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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide rumors cover its design, specs, cameras, price, and possible release date ahead of Galaxy Unpacked on July 22 in London, UK.

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• A new teaser for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been revealed
• The Korean TV spot shows off more of the titular hero's battle with the Hulk
• It also appears to spoil the return of another of the webslinger's foes

A fresh TV spot for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has given us another look at the titular hero's forthcoming fight against the Hulk.

The 30-second teaser, which you can watch below, was originally released in South Korea, but has since been reshared by numerous outlets including Discussing Film. And, while it contains numerous clips we've already seen in Spider-Man 4's first teaser and Brand New Day's official trailer, the final five seconds of footage is dedicated to the aforementioned battle between Peter Parker and Bruce Banner's alter-egos.

New teaser for ‘SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY’.In theaters on July 31. pic.twitter.com/hjbxYGX7tVJuly 10, 2026

Admittedly, this is all but the briefest of glimpses of what's expected to be one of the Marvel movie's tentpole set-pieces. Nonetheless, there are a couple of major things we can glean from this latest sizzle reel — including the potential return of another Spider-Man villain we haven't seen since 2016's Spider-Man: Homecoming. Potentially big spoilers immediately follow for Spider-Man 4, so turn back now if you don't want to know anything else.

Where did you get this from, Spidey? (Image credit: Sony Pictures/Marvel Entertainment)

On the villain tease front, it appears that Shocker might be part of the Marvel Phase 6 film's already stacked rogues gallery.

In the comics, this antagonistic individual wields vibration-based mechanical gauntlets that can deliver powerful shockwaves. For his live-action debut in Homecoming, the first iteration of Shocker was played by Logan Marshall-Green. However, after he was killed by Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes/The Vulture, the Shocker mantle was inherited by Bokeem Woodbine's Herman Schultz. Incidentally, Schultz is the only person who goes by the Shocker alias in the source material.

But, I digress. Brand New Day's latest TV spot reveals that Tom Holland's eponymous hero will use one of Shocker's gauntlets to try and subdue Hulk who, for reasons still unclear, has embarked on another rampage through New York City.

(Image credit: Sony Pictures/Marvel Entertainment)

Does this mean we'll see Woodbine actually show up in this Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flick? Or will Shocker only appear in a split-second cameo as part of a wider montage in the film's opening sequence that'll show Spidey battling and defeating many of his enemies? The latter would explain why Spidey has one of his gauntlets in his possession, especially if Spider-Man covertly confiscated it for future use.

The other interesting thing to note about this TV spot is that the wallcrawler won't tackle the Hulk on his own.

Indeed, at the 0:10 mark, there's another blink and you'll miss it clip of Spider-Man fighting the big, green, mean machine. Pause the teaser at the right spot, though, and you'll see a gun being fired from an unusual angle.

Welcome back, Frank (Image credit: Sony Pictures/Marvel Entertainment)

With a bit of editing trickery (read: turning up the brightness on your screen), you'll be able to clearly see that Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle/The Punisher is lying on the floor as he takes a pop at the Hulk. Clearly, Frank didn't get the memo about the Hulk's impenetrable skin...

So, does Castle join the fight to help Spidey put a stop to the Hulk running amok? Not according to a leaked excerpt from a forthcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day artbook.

Per X/Twitter fan account BuiltFromSmash, "[The] Punisher eventually becomes entangled in Spider-Man and Hulk’s battle — not because he’s hunting either of them, but because his own mission collides with theirs."

What does this mean exactly? I can't say for sure. However, with rumors circulating online for months that Castle is protecting Sadie Sink's mystery character in Spider-Man 4, and her apparent involvement in purposefully forcing Banner to Hulk out, I wouldn't be surprised if all of this is somehow related. Either way, let's hope that Spider-Man and the Hulk's duel ends amicably and recreates a very specific scene from Marvel Comics that fans are dying to see.

Anyway, before it arrives on July 29, 30, or 31 (depending on where you live), find out everything we know so far about Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Once you're done there, check out my Spider-Man: Brand New Day cast and character guide to see who'll appear alongside Holland, Ruffalo, Sink, and Bernthal in one of this year's most anticipated new movies.

• Take-Two Interactive has its next quarterly finanical report scheduled for August 7
• The report will take place before the market open, which is unusual for Take-Two
• Fans are hoping for a new GTA 6 update

Rockstar Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has quite an important day coming up, and fans are hoping for a new update on Grand Theft Auto 6.

We are four months away from the launch of the most highly anticipated game of all time, and so far we've seen exactly zero seconds of in-depth gameplay.

So what's next? It's said that this summer will kick off the big GTA 6 marketing push, but aside from pre-orders going live and an updated Rockstar website filled with screenshots and detailed game features, we're still waiting for Trailer 3.

However, as spotted by GameSpot, Take-Two will release its next quarterly financial report on August 7, which suggests we'll learn at least something about the game.

Typically, these financial reports are followed by a Q&A session with investors and are usually held after the market closes at 4 PM ET.

This August 7 report, however, will be released before the market opens, at 9:30 AM ET, and will be followed by a conference call at 8 AM ET. This is unusual for Take-Two, but it hasn't explained why it's doing it this way this time.

Whether there will be a pre-order sales report or a date for the next trailer, we'll have to wait and see, but fans on Reddit are hoping the financial report could kick things into high gear.

"Rockstar said summer will be the biggest marketing for them I don’t see this happening so far," one fan said, with another writing, "Trailer 3 moment passed, if they were going to drop it, we would have seen it by now. I honestly think the next step is a gameplay trailer."

We also have Gamescom 2026 in August, which means another month of game announcements, so Rockstar may finally drop a new trailer during this time.

GTA 6 officially launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, but pre-loading begins on November 12 if you choose to pre-order.

A recent report claimed that physical copies of the game are flying off the shelves, despite the fact that they don't come with a disc but rather a digital download code in the box, which has caused some controversy.

Mistral Vibe is one of the more interesting AI platforms to come out of Europe. The product, formerly called Le Chat, was rebranded by Paris-based Mistral AI in May 2026 to mark its shift from a conversational assistant to a full agentic platform covering chat, work automation, and cloud-based coding. It's a meaningful change, not just a naming exercise.

Two new operating modes, Work and Code, are the engine behind that ambition. Work Mode runs multi-step tasks across connected business tools. Code Mode handles remote coding sessions inside isolated sandboxes and delivers work through to a pull request. Together they put Vibe in more direct competition with ChatGPT and Claude than its Le Chat days suggested.

At TechRadar Pro, we've been reviewing business software since 2012 and our AI coverage has become some of our most-read work. That includes our AI tool roundup, our 2026 vibe coding buying guide, and deep dives on platforms like OpenClaw or Moltbook.

What is Mistral Vibe?

Mistral Vibe is a chat, work automation, and coding platform developed by Mistral AI. It's available via web browser and mobile apps on iOS and Android, and runs on Mistral's own model family, from the lightweight Small 3.1 to the flagship Large 3 and the reasoning-focused Magistral line.

The platform launched in February 2024 as Le Chat, originally a general-purpose assistant. Over the following two years, Mistral layered in web search, voice mode via its Voxtral audio model, a Canvas document editor, image generation through Black Forest Labs Flux Ultra, persistent memory, and project folders.

The May 2026 rebrand signals that Mistral sees Vibe as an enterprise-grade product. Work Mode and Code Mode are aimed at professionals who need an AI that can execute multi-step tasks across connected tools, not just hold a conversation.

Mistral Vibe: At a glance

Attribute

Notes

Underlying model(s)

Mistral Large 3, Medium 3.5, Small 3.1; Magistral for reasoning; Codestral and Devstral for code tasks.

Best for

Daily productivity, agentic work tasks, cloud coding, privacy-sensitive workflows.

Distinguishing functions

Work Mode, Code Mode, No Telemetry Mode, Canvas editor, Deep Research, voice mode, MCP support.

UI features

Web app and iOS/Android apps; unified interface for chat, canvas, and code views.

