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The USS Washington is on its way to the Middle East to relieve the USS Lincoln amid concerns about conditions aboard. And, Jared Kushner is expected to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu to move Gaza talks forward.

(Image credit: Handout Photo by the U.S. Navy)

The Shards, an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name, is streaming on Hulu for US viewers and Disney+ internationally.

In my The Shards review, I considered the new psychological thriller and mystery show to be a return to form for co-creator Ryan Murphy. I was also impressed by how well Ellis' source material was adapted.

We're deep into the story since the release of The Shards episodes 3 and 4, as we've started to unravel some double lives amongst the teens. In addition to this, we saw a shocking home invasion that somehow ended in nobody getting hurt, so we can breathe a sigh of relief — for now, anyway.

Here's what you need to know about the release of The Shards episode 5.

What time can I watch The Shards episode 5 on Hulu?

For US viewers, The Shards episode 5 will drop on Wednesday, August 19 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.

Here's when you can stream the new episodes in other countries.

• US – Wednesday, August 19 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Wednesday, August 19 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Thursday, August 20 at 2am BST
• India – Thursday, August 20 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Thursday, August 20 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Thursday, August 20 at 11am AEDT
• New Zealand – Thursday, August 20 at 12pm NZDT

When do new episodes of The Shards come out?

(Image credit: Hulu)

After this week, episodes of The Shards will premiere on a weekly basis until the finale on Wednesday, September 9.

For dates as well as the episode titles for the upcoming The Shards releases, take a look below.

• The Shards Episode 1 “Pilot”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 2 “Don’t You Want Me”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 3 “Help Me! Rhonda!”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 4 “Robert’s Party”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 5 “Murder on the Dancefloor”: Wednesday, August 19
• The Shards Episode 6 “Homecoming Part One”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 7 “Homecoming Part Two”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 8 “Hamlet”: Wednesday, September 2
• The Shards Episode 9 “Stairway to Heaven”: Wednesday, September 9

AmnesiaStealer malware targets macOS with data theft and remote browser-session control, potentially exposing accounts already open on compromised Macs.

The post Apple Mac Malware Lets Attackers Control Browser Sessions After Infection appeared first on TechRepublic.

Samsung may be preparing a return to full-size wireless headphones with a device reportedly known as Galaxy H1. App code offers the first clues, but key details remain unconfirmed.

The post Samsung Galaxy H1 Leak Points to New Over-Ear Headphones: What We Know appeared first on TechRepublic.

The Fit List

The corner of the TechRadar site that swaps processors for press-ups, The Fit List is our regular series of fitness listicles. We explore how to improve your health in handy bite-size pieces of advice. You can read the whole series here.

When I started regularly going to the gym several years ago, I did so without bothering with the best fitness trackers. These gadgets, I thought, were only good for running, tracking my sleep and counting my steps. But I’ve since learned that I was totally wrong.

Now I keep a cheap fitness tracker as a handy weightlifting companion. That’s right, a budget option; all of the functions I need, I can use on my low-cost Xiaomi Smart Band 10, making a purchase like the Apple Watch Ultra 3 totally unnecessary.

New to the gym, or eyeing up a new wearable purchase and wondering how it could help you? Let me walk you through five small-but-mighty functions of a cheap fitness tracker which will help you out at the gym.

1. Timekeeping

(Image credit: Future)

Honestly, it’s one of the simplest features of my fitness tracker that helps my workout the most. When you start tracking a workout on any wearable, you’ll see an on-wrist timer to tell you how much time has elapsed, and I use that timer constantly.

I use this not to see how long I work out for after the fact, but to dictate how long I exercise for during each set. I make sure I take a consistent amount of time for each set to maintain the right level of intensity and, more importantly, rest for the same amount of time between sets. I'll try to keep each rest period to a minute or less.

When I first started using the gym, I could sometimes rush through sets if I had lots of energy, or waste absolutely ages of time if I didn’t. Neither of those is good practice.

With my fitness tracker’s stopwatch, I’ve been treating my body better, between sets and rest periods. It also makes it far easier to predict how long a session will be – if my work on each kit is reliable span of time, and I know what I want to do ahead of time, I know how long I’ll be at the gym. Great for planning my day, and encouraging me to try shorter workouts if I have less time instead of not working out at all.

2. Heart rate

(Image credit: Future)

One of the basic functions of any fitness tracker is that it can monitor your heart rate. They all do so, to varying degrees of accuracy, and again I find this a really useful metric to help me stay healthy on a workout.

According to the British Heart Foundation’s simple math on ideal heart rate during exercising (220 minus your age, then work out 50% to 70% of that), my heart rate should be between 95bpm and 133bpm when working out.

Suffice to say, it isn’t always that. Sometimes when I’m really pushing myself with a new heavier weight, or I’m still recovering from my trip to the gym (I always run or cycle), my heart rate will push higher. And at other times, like when I’m being sluggish (should’ve kept a better eye on that timer!) or if I’m spending my rest times typing elaborate article pitches to TechRadar’s editors [like this one! — Ed.], I might be dropping too low.

As before, having my fitness tracker update me on my heart rate during the workout can help me decide how long to rest between workouts, whether to spend my rest period doing active recovery exercises or in 'true rest', and often what workout to do next too if I don't have a pre-prescribed plan to follow. Most wearables make this even easier, by having a ‘red zone’ indicating my heart rate is too high, and a blue zone if it’s low.

3. Longitudinal fitness overview

(Image credit: Future)

Both of my previous points have been about using a fitness tracker’s stats to dictate how I plan and adapt my workout. That principle stands on a longer-term scale too: fitness trackers are almost always tied to a fitness app on your phone, which can track performance over time and provide an insight into how our exercise habits are affecting our bodies.

I can see how frequently I exercise per week, month or even year, and what different types of workout I tend to do. I can see the trends in my workouts: if I find myself going on fewer runs during winter because of the cold, I can make a conscious decision to compensate and do more treadmill runs instead. If I’m doing less weight training during the tennis season, I can add in a session or two to course-correct.

Some of these changes to a workout program are harder to notice without data, since my fitness decisions tend to be idiosyncratic and made on-the-fly, so using an app's graphs gives me useful insights I’d otherwise miss.

4. Calorie information

(Image credit: Future)

One of the many pieces of information that fitness trackers tell you after a workout, is how many calories you burned. I’m always a little skeptical of this data, and it’s best to take it as a rough estimate rather than a concrete figure, but it’s still a useful reminder of an aspect of working out lots of gym-goers forget, and a core tenet of building muscle and losing fat — calories in versus calories out.

I’ve often struggled with under-fueling; I definitely didn’t eat enough when I trained for a marathon, and find it too easy to fall into the same trap as many in thinking that ‘being healthy’ is the same as ‘eating less’. When you’re doing a lot of exercise, your body needs proper upkeep, and that means eating more than you otherwise would.

When I started exercising with a fitness tracker, I’d see how many calories I’d burn per exercise — some of the marathon training runs saw almost 2,000kcal burned, and I did one every week — and it was a lot more than I expected. This, more than any ache or groan in my body, served as an important reminder to eat more. A lot more; bigger meals, more healthy snacks, less starvation. Doing so improved my energy and made my run recovery smooth.

I know that calorie counting is a slippery slope for a lot of people, however, and I don’t advise paying too much attention to this metric if that’s you. If in doubt, listen to your body more than tech.

