TechRadar News

• Volkswagen offers an "optional power upgrade for a fee" on two cars
• The performance upgrade increases power by 27bhp
• Subscription packages have previously attracted criticism from buyers

Volkswagen will make customers pay an additional fee to unlock the full power of the ID 3 Pro and ID3 Pro S models it has been revealed, with £16.50 (around £22 / AU$34) per month required to gain access to the vehicle’s full 228bhp.

Auto Express uncovered that both models were listed as producing 150kW or 201 horsepower on the company’s UK configurator, with the small print revealing that owners could only access the full 228hp (170kW) factory capability via an "optional power upgrade for a fee.”

Buyers can choose to pay monthly, in which case the vehicle would return to its lower power setting when sold, or part with £649 (around $880 / AU$1,350) for a one-time lifetime fee that stays with the vehicle.

In a statement provided to Auto Express, a Volkswagen spokesperson said that offering more power to customers is “nothing new” and that those looking to purchase an ID 3 can choose to have a "sportier driving experience" without having to commit to a more expensive vehicle from the outset.

Volkswagen is also not the first or only manufacturer to offer additional performance that can be unlocked for a fee, as the Polestar Engineered Optimization program can improve the power delivery of both Polestar and Volvo models.

Essentially, the software upgrade 're-maps' the engine, tweaks throttle response and improves the speed of automatic gear changes for a more aggressive drive, but does so without the risk of voiding the manufacturer’s warranty.

Gearing up for a subscriptions-based future

(Image credit: Volkswagen)

Unlocking a little extra performance is nothing new, as there are hundreds of aftermarket companies that will tease a few more horses out of an engine if you are willing to void your manufacturer warranty.

That said, we are entering a new era of the Software Defined Vehicle where a number of upgrades and improvements are now available over a simple over-the-air update.

Tesla allows its customers to take advantage of its highly autonomous driving modes for a fee, for example, while Polestar offers performance upgrades on Polestar 2 models.

Many industry experts I have spoken to openly admit that offering both digital and physical features via a subscription presents a lucrative business case to manufacturers that are looking to claw back losses from tepid EV sales and ensure future profitability.

But the approach hasn’t gone down well with sectors of the paying public, as BMW drew heavy criticism when it asked its customers to pay an additional fee for features like heated seats.

The company said it would allow owners to only take advantage of the technology when required (for example, in the depths of winter) but customers demanded access to a feature that they felt should have been part of the list price.

While unlocking a little extra performance on-demand sounds like fun, some buyers will be wary of automakers charging a recurring fee for features that would have previously come as standard (or a one-off optional payment) on a new vehicle.

It could also be the case that paying a small fee each month to unlock a feature becomes more expensive than it was when customers could option it outright, with Netflix-style incremental price increases making motoring more expensive than it needs to be.

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It's Children’s week on The Great British Sewing Bee, and fashion designer Victoria Jenkins is joining Patrick Grant and Esme Young in the workroom to put the seven remaining contestants through their paces. Some exacting miniature models are set to run riot too.

You can watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free.

Date and time: Premiered at 9pm BST on Tuesday, July 15 (UK)

Watch free: BBC iPlayer (UK)

Use NordVPN to unblock BBC iPlayer (try risk-free)

A reality TV show with heart and purpose, GBSB lays bare just how wondrously talented, resourceful and creative humans can be, while gently pushing back against fast fashion and all of its ills. If GBSB doesn't capture your imagination and make you think – really think – about the real-world impacts of your sartorial choices, nothing will.

So judges Patrick and Esme, champions of high-quality clothing that lasts, may have one or two things to say about Kit's pet passion. The Mancunian digital marketer espouses "pointless fashion", encompassing garments that are "utterly useless" but "so camp" and "fabulous". Things like string hoodies and deconstructed coats barely held together by chains. That should spark some interesting conversations.

R&D scientist Yasmin always joked that she'd apply for The Great British Sewing Bee as a dad/daughter duo, however her father, an engineer and self-taught tailor, passed away two years ago. As was the case with head of communications Jess, she was raised to make things well and fix them, instead of taking the cheap and nasty route.

Starting with 12 contestants, one-by-one GBSB whittles them down to three finalists, via a triple-threat of weekly challenges: pattern, transformation, and made to measure. While one title hopeful is awarded the Garment Of The Week award, another is eliminated.

Read on as we explain how to watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 online from anywhere.

How to watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 for free in the UK

(Image credit: Future)

Viewers in the UK can watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 FREE on BBC Three and via the BBC iPlayer streaming service.

All you need is an account, a TV license and a UK postcode (e.g.HA9 0WS). Sign up here!

What if you're abroad? Grab this VPN to unblock BBC iPlayer and watch your usual free stream from anywhere.

How to watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 streams with a VPN

If you're keen to watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 but you're away from home and access to the show is geo-blocked, you can always use a VPN to access it instead (assuming you're not breaching any broadcaster T&Cs, of course). You may be surprised by how simple it is to do.

Use one of the best VPNs to watch The Great British Sewing Bee from anywhere:

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Can I watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 in the US?

Any plans to make The Great British Sewing Bee available to watch in the US are yet to be announced.

Brits currently away from home can use a VPN to watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 on BBC iPlayer from abroad.

Can I watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 in Canada?

(Image credit: Other)

As with the US, The Great British Sewing Bee is yet to find a home in Canada.

However, UK nationals currently traveling in Canada can use a VPN to unblock BBC iPlayer and watch the show from anywhere in the world. We recommend NordVPN.

How to watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 in Australia

Binge is home to The Great British Sewing Bee in Australia. However, seeing as season 10 only landed on Thursday, November 21, it's likely to be a while before season 11 arrives. Binge starts from AU$10 a month after a 7-day FREE trial.

Not in Australia? Anyone from Oz who wants to watch their usual streaming service from abroad can do so by using a VPN.

The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 Q+A

(Image credit: BBC)Who is in The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 cast?

Caz, 59, retired, Staffordshire
Dan, 37, stage performer, Durham
Gaynor, 72, retired office manager, Port Talbot
Glendora, 59, bus driver, Luton – eliminated
Jess, 33, head of communications, London – eliminated
Kit, 24, digital marketer, Manchester
Novello, 66, business owner and magistrate, London – eliminated
Orla, 19, cafe worker/student, Inverness
Peter, 45, senior pre-construction manager, Devon – eliminated
Saffie, 32, lecturer, London – eliminated
Stuart, 53, premises manager, Herefordshire
Yasmin, 30, scientist, Gateshead

Can I watch The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 for free?

Yes. BBC One is home to The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 in the UK, with all episodes available to stream for free on the BBC iPlayer platform.

How many episodes of The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 are there?

The Great British Sewing Bee season 11 comprises 10 episodes. They're released weekly on Tuesdays, starting July 15.

How can I watch The Great British Sewing Bee's previous seasons?

All 10 previous seasons, plus special episodes, are available on BBC iPlayer in the UK.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Germany's top court has revived a legal case that could lead to a ban on ad blockers over copyright violations
• The case originates from a lawsuit brought by a major German publisher against the firm behind Adblock Plus
• If this comes to pass, Germany will be the second country in the world, after China, to ban ad blockers

The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) has put into question the very legitimacy of ad blockers. The court is now investigating whether these programs – which, by default, block certain elements of a website – can be qualified as copyright infringement.

The case originates from a lawsuit brought by Axel Springer, a major German publisher, against Eyeo GmbH. Eyeo is the company behind Adblock Plus, which is one of the best ad blockers according to TechRadar's reviewers.

If ad blockers get banned in Germany, the consequences could be far wider than they seem at first glance. It's not just ad blockers that could be in danger, warns Mozilla, as "such a precedent could embolden legal challenges against other extensions that protect privacy, enhance accessibility, or improve security."

