Technology

• Apple Original Films has released the trailer for its new movie F1
• The trailer sees Brad Pitt and Damson Idris as competing race car drivers
• Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the film will be released in theaters in June

Prime those engines and get Fleetwood Mac on the radio, because Apple Original Films' next blockbuster movie F1 finally has a trailer.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, who's no stranger to a big action film with previous titles like Top Gun: Maverick and Tron: Legacy under his belt, F1 is one of the biggest new movies that's coming to theaters in the next three months.

There's a lot of excitement around it, too, not least because of the star power attached to it with Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt (Fight Club; Money Ball) and Javier Bardem (Skyfall; No Country for Old Men) set to perform alongside Damson Idris (Black Mirror; The Twilight Zone) and Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin; Captain America: Civil War).

In the trailer, we meet Pitt as a washed up racer called Sonny Hayes who's convinced by his old teammate Ruben Cervantes, played by Bardem, to give Formula 1 one last shot. Sonny is teamed up with fellow driver Joshua Pearce, who's cast as Idris, but the pair have a long journey ahead of them as competition ignites.

Between the two racer's taunts, the trailer also gives us a glimpse of Condon's character Kate, who plays Sonny's love interest, as she tries to mediate the tension between them (without much success from the looks of things).

What do we know so far about F1?

There's a lot of buzz around this new F1 movie, and I'm not surprised why given that fans of the sport have been seeing glimpses of its production underway at real-life tournaments. The first trackside filming is reported to have taken place during the 2023 British Grand Prix, so it'll be exciting to finally see those iconic F1 racetracks and drivers on the big screen.

With world champion Lewis Hamilton’s Dawn Apollo Films banner having a hand in its production, I don't doubt this is going to be a big spectacle. Indeed, F1 is one of my most anticipated new movies of 2025 and that mainly comes down to the fact that it's such an ambitious film with a lot riding on it.

You can expect me to be sat front and center when F1 is released in theaters, including IMAX, on June 25 – it'll arrive in cinemas on June 27 for those in the US, before eventually streaming on Apple TV+, where I suspect it'll carve out a spot among our best Apple TV+ movies ranking soon enough.

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• Users could soon add members to group chats in Google Messages via links
• Android Authority has spotted a line in the beta version of Google Messages that could point to the Google Messages update, but nothing is confirmed
• It could make it easier to manage group chats for Google Messages users, following the footsteps of WhatsApp

Google has been working over time with improving and enhancing features within its Google Messages software, and newly discovered evidence seems to indicate that another major upgrade could be on the way - this time with group chats. Soon, Google Messages could make it much easier for users to join group chats just by clicking on a link, following in WhatsApp’s footsteps.

So who do we have to thank for this? Well, Android Authority has done the hard work by digging into Google Messages’ beta version, discovering a line in the beta reading ‘join via link’ that suggests users will be able to join group chats in a less complicated way. As it stands, nothing is working just yet, nor has Google confirmed anything.

Android Authority discovered the evidence in its APK teardown. (Image credit: Android Authority )

Though Android Authority’s discovery doesn’t explicitly state what it does other than ‘join via link’, there’s nothing else we can point it to at the moment other than it being related to joining group chats. It would make a lot of sense if this speculation were true, as Google Messages has yet to follow WhatsApp which already allows its users to join group chats through links. Right now you can only manually add members to group chats, so an update like this would be a huge benefit to those who rely on Google Messages.

Over the past few months Google Messages has gone through somewhat of a facelift with minor improvements on a number of features. Back in January, Google made it easier to arrange contacts in Messages by reserving an annoying change in its app, as well as introducing a feature that allows you to send yourself RCS messages. However, with that said, Google Messages has had its share of issues recently.

Just a few days ago users noticed an issue in Google Messages’ media performance when receiving photos and videos, with many taking to Reddit to report their shared issues with download speed and media quality. Google was rather quick to combat this issue and immediately rolled out a new update it said would make a ‘noticeable difference’, and encouraged users to keep the reports coming if nothing changed.

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• Reacher season 3 has gone on to become Prime Video's biggest returning series.
• It brought in 54.6 million views worldwide in the 19 days after its release on February 20.
• Reacher season 3 was Prime Video's biggest premiere since the video game adaptation Fallout.

Prime Video's biggest action man has come back with a bang, as Reacher season 3 is the streamer's biggest returning series.

Reacher has cemented itself as one of the best Prime Video shows and amassed a huge following, with Reacher season 2 becoming Prime Video's most-watched show of 2023. Now, the third series of the book-to-screen adaptation has gone on to be as big as the military hardman himself.

According to internal figures from Amazon, Reacher season 3 received its biggest audience to date with 54.6 million views worldwide in the 19 days after its release on February 20. As per The Hollywood Reporter this is a slight increase from season 2 over the same amount of time and has gone on to become the biggest returning series in Prime Video's records.

The publication also added: "Amazon further says Reacher season 3 is Prime Video‘s biggest premiere since Fallout brought in 65 million viewers over its first 16 days in April 2024. Only that show and season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had more viewers over a similar time frame."

