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• Colorful has two new RTX 5060 gaming laptops on the horizon
• Benchmarks have leaked which indicates a sizeable leap over the RTX 4060 laptop GPU
• 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM may suffice for both laptop and desktop GPUs

We're still waiting for Nvidia's RTX 5060 GPU to launch, a GPU that is expected to complete Team Green’s Blackwell GPU lineup (at least, before the rumored Super models). Now, we have some early insight into the laptop version of this GPU's performance, which could strongly indicate what the desktop counterpart has to offer.

As reported by VideoCardz, Chinese laptop maker Colorful has two new Nvidia RTX 5060 gaming laptops on the way. Most importantly, benchmarks have already leaked (pictured below) for both systems; the Colorful iGame M15 Origo and the Colorful P15 Pro, which also use Intel's powerful Ultra 9 285H and Core i9-13900HX processors respectively.

Using the OpenCL API (used in general computing applications), the iGame M15 Origo scored 102,564 points while the P15 Pro hit 109,431 points. It's worth noting that there are no leaked Vulkan benchmarks, which is a graphics API commonly used in plenty of triple-A games, so these scores don't give us the full picture.

However, VideoCardz notably does highlight that the RTX 5060 laptop GPU is roughly 18% faster than its predecessor, the RTX 4060, thanks to its GDDR7 VRAM over the latter’s GDDR6 and more GPU cores.

There's no official confirmation of these laptops from either Colorful or Nvidia, so this leak is all we have at the moment - apply salt pinches where necessary. The purported leap over its predecessor suggests that 8GB GDDR7 may be enough to provide good performance - the same could be true of its desktop variant as well.

(Image credit: Geekbench) I still want 8GB GPUs gone for good, but I think GDDR7 speeds will be the difference

Now, don't get me wrong, I still absolutely want 8GB GPUs to be long gone. Modern games - especially poorly-optimized PC ports - are frequently very VRAM-hungry, to the point where 8GB can be too low for some triple-A titles. However, both RTX 5060 desktop and laptop GPUs could highly benefit from the upgrade to GDDR7 memory, and these benchmarks indicate a significant leap over the RTX 4060 based on older Geekbench tests.

With the anticipated improvements, I think 8GB of VRAM is slightly more acceptable for budget gaming laptops; particularly since gaming laptops with less powerful GPUs typically stick with 1080p and often don't go much higher than 1440p (which already makes no sense to me).

The potential of improved base frame rates, coupled with the advantage of Nvidia’s new DLSS 4 resolution upscaling and Multi Frame Generation, could make RTX 5060 laptops more appealing to budget gamers.

The desktop GPU is naturally expected to outperform the laptop variant (if it doesn't, something is seriously wrong), and these benchmarks tell me that the RTX 5060 may fare slightly better than I expected. Let's just hope that laptop pricing doesn't get too unrealistic, considering Nvidia's announced starting price of $1,099 for its major manufacturing partners.

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Some filmmakers become legends, and perhaps the most legendary filmmaker of all is Alfred Hitchcock. And now many of his most iconic movies, and movies inspired by the 'Master of Suspense', are coming to Netflix.

One of the movies you can stream from the 1st of June happens to be my favorite Hitchcock film, The Birds. Even decades on, it's a masterclass in suspense and creeping dread, and I still get the fear when I see more than a few black birds in real life.

Can't wait for Hitchcock's films to become some of the best Netflix movies to stream in June? Psycho, which had previously been available on Prime Video, is already streaming on Netflix if you're in the mood for screaming.

Which Hitchcock films will you be able to stream?

While Netflix hasn't revealed the entire list of Hitchcock movies that will be made available in the collection, we do know that five other masterpieces from the filmmaker will be added.

These include Vertigo, Rear Window, Frenzy, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Family Plot and "more". Netflix will also be including films strongly influenced by Hitchcock's work including Us and Barbarian, as well as a narrative feature called Hitchcock about his work and legacy directed by Sacha Gervasi.

It'll be interesting to see if the feature also talks about his cruelty: Hitchcock may have been a great director but as The Atlantic carefully put it he was "stringent with – and sometimes even sadistic toward – his female leads".

If you're in New York or intend to be, Netflix is also presenting a Hitchcock special at the Paris Theater from May 16 through June 29. 'HITCH! The Original Cinema Influencer' is a six-week screening of over 50 films, including 36 directed by Hitchcock himself and more than a dozen more movies bearing his influence, made in collaboration with him or in homage to his style.

35 of the movies will be shown in 35mm, including Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest, Francois Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Dialbolique.

The Alfred Hitchcock Collection will arrive on Netflix, one of the best streaming services, on June 1.

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• You can now talk to Perplexity AI from within WhatsApp
• Perplexity joins Meta AI and ChatGPT inside the app
• The move raises privacy concerns after comments from Perplexity’s CEO

If you regularly converse with artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, it might seem like a natural move to talk to them inside your favorite messaging app. Well, you’ve just gained a new option, as you’re now able to chat with Perplexity AI directly within WhatsApp.

To get started, all you have to do is add the following number within WhatsApp: +1 (833) 436-3285. Once that number is in your list of contacts, you can chat with Perplexity AI till your heart’s content.

Announcing the move on X, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said that you’ll be able to get “answers, sources, image generation” from your WhatsApp chats, with “a lot more features coming soon.”

In a video accompanying the post on X, Srinivas asked Perplexity what they would look like if they were bald, then attached a headshot of themselves to the question. Perplexity replied with a doctored image of Srinivas with a bald head.

ChatGPT in WhatsApp

(Image credit: OpenAI)

Perplexity is just the latest AI chatbot to be added to WhatsApp. Meta, which owns WhatsApp, has added its own Meta AI tool to the app in the form of a permanent button in the lower-right corner. This gives you quick access to the company’s AI but also means you might accidentally trigger it since you can’t hide the icon.

If you’d rather your AI conversations appeared in your list of chats like those with living, human contacts, there are other options besides Perplexity. For instance, ChatGPT has recently become available in WhatsApp, and it can be contacted by adding the number +1 (800) 242-8478 to the app.

That said, you might have second thoughts about using a tool like Perplexity based on recent comments from its CEO. According to TechCrunch, Srinivas said Perplexity wants to build its upcoming Comet browser so that it can collect extensive data on its users, then sell that personal information to the highest bidder.

If that concerns you, you might want to think twice about feeding Perplexity’s WhatsApp AI with your personal questions.

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We spoke with experts to discover how much CBD you should be taking for anxiety and sleep.

Our CNET experts tested the latest, smartest security cams to find the models that work best in your home.

Content monitoring has risen in popularity in recent times - for both personal and business use. You may want to know when your favorite product is back in stock or when your job listing is updated. Similarly, businesses need a solution to monitor their competitors’ websites and execute compliance monitoring. Enter content monitoring tools like Visualping.

Visualping tracks the URLs you want and notifies you of any changes in the webpages. You even have the option to select a specific area to be tracked on the page. To top it all, there are AI features that summarize and analyze the changes for you, saving you a ton of time.

Read on as we explore Visualping, one of the best in the business, in more detail. We'll discuss its best features, pricing, interface, and customer support, as well as compare it with some of its top rivals.

Visualping: Plans and pricing

Visualping offers two pricing tiers: Personal and Business. The Personal plan priced at $50 per month can support up to 10K checks in a month limited to a maximum of 200 pages. However, there are cheaper plans, too. For instance, if you only want 1K monthly checks of 25 pages, you’ll have to shell out just $10/month.

There’s also a free Personal plan that lets you run 150 checks a month limited to 5 pages – good enough for personal needs.

