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The Supreme Court will hear historic arguments over birthright citizenship today. And, House Republicans are working to advance Trump's "big beautiful bill," but there is division over policies.

(Image credit: Roberto Schmidt)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is standing firm on the sweeping cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services, cuts he says were suggested by Elon Musk and his DOGE team.

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)

What to expect from Google I/O about the company's AI-infused strategy for AR and VR.

The all-female Korean Haenyeo divers show genetic adaptations to cold water diving involving their blood pressure and cold tolerance. "It's like a superpower," says one of the researchers.

(Image credit: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg)

It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed dozens of people, including almost two dozen children.

(Image credit: Jehad Alshrafi)

Minefort is a dark horse of a game server hosting company. That’s because its initial focus is on how it provides free plans. It isn’t a perfect service which is why one of the best Minecraft server hosting providers is likely to be better suited for many needs, but for a quick hit, there’s appeal here.

Besides the free plan, there are premium options too. As the name suggests, Minefort exclusively caters for Minecraft players so others may prefer to use the best dedicated server hosting instead if you have bigger plans. Simpler than the best VPS hosting, here’s how we found Minefort for Minecraft server hosting.

Plans and pricing

Minefort offers five plans each named after a type of accommodation. The free plan is named Hut while there’s also Cottage, House, Mansion, and Fort. The free plan is only online when in use and goes into hibernation mode until you restart it. The others are all available 24/7.

There’s no insight into what CPUs are used for each server plan but you’re provided with the essentials -- RAM, max players, backup slots, and storage limits. The free plan starts things off with 10 player slots at most.

Unlike bigger hosts, Minefort doesn’t lead the way with suggestions or even with a sliding scale to adjust plans, but the basics are here. There’s also DDoS protection and support for all plans. The two priciest plans offer ‘Advanced’ and ‘Premium’ DDoS protection but again, details are pretty non-existent as to what that entails. Consider Minefort simple in both good and potentially frustrating ways for micro managers.

Ease of use

A screenshot of the Minefort control panel (Image credit: Future)

Signing up to Minefort takes mere moments. It leans heavily into its free offering so there’s no need to enter card details until you get to the upgrade screen. A clearly laid out control panel is instantly accessible. Head to appearances to get things personalized while there’s one-click plugin installation for many different mods.

It’s also possible to quickly add another admin, create backups, and connect via FTP. That goes for the free plan as well as paid servers too.

On the free plan, you'll need to remember that the server can go into hibernation mode easily when not in use. Also, while you can set up many free servers, only one can be actively online at any one time.

Still, Minefort offers much of what you need from a paid plan while never feeling like you miss out on much when pursuing the free plan too. This is a service that’s appropriate for anyone new to knowing how to set up a Minecraft server as well as more experienced admins.

Speed and experience

Minefort general server options (Image credit: Future)

Unlike other hosts, Minefort doesn’t explain where its servers are located. You can’t choose the location but a dig around confirms they’re based in Canada. That means if you’re based in Europe like me, ping can be a little higher than average. In my case, it was around 150ish which isn’t too awkward. Certainly not for something a little more forgiving (most of the time) like Minecraft.

The lack of location options feels more of an issue when paying for a plan than it does with the free plan. Your mileage will vary here as obviously, it’s good to have plenty of control when paying a lot, but less relevant on cheaper plans.

Understandably, performance similarly varies depending on what you’re paying. Scant details are provided regarding CPUs and RAM, but the basic free plan lives up to its name which means it’s best just for a few players and not too many mods. It only offers 1GB RAM which is pretty low for most Minecraft installs. Upgrade and you can change things up between 35 players right up to 200. As with other Minecraft server hosts, you get what you pay for.

For any long term plans, aim for the most premium package (or potentially something from the best premium game server hosting).

Support

Minefort has fairly limited support on the free plan with 24/7 access for paid plans. On a free plan, your main route of support is a chatbot until support is available or the knowledge base. The chatbot is reasonably helpful for basic queries while the FAQ also covers many commonly asked questions. There’s also a Discord – an increasingly popular way to solve queries fast by crowdsourcing help in some cases.

It’s not as feature rich as competitors and the lack of a YouTube channel is a missed opportunity. Still, if you know what you’re doing, you may not need support very often.

Final Verdict

Minefort’s strength is in its free offerings. It’s refreshing to find a seemingly catch-free way of enjoying a free server with a few friends. After all, you don’t even need to enter card details. That free server may not offer much power but it’s still sufficient for a quick few sessions with a couple of buddies.

