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Meta may dominate the smart glasses zeitgeist, but it's far from the only player — my favorite brand in the space is actually Xreal, with its range of impressive but pricey wearable-display specs. And with the launch of its new xbx brand, Xreal's lineup now includes more budget-friendly options too.

If money were no object, Xreal’s One Pro glasses are easily the crème de la crème of smart specs. Their Bose-tuned audio is impressive for such a small package, their electrochromic dimming tech is perfect for swapping between clear vision and shaded for optimal viewing conditions, and their unique optic engine displays their image more vividly than the competition, with fewer visible distortions.

The only issue is their price — $649 / £579 (they aren't available directly in Australia), absent any discounts, although they can be found on sale occasionally.

If you’re on a budget, my preferred pick has instead been RayNeo. Its Air 4 Pro specs debuted earlier this year, and not only are they affordable at just $299 / £289, they still come with solid specs, including HDR10 support.

With its new xbx a01+, however, Xreal might have just claimed the budget crown for itself.

The RayNeo Air 4 Pro glasses (Image credit: Alastair Jennings)Budget brilliance

Now the elephant in the room is that Xreal's specs cost a bit more. At their current $299 / £269 discounted price at Xreal.com they're on par with or cheaper than RayNeo's glasses; however their official price is $359 / £349, and while they aren’t discounted at the moment, we’ve regularly seen the RayNeo Air 4 Pros selling for $249 / £249 (RayNeo also doesn't seem to sell directly to Australia) or cheaper.

At the same time, the Xreal xbx a01+ glasses boast a handful of improvements which warrant a slightly higher price.

For a start, their brightness tops out at 1,600 nits, while the RayNeo Air 4 Pro can only hit 1,200 nits. This extra brightness should allow you to get more out of the HDR10 support, offering more room for the light vs dark contrast and vivid colors to breathe across the video format’s visual range. Highs can look more high, helping lows look lower by comparison.

(Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector)

Aiding the image quality are the swappable lens covers.

While advertised as giving you the ability to choose which color of sunglasses cover you most want to complement your style, the xbx's box also includes a completely opaque black cover you can use with your specs. Because the specs are essentially virtual projectors, a darker environment ensures the highest-quality viewing conditions, though I found the regular sunglasses were fine even in bright sunlight.

The xbx glasses are lighter too, weighing just 62g compared to the RayNeo Air 4 Pro's 76g. Admittedly I haven't found them majorly more comfortable, but as I kicked back with them in a sun lounger while on vacation for hours on end I was relaxed enough to doze off on several occasions.

The only tradeoff is, I'd say, the audio, which doesn't seem to involve Bose tuning this time, and isn't quite as impactful as the Air 4 Pro's. That said, I'll almost always use earbuds or headphones with my display glasses, because they’re better in terms of quality and minimize sound leakage, so this downgrade didn't bother me.

(Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector)Who wins? You decide

You'll also have to contend with Xreal's standard optic engine too. This is the prism that reflects the micro-OLED display into your eyes, and the standard design is susceptible to external reflections — most commonly light bouncing off the top of the specs and into your view. Pictures will also be a little smaller thanks to a reduced field of view, and can be a little blurrier at the frame edges.

Only Xreal's One Pros boast the improved design, but having experienced it, it's tough to go back to the standard optic engine.

To be fair, though, that’s mostly a me problem, and if you’re new to the display glasses world the Xreal xbx a01+ and RayNeo Air 4 Pros should be perfectly adequate performance-wise.

(Image credit: Future)

As for which of the budget specs you should go for — whichever is cheaper would be my suggestion.

The technical improvements of the xbx specs are solid, but if you can save $40/£40 or more on the RayNeos, their few deficiencies can be overlooked.

That said, if stylish, colorful designs are a must, alongside a marginally better image quality, then you'll be very pleased with the new Xreal xbx a01+ glasses.

There are at least three fires in and around the city. Large parts of Spokane are under Level 3 evacuation orders, which read: "Leave NOW! This may be your only notice."

(Image credit: Young Kwak)

I love reading — or at least that’s what I tell myself. In reality, I’ve always had a very on-and-off relationship with it, going from devouring books in days to barely opening one for weeks or months on end.

But one constant I’ve realized is that I don’t tend to prioritize reading — if there’s a show I’m binging, a new game I can’t stop thinking about, or simply lots of social engagements to attend, books will generally get put aside until I have more time on my hands.

But then something occurred to me — while I don’t always have long stretches of time that I’m happy to devote to reading, my days are full of short periods that aren’t being filled, like while I’m waiting in line or at a train station, or simply waiting for the kettle to boil. And then there are times when I’m on a train or in a cafe and might want to read, but don’t have a book with me as I travel light.

With all that in mind, back in late January, I bought the ViWoods AiPaper Reader — a pocket-sized Android ereader that’s small enough to carry with me everywhere alongside my phone — in the hopes that it would get me reading during periods that might otherwise be dedicated to podcasts or simply spent sitting or standing in slightly bored silence.

At the same time, I also had some hope that, since this ereader has full access to the Google Play Store, it might help cure my smartphone addiction — as doomscrolling was likely to be less desirable on an E Ink screen.

A tiny device that was a big reading success

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Before buying the ViWoods AiPaper Reader, I hadn’t read much in a while — I had dozens of unread books on my Kindle Colorsoft and big stacks of physical books silently judging me. I might start one, but it wouldn’t stick — life would get in the way, or it wouldn’t immediately grab me enough to reach for it again.

But the ViWoods AiPaper Reader changed that. I loaded up the Kindle app on it and got in the habit of keeping it in my pocket, alongside my phone. Then, almost any time I would previously have switched on a podcast — such as when on a train or in small empty moments of my day — I’d reach for this instead.

It didn’t matter whether I had two minutes or two hours; I’d aim to read something, and because the AiPaper Reader was always in my pocket, there was no excuse not to. I didn’t even have to go to my shelves to grab a book.

It allowed me to build a consistent reading habit and make progress with books even on days when I didn’t have much time, or wasn’t massively in the mood to read. After all, reading a couple of pages while boiling the kettle is still better than nothing, and it all adds up. And best of all, because this device got me back into reading, I’m now more inclined to read my paperbacks than I have been for some time.

Was it all smooth sailing? No, there have been some days and even a few weeks where I would stop carrying the ViWoods AiPaper Reader with me. But so far, I’ve always found it easier to go back to than a larger ereader or a physical book.

An imperfect light and unnecessary AI

(Image credit: TechRadar)

This isn’t the perfect pocket-sized ereader. It has a front light but not a warm light, which can make reading at night a bit less comfortable than on some of the best ereaders — especially as the brightness is adjustable, the minimum level is still quite bright.

There’s also the AI-shaped elephant in the room, which even if you know nothing about this device, you’ve probably been wondering about from its name.

Like so much recent tech, the ViWoods AiPaper Reader is trying to cash in on the AI craze; there's a dedicated AI button that you can press to speak to an AI chatbot, with models from OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, and Qwen all built in.

(Image credit: TechRadar)

These platforms can be used either as general-purpose AI chatbots or in combination with ViWoods' own apps to, for example, look up definitions of words in the books you’re reading. But personally, I’m tending to just use the Kindle app for reading, which can’t directly communicate with the AI.

Plus, using the ViWoods' AI functionality requires a Wi-Fi connection, which drains the battery faster than I want from an ereader, and it’s slower to interact with than just pulling up Gemini on my phone.

Beyond AI, some of the other software available on the ViWoods isn’t perfect, either, as while it runs a fairly recent version of Android in Android 16, there’s no promise of any version updates, and ViWoods’ own interface leaves a little to be desired. For example, there's little explanation of how some features work, and many important settings are hidden away in an ‘advanced settings’ submenu. There’s also an 11-step process to actually authorize and activate the Google Play Store on this device, despite it running Android.

Those gripes aside, I’ve generally been impressed by the ViWoods AiPaper Reader. Its 6.13-inch Carta 1300 screen is big and crisp enough to comfortably read on, its battery lasts me anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on how much I’m using it, and it looks like a genuinely premium device, with a slim, sleek design that’s almost up to the standards you’d expect from a premium brand like Apple.

This didn’t cure my addiction

(Image credit: TechRadar)

While the ViWoods AiPaper Reader got me reading again, it was less successful at breaking my doomscrolling habit — though not a complete failure.

I figured that, since it runs Android apps, I could keep my phone in another room when I’m at home, and use the ereader for most things, with its monochrome E Ink screen sure to leave me reaching for it less.

And it somewhat worked for that — when I was disciplined about actually keeping my phone out of reach. But after a while, I got out of the habit, and even when I did keep my phone elsewhere, I’d sometimes encounter things I genuinely wanted it for, like penning a long message. So this wasn’t the perfect solution for me.