The Business plans start at $100/month and allow up to 20K checks of around 500 pages. You can scale all the way up to the $250/month plan that offers 50K checks covering 1,500 pages in a month.

Business plans also come with a host of features not offered on the Personal plans. For instance, you can get alerts via Slack, Teams and Google Sheets. However, on the Personal plan, messages are your only alert option. Likewise, you can add up to 5 users on the Business plans as compared to just 1 on Personal.

Visualping: Features

Visualping offers a ton of handy features that make content monitoring easy. For starters, it's one of the few platforms that use AI to detect website changes. The Visualping AI saves you a ton of time through summaries, smart alerts, and mind reader features.

You can read AI-generated summaries of all the changes observed instead of skimming through them manually. The platform uses advanced AI algorithms to understand the context of the webpage. This helps to avoid meaningless changes and content shifts and generate alerts only based on contextual changes.

(Image credit: Visualping)

Visualping also offers a lot of integrations so that you can build your own business workflows. For instance, you can connect Visualping with Slack so that you don’t have to keep returning to Visualping every time there’s an alert - you can get them on Slack itself. The same goes for Microsoft Teams, Discord, and Google Sheets as well.

Plus, if you do not find an integration for your need, you can use the Visualping API to build a custom integration for your business.

Now, if you’re a website owner, you also have the option of adding a Visualping button on your webpage to notify your users of crucial changes. This can come in pretty handy for small businesses that can notify users of price drops or sale offers. Similarly, government bodies, universities, and corporations can use it to intimate users regarding important notification uploads.

(Image credit: Visualping)

All Business accounts have a central location called Workspace where you can invite your team members to manage the changes. Teams can use labels, folders, and various filtering options to organize the observed changes.

However, Workspaces need to be purchased separately – you can do so for a specific project, team, or client. Although a handy feature for large businesses, it can quickly add up to your total subscription cost.

Visualping: Interface and in use

Visualping is extremely easy to use – even beginners can track websites effortlessly. You only have to enter the URL of the website and select a specific area on the webpage you want to track.

(Image credit: Visualping)

The dashboard is clean and easy to understand. You can see all your active jobs on the left side and the changes detected on the right. To make it easier for you, there’s a Visualping Chrome extension, which you can add to your browser. This way, you won’t have to manually add links on the dashboard – simply deploy the extension on the webpage you want to monitor.

Visualping: Support

Visualping's support options are minimal. You only get basic email support irrespective of the plan you're on – dedicated support, however, is available on the Business plans, but at an extra cost.

The Basic Support add-on costs a whopping $600/year, followed by the Advanced plan at $1,200/year and the Dedicated Support at $3,000/year. That's borderline nerve-wracking.

However, paid support executives take care of everything for you – from setting up your account to monitoring pages and guaranteed response times. Your own team can also benefit from dedicated training on how to get the best out of Visualping.

Although beneficial, the dedicated support can make your overall Visualping bundle very expensive, which may not be ideal for small businesses.

Visualping: The competition

Let's see how Visualping stacks up against the competition.

Distill.io is a more advanced and complicated content monitoring tool ideal for large businesses. You can define your tracking selections with CSS, XPATH and regular expressions. Plus, you can even automate workflows with JavaScript.

Its free plan is also more generous than Visualping – you can run 1,000 monthly checks with 25 monitors. Even its most expensive plan costs $80/month, which is much cheaper than Visualping’s Business plans.

Change Tower is yet another affordable option starting at just $9/month for 1,500 checks. You even get 2 months free subscription with the annual plan. Users can check as many as 500 URLs with this plan without any daily check limits. Its Enterprise plan can run checks every 3 minutes and monitor 2,000+ dynamic URLs.

With that said, Visualping's premium pricing is justified, seeing as it offers a handful of unique features. This includes its game-changing AI checker and a nifty Visualping button.

Visualping: Final verdict Visualping: Final verdict

Visualping is hands down one of the best content monitoring tools out there. One of the highlights is its ease of use; all you have to do is enter the target website's URL and select the area on the webpage you want to track.

Plus, it's one of the few monitoring tools that use AI to enhance monitoring results – you benefit from AI summarizing and analysis.

For businesses, Visualping offers a dedicated button to send content updates to their users. Plus, there are a lot of integrations with platforms like Slack, Teams, and Google Sheets. You can even make your custom alert software through the Visualping API.

Visualping also offers a free plan with 150 checks a month for up to 5 pages, which can be handy for personal and non-commercial use. Its paid plans start from $10/month and go all the way up to $250/month – you can pick one as per your needs.

All in all, Visualping is an excellent content monitoring tool good for both personal and business use. That said, it can be a touch expensive, especially if you wish to get the add-on for dedicated support.

FAQs What can I use Visualping for?

Visualping is a content monitoring website that notifies you of changes on webpages. Now, this can have a lot of personal and business use cases. For instance, you may be waiting for product prices to drop while shopping online.

Instead of manually checking every now and then, you can add the URL on Visualping, and it will notify you if any changes are made to the listing. The same goes for job hunting, house hunting, reservations, and so on. Businesses can also use Visualping for competitor monitoring, SEO compliance, and regression monitoring.

Can I use Visualping for free?

Visualping does offer a completely free plan with 150 checks per month limited to 5 pages. Each search takes place every 60 minutes. However, it's always best to upgrade to a paid plan to get the most out of the platform, especially considering that Visualping starts as low as $10/month. Plus, there's also a 14-day free trial on all paid plans, so you can even try the service out risk-free before committing.

Check out the best website defacement monitoring services.

• WiZ has launched a new device to rival the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box
• The WiZ HDMI Sync Box uses the same tech, but is less than half the price
• It comes with an LED light strip, and can be synced with extra lights too

WiZ makes some of the best smart lights for home owners on a budget, and now it's taking the fight to Philips Hue with a new Sync Box that mirrors the colors on your TV screen, and mirrors them using a connected light strip or bars.

It's the same principle as Philips Ambilight technology, and effectively 'blurs' the edges of the screen for a more immersive movie or gaming experience.

The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box is the best Ambilight alternative around today, but it's also the most expensive. The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K, which launched in September 2024, has a list price of $349.99 / £299.99 (about AU$520), while the 4K version is $249.99 / £229.99 (about AU$390).

That's before you add the cost of the lights themselves, whether that's a set of Philips Hue Play Light Bars, or a Gradient Light Strip to stick on the back of your TV.

There are several affordable options available from brands like Nanoleaf and Govee, but even the best Ambilight alternatives struggle to match the performance of the Philips Hue Play system. That's because most budget-friendly color-mirroring systems use a camera mounted on top of your TV to monitor what's being displayed on the screen, then replicate those colors.

Although this can work well, it often results in more latency than using HDMI, and can be affected by reflections and lighting conditions in the room. That can break the immersion, or even become a distraction.

(Image credit: Signify) More immersion, less cash

The new WiZ HDMI Sync Box uses HDMI input instead, which eliminates these problems and means there's no need to spend time calibrating the system either.

The WiZ HDMI Sync Box supports HDMI 2.0 and video formats up to 4K, and unlike the Philips Hue Play Sync Box 4K it comes with a light strip included. To extend the lighting throughout the rest of your room you can also pair it with the WiZ Gradient Light Bars and Gradient Floor Light.

The WiZ HDMI Sync Box with TV backlight is available in two sizes. The kit for 55-inch to 65-inch TVs is £79.99 (about $110 / AU$170), while the version for 75-inch to 85-inch TVs is £99.99 (about $130 / AU$210).

