Technology

• Arm could be gearing up to make its own CPUs, competing with its own customers
• Report says Arm is quietly poaching talent from its own partners
• SoftBank's $6.5 billion Ampere buyout could be the push Arm needs

Arm has built a solid business designing microprocessor architectures, such as ARMv9, and licensing the IP to big players like Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, Nvidia, AMD, and AWS - but what it doesn’t do is make and sell its own chips, although this could be about to change.

It has long been rumored Arm is considering making its own silicon, and it now appears the British firm is finally taking steps in that direction.

Arm’s Japanese owner, SoftBank, is set to acquire Ampere Computing, Arm's only independent server chip vendor, for $6.5 billion, a move which could help Arm expand its footprint in the competitive data center and AI markets and pave the way for the company to build its own chips, but it’s a risky strategy. This quest for higher profits could put it in competition with some of its larger customers, including Qualcomm and AMD.

Looking to poach staff

Much of Arm’s success stems from the fact that its partners view it as a neutral force in the industry, rather than a competitor. If Arm begins to build its own silicon, that perception will change - and, as a Reuters report citing anonymous sources and a reviewed document suggests, it could upend the industry. Companies that license Arm's IP will have to consider whether they want to continue doing business with a direct competitor. RISC-V could really benefit here.

According to the report, Arm is actively seeking to recruit staff from its own customers, as well as competing with some of them for deals as it moves towards the goal of selling its own CPUs.

The document that Reuters reviewed reportedly states in November 2024, a recruiter working for Arm sent a message to an unnamed executive at an unnamed Arm client, seeking to hire employees to assist with its "transformation from solely designing processor architecture (IP) to also selling its own silicon, with a focus on driving AI enablement in the data center" and on other devices.

Two industry sources also told Reuters Arm recruiters have been reaching out to other chip designers in Silicon Valley for the same purpose.

Arm’s ambitions may extend further still. According to a research note published by J.P. Morgan analyst Harlan Sur, Broadcom has won a contract from Arm and SoftBank to develop a custom-built AI chip for data centers, potentially bringing Arm into competition with Nvidia.

A spokesperson for Arm declined to comment on the Reuters report.

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• We could be seeing a new Xe3P architecture for Intel's rumored next-gen 'Celestial' GPUs
• Rumors hint at Intel potentially using an in-house INTC process instead of the usual TSMC
• This could lead to stronger competition against AMD and Nvidia as Intel may be making a bigger effort on its GPUs

Intel's recent Battlemage GPUs have been received well by budget PC gamers, with the Arc B580 and Arc B570 providing great performance at 1440p and 1080p respectively - however, it doesn't stop there for Team Blue, as reports suggest it has new tricks up its sleeve for its next-gen 'Celestial' GPUs.

According to Raichu in a post on X that appears to have been removed (reported by VideoCardz), Team Blue's new discrete GPUs known as Arc Celestial will be based on Xe3P architecture rather than Xe3. Raichu also hints at Intel using its INTC in-house process instead of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) who are responsible for helping build chips for multiple tech giants, which is used for most GPUs such as Nvidia's recent RTX 5000 series lineup, as well as Intel's Arc B580 and B570. Moving in-house will give Intel more control over the chips, and it also means they don't have to wait for TSMC to fulfill orders from its many other customers, many of whom are direct competitors to Intel.

A new architecture can bring significant performance improvements and increased power efficiency to next-gen GPUs, like we’ve seen previously with Nvidia’s move from Ada Lovelace (for the RTX 4000 series) to Blackwell (for the RTX 5000 series). New technologies like AI upscaling, data processing, and frame generation become possible, which sounds promising for the rumored Xe3P architecture.

VideoCardz highlighted a LinkedIn profile of an Intel engineer who was revealed to be working on the rumored architecture, further corroborating reports of its development for the Celestial GPUs. It seems as though it's being developed alongside Xe3+ and Xe3 (codenames for architectures developed by Intel) but since this is still just a rumor, take it with a grain of salt.

There's no doubt that Nvidia remains the market leader in graphics cards (despite some ongoing concerns about RTX 5000 series GPUs), but there's a chance its rival AMD could begin to close the gap soon. Intel still has some work to do to get closer to both Team Green and Team Red in terms of competition - and while it's unlikely the purported Celestial GPUs will launch anytime soon since Intel's Battlemage GPUs were released just a few months ago, these rumors are still pretty exciting for anyone who’d like the GPU market to have more competition and choice.

(Image credit: Future/Shutterstock) Road to high-end GPUs for Intel?

Nvidia’s been the GPU market leader for a long, long time now, and while AMD has been trying hard to close the gap with the likes of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX (competing with the RTX 4080 Super), it's not been enough to outperform its rival's products.

Despite this, AMD is the only real 'threat' to Nvidia’s GPU throne right now even with its clear focus on midrange graphics cards this generation, and its new Radeon RX 9000 series looks promising considering the negative consensus surrounding Nvidia's generational uplift from the RTX 4000 series (especially with the pricing of the new GPUs).

Intel still has a long journey ahead if it wants to catch up to both since the recent Arc B580 and Arc B570 are considered midrange GPUs. While it’s provided a great option for budget PC gamers, it doesn't match up to the popularity of Team Green’s GPUs, and that looks set to continue if the hype about the upcoming RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 are anything to go by. Regardless, the only way is up which is great because Team Green needs more competition - as that means (hopefully) more innovation and more competitive prices for us consumers.

