Technology

• OpenAI disrupted a major scam campaign in Cambodia’s Poipet, banning accounts and blocking new registrations
• Criminals used ChatGPT to run romance fraud, fake investments, bogus police scams, and even operations linked to human trafficking
• AI was leveraged for fake personas, fraudulent messages, job lures, and worker administration; OpenAI shared findings with authorities after evidence of hundreds of victims losing thousands of dollars

OpenAI said it disrupted a major scam campaign coming out of Southeast Asia by banning accounts used by the operation and making it difficult to open new ones.

In a blog post, the ChatGPT maker said it was tipped off about the existence of the campaign by WhatsApp.

After investigating further, the company found that a group of criminals in Cambodia used its AI tool in different scam campaigns - romance fraud, fake investment scams, or bogus police investigations. It also used AI to help with day-to-day operations and, most worryingly, for things that could be related to human trafficking and forced criminality.

Detention and escape attempts

OpenAI did not say if the group had a name, just that it operated out of Poipet, “a city in Banteay Meanchey province that public reporting⁠ has repeatedly⁠ linked⁠ to online scam compounds and trafficking operations.”

The group used AI to create fake personas, to help draft fraudulent emails and chat messages, and to create posters for fake jobs which were probably used to lure people into human trafficking or forced labor.

The tool was also used for worker administration, since the operators maintained records of employee debts, salary deductions, disciplinary fines, and loan repayments. They also used the tool to translate discussions about immigration status, work permits, visa overstays, and recruitment incentives.

“Some conversations also referenced apparent detention, escape attempts, and potential criminal liability for people who had been trafficked and forced to work in scam operations,” OpenAI said. “While these conversations do not allow us to determine the circumstances of any particular individual, they are consistent with extensive public reporting⁠ describing⁠ the activities of organized crime groups in Southeast Asia.”

The company could not say how many people fell victim, or how much money this group has stolen, but said it found evidence of “hundreds” of victims losing “thousands of dollars.” These findings were shared with relevant authorities.

Via The Hacker News

The enterprise race to scale AI operations is in full swing – both from a deployment and security perspective. While conventional wisdom suggests that the teams who deploy the models first get the edge, it’s the wrong approach for enterprises.

For nefarious actors, speed is the name of the game. Malicious actors leveraging AI to probe for vulnerabilities don’t need to share their decision trail to audit committees or regulators – making speed alone the key advantage for attackers.

Enterprise security teams, on the other hand, operate under entirely different parameters – which also happen to be where the opportunity lies.

Security teams don’t just need the capability to identify anomalies, screen transactions, or make access decisions – they also need to be prepared to explain what happened, when, and why to key stakeholders.

Every action and every outcome needs to be clarified and justified to a board, an auditor, or a customer.

Scaling AI at the enterprise level is not relegated to who moves fastest, but rather who can embed the necessary accountability frameworks, emergency brakes, and audit trails.

The Hidden Data Problem

In truth, speed is not the primary challenge for most enterprise teams. The bigger, more difficult challenge is found in data and governance. Policy models and detection frameworks are only as impactful as the information inputs. However, most organizations are devoid of structured, well-governed data – particularly as it pertains to AI activity. Across the majority of organizations, data is scattered.

Activity logs, access records, transaction histories all live in disparate systems with inconsistent formats and no single source of truth. No matter how much of this data is fed into an AI model, clarity will never be achieved. Instead, teams generate a false sense of confidence built upon a shaky foundation.

Meaningful scale begins with auditability and accountability as infrastructure, not an afterthought. As AI systems become increasingly embedded across organizations, the requirement heightens for more consistent records of actions that occurred and policy enforcement where actions are checked against defined rules prior to execution.

Equally as important, organizations need to have the internal muscle memory to explain automated decisions to stakeholders outside the engineering team, because they've been doing versions of this for years in compliance and risk functions.

When this approach is foundational for enterprises, AI systems become genuinely useful. AI models built upon strong data and governance standards can meaningfully screen actions against known risks before settlement, flag patterns that humans may have missed, and maintain updated records that can be shared across key stakeholder groups. Devoid of this foundation, fragmented data and ungoverned systems compound – resulting in faster mistakes.

Enthusiasm around AI systems centers on the deployment side of the equation, without asking whether the underlying infrastructure can support what's being layered on top of it. This approach is suboptimal and leaves an open door for breaches – akin to installing an alarm system in a building without putting locks on the doors.

Embedding infrastructural policy enforcement, audit trails, and human-reviewable records does bring an additional layer prior to deployment. And in a domain where nefarious actors operate free of this operational layer, it's fair to ask whether enterprise security teams are creating a permanent speed disadvantage for themselves.

However, that mindset misses what the added operational layer actually delivers: the difference between an AI system that fails safely and one that fails silently.

Enterprise security teams who operate slower but can consistently and proactively identify and reverse bad decisions are in a fundamentally different position than enterprises who operate quickly and discover a failure three weeks post-incident. The tradeoff is real, but it’s the wrong tradeoff to optimize away.

Trust Beyond The Engineering Teams

A common misconception is that security decisions are made for and by security teams. That’s not the case. Security decisions made by automated systems need to satisfy stakeholders far outside of this workstream – including regulators, insurers, customers, even boards.

Those stakeholders aren’t moved by sophistication. They care whether the organization can clearly and consistently demonstrate what the system did and why. Organizations without that operational layer find that AI adoption increases their potential risk exposure, because they're now making faster decisions with insufficient guardrails.

As AI systems continue to increasingly exhibit autonomous behaviors, the stakes continue to change. An AI system that can initiate payments, approve transactions, or move funds independently doesn't just need a policy to follow – it needs brakes to press in the event of a bad decision.

Without this layer embedded, enterprise security teams not only carry the accountability problem – they also have no chance of catching a mistake before it becomes permanent.

The Readiness Gap

Readiness requires the proper sequencing. Before scaling AI operations, it’s critical to make an honest assessment of three things: whether underlying data across systems are structured, whether there are firm policy checks in place, and whether verifiable records of automated decisions can be produced on-demand.

Starting here positions AI to become a force multiplier for security teams. These three elements make all the difference between catching what humans miss and doing it fast enough to matter – or simply adding velocity to a faulty process.

The “AI race” will not be won by having the newest models. Really, it’s about devoting effort to the unglamorous work – building the data infrastructure and governance systems that make AI models trustworthy.

We've reviewed, rated, and ranked the best firewall software.

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

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Latest Garmin rumors point to details on the Garmin Fenix 9
• We could get three sizes
• And MIP solar technology may not be dead yet

The Garmin Fenix 9 range is likely to be arriving soon. The rumor mill, fuelled by comments made by CEO Cliff Pemble on Garmin's quarterly earnings call earlier this year, suggest this is going to be the case. But plenty of Garmin fans were wondering how the Fenix 9 line would look.

The Garmin Fenix 8 line came in three sizes (43mm, 47mm and 51mm), and two screen options: a standard bright AMOLED screen of the sort you see on many smartwatches, and a duller memory-in-pixel (MIP) varient with solar charging. The MIP displays used to be used on all of the best Garmin watches as it was more battery-efficient, but these days it's almost entirely used for models that use Garmin's Power Glass solar charging tech, which uses a solar panel behind the display to suck up lumens and extend the watch's battery life in bright conditions.

It's likely that once Garmin figures out how to do the same with its AMOLED watches, MIP screens will bite the dust permanently, which is a shame. There are lots of fans of the lower-power screen tech, as this poll suggests.

A year after the already-premium Garmin Fenix 8 line entered the fray, we got the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, a model which came in two sizes (47mm and 51mm) with InReach messaging connectivity using Garmin's satellite communication network, LTE which uses a standard internet connection, and on some models an even brighter MicroLED screen.

So, where does that leave the upcoming Fenix 9?