Subscription costs

Free; Pro at $14.99/month; Team at $24.99/user/month ($19.99 on annual billing); Enterprise (custom).

API pricing

Pay-per-token with no monthly minimums. Large 3 at $2/$6 per million tokens; Small 3.1 at $0.20/$0.60; Ministral 8B at $0.10/$0.10.

Buy it if…

• You handle sensitive client or business data. No Telemetry Mode gives Pro subscribers a contractual guarantee that nothing they type is used to train Mistral's models. That level of assurance at $14.99 per month is unusual among major AI chat platforms.
• You want agentic features without enterprise pricing. Work Mode handles multi-step tasks across Gmail, Slack, Notion, and other connected tools. Code Mode manages full coding sessions through to a pull request. Both are available on the Pro plan.
• You're a developer watching API costs. Mistral Large 3 at $6 per million output tokens significantly undercuts GPT-5.4 ($15/M) and Claude Sonnet ($15/M) at the flagship tier, and the API bills only for tokens used.

Don't buy it if…

• The free plan is your entry point for serious evaluation. At around 25 messages per day with no canvas and no remote coding access, the free tier doesn't give you a fair picture of what the platform can do.
• Your team is embedded in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Vibe connects to business apps via MCP, but native integration with the major office suites is not as developed as what you'd get from Copilot or Gemini for Workspace.
• You're assessing the Team plan for a small group. The jump from Pro ($14.99) to Team ($24.99/user/month) is steep, and the main additions (admin controls and more storage) may not justify the cost for teams of fewer than ten people.

My time with Mistral Vibe

I tested Vibe across its Pro plan over several weeks, using it for research tasks, document drafting, and code work. The chat interface is clean and approachable. Anyone familiar with ChatGPT or Claude will navigate it without confusion. What caught me off guard was how efficiently Work Mode handled complex, multi-step research requests, pulling from connected sources and drafting a structured Canvas output in a single run.

Code Mode held up well for the tasks I threw at it. I ran a session to scaffold a simple API integration, and the agent handled writing, testing, and preparing a draft PR inside the sandboxed environment. I stepped in twice to give it additional direction, but that's consistent with what you'd expect from any AI coding agent at this stage.

The No Telemetry Mode stood out as a differentiator. Enabling it took seconds and gave me real confidence when working with business-related documents. That kind of data control is typically reserved for enterprise tiers at other major platforms, so finding it on a $14.99 plan is a real differentiator.

Mistral Vibe: Features

Vibe's feature set has grown considerably since the Le Chat launch in 2024. Alongside standard chat, the platform now covers web search, image generation, voice input, a Canvas document editor, Deep Research, memory, and project organization tools. Pro subscribers get access to Work Mode and Code Mode, which is where the real differentiation lies.

Work Mode is the headline addition from 2026. It turns Vibe into an execution agent that can read emails and calendars, draft documents in Canvas, run recurring scheduled tasks, and push outputs to Notion, SharePoint, or Slack. Every step is visible in the interface. The platform asks for explicit approval before any action that modifies data or sends a message.

Code Mode targets developers specifically. It connects to GitHub, GitLab, Jira, and Linear, running sessions in an isolated sandbox. A /teleport command lets you move a session between the Vibe web app and a local terminal without losing context. Parallel sessions are supported on Pro and above, which is useful for running background jobs while staying in another workflow.

Memory, currently in beta, lets Vibe store your preferences and recurring context across conversations. You can view, edit, or delete these entries at any time, and turning the feature off is a single toggle in confidentiality settings. Image generation via Black Forest Labs Flux Ultra is solid for a chat platform.

The main gap in the feature set is transparency around usage limits. The free tier runs at lower quotas than Pro across searches, image generations, and messages, but Mistral doesn't publish the exact numbers on its pricing page. That makes the free-to-Pro comparison harder to assess than it should be.

Overall, Vibe covers more professional use cases than most platforms at this price point. The area where competitors like Copilot and Gemini maintain a clear lead is native productivity suite integration, which Mistral has not yet matched.

Mistral Vibe: User experience

The layout is straightforward: a left sidebar for conversation history and project folders, a central chat window, and model or tool selectors accessible from the input bar. Switching between chat, Work Mode, and Code Mode happens within the same interface rather than routing you to a separate product URL.

The mobile apps mirror the web experience closely. Search, canvas, image generation, and voice input all carry over, which isn't a given with AI chat platforms on mobile. Onboarding is minimal, which suits experienced AI users but may leave newcomers without much guidance on how to get started with the more complex agentic features.

Mistral Vibe: Customer support

Free and Pro users access support through the help center widget on the Mistral site. Response times are not published, and there's no live chat or phone support at these tiers. The help documentation covers the most common issues in reasonable depth, but for billing questions or edge-case technical problems, you're relying on ticket-based email support.

Enterprise customers get a dedicated support workflow with priority routing. Requests go through the same widget but are flagged and handled separately based on account type. For teams in finance, healthcare, or other regulated sectors where response time matters, that distinction is a real consideration when deciding between Team and Enterprise.

(Image credit: Mistral AI)Mistral Vibe: Pricing

• Free plan: Around 25 messages per day with limited web searches, reduced image generation, no canvas creation, and no remote coding.
• Pro at $14.99/month: No Telemetry Mode, full canvas access, Work and Code Mode, 5x more web searches, more image generations, and pay-as-you-go Vibe coding beyond included limits.
• Team at $24.99/user/month (or $19.99 on annual billing): Shared workspaces, admin controls, domain verification, data export, and higher storage limits.

The free plan gives you a taste of chat quality and basic search, but the restrictions mean you won't get a representative experience. Pro at $14.99 is, by most comparisons, the cheapest premium AI chat subscription from any major provider. The No Telemetry Mode and agentic modes are hard to find elsewhere at this cost.

The Team plan's value depends on your use case. For small teams, the mainly administrative additions over Pro may not justify the per-user cost. Enterprise pricing is negotiated directly with Mistral and covers SAML SSO, on-premise deployment, custom model training, and dedicated support. The API runs on a fully separate billing track with no monthly minimums, making it accessible for developers at any scale.

Mistral Vibe alternatives you should consider

• ChatGPT (OpenAI): The most established option for general productivity, with deeper Microsoft 365 integration and a broader ecosystem of plugins. It costs more at comparable tiers but suits teams already embedded in the Microsoft environment.
• Claude (Anthropic): A strong choice for long-document analysis and nuanced writing. Pricing is competitive and reasoning quality is high, though data privacy controls at the consumer tier are less explicit than Vibe's No Telemetry Mode.
• Gemini for Google Workspace: The best fit for teams already using Google's suite. Native Calendar, Docs, and Gmail integration outpaces what Mistral currently offers for Google-centric workflows.

How I tested Mistral Vibe

• Ran prompts across standard chat, Web Search, and Deep Research modes to evaluate response accuracy, source quality, and multi-step research handling across a range of topics and document types.
• Tested agentic task execution through Work Mode, including document drafting via Canvas and recurring task scheduling, and ran coding sessions through Code Mode against a GitHub-connected project to assess end-to-end agent performance.
• Verified plan details and API rates against Mistral's official pricing page, cross-referenced them with third-party pricing analyses where official documentation was vague, and assessed support options through the Mistral Help Center.

I tested Mistral Vibe on its Pro plan over several weeks using a mix of daily productivity tasks and structured feature evaluations. Pricing data was verified against the official mistral.ai pricing page, with third-party sources used for cross-reference on API rates and plan limits where Mistral's documentation was unclear. Support quality was assessed through available help center documentation and publicly reported user experiences.

• Interpol’s Operation First Light 2026 spanned 97 countries, leading to 5,811 arrests, $239M seized, and 31,014 bank accounts blocked
• Authorities analyzed 152,808 cases, identified 15,606 suspects, and uncovered scams ranging from BEC to money laundering, with victims exceeding 142,000 globally
• Notable busts included a fake Brazilian police station in Eswatini, crypto laundering in Thailand, and scam centers in Palau, highlighting the scale and diversity of the crackdown

Interpol and various national law enforcement agencies arrested more than 5,800 people and seized hundreds of millions of dollars in one of the largest crackdowns on cybercrime to date.

