TechRadar News

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, July 15 (game #1268).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

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

Quordle today (game #1269) - hint #1 - VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1269) - hint #2 - repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1269) - hint #3 - uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1269) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1269) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• U

• N

• R

• B

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

Quordle today (game #1269) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1269, are…

• UNCLE
• NADIR
• REMIT
• BROOM

My starter words gave me an anagram to solve for my first word – REMIT – and answering that gave me two more. It was until BROOM that I had to do some thinking.

With no other vowels I took a gamble that the word would contain the far more common double-O rather than a single-O, although I was all set to guess groom before realizing I’d already used the G.

Daily Sequence today (game #1269) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1269, are…

• BAWDY
• INCUR
• FISHY
• TENET

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1268, Tuesday, 15 July: VILLA, FLECK, TIGER, CRANE
• Quordle #1267, Monday, 14 July: SURGE, PIZZA, PAPER, POPPY
• Quordle #1266, Sunday, 13 July: KAYAK, DECRY, RUDDY, HATER
• Quordle #1265, Saturday, 12 July: WREAK, NANNY, CLASP, STAIN
• Quordle #1264, Friday, 11 July: LAPEL, DRAIN, FROND, GROSS
• Quordle #1263, Thursday, 10 July: CROSS, WHEEL, UNDID, PENCE
• Quordle #1262, Wednesday, 9 July: SHIRE, SIXTH, SINGE, IMAGE
• Quordle #1261, Tuesday, 8 July: PLIED, PRANK, GAWKY, OXIDE
• Quordle #1260, Monday, 7 July: DROLL, TRUCE, TWIRL, SINCE
• Quordle #1259, Sunday, 6 July: AMPLY, SPAWN, EXTOL, RIDGE
• Quordle #1258, Saturday, 5 July: HAVEN, SNAKE, DREAM, TORUS
• Quordle #1257, Friday, 4 July: FAVOR, SKUNK, GAWKY, FLUFF
• Quordle #1256, Thursday, 3 July: DANCE, EYING, GLAZE, EGRET
• Quordle #1255, Wednesday, 2 July: INANE, SCOUR, ELITE, ULCER
• Quordle #1254, Tuesday, 1 July: REBAR, YEARN, FORTH, CROWD
• Quordle #1253, Monday, 30 June: INGOT, INFER, TAPIR, CLUED
• Quordle #1252, Sunday, 29 June: MIRTH, APTLY, SCRUB, SMACK
• Quordle #1251, Saturday, 28 June: AWOKE, SMOKY, DEVIL, SWING
• Quordle #1250, Friday, 27 June: SPEAK, EAGLE, AVERT, SUING

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, July 15 (game #499).

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

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

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

NYT Strands today (game #500) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Tech accessories

NYT Strands today (game #500) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• STAKE
• LION
• PEST
• COAT
• STANDARDS
• SHARE

NYT Strands today (game #500) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 6 letters

NYT Strands today (game #500) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 4th row

Last side: right, 5th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #500) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #500, are…

• CASE
• SPEAKER
• STAND
• STYLUS
• CHARGER
• KEYBOARD
• FOLIO
• SPANGRAM: TABLET

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Today’s Strands could not have been more TechRadar-friendly – considering how much we love tech accessories and write about the many different brands of TABLET.

Even for the less tech savvy, this search wasn’t much of a stretch and didn’t include any of the usual twists and turns, just a little bit of right-to-left thinking.

You will have to forgive me for putting “standards” in the hint words list, even though it includes STAND. It’s rare that you can find a nine-letter-long non-game word, so I couldn’t resist.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, July 15, game #499)

• GAMES
  MUSIC
• RIDES
• LIVESTOCK
• VENDORS
• PRIZES
• SPANGRAM: COUNTY FAIRS

What is NYT Strands?

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

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

• Google TV interface is evolution, not revolution
• Most changes to the UI are subtle and modernizing
• Advertising on the For You page is not so subtle

Google TV's interface is evolving, and not everyone is happy. The expansion of its Material 3 Expressive design is continuing apace with the goal of making everything feel cleaner and more modern, but some devices are apparently showing really big ads on their revised homescreens.

Let's start with the positives. As Android Police reports, there's a new version of the Google TV app with the excitingly descriptive version of 4.39.3356.780959673.5, and it's delivered some noticeable improvements to key parts of the Google TV interface.

(Image credit: BarfingMonkey / Reddit)What's new in Google TV

Some of the changes are quite subtle, such as the marginally larger banner area at the top of each detail page. The names of TV shows and movies have been moved slightly and center-aligned, and buttons have been made flatter. There are fewer rounded rectangles and more lozenge-shaped buttons, while image previews are now less sharp-edged.

So far it's evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but it's making Google TV more consistent with the wider Android world. And even relatively minor changes make everything feel a lot fresher, a bit like a deliciously refreshing can of Coca-Cola. Mmmm mmmm mmmm!

Don't worry, that's not product placement: it's me segueing into the negatives of Google's user interface evolution. As some Redditors are reporting on r/AndroidTV, they're seeing really big ads on the For You page for the likes of Coca-Cola, and those ads are being greeted with exactly the amount of delight you'd expect from a forum that frequently describes the best ad-blocking techniques.

Okay, believe me now?!!! from r/AndroidTV

Big homescreen ads aren't unique to Google TV, of course, and neither is increasing the amount of ads smart TV users are exposed to. In a lot of cases, though, it's been confined previously to at least showing you sponsored TV shows and movies. Coca-Cola feels a little less natural, even if they have put Kylo Ren in it.

But at least Google TV gives you the option to use a third-party launcher instead of the Google one, so if you object to seeing ever more ads on hardware you paid for then you can swap to something else – people on that Reddit thread suggest Projectivy.

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• Binarly spotted multiple flaws in UEFI firmware built by AMI
• AMI released fixes months ago, so users should update now
• Many Gigabyte motherboards reached EOF and thus won't be patched

UEFI firmware on dozens of Gigabyte motherboards is vulnerable to a handful of flaws which theoretically allow threat actors to deploy bootkits on compromised devices, establish stubborn persistence and execute additional malicious code remotely, experts have warned.

