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Have you Googled something recently only to be met with a cute little diamond logo above some magically-appearing words? Google's AI Overview combines Google Gemini's language models (which generate the responses) with Retrieval-Augmented Generation, which pulls the relevant information.

In theory, it's made an incredible product, Google's search engine, even easier and faster to use.

However, because the creation of these summaries is a two-step process, issues can arise when there is a disconnect between the retrieval and the language generation.

While the retrieved information might be accurate, the AI can make erroneous leaps and draw strange conclusions when generating the summary.

(Image credit: Google)

That’s led to some famous gaffs, such as when it became the laughing stock of the internet in mid-2024 for recommending glue as a way to make sure cheese wouldn't slide off your homemade pizza. And we loved the time it described running with scissors as "a cardio exercise that can improve your heart rate and require concentration and focus".

These prompted Liz Reid, Head of Google Search, to publish an article titled About Last Week, stating these examples "highlighted some specific areas that we needed to improve". More than that, she diplomatically blamed "nonsensical queries" and "satirical content".

She was at least partly right. Some of the problematic queries were purely highlighted in the interests of making AI look stupid. As you can see below, the query “How many rocks should I eat?” wasn't a common search before the introduction of AI Overviews, and it hasn't been since.

(Image credit: Google)

However, almost a year on from the pizza-glue fiasco, people are still tricking Google's AI Overviews into fabricating information or "hallucinating" – the euphemism for AI lies.

Many misleading queries seem to be ignored as of writing, but just last month it was reported by Engadget that the AI Overviews would make up explanations for pretend idioms like "you can't marry pizza" or "never rub a basset hound's laptop".

So, AI is often wrong when you intentionally trick it. Big deal. But, now that it's being used by billions and includes crowd-sourced medical advice, what happens when a genuine question causes it to hallucinate?

While AI works wonderfully if everyone who uses it examines where it sourced its information from, many people – if not most people – aren't going to do that.

And therein lies the key problem. As a writer, Overviews are already inherently a bit annoying because I want to read human-written content. But, even putting my pro-human bias aside, AI becomes seriously problematic if it's so easily untrustworthy. And it's become arguably downright dangerous now that it's basically ubiquitous when searching, and a certain portion of users are going to take its info at face value.

I mean, years of searching has trained us all to trust the results at the top of the page.

Wait... is that's true?

(Image credit: Future)

Like many people, I can sometimes struggle with change. I didn't like it when LeBron went to the Lakers and I stuck with an MP3 player over an iPod for way too long.

However, given it's now the first thing I see on Google most of the time, Google's AI Overviews are a little harder to ignore.

I’ve tried using it like Wikipedia – potentially unreliable, but good for reminding me of forgotten info or for learning about the basics of a topic that won't cause me any agita if it's not 100% accurate.

Yet, even on seemingly simple queries it can fail spectacularly. As an example, I was watching a movie the other week and this guy really looked like Lin-Manuel Miranda (creator of the musical Hamilton), so I Googled whether he had any brothers.

The AI overview informed me that "Yes, Lin-Manuel Miranda has two younger brothers named Sebastián and Francisco."

For a few minutes I thought I was a genius at recognising people… until a little bit of further research showed that Sebastián and Francisco are actually Miranda’s two children.

Wanting to give it the benefit of the doubt, I figured that it would have no issue listing quotes from Star Wars to help me think of a headline.

Fortunately, it gave me exactly what I needed. "Hello there!" and "It's a trap!", and it even quoted "No, I am your father" as opposed to the too-commonly-repeated "Luke, I am your father".

Along with these legitimate quotes, however, it claimed Anakin had said "If I go, I go with a bang" before his transformation into Darth Vader.

I was shocked at how it could be so wrong… and then I started second-guessing myself. I gaslit myself into thinking I must be mistaken. I was so unsure that I triple checked the quote's existence and shared it with the office – where it was quickly (and correctly) dismissed as another bout of AI lunacy.

This little piece of self-doubt, about something as silly as Star Wars scared me. What if I had no knowledge about a topic I was asking about?

This study by SE Ranking actually shows Google's AI Overviews avoids (or cautiously responds to) topics of finance, politics, health and law. This means Google knows that its AI isn't up to the task of more serious queries just yet.

But what happens when Google thinks it's improved to the point that it can?

It's the tech... but also how we use it

(Image credit: Google)

If everyone using Google could be trusted to double check the AI results, or click into the source links provided by the overview, its inaccuracies wouldn't be an issue.

But, as long as there is an easier option – a more frictionless path – people tend to take it.

Despite having more information at our fingertips than at any previous time in human history, in many countries our literacy and numeracy skills are declining. Case in point, a 2022 study found that just 48.5% of Americans report having read at least one book in the previous 12 months.

It's not the technology itself that's the issue. As is eloquently argued by Associate Professor Grant Blashki, how we use the technology (and indeed, how we’re steered towards using it) is where problems arise.

For example, an observational study by researchers at Canada’s McGill University found that regular use of GPS can result in worsened spatial memory – and an inability to navigate on your own. I can't be the only one that's used Google Maps to get somewhere and had no idea how to get back.

Neuroscience has clearly demonstrated that struggling is good for the brain. Cognitive Load Theory states that your brain needs to think about things to learn. It's hard to imagine struggling too much when you search a question, read the AI summary and then call it a day.

Make the choice to think

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

I'm not committing to never using GPS again, but given Google's AI Overviews are regularly untrustworthy, I would get rid of AI Overviews if I could. However, there's unfortunately no such method for now.

Even hacks like adding a cuss word to your query no longer work. (And while using the F-word still seems to work most of the time, it also makes for weirder and more, uh, ‘adult-oriented’ search results that you're probably not looking for.)

Of course, I'll still use Google – because it's Google. It's not going to reverse its AI ambitions anytime soon, and while I could wish for it to restore the option to opt-out of AI Overviews, maybe it's better the devil you know.

Right now, the only true defence against AI misinformation is to make a concerted effort not to use it. Let it take notes of your work meetings or think up some pick-up lines, but when it comes to using it as a source of information, I’ll be scrolling past it and seeking a quality human-authored (or at least checked) article from the top results – as I’ve done for nearly my entire existence.

I mentioned previously that one day these AI tools might genuinely become a reliable source of information. They might even be smart enough to take on politics. But today isn't that day.

In fact, as reported on May 5 by the New York Times, as Google and ChatGPT's AI tools become more powerful, they're also becoming increasingly unreliable – so I'm not sure I'll ever be trusting them to summarise any political candidate's policies.

When testing the hallucination rate of these 'reasoning systems', the highest recorded hallucination rate was a whopping 79%. Amr Awadalla, the chief executive of Vectara – an AI Agent and Assistant platform for enterprises – put it bluntly: “Despite our best efforts, they will always hallucinate."

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Nothing is officially making its own pair of over-the-ear wireless Bluetooth headphones. The company confirmed the news in an almost four-minute video where the London-based design team discussed their goals for the still-unnamed audio gear.