We've yet to see what Team Blue can produce when it comes to high-end GPUs, but based on the affordability of its Battlemage offerings, I'm very keen to see what this will mean once it can focus on providing even stronger GPUs for gamers...

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• One Reddit user accidentally activated Emergency SOS and shared a naked video of themself with their emergency contacts
• This embarrassing (and amusing) story has made some consider turning Emergency SOS off on their Android phone
• You could instead change your SOS settings to make it harder to activate, or set it to not share video and audio

Emergency SOS features on our phones have been cited as being life-saving, but accidental activations could be life-ruining if you have an experience like that of one unlucky Reddit user, who accidentally sent their 12 emergency contacts a naked video of themself. Thankfully, you don’t need to switch the setting off to help you avoid the same embarrassment.

The ordeal occurred over the weekend when, in an effort to switch off their morning phone alarm, user AssistancePretend668 says they accidentally activated Emergency SOS – they suspect by pressing their phone’s power button five times. The alarm became a whirring siren and their phone screen alerted them that it was calling 911 and sending out information to their emergency contacts.

They scrambled to cancel Emergency SOS, but in doing so picked up their phone without knowing the feature starts capturing a video which it then sends to all of their emergency contacts. Combine this with the fact that the user says they sleep without any clothes on, and the result is their contacts were sent a video of their friend completely naked.

If you want a good laugh, the full post on Reddit and the replies in the thread are worth a read – especially knowing that after the situation was explained everyone involved also found it hilarious – but you might well be wondering what you can do to avoid finding yourself in a similar situation.

How to change your Emergency SOS settings

(Image credit: Samsung)

Some obvious, but not overly useful, suggestions would be to switch off Emergency SOS, use a different device as your alarm, or to always sleep with clothes on, but there are some Emergency SOS settings you can change instead to help you avoid disaster.

One is setting your phone to require a secondary action after pressing your power button five times before it goes into emergency mode, instead of this being automatic. On Pixel this requires you to touch and hold an icon on your phone screen for a couple of seconds, while on Samsung this requires you to swipe up on the phone symbol onscreen, as when answering a call.

A second option is to change which details emergency contacts receive. If you’d prefer, you can set it so that your device won’t send audio recordings, pictures, or video of your emergency to contacts. The disadvantage of turning this off is that these auto recordings make it easy to show and explain your situation without needing to type out a bespoke message – so keep that in mind if you are thinking of turning it off.

A third option is changing who's on your emergency contacts list so you limit who receives your details and videos. All three of these settings can be tweaked in your Settings app – search for Emergency SOS and then alter the settings in the Emergency SOS and Emergency Sharing sub-menus.

A final suggestion is to turn on your phone’s ability to switch off an alarm simply by telling it “Stop”. This runs the risk of your still half-asleep self cutting your alarm off early, but because it’s a hands-free approach you won’t run the risk of accidentally inputting your Emergency SOS . Though it can be temperamental, and if “Stop” doesn’t work you will still need to take a more hands-on approach to switching off your alarm.

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• Meta confirms Project Waterworth subsea cable plans
• The cable will span 50,000km and reach around the entire world
• It will be the longest cable in the world – previous record holder was… Meta

Facebook parent company Meta has lifted the wraps off its plans to build an extensive 50,000km subsea cable that will connect five continents and span the entire globe.

The news comes just a few months after we first learned the company had plans to build a subsea cable network at the cost of $10 billion.

Project Waterworth, which Meta says is a multibillion-dollar, multi-year investment, will center around a cable that’s longer than the earth is round.

Meta will build a subsea cable to span the globe

VP for Network Engineering Gaya Nagarajan and Global Head of Network Investments Alex-Handrah Aimé shared in an announcement the cable will become the world’s longest and that it would feature the “highest-capacity technology available.”

Project Waterworth aims to connect the US, India, Brazil, South Africa and “other key regions,” and has been described as an “investment to strengthen the scale and reliability of the world’s digital highways by opening three new oceanic corridors with the abundant, high-speed connectivity needed to drive AI innovation around the world.”

It might be Meta’s biggest, but it’s certainly not its first. The company has developed 20 other cables over the years, including an extended version of its ‘2Africa’ network which was the previous record holder, at 45,000km.

The cable network, which will loop south of Africa and cut through the center of Asia and Australasia, will be laid at depths of up to 7,000m.

Besides giving Meta greater control over its network infrastructure, Nagarajan and Aimé stated that improved connectivity will help provide opportunities for technological development in countries like India, where significant growth and investment in digital infrastructure have already played out.

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• Google Freeplay is axing some TV channels, and bringing back others
• Out TV Proud and Shades of Black both return after a few weeks away
• Freeplay's channel list has still shrunk overall

Google TV users may notice a few changes to the platform’s Freeplay service this month, with a number of free TV channels leaving and arriving in quick succession.

We’re saying goodbye to some seasonal Christmas channels, including Xumo Holiday Movie Channel, Xumo Holiday Classics, and Xumo Christian Christmas – all of which arrived in time for the Christmas season and are unlikely to see much traction for the coming nine months (via 9to5Google). Although, honestly, we all know people who would happily watch those Hallmark holiday movies all year round, don't we…

But for anyone sad about losing some free channels, there is some good news here too. A pair of channels that were removed from Freeplay earlier in February are now returning to the service to make up for it. After a brief absence, Shades of Black – the "Black culture, entertainment and lifestyle" channel formerly known as Fuse Beat – is now back on Freeplay, alongside the LGBTQ+ network Out TV Proud.

