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Forget the Switch 2 and PS5, the Nex Playground is the surprise game console hit of my household — here's why the best time to buy it is RIGHT NOW

TechRadar News - 4 hours 33 min ago

I'm a PC gamer at heart, but this past weekend I've been playing a lot of console games with my daughter — but not on a console you might expect.

Despite being tempted to buy a PS5 now that its first party games are no longer coming to PC, and knowing how kid-friendly the Nintendo Switch 2 is, neither of those consoles are what captured the attention of me and my daughter; instead it was the humble Nex Playground, a cute cube-like console that eschews traditional controllers for tracking your body.

The reason for my surprise is that I wasn't entirely sold on the idea. Microsoft's attempt at something similar with its Kinect camera was a disappointment, and I'd never heard about the Nex Playground before last year, when it made headlines after outselling the Xbox.

The console itself is compact and very cute-looking, with a built-in camera (and privacy lid). Setting it up was easy, and it was clever enough to not need a lot of calibration (which has often killed my interest in VR headsets). It also adapted well to me placing it on a shelf within my TV stand, rather than directly beneath the TV.

Bundle of joy

The Nex Playground comes with five games, so you can start playing right away, including Fruit Ninja and Whack A Mole Deluxe, which my daughter loved to watch me play.

While those five games are a good taster for what the Nex Playground can do, you'll likely soon be looking at other things to play. Unlike other consoles, the Nex Playground doesn't let you buy individual games — instead, there's the Play Pass subscription, which gives you access to a large and growing list of titles (over 50 at the time of writing). While I prefer buying games individually, rather than relying on a subscription, this does give you a good way to quickly try and play a large variety.

Gabby's Doll House A-Meaow-zing-Moves, and Care Bears Rainbow Ride caught my daughter's eye first, as they are based on TV shows she loves, and other big names such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bluey, and How to Train Your Dragon have Nex Playground games too. The quality varies — some are new, bespoke apps made especially for the console, while others feel like glorified phone games. Care Bears Rainbow Ride, for example, felt rather janky, and I doubt we'll be playing that again.

Bowling Strike! was a hit, however, and reminded me of the glory years of the Nintendo Wii. My daughter also loved getting me to dance (badly) with Barbie Dance Party.

The biggest hit, however, was Mirrorama, which isn't a game per se, but applies some fun filters to the footage the Nex Playground captures of you. My daughter was really taken with this, and I had a lot of fun as well. We've still got a lot of games to try out, but so far, I've been impressed with how well it all works (and my daughter has had a lot of fun).

As a parent, it also feels safe — there are no online games (though you do need an internet connection to download them initially); no in-game purchases, lootboxes or adverts; and the games themselves are all appropriate for kids. All motion-tracking is done on device, and it's kidSAFE+ COPPA compliant as well.

It's great how active it is as well, as you really need to throw your entire body into a lot of the games (though at the moment it's mostly me that's working up a sweat thanks to Barbie Dance Party).

Now is a particularly good time to get the Nex Playground, as Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart have given the console a large 20% discount, now $239, down from $299.

If you have an Amazon Prime account and are already shopping around for Prime Day deals, you can also get an exclusive three-in-one bundle deal which includes the Nex Playground, Travel Case, and a 12-month Play Pass subscription for $330 (down from $412).

Today's best Nex Playground deals

Last year the Nex Playground console outsold the Xbox during Black Friday, and having now played it, I can see why — this cute little box uses its built-in camera to track movements rather than a standard gamepad, leading to fun and frantic gaming sessions for the whole family. With a 20% discount, it's now better value than ever.View Deal

Amazon also has an exclusive deal that cuts over $80 off the price of the Complete Family Gaming Bundle, which includes the console, travel case (great if the kids want to take the console to their friends' houses) and a 12-month subscription to Play Pass, giving you access to over 60 games.View Deal

While I found playing with the Nex Playground fun (if exhausting), the real joy for me was seeing how much fun my daughter was having with it. It certainly feels healthier and safer than her playing on a tablet or smartphone.

So, it's great timing that I've been raving about it to fellow parents just as it gets some major price cuts for Prime Day.

If you're based in the UK, the Nex Playground is now available for £269.99, having just released on June 22.

More Amazon Prime Day deals in the US
Categories: Technology

'Act now': Five Eyes warns that AI models specialized for cyber attacks are only months away

TechRadar News - 4 hours 39 min ago
  • Five Eyes alliance warned frontier GenAI models will enable advanced cyberattacks against businesses and governments within months
  • Statement stressed cyber risk is now a leadership and business continuity issue, requiring whole‑of‑society response
  • Comes amid concerns over Anthropic’s Mythos Preview and other models already showing offensive potential despite guardrails

In just a few months, high-end Generative Artificial Intelligence models (GenAI) will be capable of running cyberattacks on big businesses and government organizations, Five Eyes is warning.

The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance between the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Formed after the Second World War, it allows the five countries to closely cooperate on intelligence and matters of national security.

Earlier this week, Five Eyes issued a new warning, saying that AI will help improve cyber defense over time, but will also accelerate the speed, scale, and sophistication, of threats: “Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months,” the warning reads. “In this environment, cyber resilience is integral to advancing business continuity, market confidence, and long-term value.”

All hands on deck

Five Eyes is now saying that the industry needs all hands on deck to address what’s increasingly becoming a burning issue:

“A whole-of-organisation and whole-of-society response is required,” it said. “Cyber risk can no longer be treated as a purely technical issue. This is a core business risk and leadership responsibility.”

In early April, news broke that Anthropic’s latest AI model, Mythos Preview, was so good at exploiting software vulnerabilities, that the company could not release it to the public. Instead, it only shared it with a handful of US enterprises, to give them a head start against threat actors.

While skeptics said it was nothing more than a publicity stunt, similar to what OpenAI pulled off with ChatGPT 2.0, companies that used it (for example, Mozilla), confirmed that it was, indeed, powerful enough that it needs to be kept in check.

Even models available today, despite all the guardrails, are being regularly leveraged by bad actors in different cyberattack scenarios.

Via The Guardian

Categories: Technology

My Ninja Creami is in overdrive this week — but this alternative ice cream maker on sale for Prime Day might just replace it

TechRadar News - 4 hours 46 min ago

At least for us here in the UK, this year's Amazon Prime Day sale is coinciding with one of the hottest heatwaves on record, meaning an ice cream maker goes from a nice-to-have to an essential snack distribution system.

Thankfully, in my household, my trusty Ninja Creami is here to rescue me from overheating, and it's a mainstay on my countertop even outside of extreme weather warnings.

Right now, the Ninja Creami is on sale for $169 (was $219) at Amazon US, while over in the UK it's £199 (was £249) at Amazon. Neither deal is a record low for Ninja's once-viral ice cream machine (those are $129 and £149, respectively) but nonetheless represent decent $/£50 savings.

What I'm more interested in this year, however, are some of the alternatives that are more attractively designed and cheaper, to boot.

