Technology

• Korean Air and Archer will modify the Midnight eVTOL for military use
• Archer handles technical support and certification assistance for the military version
• Midnight eVTOL carries four passengers and travels roughly 100 miles per charge

South Korea is moving ahead with plans to adapt electric flying taxis for military missions after Korean Air reached an agreement with California-based Archer Aviation.

Rather than developing an entirely new aircraft, both companies will modify Archer's existing Midnight eVTOL platform to meet South Korean military standards.

The Midnight eVTOL platform has previously been evaluated by the US Air Force, prompting speculation that the service could eventually pursue a similar aircraft.

Existing aircraft could speed military deployment

Korean Air will oversee modifications required for military operations, while Archer Aviation will provide technical support together with assistance throughout the required airworthiness certification process.

The modification plan will shorten deployment timelines and also reduce some engineering and certification challenges facing both companies.

The military version is expected to support troop transportation, cargo delivery, medical evacuation, search and rescue missions, and other special operations.

This military model is also required to support flexible short-range air mobility capabilities.

Midnight eVTOL currently carries four passengers, travels approximately 100 miles (161 Km), and reaches maximum speeds approaching 150 miles (241 Km) per hour.

These performance figures place the aircraft within a category suitable for relatively short missions.

The agreement also arrives as several armed forces continue exploring electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for missions requiring quieter operations and greater flexibility

Military partnership could influence South Korea's wider aviation plans

The agreement also extends beyond military transport because both companies expect certification work to support South Korea's broader ambitions for advanced air mobility (AAM) development.

"Military AAM development represents a blue ocean opportunity for Korea to secure leadership in future core aviation power and industry dominance," a Korean Air official said.

"Building on our cooperation with Archer, we aim to seize this critical window for AAM development and build a new model for defense exports."

Archer's ongoing certification process with the US Federal Aviation Administration could provide technical data helping South Korea establish its own certification framework for eVTOL aircraft.

That experience could also benefit the Korean Urban Air Mobility program, which plans to introduce commercial flying taxi services across South Korea during 2028.

Korean Air believes technical knowledge gained from the Midnight project could assist regulators while supporting future commercial operations using similar electric aircraft.

Military demand may also help companies improve production capabilities before commercial operators begin placing larger orders for advanced air mobility platforms.

Neither company has announced when military deliveries could begin, leaving certification schedules and procurement timelines still awaiting further clarification from both governments.

Via The Korean Herald

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 682 for Thursday, Aug. 6.

• Starlink Mobile could become a reality in 2027
• It will likely rely on the very new Starlink V3 satellite
• SpaceX's huge Starship will play a crucial role in the effort to compete with major carriers

SpaceX's first earnings call this week as a publicly traded company was full of promises and hyperbole, including the prediction from boaster-in-chief Elon Musk (also SpaceX CEO and Chief Engineer) that Starlink "will deliver a majority of the world's internet, at least in countries where we're allowed to operate, which is the vast majority of countries." As for a time scale, think not the distant future, but fewer than 10 years.

That's some bold talk, but SpaceX President, COO, and someone far less likely to wax bombastic, Gwen shotwell, backed up those claims. "As far as revenue, I'm just going to take a very high-level kind of top-down. The big three in the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, roughly between them, $600 billion a year. I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers because I think our service will be better." Shotwell told investors.

These promises all hinge, in part, on the development and launch of Starlink's V3 satellites, which will, on a per-satellite basis, drastically improve throughput. Starlink's current V2 satellite has a downlink throughput of roughly 80GBps. V3 can, the company claims, deliver 1 Terabit of downlink connectivity. Uplink jumps from roughly 7 Gbps to between 160 and 200 Gbps.

It's not just the speed; Starlink V3 satellites promise exponentially more beams, which is basically support for more concurrent users. V2 offers just under 200 beams while V3 promises 2048 per satellite.

Still, with just a reported 10,918 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), they will need a way of quickly delivering tens of thousands of satellites into orbit to achieve this lofty goal.

And so the other part of this hyperbolic plan hinges on SpaceX's still-in-testing Starship rocket. Granted, the 408ft tall spacecraft is rapidly transitioning to the operational phase and may have a full launch as soon as this month. It's already lifted some V3 satellites into orbit during one of its earlier orbital test flights. Now, to realize Musk's plan, it must shift to rapid launch deployment and then relaunch and deploy again.

Musk told investors that "Starlink V3 satellite is about an order of magnitude more capable than the Starlink V2 satellite." Then he added some color on the scale of what SpaceX and Starlink are planning: "We expect to launch about an order of magnitude more Starlink V3 satellites. That would mean a roughly two-order-of-magnitude increase in the delivered bandwidth."

Musk believes we'll need all that bandwidth, not just for potential consumer mobile broadband users but for the vast amounts of data and connectivity required by AI and robotics (both here and possibly on a Moon base), two other sectors where Musk has a vested interest.

"With the advent of AI, and humanoid robotics and vehicle robotics and just a massive number of robots, the appetite for bandwidth will be much greater than it has been in the past," he explained during the earnings call.

Starlink Mobile reality check

Starlink, though, is quite a distance away from competing directly with Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T in the US. Across them, they have more than 300M connections (or customers). Starlink has a reported 12M global customers.

As for those V3 satellites that will help propel Starlink Mobile into the mobile broadband competitive space, they do not officially launch until next year. In the meantime, Starlink's V2 Satellites will fill the gaps and help provide partners like EchoStar with better, faster, and maybe more reliable satellite connectivity.

We do already have some proof of the efficacy of Starlink WiFi connectivity and throughput. Earlier this year, TechRadar US Managing Editor for News Jake Krol took a flight on a Starlink-equipped United Airlines aircraft where he enjoyed incredible connectivity and speed. Krol was a fan: "I could livestream a show or movie, or even select a 'live channel' via Disney+ on an iPad, watch any video on YouTube, and scroll through TikTok or Instagram Reels without the slowdowns or loading issues typical of non-Starlink-equipped United flights."

Of course, that connectivity goes from the Starlink satellites to a responder on the jet, which then feeds the signal to onboard Wi-Fi and connected devices. In the case of Starlink Mobile, there'll potentially be no middleman, just your phone, a satellite, and instant, fast connectivity.

The benefit of the low-Earth-orbit V3 satellites, when they do finally launch and fill the skies, is that they should allow consumers to connect with them just as they would with towers assigned to their favorite carrier.

There is also one major hurdle that SpaceX and Starlink already cleared when the FCC granted Starlink approval in January 2026 for the company's "Next-gen satellite constellation."

Even with all this in place, the stars must align with Starship being fully operational, all those new satellites launched, and customers lined up by the millions. The last bit is surely the biggest question mark. Even if most of their modern cellphones support these direct-to-satellite connections, how likely are consumers to leave their trusted carrier behind?