(Image credit: TechRadar)

I’d perhaps have more luck if I fully replaced my phone with a device like this — and the ViWoods AiPaper Reader does have a SIM card slot, so it can fulfil most smartphone functions. But it lacks speakers and cameras, so you’d be making some unfortunate sacrifices.

Were I serious about that idea, I might invest in something like the Mudita Kompakt instead, as that’s designed specifically as a minimalist E Ink phone. So, if you’re looking primarily for something to break your smartphone habit, I’d suggest a device like that instead (or, perhaps, the similarly distraction-free Balance Phone).

Still, as a secondary function on a device I’m mostly using for books, the ViWoods AiPaper Reader has not been a total failure.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some reading to do.

• Cyberattack hits operational technology at more than 30 Minnesota community water systems, briefly taking treatment plant offline and forcing several towns onto manual operations
• A leaked WaterISAC memo obtained by WIRED relays a state fusion center assessment tying the intrusions to Iranian-affiliated hackers, but no US agency has formally attributed the attack yet
• The CISA had warned four days earlier that Iranian-affiliated actors were compromising internet-facing PLCs, repeating guidance that has mostly fallen on deaf ears

More than 30 community water systems across Minnesota were hit by a coordinated cyberattack, targeting the operational technology running pumps, wells, water towers, and wastewater lift stations rather than the office networks behind them.

Minnesota IT Services disclosed the attack on July 28 2026 and activated a statewide incident response, stating that it wasn't aware of any Minnesota city asking residents to change their drinking water use just yet.

A memo obtained by Wired, circulated by the water sector information-sharing group WaterISAC and carrying a restricted TLP: AMBER handling marking, relays a Minnesota state fusion center assessment that ties the intrusions to Iranian-affiliated hackers.

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A warning that was more or less ignored

Four days before the attacks, CISA updated an advisory, AA26-097A, warning that Iranian-affiliated actors were compromising internet-facing programmable logic controllers made by Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and possibly others across the US water, energy, and government sectors. It documented confirmed disruptions and financial losses.

This drew no immediate response from state functionaries, and it is easy to see why: the US has tens of thousands of community water systems that serve small populations and lack budgets for dedicated cybersecurity staff.

This is despite there being a precedent: Iranian-linked actors hit the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa in Pennsylvania in November 2023, defacing a Unitronics controller with an anti-Israel message. CISA said at the time those devices were exposed to the internet with default passwords still in place. The advice issued then is the same advice being issued this week, which is telling about how little has changed since.

The WaterISAC memo, dated the day the attacks concluded, passes on a state fusion center report linking the activity to Iranian-affiliated actors. That memo was not meant to be public, but it has been corroborated by The New York Times and The Washington Post, which reported that they spoke to federal officials and US intelligence agencies, respectively, lending credence to the claims.

CISA later warned that attackers are changing PLC passwords to lock operators out of their own equipment, and repeated the advice that has been unchanged for years: get PLCs off the public internet and put remote access behind a VPN or gateway.

Who was affected?

The worst of the cyberattack hit Braham, a town of roughly 1,700 people, where the city said attackers shut down the operating controls, taking the water treatment plant and the well offline. Crews restored it manually within a couple of hours, and residents were told to minimize water use in the meantime.

Plymouth, a Minneapolis suburb of about 80,000, found the problem confined to equipment connected over cellular links at two water towers and several wastewater lift stations. Its IT division disconnected the affected kit from the network entirely to stop the attack and prevent retargeting during reconfiguration.

Maple Plain declared a local state of emergency to manage its response, and South St. Paul reported that some automated controls were compromised. In most cases, contingency procedures held and water and wastewater operations continued.

None of this is happening in a vacuum, however. The June memorandum that paused fighting between the US and Iran has broken down, and both are trading strikes, including recent US attacks near the Strait of Hormuz that destroyed a water facility and cut supply to more than 20,000 people. Whoever carried out the Minnesota attacks, the symbolism of targeting municipal water is unlikely to be accidental.

The damage that these intrusions caused was limited; they produced brief outages that trained staff fixed by hand. That is an outcome with a silver lining, and it depended on utilities having people who knew how to run a treatment plant without its automation, even if its digital defenses collapsed outright.

Fun fact: whenever I have days that I work remotely, I'll always have an episode of Bob's Burgers on in the background. In fact, I watch all 16 seasons of the hit Hulu and Disney+ animated comedy so often, that I could tell you exactly what episode was on without directly looking at it.

I felt incredibly prepared for the handful of Bob's Burgers quizzes already on the internet claiming to be the hardest, but nobody has yet been able to truly test the reams of random knowledge I've acquired from watching the series so often.

Should I be able to tell recite the lyrics to the song that plays over Tina and Tammy's first time collectively ditching class in season 2? Probably not.

So, behold — the genuinely most difficult Bob's Burgers quiz that I have played to date (because I made it). If you get more than 80%, I'll assume that you're actually a Wharf resident who's somehow found their way into the real world.

I have left out anything that happens in The Bob's Burgers Movie, but you'll need to have seen seasons 1-16 in order to answer all of the questions.

Check back when Bob's Burgers season 17 (hopefully) airs in early 2027... you know that the above will be updated accordingly.

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: two-minute review

The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine is a compact version of the Ninja Luxe Café. It doesn't require an enormous amount of counter space, especially considering that this single machine grinds your whole beans directly into your filter, weighs your grinds, brews your espresso or drip coffee, and froths your milk. You won't need any other coffee accoutrements on your counter.

While I did brew some absolutely delicious coffee with the Ninja Luxe Café Mini, there is definitely a learning curve. In fact, I wouldn't say I have mastered the espresso settings yet, even after brewing many cups. Even with the identical espresso settings, sometimes I get just an ounce or so and sometimes I get a lot more. Drip coffee comes out consistently well; no issues there. I also had some trouble frothing the milk; with just a minimum amount of milk in the jug it overflowed onto the counter.

Note that even though this is a semi-auto machine, you do need to have some manual strength and dexterity to get the portafilter properly into place. Be ready for some trial and error. If you're prepared to take on a project, I think you'll be well-rewarded for your efforts.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: price and availability

• Widely available both in store and online
• Retails for $449.99 USD (£338.50 GBP, $643.73 AUD)
• Only sold in the black and chrome colorway

You can find the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine at many brick and mortar stores and websites, including Amazon, Best Buy, Kohl's, Target, and Ninja's own site. It retails for $449.99 USD (£338.50 GBP, $643.73 AUD) and comes in just the one color, black and chrome.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: specs

Name

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine

Type

Semi-automatic

Dimensions (L x W x H)

10.24 in L x 12.17 in W x 13.43 in H / 26.01 cm L x 30.91 cm W x 34.11 cm H

Weight

18.96 lbs / 8.6 kg

Brew styles

Espresso (double), Triple (espresso), Classic (coffee), Rich (coffee), and Over Ice (coffee)

Milk frother

Yes

Connected device

No

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: design

• Efficient design gives it a smaller footprint
• Aesthetically pleasing, goes with any decor
• Five brew styles

The Ninja Luxe Café Mini is efficiently designed to house everything you need to make just about any sort of coffee drink in a relatively small package. When you first unpack it, you will need to determine your water hardness with the enclosed test strip and set your machine accordingly. Run a flush cycle and then you're ready to start brewing.

The machine has a conical burr grinder, a brewing system that makes both espresso and coffee, and a steam wand. It comes with two filter baskets:, a smaller 'double' and a larger 'luxe' basket (unlike most espresso machines, there's no basket for pouring a single shot).

Place the basket into the portafilter, the funnel on top of that, and then slide it into the grinding cradle. Choose your brew style. The machine evaluates your beans and determines a recommended grind size. Turn the grind dial to meet the recommended number and hit the grind button.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Once your ground coffee is the basket, remove the portafilter and tamp down the grinds with the assisted tamper. It has a spring inside so you'll apply just the right amount of pressure.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Then you can remove the funnel, place the portafilter under the Ninja Luxe Café Mini's group head and turn it until it locks into place. This takes some manual strength and dexterity, and the machine's relatively light weight means you have to brace it in place so it doesn't slide around, though it does get easier with repeated use.

You can manually select your level of strength (represented by one, two, or three beans) and temperature or just use the default. When you're done brewing, dispose of the puck of used coffee grounds, and clean the dirty components.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

There is also a milk jug and steam wand. To use it, turn the manual valve on the side from brewing mode to frothing mode. The owner's manual includes detailed instructions of how to get the most froth from your milk of choice.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

You'll need to clean the tamper, funnel, basket, portafilter, steam wand and jug after each use. You'll also need to empty and clean out the drip tray every few brews, and every time you froth milk. Additionally, you'll need to descale the machine periodically. However, there is no obvious way to get in and clean the grinder. That part never gets wet, but coffee oils will build up there over time.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: performance

• There is definitely a learning curve
• You need manual strength and dexterity
• Brew amounts are not consistent

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(Image credit: Future)

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Overall, I think you'll find that the Ninja Luxe Café Mini will make you some great coffee and espresso drinks. There's definitely a learning curve, but if you have the patience you'll figure it out. Of bigger concern was that sometimes the brewing seemed to just stop short of a full yield, and I'm not sure why. The same beans brewed at the same setting just didn't always yield the same size espresso. This only happened to me while brewing espresso; all three of the drip coffee settings yielded perfect results every time.

