TechRadar News

• Tim Cook just teased an 'Apple Launch' for February 19
• While not an event, he writes we'll 'meet the newest member of the family"
• It's likely Apple will unveil the much-rumored iPhone SE fourth-generation

Are you ready to meet Apple’s latest and greatest? Well, the rest of my colleagues and I are after an especially active few days for rumors, and Apple’s CEO Tim Cook just teed up that it’s debuting something new next week on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.

Don’t call it an Apple Event, though. The post on X (formerly Twitter) ends with #AppleLaunch. The post reads, “Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.” Simply, pretty leading, and heavy with the tease.

Could it be the much-rumored iPhone SE fourth-generation? Or potentially new Macs, a second-generation AirTag, a new iPad, or something entirely new? Aside from the text, the only other hint is this six-second teaser video.

Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch pic.twitter.com/0ML0NfMeduFebruary 13, 2025

It's set to some joyful backing music, but the real star is the Apple logo with various shades of silver, black, and some color flowing through it. This could be light reflecting off the surface or edges of the forthcoming product as it flows through space.

Additionally, there is a circular ring around the Apple logo, which might just be to set it within the space of this launch teaser but it could also hint at the top of a HomePod or HomePod mini, which is circular with the set of LEDs in the center. There are also rumors of a new AirTag, which is a circular product as well.

The leading rumor though is likely that of the iPhone SE fourth-generation, which Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims that this is teasing a launch of.

Considering Tim Cook writes, "the newest member of the family," it appears to be hinting at one product being unveiled versus an entire next-generation lineup. That gives some credence to the iPhone SE and likely pushes out the wait for the M4-powered MacBook Air' (remember, it's a 13-inch and a 15-inch) or new iPads a bit more.

Judging by the latest rumors, though, I think we have the highest chance of seeing the next-generation iPhone SE. Teasing with this colorful video, potentially showing us the new edges, does align with leaks promising a large redesign that resembles an iPhone 14.

The iPhone is still a central part of Apple's lineup, and a new model – even a more affordable one – is a big deal. It would make sense that Apple wants to build up the hype around it further. The next-gen iPhone SE is expected to offer a bigger display with Face ID, a faster processor that can handle Apple Intelligence, and an entirely new design.

It's likely that alongside whatever Apple announces, the company should seed the first beta to developers of iOS 18.4, which brings with it the next set of Apple Intelligence features, including the actually smarter Siri.

Of course, it could also be ushering in something entirely new, which would be a surprise. It's all speculation for now, but either way, TechRadar will be closely analyzing this teaser further, and come February 19, 2025, we'll be breaking down all the news as it hits.

But, do you have a take or a theory? Let us know in the comments below what you think the February 19 Apple Launch will bring us.

This story is developing...

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Major French streaming provider Canal+ is looking to block VPN access in a major escalation of anti-piracy measures in the country.

After a successful legal action against DNS services last year, Canal+ has now teamed up with France's professional football league agency, Ligue de Football Professionel (LFP), to issue court orders for some of the best VPN providers on the market.

Needless to say, VPN companies are furious, warning that undermining people's internet freedom and privacy isn't the solution to online piracy.

One of the targeted companies, Proton VPN told TechRadar: "DNS blocking is a common strategy that authoritarian governments use to censor the web and control society. By also attacking VPNs – one of the last bulwarks against online censorship – Canal+ and LFP Media are crossing a red line."

VPN blocking: ineffective and dangerous

A virtual private network (VPN) is security software that encrypts users' internet connection to boost online privacy while spoofing their real IP address.

While the latter skill is crucial to bypass strict government-imposed internet restrictions, it can also be used as a workaround to current anti-piracy tactics that involve blocking access to piracy sites based on users' browsing location. This is exactly what the French rightsholders want to halt.

As first reported by the French publication L’Informé, Proton VPN is the target of Canal+'s legal action alongside NordVPN and CyberGhost. The country's streaming giant also listed ExpressVPN and Surfshark as respondents.

Yet, according to Proton VPN, "the lawsuit is illogical and tackles the wrong problem," a company spokesperson told TechRadar. French rightsholders are asking, the provider explains, Proton VPN and other VPN services to block over 200 websites. The VPN providers would also be required to update this block list on a rolling basis.

"This injunction is without a doubt an open door to other abuses in the future and would undermine the very nature of VPNs, which are meant to provide private and secure browsing," said Proton VPN's spokesperson, pointing out how the case is unprecedented in Western societies.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The VPN Trust Initiative (VTI), whose members include ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, and other providers, also warns that blocking VPNs would have "sweeping consequences" that could put the security and privacy of French citizens at risk.

"By requiring this group of security and privacy principle-adhering VPN providers to restrict access, this measure is not only unjustified but also exposes French residents to significant new cybersecurity risks, undermining their safety online," wrote the coalition in a public statement.

With the most secure VPN apps blocked, experts explain, French VPN users will be pushed towards alternative and less secure services, de-facto making VPN-blocking an ineffective anti-piracy measure.

Not only that, though. The French case could set up a precedent worldwide in the fight against VPN usage – whose today's main offenders are authoritarian countries like China, Russia, Myanmar, and Iran – paving the way for greater censorship, more broadly across the world.

"This case represents far more than a localized legal dispute," wrote the VPN coalition. "Imposing blocking on VPNs in France risks significant overreach, where legitimate and non-infringing content can be summarily cut off. This raises alarms about unjustly limiting individuals’ rights to freedom of information and expression."

What's next?

With the first legal audience set for March 11, 2025 – as reported by TorrentFreak – it's early to predict what could happen next.

A Canal+ victory would surely send some shockwaves throughout the rightsholder industry, though, with the music, movie, and other copyright realities, in and out of France, potentially following suit.

VPN providers aren't willing to give up on their users' internet freedoms so easily, however.

Commenting on this, Proton VPN told TechRadar: "These companies are carrying out a plain sight raid on users online freedom for their own commercial interests. Proton is determined to fight this lawsuit up to the European Court of Justice."

• Housemarque has revealed its next game, Saros
• The third-person action game is launching next year for PS5 and PS5 Pro
• Saros will have permanent progression systems compared to Returnal's roguelike system

Returnal developer Housemarque has officially unveiled its next major title Saros, and it's coming to PS5 and PS5 Pro in 2026.

The game's announcement was made during the latest Sony State of Play alongside a stunning cinematic trailer, and is what the developer is calling "the ultimate evolution of the Housemarque gameplay-first experience."

