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A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, July 28 (game #512).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #513) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… You got that right

NYT Strands today (game #513) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• STEAK
• SNICKET
• STEP
• CRUET
• PANIC
• RACING

NYT Strands today (game #513) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 11 letters

NYT Strands today (game #513) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 2nd column

Last side: bottom, 3rd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #513) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #513, are…

• EXACT
• STRICT
• PRECISE
• ACCURATE
• PERSNICKETY
• SPANGRAM: TAKING PAINS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

I had pernickety instead of PERSNICKETY as one of my non-game words, as this is the UK spelling and one which I thought was universal.

It’s the longest non-game word I’ve ever gotten but was dashed on the rocks of cultural differences. I’m not peeved, but it is odd that US grammarists have chosen this particular word to add letters to, rather than subtract from. A minor quibble.

Anyway, this peccadillo aside, here was a list of words that describe everything I am not – or maybe that I am, seeing as I’ve got such a bee in my bonnet about persnickety.

Also, while we’re splitting hairs, I can’t help thinking Strands wanted to say “painstaking” for the spangram, but needed to lose a letter so went with TAKING PAINS, which is essentially the same thing but less common – a bit like pernickety. I’ll shut up now.

Dear Strands, I think you’ll find…

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, July 28, game #512)

• GROW
• SEED
• RIPEN
• HARVEST
• BLOSSOM
• SPROUT
• SPANGRAM: VEGETABLE GARDEN

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

• Allianz Life confirms losing sensitive data on the "majority" of its customers
• Around 1.4 million people could be at risk, it admits
• ShinyHunters is the prime suspect at the moment

Insurance giant Allianz Life has confirmed suffering a cyberattack which saw it lose sensitive data on the “majority” of its customers, with over a million people at risk.

The North American insurance giant said the attack happened on July 16, 2025, when a threat actor accessed a third-party, cloud-based CRM system the company uses.

After finding out about the intrusion, the company took measures to contain it, and notified the FBI. So far, there is no evidence the company’s network or other systems were accessed, it was added.

ShinyHunters strike again?

"The threat actor was able to obtain personally identifiable data related to the majority of Allianz Life's customers, financial professionals, and select Allianz Life employees, using a social engineering technique,” a company spokesperson explained.

"Our investigation is ongoing and we began the process of reaching out to individuals impacted with dedicated resources to assist them. This incident is related only to Allianz Life, which currently has 1.4 million customers."

While Allianz Life did not discuss the identity and the motive of the attackers, BleepingComputer claims this was the work of ShinyHunters, a known threat actor with numerous successful breaches under its belt.

The group has been around since roughly 2020, and during that time, compromised a number of high-profile organizations, including Microsoft, Mashable, and Nitro PDF. It even claims to have breached AT&T, although the telco denied the breach ever happened.

Allianz Life (short for Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America) provides life insurance and annuity products across the United States.

It manages a portfolio exceeding $124 billion, primarily invested in high-quality securities, and has roughly 1.4 million customers. 

How to stay safe

The attack is particularly concerning as such records could contain more than enough of sensitive information for hackers to launch highly personalized, successful phishing campaigns, leading to identity theft, wire fraud, and even ransomware attacks.

If you're concerned you may have been caught up in the incident, don't worry - there are a number of methods to find out. HaveIBeenPwned? is probably the best resource only to check if your details have been affected, offering a run-down of every big cyber incident of the past few years.

And if you save passwords to a Google account, you can use Google's Password Checkup tool to see if any have been compromised, or sign up for one of the best password manager options we've rounded up to make sure your logins are protected.

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• Tea is a popular 'dating safety tool' that just suffered a data breach
• 72,000 images pertaining to the app were involved, some of which were user photo IDs
• There's an ongoing investigation, but the obvious worry here is potential identity theft for those whose images were exposed

Tea is a popular mobile app designed as a 'dating safety tool' to protect women and has been around since 2023.

Its full name is Tea Dating Advice, and the central idea is a women-only app that gives those who are dating the ability to access background checks on men. This includes whether they have a criminal record (or if they're sex offenders), as well as reverse image searching to identify catfishing (assuming a false identity online).

At the end of last week, as NBC News reported, Tea admitted that it had suffered a data breach in which 72,000 images were accessed by the intruder.

That included 13,000 images (selfies and photo ID) submitted by users during account verification. The other 59,000 images were also provided by users and "publicly viewable" in posts (and direct messages) on the app.

As Tea acknowledged on its Instagram account, these images were stored on an 'archived data system' and the firm said that any users who signed up for Tea during or after February 2024 won't be affected. In other words, this is old data archived on a server that only pertains to older posts and accounts before that date.

The company made it clear that the photos "can in no way be linked to posts within Tea".

A Tea spokesperson told NBC: "This data was originally stored in compliance with law enforcement requirements related to cyberbullying prevention."

NBC reported that the hack may be connected to 4chan, with a 4chan poster allegedly allowing for the database of stolen images to be downloaded on that platform. Supposed ID photos from Tea users are also said to have been posted on some social media outlets, too, but obviously, exercise caution around such reports.

Tea said that it has more than four million users in total, and it became the top free app in Apple's App Store in the US this past week (having recently gained a million new members).

Tea said it's conducting an ongoing investigation into the security incident, which includes external cybersecurity experts, and that it has notified law enforcement in the US.

(Image credit: Tea)Do you think you've been affected by this breach - if so, what should you do?

The key point to remember here is that if you signed up more recently for Tea, you shouldn't be affected by this breach. As noted, the impact only extends to an archive server and members who joined before February 2024.

At least that's according to what we know from the investigation so far, and the apparent extent of the breach - so the caveat is that we assume the ongoing investigation won't reveal anything else has been accessed.

The other important point to remember here is that only the images were accessed, according to Tea, and no personal data relating to members, such as email addresses or phone numbers.

The worrying part about the data that was accessed, though, is that some of it contains official IDs (and selfies) which could potentially be used for identity theft. It's worth noting here that Tea also clarifies (in an official statement flagged by USA Today) that it no longer requires an official ID for sign-up, and dispensed with that requirement in 2023.

If you joined Tea before February 2024 and provided a government ID for the sign-up process, then the latter could have been exposed. There's no clear way of knowing that at this point, but it's safest to assume that your ID (or other images) may have been leaked online.