Security researchers Binarly recently discovered four vulnerabilities in UEFI firmware developed by American Megatrends Inc. (AMI). All four have a high severity score (8.2/10), and can lead to privilege escalation, malware installation, and other potentially destructive outcomes. They are tracked as CVE-2025-7026, CVE-2025-7027, CVE-2025-7028, and CVE-2025-7028.

Binarly reported its findings to Carnegie Mellon CERT/CC in mid-April 2025, resulting in AMI acknowledging the findings and releasing a patch in mid-June. The patch was pushed to OEMs privately, but apparently Gigabyte did not implement it at the time.

Hundreds of motherboard models affected

There are apparently more than 240 motherboard models that are impacted by these flaws.

Many won’t be patched at all because they have reached end of life, and as such, are no longer supported by Gigabyte. Instead, users worried about the vulnerabilities should upgrade their hardware to newer, supported versions.

Products from other OEMs are also said to be affected by these flaws, but until a patch is applied, their names will not be publicized.

UEFI firmware is low-level code that runs beneath the operating system, and whose job is to initialize the hardware (CPU, memory, storage), and then hand off control to the OS. When this code has flaws, threat actors can exploit them to install so-called “bootkits”, stealthy malware that loads at boot time, before the OS.

Because they run in privileged environments, bootkits can evade antivirus tools, and even survive OS reinstalls and disk replacements. This makes them highly persistent and dangerous, especially in high-security environments. The good news is that exploiting these vulnerabilities often requires admin access, which is not that easily obtainable.

Via BleepingComputer

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• The prices for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X have reportedly leaked online
• The ROG Xbox Ally will seemingly cost €599 ($699) while the ROG Xbox Ally X will be priced at €899 ($1,050)
• If the prices are accurate, this will make them Xbox's most expensive consoles yet

The pricing information for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X has seemingly leaked online.

As reported by Spanish publication 3djuegos(via GamesRadar), the console prices were leaked through product boxes on Google.

It appears that the ROG Xbox Ally will cost €599, while the ROG Xbox Ally X will be priced much higher at €899. After converting, the prices respectively translate to $699 and $1,050, and, if accurate, this will make them Xbox's most expensive consoles yet.

This is also how much the original Asus ROG Ally and Asus ROG Ally X cost in Europe.

The pricing has since been removed, but the boxes originally linked back to the official Asus website, suggesting that the company may have mistakenly shared the information ahead of time.

Microsoft announced its take on the Asus ROG Ally last month during the Xbox Games Showcase 2025. Both versions of the handheld will feature a 7-inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate, but the white Xbox Ally variant targets 720p gaming, while the black Xbox Ally X console aims for 900p to 1080p gaming.

Although the prices may be on the more expensive side, it is understandable considering the console/PC hybrid uses AMD Ryzen chips, with the more powerful Xbox Ally X utilizing the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, which comes with 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Both handhelds have also been redesigned with contoured grips to mimic the Xbox Wireless Controller, feature the Xbox's 'ABXY' button layout, hall-effect impulse triggers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, and more.

There's no word on release dates for either console just yet, but we'll keep you updated.

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• The Nintendo Switch 2 is the company’s least ambitious console to date, but its improvements are astronomical
• I’ve spent 40 hours exploring Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and it’s an incredible sequel that builds upon its unique predecessor to become a masterpiece
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• New Microsoft Research paper identifies areas where AI is already being used the most
• It also shows areas that AI has very little influence on currently
• The research could show potential for AI job augmentation, not just replacement

I don’t know about you, but I have this kind of nagging fear that AI is coming for me one of these days. If not imminently, then in the very near future. One thing that might allay that fear is knowing exactly where AI’s axe is going to fall in the labor market, so that I can make sure I’m always just out of its reach.

The problem is that right now we have a lot of people making bold assumptions about what sorts of jobs AI will take away, but as we all know, no plan survives contact with the enemy, so it might be better to approach the problem from another direction.

A new report from Microsoft Research has analyzed 200,000 real conversations between people and Copilot to understand how AI is being used by people in the workplace right now. This way, we can determine which roles are likely to be the most impacted as companies adopt generative AI in the future.

The most at risk

It should come as no surprise that the jobs the report identified as the most common work activities people seek AI assistance for all involve gathering information and writing, and that the most common activities that AI is performing are providing information and assistance, writing, teaching, and advising.

It turns out that interpreters and translators are top of the list when it comes to compatibility with AI, with a stunning 98% of their activities overlapping with frequent Copilot tasks that have fairly high completion rates.

So, if you're thinking of changing careers to become a translator, it might be worth considering your options. Also at the top of the list are historians, writers and authors, and journalists. It should be no surprise to also see proofreaders, editors, and PR specialists high up on the list, too.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)The most resistant to AI

It’s physical trades involving working with people that are the most resistant to the influence of AI. The report puts nursing assistants, massage therapists, and machinery operators, including truck and tractor drivers, as the most AI-resistant occupations. Manual laborers like roofers, dishwashers, maids, and housekeeping cleaners were also near the top of the list.

The news will be good for some jobs, but terrible for others. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and if you’re working in one of the most compatible areas for AI (I know I am!), then don’t panic right now because the research could be simply indicating that your area is one that is ripe for augmentation by AI, rather than replacement.

I think there will always be a need for skilled humans in some capacity, even in areas that will be heavily dominated by AI. That said, understanding AI’s impact on jobs is probably going to put you in a better position than if you have no clue about its threats.

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Congratulations, fellow Stranger Things fan! You’re on the home stretch of the three year wait between Stranger Things season 4 and Stranger Things season 5. The final episodes will be split into three releases – volume 1 on November 26, volume 2 on December 25 and the season 5 finale on December 31 – so there’s still a small wait to go, but rumour has it we’re getting the first full season 5 trailer at some point this week.

Today (July 15) marks the first time we ever saw one of the best Netflix shows of all time on screen, with the series debuting nine years ago in 2016. If you can’t remember what happened when we last visited Hawkins (and that’s understandable), our group of best friends attempted to defeat Vecna, causing Max's apparent death as well as the opening of a massive rift between the town and the Upside Down. No big deal, I’m sure.

But as Netflix finally tries to get its fanbase excited about the drawn-out end, a painful question has to be asked. Why should anybody care about Stranger Things season 5 when we’ve been left in the lurch for so long? I’m wondering if it would have been less of a hassle to have been eaten by Vecna when we first met him, and that’s a problem.