From the studio that brought us the award-winning Returnal, one of the best PS5 games you can play right now, Saros is a third-person action game that tells a "haunting story of a lost off-world colony on Carcosa under an ominous eclipse".

The game stars The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Fall of the House of Usher, and Midnight Mass actor Rahul Kohli as protagonist Arjun Devraj, "a powerful Soltari Enforcer who will stop at nothing to find who he is looking for."

In a new PlayStation Blog post, creative director Gregory Louden said Housemarque wanted Returnal to "stand on its own" so it decided to create a new IP "which evolves our deep third-person action and mysterious storytelling."

With Saros' story, the studio's goal is "to create an emotional and powerful character study that explores the cost it takes to create a new future", but its gameplay will be much different from Returnal's roguelike mechanic and instead have permanent progression systems.

"A key gameplay distinction between Saros and Returnal is permanent resources and progression making every death valuable," said Louden.

"After every death you will face a changed world, but in Saros you will be able to choose and permanently upgrade your loadout from an evolving set of weapons and suit upgrades to 'come back stronger' to overcome the challenges you face on Carcosa."

Housemarque also said it will take full advantage of the PS5 Pro's tech, so we can expect those enhancements at launch.

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• Security researchers spotted a new threat actor called Triplestrength
• The group engages in ransomware, cloud compromise, and cryptomining
• There are potentially hundreds of victims

A small and relatively unknown hacking group has started drawing attention to itself by engaging in somewhat unusual "triple threat" cyberattacks.

Researchers from Google recently discovered Triplestrength, possibly a small threat actor with only a handful of individuals, which has been around since 2020, although Google’s researchers have been tracking it since 2023.

What makes this group stand out is the fact that besides ransomware, it is also hijacking victim cloud accounts and using them to deploy cryptominers. The group started with ransomware in 2020, and added the crypto-mining part two years later.

Brute force

For ransomware, Google further explains, the group mostly targets on-prem systems. For cryptomining, it targets cloud infrastructure from Google Cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Linode, and more.

Triplestrength doesn’t seem to be state-sponsored and instead seems to be motivated by pure profit - looking to gain money from both ransom payments and unauthorized cloud computing.

Initial access is mostly done through brute-force attacks on remote desktop servers, or via stolen credentials. Once the target endpoints are compromised, Triplestrength deploys malware including Phobos, LokiLocker, RCRU64, or Raccoon infostealer. For cryptomining, the group mostly uses unMiner. Interestingly enough, there was no mention of XMRig, by far the most popular cryptojacker out there.

Speaking to The Register, the researchers did not want to say exactly how many victims Triplestrength struck in the past four years, but they did stress they, "identified numerous TRX cryptocurrency addresses that we believe are associated with Triplestrength."

"And at last count, which is now months outdated, there were over 600 payments to these addresses," they told the publication. "That at least gives you some idea of the volume of mining activity that they're likely conducting."

In other words, there are hundreds of compromised cloud instances out there, and thus possibly hundreds of ransomware victims, as well.

Via The Register

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• Nvidia has revealed that the RTX 5070 Ti goes on sale on February 20
• It’ll be followed by the RTX 5070 on March 5, despite Nvidia originally saying this GPU would arrive in February as well as the Ti
• The RTX 5070 Ti launch date, and delay to early March for the RTX 5070, were predicted by the rumor mill

Nvidia has confirmed the launch dates of its RTX 5070 graphics cards, with the RTX 5070 Ti arriving as planned in February, but with the vanilla RTX 5070 having been pushed out a bit to March, as rumors had already insisted was the case.

Nvidia updated its official web page for the RTX 5070 models with the exact dates, which are February 20 for the RTX 5070 Ti, and March 5 for the RTX 5070.

Team Green also posted on X to reveal the information about the RTX 5070 Ti, and how the graphics card is coming from third-party board makers and PC builders – remember, this variant won’t have a Founders Edition from Nvidia itself.

GeForce RTX 5070 Ti availability starts February 20th at 6AM PT from our add-in-card partners and system integrators. pic.twitter.com/T2LzKfEjHzFebruary 13, 2025

The RTX 5070, on the other hand, will have a Founders Edition, but you’ll be waiting a couple more weeks to attempt to order that, or to try and grab a third-party graphics card.

Try being the operative word here, as it remains to be seen what kind of stock levels that the RTX 5070 models will launch with.

(Image credit: ShutterStock) Analysis: The rumors were right

It doesn’t bode particularly well that back when all the new Blackwell graphics cards were revealed at CES 2025, Nvidia said that both of these RTX 5070 variants were due to arrive in February at some point (without giving any specific dates). Pretty soon after, there were early rumors suggesting the RTX 5070 non-Ti version would be delayed to early March, and that’s exactly what has happened.

Why the (slight) delay, then? Could this be about running interference with AMD’s RX 9070 launch somehow, which is also in March? I doubt that, and a more likely turn of events is to be found in considering the most recent development with chatter from the grapevine. Namely, the tale spun earlier today about stock of the RTX 5070 possibly being seriously thin on the ground – potentially a similar situation to the one we’ve seen with the RTX 5090 and 5080.

Now, that’s just a rumor, and I’m not saying it’s right, but it certainly makes some sense when you put everything together in the cold light of day. Given Nvidia’s stock woes have been pretty disastrous so far, if the RTX 5070 were to arrive in healthy quantities, it’d be a surprise. It’s certainly a believable theory that the vanilla 5070 needed to be pushed back a bit to ensure something like a half-decent amount of these graphics cards end up on shelves.

The other problem with the RTX 5070 is that given its more affordable price tag, this GPU is going to be in far greater demand than any of the Blackwell graphics cards we’ve seen so far – making a tighter supply a potentially much worse scenario.

Furthermore, bear in mind that the same rumor peddler who was right about the RTX 5070 delay, also suggested the RTX 5060 has been pushed back as well (from March to April).

Naturally, stay skeptical on that particular RTX 5060 nugget, but the other widely spread rumor, the one about the RTX 5070 Ti launching on February 20, has also turned out to be correct. In short, the rumor mill appears to have nailed what’s happening with incoming Blackwell GPUs pretty well thus far, so at this point, I’m definitely not betting against it.