These channels were part of a major cull to Google TV’s Freeplay, alongside The Hill TV, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan, the Dove Channel, Comedy Dynamics, the Bob Ross Channel, Dazn Ringside, and Dazn Women’s Football. However, it seems like their absence only lasted a couple of weeks, even if the remaining seven channels are still nowhere to be seen. (We’ll miss you, Bob Ross).

Google Freeplay now has around 160 free channels after a major cull earlier in 2025. (Image credit: Google / 9to5google) What's the issue?

Google TV Freeplay is a big perk for US customers using Google’s smart TV operating system, packing in over 160 free channels that cover everything from documentary channels and sports to Bollywood movies and true crime.

2024 saw a steady increase in the number of channels available, eventually peaking around 170, though it seems Google is starting to curate that list a little more intentionally in the new year.

Freeplay is just one of the major players in FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming Television) these days. TV viewers can now watch oodles of free TV shows and films on the likes of Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV, Tubi, and The Roku Channel.

As Netflix raises its subscription prices once again, and it becomes even harder to juggle all the best TV shows across a splintered streaming market, many people are embracing free, ad-supported TV that doesn’t put a big monthly dent in their spending budget.

And as long as your favorite channels don’t suddenly disappear, there should still be plenty of Google TV Freeplay for you to enjoy throughout 2025. Let’s just hope Google’s AI news summaries don’t end up replacing them.

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Flagship smartphones are becoming more homogenous with every passing year, but Honor’s latest special edition device, the Porsche Design Honor Magic 7 RSR, stands out like a neon-colored sports car in a public library parking lot.

The third collaboration between Honor and the German design studio after last year’s Magic 6 RSR and the foldable Magic V2 RSR, the Magic 7 RSR is essentially a souped-up version of the Honor Magic 7 Pro, which we described in our review as “an outstanding phone that impresses in almost every area.”

Not content to rest on its laurels, Honor has worked with Porsche Design to sportify the design of the Magic 7 Pro, but it’s also thrown in some important spec upgrades to justify the RSR’s £1,549 (around $1,950 / AU$3,050) price tag – one of which blows the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and more of the best phones out of the water.

On the aesthetic front, the Magic 7 RSR features a sleek design that’s inspired, of course, by Porsche cars, specifically the Taycan Turbo S. The phone’s distinctive hexagonal camera module resembles Porsche’s iconic headlight design, and a streamlined Peak Line makes the RSR look like it’s been built for a wind tunnel.

As for colors, the Magic 7 RSR is available in Agate Grey and Provence, and we were sent the second of those two shades for the unboxing video above.

Away from the phone’s design, the Honor Magic 7 RSR improves on the standard Magic 7 Pro by offering a massive 24GB of RAM (yes, 24GB of RAM) and 1TB of storage. For context, that’s double the amount of RAM you’ll find in the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and equal to the max storage capacities available for both the Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

In fact, if you were to combine the respective RAM capacities of the Galaxy S25 Ultra (12GB) and iPhone 16 Pro Max (8GB), the Magic 7 RSR would still offer 4GB more. Admittedly, there are almost no smartphone tasks that require 24GB of RAM (here’s an explanation of what RAM is used for in smartphones), but kudos to Honor for future-proofing the Magic 7 RSR to such an absurd degree.

The Honor Magic 7 RSR in Agate Grey (left) and Provence (right) (Image credit: Honor)

The Chinese mobile maker has boosted the Magic 7 RSR’s camera system, too. Compared to its standard sibling, the new phone gets a larger telephoto aperture – which Honor says is the largest in the whole smartphone industry – and an upgraded LiDAR Matrix Autofocus System for improved focusing accuracy and tracking range.

The brand also says the RSR features “additional dual electromagnetic focus actuators for precision,” which sounds like something out of a James Bond movie.

All told, then, the Porsche Design Honor Magic 7 RSR is an absolute beast of a smartphone. Sure, it’s expensive, but no more so than the 1TB version of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it’s actually cheaper than the 1TB version of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, despite offering significantly more RAM. Heck, by that metric, it’s basically a bargain!

The Honor Magic 7 RSR is available now in the UK and Europe.

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• Users are reporting charging issues with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and S25 Plus
• The problem seems to stem from using a 5A USB-C cable with a 45W charger
• Samsung claims to be working on a fix, but in the meantime, there are several possible temporary solutions

If you’re the lucky owner of a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus, you may have encountered an issue that's left you feeling not so lucky. Users are reporting that these devices are charging far slower than the advertised 45W speed, or in some cases, not charging at all.

There are reports of this problem on Reddit and Samsung’s own community forums (as spotted by Android Police), but both the culprit and a temporary solution seem to have been identified.

Most of the charging issues seem to be encountered by people using Samsung’s 45W charger in tandem with the 5A USB-C cable that comes included with the Galaxy S25. However, in a post on X, Samsung Italia has suggested that using the included 3A cable, instead, should solve the problem.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future) A software solution

It’s not clear whether this solution is working for everyone or not, but hopefully a more permanent fix will arrive soon; in the same post, Samsung Italia said that the issue would be fixed with a future software update.