There are five different brew settings: Espresso (which is actually a double espresso), Triple (espresso), Classic (drip coffee), Rich (a richer drip coffee), and Over Ice (drip coffee brewed at a lower temperature). I tested all five of them multiple times.

Espresso

The smallest drink you can make is a double espresso, there is no single espresso setting on this machine. The owner's manual says to throw away the first espresso you brew each time you put new beans into the hopper because it takes a couple of brews for the machine to dial in correctly. I tasted it anyway and yes, you should toss it. After that first one, the espresso tasted good though sometimes it would randomly give me a shorter brew. I did notice that I consistently got a beautiful crema.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureTriple espresso

The experience of brewing the triple espresso is just like brewing the regular (double) one, only you use the Luxe basket instead of the smaller one. Again, the machine would sometimes give me a tiny brew. Pictured below is one of the smaller triples; other times it was much larger. Otherwise, the espresso was good and always had a lovely crema.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureClassic

The Classic drip coffee setting yielded consistently good results. In addition to adjusting the grind size, brew temperature, and strength if you like, you can also choose to brew 6, 8, 10, or 12 ounces of coffee. The user experience of brewing the drip coffee is the same as brewing espresso, except that you skip the tamping step. The machine does something totally different on the inside. You get no crema. And when you go to throw the puck away, it's very wet, as opposed to the drier, crumbly puck you get with espresso.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureRich

The rich drip coffee setting works just like the classic, only it yields a richer brew. I find I prefer the classic, as I found it a bit smoother and less bitter, but your tastes may differ.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureOver ice

The drip coffee over ice setting might have been my favorite. I found it very smooth and it didn't taste too diluted from the ice.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureSteam wand

I found that it took some practice to get the milk frothing just right. I tried just leaving the jug in place and frothing it from there, and it works ok but doesn't produce much foam. I tried following the instructions about angle and movement in the owner's manual, and got too much foam.

The wand will purge itself right after frothing, and you'll want to wipe off the milk from the outside of the wand right away. Otherwise it sticks on there pretty good, requiring a bit of scrubbing to get it off.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / Future

• Performance score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine?Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine score card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

While not cheap, it does replace five machines: conical burr grinder, coffee scale, espresso machine, coffee machine, and milk frother.

4/5

Design

It looks great on the counter and has a relatively small footprint for all it does.

4.5/5

Performance

There's definitely a learning curve and my results were not consistent, but the coffee drinks especially were quite tasty and the espresso crema was perfect every time.

3.5/5

Buy it if

You want to be the barista

You'll need to put the effort in, but you can be the barista at home with this machine. You control the settings and the results, with help from the machine's sensors.

You want all the coffee accoutrements in one smallish machine

Forget having a separate grinder, scale, brewer, and frother spread out over your countertop. Just one little machine does it all.

You can't decide between espresso and drip coffee

Now you don't even need two different machines for espresso and drip coffee. The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine does both, plus iced coffee and milk drinks too.

Don't buy it if

It's not in your budget

While you'll likely make fewer trips to the coffee shop, and you don't have to buy five separate machines, it's still not cheap.

You don't have great manual dexterity and/or strength

It takes some coordination and muscle to get the portafilter correctly installed in the group head for brewing.

You expect perfectly consistent results with the touch of a button

This machine isn't a fully automatic touch-of-a-button machine. It's not always consistent and there is a learning curve.View Deal

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: also consider

De'Longhi La Specialista Touch

This one is a little bit more automated and beginner-friendly than the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine while still being pretty small and lightweight. It's also a bit more expensive.

Read our De'Longhi La Specialista Touch review

Ninja AutoBarista Pro Fully Automatic Espresso Machine

While almost double the price of the Ninja Luxe Café Mini, it's worthwhile if you want a one-touch, super easy-to-use machine. It makes about a dozen different beverages including coffee, espresso, iced drinks, and milk drinks.

Read my Ninja AutoBarista Pro Fully Automatic Espresso Machine reviewView Deal

Terra Kaffe TK-02

This fully automatic coffee and espresso machine does it all with a touch of a button or even a voice command to Alexa. Custom design your own beverages. It's the priciest of the bunch, but an amazing machine.

Check out my Terra Kaffe TK-02 review.View Deal

How I tested the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine

I brewed and drank every drink on the menu: (double) Espresso, Triple (espresso), Classic (coffee), Rich (coffee), and (coffee) Over Ice more than once. I used two different kinds of beans for each beverage, first going all the way through the menu with a dark french roast and then again with a medium-dark roast. I frothed two different kinds of milk (almond and skim dairy) several times and added the milk to espresso shots. I cleaned all of the parts that touch the coffee after each use.

First reviewed July 2026

An 18-month investigation by The Seattle Times, KUOW and NPR's Embedded podcast and a review of more than a dozen videos from the night of the shooting reveal the most comprehensive view to date of how the chaotic scene unfolded. And they show how a Black teenager who came to join the civil rights movement of his generation — in a zone abandoned by police — ended up killed by a protest movement that thought he was a threat.

(Image credit: Ellen M. Banner)

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: two-minute review

The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine is a compact version of the Ninja Luxe Café. It doesn't require an enormous amount of counter space, especially considering that this single machine grinds your whole beans directly into your filter, weighs your grinds, brews your espresso or drip coffee, and froths your milk. You won't need any other coffee accoutrements on your counter.

While I did brew some absolutely delicious coffee with the Ninja Luxe Café Mini, there is definitely a learning curve. In fact, I wouldn't say I have mastered the espresso settings yet, even after brewing many cups. Even with the identical espresso settings, sometimes I get just an ounce or so and sometimes I get a lot more. Drip coffee comes out consistently well; no issues there. I also had some trouble frothing the milk; with just a minimum amount of milk in the jug it overflowed onto the counter.

Note that even though this is a semi-auto machine, you do need to have some manual strength and dexterity to get the portafilter properly into place. Be ready for some trial and error. If you're prepared to take on a project, I think you'll be well-rewarded for your efforts.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: price and availability

• Widely available both in store and online
• Retails for $449.99 USD (£338.50 GBP, $643.73 AUD)
• Only sold in the black and chrome colorway

You can find the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine at many brick and mortar stores and websites, including Amazon, Best Buy, Kohl's, Target, and Ninja's own site. It retails for $449.99 USD (£338.50 GBP, $643.73 AUD) and comes in just the one color, black and chrome.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: specs

Name

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine

Type

Semi-automatic

Dimensions (L x W x H)

10.24 in L x 12.17 in W x 13.43 in H / 26.01 cm L x 30.91 cm W x 34.11 cm H

Weight

18.96 lbs / 8.6 kg

Brew styles

Espresso (double), Triple (espresso), Classic (coffee), Rich (coffee), and Over Ice (coffee)

Milk frother

Yes

Connected device

No

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: design

• Efficient design gives it a smaller footprint
• Aesthetically pleasing, goes with any decor
• Five brew styles

The Ninja Luxe Café Mini is efficiently designed to house everything you need to make just about any sort of coffee drink in a relatively small package. When you first unpack it, you will need to determine your water hardness with the enclosed test strip and set your machine accordingly. Run a flush cycle and then you're ready to start brewing.

The machine has a conical burr grinder, a brewing system that makes both espresso and coffee, and a steam wand. It comes with two filter baskets:, a smaller 'double' and a larger 'luxe' basket (unlike most espresso machines, there's no basket for pouring a single shot).

Place the basket into the portafilter, the funnel on top of that, and then slide it into the grinding cradle. Choose your brew style. The machine evaluates your beans and determines a recommended grind size. Turn the grind dial to meet the recommended number and hit the grind button.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Once your ground coffee is the basket, remove the portafilter and tamp down the grinds with the assisted tamper. It has a spring inside so you'll apply just the right amount of pressure.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Then you can remove the funnel, place the portafilter under the Ninja Luxe Café Mini's group head and turn it until it locks into place. This takes some manual strength and dexterity, and the machine's relatively light weight means you have to brace it in place so it doesn't slide around, though it does get easier with repeated use.

