Technology

Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds also begged to be cast in Avengers: Doomsday.

Dek: Zootopia 3, Coco 2, Percy Jackson season 3, Ice Age 6, live-action Rapunzel, Bluey and a Kingdom Hearts series were some of the major announcements out of Disney’s big event.

• OVHcloud will raise dedicated server prices from September 2026, with latest-generation Game range going up by as much as 87%
• Current-generation hardware will see increases of 51%, while older, 2024-gen hardware will see prices go up by 28% on average
• Move is linked to AI-related surge in memory and storage prices, with OVHcloud CEO stating the former has increased sixfold and could potentially double again by early 2027

French cloud platform OVHcloud is sounding the alarm for customers who use its dedicated gaming servers about a price increase that kicks in starting in September 2026 for server configurations, including its 'Game' offerings, that currently start at $357 on the US storefront.

In a post on X, CEO Octave Klaba highlighted the projected price increases as a percentage over prior commitments, stating that while 2024-built machines would not see a price increase, Gen 2026 would see a mammoth 87% increase in cost for consumers.

This marks the steepest increase across the board; otherwise, Gen 2026 servers saw a +51% increase in cost, even as OVHCloud states that existing options would see a lower overall increase in cost and that existing commitments would see "nothing change".

A sign of troubling times for private gaming servers?

Many gamers host private servers for their gaming needs, ranging from a small group of friends and family running a persistent Minecraft instance to servers that cater to hundreds, if not thousands, of players simultaneously, often with commercial caveats.

An increase in price affects both, though possibly the latter disproportionately, as monetization or donations generally sustain them, and they can already run into hundreds of dollars a month in upkeep.

OVHcloud's CEO has highlighted why the move, which seems to be focused on newer gaming servers, which saw the largest increase across the board, is necessary: its memory costs have increased sixfold and could rise to as much as twelvefold by early 2027.

The underlying reason is one that is easy to point at: AI server demand is not only dictating storage and memory market prices, but it could also be weighing purchase decisions at cloud providers, many who can envisage growing and consistent demand for such server instances, therefore raising the opportunity cost of other deployments; OVHcloud's 2026 'Game' servers for example, come with AMD's Ryzen X3D CPUs in two trims currently.

While these CPUs are great for games, they might not be cost-effective for datacenter needs due to higher per-core costs and lower clock speeds than comparable mainstream options, placing them a distant third in a list that has core-heavy server-grade CPUs at the top.

The writing hasn't been on the wall exactly, and it makes for an interesting comparison of how far numbers have traveled in less than a year: in November 2025, Klaba anticipated cloud product prices rising 5 to 10% between April and September 2026. In February 2026, announcing the year's first increase, he described an impact on cloud deployments between 2021 and 2025 of 2 to 6%, depending on hardware age.

He conceded at the time that asking existing customers to subsidize new ones was a little unfair, and argued it was the only way to keep cloud accessible over the following two years.

OVHcloud is an unusual case here: it builds its own servers, which is rare in an industry that often offloads that end to a third-party provider, and while that vertical integration has historically been the source of its price advantage, it has not protected the company here because OVHcloud still buys the same DIMMs and NVMe drives as everyone else.

The Register spoke to the founder of a mid-sized managed service provider who was entirely unsurprised by OVHcloud's announcement and expects AWS and Azure to follow.

The hyperscalers have deeper balance sheets, longer supply agreements, and more room to absorb component costs quietly, so any move from them will likely be slower and less legible than a founder posting percentages on X. It will, however, arguably not be smaller and will be considerably more far-reaching thanks to how deeply integrated some of their products are across the world.

Founded in 2014 by competitive Starcraft 2 players Ian Ang and Alaric Choo, Secretlab has steadily grown from one of Singapore’s countless plucky start-ups to one of the most recognizable gaming chair brands in the world.

The award-winning Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 is its flagship product (named one of the best gaming chairs on the market in our review). The brand also manufactures a successful line of desks and this year branched into the productivity-focused task chair market with its new Atlas model.

Special edition gear has steadily become a key part of the offering as well. Shoppers can scoop up officially licensed products tied to some of the biggest games like Overwatch and Cyberpunk 2077, massive multimedia franchises including Pokémon and Warhammer, popular esports teams, or even luxury car brands McLaren and Lamborghini.

But it all began with a certain caped crusader.

The Batman blueprintFutureFutureFuture

“I chose Batman at the start,” Choo, who also heads the company’s partnerships, explains as I relax on a sofa in his corner office at the brand’s HQ. A pile of material samples amassed over years of research and development sits on the glass coffee table in front of me: strips of bright orange fabric designed to look like Dragon Ball hero Goku’s iconic robes, a moulded plate inspired by the front of a supercar, a detailed print of the Marauder's Map from Harry Potter, and countless other items.

“We were much smaller back then, so we didn't have many options, but Batman was such a huge IP, and I just felt like it made sense for us,” he continues. This was nine years ago and, although other gaming furniture brands have embraced similar collaborations in the years since, Choo says a crossover gaming chair was a novel idea at the time.

“DC was kind of like, 'we have a lot of license categories. We have everything. We have figures, we have statues, we have cups, we have shirts and bags, but we've never done a chair.’"

In such uncharted territory, Choo reckons that it took a whole year to work out how to approach the product’s design. “It sounds obvious now: a Batman chair is black, right? But do you go with the iconic Batman, where it's a yellow logo and retro? We were coming off the armor and whatnot — the [Dark Knight] movie was out at the time, so we went that direction.”

(Image credit: Future)

“We were thinking about what Batman would sit in; what chair would he have in his bat cave?” reveals Choo. The final design is sleek and understated, adorned with a subtle bat emblem and a carbon-fiber-like pattern. It looks like something that could exist in the world of comics, and this approach immediately resonated not just with franchise owner Warner Bros. but also with consumers.

Warner Bros. entered Secretlab in the 2021 Licensing International Excellence Awards, where it won ‘Best Licensed Product’ in the home décor category, and the chair remains one of the company’s most popular designs. It even caught the attention of Batman artist Jim Lee, who snuck the Secretlab logo onto the hero’s personal seat in Batman comic book issue #159.

“It was crazy. [A picture of the panel] was just sent to us randomly,” laughs Choo. “I bought three copies: I kept one for myself. I sent one to the guy that's in charge of Warner Bros. in Singapore, and then the third one I showed my mom.”

Becoming the experts

(Image credit: Future)

The success of the Batman chair gave Secretlab plenty of reason to pursue future collaborations, and informed how it approaches each one to this day. “We don't want to just put logos on things and call it a day. We want to go in depth. We want to know the lore,” begins Choo.

Whether it's poring over comic book panels, diving into video games, or watching all the movies or cartoons in a particular series, the team isn’t afraid to go deep into the source material of any intellectual property they are working with. “If we weren't originally fans of the IP before, we become experts,” he adds.

Choo does admit there are occasions when this isn’t possible though, like the build-up to a new release where details are kept under wraps: “Sometimes we're designing stuff with very little information. We don't like to do that, but sometimes we have to do it.”

Walking around the company’s global headquarters, it’s easy to see that employees are encouraged not to shy away from the properties they love. Desks are covered in figurines and other collectibles based on a wide range of games, comic books, manga, movies, and more. Even Choo’s own space is adorned with nerdy memorabilia.

FutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

“All the IP that we work with, even currently, a lot of it is stuff that we are very, very passionate about. “I'm a Pokémon fan, so I don't just want to put whatever on a chair. I want to go deep into it with them; I want to collaborate at a high level. I want to come up with, like, assembly manuals that have custom art and that kind of thing,” he continues, gesturing to a colorful Genshin Impact print.

Secretlab currently has three separate Pokémon chair designs inspired by Pikachu, Gengar, and Eevee. You might assume that choosing which characters to base designs on is a simple popularity contest. Still, Choo argues that the team is actually more concerned with coming up with ideas that are unique and fit Secretlab’s premium brand image.

“Sometimes a popular Pokémon doesn't have a good color scheme, for example, and it would be off brand for us. We also need to think about Pokémon's guidelines as well; it's one of those things where there are so many rules,” he explains. “If it's all color, then it's too loud as well. Only a kid would want it. How do I make it tasteful in a way where an older fan can have it in their house, and it will be a good fit?

Consistent quality

(Image credit: Future)

Secretlab collaborations are characterized by a careful attention to detail, with intricate design elements that often incorporate new materials and manufacturing techniques.

“I think we've always gone all out on all of our collabs,” says Choo. “We have certain manufacturing methods that have become more viable to use. One of the things that we talk about a lot is the embroidery. It's something that I think companies don't like to use because it's very expensive. It's very time-consuming. We have certain panels that can take seven, eight hours to do.”

We've always gone all out on all of our collabs

Alaric Choo, co-founder and technical & partnerships director at Secretlab

Secretlab’s crossovers with luxury car brands stand out as perhaps the most materially complex in its portfolio. The most premium Automobili Lamborghini editions, for example, are decked out in the same Dinamica microsuede material found on high-end car dashboards and lightweight carbon fiber plating.

“Lamborghini is one of the greatest luxury names, so we were thinking about how we can elevate the partnership,” Choo explains as I examine a sturdy black panel from the table. “When we look at Lamborghinis, there is a lot of carbon fiber usage. The weave that they use and how they put it together — carbon fiber is a pain in the ass to work with. It's like you're layering different sheets, and it bubbles very easily.

(Image credit: Future)

“When we did it, we looked at the shape of the carbon fiber on Lamborghini cars, and we were like, ‘We think that this is it.’ We had to come up with a mounting method and learn to use carbon fiber. Obviously, we used it sometimes in certain prototypes, but we hadn’t actually mass-produced it, so it was a first for us.”

Creating new manufacturing processes and tools can be expensive, but Choo isn’t worried that the added cost could hurt profits. “It may not always directly translate financially, but we don't think about things in so much of the short term,” he says. “In the overall term, it pays off that when we do something, we do it properly. I think that's the main point for us: if we're going to do it half-assed, let's not do it at all.”

He thinks that consumers appreciate the overall “consistency” and have come to expect a lot of effort from the brand: “Holding yourself to a very high standard pays off over time.”

A privately held company, Secretlab can afford to invest in developing this kind of relationship with consumers in a way that some of its biggest competitors perhaps can’t. With the company’s value estimated to be nearing the billion-dollar mark back in 2021, Choo’s long-term thinking is obviously paying off.

A patent filing details ways that Meta could use facial recognition with its smart glasses to create media files, such as videos.