The smaller kit is available now in the UK and Europe, while the larger set will go on sale in September. Prices and release dates for the rest of the world have yet to be announced.

We'll be testing the WiZ HDMI Sync Box very soon, and will bring you a full review so you can see how it compares with the pricier Philips Hue alternative, and decide which is the best companion for your home entertainment setup.

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At long last, Prime Video has finally unveiled its schedule for May 2025 and in addition to its usual roster of old favorites get ready for more original titles that are set to spruce up our array of best Prime Video movies and best Prime Video shows.

The most anticipated new Prime Video movie is Another Simple Favor, starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. It serves as the sequel to their 2018 black comedy crime flick, and has debuted with a fairly decent Rotten Tomatoes score of 81% so far.

As for original TV shows, the brand new nature docuseries Octopus! narrated by Phoebe Waller-Bridge will also swim its way into the Prime Video library on May 8, followed by the Prime Video original series Molly Mae: Behind It All, which will be returning for a second installment on May 9.

This is just the beginning of Prime Video's May 2025 calendar, and before these new original titles land on one of the best streaming services you'll be able to stream over 50 new movies on May 1 alone, the perfect way for you to start your summer streaming schedule.

From the romantic sci-fi feature Her (2013) to one of my personal favorite comfort movies Legally Blonde (2001), here are all the new Prime Video titles you'll be able to stream in May 2025.

Everything new on Prime Video in May 2025

Arriving on May 1

Agent Cody Banks (movie)
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (movie)
All Quiet On The Western Front (movie)
All The Money In The World (movie)
Animal House (movie)
Another Simple Favor (movie)
Are We There Yet? (movie)
Babe (movie)
Babe: Pig in the City (movie)
Barbershop (movie)
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (movie)
Because I Said So (movie)
Blood Diamond (movie)
Body of Lies (movie)
Boo! A Madea Halloween (movie)
Born On The Fourth Of July (movie)
Cinderella Man (movie)
Coogan’s Bluff (movie)
Dante’s Peak (movie)
Death Wish (movie)
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (movie)
Earthquake (movie)
Fried Green Tomatoes (movie)
Fury (movie)
Gattaca (movie)
Get On Up (movie)
Her (movie)
Heroes (movie)
How High (movie)
In The Heat of the Night (movie)
It’s Kind of a Funny Story (movie)
Jarhead (movie)
Jersey Boys (movie)
John Q (movie)
Legally Blonde (movie)
Loving (movie)
Mallrats (movie)
Overboard (movie)
Play Misty For Me (movie)
R.I.P.D. - Rest in Peace Department (movie)
Ray (movie)
Ride Along With Gag Reel (movie)
Space Cowboys (movie)
Starsky & Hutch (movie)
The Beguiled (movie)
The Exorcist (movie)
The Flintstones (movie)
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (movie)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (movie)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (movie)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (movie)
The Karate Kid (movie)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (movie)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (movie)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (movie)
Traffic (movie)
Two Mules for Sister Sara (movie)
White House Down (movie)
You’ve Got Mail (movie)

Arriving on May 5

The Peanut Butter Falcon (movie)

Arriving on May 6

David Spade: Dandelion (TV show)
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (movie)

Arriving on May 8

Octopus! (TV show)

Arriving on May 9

Molly-Mae: Behind it All Part 2 (TV show)

Arriving on May 13

Lee Soo Man: King of K-Pop (movie)

Arriving on May 20

Motorheads (TV show)

Arriving on May 22

Earnhardt (TV show)

Arriving on May 23

Clarkson’s Farm season 4 (TV show)

Arriving on May 27

September 5 (movie)
The Fire Inside (movie)
The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy season 2 (TV show)

Arriving on May 29

The Better Sister (TV show)

Arriving on May 30

Chomp Squad season 1 (TV show)

Arriving on May 31

Good Boy (TV show)

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The modus operandi of the original electric Citroen Ami was to make motoring as affordable and as widely accessible as possible, with the diminutive and very basic quadricycle flaunting many automotive norms in favor of cost-cutting.

Now, Citroen has refreshed the line-up, including the addition of a funky Buggy version that shuns its doors and hard-top for an altogether more beach-ready vibe.

As a reminder, the petite Ami can only manage a top speed of 28mph, lacks any sort of infotainment system (you bring your smartphone) and offers an EV range of around 46 miles. But it can be driven by 14-year-olds in some countries and costs less than many modern eBikes.

Citroen engineered the Ami so both of its doors are identical, mounted in a mirrored fashion so they open suicide-style for the driver and normally for the passenger, making it cheaper to manufacture and repair.

Everything is designed to be robust but affordable – it is basic city transport at its best and it has shifted more than 75,000 units in the past five years.

The refreshed line-up features a revised front and rear fascia with brand new lights, with moulded grooves in the front right and rear left wings, offering a nod to the original 2CV of the late 1940s.

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(Image credit: Citroen)

Three new color packs also join the fold, with Ami Spicy, Ami Icy, and Ami Minty (red, white and green) providing an alternative to the basic blue hue of the previous iteration.

But in order to cut costs, Citroen supplies the wheel trims and a set of decals so that customers can apply the very basic wrap themselves.

The Ami Buggy, on the other hand, wears its additional design touches on its sleeve, including gold 14-inch steel wheels, a small sports spoiler and black metal hoops that replace the standard doors. This makes sliding in and out easier, while zipped door covers are available to keep out the rain.

Equally, the soft fabric roof can be rolled back or removed, essentially creating a small electric Manx Buggy.

There’s also a Palmeira edition that adds colored floor mats and a little robot bobble head called Andy that sits on the dashboard. Why? We have no idea.

Electric micro mobility rules for many

(Image credit: Citroen)

It’s easy to pass off something like the Citroen Ami as a bit of a joke, but it is the sort of basic, electric micro-mobility option that helps many navigate the busy streets of European cities, as well as offering safer, four-wheeled freedom to teenagers.

The new design language moves away from the slightly cutesy look of the original electric Ami, yet the refreshed model still manages to start at just €7,990 in France. That’s around $9,000 / £6,800 / AU$14,200.

Now available in 18 markets, Ami is becoming a common sight on urban streets, where its 2.41m length ensures it easy to park and its 4-hour charge from a 3kWh outlet makes it a solid choice for inner-city car-sharing schemes.

The Buggy version is clearly a bit of a fun and a cool lifestyle accessory for someone that needs something simple to pop to the beach in, but electric micro-mobility in general has wider appeal.

The new Ami, for example, has been designed with disabilities in mind. There are specific stowage and lashing points for wheelchairs, as well as the option of a mechanical lever for manual control of both accelerator and brake functions.

With cities becoming ever-more populated, it's the sort of affordable solution that can keep us all moving... and parking.

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Website monitoring has become an essential tool in the current business landscape. You can’t afford for your website to go down. As per a study, 9% of visitors never return to a website if they find it’s not working. That’s a risk you cannot afford to take.

HostTracker is a solution that helps you track and detect downtimes swiftly and take action before it affects your business. Besides basic uptime tests, you can even run advanced transaction checks and API checks to ensure all parts of your website are up and running.

With 500k+ websites monitored, companies like Microsoft, Panasonic, and Worldmate trust HostTracker to monitor their web pages. Read on as we’ll explore HostTracker in detail, including its features, pricing, and interface experience, explaining why it's among the best website monitoring software. We’ll also give you a couple of alternatives in case HostTracker doesn’t suit your needs.

