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• Asus ProArt P16 beats most laptops in its price and size class
• You get RTX 5070 graphics and OLED visuals in a surprisingly slim 4-pound frame
• Bundled AI apps like StoryCube and MuseTree boost productivity for visual creators and editors

Asus has introduced the ProArt P16 (H7606), a laptop which pairs AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, targeting content creators and professional users.

The new addition joins the wave of Copilot+ PCs built to support advanced local AI tasks and aims to rival some of the most premium creative laptops on the market.

At $2,499.99, the ProArt P16 also undercuts competitors like the Razer Blade 16, which retails for $2,799.99 but offers a similar target user experience.

Asus ProArt P16 bundles AI tools and software for creatives

The ProArt P16 features a 16-inch OLED display, a premium visual specification often reserved for machines priced higher.

It also supports up to 64GB of RAM, which is nearly unheard of in this segment, and up to 2TB of internal storage.

These specifications position it as a contender for the best laptop for graphic design, especially those working with high-resolution files and complex color spaces.

At just 0.59 inches thick and weighing 4.08 pounds, the Nano Black chassis keeps things portable despite the raw horsepower inside.

Asus bundles in additional creative features through its exclusive apps: StoryCube and MuseTree. The former is pitched as a digital asset management tool that utilizes AI to automatically categorize and generate clips from user content, while the latter turns graphical prompts into images while intelligently organizing creative inspiration.

At just 0.59 inches thick and weighing 4.08 pounds, the Nano Black chassis keeps things portable despite the raw horsepower inside.

This pairing of hardware and software seems designed to capture those looking for the best laptop for video editing without committing to a desktop setup.

Asus has also partnered with CapCut, giving new users an exclusive six-month membership that includes access to premium features and AI-driven editing tools.

In addition, the laptop comes with a three-month Adobe Creative Suite subscription, further appealing to professionals working across photography, video, and design workflows.

These bundled tools offer value for those searching for the best laptop for photo editing, as they come integrated into the buying experience.

That said, Asus will release a more powerful model featuring the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 in late 2025, which will likely push the price higher. This model will be available for purchase at the ASUS official store after launch.

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• Tesla unveiled its “public-facing” Robotaxi service this weekend
• The service is currently an invite-only affair
• Reports suggest it is still behind Waymo and other rivals

In a surprising turn of events, Tesla has stuck to its recent timelines and actually kick-started a “public-facing” autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas this weekend.

Despite Texas lawmakers asking Musk to postpone proceedings until it had finalized and introduced new laws surrounding fully autonomous taxis, the controversial CEO has ploughed ahead anyway.

As a result, reports are surfacing on various social media networks that show the first few VIP invitees enjoying their debut Robotaxi experience.

However, this is a far cry from the futuristic Cybercab scenario that Tesla showcased at its Hollywood-spec 'We, Robot' event in October of last year, where bespoke Cybercabs ferried folks around a film set and the company’s Optimus humanoid robots served drinks to party-goers, only for the world to find out they were actually tele-operated.

It is a similar story with Tesla's recent robotaxi endeavor, as the “fleet” of 10-20 Model Y vehicles (sporting some Robotaxi branding) are strictly limited to a small and relatively uncomplicated area of Austin, Texas.

They also only operate between 6am and 12am and have a remote operator in the passenger seat to manually verify riders' ID and take control should a problem arise.

The Verge reported that some of Tesla’s driverless vehicles are also followed by 'chase' vehicles, presumably packed with engineers ready to jump in should there be an issue that both the in-car and remote operators can’t handle.

So far, only a select number of invites have gone out to predominantly “pro-Tesla” influencers, according to The Verge, with the initial invite list of test pilots reading like a who’s-who of the Musk sycophant contingent – renowned Tesla stock hype-man Sawyer Merritt being among those names.

Just like the 'We, Robot' event, this initial launch phase feels very much like a massive PR stunt, with the company essentially inviting the “general public” (read Tesla content creators) along for a ride during the very early testing phase, rather than during the widespread deployment of a legitimate, paid-for service.

Why Waymo is way ahead

(Image credit: Waymo)

It’s impossible to talk about Tesla’s robotaxi service without mentioning its closest competitor Waymo, particularly when Musk reportedly said after this successful initial launch phase that there could up to a thousand robotaxis on the road in a few months.

As a reminder, Waymo currently has a fully operational fleet of 1,500 vehicles on the road in four major cities in the US, with the areas in which it operates constantly expanding inside those cities. Anyone can summon a driverless cab with a simple app interface and they won't see a human inside the vehicle.

By the end of 2026, it hopes to have added another 2,000 vehicles according to a blog post by the Alphabet-owned company released in May this year, as it continues to ready a fleet of Jaguar i-Pace cars for autonomous driving.

Waymo also announced that it will be the first major client of Hyundai’s mass-produced Ioniq 5 robotaxi, which will help it scale even faster.

To think Musk will be able to reach this stage a couple of months after what is basically an initial testing phase is pure fantasy, especially as he insists on using a camera-only Full Self-Driving system that lacks the radars, Lidar and myriad other sensors that its rivals say is mandatory for a reliable and safe service.

Scaling up is the true test

(Image credit: Hyundai)

Already, a number of videos have already surfaced on Reddit that appear to show Tesla Robotaxis behaving erratically, swerving at busy intersections and slamming on the brakes for parked police cars that aren’t even stopped in the road.