The news follows Nothing's announcement earlier this week that it will be partnering with British hi-fi institution KEF on new audio products, although there was no mention of this venture in the video.

While the details were sparse, we did learn about a handful of key elements that may set the Nothing over-ear headphones apart from competitors like Apple and Sony.

In fact, the video kicks off with the designers pondering what "XM6" means, possibly referring to the trio of characters in the rather unwieldy name of Sony's newest and, for the moment, industry-leading headphones, the Sony WH-1000XM6.

Mostly, though, the team focuses on the choices they're making for Nothing's first over-ear headphones.

Price

Price is a huge consideration. Calling out the $549 AirPods Max from Apple, which cost about as much as two last-gen Nothing phones, the team said it wants to produce cheaper headphones, ones that cost far less than AirPods Max.

As for how much less, well, one designer mentioned the price, but in that moment, his voice was muted and his mouth was covered with a little message saying that Nothing has to keep some secrets.

Of course Nothing has form in this area. We awarded its budget earbuds the Nothing Ear (a) a five-star review and consider them to be among the best earbuds you can buy, and they cost a mere $99 / £99 / AU$169.

Meanwhile, the Nothing Ear earbuds, now on their third generation, are slightly more expensive – but we still proclaimed them to be "punching well out of their price class."

Ease of use

The designers complain that with most headphones, the buttons all feel the same, and it is impossible to know if you're touching the volume, pause, or Bluetooth controls. Nothing will, it seems, do it differently, designing all buttons to be "completely distinct."

The hope is that there will be "no doubt about which control you're about to touch, [so] you don't make mistakes and we get out of the way of that music listening experience."

Make it special

Nothing's designers say they can do things with headphones that the big companies cannot, because the big tech companies "just can't take risks; they've got to think about this whole global program...and millions and millions of users."

Nothing, by contrast, contends it can just take an idea, build it, test it, and "put it out there." To be fair, that's certainly how it seems with Nothing's unusual and iconic smartphones.

Make the best audio

Nothing's already got a significant experience and a quite good track record in the audio space. Its wireless headphones currently sit near the top of our Best Wireless Earbuds of 2025.

As for how good these over-the-ear headphones sound right now, one Nothing designer said, "I'm already impressed. They're not finished, but you know, I think these might be some of the best sounding on the market."

Not just in their price range, either; Nothing believes these headphones will "punch above their weight."

Nothing's confidence goes even further, as the team muses that these headphones are as good as those you might pay twice as much for, and then adds that they're "better than AirPods Max, and that was always the goal."

A clue

One interesting takeaway is that while Nothing isn't sharing the price, they appear to note that these headphones are as good as ones costing twice as much, and then mention the $549 AirPods Max. Does that mean the Nothing Headphones might list for $275?

While no name was mentioned, we're willing to guess that "Ear" will be in the name and that the full name could be "Nothing Ear (Pros)".

That's all the detail we gleaned from Nothing's unusual announcement video, with the only other tidbit being that these headphones will ship this summer.

It's too early to say if they will truly beat AirPods Max or approach Sony's excellent audio quality. But considering Nothing's audio track record, this will surely be a launch to watch.

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• 12 have been charged with cryptocurrency theft
• The group is reportedly responsible for over $263 million worth of theft
• The organisation used social engineering tactics to steal the funds

The Department of Justice today has revealed that 12 people have been charged in a RICO case which involves the theft of over $263 million, as well as money laundering, home break-ins, and wire-fraud, the US attorney’s office has confirmed.

A mix of Americans and foreign nationals are accused of “participating in a cyber-enabled racketeering conspiracy throughout the United States and abroad that netted them more than $263 million.”

The group, who reportedly met on an online dating platform, had various roles in the organization, like database hackers, money launderers, and burglars who targeted hardware virtual currency wallets. The hackers would focus on websites and servers, obtaining cryptocurrency-related databases.

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Social engineering attacks

From there, the organizers and target identifiers ‘organized and collated information across the databases to determine the most valuable targets’. The group would cold-call victims and use social engineering tactics to convince them that their accounts had fallen victim to cyberattacks, and that they needed to recover or secure their accounts - encouraging them to hand over credentials.

“According to the indictment, members of the enterprise laundered stolen cryptocurrency proceeds by moving the funds through various mixers and exchanges using “peel chains,” pass-through wallets, and virtual private networks to mask their true identities,“ the Department of Justice confirmed.

In just the first three months of 2025, over $1.5 billion of crypto was lost to theft or scams, with an over 300% increase in money lost in Q1. The median loss per incident was $9,549,339, and just 0.4% of stolen funds were returned to victims, research from CertiK confirms.

Much of this was thanks to one large incident, with hackers sealing over $1 billion in one of the biggest crypto thefts ever, against cryptocurrency exchange platform Bybit - measuring up as the largest heist in crypto history.

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• ESET uncovers a major cyber-espionage campaign
• It was attributed to APT28, AKA Fancy Bear
• The campaign leveraged multiple n-day and zero-day flaws

For years now, Russian state-sponsored threat actors have been eavesdropping on email communications from governments across Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

A new report from cybersecurity researchers ESET has found that the crooks were abusing multiple zero-day and n-day vulnerabilities in webmail servers to steal the emails.

ESET named the campaign “RoundPress”, and says that it started in 2023. Since then, Russian attackers known as Fancy Bear (AKA APT28), were sending out phishing emails to victims in Greece, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Cameroon, and Ecuador.

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Government, military, and other targets

The emails would seem benign on the surface, discussing daily political events, but in the HTML body, they would carry a malicious piece of JavaScript code. It would exploit a cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw in the webmail browser page that the victim was using, and create invisible input fields where browsers and password managers would auto-fill login credentials.

Furthermore, the code would read the DOM, or send HTTP requests, collecting email messages, contacts, webmail settings, 2FA information, and more. All of the information would then be exfiltrated to a hardcoded C2 address.

Unlike traditional phishing messages, which require some action on the victim’s side, these attacks only needed the victim to open and view the email. Everything else was being done in the background.

The silver lining here is that the payload has no persistence mechanism, so it only runs when the victim opens the email. That being said, once is most likely enough since people rarely change their email passwords that often.

ESET identified multiple flaws being abused in this attack, including two XSS flaws in Roundcube, an XSS zero-day in MDaemon, an unknown XSS in Horde, and an XSS flaw in Zimbra.

Victims include government organizations, military organizations, defense companies, and critical infrastructure firms.

Via BleepingComputer

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• VW's CEO confirms a GTI version of the upcoming ID 2 electric model
• An entire family of GTI cars will arrive in the next decade
• An electrified Golf is also on the cards

Volkswagen’s CEO, Thomas Schäfer, has gone on record to state that the brand plans to propel its iconic GTI badge into the electric age with the launch of the ID 2 GTI.

Going all-in on the hot hatch proposals, Auto Car reports that VW also plans an all-electric version of the ninth-generation Golf, complete with a GTI-badged iteration, with a "whole group of GTI" models that will follow thereafter.