US Prime Day deals — ice cream makers

My holy grail, the Ninja Creami is still popular for a reason, and that's not just because it works well. It comes with detailed instructions, tips and tricks, offers seven different modes and includes a dishwasher-safe 16 oz mixing cup.View Deal

On the more aesthetically pleasing end of the spectrum, Black+Decker's dupe has seen a great 40% discount for Prime Day, bringing the price down to less than the Ninja Creami. It's functionally the same as the Ninja Creami and judging by the positive Amazon customer reviews, pretty performant, too. View Deal

UK Prime Day deals — ice cream makers

Ninja's Creami ice cream maker is a household favorite ice cream maker, having pretty much revolutionised the scene when it hit the market a few years ago. This isn't the best price we've seen, but it's a sizeable £50 saving nonetheless. View Deal

If you think this model looks pretty similar to the Black+Decker model above, you'd be exactly right; both brands operate under the same parent company. That means you get the same seven auto functions, the same dishwasher-safe tubs, and the same super cute design. It's not on sale in the UK right now, but it's still cheaper than the Ninja Creami above.View Deal

More Prime Day deals in the US More Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

The Amazfit Active 2 smartwatch is under $110 / £105, got five stars in our review, and is the perfect buy if you're not a fan of the new Fitbit app

TechRadar News - 4 hours 52 min ago

The Amazfit Active 2 got a whopping five stars in our review, because a watch this good simply shouldn't be this cheap. Now the Amazfit Active 2 Premium, which boasts a sapphire-glass screen and NFC payments in addition to the base Active 2's suite of health features, has received an Amazon Prime Day price cut in the US and the UK, and it's the perfect price point for anyone who's looking for a cheaper fitness tracker, and who's dissatisfied with the changes to the former Fitbit app as a result of its rebranding as Google Health.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Right now, you can get the Amazfit Active 2 Premium at Amazon US for $108.99 (was $129.99). In the UK, you can get the Amazfit Active 2 Premium at Amazon UK for £104.49 (was £129.99). Check out the deals in full below:

Today's best Amazfit Active 2 Prime Day deals

You can save $20 on the price of this already cheap watch, making it an absolute steal. As well as reliable fitness tracking, a nice screen, stainless steel case and 10-day battery life and free map software (not even Garmin will give you that at this price), you get the Premium super-tough sapphire glass, NFC payments and a nicer strap.View Deal

In the UK there's a 20% discount on the Premium version. Amazfit's health and fitness suite includes free maps, heart rate, sleep data, workout profiles, GPS and lots more, and NFC allows you to load your cards into its digital wallet. At this price is really is a steal. View Deal

As we previously reported, many people aren't happy with the changes that have been made to the Fitbit app as part of its rebranding to Google Health, and are looking for alternatives — but most of the best-known alternative device ecosystems such as Garmin, Apple and Samsung are prohibitively expensive.

Not so with the Amazfit Active 2 Premium, which gives you a lot of great smartwatch features for comparatively little money. Those looking to move away from smartwatches like the Fitbit Sense or Versa ranges, or trackers like the Charge 6, will find the Active 2 Premium is now attractively priced, and offers a lot of great features.

The other recommendation I'm making this week is the Garmin Vivoactive 5, another smartwatch that, thanks to Amazon Prime Day discounts, is not excellent value. You can check out the best deals on this watch below.

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is a fantastic all-rounder fitness smartwatch with tons of workout plans, a crisp AMOLED display, onboard GPS, and 11 days of battery life. At this price, you'll be hard pressed to find a better-performing watch for general fitness, health, and exercise tracking.View Deal

A lowest-ever price on the Garmin Vivoactive 5 means there's never been a better time to snap this up. Garmin's comprehensive and (still mostly free) app has served me well for years, while the Vivoactive 5 at this price is an easy buy for Fitbit users who are used to cheaper devices. View Deal

More Prime Day deals in the US More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

I can’t bear to go outside in this heat, so I’ll be playing these board games instead while hugging my nearest fan

TechRadar News - 4 hours 55 min ago

Hot summer weather is perfect for a BBQ, getting a rare UK tan, or heading to the beach, but when it’s a heatwave I know I want to do nothing more than sit in front of a fan to avoid overheating.

If you’re also stuck inside with your family can I suggest a board game?

No matter the weather games can be a great way to spend your evenings together, and thanks to Amazon Prime Day deals, you can save big on some of my favourites, including all-star Catan.

• View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Prime Day sale – quick linksThe best beat the heat board games

Asmodee Catan (6th Edition)

Big Potato Games Herd Mentality

Stonemaier Games Wingspan

Exploding Kittens Original Game

Big Potato Games Sounds Fishy

Asmodee The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth

Bananagrams

Z-Man Games Pandemic

Asmodee 7 Wonders

More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

Which is the best Amazon Echo Show? A simple guide to Amazon's smart home display range

TechRadar News - 4 hours 56 min ago

Amazon's Echo Show displays act as a hub from which you can control your smart home. There are several different options, and the best one for you will depend on your needs and priorities. Below, I'll run through the top options for a range of different customers.

As you'll see below, most of the range is currently discounted. That's because Amazon's latest Prime Day event is underway, and runs until June 26 — based on previous events, these deals should last until then, but won't continue on past Friday. You do need to be a Prime member to qualify for the discounts, but you can you're not a member you can sign up for a free trial (just don't forget to cancel if you decide it's not for you).

• Shop Amazon's full US Prime Day sale / UK Prime Day sale

All clear? Let's take a look at the best Echo Show hubs for a range of different people, or hop to the bottom of the article for a specs comparison table.

I want the Echo Show with the biggest and best screen

All the Echo Show devices have a touchscreen to display information, and via which you can monitor and control your smart home gadgets when you're not using voice controls. The option with the largest screen is the Show 21 — its screen is 21 inches, and full HD. The Show 15 and Show 11 also both have full HD screens, at 15 and 11 inches respectively.

Amazon Echo Show 21 (newest gen)

Amazon Echo Show 21 (newest Gen)

Amazon Echo Show 15 (newest gen)

Amazon Echo Show 15 (newest gen)

I want the cheapest Echo Show

The cheapest option is the Echo Show 5, which at list price costs $89.99 / £89.99. However, with the current discounts there's a third or more off in both the US and UK, taking it down to $59.99 / £49.99. As you'd expect, this model is the simplest of the bunch. The screen is 5.5 inches (the smallest in the range), with a standard rather than HD display, the camera is just 2MP, and there's one basic speaker. If you just need something simple, though, it should hit the spot — and especially if you'd rather keep things compact, as this is the smallest display in the range.

However, if you want something a bit more advanced, now would be the time to shop higher up the range — hop down to my best-value picks below.

 Amazon Echo Show 5 (newest gen)

Amazon Echo Show 5 (newest gen)

I want the best-value Echo Show

Right now, the best-value Echo Show devices are the Show 8 and Show 11. These sit in the middle of the range, and offer a worthwhile specs bump over the basic Show 5. The 8 has a HD screen and the 11 has full HD, on the speaker front both boast two full-range drivers and a 2.8-inch woofer, and both have a 13MP camera with auto-framing to keep you in the frame during video calls.

Amazon Echo Show 8 (newest gen)

Amazon Echo Show 8 (newest Gen)

Amazon Echo Show 11 (newest gen)

Amazon Echo Show 11 (newest Gen)

Amazon Echo Show specs compared
Categories: Technology

This console outsold the Nintendo Switch 2 over Black Friday, but is it actually worth it?

TechRadar News - 4 hours 56 min ago

If you're shopping for a family-friendly game console this Amazon Prime Day, then there are two major products that should be on your radar: the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Nex Playground.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Both products are suitable for families, though the Nintendo Switch 2 is more of a traditional games console. It is compatible with Nintendo Switch 2 (or original Nintendo Switch) games that range from those geared primarily towards kids with franchises like Super Mario or Mario Kart to ones intended for adults such as Doom. These need to be purchased separately.

The Switch 2 also offers online chat features and multiplayer play - though these can be restricted via parental controls. Personally, it's the one I would pick if I were shopping for a child in their teens.

The Playground, in contrast, is aimed primarily at kids aged five to ten. It comes with a selection of kid-friendly games out of the box, with the option to get more via a relatively affordable subscription service. While the Switch 2 relies on more conventional controllers, the Playground uses easy-to-learn motion controls, making it a better choice for those with younger gamers.