You can manually select your level of strength (represented by one, two, or three beans) and temperature or just use the default. When you're done brewing, dispose of the puck of used coffee grounds, and clean the dirty components.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

There is also a milk jug and steam wand. To use it, turn the manual valve on the side from brewing mode to frothing mode. The owner's manual includes detailed instructions of how to get the most froth from your milk of choice.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

You'll need to clean the tamper, funnel, basket, portafilter, steam wand and jug after each use. You'll also need to empty and clean out the drip tray every few brews, and every time you froth milk. Additionally, you'll need to descale the machine periodically. However, there is no obvious way to get in and clean the grinder. That part never gets wet, but coffee oils will build up there over time.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: performance

• There is definitely a learning curve
• You need manual strength and dexterity
• Brew amounts are not consistent

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Overall, I think you'll find that the Ninja Luxe Café Mini will make you some great coffee and espresso drinks. There's definitely a learning curve, but if you have the patience you'll figure it out. Of bigger concern was that sometimes the brewing seemed to just stop short of a full yield, and I'm not sure why. The same beans brewed at the same setting just didn't always yield the same size espresso. This only happened to me while brewing espresso; all three of the drip coffee settings yielded perfect results every time.

There are five different brew settings: Espresso (which is actually a double espresso), Triple (espresso), Classic (drip coffee), Rich (a richer drip coffee), and Over Ice (drip coffee brewed at a lower temperature). I tested all five of them multiple times.

Espresso

The smallest drink you can make is a double espresso, there is no single espresso setting on this machine. The owner's manual says to throw away the first espresso you brew each time you put new beans into the hopper because it takes a couple of brews for the machine to dial in correctly. I tasted it anyway and yes, you should toss it. After that first one, the espresso tasted good though sometimes it would randomly give me a shorter brew. I did notice that I consistently got a beautiful crema.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureTriple espresso

The experience of brewing the triple espresso is just like brewing the regular (double) one, only you use the Luxe basket instead of the smaller one. Again, the machine would sometimes give me a tiny brew. Pictured below is one of the smaller triples; other times it was much larger. Otherwise, the espresso was good and always had a lovely crema.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureClassic

The Classic drip coffee setting yielded consistently good results. In addition to adjusting the grind size, brew temperature, and strength if you like, you can also choose to brew 6, 8, 10, or 12 ounces of coffee. The user experience of brewing the drip coffee is the same as brewing espresso, except that you skip the tamping step. The machine does something totally different on the inside. You get no crema. And when you go to throw the puck away, it's very wet, as opposed to the drier, crumbly puck you get with espresso.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureRich

The rich drip coffee setting works just like the classic, only it yields a richer brew. I find I prefer the classic, as I found it a bit smoother and less bitter, but your tastes may differ.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureOver ice

The drip coffee over ice setting might have been my favorite. I found it very smooth and it didn't taste too diluted from the ice.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureSteam wand

I found that it took some practice to get the milk frothing just right. I tried just leaving the jug in place and frothing it from there, and it works ok but doesn't produce much foam. I tried following the instructions about angle and movement in the owner's manual, and got too much foam.

The wand will purge itself right after frothing, and you'll want to wipe off the milk from the outside of the wand right away. Otherwise it sticks on there pretty good, requiring a bit of scrubbing to get it off.

Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / Future

• Performance score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine?Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine score card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

While not cheap, it does replace five machines: conical burr grinder, coffee scale, espresso machine, coffee machine, and milk frother.

4/5

Design

It looks great on the counter and has a relatively small footprint for all it does.

4.5/5

Performance

There's definitely a learning curve and my results were not consistent, but the coffee drinks especially were quite tasty and the espresso crema was perfect every time.

3.5/5

Buy it if

You want to be the barista

You'll need to put the effort in, but you can be the barista at home with this machine. You control the settings and the results, with help from the machine's sensors.

You want all the coffee accoutrements in one smallish machine

Forget having a separate grinder, scale, brewer, and frother spread out over your countertop. Just one little machine does it all.

You can't decide between espresso and drip coffee

Now you don't even need two different machines for espresso and drip coffee. The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine does both, plus iced coffee and milk drinks too.

Don't buy it if

It's not in your budget

While you'll likely make fewer trips to the coffee shop, and you don't have to buy five separate machines, it's still not cheap.

You don't have great manual dexterity and/or strength

It takes some coordination and muscle to get the portafilter correctly installed in the group head for brewing.

You expect perfectly consistent results with the touch of a button

This machine isn't a fully automatic touch-of-a-button machine. It's not always consistent and there is a learning curve.View Deal

Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: also consider

De'Longhi La Specialista Touch

This one is a little bit more automated and beginner-friendly than the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine while still being pretty small and lightweight. It's also a bit more expensive.

Read our De'Longhi La Specialista Touch review

Ninja AutoBarista Pro Fully Automatic Espresso Machine

While almost double the price of the Ninja Luxe Café Mini, it's worthwhile if you want a one-touch, super easy-to-use machine. It makes about a dozen different beverages including coffee, espresso, iced drinks, and milk drinks.

Read my Ninja AutoBarista Pro Fully Automatic Espresso Machine reviewView Deal

Terra Kaffe TK-02

This fully automatic coffee and espresso machine does it all with a touch of a button or even a voice command to Alexa. Custom design your own beverages. It's the priciest of the bunch, but an amazing machine.

Check out my Terra Kaffe TK-02 review.View Deal

How I tested the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine

I brewed and drank every drink on the menu: (double) Espresso, Triple (espresso), Classic (coffee), Rich (coffee), and (coffee) Over Ice more than once. I used two different kinds of beans for each beverage, first going all the way through the menu with a dark french roast and then again with a medium-dark roast. I frothed two different kinds of milk (almond and skim dairy) several times and added the milk to espresso shots. I cleaned all of the parts that touch the coffee after each use.

First reviewed July 2026

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Torn ear tips. Snapped charging case. Dented drivers. Like every other kind of gadget imaginable, the best headphones aren't built to last, and I'd wager that everyone reading this article has some skeletons (of old, ailing gadgets) in their (metaphorical) closet.

In fact, according to a European Union report, in 2024, 51% people kept their old smartphones even though they were no longer using them, and 34% were still holding onto their outdated laptops and tablets. We just don't know what to do with our old kit.

So, do you throw away your broken over-ear headphones and buy a new pair? Do you hunt down your nearest electronics recycling bank, or donate them to an organization which could use the parts? In recent years, the second-hand tech industry has boomed, with refurbishing and reselling sites such as Back Market and Refurbed ensuring that used gadgets get a second lease of life.

But too often, that first lease of life is all-too-easily abandoned. The tech you might be recycling — or consigning straight to landfill — might actually be easily repairable.

Per the BBC, a survey suggested that 7,000,000 wireless headphones (yes, seven-million) were thrown away in 2022, in the UK alone. And as we'll explore later, the majority of those may not have needed throwing away.

There's a simple truth. Gadget sellers are often loathe to admit it, worrying that repairing your own gadgets may affect their bottom line. And as we'll also soon learn, many companies seem to make repairs really quite difficult.

The thing is, your faulty gadget may be only a quick fix from working like new. From complicated pieces of kit such as AV machines and computers, to white-label toasters and kettles, electronics can often be repaired at home, for a fraction of the cost of buying new... within reason.

The long road to repairable tech

(Image credit: Pixabay)

Tech repairability isn't a new concept, but it's a rather new debate. Or, at least, it's one that's only recently been at the forefront of the news cycle, under the somewhat beige name 'right to repair'.

For two years now, repairability has been of growing importance to politicians as well as makers. In July 2024, the EU entered into force its 'Directive on repair of goods', and since Europe is a major market for tech companies, changes made for the region have been reflected in tech sold globally.

Designed to go hand-in-hand with several other EU policies on eco-friendly design, the repair directive is designed to make your gadgets easier to fix.

For example, electronics makers are now obliged to repair faulty kit, or make spare parts accessible for a reasonable price, so that third parties can do the repairs for you.

There are several knock-on effects to this and follow-up motions, the most reported being that phone makers will have to fit readily-removable batteries, and manufacturers will have to provide tools so you can make repairs yourself. These rules are changing how companies make their products.

However, there are several exceptions: gadgets designed for wet use, including wearables and headphones won't need to change. And, more importantly, any gadget sold before the European Union's legislation went into effect will of course miss out on these repairability boons.

Some companies may look for loopholes — but not Fairphone

(Image credit: Future)

Before repairability was codified in legislation, it was still a focus for certain brands. One of those was Fairphone, a Dutch brand which began life as a campaign about conflict minerals in tech, and now makes phones and headphones. Miquel Ballester, its Head of Product, explained to us why it made the jump into physical devices:

"You can put the most ethically sourced materials in the world into a device, but if it dies in a year and a half because a battery's glued in, you've undone most of the good you just did".

He continued: "In the case of smartphones, earbuds, and headphones, repairability was what made the rest of the mission focus on bringing action into the industry. We've been fighting this fight for over a decade, long before 'right to repair' was something people brought up at dinner."

Fairphone devices are modular, meaning you can easily remove and replace the screen, camera, batteries, or other parts, all without having to extricate them from a tightly-packed device. The brand sells replacement parts online, so you can repair faulty components at home.