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• Metal Gear Solid: Delta Snake Eater's release date of August 28, 2025, confirmed with new trailer
• The confirmation came as part of Sony's State of Play presentation
• The same trailer had leaked earlier this week

Last night's State of Play presentation confirmed the release date for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the remake of the legendary stealth action game from Kojima Productions, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

The game will be released on August 28, 2025, and is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

The new trailer was indeed the same one that leaked earlier this week - meaning the reveal wasn't the biggest of surprises when it did appear in the February State of Play - but it remains excellent to have official confirmation, and now the inner PS2 gamer inside me can fully embrace the hype.

As we'd glimpsed in the leaked version, the new trailer showed a lot of the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake that we hadn't seen before. Whereas in previous reveals and trailers, we'd been limited to action and cutscenes from the first hours of the game - the Virtuous Mission - this new trailer shows off much more from deeper in the game.

There's a look at iconic bosses, closer looks at famous locations from the game, and a better look at some actual action, all in incredible detail and fidelity. It really does look incredibly impressive and is poised to wow a new generation of fans as well as loyal old ones like me.

What's more, Konami has revealed some extra content called the Sneaking DLC Pack. It consists of a bunch of uniforms, and in-game equipment parts and includes:

• Uniform - Battle Dress (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker version)
• Uniform - Sneaking suit (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker version)
• Uniform - Crocodile suit
• Uniform - Naked (Woodland)
• Uniform - Naked (Naked Ammunition Belt)
• Uniform - Gold
• Face - Glasses
• Face - Sunglasses
• Equipment - Kerotan mask
• Equipment – GA-KO mask

While the Sneaking DLC Pack will be available by itself after launch, it'll be included in pre-orders of the Digital Deluxe Edition and physical Deluxe Editions of the game. The Digital Deluxe Edition also gets players 48 hours of early access to Delta.

As an extra sweetener, those who pre-order Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will get a white tuxedo uniform for Snake too.

I grew up with the Metal Gear Solid series and cannot wait to immerse myself in this remake of arguably the best in the series - and one of the best games ever made - August can't come quickly enough!

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• OnePlus won't be releasing a foldable device this year
• The OnePlus Open 2 was rumored to hit shelves in early 2025
• OnePlus' decision 'does not signify a departure from the foldable category'

OnePlus has confirmed that it won’t be releasing the OnePlus Open 2 in 2025.

In a note posted to the OnePlus Community forum, OnePlus Open project manager Vale G. said: “We’ve carefully considered the timing and our next steps in foldable devices, and we have made the decision not to release a foldable this year.”

“While this may come as a surprise,” G. continued, “we believe this is the right approach for us at this time,” noting that Oppo – OnePlus’ sister company – is now “taking the lead in the foldable segment” with the Oppo Find N5.

The original OnePlus Open was released in October 2023, and a successor – presumed to be the OnePlus Open 2 – was expected to hit shelves at some point in the next few months. A special edition version of the Open, the OnePlus Open Apex Edition, was also released in August 2024.

In his statement regarding the Open 2’s delay (which, it’s worth noting, is not how OnePlus describes the situation), Vale G. adds that OnePlus’ “decision to pause on foldable[s] for this generation does not signify a departure from the category [...] This is not a step back, it’s a recalibration.”

The Oppo Find N5 is heading to the UK and Europe this month (Image credit: Future)

Given that the original OnePlus Open and Oppo Find N3 are nigh-on identical devices, it was thought that the OnePlus Open 2 would simply be a OnePlus-branded version of the Oppo Find N5. That device is scheduled for release in the UK and Europe on February 20, though it now seems as though US buyers won’t have an equivalent OnePlus Open 2 to look forward to in 2025.

Despite its age, the OnePlus Open continues to rank among the best foldable phones money can buy, but with the Oppo Find N5 raising the bar for foldable design – and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 almost certain to arrive later this year – OnePlus' strategy shift could see it slip down the foldable pecking order.

That said, Vale G. ends his statement with "Stay tuned for what’s next. We can’t wait to share it with you soon!", so OnePlus is clearly cooking up something exciting for 2026 and beyond.

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While 5G is still being rolled out on a global scale, we still need to cast an eye to the future of wireless connectivity and communication and the impact it has on businesses. It’s time to talk about 6G.

Going beyond the foundations of 5G

In areas where 5G has already been deployed, enhanced speed and connectivity benefits are already game changers. But 6G will push the boundaries even further and drive the next wave of digital transformation. It will unleash unprecedented possibilities, accelerating the core use cases of 5G: ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), massive machine-type communications (mMTC), and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB).

But where 6G networks will really evolve the future of digital connection is in how it goes beyond the foundations of 5G, blurring the boundaries between end-devices and the network-dedicated infrastructure. With 6G, devices won’t just connect, they’ll actively contribute to building and managing the network, seamlessly integrating computing and communication.

Operating at unparalleled radio frequencies, 6G will unlock bleeding-edge innovations —particularly AI — facilitating a higher speed of communication with faster throughput, reduced latency and greater energy efficiency. Crucially, it will become the foundation for a new generation of technology, driven by several core trends: support for emerging technologies with higher performance capabilities, increasing data rates, a focus on network densification, and ubiquitous connectivity.

Our vision for 6G incorporates these key drivers and will be a universal system, supporting deployment in any scenario, to offer seamless connectivity wherever it is needed.

Ambient intelligence and the implications for businesses

For businesses, an implementation of 6G will offer transformative opportunities across industries.

6G is still in the design and research stage, but the systems are already being designed with ambient intelligence (Aml) in mind. This next generation of connectivity is set to revolutionize how we interact with technology, as it becomes integrated into our everyday life. It will anticipate our needs and adjust on its own, before we even know what they are. Whilst this concept may seem slightly unprecedented, the possibilities for businesses are boundless.

In business, ambient intelligence will enable real-time responsiveness through its dynamic operations replacing rigid pre-determined systems. This means greater efficiency, more intelligent performance management and in-depth insights supported by real-time data analysis. For instance, it could transform how supply chains are managed, automatically adjusting production lines based on demand or even flagging maintenance issues before they arise. In retail, it could mean that consumers can interact with product displays, or help store managers optimize their shops, by pinpointing the best product positioning or ideal temperatures to store it.

The seamless integration of advancements in IoT, edge computing and real-time AI will allow businesses to streamline decision-making, become more efficient and discover new revenue streams.

To realize the full potential of these business use cases for Aml, we need a system that delivers a lightning-fast, low-latency network that ensures top-level privacy and security. This is where 6G will shine.

However, there is a slight catch: Power consumption. With growing concerns over 5G’s energy footprint, it is critical that we develop a 6G network that balances innovation with sustainability.

