Technology

Apple may seem like an obvious winner for most, but readers’ responses say this brand is a force to be reckoned with in the smartphone space.

• A new teaser trailer for the forthcoming Musk documentary has landed
• It features footage of SpaceX rockets and spicy quotes about Musk
• Musk will be in theaters from October 16 before an HBO release

A new teaser trailer for the documentary Musk has landed on YouTube ahead of the much-anticipated film's premiere today at the Venice Film Festival.

The 48-second teaser (below) provides a taster of the documentary's likely divisive reflections on the world's richest man. It contrasts quotes calling him "the real-life Iron Man" and "the greatest capitalist in history" with some less complementary reactions — with one stating that "in a science fiction novel, he would not be the hero".

The documentary's Academy-Award winning director, Alex Gibney, has a strong track record with pieces about powerful people and corporations, having previously made classics like Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.

His Musk documentary has been over three years in the making, with Gibney revealing that he'd started work on it back in March 2023. Elon Musk isn't particularly happy about the documentary's release, posting on X back on August 6 that "it’s a hit piece" and that "Gibney is incapable of anything else".

Musk says director is trying to 'bore people to death'

Aside from its polarizing subject, the Musk documentary is notable for another reason – its run time is almost four hours. That's something that Musk himself also poked fun at on X, stating "is he trying to bore people to death?"

The trailer doesn't give a huge amount away about its conclusions, but Alex Gibney did reveal a little more in a chat with AP earlier this week. "In some ways it’s a simple story (with) a lot of complicated details," he told AP.

"I think his genius, if there is a genius, is that he is not an inventor, he’s an investor. His genius is stock pumping," he added. We can expect the documentary, like the trailer, to stir a lot of controversy then, particularly as it also delves into Musk's relationship with Trump.

It’s a hit piece. Gibney is incapable of anything else. Also, 4 hours!! Is trying to bore people to death?August 6, 2026

So does Musk himself appear in the documentary, or did he try to prevent it from reaching screens? "He didn’t really except in so far as the fact that people were terribly afraid to speak to me on the record, or at least on camera," Gibney told AP. "They were just terrified of Elon. And these were people in his companies. These were people who knew him well. These were supporters and critics," he added.

The Musk documentary will be released theatrically in the US on October 16. There's currently no confirmation of a UK release, but it's also expected to stream on HBO Max later this year.

• A new leak has shed light on a rumored new watchOS 27 feature
• It could see improvements to Apple’s Workout app on Apple Watch
• The app might let you log individual reps and sets for strength routines

Apple’s watchOS 27 is almost upon us, and it’s going to arrive alongside the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at the company’s Surprise and Shine event tomorrow. When that happens, there could be a new feature for the best Apple Watches that finally fixes a problem that has bugged me for years.

According to information supposedly found in the watchOS 27 beta and posted on the MacRumors forum, Apple is planning to boost the Workout app with a new feature that adds more control to your strength-based exercise routines.

Specifically, the leak asserts it will take the form of “richer details in strength workouts”.

“The new implementation can describe individual sets and store repetition counts, weight, equipment, body side, and duration for each set,” the leaker added. “A workout activity can now represent a session with multiple sets, with different loads and repetition counts in each.”

In other words, Apple might finally be implementing features that rival apps have offered for years. SmartGym gives you this kind of functionality, for example, and it’s one of the best Apple Watch apps around — it was even named Apple Watch App of the Year by Apple in 2023. Apple is evidently aware that its Workout app has fallen behind in this area — but will its solution be enough to catch up?

It’s about time

SmartGym has been able to count your reps and sets for years. (Image credit: SmartGym)

While I’ve been able to log my workout sessions in my Apple Watch’s Workout app, I’ve had to store the actual routines — including rep and set counts for each machine — in the Notes app. It means having to constantly flick between the two apps while I’m exercising, which is far from ideal.

Add to that the fact that the Workout app just records a single monolithic workout, with no way to log my reps and sets, and I come away from my time at the gym with no insight into how I did on any particular exercise.

So if this rumor ends up being on the money (and the feature actually works as intended), it could end up being one of my favorite additions to the Apple Watch ecosystem. If Apple is able to let me create an exercise plan filled up with rep and set counts, then take me through it when I hit the gym, I’ll be one happy camper.

That said, there are still some unanswered questions. For instance, SmartGym works completely independently of your iPhone and shows you everything you need on your Apple Watch face. Will Apple’s updated Workout app be able to do the same? That would make it even more useful.

And yes, you can already create a set and rest timer system, with labelling to show which exercises you've completed, using the lesser-known Custom Workout routine, but is still much more limited than I’d like it to be. It’s more of a workaround than a real solution.

With the new Apple Watches and their features set to be unveiled tomorrow, there’s not long to wait to see if my wish becomes reality. If Apple is finally able to match its rivals, it’ll be a case of better late than never — but I won’t mind one bit.

You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a printer for occasional home or home office use. I've picked out three Amazon inkjet printer deals that bring capable all-in-one models comfortably below $100. All three can print, scan and copy in color, with wireless connectivity for printing from your computer or mobile devices.

My top recommendation here is the Canon Pixma TS6520 is down to $81 (was $141 thanks to the quickest print speeds of the three, and the inclusion of automatic two-sided printing.

A good alternative is the HP Envy 6155 costs $90 (was $160). However, for the cheapest printer, check out the HP DeskJet 2955 at just $60 (was $90), making it the ideal price for back-to-school students and casual home printing.

Today's top inkjet printer deals under $100

Pixma TS6520 Wireless Color Inkjet Printer: was $140.99 now $80.48
The Pixma TS6520 combines printing, scanning and copying with automatic duplex and borderless printing, dual-band Wi-Fi, a 1.42-inch OLED display and speeds reaching 14ppm black and 9ppm color.View Deal

Deskjet 2955 Wireless All-In-One Color Inkjet Printer: was $89.99 now $59.99
DeskJet 2955 provides color printing, scanning and copying, dual-band Wi-Fi, mobile printing, a 60-sheet input tray and print speeds reaching 7.5ppm black and 5.5ppm color.View Deal

Envy 6155 Wireless All-In-One Color Inkjet Printer: was $159.99 now $89.99
The Envy 6155 prints, scans and copies, with automatic two-sided printing, a 100-sheet input tray, 2.4-inch color touchscreen, dual-band Wi-Fi and speeds up to 10ppm black and 7ppm color.View Deal

Why we recommend them

All three cover the essentials for a home office without taking you over $100. The $59.99 HP DeskJet 2955 is the obvious budget choice if your printing requirements are fairly basic.

Spending another $20.49 on the Canon Pixma model gets you considerably faster print speeds, automatic duplex printing and a small OLED display. It's a great middle-ground, with more features and quickest print speeds.

At $89.99, the HP Envy 6155 costs the most of the three, but it adds a larger 100-sheet input tray and 2.4-inch color touchscreen alongside automatic two-sided printing, which is better for a home office setup.

Both HP models also include a three-month trial of Instant Ink.

For more options, take a look at our round ups of the best home printers, and best inkjet printers.

Price context & historical value

The largest saving is on the HP Envy 6155, which has fallen from $159.99 to $89.99, knocking $70 off the price. The HP DeskJet 2955 drops from $89.99 to $59.99, saving you $30. Both HP printers are the cheapest we've seen them to date on Amazon.

The Canon Pixma TS6520 has been reduced from $140.99 to $80.48, saving you $60.51. This isn't the cheapest it's ever been as it was priced at $59.25 earlier this year.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy one of these printers if...

You need an inexpensive all-in-one for relatively light home or home office duties. All three handle printing, scanning and copying without requiring much desk space. Wireless connectivity means you aren't restricted to printing from a computer connected by USB.