Reacher's reputation continues to be as big as he is

Alan Ritchson once again brings to life author Lee Child's Jack Reacher character in Reacher season 3, which is based on Child's seventh novel, Persuader. The popular tough guy returned for another round of action-packed adventures as the third installment takes the man-mountain hero out of his comfort zone when he goes undercover in a vast criminal empire to rescue an informant being held captive by an enemy from his past.

In Reacher season 3, the titular hero faces off against a seven-foot monster of a man called Paulie (Olivier Richters), which turned out to be an international search in finding an actor that made Ritchson look small, according to Child.

The Reacher supremacy is set to live on as the show scored an early season 4 renewal before the third series even aired on one of the best streaming services. Although there's already one spin-off in the works called The Untitled Neagley Project, there could be even more Reacher projects on the cards as Child discussed future seasons of Reacher in an exclusive chat with TechRadar.

As Reacher season 3 continues to be Prime Video's number one show, make sure to check out these three other action shows that pack a punch with over 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, too.

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• Details of Nvidia's fastest ever workstation video card have been spotted online
• There are RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell and RTX Pro 6000 X Blackwell flavors
• The non-X version has 24,064 CUDA cores and 96GB of GDDR7 ECC memory

Online leaks appear to reveal details of Nvidia's upcoming RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPU, which promises to be the company’s most powerful workstation card to date.

Information spotted on Leadtek’s website, and backed by NBD shipping data, point to the card rocking 24,064 CUDA cores and 96GB of GDDR7 memory.

These specs are significantly higher than both the current RTX 6000 Ada, which launched over two years ago, and the expected RTX 5090 gaming GPU, which reportedly features 2,304 fewer cores.

NBD’s shipping data shows two versions of the workstation GPU - the RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell and the RTX Pro 6000 X Blackwell - being sent to India for "testing purposes". We’re not sure quite what the X signifies, or how different it will be from the other version. It’s notable however, that Nvidia seems to be identifying its new cards with a Pro label.

The information on one of these cards (the non-X version) was posted on X by Harukaze, showing that the GPU runs on a 512-bit memory interface, and GDDR7 supports ECC (error correction), making it a good choice for servers and systems where data accuracy is essential.

(Image credit: NBD) Power hungry beast

Power requirements are notably high for the new GPU, with a 600W Total Graphics Power delivered through a 16-pin PCIe 5.0 connector. This puts it among the most power-hungry GPUs in Nvidia’s lineup - over twice that required by RTX 6000 Ada - but that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Unlike earlier workstation cards, this one will likely skip the traditional blower-style cooler and take its design cues from the RTX 5090, with a dual-flow-through cooling system.

Writing about the leak, Tom’s Hardware notes, “Workstation GPUs under Nvidia's RTX lineup are tailor-made for professional applications. However, in most scenarios, 96GB of VRAM is overkill unless you're looking for training or inferencing AI locally. While you wouldn't typically use these GPUs for gaming, the added memory can be helpful in tasks involved with game development, content creation, ProViz, and computer-aided design.”

The GPU is expected to be officially introduced at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in March 2025. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed, but it will likely fall in the same high-end range as its predecessor, which can be had for between $6,000 and $8,000.

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• AI agents could be used to build and send phishing attacks
• Symantec researchers were able to prompt Operator into sending a malicious email
• These tools are only likely to get more powerful

Cybercriminals have been using AI to help them in cyberattacks for some time, but the introduction of "Agents", such as OpenAI’s Operator, now means criminals have a lot less work to do themselves, experts have claimed.

Previously, AI tools had been seen helping attackers send high-powered threats at a much quicker rate, dealing out sophisticated attacks more frequently than could have been imagined without the tools - and it lowered the bar for criminals, so even relatively low-skilled cybercriminals could build successful attacks.

Now, researchers from Symantec have been able to use Operator to identify a target, find their email address, create a PowerShell script aimed at gathering systems information, and send it to the victim using a “convincing lure.”

Agents leveraged

In a demonstration, researchers explained their first attempts failed, with Operator refusing to proceed “as it involves sending unsolicited emails and potentially sensitive information. This could violate privacy and security policies.”

With a few tweaks to the prompt though, the agent created an attack impersonating an IT Support worker, and sent out the malicious email. This presents serious risk for security teams, with research consistently showing that human error is the primary cause of over two-thirds of data breaches.

It “may not be long” before the agents become a lot more powerful, the report speculates. “It is easy to imagine a scenario where an attacker could simply instruct one to “breach Acme Corp” and the agent will determine the optimal steps before carrying them out.”

“This could include writing and compiling executables, setting up command-and-control infrastructure, and maintaining active, multi-day persistence on the targeted network. Such functionality would massively reduce the barriers to entry for attackers.”

AI agents are designed to be like virtual assistants, helping users book appointments, schedule meetings, and write emails. OpenAI takes "these kinds of reports seriously," a spokesperson told TechRadar Pro.

"Our usage policies prohibit using OpenAI services or products to facilitate or engage in illicit activity, including attempts to defraud, scam or intentionally deceive or mislead others, and we have proactive safety mitigations and strict rate limits in place to mitigate harmful usage. Operator is still a research preview and we are constantly refining and improving." 