The first EV to get the performance treatment will be a range-topping version of the ID 2, which was showcased in the 2023 ID GTI concept car.

That design study bore all of the classic GTI hallmarks, including an iconic flat-bottomed steering wheel, a low ride height and aggressive body work, as well as the famous GTI badging.

Schäfer told Auto Car that his experience of an early prototype vehicle suggests the upcoming electric GTI model will be “a monster car”.

There is no set-in-stone date for the first GTI-badged EV, but the ID 2 is due to be launched early next year, which just so happens to be the 50th anniversary of the launch of the original Mk1 Golf GTI.

GTI needs to be hot but attainable

(Image credit: Volskwagen)

While speaking to Auto Car, CEO Thomas Schäfer said the main objective with electric GTI models is to make them feel obviously different from the standard car, which includes the handling, sound and ensuring they are exciting to drive.

So far, Hyundai has proven that this can be done with the formidable Ioniq 5N, but the sheer weight of technology required to make it enjoyable to throw around a race circuit also means it is phenomenally expensive.

The GTI badge has always stood for attainable performance, with the sort of price tag that means those with even a sniff of disposable income can think about owning one.

Although there has been no word on the technology that will underpin the upcoming family of GTI models, Schäfer said at the launch of the ID GTI Concept that the cars will remain “sporty, iconic, technologically progressive and accessible”, as well as being suitable for everyday driving.

So far, Volkswagen’s electric vehicles have been met with a lukewarm reaction, with early ID models proving bland, soulless and easily forgettable.

The introduction of GTI will hopefully bring some of that VW excitement to its all-electric range, while early looks at the upcoming ID 2 prove that the German marque is back on top form… and back to physical buttons.

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• Samsung has launched a new gaming monitor, the Odyssey OLED G6
• The monitor is the first ever 500Hz OLED option on the market
• It will be available in other regions later this year

Samsung's Odyssey lineup includes some of the best gaming monitors available on the market, many of which are OLEDs for immersive experiences – and it's just added another to the list.

As reported by VideoCardz, Samsung has launched the world's first 500Hz OLED gaming monitor; the Odyssey OLED G60SF, which boasts an incredibly high 500Hz refresh rate and a 27-inch display at the 2,560 x 1,440 resolution.

VideoCardz states that it will be priced at $1,488 (around £1,120 / AU$2,320). It's currently only available in some countries in Asia but is expected to roll out to other regions later this year.

The Odyssey OLED G60SD is the current model available but instead utilizes a 360Hz refresh rate. The new OLED G60SF pushes this up to 500Hz, while also offering a VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 display with peak of 1000 nits – a step up from the G60SD's 250 nits of brightness.

It's worth noting that Samsung recently announced that it plans to introduce cheaper OLED monitors, but that isn't the case with the new OLED G6. This is a monitor that should appeal to first-person shooter gamers, notably games like Counter-Strike – but aside from using tools like Nvidia’s Frame Generation, there are very few games that can reach frame rates up to 500fps (or frankly, games that don't need to) even with the best PC hardware available.

(Image credit: Samsung) I'll stick with normal refresh rates, thanks...

While there's no harm in providing a high 500Hz refresh rate, especially for browsing and games that are capable of reaching super high frame rates, the $1,488 price says otherwise. Having used a handful of monitors with different refresh rates over the years, I can assure you, you don't need a 500Hz monitor.

With my Alienware AW3423DWF OLED monitor, 165Hz is perfectly fine and is the sweet spot for high-end gaming; some might even argue that 144Hz or 120Hz is more than enough. That's because the difference between them isn't significant enough for you to notice – unless you jump to one of those directly from a 60Hz display.

The most impressive feature with the new Odyssey OLED G6 is in fact the VESA certification, as DisplayHDR True Black 500 and 1,000 nits of peak brightness will revitalize your gaming experience if you're upgrading from an LED display.

However, there are many cheaper options for OLEDs on the market that can do the same, but just without the absurdly high refresh rates. Call me crazy, but I don't see the value of a 500Hz refresh rate monitor for gaming...

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The VPN purge from Russian official app stores continues, with smaller providers becoming the new target after Apple and Google.

Between May 15 and 16, 2025, Samsung and Xiaomi both removed the AdGuard VPN application at the Roskomnadzor's demand. At least one more VPN provider, HideMyName VPN, has also been removed from the Huawei Store in Russia and China – a Russian VPN digital rights group, VPN Guild, confirmed to TechRadar.

"The removal of VPN apps from app stores marks a clear escalation in Russia’s crackdown on digital privacy tools," said VPN Guild Chair Alexey Kozliuk.

Not an isolated incident

A virtual private network (VPN) is a crucial tool for people in Russia, thanks to its IP-spoofing capabilities that allow bypassing of government-imposed geo-restrictions, as well as strong encryption to help fight back against online surveillance.  (Image credit: Getty Images)

The recent events, Kozliuk explains, aren't isolated incidents, but part of a broader, ongoing campaign to block Russian citizens' access to uncensored information and control internet use.

In October 2023, for example, HideMyName filed the first-ever lawsuit against the Kremlin's infamous censorship body regulator Roskomnadzor. In January 2024, authorities deemed the VPN provider to be a "foreign agent."

In March 2024, the government then passed a new law to criminalize the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions. This is likely the legal basis upon which the Russian censor body began issuing these removal demands to tech firms.

From July 2024 onwards, Apple has removed at least 60 VPN apps, including AdGuard VPN, a popular Russian service, and Amnezia VPN, alongside some of the best VPN services on the market. This brought the total toll to almost 100 VPN apps unavailable in Russia's App Store.

While Google seems mostly resistant to these demands so far, recent data shows that at least 53 VPNs are also currently unavailable in the Google Play Store in Russia.

Now, authorities' targets have also expanded towards smaller app store providers.

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"We’re seeing a coordinated squeeze across platforms, limiting users’ ability to bypass restrictions," said Kozliuk. "What’s especially concerning is the growing role of global tech companies in enforcing local censorship, whether under direct state pressure or as preemptive compliance."

GreatFire’s Campaign and Advocacy Director, Benjamin Ismail, also shared the same concerns. Through the organization's project AppCensorship, Ismail and the team have been busy monitoring a staggering increase in these VPN removals across both Apple and Google's official app stores.

While it's the first time Ismail has heard of such an incident involving Samsung's Galaxy App Store, he told TechRadar that a way smaller provider (F-Droid) was also hit by a similar request in 2024.

According to Ismail, this may mean that Roskomnadzor has understood that it can try its luck to put pressure on tech vendors. "Smaller providers may struggle more to resist these demands as the prospect of becoming fully unavailable in Russia might be an issue for these platforms," he added.

VPNs will remain a critical line of defense for digital freedom

Alexey Kozliuk, VPN Guild Chair

This is exactly why experts have long argued that Big Tech giants, which have the means and resources, should uphold their users' human rights and challenge the Kremlin's censorship requests.

