Technology

Amazon raised $25 billion through a bond sale as AI infrastructure spending accelerates, highlighting the growing cost of competing in the AI race.

The post Amazon Raises $25 Billion in Bond Sale as AI Spending Accelerates appeared first on TechRepublic.

A Pixel 11 pricing leak suggests Google may drop 128GB storage and start all models at 256GB, potentially raising entry prices.

The post Google Pixel 11: Pricing Leak Reveals Bigger Storage, Higher Costs appeared first on TechRepublic.

• Apex Recordhunter drone unofficially set a new air speed record of 434 mph
• High-speed demonstrator will help develop next-gen military drones
• Company targets further records with interceptor drones soon

Germany’s Quantum Systems Group has broken the world airspeed record for an electric drone, hitting speeds of 699km/h (434mph) during internal testing on June 26, 2026.

Though the company is yet to carry out a formal, independently verified attempt at setting a record under the official measurement rules to be recognized by both Guinness World Records and Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the speed far exceeds that of the current record holder – 657.59km/h (409mph).

The latest, unverified record was set in straight and level flight, and would represent a 6.3% increase over the current record. Official testing is expected within the coming weeks, the company said in a press release.

Record-breaker is merely a technology demonstrator

Quantum Systems explained that the Apex Recordhunter drone was developed over the past year, but “serves as a technology demonstrator for next-generation high-speed systems” rather than being a commercially viable product. “Several innovations from the project are expected to support future interceptor drone programs,” the company added.

It is a battery-electric, fixed-wing aircraft developed by the firm’s N3XT advanced development team, benefiting from Porsche-subsidiary-supplied V4Smart battery cells.

Of course, the drone and its successors would not target consumer photographer and hobby markets, instead focusing on high-speed interceptors for modern warfare. Quantum Systems says lessons learned from Apex will directly influence future interceptor platforms for real-world defense scenarios.

“Super proud of the Quantum Systems team, showing our engineering ambition across our Group and reinforcing our commitment to developing world leading technologies,” co-CEO Florian Seibel wrote.

Engineers from Quantum’s Ukrainian WIY Drones division also contributed to the program – a noteworthy inclusion because Russia has increasingly deployed high-speed, jet-powered one-way attack drones. Deploying high-speed drones like the one Quantum Systems has developed could be much cheaper and more accessible than sending off expensive air-defense missiles.

Records continue to be broken as rapid development continues

By mid-July, the company also hopes to have set two other records. The first – the highest speed achieved by an FPV interceptor drone carrying a 500g payload – by its STRILA Interceptor. Second, its SPYS drone, gunning for the highest speed achieved by an anti-aircraft class FPV interceptor drone.

These achievements and potential records reflect an ongoing global race to develop faster military drones, but they also underscore the growing relevance of airborne, remote and autonomous weapons in modern warfare.

That said, other electric drones have technically achieved even higher speeds. Tom’s Hardware recently reported of a New Zealand duo who recorded high speeds of 730km/h (453mph) – that Blackbird drone uses sawtooth carbon fiber prop blades.

Despite lacking official recognition, the duo had previously set a record of 626km/h (388mph) in December 2025 with a separate drone, before quickly being overtaken by another record-holder which achieved a higher 659km/h (408mph). Regardless, an 11.7% increase from December’s first record to today’s unofficial record confirms there’s plenty of scope to continue pushing the boundary.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for July 10, No. 1,847.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for July 10, No. 1,125.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 10, No. 859.

• The Mac mini has emerged as an affordable system for agentic workloads
• Apple has seen "incredible demand" for the Mac mini and Mac Studio
• Apple silicon can handle an agentic AI while other architectures use a GPU and CPU

If you’re looking for the best way to explore and deploy agentic AI without breaking the budget, the Mac mini might be just what you’re looking for.

Apple’s Doug Brooks has expressed enthusiasm for how the Mac mini and Mac Studio desktop computers are capable of handling agentic AI tasks, thanks to Apple silicon, the ARM-based SoC that the company has introduced over the past half decade.

Success with local AI on these machines has been attributed to design choices made before the arrival of advanced LLMs, with the evolution of Apple’s Neural Engine highlighted as a key factor.

