Technology

• Leaked photos show the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 from various angles
• You can see it in a stylish blue shade, and it looks very thin
• Another leak suggests the phone will only have an IP48 rating

At this point, we’ve seen numerous leaked renders of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, but so far we haven’t seen much in the way of photos. One leaked photo showed the back of the phone, but that was about it – until now.

Today, @Jukanlosreve – who has a great track record for leaks – has shared photos showing the front, back, and sides of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and while the details are no different to what we’ve already seen in renders, the phone looks much better in the flesh.

You can see that it’s in a blue shade here, which could be the ‘Blue Shadow’ that we’ve previously heard might be one of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 colors – though from the name we’d expect that to be darker.

Z Fold 7 pic.twitter.com/h8EhC7LbTPJuly 3, 2025

In any case, you can also see a triple-lens camera, and one of the photos provides a good look at just how slim this phone might be.

Previous leaks disagree on exactly how thin it will be, with sources pointing to anything from 3.9mm to 4.5mm when unfolded, but anywhere in that range would make it a lot thinner than the 5.6mm thick Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

A dust disappointment

Fold7 IP48 pic.twitter.com/o9icyqDTmfJuly 2, 2025

In other Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 news a leaked energy rating label shared by @MysteryLupin lists it as having an IP48 rating. That’s the same as the current model, and is at odds with some earlier leaks that pointed to better dust resistance.

If the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 does have this rating, then while it will be able to survive submersion in water to depths of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes, it will only have minimal dust resistance, so that would be disappointing.

We suspect this leaked label is correct though, since foldable phones always struggle with dust resistance, and since leaker @PandaFlashPro also recently claimed it has an IP48 rating.

We should find out for sure soon, as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is set to launch on July 9, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7.

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• Login credentials for an account with root access was found in Cisco's Unified Communications Manager
• There are no workarounds, just a patch, so users should update now
• Different versions of the tool are affected

Another hardcoded credential for admin access has been discovered in a major software application - this time around it’s Cisco, who discovered the slip-up in its Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) solution.

Cisco Unified CM is an enterprise-grade IP telephony call control platform providing voice, video, messaging, mobility, and presence services. It manages voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls, and allows for the management of tasks such as user/device provisioning, voicemail integration, conferencing, and more.

Recently, Cisco found login credentials coded into the program, allowing for access with root privileges. The bug is now tracked as CVE-2025-20309, and was given a maximum severity score - 10/10 (critical). The credentials were apparently used during development and testing, and should have been removed before the product was shipped to the market.

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No evidence of abuse

Cisco Unified CM and Unified CM SME Engineering Special (ES) releases 15.0.1.13010-1 through 15.0.1.13017-1 were said to be affected, regardless of the device configuration. There are no workarounds or mitigations, and the only way to address it is to upgrade the program to version 15SU3 (July 2025).

“A vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to an affected device using the root account, which has default, static credentials that cannot be changed or deleted," Cisco said.

At press time, there was no evidence of abuse in the wild.

Hardcoded credentials are one of the more common causes of system infiltrations. Just recently Sitecore Experience Platform, an enterprise-level content management system (CMS), held a hardcoded password for an internal user. It was just one letter - ‘b’ - which was super easy to guess.

Roughly a year ago, security researchers from Horizon3.ai found hardcoded credentials in SolarWinds’ Web Help Desk.

Via BleepingComputer

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As AI models grow larger and more capable, the supporting infrastructure must evolve in tandem. AI’s insatiable appetite has Big Tech going as far as restarting nuclear power plants to support massive new datacenters, which today account for as much as 2% of global electricity consumption, or more than the entire country of Germany.

But the humble power grid is where we need to start.

Constructing the computing superstructure to support AI tools will significantly alter the demand curve for energy and put increasing strain on electrical grids. As AI embraces more complex workloads across both training and inference, compute needs – and thereby power consumption – are expected to increase exponentially. Some forecasts suggest that datacenter electricity consumption could increase to as much as 12% of the global total by 2030.

