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Nothing has long been rumored to be making over-ear headphones. In a YouTube video, it says they're being released this summer.

Expletives are apparently not off the table as a foul-mouthed AI Darth Vader is added to Fortnite.

The fifth-placed Blues take on a struggling Red Devils team distracted by Europe.

• Samsung has launched a new gaming monitor, the Odyssey OLED G6
• The monitor is the first ever 500Hz OLED option on the market
• It will be available in other regions later this year

Samsung's Odyssey lineup includes some of the best gaming monitors available on the market, many of which are OLEDs for immersive experiences – and it's just added another to the list.

As reported by VideoCardz, Samsung has launched the world's first 500Hz OLED gaming monitor; the Odyssey OLED G60SF, which boasts an incredibly high 500Hz refresh rate and a 27-inch display at the 2,560 x 1,440 resolution.

VideoCardz states that it will be priced at $1,488 (around £1,120 / AU$2,320). It's currently only available in some countries in Asia but is expected to roll out to other regions later this year.

The Odyssey OLED G60SD is the current model available but instead utilizes a 360Hz refresh rate. The new OLED G60SF pushes this up to 500Hz, while also offering a VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 display with peak of 1000 nits – a step up from the G60SD's 250 nits of brightness.

It's worth noting that Samsung recently announced that it plans to introduce cheaper OLED monitors, but that isn't the case with the new OLED G6. This is a monitor that should appeal to first-person shooter gamers, notably games like Counter-Strike – but aside from using tools like Nvidia’s Frame Generation, there are very few games that can reach frame rates up to 500fps (or frankly, games that don't need to) even with the best PC hardware available.

(Image credit: Samsung) I'll stick with normal refresh rates, thanks...

While there's no harm in providing a high 500Hz refresh rate, especially for browsing and games that are capable of reaching super high frame rates, the $1,488 price says otherwise. Having used a handful of monitors with different refresh rates over the years, I can assure you, you don't need a 500Hz monitor.

With my Alienware AW3423DWF OLED monitor, 165Hz is perfectly fine and is the sweet spot for high-end gaming; some might even argue that 144Hz or 120Hz is more than enough. That's because the difference between them isn't significant enough for you to notice – unless you jump to one of those directly from a 60Hz display.

The most impressive feature with the new Odyssey OLED G6 is in fact the VESA certification, as DisplayHDR True Black 500 and 1,000 nits of peak brightness will revitalize your gaming experience if you're upgrading from an LED display.

However, there are many cheaper options for OLEDs on the market that can do the same, but just without the absurdly high refresh rates. Call me crazy, but I don't see the value of a 500Hz refresh rate monitor for gaming...

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The VPN purge from Russian official app stores continues, with smaller providers becoming the new target after Apple and Google.

Between May 15 and 16, 2025, Samsung and Xiaomi both removed the AdGuard VPN application at the Roskomnadzor's demand. At least one more VPN provider, HideMyName VPN, has also been removed from the Huawei Store in Russia and China – a Russian VPN digital rights group, VPN Guild, confirmed to TechRadar.

"The removal of VPN apps from app stores marks a clear escalation in Russia’s crackdown on digital privacy tools," said VPN Guild Chair Alexey Kozliuk.

Not an isolated incident

A virtual private network (VPN) is a crucial tool for people in Russia, thanks to its IP-spoofing capabilities that allow bypassing of government-imposed geo-restrictions, as well as strong encryption to help fight back against online surveillance.  (Image credit: Getty Images)

The recent events, Kozliuk explains, aren't isolated incidents, but part of a broader, ongoing campaign to block Russian citizens' access to uncensored information and control internet use.

In October 2023, for example, HideMyName filed the first-ever lawsuit against the Kremlin's infamous censorship body regulator Roskomnadzor. In January 2024, authorities deemed the VPN provider to be a "foreign agent."

In March 2024, the government then passed a new law to criminalize the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions. This is likely the legal basis upon which the Russian censor body began issuing these removal demands to tech firms.

