TechRadar News

• A new Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11 are tipped for launch in September
• Both could feature high blood pressure detection
• It would work similarly to Apple's sleep apnea detection, without giving specific readings

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch Series 11 tipped for launch in September 2025 could both feature Apple's long-awaited high blood pressure detection feature, according to the latest reports.

This week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed that Apple's 2025 slate includes plans to upgrade all three of the best Apple Watch models on the market, the Series line, Ultra, and Apple Watch SE. The Apple Watch SE 3 might be the only one getting a redesign, but Gurman says the more premium models may both benefit from a hefty health upgrade.

Gurman says "it's likely" both will feature Apple's rumored high blood pressure detection, along with bolstered satellite tech and 5G, but what could the health upgrade mean for Apple Watch?

Apple Watch Ultra 3's biggest upgrade

(Image credit: Future)

This isn't the first time we've heard about high blood pressure monitoring on the Apple Watch, but this latest leak might be our clearest sign yet that 2025 is the year.

Gurman outlined details about the high blood pressure monitoring late in 2024 and admitted it'll work a lot like the sleep apnea detection feature.

Crucially, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11 won't be able to give you specific readings for blood pressure, either diastolic or systolic levels, likely due to the limitations of LED readings. Most smartwatches struggle with accurate blood pressure readings, with the exception of the Huawei Watch D2, which uses a physical cuff. Instead, Apple Watches will apparently be able to inform users if they're in a state of hypertension, without specifics.

As Gurman outlines, Apple is also still hard at work on noninvasive blood-glucose tracking, the holy grail of smartwatch innovation that continues to allude Cupertino.

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Ah, CES… the first big tech event of the year, and, if you're a tech journalist, likely the last thing you think about as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve. Does it fill us with dread? Absolutely. Still, it's the first glimpse we get of the tech and gadgets that will define the year ahead, and CES 2025 did not disappoint.

The latest episode of the TechRadar podcast features me and our motley crew of tech experts, cozied up in a charmingly intimate broadcast room on the show floor discussing the biggest news from the show floor, analyzing the most interesting trends, and cutting through the hype.

From AI to robot vacuums, display technology to PC components, wearables to the downright weirdables, we've got plenty of ground to cover.

You can catch the episode by watching the embedded video above, or you can stream it directly via our YouTube channel, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

While you’re there, you can catch up on all of our earlier podcast episodes if you haven’t tuned in before, or browse all our other YouTube content.

Make sure to subscribe too so that you can catch our next episode, in which we'll be talking about all the latest and greatest tech news. See you there!

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• The 25 best gadgets we saw at CES 2025, from next-gen TVs to better portable gaming to a smart grill
• CES 2025 proves AI is everywhere, unstoppable, and perhaps just how you want it
• CES 2025 day 3: the 11 best gadgets we've seen, from Lenovo's rollable laptop to Panasonic's new flagship OLED TV

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2025 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

People in Venezuela can now use Telegram without a VPN service.

Authorities restricted access to the popular messaging app starting Friday, January 10, 2024 and blocked its official website across all the country's main internet service providers (ISPs).

Despite the Telegram ban being lifted, the internet in Venezuela remains restricted. Most notably, the video-sharing app TikTok has entered its seventh day of blockage.

⚠️ Confirmed: Live metrics show messaging app Telegram is now disrupted in Venezuela, corroborating user reports of issues accessing the service; the incident comes as Nicolas Maduro is sworn in for a third presidential term, a move identified by the opposition as a coup #10Ene pic.twitter.com/7SonpVuAzNJanuary 11, 2025

Venezuelan digital rights group VE sin Filtro shared the news with a post on X (formerly Twitter).

As per VE sin Filtro data, some ISPs (CANTV, Inter, Airtek, Digitel, G-Network, and Movistar) began to lift the ban between Saturday evening and Sunday morning – about a day after the block was enforced. All the rest of the ISPs slowly unblocked Telegram by Monday, January 13.

"It's not the first time Telegram is blocked [in Venezuela]. Telegram was blocked for one day on September 2, 2024, during the wave of post-election censorship," wrote the experts, adding that encrypted messaging app Signal is also currently blocked in the country.

Increased internet censorship

Venezuela's latest wave of restrictions kicked off last week when authorities restricted TikTok on January 8 for failing to appoint a local representative.

The government's decision provoked a surge in VPN usage across the country as citizens looked for ways to bypass disruptions.

Internet disruptions were then extended to the official websites of some of the best VPN providers a day after, to prevent citizens from overcoming government-imposed restrictions.

The blockage targets over 20 VPN websites, including the likes of Proton VPN (which has been blocked since before the July 2024 elections), NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, and IPVanish. Despite this, all the providers contacted by TechRadar confirmed their VPN apps are still working as usual in Venezuela at the time of writing.

For the first time, the government even decided to block Canva, a free online graphic tool that can be used to create social media posts and other graphics to share online. Signal, the Tor Browser, and over 30 DNS services are also reportedly blocked.

Proton VPN recorded a spike in sign-ups at 5000% above baseline on January 9, 2025, a day before the contested Maduro’s inauguration ceremony. (Image credit: Proton)

• The gameplay trailer for Street Fighter 6's next fighter Mai Shiranui has been revealed
• Mai Shiranui will be released on February 5
• Mai's will be the second guest character to be added to a Street Fighter game

Capcom has revealed a gameplay trailer for Street Fighter 6's next downloadable content (DLC) character, Mai Shiranui.

Originating from SNK's Fatal Fury series, Mai Shiranui will be added to the fighting game's roster on February 5, 2025, making her the second guest character to ever grace a Street Fighter game.

Mai's debut trailer provided everything players will need to know about the upcoming fighter, including a helpful breakdown of her moveset and abilities.

As a master of ninja trickery and aerial attacks, Mae utilizes her fan as her primary weapon. With Kachousen, she can use it as a fireball to attack opponents, as well as Ryuuenbu, which allows her to spin forward in a fiery blaze for combos or to control space.

With Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi, Mai can cartwheel toward her enemies while her Hishou Ryuuenjin allows her to execute a "dragon punch". There's also a dive tackle ability that lets her come at enemies from the air.