Granted, it’s impossible to verify the authenticity of a Reddit video, but there is a growing list of very public cases where Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system has been active during an accident.

The first few reviews of the experience seem largely positive, with most riders describing the drive as “smooth” or “human-like”, but these are still very early days.

Things will get far more complicated if and when Tesla legitimately has thousands of vehicles on the road, it removes the operator sat in the passenger seat, and it builds out its app so the general public can genuinely use it. I predict that being at least two years away.

Alongside Waymo, there are companies in China that are also racing ahead with active fully autonomous ride-hailing services. Baidu, WeRide and Pony.ai are already racking up hundreds and thousands of miles.

Just last year, Baidu reportedly sparked anxiety among taxi drivers, automotive brands and the working public after it launched a driverless service in Wuhan that offered rides of around six miles (much further than the reported four or so miles Tesla can currently travel) for around 50 cents.

It undercut journeys with a human driver at the wheel by around two bucks and naturally proved very popular, according to CNN, leading to panic that many jobs could soon to be at risk.

Once the legal framework is in place for the widespread rollout of autonomous vehicles, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that the Chinese could swoop in and dominate the market... just like they have done with EVs.

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• Tronsmart Fiitune X30 is out now for $179.99 (about £154 / AU$322)
• 80W output with built-in subwoofer and up-firing "sky driver"
• IPX6 water resistance and 14 hour battery life

The Tronsmart Fiitune X30 is a direct rival to the Sonos Era 300, and it has one particularly appealing quality: it's less than half the price of the Sonos.

Where the Sonos Era 300 has a list price of $449 / £449 / AU$749, the Fiitune X30 is launching with a price tag of $179.99 / €179.99 (about £154 / AU$322).

As you'd expect, there are a few differences in spec to achieve that much lower price. And if you're serious about spatial sound, one of those differences may be a deal breaker.

(Image credit: Tronsmart)Fiitune X30: key features

The Fiitune X30 has six driver units, including an upward-firing illuminated "sky driver" to throw some audio towards the ceiling, a down-firing active subwoofer, dual tweeters, and dual mid-range drivers. There are four passive bass radiators and total power output is 80W. Frequency range isn't specified beyond "an ultra-wide 40kHz bandwidth".

It's a portable design with an integrated handle, dual-device connection, and IPX6 water resistance, and it promises 14 hours of playback between charges – that's fairly low compared to the best portable speakers, though there are lots of speakers to handle here, to be fair.

You can tune the audio with the companion smartphone app for iOS and Android, and Android users can stream audio to the speaker in LDAC for the highest possible sound quality. The speaker can be used solo or as half of a stereo pair.

It's not a bad spec for the money, but there's one important caveat: the spatial audio here isn't native, because the speaker doesn't support Dolby Atmos (or rival spatial audio formats, but Atmos is the crucial one for music right now).

Any spatial effect will be from 'upscaling' the music to have virtual extra height using that top-mounted speaker, and any 3D placement beyond stereo will also be added by the speaker.

That means it's targeting a very different market than the Sonos, and I suspect its real rival isn't the Era 300 but the Sonos Roam 2. The littlest Sonos is nowhere near as loud as the Fiitune X30 – it's 10W rather than 80W and has far fewer speakers – but it's priced identically at $179 / £179 / AU$299.

The Tronsmart could be a juicy set of speakers anyway, with lots of power for a low price, but this might be a case where there's no point putting the extra effort of spatial speakers in unless you're going to go the whole way and include Atmos.

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(Image credit: Stefano Rellandini)

Mo as one of the year's best TV comedies.'/>

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• Most people are polite to AI even when they’re frustrated, Tidio survey finds
• Cursing at chatbots doesn’t stop people from saying thank you
• Politeness toward AI feels normal even when the tech fails often

Are you someone who always says “please” and “thank you” to AI tools, or do you let rip when it doesn’t get what you mean or give you what you want?

New research has suggested users of AI chatbots can be both polite and rude, often in the same conversation.

A new report from Tidio found most people have cursed at a chatbot at least once, but that hasn’t stopped them from saying “thank you” afterward, highlighting the contradiction in how people interact with AI.

Avoiding AI chatbots

Nearly 70% of users admitted to swearing at chatbots out of frustration, but the service we’re getting from our future AI overlords can’t be that bad since 75% said they were satisfied with their most recent interaction.

Although people can be quick to vent when things don’t go their way (something human customer service workers know all too well), politeness still seems to be a habit people carry into conversations with AI, even when the experience isn’t totally smooth.

A previous Future study found 67% of Americans and 71% of Brits are nice to AI. That includes saying “please,” “thank you,” and even apologizing to digital assistants like ChatGPT or smart speakers.

It may sound silly, but some people say being respectful helps them get better answers. TechRadar’s Becca Caddy tested this by removing polite words from her prompts to ChatGPT and said the quality of responses dropped.

Even OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, weighed in on the cost of politeness. When asked how much it costs to power responses to polite prompts, he replied, “Tens of millions of dollars well spent.”

Although AI is now part of our daily lives, a good portion of people aren’t wholly convinced by it.

Around 30% of respondents to Tidio’s survey said they’d prefer to wait for a human even if a chatbot is ready to respond. And 26% said they’d rather trust a Magic 8-Ball than AI support.