How the Mac mini is ideal for agentic AI

The Mac Studio is also suited to agentic AI (Image credit: Future)

Brooks is the senior product manager of Apple silicon, and referred to the “incredible demand” for Mac minis and Mac Studios when speaking to The Deep View before WWDC 2026.

Describing the Mac mini as an “amazing system” that can “tap into the strengths of Apple silicon and unified memory in a very power-efficient way, and increasingly they're delivering compelling price-performance as well.”

The price point of a Mac mini – compared to the more expensive Mac Studio – makes it particularly suited to teams exploring agentic AI but without the budget to pay for tokens and larger systems.

Neural Engine technology dates back to the A11 chip, and its evolution and inclusion within the current generation of Apple chips, and its high-performance, power-efficient compute processes are pivotal in delivering machine learning to the desktop.

As many AI tools were available first on the Mac (or released exclusively for macOS), it seems that upgrading to the latest Mac mini or switching from Windows has been instrumental in demand.

Mac mini: amazing for AI

Apple’s work on AI has seen deployment in everyday use across computers, tablets, and smartphones, and the company has been a leading exponent of hybrid AI, where an agent can “decide what needs to happen locally and what needs to happen in the cloud based on the workload.”

“For agentic workloads, people often want a system that's under their control, isolated from their primary machine, and capable of running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

But it is the strength of the Apple Mac mini and Apple Studio – as well Apple’s notebooks – in handling AI that seems to have enthused Brooks the most. He cites security and economics as concerns for developers and creators who are now realising that they can handle AI workloads sitting at their desk – whether using a Mac mini or something more powerful.

I test a lot of espresso machines here at TechRadar — over a dozen a year — and so far 2026 has delivered a particularly impressive crop. Whether you're looking for your first ever coffee maker or are a seasoned pro hunting for the perfect premium brewer, there's an option for you.

There are so many new espresso machines, in fact, that you might be spoilt for choice, which is where I come in. To help make your decision easier, I've rounded up this collection of the three best machines we've tested this year. Each one has been through our rigorous review process, and received a score of at least four and a half stars out of five.

If you can't see something that quite suits your needs, take a look at our complete roundup of the best espresso machines you can buy today, and the best Nespresso machines if you prefer your morning brew in pod form.

Philips Café AromisFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Release date: March 2026

Score: 5/5

This espresso machine (the Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series, to give it its full name) is a premium coffee maker that looks stunning, makes sublime coffee, and is fun to use as well. It has a menu of 50 drinks — hot and cold — and is astonishingly quiet in use too thanks to cleverly designed noise shielding.

Its milk system is particularly impressive, producing different textures to suit the type of drink you're making, and because the milk never enters the body of the machine itself, it's a piece of cake to keep clean. Just detach the carafe, disassemble it into its three hard plastic components, and wash them in the top drawer of your dishwasher. There are separate carafes for hot and cold milk, and they both work equally well with dairy or plant-based equivalents.

Espresso machines with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity are quite common, but after connecting your phone, usually all you get is a simple instruction manual. Not here. The Philips Home app is styled like an AI chatbot, and asks you a series of questions about your beans and taste preferences to help tailor the brew setting to your liking. It's certainly not cheap, but it's a superb espresso machine that earned a full five stars.

Read our full Philips Café Aromis review

Philips BaristinaFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Release date: February 2026

Score: 5/5

Philips has been really nailing it when it comes to espresso machines this year. The Baristina is very different to the Café Aromis, but if you're new to the world of speciality coffee, or just want something reasonably affordable, it's the better choice.

This is the smallest and cheapest bean-to-cup coffee maker I've ever tested, and it's so easy to use, it's a great option for anyone thinking of making the switch from coffee capsules. Just load your beans in the top, fill the water tank, push in the empty portafilter handle, and slide it to the right. The Baristina will grind the perfect dose of coffee into the basket, tamp it down, then slide the whole handle to the left and pull the shot for you.