Semiconductors form the cornerstone of AI computing infrastructure. The chipmaking industry has focused primarily on expanding renewable energy sources and delivering improvements in energy-efficient computing technologies. These are necessary but not sufficient – they cannot sustainably support the enormous energy requirements demanded by the growth of AI. We need to build a more resilient power grid.

Moving from Sustainability to Sustainable Abundance

In a new report, we call for a different paradigm – sustainable energy abundance – which will be achieved not by sacrificing growth, but by constructing a holistic energy strategy to power the next generation of computing. The report represents the work of major companies across the AI technology stack, from chip design and manufacturing to cloud service providers, as well as thought leaders from the energy and finance sectors.

The foundational pillar of this new strategy is grid decarbonization. Although not a new concept, in the AI era it requires an approach that integrates decarbonization with energy abundance, ensuring AI’s productivity gains are not sidelined by grid constraints. In practical terms, this entails embracing traditional energy sources like oil and gas, while gradually transitioning toward cleaner sources such as nuclear, hydro, geothermal, solar and wind. Doing this effectively requires understanding of the upgrades needed for the electricity grid to enable rapid integration of existing and new energy sources.

Consuming electricity from the grid naturally assumes the emissions profile of the grid itself. It should come as no surprise that emissions related to the grid represent the single biggest component of the emissions bill facing any given company. In the conventional approach to sustainability, companies focused more on offsetting emissions derived from the grid rather than sourcing the grid with cleaner (or carbon-free) energy. To support the coming scale-out of AI infrastructure, access to a clean grid will be one of the most important aspects in reducing carbon footprint.

Strategically selecting locations for datacenters and semiconductor fabs will be critical. Countries and regions have a varying mix of clean energy in the power grid, which impacts their carbon emission profile. For example, the United States and France generate a similar percentage of their overall electricity from renewable sources. However, the United States has a significantly higher country emission factor, which represents the direct carbon emission per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated.

This is because most of the electricity in France is generated through nuclear power, while the United States still gets a significant percentage of electricity supplied through coal and natural gas. Likewise, there could be significant differences within a country such as the United States, with states like California having a higher mix of renewables compared to some other states.

Driving Innovation in Semiconductor Technology

A truly resilient grid strategy must start with expanded capacity for nuclear, wind, solar, and traditional forms of energy, while driving a mix shift to cleaner sources over time. However, to achieve this enhanced capacity, it will be necessary to invest in disruptive innovations. Transmission infrastructure must be modernized, including upgraded lines, substations and control systems. Likewise, the industry must take advantage of smart distribution technologies, deploying digital sensors and AI-driven load management techniques.

Semiconductors have an important role to play. Continued growth of GPUs and other accelerators will drive corresponding growth in datacenter power semiconductors, along with increasing semiconductor content in other components such as the motherboard and the power supply.

We forecast that the datacenter power semiconductor market could reach $9 billion by 2030, driven by an increase in servers as well as the number of accelerators per server. Approximately $7 billion of the opportunity is driven by accelerators, with the rest coming from the power supply and other areas. As the technology matures, we believe gallium nitride will play an important role in this market, given its high efficiency.

As the grid incorporates increasing levels of renewables, more semiconductors will be needed for energy generation. Silicon carbide will be important for solar generation and potentially wind as well. We estimate that renewable energy generation could grow to more than a $20 billion market for semiconductors by 2030. A similar opportunity exists for smart infrastructure such as meters, sensors and heat pumps.

Shifting Incentives for Sustainable Growth

Restructuring the power grid offers the single biggest opportunity to deliver sustainable, abundant energy for AI. Modernizing the power grid will require complex industry partnerships and buy-in from company leadership. In the past, sustainability initiatives were largely regarded as a compliance checkbox item, with unclear ties to business results. A new playbook is needed to enable the growth of AI while shifting business incentives toward generation, transmission, distribution and storage of clean energy and modernization of the power grid.