Some users are even willing to pay to avoid it. About 11% would spend extra just to talk to a human.

Yet in practice, most people are prepared to use AI for help with basic tasks. The most common purposes include technical support, general questions, billing issues, and product information.

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There's a new show at the top of the Netflix streaming charts, and whether you'll love it or not depends very much on whether you like shows such as Virgin River, Yellowstone or Dawson's Creek.

The Waterfront – Kevin Williamson's (Scream) new family crime drama – is according to The Guardian "Dawson's Creek for grown-ups". The Hollywood Reporter has described it as "Ozark meets Bloodline (with a bit of Virgin River)", while The Daily Beast says that "perhaps Yellowstone fans will be excited to watch that show’s vibe CW-ified and ported over to Netflix. Everyone else can just keep fishing for something better".

So we're clearly in love it or hate it territory – it's 64% score from the critics and 71% rating (at the time of writing) from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes confirms that. But for those who love it, The Waterfront is lots of fun.

What are the critics saying about The Waterfront?

The show centers the Buckley family – Holt McCallany and Maria Bello – who've built a fishing empire in their home town, only to have it taken away from them piece by piece as patriarch Harlan (McCallany) recovers from two heart attacks.

According to TIME: "it’s a slow-burn Southern gothic tale rich with betrayal and moral ambiguity, but beneath the genre trappings lies a deeper current of meaning... the series stands as a meditation on loyalty, legacy, and the weight of unfinished business."

The aforementioned Guardian review begs to differ, saying happily that: "It is escapist summer nonsense with – God, I hope – no pretensions to being otherwise. Dive into the adult creek and wallow in nostalgia as the waves of absurdity sweep towards shore."

Variety agrees – it's "the Netflix equivalent of a beach read, but it’s highly entertaining" – and The San Jose Mercury News reckons that the show "is a keeper because of the outrageous behavior of its morally compromised characters." Meanwhile, New York magazine says "there’s nothing quite like sensational, just-this-side-of-campy organized crime to buoy you through the sticky, grimy days of summer."

So, it's big daft summer fun? Not so fast! The haters are here and they've got some hating to do about why it's not one of the best Netflix shows, starting with IndieWire who says that "Netflix's sludgy family crime drama is a shallow reflection of better shows".

The grade here is a grudging D+ because, IndieWire's Ben Travers says, "it's all vibes and no soul... Nothing that’s heard has to mean anything, it just has to sound like it does. Nothing that happens has to evoke any real emotions, it just has to remind you of shows that did. Even if you haven’t seen Ozark or Yellowstone – heck, even if The Waterfront is the first series you’ve ever seen – there’s no mistaking a sinking ship."

The Independent wasn't exactly raving either. "It is hard to imagine that anyone at Netflix thinks The Waterfront is going to be a classic, or even a particular hit. Instead, it is television played about as safe as it comes."

It's "unconvincing", says The Hollywood Reporter. "This isn’t necessarily a good show, but it’s a serviceable attempt to reproduce the sort of accessible, young-skewing soap opera The CW and The WB used to make, with a solidly above-average cast."

The Waterfront is streaming now on Netflix.

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AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: One-minute review

Having missed the initial AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT review cycle earlier this month for logistical reasons, I wanted to do more with this review than just try to play catch-up with my peers who got to review the 16GB card prior to launch.

Fortunately, doing this post-launch meant that I was able to get my hands on both 16GB and 8GB versions of the RX 9060 XT for a single review, and I'm honestly glad I waited.

Both AMD RX 9060 XT cards bring a compelling value, with the 8GB version starting at $299.99 / £269.99 / AU$569 and the 16GB versions starting at $349.99 / £329.99 / AU$689. This puts it roughly in the middle of the price pack for the best cheap graphics cards of the current generation.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Spec-wise, the only difference between the two cards is really the amount of GDDR6 video memory available, either 16GB or 8GB.

This matters, as that extra 8GB VRAM does improve the performance of the RX 9060 XT (and even makes modest 4K gaming possible), but the difference between the two isn't so large that it overrides any consideration of the additional cost.

However, Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5060 (an 8GB card) offer better performance vis-à-vis the RX 9060 XT 16GB and RX 9060 XT 8GB, respectively. In the case of the RTX 5060, there's no difference in price with the RX 9060 XT 8GB, so that is a much tougher call between the two for reasons I'll dig into in a bit.

On the other hand, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB offers better performance over the RX 9060 XT 16GB, but not so much better that it justifies the much higher price.

In the end, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB strikes the best balance of price and performance in this class, making it easy to recommend as the best graphics card in this segment for most people, and both are two of the best AMD graphics cards the company's ever put out.

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• How much is it? $299.99 / £269.99 / AU$569 for 8GB, $349.99 / £329.99 / AU$689 for 16GB
• When can you get it? Now
• Where is it available? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT starts at $299.99 / £269.99 / AU$569 for the 8GB version, with the 16GB version starting at $349.99 / £329.99 / AU$689.

There's a much more direct comparison between the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB and the RX 9060 XT 16GB, as both are very comparable spec-wise. In that regard, the RX 9060 XT is a slight price increase over the RX 7600 XT (about $20 in the US), but it's not really large enough to ding its score.

The RX 7600 XT and RX 7600 are very similar, but there are differences beyond just their memory pools, so the RX 9060 XT is not quite as comparable to the RX 7600, meaning even though the RX 9060 XT is slightly more expensive (about $30 in the US), it's much more reasonable given the comparably faster clock speeds.