❌ Skip one of these printers if...

You regularly print dozens or hundreds of pages at a time. These are home inkjet printers designed for relatively modest workloads, so a faster printer with a larger paper capacity and lower running costs would make more sense for a busy office. I would personally consider buying an ink tank printer instead.

The Catch: What to know before you buy

Ink costs are worth considering before choosing any inexpensive inkjet printer, as the purchase price is only part of the long-term expense. The two HP printers include three months of Instant Ink, but you'll be charged a monthly subscription fee if you continue the service after the trial.

The HP models are also designed to work with cartridges containing original HP chips or circuitry, which limits your options for using cheaper third-party cartridges. If automatic two-sided printing is important, bear in mind that it's offered by the Envy 6155 and Canon Pixma TS6520 but isn't listed among the DeskJet 2955's features.

“I've seen AIs of me sitting with Obama talking about insane things that we never did”.

George Clooney is clearly concerned about the power that AI has to produce deepfakes that are so real you can’t tell that they’re fake, especially when they contain images of world leaders.

“We were never there having a conversation. It is me doing it. And okay, that's a joke for people. But what happens if you see a video of Putin saying he's launched the first nuclear strike [against] the United States — how do you discern it?”

Clooney was raising his concerns in Venice at the ‘The Future of... Creativity’ symposium presented by Finch & Partners and Creative Artists Agency (CAA). George Clooney and Maggie Gyllenhaal were among the international group of artists, filmmakers, musicians, cultural thinkers and technology leaders who gathered to discuss how technology is changing creative work, and the people who produce it.

The panel discussions were moderated by the journalist and broadcaster Emily Maitlis, who asked Clooney, “is there a fear of replacement, as an actor?”

Clooney acknowledged the risk, but also the problem inherent with AI actors, which is that it’s going to be hard to create an AI movie star: “Well, there's two different conversations we're talking about. As an actor, there will be some portion of that that will be replaced. AI will have the exact same problem that I have as a director, and that we all have as filmmakers, which is how you make a star, because that’s hard to do.”

‘And it fundamentally did not work’

(Image credit: The Future of Creativity hosted by Finch & Partners & CCA in Venice)

Actor and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal cited a recent experience with AI on her upcoming short film Flesh Impact about Marilyn Monroe, commenting: “I did try working with AI on this project […] I have a 100-year-old Marilyn Monroe, and then I also have flashbacks to Marilyn Monroe when she's in her 30s. I have Dakota Johnson playing her, who is an incredible artist in my opinion. And the people who commissioned this project asked me to use AI […] and I went for it. I was like, 'All right, I'm curious. I don't know. Let's see.' And it fundamentally did not work.”

Ultimately, Gyllenhaal found that AI was not able to replicate the nuances of human performance and emotion.

“The idea was that we trained it on her. We then put her face on Dakota's face; we worked very hard at it, and in the end, they threw it away because [… ] Dakota playing Marilyn Monroe, was so much more moving, human, alive. All the reasons we decided to make this project to begin with”.

It’s perhaps reassuring to hear filmmakers say that while a fabricated AI clip can be convincing enough to mislead someone, it can’t deliver the emotional depth a director wants from a performance. Gyllenhaal’s experience offers a reason for creative optimism, even as Clooney’s raises concerns about what audiences will believe.

81% of UK knowledge workers now use AI weekly. That's adoption. What it isn't, is transformation.

Most organizations have layered AI onto broken processes and fragmented systems and called it progress.

Meanwhile, 82% of UK IT leaders have absorbed unexpected AI cost increases, and 58% report high adoption with limited measurable productivity gains.

We have a usage problem dressed up as a strategy.

Here's what's actually going wrong and what needs to change.

Adoption without redesign is theatre

AI doesn't fix bad processes. It accelerates them. If your data is fragmented, your ownership is unclear, and your workflows are inefficient, deploying AI makes those problems faster, not smaller.

Real value requires asking harder questions: Where do decisions actually get made? Which processes should fundamentally change? Who owns the outcome? Until you answer those, you're generating AI activity, not business impact.

Own the outcome or don't deploy

Nearly two-thirds of UK IT leaders say they're fully accountable for AI-driven business outcomes, while AI deployment is spreading across departments, often outside governance structures. That's a recipe for accountability without visibility.

IT management sets the framework. That's necessary. But every business leader who owns a process needs to own how AI changes that process. What does success look like? Who monitors it? Who's responsible when it goes wrong?

If you can't answer those questions before you scale, don't scale.

Shadow AI is a signal, not just a risk

One in four UK workers use unapproved AI tools. The instinct is to lock it down. The smarter read: your people are telling you your current tools create friction, and they've moved on without you.

Restriction isn't a strategy. Channel that demand toward trusted tools with real governance, then use governance as an accelerant, not a brake. The organizations moving fastest are the ones that treat low-risk use cases as low-risk, and reserve serious scrutiny for high-stakes applications.

Context is the missing layer

Nearly half of UK IT leaders say AI initiatives stall because AI lacks organizational context. That's not a technology problem, it's a work infrastructure problem.

Think about how you'd onboard a new hire. You'd give them the org structure, the priorities, the decision rights, the rules. An AI agent needs the same. Without it, even capable models produce output that someone has to spend 30 minutes correcting, which is exactly what's happening.

The fix is connecting AI to where work already lives. Not asking employees to reconstruct context every time they open a prompt.

Measure outcomes, not usage

If your AI metrics are licenses purchased, prompts submitted, or hours theoretically saved, you're measuring the wrong thing. The question is whether the work is improving.

Are customer issues resolving faster? Are teams spending less time searching for information? Are the right decisions getting made with better speed? At Asana, we built an AI seller assistant and measured its impact on the sales process, response rates, net-new meetings booked. That's the bar.

The accountability question is only going to get harder

Agents are coming. Systems that act on behalf of people, not just assist them. When that happens, organizations will need to know: which agents exist, who created them, what they can access, what they're authorized to do, and how their performance is tracked.

This isn't a future problem. The organizations building that discipline now will be the ones who can scale agentic AI without the governance catching up after the fact.

The businesses pulling ahead won't be the ones using the most AI. They'll be the ones who've connected it to clear ownership, proportionate governance, and the workflows where execution actually happens.

Adoption is table stakes. Value is the real work.

We've listed the best productivity tools.

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

• Just 52% of Brits are familiar with the concept of a data center
• Positive sentiments are down, while negative perception is up
• This report calls for greater transparency and public engagement

New research has revealed only one in two (52%) Brits are aware of the term data center, but despite growing awareness (with the figure up from 40% in 2024), three in five (59%) are still unsure about what a data center is or what it does.

Despite slow growth in awareness and a UK designation for data centers as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), fewer people believe data centers have a positive impact on the digital services they use both at home and in work.

Today, only 37% of British citizens see them as having a positive impact, down from 48% two years ago. On the flip side, negative perception has risen from 4% to 15% in the same period, the report from Telehouse found.

British citizens see data centers in a negative light

Among the biggest concerns is energy consumption, with more than half (56%) of the respondents worried about the amount of electricity these campuses use.

But with awareness of the concept in general rising year-over-year, Telehouse believes there's scope to turn this awareness into understanding and confidence. "As an industry, we have a role to play in closing that gap by working more closely together, being more transparent, engaging openly with the public and communities and doing a better job of explaining the value data centres enable," EVP and GM for Telehouse Europe, Mark Pestridge, explained.

The report indirectly alludes to the fact that worker and consumer AI use is disproportionate to education, which explains why public scrutiny may be accelerating more quickly.

When the UK government designated data centers as CNI, the then-Technology Secretary Peter Kyle described them as "the engines of modern life."

