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• Dates: Thursday, August 21 – Sunday, August 24
• Watch for FREE on BBC iPlayer (UK)
• Use NordVPN to watch any stream

Comprising twin festivals taking place 190 miles apart, one at Richfield Avenue in Reading, the other at Bramham Park near Leeds, R&L isn't for the faint-hearted. Travis Scott, Bring Me the Horizon, Hozier and Chappell Roan are headlining both events, so read on as we explain how to watch Reading & Leeds 2025 streams online from anywhere and for FREE on BBC iPlayer.

As the unofficial annual post-exam results blowout for teenagers up and down the UK, there tends to be an end-of-days feel to Reading & Leeds, while the twin format and north-south divide are a recipe for one-upmanship.

The audience energy is just as big a part of the music, but we have seen a huge shift from the rock heavy bands of the early 2000s. That was of course since the arrival of 50 Cent as a headliner back in 2004, who among others like Panic! at the Disco, Good Charlotte, Twenty One Pilots, My Chemical Romance and Meat Loaf have been given particularly short shrift in the past.

Aside from the headliners, further highlights include Lambrini Girls, Wunderhorse, Bloc Party, Limp Bizkit and The Kooks. The Reading Friday lineup and the Leeds Saturday lineup are the same, as are the Reading Saturday lineup and the Leeds Sunday lineup, and the Reading Sunday lineup and the Leeds Friday lineup.

Read on as we explain how to watch Reading & Leeds live streams from anywhere. We've also listed the full lineups further down the page.

Can I watch Reading & Leeds for FREE?

Yes. Viewers in the UK can watch Reading & Leeds festival for free on the BBC iPlayer streaming service.

Not at home? Use a VPN to access you usual streaming services from abroad and watch Reading & Leeds for free.

How to watch Reading & Leeds 2025 from abroad

For those away from home looking to watch Reading & Leeds, you’ll be unable to tune in due to regional restrictions. Luckily, there’s an easy solution.

Downloading a VPN allows you to stream geo-blocked services online, no matter where you are. It's a simple bit of software that changes your IP address, meaning that you can access on-demand content or live TV just as if you were at home. Our favorite is NordVPN.

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How to watch Reading & Leeds in the UK

The best place to watch Reading & Leeds unfold is BBC iPlayer, which is hosting a dedicated Reading & Leeds popup channel. It will run from 2pm BST until late on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, showcasing performances from Reading's Main Stage and Chevron Stage.

TV coverage is limited to highlights of the Chappell Roan and Bring Me The Horizon Reading sets, which will air on BBC One at 10.40pm on Friday and 11.55pm on Saturday, respectively. An overall highlights show will air on BBC One at 11.40pm on Thursday, August 28.

Outside the UK? If you want to watch Reading & Leeds 2025 on BBC iPlayer whilst traveling abroad you'll need to download NordVPN.

Can I watch Reading & Leeds 2025 in the US, Canada and Australia?

You won't see Reading & Leeds in any international listings, but snippets of the festival will be posted on the BBC Music YouTube channel.

Brit abroad? Use a VPN to watch Reading & Leeds on BBC iPlayer from abroad.

Reading 2025 lineup

(All times BST)

Thursday, August 21

Chevron Stage

• 9:15pm – Cam Smith
• 10:45pm – Jack Marlow
• 12:15am – Charlie Tee
• 1:45am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 22:30pm – Jay Knox’s Jams
• 12am – Hun FM
• 1:30am – Swiftogeddon

Friday, August 22

Main Stage

• 12pm – Red Rum Club
• 12:50pm – Alessi Rose
• 1:45pm – The Royston Club
• 2:45pm – Bloc Party
• 4:10pm – Wallows
• 5:20pm – The Kooks
• 7:10pm – Chappell Roan
• 9:40pm – Hozier

Chevron Stage

• 12:25pm – Good Health Good Wealth
• 1pm – Charlotte Plank
• 1:50pm – Badger
• 2:45pm – Nemzzz
• 3:50pm – Still Woozy
• 4:55pm – Soft Play
• 6:10pm – Rudim3ntal
• 8:40pm – AJ Tracey
• 11:30pm – C100
• 1am – Badger
• 2am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 1pm – Any Young Mechanic
• 1:50pm – Glixen
• 2:40pm – Jasmine.4.T
• 3:30pm – Been Stellar
• 4:20pm – Sofia Isella
• 5:10pm – Snayx
• 6pm – The Linda Lindas
• 7:40pm – Heartworms
• 8:30pm – Mannequin Pussy
• 9:35pm – High Vis
• 10:40 – The Chats
• 12am – Pop Never Dies
• 1:30am – Fuzz Club

BBC Introducing Stage

• 12pm – Girl Group
• 12:55pm – Enna
• 1:50pm – Charles
• 2:45pm – Phoebe Green
• 4:35pm – Artio
• 5:30pm – Overpass
• 6:25pm – Jack Dean
• 7:20pm – Ashley Singh
• 8:15pm – Chanel Yates

The Smirnoff Stage

• 1:15pm – Djbe
• 2:45pm – Sofa
• 4:15pm – Stresshead
• 5:45pm – Champion
• 7:15pm – Lu.Re
• 8:45pm – Annabel Stop It
• 10pm – Zero
• The Aux Stage
• 1pm – Climate Live Takeover
• 3pm – Brittany Broski in conversation with Max Balegde

Saturday, August 23

Main Stage

• 12pm – VOILÁ
• 12:50pm – Lambrini Girls
• 1:45pm – South Arcade
• 2:45pm – Good Neighbours
• 3:55pm – Royal Otis
• 5:10pm – Conan Gray
• 6:30pm – Enter Shikari
• 7:55pm – Limp Bizkit
• 9:50pm – Bring Me The Horizon

Chevron Stage

• 12pm – James And The Cold Gun
• 12:45pm – Blanco
• 1:30pm – Issey Cross
• 2:15pm – Pozer
• 3:05pm – Example
• 4:15pm – Pale Waves
• 5:30pm – Bakar
• 6:35pm – Wunderhorse
• 7:35pm – Jazzy
• 8:50pm – Becky Hill
• 1am – Jeremiah Asiamah
• 2am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 12:25pm – Sunday (1994)
• 1:15pm – Rifle
• 2:05pm – Mouth Culture
• 2:55pm – Origami Angel
• 3:45pm – Ecca Vandal
• 4:35pm – Vlure
• 5:25pm – Balming Tiger
• 6:15pm – House Of Protection
• 7:20pm – Bilmuri
• 9:10pm – Snow Strippers
• 12am – Uprawr

BBC Introducing Stage

• 12pm – Mudi Sama
• 12:55pm – Keo
• 1:50pm – Eville
• 2:45pm – Finn Forster
• 4:35pm – V.I.C
• 5:30pm – Lleo
• 6:25pm – The Pill
• 7:20pm – Unpeople
• 8:15pm – Nxdia

The Smirnoff Stage

• 1pm – Johnnie Hartmann
• 2:30pm – Lleahdavies
• 4pm – Driia (DJ)
• 5:30pm – Bvnquet
• 7pm – Omar+
• 8:30pm – Megra
• 10pm – In Parallel