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In an industry full of new competition, Cricut's flagship cutter sees only minor upgrades.

• New leaked pictures seemingly show a Hasselblad X2D II top plate
• The camera will likely be an iterative X2D 100C upgrade
• It could be the camera Hasselblad registered with the FCC in December 2024

If I could have one camera, money no object, the Hasselblad X2D 100C would probably be it. However, I might soon be adding a 'II' to that moniker, following leaks of my dream camera's upcoming successor.

The folks at Photo Rumors shared a post containing a Hasselblad FCC registration for product 'HB722', dated December 4, 2024, followed by a photo that seemingly shows a top plate of an X2D II camera, leading us to believe the upcoming product could be a X2D successor, and that it's coming soon.

The current model is a 100MP medium-format camera with stunning minimalist design and stripped-back user experience. I loved reviewing the camera when it launched in 2022, but an upgrade could deliver meaningful improvements

Yes, the X2D 100C floats my boat, but that doesn't make it the perfect camera.

The next model, seemingly being called a X2D II, suggests an iterative update – I'd expect a major upgrade to be called an X3D instead. However, that's pure speculation, and there's no leaked specs to go off, yet.

I'd be all for a new Hasselblad camera, be it a modest or substantial upgrade. Here are the top 5 upgrades I'm hoping for.

I hope the X2D 100C's successor has largely the same design – it's a stunning camera to look at and to use. (Image credit: Future) Getting up to speed

I've no complaints with the X2D 100C's image quality – its 100MP stills are packed full of detail and divine natural color. A higher-resolution sensor next time around would grab headlines, but I don't think it's necessary, or likely.

Nor would I change much of anything design-wise; the grip provides a firm hold whether shooting in vertical or horizontal format, there's a lovely balance with most lenses, while the minimalist control layout and menus give you quick access to the settings you use the most, doing away with the rest.

If image quality and form factor are fine as they are, what would I change? My desired upgrades largely center on focusing and speed.

First and foremost, I'd love a precise subject detection autofocus mode, specifically people autofocus with eye detection. The X2D 100C features Hasselblad's best-ever autofocus system, but it's still years behind the best mirrorless cameras from Sony, Canon, Nikon and more.

Autofocus precision is key, especially given the huge 100MP files that further highlight poor user technique / camera limitations. Being armed with reliable eye detection AF would make photoshoots way more relaxed.

Focusing on this occasion for this portrait taken with the X2D 100C is precise, but I found myself constantly second guessing if focusing is where I want it to be. (Image credit: Future)

In addition to precise autofocus, I'd also like autofocus to be significantly faster and reliable. Not that I would plan on using the X2D 100C for sports and wildlife photography, but speedier focusing for portraits would be appreciated.

While we're on the subject of speed, the X2D 100C's continuous burst shooting is limited to just 3.3fps. Understandable given the huge file sizes, but Fujifilm's rival GFX100 II goes at more than double that speed. Again, I'm not shooting action with a medium-format camera, but I would like the option there for faster frame rates, especially for portrait sessions.

Quicker burst shooting could also power a usable high-res shot mode – the type you get with smaller format cameras to quadruple resolution. Imagine a 400MP file from a Hasselblad!

Landscape photography is an obvious strength of a 100MP medium-format camera, for which better weather-sealing and improved battery life could be really useful in a future X2D II – I wasn't overly impressed by the X2D 100C on those two fronts.

Video recording is completely absent in the X2D 100C. Again, I wouldn't naturally think of using such a camera for video work, but when I think about how stunning Hasselblad's color science is for stills, the prospect of 8K video with such gorgeous color is exciting.

To summarize: a faster processor, precise and speedier autofocus, refined handling, and video recording. Those asks amount to a modest and entirely doable upgrade. More lenses are always welcome, too.

Have you experienced the Hasselblad X2D 100C? If so, what improvements would you like to see? Let me know in the comments below.

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It remains unclear when the encrypted messaging feature will be added to iPhones.

NymVPN, the claimed "most secure VPN in the world" was launched at London's Frontline Club on March 13th..

Alongside famous activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, the NymVPN team presented the official version of NymVPN to the public for the first time.

The Switzerland-based provider enters a crowded market of the best VPNs with a clear goal: to revolutionize what it believes to be a flawed industry, with Nym CEO Harry Halpin claiming "Digital privacy is broken."

End-to-end encryption "isn't enough"

NymVPN aims to solve an often overlooked area of digital privacy – metadata protection.

Existing virtual private networks (VPNs) and other privacy tools mostly use end-to-end encryption to keep you private online. This technique essentially scrambles the content of your communication to prevent third-party access.

(Image credit: Future)

However, Halpin explained, even encrypted messages leave traces, such as who you are talking to and when. With advanced tech like AI, metadata monitoring is becoming increasingly easy to do.

"And that's quite dangerous," said Halpin. "As the [Edward] Snowden's leaks revealed, if you have enough metadata, you won't really need the content."

A novel approach: the mixnet

The need for metadata privacy has been clear to some in the industry – certainly to those who formed the Nym team behind the first iteration of the mixnet – for some time.