It's a piece of cake, and much easier to clean than a typical automatic espresso machine because there's no moisture or debris building up inside an enclosed case. The only drawback is that it can't steam milk (unless you pick up a bundle with the standalone milk frother), but Philips has just launched an updated version — the Baristina Latte — that solves that particular issue. I'm very much looking forward to testing it

Read our full Philips Baristina review

Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2FutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Release date: March 2026

Score: 4.5/5

The Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 (available direct from Meraki in the US, and from Bella Barista in the UK) is the most stylish coffee maker we've tested so far this year, with its satin finish, chrome and wood accents, pivoting touchscreen display, and separate 'towers' for its twin boilers, water tank, and bean hopper. It's huge, but if you've got the space, it's worth every centimeter.

This is a manual espresso machine, but is packed with thoughtful features that make achieving a delicious brew that little bit easier. For example, there are built-in scales beneath the grinder and grouphead to help you grind exactly the right dose of beans, then weigh your extracted coffee and stop the pump at precisely the right time. There's a temperature sensor to help you avoid scalding your milk, and if you really want a helping hand, you can scan a code on a bag of Meraki's own coffee beans, and the machine will adjust its own settings accordingly.

The standout feature, though, is its dual boiler, which is something we rarely see in a home espresso machine. "Not only does it produce exceedingly well-extracted espresso over and over again, it easily froths a range of milks without losing pressure or cooling down," said our reviewer Josh Russell.

Read our full Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 review

• Meta is crossing the border to build a data center in Alberta, Canada
• The data center will have a 1GW capacity and cost $9 billion to build
• It will eventually lead to 300 operational jobs, Meta says

Meta has announced its ambition to build a $9 billion datacenter in Alberta, Canada, with a 1GW capacity.

The project, which was announced in a Meta blog post, is set to be built just outside of Edmonton in Sturgeon County, with the construction expected to take two to three years.

Meta says the data center will support around 3,000 jobs during construction, and then 300 operation jobs when the data center is up and running.

1GW AI-optimized data center

Alongside the data center, Meta has announced that it will improve local infrastructure with a CAD $60 million in roads and water services. The project will also see its electricity usage matched with “100% clean and renewable energy,” with the full costs of the data centers’ energy use covered by Meta.

“This specific location met the factors we typically look for: good access to infrastructure, a robust electric grid and access to energy, a strong pool of talent, and a great set of community partners that helped us move this project forward,” a Meta spokesperson told CNBC.

The project marks Meta’s first data center venture in Canada, and will join a fleet of 32 other Meta campuses across the globe. Alberta was also chosen because of its lenient regulatory environment, allowing the construction to be approved with a comparatively small amount of legwork.

Meta also hopes “to plan for and meet our energy needs years in advance of this data center coming online” by working with Canadian energy services such as Greenlight Limited Partnership, Altalink, Capitol Power and the Alberta Electric System Operator.

The AI capacity offerings from Meta come relatively late in the game compared to industry leaders such as Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft, prompting it to undertake an aggressive buildout across the US and elsewhere.

Meta is also reportedly venturing into the cloud computing industry by selling excess capacity at some of its completed AI data centers in order to offset the costs of construction. Meta predicted that it would spend between $125-145 billion on AI and data centers in 2026.

If you're looking for a cheap portable power station this summer for camping, festivals, or just a little home backup unit for charging essential devices, the Bluetti Elite 30 V2 is our top pick.

Right now, Bluetti's Elite 30 V2 portable power station is down to $219 (was $299) at Amazon. And after putting this device through its paces, we found it a spectacular option for anyone who needs to top up and recharge smaller devices without spending too much.

Calling it a "spectacular option", we scored this one 4.5 stars after testing, and awarded it a Highly Recommended badge. For an all-rounder designed for power backup when you need it, there's not much to dislike, especially at this price. In the UK, the 288Wh unit also has a modest discount, dropping to £230 (was £239) at Amazon, too.

Today's top portable power station deal

288Wh | 600W

There's a lot we liked about the Bluetti Elite 30 V2, which scored 4.5 stars and earned a Highly Recommended badge in our review. We found it ultra-compact, and does very well everything a power station of this size and capacity needs to do.

In the UK: now £230 (was £239)View Deal

In our final verdict during our review of this unit, we said "The Bluetti E30 V2 is a compact, easy-to-use jack-of-all-trades power station. An all-rounder for general usage with spectacular port options, impressive output, and even more impressive lift." Bonus points, too, for including a built-in handle for extra portability.

