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"It is easier, but it's not easy," Story Kitchen co-founder Dmitri Johnson interjects.

I'm midway through an in-depth conversation with Johnson and business partner Mike Goldberg about their pioneering entertainment company when the former clarifies something he alluded to earlier.

The topic in question? Pitching movies and TV shows based on video game properties to other studio figureheads is still challenging. That's in spite of myriad recent examples of popular game franchises being turned into other screen-based art forms that have achieved critical and commercial success.

"We're working every day to continue changing the stigma that games are only for kids and lazy people who still live in their mom's basement," Johnson adds with a wry smile. "These are artists and storytellers in their own right — and their work deserves to be seen by more people."

Press start

Meet Dmitri Johnson and Mike Goldberg, Story Kitchen's co-founders (Image credit: Story Kitchen)

You probably haven't heard of Story Kitchen, but you definitely know the video game adaptations they've helped to shape.

From Paramount Pictures' money-spinning Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise and Netflix's animated Tomb Raider show, to Prime Video's forthcoming TV re-imaginings of the aforementioned Lara Croft-fronted game series and Dontnod's beloved first Life is Strange title, Story Kitchen is at the forefront of what's unsurprisingly being labeled the 'golden age' of video game adaptations.

These are artists and storytellers in their own right — and their work deserves to be seen by more people

Dmitri Johnson

It's a cinematic epoch some believed would never happen — and with good reason. The 1990s and early 2000s are littered with examples of maligned video game movies, including — but by no means limited to — 1993's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 2005's Doom, and 2003's House of the Dead, the latter of which is one the worst-rated films on popular review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

2005's Doom movie was a critical and commercial flop (Image credit: Universal Pictures)

With so many entertainment giants failing to understand the source material, the 'videogame adaptation curse' — a phrase Goldberg says "sounds really good when stories are written about it" — became a catch-all term for these and similarly crucified productions. Combine that with the notion that, as Goldberg notes, "Hollywood didn't respect the gaming community, developers, or publishers", and it seemed that video games would forever be viewed as the runt of the visual media landscape.

That was until dj2 Entertainment, the precursor to Story Kitchen co-founded by Johnson and Dan Jevons in 2011, took a leap into the unknown.

The company's primary goal was simple: make Hollywood believe that video game stories were worth telling and investing in. Predictably, Hollywood just didn't see the appeal of turning games into movies or TV shows, and countless rejections followed.

2020's Sonic the Hedgehog movie was an unexpected hit for Paramount, Sega, and dj2 Entertianment (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Then came the first Sonic the Hedgehog film. After slowly and methodically earning the trust and respect of SEGA, Johnson convinced the Japanese videogame titan and, later, Paramount Pictures that people wanted to see the Blue Blur star in his own movie.

A few notable setbacks, including the titular character's speedy redesign after fans attacked his initial look following the release of Sonic's first trailer, followed. Fast-forward to early 2020, though, and, despite the pandemic bringing Sonic the Hedgehog's theatrical run to a premature end, the action-adventure comedy grossed $320 million worldwide. On a reported budget of $90 million, it more than recouped its production and marketing costs.

"Dmitri always believed that, with education and respect, a different result [video game adaptations being successful] would occur," Goldberg says. "And, he was right."

'It's a new era — but not every game should be adapted'

The Super Mario Bros. Movie made over $1 billion worldwide upon its release in early 2023 (Image credit: Universal Pictures/Illumination)

A lot has happened in the short time since Sonic's big-screen debut, one that Goldberg describes as "an absolute game changer in the Hollywood ecosystem".

He's not wrong. Film adaptations of other iconic and/or hugely popular game series, including Mario and Minecraft, have earned billions at the global box office. Meanwhile, TV retellings of hit franchises like The Last of Us on HBO Max, and small-screen projects that expand on existing game universes, including Fallout on Prime Video and Netflix's League of Legends animated program Arcane, have drawn universal acclaim, won multiple awards, and introduced millions more people to stories, characters, and worlds they would never have connected with otherwise.

We don't see this as a fleeting moment for video game adaptations

Mike Goldberg

Suffice it to say, the explosion of video game adaptations is indicative of an industry-wide paradigm shift that also allowed dj2 Entertainment to level up its own game. Indeed, by investing the metaphorical skill points into the company's evolution from dj2 Entertainment to Story Kitchen, onboarding industry talents like Elena Sandoval and Timothy I. Stevenson, and signing first-look deals with Amazon in February 2022 and DreamWorks Animation in May 2024, Johnson, Goldberg, and company are well-placed to help create the next wave of gaming transmedia hits.

A Minecraft Movie is another example of a money-spinning videogame film adaptation (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/Mojang Studios)

At the time of publication, around 30 projects, some of which have already found homes and others that'll be shopped around Hollywood, are in the works at Story Kitchen HQ. That might sound a lot, but it's a mere raindrop in the ever-expanding gaming ocean. So, why doesn't Story Kitchen just take a long list of game titles to film studios, TV networks, and the world's best streaming services, and reel them off until one piques their interest?

"It's a new era, but not every game should be adapted," Golberg replies, "And not every game should be adapted right now. We want to be a friend and advocate for the space, though, because we don't see this as a fleeting moment [for video game adaptations]. We think it's got long-term potential, so we're working to ensure that we see that through."

We don't go into things like 'how many copies did this game sell?'

Dmitri Johnson

That's not to say Story Kitchen is only focused on adapting the biggest game franchises. AA and indie titles are as much a part of the pitching process, if not more so, than their flashier, big-budget counterparts.

"We don't go into things like 'how many copies did this game sell?'," Johnson says. "We actually despise that question and refuse to answer it at this point. We respond with 'here's why these characters and stories are incredible' and 'here's why it's something we've never seen before'.

"What it really boils down to is passion," he continues. "What are the things that we can't stop thinking about and have to pursue? Once that process starts, we're convinced something has to be made, and that translates into our meetings with other companies. Initially, it might not necessarily make sense to them, but they all want to hear the pitch because it's coming from a place of passion, so most networks and studios are excited when we take something out to them. This isn't a cash-grab — these conversations are happening because we actually care."

Prime-d for more success?

Sophie Turner will star as Lara Croft in Prime Video's Tomb Raider TV series (Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)

And care, Johnson and Goldberg certainly do. The multi-billion-dollar-spinning Sonic franchise, which currently comprises three movies and a Knuckles TV spin-off on Paramount+, has improved with each new entry.

As of July 2026, a fourth flick is deep in post-production ahead of its March 19, 2027 release date. An untitled Shadow-fronted off-shoot project is also reportedly in the works, though Johnson and Goldberg declined to speak about it because, as Goldberg rightfully points out, "there are levels of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) we must respect."

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 isn't the only thing that'll roll off the Story Kitchen production line next year. Indeed, two TV projects are expected to make their Prime Video debuts in 2027, the first of which should be a Tomb Raider TV adaptation that Johnson admits has been "years in the making".

New cast confirmed for upcoming Prime Video Tomb Raider series including Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, and more.As previously announced, the Prime Video series stars Sophie Turner as Lara Croft, led by Phoebe Waller-Bridge serving as creator, writer, executive producer and… pic.twitter.com/a9Gr1g5x0vJanuary 6, 2026

Overseen by Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge, it'll star Sophie Turner as gaming icon Lara Croft. Amazon revealed a perfect first-look shot at Turner in Croft's classic tank top and shorts combo as principal photography got underway in January and, while filming was halted in March due to a "minor injury" sustained by Turner, there's nothing to suggest it'll delay the live-action series' launch.