Stranger Things season 5 and its trailer are coming, but do we even care?

Let’s put it into context. Since Stranger Things season 4 aired, we’ve had four seasons of The Bear, five seasons of Slow Horses (if you count new episodes we’re going to get in September) and two seasons of Severance… and look how long that took to return. In the Stranger Things world alone, we’ve had the arrival of non-canon West End play The First Shadow, plus the announcement of two spinoffs: animated series Stranger Things: Tales from '85 and live-action show The Boroughs. Everyone and their nan has seemingly complained about not getting season 5 in the meantime, and they’ve got good reason to be annoyed.

Back in the good old days of the mid-2000s, we were regularly whipping through 22-episode seasons of TV like there was no tomorrow. Desperate Housewives and Lost were great examples of this, each requiring a high level of input and resource in their own way. Fast forward two decades, and the consolation prize of feeling lucky to get eight new episodes in three years doesn’t feel like something worth investing in.

Sure, these upcoming episodes are basically feature length movies and the technical craft needed to achieve them is immense, but this is Hollywood, for goodness sake! Every resource we allegedly have at our disposal is supposed to be at the top of its game, able to give us everything we have and haven’t yet dreamed up. From a marketing perspective, Netflix might have thought dragging out the jewel in the crown of its streaming back catalog would make fans hungrier for the end product, but there’s only so far you can stretch the theory in practice.

Of course, I’ll be streaming Stranger Things season 5 like the rest of us, but it will be a reluctant watch. The endless wait over the last few years has definitely made me think twice about investing in shows on one of the best streaming services around, and that’s before we even touch on the frequent cancellations (another story for another day).

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• VRI will complement NCSC's current vulnerability research efforts
• It will be tasked with communicating NCSC's needs with external experts
• The goal is to understand the flaws, patches, and research methodology

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has announced the forming of The Vulnerability Research Initiative (VRI), a new program which will see it partner with third-party cybersecurity experts for vulnerability research in commodity and specialized tech.

The NCSC said it currently operates a team of internal researchers who are experts in common technologies, and who conduct vulnerability research (VR) on a range of technologies and products, from traditional commodity tech, to specialized solutions only used in a few places.

However, the team is unable to keep up with the speed at which the technology industry is changing. New tech is popping up every day, and old tech is evolving beyond recognition, “and thus VR is getting harder”.

Understanding the vulnerabilities

“This means the NCSC demand for VR continues to grow,” NCSC explained.

To tackle the challenge, it decided to create VRI, and bring in third-party help. The program’s goal is to help NCSC’s researchers understand the vulnerabilities present in today’s technologies, the necessary mitigations, how experts conduct their research, and which tools they use in the process.

“This successful way of working increases NCSC’s capacity to do VR and shares VR expertise across the UK’s VR ecosystem,” the press release further reads.

The VRI core team will include technical experts, relationship managers, and project managers, with the core team being responsible for communicating the VR team's requirements to VRI industry partners and for overseeing the progress and outcomes of the research.

In the (near) future, NCSC will bring in more experts to tackle AI-powered, or otherwise AI-related vulnerabilities. Those who are interested in participating in VRI should reach out to the agency via email at vri@ncsc.gov.uk. The address should not be used for sharing vulnerability reports.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Nintendo is asking Japanese players for their thoughts on Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Cards
• It follows reports of low sales for third-party Nintendo Switch 2 software
• It hopefully signals a shift towards more traditional physical releases

Nintendo is asking Japanese players for their thoughts on the controversial Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Cards.

As first spotted by SwitchSoku and reported by VGC, surveys have been going out to Nintendo Switch 2 players in Japan.

The multiple-choice form asks whether you are aware of the existence of Game-Key Cards or currently own any. Next, it lists a number of the characteristics of Game-Key Cards and prompts you to select the ones you already know.

Finally, it asks whether you would choose the digital download version of a piece of software if a Game-Key Card was available.

If you're not aware, Game-Key Cards are a special type of Nintendo Switch 2 release. They are physical game cards that do no contain any substantial data. When inserted into a Nintendo Switch 2 system, they prompt a download of the game much like an eShop purchase.

You need to insert the Game-Key Card every time you want to access the title. The game takes up space on your system's internal storage, negating one of the big benefits of traditional game cards.

The only real benefit of a Game-Key Card is that it can be resold or swapped between multiple consoles freely, though in my eyes this isn't really worth the hassle.

The vast majority of Nintendo Switch 2 third-party releases have been Game-Key Cards, much to the disappointment of some players.

As sales of third-party software has reportedly been lower than expected, I suspect that this survey signals that Nintendo is re-evaluating its approach and hopefully will begin pushing developers towards traditional physical releases.

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• The tubular bike comes in two guises, with a top speed of 53mph
• Its frame houses a removable battery that looks like a giant AA
• Prices start at €5,999 (around £5,200/$7,000/AU$10,600)

The story of Sol Motors is a long and slightly turbulent one, as the slightly bizarre, Pocket Rocket electric two-wheeler has been teased for many years but struggled to fully achieve lift off.

Now, the German innovators are ready to release their pipe-shaped urban transport into the wild, with pre-orders being taken now and delivery to anywhere in the world typically taking around 6-8 weeks from point of purchase.

Designed to be small, lightweight and practical, the Pocket Rocket comes in two guises that cover the full spectrum of license requirements in Germany (these will differ across markets).

The standard model, for example, has a peak power output of 6.5kW and is limited to a top speed of 45kph (just under 30mph), which makes it legal to ride on most moped or scooter licenses in Europe.

For those wanting more punch, there’s an S model that develops 8.5kW of peak power and can hit 85kph (or around 53mph), which will generally require an additional license.

Both models weigh just 87kg and offer an electric range of between 42 and 67 miles, depending on the version.

When it comes time to charge, the large tubular battery pack that is housed within the frame’s crossbar can be removed and charged in the house, office or apartment, with Sol even offering a stylish charging station to neatly hang the battery from.

What’s more, customers can buy additional battery packs for rapid swaps, although this will see the final bill increase other the tune of €1,695 (around £1,470/$2,000/AU$3,000).

Similarly, if you go wild with the online configurator, which offers a number of frame, fender and logo colors, the price starts to tickle the €8,000 (around £7,000/$9,300AU$14,200) mark.