From July 2024 onwards, Apple has removed at least 60 VPN apps, including AdGuard VPN, a popular Russian service, and Amnezia VPN, alongside some of the best VPN services on the market. This brought the total toll to almost 100 VPN apps unavailable in Russia's App Store.

While Google seems mostly resistant to these demands so far, recent data shows that at least 53 VPNs are also currently unavailable in the Google Play Store in Russia.

Now, authorities' targets have also expanded towards smaller app store providers.

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"We’re seeing a coordinated squeeze across platforms, limiting users’ ability to bypass restrictions," said Kozliuk. "What’s especially concerning is the growing role of global tech companies in enforcing local censorship, whether under direct state pressure or as preemptive compliance."

GreatFire’s Campaign and Advocacy Director, Benjamin Ismail, also shared the same concerns. Through the organization's project AppCensorship, Ismail and the team have been busy monitoring a staggering increase in these VPN removals across both Apple and Google's official app stores.

While it's the first time Ismail has heard of such an incident involving Samsung's Galaxy App Store, he told TechRadar that a way smaller provider (F-Droid) was also hit by a similar request in 2024.

According to Ismail, this may mean that Roskomnadzor has understood that it can try its luck to put pressure on tech vendors. "Smaller providers may struggle more to resist these demands as the prospect of becoming fully unavailable in Russia might be an issue for these platforms," he added.

VPNs will remain a critical line of defense for digital freedom

Alexey Kozliuk, VPN Guild Chair

This is exactly why experts have long argued that Big Tech giants, which have the means and resources, should uphold their users' human rights and challenge the Kremlin's censorship requests.

Commenting on this point, Kozliuk from the VPN Guild said: "This underscores the urgent need to give users more control and make them less reliant on centralized platforms and app ecosystems, as well as the need for stronger international advocacy to hold tech platforms accountable.

"As political tensions rise, especially around elections or protests, these crackdowns will likely intensify – and VPNs will remain a critical line of defense for digital freedom."

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• Google patched a new Chrome bug recently
• Now, CISA added that vulnerability to KEV, signaling abuse in the wild
• Federal agencies have three weeks to update Chrome

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added a new Chrome bug to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, signalling abuse in the wild, and giving Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies a deadline to patch things up.

The flaw is tracked as CVE-2025-4664. It was recently discovered by security researchers Solidlab, and is described as an “insufficient policy enforcement in Loader in Google Chrome”. On NVD, it was explained that the bug allowed remote threat actors to leak cross-origin data via a crafted HTML page.

"Query parameters can contain sensitive data - for example, in OAuth flows, this might lead to an Account Takeover. Developers rarely consider the possibility of stealing query parameters via an image from a 3rd-party resource,” researcher Vsevolod Kokorin, who was attributed with discovering the bug, explained.

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Time to patch

The flaw was first uncovered on May 5, with Google coming back with a patch on May 14. The browser giant did not discuss if the flaw was being exploited in real-life attacks, but it did state that it had a public exploit (which basically means the same thing).

Now, with CISA adding the bug to KEV, FCEB agencies have until June 5 to patch their Chrome instances or stop using the browser altogether. The first clean versions are 136.0.7103.113 for Windows/Linux and 136.0.7103.114 for macOS. In many cases, Chrome would deploy the update automatically, so just double-check which version you’re running.

"These types of vulnerabilities are frequent attack vectors for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risks to the federal enterprise," CISA warned.

Indeed, the web browser is one of the most frequently targeted programs, since it handles untrusted data from countless sources around the web. Cybercriminals are always looking for vulnerabilities in browser code, plugins, or poorly secured websites, in an attempt to grab login credentials, or other ways to compromise the wider network.

Via BleepingComputer

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Want to know when episode 6 of The Last of Us season 2 will be released? I've got you covered.

Below, I'll tell you when the hugely successful HBO TV Original's next entry, which is also available on Max in numerous countries, including the US, will make its worldwide debut. I'll also explain where you can watch it in numerous nations, plus run you through the full episodic release schedule for The Last of Us' sophomore season.

Without further ado, then, here's when the Bella Ramsey-starring post-apocalyptic drama's latest chapter will air where you live.