The battery here uses LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) chemistry rather than the NMC lithium-ion found in older compact power stations. It's a meaningful upgrade for longevity: BLUETTI rates the Elite 30 V2 for 3,000+ charge cycles, which works out to roughly a decade of regular use, backed by a 5-year warranty.

At 600W of continuous rated power and 1500W in "Power Lifting" mode for resistive loads, it can run laptops, mini fridges, and CPAP machines comfortably, and briefly handle higher-draw appliances like kettles or hair dryers. The 288Wh capacity keeps things compact, but it's worth sizing that against what you actually plan to run — this isn't built for multi-day off-grid power, more for day trips, emergencies, and topping up devices.

Charging is fast for the category: 0-80% in around 45 minutes on AC power via Turbo mode, or a full charge in about 2 hours on standard. It also accepts up to 200W of solar input if you pair it with a compatible panel, though the solar charging cable is sold separately.

Port selection is generous for something this size: two USB-C outputs (140W and 100W), two USB-A ports, two AC outlets, two DC5521 ports, and a 12V car port — nine outputs in total. The built-in UPS function switches over in under 10 milliseconds, so it can sit between your wall outlet and sensitive electronics as automatic backup during outages.

Also consider: More portable power station deals

1070Wh | 1500W

We recommend this one for camping this summer - it's practically built for the job. In our review, it also earned top marks, making it one of the best of its class.

In the UK: now £379 (was £549)View Deal

1024Wh | 1800W

Earning top marks in our tests, we awarded this portable power station an Editor's Choice badge thanks to its compact design, versatile charging options, and robust performance.

In the UK: now £579 (was £699)View Deal

• US: Shop all the portable power stations at Amazon
• UK: See all portable power stations at Amazon.co.uk

Moving home is such a pain, and that's doubly true when half of your possessions are tech gadgets. I just spent weeks moving my belongings between two flats on opposite sides of London, and it would've taken half the time if I didn't have to shift countless large boxes that were 10% gadget and 90% packaging to keep said gadget from breaking.

Eventually I finished moving to The Ladder, as the area is called (not funny, since most tenants still aren't on it), and as soon as I had my foot on the rung, as it were, my turntable and hi-fi kit was the first thing I set up. The deposit had barely gone through before my Sony PS-LX310BT was on the cabinet and some Edifier M90s were either side.

That's right, the very first thing. Before I unpacked my clothes. I still haven't unpacked my books or computer. Getting some tunes going was the most important task.

This wasn't just because I wanted to enjoy some music while I unpacked, though, or because I wanted to claim the good speaker spots in the living room before my flatmate moved his own turntable in (OK actually, that was part of it). No: it's because getting your hi-fi set up in a new flat can save you loads of faff later on down the line.

Pride of place

(Image credit: Future)

Speakers aren't something you can just dump anywhere in your living room and get a good experience. A lot of thought needs to go into where they're placed.

Stereo speakers like mine need to be placed so they're spread evenly across a room, to put the listener in the sweet spot betwixt the two, not hidden together in a corner. You want to make sure they're placed on a surface that won't offer unwanted resonance, aren't too close to a wall and are, ideally, at ear level.

If you set up a living room and then bring your hi-fi kit into it, the ideal placement for all of this may already be taken up by other things. Books or DVDs or fancy liqueurs can hog the shelf space on which a speaker would ideally do best.

In my old apartment, the only convenient space for a turntable was on a shelf in the corner of the room. Reaching it to swap a record was a chore, and so I didn't bother using the player as much as I otherwise would.

That's why I thought it important to give my hi-fi set-up priority space in the room. Now, everything else can be place around it.

I'll admit, it wasn't perfect. As you can see in the pictures, I put my speakers on the same cabinet as the turntable. Great for taking pictures, not so great for music, because vibration interference might affect record playback. Unfortunately, it's the only place in the room where I could equally space the speakers, so it's something I'll have to make do with.

A mess of cables

(Image credit: Future)

"There's nothing as fun and sexy as cable management" is what I would say if I wanted to say something totally wrong. I hate the whole process of cleaning up wires and cables, and so often ignore it, leaving trails and black snakes and wire rat kings running like veins around my house.

(I know some people find great satisfaction in cable management and maintenance, with some cables ties and so on, and that's fair enough. It's just not my cup of tea. You can try and help me with mine, if you want though).