That means this information could end up in the hands of a bad actor, sadly, but it's difficult to say whether that will happen for sure, or indeed to know if it does happen.

What you can do for now as an obvious first line of defense is keep an eye on your finances (bank accounts and credit card statements), watching for any irregularities. In all honesty, this is something you should do anyway, as fraud is an ever-present danger these days with a growing number of scams (alongside data breaches like this one).

A further proactive move is to sign up for one of the best credit monitoring services, and the good news is that you can get this for free (from Experian).

What these services do is keep an eye out for your personal details (from, say, a stolen ID) being used online in suspicious circumstances, bringing these incidents to your attention, so you can be aware of anything potentially underhanded before it comes to fruition. There are also full identity theft protection suites out there, too, for a more comprehensive level of protection.

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• OpenAI’s CEO says using ChatGPT for therapy has serious privacy risks
• Your private chats might be exposed if OpenAI were to face a lawsuit
• Feeding your private thoughts into an opaque AI is also a risky move

One of the upshots of having an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant like ChatGPT everywhere you go is that people start leaning on it for things it was never meant for. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, that includes therapy and personal life advice – but it could lead to all manner of privacy problems in the future.

On a recent episode of the This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von podcast, Altman explained one major difference between speaking to a human therapist and using an AI for mental health support: “Right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there’s legal privilege for it. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality, whatever. And we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT.”

One potential outcome of that is that OpenAI would be legally required to cough up those conversations were it to face a lawsuit, Altman claimed. Without the legal confidentiality that you get when speaking to doctor or a registered therapist, there would be relatively little to stop your private worries being aired to the public.

Altman added that ChatGPT is being used in this way by many users, especially young people, who might be especially vulnerable to that kind of exposure. But regardless of your age, the conversation topics are not the type of content that most people would be happy to see revealed to the wider world.

A risky endeavor

(Image credit: Theo Von)

The risk of having your private conversations opened up to scrutiny is just one privacy risk facing ChatGPT users.

There is also the issue of feeding your deeply personal worries and concerns into an opaque algorithm like ChatGPT’s, with the possibility that it might be used to train OpenAI’s algorithm and leak its way back out when other users ask similar questions.

That’s one reason why many companies have licensed their own ring-fenced versions of AI chatbots. Another alternative is an AI like Lumo, which is built by privacy stalwarts Proton and features top-level encryption to protect everything you write.

Of course, there’s also the question of whether an AI like ChatGPT can replace a therapist in the first place. While there might be some benefits to this, any AI is simply regurgitating the data it is trained on. None are capable of original thought, which limits the effectiveness of the advice they can give you.

Whether or not you choose to open up to OpenAI, it’s clear that there’s a privacy minefield surrounding AI chatbots, whether that means a lack of confidentiality or the danger of having your deepest thoughts used as training data for an inscrutable algorithm.

It’s going to require a lot of effort and clarity before enlisting an AI therapist is a significantly less risky endeavor.

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• The top iPhone 17 models could get 8x optical zoom
• An extra camera button could also be added
• Apple is said to be working on a pro-level camera app

If Apple sticks to its usual schedule then we're less than two months away from the launch of the iPhone 17 models, and it sounds as though the Pro and Pro Max models are in line to get three key upgrades related to cameras and photography.

According to an anonymous tipster who contacted MacRumors, the first upgrade is going to be a jump to 8x optical zoom, which would be up from the 5x optical zoom you can find in the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Second, there's apparently going to be a second Camera Control button on the opposite side to the current Camera Control on the iPhone 16 models – which is on the right hand side of the handsets if you hold them in portrait mode.

The original Camera Control button lets you open the Camera app and tweak a variety of settings for taking pictures, including exposure and tone. Apparently the new button will "complement" the existing one with its own choice of settings.

A new camera app?

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Finally, the third upgrade predicted by this tipster is a new "pro camera app" from Apple for photos and videos. It's not clear if this would be an iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max exclusive – it might be made available for other iPhones too.

The new app would take on the likes of Halide and Filmic Pro, available on the App Store. The tipster says that this app may arrive as an update to the Final Cut Camera app that Apple already makes, though presumably it would come preinstalled.

We don't really know anything about this tipster, so of course take these rumors with a grain of salt. The information is said to come from a commercial that's being filmed for Apple – and which will be used to show off this year's big new features.

If all of this is accurate, it would be one of the most significant iPhone camera upgrades in quite some time, and 8K video might be included as well. We're also expecting the Pro and Pro Max models to get a noticeable design refresh too.

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Debuting on HBO and HBO Max in October 2025, a brand new trailer for Pennywise prequel series IT: Welcome to Derry was unveiled at San Diego Comic Con 2025, and it’s already one of the scariest things I’ve watched this year. The show will take us back to where it all started in the 1960s, where the town of Derry is haunted by evil, and unbeknownst to them, a killer clown who just happens to be responsible for all the missing kids.

If you’re trying to figure out the full timeline, the 2017 movie version of IT was set in 1988, with follow-up film IT: Chapter Two taking place 27 years later. Bill Skarsgård has played Pennywise in all three projects, and he’s aged incredibly well if the fleeting prequel footage is anything to go by. We know how his story ended, but its beginnings are still shrouded in mystery, and that mystery is probably absolutely hideous.

We’re not going to see The Losers’ Club this time around, but that doesn’t mean IT: Welcome to Derry will be devoid of other Stephen King movies lore. In fact, I noticed an epic crossover in the new trailer, and if you missed it, rest assured the sneaky Easter egg is staring you directly in the face.

IT: Welcome to Derry’s new trailer nods to Stephen King’s most upsetting story of all time

Not content with merely scaring us silly over the last few decades, King’s also enjoyed reducing us to tears too. The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most famous examples of this, adapted as a film in 1994 to explore the bond between two men imprisoned in Shawshank. Why is this relevant? Because 57 seconds into the IT: Welcome to Derry trailer above, you’ll see a bunch of male prisoners on board a bus reading ‘Shawshank State Prison’ along its navy side.

It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it’s also the kind that will make horror movie fans gasp the moment they see it. We’ve got no idea what role (if any) the prison could play in the new TV show, but from the way the trailer sets up the significance of the bus, it might be more than a mere Easter egg. Two of our new juvenile Pennywise hunters come across our bussed-off prisoners in fear-striken-awe, with the killer clown’s signature red balloon floating along a riverbank nearby directly after.