Three sizes, two Pros, two MIP displays

(Image credit: Craig Hale)

According to Garmin Rumors, the Garmin Fenix 9 will arrive in three sizes like its predecessor, and in three different models; the base version, the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro (with the release not being staggered like the Fenix 8/Pro) and the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro InReach.

This time, all three models are said to be arriving in all three sizes, so those with smaller wrists are still getting the Pro experience. The Fenix 9 Pro InReach is obviously getting access to Garmin's satellite network for off-the-grid messaging, but GarminRumors is not sure what upgrades the Pro will sport over the base model. Apart from one.

Both the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Pro InReach are said to be getting Solar models, which means the MIP screen would be back for another generation — but the standard Garmin Fenix 9 will remain an AMOLED watch. This would be the first time a standard Garmin Fenix won't get an MIP model, but it does make sense if Garmin is now reserving its solar charging for its premium Pro models.

If true, it's a shame. The MIP display isn't just a vehicle for solar charging: its lower-power technology is reminiscent of a digital watch, and as well as being more battery efficient, it's a way for Garmin users to distinguish their training tools from other, say, Apple and Samsung smartwatches. There's also no info on the Garmin Enduro 4.

We'll have more details on the Fenix 9 range as we get closer to its likely launch date. Stay tuned!

• Microsoft is eating humble pie over its unrealistic RAM recommendations
• It has deleted articles that pushed 32GB as an ideal or 'no-worries' loadout
• Apple is also feeling the heat in the RAM crisis, with rumors that it's struggling to secure an alternative source of memory supply from China

There are some fresh twists with the RAM crisis hitting some big tech companies, as Microsoft has backtracked on its previous memory recommendations, and even Apple is apparently finding it difficult to cope with the scarcity of memory.

Let's discuss Microsoft first, and as Windows Latest pointed out, the company has been busy backpedalling on previous memory recommendations now that the RAM crisis – which just keeps getting worse – has made those suggestions look foolish.

Microsoft previously had support documents in its Windows Learning Center which have now been removed, and Windows Latest highlights two of them. One was about optimizing your gaming PC, and it advised that "32GB is ideal for serious players who run the most demanding titles" (albeit the article also said 16GB was "plenty" for most games).

Another piece said that 32GB of RAM was the "no-worries zone", and that article was also quietly deleted as there was some backlash against this, given that it was published when the price of system memory had become ridiculous. (And buying a 32GB kit was very much a worry for your wallet).

The links to those articles now redirect to the home page of the Learning Center, and Microsoft is evidently trying to forget about pushing 32GB of RAM as an 'ideal' or 'worry-free' target for memory on your PC.

More broadly, since Copilot+ PCs were launched and the AI features for these devices made them require 16GB, Microsoft has obviously been keen to have that as a baseline memory configuration. Except now, a change of stance is necessary, as with the RAM crisis reaching alarming new heights, Microsoft has been forced to enact huge price hikes with its Surface devices.

And of course, the latest twist with that Surface hardware is that Microsoft has brought back 8GB models with last year's Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Which makes it kind of difficult to push 16GB as a minimum, let alone make suggestions that 32GB is where it's really at for properly smooth performance.

The abandonment of these Learning Center articles is hardly surprising, then, and Microsoft is also addressing how speedily Windows 11 runs with 8GB of memory (not quickly enough currently). One of its promises with fixing the OS was better performance with a leaner RAM loadout, and Microsoft just made it clear that the company is now actively working to make Windows 11 run better with 8GB before the end of the year.

This has become a vital goal, really, when you consider that Apple has pulled off a commendable showing of performance with its MacBook Neo that packs 8GB of RAM. That was effectively a gauntlet thrown down for Microsoft – something of a declaration that macOS is coming to try to take Windows 11's market share – and one that the Windows maker had to respond to (which became clear enough when Microsoft went on the attack against the Neo).

Apple turnover: China play rumored to end in a fumble

(Image credit: Future)

Speaking of Apple, Microsoft isn't the only tech giant being buffeted by the rising costs caused by the RAM storm. While it has had a big success with the Neo, the challenge for Tim Cook's firm – soon to be John Ternus's, of course – is to maintain that momentum, and by all accounts, that's proving a tricky task.

Recent Mac price hikes have caused a good deal of pain – taking some of the wind out of the good ship Neo's sails – and Apple is trying to secure its RAM supply lines for the future, with rumors abounding that it's turning to Chinese chip makers to find extra production capacity.

The latest speculation, however, is that according to a report from Digital Daily (a Korean tech site, via Wccftech), Apple has floundered in negotiations with Chinese memory giant CXMT.

Apparently CXMT has strong enough domestic demand that it doesn't have to offer more attractive pricing to Apple. Essentially, CXMT is holding the line and has "insisted on prices that were higher or similar to those offered by Samsung or SK Hynix" (bear in mind there may be nuances lost with the translation of the article).

You get the message, though: Apple is failing to obtain better deals on mobile DRAM, which includes LPDDR5X, for its iPhones (and that RAM is also used in its MacBooks, of course). And CXMT was supposed to be an escape route from the difficulties of getting enough RAM inventory from Samsung and SK Hynix (and also Micron, a key supplier for Apple), but it seems like a dead-end for now.

At least if this report is correct, but analyst Tim Culpan has also written a short post which backs up the notion that Apple is in trouble here. Culpan writes: "Apple and its suppliers are scrambling to get enough memory chips for its upcoming release of new iPhone models."

'Scrambling' is a word that evokes quite a sense of panic, and indeed with the iPhone 18 models – and the foldable offering – not much more than a month away from launch now (in theory), I'd bet there are some heated words flying here and there. Culpan notes: "Assemblers are working with Apple to rush shipments of DRAM used in mobile devices."

That report is specifically about smartphones, mind, but this same situation applies to mobile RAM that's also used in MacBooks.

The overall theme is more RAM misery all round, which is hardly a surprise given all the negative news we've been hearing on the grapevine of late. GPU pricing has been the latest round of doom and gloom over the past week or two, and I don't think the pessimistic news is going to stop flowing for the foreseeable.

It's not bad news for everyone, though. A source in the semiconductor industry told Digital Daily that: "With the general-purpose DRAM floor remaining unbroken and Samsung and SK Hynix monopolizing the lead in high-value AI memory such as HBM4, the operating profit margins and global market control of the domestic semiconductor sector are expected to rise even more steeply in the second half of the year."

So, it's a familiar story: profits will be on the up and up for memory makers, while consumers will be suffering the pain of the hikes. Apple's purported rush for RAM supplies as the clock runs down on the iPhone launch window is a particularly worrying sounding story, one that doesn't bode well in terms of avoiding more Mac (and iPhone) price rises in the future. Neither can we rule out more Surface price rises, or other laptops for that matter.

Despite Apple promising price increases across its devices, I've found a welcome discount on the MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5) for $1848 (was $2000) at Amazon.

Given soaring prices, that's a very welcome discount on one of the most capable laptops Apple currently sells, and it's packing 16GB RAM for smoother workflows, and 1TB SSD storage capacity. In the UK, the same MacBook configuration is now £1805 (was £1999) at Amazon.

For creators, students, and business professionals, it's a great laptop in my opinion. It's powerful, versatile, and boasts an outstanding battery life for when you're working and studying on the move.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 if...

You want serious, sustained performance for office tasks, creative work, coding, or AI-assisted workflows in a laptop that doesn't need to be plugged in to deliver it.

❌ Skip the MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 if...

You're already on an M4 or M3 MacBook Pro — our review found this a fairly small generational upgrade outside of AI-focused tasks — or if you specifically need Wi-Fi 7, which isn't included on this model.

Apple M5 | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD

Apple's M5 chip (10-core CPU, 10-core GPU) paired with 16GB of unified memory and a 1TB SSD, in a 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with up to 24-hour battery life. Space Black finish.