How to choose the best family game console for you in the US

The better for those shopping for teens, the Nintendo Switch 2 is a fully fledged, powerful gaming console that's compatible with a wide range of games. It offers online chat features and multiplayer play, as well as the ability to play games at home on the TV or out and about using its built-in screen.View Deal

Ideal for younger gamers, the Nex Playground comes with games out of the box and relies on intuitive motion controls. It's a locked-down system designed specifically with young children in mind.View Deal

How to choose the best family game console for you in the UK

The Nintendo Switch 2 is discounted right now in the UK, though it still costs more than the Playground. It is more powerful and offers a more traditional gaming console experience with a wider variety of games. View Deal

The Nex Playground is cheaper and comes pre-loaded with a selection of games geared towards younger players. It's the perfect choice if you're shopping for those aged five to ten/View Deal

The Nex Playground made headlines when it outsold the Nintendo Switch 2 and other consoles on Amazon in the US briefly over Black Friday last year. Having gone hands-on with the system, it's easy to see why.

It's basically the perfect option for young kids, with features designed to offer parents the most peace of mind possible.

Our Nex Playground review said that "Though it won’t replace mainstream gaming consoles or PCs, the Nex Playground is a strong option for anyone who wants an affordable, easy-to-set-up experience built around games that take great advantage of its high-quality ultra-wide camera and Nex’s AI-powered motion engine.

"Its game library is varied and approachable, with quick-play sessions that feel simple to pick up yet surprisingly intuitive"

More Prime Day deals in the USMore Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

Agentic AI's crossroads: guardrails or massive fails

TechRadar News - 4 hours 57 min ago

Enterprises are deploying agentic AI at a pace that has outrun their ability to govern it.

Gartner predicts the average Fortune 500 enterprise will have over 150,000 agents in production by 2028, up from fewer than 15 in 2025.

Yet only 13% of organizations think they have the right governance in place to manage them.

The result is an execution gap: agents deployed in isolation, producing outputs nobody acts on, automating tasks rather than business processes and delivering unclear business value as a consequence.

Governance failures are an execution problem. Agents that can't interface safely with enterprise systems can't automate business processes in any meaningful way. They stay isolated helpers: producing artifacts, fielding customer queries, handling individual tasks.

The execution gap — the distance between what agentic AI promises and what it actually delivers inside the enterprise — remains largely unaddressed.

In 2026 and beyond, the guardrail problem poses an existential risk for enterprises. Adoption has outpaced controls, meaning that agentic AI is scaling faster than robust security measures can be implemented.

The speed of tech progress

The speed of tech progress can no longer stand as a rationalization for falling behind, and enterprises must address it before agentic becomes uncontrollable. Getting guardrails right will separate enterprises that realize full autonomy from those that stall out in pilots.

First, autonomy amplifies risk. Just because agentic AI can act on its own doesn't mean it requires zero human oversight. Autonomy does not equal autopilot. For agentic AI to generate real ROI, agents must do more than reason and respond. They must execute inside the business. That means interfacing directly with enterprise systems: ERP software, finance platforms, supply chain tools and the workflows that run the organization. Without that integration, agents remain one step removed from the work that actually matters.

Operational speed can compromise safety, compliance and reliability. Agents work at a blazing clip and on a more granular level than RPA. But speed becomes a moot point if agentic adoption leads to vulnerabilities such as sensitive data exposure.

Security and IT teams haven’t universally adapted to the new risk landscape. Among the risks agentic poses, "shadow AI" has emerged as a consequence of employees using unauthorized, unsanctioned AI tools or applications. When proper IT oversight or approval gets bypassed, it sets the stage for noncompliance and severe reputational damage. Departmental AI agents are proliferating without central oversight, creating security hazards and fragmented intelligence.

Governance lags far behind adoption. In this case, the guardrail gap might as well be a lack. Surveying more than 3,000 IT and business leaders worldwide, Deloitte found that just one in five enterprises reported mature governance to manage the risks of agentic AI. Autonomy without governance is a liability. This is particularly critical as we move toward the era of programmable finance, with Gartner predicting that 20% of monetary transactions will be programmable by 2030.

How to Lay the Rails Right

Agentic systems perform across a wide range of functions. When building guardrails, there must be no shortcuts. Guardrails bolted on after the fact can't account for the ways agents actually fail: corrupting data, contradicting decisions made elsewhere in the business and creating conflicts between teams acting on different outputs. Controls need to be built into how agents execute, instead of layered on top.

1. Practice measured orchestration

When enterprises accelerate AI adoption by stitching isolated tools across departments, security gaps grow harder to manage — because there’s no unified layer to anchor guardrails to. Start by scoping the broader business objective your agentic system needs to serve, not just the task.

Once you've determined what your agentic system will handle and which structured outputs will return to the workflow, built-in validation and guardrails become platform-level capabilities rather than afterthoughts bolted onto each individual agent.

2. Build governance capabilities

Without clear boundaries, agentic AI collapses. First, determine which decisions it can make independently versus those that need human approval. Real-time monitoring systems that flag anomalies and audit trails that capture the full chain of agent actions will enable accountability and continuous improvement.

3. Scale deliberately

No matter how sexy the pilot, agentic AI needs time to mature within the enterprise; you want to spot potential issues before they appear, not after. Start with lower-risk use cases and easy, single-task wins, as with fraud detection and remediation or vendor reconciliation. Avoid intricate processes with hundreds or thousands of inputs, such as the financial close of a business.

4. Guardrail gap = skills gap

While agentic AI excels at reasoning, the execution of reliable, repeatable business processes still demands deterministic systems — and human oversight to bridge the two.

To ensure smooth agentic operation in an enterprise, train your employees to move from triage, menial activities and repeated manual steps to judgment, governance and strategic decision-making roles. They absolutely require those skills. Scrum and Tiger teams can solve early problems and address early lessons, then pinpoint how agentic addresses your needs.

Putting it All Together: A Guiding Guardrail Principle

Yes, agentic AI scales productivity, but without strong guardrails, agentic AI scales risk even faster. Strategic observability and deterministic guardrails are required to ensure that non-deterministic AI stays compliant with regulatory and business standards, with reliable audit trails as well as rules for exactly when to escalate a decision or task to a human for complex exceptions or strategic oversight.

In the rush to embrace agentic, remember that the attendant tasks don’t represent a series of punch-list items. Veterans of software adoption and replacement projects know that it’s a holistic process where human actions and digital components fall into place with methodical synchrony.

Agentic AI, while it has altered the face of enterprise technology forever, rewards the same discipline every transformative technology before it has: lay the foundations carefully, and you won’t be fighting fires when it scales.

We list the best IT automation software.

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

Categories: Technology

Almost half of UK retail workers unsure of how to handle data in line with GDPR

TechRadar News - 4 hours 58 min ago
  • Around half of UK retail workers don't feel confident with GDPR tasks
  • One in five haven't received formal compliance training
  • Many workers can't remember what their training involved

Nearly half (44%) of UK retail workers say they're not confident in handling sensitive customer data or don't know how to process it correctly, raising potential compliance issues, per Virtual College research.

According to the data, nearly one-fifth (19%) of retail workers have never received formal compliance training despite handling customer banking details, contact information and other personal data daily.

And those who have been trained say it's been sporadic without regular updates – only one in three (30%) have been trained within the last six months, with a further 11% trained 7-11 months ago.

Retail workers aren't up to speed on GDPR

The report raises questions around the frequency and effectiveness of such training, because nearly one in five (17%) couldn't remember what their last compliance training covered. Only 13% say it covered safeguarding.

And while training is still being delivered to many, only around half (49%) say they'd feel 'somewhat confident' in responding correctly to a compliance situation.

This data also comes at a similar time to Government data revealing that more than two in five (43%) businesses have experienced some kind of cyber breach or attack in the past 12 months, highlighting the vulnerability of personal and sensitive information.

"Ongoing, bite-sized training keeps compliance knowledge fresh and helps employees stay confident in fast-changing regulatory environments," Business and Strategy Director Jamie Ashforth wrote, urging employers to conduct regular audits to identify gaps.