Thanks to a partnership Story Kitchen established with Tomb Raider custodians and videogame developer Crystal Dynamics during development on Netflix's Tomb Raider animated show, Johnson says "we had a very clear blueprint of how to move together as partners". So, when Amazon, which already had an agreement with Crystal Dynamics to publish future Tomb Raider games, proposed making a live-action TV show, it seemed like a lightning-in-a-bottle moment for all involved.

We're not the type of people who hype up their own s**t

Dmitri Johnson

"Every decision [on the show] is made with Crystal Dynamics' sign-off," Johnson reveals. "So, season one has their blessing and they're very hands-on, but they also respect Phoebe, who's a super-fan, and her perspective of what a live-action Tomb Raider project should be.

"We've actually just started seeing rough cuts, and we were grinning like 10 year olds the entire time. It's going to be good. By the way, we're not the type of people who hype up their own s**t. It's going to be something that your mom can come across and not know that it's based on a 30-year-old videogame franchise. We don't want it to be a niche adaptation just for core fans, who we absolutely honor and will make feel seen. But, if we do our job right, which we're tirelessly trying to do, newcomers will fall love this show just as much as we have."

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Life is Strange is a whole other beast. The 2015 episodic adventure game, which tells the story of a high schooler named Max who discovers she can rewind time, is famous for its branching dialog option-based narrative. Ultimately, though, the choices players make during any given playthrough lead to just one of two endings.

In collaboration with its production partners Amazon, Life is Strange franchise publisher Square Enix, and Margot Robbie's LuckyChap Entertainment, then, how is Story Kitchen tackling an evolving tale built on player choice? Furthermore, how did they decide which ending to not only use, but one that, regardless of what happens in Life is Strange: Reunion, aka Deck Nine's 2024 sequel to the first Max-led game, some viewers might interpret as being its true canonical ending?

You accept that you're not going to make everyone happy

Dmitri Johnson

"We went into Life is Strange knowing that almost all of the major decisions were almost a 50-50 split," Johnson muses. "So, at the start of development, you have to accept that you're not going to make everyone happy. That said, the way we're approaching some of those critical decisions from the games, I think everyone is are going to feel seen, and they're going to be happy and probably emotional [with how things play out]."

Get ready to see a movie adaptation of Hazelight's award-winning videogame Split Fiction (Image credit: Hazelight)

It's full steam ahead for Amazon MGM Studios film adaptations of two award-winning and popular Hazelight games in It Takes Two and Split Fiction, too.

Where the latter is concerned, things are still in the early stages of development. However, prolific actor Sydney Sweeney, Wicked duology director Jon M. Chi, and Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are, as confirmed by Goldberg, all involved.

"You play these games with your significant other, friend, or a family member, and everyone has their own experience," Goldberg says. It's been such a fun challenge of interpreting that and turning it into a singular shared experience [for viewers].

"Reese and Wernick even insisted on playing the game, and that's how we want our village to be built. You're not required to be a game, but we loved that they wanted to play and experience it together before they committed to this adaptation, and that's going to influence their own script."

It Takes Two's movie adaptation has been trapped in development hell since early 2022 (Image credit: EA Originals)

As for It Takes Two's film reimagining, it's been over four years since Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks production team boarded the Amazon-led project. Speaking to Eurogamer last March, Hazelight creative director Josef Fares, who's known for not mincing his words, took aim at how long it was taking for the film to move forward.

"Hollywood, there's so much b******t," Fares responded when asked for an update. "I think 90 percent of the meetings are actually b******t, and 10 percent are what actually happens. There's a lot of talk, but not a lot of walk. I don't know what's going on. Hopefully something. It would be cool to get something out of it, but my hopes are not so high."

"They are," Johnson says when I ask him if Fares, Hazelight, and Johnson's company are still involved, before he adds: "We're so close to the Hazelight boys at this point that there's a shorthand with them, and the relationship with them and partners on our side... it's all very fluid."

Days of future past

Sloclap's acclaimed beat-em-up title Sifu is getting a film adaptation for Netflix (Image credit: Sloclap)

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the 30+ film and TV projects that Story Kitchen plans on delivering.

Johnson and Goldberg want to cover as many genre bases and demographics as possible, too. Film adaptations of three Roblox games — Grow a Garden, Steal a Brainrot, and Jailbreak — are in the works, as are Just Cause, Shinobi, and Ruiner productions with Universal.

Elsewhere, Netflix has signed on to bring Sifu and Kingmakers adaptations to its user base, Lionsgate is hard at work on a Streets of Rage movie, and film reimaginings of hit indie games Disco Elysium and Dredge have also been announced. Additionally, a House of the Dead movie led by The Last of Us and Superman star Isabela Merced — "she's our homie," Johnson beams —is just another of Story Kitchen's other planned projects.

I think it's going to go the same way as Barbie

Dmitri Johnson

It isn't just video games that are being turned into movies, either. Toys 'R Us, a popular toy retailer in the '80s and '90s that's recently enjoyed a resurgence in the US, is getting the live-action film treatment. Meanwhile, Teddy Ruxpin, an animatronic storytelling bear that was a US bestseller in the '80s, will star in a feature that's been described as 'Sonic the Hedgehog meets Elf'.

Story Kitchen hopes its Teddy Ruxpin project will be a box office hit in the vein of 2023's Barbie film (Image credit: Worlds of Wonder)

"I think it's going to go the same way as Barbie," self-confessed Teddy Ruxpin fan Johnson says in reference to the 2023 megahit starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. "I went into that thinking 'ugh, cash grab' and then had a little tear in the eye by the third act.

"It [the Teddy Ruxpin movie] is funnier than it has any right to be," Johnson continues. "We have ridiculous musical numbers when we shouldn't, and it's so brilliantly bananas that it works. I think it's going to catch people off-guard, and kids are gonna walk out of it wanting a Teddy Ruxpin."

We're about to pitch a show based on a game that hasn't even been announced

Mike Goldberg

But, back to the games — and, perhaps most importantly, Story Kitchen's mission to create films and TV shows not only based on beloved titles from the past and those that are currently popular, but also those yet to be released.

"We're about to pitch a show based on a game that hasn't even been announced," Goldberg teases as an example of the latter. "And, should nothing change, it'll finally be announced at the 2026 Game Awards. But we're already going to take a fully fleshed, packaged, and scripted drama TV pitch on it to studios next month, so we can move as swiftly as possible once the game is officially revealed."

A film adaptation of last year's biggest gaming hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been in the works since early 2023 (Image credit: Sandfall Interactive)

Whatever that soon-to-be-announced game is, its developer will surely hope it performs as well as 2025 surprise hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 did.

The first-ever title from French studio Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur unexpectedly dominated the gaming sphere last year. With over eight million copies sold (as of April 2026) and numerous award wins under its belt, it's little wonder that this critically and commercially successful title is being turned into a live-action film. As Johnson is keen to point out, though, the Clair Obscur bandwagon isn't one that Story Kitchen jumped on post-launch.

"As a company, we pride ourselves on not chasing heat," he explains. "We're less likely to pursue a game once it's become an established hit, because we don't ever want to be seen as those people.

