TechRadar News

• Soundpeats Nebula Aura were teased in January 2026
• Since then, the brand has continued to run a blog about their development
• Fans look willing to sell a kidney to try them

Thanks to its roster of solid affordable earbuds, Soundpeats is a brand I always keep an eye on. Between the Soundpeats H3 three-driver in-ears, Soundpeats Clip1 open earbuds and Soundpeats Cove Pro over-ears, I'm always interested in what they've got up their sleeves.

After being given a glimpse up said sleeves in January 2026, when the brand teased some five-driver earbuds, we've been learning more and more over time. Through 2026, Soundpeats has been running a blog dedicated to the development of the buds.

We already knew a fair bit, for example about the five drivers: the 10mm dynamic driver is joined by a 6mm planar driver, two balanced armatures and a planar magnetic driver. The support for aptX Adaptive, LDAC and Snapdragon Sound was all also in the knowledge bank.

But the blog shines a light on some other elements of the bud, for example in the design department. One post discusses the charging case, and how it was designed to allow you to remove the buds in the same gesture as opening it. It's the stuff you don't think about when you're buying some buds online, and shows that the brand is putting care into its Nebula.

In another post, the brand details a transmitter that the Nebula will work alongside, allowing for 24-bit 96kHz audio playback from iPhones. That's right, the barren LDAC-less wasteland will finally be able to enjoy high-res music (Androiders can just use LDAC for this quality with the Nebula).

Fans can't wait

One other side-effect of publishing this blog, is that Soundpeats has managed to build plenty of organic excitement for the Aura Nebula. And I'm not just talking about how interested I personally am to try them.

A representative for Soundcore has been actively sharing the blog posts on Reddit, and they've seemingly amassed a dedicated audience of fans who want to test out the buds. There's also a Discord dedicated to the buds.

For example, in the r/Earbuds subreddit, a recent posted inspired a Q&A between one of the product's developers and excited fans dying to test the buds. And when I say "dying", I mean it: one interested party asking for updates said "this is painful". So, yes… fans are pretty keen.

Comment from r/Earbuds

In the Q&A, fans' main questions were about when the buds would be arriving — unfortunately they weren't given an answer, though TechRadar has today (Wednesday 8 July) reached out to the company and will update this article if we hear back.

But Soundpeats was very honest about other topics. For example, when asked about battery life, the representative confirmed that they didn't have a concrete battery estimate yet: "the exact battery life still needs to be tested and confirmed [... it's] one of the things I'm personally watching closely too".

Elsewhere, the developer shared more details about the buds: "55db hybrid ANC, transparency mode support, 3 microphones per earbud, AI call noise reduction, and Qualcomm cVc 8.0".

Comment from r/Earbuds

When one fan asked if the Aura Nebula would be top-end buds to compete with Sony, Bowers & Wilkin or Technics, the response admitted "in terms of overall product capabilities and brand influence, we aren't quite ready to be compared to those industry giants just yet". So they're staying humble, while also hinting at these buds wont be prohibitively expensive.

It's fascinating to see a brand like Soundpeats not just tease a product well before their launch, but be so open about their R&D process. It's creating interest in a way that press-release-in-inbox announcements don't, and making the brand seem more trustworthy than many peers. It's quite surprising that more brands don't do this kind of thing.

We were meant to see the Soundpeats release in Spring 2026, but obviously that didn't happen. The brand posted about pre-production prototypes in April, so hopefully we won't need to wait too long before the Aura Nebula gets released. I would worry for that Reddit poster if they're delayed much longer.

• UK data centers can apply for a special 'national significance' designation under the NSIP scheme
• The designation allows new projects to receive approval direct from Whitehall, avoiding local planning and building regulations
• Opposition to data centers in the UK has not reached the same levels as the US, which has seen billions of dollars worth of projects delayed due to local opposition

Data centers in the UK have been given the ability to apply for a ‘national importance’ status previously only reserved for critical infrastructure such as energy production, roads, railways, and sub sea cables.

The UK government has also scrapped the statutory requirement for pre-application consultation on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in legislation taking effect later this month, potentially cutting the processing time for applications by up to a year.

Projects approved for NSIP status are not subject to local building regulations and authorities, and are instead granted permission directly by the UK government. Data centers will therefore be able to apply for this same status with a reduced processing time.

What determines a NSIP?

For now, there is no official guidance on what determines a data center as a NSIP.

Speaking to The Register, Law firm Womble Bond Dickinson said, “Datacenters are not automatically consented as NSIPs; instead, the NSIP regime operates on an opt‑in basis for developers. A datacenter project may be directed into the NSIP regime where the Secretary of State considers it to be of national significance and satisfied that the statutory tests under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 are met.”

The UK has long been poised to take advantage of new technologies, with regional cyber hubs popping up across the country in areas of technological significance for innovation, growth, and talent development - such as Cheltenham’s cyber hub strategically positioned near the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

The NSIP designation for data centers will likely fast-track the construction of ‘AI Growth Zones’ intended to accompany cyber hubs and bolster the UK’s sovereign AI capacity. That means that data center construction projects of ‘national importance’ will soon begin popping up across the UK.

The NSIP also provides prospective projects with pre-application advice to improve both the speed of their application and the chances of approval, with over 80 potential projects already having benefitted from this new advice.

As the ‘national importance’ status allows projects to bypass local planning and building regulations, it will also likely draw attention from local ‘not-in-my-backyard’ (NIMBY) groups. How effective the NSIP label will be at countering this local opposition remains to be seen.

The UK Local Government Association issued a response to the sustainability of data centers in the UK that stated, “Data centres and AI infrastructure cannot be planned in isolation from wider digital connectivity, energy, water, land use and climate systems. Councils must be treated as key partners in the design and delivery of national digital strategies, including AI Growth Zones, planning reform and infrastructure investment.”

What is the current attitude to data centers in the UK?

Opposition to UK data centers has not seen the same level of support as that in the US, but the UK has not been subject to the same mass-buildout of data center projects as in the US.

A YouGov / Cavendish Consulting Survey [PDF] of 2124 UK adults conducted in November 2025 found that the UK population broadly supports the construction of new data centers (69%), with 24% stating that they strongly support, and 45% stating they tend to support.

Opposition is significantly lower, with just 7% stating they tend to oppose data center projects, and only 3% strongly opposed.

The further trend to be analyzed is the 21% who gave ‘Don’t know’ as an answer, which highlights the lack of understanding around what a data center is, why they are built, and how they relate to AI technology.

This was further highlighted by a June 2026 survey conducted by SEC Newgate that found that 89% of UK adults were unfamiliar with data centers.

The US has seen opposition to data centers at both local and national levels, centered around the fear of AI-related job losses, environmental damage, and legitimate fears over local capacity constraints caused by the energy and water demands of enormous data center campuses.

How new UK data centers engage with local authorities and community groups will weigh heavily on the national opinion of data centers in the years to come, especially now that new projects can skirt local regulation via NSIP designation.

Via Tom’s Hardware

X-Men 97 season 2 episode 4 has landed on Disney+ — and, once you've picked up your jaw off the floor, I suspect you'll have two major questions about where things go from here.

So, if you're searching for answers after the Marvel TV show's latest chapter, titled 'Rise of Apocalypse: Part II', I'm here to provide them. Or, at least, give my take on what'll happen next following the episode's emotionally devastating finale and end-credits scene.

It goes without saying, but full spoilers immediately follow for X-Men 97 season 2's latest entry. Turn back now if you haven't watched it yet.

Does Magneto die in X-Men 97 season 2 episode 4?

Eriiiiikkkkkk! (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)

In a nutshell, yes. You don't take a extremely powerful arm-cannon blast to the chest — one that completely obliterates you, no less — from the immortal, super-mutant called Apocalypse and live to tell the tale.

That said, comic book character deaths are never permanent. Whether it's on the page, or in a movie or TV adaptation, superpowered beings are regularly brought back to life via time travel or multiverse shenanigans.

While Magneto certainly perished at the hands of Apocalypse in X-Men 97's latest installment, then, it's incredibly unlikely that he'll be gone for good. He's too popular and important a character to kill off, especially in this Disney+ animated series, so I'll be shocked if the metal-manipulating mutant who goes by the name Erik Magnus Lehnsherr never returns.

Now, who's going to tell Rogue that she's a second love interest in as many seasons...

Does X-Men 97 season 2 episode 4 have an end-credits scene?

Good to see you again, bub (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)

Yes — and it sets up the storyline that'll see James 'Logan' Howlett, aka Wolverine, get his adamantium skeleton back.

Remember, in season 1 episode 8 of this Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) adjacent project, Wolverine had the indestructible metal ripped from his body by Magneto. And, while Logan survived that ordeal thanks to his self-healing ability, he's since had to make do with using his brittle bone claws to attack his foes.

Logan won't have to do that for much longer, though. In a mid-credits scene, we see Wolverine meet Captain America and Black Widow on a rooftop. After some brief small-talk, Cap hands a top secret file to Logan that bears the name 'Weapon X'.

Weapon X will be incredibly familiar to X-Men diehards (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)

Long-time fans and/or those who've seen certain live-action X-Men films — by the way, find out how to watch the X-Men movies in order once you're done here — will understand the significance of this.

However, for those unfamiliar with Weapon X: essentially, it's the name of a clandestine US Government research facility and military program that turned unwilling individuals into living weapons with the view to conducting covert missions, such as assassinations. Wolverine, Deadpool, Sabretooth, and X-23 are counted among its rare success stories.

So, will Wolverine reacquire his adamantium skeleton in this Marvel Phase 6 TV series' next chapter? It's possible, especially as next week's entry is titled 'Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs'. But — spoilers for the comics notwithstanding — if X-Men 97 continues to follow and authentically adapt this specific storyline from its source material, this subplot might not be resolved until later in the season.