In an announcement, Interpol said that it kicked off Operation First Light 2026 on January 15 and concluded it on April 30, 2026. Following an “initial period” of gathering intelligence and exchanging it among partners, police forces in 97 countries and territories started raiding premises, seizing digital equipment and cash, and arresting suspects.

In total, 5,811 individuals were arrested, and $239 million in illicit assets intercepted. During Operation First Light 2026, various police forces analyzed 152,808 cases, had 31,014 bank accounts blocked, and 99 Notices and Diffusions issued.

A replica of a police station

Besides the arrests, the law enforcement firms also identified 15,606 suspects, which could lead to even more arrests in the coming months.

Interpol did not dismantle a single global operation here. Cases varied from money laundering, to scams and identity theft, to business email compromise, and more.

In one, particularly brazen campaign, police in Eswatini seized a “realistic replica of a Brazilian police station, complete with fake uniforms, signage and equipment”.

“Posing as Brazil’s Federal Police via video call, the scammers deceived their targets into believing they were victims of a crime, tricking them into transferring funds for “safekeeping,” which were then stolen,” Interpol explained. In this instance, police arrested 82 people and seized 240 electronic devices.

Two people were arrested in Thailand, including a 20-year-old man who allegedly processed more than $122.5 million in various cryptocurrencies in 10 months. Authorities in Palau, on the other hand, deported 22 individuals for their role in two connected scam centers being conducted from hotels.

Interpol said that during the operation it identified more than 142,000 victims globally.

Kimi is the AI assistant developed by Moonshot AI, a Beijing-based company that built its reputation on long-context processing long before that became standard. The platform runs on Kimi K2.6, an open-weight Mixture-of-Experts model released in April 2026, and it has made real inroads among developers looking for frontier-quality AI at a lower cost than OpenAI or Anthropic.

Two things set Kimi apart. Its API pricing sits around $0.55 per million input tokens against GPT-5.4's much higher rates, and its Agent Swarm architecture can coordinate up to 300 parallel sub-agents for large-scale automated workflows. The platform also covers the full office productivity stack with Slides, Docs, Sheets, and a website builder under one subscription.

We've been reviewing B2B software at Techradar Pro since 2012. You can also check out our other generative AI coverage, including our best AI tools roundup and our 2026 vibe coding buying guide.

What is Kimi?

Kimi is an AI chat assistant and agent platform from Moonshot AI. It launched in October 2023 with a focus on long-context processing, and its first version handled 128,000 tokens of context, which was exceptional at the time. The platform has since grown into a broader productivity suite covering deep research, document creation, coding, and multi-step agentic automation.

The underlying K2.6 model uses a 1-trillion-parameter Mixture-of-Experts architecture with around 32 billion parameters activated per token, keeping inference costs low while maintaining strong benchmark performance. It supports a 256K–262K token context window and processes text, images, code, and video natively.

Kimi targets developers, researchers, and teams running demanding workloads. Casual users get good value from the free tier, but the platform's design clearly aims at power users who need more than a chatbot.

Kimi: At a glance

Attribute

Notes

Underlying model(s)

Kimi K2.6 — 1T-parameter MoE, 32B active params, 256K–262K context, native multimodal

Best for

Deep research, long-document analysis, agentic coding, full-stack web generation

Distinguishing functions

Agent Swarm (300 sub-agents), Kimi Code, Deep Research, Claw Groups, WebBridge

UI features

Four response modes: Instant, Thinking, Agent, Agent Swarm; available on web, iOS, Android

Subscription costs

Adagio (Free), Moderato ($19/mo), Allegretto ($39/mo), Allegro ($99/mo), Vivace ($199/mo)

API pricing

Around $0.55/M input tokens and $2.65/M output tokens; OpenAI-compatible; context caching cuts input costs by up to 75%

Buy it if…

• You need a capable coding assistant at a lower price point. Kimi Code, available from the Moderato tier upward, pairs K2.6 with terminal and VS Code integration and holds up well on multi-file refactors.
• Your work involves very long documents. The 262K-token context window lets you work through large contracts, codebases, or research papers in a single session without manually chunking content.
• You're building agent-driven automation. Agent Swarm on the Allegretto plan can coordinate up to 300 parallel sub-agents across 4,000 coordinated steps, a serious option for teams with research or data processing pipelines.

Don't buy it if…

• You need live customer support. Kimi's support is self-serve through a help center and community channels, with no live chat or phone line.
• Data residency is non-negotiable. Moonshot AI is a Chinese company. Teams in regulated industries or with strict EU/US data sovereignty requirements should verify Kimi's data policies before committing.
• Agent Swarm is your main draw but you want entry-level pricing. Full agentic features only unlock at $39/month and above, while the free tier limits you to one concurrent task.

My time with Kimi

My first session was document-heavy. I dropped two long PDFs into the same conversation and asked Kimi to cross-reference specific sections. The results were accurate and well-organized, and the platform held up when I pushed with follow-up questions. That long-context handling is one of Kimi's strongest suits, accessible even on the free tier.

I also tested Kimi Code on a Python refactoring task. The output was clean, and when I asked it to explain architectural decisions, the reasoning held up. It's not quite at the same level as Claude Code for structured explanations, but the price difference makes the trade-off easy to accept for many workflows.

Agent Swarm on the Allegretto plan handled a competitive research task reasonably well, but the orchestration was not always transparent. A few sub-tasks returned incomplete results without flagging them as such, so I had to verify outputs manually. The platform has improved since K2.5, where tool call failures reportedly ran around 12%, but production users should still build in a review step.

Kimi: Features

Kimi's four response modes cover most use cases without requiring much configuration. Instant works for quick answers, Thinking for step-by-step reasoning, Agent for research and creation tasks, and Agent Swarm for parallel execution at scale.

Deep Research runs multi-step research workflows autonomously, pulling from web sources and producing structured reports. The output quality is good enough for first drafts, and the process shows which sources were used. Kimi Code supports multi-file editing and autonomous bug-fixing; Moonshot's documentation references coding sessions running continuously for over 13 hours on complex tasks.

The productivity suite covers Slides, Docs, Sheets, and Websites, giving Kimi a broader surface area than most chat platforms. The Websites tool generates full-stack sites from a single description, including frontend, backend, and database layers. These tools aren't the most polished in their respective categories, but having them integrated into one platform adds real convenience for teams with varied workflows.

Kimi: User experience

The main Kimi interface is clean and web-first. The four response modes are clearly labeled, and mode-switching during a conversation is straightforward. A memory system carries context across sessions when you want it to. Mobile apps on iOS and Android work well for basic tasks, though agent workflows are better suited to desktop.

There's no structured onboarding tutorial, so new users will spend time with the help center. It covers everything from getting started through API usage across roughly 12 categories. Community channels on Discord and Reddit are active enough that you'll usually find someone who's hit the same issue.

Kimi: Customer support

Support is self-serve. The help center at kimi.com/help covers memberships, billing, API usage, and troubleshooting in detail. Discord and Reddit communities fill in the gaps for newer features.

What's missing is human support. There's no live chat, no prominently listed support email for general users, and no phone line. For a platform targeting developers running production workflows, that's a gap worth knowing about before you sign up. Enterprise arrangements may exist but aren't clearly documented publicly.

(Image credit: Kimi.com)Kimi: Pricing

• Free (Adagio): Basic K2.6 access, limited agent usage, one concurrent task, no Agent Swarm, no Kimi Code quota.
• Moderato ($19/month): K2.6, Deep Research, Kimi Code, Slides, Websites.
• Allegretto ($39/month): Adds Agent Swarm and a higher professional data quota.
• Allegro ($99/month) and Vivace ($199/month): High-volume tiers; Vivace includes 30x Kimi Code usage and 240 swarm uses per month.

The free tier has no hard daily message limit as of mid-2026, which compares well to ChatGPT's free plan. For developers, API pricing is where Kimi's value is sharpest: around $0.55 per million input tokens and $2.65 per million output tokens, with an OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Context caching cuts input costs by up to 75% for applications sending repeated prompts, making it one of the more cost-efficient frontier options for teams building at scale.