HostTracker: Plans and pricing

HostTracker offers three paid plans, and they're nicely spread out, meaning the solution is ideal for businesses of all sizes. The first plan (Webmaster) costs $9.9/month and allows you to check 10 websites with a monitoring interval of 5 minutes. You can add more websites to this plan for just $0.70/site.

We like the fact that you get database monitoring right from the first plan. Then there's also daily and weekly reports, SSL and domain checks, and maintenance scheduling. You can also get notifications for up to 10 contacts, making the plan ideal for small teams.

The next plan, Business, costs $18/month and comes with 25 website checks at an interval of just 1 minute. Adding additional sites will only cost you $0.50/site/month.

Besides everything in the Webmasters plan, you can also undertake speed tests at 30-minute intervals, execute task cron scheduling, set up API monitoring, access detailed logs, and run 2 transaction checks.

Feature-wise, this plan has everything HostTracker has to offer except SNMP monitoring. You also get multi-user access options, making it a good pick for small and mid-sized businesses. The value for money is superb as well.

The last tier is the Enterprise plan at $75/month, meant for large businesses. You can run 150+ website checks, unlimited web risk monitoring, 10 transaction checks, and page speed tests at 15-minute intervals. You can upgrade to this plan if you’re a really large organization with more frequent check needs.

HostTracker: Features

You can get started with various availability checks such as HTTPS, Ping, SMTP, and TCP port from various locations and intervals, depending on the plan you choose.

One of the most impressive features of HostTracker is database checks – something that not many website monitors offer. This checks your databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server) for parameters like connection stability, query execution speed, and overall performance and ensures they are available when you need them.

(Image credit: HostTracker)

Transaction monitoring is another notable feature, as it helps you test the flow of online processes on your website. For example, if you run an e-commerce business, it is important to ensure that all parts of the customer journey are working smoothly.

Say, if customers face issues adding products to a cart, you’ll notice higher bounce rates. Transaction checks help you set up and monitor custom parts of a website, such as submitting a form, page redirects, cart functions, and final payment. Its detailed logs and reports can help businesses identify the bottlenecks before they affect revenues.

A similar feature is the API check. Complex business websites often have embedded APIs on their websites (say for completing payments). An API check keeps an eye on whether these APIs are functional and how quickly and reliably they’re responding. This too helps you improve the overall customer experience on your website.

Now, if you’re running a global business, it may so happen that your website may be blacklisted at some locations for spam or legal reasons. HostTracker’s IP DNS blacklist checker scans DNSBL databases to identify these instances so that you can take quick remedial actions.

Similarly, HostTracker also constantly checks if your website is included in Google's unsafe websites list through Google's Web Risk API. This 24/7 automated monitoring helps you get your websites off the risk list and uphold your reputation.

HostTracker: Interface and in use

Using HostTracker feels like juggling with an early 2000s tech product. The interface isn’t as clean or appealing as some of its competitors, but it gets the job done. Despite its non-modern interface, HostTracker is easy to use. Much like other tools, you can access all features from the left panel.

(Image credit: HostTracker)

Adding a scan is simple – just add the URL and fill in a pre-designed form. You also get certain advanced options where you can choose the location of the check, the timeout period, and add tags for categorization.

We also liked how HostTracker turns reports into skimmable charts, making it easy for admins to understand website performance at a glance. There are also a lot of guides to help you understand various functions. The learning curve isn’t steep – play around with the interface for a couple of days to get the hang of it.

HostTracker: Support

HostTracker offers a couple of support options. You can either send them an email at h2tsupport@HostTracker.com or use the live chat option at the bottom-right of your screen. Much like StatusCake, this chat isn’t 24/7, and you might have to wait for a response.

Apart from this, you can take the help of various ‘how to’ articles and blogs on the website, which may resolve a lot of operational queries.

HostTracker: The competition

If you’re looking for something more affordable, UptimeRobot can be a good choice. Besides 50 free monitors, its paid plans start at just $7/month with a monitoring interval of 60 seconds. You get 8 different monitoring options, including ping monitoring, cron job monitoring, and port monitoring.

Unlike HostTracker, you can design customizable public status pages to keep your viewers informed during outages. However, it lacks advanced functions like transaction and Real User Monitoring (RUM).

Uptime.com is a more enterprise-level solution with premium features like RUM, cloud status checks, API and transaction checks, and group checks. Its synthetic transaction monitoring even supports advanced web applications like MFA sites.

Besides this, you get 30 basic check types and 3 free tools to check website speeds and uptime. You can set up a hierarchy of escalations to solve major downtime issues promptly. That said, it can be an expensive option, with its best-valued plan costing $67/month.

HostTracker: Final verdict

From basic HTTPS, SMTP, ping, and TCP port checks to advanced database checks, there’s a lot you can do with HostTracker. It's also one of the few monitors that come with robust API and transaction monitoring, which can be crucial for businesses that rely on their website sales.

Add to this features like blacklist monitoring, WebRisk monitoring, and SSL and domain monitoring, and it's easy to see why we consider HostTracker a comprehensive website monitoring solution. Although the interface may seem a bit archaic, the platform is easy to use with almost no learning curve.

The plans start at just $9.9/month, making it an affordable pick for small businesses. Even its most popular plan costs just $18/month. That said, it lacks real user monitoring and status pages, which is why you may consider alternatives like Uptime.com.

FAQs Who is HostTracker best for?

HostTracker is ideal for businesses of all sizes, owing to its well-priced plans. If you’re a small business or startup, you can choose the Business plan, which comes with almost all the features HostTracker has to offer, including transaction checks and API monitoring.

The best thing is that you won’t need to upgrade to a higher plan just because you want to monitor more websites. You can simply add additional sites at just $0.50. The Enterprise plan, on the other hand, is ideal for large businesses that need to monitor more than 150 websites.

What is a website monitoring solution?

A website monitoring tool monitors all your websites to ensure they stay live at all times and notifies you instantly if there are any unexpected outages. This helps you cut down on losses you’d have to face due to downtimes, maintain your brand image, and improve overall customer experience. A robust tool like HostTracker can check uptimes from various locations along with advanced API checks.

We've listed the best website defacement monitoring services.

• Google has hinted that it could address PWM dimming issues later this year
• That likely means any improvements will come to the Pixel 10 series
• This could be good news for anyone who suffers headaches when using phones with low PWM dimming rates

Google’s Pixel phones have fantastic screens and there’s no reason to think the upcoming Google Pixel 10 series will be any exception, but one way in which they’ve so far been found lacking is their PWM (pulse-width modulation) dimming rates.

This refers to a method that some smartphones use to make their display appear dimmer. Essentially, rather than the voltage being adjusted, the display is rapidly turned off and on to give the appearance of decreased brightness.

This rapid switching on and off of the screen is imperceptible to most users, but for some it can cause headaches, and it’s at its worst when the PWM rate is quite low – which is the case with Pixel phones.

But that might change with the Google Pixel 10, as when Android Central asked Google whether it would consider upgrading the PWM dimming rate or adding a flicker-reduction accessibility option to Pixel phones, they were told by a Google representative that “their teams are aware and investigating this. You can expect updates later this year."

The Google Pixel 9 Pro (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future) Likely landing with the Pixel 10

That reference to “later this year” likely means any changes would come to the Pixel 10 series, which is expected to launch in or around August. That likely means older models won’t benefit, though it’s not impossible that these changes could land as a software update.

It’s also unclear whether this would mean changes to the PWM rate, moving away from PWM, or some other solution. But whatever the case, this is very promising news for anyone who struggles with PWM and particularly low PWM dimming rates.