5. Rest and recovery

(Image credit: Future)

My golden rule with fitness trackers is that I shouldn’t let them make decisions for me. I should always defer to how my body feels, not what tech tells me. But sometimes you need a second opinion, and that’s where rest timers come in.

Different fitness trackers have different names for it, but many wearables, even budget ones, pack functions that tell you how drained you are, or how long you should wait before you exercise again. On my Xiaomi tracker it’s called Training State, and it gives you an idea of how hard you've been training recently. The best Garmin watches call it Body Battery or Training Readiness, while Google Health calls it Daily Readiness. The gist of all of these features is that they tell you how much energy your body has – and recommends a level of workout intensity for the day.

These scores use the various metrics captured by your fitness tracker, like what workouts you’ve done and how often you’ve done them, to make an informed guess as to when you should next work out. Sometimes this comes in the form of a timer, telling you how long you need to wait before you next work out, and sometimes it’s a body battery telling you how ‘charged’ you are.

I never rely on this feature over my own gut feeling, but sometimes I just can’t decide whether I’m feeling up for a run or workout. That’s when my fitness tracker steps in, to give me some extra data and push the needle in one direction or another.

France’s tax authority confirmed a cyberattack exposed taxpayer data as officials investigate the breach’s scope and an unverified 678,000-record claim.

The post Nearly 700,000 French Taxpayer Records Reportedly Stolen in Government Cyberattack appeared first on TechRepublic.

• IKEA's new 3-in-1 display is a clock, thermometer, and humidity sensor
• The display follows the release of IKEA's TIMMERFLOTTE temperature sensor
• It's only available in the UK so far, priced at £5

If you’re looking for simple, convenient, and affordable home tech, IKEA is surprisingly handy when it comes to this — and the Swedish home furnishing giant just launched a new 3-in-1 display that does more than tell the time.

As well as displaying a clock, the new ÖRNVRÅK device also shows the temperature and humidity of your home, a true triple threat. Right now, ÖRNVRÅK is available in the UK online and in-store, but we’re keeping our eyes peeled for a US rollout.

The ÖRNVRÅK’s 3-in-1 functions aren’t its only selling points, however — it costs a mere £5 — a cheap and cheerful device that’s not overly complicated. And because it’s powered by one AAA battery, you won’t have to worry about constantly charging it.

As far as its specs go, ÖRNVRÅK is a small device at just 8x3cm and incredibly lightweight, weighing just over 100g. With its IP44 resistance rating, the display can endure small splashes of water, meaning it can be placed pretty much anywhere in your home, from your kitchen to your utility room or bathroom.

(Image credit: IKEA)

It’s also multi-faceted when it comes to attachments. Its magnetic back allows it to stick to surfaces such as your fridge door, or you can use its built-in hook attachment to hang it on the wall, or use it as a stand for flat surfaces.

In recent years, IKEA has really taken advantage of the demand for cheap home devices that just get the job done. Earlier this year, the retailer launched its £5 Matter-supported TIMMERFLOTTE temperature sensor, which fits perfectly into your existing smart home ecosystem. The company also has a cheap lineup of audio devices, most notably its colorful KALLSUP Bluetooth speaker — which packs a punch for just £10.

While the TIMMERFLOTTE sensor has the smart home bells and whistles, this isn’t the case for the new ÖRNVRÅK display. Instead, it keeps things simple, swapping the smart home connectivity for the digital clock face.

If you’re all about smart home connectivity when it comes to IKEA’s devices, this might not be the product for you, but what the ÖRNVRÅK display does that the TIMMERFLOTTE sensor doesn't is show the time, temperature, and humidity simultaneously. ÖRNVRÅK removes the need to swipe through each reading individually, which gives it the edge when appealing to those who value simplicity over smart features.

D23 Expo 2026 has come and gone — and, like past editions of the Ultimate Disney Fan Experience, there were plenty of big announcements concerning Marvel and Star Wars.

As the dust settles on the aforementioned fan convention and said reveals, there's no better time to take stock of what was shown, and rank each announcement based on how exciting they were. So, read on for my take on all six reveals — and, once you reach the end, let me know if you agree with my ranking by leaving a comment!

6. Ryan Gosling's Star Wars: Starfighter character name revealed

welcome to our galaxy, Ryan.Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, arrives in theaters May 28, 2027. pic.twitter.com/3wHmjoqbARAugust 15, 2026

I feel bad putting Star Wars: Starfighter at the bottom of my ranking because it's a film I'm really looking forward to seeing next May. Nevertheless, Lucasfilm only offered us the tiniest of crumbs about its next big-screen offering, which is why it doesn't feature higher on this list.

So, what was revealed? The name of leading man Ryan Gosling's character, which is Kade Auberon. As names go in the hugely popular sci-fi franchise, that's a pretty cool one to have, but it's still small fry in comparison to the announcements I've yet to cover.

Interestingly, a first teaser for Starfighter was also unveiled at the fan convention — and, if it had been officially released online, I'd have placed this entry higher. For what it's worth, the teaser has been leaked, but I won't be sharing any links because I don't want to get in trouble with Lucasfilm or Disney.

While we wait for it to properly hit the internet, find out everything we know so far about Star Wars: Starfighter.

5. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2 release month and first-look details

First look at ‘YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN’ Season 2.Releasing in January on Disney+ pic.twitter.com/NzKnicqmBjAugust 15, 2026

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (YFNSM) might not everyone's cup of tea. However, aside from its unusual animation and art style, which took me a long time to get used to, I actually enjoyed the Disney+ animated show's debut season.

So, even though every other Marvel announcement at this Year's D23 was better and/or more exciting to a lot of people, I'm really looking forward to YFNSM season 2's launch in January 2027.

Based on the above artwork and first-look footage, there's a lot to get excited about, including Spider-Man bonding with the symbiote and getting his iconic black suit, confirmation that new and returning villains will appear, and the revelation that Spider-Gwen is set to join the show.

4. Star Wars: Ahsoka season 2 release date and first trailer

Three years have passed since Star Wars: Ahsoka's first season premiered on Disney+, one of the world's best streaming services. But, while it's been plenty of months since filming wrapped on its sophomore installment, we've still got a long wait on our hands for it to arrive. That's because Star Wars: Ahsoka season 2 won't arrive until January 20, 2027.

Disappointing though that is, Lucasfilm has sought to appease us by releasing season 2's first trailer — and, I don't know about you, but it looks much, much better than its sluggish forebear did. Okay, trailers can be deceiving, but if Ahsoka season 2 marries huge space battles with more intimate sci-fi drama, I'll be very happy.

While we wait for it to be released, get the lowdown on Star Wars: Ahsoka season 2.

3. VisionQuest first trailer and story details unveiled

The final part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) only TV trilogy to date, VisionQuest will wrap up the story that began with hit series WandaVision and continued with 2024's Agatha All Along.

With VisionQuest set to come out on October 14, it's high time we saw some actual footage from it. It was kind of Marvel to not only oblige at D23 Expo 2026, then, but knock our socks off with what appears to be a cracking third act to this Wanda Maximoff and Vision-led narrative.

That's not all we've learned about the Paul Bettany-fronted show, either, because the Marvel Phase 6 TV show's official story synopsis has also been revealed.

"Vision, rebooted and having escaped from those who sought to weaponize him, has been in hiding," the plot brief reads. "Searching for new meaning, he consults the AI personas embedded in his programming, including F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., J.A.R.V.I.S., and the infamous Ultron.