• Volume and spend on tokens for Anthropic’s AI solutions made it more revenue than any of its competitors in July 2026, cementing its position as the top LLM provider
• This success is despite Anthropic’s tokens being more expensive than its competitors
• The data was collated by Vercel’s AI Gateway, an API service that routes LLMs for easy AI provider swapping

Monthly analysis of the AI industry has revealed a number of surprises for July 2026, not least the continued growth of Anthropic both in terms of revenue and token use.

This is despite the company charging a higher rate for tokens, AI’s computational data currency.

The data was compiled by agentic infrastructure company Vercel, whose AI Gateway is used by many major companies and developers, and found the price-per-token average across all analysed platforms fell following two months of growth in May and June. Despite the overall 37% increase in spend across the industry, the cost per token rate dropped.

Anthropic growth

Vercel’s analysis of transactions through its APIs has repeatedly demonstrated a dominance for Anthropic. Its reporting on gateway spend started in December 2025 and in every month since, Anthropic has had over 60% of the spend share, and in July that figure sat at 65.1% with 30% of the total volume (of all tokens sent through the Vercel AI Gateway).

Yet the average price per token was on 4.4 times higher than the overall average across all AI labs. Token prices have rarely proved to be steady, with Vercel’s data reporting an average price drop of 13.6% after a 20% rise in May and little change in June.

(For reference, the report’s definition of the price per token is the total spend divided by the total volume.)

Despite a higher price per token, however, Anthropic’s price per token was lower in July, a change attributed to the return to public access of Claude Fable 5 after its temporary suspension.

Monthly data collection

Vercel’s monthly look at the data that flows through its API paints a fascinating picture not just of Anthropic’s growth, but of the performance (or otherwise) of its competitors.

For example, it charts Chinese AI company DeepSeek’s surprise growth from May, through June; the report notes that “we said an open-weight lab would soon be second by volume. In July, DeepSeek surpassed Google to take that place.”

DeepSeek’s growth over Google has proved to be a surprise, one that puts it in second place on volume. The real story is Anthropic’s gradual cementing of its strong position over the rest of the LLM makers. Its larger revenue pull despite higher token price indicates that the recent iterations of Claude and anticipation over the gradual release of Mythos 5 are giving the company a strong reputation – much like Apple.

Writing about chipsets can be a bit like watching paint dry. These tiny mobile brains get more powerful every year, but 99% of smartphone users don’t get anywhere close to using their full potential. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, for instance, came out in 2023, but most people would be hard-pressed to notice a performance difference between that chipset and Qualcomm’s latest, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which powers most of today’s best Android phones.

It’s a classic case of diminishing returns — semiconductor manufacturers can keep raising the chipset performance ceiling, but if phones can’t make use of all that extra power (and for several years, they haven’t been able to), the tangible gains are small at best, and non-existent at worst.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when Honor described the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset in its new Robot Phone as “not good enough” for pro-grade video capture. Did we just skyrocket through that seemingly impenetrable performance ceiling?

Well, it’s a bit more nuanced than that. As Honor’s President of Hardware Engineering, Yang Liu, explained to me in a group interview at the Robot Phone’s China launch: “The core CPU [in the Robot Phone] is the Snapdragon [8 Elite Gen 5], but Honor has developed a dedicated Image Signal Processor (ISP) — the Honor Imaging Chip H1. The processing [demands] are very high, so we must use a dedicated chipset for that, not just the Qualcomm chipset. The Qualcomm chipset offers very good performance for still image processing, but for video, it’s not good enough — for now.”

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♬ Venus and Flower - Austin Farwell

All phones have an ISP (or multiple ISPs) built into their main chipsets — indeed, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 was the first mobile chipset to feature triple 20-bit ISPs, which, in layman’s terms, means it’s a very capable chipset for photo capture. But the best camera phones — think the Oppo Find X9 Ultra and Vivo X300 Pro — feature custom ISPs alongside those in their respective chipsets to further enhance camera performance.

That’s what Honor has done with Robot Phone, except it’s not framing its new H1 Imaging Chip as a complement to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, but as a necessary addition to allow the gimbal-equipped Robot Phone to fulfil its potential as a market-leading video capture device.

Built in partnership with German film camera manufacturer ARRI, the H1 enables real-time on-device image processing — that’s things like white balance adjustment, tone mapping, and exposure control — and supports 10-bit ARRI LogC3 recording and ARRI Wide Gamut 3.

The Honor H1 is a custom-made imaging chip for the Robot Phone (Image credit: Honor)

It’s a formidable piece of micro-engineering, and my impression is that ARRI — a 109-year-old company with exceptionally high quality standards — was only willing to partner with a burgeoning Chinese tech company on the Robot Phone because Honor could provide it with the level of processing power necessary to uphold those high standards.

“Pixels are very precious to us,” David Bermbach, ARRI’s Chief Product Officer, told me in the same interview. “[Working on the Robot Phone] was a challenge, but also an opportunity, because mass-produced devices have much more functionality on a smaller scale than special devices for one industry, where we sell a few thousand [units].

“So the task for us was to basically analyse all the different little Lego pieces on the different modules that exist in the phone and [figure out] how to connect them, how to utilize them, to basically rebuild as much of our pipeline as possible. And luckily, the processing power of the Robot Phone is extremely high.

As well as its 200MP main camera, the Robot Phone features a 200MP telephoto and 50MP ultra-wide (Image credit: Future)

“Also, there’s not just one camera [in the phone],” Bermbach continued, “there are several cameras. And we had to [figure out] how to get the best out of them, how to use the tools at hand, and optimize them towards [producing] a technically good picture, from our perspective, but also an artistically good picture [from a smartphone user’s perspective].”

As I wrote in my hands-on impressions of the Robot Phone, its 200MP, 1/1.28-inch gimbal camera produces dynamic, professional-grade footage — or at least footage comparable to what you can achieve with larger, dedicated gimbals like the DJI Osmo Pocket. The key difference here, of course, is that you’re getting the benefits of a gimbal and a phone in a single device, as well as ARRI’s “cinema-standard processing,” as Liu puts it.

Evidently, then, Honor’s H1 Imaging Chip is an impressive innovation, and while the Robot Phone has its problems — it gets noticeably hot after prolonged filming sessions, for instance, and isn’t anywhere near as durable as other flagship phones — I’m excited to see how far creators can push its unique video capabilities.

“This [device] is so revolutionary that we don’t even know all the use cases [yet],” Bermbach told me in our interview — he’s clearly excited too.

4K Blu-ray is a big part of my work at TechRadar. Not only is it my staple source for testing the best TVs and best soundbars, but thanks to its superior picture and audio quality over 4K streaming, the movies themselves have now become one of my main areas of coverage.

As a big fan of 4K Blu-ray, both as a user in AV testing and as a collector, I helped start our Blu-ray Bounty series, where we review the latest 4K releases from each month, scrutinizing their picture and audio quality, back in 2024.

While the 4K Blu-ray market (and the market for physical media in general) has been a volatile one in recent years, the Blu-ray fan base has always been a passionate one. As I’ve been testing more 4K releases, I’ve come to appreciate what the format can do for older titles and general at-home watching even more, and I now include myself in that passionate fanbase.

So, when I was invited to visit Silversalt Restorations, a company whose work ranges from audio restoration, data archiving and restoration and transfer of movies to Blu-ray restoration (including 4K), I jumped at the chance. The company has some big-name clients, having worked with Hammer, Arrow Video, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Criterion, among others. All of those brand’s 4Ks have been featured in Blu-ray Bounty, so I was excited to see how the magic happens.

A meticulous process

Each film is inspected frame-by-frame for marks, scratches and other imperfections (Image credit: Future)

Silversalt Restorations was founded in 2017 by a team of restoration artists, before being acquired in 2024 by John Gore Studios, another company dedicated to the preservation and restoration of classic titles, especially British cinema. Some of Silversalt’s biggest projects include The Deer Hunter, The Wicker Man, The Dollars Trilogy, The Curse of Frankenstein and the upcoming release of Dracula (the iconic Hammer horror classic starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing).

I was taken on a tour of Silversalt’s studio in Hammersmith, led by Managing Director Mark Bonnici, during which I was shown everything that goes into the meticulous process of restoring a movie.

My journey begins at the film inspection table, where Marie Fieldman, Silversalt’s resident film inspector, is hard at work inspecting an old film reel for damage, including visible scratches, marks, wear and tear, degradation, and even mould on each individual frame, before crafting a detailed report for the respective client. “Some of these haven’t been looked at by a human for a very long time,” Fieldman says, as she shows me an older report she did for 1954’s Men of Sherwood Forest. Here, she’s labelled every single defect she can find, noting the level of damage and the best course of action.

Once the film reel is ready, it's then put through the cleaning machine (pictured) (Image credit: Future)

She tells me about what fixes can be implemented, such as the cleaning of mould and even using a blank frame in place of a damaged one, which won’t be noticeable in the final movie, noting that deep scratches can be particularly problematic.

Once she is happy with the state of the film reel, it’s taken over to a cleaning machine. The reel is mounted and travels between Dacron rollers where surface dirt is gently removed with a film-safe solvent. Marie warns, “In some cases the film may need to be hand cleaned, for example if the film has a wax coating”. Once the film is clean, it’s ready for scanning.

ScanningThe Arriscan XT (pictured) can scan up to 6K resolution files FutureThe Laser Graphics Director (pictured) can scan up to a staggering 13.5K resolution Future

Next, Bonnici shows us the two scanning machines Silversalt uses. The first is the Arriscan XT. The Arriscan XT can use a wet-gate system, where the film is immersed in a Kodika, a special liquid which optically minimises scratches and marks as the film is digitised into a digital image sequence, known as a DPX file. The film is scanned in at 6K resolution, before being downgraded to 4K for 4K Blu-ray. “The Arriscan XT was originally designed for new film stock, but was later revised to handle archive/legacy film too,” Bonnici says.

He then shows us a more advanced film scanner, the Laser Graphics Director scanner. This scanner is specifically designed for archival footage which also uses an infrared light to detect marks and scratches on colour film and makes corrections during the scanning process. The Director scans up to 13.5K resolution and can handle 8mm to 35mm film.

Restoration

It takes a lot of hard work to get an old film ready for 4K Blu-ray (Hammer Films' 36 Hours pictured) (Image credit: Hammer / Future )

Once cleaning and scanning are completed, the DPX files are sent to the restoration artists, who work their magic to restore the uploaded film reel by correcting image instability, removing superfluous scratches and marks that the scanner has picked up from the original film, removing excess film grain, and generally tidying up the image.