The RX 9060 XT 8GB is one of the cheapest graphics cards on the market right now, and unlike many others out there, it's easy enough to find at its MSRPView Deal

The RX 9060 XT 16GB is easily the best graphics card you can get this generation under $400, and with 16GB VRAM, it comes with a solid bit of future-proofing built into it.View Deal

Nvidia's competing cards, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5060, are more expensive ($429 / £419.99 / AU$799 for the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB) or about the same price or slightly more expensive ($299 / £269.99 / AU$599) for the RTX 5060.

Neither RX 9060 XT version has an AMD reference card, so you'll need to buy one from a third-party manufacturer, such as Asus, Gigabyte, or XFX.

The same is true for Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060, though, so it's hard to knock the 9060 XT cards too hard for this, especially as we've seen fairly wide availability of MSRP cards for sale online that you can actually buy.

Fortunately, we also haven't seen any real stock shortages of the RX 9060 XT cards, so finding stock at MSRP is fairly easy right now.

• Value: 4.5 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Specs

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• PCIe 5.0
• 16GB and 8GB VRAM

AMD RX 9060 XT Specs

RX 9060 XT (16GB)

RX 9060 XT (8GB)

Process Node

TSMC N4P

TSMC N4P

Transistor Count (Billion)

29.7

29.7

Compute Units

32

32

Shaders

2,048

2,048

Ray Accelerators

32

32

AI/Matrix Processors

64

64

Render Output Units

64

64

Cache (MB)

32

32

Base Clock (MHz)

1,700

1,700

Boost Clock (MHz)

3,130

3,130

Memory Clock (MHz)

2,518

2,518

Memory Type

GDDR6

GDDR6

Memory Pool (GB)

16

8

Memory Interface (bits)

128

128

Effective Memory Speed (Gbps)

20.1

20.1

Memory Bandwidth (GB/s)

322.3

322.3

PCIe Interface

5.0 x16

5.0 x16

TGP (W)

160

150

Recommended PSU (W)

450

700

Power Connector

1 x 8-pin

1 x 8-pin

Both versions of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT have effectively identical specs, other than different memory pools and the slightly higher TDP for the 16GB version to account for powering the additional memory.

Otherwise, they use the exact same GPU die with identical clock speeds, so your decision between the two is really about whether that 8GB of additional GDDR6 VRAM is worth the extra investment.

The number of compute units, ROPs, and available cache on the RX 9060 XT is unchanged over the RX 7600 XT and RX 7600, so the RX 9060 XT is effectively an upgraded version of those cards using the new RDNA 4 architecture and faster game and memory clock speeds.

There's also the issue of whether 8GB is enough for a modern graphics card, even at a sub-$300 price point. Given the performance I found while testing, an 8GB card can perform well right now, even at 1440p, on many games, so long as you don't go anywhere near ray tracing. How much longer will that be the case? It's hard to say, but 8GB cards are already starting to struggle, so even a 10GB card would have been better, much less a 12GB version for the lower-end 9060 XT.

Add to this AMD's maddening decision to stick with a 128-bit memory bus for these cards, which unnecessarily constrains memory bandwidth and inevitably limits the potential performance of the RX 9060 XT. This alone knocks some points off, because if the Intel Arc B570 can use a 160-bit memory bus, there's no reason why AMD or Nvidia continue to do so on their 60-class cards.

That simple widening of the bus could noticeably improve gaming frame rates, and it's something neither AMD nor Nvidia has been able to explain to me beyond vaguely gesturing at cost constraints. If Intel can afford a 160-bit bus, so can AMD, and it makes me wonder how much better these cards might have otherwise been.

OK, end of rant.

• Specs & features: 3.5 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Design

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• No AMD reference card
• Good for SFF cases

There is no AMD reference cards for either of the RX 9060 XT versions, so the design of the card you get will depend on the manufacturer.

The two cards I tested, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB and the Asus Dual Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB, are both fairly slender and compact cards.

Neither have any RGB lighting, so if you're looking for something with more bling, other cards can definitely offer that.

Also, there are some cards from some manufacturers that use triple-fan designs, which seems overkill to me, but if you want a bigger-looking card for a specific build, you'll definitely have that option.

• Design: 3.5 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: Performance

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• Big difference between 16GB and 8GB versions
• RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5060 offer slightly better performance than the two RX 9060 XT cards

A note on my data

The charts shown below offer the most recent data I have for the cards tested for this review. They may change over time as more card results are added and cards are retested. The 'average of all cards tested' includes cards not shown in these charts for readability purposes.

As far as performance goes, there's a lot to like about both AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT cards, from their modest power draw to their solid 1440p gaming performance.

It's not all positive though, as there are several points where Nvidia's competing cards outperform AMD's latest offerings, making the final assessment much closer than I initially thought it would be when I began testing these cards.

Across synthetic benchmarks, the RX 9060 XT and RTX 5060 Ti are more or less tied across resolutions, with Nvidia's card only edging out AMD's in ray tracing performance. The RX 9060 XT 16GB is only about 15% slower than the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB in synthetic ray tracing performance. While this is expected, it's not as wide as it's been in previous generations.

The RX 9060 XT 8GB, meanwhile, outperforms the RTX 5060 in 1080p (about 4% better), in 1440p (about 10% better), and in 4K (about 10% better), though the RTX 5060 does hold a slight lead in ray-tracing performance (about 3%).

