TechRadar News

• NordStellar reports 2,581 ransomware attacks in Q2 2026, with Qilin (299) and The Gentlemen (284) leading activity, far ahead of DragonForce (147)
• US SMBs were hit hardest, suffering 769 incidents; Canada (97), Germany (83), and the UK (74) followed, while attacks on billion‑dollar enterprises surged 74%
• Experts say rivalry between Qilin and The Gentlemen is driving the spike, with major corporate hits seen as reputation‑boosting trophies in the cybercriminal underground

Two ransomware gangs are battling for dominance, and US-based SMBs are the ones suffering most for it, experts have claimed.

Fresh data about the state of ransomware in 2026, compiled by security experts from NordStellar, shows two groups - Qilin and The Gentlemen - being by far the most active ones.

After analyzing more than 200 threat actor blogs, NordStellar concluded that there were 2,581 ransomware attacks in the second quarter of the year - and of that number, 299 belong to Qilin, the most active threat actor out there. Close second are The Gentlemen, with 284 attacks. The third most active group - DragonForce - doesn’t even come close with “just” 147 attacks.

SMBs and enterprises under assault

While it seems like a close race, it’s actually The Gentlemen who have been doing the heavy lifting between April and June 2026. This group experienced a 39% increase in attacks, while Qilin’s activity actually declined somewhat, compared to Q1.

In this morbid race to the bottom, the biggest victims are US-based small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). These companies, with up to 200 employees and revenues under $25 million, experienced 769 attacks in Q2 2026, followed by Canada (97), Germany (83), and the UK (74).

NordStellar also mentioned US enterprises, who are now increasingly being targeted. Attacks against organizations with revenues north of $1 billion surged by 74%, going from 23 incidents in Q1, to 40 in Q2.

“Ransomware actors historically target SMBs because these organizations often lack comprehensive defenses, which can increase the likelihood of a successful attack,” commented Vakaris Noreika, cybersecurity expert at NordStellar.

“This recent spike in enterprise targeting is unusual and may be a temporary fluctuation. This shift likely stems from the rivalry between dominant threat actors — a successful hit on a major corporation is a badge of honor that boosts a group’s reputation within the cybercriminal underground."

• Windows 11's July update was blocked from certain Dell laptops due to nasty issues with unexpected shutdowns and poor performance
• Microsoft just issued an emergency patch to fix those problems, so the PCs in question can install the latest update
• However, that patch might end up installed on non-Dell PCs if the user has enabled the option to get the latest updates as soon as possible

Windows 11's latest (July) update was blocked from Dell PCs as it was buggy on those systems, but the good news is that it's now fixed — but there's an additional wrinkle to be aware of here for those of you who don't own a Dell machine.

Windows Latest reports that Microsoft just deployed an emergency update (KB5121767) which fixes the problems with certain Dell laptops with Intel CPUs, which include unexpected shutdowns and generally poor performance (including running sluggishly and overheating, as well as increased battery drain).

Those with an affected Dell laptop — and that apparently includes some XPS models, as well as Dell Pro and Precision (business) notebooks, and possibly others — should install the emergency patch. As Microsoft makes clear, you'll find it under optional updates, which is reached via 'Advanced options' in the Windows Update panel.

However, the wrinkle that I mentioned is that Windows Latest observes that it's possible some Windows 11 PCs that aren't Dell laptops may automatically grab and install this update — if they have the 'Get the latest updates as soon as they're available' toggle on.

Analysis: a notable side effect

(Image credit: Future)

This feature is one that people turn on in the hope that they'll get Windows 11 updates, and more to the point, new feature rollouts, more quickly (there can be quite a wait for certain features to arrive, such as the Start menu revamp from last year, which some folks still haven't received even now).

So, bear in mind that if you've enabled this option, you may get certain updates automatically — like this emergency patch — when you don't actually need them on your PC. It doesn't help that this particular update is confusingly named, being called '2026-07 Update (KB5121767) (26200.8894)', which could leave you wondering what on earth it is exactly (until you look up the codename KB5121767).

At any rate, if you're not happy with this situation, to turn off 'Get the latest updates as soon as they're available' you need to head to Windows Update (in Settings) and adjust the relevant slider (at the top of the 'More options' panel).

Why is this option configured in this way? It seems especially odd in this case seeing as Microsoft tells us: "This OOB [emergency] update is only recommended for devices affected by this issue." That said, seemingly it doesn't do any harm to a non-affected PC (whether a Dell model, or not) if it does end up with this emergency patch installed.

At any rate, if you do enable the option to get the latest updates, just don't forget that this can have side effects, such as installing optional updates that you don't actually want. It would be a better idea if, in these cases, Microsoft simply flagged these updates as available, rather than having them install automatically.

It's also worth noting that this isn't the first time Dell laptops have run into trouble with Windows 11 recently, as last month an update to the firm's SupportAssist app left some notebooks crashing every half an hour or so.

• People keep arriving at a Reddit user’s house seeking their lost iPhones
• It may be down to a quirk with how Apple’s Find My system works
• It sounds similar to another case from ten years ago

If someone turned up at your door claiming their lost device was at your address — and you knew it definitely wasn’t — you might be a little confused, but not too bothered. But if it happened repeatedly over a period of years, you’d start to get concerned. That’s exactly what’s been happening to one long-suffering Reddit user, and the cause is still a mystery.

As recounted by the victim on their recent Reddit thread, “About 3-4 years ago, we had two men turn up to our door because one of them had an iPhone stolen the night before, and the Find My app brought them to our house.” The device wasn’t there, however, and the men left.

“Ever since, we’ve had at least four or five more instances or random guys, iPad, or friend’s phone in hand, saying ‘My phone is here,’” they continued. “It’s frustrating to have to explain to them that this has happened and we don’t have them.”

But aside from the mere confusion of the incidents, the original poster was also concerned about their safety. “We’re both women, and I don’t want one guy to be absolutely fuming about his phone missing and hurt us,” they worried.

Some people thought this might be more than a simple case of mistaken identity or Find My having a glitchy moment. “I’ve seen videos from Ring doorbells being posted saying that this is a common scam nowadays,” said one, with another adding that “I would call the police. It may be someone trying to gain access to your property, whatever you do don’t let them in.”

Can anything be done?

(Image credit: Ring)

Situations like this can be concerning, especially if they keep happening with different people turning up on your doorstep. But this is not the first time Apple’s Find My feature has befuddled people in this way, with a similar case reported back in 2013, for example.

And back in 2016, the Reply All podcast investigated after a strikingly similar occurrence in Atlanta, GA. In the end, the podcast concluded that it was all to do with the “digital desert” present in the area, with the Atlanta victims being one of the few homes with a router in the area.

As the podcast explained, if a lost phone is trying to broadcast its location, it might do so by connecting to GPS. If that’s not feasible, it’ll next try to find the nearest IP addresses and Wi-Fi networks, triangulating itself based on the relative strengths of those networks.

If the center of that IP address area happens to be a person’s house, that’s where people seeking their lost device will end up. Moreover, considering how few routers were in the area, any lost phone that was relatively nearby and couldn’t connect to GPS might have found the victims’ router as a fallback, leading people straight to the home in question.

What's the answer?

Apple’s Find My feature uses Bluetooth to connect to a network of other devices, using them to pinpoint a lost phone’s location.

It’s therefore conceivable that the solution for the Reddit conundrum is slightly different to that suggested by Reply All. One alternative suggested on Reddit was that stolen devices are being handled nearby and send out a ‘ping’ before they’re disassembled or deactivated. That ping is an approximate location, but it happens to line up with the victims’ house, sending people to their door.

Another possibility relates to Wi-Fi networks, as in the 2016 case. This time, it was pointed out that Find My can log local Wi-Fi networks — if the victims’ home network strength is strong enough, lost devices nearby could show it as the phone’s last known location. The answer this time could be to add _nomap to the home network SSID name, as one user suggested.

But without a solid idea of what’s happening, solutions might not always be possible. As one commenter said, “depending on where you live it could be that your home happens to be the location that a lot of IP addresses default to on the map. Sadly there is very little you can do about it.”

You might be thinking more about BBQing and less about air frying with the current weather, but with this deal you can have the best of both worlds. It's for the Ninja Foodi Max, which is now on sale at Amazon for £179.99 (was £229.99). That's the lowest price we've seen since Black Friday.

The Ninja Foodi Max is a highly-rated twin-drawer air fryer that can cook two foods at once, produce crisp, evenly browned results, and, after enjoying all that gorgeously cooked food, is super easy to clean.

And if you're concerned about eating too much oil or the cost of it, Ninja claims that the Foodi Max dual-zone air fryer reduces the amount of oil required by 75%. This is the complete package, now at a low price.