In the UK: now £1805 (was £1999)View Deal

Why we recommend it

In our full review of the M5 MacBook Pro line-up, we found it "one of the best displays on a laptop," and praised its battery life and sustained performance even when running unplugged. In our web browsing test, it lasted a massive 18 hours before needing a recharge.

The base M5 chip in this configuration posted class-leading single-core benchmark scores in our in-house testing, ahead of every other laptop chip we've tested to date.

Despite not seeing a major overhaul in design, it remains an awesome workstation laptop, with a gorgeous style that's slim, lightweight, with a superb build quality that feels good in the hand.

Combined with the faster SSD Apple built into this generation — roughly double the transfer speeds of the outgoing M4 model in our testing — this configuration holds up well for genuinely heavy day-to-day work, not just light productivity tasks.

Price Context & Historical Value

Apple's own list price for this exact configuration is $1,999, and it doesn't move much at retail outside of sales events. Although the lowest price Amazon had it was $1499, that was in May, before Apple confirmed price hikes across its range of devices.

The current sale price is about what I'd expect, with Best Buy similarly discounting the 16GB/1TB MacBook Pro to $1849 (was $1999). At B&H Photo, it's selling for $1949. In the UK, both Argos and Currys have it priced at £1999.

For more savings, we track the best business laptop deals every week.

The Catch: What to know before you buy

Our review flagged that this generation sticks with Thunderbolt 4 rather than the faster Thunderbolt 5 found on the M5 Pro and M5 Max models, and there's no Wi-Fi 7 support here either.

The design is also unchanged from last year's M4 model, so if you're after a visual refresh, you won't find one. None of that changes the core experience much, but it's worth knowing if either spec matters for your setup.

For creative professionals, I'd recommend the 24GB MacBook Pro, currently $2045 (was $2199) at Amazon. It's a meaningful step up for anyone regularly juggling large Photoshop files, big Xcode builds, or multiple demanding apps at once, without pushing you all the way into M5 Pro pricing territory.

• See all MacBook deals at Amazon.

• runZero disclosed 12+ new flaws in BMCs from HPE, Supermicro, Dell, Lenovo, Huawei, and others at Black Hat
• Scans found 86k internet‑exposed BMCs and 120k internal devices
• Researchers warn BMCs form a widespread, under‑patched parallel attack surface

Security researchers have discovered more than a dozen new vulnerabilities in Baseboard management controllers (BMC), hardware components found in thousands of the world’s most popular enterprise servers.

BMCs are specialized chips built into servers that allow administrators to remotely monitor and manage hardware regardless of the operating system, and even when the hardware is turned off. They provide out-of-band management capabilities such as remote console access, firmware updates, hardware health monitoring, and power control, and have been a pivotal component since their introduction in the late 1990s.

Earlier this week, during the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, security expert HD Moore of runZero disclosed finding more than a dozen flaws in BMCs sold by HPE, Supermicro, Avocent, Huawei, Lenovo, Dell, and others - and to make matters worse, some of the flaws disclosed in the past remain active even today.

Parallel attack surface

“The end result is a pervasive, under-monitored, under-patched parallel attack surface that is both Internet-exposed and widespread inside corporate networks, and is much more exploitable than many folks realize,” Moore told the publication.

To assess the associated risks, Moore ran two scans - one looking at internet-connected BMCs in general, and another internally surveying devices in corporate networks. The first one found 86,000 exposed BMCs, more than half of which (54%) carried at least one of the flaws he found.

The internal scan, counting more than 120,000 BMCs, found almost a third (29%) carrying at least one critical vulnerability.

Details about the flaws will remain under lock and key until the manufacturers address them, Moore explained, saying that many of them cannot be exploited without prior authentication. However, for many (well-equipped) threat actors, that often isn’t a problem, since a number of smaller pre-authentication flaws exist as well, which could be abused.

Via Ars Technica

• Rockstar Games has announced the Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look
• It will premiere on Netflix on August 27 and later launch on YouTube
• The extended look could finally reveal gameplay

Rockstar Games has announced that a special extended look at Grand Theft Auto 6 will premiere on Netflix later this month.

There are four months to go until the biggest game launch of all time, and seemingly out of nowhere, Rockstar has revealed that the 'Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look' will be released on August 27, amid Gamescom 2026.

While there are no details to confirm what exactly this extended look entails, we know it will premiere on Netflix at 3PM ET / 12PM PT / 8PM BST and later launch on the studio's YouTube channel at 9PM ET / 6PM PT / 2AM BST.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting Trailer 3, so the premiere may finally showcase just that, or the much-anticipated gameplay deep dive. However, given that it's releasing on Netflix, the event seems like a big deal and could suggest a documentary-style video.

I imagine it could be similar to a behind-the-scenes developer film, something reminiscent of Naughty Dog's Grounded documentaries for The Last of Us and The Last of Part 2, which will ramp up the game's marketing phase.

Rockstar also hasn't confirmed the duration of the extended look, so we'll have to wait and see what's in store.

The announcement also came with brand new GTA 6 artwork, showing off the game's co-protagonists, Lucia and Jason, wearing balaclavas in front of a gas station.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Series S.

This MSI portable monitor is one of the best we've tested. It's a simple way to add a second screen to your workflow without breaking the bank - especially now the MSI Pro MP165 E6 is down to $70 (was $95) at Amazon.

Earning four stars in our review, it proved an invaluable second display for business professionals who need to add more screen real-estate while traveling or working in small spaces.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the MSI Pro MP165 E6 if...

You want a cheap, lightweight second screen for travel, presentations, or a desktop you occasionally need more space on. The built-in kickstand, VESA mounting points, and tripod socket give you more ways to position it than most budget portable monitors offer.

❌ Skip the MSI Pro MP165 E6 if...

You need a display for color-critical photo or video work — our review found the color coverage mediocre and brightness capped at 250 nits. While not a deal-breaker for us at this price, if you specifically want a portable monitor with its own battery, skip this since it has to stay plugged in.

A 15.6-inch Full HD IPS panel running at 60Hz, with two USB-C ports (DisplayPort Alt Mode and Power Delivery) and a Mini-HDMI input, built-in speakers, and an integrated aluminum kickstand. VESA mounting points and a tripod socket are included, along with 90-degree cables in the box.View Deal

Why we recommend it

In our full 4-star review, we called it "a super-light, hyper-functional portable display that is great to have as an extra display for all of your tech." We found it well suited to business professionals who need extra screen real estate without adding much bulk to a bag, and especially liked the wallet-friendly price.

What stands out here is how many mounting options MSI built in for a monitor at this price. The VESA points and tripod socket mean it works as a wall-mounted second display, a tripod-mounted screen for demos or content recording, or just a laptop companion propped up on its own kickstand — most budget portable monitors we see only really support the last of those.

For more top picks, we've rounded up the best portable monitors to go through our testing process.

Price Context & Historical Value

MSI lists the MP165 E6 at $89.99, with Amazon and other retailers typically pricing it closer to $94.99–$95. We've featured this exact monitor in a previous deal at $64.99 during this year's summer sale at Amazon. The lowest ever price we've seen it was $62. So, while it's not quite as cheap as it was over Prime Day, it's still a very good discount.

The Catch: What to know before you buy

Our review flagged mediocre color coverage and a brightness ceiling of 250 nits, so this isn't the monitor to reach for if you're editing photos or video.

Like most monitors we test at this price, there's also no internal battery. That means it needs to stay powered via USB-C whenever it's in use, and the built-in stand, while functional, isn't going to feel especially premium.

For a basic second screen for business users or even gamers, none of that gets in the way in our view.

• See all monitor deals at Amazon.