Funky, fun but not for everyone

(Image credit: Sol Motors)

The emerging EV landscape has encouraged a number of start-ups to produce all manner of weird and whacky designs, but the Sol Pocket Rocket is up there with some of the strangest.

Why anyone would want to ride atop a drainage tube is anyone’s guess and ergonomically, it doesn’t look like a great options for particularly tall or very short users, as there’s not much in the way of adjustability.

But like Infinite Machine, which produces highly futuristic electric scooters and pedelecs, Sol Motors is offering something a bit different for those wanting lightweight, easy-to-maintain urban transport that turns heads.

Will it be the next big thing? Probably not. But will it raise a few smiles on the streets? Most definitely.

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Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver service fell victim to a simultaneous BGP hijack and route leak event, causing massive internet outages and degradation worldwide. Pakistan caused the most famous BGP outage. The government tried to block access to YouTube within the country. Their misconfiguration caused a worldwide YouTube outage.

Most organizations are targets of attacks 7.5 times a year. And while most are resolved quickly, these are examples of public infrastructure failures that are beyond your control.

What other technology do you rely on every day that was invented in the 1980s? Not your smartphone. Not your car. Not your TV. And definitely not your work tools. Yet, every time you send an email, connect to a website, or deploy a cloud service, you’re relying on core internet protocols that predate the web itself.

The Fragile Foundation

The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) was designed in 1989, an era when the “internet” was barely a concept and security was an afterthought. Back then:

- Home users connected via dial-up modems.

- Businesses considered themselves cutting-edge if they had a T1 line.

- Network reliability was a hope, not an expectation.

BGP’s original purpose was simple: keep the nascent internet stitched together. It provided large institutions with a means to announce which IP address blocks they controlled and to learn about others. The protocol allowed routers across autonomous systems (ASes) to share route announcements and dynamically discover paths to distant networks.

BGP was designed for resilience, not determinism. For openness, not security.

Speed, uptime, and security

Today, we demand speed, uptime, and security that BGP was never built to deliver. Multi-gigabit fiber reaches homes. Enterprises span multiple clouds across continents. Workloads like real-time video, financial transactions, and machine learning require low-latency, high-throughput data paths.

However, BGP still routes traffic based on trust and reachability, rather than performance or identity. It can’t enforce policies. It can’t prevent hijacks. And it certainly can’t guarantee who’s on the other end.

Despite multiple security incidents and efforts, such as RPKI and BGPsec, the internet still routes traffic based on a chain of trust that can be exploited by anyone with a few malicious route announcements. Most fixes require coordination that doesn’t exist and IT infrastructure upgrades that move at glacial speed.

The result? The modern internet rides on a protocol that thinks it’s still 1992.

Public by Default

Another artifact of that era is the Domain Name System (DNS). Created to make numeric IP addresses human-readable, DNS transformed how people accessed websites. Instead of memorizing strings of numbers, you could simply type in a name.

The problem? DNS is public by design.

Every query, every resolution, and every domain is visible and discoverable. Attackers can enumerate subdomains, discover shadow IT resources, and probe for vulnerabilities – all by posing as legitimate users.

We’ve seen this pattern before. Consider phone numbers. In the 1990s, receiving a call or piece of mail felt like an event. Now? Most calls are spam, and most email is junk. People don’t pick up unless they recognize the number. Our relationship with public identifiers has undergone a fundamental shift.

The same evolution is happening with network services. Public IP addresses and DNS names are easily scraped, scanned, and attacked. In an age of automation and AI-assisted hacking, exposing your infrastructure by default amounts to sending an invitation.

Yet we continue treating server addresses like phone numbers in a white pages directory – a model that no longer works for the threats we face.

Obsolete Assumptions

Both BGP and DNS reflect assumptions that simply don’t hold up anymore:

- Assumption: Networks are trusted.

-- Reality: Most attacks now originate from within or via compromised peers.

- Assumption: Routes are stable.

-- Reality: Internet routes change unpredictably due to performance tuning, outages, and misconfigurations.

- Assumption: Identities don’t matter.

-- Reality: Zero-trust architecture has become the standard for secure design.

- Assumption: Services are few and fixed.

-- Reality: Modern architectures dynamically spin up and down thousands of services.

The more we scale and automate, the more these assumptions crumble.

Time for a Rethink

The internet’s early architecture was undeniably brilliant for its time. But that time has passed.

Today’s needs are different. We need:

- Deterministic data paths that can be trusted end-to-end.

- Secure naming systems that are private by default.

- Policy-aware routing that aligns with business, performance, and compliance requirements.

- A model where services announce themselves securely to authorized peers, not to the entire internet.

These aren’t enhancements; they’re necessities.

The irony is striking: everything else in tech has evolved dramatically. Compute became elastic. Storage turned redundant and distributed. Deployment went fully automated. But networking? It’s still largely manual, primarily public, and built mainly on 40-year-old concepts.

This should be our wake-up call. We can’t keep patching internet security with duct tape and hoping for the best. It’s time to challenge the status quo and ask a hard question: are the foundational protocols we depend on every day actually fit for purpose anymore?

Security and privacy can’t remain afterthoughts we layer onto a crumbling foundation. They need to be built from the ground up. That means completely reimagining how the internet connects, routes, and identifies everything.

Think about it: what other critical system in your life still runs on ideas from the 1980s?

LINK!

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

• Windows 11 has a fresh preview build in the Canary channel
• It offers a new adaptive energy saver feature which is opt-in by nature
• Turning it on means Windows 11 will intelligently save battery life whenever the system isn't doing anything taxing

Microsoft is trying out a new feature to help give Windows 11 laptops better battery life, and it sounds like a promising idea.

It's called adaptive energy saver, and as Windows Central noticed, the functionality is now in testing in the Canary channel (the earliest of the four test channels that Microsoft uses).

Normally, energy saver only kicks in when the battery is running low (the exact level at which that happens depends on what the user specifies), but with the new intelligent mode of operation, energy saver will be able to operate at any time.

The idea is that if the system detects that there's not much going on – just basic tasks are running, perhaps just light web browsing, or you're writing an email – energy saver will activate in the background and save some battery.

At the moment, the capability is just rolling out in testing, so not every Windows Insider in the Canary channel will see it to begin with.