Shotwell, for one, is bullish: "I'm quite excited about Starlink Mobile going forward," she told investors, "We will start to fly the satellites next year, and we will start providing service end of next year."

Disney-themed TikToks are coming to US subscribers. And the company’s executives defended box office flops as wins.

• Distillation sidesteps the logic of US export controls, which restrict the chips needed to train frontier models but cannot restrict the text those models produce
• Review of more than 80 Chinese papers and patents found PLA-linked researchers distilling outputs from OpenAI and Anthropic models into small systems they can run locally
• The Trump administration is increasingly critical of the approach and has claimed Chinese research lab-created Kimi K3 distilled Anthropic's Fable model

A new investigation has claimed Chinese military researchers have used outputs from American AI models built by OpenAI and Anthropic to train domestic systems intended to advance the country's defense capabilities.

The findings are based on a Reuters review of more than 80 Chinese academic papers and patents, incorporating research compiled by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation shared exclusively with the news agency.

Reuters says it independently verified the literature and found a further two dozen military-linked case studies of its own.

A distillation problem in an AI race that continues to heat up

The mechanism at issue is model distillation, in which the outputs of a large, capable system are used as training data for a smaller one. The smaller model inherits selected behaviors at a fraction of the compute cost and, crucially, can run on modest local hardware.

That is the strategic point. Washington's export controls are built to deny China the chips needed to train frontier models. Distillation does not need those chips, because the expensive part has already been paid for by someone else. It sits alongside Beijing's other route around the controls: substituting domestic silicon for American designs, a shift that carries its own long-term threat to Nvidia and AMD.

Sunny Cheung, the Jamestown fellow who analyzed more than 60 of the papers, frames the value as reasoning rather than answers. Getting a model to produce the right output is comparatively easy, he told Reuters, but "teaching it the reasoning behind the answer is much harder."

The papers, on his reading, show Chinese military-linked researchers trying to move that expensive proprietary reasoning into small systems they can control and deploy themselves.

There is an irony in the pattern. Beijing has been moving to restrict consumer access to Western AI models on security grounds, and has pushed its own labs away from US-designed chips, even as its military researchers mine the outputs of American systems.

The asymmetry points at what is wrong with the US instrument. Export controls regulate objects: chips, tools, hardware that crosses a border and can be counted. The thing being transferred here is text a model produced- which crosses no border in any customs sense and cannot be enumerated.

The White House has registered the problem at both the chip and distillation end, but registering it is not the same as having a lever. For now, the debate over whether distillation is theft or standard practice may matter less than the fact that neither answer offers a workable control.

The rocket drifted in space for over a year before finally plummeting to the moon’s surface.

• Some Android apps contain invasive data-gathering SDKs that gather location data without user consent
• Location data is then sold to advertisers, or purchased by law enforcement for targeting and tracking US citizens
• Developers, regulators, and legislators should work together to remove the incentive for SDKs to gather this data

Monetizing an app is a key part of development. But developers frequently use third-party software development kits (SDKs) rather than develop their own monetization tools.

These SDKs often come preloaded with data-collection mechanisms that allow developers to choose what types of user data it would like to collect to sell to advertisers. Sometimes, developers leave every setting on.

According to a warning from the Electric Frontier Foundation, SDKs with their default data collection settings left on are harvesting highly invasive location data, which is then passed on to advertisers and data brokers. Critically, this data can then be purchased and used by intelligence agencies, law enforcement, and even the military.

Authorities using advertising location data for questionable operations

Location data is very lucrative for advertisers. It helps increase the bid-price for advertising space, allowing local businesses or services to target those nearby with adverts.

The level of invasive data collected depends on the permissions the app asks for. But crucially, any permissions granted to the app itself are also passed on to the SDK by default.

Where approximate location data determined by the device IP is accurate to about 1.2 square miles, precise location data can narrow that area down to about 160 feet, or in some circumstances as small as 10 feet.

In some cases, the SDKs include documentation for developers to ensure restricted data processing is turned on for users that are subject to GDPR and COPPA, but these settings are not turned on by default.

Also, some SDKs can gather and share location data without the user’s meaningful consent. Two apps analyzed by EFF that harvested location data through SDKs were downloaded more than 50 million and 10 million times, respectively. Neither app showed a notice or requested consent from the user, and both failed to declare that the apps would share location data with third parties in the Google Play Store Data Safety section.

Some apps require location data as part of their core functionality. For example, your chosen weather app, or a running app, may need your location data. But for many Android apps, the consent provided for this location tracking is also deemed to be consent for SDKs.

“App-level location permissions alone cannot signal meaningful consent to location collection and sharing by third-party advertising SDKs,” the EFF report says.

In many cases, location data sold by advertisers and data brokers has been used by intelligence agencies and law enforcement in highly-targeted operations.

The EFF includes a number of recommendations for developers, regulators, and legislators:

• Developers should have a responsibility to protect the privacy of their users. They should check third-party SDKs and ensure that user data is not shared by default
• Regulators should pursue app developers that fail to ensure user data is not unlawfully passed on to third parties. Additionally, regulators should pursue companies that deliberately develop SDKs that gather invasive amounts of user data by default
• Legislators in the US should work to develop a federal law similar to GDPR to protect users from privacy violations. Banning behavioral advertising would also remove the incentive from companies developing SDKs to gather as much data as possible

Elon Musk’s rocket, internet and AI company gave investors its first update since its June IPO.

But viewers may one day be able to use AI to stand on the bridge of the Enterprise, or speak to the Paw Patrol dogs.

• Gigabyte graphics cards are rumored to be set for a big price rise
• It could be a hike of 20% to 40%, and other rumors are also pointing to major price hikes for GPUs more broadly
• This means now is likely a good time to make a purchase, particularly with certain cards which have avoided the worst of the hikes so far

Desktop GPU prices are set to rise if the rumor mill is right – with yet another prediction to that end being aired – and while graphics cards are already costly in some cases, now might be the time to buy certain models, based on a fresh roundup of average pricing.

First off, let's deal with the latest gloom nugget from the grapevine regarding GPU pricing, courtesy of @momomo_us on X (via Wccftech) who picked up a notice from CFD (a Japanese components supplier) warning of substantial price hikes on Gigabyte graphics cards.

The claimed rise (add seasoning, of course) is in the order of 20% to 40%, so at the latter end of that scale, we're looking at prices shooting up by almost a half in some cases. Existing orders from retailers buying boards from CFD may even be cancelled, the notice states.

I perhaps wouldn't put as much stock in this, except that it echoes a rash of recent reports contending that large price hikes are about to happen in the GPU world, which makes it all the more believable.

