Technology

The Shards episodes 6 and 7 are streaming on Hulu for US viewers and Disney+ internationally soon, and you won't want to miss them.

This is our second double bill, after the dramatic ending last episode that saw Rhonda arrive on the scene alive, and Cha Cha found dead in the bathroom of a television set. Moments like these are why I gave the show such a great rating in my The Shards review.

So far, Rhonda is the only kidnapped teen The Trawler kept alive, but nobody knows why, so hopefully this week's double bill will answer some big questions.

Here's what you need to know about the dual release of The Shards episodes 6 and 7.

What time can I watch The Shards episodes 6 and 7 on Hulu?

For US viewers, The Shards episodes 6 and 7 will drop on Wednesday, August 26 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.

Here's when you can stream the new episodes in other countries.

• US – Wednesday, August 26 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Wednesday, August 26 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Thursday, August 27 at 2am BST
• India – Thursday, August 27 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Thursday, August 27 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Thursday, August 27 at 11am AEDT
• New Zealand – Thursday, August 27 at 12pm NZDT

When do new episodes of The Shards come out?

(Image credit: Hulu)

This is our last double-bill of the series as we build towards the thrilling finale on September 9.

For dates as well as the episode titles for the upcoming The Shards releases, take a look below.

• The Shards Episode 1 “Pilot”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 2 “Don’t You Want Me”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 3 “Help Me! Rhonda!”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 4 “Robert’s Party”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 5 “Murder on the Dancefloor”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 6 “Homecoming Part One”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 7 “Homecoming Part Two”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 8 “Hamlet”: Wednesday, September 2
• The Shards Episode 9 “Stairway to Heaven”: Wednesday, September 9

The Shards episodes 6 and 7 are streaming on Hulu for US viewers and Disney+ internationally soon, and you won't want to miss them.

This is our second double bill, after the dramatic ending last episode that saw Rhonda arrive on the scene alive, and Cha Cha found dead in the bathroom of a television set. Moments like these are why I gave the show such a great rating in my The Shards review.

So far, Rhonda is the only kidnapped teen The Trawler kept alive, but nobody knows why, so hopefully this week's double bill will answer some big questions.

Here's what you need to know about the dual release of The Shards episodes 6 and 7.

What time can I watch The Shards episodes 6 and 7 on Hulu?

For US viewers, The Shards episodes 6 and 7 will drop on Wednesday, August 26 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.

Here's when you can stream the new episodes in other countries.

• US – Wednesday, August 26 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Wednesday, August 26 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Thursday, August 27 at 2am BST
• India – Thursday, August 27 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Thursday, August 27 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Thursday, August 27 at 11am AEDT
• New Zealand – Thursday, August 27 at 12pm NZDT

When do new episodes of The Shards come out?

(Image credit: Hulu)

This is our last double-bill of the series as we build towards the thrilling finale on September 9.

For dates as well as the episode titles for the upcoming The Shards releases, take a look below.

• The Shards Episode 1 “Pilot”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 2 “Don’t You Want Me”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 3 “Help Me! Rhonda!”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 4 “Robert’s Party”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 5 “Murder on the Dancefloor”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 6 “Homecoming Part One”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 7 “Homecoming Part Two”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 8 “Hamlet”: Wednesday, September 2
• The Shards Episode 9 “Stairway to Heaven”: Wednesday, September 9

• Kaspersky found Android malware abusing DoFun car head units via TWCore updates
• Multi‑stage attack installs loaders and reverse proxy, aiming to build a botnet of connected cars
• Campaign attributed to MoYu Group; DoFun patched vulnerabilities after disclosure

We’ve seen botnets comprising cameras and DVRs, we’ve even seen botnets comprising smart fridges and digital frames, but we’ve never seen botnets comprising automobile infotainment systems. First time for everything.

Earlier this week, security researchers Kaspersky warned about finding a brand new Android malware targeting the car’s head unit. The victim seems to be a Chinese manufacturer called DoFun. Head units from this manufacturer, built on Android, are running an app for analytics and software updates called TWCore.

According to Kaspersky, the attackers abused TWCore’s update mechanisms, instructing it to download a malicious APK. This malware is then placed in the app’s cache directory and installed by the legitimate com.tw.core package.

No active campaigns

The researchers said this was a multi-stage attack. In the first stage, a tiny dropper with no user interface gets deployed. It decrypts embedded data, and extracts the information it needs for stage two. In the next stage, the loader contacts the attackers’ server and gets instructions about stage 3, which can be different things, from deploying additional malware, to running the “zhima” reverse proxy.

Despite its multifunctional nature, Kaspersky believes that the true goal of the campaign is to assimilate the cars into a botnet. Some cars come with a SIM slot and are connected to the internet 24/7. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that cars just might be the perfect devices for a malicious botnet.

Kaspersky attributed the campaign to MoYu Group, a threat actor known for building malicious botnets based on Android devices. In the past, this group was observed building the BadBox botnet out of Android smartphones, tablets, streaming devices, and other internet-connected hardware.

The researchers notified DoFun of their findings, and the vulnerability was quickly fixed: "We notified the vendor about the distribution scheme, and they subsequently reported fixing the security issues," the researchers said.

Via The Record

• Kaspersky found Android malware abusing DoFun car head units via TWCore updates
• Multi‑stage attack installs loaders and reverse proxy, aiming to build a botnet of connected cars
• Campaign attributed to MoYu Group; DoFun patched vulnerabilities after disclosure

We’ve seen botnets comprising cameras and DVRs, we’ve even seen botnets comprising smart fridges and digital frames, but we’ve never seen botnets comprising automobile infotainment systems. First time for everything.

Earlier this week, security researchers Kaspersky warned about finding a brand new Android malware targeting the car’s head unit. The victim seems to be a Chinese manufacturer called DoFun. Head units from this manufacturer, built on Android, are running an app for analytics and software updates called TWCore.

According to Kaspersky, the attackers abused TWCore’s update mechanisms, instructing it to download a malicious APK. This malware is then placed in the app’s cache directory and installed by the legitimate com.tw.core package.

No active campaigns

The researchers said this was a multi-stage attack. In the first stage, a tiny dropper with no user interface gets deployed. It decrypts embedded data, and extracts the information it needs for stage two. In the next stage, the loader contacts the attackers’ server and gets instructions about stage 3, which can be different things, from deploying additional malware, to running the “zhima” reverse proxy.

Despite its multifunctional nature, Kaspersky believes that the true goal of the campaign is to assimilate the cars into a botnet. Some cars come with a SIM slot and are connected to the internet 24/7. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that cars just might be the perfect devices for a malicious botnet.

Kaspersky attributed the campaign to MoYu Group, a threat actor known for building malicious botnets based on Android devices. In the past, this group was observed building the BadBox botnet out of Android smartphones, tablets, streaming devices, and other internet-connected hardware.

