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Microsoft’s decision to extend security updates for Windows 10 offers welcome breathing room for businesses still navigating complex migration paths. The move aligns with the tech giant’s long-standing pattern of accommodating the slower pace of enterprise IT change, giving organizations time to budget, plan and maintain operational continuity.

For many IT teams, this extension helps manage short-term risk and avoid disruption, particularly for those still reliant on existing infrastructure or specialist applications. But while this reprieve buys time, it does also delay the inevitable, potentially compounding the challenge.

As we’ve seen with previous extensions, each delay risks the loss of critical internal knowledge, as the people and vendors who originally managed these systems move on.

Over time, what could have been a straightforward application and data migration becomes a complex, costly rescue mission. The longer businesses wait, the more they risk accumulating technical debt, becoming dependent on expensive external partners and missing out on innovation. As such, organizations must treat the extension as a final window to take action before the real cliff edge arrives.

Here I explore the pros and cons of the recent Windows 10 security update extension and what considerations businesses should be contemplating over the forthcoming months.

The pros

Let’s start with the obvious. An extension provides extended breathing room and gives organizations more time to plan and execute a migration strategy without immediate pressure. Concurrently, this reduces short-term risk, as continued security updates help mitigate vulnerabilities while businesses remain on Windows 10.

This provides operational continuity and avoids any disruption for businesses still dependent on existing, well-established applications or IT infrastructure.

More broadly, the extension offers budget flexibility. IT departments can spread out migration costs over a longer period, which can help with financial planning, especially in a climate of ongoing budget pressures.

It also provides alignment with past practices, keeping consistent with Microsoft’s historical approach of offering extended support to accommodate slow-moving enterprise migrations.

The cons (and the real risks)

An extension may provide breathing room, but this also creates a false sense of security. More time can encourage complacency, delaying necessary upgrades and strategic planning.

Even more importantly, it can contribute to a loss of internal knowledge. As time passes, key personnel with migration experience may leave, and vendor support may disappear - this makes future transitions harder and riskier.

What’s more, while short-term savings might be gained, there can be increased long-term costs. Maintaining older infrastructure often becomes more expensive than upgrading it, especially when emergency migrations are needed.

Crucially, delays mean companies accumulate technical debt; by not performing migrations, organizations can end up with a backlog of compatibility issues, unsupported applications and outdated hardware.

The combination of losing internal knowledge and maintaining unsupported systems means businesses can become increasingly reliant on expensive external partners to manage complex migrations and increases the chance of vendor lock-in and dependency.

Ultimately, staying on older systems can prevent organizations from leveraging new features, performance improvements, and security enhancements in Windows 11 or alternative operating systems.

A mindset of continuous modernization

The issue with deadlines and extension periods is that they signify an eventual point of completion. In this case, a completed migration project. While they are of course necessary for encouraging organizations to update their Windows applications, they also create the mindset that the process is then a done deal.

But technology quickly evolves and IT infrastructure requires continuous modernization. Having this mentality also avoids companies delaying projects when extensions are provided.

At the same time, existing Windows applications can be critical to operations and not modernizing them before the deadline will bring serious risks. So, how can organizations maintain operational continuity but also modernize over the coming months?

The ‘Rs’ approach – including AWS’ ‘7Rs’ and Gartner’s ‘5Rs’ – presents several strategies. This industry standard process is used by cloud providers and encompasses different ways for companies to carry out migrations for unsupported applications. ‘Retiring’, for instance, involves identifying applications that are no longer useful and can be turned off. Each method has its purpose for various contexts.

But large IT estates can be too unique or complex to use such methods alone. In these cases, external cloud specialists can provide companies with vendor-neutral platforms that allow them to maintain their existing Windows 10 applications but redeploy them onto managed operating systems or cloud environments.

This means applications remain fully operational and secure but can continue to receive security patches, support and software updates. It acts as a smarter alternative to complex migration strategies or the costly redevelopment of applications.

Managing, not delaying, the inevitable

This extension is not a solution, but a grace period. It gives IT teams more time to manage short-term risk. But all an extension really does is delay the same situation repeating itself.

Time and time again we have seen this occurrence take place: a business delays its migration for a year, and then another year, and then - all of a sudden - Microsoft stops the extension of the extension.

The pattern often ends with a scramble when the final deadline hits - by which time the cost, complexity and risk have all increased, internal knowledge to migrate quickly and safely has disappeared, and vendors no longer exist.

So while there are pros to the extension, the cons present very real risks - and they emphasize why businesses need to adopt a mindset of continuous modernization.

The technology and providers are available to help companies maintain their existing Windows 10 applications but move them onto supported operating environments.

In the coming months, rather than delaying the inevitable scramble, IT teams can build ongoing modernization.

We've featured the best IT management tools.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Few technological shifts have generated as much excitement and anxiety as the introduction of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

We’re seeing a marked step forward in the innovation and wider integration of AI tools as standard across all sectors and industries, driven by promises of streamlining, productivity gain, and growth opportunities.

This transformation is marked by both decision-makers’ eagerness to harness the full potential of AI and employees’ fears about job security.

Gradual, deliberate integration

Despite the demonstrable potential of enterprise AI tools, it’s important that companies deploy them incrementally, rather than actioning disruptive overhauls. A “rip and replace” mindset could result in internal resistance and operational disruption. Gradual integration will enable greater flexibility and alignment with strategic and technical goals.

We’ve seen first-hand how companies have failed to properly implement AI tools, for instance with Klarna in early 2024. Klarna aggressively automated customer support, introducing AI agents to handle huge workloads in place of humans. This led to poor customer experiences, and a public admission that overreliance on cost-cutting was a mistake. The human touch proved irreplaceable for complex human queries.

Similarly, there’s the risk of businesses falling into the trap of viewing AI as a one-size-fits-all solution, lured by the prospects of increased efficiency and decreased costs. Without a clear assessment of foundational challenges, like fragmented data and how to integrate with legacy systems, AI initiatives can hinder rather than deliver results.

Instead, organizations should turn their focus to integrating AI deliberately with existing IT infrastructure, at points where it’s truly able to add value. Targeted, measured deployments will unlock efficiencies that mesh with existing operational strategy and mitigate the chances of disruption.

Human-Machine collaboration

There’s one key thing that’s overlooked in much of the discourse suggesting AI is replacing jobs: the simple fact that AI success depends on the humans that shape, supervise and steer AI output.

