switch 2 port yet, I think The Crew Motorfest will fill a very significant niche.

The port is set to arrive on October 8, with a physical retail version planned alongside a digital release.

• Moana had a disappointing weekend at the box office, only making $95 million from its huge $250 million budget
• The live action remake currently sits at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes
• Fans have criticized Moana for being an exact replica of the beloved animated movie

Moana set sail for theaters recently, but its opening weekend was a poor performance for one of July's biggest new movies.

The original Moana movie was a huge success for Disney, bringing in $687.2 million at the global box office. But based on the opening weekend, it doesn't feel like the 2026 live action remake will be following in its footsteps.

At the time of writing, the new Moana has only made $95 million on its huge $250 million budget, making it one of Disney's poorest performing movies.

It has also received a disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score of 33%, with its critics consensus saying: "The sea calls to no one in this underwhelming new version of Moana, an endeavor that solidifies its animated predecessor as the superior adventure."

Moana has been branded 'lifeless' by viewers

Rachel Zegler's Snow White movie was also panned by the critics. (Image credit: Walt Disney Studios)

Many fans of the original Moana movie have expressed their disappointment, describing the new live action version as being flat and a "carbon copy" of the original, per this scathing review by Associated Press.

Fans on X have also had a lot to say, with some wonder what the point in making a live action movie for Moana was. There's been plenty of backlash, making it a disappointing entry into Disney's library.

The original Moana is incredible. I have it on Blu-ray.This live-action remake (which is also mostly animated) makes no sense to me, not from an artistic reasoning, nor from a consumer standpoint.I mean, money is the ultimate motivation I suppose, but who wants a lesser… https://t.co/UtmsmHm2p7July 12, 2026

Another X user commented on how their main issue was the lack of quality, noting that nothing about the Moana live action was better than the original. They also cited The Lion King and Aladdin as having "new elements that justified their existence", but claimed that Moana did not have this.

My main issue with Disney Live-Action remakes isnt how lazy they are but how much the quality overall has dipped. Like at least with Lion King and Aladdin, they're technical marvels with new elements that justified their existence, what does Moana have that's better the original? https://t.co/8nAg33HGOFJuly 12, 2026

Moana is the first time theyve done a live action remake of a movie *I* love and it makes me so depressed why is it so lifelessJuly 2, 2026

Finally, another user pointed out that they'd rather watch the Snow White remake over Moana. Snow White also underperformed at the box office, but has a slightly higher Rotten Tomatoes score of 39%.

I wouldn't go so far as to say anyone owes the SNOW WHITE remake an apology but I would 100% watch it again over ever looking at MOANA '26 a second time. A truly dispiriting experience, flat and lifeless. Better than that LION KING movie though.July 8, 2026

If you want to see for yourself, Moana is now playing in theaters globally. But judging by initial reports, you might want to head to Disney+ to check out the original, and it's admittedly very good sequel, Moana 2.

• The FCC is chasing suspected DJI front companies
• Multiple rebranded DJI-like devices are on sale in the US
• New DJI products were banned in the US last year

Since last December, new DJI devices have been banned in the US, because the drone and camera maker is on the Covered List — a list of foreign manufacturers deemed to fall short of the security and safety standards put in place by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

However, the FCC thinks that DJI is sneaking products into the United States through front companies with different branding, and it's now taking action: as The Verge reports, eight of these companies have now been hit by $25,000 fines, with further investigations from the authorities pending.

The companies in question are Cogito Tech, Fikaxo Technology, Lyno Dynamics, Skyhigh, Spatial Hover, SZ Knowact Robot, WaveGo Tech, and Xtra Technology. You can check out the range of Cogito Tech drones on its website here, and decide for yourself how much they do or don't resemble DJI's offerings.

Xtra Technology also has a website showing off its vlogging cameras: as noted by The Verge, the company is promoting an Xtra Muse 2 Pro camera with the tagline "from Pocket to Pro", which bears more than a passing resemblance to the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P.

Cracking down

The DJI Osmo Pocket 4P (Image credit: Tim Coleman)

These companies have so far failed to respond to questions from the FCC, and it seems the regulatory body is now ramping up its efforts to get some answers. Some of the test labs that these devices are passing through are being targeted as well.

The Verge also reports that gadgets previously approved for sale before the ban took effect have now disappeared from the FCC website — gadgets including the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 Pro. However, there's no indication that DJI products that have already been sold in the US are going to stop working or be recalled.

In order for any electronic device using radio frequencies to be sold in the US, from phones to drones, it has to be approved by the FCC — which is why we get so many detailed hardware leaks from FCC filings. Any company on the Covered List isn't going to get that approval, essentially meaning their products are banned.

While DJI has been vocal in calling its ban unfair, it hasn't commented on the claims around these alleged front companies so far — and it appears that the companies themselves aren't being at all communicative either. We've reached out to DJI for comment on the report, and will update this story if we hear back.

Amazon's line-up of Fire TV streaming sticks, televisions, and soundbars is one of the best options out there when it comes to convenience and affordability. Another plus is that they are regularly on sale. And that's the case right now, with several devices reduced by up to 45%, so I've picked out the 8 best deals.

• Browse all of today's best deals at Amazon

I've stuck with a relatively old Fire TV Stick for a few years now, so it is tempting to upgrade to one of these newer models while they're reduced to gain the benefits of better performance, a more reliable Wi-Fi connection, and improved video and audio quality.

Of course, I would normally suggest waiting for Amazon Prime Day if you're a Prime member and thinking of buying one of these — and that advice still stands, as that's when you can pay the lowest prices. However, as Prime Day was just last month, it'll be a while until similar discounts are back, and these prices aren't too far off in most cases. Best of all, you don't need to be a Prime member, either.

Today's best Fire TV deals at Amazon

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus

Amazon Ember 40-inch 2-Series Fire TV

Amazon Ember 55-inch 4-Series Fire TV

Amazon Ember 55-inch QLED Series Fire TV

Amazon Fire TV Cube

Amazon Fire TV Soundbar

You can now go "hooligan" in the McDonald's drive-through line.

• Windows 11's Copilot app has a new feature in testing
• 'PC insights' provides an easy way to receive clear answers to hardware-based questions about your device and its specs
• While there are some fears over privacy (and bloat), Microsoft has made it clear that Copilot needs to be granted permission to access your system and files

Copilot is getting a new ability to answer questions about your PC's hardware, allowing the AI to tap into the relevant hardware details to do so – and while Microsoft is treading carefully with privacy here, that's unlikely to stop some level of paranoia.

Windows Latest flagged the introduction of 'PC insights' for the Copilot app on Windows 11, which as Microsoft explains, "enables customers to conversationally ask Copilot questions about their Windows PC and receive clear responses based on their device's state without having to dig through system settings."

This is currently an experimental feature, so still in testing, and an optional ability that you must turn on for it to be in play. Windows Latest notes that it's gradually rolling out, but only in the US for now.

You can ask Copilot how much RAM you have, or storage space left, or what your GPU is, and the current level of usage for your processor, and a whole bunch of similar component-related queries. You can ask about elements as diverse as whether you have an antivirus running, or what your laptop's battery health is, diving into mild troubleshooting territory should you wish.

To get its answers, the Copilot app hooks up to Windows APIs to analyze your system, and the AI asks for permission to do this. You can allow it access to your PC's hardware details on a one-time basis for that session only, or you can elect to 'always allow' if you're happy to give Copilot this access on a more permanent basis.

Analysis: fears over hallucinations and bloat

(Image credit: Getty Images)

As ever, this is AI, and as Microsoft notes, Copilot "may not always provide complete or accurate information", especially during this testing phase. So, if you do get a chance to try out PC insights, maintain a healthy sense of skepticism with the responses you get.

As Windows Latest makes clear, there's also a certain irony about a Windows 11 user checking up on resource usage, perhaps due to system sluggishness, employing the Copilot AI to run diagnostics when the app itself uses the best part of 1GB of RAM when running in the background and doing nothing.