Since that post, the first software update has started rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, and it mentions improvements to charging, though doesn’t say whether this bug, in particular, has been squashed.

So, if you’ve encountered this issue, be sure to download this update – in fact, you should do that anyway, as it includes other bug fixes and security patches too.

If that doesn’t work, see if switching to a 3A cable helps. Some posts suggest you could also try using a slower charging brick or turning off the super-fast charging feature on your Galaxy S25 device, and if all else fails, you could always switch to using wireless charging until there’s a proper fix.

But if you have a Samsung Galaxy S25, specifcially – rather than an S25 Plus or Ultra – you shouldn’t have to do anything, as the base model appears unaffected – presumably because its charging speed tops out at 25W rather than 45W.

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The White Lotus might just have the best theme tune in all of television, making it one of only a handful of shows where I won't skip the opening credits. That was until The White Lotus season 3 aired on Max last night, and the new theme tune not only didn't capture the heights of its predecessor, but was met with pure disappointment from some fans of the award-winning series.

While I fully expect Mike White's third season to continue on the trend of being one of the best Max shows, its theme tune was iconic – no other TV show's opening tune quite hit like that of The White Lotus season 2's. In fact, the second season's theme tune was an altered version of the original found in season 1. That clever continuity was something fans of the series expected to hear in episode one aptly titled 'Same Spirits, New Forms', but instead were met with a more subdued, and frankly disappointing theme tune.

The disappointment was documented in real-time on Reddit, where one user created a thread anticipating the start of the show titled "Most excited for the theme song!"

Most excited for the theme song! from r/TheWhiteLotusHBO

Within minutes of the new season airing, fans flocked to the thread commenting just how disappointed they were with the new theme song. One person said: "Not to be dramatic but the new theme song has quite literally ruined my whole weekend." Another replied, "What is this!!! I was shocked as it continued with no changes, I was expecting a needle drop literally until the last second."

Another added: "My disappointment is immeasurable." While one fan thought the show creators were in fact playing with the audience, "I think they're playing us with that intro to get our reactions. I wonder whether it's a meta-game to get the viewers to complain like the guests at The White Lotus".

It's fair to say I share a similar sentiment to the pretty devastated Reddit users who crave The White Lotus' opening credits. Throughout seasons 1 and 2, that theme tune was the source of many head bops in my living room, and the extended version by Cristobal Tapia De Veer was one of my most-listened songs on Spotify in 2022.

It's just a song though, right?

As I'm based in the UK, I've yet to watch the first two episodes of The White Lotus season 3, and while I'm still excited for the new story and cast, I can't help but feel disappointed at the theme tune overhaul.

Yes, the theme tune changed from season to season, but it had continuity and a sort of remix element that made it feel very 'The White Lotus'. This new song just kind of feels out of place, and unless it adapts throughout season 3, I'm likely to start skipping it like every other TV show I watch.

The White Lotus season three is set in Thailand and has a star-studded cast, including Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Blackpink's Lalisa Manobal and Natasha Rothwell.

I'm still excited to watch the new season this evening, although I fully expect I'll be humming along the 'LOOLOOLOOLOOLOOOOLOOOOOS' from the old theme tunes as I click play.

The first two episodes of The White Lotus season 3 are streaming on Max in the US, Sky and NOW in the UK, and Foxtel and Binge in Australia.

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Welcome to our liveblog for Apple's first big launch of 2025, which takes place this Wednesday February 19. The rumors are pointing towards the arrival of a mid-range iPhone SE 4 – but could there be more? We're rounding up of the latest news and rumors here.

The iPhone SE 4 has been strongly rumored for weeks, with leaked images and case photos giving us a taste of what to expect. In short, it looks like we'll get a rebooted iPhone 14 with a tempting price tag.

This all means that Apple's mid-range phone looks like a shoo-in for the launch announced by Tim Cook last week (we don't yet have a time for the announcement). But could Apple be planning to announce something more? The teaser is vague and we have also seen rumors that an AirTag 2 and new HomePod are due sometime in 2025.

Join us we piece together all of the latest rumors about the iPhone SE 4 and more ahead of Apple's unusual February 19 event...

The latest news

• Apple's has officially announced a launch for Wednesday February 19
• Leaked images and rumors suggest we'll see a new iPhone SE 4 (or 16E)
• Other rumors suggest the Vision Pro will get an Apple Intelligence update

(Image credit: Apple / Future)

Welcome to our iPhone SE 4 liveblog

Hello, I'm Mark Wilson (TechRadar's senior news editor) and will be running our iPhone SE 4 and Apple liveblog for the next few hours. I've just realized I bought my first iPhone (the 3GS) a worrying 16 years ago, but these iPhone SE 4 rumors show just how much we can now expect from a 'mid-range' phone.

The SE 4 looks almost certain to arrive on February 19, and it seems we can expect an A18 chip, 8GB RAM and a 48MP camera. But else might it have, and will Apple have any surprises in store? That's what we'll be discovering here in this by-the-minute analysis of all the latest rumors around Apple's first big launch of 2025...

What does Apple's teaser tell us?

Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch pic.twitter.com/0ML0NfMeduFebruary 13, 2025

First off, what can we tell from the only official evidence we have so far about Apple's launch? Tim Cook's shiny Apple logo doesn't give a lot away, but the internet has some compelling theories.