The researchers notified DoFun of their findings, and the vulnerability was quickly fixed: "We notified the vendor about the distribution scheme, and they subsequently reported fixing the security issues," the researchers said.

Via The Record

At higher prices, naturally.

Guardians can access a live video stream to see how a trip is going. The feature will roll out across the US in the coming weeks.

I've now spent a month with Samsung's two recent folding phones. I've used them as my daily phones, worked and played with them, and even taken hundreds of pictures between them to test the cameras (650 when I wrote that article; nearly 1,000 now).

Through that time, I've used the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 most, and that's for purely practical purposes. It's a brand-new form factor, so as a tech journalist, my time is better spent testing it out.

Despite enjoying my time with the Z Fold 8, I've been wavering back and forth on whether I prefer it to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. The two handsets have a lot in common, but that includes a really high price. And so the smaller display, reduced camera count, and lack of features in the Fold 8 mean I've been struggling to claim it as the overall winner.

That was until I took the Galaxy Z Fold 8 on vacation to France; it got a nice dose of real-world testing, and the trip helped me appreciate elements of the phone that I hadn't noticed, or had taken for granted, before. I took the Z Fold 8 Ultra with me, too, which helped underline how much better the new-form phone is.

And with another vacation coming up, I'm glad I've discovered just how useful the Fold 8 is when on the go.

This is the perfect shape for a phone

(Image credit: Future)

When I wrote about my Galaxy Z Fold camera test, I mentioned that the smaller-body Fold 8 felt like the instinctive camera device to use, as it was easy to remove from my pocket without endless maneuvering. The long, thin Fold 8 Ultra doesn't fully fit in my pocket, and digs into my hip when I walk.

The more I used both phones, the more I realized that's not only true for picture-taking, but basically everything else too. When I needed to navigate around an unfamiliar city, use Translate to understand a menu, or get contactless ready for public transport, the readily removable Fold 8 was a much more convenient choice.

It's not just trouser pockets that show the benefit. The Fold 8 is the perfect shape to fit in the side pockets of my backpack, or the small inner pockets for valuables. That's all unlike the Ultra, which sticks out awkwardly.

And that awkward design isn't just bad for looks or utility. It's pretty normal to be worried about losing your possessions while travelling, either from nifty pickpockets who identify you as a tourist, or from them falling out when you leave your bag somewhere. When I was walking around with the Ultra sticking its camera bump out of my jeans, those fears were multiplied — not so with the standard model, which could disappear from view.

Many people have referred to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as the 'passport'-style foldable. In the above image, you can see the phone alongside my battered-looking passport: they're very similar sizes (the document is thinner but taller). Given that this document was designed to be easily portable for travellers, it makes sense that Samsung has taken inspiration from the shape of the booklet.

All my holiday experiences aren't just true abroad, though. A svelte form factor that keeps the phone secure but ready to remove is just as useful at home as away.

The wide screen keeps getting better and better

(Image credit: Future)

I forgot something, didn't I? This is a folding phone, and I've yet to metaphorically unpack it to discuss the inner display. And yet, the Z Fold 8's 7.6-inch, 4:3 aspect ratio main display is one of its main differences from the Z Fold 8 Ultra's 8-inch 1:0.9 aspect ratio primary panel.

I'm an iPad user, and so I was already primed for the Z Fold 8's main screen, since Apple's tablets also use that aspect ratio. But with how popular the previous Z Fold phones are (which share dimensions with the new Ultra), I was expecting the new screen shape to really need to prove itself.

And there are certainly some tasks for which the Z Fold 8 Ultra is better. I prefer it for grid-based tasks like seeing my calendar, checking out pictures I've taken, and calculator use. The user interface feels more spacious, with extra space at the bottom for a web browser search bar, and I appreciate that my apps and widgets are in the same place if I rotate the phone.

When I was on my holiday, the Ultra was relegated to my gaming and camera phone — that result is what convinced me of this article's thesis statement in the first place — but I can see its more square-shaped main display being the right shape for certain users, who have specific use cases.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8's display proves itself as especially useful for many, many other tasks. And I'm not just talking about entertainment; video-watching is one of the main tasks Samsung used to justify the wider 4:3 aspect ratio, but there's a lot more to the phone than that.

(Image credit: Future)

The pictures above show two types of phone use that are common on holidays (and that I used the phone for on my trip): reading using the Kindle app, and navigating with Google Maps. As regards the former, you can see that the wide aspect ratio does a better job of resembling a book than a Kindle would, and as for the latter, you can see that the UI overlay and maps sit together just as well as on a squarish display (as on the Ultra). In fact, when I used Google Maps on the Ultra, the search bar and options being higher made it a little more annoying to use.

Speaking more generally, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels great for multi-tasking, as the two apps feel like they're sized in a more natural way than on a squarish Z Fold 8 Ultra or long, thin Android tablet. It took me going on holiday, when I'd split-view tourist information websites and maps, or my gallery app and Instagram, to really appreciate this kind of use.

It's hard to explain to someone who isn't using the Z Fold 8, but apps just feel right on this wider phone (well, when they're actually optimized for the shape; some, like Strava, just give you their usual vertical scroll). Every day, I find another function which feels great on the wider screen.

There's one glaring omission. Samsung opted not to give the Z Fold 8 Flex Mode, while it's present in the Ultra. This is a tool that identifies when your foldable is part-open and splits the main display in natural ways; it'll give you a camera viewfinder in one half, and controls on the other, for example. It's a useful, though admittedly sparsely implemented, feature. The Z Fold 8 is worse off for its omission, and I'm hoping it gains it in an update.

It's not just a pretty screen

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is smaller and cheaper than its Ultra sibling. Most of the time, when we see phones like that, the smaller one is a Lite handset and is weaker or worse in some ways. And so I had a bias towards the Fold 8, expecting it to be far more inferior than it actually was.

It's great for gaming, especially on the large screen, even if it does get a little hot quicker than I'd like (that's the Snapdragon chipset doing what, in my opinion, Snapdragon chips do best: overheat).

Even down to the specs minutiae, the Z Fold 8 matches the Ultra. Its storage sizes are the same (well, with a few slight region-based variations, but generally, the storage and RAM options are the same). It uses UFS 4.0 flash storage, and it has a mostly quick side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which I love way more than under-display ones.

As I mentioned before, the Z Fold 8 Ultra was my go-to gaming phone. This isn't because it was more powerful, but because I assumed it would be and so downloaded all my games onto it first (and got stuck into various runs, with progress I didn't want to lose). But some time away on my holiday gave me time to play the same titles on the Z Fold 8, and there's no noticeable difference in how games run on either phone (other than the form factor difference).

(Image credit: Future)

My trip helped me appreciate the software a lot more too. Both phones have Samsung's One UI, and its implementation is largely the same between the two, other than the aforementioned Flex Mode fiasco. Which means the cheaper phone doesn't give you a worse experience.