"The objective now is helping people understand why data centres matter and how it supports everyone’s lives," Pestridge added.

• Dyson has launched an updated version of its 2020 Corrale straightener
• The Corrale CoolShine has a clever heat-removing attachment
• The brand has also unveiled a hot brush called the Airsmooth

In recent years, Dyson's hair gadget efforts seem have been mostly focused on its Airwrap styler and Supersonic hair dryer lines. So when I was invited to a showcase of the brand's new launches, I was expecting, perhaps, some cool new attachments or an upgraded Supersonic. I was equal parts surprised and pleased to see something altogether more novel.

There's a brand new tool — which I'll get into in a minute — as well as a surprise second-gen version of the Corrale straightener, called the Corrale CoolShine. If that name isn't ringing any bells, I don't blame you. The original Dyson Coralle came out in 2020 and never quite managed to set the haircare world alight.

I tried a Corrale out at the time and although I didn't hate it, it didn't make it into my regular styling routine. So I was especially pleased to see that the surprise second gen has tweaked or removed my least-liked features, and added some more that I'm genuinely excited to use.

(Image credit: Future)

One key feature of the original was that it was cordless. That's all well and good, but the knock-on effect was that it was also really very heavy and chunky. The Corrale CoolShine is not cordless, and as a result it can be nice and streamlined and lightweight. I'm very happy with this about-turn; the new, compact shape is much more comfortable to hold, and easier to direct precisely.

What a flex

The flexible plates from the first-gen version are still present here. They have to be, really — these are what 'corrale' the strands of hair, applying gentle pressure to, theoretically, allow for effective straightening at lower temperatures.

However, they've been downsized in line with the general shrinking of the straightener, and are slimmer in width. In their new format, they look much less likely to snag on strands of hair, as the previous version could sometimes do.

(Image credit: Future)

That's the 'Corrale' covered, but where does the 'CoolShine' come in? This refers to a unique-to-the-market cooling attachment. It comes in the form of a pair of frames that slide over each of the hot plates, and clip in place. They feature a heat-extracting copper pipe that contains water and is designed to help remove residual heat from hair.

So the central plate gets hot as usual, and then the bars either side of the plate pull the heat away immediately, helping you avoid heat damage. Dyson promises "hair that is cooler to the touch during and after styling, with a smoother, softer feel".

When it was initially announced, it sounded like kind of cold plumbing system, but speaking to a Dyson representative at the product showcase, I learned the system is subtler and more complex.

The tube has just a 'bead' of water in it — if you're envisaging cold water running through it, that's not the case — and it will absorb some of the heat of the plates as you style, so don't expect those bars to remain cold as you style. I'd be very interested to try it out for myself to see how much of a difference these plates make in practice.

There was a Dyson Corrale CoolShine being demoed at the event, and I was very impressed at how it managed to take the model's coily hair to perfectly smooth with an incredible glassy finish — but the kicker is that the stylist (and Dyson rep) wasn't using the CoolShine attachment.

The representative explained to me that the frame is removable to allow for precision styling, as well as in instances where you need to get right up to the root. Both were required here.

A final welcome touch is that Dyson has added universal voltage, so you'll be able to take the tool away with you when you travel abroad.

Full of hot air

The other new gadget is the Dyson Airsmooth brush dryer. This is a fairly traditional hot brush, for creating bouncy blowouts, but — of course — there's a bit of a Dyson twist.

The engineers have added two different types of bristles: some with loops at the top, and some with open bases. The former are engineered so they provide the right amount of tension for a smooth finish, without snagging on a range of different hair types. The latter are meant to diffuse and control the airflow for less turbulence and less frizz.

(Image credit: Future)

Dyson has given the Airsmooth a teardrop profile, to enable you to get closer to the root. I've seen this before, on the Shark Glam, and it works well there. There's also intelligent heat control keeping temperatures stable, and again, there's universal voltage — good news for your holiday hair.

(Image credit: Future)

The Dyson Corrale CoolShine straightener will have a list price of $329 / £TBC / AU$499. The Airsmooth dryer brush will cost $249 / £199.99 / AU$399 at sticker price.

The Airsmooth dryer brush goes on sale from Dyson US and Dyson UK today (September 8) in the US, with the Corrale CoolShine joining it on September 15.

At Dyson Australia, the hot brush is already on sale (launched September 4) and the straightener will arrive in November.

• Stream UCL 2026/27 free on Virgin Media Play & RTÉ Player (Ireland)
• Unlock your stream with Surfshark (save up to 85%)
• Champions League Matchday 1: Tue, Sep 8 – Thu, Sep 10 (fixtures below)

The Champions League 2026/27 draw is proof, if it was needed, that the world does indeed revolve around Jose Mourinho. Having reunited with Real Madrid, he'll reconvene with two more of his former clubs right off the bat, beginning with a blockbuster clash against Inter Milan, with whom he won a treble 16 years ago.

Los Blancos have dominated this fixture, but the Nerazzurri, revitalised under erstwhile Jose favourite Cristian Chivu, who led them to a domestic double last term, rarely go down without a fight. They've scored in 17 of their last 19 UCL games.

The pick of Wednesday's games sees Atletico Madrid visit Liverpool. Having failed to win any of their 10 group or league phase ties against English opposition, it's fair to say the Colchoneros don't travel well, but the Reds are rebuilding under Andoni Iraola – and the process is off to a slow start. If Diego Simeone can get Julian Alvarez back on side, Atleti have every chance of silencing Anfield.

Back-to-back champions PSG aside, Bodo / Glimt were the stars of last season's Champions League campaign. Kjetil Knutsen's minnows stunned Man City, Inter (twice), Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon, and did so by playing a positive, free-scoring brand of football. Six-time European champions Bayern Munich have been warned.

Here's how to watch Champions League 2026/27 from anywhere in the world. We've also listed the Matchday 1 UCL fixtures below.

Champions League 2026/27 schedule

Click to see more ▼

(All times UK)

Matchday 1

Tuesday, September 8
5.45pm – AEK Athens vs LASK
5.45pm – Club Brugge vs Aston Villa | FREE on Virgin Media Play
8pm – Borussia Dortmund vs Villarreal
8pm – Lille vs Real Betis
8pm – Porto vs Man City
8pm – Real Madrid vs Inter Milan | FREE on Virgin Media Play

Wednesday, September 9
5.45pm – Barcelona vs Feyenoord | FREE on Virgin Media Play
5.45pm – Stuttgart vs Viking
8pm – Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid | FREE on RTÉ Player
8pm – Napoli vs Arsenal | FREE on Virgin Media Play
8pm – PSG vs Slovan Bratislava
8pm – Sporting Lisbon vs Galatasaray

Thursday, September 10
5.45pm – Fenerbahce vs Roma | FREE on Virgin Media Play
5.45pm – PSV vs Shakhtar Donetsk
8pm – Bayern Munich vs Bodo / Glimt | FREE on Virgin Media Play
8pm – Como vs RB Leipzig
8pm – Man Utd vs Sabah | FREE on RTÉ Player
8pm – Slavia Prague vs Lens

Can you watch Champions League 2026/27 for free?

Yes. Select Champions League games are shown on free-to-air Virgin Media and RTÉ channels in Ireland each matchweek, with live streaming available via Virgin Media Play and RTÉ Player.

Free Champions League coverage is also available via RTL Play in Belgium and Tabii in Turkey

Extensive free highlights are available in the UK, courtesy of BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch UCL 2026/27 games for free as if you were right at home.

Use a VPN to watch Champions League 2026/27 live streams

A VPN is a handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country and unlock your usual streaming services. The best VPN right now? We recommend Surfshark – it does everything and comes with up to 85% off.