Firstly, the tagline "get ready to meet the newest member of the family" does tally with the iPhone SE 4 rumors. It'd be part of the iPhone family, but does that also hint at a rebrand? The iPhone SE 3 was simply the iPhone SE (2022) and there have also been rumors it might be called the iPhone 16E.

The circle around the logo could also be hinting at the new SE's single camera, or the move away from a physical home button. It does also look a lot like an AirTag, but an AirTag 2 is expected to be a little further off...

What might the iPhone SE 4 look like?

Are you ready for iPhone SE 4? pic.twitter.com/ohacicAvgBFebruary 10, 2025

We don't yet know whether it'll be called the iPhone SE 4 or iPhone 16E, but is this the design of Apple's mid-range phone?

These images (or perhaps best-guess renders) shared by leaker Majin Bu are the closest thing we have to peek at the phone's possible design. They certainly match previous leaks; it has a notch, a flat metal frame and a single-lens camera.

There's also a customizable action button (a nice bonus for a more affordable iPhone). The notch means this should also be the first SE model with Face ID, which is a nice time-saver on my iPhone 16 Pro. If this is all true, it could prove popular – if the price is right...

Will the new iPhone SE get a price hike?

(Image credit: Apple / Future)

One slightly less exciting rumor we've heard about the SE 4 is that it could be a bit pricier than its predecessor – and perhaps even a lot pricier.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the new mid-ranger could land towards the upper end of previous estimates, in the ballpark of $500 / £500 / AU$800. For comparison, the current iPhone SE cost $429 / £419 / AU$719 when it landed three years ago.

Inflation means that price is about $465 / £465 in today's money, so that rumored figure would (if true) represent a fairly big price hike.

The SE 4 would still qualify as mid-range in Apple's world, of course, but as my colleague Jamie Richards (our Mobile Computing Staff Writer) has compellingly argued, it wouldn't represent such good value compared to the best cheap phones on Android. Hmm, decisions...

The iPhone lineup could get a rejig on Wednesday

(Image credit: Apple / Future)

Apple is pushing Apple Intelligence quite hard – and this rumored iPhone SE refresh is part of that plan. With an A18 chip and 8GB RAM, it's expected to be the cheapest way of getting Apple's AI features (on an iPhone, at least).

But what might that mean for the current iPhone lineup? It's definitely possible that the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus might disappear to be replaced by the iPhone SE 4 (or iPhone 16E). Neither of those phones support Apple Intelligence, so would become a tougher sell.

Then again, the base iPhone 15 doesn't support Apple Intelligence either, leaving it in something of a no-man's land. It's all a bit of a mess, so I'm interested to see if and how Apple shakes up the whole iPhone lineup on Wednesday.

What to expect on Wednesday

(Image credit: Apple / Future)

The iPhone SE 4 (or iPhone 16E) looks a banker for Apple's launch on Wednesday 19, but can we expect any extra surprises?

Tim Cook's "newest member of the family" line has led to some speculating that we might see an entirely new product – like its rumored smart home hub. After all, the iPhone SE 4 would be more of an update than a 'new' addition to Apple's family.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a pretty reliable source of rumors, has been increasingly confident that we'll see Apple's home hub – effectively a HomePod with a screen – sometime in 2025. But this February launch appears to be too early for it.

Given the unusual timing of the event – February is a rarity for Apple – I still think it's most likely to be an iPhone SE 4 or 16E, perhaps alongside a smaller announcement like the mooted Apple Intelligence upgrade for the Vision Pro.

Then again, I've been wrong with Apple before – like the time in 2007 when I scoffed at my then-editor's suggestion that Apple was going to launch a phone...

This 800-degree countertop pizza oven nails crust but can’t air fry or toast bagels well enough to be your everything.

• Apple Intelligence rumored to roll out as part of visionOS 2.4 in April
• The developer beta could arrive for the Apple Vision Pro this week
• AI tools such as Writing Tools, Genmoji, and Image Playground are coming to Apple's mixed-reality headset

The Apple Vision Pro, Apple's mixed-reality headset, is getting Apple Intelligence – and it could arrive in beta on the device as soon as this week.

The Vision Pro is Apple's most expensive consumer product, starts at $3,499 / £3,499 / $5,999, but it currently has no Apple AI features, despite visionOS 2.0 being revealed at WWDC 2024 alongside Apple Intelligence. Now rumors hint at the arrival of Apple's AI suite in visionOS 2.4, which could be released in April.

According to Mark Gurman, writing for Bloomberg, "The company aims to roll out Apple Intelligence as part of a visionOS 2.4 software upgrade targeted for as early as April, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The enhancements will become available in beta for developers as soon as this week, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing details of the update that aren’t yet public."

According to Gurman, the developer beta of visionOS 2.4, which his sources say could arrive this week, will include Apple Intelligence features such as Writing Tools, Genmoji, and Image Playground. Gurman says, "It’s the first time Apple is expanding its artificial intelligence tools from the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Because the headset includes a Mac M2 chip and 16 gigabytes of memory, it’s able to support the on-device AI processing."

Too little too late for Vision Pro?

It's fair to say that the hype around the Apple Vision Pro faded relatively quickly after launch. From influencers using the headset in public places like the NYC subway to articles about how the device improved working from home, there was huge anticipation for Apple's eye-wateringly expensive device.