Per the report, UK companies paid £490 million in compliance failure fines in 2025, but broader impacts of regulatory investigations and knock-on reputational damage are also highly plausible outcomes.

Ashforth suggests businesses should prioritize high-risk compliance areas first, including data protection and safeguarding. "Clear processes and regular reinforcement give employees the confidence to raise concerns and act appropriately when issues arise."

Categories: Technology

I slept under a blanket of cool air last night thanks to this clever adjustable tower fan — and there's a huge £76 off for Prime Day

TechRadar News - 5 hours 18 sec ago

I'm feeling fresh and just a little bit smug today, because I spent last night sound asleep under a cool blanket of air provided by the Dimplex FlexBlade Tower Fan, which is now £123 (was £199.99) at Amazon. You can use it vertically to blow a column of air in your direction while you're working or cooking, but it really comes into its own turned horizontally, when it's just the right height to blow a breeze right across your duvet and help you beat the heat.

• See all Prime Day deals at Amazon

The FlexBlade looks a lot like the Shark TurboBlade, which is perhaps a bit cheeky of Dimplex, but it's half the price for Amazon Prime Day and very effective. If you struggle to get a proper night's rest in hot weather, I recommend giving it a try — and it's not too heavy to carry between rooms during the day. Oh, and it oscillates horizontally as well.

This Dimplex fan is a dead ringer for the Shark TurboBlade (but much cheaper) and creates a horizontal or vertical sheet of air to keep you comfortable. It works best at night, blowing a cool blanket over your bed.View Deal

It's not the quietest fan I've ever used (that would be the MeacoFan Sefte Pro Air Circulator, which is almost silent), but the Dimplex FlexBlade has a night mode that noticeably reduces noise while still producing a very effective sheet of air to beat the heat.

Looking for a different way to keep cool? Check out all Amazon's Prime Day deals on fans here, or scroll down for my pick of the best.

More cooling fan deals

This pocket-sized fan will keep you cool and comfortable anywhere this week, and this bundle with a carry case and cross-body strap is now cheaper than buying the fan by itself thanks to this great Prime Day deal.View Deal

At under £30, this little desk fan is a great buy on Prime Day — and I'd know because it's currently sitting on my desk at home. It folds flat, is rechargeable so you can take it anywhere, and packs a surprisingly powerful punch. View Deal

There's a 25% discount on this simple, quiet tower fan for Prime Day. Like the FlexBlade, it has a timer so you can set it to turn off automatically once you're asleep, and a remote control so you can operate it from bed.View Deal

Govee is best known for its smart lights, but it also makes some great cooling fans. Our reviewer gave the shorter 36-inch version of this fan four and a half stars out of five thanks to its smart looks, performance, and versatility.View Deal

More Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

Cloudzy review 2026

TechRadar News - 5 hours 8 min ago

Cloudzy isn’t your run-of-the-mill web hosting provider. It specializes in cloud infrastructure and fairly bare-bones Virtual Private Server (VPS) plans. That means you get reasonably priced access to excellent hardware and resources, provided you have the technical skills to handle them.

The good news is that many things can be pre-configured, and you have a broad choice of options in everything from the choice of operating system (OS) to web apps. We’re not just talking about WordPress, but also advanced options like Forex platforms.

You also have an excellent range of server location options, though perhaps not as comprehensive as Google Cloud or AWS, which are on a different pricing tier altogether. What we didn’t like, though, was the discounts Cloudzy offers based on your location choice, which we felt was a bit unfair to customers who might require specific regions for efficiency and localization.

Be warned, though - Cloudzy is not really aimed at casual users building their first website. While you can technically host anything here, the core audience appears to be users who need virtual servers for web apps, trading bots, VPN setups, and the like.

Plans and pricing

(Image credit: Cloudzy)

Cloudzy primarily focuses on VPS hosting rather than traditional shared hosting packages. At the bottom of its offerings are Cloud VPS plans similar to those offered by hosts like DigitalOcean, Linode, and VULTR.

(Image credit: Cloudzy)

At Cloudzy, though, you get a broader range of pre-deployment options. For example, you can decide to go with a pure OS-only deployment, or get your server started with a full LAMP-stack supported web app, or almost anything else.

Cloud VPS plans start at 1 vCPU with 512MB RAM, 20GB of NVMe storage, and 1TB bandwidth/mo. This scales up to a whopping 16 vCPU, 64GB RAM, 1.5TB NVMe storage, and 16TB of bandwidth for $199.97/mo.

While there is no additional charge for pre-deployment options, your final price may be adjusted depending on server location. It’s likely that Cloudzy does this to help balance their location loads, but it’s unfortunate for customers who may be penalized because of their requirements for where their servers are located.

Aside from Cloud VPS, Cloudzy also offers more specialized solutions like high-performance GPUs, GPU-optimized servers, AI servers, and dedicated servers. Again, all of these options are fairly technical, especially their dedicated bare-metal servers.

Ease of use

(Image credit: Cloudzy)

The Cloudzy dashboard is a straightforward way to manage your servers. However, it’s more practical than informational. You can use it to deploy, rebuild, or configure instances. Server monitoring isn’t in the cards, though, and you’ll have to deploy any of those solutions on your individual servers if you need them.

When we initially discussed the pre-deployment option, it might have been misconstrued as saying Cloudzy is easy to use. That isn’t really the case. Once the deployment is made, you’ll still have to manage the stack on your own. For example, you have to keep your server OS and applications up to date and security-hardened, not just manage your web app.

This is typically done via SSH into the server (root access is provided). If you know what you’re doing, it’s easy-peasy. If not, you’re probably going to face an oncoming disaster.

Again, we don’t recommend Cloudzy as a first hosting provider for someone completely unfamiliar with VPS environments. If you’re looking for a first entry to the Cloud, try something with more management features like Cloudways. That, however, will cost a bit more, so be mentally prepared.

Speed and reliability

Cloud providers are always thought to be all-powerful, but keep in mind that much of it still depends on the hardware and configuration. For example, on the surface, Cloudzy offers some pretty good standard cloud VPS plans. However, the processing power on these compared to their high-performance options is very different. For example, the 2GB standard cloud VPS plan we tested includes a 2.25GHz AMD processor, while a comparable high-performance plan includes 4.2GHz processors.

The biggest surprise, though, is that Cloudzy is using AMD Ryzen 9 processors for their Cloud VPS plans. Servers typically run AMD EPYC chips, which are the dedicated server versions commonly used in web hosting. The Ryzen family is intended more for regular consumers or enthusiasts.

It’s possible that this led to the slightly disappointing test results below.

WordPress benchmark test

The standard WordPress benchmark test was run on our prebuilt WordPress site to maintain consistency. Results at Cloudzy were a letdown, with initial results showing worse performance than some budget shared hosting alternatives we’ve seen.

Siege test

On our load test, Cloudzy performed like a champ, acing results with increasing loads of 5, 9, and 15 concurrent users. It ran rock-solid and completed all transactions quickly. If we were to use this as a comparative factor against the easier benchmark test, Siege results should take priority as a more realistic indicator.

Customer support

Cloudzy offers customer support via tickets (for existing customers), a knowledge base, and, more interestingly, WhatsApp. Don’t be fooled by the WhatsApp chat support option, though. You don’t get an instant response.

Their knowledge base is also quite Spartan, with only 73 guides available. These articles are very straightforward and relatively technical, so you may have to know what you’re doing just to follow the language. It can be a challenge, but those are the preconditions for this type of hosting anyway.

Overall, the vibe you get from customer support is very corporate. We felt a notable disappointment here, especially coming off our recent Freehostia review. That was a free hosting plan, yet it came with near-instant customer support that was both polite and effective.