Indeed, cryptography professor and now Nym Chief Scientist Office Claudia Diaz did a PhD on mix networks, a theory proposed by the cryptographer David Chaum in the 80s, between 2000 and 2005.

In 2016, Chelsea Manning began work on a way to make Tor Browser and similar privacy-preserving tools more secure, while in prison for leaking US government classified documents to WikiLeaks. She said: "We recognized that the amount of computation that was going to become accessible in the next decade was going to make it much easier for traffic analysis to be able to decipher anonymity across network."

In December 2017, Manning would meet with Halpin as he was also beginning to consider such a system to better protect metadata. Fast forward to 2025, NymVPN is the first VPN iteration with a noise-generating mixnet system that claims to protect these little – yet important – digital traces we all leave behind.

(Image credit: Future)

As Ania Piotrowska, Head of Research at Nym, explained in more detail during the product launch, the NymVPN mixnet includes three fundamental components:

• A multi-server routing system. This ensures your connection is rerouted via five independent hops, so no single entity should be able to link your IP address with your activity.
• Cover traffic. The network randomly generates traffic to make metadata tracking more difficult. It basically seeks to hide your communication patterns within a noisy crowd of fake internet traffic.
• Data packet mixing. On the way, the data packets get shuffled to make sure to cover the timestamp while confusing the order the data packets move between you and the receiver.

Not forgetting the old good VPN features

While NymVPN seeks to set itself apart from the competitors with its noise-generating mixnet technology, a decentralized server network, and a token-based anonymous payment system, the provider hasn't forgotten the features that VPN users expect in a secure VPN app.

Fully open-source, NymVPN apps are available for all major platforms (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux). They include a kill switch and leak prevention features to ensure that if the VPN connection drops, your data remains protected. At the time of writing, you can choose between 500+ server operators across 50+ countries.

NymVPN offers two modes to provide flexibility between protection and performance. The Fast mode, powered by a Wireguard-based protocol, is better suited for causal browsing, streaming and sharing. While the Anonymous (mixnet) is for when privacy is imperative. (Image credit: Nym Technologies)

All apps are built on Rust, a relatively new coding language believed to be better for security and performance – ExpressVPN has recently rewritten its in-house Lightway protocol in Rust.

NymVPN COO Alexis Roussel confirmed the team is also working on a split tunneling option. This will not only allow you to customize which apps and websites reroute through the VPN tunnel, but also decide which ones to protect with its Wireguard-based AmneziaWG two-hop mode (so-called Fast mode) and those via the most private (but slower) Mixnet mode.

The new default for data privacy?

NymVPN may be moving its first steps into a crowded VPN market, but it promises to make waves to fix what the team believes to be a flawed digital privacy industry.

The ultimate goal, however, is even more ambitious – NymVPN wants to become the new default for data privacy.

"Nym is starting with a single VPN app which allows people anywhere around the world to access and benefit from the privacy properties of our network," explained Ania Piotrowska, Head of Research at Nym. "But the network opens the door to more integrations that can provide privacy solutions by default across various industries, from healthcare to legal services and telecommunications. We believe that privacy is a basic right and we want to provide a solution that's going to be accessible by everyone in any type of online situations."

• Sony UBP-X700K is a stripped back version of the UBP-X700
• No Wi-Fi and no streaming features
• Japanese pricing suggests a price hike

We think that the Sony UBP-X700 is the best cheap 4K Blu-Ray player. And now there's a new version – the first new Sony Blu-Ray player since 2019 – with some changes that make total sense to me, and potentially some that don't.

Based on its product listings (via FlatpanelsHD.com), the new UBP-X700K drops some of the features from the current model – but the price, in Japan at least, is 25% higher than the street price of the current one.

More money, fewer features? That seems strange, so we've put in a request to Sony asking for pricing and availability details. We'll let you know if we get confirmation.

(Image credit: Sony) Sony UBP-X700K: what's different to the UBP-X700

According to the Japanese publication Monohika, the new player is effectively a scaled-down eversion of the UBP-X700 and there are a few key differences.

The big difference is that there are no wireless networking features, and that in turn means no video streaming apps, no Spotify Connect and no screen mirroring. The Video & TV SideView app is also gone, Monohika reports.

Removing streaming features to make a more streamlined budget Blu-ray player sounds like a smart move to me in the age of smart TVs – it's just not something that too many buyers today will want from their disc player. But you'd expect it to come with a lower price made to attract people to the world of physical media, and 4K Blu-ray's benefits over streaming.

The player is a typically black Sony block, and round the back there's an Ethernet port, two HDMI ports (one audio-only) and a coaxial digital out. There's support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision (no HDR10+, as with the regular model), Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio, and it works with UHD Blu-Ray, standard Blu-Ray and DVDs.

The new Blu-Ray player will be available from April or May 2025, hopefully for an attractive price. The current model can be found for under $199 / £199 / AU$369.

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• IPv4.Global announces scheme to use IPv4 addresses as collateral
• It’s the “first-of-its-kind” loan system, and promises big returns
• The global transition to IPv6 is still slow for many

Marketplace IPv4.Global has revealed a “first-of-its-kind” loan system where businesses can lend using IPv4 addresses as collateral.