Kimi alternatives you should consider

• ChatGPT (OpenAI): The most widely used AI assistant, with a mature plugin ecosystem. Its $20/month Plus tier is roughly equivalent to Kimi's Moderato plan, but API costs are significantly higher for developers building at scale.
• Claude (Anthropic): Claude Pro at $20/month is a strong choice for document-heavy workflows and structured outputs. Claude Code is well-regarded for teams that prioritize explainability in AI-generated code.
• Gemini Advanced (Google): A natural fit for teams already in the Google Workspace ecosystem, with strong document workflow integration through Drive.

How I tested Kimi

• Ran multi-document research tasks and stress-tested the context window with long technical files to evaluate accuracy across extended sessions.
• Tested the VS Code extension and CLI agent on Python and JavaScript tasks, including multi-file refactors and debugging workflows.
• Ran research and synthesis tasks using Agent and Agent Swarm modes on the Allegretto plan, checking output accuracy and how the platform handled incomplete results.

Kimi is available at kimi.com on a freemium model, with paid plans starting at $19/month. API access is available separately through Moonshot AI's open platform.

July 2026 TIOBE Index puts Rust in the top 10 for the first time, as Python stays near 19% and the programming language ranking marks 25 years.

The post TIOBE Index July 2026: Rust Enters Top 10 as Index Turns 25 appeared first on TechRepublic.

HIX.ai started as an AI writing assistant and has since expanded into something considerably more ambitious. The platform now markets itself as an "ultimate AI agent workspace," bundling tools for content writing, deep research, image and video generation, slides creation, coding, and multi-model chat under a single interface. It's a notable evolution, even if the transition has introduced some rough edges.

What sets HIX.ai apart from simpler AI chat tools is the sheer breadth of models on offer. Users can switch between GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.8, Gemini 3.5 Flash, DeepSeek-V4, and others from within the same session. For teams or individuals who want to compare outputs or pick the right model for a specific task, that flexibility has real practical value.

We've been reviewing business software at TechRadar Pro since 2012 and AI platforms have become one of our most-covered categories. In recent months, we've also published our best AI tools roundup and deep-dives into platforms like OpenClaw and Moltbook. HIX.ai falls squarely in our coverage area.

What is HIX.ai?

HIX.ai is a web-based AI platform that consolidates multiple AI capabilities into one workspace. Its agents cover text generation, long-form article writing, email composition, image creation, video production, presentation slides, deep research, and coding assistance. You access everything through a shared interface rather than juggling separate subscriptions for each function.

The platform targets a wide audience: content marketers who need to produce copy at scale, students looking for a homework or essay tool, small business owners who want a single AI tool to handle email, social posts, and research, and knowledge workers who want to stay inside one tab instead of bouncing between apps.

HIX.ai also offers a browser extension that works across Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Twitter, and most major web platforms. A desktop app is available alongside the main web interface, making it one of the more cross-platform options in this category.

HIX.ai: At a glance

Attribute

Notes

Underlying model(s)

Multiple, including GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.8, Gemini 3.5 Flash, and DeepSeek-V4 variants

Best for

Content creators, students, marketers, small businesses, researchers

Distinguishing functions

Multi-agent coordination, deep research reports, AI video/image/slides, browser extension

UI features

Web app, desktop app, Chrome/Edge/Firefox browser extension with sidebar

Subscription costs

Free (20 credits/month), paid plans from approximately $13/month billed annually

API pricing

No public API available

Buy it if…

• You want one platform for everything. HIX.ai removes the need for separate subscriptions for writing, image generation, and research. That consolidation saves both time and money for users currently paying for multiple tools.
• You want model choice without switching apps. The ability to call GPT-5.5, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek from a single interface is a real convenience, especially when different tasks call for different models.

Don't buy it if…

• Billing transparency matters to you. Multiple users across review platforms have reported being charged for annual plans they believed were monthly. HIX.ai's refund window is three days, which leaves little room for course correction.
• You need predictable usage. Credits don't roll over between billing cycles, and the "Unlimited" label on paid plans applies only to standard credits. Advanced features are still capped, which surprises users expecting truly open access.

My time with HIX.ai

I spent several sessions testing HIX.ai across its main agent categories. The multi-model chat interface impressed most immediately: switching from Gemini 3.5 Flash to Claude Opus 4.8 mid-conversation takes a few clicks, and responses feel snappy enough for practical work. The deep research agent was particularly useful, pulling together sourced summaries on a complex topic faster than a manual web search.

The browser extension held up well in Gmail and Google Docs. Highlighting a paragraph and getting a rewrite option surfacing instantly, without opening a new tab, is the kind of friction reduction that matters when you're working fast. The image generation tools produced serviceable results, though I found the credit consumption less predictable than I'd have liked.

Where the experience wobbles is in understanding what you're paying for. The credit system splits between standard and advanced buckets, and it isn't always clear which agent or model draws from which pool. New users should read the plan details carefully before committing to a billing cycle.

HIX.ai: Features

HIX.ai's feature roster is unusually wide. The platform covers AI chat across multiple frontier models, a long-form article writer, email and social copy tools, a paraphrasing and summarization engine, image generation via Midjourney, Flux, and GPT Image 2, video generation via Seedance 2.0, Veo 3.1, Sora 2, and others, a slides agent, and a deep research tool that produces structured reports with real-time internet access.

The deep research agent is one of the more differentiated offerings. Rather than a standard web search, it compiles structured, sourced reports on a given topic, making it useful for due diligence, competitive analysis, or academic research. Real-time internet access is included on paid plans, which keeps output current rather than frozen at a training cutoff.

On the writing side, the 120+ AI writing templates cover a broad range of formats, from ad copy to blog outlines to product descriptions. The long-form article writer handles structure and headings reasonably well, and the AI Writer agent supports markdown and rich text outputs, which makes it easier to paste results into a CMS or document editor.

The platform's weakest spot by reputation is HIX Bypass, its AI humanizer tool. Multiple independent reviews and user reports flag inconsistent results against modern AI detectors, particularly after Turnitin's 2025 updates. HIX.ai positions this as a key feature, but anyone relying on it for academic or professional compliance should test it carefully before committing.

The multi-agent coordination feature, available across all tiers, lets different agents pass context between tasks. In practice, a research output can feed directly into a writing task without manual copy-paste, which speeds up structured workflows considerably.

The video and image agents round out a platform that few competitors match in raw breadth. Whether that breadth delivers depth at every point is a fair question; some agents feel more developed than others. But for users who want to consolidate tools, the coverage is hard to beat.

HIX.ai: User experience

The interface is clean and navigation between agents is straightforward. The sidebar layout keeps the main workspace uncluttered, and the model switcher is tucked sensibly into the chat header rather than buried in settings. For new users, the onboarding path is light: a working chat session is within reach in under a minute.

The browser extension is where the experience stands out. HIX.ai has put real thought into how it surfaces inside other platforms: the quick-action bar appears when you highlight text, and the full sidebar opens on demand. For anyone doing a lot of writing inside web apps, this integration removes the switching cost that blunts many AI tools, and the learning curve for core features is minimal.

HIX.ai: Customer support

Support is available via email across all plans, with priority support reserved for paid subscribers. The HIX.AI Community forum is open to all tiers and covers common issues and feature requests. Response times on the email channel have drawn complaints in user reviews, with some reporting delays of multiple days for billing queries specifically.

The three-day refund window is short by industry standards. Platforms like ChatGPT Plus and Jasper offer more flexible cancellation terms. Given the annual billing complaints that appear consistently in user feedback, the lack of a longer trial-to-refund period is a genuine sticking point for new subscribers.

(Image credit: HIX.ai)HIX.ai: Pricing

• Free plan: $0/month with 20 credits, enough to test core features but limited for sustained work.
• HIX AI Max: Billed annually; includes unlimited standard chat models, advanced models, video, image, and all agent features including deep research, AI slides, and priority support.
• HIX AI Pro: Billed annually at a higher tier, with different credit allocations across advanced features.