Today's best Ninja air fryer deal

Get a £60 discount on a four-star air fryer that will keep the whole family well fed with deliciously cooked food. The Foodi Max features six cooking functions, two baskets with independent cooking zones, and an extra-large capacity. If you want the biggest and the best, then this is it. Don't hang around, though, as the discount ends on the July 21.View Deal

Ninja sells a wide range of air fryers, and two of them boast a very similar design. You've got this deal for the Ninja Foodi Max that we awarded four stars and the very similar Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer that we gave a full five stars. The bottom line is that Ninja knows what they're doing.

The Foodi Max is a 6-in-1 beast that offers, you guessed it, six unique cooking functions: Max Crisp, air fry, roast, bake, reheat, and dehydrate. This high level of versatility alongside the large 9.5L capacity means you'll be able to cook a wide range of meals for the whole family or when entertaining.

If the footprint of the Foodi Max is too big for your kitchen, then why not consider the Ninja Double Stack with its two-tier design? Alternatively, take a look at the latest air fryer deals, and I'm sure you'll find an air fryer to suit your requirements at a price you love.

• Ernst & Young confirms breach via a third‑party IT service management platform, exposing client tax data between March 28 and April 12, 2026
• Attackers accessed documents tied to tax support tickets; exact scope and affected clients remain undisclosed, with no dark web leaks or group claims so far
• EY activated incident response, secured systems, and is offering 24 months of Experian identity monitoring to impacted customers

Ernst & Young (EY) has confirmed suffering a cyberattack in which it lost sensitive customer information, including tax data.

In a data breach notification letter sent to affected individuals, the firm said that on April 23, 2026, it spotted “anomalous activity” within a third-party platform its IT team uses. This is an IT service management platform that helps EY staff support the teams that perform tax-related work for clients. Therefore, the tickets submitted through this platform sometimes also contain documents with client tax information which may have been exposed in the incident.

EY then activated its incident response protocols, bringing in third-party cybersecurity experts, as well as notifying relevant authorities and affected clients.

Free identity theft protection

Further investigation determined that the unnamed threat actors broke in on March 28, 2026 and have, until April 12, been exfiltrating the files. EY did not say exactly which information was pulled, or how many clients were affected. We also don’t know if this only pertains to US clients, or overseas ones, as well. The attackers have, since then, been removed from EY’s virtual premises, and the systems have been secured, the company confirmed.

So far, no hacking groups claimed responsibility for this attack, and the data is yet to surface anywhere on the dark web. EY’s customers should be on the lookout for unsolicited emails, especially those claiming to be from the professional services giant.

To help them stay secure, EY is offering 24 months of free identity monitoring and restoration services through Experian.

Ernst & Young is one of the "Big Four" largest professional services and accounting networks in the world. It is headquartered in London, but operates as a global network of independent members spanning more than 150 countries and employing more than 400,000 people. The company’s core business includes assurance, tax, consulting, and M&A strategy.

Via BleepingComputer

• YouTube picture-in-picture on mobile is broken for some
• The feature was made available to all users earlier this year
• Google says it's looking into the issue and working on a fix

YouTube picture-in-picture (PiP) mode on Android and iOS is one of the most useful features the app offers — available to all users now, Premium or otherwise — but a widespread bug seems to have broken the functionality on phones.

As reported by 9to5Google, there are multiple reports of PiP mode failing to activate when the YouTube app is exited. The audio keeps playing in the background, but there's no sign of the small video overlay.

We've had mixed experiences with this on the TechRadar team: for some it's working fine, for others it's broken. However, it's definitely a genuine problem for some users at least, because Google has acknowledged there is a bug.

"Our teams are actively investigating the issue, and we'll update this thread as soon as we have more information," explains a Google representative, saying that while most bug reports are coming from iPhone owners, the issue is also appearing on Android.

What happens next?Picture In Picture mode from r/youtube

We've scoured the YouTube Help forums and Reddit, and so far there doesn't seem to be any proper workaround for the problem. If it's something you're experiencing, you're just going to have to wait it out until Google issues a fix.

According to the Reddit threads that have popped up discussing the bug, it's affecting both free users and those paying for Premium, so you're not going to be able to bring back PiP by giving the paid subscription a go.

One poster reports that the feature has been "acting up for several weeks" and that PiP sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. If that's the case it might be worth rebooting your phone and trying again — though there's no guarantees.

The best place to look for updates on PiP functionality is the official thread for the issue on the YouTube Help forum. Hopefully, with Google's engineers on the case, it's a bug that gets sorted out sooner rather than later.

Kapwing is among the best AI video editors today. It allows you to create videos with simple text prompts and generate lively AI characters to build detailed storylines.

Trusted by brands like Google, Dyson, and Spotify and used by thousands of content creators across YouTube, TikTok, and digital marketing platforms, Kapwing has quickly grown to become one of the industry’s favorite video generation and editing software.

In this article, we put Kapwing to the test to see whether its features perform as advertised. Read on to learn about our real-world experience with Kapwing, its best features, and the alternatives worth considering if it doesn’t fit your needs.

Kapwing: Plans and pricing

You can get started with Kapwing through its free-forever plan, which allows up to 30 minutes of video exports per month in 720p resolution, with each video limited to a maximum length of one minute. There’s also a 2GB file upload limit, along with access to editing and AI-powered tools such as auto-subtitling, auto-translation, and text-to-speech, albeit with limited usage caps.

We also like that you get a fair share of collaboration features, such as project link sharing and commenting, allowing you to edit videos collaboratively with your team. However, the free plan is meant primarily for testing the platform rather than full-fledged use.

If you want to get the most out of Kapwing, you’ll have to upgrade to one of its paid plans. Its Pro plan starts at $16 per member per month and offers excellent value for money. The plan supports 4K video exports with unlimited monthly exports and a maximum video length of 120 minutes.

You can check it all out by clicking here.

(Image credit: Kapwing)

The AI editing tools also come with higher usage limits. For example, you get up to 1,000 minutes of auto-subtitling and 500 minutes of auto-translation per month. Besides this, the plan adds several premium tools, including video and image background removal, video stabilization, and the ability to add your brand kit and custom fonts to your projects.

Next is the Business plan, designed for teams that need more advanced content creation workflows. Costing $50 per member per month, it includes up to 4,000 minutes of auto-subtitling, 2,000 minutes of auto-translation, 2,000 minutes of Clean Audio per month, and 130 minutes of Lip Sync. The remaining features are largely the same as those in the Pro plan.

Finally, there’s an Enterprise plan for large organizations that need priority support and custom billing. However, you’ll need to contact the Kapwing team directly to obtain a customized quote.

Kapwing: Features

Kapwing packs a good mix of both AI-powered and traditional video editing features. Let’s start with its AI capabilities. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that you can generate AI videos with a simple text prompt. Its video generation interface is pretty similar to that of chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini. You simply enter your prompt and click the Send button. You can also attach media as a reference for the AI engine.

Besides video generation, Kapwing offers several other AI tools. For instance, Translate Video lets you convert the audio in a video from one language to another. There’s also a handy Smart Cut feature, which automatically removes awkward silences from your videos, giving them a more polished finish. You can also generate AI characters, which come in handy if you want to build a consistent storyline or reuse the same character across multiple AI-generated videos.

Kapwing gives you more options when generating AI characters. To get started, click the @ icon in the chat window and select the type of character you want to generate. The available options range from everyday characters like a baby or a cheerleader to more outlandish ones such as a cyborg, Dracula, or a dragon.

You also have the option to choose more than one character type. For instance, you can select both "baby" and "Dracula" if you’re trying to create something unique. Here’s the Baby Dracula character we created using Kapwing.

(Image credit: Future)

Apart from this, you’ll find several other options, such as Image to Video, which lets you convert a still image into a short video clip, and Text to Video, where you can enter a full-fledged script and allow Kapwing to generate an AI video for you. There’s also a handy Video Stabilizer tool, which is useful for fixing shaky footage or videos with heavy motion blur.

For longer video formats, Kapwing also supports Video Storyboards, where you can create a timestamped outline of every scene. The more traditional tools include text-to-speech, video dubbing in 40+ languages, resizing videos from one aspect ratio to another, and adding subtitles to videos.

Kapwing: Interface and in use

Almost all of Kapwing’s features are nestled into a central dashboard, with the video editor in the center, a long list of features on the left-hand panel, and an editing panel on the right. You can simply upload your media or drag and drop any video or image you want to edit. After that, you may need to spend a little time exploring the interface to find the exact feature you’re looking for.