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Get Surfshark today and stream Champions League 2026/27 from anywhere. View Deal

How to watch Champions League 2026/27 live streams in the US

In the US, all 189 games of the 2026/27 Champions League campaign are available to live stream on Paramount+.

The Paramount+ price starts at $8.99/month or $89.99/year. However, you can access Paramount+ virtually for free with a Walmart Plus 30-day trial for $1.

Outside the US for a game? Use Surfshark to access your usual coverage.

How to watch Champions League 2026/27 live streams in the UK

(Image credit: Other)

Champions League 2026/27 coverage is split between TNT Sports and Amazon Prime in the UK.

You can add TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or get an HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports. Prices start at £25.99/month if you commit to a year.

Amazon Prime, which shows one Tuesday game each Matchweek, costs £8.99/month or £95/year after a 30-day free trial. Students and 18-24 year-olds can get it for £4.49/month or £47.49/year.

Alternatively, free-to-air BBC One will air a Champions League highlights show on Wednesday and Thursday nights, with streaming available via BBC iPlayer.

If you're out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

How to watch Champions League 2026/27 live streams in Australia

(Image credit: free)

Stan Sport is showing all 189 games of the 2026/27 Champions League season in Australia.

Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$9.99/month. It's also home to the Premier League, Super Rugby, Six Nations and Nations Championship.

You can simply use a VPN like Surfshark to watch all the action as if you were back home.

How to watch Champions League 2026/27 live streams in Canada

(Image credit: Other)

In Canada, all 189 games of the 2026/27 Champions League campaign are available to watch on DAZN.

A subscription starts at CA$24.99/month, for a plan that also includes EFL, Carabao Cup, Bundesliga and NFL coverage.

If you're out of Canada but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

Official Champions League broadcasters by regionAfrica

Click to see more Champions League streams▼

The Champions League 2026/27 broadcast rights for Africa are largely split between beIN Sports and SuperSport.

Residents of the following African countries can watch Champions League 2026/27 live streams with a beIN Sports subscription:

Algeria, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Republic of the Sudan, Republic of South Sudan, Somalia and Tunisia.

Satellite TV provider SuperSport has the Champions League 2026/27 TV rights across these regions in Africa:

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, St Helena and Ascension, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

• South Africa

SuperSport will host Champions League 2026/27 on its satellite channels.

Americas

Click to see more Champions League streams▼

• Canada

DAZN has the rights to broadcast Champions League 2026/27. You can also watch the Europa League and EFL Championship soccer, the Bundesliga, Nations League, rugby and tennis.

• Latin America

The broadcast rights to Champions League 2026/27 in Latin America are exclusive to Disney+.

Get a subscription and if you live in one of the following countries, you won't miss a second of the action.

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Europe

Click to see more Champions League streams▼

The Champions League 2026/27 season will be shown by various broadcasters and streaming services throughout Europe.

• Austria

Sky Sport in Austria will show the 2026/27 Champions League.

• Belgium

Play Sports will be showing all the action from Champions League 2026/27.

• Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedona and Serbia

Fans in the following countries can watch Champions League 2026/27 on Arena Sport:

Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

• Bulgaria

Voyo Sport has the rights to show Champions League 2026/27 live broadcasts.

• Cyprus

You can view Champions League 2026/27 on Cytavision in Cyprus.

• Czechia

Champions League 2026/27 will be shown on Nova Sport in Czechia.

• Denmark, Iceland and Sweden

Fans in the following countries can watch Champions League 2026/27 on Viaplay:

Denmark and Sweden.

In Iceland, the majority of games are also on Viaplay.

• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Fans in the following countries can watch Champions League 2026/27 on Go3 Sport:

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

• Finland

There will be coverage of Champions League 2026/27 in Finland on MTV Katsomo.

• France

There will be coverage of Champions League 2026/27 in France on CANAL+.

• Germany

In Germany, the Champions League 2026/27 rights are shared between DAZN Germany and Amazon Prime (one fixture per matchday).

• Greece

Greeks should head to Cosmote Sport for Champions League 2026/27.

• Hungary

RTL and Sport TV will share Champions League 2026/27 broadcast duties in Hungary.

• Ireland

Virgin Media and RTE (both free-to-air), plus Premier Sports, TNT Sports and Amazon Prime, share broadcast coverage of Champions League 2026/27 in Ireland.

• Italy

Viewers in Italy can watch Champions League 2026/27 on Sky Italia and a handful of matches on Amazon Prime

• Netherlands

Viewers in the Netherlands should tune into Ziggo Sport for Champions League 2026/27.

• Norway

TV2 Play is the home of Champions League 2026/27 in Norway.

• Portugal

DAZN and Sport TV have the rights to air Champions League 2026/27 in Portugal.

• Poland

TVP has the rights to air Champions League 2026/27 in Poland.

• Switzerland

Fans in Switzerland can watch Champions League 2026/27 on SRG SSR and Blue Sport.

• Turkey

Tabii in Turkey will host coverage of Champions League 2026/27.

• Ukraine

Megogo will show Champions League 2026/27 in Ukraine.

Asia

Click to see more Champions League streams▼

• China

In China, Champions League 2026/27 will be shown by iQIYI.

• Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand

The following countries will be able to watch Champions League 2026/27 on beIN Sports.

Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

• India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Sony LIV is the Champions League 2026/27 broadcaster for India plus Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

• Japan

Wowow will show Champions League 2026/27 in Japan.

• Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

The Champions League 2026/27 rights for the following Central Asian countries are held by Q Sports:

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

• Macau

iQiyi is what you need to watch Champions League 2026/27 in Macau.

• Mongolia

Premier Sports will show the coverage of Champions League 2026/27 in Mongolia.

• South Korea

Coverage of Champions League 2026/27 in South Korea can be found at SPOTV.

Oceania

Click to see more Champions League streams▼

• Australia

Stan Sport has the rights to Champions League 2026/27 in Australia. Prices start from $20 per month (on top of a regular $12 Stan sub).

• New Zealand & Pacific Islands

DAZN is the Champions League 2026/27 TV rights holder in New Zealand and across the Pacific Islands, including: Cook Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Middle East

Click to see more Champions League streams▼

beIN Sports MENA is the Champions League 2026/27 broadcaster across the Middle East.

You can watch Champions League live streams with a subscription to beIN Sports in the following Middle East countries:

Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Champions League 2026/27 FAQsWhen is the Champions League 2026/27 final?

The Champions League 2026/27 final Is set to take place on Saturday, June 5, 2027 at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, Spain.

Can I follow Champions League 2026/27 on my mobile?

Of course! Each of the major broadcasters has a streaming platform that you can access through a mobile app or via your phone's browser.

You can also stay up-to-date with the key Champions League 2026/27 moments on the official social media channels on Instagram (@ChampionsLeague), Facebook (@ChampionsLeague), TikTok (@ChampionsLeague) and UEFA's YouTube channel (@UEFA).

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

If you thought the stubby form factor of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 was a passing craze, think again: Xiaomi has today launched the Xiaomi 18 Fold, a similarly proportioned device that arrives just days before the expected launch of Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Ultra.

Featuring a 5.38-inch cover display and a 7.58-inch inner display — both of which have a 1.4:1 aspect ratio — the Xiaomi 18 Fold mimics the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s passport-style design (and indeed that of the China-only Huawei Pura X Max) to deliver a “flexible user experience across work, creativity, and entertainment.”

Mind you, the Xiaomi 18 Fold may actually have more in common with Apple’s imminent iPhone Ultra than the Galaxy Z Fold 8, given that it has two rounded corners when closed and four when open. The Galaxy Z Fold 8, meanwhile, is straight-edged whichever way you slice it.