The legal battle between publishers and ad blockers is heating up

(Image credit: Adblock Plus)

Axel Springer SE, which is one of the biggest media publishers in Europe, has been locked in a decade-long legal battle against Eyeo GmbH, meaning Adblock Plus. The publisher argues that ad blockers interfere with its right to control how its copyrighted content is rendered and displayed, potentially violating German copyright law – CyberInsider reported.

For a long time, Adblock Plus has seemingly emerged victorious from these legal battles, but that might not be the case this time around. Germany's Federal Court of Justice has overturned parts of a 2023 decision by a Hamburg appeals court, stating that further fact-checking was needed.

The question comes down to whether ad blockers truly break copyright laws. The BGH is exploring the interaction between ad blockers and various structures of a website, including the browser's Document Object Model (DOM) and CSS Object Model (CSSOM). The DOM is responsible for all the content to include on a page, and the CSSOM determines what it looks like.

The key legal question here is: Does modifying how a website displays through browser-side tools like ad blockers count as breaking the law? If the German courts rule that yes, it is copyright infringement, Germany could be the second country in the world to ban ad blockers, second only to China.

Why this matters for ad blockers — and beyond

Ad blockers are one thing. Many of us use them, and they help us get rid of pesky ads on a daily basis. However, if the German courts decide that any kind of browser-side alterations is copyright infringement, many similar browser extensions or tools may end up being banned too.

For instance, some of the best VPN software also comes with ad-blocking capabilities. There are also extensions or browser features that improve accessibility or offer additional privacy and security protection, like against phishing. All of those tools could potentially be banned right alongside ad blockers.

Given the potential danger, it's no wonder that Mozilla, the developer behind Firefox, took a strong stance on the matter.

In a blog post published earlier this month, Mozilla's Senior IP & Product Counsel, Daniel Nazier, notes that user freedom, privacy, and security are at risk if this court ruling comes to pass and Germany indeed bans ad blockers.

"We sincerely hope that Germany does not become the second jurisdiction (after China) to ban ad blockers. This will significantly limit users’ ability to control their online environment and potentially open the door to similar restrictions elsewhere," wrote Nazier.

The case will now be reviewed by the court in Hamburg, which might take a year or two. Until then, the future of ad blockers in Germany will remain uncertain, as will data privacy in the country and throughout Europe. If other countries decide to take a page out of Germany's playbook, we could have a bigger legal battle on our hands.

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Once considered a hallmark of flexible working, bring your own device (BYOD) policies are now under renewed scrutiny. While BYOD was initially hailed as a productivity booster, offering convenience and cost savings, it is increasingly viewed as a potential liability.

Recent research shows that over half of UK businesses are now considering banning personal devices altogether. Laptops, smartphones, tablets, and even webcams are being re-evaluated in light of rising security risks.

Yet a blanket ban may do more harm than good. In reality, BYOD is not inherently the problem; outdated security frameworks are. Rather than reverting to rigid device controls, IT leaders should focus on modernizing their approach to managing personal devices in the workplace.

The goal must be to strike a balance: securing sensitive data without compromising employee flexibility or efficiency.

How BYOD became a risk

The rapid adoption of BYOD policies was largely driven by necessity. During the pandemic, organizations needed to maintain continuity while enabling remote work at scale. Encouraging, or simply allowing employees to use personal devices, was a practical solution - in many cases, it was the only viable one.

However, speed often came at the expense of governance. In the rush to maintain operations, security controls were not always properly enforced. Many personal devices lacked basic protections such as encryption, up-to-date antivirus software, or mobile device management tools. As businesses migrated to the cloud and digital workflows accelerated, these unmanaged devices began accessing increasingly sensitive systems and data.

This has significantly expanded the attack surface. Personal devices are more likely to be shared within households, connected to unsecured networks, or left unpatched. IT teams often lack the visibility or control to respond to incidents in real time. The result is a growing risk profile that many organizations now find untenable.

Where traditional policies fall short

Conventional BYOD policies have not kept pace with the complexity of hybrid work. Static, one-size-fits-all rules may have sufficed when office attendance was the norm. Today, however, employees operate across multiple locations, roles, and sometimes even organizations. Legacy policies rarely account for this level of fluidity.

Moreover, the proliferation of “shadow IT” (where staff bypass official channels to access tools or services) further complicates matters. Employees often turn to personal email accounts or unauthorized file-sharing platforms when corporate systems feel restrictive. While often well-intentioned, this behavior can introduce significant security vulnerabilities.

This growing sense of lost control is prompting some organizations to consider eliminating BYOD entirely. But such measures risk driving issues underground rather than resolving them. Prohibiting personal device use without offering viable alternatives may frustrate employees and hinder productivity, particularly in fast-paced or mobile-first roles.

A modernized approach to BYOD

Rather than eliminating BYOD, organizations should focus on enabling it securely and sustainably. A Zero Trust framework offers a strong foundation, built on the principle that no user or device should be inherently trusted.

This model emphasizes identity-based access controls, multi-factor authentication, and the continuous assessment of device health and context before granting access to systems or data. It enables a more dynamic and risk-aware security posture that is far better suited to hybrid environments.

Endpoint management solutions, such as Microsoft Intune, play a central role in putting this strategy into practice. These tools enable organizations to define and enforce compliance requirements, such as device encryption, patch status, or anti-malware installation, before granting access to corporate resources.

Crucially, these controls can be applied to personal devices without infringing on the user’s privacy or personal data and include the ability to remotely wipe corporate data in case a device is lost or stolen.

Policy alone is not enough. Employees need to understand and buy into the organization's expectations. Clear, well-communicated guidance on how personal devices should be used for work, including rules on permitted applications, password management, and how to report suspicious activity, can help embed a culture of shared responsibility for security. Importantly, transparency is key: when employees understand why these rules exist, they are far more likely to comply.

Segregating personal and professional environments on the same device can also help reduce risk while maintaining user convenience. Solutions such as virtual desktops or containerized applications create clear boundaries between corporate and private data. This ensures that sensitive information is protected and auditable, while employees can continue using familiar devices and workflows.

Finally, BYOD strategies must remain agile. Security threats evolve constantly, and employee behavior shifts with changing work patterns. Organizations should monitor usage, review threat intelligence, and regularly update their policies to remain aligned with risk and business need.

Looking forward

The debate around BYOD reflects a broader challenge: how to secure the modern workplace without sacrificing the flexibility that employees now expect. Hybrid work is here to stay, and so too is the need for more sophisticated, nuanced approaches to endpoint security.

Rather than reverting to outdated policies or resorting to blanket bans, organizations should focus on implementing intelligent, scalable solutions that protect data while enabling productivity. With the right combination of technology, policy, and user engagement, BYOD can remain a viable part of a secure and resilient digital workplace.

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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

Imagine the world’s most capable intern. Someone who can read thousands of documents overnight, make inferences from complex problems instantly, and work 24/7 without complaints. But there's a catch: this intern is also incredibly gullible and will believe almost anything you tell them, making them the perfect target for manipulation by bad actors.

This analogy perfectly illustrates the current state of agentic AI. It’s simultaneously the most sophisticated tool ever created and the most vulnerable to simple deception.

This is made more challenging by how differently people view AI. The features that excite some terrify others, creating a divide between the builders and users.

Builders – aka engineers and researchers – focus on foundational challenges like data quality, algorithmic bias, and existential risks. Their concerns dominate headlines and academic discussions.

But users, such as business leaders and operational teams who want to harness these tools practically and safely, have more practical worries. Less concerned about whether AI will end the world and more focused on whether it will expose customer data or make costly mistakes.

While builders are focused on the future, users want to know what AI can do today. And unfortunately, the gap between what they expect agentic AI to deliver and what it can is substantial.