The camera quality and suite of photo editing features were all, obviously, tools which I used constantly on my holiday. And I quickly realized that, despite this not being the 'Ultra' phone, its results largely match what you'll get on the pricier phone (mostly, but we'll get more into that later). Despite what you see in the picture above, I mostly used the inner display for editing snaps, as its large size and aspect ratio let me see details in my photos that a smaller screen might have me missing.

Software remains a strong point of Samsung's camera phones, even if I've come to expect the strong stuff to be kept in reserve for the Galaxy S mobiles. I noticed that, after taking photos and checking them out in the Gallery app, the phone would take a few seconds to apply its own filters, optimizations, and fixes. So I could clearly see the 'before and after' of the phone's magic, and it made it apparent that the handset does a great job at fixing my mistakes.

But there's one design consideration I want to flag, which I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't spent a week shoving both phones in pockets and bags while abroad. Both devices collect dust and fluff, but the Z Fold 8 seemed to collect way more inside its body than the Ultra. Maybe it's a side effect of the shape or aspect ratio, or the Ultra's larger display making an equal amount of fluff appear like more, but I always had to give the Z Fold 8 a wipe when using its main display.

Fluff is normal and unavoidable... but it can mess up foldable phones if it gets in the joints or hinges. So I'm curious to discover the longevity of these phones, especially with iFixit revealing just how disastrous dust can be to the devices.

Have Fold, will travel

(Image credit: Future)

Despite the myriad reasons to like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that there are several problems with it.

The biggest issue is the battery life: it's not good. I can't pretend to be surprised, given how little space there is in the Fold to fit a power cell, but the reason doesn't detract from the challenge.

I struggle to get the Z Fold 8 to last a day, and find myself having to use it sparingly or engage power-saving mode if I'm going to be away from a charger. While I was on my holiday, I charged it multiple times per day, and afterwards I've found myself ensuring it's fully charged every time I leave the house.

Another weak point of the phone is its camera setup, or more specifically its camera omissions. Generally, pictures taken on the Z Fold 8 are good, but the absence of the Ultra's zoom lens means the premium phone is my go-to photography handset when I have time to stop and choose between the two.

The Ultra is better for holiday shots, product pictures (including the ones accompanying this article), and portrait pictures. As mentioned, I probably take more pictures with the Z Fold 8 given it's the more easily accessible phone, but there's no denying which of the two is the superior shooter.

For the Galaxy Z Fold 9, then, improvements to the camera array and battery life are at the top of my wish list.

I've now spent a month with Samsung's two recent folding phones. I've used them as my daily phones, worked and played with them, and even taken hundreds of pictures between them to test the cameras (650 when I wrote that article; nearly 1,000 now).

Through that time, I've used the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 most, and that's for purely practical purposes. It's a brand-new form factor, so as a tech journalist, my time is better spent testing it out.

Despite enjoying my time with the Z Fold 8, I've been wavering back and forth on whether I prefer it to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. The two handsets have a lot in common, but that includes a really high price. And so the smaller display, reduced camera count, and lack of features in the Fold 8 mean I've been struggling to claim it as the overall winner.

That was until I took the Galaxy Z Fold 8 on vacation to France; it got a nice dose of real-world testing, and the trip helped me appreciate elements of the phone that I hadn't noticed, or had taken for granted, before. I took the Z Fold 8 Ultra with me, too, which helped underline how much better the new-form phone is.

And with another vacation coming up, I'm glad I've discovered just how useful the Fold 8 is when on the go.

This is the perfect shape for a phone

(Image credit: Future)

When I wrote about my Galaxy Z Fold camera test, I mentioned that the smaller-body Fold 8 felt like the instinctive camera device to use, as it was easy to remove from my pocket without endless maneuvering. The long, thin Fold 8 Ultra doesn't fully fit in my pocket, and digs into my hip when I walk.

The more I used both phones, the more I realized that's not only true for picture-taking, but basically everything else too. When I needed to navigate around an unfamiliar city, use Translate to understand a menu, or get contactless ready for public transport, the readily removable Fold 8 was a much more convenient choice.

It's not just trouser pockets that show the benefit. The Fold 8 is the perfect shape to fit in the side pockets of my backpack, or the small inner pockets for valuables. That's all unlike the Ultra, which sticks out awkwardly.

And that awkward design isn't just bad for looks or utility. It's pretty normal to be worried about losing your possessions while travelling, either from nifty pickpockets who identify you as a tourist, or from them falling out when you leave your bag somewhere. When I was walking around with the Ultra sticking its camera bump out of my jeans, those fears were multiplied — not so with the standard model, which could disappear from view.

Many people have referred to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as the 'passport'-style foldable. In the above image, you can see the phone alongside my battered-looking passport: they're very similar sizes (the document is thinner but taller). Given that this document was designed to be easily portable for travellers, it makes sense that Samsung has taken inspiration from the shape of the booklet.

All my holiday experiences aren't just true abroad, though. A svelte form factor that keeps the phone secure but ready to remove is just as useful at home as away.

The wide screen keeps getting better and better

(Image credit: Future)

I forgot something, didn't I? This is a folding phone, and I've yet to metaphorically unpack it to discuss the inner display. And yet, the Z Fold 8's 7.6-inch, 4:3 aspect ratio main display is one of its main differences from the Z Fold 8 Ultra's 8-inch 1:0.9 aspect ratio primary panel.

I'm an iPad user, and so I was already primed for the Z Fold 8's main screen, since Apple's tablets also use that aspect ratio. But with how popular the previous Z Fold phones are (which share dimensions with the new Ultra), I was expecting the new screen shape to really need to prove itself.

And there are certainly some tasks for which the Z Fold 8 Ultra is better. I prefer it for grid-based tasks like seeing my calendar, checking out pictures I've taken, and calculator use. The user interface feels more spacious, with extra space at the bottom for a web browser search bar, and I appreciate that my apps and widgets are in the same place if I rotate the phone.

When I was on my holiday, the Ultra was relegated to my gaming and camera phone — that result is what convinced me of this article's thesis statement in the first place — but I can see its more square-shaped main display being the right shape for certain users, who have specific use cases.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8's display proves itself as especially useful for many, many other tasks. And I'm not just talking about entertainment; video-watching is one of the main tasks Samsung used to justify the wider 4:3 aspect ratio, but there's a lot more to the phone than that.

(Image credit: Future)

The pictures above show two types of phone use that are common on holidays (and that I used the phone for on my trip): reading using the Kindle app, and navigating with Google Maps. As regards the former, you can see that the wide aspect ratio does a better job of resembling a book than a Kindle would, and as for the latter, you can see that the UI overlay and maps sit together just as well as on a squarish display (as on the Ultra). In fact, when I used Google Maps on the Ultra, the search bar and options being higher made it a little more annoying to use.