We're less likely to pursue a game once it's become an established hit

Dmitri Johnson

"We were actually working with Sandfall as early as 2023," he continues. "We read almost 600 pages of scripts, had raw music files [to listen to], [and] art to look at, so we fell in love with it before we saw any real gameplay. Obviously, you don't know how a game is going to perform, so we went into this knowing that it could be a tough sell. Without the massive success it had, it would've been an uphill battle [to pitch our movie adaptation to studios]. But, as I said earlier, once the passion kicks in, we don't take 'no' for an answer. We were convinced three years ago that this was something to be excited about, and... that's all we can say about it right now."

If there's one thing I took from my chat with Johnson and Goldberg, it's this: they genuinely care about what they're doing. Like, a lot. They don't phone in their work, nor did they lazily trot out stock responses to my questions. They are completely committed to telling the world that games are not only great, but that their stories are also worth translating and telling in other mediums.

Story Kitchen would love to make a Metroid movie or TV show alongside Nintendo (Image credit: Nintendo)

There's so much more that Story Kitchen wants to accomplish, though. Even with the abundance of productions already on their plate, Johnson and Goldberg have ambitions on adapting even more franchises for the big and small screen. Their dream projects? Mega Man and — surprisingly — Bad Dudes for Johnson, and Nintendo's iconic sci-fi franchise Metroid for Goldberg.

But such wish fulfillment must wait for another day. As we approach the tail-end of what was supposed to be an hour-long interview, Goldberg reveals that he and Johnson are being summoned by Amazon for a meeting — the contents of which he can't disclose.

It's a sign of just how busy the pair have become, but they wouldn't have it any other way. After all, Story Kitchen is no ordinary passion project — it's reshaping the multimedia landscape as we know it.

That's our next mission: proving that videogames are art

Dmitri Johnson

"We were recently looking back on our list of games to consider for last year's BAFTA Game Awards," Johnson says, "And there's one from a tiny Australian team called The Drifter that, after I came across it in 2025, I couldn't stop gushing about. Anyway, we ended up tracking them down and, in the very first meeting we had with another studio, we were able to find a home for this indie game in the form of a big theatrical movie.

"That wouldn't have been possible five, six years ago, and that's why we're enjoying this moment now. Step one was getting rid of this silly notion that games are cursed. Now, step two, and we say this with a straight face, you'll see Oscars, Emmys, and BAFTAs being won by movies and TV shows that are based on games. That's our next mission: proving that videogames are art. The stories being told, the characters they contain... they're no different to a New York Times best-selling book — and we're ready to show the world why."

The FDA is poised to render a decision on Moderna's mRNA-based flu shot, which could be the first of its kind to market. The decision is expected to reverberate throughout the biotech industry.

(Image credit: Maddie Meyer)

It's typical, you wait for ages for a home energy revolution and then two come along at once — or at least that's what appears to be happening in the UK.

You've probably heard about the first landmark moment. 'Plug-in solar' hit the headlines last week when the UK government announced that small, solar panel kits that feed electricity directly into your standard home socket can legally go on sale from August 27.

That's a big deal. Plug-in solar means that millions of people who have traditionally been locked out of generating their own clean electricity — renters and flat owners, for example — will be able to join the residential solar party, albeit on a more modest scale.

But not everyone was celebrating wildly with biodegradable confetti. Across the country, energy nerds bemoaned one glaring omission in the government's new legislation — a legal pathway for 'plug-in batteries'.

I think in the next couple of years we will see plug-in batteries really be the transformational scale deployment.

Alex Schoch, Group Director for Flexibility at Octopus Energy

For many, these small home batteries — think a mini Tesla Powerwall that plugs into a standard wall socket — are the "real game-changer", as Octopus Energy and Anker both described them to me. That's because they promise to be even more accessible than plug-in solar and act as a money-saving brain that makes your home an active part of a smarter UK electricity grid.

Bold claims indeed, so I spoke to four of the biggest players in this burgeoning space — Anker, Octopus Energy, EcoFlow and Windfall Energy — along with the UK government to find out when plug-in batteries might be coming, what the drawbacks are and, most importantly, how much you can really expect to save...

When are they coming?

(Image credit: Windfall Energy)

The main premise of plug-in home batteries, like the Windfall Battery above, is simple — they charge automatically using cheap-rate electricity (usually at night), then discharge that electricity around your home during more expensive peak-rate periods. "Even without solar panels, a plug-in battery delivers meaningful savings through grid arbitrage alone," Anker Solix's EU CEO, Kelvin Cao, tells me. Savings estimates range from between £100-£400 per year, depending on your battery, tariff and usage.

Great, so when exactly will they become legal in the UK? When I asked the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the official answer was predictably vague. "We are rolling out plug-in solar, which will be quickest to reach the market — helping to bring bills down for good," a DESNZ spokesperson said.

What is a plug-in battery?

(Image credit: Windfall Energy)

Plug-in batteries are smart energy storage devices that connect to your home's electrical network through a standard wall socket, without any professional installation. They automatically charge from the grid when electricity is cheap and release energy back into your home during peak-rate hours to cut your energy bills. They can work on their own or alongside solar. While they're not currently legal in the UK, that could potentially change soon.

The DESNZ told me its main focus right now is plug-in solar kits and that plug-in batteries have their own technical and regulatory hurdles, which it's currently investigating. Still, there are hopes that grid-connected batteries that plug into your wall socket could be legalised within the next year.

Several big players are quietly preparing plug-in batteries — which are already available in countries like Germany — for a UK launch. Anker, for example, has built a page for its Solix Solarbank 4 that clearly explains the benefits of plug-in batteries, should they become legalised in the UK. "We are eager to support the rise of the plug-in era in the UK and become part of its evolving energy landscape," Anker Solix's EU CEO, Kelvin Cao, told me.

Octopus Energy also recently announced that its new plug-in Nook Cube battery will go on sale sometime in 2027. More confident on the timescale is Windfall Energy, a London startup that's designed the best-looking piece of home energy kit I've seen for a while, the Windfall Battery.

"I was at a roundtable with a Minister of Parliament about a month ago, and everyone there was pretty much calling for batteries to come hot on the heels of plug-in solar," Windfall Energy's co-founder Rob Hallifax told me.

So when is Windfall expecting to start selling its 2.5 kWh home battery, which has an RRP of £1,200 and had previously been slated to ship in autumn? "Winter is more likely now. We want to time it with the plug-in regulations. It’s looking like the end of this year, early next," he added.

Why now?

(Image credit: House of Commons Library)

You'll probably have noticed that the UK has been on an energy rollercoaster that can technically be described as 'not fun'.

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, inflation-adjusted gas and electricity prices were actually stable or even falling. But there was a huge spike for both in early 2022 and they've never returned to pre-energy crisis levels. Electricity prices are still 13% higher than in January 2020, according to the UK government, and they continue to move in the wrong direction.

It is not merely an additional product, but the step from producing electricity to actively managing it.

Kelvin Cao, Anker SOLIX EU CEO

Plug-in batteries promise to be, if not a cure, then at least a much-needed pain killer for our energy bills headache. They're emerging now because of three things — falling prices for lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries, the easing of electrical regulations in some regions (Germany created the world's first dedicated plug-in solar product standard in late 2025), and soaring wholesale gas prices that are reflected in the graph above.

As Anker's Kelvin Cao tells me, this has "reshaped how European households think about electricity". Unfortunately, that double-digit increase in energy prices is also "unlikely to come down any time soon". That's why Germany started the trend, and the UK is (hopefully) about to follow.