Expectation vs reality

The narrative around agentic AI often paints a picture of fully autonomous digital workers able to alter a business overnight. While multi-agent LLMs are no longer theory, there’s more exploration that must be done before they can enable complete business transformation.

Current AI systems can deliver impressive agent-like behaviors including knowledge extraction from vast documents, accelerating the software delivery lifecycle, and empathetic customer interactions. But truly autonomous systems that work independently in complex novel environments remain out of reach.

While AI can complete structured tasks with human oversight, it struggles with open-ended problems, long-term planning and high-stakes decision making where failures have consequences.

For example, AI can identify potential vulnerabilities in code and propose wide ranging fixes, but developers must evaluate the solutions to implement and guide their application as AI can’t consistently decipher broader system context.

The danger of inflated expectations is that organizations are caught off guard by the real security risks. Lured into a false sense of readiness, they’re ill-prepared for the routine threats they’re far more likely to face.

The security challenge

As agentic AI systems become more autonomous, organizations face a critical challenge of ensuring systems act aligned with business goals. As agentic AI becomes more capable, it also becomes harder to control and therefore, easier to exploit. Unlike traditional software, which fails in predictable ways, AI systems can fail creatively, manipulated in ways their creators never anticipated.

So, what kinds of security risks should organizations actually be worried about?

While traditional IT challenges, such as data protection across systems, risk management, robust reporting and visibility remain critical, there are other novel challenges that require fresh approaches.

For example, adversarial prompt engineering, such as prompt injection where bad actors can embed malicious instructions in innocent requests, or context manipulation, where attackers provide false context, causing AI to make decisions based on incorrect assumptions.

Another significant issue is accumulation of errors: while experienced humans often spot their mistakes, AI errors can quickly snowball, especially in multi-agent systems, turning small problems into big ones; this can go unnoticed in the early stages as agentic reasoning is superficially similar to human reasoning, and then quickly spiral.

AI risks may seem daunting, but the solutions are often more familiar than organizations expect. It’s not a question of if a security problem will arise, but a matter of when, so it’s important to be prepared.

The solution

Many of the solutions for agentic AI’s specific security challenges exist in traditional cybersecurity and risk management frameworks. The approach requires companies to apply principles they’re already familiar with (or with which organizations they work with are familiar), including zero trust, human oversight, and controlled access.

Rather than assuming all AI inputs are safe, companies should treat them as potentially malicious and implement multiple validation layers. This approach works across all applications, whether customer service or financial operations.

While the principles are straightforward, successful implementation requires careful planning. To build effective agentic AI security, organizations should:

1. Start with a small blast radius: Begin with low-risk, high-value use cases where mistakes are recoverable. For example, deploy AI for document summarization before moving onto financial transactions. This builds organizational confidence and expertise.
2. Build governance: Don’t wait for problems to emerge. Establish clear approval processes and staff training programs so employees know what to do when things go wrong.
3. Automate the validation process: Build and continually grow comprehensive AI-based and traditional test suites that encapsulate the worst imagined case scenarios of adversarial attacks, edge cases, and so forth, so that we are not following a moving target but measuring our improvement carefully and preventing backslides.
4. Question everything: Train users and teams integrating AI tools to question AI outputs rather than inherently trusting them. Make verification part of company culture amongst both builders and consumers by setting up peer review processes, introducing spot-checking protocols and celebrating when someone catches a mistake.
5. Develop protection processes: Conduct regular risk assessments, audit existing implementations for vulnerabilities, implement monitoring systems, and create AI-specific incident response procedures. Set up security policies for success.
6. Stay ahead: Ensure employees are informed about emerging threats by providing relevant training, as well as encouraging them to participate in industry forums, discuss experiences with peers, and attend security conferences. Remember, knowledge is power.

The future

Agentic AI is a powerful tool that can transform how we work and solve problems. But like any powerful and emerging technology, it requires respect, understanding, and proper safety measures.

The key is approaching this technology with the same careful planning and risk management we should apply to any other tool. The gullible savant intern analogy reminds us that even the most capable systems need supervision, clear boundaries, and ongoing guidance.

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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

• Microsoft saw a modified version of a GitHub project carrying malware
• The malware can serve as both a backdoor and an infostealer
• The group behind it was seen deploying encryptors, too

Microsoft has warned of a fake ChatGPT desktop application circulating online which actually carries a highly modular malware framework serving as an infostealer and a backdoor.

In an in-depth report, Microsoft said it observed the framework it dubbed PipeMagic, originating on GitHub.

“The first stage of the PipeMagic infection execution begins with a malicious in-memory dropper disguised as the open-source ChatGPT Desktop Application project,” the report reads. “The threat actor uses a modified version of the GitHub project that includes malicious code to decrypt and launch an embedded payload in memory.”

A handful of victims

The malware is the work of a threat actor known as Storm-2460, which Microsoft also flagged in early April 2025 abusing a zero-day vulnerability in the Common Log File System to deploy the RansomEXX encryptor.

In this case, while the group abused the same flaw - CVE-2025-29824, Microsoft did not state which encryptor was deployed. PipeMagic seems to have evolved, since in the earlier report, it was described as a simple backdoor trojan.

Now, it’s described as a highly modular malware framework which allows threat actors to execute payloads dynamically, maintain persistent control, and communicate stealthily with command-and-control servers. It can manage encrypted payload modules in memory, perform privilege escalation, collect extensive system information, and execute arbitrary code through its linked list architecture.

PipeMagic also supports encrypted inter-process communication via named pipes and can self-update by receiving new modules from its C2 infrastructure.

While Microsoft said the number of victims was “limited”, it did not discuss concrete numbers. The targets were observed in the United States, across Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Most targeted industries include IT, financial, and real estate.

To mitigate the threat, Microsoft recommended a layered defense strategy, which include enabling tamper protection and network protection in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and running endpoint detection and response in block mode, among other things.

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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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, August 19 (game #534).

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 #535) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Mint condition

NYT Strands today (game #535) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• NOSEY
• LORD
• PURE 
• WALL
• GLOB
• DUNE

NYT Strands today (game #535) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 14 letters

NYT Strands today (game #535) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 4th column

Last side: bottom, 2nd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #535) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #535, are…

• EURO
• PESO
• RAND
• POUND
• RUPEE
• DOLLAR
• SPANGRAM: GLOBAL CURRENCY

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 hints

I struggled today, but that could have more to do with me, rather than the difficulty of the search.

My first thought when I saw the theme was that we were looking for something to do with collecting. I thought of stamps, furniture and comics first – a world where mint-condition items are worth a tremendous amount more than comics you may have actually read.

I needed several hints to get me going and after being given EURO and PESO I made slow work of getting the rest of the board, including the spangram.

Like, I suspect the majority of players, KWANZA was my final GLOBAL CURRENCY. I've since discovered three facts about Angola's currency, in case it ever comes up in casual conversation: 1) it is named after a river 2) it replaced the escudo in 1977, and 3) all of the notes feature Agostinho Neto, the poet and leader who helped fight for Angola’s independence from Portugal. Every day’s a school day with Strands.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, August 19, game #534)

• HOITYTOITY
• PELLMELL
• HOCUSPOCUS
• WILLYNILLY
• SPANGRAM: HYPHENATED

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 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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, August 19 (game #1303).

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 #1304) - hint #1 - VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* 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 #1304) - hint #2 - repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

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

Quordle today (game #1304) - hint #3 - uncommon lettersDo 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 #1304) - 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 #1304) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• D

• M

• B

• W

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

Quordle today (game #1304) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1304, are…

• DOLLY
• MERRY
• BUGLE
• WORST

This was one of those wonderful games of Quordle for me where every guess was correct and I zoomed through in under a minute – the puzzling equivalent of driving through a city and every light turning green.