Unfortunately, this can quickly become a problem with a hi-fi set-up, when players and speakers need cables for power, cables for music, cables for the sake of it sometimes. I've created some pretty hideous messes in the past.

Sometimes, that makes moving house quite a pain, because you're left tangling or untangling countless wires. It's why I thought it important to set up everything quickly when I moved: I could refresh my cable situation, making sure I had all my audio cables in position before any annoying extras needed to be added.

I'm glad I did, because in the week I've moved here, the behind-the-cabinet area has turned into a nest of vipers. If I had to add my turntable now, it'd give me a migraine trying to work out what goes where.

That's especially true of power plugs, which are few and far between in any rental flat. Where I've plugged in the turntable and speakers, I also have to find space for a refrigerator, internet router, separate internet box (yeah, my ISP really likes taking up power points apparently), and various other things.

Since I've yet to buy a splitter, I'm constantly playing musical chairs with the plugs, removing and replacing them to find space for my laptop charger or projector. Thankfully, since the turntable and speakers were there first, they're too embedded to remove.

Where do the records go?

(Image credit: Future)

When I first set up my turntable and speaker, I thought those pieces of kit getting central spots would be the end of my space issue. I was wrong. And I'm not just talking about the fact that my flatmate and I have far more UK pint glasses than our kitchen storage can cope with.

Records. I'm talking about records. They're pretty big, aren't they? A lot bigger than my Spotify collection, that's for sure, because that takes up zero space.

Partly, I'm talking about how tall and wide records are. They just don't stack on all shelves, so you need to be smart about where you place them.

But the biggest problem for my flatmate and I soon became just how many records we have between us. We must have far north of 50 collectively, which makes them hard to fit on any kind of shelf.

Unfortunately, I didn't think of this ahead of time, and we only realized the issue when we'd already settled in the living room. Where were our records going to go? We'd already filled the crevices in the cabinet with bowls and plates, and reaching the shelves required a stretch, so that was no cigar.

It took some reorganization to carve out a space for them in one of the cabinet's areas, and that's only a half measure, because I had to sacrifice about three-fifths of my collection to the black void that is my unpacked room. But our favorite records are within reach, at least.

If I'd have thought this far in advance, I'd have saved some more cabinet space for records. But it just goes to prove the point: a hi-fi system takes thought, and if you don't bring it into your home before anything else (yes, including bowls and cutlery and little ramekins of the sort I have far too many of), you end up having to totally reorganize when it's too late.

If you just need a reliable Windows laptop for everyday use, this Lenovo deal is a genuinely good price - it's an easy recommendation for remote and hybrid workers, and for my money, it ticks all the boxes for general business work.

So, right now, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i has dropped to £499 (was £599) at Argos. For an all-rounder business laptop, this one of the best budget picks around for under £500.

Inside, the machine is equipped with an efficient Intel Core i5 13420H processor and 16GB RAM, so essential office tasks, photo editing, browsing, and streaming won't be a problem - no slowdowns or sluggishness here.

Today's top Lenovo laptop deal

This ultra-portable work laptop features all the core specs I'd expect from a business-centric or home laptop, making it the ideal companion for anyone running office apps, web browsing, and video calls with the team.View Deal

This is a budget-friendly configuration built around Intel's Core i5-13420H, an 8-core, 12-thread chip from the 13th-gen Raptor Lake-H family, with four performance cores boosting up to 4.6GHz and four efficiency cores.

The 15.3in WUXGA (1920x1200) IPS panel uses a 16:10 aspect ratio, which gives you a bit more vertical space for documents and browsing than the more common 16:9 laptops in this price range. It's rated at 300 nits with an anti-glare coating, with decent contrast and color accuracy (provided you calibrate it). That makes it ideal for creating images for, say, your work's social media pages, though I wouldn't recommend it for colour-critical tasks required by creative professionals.

16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is a sensible balance for this price point — enough headroom for normal multitasking across browser tabs, office apps, and streaming without feeling cramped. The laptop weighs 1.59kg and measures 17.9mm thick, with Lenovo quoting up to 14.5 hours of battery life, though real-world use — especially on the Intel variant — will likely fall short of that figure.