As for Mai's Super Art ability, Level One allows her to set the immediate vicinity on fire, Level Two executes Chou Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi, letting her rush forward and avoid projectiles, while Level Three, Shiranui Ryuu: Enbu Ada Zakura, executes a series of elegant fan strikes.

Mai will also get a secondary outfit inspired by her new look in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, which comes out this April and can be bought with Fighter Coins or by maxing out her bond in World Tour.

Mai Shiranui will automatically become available to owners of the Year 2 Character Pass or Ultimate Pass when she releases. Alternatively, Mai can be purchased individually with Fighter Coins.

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• Attackers access storage buckets with exposed AWS keys
• The files are then encrypted and scheduled for deletion after a week
• Halycon says it observed at least two victims being attacked this way

Cybercriminals have started exploiting legitimate AWS S3 features to encrypt victim buckets in a unique twist to the old ransomware attack.

Researchers from Halycon recently observed multiple victims, all AWS native software developers, being attacked this way. In the attack, the group, dubbed Codefinger, accessed their victims’ cloud storage buckets through publicly exposed, or otherwise compromised, AWS keys with read and write permissions.

After accessing the buckets, they would use AWS server-side encryption with customer provided keys (SSE-C) to lock down the files.

Marking files for deletion

But that’s not where creativity ends with Codefinger. The group does not threaten to release the files to the public, or delete it. Instead, it marks all the encrypted files for deletion within a week, also using AWS S3 native features.

Speaking to The Register, VP of services with the Halcyon RISE Team, Tim West, said this was the first time someone’s abused AWS native secure encryption infrastructure via SSE-C.

"Historically AWS Identity IAM keys are leaked and used for data theft but if this approach gains widespread adoption, it could represent a significant systemic risk to organizations relying on AWS S3 for the storage of critical data," he told the publication.

"This is unique in that most ransomware operators and affiliate attackers do not engage in straight up data destruction as part of a double extortion scheme or to otherwise put pressure on the victim to pay the ransom demand," West said. "Data destruction represents an additional risk to targeted organizations."

Halcyon did not want to name the victims, and instead urged AWS customers to restrict the use of SSE-C.

Amazon, on the other hand, told The Register it does what it can, whenever it spots exposed keys, and urged customers to follow best practices when it comes to cybersecurity.

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• Sigma launches existing 16mm F1.4 and 23mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary lenses for Canon RF mount
• The lenses cost $439 / £389 / AU$617 and $549 / £479 / AU$817 respectively
• That makes six Sigma RF-S lenses, but none yet for full-frame

Sigma has launched two fast-aperture prime lenses for Canon mirrorless cameras; the 16mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary and 23mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary. They join four other Sigma lenses available for the Canon RF mount, all of which are designed for crop sensor (APS-C) models such as the Canon EOS R7 and Canon EOS R100.

The new lenses increase the total number of Sigma 'RF-S' lenses to six in all, and are the first wide-aperture primes; the 16mm lens has an equivalent 24mm focal length, while the 23mm lens has a 35mm equivalent focal length.

Both lenses offer popular focal lengths with fast f/1.4 apertures, ideal for working in low light and for creating shallow depth of field portraits – I personally relied on a 35mm f/1.4 Sigma lens for a number of years while doing documentary photography in East Africa.

Sigma has set the price of the 16mm F1.4 lens at $439 / £389 / $617, while the 24mm F1.4 costs $549 / £479 /AU$817. These are reasonable prices when you consider the proven optical performance from Sigma Contemporary lenses, plus the fact that Canon equivalents would likely be pricier – should Canon ever launch them.

Four Sigma DC DN Contemporary prime lenses available for the Canon RF mount, from left to right; 23mm F1.4, 50mm F1.4, 30mm F1.4 and 16mm F1.4 (Image credit: Sigma) 6 and counting, but what about full-frame?

Canon kept its lens mount closed to third-party lenses makers longer than rival brands, a move that frustrated some fans, especially given how few lenses Canon has launched for its APS-C cameras. That all changed in April 2024 when Canon gave the key to its RF-mount door to Sigma and Tamron, and we have six existing Sigma lenses rolled out for the RF-mount already.

All of these lenses are for Canon's APS-C cameras, which somewhat addresses the biggest strike against beginner mirrorless Canon models like the EOS R10: limited lens choice.

The 'new' 23mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary attached to the Canon EOS R7. (Image credit: Sigma)

Meanwhile, Canon has been very active in launching new lenses for its full-frame cameras, like our 2024 Camera of the Year, the EOS R5 Mark II. However, we're yet to see full-frame lenses from Sigma and Tamron.

To us, it looks like Canon is taking care of its full-frame lenses while leaving the APS-C lenses to third-party manufacturers like Sigma. That's not a bad approach; however, it's only a matter of time before Canon fans demand that the likes of Sigma start making affordable full-frame lenses for Canon.

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Global IT infrastructure has become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. As a result, operational resilience has continued to climb up CISOs’ agendas. While organizations have matured their handling of software threats, many are struggling with poor visibility and inadequate tools to defend against lower-level threats targeting hardware and firmware, which is proving to be a barrier to resilience.

Supply chain attacks can come in many forms, from ransomware groups compromising suppliers’ infrastructure, to tampering with hardware and firmware. Beyond disruption, the reason why these attacks are so damaging is because they undermine the hardware and firmware foundations of devices, often in ways that are difficult to detect and fix, meaning that software and data cannot be trusted to be secure.

Regulators have begun to move to strengthen supply chain security. The UK has implemented new IOT cybersecurity regulations and is drafting a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to “expand the remit of regulation to protect more digital services and supply chains”. In the US, Executive Order 14028 accelerated the development of software supply chain security requirements for government procurement, explicitly including firmware. The EU is introducing new cyber security requirements at every stage of the supply chain, starting with software and services with the Network and Information Systems (NIS2) directive, and extending to devices themselves with the Cyber Resilience Act to ensure safer hardware and software.

A survey from HP Wolf Security found that 30% of UK organizations say that they or others they know have been impacted by state-sponsored actors trying to insert malicious hardware or firmware into PCs or printers, highlighting the need to address physical device security risks.