Of course, there is also the fact that today’s round was quite easy with just three vowels, no rare words or odd words and two words ending in the same letter.

Daily Sequence today (game #1304) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1304, are…

• SHRUB
• LADEN
• TATTY
• ADORE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1303, Tuesday, 19 August: KNAVE, SMART, CARRY, MAMMA
• Quordle #1302, Monday, 18 August: FIBER, TRADE, RAYON, TEASE
• Quordle #1301, Sunday, 17 August: FUNGI, AMITY, DRIER, CHECK
• Quordle #1300, Saturday, 16 August: OWING, QUAKE, SLIDE, ELITE
• Quordle #1299, Friday, 15 August: WHALE, PRISM, DRAKE, TEPEE
• Quordle #1298, Thursday, 14 August: LAPEL, IDIOM, RENEW, LIVER
• Quordle #1297, Wednesday, 13 August: CACTI, HOMER, EMAIL, ALBUM
• Quordle #1296, Tuesday, 12 August: SPOOL, TITLE, JAUNT, OVINE
• Quordle #1295, Monday, 11 August: ADULT, BROOM, PURER, CRUEL
• Quordle #1294, Sunday, 10 August: SCRUM, PIPER, TROLL, SPORE
• Quordle #1293, Saturday, 9 August: NOOSE, INLET, ELEGY, VIRUS
• Quordle #1292, Friday, 8 August: KNEEL, KINKY, RALPH, BOOZY
• Quordle #1291, Thursday, 7 August: PLUNK, PROXY, CURVY, PEARL
• Quordle #1290, Wednesday, 6 August: RISKY, APART, FAUNA, HANDY
• Quordle #1289, Tuesday, 5 August: ROAST, SLICK, AUDIT, BILLY
• Quordle #1288, Monday, 4 August: MACAW, SINCE, COLON, CHIRP
• Quordle #1287, Sunday, 3 August: MOTIF, LEERY, LOFTY, BURST
• Quordle #1286, Saturday, 2 August: WARTY, PUPAL, CLEAR, SLICE
• Quordle #1285, Friday, 1 August: ACTOR, MEALY, WIDTH, ADOBE

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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, August 19 (game #800).

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 #801) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CANDY CANE
• CAROUSEL
• CEILING FAN
• CROOK
• ZEBRA
• KNITTING NEEDLES
• CROCHET HOOK 
• BARBER POLE
• YIN-YANG SYMBOL
• CROWBAR
• PIANO KEYS
• CHOPSTICKS
• CLAVES
• DOMINO
• SKI POLES
• LAZY SUSAN

NYT Connections today (game #801) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Monochrome items
• GREEN: Two of a kind
• BLUE: Staring at these will make you dizzy
• PURPLE: Bend at the end 

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 #801) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: BLACK-AND-WHITE THINGS
• GREEN: PAIRS OF RODS
• BLUE: THINGS THAT ROTATE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS 
• PURPLE: RODS THAT CURVE AT ONE END

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

NYT Connections today (game #801) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #801, are…

• YELLOW: BLACK-AND-WHITE THINGS DOMINO, PIANO KEYS, YIN-YANG SYMBOL, ZEBRA
• GREEN: PAIRS OF RODS CHOPSTICKS, CLAVES, KNITTING NEEDLES, SKI POLES
• BLUE: THINGS THAT ROTATE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS BARBER POLE, CAROUSEL, CEILING FAN, LAZY SUSAN
• PURPLE: RODS THAT CURVE AT ONE END CANDY CANE, CROCHET HOOK, CROOK, CROWBAR

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

Occasionally, Connections throw us a curveball – and today was one of those days, with 16 tiles of random items from a BARBER POLE to YIN-YANG SYMBOL.

As is often the case with these kinds of Connections I suffered temporary word blindness and failed to see a single link.

My mistake was putting together KNITTING NEEDLES and CROCHET HOOK with CHOPSTICKS and CANDY CANE, my thinking being they are all kinds of sticks.

Taking a deep breath I began to see some more promising patterns and got THINGS THAT ROTATE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS mainly because of LAZY SUSAN, an object I love as it sounds like such an insulting thing to call a revolving plate.

Magically, what was once confusing all made sense, a glorious feeling of enlightenment that is one of the biggest joys of Connections.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, August 19, game #800)

• YELLOW: QUITE THE TALKER BLABBERMOUTH, CHATTERBOX, PRATTLER, WINDBAG
• GREEN: FORTIFIED WINES MARSALA, PORT, SHERRY, VERMOUTH
• BLUE: ___ ROCK CLASSIC, LITTLE, PLYMOUTH, THE
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH WAYS TO MOVE QUICKLY DARTMOUTH, DASHBOARD, FLYWHEEL, RUSHMORE

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.

• The iPhone 17e will reportedly have a Dynamic Island rather than a notch
• It could also have a new chipset and a new design
• However, many of its other specs might remain unchanged

The iPhone 17e sounds like it might be quite a big step up from the iPhone 16e, with the key new addition possibly being the Dynamic Island.

This is according to reputable leaker Digital Chat Station (via GSMArena), and it would mean no more notch, bringing the front design in line with the latest iPhones.

The same source also claims the iPhone 17e will have an A19 chipset, which would likely mean the same chipset as the iPhone 17, but says it will once again have a 6.1-inch 60Hz screen, a single 48MP rear camera, and a 12MP front-facing camera with Face ID.

That’s unfortunate, given that plenty of mid-range Android phones – including key iPhone 'e' rivals like the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE and Google Pixel 9a – have multiple rear cameras and 120Hz screens. So this might still be a somewhat compromised handset and a tough sell, even at a price that’s likely to be a fair bit lower than other iPhone 17 models.

An intriguing new design

The iPhone 17e might look something like this iPhone 17 Air leak (Image credit: Majin Bu)

Intriguingly though, Digital Chat Station also appears to claim (going by a machine translation) that the iPhone 17e will get a third upgrade in the form of a new design. It’s not clear what they mean by that though – the move to a Dynamic Island would certainly be a change, but this seems to be a separate point they’re making, suggesting other changes.

We're expecting the rest of the iPhone 17 series to adopt a new Pixel-like camera design, so it's possible that this is what the source is referring to, in which case the iPhone 17e could look a lot like the iPhone 17 Air – which is also expected to have just one rear camera – from the back.

Alternatively, they could be referring to the addition of a Camera Control button, which is present on the main iPhone 16 line but absent from the iPhone 16e, but that’s just speculation.

We may not find out for sure which features the iPhone 17e gets or doesn't get for a while, with the only release date leak so far pointing to May of next year. But if you don’t overly care about having multiple rear cameras or a high screen refresh rate, then the iPhone 17e might be worth the wait.

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• Cisco Talos spotted a new threat actor, tracked as UAT-7237
• The group resembles the "typhoon" Chinese state-sponsored groups
• It targeted web hosting firms in Taiwan

Chinese hacking groups are now targeting web hosting companies in Taiwan, researchers are saying.

Security experts from Cisco Talos said they spotted a never-before-seen group that focuses on “establishing long-term persistence in web infrastructure entities in Taiwan.”

They are tracking the miscreants under the moniker UAT-7237, and believe it to be a subgroup of UAT-5918, meaning it is still a distinct entity, and most likely a state-sponsored one, at that. While Talos does not explicitly say it, it does say that the tools the threat actors are using are quite similar to different “typhoon” hackers which are known to be state-sponsored.

Living off the land

Most of the tools are open source and somewhat customized, with a custom Shellcode loader known as “SoundBill” particularly standing out.

The group uses Cobalt Strike beacons, is quite picky with its web shells, and relies on a combination of direct remote desktop protocol (RDP) access and SoftEther VPN clients.