What time can I watch The Last of Us season 2 episode 6?

You can learn more about the release date and launch time for The Last of Us TV show's next installment for your country via the list below, with dates and times listed in descending order.

If your nation hasn't been included, you can use one of the listed release times to work out when it'll be available to stream in your region of the world.

• US – Sunday, May 18 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Sunday, May 18 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Brazil – Sunday, May 18 at 10pm BRT
• UK – Monday, May 19 at 2am BST
• India – Monday, May 19 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Monday, May 19 at 9am SGT
• Japan – Monday, May 19 at 10am JST
• Australia – Monday, May 19 at 11am AEST
• New Zealand – Monday, May 19 at 1pm NZST

Where can I stream The Last of Us season 2's penultimate episode?

A post shared by The Last of Us (@thelastofus)

A photo posted by on

Again, if you're unsure where you can catch episode 6 of one of the best Max shows' second season, check out the list below.

• US – HBO and Max
• UK – Sky and Now TV
• Australia – Max and Foxtel
• Canada – Crave
• Brazil – Max
• India – JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar
• Singapore – Max
• Japan – U-Next and Max
• New Zealand – Neon

The Last of Us season 2 full episode release schedule

Season 2 episode 6 will fill in the five-year gap between last season's finale and this season's premiere (Image credit: Liane Hentscher/HBO)

As you'll have gathered from this article's introduction, there's only one more episode left of HBO's TV adaptation after this one.

Here's when chapter 7 will be available to stream (NB: those of you who live outside of the US, UK, and Australia can work out when it'll air in your nation using the dates below):

• Episode 1 – out now
• Episode 2 – out now
• Episode 3 – out now
• Episode 4 – out now
• Episode 5 – out now
• Episode 6 – May 18 (US); May 19 (UK and Australia)
• Episode 7 – May 25 (US); May 26 (UK and Australia)

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• Robert Downey Jr has posted two new behind-the-scenes images from the Avengers: Doomsday set
• The photographs don't give anything away about the Marvel movie
• However, they've given fans renewed hope over his performance as the film's Big Bad

Ever since Robert Downey Jr took to the stage at Comic-Con 2024 to reveal he'd be playing Doctor Doom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it's safe to say fans have been divided into two camps.

Indeed, Marvel optimists believe the returning MCU superstar, who previously played Tony Stark and Iron Man between 2008 and 2019, is a great fit for the Multiverse Saga's new Big Bad. However, others hold the opinion that his return is a sign of the comic titan's desperation amid the mixed reception to its recent film and TV releases.

It seems, though, that the number of those who were seated firmly in the naysayers' camp is slowly dwindling. That's been particularly noticeable over the past few days, too, especially in light of new behind-the-scenes images that Downey Jr has posted from the Avengers: Doomsday set.

It should be noted that there are no story spoilers for Doomsday from this point onwards. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to say that, if you don't want to know a single thing about the highly anticipated Marvel Phase 6 film, you're best turning back now.

A post shared by Robert Downey Jr. (@robertdowneyjr)

A photo posted by on

The first image, which was uploaded to Downey Jr's Instagram account on May 14, showed the A-lister reading fellow MCU actor Jeremy Renner's recently-released autobiography.

Ordinarily, you'd think that's nothing worth reporting on. But if you look closer at said photograph, you'll notice two things.

For one, Downey Jr is wearing a muscle suit. This implies his take on one of The Fantastic Four's most notorious foes will be as physically imposing as he is mentally, and suggests he'll be able to go toe-to-toe with many of the Marvel heroes who were included as part of Doomsday's initial 27-strong cast.

The other, arguably more important detail is the black dots on Downey Jr's face. This indicates that, with a bit of CGI trickery, Marvel will give Downey Jr's Doctor Victor von Doom his unmistakable scarred face, which he usually hides behind his iconic metal-based mask.

Now, this doesn't confirm that Downey Jr won't show his face as Doom at some point in one of 2026's new movies. My reading of the situation, though, is that his disfigured face will be covered by said mask for a fair amount of this movie's runtime. I believe it'll only be revealed if his mask is knocked off during a fight, or if Doom wants his adversaries to take a look at the permanent physical damage he's endured in his potential quest to halt (or cause, we don't know which yet) the Multiverse's destruction.