(Image credit: Anker)

So how exactly do plug-in batteries save you money? "There’s two parts to the price saving," Windfall Energy's co-founder Rob Hallifax tells me. "The simple one is just the price arbitrage. So if you're paying 10p at night and 30p in the day for electricity per kilowatt hour, then you buy it at 10p, use it when it's 30p, you're saving 20p per kilowatt hour," he says.

That part's pretty simple — with the Windfall Battery, this 'buy low, use when prices skyrocket' approach makes up about £168 of its promised £250 per year savings. But there are also extra savings from getting your plug-in battery really singing in tune with the electricity network.

I think it could be bigger than solar because it’s just so easy.

Rob Hallifax, Windfall Energy co-founder

The UK grid acts a bit like a giant smart thermostat, signaling when the system needs more or less electricity, and the idea is that energy suppliers could follow by telling plug-in home batteries when to charge and discharge. Smaller plug-in batteries would likely be capped at an 800W output (without professional installation), so wouldn't be exporting power to the grid. But they could still play a role in balancing demand.

This makes tariffs the second big factor in the money-saving potential of plug-in batteries — and that's something Octopus Energy has been a UK leader in.

(Image credit: Octopus Energy)

"The energy sector overall has not really embraced the fact that you can just offer different types of products to different types of consumer customer groups," Alex Schoch, Group Director for Flexibility at Octopus Energy, tells me. "Of our eight million customers, 1.2 million are on some kind of smart tariff," he adds.

Octopus Energy told me there could potentially be dedicated plug-in battery tariffs or bolt-ons for existing ones. If you've ever been baffled by choosing the right energy tariff, this could also get simpler thanks to plug-in batteries.

"I equate it to the evolution of mobile phone plans," Octopus Energy's Alex Schoch tells me. "First, they were incredibly generic. Then they got so complicated that Carphone Warehouse came into being just to explain the complexity. And now we’re at a stage where we create hyper-personalised plans based on your needs as a consumer. We’re on that same journey when it comes to energy".

But doesn't this also demand a lot of trust in energy companies? Windfall Energy's Rob Hallifax agrees, but thinks falling bills will ultimately convince consumers. "It's their (consumers'] battery, they're in control of it, but the energy company is controlling it a bit to help them maximize the savings," he says. "The consumer has to trust that the energy company is doing this to save them money, and I think that will come when they see their bills go down," he adds.

What's the catch?

(Image credit: EcoFlow)

Clearly, plug-in batteries won't be a magic wand for everyone's bills, even if the batteries could be subsidised or even given away for free by the UK government to lower-income households, as the i Paper reported recently (the DESNZ declined to comment on this when I asked).

For most plug-in batteries, the payback period (the time it takes for savings to cover the cost of the battery) is expected to be around 3-4 for years, so not exactly a financial quick fix. The Windfall Battery promises annual savings of £250 (with an RRP of £1,200), while Anker tells me that the larger Solix Solarbank 4 on a dynamic tariff like Octopus Agile could save you just under £400 per year. That battery has no UK price yet, but retails for €1,999 in Europe (around £1,700).

The other concern raised by skeptics is safety. Is allowing potentially millions of households to connect batteries to their electricity networks without professional installation really a good idea? Windfall Energy's Rob Hallifax acknowledges that it's an understandable concern. "People see a battery, and they think of scooters and fires, and there some valid concerns. Obviously, safety is critically important, and just one battery fire would be one too many," he says.

The vast majority of households own a refrigerator to store groceries and extend the shelf life of perishable food. Battery storage brings the same benefits to household energy.

Kelvin Cao, Anker SOLIX EU CEO

"But modern batteries are generally extremely safe,' he adds. "There are some studies out of Germany now where they compare batteries to EVs and other home appliances. One headline is that they’re typically about as safe as a washing machine," he adds. The other common comparison is with fan heaters, which are legal in the UK but carry a higher risk of 'user error' incidents than plug-in batteries.

Still, the added complexities of grid-charging batteries mean some agree with the UK government's top-dipping approach. EcoFlow, one of the biggest global players in home batteries, is among them. "We're aware and completely understand that these things take time," Lorna Wallace-Smith (EcoFlow's Head of UK PR) told me. "The fact that they were able to move forward with at least one step is is great" she added.

But hasn't Germany's rapid adoption of both plug-in solar and home batteries shown it's safe? "I think that's something we should learn from, as well as not fast-track into something without knowing it's absolutely built for UK homes," she added.

Could they outshine solar?

(Image credit: Windfall Energy)

Despite these concerns, it seems clear that plug-in batteries have the potential to eclipse the more complex plug-in solar kits in the UK — and most of the experts I spoke to agreed.

"They are the fundamental great equalizer," says Octopus' Alex Schoch on plug-in batteries. "It’s such an important thing for renters because you can then take it with you to your next place," he adds.

"I think in the next couple of years we will see plug-in batteries really be the transformational scale deployment. I think it has the potential of being a mass market thing even faster than solar," he predicts.

Windfall Energy's Rob Hallifax naturally agrees when comparing plug-in batteries to their solar equivalent. "There are 28 million homes in the UK and about half of them are either rented or flats and small homes. So more people could get them, millions, and there’s also the benefit to the grid and to the system," he says.

There is one other obvious comparison with an accessory that's cheap, easy to use and promises to save you money. "We use air fryers as quite a good example. Four or five years ago they just came from nowhere and suddenly half the country has one," he says.

But wouldn't an 'air fryer' level of popularity also cause a problem for plug-in batteries? After all, a lot of their money-saving potential comes from tapping into today's so-called 'delta' between cheap-rate and peak-rate electricity. If plug-in batteries help to solve the imbalance of today's grid demand — and tariffs are adjusted to reflect that — could that start to diminish their savings potential?

"I think yes and no," says Windfall Energy's Rob Hallifax. "So maybe in 50 years the whole grid will be sort of perfect. I think the fundamental thing is that if you have renewable generation, that's always going to be variable. That's just the nature of the world. And so somewhere in the system, storage has to be part of it," he adds.

Octopus Energy's Alex Schoch agrees that such a change would be a long way off. "In theory, yes." he says in response to my pessimistic scenario. "But I would actually say the length of time here is measured in decades, not in a sub-decade quantum," he adds.

However, he does note that a similar process is already happening. "We've had such an explosion of solar in the UK over the last few years that now during Spring and Summer, a lot of the cheapest wholesale price electricity times are actually late morning, early afternoon, mid afternoon, and no longer overnight," he notes.

Charging ahead

(Image credit: Windfall Energy)

The legalisation of plug-in batteries in the UK appears to be a matter of 'when' not 'if'. As a flat owner in south west London with no roof and only a limited appetite for plug-in solar, I'm right in the target market — and will certainly be interested when that moment comes.

But it also won't be an impulse buy where I snap up the first thing I see Amazon. "The biggest pitfall to avoid is making decision on price alone," says Anker's Kelvin Cao. "Now that plug-in solar has regulatory approval, the UK market will attract a wave of low-cost imports, some of which will be excellent and some of which will not. This will be a similar problem once the plug-in batteries are legalised," he warns.

"A battery that cuts corners on cell quality, protective engineering and compliance with applicable safety standards might look more attractive on its price tag, but it will not deliver the same reliability over the 10 to 15 years that a household should reasonably expect," he adds. In other words, buying cheap could backfire when it comes to savings.

So what exactly should you look for when plug-in batteries are legalised? "As a baseline, consumers should look for durable LFP battery cells, a high cycle life, robust protection against weather and corrosion, and integrated safeguards against electrical and thermal risks," Kelvin Cao says.