• Bose has just unveiled second-generation QuietComfort Headphones
• Introduces two-way USB-C audio, better ANC, Bose Immersive Audio and more
• Costs less than 2023 model, brings not one but two Shrek-y color options

It's been three long years since the Bose QuietComfort Headphones arrived (which were themselves an update on the iconic Bose QuietComfort 35 II, initially released way back in 2017).

And now, the brand has finally updated the series as its more affordable option to the flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen).

These are, as naming experts can probably guess, called the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen). They bring a range of upgrades over the original pair and, most importantly, a lower price. That's right: 2026, aka the year of price hikes, has just thrown us a bone — although only in the UK.

We know the Bose QC Headphones (2nd Gen) will cost $359 / £299 / AU$549.95. For context, the first-gen model cost $349 / £349.95 / AU$549.95, so the discount in the UK is pretty significant. There is, however, a $10 increase in the US, while in Australian they launch at the same price.

The new headphones will go on sale on August 13, and we'll start testing them soon to see how they stack up in a congested market. The thing is, this aesthetic is highly desirable: when I take public transport I see countless pairs of the older model, despite their relative age.

Anyway, let's look at some key upgrades!

What's new in Gen 2

(Image credit: Bose)

By the sounds of things, the new Bose cans match their predecessors in terms of audio chops. The older siblings had a 40mm driver, though the company hasn't confirmed what size (and type) of driver the 2nd Gen set are packing.

However, there's now Bose Immersive Audio, a feature previously exclusive to the Ultra lineup, which offers some useful presets. One, which Bose highlights, is a Cinema Mode that aims to create a wide soundstage and boost dialogue.

There's now also support for USB-C wired audio, so you can listen to lossless audio from your phone, and boosts to the ANC. Given that the 'Quiet' part of 'QuietComfort' is a pledge of noise cancellation prowess and the fact that Bose essentially wrote the book on ANC, it's good to hear (or, more appropriately, not hear).

Bose has made a few design tweaks on the QCH(2G) too, with comfier cushions and more ovular earcups. The brand also says the sliders are smoother to use, and presumably that refers to the headband sliders or small Bluetooth slider on the top plate of the right ear cup, because the first-gen model didn't have any kind of on-ear volume slider.

And, because you read it in the headline, there's one more change we should discuss. Beyond black and white color options, three limited-edition models are being unveiled. Rosewood Mauve is a bold purplish option — see our glowing Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) review for reference — while Eucalyptus Green, pictured in the main image, will make you look like you're wearing Shrek ears. The third is Dewdrop Mint, with a two-tone pale and dark green. To my eyes this particular finish looks like the hue a pair of kids' headphones would come in.

I imagine that most people might prefer to pick up the black or white models, but Shrek fans out there might differ.

Adobe’s plugins add over 70 new photo, video and document editing capabilities inside ChatGPT.

• Hisense TVs with Google TV or VIDAA OS are getting Dolby Vision 2 first — the first models are 2026 TVs including the UX, UR9, UR8 and U7
• The update will roll out soon to customers in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific
• Peacock is the big initial streamer to support it in the US, with and Chinese giant iQIYI is now also on board

Dolby Vision 2, the next generation of the advanced HDR format, is arriving on multiple TVs today — and it's rolling out to more models in the coming weeks.

Hisense is rolling out a firmware update from today for customers in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific countries — and Chinese streaming giant iQIYI is confirmed to be on board as supporting the format, in addition to US streamer Peacock.

In addition to adding compatibility for features unique to Dolby Vision 2, the upgrade to DV2 means that existing Dolby Vision titles will also look better on these TVs, thanks to upgrades in the core image processing engine.

Dolby says that everything produced for first-generation format "will look more captivating and authentic, offering a significant and immediate improvement".

Which Hisense TVs are getting the Dolby Vision 2 upgrade?

The initial rollout is to 2026 Hisense TVs running either Google TV or VIDAA OS, and the first models will be these, which will all get Dolby Vision 2 Max:

• Hisense UX
• Hisense UR9
• Hisense UR8
• Hisense U7 (US)
• Hisense U7 Pro (Europe and other regions)

Exactly which other TVs will get it remains to be announced. It's a little complicated, because support requires a particular chip (the MediaTek Pentonic 800) in the TV, but Dolby told TechRadar that there are more chips coming that can support it, and that the Pentonic 800 is being rolled out more widely than it was previously.

It's also been confirmed that some TCL and European Philips TVs will get Dolby Vision 2 later this year, but there's no exact schedule for that yet.

(Image credit: Future)

Media that fully uses Dolby Vision 2's enhanced tools will be able to take advantage of features including Content Intelligence, which enables creators to embed precise instructions in each scene to dynamically adjust the picture, and an intensity slider to customize the Dolby Vision 2 experience to suit your room and personal preferences.

In addition to the standard improvements, Dolby Vision 2 Max can also leverage the processing power of more premium TVs with two key features: Authentic Motion, which delivers cinematic visuals while reducing unwanted judder and "soap opera" effects, which can result from excessive motion smoothing; and Light Sense 2, which can more intelligently optimize picture quality based on the lighting environment so you can see the dark bits when you're in a brightly lit room.

Dolby Vision 2 will be arriving as a firmware upgrade from Hisense today, with the full rollout taking several weeks.

The announcement and rollout have clearly been planned for some time, which suggests that Samsung's announcement of Prime Video supporting its rival format, HDR10+ Advanced earlier this week was designed to steal Dolby's thunder.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

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Asus is one of the biggest players in the gaming hardware space, and its Republic of Gamers (or ROG for short) division is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The gaming behemoth is offering fans the chance to snag some limited-edition merchandise when making purchases at the Asus store.

ROG has been at the forefront of gaming hardware design and performance over the years, from maximising sheer gaming power to innovative design solutions and products including gaming laptops with dual displays.

With 20 years of experience in gaming under its belt, there’s never been a better time to dive into all that Asus ROG has to offer, while simultaneously snapping up these anniversary-tastic offers and exploring the ROG range to claim an exclusive anniversary gift.

And, much like ROG’s range of products always pushing the envelope when it comes to design or aesthetic, the current range you can explore to take advantage of these 20th Anniversary offers includes some of its biggest and most interesting beasts, all of which offer something slightly different.

The gaming beasts within the ROG range

ROG machine

What’s it got?

Who’s it for?

Zephyrus Duo

Two beautiful 16-inch OLED screens to boost your productivity

Gamers, creators, and streamers who demand total control

Strix SCAR 18

The beefiest specs, and an 18-inch 4K 240Hz screen for maximum immersion

Gamers looking for a desktop replacer

Flow Z13-KJP

Kojima-inspired collectible aesthetic and a 2-in-1 design

Content creators and portability prioritizers

Xbox Ally X

The power to play your games in your palms

Gamers who want to play wherever they want

Go big, and go dual-screen with the Zephyrus Duo

(Image credit: Asus)

The best way to go all out with your embracing of Asus’ gear right now is with its flagship ROG Zephyrus Duo machine, which will have you covered for almost any gaming or work task you can possibly think of, with its dual 16-inch 3K OLED touchscreens and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card under the hood.

If you’re a gaming power user, and someone who likes to dabble in streaming too then this will have you cvovered, it’s second screen perfectly placed to keep all your tools and shortcuts for both games and programs; alternatively, if you like your gaming station to be your workstation and have a lot of things to hand at once then a second display is only going to boost productgivty by housing tools, chat programs, and more.

Ditch the desktop with the ROG Strix SCAR 18

(Image credit: Asus)

Alternatively, if you’re looking for a desktop replacement, then the Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 is a big-screen beast that will immerse you in games and work with its 4K 240Hz ROG Nebula HDR Mini LED display and all the gaming chops you can ask for — and it’ll make everything look absolutely stunning.