Only yesterday I reported on the situation in South Korea where RTX 5000 models are rumored to be getting price increases of up to 30%. So again, that's a hefty hike, and it follows other speculation about Nvidia charging its partners more for video RAM (which will push up costs, of course).

This apparent Gigabyte move will affect both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards in Japan, and there have been rumors about Team Red having Radeon price hikes in the pipeline due to more expensive VRAM, too. That only makes sense, as if VRAM is getting more costly for Nvidia, it will be for AMD too. And while some of these reports are based on regional activity, the cost issues will surely apply globally – none of these markets exist in a bubble.

Analysis: I think it's time to buy – especially with certain GPUs

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

The RAM crisis has a lot to answer for, and it very much looks like graphics card prices are going to be jacked up considerably during the remainder of 2026, with video memory being the primary driver here. Given that, it seems that if you are thinking about a GPU upgrade, now is likely the time to go for it, rather than waiting and being hit by price hikes.

That's especially true if you're considering a 16GB graphics card (as more gamers are these days), as the products with more VRAM are going to get hit the hardest for price rises as memory modules become even more expensive.

If we want a snapshot of the current GPU market as price tags stand, fortunately enough, TechSpot has just furnished us with an extensive (multi-region) pricing roundup as of the end of July which highlights some key points.

Firstly, low-end GPUs are still relatively unscathed, with offerings like the RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 8GB, and the 8GB spin on the 5060 Ti, not having been bumped up by all that much in the RAM crisis thus far. However, as for the 16GB incarnation of the RTX 5060 Ti, that has seen major price bumps, reinforcing that observation on 16GB pain (this card is up over 40% since November 2025 in the US, for example – and shows a 14% rise since April 2026).

In the tier above that, the RTX 5070 is holding at a reasonable price, and even if the sub-MSRP levels of late last year are well and truly gone, it remains a decent buy. (As long as you can stomach 12GB of VRAM at this price bracket, of course – and that's one of the reasons why this GPU hasn't been hit so hard, no doubt).

Above this level, Nvidia GPUs have witnessed some of the nastier price increases, as you've probably noticed.

On the AMD side, matters look more promising, particularly in the case of the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, with TechSpot finding that the 16GB models in the RDNA 4 family haven't suffered as much as Nvidia's GeForce offerings. The price of both these 9070 models has remained steady over the last few months, and in many regions, they're only up 10% or so compared to late 2025. (The 9070 XT is an exception in the US, mind, where it has risen by closing on 20% since last year).

If you're inclined towards one of these Radeon mid-rangers, or Nvidia's RTX 5070, I'd strongly suggest you buy now rather than wait based on what we're hearing from the rumor mill. Lower-priced graphics cards are likely worth grabbing, too, because they may be heading upwards in the pricing stakes before long – although notably the RX 9060 XT with 16GB has already become a good deal more costly, much like its RTX 5060 Ti 16GB rival.

As noted, Nvidia's higher-end graphics cards (RTX 5070 Ti and upwards) have already been hit with alarming price hikes, but they're likely to get even worse. So, this could be a case of keeping your wallet shut and holding out for possibly a lengthy time, as I can't really recommend them even at the current pricing.

The trouble is, we don't know how long the RAM crisis will continue, and some of the guesswork on that front is very bleak indeed – suggesting it might be the rest of this decade effectively. At this point, I'm inclined to believe we're in it for the long haul with PC component pricing woes, which is why I think it's best to buy a GPU now, at least with the mentioned models, assuming you're in a position to do so.

• Forescout’s Vedere Labs found 15 flaws in TP‑Link Omada business networking gear, exploitable for RCE when chained with prior CVEs
• Weak trust shortcuts in zero‑touch provisioning exposed devices to client‑side code execution, hijacking, spoofing, and encrypted comms compromise
• TP‑Link released firmware updates; admins should patch immediately, with 1,800+ Omada controllers exposed online

TP-Link has patched more than a dozen vulnerabilities across multiple business networking products which could have been chained to achieve remote code execution (RCE).

Security researchers at Vedere Labs from Forescout found the flaws and published an in-depth report on the issues, which particularly affect TP-Link Omada, the company’s business networking platform for centrally managing enterprise and small-business network infrastructure.

It includes cloud-managed Wi-Fi access points, routers, switches, gateways, and controllers, all of which can be monitored and configured from a single interface.

Enabling "concrete attacks"

These support zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), a mechanism that allows IT managers to deploy and maintain devices without needing to configure each one manually and on site.

However, ZTP has to establish trust between a factory-fresh device, and a controller with no human involved, so TP-Link used different shortcuts: from hard-coded keys and certificates shared across multiple devices, to default credentials, and from guessable serial numbers as “identity”, to weak session-key randomness.

Now, Forescout says 15 vulnerabilities its researchers discovered all allow for different ways of exploiting these shortcuts, meaning a flaw anywhere in the onboarding chain can compromise every device that goes through it. These bugs would need to be combined with two previously disclosed command-injection flaws, though.

“The vulnerabilities fall into four impact categories: client-side code execution, information disclosure, device hijacking and spoofing, and compromise of encrypted communications,” Forescout said. “Combined with two previously disclosed CVEs (CVE-2025-7850 and CVE-2025-7851), these flaws enable concrete attacks that let attackers infiltrate networks through controllers and client devices.”

Out of the 15 discovered flaws, 11 received CVE identifiers, and the rest did not receive a tracking number.

Forescout said there are more than 1,800 Omada controllers accessible from the wider internet. If you are using any of the devices from the platform, you should head over to TP-Link’s download portal and grab the latest firmware for your device model.

When Anthropic's CFO revealed that over 90 per cent of the company's code is now written by its own AI, it landed as a milestone.

Tasks that once consumed hours now take 30 minutes. The productivity gains are significant.

But Anthropic is an AI-native company with some of the world's best engineering talent.

For most enterprises, the question isn't whether AI can generate code at that speed. It's whether they can govern what it generates.

Shadow AI: The new shadow IT

"Vibe coding", the term for generating code via AI, has moved into the mainstream. By some estimates, almost half of all new global code is now AI-generated. Developer productivity is up. So is debt that nobody fully understands.

Part of what's driving this is necessity. AI is helping close the engineering talent gap. Teams that lack experienced developers are using it to build at the pace the business demands. The problem is that the same shortage that makes AI indispensable also means there aren't enough senior engineers to review AI-generated code.

Research across Fortune 50 enterprises found that AI-assisted developers introduce security vulnerabilities at ten times the rate of their peers. Forty-five per cent of AI-generated code contains OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. Independent analyses indicate that technical debt increases by 30–41 per cent following the adoption of AI tools.