This could easily mean Pennywise is a former Shawshank inmate, except instead of making a 90s movie that could reduce you to tears just by thinking about it, he decided to harm innocent children instead. The fact Pennywise’s backstory is basically all to play for might just be the most intriguing part of IT: Welcome to Derry, purely because we’ve simply got no bearing on what might be coming. What could be scarier than the fear of the unknown?

Will we see even more Stephen King Easter eggs as the TV show starts airing? Who knows. But thanks to this sneaky scene, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled like the armchair detective I was born to be.

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• Google Drive adds thumbnail previews when watching videos
• Much like YouTube, it will let you spot exact moments in videos
• It'll be available to all Google Drive users soon

Scouring through videos to find the moment you need should soon get a lot easier thanks to a new update coming to Google Drive.

The cloud storage platform has revealed users will now be able to see a thumbnail preview image when hovering over a video's progress bar.

Much like when viewing a video in YouTube, this feature should allow users to quickly navigate around a video, making it easier to track down the specific moments they need.

Google Drive video thumbnails

(Image credit: Google Workspace)

"With the ability to find the right moments in videos, this update improves productivity and the overall video viewing experience in Google Drive," the company wrote in a Google Workspace updates blog post.

The feature will only be available for new videos uploaded to your Drive account via web or mobile app.

Users will then need to open the newly uploaded video in Drive web, and can then simply hover their mouse over the video progress bar to see thumbnail previews. Dragging your mouse along the progress bar will let you quickly run through the video using the thumbnails to find the spot you need.

What's even better is that the feature will be open to all users, with the company noting it will be on offer to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.

It is rolling out now, and also won't require any extra admin control to utilize.

The feature is the latest in a series of Google Workspace upgrades aiming to boost productivity among users.

The company revealed a host of new AI tools and services for Google Workspace earlier this year, including Generated Background Images and Studio Look, Studio Lighting, and Studio Sound for Google Meet, as well as Translate for me, coming to Google Chat.

This was soon followed by a number of AI-powered office software upgrades at its Google Cloud Next 25 event designed to give users a productivity and creativity boost when they need it most, including new audio tools in Google Docs which can create listenable versions of your document, as well as upgraded analysis tools for Google Sheets to help get the most out of your data.

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• Battlefield 6 was officially revealed last week
• Now a reliable leaker has given us some potential insight into the game's battle royale mode
• It will allegedly take place in a coastal environment called Lydon Beach

Yet more information has leaked about the next entry in the Battlefield series, now officially titled Battlefield 6.

The game was revealed late last week with an explosive trailer that showed off its modern military setting and gritty, realistic tone. It confirmed that the title will be called Battlefield 6 and teased a further multiplayer reveal at the end of this month.

We won't have to wait that long for new details, however, thanks to the reliable Battlefield leaker 'Temporyal'. The user, who has a good track record when it comes to Battlefield data mining, shared a mock-up of the game's battle royale map assembled through information that they had collected.

The mode will allegedly take place in an environment known as Lydon Beach, a tropical-looking coastal location.

They also claim that the map will feature a wide range of points of interest, including a build-up area known as Main Street, industrial docks, and what appears to be a military base called Fort Lydon.

The map will even seemingly have a massive golf course, which has me hoping that we'll get the chance to mess around with some drivable golf karts. They also suggest that a metro system could be in the works, potentially allowing players to quickly travel around to different areas.

All in all, it looks like a pretty solid battle royale setting, with plenty of variety in terms of density and layout.

I've been playing plenty of Call of Duty: Warzone since the return of the Verdansk map earlier this year, but would happily jump ship for the opportunity to explore something a little fresher. I'm sure many other players would do the same.

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• Many organizations now have well-defined GenAI strategies, but are still worried about legacy infrastructure and security
• But NTT Data study finds many workers aren't ready
• Employees are worried that they don't have the right skills for AI

New research has highlighted the huge benefits AI tools could have on the healthcare sector, and while organizations appear to be vaguely ready for the tech, workers aren't.

Four in five healthcare leaders surveyed by NTT Data say they have a well-defined generative AI strategy, but only half of those say their strategy is strongly aligned with business goals.

Furthermore, only around half (54%) of all respondents rated their GenAI capabilities has high-performing, leaving plenty of room for improvement.

Healthcare workers aren't ready to benefit from AI

The news comes as the UK Government seeks to make the NHS the most AI-enabled health system in the world, as part of a 10-year plan, by equipping workers with trusted AI assistants to bridge ongoing skills gaps.

The benefits are clear: 94% agree that GenAI accelerates R&D to improve diagnostics, predictive analytics and task automation.

Artificial intelligence is now being seen as a driver of better patient outcomes and process adherence, but some challenges remain.

For example, three in four workers report skills shortages in working with GenAI. Companies are also worried about legacy infrastructure (91%), data privacy and PHI misuse (91%) and cybersecurity (58%).

In terms of their technical readiness, fewer than half have assessed their data or platform for GenAI readiness (48%) and invested sufficiently in data storage and processing (44%).

"To achieve GenAI’s full potential in healthcare, organisations must align the technology to their business strategies, develop comprehensive workforce training, and implement multi-layered governance strategies that prioritise people and keep humans in the loop," NTT Data North American SVP Sundar Srinivasan summarized.

Looking ahead, three in five (59%) are planning significant GenAI investments within the next two years, because most (87%) believe GanAI's benefits could outweigh legal and security risks.

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• Elden Ring Nightreign is finally getting a proper duos mode this week
• The update drops on July 30, along with numerous quality-of-life changes
• The latest round of Everdark Sovereign fights also arrives on July 31

The clouds part and the heavens shine through this week, as Elden Ring Nightreign is finally set to get one of its most heavily requested features, duo expeditions, in this week's update.

Announced via the official Elden Ring X / Twitter account, the update is set to land on July 30 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Duo expeditions will finally let groups of two queue into a game, without the need to carry along a third random player.

A proper duos mode initially wasn't planned for Elden Ring Nightreign, but following feedback, developer FromSoftware initially confirmed a duos mode would arrive at a later date shortly after launch.