The free plan offers real access to the platform with no credit card required, though 20 credits runs out quickly once you start testing agents. Paid plans are priced on a credit system that splits standard and advanced usage into separate buckets. SoftwareSuggest, which updated its pricing data in April 2026, lists the starting price at $13/month on annual billing, with higher tiers scaling up from there.

HIX.ai's various product verticals (AI Writer, HIX Bypass, the browser extension, EssayGPT) each carry separate subscription structures for legacy users, adding complexity to an already layered pricing model. The newer unified workspace tiers (Free, Max, and Pro) simplify this somewhat, but the credit system still rewards careful reading before you subscribe. Annual billing delivers the best per-month rate, though it comes with the billing caveats noted above, and there is no public API for developers.

HIX.ai: alternatives you should consider

• ChatGPT Plus ($20/month): Similar multi-model access via GPT-5 and o3, with simpler pricing and a stronger track record on billing transparency.
• Jasper ($39/month billed annually): Focused on marketing and long-form content. Less breadth than HIX.ai but stronger output consistency on brand voice tasks.
• Perplexity Pro ($20/month): If deep research is your primary use case, Perplexity's research-first approach and real-time citations are hard to beat at this price point.

How I tested HIX.ai

• Ran multi-agent workflows across the chat, deep research, and writing agents to evaluate inter-agent handoffs and model-switching convenience.
• Tested the browser extension inside Gmail and Google Docs on multiple sessions, focusing on responsiveness and quality of inline suggestions.
• Evaluated output quality across standard chat, long-form article generation, and the image creation tools using consistent prompts to benchmark against competitor platforms.

I spent approximately two weekdays with HIX.ai across different workloads, including research tasks, marketing copy drafts, and content editing sessions. Pricing information was cross-referenced against the official HIX.ai pricing page and third-party review sources updated in 2026. Feature details were drawn from the platform's live interface and official documentation.

Decentralized, encrypted, and completely private messages. That's what Session promises.

You may never have heard of the app, but for its 1.7 million monthly users, Session is an important piece of privacy tech worth fighting to sustain.

Due to a severe funding shortfall, Session was expected to cease operations this week. However, after securing $200,000 to keep the project afloat, the team is now ready to look ahead.

Session co-founder Chris McCabe described the app as a "critical tool for fighting against an Orwellian future." But what is Session, and what does it offer that mainstream giants like Signal can't?

How Session survived its financial crisis

Launched in 2018, the project originally sustained its decentralized infrastructure through its own crypto tokens. According to McCabe, the Session Technology Foundation (STF) sold roughly $2.4 million worth of tokens toward the end of 2024 to keep the project going.

However, the model wasn't sustainable and, when a crisis in the crypto market drained Session's finances last year, the founders were forced to terminate the contracts of all 16 of their team members.

Unwilling to let the platform die, the founders scrambled for alternative lifelines. Following a high-profile emergency donation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin — who gifted 128 ETH to support the app's mission — the foundation decided it was time to turn to its user base for long-term survival.

Without additional funding, Session's doors will close next month. Please read this appeal from Session co-founder Chris McCabe.https://t.co/nTJCocoDwIMarch 19, 2026

That grassroots fundraising campaign ultimately paid off.

To date, Session has received hundreds of community donations totaling $205,000. While that is still a long way off the project's ultimate $1 million sustainability goal, it is enough to keep the platform operational, albeit with far fewer resources than it once had.

"This funding allows us to retain three developers and one community operations person to maintain the app," McCabe explains.

How Session protects your messages

(Image credit: Session)

"Send messages, not metadata" is Session's mantra. To back this up, the app uses a variety of advanced techniques to ensure users' messages remain private and secure.

From basics like end-to-end encryption to the use of a decentralized infrastructure and onion routing, Session goes significantly further than mainstream messaging apps.

"Session is completely trustless," McCabe told TechRadar. "You don't even have to trust us because the open-source code guarantees your security."

In the future, the app's design should also make it less vulnerable to increased surveillance and monitoring, such as the initiatives currently being proposed in Canada, the EU, and the UK.

Did you know?

(Image credit: Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

In October 2024, the platform's creators shifted operations to Europe to help protect users' privacy. The move allowed the team to escape an Australian legal landscape that the founder described as "increasingly hostile" toward encrypted apps, relocating to the traditionally privacy-friendly jurisdiction of Switzerland.

Because the platform is open source, McCabe claimed the app can continue to operate even in countries where it has been banned from mainstream app stores, noting that users can easily bypass those restrictions by sideloading the app on Android devices.

And what happens if a repressive government demands data about an individual user? McCabe noted that the foundation simply couldn't comply, saying: "It's technically impossible for our company to copy or store that data."

Crucially, users do not need a phone number or email address to sign up for the service. That anonymity is especially beneficial for citizens in conflict zones or highly restrictive digital environments, where hostile governments can block SMS two-factor authentication messages to cut off access to mainstream messaging networks.

So, how exactly does Session stack up against mainstream giants like Signal?

Is Session really better than Signal?

(Image credit: Michele Ursi / Shutterstock)

Signal is widely recognized as the gold standard for privacy-preserving messaging apps. Like Session, it is fully open-source, collects minimal metadata, and uses advanced end-to-end encryption via the Signal Protocol.

While McCabe agrees that "Signal is great," he believes that being completely decentralized and eliminating the need for a phone number tips the scales in Session's favor.

However, not everyone in the cybersecurity community shares this view.

A prominent cryptanalyst who uses the pseudonym Soatok has publicly argued against switching from Signal to Session. A major point of criticism is Session’s decision to remove Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) — an important security feature that ensures that past chats remain private even if a user’s long-term identity keys are compromised in the future. Soatok also suggested that Session contained several other cryptographic flaws and implementation mistakes.

Bill Budington, Senior Staff Technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), backed Soatok’s analysis, telling TechRadar that Session appears to be another aspiring Signal competitor that "comes up lacking on its security claims."

Mohammed Al-Maskati, the Digital Security Helpline Director at Access Now, shared this concern. He argued that sticking with a widely implemented standard like the Signal Protocol is generally a safer option because it significantly reduces the risk of making critical errors during development.

Responding to these critics, McCabe explained that while Session initially relied on the Signal Protocol, the team was forced to build its own encryption method because Signal's architecture wasn't designed to handle a decentralized node network.

However, he confirmed that PFS is officially slated to be reintegrated into the platform with the upcoming Session Protocol V2 upgrade.

Security experts have also pointed out that Signal remains a stronger choice for most users due to the sheer size of its network, which makes it far easier to use with friends and contacts.

However, McCabe rejects the idea that popularity equates to security, arguing that by that logic, WhatsApp would be considered a better privacy option than Signal. "Which it is not," he said.

What’s next for Session?

As Session prepares to enter its next phase, the foundation is focused on achieving long-term financial sustainability.

To generate steady revenue, the platform plans to launch a premium subscription tier called Session Pro. Similar to Telegram Premium, Session Pro will offer power users advanced features — such as higher message character limits, expanded group sizes, more pinned chats, and animated profile pictures — backed by cryptographic proofs that preserve user anonymity during payment.

Most pressing, however, is finalizing Session's Protocol V2. Beyond reintroducing Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS), it will also introduce post-quantum cryptography to secure users' chats against 'harvest now, decrypt later' threats.

While the wider InfoSec community continues to be divided on whether Session's custom architecture outperforms legacy rivals, the core team remains fiercely dedicated to the project.

"Many former team members are incredibly passionate and are taking pay cuts or donating their time to help get it back together," said McCabe.

And with mandatory age verification, lawful access to data, and encryption backdoors challenging the very notion of online privacy globally, it seems that messaging app like Session are going to become increasingly important.

As McCabe puts it: "People often don't realize they need this level of privacy until things go really badly and freedom of speech is restricted."

If you want to support the platform, Session continues to accept donations directly through its official website and mobile application.