Traditional technical debt is at least visible. Engineers who cut corners know they did it. Vibe coding debt is different: developers often don't realize they have incurred it, because the code looks correct – right up until it doesn't.

We used to worry about Shadow IT. The new threat is Shadow AI: code generated at pace without architectural review, security auditing or institutional understanding of what's been built.

Unlike Shadow IT, which was typically contained within a department, Shadow AI compounds across organizational boundaries. In enterprises where systems are still deeply siloed, complex problems span multiple departments and platforms; no single team has a complete picture of what's been generated or what it depends on.

Enterprises have spent decades paying for yesterday's shortcuts. AI risks creating the next generation of legacy systems, only much faster.

Repeating the COBOL mistake

The market is flooded with tools promising to read millions of lines of COBOL or Java and convert the functionality into a modern language. This is technically impressive, but strategically flawed.

Legacy systems are full of inefficiencies, redundancies and “swivel chair” workarounds baked in years ago to compensate for other systems' limitations. Translating code line-by-line replicates that bad logic in a newer language, now running on cloud infrastructure with a modern interface on top of old code and dated processes.

To get modernization right, organizations should avoid treating it as a technical exercise. Instead, they should step back and ask whether a process is still valid, not just how to replicate it.

True modernization is about reinventing how work gets done, designed around the employee and customer experience rather than the constraints of systems built decades ago. It is a state of consistent change, and it must be driven by the North Star of clear business objectives.

The agility layer

Probabilistic AI needs to operate within deterministic boundaries to be safe and useful at enterprise scale. AI that can generate anything is not the same as AI that generates the right thing reliably with full traceability, in a context where every decision might be scrutinized by a regulator.

This is why high-stakes organizations are looking for an agility layer: a governed process platform that imposes structure, ensures auditability and keeps AI outputs within maintainable boundaries. The US Army followed this approach for security with agility to operate with certainty at speed.

Ordering ammunition in disconnected field conditions is mission-critical, with zero tolerance for ungoverned outputs. Similarly, pharmaceutical giant Merck's clinical supply chain, where regulatory scrutiny is intense and errors have patient safety consequences, required a platform that could accelerate delivery without sacrificing auditability.

These are examples of organizations trying to address the hardest part of modernization: discovery. They are using AI to extract specifications from even the most poorly documented legacy applications, converting them into visual plans covering UI, data models and process flows.

They're generating software components rather than custom code to reuse in other applications, accelerating development time and reducing technical debt. AI agents then build against those specs under human supervision, with developers assigning tasks and iterating throughout – at roughly 25 per cent of the time traditional approaches require.

The future is bespoke, not general-purpose

There is a temptation to conclude that general-purpose AI will soon render enterprise platforms obsolete. This is premature and in regulated environments, dangerous. General-purpose models are extraordinary at generating plausible outputs. They are not equipped to ensure those outputs are auditable, compliant or maintainable by teams that did not generate them.

The vibe coding wave is real, and so is the debt it is creating. The organizations that navigate the next decade successfully and avoid falling into the same old legacy traps will not be the ones that generated code the fastest in 2025 and 2026.

They'll be the ones to build governance and process boundaries into how AI was used from the start – so what was built quickly can still be understood, maintained and trusted years later.

We've reviewed, rated, and ranked the best laptops for programming.

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

Hers is testing the new feature with weight loss patients on GLP-1 medications, but plans to expand the service.

It's back-to-school sales season, and Amazon UK is getting in on the action with discounts across laptops, headphones, appliances, and all the useful tech you might need for the year ahead in school, college, or uni. I've had a look through the retailer's latest round of offers and picked out 15 of the best deals that I think are worth buying if you're shopping today.

• See all of today's best deals at Amazon UK

A new year often means a new laptop, and there's one offer in particular that stands out to me as a fantastic all-around choice: it's this Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge for £549 (was £829). With a Snapdragon X processor, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, you'll get fast and efficient performance, as well as incredible battery life, and more than enough storage for all of your needs.

If you're just after a few handy extras, then you can get this pair of Anker USB-C Charger Cables for £5.99 (was £7.99), a Warmco Portable Handheld Fan for £19.88 (was £24.99), and an Inui 45W 10,000mAH Portable Charger for £18.66 (was £21.99).

Have a browse through all of my top picks from Amazon's latest sale below, and be sure to stick with TechRadar over the next few weeks for even more back-to-school deals and buying advice from our expert team.

15 best back-to-school deals at Amazon UK

Display - 15.6 inches
Processor - Snapdragon X
RAM - 16GB
Storage - 1TB

It was slightly cheaper over Prime Day, but this is a great price for a relatively modern laptop that comes with a well-performing and efficient Snapdragon X CPU. On top of that, you get 16GB of RAM, a surprisingly large 1TB SSD for storage, and incredible battery life, which represents good value for money overall. I like it as a light, portable and capable all-around everyday machine for school, college, and at home.View Deal

This is the biggest saving I've seen on a Microsoft 365 Family subscription since Black Friday, so it's excellent value for money overall if multiple people prefer to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft Office programs. This version grants up to six users access across multiple devices for 12 months, so it's better value than the single subscription. If you just want that, though, it's also currently on offer at Amazon for £69.99 (was £84.99).View Deal

It's always handy to have a portable charger to take with you when you're on the go, and this 10000mAh one from popular brand Inui is a smart buy in my eyes. For starters, it's small and super-slim, making it easy to carry around in a pocket or slip into your bag, while still offering enough juice to charge some of the latest phones and tablets to above 50%. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A, meaning you can charge multiple devices at once. There's even a handy detachable USB-C cable included for free.View Deal

The Nespresso Vertuo Next is a small and convenient pod coffee machine — and it's now back to its lowest price this year. With multiple drinks in multiple sizes available at the touch of a button, it could be the ideal no-fuss pick for your room or shared kitchen.View Deal

If you want a cheap and basic Bluetooth speaker, then you can't go wrong with this Anker Soundcore for almost £25. Sure, it's not going to give you the biggest and boldest audio quality, but it's still a solid option at an affordable price. Battery life is an impressive 24 hours, too, so it's great to use around the home or take it with you when on the go.View Deal

The Google Pixel 10a is our pick for the best bargain phone for its balance between affordability and functionality. It features a Tensor G4 processor and a display with a 120Hz refresh rate, which offers solid performance at this price point. You also get a Gorilla Glass 7i screen for better drop protection and scratch resistance. For £100 off, you can get this smooth and affordable smartphone for its lowest price yet, or save another £50 on top if you're OK with 128GB of storage.View Deal