Whichever way you cut the ROG Strix SCAR 18’s spec list, it has you covered no matter what you play. Sporting internal components of up to an RTX 5090 graphics card, a colossal 128GB of RAM, and up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX processor, this machine will ensure you are fully immersed in atmospheric single-player games and super competitive online shooters alike. Gamers of all stripes will not be let down here.

Embrace portability with the ROG Flow Z13-KJP

(Image credit: ASUS ROG)

Offering perhaps one of the coolest product options in the range, though, is the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP, which will give you the ability to go mobile and balance a limited-edition design with performance and portability.

The limited edition artwork on this model, in collaboration with Kojima Productions, makes this 2-in-1 machine an absolute beauty. That functionality and multi-use mean that the Flow Z13-KJP can be the perfect companion for on-the-go work tasks, gaming on the move, and even used for reading, sketching, and entertainment. It’s one of the coolest machines available, and you can be sure that the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, AMD Radeon 8060S graphics, and up to a whopping 128GB of memory mean it won’t let you down performance-wise.

Take your ROG machine anywhere with the Xbox Ally X

(Image credit: Xbox/Microsoft/ASUS)

Join the portable PC revolution by embracing the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, a superb way to play your PC and Xbox games on a wonderful seven-inch 120Hz display powered by an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor and boasting 24GB of RAM, and a wonderful combo of Windows 11 and the Xbox UI to ensure ease of use.

This device epitomises the innovation at the core of Asus ROG products, and demonstrates what PC gaming can be in the year 2026. The Full HD 120Hz screen with FreeSync Premium combines beautifully with the specs above and ensures you can have a brilliant PC gaming experience in your hands wherever you are — while also allowing the flexibility to plug into a larger display for bigger screen gaming.

An anniversary to remember — with free gifts!

(Image credit: Asus)

Running until August 31, 2026, these offers cover a host of products and get increasingly excellent depending on how big you go with your order. In terms of the actual 20th Anniversary bonuses you can get by embracing one of these ROG products, there are a few excellent options available to you.

If you’ve been eyeing up a move into the world of handheld gaming by going for an Asus ROG Xbox Ally, then you’ll get a Premium Case or ROG Omni Hang Pal or Omni Figure and t-shirt.

For those who have saved up and are looking to make a big investment, then you’re in for a treat too, as there are a few levels of bonuses depending on what you spend at the Asus store:

• Shoppers who spend up to £1,000 to £3,999 will get a ROG 20th Anniversary football and T-Shirt*
• Spend between £3,999 and £5,000, and you’ll pick up a limited edition ROG 20th Anniversary VIP Collector's Kit, Football, and T-Shirt*
• Go big and spend over £5,000 and you’ll bag a ROG 20th Anniversary Hard Case Luggage set, a limited edition ROG 20th Anniversary VIP Collector's Kit and an ROG 20th Anniversary Football*

But it’s worth noting that ROG 20th Anniversary Gifts are only included when ordering an ROG XBOX Ally or an ROG laptop, as indicated by the asterisk above, and qualifying spend thresholds need to be met by an individual product, not the cumulative order total. Naturally, free gifts are subject to availability, and there are only 10 of the ROG luggage sets and 10 of the VIP Collector's Kits available, and they will be sent until all 10 have been claimed. All eligible gifts will be shipped together with your order, except for the football, which will be sent during August 2026.

If you’re an Asus member, you can receive an additional £50 off eligible ROG laptops using code ROGMEMBER50 at checkout.

Make sure to check out the full promotional terms on the Asus store website, of course, just to make sure you can maximise your goodies, and browse all the awesome gear to make sure you pick the best machine for you.

Ask Maps has also expanded to a number of new countries.

• A user on Reddit shared a solution to stop AirPods from slipping out of your ears
• They switched to liquid silicone tips instead of Apple's standard silicone ones
• The user claims these have solved the slipping issue, and they fit just as well as foam tips

We’ve tested pretty much all the best earbuds out there, and the AirPods Pro lineup always lands in our list of top models — but keeping them tucked securely in your ears can be a bit of a challenge during activities that involve a lot of movement.

If you find that your AirPods Pro slip out while running, or even walking and chewing, you’re not in the minority. Turns out, there’s a whole community of AirPod users out there who are running into the same issues.

I switched from earbuds to using some of the best headphones a while back, but when I had my old AirPods I endured the same frustrations of having to push them back into my ear every now and then. It’s quite annoying, especially if you use AirPods Pro for exercising — but one user has found a fix.

Liquid silicone is the solution (apparently)

In a post on Reddit (see below), u/LatissimusDorsi26 shared that they decided to ditch their Apple-made ear tips for cheap liquid silicone replacements they bought from Amazon (they said it cost them $5 for 4 pairs in XS, S, M, and L). They said the tips ‘permanently’ solved the problem for them and their AirPods Pro 2.

Finaly fixed Airpods slipping out of my ears from r/airpods

Yes, AirPods Pro come with silicone ear tips out of the box, but they’re not 'liquid silicone', which is what the author of the Reddit post believes makes the difference, detailing the replacement tips’ "sticky/ tacky finish on their surface which makes them stick to your ear canal".

I know what you might be thinking: won't your AirPods then be too big to fit in the charging case?. I thought that too, but according to the poster, they fit just as perfectly as they would with standard Apple earbud tips, and you won’t need to remove the tips for charging.

Since sharing this, fellow AirPods owners flocked to the replies, and it's sparked a deeper conversation about silicone vs foam tips for earbuds.

Though silicone tips are pretty much the go-to for a lot of earbud brands, and not just Apple — the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 4 also have silicone tips — a lot of users choose to upgrade to foam replacements from brands such as Comply. There are many reasons for this.

(Image credit: Future)

In short, foam tips can provide a grip that’s a lot more snug, and are arguably better for locking in audio and preserving noise cancellation. That said, foam replacements are expensive alternatives and don’t have the same durability as silicone — one user in the replies highlighted that Comply foam tips are the best part of $25 for three pairs, while another said that they still keep slipping out.

That’s not to say silicone tips don’t have their setbacks. By standards, some versions don’t fit quite as tight as foam ones, and transparent ones as shown earlier don’t quite fit the clean-cut aesthetic of the AirPods themselves. But silicone wins on the durability front, and won’t need frequent replacing like foam tips.

Based on this Reddit poster’s hack, it appears that there is a way to solve the pain points on both sides after all. On the one hand the liquid silicone tips stick to the user’s ear canal, providing a secure fit, and are durable and affordable on the other — all from a mere $5 Amazon purchase.

• Gemini is soon set to replace Google Assistant on Android devices
• Android fans seem largely unhappy with this change
• They've highlighted five things they dislike about Gemini, the main one being that it's bad at carrying out simple tasks

Just over a decade after it launched, Google Assistant is now set to be shut down, with September 4 confirmed as the date it will no longer function on Android or Wear OS. Users will then need to switch over to Gemini if they want a replacement, and while Google probably sees this as an upgrade, many Android fans really don’t.

Over on Reddit, the comments are almost universally negative, with responses like “Gemini absolutely sucks,” “it's so bad,” and “I don't like how Gemini is being shoehorned into everything.”

Some users are going so far as to say they might stop buying Pixel or Android phones if they’re forced to use Gemini, with comments like “honestly I think it's time I de-Google,” “this will be my last Pixel. I don't do AI,” and “I may legitimately discontinue my use of phones that use Gemini if they shut down the Google Assistant. It's THAT obnoxiously bad.”

Of course, things might not be much better on iOS, given that Siri is also in the process of getting an AI overhaul, and the days of simpler services like the old Siri or Google Assistant are numbered, regardless of which phone you choose.

Five core complaints

(Image credit: Getty Images / SOPA Images)

But the anti-Gemini sentiments aren’t purely coming from people taking an ethical or ideological stance against AI — though that’s certainly a factor for some. The most common complaint is simply that it isn’t as good as Google Assistant at the things the latter excels at, like setting timers and turning on smart lights.

