TechRadar News

• OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 13T will be announced on April 24
• This initial launch is just for China
• The company has also revealed the screen size and colors of the phone

The OnePlus 13T will be announced on April 24, the company has confirmed, although in typical OnePlus fashion you won’t have to wait until then to get an official look at the phone, as it has already been shown off.

A short teaser video posted to Chinese social media platform Weibo (via GSMArena) shows the front and back of the OnePlus 13T in full, complete with a flat back, curvy corners, and a choice of gray, pink, or black shades, as you can see below.

You can also see that there’s a new button on the side in place of the alert slider we’re used to on OnePlus phones, and the company has previously confirmed that it's a customizable key that sounds similar to the Action button on iPhones.

The OnePlus 13T (Image credit: OnePlus) A small screen and a big battery

In another post the company revealed that the 13T will have a 6.32-inch screen, and in an earlier teaser OnePlus said its battery would be at least 6,000mAh, which is especially impressive given that the OnePlus 13T sounds fairly compact by modern smartphone standards.

That’s all the official news we have, but leaks have suggested that the OnePlus 13T will have a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 50MP main camera, a 50MP telephoto (with 2x optical zoom), and possibly an ultra-wide camera, the specs of which haven’t yet been the subject of leaks or rumors.

So this is sounding like an impressive phone – if the price is right. We should have a clearer idea of how good the OnePlus 13T is very soon, although note that, as mentioned, the April 24 announcement is just for China.

Hopefully though we won’t be waiting too much longer for a global launch, as it sounds like a promising compact alternative to the OnePlus 13.

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• Car rental giant Hertz confirms suffering a data breach
• The attack occurred through Cleo, a file transfer service provider
• The threat actors abused a zero-day to get in

Car rental giant Hertz has confirmed suffering cyberattack which saw it lose sensitive customer information.

In a data breach notification letter published on its website, the company said that the incident involved Cleo Communications, a software company that provided file transfer services for Hertz “for limited purposes”.

The report says an unidentified threat actor exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the Cleo platform to exfiltrate sensitive data in October and December 2024. The attack was spotted in mid-February 2025, prompting an investigation, with the analysis concluding some customer data was taken.

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Hallucinating malware

“We completed this data analysis on April 2, 2025, and concluded that the personal information involved in this event may include the following: name, contact information, date of birth, credit card information, driver’s license information and information related to workers’ compensation claims,” the announcement reads.

“A very small number of individuals may have had their Social Security or other government identification numbers, passport information, Medicare or Medicaid ID (associated with workers’ compensation claims), or injury-related information associated with vehicle accident claims impacted by the event.”

The exact number of affected individuals is not known at this time, with a company spokesperson saying it would be, “inaccurate to say millions” of customers are affected.

The identity of the attackers, or the nature of the breach, is also unknown at this time. It most likely wasn’t a ransomware attack, since it took the company months to realize it was hacked. That being said, this was most likely a simple data smash-and-grab.

To mitigate the damages, Hertz is offering two years of identity monitoring and dark web monitoring services to potentially impacted individuals, through Kroll, at no cost.

At press time, there was no evidence that the stolen data was misused in any way.

Via TechCrunch

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More than 250 companies have signed the “Secure-by-Design” (SBD) pledge from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). By committing to the voluntary pledge, software manufacturers are promising to increase multi-factor authentication (MFA) for products; better enable customers to do their own patching; reduce default passwords; and decrease vulnerabilities, among additional proactive, protective practices.

By embedding cyber defense from the outset of product development and system architecture, SBD is intended to transform cybersecurity from an afterthought to an essential, core element of design. Companies that fail to adopt this approach run the risk of falling behind in their security and compliance maturity, while losing consumer trust. They also could run into some very expensive problems, as the average cost of a data breach has increased to $4.88 million – up from $4.45 million in 2023.

Implementing an SBD strategy

So how do organizations effectively implement an SBD strategy? They can start by looking at the financial services sector, which is often more willing to invest in innovative approaches to security upskilling and additional preventative measures than other industries. These institutions are taking such steps because, frankly, they have to, given the immense challenges they face:

Increasing – and more costly – threats

If history has taught us anything, it’s that cyber criminals always follow the money. Financial organizations are experiencing 1,115 breaches a year, which ranks #4 among all verticals.

Regulatory pressures

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require financial organizations to achieve higher levels of governance and security. As part of the ongoing compliance process, the industry’s developers must bring verified skills to properly configure sensitive databases, payment gateways and portals.

The critical – and fragile – state of consumer trust

Financial service firms’ customers expect no less than the absolute fortification of their personal data and transactions. If an institution suffers an attack that compromises any of this, it runs the risk of losing consumer trust with potentially devastating market/revenue consequences – if not extinction.

SBD developer readiness

Fortunately in our research, we have found that the financial industry is doing an exceptional job of positioning for SBD developer readiness. There is no quality that is more “make or break” in significance than the upgrading of the skills and tools of the people who innovate, develop and disseminate code at the heart of our digital systems.

Indeed, in taking a closer look at what these companies are doing, we get a better sense of the level of developer risk management this industry is pursuing– and can help lift other industries as they “shift left” in seeking to make good on the CISA pledge.

Investments in upskilling

On average, in organizations, there are less than four software security group (SSG) specialists for every 100 developers. Given how few of these specialists are on board, it’s no wonder that code-level vulnerabilities continue to plague most verticals.

This speaks to the urgency of developer upskilling, with a focus on flexible, dynamic training programs that align learning within the context of “real life” threats – a “learning by doing” approach. The financial sector is considered an early adopter of these and other initiatives aimed at building security into the software development life cycle (SDLC), and has achieved high maturity rates here as a result.

Benchmarking

To ensure upskilling initiatives are working, organizations must establish baselines and benchmarks to assess whether SBD is recognized as an indispensable part of their DNA. Such benchmarking should cover the state of developers’ security skills, awareness and the measurement of their success profile against that of other industry members. With this, these leaders will truly know if their teams have earned a “license to code,” and that the inherent risk of developers with low security skills is being managed and effectively improved.

Proactive threat modeling and testing

Financial services providers are quite good at regularly conducting threat modeling to address risks sooner rather than later – preferably before an attack ever has a chance to strike. The industry also relies upon strict code reviews, testing and audits to reveal vulnerabilities and additional areas of concern.

By following financial institutions’ lead in establishing a baseline for developer risk management activities and implementing the described best practices, organizations across the board will cultivate a winning developer-driven security culture. This environment will prepare developers to implement robust, secure code from start to finish, to the point in which this emerges as a habit they can perform at speed.

That’s when companies of all kinds will demonstrate they’re doing far more than simply signing CISA’s pledge – they’re delivering on its promise to make SBD a universal norm by acting now to defend the future.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we 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/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

If you’ve managed to steer clear of ChatGPT all this time, just know you might be using an OpenAI AI model soon without even realizing it.

OpenAI unveiled a new suite of models aimed at developers looking to embed some AI into their software. The GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and GPT-4.1 nano models might not declare themselves, but they seem purpose-built for subtle inclusion in other products.

