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Our readers rant and rave about mobile virtual network operators, but what about major networks, like AT&T and Verizon?

I picked up an Airhub eSIM the week before a trip to Japan last month. Landed at Narita, switched it on before I even cleared immigration, and had a working map on my phone by the time I got to the baggage belt.

That kind of frictionless setup is what Airhub is built around. It is an eSIM provider covering 190+ countries and regions worldwide, founded in 2020 and now serving over 5 million customers globally.

The catalog spans local, regional, and global plans, with some offering unlimited data, and a handful going further than most competitors by bundling voice calling and SMS into the plan. You get an actual international number, which means you can receive calls and texts even when you are offline.

On paper, Airhub ticks most of the boxes you would want before an international trip. In practice, my experience in Japan held up well. Coverage was solid across Tokyo and Kyoto, top-up was two taps in the app, and I never had to think about connectivity for the full two weeks.

A few reviewers have flagged the first-time activation flow as occasionally clunky, and single sign-on has thrown some users off, but the support team tends to sort these out quickly. For the price, it is hard to argue with what you get.

Airhub: Plans and pricing

Airhub's local plans start at $1.89 in some markets, with pricing varying by country and plan type. Many plans bundle an international number with voice and text alongside data.

Here are some popular examples of starting prices by country:

Region

Starting from

Plans available

United States

$1.99 USD

24 plans

United Kingdom

$2.85 USD

20 plans

UAE

$1.89 USD

16 plans

Thailand

$2.85 USD

15 plans

Switzerland

$1.90 USD

16 plans

Japan

$2.50 USD

17 plans

Australia

$2.98 USD

20 plans

Italy

$3.49 USD

17 plans

Canada

$2.49 USD

21 plans

France

$1.89 USD

18 plans

Brazil

$3.69 USD

15 plans

Spain

$3.40 USD

18 plans

While some regions, such as Latin America, may have limited coverage, Airhub's variety of plans and affordable rates still make it an attractive option for international travelers.

For travelers who need ongoing connectivity, Airhub also offers monthly rolling global subscription plans:

(Image credit: Airhub)Airhub: Features

Airhub covers the basics well and then goes a step further in a few areas that most eSIM providers skip. Here is what you actually get.

• It works the moment you land: Set it up before your trip, switch it on after landing, and you are online instantly. Maps, cabs, messages, and everything else work right away, with no additional setup required at the airport.
• plans that fit your trip, not the other way around: Whether it is a short break, a long vacation, work travel, or remote work, Airhub has a plan that makes sense for you. With up to 15 plan varieties per country, users can find an option that fits both their itinerary and their budget.
• Affordable voice and data plans: Airhub offers flexible global plans that give you the right data and calling options at a cost that makes sense. It is one of the few eSIM providers to include voice minutes and international phone numbers alongside data, depending on the region.
• Top up anytime: Running low on data? Just add more directly from the app or website. There are no new QR codes to scan or settings to configure again; your existing eSIM simply continues with the added data.
• Works perfectly with dual SIM phones: Airhub is designed to work alongside your regular SIM card. Use Airhub for data while keeping your home SIM active for calls and OTPs, giving you the best of both connections without any compromise.
• Voucher program: If you are a small retailer or mobile shop, you can take advantage of the Voucher Program to become one of Airhub's licensed distribution partners. It is a great way for small businesses to diversify their revenue streams without physically shipping SIM cards to customers.

Airhub: Installation

Getting started is easy. Just visit the Airhub website and purchase an eSIM plan. Buying a plan is as simple as choosing your destination, data package, and validity period.

Once you've completed your purchase, Airhub sends you an activation code with instructions to activate the eSIM on your device. The process rarely takes longer than two minutes. You can choose to activate your eSIM immediately or keep it installed without activating it until your travel dates.

If you have questions about specific plans, the onboarding process, or your device's compatibility, Airhub's customer service team is available to answer them around the clock.

To install and activate the eSIM, follow these steps:

• Purchase an eSIM data plan on the Airhub website or in the app. Select your destination, choose a plan, and complete checkout. You will receive an email with a QR code and installation instructions.
• On your phone, go to Settings > Cellular/Mobile Data. Make sure the Airhub eSIM is turned on.
• Set the Airhub eSIM to use Cellular Data and turn on Data Roaming.
• Scan the QR code provided in the email to install the eSIM profile. Alternatively, you can enter the activation code manually in your phone's cellular settings.
• Once installed, the eSIM may show "Activating" for some time, especially if you are not yet in the destination country. This is normal, and the activation will complete once you are in the coverage area.
• You can manage your eSIM by logging into the Airhub app. From there, you can check your data usage, top up, or change your plan.

(Image credit: Airhub)

You can also watch the YouTube tutorials on how to activate your eSIM on iOS and Android.

Airhub: Coverage and speed

(Image credit: Airhub)

Airhub's coverage spans more than 190 countries and regions worldwide, offering reliable connectivity for travelers. The company partners with local networks to design cost-effective plans, ensuring better regional coverage and pricing compared to some competitors.

However, Airhub's coverage in Latin America, while broader than before, still has some gaps in more remote destinations. The Latin America plan now covers Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Venezuela, with the Global plan further extending coverage to Mexico, Panama, and French Guiana. Travelers are advised to verify the availability of specific countries on Airhub's website before purchasing.

In terms of data speeds, Airhub generally provides 4G LTE coverage, with some plans offering 5G in select countries like Thailand. While most users report reliable connections and fast speeds, a few reviews mention occasional inconsistencies or throttling issues.

Compared to other eSIM providers, Airhub stands out for its wide variety of region-specific plans, often including voice minutes and text messaging. While competitors like Airalo boast broader global coverage, Airhub's regional focus enables more competitive pricing and greater plan flexibility in the areas it serves.

Airhub: Support

(Image credit: Airhub)

Airhub offers several customer support channels, including live chat and email. However, user reviews mention that response times across these channels can be inconsistent.

Some users report positive experiences, praising the quick turnaround time and helpful support staff. On the other hand, others have expressed frustration about late replies, changing support representatives, and unresolved issues.

There's also a detailed FAQ for users to look for solutions to common problems. Some of these contain step-by-step instructions for diagnosing and resolving even technical errors. But if you need a professional, email and chat are the only options because this provider does not offer phone support.

Airhub: Final verdict

Of all the eSIM providers we have reviewed, Airhub has the widest variety of plans. They range from regional to global and from short-term to long-term. It's also one of the few eSIM companies offering voice minutes and international numbers.

However, Airhub's inconsistent customer support and limited coverage in certain regions could be drawbacks for some users. Still, we feel that it's a solid choice whose benefits outweigh the disadvantages in the end.

Airhub: FAQsWhich devices work with Airhub eSIM?

Airhub works with most modern eSIM-compatible smartphones, including iPhone XS and newer, Google Pixel 3 and newer, and Samsung Galaxy S20 and newer. It is recommended to check your device manufacturer's specifications to confirm eSIM support before purchasing a plan.

Can I use Airhub eSIM when traveling?

Yes. Airhub is designed specifically for travelers. You can set up your eSIM before departure and switch it on as soon as you land, giving you instant connectivity without needing to find a local SIM shop or deal with roaming charges from your home carrier.

How long will my Airhub eSIM work?

Airhub validity depends on the option you select at the time of purchase, ranging from 7-day short-term plans to 30-day and monthly rolling subscriptions. Your data allowance and validity period are clearly displayed before checkout and, once activated, within the Airhub app.

Can I use my physical SIM and eSIM together?

Yes. On dual-SIM devices, you can use your physical SIM and Airhub eSIM simultaneously. A common setup is to use Airhub for mobile data while keeping your regular SIM active for calls and OTPs, so you never miss important messages from your home number.

Is Airhub eSIM safe to use?

Yes. Airhub is a legitimate eSIM provider founded in 2020 and trusted by over 500,000 users worldwide. Purchases are processed securely, and the platform supports multiple payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, and cryptocurrency.

Where is Airhub eSIM based?

Airhub is owned and managed by GigHub Systems Inc., a company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. However, Airhub offers eSIM plans for travelers worldwide.