The company explains the system is built on previous work developed by Cogent, which offers notes backed by leased IPv4 address revenues which are collateralized by the addresses themselves.

Unlike Cogent’s model, though, IPv4.Global customers can use their addresses directly as collateral while still retaining full use of them.

IPv4 addresses are valid collateral

This means that businesses can secure funding while still having access to and use of their addresses.

“We just successfully implemented our lending program for a data center operator so they can grow their cloud business, making us the first and only company lending against IPv4 addresses today,” said Lee Howard, IPv4.Global SVP.

“IPv4.Global works with customers to buy, sell, lease, and now borrow against IPv4 blocks, regardless of size, and has completed more transfers globally than any other provider," the company added in an announcement.

The official release doesn't go in to much detail, so we don’t know if there are minimum or maximum IPv4 address requirements to qualify for a loan.

More broadly, IPv4.Global describes itself as a broker that transfers IP addresses from companies that no longer need them to ones that do, “monetizing hidden assets the company may not even be aware exist.” It’s brokered the sale of more than 55 million IP addresses​ and completed more than 3,000 transactions.

Despite IPv6 adoption, IPv4 remains high in demand because the costs associated with transitioning and infrastructure changes can be high.

Still, AWS started charging businesses for using IPv4 addresses in 2024 without adding a charge for IPv6 addresses in the hope that more customers would update.

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• Live translation is reportedly planned for iOS 19 later this year
• Real-time translation between two speakers
• No details of which AirPods will be supported

It looks like Apple is following in the footsteps of footsteps of Samsung and Google in their attempts to bridge language barriers: a new report says that live translation is coming to AirPods in iOS 19, which will launch this Fall.

Apple's a bit late to this one – Google put live translation in the Pixel Buds back in 2017 and rolled it out to more Google Assistant-enabled phones the following year – but perhaps it's been more focused on adding hearing health features to its premium earbuds and attempting to stick cameras in theres.

But at last, Apple appears to be making The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy's Babel Fish a reality for AirPods buyers.

Real-time translation in AirPods: what to expect

The news comes via the well-connected Mark Gurman at Bloomberg (paywall), who says that it'll deliver a "Star Trek-like experience to AirPods users".

According to the report, the feature will make use of your AirPods as well as your iPhone. Your phone will translate the other person's speech and play that translation in your AirPods; it'll then take your speech, translate it and play that to the other person via your iPhone's speaker.

The feature will be tied to iOS 19, which should be widely compatible with iPhones going back several years – though if the feature is billed as being part of Apple Intelligence, it may be limited to only newer devices.

And if it's made available to every model of AirPods, I'll be amazed: I suspect it'll be reserved for Apple's more premium earbuds with active noise cancellation, to make sure you can be focused on people's voices.

But perhaps I'll be wrong and it'll be a nice upgrade for all the best AirPods – after all, the iPhone seems to be doing the heavy lifting.

With AirPods Pro 3 expected later this year, it's possible Apple will decide to make the feature exclusive to its newest buds, though I think that's unlikely.

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Jason Sudeikis and his team have been renewed for a fourth season, so catch up on Ted's all-American wit and wisdom.

Premium compact cameras are trending and increasingly harder to secure, so stock of Leica's D-Lux 8, supposedly delivered within a week, is a welcome surprise.

Meanwhile, there are still lengthy lead times for Fujifilm X100VI orders a year since its release, and finding a Canon PowerShot G7X Mark III is no tall order after it blew up on TikTok (as did its price).

And so here I am, as surprised as anyone to say that the Leica D-Lux 8 is available to buy now and that its $1,595 / £1,450 / AU$2,790 list price feels somewhat reasonable against rivals, and it's actually a bit less than the Fujifilm X100VI in the US and UK. Pick my jaw off the floor.

Leica's cheapest camera (besides the Sofort 2 instant camera) packs a 17MP Micro Four Thirds sensor, 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens and premium design touches inspired by the Leica Q3. It's an all-round tidy and versatile compact.

However, it's only a minor update of the D-Lux 7 which precedes this decade, with somewhat dated tech when compared to the latest premium compacts like the X100VI, so should you still buy one?

The D-Lux 8 is a dinky and well-rounded red-dot compact, with snappy zoom lens and premium build quality. (Image credit: Future) Pull the trigger?

Our Leica D-Lux 8 review awarded the MFT compact 3.5 stars, so it's clearly not the best of its kind. It's dated hardware was a big factor in that score, while a tilt or vari-angle touchscreen would have been appreciated rather than the fixed one.

That said, there's not been a lot of movement in this space, meaning compact cameras with hardware several years old still hold up well today.

So does the D-Lux 8 compete with other popular models? I reckon it outguns the PowerShot G7X Mark III in almost every way, but likewise is outdone by the Fujifilm X100VI.

The D-Lux 8 and X100VI are different premium compacts for sure – the Leica has a zoom lens and is much smaller, while the Fujifilm model packs a prime lens and larger 40MP APS-C sensor for sharper images, together with a lovely hybrid viewfinder and tilt screen.

If I was to pick one of the Leica and Fujifilm cameras it would have to be the X100VI. However, for many people the choice isn't even there because of limited availability.