These aren’t the chatbots you open for conversation and then close after getting your trivia question answered to go back to your email inbox. These models power your inbox, to-do list, or budgeting app. They could fuel a recipe manager and adjust ingredient portions for any last-minute additions to the dinner party.

What makes GPT-4.1 and its smaller, slightly speedier siblings different from past releases is that it is explicitly designed for developers rather than for developers in addition to a role with ChatGPT. These are workhorse models optimized for instruction-following, coding, and reasoning from vast chunks of information.

That means they are very good at doing exactly what you tell them to do in a format familiar to any software developer. OpenAI also boasts about its speed and cost relative to its power, making it even more enticing for developers with an ingenious app idea but limited resources.

OpenAI has ideas about apps getting much smarter thanks to its models and the clever way developers can deploy them. Picture your expense tracker automatically and accurately, immediately categorizing purchases or your notes app, producing a summary of everything that happened during a particularly chaotic day at work. Your photo editor might offer captions that don’t sound like they were written by a robot or at least like a robot that has spent some time around people.

This is AI as infrastructure – not a product, not a personality, but a quiet presence that makes everything run smoother and better.

OpenAI inside

We’ve seen glimmers of this before. Gmail’s autocomplete, Photoshop's image suggestions, and other tools have plenty of AI underlying their features. However, what OpenAI is semi-obliquely promising with GPT-4.1 is that plugging AI into an app will be easy, fast, and cheap.

Of course, relevant questions are raised about whether users should be alerted about the AI model since they might consciously avoid it in its more visible form. Plus, the usual privacy questions about apps get more complex with AI involved. If your grocery app starts predicting your purchases before you search, is that convenience or surveillance?

Many apps might never tell you they’re using GPT-4.1 under the hood if they don't have to, especially if it’s just powering something like a search function or summarizing your reading list. There’s a good chance millions of people will be using OpenAI models every day without ever realizing it, for good or ill.

Broad adoption of the models by developers might actually help with public acceptance. If AI is more like a utility and not an in-your-face feature, people might be more comfortable with it. It could be like Wi-Fi.

You don’t think about the Wi-Fi noting your location when you check the weather; you simply expect it to work. AI moves from spectacle to plumbing, annoying when it fails and invisible when it works.

That also means who we define as an AI used will change. Instead of someone who opens ChatGPT or Midjourney, an AI user will just be someone using an app, like how everyone using an app is technically a software user.

For OpenAI, there's also a possible shift in power in their favor. By moving away from direct engagement and toward app integration, you’re ultimately relying on OpenAI whether you signed up for ChatGPT or not. Smarter tools are often more helpful, less annoying, and better at dealing with whatever task they're assigned.

But it also means more of your digital life will be shaped by a handful of foundational models operated by companies that aren’t always transparent about how those models are trained, what data they’ve consumed, or what they might get wrong.

So, if you’ve been proudly avoiding AI tools, get ready to either massively extend your list of software to avoid or be prepared to parse some user agreements to check for GPT-4.1's quiet reshaping of your digital world.

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When TV manufacturers announce their new ranges each year, I'm often left feeling conflicted. I can’t help but wonder how much better the best TVs can become.

If a TV is worthy of a five-star rating from me and my fellow reviewers, is that same TV suddenly redundant when its successor earns the same star rating? On the other hand, I do get excited by new technologies and features that are designed to improve image quality in the pursuit of true perfection.

That second statement can certainly be applied to the Samsung S95F, the company’s flagship 4K OLED screen for 2025. Not only does it boast the same processor as its higher-end 2025 8K TVs – which should result in more impressive upscaling of non-4K content – but it also features Samsung’s second-generation Glare Free anti-reflection technology.

Introduced with the S95D last year, the Glare Free technology promises to banish pesky light reflections from the screen. I saw it myself on the S95D and can comfortably say it was a big reason – combined with its overall performance – that it was awarded the TV of the year 2024.

However, while it was certainly an innovative introduction, I didn't think it was quite perfect. I found blacks weren’t as deep as I'd seen in other 2024 OLED TVs without this tech, instead looking a little washed out and grey.

So when I was made aware that the technology had been further refined in the S95F, I jumped at the opportunity to see it in action on both the 83-inch and 77-inch models to see if black levels had been improved.

Improvements across the board

Even with overhead lights on, no reflections can be seen on the screen of the Samsung S95F. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

Samsung had set up a viewing experience of both TVs for the media in a hotel room in Sydney where I’m based. The weather wasn’t the usual bright sunshine that one would normally associate with Australia, but there was still some daylight to test the screen’s anti-reflection capabilities, along with bright overheard lights throughout the room.

As I expected, the Glare Free technology on the Samsung S95F worked flawlessly, making the entire screen viewable no matter how bright the room was. It really is an impressive feat that makes it a superb screen for brightly lit homes (including those in Australia, because we do have more sunny days than overcast ones, honestly).

However, I personally think the anti-glare layer does still have some impact on the overall picture quality. I admit that the second-generation panel is an improvement over the S95D – a sentiment shared by my colleague Al Griffin, who’s said that black levels are definitely elevated compared to last year’s model – but, for me, the image looks a little flat in comparison to OLED TVs from other brands.

Head-to-head

I have the LG G4 OLED TV at home, for example, which I use daily. It too has an anti-reflective coating of sorts, but I’m not going to lie and say it isn’t susceptible to reflections from overhead lights, ambient lighting or from the sun pouring in through my windows.

Having said that, I’ve rarely had a major issue with reflections and I’m still able to watch content with little interference.

Image 1 of 2

I find blacks to be 'more' black on the LG G4, resulting in a deeper, more cinematic image. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)Image 2 of 2

The LG G4 does show up more reflections, although they're not as pronounced as my phone camera makes out. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

I’m also OK with the reflections it does suffer from because the image quality makes up for it in my opinion. Following my short time with the Samsung S95F, I watched the same movies on the LG G4 when I got home, which included Abigail for its dark scenes and shadow detail.

At the end of Abigail when the lead character Joey leaves the house at night and gets into her van, a large tree can be seen in the background. When comparing this scene on both the Samsung S95F and LG G4, it looked more grey on the Samsung screen than on the LG. Plus, when Joey gets into the van and turns a light on, revealing dark blood on her face, I thought the scene had greater depth on the LG TV.

I can't say the same for more colorful scenes, however. I watched Toy Story 3 on both screens and found much less to separate the two. Both were vibrant and punchy and an enjoyable watch overall. It's just the darker scenes that I find don't have quite the impact on Samsung's TV.

In other words, I find the picture of the LG to be more cinematic than the Samsung. Don't get me wrong, though: I’m not for one moment saying the S95F is a bad TV, because it absolutely isn’t – it just doesn’t suit my personal preferences.

Waiting for the competition

All this brings me to the headline of this feature: TVs I'm more excited for that have been released, or will be released, this year. First up, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the replacement to my current TV – the LG G5.

This year LG has introduced a new ‘four-stack’ OLED panel (which, as it happens, is the same screen used in the 83-inch version of the Samsung S95F) that promises higher brightness and improved color reproduction.

I’ve already had a brief introduction to the G5, viewing it at LG’s offices in Sydney side by side with the G4, and my colleague Al has recently published our LG G5 review, giving it a glowing five-star rating.