The Aux Stage

• 1pm – Rock Revival
• 3pm – Old & Bald
• 5pm – Jaackmaate’s Happy Hour

Sunday, August 24

Main Stage

• 12:50pm – Demae
• 1:40pm – Songer
• 2:30pm – Waterparks
• 3:25pm – Sea Girls
• 4:20pm – Suki Waterhouse
• 5:30pm – Amyl & The sniffers
• 6:45pm – Trippie Redd
• 8:05pm – D-Block Europe
• 9:50pm – Travis Scott

Chevron Stage

• 12pm – Lyvia
• 1:35pm – Late Night Drive Home
• 2:45pm – Del Water Gap
• 3:20pm – Leigh-Anne
• 4:30pm – Girl’s Don’t Sync
• 5:45pm – Lancey Foux
• 7pm – DJ EZ
• 8:40pm – Sammy Virji
• 11:30pm – BL3SS
• 1am – Millie Cotton
• 2am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 12:10pm – Aviva
• 1pm – Bartees Strange
• 1:50pm – Balu Brigada
• 2:40pm – Nell Mescal
• 3:30pm – Skye Newman
• 4:20pm – Antony Smierzek
• 5:20pm – Luvcat
• 6:10pm – Matilda Mann
• 7pm – Good Kid
• 8:05pm – Nieve Ella
• 9:10pm – The Dare
• 12am – For The Nightcrawlers
• 1:30am – Face Down

BBC Introducing Stage

• 12pm – DJ Cliffe
• 12:55pm – Cliffords
• 1:50pm – Wench!
• 2:45pm – Indoor Foxes
• 4:35pm – Niki Kini
• 5:30pm – Mcxxne
• 6:25pm – EV
• 7:20pm – Deyyess
• 8:15pm – Amie Blue

The Smirnoff Stage

• 1pm – Aki Oke
• 2:30pm – LILI
• 4pm – Charlie Boon
• 5:30pm – Disrupta
• 7pm – Ordley
• 8:30pm – ODF
• 10pm – Riordan

The Aux Stage

• 5pm – Josh & Moyo

Leeds 2025 lineup

(All times BST)

Thursday, August 21

Chevron Stage

• 11pm – Joe Depz
• 12:30am – Lens
• 2am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 7pm – Ben Ellis
• 7:50pm – Jo Hill
• 8:35pm – Freak Slug
• 9:25pm – Chloe Qisha
• 10:20pm – Mazza_I20

Reload Stage

• 7pm – Lewis Taylor
• 8:15pm – Bullet Tooth

LS23

• 10pm – Dr Dubplate
• 12:15am – DJ Semtex
• 1:45am – Anaïs

Friday, August 22

Main Stage

• 12:20pm – Demae
• 1:10pm – Songer
• 2:00pm – Waterparks
• 2:55pm – Sea Girls
• 3:30pm – Suki Waterhouse
• 5:00pm – Amyl & The Sniffers
• 6:15pm – Trippie Redd
• 7:35pm – D-Block Europe
• 9:20pm – Travis Scott

Chevron Stage

• 12pm – Lyvia
• 1:30pm – Late Night Drive Home
• 2:20pm – Del Water Gap
• 3:15pm – Leigh-Anne
• 4:25pm – Girl’s Don’t Sync
• 5:35pm – Lancey Foux
• 6:45pm – DJ EZ
• 8:10pm – Sammy Virji
• 11:00pm – BL3SS
• 12:30am – Millie Cotton
• 1:45am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 12pm – Aviva
• 12:45pm – Bartees Strange
• 1:34pm – Balu Brigada
• 2:25pm – Nell Mescal
• 3:15pm – Skye Newman
• 4:05pm – Antony Smierzek
• 5:05pm – Luvcat
• 5:55pm – Matilda Mann
• 6:45pm – Good Kid
• 7:40pm – Nieve Ella
• 8:40pm – The Dare

BBC Introducing Stage

• 12pm – DJ Cliffe
• 12:55pm – Cliffords
• 1:50pm – Wench!
• 2:45pm – Indoor Foxes
• 4:35pm – Niki Kini
• 5:30pm – Mcxxne
• 6:25pm – EV
• 7:20pm – Deyyess
• 8:15pm – Amie Blue

Reload Stage

• 12:30pm – CamUKG
• 2pm – SHADEV
• 3:30pm – FUZION
• 5pm – ESC
• 6:30pm – Sophia Violet
• 9:30pm – Riordan

LS23

• 10pm – ESC
• 11pm – Douvelle19
• 12:15am – P-rallel
• 1:45am – Silva Bumpa

Saturday, August 23

Main Stage

• 12pm – Red Rum Club
• 12:40pm – Alessi Rose
• 1:30pm – The Royston Club
• 2:25pm – Bloc Party
• 3:50pm – Wallows
• 4:55pm – The Kooks
• 6:40pm – Chappell Roan
• 9:10pm – Hozier

Chevron Stage

• 12:00pm – Good Health Good Wealth
• 12:35pm – Charlotte Plank
• 1:25pm – Badger
• 2:15pm – Nemzzz
• 3:20pm – Still Woozy
• 4:25pm – Soft Play
• 5:40pm – Rudim3ntal
• 8:10pm – AJ Tracey
• 12:30pm – C100
• 1:45am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 12:35pm – Any Young Mechanic
• 1:25pm – Glixen
• 2:15pm – Jasmine.4.T
• 3:05pm – Been Stellar
• 3:55pm – Sofia Isella
• 4:45pm –Snayx
• 5:35pm – The Linda Lindas
• 7:15pm – Heartworms
• 8:05pm – Mannequin Pussy
• 9:05pm – High Vis
• 10:10 – The Chats

BBC Introducing Stage

• 12pm – Girl Group
• 12:55pm – Enna
• 1:50pm – Charles
• 2:45pm – Phoebe Green
• 4:35pm – Artio
• 5:30pm – Overpass
• 6:25pm – Jack Dean
• 7:20pm – Ashley Singh
• 8:15pm – Chanel Yates

Reload Stage

• 2pm – Scruz
• 3:30pm – Tommy Villiers
• 5pm – Daisy
• 6:30pm – Saint Ludo
• 8pm – T-Lex
• 9:30pm – Gentlemens Club

LS23

• 10pm – Daisy
• 11:15pm – Badger
• 12:30am – TBA
• 1:45am – Disrupta

Sunday, August 24

Main Stage

• 12pm – VOILÁ
• 12:45pm – Lambrini Girls
• 1:35pm – South Arcade
• 2:25pm – Good Neighbours
• 3:25pm – Royal Otis
• 4:40pm – Conan Gray
• 6pm – Enter Shikari
• 7:25pm – Limp Bizkit
• 9:20pm – Bring Me The Horizon

Chevron Stage

• 12pm – James And The Cold Gun
• 12:35pm – Blanco
• 1:15pm – Issey Cross
• 1:55pm – Pozer
• 2:45pm – Example
• 4:05pm – Pale Waves
• 5:10pm – Bakar
• 6:15pm – Wunderhorse
• 7:10pm – Jazzy
• 8:20pm – Becky Hill
• 12:30am – Jeremiah Asiamah
• 2am – DJ Battle