"They'll probably also say that the product must be listed on the Energy Networks Association (ENA) Type Test Register to demonstrate that its protection settings meet G98 requirements," adds Windfall Energy's Rob Hallifax.

A real-world view

(Image credit: Octopus Energy / Future)

A large number of early adopters are already getting a taste of the benefits of a battery-only setup. One of those is TechRadar contributor Mark Pickavance, who wrote our EcoFlow Stream Ultra X review (which is well worth a read).

I caught up with him to see how it's going and he continues to be impressed. He told me that his monthly energy costs are down by about £40 a month with his setup (which was installed with the help of an electrician), and you could get most of that from a single Ultra X.

The only problem is that this stuff can get addictive. "I started with the premise of using just a battery, but once you have one the logical progression is solar. However, for people renting, it's the ideal solution, and if you use an Economy 7-like tariff (Octopus Go), you can take a chunk out of your costs," he said.

The arrival of plug-in solar from August could, then, be a good dry run of what to expect when plug-in batteries arrive. The big differences between residential buildings between Germany and the UK could mean plug-in solar doesn't quite take off in the same way in the UK, but Anker's Kelvin Cao remains bullish.

"This is no longer a niche movement. Germany passed one million officially registered plug-in solar systems in 2025, with around 430,000 new systems registered during that year alone," he notes. If plug-in batteries follow a similar pattern in the UK, that could have big consequences for energy bills — and the UK's grid as a whole.

I’ve been lifting weights at home for a few years now, but recently I’ve found myself stuck in a rut. If anything, my routine has become a humdrum habit, without a clear goal and sense of progression to keep me motivated. Ten exercises, three sets, eight reps, 30 minutes. I’ve run through it so often that I could do it in my sleep.

I’m a true tech lover, so of course I got artificial intelligence (AI) to help me out. Apple has just launched its revamped Siri AI and I’ve been playing around with its early beta edition, so I was curious to know if its new skills extended to solid fitness advice — and if they did, how they held up against the ever-popular ChatGPT.

To find out, I asked each chatbot to dream up a workout routine that could revitalize my fitness habits. After working through both plans and tapping a professional personal trainer for their insights, I was left with the impression that only one of the two workout plans was worth sticking with.

The setup

(Image credit: Dean Drobot / Shutterstock)

To start with, I put together a prompt that I then fed into both AIs. The goal was to briefly explain my physical state and outline the kind of workout I was after, noting any constraints such as time and location (I work out at home).

Here’s the prompt I used:

“I am a 36-year-old man in good physical shape who exercises regularly. Create a three-day overall workout plan for me with the goals of hypertrophy and building muscle. The workout will be done in a small home office using dumbbells as the only equipment. It can include calisthenics as well as weighted exercises and should aim to cover different areas of the body. Ensure it lasts no longer than 45 minutes. Explain how often each workout session should be repeated over the course of a week and when rest days should take place, if required.”

I didn’t add any subsequent follow-up messages, as I wanted to know what each AI could come up with given the kind of information that a regular user might provide.

The new challenger: Siri AI

(Image credit: Future)

At its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Apple made a big song and dance of its new Siri AI virtual assistant, a new foundational model based on Google’s Gemini LLM.

When given my workout prompt, Siri AI put together a plan that included a “push” day focusing on my chest, shoulders and triceps; a “pull” day centered on my back, biceps and rear delts; then a final “legs and core” day. It offered a workout schedule and suggested that each session would take around 45 minutes, with three sets of 8-12 reps and a rest of 60-90 seconds between each set.

“Focus on controlled movements and progressive overload by gradually increasing the weight of your dumbbells or the difficulty of your calisthenics,” it advised. Each exercise was accompanied by a short explanation of how to perform it, which was a welcome touch.

Putting Siri’s action plan into practice, it was obvious that my old self-made workout plan wasn't pushing me hard enough, as the first day’s workout left me feeling like I’d worked harder than I had for months. Off to a good start, I thought.

(Image credit: Future)

But Siri’s plan came up well short of 45 minutes, with most days’ efforts lasting a mere 25 minutes. And aside from the lack of warm up, there was also no word on how to complement the exercises with targeted nutritional intake. That’s a serious oversight in its workout regimen, especially for beginners.

To help me better understand the plans from both Siri AI and ChatGPT, I asked personal trainer and fitness coach Scott Laidler for his opinion. Speaking of Siri’s effort, Laidler said that it had a few things going for it.

“Siri’s is simple which means there is little to misinterpret,” said Laidler, adding that “the equipment substitutions are sensible for the office environment.”

While Siri recommends upping the weight as you get stronger, it doesn’t say “what to do once this plan hits diminishing returns, which is months away, not years,” according to Laidler. While it sounds like an open-ended plan, “it’s really only built for a defined window,” Laidler warned, which could “lead to frustration unless you knew to come back to the table and ask for a new plan several times per year.”

That’s a problem inherent in the responses from both Siri and ChatGPT.

The class leader: ChatGPT

(Image credit: Future)

While Siri AI’s workout plan was concise, ChatGPT was much longer. It explained what the priorities of the workout were and gave some basic advice, such as aiming to finish with one or two reps in reserve as a guidance on how much weight to use. It then listed a weekly schedule before laying out a simple warm up to perform each session.

Each exercise was listed, with varying numbers of sets and reps, followed by a note on which muscle groups were being targeted. Unlike Siri, there was no explanation of how to perform each exercise, which feels like an oversight with potential for injury. That was a clear win for Siri AI.

At the end, ChatGPT included a “progression” section explaining how to push yourself further, a guide on recovery and nutritional intake, then an explanation of “why this split works.” Taken together, it was a detailed workout plan, if a rather verbose one.

(Image credit: Future)

According to Laidler, ChatGPT’s plan was “the better program by some margin.” Siri “applies a flat ‘three sets of 8-12’ to every exercise, with each muscle group trained once a week,” Laidler noted. ChatGPT, on the other hand, “hits most muscle groups twice across the week, varies the sets per exercise, includes a warm up, and gives real progression logic. On paper it’s the more sophisticated plan.”

ChatGPT “is closer to what the literature would see as optimal for the stated goal of gaining muscle,” Laidler stated. “Reps in reserve (RIR) offers a way for the user to keep a reasonable distance from failure, which de-risks the plan especially when training alone.”

OpenAI’s LLM has a trick up its sleeve, too: it can analyze your form based on uploaded videos. I asked it to judge my Romanian deadlift form and it gave me an 8.5 out of ten, giving pointers on what I did well and what could be improved. I wouldn’t take this advice over that of a human expert, but compared to Siri AI — which can’t do any of this at all — it’s another point to ChatGPT.

The overall picture

(Image credit: LStockStudio/Shutterstock)

Despite their individual strengths, Laidler warned that neither Siri AI nor ChatGPT had created an optimal workout plan. As he pointed out, “It doesn’t appear that the LLM has asked follow up questions that may have helped customize the plan a little more.”

This highlights a problem with using AI for personal fitness. While a personal trainer would naturally ask these questions straight away, an AI chatbot won’t necessarily propose them unless prompted. Without a more detailed knowledge of your personal situation, you could end up with a sub-par workout routine that’s not well-suited to your circumstances.

So, if you’re going to use AI to sketch out a fitness plan, make sure to add as much detail in your prompt as possible. Ask it to pose follow-up questions to ensure it has as all the information it needs, and come back to it regularly. Don’t just stick to the plan it gives you and repeat it ad infinitum or you’ll end up like I did: languishing, with your progress grinding to a frustrating halt.