Hardware and firmware attacks have major ramifications

The impact of failing to protect the integrity of endpoint hardware and firmware is high. A successful compromise at these lower layers can hand attackers unparalleled visibility and control over a device. The attack surface exposed by hardware and firmware has been a target for skilled and well-resourced threat actors like nation-states for years, offering a stealthy foothold below the operating system (OS). But as the cost and skill of attacking hardware and firmware falls, this capability is trickling down into the hands of other bad actors.

Given the stealthy nature and complexity of firmware threats, real-world examples are not as frequent as malware targeting the OS. Examples like LoJax, in 2018, targeted PC UEFI firmware to survive OS reinstalls and hard drive replacements on devices lacking protection. More recently, the BlackLotus UEFI bootkit was designed to bypass boot security mechanisms and give attackers full control over the OS boot process. Other UEFI malware such as CosmicStrand can launch before the OS and security defenses, allowing attackers to maintain persistence and facilitate command-and-control over the infected computer.

Firms are also concerned about attempts to tamper with devices in transit, with many reporting being blind and unequipped to detect and stop such threats. 75% of UK organizations say they need a way to verify hardware integrity to mitigate the threat of device tampering.

Maturing the approach to endpoint hardware and firmware security

In recent years, IT teams have gotten better at managing and monitoring the software security configuration of devices, and are improving their ability to track software provenance and supply chain assurance. Now, it’s time to bring the same level of maturity to managing and monitoring hardware and firmware security across the entire lifespan of endpoint devices.

Organizations can start by taking the following steps:

• Securely manage firmware configuration throughout the lifecycle of a device, using digital certificates and public-key cryptography. By doing so, administrators can begin managing firmware remotely and eliminate weak password-based authentication.
• Make use of vendor factory services to enable robust hardware and firmware security configurations right from the factory
• Adopt Platform Certificate technology to verify hardware and firmware integrity once devices have been delivered
• Monitor ongoing compliance of device hardware and firmware configuration across your fleet of devices – this is a continuous process that should be in place as long as devices are in use.

Ultimately, endpoint security depends on strong supply chain security, which starts with the assurance that devices, whether PCs, printers, or any form of IoT, are built and delivered with the intended components. This is why organizations should increasingly focus on securing the hardware and firmware foundations of their endpoints, by managing, monitoring and remediating hardware and firmware security throughout the lifetime of any device in their fleet.

We've featured the best online cybersecurity course.

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

Not so long ago, artificial intelligence still seemed like something out of a science fiction film — you were more likely to come across it on the big screen rather than your computer screen.

But since generative AI started making waves around the beginning of 2023, bringing AI to the forefront of discussions about emerging technologies, AI-powered tools have quickly proliferated, integrating themselves into various aspects of both our personal and professional lives and improving efficiency.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one industry where AI is proving to be particularly beneficial, helping SEO professionals streamline workflows, accomplish more in less time, and achieve better results.

Examples of how AI can be used for SEO

SERP ranking analysis & local rank

Tracking AI-powered rank tracking tools offer tailored insights into performance, tracking keyword positions across various locations on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and within the Map Pack (for Local SEO), uncovering trends and patterns with remarkable precision.

By processing virtually limitless data at lightning-fast speeds, AI not only identifies opportunities but also delivers actionable recommendations to improve rankings and outpace competitors in target markets. Previously, SEO guidance often relied on generalized “best practices” that left room for interpretation. Today, thanks to the contextual depth of Large Language Models, recommendations are hyper-specific, uniquely tailored to individual brands or locations. This evolution has shifted SEO from a field dominated by subjective opinions to one firmly rooted in data-driven, highly targeted strategies.

Competitor research

Understanding who your top competitors are and what they’re doing well in terms of SEO is a major key to continued SEO success — and AI excels at competitor analysis.

AI tools can monitor existing competitors’ performance, providing insights into their keyword targeting and other strategies, and even identifying and alerting you to new competitors as they enter the market. These tools identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats while offering suggestions for how to refine your own SEO strategy to remain competitive.

Keyword research

Keyword research tools are increasingly integrating AI features that offer users additional ways to get keyword suggestions.

By analyzing vast amounts of search data and identifying patterns that might not be immediately obvious to the human eye, such AI-driven suggestion features can help you find new keywords to target that are perfectly aligned with your target audience and their search intent. This ensures that your keyword strategy is both comprehensive and focused on keywords with high potential to drive traffic and conversions.

Content writing and optimization

Generative AI tools are revolutionizing the way we create SEO-friendly content, allowing content writers and SEO professionals to generate outlines, drafts, and web content in a fraction of the time it would take to do so from scratch.

These generative AI tools analyze existing content, search intent, and top-ranking articles to create content tailored to your audience and goals. They can also help you optimize existing content by identifying keyword gaps, improving readability, and making your content more engaging, all of which improve its SEO.

Linking suggestions

AI can help automate the process of incorporating internal and external links into web pages and content, providing strategic recommendations on where to insert links for maximum SEO impact.

For internal links, AI tools can analyze your site’s structure and content and provide linking suggestions to improve navigability and page authority. For external links, AI can identify authoritative sources to reference and link to in your content, helping optimize it for SERPs.

Image creation and optimization

Using AI for SEO isn’t limited to text-based content — AI tools can also quickly create custom graphics for your site, enhancing the user experience and providing additional opportunities to rank for visual content.

AI can also create descriptive alt text and suggest ideal file sizes and dimensions for these images, optimizing them for users and search engine algorithms alike.

Metadata generation

AI can quickly generate meta titles and descriptions for web pages, analyzing page content and keywords to create metadata that improves click-through rates, aligns with SEO best practices, and helps your pages stand out in search results.

User experience analysis

AI can evaluate user behavior metrics, such as bounce rates, session durations, and site heatmaps, to assess how visitors interact with your site and identify optimization opportunities.

This can help you identify technical issues, like slow-loading pages or confusing navigation, and provide actionable recommendations on how to improve the user experience - an important ranking factor for SERPs.

Schema markup generation

AI is also making schema markup creation faster and more accessible, even for those with limited technical expertise.

You can use AI to quickly analyze your website’s content and generate ready-to-use structured data markup that will help search engines better understand your site, improving how your pages appear in search results.