Where it gets trickier to recommend is when it comes to its paid plans. The lack of location choice and the limited details about hardware won’t appeal to experienced server admins and understandably so. It’s well priced but competitors do a better job of explaining all before you commit to anything.

Because of that, Minefort is best suited for anyone who needs an inexpensive or free plan for a short period of time. Something to tide them over rather than if they have plans for a community-driven server.

There’s a place for that kind of service which is why Minefort is worth acknowledging and checking out. Just make sure to temper your expectations. If you know what you’re doing and what you need, there are better alternatives around.

As the Supreme Court takes up birthright citizenship, a new poll finds that less than a third of Americans want it to end. But other parts of the White House's immigration crackdown are more popular.

(Image credit: Jacquelyn Martin)

Nearly 200 officials from public radio stations across the country are descending on Capitol Hill to seek to convince lawmakers to maintain funding for public broadcasting despite President Trump's campaign against it.

(Image credit: STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

A researcher monitoring Axial Seamount, 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, says the eruption is expected to happen before the year is over.

(Image credit: Susan Merle)

The Trump administration seeks to challenge the constitutional provision that guarantees automatic citizenship to babies born in the U.S. But the arguments are likely to focus on a different question.

(Image credit: Win McNamee)

Since abortion became almost entirely illegal in Texas in 2021, the state has seen a significant rise in the number of women who die in pregnancy or after giving birth. A new bill aims to change that.

(Image credit: Eric Gay)

• We Are Rewind's GB-001 is a real cassette boombox, but it's got Bluetooth too
• More than enough power to rock reasonably sized blocks
• £379 / €449 (about $505 / AU$781)

One of the things I miss about the 1980s, other than my youth, my waistline and my faith in humanity, is the boombox. The boombox is one of the most important bits of audio tech ever made: it took music out of the bedroom or living room and into the streets, soundtracking rap battles and breakdancing and changing pop culture for the better.

And now it's back! Back! BACK!

The new We Are Rewind GB-001 looks like a boombox. It plays tapes like a boombox. And it records onto those tapes like a boombox. But it also comes with some very welcome improvements over the '80s devices it's so clearly inspired by.

That's the stuff… (Image credit: We Are Rewind) We Are Rewind GB-001 boombox: key features and pricing

The big differences this time around are batteries and Bluetooth. The former means your boombox won't have the battery-munching habit I remember from my long-gone Sanyo: the 3,000mAh rechargeable and user-replaceable battery is good for 10 hours on speakers and 15 with headphones.

Secondly, there's Bluetooth 5.4 so you can stream from your smartphone if you'd rather not carry a satchel full of audio tapes around with you. You can also connect an external sound source via the 3.5mm jack or use an external mic for recording.

It's a lot louder than my boombox ever was, too: 104W of power courtesy of Class D amplification.

The spec includes dynamic power control to reduce distortion, Dolby B emulation for those noise-reduced cassettes, and support for both normal (Type I) and chrome (Type II) tapes. And at 6.81kg (just under 15lbs) it's not so heavy you won't want to take it anywhere.

The new boombox is unveiled today, 15 May, at the High End Munich 2025 hi-fi show – we're planning to track it down there ASAP. There's no confirmed release date yet, but the official price is very reasonable at £379 / €449 (about $505 / AU$781).

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Cyber threats have evolved far beyond the domain of the IT department. With the introduction of the  Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to the UK parliament, cyber security is now a national priority, and the stakes for businesses are higher than ever.

The bill proposes tougher regulations and potential fines of up to £100,000 for failing to address specific threats, making proactive cyber defense a financial imperative for businesses when the legislation is passed. Although many organizations invest in digital safeguards, the method that offers a genuine test of trust resilience is Red Teaming.

During Red Teaming simulations, an independent ‘Red Team’ assumes the role of real attackers, probing systems, processes, and personnel to expose vulnerabilities. However, when treated solely as a technical exercise, Red Teaming can fail to result in meaningful action. Without executive engagement, even serious vulnerabilities may go unresolved.

Converting technical insights into business impact

One of the biggest challenges in Red Teaming is making sure that insights connect with senior stakeholders. Often, reports focus on niche technical exploits or zero-day vulnerabilities. While these details matter to security engineers, they don’t paint the broader picture of a successful attack.

