Technology

• Huawei has revealed the Mate X6 folding phone
• The main camera has 10 manually selectable aperture stops
• Unlikely to be available in the US or UK

Huawei has revealed the Mate X6, the latest addition to its Mate X line of booklet-style foldables, with a major focus on photography.

The phone comes equipped with a 50MP main camera with an impressive 10 physical aperture stops, allowing users to determine the depth of field and light intake of the camera manually. That’s a step up from even the best camera phones – think Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro – which almost always have a fixed aperture.

The camera system also features a 40MP ultra-wide camera and a 48MP telephoto camera with 4x optical zoom and a 5cm super macro mode.

As a folding phone, the Mate X6 boasts a 6.45-inch 1080 x 2440 external screen and a 7.93-inch 2240 x 2440 internal screen, both of which are OLED panels. A new multitasking feature allows users to run three apps simultaneously.

Huawei Mate X6 in Nebula Gray (Image credit: Huawei)

We’re still waiting for details on the internals of the new device, but we do know that the phone’s heat dissipation area has increased by 30% thanks to the use of new, cooler materials such as graphene.

However, even if we did have the internal specs of the Mate X6, it’s unlikely they’d be of much use – Huawei hasn’t sold phones in the US for years due to a legislative ban, and the company is currently absent from the UK market.

This would make the Mate X6 the second especially innovative foldable released by Huawei in recent memory. The Mate XT tri-fold device, for instance, arrived in September 2024 and made huge waves with audiences and commentators despite only being available in China (that said, we'll be publishing our own hands-on review of the device very soon).

The Huawei Mate X6 is available in three colors: Nebula Gray, Nebula Red, and Black, with the Nebula colors featuring a textured exterior. Regional availability beyond Europe – where the phone will begin shipping for €1,999 on January 6 – has yet to be confirmed.

For the latest official updates as we hear them, be sure to keep up with our dedicated Huawei phones coverage, as well as our more general phones coverage.

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• New Anker wireless chargers have seemingly arrived at Apple stores, but haven't hit shelves yet
• The charger is apparently called the Anker MagGo Qi2 Slim 5K
• The charger is expected to be an Apple store exclusive, at least for a while

Images of a new slim MagSafe power bank from Anker have been shared by a credible leaker via the r/Anker subreddit.

User u/Rynalf shared a handful of images of the rumored Anker MagGo Qi2 Slim 5K portable charger, including some of the charger affixed to the back of an iPhone 16 Pro via MagSafe.

The charger appears to be a slimmed-down version of the Anker MagGo Qi2 10K. u/Rynalf added that the charger comes with a 5000mAh capacity, and measures in at 8.8mm thick – a significant reduction compared to the 14.7mm thick 10K model.

(Image credit: u/Rynalf)

In fact, the user shared full dimensions of the unreleased charger, measuring 101.67mm x 69.76mm x 8.79mm.

That’s enough capacity to charge any iPhone 16 model from 0 to 100%, with varying amounts of charge left over. The charger also comes in two color options, white and blue.

As well as charging wirelessly at 15W thanks to the Qi2 standard, the charger features a bi-directional 20W USB-C charging port, which can be used to refill the charger as well as charge devices with a wired connection.

(Image credit: u/Rynalf)

With two devices connected – one wired and one wirelessly – wireless charging will apparently be limited to 5W and wired to 12W.

As for the strength of the MagSafe attachment, u/Rynalf elaborated in the comments of their post that the charger has a “noticeably stronger grip than the 10K Slim”, and sticks about the same amount as the Sharge CarbonMag 5K MagSafe power bank.

u/Rynalf added that their local Apple store already had stocks of the new charger, though they did have to ask a staff member to get one from the stock room, which implies the new chargers aren’t properly available yet.

As NotebookCheck notes, the new charger is tipped to be an Apple store exclusive for an as-yet unknown period of time, though other retailers may be able to stock the charger eventually.

If you're after a new charger in the here and now, then check out our guide on the best portable chargers.

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Most other electronics-makers had already pulled the plug on Blu-ray players, but LG held on longer than most.

• Wix added a new feature to introduce AI to customer support
• The AI chatbot integrates with the site's internal systems, generating relevant and timely responses
• The feature is available for free, with upgrade options

Wix, one of the best website builders on the market, has introduced a new Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tool, aimed at improving customer interactions.