The most important aspect of the new ChatGPT for Teens feature will probably also annoy teenagers the most. If they ask it to do their homework for them, the chatbot is supposed to recognize it, and will instead steer the student toward figuring it out themselves rather than produce a ready-to-paste essay.

That sounds like a small adjustment to the usual ChatGPT formula, but it gets at one of the biggest problems with allowing students easy access to AI chatbots. While ChatGPT's abilities as a tutor, research assistant, and endlessly patient explainer are a potential boon to learning, letting it finish a student's homework while they scroll TikTok is something everyone should want to prevent.

ChatGPT for Teens is one way OpenAI is trying to steer away from that depressing scenario. The experience is intended for users aged 13 to 17 and is automatically applied when someone gives an age in that range or OpenAI's systems estimate that the user is under 18.

The Responsible Homework Reminder might actually bring some positives to the idea of teens using ChatGPT, not just ways of limiting harm. The feature supposedly recognizes when a teenager wants the AI to do their homework and redirects them toward Study Mode.

Questions instead of answers

There has always been a slightly absurd tension around AI and education. We want students to have access to technology that can explain almost anything on demand, but preferably without allowing that technology to do all the learning for them. Giving a teenager access to ChatGPT and assuming they'll always use it ethically and to help them learn is absurd. Even with the best intentions, the AI is usually slanted toward being overly helpful and undercutting the kind of education real research and effort provide.

OpenAI takes an engineering approach to a solution. ChatGPT for Teens combines Study Mode and its learning-centered conversations, quizzes, and now homework reminders. Teens and parents can also set Study Hours, making Study Mode the default during those times.

As Study Mode is built around guiding questions and mimicking educators, it should at least reduce the incidence of kids relying on ChatGPT to do the work for them. OpenAI says the system was developed with teachers and scientists to encourage active participation.

(Image credit: OpenAI)

And while simply banning ChatGPT as much as possible sounds simpler, there's a reason some educators prefer solutions like ChatGPT for Teens. A teenager stuck on an algebra problem at 10:30 at night or who doesn't have the resources to hire a tutor can at least ask ChatGPT to help them work through the problem, and with Study Mode, that means more than just getting the answer.

“Not every student has someone at home who can help when they get stuck or have questions with their homework. With the right guardrails, AI can help fill that gap," Racquel Gibson, a high school math teacher in Miami, said in a statement. "Tools like Responsible Homework Reminder can guide students step by step, helping them understand their mistakes, build confidence, and keep learning — not simply hand them an answer. That kind of individualized support can make a meaningful difference for students who want to succeed but don’t always know how to move forward.”

There is an important caveat. Guardrails only matter if they actually hold up when a determined teenager starts rattling them. The age prediction operating behind the scenes should supposedly work out when a teen is using the AI. OpenAI says it can use signals including account age, usage patterns, topics discussed, and the times of day ChatGPT is used to estimate whether someone is under 18. OpenAI has admitted it's not a perfect system, but that it's still working to improve safeguards.

Teen safety

ChatGPT for Teens also includes reinforced guardrails to identify and prevent conversations around topics like self-harm and other violence, eating disorders, and sexual content. Those guardrails are arguably even more important than the ones stopping kids from using the AI to do their homework.

Even so, concerns about misinformation, chatbot addiction, and an overall degradation of thinking caused by AI chatbots are justifiably on the minds of many parents.

But at least the Responsible Homework Reminders are a gesture in the right direction, recognizing that the AI does not have to maximize how much work it performs on your behalf to be useful. For a teenager trying to learn, doing slightly less can occasionally be the more sophisticated feature.

If OpenAI can make that behavior reliable, teenagers may complain that ChatGPT has become less cooperative just when an assignment is due. But being less helpful might actually make ChatGPT much more useful in the long run.

• Bluesky confirms 24‑hour outage was caused by a DDoS attack on August 17 2026
• Researchers linked it to Iraq‑313 Team, using DiamWall‑based DDoS‑for‑hire infrastructure
• Company upgraded defenses; no details yet on attackers, traffic origin, or user impact

The recent outage on Bluesky was the result of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, the company has confirmed.

Bluesky is a decentralized social media platform which is rather similar to X, since it allows users to post short messages and multimedia. Its key difference is the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Protocol) upon which it was built, and which allows users and developers more control compared to other social networks.

On Sunday, August 16 2026, users started reporting problems accessing Bluesky. On Reddit, users from the US, UK, France, and other countries, said they were having issues loading the Bluesky website and app, or accessing their feeds. A day later, on August 17, Bluesky said it suffered a DDoS attack that lasted roughly 24 hours.

Iranians claim the attack

The company did not say who the attackers were, where the malicious traffic originated from, or if any specific DDoS infrastructure was used in the attack. It also did not say how many people were affected, but stressed that it upgraded its defenses and was continuing to monitor the situation.

At the same time, security researchers took to the IFIN public forum to discuss the attacks, saying they saw The Islamic Cyber Resistance in Iraq-313 Team, an Iran-backed threat actor, take responsibility for the attack, as well as for a similar DDoS strike on GitHub. It sounds plausible, since we’ve seen the 313 Team use DDoS to target similar services in the past, including Spotify and Ubuntu.

Their initial research suggests the crooks used DDoS-for-hire infrastructure that relies on DiamWall which, in turn, seems to be using IP addresses supplied by a China-based reseller. This does not mean the attack traffic came from China, or that Chinese entities were involved in the attack.

Via TechCrunch

President Trump has announced that the U.S. is delaying a 50% tariff on Canadian imports after reaching a deal. And, how progressive Democrats fared in Florida's primary elections yesterday.

(Image credit: Joe Raedle)

• Current iPhones could fall in value by 30% once new models launch
• As such, owners should sell them now if they're planning to upgrade soon
• You may be able to lock in a price now but keep using your phone until the iPhone 18 series lands

If you have an iPhone and are planning to upgrade soon, then it’s worth selling your current handset now rather than waiting until the iPhone 18 series lands — even if you’re hoping to purchase one of these upcoming phones.

This is according to Sam Wilson, Director at Gadget GoGo — a site that buys and sells refurbished tech — who claims that pre-owned prices drop dramatically once new models launch, with prices potentially dropping by up to 30% in a matter of weeks.

The issue is biggest with high-end models, as Wilson explains that “if you’ve got a Pro or Pro Max, waiting until after the launch can be particularly costly. We can see values fall by £150 to £300 in a matter of weeks, so selling slightly earlier can make a significant difference to what you get back.”

But even cheaper and older iPhone models can see their prices fall noticeably once this year's models launch, and while prices typically plummet after the launch, data from previous years suggests a steep fall in value can start already. So, whatever iPhone you have, it’s worth selling it now if you’re planning to get rid of it soon.

Lock in that price

The iPhone 17 Pro Max could soon lose a lot of value (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Of course, selling now can present a problem if the phone you want to upgrade to isn’t out yet, but as Wilson explains, you should "start the selling process now, even if you plan to upgrade in September. A lot of buyback services allow you to lock in a price today but keep using your phone for a few more weeks."

And this phenomenon isn’t exclusive to iPhones — other brands reportedly see pre-owned prices fall once new models launch too. So if you have a Samsung Galaxy S26, for example, you might want to sell it before the Samsung Galaxy S27 comes out.

But Samsung’s next flagship phone isn’t expected for a while, whereas new iPhones — likely including the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Ultra — will probably launch in early to mid-September, giving you less than 30 days before your current handset’s value could fall substantially. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Every year, marketing teams are expected to deliver more. Marketing leaders are under growing pressure to prove the return on investment they deliver and demonstrate the value they bring to the business.

At the same time, budgets remain tight, sales cycles are getting longer, and more people are becoming involved in buying decisions.

Against that backdrop, many organizations have turned to AI to automate routine tasks, analyze market and audience data and support content creation.

But as adoption matures, the conversation is now moving from experimentation to execution.

According to recent UK government research, whilst 41% of businesses are now using AI technology, only 21% have integrated AI into their existing business systems, showing that while there’s been real progress, we're still in the early stages.

The next challenge is not over-use, but shallow use. That means moving beyond isolated use cases and embedding AI into everyday marketing workflows, equipping people with the skills to use it effectively and focusing on the commercial outcomes it helps deliver.