Think of it not as a substitute for human intelligence, but as an augmentor capable of transforming ideas into actionable results. To this end, the more that AI is implemented, the greater the potential productivity benefit, but the greater the need for accountability as well.

Accountability — and demonstrated adherence to ethical and legal guidelines — requires human oversight and judgement. Far from making human employees obsolete, widespread AI rollout is creating new demands for human expertise and a whole cache of professions.

Technological accessibility

This will only become the case by way of mass AI adoption. Which itself can only happen with the emergence of zero- and low-code platforms. The goal is to make powerful IT automation tools accessible to non-technical teams.

This way, employees with specific domain expertise can devise tailored AI systems, and become active shapers of AI-infused business innovation.

This level of collaboration will reveal insights that otherwise might stay hidden in siloed processes, combining automation with deep and involved operational understanding.

It’s not about replacing talent: it’s about identifying it and finding ways of amplifying it to unlock smarter, more adaptive ways of working.

Recognizing value is value in itself

There’s a lot of talk about AI freeing up employees for high-value tasks, but what qualifies as “high value” is far from universal. A task deemed critical in healthcare might be routine in retail.

Precision might matter most in one industry, where creativity may trump it in others. The reality is: value is subjective and sector-specific, which is why one-size-fits-all actually fits none.

The companies that treat this question strategically, rather than a bolt-on, are the ones that will gain a competitive edge and extract the most value from their AI deployments.

It’s no longer about what AI can take over, but what it should.

Eking out a definition should sit beside broader business priorities: deciding where human focus belongs will be imperative to business success. In an AI-enabled future, the ability to evaluate what matters most will become one of the highest-value capabilities of all.

In short, AI won’t kill jobs, but lazy thinking might. The real threat isn’t the tech itself, but how it’s deployed. Businesses that chase efficiency at the expense of human insight risk shedding expertise. The message for decision makers is clear: equip people, don’t replace them — and you don’t just keep up, you lead.

We list the best IT management tools.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

The cyber-attack on Marks & Spencer is the kind of event that makes business leaders sit up and ponder whether their own organization could be next. While its services may now be up and running, the incident has still cost the brand over £300 million in lost profits, along with potential damage to its customer relationships.

The brand is not alone either, since attackers also hit the specialist food distributor Peter Green Chilled, integral to several supermarket supply chains, along with Coop, North Face and Cartier recently as well. The lasting impacts of these cybersecurity breaches have revealed how quickly a single compromise can affect revenue, logistics and brand trust, even if organizations have well-rehearsed contingency plans.

Cyber criminals love retail data

The UK’s appetite for online shopping has grown from 18.1 per cent of total sales in September 2019 to around 26 per cent today. This growth brings increased volumes of payment credentials, loyalty data and personal profiles that retailers and their partners must store and access for the whole system to operate effectively.

As every part of the retail supply chain process, from stock control to fulfilment, is now digitally integrated in the battle for streamlined, multi-channel efficiency, it has become almost impossible to guarantee total security.

Criminals want that data for ransom, resale or misuse, and incessantly seek it out. They have learned that the easiest way past expensive perimeter tools starts inside each business. A seasonal employee’s click on an email, a misconfiguration in a loyalty-app update, or slack use of recycled passwords by a manager working from home are all weaknesses that criminals exploit.

The addition of hybrid working has also opened up many more potential entry points for criminals and complicates security vigilance.

The complex pipework of supply chain partner relationships makes continuous monitoring much harder. Retailers rely on third-party ecommerce software, CRM suites, point-of-sale systems and supply-chain tools. Vulnerabilities from even a single vendor or partner is enough to let criminals inside.

Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, has automated phishing lures and vulnerability scanning. The development of off-the-shelf ransomware kits also means criminals need less technical expertise to be effective. They can deliver cyberattacks at greater frequency and speed with superior precision.

Building defenses that contain attacks

Removing all cyber risk is impossible, so organizations must switch focus to damage limitation and maintenance of legitimate trade, using layered security instead of relying totally on a single gatekeeper.

High on the shopping list for retailers should be real-time endpoint detection and response (EDR) or extended detection and response (XDR) platforms. These solutions monitor devices, networks and cloud workloads for anomalous behavior, then isolate infected assets before malware spreads.

Strict network segmentation limits an intruder’s freedom of movement in systems. A zero-trust model will make life harder for them by demanding authentication for every access request.

Sometimes, the most effective containment measure is a deliberate shutdown to allow individual branches to keep trading on local platforms. This prevents attackers from scuttling through systems and enables investigators to get on with their work.

Layering defense

Layered defense must involve employees as well as technology. Multi-factor authentication cuts down the threat from stolen passwords, while least-privilege principles ensure staff only access what is required for the task in-hand. Regular penetration tests expose weak spots before adversaries find them, and supply-chain audits encourage vendors to improve standards.

Preparation is essential. Immutable off-site backups provide clean copies of critical data, but only if recovery time and recovery point objectives are realistic and regularly rehearsed. Full fail-over, forensic hand-off and customer communications must all be rehearsed.

It is also important to diversify infrastructure, avoiding reliance on what becomes a single fault domain through the mistake of running production, back-up and disaster-recovery environments on the same platform. What retailers need is a hybrid or multi-cloud approach to spread risk and improve flexibility.

Instilling new confidence

After the immediate threat is contained and systems are restored, rebuilding confidence is tough when customers, staff and investors are wanting details of what happened, the data exposed and how the company will prevent it from happening again.

A timetable of transparent updates shows respect and reduces speculation. Each cyber event or breach should trigger policy changes and fresh internal training, reinforcing the message that security is a collective responsibility shared by everyone in every department.

Many retailers use managed service providers (MSPs) to accelerate all these steps, bringing access to wider experience and expertise, round-the-clock monitoring and economies of scale. Retailers have the strategic oversight and sector knowledge, while the MSP supplies a deeper level of technical insight and a commitment to continuous improvement.

With the right partnerships, layered defenses, crisis response and security awareness, retailers can absorb attacks without day-to-day business grinding to a halt. They can continue to maintain the vital trust that is behind each customer transaction. There is certainly no reason to despair if organizations follow this multi-layered approach.