Can you ever have too many USB cables? The box full of them under my desk would suggest you can. However, if you want a couple more to leave around the house or take with you when out and about, this pair of USB-C to USB-A cables from top brand Anker is now super-cheap.View Deal

Display - 15.6 inches
Processor - Intel Core 3
RAM - 8GB
Storage - 256GB

This version of the Asus Chromebook Plus offers a solid amount of power for the price. It includes 8GB of RAM and an Intel Core 3 processor, boosting performance, boot times, and load times. There's also a standard 256GB of storage for the price, and battery life is solid at up to 12 hours on a single charge. That's more than enough to last a full working day. At a little under £250, it's a smart buy for school or college, or just as a home laptop for light use and everyday tasks.View Deal

The Ninja Blast Portable Blender is a powerful all-in-one portable blender — and it's now got a small price cut at Amazon. It has a 530ml container with a leakproof lid and sip spout, while the carry handle means you can take it with you to the gym or on your walks. It’s capable of blending ice and frozen fruit, as well as any liquids and powders, while one charge gives you up to two hours of battery life.View Deal

This Warmco Portable handheld fan is a slightly more high-tech and serious-looking device. We haven't reviewed it, but it does have good Amazon reviews and the price is right thanks to this latest deal. According to the user reviews, this looks to be a surprisingly powerful little fan that also offers excellent battery life if you need to take it with you when on the go.View Deal

If you picked up those USB cables for cheap, you might also want a charger plug to use with them. There are several on sale right now at Amazon, but I like this Ugreen option the best. It's a 100W fast charger with three USB-C ports and one USB-A port, offering support for multiple phones, laptops, tablets, earbuds, and more, with the option to charge more than one at a single time with the correct arrangement. The small and compact design, is the ideal finishing touch.View Deal

The iO range is usually a more expensive option in Oral-B's range of electric toothbrushes, but this is an excellent deal on an entry-level option that's also bundled with a few handy extras. It doesn't boast many high-end features, but it has the basic ones you really need to brush your teeth effectively and efficiently, including a two-minute timer and a visible pressure sensor. Plus, you get a refill holder and a travel case included for free.View Deal

The Philips OneBlade 360 is a quick, simple and affordable electric razor that's suitable for a wide variety of face and body grooming needs. This jam-packed bundle was a little cheaper over Black Friday, but today's offer is still a solid one. This bundle includes the handle, as well as two spare blades, four different-sized combs, a body kit, and a USB-A charging cable.View Deal

The Wolfbox MF50 is a convenient and extremely easy-to-use air duster, with a single button to cycle through fan speeds, a trigger to fire out the air, and several different attachments to choose between depending on the cleaning job you need it for. It's completely wireless with USB-C charging and lasts up to four hours on a single charge on the lowest setting, too.View Deal

Perhaps you're moving into halls or other university accommodation and want an option to get some exercise in at home, well, this cheap pack of resistance bands could be useful. For under £10, you get five different-strength bands, ranging from light to XX-heavy, that can help with all sorts of different home training, yoga, pilates, and other exercises.View Deal

• Audeze is "deeply involved" with the creation of future PlayStation audio tech
• Peter James, marketing director at Audeze, says there are products in "various stages of development"
• He adds that it's Audeze's goal to bring gamers "better sound"

Premier audio brand Audeze is growing its partnership with Sony and is currently "deeply involved" with the development of future PlayStation audio hardware.

Sony acquired Audeze, a leading audio technology brand and pioneer of high-end gaming headphones, in 2023 to continue its focus on innovation in PlayStation audio. Audeze still operates independently and continues to develop multi-platform products, while also benefiting from access to the PlayStation ecosystem.

Speaking to TechRadar Gaming Managing Editor, Rob Dwiar, during a visit to its California HQ, marketing director Peter James called the partnership "unique" considering Audeze still runs as its own brand.

However, Audeze's "primary function within PlayStation is to develop the next generation of PlayStation audio" and to always offer the "best performance" and "the best sound," he went on to say.

"We're more deeply involved with the creation of PlayStation audio products [than ever before], where you could kind of think of us as the audio Skunk Works for PlayStation."

In terms of specific ways of approaching PlayStation audio products' development, James said, "acoustically speaking, we are developing the sound of all future PlayStation audio products," while he also revealed that there are products that have yet to be released and are in "various stages of development."

The marketing director described how Audeze aims to bring the audio quality of planar magnetic drivers to a wider range of people, and being part of Sony and PlayStation can boost that enormously. "[We're] bringing people to better sound, who in many cases wouldn't know what planar magnetic technology is, [and] wouldn't know why it sounds better."

"They're going to buy [an official headset] because it's a PlayStation headset, but now they're getting an elevated audio experience, and potentially, once they become aware of it, chasing down even more elevated experiences," James said.

"The more people get those [drivers], the more that raises their expectation of the next headphone they buy", he went on to say.

He added that the path ahead is going to make Audeze hardware and the tech more "more ubiquitous" and more accessible: "Previously, the most accessible planar gaming headset was $299, and then we went with Sony and made it $149 [with the Pulse Elite headset], so it's slowly pushing its way down to be much more accessible."

And with Audeze adding another planar magnetic gaming headset to the market in its Audeze Maxwell 2 ANC, as well as being part of every PlayStation audio product henceforth, the future is looking bright and full of premium audio for gamers.

• On August 4, users in Russia reported widespread disruptions to 20+ VPNs
• The attack targets the IPs and entire subnets of major hosting providers
• On August 5, connectivity appeared to have been restored for some

Citizens attempting to bypass Russia's stringent digital censorship are facing fresh obstacles, as a new wave of aggressive government blockages has knocked numerous popular VPN services offline.

On August 4, users across the country reported severe connectivity issues, as reported by Meduza, a Russian independent news outlet. The restrictions appear to have affected more than 20 popular services, making it increasingly difficult for citizens to connect to an open internet.

If you rely on circumvention tools to access independent news, finding the best VPN apps that work in Russia is more crucial than ever. However, this latest blackout suggests the Russian state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, is deploying more sophisticated methods to sever the country's digital lifelines.

These ongoing blockages are becoming a daily reality for citizens, proving that Russians need a VPN to access Google and Apple as unexplained nationwide outages hit core web infrastructure.

On his Telegram channel, Leonid Volkov, an executive at the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), described the current offensive against independent services as "the largest in history," though the exact scale of the disruptions remains difficult to quantify.

A new era of internet censorship in Russia

The recent outages appear to involve broad, aggressive network restrictions.

According to Russian tech outlet SecurityLab, these new restrictions have targeted the IP addresses and entire subnets of major hosting providers, taking a blunt-force approach to network censorship.