That doesn't stop this new PC insights feature from being situationally useful, of course. Some of the reaction has come from a place of disdain, though, as you might guess, with comments such as the one from this Redditor: "Oh hey it's like Task Manager except instead of lightweight and authoritative, it's bloated and might be lying to me."

Of course, this is a feature aimed at less well-informed PC owners, not those who can easily understand what's happening in Task Manager at a glance. Criticism around the bloat of the Copilot app is fair enough, mind, and this is because in its most recent incarnation, Microsoft changed things so the app is essentially a standalone spin-off of the Edge browser.

Another worry is that of privacy, and having Copilot 'snoop around' on your machine, but as noted, there are clear requests for permissions, and the new feature is strictly opt-in. You don't ever have to go near PC insights if you don't want to. It's also worth noting that giving the Copilot app access permissions doesn't mean it can read the actual contents of files, but only their sizes (for weighing up questions about storage and the like).

At the moment, this is a purely informative or troubleshooting feature, and in the case of attempted diagnostics, it may point to issues with your PC, but won't resolve them for you. However, it's not difficult to envision where Microsoft might head with this, in terms of getting Copilot to implement fixes for certain issues that the AI flags up. I'm talking simple Settings changes rather than anything in-depth, and this has always been the idea of Copilot (even though it hasn't yet been realized to much of an extent).

When we get AI agents in Windows 11 – and they are coming, make no mistake – this kind of functionality may turn into a full-on troubleshooting agent. The trouble (pun not intended) with that being that the mistakes and hallucinations that AI can make could be considerably more aggravating in this kind of scenario.

• Some Mastercard’s users can install NordVPN for free
• The VPN now offers its services as part of the credit card’s perks
• This move indicates that digital awareness is growing among consumers

Do you have a Mastercard? If so, you'll be happy to know that you may be eligible to use NordVPN's services for free.

These days, we know that using a VPN has become crucial for protecting one's digital identity. But when a major payment service provider enables its cardholder to access one of the best VPNs for free as part of the benefits included in their package, you realize that digital security has truly become an integral part of everyday life.

Indeed, Mastercard cardholders can now redeem a NordVPN subscription in exactly the same way they currently access airport lounges, fast-track services, and other lifestyle perks included in Mastercard's list of exclusive benefits.

How to get your VPN

(Image credit: Pixabay)

Depending on your bank or Mastercard issuer and the country where you live, your Mastercard payment plan may now include NordVPN Basic and NordVPN Standard.

The basic version is already packed with features and serves as a golden ticket to digital security, thanks to its excellent unblocking capabilities, servers in 126 countries, 10 simultaneous connections, and the ability to block ads and malicious domains.

The luckiest users will be able to take advantage of NordVPN Standard, which exceeds all expectations, especially thanks to its next-gen antivirus digital suite.

The service helps protect your device from ads, trackers, malware, and malicious websites or downloads, and was previously ranked by the cybersecurity specialist AV-TEST and West Coast Labs (WCL) as the best tool for blocking malicious websites and anti-malware evaluation. We also tested it and can confidently confirm that it outperformed most other VPNs.

Mastercard cardholders can redeem their NordVPN subscription by checking their eligibility at https://nordvpn.com/partners/mastercard.

Customers are advised to contact their bank or card issuer to ensure that NordVPN’s digital benefits are included in their plan. Once they activate their NordVPN subscription, the service will ask them to set up their Nord account and download the NordVPN app.

A huge lifestyle plus

The partnership between NordVPN and Mastercard reflects a growing focus on privacy protection within financial services, particularly in industries where digital security is critical because sensitive data is constantly being shared.

In fact, virtual private networks (VPNs) allow cardholders to boost privacy by encrypting their browsing data and masking IP addresses. This provides solid protection against the risks associated with transactions made on public Wi-Fi networks, offering a defense against hackers who might intercept sensitive data.

The fact that a VPN is included among the lifestyle benefits offered by a payment giant shows that customers are paying closer attention to the digital world and view VPNs as an essential tool in their lives — just like vacations or entertainment.

"Digital security is becoming an essential part of everyday life, especially as people increasingly manage their finances, shop, and access important services online," stressed Kestas Saulis, Head of Payments at NordVPN.

Indeed, we might expect an ever-growing demand for digital security among payment services customers as they become increasingly aware of the real risks they face every time they conduct online transactions and share personal data.

We're just over half-way through the year, and of the 28 pairs of headphones we've had the pleasure of testing so far, there are a number of standout over-ears from both ends of the price spectrum. If you're looking for a new pair of cans, these are the models you should be checking out.

At the affordable end of things we have the Nothing Headphone (a), which manage to be both way better and much cheaper than their predecessors. We praised their "impactful and well-balanced sound, good active noise cancellation" and "excellent and truly useful app". A little pricier but still affordable are the retro-styled and ridiculously comfortable Marshall Milton ANC, and the clear-sounding JBL Live 780NC, with their never-ending battery life.

For true audiophiles with deep pockets, we've tested two blow-the-budget bangers. The Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 are the only pair of over-ears to earn a perfect five stars, with their "beautifully precise and engaging audio with exhilarating low-end performance" (here are all the five-star buys of the year so far, if you're interested). We were also blown away by the Grado Signature S750, a pair of handmade, open-back headphones that offer "an exceptional soundstage and excellent clarity", and sound "amazing" on well-produced music.

Scroll down for a comprehensive list of our top-rated over-ear headphones of the year so far — hit the 'View details' button for a summary of the main pros and cons of each one, plus a link to read the full review. Alternatively, head to our general best over-ear headphones list for a run-down of our favorite sets of all time.

Outstanding over-ears

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000

Read our full review

Pros

• Beautifully detailed
• Exceptional low end
• Lightweight and comfortable

Cons

• Very expensive
• Very high impedance

Apple AirPods Max 2

Read our full review

Meze Audio Strada

Read our full review

GRADO Signature S750

Read our full review

Pros

• Very wide soundstage
• Excellent positioning and clarity
• Amazing on well produced music

Cons

• Relatively expensive
• May be too bright for some
• Divisive fit

Marshall Milton ANC

Read our full review

Pros

• Incredible comfort for on-ears
• Clean, spacious sound
• Fantastic battery life
• Excellent, sustainable design

Cons

• Bass is a little overzealous out of the box
• ANC is a bit limited
• No wear detection

JBL Live 780NC

Read our full review

Nothing Headphone (a)

Read our full review

Pros

• Great sound that's a big upgrade over Headphone (1)
• Fantastic on-ear control options and app
• Gigantic battery life

Cons

• Still heavy, with a strong clamping force
• Some rivals offer better sonic detail
• No auto-pause feature or case

• The first full trailer for Tom Cruise's new movie Digger is here
• Cruise plays 'an incredibly powerful corrupt oil tycoon, who embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior'
• Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, it also stars Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, and John Goodman

The first trailer for Digger, Tom Cruise's next movie, has now been released — and the Mission: Impossible star is appearing as he never has before.

Cruise is seen in heavy prosthetic makeup, transforming into someone that, per the film's synopsis, os "an incredibly powerful corrupt oil tycoon, who embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior."

Directed by Birdman and The Revenant's Alejandro G. Iñárritu, its supporting cast includes Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, and Emma D'Arcy. Digger will be in theaters worldwide from October 2, 2026.

Unsurprisingly, the internet is beside themselves thanks to Cruise's new look. "Seeing an old Tom Cruise is wild," one YouTube comment reads, while another says:, "The biggest physical transformation Tom Cruise has had since Tropic Thunder."

With so much chaos happening at once, it's still anybody's guess as to how the full film will play out. But, in my opinion, Cruise is the least exciting part of what's coming.

Opinion: Digger will finally turn Sandra Hüller into the Hollywood leading lady she deserves to be

Despite being nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award in 2024 for her lead role in Anatomy of a Fall, Hüller still hasn't cemented her status as a leading lady.