For instance, you can access features such as Text, Audio, Subtitles, Transcript, Translate, AI Voice, and more directly from the left-hand panel. There’s also a help function that helps you quickly locate settings you can’t find right away.

(Image credit: Future)

The editing experience was pretty smooth. For instance, we tried adding text to an AI-generated image, and the process was seamless. We could easily change the font, color, size, and other formatting options from the panel on the right.

Note that the right-hand panel changes dynamically depending on the tool you’re using. For example, if you select Translate, you’ll see language options appear on the right.

Overall, like any video editing software, Kapwing comes with a slight learning curve. However, in our experience, it was much easier to use than many legacy editing tools. The interface is modern, sleek, and highly responsive. We didn’t experience any system lag or timeouts during our testing.

(Image credit: Future)

In addition to the main editing window, there is also a dedicated My Workspace page in Kapwing. Here, you can find all your recent projects at the bottom, along with a dedicated set of tools highlighted on the main page. If you’re using a Business plan, you’ll also see your team folders on the left-hand panel. Similarly, Settings, Brand Kit, and your Media Library are all accessible from the same panel.

Kapwing: How we tested

We tested the free version of Kapwing across multiple accounts to evaluate its AI capabilities more thoroughly. To start, we tried generating an AI video using the following prompt:

“A woman in a red coat walks across a rain-soaked city street at night, neon signs reflecting in the puddles, camera slowly tracking alongside her.”

(Image credit: Future)

Kapwing got to work as soon as we hit Send, first generating a summary of the scene we wanted to create. After that, it produced a five-second video within seconds. Although Kapwing indicated that the video would be seven seconds long, the actual output was five seconds.

(Image credit: Future)

We then edited the same video using Kapwing’s video editor, experimenting with features such as adding text, audio, and subtitles. Since the free plan is fairly limited, we had to use more than two accounts to fully test its capabilities.

What stood out to us was how quickly Kapwing generated both edits and the source video. Everything was processed quickly, which is a clear advantage.

Kapwing: Alternatives

While Kapwing is a capable AI video generator and editor, it is not the most affordable option out there. For instance, Adobe Firefly costs $8.49 per month when billed annually and comes with features comparable to Kapwing. You get access to popular video models such as Google Veo 3.1 and Runway Gen-4.5, allowing you to create up to 50 and 11 videos, respectively.

Adobe Firefly truly shines with its workflow features, allowing creative teams to brainstorm visual concepts on virtual boards. You can also process thousands of files at once using bulk actions such as removing backgrounds or cropping images. That said, Firefly lags a bit behind when it comes to video editing, as many of its editing features are still in beta.

It's also not ideal for long-form content generation, as most models cap video lengths at three to five seconds. On the bright side, you also get access to Adobe Express Premium and Photoshop with all paid plans.

Veed is another capable competitor, with prices starting at $12 per month, roughly 20% cheaper than Kapwing. It also offers a free plan, which appears to be more generous than Kapwing’s. For instance, you can try features like removing silences, background removal, auto-edits, social media character generation, and voice cloning on Veed’s free plan – most of which are not available on Kapwing’s free tier.

Kapwing: Final verdict

Kapwing is one of the best AI video generation and editing platforms available, with a strong mix of both traditional and AI-powered tools. Not only can you generate AI videos from simple prompts, but you can also transcribe videos, translate them into 40+ languages, create AI characters, and edit videos from a central dashboard.

Kapwing is also easier to use than many other platforms on the market, although there is still a slight learning curve involved. That said, there are plenty of video tutorials and help center articles available to help users get through this phase.

However, Kapwing can be a bit on the expensive side, especially for personal users, which is why you may want to consider alternatives like Adobe Firefly or Veed.

We've tested, reviewed, and rated a range of video makers and editors, including the best video editing software, the best video editing apps and the best free video editing software.

Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank review

The Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank is a svelte, pocketable MagSafe power bank. Not only does it include two USB-C ports that can muster up to 45W charging solo or 15W together, it can also charge 25W wirelessly and comes with a discrete cable that doubles up as its handle.

When it comes to looks, the majority of power banks usually take the form of functional cuboids. However, the SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank actually feels like it has some personality. To start, it's available in a range of colorways: Soft Lilac and Sunset Orange are seriously eye-catching, while I love the fact that the Metallic Mocha hue I tested here matches my Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro.

There are more practical design flourishes, too. The SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank is super slim compared to many of the best power banks. It measures just 0.5 inches / 13.8mm thick, which is almost half the thickness of my chunky 0.91 inch / 23mm Ugreen 10000mAh Magnetic Wireless Power Bank, and even slimmer than the 0.58 inch / 14.7mm Anker MagGo Power Bank (10K, Slim). The SnapGo Air is a little wider as a result, measuring 2.76 x 4.13 inches / 70 x 105mm, but by having the MagSafe connection extend out a tiny bit from the power bank’s bezel, it keeps its height to a minimum.

As I mentioned, another neat touch is the doubling of the Iniu’s braided USB-C cable as the power bank’s loop. While this isn’t a unique feature by any means — for example, the recent UGreen 10,000mAh Magnetic Wireless Power Bank Qi2 25W utilizes a similar system — it's far more convenient than having to bring a separate cable with you, and makes it easier should you want to opt for that 45W fast-charging over the slower 25W MagSafe charging.

Like a lot of the newer power banks, the SnapGo Air also features an LCD screen, which displays the battery’s remaining charge. This is far more useful than those models that only have a series of LEDs to indicate battery status, where you're left guessing whether the power bank has 51% or 74% charge left. The display here is subtle, tucked away down by the device’s two USB-C ports, and I really appreciate the more granular insight it provides on the juice left in my device.

(Image credit: Future)

So how does it perform? Perhaps, unsurprisingly, pretty well! That 45W max charging isn’t unheard of, but it still beats a number of devices, with many higher output models likely to cost you a lot more — although the Anker 20,000mAh 87W Power Bank is currently available for a steal at just $69.99 / £49.99 / AU$119.99. MagSafe charging is capped at 25W by Apple, so naturally you won’t get a huge variation in charging speed there; but the reality is you're trading speed for convenience with wireless charging.

In terms of the numbers, I first put the SnapGo Air to the test by fully charging the 5,200mAh battery of the OnePlus Nord CE5 from 0% to 100% using its 45W charging. That took 1 hour and 24 minutes, which is pretty much bang on what I’d expect given the phone’s capacious battery. Unfortunately, only 29% of the Iniu’s 10,000mAh capacity remained after charging, which is a significant drop.

Meanwhile, when I used its MagSafe charging to juice up an 3,095mAh iPhone 13 Pro, it took 2 hours and 25 minutes — that’s considerably slower, but not surprising given the max wattage available to the iPhone 13 Pro during MagSafe charging is just 15W.

When it comes to powering the SnapGo Air back up, its 27W charging saw this take just 1 hour and 46 minutes. Given its 10,000mAh total capacity, that isn't bad — there are phones with batteries half that size that take nearly as long to charge up.

All told, the Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank is a pretty strong power bank. It charges your devices fast, whether you’re using its built-in cable or 25W MagSafe charging; its LCD screen is super useful; and the unit itself is nicely compact. Moreover, it’s a seriously stylish power bank in a market crammed with charcoal-hued cuboids, yet comes in at a very reasonable price. Ultimately, it’s a very hard product to find fault with.

(Image credit: Future)Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank review: price & availability

• Launched on May 15, 2026
• List price of $54.99 / £49.99 / AU$69.99
• Range of attractive colorways

Having launched on May 15, 2026, the Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank is widely available. It comes in a great range of colors — alongside Lunar Silver and Space Gray are a medley of iPhone-mimicking hues such as Midnight Navy, Metallic Mocha and Sunset Orange.

You can pick it up for a list price of $54.99 / £49.99 / AU$69.99, which is pretty keenly priced given its spec. For example, the Anker MagGo Power Bank (10K, Slim) can only muster 30W over a wired connection, compared to the Iniu’s 45W, yet costs $79.86 / £69 / AU$97.99, showing what a good deal the Iniu SnapGo Air actually is.

(Image credit: Future)Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank review: specs

Capacity

10,000mAh

Total wattage

45W wired / 25W wireless

Number of ports

2

Port type(s)

USB-C (2x input/output) + Detachable GoCord USB-C cable

Wireless charging

Yes, Qi2.2 certified (Up to 25W magnetic)

Weight

196g / 6.9 oz

Dimensions

4.2 x 2.8 x 0.5 inches / 10.7 x 7.1 x 1.38 cm

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank?Buy it if…

You want seriously fast charging
For a power bank this compact, it’s rare you’ll find charging speeds faster than its 45W. Able to top up a 5,200mAh phone in 1 hour and 24 minutes using its cable, it’s an impressively speedy power bank.