Commenting on this point, Kozliuk from the VPN Guild said: "This underscores the urgent need to give users more control and make them less reliant on centralized platforms and app ecosystems, as well as the need for stronger international advocacy to hold tech platforms accountable.

"As political tensions rise, especially around elections or protests, these crackdowns will likely intensify – and VPNs will remain a critical line of defense for digital freedom."

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• Google patched a new Chrome bug recently
• Now, CISA added that vulnerability to KEV, signaling abuse in the wild
• Federal agencies have three weeks to update Chrome

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added a new Chrome bug to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, signalling abuse in the wild, and giving Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies a deadline to patch things up.

The flaw is tracked as CVE-2025-4664. It was recently discovered by security researchers Solidlab, and is described as an “insufficient policy enforcement in Loader in Google Chrome”. On NVD, it was explained that the bug allowed remote threat actors to leak cross-origin data via a crafted HTML page.

"Query parameters can contain sensitive data - for example, in OAuth flows, this might lead to an Account Takeover. Developers rarely consider the possibility of stealing query parameters via an image from a 3rd-party resource,” researcher Vsevolod Kokorin, who was attributed with discovering the bug, explained.

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Time to patch

The flaw was first uncovered on May 5, with Google coming back with a patch on May 14. The browser giant did not discuss if the flaw was being exploited in real-life attacks, but it did state that it had a public exploit (which basically means the same thing).

Now, with CISA adding the bug to KEV, FCEB agencies have until June 5 to patch their Chrome instances or stop using the browser altogether. The first clean versions are 136.0.7103.113 for Windows/Linux and 136.0.7103.114 for macOS. In many cases, Chrome would deploy the update automatically, so just double-check which version you’re running.

"These types of vulnerabilities are frequent attack vectors for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risks to the federal enterprise," CISA warned.

Indeed, the web browser is one of the most frequently targeted programs, since it handles untrusted data from countless sources around the web. Cybercriminals are always looking for vulnerabilities in browser code, plugins, or poorly secured websites, in an attempt to grab login credentials, or other ways to compromise the wider network.

Via BleepingComputer

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Want to know when episode 6 of The Last of Us season 2 will be released? I've got you covered.

Below, I'll tell you when the hugely successful HBO TV Original's next entry, which is also available on Max in numerous countries, including the US, will make its worldwide debut. I'll also explain where you can watch it in numerous nations, plus run you through the full episodic release schedule for The Last of Us' sophomore season.

Without further ado, then, here's when the Bella Ramsey-starring post-apocalyptic drama's latest chapter will air where you live.

What time can I watch The Last of Us season 2 episode 6?

You can learn more about the release date and launch time for The Last of Us TV show's next installment for your country via the list below, with dates and times listed in descending order.

If your nation hasn't been included, you can use one of the listed release times to work out when it'll be available to stream in your region of the world.

• US – Sunday, May 18 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Sunday, May 18 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Brazil – Sunday, May 18 at 10pm BRT
• UK – Monday, May 19 at 2am BST
• India – Monday, May 19 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Monday, May 19 at 9am SGT
• Japan – Monday, May 19 at 10am JST
• Australia – Monday, May 19 at 11am AEST
• New Zealand – Monday, May 19 at 1pm NZST

Where can I stream The Last of Us season 2's penultimate episode?

A post shared by The Last of Us (@thelastofus)

A photo posted by on

Again, if you're unsure where you can catch episode 6 of one of the best Max shows' second season, check out the list below.

• US – HBO and Max
• UK – Sky and Now TV
• Australia – Max and Foxtel
• Canada – Crave
• Brazil – Max
• India – JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar
• Singapore – Max
• Japan – U-Next and Max
• New Zealand – Neon

The Last of Us season 2 full episode release schedule

Season 2 episode 6 will fill in the five-year gap between last season's finale and this season's premiere (Image credit: Liane Hentscher/HBO)

As you'll have gathered from this article's introduction, there's only one more episode left of HBO's TV adaptation after this one.

Here's when chapter 7 will be available to stream (NB: those of you who live outside of the US, UK, and Australia can work out when it'll air in your nation using the dates below):

• Episode 1 – out now
• Episode 2 – out now
• Episode 3 – out now
• Episode 4 – out now
• Episode 5 – out now
• Episode 6 – May 18 (US); May 19 (UK and Australia)
• Episode 7 – May 25 (US); May 26 (UK and Australia)

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• However, they've given fans renewed hope over his performance as the film's Big Bad

Ever since Robert Downey Jr took to the stage at Comic-Con 2024 to reveal he'd be playing Doctor Doom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it's safe to say fans have been divided into two camps.

Indeed, Marvel optimists believe the returning MCU superstar, who previously played Tony Stark and Iron Man between 2008 and 2019, is a great fit for the Multiverse Saga's new Big Bad. However, others hold the opinion that his return is a sign of the comic titan's desperation amid the mixed reception to its recent film and TV releases.

It seems, though, that the number of those who were seated firmly in the naysayers' camp is slowly dwindling. That's been particularly noticeable over the past few days, too, especially in light of new behind-the-scenes images that Downey Jr has posted from the Avengers: Doomsday set.

It should be noted that there are no story spoilers for Doomsday from this point onwards. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to say that, if you don't want to know a single thing about the highly anticipated Marvel Phase 6 film, you're best turning back now.

A post shared by Robert Downey Jr. (@robertdowneyjr)

A photo posted by on

The first image, which was uploaded to Downey Jr's Instagram account on May 14, showed the A-lister reading fellow MCU actor Jeremy Renner's recently-released autobiography.

Ordinarily, you'd think that's nothing worth reporting on. But if you look closer at said photograph, you'll notice two things.

For one, Downey Jr is wearing a muscle suit. This implies his take on one of The Fantastic Four's most notorious foes will be as physically imposing as he is mentally, and suggests he'll be able to go toe-to-toe with many of the Marvel heroes who were included as part of Doomsday's initial 27-strong cast.

The other, arguably more important detail is the black dots on Downey Jr's face. This indicates that, with a bit of CGI trickery, Marvel will give Downey Jr's Doctor Victor von Doom his unmistakable scarred face, which he usually hides behind his iconic metal-based mask.

Now, this doesn't confirm that Downey Jr won't show his face as Doom at some point in one of 2026's new movies. My reading of the situation, though, is that his disfigured face will be covered by said mask for a fair amount of this movie's runtime. I believe it'll only be revealed if his mask is knocked off during a fight, or if Doom wants his adversaries to take a look at the permanent physical damage he's endured in his potential quest to halt (or cause, we don't know which yet) the Multiverse's destruction.

A post shared by Robert Downey Jr. (@robertdowneyjr)

A photo posted by on

The other image, which appeared online yesterday (May 16), doesn't contain any teases that might spark new fan theories about this iteration of Doom. Nonetheless, it's intriguing to see that Downey Jr is reading Marvel comics that star Doom, especially ones written by Jonathan Hickman.