Sentiment analysis

AI-powered sentiment analysis tools can scan customer reviews, social media mentions, and other sources of feedback to provide insights into customer perceptions and help with reputation management, which can affect SEO (especially local SEO).

For instance, analyzing Google reviews can help local businesses address issues and get more positive reviews, which directly impact Google Business Profile rankings on Google Search and Maps.

Conversational insights

Through the power of AI copilots — essentially artificially intelligent virtual assistants — you can now gain conversational insights into SEO through natural language queries.

This power is multiplied when you connect a copilot to a source of SEO data, such as a local rank tracker, allowing you to ask specific questions about your performance and get data-backed suggestions on how to improve it.

The dawn of AIO

We’ve officially entered the age of AI optimization (AIO) — the era of optimizing both for and with AI.

While there’s still room for more traditional SEO practices in a comprehensive strategy, optimizing with AI is becoming increasingly important, especially as search engines themselves integrate more AI-based features and functionalities.

As search engines become more artificially intelligent, using AI to optimize for them will help supercharge your efforts and ensure alignment with shifting algorithms and user preferences. From automating time-consuming tasks to providing deeper insights into performance and user behavior, using AI for SEO allows you to focus more on strategy and creativity.

As AI and its SEO capabilities continue to evolve, it’s sure to continue offering new ways for businesses to analyze data, engage users, and optimize performance, becoming an even more indispensable part of any digital marketing strategy. Those that embrace AI for SEO now will be better positioned in the long run, future-proofing their SEO efforts and setting themselves up for continued success.

We've featured the best cloud analytics.

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

• CISA added two bugs found in BeyondTrust products
• Both were seen in the wild in December 2024
• Federal agencies have until February 3, 2025 to patch up

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added two recently-discovered BeyondTrust bugs to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

The move means CISA has seen evidence of the bugs being exploited in the wild, and has thus given federal agencies a deadline to patch the software or stop using it entirely.

In late December 2024, BeyondTrust confirmed suffering a cyberattack after spotting and uncovering some of its Remote Support SaaS instances were compromised. Subsequent investigation uncovered these two flaws, which the company later patched.

Attacks on the Treasury Department

The bugs are tracked as CVE-2024-12686, and CVE-2024-12356. The former is a medium-severity vulnerability (6.6 score), described as a flaw in Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) that allows malicious actors with existing admin privileges to inject commands and run as a site user. The latter is a critical vulnerability which can allow an unauthenticated attacker to inject commands that are run as a site user. It was given a 9.8 severity score (critical).

CVE-2024-12356 was added to KEV on December 19, while CVE-2024-12686 on January 13. That means that users had until January 9 to address the first, and have until February 3, 2025, to address the second flaw.

The news comes after the US Treasury Department was hit by a cyberattack in early January 2025 where the attackers, thought to be Silk Typhoon, a notorious cyber-espionage group allegedly on the payroll of the Chinese government, used a stolen Remote Support SaaS API key to compromise a BeyondTrust instance.

Silk Typhoon is perhaps best known for targeting some 68,500 servers in early 2021 using Microsoft Exchange Server ProxyLogon zero-days.

Silk Typhoon is a part of a wider network of “Typhoon” groups - Volt Typhoon, Salt Typhoon, Flax Typhoon, and Brass Typhoon. Salt Typhoon was recently linked to a number of high-profile breaches, including at least four major US telecom operators.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Nintendo's Sound Clock: Alarmo will be made available in participating retailers in March
• No Nintendo Switch Online membership will be required to purchase
• Nintendo confirms the Alarmo will be in stores "while supplies last", suggesting a limited sale

Nintendo has announced that its quirky Sound Clock: Alarmo will be coming to participating retailers worldwide in March 2025.

The news comes from the company's latest social media post where it was confirmed that the adorable piece of hardware will be available for everyone "in stores at participating retailers" in two months, and no Nintendo Switch Online membership is required.

The Sound Clock: Alarmo first launched in October 2024 and required users to have a Switch Online subscription in order to purchase one online at the My Nintendo Store.

The device acts as an interactive alarm clock that detects movements while waking up and also plays iconic sounds from some of Nintendo's game catalog, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 3, and more.

The post also notes that the Alarmo will be available in-store "while supplies last", suggesting the device could be a limited product with no restock plans.

Nintendo Sound Clock: #Alarmo will be available in stores at participating retailers in March 2025, no Nintendo Switch Online membership required. Available while supplies last. pic.twitter.com/qhVo0NMKjxJanuary 13, 2025

With the Sound Clock: Alarmo set for a March release, it's possible that the device could receive an update to be somehow compatible with the Nintendo Switch 2 alongside its predecessor, but we'll have to wait and see on that front.

Speaking of the upcoming console, recent reports suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement could finally happen this week after months of leaks and rumors. VGC also reported that the console is likely to be revealed in a "two-part" format, the first of which will focus on the hardware features, while the second will offer an in-depth look at the software.

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• Skeleton Crew's creators hope they'll get to make a second season
• However, the signs don't look good for the Disney Plus show's renewal
• Skeleton Crew's characters could appear in another Star Wars project, though

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew's creators have revealed that they're "dreaming" of making a second season, but it's looking likely that the show won't return for another outing.

Speaking to TechRadar, Jon Watts and Christopher Ford said that, in the event that their series is renewed, they've come up with "different possibilities" about where the story could go next.

Asked if they'd discussed what a sequel season's plot might entail ahead of the Star Wars show's season 1 finale, which airs tonight (January 14) in the US and tomorrow (January 15) in the UK and Australia, Watts told me: "Yeah, we wanted to make sure this season had a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. But, if people want to see more Skeleton Crew, we'd be happy to make more."

"We're dreaming of it [a second season]," Ford added. "We've come up with different possibilities, so never say never."

Will Skeleton Crew get renewed for a second season on Disney Plus?

Skeleton Crew's season 2 chances don't look good, according to its two-episode premiere's viewership data (Image credit: Lucasfilm/Disney Plus)

Despite Skeleton Crew's positive critical reception – read my Star Wars: Skeleton Crew review to see what I thought of it – a second season looks unlikely.