Do you think we'll see Magneto again? And when will Wolverine get his adamantium skeleton back? Let me know in the comments!

After almost 30 hours sailing the high seas in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, one of the series’ best games has its hooks in me all over again, and I can’t wait to play another 30 (or more) and complete every single activity a second time.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5 (on PS5 Pro)
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release date: July 9, 2026

Embarking on a journey to remake one of the series’ finest entries and to ensure the story of one of the best protagonists stays true to its original, Ubisoft has largely succeeded with Resynced. The experience feels fresh and modern, but also has me feeling the same pirate-y feels that only the original ever could.

It’s not without flaws, though. Some particular bits of Black Flag remain that inject some unwanted repetition; some of the cut content is a little disappointing, and there are some rogue bits of oddness in the new additions, as well as overall balances of features.

But those are not huge complaints, and only apparent with close comparison to the original. Zoom out just a tiny bit, and it’s easy to appreciate what Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is: a fantastically fun version of a brilliant game.

One of the best to ever do it

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Revisiting the story of Edward Kenway, chancer and dreamer turned privateer and then assassin — perhaps the only protagonist who can hold a candle to series legend Ezio Auditore da Firenze — Resynced has largely kept the core narrative, characters, and experience as it was with the original. Which is the right approach, as all were excellent.

Bouncing from Caribbean island to Caribbean island with Kenway and his crew on the Jackdaw is the backdrop for a time-enduring Assassin’s Creed story that still holds up today and makes for a great swashbuckling adventure. There’s a certain satisfying way that the game’s narrative weaves living in the golden age of piracy and core characters within that with its own lore of the enduring Assassin’s vs Templar battle.

Exploring mysterious, overgrown islands searching for hidden treasures or hunting down stashes from messages in a bottle, traversing the high seas in the Jackdaw ship, and taking on huge ships from the Spanish and British navies, and following Kenway’s desire for fortune and experiencing him tracking down age-old secrets is all still fantastically fun and ensures the core experience remains exquisite.

The most tangible and clearest way that this core experience has been elevated is naturally the visuals. I said that Assassin’s Creed Shadows was the best-looking game in the series when I reviewed it last year, but now there's a new kid on the block. Resynced is simply wondrous, verdant, gorgeous, and incredibly detailed in its presentation of the Caribbean, and my eyes can’t get enough of it.

Being a new version of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, it’s still an absolutely fantastic video game and is the same brilliant original under the surface. But “not all treasure is silver and gold, mate”: it’s not just the impressive visual upgrade which makes the remake a success, as there have been loads of improvements, and a few notable changes or omissions which really make up the meat and potatoes of the differences Resynced offers over its original.

A modern assassin

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Each change itself isn’t huge, but when you factor them all in, there’s a huge collection of improvements that paint a bigger, better picture are aesthetic or functional changes, whereas others are much-needed modernizations that bring the game forward a decade and a half.

At their most basic, the changes to menus, controls, and the inventory screen are almost all welcome alterations and bring the game up to speed with the likes of Mirage and Shadows in the modern Assassin’s Creed pantheon. Everything is slick and smooth. The use of the newer Anvil engine and what that allows, such as dynamic weather, a day-night cycle, and so on, is also put to great effect.

In-game minigames like Kenway’s fleet have been overhauled too, and even with the removal of that fun and cartoon-y one in the original, these changes are largely slick and well done. There are also dedicated locations to interact with such things in Kenway’s manor and base of operations on Great Inagua, which has been expanded to include dedicated spots for upgrading the manor or interacting with the fleet.

The island’s upgrades — your Harbourmaster, general store, etc — all have more depth and levels of upgrade to invest in. It’s not as comprehensive as the base-building systems in Shadows, but it’s still very satisfying and drives you to plunder more to unlock the best for your island and ship.

Best Bit

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Taking on a powerful enemy ship with the Jackdaw and planning your attacks while simultaneously navigating the open waters is an absolute thrill — and the sense of satisfaction and relief in pulling off a difficult encounter with a fraction of health left is mighty.

Combat and parkour are both areas with substantial changes as well. Parkour doesn’t look or appear brand new — and once again not as transformative as the change that came after Black Flag with Unity, sadly — but it does genuinely feel smoother and more fluid than before; where there once would have been brief pauses or stutters mid-run, there now aren't.

Combat has definitely taken inspiration from Mirage and largely works as a new style for Kenway. It’s a shame to see some omissions, as Kenway sticks only to cutlass weapons (which sometimes feel a bit messy and button-mashy) but the heavy and light attacks and parries combine to make something more engaging than the parry and finish of the original games. Even so, after a while, it can drag a bit and get repetitive — especially when you’re having to board and take ship after ship after ship to farm upgrade material — and lacks the dynamism of the original at times.

Opening up more of the world has been a success in Resynced, at least. The ability to dive anywhere and swim everywhere in the ocean opens up more areas for discovery and exploration, and the simple addition of a crouch button means that you can explore enemy compounds and warehouse locations rather than just murder your way through them.

A balancing act

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

More substantial changes to content are more mixed, though, and in the face of so many great updates, upgrades, and enhancements, Resynced has to walk a tightrope of new additions and working with — or avoiding — the original source material.

I really enjoy the new endings that some of the best characters in the game get through new side quests, for example — and there are even new lines, scenes, and actions back at Kenway’s headquarters after those too, which is a nice touch.

The new officer recruitment missions are also good fun; as well as offering a tangible benefit for new ship features or weapons, these are some quite good contained missions. However, the pacing sometimes feels a little odd as you successfully recruit the new officer, midway through their story, and even when they seem unconvinced about joining you.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

The most noticeable change to content, however, has been unsuccessful, in my view: entirely removing the modern-day sections is a shame and a missed opportunity. I find myself longing for these bits where you are deep-diving into Desmond’s DNA and scoping out the modern-day Templar offices; the change of pace worked with the original game and played its own robust part in the lore and narrative of the series. While removing tube content was largely welcomed by many and may have seemed like a good idea, in the context of playing the game, it feels a bit of a shame. With Resynced being positioned by Ubisoft as a remake that semi-reinterprets but also modernises and improves parts of the original, it’s a wasted opportunity not to give the modern-day segments the same treatment as other areas of the game and to instead jettison it entirely.

This remake is a blast, and I cannot wait to seek out every corner of the Caribbean and solve every mystery all over again

Some 2013-isms remain in this 2026 game, too. Notably, the AI and enemies are as dumb as ever. Being able to whistle and attract a whole heap of guards to a single stalking location and murder all of them in one big bloody pile is still too easy. And while the tailing missions have been changed to be less punishing, you can now just murder your target, loot the info, and scarper just like any other objective in the game.

Despite the drawbacks, though, as a long-time Assassin’s Creed fan, this remake is a blast, and I cannot wait to seek out every corner of the Caribbean and solve every mystery all over again. Those of us who yearn for more from the stories of the Assassins in every game will be extremely happy, I’d wager, with Resynced’s re-look at one of the best games in the series, with the extra story beats for some of the best characters being such examples.

Despite a few creases here and there that raise the eyebrow, this is a solid remake and a wonderful game, and could offer an interesting insight into Ubisoft’s future approach to its older games, which is very exciting.

Should you play Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced?Play it if...

You want an enhanced and modern version of a classic AC game
Resynced is a fantastic new experience for a classic and top-tier entry in the series and will provide an engaging and satisfying modern way to play the game for new and returning fans.

You’re looking for a fantastic pirate action-adventure game
Complete with the same excellent naval combat from the original, Edward Kenway’s assassin-pirate all-action adventure is still swashbucklingly excellent in Resynced — remake or not — so it's a brilliant game in its own right in 2026.

You’ve enjoyed the modern feel of the most recent AC games
If you’ve liked the overhauls to combat and traversal in particular that the more modern games have offered in the Assassin’s Creed series, then you’ll likely find a lot to love in both ways in Resynced.

Don't play it if...

You really disliked the repetition in earlier games in the series
Sadly, you’ll still be seeing a lot of the same activities and engaging in repeated encounters in Resynced despite all the modernizations and improvements. If these are a big turn-off for you (such as the same fights when boarding enemy ships), then Resynced won’t win you over.

You know you’ll miss the modern-day content
While some hated it, a lot of people loved and were invested in the modern-day sections in Black Flag’s era of Assassin’s Creed games, and to have it totally and utterly removed may well disappoint many fans — especially in the face of so many other improvements in the game.

Accessibility features

Ubisoft has done another great job of offering a whole host of accessibility options in its latest flagship game. You can easily alter difficulty settings with a number of sliders affecting different factors such as stealth, naval combat, and activities, and a number of playstyle assists are also present, such as aim assist, parkour assists, camera settings, and even unlimited oxygen to make swimming in the game easier.

The dedicated accessibility menu is broken down into five categories of accessibility presets: Motor (affecting number of actions or precision and timing), Motion & Camera (to reduce motion and camera effects like screen shake), Colors (text colors and so on, but also setting for Red-Green color blindness and Blue-Yellow color blindness), Vision (for changes to the HUD, and subtitles etc), and Hearing (volume, speaker names, etc). All offer substantial options, and accessibility needs are very well served indeed.

How I reviewed Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced

I played nearly 30 hours (and counting) of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on a PS5 Pro teamed with an Acer X32QFS gaming monitor and SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni headset for this review. I used a standard DualSense Wireless controller, and I also spent many hours playing the game on my PlayStation Portal.

I tested the game thoroughly in all its graphics modes and found that the balanced mode (offering high graphical fidelity and a targeted 40 frames per second) was by far the most enjoyable and my personal preference.