Specifically, Volkov speculated on Telegram that Roskomnadzor’s enhanced blocking capabilities might stem from data harvesting. He suggested that domestic Russian applications, such as banking and marketplace apps, could be tracking users and feeding a massive database of IP addresses to state censors for targeted strikes.

This wave coincides with reports that Russia's Ministry of Digital Development (Mintsifry) is planning to tighten control over corporate VPNs.

Sources suggest the government wants to establish a continuous monitoring mechanism with hosting providers to quickly exclude disguised circumvention tools from a whitelist of permitted corporate IP addresses. This aligns with ongoing fears that Russia's solution to its VPN crackdown is a state-owned VPN.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Paper VPN is among the services publicly acknowledging connectivity issues, with some users reporting completely broken connections while others simply experience slower speeds.

In a post published on Wednesday (August 5), the company confirms that "the connection has been restored for most users."

Amnezia VPN — which recently strengthened its apps to fight Russia's new approach to VPN blocking — was caught up in the government's wider summer crackdown. The provider previously restored its premium service in Russia following a devastating state-sponsored cyberattack that lasted a month and a half.

Regarding the August 4 wave, however, the provider stated on its channels that its service is "working reliably" in Russia.

"Friends, over the past two days we have seen many reports of massive blockages of other VPNs. Not long ago this happened to us, but the new wave did not affect us," wrote Amnezia VPN, adding that the team is also currently testing a new "Greenland" location for bypassing whitelists.

TechRadar has reached out to the provider for further comment on the current situation. We will update this story as we learn more.

• ZeroBEC observes Greatness PhaaS evolving to bypass MFA and phish Microsoft 365, iCloud, Yahoo, and Google Workspace accounts
• Attackers spoofed RingCentral emails post‑ShinyHunters breach, luring victims to fake Microsoft 365 logins that capture authentication tokens
• Greatness is sold on Telegram for $289/month, enabling access to Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and more across multiple regions

Microsoft 365 users have been getting phishing emails spoofing RingCentral, designed to steal their accounts even if they were protected by multi-factor authentication (MFA), experts have warned.

Security researchers ZeroBEC claim to have observed a phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform called Greatness evolve to also target MFA accounts, as well.

Greatness used to be a simple credential phishing platform. However, in recent times, it evolved to target not just Microsoft 365 accounts, but also those of iCloud, Yahoo, and Google Workspace.

Grabbing MFA-approved authentication tokens

ZeroBEC notes that RingCentral recently suffered a data breach at the hands of the infamous ShinyHunters hackers, meaning there is a good chance (although not confirmed) that the threat actors exfiltrated a list of emails belonging to RingCentral customers from that attack, and used it in this attack.

Now, RingCentral customers have been getting emails that look as if they are coming from the company itself, despite being mailed from an unknown mail server, and despite failing SPF and DMARC checks. The emails are the standard fake voicemail and performance-review notifications which, if clicked, redirect the victim to attacker-owned infrastructure spoofing the Microsoft 365 login page.

Through this malicious landing page, Greatness operators are able to capture MFA-approved authentication tokens, bypassing the login process entirely and moving straight into victim accounts.

From there, they would enumerate Outlook mailboxes, Teams conversations, and SharePoint sites. They would also access OneDrive files, contacts, calendars, and registered applications through Microsoft Graph.

The number of victims is unknown at the time, but ZeroBEC says Greatness has been active for at least four years now, targeting users in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and South Africa.

According to BleepingComputer, the platform is being advertised for sale on Telegram channels with “thousands of subscribers”, and is currently being offered for a monthly fee of $289.

Via BleepingComputer

Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo: one-minute review

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo is an exceptionally small capsule coffee maker, which brews espresso using the company's own A Modo Mio pods. These vacuum-packed capsules are available in a wide variety of coffee types, roasts, and blends, but unlike Nespresso capsules, there are no elaborate brews with added flavors to choose from.

That's no bad thing in my opinion, because the Jolie Evo produces some of the best espresso I've had from a pod machine, and flavored coffees often tend to taste artificial.

The Jolie Evo is very reasonably priced too (considerably less than the A Modo Mio Smeg and A Modo Mio Deséa), though you'll need to pick up a standalone milk frother too (I recommend either the Smeg Mini Milk Frother or Philips Baristina Milk Frother) if you want to make lattes and cappuccinos.

The controls are extremely simple, with just a single button and a large lever. However, bear in mind that there's no timer, so you'll need to manually tap the button to stop the flow once the machine has dispensed the right amount of coffee.

Overall, it's an excellent compact espresso machine. For me, the only real drawback is that the plastic pods aren't particularly easy to recycle. They can only be dropped off at designated collection points, which can be scarce outside big cities.

(Image credit: Future)Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo: specifications

Name

Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo

Type

Capsule coffee maker

Dimensions (W x H x D)

4.9 x 8.3 x 13 inches / 124 x 210 x 330mm

Weight

5.7lbs / 2.6kg

Water tank capacity

20.3oz / 600ml

Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo: price and availability

• List price £99 / AU$129 (about $190)
• Widely available in UK and Australia
• Listed on Lavazza's US site, but not available at the time of writing

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo has a list price of £99 / AU$129, which is about $133, but at the time of writing the machine doesn't seem to be available to actually buy in the US — even though it's listed on Lavazza's site. So it may become available in the future.

If you're in the UK, you can get the coffee maker for £49 if you subscribe to Lavazza's coffee capsule delivery service.

Even at full price, that's very reasonable for a good quality capsule coffee maker. For comparison, the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg is £249 / AU$349 (about $350), while the Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa is £249 / AU$349 (about $330) — though the latter machine also has a built-in milk-frothing system.

(Image credit: Future)

If you want to make lattes and cappuccinos with the Jolie Evo, you'll need a standalone milk frother like the Lavazza MilkEasy Plus, which is priced at £79 / AU$119 (about $150) — or the Smeg Mini Milk Frother or Philips Baristina Milk Frother I mentioned earlier.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo: design

• Ideal for small kitchens
• Only two controls (lever and button)
• Lever is ergonomic and easy to use

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo is easily one of the smallest coffee makers I’ve tested, measuring a mere 4.9 x 8.3 x 13 inches / 124 x 210 x 330mm (W x H x D). That’s even tinier than the diminutive Nespresso Vertuo Pop, which is 5.3 x 9.8 x 16.7 inches / 136 x 250 x 426mm. It’s ideal for slotting into small spaces, and you can even route the power cable right or left underneath the machine if you need it to sit against a wall.

The Lavazza machine looks classier than its Nespresso counterpart as well, with a smart matte finish and a large chrome handle on top. Pulling this handle up opens a slot on top of the machine. so you can slide a coffee pod inside.