You’re fed up of drab-looking power banks
Arriving with an LCD screen and in a range of gorgeous colors that include everything from the iPhone mimicking Metallic Mocha or Sunset Orange to Soft Lilac or Space Gray, the Iniu sure is a looker.

Don’t buy it if…

You have a phone capable of ultra-fast charging
If your phone can handle more than 45W — for example, the OnePlus 15 with its ludicrous 120W charging — you might want to consider a power bank that offers faster charging speeds.

You want to be able to charge your phone multiple days running
At 10,000mAh, the SnapGo Air will comfortably charge most phones more than once. But if you’re going away for days and will need multiple charges, you might find a larger capacity is a better fit.

Iniu SnapGo Air 10000mAh Power Bank review: also consider

Anker 737 Power Bank (PowerCore 24K)
If you need to top up your phone more than once or your phone is capable of ultra-fast charging, the Anker 737 Power Bank (PowerCore 24K) is definitely worth considering. It has a huge 24,000mAh capacity, which would allow you to top up most phones around four times, while that insane 140W charging can rapidly juice up even the thirstiest phones on the market. Read our full Anker 737 Power Bank (PowerCore 24K) here.

If your AI rollout is making people more exhausted, the architecture is wrong. That’s not a provocative claim; it’s the logical conclusion of what the data shows. With 69% of UK businesses implementing AI assistants, these tools have become part of everyday working life.

But deployment without the right operational structure is leaving employees exposed to the harmful effects of ‘AI brain fry’. AI overload is not a failure of the individual, but a failure of system design. And it is the responsibility of technology and business leaders to fix it.

Researchers recently coined the term ‘AI brain fry’ to describe the cognitive fog and loss of concentration that results from excessive oversight and orchestration of AI tools; i.e. the mental load of managing the systems themselves. The problem - as our own data makes clear - is not that employees are using AI skills too much.

Rather, it is that most UK businesses have deployed AI tools without building the structured ways of working needed to make them productive. The issue does not lie in use alone; it lies in how that use is managed.

The organizations deploying these tools have a duty to ensure they deliver genuine efficiency gains – not a new category of cognitive burden.

The adoption gap is creating more work, not less

Only 31% of businesses are using multi-agent workflows, leaving their employees stuck in a cycle of tedious labor – the kind that AI is supposed to reduce. The majority of UK businesses currently employing AI tools are expecting employees to still do most of the heavy lifting.

Employees are finding themselves writing prompts, manually checking whether the answers are reliable, and interpreting outputs.

This type of work was supposed to be eased by AI. Instead, the tools have made it worse.

The consequence? More admin, not less. Employees who were promised that AI would lighten their workload are instead finding it has added a new layer of tasks including prompt management, output validation, error correction on top of the day job.

Few businesses have moved towards a structured multi-agent workflow where AI systems handle the orchestration burden directly – routing tasks, validating outputs and managing agent-to-agent handoffs without requiring constant human supervision.

That is the architecture that relieves the cognitive load. Without it, employees are not using AI – they are managing it. And there is a significant difference between the two.

Moving towards an ‘adaptive operating model’

UK organizations need to move beyond AI deployment and towards an adaptive operating model. One that is deliberately architected, not organically grown. That means clearly defining which tasks AI can be trusted to handle autonomously, where human judgement remains the critical control point, and how work moves between the two. In practice, this could look like:

AI agents handling first pass research, data synthesis and output drafting. Humans setting direction, making judgement calls and reviewing exceptions, rather than every output.

The distinction between “AI does the work” and “human manages the AI doing the work” is where most current deployments get stuck. To protect employees and exact real productivity, businesses must build in human oversight at the right level – not at every level.

This means developing genuine domain expertise so that employees can interrogate AI outputs critically, not simply accept them. It also means investing in the technical literacy to design workflows that are robust, not just functional. An AI deployment that requires constant human supervision to remain reliable has not been properly engineered.

The organizations that get this right will also be better protected as the employment landscape shifts. With the UK government’s Employment Rights Act 2025 set to reduce the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims and remove the compensation cap from January 2027, the cost of poorly managed AI-driven workforce change, both in human and legal terms, is rising.

Businesses that have embedded clear human-AI accountability structures will be far better placed than those that have not.

Without making these structural changes, AI adoption will continue to add effort rather than remove it. Thereby accelerating burnout at the very moment businesses are depending on these tools to drive productivity.

Protection and transformation go hand-in-hand

It is entirely possible to realise the productivity potential of AI whilst protecting employees from its cognitive costs. Multi-agent workflows, properly designed, keep humans in the seats that matter - strategy, judgement and decision-making – and had the orchestration burden to the systems built for it.

AI brain fry is not an inevitable side effect of AI adoption. It is a signal that the implementation architecture needs re-thinking. That is a technical and organizational challenge, and it belongs with the people who built the system – not the people using it.

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

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If you're looking for a powerful new desktop, Best Buy's Black Friday in July sale has dropped a fantastic offer you can snap up right now.

If you buy a qualifying system from a range of brands including HP, Acer, MSI, and iBUYPOWER, you can add the $180 GTPlayer Ergonomic Gaming Chair to your order for just $50.

There are a number of desktops to choose from, but the HP Omen 35L for $2140 (was $2700) stands out for me, saving you $560, before you even factor in the discounted chair.

Today's top HP Omen deal

This HP desktop delivers exceptional performance with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics, 32GB DDR5 memory, 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, LCD liquid cooling, and plenty of upgrade potential for years ahead.

Buy it (or any other available desktop) here, and you can get a $180 GTPlayer ergonomic chair for just $50.View Deal

The HP Omen 35L is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor with an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card with 16GB of GDDR6 memory.

The system comes with 32GB of DDR5 RAM running at 6000MHz and a fast 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, which means the system can tackle demanding creative software, AI workloads, video editing, multitasking, and even modern games with ease.

An LCD liquid cooler keeps temperatures under control, while the Ceramic White chassis offers plenty of room for potential future upgrades.

There are four memory slots supporting up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM, three M.2 slots for additional SSDs, an 850W power supply, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth, and a number of USB-A, USB-C, HDMI 2.1, and DisplayPort 2.1 connections for monitors and peripherals.

The desktop comes with Windows 11 Home, a wired keyboard and mouse, HP's Omen utilities, and a one-year warranty, making it ready to use straight out of the box.

Whether you're editing photos, producing videos, working with large datasets, creating 3D content, or simply want a fast, capable PC that will last for years, the HP Omen 35L is an easy recommendation from me.

If you could do with a new chair as well, being able to snap up an $180 ergonomic model for only $50 is the cherry on top.

Other desktops in Best Buy's Office Builder offer include the Acer Nitro 65, MSI Codex R2, iBUYPOWER Element, and CyberPowerPC Desktop.

For further desktop choices, take a look at our round up of the best desktop PCs and the best business desktops.

• Shop the full Black Friday in July sale at Best Buy

• Windows 10 21H2 and earlier is losing support for all OneDrive updates
• 22H2 will still get feature and security updates until October 2028
• Affected users are being urged to upgrade to Windows 11

Microsoft has announced it will end OneDrive sync app updates on Windows 10 version 21H2 and earlier starting August 15, 2026.

Besides no longer offering new features, affected devices will also be incompatible with new bug fixes and security updates, marking the official end of OneDrive on those devices.

The app will continue to function after losing update support, but system changes and emerging bugs could render it unfixable with time.

Windows 10 is starting to lose its OneDrive sync support

From the August 2026 deadline onward, users may experience reduced functionality, compatibility problems and security risks, with the company instead pushing Windows 11 as a viable alternative to keep OneDrive functioning as expected.

Some later versions of the ongoing OS, including version 22H2, will continue to receive feature, reliability and security updates until October 10, 2028. 22H2 was the final version of Windows 10 – the next upgrade after that represents a brand new OS that brings with it some hardware limitations.

"This change aligns OneDrive support with the Windows lifecycle policy and helps Microsoft focus ongoing investments on supported operating systems," Microsoft wrote in a support article.

Users who are reluctant to upgrade OS could still access OneDrive via the browser if the app end up breaking due to incompatibility.

Rather than issuing advice to make OneDrive compatible on Windows 10, Microsoft is urging affected users to finally upgrade to Windows 11. Windows 10 still accounts for around 28% of all Windows installs (per Statcounter), compared with 70% for Windows 11.

When the Western genre takes over the TV, it does so en masse. In 2026 alone, we've had Landman, The Madison, Marshals and Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch. Now, we're returning to Ransom Canyon for the Netflix's show second season.