The LG G5 gets a brightness boost this year, enabling it to hold up much better in brightly lit rooms. (Image credit: Future)

I can't argue with this score, as based on the content that LG was showing on the two screens, there were noticeable differences in color and detail.

One video was of some models walking down a runway in dresses of various colors and one that stood out in particular to me was a red dress. The difference in the shade of red on both screens was clear as day, with the LG G5 looking punchier, yet more natural.

The G5 also revealed more creases in the middle of the dress compared to the G4, indicating that it should also be capable of picking out greater detail in other content.

My only concern with the G5 is the way it handles Dolby Vision, something my colleagues at What Hi-Fi? mention in their review. The vast majority of content I watch at home is mastered in Dolby Vision, so naturally I’m now worried when I get to see it properly myself. What Hi-Fi? has said LG is aware of the issue and a fix is on the way.

I, of course, will have to reserve full judgement until I can watch content I’m familiar with on the G5. Still, it’s without a doubt the TV I’m most excited for this year.

But wait, there’s more…

Actually, there's still some doubt. The LG G5 was the most exciting launch for me this year… until Sony announced the Bravia 8 II QD-OLED TV – expected to begin shipping within the next couple of months.

When I published my Sony Bravia 8 review, I was impressed by its beautiful, natural-looking images and brightness levels, considering it was a ‘standard’ WOLED panel with no additional brightness-boosting technology.

That’s all set to change in the Bravia 8 II, which will be sold as a step-up model over the Bravia 8, rather than a full replacement. In fact, Sony has said the new model is a replacement for the A95L that’s been on sale since 2023.

(Image credit: Future)

TechRadar's entertainment-channel Managing Editor, Matt Bolton, has already seen the Bravia 8 II in action and noticed how it’s able to unearth subtle details in content and produce colors that appear more saturated. He also reaffirmed that, despite getting a brightness boost thanks to the addition of quantum dot (QD) technology, it’s the company’s latest processor and how it’s used that will likely have the greatest impact.

I have also now seen the Bravia 8 II myself during a media briefing at Sony’s offices in Sydney, where it was placed side-by-side with the Bravia 8. Indeed, there was a clear difference in HDR performance, with particularly bright parts of an image – a lit-up sign, for example – being noticeably brighter on the new model.

It’s these smaller details that can actually have the greatest impact on the content you watch, making Sony’s new screen one to consider.

2025 is an exciting year for TVs. Samsung and LG continue with their innovation and now Sony is throwing its hat into the ring to compete in the premium OLED space. If you’re loyal to a particular brand, then I have no doubt you’ll continue to be impressed, but if you’re planning to invest in a new screen this year, then it’s clear you won't be short of talented options.

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• xAI’s Grok 3 chatbot has added a voice mode with multiple personalities
• One personality is called “unhinged” and will scream and insult you
• Grok also has personalities for NSFW roleplay, crazy conspiracies, and an “Unlicensed Therapist” mode

xAI’s Grok may be about to start remembering your conversations as part of a broader slate of updates rolling out, all of which seek to match ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other rivals. Elon Musk’s company tends to pitch Grok as a plucky upstart in a world of staid AI tools; it also seems to be aiming for parity on features like memory, voice, and image editing.

As spotted by one user on X, it appears that Grok will get a new "Personalise with Memories" switch in settings. This would be a big deal if it works and mark a shift from momentary utility to long-term reliability. Grok's reported memory system, which is still in development but already appearing in the web app, will allow Grok to reference previous chats.

This means if you’ve been working with it on something like planning a vacation, writing a screenplay, or just keeping track of the name of that documentary you wanted to watch, Grok could say, “Hey, didn’t we already talk about this?”

Grok’s memory is expected to be user-controlled as well, which means you’ll be able to manage what the AI remembers and delete specific memories or everything Grok has remembered all at once. That’s increasingly the standard among AI competitors, and it’ll likely be essential for trust, especially as more people start using these tools for work, personal planning, and remembering which child prefers which bedtime story.

This should put Grok more or less on par with what OpenAI has done with ChatGPT’s memory rollout, albeit on a much shorter timeline. The breakneck pace is part of the pitch for Grok, even when it doesn't quite work yet. Some users have reported already seeing the memory feature available, but it's not available to everyone yet, and the exact rollout schedule is unclear.

Remember Grok

Of course, giving memory to a chatbot is a bit like giving a goldfish a planner, meaning it’s only useful if it knows what to do with it. Even so, xAI seems to be layering memory into Grok Web in tandem with a handful of other upgrades that lean toward making it feel more like an actual assistant and less like a snarky trivia machine.

This memory update is starting to appear as a range of other Grok upgrades loom on the horizon. Grok 3.5 is expected any day now, with Grok 4 slotted for the end of the year.

There’s also a new vision feature in development for Grok’s voice mode, allowing users to point their phones at things and hear a description and analysis of what's around them.

It's another feature that ChatGPT and Gemini users will find familiar, and Grok’s vision tool is still being tested. Upgrades are also coming to the recently released image editing feature that lets users upload a picture, select a style, and ask Grok to modify it.

It’s part of the ongoing competition among AI chatbots to make AI models artistically versatile. Combine that with the upcoming Google Drive integration, and Grok starts to look a little more serious as a competitor.

Also on the horizon is Grok Workspaces, a kind of digital whiteboard for collaborating with Grok on a more significant project. These updates suggest that xAI is pivoting to make Grok seem less like a novelty and more like a necessity. xAI clearly sees Grok’s future as being more useful than just a set of sarcastic and mean voice responses.

Still, even as Grok gains these long-awaited features, questions remain about whether it can match the depth and polish of its more established counterparts. It’s one thing to bolt a memory system onto a chatbot. It’s another thing entirely to make that memory meaningful.

Whether Grok becomes your go-to assistant or stays a curious toy used only when some aspect goes viral depends on how well xAI can connect all these new capabilities into something cohesive, intuitive, and a little less chaotic. But for now, at least, it finally remembers your name.

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• A new leak claims to detail the specs and pricing of AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU
• The price could be as low as $269 in the US for the 8GB model
• Performance is claimed to sit between the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT

We might finally have a proper idea of what AMD's long-awaited Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU is going to be capable of - and it's looking like it could be worthy of induction into the best graphics card hall of fame.

Thanks to leaked information shared by Moore's Law Is Dead (MLID) on YouTube, we now know that the RX 9060 XT could be shipping with 32 compute units, a 128-bit memory bus with both 8GB and 16GB VRAM models available, and a TDP between 150W and 200W.

Now, that's not a whole lot to go off at this point, but MLID's leak also notes that performance is 'above RTX 4060 Ti, but likely below RX 7700 XT'. Okay, so that doesn't sound that impressive, but here's the thing: the leak also includes pricing details, and it's looking very attractive on that front.

The 8GB model will reportedly cost between $269 and $299, while the 16GB version is claimed to be priced at $329-379. It's unclear whether these are potential price ranges AMD itself is still contemplating, or projected price ranges for AIB partner cards. For reference, the RTX 4060 Ti - which it supposedly outperforms - originally retailed at $399, and that was almost two full years' worth of GPU price inflation ago.