Per recently released data by Nielsen, a reputable US audience measurement company, the Disney Plus series failed to crack Nielsen's Top 10 streaming list for the week running December 9 to 15, 2024 – i.e., the seven day period after the show debuted on one of the world's best streaming services. Fellow TV Originals including A.P Blo and A Man on the Inside, plus Jamie Foxx's Netflix comedy special, accrued more minutes streamed than Skeleton Crew did.

According to Star Wars fansite The Jedi Temple Archives, Skeleton Crew didn't break into the Top 10 most-watched TV shows list from Luminate, another entertainment industry data firm, for that week either. In fact, Skeleton Crew's 384 millions minutes viewed is the lowest total ever for a Star Wars series' premiere. The Book of Boba Fett had held that record with 389 million minutes accumulated following its one-episode premiere in December 2021. Even The Acolyte, which wasn't as successful as Disney and Lucasfilm hoped it would be, racked up 488 million minutes streamed in its first seven days on the platform.

Skeleton Crew's last episode may be the season 1 finale, which arrives tonight (January 14) in the US (Image credit: Lucasfilm/Disney Plus)

There are caveats to these viewing figures, though. Nielsen and Luminate's data only relates to US households, so Skeleton Crew's worldwide 'million minutes streamed' haul will be higher than what's been reported. It's also possible that, like Andor's first season, positive word of mouth may have helped episodes 3 to 7 to perform better. We won't know if they did, though, until Nielsen and Luminate release those chapters' viewing figures in the weeks ahead.

If Disney decides against greenlighting a second season, Skeleton Crew's season 1 finale may not be the end of its characters' adventures in Lucasfilm's iconic galaxy far, far away. Indeed, with one of Star Wars' many new movies set to bring characters together from shows including The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Ahsoka, for a team-up movie, there's every chance that Skeleton Crew's young stars could be part of the proceedings. That, Watts and Ford told me, is something they'd be open to exploring.

There's always a chance that they could meet some surprising people in the future

Jon Watts, Skeleton Crew co-creator

"It's exciting to think about," Watts said. "We've mainly been focused on telling this story, but there's always a chance that they [the kids] could meet some surprising people in the future."

"What's exciting about these characters is the kids are actually kid actors," Ford added, "And they're growing up. So, if they appeared in something else, we'd be telling the story of how they grew up and found their place in the galaxy."

Don't be surprised, then, if Wim and company show up in Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni's Avengers-style Star Wars movie. And let's hope they also appear in a second season of what is, in my view, one of the best Disney Plus shows in a while.

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• JPMorgan Chase rolls out company-wide return-to-office mandate
• All 316,000 workers will need to work from the office full-time
• Office working is “the best way to run the company”

Banking giant JPMorgan Chase has ordered all 316,000 of its workers to return to the office on a full-time basis, marking the end of the company’s flexible hybrid working routine.

The company confirmed its workers would be required to attend the office five days per week beginning March 2025 (via The Guardian).

The change is one being reflected across all industries globally as companies, workers and experts struggle to ascertain what the most effective working routine is.

JPMorgan Chase workers given RTO mandate

In the years that followed the pandemic, more and more workers have been forced back into the office, with the tech sector driving the widely adopted three-day policy. More recently, companies have been rolling out full-scale return-to-office policies, and JPMorgan Chase is the latest.

The news follows similar moves made by Dell and Amazon, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy claiming in-person working creates a more collaborative and productive environment.

Although the change to full-time office working is a big shift, more than half of JPMorgan Chase’s workers were already adhering to such principles. Last week’s announcement just brings the rest of the workers in line.

CEO Jamie Dimon acknowledged that many workers prefer hybrid schedules and that not all workers would agree with the change.

In an internal memo seen by The Guardian, Dimon wrote: “We are now a few years out of the pandemic and have had the time to evaluate the benefits and challenges of remote and hybrid working… We think it is the best way to run the company. As we’ve discussed before, the benefits of working together in person are substantial and irreplaceable, and as we spend more time together, the more advantages we gain.”

A spokesperson added (via The Irish Times): “We recognize that switching from hybrid to five days a week in the office may be disruptive and require adjustments for some colleagues.”

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• Google is once again enabling users to set names and profile pictures for their contacts in Google Messages
• The app switched to a social-media style profile system in 2024
• Profile sharing is seemingly still available

Google has announced that users of its Messages app will once again be able to set names and photos for their contacts after the app switched to a social media profile-style system in 2024.

As 9to5Google notes, profile sharing (originally named profile discovery) was rolled out to Messages users from March 2024, replacing the names and contact images ascribed to a user’s contacts with information from their contacts’ Google accounts.

Following this, Google implemented the "customize how you are seen" page in Messages, an unskippable process that leaned even more heavily into a social platform style of self-presentation.

Though the decision to make profile sharing the only way to set names and contact photos has been reversed, users can seemingly still opt to use their contacts’ preferred information – there's no indication that profile sharing has been ditched entirely.

Customizing a contact’s information is, as one might expect, fairly straightforward: you simply tap the name or photo of a contact within the chat, opening a page containing the user’s details, which can then be manually updated.

The addition of profile sharing was originally announced in November 2023, and may be viewed as part of Google’s efforts to present a functionally similar rival to Apple’s iMessage.

As we previously reported, the gap between the two platforms is beginning to narrow with Apple’s adoption of RCS – Rich Communication Services – a standard that allows for easy media sharing and group chats similar to its own iMessage standard.

Google has long championed RCS as a forward-thinking and collaborative standard, and even publicly celebrated its rival’s decision to implement RCS on iPhone.

Furthermore, the end of 2024 saw a crop of new messaging tools come to Google’s default messaging app designed to protect users from scammers and spammers, such as warnings about dangerous links, blur filters for unsavory images, and better contact verification.

It’s clear that Google is keen to make Messages the texting app of choice for Android users – it seems part of that is letting people use mugshots of their friends and family as profile photos.

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• The new DJI Flip sits above the Neo as a pricier multi-use beginner drone
• It features a unique folding propellor design
• Price starts from $439 / £369 / AU$699

DJI has unveiled the new and unique Flip, its latest multi-use drone for beginners. Like the DJI Neo, the DJI Flip is simple to operate for aerial selfies thanks to its auto-tracking flight modes and safety-first design, which includes propellor guards so you can fly up close. However, it’s also supercharged with superior flight performance and image quality.