On July 30, 2025, take on Night's terrors as two kindred souls.Duo Expeditions will be added in patch 1.02 of #ELDENRING #NIGHTREIGN. pic.twitter.com/0JlELoqg0CJuly 25, 2025

We unfortunately don't have any details on how Nightreign will be balanced to support a party of two. Though after launch, solo expeditions were made much more manageable in a patch that reduced enemy health, boosted rune acquisition, and applied buffs unique to solo playthroughs. It's likely we'll see a halfway house between solo and full-squad expeditions here, then.

Duo expeditions aren't the only thing to look forward to in this week's patch, though. Players can also expect some quality-of-life features. In a follow-up post, the official Elden Ring X / Twitter account confirmed Relic filtering is getting a much-needed overhaul, with players now able to sort and search for Relics to a more granular degree.

Finally, FromSoftware has confirmed that the latest round of Everdark Sovereign bosses (even harder versions of the existing Nightlords) is set to arrive on July 31. These will be Tricephalos, Augur, Equilibrious Beast, and Fissure in the Fog.

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• Intel is looking for buyers of its Networking and Edge Group
• These areas accounted for 11% of Intel's total 2024 revenue
• The move comes as Intel layoffs continue to hit its workforce

Intel is planning to spin off its engine Networking and Edge Group as part of an ongoing company-wide effort to boost profitability.

The news was confirmed in an internal memo seen by CRN, authored by Sachin Katti, who has held a number of roles in Intel's Networking and Edge Group (NEX), including SVP, GM and CTO.

Although NEX will be spun off, Intel is set to remain a key investor, similar to its previous approach with Altera. That is, of course, if Intel is successful in finding a buyer.

Intel will spin off its Networking and Edge Group

An Intel spokesperson confirmed (via CRN): "We plan to establish key elements of our Networking and Communications business as a stand-alone company... Like Altera, we will remain an anchor investor enabling us to benefit from future upside as we position the business for future growth."

However, the company remains in the early stages of identifying potential investors.

In 2024, NEX generated around $5.8 billion in revenue for Intel, around 11% of the company's $53.1 billion in total annual revenue.

The move is the latets drastic action undertaking under the direction of new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who promised big changes when he came on board earlier in 2025.

"Intel was once widely seen as the world’s most innovative company. There’s no reason we can’t get back there, so long as we drive the changes needed to improve," Tan shared with colleagues in April 2025.

Although most of the changes highlighted in Tan's memo to workers centered around humans – redundancies, a return-to-office and streamlined processes with fewer unnecessary meetings – the CEO has also been making changes to the company itself.

Nevertheless, with this news coming just days after we learned that Intel would be reducing its headcount even further, it marks a major milestone in Intel's history and one that workers will be paying close attention to.

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Creative work relies on technology. Instead of physical materials, a contemporary artist’s toolkit is largely digital, especially in the production world, where new resources emerge every day.

The repeating theme is AI, which creative studios are steadily adopting. It enables time-pressed artists to deliver work at speed, without sacrificing the human touch.

With the pace accelerating, keeping up with emerging platforms can give teams a real edge. Here are 12 AI tools redefining the stages of creativity – not as gimmicks, but as tangible working solutions.

1. Grip

(Image credit: Grip)

Speed and clarity are everything. Ideas need to quickly turn into pitch decks and deliverables otherwise, you risk losing client interest.

Grip enables artists to take a product and create its digital twin, ready for placement in any setting. Its ethically sourced generative AI model facilitates visual fine-tuning, allowing for the rapid creation of high-quality concept pieces.

2. Upscayl

(Image credit: Upscayl)

If you find yourself with pixelated reference images, open-source platform Upscayl converts them into a usable asset.

By restoring detail to low-res assets, teams can keep visual consistency without re-sourcing or recreating elements.

3. Viggle

(Image credit: Viggle)

A quick and easy way to share animations with clients is through Viggle, an AI motion capture platform that takes your footage and converts it into a stylised animation. Using generative AI prompts, your movement data can be transferred to any scene.

4. Leica Cyclone 3DR

With production underway, asset generation becomes the priority. Post-scan workflows can slow projects down, but Leica’s Cyclone 3DR addresses this by making it easier to segment, classify, and export individual assets from LiDAR captures.

It enables efficient environment building, especially when digital twins of real spaces are needed fast.

5. Vizcom

(Image credit: Vizcom)

Vizcom streamlines concept art for internal approvals or client reviews by converting sketches to 3D renders.

Using AI to retexture, recolour, and retouch, the software creates ready-to-use assets in minutes.

6. Gaussian Head Avatar

This research-driven tool creates 3D heads from just a photograph. Once created, users can customise hairstyle and proportions.

While not yet standardised in production, Gaussian Head Avatar opens up interesting applications for digital doubles, background characters, or stylised avatars that require volume but not photoreal precision.

7. Motorica

(Image credit: Motorica)

Once the assets are together, it’s time to begin animating. Browser-based Motorica requires 10 minutes of motion capture data to replicate an individual’s movement, then uses AI-powered prompts to generate consistent animation.

This makes it easier to prototype or expand performances without repeat capture, and is especially useful in stylised projects or large-scale simulations.

8. Colossyan

(Image credit: Colossyan)

When people-focused content is needed, but you don’t have a spokesperson, Colossyan presents a simple, AI-driven solution.

The platform generates an AI Avatar, and through a text-to-speech function, enables the avatar to lip-sync. It’s commonly seen in short-form content to add a personal touch – something brands are increasingly calling out for.

9. VASA-1

Sometimes, the best tools aren’t found in typical places. VASA-1 is a Microsoft research project that maps audio to facial animation.

It works for dubbing, creating content in different languages, or when you want to put visuals over a great soundbite. Although it’s not yet production-ready, it’s a tool to look out for.

10. Blend Now

(Image credit: Blend Now)

The main aim of AI tools is to cut down time for creatives, enabling their work to go further.

Blend Now does just that by removing backgrounds and replacing them with AI-generated ones.

While in-person shoots offer more depth and nuance, this is a simple way to repurpose content and keep it current for customers.

11. Beeble

(Image credit: Beeble)

Beeble does a similar task, but applies new backgrounds to videos. The AI-powered tool generates passes, removing the surrounding environment and all lighting.

The user applies new light sources according to the refreshed background, making the shot look natural and highly realistic – another option for those looking to refresh older footage.