Speaking more generally, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels great for multi-tasking, as the two apps feel like they're sized in a more natural way than on a squarish Z Fold 8 Ultra or long, thin Android tablet. It took me going on holiday, when I'd split-view tourist information websites and maps, or my gallery app and Instagram, to really appreciate this kind of use.

It's hard to explain to someone who isn't using the Z Fold 8, but apps just feel right on this wider phone (well, when they're actually optimized for the shape; some, like Strava, just give you their usual vertical scroll). Every day, I find another function which feels great on the wider screen.

There's one glaring omission. Samsung opted not to give the Z Fold 8 Flex Mode, while it's present in the Ultra. This is a tool that identifies when your foldable is part-open and splits the main display in natural ways; it'll give you a camera viewfinder in one half, and controls on the other, for example. It's a useful, though admittedly sparsely implemented, feature. The Z Fold 8 is worse off for its omission, and I'm hoping it gains it in an update.

It's not just a pretty screen

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is smaller and cheaper than its Ultra sibling. Most of the time, when we see phones like that, the smaller one is a Lite handset and is weaker or worse in some ways. And so I had a bias towards the Fold 8, expecting it to be far more inferior than it actually was.

It's great for gaming, especially on the large screen, even if it does get a little hot quicker than I'd like (that's the Snapdragon chipset doing what, in my opinion, Snapdragon chips do best: overheat).

Even down to the specs minutiae, the Z Fold 8 matches the Ultra. Its storage sizes are the same (well, with a few slight region-based variations, but generally, the storage and RAM options are the same). It uses UFS 4.0 flash storage, and it has a mostly quick side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which I love way more than under-display ones.

As I mentioned before, the Z Fold 8 Ultra was my go-to gaming phone. This isn't because it was more powerful, but because I assumed it would be and so downloaded all my games onto it first (and got stuck into various runs, with progress I didn't want to lose). But some time away on my holiday gave me time to play the same titles on the Z Fold 8, and there's no noticeable difference in how games run on either phone (other than the form factor difference).

(Image credit: Future)

My trip helped me appreciate the software a lot more too. Both phones have Samsung's One UI, and its implementation is largely the same between the two, other than the aforementioned Flex Mode fiasco. Which means the cheaper phone doesn't give you a worse experience.

The camera quality and suite of photo editing features were all, obviously, tools which I used constantly on my holiday. And I quickly realized that, despite this not being the 'Ultra' phone, its results largely match what you'll get on the pricier phone (mostly, but we'll get more into that later). Despite what you see in the picture above, I mostly used the inner display for editing snaps, as its large size and aspect ratio let me see details in my photos that a smaller screen might have me missing.

Software remains a strong point of Samsung's camera phones, even if I've come to expect the strong stuff to be kept in reserve for the Galaxy S mobiles. I noticed that, after taking photos and checking them out in the Gallery app, the phone would take a few seconds to apply its own filters, optimizations, and fixes. So I could clearly see the 'before and after' of the phone's magic, and it made it apparent that the handset does a great job at fixing my mistakes.

But there's one design consideration I want to flag, which I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't spent a week shoving both phones in pockets and bags while abroad. Both devices collect dust and fluff, but the Z Fold 8 seemed to collect way more inside its body than the Ultra. Maybe it's a side effect of the shape or aspect ratio, or the Ultra's larger display making an equal amount of fluff appear like more, but I always had to give the Z Fold 8 a wipe when using its main display.

Fluff is normal and unavoidable... but it can mess up foldable phones if it gets in the joints or hinges. So I'm curious to discover the longevity of these phones, especially with iFixit revealing just how disastrous dust can be to the devices.

Have Fold, will travel

(Image credit: Future)

Despite the myriad reasons to like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that there are several problems with it.

The biggest issue is the battery life: it's not good. I can't pretend to be surprised, given how little space there is in the Fold to fit a power cell, but the reason doesn't detract from the challenge.

I struggle to get the Z Fold 8 to last a day, and find myself having to use it sparingly or engage power-saving mode if I'm going to be away from a charger. While I was on my holiday, I charged it multiple times per day, and afterwards I've found myself ensuring it's fully charged every time I leave the house.

Another weak point of the phone is its camera setup, or more specifically its camera omissions. Generally, pictures taken on the Z Fold 8 are good, but the absence of the Ultra's zoom lens means the premium phone is my go-to photography handset when I have time to stop and choose between the two.

The Ultra is better for holiday shots, product pictures (including the ones accompanying this article), and portrait pictures. As mentioned, I probably take more pictures with the Z Fold 8 given it's the more easily accessible phone, but there's no denying which of the two is the superior shooter.

For the Galaxy Z Fold 9, then, improvements to the camera array and battery life are at the top of my wish list.

• Apple introduces the M6 chip, and it lands first in the new Mac mini
• It’s a bit more expensive than its predecessor, but offers improved performance, with a focus on AI tasks
• It can also be configured with the M5 Pro, while the latest Mac Studio gets the M5 Max or new M5 Ultra

Apple reintroduced the Mac mini in its sportier, more compact design with M4 chips in October 2024, and now, just a few months shy of two years later, we’re getting the next generation.

Apple is sticking with the ultra-tiny build that doesn’t skimp on ports, and it's also using its new entry-level Mac desktop to usher in its next generation of silicon: the M6. While this next-gen Mac mini sports an identical look to its predecessor, it’s built to pack a performance punch with either the M6, which is Apple’s first 2nm chip, or the M5 Pro for those who need an even more substantial setup.

This performance boost comes at the cost of a price increase over the M4-powered Mac mini. The Mac mini with M6 starts at $899 / £899 / AU$1,449 for 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM — that's a $100 increase in the US over the current price of the M4 model — while the M5 Pro starts at $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$TBC with 512GB of storage and 24GB of RAM. You can, of course, pay more for more RAM and storage — we’re waiting to see full pricing.

The Mac mini with M6 will start at $899 — a $100 increase in the US over the $799 MSRP for the M4 model – with 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, while the mini with M5 Pro will start at $1,699 with 512GB of storage and 24GB of RAM. Of course, you can pay more for more RAM and storage — we’re waiting to see pricing.

The M6 isn’t the only new chip arriving from Apple. The next-gen Mac Studio, which keeps its now-iconic design, is sporting either the M5 Max or the M5 Ultra under the hood for extreme performance, be it creative or professional workflows, or the demands of AI processes. Like the Mac mini, it’s a bit more costly, starting at $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$4,299 for the Mac Studio with M5 Max or $5,499 / £5,499 / AU$TBC for the M5 Ultra.

The reveal timing is a little out of line with the release cycle we’ve gotten used to for the Mac lineup, as it comes just weeks before Apple's rumored September event, at which Apple will likely debut its iPhone 18 lineup and other devices.

Let’s dive into what we know about the M6 and the new Mac mini, its first home, and the even speedier Mac Studio.