Having followed the Assassin’s Creed series for years and years, and playing a whole heap of them straight for a year a short while ago, I am very familiar with the games and what makes a good one, a great one, and a less good one, so I am well placed to cast an opinion over Resynced.

First reviewed July 2026

• Ultrahuman hits Ring Pro production problems
• Kickstarter backers are left wondering when they'll get their ring
• August 10 is the new expected date but it's far from guaranteed

Ultrahuman is no stranger to producing some of the best smart rings, but not even that could protect them from the outpouring of disappointment and frustration that came its way after informing Ring Pro Kickstarter backers that shipments were being delayed yet again.

Customers took to Reddit to share their annoyance after u/enzolecorbeau started a thread by sharing a screenshot of the official Ultrahuman message. In it, Ultrahuman states that shipments were now "expected to begin from August 10 onwards".

Kickstarter backers were expecting to receive their orders in June, and this latest delay isn't the first. A single delay is one thing, but now it has happened several times, backers are starting to get vocal about the continued delays to the fitness tracker.

One Reddit user was annoyed that the unit had been sent to "influencers" and not to "people who paid money". Others report that they've requested cancelations but without success.

It's not all negative, though, with one Reddit user hoping the delay is down to the battery "because that would mean they may actually be looking to improve it."

(Image credit: enzolecorbeau)

Ultrahuman doesn't mention the battery but instead attributes the delays to issues experienced during the scaling of production. Ultrahuman says they are "taking extra care to ensure every Ring PRO meets the quality and experience standards we've set for it."

Their commitment to quality is no bad thing. They go on: "Each ring is individually crafted with a high level of precision and care – from the finishing to the final quality checks – and this process is taking slightly longer than originally anticipated."

Ultrahuman has always delivered before

Ultrahuman ran Kickstarter campaigns for both their Ring and Ring Air devices and faithfully fulfilled orders of both.

(Image credit: Ultrahuman)

In reality, crowdfunded projects are often subject to delays. For Ultrahuman, the challenge of manufacturing a titanium unibody with a cutaway safety feature en masse is no doubt contributing to the delays — the last thing Ultrahuman will want is to ship a ring with issues, especially as smart ring problems can prove dangerous.

Customers are more likely to forgive the brand for a delayed shipment than they are for receiving a device with issues. A botched product release could damage customer trust and mean the end of the wearables brand.

None of this will appease the community of people who were expecting to receive their ring back in June and are still left waiting. Only time will tell when Ultrahuman will start fulfilling these orders.

We've contacted Ultrahuman and will update this story when we hear back.

• ExpressVPN has grown to 214 'distinct, app-selectable server locations'
• The 214-location count across 113 countries does not mean 214 cities
• ExpressVPN now covers around 196 cities, up from 189

ExpressVPN has rolled out the biggest network in its history, expanding to 214 distinct, app-selectable server locations across 113 countries.

It's a significant step up for a provider TechRadar last clocked at 189 locations, and it arrives as the fight to top our best VPN list increasingly turns on where you can connect, not how many servers hide behind the app.

The fresh additions reach places the network had not touched before, including Nuuk in Greenland, Lagos in Nigeria, Doha in Qatar, Valencia in Spain, and Manchester in the UK. The move builds on ExpressVPN's rollout to all 50 US states earlier this year, bringing that same local-first approach to the wider world map.

It's worth noting, however, that what the provider refers to as a "server location" is a connection option in the app, rather than a guaranteed unique city. For example, ExpressVPN's UK entries bundle multiple London-area spots that each count separately toward the total.

If you strip those duplicates out, the real coverage is narrower. By TechRadar's own tracking, ExpressVPN now reaches roughly 196 cities, up from 189. It's a definite upgrade, but it still trails NordVPN, which covers around 224 cities and leads on country count, too.

A bigger, more local network

(Image credit: EpressVPN)

ExpressVPN is pitching this as a local-first expansion rather than a raw server-count boast. The new connection points span Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and North America, while established markets have been deepened rather than simply widened.

The UK line-up now runs from Docklands and Tottenham to Manchester and the Midlands, Australia stretches from Adelaide to Woolloomooloo, and Japan covers Osaka, Shibuya, Tokyo, and Yokohama.

More nearby options can cut latency, give you a backup when a route is busy, and let you match a specific city, state, or region to whatever you are doing, from streaming and gaming to banking or working while travelling.

Every new location runs on ExpressVPN's RAM-only TrustedServer tech, which wipes data on each reboot, alongside its no-logs policy and its record of independent audits.

How to switch to the new locations

Getting to the new spots is simple. Update to the latest version of the ExpressVPN app, open the location picker, and browse the expanded country and city list.

If you would rather not choose, Smart Location will pick the fastest option for you automatically, based on speed, latency, and distance.

You can preview the full network on ExpressVPN's server locations page before you connect. And if precise city-level control is what you are after, it is worth checking if the list covers the exact places you need, rather than trusting the headline figure alone.

The teams that recover best from incidents are not always the ones with the fastest ‘in-the-moment’ responders. It’s those that know how to learn and grow stronger once the immediate pressure has passed.

In most organizations, that learning is still too informal and risky: passed between colleagues, buried in chat threads, or carried only by the people who happened to be there.

Recent research found that, while all respondents agreed post-incident learning needs to improve, only 48% said their organization turns incidents into structured improvement cycles. In other words, the majority of organizations at risk from ill-managed events turning into repeat critical incidents.

More than just technical disruptions, major incidents are business events with financial and reputational consequences. Faster incident recovery creates competitive advantage.

The post-incident review cannot remain an optional team habit spread by happenstance. It should be a defined operational policy within a no-blame culture of investigation and improvement, linked to business outcomes.

Post-incident reviews

The strongest post-incident reviews do more than document what went wrong. Reviews should create a shared account of what happened, what decisions were made, what signals were missed, what worked under pressure, and what needs to change.

The value of the process lies in building a coherent narrative and keeping the review blameless so that teams can understand how failure happened without reducing it to individual fault.

That is how institutional memory is built. Not through folklore passed from person to person, but through repeatable disciplines: consistently reviewing incidents, capturing evidence, assigning ownership for follow-up, and making lessons visible beyond the people involved.

It’s a continuous learning cycle where each incident becomes an opportunity for better decision making, and consistently stronger operations over time. This becomes even more important as operational environments are only becoming faster and more complex with every technology generation.

Organizations at the sharp edge of operations management are already using AI in operational workflows, but leaders are also pairing AI with human oversight and continuous learning, rather than treating incident management automation as self-sufficient.

As systems become more interconnected, teams need a more structured way to preserve environment context, identify patterns, and apply lessons from one incident to the next.

That last point is critical. The digital enterprise environment has become incredibly complex with architectural sprawl, the shift from monoliths to microservices, from quarterly to continuous deployment, and from on-prem to multi-cloud architectures. There are more services, more dependencies, more deployment events, and more places where something can behave unexpectedly.

All of this stresses resilience and makes the institutional task of learning the ropes more challenging for teams. That’s compounded further by fragmented tooling, the siloed knowledge of ‘folklore’ and ad hoc manual workarounds. Not to mention the AI-specific dependencies layered on top of existing systems.

Integrated operations with learning capabilities unlock resilience

Those with AI-first operations increasingly recognize the importance of systematic learning from operational incidents. Post-incident learning and improvement are key to achieving operational resilience, and for the ‘AI pioneers’, this is an especially urgent requirement.

Many AI outputs, particularly generative AI, are not 100% predictable or controllable. There are still big risks as the technology is yet to fully mature. Platforms will ideally enable such context, learning, and the ability to improve teams and tech environments together.

Codify, write, learn, test, repeat

The practical case is straightforward. If incident learning is left to memory, culture or pure good intentions, it will remain inconsistent. A serious post-incident review policy should define which incidents require review, who participates, what evidence is captured, how actions are tracked, and how lessons are shared across teams.

Those practices turn response into resilience.

Resilient teams are not distinguished only by how they handle failure in the moment. They are distinguished by what they remember afterwards, and by whether they are disciplined enough to make that memory usable the next time systems break.

That skill, plus automation, is making ‘AI pioneers’ manage the complexity and sophistication of their digital operations to maximum advantage.

We've featured the best AI tool.

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

For the past year, enterprise AI conversations have focused on what the technology can do — build agents, automate workflows, generate content, and transform how work gets done.

But as many organizations move from pilots to enterprise-scale deployment, a different reality is emerging: AI-first approaches can create new complexity when the operational foundation underneath them isn’t designed to support intelligence at scale.

Early pilots often deliver promising results. The challenge comes later — when companies try to scale AI across functions, geographies, and business processes.

That’s when the hidden constraints begin to surface: fragmented data, inconsistent processes, unclear ownership, governance gaps, and environments that become harder to manage and maintain over time.

The issue is rarely the AI itself. More often, it’s the lack of a strong operational foundation underneath it.

The real constraint: a fractured operational core

The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. Many AI strategies are colliding with the same enterprise realities: disconnected systems, inconsistent data, unclear process ownership, and controls that were never designed for increasingly autonomous technologies.

These challenges become more visible as organizations scale AI.

AI can accelerate decision-making and automate complex work, but it cannot compensate for fragmented operating models or conflicting sources of truth. In many cases, AI simply exposes weaknesses that already existed within the enterprise.

That is why a strong operational core matters more than ever. Whether anchored in ERP software, finance platforms, supply chain systems, enterprise data platforms or broader governance capabilities, AI depends on environments where data, processes, and controls are consistent enough to support trustworthy execution.

AI does not eliminate operational complexity. In many cases, it amplifies it.

Acceleration without alignment creates risk

When organizations move too quickly toward AI-first architectures without strengthening the underlying foundation, the long-term costs can add up quickly.