Talos recently observed the group breaching a Taiwanese hosting provider, and being “particularly interested” in gaining access to the victim organization’s VPN and cloud infrastructure.

“UAT-7237 used open-source and customized tooling to perform several malicious operations in the enterprise, including reconnaissance, credential extraction, deploying bespoke malware, setting up backdoored access via VPN clients, network scanning and proliferation,” the researchers explained.

For initial access, UAT-7237 exploited known vulnerabilities on unpatched servers exposed to the internet. This technique is also common for other state-sponsored groups, such as Volt Typhoon and Flax Typhoon, who usually exploit unpatched VPN appliances, firewalls, and email servers. In some cases, they abuse valid credentials for VPN, RDP, and cloud accounts.

While they occasionally drop lightweight web shells or custom loaders, their preference is to blend into normal network activity and establish persistence through compromised infrastructure rather than phishing or malware.

Via Infosecurity Magazine

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• OpenAI adds Connectors for Gmail and Calendars
• You can now access Gmail in chat and in Deep Research
• The feature is new for Plus and Pro users

OpenAI has finally flicked the switch, and now ChatGPT Plus and Pro users globally can connect Gmail and Google Calendar to ChatGPT. This is a feature that Gemini has had for some time, so it’s great to finally get it in ChatGPT.

Since I use Gmail for just about everything, I’ve been waiting for OpenAI to hook into it for ages, and now that it’s here, I can search emails from within ChatGPT, not to mention ask it to perform some handy analysis.

For example, a few useful things to ask ChatGPT, once you’ve connected it to Gmail, are “Who emails me the most?” and “Who haven’t I replied to?” or “What recent emails require action?”

Or, if you really can’t be bothered to open Gmail and you live in ChatGPT all day, you could ask it, “Who has emailed me today?”

Of course, you can do the same thing with your Calendar app. Just ask ChatGPT, “What meetings have I got today?”. This works especially well when combined with ChatGPT Voice. When you activate ChatGPT Voice, you can just start a conversation and ask ChatGPT what meetings you have today, and it will tell you.

What’s more, you can also use your Gmail inbox and your Calendar as a source for a Deep Research query. So, if you want to do some serious analysis of your inbox, you can now direct ChatGPT’s most in-depth research tool straight at it.

Getting set up

(Image credit: OpenAI/Apple)

Accessing these key Google services in ChatGPT requires a bit of setting up first. You need to go to Settings (which is accessed by clicking or tapping on your user name), then choosing Settings, and then Connectors.

Here you’ll be able to link your Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, and Contacts to ChatGPT. You’ll need to grant ChatGPT access in a few screens as you do this, but you only need to do it once.

Now that you are connected, you can just type in questions about your Gmail inbox or Calendar to ChatGPT.

Going deeper

If you want to use ChatGPT with Deep Research, then the process seems to differ between the Web version of ChatGPT and the mobile version.

In the Web version of ChatGPT, when you click on Deep Research, a Sources box appears next to it, and here you can select Gmail or Google Calendar from the drop-down menu.

On the mobile version of ChatGPT, when you tap on Deep Research, you don’t get a Sources box; however, it can still connect to your Gmail. Just ask it a question involving Gmail and you'll find that it can answer it.

Now that Gmail and Calendar are connected to ChatGPT, I can finally get it to perform more like the all-around personal assistant I want it to be.

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It's time to limber up and prepare to dance along to Peacemaker's new title sequence. Over three years after its first season arrived, the hit HBO Max show is finally set to return to our screens – and I suspect you'll want to know when and where it will.

Below, I'll tell you the date and time it'll premiere on Warner Bros. Discovery's super streamer. I'll also explain where you can watch it where HBO Max isn't available, and run you through a full release schedule for the DC Universe's (DCU) latest project. Here, then, is everything you need to know about Peacemaker season 2's forthcoming launch.

What is the launch date for Peacemaker season 2 episode 1?

We'll be smiling as much as Adrian Chase/Vigilante when Peacemaker 2 is released (Image credit: Jessica Miglio/Max)

Peacemaker's sophomore season is due out on Thursday, August 21 in North and South America. Viewers in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania will need to tune in on Friday, August 22 to stream one of the best HBO Max shows' next entry.

Unsurprisingly, this installment's first chapter – 'The Ties That Grind' – will launch at different times around the world. Here's when it'll be released where you live:

• US – Thursday, August 21 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Thursday, August 21 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Friday, August 22 at 2am BST
• India – Friday, August 22 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Friday, August 22 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Friday, August 22 at 11am AEST
• New Zealand – Friday, August 22 at 1pm NZST

Where can I watch Peacemaker season 2?

Another season, another bar-based bare-knuckles brawl for Emilia Harcout (center) (Image credit: HBO Max)

Peacemaker season 2 comes out on HBO Max in countries where one of the world's best streaming services is available. That includes the US, Australia, and Singapore.

For countries where HBO Max is yet to launch, though, it'll make its bow on other streaming platforms. Read on to learn where you can catch the DCU Chapter One TV series where you live:

• US – HBO Max
• Canada – Crave
• UK – Sky / Now TV
• India – JioHotstar
• Singapore – HBO Max
• Australia – HBO Max
• New Zealand – Neon

When do new episodes of Peacemaker season 2 come out?

You don't need to employ Rick Flag Sr or ARGUS' services to find out when new episodes will be released (Image credit: Jessica Miglio/Max)

New episodes of the John Cena-fronted TV show will arrive every Thursday in North and South America, and Friday everywhere else. If you want to know specific dates that each chapter will air weekly after this week's entry, read on:

• Peacemaker season 2 episode 1 – Thursday, August 21 / Friday, August 22
• Peacemaker season 2 episode 2 – Thursday, August 28 / Friday, August 29
• Peacemaker season 2 episode 3 – Thursday, September 4 / Friday, September 5
• Peacemaker season 2 episode 4 – Thursday, September 11 / Friday, September 12
• Peacemaker season 2 episode 5 – Thursday, September 18 / Friday, September 19
• Peacemaker season 2 episode 6 – Thursday, September 25 / Friday, September 26
• Peacemaker season 2 episode 7 – Thursday, October 2 / Friday, October 3
• Peacemaker season 2 episode 8 – Thursday, October 9 / Friday, October 10

For more on the hit show's return, read my dedicated guide to Peacemaker season 2 and my Peacemaker season 2 review. Then, check out the section below for more exclusive coverage on the DC TV series.

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• Adobe Acrobat Studio announced
• New hubs for managing, understanding, and creating documents
• Platform fuses Acrobat Pro, Adobe Express, new specialized AI assistants

Adobe has unveiled its new Acrobat Studio, which aims to become the nerve center for productivity and creativity tasks - and a life-saver for anyone drowning in documents.

The platform fuses the full Acrobat Pro experience with extra AI tools, Adobe Express, and new spaces that the company says “transforms PDFs into conversational knowledge hubs that enable people to use customizable AI Assistants to unlock and share insights, answers and recommendations.”

That’s business-speak for saying Acrobat Studio’s AI should make it easier to understand document contents. Adobe’s Abhigyan Modi, senior vice president, Document Product Group, gave me a demo of the new tools. Here’s what you need to know…

What is Adobe Acrobat Studio and what’s new?

(Image credit: Adobe)

Adobe Acrobat Studio effectively attempts to solve some of the issues faced by those managing or accessing documents. Namely, file storage, collaborative or communication breakdown, content creation, and information overload.

On the launch of Adobe Acrobat Studio, Modi said: “We’re reinventing PDF for modern work, so whatever you need to get done, you can do that with Acrobat.”

Use-cases highlighted by Adobe include centralizing client insights, creating polished, on-brand proposals, grabbing key metrics for secure sharing, and reviewing resumes. Effectively, if it's a document, Acrobat Studio can probably do something with it.