The competition

DigitalOcean is one of the most popular cloud infrastructure providers for developers and startups, and is similar in product offerings to Cloudzy. Compared to Cloudzy, DigitalOcean has a more mature ecosystem and a more professional customer dashboard. However, Cloudzy may appeal more to users looking for simpler pricing and lower-cost VPS deployments.

Linode has built a strong reputation among developers for reliability and straightforward cloud hosting services. Compared to Cloudzy, Linode offers more enterprise-level polish and documentation, though pricing can sometimes be higher for equivalent resources.

For those who want a fully hands-off approach, Hostinger is a beginner-friendly choice. Although primarily cheap for shared hosting, you can also get VPS hosting and other plans. Hosting is priced aggressively and offers strong localization expertise for ideal customer support.

Final verdict

To be honest, Cloudzy is a fairly run-of-the-mill cloud hosting provider. We don’t feel that it excels in any particular area, even though the host itself seems professional enough. What really turned us off was their slow customer support, even for sales queries.

Performance-wise, Cloudzy runs fine, even with Ryzen chips instead of enterprise-grade EPYC chips. It’s just that the choice left us feeling disappointed that they would cut corners in that way. We recommend considering one of the many cloud alternatives if you’re in the market for a budget, hands-on hosting plan.

Categories: Technology

'The fastest write speeds I’ve ever tested': Samsung’s 9100 Pro SSD is nearly 50% off for Prime Day

TechRadar News - 5 hours 12 min ago

Samsung’s PCIe Gen 5 flagship SSD has dropped to its best price since launch, with the Samsung 9100 Pro 2TB SSD down to $350 (was $680) at Amazon right now. For UK readers, the 9100 Pro 2TB drops to £304 (was £529) for Prime Day, too.

This is Samsung’s fastest consumer drive ever, and in our review, we said "it definitely delivers fantastic performance with the fastest write speeds I've ever tested." If you’re building or upgrading a system and want the best storage performance available right now without compromise, this is the drive.

The 9100 Pro capably offers best-in-class sequential read and write performance and impressive random read/write speeds. For anyone upgrading from a PCIe Gen 4 drive, the difference in large-file transfers and sustained read workloads is immediately apparent. But what really catches my eye is that it's 49% off for Prime Day right now.

Today's top Samsung 9100 Pro SSD deal

For ultra-fast speeds, the 9100 Pro from Samsung is a beast of an SSD that delivered best-in-class performance across the board during our tests. If you're a professional, we found that "there's none better than the 9100 Pro."

In the UK: now £304 (was £529)View Deal

More interestingly for business and creative users, we clocked that while we didn't quite hit the promised highs of 14,700MB/s sequential read speeds, it still offered blazing-fast speeds, particularly shining in its sequential write performance, making it a fantastic pick for professionals.

The 9100 Pro is Samsung’s first fully PCIe Gen 5 x4 consumer drive — a meaningful distinction from the 990 EVO, which used a hybrid Gen 4 x4 / Gen 5 x2 interface as a halfway measure. Full Gen 5 x4 doubles the available interface bandwidth over Gen 4, and at 14,700MB/s sequential reads, the 9100 Pro delivers on that headroom. For context, a high-end Gen 4 drive like the Samsung 990 Pro tops out at around 7,450MB/s reads — the 9100 Pro is almost exactly twice as fast at the interface level.

Future / John LoefflerFuture / John LoefflerFuture / John Loeffler

The 2TB capacity is the sweet spot in the line-up. It’s single-sided — meaning all components sit on one face of the PCB — which makes it compatible with a wider range of laptops and slim-profile systems that can’t accommodate double-sided drives. The 2TB model is also rated slightly faster than the 1TB model on sequential reads (14,700 MB/s vs 13,300 MB/s), and its 1,200 TBW endurance rating is generous for a consumer drive at this capacity.

The LPDDR4X DRAM cache (2GB at 2TB) is a meaningful inclusion that differentiates it from DRAM-less budget Gen 5 drives. DRAM cache significantly improves random I/O consistency — particularly relevant for workstation use cases involving large databases, virtual machines, or AI inference workloads where latency matters as much as peak throughput.

Categories: Technology

PSA to UK Switch users: Your console is at serious risk of 'malfunction' in the ongoing heatwave per Nintendo

TechRadar News - 5 hours 29 min ago
  • The UK is experiencing another heatwave, with temperatures expected to exceed 35°C
  • Nintendo Switch users should be reminded of the risks of overheating their console
  • Nintendo has previously said that the consoles can "malfunction" in temperatures above 35°C

As we enter another UK heatwave, Nintendo Switch users should be reminded of the risks of overheating their console.

Recent weather reports have forecast that temperatures in certain parts of the UK will exceed 35°C this week, reaching as high as 40°C.

An amber warning has been issued, in addition to a rare red extreme heat warning, for some regions and those spending time outside should be prepared for the sweltering heat. Even those indoors should take similar precautions to stay cool, especially if they have any running hardware that can contribute to the heat.

Whether it be a PC, PS5 console, or Xbox Series X, these devices do run the risk of overheating, particularly during a heatwave. The same goes for Switch and Switch 2 consoles, which Nintendo has previously cautioned can "malfunction" if temperatures are above 35°C.

"Using a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 in places with high temperatures may cause the console's temperature to rise," the company said in a post shared last year.

"This could potentially lead to malfunctions, so please use it in locations between 5–35°C. Lately, there have been consecutive days exceeding 35°C. Please take care when using it outdoors."

For this reason, we'd highly recommend avoiding using your Switch or Switch 2 when temperatures are at their highest.

In other news, Nintendo has officially announced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, and it launches this year on Switch 2.

If you're hoping to pick the console up before the game drops, the Switch 2 just got an absurd Amazon Prime discount thanks to Amazon Prime Day.

Categories: Technology

I cover AI for a living — these are the 5 things I’d check before buying an AI PC during Amazon Prime Day

TechRadar News - 5 hours 42 min ago

The AI PC market has become incredibly confusing. Microsoft, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Apple and laptop makers are all selling 'AI PCs', but do you really know what you’re actually getting? And do you really need an 'AI PC' anyway?

Meanwhile, Microsoft appears to be expanding some Copilot+ features beyond dedicated neural processing units (NPUs), potentially blurring the distinction further.

What you need, then, is some way to tell whether you're buying a genuinely useful AI machine or just an expensive sticker. You want to be sure that whatever you buy, it will still be relevant in two years.

In short, there are five key things to check in order to make sure that your PC really is an 'AI PC'. They are:

  • Minimum RAM
  • NPU vs GPU
  • Copilot+ requirements
  • Does it have AI features you’ll actually use?
  • Is there enough space on the SSD?

Let’s look at them in turn:

1. At least 16GB of RAM (preferably 32GB)

AI features are memory-hungry. If you look at the deals on Prime Day laptops this week you’ll see that a lot of them are discounted because they're older models with 8GB RAM. That's already becoming restrictive for modern Windows use, and it's especially limiting if you want to run local AI tools.

The main exception to the rule is the MacBook Neo from Apple, which only comes with 8GB of RAM, but thanks to a 16-core neural engine can run the new Siri AI. It’s a great laptop for experimenting with AI, but advanced users will require more RAM.

Rule of thumb: Skip any 'AI PC' with 8GB RAM, the MacBook Neo being the only exception.

2. A processor that actually supports Copilot+ features

Many laptops are being marketed as AI PCs simply because they contain an NPU. That doesn't necessarily mean they support the full set of Microsoft Copilot+ experiences such as Recall, Click to Do, Cocreator, Live Captions, and so on.

The NPU is much more efficient at AI tasks than a CPU or a GPU, so you’re still going to need one if you’re looking for a machine that’s equipped for AI.

For an AI laptop, running Windows I’d look for: Qualcomm Snapdragon X series, recent AMD Ryzen AI chips, or recent Intel Core Ultra chips that explicitly support Copilot+.