Apple lost its EU court challenge over iOS and the App Store, keeping both under the Digital Markets Act as another legal challenge still remains possible.

The post Apple Loses EU Court Fight Over iOS, App Store Rules appeared first on TechRepublic.

Restaurant owners are feeling the pinch, through consistently rising costs of ingredients, labor and energy bills.

There is however a less visible profit drain: the silent loss of the phone ringing unanswered as the kitchen struggles to cope.

It’s lost business in disguise, and another area where the customer experience can let down a restaurant in its busiest moments.

Despite the growth in online orders, phone ordering still happens. But the point is when it occurs: phone orders spike at the exact moment a restaurant is slammed during service.

A quick-service restaurant that faces heavy load during its peak hours is likely to see the greatest inbound volume of calls at the same time: Friday or Saturday night.

The owner is forced to choose between answering the phone and dealing with existing customers and orders.

Neither scenario is ideal, nor does it do anything good for the customer experience.

Why traditional workflows fail to scale

Many solutions deployed in the hope of managing phone orders have failed to scale or were prohibitively expensive. Hiring additional personnel to attend to phone lines is costly, and the employee still cannot take more than one call at a time.

Even in this scenario, callers may have to wait on hold, leave voicemail, or receive a busy signal. Then, it becomes frustrating to try and connect to the restaurant again when waiting in line.

There’s also the question of precision. The most mistakes happen under pressure: misunderstood orders, incorrect delivery locations, allergy-related instructions missed. While some of those mistakes may only constitute bad customer experience, others lead to waste, losses, refunds, and sometimes, lost customers.

Finally, the opportunity cost of having employees talk to customers instead of doing other things is huge: each minute they spend talking on the phone is a minute spent not preparing meals, dealing with issues of in-store customers, or completing deliveries on time.

What do AI voice agents bring to the table?

AI voice systems can significantly improve the customer experience across a few critical use cases:

Availability: the system is available to pick up every phone call, no matter how busy the restaurant may be inside. There’s no on-hold messaging queue, no hold music, voicemail message, and most importantly, no missed calls.

Concurrency: a human agent can focus on one call at a time. The AI system, however, can manage multiple calls simultaneously, which is especially useful during the moments of peak demand.

Accuracy through confirmation: if done right, AI systems repeat the order before confirming it to eliminate errors and mistakes from the process entirely.

Intent-based conversations: not everyone calls in with the intention of placing a new order. Some have questions, want to update their existing order, or do something else entirely. A properly managed implementation will ensure that the phone system knows what the caller intends to do and collects the information necessary to complete the request successfully.

It also guarantees that every interaction with the phone agent goes through the same steps: identifying intent, gathering data, fulfilling the request, confirming its completion, and providing a smooth user experience.

More precise recommendations: AI-powered recommendations are always relevant and consistent throughout the entire conversation. They are not distracting or annoying and help to boost orders’ value.

One useful way to sanity-check the value is simple volume. One recent rollout reported an AI phone agent processing over 4,000 orders in three months, and capturing thousands in orders from the busiest sites.

More importantly, calls were answered immediately even at peak, and concurrency stopped being the bottleneck.

Why is the technology finally practical?

Voice automation technology is no novelty anymore, but the recent advances in the field are all about speed and intent recognition. More advanced algorithms mean fewer misunderstandings. Improved integration with ordering systems helps to implement voice as a channel of communication, allowing businesses to serve more customers during peak times.

Two other changes are making a difference in real deployments: localization of voice, and better menu understanding. This means when a customer does not know the exact name of a dish, the phone agent can still find what they mean without turning the call into a guessing game.

Practical implementation: where to deploy voice systems

The strongest signals here are the number of incoming calls and a complicated multi-site operation. But even the smaller restaurants with a handful of calls per day can be good candidates for voice automation due to the inefficiencies associated with having an employee to attend to the phones. Automation replaces a fixed staffing cost with something you can scale up and down.

The following are the guidelines for responsible deployments:

Structure around intents: not everyone calls in for an order; therefore, the phone agent should handle ordering, updating the order, and answering questions efficiently, offering clear prompts and a consistent user experience at each step of the interaction.

Transparency: the system should notify callers about the automation process and inform them if the conversation might be recorded.

Over time, the most useful systems also get more flexible around how orders are completed. For example, enabling cash ordering where it makes operational sense, or sending an SMS link if someone abandons the order mid-call, with the basket pre-filled so they can finish on their phone. Those are small touches, but they remove friction in the moments where customers typically drop off.

Implementing voice automation in the restaurant operation allows managers to scale easily, provide consistent customer experience, and generate more orders in the process.

Not futuristic, but practical

Framing voice technology as a future-state project does not benefit the hospitality industry. Voice technology is available now and brings a significant ROI from the revenue you are already generating.

The telephone line has become a nuisance in many restaurant operations for too long. Implementing a proper phone management strategy turns it into an operational channel you can manage.

We've listed the best POS systems for restaurants.

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

The iPhone 18 Pro Max could become thicker and heavier as Apple reportedly plans a larger battery and upgraded cooling system.

The post iPhone 18 Pro Max: New Battery May Make It Apple’s Heaviest in Years appeared first on TechRepublic.

• Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora says 90% reduction in AI pricing is needed to drive widespread adoption, 20% reduction by next year
• OpenAI's latest GPT-5.6 Sol model is 54% more efficient across agentic coding tasks
• Shift to consumption-based models is making high costs even more pronounced

Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora has warned that AI pricing is still too high for widespread enterprise adoption, arguing that it should be drastically cheaper.

Although model efficiency and performance have come a long way in recent years, he believes cost remains one of the biggest barriers for widespread adoption.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Arora laid out how he believes token prices need to fall by as much as 90%, however he acknowledges that the change is unlikely to happen immediately, instead welcoming a 20% price reduction over the next year or so.

Is AI pricing holding enterprises back from widespread adoption?

Arora's comments come in response to OpenAI's latest announcement, revealing that its latest GPT-5.6 Sol model is now 54% mode token-efficient across agentic coding tasks – a major improvement.

Though Palo Alto Networks' CEO admitted that this in itself is a good start, it's not enough of an improvement to drastically change pricing for major enterprises at the moment.

"It's important to understand the demand continues to be infinite," he added, implying that cost remains prohibitive. The issue of cost is also becoming more of an issue as AI companies evolve their pricing strategies, with customers moving toward consumption-based models rather than flat monthly fees per user.

Importantly, Arora's vision for cheaper AI isn't unfounded. Virtually all previous technological revolutions have already followed a similar pattern. In the case of AI, compute would become cheaper, models would become more efficient and competition could keep prices low, all working in the favor of enterprise customers.

See what you missed in Daily Tech Insider from July 6–10.

The post AI Breakthroughs, Security Breaches, and Industry Shakeups Define the Week appeared first on TechRepublic.

Ready to relax this weekend in front of your TV (or smartphone, I'm not judging)? Some of you will do well to find something worth enjoying on the world's best streaming services.

Indeed, it's been a surprisingly quiet week for new movies and TV shows. And, while there's just enough to fill this week's streaming round-up, a few of you might not be enthused by how weak the selection is compared to past editions

Still, I'm holding out hope that one of the below will pique your interest. If not... well, there's always the 2026 World Cup quarter finals to watch instead! — Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

Little House on the Prairie season 1 (Netflix)

Netflix has made it 1974 all over again! The Ingalls family return to the small screen in this adaptation of Little House on the Prairie (NB: read my Little House on the Prairie review while you're here), which is based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's book series namesake.

Essentially, this story, which sees protagonist Laura navigates her childhood days on the Prairie lands of Kansas, is comfort watching at its peak. And, while its typical "Netflix look" can be grating, if you look past the form, the content is meaningful. Season 2 is already on the way, too, and I'm already looking forward to it. — Jasmine Valentine, entertainment reporter

• Watch Little House on the Prairie season 1 on Netflix

The Westies (MGM+ and Prime Video)

Searching for a new gritty crime drama to gorge? The Westies, a J.K. Simmons-fronted MGM+ TV Original that's also available on Prime Video, should appeal to you.