"His discreet existence ends when a bounty placed on his head thrusts him on the run with Thomas Shepard, a mysterious boy who may be Vision’s son, reincarnate. As Vision evades capture, he must confront his nature, resist Ultron's influence, and unravel the enigma that is his young companion if he’s to survive."

For the full scoop on the final MCU TV project of the year, find out what we know so far about VisionQuest.

2. Avengers: Doomsday trailer #2

You wait months for an Avengers: Doomsday trailer and, like London buses, two arrive in quick succession. Less than a month after the first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday broke the internet, Marvel has released another one for the hotly anticipated team-up movie — and it's further raised our collective hopes that the fifth Avengers film will be as epic as the three of its four predecessors (sorry, Avengers: Age of Ultron...) were.

There's plenty in this new teaser to excite fans ahead of one of 2026's most exciting new movies, too. From a fresh look at Doctor Doom's duel with Thor, and more teases concerning the former's backstory and motivations, to the gravity of the situation that our heroes face and their desperate attempt to delay the inevitable — that being, Doom's likely victory in Avengers 5 — and December 18 can't come soon enough.

1. Marvel's new X-Men movie cast reveal and release date announcement

The X-Men are coming to the MCU:Sadie Sink is Jean GreyKit Connor is CyclopsChristopher Abbott is Professor Charles XavierSamara Weaving is Emma FrostInde Navarrette is RogueMaya Boyd is StormAdam Driver is Nathaniel MilburyOnly in theaters May 5, 2028. pic.twitter.com/ZCd4f7I1W7August 15, 2026

Quite frankly, there was only one thing that could top Avengers: Doomsday's new trailer release at D23 Expo 2026: some official news on Marvel's new X-Men movie.

After weeks of speculation that included numerous casting rumors and gossip that Marvel would unveil the stars of the MCU's first mutant-led film at D23 Expo 2026, the comic titan did just that, too.

We already knew that Sadie Sink's Jean Grey would be joined by Kit Connor's Cyclops and Samara Weaving's Emma Frost in the Marvel Phase 7 flick. Meanwhile, Obsession star Inde Navarrette had all but teased her involvement after confirming she'd met X-Men movie director Jason Schreier.

As always, though, Marvel had a few surprises up its sleeve. Not only did it officially announce Navarrette would portray Rogue, it also confirmed Christopher Abbott (Girls) would feature as Charles Xavier/Professor X, and that Maya Boyd (Merrily We Roll Along) is on board as Ororo Munroe/Storm. Perhaps the biggest shock of all, though, was that none other than Adam Driver would finally join the MCU as Nathaniel Millbury — or, to give his proper name, Nathaniel Essex, aka the villainous Mister Sinister.

Oh, and did I mention that the MCU's first X-Men film was confirmed to be releasing on May 8, 2028? No? Well, it will. Can someone invent time travel, so we can fast-forward to 2028, please?

For more on the forthcoming mutant flick, read up on everything we know so far about Marvel's new X-Men movie. Again, be aware that some information, especially in the cast section, will be out of date until I update it.

• The Honor Robot Phone is attracting lots of attention on social media
• Commenters are calling its built-in gimbal an "innovation" and arguing that customers "are tired of seeing the same phone every year"
• Some critics argue it could be fragile or hard to clean

Earlier this month, Phones Editor Axel Metz travelled to Shenzhen, China, to be among the first to try the Honor Robot Phone.

This upcoming flagship from Chinese smartphone giant Honor features a built-in gimbal camera that can pop out of a special rear panel for enhanced video stabilization, along with high-tech features like AI-powered subject tracking and advanced shooting modes.

It's one of the most distinctive and exciting smartphones we've seen in years, and it's likely to cost less than you might think if it does reach Western markets. It officially launched in China for ¥9,999, which comes to around $1,500 / £1,100 / AU$2,100.

There is a big catch, however. Honor used to be a Huawei subsidiary and, while its devices are no longer subject to sanctions following its separation in 2020, they're still not officially sold in the US.

@techradar

♬ Venus and Flower - Austin Farwell

That fact hasn't stopped our US audience from expressing their excitement for the Robot Phone on TikTok and Facebook, where a brief hands-on video we posted last week has already reached more than a million views and accumulated thousands of likes and comments.

One top-rated comment reads: "This is why Chinese companies get banned in the US. Our tech is so behind."

"US companies can't compete," reads another. "That's why they just banned them."

Other users praised the unique concept of a gimbal built into a phone. "That's what I call innovation. People are tired of seeing the same phone every year, like the iPhone," wrote one commenter.

Another posted: "This right here is innovation light-years ahead of iPhone."

"Americans only dream of phones like these," wrote one wistful commenter.

There are also plenty of sceptics, with some users citing durability concerns and others arguing that the gimbal would be hard to keep clean. "External moving parts are never a good idea," wrote one critic.

There's currently no official word on whether the Honor Robot Phone will be available in the US, UK, or Australia, but it certainly seems like there's a lot of interest. Hopefully Honor makes an announcement soon.

In the meantime, you can read what Axel thought after two hours with the Honor Robot Phone, or our interview about the Honor and ARRI collaboration behind its camera.

The Pixel 11 Pro is one the new additions to Google's flagship phone lineup, sitting alongside the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold (we've tried them all out, and were impressed). The Pro's screen is the same 6.3-inch size as the standard Pixel 11, but is brighter and higher-resolution. The build quality of the phone is also a step up over the basic model, and the rear camera setup is more advanced too.

If you've decided this is the phone for you and you've taken advantage of one of the Pixel 11 Pro preorder deals, now's the time to get a case sorted. Below, I've rounded up a selection of my favorites, in the US and in the UK.

My go-to brands for reliable, tough cases are Otterbox and Spigen. Those cases are generally on the pricier side, so I've included some cheap-and-cheerful Amazon alternatives. These tend to come from weird, no-name brands, so quality can be hit-and-miss. I've stuck to the options that come backed with reassuring reviews. And I've also thrown in a selection of fun cases from Casetify, which is the best place to look for quirky options to add some personality to your phone.

US cases

FNTCASE Pixel 11 Pro Case Compatible With Magsafe

CASETiFY Sunset wave case

Temdan Pixel 11 Pro Case with built-In invisible Kickstand

Spigen Ultra Hybrid Magfit for Pixel 11 Pro Case, Clear White

Spigen Ultra Hybrid Magfit for Pixel 11 Pro Case, Frost Black

OtterBox Pixel 11 Pro Lumen Series Case — Clear

Spigen Tough Armor Magfit for Pixel 11 Pro Case, Black

CASETiFY Blue Reflections case

Spigen Tough Armor Magfit for Pixel 11 Pro Case, Abyss Green

CASETiFY Wave Trip - Blue Voltage MagSafe case

Spigen Nano Pop Magfit for Pixel 11 Pro Case, Black Sesame

OtterBox Pixel 11 Pro Defender Series Pro Case - Black

UK cases

Spigen Nanopop Magfit Case for Google Pixel 11 Pro - Blueberry Navy

TOCOL Google Pixel 11 Pro Case, Magsafe Compatible, Alpine Green

FNTCASE Google Pixel 11 Pro Case, Fit for Magsafe

Spigen Ultra Hybrid Magfit Case for Google Pixel 11 Pro - Clear White

Ringke Google Pixel 11 Pro Case, Onyx (Dark Green)

CASETiFY Happy Croissants case

OtterBox Pixel 11 Pro Lumen Series Case - Clear

CASETiFY Hibis-Kiss case

JETech Magnetic Matte Case for Google Pixel 11 Pro, Black

CASETiFY New York Subway Metro case

Spigen Liquid Air Magfit Case for Google Pixel 11 Pro - Matte Black

OtterBox Pixel 11 Pro Defender Series Pro Case - Black

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks with Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona about conditions aboard the USS Lincoln and his calls for an investigation into sailors' treatment.