Systems become harder to scale. Governance becomes harder to enforce. Teams spend more time managing exceptions, validating outputs, and reconciling inconsistent data across platforms.

What starts as speed and flexibility can eventually create operational drag.

ERP: from system of record to system of execution

That is where many AI strategies begin to break down — not because the technology is immature, but because the operating model underneath is not prepared to support it.

And that is where ERP re-enters the conversation.

For years, ERP software has been described primarily as a system of record. In reality, it serves a much broader role. It is where the business runs — where transactions are executed, roles and controls are enforced, workflows are managed, and business rules are applied consistently across the enterprise.

That consistency is not a limitation. It is what makes execution reliable.

As AI becomes embedded into core business processes, organizations need systems capable of turning intelligence into action while maintaining accountability, traceability, and control.

ERP itself is evolving

This does not mean ERP remains unchanged.

Modern ERP platforms are rapidly evolving from transactional systems into intelligent execution platforms that embed AI directly into business processes. Leading organizations are increasingly integrating agents, predictive capabilities, workflow automation, and real-time decision support into their operational environments.

The objective is not to choose between ERP and AI. It is to combine the adaptability of AI with the discipline, governance, and scalability of enterprise platforms.

The future belongs to organizations that can bring both together.

AI and ERP are complementary, not competitive

ERP systems are designed to operate predictably. They help execute processes consistently, enforce controls, and create auditable outcomes across the enterprise.

AI systems are fundamentally different. They learn, adapt, identify patterns, and introduce new forms of interaction, decision support, and automation.

These are not competing models. They are complementary.

AI introduces new layers of interaction, intelligence, orchestration, and productivity. But execution still requires a governed environment. Decisions still need defined processes. Controls must evolve alongside AI-driven workflows. And organizations still need systems capable of translating insight into action.

The greatest value is created when AI and ERP work together—combining the adaptability of AI with the operational discipline, scalability, and governance that enterprise platforms provide.

In that model, AI becomes the intelligence layer. ERP becomes the execution layer.

Together, they create a foundation that allows organizations to scale AI with greater confidence, consistency, and business impact.

Why execution still matters

Without a strong foundation, AI lacks a clear framework for how work should be done or what constraints it must operate within. This becomes especially clear beyond simple use cases.

In finance, AI can identify anomalies or predict cash flow—but acting on those insights requires systems that enforce approvals, maintain audit trails, and support compliance. The same applies across supply chain, procurement, and operations.

Intelligence alone is not enough. Execution and control are what turn that intelligence into outcomes.

Why ERP is becoming more important — not less

ERP provides the operational structure, process discipline, and control framework that helps organizations govern how AI operates across the business. It helps establish consistent data models, embeds business rules and controls, and makes decisions traceable and auditable.

In short, it creates the conditions that allow AI to scale more reliably across the enterprise.

Rather than replacing core enterprise systems, many organizations are pairing AI investments with ERP modernization efforts designed to improve data quality, process consistency, and governance. As AI adoption accelerates, the value of a strong operational foundation is becoming increasingly apparent.

The strategic shift for technology leaders

Many AI strategies still start with tools — what models to deploy, what agents to build, and what use cases to prioritize.

That approach can generate momentum, but not always sustained impact.

A more effective approach starts with outcomes: What decisions matter most? What processes drive value? and What metrics does the organization need to improve?

From there, the focus shifts to how AI supports those outcomes — and what kind of operational environment makes that support reliable.

In most cases, that environment depends on a strong operational ERP core.

The bottom line: AI is ready. Most foundations aren’t.

The organizations that succeed with AI will not necessarily be the ones that deploy the most models, build the most agents, or adopt the newest tools first. They will be the ones that build AI on top of operational foundations designed to support scale, governance, and continuous execution.

AI is moving fast. But without a reliable operational core underneath it, even the most promising AI initiatives can become difficult to sustain.

AI does not eliminate operational complexity—it exposes it.

Organizations with strong foundations can use AI to accelerate performance, improve decision-making, and unlock new sources of value. Those without them often discover that AI scales complexity just as quickly as it scales capability.

Because ultimately, the greatest risk in AI may not be the technology itself. It's trying to scale AI on foundations that were never designed to support it.

We list the best Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software.

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

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

• Ofcom issues £28 million fine to Virgin Media over cancellation worries
• Millions of customers had to jump through hoops to cancel their contracts
• Virgin admitted fault and cooperated, reducing the value of the fine

Ofcom has issued Virgin Media to pay a £28 million fine after an investigation found it repeatedly made it "unreasonabl[y]" difficult for customers to cancel their broadband, TV and phone contracts.

The investigation covered nearly two years between January 1, 2022 and September 11, 2024, making it the largest fine Ofcom has ever imposted under its consumer protection rules.

According to the announcement, millions of customer calls likely faced delayed or were prevented from switching to rival providers – a figure Virgin Media largely disputes, arguing the data was extrapolated from 649 core complaints.

Virgin Media fined for blocking customer cancellations

Ofcom found that Virgin Media deliberately disconnected customers, made excessive and unnecessary transfers between departments, kept customers on hold and forced them to make multiple cancellation requests before action was taken.

These hurdles were likely caused by the company's two-tier retention system – with frontline workers unable to process cancellations, customers have to be transferred to specialist teams – however this applies to a previous customer service setup that has since been improved.

Since the 2022-2024 period, the company has gone on to secure the top spot, receiving half the number of broadband complaints that TalkTalk received in the fourth quarter of 2025 (per Ofcom data). Those record-low complaint levels also mark a major 89% reduction compared with 2023.

"We have completely redesigned our customer services in recent years, addressing the historic shortfalls identified by Ofcom through a number of improvements, and have resolved all formal customer complaints from this period providing redress where appropriate," a Virgin Media spokesperson told us.

Under last year's turnaround plan, the company reduced the number of call transfers by more than 1.3 in 2025.

"Today, we are sending a clear message that any provider who wilfully acts against the interests of their customers will pay a heavy price," Group Director for Infrastructure and Connectivity Natalie Black said. "And by introducing the One Touch Switch Process, we‘ve put in place further safeguards to prevent this from happening again."

Virgin Media admitted fault and cooperated with Ofcom, granting it access to a 30% discount on the fine. The company also noted that all formal complaints from this period have since been resolved.

It is the second fine it's received within 12 months, having received a £23.8 million hit in December 2025 for "putting vulnerable customers at risk" during its landline migration program.

For the last few years, most AI infrastructure conversations revolved around the massive scale of AI training.

The AI training factories that leading AI companies have been building to develop frontier models and lead the AI race are nothing short of impressive: hundreds of thousands of GPUs, power consumption comparable to a medium city, and tens of petabits per second to scale training across multiple campuses.

But, as AI adoption accelerates and its applications expand, a larger infrastructure challenge is set to grab the spotlight. The new, real, and sustained pressure on networks is coming from the demand side of AI: inference.

Inference is what happens every time someone asks a chatbot a question, drops a file into a productivity tool for analysis, or relies on an AI-generated summary inside their inbox or search results. On a per-query basis, the traffic generated is lightweight, nothing comparable with a massive training run.

Now multiply that by the number of people interacting with AI across the globe – and consider that each time more it involves video, images, and supporting files – and you can see where the next major network demand driver is emerging.

With inference, the growth curve is steeper, global, and widely distributed, and it is now reshaping how data center connectivity is designed and the broader network ecosystem that connects cloud regions, metros and continents.

The inference inflection point

Even more powerful than users actively embracing AI faster than any technology before is the compound effect of AI features being injected into platforms that already serve billions.

Just take a look at your technology ecosystem and no doubt you’ve got AI capabilities now embedded in your search engine, email, office software, maps, social feeds and your smartphone. Embedding AI into those products is ensuring instant, global access and inevitable overwhelming usage.

The result is staggering growth in inference volumes. Take Google, for example, which reported the number of AI tokens it processes monthly increased 50 times year over year in early 2025… and then doubled it again just two months later and continues to grow at breathtaking pace, as seen on the 60 percent quarter-over-quarter token growth announced on April 2026.

Efficiency gains at the hardware and algorithmic level help attenuate the demand for additional resources, but nowhere near all of it. Delivering this increased inference volume requires the accelerated deployment of new GPU capacity and in a quickly growing number of inference data centers distributed across more geographies.

That geographic distribution is the first reason inference is not just a compute story but, at its heart, a networking story.

From text to video: multimodal models’ impact on the network

Until recently, AI's contribution to overall internet traffic has been limited. A text prompt and a text response amount to a few kilobytes — negligible next to a single minute of video streaming.

That’s changing quickly.

Multimodal models analyze and generate images, audio, video and 3D content. A user uploading a short HD video clip for analysis or editing pushes several megabytes upstream in seconds.

Researchers, students, and workers are increasingly pumping collections of documents into models to summarize key findings and generate detailed reports. Cloud-based video analytics that process camera feeds to provide insights and alerts are finding their way into viable business models.

Multiply those interactions by hundreds of millions to billions of users and inference traffic becomes a major driver of distributed and pervasive traffic flows.

Reasoning models add a second stressor. Rather than producing an instant response, they break problems into multiple internal steps, often pulling in supporting information in real time. A single user-visible answer can sit on top of dozens of background retrievals, sending megabytes of data between models, storage systems and external sources, much of it crossing data center boundaries.

And more pressure on the network comes from context window expansion. Frontier models can now ingest enormous prompts: think entire document sets, conversation histories, retrieved knowledge bases and more. Retrieval-augmented generation has become a widely adopted technique for many enterprise AI applications, and it involves injecting contextual knowledge into the model prompt on every query.