It's also an opt-in feature, meaning that you'll have to turn it on in Settings (System > Power & battery) to get the benefit. In other words, by default, nothing will change with the way Windows 11 employs energy saver, unless you specifically turn on adaptive energy saver.

Analysis: a bright idea

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How does adaptive energy saver work? That isn't clear, and Microsoft doesn't provide much in the way of detail in its preview build blog post, save to say that the feature will do its magic "based on the power state of the device and the current system load".

I can only assume that it's going to rein in the CPU and GPU – two of the most power-hungry components inside a laptop (or desktop) – when they're not doing much, which, given how many of us use our laptops, is going to be quite often. So there's a fair chance that this energy-saving trick could actually conserve quite a lot of battery life. (Fingers crossed – and check here for more tips in that same vein, incidentally).

A key point is that the level of brightness set for the screen won't ever be changed by adaptive energy saver. While the display is the other major source of power drain in a laptop, messing with the brightness would likely only annoy users – I know I wouldn't want my screen suddenly growing dimmer for no apparent reason – so it's a sensible decision to put the display to one side here.

While it's obviously designed for laptops, when I first saw this feature I imagined that it could be useful in bringing an eco-friendly element to desktop PCs, too (saving on power bills). That isn't the case, though, and Microsoft makes it clear that this is a notebook-only innovation.

For the more paranoid who are worried about adaptive energy saver perhaps messing with performance when it shouldn't – perhaps due to bugs, for example – it's worth repeating that it will be an opt-in ability. If you don't like the sound of it, just don’t switch the adaptive mode on.

Also, we shouldn't forget that features in testing may not make the cut for final release in Windows 11 anyway – but I'm hoping this one does.

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• French and UK tech experts will collaborate on multiple projects
• One of them is to secure technology used in GPS systems
• GPS needs to be more resilient to blocking and jamming

British and French technology experts will soon be working together more closely to make GPS and other similar technologies more resistant to disruptions.

The news was announced by the UK Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), which said experts from the two countries will work together on a number of different projects going forward.

This includes strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructure to the signal-jamming seen in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

e-LORAN

“From our electricity infrastructure, to transport, to financial transactions, the tech we rely on for everyday life depends on reliable Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), often provided via satellites,” the announcement reads.

“The conflict in Ukraine has shown how new technologies – in some cases, just small hand-held devices – can be used to disrupt PNT services, potentially causing major disruption to the vast areas of life and the economy reliant on them.”

One of these complementary technologies, highly resistant to jamming, is e-LORAN, a system that uses ground-based radio towers as a “backup” to GPS. DSIT describes it as being “much more challenging” to block, and as such can keep critical UK infrastructure technology running “even when GPS fails”.

The war in Ukraine seems to have exposed significant weaknesses of today’s GPS systems, which could end up in tragedy.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, The Telegraph’s researchers examined Flight Radar data for the first four months of 2024, which included 63 UK military aircraft completing 1,467 flights over Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

“During this time, the United Kingdom’s military aviation flew 504 transport and reconnaissance missions over Eastern Europe, with 142 of them encountering GPS jamming, and in 60 cases, such efforts occurred multiple times,” the publication explained.

At the same time, Business Insider reported Finnish soldiers were training with “basic navigation tools” - paper maps and compasses, due to the unreliability of GPS systems.

Via The Register

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If you weren’t a fan of police procedural Bosch or its subsequent spinoff Bosch: Legacy, there’s a good chance you’re ready to write off Prime Video’s latest installment, Ballard. Despite only being released on July 9, the new TV show has already got an astonishing 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes…and that’s excellent news for the franchise as a whole.

But it isn’t just the smashing review score that’s responsible for Ballard’s success. If you’ve not already spotted it on our everything new coming to Prime Video in July 2025 list, the series follows LAPD detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q) as she oversees a cold case in a new department. As you might imagine, it’s all not as straightforward as that.

Don’t let Bosch: Legacy dissuade you from trying Ballard as it hasn’t set an amazing example for crime fans wanting to tune in. Sure, the critic’s score still stacks up (it also had 100% on Rotten Tomatoes), but Harry Bosch’s (Titus Welliver) retirement was more of the same, and that got tired and stale as the years passed. Even though we drove a cop car head-first into a snooze fest, don’t tarnish Ballard with the same brush.

Don’t write off Prime Video’s Ballard just because Bosch: Legacy was awful

Frankly, there’s never been a better time to be a Bosh: Legacy hater than now. Ballard’s return to the small screen has made stimulating and fresh crime drama look so effortless, it’s difficult to see how the franchise avoided a new lease of life for so long. The fact we only briefly met Ballard herself during the finale of Bosch: Legacy doesn’t hurt (she’s a big part of Michael Connelly’s original book series), but the new show’s sprint towards success runs much deeper than that.

We start off strong with Maggie Q’s casting – the actress is arguably underappreciated in the action movie genre she’s cultivating as her own (Mission: Impossible III remains the best in my book, and she should have had a two-film arc at the very least). Her cold-case detective is sharp and commanding, relentless in the face of the city’s challenges. So far, so good.

Then there’s the storylines themselves. Ballard isn’t choosing to play it safe, extending the danger we’d normally see within the department into the personal lives of characters we’re growing attached to. Ballard beats up an intruder who enters her home, Samira Parker (Courtney Taylor) isn’t afraid to be a voice for the most vulnerable victims, and corrupt police conduct is exposed and tackled without hesitation.

Prime Video has also played it smart by including Bosch as a cameo role in the new series. Those that did appreciate the main series and Bosch: Legacy don’t have to do without him, but there’s more than enough breathing room for Ballard to become its own programme. There are no shadows to stand in here.

So what are you waiting for? Ballard is the new TV show you need to be streaming this week. If nothing else, you might be inspired to kick a door down (or two).

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• A new Gemini Space for Pixel feature has leaked
• It displays information like sports scores and birthdays
• The feature is similar to some parts of One UI 8

Changes are coming to the At a Glance widget that sits on the Pixel home screen, according to hidden code spotted in the latest preview version of Android – and it could evolve to be more like a couple of features in Samsung's One UI software.

The code spotting was done by Android Authority, and the team there was able to get something called Gemini Space up and running in Android Canary (the earliest beta version of Android you can get).

We haven't heard anything official about Gemini Space yet, but it looks to be based on At a Glance, and is able to show more information: Sports scores and birthday reminders, for example, as well as weather forecasts and details of calendar appointments. Some of this info can already be displayed on Android through persistent notifications.