The digitised frames are saved to file storage and then the digital restoration work begins. The frames are analysed for film dirt and the results are presented to the restoration artists, they can review these in a red mode, which highlights the differences between the results and the original version and any falsely removed part of the image reinstated. “We spend most of our time putting detail back in that’s been incorrectly removed,” restoration artist Anthony Badger tells me. “The system can sometimes struggle to distinguish between dirt and other textures within the film, like snow.”The artists perform other tasks such as stabilisation, deflicker, scratch removal etc. Anthony shows us various examples of larger fixes performed by the artists.

One of the clips I’m shown shows the red filter picking up what it thinks are marks and scratches. However, it also highlights a section of a character’s trouser leg and attempts to remove it, mistaking it for a scratch, and this in turn takes an odd chunk out of the leg. This is where Badger and the other restoration artists will add detail back in.

The restoration team at Silversalt would have had to go through every frame to make sure it was ready for 4K, such as Hammer Films' X: The Unknown, one of Silversalt's recent projects (Image credit: Hammer Films / Future )

During the restoration process, artists will carefully check each frame in quarters, zooming in to see if there are any other areas where the picture can be cleaned up. When it comes to film grain, it can be tricky. “It can be a bit of an ethical dilemma on how much we intervene,” Badger tells me, “but we need to consider if an extreme problem will take you out of the story.” The team’s philosophy is to deliver a great-looking restoration that preserves as much of the original, authentic look of the film as possible which is accessible to the expectations of modern audiences, without reinventing it.

I’m shown another example, from Don’t Look Now, the 1973 thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. As Sutherland arrives in Venice for the first time, Badger points out a large yellow stain that appears on screen. “This appears to be a film lab processing error that would have been in the original negative and all previous releases,” he says. He goes on to say that the client requested that this be toned down as much as possible. With some magic work by the Silver Salt team, involving background replacement, layering and even some rotoscoping, going as far as using an extra in the scene traversing the frame as a wipe to make the transition seamless, the yellow staining is significantly reduced and the picture is beautifully restored.

Grading

The grading desk at Silversalt Restoration, where the HDR grade for Hammer Films' Dracula (1973) is being worked on (Image credit: Future)

Once the DPX files have been restored and the team are happy, the film is then sent off for grading, including HDR (if relevant). As Mark takes us up to one of the grading suites, he recalls Silver Salt’s first 4K HDR Dolby Vision grading project. “It was The Deer Hunter, which was a significant milestone for us and set the standard for future releases,” he says. He particularly remembers the opening scenes in the steel mill, with molten iron serving as an excellent showcase for 4K and HDR grading. “If you can ooze more detail out of it, why not?” he says.

Next, he takes us into another grading suite, where we meet Ray King, Head of Film at Silversalt, and one of the main graders. As we enter, King is working on Dracula, the iconic 1973 Hammer flick starring Christpoher Lee and Peter Cushing. He talks about his process, and what type of film he prefers working with. “You’ve got to get a feel for the film,” he says, emphasising the importance of experimenting with color grading and detail to get the best results. “It helps bring the movie to life when you have the original elements,” he adds, saying he prefers to have the original film available.

As King works on a few scenes, he explains some of the details he works on, including skin tones and primaries, and points to a scene in which Cushing’s skin takes on a red hue. “Because of the old stage makeup and lighting they used in some older movies, when you’re changing the color grade, skin can take on this red tone.”

X: The Unknown (pictured) is a recent example of an excellent Dolby Vision grade of a Hammer Films title. (Image credit: Hammer Films / Future )

With a few quick adjustments, King reduces the red tone in the skin without compromising on the superb color he’s brought out in the surroundings, with vibrant, gorgeous reds in the velvet curtains being one particular highlight. Suddenly, there’s a wonderful richness and depth to the picture, with accurate colors and crisp textures that give this horror classic the distinctive '4K treatment' look that I’ve seen in so many great Blu-ray releases. “Once we’re done, some of these movies look like they could have been filmed last week,” King says proudly.

As he shows me his grading work on Dracula, he highlights that the original negative has faded over time, some colours more than others. To illustrate this fading, Ray showed us the red green and blue waveforms in the individual colour channels in his grading system and with the final results after his corrections on the grading monitor, the result I’m seeing is excellent. “Night time scenes can be very difficult to do,” King adds, pointing to a scene with a dark, shadowed forest that could easily show signs of black crush if not graded correctly. Ray mentions that he can use soft edges to remove black crush and again, the results I’m seeing are superb.

An even bigger fan

I'll never take 4K Blu-ray for granted again, after seeing the work that goes into it. (Image credit: Future)

The above really is just an overview of the fantastic work Silversalt Restorations does — the process of restoring a film is so intricate and laborious that it takes these talented artists and technicians countless hours of careful work to bring new life to a movie on 4K Blu-ray, especially the older, classic titles from studios like Hammer.

As a 4K Blu-ray collector and fan, it was such a great experience to see the hard work — and, frankly, wizardry — that the Silversalt team can perform. While I’ve always marvelled at how good 4K Blu-rays can look, now that I’ve seen the restoration process in action, albeit briefly, I appreciate the format even more — and I especially appreciate the amount of work that goes into making many of our favorite movies look so good.

If you’d have told me that in the fine year of 2026, I’d be back to my hobgoblin ways of racing home to pour hours into a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, I’d probably have laughed you off.

Under the Radar

Under the Radar is our way of highlighting great games that might have passed you by. Through a regular mix of news stories and features, we'll cover great experiences that we feel haven't found the audience they deserve. Read the full series here.

However, here I am, watching the clock until 5:30 PM so I can race home and log into Seed, a new life simulator from Klang Games that I think could herald a new renaissance for MMOs.

Summer Game Fest 2026 gave my colleague Dashiell Wood the chance to go hands-on with Seed, and his strong first impression held true when I got my hands on an early access code a little under a month ago.

Co-founded by veterans from CCP Games, the creators of Eve Online, the team behind Seed certainly has the credentials If you love games like Eco, The Sims and Factorio, you’ll be just as hooked as I am.

The game has already attracted a healthy audience, with thousands of active daily players. It’s a promising start, though it has to be said that a lot of work will be necessary to retain that audience and continue to grow in the months to come.

Still, I spend every waking moment craving Seed. In the last month, I became mayor, witnessed the rapture, and built a metropolis with total strangers — and I can’t wait to see what the game throws at me next.

A world of our own

Our society, Forest Dwellers, is coming along nicely (Image credit: Klang Games)

In short, your goal in Seed is simple: work with other real players in your randomly generated society and colonize the planet of Avesta, building a thriving community with a local economy and, later, global trade.

Because servers run 24/7, your playable Seedlings continue working and caring for themselves while you're offline—provided you set them up with balanced automations and basic necessities. There’s even a beta mobile app where you can check in and issue commands via chat; more on that later.

It’s surprisingly challenging, especially if you’re part of a foundling community. Your Seedlings aren’t always easy to keep alive when resources are scarce, meaning access to clean water and cooked food is an urgent undertaking. Seedlings can suffer from various health ailments and even die as they go about their lives; I lost count of how many times mine developed jaundice from compulsively drinking murky water.

It took me a solid week to nail down my Seedling's schedule — balancing needs against production lines, storage, trade, and resource shortages. At times, it’s a rollercoaster ride: the highs of logging on to see tens of thousands in revenue, and the low sof discovering that one misclick in an "if/then" automation halted all production.

All societies live on one sprawling world map, and as you progress, you’ll be vying with other player groups for territory and resources, and for attracting new players (with their wallets) to your town.

For now, at least, that feels like a distant problem; many societies are still developing. That’s part of what makes Seed so exciting as an MMO; it really does feel like the game is going to keep evolving with its player base, and already the choices from other societies have had a direct impact on how we run our own…

Life as an elected officialKlang GamesKlang Games

For the past month, my society inexplicably elected me mayor — an honor that gave me a front-row seat to Seed’s complexity. Societies evolve in stages based on shared goals, and with each step you gain new roles in government, features like legislation and slots for more Seedlings to join.

My own community has just become a Metropolis, with several of our more active players quickly training up their Seedlings into careers like carpentry, metalwork, tailoring and medicine. We've launched businesses from foundries and chemical plants to hotels and cafes to handle to service the 40+ Seedlings in our group and participate in global trade. It’s tough, but it’s honest work.

I’m also the proud magnate behind a furniture-making business, with my Seedlings specializing in carpentry and tailoring, and I’ve hired several players on the server into the fold to help me haul deliveries and craft furniture both to sell and furnish my two hotel businesses. You’re incentivised to pay your Seedlings well; your society's average salary and the balance of wealth is a key metric by which to attract new players, as are any society-level benefits you offer new players like bonuses, tax legislation, new business grants and even workers’ rights.

Finding the balance between this and also keeping the game fun for all involved is vital — and challenging. As I write this, a disagreement between two of the larger business owners in my society has led to a small fallout and calls for legislation around land ownership. Trust is essential, but hard-won among strangers.

Surviving the rapture

(Image credit: Klang Games)

There have already been quite a few exciting dramas in our society.

We founded on the first day of early access, so many players came through our doors to test the waters in Seed, only to then log out and never return. There are no NPCs in Seed, meaning all members of your society are real people — their activities need to be automated within the Schedule menu, or else your Seedlings will just kind of bimble around aimlessly.

We quickly discovered that even with well-populated schedules, those AFK players wreaked havoc in what I've dubbed 'The Great Haulening'. With many of them set to harvest and haul goods, our society was quickly overloaded with piles of resources and overwhelmed storage that disrupted our ability to trade globally by filling up our mailbox with junk.

Our solution to The Great Haulening was to place ample storage with specific resource configurations to keep things tidy. (Image credit: Klang Games)

Then there are the bugs. Oh lord, the bugs. The marketplace where you trade with other societies has been broken pretty much since day dot, and while recent commitments to fix this from the developers are reassuring, it’s certainly created some disparity among the societies that figured out workarounds and those that couldn’t.

My favorite bug though has to be ‘The Rapture’: the servers went down for two hours, which stopped time fully in Avesta for, to my knowledge, the first time.

All automations were paused, however all Seedling needs continued to depreciate, meaning every player with the companion app got a simultaneous notification that their Seedlings were dying and had to log on in a panic (for me, that was at 2 AM) to revive them. Thankfully, a few of our society members were online to run around and resuscitate the 95% of us who had collapsed, but not everyone was so lucky...

The Achilles heel

My colleague Dash joined the fun, but couldn't play for a short while. His Seedling was one of the Great Haulening's most avid participants. (Image credit: Klang Games)

While I’m loving the game in itself, another potentially not-so-rosy element to Seed is its divisive use of generative AI.