We list the best endpoint protection software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• UK proxy use has grown as VPNs face potentially tighter rules and restrictions
• Specialist proxies give businesses flexibility, location accuracy, and resilience compared with VPNs
• British firms are adopting proxies across eCommerce, finance, and marketing

Many UK firms are worrying further VPN regulation could be on the cards, after the divisive Online Safety Act led to explosive interest in the tools, driving regulators to take notice and businesses to explore alternatives.

This is not about traditional business VPNs (such as SonicWall, Cisco AnyConnect, or Fortinet) that secure employee access to internal networks, but rather about specialist VPN services used for external online operations.

As a result of growing uncertainty, companies are increasingly turning to proxy services, which offer greater flexibility and fewer compliance concerns than VPNs.

UK interest increasing

Proxies, unlike VPNs which encrypt traffic and direct it through a single tunnel, offer more granular routing and customizable access, allowing organizations to conduct location-specific data collection, navigate geo-restrictions, and monitor competitors with reduced risk of detection or blocking.

Data from Decodo shows proxy users from the UK increased by 65% following the launch of the Online Safety Act, while proxy traffic rose by 88%.

That points to growing reliance on proxies as a standard part of digital infrastructure rather than a niche tool.

“Companies around the globe are getting smarter about how they operate in highly competitive landscapes. Instead of just picking the most popular tools, they’re choosing what actually works best for them, whether that’s faster, easier to use, or works better with region-specific restrictions. It shows that people are thinking more critically about their options,” said Vytautas Savickas, CEO at Decodo.

One reason proxies are expanding so fast is their technical maturity, Decodo says. Providers now bundle enterprise-grade security features with user-friendly designs, which makes them suitable for global enterprises as well as smaller firms.

At the same time, more UK businesses are learning how to differentiate between VPNs and proxies and are matching tools to their goals.

“More organizations in the UK are investing time in understanding the tools that power secure and efficient online operations. Most companies test out different solutions, providers, and do their research on proxies and VPNs, and they’re also making more informed, strategic choices,” said Gabriele Verbickaitė, Product Marketing Manager at Decodo.

Proxies are proving especially valuable in sectors such as eCommerce, finance, and digital marketing, with firms using them for tasks like ad verification, price tracking, SEO monitoring, and fraud prevention.

Options such as residential, mobile, and ISP proxies allow for greater stability and location accuracy compared with older methods.

“UK businesses are quickly adopting proxy services, moving beyond simple VPNs to more advanced setups that offer greater control over their online activity. It’s no longer just about staying private – performance and reliability are now just as important,” said Vaidotas Juknys, Head of Commerce at Decodo.

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A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday halting further expansion and ordering the winding down of an immigration detention center built in the middle of the Florida Everglades.

(Image credit: Evan Vucci)

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 22. It's an odd one, shaped like a domino to mark the new NYT dominos game, Pips.

Snake Eater never looked better.

• Grok conversations shared by users have been found indexed by Google
• The interactions, no matter how private, became searchable by anyone online
• The problem arose because Grok's share button didn't add noindex tags to prevent search engine discovery

If you’ve been spending time talking to Grok, your conversations might be visible with a simple Google search, as first uncovered in a report from Forbes. More than 370,000 Grok chats became indexed and searchable on Google without users' knowledge or permission when they used Grok's share button.

The unique URL created by the button didn't mark the page as something for Google to ignore, making it publicly visible with a little effort.

Passwords, private health issues, and relationship drama fill the conversations now publicly available. Even more troubling questions for Grok about making drugs and planning murders appear as well. Grok transcripts are technically anonymized, but if there are identifiers, people could work out who was raising the petty complaints or criminal schemes. These are not exactly the kind of topics you want tied to your name.

Unlike a screenshot or a private message, these links have no built-in expiration or access control. Once they’re live, they’re live. It's more than a technical glitch; it makes it hard to trust the AI. If people are using AI chatbots as ersatz therapy or romantic roleplaying, they don't want what the conversation leaks. Finding your deepest thoughts alongside recipe blogs in search results might drive you away from the technology forever.

No privacy with AI chats

So how do you protect yourself? First, stop using the “share” function unless you’re completely comfortable with the conversation going public. If you’ve already shared a chat and regret it, you can try to find the link again and request its removal from Google using their Content Removal Tool. But that’s a cumbersome process, and there’s no guarantee it will disappear immediately.

If you talk to Grok through the X platform, you should also adjust your privacy settings. If you disable allowing your posts to be used for training the model, you might have more protection. That's less certain, but the rush to deploy AI products has made a lot of the privacy protections fuzzier than you might think.

If this issue sounds familiar, that's because it's only the latest example of AI chatbot platforms fumbling user privacy while encouraging individual sharing of conversations. OpenAI recently had to walk back an “experiment” where shared ChatGPT conversations began showing up in Google results. Meta faced backlash of its own this summer when people found out that their discussions with the Meta AI chatbot could pop up in the app's discover feed.

Conversations with chatbots can read more like diary entries than like social media posts. And if the default behavior of an app turns those into searchable content, users are going to push back, at least until the next time. As with Gmail ads scanning your inbox or Facebook apps scraping your friends list, the impulse is always to apologize after a privacy violation.

The best-case scenario is that Grok and others patch this quickly. But AI chatbot users should probably assume that anything shared could be read by someone else eventually. As with so many other supposedly private digital spaces, there are a lot more holes than anyone can see. And maybe don't treat Grok like a trustworthy therapist.

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Ever since I tried out Google's Real Time Voice translation on a call between a pair of Google Pixel 10 Pro phones, I've been imagining a future where I can speak to anyone in any language in my own voice and we can instantly understand each other.

I'm not alone in my amazement. When Jimmy Fallon and YouTuber Karen Polinesia demonstrated the feature live during Made By Google 2025 on August 20, 2025, the late-night TV host was gobsmacked, giggling in astonishment as his distinctive voice delivered sentences in Spanish to someone on a Pixel 10 Pro phone in an undisclosed location.

I don't blame him. As I've said, this feature uses AI to re-create both callers' voices in another language, almost without any lag, which is the closest we've come to Star Trek's Universal Translator. But it is missing something.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

You see, Google's Real Time Call Translation only works when you're calling someone on the Pixel 10 phone. What I really want is a more ambient experience.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but what we need is a piece of wearable hardware that's always listening and when it hears someone speaking to you in a language other than your native tongue, it starts interpeting on the fly and "speaking" those same words in your native launguage, while, of course using a voice that matches the speakers voice.