Connectivity is fairly standard for the budget class: two USB-A ports and one USB-C port, all capped at 5Gbps, plus HDMI 1.4 (so no native 4K60 output — you'll need the USB-C port's DisplayPort Alt Mode for that), a full-size SD card reader, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth round out the wireless side.

Also consider

This IdeaPad features a bigger jump in RAM and storage with an AMD Ryzen 7 chip and 24GB of memory for those that need more power and a smooth workflow.View Deal

• See all laptop deals at Argos.

• CERT/CC discloses CVE‑2026‑11405, a critical 9.8/10 flaw in multiple Tenda router families caused by a hardcoded backdoor credential
• Attackers can bypass normal login checks and gain full admin access with the hidden password, regardless of configured username or password
• Tenda has not responded; CERT/CC advises disabling remote web management and limiting local exposure, though these are only partial mitigations

Multiple Tenda router families carry a critical vulnerability that allows malicious actors to log in with admin privileges without knowing the credentials, experts have found.

The CERT Coordination Center disclosed a vulnerability in Tenda routers which it described as an undocumented authentication backdoor caused by a hardcoded credential.

The flaw is tracked as CVE-2026-11405 and was assigned a severity score of 9.8/10 (critical). CERT/CC allegedly tried reaching out to the manufacturer, to no avail.

How the vulnerability works

Explaining how it works, CERT/CC says that the attacker would first try to log into the router’s web management interface normally. Even if the credentials are wrong, the firmware would not automatically reject them, but would rather check a second, hidden password, stored internally. If the attacker knows the hidden credential, they get full admin access, regardless of the configured admin password or username.

The username doesn’t even matter, as long as the password is supplied. Obviously, CERT/CC did not say what the password was, but with a little reverse-engineering of the firmware, it can be exposed either on the dark web, or to the general public.

Tenda is a Chinese company building budget networking gear, popular mostly in India and adjacent markets, where its products are popular in homes and among small businesses.

The flaw thus still affects multiple firmware versions, including FH1201, W15E, AC10, AC5, and AC6 router families. To make matters worse, CERT/CC added that the full list of affected models is probably even bigger.

Tenda is yet to comment on the findings. In the meantime, CERT/CC recommended users disable remote web management, if possible, to make sure the vulnerability cannot be exploited remotely, at least. The organization also suggests limiting local network exposure, but stresses that this is not an entirely bulletproof solution.

Via Tom's Hardware

• Universal's new movie SOULM8TE is coming to digital platforms on August 1
• The plot is very similar to recent horror hit Obsession
• SOULM8TE is a spin-off to the 2022 movie M3GAN, focusing on more adult themes

If you haven't seen Obsession yet, you need to. It's performed incredibly well at the box office and has become one of the most successful new movies of 2026. I was so impressed by it that I've been desperately wanting a similar thriller to watch next, and SOULM8TE seems like the perfect choice.

SOULM8TE follows a grieving engineer tasked with testing a ruthless tech giant’s new AI companion where he programs her to be a sentient soulmate. I'm sure absolutely nothing will go wrong there.

Instead of getting a theatrical release, you can watch SOULM8TE at home from August 1. It won't be available on the best streaming services just yet, and instead you can purchase it from these digital platforms.

Take a look at the trailer below to see what's in store.

Disturbing romance stories are on the rise

Sophie Thatcher in A24's Companion. (Image credit: Warner Bros.)

We have seen a lot of stories like this in recent months, and I'm definitely enjoying the trend of romance with a dark twist.

Companion is another movie with similar vibes to SOULM8TE, as it follows a woman named Iris who learns she is actually a companion robot who is controlled by her boyfriend via his phone.

That lack of autonomy is a terrifying thing, and audiences definitely have an appetite for these thought provoking tales centered around relationships, consent, and a rise in technology such as AI.

Whilst Obsession doesn't feature the android aspect, it does explore the horrors of a woman not being in control of her own actions due to supernatural intervention by a magical toy. There, someone's wish turns into a living nightmare.

If SOULM8TE doesn't interest you, there's plenty more horror movies for you to enjoy. Recently, Backrooms got an extended cut which is now in theaters or you can check out my guide to the best horror movies on streaming services in July.

If you need a lot of storage without spending a fortune per terabyte, I've spotted a solid option to have on your radar.