Acrobat is already home to an AI Assistant, Firefly, and - in an interesting use of the technology - a contract explainer that helpfully summarizes jargon-heavy legal documents. Those constant updates are one of the reasons why I rank it as the best PDF editor around. But Acrobat Studio ramps that integration up to eleven.

• PDF Spaces

(Image credit: Adobe)

PDF Spaces is the headline addition. It’s also the area Modi told me he’s most excited about with this launch, keen to see how users benefit from them.

These are AI-driven hubs for up to 100 files (format support goes way beyond PDF). Upload a file, and PDF Spaces generates what Adobe dubs “an AI-powered workspace,” loading in suggested goals, actionable insights, citations.

It’s a space, Adobe says, where users can use AI to question, compare, and summarize information in documents. A “conversational knowledge hub,” if you like.

• Specialized assistants

(Image credit: Adobe)

One of PDF Spaces’ biggest strengths is that it expands on the familiar AI Assistant already found in Adobe Acrobat for more tailored responses.

Three specialized AI assistants are baked into the workspace, with the option to create a custom one. The Analyst, the Instructor, and the Entertainer each approach information differently in ways that should, in theory, be more helpful to users.

This is a core element, Modi explained, of Adobe’s focus on the needs of different users. Where the Entertainer toys with language and creativity, the Analyst studies and uncovers new thoughts; the Instructor makes complex topics accessible.

• Adobe Express integration

(Image credit: Adobe)

Adobe Express has been getting a lot of attention lately, with an expanded toolset and integration with a host of Creative Cloud apps. So, perhaps it was just a matter of time before it joined fully with Acrobat.

The popular, free online design tool is a core part of Acrobat Studio. With the full-fat Adobe Express Premium tools, users can create (or generate) professional templates, presentations, reports, and social media posts.

The Creative Cloud Pro plan combines over twenty Adobe apps into a single subscription, giving you access to Acrobat, Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and more. The plan also includes 4000 monthly credits for Adobe Firefly's generative AI photo and video tools. View Deal

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• You can now interact with Excel cells in natural language with =COPILOT
• It doesn't interact with external data from the web... yet
• You can combine it with other Excel functions

Microsoft is rolling out a new Excel AI function directly into cells, so you can leverage generative AI and tap into even more information even more easily than you can strike up a simple formula in its spreadsheet software.

Copilot in Excel cells is rolling out to Microsoft 365 Copilot beta users in the Insider Program and Beta Channel to start off with, the tighter AI integration will be available on Windows (Version 2509+) and Mac (Version 16.101+) before it comes to the web version.

Working like a normal Microsoft Excel function, users can add prompts in quotes and optional cell ranges for even more context, leading results to automatically change when the source data changes.

Excel COPILOT function

"Just enter a natural language prompt in your spreadsheet, reference cell values as needed, and watch Copilot instantly generate AI-powered results," Partner Director Catherine Pidgeon explained in a blog post.

Besides using the AI tool to create new types of prompts or generate formulas that they might not have been able to do without expert knowledge, users can also combine the Excel COPILOT formula with other functions like IF, SWITCH, LAMBDA, or WRAPROWS.

Some examples of =COPILOT's use cases include summarizing customer feedback, categorizing data, integrating external knowledge and formatting.

In its most simple form, a function might look like "=COPILOT(prompt_part1, [context1])" – though context is optional.

Pidgeon noted the =COPILOT function only uses data it was trained on, so it cannot access new data from the web or company documents at this stage.

Being a beta product, there are still some improvements that Microsoft hopes to make to its Excel AI assistant, including more data sources beyond the LLM training and enabling date formatting per Excel’s date serial format rather than text-only, as is currently the case.

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Digital spend now takes up 35% of sustainability budgets, as businesses leverage IT to achieve environmental goals. The global digital sustainability market is projected to reach $34 billion by 2027, growing about three times faster than the overall technology market. This surge highlights increasing corporate commitment to sustainability, driven by regulatory pressures, rising energy costs and stakeholder expectation.

However, despite these positive trends, we shouldn’t ignore the impact of current technologies in play. Enterprise IT already accounts for 1% of all GHG output, and tech emissions are set to rise to 14% of global totals by 2040. Datacenter expansion and AI investment have seen emissions increase by 150% in three years. Scope 1 and 2 emissions grew by 1.4% since 2024, and gaps remain in Scope 3 reporting. It’s clear that good intentions have not yet translated into tangible reduction of carbon footprints.

To ensure meaningful progress towards net zero targets, businesses must reconcile rising digital demand with environmental responsibilities. Meeting ambitious climate goals will require a systemic transformation of operational strategies. Entrenched behaviors - such as repeating IT procurement practices - hinder progress towards ESG and business goals.

Achieving sustainability targets will require bold changes across the entire technology ecosystem - from IT infrastructure and digital operations to innovation and regulatory alignment.

Making sustainability a business priority

Sustainability is no longer optional; it’s a business imperative driven by environmental, regulatory and market forces. Climate change remains a central issue on the global agenda. While some governments may not prioritize climate initiatives, international frameworks such as the United Nations’ COP, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement continue to push organizations for meaningful progress.

On the regulatory front, frameworks such as the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are raising the bar. New legislation will require detailed disclosures, including Scope 3 reporting – indirect emissions including those from digital infrastructure and IT supply chains. With technology a significant contributor to Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions, staying ahead of these compliance mandates is crucial for effective risk management.

But regulation is only part of the picture. Sustainability in IT is increasingly tied to business performance. Organizations with strong ESG practices are outperforming peers in profitability and EBITDA metrics. Ultimately, digital transformation efforts that overlook sustainability are missing a key component for long-term value creation. Sustainable IT is central to competitiveness, growth and resilience.

A sustainable IT journey

Building a sustainable IT strategy goes far beyond adopting energy-efficient hardware or migrating to the cloud to cut Scope 2 emissions. It demands a holistic approach to technology sourcing, management and use across its entire lifecycle. To accelerate ESG priorities, organizations should:

1.Assess datacenter sustainability: Where growing data volumes are hosted has a major environmental impact. With cloud adoption more effective than upgrading on-premise infrastructure, prioritizing datacenters powered by renewables is vital. Businesses should seek facilities with strong Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratings - lower scores (closer to 1.0) indicate greater efficiency.

2.Scrutinize cloud providers: Sustainability performance varies significantly between cloud providers. While major hyperscalers have faced criticism over environmental practices, some smaller providers offer 100% renewable-powered services and employ energy-saving technologies like virtualization, containerization and AI-driven resource optimization. Opting for suppliers with robust sustainability credentials and able to provide accurate Scope 3 data will deliver immediate impact to decarbonizing supply chains.

3.Leverage Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas): Adopting an IaaS model removes the burden of managing on-premise IT, transferring power and emissions responsibility to the provider. IaaS boosts agility and cost efficiency, while reducing IT estate, hardware refreshes, power costs and equipment waste.

4.Optimize end-user devices: End-user hardware accounts for a large share of IT-related emissions and electronic waste. Minimizing device count, extending hardware lifespan and exploring alternatives like Bring Your Own Device policies can reduce environmental impact and operational costs.

5.Enable remote work: IT is a key enabler of remote work, helping reduce emissions from commuting and office infrastructure. Virtual desktop infrastructure allows users to access powerful computing resources securely while significantly lowering energy consumption compared to traditional desktop setups.

Now is the time to step up

The path to business sustainability is well defined - the technologies, frameworks and partners to drive improvements are available. What’s needed now is momentum from organizations to drive meaningful change.

Sustainable IT is more than a reporting checkbox for regulatory compliance; it’s a critical pillar of long-term business success. Forward-thinking leaders are increasingly recognizing that doing ‘just enough’ is a risky strategy, which can result in poor technology investments and leave firms exposed as contexts change and competitors seize an advantage.