As Reddit user kohta-kun explained: “I asked it to set an alarm today at a specific time, it was to remind me that I was in 3-hour parking. Instead of setting the alarm it asked me why I wanted to, so then I had to do a second response where I explained that it was to remind myself that my three-hour parking ends. It then suggested it could set an alarm or timer to remind me, and asked me if I wanted to do that and for what time.

"It was one of the more bizarre casual interactions I've had. What normally was just done in one prompt turned into a useless, forced conversation, where I had to tell it what I wanted three times.” There are many other similar anecdotes too, of Gemini either failing to carry out a task or taking far too long to do so.

A third issue, tied into the above, is that users complain Gemini “lies” to them, claiming it’s done things it hasn’t, or that it can’t do things it obviously can.

And as one exasperated user noted, “it uses more battery, more data, and is worse in every way,” so that’s two more things that Android fans hate about it.

A few comments are slightly more positive about Gemini, but while they acknowledge its capabilities as an LLM, they still largely note that it’s simply not suited to the things Google Assistant excelled at.

So, it seems this isn’t a popular decision by Google, but with almost the whole tech world forcing AI into its products and services, it’s unlikely the company will change its mind.

A gaming laptop is a good investment if you're headed off to college but still want to play your library of games. For one, a gaming laptop is easily powerful enough to tackle any study duties on the side.

Annoyingly, finding a super-cheap gaming laptop is difficult these days due to RAM and other components being so expensive. Decent deals do exist, however, if you're willing to cast the net out further.

Just below, you can see the five best gaming laptop deals I've spotted this week, which mostly include options from Best Buy's excellent 'back to school sale' that's running right now.

By far and away, the best deal right now (in my opinion) is this Gigabyte Aero X16 for $1,329 (was $1,499) at Best Buy. This is a deal that harkens back to a time when you didn't have to pay extortionate amounts for a laptop with 32GB of RAM - and it's also got a really decent RTX 5070 graphics card to boot.

Another great choice for students is the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for $1,599 (was $2,299) at Best Buy. This is a machine that features a really lovely high-end design that's easily portable, as well as a 3K OLED display - which is perfect for both games and content. While pricey, this is a good option if you want a stylish MacBook-style laptop that can still handle all the latest games. You can read more about this deal, and others, just down below.

This week's best gaming laptops

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core i7-13620H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB

Getting a reasonably priced RTX 5060 gaming laptop is increasingly tricky these days, but there are still options out there for prospective students. This Gigabyte A16, for example, gets you everything you need for decent performance without completely breaking the bank. On board is an RTX 5060, Intel Core i7 chipset, and a spacious 1TB SSD. Annoyingly, you do only get 16GB of RAM, but that's almost to be expected these days... unfortunately.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core i7-14650HX
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB

Here's a really nice deal on an Asus F16 at Best Buy. The F16 is one of the brand's more affordable options, but it's a great buy for the money considering you get 32GB of RAM, an RTX 5060 graphics card, and a really decent 14th-gen Intel Core i7 chipset. Put these together, and you should get really respectable 1080p gaming performance here.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5070
Processor: AMD Ryzen Al 7 350
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB

This Gigabyte Aero X16 is a rare deal. Yes, it's a little pricey, but I can't recall seeing an RTX 5070 gaming laptop with 32GB of RAM for under $1,500 in the past few months. With a Ryzen 7 chipset and 1600p display, this Gigabyte is definitely one of the best value options if you're willing to spend a little more. You'll get great performance right out of the box here - and it should last a few years down the line, too. View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 270
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB

Looking for a lightweight laptop that can still provide excellent gaming performance? The Asus Zephyrus G14 is an outstanding candidate. At 14-inches, it's a little smaller than most gaming laptops, but it features a stunning high-end design and 120Hz OLED display. Even though this configuration only features an RTX 5060 graphics card and 16GB of RAM, it's a very versatile machine that's worth checking out if you want a do-it-all laptop for college.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core 7-240H
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB

It's always worth keeping an eye on the official Dell Store for deals on Alienware gaming laptops. Right now, my favorite listing is on this Alienware 15, which is the brand's new entry-level model. It's still a premium laptop, however, and this spec features an RTX 5060 graphics card, 32GB of RAM, and a decent Core 7 chipset, so it's certainly not lacking in terms of performance. View Deal

• Sony has reportedly started putting labels on PS5 boxes, informing buyers of its plan to end physical disc production
• The label allegedly features an "important notice" for consumers
• Sony's plan comes into effect in January 2028

Sony is reportedly notifying consumers of its decision to end physical disc production in less than two years, with new labels on PS5 consoles.

As VGC reports, X user and content creator Behind the Games posted a photo of what they claim is a new sticker on the back of a PS5 box that alerts buyers of its plan to end the production of game discs by January 2028.

"IMPORTANT NOTICE: From Jan. 2028, newly released games on PlayStation will be available for purchase on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital format only," the message allegedly reads. "Discs for games released before Jan. 2028 can continue to be played on this console."

Behind the Games added that the photo is not theirs but from a "trusted source," but it's important to mention that the label hasn't been verified just yet.

⚠️ Ya están empezando a llegar remesas de consolas PS5 a las tiendas con este mensaje en la caja:AVISO IMPORTANTE: A partir de enero de 2028, los nuevos lanzamientos de juegos para PlayStation estarán disponibles para su compra en PlayStation Store y a través de minoristas… pic.twitter.com/E7dpJSnFb2August 5, 2026

Sony shared its plan last month and received overwhelming backlash from PlayStation fans. Organizations like the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) have also condemned the plan, calling it "a triumph of corporate convenience over consumer choice."

After remaining silent against the pushback for weeks, Sony CFO Lin Tao addressed the situation during the company's Q1 2026 earnings announcement, confirming that it is "cautiously" moving forward with its decision (via IGN).

"There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that digitalisation of contents overall has been progressing, that’s the big factor. It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalisation is progressing," Tao said.

"And so, when we think about the future, we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this, and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward."

Garmin Cirqa: One minute review

(Image credit: Future)

I’ve spent a week with the Garmin Cirqa screenless fitness tracker, wearing it constantly during sleep, exercise and rest to determine how comfortable it is in everyday life, and measuring it against an electrical heart rate monitor and other wearables to determine accuracy.

After all my testing, I can confirm the Whoop and Google Fitbit Air have got serious competition. While some people will still want the AI-powered coaching from Whoop and Google Health, and others will want the screen-based interaction and notification features available on the best smartwatches, most users looking for a simple but high-quality screenless fitness tracker will be just fine getting the Cirqa.

If you’re reading this review wondering how it compares to the likes of the Whoop MG and the Google Fitbit Air, you’ll already know what to expect from the design: a fabric band that stretches over the fitness tracker’s plastic puck to create a solid-color screenless wearable. The idea is that you can use it for working out, sleeping, rest and work, get accurate metrics all day, and not glance at it all the time or be distracted by notifications on your wrist.

Where it differs is in the design specifics. It’s quite a large fitness tracker, sitting more obviously on the wrist compared to its rivals, and thus people with very small wrists might want to try it before they commit. However, I like the design overall, especially the inclusion of an actual button on the side of the device. This button is used to start a workout, signified by a strong vibration, and stop a workout, at which point it vibrates again. You can also use it to turn off its vibrating smart-wake alarm. It’s so much easier than tapping the Whoop’s puck, and provides certainty and security when tracking an activity, so you're not just hoping the device picks it up. It’s the perfect level of minimalist interaction for a tracker like this.

I generally found it accurate over my testing period, apart from a single outlier workout in which the heart rate sensor showed a 10BPM difference compared to my electrical heart rate monitor, the Polar H10 — my accuracy benchmark. The other workouts I recorded were within 1-2bpm of accuracy, and Garmin Connect correctly showed my wake-up times when recording sleep.