An important part of this is ensuring humans remain at the core. Ultimately, AI should enhance human capability, not the other way around. This is particularly important when it comes to the creativity, storytelling and decision-making at the heart of marketing.

Looking beyond isolated use cases

The shift from AI experimentation to execution requires organizations to look beyond familiar use cases and think more strategically about where AI can create commercial value.

Rather than treating AI as a standalone capability to simply improve efficiency, marketers should be looking at where it can support existing workflows across the entire marketing function - from campaign planning and content creation through to new lead generation, sales enablement, measurement and reporting.

One of the biggest barriers is that people tend to rely on what they already know. That's why ongoing training and development are so important. Helping marketing teams understand where AI genuinely adds value and giving them the confidence to apply it in new ways are what will allow organizations to move beyond isolated use cases and deliver stronger commercial outcomes.

Execution for commercial outcomes

As AI becomes embedded across the marketing function, success will depend less on adopting the technology itself and more on how effectively teams apply it to core business objectives. While use cases continue to evolve, marketing leaders should focus on three priorities to deliver the greatest impact.

First, AI should drive efficiency with a goal to shorten sales cycles. It should be viewed as a tool that removes friction from the customer journey to accelerate the flow of opportunities through the funnel.

Beyond just task automation, marketing teams should be focusing on how their use of AI is delivering faster decision-making, more relevant customer engagement and stronger alignment between marketing and sales - ultimately helping organizations reduce sales cycle length and bring revenue forward.

Second, as AI-powered search experiences increasingly influence how buyers discover information, producing more content is no longer enough. Brands must focus on creating high-quality, differentiated and authoritative content that AI systems are more likely to surface and reference. This means going a step further than using prompts in chatbots and using AI to uncover audience insights, scale ideation and optimize formats.

Finally, marketing teams should leverage AI’s ability to collect actionable insights from large volumes of data and predictive analytics into emerging trends to streamline reporting and measurement processes. Automated dashboards and lead scoring can provide near real-time visibility into performance, enabling leaders to make faster, more informed decisions and keep teams aligned against shared objectives.

In an environment where budgets are under constant scrutiny, robust measurement frameworks will be critical to demonstrating marketing's contribution to business outcomes.

AI should enhance human capability, not the other way around

It is important to remember that human creativity remains essential for developing original perspectives, compelling storytelling and genuine brand distinction. Organizations that combine AI efficiency with human expertise will be best positioned to maintain visibility and relevance in an increasingly AI-mediated digital landscape.

This starts with ongoing training and development, and creating an environment where employees feel confident experimenting, sharing knowledge and executing new capabilities. As AI becomes embedded across the entire workflow, strong leadership and collaboration across marketing, sales and the wider business will be just as important as the technology itself, helping teams apply AI consistently, securely and strategically.

The organizations seeing the greatest success will be those that build AI around their people, rather than expecting people to adapt to AI. When organizations combine the right technology with ongoing training, cross-functional collaboration and clear governance, AI becomes much more than an efficiency tool. It becomes something that enables employees to apply greater creativity, judgement and commercial thinking, while ensuring implementation remains responsible and aligned to broader business goals.

Looking ahead

The conversation around AI has moved past experimentation and is now about getting the balance right - moving beyond shallow, task-based use of AI and embedding it strategically across marketing in ways that deliver measurable commercial value, without overusing it or losing the human qualities that customers value most.

Looking ahead, UK Government research shows that 59% of organizations planning further AI investment intend to embed AI into their existing tools and systems over the next 12 months, while 42% also plan to invest in workforce reskilling and development.

Ultimately, the organizations that pull ahead won't necessarily be those investing in the most technology, but those that invest in their people. This means helping teams understand where AI genuinely adds value, and ensuring it compliments commercial thinking, continuous learning and human creativity, rather than replaces it.

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Adding a lot of dependable capacity to a NAS device isn't cheap, but shopping around can net you major savings. The 8TB Seagate IronWolf is currently $350 (was $518) at Best Buy. But I wouldn't buy it there. Newegg has the exact same drive for $330, saving you a further $20.

IronWolf is purpose-built for NAS use, with 24/7 operation and multi-drive environments in mind. This 8TB model uses CMR recording technology, spins at 7200 RPM and has a 256MB cache, making it a solid choice for expanding a home NAS, small-business server or RAID array.

Seagate rates it for workloads of 180TB per year and 1 million hours MTBF. AgileArray provides RAID optimization and dual-plane balancing. Rotational vibration sensors are designed to help maintain consistent performance when several drives are operating together.

8TB Ironwolf NAS Internal Hard Drive: $329.99
The Seagate IronWolf ST8000VN004 provides 8TB of CMR capacity, 7200 RPM performance, 256MB cache and SATA 6.0Gb/s connectivity, with a 180TB/year workload rating and rotational vibration sensors.View Deal

8TB Ironwolf NAS Internal Hard Drive: was $517.65 now $349.99
This is the exact same drive, and while it's a solid $167.66 off the list price at Best Buy, it's still $20 more than you can pick it up for at Newegg.View Deal

Why we recommend it

In his 4-star review of the 8TB NAS drive, our expert Mark said: "IronWolf drives feature CMR technology and AgileArray firmware, ensuring smooth RAID performance, reduced vibration, and efficient power management. The 180TB per year workload rating, the RV sensors, the three-year warranty, and the bundled Rescue Data Recovery Services have all persisted as defining features of the consumer tier."

The 7200 RPM spindle speed and 256MB cache and SATA 6.0Gb/s interface makes this a performance-focused mechanical drive rather than simply somewhere to dump 8TB of rarely accessed files.

For more options, take a look at our roundups of the best desktop and laptop hard drives and best NAS hard drives.

Price context & historical value

Best Buy is currently selling the 8TB Seagate IronWolf for $349.99, which is a massive $167.66 reduction off the usual $517.65 asking price.

While that looks like a brilliant deal on paper, the identical drive is $329.99 at Newegg, a saving of $187.66 which means you're paying about $41.25 per terabyte.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the 8TB Seagate IronWolf NAS drive if...

You need a high-capacity drive to cope with the demands of an always-on NAS. The combination of 8TB capacity, CMR recording and 7200 RPM makes this a strong option for backups, media libraries, and shared files.

It's particularly well suited to multi-bay and RAID setups. AgileArray is designed to optimize RAID performance, while the built-in rotational vibration sensors help the drive maintain consistent operation when it's surrounded by other spinning hard drives.

❌ Skip the 8TB Seagate IronWolf NAS drive if...

You only need additional storage for an ordinary desktop PC. Although you can use an IronWolf as a conventional SATA hard drive, much of what you're paying for is specifically intended for NAS environments, including 24/7 operation, RAID optimization and vibration management.

I'd also look elsewhere if silence and low power consumption are priorities. A 7200 RPM mechanical drive is designed with performance in mind and won't offer the near-silent operation of an SSD.

The Catch: What to know before you buy

NAS manufacturers maintain compatibility lists for their enclosures, and checking your system supports this exact ST8000VN004 model can save headaches later, particularly if your NAS is a little old.

It's also important to remember that RAID isn't a substitute for a separate backup. The 8TB IronWolf can provide plenty of capacity and is designed for RAID environments, but drive redundancy doesn't protect you from accidental deletion, malware, theft or failure of the NAS itself.

Also consider

12TB Ironwolf NAS: was $455.99 now $429.99
The larger 12TB IronWolf model combines 7200 RPM performance with a 256MB cache, up to 210MB/s read and write speeds, IronWolf Health Management, and included Data Recovery Services.View Deal

Motorways don't stay safe simply because drivers follow the Highway Code. They rely on speed limits, lane markings, and crash barriers that keep traffic moving to help prevent mistakes from becoming serious accidents.

AI governance works the same way. Policies define the rules, but operational controls keep organizations on course when technology, users, and risks change.

As organizations accelerate AI adoption, many have focused on developing policies, governance frameworks, and acceptable use guidelines. Those are essential first steps. But policies alone can't prevent AI systems from accessing the wrong data, interacting with the wrong applications, or creating unintended operational risks.