TechRadar’s Collections Editor, Ruth Hamilton, got hands-on with the Xiaomi 18 Fold at IFA 2026, and confirmed that the device is also ever-so-slightly shorter and wider than Samsung’s latest foldable. The latter has a pair of screens measuring 5.5 inches and 7.6 inches, respectively, with each offering distinct 10:16 and 4:3 aspect ratios. The Xiaomi 18 Fold, by contrast, has a 1.4:1 ratio when both folded and unfolded.

The Xiaomi 18 FoldFutureThe Xiaomi 18 FoldFutureThe Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8Lance Ulanoff / FutureThe Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8Lance Ulanoff / Future

Xiaomi’s foldable is also a touch heavier and thicker than the Galaxy Z Fold 8. When closed, it measures 10.68mm and weighs 219g; when unfolded, it’s 5.02mm thick. The latter device weighs just 201g and measures 9.7mm and 4.5mm, respectively.

But we’re talking millimeters here. This is still a thin and lightweight foldable whose proportions are perfectly suited to video content. Tellingly, the Xiaomi 18 Fold’s 1.4:1 aspect ratio is almost identical to the 1.43:1 aspect ratio of an IMAX screen.

@techradar

♬ I Don't Wanna Stop - The Bamboos

While we didn’t get to watch any movies on the device in our short hands-on time with it, we can attest to the superior entertainment experience delivered by the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s shorter and wider form factor. 4:3 is slightly taller and squarer than 1.43:1, but given that most video content is presented in 16:9, the video-watching experience is likely to be similar across both devices.

The Xiaomi 18 Fold is 10.68mm thickFutureThe Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is 9.7mm thickFuture / Tom Bedford

Incidentally, despite being rumored to have similar-looking rounded corners to the Xiaomi 18 Fold, the iPhone Ultra is tipped to match the Z Fold 8’s 4:3 unfolded aspect ratio. We’re expecting Apple’s device to have a cover display of between 5.3 and 5.49 inches, and a foldable display of between 7.7 and 7.8 inches.

It’s also, however, rumored to be slightly shorter and wider than the Z Fold 8. This may again make it look closer in appearance to the Xiaomi 18 Fold, even if its screens are most closely aligned to the Galaxy's.

Other features of Xiaomi’s latest foldable include a pill-shaped camera bar with three Leica-optimized cameras: a 200MP main, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 50MP telephoto with 3.5x optical zoom.

This could be where the Xiaomi 18 Fold pulls ahead of the competition — the Z Fold 8 doesn’t have a telephoto camera, and the iPhone Ultra is likewise rumored to launch with just two cameras (a wide and an ultra-wide).

FutureFuture

Under the hood, the Xiaomi 18 Fold is powered by Xiaomi’s in-house Xring O3 chip, a 6,000mAh battery, and up to 16GB of RAM. These are strong internal specs. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to put them to the test unless you live in China; the Xiaomi 18 Fold is only launching in Xiaomi’s home market for a starting price of ¥10,999.

That figure would make the phone around $1,650 / £1,220 / AU$2,275 overseas, which, before import tariffs and local taxes, isn’t far off the $1,899 / £1,699 / AU$2,699 starting price of the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Might the iPhone Ultra cost a similar sum? We’ll find out tomorrow (September 9), when Apple’s ‘Surprise and Shine’ event gets underway.

• 36.7% of UK workers say answering to an AI boss would improve their productivity
• However, almost 75% of those workers are happier answering to a flesh-and-blood superior
• Meanwhile, almost 40% of managers don’t believe that AI can deliver any productivity gains

Over a third (36.7%) of UK employees think an AI boss would mean an improvement to their productivity, with 64% of directors expecting similar gains, new research has found.

But despite these results looking good for AI, however, it seems many people prefer the idea of performance reviews being delivered face-to-face, rather than via chatbot.

However, there is one key opponent to AI managers. The human-based middle manager layer is unsurprisingly less swayed by the prospect of being replaced by AI, with almost 40% feeling productivity gains are unlikely.

Flattened structures?

The research from Careerminds UK contacted 600 full-time UK employees and asked them about their thoughts on AI in the workplace, also found that younger colleagues were more likely to be favourable to an AI management layer.

The survey comes at an interesting time, with predictions of flattened structures seemingly focused on the middle manager layer. If businesses feel that they can adopt AI to replace managers – particularly at a time when management training seems to be at a premium – then they need to act carefully.

Productivity boosts are one thing, but employees also feel a human superior is preferable to AI for things like delivering performance feedback (74.2%).

“AI may be able to ease some of that pressure by taking certain tasks off managers’ plates,” said Amanda Augustine, resident careers expert at Careerminds UK and a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC). “But the feedback findings make it clear that employees still value human judgement, context and connection.”

The artificial middle manager

While the productivity boost expected by 36.7% of those surveyed (versus 25.5% who feel they would be less productive) might seem encouraging, there is a challenging aspect to the report’s findings.

Some 64% of directors and above expect an AI manager to deliver productivity gains, with 28% of those expecting it to be “significant.” Among senior staff, the figure is 42.6%.

Among managers, that 38.5% figure is worrying, as it implies almost 40% of managers are expecting AI to replace them. Will the C-Suite have its way? Should it?

“We shouldn’t confuse employees seeing potential productivity gains from AI with wanting technology to replace their managers altogether. Middle managers are already feeling the squeeze, caught between growing expectations from senior leaders and the needs of their teams," added Augustine.

“The opportunity for employers is to use AI to help managers become more effective, not simply replace them”.

At a time when organizations are increasingly going hard on AI, some recognition of what employees need to succeed is important.

Rather than focusing on efficiency, Augustine observed leaders need to think about their employees, particularly those who have just started their careers who are “more likely to think about what they need from a manager day to day, whether that’s guidance, development, reassurance or context.”

Advancements in AI-based upscaling and frame rate upgrade mobile gaming performance and power efficiency.

• Report claims an incredible 80% of AI tools are running in organizations without IT oversight
• Browser agents and integration tools are escaping the attention of security and IT engineers
• Reco’s State of Agent Security 2026 report also tracked 637 vulnerabilities across agents and LLMs

Unmonitored deployment of AI tools is a risk to security, and puts data at risk, a new study has claimed.

The report from Reco, which draws its information from disclosed vulnerabilities, analysis of 500 Model Context Protocol servers, and Reco’s own platform telemetry, found four in five AI tools (80%) are running without oversight from IT departments.

Of particular concern is the scale of AI applications in use. Smaller companies use 414 AI tools per 1,000 employees without IT approval, apparently a combination of browser extensions and workflows beyond the usual review and approval process.

Data risks from unmonitored AI

Giving AI tools to employees might unlock productivity boosts, but their use has to be approved. That’s the key takeaway from the report, which highlights some concerning cybersecurity figures. For example, it assessed 500 agent tools and found “62% can both read local data and reach the internet.” This represents an opportunity for data exfiltration.

Elsewhere, 637 AI agent related vulnerabilities were identified in the report.

The adoption of AI is wider than specific use of a SaaS application or visiting ChatGPT. Reco found that AI agents are running within other tools, and inheriting user permissions. The implications of this are clear.

Operational risk

Analysis of the telemetry (gathered from 62 enterprise-scale businesses in financial services, healthcare, retail, and telecommunications between January 1 and August 1 2026) reveals a free-for-all attitude towards AI adoption. While businesses may have policies and procedures in place and processes to assess, evaluate, review, and finally approve new AI-based tools, these are being circumvented for low-level applications.

The rules work for SaaS procurement oversight, but not for browser extensions, and the result is “operational risk.”