Called AI Site-Chat, this feature is designed to serve as a virtual agent for customers. That way, businesses using Wix will be able to answer customer inquiries and provide relevant information 24/7, even when there are no employees or business owners available.

In a press release shared with TechRadar Pro earlier this week, Wix explained that AI Site-Chat works by integrating with the site’s internal systems. That allows it to pull live data from the website’s resources, and thus deliver accurate, and timely, information.

There are two major ways businesses can benefit from integrating AI Site-Chat, Wix further elaborated. One is the obvious - boosting customer experience by being available 24/7. Since the virtual agent is AI-powered, it is capable of recognizing the intent behind each user query, and is thus able to deliver price and customized answers and recommendations.

Available now

Another advantage of AI-powered chatbots is that they can be customized to reflect the brand voice, and can be configured with specific restrictions or preferences.

"Our latest AI feature, the native AI Site-Chat, provides SMBs an enterprise-level tool to assist how they interact with their website visitors," said Yaniv Ben Simon, Head of Product for AI Site-Chat at Wix. “Businesses can seamlessly use this feature to deliver real-time, conversational customer service, sales, and support in one place, and ultimately see reduced friction, increased engagement, and improved conversions.”

AI Site-Chat is available to Wix users in English. It is free to use initially, but users can choose to upgrade to a premium plan for unlimited usage.

Comment from the expert

This is the latest in a long string of AI-powered tool and feature releases from Wix. The platform now offers everything from a full AI website builder to AI-powered text writing and image editing tools.

This follows an industry trend, with almost all of the top website builders on the market looking for ways to leverage AI to help users create websites faster and easier than ever before.

The new AI Site-Chat tool from Wix is likely to be popular amongst website owners, helping them answer customers' questions faster than ever before and removing potential bottlenecks in the buying process. But users should also use this new tool with caution, as relying too heavily on AI in customer interactions may lead to frustration and potential alienation.

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• Wix and Pantone introduce a new and exclusive web capsule
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• Researchers from WPScan find flaw in Hunk Companion, a plugin with roughly 10,000 users
• The flaw allows crooks to install other plugins from the WP repository, including those with known RCE flaws
• WPScan found the flaw while investigating an active attack

Hackers have reportedly found a way to install old, outdated, and vulnerable plugins on WordPress websites, directly from the WordPress plugin repository. That way, they are able to introduce vulnerabilities to target sites made with the website builder, which grant them remote code execution (RCE) abilities, SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), admin account creation, and more.

The bug that allows crooks to do that was found in Hunk Companion, a utility plugin designed to enhance the functionality of WordPress themes developed by ThemeHunk.

It typically provides features like additional widgets, customization options, and demo content import functionality. It often serves as a companion to ThemeHunk's themes, unlocking advanced design and usability features not available by default.

Critical vulnerability

Researchers from WPScan found the flaw and reported it to the plugin’s developers, who came back with a fix within days.

While investigating a reported cyberattack, WPScan found that a threat actor abused the bug to install a vulnerable version of WP Query Console, a plugin that hasn’t been patched in seven years. This plugin is known for being flawed, allowing crooks to run malicious PHP code on target sites via a remote code execution bug tracked as CVE-2024-50498.

Hunk Companion is currently used by more than 10,000 websites, which isn’t exactly an impressive figure in the world of WordPress sites, but still not negligible.

The bug used to install flawed plugins is tracked as CVE-2024-11972, and has a severity score of 9.1 (critical). The earliest version that addressed it is 1.9.0, and users are advised to install it as soon as possible. BleepingComputer has also noticed that a similar bug was patched in Hunk Companion 1.8.5, tracked as CVE-2024-9707. It seems the patch didn’t work as intended as there are obvious workarounds.

At press time, 11.6% of users upgraded to v1.9, meaning roughly 8,800 sites are still vulnerable.

Via BleepingComputer

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OK, it does more than make ice cream but you've got to see this thing to believe it.

It seems a new challenger to the best streaming services is on the way next year with CNBC set to launch its own stand-alone offering, CNBC Plus. As per Variety, the new service will launch in the first quarter of next year and be available globally.