The EU AI Act has made AI governance a board-level issue, requiring organizations that use or develop AI to identify, manage, and document risks, particularly for high-risk systems.

This has introduced new expectations around oversight, documentation, data governance, and transparency. However, regulation alone won't solve the biggest practical challenge: AI adoption is moving faster than governance.

Employees are using public AI tools, developers are relying on coding assistants, and business teams are deploying AI capabilities across existing platforms. In many cases, these technologies are introduced before security, compliance, and risk teams fully understand what they can access, which systems they influence, or how they change the organization's overall risk profile.

That's the gap between regulatory ambition and operational reality. Organizations may have approved AI use cases and governance frameworks, but they're often governing only part of the AI already operating across the business.

Closing that gap starts with treating AI as an operational challenge rather than simply a compliance exercise. In practice, moving beyond policy means understanding how AI is used, applying controls according to business risk, and adapting governance as AI capabilities evolve.

Shadow AI is changing the governance challenge

Traditional governance assumes organizations know what technologies are operating across the business. AI has changed that. Shadow AI is no longer limited to employees experimenting with public tools.

It also includes embedded AI capabilities introduced through routine software updates, AI-powered workflows created by business users, and autonomous agents operating across enterprise systems without ever being treated as formal AI projects. These capabilities are often adopted faster than governance processes can identify, assess, and manage them.

Today, AI isn't simply supporting employees - it's acting on their behalf. AI agents can retrieve information, trigger workflows, interact with enterprise systems, and make operational decisions using permissions inherited from the people or systems they represent.

Because of this, the enterprise attack surface has fundamentally changed. Security teams are no longer protecting only people, devices, and applications - they're also securing autonomous systems capable of moving across environments, accessing sensitive information, interacting with critical workflows, and making decisions independently.

Every new AI agent represents another potential pathway for accidental misuse or malicious activity if it isn't governed appropriately.

Regulation defines the rules. Context builds the rails.

The EU AI Act places significant emphasis on accountability, oversight, and risk management throughout the AI lifecycle. But meeting those expectations requires far more than documentation.

Regulation defines the outcomes organizations must achieve; the challenge is translating those requirements into operational governance across environments where AI is constantly evolving.

That starts with understanding AI in context. Risk can't be assessed by looking at an AI system in isolation. An AI assistant summarizing internal documents may appear relatively low risk until it gains access to commercially sensitive information.

Likewise, an AI agent automating procurement may operate safely under normal circumstances, but its risk profile changes significantly if it can approve financial transactions, inherit privileged identities, or initiate actions across critical business systems.

Risk is defined not only by the AI itself, but by the identities, applications, infrastructure, data, and business processes it connects to. As it becomes more deeply embedded across these interconnected systems, AI governance increasingly overlaps with cybersecurity.

Every AI capability introduced into the enterprise can create new attack paths, expand access to sensitive information, and increase the number of non-human identities operating across the environment.

Recent incidents, such as PocketOS’s database being wiped by an AI coding agent in seconds, have shown how quickly AI risk can become operational risk when AI systems are granted more authority than intended.

Organizations should therefore govern AI identities and permissions with the same rigor as human users, regularly reviewing inherited access and removing unnecessary privileges before they create new attack paths.

Governance also needs to extend beyond individual AI systems. Organizations should understand how AI interacts with identities, enterprise assets, business processes, and critical data so they can prioritize controls where they'll have the greatest impact.

Bringing security, risk, compliance, and technology teams together around this shared understanding turns governance into an enabler of resilience rather than simply a compliance exercise.

Building the rails

As AI regulation continues to evolve, organizations will be expected to demonstrate that governance exists not only on paper, but in practice. Policies establish the rules, but operational governance builds the rails that keep AI operating safely as technologies evolve, permissions change, and new capabilities emerge.

Moving beyond policy means embedding governance into day-to-day operations. Organizations should continuously identify new AI capabilities, understand how they relate to enterprise assets, review the permissions they inherit, assess business impact, and prioritize the exposures that present the greatest risk.

This allows teams to apply controls where they'll have the greatest impact while supporting responsible AI adoption across the business.

Governance also needs to keep pace with change. As AI agents evolve and environments shift, organizations should be able to adjust permissions, restrict access, isolate affected agents, or prevent actions that exceed an AI system's intended role before they become wider operational issues.

The objective isn't to slow AI adoption, but to create the confidence to innovate securely as AI becomes part of everyday business.

Innovation needs both rules and rails

AI will continue to transform how organizations operate, innovate, and compete. But organizations that realize AI's full potential won't be those with the longest policy documents.

They'll be the ones that embed governance into everyday operations, govern AI identities and permissions with the same discipline as any other critical asset, and continuously adapt controls as technology evolves.

The EU AI Act has raised expectations around accountability, but organizations that move beyond policy and compliance will be best placed to unlock AI’s full potential.

In the age of autonomous AI, governance isn't just about setting the rules - it's about creating the guardrails that let organizations innovate with confidence without compromising security, trust, or resilience.

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• Microsoft Teams is changing how it displays swear words
• The toggle to hide bad words is now Off by default
• However Government users will have to wait a little longer, for an unknown reason

Frustrated Microsoft Teams users finally be able to express their true feelings after the company revealed changes to how it censors profanity in captions - although not all users will be able to "benefit" just yet.

In an updated message center post, Microsoft outlined the changes coming to its profanity filter for Teams, noting that the default setting for live captions has now been switched from On to Off.

However this doesn't yet apply to all users, as Government officials and staff will have to wait a little while longer, with their rollout deadline now extended until sometime at the end of August 2026.

Safe for work

Microsoft first introduced the profanity toggle in 2023 in a bid to cut down on bad language in Teams Live Captions by replacing any swear words with asterisks.

Originally, it was up to the user whether to leave the toggle on, rather than the meeting organizer or admin - but in May 2026, Microsoft appears to have changed its mind for some reason, and opted to disable the "profane words" filter by default.

"This change ensures captions more accurately reflect spoken content, supporting accessibility needs and aligning with regional regulatory requirements (including the EU)," the company wrote.

Microsoft added that users retain full control and can enable or disable the filter at any time, but, somewhat tongue in cheek, notes that, "No admin action is required, but informing support teams and users is recommended."

The delay will apply to Government Community Cloud (GCC), GCC High, and US Department of Defense users, who often face extra complications due to security checks and operational reasons - although Microsoft offered no clues as to why that is the case here.

The news is the latest in a series of recent updates seemingly geared towards helping Microsoft Teams users show off how great they are.

This includes bringing "Badges" to your Microsoft Teams profile card, allowing users to display all their achievements to anyone who cares to look.

It is also working on a feature which will automatically update a user's work location when they connect to an office Wi-Fi network - hopefully meaning less confusion about where workers actually are situated, but bad news for those looking for a quiet day in the office tucked into a corner.

Via The Register

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When Indian authorities scrubbed the biopic of activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, local villagers and activists turned its censorship into a grassroots movement.

(Image credit: Omkar Khandekar)

In addition to pay, striking hospital workers say patient violence is an issue. Hospital workers are seven times more likely to be injured at work due to violent acts than the general working population.

(Image credit: Teamsters J.C.43)

• Amazon has rolled out tougher DRM to the Kindle Oasis
• The same update has previously landed on most other Kindle models
• The company has also closed an airplane mode loophole for Libby loans

If you like reading Kindle books on other devices or borrowing digital library books using Libby, Amazon has just made some changes that you’re unlikely to be happy about.

First up, as reported by The eBook Reader, a software update has rolled out for the Kindle Oasis that adds a new hardened DRM (Digital Rights Management) to books on it, meaning that most DRM-removal tools will no longer work.

While we don’t condone piracy, there are legitimate reasons to want to remove DRM, such as reading the book on a non-Amazon ereader that doesn’t have access to the Kindle app.

And this isn’t the first or only Kindle to get this undesirable update — now, the only supported model that doesn’t have this new DRM is the Kindle Voyage, and it’s probably only a matter of time before that gets it too.