Now, I’m typically conservative with the technology; I don’t think it should be used unless genuinely additive, especially in gaming, and definitely not frivolously while concerns remain about the impact of AI on our environment.

In Seed, you can use gen AI to chat with your Seedlings, which I’ve used mostly as a way to give them instructions to consume things or do tasks, especially while I’m away from the game and when life-threatening issues arise. You’re also occasionally incentivized to casually chat with them as part of your daily tasks, which is quirky at first but tires quickly.

(Image credit: Klang Games)

The second primary use for gen AI is P.A.M, the in-game assistant that can help you learn how to play the game.

With Seed being so complex and in-depth, this is a genuinely useful resource and, by and large, it’s been a helpful companion with all of my requests. It’s a neat way to avoid having a pages-and-pages-long companion guide, but ultimately it’s still prone to getting things wrong, often has broken links and sometimes just gives up and recommends that you ask the World Chat.

It’s not inextricably linked to the gameplay, but it’s also omnipresent, and if you are one to take a bold stance against the use of AI, it’ll potentially put you off this otherwise brilliant game.

That being said, you might also find the pricing structure a turn-off.

You’re given one Seedling slot to play with, which will live for up to 120 real-world days. When they die, you lose everything if you have no other living Seedlings, so you’ll probably want a second Seedling Slot and another Seedling Life — which you’ll have to pay for Pollen, an in-game currency you can earn by levelling up your user profile or with real money.

These come in four tiers, starting with a basic slot that offers 100 real-world days of a Seedling’s life all the way up to Platinum, a permanent slot — full pricing information for all in-game purchases can be found here. This on top of an already $30/€29.99 (roughly £25) game might feel a little too close to a subscription scheme... and it kind of is.

Personally, I enjoy the game enough and understand enough about the costs of server upkeep to justify having spent some of my hard-earned cash on a permanent slot, but for some, the threat of losing everything when their Seedling dies and starting from scratch is disincentivizing. For others, it means an endless opportunity to graft; it’s down to the player to decide what feels more fun to them.

I do share reservations on both the use of AI and the subscription-like costs; but I don’t think either have to define my overarching enjoyment of the game, which has been immense.

I’ve sunk hours and hours into refining my strategy, working with my community towards our shared goals setting up our local economy, and had a good laugh with many of the players I’ve met so far from all around the world.

It’s a real throwback to the heyday of online gaming, and if it sticks, I think Seed could inspire other developers to take a risk on what is, admittedly, a hard product to monetize and upkeep in the increasingly competitive gaming market.

I hope it does, because I’ve definitely got the itch.

Disney Imagineers put in way more work than you might think to update Smuggler’s Run in Disneyland.

Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk: Two-minute review

As I'm writing this review, I'm surrounded by an abundance of glowing red stars decorated all over my desk. It's hard not to feel relaxed here, thanks to the beautiful desktop, which can be activated in specific areas by your touch, or turned onto a setting that allows them to twinkle manually all across the glass panel.

When it comes to the best gaming desks or best standing desks, the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk is suitable for both categories. This makes it a good all-rounder for those wanting to effortlessly move between office work and gaming.

This is my first time using one of Eureka Ergonomic's desks, and I am impressed. The Wonder Glowing Glass Desk has been my daily companion for the past two months as I've written reviews, played games, and completed life admin. It's survived all of this effortlessly, with enough space for me to have both my work laptop and my gaming laptop side by side for those days when I need to switch between the two.

It also has enough room for me to decorate it with personal items to make it look more like "me". I hate having a boring workspace, after all. So aesthetically and functionally, it does tick a lot of boxes.

My main problem is that the desk does feel quite high, even when it's on the lowest setting. This isn't necessarily a fault of Eureka's, but it's a word of warning if you are short and you're looking for a desk to suit your needs. I'm 5ft 4in, and I think anyone under that would struggle with this desk.

I tested the desk with my partner, who is taller than me at around 6ft 3in, and he was able to comfortably use the desk at its lowest setting. If you are on the shorter side, it's worth choosing your chair well to make sure you can work comfortably based on this.

Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk: Price and availability

• Prices start at $899 (around £665)
• Only available in the US, but does ship to the UK
• Available in one size with a black, oak, or black walnut finish

Eureka Ergonomic's Wonder Glowing Glass Desk only comes in one size, but there are price differences when it comes to the materials used on it. The black one (pictured throughout this review) is priced at $899, whereas the oak or black walnut versions are $999.

It's a very well-made and sturdy desk, and has a classic design which means it's right at home in most office spaces. It's also not as large and imposing as other desks of its kind, so it's a good choice if you want a smaller desk that's also under $1,000.

However, it's important to note that the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk's price tag puts it at the premium end of the market. This pricing is in line with the $949 / £829 Secretlab Magnus Pro XL, depending on which material you choose.

The Wonder Glowing Glass Desk's finish makes it ~$50 more expensive if you go for oak or black walnut, but it works out ~$50 cheaper than Secretlab if you opt for the standard black model.

Ultimately, you are paying for the unique and responsive lighting design across the desk, as well as the materials used. So if you're not really bothered by the glowing features of the desk, you might want to choose a cheaper option. I think this is worth the price given its unique selling point and overall quality.

The Eureka Ergonomic GTG Wave has a similar RGB vibe at a much smaller price of $599.99, without the touch-sensitivity that the Wonder Glowing Glass Desk has. It is also not a standing desk, so it does not boast that additional feature.

If both Eureka Ergonomic and Secretlab are out of budget, however, we recommend the $340 / £360 / AU$420 Flexispot E7, a 5-star rated standing desk which is budget-friendly but does not skimp on the quality.

Eureka Ergonomic primarily sells to the United States, though they do have retail partners in the UK and select European countries; however, our Aussie readers won't be able to get their hands on any of Eureka's products right now, as they currently don't ship to Australia.

Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk: Specs

Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk

Price

$899 - $999

Height

29.5in ~ 47.25in / 74.93cm ~ 120cm

Load capacity

220lbs / 100kg

Material

Frosted Glass /Thermofoil top frame, Alloy Steel, Carbon Steel base frame

Dimensions (H x W x D)

29.5in ~ 47.25in x 23.625in x 47.25in /
74.93cm ~ 120 cm x 60 cm x 120 cm

Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk: Design and features

• Remote control allows you to adjust the light color and patterns
• Dual-motor frame that adjusts from 29.5'' to 47.2'', great for converting to a standing desk
• Beautiful star-like lighting covers the entire desk

By far the biggest selling point of the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Desk is the starry lighting across the entire thing. It makes it a unique choice and really pretty to look at.

Eureka describes the desk as being an "industry-first luminous desktop that reacts to your touch", and it is seriously cool. It feels more special than your standard RGB setup as it covers the entirety of the desktop and responds to your touch instantly, without any delay. You can draw patterns, drum on the desk, and do other wonderfully distracting things whilst you're meant to be working.

The lighting setup is a fun addition which livens up your workspace whilst still keeping a sleek and polished aesthetic, and you can easily turn the desk lights off to switch between fun and serious. The touch-activated lighting does not make it any less of a professional standing desk; it merely adds to it.

(Image credit: Future / Lucy Buglass)

You do need to plug the desk into a socket, of course, but as long as you have one nearby, you can play around with the lights til your heart's content.

If you like, you can also choose to have twinkling lights on the desk without you needing to touch the material. This is a good option if you want to get on with things whilst being surrounded by a starry backdrop that manually moves without needing your input.

It's easy to cycle between the different colors and light patterns thanks to an included remote control, which I'll demonstrate below.

(Image credit: Future / Lucy Buglass)Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk: Performance

• Fits both big and small setups
• Small amount of cable management
• Sturdy, but also very heavy

I have been using the desk for both everyday work and gaming. Even though it is a fairly compact desk and fits nicely into my attic, I should warn you that it is a heavy and also very fragile desk with glass elements. I would strongly suggest you ask someone to help you if you want to take the boxes upstairs, as even before assembly they are cumbersome.

The same can be said for building the desk. This is very much a two-person job, and you need to be extremely careful not to shatter the glass panel on the desktop. Once it is built, however, it is very robust, and I am confident that it will stay stable due to weeks of regular use. It is also easy to build thanks to printed instructions that clearly outline what you need to do.

If you have a bigger setup than me and require cable management, the desk does feature some. Underneath the desk are five slots for you to organize your cables, securely fastened in when you assemble the desk. It's hidden away. Due to my minimal setup, I only have one cable running through this, the one that's connected to the desk itself, but it can handle the wiring associated with a more complex PC setup.

(Image credit: Future / Lucy Buglass)

The desk also easily converts to a standing one thanks to a touchscreen console on the front of the desk. It is easy to use, and there wasn't any stiffness or delay in converting the desk between the seated and standing positions.

I really can't fault the performance, and in my experience, this is a solid desk that's very nice to use every day. It feels professional and well put together, and everything operates as it should.

(Image credit: Future / Lucy Buglass)Should I buy the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk?Buy it if…

You want something different
The twinkling light effect is different from your average desk; everyone who has visited my home wanted to try out the touch-activated lighting themselves.

You want something spacious, but not domineering
The desk comfortably fits in my attic office, and there's enough room for my partner's desk too. It doesn't take over the entire room.

Don't buy it if…

You want a lot of storage space
The desk comes with a relatively small drawer, so if you have a lot of accessories and stationery, this might not be for you.

You need a budget-friendly desk
This falls under the premium category, and you may feel that it isn't worth the investment.

Also consider

Not keen on the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk? Here’s one cheaper gaming desk (without standing conversion) to consider and a much more budget-friendly standing desk.

Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk

Eureka Ergonomic GTG Wave

Flexispot E7

Price

$899 - $999 /

$599.99 /

$340 / £360 / AU$420

Height

29.5in ~ 47.25in / 74.93cm ~ 120cm

30in / 76cm

22.8-48.4in / 58-123cm

Load capacity

220lbs / 100kg

200lbs / 90kg

275lbs / 125kg

Material

Frosted Glass /Thermofoil top frame, Alloy Steel, Carbon Steel base frame

Steel, tempered glass

Steel

Dimensions

29.5in ~ 47.25in x 23.625in x 47.25in / 74.93cm ~ 120 cm x 60cm x 120cm

60 x 40in / 152 x 102cm

43.3-74.8 x 26.7 x 22.8-48.4in / 110-190 x 68 x 58-123cm

Eureka Ergonomic GTG Wave
If you're keen to try Eureka Ergonomic but don't have the budget for the Wonder Glowing Desk, the GTG Wave is a great option for those who love RGB and a sleek finish. It is not a standing desk, but ideal for gaming.