Since then, she's had supporting roles in Project Hail Mary, The Zone of Interest, and yet-to-be-released Cannes period drama Fatherland. I've got a feeling, though, that Digger will finally give her the global recognition that she deserves.

Why? A simple answer: Tom Cruise. Aside from his death-defying stunts, the actor has made a name for himself through his consistent kindness and willingness to show up. Not only has he done this for his fans — just look at any press tour he's done in the last 10 years — but he also does it for his fellow actors.

By the time Digger is being promoted across the world, I can guarantee that Cruise will spend the entire time singing Hüller's praises. He's a man who bring along those around him while he's on the way up... and his own performance is likely to be a significant talking point for the 2026-2027 awards season. If Hüller isn't a routine Hollywood booking after this, I'll be at a loss for words. Know talent when you see it, people.

• Huntress analyzed AI‑generated malware “Untitled1.ps1,” a noisy custom AD enumeration tool likely built by low‑skilled attackers using generative AI
• Attackers paired it with s5cmd for rapid data exfiltration and SharpShares.exe for share enumeration before being detected and removed
• Report warns AI “vibe coding” lowers barriers for cybercrime, producing unique payloads that evade signature‑based defenses, requiring behavioral analytics to catch attack lifecycles

“Unsophisticated” cybercriminals can now easily write malicious code using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and run devastating data breach attacks with speed, forcing defenders to rethink their strategies, researchers have claimed.

Security experts Huntress thoroughly investigating a piece of AI-written malware, and explained how the bespoke, AI-generated payload was a “highly aggressive, noisy, custom-built AD enumeration tool.”

Since cybercriminals are generally careful not to make too much noise and to try and do their bidding without raising any alarms, the researchers hint this was the work of a low-skilled attacker.

Significant challenge

The malware, labeled Untitled1.ps1, was designed to map the Active Directory environment and apparently, it did its job well. In the next step, the crooks deployed a legitimate high-speed command-line tool for Amazon S3 operations called s5cmd which, according to Huntress, is often used for data exfiltration.

Before being spotted and kicked out, the attackers also deployed a known enumeration tool called SharpShares.exe, filtering common administrative shares while hunting for further user-accessible data repositories.

The move from off-the-shelf frameworks to custom, bespoke AI tools is a “significant challenge” for the defenders, Huntress warns.

“Historically, AVs and EDR platforms have relied heavily on file hashes and static string signatures,” they say. “Vibe-coded scripts are inherently unique. Untitled1.ps1 has never existed before and will likely never be compiled in this exact configuration again.”

As a result, defenders must focus on the “fundamental behaviors of the attack lifecycle.” AI can change the code syntax, they’re saying, but cannot change the underlying mechanics of Active Directory enumeration.

“Vibe coding lowers the barrier to entry for cybercrime, allowing unsophisticated actors to generate highly capable, evasive tooling on the fly,” the researchers concluded. “While the code itself may be messy, over-engineered, and filled with AI hallmarks like left-behind comments, the threat it poses is very real. To combat this, defenders must abandon rigid, signature-based thinking and embrace behavioral analytics to catch the underlying actions that no LLM can hide.”

• The Garmin Cirqa, Garmin's long-rumored screenless smart band, is breaking cover
• Trademark filings have been spotted with governing bodies for the US, Canada, and EU, suggesting an imminent launch
• Google launched its screenless band with a redesigned, AI-powered app — but I hope Garmin doesn't follow suit

Garmin's long-rumored screenless smart band, designed to compete with the rising trend of 'focus wearables' such as the Google Fitbit Air and Whoop bands, is on the way. We initially thought it was the Garmin Index Sleep Monitor (pictured above), but that turned out to be a different product entirely.

The screenless fitness band is instead likely to be named the Garmin Cirqa, according to leaks; it's going to be a cool new deviation from Garmin's existing fitness watches list, and we now have more evidence that it's going to be launching soon.

Garmin has been filing trademarks for the name 'CIRQA' (styled in all caps, but we'll refer to it as Cirqa in text the same way we do Whoop, which is styled on its official branding as 'WHOOP'), with an entry to the US Patent and Trademark Office database spotted earlier this year.

However, Gadgets & Wearables have also found trademark filings for relevant governing bodies in Canada and the EU, adding fuel to the rumors that a launch may be imminent.

(Image credit: Future)

All the filings connote a body-worn sensor rather than a communication device, suggesting the Cirqa isn't just a new smartwatch: it's exclusively for health and fitness.

This is quite exciting: at the moment, people looking for screenless, discreet wearables have no shortage of options, from the Oura Ring 5 to the Fitbit Air to last year's Polar Loop strap. Clearly, the category and people's interest are growing, and a top-quality device from Garmin would sell like hot cakes.

However, I hope Garmin doesn't repeat one aspect of Google's Fitbit Air launch. At the same time as the Fitbit Air came out, Google transformed the Fitbit app into Google Health, eliminating the last of its community features like shareable badges and challenges, controversially redesigning the app, and turning the Premium tier into an AI 'Health Coach' chatbot.

Garmin's user base would revolt if such dramatic changes came to the Garmin Connect app. There was widespread outrage last year when Garmin introduced a Premium tier with AI-powered features — the community is a passionate and outspoken one that loves its technology, and any hint that features are being scrapped or the app transforming to better conform to the AI-first nature of most screenless trackers would be met with an enormous outcry.

Garmin will have to make its Cirqa band work within its existing watch-focused ecosystem, unless it wants to launch a separate app or risk losing some frustrated customers.

AI tools can make Photoshop less overwhelming.

TeraBox built its name on 1TB of free cloud storage, which is still the headline pitch. What's changed is everything sitting next to the storage. An AI Presentation Maker, an essay writer, a scanner, a transcriber, and a research tool called Deep Research are now baked into the same free account I've used for years.

Until recently, TeraBox functioned more like a toolkit than a dedicated AI assistant. Many of the tools only did one job, like generate a deck, paraphrase a paragraph, or scan a document — then handed back results rather than a conversation.

But now, Terabox has added a dedicated research assistant that can access the web and parse through complex queries for information. It can also generate graphics and create properly-formatted documents to help with your research tasks. It's neat, but the most capable versions of these tools sit behind a Premium+ subscription priced under $4 a month.

I've covered hosting, storage, and AI software for TechRadar Pro since 2012, including our 2026 buying guide for vibe coders. If you'd like to see a wider selection of dedicated AI tools to pick from, check out our list of 70+ other AI tools across different categories. For this Terabox AI review, I had access to a 7-day trial of Premium+, which let me try all of the platform's features in depth over the review period.

What is TeraBox AI?

TeraBox AI is the set of generative tools Flextech Inc. has added to TeraBox, the free storage app it took over from Baidu in 2020. Rather than one assistant, it's a handful of single-purpose tools, an essay writer, presentation maker, paraphraser, transcriber, scanner, and research assistant, living inside the app I use for backups.

I'd call it a productivity add-on rather than an AI platform in its own right. You pick a tool, type or upload your input, and get a finished result. That suits someone wanting a quick deck or a tidier paragraph, but the platform left something to be desired when it came to more complex tasks requiring advanced reasoning.

TeraBox AI: At a glance

Attribute

Notes

Underlying model(s)

Not publicly disclosed. TeraBox doesn't name the large language models powering its tools.

Best for

Quick presentation drafts, document scanning and OCR, meeting transcription, light essay and paraphrasing help, existing TeraBox users.

Distinguishing functions

AI Presentation Maker with Agent Mode, Deep Research reports, AI Scan, AI Transcribe, bundled 1TB free storage.

UI features

Web app at terabox.com/ai, plus desktop and iOS/Android clients, each with a simple prompt box per tool.

Subscription costs

Free (basic AI, ad-supported, 1TB storage), Premium around $3.49/month (2TB storage, no AI), Premium+ around $3.89/month or $39.99/year (full AI suite, 2TB storage).

API pricing

No dedicated AI API. A separate OAuth-based Open Platform API covers file storage access only.