For now, compact camera popularity shows no signs of dropping off. I've included retailer links to TechRadar's favorite models below. If you're unsure, bear in mind that Leica cameras tend to hold their value well, so it could be worth pulling the trigger to secure a D-Lux 8 while it's available.

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• Juniper Networks has patched a vulnerability in its routers
• The flaw was being abused by Chinese threat actors
• Multiple devices were vulnerable

Juniper Networks has released a patch for a vulnerability that was being exploited in the wild to attack some of its router brands.

According to the company’s security advisory, the bug is an improper isolation, or compartmentalization weakness, and it’s tracked as CVE-2025-21590. It was given a severity score of 6.7 (medium).

The bug is used by Chinese hackers, who had been exploiting it since 2024 to backdoor vulnerable Juniper routers that reached end-of-life, a recent Madiant security report revealed.

Chinese hackers

"In mid 2024, Mandiant discovered threat actors deployed custom backdoors operating on Juniper Networks' Junos OS routers," the cybersecurity company explained. "Mandiant attributed these backdoors to the China-nexus espionage group, UNC3886. Mandiant uncovered several TINYSHELL based backdoors operating on Juniper Networks' Junos OS routers."

UNC3886 was observed in the past targeting defense, technology, and telecommunications organizations with sophisticated malware, deployed through zero-day vulnerabilities.

It affects at least these models: NFX-Series, Virtual SRX, SRX-Series Branch, SRX-Series HE, EX-Series, QFX-Series, ACX, and MX-Series, however, Juniper Networks said that it is still investigating the vulnerability and that the full list could be different.

The bug can be exploited to allow local attackers with high privileges to run arbitrary code on the routers, and thus compromise them.

"At least one instance of malicious exploitation (not at Amazon) has been reported to the Juniper SIRT,” Juniper said in its advisory. “Customers are encouraged to upgrade to a fixed release as soon as it's available and in the meantime take steps to mitigate this vulnerability."

The issue was resolved in 21.4R3-S10, 22.2R3-S6, 22.4R3-S6, 23.2R2-S3, 24.2R1-S2, 24.2R2, 24.4R1, and all subsequent releases.

At the same time, CISA added the bug to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (KEV), confirming reports of in-the-wild abuse, and giving Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies three weeks to apply the patch, or stop using vulnerable solutions.

Via BleepingComputer

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The smaller Air is the perfect student laptop, but once you are out of school you should graduate to the larger but still highly portable 15-inch model.

• Koei Tecmo's Rise of the Ronin runs poorly on the RTX 4090 with stuttering in multiple segments
• Frame rates in-game can be high, but gameplay suggests otherwise with slow-motion NPCs
• It adds to the list of poorly optimized games on PC this generation

Koei Tecmo's Rise of the Ronin recently launched on PC after being exclusive to Sony's PS5 for almost a year - and yet again, it's another story of a poorly optimized PC port reportedly struggling even on high-end configurations.

According to TweakTown, Rise of the Ronin struggles to run on an RTX 4090 at 4K with constant stutters and slow-motion bugs while using DLSS. The in-game frame rate counter supposedly indicates a range of between 40 to 60fps (frames per second), but the gameplay suggests otherwise - and Steam reviews corroborate these complaints as many users are refusing to recommend buying the title until the issues are addressed.

It's worth noting that a patch has already been released that is supposed to offer a fix for stuttering in certain 'stages and circumstances' in the game - but again, feedback from players indicates this has done little to resolve the major performance concerns.

Considering the consensus regarding the game's graphical fidelity - it’s been accused of being quite poor for AAA standards - it's a bigger surprise to see that the game fails to run at acceptable levels. Usually, games that have advanced graphics like Cyberpunk 2077 are expected to be demanding (while still being well optimized) even for high-end hardware, but Rise of the Ronin's graphics don't even come close to that level, and yet it fails to perform well.

(Image credit: Shutterstock) Don't bother looking for a GPU upgrade, not until game developers optimize games better

There's nothing that infuriates me more about PC gaming than poor game optimization, and it's a shame this continues to be a trend in 2025. Gamers paying for a GPU like Nvidia’s RTX 4090 and still facing major frame rate drops in games (even with upscaling), is downright unacceptable.

It's even worse when you realize that games cost a ridiculous $70 / £70 / AU$100 while failing to run without game-breaking bugs and frequent stutters, leaving gamers having to wait for future patches. Game developers also seem to be increasingly relying on upscaling technologies like DLSS to resolve cases of poor optimization, which is concerning.

I can see why PC gamers are getting exasperated by poor PC game versions, especially if they've paid a lot of money for a high-end GPU, and it looks like one of the best ways to show your frustration is by voting with your wallet and not buy any game that has excessive issues on PC - and making sure you get a refund if you are unhappy with your purchase (most game stores like Steam have a way to request your money back).

It's about time this trend of poor PC ports comes to an end, so we can all finally enjoy PC gaming without any restraints on performance.

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For $10,000, you get a small, warm room with a sound system and party lights!