All of these updates can be viewed on the lock screen as well as the home screen, and it seems as though users will also have the option to expand these cards into a Daily Hub that delivers relevant information throughout your day.

Sound familiar?

The At a Glance widget on Pixel phones (Image credit: Future)

Displaying contextually relevant information on the home screen and lock screen – including sports scores, timers, and fitness data – sounds a lot like what Samsung is doing with the Now Bar and Now Brief on One UI 7 and One UI 8.

It seems Google has looked at what Samsung is doing, and wants to follow suit. At the same time, you could also argue that Samsung's widgets were inspired by At a Glance on Pixels – and Live Activities on iOS.

We also know that a feature called Live Updates is coming to Android 16, which will put real-time information on the lock screen as well. Across the board we're seeing improvements to how relevant information gets surfaced for users – no matter which make and model of phone you're using.

It's not clear when the new Gemini Space might make its way to Pixel phones, but you can expect major updates to Android 16 as we go through the rest of the year, including a wider rollout of the Material 3 Expressive redesign.

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• Netflix is about to make a big announcement about Stranger Things season 5
• Fans think an official trailer will be released imminently
• Nobody can agree on when it'll drop online, though

Clutch your walkie talkies and bicycle handlebars tightly, everyone, because the first trailer for Stranger Things season 5 could be with us very, very soon.

Over the past few days, speculation over a potential trailer drop has grown significantly and fans are now convinced an official teaser will be released publicly in the next 24 to 48 hours. Indeed, fan fervor has been driven by two posts on a Stranger Things Instagram broadcast channel, which have raised suspicions that Netflix is preparing to make a major announcement about the hit series' final installment.

Last Friday (July 11), said broadcast channel spluttered back to life after a near 18-month quiet spell. The message, which you can view below, simply said "scanning for signal". Predictably, Stranger Things fans began theorizing about what this message could be alluding to, with many suggesting (via the Stranger Things sub-Reddit and other online forums/social media apps) that a trailer was inbound.

An official teaser for Stranger Things season 5 might be with us in the next day or two (Image credit: Instagram)

Three days later, another message was uploaded that read: "Signal detected: locking in at 7-1-6."

Unsurprisingly, fans jumped to the conclusion that Netflix was not only gearing up to release season 5's first trailer, but that it would arrive on Wednesday, July 16. That's because "7-1-6" is how July 16 is represented using the US calendar format.

The arrival of Stranger Things 5's first trailer is the only logical thing that Netflix can reveal at this point. It's already unveiled the official release dates for Stranger Things season 5 – the streaming titan doing so at Tudum 2025 in late May. I suspect the popular show's devoted fanbase would be incredibly annoyed if the build-up to this big reveal doesn't amount to anything major, so I'm increasingly confident that an actual teaser will be with us in the very near future.

I've reached out to Netflix for comment on what's being teased and I'll update this article if I receive a response.

Why fans can't agree on when Stranger Things 5's first trailer could be released

Some fans think we'll see Hopper and Eleven in a season 5 teaser later today (July 15) (Image credit: Netflix)

While there's evidence pointing towards a trailer for one of the best Netflix shows' fifth and final season arriving on July 16, there are some who think it'll be released a day earlier.

There are indications that this could be true, too. For one, Instagram fan account strangerthingsnetfliix suggested the teaser will drop online on July 15, aka today (at the time of publication). Ordinarily, something like this wouldn't be taken seriously. However, according to Netflix Junkie and the Stranger Things Updates X/Twitter account, Netflix's South African PR division liked the post on the aforementioned fan account. Sure, Netflix South Africa could have done so to mislead fans ahead of the trailer's actual launch on July 16, but I doubt this is the case.

The other big piece of evidence is that July 15 marks the nine-year anniversary since Stranger Things' first season debuted on the world's best streaming service. It would be a fitting tribute to one of the biggest Netflix TV Originals of all-time if a teaser for its final season was released today. However, I think fans are more likely to believe what's posted on the official Stranger Things' Instagram broadcast channel over any fan account. So, don't be surprised if a teaser is released on July 16 and not today.

When do you think we'll see the first trailer for Stranger Things 5? Let me know in the comments. Keep your eyes trained on TechRadar, too, as I'll be covering the teaser (or whatever this announcement is) in due course.

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• Donkey Kong Bananza has seemingly been in development for close to eight years
• That's according to producer, Kenta Motokura
• It's entirely possible Bananza has been in development longer than Grand Theft Auto 6

Donkey Kong Bananza is finally launching in a couple of days' time on July 17, 2025 for Nintendo Switch 2, and it seems like it's the end of a very long road for the game's developers.

Bananza's producer, Kenta Motokura, was recently interviewed by Spanish outlet La Vanguardia (via The Gamer) alongside director Kazuya Takahashi. During the interview, Motokura shared some insight in just how long the game took to make.

"I can't give you very precise details, I can tell you that we started developing it after finishing Super Mario Odyssey," said Motokura.

Super Mario Odyssey originally launched for Nintendo Switch in October 2017, meaning Donkey Kong Bananza has likely had a sizeable development period of close to eight years.

That might not be something you'd expect from a game that stars what Karl Pilkington might call "a little hairy fella," but not only does Bananza seem like it's a massive game, it also has impressive and detailed destructible environments.

Much like how The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom had a lengthy six years in development - thanks to its massive additions to the world and impressive physics system - I can imagine Bananza taking a similar time to make for similar reasons.

For further comparison, Rockstar Games parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has claimed that Grand Theft Auto 6 started development "in earnest" only five years ago, around 2020.

So yes, it does seem like the funny monkey game has had a longer development cycle than what is slated to be the most monumental video game release of all time. Food for thought.

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• A detailed specs leak suggests the Pixel 10 Pro Fold could have an IP68 rating
• It might also have a large 5,015mAh battery, among other upgrades
• However, its cameras might not be improved

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is in many ways a very impressive foldable phone, but it has some weaknesses, and going by the latest leak, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold might not have these same issues.

Android Headlines has shared a detailed Pixel 10 Pro Fold specs list, and one of the most eye-catching aspects is the claim of a 5,015mAh battery. Not only is that significantly higher capacity than the 4,650mAh battery in the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, it’s also far bigger than the 4,400mAh battery in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Samsung actually didn’t increase the capacity at all for the Z Fold 7, so this is one of the more disappointing aspects of that phone.