During our in-depth DJI Flip review we discovered that you get better 4K video and 12MP images compared to the Neo, with their quality approaching what you'll get from DJI’s Mini series of drones, like the Mini 4K or Mini 4 Pro, although the Flip doesn't quite hit those same heights.

What’s most distinct about the DJI Flip, however, is its first-of-kind folding design – it looks like something out of Star Wars, and we've never seen a drone design like this. The Flip is bulkier than other selfie drones like the Neo and the HoverAir X1 Pro, meaning it's more stable in flight, but it still falls within the 249g-and-lighter category of drones that's largely restriction-free.

Prices for the Flip start at $439 / £369 / AU$699, and it's available in various kits. That’s double the cost of Neo, but half that of the Mini 4 Pro. This versatile craft potentially marks a new direction for beginner drones, but does it hit the mark for first-time pilots? The answer to that question depends on what features you’re most interested in.

@techradar

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(Image credit: DJI) A new dawn for beginner drones?

I rate the DJI Mini 4K as the best beginner drone for most people: it's affordable, shoots decent 4K video quality, and offers a variety of easy flight moves for dynamic videos. If money is no object, however, then the Mini 4 Pro is the best sub-250g drone you can buy. And since the entry-level Mini 4K landed in 2024, DJI has launched the even-cheaper Neo – an altogether different type of selfie drone.

The Mini 4K and Neo are distinct, while the Flip somewhat bridges the gap between the two – you can find out more in our in-depth review. Is there a place for a multi-use drone such as the DJI Flip? I'm not sure.

The Flip is much larger than the Neo when in use, and even when folded away. In fact, it's larger than any of DJI's Mini series of drones – that's largely down to the Flip's propellors, which feature guards and necessitate a new design approach and larger footprint.

It's also pricier than the Mini 4K and the Neo – the standard DJI Flip kit costs $439 / £369 / AU$699, or you can pick it up with the DJI RC 2 (smart) controller for $639 / £549 / AU$949, while the Fly More Combo, which costs $779 / £659 / AU$1,159 and includes two additional batteries, a four-battery charging hub, a shoulder bag, and two additional pairs of spare propellers, is only available with the RC2 controller.

Is the Flip worth it? That depends on what you're looking for in a drone. Image quality doesn't quite match that of the Mini 4 Pro, while versatility isn't quite that of the Neo, which can double up for FPV flight. As things stand, the Flip offers a little of the Neo and a little of the Mini 4K. It's a jack of all trades, which might work for some who want those selfie capabilities, but I'd argue that buying both the Neo and the Mini 4K rather than the Flip is a wiser move – the pair together don't cost a great deal more.

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• Samsung has just improved the terms of its phone trade-in program
• There’s no longer a purchase requirement and it’s open all year round
• It's started in South Korea and France with more regions to follow soon

Tired of your Samsung phone and want to swap it for something new? Samsung has just improved its Galaxy Trade-In program to offer more generous terms, making it a tempting option if you’re looking to upgrade to one of the best Samsung phones.

In fact, one of the new changes is that you don’t need to swap your old Samsung phone for a new one at all – there’s no purchase necessary, so you can simply trade in your old device for some cash, if you prefer. You may need to wait a little while to do so though – the program has just started in South Korea and France, with Samsung says it plans to "expand to more regions through 2025".

Previously, you had to purchase a new Samsung phone from samsung.com or the company’s app whenever you traded in an old one. If you already had one in mind and wanted to upgrade, that likely wasn’t much of a problem, but it was less convenient if you just wanted to get rid of an old device and leave it at that. And if you were switching from a Samsung device to an iPhone or a different Android product, it wouldn’t have worked for you at all.

And there’s another improvement to the program: you can now get cash for your old phone all year long, wherever you are in the world. That was the case before if you lived in the US or most other Western locations, but in South Korea, trade-in windows were locked to certain times of the year, limiting your options.

These windows were often linked to major product launches – like those coming at Samsung Unpacked 2025, for example – but that’s no longer the case.

Limited eligibility

(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)

This sounds like good news for anyone who wants to get rid of an old Samsung handset in 2025, whether or not they want to replace it with something better. But there’s a notable catch that means it’s not all entirely positive.

The problem is that right now, you can only trade in specific Samsung devices. That includes phones from the Galaxy S20, S21, S22 and S23 series. It also covers a few foldable phones, including the Z Flip 3 to Z Flip 5, as well as the Z Fold 3 to Z Fold 5.

Strangely enough, neither the Galaxy S24, the Z Flip 6 nor the Z Fold 6 can be traded in, even though they only launched last year. That means the range of products that are eligible for the program is fairly narrow.

That said, it’s still a better arrangement than before. While there’s not a huge number of devices that can be traded in, at least you now have a lot more flexibility if you want to take Samsung up on its offer. If you were previously thinking of trading in your old device anyway, it’ll be a welcome change.

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• Global PC shipments rose to 255.5 million in 2024, up 3.8% year-over-year
• Strong Christmas sales and discounts saw a 4.6% rise in Q4 2024
• Lenovo accounts for 24.2% of the market

The final figures for 2024 are in, and it’s good news for the PC market, which saw encouraging growth during the year.

The latest data from Canalys claims 255.5 million PCs (including desktops and laptops) were shipped in 2024, up from 246 million in 2023 - a 3.8% year-over-year growth.

Leading the way was Lenovo, which maintained its near-quarter market share of 24.2% (up from 24.0%).

The PC market is growing

Of the 255.5 million PCs shipped in 2024, 61.9 million were Lenovo models. HP, with a market share of 20.7%, followed closely with 53.0 million units shipped. Dell, Apple and Asus rounded up the top five, with market shares of 15.3%, 8.9% and 7.2% respectively.

Canalys Analyst Kieren Jessop described the 3.8% year-over-year growth as “modest,” highlighting the stronger fourth-quarter growth of 4.6% could be a positive sign of things to come. This was thanks to "strong discounting by vendors and retailers" during the holiday season and the increased take-up of Buy Now, Pay Later schemes.