“AI agents have moved from experimentation into daily business workflows, but our findings show only 20% of AI tools in enterprise ecosystems are currently governed by IT oversight," Reco CEO Ofer Klein noted.

“That leaves organizations exposed to a new class of operational risk. Agents embedded in applications can operate through existing permissions, OAuth grants and workflow access, creating toxic combinations that expose data and trigger actions beyond what any owner approved.”

Organizations will need to give IT teams the resources they need to manage and restrict unauthorized AI use, as the alternative means leaving the gates open to the possibility of data exfiltration.

• GMKtec NucBox M5 Ultra pairs an eight-core Ryzen 7 7730U with dual 2.5GbE, Wi-Fi 6E, and triple-display output while starting at just $330 a pop for a barebones configuration
• The underlying 2023-release CPU is capable, but a rebadge of the 2022-launched Zen 3 Ryzen 7 5825U, which is, in turn, a 2021-launched 5800U with a 100 MHz bump to base and boost clocks
• The price can be reduced to as little as $280 per unit for users buying 5 of the RAM- and SSD-less SKU

GMKtec has put its NucBox M5 Ultra back in the limelight, and the offering is familiar for the Shenzhen mini PC maker's mid-range lineup.

It comes with an eight-core AMD processor, two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, upgradeable memory and storage, and a price starting just over $300.

The catch for any prospective buyer is that you must bring your own DDR4 laptop RAM and SSD to get it going.

A capable NUC that is hiding its underlying CPU's age

The M5 Ultra runs the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U, an eight-core, sixteen-thread part clocked from 2.0 GHz to 4.5 GHz with 16 MB of L3 cache, built on TSMC's 7nm process with a default 15W TDP. Despite the 7000-series badge, it belongs to AMD's Cezanne lineup via the Barcelo-U refresh announced in January 2022.

The CPU it most closely matches in clock speeds, core configuration, and performance is the Ryzen 7 5825U, which is a slightly higher-clocked version of the January 2021-released Ryzen 7 5800U, which runs 100MHz lower on both base and boost clocks.

This is interesting because prospective buyers might feel they are buying a Zen 4-based CPU thanks to its 7000-series badge but would end up getting a CPU that was first available more than half a decade ago, even if it does hold its own in its price and performance segment.

A well-rounded offering with plenty of expansion under the hood

The M5 Ultra offers two DDR4-3200 SODIMM slots supporting up to 64 GB, and two M.2 2280 slots, allowing for a variety of configurations based on the user's needs.

It does have its limitations due to the underlying CPU, however: while GMKtec claims each M2 slot can support up to 8 TB, for a nominal 16 TB ceiling, speeds are capped at PCIe 3.0 because the 7730U provides only 16 usable lanes and no Gen 4 support out of the box.

Connectivity is where the unit particularly shines: it comes with two Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE controllers, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, and a 10 Gbps, 100W USB port in addition to two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports, a very formidable offering for a Nuc-tier PC.

The system, which is powered by a 65W PSU over a Type-C connector, also offers HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort, and USB-C for up to three simultaneous connections for power users looking to run a multi-display setup.

One could argue that pricey RAM and SSD options make sourcing them considerably less appealing and a tall order, but even with that in mind, at today's prices, the NucBox has plenty of connectivity under the hood, decent power, and a raw customizability that is hard to argue with in 2026.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe feels as though it's been on my screen for 500 years, but somehow, each episode feels just as fresh as the next.

We're returning to the militant apocalyptic feel of episode 1 this week, but think more comedy than tragedy. Nobody is losing a leg while somber music plays over the top, put it that way.

With three episodes left to go, we're no closer to finding any kind of resolve. Even so, when does Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 7 arrive on HBO Max?

What time can I watch Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 8 on HBO Max?

For US viewers, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 8 will drop on Thursday, September 10 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.

Internationally, you're looking out for these timings:

• US – Thursday, September 10 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Thursday, September 10 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Friday, September 11 at 2am BST
• India – Friday, September 11 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Friday, September 11 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Friday, September 11 at 11am AEST
• New Zealand – Friday, September 11 at 1pm NZST

When do new episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe come out?

(Image credit: HBO Max)

New episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will make landfall every Thursday in the US, and on Fridays everywhere else. Here are the all-important dates you need to know about:

• Episode 1: out now
• Episode 2: out now
• Episode 3: out now
• Episode 4: out now
• Episode 5: out now
• Episode 6: out now
• Episode 7: out now
• Episode 8: September 10
• Episode 9: September 17
• Episode 10: September 24

The Wolf Among Us 2 has been in development hell for years, to say the least, since its 2017 announcement. After a studio closure, a sudden revival, engine changes, and further creative conflicts between Telltale Games (its main developer) and co-developer AdHoc Studio, the long-awaited sequel is finally arriving in 2027.

I had a chance to see what Telltale Games has been cooking behind closed doors, with a short preview of The Wolf Among Us 2 at Gamescom 2026, and I walked away intrigued and hyped for its launch. The Bigby fans loved in the first entry is back, and just as entertaining as ever.

This sequel takes place six months after the events of the first game; we follow Bigby Wolf, who has been temporarily removed from his duties as Fabletown's sheriff. Bigby's job is to uncover a mysterious string of murders happening, working behind the curtain to save a city "consumed by corruption, vengeance, and fear".

Right off the bat, I noticed Telltale Games leading The Wolf Among Us 2 in a different direction in terms of gameplay. Instead of the fixed camera angles present in the first game, and frankly, most of Telltale Games' entries (notably The Walking Dead), players will now be able to control Bigby in a third-person over-the-shoulder camera perspective.

The dialogue between characters is still as strong as ever, and decisions within those sequences matter in both shaping the story and the relationships Bigby has with others. In classic Telltale fashion, one sequence left me with a choice to lie to a new character, Faye, who Bigby meets early on, about whether the ongoing case involved magic or not, as she suspects a Fable (characters that include Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Mr Toad, etc.) is the murder suspect.

I quickly learned that your choice may come back to bite you or aid you later on, via the 'X will remember that' notification — but sometimes, silence is the best answer.

(Image credit: Telltale Games)

Sitting down with The Wolf Among Us 2's design director, Jessica Hara Campbell, and principal scene coordinator, Leslie Harwood, I raved about the camera perspective change, as it offers a more immersive experience than I've ever seen in any Telltale entry before — and it very much reminded me of Capcom's switch to third-person action in its Resident Evil series, via Resident Evil 4.

Unsurprisingly, both Campbell and Harwood highlighted that the switch was made to push "further immersion", as players control Bigby going on a long run of investigations. It's possibly the best choice the team has made with the sequel, and perhaps a camera switch all future Telltale and other episodic narrative-driven games should make.

It's also worth noting that The Wolf Among Us 2 features a new dynamic style of examining areas or objects during investigations. Players are no longer expected to examine every single item or area, nor will there be constant hints during puzzles if players don't want them.

If the player is already a step ahead in an investigation, you won't be pulled back to step one, as the game is designed to respect players' detective work, as Campbell stressed.

(Image credit: Telltale Games)

While The Wolf Among Us 2 has some new design choices, Campbell emphasized that Telltale has its eye on maintaining what fans know and love about the series.

"What we are looking at in a lot of our gameplay systems is keeping the core of what was built," Campbell says. "For our fan base, there's a very specific feeling of nostalgia, but the core of that is the noir detective piece that we don't want to reinvent the wheel on.

"It's about making sure the game still feels like Wolf [first entry], and with returning players, they feel like they're kind of coming along."

The Wolf Among Us 2 is expected to launch in 2027, but there is currently no specific timeline for which quarter it'll arrive in. My only hope is that the launch is successful without any further delays, as I'm quite excited to see what the team at Telltale has been working hard to deliver.