Right now, the UnionSine 16TB desktop hard drive is now $423 (was $470) at Amazon. It's not the biggest discount in the world, but at this price, it works out to roughly $26 per terabyte, which is competitive for desktop-class HDD storage.

The drive uses a USB 3.0 MicroB connection rated for theoretical read/write speeds of 130-270MB/s, with UnionSine using an ASM chip solution aimed at broader compatibility across Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and TV/DVD/Xbox devices.

Today's top desktop HDD deal

16TB capacity (approx. 14.5TB usable), 3.5" USB 3.0 desktop drive, up to 270MB/s theoretical transfer speeds, compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and more.View Deal

It's built around a 12V/3A external power supply, which is standard for desktop drives this size, and includes anti-vibration silicone internally to help keep noise down during extended use.

One important caveat: UnionSine isn't an established name in the storage space the way Seagate or WD are. If brand reputation and multi-year warranty support matter more to you than price per terabyte, it's worth weighing that against more established alternatives.

For anyone prioritizing raw capacity per dollar over brand pedigree, the UnionSine 16TB at $422.99 is a reasonable buy, though the discount itself is modest.

Also consider: Other storage deals

Transfer, edit, and back up files at speeds of up to 2,000MB/s with this rugged portable SSD. It offers 1TB of storage, hardware encryption, advanced thermal management, and broad compatibility with PCs, Macs, cameras, consoles, and smartphones.View Deal

Store, transfer, and back up files quickly with this compact portable SSD, offering 1TB of storage, read speeds up to 1,050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectivity, and broad compatibility for work, study, gaming, and travel.View Deal

• Shop other Amazon storage deals.

I've tested dozens of inexpensive earbuds to find the best values. These are my current top bargain picks, almost all of which cost less than $100, and some less than $50.

• Bosses are seemingly confused that mass AI in favor of human workers isn't always a success
• AI operating costs are often higher than expected
• However some firms are happy to adapt and refocus where needed

Bosses are being left confused at the high cost of moving to AI-centric models, with many seemingly baffled that replacing human workers with agents isn't instantly saving them huge amounts of money, new research has claimed.

A new KPMG report found nearly a third of business leaders reported some difficulties with getting to grips with AI operating costs in their organizations.

The news comes as several major AI providers, including the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, have moved some services toward usage-based billing, rather than flat-rate subscriptions, in recent months.

Making AI effective

The report saw KPMG survey 2,145 senior leaders across 20 countries, finding 29% were struggling to understand the rise in operating costs as they looked to scale AI across their business, with a similar proportion also highlighting a limited understanding of AI costs and economics as a major challenge to deploying AI agents.

"As usage-based pricing models become more common, many organizations are still building the capabilities required to forecast, monitor, and manage AI spending effectively," KPMG said.

When things do go wrong, the report highlighted how leaders were often unclear who should take responsibility, particularly in the case of hallucinations or errors by AI models.

It noted that why having human leadership be accountable is important, "governance ultimately succeeds or fails through day-to-day operating practices."

"Organizations need clear rules for when employees can intervene, who owns AI-related costs, how AI outputs are reviewed and what happens when systems fail. While most organizations report having at least some governance mechanisms in place, relatively few describe these practices as fully embedded," the report said.

When costs have outweighed the expected value, the report found a surprising amount of contrition from its participants, with nearly half of organizations saying they had rephased AI deployments in that case.

"These actions do not signal reduced confidence in AI," the report warned. "Rather, they suggest a growing willingness to evaluate where AI creates meaningful value and where it does not. Organizations appear increasingly focused on concentrating investment where expected returns are strongest."

"We’re seeing a clear divide between organizations with leadership accountability at the top and those without," added Steve Chase, KPMG Global Head of AI and Digital Innovation, KPMG International.

"These companies are seeing materially better results across the board such as greater confidence, higher value realization and established ROI."

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While the AI data center boom is undoubtedly an opportunity for the fiber industry, it also presents something of a challenge.

Sure, investment in network infrastructure is rarely a bad thing. I can’t help, however, getting flashbacks to the early 2000’s - operators pouring billions into fiber, without proven demand.

This resulted in stranded assets, empty capacity, and ultimately, a bust that hampered telecoms for nearly a decade.