For more information, check out our full Eureka Ergonomic GTG Wave reviewView Deal

Also consider the Flexispot E7
If you want something similar to the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk that doesn’t break the bank, consider the Flexispot E7. It’s a standing desk that performs excellently and comes in a wide range of color options.

For more information, check out our full Flexispot E7 reviewView Deal

How I tested the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk

• Used as my main desk
• Tested over multiple weeks
• Extensive work and play

I used the Eureka Ergonomic Wonder Glowing Glass Desk as my main desk for two months for this review. In that time, I played a huge variety of games on my gaming laptop, and I also did everyday work on my MacBook Air while sitting adn standing at it.

I spent a lot of time playing around with the lights and trying out the different settings, as well as testing it out in both its seated and standing modes.

First reviewed June-August 2026.

Read more about how we test

Hayden Christensen is back, and Ryan Gosling is ready for his Starfighter role.

Spotify has always found ways to branch out beyond music, now the platform is a hub for all-things audiobooks and podcasts. So what do you do when you’ve got every audio format under your belt? You venture into fitness, of course.

The best music streaming service kick-started its new Fitness hub in April by announcing a partnership with Peloton, bringing a slew of video workouts from Peloton trainers right to the Spotify app. Just a few weeks ago, the platform launched Running Mode, a collection of customizable playlists across different genres to make soundtracking your workouts easier.

But Spotify’s new Fitness ecosystem wouldn’t be what it is without the watchful eye of Austin Lamon, Senior Director of Product, who helped build the hub from the ground up — and knows exactly where he wants to take it.

A 'natural extension'

(Image credit: Future)

Spotify’s Fitness hub didn’t just appear overnight, and the product team had to ask themselves one question: how can we integrate it into Spotify’s existing products?

“Our strategy has been to expand into formats that deepen engagement and increase the value of Premium,” Lamon tells me. “Music, podcasts, audiobooks, video, and now fitness all serve the same goal: helping users get more out of their time on Spotify and leave feeling better than when they opened the app”.

One of the best things about Spotify’s Fitness hub is that it’s not overly complicated and intimidating for beginners. Instead, it caters to budding and established fitness enthusiasts equally. Lamon tells me “Spotify Fitness is built for anyone who wants movement to be part of their day without adding complexity to it.

“That could be a dedicated athlete following a structured training plan, someone fitting in a walk between meetings, or a first-timer looking for a guided stretch or yoga session. Many of the most popular fitness experiences — like walking, running, yoga, strength and mobility — require little or no equipment, making them accessible to almost everyone”.

It’s clear that the Spotify team is full of ideas, and it’s always thinking about new ways to take the platform to the next level. However, not every idea makes the cut, but for Lamon, fitness was a no-brainer.

“Fitness is a natural extension of how people already use Spotify today — to get motivated, recover, and reset — and allows us to support more moments throughout the day,” he shares, but the fitness hub needed a bit of a boost to get the ball rolling. How do you do that? You enlist the help of a fitness behemoth.

Thank you, Peloton

(Image credit: Future)

Spotify’s partnership with Peloton gave the fitness hub the kick-starter it needed, turning it into a one-stop shop for guided workout videos for all fitness abilities.

“Peloton was a natural launch partner because it brought world-class instructors, high production quality, and a deep catalog of programming that allowed us to deliver a great experience from day one,” Lamon details. “Our ambition is to build an open fitness ecosystem where users can discover the content that's right for them, while making Spotify an even more useful part of their daily routines through experiences like Running Mode”.

Shortly after Peloton came to the Spotify app, Running Mode was born, enhancing the Fitness hub by transforming personalized playlists into guided running experiences. Lamon is confident this is the key to success and expansion, telling me “The early signals are very encouraging, and usage has grown every week since launch.

“We aren't trying to create a new behavior; millions of people were already incorporating Spotify into their fitness routines. We’re simply making those experiences more seamless and personalized. Running Mode is the next step in meeting that demand”.

After playing around with Running Mode, I get where Lamon is coming from — there’s a playlist for everyone depending on how long you want to run for and the genre you want to listen to, and comes with a voiceover that interjects every now and then like Couch to 5K.

(Image credit: Future)

It can be a bit intimidating for those who don’t know where to start, but Lamon offers his advice. “Running is how I reset, and Running Mode has fully become part of my routine,” he starts, but there’s one thing in particular he wants you to remember.

“One thing people don't always realize is that the presets are completely customizable. You can adjust the workout type—whether it's intervals, a steady run, or something more structured—the duration, your target BPM, and even the kind of music you're in the mood for,” he says. Despite being pre-curated, there’s still an element of control.

He continues: “The real power-user trick is hidden one level deeper: swipe across the playlist controls to "Edit prompt" and you can describe your exact session in plain words — your intervals, your warm-up length, whatever you want — and Spotify builds the run around it. I also recommend trying the optional audio coaching. It feels less like a coach barking instructions and more like a supportive friend helping you pace the run. And if you prefer to run without it, you can turn it off with a tap”.

A fitness future awaits

(Image credit: Future)

If there’s one thing Spotify has always invested in, it’s access. You can use Search to find an abundance of its own editorial playlists, as well as the Made For You hub. But I couldn’t help but wonder: does convenience eradicate the desire to curate your own playlists? Lamon doesn’t think so.

“Spotify has always been about giving people more choices, not fewer,” he says. “If you love building your own workout playlists, that experience isn't going anywhere. Running Mode is simply another option for the moments when you'd rather spend less time curating and more time moving”.

Lamon also believes that Running Mode’s personalization is the other redeeming factor, sharing with me that “Every session starts with the listener's own preferences — from the type and length of their run to the music they want to hear and the tempo that matches their pace. The result isn't a one-size-fits-all soundtrack; it's an experience tailored to that specific person based on their goals, music taste, and workout preferences”.

As someone who makes their own playlists, I’m quite satisfied with the soundtracks I’ve created for my different workout regimes. However, that’s not to say I don’t appreciate having access to playlists that are not only concise tempo-wise, but are the right running lengths. Running Mode is already a solid expansion of Spotify’s Fitness hub, but it’s only the start for Lamon.

It’s only been two weeks since Fitness launched on Spotify, and he’s already looking ahead, who shares with me “We see Fitness as a long-term investment and another way to make Spotify more valuable throughout the day”.

He goes on: “Just as we've expanded from music into podcasts, audiobooks, and video, we'll continue evolving Fitness based on how people naturally want to move, listen, and engage. In the near term, our focus is on expanding access.

In the short time Spotify’s Fitness hub has been live, the editorial brains behind it have noticed an encouraging shift in user engagement. And from here on out, Fitness is only going to get bigger, as Lamon leaves me with this: “Looking ahead, we're exploring additional workout types, deeper personalization, and ways to make the experience even more seamless across devices”.

If you've been eyeing up any of the latest best gaming keyboards or the best PC controllers hitting the market over the last few years, then you've no doubt come across the terms 'Hall Effect' and 'TMR'. Magnets are at the heart of the user experience for both peripherals, and are becoming widely adopted by all major manufacturers as standard.

But what exactly is Hall Effect or TMR? More importantly, how do the two technologies compare and contrast? While it may seem like a marketing gimmick or the latest new buzzword, there's actually plenty to be excited about. In this article, I'll be going through how both technologies work in detail and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.

What is Hall Effect and how does it work?

Put simply, the Hall Effect is the difference in voltage across an electrical conductor from an electronic conductor, which was named after the scientist who discovered it, Edwin Hall, in 1879. It's the effect that pushes charges to one side, directing electrons in a current flow through a straight line. Specifically, this charge separation is what's known as Hall Voltage.

In the most straightforward sense of the concept, the Hall effect is simply a semiconductor and a magnet, with the magnetic field generating a voltage as the semiconductor moves. In the gaming or modern tech scene, it's defined by how magnetic sensors detect movement rather than the previous method of mechanical components. It means greater precision, enhanced durability, and fewer points of failure.

When it comes to points of failure, stick drift has been affecting even top gaming controllers, and remains a constant fear, as a DualSense or Xbox Wireless Controller could (eventually) see its analog sticks drifting (so the game thinks you're moving the analogue stick on a gamepad, when you're not), or the dead zones no longer trigger as intended. This happens due to wear and tear on the potentiometers, which feature small metal contacts over a resistive track that can wear away with many years of use.

Things are similar with the Hall Effect keyboards when compared to regular mechanical or optical decks. With a standard mechanical gaming keyboard, two metal pieces come together to close an electrical circuit. With Hall Effect, however, it's simply a magnet in the switch itself that moves closer to the board, without metal ever actually touching.

In real-world terms, this is what allows Hall Effect gaming keyboards to have fully adjustable actuation points (usually 0.1mm to 4.0mm) instead of the fixed depth of older, mechanical models. Because Hall Effect lacks any physical connections, switches using that technology will (theoretically) last far longer, too.

What is TMR and how does it work?

(Image credit: Wooting)

TMR (or Tunnel Magnetoresistance) is the far newer technology of the two, being discovered in 1975 by Michel Jullière. In its simplest explanation, tunnelling magnetoresistance is a quantum mechanical effect that occurs in a magnetic tunnel junction, based upon changes in an external magnetic field. It's the changes in resistance between two ferromagnetic layers, with one being fixed and the other free to react, with an insulating barrier between them.

Tunnelling magnetoresistance is used in gaming for contactless magnetic sensor technology, promising precise inputs, no stick drift, and low overall power consumption. Because it works by detecting even the slightest and smallest difference in magnetic fields, it allows for incredibly exact actuation when used in gaming keyboards and PC gaming controllers. It's signal actuation down to a granular scale. Because TMR measures resistance and not voltage, it needs less signal amplification, resulting in a low overall power draw.

Hall Effect vs TMR: Direct comparison

Feature

Hall Effect

TMR

Operating method

Detects changes in voltages across a conductor

Measures resistance changes caused by quantum mechanical tunnelling through an insulating barrier

Power consumption

Higher (usually around 1-10 mA)

Incredibly low (Microamps to the sub-milliamp range)

Sensitivity

Moderate sensitivity as it requires a stronger magnetic field

Incredibly high sensitivity

Polling rates

1,000Hz to 8,000Hz

1,000Hz to 8,000Hz

Physical wear

Massively improved over potentiometers with a non-contact design

Non-contact with a high resolution design for less of a deadzone reliance

Primary uses

Magnetic switches, magnetic joysticks

Ultra-precision keyboards, high-end wireless gamepads, automotive sensors

Manufacturing maturity

High (low component costs)

Maturing as prices are beginning to drop

Is TMR better than Hall Effect? Yes, but there's a catch...