(Image credit: Future)

Pushing it back down closes the drawer and pierces the pod, and pulling it up a second time will drop the used capsule into a small bin behind the Jolie Evo’s drip tray. The bin has a grille at the bottom that allows the pods to drain so they’re dry when you remove them for recycling, which is a thoughtful touch.

The large lever is easy to grip and requires barely any force to move, which makes this a particularly good option for people with limited strength or mobility in their hands.

The drip tray has a plastic grate that can be removed for easy cleaning, and is just the right height for an espresso cup. A standard size cup or mug will fit neatly under the dispenser with the drip tray detached.

(Image credit: Future)

Other than the handle, there is just one control on the Jolie Evi: a button on top of the machine, with a white light to indicate the machine’s current status: blinking means heating, and white means ready to brew.

It’s available in black and white in Australia, with a gray option also offered in the UK. It was sold in green and red too when it launched in the US.

• Design score: 5/5

Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo: performance

• Extremely simple to use, but there's no timer for the coffee dispenser
• It makes delicious espresso in moments
• Its pods can be hard to recycle compared to Nespresso aluminum ones

What makes the Jolie Evo different from all other capsule coffee makers I’ve tested to date is its lack of a timer for brewing different sized drinks. Once you’ve pressed its single button, the little machine will continue dispensing coffee (or hot water, if there’s no pod inside) until you either tap the button again or the tank is empty.

This isn’t ideal if you want to leave your coffee maker to handle itself while you’re preparing the rest of your breakfast, but making a double espresso takes less than a minute so it’s no real hardship.

I would recommend using a measuring cup as your recepticle, though, at least until you’ve got your eye in, because it’s easy to under or over-estimate the output. You could use a coffee scale to a perfect measure, but it would be overkill; this entry-level machine makes a very good espresso, but it’s not intended for real aficionados.

(Image credit: Future)

It uses Lavazza’s own A Modo Mio capsules, which are excellent value compared to most coffee pods. Different types command different prices, but you can pick up 80 Qualità Rossa pods direct from Lavazza for £24.50 (about $30 / AU$50). That’s just over 30p per drink, compared to 49p for the cheapest Nespresso Vertuo pods.

Unlike Nespresso, the Modo Mio selection doesn’t include elaborate flavored drinks; there are various beans, blends and roasts to choose from in Lavazza’s store, but each pod contains only ground coffee with no extras. That's no bad thing, in my opinion — coffee capsules with added flavors can taste unpleasantly artificial.

(Image credit: Future)

I tested the Jolie Evo with three of Lavazza’s coffees: Qualità Rossa, Passionale, and Qualità Oro. Each comes in a box of 16, and is marked with an intensity score out of 12 to give you an idea of what to expect. The first is a blend of robusta and arabica beans, while the other two are 100% arabica.

My personal favorite was the Qualità Oro, which produced one of the best-tasting espressos I’ve had from a capsule machine and is described as “Sweet and delicate taste, with an intense and fragrant aroma”.

It goes particularly well with milk in a white americano or (if you also pick up a milk frother) a creamy latte.

The problem with these pods, delicious though they are, is that they can be difficult to recycle. Nespresso pods are made entirely from aluminum, which is relatively easy to process once the coffee grounds are removed, and there’s almost certain to be a location nearby where you can drop off the used capsules. If not, you can mail them off for recycling with a pre-paid bag.

(Image credit: Future)

By contrast, Lavazza A Modo Mio pods are mostly plastic and can be recycled in the UK through the company’s partnership with Terracycle, but collection points are few and far between.

If there’s nowhere to drop off your pods, your only option is to start your own collection point, accepting pods from other people and sending them for processing yourself. Individuals can’t send their pods in the mail.

South England is relatively well-served, but at the time of writing there are only four drop-off points in Scotland, and none at all in Wales or Northern Ireland.

• Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo?Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo Score Card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

The most affordable A Modo Mio coffee maker, though not currently available in the US.

4.5/5

Design

Stylish and super compact, with ergonomically designed controls.

5/5

Performance

Brews delicious espresso, but lacks a timer to stop flow, and pods can be hard to recycle.

4/5

Buy it if

You have a small kitchen
This is the most compact coffee maker I've tested to date, and the fact its cable can be routed to the right or left means you can push it right up against a wall if you need to.

You have limited dexterity in your hands
The large lever handle requires virtually no effort to push and pull, and there's just one button to worry about. All removable pieces are easy to detach for cleaning as well.

Don't buy it if

You want elaborate flavored coffees
A Modo Mio capsules are full of nothing but unadulterated ground coffee, so if you want something fancier you'll need to add your own syrup.

You want easily recyclable coffee pods
A Modo Mio capsules are plastic and can only be recycled if you drop them at a designated collection point. You can't send them in the mail for processing.

Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo: also consider

If you're not sure whether the Jolie Evo is the right espresso machine for you, here are two others to think about.

Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa
This is Lavazza's most advanced A Modo Mio machine, with its own built-in milk frother, though it's only compatible with Lavazza's own glass mug.

Read our full Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa review

Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly
Just as easy to use as the Jolie Evo, and affordably priced too. There's a huge range of Tassimo pods to choose from, though they can get pricey — particularly ones for milky drinks that require two capsules each.

Read our full Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly review

How I tested the Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo

I used the Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo in place of my usual espresso machine for two weeks. I used three different types of A Modo Mio capsules (Qualità Rossa, Passionale, and Qualità Oro), drinking it neat as an espresso, and using the Jolie Evo to add extra hot water to make an americano.

I set up and cleaned the machine following the directions in the instruction manual, and allowed the components to air-dry before reassembly.

• For more details, see how TechRadar tests, reviews, and rates products.
• First reviewed: August 2026

• Some leaked Pixel 11 marketing materials suggest that Pixel Glow could instead be called HiLight
• This new feature might work with both Gemini and notifications
• We've rated the likelihood of this and various other Pixel 11 series rumors

The Google Pixel 11 series is just a week away now, with the phones set for an August 12 launch. But as ever with phone launches, plenty of details have leaked in advance of that date, so we already have some idea of what to expect.

The latest of those leaks details a brand-new feature, reportedly dubbed HiLight, but we’ve heard all sorts of other things recently too about the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold.

So, below, we've listed the most interesting of the latest Pixel 11 leaks, and rated how accurate we think they are.

1. New HiLight feature

Pixel Glow is officially called HiLight, I'd say.

— @rquandt.bsky.social (@rquandt.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-08-05T15:55:13.608Z

For a while now, we’ve been hearing that the Pixel 11 series might have lights on its rear panel, seemingly to power a feature previously thought to be called Pixel Glow. But now it seems that Pixel Glow might actually be called HiLight.