Battle of the budgets

Even if AMD hits us with the high end of these price estimates, it'll be a seriously competitively priced desktop GPU. Although Nvidia has been dominating the high-performance end of the market with its RTX 5000 cards, there's no denying that AMD's biggest rival has been fumbling its budget game lately, leaving Intel (isn't that weird) as one of the best options in the affordable PC gaming space thanks to its excellent Arc B580 card.

If Team Red can deliver RXT 4060 Ti-beating performance at a $269 price point, well, it's game set and match for the budget GPU market - at least, for the time being. It's worth noting, though, that MLID's source does say 'original plan as of a month ago' regarding these projected prices, likely in reference to the recent tech pricing carnage caused by Donald Trump's tariff war. So... watch this space, I guess.

(Image credit: AMD)

Another interesting point raised by the leaker was that the RX 9060 XT might lack hardware encoders - it's possible that to keep the price down, AMD has opted to include only the free-to-implement AV1 video encoder, not the (arguably better) H.264 and H.265 encode functions, since those require a licencing fee.

The leaker claims there are no plans for a 'non-XT' RX 9060 card, which tracks given the two different VRAM versions and the suggested $269 base price. Additionally, AMD might be considering a Radeon RX 9050 XT, presumably priced somewhere in the $200-250 range.

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Apple Intelligence has not had the best year so far, but if you think Apple is giving up, you're wrong. It has big plans and is moving forward with new model training strategies that could vastly improve its AI performance. However, the changes do involve a closer look at your data – if you opt-in.

In a new technical paper from Apple's Machine Learning Research, "Understanding Aggregate Trends for Apple Intelligence Using Differential Privacy," Apple outlined new plans for combining data analytics with user data and synthetic data generation to better train the models behind many of Apple Intelligence features.

Some real data

Up to now, Apple's been training its models on purely synthetic data, which tries to mimic what real data might be like, but there are limitations. In Genmoji's, for instance, Apple's use of synthetic data doesn't always point to how real users engage with the system. From the paper:

"For example, understanding how our models perform when a user requests Genmoji that contain multiple entities (like “dinosaur in a cowboy hat”) helps us improve the responses to those kinds of requests."

Essentially, if users opt-in, the system can poll the device to see if it has seen a data segment. However, your phone doesn't respond with the data; instead, it sends back a noisy and anonymized signal, which is apparently enough for Apple's model to learn.

The process is somewhat different for models that work with longer texts like Writing tools and Summarizations. In this case, Apple uses synthetic models, and then they send a representation of these synthetic models to users who have opted into data analytics.

On the device, the system then performs a comparison that seems to compare these representations against samples of recent emails.

"These most-frequently selected synthetic embeddings can then be used to generate training or testing data, or we can run additional curation steps to further refine the dataset."

A better result

It's complicated stuff. The key, though, is that Apple applies differential privacy to all the user data, which is the process of adding noise that makes it impossible to connect that data to a real user.

Still, none of this works if you don't opt into Apple's Data Analytics, which usually happens when you first set up your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook.

Doing so does not put your data or privacy at risk, but that training should lead to better models and, hopefully, a better Apple Intelligence experience on your iPhone and other Apple devices.

It might also mean smarter and more sensible rewrites and summaries.

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• GenAI can hallucinate open source package names, experts warn
• It doesn't always hallucinate a different name
• Cybercriminals can use the names to register malware

Security researchers have warned of a new method by which Generative AI (GenAI) can be abused in cybercrime, known as 'slopsquatting'.

It starts with the fact that different GenAI tools, such as Chat-GPT, Copilot, and others, hallucinate. In the context of AI, “hallucination” is when the AI simply makes things up. It can make up a quote that a person never said, an event that never happened, or - in software development - an open-source software package that was never created.

Now, according to Sarah Gooding from Socket, many software developers rely heavily on GenAI when writing code. The tool could write the lines itself, or it could suggest the developer different packages to download and include in the product.

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Hallucinating malware

The report adds the AI doesn’t always hallucinate a different name or a different package - some things repeat.

“When re-running the same hallucination-triggering prompt ten times, 43% of hallucinated packages were repeated every time, while 39% never reappeared at all,” it says.

“Overall, 58% of hallucinated packages were repeated more than once across ten runs, indicating that a majority of hallucinations are not just random noise, but repeatable artifacts of how the models respond to certain prompts.”

This is purely theoretical at this point, but apparently, cybercriminals could map out the different packages AI is hallucinating and - register them on open-source platforms.

Therefore, when a developer gets a suggestion and visits GitHub, PyPI, or similar - they will find the package and happily install it, without knowing that it’s malicious.

Luckily enough, there are no confirmed cases of slopsquatting in the wild at press time, but it’s safe to say it is only a matter of time. Given that the hallucinated names can be mapped out, we can assume security researchers will discover them eventually.

The best way to protect against these attacks is to be careful when accepting suggestions from anyone, living or otherwise.

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• Change Healthcare suffered a huge cyberattack in 2024
• Disruptions from that attack cost organizations millions
• The firm is now chasing repayment of loans to cover losses from these disruptions

UnitedHealth Group is “aggressively” going after small healthcare organizations that borrowed money following a huge cyberattack on its subsidy Change Healthcare.

The attack is said to have affected almost 190 million Americans, and was the largest US healthcare data breach ever, and was incredibly disruptive, with systems only fully restored 9 months later, costing over $2 billion to recover from.

After the attack, interest-free loans were offered by Change to help medical practices with short-term cash flow needs. The firm is now demanding these funds be “immediately” repaid, with some organizations asked to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars in just a few days.

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Lost revenue

Optum, UnitedHealth’s financial arm, has now confirmed it will withhold separate funds until these loans are repaid.

Doctors with their own private practices used these loans to cover losses from the disruption following the cyber incident, which cost some hundreds of thousands - and some reportedly used personal savings to keep practices afloat.

It’s worth noting UnitedHealth has a net worth of over $470 billion (at the time of writing), and CEO Andrew Witty made over $23 million in compensation in 2023.

Optum has collected over $4.5 billion of the $9 billion debt, but since many practices lost so much in downtime thanks to the disruption, many will struggle to repay the money owed in the just 5 day timeframe Optum have imposed, with one doctor describing it as a “shakedown.”

UnitedHealth paid the ransomware attackers $22 million in cryptocurrency to recover its data - but the operation was still shut down in its entirety, and Change never got its data back. Medical data is, of course, extremely sensitive, and put anyone exposed at risk of identity theft or fraud.

Via CNBC

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With AI agents becoming an increasingly common sight in businesses everywhere, Google Cloud has become the latest major company to ramp up its efforts in the space.

At its Google Cloud Next 25 event, the company unveiled several upgrades to its Agentspace platform to make agent discovery and adoption easier.

Just to give things an extra boost, Google Cloud also announced a new partnership with Nvidia designed at making its offerings even more intuitive.

Google Agentspace expansion

Following the initial launch of Google Agentspace in December 2024, the updates were mainly aimed at making creating and deploying AI agents easier

This includes giving employees access to Agentspace search and analysis tools directly from the search box in Google Chrome. The multimodal search capabilities can help track down exactly the data needed within your business, or give customers access to the answers they need.