A post shared by Robert Downey Jr. (@robertdowneyjr)

A photo posted by on

The other image, which appeared online yesterday (May 16), doesn't contain any teases that might spark new fan theories about this iteration of Doom. Nonetheless, it's intriguing to see that Downey Jr is reading Marvel comics that star Doom, especially ones written by Jonathan Hickman.

For the uninitiated: Hickman is the scribe behind the 2015 edition of Marvel's 'Secret Wars' comic series. Joe and Anthony Russo, who returned to the MCU alongside Downey Jr to direct the next two Avengers films, previously told me that Hickman's run, plus the original 'Secret Wars' storyline, have inspired the plot of Doomsday and its sequel, aka the 2027 MCU flick Avengers: Secret Wars.

Considering both comic runs will influence this movie duo, it's no great surprise to see Downey Jr reading Marvel literary works penned by Hickman, especially those that involve Doom. Downey Jr is someone who appears to conduct plenty of research for whatever role he's playing, but it's still pleasing to see that he'll tackle this role with the same gusto and seriousness as any other.

Such preparation hasn't gone unnoticed, either. As I alluded to at the beginning of this article, fans have unsurprisingly picked up on the work that Downey Jr is putting into this role, and many are becoming increasingly impressed. Indeed, a quick scan of threads on the Marvel Studios and Marvel Studios Spoilers Reddit pages confirms as much.

Of course, as the saying goes, the proof will be in the pudding as to whether Downey Jr's performance is as good as fans expect. I'm still concerned that his Doom will be revealed as a multiversal Stark variant, which would be the wrong approach to take for such an iconic Marvel supervillain. That said, I have renewed hope that Downey Jr will be a good, if not great, Doom, and these images definitely prove why he likely will be.

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The Apple Vision Pro remains the apex mixed-reality experience – and also the most unattainable for most people.

You won't hear Apple directly admit that the powerful headset is, at $3,499, too expensive. A couple of years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the Vision Pro "a great value". A year later, though, he admitted that the pricey headset is not aimed at "the masses."

We now have some evidence that Cook's comment was on the, well, money.

During a recent Price is Right episode, contestants were presented with the Vision Pro and asked to guess the price. For those unfamiliar with the premise of the game show, the idea is to guess a price that is as close to the actual price as possible. Whoever gets nearest moves on to the next round of the game.

(Image credit: Future)

In the widely shared clip, the Vision Pro headset is lowered from the rafters to a position just in front of the contestants as the show's announcer briefly describes the headset's capabilities.

After a moment's consideration, the four players guessed prices ranging from $750 to $1,250. That latter price won – but saying that the contestant who guessed that amount got close is like saying California is close to New York because they're part of the same land mass.

What we learned is that consumers are not only unfamiliar with Vision Pro – they have no idea why anyone would pay $3,500 to own one. The price, according to those contestants, is wrong.

As much as I love the Vision Pro experience, I've known this for a while, but it wasn't until I saw some news today that I believed Apple understood this and that it is, perhaps, trying to do something about it.

The price gives us Vertigo

The news came from a seemingly unlikely source: U2 front man Bono, whose new documentary, Bono: Stories of Surrender, is coming to Apple TV Plus. The rock star has a long-time friendly relationship with Apple; more than a decade ago, Apple dropped an entire new U2 album on iTunes, much to the chagrin of those who were not U2 fans.

Apple, though, is clearly not done putting U2 content inside Apple products. An immersive version of Stories of Surrender is also coming to the Vision Pro, putting you on stage with the musician.

I've used the Vision Pro, and I've tried these immersive experiences often enough to tell you that they're extraordinary to the point of almost being uncomfortable; an artist or athlete is doing their thing, and it feels like you're invading their space.