• Think tank Ceres found power generation for data centers in seven states withdraws 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater a year, or 10.4 million acre-feet
• The figure might be a bit overstated, as it counts withdrawals, including hydropower water returned to the river immediately
• 78% of electricity in those states comes from water-using plants, and 66% of those plants sit in water-stressed areas

Non-profit think tank Ceres has published a new report analyzing the water used to generate electricity for data centers across Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio, and Arizona.

Ceres estimates data centers use 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater a year, or 10.4 million acre-feet.

Bloomberg Law's Bobby Magill compared that unfavorably against the 8 million acre-feet California uses annually for urban purposes, a figure from a 2021 Legislative Analyst's Office report.

An important difference withdrawal versus consumption

Ceres's approach makes sense, but it paints only a partial picture at best. It measures water withdrawals, or the total volume of water a power company pulls from a water source like a river, lake, or aquifer, including water it essentially replaces shortly afterward.

For context, the LAO's 8 million acre-feet is a different quantity: water actually delivered and applied to residential, commercial, industrial, and landscape uses across California, and it is unlikely to be channeled back to its source.

Ceres does note this, stating that "withdrawal reflects the full volume an asset depends on to operate", which it presents as a strong indicator of risk exposure to multiple communities that are already living in drought-affected areas.

A large amount of the power being generated and measured is hydroelectric power. This makes it a bit ironic, given that using water for generation may not be considered 'consumed' effectively.

The number seems considerably higher than one would expect: Arizona State University researchers, using 2024 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory data, put the indirect consumption of US data centers, including power generation, at about 650,000 acre-feet a year nationwide.

Although the data are old, the numbers suggest data centers may be consuming a fraction of what Ceres implies, according to its own report, unless consumption rose drastically to 16 times its reported figure.

Ceres, however, for now projects that water for power generation could account for 72 percent of total US data center water consumption by 2030, on a consumption basis, even as cooling inside the buildings gets more efficient.

At a time when the two largest Colorado River reservoirs have hit record lows, Ceres noted that local opposition grounded in water and grid concerns disrupted $130 billion of data center projects in the first quarter of 2026 alone.

Shama Perveen, the report's co-author and Ceres' director of water research, framed this as a complex situation and one that required a more inclusive approach, saying "no single stakeholder can address these challenges alone".

Whether it pans out at a time when AI companies are spending money hand over fist to get their hyperscale operations (and subsequent cooling and power requirements) out of the door as the search for AGI continues unabated remains to be seen, however.

Whenever a new AI model is released in a cut-down form because it is too powerful, or one transgresses its sandbox and performs an unexpected cyber hack on a company’s website, we tend to see jokes made about Skynet or HAL 9000 becoming a reality.

But science fiction didn’t just predict our current relationship with AI, it influenced it. Our fascination with artificial life began long before computers — or even electricity — existed. Ancient Greek stories featured mechanical servants created by the god Hephaestus, while Jewish folklore gave us the Golem, an artificial being brought to life to carry out its creator’s commands.

In their new book, Myth-Made Machines: The Stories Behind Artificial Intelligence, authors Dave Bradley and Kelly Vero trace humanity’s dreams and fears about machines that can think, through mythology, literature, movies and television.

Their argument is that these stories haven’t simply anticipated AI; they have shaped how we talk about it, what we expect from it and, in some cases, the technology people have gone on to build.

I spoke to Bradley and Vero about why humanity keeps creating machines in its own image, whether science fiction has influenced today’s AI developers, and why our response to artificial intelligence still swings between two extremes: “If we don't like it, we’ll kill it. If we love it, we’ll marry it.”

The ancient beginnings of AI

TechRadar: Talk me through the title - why is it called Myth-Made Machines?

Dave Bradley: The core argument of the book is that humans have always been fascinated by the idea of creating thinking machines and artificial life. When ChatGPT formally launched in 2022, one of the first jokes I saw on social media was about Skynet coming online. It struck us that the whole way we understand and talk about this new technology is shaped by stories we’ve been telling ourselves for years. Kelly has a deep knowledge and love of Greek and Roman myth, as well as stories such as Frankenstein, while I’m a huge science fiction nerd (and occasional medievalist). Through our conversations, we realised that our cultural idea of “AI” is much older than modern computers.

Kelly Vero: Myth-Made Machines is the essence of where every element of AI or robo-futurism comes from: Myth. With myth, we, as humans, have to navigate the real and the prescient from the propaganda and the fanciful.

TR: When did artificial intelligence first enter our human stories?

KV: When we started researching the book, it was Greek myths that we started with. We found our own Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Dario Amodei hiding in plain sight.

DB: The idea is incredibly ancient. In Greek myth, Hephaestus creates golden workers to help him in his workshop. Jewish legend brings us the Golem. The idea that one might build autonomous servants out of inanimate material is thousands of years old.

For something closer to what we would recognize as a computer, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels gives us a wonderful early example in the 18th century. The Engine of Lagado randomly rearranges words in the hope of generating useful knowledge. Read today, it looks uncannily like a satirical ancestor of generative AI.

The term ‘artificial intelligence’ in the modern sense of machine learning and reasoning was coined in the 1950s by computer scientist John McCarthy — and that’s when it starts creeping into TV and film too. There are some great early Twilight Zone and Star Trek episodes about the possibilities and perils of machines in our homes and workplaces.

TR: Which are your personal favorite sci-fi AIs/robots, or movies and TV shows that involve AI?

KV: I’m a Lawnmower Man aficionado, but having worked on the actual Transformers franchise, I’m also a Decepticon through and through.

DB: I’m a huge sci-fi geek, and to this day I maintain that R2-D2 is the most important character in Star Wars. He has a mission, gets on with it, saves everybody repeatedly and barely receives any credit.

But I also nerd out over Marvin in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Cylons in both versions of Battlestar Galactica, and, of course, Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, who I’d argue is the character on the real hero’s journey in that series.

Side note: HAL 9000 slightly infuriates me, mainly because people have been quoting “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that” at me personally for decades.

R2-D2 — the true hero of Star Wars? (Image credit: Shutterstock / Logan Bush)

TR: Do you think our myths about conscious machines have influenced the real development of AI?

KV: Absolutely! Human life is all about dreaming up concepts to adore or fear; it’s how we roll.

DB: Today’s engineers and entrepreneurs grew up on Star Wars, Star Trek, Isaac Asimov and William Gibson, and there’s good evidence that science fiction influences the people who go on to build the future. One 2022 study found that 93 per cent of UK astronomers enjoyed science fiction, for instance, and 69 per cent said it had influenced their career decisions.

Sometimes the connection is very direct. Pete Bonasso at TRACLabs has credited HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey as an inspiration for his work on NASA space AI systems. Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics were invented for fiction, but they’ve become a reference point for real-world thinking about AI safety. Google DeepMind’s 2024 ‘Robot Constitution’, for example, sets out safety rules for machines in a way that is very much in that tradition.

TR: What do you think of the current crop of AI models?

DB: I follow this area as closely as I can, although you have to bear in mind that it changes almost daily. We’ve just seen another generation of frontier models arrive. It moves fast, which is fascinating for tech writers, although it also explains why we wrote a book largely about things that happened hundreds of years ago rather than trying to capture the state of AI in 2026!

When it comes to video games — still my day-to-day working life — I believe it’s going to be important to work out what new experiences AI can bring to the table, not just how quickly they can automate existing processes.

KV: They’re facsimiles of every book, TV series, movie or game we’ve ever imbibed. They’re not as clever as we are and they never will be.

TR: Do you think of AI as a threat to humanity, or as an opportunity?