Buy it if…

• You already use TeraBox for storage. The AI suite rides on cloud space you may already pay for, so the extra cost is small.
• You need quick scans and transcripts. AI Scan and AI Transcribe handle everyday OCR and meeting notes well for casual use.
• You want a fast presentation starter. One prompt turns into a usable slide deck in seconds, ready for further editing.

Don't buy it if…

• You need a serious writing or design tool. Dedicated tools go deeper than TeraBox's essay writer and paraphraser for professional output.
• Data jurisdiction matters to you. TeraBox's storage business began inside Baidu before Flextech took over in 2020, which still gives some professionals pause.
• You can't stand ads. The free tier's AI tools sit behind the same ad-supported experience as TeraBox's storage.

My time with TeraBox AI

I tested TeraBox AI through the web app and Android client, running presentations, transcriptions, and scans over several days. The Presentation Maker stood out. A one-line prompt about small business marketing trends produced a ten-slide deck, icons and chart included, in under a minute.

AI Scan and AI Transcribe felt the most useful day to day, turning a printed invoice into clean, editable text in seconds. Transcribing a short interview gave me a readable summary alongside the full transcript. The essay writer and paraphraser, by contrast, were serviceable but generic.

However, my experiences with the dedicated AI chat and Research Assistant were somewhat mixed. A simple query asking for Elon Musk's updated net worth returned accurate input, but a more complex task involving generating a graphic of his net worth over the years seemed to fail entirely.

TeraBox was able to offer the information as a table instead on further attempts, which led me to believe that the failure was a result of being unable to pull up the necessary integrations for data visualization rather than an error in the research itself. That does redeem it in my eyes given the price point, just don't go in expecting the same level of functionality as a dedicated AI platform like ChatGPT.

On value, Premium+ is an easy call. It costs under $4 a month and bundles 2TB of storage with the full AI suite. The caveat is that nothing here matches a tool built solely around AI writing or design.

TeraBox AI: Features

TeraBox AI isn't the best do-everything assistant, which also shows in how the features are organized. Presentation, writing, scanning, and research tools each live in their own corner of the AI tab, which keeps things simple but means there's no unified chat for mixing tasks together.

The Presentation Maker impressed me most, with Agent Mode generating decks up to 40 slides from a prompt or uploaded document, complete with citations when it pulls from web sources. A separate Beautify option restyles slides you've already made. For students or small business owners needing a deck fast, this alone might justify upgrading.

AI Scan and AI Transcribe are the most practically useful tools for office work, handling OCR, ID document capture, and on-the-fly translation on one side, and audio-to-text conversion with an AI summary on the other. Both worked reliably in my testing, needing only minor cleanup afterward.

Deep Research, the suite's research tool, builds a structured outline you can edit before it writes a full report. The output reads more like a market briefing than original analysis, so treat it as a starting point rather than a finished document.

The essay writer and Smart Paraphraser are the weakest links. Output reads competently but generically, and TeraBox doesn't disclose which model is doing the writing. Given the price for Premium+, the overall feature set still feels reasonably generous for a bundle riding on storage you might already want.

TeraBox AI: User experience

I got started in under a minute. I logged into my existing account, tapped the AI tab, and was generating a presentation within seconds, with no separate sign-up or onboarding flow to slow things down. Each tool opens to a simple prompt box, so the learning curve is close to zero.

But the experience feels bolted onto a storage app rather than designed around AI from the ground up. Switching tools means backing out to the main AI menu each time, and the free tier's ads occasionally interrupt what otherwise feels quick and uncluttered.

TeraBox AI: Customer support

Support looks decent on paper. Users across review platforms rate TeraBox's customer service 4.0+ out of 5 and Flextech representatives respond to public reviews directly, including the ones flagging slow replies.

I didn't need to contact support during testing, since the AI tools worked as expected. The bigger caveat is documentation, since TeraBox's help content for the AI suite leans on blog posts and FAQs rather than a structured knowledge base.

(Image credit: TeraBox)TeraBox AI: Pricing

• Free tier includes limited AI access, plus 1TB of ad-supported storage.
• Premium adds 2TB of storage and removes ads, but doesn't unlock the AI suite.
• Premium+ is the only tier with full AI access, priced from around $3.89 a month or $39.99 a year.

TeraBox's free plan gives a limited taste of the AI tools, including a small number of free presentation generations, on top of the full 1TB allowance. That's enough to test whether the tools suit your workflow before paying anything.

Premium+ is where the AI suite lives, bundling the essay writer, presentation maker, transcriber, scanner, paraphraser, and search tools alongside 2TB of storage for under $4 a month. TeraBox's official pricing page renders dynamically and didn't return visible data when I checked the source directly, so these figures come from cross-referenced third-party listings instead. There's no separate API pricing, since TeraBox doesn't offer developer access to the AI tools.

TeraBox AI: alternatives you should consider

• pCloud: A privacy-focused cloud storage service with optional zero-knowledge encryption, starting around $49.99 a year for 500GB, without TeraBox's bundled AI tools.
• Google Drive with Google AI Pro: Google's storage plans now fold Gemini directly into Drive, Gmail, and Docs, bundling 5TB of storage with AI access for $19.99 a month.
• Canva: A more polished option built for AI-assisted presentations and design, with Magic Studio included in Canva Pro for around $15 a month.

How I tested TeraBox AI

• Used the Presentation Maker, AI Scan, AI Transcribe, Deep Research, and Smart Paraphraser across free and Premium+ access.
• Tested the AI suite through TeraBox's web app and Android app over several days of regular use.
• Cross-checked pricing and ratings against TeraBox's official site, G2, and Capterra, noting where the vendor's pricing page wouldn't render visibly.

I focused testing on the tools most useful for a typical small business or student workflow, presentations, scanning, and transcription, rather than edge cases. Beyond the data obtained from their official website and documentation, I cross-referenced features across multiple third-party sources. as well as verified them during my own testing, to confirm consistency before including them here.

Something shifted in early 2026. In the space of just a few months, HSBC named David Rice as its first Chief AI Officer, Lloyds appointed Sameer Gupta as Chief Data and AI Officer, and the UK government hired Kalbir Sohi to the newly created role of Chief AI Officer, the most senior AI leadership role in the public sector. This is just the tip of a massive iceberg.

Nearly half of Britain's biggest companies have now appointed dedicated AI leaders, with 42% of those appointments made in just the last year alone.

For organizations yet to act, the more pressing question is what is actually holding them back, and whether they have thought clearly enough about what the role needs to look like to be worth doing at all.

In fact, Thoughtworks research found that 69% of UK financial services organizations have already appointed a Chief AI Officer, well above the 46% average across industries. A further quarter are actively recruiting.

In its early form, the Chief AI Officer was often more of a coordinator aligning teams, reassuring regulators and shepherding pilots. In some organizations, that model still exists, with the role functioning more as a symbolic PR appointment than a genuine driver of change.

The Chief AI Officers who are making a real difference today look very different. They are evolving into P&L owners: controlling budgets, shaping investment decisions and being held directly accountable for business outcomes.

They sit at the heart of commercial strategy rather than on the edge of it, directly influencing how AI drives revenue, product innovation and customer experience.

A broader shift

This evolution reflects a broader shift in what boards are actually asking for. For several years the AI conversation centered on efficiency, covering automation, productivity and cost reduction. Those gains are now largely understood and, in many cases, already realized. The harder question dominating boardrooms now is growth.

Growth is a completely different brief. It requires calculated risk, long-term investment and a genuine rethink of how value is created. It also demands faster decisions and clearer accountability. Committees and distributed ownership models struggle with this, particularly when AI initiatives cut across technology, data, operations, legal and customer-facing functions simultaneously.

That is where empowered Chief AI Officers earn their place. Backed by a mandate to prioritize initiatives, a strong Chief AI Officer will halt projects that are not delivering and scale the ones that are, bringing focus to what can otherwise become a sprawling, fragmented AI program.

They also play a critical role in balancing ambition with responsibility, embedding governance and ethics into delivery from the start rather than bolting them on at the end.