Bono details in the interview with Deadline the difficulties of filming in the immersive format, especially getting the lighting right. Then, in answer to a question about how the Vision Pro further personalized the story, Bono shared something I'm not sure Apple would want him to share:

It made it really playful. I know Apple are dying to make the Vision Pro more affordable and more democratic, but they’re committed to innovation, they’re committed to experimenting. They know not everyone can afford this, but they’re still going for it, believing that some way down the line, it’ll make financial sense for them. But the fact that they may have to wait a while is not putting them off.

At least Apple is commited

"More affordable and democratic". That's quite a statement, and I guess it does align with Cook's comments about the headset still not being for the masses. However, most Vision Pro rumors point to Apple launching a different, cheaper version of Vision Pro (Vision Lite) and not necessarily making the existing headset cheaper.

Dropping the price of the existing Vision Pro is a strategy I suggested last year: "It costs a lot to build the Vision Pro (one estimate puts it at over $1,540) [...] [Apple] should simply cut the price by more than half and take the hit."

My point was that Apple is making more and more services revenue, and that the Vision Pro is just another platform on which it can deliver all that content and all those features (but at a very high level). Why not put it in more hands?

I'm not sure that Bono is fully in touch with current economic realities, when he suggests that, somehow, some way, people will eventually be able to afford the Vision Pro or that, at least, it'll make "financial sense."

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

I don't see that happening. At $3,500, the Vision Pro costs as much as a modest vacation, a powerful gaming computer, or luxury goods like a watch or designer bag. These are more than considered purchases, and the latter two are for the well-off or even rich.

Apple's products may generally be more expensive than the competition, but they do not sell only to the elite. Take a look around: virtually everyone has an iPhone. If the iPhone started at $3,000, that would not be the case.

I always encourage people to visit an Apple Store and experience the Vision Pro for themselves. They'll quickly see what all the fuss is about, but that experience also makes the price that much more painful. You may want to take the Vision Pro home, but we're still not living in a mixed-reality democracy, at least not yet.

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The 24-year-old survived the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Nova festival, and will perform a pop ballad, "New Day Will Rise." Israel's Eurovision participation has sparked protest due to the Gaza war.

(Image credit: FABRICE COFFRINI)

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• Nova Scotia Power confirmed suffering a cyberattack in March 2025
• The attackers stole sensitive customer data, including names, SSNs and - in some cases - banking information
• The customers are being offered free identity theft monitoring

Nova Scotia Power, a major electricity provider in the Canadian province, suffered a cyberattack in which it lost sensitive customer information. The company confirmed the news in an announcement published on its website.

The original announcement, published in late April 2025, said the attack did not disrupt the company's physical operations, or its ability to serve its customers, but added that the team was working on bringing parts of its IT system back online.

A subsequent update stated that the attack occurred on March 19, 2025, and that the miscreants stole people’s names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing and service addresses, Nova Scotia Power program participation information, dates of birth, and customer account history (such as power consumption, service requests, customer payment, billing, and credit history, and customer correspondence), driver’s license numbers, and Social Insurance Numbers.

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No evidence of abuse

“For some of our customers, bank account numbers (for pre-authorized payment) may also have been impacted, if this information was provided by these customers.”

While all of the stolen data is valuable to criminals and can be used in a wide range of ways, from identity theft to phishing, this last part - the loss of bank account numbers - is particularly worrisome, as it allows crooks to mount wire fraud, as well.

Nova Scotia Power stressed that there is no evidence the data was abused in the wild and added that it is offering impacted individuals a two-year subscription to a “comprehensive credit monitoring service” at no cost.

People who are affected by the breach are currently being notified, the company added, without disclosing exactly how many people that is. At press time, no threat actors claimed responsibility for the attack.

Users are advised to remain vigilant and particularly careful when receiving unsolicited email messages, or phone calls, from people claiming to be from Nova Scotia Power.

Via BleepingComputer

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• You can now speak with Darth Vader in Fortnite
• Disney and Epic Games announced the revival of Darth Vader's iconic voice thanks to the power of AI
• James Earl Jones died in 2024, but his voice lives on

Disney and Epic Games have confirmed Darth Vader's iconic voice will be coming to Fortnite, thanks to the power of AI.