Not set to offer any original programming at launch, the service will instead be the streaming home of all of CNBC’s linear programming. It’s a niche service for sure, and perhaps one that won’t attract a whole lot of new viewers, but considering how much of the network’s viewership takes place outside of the home, in a business setting, it’s a potential goldmine for folks looking to spend their commute getting up to date with the day's news before they land in the office or on the trading floor. It should at least have more legs than Warner Bros. Discovery ill fated CNN Plus – here's how to watch CNN from anywhere in the world if you've been wondering.

All of this is seemingly part of NBCUniversal’s plan to separate its cable networks and spin them off into their own company, tentatively called SpinCo. Not only will this include the likes of CNBC, but also entertainment networks such as SyFy and USA. The idea is that, removed from the conglomerate monster of NBCU, the struggling networks will be able to reinvest in themselves, rather than have their capital swallowed up by said monster. It’ll also make Comcast look better in investors meetings, with subscription giant Peacock front and centre and declining networks pushed off to the side.

What does this mean for Peacock?

That CNBC Plus is launching with no original programming and indeed being removed from the corporate umbrella is likely to be a worry for Peacock users who have, until now, been able to enjoy some of the network’s programming as part of their subscription. While it’s by no means a comprehensive offering, CNBC Leaders is available on the streamer and while the Peacock livestream of Squawk Box ended earlier this year, it’s still been available on catch-up.

With the new service in desperate need of exclusive-to-streaming content, it’s likely we’ll see all CNBC programming pulled from NBCU’s flagship streamer, although we should state nothing is confirmed at present. And it’s worth bearing in mind that this isn’t NBCU’s first foray at spinning their current affairs programming into online services following the creation of the NBC News NOW streaming service.

It remains to be seen exactly what the play from NBCU is going to be here, although we’d expect some answers soon. It’s definitely a potential cause for concern for Peacock subscribers, but for those that want that iconic ticker anytime, it looks like exciting times ahead.

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• Assassin's Creed Shadows has received a new combat overview
• The game's dual protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, have their own unique skills and weaponry
• Naoe or Yasuke share similar parry mechanics but results vary

Ubisoft has shared new combat details for Assassin's Creed Shadows ahead of its February 15, 2025 release.

In a new blog post, the developer provided a deep dive into the fundamental principles of the game's combat system and discussed how weapons will alter battles, depending on which protagonist you play as; Naoe or Yasuke.

For offensive basics, there are light, heavy, posture attacks. Light attacks are quick and reliable and inflict small increments of damage, but some enemies can easily counter them and "power through" to land attacks of their own.

Heavy attacks are useful for staggering enemies, but posture attacks seem to be the most effective in fights. Holding down the input will charge the ability to dial up the damage, can be held indefinitely, and is used to break through an enemy's blocking stance.

Ubisoft also explained that an enemy can be put into a "vulnerable state", a short window that will allow the player to deal "devastating" damage.

While in defense both Naoe and Yasuke can use directional dodges to avoid incoming blows, but Naoe's dodges are "characterized by directional rolls", whereas Yasuke's are directional steps that keep his posture upright.

The protagonists also share similar parry mechanics but results vary. When Yasuke deflects a blow, the enemy bounces back, opening them up for attacks, while Naoe's requires her to pivot to either side of the enemy.

Yasuke also has a unique block mechanic that allows him to "turtle up behind his weapon" and withstand oncoming attacks from kunai and arrows.

"These subtle differences in attack and defense are really what makes the control of each character unique - and adaptable to your ideal playstyle," said Shadows' game director Charles Benoit.

Although Naoe excels in stealth as a shinobi, she's able to defeat enemies using a barrage of attacks but can be overwhelmed when surrounded due to her lack of armor and limited combat resources.

As a samurai, Yasuke can stay in the fight longer and is the only protagonist with the ability to switch weapons mid-combo through the link-attack ability, like the Sheathed Posture Attack, a charged opening attack while his katana is still in its sheathe.

For weapons, Naoe has a versatile katana that unlocks the ability to assassinate enemies through shoji doors, a Tanto and Hidden Blades which unlock Double Assassinations, as well as a Kusarigama for crowd control. This extendable ball-and-chain can reach enemies at a distance and can unlock the Rush Assassinate ability to take down foes 10 meters away.

Yasuke has a long katana to match his size, a Naginata for crowd control, a Kanabo for breaking through defenses and armor, and a Yumi Bow for long-range attacks.