Outside of financial services and professional services

For UK organizations outside financial services and professional services, the recent wave of appointments should land as a practical prompt. Across HSBC, Lloyds and the government, this is no longer a sector-specific story. To organizations that have just appointed this role, make sure your new leader is given the genuine authority, budget and accountability to actually matter.

Timing matters too. Lloyds reported that generative AI delivered around £50 million of value in 2025, with more than £100 million in additional value expected this year. These are the returns that flow from having leadership in place early. The gap between organizations experimenting with AI and those scaling it with clear ownership is already widening quickly.

Lessons learned

The lesson from this wave of appointments is not to appoint a Chief AI Officer at all costs, but rather to be clear-eyed about what specific problem the role is meant to solve.

First, audit how AI decisions are actually being made today. If ownership is split across innovation teams, data functions, risk committees and product leaders, your AI strategy is almost certainly moving more slowly than the business expects. At scale, it becomes a liability.

Second, get explicit about outcomes, not activity. AI roadmaps that focus purely on use cases and tools miss the point. The question boards are now asking is how AI will drive measurable growth, new revenue, better customer retention and faster product cycles. If AI leadership cannot be tied directly to those levers, the role will never carry the authority it needs.

Third, embed AI leadership alongside financial and product strategy, not beside it. The most effective Chief AI Officers sit with CFOs and CPOs, rather than operating as a technical advisory layer. Budget ownership and commercial responsibility matter far more than job titles.

The cost of delay

Finally, move. The cost of delay is rising. Organizations that clarify ownership now will be better placed to scale responsibly and competitively. Those that wait risk discovering, too late, that they have a huge leadership gap.

What is often underestimated is how far the CAIO role stretches beyond technology. The most fundamental challenges presented by AI are not purely about bringing in new tools. They are about people, practices and the processes that underpin everyday business. In that sense, the role has as much in common with a Chief People Officer as it does with a senior technologist.

Building organization-wide AI literacy, managing cultural change and setting clear guidelines around what tools staff can use and what data they can use them with are just as central to the job as any technology decision.

We've reviewed and ranked the best online collaboration software.

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

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

• Proton launches a map to show how age verification laws spread globally
• Proton CEO said these laws will lead to "the death of online privacy"
• Alternatives to prevent digital safety are possible, Proton argues

It feels like an eternity ago, but it has only been less than a year since Australia made global headlines by introducing the world's first nationwide under-16s social media ban. Even longer, perhaps, since mandatory age verification checks have landed in the UK.

Over the past 12 months, however, mandatory age-verification regulations have been spreading rapidly across the world. The era of anonymous browsing — and perhaps the very concept of online privacy — may be quickly coming to an end.

To keep pace with these seismic changes, Proton — the Swiss-based company behind one of the best VPN and secure email services on the market — has launched an interactive map tracking the global spread of age verification laws.

While these laws continue to provoke criticism from scientists, tech experts, and digital rights advocates, Proton aims to ensure that the public remains properly informed by providing timely updates as new legislation advances.

Proton's age verification map

(Image credit: Proton)

Proton's age verification map provides a real-time overview of where these measures are being introduced and how they are being implemented.

Clicking on any country reveals information about the progress of legislative proposals in that region, with the tool offering a detailed overview of the different approaches adopted by governments regarding age verification legislation.

A glance at the map is enough to show just how rapidly laws are proliferating.

In Europe, for example, 18 countries have already implemented or proposed age verification requirements targeting adult content. Fifteen of these have already introduced measures specifically aimed at social media platforms.

On the other side of the pond, 49 US states have put forward proposals, and 27 have successfully implemented mandatory age checks for websites with harmful content for minors. In addition, many states have either successfully implemented or are considering parental consent or verified age mechanisms for mainstream social apps.

But this pattern stretches way beyond Europe and North America. In the Asia-Pacific region and the emerging markets of Latin America, governments are targeting a wide range of channels, including adult websites, social media platforms, online gaming platforms, and apps.

The death of privacy worldwide?

Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Proton, strongly argued that requiring every user to provide their identifying information is simply tantamount to "the death of privacy online."

He is not alone in holding these views. Many privacy advocates and digital rights organizations argue that current age verification methods encourage the growth of surveillance while compromising users' privacy.

Critics also point to past failures in ensuring the security of sensitive data. Breaches involving Discord's third-party age verification service affecting over 70,000 users or the EU’s age verification app, allegedly hacked in two minutes, are just a few examples of the scale of the problem.

The picture looks even bleaker when one considers that many experts from youth organizations and children’s charities seem to agree that such methods could have harmful effects on young people browsing the Internet.

As opposition continues to grow — from scientists calling for the suspension of mandatory age verification to gaming groups and digital rights activists joining forces to prevent the erosion of Internet freedom — Yen argues that alternatives are possible.

Proton advocates for a different approach to child protection. One that does not compromise the very concept of online privacy and is based on client-side processing, with results that are fully anonymized thanks to end-to-end encryption and publicly accessible open-source code.

"We simply can’t afford to get this wrong. Who stands to benefit? The same tech giants who build today’s privacy nightmare," Yan said.

• HBO has released a mid-season trailer for House of the Dragon 3
• It teases the high fantasy show's next major battle in the Targaryen Civil War
• A game-changing betrayal could happen soon, too

The Dance of the Dragons is about to get even deadlier and more deceitful in House of the Dragon season 3.

Indeed, with its fourth episode officially marking the midpoint of the show's latest installment, HBO has released a foreboding new trailer that teases what's to come in the weeks ahead. Judging by the latest round of footage, we can expect another major battle to take place — in episode 5 or beyond — that'll reshape the entire Targaryen Civil War, too.

There's plenty to unpack from this new hype-inducing teaser — Rhaenyra's continual descent into madness and the return of Aemond Targaryen, whom we haven't seen since episode 2, being chief among the biggest reveals.

It's the HBO Max TV series' interpretation of the First Battle of Tumbleton, though, that takes center stage here. Indeed, we see Daemon Targaryen's forces converging on the market town that — at this moment in time, anyway — is still loyal to Rhaenyra and Daemon. However, with Ormund Hightower's forces occupying the strategic settlement's buildings and streets, a life-threatening fight for Tumbleton — and, by proxy, the Iron Throne itself — awaits in the Game of Thrones prequel's next chapter.

Why the First Battle of Tumbleton is such an important event in the Targaryen Civil War

The First Battle of Tumbleton is a significant event in the Targaryen Civil War (Image credit: HBO)

It would be incredibly unfair of me to spoil everything that happens during the First Battle of Tumbleton, especially with the conflict potentially being the focus of next week's episode.

That said, there's a particularly vital incident that occurs— one that House of the Dragon has been sowing the (dragon)seeds for since its third season premiered — that's worth raising. The reason? Basically, it turns the tide of the Targaryen Civil War in favor of House Hightower, aka Team Green.

Full spoilers immediately follow for Fire and Blood, the book that House of the Dragon is based on. Turn back if you don't want this season's fifth chapter ruined before it airs on one of the world's best streaming services.

Will Ulf and Hugh betray Rhaenyra during the show's next tentpole conflict? (Image credit: HBO)

If you've read Fire and Blood, and/or know your Thrones lore, you'll know I'm referencing the moment known as the Two Betrayers.

During the First Battle of Tumbleton, Hugh Hammer and Ulf the White, both of whom are of Targaryen blood and swore their allegiance to Rhaenyra in season 2, defect to Team Green. As part of their betrayal, the pair use their dragons Vermithor and Silverwing to burn Tumbleton to the ground. Not only does Rhaenyra lose two of her dragon-riding allies, she also a key stronghold in a vital region of Westeros.

Fire and Blood doesn't contain an explanation as to why Hugh and Ulf turn their backs on Team Black and join the Hightowers' cause.