I found myself enjoying running more than I have in months by ‘vibe running’: ditching my watch with its pace and heart rate metrics updating me every kilometer and allowing the Cirqa to track in the background, leaving me to focus on my form, the trees, my music and my thoughts. It’s no good for specific training for timed runs, new courses, intervals and the like due to the lack of on-wrist information, but for wellness tracking, it works nicely.

It’s going to be a real boon for cyclists using Garmin’s Edge series of cycling computers. Many of the best Garmin watches double-up on the cycling computer's GPS features, so the Cirqa allows cyclists to add wellness metrics without a more expensive watch.

Watch our video review of the Garmin Cirqa here:Garmin Cirqa review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Garmin)

• $199.99 in the US
• £179.99 in the UK
• AU$299.99 in the AU

The Garmin Cirqa fitness tracker costs $199.99 in the US, £179.99 in the UK and AU$299.99 in Australia. There’s no subscription fee — at least, no mandatory one — but Garmin Coach features are locked behind the Garmin Connect+ paywall in the app, which costs an extra $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$120 annually. A bicep band for the Cirqa comes at an added extra too.

You can get along just fine without the subscription, if you don’t want the coaching features. Live heart rate broadcasting was also originally locked behind this paywall, but Garmin rolled that back after an outcry. The free tier of Connect is an excellent training aid, and isn’t as stripped-back as the free tier of the Google Health app you use with the Google Fitbit Air. However, the Cirqa is also twice the price of Fitbit, so this is reflected in the price, and Connect (being Garmin’s app for all its devices) lists some stats you don’t get access to via the Cirqa if you dig a little deeper, leading to some annoying friction moments.

However, for most people, it’s better value than Whoop, which requires an annual subscription starting at £169 / $199 / AU$299 and going up from there. With Whoop, you never actually own either the device or the data you collect, merely rent it. With two years of the cheapest Whoop subscription, you could also buy a cheap Garmin running watch like the Garmin Forerunner 165 as well as a Cirqa and alternate between the two of them for many years.

While serious athletes such as CrossFit and Hyrox enthusiasts will want Whoop’s vast swathes of unique metrics such as the Strain score and AI-powered workout building features, the Cirqa’s subscription-free tier is much more affordable and better value for most, despite the relatively high price of the tracker itself compared to some of Garmin's more feature-rich running watches.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Garmin Cirqa review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Choice of four colors
• Screenless form factor
• Tactile button

The Garmin Cirqa is a simple design. A fabric band with four color options — Mauve, French Grey, Captain Blue and Black — wraps around a plastic puck with Garmin’s Elevate V4 heart rate sensor array. The puck is slightly curved to mimic the wrist’s shape, and as previously mentioned, it includes a ridged button on the side to start and stop workouts.

The design is very simple, and the button is the only way to interact with the puck. It’s very comfortable to wear, weighing only 21g, and light enough and comfortable enough that I often forgot I was wearing it during the week. That made wearing it for sleep and exercise a frictionless experience, and the band is soft to the touch.

It’s quite large for a ‘discreet’ band due to the size of Garmin’s Elevate V4 sensor, but not uncomfortable — at least, for my wrists. Those with very thin wrists may struggle, but I was told the more up-to-date Elevate V5 sensor would have made the puck even bigger.

I’ve always been a fan of the Garmin Connect app, and its design is really comprehensive. It can be difficult to navigate at first due to the breadth of information on offer, meaning some stats and features get lost in the mix, but once you’re used to it, it’s easy to access a lot of detail along with community features such as challenges.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Garmin Cirqa review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• Deliberately hardware feature-light
• Plenty of detailed metrics
• Not as many as a full Garmin watch, or Whoop

There are very few interactive features on the Garmin Cirqa puck; you can start and stop workouts, or stop an alarm, but that’s more or less it. However, the information the Cirqa collects and shows you in the app aren't lacking in detail.

The Garmin Cirqa tracker collects data on sleep stages, heart rate variability (HRV), pulse ox and provides Garmin’s Training Readiness and Body Battery scores. Garmin’s Sleep Coach feature can recommend bedtimes and sleep length, letting you know if you’re in a sleep deficit, and smart wake alarm using the device’s haptic sensors buzzes on your wrist in a light sleep stage to wake you within a pre-prescribed window.

Automatic activity detection means the Cirqa quietly records activities lasting longer than 15 minutes, such as walks, which become more accurate if you amend the detected activities in the Garmin Connect app, including extending or trimming the duration. Alternatively, you can simply press the button to start a timed activity, and again amend in-app.

While you won’t get advanced running features like many Garmin watches, such as cadence, stride length, Hill Score (based on elevation) and so on, you still get generic training information like heart rate, VO2 Max and Training Load, which can help you tell you if you’re under or overtraining. Garmin also carries features like Fitness Age, which uses heart rate and activity data to tell you how well your body performs compared to its actual age. Whoop has a similar feature named Whoop Age — another example of the Cirqa eating Whoop’s lunch here.

You get quite a lot for your money. There's a small value issue, though: it’s not packing quite as many features as the premium Whoop subscriptions, nor a watch like the Garmin Forerunner 165, which gets you all of the above plus dedicated GPS, running and notification features for the same price. But it also comes with a screen, which you might not want. The Cirqa avoids bloat, prioritising the fitness and recovery metrics users want to see and eliminating the interactive features that screenless wearables fans don't want at all.

As well as the Garmin Coach features, AI-powered photograph-based nutrition tracking and AI-generated training insights are also available as part of Garmin’s premium Connect+ tier.

• Features score: 4/5

Garmin Cirqa review: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Accurate workout metrics, aside from one outlying workout
• Sleep tracking was competent
• Comfy and easy to wear

I tested the Garmin Cirqa for around nine days, performing several workouts compared against a Polar H10 heart rate monitor, tracking my sleep, and draining the battery. If you’re working out three to four times a week and enabling auto-detection for walks and other activities, it lasts a solid week between charges — I topped mine up on day seven of testing.

It recorded my sleep well and correctly identified wake-up times in the middle of the night and in the early hours of the morning. If I slept well or went to bed early, the Cirqa correctly identified this and the numbers matched my energy levels and perceived sleep quality. If I got up in the middle of the night (which I often do several nights out of the week), the Cirqa clocked it. Its sleep stages graph is easy to parse, while Sleep Score and HRV are sortable by the last week, month or year to show trends.

When it comes to measuring workout accuracy, while there’s no GPS to draw from other than piggybacking off my phone, the Cirqa closely matched my Polar H10 heart rate monitor during workouts. There was one instance in which it was an average of 10bpm off during a 40-minute strength session in the gym, but other workouts cleaved very closely to the HRM, within 2-3bpm accuracy (as you can see below). My guess is that if that particular workout was longer, the readings would have evened out.

Like other Garmin devices using the Elevate V4, the Cirqa is generally accurate enough for anyone who doesn’t need elite-level metrics, at which point they’d be using a heart rate monitor or Garmin’s Elevate V5. But even record-breaker Sebastian Sawe was spotted using a Garmin Forerunner 55, which uses a V4, during his sub-two hour London Marathon run.

I can’t overstate how nice the Cirqa is to wear. I found it a better daily driver than the Whoop band, despite its size, largely due to the Whoop’s often-detaching clasp. The tactile button gave me a sense of certainty in my recording, and I didn’t have to open the app to manually start a workout like the Google Fitbit Air if I wanted to be accurate. The haptics are nice and strong too.

Polar H10 electrical heart rate monitor readingFutureGarmin Cirqa readingFuture

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Garmin Cirqa review: Scorecard

Category

Comment

Score

Value

Sits comfortably between the super-cheap Fitbit Air and the recurring-sub Whoop.

4/5

Design

Thoughtfully designed, albeit a little large for some.