12. Dream Machine

Edit elements within video – including lighting, wardrobe, and setting – using an AI inference.

The results tend to be mixed depending on the scale of the request, but the ability to test alternate creative directions without reshooting makes Dream Machine a useful option for short-form or commercial projects with rapid turnaround.

Navigate AI with intent

Above all else, AI tools are here to assist, not to replace creative work. Thanks to these new technologies, we can produce previews instantly, generate convincing videos for short-form content, and wrap up the editing process faster.

And as agentic AI draws closer, we’ll see even better ways to make creative work pop.

For now, the real advantage lies in careful selection. Forward-thinking teams are already testing and integrating these tools, using AI to reduce repetitive tasks and make space for important decisions.

And in an increasingly intense creative production landscape, modern technology is essential.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we 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.

Once the exclusive domain of legal and compliance, data privacy is now a major responsibility for IT. When privacy issues emerge, IT professionals are on the spot, not necessarily as the team that absorbs privacy risk but the one accountable for the tools and visibility to proactively manage it.

When the board asks questions or when the auditors arrive, IT management must be ready with answers about checking the box for data privacy compliance, taking steps to mitigate third-party vendor risk, complying with reporting requirements and setting appropriate policies for data governance, especially around AI systems.

This is a tall order for data privacy and security and it’s compounded by the operational reality that available resources rarely match these expanding responsibilities.

Responsibilities and Reality

Several factors contribute to the disconnect between privacy expectations and operational capacities.

Privacy functions typically operate with minimal staffing while being organizationally siloed from IT operations. Yet IT leaders are expected to provide centralized accountability for privacy, yet they don’t always have the corresponding authority or visibility needed to support that responsibility.

Visibility. Data flows through IT systems, but its exact location and ownership often remain unclear. In other words, there’s no single source of data truth. Without unified monitoring of these complex pathways, privacy breaches become discoverable only after damage occurs.

Third Party Risk. Many privacy teams lack visibility into which vendors access personal data. This visibility gap creates compliance exposure that ultimately reflects on IT leadership and creates ownership confusion. Without protection and collaboration and shared visibility, things fall through the cracks.

Showing Proof. No one wants to get slammed with a violation for poor data handling. Authorities expect evidence that companies have taken steps to implement reasonable preventative measures –documentation many IT departments struggle to produce.

Dynamic data. Modern data environments create perpetual compliance challenges as data continuously streams in and throughout organizations. Maintaining accurate data inventories becomes nearly impossible through manual processes. Simultaneously, data subject requests (DSRs) are on the increase while records of processing activities (RoPAs) consume enormous legal and IT resources.

Furthermore, data integrations are a major concern. After all, who hasn't learned the hard way that not every catalog or pre-built integration supports every system, workflow, or business logic?

Best Practices

- Data mapping creates a dynamic data inventory that is direct and actionable for all involved to find clarity and purpose with enterprise data. Such an investor can facilitate the building joint workflows, clear responsibilities for data ownership so everyone is working through the same data inventory.

- Strive for more sophisticated automated behavior between tools and purpose. Automation helps to avoid repetitive tasks, delivers oversight, flags risks, track third party behavior and manages data integrations.

- In the aftermath of a breach, automation produces a record of that proves the checklist was complete, and appropriate steps were taken to avoid an incident. Auditors are less likely to issue steep fines for violations if IT can produce a report with this proof. Automation also frees up more time to analyze risk and refine processes.

- Take a no-code approach to integrations. No-code not only expands the number but enhances the quality of integrations. No-code enables each integration to be customized per the organization’s exact needs and on IT terms.

- Continue to focus on real-time visibility to enable the holy grail of the IT enterprise: monitoring and control

Helpful Capabilities

Data Mapping. Given the centralized role that CIOs and CISOs have for enterprise privacy, there’s a need strong collaboration and shared visibility with teams that are responsible for privacy yet have different priorities and reporting structures.

Data Mapping for inventory discovery and data classification are essential and typically done through a portal that provides a window on how data moves through the enterprises system and where personal data is accessed by which vendors.

By mapping and classifying data, a portal can enable one source of data truth for all aspects of privacy data and ensure that all privacy and legal teams are working with the same dynamic data inventory.

Automated Integrations. As more people exercise their data privacy rights, and more privacy mandates pass, the number of data subject requests has increased.

These requests are driving demand for automated processes that can keep pace with the time-consuming burden of foundational tasks like building and maintaining Records of Processing Activities (RoPAs) and Data Subject Requests (DSR). DSRs and ROPAs can result in data bottlenecks and constrained resources.

No Code Approach. Not only are privacy regulations complex and always changing, but the average organization also now connects to dozens of data sources, requiring big libraries of pre-built integrations and an API catalog rat race to build APIs.

When data reporting on this level starts to pile up, automated data integration becomes a game changer, so build data integrations that are easily facilitated with any backend system, platform, and SaaS apps. No-code integrations are a game changer in this respect. No-code allows IT teams to freely build, customize and maintain integrations that match internal systems, workflows, and logic - enabling faster deployment and easier maintenance of DSR handling, without developer overhead.

AI Agent. With all the complexity and intricacies of privacy management, there’s been an imbalance of resources and expectations, and it’s been ongoing for years. Automation has been helping to solve this imbalance, by cutting through the complexity. Now, core privacy tasks can be supported by an AI Assistant that can be purpose-built to automate core tasks, not just make suggestions.

AI agents are embedded with the privacy operations platform to intelligently analyze actual systems, how data is used and classified. It can help to build RoPAs automatically, freeing up valuable time for strategic initiatives. Beyond simply automating tasks, a privacy AI Agent can identify potential data risks, including shadow IT systems that lack necessary security controls to misclassified information.

Clear context on why these are risks along with actionable insights to help IT teams make informed decisions and mitigate potential issues proactively.

Summary

For IT, blind spots are not only a technical challenge but also organizational. Each exposure can be a chance to demonstrate strategic leadership by building greater trust with your team, users, privacy teams, and the board. Visibility also leads the way forward to getting ahead of regulatory changes.

Treating privacy blind spots seriously helps to build an agile, secure IT organization that is accountable, collaborative, and ready for growth. Forward-thinking IT leaders can turn compliance challenges into an operational advantage.