Organizations that understand it map technical findings to financial, operational, and reputational risks. Instead of discussing abstract vulnerabilities, Red Team outputs highlight and articulate real-world consequences, such as: “A compromise of this server could disrupt our online platform for 48 hours, costing an estimated £X in lost sales,” or “An attacker could access 200,000 customer records, risking regulatory penalties of up to 4% of global turnover.” This type of language cuts through the technical jargon and positions the issues in terms that grab board-level attention.

This approach can even help shape an organization's risk appetite. By working closely with security teams, C-suite leaders and directors can begin to define thresholds around acceptable risk. For instance, once they see the severity and ease with which specific systems can be breached, many executives quickly realize that “low probability”  vulnerabilities may still represent  “high impact”  scenarios that must be addressed.

Facilitating concrete security advancements

Ensuring that Red Team results spur real change requires more than technical remediation lists. It calls for clear, focused advice that aligns with the organization's primary goals. This guidance often shapes how future incidents will be handled and informs security spending.

Crucially, an iterative feedback loop is needed. After a Red Team engagement finishes, forward-thinking companies should schedule post-engagement debriefs that gather board members, department heads, and security leaders around the same table.

Together, they can examine what went wrong and what went right. This culture of transparency turns Red Team insights into targeted, high-level decisions. For instance, if a simulated attack revealed weaknesses in cloud services, senior leaders might pivot the budget to upgrade protections and work with external suppliers to strengthen service-level agreements.

In the UK, major financial institutions were among the first to adopt advanced threat-led testing under programs such as CBEST. Lessons from these exercises demonstrate how immediate executive action can be pivotal. Reports are not simply filed away; boards commission follow-up work to verify that vulnerabilities have been adequately fixed and introduce ongoing mini-tests to measure improvement. Ultimately, this keeps cybersecurity elevated as a business priority rather than dropping off the radar until major incidents occur.

Presenting the business value of Red Teaming

Business leaders often grapple with the return on investment when it comes to cyber security. However, linking Red Teaming directly to measurable risk reduction helps ease those concerns. The cost of a Red Team exercise is typically much less than the fallout from a data breach or ransomware attack. By helping organizations tackle weaknesses before attackers do, Red Teaming can prevent costly incidents that cause disruptions and damaged reputations.

In a landscape where customer and investor trust is invaluable, proactive efforts to strengthen defenses can make a competitive difference. Many organizations now see cyber security as an enabler of digital transformation. By identifying weaknesses within new technologies, be they cloud services, Internet of Things devices, or mobile applications, Red Team engagements provide a safety net for innovation. Executive teams can confidently pursue new products or service offerings, knowing potential security pitfalls will be flagged early.

There is growing recognition that Red Teaming provides unique validation for cyber security investments. Boards commonly ask if the millions spent on firewalls and endpoint detection tools are genuinely effective. Red Team exercises offer a reality check. If attackers easily circumvent defenses without detection, it becomes clear where future resources should be focused. Over time, regular Red Team engagements create a measurable decline in critical findings, demonstrating tangible improvement in security posture.

Turning security into a strategic priority

Red Teaming goes far beyond a routine security audit. It exposes an organization's technical and strategic vulnerabilities, offering leadership a holistic view of their risk landscape. When its findings are translated into business impact, Red Teaming helps leaders understand cyber risk in terms of financial loss, operational disruption, and reputational damage. This reframing moves cyber security out of the IT silo and firmly onto the strategic agenda.

Driving meaningful improvements requires cross-functional collaboration and shared accountability. With the UK’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill raising the bar for organizational preparedness, Red Teaming offers a practical, repeatable way to measure and improve cyber resilience over time. It gives leaders the confidence to act early, adapt quickly, and strengthen their defenses before a real adversary strikes. Those who embrace it will not only reduce risk but also build a more agile, trusted, and future-ready organization.

We list the best forensic and pentesting Linux distro.

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

Pope Leo XIV has made peace with Jannik Sinner. The top-ranked tennis player visited the new pope, gave him a tennis racket and offered to play, during an off day for Sinner at the Italian Open.

(Image credit: Vatican Media)

In a country that has long prided itself on its openness to immigrants, the declaration drew criticism from the Argentine president's opponents and prompted comparisons to U.S. President Donald Trump.

(Image credit: Rodrigo Abd)

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the front brake lines in the SUVs "may be in contact" with their engine air cleaner outlet pipe due to a potential installation defect.