In Star Trek, the galaxy explorers would simply point the device at aliens, and their unintelligible languages would transform their voices into English. I know that's unlikely; however, I do have a vision of what I want.

I'm aware that Google has long had a translate feature with Pixel Buds (using Google Translate and Google Assistant), but it never worked like this and never used a simulacrum of the speaker's voice for the translation. As far as I'm concerned, the system doesn't work unless it includes this.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar A wearable translator

In a perfect world, the system would be frictionless: on both speakers and always ready to transparently intercept, translate, and speak so that we don't have to call, tap, look up, or read.

In the real world, there would be some concessions to the current state of Google's mobile hardware ecosystem.

There are a few options. It could be a system that works on both the Pixel Watch and Pixel Buds (the watch translates and sends the voice to the buds) or the buds translate and deliver the voice on their own. Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Buds (even the Pro models) lack the horsepower to handle the translation.

What's needed is another piece of hardware or a combination of wearable gadgets that can bring this ever-present live translation to life.

A hardware possibility

(Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff)

In general, I'm not a fan of dedicated AI hardware (see Rabbit R1 and Plaud.AI). Smartphones like the Pixel 10 Pro have all the generative AI we need, and a secondary device just to perform many of those same AI actions seems superfluous at best.

The Real Time Live Translation, however, has me thinking differently. Perhaps it's the combination of an enhanced Pixel Watch and Buds, but I'd prefer if the entire operation were housed in what we might call "Pixel Buds Pro Enhanced".

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Inside would be a new Tensor Chip small enough to fit inside one of the buds yet powerful enough to perform local translation and voice generation. We know the software works, so why not build special hardware to support it?

I know that's a tall order. Tensor G5 is a 3nm process chip. Could this be a 2nm? Maybe. The goal would be to both shrink the AI (with its neural network) and lower the power consumption so that one translation doesn't eat up half the Pixel Bud Pro Enhanced's battery life.

This is the one AI wearable idea I can get behind. Just think of what travel to another country might be like if you were wearing one of these. I get that it's unlikely that the person you're talking to also has a pair, but if they can run Gemini Live on their phone or if they have a Pixel Watch, perhaps they can hear what you're saying in their language (and in your voice), too.

My point is, this feature is too powerful to be stuck inside a smartphone, and I hope Google is working right now to bring my Star Trek Universal Translator dreams to life.

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• Peacemaker season 2 makes a big change to its predecessor's finale
• Fans have long wondered how it would handle a key scene from season 1 episode 8
• Everything else from last season is deemed canon in the DCU

Ever since Peacemaker season 2 was first announced, one big question has plagued fans of the hit HBO Max show: what aspects of its forebear's story will be treated as canon in the nascent DC Universe (DCU)?

It's a query that James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios, and Peacemaker's head writer and occasional director, hasn't answered as clearly as many fans had hoped. Now, though, this season's premiere has – and it's solved a big mystery about how Gunn would handle a cameo-filled scene from last season's finale, too.

Full spoilers immediately follow for Peacemaker season 2 episode 1, titled 'The Ties That Grind'. Turn back now if you haven't seen it yet.

Season 2's 'Previously On...' segment confirms the events of last season are all canon in the DCU (Image credit: HBO Max)

The short answer is: all of season 1 is canon in the DCU. Well, everything except that cameo-stuffed scene, which I'll get to later.

'The Ties That Grind' opens with John Cena's eponymous anti-hero – real name Chris Smith – answering questions from a class full of kids. It's a funny and unexpected way to open this season of the DCU Chapter One project, especially when you consider the dichotomy between the the foul-mouthed, substance-abusing titular character and his innocent inquirers.

Anyway, when Smith is asked if he has an origin story, we're treated to a 'Previously On...' montage from one of the best HBO Max shows' debut season. That includes clips of his traumatic childhood, joining 'Project Butterfly', killing his xenophobic and toxic father, and saving the world from an alien invasion. Cena even provides a voice-over saying "previously on the DCU", which basically confirms season 1 took place in the DCU instead of its now-defunct forebear, aka the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).

It's the end of this footage-based collage that addresses the multi-cameo scene I've been alluding to. That being, the DCEU's Justice League appearing after Smith and the 11th Street Kids defeat the extraterrestrial Butterflies to stop them taking over planet Earth.

A different supergroup shows up in season 2 episode 1 (Image credit: HBO Max)

As the 11th Street Kids triumphantly walked away from a job well done in last season's finale, they were greeted by the Justice League. Admittedly, Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Ezra Miller's The Flash are the only actors who actually appear on the screen, but silhouettes of their fellow heroes – Henry Cavill's Superman, Ben Affleck's Batman, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, and Ray Fisher's Cyborg – are shown.

Peacemaker 2 retcons this Justice League cameo. Indeed, the 'previously on...' segment reveals that sextuplet have been replaced the Justice Gang – i.e. Edi Gathegi's Mister Terrific (who only appears in silhouette form), Isabela Merced's Hawkgirl, and Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner/Green Lantern. The trio are also joined by outlines of David Corenswet's Superman and Milly Alcock's Supergirl, even though the Kryptonian pair aren't part of the Justice Gang.

But I digress. Lambasting their belated appearance, Smith greets them in the same way he did the Justice League last season, saying "you're late, you f*****g d*******s!". Then, in a very brief scene designed to replace Aquaman and The Flash's short and semi-amusing exchange from season 1, Hawkgirl and Gardner have a similarly fleeting chat.

Hawkgirl and Guy Gardner appear again later on in season 2 episode 1 (Image credit: HBO Max)

So, problem solved, right? As long as you don't go back and re-watch season 1 episode 8, aka 'It's Cow or Never'. Speaking as part of a roundtable interview attended by TechRadar, Gunn admitted that the retooled Justice Gang scene from this season's premiere won't replace the Justice League one in the season 1 finale.

"I wish I could do that," Gunn replied when asked if he'd swap out the Justice League scene for the updated Justice Gang one. "But, I can't, because it's too expensive. I think we'd rather spend the money on a few more visual effects shots for Supergirl.

"The other thing is normal people don't give a s**t about all this canon stuff as intimately [as diehard fans do]," he continued. "They're just like 'Oh cool, Peacemaker is in Superman' or 'Oh, it's Alien and Predator together'. It doesn't matter if it's not completely consistent with the past, so I though the simple way was really the best, which is just saying 'Yeah, this world is a little different'. We know there are other universes, and this is one where everything is exactly the same as what happened in season one, except for the Justice League's appearance."