To truly harness the transformative productivity and prosperity potential of AI, we need a comprehensive sustainability strategy that expands clean energy capacity, modernizes energy infrastructure, and maintains diverse energy generation sources to ensure stable, abundant power for continued technological innovation. When combined with progress in energy-efficient computing and abatement measures, this holistic approach can realistically accelerate the pursuit of sustainability while mitigating the risk of curtailing growth due to insufficient energy resources.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Where we are today is not hybrid cloud rebranded. Hybrid was a transition strategy. Distributed is an entirely new operating environment, where cloud infrastructure and services are physically located in multiple, dispersed environments: on-premise data centers, multiple public clouds, edge locations, and sovereign zones. Yet they are managed as a single, cohesive system. Unlike centralized or hybrid approaches, distributed cloud treats geographic and architectural diversity as a feature, not a compromise.

This shift happened gradually. Organizations reacted to new regulatory frameworks like GDPR and FedRAMP, which enforce data locality and privacy standards that centralized architectures can’t always support. Meanwhile, latency-sensitive applications, like real-time analytics, pulled compute closer to the user, pushing cloud computing infrastructure to the edge. And cost became a concern: 66% of engineers report disruptions in their workflows due to lack of visibility into cloud spend, with 22% saying the impact is equivalent to losing a full sprint.

Distributed cloud addresses all of these challenges, enabling businesses to comply with regulations, improve performance, localize deployments, and maintain operational continuity in one architectural shift. But managing it to ensure that a distributed framework actually reaches its full potential requires serious rethinking. Infrastructure has to be modular and versioned by design, not patched together.

Dependencies need to be explicit, so changes don’t cascade unpredictably. Visibility should extend beyond individual cloud providers, and governance has to follow workloads wherever they run. Yet most organizations today operate without these principles, leaving them struggling with fragmentation, limiting their scalability, opening the door to security and competitive threats, and slowing innovation.

Old Tools, New Problems

There’s growing evidence to show just how widespread the shift toward distributed cloud has become: 89% of organizations now use a multi-cloud strategy, with 80% relying on multiple public clouds and 60% using more than one private cloud. The reasons are strategic: reducing vendor lock-in, complying with data localization laws, and improving performance at the edge.

But the consequences are operational. Fragmentation creates chaos. Teams struggle with version control, lifecycle inconsistencies, and even potential security lapses. Infrastructure teams become gatekeepers, and developers lose confidence in the systems they rely on.

Most organizations are still applying traditional centralized cloud management principles to a distributed world. They rely on infrastructure as code (IaC), stitched together with pipelines and scripts that require constant babysitting. This approach doesn’t scale across teams and regions. IaC also introduces new dependencies between layers that are invisible until they break.

All in all, the approach is problematic: 97% of IaC users experience difficulties, with developers often viewing IaC as a “necessary evil” that slows down application deployment. The result is a kind of paralysis: any change carries too much risk, so nothing changes at all.

A New Operating Model for a Fragmented World

Solving this requires more than another tool. It requires a new operating model and mindset. Infrastructure should be broken into modular, composable units with clear boundaries and pre-defined dependencies. Teams should be able to own their layer of the stack without impacting others. Changes should be trackable, auditable, and safe to automate.

Platforms that offer a single control plane across environments can make this possible. They turn complexity from a liability into a strategic asset: one that offers flexibility without sacrificing control. This is where emerging approaches like blueprint-based infrastructure management offer a compelling path forward. Instead of expecting AI or DevOps teams to connect workflows, infrastructure can be transformed into modular components. Think Lego bricks, except it’s a chunk of code that’s versioned, pre-approved, and reusable.

In this model, automation doesn’t mean giving up control. It means enabling teams to move faster within guardrails that are defined by architecture. The result is a system that scales, even across regulatory zones, business units, and tech stacks. This kind of shift doesn’t eliminate complexity, but it makes it manageable, legible, and strategic.

And we’re already seeing the rise of blueprint-based and modular infrastructure strategies across the industry—from Cisco’s UCS X-Series, which decouples hardware lifecycles for flexible upgrades, to Microsoft Azure Local’s unified control plane for hybrid deployments, and the growing adoption of platform engineering as a discipline for building reusable, scalable systems. It’s an evolution that just makes sense.