According to this leak, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold will also be the first foldable phone to have an IP68 rating. That would mean it’s dust-tight and can be submerged up to 1.5 meters deep in water for up to 30 minutes.

Now, this is a rating that’s commonly found on high-end non-foldable handsets, but foldable phones have really struggled with dust resistance, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 for example only having an IP48 rating, which is the same level of water resistance but means it can only resist dust particles that are greater than 1mm in size.

A better screen but no change to the cameras

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

There are other specs listed too, and some of these are also improvements on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The upcoming phone is said for example to have a 6.4-inch cover screen (up from 6.3 inches on the current model), but due to smaller bezels, the actual size of the handset might not increase.

That screen has also apparently had a brightness boost, reaching up to 3,000 nits (compared to 2,700 nits on the current model), and of course the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is expected to have a new Tensor G5 chipset – though an early benchmark suggests this might not be overly powerful.

Other tipped details include 16GB of RAM once again, but with 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities – the last of which would be new.

Sadly, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s cameras might not be upgraded, with the same source claiming to expect a 48MP main camera, a 10.5MP ultra-wide, a 10.8MP telephoto (with 5x optical zoom), and a pair of 10MP front-facing cameras, all of which would be a match for last year’s phone.

We would however take all of these specs with a pinch of salt, because with the exception of the chipset the majority of this has only come from one source. But we should know for sure what specs the Pixel 10 Pro Fold has soon, as it’s likely to land next month, with August 20 being tipped as the announcement date.

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What truly separates us from machines? Free will, creativity and intelligence? But think about it. Our brains aren't singular, monolithic processors. The magic isn't in one “thinking part,” but rather in countless specialized agents—neurons—that synchronize perfectly.

Some neurons catalog facts, others process logic or govern emotion, still more retrieve memories, orchestrate movement, or interpret visual signals. Individually, they perform simple tasks, yet collectively, they produce the complexity we call human intelligence.

Now, imagine replicating this orchestration digitally. Traditional AI was always narrow: specialized, isolated bots designed to automate mundane tasks. But the new frontier is Agentic AI—systems built from specialized, autonomous agents that interact, reason and cooperate, mirroring the interplay within our brains.

Large language models (LLMs) form the linguistic neurons, extracting meaning and context. Specialized task agents execute distinct functions like retrieving data, analyzing trends and even predicting outcomes. Emotion-like agents gauge user sentiment, while decision-making agents synthesize inputs and execute actions.

The result is digital intelligence and agency. But do we need machines to mimic human intelligence and autonomy?

Every domain has a choke point—Agentic AI unblocks them all

Ask the hospital chief who’s trying to fill a growing roster of vacant roles. The World Health Organization predicts a global shortfall of 10 million healthcare workers by 2030. Doctors and nurses pull 16-hour shifts like it’s the norm. Claims processors grind through endless policy reviews, while lab technicians wade through a forest of paperwork before they can even test a single sample.

In a well-orchestrated Agentic AI world, these professionals get some relief. Claim-processing bots can read policies, assess coverage and even detect anomalies in minutes—tasks that would normally take hours of mind-numbing, error-prone work. Lab automation agents could receive patient data directly from electronic health records, run initial tests and auto-generate reports, freeing up technicians for the more delicate tasks that truly need human skill.

The same dynamic plays out across industries. Take banking, where anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) processes remain the biggest administrative headaches. Corporate KYC demands endless verification steps, complex cross-checks, and reams of paperwork. An agentic system can orchestrate real-time data retrieval, conduct nuanced risk analysis and streamline compliance so that staff can focus on actual client relationships rather than wrestling with forms.

Insurance claims, telecom contract reviews, logistics scheduling—the list is endless. Each domain has repetitive tasks that bog down talented people.

AI is the flashlight in a dark basement

Yes, agentic AI is the flashlight in a dark basement: shining a bright light on hidden inefficiencies, letting specialized agents tackle the grunt work in parallel, and giving teams the bandwidth to focus on strategy, innovation and building deeper connections with customers.

But the true power agentic AI lies in its ability to solve not just for efficiency or one department but to scale seamlessly across multiple functions—even multiple geographies. This is an improvement of 100x scale.

1. Scalability: Agentic AI is modular at its core, allowing you to start small—like a single FAQ chatbot—then seamlessly expand. Need real-time order tracking or predictive analytics later? Add an agent without disrupting the rest. Each agent handles a specific slice of work, cutting development overhead and letting you deploy new capabilities without ripping apart your existing setup.

2. Anti-fragility: In a multi-agent system, one glitch won’t topple everything. If a diagnostic agent in healthcare goes offline, other agents—like patient records or scheduling—keep working. Failures stay contained within their respective agents, ensuring continuous service. That means your entire platform won’t crash because one piece needs a fix or an upgrade.

3. Adaptability: When regulations or consumer expectations shift, you can modify or replace individual agents—like a compliance bot—without forcing a system-wide overhaul. This piecemeal approach is akin to upgrading an app on your phone rather than reinstalling the entire operating system. The result? A future-proof framework that evolves alongside your business, eliminating massive downtimes or risky reboots.

You can’t predict the next AI craze, but you can be ready for it

Generative AI was the breakout star a couple of years ago; agentic AI is grabbing the spotlight now. Tomorrow, something else will emerge—because innovation never rests. How then, do we future-proof our architecture so each wave of new technology doesn’t trigger an IT apocalypse? According to a recent Forrester study, 70% of leaders who invested over 100 million dollars in digital initiatives credit one strategy for success: a platform approach.

Instead of ripping out and replacing old infrastructure each time a new AI paradigm hits, a platform integrates these emerging capabilities as specialized building blocks. When agentic AI arrives, you don’t toss your entire stack—you simply plug in the latest agent modules. This approach means fewer project overruns, quicker deployments, and more consistent outcomes.

Even better, a robust platform offers end-to-end visibility into each agent’s actions—so you can optimize costs and keep a tighter grip on compute usage. Low-code/no-code interfaces also lower the entry barrier for business users to create and deploy agents, while prebuilt tool and agent libraries accelerate cross-functional workflows, whether in HR, marketing, or any other department.