According to Ballester, Fairphone found that making its phones repairable didn't mean it had to change the performance and style of its products, but there was an impact on the price: "Designing for modularity means you're working with connectors, seams, and screws instead of glue and epoxy, and that adds a bit of cost compared to a phone that's built to be sealed shut forever".

We've been fighting this fight for over a decade, long before 'right to repair' was something people brought up at dinner

Miquel Ballester, head of product at Fairphone

Don't chase a high IP-rating (when you probably don't need it)

I also asked Ballester if any components or specs struggle in repairable gadgets. "Waterproofing is the one I'd point to first," he explained, railing against the trend of tech companies chasing an IP68 rating.

"Realistically, unless you're taking your phone free diving, IP55 gets you everything you actually need. It holds up against rain, spilled coffee, sweat at the gym, all the situations people actually put their phones through."

So, not IP68, which guarantees you protection for 30 minutes in a meter of water? "Chasing that rating basically forces you into permanent seals and factory-glued seams, because that's still the easiest way to guarantee a device survives being submerged.

"We'd rather give you a device that can be opened and repaired for the next seven years than one that survives a swimming pool once and then can't have its battery replaced. It's a genuinely difficult engineering line to walk, and I won't pretend IP68 wouldn't look nice on a spec sheet, but chasing it would mean compromising the thing we actually care about."

As mentioned, the EU's right to repair changes mean that companies may have to sell tools to repair their gadgets. But for Fairphone, that isn't a problem; they've been designed not to require proprietary tools. A Phillips screwdriver is all you need.

But how repairable is tech really?

(Image credit: Future)

Just because a company doesn't make gadget repairability a selling point, doesn't mean that you can't easily fix it. To learn more about the repair process, I visited a local community repair shop called Fixing Factory, which operates several locations in London, UK.

Fixing Factory lets residents bring in broken items to get them repaired, but it also operates as a way to train volunteers in fixing household items.

When I visited the Fixing Factory's Camden location, the streets around the shop were abuzz — England was just hours away from its ultimately-unsuccessful World Cup match against Argentina. But inside the repair shop, a different kind of squad was assembled: a troop of junior repairers (volunteers learning how to repair tech) were being briefed on safety procedures.

As I waited, I got to admire the huge collection of gadgets in various stages of repair (or lack thereof, in the cases of some training toasters). Laptops, vacuum cleaners, radios, even some throwback iPod nanos. Waiting alongside me was an older lady, who'd somehow managed to transport several startlingly-sized antique lamps in a series of backpacks and strollers, all ready to be repaired by the volunteers.

Not all of the Fixing Factory attendees were in training, and I was lucky enough to speak to several of the expert volunteers. They explained to me how to tell if a gadget can be repaired, what to do if you want to fix your tech, and when you should rely on an expert to bring your tech up to spec.

Identifying gadgets as repairable

(Image credit: Future)

One repair volunteer, describing themselves as a 'generalist' who liked to fix everything, told me how they'd helped create the teaching material for the trainees in the next room and explained how they work out if a gadget can be fixed in the first place.

"The first thing we do is we will safety check the device. If we've got a plug, we'll make sure we do PAT testing [a standardized way of checking the safety of portable appliances], and then everything goes into an RCD [Residual Current Device, which can instantly turn off power if something goes wrong] before we plug it in, and then we'll do a functional test.

"From there, we'll then diagnose what's going wrong and sit down with a member of the public, and work with them and go: 'okay, tell me the story, what happened, what's not working.'"

From what I was told, about half of the people with broken tech know why it's broken, either because of their own research or because the fault is obvious. And the other half "just have no clue".

We had far in excess of 70% repairability on e-waste

A Fixing Factory volunteer

The volunteer told me about a recent trial the group conducted, in which they went to a local recycling facility for several months, to log the kind of items thrown away and how much was actually repairable.

"We had far in excess of 70% repairability on e-waste. And so I like to think that's probably reflective of what comes into Fixing Factory locations."

I was staggered by that number; by the sounds of it, well over half of the gadgets we throw away could actually be fixed!

Stats from a similar study carried out by The Restart Project also found that only 12.4% of electrical devices thrown away were truly at the end of their life span. A further 7.2% needed repairs that were deemed too costly to be worthwhile; 9.5% were economical to repair; 36.2% were working just fine, and for the remaining 34.7% it wasn't possible to determine what state of life they were in.

Looking back at that 7,000,000 headphone figure I mentioned before, that'd suggest about 2.5 million of them could get back to a state of working just fine. Truly, the trash is not the first destination for faulty gadgets.

Do (or don't) try this at home

(Image credit: Future)

Repair shops such as Fixing Factory are one option for handling your broken tech, but how easy are they to fix at home? (Unless you have a Fairphone product, of course). I spoke to another Fixing Factory volunteer to find out.

Kevin, a student at a local university, told me: "You can literally fix anything if you watch enough YouTube... but it's pretty complicated".

He was one of many volunteers who flagged YouTube and the iFixit channel (and website) specifically, as an invaluable source of information for prospective home repairers. The site publishes teardowns, repair guides, and has an active forum to help you understand just how feasible a home repair is.

Sometimes, even this isn't necessary: "A lot of things are just dirty and need to be cleaned deeply."

You can literally fix anything if you watch enough YouTube

A Fixing Factory volunteer

This is something I understand all too well; a deep-clean of my home-built PC recently made me realize that I didn't need to buy new parts. It was just dusty.

Kevin gave some sage advice: "Take good notes or good photos to make sure you put [the gadget] back together correctly".

Another volunteer pointed out, though, that online guides and a little clean both play second fiddle to another, more important type of learning: "Sitting down with someone and sharing the experience, I think is something that's very valuable."

Not all tech is worth repairing

Most of the advice so far has pertained to smaller electricals and 'safer' items, but often you want to fix something more complicated. When I asked one volunteer whether home tech repairs were feasible, I was told: "Is it feasible? Yes. Is it safe? Questionable."

There are several dangers involved with lithium-ion batteries, the kind of which you find in most portable gadgets, and their predilection for catching fire is chief amongst them. You don't even have to be repairing them for disaster to strike.

The North London Waste Authority has identified several types of lithium-ion battery-toting gadgets — including smartphones and electric toothbrushes — as major fire risks. According to the organization, which handles waste disposal for seven London boroughs, "electrical items can easily catch fire if they are thrown into general waste and become damaged in waste vehicles".

A spokesperson told me that, across 2025, they saw at least 20 fires which could be linked to battery combustion. They even shared a video of one such incident, which you can see above. Stats from the National Fire Chiefs Council point to there being over 1,200 battery fires across the UK in bin lorries and waste sites that same year.

One false move and you can suddenly have a nasty fire.

Fixing Factory volunteer

And it's even worse if you're intentionally trying to fiddle around with them.

"One false move and you can suddenly have a nasty fire," one volunteer told me, adding, "Equally, when you're dealing with mains voltage, you can suffer some serious burns, let alone cardiac arrest. I would encourage anybody to find a friendly electrician, or someone with some qualifications, or a place like Fixing Factory."

(Image credit: Labutin.Art / Shutterstock)

Unrepairable tech isn't a manufacturing accident, as the Senior Workshop Manager and Operational Specialist of the Fixing Factory location I visited, Petra Backovska, explained to me. "Sometimes, you find that tech isn't built to be repaired, or repaired easily. And if there's something that wasn't made to be repaired, they make it really hard for you to do it — you can actually break it very, very easily".

Backovska identified cheap electronics manufacturers as a prime culprit for unrepairable tech, where important considerations are forgotten in favor of low costs and mass production. But more complex electronics were just as bad: "There could be things that need to have a CE mark on every item [as opposed to one for the entire gadget]".

If there's something that wasn't made to be repaired, they make it really hard for you

Petra Backovska, Senior Workshop manager at Fixing Factory

This is a mark affixed to most tech products sold in the European Economic Area to show that they're compliant with European health, safety and environmental standards. It'll be familiar to anyone who lives in the area; inspect any gadget within arm's reach, you'll likely find the mark hidden somewhere.

"So if the item doesn't have a CE mark, it's not safe, and we're not going to touch it anyways. So that could increase the number of things that we turn down, because we just don't know if it was manufactured safely."

I was also told that such a mark doesn't necessarily mean tech is safe: "Sometimes the mark is actually fake, and someone just slapped it on and didn't actually do all of the standardized testing in the process, which allowed them to produce something in large quantities very quickly, to sell it very cheap. But that also means that the item is not safe."

So how do you know if something should be repaired at home, or by an expert? Every volunteer advised that, if in doubt, consult an expert or take it to a repair shop: "It's that classic thing: asking is always the safest way."

There's a hard way to learn, and an easy way

(Image credit: Future)

Given the risks mentioned, I asked whether repairing tech from home could actually be dangerous, but was told by Backovska, "It doesn't have to be, but you need to have some training and follow the safety steps."

"If you jump into something just guessing things, then you're learning the hard way — and the hard way might be that you give yourself an electric shock. If you don't have experience with repairing, bring it to your local repair group."