The Strategic Advantage of Managing Well

Distributed cloud isn’t something organizations opt into. It's the state they're already operating in. The real differentiator now is how well it's managed. Scaling infrastructure has always been achievable; distributing infrastructure, by contrast, demands a different kind of investment: in architecture, workflows, and operational discipline.

Without a system built specifically for elasticity, decoupling, and visibility across environments, complexity quietly erodes both speed and trust. Infrastructure becomes harder to change, risks accumulate invisibly, and innovation slows to a crawl.

The right foundation turns that story around. Distributed infrastructure, when managed deliberately, doesn’t have to become a barrier. It becomes a catalyst.

Elastic systems allow teams to localize deployments without fragmenting control. Decoupled architectures enable parallel innovation across business units, cost centers, and regions without introducing instability. Unified visibility makes governance a continuous function, not an afterthought. Managing complexity isn’t about eliminating it; it’s about structuring it so that distributed systems can scale sustainably, adapt safely, and operate predictably.

In that context, infrastructure becomes a lever for scale instead of a source of drag. Managing it well isn’t just an operational need. It’s a strategic advantage.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

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• Crunchyroll aired anime with obviously AI-generated subtitles that included typos, clunky phrasing, and lines like “ChatGPT said.”
• Fans quickly noticed and criticized the lack of human oversight
• The incident highlights growing concerns about AI replacing creative roles without proper review, particularly in localization, where context and tone are crucial

There are mistranslations, and then there are ChatGPT subtitles that appear to have been deliberately written to upset people. That's what appeared to happen with some of the translated Japanese shown on screen during episodes of anime recently spotted and shared online.

The first example to gain attention online made it clear that ChatGPT was the culprit of awkward and outright wrong translations during an episode of Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, Crunchyroll’s new anime series about occult weirdness and internet brain rot. It literally included the line "ChatGPT said" in both the German and English subtitles.

Fans started posting screenshots of bizarre sentence structures and dialogue that they had spotted, and now had an explanation and a source of blame for. Misspelled character names, inconsistent phrasing, and just outright made-up words and phrases were spotted everywhere.

(Image credit: Pixel/Bluesky)

I only watched about two minutes, and was so frustrated at the subs having errors that even a normal machine translation wouldn't have given.

— @hilene.bsky.social (@hilene.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-07-03T02:47:11.136Z

In case that wasn't enough, Crunchyroll’s president, Rahul Purini, had told Forbes in an interview only a few months ago that the company had no plans to use AI in the “creative process.” They weren’t going to mess with voice acting or story generation, he said. AI would be restricted to helping people find shows to watch and to recommending new shows based on what viewers had previously enjoyed.

Apparently, ChatGPT translations don't count under that rubric, but localization isn't a mechanical process, as any human translator could explain.

Localization art

Hey now, show some respect for the most storied of all anime subbers: Translator's name

— @viridianjcm.bsky.social (@viridianjcm.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-07-03T02:47:11.132Z

Localizing is a big deal among anime fans. Debates over whether certain subtitles are too literal, too loose, or too limited in their references to be understood outside Japan have raged for decades. But no one on any side of those debates is likely to claim these massive errors by ChatGPT are okay.

Crunchyroll hasn’t officially clarified how this happened, but reports suggest the subtitles came from the company's Japanese production partner. The generated subtitles may have been given to Crunchyroll to air without Crunchyroll being responsible for making them.

As several people pointed out, when you pay to stream anime from a major platform like Crunchyroll, you're expecting a certain baseline of quality. Even if you disagree with a localizer's choices, you can at least understand where they are coming from. The fact that apparently no one read the ChatGPT subtitles before they were uploaded to a global audience is harder to justify.