Now that I've outlined the key differences and similarities, it's time to talk about exactly why TMR is the superior magnetic sensor technology for today's tech. We can start by reiterating TMR's key advantages over Hall Effect: a massive resistance delta, extremely low noise floor, low power consumption, smaller micro magnets with low-strength flux fields, and ultra-high positional precision when weighed up against the older Hall Effect tech.

With that being said, why isn't TMR the more recognizable and more popular standard across the industry? Well, there are a few key reasons why Hall Effect remains the more familiar of the two magnetic methods.

Fundamentally, it comes down to the high costs of TMR components, combined with the fact that peripheral makers often need to make major changes to their production lines if they switch to using TMR.

Hall Effect components have been in use considerably longer than TMR in game controllers and gaming keyboards, with manufacturers already having SMT assembly pipelines, key suppliers, and proven benchmarks for what Hall Effect quality control looks like.

We also need to consider the key use cases for TMR for gamers. Its incredibly high sensitivity potential requires adept calibration. Because a magnetic sensor is only as good as the firmware that interprets the signal, we just haven't seen the level of maturity of firmware and engineering understanding with TMR, compared to the older and more reliable Hall Effect standard.

Razer's new Huntsman V3 HE Magnetic 8KHz adopts Hall Effect sensors (Image credit: Razer)

I also need to talk about diminishing returns with the (seemingly) boundless potential of how TMR could be implemented in our tech. It comes down to the limitations of the human body, particularly when considering just how granular a movement we really need to make when using our thumbs on an analog stick.

TMR is technically capable of far smaller deviations than Hall Effect; however, a human thumb, even from the best gamers in the world, just isn't really going to be able to take advantage of the sub-millimeter differences in micro-adjustments here.

Specifically sticking with the example of using a game controller, we also need to consider dead zones, which are baked into most modern games at 3-5%, allowing for player error. A controller's dead zone is designed to ignore small movements to stop your in-game character model (or the camera) from moving, while keeping your aim fast, and (theoretically) removing any shakiness. This feature is found in even top esports games such as Fortnite, Rocket League, and Apex Legends.

In gaming keyboard terms, both Hall Effect and TMR greatly innovate over standard mechanical decks through rapid trigger, which dynamically resets a key at the exact moment it's pressed and turns off the instant it is released with no fixed rebound. Because there's no need for metal-on-metal contact, there's no spring-back time, and it's instantaneous; it allows for superior counter-strafing in Counter-Strike and gives you a far better chance to land that Vandal five-stack in VALORANT, provided you actually let go of the key before micro-adjusting with your mouse.

The direct comparison of whether rapid trigger is actually any better with TMR than with Hall Effect again comes down to an infinitesimal difference for a human finger. If you're able to measure both magnetic technologies with 0.1mm precision and an 8,000Hz polling rate, effectively eliminating latency, then the higher raw signal resolution of TMR just isn't going to make any tangible impact here, because (unless you're in the top 0.01% of gamers) you will be the bottleneck.

What are the best Hall Effect and TMR controllers and keyboards right now?

The Asus ROG Raikiri II is one of the better TMR gamepads on the market. (Image credit: Future)

There's no shortage of high-quality Hall Effect controllers and keyboards dominating the gaming market, particularly from the major players in the peripherals scene. The Boomslang brand aside, you only need to look as far as the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, the Asus ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3, Wooting 80HE, or the Pulsar Gaming Gears eS HE 70 to see how gamers have welcomed magnetic sensor tech.

By comparison, there are relatively few gaming keyboard manufacturers turning their attention to TMR in 2026, with the most prominent examples of these boards being the Cherry K5 Pro TMR Compact or the Cherry MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless, as well as the latest decks made by Keychron. Again, TMR keyboards face the hurdle of being far more expensive to produce, with supply chain issues and dubious consumer knowledge and understanding, despite being the superior way to play (at least on paper).

TMR controllers are far more commonplace than gaming keyboards that have adopted the tech, thankfully. You only need to look as far as the Steam Controller (2026), the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K, and the Asus ROG Raikiri 2 for proof of this. It's not just the pricier name-brands getting in on this action, either. That's because there is a wealth of budget TMR gamepads worth considering, such as the GameSir G7 Pro 8K and the Gulikit ES Pro, too.

What does the future hold for TMR and Hall Effect tech?

Cherry has been leading the charge with its newest line of TMR-backed esports gaming keyboards under the XTRFY brand (Image credit: Cherry )

Neither Hall Effect nor TMR will disappear anytime soon. In fact, considering that TMR technology is becoming cheaper to produce and is starting to become more widespread in keyboards and controllers, it's highly likely that more manufacturers will see the advantages of magnetic resistance when weighed against magnetic voltage.

Prices will come down, particularly when the larger manufacturers start to mass produce items which will (inevitably) be revised and innovated upon in the next handful of years.

HE and TMR may sound like buzzwords added to the names of peripherals at the moment, but eventually, they will be the standard, and a lack of magnetic tech could be seen as a dealbreaker.

True, breaking into the mainstream will depend on how the 10th console generation goes; if Sony and Microsoft adopt TMR tech for their new controllers, then that will signal the changing tide. Considering the eye-watering price next-gen consoles could command, it's certainly possible.

As many attendees of this year’s DEF CON hacker conference departed Las Vegas recently, many unsuspecting passengers on Delta Flight 591 attempted to access an onboard Wi-Fi network.

What they didn’t know was that ‘Delta WiFi Fast’ was actually a fake network, allegedly set up by a fellow passenger intended to mimic the actual onboard Wi-Fi network and scam other users.

The unknown passenger was able to disable the legitimate Wi-Fi networks for 30 minutes while they launched the attack, and in doing so, may have violated United States federal law.

How did the attack take place?

According to Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages, the situation was first brought to light by the crew of the flight, who shared the following message:

“HEY ALERT CORP SECURITY WE HAVE A PAX [passenger] ON THAT HAS CREATED A SCAM WIFI CALLED DELTA WIFI FAST WE BELIEVE THEY ARE TRYING TO SCAM THE OTH PAX”

Another message read:

“NO INFO AS OF NOW WE HAVE A BUNCH OF PAX THAT WERE AT A CYBER CONFRENCE IN LAS THE WERE ABLE TO JAM OUR WIFI AND BRODCAST THERE SIGNIAL”

The actual details of what happened on the flight outside of these messages isn’t clear, but according to Monika Hathaway, head of press for DEF CON, similar attacks happened in Las Vegas: “Our conference this year also suffered from multiple similar ‘deauthorization’ Wi-Fi attacks and it impacted some of our operations.”

Delta airlines confirmed that no aircraft operating systems were affected and flight safety was never in question.

Wi-Fi deauthorization attacks can be launched with cheap, widely available ‘deauth boards’ which are small, battery powered devices that send deauthentication frames to devices within their range. On board a plane, these could easily reach most devices.

Once the legitimate Wi-Fi has been jammed and the other users booted from the network, the attacker can then set up an ‘evil twin’ network that users will attempt to connect to, which can be used to snoop on their internet traffic, steal credentials, and perform other malicious activities.

Expert perspectives on the Delta Wi-Fi attack‘Evil twin’ attacks and the risks of connecting

Aras Nazarovas, Senior Information Security Researcher at Cybernews:

An evil twin attack is when hackers create fake Wi-Fi networks with the goal of stealing sensitive information from people, or exploiting known vulnerabilities present on victim devices. The fake networks often have a very similar (or identical) name to the legitimate network, which was the case here.

Once a person connects to the hacker’s Wi-Fi network, the hacker may be able to see what the victim is doing online and what data they transfer. However, since most websites have HTTPS/TLS encryption, much of what the user does, even on the rogue network, is private.

The risk here is that the hacker may attempt to redirect the victim to a phishing website – for instance, in this case, it may have been a fake Delta login page asking for personal data like name, email, address, etc. Or, the hacker may even go further and provide fake login pages for banks, social media, and try to extract login details from the victims.

Connecting to a network controlled by a threat actor allows them to probe your device for potential vulnerabilities and maliciously redirect your internet traffic to their own servers.

Connecting to such a network comes with some risk in itself. Connecting to a network controlled by a threat actor allows them to probe your device for potential vulnerabilities and maliciously redirect your internet traffic to their own servers.

If a person entered credentials into a Wi-Fi login page, noticed security warnings popping up after visiting a website, downloaded something, or entered payment information into an unfamiliar page, then they may have had their data stolen. In that case, the victim should immediately change any passwords that were transmitted, do a thorough scan of their device for malware, and if bank details were transmitted, freeze the bank account until new credentials are received.

However, if a user just connected and disconnected to the Wi-Fi without entering any details or clicking suspicious links, they should be fine.

Who would launch the attack?

Seemant Sehgal, Founder & CEO, BreachLock:

Flying out of Vegas after Black Hat myself just a few days before this incident, I can tell you the security conference crowd that passes through that airport is unlike any other, and the crew on Flight 591 made the right call with the information they had in front of them.

The people most likely to pull something like this on a DEF CON departure flight are the ones who know exactly where that line is, which makes crossing it a choice rather than a mistake. Disabling the Wi-Fi and investigating was exactly the right instinct.

Rogue access points impersonating a legitimate network are one of the oldest tricks in the book, and doing it on an aircraft to scam passengers is a federal crime regardless of the sophistication involved.

The people most likely to pull something like this on a DEF CON departure flight are the ones who know exactly where that line is, which makes crossing it a choice rather than a mistake. Disabling the Wi-Fi and investigating was exactly the right instinct.

Denis Calderone, CTO, Suzu Labs:

Hackers will hack. I go to DEF CON most years, and it's pretty common to have a terrible wifi experience on those flights because everyone is playing with their WiFi Pineapples and whatnot. That said, my flight home this year had no rogue SSIDs that I could see, and although, as usual, the wifi was shoddy, I never took the time to analyze the radio signals in the cabin, but if a few deauths were flying around, I wouldn't have been too surprised. It is concerning to hear about attempted credential harvesting on the flight though, and I feel that that's taking the expected hijinks way too far.

These sorts of wifi threats are very common. DEF CON still displays their famed Wall of Sheep which displays the sniffing clear text credentials on the conference network, and every year the WiFi Pineapples have been selling out at the Hak5 booth.