In a post on Bluesky, reputable leaker Roland Quandt has shared what appears to be an official French marketing image for the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and it refers to this feature as HiLight, explaining (once translated) that “when your smartphone is face down, HiLight lights up discreetly when your favorite contacts call or when you chat with Gemini.”

So, it looks to be an evolution of the old-school notification light, though we still have questions about it — images show it displaying multiple colors, so we wonder whether specific colors or patterns can be set for specific kinds of notifications.

In any case, Google itself has officially teased this feature too, so while we can’t be 100% sure of the name, we’re certain that at least some Pixel 11 models will have lights on the back.

• Likelihood: 10/10

2. Higher prices

The Google Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Not all of the Pixel 11 rumors are good ones, as we’ve also heard that these phones could have higher prices than their predecessors.

Specifically, according to Android Headlines, the Pixel 11 will start at $899, the Pixel 11 Pro at $1,099, the Pixel 11 Pro XL at $1,299, and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold at $1,899.

That, in all cases, represents a $100 increase on last year's models, though in the case of the Pixel 11 and the Pixel 11 Pro, you’re also apparently getting a storage boost, with 256GB said to be the starting capacity rather than 128GB. The other two models, though, come with the same starting capacity as their predecessors according to this leak, so it would just be a straight price rise.

We don’t have UK or Australian price leaks, but we’d expect Google to apply increases globally. For reference, the Pixel 10 starts at £799 / AU$1,349 in those regions, the Pixel 10 Pro at £999 / AU $1,699, the Pixel 10 Pro XL at £1,199 / AU $1,999, and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold at £1,749 / AU $2,699.

So, if this leak is right, you can expect higher prices than that this year, and there’s a good chance this leak is correct, given the ongoing RAM price crisis.

• Likelihood: 8/10

3. New colorsLeaked images showing the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro9to5Google / AmazonLeaked images showing the Pixel 11 Pro Fold9to5Google / Amazon

New models usually mean new colors, and the Google Pixel 11 series looks to be no exception, with a whole selection of shades having leaked on Amazon.

These include Midnight (black), Fuchsia (pink), and Moss (green) for the Pixel 11, Dune (a pale pink), Sterling (a grayish lavender), Pine (green), and Light Fog (a pale blue) for the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL, and Midnight and Pine for the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.

Those — at least in terms of their names — are all different to what you’ll find with the Pixel 10 series, though in practice some of them will probably be similar.

Still, it’s a largely appealing bunch going by the pictures, with a mix of bright and understated shades. The leaked images of them look fairly official too, so there’s a good chance these are what we’ll get.

• Likelihood: 7/10

4. New chipset

The Google Pixel 10 Pro (Image credit: Future)

The one spec upgrade you can be almost certain of in a new phone is that it will have an improved chipset, and so we fully expect the Pixel 11 series to replace the Pixel 10’s Tensor G5 chipset with a Tensor G6, and leaks agree.

From what we’ve heard across various leaks, this chipset could pair a significant upgrade in CPU performance with a rather small improvement in GPU performance. So, it might not be a complete home run for Google, but it should still deliver plenty of power overall.

• Likelihood: 9/10

5. Fewer cameras for the Pixel 11

The Google Pixel 10 has three rear cameras (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

As well as costing more, the Pixel 11 could have at least one spec downgrade compared to its predecessor, as Android Headlines reports that it will have just two cameras on the back — a wide and an ultra-wide, with no telephoto.

The Google Pixel 10 had these and a telephoto camera, so this would be quite a reduction in specs if it’s correct.

We would therefore take this rumor with a pinch of salt, since usually we expect upgrades from new models. But it might help Google keep the costs down in the face of rising component prices, and that would still keep it in line with a key rival in the iPhone 17, which also lacks a telephoto camera.

• Likelihood: 5/10

6. Less RAM

The Pixel 11 Pro might have less RAM than the Pixel 10 Pro (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

That’s not the end of the possible downgrades, as we’re also hearing from the same Android Headlines report that the Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL could come in configurations with just 12GB of RAM, whereas the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL came with 16GB.

There will apparently still be 16GB models, but these will of course cost more, pushing prices up even higher.

A price increase combined with a RAM reduction could be a tough pill to swallow, but this is somewhat believable given that RAM pricing is increasingly out of control.

• Likelihood: 6/10

7. 120x zoom

The Google Pixel 10 Pro XL has 100x zoom (Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Thankfully, there is still another major potential upgrade to talk about, as some Pixel 11 Pro marketing images shared by Evan Blass — a leaker with a superb track record — mention 120x zoom. And if the Pixel 11 Pro has this feature, the Google Pixel 11 Pro XL almost certainly will as well.

Now, this wouldn’t be an optical zoom, of course; instead, you can expect it to be some kind of AI-boosted digital zoom. And it’s a believable claim, since not only does the source have a great track record, but the Pixel 10 Pro series already offers 100x zoom.

Still, that extra 20x would mean these phones could zoom further than almost any other handset.

• Likelihood: 8/10

• We're saying goodbye to Google Assistant on more devices
• September 4 is the cut-off point for Android and Wear OS
• The process of switching over to Gemini is pretty seamless

Google Assistant had a good run — it made its debut in May 2016 as part of the Allo app (remember that?) — but Gemini is very much the future when it comes to Google-made AI helpers, and now we finally know when Google Assistant will stop working on Android phones and Wear OS wearables.

As per emails sent out to some Google Assistant users (via 9to5Google), the Android and Wear OS shutdown will begin on Friday, September 4. From that point, it may take a few weeks to reach every user and every device.

It means you won't be able to use Google Assistant at all on Android phones, tablets, and paired wearables. This will apply to Android Auto too, though vehicles with Google built-in, Google Assistant will carry on functioning for a little longer.

The cut-off point was originally scheduled for sometime last year, before being extended, but it now looks as though this is final. Google has been busy making Gemini the default choice on a multitude of gadgets in recent months, including smart home devices and Google TV streamers.

What to do next

The future is Gemini (Image credit: Google)

If you're still using Google Assistant on Android or Wear OS, you need to move over to Gemini at your earliest opportunity. If it didn't already come preinstalled on your device, you can get it from the Google Play Store. A whole new world of AI awaits, covering everything from basic phone commands to image creation.

When you're setting up Gemini, it will guide you through the process of replacing Google Assistant as the default on-board AI. As you're using the same Google account for both apps, the switch should be pretty seamless.

Google Assistant doesn't really keep a chat archive, so there's nothing to sync over in terms of conversations. If you want to see your old Google Assistant interactions, they'll still be available via the Web & App Activity page in your Google account.

You can carry on using the old Google Assistant commands with Gemini, including the "hey Google" alert phrase that gets the AI to listen for instructions. Everything should work as before — though there have been some issues along the way — and your Gemini conversations will be synced between devices by default.