The Amazon Kindle Oasis (Image credit: TechRadar)No more lengthy loans

The other change that Kindle users are unhappy with is that you can seemingly no longer keep a Libby book beyond its due date by turning airplane mode on. This was a handy workaround that gave you more time with a borrowed book, but now Reddit users report being prompted to turn Wi-Fi on to access their loans.

As these are digital loans, this workaround wasn’t really hurting anyone — the books would still be made available to other users after the loan period expired anyway; you’d just also still have a copy on your Kindle.

Unsurprisingly, the online reactions to these changes aren’t positive, with Reddit comments about the new DRM including the likes of “glad I switched to Kobo,” while of the Libby change, one commenter claimed it was “my biggest nightmare.”

If you’re affected by either of these issues, then there aren’t any easy solutions — other than potentially switching to another brand. In the case of the DRM, Kobo books currently use a version that’s easier to remove, but even on Kobo, the airplane mode loophole won’t work.

• Technics celebrates 55 years of its hugely popular SL-1200 turntable
• New anniversary edition teased, full launch in September
• Adds gold, gold, and more gold to the existing model

Since the launch of the original Technics SL-1200 in late 1972, the model has proven a staple of hip-hop and DJ culture, and newer editions such as the SL-12000GR2 keep winning us over. With a milestone coming up, the brand is set to celebrate its birthday in style.

Technics has unveiled a 55th anniversary model of the SL-1200 (despite it only being 54 years since 1972, but who doesn't fudge the numbers when a birthday is coming up?) which is set to be fully unveiled in September.

We've had a good look at the new record player already, thanks to an early tease from the brand, so we know what it's all about. The only actual information we still need is how much the SL-1200 55th Anniversary Edition will cost — but given the design, there might be a surcharge to pay over the closest original.

The current MK7 model goes for $1,200 / £849 / AU$1,699, and since that's the platform that the Anniversary Edition is based on, it'll likely cost a fair bit more.

How to celebrate a birthday

The main distinguisher for the SL-1200 55th Anniversary Edition is the addition of lots of bling.

Tonearm base? Gold. Knobs and buttons? Gold. Platter? Gold rimmed. Tonearm? Gold-anodised. Don't forget the gold slip mat. And, as you can see at the top of this article, there's a fully-gold color model you can buy. However there are also blue, black, white, red, green and gray models, which give the gold something to actually contrast.

For clarity, I'm not knocking it: celebrate your birthday however you want, Technics.

Features and tech-wise, Technics has made a effort not to play about too much with what makes the SL-1200 work. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's really the gold trim which makes this stand out.

As mentioned, it's based on the SL-1200 MK7. This means it's a manual turntable with an aluminum platter, stylus-illuminator LED, Universal Static Balance tonearm, pitch adjustment dial and phono output.

Now, turntable fans might be getting deja vu here. The brand is no stranger to fancy editions, even gold-flecked ones, releasing a SL-1200 Master Edition last year with perhaps 55% as much gold as the new birthday model.

Government data showed the outbreak had so far recorded 5,021 cases, including 2,378 deaths. The outbreak has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other outbreak in history.

(Image credit: Dieudonne Dirole)

Thermal Master DV2: 30-second review

The Thermal Master DV2 is a handheld thermal imaging monocular that the maker positions in different ways depending on which storefront is visited. On its own birdwatching page, it is billed as the first dedicated thermal camera built specifically for spotting birds and wildlife.

Elsewhere in the same company's catalog, and on Amazon, it appears instead as a general-purpose thermal monocular for hunting, camping and rescue work. Whatever your interest, the hardware underneath is identical.

At the centre of the device sits a 256 x 192 sensor with a 12-micron pixel pitch. Thermal Master runs that raw feed through what it calls the RazorX engine, a three-core processing pipeline built from an FPGA, an ASIC and an AI upscaling block badged X³IR. The result is a 512 x 384 output image, twice the native resolution, though this is achieved through interpolation rather than by a genuinely higher-resolution sensor.

Detection is rated up to 1000m for a human-scale target, with shorter recognition distances quoted for smaller subjects such as birds. A 10mm f/0.8 manual focus lens feeds that sensor, and the whole thing is viewed on a 5-inch touchscreen running at 1280 x 720. That screen rotates and folds, making it compact to carry and easy to use. And the camera can be used without a phone, making deployment quicker and easier.

Connectivity can be used for streaming over Wi-Fi or for offloading captured images and video from the camera, and it supports RTSP for near-no-lag transmission. A laser pointer helps mark whatever has been spotted, and a Picatinny rail fitting lets you mount the DV2 on other equipment.

Thermal Master sells the DV2 directly from its own site and through Amazon in several regions. Pricing is $499/£459 via Amazon, which seems reasonable since this isn’t a phone add-on, but a standalone camera.

The value of this product entirely pivots on the use case. If you need to identify animals or people at range, then it could be invaluable, but it's not suitable for every job.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Thermal Master DV2: price and availability

• How much does it cost? $500/£460/€530
• When is it out? It is available now
• Where can you get it? Direct from the Thermal Master website, with shipping from regional warehouses in the US, UK, EU, and China. And via online retailers.

At the time of review, the DV2 carries a price of $489 USD direct from Thermal Master. For that price, you get the camera, a battery charger, one battery and a few accessories, like the Picatinny rail attachment and carry case.

For quick delivery, it can be purchased from Amazon.com for $499, from Amazon.co.uk for £459.99 and from the EU Amazon sites for €529.99.

There aren’t any obvious retail competitors because professional bird watching isn’t something most companies see as a new market opportunity.

A more general-purpose device is the Axion Compact Thermal Monocular, but that’s priced at $1449.97 on Amazon for those in the USA.

A slightly more realistic choice is the TOPDON TS004 and TS004 Pro, monoculars designed for hunting, rather than birdwatching. The standard TS004 has a resolution of 256 x 192 and costs a little over $400, while its Pro brother is $759.95 and sports 384 x 288 resolution. The Pro quotes detection at up to 650 yards, which is less than the DV2.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• Value score: 3.5/5

Thermal Master DV2: Specs

Spec

Detail

Sensor

256 x 192, 12μm pitch

Sensitivity (NETD)

≤20mK @ 25°C, f/0.8

Super resolution output

512 x 384 via X³IR interpolation

Lens

10mm f/0.8, manual focus

Field of view

17.5° x 13.1° (some listings simplify this to 18°)

Display

5 inch touchscreen, 1280 x 720, 360° rotating, 180° folding

Refresh rate

50Hz

Processor

Triple-core: FPGA, ASIC, AI upscaling block (RazorX engine)

Detection range

Up to 1094 yards for a human-sized target

Digital zoom

8x

Reticles

9 tactical modes, 5 colours

Colour palettes

5

Connectivity

Wi-Fi streaming, RTSP support confirmed independently, USB-C

Storage

32GB internal

Mounting

Picatinny rail adapter

Weight

512g including battery

Battery

1x 21700 5000mAh Battery

Warranty

2 years

Thermal Master DV2: Design

• Camcorder vibe
• Large touch screen
• Only one battery included
• Confusing buttons

Many handheld thermal cameras still borrow the shape of a barcode scanner or a torch, but the DV2 looks closer to a small camcorder. The optics are at the top end, with a lens cap protecting the manual-focus telephoto. The lens cap isn’t tethered, so I recommend not dropping that black item in the dark the first time you use this device.

Its defining feature is the fold-out 5-inch touchscreen, which rotates 360 degrees and folds 180 degrees, rather than staying fixed in one position. This lets the operator adjust the display if the target area is above or below the camera's natural line of sight.

The rotating, folding screen lets the display angle toward the eye, whether the DV2 is held low, mounted on a tripod, or fitted to a rail system via its Picatinny adapter.

A downside of this design choice is that if you fold out the display at 90 degrees to the camera, its most natural position, the weight causes the camera to fall over. Therefore, at a minimum, you need a small tripod, even if one isn’t included with the DV2.

To operate the device, the red button on the rear is depressed for what seems like an inordinately long time before a fancy video graphic announces that the DV2 is ready for action.

But before you do that, the 21700 battery needs to be inserted into the DV2, something you are told to do, but there are no indicators I could see which end of the battery goes in first.

Eventually, I found a video of someone demonstrating the camera and realised the correct orientation, but it wasn’t labelled or mentioned in the quick start guide.