This time around, as serious AI momentum continues to grow, with megawatt campuses, GPU clusters, hyperscaler capex announced seemingly every week, the temptation to ‘follow the boom’ is rearing its head again.

I’m optimistic, however, that the industry has learnt its lesson. Not just to avoid overspend, but to be far more targeted about where fiber actually gets built, what kind of fiber is needed, and which partnerships can make new routes commercially viable.

AI demand is real, but discipline will be crucial

There’s no denying AI demand is there, but it's important operators don’t get caught up in the hype and assume it will be everywhere.

It may sound basic, but the industry needs to read the tea leaves carefully. Data centers have never had the luxury of a ‘build it, and they will come’ approach. The strongest sites tend to sit where demand, power, fiber and customer ecosystems can all be brought together. Things are changing however; data centers are on the move.

Fiber investment therefore, should focus on solid signals, from AI Growth Zones and established data center corridors to cloud on-ramps, internet exchanges and emerging compute clusters. While the latter two have traditionally centered around London (particularly the London Docklands and Slough), the Government’s proposed AI Growth Zones point to a broader regional shift.

Sites in Oxfordshire, the North East, North Wales, South Wales and Lanarkshire in Scotland aim to spread AI infrastructure development away from the capital, bringing data center demand closer to new regional power, land and connectivity ecosystems.

Beyond the Government initiatives investors are also placing bets on other development opportunities outside of the traditional areas.

AI hyperscalers want platforms, not just physical fiber

But even if you do invest in fiber build in all the right places, that’s no longer a guarantee. While location is one aspect (and admittedly, not a ground-breaking one, pardon the pun), there’s a new, arguably even bigger factor that network operators can’t ignore - consumability.

Hyperscalers, neoclouds and AI infrastructure businesses are not always buying connectivity in the same way as traditional telecoms customers. They expect capacity to be identifiable, orderable and scalable at speed. In other words, they want the fiber market to feel more like a platform than a slow procurement exercise.

AI workloads are also pushing future rack-density designs towards 1MW, which places extreme demands not just on power and cooling, but on fiber density and the speed at which capacity can be provisioned.

As these companies scale, providers that can offer API-driven ordering, rapid provisioning, clear visibility of available routes and flexible rerouting will be in the strongest position when capacity decisions are made.

Having fiber in the right place may secure a place in the conversation, but making that fiber easier to consume will increasingly determine who wins the work.

Compute is useless without connectivity

There’s another major factor, however, one that is often overlooked and missed in the media conversation around UK AI infrastructure - backbone connectivity.

As a call back to the opening of this article, AI infrastructure is often viewed as a hardware arms race. With much of the focus falling on megawatts, GPU clusters and hyperscaler capex, with data center capacity treated as a shorthand for infrastructure readiness.

This view missed the wider systems those facilities depend on. Without the right infrastructure backing up development, the UK risks repeating old DC patterns, where new sites sit underutilized due to a lack of customers, or are delayed entirely due to missing fundamental backbone infrastructure. This concern is already starting to bite. According to recent research, 82% of UK DC operators have already delayed new facilities or expansions because of limited access to high-capacity fiber infrastructure.

Take the UK government’s compute ambitions. The UK has said it will need at least 6GW of AI-capable data center capacity by 2030 to support the growing demands of AI. That is a serious statement of intent, but the gap between ambition and deliverability is still understated. The UK’s AI ambitions are often framed in terms of compute capacity, rather than the connectivity and required to make those investments viable.

None of this makes the UK’s AI ambitions unrealistic. But it does mean fiber can’t be treated as an afterthought. Data-center operators, hyperscalers and network providers need to plan connectivity earlier. Developing a clearer view of where capacity exists and where new resilient routes are needed, particularly in more regional locations outside of London or where the landscape is more challenging for development. Alongside how quickly they can be made commercially available.

Interestingly, in recent months we have seen a change in the approach to fiber emerging. Much earlier engagement from the DC developer/operators on fiber availability and timeline to deliver, along with a significant increase in the capacity required from day one, with a much steeper ramp in uptake.

This tells us two things, the forecast in uptake and data movement has shifted, as has the move to further de-risk a development by getting assurance on fiber/connectivity at a much earlier stage.

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