(Image credit: Tom Brenner)

Travel eSIMs are useful, but they still leave you guessing. You pick a country, choose a data pack, hope it lasts, and then lose whatever is left when the plan expires. If your trip has more than one country, the whole process starts again. Roamless caught my attention because it tries to remove that cycle.

Instead of making you buy a new eSIM or country plan for every trip, Roamless gives you a single global eSIM and a single balance. You add credits, use data where Roamless is supported, and keep the leftover balance for later. That makes it especially useful for people who travel a few times a year and hate wasting unused data.

Roamless also offers Roamless Numbers, a paid add-on that gives you a virtual number for calls and SMS inside the app. Roamless says it can receive SMS messages, including some verification codes, but I would still keep a regular SIM active for banking OTPs, since many banks block virtual numbers.

• Take a look at our other picks to find your best eSIM for international travel

Roamless: Pricing

(Image credit: Roamless)

Roamless runs two plan types that can work independently or together on the same eSIM.

Plan

Price

Data

Validity

Hotspot

RoamlessFlex

Avg. $2.45/GB

Pay per MB used

Never expires

Yes

RoamlessFix

Varies by destination

Fixed bundle

30 days from first use

Yes

RoamlessFlex

Flex is the main reason to consider Roamless. You add credits to your wallet, and Roamless deducts data usage as you go. The average rate is around $2.45 per GB, although pricing varies by country.

The important part is that your Flex credits do not expire. If you add credit for one trip and use only part of it, the remaining balance stays in your account for the next trip. That makes Roamless feel less wasteful than eSIM plans that expire after a fixed number of days.

New users may receive free Flex credits when they sign up, though the amount may vary based on current promotions. If you join through a referral code, both you and the person who referred you receive $5 in Flex credits after your first top-up. You can also turn on Auto Top Up to refill your wallet automatically when your balance drops below $5.

RoamlessFix

Fix plans are fixed data bundles for a country or region, valid for 30 days. They usually make more sense when you already know where you are going and how much data you will need. The per-GB price can be lower than Flex on larger bundles, but prices vary by destination, so it is worth checking the app before buying.

The catch is that Fix plans don't renew automatically. When your Fix plan expires, Roamless automatically switches back to your Flex balance so you stay connected without changing anything. Fix works best if you already know where you're going and how much data you'll need. If your plans are flexible or you're visiting multiple countries, Flex is usually the better choice.

Roamless: Features

The best thing about Roamless is that it removes some of the small decisions that make travel eSIMs annoying. You are not constantly deleting eSIMs, reinstalling profiles, or trying to use up leftover data before it disappears.

• Non-expiring credits: Most pay-as-you-go eSIMs attach an expiry date to your balance. Roamless doesn't. Flex credits sit in your wallet until you spend them. That matters most for travelers who take a handful of trips a year and don't want to scramble to use a balance before it disappears.
• Automatic Fix-to-Flex fallback: If your Fix plan runs out mid-trip, Flex credits automatically take over. You stay connected.
• Single global eSIM: Install once. The eSIM automatically connects to local carrier partners in 200+ destinations. On Flex, that spans every supported country with no reinstalling between trips or border crossings.
• Hotspot and tethering: Share your data with other devices. Any data you use comes out of your Flex balance or FIX plan.
• In-app calling: Roamless lets you make international calls through the app, with rates starting from $0.01 per minute. It works over any internet connection, including Wi-Fi, a local SIM, or the Roamless eSIM.

Roamless Numbers: Why It Matters

(Image credit: Roamless)

Most travel eSIMs are data-only. They get you online, but they do not give you a phone number for calls or texts. Roamless Numbers is Roamless's answer to that gap.

With Roamless Numbers, you can subscribe to a virtual number inside the app and use it for calls and SMS over the internet. Roamless says Numbers are now available in four countries, with monthly and annual subscription options. The listed price is $6.95 per month, or $59.95 per year ($4.95 per month if you pay annually, a 28% saving).

(Image credit: Roamless)

I'd have used this on a trip where my Airbnb host and a delivery driver both needed to reach me and I had no way for either to call back. That's the real use case: any time a hotel, a ride app, or a client needs to reach you while you're abroad. I also like that it lives in the same app as my travel data. One less VoIP app to manage.

The important limit is verification. Roamless says Numbers can receive SMS, including two-factor authentication and verification codes. That does not mean every bank or financial app will accept them. Many services are strict about virtual numbers, so your regular SIM is still the safer option for banking OTPs.

Number porting is not supported, and each subscription is tied to one Roamless Number. So this is a useful travel add-on, and not a full replacement for your main phone line.

Roamless: Installation

(Image credit: Roamless)

Setup takes about five minutes on an iPhone. Download the app, create an account, add funds or choose a plan, and follow the activation steps. The app walks you through labeling the new eSIM line, setting it as your data connection, and turning on roaming.

Two things are worth checking before you travel. First, install the eSIM while you are on a stable Wi-Fi connection. Second, after installation, make sure Roamless is selected for mobile data and that data roaming is turned on for the Roamless line. If your phone keeps switching back to your home SIM, you could end up using your carrier’s roaming instead.

After that, the setup is done. Land somewhere new, turn data on, and the app connects. You don't touch it between trips or border crossings.

Android setup can vary more by device. Samsung and Pixel phones are usually straightforward, but some models may need extra APN steps. If you use a less common Android phone, check Roamless’s setup guide before you leave.

Roamless: Compatible Devices

Brand

Popular compatible models

Notes

iPhone

iPhone XR, XS, XS Max, SE 2/3, iPhone 11–17 series, iPhone Air

Regional variants can differ, especially the China mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao models. Check for “Add eSIM” before buying.

Samsung Galaxy S

Galaxy S20–S25 series, including Plus and Ultra models

Some regional or carrier-locked variants may not support third-party eSIM installation.

Samsung Galaxy Z

Galaxy Z Fold2–Fold7, Galaxy Z Flip/Flip3–Flip7, Flip7 FE

Check the exact regional model before purchase.

Google Pixel

Pixel 4 and newer, including Pixel 8, Pixel 9, Pixel 9a, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and Pixel 10 series

Some carrier variants may have restrictions.

Huawei

P40, P40 Pro, Mate 40 Pro, Pura 70 Pro, Pura X Foldable, 80 Pro/Pro+/Ultra

Compatibility varies strongly by region. Confirm the exact model first.

Xiaomi

12T Pro, 13 series, 13T Pro, Redmi Note 13 Pro+, 14 series, 14T/14T Pro, Redmi Note 14 Pro+, 15/15 Ultra

eSIM support varies by market and variant.

Motorola

Razr 40/50 series, Razr+ / Razr Ultra, Edge 40/50 series, ThinkPhone 25, Moto G34/G35

Region-dependent. Confirm in device settings before buying.