Festival Republic Stage

• 12pm – Sunday (1994)
• 12:50pm – Rifle
• 1:40pm – Mouth Culture
• 2:30pm – Origami Angel
• 3:20pm – Ecca Vandal
• 4:10pm – Vlure
• 5pm – Balming Tiger
• 5:50pm – House Of Protection
• 6:50pm – Bilmuri
• 8:40pm – Snow Strippers

BBC Introducing Stage

• 12pm – Mudi Sama
• 12:55pm – Keo
• 1:50pm – Eville
• 2:45pm – Finn Forster
• 4:35pm – V.I.C
• 5:30pm – Lleo
• 6:25pm – The Pill
• 7:20pm – Unpeople
• 8:15pm – Nxdia

Reload Stage

• 2:30pm – Megan Wroe
• 4pm – Tomike
• 5:30pm – Gee Lee
• 7pm – Omar+
• 8:30pm – Bushbaby
• 10pm – Dj Jackum

LS23

• 10pm – Auramatic
• 11:15pm – n4tee
• 12:30am – MPH
• 2am – [IVY]

What devices is BBC iPlayer available on?

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Android (Mobile & Tablet) - Android 7.0 and above
Apple TV (tvOS 14 or later)
Google TV
Freely
Freesat (please note: some models aren’t supported)
Freeview Play (TVs and set-top boxes)
iOS (iPhone & iPad) - iOS 14 and above
LG Smart TVs (2016-2024)
NOW Smart Sticks and Boxes (minimum firmware v11.5.0)
PlayStation (PS4 and PS5)
Roku (Stick & Roku-OS powered TVs, minimum firmware v11.5.0)
Samsung Smart TVs (2017 and above - 2016 models only offer on demand TV)
Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream
Virgin Media (360, Stream, TiVo)
YouView (BT, Humax, Sony, TalkTalk)
Xbox (One, Series X, Series S)

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

• Mullvad will remove OpenVPN support from January 15, 2026
• The move comes as the VPN provider looks to prioritize WireGuard
• Mullvad has also announced the arrival of in-app updates for Windows and Mac

Mullvad, the Sweden-based VPN provider known for its strong privacy focus and flat-rate pricing, will soon be removing OpenVPN support in favor of WireGuard.

The change will take effect on January 15, 2026, providing existing Mullvad subscribers with time to make the switch before OpenVPN servers and support are removed.

Already the default protocol for all Mullvad apps, WireGuard is employed by many of the best VPN services on the market.

Reminder about removing OpenVPN: we are removing support for OpenVPN entirely on 15th January 2026, in six months time.OpenVPN servers will be completely removed on this date, and support for it within our app will disappear.Please reconfigure your configurations to use…August 18, 2025

"We are removing support for OpenVPN entirely on 15th January 2026, in six months time. OpenVPN servers will be completely removed on this date, and support for it within our app will disappear," wrote the provider in an announcement shared on X.

With Mullvad’s Android and iOS apps already supporting WireGuard exclusively, the transition only impacts desktop users who will receive reminders within Mullvad’s Windows, Mac, and Linux apps.

Mullvad has reminded subscribers to adjust existing OpenVPN configurations to avoid potential interruptions to the service.

Although the news may come as a surprise, Mullvad co-founder Fredrik Strömberg wrote that "WireGuard is the future" as early as 2017.

Why WireGuard?

(Image credit: WireGuard)

A VPN protocol is a set of rules and algorithms that dictate how your device encrypts, tunnels, and transports internet traffic through a VPN server.

WireGuard, a newer VPN protocol first launched in 2016, has been adopted by major VPN providers including Surfshark, IPVanish, and Proton VPN. NordLynx, the proprietary protocol of NordVPN, uses a custom implementation of WireGuard.

Mullvad’s decision to drop OpenVPN marks a significant shift, as most VPN providers still offer multiple protocols for flexibility across networks and devices. As Jan Jonsson, Mullvad CEO, told TechRadar’s Chiara Castro in November 2024, less than 7% of Mullvad users are using OpenVPN.

“By moving to a single protocol, we will be able to focus our resources where they can make a difference”, said Mullvad in a November 2024 blog post.

WireGuard has just 4,000 lines of code, compared to more than 70,000 lines for OpenVPN. Mullvad has praised WireGuard’s simple design, which, aside from making for easier integration of new features, allows for faster speeds. This doesn’t come at the cost of security either, with Mullvad citing WireGuard’s “state-of-the-art cryptography.”

Such is its belief in WireGuard, Mullvad made “a sizable donation” in 2017 to support the open-source protocol’s development. To make things easier for subscribers looking to make the switch, Mullvad’s website provides guides on how to use WireGuard.

Keeping up with Mullvad’s updates is now easier than ever

Mullvad’s decision to retire OpenVPN and fully focus on WireGuard isn’t its only recent change. The VPN provider has also announced in-app updates for desktop.

Instead of having to visit Mullvad’s website to download and install the latest updates, Windows and macOS users can now view and download them directly within the app, making it quicker and easier than ever to stay up-to-date.

Mullvad states that Linux users can also benefit from automatic updates via its Linux app repositories and provides instructions to make the process more straightforward.

You might also like

• ExpressVPN adds WireGuard to support industry transition to post-quantum VPNs
• You can now verify if your Mullvad VPN app is legit
• Mullvad VPN promises to be even better at protecting you against AI surveillance

Earlier this year, the 4 Day Week Foundation announced that 200 UK companies signed up for a permanent four-day working week with employees on full pay. With three new pilot programs planned in 2025 to further explore the benefits and challenges of a reduced working week, there is growing momentum behind the concept. However, whilst adoption can be observed across various sectors and regions, large enterprises have notably remained cautious.

It’s important to consider what's holding back Britain's biggest businesses from embracing this shift to more flexible work. At the heart of their hesitation are concerns about alignment, productivity, and the fear that fewer working days could mean reduced momentum. However, businesses cannot tackle this on their own and AI powered tools can help alleviate many of these concerns and obstacles.

AI's potential to cut out mundane work

A modern approach to work doesn't necessarily mean working less, it means working smarter. A central component to this is using AI tools to streamline activities, boost productivity and take on the heavy lifting of repetitive tasks that drain time and focus. The Asana Work Innovation Lab found that 67% of UK workers use AI at least weekly for their individual work, with 37% using it daily.

Embracing flexible working arrangements doesn’t have to mean sacrificing efficiency. AI can substantially alleviate these concerns by automating repetitive, mundane tasks such as data entry, preliminary research and report generation. Instead, AI frees up employees to focus on high-value activities offsetting the perceived loss of a working day.

Moreover, AI can help ensure continuity in projects and operations by providing instant access to consolidated, real-time data and predictive analytics. With these tools, businesses can remain agile and aligned, regardless of a shortened week.

To achieve this impact, AI must be embedded where work happens, within business-critical workflows. Only then can AI function alongside humans as an autonomous team member, meaningfully reducing overwhelm and increasing productivity.