The deauthentication and evil twin combination used on Flight 591 is a well-documented attack that the security community has been demonstrating for a good two decades. These sorts of wifi threats are very common. DEF CON still displays their famed Wall of Sheep which displays the sniffing clear text credentials on the conference network, and every year the WiFi Pineapples have been selling out at the Hak5 booth.

But there's a significant difference between demonstrating a technique at a conference and deploying it against 199 unsuspecting passengers on a commercial aircraft. Last November, an Australian man was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison for running the exact same attack on domestic flights using a WiFi Pineapple and now the FBI is already involved in this case. There is definitely a legal exposure here.

For anyone who travels for work, in-flight WiFi should be treated as an untrusted network, period. The enterprise advice is encrypted DNS through your MDM and always-on VPN with captive portal remediation configured. But honestly, a VPN is something every traveler should be using, not just corporate road warriors. I make sure mine is on whenever I travel, and my family does the same.

Beyond that, if a WiFi network on a plane doesn't match what the crew announced or what's printed on the seat card, don't connect to it. If a network asks you to log in with your Google account or email credentials to get WiFi access, that's not how airline WiFi works. Airline captive portals ask for a credit card or a loyalty account, not your personal email password. If you're being asked for something that doesn't make sense for the context, you're probably not on the real network.

Reputational harm for the cybersecurity industry

Jacob Warner, Director of IT, Xcape, Inc.:

While a rogue Wi-Fi access point on a commercial airliner poses zero direct risk to air-gapped flight safety controls, it creates a serious enterprise security hazard for business travelers relying on inflight networks.

Dismissing an onboard network impersonation as a harmless prank ignores the reality of man-in-the-middle attacks, credential harvesting, and fake authentication portals targeting captive passengers connecting to the Internet.

Given that the flight departed Las Vegas immediately following DEF CON, it requires little imagination to conclude an attendee deployed the unauthorized access point.

Given that the flight departed Las Vegas immediately following DEF CON, it requires little imagination to conclude an attendee deployed the unauthorized access point.

This juvenile behavior is precisely why hackers suffer such a poor reputation among non-technical audiences and why security professionals struggle to build mainstream trust. Enterprise security teams must mandate always-on virtual private networks or zero-trust network access, disable automatic connections to open SSIDs on corporate endpoints, and instruct travelers to treat cabin wireless environments as untrusted networks.

Setting up an evil twin at 30,000 feet does not make you a clever researcher; it just proves why we cannot have nice things.

John Strand, Owner, Black Hills Information Security, Inc.:

This one hits differently because this is my community. These are my people. When security professionals engage in this kind of behavior, they’re betraying the very community they’re claim to represent.

There’s nothing impressive about it. It doesn’t make you look clever, and it certainly doesn’t make you an elite hacker. In most cases, these attacks aren’t even technically sophisticated.

There’s nothing impressive about it. It doesn’t make you look clever, and it certainly doesn’t make you an elite hacker. In most cases, these attacks aren’t even technically sophisticated. They’re simply people with enough technical knowledge taking advantage of others who don’t have the experience to recognize what’s happening. That isn’t skill. It’s bullying.

I hope the people responsible are held accountable. This isn’t funny, it isn’t clever, and it doesn’t demonstrate technical excellence. It’s just people abusing their knowledge to prey on those who are at a disadvantage. That’s not what this profession should stand for.

As many attendees of this year’s DEF CON hacker conference departed Las Vegas recently, many unsuspecting passengers on Delta Flight 591 attempted to access an onboard Wi-Fi network.

What they didn’t know was that ‘Delta WiFi Fast’ was actually a fake network, allegedly set up by a fellow passenger intended to mimic the actual onboard Wi-Fi network and scam other users.

The unknown passenger was able to disable the legitimate Wi-Fi networks for 30 minutes while they launched the attack, and in doing so, may have violated United States federal law.

How did the attack take place?

According to Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages, the situation was first brought to light by the crew of the flight, who shared the following message:

“HEY ALERT CORP SECURITY WE HAVE A PAX [passenger] ON THAT HAS CREATED A SCAM WIFI CALLED DELTA WIFI FAST WE BELIEVE THEY ARE TRYING TO SCAM THE OTH PAX”

Another message read:

“NO INFO AS OF NOW WE HAVE A BUNCH OF PAX THAT WERE AT A CYBER CONFRENCE IN LAS THE WERE ABLE TO JAM OUR WIFI AND BRODCAST THERE SIGNIAL”

The actual details of what happened on the flight outside of these messages isn’t clear, but according to Monika Hathaway, head of press for DEF CON, similar attacks happened in Las Vegas: “Our conference this year also suffered from multiple similar ‘deauthorization’ Wi-Fi attacks and it impacted some of our operations.”

Delta airlines confirmed that no aircraft operating systems were affected and flight safety was never in question.

Wi-Fi deauthorization attacks can be launched with cheap, widely available ‘deauth boards’ which are small, battery powered devices that send deauthentication frames to devices within their range. On board a plane, these could easily reach most devices.

Once the legitimate Wi-Fi has been jammed and the other users booted from the network, the attacker can then set up an ‘evil twin’ network that users will attempt to connect to, which can be used to snoop on their internet traffic, steal credentials, and perform other malicious activities.

Expert perspectives on the Delta Wi-Fi attack‘Evil twin’ attacks and the risks of connecting

Aras Nazarovas, Senior Information Security Researcher at Cybernews:

An evil twin attack is when hackers create fake Wi-Fi networks with the goal of stealing sensitive information from people, or exploiting known vulnerabilities present on victim devices. The fake networks often have a very similar (or identical) name to the legitimate network, which was the case here.

Once a person connects to the hacker’s Wi-Fi network, the hacker may be able to see what the victim is doing online and what data they transfer. However, since most websites have HTTPS/TLS encryption, much of what the user does, even on the rogue network, is private.

The risk here is that the hacker may attempt to redirect the victim to a phishing website – for instance, in this case, it may have been a fake Delta login page asking for personal data like name, email, address, etc. Or, the hacker may even go further and provide fake login pages for banks, social media, and try to extract login details from the victims.

Connecting to a network controlled by a threat actor allows them to probe your device for potential vulnerabilities and maliciously redirect your internet traffic to their own servers.

Connecting to such a network comes with some risk in itself. Connecting to a network controlled by a threat actor allows them to probe your device for potential vulnerabilities and maliciously redirect your internet traffic to their own servers.

If a person entered credentials into a Wi-Fi login page, noticed security warnings popping up after visiting a website, downloaded something, or entered payment information into an unfamiliar page, then they may have had their data stolen. In that case, the victim should immediately change any passwords that were transmitted, do a thorough scan of their device for malware, and if bank details were transmitted, freeze the bank account until new credentials are received.

However, if a user just connected and disconnected to the Wi-Fi without entering any details or clicking suspicious links, they should be fine.

Who would launch the attack?

Seemant Sehgal, Founder & CEO, BreachLock:

Flying out of Vegas after Black Hat myself just a few days before this incident, I can tell you the security conference crowd that passes through that airport is unlike any other, and the crew on Flight 591 made the right call with the information they had in front of them.

The people most likely to pull something like this on a DEF CON departure flight are the ones who know exactly where that line is, which makes crossing it a choice rather than a mistake. Disabling the Wi-Fi and investigating was exactly the right instinct.

Rogue access points impersonating a legitimate network are one of the oldest tricks in the book, and doing it on an aircraft to scam passengers is a federal crime regardless of the sophistication involved.

The people most likely to pull something like this on a DEF CON departure flight are the ones who know exactly where that line is, which makes crossing it a choice rather than a mistake. Disabling the Wi-Fi and investigating was exactly the right instinct.

Denis Calderone, CTO, Suzu Labs:

Hackers will hack. I go to DEF CON most years, and it's pretty common to have a terrible wifi experience on those flights because everyone is playing with their WiFi Pineapples and whatnot. That said, my flight home this year had no rogue SSIDs that I could see, and although, as usual, the wifi was shoddy, I never took the time to analyze the radio signals in the cabin, but if a few deauths were flying around, I wouldn't have been too surprised. It is concerning to hear about attempted credential harvesting on the flight though, and I feel that that's taking the expected hijinks way too far.

These sorts of wifi threats are very common. DEF CON still displays their famed Wall of Sheep which displays the sniffing clear text credentials on the conference network, and every year the WiFi Pineapples have been selling out at the Hak5 booth.

The deauthentication and evil twin combination used on Flight 591 is a well-documented attack that the security community has been demonstrating for a good two decades. These sorts of wifi threats are very common. DEF CON still displays their famed Wall of Sheep which displays the sniffing clear text credentials on the conference network, and every year the WiFi Pineapples have been selling out at the Hak5 booth.

But there's a significant difference between demonstrating a technique at a conference and deploying it against 199 unsuspecting passengers on a commercial aircraft. Last November, an Australian man was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison for running the exact same attack on domestic flights using a WiFi Pineapple and now the FBI is already involved in this case. There is definitely a legal exposure here.

For anyone who travels for work, in-flight WiFi should be treated as an untrusted network, period. The enterprise advice is encrypted DNS through your MDM and always-on VPN with captive portal remediation configured. But honestly, a VPN is something every traveler should be using, not just corporate road warriors. I make sure mine is on whenever I travel, and my family does the same.

Beyond that, if a WiFi network on a plane doesn't match what the crew announced or what's printed on the seat card, don't connect to it. If a network asks you to log in with your Google account or email credentials to get WiFi access, that's not how airline WiFi works. Airline captive portals ask for a credit card or a loyalty account, not your personal email password. If you're being asked for something that doesn't make sense for the context, you're probably not on the real network.

Reputational harm for the cybersecurity industry

Jacob Warner, Director of IT, Xcape, Inc.:

While a rogue Wi-Fi access point on a commercial airliner poses zero direct risk to air-gapped flight safety controls, it creates a serious enterprise security hazard for business travelers relying on inflight networks.

Dismissing an onboard network impersonation as a harmless prank ignores the reality of man-in-the-middle attacks, credential harvesting, and fake authentication portals targeting captive passengers connecting to the Internet.

Given that the flight departed Las Vegas immediately following DEF CON, it requires little imagination to conclude an attendee deployed the unauthorized access point.

Given that the flight departed Las Vegas immediately following DEF CON, it requires little imagination to conclude an attendee deployed the unauthorized access point.

This juvenile behavior is precisely why hackers suffer such a poor reputation among non-technical audiences and why security professionals struggle to build mainstream trust. Enterprise security teams must mandate always-on virtual private networks or zero-trust network access, disable automatic connections to open SSIDs on corporate endpoints, and instruct travelers to treat cabin wireless environments as untrusted networks.