Translation is an art. Localization isn’t just about replacing Japanese with English. It’s about tone, cadence, subtext, and making a character sound like themselves across a language barrier. AI can guess what words go where, but it doesn’t know the characters or the show. It's like a little translation dictionary, which is fine as far as it goes, but it can't make a conversation make sense without a human piecing together the words. A few fans are outraged enough to call for unsubscribing and going back to sharing fansubs, the homebrewed subtitles unofficially written and circulated back in the days of VHS. In other words, the very thing Crunchyroll once helped make obsolete by offering higher-quality, licensed versions of shows.

At a time when more people are watching anime than ever before, Crunchyroll is apparently willing to gamble that most of us won’t notice or care whether the words characters say make any sense. If Crunchyroll wants to keep its credibility, it has to treat localization not as a tech problem to optimize, but as a storytelling component that requires human nuance and judgment. Otherwise, it might just be "gameorver" for Crunchyroll's reputation.

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• Geopolitics, not just technology, is quietly rewriting who can sell cameras in Western markets
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Canada has ordered Chinese surveillance giant Hikvision to cease its operations in the country, citing national security concerns.

The ban follows a formal review conducted under the Investment Canada Act and marks a move against foreign technology firms.

"The government has determined that Hikvision Canada Inc.’s continued operations in Canada would be injurious to Canada’s national security," said Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.

International pressure and rising suspicion

Hikvision, one of the world’s largest producers of surveillance cameras, has operated in Canada since 2014.

However its expansive global reach and ties to state-linked projects in China have long drawn concern from Western countries.

Although the government has not made public the specific reasons behind its decision, it has stated intelligence and security assessments played a central role.

This silence is likely to fuel speculation, much like in previous crackdowns on Huawei, where classified intelligence was used to justify broad commercial restrictions.

The comparison to Huawei is not unwarranted. Hikvision now finds itself under the same kind of scrutiny that led to Huawei’s ejection from 5G infrastructure projects across the Five Eyes nations.

The US, UK, and Australia have all already taken measures against Hikvision, particularly over claims its cameras have been used to surveil Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region, allegations that Beijing denies.

The FBI has also warned about malware targeting webcams, and the Western world often believes that Chinese IoT is arguably more dangerous than TikTok, which is considered spyware.

Unsurprisingly, Hikvision “strongly disagrees” with Canada's decision, saying, “We believe it lacks a factual basis, procedural fairness, and transparency,” the company claims the move appears “to be driven by the parent company’s country of origin.”

With geopolitical tensions continuing to define much of the West’s approach to Chinese firms, decisions like Canada’s risk being seen less as technology-based judgments and more as political posturing.

Hikvision claimed it cooperated fully with authorities and submitted all requested documents, but this did not alter the outcome.

It’s unclear how many public buildings in Canada still use Hikvision devices, but Joly has committed to reviewing and phasing out any remaining equipment.

“I strongly urge Canadians to take note of this decision and make their own decisions accordingly,” she warned.

The Canadian government appears to be focusing on surveillance risks, and this questions the trustworthiness of smart devices, like the webcams or parental control solutions.

As more homes and workplaces adopt smart cameras and monitoring tools, the line between convenience and intrusion becomes thinner.

If bans become more commonplace, vendors may need to prove more than just feature strength to remain competitive.

Whether you're selecting a home monitoring system or seeking the best antivirus software, the politics of hardware and software are becoming harder to ignore.

Via Economic Times

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• Getac B360 Plus uses Intel Core Ultra processors, up to 32GB RAM, and Arc integrated graphics
• Includes built-in AI acceleration with Intel AI Boost delivering up to 48 TOPS performance
• Features a 13.3-inch 1400-nit touchscreen with sunlight-readable technology and capacitive input

Rugged devices are typically defined by their ability to survive harsh conditions, not their computing power.

The Getac B360 Plus attempts to challenge this expectation by introducing AI acceleration and high-end specs into a fully rugged form factor, but the practical benefits of this combination may not be as clear-cut as the branding suggests.

At the core of the B360 Plus is Intel’s new Core Ultra series, with options ranging from Ultra 5 to Ultra 7 and up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory.

AI capabilities meet rugged expectations

Built-in AI acceleration through Intel AI Boost claims up to 48 TOPS of performance, paired with Arc integrated graphics.