Peacemaker season 2 episode is out now. Read my Peacemaker season 2 release schedule to find out when new entries will arrive, or check out my Peacemaker season 2 review for some clues about what's to come in episodes 2 through 5.

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While it's one of, if not the oldest professions, herdsmen aren't often represented in video game format, and after playing Okomotive's Herdling, I struggle to understand why. Sure, if you asked me to come up with my dream game tomorrow, I probably wouldn't start with "herding cattle", but Herdling takes the idea and expands it into a mystical, uncanny world filled with fantastic beasts and terrifying foes.

Your role is simple: finding, taming, caring for, and guiding a herd of great calico-patterned horned beasts called Calicorns and ushering them to the mountain's peak. Along the way, you'll encounter various puzzles, obstacles, and foes.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch 2, PC, Xbox, and PS5
Release date: August 21, 2025

From its painterly art style to its rich, emotive music, the world of Herdling is vivid and expansive, and delightful to explore thanks to a decent variety of mechanics in each level and plenty to discover and explore.

You'll traverse verdant fields, discover abandoned man-made structures, both modern and mystical, and cross treacherous woods and mountain climes to reach the summit. While it's not terribly long, offering 4-6 hours of gameplay, Herdling is littered with collectibles and discoverable content, making for a good amount of replayability.

Seen, but not herd

The game opens in a seemingly deserted city, as the protagonist awakens on the streets with a seemingly singular purpose: to find and herd Calicorns. This slightly claustrophobic cityscape acts as your tutorial ground, though there's little to no instruction.

Things aren't all as they seem, though; the presence of human life is tangible everywhere in the early stages of the game, whether that's in trains hurtling past the open fields, lights flickering in buildings, or cars crossing open highways. Still, the manufactured world seems at odds with your new companions, so you dust off the concrete and head out into the open plains on your quest to reach the mountain's peak, gathering more fluffy friends along the way.

It's unclear why, bar the Calicorns, you seem to be so alone in this slightly uncanny world; Herdling asks not why, but how you'll navigate the treacherous path to the summit. And that "how" is largely dictated by your herd.

You'll find a host of Calicorns along your journey, which you can tame with a good old-fashioned head scratch and name. By standing behind them and facing in the direction you want to travel in and waving your shepherd's crook, you can steer your Calicorns and command them to stop, go, or slow down.

(Image credit: Okomotive)

You can also activate stampede mode for a speed boost, which is refuelled by guiding your herd over blue flowers and increases the more Calicorns you have tamed. Performance drops are fairly frequent during stampede mode, and as you'd expect, it becomes more challenging to guide your flock at high speeds.

In narrower portions of the map, navigation can be frustrating, especially as you collect more Calicorns, and there were more than a few moments where I feared I'd never safely negotiate the herd out of some slightly jammy corners. On the one hand, that could be by design, but I'm never a fan of chance taking the reins.

You'll find yourself inventing all kinds of methods to keep your herd compact and controlled, but sometimes even pausing their motion can't stop the scamps from going on walkabouts. After all, they are wild animals.

Your Calicorns aren't your wards; they're your companions, and help you as much as you do them! (Image credit: Okomotive)Until you find your dream

The game is largely linear, but that doesn't make your journey easy; you'll have to decide on the best paths to take, navigate in and out of some tight spots with your growing, occasionally mischievous herd, and care for them to ensure they survive their passage – and yes, that does mean they can die.

Upon taking damage, the Calicorns' vibrant coat, often dusted with petals from running amidst the flower fields and storing up stampede powers, will become slick with blood, a wound you can only heal by scrambling about the map level in search of berries to feed your friends. There is also an Immortal mode for the faint of heart; thankfully, in my first playthrough, I didn't need it.

Nobody wants to ruin a perfect run with a herd member's passing, but it's doubly heartbreaking when you factor in how personable and cute these creatures are. Each has a unique design, with different horn shapes, sizes, and ages, expressed through their quizzical and expressive wide red eyes.

Some even have personality traits that play out as you rest in camp between levels. Needy Calicorns will follow you around camp until they receive affection, while playful ones will try to engage you in a game of fetch. It's incredibly charming and raises the stakes in the game overall.

Image 1 of 4

(Image credit: Okomotive)Image 2 of 4

(Image credit: Okomotive)Image 3 of 4

(Image credit: Okomotive)Image 4 of 4

(Image credit: Okomotive)

As the game progresses, the world expands to include more mysticism. Ancient monuments and grand structures become the backdrop for your quest, and the farther you climb, the more enchanting the world becomes; and the farther you feel from the vaguely post-apocalyptic vibes in the earlier game levels as your protagonist becomes increasingly enmeshed with their herd.

There are environmental threats at different levels, including spiky surfaces and even ice calving beneath your Calicorn's feet (or hooves? You can't really see them...), but the real fear factor comes from the cryptid-esque giant owls that seem to have a real taste for Calicorn.

These are the primary antagonists in Herdling, but their menace takes various forms. From high-stakes stealth navigation through the birds' nest to high-speed chases as they snipe at you from the air, these great beasts pose a genuinely terrifying threat to your herd.

(Image credit: Okomotive)

You can really appreciate the calmer moments in the game in contrast to the terror, though. The great, sprawling landscapes are gorgeous, and the soft-touch sound design wonderfully captures the emotion of every moment. Activating stampede mode launches a tremendous Galop-esque burst of sound and color, where more peaceful moments feature little more than the sounds of nature and the sprinkling of keys.

Of course, as Herdling is an indie title, it does lack polish in areas; animations are occasionally a bit awkward, especially as Calicorns descend slopes, and tight or enclosed spaces can be challenging to navigate. That's especially true as your herd grows, which may well be by design, but if you're playing using a controller like I did on my Switch 2, you might find yourself in peril (or just fiddling with herd positioning) more often than you'd like, which can impact the pace of the game.

Still, I really enjoyed my time as a Calicorn shepherd. The game hints at themes of homeship, nature, found family, death, and rebirth, giving the player ample perspectives through which to enjoy its wordless narrative. Herdling cleverly implements its key herding mechanic but offers enough ways to play and explore that players of all ages and skillsets can enjoy this minimalist yet profound odyssey to find a new home.