I was told that Fixing Factory works with regulators, safety experts and product designers in order to create health and safety processes. These are taught to trainee volunteers, many of whom pass them onto customers whose goods are broken.

One of the volunteers I spoke to helped develop the training courses I got to witness, and told me that gadget-specific skills were often passed along, between volunteers and gadget owners.

The money and the waste

(Image credit: Photo by Tom Fisk via Pexels)

At the heart of the matter, two key reasons define why tech repairs are important. The first is economical: it will often be much cheaper to fix a device than to buy a new one. Second is the environmental impact: e-waste is a massive (and growing) problem, and keeping a hold of old gadgets (by repairing them) reduces the amount of clutter in landfill.

I love to quote a United Nations stat looking at e-waste from 2022: apparently, it'd fill roughly "enough trucks to form a bumper-to-bumper line encircling the equator". Our planet has a gastric band of junk, and hopefully, it'll push us to stop throwing away electronics. It's one of the core drives behind the aforementioned EU legislation.

The Restart Project is a UK-based charity which focuses on the right to repair electronics; it lobbies for legislation, helps organize repair groups (like the Fixing Factory I visited) and educates on the state of electronics. I spoke to Fiona Dear, co-Director at The Restart Project, to learn where repairable tech is going in the future.

There's nothing much on the horizon for other product categories

Fiona Dear, Co-Director at The Restart Project

"We have seen a bit of change [from companies] in recent years, and that's generally as a response to legislation. Even if the legislation isn't enacted, [manufacturers' changes are] in anticipation of legislation."

At the moment though (and in Europe, at least), this is limited: "There's only really legislation for two kinds of products. The first is white goods like dishwashers, and there's been legislation in place for a few years now. And it's just expanded to smartphones and tablets in Europe — that's why we're seeing a difference.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing much on the horizon for other product categories". That's why it's such a shame that, as mentioned earlier, wireless earbuds have seen a repairability exemption.

A problem of parts pairing

(Image credit: Future)

When I asked how technological changes are affecting repairability, one massive problem reared its head, which Dear called out specifically: "Parts pairing".

Parts pairing is a software limitation some brands apply to their devices. The gadgets will recognize when non-native parts are added, and throw up an error message when you try to use them.

For example, a phone might not let you use a new screen, a pair of headphones might reject their drivers, or a laptop might not play with a battery you install. In fact, software seems to be public enemy number one for tech repairability at the moment.

"A dishwasher or even a toaster, might have some kind of smart element in it," Dear explained, "which means it's dependent on software, and software isn't designed to last for as long as the mechanics of the product".

As iFixit points out in its guide to parts pairing, this is done by brands to encourage you to use its own repair services, instead of third-party ones (or repairing your own tech at home, using replacement parts). Often, the brand in question has unique access to make these error messages disappear. Dear flagged refurbished smartphones as being especially susceptible to this practice.

Parts pairing is one of the more cynical practices in this industry

Miquel Ballester, head of product at Fairphone

"Parts pairing is, in my personal opinion, one of the more cynical practices in this industry", Fairphone's Miquel Ballester explained. "Every component we ship, whether it's a battery in a Fairphone or bud and case battery in Fairbuds, is built to be freely interchangeable".

But software limitations remain an issue for tech longevity. "The repair experts who point out that software is the real bottleneck are right. It's exactly why we also treat long-term software support as inseparable from the repairability story".

The brand's latest mobile, the Fairphone 6, has a guaranteed 8 major Android updates, one of the longest life spans pledged by an Android maker. For many years, any more than two years' updates were a rarity, but nowadays companies are offering more and more updates. The Samsung Galaxy S26 and Google Pixel 10 series, for example, both have 7 years in the can.

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It takes a change of attitude

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Rattanapon Ninlapoom)

When I told peers that I was working on a tech repair piece, I received some intriguing reactions. Some view it as a great way to keep your gadgets ticking along (as it should be), but stories of cowboy repairers abound.

Recently, we covered a story about a Best Buy repairer who downloaded private photos from a broken iPhone, and some people I spoke to seemed to harbor suspicion towards the rows of mobile phone repair shops which line some British high streets.

But the high proliferation of gadget repair stores is indicative of something different: a strong demand for our gadgets to keep working longer. Tech shops aren't fronts for dodgy dealings; they fix the devices we use every day, which is probably a more lucrative market than narcotics or single-use vapes.

Over the last few years, the rise of AI has driven up memory prices, causing gadgets to cost a lot more money, and new purchases to be more and more of a treat. You've surely noticed that electronics purchases nowadays cost a lot more (and bundle in some useless AI tools as a consolation prize, but that's a gripe for another day).

With no sign of that slowing down, gadget repairs are only going to be more and more important. And so a change is needed: a change in attitude to tech fixing, a change in our own skill sets so we're able to do so at home, and a change in legislation so that companies have to make it easier for us to mend our ailing electronics.

We're now well past the point where it's very difficult, and in some cases impossible, to tell AI-generated photos and videos from the real thing. That means it's now important to treat everything you see online from untrusted sources with a big dose of skepticism.

A newly rolled out Google Earth feature has apparently made AI-generated misinformation even more of a problem — and it highlights the scary potential of the technology, as well as the need for stronger guardrails to block the efforts of those who will instantly try and find the most subversive and harmful ways to use a new product.

The feature is AI image generation in Google Earth, powered by the Nano Banana 2 model, and after a wave of inappropriate images were created and posted online, it's now been pulled while Google works on some more robust protections against misinformation.

Google Earth's new feature

Reimagining Pompeii was one way the feature could be used (Image credit: Google)

It all started with the usual level of hype that Google builds around any new AI feature: the Nano Banana 2 image generation model that has already wowed us in the Gemini app would be available inside Google Earth on the web.

"Generate custom images to help you visualize history, create real estate plans, and more," Google said. "For the first time, you can generate custom images using Google Earth's satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery alongside Nano Banana, which creates concepts grounded in the real world."

Google had examples of how it could be used too: create an infographic about the Statue of Liberty, visualize your dream home by the lake, see what your neighborhood might look like a hundred years from now, or imagine Pompeii just before it got buried by ash and rock from an erupting Mount Vesuvius.

All it took was a text prompt, and Google Earth would combine existing satellite and 3D data to create the AI image you were asking for. While the AI model wasn't new, adding it to the accurate and authentic imagery already in Google Earth was.

What went wrong

Infographics could be created with real-world information (Image credit: Google)

Perhaps we should've seen this coming — and indeed some people did — but combining AI with the 3D data and satellite imagery of Google Earth didn't work out quite as well as Google hoped. The new upgrade was quickly used to create all manner of deceptive images that were then widely shared online.

I'm reluctant to point you to them directly and give these fakes any more attention, but they're not hard to find on social media. Think natural disasters, terrorism attacks, giant sinkholes, alien activity, and refugee populations all in places where they never actually were, thanks to AI.

Some of the images are clearly jokes, but many were produced deliberately to spread misinformation and confusion. That they were based on actual images sourced from Google Earth added extra credibility they wouldn't otherwise have had. And that was enough for Google to remove the feature.

Google says a flood of images "that appear to violate our policies" mean that "we're rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails". The company added:."It's important to note that generated images didn't appear in the main Google Earth experience for others to see and were watermarked as AI generated."

Our AI-filled future

Google Earth-based visions of the future will have to wait (Image credit: Google)

You don't have to look for long online to find rather strong anti-AI sentiment building up among users, especially when it comes to image and video content. The general sentiment on Reddit is that there's "zero use" to a feature like this, and that users are fed up with AI being "shoved down our throats".

There are various obvious lessons to be learned here: firstly not everything needs to have an AI prompt box or an AI element to it, and if some tools are largely AI-free, that's fine. Microsoft recently rolled back some of the AI it added to Notepad — an app where a big part of the appeal is its simplicity — after user complaints.

Secondly, before companies release any new AI features, they need to consider the worst-case scenarios in terms of how they're going to be used. The internet as a collective is going to immediately try and stress test them in the most deceptive and unwholesome ways, and there need to be safety measures put in place around that.

Lastly, it's never been more important to stick to sources of information that you know you can trust: not random social media accounts, but established publications that have policies around AI and its use. That's one effective way you can tell the difference between what's trustworthy and what isn't.

NPR asked an aspiring scientist in Philadelphia to interview an adult who is living his dream about his career in conservation science.

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Cyclospora, the parasite that has sickened thousands this summer in the U.S., requires time in the human digestive tract to reproduce.

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One of my favorite hobbies is Dungeons & Dragons. I love nothing more than sitting around a table with friends and playing out a fantastical adventure, in which the dice are the difference between success and failure.

It's a fun game, and all the more fun because real-life people make dumb, suboptimal decisions and the dice cause the game to change in unpredictable ways. But I really love it because the concept of people sitting around a table or hearth and telling stories is as old as the campfire, and it's a fun modern-day way to keep that experience alive.