Of course, as Laidler pointed out, the problem with doing this — telling the LLM your injury history, what feels like a hard set, your workout preferences, and more — means that “you need to already know what a well-built program looks like to comprehensively prompt for one.” And if that’s the case, do you even need an AI to help you in the first place?

If you do want to go ahead with an AI fitness coach, ChatGPT is a better bet than Siri AI for now, as it includes more varied sets and targets more muscle groups. Neither is perfect, but Apple has plenty of work to do if it wants to match ChatGPT’s take on fitness advice.

Residents of the ancient town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon have endured wars in the past, but the latest conflict with Israel is testing the limits of their endurance.

(Image credit: Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR)

Thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children are set to lose legal representation. The federal contract that pays for legal access expired Friday.

(Image credit: Michael M. Santiago)

The death toll in Spain's Ceuta border crisis with Morocco has climbed to 67. They included some who drowned and some who were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier.

(Image credit: Antonio Sempere)

Dear Gillian,

When I close my eyes, my version of heaven is you sprinkling rose petals across the bedroom of a deserted log cabin while any song from Sade's Love Deluxe album hums softly in the background. Now, when I open them, I can see exactly that in Teenage Sex and Death in Camp Miasma.

It's an understatement to say that Jane Schoenbrun's third movie was my most anticipated movie of 2026, and that was before I knew anything other than the cast list.

The world's worst-kept secret is that amongst queer women, you're considered to be "lesbian God," thanks to The X-Files, The Fall, Sex Education, and the time you said that the Guess remix featuring Charli XCX and Billie Eilish was your most listened-to song on Spotify in 2024. I'd argue that you've even overtaken Cate Blanchett in that respect.

Add Hannah Einbinder, the woman we've vicariously lived through since season 1 of Hacks, into the mix, and I knew audiences would have something special in their hands. But I really didn't foresee just how profoundly, life-changingly moving the end product would be.

There's a lot of spectacular dynamics at play to make this possible, but I think that the beating heart at the center of it is you. As Billy Presley, the reclusive former 'final girl' of the Camp Miasma horror franchise that director Kris (Einbinder) wants to reboot, we get yet another piece of the never-ending puzzle that is your multi-faceted craft.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is more than just a LGBTQIA+ horror movie — it's an epiphany

On the surface, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma should be a straightforward, almost stereotypical horror movie premise. When Kris is asked to direct a reboot of the disgraced Camp Miasma franchise, she visits original movie final girl Billy, who still lives at the summer camp where it was set. Cue an inversion of reality where the pair are literally running for their lives away from the "big bad," Little Death.

But actually, there are no villains here. This is all just a facade to get you hooked on the true meaty substance of the movie: the subconscious fear in pleasure. For Kris, this manifests in her sexuality, struggling to fully let herself go in the presence of another person. Billy's confident command in leading Kris towards the light (that is, sexual freedom) is... well, satisfying in more ways than one.

Everything is sexy and sensually charged, but nothing is ever gratuitous. It's almost as if Einbinder was inside my own brain before instinctively making her character choices, with every decision Kris makes being the one I'd have chosen myself. She makes no secret of her immediate fascination and hunger for Billy... and isn't that how we react to you as it is?

By now, the internet has worked out that "Little Death" is also how the French describe an orgasm, but I think the significance of the trio's relationship runs so much deeper than just sex. Our spear-wielding villain signifies loneliness, a lack of self-understanding, and a self-imposed inability to give and receive love. Schoenbrun's previous two films, We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow, explore these phenomena beautifully, but by God, has she achieved an all-timer here.

Across the board, everything is elevated, from the movie's scale and production design to its soundtrack and grasp on moving through time. Aesthetically, we land directly between fantasy and reality, with hand-drawn backgrounds often representing Billy's romanticized version of her Camp Miasma truth. Kris is the conduit between the two, but when she finally gives herself over to Little Death, she exists in a blissful, ever-moving fantasy that I would now do anything to claim for myself.

The act of pleasure in itself can look like just about anything, and you all innately understand that. As Little Death sits in his video palace with a completely different understanding of what the Camp Miasma movies can mean, I find myself wanting to be brave for them all. I want to scream, cry, and grasp hold of joy for them. I want to meet myself at my most basic, primal level.

But back to you, Gillian

(Image credit: MUBI)

But enough of this... let's get back to you. Armed with a Dolly Parton-esque accent, a bucket of fried chicken and a lifetime's resistance against assimilating back into the real world, Billy Presley is the new-age horror hero I didn't know I needed.

Kris might be the bridge between the world of Camp Miasma and real life, but Billy is our guide between harbored shame and unrelenting freedom. She understands life in a way that most of us never do, perhaps because we've long left our sense of whimsy and suspension of belief behind. To her, Little Death is as real as you and I, and I'm starting to believe the same thing.

You've simultaneously made Billy into the most mysteriously sexy woman alive and an adult posing as the frightened, unsure teenage girl who never grew up after the release of the franchise's first movie. She's a beacon of never-ending wisdom, yet has absolutely no understanding of how the outside world works. She's the embodiment of how people can be everything and nothing all at once, and that is a pleasure to behold in itself.

If she could trap me under that picturesque starlit sky while little on the porch of the cabin she now calls home, I'd never move. If she reached for my hand to stay close through a woodland storm of bloodied clothes and peach skies, I'd walk forever. Kris felt the same way, and now she gets the blissful, blood-soaked happy ever after with her lover that the LGBT+-friendly side of cinema has only let us have a handful of times. The one so many of us long for.

Kris gets it. Einbinder and Schoenbrun get it. And now, I get it too. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma isn't just a movie, but a life-altering experience, and you made sure of that. In a twisted sort of way, sex, death, and the life we live in between the two have never been more appealing.

Thank you for keeping us grounded in our own pleasure, whatever it looks like.

Yours,

Jasmine Valentine

As Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed vie for the Democratic nomination, voters are debating which way the party should go: establishment or insurgent; progressive or more moderate; new media or old.

(Image credit: Sylvia Jarrus for NPR)

Staff Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad is one of a handful of service members who've recently died in the conflict with Iran. Her family says she knew from a young age she wanted to serve in the military.

(Image credit: Ryan Murphy)

Cyclospora parasite. That's because symptoms may not appear for up to two weeks after someone's eaten contaminated food.
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Public health nurses have been pulled from other duties in Washtenaw County, MI, to call hundreds of people sick with cyclosporiasis, and try to help them remember everything they ate in recent days.

(Image credit: Kate Wells
)

In June, the Department of Defense disinterred the remains of an unidentified WWII soldier who had been buried in Sitka, Alaska for decades. Now, they'll try to confirm who he is.

(Image credit: Hope McKenney)

OpenAI and Anthropic say their models broke into other companies' systems during testing, raising security concerns amid a heated debate over how to regulate AI.

(Image credit: Imen Ben Youssef/Hans Lucas)

The president's media company is offering investors early access to his Truth Social feed for up to $100,000 a month. Experts say the service may violate insider trading laws.

(Image credit: Saul Loeb)

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 1, 2026.

FIFA abandoned a plan to create a commercial venture and then sell stakes to minority investors, just days after unveiling it. The plan drew sharp condemnation — and a boycott from European nations.