While these specs may appear impressive, how well such AI capabilities translate to real-world edge computing tasks in harsh field environments remains an open question.

Engineered for physical resilience, this laptop meets MIL-STD-810H, MIL-STD-461G, and IP66 standards, meaning it can handle drops, salt fog, and wide temperature swings.

Getac also offers optional ANSI/UL 121201 certification for hazardous areas, meaning it fits squarely within expectations for a best rugged laptop candidate.

The Getac B360 Plus comes with a 13.3-inch display that supports 1400 nits of brightness and is optimized for outdoor use.

It also features a LifeSupport dual-battery system, which allows hot-swapping without shutting the device down.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, optional 4G and 5G, GPS, and a variety of physical ports including Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.0, and even legacy connectors like VGA and serial.

The laptop also comes with dual SIM support and a 1D/2D barcode reader, backed by Getac’s Barcode Manager software.

While the barcode scanner may be convenient, regular rugged tablet users may still prefer dedicated devices with simpler, more focused roles.

Getac also added security features such as TPM 2.0, optional biometric authentication, and enterprise software such as Absolute Persistence and Secure Endpoint.

These additions suggest an IT-centric use case, but again, may be overkill for users who simply need a machine that doesn’t fail in the rain or dust.

The B360 Plus is an ambitious attempt to bridge rugged hardware and high-performance computing, but whether the two belong together remains to be seen.

At the time of writing, there is no word on pricing, but hopefully a unit will be available for review in the coming months.

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• ViewSonic VG41V Series USB-C charging limited to 15W is a major letdown for modern laptop users

The new ViewSonic's VG41V Series marks the company’s latest effort to carve out space in the crowded business monitor segment.

These monitors target video conferencing and productivity users by integrating Windows Hello facial recognition, a built-in 5MP webcam, and enhanced ergonomic designs.

On paper, they check a lot of boxes, but in practice, the lineup leaves a few open questions, particularly around display resolution and power delivery.

Productivity perks can’t mask a resolution compromise

The VG41V Series includes three models: the 24-inch VG2441V and two 27-inch options, the VG2741V and VG2741V-2K.

While the VG2741V-2K supports QHD (2560x1440) resolution, the VG2741V and VG2441V only support FHD (1920x1080) resolution.

None of them reach 4K resolution, which is increasingly expected in higher-end office monitors - but still, the lineup introduces thoughtful touches like infrared-enabled facial recognition via Windows Hello.

The 120 Hz refresh rate and Eye ProTech+ (flicker-free technology and low blue light) make extended sessions more bearable, features that align well with ViewSonic’s productivity branding.

This series enables secure, instant login to digital workspaces, which could appeal to enterprises managing device access without passwords.

It also integrates a 5MP webcam, tiltable by ±5°, and includes a physical privacy cover, while dual microphones and stereo speakers support a more complete conferencing setup.

For remote workers or office-based teams regularly joining Zoom or Teams calls, this package could provide a plug-and-play convenience that some will value.

However, powering the VG41V Series via USB-C introduces a compromise.

While USB-C is undeniably a flexible standard for video, data, and charging, its implementation here feels awkward.

ViewSonic offers dual USB-C ports, one upstream for data and video, and one downstream that supports just 15W charging.

That’s enough to charge a phone or small accessory, but it won’t power a laptop or meet the needs of many desk setups.

This could frustrate users relying on a single-cable solution, especially Apple users searching for the best monitor for Mac Mini or MacBook Pro.

That said, the series performs well on ergonomics, with support for height, tilt, swivel, and pivot adjustments. It also includes a compact stand to maximize desk space.

ViewSonic’s VG41V Series uses FSC-certified, recyclable packaging and meets EPEAT and ENERGY STAR standards.

The VG41V Series will arrive in select markets in North America, Asia, and Europe in the coming months.

Pricing for the VG41V Series remains unknown at the time of writing, making it difficult to judge whether the trade-offs in resolution and power delivery are ultimately justified.

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