The search results can cover content from the web, or from your business' most commonly-used apps and software, including the likes of Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and apps like Jira, Salesforce, or ServiceNow.

(Image credit: Google Cloud)

Elsewhere, workers can also use a new Agent Gallery to find and deploy new agents quickly as well as creating their own agents with the new no-code Agent Designer platform - or launch some of Google's latest own-brand offerings, Idea Generation agent and Deep Research agent.

In order to make sure all these new agents co-exist effectively, Google Cloud has also launched a new interoperability protocol called Agent2Agent, which it says, "will allow AI agents to communicate with each other, securely exchange information, and coordinate actions on top of various enterprise platforms or applications."

Built on existing standards to allow easier integration, the company has already signed up more than 50 partners for the launch, including enterprise heavyweights such as Salesforce, PayPal, Box, Atlassian and more.

Finally, to harness the power of some of the most powerful computing hardware around today, Google Cloud and Nvidia have signed a collaboration bring the former's AI models to Nvidia Blackwell HGX and DGX platforms, as well as Nvidia Confidential Computing.

“By bringing our Gemini models on premises with Nvidia Blackwell’s breakthrough performance and confidential computing capabilities, we’re enabling enterprises to unlock the full potential of agentic AI,” said Sachin Gupta, vice president and general manager of infrastructure and solutions at Google Cloud.

“This collaboration helps ensure customers can innovate securely without compromising on performance or operational ease.”

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Even though we live in a world festooned with smart stuff, from slick ways to monitor your activity to generative AI and other such opinion-dividing tools, sometimes it’s the simple things that really feel special. And for me, it’s the iPhone’s Passwords app.

Introduced with iOS 18, the Passwords app effectively builds out on Apple’s iCloud Keychain system, which allows passwords and login credentials to be saved in the cloud and automatically fill in said credentials once a security check via the likes of Face ID has been carried out.

What the Passwords app does is build in a slicker interface on this functionality to facilitate easier password management. There's also support for third-party browsers, the ability to share passwords with trusted groups of people and get alerts of potential security issues.

Naturally, there are third-party password management services that do all this too, but if you forget your master password – something I may have done in the past – you can be a little screwed. So having a native password manager baked into iOS is neat.

And it’s a rather slick app; one that despite getting shown off at WWDC 2024, I sort of forgot about. So going by that, the app may have slipped your mind too, given how easily it integrates with daily iPhone life.

But more recently, I’ve been finding out how handy it is.

A most helpful app

(Image credit: Apple)

The biggest benefit of the app is for when a freeloading family member requests the password to one of the most popular streaming series that rhymes with 'transfix', and I can’t remember it off by heart or have the patience to dig it out of the reams of nonsense that make up the family’s WhatApp chat.

Instead, I simply head over to the Passwords app, let Face ID do its thing, then navigate to one of the services or accounts I use, then tap on the passwords field to reveal the collection of numbers and letters I’ve used to secure the account.

From there it’s easy to copy the password and send it to the requesting party, either in a separate message, via AirDrop or set up a ‘Shared Group’ in which select passwords can be shared with select people.

It’s so easy to use but also feels secure too, arguably more so than the Google password manager function in Chrome.

On top of this easy password access, the app will also note which passwords may have been compromised via a leak. It then lets you trigger the process of changing them; though really that function just pushes you towards the service’s website to login and change your password there.

So while Apple Intelligence tools might grab the headlines, and the Photos app has more interesting functions in iOS 18, it’s this simple Passwords app that’s grabbed my attention lately.

The best Android phones have similar functionality, but in my experience it feels like the iOS 18 Passwords app… well… just works; yes, I hate myself for saying that, but that’s just how I feel.

To use the app, simply search ‘Passwords’ in the drop-down menu in iOS 18. And do make sure your iCloud Keychain is synced with your iPhone to get the most out of the app.

It's also worth noting the Passwords app is on macOS too, which is handy if you want to dive into your saved passwords, and discover accounts you may have forgotten about, on a larger display.

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• The latest AirTag alternative from Chipolo comes in color
• It's a small, circular tracker that works with Apple or Google's Find My network
• It has a built-in keyring hole for easy attachment, a speaker, and an easily replaceable battery

Sure, Apple’s AirTag might be the top dog in the world of iPhone item trackers, thanks to an exclusive feature or two. But what if I told you there is another item tracker that is just as compact, has a built-in key ring for easy attachment, and comes in several vibrant colors?

Sold, right? Well, the Chipolo Pop is precisely that and is simply the colorful AirTag that I’ve always wanted. I bet a few of you've wanted that as well. Chipolo, with several other models, is not a brand-new entrant into item trackers either.

Further, the Chipolo Pop supports Apple’s FindMy standard, so it will fast-pair with an iPhone and live within the FindMy app, but it’s also fully compatible with Android and Google’s network. If you’re already sold, it’s up for order now at $29 / £30 from Chipolo for one or $89 / £90 for four of them. And if you prefer Amazon, it's also up for order there.

Six colors to choose from

(Image credit: Chipolo)

Just like an AirTag or even the MotoTag – a Motorola-made item tracker that looks like Apple’s – the Chipolo Pop is a circular item tracker just 38.8 millimeters in diameter. It’s about the size of an AirTag nut and levels up the experience in two key ways.

First, it comes in six colors: blue, yellow, red, green, black, and white. Second, it has a built-in key ring hole so that you can easily attach it to a set of keys, a bag, or really anything else. Chipolo ships it with a color-matched key ring as well.

It’s also powered by a commonly found battery, the CR2032 – just like the AirTag. Chipolo says the Pop should last for up to a year of use. With the IP55 resistance, it can also handle a bit of water and dust. That’s handy for an item tracker that could get left outdoors.

Maybe the single biggest advantage of the Chipolo Pop is that it integrates with Apple’s or Google’s FindMy device networks. This means that the tracker's location will ping off thousands of these devices to help give an accurate location. Apple’s network is made up of iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

That also means that after you get the Chipolo Pop and are ready to set the item tracker up, you’ll need to hold it next to your Android phone or iPhone and follow the splash screen that appears on the device. During this, it will also link with your Google or Apple account.

(Image credit: Chipolo)

You can also stretch the mileage of the Pop and get more features with the Chipolo app for Android or iOS – here, you can set a custom alert and even have it ring your device if you click the button on the Pop in. That’s a trick even Apple’s AirTag can’t do. On Android, you can also set up alerts to notify you if you leave the Pop behind.

While we haven’t tested it yet, there is a speaker integrated within the Pop – so you can ping it and hear your selected chime – and Chipolo promises it offers a “seriously loud ring.”

So, for those with an iPhone, minus the AirTag’s Precision Finding, the Chipolo Pop is basically the colorful AirTag I’ve always wanted. It nearly checks off all the boxes, doesn’t raise the price, and stretches the value further.

Case in point, if I get a Chipolo Pop, I don’t need to buy an additional accessory to attach it to my keys or a backpack. That isn’t the case with an AirTag.

If you’re eager to add the Chipolo Pop to your keys, backpack, or other items, you can order it right now from Chipolo’s online store or on Amazon.

