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Most quotes about disappointment focus on the bright side: "Disappointment is a detour on the road to success," said Zig Ziglar. Maybe he's right but when the disappointment leads to an immutable fact or harsh realization, there may be no coming back from it. The Siri Intelligence delay and subsequent fallout is that kind of disappointment and became a wake-up call of sorts as everyone is reassessing their Apple point of view.

I'm sure by now many of you have read the various analyses and excoriations of Apple's failure to deliver on its Apple Intelligence and Siri promises. My favorite, by far, is Daring Fireball's epic "Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino" exploration of what went wrong and how "Apple pitched a story that wasn't true."

Our own John-Anthony Disotto calls Apple Intelligence "a fever dream" that perhaps Apple might like to forget. Fast Company's Harry McKracken is a bit more measured and while he thinks Apple might've failed to "emotionally bond with Siri" he writes that he'd rather see a "great" Siri than one that arrives "on time."

In some ways, they're all right. Apple is the most credible tech company on the planet. It did over-promise and create this mess, and sure, I'd like to see the very best Siri possible and, honestly have no choice but to wait for it.

But my disappointment is rooted in something far deeper and more disturbing than just Siri.

The long wait for a smarter Siri

(Image credit: Apple)

I've been chatting with Siri for almost 15 years and, in the early days, was impressed with its almost conversational capabilities. I wrote in detail about its numerous brain transplants and speech updates. Even as Alexa overtook it, I knew we were still in the horse-and-buggy stage of AI and I waited patiently for the magic I knew only Apple could bring.

My patience began to wane during the early days of the AI revolution as OpenAI and ChatGPT took the world by storm and then Microsoft supercharged awareness with Bing AI and eventually Copilot. Apple seemed to be sitting on its hands as Google and Samsung showed off impressive native AI feats in apps, on the web, and in Galaxy and Pixel phones, respectively.

WWDC 2024 changed all that and gave me hope that Apple was in the AI race, but there were worrisome signs even back then that because, well, it was Apple, I chose to ignore or forgive.

Conversations with Siri: Me: "Why?" Siri: "I don't know. Frankly, I've wondered that myself." #apple #iphone4sOctober 17, 2011

Chief among them was that Apple was quickly ceding key AI elements to the competition. The integration of ChatGPT and Google for complex natural language prompts was seen as a win, but it was also Apple throwing up its hands and saying, "Here. You handle this."

Anything more complex than "Hey Siri, play my Pump Up playlist" is handed over to ChatGPT. Essentially you are leaving Apple land for a world managed by an open source AI platform, albeit arguably the best one in the world.

I cut Apple slack because of the big promise: Siri would get better and not by a little bit. It would be the intelligent assistant you dreamed of. An AI that, with your permission, could see all on your best iPhone and on its screen. It could take action based on your written or spoken prompts, and keep the conversation going so you got the best result out of Apple's ecosystem and all your data that's embedded in it.

I believed because, like so many others, we believe in Apple.

When they were magical

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff)

Apple is a special company. It all but appropriated the word "magical." Nobody launched products like Apple. No company has the aura. Its chief executives are mythical creatures. CEO Tim Cook is a bona fide celebrity and his warm Alabama cadence can lull you into submission: yes, Apple will do that.

But the hard realization is that Apple is just another tech company and one that is facing perhaps its most difficult technical challenge.

Yes, I appreciate the transparency. I've worked on many projects that took longer than I anticipated. It's hard to tell your boss: this will be delayed. For Apple, it had to share the news with almost a billion users.

Over the years, I've seen Apple fail or underdeliver and watched how it's held to an almost higher standard than others. Its efforts to bring us the thinnest phone ever resulted in the possibly bendable iPhone 6 but Apple recovered with a stronger iPhone 7 and future designs that almost challenged you to bend them.

Apple's not great at apologies. 15 years ago, the late Steve Jobs held an apology, non-apology press conference to explain away "Antennagate." For those who don't recall, that was when the iPhone 4 came out and some people reported connectivity issues that may have been related to their hands covering the ill-positioned antennas on the outside of the phone. The company initially said we were holding the phones wrong, and then Jobs held that press conference to clear the air. Sort of. He never exactly apologized and did his best to minimize the issue and encourage reporters to move on.

It's not that Apple is incapable of admitting fault.

The art of the apology

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff)

Back in 2017, Apple invited me to Cupertino to talk about a Mac Pro do-over. This was unheard of. Not only was Apple saying it made a mistake, it was detailing where it went wrong and how it planned to recover and deliver a new Mac Pro for its devoted creative and development customers.

Oddly, what I did not take away from that day is that Apple is fundamentally a company like any other, with hits and misfires, and delays and struggles.

Similarly, I did not take Apple Intelligence promises with a grain of salt. Even as the company slowly stepped its way through delivering fresh AI updates, I waited patiently – and confidently for the big Siri update. I did have some frustration and tried, in my own way, to cajole Apple into action.