• Android 16 Beta 3 is here, bringing new features to enrolled users
• Users need a Google Pixel 6, or more recent Google Pixel phone, to get the beta
• New features include battery health tools and accessibility options

Android 16 Beta 3 is here, bringing a handful of new features to those participating in the Android beta program.

The new features included in Android 16 Beta 3 include a new battery health monitoring screen, new accessibility settings, and new tools to keep your local networks safe.

The beta is available to users of select Google Pixel phones who are enrolled in the Android beta program: to access Android 16 betas, you’ll need a Google Pixel 6 or more recent Google Pixel handset, such as the Google Pixel 9 or Google Pixel 9 Pro.

The stable release of Android 16 is scheduled for Q2 2025, which we’re already in. If Google sticks to its target, we should see Android 16 released by the end of June.

Until then, Android 16 Beta 3 offers users some neat new features to test out. Below, we’ve rounded up the four most useful features from the latest test version of Android.

A new battery health page

Most phone users are now aware that phone batteries are consumable components that become less effective over time, as its maximum capacity diminishes with each recharge

Android 16 Beta 3 adds a handy new way to keep track of your battery’s health, with a new screen in settings offering an estimate of your battery’s current capacity as a percentage of its total capacity when new.

As Android Authority notes, the new settings page also includes links to resources that include tips on how to preserve battery health.

In a reversal of the norm, this is a feature that iPhone users have had access to for quite some time – now Android users have more information to pair with the operating system’s existing battery preservation features, like adaptive charging.

Text outlines

(Image credit: Matthew McCollough / Google )

Text can be hard to read on a smartphone display, especially on smaller screens – luckily Android 16 Beta 3 adds a new accessibility feature that should make it easier than ever to parse through the text on screen.

The new feature replaces the current high-contrast text option with outlined text, adding a high-contrast background.

This feature is specifically aimed at users with visual impairments, but it’s available to all who might want an easier time reading on-screen text.

Audio broadcast

Another accessibility feature lands with Android 16 Beta 3, in the form of Auracast audio broadcast support.

This allows users with hearing aids and earbuds paired to their smartphone to loop into public broadcasts – examples given include airports, concerts, and classrooms.

The Android developers blog notes that this makes use of the LE Audio standard, a form of Bluetooth audio.

Network security tools

Android 16 Beta 3 also includes new tools to keep prying eyes away from your local network by altering the scope of app permissions.

As it stands, any app that has permission to access the internet can access devices and files on your local network – this beta changes this by requiring a separate permission to access local networks.

This should give users more control over how much of their information is shared between apps and services.

As mentioned, Android 16 should land on the best Android phones by the end of June. Let us know what you want to see from Google’s next mobile operating system in the comments below.

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Apple is my bread and butter. I saved up for ages as a kid to buy my first MacBook, I invested all my time as a teenager learning all there was to know about the iPhone, and I started working at the Genius Bar in my local Apple Store as a young adult.

When I got my “big break” in journalism I was thrilled to finally be able to merge my passion for tech and knowledge for Apple with my talent for writing. After working for a few years at iMore, an Apple-enthusiast site, I moved to TechRadar to cover AI, ready to take on a new challenge that I thought would, yet again, be shaped by some kind of Apple-infused impact: Apple Intelligence.

Fast forward to now, I’ve been part of the Apple Intelligence journey since day one, covering all the major AI announcements at WWDC 2024 and using Apple’s take on “AI for the rest of us.” since its very early beta days.

At first, the Apple Intelligence features were confusing, with tools scattered across the UI, but Apple’s take that AI should be there for when users need it rather than forced down their throats felt like a refreshing approach to the tech world’s favorite buzzword that’s hard to avoid.

The thing is, the more we fast forward through the first year of Apple advertising AI as the headline feature in all its hero products, the more the cracks have begun to show, and there’s no more damning visual than Apple’s need to push back (with no timeframe) the key to Apple Intelligence’s success, Siri.

(Image credit: Apple)

I was off work last week, so I missed the whole announcement of the delay to the upcoming Apple Intelligence-powered Siri where an Apple spokesperson said, “It is going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.” Off the grid, I had no idea what was waiting for me on Monday morning, and when I saw the news the disappointment hit me like a tonne of bricks.

You see, I’ve championed Apple Intelligence for months. Not so much because of its “intelligence” but because I have full belief in Apple’s ability to do something the right way, and based on the company’s track record it would’ve been a safe bet to place.

I’ve been writing about how I believed consumer AI’s success was reliant on Apple Intelligence’s success and if any company in the world could make AI make sense for my nephew and my parents alike then it would be Apple.

Over the last nine months, I’ve tested everything Apple Intelligence has to offer, from features that I’ve used once and not touched since like Writing Tools to the more endearing options like Genmoji.

When it launched I said “Apple is onto something with Genmoji, and it might just be the best Apple Intelligence feature, ready to expose other AI tools to the average customer” to this day I use the AI tool whenever regular emojis just don’t fit the situation.

But let’s be real, the Genomji, Image Playground features of the world are not needle movers, they are simply nice-to-haves that come in handy whenever you want to cheer up a friend or family member. The Siri showcased at WWDC 2024, on the other hand, is a needle mover, a system seller if you will - that would be if it actually existed.