What’s holding back larger companies

Continuity becomes especially critical for large enterprises where operational consistency is non-negotiable. These organization's leaders, often grappling with teams operating from different locations, complex workflows, and deeply entrenched cultures, worry that flexible working might create more gaps than bridges.

Against this backdrop, the hesitance from leaders towards the four-day week is understandable. Leaders at large companies are tasked with maintaining continuous operations, consistency across departments, and productivity levels. Losing a traditional workday can appear disruptive, potentially causing alignment issues or slowing critical projects. This is why, rather than being a "nice to have," AI should be seen as a “must have” in alleviating these concerns.

In large companies, senior leaders often understand the strategic value of AI, but may underestimate the practical challenges employees face in using new technologies. Without adequate training, support, and a clearly articulated vision of how AI can improve their work experience, employees struggle to integrate these tools effectively.

In contrast, when employees can clearly see the benefits AI brings to their daily tasks, adoption rates increase, leading to wider organizational efficiency and smoother workflows. This “showing, not telling” approach is a key way for senior leaders to enable their teams to move forward.

Scaling AI use across teams

Once AI is effectively deployed alongside comprehensive, accessible training programs, the next challenge is scaling this effectively across the entire organization to truly unlock flexibility without compromising productivity.

This is important because companies that have broadly integrated AI across their operations are seeing much greater returns on investment compared to those still experimenting with it in isolated teams or limited use cases. Our research found that AI ‘Scalers’ are 43% more likely to report revenue gains and 40% more likely to report boosted productivity.

Despite these evident advantages, there remains a striking lack of AI use beyond simple individual experimentation. Research shows nearly half of AI workflows are built for individual use, driving only 6% of AI adoption by colleagues and peers. Furthermore, data suggests that AI adoption is trapped in a ‘leadership bubble’, with senior leaders being 66% more likely to be early AI adopters than their employees. The net result is as many as 67% of companies fail to scale AI tools effectively across their organizations.

Before companies can truly scale AI within their organization, they must first examine how teamwork happens. If teams are operating in silos, workers are more likely to continue using AI for solo use rather than unlock AI use within teams – and crucially, across different team functions, where we are seeing the strongest impact.

The majority of AI workflows being designed for individual use needs to change if AI is to achieve widespread adoption and add tangible value. Companies that achieve this transition will be best positioned to offer initiatives like the four-day week without sacrificing alignment across teams.

The road to enhanced work is built on smarter tools

The desire for flexible working is clear, with our research showing that currently only 16% of British workers stick to the traditional 9-5 schedule. The next stage is overseeing how a four-day week can be unlocked - and the answer may just lie in AI tools.

Companies that successfully integrate AI and automation into their operations won't just sustain productivity levels, they'll boost them. Employees, freed from the burden of routine tasks, can contribute more meaningfully to their organizations.

The path toward adopting the four-day week isn't simply about cutting hours, it's about enhancing efficiency through smarter work practices enabled by AI.

We've listed the best employee management 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

The rise of sovereign clouds has become inevitable as regulatory demands, and geopolitical pressures push enterprises to rethink where their data resides. Localized cloud environments are increasingly becoming essential, allowing organizations to keep their data within specific jurisdictions to meet compliance requirements, and provide risk mitigation.

But sovereign clouds can’t succeed without data portability, which is the ability to move data seamlessly between systems and locations. Today organizations shouldn’t wait to be pushed by regulations, they need to be ahead of the game.

Enterprises need to address the reality that data migration across hybrid environments is far from straightforward. It’s not just about relocating primary data, you also must keep it protected while considering associated datasets like backups and the information used in AI applications.

While some may need to address the protection of Large Language Model (LLM) training data, many organizations are instead turning to Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) or AI agents to bring intelligence to their proprietary data without building models from scratch.

Either way, data sovereignty is a valid approach to the pressures facing organizations today, but the focus should always be on data resilience first, no matter where it's stored.

It’s a familiar tale - the cloud will give businesses more options and flexibility, but to take advantage of these properly, they’ll need some joined up thinking.

Today’s forecast

Regulators around the globe are driving organizations to look at their data differently, appearing at pace in response to increasing data globalization as countries try to get a better grasp on their data. The European Union (EU) has been particularly stringent, introducing the comprehensive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that stipulates data sovereignty.

Under it, the laws of the country where data is stored or processed are now applicable to the data, regardless of where the data was originally collected. Special attention is also being paid to the chain of custody of data in the EU with both the NIS2 and DORA regulations demanding robust risk management for data, especially when held or handled by third parties.

As data, including highly sensitive and classified data, is being increasingly handled by these third parties, namely cloud providers, keeping it bound under privacy laws has become a priority for both organizations and governments as their data moves across borders.

With this increased movement of data between countries, or even continents, global instability concerns have become unavoidable, especially for governments. Some have already adopted sovereign clouds to protect their most sensitive data from potential malevolent access. And some have taken it one step further.

With cloud services completely reliant on data center infrastructure, some governments have started to divest their interest in foreign cloud and IT infrastructure, reinvesting instead in their own. This way, they can avoid storing their most sensitive data with foreign providers.

But cloud sovereignty is not a silver bullet. For those utilizing multinational cloud providers, there might be the option to stipulate where your data is ultimately stored and what countries’ laws it will be held under, but there is no guarantee that it will not change. The issue isn’t just solved by relocating the primary data.

Sure, it needs to be protected, but what about all the related data? Cloud backups and Large Language Model training data sets for example, all need to be carefully considered to meet data sovereignty – or alternatively, organizations can utilize RAG or AI agents to level up their data without having to deal with reams of AI training datasets in the first place.

Freedom of Movement

But to do all of this, organizations need to ensure that data portability is enshrined in their data resilience planning. After all, there’s a fine line between protecting your data and inadvertently restricting it beyond the point of use. If organizations are unable to ensure data portability, then moving to a hybrid cloud environment to take advantage of both sovereign clouds and localization of data storage is a non-starter.

There are SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and DRaaS (Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service) providers that can simplify the process, but it’s not a task that can be completely offloaded to a third party. Organizations still need to take a hands-on approach, planning and managing it thoroughly to ensure data remains secure throughout the process. Otherwise, organizations will be unable to utilize sovereign clouds to adhere to the myriad data residency and sovereignty regulations.

It’s not without caveats though. For those larger, multinational organizations operating across countries and continents, multiple cloud environments will be required to house multiple sovereign clouds. But this also brings increased complexity for both the monitoring and management of data across jurisdictions.

Not only will multiple cloud environments need to be considered, but also multiple sets of data regulations across countries. And, for those organizations that do get it right, the benefit of enhanced data resilience comes with the added risk of data fragmentation.

There’s no easy win, but what’s certain is that data portability will be an essential part of any solution that organizations settle on. Whichever approach is taken, being able to move data seamlessly across platforms and clouds will be a necessity as organizations wrestle with data sovereignty. And, as regulations continue coming down the line, data portability will give organizations a head start on future compliance, allowing them to flex more easily to meet regulations, where less portable counterparts will struggle.