(Image credit: Okomotive)Should I play Herdling?Play it if…

You love a creative indie title
Blending a rare (if not original) herding concept with its beautiful art style, Herdling is a truly creative indie gem.View Deal

You want something atmospheric and cozy
With a gorgeous soundscape, music, and fantastic visuals, Herdling certainly delivers on atmosphere, but it's surprisingly cozy too with its Calicorn care mechanics. View Deal

Don’t play it if…

You want a long play
With just 4-6 hours of gameplay per save, it's not one that will keep you going for days, though there's a good amount of replayability.View Deal

You want a story-driven narrative
Herdling leaves you to connect the dots, and if you aren't prepared to do some thinking, you might not appreciate this one. View Deal

Accessibility features

Herdling has a handful of dedicated accessibility settings. You can toggle controller vibration, sprint, auto-run, display HUD, herding direction indicator, Calicorn immortality, and button holds. There are no dialogue lines, but there are various language settings for the menus and tutorial.

How I reviewed Herdling

I played through Herdling twice (10 hours) on Nintendo Switch 2 using both the Pro Controller, Joy-Con 2, and handheld mode.

During my time with the game, I compared my experience with other indie titles, especially those launched on Switch 2, making certain to note any issues with performance or game quality.

First reviewed August 2025

Netflix crushed my heart last month when it removed some of my favorite titles, and it's about to do it again with plans to remove more movies in September than it did in August. There are 41 movies lined up to get the chop next month, but luckily, the best streaming service is giving you time to watch them over the next few weeks.

The first set of movies that will disappear is the Airport film series. This will be followed by rom-com classic The Notebook (2004), one of my favorite horror movies Barbarian (2022), and the sci-fi epic Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). As well as movies, you only have a few weeks left to make the most of one of the best Netflix shows, as The Good Place will be removed September 26.

Everything leaving Netflix in September 2025

Leaving on September 1

17 Again (movie)
50 First Dates (movie)
After Earth (movie)
Airport (movie)
Airport '77 (movie)
Airport 1975 (movie)
American Gangster (movie)
American Graffiti (movie)
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (movie)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (movie)
Barbarian (movie)
Bee Movie (movie)
Black Hawk Down (movie)
Blood and Bone (movie)
Burn After Reading (movie)
Dumb and Dumber To (movie)
Hanna (movie)
The Holiday (movie)
Home (movie)
MacGruber (movie)
Midnight in the Switchgrass (movie)
Midway (movie)
The Mule (movie)
National Security (movie)
The Notebook (movie)
The Nutty Professor (movie)
Paul (movie)
The Polar Express (movie)
Red Eye (movie)
Sicario (movie)
Trainwreck (movie)
Us (movie)
V for Vendetta (movie)
Wipeout season 1 (TV show)

Leaving on September 5

The Wave (movie)

Leaving on September 9

Mad Max: Fury Road (movie)

Leaving on September 10

Greenleaf seasons 1-5 (TV show)

Leaving on September 13

London Has Fallen (movie)

Leaving on September 14

Chosen seasons 1-2 (TV show)

Leaving on September 15

Band of Brothers (TV show)
The Pacific (movie)

Leaving on September 16

Bad Words (movie)
Instant Family (movie)

Leaving on September 22

The Island (movie)

Leaving on September 26

The Good Place seasons 1-4 (TV show)

Leaving on September 30

Chappelle's Show seasons 1-2 (TV show)

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• TPG Telecom confirmed a cyberattack with the country's securities exchange agency
• Unidentified crooks stole an employee's account login and used it to exfiltrate sensitive data
• Customers of its iiNet sub-brand were affected

TPG Telecom, a major Australian telecommunications provider, suffered what it described as a “limited” cyberattack - however, judging by the amount of personal information stolen, that “limited” comes with quite large quotation marks.

The company issued a statement with the Australian Securities Exchange in which it reported currently investigating a cybersecurity incident when an unauthorized third party accessed its iiNet order management system - internal software tool used within the iiNet brand to create, manage, and track customer service orders.

The incident was spotted on Saturday, August 16, with the preliminary investigation showing that the origin of the breach were stolen employee account credentials. The company described the attack as “limited” since the system that was breached does not contain extensive data. However, that data still includes iiNet email addresses for some customers, iiNet landline phone numbers, contact names, contact numbers and residential addresses “for a smaller group of customers”.

Names, addresses, and phone numbers

What the iiNet order management system does not contain are copies or details of identity documents, or credit card and banking information.

The number of affected individuals is in the hundreds of thousands: 280,000 active iiNet email addresses, around 20,000 active iiNet landline phone numbers, around 10,000 iiNet user names, street addresses and phone numbers, and around 1,700 modem set-up passwords, all stolen.

This could trigger a wave of highly convincing phishing emails, voice scams, and malware / ransomware deployments through vulnerable modems. Phishing emails can lead to the compromise of banking accounts, social media accounts, and other services, and could result in identity theft, wire fraud, and more.

“We unreservedly apologise to our iiNet customers impacted by this incident,” TPG Telecom said in the announcement.

“We will be taking immediate steps to contact impacted iiNet customers, advise of any actions they should take and offer our assistance. We will also contact all non-impacted iiNet customers to confirm they have not been affected.”

There is currently no evidence of abuse in the wild.

Via The Register

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The streamer debuted new footage and first looks at Anime NYC.

When Hisense announced its 116-inch RGB mini-LED TV at CES 2025, the TV world took notice.

RGB panel technology had already been realized in LG’s new Primary Tandem RGB OLED panel, with the promise of bolder, richer colors than had previously been seen in a TV. But combining that with a super-bright mini-LED backlight in a cinema-sized screen was an equally exciting prospect.

Hisense makes some of the best TVs, with the new Hisense U8QG scoring highly in our Hisense U8QG review and finding its place on several of our best-of lists. But the new 116UX is mini-LED TV tech taken to the next level.

I got the chance to test the Hisense 110UXN in December 2024, and it earned four out of 5 stars in my Hisense 110UXN review. Its color and brightness were two highlights, but the $15,000 / £20,000 price was tough to overlook, especially given the TV’s backlight blooming and screen uniformity issues.

The major difference between the Hisense 110UX and the 116UX is the latter’s RGB mini-LED backlight (the 110UX uses a standard mini-LED backlight). My colleague Matthew Murray, Head of Testing for Future, did his own hands-on test of the 116UX. But I got to spend more time with it doing real-world testing.