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• Amazon reports reveals former CEO payments
• Current CEO Andy Jassy’s salary was $365,000 in 2024, Bezos’ was $81,840
• The average Amazon wage was $37,000 in 2024

Amazon paid out more to Jeff Bezos than its current CEO, Andy Jassy in 2024, but this doesn’t mean the founder had a higher salary to live off.

In fact, Jassy’s salary amassed to around 4.5x more than Bezos’ - $365,000 compared with $81,840 - but where the two leaders differed was in other allowable expenses and costs.

Bezos had been awarded $1.6 million in security costs in 2024, with the company defending high security expenses due to the former CEO’s low salary and company benefits.

Jeff Bezos continues to cost Amazon millions

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, together with CFO Brian Olsavsky, Amazon Stores CEO Douglas Herrington and Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer David Zapolsky received $365,000 in salary, a figure unchanged from the year before. AWS CEO Matt Garman received a slightly smaller $358,750 package.

Defending its decision to compensate Jassy a further $1.2 million, plus tens of thousands for other C-suite execs, the company noted: “We believe that all Company-incurred security costs are reasonable and necessary and for the Company’s benefit.”

“The 2024 annual total compensation of our median compensated employee (identified from all full- and part-time permanent and temporary employees worldwide, excluding our CEO) was $37,181,” Amazon also noted.

Other topics covered in the Annual Meeting of Shareholders included the request for alternative emissions reporting, additional reporting on the impact of data centers and climate commitments, and a report on packaging materials.

The board voted against all three requests, noting existing transparency, adherence to protocols and guidelines and work that’s already been done.

Full details of the meeting can be found in Amazon’s Notice of 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders & Proxy Statement.

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Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Monday, April 14 (game #1176).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

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

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

Quordle today (game #1177) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

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

Quordle today (game #1177) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1177) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

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

Quordle today (game #1177) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

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

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

Quordle today (game #1177) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• M

• H

• F

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

Quordle today (game #1177) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1177, are…

• SLEET
• MERIT
• HARSH
• FORAY

A very speedy game for me today, as the “first thought best thought” mindset paid off. I didn’t spend too long pondering, just went for it.

On reflection there weren’t too many alternatives with regular letters – guessing BORAX instead of FORAY would have been bonkers, regardless of what might have happened in the past in Wordle.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1177) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1177, are…

• DEIGN
• LADLE
• OWNER
• QUOTA

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1176, Monday 14 April: DRAWL, CROOK, ACTOR, LANCE
• Quordle #1175, Sunday 13 April: SHALE, KINKY, SHORN, WHOOP
• Quordle #1174, Saturday 12 April: BLIND, OVOID, CACHE, THING
• Quordle #1173, Friday 11 April: FOLLY, PITHY, SCOWL, CURLY
• Quordle #1172, Thursday 10 April: LEAST, SEWER, UNTIE, NOOSE
• Quordle #1171, Wednesday 9 April: LITHE, LEFTY, KNOLL, MULCH
• Quordle #1170, Tuesday 8 April: WIDTH, VISOR, MEDAL, BROOK
• Quordle #1169, Monday 7 April: BROTH, SHOUT, BRUTE, CABIN
• Quordle #1168, Sunday 6 April: AMBER, GAUZE, STORE, SLICK
• Quordle #1167, Saturday 5 April: GUSTY, VAULT, WHINE, BEGAT
• Quordle #1166, Friday 4 April: OAKEN, LOOPY, CURIO, BUTTE
• Quordle #1165, Thursday 3 April: ASCOT, JETTY, DRUNK, JOLLY
• Quordle #1164, Wednesday 2 April: INDEX, QUEEN, INCUR, STOLE
• Quordle #1163, Tuesday 1 April: HUMUS, BALMY, WORRY, ERECT
• Quordle #1162, Monday 31 March: RECUT, MOODY, WHERE, BRACE
• Quordle #1161, Sunday 30 March: CRIME, DRINK, CLOVE, TRUER
• Quordle #1160, Saturday 29 March: LATER, ODDLY, CUMIN, AGREE
• Quordle #1159, Friday 28 March: TERSE, MUSHY, PROVE, FROND
• Quordle #1158, Thursday 27 March: CRONE, APNEA, LIGHT, AWOKE
• Quordle #1157, Wednesday 26 March: LEFTY, NOOSE, NOISE, TRIAD

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, April 14 (game #407).

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

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

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

NYT Strands today (game #408) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Draft picks

NYT Strands today (game #408) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• STREET
• RISE
• CRACK
• TOWER
• SIRE
• CROW

NYT Strands today (game #408) - hint #3 - spangram letters How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 12 letters

NYT Strands today (game #408) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 6th row

Last side: right, 4th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #408) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #408, are…

• SOUR
• NITRO
• LAGER
• BOCK
• STOUT
• PORTER
• PILSNER
• SPANGRAM: MICRO BREWERY

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 hint

After fearing that today’s search would have something to do with sports drafts, I was relieved to be on the more solid ground of alcoholic beverages, and beer in particular.

Cunningly, the grid featured the word BEER – but it wasn’t one of the answers. Crafty, crafty…

I did struggle to get going and the word the Hint gave me – SOUR – didn’t help much. It wasn’t until I spotted LAGER that I knew what I was doing. BOCK and NITRO were both new beery words to me, although I’ve seen both incorporated into German beer brands.

All in all, thirsty work.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, 14 April, game #407)

• IRIS
• DAFFODIL
• TULIP
• HYACINTH
• LILY
• CROCUS
• SPANGRAM: SPRING FLOWERS

What is NYT Strands?

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

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

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, April 14 (game #673).

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #674) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• BELL
• REFRAIN
• SPEED
• CHORUS
• BRIDGE
• HUBRIS
• DARLING
• HEARTS
• HOOK
• AVOID
• HERO
• CEASE
• SPOONS
• PAN
• ABSTAIN
• TRAGEDY

NYT Connections today (game #674) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Not involved
• GREEN: Play with a deck
• BLUE: Parts of a classic play
• PURPLE: People in JM Barrie’s classic

Need more clues?

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

NYT Connections today (game #674) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: DESIST 
• GREEN: CARD GAMES 
• BLUE: ELEMENTS OF GREEK DRAMA 
• PURPLE: SECOND WORDS OF "PETER PAN" CHARACTERS 

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

NYT Connections today (game #674) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #674, are…

• YELLOW: DESIST ABSTAIN, AVOID, CEASE, REFRAIN
• GREEN: CARD GAMES BRIDGE, HEARTS, SPEED, SPOONS
• BLUE: ELEMENTS OF GREEK DRAMA CHORUS, HERO, HUBRIS, TRAGEDY
• PURPLE: SECOND WORDS OF "PETER PAN" CHARACTERS BELL, DARLING, HOOK, PAN

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Fail

I failed completely again, wasting a lot of time barking up the wrong trees.

After getting DESIST fairly easily I struggled with the remaining 12 words. I was convinced there was a group about songwriting with BRIDGE, HOOK and CHORUS all being key elements of a hit tune. Scrambling for the fourth word I included BELL and got the dreaded “groups of four” pop-up.

After another mistake, I switched to collecting a group associated with Peter Pan – PAN and HOOK were locks but I went down a dead-end route and thought we were looking for elements of a particular scene, so I included BELL and BRIDGE, all very tenuous.