Documentation for this product isn't a strong point, since months after release there is still no proper manual.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

What’s also slightly odd about the battery is that the case has positions for two, but Thermal Master provides only one. And yet, the charger accepts two. Given that the retail unit cost of a 21700 battery is less than $10, and it would be much less than that for Thermal Master, it's confusing why two aren’t provided from the outset.

If you don’t intend to buy another, then the charger is also superfluous, since you can charge the one included in the DV2 by using a provided USB-C cable. Except you might not want to, because you might struggle to power the DV2 while it's on a tripod, since the USB-C port is on the same underside as the threaded tripod hole.

That’s confusing, but the bit that genuinely made me scratch my head was that the second button next to the power on/off one didn’t initiate video and picture capture. No, it toggles through the different colour representations, something most people would set and forget.

To take a picture or video, you have to touch the screen, which, if you're zoomed in on a distant bird or animal, is likely to twist the camera and ruin the framing. Not sure who made the choice not to include a shooting trigger, but it was a poor decision.

Another slightly odd feature is that this device has a laser pointer, activated by a quick press of the power button. I can’t think of anything more likely to cause roosting birds or other wildlife to exit stage left than being shot in the eye with a laser, so why they included this, I’m unsure.

I'm also confused by the addition of the Picatinny rail adapter, which implies that after you've watched the birds, your next step is to shoot them. That's not really the sort of bird watching I'm familiar with, but what do I know?

Overall, the build quality is decent, and it feels relatively robust. From a design perspective, there appear to be numerous aspects where the engineers creating it didn’t really appreciate how it might be used and what potential customers might be expecting.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Design score: 3.5/5

Thermal Master DV2: User experience

• Questionable ergonomics
• Dire mobile app
• Focus challenges
• Recognition vs detection

I might have got the wrong end of the stick, but the primary purpose of this device is to take pictures and video using the thermal sensor, isn’t it?

This seems obvious, but due to how poorly organized the device menus are for doing just that, perhaps I’ve entirely misunderstood this device.

I’ve already mentioned that you can’t initiate capture with a simple button, but the touch screen menu goes one step further. Taking a picture isn’t on the top-level menu; it requires you to go to a second page, and then a third, to do the one task this device is made for.

The top level is full of things you won’t want immediate access to, I’d contest, and this arrangement makes almost no sense I can fathom.

At first, I concluded you were probably meant to use the mobile app to take pictures so you don’t touch the camera, but I was wrong.

Connecting the camera to the phone involves an overly complicated procedure that would make anyone used to Apple or Bambu Labs products incandescent.

For starters, both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi network, so this won’t work in the field unless you bring a portable Wi-Fi access point along.

The phone needs an app that, for Android users, needs to be downloaded from the support pages and then side-loaded onto the phone. I’ve long been critical of Thermal Master apps, and how there is always a new one for each camera, and this one isn’t even on the Play Store.

Once you install the app, you can go to a specific page on the camera with no instructions on which icon it's behind, then get a QR code that connects the two.

To use this feature, you must be in control mode, where the barcode is shown, so you can’t do anything on the camera when the phone takes over. Once the two are connected, you have three features.

One of which is the color control, another is the Thermal Master eye (Red/Green imaging mode), and the other recalibrates on the image. There isn’t any way to change from still image to video, use the aiming reticule, hotspot tracking, or access the picture album, so 80% of what the DV2 does is unavailable.

But also, you can’t take a picture other than using your phone's inbuilt feature to take a screenshot. And, if you capture images using the phone, they are not transferred to the phone.

So anything you manage to capture needs to be downloaded from the camera in a separate exercise using a USB-C cable.

Being brutally honest, it appears that the hardware team started work on the DV2 many months before the software people, who appear to have met it a couple of weeks before it was launched.

I suspect that this connectivity was supposed to use Bluetooth, but time ran out, and it also did for all the other missing features of the phone app.

If you ignore the phone app nonsense - and I recommend you do - and focus instead on the functionality built into the camera, then the user experience is much better, if a little limited compared with some of the other Thermal cameras that this brand makes.

What’s lacking here is a visible-light sensor, the data from which could be used to enhance thermal captures and help with focusing. I’d put focusing as the single most challenging part of using the DV2, because when you're presented with blobs of moving colour on the screen, it's hard to tell whether they’re moving in or out of focus.

Once focus is dialled in, as long as you don’t move the camera, you definitely need a tripod; then you can develop a practical workflow.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

What’s important to realise is that this is for capturing things that aren’t especially close, and this hardware would be of zero use to anyone repairing electronics or fixing engine problems. And, because it's not meant for that, some of the features seen on other cameras, like floating temperature text, are missing on the DV2.

Also, the range of this device allows you to identify the thermal signatures of humans and animals long before you can determine where they are going or what they are doing.

Hilariously, to make this understandable, the DV2 datasheet breaks this down into four detection range levels, where the thing being detected will trigger up to three pixels on the sensor. These are 300m for a 1.8m human, 250m for 1 1.5m Hog, 200m for a 1.2m Coyote, and 50m for a 0.3m Dove.

Where I live in England, we have only two of those creatures since Wild Hogs and Coyotes aren’t endemic, but I get the idea. The camera's relatively high frame rate helps with identification, but only when they’re larger than three pixels on the sensor.

Thermal Master marketing takes this capability and extrapolates it to claim the camera can detect human-sized heat signatures at 1094 yards (1000m, or 1km). To be clear, at that range, an adult human would be a single pixel on the sensor, and for them to be recognised as such, they’d need to be four times closer.

I guess the single pixel, if consistently lit, might tell you something is coming, just not what it was.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• User experience score: 2/5

Thermal Master DV2: Camera

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Image output is a 512 x 384 frame, built from a native 256 x 192 sensor through the RazorX engine's AI upscaling. As with any interpolated output, this can improve apparent detail without genuinely increasing sensor resolution.

And, in the DV2, this works well enough, making the thermal image clear and readable, with good separation between different heat sources even at a distance.

Digital zoom is available up to 8x, but zooming this way involves taking smaller and smaller sections of the sensor area, which results in grainy/blocky results. When you start with such a low sensor resolution, this is always going to be an issue.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Five colour palettes are available for translating temperature data into a viewable image, along with nine tactical reticule modes in five colours, a feature set that leans towards the hunting and outdoor positioning of the device rather than its birdwatching marketing. Since that type of hunting isn’t common in the UK, I can’t comment on its usefulness for that role.

But in other regions, where the number of people accidentally shot by others during the hunting seasons is significant, it could be a lifesaver.

A 50Hz refresh rate should keep motion reasonably smooth when tracking a moving subject, whether that is a bird taking flight or an animal moving through undergrowth. The issue here is that there is a sweet range where this can happen, but the further out a target is, the more difficult it becomes to track, especially if it moves out of frame.

There is a tendency to scan wildly around, trying to locate the heat source before it moves behind an obstruction or leaves the area entirely.

The camera offers similar technology to what Thermal Master is providing with its accessory phone cameras, but the optics here are predictably better. That results in better end results and clearer images, even if the resolution is still relatively low.

• Camera score: 3/5

Thermal Master DV2: Final verdict

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The device's underlying hardware is solid. However, other aspects of this device are less than perfect, and the lack of proper documentation alongside some less-than-polished software detracts from the overall experience.

That’s a shame because the fundamental foundations of this device are good; it just needed to come to market in a more holistic package than it did.

I hope Thermal Master is motivated to finish the DV2 like it patently should have been. With some effort on the interface and software components, it could be something all dedicated birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts will want in their backpacks.

But at this time, especially in terms of the software and menu ergonomics, it still needs some work.

Should I buy a Thermal Master DV2?Thermal Master DV2 Score Card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Not inexpensive, but impressive specifications

3.5/5

Design

Poor button choices and menu arrangement

3.5/5

User experience

Limited phone app that works over WiFi

2/5

Camera

Zoom is digital, and sensor is 256 x 192, but the optics help

3/5

Overall

Solid hardware let down by rushed software

3.5/5

Buy it if...