Embedding sustainability into corporate agendas is essential for driving growth, strengthening stakeholder confidence and meeting environmental commitments. Leaders should act now and make smarter IT choices to transform their operations for the better. Future success – for their business and the planet - depends on it.

We list the best green web hosting.

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

• Netflix renews Dept. Q for second season less than three months after season 1 wrapped
• Main characters are set to return
• Plot details are being kept under wraps

Almost three months after the release of its first season, Netflix has confirmed that Dept. Q season 2 is officially going ahead. Executive producer Rob Bullock of Left Bank Pictures said in a press statement: “We are going downstairs to Dept. Q for a second season. We at Left Bank Pictures nervously await what Scott has in store for his alter-ego Carl Morck, and the other enabling members of team do-lally. We salute Netflix’s courage to let them loose once again.”

Co-creator Scott Frank added: “I’m grateful to the folks at Netflix, as well as our shining cast and crew, for once more risking their careers to enable my folly.” Season 1 drew in 222 million hours of viewing worldwide on one of the best streaming services, spending six weeks in Netflix’s top 10 chart.

Thankfully, we’ve already got a fairly clear idea of where new episodes will head next, with Moira (Kate Dickie) telling Hardy (Jamie Sives) at the end of the first season that she has a brand-new case for him to look at. All of our other season 1 plotlines were neatly solved, so there’s a chance we could see some unexpected format shakeups down the line.

However, the promise of a new cold case isn’t quite enough for me on its own. If we want the 2026 streaming calendar to be truly exciting (assuming Netflix doesn’t do its old trick of waiting a million years to put out another series), why not coincide the release of Dept Q. season 2 with the HBO Max show that rivalled season 1 only a few months ago?

Netflix should pit Dept. Q season 2 against HBO Max giant The Pitt (pun intended)

What’s struck me most about the Dept Q. season 2 renewal news is how many fans (see the Reddit comment above as example) loved watching season 1 alongside medical drama The Pitt. Neither show is one where you can easily catch your breath, even though they are each polar opposites of each other (Dept. Q follows cold cases, The Pitt follows a shift in a manic ER department). Earlier in the year, we had the tail end of The Pitt season 1 overlap with the debut of Dept Q., and it turned out to be the best binge-worthy partnership we’ve had in ages.

So, what if Netflix and HBO Max do it again, whether that’s facing off as rivals or teaming up to give viewers exactly what they want? We already know The Pitt season 2 will definitely premiere in January 2026, picking up ten months after season 1 during a hectic fourth of July weekend. If Dept. Q got its skates on and released a new season in May 2026, we’d get the same delicious streaming crossover we had this year.

From the team’s press statements, it’s difficult to tell how far into the development process they are for the second season. On the one hand, Netflix is notorious for taking its time between seasons, as Stranger Things, Wednesday and Squid Game have all shown. However, Dept. Q has a much smaller production scale than any of the bigger IPs, hopefully meaning shooting wouldn’t take as long anyway.

But who knows? It’s all speculation at this point. We have no idea what’s waiting for Hardy in the basement, and the team could literally be taken anywhere. As Frank told Collider after season 1 was released, “This is based on a series of books. The second book in the series is quite good, so I’ve got a great idea for a second season. It is another cold case and also a current case, at the same time, that they’re looking into. So, I would do that. I don’t know that I would necessarily do nine episodes. I might just do six next time. We’ll see. But I do know what I want to do next. I do have the story in mind for the next season.”

As long as I can offset it with Dr. Robbie (Noah Wyle) crying in a slump on the floor in a Pittsburgh hospital, I’ll be one happy subscriber.

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• Peacemaker season 2 will explore the 11th Street Kids in more detail
• The group's various dynamics will be examined in depth
• Its cast has teased what fans can expect to see and hear in the HBO Max show's next entry

The cast of Peacemaker season 2 has tentatively revealed what's next for the 11th Street Kids after their world-saving exploits in the show's debut installment.

Ahead of the popular show's return, I sat down with Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, and Steve Agee to learn more about their individual and collective character arcs in the HBO Max Original's sophomore entry. Full spoilers follow for Peacemaker season 1, so proceed with caution.

Leota Adebayo becomes the 11th Street Kids' figurative surrogate mom this season (Image credit: Jessica Miglio/Max)

Peacemaker's first season ended with the 11th Street Kids stopping an alien invasion. However, despite the strong albeit dysfunctional bonds they formed last season, the group – John Cena's Chris Smith/Peacemaker, Jennifer Holland's Emilia Harcourt, Brooks' Leota Adebayo, Stroma's Adrian Chase/Vigilante, and Agee's John Economos – largely went their separate ways after thwarting the aforementioned hostile takeover.

Unsurprisingly, season 2 opens with each individual doing their own thing. Sure, there's the occasional check-in between certain characters but it's only when the plot progresses that the quintet are pulled back into each other's orbit. By and large, though, each person is dealing with their own issues and/or pursuing their own dreams in the DC Universe (DCU) TV show's second season.

For Adebayo, that means having the freedom to start her life anew without her mother – Amanda Waller, who was ousted as the director of ARGUS in last season's finale by her daughter blowing the whistle on Waller's nefarious schemes – dictating her every move. But, even as Adebayo navigates other personal problems and desires with her newfound sense of freedom, helping her friends is still her number one priority.

Jon Economos finds himself torn between his job and his friends this season (Image credit: Curtis Bonds Baker/Max)

"In a way, she's been imprisoned physically and mentally by her mom," Brooks said. "When she decides to rat our her mom, she finally breaks her mom's hold on her.

"We get to witness that transition and more of the optimistic person she is in season two," Brooks added. "Adebayo immediately gets to work making things happen [for herself], but that comes with sacrifices, as we'll see with her wife this season. But, even with those marital issues, she finds time to lift up the rest of the 11th Street Kids and become that encouraging voice as they deal with their struggles. She almost becomes this motherly figure to everyone else, which may be a reaction to what she never had with her own mom."

Such problems loom large over Smith and Harcourt's season 2 arcs, but Chase and Economos aren't immune from facing similar inter- and intra-personal issues. Indeed, whether it's the feelings of fraternal alienation Chase feels amid the regression of his friendship with Smith or Economos' split loyalties to his friends and job at ARGUS, the duo are similarly plagued by difficulties in the DCU Chapter One project's latest installment.

Adrian Chase looks to the rest of the gang for emotional support throughout season 2 (Image credit: Jessica Miglio/Max)

"He definitely looks to Peacemaker for that support," Stroma said, "So, his feelings are hurt when he's not being invited to things or only being called upon when he's needed. He needs to fill that void, and you'll see in episode one how Adrian's focus shifts to other members of the 11th Street Kids, because all he really wants is to have friends. After season one, he's nudged his way [into this group] and maybe thinks 'I've finally found my tribe'. When you see them having a big party on the roof [as Peacemaker season 2's red band trailer teased], it's everything he's ever wanted."

"Economos is a creature of habit," Agee admitted. "He's great at his job and being this tech guru. That's his routine and, for someone like him, it's really hard to up-end those patterns, which is why he's still at ARGUS at the start of this season.

"He's really reluctant to do some of the stuff that's asked of him, but he also doesn't want to lose his job because he can use it to help his friends and, without spoiling much, stay one step ahead of ARGUS. I think if you have him an ultimatum to choose his friends and keep them safe, or continue working for ARGUS, I think he'd pick the former. Having friends is new to him, but he really needs the 11th Street Kids, and I think that showed in season one and will do so again in season two."