For older or less common phones, check Roamless’s device page or ask support first. If your phone does not support eSIM, you can still use the Roamless app for Roamless Numbers and in-app calls over Wi-Fi or mobile data.

Roamless: Customer Support

(Image credit: Roamless)

Support runs through three channels: in-app chat, email, and a help center split into four categories. The FAQ section alone has 58 articles, which tells you something about how many edge cases Roamless has run into. The in-app chat opens with an AI agent first, and you have to ask for a human if the bot can't handle it.

Once you're past setup, you won't need support much. The eSIM connects automatically at every border, and the app itself is where most of what could go wrong (a failed activation, a calling glitch) actually happens.

Roamless: Final verdict

(Image credit: Roamless)

I'd recommend Roamless to anyone hopping between countries more than once a year. The Flex wallet is the whole pitch: credits that don't expire beat every fixed eSIM plan I've used that punishes you for not finishing your data in time.

The single global eSIM backs that up. Install once, forget about it, and it just works at the next border. That alone makes multi-country trips less annoying than switching separate eSIMs. Roamless Numbers is a nice extra if you want calls and SMS in the same app, but don't lean on it for banking OTPs. Banks reject virtual numbers often enough that your regular SIM should stay the backup.

Skip Roamless if you need unlimited data or the cheapest single-country plan available. For everyone else traveling light and often, it's one of the more practical eSIMs out there right now.

Roamless: FAQsHow does RoamlessFlex work?

Roamless Flex works by letting you add credits to your Roamless wallet and pay only for the data you use. The app deducts your balance as you go, and any unused credits stay in your wallet because they never expire. If you travel often or visit multiple countries, you can keep using the same wallet without having to buy a new eSIM each time.

What is RoamlessFix, and when should I use it?

Roamless Fix is a prepaid data plan that gives you a fixed amount of data for a specific country or region. The plan stays valid for 30 days from the time you first use it. It works best if you already know where you're traveling and roughly how much data you'll need. If you don't use all your data within 30 days, the remaining balance expires.

Does Roamless offer unlimited data?

No. Roamless does not offer unlimited data plans. Roamless only offers Flex and Fix plans. Flex lets you pay only for the data you use, while Fix gives you a set amount of data that expires after 30 days. If you need unlimited data for streaming or heavy daily use, you'll need to look at another eSIM provider.

Can I receive banking OTPs with Roamless while traveling?

No. You should not rely on Roamless for banking OTPs while traveling. The Roamless eSIM is data-only, and Roamless Numbers uses virtual phone numbers instead of regular mobile numbers. While some services may send SMS to a virtual number, many banks and financial apps block VoIP numbers for security reasons. Your regular SIM card is still the safest option for banking verification.

Does Roamless support hotspot and tethering?

Yes. Roamless supports hotspot and tethering on all of its data plans. You can share your mobile data with a laptop, tablet, or another phone without paying extra. Any data used through hotspot is simply deducted from your Flex wallet or your Fix data allowance, just like data used on your phone.

Does Roamless work in China?

Yes. Roamless works in mainland China. Once your Roamless eSIM is installed, your phone connects automatically through Roamless' roaming partners when you arrive. You don't need to buy a local SIM card, making it a convenient option for travelers who want mobile data as soon as they land.

Do I need to buy a new plan for each country I visit?

No. You do not need to buy a new plan for each country if you use Roamless Flex. The same Roamless eSIM and Flex wallet work across more than 200 supported destinations, and your phone connects automatically when you cross a border. If you use a Roamless Fix plan, you'll only need to buy another plan when you travel outside the country or region covered by your current package.

A few years ago, landing in a new country usually meant hunting for airport WiFi, comparing local SIM cards, or paying roaming fees you would regret later. GigSky helps you avoid all that. The California-based eSIM provider has been at this since 2010, and what started as a tool for enterprise road warriors now serves over a million people across 200+ countries.

GigSky has added a subscription tier, dedicated cruise and ferry plans, in-flight data packages, and a Visa partnership that hands eligible cardholders up to 3GB free before they spend a single dollar. Here’s all that you need to know about GigSky.

GigSky: Pricing and plans

Gigsky's pricing model is very flexible, and that gives you the space to see what fits your needs best. Plans are not sold as fixed tiers the way a phone contract is. Instead, you browse by destination, choose your data amount and duration, and pay for exactly what you need.

There are no subscriptions you will accidentally roll into, or hidden roaming fees bolted on at checkout. The plans start from $3.99, with the actual price varying by country, region, how much data you need, and how long your trip runs.

• We've rounded up the best eSIMs for Europe.

The structure breaks into six main plan types:

Plan type

What it covers

Best for

Country plans

Single-country data, fixed duration

Short trips to one destination

Regional plans

Multi-country coverage within a defined region (Europe, Asia Pacific, Caribbean, etc.)

Multi-stop regional travel

Cruise + Land plans

At-sea coverage on 290+ ships plus land coverage in 200+ port destinations, in one eSIM

Cruise goers who also explore on shore

Ferry plans

Data on ferry routes

Island-hopping, cross-channel crossings

Inflight plans

In-air connectivity on supported airlines

Frequent flyers who work at altitude

Offshore plans

Maritime and offshore use beyond cruise ships

Offshore workers, sailing, remote maritime

Beyond those one-time plans, GigSky also offers subscriptions. The GigSky One plan is built for people who travel enough that buying individual plans starts to feel like a part-time job. It covers a broad set of countries under a single subscription, with monthly, quarterly, and annual billing options. The longer you commit, the better the per-month cost.

Every new user also gets a free 100MB plan with no credit card required. It is not enough for streaming or navigating a city all day. But it is more than enough for messaging, checking email, or pulling up directions in a pinch, which makes it an easy way to test the service before spending anything.

GigSky: Features

GigSky handles installation through the app or a QR code, activates automatically when you land, and works on any eSIM-compatible smartphone. There are no hidden steps and no manual network selection.

GigSky is a data-only service, but the plan includes more than just data:

• Hotspot included: Tethering is available on all plans at no extra cost. One plan covers your phone, your laptop, and whoever you are traveling with.
• Fastest available network: GigSky connects to whatever the local infrastructure supports, 5G, 4G, or 3G, without capping your speed based on plan tier.
• Fair use on unlimited plans: After 2.5GB in a single day, speeds reduce until the following day. Messaging and email hold up fine at reduced speeds; streaming does not.
• Top-ups without reinstalling: Buy more data in the app and it loads onto the existing eSIM profile. No QR codes, no settings menus.
• Gift cards: GigSky credit is available as a gift if you want to sort someone's connectivity before they travel.

• We've rounded up the best eSIMs for USA.

GigSky: Installation

(Image credit: GigSky)

Getting GigSky onto your phone takes about five minutes, and there is nothing technically demanding about it as long as you do it before you leave. That last part matters more than it sounds. You need a Wi-Fi connection to download and install the eSIM profile, and the airport Wi-Fi at your destination is not the moment to find out you missed this step.

Once you are ready:

• Download the GigSky app on iOS or Android and create a free account.
• Browse plans for your destination and complete your purchase.
• Install the eSIM directly through the app, or scan the QR code that arrives in your email. The QR option is useful if you are setting up on a tablet separate from the device you used to buy the plan.
• When you land, switch the eSIM on in your phone's settings. It connects automatically to the strongest available local network from there.

• We've rounded up the best eSIMs for Turkey.