A new world of color and detail

Color is where the Hisense 116UX really shines, shown here with Elemental in Dolby Vision IQ. (Image credit: Disney / Future)

From the minute I streamed Elemental, one of my movie choices for testing color, on Disney+, it was clear that the TV’s RGB LEDs (all 20,000 of them) added another layer to the experience. Even with the TV in Dolby Vision Dark mode, colors looked spectacular. The oranges, reds and purples of Ember’s flames and the glass vase were displayed with a real vibrancy. Switching to Dolby Vision IQ made colors look even brighter and bolder, but I preferred the more natural picture with Dolby Vision Dark.

I next moved to Wicked on 4K Blu-ray, again in Dolby Vision Dark mode. As Elphaba stood under a tree with pink flowers, the flowers looked rich and bright, with bold highlights, and Elphaba’s green skin was vivid. This was hardly surprising since in our measurements, we found that the 116UX covered a staggering 99.4% of the UHDA-P3 color gamut, matching the color performance even of the best OLED TVs of this year, such as the LG G5 and Samsung S95F.

Watching demo footage on the Spears & Munsil UHD Benchmark 4K Blu-ray in HDR10 format, a field of red flowers had an eye-popping punch and plenty of depth. A parrot’s yellow and blue feathers shimmered, looking vibrant and colorful.

This footage uses the BT.2020 color space, and when we measured the 116UX, its BT.2020 color gamut coverage was 92.64% – a phenomenal result and the highest we’ve ever recorded for a TV. Once again, it’s no wonder the 116UX’s color looks so good.

Throughout my testing, I also noticed that textures and details were incredibly realistic, which gave people, objects, and landscapes depth, clarity and a real lifelike presence. Close-up shots of faces, such as those in The Batman and No Time to Die, revealed every pore, hair, and scar with a staggering level of detail. Even the 116UX’s upscaling was impressive, with the textures in an HD stream of Fight Club on Disney+ getting a real uplift.

Room for improvementImage 1 of 2

While the Hisense 116UX displayed deep black levels in some cases (1), it struggled with real-world content such as Alien: Romulus, where clouding was apparent (2). (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios / Future )

The 116UX had seriously impressed me with its color and detail, but it was now time to move on to darker movie scenes, something mini-LED TVs can struggle with. Watching the same Spears & Munsil demo footage, but focusing on studio sequences with objects against dark black backgrounds and night scenes, the 116UX displayed deep, rich blacks. They did look slightly raised in places, but they were still impressive for a mini-LED TV, especially one this bright. I did see some blooming around bright objects, which was more apparent when viewing from an off-center position, but the TV’s performance here was pretty good overall.

So all good news, right? Not quite. Watching other dark scenes in Dolby Vision Dark mode revealed some screen uniformity issues with the massive 116UX. In Alien: Romulus, a scene with an alien nest in a tunnel showed significantly raised black levels along with a clouding effect.

The same was true for The Batman. In the opening crime scene sequence, black levels looked raised, and there was the same blooming around characters and bright objects. Also, the clouding effect I saw in Alien: Romulus could be seen here.

Admittedly, The Batman is an extremely challenging movie for TVs due to its low mastered brightness (400 nits compared to the standard 1,000 nits). And the clouding effect wasn’t as bad with Alien: Romulus, but it was still present. For a TV at this price, I’d expected it to do a better job. The 116UX won’t be beating the best OLED TVs any time soon.

A big price to pay

(Image credit: Future)

The Hisense 116UX is set to launch in September for $24,999 / AU$39,999 / €28,999 (roughly £25,000 based on the European price). That price is going to outstretch almost everyone’s budget.

I also found during my testing that while its built-in sound system is impressive, with plenty of bass rumble, the sound felt constrained to the screen. A screen like this deserves sound to match, so you’ll need to take the price of one of the best soundbars into account, too.

While you can’t get an OLED TV at this size, you can buy a 97-inch LG G4 or LG G5 OLED for roughly the same price at $24,999 / £24,999. You can also get a top-end 4K projector, such as the JVC DLA-NZ800, with a decent screen and sound system to match for a similar price. When you consider that, the 116UX suddenly looks a little pricey.

The 116UX isn’t a perfect TV, but it is an impressive step forward for mini-LED tech. Despite its shortcomings, its color, brightness and upscaling are all superb. With improved local dimming and a more reasonable price tag, RGB mini-LED could become a real threat to OLED TVs.

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This is the latest shakeup since Trump took over the cultural center. "We will have an exciting announcement about the new direction for Dance programming soon," said a Kennedy Center spokesperson.

(Image credit: ANNA-ROSE GASSOT/AFP via Getty Images)

When we look back over the summer months, Netflix has been on top form, bringing us one gripping title after the next – and it's keeping up that momentum for its wave of September 2025 movies and shows.

There are plenty of Netflix Original movies and shows to choose from over the coming weeks. Indeed, we're excited for the second part of Wednesday season 2 to arrive on September 3, but the new drama series House of Guinness has also caught our eye, which follows the family behind the world's best pint.

It's always difficult to let go of the summer months, but when the best streaming service pulls through with a stacked list of movies, it makes it easier to adjust to the colder seasons. So, if you're stuck with what to add to your fall watchlist, look no further than the new Netflix titles below.

Everything new on Netflix in September 2025

Arriving on September 1

8 Mile (movie)
A Thousand Tomorrows season 1 (TV show)
The Amazing Spider-Man (movie)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (movie)
Billy Madison (movie)
The Boy Next Door (movie)
Boyz n the Hood (movie)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (movie)
Bridesmaids (movie)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (movie)
Chicken Run (movie)
Dennis the Menace (movie)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (movie)
Edge of Tomorrow (movie)
Escape Room (movie)
Good Advice (movie)
The Four Seasons (movie)
Franklin & Bash seasons 1-4 (TV show)
Hot Shots! (movie)
Hot Shots! Part Deux (movie)
Inglourious Basterds (movie)
Inside Man (movie)
Inside Man: Most Wanted (movie)
Knocked Up (movie)
La La Land (movie)
The Land Before Time (movie)
Liar Liar (movie)
Limitless (movie)
Long Shot (movie)
Money Talks (movie)
Orphan Black seasons 1-5 (TV show)
Paddington (movie)
Phantom Thread (movie)
Puss in Boots (movie)
The Rookie (movie)
The Running Man (movie)
Shark Tale (movie)
Sherlock Holmes (movie)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (movie)
Shrek (movie)
Shrek 2 (movie)
Shrek Forever After (movie)
Shrek the Third (movie)
Stand by Me (movie)
We're the Millers (movie)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (movie)