For the uninitiated: Hickman is the scribe behind the 2015 edition of Marvel's 'Secret Wars' comic series. Joe and Anthony Russo, who returned to the MCU alongside Downey Jr to direct the next two Avengers films, previously told me that Hickman's run, plus the original 'Secret Wars' storyline, have inspired the plot of Doomsday and its sequel, aka the 2027 MCU flick Avengers: Secret Wars.

Considering both comic runs will influence this movie duo, it's no great surprise to see Downey Jr reading Marvel literary works penned by Hickman, especially those that involve Doom. Downey Jr is someone who appears to conduct plenty of research for whatever role he's playing, but it's still pleasing to see that he'll tackle this role with the same gusto and seriousness as any other.

Such preparation hasn't gone unnoticed, either. As I alluded to at the beginning of this article, fans have unsurprisingly picked up on the work that Downey Jr is putting into this role, and many are becoming increasingly impressed. Indeed, a quick scan of threads on the Marvel Studios and Marvel Studios Spoilers Reddit pages confirms as much.

Of course, as the saying goes, the proof will be in the pudding as to whether Downey Jr's performance is as good as fans expect. I'm still concerned that his Doom will be revealed as a multiversal Stark variant, which would be the wrong approach to take for such an iconic Marvel supervillain. That said, I have renewed hope that Downey Jr will be a good, if not great, Doom, and these images definitely prove why he likely will be.

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The Apple Vision Pro remains the apex mixed-reality experience – and also the most unattainable for most people.

You won't hear Apple directly admit that the powerful headset is, at $3,499, too expensive. A couple of years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the Vision Pro "a great value". A year later, though, he admitted that the pricey headset is not aimed at "the masses."

We now have some evidence that Cook's comment was on the, well, money.

During a recent Price is Right episode, contestants were presented with the Vision Pro and asked to guess the price. For those unfamiliar with the premise of the game show, the idea is to guess a price that is as close to the actual price as possible. Whoever gets nearest moves on to the next round of the game.

(Image credit: Future)

In the widely shared clip, the Vision Pro headset is lowered from the rafters to a position just in front of the contestants as the show's announcer briefly describes the headset's capabilities.

After a moment's consideration, the four players guessed prices ranging from $750 to $1,250. That latter price won – but saying that the contestant who guessed that amount got close is like saying California is close to New York because they're part of the same land mass.

What we learned is that consumers are not only unfamiliar with Vision Pro – they have no idea why anyone would pay $3,500 to own one. The price, according to those contestants, is wrong.

As much as I love the Vision Pro experience, I've known this for a while, but it wasn't until I saw some news today that I believed Apple understood this and that it is, perhaps, trying to do something about it.

The price gives us Vertigo

The news came from a seemingly unlikely source: U2 front man Bono, whose new documentary, Bono: Stories of Surrender, is coming to Apple TV Plus. The rock star has a long-time friendly relationship with Apple; more than a decade ago, Apple dropped an entire new U2 album on iTunes, much to the chagrin of those who were not U2 fans.

Apple, though, is clearly not done putting U2 content inside Apple products. An immersive version of Stories of Surrender is also coming to the Vision Pro, putting you on stage with the musician.

I've used the Vision Pro, and I've tried these immersive experiences often enough to tell you that they're extraordinary to the point of almost being uncomfortable; an artist or athlete is doing their thing, and it feels like you're invading their space.

Bono details in the interview with Deadline the difficulties of filming in the immersive format, especially getting the lighting right. Then, in answer to a question about how the Vision Pro further personalized the story, Bono shared something I'm not sure Apple would want him to share:

It made it really playful. I know Apple are dying to make the Vision Pro more affordable and more democratic, but they’re committed to innovation, they’re committed to experimenting. They know not everyone can afford this, but they’re still going for it, believing that some way down the line, it’ll make financial sense for them. But the fact that they may have to wait a while is not putting them off.

At least Apple is commited

"More affordable and democratic". That's quite a statement, and I guess it does align with Cook's comments about the headset still not being for the masses. However, most Vision Pro rumors point to Apple launching a different, cheaper version of Vision Pro (Vision Lite) and not necessarily making the existing headset cheaper.

Dropping the price of the existing Vision Pro is a strategy I suggested last year: "It costs a lot to build the Vision Pro (one estimate puts it at over $1,540) [...] [Apple] should simply cut the price by more than half and take the hit."

My point was that Apple is making more and more services revenue, and that the Vision Pro is just another platform on which it can deliver all that content and all those features (but at a very high level). Why not put it in more hands?

I'm not sure that Bono is fully in touch with current economic realities, when he suggests that, somehow, some way, people will eventually be able to afford the Vision Pro or that, at least, it'll make "financial sense."

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

I don't see that happening. At $3,500, the Vision Pro costs as much as a modest vacation, a powerful gaming computer, or luxury goods like a watch or designer bag. These are more than considered purchases, and the latter two are for the well-off or even rich.

Apple's products may generally be more expensive than the competition, but they do not sell only to the elite. Take a look around: virtually everyone has an iPhone. If the iPhone started at $3,000, that would not be the case.

I always encourage people to visit an Apple Store and experience the Vision Pro for themselves. They'll quickly see what all the fuss is about, but that experience also makes the price that much more painful. You may want to take the Vision Pro home, but we're still not living in a mixed-reality democracy, at least not yet.

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• Nova Scotia Power confirmed suffering a cyberattack in March 2025
• The attackers stole sensitive customer data, including names, SSNs and - in some cases - banking information
• The customers are being offered free identity theft monitoring

Nova Scotia Power, a major electricity provider in the Canadian province, suffered a cyberattack in which it lost sensitive customer information. The company confirmed the news in an announcement published on its website.

The original announcement, published in late April 2025, said the attack did not disrupt the company's physical operations, or its ability to serve its customers, but added that the team was working on bringing parts of its IT system back online.

A subsequent update stated that the attack occurred on March 19, 2025, and that the miscreants stole people’s names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing and service addresses, Nova Scotia Power program participation information, dates of birth, and customer account history (such as power consumption, service requests, customer payment, billing, and credit history, and customer correspondence), driver’s license numbers, and Social Insurance Numbers.

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No evidence of abuse

“For some of our customers, bank account numbers (for pre-authorized payment) may also have been impacted, if this information was provided by these customers.”

While all of the stolen data is valuable to criminals and can be used in a wide range of ways, from identity theft to phishing, this last part - the loss of bank account numbers - is particularly worrisome, as it allows crooks to mount wire fraud, as well.

Nova Scotia Power stressed that there is no evidence the data was abused in the wild and added that it is offering impacted individuals a two-year subscription to a “comprehensive credit monitoring service” at no cost.

People who are affected by the breach are currently being notified, the company added, without disclosing exactly how many people that is. At press time, no threat actors claimed responsibility for the attack.

Users are advised to remain vigilant and particularly careful when receiving unsolicited email messages, or phone calls, from people claiming to be from Nova Scotia Power.