In creative benchmarks, the RX 9060 XT cards are largely competitive against Nvidia's GPUs in everything but 3D model rendering. Unfortunately, I can't say more about this since Blender Benchmark wasn't able to run on either RX 9060 XT card, so I can't say how they'd fare against the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16GB.

The RTX 5060, interestingly enough, couldn't run Blender Benchmark either, so this will have to be an issue I'll investigate further and update my results once I have them, but given that Blender Benchmark Cycles renderer is optimized for Nvidia CUDA (as is nearly all 3D modeling software), I am very confident that the RX 9060 XT cards aren't going to be competitive on this workload, it's really just a matter of how far behind the RX 9060 XT cards land in the end.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Creative workloads aren't what AMD Radeon cards are most known for, though. PC gaming is where these cards really compete, and in this regard, the RX 9060 XT 8GB comes in about 4% slower than the RTX 5060 in 1080p overall, while the RX 9060 XT 16GB comes up about 9% slower than the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB at 1080p overall.

Gen-on-gen, though, the RX 9060 XT 16GB outperforms the RX 7600 XT by about 44% at 1080p, overall, while the RX 9060 XT 8GB similarly comes in about 46% faster than the RX 7600 at 1080p overall.

At 1440p, the story is similar for the RX 9060 XT, with it coming in about 9% slower than the RTX 5060 Ti, overall. For the RX 9060 XT 8GB, the gap widens a bit as it comes in about 8% slower than the RTX 5060, overall.

At 1440p, the gen-on-gen performance improvement is even greater, with the RX 9060 XT 16GB outperforming the RX 7600 XT by about 53% overall, while the RX 9060 XT 8GB outperforms the RX 7600 by a massive 62.5% overall.

In terms of power consumption, the peak power consumption of the RX 9060 XT cards are in line with where the RTX 5060 Ti lands and slightly above the listed TDP for the two cards. The RTX 5060, meanwhile, comes in a good bit lower at peak, in my tests.

Temperature, meanwhile, will largely depend on the model card you end up buying, as they will all have different cooling systems. That said, the Sapphire Pulse RX 9060 XT 16GB stayed a few degrees cooler than the Asus Dual RX 9060 XT 8GB in my tests, buy your mileage may vary.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

In the end, the RX 9060 XT cards kept things pretty close to their respective competition from Nvidia, though couldn't quite overtake them, even considering that I didn't factor Blender Benchmark's results into the final creative score for any of the cards tested, given that I wasn't able to run it on three of the cards in question.

Had those tests run successfully and been factored into the final scores, the two Nvidia cards would have pulled further ahead, most likely.

But would they have pulled far enough ahead to justify buying them? In the case of the RX 9060 XT 8GB, the RTX 5060 simply offers you a better value given that both can be purchased for MSRP right now, but if you don't want to give Nvidia your money, you're not really losing anything by going with the RX 9060 XT 8GB instead.

For the RX 9060 XT 16GB, though, it comes within just a few points of the RTX 5060 Ti at a much lower price, making it the one I'd recommend to anyone shopping for a GPU in this price range.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Scorecard

Category

Notes

Score

Value

Both RX 9060 XT cards offer great value for their price.

4.5 / 5

Specs & features

While the 16GB option for the RX 9060 XT is great, 8GB is just too little for a modern GPU.

3.5 / 5

Design

Since there's no AMD reference card for either version of the RX 9060 XT, your design will vary depending on which card you get. The ones I tested were fine, but nothing spectacular.

3.5 / 5

Performance

Both RX 9060 XT versions are capable cards with fantastic gen-on-gen performance, though Nvidia's competing offerings edge them out slightly.

4.5 / 5

Final score

While both RX 9060 XT cards don't quite overtake Nvidia's competing cards, they offer a very compelling value for gamers, especially those who are getting tired of what Nvidia has been offering lately.

4 / 5

Buy the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT if...

You want excellent 1080p gaming
If you're still gaming at 1080p, these cards are fantastic.

You're making the move to 1440p gaming
If you just got a new 1440p gaming monitor and want to upgrade your GPU to handle the higher resolution, both of these cards are solid picks for 1440p.

You don't want to spend a fortune
While $300-350 isn't cheap, for graphics cards with this kind of performance, they're both excellent values.

Don't buy it if...

You want the best possible performance
While the RX 9060 XT cards performed very well, Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5060 are still the better GPUs if you want the best performance.

You want to game at 4K
The RX 9060 XT 16GB can play some titles at 4K without ray tracing, largely thanks to upscaling, though it definitely struggles. The RX 9060 XT 8GB can only game at this resolution with some pretty heavy compromises.

You can afford to get the AMD RX 9070
If you have some room in your budget, moving up to the RX 9070 is definitely recommended if you want a more future-proofed gaming rig.

How I tested the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT

• I spent about three weeks with the RX 9060 XT 16GB and 8GB versions
• I used my complete GPU testing suite to analyze the card's performance
• I tested the card in everyday, gaming, creative, and AI workload usage

Test System Specs

Here are the specs on the system I used for testing:

Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E Aorus Elite WiFi 7 ICE
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
CPU Cooler: Gigabyte Auros Waterforce II 360 ICE
RAM: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6600 (2 x 16GB)
SSD: Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB SSD
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum
Case: Praxis Wetbench

I spent about three weeks with both RX 9060 XT cards, using my standard suite of benchmark tests with industry standard tools like 3DMark, PassMark, PugetBench for Creators, and more.