Of course, this comment is a bit vague so we might be getting excited about nothing, but as Android Central notes, this isn’t the first time they’ve reached out to Google for comment on PWM over the last couple of years, but it is the first time they’ve had a meaningful response, which could be a sign that it’s finally something Google is addressing.

We should find out later this year, either with the Pixel 10 series or as part of a software update – perhaps Android 16.

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Website monitoring is an essential business solution that helps you ensure your web addresses stay live at all times. Downtimes may happen, though, which is why it's important to have a website monitoring tool that instantly notifies you in these situations, identifies the issues, and fixes them promptly.

StatusCake is a popular website monitoring solution trusted by the likes of Netflix, Verizon, UNICEF, Accenture, and IBM, among others. It offers 8 types of basic uptime monitors, SSL and domain monitoring, and customizable dashboards. Its beginner-friendly approach makes it a less complex tool than most other website monitors.

Hang around till the end as we explore in more detail everything there is to know about StatusCake. From its best features, pricing, and interface to support options and best alternatives, there’s a lot to uncover.

StatusCake: Plans and pricing

StatusCake offers two paid plans in addition to a free forever plan. We found the free plan pretty bare-bones, as it comes with only 10 uptime monitors, checking at an interval of 5 minutes. Still, it can come in handy for personal projects or occasional checks.

If and when you need more, consider upgrading to its Superior plan at $20.41/month. Here, you’ll get up to 100 uptime monitors with a check interval of 1 minute. You also get page speed monitoring and server and domain monitoring on this plan.

That said, the Superior plan is admittedly a bit on the expensive side, especially considering the set of features it offers. For instance, Host Tracker offers database monitoring, detailed logs, transaction monitoring, maintenance scheduling, and customizable reports at just $18/month.

The highest-tier StatusCake plan is the Business plan priced at $66.66/month, offering 300 monitors with a check interval of just 30 seconds. This is ideal for businesses that need to constantly monitor their web addresses.

It's worth noting that this plan also offers multi-user access, which makes it a good choice for team-oriented businesses. You also get a detailed dashboard and the option to customize email alerts as per your brand voice.

StatusCake: Features

As mentioned earlier, StatusCake offers 8 types of website checks: HTTP, HEAD, TCP, DNS, SMTP, SSH, PING, and PUSH. The monitor can check at an interval as low as 30 seconds – you can even choose to monitor constantly without any specified interval. StatusCake can run checks from as many as 28 locations, and you have the option to choose up to 3 servers while setting up a new monitor.

If you have a lot of web addresses to monitor, you can choose to add the URLs in bulk instead of creating each monitor manually. This bulk monitor supports three types of tests: HTTP, HEAD, and PING.

(Image credit: StatusCake)

Besides these checks, you can even run speed test checks for various web addresses from as many as 12 locations. While this may not be much, it covers almost all major business hubs, like Singapore, Japan, and the UK.

What we liked the most about StatusCake is its ability to send notifications to an entire group of contacts at once. You can easily create a new contact list by adding the email addresses and phone numbers of the recipients.

Choose this group while setting up a new monitor, and StatusCake will send all alerts and notifications to all members in that group. This will benefit businesses that have a dedicated IT team for monitoring their web pages. The monitor offers 12 integrations to get alerts on, including Telegram, Discord, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.

Besides basic uptime monitoring, StatusCake also keeps a check on your SSL certificates and notifies you before they expire. The same is true for domain expiry. You can also set up a custom maintenance window during which the tests will be paused, preventing any negative impact on your uptime percentage and alerts.

A rather hidden feature of StatusCake is keyword monitoring. You can add specific keyword triggers while setting up monitors. For instance, if you’re monitoring a competitor’s website, you can choose to be notified only when words like ‘sale’ or ‘discount’ pop up.

StatusCake: Interface and in use

StatusCake’s interface is pretty simple and easy to use. All the steps for adding a new monitor are pretty self-explanatory. Simply add the URL and choose the monitoring frequency and contact group. Then, select the number of servers you want the check to run on and set keyword alerts, if any.

(Image credit: StatusCake)

A rather noteworthy positive of StatusCake is that you can add tags to each of your monitors for better organization. For example, all uptime tests in the US (or any other region for that matter) can be clubbed together.

StatusCake also does a good job with its dashboard, allowing you to build customizable ones quickly. These dashboards give you a live view of any website errors so that you can always stay on top of your website performance.

StatusCake: Support

We found StatusCake’s support a little less prompt than some other website monitoring solutions. It offers a live chat option, which you can access from the bottom right of your screen. However, it's not 24/7. You’ll have to wait for the support team to be online to get a reply. Moreover, there are no options to contact them directly, either.

That said, there’s a rich collection of articles and blogs explaining various features. This helps you get started and explore each feature in more detail. There are also a lot of podcasts to keep you abreast of the best monitoring practices.

StatusCake: The competition

Although StatusCake is a good monitoring solution, it may not be ideal for all businesses, especially large ones. Here are some alternatives you can consider.

Uptime.com is a comprehensive monitoring solution that offers more than 30 types of basic checks and advanced transaction monitoring, API checks, and real user monitoring (RUM). RUM checks are essential to gauge various website parameters like bounce rates and load times as it fetches data from real user interaction.

API checks help you check if all embedded APIs on your website are working perfectly or not. Similarly, using transaction checks, you can set up custom element checks on your website, such as clicking a button, adding products to your cart, checking out, and so on. That said, Uptime.com can be a tad expensive, with plans costing as high as $285/month.

Host Tracker can be a more affordable solution with plans starting at just $9.90/month. Here as well, you get the luxury of transaction and API monitors, as well as database monitoring, task cron scheduling, and maintenance scheduling. However, you won’t get RUM monitoring with Host Tracker.

StatusCake: Final verdict

StatusCake is a decent website monitoring tool with almost every single essential feature, including various types of uptime monitors, SSL and domain monitoring, speed tests, and customizable dashboards. Plus, you can set up public reporting pages and schedule downtime maintenance to manage your uptime better.

Setting up and using a monitor is pretty straightforward, too, making StatusCake a beginner-friendly choice. You can choose various locations to run tests from and form a contact group to send notifications to an entire team. Handy for businesses with dedicated departments. What’s more, you can also choose to receive these notifications on platforms like Slack, Telegram, and Discord thanks to a useful bunch of integrations.

StatusCake comes with a free plan and scales up gradually as per your needs. The paid plans start at $20.41/month, which may not be the most value-for-money option. Also, StatusCake lacks features like transaction monitoring and real user monitoring, making alternatives like Uptime.com and Uptrends a better choice.

FAQs Who is StatusCake best for?

StatusCake is an excellent choice for small, team-oriented businesses. It offers basic uptime monitoring, speed tests, and SSL and domain checks. Plus, you can add various members of your team to a contact group who will then receive alerts simultaneously. The platform is also very easy to use, making it ideal for small businesses that may not have dedicated IT teams.

What is the difference between website monitoring and content monitoring?

A website monitor helps you keep an eye on your website and sends you alerts if it notices any downtime. This makes sure your websites stay live at all times, and you do not lose business due to random outages.

A content monitoring tool, on the other hand, notifies you whenever there’s any change in the content of a website. This comes in handy for competitor monitoring, regulatory compliance, SEO optimization, and analyzing customer sentiments.

We list the best website defacement monitoring services.

iFi iDSD Valkyrie: Two-minute review

iFi is a company that seldom goes anything other than ‘all-in’ – and with the new iDSD Valkyrie headphone amp/DAC it’s decided to try and make the best ‘portable’ headphone amp/DAC it possibly can.