Is GigSky compatible with your device?

GigSky works across a wide range of phones, tablets, and laptops, but compatibility depends on whether your device supports eSIM and whether it is unlocked for international use. Here is how the most common devices stack up:

Device

Compatible models

iPhone

XR, XS, XS Max, and all models from iPhone 11 onward

iPad Pro

11-inch (1st gen through M4), 12.9-inch (3rd gen through 6th gen), 13-inch (M4)

iPad Air

3rd generation through M2 (both 11-inch and 13-inch)

iPad mini

5th and 6th generation

iPad (standard)

7th through 10th generation

Android

Most flagship and mid-range eSIM-capable handsets from the last few years

Windows

Microsoft Surface Pro X

Other

Fairphone 4, Honor Magic 4 Pro

GigSky: Support

Customer support runs around the clock, every day of the year. This matters for a travel product, since travelers rarely need help during business hours in their home time zone. You can reach support through the app or by email, and response quality is generally solid.

The FAQ section on the GigSky website is unusually thorough. Most practical questions a first-time user would have, from how to activate in a specific country to what happens when data runs out mid-trip, are answered there before you need to contact anyone. The Help Center covers troubleshooting, getting started guides, and announcements on recent service changes.

But I really liked their e-Sim Guide, which covered most of the basics that I needed to get started.

GigSky Cruise: Staying connected at sea

(Image credit: GigSky)

The standard experience for the internet on a cruise ship is either expensive, slow, or both. Cruise lines have historically charged per-megabyte rates that would have felt steep in 2005, and most travelers have just accepted it and treated sea days as a forced detox.

GigSky's cruise offering is a direct argument against that.

GigSky describes itself as the only eSIM built specifically for cruises, and the claim holds up. Cruise and Land plans cover 290+ ships from major lines alongside more than 200 land destinations, all on a single eSIM profile. At sea, your phone connects to satellite network infrastructure.

When you pull into port, the eSIM automatically shifts to land-based carrier networks. You do not switch plans, reinstall anything, or take any manual action.

Key features of GigSky Cruise

• One plan for sea and land: A single purchase covers both sea days and port days. On a multi-port itinerary, the alternative is managing a separate SIM or eSIM plan for every country you visit. GigSky collapses that into one.
• Automatic network switching: The handover between satellite at sea and cellular on land happens in the background. You do not manage it.
• Hotspot and top-ups work the same way: Tethering is included at no extra cost, and if you run through your data mid-voyage, you reload from the app without reinstalling the profile.

(Image credit: Gigsky )Who is the cruise plan actually for?

GigSky Cruise is not the right choice for everyone on a ship. If you are doing a week-long Caribbean sailing and your main use case is posting photos in port and checking the weather, the free 100MB trial might cover most of what you need, with a small paid top-up for the moments it does not.

For travelers who work remotely, need to stay in contact with family, or are on a longer voyage with multiple ports, this plan comes in handy.

On a two-week Mediterranean itinerary hitting eight countries, the alternative to a single GigSky Cruise plan is buying eight separate eSIM plans, installing them one by one, and managing the switches manually. There is also the category of cruiser who simply wants more than the ship's Wi-Fi, which tends to be throttled, expensive, and shared across hundreds of passengers.

GigSky's sea day coverage handles email, messaging, VoIP calls, and light browsing without the queue-and-throttle experience of onboard internet packages.

GigSky: Final verdict

When I first came across GigSky a couple of years ago, the knock on it was always price. You could find cheaper per-gigabyte rates from regional competitors, and for the average traveler doing a single-country trip, a local SIM bought at the airport often still won on cost. That critique is not wrong, but it has become less relevant as GigSky has built out additional features that local SIMs fundamentally cannot do.

A local SIM does not cover you when the ship leaves port. It does not automatically switch to the next country when your train crosses a border. It does not have a subscription model that prevents you from repeating the purchase ritual every three weeks. And it definitely does not come with a partnership that hands eligible Visa cardholders 3GB for free before they spend anything.

The lack of calls and SMS may matter for some travelers, but for the things that actually consume data on the road, GigSky covers most of the bases without the usual SIM-swapping routine. If you travel frequently, especially on cruises or multi-country trips, it starts feeling less like an alternative and more like the default setup.

FAQsDoes GigSky offer 5G connectivity?

Yes, GigSky offers 5G connectivity where the local network supports it. GigSky connects you to the highest available generation at your destination: 5G in cities that have deployed it, 4G LTE in most populated areas, and 3G in more remote regions. Keep in mind that 5G consumes data faster than 4G, so if you are on a limited plan, it is worth being conscious of what you are doing on a 5G connection.

What is GigSky One?

GigSky One is the subscription tier for frequent travelers. Instead of buying individual plans per trip, you pay monthly, quarterly, or annually for ongoing data coverage across a broad set of countries on a single eSIM. Longer commitments come at a better per-month rate.

Does GigSky work with Visa cards?

Yes. Eligible cardholders get up to 3GB of complimentary data across 175+ countries, discounts of up to 30% on every plan, and up to 7 days of unlimited data at curated Visa Destinations. Eligibility depends on your card and issuing bank, and you check it inside the GigSky app. Participating programs currently include the US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Caribbean, and Latin America, among others.

What is the fair use policy on unlimited plans?

The fair use policy on unlimited plans says that after 2.5GB in a single day, speeds slow down until the following day from your plan's activation time. Email, messaging, and VoIP calls still work at reduced speeds. Heavy streaming and large file transfers are the activities most affected.

Slop. The word that people have settled on, and it fits.

LinkedIn posts that say nothing. Investor decks assembled from prompts. Sales outreach that feels personalized but went to thousands of people. Conference presentations that look polished but collapse when someone asks a substantive question.

Nobody in a position of power seems to want to say this clearly, so here it is: we are making it ourselves.

People racing to scale content with AI tools are burning through the one thing that makes any of this worth doing, which is the reasonable expectation that when a person puts their name on something, a person thought about it.

When the thinking did not happen, the name is borrowed credibility, and audiences tend to feel the difference.

A denial of service attack on professional attention

Think about what high-volume, low-signal communication actually does to the people on the receiving end. It is a denial of service attack. Done at scale, they do not just waste time. They degrade the channel for everyone trying to use it honestly.

Trust in professional life is not a soft value. It is the mechanism by which work gets done. Slop corrodes that mechanism slowly, quietly reshaping expectations until the default posture toward professional content shifts from curiosity to suspicion.

The deck nobody built

Anyone who spent serious time at an event this year noticed it. You sit in the room and thirty minutes in you realize the presenter has not actually field-tested any of what is on the screen. The model made it coherent. Coherence is not the same as true.

The tell is always the same. Someone asks a follow-up question that goes one layer below the framework and the answer drifts. Not because the presenter is unintelligent. Because there was no thinking to retrieve.

This matters because a presentation is a claim: I know something about this, I worked it out, and it is worth your time. An AI-assembled deck without the underlying experience is not a weak presentation. It is a lie. It borrows the authority of hard-won perspective without having won it.

The prototype that is not a product

For most of software's history, the gap between a prototype and a product was real and substantial. Building a finished product required engineering time, design iteration, infrastructure decisions – all the unglamorous work that separates a demo from production. That gap created useful friction.

AI has compressed that gap in ways that are genuinely exciting and genuinely dangerous. You can now generate a working interface, complete with plausible data and coherent navigation, in a matter of hours. Teams can test market appetite and validate direction before committing to a full build. That is legitimately valuable.