Darth Vader, one of Star Wars' most famous characters, was voiced by actor James Earl Jones, who died last year at the age of 93. Now, starting today, fans of a galaxy far, far away will be able to hear his voice once more... in Fortnite.

In a blog post, Epic Games confirmed Jones' AI voice will appear in Fortnite and that the company is "honored to feature the voice of the late Mr. Jones, and we thank his estate for the opportunity to make this happen for players."

There's also a quote from the actor's family: "James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character."

The new Darth Vader dialogue was created by Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model, and the audio by ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5 model. Fortnite players will be able to speak to Darth Vader in-game and recruit the Star Wars villain to help win a Victory Royale.

Darth Vader returns

There's been an ongoing debate surrounding the use of AI to bring a deceased actor's likeness to life. Jones, who's not only famous for his role as Darth Vader, but also as Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King, signed over rights to his archival voice, collaborating with the Ukrainian company, Respeecher.

You may have heard of Respeecher before, as the company's software was used to improve Hungarian dialect in Oscar-nominated The Brutalist earlier this year.

This collaboration will come under scrutiny, as the debate of whether or not we should keep actors' likenesses alive following their passing rages on. That said, Disney and Epic Games, alongside Jones' family, are clear that they've recreated his voice in the most tasteful way possible.

In the collaboration announcement, Disney and Epic said, "Epic Games and Disney have worked together to thoughtfully develop this innovative feature with a strong focus on transparency, consent, and safety — ensuring that creators, Disney IP, and players are protected in interactive experiences."

So, whether you like it or not, you can chat with Darth Vader in Fortnite this weekend, although you'll need to be over 13 as your data is sent to Gemini to generate a response.

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• The FBI published a new announcement, warning about ongoing attacks
• In the attacks, the crooks are impersonating senior US officials on both federal and state level
• In many cases, the attackers are sending cloned voice messages

Cybercriminals are impersonating senior US officials in highly sophisticated smishing and vishing attacks that leverage state-of-the-art technology such as deepfake and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

This is according to the FBI, which warned US citizens about an ongoing phishing campaign, in a new public service announcement published May 15.

The announcement states that threat actors are creating credible audio and text messages, in many cases impersonating current and former senior US federal and state government officials, or their contacts, the FBI said. “If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic,” the warning reads.

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Smishing is short for SMS phishing, while vishing is short for voice phishing. Both are a variant of the traditional phishing attack in which threat actors throw a bait and “phish” for sensitive data. Victims are often tricked into sharing passwords, credit card information, or other valuable information, when tricksters promise them huge discounts on popular goods, or threaten them with closing down their social accounts.

In almost all cases, phishing messages leverage people’s emotions and force the victims to act quickly and without second thought.

The FBI did not discuss the contents of the messages being sent out, but it did say that the attackers are trying to move people to a secondary messaging platform, where distributing malware would be easier. It also gave a few recommendations on how to be safe, including verifying people’s identities and listening to the voice messages carefully for inconsistencies in tone and word choice.

Phishing has been around since the dawn of the internet, basically, but with the proliferation of generative artificial intelligence and deepfakes, the problem has gotten even worse. One of the most abused individuals is Elon Musk, whose face is constantly being plastered on ads for fake crypto exchanges and giveaways.

Via The Register

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Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder in Berlin on May 16, 2024. In the book, Rushdie confronts the 2022 attack that left him blind in one eye.'/>

Hadi Matar got the maximum sentence for attempted murder. He was found guilty in February for repeatedly stabbing author Salman Rushdie during a 2022 lecture and wounding another person on stage.

(Image credit: Sean Gallup)

Epic Games says Apple has rejected its submission of Fortnite to the App Store in the US and Europe.

As AI grows, tough questions about data privacy are hitting the mainstream.

Here in the UK, the government’s Data (Use and Access) Bill has just entered its second reading in the House of Commons. At the same time, the government is navigating a legal challenge from Apple, which refuses to allow it to access a customer’s private data if required. Concerns around privacy, and the rules that guarantee it, are being examined at the very top.

The details are complex, but for most people it boils down to one simple question: “Is my data the cost of progress?”