We've listed the best RPA software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we 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/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

AI agents, the much-touted next phase of generative AI, have commanded enterprises’ attention. Right now, 61% of business leaders are actively adopting AI agents, according to a recent survey by my organization – with ambitious plans to scale them organization-wide.

The fixation is justified: agents can work autonomously, navigate complex workflows, learn from experience, and leverage other software as tools. They are a step change from AI that talks with you, like chatbots, to AI that works for you. The result is major productivity: Gartner estimates that by 2028, agents will automate 15% of day-to-day business decisions.

But business leaders shouldn’t mistake agents’ sophistication with omnipotence. Agents can fall into the same traps as older, less sophisticated software – including dreaded IT silos.

Battling silos

For decades, IT professionals have battled silos: applications, databases, and other systems that aren't interoperable. In the 1980s and 1990s, enterprises struggled to connect disparate applications into a single ERP solution.

Accounting, procurement, and sales workstreams were stubbornly separate – squandering coveted cross-company insights. More recently, enterprises have struggled to unify crucial customer data across disparate CRMs, and have also labored to integrate data spread across on-premise locations and multiple cloud environments.

No matter the decade or technology, the result of silos is always the same: wasted time, wasted resources, and wasted potential. When agents become trapped in silos, the outcome is no different. Their return on investment plummets, too.

We are already seeing agentic silos take shape. Enterprises are using agents with rigid divisions – one agent for sales activities, another for procurement tasks, a third for CRMs – with little connective tissue between them. What if those agents need to work together to troubleshoot a complex problem, like a sudden and unexpected shift in product demand?

If they’re siloed, they cannot pool their abilities and function as a whole greater than the sum of their parts. Not orchestrating agents is like hiring several subcontractors to build a house but restricting their tools and communication. The result is a poorly built house – or jumble of agents with poor performance.

Agents and silos

Agents can also be siloed from the technology that enterprises already have in place. Imagine an HR Agent tasked with orchestrating employee PTO – but unable to access certain calendar applications and documents.

Imagine an IT Agent tasked with troubleshooting software problems – but unable to access troves of past incident reports and help desk tickets. These agents would fail to complete their fundamental tasks, and the time and resources that went into building them would be wasted.

There is something deeply ironic about siloed agents. Agents' value lies in their very ability to traverse the full enterprise stack, bridging tools and processes that require human time and talent. When agents get stuck, they are a victim of the very problem they are trying to solve. Businesses are investing in the problem, not the solution.

Siloed agents have an additional pitfall: they need to be governed and secured piecemeal. Relying on an ad hoc, patchwork approach to governance and security means an agentic use case is likely to fall through the cracks. If this occurs, agents’ most valuable asset – their autonomy – can quickly turn into a liability. Issues like bias, drift, and security vulnerabilities are amplified by agents’ access and independence.

Reaching potential

For agents to reach their full potential, business leaders must first fix the fragmentation underneath. Enterprises need a single data fabric that can unify the structured and unstructured data that powers agents. While many enterprises haven’t achieved this yet, a growing number understand the value: 72% of leaders view their organization’s proprietary data as key to unlocking the value of generative AI, according to my company’s most recent CEO Study.

Enterprises also need a hybrid control plane automating the sprawling landscape agents work across, unifying APIs, apps, events, files, and mainframe data. And enterprises should invest in a central nervous system for their agents. The future is multi-agent: It will be teams of agents, rather than a single agent, that tackle complex tasks. Enterprises need a single hub to supervise and route those agents. In other words, enterprises need a general contractor for all those subcontractors.

The need for orchestration

Better integrated and orchestrated agents also boost observability. Rather than governing and securing agents piecemeal, enterprises can apply comprehensive rules and oversight from a single point. This also allows AI security teams and AI governance teams to collaborate: if a shadow agent deployment is spotted by security tools, it can quickly and automatically steer the agent into the proper governance workstream.

Enterprises are rightfully investing in agents. But if they want that investment to translate into impact, they should be making equal commitments to agent integration and orchestration. Otherwise, they will end up with a whole that is less than the sum of its parts. In 2025 and beyond, it won't just be the businesses with the best agents that win. It will be the businesses with the most flexible ones.

I tried 70+ best AI tools.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we 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/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX now on sale with Zen 5, 96 cores, 192 threads
• AMD’s most powerful workstation CPU available from major retailers for $11,699
• Most professionals won’t need the 9995WX despite the impressive specs

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX is now available to buy from major retailers, including Amazon and Newegg, with a starting price of $11,699 - much cheaper than initial predictions.

It’s the top chip in AMD’s new Threadripper Pro 9000 WX-series and is built on the latest Zen 5 architecture, sporting 96 cores, 192 threads, and offers a boost clock of up to 5.4GHz.

The 9995WX uses TSMC’s 4nm process and fits the sTR5 socket. The CPU supports 8-channel DDR5-6400 memory, offers up to 148 PCIe lanes, and carries a 350W TDP.

For professional workloads

This processor is aimed at professional workloads that can scale across dozens of threads.

AMD lists compatibility with chipsets like Pro 695, TRX50, and WRX90.

The chip also supports ECC memory and includes features like AMD Pro technologies and EXPO for memory tuning.

For those running highly parallel tasks like visual effects rendering or scientific modeling, this processor can deliver impressive throughput, but at this price, it’s hard to recommend unless the application is truly pushing the limits of core count.

While AMD’s new CPU can deliver unmatched multi-threaded performance in the right environment, most professionals will likely find better value in AMD's lower-tier options (the EPYC 9655 matches Threadripper PRO 9995WX core count for less than half the price) or in Intel's workstation CPUs, depending on their specific use case.

With no integrated graphics, a discrete GPU is required. Cooling is also left to the buyer, as no cooler is bundled.

Unless you're operating in a niche that truly benefits from 96 cores, it’s unlikely to be the best choice or offer the best value for most users.

Buyers in the UK can, as always, expect to pay slightly more than their American counterparts. Novatech is currently selling the new chip there for £10,510, or around $14,205.

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Samsung’s 61.44TB BM1743, its highest-capacity SSD to date, typically sells for $7,500, but it's currently listed on ServerSupply for $5,950, but with available discounts the final price drops to $5,593.

This brings the cost to under $0.09 per gigabyte, making it one of the best $/GB values in the ultra-high-capacity PCIe Gen5 category.