You are tracking at range
The ability to pick up thermal data at a range of 1km is useful, but only if you are looking for people or larger animals. This camera can determine people-sized heat signatures at range, rather than small birds at a distance.

You wish to remain unseen
A handheld thermal monocular with a rotating, folding touchscreen rather than a fixed eyepiece is an advantage if you wish to remain out of sight. Light from the screen might be visible at night, but you can adjust the brightness.

Don't buy it if...

You want to capture using a phone
At this time, the phone app can relay a live feed using RTSP, but it can’t capture images or video. And, the connection between the two requires a WiFi network. Those expecting complete remote control with a phone will be disappointed.

Your interest is birds at range
If small bird detection at real distance is your primary use case, then this is a problem. Because the sensor is low resolution and there is no optical zoom.

Thermal Master DV2: 30-second review

The Thermal Master DV2 is a handheld thermal imaging monocular that the maker positions in different ways depending on which storefront is visited. On its own birdwatching page, it is billed as the first dedicated thermal camera built specifically for spotting birds and wildlife.

Elsewhere in the same company's catalog, and on Amazon, it appears instead as a general-purpose thermal monocular for hunting, camping and rescue work. Whatever your interest, the hardware underneath is identical.

At the centre of the device sits a 256 x 192 sensor with a 12-micron pixel pitch. Thermal Master runs that raw feed through what it calls the RazorX engine, a three-core processing pipeline built from an FPGA, an ASIC and an AI upscaling block badged X³IR. The result is a 512 x 384 output image, twice the native resolution, though this is achieved through interpolation rather than by a genuinely higher-resolution sensor.

Detection is rated up to 1000m for a human-scale target, with shorter recognition distances quoted for smaller subjects such as birds. A 10mm f/0.8 manual focus lens feeds that sensor, and the whole thing is viewed on a 5-inch touchscreen running at 1280 x 720. That screen rotates and folds, making it compact to carry and easy to use. And the camera can be used without a phone, making deployment quicker and easier.

Connectivity can be used for streaming over Wi-Fi or for offloading captured images and video from the camera, and it supports RTSP for near-no-lag transmission. A laser pointer helps mark whatever has been spotted, and a Picatinny rail fitting lets you mount the DV2 on other equipment.

Thermal Master sells the DV2 directly from its own site and through Amazon in several regions. Pricing is $499/£459 via Amazon, which seems reasonable since this isn’t a phone add-on, but a standalone camera.

The value of this product entirely pivots on the use case. If you need to identify animals or people at range, then it could be invaluable, but it's not suitable for every job.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Thermal Master DV2: price and availability

• How much does it cost? $500/£460/€530
• When is it out? It is available now
• Where can you get it? Direct from the Thermal Master website, with shipping from regional warehouses in the US, UK, EU, and China. And via online retailers.

At the time of review, the DV2 carries a price of $489 USD direct from Thermal Master. For that price, you get the camera, a battery charger, one battery and a few accessories, like the Picatinny rail attachment and carry case.

For quick delivery, it can be purchased from Amazon.com for $499, from Amazon.co.uk for £459.99 and from the EU Amazon sites for €529.99.

There aren’t any obvious retail competitors because professional bird watching isn’t something most companies see as a new market opportunity.

A more general-purpose device is the Axion Compact Thermal Monocular, but that’s priced at $1449.97 on Amazon for those in the USA.

A slightly more realistic choice is the TOPDON TS004 and TS004 Pro, monoculars designed for hunting, rather than birdwatching. The standard TS004 has a resolution of 256 x 192 and costs a little over $400, while its Pro brother is $759.95 and sports 384 x 288 resolution. The Pro quotes detection at up to 650 yards, which is less than the DV2.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• Value score: 3.5/5

Thermal Master DV2: Specs

Spec

Detail

Sensor

256 x 192, 12μm pitch

Sensitivity (NETD)

≤20mK @ 25°C, f/0.8

Super resolution output

512 x 384 via X³IR interpolation

Lens

10mm f/0.8, manual focus

Field of view

17.5° x 13.1° (some listings simplify this to 18°)

Display

5 inch touchscreen, 1280 x 720, 360° rotating, 180° folding

Refresh rate

50Hz

Processor

Triple-core: FPGA, ASIC, AI upscaling block (RazorX engine)

Detection range

Up to 1094 yards for a human-sized target

Digital zoom

8x

Reticles

9 tactical modes, 5 colours

Colour palettes

5

Connectivity

Wi-Fi streaming, RTSP support confirmed independently, USB-C

Storage

32GB internal

Mounting

Picatinny rail adapter

Weight

512g including battery

Battery

1x 21700 5000mAh Battery

Warranty

2 years

Thermal Master DV2: Design

• Camcorder vibe
• Large touch screen
• Only one battery included
• Confusing buttons

Many handheld thermal cameras still borrow the shape of a barcode scanner or a torch, but the DV2 looks closer to a small camcorder. The optics are at the top end, with a lens cap protecting the manual-focus telephoto. The lens cap isn’t tethered, so I recommend not dropping that black item in the dark the first time you use this device.

Its defining feature is the fold-out 5-inch touchscreen, which rotates 360 degrees and folds 180 degrees, rather than staying fixed in one position. This lets the operator adjust the display if the target area is above or below the camera's natural line of sight.

The rotating, folding screen lets the display angle toward the eye, whether the DV2 is held low, mounted on a tripod, or fitted to a rail system via its Picatinny adapter.

A downside of this design choice is that if you fold out the display at 90 degrees to the camera, its most natural position, the weight causes the camera to fall over. Therefore, at a minimum, you need a small tripod, even if one isn’t included with the DV2.

To operate the device, the red button on the rear is depressed for what seems like an inordinately long time before a fancy video graphic announces that the DV2 is ready for action.

But before you do that, the 21700 battery needs to be inserted into the DV2, something you are told to do, but there are no indicators I could see which end of the battery goes in first.

Eventually, I found a video of someone demonstrating the camera and realised the correct orientation, but it wasn’t labelled or mentioned in the quick start guide.

Documentation for this product isn't a strong point, since months after release there is still no proper manual.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

What’s also slightly odd about the battery is that the case has positions for two, but Thermal Master provides only one. And yet, the charger accepts two. Given that the retail unit cost of a 21700 battery is less than $10, and it would be much less than that for Thermal Master, it's confusing why two aren’t provided from the outset.

If you don’t intend to buy another, then the charger is also superfluous, since you can charge the one included in the DV2 by using a provided USB-C cable. Except you might not want to, because you might struggle to power the DV2 while it's on a tripod, since the USB-C port is on the same underside as the threaded tripod hole.

That’s confusing, but the bit that genuinely made me scratch my head was that the second button next to the power on/off one didn’t initiate video and picture capture. No, it toggles through the different colour representations, something most people would set and forget.

To take a picture or video, you have to touch the screen, which, if you're zoomed in on a distant bird or animal, is likely to twist the camera and ruin the framing. Not sure who made the choice not to include a shooting trigger, but it was a poor decision.

Another slightly odd feature is that this device has a laser pointer, activated by a quick press of the power button. I can’t think of anything more likely to cause roosting birds or other wildlife to exit stage left than being shot in the eye with a laser, so why they included this, I’m unsure.

I'm also confused by the addition of the Picatinny rail adapter, which implies that after you've watched the birds, your next step is to shoot them. That's not really the sort of bird watching I'm familiar with, but what do I know?

Overall, the build quality is decent, and it feels relatively robust. From a design perspective, there appear to be numerous aspects where the engineers creating it didn’t really appreciate how it might be used and what potential customers might be expecting.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Design score: 3.5/5

Thermal Master DV2: User experience

• Questionable ergonomics
• Dire mobile app
• Focus challenges
• Recognition vs detection

I might have got the wrong end of the stick, but the primary purpose of this device is to take pictures and video using the thermal sensor, isn’t it?

This seems obvious, but due to how poorly organized the device menus are for doing just that, perhaps I’ve entirely misunderstood this device.

I’ve already mentioned that you can’t initiate capture with a simple button, but the touch screen menu goes one step further. Taking a picture isn’t on the top-level menu; it requires you to go to a second page, and then a third, to do the one task this device is made for.