With “one away” I really should have got the purple group, but I made the wrong choices and went for HERO and TRAGEDY.

Two defeats in a row is not a good look.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 14 April, game #673)

• YELLOW: RESTRICT BLOCK, CHECK, DAM, STOP
• GREEN: TICKETED EVENTS CONCERT, GAME, MOVIE, PLAY
• BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH THE GAME THE OREGON TRAIL
• DYSENTERY, FORD, HUNT, OXEN
• PURPLE: WHAT "FORD" MIGHT REFER TO ACTOR, CAR, DIRECTOR, PRESIDENT

What is NYT Connections?

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

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

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

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

Notorious Apple leaker Mark Gurman has reported that Apple is planning a major overhaul of iPadOS (the operating system iPads use) to make it work a lot like macOS – and I think this could be a great move, though one that also comes with plenty of danger.

Gurman is very well respected when it comes to Apple leaks, so while we probably won’t get any official idea of how iPadOS 19 is shaping up until Apple’s WWDC event in June, this could still be a big hint at the direction Apple is planning to take its tablet operating system.

In his weekly Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Gurman claims that “this year’s upgrade will focus on productivity, multitasking and app window management — with an eye on the device operating more like a Mac,” and that Apple is keen to make its operating systems (macOS, iPadOS, iOS and visionOS primarily) more consistent.

As someone who uses the M4-powered iPad Pro, this is music to my ears. Ever since I reviewed it last year, I’ve been confused by the iPad Pro. It was Apple’s first product to come with the M4 chip, a powerful bit of hardware that is now more commonly found in Macs and MacBooks (previous M-class chips were only used in Apple’s Mac computers, rather than iPad tablets).

However, despite offering the kind of performance you’d expect from a MacBook, I found the power of the M4 chip largely went to waste with the iPad Pro due to it still using iPadOS, and was confined to running simplified iPad apps, rather than full desktop applications.

Even if this move still means you can’t run macOS apps on the iPad Pro, it could still make a massive difference, especially when it comes to multitasking (running multiple apps at the same time and switching between them). If Apple nails this, it would go a long way to making the iPad Pro a true MacBook alternative.

But, making iPadOS more like macOS could bring downsides as well, so I’ve listed five reasons why this could be a great move – and three reasons why it could all go wrong.

5 reasons why making iPadOS more like macOS is a great idea 1. It means the iPad Pro makes more sense

(Image credit: Future)

The biggest win when it comes to making iPadOS more like macOS is with the powerful iPad Pro. Hardware-wise, the iPad Pro is hard to fault, with a stunning screen, thin and light design, and powerful components.

However, despite its cutting-edge hardware, it can only run iPad apps. These are generally simple and straightforward apps that have been designed to be used with a touchscreen. These apps also need to be able to be run on less powerful iPads as well.

This means advanced features are often left for the desktop version of the app, and any performance improvement owners of the iPad Pro get over people using, say, the iPad mini will be modest. Certainly, when I use the iPad Pro, it feels like a lot of its power and potential is limited by this – so a lot of the expensive hardware is going to waste.

Making iPadOS more like macOS could – in an ideal world – lead to the ability to run Mac applications on the iPad Pro. At the very least, it could mean some app designers make their iPad apps come with a Mac-like option.

If it means multitasking is easier, then that will be welcome as well. One of the things I struggled with when I tried using the iPad Pro for work instead of my MacBook was having multiple apps open at once and quickly moving between them. Cutting and pasting content between apps was particularly cumbersome, not helped by the web browser I was using (Chrome) being the mobile version that doesn’t support extensions.

It made tasks that would take seconds on a MacBook a lot more hassle – a critical problem that meant I swiftly moved back to my MacBook Pro for work.

2. It could be just in time for M5-powered iPad Pros

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Prathankarnpap)

If, as rumored, this major change to iPadOS will be announced at Apple’s WWDC 2025 event, then it could nicely coincide with the rumored reveal of a new iPad Pro powered by the M5 chip.

While I’m not 100% convinced about an M5 iPad Pro, seeing as Apple is still releasing M4 devices, the timing would make sense. If Apple does indeed announce an even more powerful iPad Pro, then iPadOS, in its current form, would feel even more limiting.

However, if Apple announces both a new M5 iPad Pro and an overhaul of iPadOS to make use of this power, then that could be very exciting indeed. And, with WWDC being an event primarily aimed at developers, it could be a great opportunity for Apple to show off the new-look iPadOS and encourage those developers to start making apps that take full advantage of the new and improved operating system.

3. It makes it easier for Mac owners to get into iPad ecosystem

(Image credit: Future)

Gurman’s mention of Apple wanting to make its operating systems more consistent is very interesting. One of Apple’s great strengths is in its ecosystem. If you have an iPhone, it’s more likely that you’ll get an Apple Watch over a different smartwatch, and it means you might also have an Apple Music subscription and AirPods as well.

Making iPadOS more like macOS (and iOS and other Apple operating systems) can benefit both Apple and its customers.

If a MacBook owner decides to buy an iPad (Apple’s dream scenario) and the software looks and works in a similar way, then they’ll likely be very happy as it means their new device is familiar and easy to use. And that could mean they buy even more products, which will again be just what Apple wants.

4. It would give iPadOS more of an identity

(Image credit: Apple)

I don’t know about you, but I just think of iPadOS as just iOS (the operating system for iPhones) with larger icons. Maybe that’s unfair, but when the iPad first launched, it was running iOS, and even with the launch of iPadOS in 2019, there are only a handful of features and apps that don’t work on both operating systems.

By making iPadOS a combination of iOS and macOS, it would ironically mean that iPadOS would feel like a more unique operating system, and it could finally step out of the shadow cast by iOS while still benefitting from being able to run almost all apps found in the iPhone’s massive app library.

5. It could mean macOS becomes a bit more like iPadOS

(Image credit: Kaspars Grinvalds / Apple)

iPadOS getting macOS features could work both ways – so could we get some iPad-like features on a Mac or MacBook? There are things that iPadOS does better, such as being more user-friendly for beginners and turning an iPad into a second display for a nearby MacBook. All this would be great to see in macOS.

Having the choice of a larger interface that works well with touchscreens could even pave the way for one of the devices people most request from Apple: a touchscreen MacBook.

3 reasons why making iPadOS more like macOS is a bad idea 1 . It could overcomplicate things

(Image credit: TechRadar)

One of iPadOS’ best features is its simplicity, and while I feel that simplicity holds back a device like the iPad Pro, for more casual users on their iPad, iPad mini, or iPad Air, that ease-of-use is a huge bonus.

If iPadOS were to become more like macOS, that could delight iPad Pro owners, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that the iPad Pro is a niche device that’s too expensive for most people. macOS-like features on an iPad mini, for example, just doesn’t make sense, and Apple would be silly to make a major change that annoys the majority of its customers to please just a few.

2. It could cause a divergence with iOS – and lead to fewer apps

(Image credit: Apple)

The iPad initially launching with iOS was an excellent decision by Apple, as it meant that people who had bought the new product had instant access to thousands of iPhone apps.