Tying down the cloud

Data globalization is showing no signs of slowing, with information flows now their own form of trade, even generating their own economic value. And with global instability as an ever-present factor, data sovereignty will only move higher up the priority list. But it’s not a task that can just be passed onto a third-party provider.

Although organizations may not fully realize it yet, data sovereignty and operational clarity are closely linked. To start securing your data, you need to know exactly where it’s stored and how. Then, with this comprehensive understanding of your data landscape, you can pinpoint those operations or processes where data resilience might be lacking and tackle your data portability.

By reworking data resilience from the ground-up, organizations can cement security, compliance, and sovereignty into their operations, and actively manage them through risk assessments, compliance audits, and strategies that take into account multiple suppliers.

With this in place, organizations can start leveraging hybrid cloud environments effectively, perhaps storing the most sensitive data on-premises under precise data sovereignty regulations, while offloading less critical data to the cloud.

But this can only be utilized by organizations that have prioritized data portability. Rather than waiting for regulations to enforce it, organizations need to be proactive to take advantage of the flexibility, longevity, and most importantly, security of the cloud.

We've listed the best IT management tool.

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

• OpenAI is retiring ChatGPT's Standard Voice Mode in September
• Only the faster, more expressive Advanced Voice Mode will be available
• Many users are upset about the change, preferring the sound and approach of the voice OpenAI is removing

The voice people have come to associate with ChatGPT is retiring come September 9, and not everyone is happy about it. ChatGPT’s “Standard" voice is going away in favor of the “Advanced” voice option first released to a limited selection of ChatGPT users last year. Rebranded simply as “ChatGPT Voice,” it will be the only choice going forward.

The original “Standard” voice mode debuted in 2023, built on a simple pipeline: you’d speak, OpenAI’s servers would transcribe your input, generate a response using the GPT model, then read it back using a relatively neutral synthetic voice.

ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode is designed to respond more quickly, to be more human in its tone and manner of speech, and to generally perform at a higher level than its predecessor. Nonetheless, plenty of people think it's a mistake.

"The standard voice offers a warmth, depth, and natural connection that the advanced voice simply doesn’t match," one user wrote in a post on OpenAI's forum. The advanced voice comes across as robotic and detached, lacking the soulful and understanding tone I value."

More than one person described the new voice as less engaging to speak with. There were also complaints that the new model speaks too quickly, as if it were trying to get the interaction over with.

"Standard Voice is thoughtful and has a voice and cadence that is natural and comforting. Poignant," A Reddit user posted. "Advanced Voice doesn’t have the same characteristics, doesn’t give thoughtful answers, has restrictive content limits, and always sounds like they’re trying to rush through a mediocre response. "

Advanced voices

Even if you don't mind how the new voice sounds, some ChatGPT users are annoyed because they've found it won't even perform the same as the earlier voice.

Advanced Voice Mode integrates your voice, the AI’s responses, and its vocal expression in one real-time process. The integrated process means the AI doesn't quote the written response verbatim. Instead, it expresses ideas more conversationally, sometimes skipping phrases, condensing clauses, or adjusting tone based on context. Technically impressive, but not what some ChatGPT users want.

"The Standard voice would literally read out the exact response that ChatGPT would normally give you. It was a direct line, you know?" read one example post on Reddit. "But this new one? It sounds like it's paraphrasing or summerizing [sic] it instead. It skips over the little details and makes the whole conversation feel way more disconnected."

That might sound minor in the grand scheme of AI progress, but it echoes a broader trend in tech where people are upset when there's a big change, even if it's ostensibly an upgrade.

Not everyone dislikes the new voice option, of course. Some like its realism and speed, and how it makes for a more fluid conversation. OpenAI has promised more improvements to come, as well. But, given that complaints about GPT-4o's removal when GPT-5 debuted led to the older model's return, I wouldn't be too surprised to see the Standard Voice Mode stage a comeback too.

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• Many AI models aren't as effective as they're marketed to be, report claims
• 95% of surveyed companies have seen very little impact from their LLMS
• Specialisation is the key to successful AI adoption

New research by MIT’s NANDA initiative has claimed the vast majority of GenAI initiatives attempting to drive rapid revenue growth are ‘falling flat’.

Of those sampled, 95% of companies deploying Generative AI are stalling, “delivering little to no measurable impact” on profit and loss.

It seems to be an all-or-nothing game, as the 5% of companies who are benefiting from generative AI are excelling - these are primarily, the lead author says, startups led by 19 or 20 year olds, who have seen revenues ‘jump from zero to $20 million in a year’.

GenAI tools on the rise

It seems the key to success with AI models is specialisation. Successful deployment is about picking ‘one pain point’ and executing this well, and carefully partnering with companies using tools.

Specialised vendors have success around 67% of the time, but internally built models succeed only around a third as often. Highly regulated sectors like the financial industry see many organizations build their own AI systems, but the research suggests the companies are much more prone to failure when they do so.

When line managers are empowered to drive the adoption, they see success because they are able to choose tools that can adapt over time.

Allocation is important too, as most GenAI budgets are dedicated to sales and marketing - but the biggest ROI was seen in back-office automation.

This isn’t the first time that research has suggested that AI models aren’t working as they should. A significant number of companies have introduced layoffs of lower level workers and brought in AI systems - but over half of UK businesses who replaced workers with AI regret their decision.

Tangible benefits from these models are increasingly difficult to find, and security risks linked with the models are concerning organisations - as well as AI models making ESG goals much more difficult to reach.

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• Grammarly has debuted a collection of specialized AI tools for aiding students
• The AI agents can simulate grading, find citations, and predict reader reactions
• The tools are part of the new Grammarly Docs platform

Grammarly is looking to take a more active role in helping students write with a new set of AI agents that go well beyond simply ensuring you use semicolons correctly. The company has released a set of eight AI agents built for specific writing support, embedding them directly into a new writing platform called Docs (not the Google kind).

The new features combine AI abilities with quieter digital assistance. You don't need to write a prompt asking for specific help, just tap on the right tool, and Grammarly's AI will help find sources, predict how a professor will react to your wordplay, and make sure you don't sound like an AI yourself (RIP em-dash).

Grammarly has been augmenting its services with AI for a while, including rewriting tools and an AI chatbot last year. The new agents go beyond that reactive approach by using the context of your writing and the reason you're writing it to offer advice without you having to explain it explicitly.

Grammarly is pitching the new tools to both students and professionals, but the academic demand seems particularly dire. Students are currently torn between doing whatever it takes to succeed academically and compromising that success with unethical AI use that bypasses the actual learning.

Grammarly's bet is that students who don't want to cheat themselves with AI can use these tools to help them learn, not do it for them. They could use the AI Grader for feedback that mimics a real instructor's assessment using course-specific materials and details of what the teacher is looking for. The Citation Finder agent can check your sources and help you find better ones, formatting them properly, too. Plus, the Expert Review agent can offer domain-specific feedback on writing in fields like law and medicine, measuring arguments against professional standards.

And if you perhaps inadvertently hew too closely to a source, the Plagiarism Checker will help flag unintentional copying done when you're up late. And the AI Detector checks to make sure your fatigue hasn't made your writing seem machine-generated.