The top level is full of things you won’t want immediate access to, I’d contest, and this arrangement makes almost no sense I can fathom.

At first, I concluded you were probably meant to use the mobile app to take pictures so you don’t touch the camera, but I was wrong.

Connecting the camera to the phone involves an overly complicated procedure that would make anyone used to Apple or Bambu Labs products incandescent.

For starters, both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi network, so this won’t work in the field unless you bring a portable Wi-Fi access point along.

The phone needs an app that, for Android users, needs to be downloaded from the support pages and then side-loaded onto the phone. I’ve long been critical of Thermal Master apps, and how there is always a new one for each camera, and this one isn’t even on the Play Store.

Once you install the app, you can go to a specific page on the camera with no instructions on which icon it's behind, then get a QR code that connects the two.

To use this feature, you must be in control mode, where the barcode is shown, so you can’t do anything on the camera when the phone takes over. Once the two are connected, you have three features.

One of which is the color control, another is the Thermal Master eye (Red/Green imaging mode), and the other recalibrates on the image. There isn’t any way to change from still image to video, use the aiming reticule, hotspot tracking, or access the picture album, so 80% of what the DV2 does is unavailable.

But also, you can’t take a picture other than using your phone's inbuilt feature to take a screenshot. And, if you capture images using the phone, they are not transferred to the phone.

So anything you manage to capture needs to be downloaded from the camera in a separate exercise using a USB-C cable.

Being brutally honest, it appears that the hardware team started work on the DV2 many months before the software people, who appear to have met it a couple of weeks before it was launched.

I suspect that this connectivity was supposed to use Bluetooth, but time ran out, and it also did for all the other missing features of the phone app.

If you ignore the phone app nonsense - and I recommend you do - and focus instead on the functionality built into the camera, then the user experience is much better, if a little limited compared with some of the other Thermal cameras that this brand makes.

What’s lacking here is a visible-light sensor, the data from which could be used to enhance thermal captures and help with focusing. I’d put focusing as the single most challenging part of using the DV2, because when you're presented with blobs of moving colour on the screen, it's hard to tell whether they’re moving in or out of focus.

Once focus is dialled in, as long as you don’t move the camera, you definitely need a tripod; then you can develop a practical workflow.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

What’s important to realise is that this is for capturing things that aren’t especially close, and this hardware would be of zero use to anyone repairing electronics or fixing engine problems. And, because it's not meant for that, some of the features seen on other cameras, like floating temperature text, are missing on the DV2.

Also, the range of this device allows you to identify the thermal signatures of humans and animals long before you can determine where they are going or what they are doing.

Hilariously, to make this understandable, the DV2 datasheet breaks this down into four detection range levels, where the thing being detected will trigger up to three pixels on the sensor. These are 300m for a 1.8m human, 250m for 1 1.5m Hog, 200m for a 1.2m Coyote, and 50m for a 0.3m Dove.

Where I live in England, we have only two of those creatures since Wild Hogs and Coyotes aren’t endemic, but I get the idea. The camera's relatively high frame rate helps with identification, but only when they’re larger than three pixels on the sensor.

Thermal Master marketing takes this capability and extrapolates it to claim the camera can detect human-sized heat signatures at 1094 yards (1000m, or 1km). To be clear, at that range, an adult human would be a single pixel on the sensor, and for them to be recognised as such, they’d need to be four times closer.

I guess the single pixel, if consistently lit, might tell you something is coming, just not what it was.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• User experience score: 2/5

Thermal Master DV2: Camera

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Image output is a 512 x 384 frame, built from a native 256 x 192 sensor through the RazorX engine's AI upscaling. As with any interpolated output, this can improve apparent detail without genuinely increasing sensor resolution.

And, in the DV2, this works well enough, making the thermal image clear and readable, with good separation between different heat sources even at a distance.

Digital zoom is available up to 8x, but zooming this way involves taking smaller and smaller sections of the sensor area, which results in grainy/blocky results. When you start with such a low sensor resolution, this is always going to be an issue.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Five colour palettes are available for translating temperature data into a viewable image, along with nine tactical reticule modes in five colours, a feature set that leans towards the hunting and outdoor positioning of the device rather than its birdwatching marketing. Since that type of hunting isn’t common in the UK, I can’t comment on its usefulness for that role.

But in other regions, where the number of people accidentally shot by others during the hunting seasons is significant, it could be a lifesaver.

A 50Hz refresh rate should keep motion reasonably smooth when tracking a moving subject, whether that is a bird taking flight or an animal moving through undergrowth. The issue here is that there is a sweet range where this can happen, but the further out a target is, the more difficult it becomes to track, especially if it moves out of frame.

There is a tendency to scan wildly around, trying to locate the heat source before it moves behind an obstruction or leaves the area entirely.

The camera offers similar technology to what Thermal Master is providing with its accessory phone cameras, but the optics here are predictably better. That results in better end results and clearer images, even if the resolution is still relatively low.

• Camera score: 3/5

Thermal Master DV2: Final verdict

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The device's underlying hardware is solid. However, other aspects of this device are less than perfect, and the lack of proper documentation alongside some less-than-polished software detracts from the overall experience.

That’s a shame because the fundamental foundations of this device are good; it just needed to come to market in a more holistic package than it did.

I hope Thermal Master is motivated to finish the DV2 like it patently should have been. With some effort on the interface and software components, it could be something all dedicated birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts will want in their backpacks.

But at this time, especially in terms of the software and menu ergonomics, it still needs some work.

Should I buy a Thermal Master DV2?Thermal Master DV2 Score Card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Not inexpensive, but impressive specifications

3.5/5

Design

Poor button choices and menu arrangement

3.5/5

User experience

Limited phone app that works over WiFi

2/5

Camera

Zoom is digital, and sensor is 256 x 192, but the optics help

3/5

Overall

Solid hardware let down by rushed software

3.5/5

Buy it if...

You are tracking at range
The ability to pick up thermal data at a range of 1km is useful, but only if you are looking for people or larger animals. This camera can determine people-sized heat signatures at range, rather than small birds at a distance.

You wish to remain unseen
A handheld thermal monocular with a rotating, folding touchscreen rather than a fixed eyepiece is an advantage if you wish to remain out of sight. Light from the screen might be visible at night, but you can adjust the brightness.

Don't buy it if...

You want to capture using a phone
At this time, the phone app can relay a live feed using RTSP, but it can’t capture images or video. And, the connection between the two requires a WiFi network. Those expecting complete remote control with a phone will be disappointed.

Your interest is birds at range
If small bird detection at real distance is your primary use case, then this is a problem. Because the sensor is low resolution and there is no optical zoom.

Feeling restless in life? Level up your main quest with an activity that has no other purpose than to add whimsy to your life. Play experts share tips on how to find the perfect side quest.

(Image credit: Westend61)

Before I watched any of Lioness season 3, I really believed that Joe (Zoe Saldaña) was invincible. She's cheated logic and death multiple times over across the first two seasons, but this Russian intelligence plot just might get the best of her.

This season's drama revolves around two simultaneous timelines: one, Joe being kidnapped by unknown Russian operatives and, two, the six months leading up to her capture. Why kidnap? Because the CIA captured one of Russia's own after foreign intelligence tipped them off.

As of writing, we still don't know if she's made it out the over end unscathed. So, when does Lioness season 3 episode 4 arrive on Paramount+?

What time can I watch Lioness season 3 episode 4 on Paramount+?

Lioness season 3 episode 4 will drop on one of the world's best streaming services in the US and Canada on Sunday, August 23 at 12am PT / 3am ET.

Here's when it will be released in other nations globally:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 5pm AEST
• New Zealand – 7pm NZST

When do new episodes of Lioness season 3 come out?

(Image credit: Paramount+)

Lioness season 3 will have a total of eight episodes, with new entries airing weekly. That gives us the following schedule:

• Episode 1: out now
• Episode 2: out now
• Episode 3: out now
• Episode 4: August 23
• Episode 5: August 30
• Episode 6: September 6
• Episode 7: September 13
• Episode 8: September 20

There is broad consensus among psychologists that corporal punishment can be harmful to children, but the U.S. has no federal laws banning it in public schools.