Just over a year ago, we found out who killed Staten's (Josh Duhamel) son Randall, Staten once again breaking off his fledgling romance with Quinn (Minka Kelly), and seeing the land battle between Double K Ranch and the Fuller Ranch continues.

With season 2, we'll be diving even deeper into these messy and complicated issues. But, when does Ransom Canyon season 2 ride into view?

What time can I watch Ransom Canyon season 2 on Netflix?

Ransom Canyon season 2 drops on Thursday, July 23.

As for exact time, it should be the standard 12am PT / 3am ET release that many other Netflix TV Originals premiere at. For fans who don't live in North America, here's when you'll need to tune into Netflix for season 2:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 6pm AEST
• New Zealand – 8pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Ransom Canyon season 2 come out?

(Image credit: Netflix)

All eight episodes of this season will be released at the same time. Unlike weekly drops on the likes of Prime Video, Apple TV, and Disney+, then, you won't need to wait around for new installment of Ransom Canyon 2.

As for the series' future, there's currently no public word on whether a third season has been greenlit. Hopefully, we won't be made to wait much longer.

The World Cup has arrived, bringing a wave of anticipation, celebration, and distraction that stretches far beyond the stadiums. For employers, it also serves as a real-time test of workforce operations as schedules, staffing needs, and employee engagement are all put under the spotlight.

During the six-week tournament, millions of employees will be watching matches, adjusting schedules, arriving late, swapping shifts, requesting time off, or turning up tired after late nights.

New UKG research of 8,000 employees across Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US estimates the tournament could drive at least £12.6 billion in lost productivity.

In the UK alone, the impact could exceed £680 million, with employees not just planning to follow matches during working hours, alter their schedules, or miss work altogether --many admitted they would go to work hungover, secretly stream matches, and push the limits of what their employer would allow.

If England wins it all, almost a third of UK employees said they would take the day off whether that absence had been approved.

What the World Cup Reveals About the Future of Work

That creates a real challenge for employers. But the bigger lesson is not about football. It is about how work now happens.

The World Cup is a high-profile example of something organizations face every day: unpredictable employee behavior, sudden changes in demand, last-minute absences, weather disruption, supply chain delays, new regulations, and shifting customer expectations. For frontline-heavy industries in particular, disruption is not an exception to the operating model. It is the operating environment.

The question is whether workplace technology is built for that reality.

Many workforce systems were designed around predictability. They record schedules, track attendance, and report what happened after the fact. That matters, but it is no longer enough. When conditions change by the hour, organizations need more than systems of record. They need systems of action that help managers see risk earlier, make better decisions faster, and keep work moving in real time.

Three Workforce Strategies That Help Employers Stay Ahead of Disruption

The employers that come out ahead during the World Cup, and during the everyday disruption that follows it, will do three things differently.

1. See the disruption before it happens

Too often, workforce disruption becomes visible only once it has created a gap. Someone does not arrive. A shift is suddenly under-covered. A manager starts calling around for support. The business reacts after the damage has begun.

The World Cup gives organizations a chance to get ahead of that pattern.

Employees are already signaling intent. They know which matches matter to them. They know when they are likely to want flexibility, when they may need time off, and when they are more likely to be distracted or unavailable. Organizations that capture that intent early can turn it into useful operational data.

That does not mean monitoring employees or trying to control their behavior. It means giving people approved ways to communicate availability, preferences, and likely conflicts before they become last-minute absences. When that information is combined with historical absence patterns, demand forecasts, local schedules, and workforce data, managers can identify where risk is most likely to emerge.

A retailer, manufacturer, logistics operation, or hospitality business does not need to know every individual decision. But it does need to know where coverage pressure is building. High-interest match days, late kick-offs, local celebrations, and major national fixtures can all create predictable patterns of disruption.

Seeing that risk early allows organizations to plan differently. They can adjust staffing levels, open additional shifts, prepare contingency cover, or communicate expectations before managers are forced into crisis mode.

2. Design flexibility into the operating model

The instinctive response to disruption is often to tighten control. But rigid rules can push behavior underground.

If employees believe there is no fair or practical way to adjust work around major life moments, they are more likely to find informal workarounds. That can mean last-minute sickness calls, unapproved absences, shift swaps that managers do not see, or colleagues covering gaps without the right skills, rest periods, or compliance checks.

The better approach is to make flexibility visible, fair, and operationally safe.

That means giving employees clear, approved ways to request time off, swap shifts, volunteer for extra hours, adjust availability, or pick up open shifts. It also means giving managers the tools to assess those requests against business need, skills, fatigue, labor rules, and fairness.

This is especially important on the frontline, where the margin for error is small. A missed shift in an office may delay a meeting. A missed shift in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, hospitality, or logistics can affect safety, service, cost, and compliance.

Flexibility cannot sit outside the workforce strategy. It must be built into it.

For employers, that shift is powerful. Flexibility becomes less of a concession and more of an operating capability. Employees get more transparency and control. Managers get fewer surprises. The business gets a better chance of protecting service levels without treating people like variables in a spreadsheet.

3. Act in real time when the plan changes

Even the best World Cup plan will not survive unchanged.

A match goes to penalties. Demand spikes unexpectedly. More employees call in sick than forecast. A local team advances further than expected. A manager discovers at short notice that the people available do not have the right skills or certifications.

This is where many workforce systems fall short. They can show the scheduling. They can record the absence. But they do not always help managers decide what to do next.

Modern workforce management has to move from static planning to real-time execution. Managers need to know where gaps exist, who is available, who is qualified, who is approaching overtime or fatigue limits, and what action will create the best outcome for the business and the employee.

That is where data and AI can play a practical role. Not generic AI layered onto old processes, but intelligence that understands workforce context and helps recommend the next best action. Should a manager offer an open shift? Redeploy someone from a lower-demand area? Approve a swap? Escalate a compliance risk? Adjust breaks? Bring in contingent support?

The value is not simply in having more data. It is in turning workforce data into action while there is still time to influence the outcome.

The real stress test for workplace technology is not whether an organization can create a schedule weeks in advance, but whether it can adapt that schedule minutes after conditions change.

The World Cup will pass. The operating lesson will not.

Every organization will face its own version of this disruption: seasonal demand, illness, weather, regulatory change, major events, economic pressure, and shifting employee expectations. The companies that treat these moments as one-off exceptions will keep solving them manually, shift by shift and manager by manager.

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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

• Avengers: Doomsday pre-sale tickets will go live later today (July 20)
• Fans think the new Marvel movie's first trailer could be released, too
• It would be an unusual move for Marvel to make, for one major reason

Update 2: well, I was completely wrong! The film's first official trailer has been released, so join me on our Avengers: Doomsday trailer breakdown live blog as I, well, break it down in real time.

Update: Okay, something might happen on the official trailer front.

Indeed, the Avengers: Doomsday Clock video on Marvel's YouTube channel, which has been counting down towards the movie's release date for months now, has been updated. The minutes and seconds part of the timer are now shown in green, and music now accompanies the ticking of said clock.

Does this mean Doomsday's first proper trailer will be with us at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BST? I'm still sceptical and think it's simply counting down to the pre-sales ticket window finally opening — but we'll find out for sure in less than 30 minutes.

Original story follows.

Avengers: Doomsday tickets are finally set to go on sale later today (July 20) — and Marvel fans think the movie's first trailer could drop at the same time, too.

As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month, cinephiles and comic-book fans alike will be able to pre-book their seat for one of 2026's hottest new movies very soon. And, with some theater chains, such as US-based company Regal, already telling fans where they'll be able to watch Doomsday in come December 18, fans will be able to buy advanced tickets before the day is over.

That's not the only Marvel-related thing that might happen today, though, because some people believe the pre-sales launch will coincide with the debut of Doomsday's official trailer.

In screenshots posted to Reddit pages including r/MarvelStudios, r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers, and r/LeaksandRumors, the app for popular US movie ticket company Fandango appeared to indicate that a new trailer would accompany the film's pre-sales launch.

Less than an hour later, users in a separate r/LeaksandRumors thread noted that the trailer banner had been scrubbed from the Fandango app. Some are seeing this as confirmation that we'll soon get a fresh look at the Marvel Phase 6 film — but I'm not entirely convinced that'll be the case.

Why Marvel shouldn't — and should — hold off on releasing a new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday

Will Robert Downey Jr make another SDCC appearance as Doctor Victor von Doom? (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

If Marvel unveils Avengers: Doomsday's fifth trailer — remember, four bite-sized teasers were released between December 2025 and January 2026 — today, it wouldn't be a complete shock.