Peacemaker season 2 premieres on August 21 in North and South America, and August 22 everywhere else. Before it does, read my ultimate guide on Peacemaker season 2 for more on its cast, plot, and trailers, plus my Peacemaker season 2 review to see what I thought of its first five episodes.

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The UK government just announced £187 million for the TechFirst initiative to embed digital and AI skills in classrooms and communities. It's a smart move that will pay dividends in the long run. But here's the problem — we can't wait 10 years for today's secondary school students to join the workforce.

Right now, businesses are grappling with AI disruption and cybersecurity threats that demand immediate attention. Our research shows that while 44% of professionals report their organizations have invested in AI, many employees lack adequate skills to use these tools effectively. That's a recipe for wasted investment and security vulnerabilities.

The gap becomes particularly dangerous when you consider how threats are evolving. Many office workers don't know that advanced AI can impersonate anyone's voice, putting companies at serious risk from social engineering attacks. At this point, nearly one in three security and IT professionals have no documented strategy for managing generative AI risks.

Starting in schools is absolutely the right foundation. But we need to build on that foundation with programs that reach everyone from recent graduates to senior executives.

Getting current workers up to speed

The TechFirst initiative includes four strands — youth, graduate, expert and local. That's encouraging because it acknowledges we need different approaches for different groups. But the real test will be how well these programs connect with each other and with what businesses are already doing.

Companies can't outsource digital skills development to government programs alone. They need to take ownership of getting their teams ready for an AI-powered workplace. This means practical training that goes further than basic digital literacy, addressing real security risks and productivity opportunities.

It’s far too common for organizations to rush to implement new AI tools without considering whether their people know how to use them appropriately. The result is often disappointing returns on technology investments and unnecessary exposure to cyber threats.

Making education relevant to work

To make an impact, skills programs must connect classroom learning with actual business challenges. Students need exposure to real workplace scenarios, not just theoretical concepts. This means tech companies should work directly with schools and universities to provide hands-on experience opportunities.

However, we also need to consider regional differences. Digital literacy levels vary significantly across the UK, and a program that works in London might not be right for smaller cities or rural areas. The TechFirst initiative's local strand recognizes this reality, but success will depend on strong partnerships between government, education and local businesses.

Industry networks can help tailor programs to what companies actually need. Too often, educational qualifications don't match up with workplace requirements because there's no ongoing dialogue between educators and employers.

Cultivating skills that last

As AI automates routine tasks, workers need to develop capabilities that complement rather than compete with technology. Critical thinking, complex problem-solving and the ability to work alongside AI systems are emerging as more valuable than the ability to memorize technical procedures.

This requires a different approach to professional development. Instead of occasional training courses, organizations need cultures where people continuously update their skills. The pace of change in AI and cybersecurity means what you learned six months ago might already be outdated.

Different people learn differently, too. Some thrive with online courses, others need hands-on projects or peer mentoring. The best upskilling programs offer multiple ways to build competence and confidence with new technologies.

Connecting the dots

Fragmentation is arguably the biggest risk with any large-scale skills initiative. Government programs, university courses and corporate training often operate independently, creating gaps and duplicated effort. Coordination between all these moving parts is a critical part of ensuring success.

This means sharing resources, aligning what gets taught and ensuring smooth transitions between different types of learning. A student who develops AI skills through TechYouth should be able to build on that foundation in university and then in their first job without starting from scratch each time.

Companies should also recognize their role in making these connections work. Hiring managers need to understand what different qualifications actually mean. Training departments should build on skills people already have rather than ignoring previous learning.

What success looks like

Getting this right means creating learning pathways that support people throughout their careers, not just at specific points. It means businesses that can confidently deploy new technologies because their teams understand both the opportunities and the risks.

Most importantly, it means a UK workforce that can compete globally in an increasingly digital economy. The £187 million TechFirst investment provides a strong starting point, but realizing its potential requires recognizing that skills development doesn't end when people leave school.

We need programs that work for 16-year-olds choosing their A-levels, 25-year-olds starting their careers, 40-year-olds managing teams and 55-year-olds adapting to new technologies. Only by addressing skills gaps across all these groups can we build the digitally resilient economy Britain needs.

Taking a comprehensive approach — supporting both future and current workers — can multiply the impact of this investment. With cyber threats evolving daily and AI capabilities advancing monthly, connecting these efforts across all age groups delivers much stronger returns.

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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

Back in 2020, the European Parliament published a briefing paper which set out “growing concern that the citizens, businesses and Member States of the European Union (EU) are gradually losing control over their data, over their capacity for innovation, and over their ability to shape and enforce legislation in the digital environment.”

At the heart of the matter is the domination that the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google have established over the European cloud computing market. One of the effects of their success is that the region now faces significant challenges in ensuring data is subject to the laws and governance structures of the country or region in which it is collected, stored or processed.

For organizations based in the EU hosting their data with providers based elsewhere, this raises serious questions about who ultimately has jurisdiction over that data and whether it can be governed by foreign legal frameworks beyond their control.

Let’s also be clear - the market-leading hyperscalers offer efficiency, scale and a whole host of other compelling advantages. They are all highly innovative, trusted providers that have transformed how businesses operate and have enabled extraordinary digital progress at speed and scale.

Thousands of European organizations rely on – and will continue to rely on – these brands for good reason. At the same time, however, it’s also vital that organizations understand that where they store their data, and under whose jurisdiction it falls, carries implications far beyond IT.

Whether viewed through a political, economic, or operational lens, data sovereignty matters. In some scenarios, it can shape access rights, trigger regulatory obligations or even expose organizations to geopolitical risk.

For example, laws in one country could compel a cloud provider to share data stored in another, an issue that’s been flagged in relation to executive powers and national security mandates at the disposal of foreign governments.

So, how is the landscape changing? Firstly, there are a number of promising European cloud initiatives, including regulatory developments, sovereign cloud frameworks and consortium-based models designed to create local alternatives to the all-in-one hyperscaler stack. However, these solutions are not without their challenges, with cost, fragmentation, scalability and adoption hurdles potentially standing in the way of an effective regional system.

For many organizations, a full switch isn’t viable due to issues such as existing investment commitments, operational complexity and the simple absence of mature, like-for-like alternatives that can match the scale and capabilities of established providers.

The US hyperscalers are also getting in on the act. This time last year, for instance, AWS announced plans to invest €7.8 billion in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, an initiative which the company says reinforces its “commitment to offer customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards, and security features available in the cloud.”

How this plays out remains to be seen, but whatever route organizations favor in the pursuit of data sovereignty, access to choice and autonomy over where their data is stored is likely to grow in importance as time passes.

The role of intelligent data management

For European organizations in this position, and there are many, the good news is that they don’t need to wait for systemic changes in the cloud landscape to start regaining control. Data sovereignty can be addressed today through the implementation of modern, vendor-neutral data management technologies, which enable them to visualize their entire data landscape and apply consistent policies across disparate storage environments.

Armed with a unified view of their data across cloud and on-premises environments, organizations can then make informed choices about what data to store, where to store it and how best to safeguard it.

The obvious starting point is visibility because, without knowing what data exists, where it resides and how it moves, businesses are flying blind. This is particularly significant and challenging in contemporary multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud environments, where data can be extremely fragmented, often with little consistency or oversight.

But by establishing a clear picture of all data assets, classifying them based on sensitivity and business value and ensuring local copies of critical data are always available, IT management can also enforce policies that align with governance and regulatory requirements.

In the end, this is not just a technology and geography issue; it goes much deeper to cover everything from business resilience and compliance to control and, ultimately, customer trust. Europe’s digital future will depend not only on where its data lives, but on who can access it, govern it and protect it.

As the European Parliament data sovereignty briefing concludes, “Building a secure pan-European data framework and adopting new standards and practices to provide trustworthy and controllable digital products and services would ensure a safer digital environment.”

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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