From an enterprise perspective, we know that the technology used to house, transmit, and safeguard data isn’t necessarily built to prioritize privacy. Insufficient security, siloed data, and the pains of outdated infrastructure can all leave an organization exposed — in other words, those consumer concerns can be well founded.

Fixing this starts with how we collect and move data. If we can embed privacy straight into the data collection process, assessing and directing data in real time, we can minimize risk to both organization and consumer.

Tackling patchwork infrastructure

One of the reasons that fear around data privacy have risen in recent times is that it’s extremely difficult to keep up with new regulations – particularly given how quickly AI is evolving as a technology.

New and important legislation is constantly being introduced, with the UK’s Data Bill just one of many: the EU’s AI Act, China’s Deep Synthesis Provisions, and so on. But such laws are attempting to regulate technology as it develops, and can’t necessarily pre-empt the next big application of AI. The rule of law can’t always keep up with the blistering pace of change, often focusing on compliance at the expense of proactive security measures.

As a result, many organizations will continue to depend on a unique mix of hardware and infrastructure. The business can function, but it can’t robustly enforce a consistent standard of cybersecurity and data privacy.

Take, for example, the classic problem of data fragmentation. Spreading private data across multiple systems — each with their own capabilities, purposes, and cybersecurity measures — makes it incredibly difficult to standardize the use of data. It might be duplicated, accessible in some systems and not others, or simply absent from where you’d expect it.

The chinks in this armor are exacerbated by human intervention. Employees might have differing levels of access across different systems, retain permissions that they’re no longer supposed to, or not understand how to protect the data they’re accessing once they’ve used it. All of these things can cause a serious breach.

While regulations like GDPR and HIPAA are designed to mitigate these risks, insisting on the immediate execution of data deletion requests, the infrastructure that houses this data might not be capable of meeting these demands. Legacy technology both decelerates audits and response times and fails to paint a comprehensive picture of exactly what data needs to be deleted.

Introducing data streaming

All of these challenges make it clear that privacy can’t be an afterthought. If you don’t prioritize it at the points where data enters your ecosystem, it’s incredibly difficult to work back to a point of robust compliance.

This is where real-time data streaming excels. In processing data as it arrives, data streaming prevents the creation of vast datasets that demand slow, cumbersome batch processing en-masse. Being able to contextualize data and the protection it needs even as that data is in motion frontloads that security and organizational work, literally point by point.

Data streaming platforms (DSP) take this a step further. As a platform purpose-built to coordinate the streaming of data across a business, they offer a single point of access that integrates advanced security capabilities by design.

End-to-end encryption, for example, offers an additional layer of protection while the data is in transmission. Similarly, tokenisation can replace business-critical information with identifiers that make transcription impossible. Another option is differential privacy – the introduction of mathematical noise to datasets, protecting individual identities without stopping a business benefitting from analyzing that data.

All of these elements offer protection against the myriad of potential cybersecurity concerns across an organization — from accidental access to bad actors.

Security and the DSP

Research suggests that a vast majority of UK tech leaders — 91% — believe that data streaming improves cybersecurity and digital risk management.

Much of that value comes from the DSP acting as the organization's central nervous system, managing systems to keep everything in sync, and guaranteeing access to real-time data where it’s needed. Privacy and security are inherently baked into the system, from the point of entry to the point of use.

As AI continues to establish itself as a norm, this will only become more important. The business world is speeding up – and the technology we use to protect it has to accelerate, too.

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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is here. After months of waiting, we’ve finally had our first look at the long-awaited thin and light addition to this year’s Galaxy S25 lineup.

While our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review has a full rundown of the phone’s specs, pricing, and availability, I want to take a second to recognize what I think is the phone’s best feature – its design.

To cut to the chase, I think the Galaxy S25 Edge is an extremely good-looking device – in fact, I think it’s the best-looking smartphone of 2025 so far.

That might come as a surprise to some, given that the Galaxy S25 Edge is actually pretty plain-looking. It’s impressively thin at just 5.8mm, but construction-wise, two slabs of glass, titanium rails, and a dual-camera island on the top-left corner of the rear panel are pretty much all you get.