The Mac mini pushes forward with M6

(Image credit: Apple )

While the new Mac mini's design is unchanged — and we're just fine with that — the big change is under the hood. Apple says the M6 delivers up to 40% faster CPU performance and up to four times faster AI performance. Note that latter claim, as AI is a theme that Apple’s going with here, and it makes sense considering how many folks are choosing to run OpenClaw and other models on the Mac mini (if they can get their hands on one — we're hoping Apple has addressed the supply chain issues that have resulted in some customers facing long waits for the previous-gen Mac mini and Mac Studio).

As I noted above, the M6 is Apple’s first 2-nanometer chip, and it boasts some seriously impressive specs on paper. For starters, it’s now a 12-core CPU, the first such Apple silicon, with two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores. That’s the CPU side of the M6, while the GPU side has 12 cores with Neural Accelerators, support for the FP8 format, and higher overall geometry throughput, which should aid 3D graphics and gaming visuals. One aspect we’re keen to test is a new dual 16-core Neural Engine, which promises up to twice the peak AI compute performance.

(Image credit: Apple )

There’s also the even more impressively equipped Mac mini with M5 Pro, the same chip that’s currently available in the MacBook Pro. In the Mac mini, it as in the MacBook Pro, the M5 Pro starts with a 15-core CPU, 16-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine.

Whether you opt for the M6 or M5 Pro, the new Mac mini also gets the Apple-made N1 chip for connectivity, specifically support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. There's a 2.5Gb Ethernet port as standard, which you can upgrade to 10Gb, and while the M6 has Thunderbolt 4 ports, the M5 Pro gets Thunderbolt 5, which should make it easy to chain multiple Mac minis together.

Mac Studio levels up with M5 Max and M5 Ultra

(Image credit: Apple)

We’ve been waiting a while now for Apple to level up the current M4 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio, and these are looking like considerably beefy upgrades that’ll ensure that whether you are running advanced professional, creative, AI, or even gaming tasks, the Studio will rise to the occasion.

The M5 Max inside the Mac Studio boasts an 18-core CPU and a 40-core GPU for up to 30% faster compute performance and 40% faster graphics performance compared to the M4 Max, according to Apple. For ultimate performance, meanwhile, the M5 Ultra, the latest chip made using Apple’s next-gen UltraFusion technology, is essentially two M5 Max chips connected together in a quad-die architecture. The result is a chip with a 36-core CPU — made up of 12 Super Cores and 24 Performance Cores — an 80-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine.

(Image credit: Apple)

As in the Mac mini, Apple is using its own N1 chip to power connectivity in the upgraded Mac Studio, with support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. You’ll also get faster, more efficient RAM and storage to speed things up even more.

Together, these upgrades are all about boosting performance and making these machines better equipped for almost any task, whether professional or creative, with or without AI processes.

Apple's Mac Studio with M5 Max starts with 512GB of storage and 36GB of RAM, while the Studio with M5 Ultra starts at 1TB of storage and 96GB of RAM. Pricing starts at $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$4,299 and $5,499 / £5,499, respectively.

(Image credit: Apple)

Based on Apple's shared benchmarks and performance numbers, both the Mac mini and Mac Studio are AI performance powerhouses. Whether it's using an app to upscale an image, quickly render out a task, or even run full frontier models on-device, it’s clear that Apple knows what people are using its desktops for, and is offering those users something with even more muscle.

As with the Mac mini, the new Mac Studios arrive with a price hike. In the US, the Mac mini with M6 starts at $100 more than the current prices of the M4 model. The Mac Studio keeps the same starting price at $2,499 for the M5 Max versus the M4 Max, while the M5 Ultra starts at $200 more than the M3 Ultra, at $5,499 compared to $5,299.

Storage increases and RAM upgrades will come at hefty costs, but with 256GB starting storage in the Mac mini and 512GB starting storage in the Studio for the base chips — and both the RAM and SSDs are said to be faster here — Apple is still looking to max out the value proposition, even at the starting prices.

Preorders for these new Macs are open now, and with shipping from September 22. That's a bit of a wait, but it might be that this schedule is timed to coincide with that for other items Apple might reveal in the next few weeks. The Macs will ship with macOS 27, including some new Apple Intelligence features, out of the box.

• The Witcher 4 is officially targeting a 2028 release window
• CD Projekt Red joint-CEO Michal Nowakowski says the game won't be at Gamescom 2026
• He confirms that the game is the studio's "most ambitious game to date"

As CD Projekt Red prepares to showcase The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's next major expansion, the studio has confirmed that The Witcher 4 is officially targeting a 2028 release window.

In a video posted to social media ahead of Gamescom Opening Night Live, CD Projekt Red joint-CEO Michal Nowakowski teased Songs of the Past, The Witcher 3's third expansion launching in 2027, saying, "We've got a lot of the expansion to show off, including a taste of its dark story, and the new continent it will bring."

Songs of the Past will get a full reveal at Gamescom and is rumored to be a prelude to The Witcher 4, which will star Ciri as the titular witcher. Fans have been waiting for another glimpse of the sequel since the technical demo was shared last year; however, Nowakowski has confirmed the studio won't be showcasing the game at Gamescom.

To our beloved fans, players, and community:As we near #gamescom in just a few days, CD PROJEKT RED Joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski would like to personally invite YOU to join us there, and hear about the future of The Witcher franchise! pic.twitter.com/Jyam30SrQHAugust 24, 2026

He revealed that more than 500 developers are currently working on The Witcher 4, and the game will feature "a huge and immersive open world, intense and action-packed gameplay, and a deep, impactful story that we hope will stay with you for a long time."

"Simply put, this is our biggest, boldest, and most ambitious game to date," Nowakowski said, before confirming that The Witcher 4 is "targeting" a 2028 launch window, which significantly narrows down its expected release date.

"I know it's a bit of a wait and you'd love to play it sooner," he said, "but let the team cook. It will be worth the wait."

The joint-CEO added that fans can expect Gamescom to be in CD Projekt Red's plans "for the coming years," suggesting The Witcher 4 could be featured at next year's or 2028's showcase.

While we finally have a launch window, this means the game could still slip to 2029 depending on its development status. It's also unclear if the sequel will get a PS5 physical edition, as Sony plans to end production of game discs from January 2028.

• Crooks used Google Sites and stolen Google Ads accounts to push fake OpenAI Codex pages
• macOS users tricked into pasting Terminal commands, leading to AMOS infostealer infection
• Campaign abuses Google’s trust signals; Windows download button was a decoy, only Mac payload worked

Cybercriminals were seen abusing Google Sites, the Google ad network, and OpenAI’s good name, in a campaign that targets macOS users with infostealers.

According to security researchers CATO CTRL, the crooks used Google Sites to create a fake version of the OpenAI Codex download site. To avoid being flagged by Google’s security systems and ultimately removed, the site itself contains no malicious code or download links, whatsoever. Instead, it hosts an iFrame that displays content hosted elsewhere.