Fast forward just over a year and the Vision Pro barely makes the headlines, with the headset failing to generate interest among average consumer. So could Apple Intelligence change Apple's fortunes when it comes to Vision Pro? There were reports in October that Apple was scaling back production due to poor sales, and it will be hoping that an infusion of AI will help to rekindle interest in the device.

Apple Intelligence on the Vision Pro could be a very interesting proposition, although it might highlight Apple AI's shortcomings, including the lack of properly AI-powered Siri. That said, Apple is due to roll out a major AI overhaul of Siri with iOS 18.4 in the coming weeks, and if these reports are accurate the new and smarter Siri could be coming to the Vision Pro, as well as to iPhones.

Apple Intelligence might not make the Vision Pro a success, but it does show that Apple still cares about its mixed-reality headset, and with WWDC 2025 just around the corner, this could be the spark of energy the headset needs before an even bigger software upgrade later this year.

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• Grok 3 is being released at 8.00pm PT
• It will have improved reasoning computational power and adaptability
• Musk says it will be more reliable

People may be ditching X for Bluesky at record levels , but Elon Musk’s attempt to turn X into a serious AI platform is still going strong with the release of a new Grok version 3.

According to Reuters, Grok 3 is due to be released at 8.00pm Pacific Time today. In a call addressing the World Governments Summit in Dubai last week Musk described Grok 3 as “scary smart”, saying it represented a major step forward over Grok 2 with improved reasoning, computational power and adaptability.

Hinting that his latest chatbot can now compete with ChatGPT and DeepSeek, Musk continued: "Grok 3 has very powerful reasoning capabilities, so in the tests that we've done thus far, Grok 3 is outperforming anything that's been released, that we're aware of, so that's a good sign”.

Fewer hallucinations

In the call Musk also talked about Grok 3’s ability to reduce the curse of AI chatbots, the errors that creep into AI – often called 'hallucinations' – by going back and forth through the data and tries to achieve logical consistency, so if it has wrong data that doesn’t fit reality, it will reflect on it and remove the error.

He also revealed that Grok 3 has been trained using more computational power than any other Grok model so far, and that a lot of synthetic data has been used in the training process.

There’s no news yet on Grok’s most controversial feature, its image generation capability, and how this will be improved or enhanced in Grok 3. xAI offers some of the best photorealistic image rendering around thanks to its use of the Flux AI model, and in December announced that it was using a new model Auroria image model.

In a statement xAI said: “Aurora is an autoregressive mixture-of-experts network trained to predict the next token from interleaved text and image data. We trained the model on billions of examples from the internet, giving it a deep understanding of the world. As a result, it excels at photorealistic rendering and precisely following text instructions. Beyond text, the model also has native support for multimodal input, allowing it to take inspiration from or directly edit user-provided images.”

Grok differs from other AI image generators because it enables you to create images of celebrities, cartoon superheros and politicians, seemingly without restriction.

Grok can be accessed through Musk’s X social media platform, even on the free tier, but it also has a native app for mobile devices and recently added image analysis to its list of features. Premium and Premium+ users get higher usage limits. It's not currently clear if Grok 3 will initially be available free to all users or just Premium and Premium+ users.

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• Ransomware attacks increased fourfold in 2024, Barracuda report claims
• The rise was made possible by increase in RaaS providers
• The attacks have also gotten faster, report says

Ransomware attacks increased four-fold in the span of a year, likely driven by the increase in ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) offerings, new research has claimed.

A new in-depth analysis published by cybersecurity researchers from the Barracuda Managed XDR team analyzed 11 trillion IT events logged to identify potential risks. A million indeed were malicious, and of those - 16,812 were confirmed attacks that required immediate defensive action.

While most attack types (DDoS, malware, phishing, etc.) were largely stable compared to previous years, and spread relatively evenly across months, ransomware stands out. According to the findings, the number of these attacks increased fourfold over 2024. Although they cannot be absolutely certain, the researchers believe the rise is driven by the prevalence of ransomware-as-a-service offerings.

Speeding up

“The developers behind RaaS platforms often have the time, resources, and skills to invest heavily in advanced and evasive toolsets and templates,” it was said in the report. “The RaaS operational model also extends the pool of attackers deploying ransomware, bringing it within reach of anyone willing to lease and leverage the kits.”

Another notable finding is that cyberattacks are getting faster. Barracuda’s researchers said that advances in security tools and strategies allow security pros to detect attacks more easily, and remove them from the network faster. In response, the attackers accelerated their attacks, increasing risks, as well.

All this means it’s never been this important for organizations to implement effective and comprehensive security, Barracuda concludes.

That includes robust multi-factor authentication, different access controls, and a “solid approach” to patch management and data protection. To round it all off, businesses should regularly train their employees in cybersecurity awareness.

“Attackers will exploit every security gap they find to further their attacks,” Barracuda concludes. Businesses should respond with a “comprehensive XDR solution” that integrates network, endpoint, server, cloud, and email security.

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• Rule changes see AWS forced to step down from the CISPE board
• The company will remain a member of the group
• Microsoft is also a newly added member

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has stepped down from the board of CISPE (cloud infrastructure service providers in Europe) after a change of rules meaning only European-based companies can serve.

Per the new rules, non-European cloud vendors with a revenue of more than €10 billion can still participate, but only as non-voting members.