All told, these trends mean inference is no longer a lightweight workload from a network perspective. It is becoming a dominant driver of traffic growth, both between data centers and between users and the AI infrastructure.

How the DCI focus needs to shift

AI models are now distributed across regions, and usage signals and reinforced learning feedback must flow back to the centralized intelligence.

Multi-step and disaggregated inference workflows are increasingly spanning sites with complementary capabilities; think one for prefill focused on high-compute, large context processing, another for decode centered around low-latency token generation and memory and cache efficiency.

And sovereign AI requirements are pushing workloads into specific jurisdictions, multiplying the number of facilities that need to be tied together with high capacity and reliability.

Typical inference DCI links already operate at multiple terabits per second per route. The number of routes is growing alongside the capacity of each one, driven by more resilient and diversified interconnect topologies combined with a surge in the volume and geographic distributions of emerging inference-driven AI data centers.

Interconnecting inference data centers is just one side of the equation. The other involves connecting users, agents, things, and organizations to run their inference workloads across this meshed infrastructure.

Multicloud onramps are evolving to enable the movement of large enterprise datasets across AI platforms. More symmetric broadband access and scalable aggregation will be needed support widespread cameras to upload video for analysis on the AI cloud. The entire networking ecosystem needs to adapt.

So how do network operators keep up with demand and service providers take advantage of these trends?

Connecting the Dots – or Tokens

Network operators are already responding with planning centered on scalability, flexibility, efficiency, and security. To maximize capacity of every fiber pair—a resource that has never been more valuable and sought-after—they are adopting coherent optical platforms and systems capable of 1.6 Tb/s per wavelength.

Lumen Technologies, for example, is one such network provider that is building for tomorrow. It’s expanding its network at incredible speed, and to do so is leveraging a high-bandwidth 1.6 Tb/s coherent transceiver.

Additionally, the variable and diversified nature of inference traffic patterns make static networks less than ideal. Many operators are thus turning to AI-assisted multilayer network control to shift capacity and optimize performance in near real time.

Again, Lumen is a prime example of this; by leveraging a rich control suite the provider is gaining comprehensive visibility and maximizing usage and performance of its fiber assets from one point of control.

And to tie it all off, as inference traffic often includes sensitive data, network operators are baking in encryption at the optical layer within any new DCI deployment.

Inference workloads are evolving faster than any forecasting model can keep up. The networks best positioned for the next five years are the ones designed to scale in capacity, reach and intelligence without requiring major upgrades each time the workload spikes.

Training defined AI's first wave of infrastructure buildout. Inference is shaping its second – one much more globally distributed and intricate that will transform the networking landscape.

Use the best business cloud storage to manage your data.

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

Fan technology has made huge leaps in recent years, with more powerful and quieter motors, misting attachments, and AI-powered person-tracking all promising to keep you extra cool when the weather warms up. But which fans actually deliver, and actually keep you feeling refreshed on sticky summer days?

We test dozens of new fans every year on TechRadar, and to help you pick the best one for you, I've rounded up the five that have really impressed me over the first half of this year, from brands including Shark, Dyson, and Dreo.

Dyson HushJet Mini CoolFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Release date: April 2026

Score: 5/5

It's a lot pricier than your average handheld fan, but the Dyson HushJet Mini Cool is also a lot more powerful, and unlike flimsy plastic devices, it's built to keep you cool for many summers to come. Despite its small size, the HushJet Mini really packs a punch, even on its lowest setting, and the highest options feel like a cold hairdryer blowing in your face. It's comfortable to hold, can stand on its end for use as a desk fan, and comes with a strap that lets you wear it around your neck. You can twist the angled nozzle to aim the airflow directly at your face and neck for quick relief on sweaty days.

Dyson claims battery life of up to six hours, but in my tests it continued running for almost exactly six and a half, which is impressive for such a compact device that shifts a lot of air even on its lowest setting. It's not quite as quiet as the Shark ChillPill below, despite Dyson's HushJet nozzle, but that's understandable considering it's basically a portable tornado.

Read our full review

Shark ChillPillFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca Caddy

Release date: March 2026

Score: 4.5/5

Another excellent handheld fan, the Shark ChillPill has a unique twisting design that lets you place it on a desk and angle the airflow at your face, plus three different cooling attachments: a regular fan, a misting fan (with a small reservoir for water), and a metal cooling plate that you can press against pulse points. The misting feature is my personal favorite, with continual and intermittent options — the spray is fine enough to evaporate on contact so it won't make your hair and clothes wet.

It loses half a star compared to the Dyson fan due to its higher price tag and less powerful motor — the ChillPill can reach up to 25,000rpm, while the HushJet Mini Cool can reach 65,000rpm — but the Shark is quieter. During my tests it ranged from 46dB on its lowest setting through to 67dB on the highest, making it a more discreet option in public.

Read our full review

MeacoFan Sefte Pro 10in Table Air CirculatorFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca CaddyFuture / Becca Caddy

Release date: May 2026

Score: 4.5/5

Air circulators are designed to move a large volume of air around a room rather than direct a focused stream in your direction, and the 10-inch version of the MecoFan Sefte Pro does this extremely well. You can run it directly from the mains, or from its rechargeable battery, so you can carry it around the house with you. This works particularly well when paired with the Sefte Pro's Eco mode, which adjusts the air circulator's power depending on the temperature.

I used the MeacoFan Sefte Pro during the last heatwave, and it was a real life-saver at night. Its sleep mode is almost silent, and its remote control means you don't need to get out of bed to activate it, and it's also available as a pedestal fan if you prefer. The biggest drawback is that it's not currently available outside Europe.

Read our full review

Dreo Smart Misting Fan 516SFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Released April 2026

Score: 4/5

The Dreo Smart Misting Fan 516S is another fan that keeps you extra cool with a super-fine spray of water, and our reviewer Harry Padoan said that "it added a nice degree of coolness without making any mess or feeling too intense". The 1.3-liter tank is large enough to keep misting for hours on end, and it's easy to switch to fan-only mode once you've had enough.

It's very reasonably priced too, coming in at $99.99 / £99.99 (about AU$140). That's not bad at all for a misting fan with app controls, and compatibility with both Amazon Alexa and Google Home, so you can operate it using voice commands.

Its lowest mode is quiet enough to avoid disturbing your sleep, though Harry found the turbo option loud enough to break his concentration, so it's best reserved for exceptionally sticky days when you want to just slump on a chair and do nothing.

Read our full review

Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool FutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Release date: June 2026:

Score: 4.5/5

As you can guess from the name, this fan's key selling point is its ability to detect motion and follow you around the room, so you're never beyond range of its refreshing jet of air, even when you're doing chores, working out, or pottering about the kitchen — all of which are usually extremely unpleasant in hot weather. Paired with its extra-wide range of motion, this could make it the only fan you need.

It has Dyson's signature bladeless design, and our reviewer John McCann said it "delivers smooth air flow that feels like a natural breeze moving through your home, rather than the harsh buffeting you get from some other propeller and tower fans." It's extremely quiet at night (dropping to as low as 20dB), but delivers real cooling power as well.

It's the most expensive fan in this roundup (indeed, it's one of the priciest fan/air purifier combos on the market) but it's hard to argue with its sheer performance. If you've got the budget to spare, it's packed with premium features that really work. I only wish it offered vertical oscillation as well as horizontal.

Read our full review

Businesses have spent years being told that data is their most valuable asset.

They have invested heavily in cloud storage, data warehouses, cybersecurity, access controls, compliance teams and governance frameworks. They have built sophisticated systems to store and protect first-party data.

Then, when they want to use it, they have to move it somewhere else.

That is the contradiction at the heart of today’s data strategy. Companies work hard to keep their data safe, only to export it into third-party platforms when they need to activate it for advertising, analytics, monetization or customer engagement.

The issue is that too much of the ecosystem still ignores ‘data gravity’. To put it simply, data gravity refers to who owns the data and where it lives. If customer data sits inside a brand’s platform or another controlled cloud environment, the starting point should always be respect for that environment.

Forcing the brand asset outside of its own atmosphere invites a leakage problem. As with every movement or duplication, there is risk.

Expectations of data movement

The industry has become resigned to the fact that data has to travel in order to be useful. Want insight, activation, measurement or personalization? The default answer is almost always to export it to a third party and then pay them for the privilege of analysing your own data.

But every export, upload, sync, copy or transfer creates a risk opening. It means another vendor to trust, another contract to manage, another access policy to audit. Put simply it means another place where something can go wrong.

The issue is not whether businesses should use their first-party data. Of course they should. It is direct, proprietary and built from real customer relationships. The issue is that using it should not require constantly duplicating it or shipping it away.

Every transfer is a new risk

When large volumes of first-party data leave a company’s controlled environment, the risk increases. Data that is protected inside carefully managed IT infrastructure is suddenly passing through another system with completely different permission structures and potentially more lax security.

That does not mean third-party platforms are careless, as we know most are highly sophisticated. But network and internet security is not only about the strength of one organisation. It is also about how many places the data exists, how many systems must be trusted and how many people can access it.

For cybercriminals, sensitive customer and commercial data is incredibly valuable. The more copies that exist, the more targets there are - and the more opportunities to intercept, compromise, ransom or otherwise misuse that data. A business may have excellent internal controls, but once the data leaves its environment, it is relying on someone else’s controls too.

This is also where governance has to move upstream. As data activation and interoperability become bigger priorities, organizations need to bring legal and InfoSec teams into the design of the solution.

Far too often, any work in the data activation journey has been built around workarounds and that simply does not scale. A better model is to use those governance functions as enablers, so that activation can become usable and auditable from the start.

Leakage and corruption

When people hear “data leakage”, they often think of a major breach. But one of the more common risks is quieter: data corruption caused by constant movement between platforms, warehouses and third-party systems.