Challenges of power consumption

For mobile communications, a move towards 6G focuses on providing improved performance and a higher quality of service for businesses. But as we witness its evolution, it is crucial to consider balancing sustainability with power consumption.

Simply put: a growing demand for mobile data and an increasing number of devices served by these networks requires more energy. This could affect a business's Scope 2 and 3 carbon emissions. Scope 2 emissions refers to the energy a company purchases and uses, e.g. the electricity it purchases to power its operations; Scope 3 refers to the broader emissions across the business's supply chain, so it could be energy used by suppliers or even the end users. Managing both will be essential for businesses in order to meet their sustainability goals.

To align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is critical that the industry prioritizes renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency. Technologies, such as smart grids, AI, distributed energy storage systems and green software, will be pivotal in achieving a sustainable design of the network.

Furthermore, 6G energy consumption can be significantly reduced by implementing strategies like dynamic scaling to adjust power usage based on data load, and optimizing device and network activity to cut power consumption during downtime. Addressing these concerns and challenges will be vital in shaping the timeline for its widespread adoption and integration into businesses.

When could we expect to see 6G rolled out?

At the current rate of advancements, businesses should prepare for the arrival of 6G for commercialization in 2030, with a pre-commercialization likely to occur a year prior. 6G will reshape industries, offering improved speed, connectivity and support for developing technologies. However, it is imperative that before this timeframe we carry out our plan in making it more sustainable and accessible so that businesses of all sizes can equally benefit from the newest generation of wireless communications.

We've featured the best business smartphone.

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

• Microsoft has added a new icon to the Windows 11 taskbar
• It allows you to use Windows Studio Effects in compatible apps
• Windows Studio Effects is exclusive to Copilot+ PCs

If you’ve downloaded the latest Windows 11 update, which was released as part of the monthly ‘Patch Tuesday’ batch of fixes, you might have noticed a new icon in the taskbar and wondered what it is. Well, wonder no more: it’s a shortcut for the AI-powered Windows Studio Effects feature.

Windows Studio Effects is a suite of effects that use artificial intelligence to improve the quality of your video calls. It can blur the background, make it look like you’re looking directly at the camera (rather than looking at the screen), improve the lighting, and make sure you’re always in frame (as well as applying more creative filters).

You might not have used Windows Studio Effects before – they are a relatively new batch of effects introduced as part of Microsoft’s AI push, and this change appears to be an attempt to introduce them to a wider audience. The icon will appear when you use an app that makes use of Windows Studio Effects – which will include pretty much any tool that uses your device’s webcam.

Clicking the icon brings up the effects for you to easily turn on – and if you hover over the icon, it will tell you which app is using the webcam. This is a handy privacy feature, as it means apps shouldn’t access your webcam without you knowing.

However, there are plenty of Windows 11 users (including myself) who are waiting for Microsoft to make changes to the taskbar that bring back some of the functionality that previous versions of Windows had – especially the ability to drag files onto app icons in the taskbar to open them in the app. Microsoft instead adding icons for features a lot of people don't use is disappointing, to say the least.

Easier access, but is it enough?

As I mentioned, Windows Studio Effects was introduced as part of Microsoft’s campaign to get more people to use AI features – something the company has invested heavily in. It was advertised as one of the big selling points of Copilot+ PCs – a new breed of Windows 11 devices that meet certain hardware requirements (16GB of RAM and a CPU with an NPU) to run AI tasks locally on the device, rather than via the internet.

Because of this, Windows Studio Effects is exclusive to Copilot+ PCs, so if you don’t see the new icon, then it’s likely due to your PC not meeting the requirements.

Therein lies part of the problem for Microsoft if it wants more people to use Windows Studio Effects. Making the feature more easily accessible by putting an icon in the Taskbar is a good first step, but by limiting the feature to certain PCs is going to reduce its reach.

Of course, what Microsoft would like in that case is for people who are desperate to use Windows Studio Effects to go out and buy a new Copilot+ laptop. But that’s the other problem – is this a feature that will get people excited about AI? And excited enough to buy a new laptop?

I just don’t think so. Some features, such as blurring the background and auto-focusing the camera, can be done by other apps without the need of an NPU (neural processing unit), while other features, such as the creative effects, are fun, but hardly essential. If you use your device for making video calls as part of your work, you’re unlikely to want to enable them. Worse, the eye contact feature ends up being a bit creepy, with unnatural-looking eye contact causing an uncanny valley effect.

So far, the Copilot+ PCs we’ve tested have been some of the best laptops you can buy thanks to their performance and battery life, but the AI features are the least impressive bits about them – which is a problem as Microsoft envisions these as key selling points – especially as other key Copilot+ PC features, such as the controversial Recall feature, either don’t work that well, or have yet to be released.

So, no matter how easy Microsoft makes it to launch these new AI features, people are going to continue to ignore them until the company gives us a good reason to – and so far, it’s been failing to do just that.

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This week brought the unveiling of a brand new Garmin that you probably haven't heard of before.

Garmin's tactix range is a line of tactical smartwatches with military application in mind. The new tactix 8 features an AMOLED display, a rugged design, and Applied Ballistics Solver tech offering customized aiming solutions for shooting a rifle.

As you can see, the tactix 8 is military in both grade and purpose, which also explains the inclusion of a brand new feature to track an exercise that's taking the world by storm.

Ruck and roll

(Image credit: Garmin)

Rucking is an exercise trend that's growing in popularity. It involves exercising while carrying a weighted rucksack or backpack (hence the name) and naturally has its roots in military training, which explains the tactix 8 link.

Enthusiast outfit GORUCK describes it as a staple of military training. Infantry recruits in the United States Army (and in militaries the world over) must undertake hours-long ruck marches carrying heavy equipment.

Because of the potential to increase calorie burn and improve fitness, rucking is now taking off as a fitness trend beyond military application, and is now so popular that Garmin feels compelled to offer a dedicated workout profile to support it.

Rucking: What are the benefits?

(Image credit: Future)

Rucking is an increasingly popular exercise because it's really easy to do. All you need is a rucksack or backpack and some heavy weight. You don't even need to use actual dumbbells or kettlebells either, some old books or water will do just fine.

Multiple studies have highlighted the benefits of load-carrying exercises. This 2019 study found that 10 weeks of training by rucking drastically increases a person's squat jump maximal force, push-ups, sit-ups, and estimated oxygen uptake. This 2021 study found similar improvements in both male and female participants, including a 5.4% increase in aerobic capacity in males.