At the same time, CISPE introduced a Sovereignty and Strategic Autonomy Committee designed to cater to the growing demand for European cloud infrastructure and AI solutions.

AWS forced to step down from CISPE board

A CISPE spokesperson commented: “This shift comes at a critical time with concern over economic and geopolitical dependencies becoming more pronounced. The urgent need for a resilient, competitive, and independent European cloud ecosystem has never been clearer.”

CISPE promised “bold and innovative commitments to harness Europe’s diverse and fragmented cloud ecosystem” this year with a focus on serving Europe’s SMEs, be they customers or vendors.

Jacqueline van de Werken from the Netherlands’ Leaseweb, David Chassan from France’s Outscale and Lorenzo Chiriatti from Register in Italy remain on the board, together with newly elected members Alexander Windbichler of Anexia, Austria and Jake Madders representing the UK’s Hyve.

CISPE confirmed that, together with AWS, Gigas and UpCloud decided not to seek re-election either.

AWS Head of Public Policy EMEA, Stéphane Ducable, commented (via The Register): “We are proud of our contributions to CISPE's achievements and growth over nearly a decade and remain committed to the association and its founding principles.”

Ducable added: “As a dedicated CISPE member, we will continue to actively contribute to CISPE initiatives which champion the cloud industry, support cloud customers' choice and enhance European competitiveness.”

The changes comes shortly after it was revealed Microsoft had joined CISPE to focus on building a “constructive partnership” in Europe, despite the company’s previous cloud conflict in the region.

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• Asahi Linux lead developer Hector Martin resigns
• Intense community requests and complaints are responsible
• Martin misses a time where he could relax and not worry about the project

Hector Martin has resigned as the project lead for Asahi Linux, a popular Linux distro designed specifically for M-series Macs, citing burnout as the key driver.

Martin also claimed conflicts within the Linux community had led to his decision to step down, with resistance from some Linux developers adding to his workload.

In a long letter notifying the community about his resignation, Martin explained that a personal “dream project,” which was once fun, has turned into more of a chore.

Asahi Linux head resigns

Martin detailed how he and his colleagues built the Apple Silicon-destined Linux distro “from scratch, with zero vendor support or documentation,” acknowledging that building this particular distro was more difficult than running Linux on a PS4, for example.

However, it seems the real reason Martin has decided to leave was what he’s called “entitled users” – over the years, the developer says he’s received hundreds of requests and complaints relating to battery life, USB-C display support and next-generation M-series chip support.

He wrote: “No matter how much we did, how many impossible feats we pulled off, people always wanted more. And more.”

Martin avoided burnout by limiting the amount of time he spent on certain areas, like kernel upstreaming, however it got to the point that Asahi Linux development was interfering with his personal life.

Beyond users, Martin explained that, despite Linux creator Linus Torvalds expressing a desire for Linux to work smoothly on M-series Macs, the Finnish developer ignored Martin’s request to discuss the operating system’s challenges.

He summarized: “I miss having free time where I can relax and not worry about the features we haven’t shipped yet,” confirming: “I’m resigning as lead of the Asahi Linux project, effective immediately.”

At the end of his letter, Martin revealed anybody who has financially supported him should consider supporting the Asahi Linux OpenCollective from now on, and that he’s open to new work.

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• The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 could both have highly efficient screens
• This could lead to improved battery life
• The Z Fold 7 apparently won't have a bigger battery, and there's no news on the Z Flip 7's battery capacity yet

Until now, we hadn’t heard much about the battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, but now we’re hearing that both phones might be longer-lasting than their predecessors.

This is according to @PandaFlashPro – a leaker who doesn’t yet have much of a track record – posting on X (via NotebookCheck). Specifically, they claim that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 both have “highly efficient” displays that consume less power and offer longer battery life.

They add that this technology – coupled with a new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset – has boosted the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s battery life by around 55 minutes, though they don’t specify what kind of usage leads to that figure.

"Confirmed"Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 Displays are Highly Efficient, Consuming less Power and offering longer battery life.Galaxy Z Fold 7 Test Battery backup is increased around 55minutes, with Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy.February 14, 2025

Interestingly, it sounds like these increases in battery life might be down to more efficient components and software, rather than larger battery capacities. According to leaker Setsuna Digital – who has a solid track record – posting on Weibo (also via NotebookCheck), the Galaxy Z Fold 7, at least, will have the same 4,400mAh battery as its predecessor.

They don’t say anything about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, but they add that the Z Fold 7 will be upgraded in other ways, including its screen, hinge, main camera, under-display camera, internal structure, and dust and water resistance.

A more durable hinge and a slimmer design

Z Flip 7 Confirmed.Improve Hing Durability due to New Internal Structure | Less Visible Crease | Display High Efficiency | All New Flexible Glass | ProScaler | Bigger Vapor Chamber | Next Generation of ProVisual Engine | bit Faster charging speed with same 25w | Thinner body.February 15, 2025

@PandaFlashPro, meanwhile, has posted about some other Galaxy Z Flip 7 features, including that it apparently has improved hinge durability, a smaller crease than either its predecessor or the Galaxy Z Fold 7, a thinner body than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, 25W charging, a 50MP main camera, an Armor Aluminum frame, and either an Exynos 2500 chipset or a Snapdragon 8 Elite, with there apparently being prototypes of both configurations.