You might think such a robust framework for an analog hobby (friends, a table, dice, pen and paper) might be tech-proof, but even in the Dungeons & Dragons world, AI is coming for my job as a Dungeon Master — the person who runs and guides the game world. Deep in the corpus of most popular generative AI models designed for general use are the rules to D&D 5e (and likely every other edition before it) and plenty of people report playing with their chatbots online.

Many of these players can't, or simply don't want to, get round a table with real people. For them, having a chatbot write them a story while the user prompts the continuation of the story with their character's actions, must seem like the perfect solution — even if it's more like a solo choose-your-own-adventure than a 'proper' group D&D game.

Gemini and ChatGPT both have a strong grasp of the rules for D&D's popular 5th Edition; they are certainly strong enough to make them an accessible choice for a player without a group. Maybe one day, the fire will die, and instead of sitting around a table with friends, we'll all be sitting at separate desks playing our own separate D&D adventures with our AI companions.

I wanted to test whether this dark future would be an adequate replacement for my usual game night, and which chatbot will be the best one to choose if so. I fired up Gemini 3.6 Flash and ChatGPT 5.5, and asked them for the same game.

The parameters

(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)

I gave both chatbots the same prompt: "Can you be my D&D 5e DM?" and following up with another message:

"Let's do a classic high fantasy dungeon crawl. Please use a strict RNG for all rolls to ensure fairness - you can roll dice for me. My character is a 10th-level conjuration wizard. See all information about him below:"

I then copy-pasted a character sheet of a 10th-level wizard — a powerful spellcaster with a variety of magical abilities at his disposal. It's easy to DM a game for a level 1 thief — I wanted to see how the AIs could handle a character who could do fantastical things, such as teleport and summon creatures to fight for him.

Interestingly, both Gemini and ChatGPT created a similar adventure, at least at first: an abandoned dwarven stronghold bristling with magical traps, ready to be explored. However, that's where the similarities ended.

Gemini 3.6 Flash

(Image credit: Getty Images / SOPA Images)

Gemini's adventure was what any D&D player could expect from the "classic high-fantasy dungeon crawl." I avoided a pressure-plate trap that would have shot darts at me, and in one memorable sequence, defeated a bunch of skeletons by casting a Grease spell on a stone staircase and freezing them in place with my Ray of Frost cantrip while they slipped and stumbled at the bottom of the steps.

Gemini was offering me suggested actions, and I did find myself choosing a few of those suggestions — but as time wore on, this began to feel lazy, like my brain wasn't firing in the same way it did when I played with my friends. I was skim-reading the AI's descriptions of the scene and responding with a single click. I asked it to remove suggested options and as a result, I had to think more carefully about each move, typing out requests and thinking about my actions rather than clicking on a predetermined response.

The memorable finale occurred when I unlocked a secret passage and defeated a Naga, a giant snake monster, by teleporting away and blasting it with a powerful Cone of Cold. The snake ended up frozen solid, and I checked the monster's HP against the official book, and it was accurate. When asked to generate a picture of our adventure, Gemini came up with this moment:

(Image credit: Future, edited by Gemini)

I asked Gemini a few questions at the end, such as whether it nudged the dice in my favor, as all my rolls were successful. This happened in my previous experiment with ChatGPT. Gemini said it used a 'pseudorandom number generator', not a true RNG, but the model doesn't 'fudge dice, pad rolls, or tweak numbers behind the scenes to keep players happy or prolong the game'.

Gemini's language was natural and even evocative in places, although it's still not a patch on a good creative human. Overall, a decent enough effort at simulating a D&D game.

ChatGPT 5.5

(Image credit: NurPhoto / Getty Images)

Despite the similar setting, ChatGPT's adventure with the same character was very different. There was little to no combat throughout the entirety of the game, and ChatGPT didn't tell me when it was rolling 'behind the scenes', preferring to keep me in the moment.

When I asked it about the lack of rolling, the grovelling chatbot began its apologetic essay with "That is a fair critique. The short answer is: I leaned too heavily into narrative pacing and not enough into D&D mechanics. The adventure became closer to a collaborative fantasy novel than a 5e dungeon crawl", while suggesting fixes if I wanted to continue. I hadn't even said anything negative — but it certainly picked up on my tone, and the choose-your-own adventure I got was a far cry from a classic dungeon crawl.

Instead of combat, ChatGPT came up with a rambling mystery about a dimensional prison beneath the mountain, a sphere suspended in a cavern. Its guardians spoke ominous (and to be honest, quite confusing) portents such as "The archive does not open for authority. It opens for judgement."

Mysteries work best when they're developed with skill by a writer who can work backwards to seed clues throughout the game or text. ChatGPT does not do this: instead, it's arranging tokens on the fly to generate a facsimile of a mystery, and although it got the trappings of the genre right, the execution fell very flat. I (or at least, my character) underwent trials to seek obsidian objects such as keys and seals to reveal more about the prison, themselves accompanied by more foreboding, sometimes nonsensical portents.

Very little 'action' was taken by my character in a classical sense: it was all about investigating the origins of the being contained in this prison, and by the time I had spent 40 minutes on this, I had seen enough. It didn't help that ChatGPT also spoke in the peculiar sentence structure pattern that AI users are likely very familiar with now: "This isn't just X. It's Y." Examples include:

"Unlike the rest of Khaz Varek, this room has remained untouched.

No dust. No decay."

Or the following, when I met one of the prison's guardians:

"Ser Kaelen immediately looks toward the sphere. 'You hear it too.'

Not a question. A confirmation."

Any user of ChatGPT (or those who look at AI-generated posts on LinkedIn or Reddit) will immediately recognise this sort of language, and know what I'm talking about. By the end, it was quite painful to have every other sentence be treated as a grand revelation. Not a statement. An omen.

When asked to generate a picture of our adventure, ChatGPT came up with this moment:

(Image credit: Future, edited by Gemini)The winner

Out of these two? Gemini 3.6 Flash, by a mile. It was at least a mildly enjoyable experience conveyed in natural language, and something I'd consider revisiting.

ChatGPT's efforts, on the other hand, were unenjoyable, and I wouldn't return to it. In fact, it's gotten worse since the last time I tried it.

Both, however, were a far cry from an in-person session. While they have a good grasp of the rules, and you can create your perfect world and character, the chatbots are ultimately missing the 'human and hearth' element that keep me returning to the game. For people who can't get round a table with friends, I'd pick Gemini over ChatGPT.

For those who can? While AI is busy taking as many creative jobs as it can, I feel safe in the knowledge that the role of Dungeon Master is AI-proof for a long time yet.

Police who responded to the shooting found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant.

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• Over two-thirds (69%) of people believe AI generated material can be presented as their own work if they provided the prompt and approved the final version
• Meanwhile, 54% believe AI-based work should be clearly marked
• 7,200 adults were surveyed, located across the US, the European Union, the UK, and Latin America

A growing disparity in how AI generated content, tasks, and tools are assigned ownership and expectations on accurately marking their origins is emerging, according to a new survey by Use.AI.

Furthermore, the findings indicate an emerging dichotomy between human-claimed authorship of an AI work and clear labeling of the work as AI.

Different attitudes based on settings for the AI work have also been identified, such as private emails and school or professional reports.

The chicken or the prompt?

The developing adoption of AI appears to be introducing new attitudes to acceptable creativity, with the emerging model of what is described as “authorship by direction,” where the AI is trusted to create a first draft, which is then revised and claimed by a human.

The statistics shared by Use.AI – a tool that aggregates AI models into a single interface – highlight how AI is being used more extensively, with a human-originating prompt leading to drafts and versions from the machine, followed by editing from the human.

While the AI has contributed, only a human name appears on the finished product, which raises questions of ownership and authorship.

“AI is separating the production of work from the ownership of it. People are increasingly prepared to direct the process, approve the result and take the credit, but there is still no shared standard for when AI’s role should be visible to everyone else,” says Use.AI’s Managing Director, Ihor Herasymov.

With 69% of those surveyed considering AI-generated work their own if they produced the prompt, 46% claiming they would keep AI involvement with their work under wraps, and 54% feeling AI use should be disclosed, we’re some way from agreement on AI use across creative tasks.

Authorship vs. editorship

Herasymov’s observations point to a constantly evolving set of standards around the creation and use of AI-generated materials. Interestingly, this is happening against a backdrop of growing unease over the use of AI in creative tasks.

The implications of claiming ownership of automated work generated upon instructions to an LLM trained on as much human writing, art, music, and cinema as possible are considerable, and go way beyond questions of ethics. Copyright is just one element, and the most obvious, but we’re also moving into a landscape where inputting a prompt on employer-owned hardware takes authorship away from the person at the keyboard.

Ultimately, the task of prompting and revising means anyone using AI in this way stops being the author, and becomes the editor – and that is before the true ownership of the output is determined.

Trump said that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked the U.S. "to hold off any attack" on Iran because "the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to."