Even in older participants (65-74 years), training at home involving weighted step exercises improved stair climbing speed and power, helping prolong independence and stave off age-related health conditions.

Rucking on Garmin

Will rucking come to the Garmin Instinct 3? (Image credit: Future)

We'd heard reports late last year that Garmin was planning to add support for rucking, possibly alongside the new Garmin Instinct 3. While it didn't materialize with that launch, we've now got rucking a few weeks later.

As mentioned, it's currently limited to the tactix 8, but there's every chance that Garmin is planning to increase support, bringing rucking to more devices in the future. We've reached out to Garmin to see if we can confirm any future support, and will report back accordingly.

Using the rucking activity on the tactix 8 appears straightforward. The only key metric you need is pack weight, which you can input before you start your exercise. Then, Garmin will calculate all the usual health and fitness metrics as you go, presumably taking into account the weight you're lugging around.

Another string to Garmin's bow

(Image credit: Mike Sawh)

It has been a choppy start to 2025 for Garmin, with the company's Instinct 3 launch overshadowed somewhat by a global outage that saw thousands of devices rendered useless by a blue triangle of death.

While the company's infrastructure has taken a pounding, its commitment to industry-leading health and fitness tracking is undeniable, and this new support for rucking is another great reason why Garmin always places highly amongst the best smartwatches, best running watches, and beyond.

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• Security researchers discovered malicious code in NPM packages and GitHub commits
• The code was linked to a Lazarus-operated account
• More than 200 victims were confirmed so far

Lazarus Group, an infamous North Korean state-sponsored threat actor, is running a campaign targeting software and Web3 developers with “undetectable” malware.

Cybersecurity researchers at STRIKE from SecurityScorecard said they observed malware being embedded into GitHub repositories and NPM packages, where unsuspecting developers pick them up and integrate into their own projects.

The researchers said they saw the SuccessFriend GitHub profile, known to be linked to Lazarus, injecting JavaScript implants into GitHub repositories, where they blend in with legitimate code. To make matters worse, the profile has also committed benign code, to better hide its malicious intent.

Funding the state

The malware is being distributed inside NPM packages, STRIKE says, which are “widely used” by cryptocurrency developers and Web3 projects.

The researchers dubbed the campaign Marstech Mayhem, since the malware being deployed is named Marstech1. Once deployed on the victim endpoint, it scans systems for MetaMask, Exodus, and Atomic wallets, modifying browser configuration files to inject stealthy payloads that can intercept transactions.

With that in mind, it’s safe to say that Lazarus is still tasked with stealing cryptocurrency for the North Korean government. Earlier reports were saying that the government was using the stolen crypto to fund its state apparatus, as well as its nuclear weapons program.

So far, STRIKE managed to confirm at least 233 victims across the US, Europe, and Asia.

SecurityScorecard’s SVP of Threat Research & Intelligence, Ryan Sherstobitoff said that the Marstech1 implant comes with “layered obfuscation techniques,” from control flow flattening and dynamic variable renaming in JavaScript, to multi-stage XOR decryption in Python.

He urged organizations and developers to adopt proactive security measures, continuously monitor their supply chain activities, and integrate advanced threat intelligence solutions to mitigate the risk of sophisticated attackers such as Lazarus.

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• Amazon has officially announced that The Rings of Power season 3 is in the works
• The popular high fantasy show's next entry will start filming in early 2025
• Returning directors Charlotte Brändström and Sanaa Hamri will be joined by Stefan Schwartz on the filmmakers' roster

The Rings of Power season 3 is officially in development at Amazon MGM Studios – and principal photography is set to begin this spring (that's autumn for southern hemisphere readers).

In one of the most unsurprising reveals of 2025 so far, Prime Video's biggest TV Original is set to deliver more high-fantasy thrills and spills in another installment. The announcement, made today (February 13), confirms that Amazon is moving ahead with a third chapter of its Lord of the Rings prequel series but, truthfully, the show's renewal has been a foregone conclusion for some time.

Six months have passed since The Rings of Power season 2 debuted on our screens, so some viewers might have started to worry that Prime Video's most expensive series would become the latest program to be canceled before its time. However, speaking to me ahead of season 2's launch, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay told me that they "were already working" on season 3, so I was always convinced it would return.

A new season means new rings, right? (Image credit: Prime Video)

Admittedly, the work undertaken on The Rings of Power's next season didn't guarantee that one of the best Prime Video shows would be renewed. Nevertheless, the confidence displayed by Payne and McKay during our conversation, coupled with the amount of script work being conducted half a year ago, means another trip to Middle-earth was far more likely than not.

In an Amazon MGM Studios statement accompanying the reveal, Head of TV Vernon Sanders said: "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to captivate audiences worldwide and we're thrilled that a third season is underway. The creative team has an extraordinary vision of what’s to come with stories that have left us enchanted and enthralled. We look forward to continuing this epic journey, for our global customers, delving even deeper into the legendary tales that shaped Middle-earth."

Prime Video confirms season three of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.Acclaimed directors Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Stefan Schwartz set for upcoming season. pic.twitter.com/ABSEBj1TVQFebruary 13, 2025

While there were no cast announcements, newcomers or otherwise, Amazon confirmed that next season's likely eight-episode installment will be helmed by three directors. Charlotte Brändström and Samaa Hamri, who oversaw multiple episodes for season 2, return as part of the filmmaking team. They'll be joined by Stefan Schwartz, a veteran of film and TV whose credits include Luther, Fear the Walking Dead, and My Lady Jane.

As I mentioned, filming will begin sooner rather than later, and, like season 2, it'll be shot at the Amazon-owned Shepperton Studios in the UK. And, according to The Hollywood Reporter, season 3 will be set years after its predecessor, so you can expect The War of the Elves and Sauron to be in full swing – oh, and the creation of a certain ring to be underway.

Need a refresher on what happened in The Rings of Power's second outing on one of the world's best streaming services? You'll want to read my ending explainer on The Rings of Power season 2 to see how it sets up the show's next entry. And, if you're searching for more news on what lies in store for the series' various characters in season 3, check out my exclusive interviews with Sauron actor Charlie Vickers, Gandalf star Daniel Weyman, and Elrond and Gil-galad pair Robert Aramayo and Benjamin Walker below.

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Is 2025 shaping up to be the year of agentic AI? The hype is already building as experts predict a new wave of the technology will drive two or three times the productivity gains possible with current large language models (LLMs). Governments are piling in: most recently, the UK’s new Labour administration announced plans to “turbocharge” growth and deliver a “decade of national renewal” via an AI Opportunities Action Plan.