Via BleepingComputer

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• You can now speak with Darth Vader in Fortnite
• Disney and Epic Games announced the revival of Darth Vader's iconic voice thanks to the power of AI
• James Earl Jones died in 2024, but his voice lives on

Disney and Epic Games have confirmed Darth Vader's iconic voice will be coming to Fortnite, thanks to the power of AI.

Darth Vader, one of Star Wars' most famous characters, was voiced by actor James Earl Jones, who died last year at the age of 93. Now, starting today, fans of a galaxy far, far away will be able to hear his voice once more... in Fortnite.

In a blog post, Epic Games confirmed Jones' AI voice will appear in Fortnite and that the company is "honored to feature the voice of the late Mr. Jones, and we thank his estate for the opportunity to make this happen for players."

There's also a quote from the actor's family: "James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character."

The new Darth Vader dialogue was created by Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model, and the audio by ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5 model. Fortnite players will be able to speak to Darth Vader in-game and recruit the Star Wars villain to help win a Victory Royale.

Darth Vader returns

There's been an ongoing debate surrounding the use of AI to bring a deceased actor's likeness to life. Jones, who's not only famous for his role as Darth Vader, but also as Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King, signed over rights to his archival voice, collaborating with the Ukrainian company, Respeecher.

You may have heard of Respeecher before, as the company's software was used to improve Hungarian dialect in Oscar-nominated The Brutalist earlier this year.

This collaboration will come under scrutiny, as the debate of whether or not we should keep actors' likenesses alive following their passing rages on. That said, Disney and Epic Games, alongside Jones' family, are clear that they've recreated his voice in the most tasteful way possible.

In the collaboration announcement, Disney and Epic said, "Epic Games and Disney have worked together to thoughtfully develop this innovative feature with a strong focus on transparency, consent, and safety — ensuring that creators, Disney IP, and players are protected in interactive experiences."

So, whether you like it or not, you can chat with Darth Vader in Fortnite this weekend, although you'll need to be over 13 as your data is sent to Gemini to generate a response.

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• The FBI published a new announcement, warning about ongoing attacks
• In the attacks, the crooks are impersonating senior US officials on both federal and state level
• In many cases, the attackers are sending cloned voice messages

Cybercriminals are impersonating senior US officials in highly sophisticated smishing and vishing attacks that leverage state-of-the-art technology such as deepfake and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

This is according to the FBI, which warned US citizens about an ongoing phishing campaign, in a new public service announcement published May 15.

The announcement states that threat actors are creating credible audio and text messages, in many cases impersonating current and former senior US federal and state government officials, or their contacts, the FBI said. “If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic,” the warning reads.

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Smishing is short for SMS phishing, while vishing is short for voice phishing. Both are a variant of the traditional phishing attack in which threat actors throw a bait and “phish” for sensitive data. Victims are often tricked into sharing passwords, credit card information, or other valuable information, when tricksters promise them huge discounts on popular goods, or threaten them with closing down their social accounts.

In almost all cases, phishing messages leverage people’s emotions and force the victims to act quickly and without second thought.

The FBI did not discuss the contents of the messages being sent out, but it did say that the attackers are trying to move people to a secondary messaging platform, where distributing malware would be easier. It also gave a few recommendations on how to be safe, including verifying people’s identities and listening to the voice messages carefully for inconsistencies in tone and word choice.

Phishing has been around since the dawn of the internet, basically, but with the proliferation of generative artificial intelligence and deepfakes, the problem has gotten even worse. One of the most abused individuals is Elon Musk, whose face is constantly being plastered on ads for fake crypto exchanges and giveaways.

Via The Register

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As AI grows, tough questions about data privacy are hitting the mainstream.

Here in the UK, the government’s Data (Use and Access) Bill has just entered its second reading in the House of Commons. At the same time, the government is navigating a legal challenge from Apple, which refuses to allow it to access a customer’s private data if required. Concerns around privacy, and the rules that guarantee it, are being examined at the very top.

The details are complex, but for most people it boils down to one simple question: “Is my data the cost of progress?”

From an enterprise perspective, we know that the technology used to house, transmit, and safeguard data isn’t necessarily built to prioritize privacy. Insufficient security, siloed data, and the pains of outdated infrastructure can all leave an organization exposed — in other words, those consumer concerns can be well founded.

Fixing this starts with how we collect and move data. If we can embed privacy straight into the data collection process, assessing and directing data in real time, we can minimize risk to both organization and consumer.

Tackling patchwork infrastructure

One of the reasons that fear around data privacy have risen in recent times is that it’s extremely difficult to keep up with new regulations – particularly given how quickly AI is evolving as a technology.

New and important legislation is constantly being introduced, with the UK’s Data Bill just one of many: the EU’s AI Act, China’s Deep Synthesis Provisions, and so on. But such laws are attempting to regulate technology as it develops, and can’t necessarily pre-empt the next big application of AI. The rule of law can’t always keep up with the blistering pace of change, often focusing on compliance at the expense of proactive security measures.

As a result, many organizations will continue to depend on a unique mix of hardware and infrastructure. The business can function, but it can’t robustly enforce a consistent standard of cybersecurity and data privacy.

Take, for example, the classic problem of data fragmentation. Spreading private data across multiple systems — each with their own capabilities, purposes, and cybersecurity measures — makes it incredibly difficult to standardize the use of data. It might be duplicated, accessible in some systems and not others, or simply absent from where you’d expect it.

The chinks in this armor are exacerbated by human intervention. Employees might have differing levels of access across different systems, retain permissions that they’re no longer supposed to, or not understand how to protect the data they’re accessing once they’ve used it. All of these things can cause a serious breach.

While regulations like GDPR and HIPAA are designed to mitigate these risks, insisting on the immediate execution of data deletion requests, the infrastructure that houses this data might not be capable of meeting these demands. Legacy technology both decelerates audits and response times and fails to paint a comprehensive picture of exactly what data needs to be deleted.

Introducing data streaming

All of these challenges make it clear that privacy can’t be an afterthought. If you don’t prioritize it at the points where data enters your ecosystem, it’s incredibly difficult to work back to a point of robust compliance.

This is where real-time data streaming excels. In processing data as it arrives, data streaming prevents the creation of vast datasets that demand slow, cumbersome batch processing en-masse. Being able to contextualize data and the protection it needs even as that data is in motion frontloads that security and organizational work, literally point by point.

Data streaming platforms (DSP) take this a step further. As a platform purpose-built to coordinate the streaming of data across a business, they offer a single point of access that integrates advanced security capabilities by design.

End-to-end encryption, for example, offers an additional layer of protection while the data is in transmission. Similarly, tokenisation can replace business-critical information with identifiers that make transcription impossible. Another option is differential privacy – the introduction of mathematical noise to datasets, protecting individual identities without stopping a business benefitting from analyzing that data.

All of these elements offer protection against the myriad of potential cybersecurity concerns across an organization — from accidental access to bad actors.