KV: A super opportunity to ride alongside a civilization’s worth of knowledge? It’s almost too good to be true. If you think about it, until AI came along, humans held a monopoly on intelligence. We kind of only knew what we could discover or search for as humans (history is always written by the victor). Today, we can effectively outsource our thirst for knowledge to something else and tell it how we should understand the results; for the most part, we get balance: the rest is sponsored content!

DB: It feels glib simply to say ‘both’, although I’m tempted. Personally, I’m an optimist by nature, and I like to believe the general direction of travel is towards progress, growth and better lives. That doesn’t mean everybody prospers equally, or that there aren’t important battles over jobs, ownership, ethics and power along the way. William Gibson famously said that the future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed. I think that’s a useful way to think about AI too. The interesting question isn’t simply whether the technology is good or bad, but who prospers from it, who controls it, and how widely any benefits (and risks) are shared.

I'm sorry, Dave... (Image credit: Google)

TR: Do you think we’ll ever reach man-made super intelligence, and if we do what happens then?

KV: We have man-made everything else, don’t we? Why should this be different? For me, the detail lies in sentience. We already have man-made superintelligence, but we don’t have fully operational sentience yet. When something can blink its eye without thinking as quickly as humans can, well, let’s talk again.

DB: I don’t think it’s going to emerge simply by scaling today’s transformer models, regardless of some of the more excitable predictions around them. However clever and interesting LLMs are, these are fundamentally probabilistic systems that generate text, images and other media. That doesn’t make them conscious.

An omnipotent silicon supervillain, like Skynet, makes for good screen drama — but if we do eventually create genuine superintelligence by some route, I’d actually hope that a networked brain with access to vast amounts of information, capable of seeing problems from many different perspectives, would naturally tend towards connection and assistance rather than destruction. But I’m not naïve about it. Systems also magnify our biases, flaws and prejudices. That’s why alignment matters.

TR: What have you learned about humanity's approach to AI from writing this book?

KV: That we’re the only stakeholders. We’re the arbiters of our own creation(s); if we don't like it, we’ll kill it. If we love it, we’ll marry it. AI is all of us, and my main worry is that only 6% of the world’s population currently decides on how the other 94% will live, work and adapt to an AI future. However, if the past is to be believed, we’re probably going to be ok. (Famous last words, I know!)

DB: Technology and automation are things humans do. What became very apparent is that humans repeatedly try to create things in their own image, while simultaneously struggling with the implications of that. We worry about job losses, replacement and loss of identity. We’re fascinated by creating something powerful, then immediately frightened that it might overthrow us. But the fear of the servant who will turn on us, or the untrustworthy ally who might sneakily replace us, is not limited to machines, right? We might project those stories onto computers in our books and films, but the subtext is often about human paranoia around class, politics, war…

More specifically, there’s a recurring oscillation between loving and fearing our own technology. In the 1970s, amid Cold War paranoia, computers were frequently instruments of doom: Colossus, Cylons, HAL 9000, even V’Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In the 1980s, as PCs and games consoles became familiar household playthings, popular culture increasingly gave us machines as loyal companions: KITT, Metal Mickey, Twiki, Nono and Data. Then the pendulum swings back: by the late 1980s and 1990s, we get The Terminator and The Matrix. You can trace those alternating waves of optimism and anxiety all the way back through the Industrial Revolution. The technology changes, but our emotional responses to it are remarkably consistent.

Author bios and book details

Myth-Made Machines: The Stories Behind Artificial Intelligence

co-written by Dave Bradley and Kelly Vero

Published by Bloomsbury on 3rd September 2026

Available as ebook or hardcover

• Google's contrail mitigation tech is expanding to a new region
• It uses AI to get planes to avoid cold, humid air
• Contrails account for a third of aviation's impact on the climate

Following similar projects across US airspace and the North Atlantic ocean, Google is partnering with the Cathay-Pacific airline to test its AI-powered contrail (condensation trail) mitigation technology on flights across the Asia-Pacific region.

Contrails are the thin, ice-crystal streaks of cloud that form behind planes when they hit cold, humid air. Some of these contrails can persist in the atmosphere, eventually spreading into cloud-like formations that stop heat escaping to space. It's thought that contrails account for around a third of the total climate impact of the aviation industry.

Google's idea is to use AI algorithms to nudge flights around the areas of cold and humid air that contrails need to form. Early trials with 80 Cathay-Pacific flights have led to a roughly 40% reduction in the warming impact of contrails, and now the system is being rolled out across the airline's whole network.

"Aircraft adjust their altitude slightly to steer clear of cold, humid atmospheric zones where warming contrails are likely to form, much like pilots do to navigate around turbulence," explains the Google team in a blog post.

Available, scalable, cost-effective

The tech has already been tested on a small number of Cathay Pacific flights (Image credit: Cathay Pacific)

According to Google, the contrail-avoiding tweaks that AI recommends for flights won't have any impact on passengers and flight safety, and are in line with the routine adjustments made to flight paths for other operational reasons.

The changes to flight routes are based on a combination of data collected from satellite imagery, weather forecasts, and Google's AI prediction technology. The aim is to get information relayed to the cockpit as early as possible, which will be delivered through in-flight Wi-Fi "without interrupting standard cockpit workflows".

Also in on the scheme is the Contrails.org non-profit, which promotes the use of contrail mitigation technology. According to the organization's figures, adjusting the routes of 5% of flights could avoid up to 80% of contrail-related warming — and the Asia-Pacific region is currently the fastest growing aviation market in the world.

"Contrail mitigation remains one of the most immediately available, scalable, and cost-effective ways to reduce aviation's climate footprint, and it can get started now, with today's aircrafts and fuel," says Google.

• Intel report claims 60% of business leaders expect to operate robot fleets within the next five years
• Conversely, only 40% have a human-robot workforce strategy
• The Robotics Readiness Gap report assesses the state of robotic adoption around the world

Intel’s 'Robotics Readiness Gap' report has revealed that many large businesses are planning to implement a human-robot workforce within the next five years, with a majority expecting a doubling of operational output with a full-scale deployment.

The survey of 800 senior leaders in organizations with over $500 million annual turnover also found while adoption plans are accelerating, the rollout of a human-robot workforce has some key challenges, not least infrastructure, skills, strategy, and safety.

Despite the positive outlook for robotics, the scenario has a heavy dose of reality. Only 40% of businesses surveyed have a suitable strategy in place, despite a belief that robots could prove more cost-effective than humans within three years.

Human-robot workforce

Within this context, the aim of achieving a human-robot workforce seems more achievable, although some of the findings suggest an aspirational element to the drive towards robotics.

While 60% of leaders are expecting to run a fleet of robots by 2030, only 40% have a suitable human-robot workforce strategy in place. So while 74% believe workforce planning will be inseparable from robotics strategy within 5 years, there is a gap in preparation.

The report notes that “On average, leaders believe that deploying a robot will become more cost-effective than hiring a human in their sector within three years.”

But does this mean replacing jobs? Intel says not. “This isn’t about replacing people but creating new forms of human-machine collaboration, with robots working alongside employees as productive teammates.”

Doubling operational output

Intel’s report states that robotics in the workplace is approaching a “critical threshold,” with leaders predicting that “operational output would double if robotics were deployed at full scale across their organization.”

However, both notions rely heavily on five factors: strategy, skills, safety, shape (function), and scale (which includes physical AI infrastructure).

Intel’s report states, “few are prepared for what large-scale deployment actually requires. Closing this gap will mean redesigning operating models for a workforce that includes autonomous systems.” Even in the defense industry, this gap exists (“confidence outstrips preparedness by 48%”).

Placed in these terms, and with the context of the size of the organizations quizzed on their robotics strategies, that critical threshold seems a little further away than five years.