When it comes to Macs, avoid ones with Intel chips completely. You need an Apple silicon processor, which are designated M processors, or in the case of the MacBook Neo, the A18 Pro. The M1 is pretty old now, since it came out in November 2020, but it will still support Apple Intelligence features. To make better use of the newest Siri AI features, due in macOS 27 Golden Gate, this fall, get the latest processor you can afford. The current version is the M processor is the super-fast M5.

3. Battery life that benefits from AI hardware

One of the genuine advantages of NPUs is efficiency. If a laptop only manages five or six hours of real-world battery life, then the AI hardware isn't delivering one of its biggest promised benefits.

Rule of thumb: Expect all-day battery life if you're paying a premium for an AI laptop. If the laptop says less in its specs, then avoid.

4. AI features you'll actually use

Remember, you don’t need an 'AI PC' to just run ChatGPT or Gemini in a browser, or using their native apps. Since subscription services like ChatGPT and Gemini do all their processing in the cloud, the capabilities of your PC aren’t really the issue here.

However, to make use of AI features that are part of the operating system, like Copilot in Windows and Siri AI in macOS, you will need a machine that’s classified as being AI capable. Also, some apps, like Photoshop, make use of the NPU in your PC when generating AI images, so they'll perform better with the correct hardware.

The question to ask yourself is, are you really going to be using these things?

Ask yourself whether you'll realistically use features like Live translation, AI image generation, AI-powered search and AI photo editing? Many people are paying extra for features they'll never touch.

Rule of thumb: Buy the laptop first, the AI second.

5. A fast SSD with enough space for local AI

Some newer AI tools run locally rather than entirely in the cloud. If you’re going to be using these sorts of tools (and the application is usually in programming) then you'll need to consider the speed and size of your SSD.

So while a bargain laptop with 256GB storage and 16GB RAM might look attractive, you’ll find you hit the storage limits once Windows, some games, apps and photos have been installed. And if you’re even thinking of installing a local AI model, it won’t do at all.

Rule of thumb: Aim for at least 512GB SSD, ideally 1TB.

Today's best Prime Day AI PC deals (US)

This Microsoft Surface Laptop (2024) comes with Windows 11 and is a genuine Copilot+ PC. It has 13.8-inch Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Elite (12 core), 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage. This Prime Day Deal features a massive 38% off.View Deal

This ASUS Vivobook S16 Laptop, Copilot+ PC has an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 with XDNA NPU, 16GB Memory and 1TB SSD. The Amazon Prime Day deal knocks a healthy 20% off its price.View Deal

This Acer Aspire 16 AI Copilot+ PC has a large 16-inch WUXGA 120Hz 100% sRGB display, and comes with a Snapdragon X processor and 16GB LPDDR5X RAM with a 512GB SSD. This Amazon Prime Day deal knocks 21% off its price.View Deal

Today's best Prime Day AI PC deals (UK)

This Microsoft Surface Laptop is a Copilot+ PC with a 15-inch Touchscreen, Snapdragon® X Elite processor and a whopping 32GB Memory and a 1TB SSD. Thanks to Amazon Prime Day there's £300 off, making it a great deal.View Deal

The HP OmniBook 5 Next Gen AI 16-inch Laptop is a CoPilot+ PC with a Snapdragon X1-26-100 processor, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. You'll find it at a very tempting £449.99 this Amazon Prime Day. View Deal

This ASUS Zenbook A14 OLED UX3407QA Copilot+ PC laptop has a 14-inch WUXGA (1920x1200) OLED screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon X1-26-100 processor, a 16GB RAM and a 1TB PCIe SSD. You get 31% off thanks to Amazon Prime Day.View Deal

More Prime Day deals in the USMore Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

The Oura Ring Helped Me Get My Sleep on Track and the 4th-Gen Model Is a Steal This Prime Day

CNET News - 5 hours 58 min ago
If you've been looking to buy a smart ring, this is a great bargain.
Categories: Technology

I'm making my fellow commuters jealous with the Shark ChillPill personal fan this week — and you can get your own for 20% off over Prime Day

TechRadar News - 6 hours 5 min ago

If, like me, you're having to use public transport this week, a personal fan will make your life a lot more comfortable — and I've found just the Amazon Prime Day deal for you. Right now, the Shark ChillPill Travel Bundle is just £119.99 (was £149.99) at Amazon. That includes not just the fan and its three cooling attachments, but a travel case to keep everything safe, and a cross-body strap so you can wear it and stay comfortable hands-free.

• See all Prime Day deals at Amazon

After testing this little fan myself, I loved it so much that I bought my own, and I've not regretted it for a second. My personal favourite is the misting attachment, which sprays you with a fine cloud of vapour when you fill it from your water bottle, but the regular fan and icy cooling plate are a joy as well. Whether you're on a bus or a train, your fellow commuters will be green (and sweaty) with envy.

This pocket-sized fan will keep you cool and comfortable anywhere this week, and this bundle with a carry case and cross-body strap is now cheaper than buying the fan by itself thanks to this great Prime Day deal.View Deal

Considering how high the temperatures are going to soar later this week, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this deal sells out, so I'd strongly advise grabbing it now if you're tempted. This deal only applies to the silver version, but personally I think that's one of the nicest colours anyway.

If you happen to be viewing this article from the US (hello!) then there's good news for you as well if you're feeling the heat — you can grab the Shark ChillPill for $99.99 (was $129.99) at Amazon for Prime Day. This deal doesn't include the carry case and strap, but it's excellent nonetheless, knocking $30 off the list price.

Shark's three-in-one fan has received its first ever price cut for Prime Day, and it's a big one, knocking $30 off. It earned a solid 4.5 stars in our review, and will keep you cool and comfortable at home, in the office, or on the move.View Deal

I'm not expecting the ChillPill's main rival, the Dyson HushJet Mini Cool Fan, to receive any Prime Day discounts, so this is likely to be the best offer we see on a personal cooling system this week.

More Prime Day deals in the US More Prime Day deals in the UK
Categories: Technology

‘Ask people if they want to be cared for by a robot, and most say no': People are warming up to robots at work - but they don't want them in hospitals or schools

TechRadar News - 6 hours 28 min ago
  • Report finds public support for workplace robots is growing – especially for physical or dangerous tasks
  • Willingness to accept a robot inside the home grows with real-life exposure
  • Familiarity and clear governance are essential to overcoming public fear

Technological capabilities may no longer been the limiting factor when it comes to how and where robots can be deployed, with new Hexagon research revealing public support isn’t always there.

The company found much of the public is becoming more accepting of robots in the workplace, but only where they’re used for practical, physical or dangerous jobs.

However roles which require empathy, judgement or human interaction are still where support remains low.

Robots are most accepted in practical labor use cases

For example, more than half (56%) of the 1,000+ UK adults surveyed said they’d accept robots in lifting and transporting heavy items. Carrying and delivering any items (38%) and monitoring hazards and dangerous environments (34%) also received reasonable support.

With airports, some supermarkets and other public places now employing robots, 31% would even support their use in cleaning shared spaces.

Though the research fails to detail perception by age bracket, the company surveyed an equal number of UK children to reveal that heavy lifting, carrying and delivering is even more accepted among under 18s.

However, while repetitive physical work is generally well-accepted, 82% of UK adults want humans to care for sick, elderly and young people.

Only 5% say they’d choose a robot caregiver, making this the lowest support for any of the tasks included in the report. Even children seem reluctant to have non-human personal interactions, with 79% preferring human caregivers and 8% willing to choose a robot instead.

But Hexagon Technology Ethicist Dr Blay Whitby argues a simple reframing could skew these figures: “Ask people if they want to be cared for by a robot, and most say no… Ask if technology should help them remain independent in their own home for longer, and most say yes.”

Associate Professor in Moral Psychology Dr Jim Everett sees robots more as “assistive devices” in care homes and classrooms, rather than human replacements.