Indeed, releasing a new trailer, which would likely end by telling people that they can pre-book tickets now, would further ramp up interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie, and generate even more ticket sales. Releasing more new footage before Marvel holds its latest Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, which will take place on Saturday, July 25, would also give it more time to highlight some of its other forthcoming film and Disney+ projects during said presentation, because Doomsday wouldn't dominate proceedings.

With SDCC 2026 just days away, though, I'm baffled by the suggestion that Marvel would release Doomsday's first trailer earlier than expected. The aforementioned flick is the comic titan's most anticipated movie in years, and, considering that past editions of SDCC have been where Marvel has made the biggest announcements and reveals about myriad films, I can't foresee a one-off change to that tried and tested — not to mention highly successful — strategy.

I guess we'll find out one way or the other in the hours ahead. For now, find out everything we know so far about Avengers: Doomsday. Once you're done, check out the first official artwork for Avengers: Doomsday, and prepare for your pre-Doomsday release MCU marathon by reading up on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

There is something poetic about quantum computing.

For decades, it has lived in the realm of possibility, whispered about in academic corridors, hyped in boardrooms, and misunderstood almost everywhere else. It promised to change everything, and yet, for the longest time, changed very little.

Until now.

Not because quantum has suddenly “arrived” - it hasn’t. But because the world around it has finally caught up.

We are, quietly, entering the age of hybrid intelligence, where classical computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum systems begin to work together. And that changes the question from “when will quantum matter?” to something far more interesting: What happens when quantum becomes part of how the world works?

From magic to mechanics

Quantum computing has long suffered from a branding problem.

It was either considered “Magic” because it would solve everything instantly; or a “Myth” because it was perpetually 10 years away!

The reality, as always, is more nuanced and much more powerful.

Quantum computers are not general-purpose machines; they are specialists. They are exceptionally good at specific classes of problems like optimization at massive scale, molecular simulation, cryptographic analysis, complex probabilistic modelling etc.

However, they are also fragile, error-prone, expensive and dependent on classical systems for almost everything else around them!

This leads to a simple but profound insight: Quantum will not replace classical computing. It will collaborate with it.

And that collaboration is where the real revolution begins.

The quiet role of AI

Ironically, the biggest accelerator for quantum computing hasn’t come from within the field itself. It has come from artificial intelligence.

AI has created the conditions for quantum to matter in three critical ways:

1. Made complexity usable - Quantum algorithms are not intuitive. AI helps design, optimize, and even discover them.
2. Improved error correction - One of quantum’s biggest challenges is “noise”. AI is now being used to stabilize and correct quantum systems in real time.
3. Created demand - AI has exposed the limits of classical computing—particularly in energy, consumption, and scale. Quantum is no longer a curiosity; it is a necessary complement.

What’s actually working (and what isn’t)

To understand the current state of the industry, we must separate the signal from the noise. First and foremost, what’s working is “Hybrid Workflows”. The hybrid architectures where classical systems prepare the problem, quantum executes the core computation, and classical systems interpret this result.

This is where real-world use cases are emerging.

Second, progress seems to be very domain specific as quantum is showing promise in areas where complexity explodes – drug discovery, materials science, logistics optimization, financial modelling etc. So, it’s not universal, but selective and meaningful.

Finally, ecosystems are forming. A new stack is emerging. Companies like IBM, Google, and Microsoft are building integrated quantum platforms, while hardware innovators like IonQ and Quantinuum push the boundaries of qubit fidelity.

What’s isn’t working ...yet

Fault tolerance at scale needs to evolve more as we’re still far from fully error-corrected quantum systems. Also, most enterprises are still only experimenting and not deploying quantum solutions at scale.

There is no “Windows moment”, or universal standard for quantum yet; every stack looks different.

And, perhaps most importantly, quantum still requires translation, from physics to business value.

A global race… with no clear finish line

Quantum computing has become a geopolitical priority. The United States is investing heavily through public-private partnerships; China is accelerating both research and infrastructure at a massive scale; and the UK and Europe are focused on Sovereign Quantum capabilities - ensuring they aren’t reliant on foreign stacks for critical security.

They are protecting their intellectual property more fiercely than they did with the internet.

This is not just about computing. It is about economic advantage, national security and scientific leadership.

And yet, unlike previous technology races, this isn’t winner-takes-all. Quantum systems will not exist in isolation. They will exist in networks.

Different players are taking fundamentally different approaches as the hyperscalers are positioning quantum as a “cloud-accessible capability”, as they abstract complexity and integrate with existing workloads.

But, as I have gone around the world talking to CEOs of various quantum companies, I am fascinated by what I call the “Plug-and-Play innovators”:

• Hardware pure-plays: Companies like IonQ and Quantinuum focus on hardware breakthroughs - trapped ions, new materials, and improved qubit fidelity. Their bet is that that “if we solve the physics, everything else follows.”
• The bridge builders: Firms such as Zapata AI and QC Ware are building the bridge between algorithms and applications. Their belief is “Quantum without software is just expensive physics.”

And then there is the gap. No one truly owns the interconnections between quantum and classical systems, nor the orchestration of the hybrid workloads. The missing layer is a neutral ecosystem where these players converge.

That gap will define the next phase of adoption needed for this to truly scale.

What this means for society

Quantum’s impact will not be immediate, but it will be profound.

Healthcare: Simulating molecules at quantum precision could accelerate drug discovery from years to months.

Climate: Optimizing energy grids and materials could unlock more efficient batteries and carbon capture.

Finance: Risk modelling and portfolio optimization could reach entirely new levels of sophistication.

Security: This is my personal passion. While quantum has the potential to break current encryption standards, it is also driving the development of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), making systems more secure in the long run. We must act now to prevent "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" attacks, where encrypted data is stolen today to be cracked by quantum computers tomorrow.

A slightly uncomfortable truth

Quantum computing will create as many questions as it answers.

• Who gets access first?
• Who controls the infrastructure?
• How do we ensure equitable benefit?

We have seen this movie before with the internet and AI.

The difference this time is that we have the opportunity to design the system more deliberately.

Quantum has been “almost here” for decades. So, why does this moment feel real?

Because AI has created urgency and demand; infrastructure has matured to support hybrid models; and ecosystems are forming, not just technologies.

This is no longer about a breakthrough machine. It is about a connected system of capabilities.

A more human way to think about quantum

Perhaps the simplest way to understand quantum is this:

• Classical computers think in straight lines.
• AI learns patterns from data.
• Quantum explores possibilities simultaneously.

It is less like a calculator and more like imagination. And like imagination, it is most powerful when guided.

So, what should we do now?

For enterprises, start experimenting with hybrid workflows now. Focus on use cases (optimization, simulation), not just the underlying physics, and build internal understanding early.

For policymakers, invest in open ecosystems, prioritize standards and interoperability, and balance competition with collaboration.

For technologists, think beyond silos and design for integration, not isolation. For the rest of us, stay curious.

Quantum computing will not change your life tomorrow, but it will quietly reshape the systems that your life depends on.

Closing thought

We often think of technological revolutions as moments.

In reality, they are transitions. Messy. Gradual. Non-linear.

Quantum computing is not a single breakthrough waiting to happen. It is a shift in how we solve problems; one that will unfold over years, across industries, and in ways we cannot fully predict.

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• Topping has unveiled its new and compact desktop DX1 II DAC
• It's relatively affordable at £119 (about $160, AU$240)
• Multiple inputs and outputs, some clearly designed for gamers

If you've been considering buying one of the best headphone DACs, it's probably because you want to connect them to an audiophile-friendly hi-fi system — or even to your phone or dedicated music player on the commute. But Topping's latest option aims squarely at a very different audience: gamers.

The Topping DX1 II is a new piece of kit which is slowly being released in different regions; it's just been released in the UK from Electromod. It costs £119 (about $160, AU$240), so it undercuts many other options save for models built specifically for smartphones or digital audio players.

The DX1 II seems to have a specific user in mind though. The DAC is designed for all budget-conscious, audiophile-curious buyers, but it does feel aimed at gamers more than most. And that is thanks to a few key considerations that seemingly make it a good pick for enhancing your games' sound.

For example, while the DAC has two headphone outputs (3.5mm and 4.4mm), they're two-way, so you can use headsets with microphones. It can also switch between USB Audio Classes, allowing you to use it alongside the Nintendo Switch and PS5 which are some of the few gadgets only using UAC 1.0.

A DAC is for life, not just for gaming

Despite some gaming features being the headline tools, the Topping DX1 II seems to be a solid all-rounder too — and given how much we loved the larger and more expensive Topping DX5 II, it's well worth taking a closer look.

The DAC can input from USB-C as well as optical, and output to optical, stereo RCA, 3.5mm or 4.4mm. There's support for 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD 256, so high-quality audio won't be a problem. There are also EQ tools as well as filter and gain settings.