Platforms that support PolyAI architectures and a variety of orchestration frameworks allow you to swap different models, manage prompts and layer new capabilities without rewriting everything from scratch. Being cloud-agnostic, they also eliminate vendor lock-in, letting you tap the best AI services from any provider. In essence, a platform-based approach is your key to orchestrating multi-agent reasoning at scale—without drowning in technical debt or losing agility.

So, what are the core elements of this platform approach?

1. Data: Plugged into a common layer

Whether you’re implementing LLMs or agentic frameworks, your platform’s data layer remains the cornerstone. If it’s unified, each new AI agent can tap into a curated knowledge base without messy retrofitting.

2. Models: Swappable brains

A flexible platform lets you pick specialized models for each use case—financial risk analysis, customer service, healthcare diagnoses—then updates or replaces them without nuking everything else.

3. Agents: Modular workflows

Agents thrive as independent yet orchestrated mini-services. If you need a new marketing agent or a compliance agent, you spin it up alongside existing ones, leaving the rest of the system stable.

4. Governance: Guardrails at scale

When your governance structure is baked into the platform—covering bias checks, audit trails, and regulatory compliance—you remain proactive, not reactive, regardless of which AI “new kid on the block” you adopt next.

A platform approach is your strategic hedge against technology’s ceaseless evolution—ensuring that no matter which AI trend takes center stage, you’re ready to integrate, iterate, and innovate.

Start small and orchestrate your way up

Agentic AI isn’t entirely new—Tesla’s self-driving cars employs multiple autonomous modules. The difference is that new orchestration frameworks make such multi-agent intelligence widely accessible. No longer confined to specialized hardware or industries, Agentic AI can now be applied to everything from finance to healthcare, fueling renewed mainstream interest and momentum. Design for platform-based readiness.

Start with a single agent addressing a concrete pain point and expand iteratively. Treat data as a strategic asset, select your models methodically, and bake in transparent governance. That way, each new AI wave integrates seamlessly into your existing infrastructure—boosting agility without constant overhauls.

We list the best IT Automation 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

Europe has begun to actively test the waters of cloud sovereignty, with 72% of European businesses prioritizing data control when selecting technology vendors. However, despite the growing desire to protect data integrity and security within European borders, over 70% of European businesses use US hyperscalers from their cloud computing provider.

While Google is doubling down on its commitment to data sovereignty, there is a growing concern over hyperscalers' dominance over the European market, as it leaves critical infrastructure in the hands of dominant foreign providers.

As sweeping tariffs continue to escalate tensions between Europe and the US's big tech, many are questioning whether Google's commitment is enough to protect Europe’s data from the Big Three.

US influence on Europe’s tech ecosystem

US Policies, like the 2018 Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, give US hyperscalers massive influence in Europe. The act grants US authorities and federal agencies access to data stored by US cloud service providers, even when hosted in Europe. This raises concerns about whether European data stored with US-based providers can ever truly be sovereign, even if housed within European borders.

Another concern in Europe: being cut off from US services. If Europe were to suddenly lose access to US cloud services or face rising costs, businesses would experience immediate setbacks, from service disruptions to escalating operational expenses. These concerns, along with a push for more leadership, independence, and economic competitiveness, have led to Europe steadily building its own cloud ecosystem – fostering a network of regional providers and implementing policies that reinforce data independence.

The question has now become, do these changes signal a true tipping point for Europe? Or are they merely the first steps in a much longer transformation?

Who is driving the adoption of sovereignty?

Both the public and private sectors play pivotal roles in advancing cloud sovereignty across Europe. Governments have established regulatory frameworks to enhance standards and avoid fragmentation. However, policymaking is often slow and subject to political negotiation, making private sector initiatives crucial in accelerating the shift toward true sovereignty.

The private sector has emerged as a driving force behind the practical implementation of sovereignty ideals. According to Dominique Tessier, Head of Cybersecurity Focus Group at the European Champions Alliance (ECA), “the move to make sure the EU Cloud Certification Scheme will finally include an “upper security layer” is mainly driven by private European companies, as AIRBUS, EDF, Telecom Italia and others, whose efforts are gaining momentum”.

While companies like Microsoft have invested heavily in EU infrastructure to comply with local regulations, concerns remain about whether this represents true sovereignty or just a regulatory workaround. In contrast, European companies and partnerships, such as the joint venture between OVHcloud and Capgemini, are working to offer services independent of US control, aiming to create fully sovereign cloud solutions.

These initiatives reflect a growing acknowledgement of the strategic importance of cloud sovereignty. This is supported by Rahiel Nasir, Research Director, IDC Europe, who states that “interest in sovereignty has moved from governments and regulated sectors to all industry sectors, especially in Europe, and everywhere else where cloud is just beginning to pick up”. These efforts are becoming more widespread, indicating a collaborative push towards achieving European digital independence, but more needs to be done to make this achievable.

How can Europe achieve ‘true sovereignty?’

Achieving true cloud sovereignty requires more than just localized data storage, it demands complete independence from hyperscalers. To achieve this, Europe must go beyond compliance and foster a robust ecosystem of local providers that can match and work alongside hyperscalers.

While hyperscalers play a role in the broader cloud landscape, they should not be relied upon for sovereign data. According to Tessier, “the new US Administration has shown that it won’t hesitate to resort either to sudden price increases or even to stiffening delivery policy. It’s time to reduce our dependencies, not to consider that there is no alternative”.

For Nasir, the key is striking a balance. “In an ideal scenario, local providers and global providers should partner for sovereignty to work at scale”. Leveraging their capabilities where appropriate while ensuring critical data and workloads remain within truly sovereign infrastructure.

By shifting away from hyperscaler dependency and building a diverse, sovereign infrastructure, organizations can move beyond regulatory compliance and achieve operational independence within their own jurisdictions.

The path to sovereignty

While Europe is leading the way in advocating for cloud and digital sovereignty, achieving true independence requires a strategic balance. Reducing reliance on US hyperscalers while developing competitive local alternatives is crucial. This balance involves leveraging public and private sector initiatives to create an environment where local providers can thrive and compete on a global scale.

Ultimately, sovereignty is not just about regulatory compliance; it's about a strategic vision for independence. Empowering local providers and creating interconnected networks will allow Europe to set its own digital agenda and drive long-term economic and technological growth, helping to achieve “true” sovereignty.

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