But where there is opportunity, there is also risk. Agentic AI offers threat actors new ways to reach sensitive data and sabotage business-critical systems for gain. The autonomous nature of the technology could also lead to unintended consequences and potentially unsafe decision-making.

Organizations must therefore try harder to understand where risk is most acute, and take proactive steps to mitigate it before embarking on their own agentic AI journey.

Agentic AI for good and bad

Does the tech match the hype? Salesforce certainly thinks so. It describes agentic AI as a “third wave” of innovation, following predictive AI modelling and LLM-powered generative AI. The company’s chief scientist, Silvio Salvarese, describes where the tech is headed:

“Self-adaptive agents enabled by multi-agent reasoning—agents that can learn from their environment, improve through experience, and collaborate both with humans and agents from our enterprise customers, partners, vendors, and even the personalized AI assistants of consumers, which are becoming a bigger part of their lives every day.”

This is good news, not just for the large organizations already trialing the technology, but smaller businesses that will also benefit in time as it becomes more mature. PwC claims the technology could generate between $2.6tn and $4.4tn annually for global GDP by 2030.

Yet as AI systems move from assistive use cases to working dynamically and proactively on their own, caution is also required. Threat actors will relentlessly target a rapidly expanding AI attack surface, probing for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations to steal training data and data stored in “vector” databases, as well as look for opportunities to poison data/models. With unauthorized access, they can feed incorrect or biased data into the AI system to manipulate its behavior/outputs. There’s also a risk of introducing malware and/or vulnerabilities from the supply chain; especially the open source components used in great number by AI developers.

All of which could result in data breaches, extortion, service outages and major reputational/financial risk.

Unintentional misalignment

Yet there’s more. Because the value of agentic AI systems is that they can work autonomously, there’s a risk of models making unpredictable decisions. This is what’s known as “unintentional misalignment”—as opposed to “intentional misalignment” which occurs when someone deliberately tries to use AI in attacks, perhaps via prompt injection or data poisoning.

There are plenty of examples of unintentional misalignment to be concerned about. Consider a self-driving car programmed to prioritize passenger safety. It may misinterpret these directions by swerving into pedestrians to avoid a minor collision with another vehicle, thereby causing a far more severe accident. Agentic AI might also unintentionally DoS the infrastructure it runs on if resource consumption isn’t carefully controlled—by creating endless sub-problems to solve.

RAG risk is already here

These aren’t necessarily theoretical risks. Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) is another emerging type of AI which, like agentic systems, is designed to overcome the limitations AI developers are finding with LLMs—ie that training data is beginning to run out. RAG uses search algorithms to query third-party data sources like web pages and databases, processes what it finds, and then integrates it into a pre-trained LLM. In this way, it can provide more accurate and up-to-date answers than a traditional LLM could—and in so doing, reduces the likelihood of hallucinations. That’s why it’s increasingly popular in use cases like financial analysis, patient care and online product recommendations.

To function, it utilizes various components including LLMs, LLM-hosting platforms, open source code, and vector databases, which provide the crucial indexing and retrieval capabilities. However, these are riddled with security holes. Aside from the well-understood risks of malicious or vulnerable open source components, research reveals the existence of multiple CVEs, from 2024 alone, in LLM-hosting platform Ollama. With over a thousand new releases each year for the platform, these become hard to track, never mind patch. The same research reveals vulnerabilities in popular vector databases like Weaviate.

It also claims to have discovered scores of servers running open source LLM-hosting software llama.cpp, hundreds of instances of vector database ChromaDB, and thousands of misconfigured Ollama servers—all exposed to the internet without any authentication required. In the case of Ollama, this could provide threat actors with access as many as 15,000 discrete LLMs. Alongside vulnerability exploitation, this presents threat actors with an attractive opportunity to steal sensitive data and sabotage, manipulate or disrupt AI services. Given that agentic AI uses many of the same components as RAG—including LLMs and vector databases—it is arguably exposed to similar threats.

Stepping back and managing risk

So how can organizations hope to get back on the front foot? Most importantly, by approaching AI from a security-by-design perspective. That means ensuring security leaders get a seat at the table when new projects are being discussed. And that data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) are run before any new initiative is launched.

First, take a “human-in-the-loop” approach to ensure critical decisions made by agentic AI can be reviewed and, if necessary, overridden by IT experts. Real-time monitoring of AI behavior and performance will flag when there’s something anomalous for members of the IT team to inspect. Periodic audits of AI systems can also help to ensure they are making properly aligned (and no biased or risky) decisions.

A focus on governance is also important to provide ethical guidelines for AI development and usage, and regular reviews for compliance with such rules. Employees handling AI should be trained to enhance their literacy of the technology, and ability to use it ethically, safely and securely.

Finally, organisations should look to AI security leaders to help mitigate immediate cyber-related risks. Zero trust is an appropriate approach to take here, to ensure only authorized users can access AI systems, and to swiftly detect malicious activity like prompt injection and data leakage/theft.

As a wave of agentic AI breaks over global organizations, and the tech becomes embedded in ever more business processes, the risk of something going wrong—intentionally or otherwise—will only grow. Let’s get ahead of that risk now, rather than wait for it to escalate and potentially derail important projects.

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• A small number of reports of RTX 5090 power cables overheating and melting have been confirmed
• This follows widespread reports of similar issues with the previous RTX 4090
• However, it's possible that third-party cables could be to blame this time around

Remember ‘cablegate’? Back in late 2022, users started to report that the power connectors of their Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics cards were overheating and essentially melting into unusable hunks of plastic - and now, according to some buyers, the same issue could be plaguing the newly-released RTX 5090.

Now, I covered the cablegate fiasco when the story was at its peak, and at the time, I was willing to assign at least some portion of the blame to Nvidia, as the PCIe Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) had previously published a report warning of ‘thermal variance’ risks regarding the 12VHPWR adapter used for the RTX 4090. This time around, though, I’m really not so sure Nvidia is at fault.

For starters, the issues appear far less widespread than with the RTX 4090; while there were literally dozens of reports back in 2022 (which continued well into 2024), we’ve only seen two isolated confirmed cases of cable-melting with regard to the RTX 5090. The first came from a Reddit user, while the second was reported by the Spanish YouTube channel Toro Tocho Reviews. Both reported the same issue: the power cable overheated and melted at both ends, something we didn’t see in the majority of RTX 4090 connector failures.