(Image credit: Carolyn Kaster)

• Palm-sized SSD with 30TB capacity offers jaw-dropping storage in an ultra-compact aluminum shell
• Glyph Blackbox Plus U.2 is faster than any portable HDD, but slower than PCIe Gen4 SSDs
• Formatted for macOS, but reformatting for Windows may confuse less tech-savvy users

Glyph has unveiled its Blackbox Plus U.2 External SSD, a high-capacity, high-speed storage solution aimed at professional content creators, data-intensive workflows, and enterprise users.

Its standout 30.72TB capacity exceeds even the largest external HDD models, which typically top out around 24TB.

Measuring just over five inches in length and under an inch thick, the device is about the size of a rugged smartphone and easily fits in one hand.

Blackbox Plus U.2 still lags behind PCIe Gen4 internal SSDs

The Blackbox Plus U.2 is built on enterprise-grade NVMe technology and offers sustained data transfer speeds of up to 1,050 MB/s, fast, though notably slower than top-tier PCIe Gen4 internal SSDs.

That said, this portable SSD connects via a 10Gb USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C interface, which is backward compatible with USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3. This ensures broad compatibility across various hardware setups.

The drive ships preformatted for macOS but can be reformatted for Windows. Still, setup may pose a challenge for users unfamiliar with drive formatting or cross-platform configurations.

Cooling is handled through a fanless aluminum enclosure that doubles as a heatsink. While this passive system eliminates mechanical noise, it may not be ideal in high-temperature environments under sustained loads.

The device requires an external power supply, which impacts portability. Compared to bus-powered SSDs, this setup is bulkier and less convenient for mobile or casual users.

In the box, Glyph includes a USB-C to USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB-A cable, and a three-pronged power adapter. Buyers also get a three-year hardware warranty, two years of Level-1 data recovery, and a one-year advance replacement program.

The Blackbox Plus U.2 is available in 7.6TB, 15.36TB, and 30.72TB models, priced at $899.95 (with a $200 discount), $2,399.95, and $4,999.95, respectively. Preorders are now open on Glyph’s official website.

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Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 15.

• Apple announced plans to support Switch Control for Brain-Computer Interfaces
• The tool would make devices like iPhones and Vision Pro headsets accessible for people with conditions like ALS
• Combined with Apple’s AI-powered Personal Voice feature, brain-computer interfaces could allow people to think words and hear them spoken in a synthetic version of their voice

Our smartphones and other devices are key to so many personal and professional tasks throughout the day. Using these devices can be difficult or outright impossible for those with ALS and other conditions. Apple thinks it has a possible solution: thinking. Specifically, a brain-computer interface (BCI) built with Australian neurotech startup Synchron that could provide hands-free, thought-controlled versions of the operating systems for iPhones, iPads, and the Vision Pro headset.

A brain implant for controlling your phone may seem extreme, but it could be the key for those with severe spinal cord injuries or related injuries to engage with the world. Apple will support Switch Control for those with the implant embedded near the brain’s motor cortex. The implant picks up the brain’s electrical signals when a person thinks about moving. It translates that electrical activity and feeds it to Apple's Switch Control software, becoming digital actions like selecting icons on a screen or navigating a virtual environment.

Brain implants, AI voices

Of course, it's still early days for the system. It can be slow compared to tapping, and it will take time for developers to build better BCI tools. But speed isn’t the point right now. The point is that people could use the brain implant and an iPhone to interact with a world they were otherwise locked out of.

The possibilities are even greater when looking at how it might mesh with AI-generated personal voice clones. Apple's Personal Voice feature lets users record a sample of their own speech so that, if they lose their ability to speak, they can generate synthetic speech that still sounds like them. It’s not quite indistinguishable from the real thing, but it’s close, and much more human than the robotic imitation familiar from old movies and TV shows.

Right now, those voices are triggered by touch, eye tracking, or other assistive tech. But with BCI integration, those same people could “think” their voice into existence. They could speak just by intending to speak, and the system would do the rest. Imagine someone with ALS not only navigating their iPhone with their thoughts but also speaking again through the same device by "typing" statements for their synthetic voice clone to say.

While it's incredible that a brain implant can let someone control a computer with their mind, AI could take it to another level. It wouldn't just help people use tech, but also to be themselves in a digital world.

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Marvel Rivals' ranked competitive mode has been mired in controversy since the game's release. Despite this, it's about to be even easier to climb the ladder.