What is not legitimate is presenting that prototype as though the hard questions have already been answered. Can it scale? What happens at the edges? What does it cost to run? These are not details to resolve later. They are the product.

A prototype shown honestly invites conversation. A prototype shown as a finished product forecloses it, and the interest on that debt gets paid in credibility.

Thinking versus the appearance of thinking

The fundamental choice we make every day, often without recognizing it is this: are we using AI to think better or to avoid thinking?

There is a version of AI-assisted work where the human is still the author. The thinking happened. The judgment was applied. Then there is the version that produces slop. The deck assembled via prompts. The prototype shown without the word prototype appearing anywhere. No thinking happened. No perspective was shared. An audience was addressed but did not receive anything.

Getting ahead of the trust crisis means being honest about which version we are practicing and having the discipline to stop calling the second one a strategy.

The bill has started to arrive. Response rates to AI-drafted cold outreach have collapsed. Investors reviewing AI-generated pitch decks are getting quicker at identifying when the strategic narrative was assembled rather than discovered. In product, the reckoning takes the form of churn.

The cruelest part is that the organizations doing the flooding harm not only themselves but everyone trying to communicate honestly in the same space. Individual rationality producing collective ruin, one generated paragraph at a time.

There is a longer consequence that rarely gets named. Frontier AI models were trained on the accumulated output of human knowledge-sharing: forums, papers, articles, the slow sediment of people working things out in public. New questions posted on Stack Overflow are down almost 80% year over year. If the knowledge commons are replaced by AI-generated output, we are not building on a base of human insight. We are iterating on a fixed one.

Slop does not just erode trust in the present. It risks stagnating the knowledge base that the future depends on.

What we owe the people we are trying to reach

As AI drives content toward abundance, credibility becomes the only real differentiator, and it is the scarcest resource in the communication ecosystem. The organizations and individuals who protect it now will hold something that becomes more valuable as the surrounding environment degrades.

Worth the time to actually write the thing, work through the strategy, build the product before calling it one. Worth asking whether what you are about to put in front of people reflects your thinking or just a model's prediction of your thinking. And sometimes it is worth saying nothing rather than saying the algorithmically optimal version of nothing.

Trust has always been the currency of professional influence. Right now, a lot of people are flooding the market with counterfeits. The people on the receiving end know. They may not say so in the meeting, or click unsubscribe, or walk out of the session. But something shifts. The next email gets opened a little more slowly. The next deck gets a little less benefit of the doubt. The next demo gets a harder question in the room.

Credibility does not collapse all at once. It drains, quietly, one hollow interaction at a time. And by the time you notice the account is empty, the withdrawals have been happening for a long time.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Car Thing display dongles are currently e-waste...
• ... but this new software online lets you revive them
• Created by fan engineers to bring back old tech

It's been several years since Spotify killed off its Car Thing auto dongle, bricking devices which customers owned, and some users have never forgiven the brand for that 'Car Thing is being discontinued' pop-up on their displays. But, even though it's been four years since the brand announced the end of the road for Car Thing, fans have finally found a way to bring it back.

Over the last few months, an engineer has been working on a revival project, and they finally have it — in the form of Mira. This is a software you can download onto your old Car Thing, to bring back its functionality in your vehicle.

You can download the software via Github, and get it working on your Car Thing by connecting it to your phone or computer, but you don't need a permanent install of anything onto your device (other than Spotify, obviously).

Then, you'll be able to keep using your Car Thing to add Spotify playback to your smart system-less car, just as the streaming giant intended when it unveiled the thing.

It's not quite Car Thing...

... but it's close. The designer has shared a list of features available in Mira, and it's pretty extensive. You can use voice commands, see album artwork and lyrics, use gesture controls to navigate, use Car Thing's physical dial and see the transcripts of podcasts.

Apparently there are a few Bluetooth connection bugs in the current version of the software, and Reddit commenters on the announcement post are clearly waiting for Apple Music and YouTube Music support. But Mira's mere existence is great news in making up for Spotify's failings.

Perhaps best of all in this 'pay-for-everything' existence is that Mira is free to download and use, with no rolling subscription fee (so, just whatever you pay for Spotify and your device, obviously).

I didn't have 'Car Thing coming back to life' on my 2026 bingo card, but now that it has, I'm not surprised Spotify had nothing to do with it. The brand has been too busy essentially swerving the AI slop problem (then belatedly backpedaling and trying to contain the issue) to work on any hardware projects. So it makes sense that buyers would have to step in if they wanted to get their Car Things back on the road.

• Microsoft Excel is pulling the COPILOT () function
• Function allowed users to describe tasks in natural language, including as part of a formula
• It never reached public launch, and has now been overtaken by other tools

Microsoft is dropping its COPILOT function in Excel as part of its wide-ranging overhauls to the AI platform.

In a Message Center alert, the company warned users that the tool will be pulled on September 14, 2026.

First announced in August 2025 and originally set for launch in January 2027, the tool has been in testing for over a year with Frontier and Insider users, but Microsoft has apparently decided not to move forward with its service.

Copilot dismissed

At launch, Microsoft had described the COPILOT () function as helping users to describe tasks in natural language, including as part of a formula, before receiving the results created by Copilot, in their cells, without needing to open up a separate Copilot window

It proved an initial hit for tasks such as text summarization, classification, content generation, and looking up information on the Internet.

Some examples of =COPILOT's use cases include summarizing customer feedback, categorizing data, integrating external knowledge and formatting.

In its most simple form, a function might look like "=COPILOT(prompt_part1, [context1])" – though context is optional.

Microsoft did say the function should not be used for numerical calculations, which might have been a major use cases for many - as well as saying users should avoid using it for gathering and finding information already stored inside a workbook or for content subject due to legal and compliance requirements.

So what's next? Microsoft explained that it is removing the COPILOT() function as it believes Excel cam already provide other, more effective ways to access the same AI capabilities.

Users can continue working with Copilot through both the Copilot side panel and the floating Dynamic Action Button (DAB), making a dedicated function slightly redundant.

The move comes as Microsoft makes a number of changes to AI capabilities within Excel as user demands continue to evolve and change.

This includes a new update to Copilot in Excel aimed specifically at finance workers, positioning the spreadsheet software as an AI-powered tool for financial modelling, forecasting and reporting.

Via Neowin

A child actor since she was cast in various commercials as an 11-month-old, Panettiere was best known for her role as the country music star Juliette Barnes in the series "Nashville."

(Image credit: Jon Kopaloff)

One small phone attachment can spot cams, leaks, insulation problems and more. I was amazed when I tried it at my house.

AI conversations have moved past the point of curiosity.

Boards and leadership teams are no longer asking what AI might eventually do.

They are asking where it is actually working, what measurable value it is creating - and why so many promising experiments still fail to become durable operating advantages.

Across industries, companies have invested heavily in AI pilots, proofs of concept and impressive demos.

Yet many remain stuck in what I think of as pilot purgatory: the place where a tool works in a controlled environment but never survives contact with the complexity, exceptions and accountability required in production.

The problem usually isn’t the model

In my experience, AI initiatives rarely fail because the underlying technology is not powerful enough. They fail because of how the technology is applied. A model can be impressive in a sandbox and still be irrelevant to the business if it is not embedded into a real workflow, connected to the right data, governed appropriately and measured against outcomes that matter.