Then, they advertised that site on the Google Ads network. Google is usually good at spotting and preventing malicious ads from running on its network, but sometimes threat actors steal legitimate accounts with good standing and use them to bypass automated scans and get the ads listed, while also spending other people’s money on the ad campaign.

Not ClickFix

The ads were displayed to users searching for “codex macos download”, at the very top of the page. Using both Google Sites and Google Ads is a deliberate attempt to appear legitimate and trustworthy since after all, many people trust whatever Google displays as the top result without double-checking or scrutinizing the result.

Those that do click will see a website that, by all accounts, looks like OpenAI’s download site for Codex, the company’s AI coding agent. The site has download buttons for both Windows and Mac, but only the latter works. The download and installation process was designed to look “advanced” - instead of getting an executable, the victims are told to paste a command in Terminal.

Cato’s researchers call this a ClickFix attack, but ClickFix usually displays a fake problem, before offering an equally fake solution. This looks more like another way to appear legitimate because after all, several AI agents are specifically designed to be installed and run from the macOS Terminal, including OpenAI’s Codex CLI.

The end goal of the campaign is to deploy AMOS, a known macOS infostealer capable of grabbing browser data, login credentials, cryptocurrency wallet information, and more.

Via SiliconANGLE

• HMD Global has unveiled the Nokia 300 Charge
• The feature phone can double up as a power bank
• There's also a microSD slot and headphone jack

The Nokia brand lives on, under the stewardship of HMD Global, and following on from four feature phones that debuted in July complete with AI buttons, we now have the Nokia 300 Charge — a handset that's a little different from the norm.

As you can see from the official site (via Notebookcheck), the phone comes with a power bank mode that lets you charge up other gadgets at 10W via the USB-C port on the side. Maybe you could use it to recharge your headphones, or a secondary phone.

While the 3,700 mAh battery in the Nokia 300 Charge isn't huge by power bank standards, it's almost enough to give an Apple iPhone 17 Pro a full charge. It's also a pretty massive capacity for a feature phone, and Nokia says you can get up to 37 hours of talk time and over 40 days of standby time on this device.

Also worth noting is the "high-power" LED flashlight that sits on the top of the device, which is apparently 4x brighter than the one on the Nokia 105. It could well prove handy for finding your way around after dark.

Dimensions, specs, and price

The Nokia 300 Charge can double as a power bank (Image credit: Nokia)

Nokia lists this as being available in green and sandstone, though there's also a black colorway visible on the website. Measuring 136.55 mm x 55 mm x 14.94 mm (5.4 inches x 2.2 inches x 0.59 inches), it tips the scales at 138 grams (0.3 pounds).

The Nokia 300 Charge comes running a 2.4-inch screen with a QVGA resolution and a QVGA camera on the back (though specific resolutions and megapixels aren't listed). A Unisoc SC6531E chipset is paired with 4MB of RAM, and there's 4MB of internal storage.

Retro phone fans will be pleased to know there's a microSD card slot, which lets you expand the storage up to 32GB. There's even a classic 3.5 mm headphone jack for listening to your tunes — though no support for Spotify, obviously. The standard Nokia S30+​ software runs everything on board.

As yet, there's no international pricing for the phone, though it does appear on the global website for HMD. In the Philippines, the handset is available for 1,990 pesos (roughly $32 / £24 / AU$45 with a direct currency conversation).

Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Ultra (or Fold), could cost over $2,000 according to analysts. But US adults aren’t willing to pay that much.

August's celestial wonders aren't done yet. Following the stunning total solar eclipse and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower a couple of weeks ago, we're set for another extraordinary show this week — a lunar eclipse.

On August 27-28, night sky observers in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Western Asia are in for a treat, with a 96.2% lunar eclipse and 'blood moon' occurring.

It's not a total lunar eclipse — the next one of those takes place on December 31, 2028 (yes, new year's eve!) But for many, this week's eclipse will be the best until then, so it's well worth staying up late/getting up early for.

Here's exactly when and where the lunar eclipse can be seen — and my pro tips for capturing it with your camera of choice.

When and where to see the August lunar eclipse

The lunar eclipse can be seen on the night side of Earth, which on August 27-28 means that large portions of North America and South America, plus the western half of Europe and Africa, will enjoy the best of the eclipse — its maximum.

Further afield, viewers in eastern Europe and western parts of Asia will catch a glimpse of the eclipse — the penumbral and partial phase, but not the maximum 96.2% — while Australia won't see it at all. In total, 44.4% of the global population can catch a glimpse.

A large portion of the US is ideally placed to see the lunar eclipse, including Washington DC and New York, because it reaches its maximum at 12:12am ET time, and the moon will be relatively high in the night sky.

In Europe, the 'maximum' phase of the lunar eclipse occurs an hour before moonset/ sunrise Credit: ESO/F. Char (Image credit: ESO/F. Char)

Across Europe, the maximum eclipse occurs at 6:12am (CEST), which is 5:12am BST. In cities including London, Paris and Madrid, the maximum eclipse is around one hour prior to sunrise and as the moon sets, meaning the moon will be very low in the sky — offering the prospect of superb photography opportunities.

Those timings are for the maximum eclipse, but the 'penumbral' eclipse begins almost three hours before, and ends almost three hours after. Even as much as 90 minutes before maximum, the moon will start turning red as it moves into a partial eclipse phase.

• The timeanddate.com website provides exact times, dates and places for every eclipse, including for August 27-28, wherever you are in the world. It's a comprehensive resource, also covering eclipse FAQs, such as what is a lunar eclipse is, why the color of the moon changes and more.

From partial to total lunar eclipse License: CC0 Creative Commons (Image credit: CC0 Creative Commons)Planning your photos of the lunar eclipse

The full eclipse cycle will last for about five hours in total, but you don't need to be on the alert for all of it. Let's take New York city as an example.

There, the event kicks off with a penumbral eclipse at 21:23pm ET (August 27), but viewing starts to get interesting from 22:33pm when the partial eclipse begins. This is a good time to set up your camera gear, because the moon will begin to lose its brightness, and will start turning reddish at its edge.

You'll soon see the weird sight of a crescent moon with a blurry straight line between the bright and dark areas. That's the line of Earth's atmosphere being projected onto the lunar surface.

Expect to see the moon turn reddish in color during the partial and maximum phases of the eclipse. Credit: Gill Carter (Image credit: Gill Carter)

At 00:12am ET (August 28), the eclipse reaches it maximum, and the moon will be at a viewing altitude of 38.3 degrees, which is relatively high in the sky. At 96.2%, a sliver of bright area of the moon surface remains, but the rest should be a reddish color to the naked eye. This is the maximum phase, when you should takes lots of photos.

From then on, the bright area of the moon increases once more during the partial eclipse phase, which finishes at 1:51am ET, and the eclipse is fully finished at 3:02am. You may wish to stay up for the entirety in order to capture key phases of the eclipse — great for a montage — but the main activity will be in the hour around its maximum.