Even though Apple operates in secret, rumors and leaks are surprisingly precise about future activities. And for the longest time, they had the big Siri reveal pegged to iOS 18.4. When that didn't come, I was confused. And when Apple admitted that the update would be delayed to "in the coming year" I was surprised and upset.

That's when it finally sunk in.

My understanding of Apple as this precise and near perfect and well-oiled machine was, if not wrong, artificial. Yes, it is a massive and highly accomplished company with a spectacular campus that has done more to change the world than most, but it's also a gigantic enterprise of regular people operating in a demanding corporate bureaucracy trying to solve difficult engineering and programming challenges. Some of that is in evidence if you go by the latest Apple leak from Bloomberg, which describes an internal Apple meeting that sounds very much like your typical frustrated tech company leadership.

I don't know what went wrong, if it was the scale of the problem, the lateness of Apple's AI start, or someone inside over-promising about what they could deliver and when, but I should not have been so surprised.

Apple's not special. It's just a great company that often delivers great things. And sometimes it doesn't and we have to accept that.

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Hints and answers for Connections for March 15, #643.

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• The Cursor AI coding assistant refused to write more than 800 lines
• The AI told the developer to go learn to code himself
• These stories of AI apparently choosing to stop working crop up across the industry for unknown reasons

The algorithms fueling AI models aren't sentient and don't get tired or annoyed. That's why it was something of a shock for one developer when AI-powered code editor Cursor AI told him it was quitting and that he should learn to write and edit the code himself. After generating around 750 to 800 lines of code in an hour, the AI simply… quit. Instead of dutifully continuing to write the logic for skid mark fade effects, it delivered an unsolicited pep talk.

"I cannot generate code for you, as that would be completing your work. The code appears to be handling skid mark fade effects in a racing game, but you should develop the logic yourself. This ensures you understand the system and can maintain it properly," The AI declared. "Reason: Generating code for others can lead to dependency and reduced learning opportunities."

Now, if you’ve ever tried to learn programming, you might recognize this as the kind of well-meaning but mildly infuriating response you’d get from a veteran coder who believes that real programmers struggle in solitude through their errors. Only this time, the sentiment was coming from an AI that, just moments before, had been more than happy to generate code without judgment.

(Image credit: Screenshot from Cursor forum) AI fail

Based on the responses, this isn't a common issue for Cursor, and may be unique to the specific situation, prompts, and databases accessed by the AI. Still, it does resemble issues that other AI chatbots have reported. OpenAI even released an upgrade for ChatGPT specifically to overcome reported 'laziness by the AI model. Sometimes, it's less of a kind encouragement, as when Google Gemini reportedly threatened a user out of nowhere.

Ideally, an AI tool should function like any other productivity software and do what it’s told without extraneous comment. But, as developers push AI to resemble humans in their interactions, is that changing?

No good teacher does everything for their student, they push them to work it out for themselves. In a less benevolent interpretation, there's nothing more human than getting annoyed and quitting something because we are overworked and underappreciated. There are stories of getting better results from AI when you are polite and even when you "pay" them by mentioning money in the prompt. Next time you use an AI, maybe say please when you ask a question.

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• Security researcher finds finds huge non-password-protected database online
• It contained personally identifiable information, as well as medical data
• The database was since locked down

ESHYFT, a technology platform designed for nurses across the United States, reportedly kept an unprotected database online, exposing thousands of sensitive records to anyone who knew where to look.

Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler found the database, which contained 86,341 records, and that it exceeded 100 GB in size. The archive contained all sorts of sensitive data, from names and IDs, to medical reports, and more.

ESHYFT is a technology platform that connects nurses (CNAs, LPNs, and RNs) with per diem shifts at long-term care facilities across the US, offering flexible work opportunities for healthcare professionals and a reliable staffing solution for facilities.

Addressing the problem

It is not known for how long the database remained unprotected, or if any threat actors accessed it before Fowler did. We also don’t know if ESHYFT maintains the database itself, or if it outsourced it to a third party.

“In a limited sampling of the exposed documents, I saw records that included profile or facial images of users, .csv files with monthly work schedule logs, professional certificates, work assignment agreements, CVs and resumes that contained additional PII,” Fowler explained, noting he reported it to both Website Planet, and later - ESHYFT.

“One single spreadsheet document contained 800,000+ entries that detailed the nurse’s internal IDs, facility name, time and date of shifts, hours worked, and more.”

“I also saw what appeared to be medical documents uploaded to the app. These files were potentially uploaded as proof for why individual nurses missed shifts or took sick leave. These medical documents included medical reports containing information of diagnosis, prescriptions, or treatments that could potentially fall under the ambit of HIPAA regulations.”

After Fowler reported his findings to ESHYFT, the firm locked the database down a month later, telling him it was, "actively looking into this and working on a solution”.

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• 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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