Exposure can drastically shift public perception

For now, the public still sees robots as industrial automation roles. More than half agree their natural homes are factories (53%) and warehouses (53%) – fewer consider them at home in hospitals and clinics (34%) or classrooms (30%).

Fear of the unknown could be another blocker, with only 28% of UK adults believing that having a robot colleague would be exciting – nearly half (46%) say it would be frightening. Humanoid forms are clearly unsettling, with twice as many preferring machine-like robots (27%) compared with human-like robots (14%).

Sci-fi fears about robots taking over could also be influencing public perception. Nearly all UK adults (88%) want clear rules governing what robots can do.

“Industrial environments are where the tasks for robots are the most defined, the safety cases are mature, and governance is in public view,” Hexagon CTO Burkhard Boeckem concluded.

Global comparisons back the fear of the unknown theory – while 30% of UK adults have encountered robots in real life, 75% have in China. A country that’s nearly twice as likely (63%) to accept robots into the home compared with the UK (32%).

Categories: Technology

Cooling just became the most strategic choice in AI infrastructure

TechRadar News - 6 hours 38 min ago

For most of the last forty years, data center performance gains came from one place: smaller transistors. Moore's Law and Dennard scaling did the work.

Each new generation of silicon delivered more performance at the same or lower power, and thermal was a maintenance problem, not a performance limiter.

Cooling sat in the background. Operators measured it through PUE, optimized for it where convenient, and otherwise treated it as overhead.

That world is over.

Dennard scaling broke years ago, transistor efficiency gains are leveling off, and AI accelerator TDPs have climbed from 700 watts in the H100 generation to over 1,400 watts in current Blackwell deployments, with NVIDIA's upcoming Rubin platform expected to push further.

Thermal is no longer something that happens after the architectural decisions. It is now the binding constraint on how much performance a chip can sustain, and it is becoming one of the most strategic choices an AI data center operator can make.

Why this matters now

The macro numbers explain why this matters now. Data centers already consume up to 4.5 percent of total U.S. electricity production, a figure projected to reach 12 percent by 2028. McKinsey estimates global data center spending could approach $7 trillion by 2030, and that data center power demand will reach 220 gigawatts in the same window.

None of that capacity arrives quickly. New transmission lines and substations now take five to ten years to permit and build, which means operators cannot simply order more power when they need to scale.

The result is a hard pressure to extract maximum performance from the power they already have under contract. That pressure is what is reshaping how the industry thinks about cooling.

Cooling is no longer just an afterthought

For years, cooling was measured as an efficiency loss, captured through metrics like Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) that quantified how much energy was burned on overhead before reaching the IT load. Today, the more meaningful metric is how much useful compute you extract per unit of power. NVIDIA's Jensen Huang now describes this as "performance per watt" or "tokens per watt" for AI workloads, and cooling plays a direct role in both halves of that equation.

Direct-to-chip liquid cooling has become the new baseline because it removes heat far more effectively than air. But even direct-to-chip is being pushed to its limit by 1,000+ watt accelerators, and most current deployments still require facility water around 30 degrees Celsius to stay within ASHRAE W2 and W3 envelopes, which means chillers running for much of the year in warm climates.

Better thermal management has effects on both sides of the tokens-per-watt equation. It reduces facility overhead, so more of the contracted power reaches the rack. And it allows chips to operate closer to their full thermal headroom, sustaining higher performance for longer.

Those gains compound. Recent UCLA study has shown that combining a 17 percent improvement in facility efficiency with a 15 percent gain in server-level performance per watt from better thermal management translates to roughly 35 percent more tokens per watt within the same power envelope. In a 10 megawatt facility, that is more than a megawatt of additional usable compute, with no additional grid commitment.

At GTC 2026, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang made this argument explicitly. He told the audience that beyond the silicon roadmap, infrastructure-level optimization across power and cooling represents another factor of two in performance still on the table. "There's no question in my mind there's a factor of two in here, and a factor of two at the scale we're talking about is gigantic," he said.

That gain does not come from a smaller transistor. It comes from rethinking how power and thermal energy move through the rack. Recent UCLA study suggests that at least one third of that infrastructure-level gain is attributable specifically to cooling. Cooling is no longer a support function. It is a primary lever for performance.

Water is becoming a hard constraint

Power is not the only pressure point. Water is emerging as an equally critical and often more immediate constraint on data center expansion. Traditional cooling architectures often rely on evaporative processes that consume vast amounts of water. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, large data centers may use up to 5 million gallons per day, comparable to the daily water use of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.

This is drawing notice from regulators and communities in already water-stressed areas. The result is longer permitting cycles, higher project risk, and in some cases new developments paused entirely. States and municipalities are also implementing stricter reporting requirements and adjusting electricity rate structures specifically for data centers.

Operators now have to factor water alongside power into site selection. Facilities that minimize energy waste and reduce or eliminate water consumption are better positioned to navigate this environment.

The shift toward next-generation cooling

In response, the industry is entering a new phase of cooling innovation. Air cooling is no longer sufficient for high-density AI workloads. Liquid cooling has become the baseline, but within liquid cooling, not all approaches deliver the same efficiency or scalability.

The next wave of innovation focuses on improving heat transfer at the source: removing thermal energy more effectively at the chip level while reducing system-wide overhead. Some of these approaches draw on heat transfer techniques refined in other high-density power industries such as nuclear power generation, where the challenge of moving large amounts of thermal energy from a constrained physical space has been studied for decades.

The goal is straightforward. Better cooling enables higher rack densities, allows operation at higher facility water temperatures, and reduces or eliminates reliance on water-intensive heat rejection. Just as importantly, the next generation of cooling architectures is being designed to integrate with existing data center footprints, so operators can evolve their infrastructure rather than rebuild it from scratch.

NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform, announced at CES 2026, was a clear signal of where this is heading. Vera Rubin is designed for 45 degree Celsius supply water, which means dry coolers can do most of the heat rejection year-round and mechanical chillers become optional in most climates. That is a fundamental shift in how cooling infrastructure will be designed for the next decade.

A defining moment for data center design

The data center industry is at an inflection point. AI compute demand is accelerating, and every resource needed to support it, power, water, physical space, is becoming harder to secure. Cooling sits at the intersection of all three.

It determines how efficiently power is used, how much water is consumed, and ultimately, where infrastructure can be deployed. The operators that recognize this now will have a sustained advantage. How to keep data centers cool under AI workload pressure has become one of the most strategic decisions in modern infrastructure.

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Categories: Technology

I've used Sony's WH-1000XM6 headphones every day since they came out a year ago — here's why they're my favorite headphones, even over Bose, AirPods and Sony’s fancier Collexion

TechRadar News - 7 hours 3 min ago

When the Sony WH-1000XM6 dropped last year, they had some big expectations to live up to.

They followed up a pair of headphones that had proven somewhat divisive, in the Sony WH-1000XM5. This model left some wearers conflicted owing to the lack of foldability, limited new features, and smaller 30mm drivers, in spite of stepping up in terms of looks and still offering great sound. For me, the XM5 just didn’t quite feel like the statement headphones that the legendary Sony WH-1000XM4 were — and in my view, the real task of the XM6 was to live up to the brilliance of that model.

And what do you know, Sony really did it — the company finally delivered a pair of XM4-beating headphones. The XM6 blended the beauty of the XM5 with the practical design of the XM4, all while delivering substantially better audio than their predecessors, alongside far greater noise cancelling capabilities and a more fleshed-out feature set.

And even though it’s been a year now, the XM6 remain my go-to headphones — even after hearing other flagship kids on the block, including the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2, Apple AirPods Max 2, and even Sony’s own 1000X The Collexion cans. But why do I keep reaching for the XM6? And what really sets them apart from the competition? Well, I’ll get to all of that and more as we take a look at my year of listening with the XM6.