A built-in amp can deliver up to 1,000mW audio, and since it's quite compact at 10x10x3.2cm, it'll fit into various existing set-ups — and that glossy white casework will make it look right at home next to a PS5.

As a prolific gamer, I'm not sure that I can see a DAC being crucial to a hardware set-up — although I absolutely recommend any one of the best wired gaming headsets. That said, the Topping is still very useful as an affordable entry-level DAC for my music that can get double use for gaming.

• Leather jacket belonging to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sells for $960k, way above the $40-60k estimate
• Huang's jackets have become a tech sector icon and a staple CEO 'uniform' piece
• The proceeds wil help fund fellowships and more across tech

A black Tom Ford leather jacket worn and signed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has sold at a New York auction for $960,000.

"The response to this sale surpassed even our highest expectations," Sotheby's head of modern collectibles Brahm Wachter explained, with the jacket selling for around $900,000 more than auctioneers had anticipated, given the auction house's estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.

The jacket itself – one of many that the CEO has owned, of course – has become a staple recognized by the entire tech sector, with Huang rarely spotted out in public wearing anything else.

Jensen Huang's jacket sold for $0.9 million

This specific jacket came from Tom Ford's Spring-summer 2023 collection, however the CEO has been wearing similar jackets for years, leading similar examples to have become essential parts of any Nvidia keynote or tech conference.

Huang is one of a growing number of CEOs who have chosen uniformity and simplicity in their clothing – Mark Zuckerberg's blue jeans and grey t-shirt, and Steve Jobs' black turtleneck, also become similarly iconic.

Independent verifiers are said to have confirmed both the jacket's authenticity and the signature's authenticity, revealing that it was worn by Huanh at the 2023 Foxconn Tech Day.

Clearly, it being Jensen Huang's jacket is the core reason why it fetched nearly $1 million at auction. His company, Nvidia, is somewhat of an AI success story, having risen from a valuation of around $300 billion in 2020 to $4.9 trillion today.

At the time of writing, Nvidia is the world's most valuable companies, just a reach ahead of Apple - with the $940,000 cost buying you around 4653 shares in the company at today's market price.

The proceeds are set to help fund Edge Institute, a nonprofit that will support fellowships, grants and residencies across the tech sector.

Via CNBC

The “AI” label no longer makes companies special. In today’s world, that is a fact that needs to be accepted.

Even just a year ago, if a business simply mentioned being “AI-powered” it was enough to immediately gather attention and appear innovative. Investors quickly grew excited, and media outlets were quick to pick up the next “hot story.”

Of course, that didn’t always mean that there was truth to such statements. The concept of AI washing — when companies misrepresented or even outright lied about the use of AI tools in their operations — had certainly done its share of damage to this industry while it stayed prevalent.

But today, even without such lies, the effect of AI novelty is disappearing. Every fintech company now has some kind of AI story. Compliance platforms use AI monitoring. Banks and fintechs talk about AI-driven service personalization. Chatbots and AI assistants are utilized practically by every other platform, no matter which industry we look at.

At this point, saying your company uses artificial intelligence feels almost the same as saying you have a website. People have learned to expect it almost by default. And this creates a very different communications environment.

The first wave of AI companies mostly had to convince their audience that the technology was possible. That task has certainly been accomplished. Now, the second wave faces the task of convincing people that their particular implementation of AI is trustworthy, useful, and worth the attention in a market that’s beyond overcrowded already.

That is much harder.

The conversation has changed

AI investment has exploded over the last two years. Enterprise spending on gen AI jumped from $11.5 billion in 2024 to $37 billion in 2025. That’s a whole 220% YOY increase. AI-focused startups continue to dominate venture capital conversations, to the point where nearly every technology company now feels the pressure to position itself as part of this race.

But something else happened along the way: consumers became more educated. If at first, AI sounded like something magical, now people have actually used it. They have seen hallucinations and strange outputs, and they’ve dealt with incorrect recommendations. They’ve had time to realize that AI can be useful, but also that the technology comes with its own frustrations and limitations.

As such, being “AI-powered” is no longer enough to stand out. Consumers have already moved past that stage. One of the biggest mistakes I see today is when companies still assume they have not.

Now, the conversation revolves around a much deeper point: “What does your AI actually improve for me?” For AI-focused companies vying for attention, the benefits of their specific approach are now the key battlefield where they have to win.

This is particularly important for financial and fintech companies, because financial services are built on trust. People may tolerate or even find humor in mistakes from an entertainment app, but they will not be pleased when their money or personal data are put at risk because of AI malfunctions.

The numbers clearly show this trust gap. While AI adoption continues growing, only 13% of consumers truly trust AI systems, and about 30% remain neutral rather than confident. Many people are still uncomfortable giving AI fully autonomous control over important decisions, especially in areas connected to finance or personal data.

At the same time, enterprises themselves also often contribute to the problem of trust by rolling out AI models before building the necessary structures to govern them.

A recent survey by McKinsey discovered that less than 15% of organizations obtain full security and IT approval before deploying AI agents. Or, to put it in other words, the vast majority of these systems come out without proper oversight and responsibility frameworks around them.

This very reality has now become the defining challenge of the next AI adoption phase. The market is no longer asking whether companies can use artificial intelligence. It’s asking whether they can use it responsibly. And that is precisely why I am of the opinion that AI communication from here on out needs to be very different from what we saw during the first hype cycle. It’s no longer about who shouts the loudest.

The main victory condition will be for companies to explain — clearly and realistically — how their systems work and how they benefit their users. And then they will have to continue proving that through sustainable action.

Transparency and governance are now a product feature

One important area to account for is transparency around AI limitations. Now that the broad public already has enough context and experience to understand that AI can fail, pretending otherwise would only damage a company’s credibility.

To earn trust, strong, honest communication is necessary that will openly acknowledge those points of failure. When a business wishes to present its own AI solution, it will need to explain upfront where its model works well and where its shortcomings lie. Customers should have clear expectations and understanding of the risks before they engage with the technology.

Some might think that admitting to shortcomings would be a mistake, a vulnerability. But honesty can yield more results than those people expect.

Clients are generally much more comfortable using services when they understand where the borders are. When they know how decisions are made, that safeguards exist, and that human oversight is still involved in the process, so if something goes wrong, they have someone real to talk to.

This is where competent governance enters the picture.

Be it to partners, clients, or regulators, businesses increasingly need to demonstrate that they are responsible about how they employ AI in operations. Whether decisions can be audited.

A few years ago, these topics were often hidden deep inside technical documentation, if they were brought up at all. Now, explainability of AI models is one of the biggest signals of trustworthiness that a company can project.

And honestly, I think this is healthy for the industry.

By now, AI has stopped being a mere marketing decoration and is leaning more and more toward becoming a full-on infrastructure layer in corporate operations. That means it needs to be properly managed, so that possible mistakes do not create reputational and monetary damage to countless involved parties.

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For years, identity security has been designed to secure an organization's human users. But as agentic enterprises take shape, the identity equation is shifting. Artificial intelligence (AI) agents and AI-powered builders – software tools used to develop websites and applications without coding – are increasingly participating in how access is configured, governed and used.

AI agents are effectively new digital employees, so organizations need a way to know they exist and control what they do throughout their lifecycle. They are becoming operators, helping to administer and secure identity environments through machine-native interfaces.

To add another layer of complexity, desktop agents and AI assistants are also beginning to interact with enterprise applications and resources on behalf of users.

For an agentic enterprise to succeed, these agents need trusted access to do useful work but should not be given direct exposure to secrets they have no meaningful reason to access. To achieve this, organizations need a unified, AI-first identity model, centered on end-to-end visibility, governance and controls which strike a balance between security and appropriate access.

AI agents are reshaping identity

AI has created a new category of digital identity. Like human employees, autonomous agents must be discoverable and managed and governed so organizations can understand what systems and data they can access and who is responsible for their actions.

Traditional identity and access management (IAM) systems relied on static, one-time verification methods in response to access requests made by humans. But in the agentic enterprise, requests also come from autonomous software acting on behalf of human users. Organizations therefore need to know exactly who or what is accessing a system continuously, and if they have the correct permissions to access given information.

At the same time, AI is increasingly managing identities and access. Machine-native interfaces allow agents to help manage human users’ access, troubleshoot issues and support security workflows. While these capabilities can help organizations cut costs and improve efficiency, they are only successful when strong access guardrails are put in place.

AI has created a new category of digital identity. Like human employees, autonomous agents must be discoverable and managed and governed so organizations can understand what systems and data they can access and who is responsible for their actions.