However, I think this simplicity is one of the phone’s greatest strengths. While other simple-looking phones like the iPhone 16e and Google Pixel 9a have been released this year, none have merged form and purpose quite as elegantly as the Galaxy S25 Edge.

The Titanium Silver color option was first teased at the January 2025 Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event (Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff)

Here on TechRadar’s phones desk, we’ve gone back and forth about the state of phone design in 2025, running polls, penning features, and wondering whether the trend of minimalism will prevail.

After all, it’s been a few years now since the convergence of flagship phone design around simple, flat designs – I’m sure some folks would struggle to tell the difference between the Galaxy S25 and Sony Xperia 1 VI, for instance, and the recently launched Google Pixel 9a is maybe the simplest-looking handset we’ve ever seen.

The latest rumors suggest that this trend could be about to change. The iPhone 17 series has been heavily tipped to bring radical design changes to the table, and where Apple goes, the phone industry typically follows.

In a way, these latest rumors make me even happier to see that Samsung has stuck to its guns with the Galaxy S25 Edge.

The phone’s central concept – and what people will look for when they first pick one up – is its thinness, and by following its own ultra-minimal design language, Samsung has shown confidence that this engineering prowess is enough to make the phone stand out.

As our US Phones Editor Philip Berne puts it, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge “isn’t a phone you should experience on paper”. Having gone hands-on with the device myself, I agree that there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about it – I actually found it quite enthralling to hold for the first time, and I think users will appreciate the lack of visual distractions on a device that’s built around ergonomics.

After the wobbly launch of One UI 7 and several months of radio silence on the Galaxy S25 Edge before its launch on May 13, it’s genuinely encouraging to see Samsung show confidence and competence in launching what really amounts to quite a simple product.

You say boring? I say elegant (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

But even beyond the context of Samsung's year so far and the wider phone industry, I’m a straight-up fan of the way this phone looks.

In particular, the Titanium Silver color option is an absolute knockout, and had me thinking the phone was an all-metal construction during my first encounter. It’s shiny, industrial, and oh-so-stylish.

As for the other colors, I appreciate the way the understated Titanium Jetblack option complements the phone's minimal dimensions, and the remaining Titanium Icyblue color was already my favorite of the base Galaxy S25 options, so I’m happy to see it make the jump.

Ultimately, this is all a matter of personal opinion – we take design into account in our lists of the best phones and best Samsung phones, but aesthetics are certainly more subjective than something like comfort or durability.

With that, I want to know what you think – let us know what you make of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge’s design in the comments below.

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• America could soon tackle diverted and misused advanced chips with geotracking
• The proposed legislation could enforce tracking within 6 months
• Manufacturers would also have to report back to the US

New proposed legislation in Congress could see the US integrate geotracking capabilities within high-end GPUs, marking the introduction of more dynamic ways to monitor exports rather than just blanket bans.

Bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Chip Security Act to prevent high-end GPUs and AI chips from reaching countries of concern, such as China.

Currently in review, if passed, exporters would need to comply with new tracking rules while also reporting violations, such as disabled tracking, back to the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

US could introduce advanced chip tracking measures

"Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall require any covered integrated circuit product to be outfitted with chip security mechanisms that implement location verification, using techniques that are feasible and appropriate on such date of enactment, before it is exported, reexported, or in-country transferred to or in a foreign country," the bill reads.

Lawmakers cite national security risks and concerns over smuggling networks and shell companies exporting US chips to China illegitimately as key drivers for the tracking proposals.

"I know that we have the technical tools to prevent powerful AI technology from getting into the wrong hands. With advanced AI chips being smuggled into China and posing a national security risk, Congress must act," Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) added.

Location sharing should be enabled and supported before chips are exported if the bill gets passed, with the Secretary of Commerce to be made responsible for assessing second-level security mechanisms to prevent the misuse or diversion of chips covered under the proposed rules.

The bill follows the Trump administration's removal of Biden-era chip export diffusion rules, with the White House pledging renewed export restrictions that don't negatively impact allies.

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