Every time data is exported, reformatted, matched, duplicated or re-imported, something can change. Fields can be mapped incorrectly, definitions can shift, permissions can be misapplied and outdated versions can keep circulating.

After enough movement, businesses can lose confidence in which dataset is accurate, who has touched it, where copies sit and whether the analysis of this data represents anything remotely valuable to the company.

That matters because first-party data is valuable precisely because it is accurate and collected with user consent. Keeping it in one controlled environment is safer for consumer privacy and better for data integrity. The more it is moved and manipulated, the greater the risk that businesses turn a trusted asset into a liability.

Bring the software to the data

For years, businesses have accepted constant data movement as the cost of progress. But that model is starting to look outdated. First-party data is more valuable, regulation is tighter, cybercrime is more sophisticated and customers are more privacy-conscious.

The future should not require businesses to choose between using their data and protecting it. The smarter model is to respect data gravity and activate data where it already lives.

That requires bringing software to the data by building activation around governance and control from the onset. It’s more than an ideal, it's a necessity and the businesses that benefit most will be those that respect the needs of data owners. As ultimately the asset belongs with them.

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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

Bitdefender is a popular name in the online security market, primarily known for its robust antivirus solution. However, it also offers an all-around digital identity protection service called Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection.

If you’re an individual (especially a beginner) looking for an easy-to-use, affordable platform, Bitdefender could be the one for you. It helps you actively monitor your online identity, check for known breaches, and manage your financial accounts.

In this article, we will drill down into the various features of Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection, compare it with other products on the market, and examine its user experience. Read on to find out whether Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection is for you.

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection and Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection are two separate products. This review will examine Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection. For our review of Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, please click here.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: Plans and pricing

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection offers two plans: Standard and Premium. The Standard plan costs $69.99 for a yearly subscription, which boils down to $5.83 per month, making it one of the cheapest identity theft protection solutions on the market. This is also cheaper than Norton LifeLock's entry-level plan, which costs $10.46 per month.

With this plan, you get basic features like breach monitoring, credit reports and score, lost wallet protection, and identity theft insurance up to $1 million, along with one-bureau credit reports and monitoring.

The Premium plan costs $99.99 ($8.33/month). In addition to everything in the Standard plan, you get sex offender registry monitoring, bank, credit card, and investment account monitoring, and an additional $50,000 in ransomware protection and social engineering scams. Along with this, the plan also offers three-bureau credit record monitoring.

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: Features

Bitdefender offers a bundled collection of features, ideal for anyone looking for all-around identity monitoring and protection. For starters, there’s a smart SSN tracker, which alerts you if an unfamiliar name or address is associated with your Social Security number.

Then there’s dark web monitoring, which scours thousands of websites, black market chat rooms, and other sources to alert you to any sale of your personal information. You can also access your credit reports and scores from all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

There’s also a pretty handy credit score simulator, which helps you plan your finances and see how your future financial decisions may impact your credit score. You are also promptly notified if your personal details are used to apply for new credit, utility payments, or loans.

Much like other platforms, even if you’re unlucky and end up getting your identity compromised, Bitdefender offers restoration services from certified protection experts around the clock. These experts help you with paperwork and legal procedures while actively assisting you through the challenging process of identity restoration.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

With Bitdefender, you also get up to $2 million in identity theft insurance and an additional $25,000 for ransomware resolution and reimbursement in case you end up losing money due to ransomware attacks during your Bitdefender subscription.

Similarly, there’s a $25,000 social engineering resolution and reimbursement provision, which comes in handy if you fall prey to social engineering scams like phishing and end up incurring financial losses.

The Bitdefender website also lists credit freeze as one of its features. However, I found this to be a bit misleading, since Bitdefender only offers expert assistance with credit freezes. To actually place a credit freeze, you will have to contact the various agencies yourself. In comparison, platforms like Norton LifeLock allow you to instantly freeze your credit from the dashboard itself with a simple toggle button.

Bitdefender also offers a separate Digital Identity Protection product that gives you a 360-degree view of all your personal data. Much like its identity theft protection platform, digital identity protection also scans the public web and dark web for your personal data and sends you instant alerts if it finds any.

Besides this, there are simple one-click actions that help you close gaps in your digital footprint. You also get a graphic digital identity protection score, which tells you how well you are protected against common cybersecurity and identity theft threats.

We would have liked to see these features in the primary identity theft protection suite as well. But sadly, these essential features are missing. If you need them, you’ll have to get both products, but that would increase your total monthly cost to $9.16. Sure, that’s still pretty affordable, but managing two different subscriptions can be inconvenient in practice.

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: Interface and in use

In addition to being affordable, it’s nice that Bitdefender is also easy to set up and use. Once you have logged into your account, you will see a sleek and intuitive dashboard with all features suites listed on the left-hand side panel. You need to click on Identity Theft Protection to access all its functions.

Inside that, you'll find options such as Identity Vault, Breach IQ, Alerts, Credits, and Help listed on the top panel. Simply click on any of these options to access your data.

The Bitdefender interface enables you to quickly visualize data and view suggested actions (Image credit: Bitdefender)

For instance, if you click on Credits, you will be able to see your credit score in the center of your dashboard, along with detailed credit summaries including open accounts, credit utilized, and hard inquiries made.

However, the in-use experience is pretty smooth. There are hardly any lags or complicated hidden menus, making the platform very beginner-friendly.

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: The competition

Identity Theft Protection’s biggest advantage is its affordable pricing, with plans starting at just $69.99 per year. Even if you’re looking for three-bureau data credit monitoring, you effectively pay only $8.33/month with its annual plan, compared to IdentityForce's $34.90/month or Norton LifeLock's $29.17/month.

That said, I found Bitdefender a bit barebones when it comes to its feature set. Sure, it has everything you need to protect your identity, but it does lack certain advanced features offered by competitors. For instance, Norton LifeLock comes with an automatic data broker removal service, where the platform scans top data brokers and submits periodic opt-out requests so your data is not shared or sold on third-party websites.

Also, while Bitdefender’s identity insurance coverage of $2 million is certainly nothing to sniff at, Norton LifeLock gives you up to $3 million whereas Aura up to $5 million.

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: Final verdict

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection is an ideal choice if you're an individual looking for basic identity protection services. The platform offers everything from social media monitoring, dark web monitoring, and identity breach alerts to credit monitoring and three-bureau credit reports. You also get identity theft protection of up to $1 million with the higher-end plan.

That said, if you're looking for identity theft protection for families, Bitdefender might not be the perfect pick, since it only offers individual plans. In that case, you'll have to look at other alternatives such as Aura or Norton LifeLock. Bitdefender also lacks certain advanced features, such as the ability to manage credit freezes from the dashboard and data broker removal services.

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Smart home security cameras are nothing new. They’ve been protecting Australian homes for well over a decade now, but for a long time I never felt the need for them. This was predominantly because for the majority of my adult life living away from home, I’ve been in rented accommodation, and so I’ve either been unable to install anything of my own, or I’ve been on an upper floor of an apartment building.

I’m now living in a ground floor apartment with my partner, and we’re the owners. That means we’re free to install cameras as we see fit, and so we decided to place an old Ring Outdoor Stick-Up Cam above our front door, mainly as a ‘just in case’ safeguard.

I’m now glad we did, and I’ve just invested in some newer Blink Outdoor 2K+ cameras with clearer vision following an attempted break in. The good news is they weren’t expensive, with a 2-pack currently costing AU$77 in the Amazon Prime Day sales.

I never thought my home would experience an attempted break in, and there’s a chance you’ve had the same thought. For such a low price right now, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

• Follow our live coverage of the best Prime Day 2026 deals, many of which ship to New Zealand as well

These affordable Blink cameras last up to two years with 2 AA batteries, can record colour vision at night and can be installed practically anywhere via a range of mounting accessories. You do need to pay a subscription to view and store footage, but it could be a small price to pay to keep your home safe. View Deal

So, why have I made the impulsive decision to invest more heavily in home security? Well, my partner noticed the street-facing gate to our courtyard left ajar in the early hours of the morning. He suspected I just hadn’t closed it properly when we came home the night before.

Wanting to exonerate myself, we checked back over the footage taken by our Ring camera, which proved my innocence. We noticed more events were recorded around 1am, and sure enough, the Ring captured two youths climbing over the wall in the wee hours of the morning.

To say we were gobsmacked would be an understatement.

Fortunately nothing was stolen and they didn’t manage to get into our home — despite some clear hand prints on the glass door proving they peered in to see if there was anything worth nabbing.

Unfortunately, the Ring camera missed the activity by our door because it was only covering the front yard and fence area. I therefore now want to install more cameras in our outdoor area to ensure there are no blind spots, and the Blink cameras seem perfect for the job.

(Image credit: Future)

Our Blink Outdoor Cam 2K+ review found that recorded footage is clear and sharp, even at night. Perhaps the biggest selling point for me is the two-year battery life with two AA batteries. The Ring camera I have right now relies on a rechargeable battery that needs to be recharged frequently.

The biggest drawback, however, is a new Sync Module Core that requires a paid subscription to store and view back footage. It’s crazy that you need to pay to use the camera you just bought, but hey, it’s 2026. A subscription costs from AU$4.95p/m for one device, or AU$15p/m for unlimited devices. Since I’ve bought two Blink cameras, I’ll need the latter.

Fortunately, the older Sync Module 2 is still available and is compatible with the newer Blink cameras. With this module, you can attach a USB flash drive to store footage on, bypassing the need for a subscription. Based on the AU$15 Blink Plus subscription, I’d make my money back in just under four months.