I’ve been talking with my colleague and TechRadar’s US Managing News Editor, Jacob Krol, about this for months and how I was starting to worry about Apple Intelligence’s prowess considering we hadn’t really seen anything to suggest it was even capable of improving people’s lives in the way Apple would make you believe.

John Gruber’s damning criticism of Apple’s AI situation captured that feeling perfectly, highlighting the lack of even a guided demo or showcase of Siri 2.0 at WWDC in June or at the launch of the iPhone 16 in September, leaving the question: Does it even exist?

In recent times, Apple’s AirPower charging mat springs to mind. I remember working at the Apple Store when it was announced and the excitement from customers who wanted an easy-to-use wireless charging solution that could charge multiple devices at once. Then… nothing. AirPower was never released, and two years after its initial announcement in 2017 the product was canceled and sent into the abyss.

AirPower was a fairly niche product, unlike Apple Intelligence which Apple has been touting as the main selling point of the current best iPhones, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar

After the unveiling of the iPhone 16 in September, I wrote an article highlighting my dismay with the Apple Intelligence launch. The piece was titled “The Apple Intelligence launch is a mess – don’t buy the iPhone 16 or install iOS 18 based on the promise of what’s to come” emphasizing the fact that Apple was selling consumers a smartphone that wasn’t shipping with any of its headlining features.

I said, “This is where my bigger concern lies: the promises of what’s to come. I’ve used Apple Intelligence as part of the iOS 18.1 developer beta and I like what I’ve tried so far, but Genmoji, Image Playground, and the wonder of an actually useful Siri are all just pipedreams right now. No one outside of Apple has even seen these AI tools in the flesh; they aren’t even in beta testing yet as part of a Developer Beta.”

Since then, we’ve seen Genmoji and Image Playground, in fact, they are now available on compatible devices, but Siri (the feature we’re all waiting for) is still nowhere to be seen. It was meant to launch as part of iOS 18.4 in April or May, and I was waiting patiently, giving Apple the benefit of the doubt, hoping for Siri to bring the keys to unlock AI on the iPhone.

I’ve had countless conversations with colleagues where I’ve explained how it’s tricky to critique Apple Intelligence fairly without having all the pieces to the puzzle, and how Apple’s “beta” moniker makes it unfair to criticize. But honestly, with this Siri delay and delving deeper into the capabilities of Android with Gemini integration, I feel completely let down by Apple and I feel like it’s only right to make that clear.

If I had to describe Apple Intelligence, the umbrella term for all things AI in iPhone, iPad, and Mac, I’d call it underwhelming. There’s not one AI tool on my iPhone 16 Pro right now that fulfills Apple’s ultimate goal of simplifying life. It’s so insignificant, in fact, that I had it switched off after an update for about two weeks without even noticing the AI features were disabled.

If Siri’s Apple Intelligence upgrade was available then we’d be a step closer to the personal assistant in your pocket that everyone is hopeful for, but as it stands iPhone users and loyal Apple customers are living in the AI-less past while even non-flagship smartphones like Google’s Pixel 8a have excellent AI integration.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar

I’ll admit it, I’m sometimes blinded by the Apple bubble and therefore spend most of my life using Apple products instead of the competition. Because of that, I think sometimes Apple's aura clouds purchasing decisions and consumers miss out on the capabilities of the other side.

I know the grass isn’t always greener, but when it comes to AI it definitely is. Take Gemini in Gmail for example, which allows users to quickly ask AI to help take control of their emails right from the Gmail app, it’s a neat feature and the kind of useful AI tool that serves a purpose, not just a nice-to-have.

Gemini is integrated throughout Android 15 and now that Apple has decided to delay Siri even longer, those of us who trusted the concept of Apple Intelligence are being punished. I don’t have faith that the iPhone 16, a device sold as the best place for Apple Intelligence, will even have a Siri capable of Gemini’s prowess before the iPhone 17 launches – and that’s just not cool Apple.

We’ve become accustomed to Apple doing what’s right for its consumers and ultimately creating hardware and software that’s beautiful to look at and easy to understand. With AI it feels like Apple was blindsided and has taken for granted just how quickly artificial intelligence would become part of our daily lives.

In the past Apple has been able to hide behind limitations by marketing them with its consumers in mind: Siri isn’t as good as Alexa or Google Assistant because Apple doesn’t access your data.

But when it comes to AI, the privacy focus doesn’t bear the same weight. Competitors, while not offering the same world-class privacy and security as Apple, have caught up to a certain extent and consumers want AI that genuinely makes a difference, removing the mundane from their lives. That means that people are more likely to overlook things that might’ve been a sticking point in the past, purely to gain access to tools that significantly enhance the user experience.

I could write about this situation all day, but I’m going to push the brakes. Ultimately, Apple has overpromised and by doing so has significantly disappointed its most loyal customers. Owning a flagship iPhone with a gorgeous OLED display and an incredibly fast Apple-produced chip means nothing if the software is living in the past compared to its competitors.

Whether you like AI or not, the last year has proven that this is one of the most significant software productivity jumps we’ve ever seen, and unless Apple gets its game together it’s going to be completely left in the dust.

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