The final three months of 2024 represented the fifth consecutive quarter of growth following seven prior quarters of the market shrinking, quarterly PC shipments are still nowhere near the levels they reached in 2020 and 2021, in some cases exceeding 90 million. The most recent quarter saw 67.5 million PCs shipped.

Principal Analyst Ishan Dutt said the PC market could not be “set for accelerating growth” – increased adoption of AI-capable PCs and the looming Windows 10 end-of-service are driving commercial and personal customers to upgrade their devices this coming year.

The company now anticipates AI PCs will account for 35% of worldwide shipments this year – in the third quarter of 2024, they had a 20% market share.

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• Electric motors and a 62kWh battery from a Leaf Nismo power the 90s icon
• Project lead wants future generations to experience the unique drive
• Electric performance matches the 280hp of the original

In a move that will have the purists furiously hammering away at their keyboards, a long-time Nissan EV powertrain engineer has made it his personal mission to electrify arguably the Japanese marque’s most iconic car: the R32 Skyline GT-R.

That’s right, the performance machine that’s intrinsically linked to the best-selling Gran Turismo series has had its 2.6-liter, twin-turbocharged heart removed and replaced with a pair of 160kW electric motors that now power each axle.

But far from an exercise to raise a rabble on numerous internet forums, EV powertrain engineer Ryozo Hiraku believes it is important to “replicate the appeal of the R32 GT-R so future generations could experience it.”

In short, Hiraku is essentially admitting that modern EVs lack that special something that makes classic like the Skyline such a joy to drive, no matter what decade you were born in.

Plus, with most legacy automakers (including Nissan) committing to an all-electric future, it soon might not be possible for staff to embark on projects that aim to salvage combustion engine heroes of the past. There simply won't be the resources to do so.

The R32 GT-R project itself was a serious undertaking, with the team completely dismantling the 90s sports car and creating 3D renderings of individual parts, because as Hiraku points out, CAD wasn’t really a thing back in the early 90s.

What’s more, team members carefully synthesized the engine note of the original vehicle and pumped the soundtrack into the cabin to make it a more visceral driving experience.

Plus, there’s a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N-esque 'shift shock' that has been programmed into the paddle-mounted gear shift logic that replicates the mechanical jolting experienced when shifting up or down through a proper mechanical gearbox.

Rear seats were ripped out to make room for the Leaf Nismo battery pack, while larger brakes and rotors lifted from a R35 GT-R were added to beef up the stopping power of this 367kg heavier machine. As a result, the bespoke rims have grown from 16-inches to 18-inches to house everything.

Other than that, it’s a faithful electric replica that aims to distill the spirit of the original car into something that can be enjoyed daily in a world that is increasingly heading towards electrification.

There are no plans to commercialize a conversion kit, but instead, project leader Ryozo Hiraku says that it is important to “safeguard” the legacy of cars like the R32 GT-R for future generations and this could be one way of doing it.

Analysis: Electrifying classics is a craze that’s catching on

(Image credit: Nissan)

There are an increasing number of businesses springing up that specialize in ensuring classic vehicles can continue to be used by swapping their internal combustion engines out for modern electric powertrains.

Electrogenic in the UK, for example, already manufactures ‘plug and play’ kits for the Mazda MX-5, Series Land Rovers, Jaguar E-Types, air-cooled Porsche 911s and the iconic DeLorean DMC-12, which I’ve driven.

These kits are sent to a certified installer on a pallet, making the swap relatively painless, quick and borderline affordable, while customers can go as wild as they want with bespoke conversions, should their pockets be deep enough.

The owners of said classic can choose to store their internal combustion engine, should they want to swap things back, but the general idea is that it makes these iconic machines much easier to live with and useable in places like London, where strict emissions regulations now pretty much ban anything that produces CO2.

It is a similar story in the US, where companies like Gateway Bronco are shoehorning powerful EV motors and battery packs into classic Ford Bronco 4x4s with stunning effect. Everrati is another company making waves in the resto-mod scene, electrifying everything from the Mercedes-Benz SL to an 800hp Ford GT40.

Electrifying celebrated automotive idols like this ensures they get used, rather than stored in a garage, museum or private collection, where they will never get to do what they do best – making passers-by stop in their tracks and double-take an exterior that’s since evanesced thanks to today’s safety-focussed cookie-cutter car designs.

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• President Biden set to introduce new AI Diffusion rules on AI technology
• Groups have praised the rules for helping to shore up national security
• However China and Nvidia have both critiqued the rules for stifling competition

In the final few days of the Biden administration, the President has introduced a set of new regulations aimed at restricting China’s access to advanced semiconductors used in AI technology.

The ‘Export Control Framework for AI Diffusion’ divides the world into friend and foe, with allies being provided with unfettered access to AI technology, while US adversaries, namely China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, will face harsh restrictions.

The latest regulations, along with the slew of export restrictions levied against China during Biden’s four year tenure, are designed to maintain West’s dominance in AI development and AI chip design.

‘It’s critical that we keep it that way’

The AI Diffusion rules would implement new country-specific quotas on GPUs, but provide an option for cloud computing providers to apply for approval to build data centers outside of these limits, allowing giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to continue with existing and future projects without restrictions - provided they meet security requirements, reporting demands, and have a record of adherence to human rights.

The regulations will not kick in for 120 days, leaving plenty of wriggle room for Trump to settle into his second presidency and decide on his foreign policy approach regarding China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was invited to, but declined, Trump’s inauguration, with the US president-elect threatening heavy tariffs against imported goods with a particular focus on China throughout his election campaign.

Ahead of the AI Diffusion announcement, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “the US leads AI now – both AI development and AI chip design, and it’s critical that we keep it that way.”

Much of the motivation behind imposing restrictions on China’s ability to import AI chips and manufacturing technologies has been on the basis of national security concerns surrounding the potential for Beijing to introduce advanced AI technologies into its military.

Both the Americans for Responsible Innovation group and the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party have praised the AI Diffusion rules focus on basis of national security.

In response however, China’s Commerce Ministry branded the regulations as “another example of generalizing the concept of national security and abusing export controls,” further arguing that the regulations were not in line with established economic and trade rules and are a “blatant violation.”