The drive is a 2.5-inch U.2 model built for read-intensive workloads. It features a PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe interface, QLC V-NAND flash, and high sustained throughput.

Add an adapter

Read speeds top out at 14,200MBps, with write speeds reaching 2,100MBps.

Random performance peaks at 850,000 IOPS for reads and 30,000 IOPS for writes. Latency is 150 microseconds for reads and 30 microseconds for writes.

It’s rated for 0.26 drive writes per day and supports 29,153TB of total endurance.

Features include TCG Opal 2.0 encryption, AES-XTS 256-bit hardware encryption, enhanced power-loss protection, and full end-to-end data path integrity.

The SSD also includes static and dynamic wear leveling, plus support for advanced S.M.A.R.T. monitoring.

Power requirements are high. Read operations draw 23.8 watts, writes consume 24.7 watts, and idle power use is listed at 5 watts.

Despite being designed for enterprise systems, the BM1743 can be used with standard PCs and laptops via a USB adapter, making it a good choice for power users, creators, and developers (with pretty deep pockets) who need large, fast storage without building a server.

Products like the Sabrent EC-U2SA allow users to connect U.2 SSDs over USB 3.2. This adapter includes a 12V/2A power supply to handle high draw, supports TRIM and UASP, and works with both Windows and macOS.

The adapter is currently available to buy on Amazon for $34.99, down from its usual $59.99.

The SSD’s listed price on ServerSupply is $5,950, but a 5% discount is automatically applied at checkout and an additional 1% is available when using the retailer’s mobile app, bringing the final price to $5,593.

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• Lost yield from stochastics is costing chipmakers billions at advanced process nodes
• Current process control methods are not enough to solve high-volume stochastics failures
• New whitepaper outlines design and measurement solutions to close stochastics gap

A new whitepaper has claimed the semiconductor industry is losing billions of dollars due to something few outside the field have heard of: stochastic variability.

This form of random patterning variation is now considered the biggest hurdle to achieving high yields at the most advanced process nodes.

The paper was contributed by Austin, Texas-based Fractilia, whose CTO, Chris Mack, noted, “Stochastic variability is contributing to multibillion-dollar delays in introducing advanced process technology into high volume manufacturing.”

Affecting yield, performance and reliability

Mack further explained current process control strategies have not been able to address these random effects.

“Closing the stochastics gap requires completely different methodologies that device makers need to validate and adopt,” Mack said.

Fractilia defines this “stochastics gap” as the difference between what can be patterned in research and what can be reliably mass-produced at acceptable yields.

At the heart of this gap is a randomness rooted in the physics of materials, molecules, and light sources used in chip production.

Although these effects were once negligible, they now consume a growing share of the manufacturing error budget.

“We have seen our customers make dense features as small as 12 nanometers in research and development,” Mack said. “But when they try to move it into manufacturing, stochastic failures are affecting their ability to achieve acceptable yield, performance and reliability.”

The problem has grown alongside the rise of EUV and high-NA EUV lithography. These advances have allowed chipmakers to attempt even smaller features, but also made them more vulnerable to stochastic defects.

Unlike conventional variability, this type can’t be eliminated with tighter controls, it needs to be managed with probability-based design and measurement techniques.

“The stochastics gap is an industry-wide problem,” Mack said. “This issue can be minimized and controlled, but it all starts with accurate stochastics measurement technology.”

The whitepaper, which you can download here, includes an analysis of the problem and proposes stochastics-aware design, materials innovation, and updated process controls as the path forward.

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• A massive 28,000mAh battery makes the FOSSiBOT F107 Pro feel more like a rugged tablet
• FOSSiBOT F107 Pro blends 200MP photography with bulk, weight, and questionable image processing
• Starlight Night Vision from the F107 Pro could work, but only under ideal outdoor conditions

Night vision in smartphones has long been synonymous with grainy black-and-white images, often requiring infrared lighting to function.

The FOSSiBOT F107 Pro claims to challenge this status quo with what it calls “Starlight Night Vision,” a technology which promises full-color visibility in near-total darkness.

The core of the F107 Pro’s pitch lies in its ability to capture full-color imagery in lighting conditions as low as 0.0005 lux.

Color night vision at near-total darkness levels

For comparison, this device can capture decent images in an environment that's darker than a moonless night in the wilderness.

This feat is supposedly achieved through a large-aperture lens and an ultra-sensitive sensor that uses ambient light sources like stars and scattered moonlight.

If it works as advertised, it could be valuable for field professionals or extreme outdoor users.

But it’s worth asking how often such perfect low-light conditions align in real-world use, and whether typical users will experience the kind of visual clarity the device showcases in marketing materials.

In terms of photography specs, the rugged smartphone certainly doesn’t hold back.

A 200MP main camera and a 50MP wide-angle macro lens make for an ambitious setup, while a 32MP front camera rounds things out for video calls or vlogging.

Although large sensor numbers don’t always guarantee image quality, processing software and lens quality play a crucial role too.

And with rugged phones, camera optimization is often where manufacturers cut corners in favor of durability.

On the performance side, the F107 Pro runs on MediaTek’s Dimensity 7300 5G processor and boasts up to 30GB RAM (with virtual memory expansion) and 512GB of onboard storage, expandable to 2TB.

That’s enough power to multitask, store extensive media files, or run demanding business smartphone applications.

The phone also carries a massive 28,000mAh battery, which seems more aligned with rugged tablet territory.

While impressive, this also means a heavier, bulkier device, which everyday users may find less convenient.

This device is physically resilient, and it is built to survive drops, dust, water, and temperature extremes with MIL-STD-810H certification and IP68/IP69K ratings.

The F107 Pro may not replace a flagship for casual users, but it’s certainly built to compete in the niche market of field-ready devices.

Via Androidpc

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Buying one of the best student laptops isn’t always easy, especially if you’re eyeing up one of Apple’s MacBooks and are working to a tight budget. MacBooks are some of the most expensive laptops out there, and while they’re packed with features and practically last forever, your finances can still take a hit.

Apple offers student discounts across its range of products, yet these aren’t the most generous offers you’ll see. But what if I told you there’s another way to get a cheap MacBook without compromising on quality or buying from a dodgy third-party website? In fact, you can score a top-quality MacBook directly from Apple while saving hundreds in the process.