While it wasn’t perfect at first – some apps didn’t work well with the iPad’s larger screen- it was likely much easier than if the iPad had launched with a completely new operating system that then needed developers to create bespoke applications for it.

Think of it this way: if you were an app developer with limited resources (both time and money), would you make an app for a system that already had millions of users or risk making an app for a new product with a tiny user base? The answer is simple – you’d go for the large user base (almost) every time, so if it hadn’t launched with iOS and access to the App Store, then the original iPad could have been a flop. Just look at Microsoft’s attempts with the Windows Phone – it needed developers to create a third version of their apps, alongside iOS and Android versions. Very few developers wanted to do that, which meant Windows Phone devices launched with far fewer apps than Android and iPhone rivals.

If iPadOS moves closer to macOS, could we see fewer apps make it to iPad? While iPads are incredibly popular, they are still nowhere near as popular as iPhones, so if devs have to choose between which audience to make an app for, you can bet it’ll be for the iPhone.

However, if future iPadOS apps will remain essentially iOS apps but with an optional macOS-like interface, that could still mean the new look is dead on arrival, as developers will prefer to concentrate on the interface that can be used by the widest audience rather than just iPad Pro users.

3. You’ll probably need expensive peripherals to make the most of it

(Image credit: Future)

iPadOS works so well because it’s been designed from the ground up to be used on a touchscreen device. You can buy a new iPad, and all you need to do is jab the screen to get going.

However, macOS is designed for keyboard and mouse/trackpad, so if you want to make the most out of a future version of iPadOS that works like macOS, you’re going to need to invest in peripherals – and some of them can be very expensive.

The Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro is a brilliant bit of kit that quickly attaches to the iPad and turns it into a laptop-like device with a physical keyboard and touchpad, but it also costs $299 / £299 / AU$499 – a hefty additional expense, and I can almost guarantee that to use any macOS-like features in iPadOS, you’ll really need some sort of peripherals. This will either make things too expensive for a lot of people, or if you choose a cheaper alternative such as a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, it then takes away from the simplicity of using an iPad.

This could mean fewer people actually use the macOS-like elements, which in turn would mean there’s less incentive for app developers to implement features and designs that only a small proportion of iPad users will use.

So, I’m all for more macOS features for my iPad Pro – but I am also very aware that I am in the minority when it comes to iPad owners, and Apple needs to be careful not to lose what made the iPad so successful in the first place just to placate people (like me) who moan about iPads being too much like iPads. Maybe it would just be better if I stuck with my MacBook instead.

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• Fujifilm may have asked retailers to suspend orders of three cameras
• Rumors suggest the X100VI, GFX100RF and X-M5 are affected
• The move could be tariff-related – we've asked Fujifilm for a response

The Fujifilm X100VI hasn't been easy to find at the best of times since it launched just over a year ago – but the compact camera could soon become genuinely impossible to buy new in the US, according to new rumors.

An anonymous source has apparently told Fuji Rumors that Fujifilm recently "contacted retailers about the suspension of orders" for the X100VI, alongside the new Fujifilm GFX100RF and the black version of the Fujifilm X-M5.

If that's true, it means backorders for the Fujifilm X100VI may now be suspended in the US, which means not being able to join the queue of people waiting for one. It'd also mean that pre-orders for the GFX100RF, which was announced less than a month ago, may be suspended in the US before it's even got started.

The little Fujifilm X-M5 seemingly hasn't been as badly affected, with the suspension of pre-orders apparently only affecting the black version. But it's possible that stock of the silver version, which is already shipping, could also run dry. We've contacted Fujifilm for a response to these rumors and will update this story if we hear back.

The problem is seemingly that, as Fuji Rumors claims, the X100VI and X-M5 are both made in China, which the US has subjected to a 145% tariff. The GFX100RF is made in Japan, so the reasons for its apparent issues in the US are less obvious.

Something that also isn't clear is whether or not the knock-on effect could be the greater availability of these three cameras in other regions.

In the UK, for example, the Fujifilm X100VI is still largely on backorder, but it may also not be possible to divert stock to different regions due to variations in accessories and warranties.

What should you get instead?

(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)

We don't yet know how accurate these reports of Fujifilm suspending retailer orders for the X100VI in the US are. But either way, it's already very difficult to buy the camera new, with the X100VI listed as 'out of stock' on Fujifilm's store and backordered at retailers. The trade war certainly isn't going to ease that situation.

Fortunately, the X100VI isn't your only option. I've previously written about how that camera has helped raise second-hand compact camera prices due to its popularity, but that effect started to wane in early 2025 as the stock issues eased.

If you want a powerful compact camera that's genuinely pocketable (and smaller than the X100VI), then the Ricoh GR III and GR IIIx (which I'd go for due to its 40mm lens) both remain good options.

We've also recently noted the availability of the Leica D-Lux 8, while other solid second-hand options include the Panasonic Lumix LX100 II and Fujifilm X-Pro 2. But my choice would be either the Fujifilm X-T30 II or X-T50 – in fact, I bought the latter when it dropped to a new record-low price recently.

Neither X-T models are as small or as desirable as the rangefinder-style X100VI, but they do come with the considerable benefit of being able to change lenses. That makes them potentially better long-term buys, and certainly superior short-term ones – given they're actually available to buy both new and used.

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• Microsoft will purchase 3.685 million tons of carbon removal credits over 12 years
• Carbon will be captured from pulp and paper milling stations
• It will be stored permanently in saline aquifers

Microsoft has confirmed plans to buy 3.685 million metric tons of carbon removal credits from CO280 as part of an agreement that will last 12 years.

Expected to start in 2028, the project will be located at Gulf Coast pulp and paper mills and will cover emissions from CO280’s first carbon capture project.

Likely to be one of the largest engineered carbon removal purchases to date, it will both help Microsoft to become carbon negative by 2030 and continue its onward journey in the years that follow.

Microsoft signs 12-year deal for carbon removal

Microsoft already uses a mix of renewable energy and carbon removal credits to reach its climate goals, however a lot has changed in recent years with a surge in demand for artificial intelligence, which is built on the power- and resource-hungry foundation of huge data centers.

The company has been candid about these challenges, noting that greenhouse gas emissions have been rising. In 2023, Microsoft produced 17.2 million metric tons of Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gases, up from 16.5 million, 14.4 million and 12.3 million metric tons in the three preceding years.

It’s hard to say whether the company is on track to meet its 2030 deadline given the rapidly advancing rate of technology, however its longer-term plans are to remove all historic emissions since its founding in 1975.

CO280’s strategy involves retrofitting pulp and paper mills with carbon capture systems based on amine-based capture tech, permanently storing carbon underground in saline aquifers.

“The CO280 strategy of adding carbon removal to existing paper mills is an efficient way to quickly scale carbon removal and bolster investment and jobs into timberland communities across the United States,” Microsoft Senior Director of Energy & Carbon Removal Brian Marrs commented.

More broadly, Microsoft has other sustainability plans to minimize its footprint globally, including purchasing 1.5 million tons in credits via an afforestation project in India, 1.6 million tons in credits over 30 years in Panama and over seven million tons in credits over 25 years with New York-based Chestnut Carbon.

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