Meanwhile, in London the timings are less favorable, but the components for photography could be ideal. The penumbral eclipse begins at 2:23am BST (August 28), the partial eclipse begins at 3:33am, while the maximum eclipse is 5:12am, at which point the moon is close to the horizon, and it's approximately an hour before moonset/sunrise.

In the UK, you'll need a clear vantage point looking west to southwest to see the moon (and a dose of luck, if the forecast for cloud is accurate), and if you can plan to include landmarks/points of interest in the frame, it should make for dramatic images of the eclipse's maximum phase. The moon will have set below the horizon before the partial eclipse (after maximum) ends.

During the partial eclipse, the moon will appear part-bright and part-dim Credit: Gill Carter (Image credit: Gill Carter)Camera gear for the lunar eclipse

So, how do you do photograph a lunar eclipse? The good news is that you don't need any filters, as you do with a total solar eclipse. The bad news is that since the moon is so small, you're going to need some magnification for the moon to fill most of the frame. That means either using a telephoto lens, whether that's on a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, or a superzoom compact/bridge camera. Taking decent photos of the moon with your phone is going to be a tougher challenge.

In terms of focal length, a 600mm-equivalent lens (25x zoom on a phone, approx) should fill most of the frame with the moon. You might want to use a slightly wider-angle lens to include landmarks in the frame.

On a smartphone, typically the best optical zoom reach you'll have is 5x. The quality of a digital zoom is poor, and only gets worse the more you zoom in. Some flagship devices such as the Oppo Find X9 Ultra have better telephoto reach — 10x in the case of that phone — and a teleconverter accessory to further extend the maximum reach. My advice for most people is to use a camera with a telephoto lens instead.

Whatever camera you opt for, I recommend attaching it to a sturdy tripod support — especially if you're capturing multiple phases of the eclipse with landmarks in the frame. A tripod minimizes camera shake for sharper shots, and delivers the continuity you need for capturing the phases. Alternatively, find a secure surface to rest your camera on. A self timer or a remote shutter further minimizes camera shake, while shooting in the RAW format rather than JPEG/HEIF gives you more flexibility for editing.

It’s easy to make a montage of your shots License: CC0 Creative Commons (Image credit: CC0 Creative Commons)

A lunar eclipse isn't easy to capture, but you will have plenty of time to play with various settings of your DSLR/ mirrorless/ superzoom compact camera. As well as a wide range of colors, lunar eclipses bring a lot of changes in brightness. Also bear in mind that when zoomed-in, the moon is a very fast-moving target (blame our rotating planet).

Consequently, I recommend setting the white balance manually — the Tungsten setting will maintain the color accuracy of the bright moon and rich blue of the night sky.

You'll also need a high shutter speed. So, as the moon dims in brightness, increase the ISO (try ISO 200 during the partial phase, and ISO 1600 during the maximum phase) and open the aperture (start at about f/11 and experiment).

However, it's not just about getting a sharp image, because during the partial eclipse, the moon will be part-bright and part-dim, so you have to make a choice about which side of the moon to expose for. The answer, of course, is to try both, many times over.

Take a spare battery out with you, make sure your memory card has plenty of space on it, and prepare for a marathon post-processing session. Most of all, cross your fingers for clear visibility — cloud cover puts paid to the best-laid plans!

• Get more tips on how to photograph the moon

Suction isn’t everything. Smart navigation and efficiency are what really define a great robotic pool cleaner.

• The PocketBook Q is a new ereader with a 5.84-inch screen
• It's slimmer and lighter than most phone-sized rivals
• However, it doesn't run Android, limiting your access to apps

It seems like there’s a growing hunger for small ereaders, as following in the footsteps of the Boox Palma series, the Viwoods AiPaper Reader, and the even smaller Xteink devices, there’s now the phone-sized PocketBook Q.

This new ereader has a 5.84-inch E Ink Carta 1300 touchscreen with a 788 x 1576 resolution, a front light that lets you adjust both brightness and color temperature, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 1,550mAh battery which supposedly allows for more than a month of reading on a single charge.

It measures 154 x 75.8 x 6.5mm and 130g, making it even smaller and lighter than the Boox Palma 2 Pro and Viwoods AiPaper Reader, though its screen is smaller too, with both of those having 6.13-inch displays.

So this essentially sits somewhere between those devices and the likes of the Xteink X4 Pro with its 4.3-inch screen.

Apps included but this doesn't run Android

(Image credit: PocketBook)

In any case, the PocketBook Q also has physical side buttons that you can use to turn pages, and it works with Libby for borrowing digital library books. It also has broad format support for both ebook and audio files.

Plus, it comes with an IPX4 rating, for resistance to splashes and moisture, and there’s a text-to-speech tool.

There are a handful of pre-installed apps such as a book store, a browser, and a dictionary, among a few others, but this doesn’t run Android. Rather, it runs PocketBook OS — an operating system based on Linux, so you’re not getting access to the wealth of apps you’ll find on Android.

That helps keep the device focused on books so you avoid distractions, but also means you don’t have access to the likes of the Kindle or Kobo apps on there. That limitation is another way this differs from devices from Boox and Viwoods — though it’s in line with Xteink.

If the PocketBook Q sounds appealing, you’ll be able to grab one for $235 / £175 (around AU$330) when it launches in “late fall” — likely meaning sometime in November.

• Report points to AirPods 5 launching in September, in two models
• A cheaper version and a pricier option with noise cancellation
• We're expecting the big iPhone 18 Pro event to happen in early September

Despite all these news stories about AirPods with cameras, we've been hearing that 'normal' AirPods are set to release before the end of the year — and a brand-new report paints a much clearer picture of what we're about to see.

According to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a prolific Apple tipster, the brand is teeing up to release AirPods 5, consisting of a standard pair of buds and an ANC-toting model.

It's suggested that these buds could come in early September — Apple's regular late-year launch is expected to bring iPhone 18 Pro models, Apple Watch 12 and a folding iPhone Ultra — but, by the sounds of it, there's wiggle room for them to release a little later. Still, it's often Apple's style to have one big event with lots of products.

Back in 2024, Apple expanded its non-Pro AirPods line two have two versions. We received the standard AirPods 4, and also the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, the latter of which received a slightly more positive review from us. It was a similar model, but with a slightly higher price and ANC. It seems that Apple is continuing that trend.

AirPods that are really 'new'

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

Apple's standard AirPods see fewer leaks and rumors than the Pro model, and so there aren't any serious reports as to what we could expect. But we weren't glowing in our review, and there are a few tweaks Apple could make to improve them.

The main thing is simply the value. The AirPods 4 weren't expensive, but they just didn't offer as good value for money as the competition — the likes of the Nothing Ear (a) were cheaper, offered features such as ANC, and sounded better.