That is why access to AI is no longer a differentiator. Anyone can buy access to models or integrate a third-party tool. The real advantage lies in the things that can’t be bought off the shelf: proprietary data, deep domain expertise, and the discipline to continuously improve AI once it is operating at scale.

For us, those principles come together in our Lean AI approach, rooted in a Lean operating model that drives continuous improvement through testing, learning, and acting. Instead of chasing technology for technology’s sake, our Lean AI approach helps us move AI beyond experimentation and into production, where it can improve service, boost productivity and create real business value.

Production AI requires discipline, not experimentation for its own sake

This is where many organizations get stuck. They treat AI as a portfolio of experiments instead of an operating capability. Organizations that successfully operationalize AI tend to do the opposite.

They prioritize AI opportunities based on business value and points of operational friction, identifying manual, repetitive and high-volume work. Then, they build and deploy agents where automation can improve speed, accuracy, scalability or service quality across the entire customer workflow.

There is no hobby AI in this model. Every deployment needs a clear business case, a workflow owner, measurement, feedback loops, and a plan to scale. That discipline is especially important with agentic AI, because agents operate with more autonomy than traditional software.

Progress is not always linear. Systems improve, encounter new edge cases, retrench and improve again. Human oversight isn’t a temporary bridge either; it is part of the architecture.

The application layer is where the moat gets built

The AI ecosystem is often described in layers, from the underlying IT infrastructure and large language models to the applications built on top of them. Those foundational layers are essential, but they are not where most enterprises will build durable, competitive moats.

The real advantage comes at the application layer—where AI is integrated into workflows, systems, exceptions, data and human judgment that define how a business actually runs. If an enterprise does not own or deeply control that layer, it risks turning AI into another generic capability rather than a competitive advantage.

Take supply chain logistics as one example. Moving a single shipment isn’t a linear task. It may require coordinating moves by truck and ship and rail, customs documentation in multiple countries, handoffs at multiple facilities, and weather and market conditions that change by the hour. A generic AI tool does not understand that workflow out of the box.

Context is the hard part

Every industry has its own data and context that powers it. In supply chains, that context lives in historical pricing patterns, warehouse operations, customer-specific policies, shipment characteristics, driver performance, market cycles and the judgment of people who have solved messy freight problems for years.

That context cannot simply be purchased. It has to be collected, structured, governed and applied. AI becomes more effective when it’s built into your technology platform and can learn from those realities rather than relying on generic information alone. Just as important, employees add institutional knowledge through continuous feedback, teaching AI agents the same way they would train a new operations employee.

Take something as seemingly straightforward as scheduling a truck to pick up freight. On the surface, it sounds like a narrow task. In practice, it requires understanding customer requirements, freight characteristics, facility policies, loading dock constraints, appointment systems and exceptions that may vary by location. An AI agent can only automate that work reliably if it has been engineered with the right context and oversight.

The companies that get the most from AI will be the ones that move beyond pilots and treat it as an operating model. That means starting with real business problems, owning the application layer where differentiation happens, feeding agents with proprietary context, keeping humans in the loop and measuring outcomes relentlessly.

AI will not reward the companies with the most demos. It will reward those that can operationalize learning faster than their competitors.

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The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

AI spend made headlines again recently with the Claude Fable 5 model from Anthropic. Before security concerns led to the model being suspended, there were also cost concerns. Anthropic says Fable costs $10 or approximately €9 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. This is double the price of the company’s previously most expensive model, Claude Opus 4.8.

Posts soon began to pop up on LinkedIn, showing just how quickly teams were going through their tokens and, as a result, their budget. There are some caveats here. Namely, that Fable 5 is an advanced model and, for most businesses, won’t need to run non-stop or be used for every task.

But therein lies a key issue: AI use is accelerating and models are evolving. But the level of control and visibility businesses have over how much is being spent, by who and for what is lagging behind.

How AI consumption became a finance problem

There is a massive shift within the UK software market toward AI and specifically Anthropic’s ecosystem. Proprietary data from Pleo looking at the top tech merchants based on number of spending customers, shows that Anthropic (Claude) surged from 12th place in Q4 2025 to 7th in Q1 2026. Meanwhile, the average spend per customer increased +43.0% in this time.

This rapid climb signals that Anthropic has reached enterprise maturity in the UK market with businesses moving beyond the experimentation phase. But while this reflects growing confidence in AI adoption, it also presents some financial challenges.

On the whole, AI has redefined how the workplace runs, but it is not a free trial. The cost of tokens has gone up, and new models that can achieve what was seemingly unthinkable a few years ago come with a price tag to match. The new challenge for business leaders is to leverage these technologies but also limit rampant spending.

This is why many organizations are turning to their finance teams. Finance has the visibility to dig into the details and map AI use across the organization, whether it quietly shows up as a subscription renewal or a new budget request. But more than that, they can be instrumental in ensuring teams embrace open conversations, not just OpenAI.

AI activity does not translate to AI value

Just about every organization will have developed transformational ways of using AI tools. But, whether they know it or not, there will be wasteful ones too.

When it comes to inefficient use, some of the major culprits include asking AI agents open-ended questions, model mismatch where tokens are burned unnecessarily; and duplicate tools, resulting from shadow AI and overlapping subscriptions. These prevent businesses from seeing the full picture; one that is, in all probability, very expensive.

User literacy can improve this. But for finance teams they must start with the grey area of AI consumption. Two teams might show as active AI users, but one that’s using an LLM to produce more content faster is doing something fundamentally different to one that’s using it for peripheral productivity tasks. In fact, only 29% of European SMEs using Gen AI are doing so in core business activities.

To improve the control they have over AI, organizations must start by elevating their visibility from who is using AI, to who is using it to become smarter, faster and more productive.

How to regain control over AI use

A complete view of AI spend is essential, regardless of whether costs are rising.

Breaking spend down by department, team and budget helps identify both disproportionate usage and areas where adoption may be lagging. These should be combined with performance metrics such as the time-to-first-draft on marketing content; code review cycle times in engineering; support ticket resolution time in customer support; and so on.

This combination of spend and performance can reveal whether AI investment is translating into measurable productivity gains and not just higher software costs.

Visibility should also extend to model-level usage. As mentioned before, the cost difference between frontier reasoning models and lighter alternatives can be tenfold. Monitoring model and vendor usage alongside token consumption helps organizations route routine tasks to lower-cost options, maximize ROI and reduce unnecessary spend.

Finance teams should therefore expand reporting and budgeting frameworks to include AI-specific metrics. A key question at month-end is whether AI-enabled teams are increasing output and capacity without increasing headcount. This provides a clear headline for AI's impact, can justify investment and distinguish between high-value and low-value AI usage.

Ultimately, effective control over AI is not about costs alone. It is about understanding where AI is creating value and ensuring investment is aligned with business outcomes.

AI control is at your fingertips

The good news is that none of these metrics require a sophisticated AI analytics stack. Finance teams should already have the tools for real-time visibility into what’s being spent and where. All that’s needed now is to fold AI into the mix and collaborate with other departments to measure and improve its ROI.

The outcome is that organizations control AI use through oversight, without restricting spend, adoption or innovation through lengthy procurement processes. Spend policies, category controls and clear approval thresholds control what is spent, and everything is measured.

But crucially, teams don’t slow down as a result. The only difference is that AI is optimized for impact.

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