Secondly, the first of these cases was confirmed to have involved a third-party power cable from PC-modding supplier MODDIY, introducing a new potential point of failure. Nvidia has now moved over to the 12V-2×6 connection standard for more stable power delivery and more secure pin connections, and although MODDIY claims its cables support the new standard, the Reddit user stated that they’d been using this cable for two years with an RTX 4090. Backward compatibility with third-party 12VHPWR cables is likely to continue to be an issue for Nvidia’s GPUs - notably, MODDIY now has a page on its website advising buyers with RTX 5000-series GPUs to purchase new-for-2025 12V-2×6 cables.

So is there really a problem?

In other words, at least one of these cable-melting cases appears to have been caused by user error: the 12VHPWR cable that melted, despite being physically compatible with the RTX 5090, was presumably unable to handle the power delivery taking place. Nvidia’s latest flagship GPU is a hungry girl, after all, with an obscene 575W TDP.

PC modders are gonna mod, of course, but given the known issues with the previous-gen card’s power connector, I’d personally be very reluctant to use anything but the cables supplied in the box at this point. A Reddit megathread on the topic has been created to compile additional cases, and there’s a fair amount of debate in the comments as to whether Nvidia is to blame or if users should be taking more care to avoid third-party cables - even if they claim to be compatible.

Naturally, I reached out to my contact at Nvidia to ask for a quote, but Team Green declined to comment - not even a ‘we’re investigating’, instead pointing me to MODDIY’s page warning about using older 12VHPWR cables. It seems Nvidia feels more confident this time around, further reinforcing the idea that the cases we’ve seen so far were caused not by the GPUs themselves but rather third-party hardware.

It is still possible that we’re only at the beginning of a tidal wave of similar reports - given the extremely limited availability of the RTX 5090 at launch, we might be yet to see the full extent of the issue as only a small number of users have managed to get their hands on the GPU.

Still, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Two cases (with a few more unconfirmed) aren’t exactly the cavalcade of issues we saw after the RTX 4090 launch, so there’s every chance these problems won’t be so widespread. If you were lucky enough to snag one of Nvidia’s new flagship GPUs, my only advice is this: stick with the supplied cables for now! If you've got thoughts on this, please feel free to tell me what a genius/idiot I am in our shiny new comments section below. Frankly, I'd love to chat with someone who actually managed to buy one of these cards...

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• Nikon announces Z-mount versions of the RED V-Raptor and RED Komodo
• The Nikkor Z 28-135mm F/4 PZ cine lens was launched simultaneously
• Since Nikon's RED takeover, we've seen permanent price drops for select RED cameras

Nikon's RED takeover is in full effect, following the launch of two RED cinema cameras with Nikon's Z-mount; the RED V-Raptor and RED Komodo. The Z-mount versions were launched alongside Nikon's own new cinema lens too, the Nikkor Z 28-135mm F/4 PZ.

Nikon instantly became a major player in cinema cameras when it acquired RED Digital Cameras in March 2024, and it's taken less than a year for us to see the fruit of the takeover, with Z-mount versions of two super popular RED cine cameras in the filmmaking industry.

It's a sucker punch to Canon – the RED Komodo 6K was previously only available with Canon's RF-mount, but its future is now firmly in camp Nikon. There will be various lens mount adaptors available, including Nikon Z to Nikon F and Nikon Z to PL, but RED's future is shifting away from Canon lenses.

What's more, the Nikon effect has extended to RED camera pricing, the cine camera maker's name, plus Nikon's own cameras are benefitting from RED tech. Let's take a look at what's been happening.

The new Nikkor Z 28-135mm F/4 PZ is now available – here's it's mounted to a Nikon Z9 camera and DJI RS4 Pro gimbal, plus the lens will be directly compatible with the new Z-mount RED cameras. (Image credit: Nikon ) The Nikon effect is in full swing, and I expect more is to come

In and of itself, there's little that's new in the Z-mount versions of the RED V-Raptor and Komodo, besides the lens mount and what Nikon says is improved autofocus capabilities. The biggest impact is direct compatibility with Nikon Z-mount lenses, of which there are many, and which now includes the Nikkor Z 28-135mm F/4 PZ – a versatile and gimbal-friendly zoom with cine features that costs $2,596.95 /£2499 and has an April 2025 sales start date (Australia price and availability TBC).

What's even more exciting, especially to indie filmmakers, is Nikon slashing the prices of RED Komodo 6K bundles. In September 2024, we saw permanent price reductions of as much as $3,000 off – for example, the Komodo 6K Camera Production Pack now costs $11,995 (was $14,995). Still not cheap by any means, but more affordable for pros. Prices for the RED Komodo 6K with Z-mount start at $6,995 (around £5,600), while the RED V-Raptor 8K costs $29,995 (around £24,000 - converted from USD).

Nikon has also officially stripped back its subsidiary's name too, from RED Digital Cameras to simply RED, which is what most people call it anyway.

In the other direction, Nikon cameras are benefitting from RED tech. Back in September 2024, four RED LUTs color profiles were made available to Nikon's current mirrorless cameras, including the Nikon Z6 III, Nikon Z8, and Nikon Zf, and even certain DSLRs like the D780. Nikon's N-Log video footage can now be stylized into Rec.709 color using any one of RED’s Film Bias, Film Bias Bleach Bypass, Film Bias Offset, and Achromic – color profiles co-developed with cinema colorist Eric Weidt.

I don't expect the Nikon effect to stop here either. What do you think – what are the most exciting developments we can hope for from Nikon's RED takeover? Better video features in Nikon's mirrorless cameras? More Z-mount cine lenses? Let me know in the comments below.

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• Lies of P: Overture is due to launch in 'Summer 2025'
• It's a DLC prequel to the soulslike's main campaign events
• You will need the base game in order to play this DLC

Lies of P: Overture, a DLC expansion of the 2023 soulslike game, is finally arriving sometime in "Summer 2025".

The expansion was revealed during the February 12 PlayStation State of Play, and according to an official PlayStation Blog post written by developer Round8 Studio's Jiwon Choi, Overture is set to be a prequel to the main events found in Lies of P.

"As you might have guessed from the title, Lies of P: Overture takes you back in time to uncover the hidden stories of Krat," the post reads. "Now, you will venture back in time to experience the harrowing journey that birthed that fateful moment. Through Lies of P: Overture, we aimed to fully refine, forge and complete the story as we originally envisioned it."