For gaming, I use built-in benchmark tools in games like Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, and F1 2024.

I also used both cards for about a week each as the GPU in my own PC at home where I used it for work, content creation, and gaming outside of formal testing.

• Originally reviewed June 2025

Whether it's during my time testing TVs at TechRadar or back in my AV retail days, one aspect of TVs I like to explore thoroughly is the smart TV platform, also known as the Operating System (OS).

The best TVs not only deliver great picture and sound quality (although great TV sound is a bit rarer), but they also make the viewing experience smooth, responsive and user-friendly.

Over the past few years, LG’s webOS smart TV platform has delivered the best user experience. In comparison, other smart TV platforms such as Google TV, Roku, and Fire TV all come up short, and the same has been true of Samsung’s own Tizen smart TV platform – until now.

In our recent reviews of the Samsung S95F and 65-inch Samsung S90F OLED TVs, and the Samsung QN90F mini-LED TV, the Tizen smart TV platform scored four and a half out of five stars in the smart TV category. Previously, the maximum I would give Tizen was four stars.

What has changed in the latest version that makes it so much better?

The best features

The Samsung Gaming Hub (pictured on the Samsung S95F) is one of Tizen's best features (Image credit: Future)

One of the best features in Samsung’s Tizen interface is the Gaming Hub. A portal dedicated to all things gaming, the Gaming Hub features a wide range of cloud-based apps such as Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now and Luna. It also has access to recommended Twitch streams and can detect your console when it's connected, working as a launch page. Gaming Hub is one of the major reasons why Samsung TVs always feature in our list of the best gaming TVs.

A more recent Tizen addition that seems to be inspired by LG’s webOS is the quick menu. Previously, accessing the settings on Samsung TVs was a long-winded process, but with the new quick menu overlay, accessing picture and sound modes, and the brightness setting is incredibly easy. Tizen 9.0 (the 2025 version) also remembers your most recent and frequently accessed settings and puts them at the top of the quick menu – useful if you regularly change one setting (I found I changed Dynamic Tone Mapping often while in Filmmaker Mode).

Samsung's new quick menu screen overlay gives you easy access to some settings (Image credit: Future)

The Tizen homescreen is split into three sections: For You, Live and Apps. For You now hosts more AI-based recommendations based on your viewing history, and I found these to be largely accurate. Samsung has also introduced profiles, where individual recommendations can be made for each user – another feature found in LG’s webOS platform that was first introduced in 2024.

Samsung TVs have a mode (called Art on LED, QLED and mini-LED sets, Ambient on OLED sets) where pictures can be displayed instead of showing a blank screen when in standby mode. There’s also a new subscription-based Art Store option that lets you “stream” paintings from famous museums, a feature that was previously limited to Samsung The Frame TVs.

Finally, Tizen provides access to not only the best streaming services but also thousands of hours of free TV shows and movies via its Samsung TV Plus hub, which is similar to the LG Channels feature on LG TVs.

Searching for settings

Some more advanced settings are unfortunately hidden away and can be tricky to find (Image credit: Future)

Tizen 9.0 may be the best version of Samsung’s smart TV platform I’ve used so far, but it’s still not perfect. One common criticism in TechRadar’s recent Samsung TV reviews involves the difficulty in accessing certain settings.

Although the quick menu mentioned above is a welcome feature, some settings are buried under a layer of menus, making them hard to find. For example, something as basic as Noise Reduction is found by going to Settings>All Settings> Picture Settings>Picture Clarity Settings>Noise Reduction, and this process involves scrolling down through multiple menus.

This deep nesting of settings makes life difficult for those who like to experiment with their TVs. And while Samsung provides a wide range of picture settings for viewers to customize the picture, Samsung could have made these easier to access.

Final thoughts

(Image credit: Future)

Tizen may not be a perfect smart TV platform, but for years, it was trailing behind LG’s webOS. Although webOS is still my top pick for a smart TV platform, it’s great to see just how much Tizen has improved in this latest version.

For Samsung TV owners with an older version of Tizen, fear not: Samsung’s commitment to seven years of software updates for older models gives your old TV extended life. And having tested this latest version, I can say that Tizen 9.0 is the best one yet.

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• Insurance giant AFLAC confirms it has been hit with a cyberattack
• The attack looks to have been by notorious Scattered Spider group
• Increasingly infamous group targeted multiple UK retailers earlier in 2025

AFLAC (American Family Life Assurance Company), has confirmed in a statement it has suffered a cyber ‘incident’ in which hackers intruded into its network.

AFLAC, the largest supplemental insurance provider in the US, says it was able to stop the intrusion ‘within hours’ and systems were not affected by ransomware.

Whilst AFLAC hasn’t confirmed the source of the breach or who was behind it, the breach exhibits all the signs of a Scattered Spider attack.

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A wider campaign

The name Scattered Spider will sound familiar to lots of readers, especially given that the group is allegedly behind major and disruptive breaches of UK retailers Marks and Spencer and Co-op, as well as luxury department store Harrods.

Google recently warned the group was aiming its sights on US firms, and urged the US insurance sector to be on high alert for social engineering and credential stuffing attacks.