Setting up an evil twin at 30,000 feet does not make you a clever researcher; it just proves why we cannot have nice things.

John Strand, Owner, Black Hills Information Security, Inc.:

This one hits differently because this is my community. These are my people. When security professionals engage in this kind of behavior, they’re betraying the very community they’re claim to represent.

There’s nothing impressive about it. It doesn’t make you look clever, and it certainly doesn’t make you an elite hacker. In most cases, these attacks aren’t even technically sophisticated.

There’s nothing impressive about it. It doesn’t make you look clever, and it certainly doesn’t make you an elite hacker. In most cases, these attacks aren’t even technically sophisticated. They’re simply people with enough technical knowledge taking advantage of others who don’t have the experience to recognize what’s happening. That isn’t skill. It’s bullying.

I hope the people responsible are held accountable. This isn’t funny, it isn’t clever, and it doesn’t demonstrate technical excellence. It’s just people abusing their knowledge to prey on those who are at a disadvantage. That’s not what this profession should stand for.

• You can now hide the AI Coach in Google Health
• The change is coming in version 5.06 for Android and iOS
• Only premium subscribers get AI Coach access

Since Google Health replaced the Fitbit app back in May, the transition hasn't exactly been a smooth one, but Google is gradually dealing with the biggest user complaints — including, in the latest Google Health update, adding the option to hide AI Coach insights from the Today view.

As reported by 9to5Google, version 5.06 of Google Health for Android and iOS is rolling out with the extra option. You can find it in the app by tapping on your profile picture (top right), then choosing Google Health settings and Coach.

Or at least, that's how it should work: Numerous Redditors are reporting that the change isn't showing up for them, even though they've got the updated app. It's possible that Google also needs to flip a switch at its end, so it may take a while for everyone to get this.

The only other change mentioned by Google for this update are some bug fixes for the map views, so data such as heart rate and pace should now always be accurately displayed. If you were waiting for any other upgrades, you'll have to keep waiting.

Nice to have the optionGoogle Health app 5.06 update - Aug 2026 from r/fitbit

Google's AI advisor is available to everyone with a Google Health Coach subscription (previously known as Fitbit Premium). In its initial incarnation, it was front and center in the app and was keen to chat as much as possible.

It's something I've seen in my Google Health app, and it can be tiresome to have to scroll through reams of text about how well I slept and what time I should go on a run just to get to the key stats I'm interested in — so I'm glad of the change.

The new setting doesn't fully turn off the Google AI Coach (which was already possible), but it does hide it from the Today view which appears by default when you open the app. The AI is still available on the Fitness tab if you need to ask it any questions.

Based on past feedback we've seen, the change is going to be a welcome one for users — when they actually get it. When the option to hide the AI Coach was rumored a few weeks ago, commenters on Reddit expressed frustration at it "playing '20 questions' every morning" and the way it "inanely comments on things you've already done".

• You can now hide the AI Coach in Google Health
• The change is coming in version 5.06 for Android and iOS
• Only premium subscribers get AI Coach access

Since Google Health replaced the Fitbit app back in May, the transition hasn't exactly been a smooth one, but Google is gradually dealing with the biggest user complaints — including, in the latest Google Health update, adding the option to hide AI Coach insights from the Today view.

As reported by 9to5Google, version 5.06 of Google Health for Android and iOS is rolling out with the extra option. You can find it in the app by tapping on your profile picture (top right), then choosing Google Health settings and Coach.

Or at least, that's how it should work: Numerous Redditors are reporting that the change isn't showing up for them, even though they've got the updated app. It's possible that Google also needs to flip a switch at its end, so it may take a while for everyone to get this.

The only other change mentioned by Google for this update are some bug fixes for the map views, so data such as heart rate and pace should now always be accurately displayed. If you were waiting for any other upgrades, you'll have to keep waiting.

Nice to have the optionGoogle Health app 5.06 update - Aug 2026 from r/fitbit

Google's AI advisor is available to everyone with a Google Health Coach subscription (previously known as Fitbit Premium). In its initial incarnation, it was front and center in the app and was keen to chat as much as possible.

It's something I've seen in my Google Health app, and it can be tiresome to have to scroll through reams of text about how well I slept and what time I should go on a run just to get to the key stats I'm interested in — so I'm glad of the change.

The new setting doesn't fully turn off the Google AI Coach (which was already possible), but it does hide it from the Today view which appears by default when you open the app. The AI is still available on the Fitness tab if you need to ask it any questions.

Based on past feedback we've seen, the change is going to be a welcome one for users — when they actually get it. When the option to hide the AI Coach was rumored a few weeks ago, commenters on Reddit expressed frustration at it "playing '20 questions' every morning" and the way it "inanely comments on things you've already done".

We live in a culture that devours true crime documentaries with a hunger that never goes away — but if you ask me, we're doing it all wrong.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that we consume true crime irresponsibly. In part thanks to how streaming services such as Netflix have chosen to produce them, we often see the unearthed trauma of strangers as entertainment rather than education.

Just look at how shows such as Trust Me: The False Prophet, Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke and Unknown Number: The High School Catfish were quickly commodified for internet and meme culture soon after their release. Revisiting more severe crimes doesn't seem to do much for those involved, either. Only Making A Murderer has so far been able to change an "unjust" active case.

In my eyes, we'd all benefit so much more if education became the primary focus of true crime — and, happily, BBC iPlayer has done exactly that. Now streaming for free on the service is season 3 of Murder 24/7, which should be the gold standard for any true crime docuseries that comes after.

Murder 24/7 proves that investigations are frustrating, time-consuming, and far from glamorous

But why is it so good? In a nutshell, we're following different regional UK detectives and police forces to work through a variety of murder cases in real-time.

In stark contrast to what we usually see, there are no sit-down VT interviews with the people involved, no narration, and very little in the way of additional comments. Everything we see is through bodycam footage, interview archives and camera crews on site as events unfold.

There's a beautiful British undertone to everything that happens — where else can you see murder suspects being handled as politely as if they were at a tea party? — but Murder 24/7 finally sheds light on a gruelling reality that's a world away from the high-gloss sheen of US production.

From door-to-door enquiries and crime scene sweeps to information processing and sentencing, we're taken every step of the way through an investigation. Instead of something that resembles a bingeable crime drama, the reality is far more painstaking, time-consuming and frustrating than we've been conditioned to believe.

Suspects don't cooperate, hours are poured into reviewing evidence, team briefings and typing up endless word documents, which often leads to a less-than satisfying punishment for whoever is convicted. This format allows you to ask more questions of not just the system, but yourself, with each case challenging our ability to think critically.

Murder 24/7 isn't just a refreshing format, but it's a timely one too. For the last 30 minutes of the season 3 finale, we're taken through a variety of cases that document the explosion of violence against women. In one such instance, Lee Sargent, who is convicted to 18 years and 10 months in prison for attempted murder, bludgeoned his partner in their bedroom with a meat cleaver.

As he's taken away by an ambulance after a 999 call, we hear neighbours shouting out of the window that they've had to put up with "years" of assaults against her. Sure enough, the internal police system pulls up a list of repeated offences that range in volatility, and he is far from the only case.

This is exactly the sort of things that true crime documentaries should be doing: capitalizing on a social issue that needs more awareness and holding a mirror up to the horrifying reality.

We really can find the perfect balance between binge-worthy content and something more substantial than re-telling traumatic events that should probably be left in the past... it's this easy.

Scream or Skip

Scream or Skip, that is the question. With so much horror out there to watch and play, our senior entertainment writer, Lucy Buglass, is here to help you decide what's worth your time (or worth a Scream) and what's not (and so worth a Skip). Her goal is to help you beat the endless scrolling and spend more time enjoying some great TV shows, movies, and games. Read the full series here.

August was lacking in new horror releases, but I still found three interesting titles to dive into — two of which will no doubt be familiar to you, as we have some returning franchises in the lineup.

The other is an indie game that popped up on my Steam Discovery Queue, and was indeed perfectly suited to what I enjoy best. This one was a free demo ahead of its release, but I played enough of it to come to a conclusion.

Without further delay, here's what horror media I tried out throughout August and what I thought of them. As always, I'm keen to hear your thoughts!

Movie: The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Vrach Frankenshteyn

Where to watch: Hulu (US); Disney+ (internationally)
Lucy's verdict: Scream

OK, yes, The X-Files is not strictly horror and is billed as a sci-fi series. But hear me out, the director's cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe features all the body horror scenes that were removed to give it a PG-13 rating, meaning it's a worthwhile watch for horror fans this month.

Now, considering The X-Files: I Want to Believe performed poorly when it was released, don't expect Vrach Frankenshteyn to miraculously make you love it. If you weren't a fan of the original 2008 cut, you probably won't like this either. I, however, really enjoyed the movie and got a lot out of this version of it too.

Vrach Frankenshteyn tells the story how Chris Carter wanted, blood and gore included. It certainly packs a punch, adding a lot to the movie if you already happen to like the story. This one will likely be the most divisive of my three picks this month.

TV show: The Walking Dead: Dead City

Where to watch: AMC+ (US); Sky / NOW TV (UK); Stan (AU)
Lucy's verdict: Skip

I think I'm suffering from The Walking Dead fatigue, because I just can't get on with this show. I was hopeful it might get me back on board with the franchise because Negan is one of my favorite characters, but I was left feeling underwhelmed.

At the time of writing we're three episodes into season 3, with the season set to conclude on September 13. Seth Hoffman is the new showrunner after Eli Jorné, and we've started relying on recycled plotlines and the same tired dynamic between Negan and Maggie. It's started feeling a bit stale, and for me, this is one of the weaker Walking Dead spin-offs.

I recommend trying out The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live instead, as it has better pacing and stories.

Game: Something Strange Tonight — The Lurker

Where to play: PC
Lucy's verdict: Scream

Thank you to my Steam Discovery Queue for suggesting the demo of Something Strange Tonight — The Lurker, because I am now very excited to play the full game when it releases. We don't have a confirmed date for that yet, but I've got it wishlisted for when it does.

I love creepy, low-poly games (as evidenced by my Mouthwashing review), so the trailer for Something Strange Tonight — The Lurker immediately freaked me out. The game follows that stereotypical slasher movie trope of a babysitter who is terrorized at night, but it's full of creepy twists.

Your goal is to survive the night and keep both yourself and the kid you're looking after alive. You'll be approached by numerous visitors, but can any of them be trusted? It's up to you to figure that one out.