I can vouch for this method, too, as I’ve done it myself and am still pleased with what I got years later. Try it out yourself, and you’ll get an excellent new Mac for college without breaking the bank.

Apple’s education store

(Image credit: Apple)

The most conventional way to get one of the best MacBooks for college is to use Apple’s education website. This houses various deals for students on devices like Macs and iPads, and Apple often throws in free extras (like a pair of AirPods or an Apple Pencil) when you buy through this store.

The problem is that the deals you’ll find there aren’t always that attractive. Most Macs only come with $100 off – the MacBook Air is priced at $899 through Apple’s education storefront, as opposed to its regular $999 price, for example. A 10% discount is fine, but not earth-shattering.

If you’re in the market for an Apple device and were planning on buying one of the accessories that the company bundles in for free anyway, it’s worth a look. For instance, if you were going to get a MacBook and a new Magic Mouse, you can get the latter for free from Apple, which is a great deal. But these offers don’t last forever, and if you can’t get one – or would rather save even more money on a laptop than have an accessory you don’t need – there’s another place you should be looking.

Don’t get me wrong, any saving is welcome, and you’d do far worse than to accept the $100 off that Apple’s education store provides. But I know we can do better than that.

The refurbished alternative

(Image credit: Farknot Architect / Shutterstock)

Enter Apple's Certified Refurbished store. There, you’ll find a whole host of Apple products that have been returned by previous customers, fitted up and repaired by Apple, then sold on at a steep discount.

I know what you’re thinking: why would you buy a refurbished product when you can get a brand-new one from Apple? Aren’t refurbished ones full of dents, scuffs, and other problems?

That might be the case when you buy from third-party refurbished stores, but not from Apple. Apple’s refurbishment process is rigorous: the company cleans, tests, and inspects each device, replaces any faulty parts with genuine replacement components, and ships it to you for free in a new box with new cables and accessories. You get a one-year warranty, too, with the option to insure your device with AppleCare.

I bought a MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip from Apple’s refurbished store a few years ago. When it arrived, I simply wouldn’t have believed that it wasn’t a new laptop: from the new, sealed box to the spotless body without a scratch on it, nothing indicated that this was anything other than a brand-new product.

Discounts on discounts

(Image credit: Apple)

With the refurbished route, the real kicker is the price. While Apple’s education store is selling the entry-level M4 MacBook Air for $899, you can get the same device on the refurbished store for the even lower price of $849. Saving even more money for something that is essentially indistinguishable from a new MacBook seems like a no-brainer.

Sure, you might be able to find a Mac even cheaper by scouring eBay or Facebook Marketplace, but you won’t get anywhere near the same quality, and certainly not the same warranty.

The only caveat with the refurbished store is that some websites discount new Macs to similar prices to what Apple offers, so it’s often worth checking major retailers from time to time to see how they match up. If you can get a brand-new MacBook for less than one of Apple’s refurbished ones, that’s naturally the better option.

But if you just need something right now and want to score a discount without having to sacrifice your peace of mind, Apple’s refurbished store is a great place to look. It could leave you with a top-quality laptop for college and a little more change in your pocket, too.

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The Sage Luxe Brewer Thermal is an advanced drip coffee machine that launched earlier this year and is a new version of the original Luxe Brewer with an insulated carafe to keep your freshly brewed coffee hot for up to four hours. I'm currently testing it to find out whether it can earn a place in TechRadar's list of the best coffee makers, but I wanted to bring you a few of my first impressions.

The designers at Sage (known as Breville outside the UK) clearly realize that first impressions matter, and not only does the Luxe Brewer Thermal look smart with its smooth lines and silver finish, it also has a surprisingly small footprint. With a base measuring 14.7 x 7 inches, 37.24 x 17.7cm, it's about as small as a full-size drip machine can be.

Something else I particularly like about the Luxe Brewer Thermal is that its water tank is removable – a feature that makes it much easier to fill and clean than most drip machines. The tank also has a wide opening, making it easy to fill from a tap, and is supplied with a water filter complete with a counter so you can see when it's time for a replacement.

The tank has a small handle, which you can loop a finger through to keep it steady, but you'll need to support the tank with your other hand underneath the body of the tank once it's full. A larger, thicker handle that you could get your whole hand around would make it easier to carry, but since you already have big handles for the basket and the pitcher on the right-hand side, I can understand the designers not wanting to add yet another on the left.

The water tank is removable, but its small handle means you'll need two hands to carry it when it's full (Image credit: Sage)

The Luxe Brewer Thermal has options for both hot and cold brewing. I've not yet experimented with the cold option (though with warm weather approaching, I plan to do so very soon), but my first results with the hot mode were excellent.

The instruction manual includes a table explaining the optimum weight of coffee and quantity of water to use, depending on how many cups you want to brew. Helpfully, the coffee measurements are provided in both grams and scoops. I have an electronic scale for weighing coffee, but if you don't, there's a long-handled scoop included with the machine, so it's not a problem.

Time to brew

I'm trying to avoid drinking too much coffee in the evenings (not always easy when you test coffee machines for a living), so I was particularly keen to try the Luxe Brewer Thermals' delayed start function. A jug full of freshly brewed filter coffee is the perfect way to start the morning, in my opinion.

Setting the timer on the machine is very simple – just tap the button, turn the dial to set the time you want to start brewing, and press it in to confirm. The set time will appear on the display, and you can head to bed.

(Image credit: Sage)

I didn't hear the Luxe Thermal Brewer at all when it started working at 7am, and when I entered the kitchen half an hour later, I thought it might not have worked because the outside of the carafe was so cold, but that was just the result of its excellent insulating properties. It was full of perfectly brewed, piping hot coffee, ready to be enjoyed.

I've yet to test just how long the Luxe Thermal Brewer's pitcher can keep drinks hot, but so far it seems to perform better than the Fellow Aiden Precision Coffee Maker, whose jug became noticeably warm on the outside and soon allowed drinks to become lukewarm.

Overall, an excellent experience. So far, the only drawback was that the instruction manual seems to be written for a global audience and mostly uses Ikea-style diagrams, which aren't always completely self-explanatory. Thankfully, Sage's website contains a much more detailed user guide, which covers all the machine's features in much more depth.

I'm looking forward to putting the rest of its features to the test very soon, and finding out whether it can earn a place in my complete roundup of the best drop coffee makers. Watch this space.

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