‘Portable’ is a relative term, of course, and not only is the Valkyrie’s portability debatable when considering including it in our roundup of the best portable DACs, but the idea that you’d want to carry around a device you’ve spent £1699 (or equivalent) on is perhaps an odd one too. But for desktop or full system use, this iFi has an awful lot going for it.

And that’s the case no matter if you’re talking about design, build quality, the standard of finish or the way it sounds. It’s an individual looker, for sure, and it is unquestionably built to last. And when it’s working on your raw digital audio files, the results can be almost humbling – this is an extraordinarily detailed, precise and yet entertaining listen. It’s real ‘iron fist in velvet glove’ stuff the Valkyrie trades in – it’s controlled, energetic, insightful and, above all, musical. And that last word especially is by no means a given, even if you’re spending an arm and a leg.

For some, the seemingly limitless options to fiddle with the filtering, upscaling and processing of digital audio information might seem a bit daunting. For others, the idea that iFi is leaving the end user to have such a big say in the ultimate sound will seem like an admission that it doesn’t quite know what ‘best’ sounds like. For the rest of us, though, the iDSD Valkyrie will be a source of endless fascination as well as of enjoyment.

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Price and release date

(Image credit: Future)

• Released of March 25, 2025
• Priced $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$2,999 (approx.)

The iFi iDSD Valkyrie launched on March 25, 2025, and it costs the same £1699 now as it did then. In the United States it will set you back a slightly more palatable $1699, while in Australia it goes for AU$2999 or something very like it.

I don’t think I will be startling anyone when I observe that this is quite a lot of money for a portable (or, as iFi prefers, ‘transportable’) DAC/headphone amp. Really, the only alternative of any profile that’s contesting the same area of the market is Chord’s equally wilfully named Hugo 2 - which means the Valkyrie is competing against at least one hugely accomplished rival…

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• Quad Burr-Brown PCM1793 DACs
• Numerous processing options
• 20000mAh battery power for 18 hours of constant operation

Yes, there are three headlines as regards ‘features’ just above here – but in all honesty I could have chosen from quite a few others. ‘A trowel’ is too small an implement to indicate what iFi has used to lay it on with here.

I have to start somewhere, though, so I may as well start with battery power. There are four batteries fitted to the Valkyrie which means it will run quite happily for as much as 18 hours before it needs charging – and its quick-charge facility means it can be brimmed inside three hours.

Getting digital information into the Valkyrie and decoded analogue information out again can be achieved in quite a number of different ways, but what happens to it in between is subject to quite a lot of user-defined variation. Fundamentally, digital audio stuff is given the once-over by a quartet of Burr-Brown PCM1793 DACs, but they’re operating in conjunction with an FPGA (field programmable gate array) that allows a bewildering number of processing, filtering and upscaling options to be brought to bear if you so desire.

There are six filtering options, from the light-touch ‘bit perfect’ to the heavy-handed ‘apodising’ and points in between – upsampling to resolutions way beyond the native resolution of the incoming signal can be facilitated this way. PCM and DSD files can be upsampled to DSD512 or a colossal DSD1024, which means incoming content can have its sample rate adjusted in quite a few ways.

And not for the first time where one of its more upmarket products are concerned, iFi has included JVC Kenwood’s ‘K2’ processing that was originally developed back when 16bit/44.1kHz compact disc standard ruled the roost – it intends to help restore information that might have disappeared during the original remastering from analogue to digital. And naturally enough the upgraded ‘K2HD’ that reflects the more recent move to hi-res content is included too.

As well as the physical digital and analogue inputs, the Valkyrie is fitted with Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity – and it’s compatible with top-of-the-shop, state-of-the-art aptX Lossless codec compatibility too. iFi has been demonstrating its impeccable facility with Bluetooth for quite some time now, and the implementation of the as-good-as-it-gets standard bodes very well indeed.

Features score: 5 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Sound quality

(Image credit: Future)

• Lavishly detailed and insightful
• Open, spacious and well-defined
• Your favourite sonic balance is in there somewhere…

I’m going to have to assume you’ve taken your investment seriously, and have spent as long as it takes to find the sonic balance within the Valkyrie’s endless permutations that suits you best. During this journey you'll have discovered that it’s possible to make the iFi sound overprocessed and unnatural – but, of course, this is what ‘trial and error’ is all about.

Once you get where you want to be, though, there’s very little that’s erroneous about the way the Valkyrie deals with your digital audio information. It’s only slightly perturbed by very compressed, low-resolution content, and it doesn’t at all mind about the type of music you like to listen to. It’s forgiving of partnering equipment, no matter if it’s headphones or a full-on system. And it is capable of peering into a recording on a forensic level and returning with an absolute stack of relevant information that it is only too willing to impart.

A recording like Nick Drake’s Which Will that’s stored as a 24bit/96kHz FLAC file illustrates a lot of what is so enjoyable and so impressive about the Valkyrie. Its midrange fidelity is, quite frankly, stunning. There’s an immediacy about the vocal performance here, an utterly natural tonality, that makes every aspect of the singer’s performance – attitude, emotional state, character, phrasing, breath-management, you name it – completely apparent. And, what’s more, makes it sound natural, unforced and alive.

The spare instrumentation of the recording is equally alive – the tonal balance the iFi strikes is convincing, and the stage on which this performance occurs is confidently defined. Frequency response is smooth and even, attention to harmonic detail is fanatical, and there’s the sort of unity and togetherness of presentation that I more readily associated with the vinyl format.

A 24bit/48kHz FLAC file of James Holden’s Common Land allows the Valkyrie to demonstrate martial low-frequency control and an unequivocal way with rhythmic expression. Bass sounds are rapid, loaded with variation, dynamic as can be, and with the sort of straight-edged attack that means the tune just snaps. At the opposite end there’s substance to treble information that nicely balances out the bite and crunch the iFi brings, and again the Valkyrie observes the attack, the onset, of top-end sounds with complete attention.

I get the strong impression that the Valkyrie is able to bring the best from any partnering equipment no matter if it’s a system or a pair of headphones, and no matter how much or how little this equipment costs. Even if the digital audio information is getting into the machine via Bluetooth, the output is never less than coherent and convincing. Naturally if you decide you want to upsample a 320kbps MP3 file of The Roots’ Dynamite! to DSD1024 it’s possible to discern a process at work behind the actual sound you’re hearing - but you’ll appreciate that I’m taking things to extremes here.

Sound quality: 4.5 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Arrives in a large wooden box
• As winged as the name demands
• Superb standard of build and finish

You can’t suggest iFi hasn’t put the hard yards in where the design of the iDSD Valkyrie is concerned. This is a product that’s been designed to within an inch of its life. In some ways this ‘designing at all costs’ impacts on outright usability (as we shall see), but never let it be said iFi doesn’t offer a bit of visual drama to go along with all that performance.

So the Valkyrie arrives in a substantial wooden box that stretches the definition of the word ‘transportable’ more than somewhat. Inside is the device itself (a not insignificant 30 x 160 x 172mm [HxWxD] and 882g) along with a necessarily large (and unarguably beige) carry case, a selection of connection cables and adapters to cover every eventuality, and a mains adapter.

The device itself is dramatically angular in a manner, says iFi, that evokes "the majestic wings of a Valkyrie's horse" – which is ambitious, no two ways about it. And let’s face it, only by comparing it to a horse does the iDSD Valkyrie seem anything other than very large. I’ve been using the equally special iFI i DSD Diablo 2 as my reference headphone amp/DAC for a while now, and I used to think it was quite big. Not any more.