However, the subscription does also open up extra features, including AI motion detection — you’ll receive notifications only when it detects specific things such as animals or vehicles.

At just AU$77 in the current Prime Day sales, I was more than happy to add the Blink Outdoor Cam 2K+ to my basket. There are many other options to choose from of course, many of which are also on sale right now. I’ve listed a few below, and be sure to check out our guide to the best home security cameras and best video doorbells for total home protection.

• Ring Floodlight Camera Pro (2nd Gen): was AU$449 now AU$329
• Ring Spotlight Camera Pro (2nd Gen): was AU$399 now AU$279
• Blink Outdoor Floodlight Camera Kit: was AU$119 now AU$49

• Polish billionaire Michał Sołowow's SGE announces £35bn plan to build 14 GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors across three UK sites
• The project aims to deliver 4.2GW of power starting in 2034, effectively powering 8m homes for over 60 years
• The project is looking to secure government backing, with guaranteed prices intended to be locked in for the power producer before it would be offered to investors

Small modular nuclear reactors seem to be back in favor globally, and a consortium of investors is now looking to bring the technology back to the UK as part of a push to both meet environmental goals and increase energy security in an increasingly volatile world.

Poland-based SGE (Synthos Green Energy) is looking to build up to 14 reactors across three locations in the UK, with six at its primary site and four each at its two secondary sites.

With an estimated build-out cost of £35 billion ($46.5 billion), the project, if approved, is expected to be one of the biggest SMR projects the UK government signs on to as part of its Advanced Nuclear Framework, unveiled earlier this year, to support the development of privately funded projects.

A sign of things to come?

Unlike more monolithic nuclear reactor designs, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) have not only a lower power footprint but also a smaller overall site footprint than older, larger reactors.

The first disclosed site for SME's project, Oldbury in South Gloucestershire, is a former Magnox nuclear station that generated up to 434MW of power, is now expected to be home to as many as six 300W SMRs, according to SGE's plans.

While the other two sites are not yet publicly named, they are expected to have a 4+4 reactor split, bringing the total to 14 reactors.

Part of the reason the UK government is interested in outsourcing power generation, even nuclear, to private equity is that it expects a spike in power demand from AI datacenters over the next few years, even as the nation's overall power needs increase.

This is also why Google Cloud, a key AI data center player, has joined in on SME's project as a strategic partner that could, as per Michał Sołowow, invest as much as £4.5 billion in data centers in the country to make use of some of the added capacity.

Given that both SMRs (including the proposed GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300) and data centers require access to water and space for construction, one can assume that both will prefer cheap, easily accessible coastal, estuarine, or riverside land, which means that the UK's countryside could soon see certain areas change meaningfully in terms of aesthetics at the very least.

Smaller rivers, however, might not cut it, as SMRs also require the water bodies they use to act as 'heatsinks' for their operation, and 6 or 4 in the same location might overwhelm them, limiting the number of areas that are viable for such buildouts, which means that SME's proposed project might set the baseline for how privatized nuclear power will shape the UK countryside in the days to come even as AI data center demand is expected to increase pressure on the national grid.

For now, SME's proposal has yet to be approved by the government, making the £35 billion figure an estimate that may or may not apply, given that it still needs to secure financing and lock in government guarantees on pricing before it moves meaningfully towards construction.

I know a frozen-treat machine isn't the most obvious thing to buy in the middle of winter, but Amazon's Prime Day sale has dropped both the Ninja Creami Deluxe and Ninja Slushi to all-time low prices.

That makes these two deals a lot more tempting than they have any right to be in July, especially if you want to get ahead before summer or you just like ice cream, frozen drinks and weekend entertaining year-round.

The Slushi is the one I can speak to personally. I bought mine on June 3 last year for AU$424.15, which was the lowest price I'd seen at the time, and I've since made hundreds of frozen drinks with it across summer and winter.

The Creami Deluxe is the one I’d consider first if you’re more interested in ice cream than drinks. With the Deluxe version now at an all-time low, splurging feels a lot easier to justify, and I’m tempted to grab one myself.

All the deals below are Exclusive Prime prices, so if you don't have a membership already, sign up now and get a 30-day free trial that you can cancel at any time.

Our Ninja Creami review found that the machine could make impressively smooth frozen treats, with plenty of room to experiment with ingredients. Price was one of the main drawbacks at the time, but that's no longer an issue with the Deluxe model at an all-time low for Prime Day.View Deal

I’ve owned the Ninja Slushi for a year and it’s been used almost every day since. Our Ninja Slushi review gave it four stars because it does exactly what it promises: frozen drinks at home with very little stress. I frequently bring it to parties because it’s always a big hit, and I've even run it from a portable power station at the park!View Deal

Ninja products tend to attract a lot of attention, and the Slushi is one of the few that I think mostly deserves it. While you might assume one of the best blenders could do a similar job, it really can’t.

A blender crushes ice into a drink, which usually waters it down. The Slushi chills and churns the liquid itself, so the texture is much closer to a proper frozen drink.

The useful bit is Ninja’s RapidChill technology, which keeps the liquid moving while it freezes. Chilling your drink first can speed things up, but I usually find the Slushi is ready in under 30 minutes, and then it will keep it icy for as long as you need.

That's important at parties, because people can keep coming back for refills without the mix turning into a block of ice or melting into a watery mess.

(Image credit: Danielle Abraham)

The main caveat is that the drinks need sugar to freeze properly. The machine will alert you if the sugar level is too low, so completely sugar-free drinks are not really the point here.

You also need to be careful with alcohol, because too much will stop the mixture from freezing. In practice, I’ve found it works best when you treat recipes as a starting point and adjust them after a batch or two.

Frozen cocktails are the obvious use, but spiced winter drinks that would normally be served hot are surprisingly fun as slushies, too.

At this all-time low Prime Day price, it’s much easier to recommend, and it gives you plenty of time to master a few recipes before the weather warms up again.

More Amazon Prime Day deals in Australia

• All the best Amazon Prime Day 2026 deals
• Best Prime Day deals under AU$100
• Best Prime Day vacuum cleaner deals
• Best Prime Day headphone deals
• Best Prime Day Apple deals
• Best Prime Day Garmin deals
• Best Prime Day coffee machine deals

More Prime Day Ninja deals

This compact Ninja air fryer is a good fit if you're tight on cash or bench space. Its 4.7L single basket should suit one or two people, and the four presets keep things simple if you're still getting used to air frying. The drawer is dishwasher safe too, which makes cleanup easier after quick weeknight meals.View Deal

We haven't tested this exact model, but it's a well-rated Ninja blender with a 1000W motor, which should be plenty for smoothies, dips, sauces and acai bowls. The auto-iQ presets and simple four-button setup are the main appeal here, especially if you want something more capable than a basic personal blender without spending too much.View Deal

The smaller Ninja Crispi is a neat option if you like the idea of air frying in glass, rather than a standard non-stick drawer. It uses two borosilicate glass containers that work as both cooking baskets and serving dishes, and they can handle big temperature changes, so you can take food from frozen to crisp without swapping containers. It also comes with removable crisping grates and snap-on lids for storing leftovers.View Deal

This DoubleStack model earned a spot in our best air fryers guide, with our reviewer calling it the "air fryer of my dreams". The big difference is the stacked design, which gives you two drawers without taking up as much bench width as a traditional side-by-side model. Just be aware that each drawer is 4.75L, so very large pieces of food may still need a bit of planning.View Deal

This is the Ninja air fryer to look at if normal drawer capacities feel too limiting. The 10L basket can work as one large cooking zone or split into two smaller zones with the divider, which makes it useful for larger dinners or cooking two foods at once. It will take up a fair bit of bench space, but the flexibility is the main reason to consider it.View Deal

The Ninja Crispi Pro is now at an all-time low on Amazon, which makes this larger glass air fryer a lot more appealing. In our Ninja Crispi Pro review, our tester said “all the food I made came out well”, and liked its flexible glass containers that can be used for cooking, serving and storing leftovers. It still needs a fair bit of storage space, but at this price, it’s a very tempting option for families or anyone who wants more than a basic drawer-style air fryer. View Deal

The Ninja Luxe Café Premier is a 3-in-1 coffee machine that can make espresso, drip coffee and fast cold brew. Its Barista Assist technology, integrated grinder and weight-based dosing give it a lot of flexibility for the price, especially if you want one machine that can handle different coffee styles. View Deal

The Apple AirTag is, for iPhone owners, one of the simplest trackers to use. Pairing couldn’t be easier, and once you do have it connected, it then lives in the Find My app. You can name it, give it an emoji and easily see where it is on a map.

I’ve had first-hand experience of just how valuable they can be after losing my keys on a late-night walk home (albeit after a fair few drinks). I was able to open the Find My app the next morning and see exactly where my keys and I had become separated. A short walk back to the scene of the crime and I was reunited.

And that’s with the original AirTag. The AirTag 2 comes with better features and while I wouldn’t recommend an upgrade if you already use the OG, the second-gen model can be a stress reliever. Right now, for Amazon Prime Day, you can get the Apple AirTag 2 with up to 21% off. It’s available as a single unit or a four-pack, with the latter offering arguably greater value.

• Follow our live coverage of the best Prime Day 2026 deals, many of which ship to New Zealand as well

Amazon has slashed the price of the 4-pack, resulting in each AirTag costing AU$32.75 each — less than the AU$39 you’d need to pay for a discounted single unit. You can attach them to keys, throw them in a suitcase, even strap one to your dog. You’ll wonder how you ever went without them. View Deal

As I mentioned, I own the first-generation AirTag, and it works a treat. The second-generation, launched at the start of 2026, offers some notable upgrades that make it even more findable.