Admittedly, Rhaenyra hasn't helped her cause — after all, among other things, she refused Ulf's request to officially bear the Targaryen name when he was knighted, and she's been incredibly short-tempered and cold with Hugh since taking the throne. Nonetheless, with two less dragons on her side, things could be about to get even dicier for Rhaenyra as she struggles to retain her sanity and the wider support of the realm.

Anyway, HBO's adaptation has taken certain creative liberties with its source material and added narrative content to illustrate why characters make the choices they do. So, don't be surprised if, as long as the First Battle of Tumbleton occurs in season 3 episode 5, it includes some new material that, the above reasons notwithstanding, spells out why Hugh and Ulf symbolically stab Rhaenyra in the back.

• Darktrace reports cryptojacking via a compromised AI gateway (LiteLLM‑Proxy on AWS Bedrock), breached through exposed SSH and abused with XMRig mining
• Attackers also showed suspicious IAM activity, hinting at possible cloud credential misuse, with connections traced to Vietnam
• Experts warn AI gateways concentrate privileged access, urging strict port closures, least‑privilege roles, and control‑plane monitoring to reduce blast radius

If you are using AI gateways as part of your tech stack, be wary - they are being leveraged in cryptojacking attacks, experts have warned.

Cybersecurity researchers Darktrace have published a new report on a cloud-hosted AI gateway, connected to Amazon Bedrock, which was compromised and used for cryptocurrency mining.

An AI gateway is a piece of software that runs between users or applications and one or more AI models. It is not unlike a reverse proxy or an API gateway, but just for AI services. In this case, an Amazon EC2 instance running an AI gateway called LiteLLM-Proxy was given centralized access to large language models (LLM) hosted on Amazon Bedrock (AWS’ fully managed generative AI platform).

Shady Vietnamese accounts

According to Darktrace, threat actors gained access most likely through a brute-force attack, since the EC2 instance was configured to accept SSH connections from anywhere on the internet.

After breaking in, they downloaded XMRig, by far the most popular cryptocurrency mining program. Within minutes, the instance started making repeated encrypted connections to a cryptocurrency mining pool, which also set off Darktrace’s alarms and spotted the attack.

Soon after, Darktrace spotted more suspicious activities, this time involving an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) user. This account started giving out unexpected and previously unused commands, such as enumerating and invoking Amazon Bedrock foundation models, or trying to set up a new IAM user account.

The final red flag was the IP address of that user - tracing back all the way to Vietnam. Darktrace said there was insufficient evidence to conclusively link the IAM activity with the earlier compromise of the AI gateway, but stressed that the behavior could indicate attempted cloud credential misuse.

Brave Leo arrived in November 2023 as a sidebar AI assistant for the Brave browser, and it has grown into one of the more unusual offerings in the AI chat market. Unlike most platforms that treat privacy as an afterthought, Leo bakes it into the architecture: no IP logging, no conversation storage, and no requirement to create an account. In late 2025, Brave went further by introducing Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) powered by NEAR.AI and Intel TDX technology, giving users cryptographically verifiable assurance that requests are processed exactly as described.

Two features set Leo apart from the field. The Bring Your Own Model (BYOM) option lets you connect Leo to locally-running models via Ollama or your own API endpoints, which is rare among browser-native AI tools. The Skills feature, launched in December 2025, lets you assign keyboard shortcuts to frequently used prompts to cut down on repetitive setup.

Agentic browsing, which lets Leo autonomously navigate and complete tasks on your behalf, entered early testing across all Brave release channels in May 2026.

I've been covering AI platforms and B2B software at TechRadar Pro since 2018, including our 2026 vibe coding buying guide and the Microsoft Build conference this year in San Francisco. Here's how Leo holds up.

What is Brave Leo AI?

Brave Leo is an AI chat assistant built directly into the Brave browser, accessible from a sidebar panel, a full-page view, or the address bar. It's available on Windows, macOS, and Linux on desktop, and on Android and iOS on mobile. No separate installation, app, or account is needed to get started with the free tier.

Leo's defining quality is page awareness. It reads the content of the active tab, whether that's a webpage, PDF, Google Doc, Google Sheet, or YouTube video, and uses that content as context for your questions. You don't need to copy-paste anything or upload files to an external server.

Moreover, Brave Search pulls in real-time information from across the web when your question calls for it.

The platform targets privacy-conscious individuals, students, and professionals who want AI assistance without feeding personal data to third parties. It's also a practical option for people already running Brave who'd rather not switch tabs to reach a separate AI app.

Brave Leo AI: At a glance

Attribute

Notes

Underlying model(s)

Qwen, Meta Llama, Google Gemma (free); Claude Haiku, Claude Sonnet, DeepSeek V3.1 (premium); all hosted on Brave's own secure infrastructure

Best for

Privacy-conscious users, web research, document summarization, coding assistance

Distinguishing functions

Privacy proxy, BYOM, Skills shortcuts, Automatic mode, agentic browsing (early access)

UI features

Sidebar panel and full-page mode; address bar integration; in-chat model selector

Subscription costs

Free (open models, rate-limited); Leo Premium at $14.99/month or $149.99/year

API pricing

Not available; Leo is a browser-only product with no public API

Buy it if…

• You prioritize AI privacy above all else. Leo doesn't log your conversations, store your IP address, or use your chats for model training. For users handling sensitive research or confidential work, that's a real distinction from most AI chatbots.
• You're already a Brave browser user. Leo is built directly into Brave with no extra installation required. It picks up page context automatically, making web research faster with very little setup.
• You want model flexibility. The ability to switch between Llama, Claude, Qwen, and others, or connect your own model via BYOM, gives you more control than most browser-native AI tools offer.

Don't buy it if…

• You need AI across multiple browsers or tools. Leo only works inside Brave. If you regularly use Chrome, Firefox, or other apps, you won't have Leo available in those environments.
• You rely on intensive daily free usage. The free tier hits its ceiling quickly during heavy use. A Premium subscription is more or less necessary for anyone using Leo throughout the working day.
• You need enterprise features or team access. Leo is a personal assistant with no team accounts, admin controls, or organization-level management. Businesses looking to deploy it across multiple users will need individual subscriptions for each.

My time with Brave Leo AI

My first impression of Leo was how little friction there was to getting started. No account confirmation, no model selection screen, no onboarding pop-ups. Within seconds of opening the sidebar, I was summarizing a lengthy policy document open in another tab.

The sidebar stays out of the way until you need it, which I found more practical than switching to a dedicated AI app.

Automatic mode worked well in practice. Leo picked Claude Sonnet for a nuanced writing task and shifted to a faster model for a quick factual question, all without me having to intervene. I did run into rate-limit warnings during a longer research session on the free tier.

Those limits don't reset frequently enough for sustained daily use, and that was what ultimately pushed me to test the Premium plan.

The Skills feature was a useful addition for repetitive tasks. I set up a shortcut for a summarization prompt I return to frequently. After a few days, it saved real time.

New users may not find it easily, though, since it's tucked away and not highlighted in Leo's default interface.

Brave Leo AI: Features

Leo's feature set has expanded considerably since its 2023 launch. The platform covers summarization, translation, code generation, content writing, question answering, and document analysis across webpages, PDFs, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and YouTube videos. Image understanding was added more recently, and agentic browsing, which lets Leo autonomously complete multi-step tasks in an isolated browser profile, entered early access across all release channels in May 2026.

Page awareness is one of Leo's strongest practical assets. It reads whatever you're currently viewing and uses it as live context for your prompts. This works without uploading anything to a third-party server, which keeps the privacy model consistent across all use cases.

BYOM is a genuine differentiator. You can connect Leo to locally-running models via Ollama, to OpenAI-compatible endpoints, or to other third-party APIs. For developers or power users who want a specific model or prefer to keep everything on-device, this adds a level of control that most browser AI tools don't offer.

The Skills feature lets you save and trigger custom prompts with keyboard shortcuts. It's useful for repetitive workflows, though the current library of built-in skills is still relatively narrow. More customization here would strengthen the feature, and it's an area I'd like to see Brave expand.