4.5/5

Features

Enough to keep you focused while avoiding unnecessary feature bloat.

4/5

Performance

Accurate and comfortable to wear with great battery life.

4.5/5

Garmin Cirqa review: Should I buy?

(Image credit: Future)Buy it if…

You’re an existing Garmin user
Don’t want to wear a chunky Garmin watch constantly, or do you use a Garmin Edge? This is the perfect way to track wellness and fitness discreetly and remain in the Garmin ecosystem.

You’re after holistic metrics
Readiness, recovery, and basic workout stats are enough for most people. This does the job without getting in the way.

You want to own your device
Although the product is great, Whoop’s membership model means the device reverts to an inert hunk of plastic if you stop subscribing. Buying the Cirqa at least means you own your tracker, improving it as a value proposition.

Don’t buy it if…

You need a screen
Want updates during your workout? Just get a running watch instead.

You’re on a tight budget
If you’re not invested in the Garmin ecosystem or you’re looking for something cheaper, you might be persuaded by the Fitbit Air or Amazfit Helio Strap.

Money is no object
For those who don’t mind paying annually in perpetuity, Whoop is a more tightly-engineered product from a software standpoint, tracking a wider variety of metrics.

Also consider

Google Fitbit Air

The screenless Fitbit weighs just 5g and tracks the basics, with an intelligent do-it-all AI chatbot tier.

Read our full Google Fitbit Air review

Amazfit Helio Strap

We called it 'a terrific value, generally very accurate fitness tracker with great battery life and no subscription required'.

Read our full Amazfit Helio Strap review

How I tested

I tested the Garmin Cirqa for over one week, draining the battery down and wearing it constantly during sleep, work, exercise and rest. I undertook multiple workouts, comparing them to a Polar H10 electrical heart rate monitor for accuracy, and compared its featureset to its peers in the screenless fitness tracker market.

First reviewed: August 2026

The ThinkPad P16 is one of our favorite mobile workstations, and our top pick for engineering students and professionals running graphics-heavy workloads. And the current deal here is unmissable, with the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 3 now $4649 (was $7179) at Lenovo.

That's a massive $2530 discount on a workstation for engineers, architects, designers, developers, and content creators who need desktop-class performance wherever they work.

Powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX processor, Nvidia RTX PRO 3000 Blackwell graphics with 12GB of GDDR7 memory, 64GB of DDR5 RAM, and a lightning-fast 2TB PCIe Gen5 SSD, it's built to tackle demanding workloads including CAD, 3D rendering, AI development, and complex data analysis.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 3 if...

You need uncompromising performance for demanding professional workloads. The combination of RTX PRO graphics, 64GB of memory, and a high-performance Gen5 SSD makes it ideal for the most intensive tasks.

The color-accurate display, enterprise security, and legendary ThinkPad reliability also make it an excellent investment for professionals who rely on their laptop every day.

❌ Skip the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 3 if...

Your workload revolves around web browsing, office documents, streaming, or light photo editing. This workstation is designed for demanding professional applications, so you'll pay for performance that many users simply won't need.

It's also larger and heavier than a typical productivity laptop, making portability less of a priority than raw computing power.

Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX | 64GB DDR5 | 2TB SSD

This laptop features an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, Nvidia RTX PRO 3000 Blackwell graphics, 64GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB PCIe Gen5 SSD, 16-inch 4K-class display, and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity.View Deal

Why we recommend it

The ThinkPad P16 Gen 3 isn't simply a high-end laptop, it's a genuine mobile workstation capable of replacing many desktop systems. Lenovo has combined premium build quality with professional-grade graphics, abundant memory, and one of Intel's fastest mobile processors to create a machine that excels under sustained heavy workloads.

In his glowing five-star review, our laptop expert Collin said it was: "crafted just for those who need reliable performance on the go, blending portability with 16-inches of screen, ports, and power all around arguably one of the best keyboards on the market."

He added: " It’s powerful, it’s portable, and it’s practically a workstation you can carry with you. It’s a magnificent step in the direction of those who unashamedly need raw power, but need to be on the go as well."

The 16-inch WQUXGA display delivers exceptional color accuracy with 100% DCI-P3 coverage, HDR 400 support, and 800 nits of brightness, ideal for creative professionals. Add Wi-Fi 7, enterprise-grade security features, and Lenovo's renowned ThinkPad durability, and this is a premium workstation at one of its best prices yet.

Based on our experience, we've ranked this the best laptop for engineering students overall, and an excellent professional pick for those running graphically intensive workloads.

Price context & historical value

Saving $2,530 on a current-generation mobile workstation is a fantastic deal, especially when configured with premium components like 64GB of RAM, RTX PRO Blackwell graphics, and a 2TB Gen5 SSD.

Systems in this class are never cheap, obviously, and discounts of this size don't appear often on Lenovo's newest workstation line-up, so this one not to be missed.

For more savings on work machines, we track the best business laptop deals every week.

The Catch: What to know before you buy

This workstation inevitably prioritizes performance over portability. At nearly 16 inches with high-end components inside, it's designed to replace a desktop rather than compete with ultralight laptops.

Battery life will also vary significantly under demanding workloads, particularly when making full use of the dedicated RTX PRO graphics.

• Shop all Lenovo ThinkPad laptops

• AI audio giant Suno has launched a vinyl pressing service
• Yes, it is seemingly just for AI tracks generated on its site
• It's eco-friendly, apparently

Among many audiophiles, vinyl records are considered sacred; I concur, which is why my turntable was the first thing I set up when I recently moved home. But that's clearly not the case for everyone.

For me and, I hope, fellow record-lovers, the draw is that vinyl is an undeniably human way of listening to music. By their sheer nature, records are full of everything and with nothing edited out: there are mistakes and imperfections (just as we all have), but the analog result is warm and familiar… and somehow welcoming.

However, in our 'everything-is-AI' modern world, someone somewhere had the tiring thought, "What if AI came to records too?" and so we have this news.

AI 'music'-making service Suno is now encouraging you to press tracks generated using the site onto records, and to buy them for $45.

That's right, you can now sully a perfectly good bit of PVC plastic with 'songs' made by a computer, bringing a hearty dose of cold inhumanity to this all-so-human format.

Apparently, you can only order one record per creation from your Suno library, which can be up to 46 minutes, so this isn't a way of mass-producing AI slop to vinyl (thankfully). And Suno claims the material used for the records is sourced in an "eco friendly" way — a pretty hilarious assertion given how disastrous for the planet AI is proving itself to be generally. It's like chopping down trees with a pre-owned chainsaw.

One for the record

To audiophiles (or how about actual human bands, whose markup on a physical music product is far bigger than in streaming?) Suno's move feels destined to anger.

For me, it devalues a beloved format. It pulls apart the big black disc — with all the human, tangible attributes that makes me revere it — and makes it fake. When talking this piece through with my editor, she said, "I think it is a hideous idea that makes me feel unclean".

If there's any possible silver lining, it's that Suno's vinyl offerings might encourage people who use the site to discover the joys of real records; think older, couldn't-be-AI albums (and if that's you, why not check out our list of the best turntables to listen with, and I'll forgive your AI use if you buy something).

Or perhaps this is the last angry gasp of an AI slop machine? Google Trends data shows that interest in Suno is slowly dropping: as of early August, search is 10% down month-on-month, and over three months its interest is slowly dropping too.

Perhaps this could be fueled by the rebellion against AI music, with a growing number of streaming sites keeping it at bay. Deezer is bringing down the hammer hard, and we recently spoke to Qobuz's managing director about its own stance against slop. Even Spotify is belatedly taking some baby steps.

So is this Suno's victory lap against 'real' music, showing it's so prominent that nothing is sacred? Or is this its attempt to catch up, by adopting a format beloved by audiophiles? It's hard to say. All I know is that no AI slop record is getting anywhere near my turntable.