There's also the Teppo flint rifle for armor penetration, but has a slow fire rate and an even slower reload time.

Players will be able to use all these weapons against a number of enemy types each with their own unique combat styles that will need to be learned as you progress through the game, including Outlaws, Ashigara Soldiers, Ronin, Samurai, Samurai Daisho, and Guardians.

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• Apple TV Plus has landed the streaming rights to the sci-fi romance All of You
• The film is written by and stars Shrinking co-creator Brett Goldstein
• All of You tells the story of two best friends who have an unspoken love for each other

It's official: Brett Goldstein is breaking into the best Apple TV Plus movies territory – and I couldn't be happier.

Shrinking is one of my favorite Apple TV Plus shows, so when I discovered that the co-creator of the hit comedy series has a movie on its way to Apple TV Plus, I immediately knew that it could very well be my favorite movie in 2025.

Goldstein is a comedy connoisseur, having helped produce and star in the hugely successful Ted Lasso and Shrinking. Now, Apple Original Films has landed the streaming rights to Goldstein's sci-fi romance All of You, which is set to stream in the new year.

All of You premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, and went on to screen at the London Film Festival. Currently, the film has an 83% Rotten Tomatoes score from 24 critics, with Cool Girl Critiques writing in their TIFF 2024 review: "A tender and heartbreaking portrait of love with the right person at the wrong time – this drama’s cynical and cathartic take on the soulmate trope will leave an emotional mark by its final frame."

What is All of You about?

Goldstein penned the script alongside the film's director William Bridges, who won an Emmy Award for his Black Mirror episode U.S.S. Callister. The official plot of All of You is as follows: "When an exciting new test matching soulmates together comes between two best friends, they spend the next 12 years trying to resist the urge to disrupt the paths their lives have taken – marriage, children and tragedy – despite the undeniable feeling they belong together."

Goldstein plays the lead role of Simon, and Imogen Poots stars as his best friend Laura. The cast also includes Steven Cree (Outlander) and Zawe Ashton (The Marvels).

Apple is set to add some exciting titles to its movie library next year, with the new sci-fi mystery thriller The Gorge starring Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy and Sigourney Weaver, as well as Brad Pitt's F1 in June.

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Apple has finally fixed a security bug with its new password manager app which could have put your data at risk.

The provider first introduced Passwords with the long-awaited iOS 18 update as a built-in application to help you manage your login details and alert you if they're compromised in a data breach. Developer and security researcher Tommy Mysk, however, found a vulnerability in its system soon after the launch.

Apple confirmed that the new 18.2 operating system update has solved the issue that an attacker could have exploited to "alter network traffic. " Mysk now urges everyone to upgrade all their Apple devices to the latest version to patch the critical issue as soon as possible.

iOS 18.2 security update

"Since iOS 18 launched, the new Passwords app has been using unencrypted HTTP to download icons for password entries – a potential security risk. We reported this bug to Apple in September, and it’s finally fixed in iOS 18.2 (CVE-2024-54492)," Mysk wrote on X on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) refers to a set of rules that allow us to communicate data on the Internet and is used to load webpages. As the iOS expert explains (see video below), malicious networks can easily intercept and manipulate insecure HTTP.

The problem was that every time you added a new password, Passwords got the account's icon from the added website (say, gmail.com, for example) and called the website over the insecure HTTP protocol.

"This malicious network overwrites the response to return a custom icon," said Mysk. "Passwords picked the custom icon and showed it in the app. This could be a malicious payload."

"This issue was addressed by using HTTPS when sending information over the network," confirmed Apple in its 18.2 security update release.

The Passwords fix is now available for all devices (iPhone and iPad 18.2, as well as macOS Sequoia 15.2) after upgrading to the latest version.

Mysk urges everyone to upgrade their devices as soon as possible, noting that also another security company, Tenable, classified the vulnerability as "critical."

The 18.2 update isn't just about fixing vulnerabilities, though. The release is probably the biggest Apple Intelligence upgrade for iPhone, iPad, and Mac so far, in fact, bringing some of the most-anticipated Apple AI features to devices including Genmoji, Image Playground, and a ChatGPT-powered Siri.

Most notably, Apple Intelligence finally extends its support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.