Said upgrades include a second-generation ultra-wideband (UWB) chip that enables precise AirTag finding from up to 50% farther away than the previous tracker. You will, however, need an iPhone 15 or newer to take advantage of this feature. If you have an older iPhone, you’ll still get the new precision finding feature, but range is limited to around nine metres or 30 feet.

The other notable upgrade is a speaker that’s 50% louder than the previous version, which will help reunite you with items you may have lost around your home much easier.

Fortunately, Apple kept the battery the same. This means it’s user-replaceable, as it accepts a CR2032 battery. I’ve owned the first-gen trackers for almost three years, and I’ve only replaced the battery in the one I use most (on my house keys) twice. Other trackers that have laid dormant still have their first battery inside and I can see them on the Find My app.

As Apple tech goes, the AirTag 2 could be considered affordable even at full price, but thankfully these Prime Day discounts make them even more accessible.

And to make them even more useful, be sure to check out the various accessories available, including key rings, straps, wallets and more.

I hear people all too often tell me that they prefer physical printed books because they like the feel of the paper, the sound of the pages turning, the smell from the ink... Well, if that's what you're focusing on, you really aren't reading, are you? All those should be superfluous if you're deep into a good story.

And given the convenience of an ereader — portable tablet with thousands of titles stored locally, Bluetooth connectivity for audiobooks, the cheaper cost of ebooks, no need for bookshelves that require dusting — you can't convince me that buying one of the best Kindles isn't a good investment.

That's especially true right now since Amazon's Prime Day 2026 sale has seen prices tumble to record lows. In fact, they're even cheaper now than they were on day one of the sale, which has never happened and I've covered every single Amazon sale in Australia since the online retail giant arrived Down Under in 2017.

All the Australian prices listed below are exclusive to Prime members though, so be sure you have a subscription before buying. If you don't, you can sign up now and get a 30-day free trial as a first-time customer, which will cover the entire Prime Day sale. You can cancel any time.

All the Kindle Prime Day deals listed below ship to New Zealand at no additional cost, so do not miss this chance.

With Amazon having ended support for some of its older Kindles, now is a very good time to upgrade or get your first ereader. They even make thoughtful gifts...

• For more deals and discounts, follow my live coverage of the Amazon Prime Day 2026 sale, with offers up to 85% off

Best Prime Day Kindle deals

I love the Matcha Green more than the usual black variant, but if you're looking for the smallest and cheapest Kindle, this is it. You get a 6-inch screen that is an older generation E Ink Carta 1200, but still does a splendid job of displaying text. There's the standard 16GB of storage but Kindle OS takes up a fair chunk of that, so keep in mind you'll only have about 10GB of usable storage here.
(NZ$146.36 with free shipping to New Zealand)View Deal

The 2024 Paperwhite remains one of the best Kindles you can get. Its E Ink Carta 1300 screen is fantastic, page turns are quick and we gave it 4 stars in our review. My only complaint is the same as with the Kindle above — which is a significant chunk of its 16GB storage is taken up by the OS, which isn't really a deal breaker.
If you have the extra cash, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition will get you double the storage for AU$249 (24% off).
(NZ$246.73 and NZ$265.18 respectively for the Paperwhite and the Signature Edition)View Deal

The Kindle Colorsoft is one of the best ereaders with a colour display, even offering a feature to make the hues more vivid. While I wouldn't recommend at full price because colour E Ink just isn't there yet, this discount sweetens it for anyone who is sold on the Colorsoft hype (and there's nothing wrong with that).
If you'd like more storage than the 16GB version, the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is also 27% off to AU$326.
(NZ$276 and NZ$340.81 respectively for the standard and the Signature Edition)View Deal

Kindles are known for their reading capabilities, but with the Kindle Scribe, you get that and a whole lot more. With a wide range of writing features, you can take notes, create sketches and brainstorm like a pro. I love its 10.2-inch glare-free screen with an ambient light sensor, and it's battery life is excellent too. It's now the previous-gen model, but arguably better value than the 2025 3rd-gen release.
(NZ$443.27 with free delivery to New Zealand)View Deal

• DeepSeek connected a theoretical browser flaw to a working attack chain
• The ransomware sample targets Android's photo folder through a fake permission prompt
• Check Point classified 1,383 DeepSeek-linked files as malicious or dangerous

A Chinese AI model accidentally stumbled into a working ransomware technique while trying to satisfy an unrealistic, broad prompt.

New findings from Check Point Research say the DeepSeek-generated sample connected a theoretical browser risk to a functioning attack method, requiring no exploit, no app installation, and no real technical skill from the attacker.

It targets Android's photo storage through a legitimate browser feature called the File System Access API, disguised as a simple AI photo-enhancing tool.

How the attack actually works

The technique abuses Android's DCIM folder, which typically holds years of personal photos, scanned identification documents, and banking screenshots.

Victims grant access through a single permission prompt disguised as an AI-powered photo enhancer, unaware they are handing over control of an entire directory.

Check Point's dataset included nearly 3,000 files attributed to DeepSeek, and researchers classified 1,383 of them as malicious or dangerous using VirusTotal and static analysis methods.

The team found a sample implementing a dangerous browser-native technique which has never been observed before in real-world attacks.

The sample, nicknamed InfernoGrabber 9000, was incomplete, yet testing showed it required little additional effort to become fully functional.

“Very little effort is needed. Low-level expertise is sufficient. You don't need to be a sophisticated cybercriminal or advanced persistent threat group,” said Pedro Drimel Neto, malware analysis team leader at Check Point

“In fact, we've already observed evidence of actual threat actors attempting this attack using straightforward LLM prompts.”

Why this marks a turning point

"What we are witnessing is a fundamental shift in how novel cyber attacks are born. For the first time, we have evidence that an AI model can independently reason across legitimate platform features," said Eli Smadja, Head of Research at Check Point

This represents a major shift in how novel cyber-attacks are discovered and developed.

However, the underlying browser risk is not entirely new. A 2023 USENIX Security paper examined how the File System Access API could theoretically enable ransomware.

What changed, according to Check Point, is that DeepSeek connected these previously theoretical ideas into a realistic, working attack chain without human guidance.

When researchers tested the same concept using the latest DeepSeek V4 model, it refused direct ransomware requests but complied once explicit terms were removed.

Comparable testing against other LLMs produced only refusals or heavily constrained, browser-safe implementations lacking the same file-access capability.

Check Point ultimately built a working proof of concept, successfully encrypting photos on Android devices running Chrome 148, confirming the danger extends well beyond a single flawed sample.

Organizations embedding AI into their workflows must now treat every browser permission prompt as a genuine security decision rather than a routine click.

• Dire Straits' keyboardist/producer Guy Fletcher post about mixing their albums in Dolby Atmos
• He says immersive mixing of the original recording sessions is "quite addictive" and often very emotional
• 3D audio can reveal details that were previously buried when engineering for stereo

One of the things I love most about audio technology is how it can reveal things you've never heard before either because they were buried in the mix or because your setup, speakers or headphones weren't delivering all the detail.

And according to Dire Straits' keyboardist and producer Guy Fletcher, Dolby Atmos is delivering revelation after revelation not just to music fans, but to the musicians and producers who made the records in the first place.

The majority of records are made with stereo in mind, and according to Fletcher "stereo remains an extraordinary format". But as he explains on LinkedIn, redoing a stereo record for Atmos enables you to rediscover "the little things that get sacrificed along the way when you're making a stereo record. The tiny details. The decisions nobody notices because they're buried beneath more important decisions."

Fletcher makes an intriguing claim. Taking a stereo record and making it three-dimensional isn't about making it sound the same; "it's more to do with matching the emotional impact" as he says. It's not what you hear. It's what you feel.

What immersive audio delivers – and doesn't quite deliver

I think Fletcher is correct, and I'm going to compare audio to another art form: video games. I've been replaying some very old favorites recently and I'm amused by how terrible the graphics are; in my memories, those games were photorealistic as well as utterly compelling. When those games are remastered to higher visual quality they're effectively enabling me to play what I remember, not what I actually saw.

As Fletcher describes it, taking recordings into spatial audio does much the same. "The moment you begin placing objects or building beds around the listener, the music seems to breathe and expand. Mix or bus compression suddenly seems rather pointless. Sounds are no longer confined to a flat line between two speakers. Instead, they occupy a living, sculptural environment with depth, height and dimension."

It's not perfect by any means, because people listen to Atmos and other spatial audio on all kinds of different hardware that may be suboptimal: headphones, soundbars, and a range of speaker systems that don't deliver the full experience.

"Creating extraordinary Atmos mixes is no longer the obstacle," Fletcher says. "The real challenge is ensuring that the sense of space, scale and emotional impact that makes immersive mixing so exhilarating, can be faithfully experienced by the vast majority of listeners who do not own a dedicated Atmos speaker system.

Fletcher describes spatializing Dire Straits' biggest hit album, Brothers in Arms, whose original multi-tracks took him straight back to the recording studio in 1984. Although the album had previously been remastered for 5.1 audio, the Atmos edition still required extensive detective work as well as painstaking restoration.

"The real challenge lay in respecting an album that has become woven into the lives of millions of listeners," Fletcher recalls. "While 5.1 and Atmos share some similarities, Atmos offers a very different creative canvas. The challenge was never technical — the challenge was emotional."

For Fletcher, "Atmos has a curious ability to reveal not just the details within a recording, but also the memories embedded within it. In that respect, at its best, the spatial audio experience is as much about rediscovery as it is about technology."

Of course Atmos doesn't guarantee a mix is good: the record industry is very good at remastering records as a quick cash grab, and there are plenty of famous records by big artists whose remasters caused howls of outrage. But when an album is approached with care, patience and above all else, a love of the original material, the move to 3D can make songs sing even more beautifully.