They stood in contrast to the AirPods Pro 2 (which were current when AirPods 4 launched) and later the AirPods Pro 3. The premium buds are excellent value compared to the competition, packing in more features, impressive sound, and a comfortable and light design.

Apple had the same problem I saw in Samsung's Galaxy Buds 4: a brand not making its cheaper options cheap enough. I'd like to see AirPods 5 either cost less (unlikely in today's tech world…) or have more features to give them a reason to cost more than the rest of the budget earbuds world.

I also think fit reliability is an area that needs to see changes too. It's a common problem in semi-open buds like the AirPods, that they don't grip in your ears as well as those with in-ear tips — I've lost count of how many AirPods runners I've seen lose their buds mid-jog. Apple's done good design work in this area, but I want to see improvements still.

Apple improved the battery life of its earbuds last time, and I hope it can do that again — they actually outperformed Apple's claimed figures, but it's normal to see earbuds hit close to 10 hours without ANC on, so it'd be great to see Apple get closer to that.

When it comes to audio, I hope they'll improve the way they handle detail. As we said in our AirPods 4 review, they lose fine resolution, which can affect the enjoyment of some tracks. Of all the upgrades I've listed, I'd imagine sonic tweaks are the ones most likely to come to fruition.

If Apple wanted to make some serious changes, it could make AirPods truly accessible to Android users (at the moment, most AirPods features require an iPhone, though they will function for basic audio with any Bluetooth device). I don't see the brand making this change, but it'd certainly shine a needed light on Apple's lesser-bought buds — however, Android support seems to be Beats' role in Apple's portfolio.

It's hard not to treat 2026 as a fallow year for AirPods. The fifth-generation models will likely be iterative updates, as the AirPods Max 2 were, and the camera-toting AirPods are expected to launch next year. But a few tweaks could help make the AirPods 5 feel like more than water-treading from Apple, even just two years after the previous models.

• Microsoft used to tell you when a bot was in the lobby, now you can automatically block it
• Watch out, because legitimate add-ons like AI assistants could end up being blocked
• More protections are coming to Teams soon, too

Microsoft is rolling out an important new security policy for Teams, and admins can now finally block external meeting bots automatically.

Previously, the software would identify bots and label them accordingly within the lobby, but leave the final decision to meeting organizers – this new update prevents external bots from joining in the first place.

The company hopes the upgrade will give organizations more control over security to reduce the risks associated with unwanted participants.

Teams now automatically blocks external bots

Despite the new change, the policy will be disabled by default, so Microsoft won't be banning third-party bots across the board. But company admins will be able to enable the policy for users or groups to reduce the burden and security risks accordingly, marking a major improvement over the earlier bot protections introduced just two months ago.

Importantly, any external bot detected in a meeting will be blocked from entering, thus legitimate tools could also be blocked, hence the decision to disable the tool by default. That includes legitimate tools like AI meeting assistants, transcription tools, recording add-ons and other similar tools.

"Bots have begun joining meetings that participants never intended them to attend," Meera Ajam explained in a June post, hinting at a shift to hybrid (human and machine) participants.

Nevertheless, it's an important change for the video conferencing platform, which has seen a rise in cybercriminal activity.

Further admin controls, like allow lists for approved bots and audit logs, are also set to come to the productivity suite. This latest update is starting to roll out now, with general availability expected by late September.

Most organizations in UK and across Europe don’t struggle to recover from cyberattacks such as ransomware because they lack backups. They struggle because they try to restore everything at once.

In the aftermath of a major cyber incident, the instinct is to bring every system back online as quickly as possible. It feels like the fastest path back to normality. However, in reality, this approach often slows recovery down, reintroduces cyber risk and undermines trust just when the organization needs it most.

In fact, those that recover fastest start from a different premise. They assume large parts of their organization will be unavailable or untrusted, and they plan accordingly. This mindset leads to a much clearer goal - restore what matters most, quickly, and in a state you can trust.

What is critical to survival?

Focusing on the critical areas of an organization is the idea behind the Minimum Viable Company (MVC) concept, sometimes referred to as the Minimum Viable Organization. It is a definition of what must exist for the organization to survive in challenging conditions such as a cyber incident.

It’s not just a technology concept, it’s a business definition of survival in terms of the minimum combination of people, processes, technology, documentation, facilities, and third-party dependencies required to keep a business functioning and creating value.

Where to start getting an MVC up and running?

There are five key capabilities when it comes to operationalizing an MVC:

1. Clarity on critical services:

A precise understanding of the systems and dependencies that directly support revenue and mission-critical operations is needed here. To understand the MVC, it is key to map systems to business value. Without this understanding, it’s impossible to accurately define the MVC.

The first steps focus on undertaking a structured assessment, aligning across business and technology stakeholders, and going through a realistic simulation of how recovery will unfold under pressure. This will uncover the key areas needed to provide just enough capability to keep the organization functioning safely during a crisis and guide recovery.

In practice, this means defining what must function in the first 24 hours, the first 72 hours, and the first week after a disruption.

2. A trusted foundation (Tier 0):

In the event of a cyberattack, many organizations miss the critical foundational layer that allows them to establish identity and access control independently of compromised systems.

This foundational layer is what we call Tier 0 or the control plane for recovery. It includes identity and access management, networking and DNS, privileged access controls, core security tooling, physical access systems, and secure communication channels.

It also covers non-technical dependencies that are easy to overlook until they’re urgently needed such as incident response playbooks, contact lists and escalation paths, insurance policies, and contracts with external responders. These are the foundations underpinning the critical systems that need to be restored after a cyber incident. Without this layer, a trusted recovery is not possible.

3. Isolation of recovery assets:

In the event of a cybersecurity breach, organizations must establish control of their most critical systems. This requires recovering data separately from clean snapshots and investigating in parallel, not sequentially, to ensure the recovered systems are not infected by malicious software.

As part of this process, backups, configurations, and recovery tooling must be protected from the same blast radius as production. If key recovery assets can’t be isolated, a rapid and trusted control of critical systems can’t be achieved.

4. Clean-room recovery capability:

To set up an isolated environment to rebuild systems without reintroducing compromise, organizations need to set up what we call a ‘Digital Jump Bag’. This is a secure, isolated repository containing everything required to establish a trusted recovery starting point to rebuild systems without reintroducing compromise.

5. Validated ability to operate

The next step is to validate the ability of the MVC to operate through realistic crisis scenarios. Resilience must be proven under real-world conditions. Practice is important here because an untested plan remains theoretical. Rehearsals will also help to answer the Board’s most direct question in the event of a cyberattack - how long will it take to restore critical services to a trusted state?

Recovering faster by restoring what matters most

The most common cyber resilience risks are failing to define what must come back first and how to bring it back in a state that can be trusted. That’s the difference between recovery as a process and recovery as a capability.

The MVC isn’t static. As an organization evolves, its definition must evolve too. But the principle stays the same: recovery improves when organizations stop trying to restore everything and start restoring what matters.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

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