Multi-tab context and Tab Focus Mode let Leo work across several open tabs rather than just the active one, which helps when cross-referencing multiple sources. The Brave Talk integration is a useful bonus for anyone using Brave's video conferencing tool: Leo can transcribe meetings in real time and produce summaries and action items without sharing data externally.

The one area where Leo falls behind dedicated AI platforms is memory. Leo doesn't retain context between separate sessions, so every conversation starts from scratch. Users who want a long-running assistant that remembers preferences or project history will find this limiting.

Brave Leo AI: User experience

The interface is clean and minimal. The sidebar slides open without disturbing your active page, and the full-page view at brave://leo-ai works well for longer sessions. Switching models takes a couple of clicks from the dropdown at the top of the chat.

Automatic mode removes the decision entirely if you'd rather not think about it.

The address bar integration is a small but practical touch: typing a question and selecting "Ask Leo" opens the response in full-page view without interrupting your browsing. Mobile support on Android and iOS covers the same core features as desktop, with voice input available on iOS. The experience is consistent across platforms, which isn't always the case with browser-based AI tools.

Brave Leo AI: Customer support

Brave handles Leo support through its Help Center at support.brave.app. The documentation is well-organized and covers most common scenarios, from initial access to advanced configuration options like BYOM and model settings. Articles are generally current, which is more than can be said for some AI products that update fast but leave documentation behind.

There's no live chat or dedicated support line for Leo. Community forums and the Help Center are the primary routes for getting help. For a free or modestly priced tool, this is standard, but business users with time-sensitive issues may find the self-serve model inadequate.

(Image credit: Brave Browser)Brave Leo AI: Pricing

• Free tier: Access to open-source models (Llama, Qwen, Gemma), rate-limited usage, no account required
• Leo Premium: $14.99/month or $149.99/year, with a 7-day free trial. Includes Claude Haiku, Claude Sonnet, DeepSeek V3.1, and other advanced models; higher rate limits; early access to new features

The free tier works for light, occasional use. You get solid open-source models and full privacy protections without signing up for anything. Rate limits are the catch: they kick in faster than you'd expect during sustained sessions, and there's no way to pay for a small top-up without committing to Premium.

At $14.99/month, Leo Premium is cheaper than ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) and sits comfortably within range for an individual AI subscription. The annual plan at $149.99 brings that down to about $12.50/month, which is reasonable given the model access on offer. There's no team or enterprise pricing.

Leo also has no public API, so external workflow integration isn't an option.

Brave Leo AI: alternatives you should consider

• ChatGPT Atlas: A Chromium-based web browser from OpenAI with built-in access to the most widely used AI assistant. However, it's only available to macOS users for now and has now Windows version.
• Microsoft Copilot: Built into Microsoft Edge and deeply integrated with the Microsoft 365 suite. The stronger pick for users already working in the Windows and Office ecosystem.
• Perplexity AI: A research-focused AI that delivers sourced, real-time answers from the web. Worth considering if web research and fact-finding are your primary use cases rather than general-purpose chat.

How I tested Brave Leo AI

• Used Leo's free tier for web research, PDF summarization, and content drafting over multiple sessions to assess response quality and the real-world impact of rate limits.
• Tested Premium-tier models including Claude Sonnet on complex writing and analysis tasks, comparing output quality against the default open-source models.
• Configured BYOM with Ollama, created custom Skills shortcuts, and put the multi-tab context feature through a multi-source research task.

Testing covered Brave Leo on desktop (Windows and macOS) and on Android, using both the sidebar and full-page chat modes. I evaluated response accuracy across summarization, factual questions, code generation, and writing tasks, and cross-referenced Brave's privacy claims against official documentation and third-party reporting from sources including The Register.

Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO: One-minute review

If you follow my camera coverage at TechRadar, you'll need no introduction to Viltrox, a Chinese lens manufacturer who's rapidly becoming a major player by delivering high-quality and particularly affordable optics.

Viltrox's most recent efforts are the 75mm f/1.8 and 90mm f/2.2: a twin-like pair of lightweight primes for APS-C cameras from its mid-range 'EVO' series, available in Sony E, Nikon Z and Fujifilm X-mount versions.

Viltrox offered to send me a lens to test, and I strategically asked for the Fujifilm X-mount version of the 90mm f/2.2, because it was the only option with a proprietary alternative for me to pit it against: Fujifilm's XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR. A 'character rich' XF 90mm f/2 APD was also listed in a public poll earlier this year among lenses that Fujifilm would love to make — but we don't know if it will be made.

Could the Viltrox 90mm do the unthinkable — beat Fujifilm's legendary portraiture lens? I called in the Fujifilm lens, and tested the pair using a Fujifilm X-T5, and much of my test focuses on how viable an alternative the Viltrox lens is.

The Fujifilm XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR lens (left), alongside the Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO lens attached to a Fujifilm X-T5 camera (Image credit: Tim Coleman)

For context, a fast aperture 90mm lens for APS-C has a 135mm equivalent focal length in full-frame terms, meaning it's a mid-telephoto focal length, delivering a highly compressed background and dreamy bokeh — the hallmarks of high-end portraits. At this focal length, you'll need the freedom of moving a decent distance away from your subject, so it's not necessarily one for tight studio spaces.

I shot self portraits controlling the camera remotely from my phone using the Fujifilm X app, and various closeups with low-lying sunlight involved, plus a range of other shots just with the Viltrox lens. Overall, I've come away majorly impressed, especially when you consider just how small, lightweight and affordable the Viltrox 90mm f/2.2 is.

The bulkier Fujifilm lens wins for the dreamiest bokeh and will be worth the extra outlay for portrait specialists. If I had the choice, I'd probably still go for this lens. However, for most people, the Viltrox is a stellar alternative, and furthermore the only one of its kind for Sony and Nikon crop-sensor mirrorless cameras, and I highly recommend it for both — after all, Nikon especially has so few options for its crop-sensor cameras such as the Z50 II.

Once again, Viltrox has delivered an excellent value autofocus prime lens.

Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO: Price and availability

• Costs $369 / £359 / Australia price TBC
• Available in Sony E, Fujifilm X and Nikon Z-mount versions

The Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO is available in Sony E, Fujifilm X and Nikon Z-mount versions, and I tested the Fujifilm version, not least of which because Fujifilm has its own legendary 90mm lens and I was keen to see how the two compared. Sony and Nikon have no such lens for APS-C — and the closest alternative would be a full-frame optic.

Viltrox's EVO lenses are almost always way more affordable when compared to the closest proprietary alternatives. Costing $369 / £359, that's certainly the case with the Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO, when you consider how the Fujifilm 90mm lens costs between 2-3x the price. It's the small, light, and affordable choice.

Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO: specsViltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO specs

Type:

Mid-telephoto prime

Mount:

Sony E, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z

Sensor:

APS-C

Focal length:

90mm (135mm effective)

Max aperture:

f/2.2

Minimum focus:

0.74m

Max reproduction

0.14x

Filter size:

58mm

Dimensions:

2.7 x 3.0in / 69 x 76mm

Weight:

11.3oz / 320g (bare lens without hood)

Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO: Design

• Just 11.3oz / 320g — lightweight and compact for a lens of this type
• Modest 0.74m minimum focus distance — not one for closeup photography
• Very well-made, with rubber sealed mount

The lens comes with a lens hood, and Viltrox has improved on the fiddly design of previous efforts. This one attaches easily. Tim ColemanA really decent balance with the X-T5Tim ColemanTim ColemanTim Coleman

As an APS-C lens, the 90mm focal length is equivalent to 135mm in full-frame terms, which is a classic portraiture lens. I've tested my fair share of full-frame 135mm lenses, including Viltrox's own 135mm F1.8 LAB and indeed Fujifilm's own 90mm f/2 for APS-C, and the Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO is the smallest and lightest of the lot by some margin.

I've shared some comparison photos below alongside the Fujifilm 90mm f/2 to illustrate the difference — at 11.3oz / 320g, the Viltrox lens is not far off being half the weight. When paired with an X-T5, I thought both lenses balanced well, but with a rangefinder-style camera such as the X-E5, the Viltrox would win for balance.