Insurance companies are particularly at risk as they hold vast amounts of personal data and turn huge profits which can be exploited for ransom.

“This attack, like many insurance companies are currently experiencing, was caused by a sophisticated cybercrime group. This was part of a cybercrime campaign against the insurance industry,” AFLAC’s statement stated.

“The potentially impacted files contain claims information, health information, social security numbers, and/or other personal information, related to customers, beneficiaries, employees, agents, and other individuals in our U.S. business. We remain committed to caring for and supporting our customers.”

Anyone who uses any services hit by this group (or affected by any data breach) should be very wary of any unexpected communications, looking out for social engineering attacks, and should check out the best identity theft protection software to keep safe.

AFLAC is also offering 24 months of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for customers who contact their hotline following the breach.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Apparent DJI Mini 5 Pro prototype spotted and snapped by mountain biker
• Serial leaker says trusted source has signalled 7 August 2025 launch date
• New ultralight drone will reportedly come with LiDAR sensors

Drone lovers, prepare for lift-off: the release of the long-rumored DJI Mavic 5 Pro could be imminent, according to one serial leaker.

The replacement for the DJI Mini 4 Pro, which we rate as the best-in-class ultralight drone, is due to get its official launch on 7 August 2025, if serial drone blogger Jesper Ellens is to believed. Writing at DroneXL, Ellens reports that a (reliable) contact has messaged him sharing the date. He also says that, while he usually prefers to wait for more corroboration before posting a rumor like this, this source has never been wrong before.

If true, the date is a mere seven weeks away – weeks in which we expect further news and rumors about the DJI Mini 5 Pro will trickle out. We also suspect we’ll get more photos of the drone in the wild – such as one new captured by a Chinese mountain biker who claims he simply came across a prototype of the drone in a park.

The image was shared by another serial drone leaker, @MauroTandoi, and while it’s of pretty poor quality, it appears to show a small folding drone with larger front-facing sensors (see below).

#djimini5pro #dji #mini5pro pic.twitter.com/4RCeZC82adJune 20, 2025

This fits in well with early rumors about the Mini 5 Pro from last year; back in December 2024, Jesper Ellens (yes, we did say he was a serial leaker) claimed it would come with LiDAR sensors, as well as vented motors.

LiDAR, which would greatly enhance the drone’s obstacle avoidance system, particularly in low light conditions, has recently started appearing on higher end DJI drones such as the DJI Air 3S and DJI Mavic 4 Pro, so we would not at all be surprised to see it on an upcoming DJI Mini 5 Pro.

Vented motors, meanwhile, could result in stronger flight performance: higher air speed, better wind resistance and even longer battery life.

Other upgrades to come?

The DJI Mini 4 Pro weighs under 250g, a key part of its appeal that we strongly expect the DJI Mini 5 Pro to retain – regardless of any upgrades DJI has implemented. (Image credit: DJI)

LiDAR and vented motor upgrades alone might well be enough to convince people to upgrade to the Mini 5 Pro from a Mini 4 Pro, but we have also heard speculation about a larger 1-inch sensor for the camera (the Mini 4 Pro has a 1/1.3-inch sensor), which could really get people excited – especially if DJI keeps the weight under the all-important 250g mark.

In the UK, EU and USA, drones of 250g and above are subject to more rules, regulations and restrictions, so ultralight models such as DJI’s Mini range fulfil an important role – provided they keep their total take-off weight under that figure.

Stay tuned for more DJI Mini 5 rumors in the coming weeks.

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• Samsung India to launch 'core' Galaxy Buds on June 27
• An Amazon India listing spilled the beans on the release date
• But it's unclear whether the US will get them on Friday – or anyone else

Samsung's marketing strategy for its Galaxy Buds Core and/or Galaxy Buds 3 FE (which would bypass any Buds 2 FE variant entirely, despite being the first and only successors to the Galaxy Buds FE) has been somewhat… eccentric.

And now, instead of two sets of earbuds, just one has been teased by Samsung's Indian arm – but not by the tech giant's US or UK subdivisions.

And although Samsung India's post on X (below) doesn't expressly state 'Here are the Galaxy Buds Core, ladies n gents!' the tagline 'Let the music move you to the core' is fairly telling… and if you click through to an Amazon listing, you also get to know that sales start on June 27 for buyers based in India.

Brace yourself! The music is about to hit harder. Feel every note, every drop, every beat – louder, clearer, deeper. Dropping soon!Notify me: https://t.co/65SB0Nqwuz#Samsung pic.twitter.com/0Vm7DIvJR6June 21, 2025

Will the US / UK and Australia also get the Galaxy Buds Core on June 27?

Short answer: it's impossible to say – again, this particular release (or pair of releases) from Samsung has been rather hard to follow.

Less than two weeks ago, two unannounced sets of Samsung Galaxy earbuds were revealed in an APK teardown of the latest Galaxy Buds Controller app (Wear OS version, v1.0.08.38 – thank you for your hard work there, Android Authority) and neither of them was the expected Buds 2 FE.

Back in April though, Galaxy Buds Core certification filings were spotted in the US (FCC) and India (BIS) as the successors to the Buds FE – so perhaps it's best to think of the lineup thus: the Buds Core take the spot of the Buds 2 FE, and the Buds 3 FE occupy a place, er, after that.