Learning for a world of AI

The tools can help students succeed in the long term, according to Grammarly, by teaching them how to research and write well without compromising ethics, even though AI tools and shortcuts are everywhere.

According to the company’s internal research, only 18% of college students feel “very prepared” to use AI professionally after graduation, despite the demand for AI literacy among employers. Grammarly wants to become the training ground for those skills without undermining academic integrity along the way. You can access all these tools in Grammarly’s new docs platform, both as a free and paid subscriber.

Of course, Grammarly’s not the only player chasing this idea. Microsoft Copilot in Word offers some similar features to Grammarly, as does Google's Gemini AI in Google Docs. But Grammarly’s approach is both more comprehensive and streamlined because of its focus on avoiding having an AI write everything for the user. That’s what might make this update stick.

Because while Grammarly could have just been another AI writing tool, it made its AI support take a step back. As imperfect as all AI tools are, at least this approach tries to address the very real crisis of people having no idea how to use AI writing aides ethically, if they even want to.

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My M1 Mac mini has been one of the best purchases I’ve made in recent years. It’s performed incredibly well since I bought it and has served me well over the years despite having nothing more assuming than an entry-level chip. Throw in the fact that it only cost me $699, and it’s left me one happy bunny.

Now, AppleInsider says it’s been told by sources inside Apple that the company is testing an M5 Mac mini. This follows up on the outlet’s report earlier this year that an M5 Pro Mac mini was in the works and suggests we could be getting close to seeing the next generation of Apple’s tiny desktop computer.

As well as my M1 Mac mini has performed, I’m sorely tempted to upgrade to an M5 model. By all indications, it’ll come at the right time and with the right features to make the outlay worth it.

An upgrade that’s built to last

(Image credit: Apple)

The Mac mini is already the best mini PC you can buy, and it’s not even close. Its powerful, efficient chips deliver significantly more performance than you would expect from a computer this small. And it really is small, leaving a tiny footprint on your desk, even by the standards of these small-scale devices. It’s made from high-quality materials with a solid aluminum chassis, yet its $599 price tag - $100 less than I paid for the M1 model – means it offers tremendous value.

That’s all with the M4 chip, but with an M5 on the way, we can expect things to get even better. The M5 chip is rumored to bring a performance increase of 15-25% over the M4, as well as Thunderbolt 5 in the entry-level models and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. It’ll be a modest but meaningful upgrade.

There won’t be a new design for the Mac mini, but that really doesn’t bother me. Considering the current look is less than a year old – and still looks fantastic – there’s no need to change it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

All this talk of a new Mac mini comes at the ideal time for me to upgrade. My M1 Mac mini is five years old and can’t always keep up with more heavy-duty tasks. My MacBook Pro with M1 Pro chip, meanwhile, is doing OK, but I’m increasingly having to turn down the settings in more demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077. In both instances, my Macs are starting to show their age.

A Mac mini with an M5 or M5 Pro chip would be perfect for my more performance-intensive work (such as reviewing high-end games), allowing my MacBook Pro to focus on less-demanding work on the go. Given how much I’ve managed to eke out of my M1 Mac mini, an upgraded model could last me well into the future.

Pro possibilities

(Image credit: Apple)

I recently took the macOS version of Cyberpunk 2077 for a spin on two different Macs: my MacBook Pro with M1 Pro chip, and an iMac with M4 chip. And thanks to its extra graphics cores, the M1 Pro actually outperformed the M4, despite being several generations out of date.

That makes me excited to think about what might be possible with an M5 Pro Mac mini and the extra graphical oomph granted by its increased core count. Throw in frame generation – Apple has its own MetalFX implementation of this in the works – and the next Mac mini could achieve frame rates I never thought possible from a Mac. And that’s all for $599, which makes the Mac mini a pretty spectacular bargain.

For now, we don’t yet know when the M5 Mac mini is going to launch. AppleInsider previously suggested that it would arrive in 2025, but early 2026 is also a possibility.

Either way, it’s going to come at a potentially expensive time for me. I’m eyeing up the MacBook Pro with M6 Pro chip, as its expected combination of high-grade performance and OLED display could make it a gaming dream machine. At the same time, I also want to upgrade my desktop PC from 2021, which isn’t quite able to hit the levels I want with its RTX 3070 graphics card.

But given what could be coming to the Mac mini, it’s going to be hard to resist prioritizing Apple’s dinky desktop Mac. All in all, it feels like a great time to be an unashamed computer nerd.

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• Gaming company Bragg spotted an attack on its systems recently
• It says no data was stolen, and no encryptor deployed
• No threat actors claimed responsibility yet

Bragg Gaming Group, a Canadian company which provides casinos with software, games, and backend platforms, has confirmed it recently suffered a cyberattack, but fortunately it doesn’t seem to have caused much trouble.

A short press release published on the company’s website said that Bragg learned of a “cybersecurity incident” on early Sunday morning, August 16.

Upon learning of the incident, Bragg brought in third-party cybersecurity experts to contain the attack and assess the damage, it said. Preliminary results showed that the attack was “limited to Bragg’s internal computer environment.”

Targeting iGaming providers

“At the present time, there is no indication that any personal information was affected. Additionally, the breach has had no impact on the ability of the company to continue its operations, nor has it been restricted from accessing any data that has been subject to the breach,” the company added.

So, this either wasn’t a data breach or ransomware attack, or the incident was stopped quickly enough to prevent any actual harm.

Bragg Gaming Group does not run casinos itself. It is a B2B provider building software, games, and backend platforms that online gambling operators use to run their businesses. It also seems to be rather successful. It serves operators across North and Latin America, as well as Europe, having more than 200 customers and more than 450 employees.

Between 2019 and 2023, it experienced a 37% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), and projects a total addressable market of about $40 billion by 2028.

In its writeup, The Record hints there is a pattern here, since Bragg is not the only gaming company to face a breach in recent months, after Australia’s Ainsworth Game Technology, as well as International Game Technology, both reported “significant disruptions” late in 2024.

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I don't know if there's a right age for an iPhone, but I think most can agree that there should be different smartphone and online experiences based on age, and that's really the philosophy behind most digital parental controls, including the fairly voluminous ones found across Apple's ecosystem. Now, with iOS 26 – and other platform updates – on the horizon, that system is set for a series of small but important updates.

I've seen most of them in action and, on the whole, I think these may be just the series of privacy and safety controls parents and, yes, even teens and kids, have been looking for.

To Apple's credit, it's been adding to and enhancing its parental control ecosystem for years. So much so that many parents may only scratch the surface of its vast platform of controls.

Worth noting that if you identify a new device like an iPhone or iPad as going to a child or teen, many of the controls, like web content restrictions, app restrictions (apps rated 4-plus only), screen distance alerts, and messaging filters that automatically blur out the naughty bits, will function automatically.

There are, though, key safety changes that you can enable when Apple releases public versions of its OS updates for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The age of appropriateness

Your child's iPhone and iPad are already pretty good, based on your Parental Control settings, at managing your kid's access to age-appropriate apps, but Apple is going further in iOS26, iPadOS26, and macOS 26 (essentially any platform that's part of your Family Plan and that can access the App Store).