Don't let its size and price fool you, though — the Viltrox 90mm is very well made, with an all metal body, rubber-sealed lens mount, while both control rings handle beautifully: the focus ring is smooth and light, the knurled aperture ring precise. No doubt it would be a bigger and heavier lens if it had a larger maximum f/2 aperture like the Fujifilm.

The lens takes 58mm threaded filtersTim ColemanThe Fujifilm version has no external controls, whereas the Sony and Nikon versions have three buttons/ switchesTim ColemanThis means the X-mount version has a clicked aperture ring onlyTim ColemanThe rear mount has a rubber seal to keep out dust / water ingressTim Coleman

The metal barrel of some of the previous Viltrox lenses that I've tested has scratched easily. I didn't thrash the 90mm lens around particularly, so it remains mint. I'll update this review if I discover it also scratches easily.

Curiously, the X-mount version of the Viltrox 90mm f/2.2 EVO has no buttons or switches, whereas the Nikon Z and Sony E-mount versions (which I didn't ask to test) have three; an AF/MF switch, customizable function button and a click switch for the aperture ring.

Omitting the click switch especially is an oddity given that Fujifilm cameras also shoot video — Fujifilm X users here are stuck with a clicked aperture ring. As a result, despite being excellent value, it feels like Fujifilm users are shortchanged. That being said, however, the Fujifilm 90mm f/2 lens also has zero buttons or switches.

The Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO lens (left) held alongside the Fujifilm XF 90mm f/2 lens (right)Tim ColemanTim Coleman

The STM stepping motor makes light work of the 10 lens elements in 8 groups, for snappy and quiet autofocus. Of course autofocus performance accuracy and speed are affected by which camera system and autofocus mode is in use, but I never felt like the lens was slowing down the X-T5 camera's autofocus.

Minimum focus is 0.74m, which delivers a maximum 0.14x magnification. Put simply, this is not a lens for closeup photography, though neither is the 75mm f/1.8 EVO which has a 0.12x magnification, nor most 135mm lenses I've used.

Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO: Performance

• Optically very sharp
• Smooth bokeh, but with cats-eye shaping. Minor chromatic aberration and vignetting
• Snappy and quiet autofocus

I've included a range of photos taken with the Viltrox and Fujifilm 90mm lenses below, matching the lens settings where possible (though the Fujifilm lens has an extra photo at f/2), and you can read on for my analysis of the images.

ViltroxViltrox at f/2.2Tim ColemanViltrox at f/2.8Tim ColemanViltrox at f/4Tim ColemanViltrox at f/2.2Tim ColemanViltrox at f/2.8Tim ColemanViltrox at f/4Tim ColemanFujifilmFujifilm at f/2Tim ColemanFujifilm at f/2.2Tim ColemanFujifilm at f/2.8Tim ColemanFujifilm at f/4Tim ColemanFujifilm at f/2Tim ColemanFujifilm at f/2.2Tim ColemanFujifilm at f/2.8Tim ColemanFujifilm at f/4Tim Coleman

Viltrox's lens portfolio is split into various series, being topped by the LAB series of full-frame lenses, which is followed by its Pro series, and then below that the Evo series. Evo lenses are mid-range; small, lightweight, excellent value, with one or two concessions.

For me, all of the Evo lenses I've tested are an easy recommendation for enthusiast photographers, including the AF 90mm F2.2. Optically its sharp. Not the sharpest lens I've ever seen, but in a similar league as the pricier Fujifilm 90mm nonetheless.

Where sharp detail is top concern, stopping the aperture down to f/4 yields better results than wide open at f/2.2. You'll see a reduction in vignetting and chromatic aberration by doing so, too. Those lens distortions are only minor at f/2.2, but they are present.

The main topic for a wide aperture 135mm equivalent lens is bokeh — the quality of out of focus areas — and I have good news, with two caveats.

ViltroxThe Viltrox lens, see the bokeh cats eye shapingTim ColemanTim ColemanTim ColemanFujifilmFujifilm XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR lens — bokeh is smooth and roundTim ColemanTim ColemanHere I've dropped the aperture down to match the Viltrox's maximum f/2.2. Tim Coleman

Bokeh is deliciously smooth. You can see the smooth edges in the dappled light in my self portraits and the series of photos of a fern (above). This is the most important attribute of bokeh, and the Viltrox 90mm nails it.

Bokeh is clearly cats-eye shaped, mind you, not fully round like you might find in the very best portrait lenses, such as the Nikon Plena. Personally, I don't mind cats-eye shaping in bokeh at all, while you might think it's ugly — it's subjective. What's not subjective, is bokeh smoothness, and like I say, the Viltrox lens scores highly.

The other caveat is the maximum f/2.2 aperture, which is slightly smaller than the f/2 of the Fujifilm lens I was comparing the Viltrox lens with. While this minor difference doesn't particularly affect depth of field, I did find the Fujifilm lens' bokeh to be even bigger and rounder at f/2 compared to the Viltrox lens at f/2.2.

If bokeh is a top concern, money is no object and you don't mind a larger lens, then the Fujifilm XF 90mm f/2 is the better pick (see comparisons, above).

I've included a general sample gallery and included notes with further comments on the lens quality.

Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO sample imagesI love the compression effect you get with a 135mm lens. It's possibly my favorite focal length for portraiture but also landscape photographyTim ColemanWith the aperture set to f/2.2, Tim ColemanThis unedited RAW image was shot at f/2.2. Note the dark corners and then scroll to the next image. Tim ColemanThe same scene at f/5.6. See how vignetting is gone, so the corners are brighter. Detail is also slightly sharperTim ColemanI moved to the other side of the pub sign to shoot towards bright light. The edges of the pub sign bracket and the out of focus house show minor chromatic aberration.Tim ColemanVignetting in this image worked to my advantage because it kept the detail in the sky rather than it being overblownTim ColemanTim ColemanTim ColemanTim ColemanTim ColemanShould you buy the Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO?Buy it if...

You want an affordable mid-telephoto prime for portraiture
At just 40% of the price of the Fujifilm XF 90mm f/2 lens, which also has an equivalent 135mm focal length, the Viltrox is much more affordable, while there is no such lens for Sony and Nikon cameras.

You'd like a compact mid-telephoto prime
The Viltrox lens is particularly compact when you consider that it's a 135mm f/2.2 effective lens, especially when you see it in action alongside the bulkier Fujifilm offering.

Don't buy it if...

You want the absolute dreamiest bokeh
Given its small size and low(er) price, there had to be a compromise somewhere, and for me it's bokeh — which has a tendency for cats-eye shaping — and that maximum f/2.2 aperture, which is ever so slightly smaller than the Fujifilm's f/2.

You'd like external controls
Besides its clicked aperture ring and focus ring, there are no external controls in the Fujifilm version. Only with the Sony and Nikon versions do you get an MF/AF switch, function button, and click control for the aperture ring for smooth video transitions.

How I tested the Viltrox AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO

(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

• Viltrox sent me the X-mount version of the AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO lens
• I paired it with a Fujifilm X-T5 camera
• Fujifilm loaned me the XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR lens at my request, to make comparisons

Viltrox sent me the X-mount version of the AF 90mm f/2.2 EVO lens and I paired it with a Fujifilm X-T5 camera. It's also available for Sony E and Nikon Z-mount cameras.

I tested the lens over the course of two weeks, alongside the Fujifilm XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR lens, which Fujifilm loaned to me at my request, and I have shot like-for-like images with both lenses to make comparisons.

As with all of my lens reviews, I have put the Viltrox 90mm through a number of real world tests, including a series of the same image at the various aperture settings, and situations where strong light could induce lens distortions such as flare and chromatic aberration.

I always shoot in both RAW & JPEG format, and turn off in-camera lens corrections, checking the unprocessed RAW files. I also use each lens for the situations that it is designed for, in this case portraiture and for isolating subjects.

First reviewed: July 2026