Set in the early 1980s, it follows the notorious New York crime family as they navigate mob wars, familial infighting, and an FBI investigation that might unsettle the increasingly fragile truce that the Hell's Kitchen-based syndicate has with the Italian Mafia.

Episodes 1 and 2 of this Amazon TV Original are out now, while new chapters will air weekly every Sunday for the foreseeable future. — JV

• Watch The Westies on MGM+ and Prime Video

The Long Walk (HBO Max)

Francis Lawrence's excellent The Long Walk has strolled onto HBO Max and, in my view,it's one of the best Stephen King adaptations of all-time.

Set in a dystopian 1970s, a group of boys compete in an annual televised competition where they're forced to walk non-stop while maintaining a pace of 4.8 km per hour. If they don't, they're killed. There can only be one winner, too, so the pressure is on.

There are lots of likeable characters here and one very unlikeable one in the form of Mark Hamill's The Major, which is arguably his creepiest performance yet. — Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer

• Watch The Long Walk on HBO Max

Trying season 5 (Apple TV)

Apple TV's long running comedy series Trying has returned for its fifth season.

Esther Smith and Rafe Spall return as central couple Nikki and Jason, who we've watched journey to become parents and, now they have two foster children, they're having to navigate unexpected challenges. This season, Kat (Charlotte Riley), the biological mother of Princess and Tyler, returns and causes the family dynamics to shift.

Trying has been praised for its approach to difficult themes, providing both comedy and emotionally charged moments. It's very good to have this Apple TV Original back on our screens. — LB

• Watch Trying season 5 on Apple TV

Wardriver (Paramount+)

Did you really think that we were going to leave you action fans hanging this week? Introducing Wardriver, a new movie that's just dropped on Paramount+ and has already been described by fans online as "great acting of unsavory characters."

In it, we follow a hacker who gets caught up in a deadly game of cat and mouse when he's forced into a multi-mullion dollar cyberheist. There's a real sense of jeopardy here, as every line of code could be his last.

Hopefully, that "last" doesn't come before the end of the movie's pithy 94-minute runtime. But hey, who knows with storytelling these days? — JV

• Watch Wardriver on Paramount+

The Man Will Burn (HBO Max)

No doubt you've heard of The Burning Man, but how much do you know about its roots? You can now experience this iconic arts festival from the comfort of your living room, so you don't even need to to trek out into the desert.

Across four episodes, we go behind the scenes of the eponymous effigy's festival, from its origins all the way up to the present day. There's particular focus on organizing an event of this scale in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, too.

Both seasoned "Burners" and new arrivals feature in the documentary, giving us a complete look at the festival and how it has evolved over time. — LB

• Watch The Man Will Burn on HBO Max

Married at First Sight season 20 (Peacock)

Despite all the controversies surrounding the international versions, we're returning to where it all began with Married at First Sight. Just as Love Island USA comes to an end as well, so perfect timing.

You know the score here: 14 new singles will agree to marry someone they’ve never met, and see if their newfound relationship was actually worth saying "I do" for.

Experts Paul C. Brunson and Doctor Lisa Paz are returning to oversee the drama and, judging by the above trailer, the weddings themselves genuinely look the chicest they've ever been. — JV

• Watch Married at First Sight season 20 on Peacock

• Bad Apples has been given a global theatrical release date after premiering at TIFF
• A new trailer confirmed the movie would be in theaters from September 18 for viewers in the UK and US
• The dark comedy is the English-language debut for Jonatan Etzler

Bad Apples may have fallen under the radar after its TIFF debut, but the new dark comedy movie finally has a global release date.

The Saoirse Ronan led movie will be in UK and US theaters from September 18, and we've got a brand new trailer to celebrate the new movie's theatrical release thanks to Paramount Pictures.

Bad Apples follows Maria, a teacher who becomes frustrated when her class of ten year olds is disrupted by one unruly pupil, Danny (Eddie Waller). When Maria accidentally kidnaps Danny and holds him hostage in her house, it sets off an unexpected chain of events.

Take a look at the trailer below.

Bad Apples looks like a perfect blend of comedy and drama, and I can't wait to see it

This is the kind of movie that reels me in instantly. We've got a seemingly ordinary main character in the form of a schoolteacher, who then goes on to make very questionable characters.

The plot of Bad Apples teases that Maria sees her class performance improve once Danny is "missing", which gives her a moral dilemma. Should she release him or keep him held in her home, where he's not disrupting the rest of her class?

Bad Apples is based on the novel De Oönskade (The Unwanted) by Swedish author Rasmus Andersson, which is described as a satirical thriller. So I'm expecting a lot of timely commentary in this movie, which will soon be widely available in theaters.

The movie currently has an 83% Rotten Tomatoes score, with critics praising the story, performances and soundtrack. So it's promising stuff already.

September 18 is a long wait, but thankfully we have plenty of recommendations to keep you entertained until then. If it's horror you're after, check out my round up of the best horror movies to stream in July.

Or, if you'd like more general Paramount movies, check out the best movies to watch on Paramount+.

• Samsung is reportedly giving up on small-screen foldables
• That means the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 8 could be the last in the series
• It's a credible claim, but if enough people vote with their wallet perhaps the Flip line can still be saved

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is a superb phone, achieving 4.5 stars in our review. But despite its excellence, Samsung might be giving up on this clamshell series after the Galaxy Z Flip 8 launches.

This is according to reputable leaker @UniverseIce, who stated on X that “the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 is likely to be Samsung's last small folding product.”

They didn’t say why that might be, but we can take a guess. For one thing, while the Flip line used to be Samsung’s most popular foldable phone series, there’s evidence that this trend could be starting to change. For example, FN News reported that in South Korea at least, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 received more pre-orders than the Z Flip 7.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 is likely to be Samsung's last small folding product. pic.twitter.com/9zN4nNRLT2July 9, 2026

So there could be a growing appetite for large-screen book-style foldables, which makes sense given that larger conventional phones tend to outsell compact models. And with the book-style iPhone Ultra reportedly launching this year, the appetite for that style of foldable is only likely to grow.

Plus, arguably one of the main selling points of the Z Flip line was that it provided a relatively affordable way to get a foldable phone, but with rising memory costs that might cease to be the case.

And on top of all that, Samsung is reportedly launching a shorter, wider book-style foldable this year alongside its conventional successor to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, with this new form factor being bigger than a Flip but still smaller than the company’s current large-screen foldables. So Samsung might see this as something that fans of smaller phones could buy instead of a new Flip.

A phone that would be missed

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

While this claim from @UniverseIce is believable, I certainly hope they’re wrong. Despite all the reservations above, the Flip is still an appealing line of fofldables.

They’re extremely compact when folded shut, which is sure to appeal to some people, and even with rising memory prices they’re likely to remain cheaper than book-style foldables. So it would be a shame for choice and variety if they disappeared.

Still, it’s likely that Samsung will be looking at sales of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 and the new wider Galaxy Z Fold before making any final decisions, so if the former does particularly well or the latter struggles, there’s still hope for a Galaxy Z Flip 9.

In other words, if it’s something you’d like to see then you should vote with your wallet this year and give Samsung’s upcoming clamshell device some love.

For the last three years I’ve been imploring anyone who will listen to assuage the AI Fear Economy and the AI Doomonomics messaging that dominates our current AI news cycle.

The sleepwalkers among us and the ones that stand to financially benefit from the FOBO (Fear of Becoming Obsolete) will continue the walking dead path but many experts are finally disagreeing with the narrative that I have been spearheading for over three years now.

I’ve spent countless hours proving AIs limitations in numerous podcasts, interviews and keynotes along with my “AI Exposed” series. I really cannot find the “off” button for exposing the truth.

If you use AI every day, you know the foundational flaws of the transformer-based generative LLM kingdom.

You see the mistakes, errors, forgetfulness, hallucinations, sycophancy, recency bias, kindergarten math fails, regression to the mean, the waiter problem, no real memory, no real world experience, no determinism, no thinking, no cognition, no sense of time, no real context (environmental, cognitive bias, natural behaviors, awareness, etc.), no uniqueness, no native ethics, no agency, no intelligence (really), no accountability, no “strawberry”. Need more?