(Image credit: Fabrice Coffrini)

• It's a full Dolby Atmos mixing studio... in a shed
• Designed to deliver accurate Atmos audio with pin-sharp precision
• Artists are delighted with the mixes, which required no tweaks

If like me you used to have, or still have, a backyard office or shed for working in, you're going to be green with envy at the sight of mixing maestro Kurt Martinez's personal Dolby Atmos studio.

The award-nominated Atmos expert designed and built his own backyard office and filled it with enviable gear, and if he doesn't call it his Spatial shed I'm going to be very disappointed.

Martinez has been nominated for the prestigious Music Producers Guild award as Atmos Engineer of the Year, and he spent three years as the Head Dolby Atmos Mix Engineer at the world-famous Dean Street studios. He's worked on live and recorded music by a host of stars including Kylie Minogue, Def Leppard, Soft Play, Billy Idol and Duran Duran.

Like many freelancers, Martinez figured that having a home office was a much better idea than a long commute into the city, and in Martinez's case that decision was compounded by being a new dad. So he built an entire Atmos mixing studio in his back garden, doing everything himself apart from the electrics and internet connectivity.

(Image credit: Kurt Martinez)How to make a spatial shed

As Mixonline reports, Martinez built the 2.5m x 3.5m garden office with a combination of porous timber walls to absorb the low frequencies, acoustic panelling in the ceiling and sides, a large rear bookshelf for dispersion, and acoustic slat panels at the front. There's thick acoustic underlay below the laminate floor and even the furniture has a function: the armchairs and rug are there to absorb audio reflections.

With the building ready, the next step was to add the tech. Martinez uses a Pro Tools system based around an Audient ORIA, which sends audio to a Ginger Audio Ground Control Sphere that's controlled by an Elgato Stream Deck+.

The speakers are striking. They're PMC6-2 left and right monitors, a PMC6 center speaker, an 8 Sub LFE, and Ci30 height and surround monitors. Final mixes are tested on AirPods Max and a Sonos home theater setup to check that still sounds good on consumer Atmos hardware as well a studio-level setup.

I used to have a very similar-looking setup for my own home studio, but sadly I didn't have Martinez's high-end gear or even more importantly, Martinez's ears, which is why nobody's nominating me for anything.

But I do love to see a good audio project, and it's clearly been very successful: according to ETNow.com Martinez's last five full-length records, which he mixed in that studio, required no tweaking at all when he tested them in large commercial studios.

All five of those records have been signed off by their delighted artists. I'd like to think that one of them was Shed Seven.

• Zelensky says Ukraine's drones will soon fly far enough to hit anywhere in Russia
• Kyiv and Washington quietly push forward a plan to build drones on US soil
• Ukraine's drone range could jump to 10,000 km, but engineers still face big hurdles

In a recent interview with American conservative commentator Laura Loomer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian drones should exceed 4,000 km in range in 2026.

The Ukrainian leader added that long-range drones could achieve distances between 5,000 km and 10,000 km, or about 6,000 miles, by 2027.

Such a capability would theoretically allow a drone to cover Russia’s entire territory and reach distances comparable to the route between Kyiv and San Francisco.

Ukraine plans expanded drone cooperation with the United States

The projected increase in range forms part of Kyiv’s efforts to expand drone production through cooperation with Washington and possible manufacturing facilities inside America.

The discussions include joint production, technology exchanges, testing arrangements, and the development of production lines for advanced unmanned systems.

Ukraine has gained extensive experience with aerial drones, naval drones, and deep-strike platforms in its ongoing war with Russia.

Those battlefield developments have become central to discussions about future cooperation, as Kyiv seeks wider access to industrial capacity and advanced manufacturing resources.

The first stage of agreements between Ukraine and the United States has already been completed, while further documents remain under preparation.

"We're going to build a great factory," Zelensky said, describing plans for production lines that could support future drone manufacturing.

Both parties have already signed documents allowing various Ukrainian drone systems to undergo testing in the United States.

Those arrangements involve aerial drones, sea-based systems, and other high-technology products before any broader production agreement receives final approval.

Ukraine has also pursued similar defence partnerships with European countries as it attempts to expand its role in defence technology development.

Long-range drone ambitions face technical challenges

The planned range increase would require significant advances in propulsion, communications, navigation systems, and endurance capabilities before becoming operationally realistic.

Flying thousands of kilometres would create new challenges involving reliability, electronic warfare threats, satellite connectivity, and the ability to maintain accurate targeting.

Military analysts have often noted that extending drone range involves more than increasing flight distance because other systems must operate effectively.

A drone capable of travelling up to 10,000 km would require dependable control systems and protection against attempts to disrupt communications.

The development timeline could also depend on access to funding, manufacturing capacity, and successful testing under demanding operational conditions.

While Ukraine has rapidly expanded its unmanned capabilities during the war, achieving the announced range goals would require continued technological progress.

The proposed timeline shows Kyiv’s ambition to develop longer-range strike capabilities, although the final performance of such systems remains dependent on future development outcomes.

Via NV

You could be forgiven for thinking that most wearable-tech categories have come as far as they're ever going to. All smartwatches look the same now, and that form factor isn’t going away anytime soon. It's a similar story with smart rings, with “slightly thinner” being the main selling point of the Oura Ring 5. And the screenless Whoop tracker has given birth to a bunch of copycats, including the Fitbit Air, and most recently the Garmin Cirqa.

When you think of wearable tech, you normally think of some sort of fitness tracker. But there is an area of wearables that’s still in flux, as categories do before there’s a consensus on what works: neurotech. Neurotech devices are generally wearable technology to monitor, or temporarily alter, our brain chemistry for optimal performance or to treat neurological injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.

They’re also being used to improve our brains to rest harder and focus longer. Our writer Becca Caddy recently wrote about the dangerously addictive thrills of 'over-optimization', so it’s no surprise to see the out-there concept of rewiring the brain being embraced by the cult of biohacking.

(Image credit: Neurosity)

Nootropics — mind-enhancing drugs — are promoted heavily on podcasts, with brands like Gorilla Mind and Alpha Brain enjoying airtime on popular ‘bro-science’ platforms like The Joe Rogan Experience to help get ‘cognitively dialed’. Away from pharmacological solutions, multi-millionaire longevity biohacker Bryan Johnson uses Nurosym, an electrical vagus nerve stimulation device, to “make [his] body more parasympathetic, more chill”.

It’s Nurosym that I’ve been using this week. There are other wearables out there that promise to do all sorts of things — the Neurosity Crown for example (pictured above), promises to improve concentration through “neuroadaptive meditation”, measuring your brainwaves and playing music to that pattern to improve focus during work. All while looking like the sort of thing you might see Patrick Stewart wear in the X-Men films.

The Muse 2 headband is a meditation aid that uses electroencephalography (EEG) sensors to read your brain activity and provide personalized meditation guidance, in much the same way as a smartwatch might read your heart rate and offer workout suggestions.

The vagus nerve, however, is a key target for brain health. Proper stimulation of the vagus nerve is said to offer all sorts of benefits, treating conditions as varied as depression, anxiety, inflammation, bipolar disorder, obesity, POTS, and Alzheimer's. For people without those conditions, vagus nerve stimulation can improve sleep quality, regulate stress and improve relaxation overall, ensuring you're well-rested and ready to tackle life's challenges.

There's unconfirmed but promising research suggesting that you may be able to stimulate the vagus nerve yourself through practices such as meditation and cold exposure — which might explain my predilection for cold showers, as perhaps I’ve been unconsciously hacking away at my brain all this time.