What’s so special about the XM6?

(Image credit: Future)

For the uninitiated, allow me to give you the run down on the Sony WH-1000XM6. These are Sony’s best noise-cancelling cans to date, and even on flights, they can easily dispatch low-end rumble, high-pitched clamors, and sudden noises like doors closing. If you’re at the office, things like colleagues chatting, typing sounds, and vehicles passing outside the window will be drastically dulled too — if not totally inaudible.

That’s thanks to Sony’s QN3 noise-cancelling processor, which harnesses a system of 12 microphones to deliver some of the best ANC on the market right now.

The QN3 processor also features a noise-shaper, which pre-empts sudden sound changes, resulting in a more controlled listening experience. Pair that with LDAC for ‘hi-res’ Bluetooth listening as well as a more balanced sound signature than the XM5 and XM4 offered — in part thanks to Sony’s collaboration with leading mastering engineers — and you’re getting amazing audio from the XM6.

As you’d expect, these headphones aren’t producing true studio-grade neutrality or fidelity, but they sound more composed right across the frequency range. Still, bass is phenomenally dynamic and punchy, treble is vibrant and articulate, and there’s definitely an exciting listen to be had. Mids are also incredibly rich and well-weighted, and the XM6 offers a wider soundstage than its predecessor, all while supplying a tight and cohesive listen.

Other XM6 headlines include a new, more comfortable headband, the welcome return of foldability, and enhanced call quality. There are six beamforming mics in the XM6, and I’m yet to try any headphones that beat them for clarity and precision in the call quality department.

You also get the features that made the XM6’s predecessors great, including DSEE Extreme upscaling (which boosts the quality of lower-res audio files), scene-based listening, transparency mode, and the most responsive and accurate touch controls around.

How do they compare to the competition?

Here I am, holding up the Sony WH-1000XM6 and a pair of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Image credit: Future)

So, the XM6 sound pretty great so far, right? But you might be wondering how they compare against the competition. So, let’s see how they compare against some of their main rivals: the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2, the AirPods Max 2, and Sony’s own The Collexion headphones.

Let’s start with the QC Ultra, which are in my view the main competitor to the XM6 — they’re similarly priced, and each have a strong focus on ANC performance. But interestingly, I think this contest is a relatively straightforward one.

When it comes to ANC, these two are on very similar footing. I’d perhaps argue that the QC Ultra can deal with higher-pitched sounds ever-so-slightly better, but I’m talking very fine margins. Conversely, I’d consider the XM6 slightly ahead when it comes to those deeper, darker sounds like engines roaring.

But elsewhere, I think the Sony XM6 are just the better buy. For me, the Bose have a less revealing sound that lacks the refinement and attention to detail Sony can deliver. Sony also supplies better balance across the frequency range, and even more customizable sound, making them my clear favorite sound-wise.

The XM6 also have a more cohesive, sleek, and suave look in my opinion — I’m also more partial to the magnet-lock case that Sony bundles in. Both headphones are well-matched elsewhere, though, offering fully foldable designs, solid security and comfortability in-use, and 30 hours of battery life — essentially the standard for headphones in this price bracket.

Sony WH-1000XM6 next to the Apple AirPods Max 2 (Image credit: Future)

Moving onto the AirPods Max 2 now, and this is where things get interesting. Of course, these headphones have some features that are suited to Apple devices only — such as Spatial Audio and instant pairing — meaning brand loyalists may prefer these. But as someone with an Android phone, this is hardly something I’m interested in.

I’d also argue that the XM6 are generally better all-rounders than the AirPods Max 2. For instance, Apple’s flagship headphones only muster up a measly 20 hours of playtime with ANC on — something that really should’ve been improved from the first generation AirPods Max.

I also find the XM6’s use of precise touch controls to be more intuitive and user-friendly, and their more accessible price is an undeniable plus. The AirPods Max 2 come in at $549 / £499 / AU$999 — quite the increase over the $449 / £349 / AU$699 you’ll pay for the XM6.

The AirPods Max 2 still impressed me though — they offer significantly improved ANC that blocks external noise on a similar level to the XM6, and they performed very well in the audio department. They have a more spacious and expansive soundstage than the XM6, and the bass is full-sounding and beautifully controlled. While the XM6 sound pretty balanced, they undoubtedly retain a slight preference towards bass and treble from previous generations, but I personally prefer their tighter, punchier approach to the low-end.

Sony 1000X The Collexion beside the Sony WH-1000XM6 (Image credit: Future)

It’s an incredibly similar story for Sony’s own 1000X The Collexion headphones, which took aim at the AirPods Max with an incredibly broad, almost three-dimensional soundstage that results in a highly immersive listen.

The Collexion undoubtedly provide stellar detailing and incredible instrument separation, but again, I always reach for the XM6 — I find their dynamism and punch to add a bit more excitement, making funky tracks or hard-hitting anthems come through with more bite.

In addition, The Collexion add very little in the way of features that the XM6 won’t already provide. Sure, they have more 360 Upmix modes, but these sound pretty bad anyway. They also have weaker ANC and lower battery life, largely due to their slimmer build and larger ear cavities.

Don’t get me wrong, The Collexion look great, and their metallic details contrast the faux-leather casing nicely, but for me, the XM6 are stronger overall.

One year later: the verdict

The magnet-lock case for the XM6 is truly excellent (Image credit: Future)

So, even after testing some of the XM6’s biggest rivals, I still reach for them every time. Their combination of class-leading ANC, excellent features, and dynamic, punchy, yet well-balanced audio makes them my go-to time after time.

It’s also worth flagging that after a full year of use, the headphones have held up incredibly well. I can count a total of zero times where I experienced a fault or bug, they don’t have a single scratch (even after being folded and thrown in my bag countless times), and the earcups feel incredibly comfortable, with no signs of degradation whatsoever.

What’s more, I’ve accidentally kept the headphones on during rainy days from time to time, and despite lacking an IP rating, they seemed to have weathered the storm without issue. Would I recommend using them in harsher weather conditions? No. But the fact they’ve stuck it out a couple of times only hammers home their durability and high build quality.

I won’t pretend that the XM6 are cheap by any means. But they genuinely earn their price in every way imaginable. And they do go on sale quite a bit, so if you can find them going for less, I’d strongly suggest snapping them up, and treating yourself to superior sound.

Categories: Technology

Don't fall victim to rip-off AI pricing when upgrading your PS5 storage — this 5TB HDD is now less than one third of the price of a 4TB SSD

TechRadar News - 7 hours 5 min ago

I don't know if you've seen the price of a PlayStation 5 SSD lately, but they're absolutely cooked. Right now prices are easily triple what they were just a few years ago thanks to the pressure caused by AI demand, so I'd recommend other options instead.

Luckily Amazon Prime Day Is bringing some serious value, with the 5TB Seagate Game Drive PS5 external hard drive discounted to just £143.48 (was £207.99) right now.

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This is an external HDD, which means it functions a little differently to a regular SSD, but it's still designed for storing games. It's also officially licensed for PS5, and has a design that matches the console itself to keep your setup looking super slick.

Today's best PS5 storage deal

This officially licenced external PS5 HDD from Seagate is the way to go if you want to upgrade your console storage right now. A quality 4TB PS5 SSD currently costs about £470, making this drive roughly a third of the price for more storage.View Deal

So what makes a PS5 external hard drive different to a PS5 SSD? The main differentiator is that you can't play the PS5 games stored on an external hard drive directly. Instead, they need to be copied back to your internal storage for each use.

It's perfect if you have slow internet speeds and want to avoid lengthy downloads when coming back to large games, which is mainly how I use the Seagate Game Drive hooked up to my own console.

Backwards-compatible PS4 games are playable with no barriers, though, making this a very good choice for those with large libraries of older games they want to keep installed.

More Prime Day deals in the UK
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