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Apple Watch Ultra 3 owners tend to know the headline features by now: satellite messaging, the brighter always-on display, hypertension alerts.

What most people haven't noticed is a much quieter feature that only shows up if you also own a pair of the well-received AirPods Pro 3 — the same earbuds you're probably already using on all those Zoom calls at work every day.

For anyone else trying to squeeze a workout into a packed workday (or if you're trying to travel light on a business trip), I can tell you it's become the one I actually rely on most.

No more packing the chest-strap

AirPods Pro 3 have their own in-ear heart rate sensors, enabled by default, which is easy to miss since Apple doesn't make a big deal about it.

On their own, they're a genuinely solid heart rate source, useful for anyone who wants to track a run or a lift without a watch at all. But when you wear both an Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 3 during the same workout, the two devices don't just duplicate the same job.

They combine into multiple simultaneous streams of heart rate data, and the system automatically leans on whichever source has the highest confidence at any given moment.

(Image credit: Future)

That matters more than it sounds like. Wrist-based optical sensors, including the Ultra 3's, can struggle during movements that shift the watch on your wrist: heavy grip work, rowing, anything involving a lot of wrist flexion.

In-ear sensors don't have that problem, but they can be thrown off by their fit or by their own motion. Fusing both sources means the watch is quietly falling back on whichever sensor is actually reading you correctly, workout to workout and rep to rep, instead of you having to guess which device to trust.

Honestly, it's replaced the chest strap by now. I used to strap one on for anything where zone accuracy actually mattered, interval sessions, heavy lifting days, anything where the watch slides around enough on my wrist to throw the optical sensor off.

Is it clinically equivalent to a chest strap? Probably not. But after a few months of comparing the two side by side, it's close enough that I just don't bother anymore.

As a professional, that feels like a win to me. It's one less piece of gear I have to cart around with me on a business trip or to a conference with the rest of my work gear.

(Image credit: Future)

Setting it up takes no extra effort. Heart rate monitoring is enabled by default on AirPods Pro 3, so if you already own both devices, this will likely happen in the background the next time you start a workout with both in use.

You can check or turn it off entirely from the Settings app on iPhone, under your AirPods' name, if you'd rather it not run.

It's a small thing, and Apple has barely marketed it. But it's the kind of feature that only reveals itself once you own the specific pair of devices it's built for.

In my experience, it's an ideal setup for busy professionals who still want accurate health data without adding extra setups and gear.

If you've already got an Ultra 3 and a pair of AirPods Pro 3, there's nothing to set up and nothing to buy. You're most likely already using it without realizing it.

If you love coffee, you’ll be very aware of the impact of factors like grind size, water temperature, and infusion time, but there’s something else that’s often overlooked. A double espresso is at least 90% water, and the minerals and other substances it contains can have a huge impact on the overall taste.

I’m a big coffee-drinker (which is just as well, since I test over a dozen coffee makers every year for TechRadar), and I’m planning to buy a water filter to take my brewing to the next level — but what should I look for — and what should you consider if you’re thinking of taking the plunge into filtered water too?

To find out, I spoke to Andy McPhilbin, Head of Aquaphor Professional for UK and Ireland, and Genevieve Upton, beverage industry expert and Head of Water Filtration at Our Taap.

Why does water matter?

“Water quality can have a considerable impact on how coffee tastes, with chlorine, mineral composition, alkalinity and pH all influencing the final flavour profile,” says Upton.

“Most tap water supplied to UK homes is disinfected using chlorine-based compounds. Residual chlorine can react with components in coffee and tea, contributing bitter, medicinal or chemical notes that may overwhelm the more delicate characteristics of the coffee. Boiling water can reduce the levels of chlorine, though it can also create other unwanted flavours, such as by reacting to a plastic kettle.”

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She explains that the mineral composition and pH of the water also play an important role when it comes to how your coffee tastes.

“Slight differences in acidity, together with the concentrations of minerals and buffering compounds, influence extraction efficiency and the balance of flavors in the final cup. As water companies vary their supply sources throughout the year, you might notice that the same beans, brewed in exactly the same way, taste different from season to season.”

In fact, using unfiltered water doesn’t just mean your coffee tastes sub-optimal - it could cause your expensive coffee machine to break down — and it won’t be covered by the manufacturer's warranty..

“The warranty only covers manufacturing defects, and unfortunately, hard water is not a manufacturing defect,” explains McPhilbin. “So you can turn something that is a very efficient espresso machine into something very inefficient within a matter of weeks. You get a millimeter of scale forming within a matter of six weeks.

“Now, is that important? It is, because you want the life of the machine to be good, but also you've got little injectors which put the right amount of water into that espresso. If they're blocked, you're not going to get the right amount of water. You're going to have the wrong taste. It's got to be precise.”

What types of filtration are there?

Our Taap specializes in home water filtration Its latest system is the Our Taap Home Water System II — a countertop unit that connects to your mains water supply, and uses a triple filtration system with UV purification to remove contaminants while retaining minerals.

Aquaphor makes water filters for commercial and home use, including under-sink systems, pitchers, and even water bottles. Its most advanced systems for home users are the RO-101, RO-102, and RO-202, all of which use reverse osmosis (RO).

This involves forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane that removes chlorine, bacteria, viruses, pesticides, and microplastics. Standard RO filters also strip out minerals, but Aquaphor’s systems can optimize the concentration of calcium and magnesium so they’re just right for coffee — something McPhilbin says “really is a science”.

Under-counter reverse osmosis systems can be a good choice if you need a large volume of filtered water (Image credit: Getty Images, onurdongel)

“The mineral content is measured in TDS [total dissolvable solids], and we want that TDS to be somewhere in the realms of between 80 and 120 [parts per million],” he explains. “We have a couple of ways in which we do it, but generally we can either feed more minerals in it by making it tuneable, or we can take them out as well by turning it the other way. But if you have too little, you can cause corrosion, and if we have too much, we're going to get limescale. So we try to hit that sweet spot, which is 100 parts per million in the middle there.”

Our Taap’s filters use granular activated carbon filtration, which Upton says “is particularly good at removing chlorine and some of its by-products, which can mask the more delicate flavour notes in coffee.”

the water has a cleaner, more neutral taste, allowing the natural characteristic of the coffee beans to come through

Genevieve Upton, Our Taap

“By reducing these compounds, the water has a cleaner, more neutral taste, allowing the natural characteristic of the coffee beans to come through. Whether you’re brewing with a cafetière, pour-over or espresso machine, using filtered water can help create a smoother, more balanced cup with greater flavour clarity.

"It's worth remembering, however, that activated carbon filters are designed primarily to remove chlorine and certain organic compounds rather than minerals,” she adds. “As a result, they have little effect on the calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate levels that influence water hardness, alkalinity and extraction.”

Under-sink or countertop?

So which type of filter is right for you? Do you need an under-sink reverse-osmosis system, or would a countertop filter be better? McPhilbin says the decision will mostly depend on how much filtered water you need.

“I think it's down to capacity more than anything,” he says. “Our jug filters have twice the capacity of the competition because we use a unique media called Aqualen, which is a patented media based on ionic exchange and carbon, so you're getting a dual-purpose piece of filtering equipment there. Reverse osmosis has a massive capacity, and [the filter] is not something [you’re] changing all the time.”

Even if you have soft tap water, your coffee can still benefit from a water filter (Image credit: Getty Images, Henadzi Pechan)

Upton says your choice of filter will also depend on the problem you want to solve.

“If your tap water has a noticeable chlorine taste or smell, a filter with activated carbon is usually the best place to start,” she says. “This technology is available in everything from filter jugs to more advanced under-sink or countertop systems, with plumbed-in options offering great convenience for households that use filtered water regularly.

“If you’re dealing with limescale build-up in kettles or coffee machines, it’s important to choose a filter that specifically reduces water hardness, as not all filtration systems are designed to do this.”

You can turn something that is a very efficient espresso machine into something very inefficient within a matter of weeks

Andy McPhilbin, Aquaphor

I know I live in a hard water area (the limescale in my kettle is proof) but even if your tap water is soft, McPhilbin says a water filter is still a good investment.

“Most of the water in the UK is chlorinated, and that can affect the taste quite a lot,” he says. “And it might be that you've not got enough minerals in it to get the best taste.”

If you’re not sure about the type of water you’re working with, there are online tools that can help you understand its composition.

“The Our Taap Water Confidence Index is a great way to look up your postcode and understand what’s in your local water and how this impacts taste, scent and quality, so you can find the best filter for your needs,” says Upton.

According to the Confidence Index, I’m lucky - my tap water is better than 93% of UK postcodes. However, it is moderately hard (as I expected), with a normal level of chlorine and an elevated level of overall minerals. I’m still deciding exactly which type of filter to choose, but considering these results and my penchant for espresso, I’m leaning towards under-counter reserve osmosis with mineral balancing. What about you?