There’s no arguing with the standard of build and finish here, mind you. The fit is even, the panel gaps are very tight indeed, and there’s even a suggestion of tactility about the casework. Used as a system device in a domestic setting or on a desktop it’s a singular and diverting looker.

Design score: 4.5 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Usability and setup

• Multi-function sockets and buttons
• Lilliputian labelling for these sockets and buttons
• Almost too much user input into setup

So yes, as I said: this determination to ensure the iDSD Valkyrie is Fully Designed has led to some compromises where usability is concerned. It has a fair few sockets and buttons on both sides and both ends – but in all honesty it could do with a few more, because too many of them are fulfilling more than one function.

For instance, on the rear panel there’s a USB-C socket for charging that quartet of batteries and another for data transfer. Then there’s a hybrid optical/coaxial 3.5mm digital input, and a pair of stereo RCA analogue outputs. After that there are two analogue connections – one is an unbalanced 3.5mm socket and the other a balanced 4.4mm alternative - and both of them function as both inputs and outputs.

Up front there’s another 4.4mm balanced analogue output – this one doubles as an output for MEMS headphones. There’s also another 3.5mm unbalanced analogue output, with a (relatively) large volume/mute control-cum-power on/off dial in the centre. A button that allows you to cycle through your numerous filter options and to initiate upsampling to DSD (512 or 1024) is adjacent to a button that deals both with input selection and turns K2 or K2HD processing on or off.

On the bottom of the chassis there’s the usual iFi ‘iEMatch’ switch for finessing output relative to the demands of your headphones, and on the top there are two little buttons dealing with available audio modes. One switches the ‘XSpace’ mode (designed to improve imaging) on or off, and also governs the three different types of power output levels, while the other gives access to ‘XPresence’ mode (for extra midrange grunt) and ‘XBass II’ mode (take a wild guess). It also allows you to access menus on the little screen on the top of the device, turning the volume control into a turn/push dial to navigate them.

When I suggested many of the sockets and buttons on the Valkyrie are overburdened, I really wasn’t joking.

And if you’ve read the ‘features’ section, then you’ll know that as the end user you have plenty of legwork to do before the Valkyrie is set up to your satisfaction in purely sonic terms. All of the sound modes, in conjunction with all of the filter options, allied to all of the processing and upsampling possibilities, mean it will take time and effort to get the point you deem optimal.

Usability and setup score: 3 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Value

Like almost everything that gets reviewed at techradar.com, the ‘value’ the iFi iDSD Valkyrie represents is subjective.

Is it ten times better than one of iFi’s own admirable little USB DACs that cost a tenth of the price or less. Of course it isn’t; gains at the very top of the food chain have always been incremental. But if you want what is approaching ‘ultimate’ where a product of this type is concerned, well, it’s going to cost you.

And don’t be in any doubt, the results here are profoundly impressive.

Value score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the iFi iDSD Valkyrie? Buy it if...

You’re after a uncompromised headphone amp/DAC experience
When it comes to flexibility and – most of all – performance, there are very few alternative products around that can get close to the Valkyrie

You enjoy design for design’s sake
Does the Valkyrie have to look like this? No, it doesn’t - but the fact that a company has decided to make a product look as interesting as it sounds is to be applauded

You fancy a lot of say in the way your headphone amp/DAC sounds
So many options, so many combinations… it’s almost like being wholly in charge of the sound you get to experience

Don't buy it if...

You’re short of time
So many options, so many combinations… this is not a plug-and-play device by any means

You’re short of space on your desktop
I’m quite tidy when it comes to my work station, and yet I had to move things, straighten things and tidy things away to make space for the Valkyrie View Deal

You don’t see all that well
The word I’m going with to describe the labelling of inputs, outputs and controls on the Valkyrie is ‘miniscule’View Deal

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Also consider

The obvious rival to the iFi iDSD Valkyrie, and the reigning ‘madly expensive and oversized headphone amp/DAC’ champion is the Chord Hugo 2 – which can be found for around the same fee as the Valkyrie these days (but launched at £1,800 / $2,175 / AU$4,500). In its own way it’s just as oddball a product as the iFi – it’s been eight years since it launched, and I’m no closer to understanding what each of the color combinations that constitute a user interface actually mean. But it’s a staggeringly accomplished performer nonetheless.

How I tested the iFi iDSD Valkyrie

I connected the iDSD Valkyrie to a MacBook Pro (running Colibri software) via its USB-C socket, and I also connected it via its digital optical input to a Rega Apollo CD player.

I connected a FiiO M15S digital audio player wirelessly using the LDAC codec. I used a pair of Sennheiser IE900 in-ear headphones via their 4.4mm balanced connection as an output, along with a pair of Bowers & Wilkins Px8 via the 3.5mm unbalanced output – and I also connected the Valkyrie to a main reference system (Naim amplification, Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers) using its RCA outputs. And then I fed it a lot of music, of different file types and sizes, and of different genres, in an effort to find something the iFi doesn’t excel at.

And then I had to accept that ‘excel’ is simply what the iFi iDSD Valkyrie does.

• First reviewed: May 2025
• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

• The Apple Watch SE 3 is expected to launch in September
• A new report claims it has entered development with a major display upgrade
• Sizes of 1.6 and 1.8-inches have been tipped, hinting at a redesign based around the Apple Watch Series 9

The new Apple Watch SE 3, expected to arrive in September, has reportedly entered production sporting display size options of 1.6 and 1.8 inches, hinting at the long-rumored redesign we've been waiting for.

Apple should unveil its three new best Apple Watches for 2025 in September alongside the iPhone 17. While the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 should be the headliners, only the Apple Watch SE 3 is tipped to get a redesign, and we've just got our clearest hint yet at what that could entail.

As reported by 9to5Mac, the ultra-reliable supply chain leaker Ross Young has reportedly revealed that the new Apple Watch SE 3 displays have entered production. According to the report, "He estimates the displays as being around 1.6” and 1.8” each."

As the report notes, Apple gauges its Watch line by case size, not screen size. As such, it's difficult to pin down exactly what this means. However, the sizing mentioned is closest to that of the 41mm and 45mm Apple Watch range pioneered by the Series 7 and phased out with the Series 10.

Coupled with prior reports of a new design for the SE 2, it's safe to say that the Apple Watch SE 3 is hopefully going to look an awful lot like the Apple Watch Series 9 – a much-needed design overhaul.

Apple Watch SE 3's new sizes

(Image credit: Future)

Boosting the display size to 41mm and 45mm makes a ton of sense. The Apple Watch SE 2's design is starting to look long in the tooth alongside the sleeker Series 10. Handily, because the Series 10 measures 42mm and 46mm, Apple can increase the SE 3's display size accordingly while keeping the size difference as a clear point of differentiation in the lineup.

Other features and upgrades of the Apple Watch SE 3 remain veiled at this point. The big story for Apple Watch this year should be the introduction of blood pressure/hypertension monitoring, a feature certain to be reserved for the premium models in the lineup.

In the meantime, Apple should unveil watchOS 12 at WWDC 2025, which will reportedly feature a more transparent design reflective of Apple Vision Pro's visionOS.

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A robust website monitoring tool delivers data like page load speeds, downtime reports, and unexpected outages, allowing you to ensure your business stays online and visible at all times.

Uptrends is a renowned website monitoring tool offering features like synthetic transaction monitoring, browser monitoring, and real user monitoring. Plus, you only need to pay for the features you use thanks to a per-feature pricing structure.

Read on as we lay out the best features, pricing, ease of use, and support options of Uptrends. We’ll also compare it with a couple of its top rivals to see how it stacks up.