They also reiterate a previous claim that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 will have a larger vapor chamber than the Z Flip 6, which could also help improve its battery life. So, hopefully, the Z Flip 7 will have improved endurance, as in our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review we found the phone had “disappointing battery life.”

We’ll probably find out in July, as that’s when both the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 are expected to launch.

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• Security researchers are warning of a SonicWall flaw being actively exploited
• The bug was discovered in early January 2025, and subsequently fixed
• However not all users have applied the patch yet

Cybercriminals are actively abusing a vulnerability in SonicWall firewalls to gain access to target endpoints, tamper with the VPN, and more, cybersecurity researchers Arctic Wolf have revealed.

The vulnerability in question is an Improper Authentication bug in the SSLVPN authentication mechanism. It was discovered in early January 2025 and was given a severity score of 9.8/10 - critical. It is tracked as CVE-2024-53704 and impacts SonicOS versions 7.1.x (up to 7.1.1-7058), 7.1.2-7019, and 8.0.0-8035. SonicWall released versions SonicOS 8.0.0-8037 and later, 7.0.1-5165 and higher, 7.1.3-7015 and higher, and 6.5.5.1-6n and higher, to address the bug.

Soon after SonicWall released a fix, security outlet Bishop Fox came forward with a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) exploit to warn the security community, and SonicWall users, about potential attack avenues. Consequently, it also gave cybercriminals ideas on how to exploit the flaw and expectedly, it has happened.

Exploitation attempts

"Shortly after the proof-of-concept was made public, Arctic Wolf began observing exploitation attempts of this vulnerability in the threat landscape," the company said in its security advisory.

The researchers explained that in the exploit, the target endpoint incorrectly validates a malicious session attempt. As a result, the target is logged out, while the attacker gets access to the session, including the ability to read the victim’s Virtual Office bookmarks, access VPN client configuration settings, open a VPN tunnel, and more.

"With that, we were able to identify the username and domain of the hijacked session, along with private routes the user was able to access through the SSL VPN," the researchers said.

Even though a patch is available for more than a month now, there are still thousands of vulnerable endpoints out there.

Via The Register

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ExpressVPN has announced a major change to its Lightway protocol, recoding the protocol from C to Rust in a bid to revolutionize the VPN industry and create a "more secure and high-performing" Lightway for users.

Modernizing the protocol to the Rust programming language while keeping the code open source ensures anyone with the right knowledge can see that Lightway works as it should and retains security. Two independent auditors, Cure53 and Praetorian, have already confirmed the upgraded service is private and secure.

The provider's built-in VPN router, ExpressVPN Aircove, is the first platform supporting the new Lightway. In the coming months, the provider will roll out the upgrade across all other devices, with its Android VPN expected to be updated by the end of March.

A new VPN protocol standard

When ExpressVPN built and launched Lightway in 2020, the provider designed it to deliver speedy, secure, and more reliable connections. Now, Lightway's Rust upgrade aims to continue that promise, posing the foundation "for the future of VPN connectivity."

"At ExpressVPN, we innovate to solve the challenges of tomorrow," said Pete Membrey, Chief Research Officer at ExpressVPN. "With Rust widely recognized as the high-performing, secure, and reliable language, it was a natural choice for evolving Lightway."

Rust, the provider explains, essentially brings three key advantages – better security, performance, and ease of extension.

Rust uses built-in memory safety that supposedly eliminates the risk of some common vulnerabilities and attack vectors plaguing its C counterparts. Rust's code is even simpler than C, too – making the VPN connection lighter, faster, and less power-consuming.

Lastly, Rust's modern architecture should also ensure easier implementation of Ligthway's security fixes and new features. This is especially advantageous within the post-quantum VPN race.

(Image credit: ExpressVPN)

As mentioned, two independent audits – carried out by cybersecurity firms Cure53 and Praetorian – have already taken apart the upgraded Lightway and didn't find any major vulnerabilities.

Specifically, Praetorian reported only two low-risk findings and Cure53 five, with four classified as "miscellaneous" carrying low exploitation potential. After that, ExpressVPN fixed all these findings, as new auditors' validation could confirm.

"Investing in dual audits from two independent firms was an important decision we made to gain diverse expert perspectives on Lightway’s new code base,” said Aaron Engel, Chief Information Security Officer at ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN's commitment to transparency doesn't end here, though. Everyone can view Lightway's source code by heading to ExpressVPN's GitHub page.

Challenging the industry

Lightway 2.0 promises to set a new standard for future VPN protocols where security, performance, and efficiency go hand in hand.

Yet, ExpressVPN's goal isn't just making its product more secure, reliable, and faster – the provider now hopes the whole industry will follow suit, inviting everyone to test it out and, potentially, adapt it.

"Promoting digital rights is ultimately our main goal," said Director for Communication and Advocacy, Lauren Hendry Parsons, pointing out how Lightway in Rust could also be implemented on decentralized VPN solutions.

"We do hope that people [in the VPN industry] will see Lightway as a resourceful tool," added Chief Research Officer Membrey. "You have a post-quantum secure VPN that works really fast and could potentially be used in military settings as well.

"Our goal with Lightway is not only to serve the users of ExpressVPN but also to contribute its technology meaningfully to the VPN industry."

By recoding its Lightway protocol in Rust, ExpressVPN claims it has beefed up its speed, security and performance.