Traditional identity and access management (IAM) systems relied on static, one-time verification methods in response to access requests made by humans. But in the agentic enterprise, requests also come from autonomous software acting on behalf of human users. Organizations therefore need to know exactly who or what is accessing a system continuously, and if they have the correct permissions to access given information.

At the same time, AI is increasingly managing identities and access. Machine-native interfaces allow agents to help manage human users’ access, troubleshoot issues and support security workflows. While these capabilities can help organizations cut costs and improve efficiency, they are only successful when strong access guardrails are put in place.

Building a unified identity model for AI

Mechanisms for securing AI cannot simply be bolted onto identity systems designed for humans. It requires a complete rethink of the identity management model, where human and machine identities are governed through a single framework to prevent tool sprawl and unintentional security blind spots.

As organizations adopt AI tools throughout multiple operational layers, enterprise identity needs to evolve and become easier to manage and automate. Identity can no longer rely solely on human administration.

Tools designed specifically for autonomous agents, such as AI-first headless interfaces, allow builders and AI alike to perform identity-related tasks. Autonomous operators must also be trained to configure access, troubleshoot workflows and apply governance controls within approved policies and guardrails.

Visibility and governance across the entire AI agent lifecycle are also critical. As more agents are deployed, businesses must have complete visibility into their agents and actions.

Every AI should be treated as a first-class identity, with a designated human owner, as well as clear policies and full auditability throughout its entire lifecycle. As these agents operate across the enterprise, their actions should be traceable to a human user responsible.

Finally, AI agents need trusted ways to interact with enterprise resources without being given direct access to the credentials or secrets that enable them. Coding and desktop agents increasingly interact with systems on behalf of users, but exposing them to credentials or long-lived secrets creates unnecessary risk. Instead, access to enterprise resources should be brokered through just-in-time privileged controls.

This allows enterprises to maintain oversight of how permissions are granted, governed and audited without exposing the underlying secrets behind that access. Together, these capabilities create a unified identity model which extends governance across human and AI identities without creating a parallel identity stack.

The future of the agentic enterprise

AI agents cannot operate as intended and deliver meaningful value without access to enterprise systems. But granting unrestricted access or exposing sensitive information creates an entirely new risk to organizations.

The future of the agentic enterprise depends on maintaining governance, visibility and control across both human and digital identities. This means identity must become programmable, AI agents should be governed throughout their lifecycle and agent access needs to be given without unnecessary exposure to sensitive data.

A unified identity strategy provides the means to operate AI agents more safely and efficiently while maintaining centralized governance, accountability and control.

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Recent evidence shows that energy cost pressures and a power grid capacity crunch risk becoming a bottleneck on the growth of the UK’s digital economy.

A report by Oxford Economics for the Nuclear Industry Association warns that growing grid capacity constraints and uncompetitive industrial electricity prices could drive data center developers overseas.

This comes as data center energy demands could increase fivefold by 2035 and data center operators face growing pressure for more sustainable energy in line with climate targets.

This is driving many data center developers to explore alternative supply sources such as flexible contracts and Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) which offer affordable, secure long-term power.

Yet many data center developers lack the resources to navigate these complex contracts or meet the high credit requirements.

There is an urgent need for creative new solutions to provide affordable sustainable power for our digital economy.

The energy chokepoint for the AI economy

The Government aims to make Britain the fastest AI-adopting country in the G7 and this will require accelerated data center expansion with AI data centers being prioritized for new demand connections to the grid. While this is welcome, demand-side connections will not alleviate the supply-side challenges from rising electricity costs to network capacity constraints.

Data centers have build times of 12-14 months yet large new renewable energy projects can face waits of 12-14 years to come online at a time when Britain faces rising non-commodity electricity costs such as Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) and Nuclear Regulated Asset Base (RAB) charges to fund new electric grid and nuclear energy infrastructure.

Ofgem has warned that data center power consumption could significantly exceed Britain’s current peak electricity consumption, risking rising energy costs.

The move towards flexible contracts

Flexible electricity contracts that allow companies to buy energy in chunks offer a potential solution to this by allowing data centers to tailor energy costs to their consumption.

Crucially, flexible contracts can be adjusted to hedge against fluctuating energy consumption for facilities such as AI data centers which have more variable patterns of energy use. This would also help avoid penalties for ramping up energy use to take on major new customers.

While fixed-price contracts can lock in long-term energy costs to offer certainty, flexible contracts enable data centers to take advantage of price fluctuations to secure cheaper power.

For example, we have a dedicated pricing team monitoring market movements round the clock. This could help facilities partially hedge against the risk of rising prices, setting a price for a portion of their consumption, while buying the rest when required to take advantage of favorable prices on the spot market.

For example, we implemented a flexible contract for an energy-intensive industrial chemicals company which included a cash-out arrangement, enabling them to lock in prices when costs are low and buy power in batches days or even months ahead as needed.

There are various kinds of flexible contract options based on the degree to which companies can forecast their energy consumption. For example, ‘tolerance banding’ which guarantees a set price within a certain range or ‘band’ of electricity consumption, can provide certainty amidst unpredictable, fluctuating costs.

As data center operators become more confident in forecasting energy consumption, this can create even cheaper options such as contracts that enable them to buy every kilowatt-hour above or below expected demand.

The CPPA model

Other contracts such as CPPAs could offer data centers a secure, sustainable, affordable power supply directly from suppliers at stable cost. Private-wire PPAs involving onsite generation could enable data centers to sell surplus power back to the grid, transforming energy from a cost into a revenue stream. On site generation could also help avoid the non-commodity costs for grid electricity such as TNUoS charges that comprise 60% of electricity bills and are set to increase to fund new infrastructure.

With targets to reduce operational emissions from buildings by 76%, CPPAs also help facilities meet climate targets by providing traceable green power. As large consumers with a relatively stable long-term demand, data centers are perfectly placed to tap into this market. Amidst growing energy price volatility and security risks, fixed-price CPPAs offer the chance to lock in power prices and supplies, providing certainty and security.

The barriers to alternative contracts

Yet there are many barriers to flexible contracts and CPPAs market for smaller entities such as data centers. These contracts can be highly complex, contain stringent credit requirements and often require 10-15 year agreements. The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which gives renewable developers a government-backed route to market through fixed long-term price support, can also act as a competing route to market for generators.

In some cases, this can make long-term corporate offtake agreements less attractive, particularly where developers can secure greater certainty through the CfD mechanism. For smaller customers seeking greener electricity, however, this route can offer an alternative when a direct CPPA may be harder to access.

Many data center projects are run by startups or smaller entities that lack the resources for such long-term commitments or credit requirements. Data centers also present a slightly higher credit risk than other facilities because their revenue streams are not based on a few large, long-term customers but split among many customers across the digital economy.

Opening the market to data centers

There is an urgent need for creative solutions to lower barriers to entry to the flexible contract market for smaller entities such as data centers. Security deposits or bank guarantees can help some firms meet the stringent credit requirements.

Other potential solutions include parent-company guarantees where a parent company makes a commitment to cover the cost in the event of a default or intercompany guarantees where large data center customers such as Amazon offer guarantees.

There are also solutions to simplify adoption and help CPPAs slot into existing energy use. For example, PPA import sleeving contracts, where energy is pre-purchased from a generator or utility and supplied directly to a facility through the grid, can help alleviate energy costs and security risks.

Tailoring contracts to specific energy needs

Independent partners can also help data centers optimize contracts for their specific energy needs and financial situation. Independent brokers can consolidate the process of negotiating with generators, suppliers and investors, speeding up and de-risking adoption.

Brokers can also help negotiate and monitor contracts suited to the precise profile of each data center. For example, cloud computing data centers with relatively steady, predictable demand may prefer fixed contracts whereas AI data centers processing huge amounts of data for many clients have a more variable, ‘peaky’ pattern of consumption and require flexible contracts.

Data centers can also work with partners to get live market intelligence on changing regulations or market movements. For example, we offered one client an early warning service so that they were able to minimize costs during the winter triads, half-hour periods of peak demand during the winter season.

Towards a new model of data center energy

Britain’s ability to compete in the accelerating AI race increasingly hinges on the ability to mitigate the risk of rising energy costs.

Energy security will also be critical to building truly sovereign AI capabilities for the UK. Lowering the barriers to the flexible contract market could create new opportunities at both ends, providing secure, sustainable and affordable power to unlock data center growth while unlocking vital investment in new renewable energy capacity.

Yet this will require tailored, adaptable contractual models from bespoke flexible contracts to PPAs and new ways of lowering barriers to entry including reducing complexity and stringent credit requirements. This could help provide secure, sustainable and affordable long-term power to fuel our digital economy.

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