Arriving on September 3

Wednesday season 2 part 2 (Netflix original series)

Arriving September 4

Countdown: Canelo v Crawford (Netflix original series)
Pokémon Concierge season 1 part 2 (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 5

Inspector Zende (Netflix original movie)
Love Con Revenge (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 7

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 8

Stolen: Heist of the Century (Netflix original documentary)

Arriving on September 9

Daddy's Home (movie)
Daddy's Home 2 (movie)
Jordan Jensen: Take Me With You (Netflix comedy special)
Kiss or Die (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 10

aka Charlie Sheen (Netflix original documentary)
The Dead Girls (Netflix original series)
Love Is Blind: Brazil: Season 5 (Netflix original series)
Love is Blind: France (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 11

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (movie)
Diary of a Ditched Girl (Netflix original series)
Kontrabida Academy (Netflix original series)
Tyler Perry's Beauty in Black season 2 (Netflix original series)
Wolf King season 2 (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 12

Beauty and the Bester (Netflix original documentary)
Maledictions (Netflix original series)
Ratu Ratu Queens: The Series (Netflix original series)
The Wrong Paris (Netflix original movie)
You and Everything Else (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 13

Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford (Netflix live event)

Arriving on September 14

Ancient Aliens season 11 (TV show)
Moving On (movie)

Arriving on September 15

Call the Midwife season 14 (TV show)
Nashville seasons 1-6 (TV show)
S.W.A.T. season 8 (TV show)

Arriving on September 17

1670 season 2 (Netflix original series)
Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen (Netflix original documentary)
Next Gen Chef (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 18

The BA***DS of Bollywood (Netflix original series)
Black Rabbit (Netflix original series)
Platonic: Blue Moon Hotel (Netflix original series)
Same Day with Someone (Netflix original movie)

Arriving on September 19

Billionaires' Bunker (Netflix original series)
Cobweb (movie)
Haunted Hotel (Netflix original series)
She Said Maybe (Netflix original movie)

Arriving on September 22

Blippi's Job Show season 2 (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 23

Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy (Netflix comedy special)
Spartacus seasons 1-4 (TV show)

Arriving on September 24

The Guest (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 25

Alice in Borderland season 3 (Netflix original series)
House of Guinness (Netflix original series)
Wayward (Netflix original series)

Arriving on September 26

Ángela: Limited Series (Netflix original series)
French Lover (Netflix original movie)
Pokémon Horizons: Season 2—The Search for Laqua Part 4 (Netflix original series)
Ruth & Boaz (Netflix original movie)

Arriving on September 28

10 Things I Hate About You (movie)
Idiocracy (movie)
Sweet Home Alabama (movie)

Arriving on September 30

Earthquake: Joke Telling Business (Netflix comedy special)
Interview with the Vampire season 2 (TV show)
Nightmares of Nature: Cabin in the Woods (Netflix original documentary)

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New season, same Dye Beard. Kinda.

Gemini is coming to Google Home, and during yesterday’s Made by Google event, we saw our first glimpse of an unreleased Google Nest speaker - a roughly spherical device with a colored light at the base, seen sitting on a table beside F1 driver Lando Norris.

It’s about time too, given it’s been four years since Google’s last home hub, the 2nd-gen Nest Hub, launched in 2021. The question is, after such a long and rocky road, will anyone want it?

First of all, I find it interesting that Google has given us a peek at a speaker, not a smart display. It suggests that Google is taking a different approach to Amazon (which released two new Echo Show hubs late last year, and those are now the primary interface for its new subscription-tier Alexa+ service), and Apple (which is rumored to be announcing a new Apple Intelligence-powered display in September).

The Gemini presentation certainly didn’t tease a new Pixel Tablet – Google’s semi-portable smart home hub, which you can detach from its base and carry from room to room – though perhaps it’s keeping that up its sleeve for later in the year.

There was no sign of an updated Google Pixel Tablet to compete with the new Amazon Echo Show devices (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)

Despite its lack of a screen, the new Nest will need a serious silicon upgrade to keep pace with its rivals. The Echo Show 15 and 21 both sport Amazon’s new AZ2 processor, which the company claims will let them run an LLM locally with no latency, so the Nest will need a complete internal overhaul to compete, with a brand new chipset and more RAM.

That will mean a big price increase from previous Nest speakers - but will people be willing to pay? Google is currently facing an outcry from users who report that their existing Nest devices are throwing up error messages, or no longer recognizing commands. A US law firm has even announced that it has "begun investigating a possible class action" against Google because so many owners are reporting problems.

Device owners on the Google Home subreddit are certainly skeptical that the new speaker represents a fresh start for Google’s hardware.

“Not buying another Google Home product until they fix the thousand plus dollars worth of devices that I already bought and have been getting worse and worse with each passing week,” says the top-rated comment.

“Seriously I've never bought a tech product that literally got worse over time. It's insane. Why should I give Google [any more] money?”

A chilly reception

That’s not the only issue - users living outside North America (including me) might not ever be able to use the new Nest to its full potential. In its Gemini for Home announcement, Google explained that users can “conveniently issue multiple commands at once to control your home: 'Dim the lights, and set the temp to 72 degrees.'” But I won’t.

That’s because Google is ending support for its older smart thermostats in October, and won’t be selling any new ones in Europe - including the Fourth-Generation Nest Learning Thermostat that launched last year in the US and Canada. According to Google, this is because “heating systems in Europe are unique and have a variety of hardware and software requirements that make it challenging to build for the diverse set of homes.”

The Fourth-Gen Nest Learning Thermostat should work seamlessly with Gemini, but Google says it'll never be available in Europe (Image credit: Future)

That also means we’ll miss out on hot water control - a feature coming to Google Home very soon according to Android Authority, which secured confirmation from Google Nest and Home Chief Product Officer Anish Kattukaran.

I’m curious to learn more about the new Nest, but with Google’s current usability issues, a potentially high price tag, and a lack of commitment to customers in Europe, it’ll have to work hard to convince me it’s a good investment.

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