Security and the DSP

Research suggests that a vast majority of UK tech leaders — 91% — believe that data streaming improves cybersecurity and digital risk management.

Much of that value comes from the DSP acting as the organization's central nervous system, managing systems to keep everything in sync, and guaranteeing access to real-time data where it’s needed. Privacy and security are inherently baked into the system, from the point of entry to the point of use.

As AI continues to establish itself as a norm, this will only become more important. The business world is speeding up – and the technology we use to protect it has to accelerate, too.

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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is here. After months of waiting, we’ve finally had our first look at the long-awaited thin and light addition to this year’s Galaxy S25 lineup.

While our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review has a full rundown of the phone’s specs, pricing, and availability, I want to take a second to recognize what I think is the phone’s best feature – its design.

To cut to the chase, I think the Galaxy S25 Edge is an extremely good-looking device – in fact, I think it’s the best-looking smartphone of 2025 so far.

That might come as a surprise to some, given that the Galaxy S25 Edge is actually pretty plain-looking. It’s impressively thin at just 5.8mm, but construction-wise, two slabs of glass, titanium rails, and a dual-camera island on the top-left corner of the rear panel are pretty much all you get.

However, I think this simplicity is one of the phone’s greatest strengths. While other simple-looking phones like the iPhone 16e and Google Pixel 9a have been released this year, none have merged form and purpose quite as elegantly as the Galaxy S25 Edge.

The Titanium Silver color option was first teased at the January 2025 Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event (Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff)

Here on TechRadar’s phones desk, we’ve gone back and forth about the state of phone design in 2025, running polls, penning features, and wondering whether the trend of minimalism will prevail.

After all, it’s been a few years now since the convergence of flagship phone design around simple, flat designs – I’m sure some folks would struggle to tell the difference between the Galaxy S25 and Sony Xperia 1 VI, for instance, and the recently launched Google Pixel 9a is maybe the simplest-looking handset we’ve ever seen.

The latest rumors suggest that this trend could be about to change. The iPhone 17 series has been heavily tipped to bring radical design changes to the table, and where Apple goes, the phone industry typically follows.

In a way, these latest rumors make me even happier to see that Samsung has stuck to its guns with the Galaxy S25 Edge.

The phone’s central concept – and what people will look for when they first pick one up – is its thinness, and by following its own ultra-minimal design language, Samsung has shown confidence that this engineering prowess is enough to make the phone stand out.

As our US Phones Editor Philip Berne puts it, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge “isn’t a phone you should experience on paper”. Having gone hands-on with the device myself, I agree that there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about it – I actually found it quite enthralling to hold for the first time, and I think users will appreciate the lack of visual distractions on a device that’s built around ergonomics.

After the wobbly launch of One UI 7 and several months of radio silence on the Galaxy S25 Edge before its launch on May 13, it’s genuinely encouraging to see Samsung show confidence and competence in launching what really amounts to quite a simple product.

You say boring? I say elegant (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

But even beyond the context of Samsung's year so far and the wider phone industry, I’m a straight-up fan of the way this phone looks.

In particular, the Titanium Silver color option is an absolute knockout, and had me thinking the phone was an all-metal construction during my first encounter. It’s shiny, industrial, and oh-so-stylish.

As for the other colors, I appreciate the way the understated Titanium Jetblack option complements the phone's minimal dimensions, and the remaining Titanium Icyblue color was already my favorite of the base Galaxy S25 options, so I’m happy to see it make the jump.

Ultimately, this is all a matter of personal opinion – we take design into account in our lists of the best phones and best Samsung phones, but aesthetics are certainly more subjective than something like comfort or durability.

With that, I want to know what you think – let us know what you make of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge’s design in the comments below.

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• America could soon tackle diverted and misused advanced chips with geotracking
• The proposed legislation could enforce tracking within 6 months
• Manufacturers would also have to report back to the US

New proposed legislation in Congress could see the US integrate geotracking capabilities within high-end GPUs, marking the introduction of more dynamic ways to monitor exports rather than just blanket bans.

Bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Chip Security Act to prevent high-end GPUs and AI chips from reaching countries of concern, such as China.

Currently in review, if passed, exporters would need to comply with new tracking rules while also reporting violations, such as disabled tracking, back to the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

US could introduce advanced chip tracking measures

"Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall require any covered integrated circuit product to be outfitted with chip security mechanisms that implement location verification, using techniques that are feasible and appropriate on such date of enactment, before it is exported, reexported, or in-country transferred to or in a foreign country," the bill reads.

Lawmakers cite national security risks and concerns over smuggling networks and shell companies exporting US chips to China illegitimately as key drivers for the tracking proposals.

"I know that we have the technical tools to prevent powerful AI technology from getting into the wrong hands. With advanced AI chips being smuggled into China and posing a national security risk, Congress must act," Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) added.

Location sharing should be enabled and supported before chips are exported if the bill gets passed, with the Secretary of Commerce to be made responsible for assessing second-level security mechanisms to prevent the misuse or diversion of chips covered under the proposed rules.

The bill follows the Trump administration's removal of Biden-era chip export diffusion rules, with the White House pledging renewed export restrictions that don't negatively impact allies.

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• The Audio-Technica AT-LPA2 is high-density acrylic for reduced resonance
• Power housed in a breakout box to eliminate interference (and to stop it ruining the looks)
• $2,000 / £1,699 / €1,999 (about AU$3,488)

If you're looking for a great gift for The Invisible Man, Audio-Technica has just the thing: its new flagship turntable is (almost) completely transparent.

The new Audio-Technica AT-LPA2 is made from high-density transparent acrylic, and has a clear acrylic platter too. The internals such as the power supply unit are housed separately, and the result is a turntable that looks so good it's almost a shame to cover it up with a record.

The acrylic isn't just there to look good, though. Audio-Technica says it provides "exceptional" resonance control, leading to sound that's as clear as its plinth and platter.

Audio-Technica AT-LPA2: key features and pricing

Recommended listening: I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash; How To Disappear Completely by Radiohead, Heart of Glass by Blondie… (Image credit: Audio-Technica)

The AT-LPA2 is a belt-drive turntable with an optical sensor immediately below the spindle to monitor and correct the platter rotation. Like most current turntables it's a two-speed model; you won't be able to play 78s on it if you're a collector of really old records.

The turntable has a newly designed carbon-fiber tonearm that features adjustable VTA, azimuth adjustment, a finely adjustable string-type anti-skate mechanism, and interchangeable counterweights (110g and 130g) for wide cartridge compatibility.

The cartridge is Audio-Technica's AT-OC9XEN dual moving coil, which features a nude elliptical stylus and high-purity PCOCC coils that Audio-Technica says delivers low distortion and excellent clarity.

The Audio-Technica AT-LPA2 is available now with an RRP of $2,000 / £1,699 / €1,999 (about AU$3,488).

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We’re living through a moment of massive, accelerating problems. Social, political, and economic upheaval is reshaping how we live, how we think, and how we spend. These issues are more interconnected than we realize, and we are only scratching the surface of how deeply intertwined these problems are.