Uptrends: Plans and pricing

Uptrends follows a fairly different pricing structure than its peers. Instead of bundling features in different plans, it offers each feature separately. Here’s how much each feature will cost you.

This way, you’ll only have to pay for the features you want to use. For instance, small businesses and startups may only need uptime monitoring, which costs just $5.10/month. However, this pricing structure can seem expensive if you need all the features – you’ll then have to shell out at least $43.82/month in total.

Although not the cheapest, Uptrends still delivers great value for money. Other providers offer all these features only on their high-end plans, which can cost anywhere between $50 and $250 per month. Even then, the number of checks is generally capped, which isn’t a concern with Uptrends.

What's more, Uptrends offers as many as 15 free tools, including a DNS checker, website speed test, uptime test, and ping test. This can be mighty helpful to startups and small businesses looking for free monitoring options. In comparison, Uptime.com only offers 3 free tools.

Uptrends: Features

Uptrends’ global monitoring solution is ideal for large organizations with a worldwide presence. You can check the status of your web pages from as many as 233 locations (checkpoints). No other monitoring service offers such a large pool of servers. Besides basic HTTPS monitoring, you can also set up custom DNS monitors and SSL certificate monitoring.

One of its core features is browser monitoring – also known as full page check (FPC). This FPC monitor loads your webpages in a real browser (Chrome or Edge) to measure the website's performance as experienced by your visitors.

This includes evaluating the scripts, third-party elements, images, and CSS components of your website. Uprends then generates a detailed waterfall chart to give you a quick overview of all running FPC checks.

(Image credit: Uptrends)

If you have a business that relies on curating a flawless customer website experience, Uptrends’ transaction monitoring can come in handy. This monitor allows you to test every component of the user journey on your website, including aspects like logging in, scrolling, searching for products, shopping cart checkouts, payments, and more.

The platform also offers a handy Chrome extension for recording the transaction flow you want to monitor.

We also liked Uptrends’ prompt alerting mechanism. You can choose to receive downtime notifications on SMS, email, or phone call. The platform also allows integration with popular tools like Slack, MS Teams, and other business applications.

What makes Uptrends a complete website monitoring platform, though, is Real User Monitoring (RUM). RUM uses real user data to drill down on metrics like page load times, DOM and render duration, time to first byte, and page ready time.

All of this (and more) data is pulled into simplified charts, which then help you identify potential issues. For instance, you can use a bar chart to view page load times from various locations and browsers and identify the locations where your pages load the slowest.

Uptrends: Interface and in use

The interface is pretty data-driven – you’ll find a lot of charts and stats right at the center of your dashboard. Although we believe this to be a positive, as it's a no-nonsense approach, some users may find it a little overwhelming.

As is the case with other apps, there’s a panel on the left-hand side, allowing you access to all Uptrends features.

(Image credit: Uptrends)

Uptrends comes with several predefined dashboards but also allows you to add custom dashboards by selecting metrics and filters that are essential to measuring performance.

The platform has recently revamped its interface to integrate various monitoring modes like synthetic and RUM. There’s even a 360-degree overview dashboard, which gives you a quick one-screen snapshot of all your website metrics.

Uptrends: Support

We found the software’s customer support options ideal for business needs. Your first port of call would be to raise a support ticket on the platform. You can draft your message and even attach a file to explain your issue better.

Moreover, there’s also a live chat option at the bottom of the screen. Initially maneuvered by AI, the chatbot is quick to connect you to a human agent so that you can sort out your issues without much hassle.

Besides this, you’ll find an extensive web knowledge base and help articles on the platform, which will guide you through setting up various monitors and help you conquer the initial learning curve. However, there’s no live call support, which is admittedly a standard in the industry.

Uptrends: The competition

Although Uptrends is a complete website monitoring solution, it may not be the best choice for all businesses, especially because of its distinctive pricing structure. Here are some alternatives you can look at instead.

UptimeRobot is a more affordable option. You can get started at just $7/month and enjoy features like HTTP, port, and ping monitoring. It also comes with a nifty keyword monitoring tool that sends you alerts in case there are any content changes on a given page. However, this may be too basic for large businesses.

If you need something more advanced, you can choose Uptime.com, which offers more than 30 types of checks. The platform runs comprehensive RUM checks with as many as 1.5M data points, as well as private location checks and microtransaction checks.

Each check can also be run from multiple locations simultaneously. However, Uptime.com can be expensive, too – plans start from $20/month and go all the way up to $285/month.

Uptrends: Final verdict

Uptrends has everything a business could need – from synthetic transaction and API monitoring to detailed browser and real user monitoring. One of the best things about the platform is that you can monitor the status of your webpages from 233 global locations, which could be a game-changer for multinational businesses.

Plus, Uptrends offers a feature-wise pricing structure where you only have to pay for the features you actually use. The good news keeps coming, as there are 15 free tools, including those for global uptime testing and website speed testing, a DNS checker, etc.

The interface is also easy to use and offers a lot of visual charts to understand the available data better. Overall, Uptrends covers all the bases really well, meaning it's splurge-worthy.

FAQs Does Uptrends offer a free plan?

While there’s no free plan as such, Uptrends offers 15 free tools. From checking your website’s speed and global uptime to running a DNS check and ping test, there’s a lot you can do for free.

Additionally, Uptrends has a different pricing structure, seeing as it comes with feature-wise plans. For instance, you can get the uptime and availability monitoring plan for just $5.10/month. This means you only need to pay for the functions you want to use.

Why is website monitoring important?

A website monitoring tool keeps an eye on your web addresses and ensures downtimes are not left unattended. It sends you instant alerts whenever there’s an issue with any component on your website, which might have been slowing it down.

Website downtimes can lead to financial losses, after all, not to mention they can also harm your brand reputation and image. If a user finds your website isn't working, it’s highly unlikely they’ll return. That’s why it’s important to ensure your website stays live at all times.

Check out the best website defacement monitoring service.

• Samsung has hinted that a new type of Samsung foldable is coming
• That most likely means the company's long-rumored tri-fold phone will launch this year
• However, based on previous rumors, it might not be widely available

We’ve been hearing for a while that Samsung could launch a tri-fold phone, possibly called the Samsung Galaxy G Fold, and now the company has strongly hinted that this device will launch in 2025.

As reported by SamMobile, the company stated during its Q1 2025 earnings call that it will “maximize product competitiveness based on form factor innovation.” Now, given that Samsung hasn’t released a phone with a new form factor since 2020, that suggests a new form factor is coming soon, with the tri-fold design being the only rumored candidate.

The company also stated that “Foldables will offer large-screen experiences for Fold”, which could be a reference to the rumored 9.9-inch screen of the Samsung Galaxy G Fold; that would make it a lot larger than the 7.6-inch Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

Of course, we can’t be sure about any of this, but it’s already been rumored that the Samsung Galaxy G Fold will launch this year, so these comments further corroborate that prediction.

It could be coming soon, but maybe not everywhere

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

If the G Fold does land this year, it will most likely launch alongside the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, both of which are expected in July.

However, it’s also possible that the Samsung Galaxy G Fold won’t get a global launch, with one report suggesting it will only be available in China and Korea. In which case, you might not be able to buy it.

Still, there’s always hope that it will go global, and even if this initial version doesn’t, subsequent models may well do.

We certainly hope the Galaxy G Fold will be widely available, though, because despite being one of the early pioneers of foldable phones, Samsung hasn’t done much to innovate in the space for quite a while now, so a tri-fold device could really freshen up its foldable line.

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• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 colors: every rumored and predicted shade
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