And we're not done: as spotted by Android Authority, the team over at Gadgets360 spotted a Buds Core listing on Samsung’s official UAE website, which does suggest a global rollout on June 27, even if the US is being fashionably late to the launch party.

Samsung's Galaxy Buds series hasn't seen a new product since the stemmed Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, which arrived in summer 2024 (although they did get some much-needed updates in March 2025). So, it's high time for some fresh iterations – and in case you haven't spotted it, the Buds 3 Pro are heavily discounted right now, which often signals products that are about to be superseded.

What's the main upgrade we can expect over the Buds FE? Some have suggested Wi-Fi support (I'll believe it when I see it) but I think we can definitely expect an uptick in stamina. The original Buds FE boasted a relatively humble 6 hours with ANC on and I'm sure Samsung is looking to level that up to stay relevant, even in the $99 / £99 space.

Anyway, not long to wait now…

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• Iranian authorities are pushing citizens to use a domestic messaging app to communicate with their families outside the country
• A security audit found Bale Messenger wasn't safe; it lacks E2EE protection and shares sensitive users data with the app server
• Iran has been experiencing a near-total internet blackout since June 18, 2025, impacting citizens' ability to communicate and access information

As Iran enters the fifth day of a near-total communication blackout, officials are reportedly encouraging citizens to turn to a domestic messaging app to stay in touch with their families outside the country.

Fars News Agency – which is managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – shared a tweet on Friday, June 20, saying that foreign users, as well as locals, can now use the Bale app to communicate with relatives and friends during the internet outage.

There's a problem, though: security researchers have previously flagged Bale (or Baleh) Messenger as a state surveillance tool. Not only did they find that it lacked end-to-end encryption protections, but that it also has censorship and surveillance capabilities.

The risks of Bale Messenger

(Image credit: Future)

Reportedly developed by a company with ties to the National Bank of Iran, Bale (which means Yes in Persian) is an instant messaging application that includes voice-over-IP features, a social media platform, and even banking services.

Bale claims to use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to ensure users chats remain private.

According to data coming from the Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Bale had 16.5 million monthly active users as of May 2023.

Considering its growing popularity, security researchers at the Open Technology Fund decided to verify the claims of Bale and two other Iranian messaging apps (Eitaa and Rubika) with a security audit. The tests were carried out in December 2023 and October 2024 and uncovered several privacy and security vulnerabilities.

Do you know?

(Image credit: Kenneth Cheung/via Getty Images)

Iranian authorities enforced heavy internet restrictions against popular Western apps following the country's 2022 massive protests. This has likely led to a spike in usage of Bale and other Iran-developed applications.

For starters, auditors confirmed that all three apps employed different forms of client-server encryption, but none had E2EE protections enabled, despite government claims.

Specifically Bale was found using "one form of encryption that could be easily reversed in the context of encrypting a user’s credit card data" according to the audit.

All apps could reportedly exchange messages with each other, too, through a backend process called Message Exchange Bus (MXB), which auditors confirmed was a state-owned service.

This meant that the app server "could potentially view plaintext messages due to the lack of E2EE in any of the apps".

Researchers also found evidence of "unexpected transmission of private data".

Crucially, when users click on URLs shared via messages, they appear to be redirected to the application’s backend server.

"This would effectively allow the servers to monitor which websites are viewed by users within the app," researchers explained, deeming the tactic "a mechanism for censorship and surveillance".

The Bale app was also found to share users location data with the app server during authentication.

What experts are saying

Researchers at the Open Technology Fund concluded their security audit by suggesting opting for more secure messaging apps that actually employ E2EE. These include Signal (which also offers anti-censorship proxy servers), Session, and Wire.

Iranian Information Security Analyst and women’s rights advocate Azam Jangrevi also raised concerns following Friday's statement from the Iranian authorities.

Iran's regime has cut internet access, leaving millions disconnected from loved ones abroad. Officials push the "Baleh" app,long flagged by activists as insecure and a tool for state surveillance. #InternetFreedom #Iran #war #IranIsraelConflict pic.twitter.com/3mbuTogCdsJune 20, 2025

Jangrevi told TechRadar: "The app, tied to the National Bank of Iran, has raised red flags due to potential spyware embedded within its code. Key concerns include unauthorized surveillance, remote device access, and metadata collection especially targeting individuals with political or social influence.

"With those risks, analysts urge citizens to avoid Baleh for sensitive communication. Instead, they suggest turning to encrypted services like Signal or WhatsApp (via secure VPNs), though connection quality varies."

Iran's internet blackout

(Image credit: NetBlocks)

Iran has been suffering a near-total internet blackout since June 18, 2025, impacting citizens' ability to communicate and access information.

Internet connectivity was briefly restored on Saturday (June 21) "when residents could exchange messages with the outside world," internet watchdog NetBlocks reported, before collapsing again in the evening.

The latest data from Sunday (see image above) shows that the country remains largely "offline."

"At 72 hours, diminished telecoms continue to impact the public's ability to stay informed and in touch with loved ones," NetBlocks noted.

It's in this context that Iranians were also asked to delete WhatsApp from their smartphones, with officials fearing the app may be used as a source of strategic information for its opponent in the current conflict.

A series of government-imposed restrictions also began on June 13 and sparked a surge of VPN demand across Iran that reached peaks of over 700% increase.

Authorities, however, appear to be targeting VPN usage with some of the best VPN apps now reportedly not working at all times.

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