We can’t keep solving the surface. We have to go deeper

There is an opportunity to not just look at the problem, but to go deeper into the causation and correlation of these issues as one system. From the chemicals in our water to the food on our plates and the air we breathe, what once seemed like separate issues are revealing themselves as symptoms of something bigger. Infertility. Obesity. Chronic disease. Fragile supply chains. Food insecurity. These aren’t isolated problems. They’re outcomes of larger, systemic breakdowns.

Too often, we treat symptoms while ignoring the root. The true drivers such as chemical exposure, over-processed supply chains, degraded ecosystems and outdated infrastructure remain largely absent from mainstream conversations. But they’re driving the cascade of issues we face today.

Systems issue

And we’ve barely begun to unpack the scale. Consider these stats and the downstream consequences:

- More than half of all couples could be infertile in 20-30 years because of the chemicals in our environment that we’re coming into contact with daily.

- 75% of the world’s food comes from just 12 plants and 5 animals.

- 90% of crop varieties have disappeared as 70% of U.S. farmland has been converted to monocropping.

- Over 45% of U.S. tap water contains at least one PFAS chemical, linked to cancer, infertility, and immune disruption.

- Microplastics have been found in human blood, placentas, and across soil systems.

- Since 1970, wild animal populations have dropped by more than 70%, today, just 4% of land mammals are wild.

- Semiconductor manufacturing, central to the AI boom, is a growing source of toxic chemical waste.

More than half of all couples could face infertility within the next 20-30 years due to environmental toxins. These trends predict larger problems from food scarcity, lack of biodiversity, increased cancer rates, inefficient supply chains, and unsustainable energy sources.

This isn’t just a climate or healthcare issue. It’s a systems issue, and it’s moving faster than most institutions can keep up.

Cultural shifts driving change

Major transitions are happening, based on much more than “climate.” For instance, people are realizing the real health consequences of materials they use, air they breathe in, or water they drink.

They are changing their behavior as a result - everything from filtering water, to choosing less processed food, demanding supply chain transparency, choosing non toxic products, changing to electric vehicles, installing electric or solar in households to lower household costs or prevent house fires, rethinking building materials and construction, buying used products over new, taking proactive measures on wildfire preventive, and replacing disease school businesses to lower asthma rates in children.

Driving this change are factors beyond sustainability, like health, cost-efficiency, and time-efficiency. As a result, there’s pressure to modernize infrastructure that was never built for this era, including construction, manufacturing, CPG, food, agriculture and energy infrastructure.

It’s not about “climate” alone, it’s about upgrading trillion dollar infrastructure to meet the needs of people today. In fact, we think the word climate needs a full rebrand. Sustainability is a value prop to an overall systems problem.

We need systems-level thinking

We’re not just managing one crisis. We’re standing on the threshold of something bigger, a chance to rethink how we live, work, and care for each other. There are multiple ways to change the trajectory of these problems. For instance, government policy could make change, consumers can shift behaviors and products they purchase (as we see happening), and companies can choose different solutions because they are frankly better for business.

The acceleration of innovation and technology gives us an opportunity to solve some of these problems. Entrepreneurs must be bold and ambitious to solve these massive problems, and investors should take bolder bets on transformative long-term technology versus incremental innovation.

While the problems are complex and interconnected more than we realize, it starts with us and the power is in our hands to drive real change. These technologies can be real businesses, scalable companies that solve massive problems in trillion dollar industries. They will impact both people and the planet.

We need to commercialize more of this breakthrough technology. We need to tell better stories around it where it’s less abstract, and why it matters. We need to show and prove that these businesses are not just better for the planet, but better, cheaper, healthier, more sustainable. Because in the end, this isn’t just about climate or chemicals or cancer alone. It’s about how we live, work, and operate. It is about how humanity flourishes for the long-term. It’s about how we have more cost-efficiency, less dependency, better outcomes, more reliability, more abundance.

Technology and science can help.

The change won’t be easy, but it’s already happening. If we’re bold enough to focus on root causes, not just symptoms, we can create a world that doesn’t just work better for everyone—it’s also more sustainable.

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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

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 Friday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Friday, May 16 (game #1208).

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 #1209) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* 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 #1209) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

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

Quordle today (game #1209) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do 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 #1209 - 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 #1209) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• R

• U

• G

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

Quordle today (game #1209) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1209, are…

• STRIP
• RANGE
• UNITE
• GEESE

Yesterday it was SHEEP and today it was GEESE, so I’m fully expecting more animal plurals tomorrow – ZEBRA, maybe.

I had an easy start with all the letters for RANGE and the next three letters opened up nicely, with minimal thinking required.

I experienced some deja-vu with UNITE, as we had that word recently and I guessed UNTIE instead. The aforementioned GEESE was the only word that took some brain noodling, as I tried to think of words that started with G and ended SE, but eventually realized there was only one possibility.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1209) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1209, are…

• THROB
• MELON
• ALOUD
• CROWN

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1208, Friday, 16 May: SHEEP, SNUCK, DRIFT, BREAK
• Quordle #1207, Thursday, 15 May: PAINT, CROUP, PEDAL, FLUKE
• Quordle #1206, Wednesday, 14 May: FAVOR, METER, PICKY, MAKER
• Quordle #1205, Tuesday, 13 May: SCENT, AGAPE, POLAR, YEARN
• Quordle #1204, Monday, 12 May: ROYAL, ARGUE, BUNCH, READY
• Quordle #1203, Sunday, 11 May: QUASH, MUNCH, ALTER, UNDUE
• Quordle #1202, Saturday, 10 May: RELIC, BADGE, CHAMP, SATIN
• Quordle #1201, Friday, 9 May: MINUS, CRIME, NOSEY, SLAIN
• Quordle #1200, Thursday, 8 May: ELUDE, GREET, POPPY, ELITE
• Quordle #1199, Wednesday, 7 May: QUOTH, TRUNK, BESET, NAIVE
• Quordle #1198, Tuesday, 6 May: UNITE, SOGGY, FILET, PORCH
• Quordle #1197, Monday, 5 May: WREAK, COWER, STEAD, QUEUE
• Quordle #1196, Sunday, 4 May: PINCH, SMOKE, SCARY, CANNY
• Quordle #1195, Saturday, 3 May: PLUSH, VERGE, WROTE, CONDO
• Quordle #1194, Friday, 2 May: CAUSE, RISEN, MACAW, SMELT
• Quordle #1193, Thursday, 1 May: IDIOM, EXILE, SPOOF, DRAPE
• Quordle #1192, Wednesday, 30 April: BATON, TORSO, ANNEX, DROWN
• Quordle #1191, Tuesday, 29 April: HOVER, HENCE, OCTAL, COPSE
• Quordle #1190, Monday, 28 April: JAUNT, ALLOW, FRUIT, BURNT
• Quordle #1189, Sunday, 27 April: PRIOR, YOUTH, CREDO, CHIDE