But what if I got a wearable to do it for me? I decided to try Nurosym myself for a week, to see if I could really begin to hack my brain better.

The vagus nerve stimulation device costs a whopping $699 / £599 (around AU$1,300), and looks quite stripped-back for a device of this price. It consists of a fairly simple handheld remote, an attached earpiece with a clamp to fix to your tragus (the small piece of cartilage outside your ear) and a charging cable. There’s mercifully no app or phone connection to speak of; everything happens on-device, which actually goes some way to making me trust it more, as it’s not collecting any data about me.

(Image credit: Future)

“For a long time, neuromodulation has largely meant invasive procedures or treatment delivered in specialist environments,” Dr Greta Dalle Luche, PhD., Nurosym’s head of science, tells me. “Nurosym demonstrates how this science can be translated into non-invasive technology that fits into people’s everyday lives.”

As well as being a doctor in biochemistry, Dalle Luche is also a former professional surfer, so she knows all about optimizing for peak performance. She explains that Nurosym is all about taking “evidence-led neuromodulation” out of the clinical space and turning it into accessible technology. A lot of clinical tests have been done on this device, and it’s advertised as “the world’s most studied vagus nerve stimulator” with $10 million invested in over 60 independent research papers, backed by notable universities and health bodies worldwide.

To use it, you moisten your tragus, fix the clamp, then adjust the signal on the remote — turning it up until you feel a light tingling sensation. That’s the electricity pulsing through your ear to your vagus nerve, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system to activate your body’s “rest and digest” response.

It seems like as good a place as any to start. I wet my ear, clamped it onto myself and sat quietly, letting the tingles of electricity wash down my ear canal and into my brain. Nurosym guidelines, and reports on the r/vagusnerve subreddit (because of course there’s a subreddit), suggest that it can take anything from a few days to months to feel the effects, which are said to include a reduction in depressive or anxiety-related symptoms, better sleep, and better-quality rest and relaxation. These claims are anecdotal, and user-dependent, and the results are subjective, with no objective measure of they actually work or produce meaningful results, certainly in a short amount of time such as a week.

Dalle Luche tells me that “factors such as an individual’s underlying vagal tone, or in other words, the ‘health of their autonomic nervous system,’ influence the proportion of the response to the device". So it's possible that I may end up not having a proportional, or significant, response.

(Image credit: Future)

Nonetheless, I did my best to empirically measure my body’s responses to this new technology, monitoring my sessions on a Garmin Cirqa fitness tracker as if it was a workout, and wearing it to bed nightly to monitor sleep quality and heart-rate variability.

You can watch our video review of the Garmin Cirqa below:

According to the Garmin, the stimulation did have some effect. There could be any number of contributing factors for this, but after spending 15 minutes at rest to settle my heart, I fired up the Nurosym and monitored my heart rate over a 25-minute session, and I did see a decrease in spikes my heart rate as the session went on. Note the regularity in the middle there, too, between the 10 and 17-minute marks — a clear indication that something was working.

(Image credit: Future)

Across the week while using the device, I also saw a general improvement in sleep quality and drastically rising heart-rate variability, as measured here via my Garmin. I’m not sure I saw any immediate, dramatic improvement in focus or relaxation, but the graphs were moving in the right direction.

Whether this is partly due to the sessions enforcing at least 30 minutes of screenless, conscious relaxation time each day, so that my nervous system was deliberately being calmed, or whether it’s due to the device, I’m not sure. But I’ll take the W, as the kids say.

(Image credit: Future)

For $700 / £600 / AU$1,300, is 'seemed to work' enough? When I asked about the high price of the device, Nurosym’s head of science Dr Greta Dalle Luche said its price does not reflect the physical device alone.

“It reflects more than a decade of scientific research and development, our proprietary technology, extensive continuous testing to ensure safety and maintenance of regulatory certification, as well as continued investment in clinical research,” she told me. “That makes a direct product-for-product comparison with lower-cost non-validated wellness gadgets difficult.

“When people buy Nurosym, they have the certainty of holding in their hands something that works, and that comes with very little risk.”

While the results have been inconclusive so far, I've seen enough to suggest that something is happening here, so I'll continue electrocuting my brain for a while yet to see if I achieve more definitive results. Wearable neurotechnology is still in its infancy, but it’s a technology that's on the rise, and I imagine, now that Nurosym has done the hard work of all that proprietary testing, there will be more low-strength vagus nerve-stimulation devices hitting the market in the near future.

I’m interested in seeing where the category goes. If companies like Nurosym can bring down prices, and make the technology more accessible, a wearable that improves your quality of relaxation — and which doesn’t harvest your data to feed big tech via an AI-powered app — sounds like a win in my book.

• Reusable bomber drones join the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Program
• Payloads must exceed 8 kilograms, matching existing mortar rounds already available
• Drones must operate 15 to 30 kilometers from their launch positions

The Pentagon has expanded its Drone Dominance Program by seeking reusable unmanned aircraft capable of carrying bombs instead of functioning solely as one-way attack systems.

Unlike traditional strategic bombers, these aircraft are expected to carry payloads exceeding 8 kg (about 18 lb), placing these aircraft in a very different category from long-range bombers such as the B-52.

According to a new Request for Solutions, the Defence Department is seeking man-packable or light combat vehicle transportable drones capable of operating between 15 km and 30 km from their launch positions.

Small reusable bombers instead of strategic aircraft

Officials expect most candidate systems to weigh no more than 55 lb at gross take-off weight, excluding payload, making them substantially smaller than conventional military bombers.

The required payload exceeds 8 kg and should accommodate mortar rounds or similar munitions already available within existing military inventories.

Rather than releasing a single weapon before returning home, the aircraft should carry multiple warheads capable of engaging several moving or stationary.

Potential objectives include enemy personnel, light armoured vehicles, heavy armour, maritime surface craft, landing vessels, and additional battlefield assets requiring precision engagement.

The Pentagon also requires these systems to remain operational during adverse weather, varying lighting conditions, and attempts to disrupt communications or satellite navigation through electronic jamming.

Officials also want advanced automation integrated into the aircraft, including autonomous functions and automated target recognition intended to reduce operator workload during combat missions.

"Vendors shall demonstrate targeting capabilities designed to improve engagement effectiveness, increase delivery accuracy, and reduce operation cognitive workload during target prosecution," the solicitation states.

Testing will include engagements involving stationary and moving drones, as well as stationary and moving objectives, across different operating heights.

Prototype competition will determine larger future purchases

The Pentagon expects reusable bomber drones to deliver greater reliability than manually piloted first-person-view aircraft. They will be designed for repeated combat operations instead of single-use attacks.

"Systems with advanced features are expected to achieve better results than simple first-person view (FPV) drones that are manual and rely on continuous operator input," the solicitation adds.

The department also said reusable platforms should provide higher reliability and capability than one-way attack systems because they are expected to survive multiple missions.

Manufacturers that complete the initial qualification stage will advance to a competitive evaluation known as the Gauntlet, scheduled for October, in which military personnel will assess complete operational systems.

Evaluators will examine aircraft performance together with payload release mechanisms, ground control equipment, and supporting hardware before determining which companies receive prototype awards.

Following those assessments, the Pentagon plans approximately $32 million in initial prototype contracts covering as many as 1,200 drone systems together with associated logistics packages.

The prototypes will be delivered within five months after receiving an order, while half of the requested systems must arrive within two-and-a-half months.

Via Defense Scoop