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Age Appropriate Experiences seems designed to help prevent App developers from inadvertently delivering inappropriate in-app content to your children and teens. It's enabled through a series of simple screen prompts that let you supply the age (but not birthdate) of your children to developers.

Using this information, developers can ensure that regardless of which apps you let them download, their apps only deliver content that aligns with the child's age.

I appreciate that there's another level of control: parents can choose if the Age range is "Always" shared, if developers have to "Ask First", or if it's "Never" shared. I think I like the second option best because it's the only one that allows the child to choose if they want their age range shared with developers.

Getting the right message

Once your child has an iPhone and a phone number, it's almost guaranteed that they will be targeted by predators. There is a simple setting in iOS right now that lets you automatically block unknown numbers (Filter Unknown Senders under Settings/Apps/Messages). However, iOS 26 will take these protections further.

With iOS 26, your child won't be able to add just anyone to their contacts and messaging lists.

If your child wants to add a study buddy to messaging on their iPhone or iPad, they'll see a new pop-up that will let them "Ask a Parent or Guardian to Approve this Person".

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If the child or teen selects the pop-up, a pre-populated message appears where they can fill in the friend's details and add a message explaining who the person is. Parents get a time-sensitive notification on their devices with the details and message. They can choose to add the contact, decline, or select "Not now."

Once the friend is added, your child or teen will get a message telling them they can call or message the new contact. Of course, it might make sense to pause in the middle of this process to chat in person with your kid and make sure the "study buddy" is really just another kid.

Apps less limited

Apple's parental controls make it quite easy to set time limits and even exclude apps from view so that when your child searches the App Store, they won't even see those not-age-appriate apps in the App Store.

Apple, though, appears to have recognized that some kids are, well, sneaky.

When you set time limit controls at an app level or even globally, your child can request more time with the app. Approving the extension requires the parent's passcode, which they can enter remotely from their best iPhone or best iPad, or in person if they happen to be sitting next to their kid. If the kid has been surreptitiously watching you enter the passcode and has it memorized, they could be granting themselves more screen time.

With this small yet useful upcoming update, parents will receive notifications whenever their passcode is used.

Making the exception

Parents get to choose which apps their kids can access, but there will soon be a new button at the top of App description pages that will offer the ability to request an exception.

That request goes to parents who can grant permission, which immediately turns on the "Get" option on an app.

This might come in handy when, say, your child has a project where some YouTube research will come in handy. However, when the project is done, you can just as quickly revoke the exception, and then not only does access in the App Store disappear, but the app also disappears from your child's device.

This is a level of control I can get behind.

Tell us how you manage your child's screen time in the comments below.

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• Emdoor EM-959-NM16ASH-1 Ryzen AI MAX chip promises strong workstation power
• Display refresh reaching up to 180Hz seems excessive for workstation needs, leaning toward gaming territory
• At 2.45 kilograms, this laptop feels more like a desktop replacement than a mobile workstation

Emdoor, a company that has mostly kept a low profile since 2023, is now releasing another system that it calls a "high-end PC workstation with next-gen AI chip."

The device, listed under the code "EM-959-NM16ASH-1," comes with AMD’s Ryzen AI MAX processors, also known as Strix Halo.

The Emdoor EM-959-NM16ASH-1 features soldered LPDDR5X-8000 memory on a 256-bit bus, giving high bandwidth but preventing upgrades.

A workstation or gaming laptop?

Although the memory is limited to a maximum of 128GB at purchase, the storage is more flexible with two PCIe 4.0×4 M.2 slots supporting up to 8TB.

The display is a 16-inch panel at 2560x1600 resolution, with refresh options of either 165Hz or 180Hz.

Such specifications may attract users looking for a video editing laptop, but they also blur the line between workstation and gaming hardware.

That impression is further reinforced by leaked internal file names tied to the design, which included the term "GAMES."

At 2.45kg, the system is heavier than many of its rivals, with the likes of Sixunited's XN77-160M-CS and HP's ZBook Ultra G1a weighing less than 1.8kg.

Although bulkier construction may have been chosen to handle the 45–120W thermal design of Strix Halo, this weight might be acceptable only for a stationary workstation, as buyers seeking a business laptop may not find this design appealing.

It also includes a 99Wh battery that is claimed to last eight hours, but without independent testing, such claims remain promises.

Cooling is handled by a dual-fan setup coupled with triple heat pipes and a quad-exhaust system.

The company markets this system as a workstation, but the aesthetics, refresh rates, and naming history suggest gaming roots.

Since Emdoor acts as an original design manufacturer, the same model could easily appear under another brand marketed as a gaming system.

Whether this laptop becomes a reliable tool for professionals or fades into obscurity, as some of the firm’s past projects have, will only be clear once it reaches the market and real-world feedback emerges.

Currently, only a limited number of PCs feature the Strix Halo chip, with examples including the Asus ROG Flow Z13 (13.4″), the HP ZBook Ultra 14 G1a, and a handful of others.

In terms of pricing, these devices cost well over $2,000, and considering the specifications of the Emdoor EM-959-NM16ASH-1, it will likely cost more.

Via Videocardz

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Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 has officially finished, and I was pretty disappointed by this year's show. There were loads of announcements, sure, but many of them felt like pure filler. Did we seriously need not just one, but two whole World of Tanks trailers?

As a long-time Call of Duty fan, I was really looking forward to the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 gameplay reveal, which was confirmed ahead of the show, but even that left a sour taste in my mouth.

The trailer showed off some levels from the campaign and gave us our first look at its four-player co-op in action. The visuals are definitely there with some really stunning sights like the neon-lit rooftops of Tokyo, but the frequent glimpses of large open environments left me feeling uneasy.

I can't help but think that they look more like the maps from the open-world 'Open Combat Missions' of 2023's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 than the linear environments that the series is known for.

Modern Warfare 3 had easily the weakest campaign in Call of Duty history, transparently comprised of sloppily repurposed Warzone battle royale content, and I worry that the same thing is true of Black Ops 7's offering.

We already know that part of the story takes place in Avalon - a map that rumors indicate was initially intended for Warzone - but things only got worse when a subsequent developer video confirmed that the campaign's final mission will be some kind of weird multiplayer "social experience".

Officially called the Endgame, it's a repeatable PvE (player versus enemy) experience that drops you into Avalon with your squad to explore and survive against a wide range of enemies, which sounds suspiciously like a Warzone match to me.

Like Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 7 is being released as a direct sequel to its immediate predecessor - Black Ops 6. Hailing from the same two studios, Treyarch and Raven. I hope that not many corners have been cut in order to make that shorter than the usual production time.

More of the game is being shown at an upcoming Call of Duty Next on September 30, 2025, so I'm hoping that multiplayer and zombies – the other two parts of the offering – will look a lot more promising.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is set to launch on November 14, 2025.