Nvidia, which capitalized on the AI tech and software hype to catapult itself to second in the most valuable companies by market cap, also hit back against the regulations in a blog post, with Ned Finkle, vice president of government affairs, stating the AI Diffusion rules are “a 200+ page regulatory morass, drafted in secret and without proper legislative review,” adding that the Biden administration was attempting to “rig market outcomes and stifle competition.”

Finkle also pointed out that the regulation would hit much of the technology that is “already widely available in mainstream gaming PCs and consumer hardware.” The blog post concluded with a statement praising innovation and competition during Trump’s first term, with Nvidia “look[ing] forward to a return to policies that strengthen American leadership, bolster our economy and preserve our competitive edge in AI and beyond.”

Via SCMP

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• Patch KB5048239 for Windows 10 was first deployed in November 2024
• It’s now been installed again as part of Microsoft’s patching for January 2025
• However, this update is reportedly installing itself over and over again, and for quite a number of Windows 10 users it seems

Ever had a Windows 10 (or Windows 11) update that failed to install? That’s a problem I’ve noticed happens relatively often, but a new twist on misfiring updates is a patch that keeps on installing itself, despite being successfully installed in the past.

This is what's apparently happening with Windows 10, and the update in question is patch KB5048239, as Neowin reports.

It’s useful to cover the backstory here, which is that KB5048239 was pushed out to Windows 10 PCs (on 21H2 and 22H2) in November 2024 (among other patches), as a cure for problems with the WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) which themselves have a lengthy history.

However, last year, KB5048239 failed to install for some people due to them not having enough space in their Windows 10 recovery partition (a minimum of 250MB is necessary).

Microsoft then issued a bunch of advice to affected users and tried to smooth out the update, but it seems that Windows 10 is now trying to deliver KB5048239 again. And again… and again… and (you get the idea).

Dean Wortmier tells us on Microsoft’s help forum, Answer’s.com, that: “This particular update installed successfully for me in November 2024, and is trying to install again today -- over and over and over... -- each time ‘successfully.’”

Another complaint comes from Brian Lofthouse: “Hi to you all. I checked my updates this morning and KB5048239 was waiting to be installed again! I run the troubleshooter and it installed again, I checked ‘View updates’ and it had changed the date from yesterday to today! It is like a Merry-go-round. I can feel a migraine coming on!”

Those two threads have had 353 people click that they ‘have the same question’ to give you an idea of the scale of the impact here (at the time of writing). So, this appears to be an issue affecting a fair few folks running Windows 10.

(Image credit: Marjan Apostolovic / Shutterstock) Is there any way out of this mess?

As to a resolution for the ‘little update that wouldn’t give up,’ the not-so-great news is that there doesn’t appear to be one.

Whatever people are trying to do, such as removing the older version of this update before letting the newest one for January 2025 install, doesn’t make any difference. They are still getting KB5048239 installing over and over. Even those whose WinRE setup is fine (and the partition is large enough) are still being hit by this debacle, as noted on this thread over at the Ask Woody forums.

Does having this patch installed over and over actually matter, though? Will it detrimentally affect your system? Probably not, but even if this isn’t throwing small spanners into the Windows 10 works somewhere, it’s still annoying to see the same update getting downloaded and installed repeatedly. Those who don’t know what’s going on here may assume their PC has some kind of serious bug – or even virus – and maybe waste a fair bit of time trying to diagnose and fathom what’s going on.

Hopefully Microsoft will have an announcement coming, and I’ve reached out to the company to find out (I’ll update this story with any response).

For now, though, about all you can do is grin and bear it (or frown and bear it, more like). One option is to pause Windows 10 updates for as long as you can (with the side effect that you won’t get other updates, of course – which might be bad news in itself). Otherwise, it’s just a matter of waiting for Microsoft to fix this (we've contacted the company for comment), which hopefully will happen fairly soon considering that this is a problem plaguing a non-trivial number of Windows 10 users, from what I can tell.

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• Intel's upcoming Arc B570 GPU is only 12% slower than B580 according to early benchmark
• The Arc B580 will start at $249 while the B570 will start at $219
• Intel has taken a great leap in its GPU and gaming focus

While Nvidia and AMD's new GPUs may have taken the spotlight over recent weeks with a slew of big new reveals, notably Team Green's RTX 5000 series at CES 2025, Intel is slowly becoming a dark horse within the budget GPU market - and PC gamers with tight budgets should pay attention.

According to an early test result spotted in the Geekbench 6 database (initially highlighted by Wccftech), the Intel Arc B570 is only 12% slower - perfect, since it’s also 12% cheaper than the Arc B580, which we noted offers fierce competition in terms of performance against its affordable rivals in our Intel Arc B580 review. This was made evident with the B570's 86,718 score compared to the B580's 98,343 in the OpenCL API benchmark.

Whilst there are multiple different benchmark results for the B580 (with the same expected for the B570 once it hits full release), Wccftech states most range between 95,000 and 100,000 points, suggesting slower performance on its lower-spec counterpart.

Considering the price of the Arc B580 ($249 / £249 / AU$439) and the Arc B570 ($219 / £219 / around AU$350), PC gamers on a budget will have a variety of competent options for 1080p gaming this generation. With Team Blue's XeSS upscaling method gradually improving, Intel could claim pole position to become the budget GPU king if it can compete with Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR.

(Image credit: Intel) Is it time to take Intel's GPU and gaming efforts seriously?

Nvidia has consistently ruled over the years, while Intel has focused on providing stronger processors for PC builds and AMD has historically been a plucky underdog in both markets. The tide is now turning within the budget GPU space, and it's safe to say that Team Blue is now one to take seriously.

Besides the upcoming Arc B580 and B570, Intel’s new Lunar Lake processors have been shown to benefit handheld gaming PCs as well - the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is powered by the Ultra Core 7 258V processor, which will reportedly allow gamers to play games like Cyberpunk 2077 on higher settings using ray tracing.

There's still a long way to go for Intel to catch up to AMD and Nvidia in terms of providing high-end GPU hardware, but it's already off to a great start - I hope its next lineup of GPUs showcases a big step forward in performance.

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