AI was never built to do the things the industry is asking it to do. Current LLMs are word predictors. They are the trillion dollar equivalent to an autocomplete on acid. Nothing more.

Workforce Extinction is what the economy is selling but Human+AI empowerment is what will be our final state. We just have to get through the current AI dystopia superbubble burst first unfortunately - which might take a bit more time than we would all like. Remember ATMs? Did they replace bank tellers? No. Remember the corner grocery store? Did Amazon eliminate them after buying Whole Foods in 2017, almost 10 years ago? No.

So how can AI be employed today in partnership with Humans to make them superpowerful?

Human: “This is my 6th meeting today. I’m exhausted.”

AI: “I’ve got your back.”

The bane of our existence, I know certainly mine. I am not talking about the nice small talk or the social and connective tissue that creates strong bonds and trust and loyalty (all of which AI cannot replicate today in the slightest), but the mechanical and mundane meetings that litter our week, every week.

Look at your calendar right now and identify next week’s meetings. Are they “ideation” or “decision making” meetings? The dreaded “Sync” meetings? Or the “Stand-ups”? All of these can be augmented if not completely replaced by AI in a powerful synchronicity that solves the “cold start” problem, immediately empowering you to make sound decisions collectively and collaboratively without you being physically present. After all, ideation is all about tapping into the potentiality of an outcome given all the relevant and contextual facts and information.

The implicit and invisible cognitive biases that humans bring to every meeting every day hold us back. Scour your historical consciousness and you will find thoughts such as “I don’t like this guy, so all his opinions are garbage,” or “I am just going to follow what the boss says,” without really understanding everything. Human gut, instinct, impulse, habits are all driving us unconsciously, invisibly. Unfortunately you are not in control of the productivity wheel.

Human decision-making is unique and infinitely complex

How you see the world, your behavior and decision-making is all unique and infinitely complex, but all patterned by high dimensional mathematics (a.k.a. AI). Synergizing your unique perspectives, ideation and problem solving with an artificial knowledge system like AI can produce incredible results in quality, accuracy and speed resulting in incredible “AI assisted” performance.

We see this confluence every day inside the company and with our customers by building group decisions automatically with each human voice being a part of the discussion to determine the best outcome. Consensus and collaboration without the human in the mix but in their unique voice through their unique prism and in synchronous cognitive sequence allows for easy ownership and accountability, at incredible speed.

And the final kicker that no one is seeing? What are you going to do when Claude or ChatGPT make a bad decision or make an error in judgment? Are you going to fire them? Write them up in Workday? Dock their pay? Good luck. It will never happen. Only humans can be held accountable.

And don’t even get me started on the Token Tsunamis happening right now. Left uncontrolled, companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars beyond their annual budgets on AI coding and all for what? Where’s the ROI? And the prices for these models are only going higher. The small companies will be priced out very soon.

HUMANS+AI > AI

Luckily the solution is right in front of our noses: the mirror. At the end of the day, AI is only a tool. And a rather crappy tool that needs duct tape (RAG and vector databases), bailing wire (MCP and Frameworks and Agents), bubble gum (guardrails and governance), spittle (memory and state management) and Elmer’s wood glue (evaluation and synthetic testing) just to get a mostly correct answer to the question: “Who is the current US president?” on an offline local model.

All this scaffolding is in place today because the core LLM sucks at all the above. More tokens. More Token Typhoons.

AI today (at best) is Artificial Knowledge that can absolutely be leveraged by smart people and senior staff to produce high quality decision making and actioning. Do not get discouraged, but instead learn how to leverage it. Dive deep and differentiate yourself. Only through leveraging a good tool (like a skill saw) can you frame a house.

The “AI Antidote”

Interpersonal friction and endless alignment meetings are keeping your team from doing their best work. I make it my mission to unblock your team's highest potential, using our AI and turn ideas into decisions in minutes. My team and I harness AI for the betterment of humans to prevent workforce extinction. For now…

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• AI data center power consumption will soon exceed the consumption of conventional data centers
• Global data center power consumption has risen by 26% since 2025
• In the US, AI data centers account for 36% of all data center power consumption

Data centers built to add capacity for AI will soon consume more power than conventional data center hardware. Consuming 175 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2026, predictions take that number to 258 TWh in 2027 - at which AI-optimized data centers will pass conventional data centers for consumption.

Compared to 2025, AI data center power consumption has increased by around 84%.These are the findings of a Gartner forecast that also predicts AI optimized servers to account for 31% of data center power consumption in 2026.

This level of consumption, combined with an excess in electricity demand compared to production, will be the main constraint on future AI expansion, Gartner predicts. But data center consumption as a whole is expected to be 565 TWh in 2026, a 26% increase year over year.

Consumption on the rise, but capacity is slow to expand

When it comes to global consumption, the US accounts for 36% or around 204 TWh of the full 565 TWh of global demand. Within that slice of US demand, AI data centers account for one third, with expected consumption for 2026 to be around 68 TWh.

"Surging demand for compute-intensive AI workloads is driving unprecedented data center power growth, while AI capacity is now constrained by power availability, making data center power security the new battle ground for scaling and protecting margins in the global AI race," said Gartner's Direct Analyst Linglan Wang.

By 2030, Garter predicts that supply will be unable to meet demand once consumption passes the 1,200 TWh mark.

In order to address this constraint, Wang suggested that business leaders and infrastructure providers should focus on upgrading the efficiency of power grids and the hardware that draws the most power such as cooling systems.

A recent Google Cloud report further suggested that to address the rising cost of power consumption, businesses should move from running AI models on a centralized cloud to edge deployments, where the efficiency of these systems is increased with the added benefit of avoiding a global outage of services if the centralized cloud system fails.

But these levels of consumption increase will hardly help to cool the rising anti-data center sentiment in the US, which—when combined with hardware and power production shortages—has seen nearly half of all data centers in 2026 delayed or cancelled.

Via Tom’s Hardware

• Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 were just ported to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
• Aside from an upgraded picture quality, they seem otherwise identical to the original versions
• Some fans are convinced that they just don't feel right, however

Yesterday, Activision treated us to the surprise release of not one, but two Call of Duty ports. You can now buy the original Black Ops and its acclaimed follow-up, Black Ops 2, on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 for the very first time.

They upgrade the resolution of both games on these newer consoles (a substantial step up from the 608p native picture quality of the backwards compatible versions available on Xbox) but otherwise seem almost identical to their original incarnations.

Even some big features that many fans thought would be cut, like Black Ops 2's infamous emblem creator, are present and accounted for.

I picked up copies of the two games immediately with my own cash (there's currently an irresistible 50% discount on them if you have PS Plus) and spent the best part of yesterday evening playing on my PS5. Aside from the crisper picture quality, they're just as I remember.

I replayed the original versions of both games pretty recently too, via second-hand physical copies that I bought for my Xbox Series X to refresh my knowledge of both games ahead of the Black Ops 7 launch — this latest entry is a Black Ops 2 sequel, after all.

Some fans aren't as impressed, though, and argue that the games just don't feel right.

"Black Ops 1 PS5 has a serious controller input lag issue that needs to be adressed [sic] and fixed" argued one poster on r/callofduty. "It surely wasn’t this bad on PS3".

"Sounds like the original launch" another fan replied, with someone else chiming in: "The golden days" and a tongue-in-cheek sobbing emoji.

"BO1 always felt hard to aim in even in the old days compared to BO2. Pretty sure this is normal" added someone else.

Another post similarly reckons that "The responsiveness is terrible. I distinctly remember the original Black Ops 1 feeling way crisper than this". The top comment agrees, complaining that "I’m losing every gun fight because my gun doesn’t fire in time".

Although everything feels fine to me, there's definitely a chance that those playing specific resolutions, on specific TVs, or with features like VRR enabled might be having a much worse experience. I expect some patches will be released in the coming weeks if these claims hold water.