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• Ghost of Yōtei will receive the Legends multiplayer mode in 2026
• The mode will be free for all owners of the base game and offer two-player story missions and four-player survival matches
• The multiplayer DLC was first introduced in Ghost of Tsushima

Sucker Punch has announced that Ghost of Yōtei will receive a free Legends multiplayer mode in 2026.

Revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 alongside a new story trailer ahead of the game's October launch, Legends is a cooperative multiplayer mode that was first added to the previous game, Ghost of Tsushima.

Ghost of Yōtei Legends will offer two-player story missions and four-player survival matches and will be available at no extra cost to those who already own the base game.

In this version, players will have access to four character classes and will need to defeat demonic, giant versions of members of the Yōtei Six, along with a variety of new enemies that fight beside them.

Concept art for each boss has been revealed in a new PlayStation Blog post, which you can view here.

Ghost of Yōtei launches on October 2, 2025, exclusively for PS5 and PS5 Pro, and takes place more than 300 years after the first Ghost game.

In this indirect sequel, players explore the lands surrounding Mount Yōtei as protagonist Atsu, who will hunt down the people responsible for her family's death.

Ghost of Yōtei pre-orders are now live, along with Ghost of Yōtei PS5 bundle pre-orders. If you're looking to get your hands on the exclusive PS5 controller, here's where you can buy the Ghost of Yōtei DualSense.

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• An anime based on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is coming to Crunchyroll in 2026
• Sekiro: No Defeat will be a fully hand-drawn adaptation of FromSoftware's game
• A first trailer teasing memorable boss fights has been released

An anime based on FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has been announced, and we have our first official teaser trailer.

Revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025, Sekiro: No Defeat is coming to Crunchyroll in 2026 worldwide, excluding Japan, China, Korea, Russia, and Belarus, and will be produced by Kadokawa, Qzil.la, and ARCH.

The anime will be a fully hand-drawn adaptation that will retell the game's story down to every memorable boss battle.

"We are taking on the monumental task of animating the breathtakingly beautiful Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. In doing so, we are pouring every ounce of our artistic vision and passion for beauty into its production," said Kenichi Kutsuna, director of the adaptation.

"The final product is being crafted to be a truly memorable experience, one that will leave a lasting impression on both dedicated fans of the game and those who are discovering the world of Sekiro for the very first time. Please look forward to it."

The anime will also be helmed by a team of acclaimed anime creators, including director Kenichi Kutsuna, screenwriter Takuya Satou, character designer Takahiro Kishida, action animation director Takashi Mukoda, and more.

We also have the first few names of the voice cast. Sekiro's main character, Wolf, will be played by Daisuke Namikawa, Kuro (The Divine Heir) will be voiced by Miyuki Satou, while Genichiro Ashina will be played by Kenjiro Tsuda.

"Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a game known for its precision and intensity, and those qualities carry through beautifully in this adaptation," said Asa Suehira, chief content officer at Crunchyroll. "We’re excited to bring Sekiro: No Defeat to fans around the world, and honored to work alongside Kadokawa, Qzil.la, and ARCH to expand this iconic story through the medium of anime."

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• A new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's DLC, The Order of the Giants, was revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025
• The expansion arrives on September 4, 2025
• The game is also coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026

Machine Games has given us a new look at Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's forthcoming expansion, The Order of the Giants, along with confirmed of a Nintendo Switch 2 version.

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 is finally here and as one of the major announcements of the showcase, a gameplay trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's first downloadable content (DLC) was revealed.

The Order of Giants was first announced during the Xbox Games Showcase earlier this month and arrives on September 4.

The story expansion will be accessible to those who own the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Premium Edition, Collector’s Edition, or Collector’s Bundle, or it can be purchased separately.

The DLC takes place during the events of the main game and follows Indiana Jones as he returns to the city of Rome to uncover a dark secret that lies beneath the city.

"There is a myth of a beast in the hidden depths of Rome, rumored to guard a terrible secret... When Indiana Jones encounters Father Ricci, a young priest desperate for help to track down a Roman artifact, a standard treasure hunt soon turns into a perilous journey," its description reads.

"Along the way, Indy must face the sinister plots of Emperor Nero and his gladiator games, the enigmatic Cult of Mithras, and whatever else lurks in the shadows. Can Father Ricci's cryptic knowledge guide Indy through these treacherous passageways? Only Indiana Jones can piece together this breathtaking mystery."

New and intricate puzzles while traversing Rome’s ancient sewer system, the Cloaca Maxima, and beyond will also be featured, along with new enemies and the return of familiar faces.

However, the most exciting part of the trailer for me was the announcement that the game will also be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026, making it the first Xbox-owned title to be confirmed for Nintendo's latest console.

In TechRadar Gaming's four-star review, hardware writer Dashiell Wood called Indiana Jones and the Great Circle "a thrilling adventure ripped straight from the silver screen" that features "flawless voice performances and incredible motion capture work".

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• The Maxsun Arc Pro B60 Dual 48G Turbo merges two Intel GPUs into one workstation card
• With 48GB VRAM onboard, the card promises headroom for demanding AI and data tasks
• Power consumption between 250W and 400W forces serious consideration in workstation builds

Maxsun has revealed the Arc Pro B60 Dual 48G Turbo, a $1,200 graphics card which places two Intel GPUs on a single board.

This product takes an unusual route in today’s market, where most manufacturers have abandoned dual-GPU designs in favor of single, more powerful chips.

Maxsun instead combines two Arc Pro B60 processors into one card, supported by 48GB of GDDR6 memory.

Designed for specialized workloads

Each GPU connects to a 192-bit memory interface with 456GB/s of bandwidth, and together the card brings 5,120 FP32 cores to the table.

The hardware is based on Intel’s Xe-2 “Battlemage” design, specifically the BMG-21 variant, marking one of the few workstation-grade attempts to use this architecture in a dual configuration.

Unlike consumer products designed for high frame rates in games, this dual Intel GPU card is presented as a tool for compute-heavy fields.

Maxsun describes this device with the phrase “Cut the Cloud. Keep the Power,” suggesting a push toward local processing of sensitive data.

The move from a single Arc Pro B60’s 120W rating to a combined load between 250W and 400W shows that this is a power-hungry device.

Feeding two GPUs requires strong power delivery and cooling, which in turn complicates deployment in compact workstation cases.

The reliance on PCIe 5.0 x16 ensures that data transfer to both GPUs is handled with sufficient bandwidth, but it does not change the reality that higher power consumption may limit adoption.

A workstation PC with this card could theoretically run large models such as DeepSeek R 70B or QwQ 32B entirely in-house.

Whether the performance matches that of dedicated server hardware remains to be seen.

Although the card is not marketed as a video editing PC component, its 48GB of VRAM could appeal to users working with extremely large projects.

The dual-GPU arrangement also frees up motherboard slots, which might benefit systems where expansion space is limited.

The practicality of such a configuration is still uncertain, especially given the varied history of software optimization for multi-GPU systems.

With retail availability expected soon, the Arc Pro B60 Dual 48G Turbo is unlikely to reach mainstream buyers.

Instead, it seems aimed at AI researchers, engineers, and developers who value large memory pools and local compute capacity over raw gaming output.

Via Guru3D

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