The trailer for Lies of P: Overture shows off plenty of interesting gameplay additions. The protagonist now has access to weapons like a bow and arrows, as well as plenty of extremely flashy combat moves.

Snow-covered locales are featured prominently - a biome that wasn't really present in the main game. And yep, it also looks like there'll be plenty of monstrous new boss fights to challenge, too.

A release date for Lies of P: Overture isn't set in stone just yet, but it will be out sometime this summer. As such, we can probably expect it to launch somewhere between the months of June and September of this year.

It's news that particularly excites me, especially as we haven't heard anything about the DLC since a brief teaser from the developer way back in 2023. Lies of P is also my favorite soulslike from beyond the FromSoftware stable. It tops our list of the best soulslike games, largely owing to its gloriously macabre setting, innovative weapon-mixing combat, and a surprising faithfulness to the source material.

Similarly, it ended up being my personal 2023 game of the year. In short, I'm unsurprisingly incredibly excited for Lies of P: Overture.

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The first information about the Monster Hunter Wilds roadmap has been revealed. Post-launch, players can expect regular updates, with two small DLCs having already been announced. Looking at previous games, we can expect new monsters and Event Quests moving forward, spaced out throughout the year.

Monster Hunter Wilds is another step forward for the long-running co-op action franchise. For one, its huge open world is more seamless, and more alive than ever before, with distinct seasons that promise to mix up hunts in interesting ways. If the Monster Hunter Wilds beta is anything to go on, we could see the game land on our list of best multiplayer PC games by the end of the year.

Here's everything you need to know about Monster Hunter Wilds' roadmap and upcoming DLC updates. We'll detail what's been announced in terms of post-launch support, and as we move through the year, we'll also take a look at the schedule moving forward. It's clear that Capcom intends to support the game for a while, so stay tuned for regular updates to this page.

Monster Hunter Wilds roadmap

(Image credit: Capcom)

Monster Hunter Wilds currently has two post-launch title update DLCs planned. You can find these listed below, with some details on each.

• Free Title Update 1 - Spring 2025 (Mizutsune, Event Quests, Additional Updates)
• Free Title Update 2 - Summer 2025 (New Monster, Event Quests)

Monster Hunter Wilds Free DLC 1

(Image credit: Capcom)

First up, we have the Free Update Title 1 DLC. This is the one we know most about, as it's already been revealed that Mizutsune will be the main monster added. For those that don't know, Mizutsune is a kind of bubble dragon, that moves around like a dancer, elegantly weaving through the air. It's seriously formidable, secreting bubbles that will give you Bubbleblight, increasing your evasiveness, before making it difficult to move around without slipping. In Monster Hunter Rise, you needed to ensure you were stocked up on Cleansers, to combat this ailment.

Of course, Mizutsune could be retooled for Monster Hunter Wilds, so we will need to wait and see just how it looks before planning out how to take it down.

Alongside Mizutsune, there will be some new Event Quests to take on. These are available at the Mission Board and generally involve slaying groups of monsters, to earn new rewards. Again, we'll have to wait for the specifics, and for more explanation as to what "additional updates" means. Free Title Update 1 will be added sometime in Spring 2025.

Monster Hunter Wilds Free DLC 2

Capcom has also revealed Free Title Update 2, which, for now at least, has yet to be fully detailed. We know that it'll add a new monster, as well as new Event Quests. We also know that it'll arrive sometime in Summer 2025.

We'll have to wait and see which monster is added, though we're hoping for Rajang.

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Apple often releases a slate of new products in the Spring each year (usually April or May), and the latest rumors suggest 2025 will be no exception.

But with the iPhone SE 4 and M4 MacBook Air seemingly on the horizon, will there be a big Apple event soon or will we see its new products announced separately? We've rounded up the latest rumors here to let you know when to expect Apple's next big launches.

While a repeat of Apple's previous Spring events (like 'Spring Loaded' from 2021) is possible, a more divided flurry of announcements is currently looking more likely according to the latest speculation. Read on to find out the latest on the iPhone SE 4 and more...

When could the Apple event happen?

(Image credit: Apple)

Rumors have been swirling for months that Apple has new products on the way early in 2025, including an iPhone SE, M4 MacBook Air, new iPad Air and 10.9-inch iPad. Sources like Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman have claimed that they’re all either imminent or will be released in the coming weeks.

Apple has frequently held shows in March over the past few years – for example, in 2022 its 'Peek Performance' event saw the arrival of a new iPhone SE and iPad Air. But there's no guarantee that an event like that will happen this year and the odds are increasingly on there being separate announcements.

Apple also often releases new devices using press releases, and it might decide to do the same in 2025 for the likes of the iPhone SE 4. As the time ticks down towards March, we can expect more rumors to emerge as to whether an actual event is in the cards. For now, here's the latest on all of its apparently imminent launches...

iPhone SE 4

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Foxartbox)

Apple has been heavily rumored to be planning a new iPhone SE, and according to many sources its release date is imminent.

The latest rumors (below) suggest the iPhone SE 4 could land in the week beginning February 17. And this could be the most significant update to the iPhone SE in years – potentially in its entire history.

New iPhone SE is still imminent and should be announced by next week, when the company is holding product briefings. Tomorrow there’s a smaller announcement. For Friday, Apple Vision Pro reps are reaching out to press about an announcement to come. M4 MacBook Air within weeks. https://t.co/UabWO0shjYFebruary 12, 2025

It’s expected to lose the chunky bezels and Home button featuring Touch ID, replacing them with an all-screen look and Face ID for a more modern appearance.

Apparently, we could get a 6.1-inch OLED display, a single 48MP rear camera, Apple’s latest A18 chip and 8GB of memory (which in turn will enable Apple Intelligence), and a USB-C port. It is also said to debut Apple’s in-house 5G modem chip.

• Rumored launch: during the week beginning February 17

M4 MacBook Air

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

After Apple brought the M4 chip to the MacBook Pro late last year. The MacBook Air is next in line, and it’s widely touted to be launching this spring. The M4 chip could only bring modest performance improvements, though, according to rumors.

Don’t expect much else, either: no chassis redesign, no new display, no improved speakers. This will probably be a simple chip upgrade – nothing to sniff at given Apple silicon’s impressive power, but don’t hold your breath for a wide-ranging overhaul.

• Rumored launch: sometime between March and April

iPad Air and 11th-generation iPad

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

A recent rumor claimed that new versions of the iPad Air and the 10.9-inch iPad are on the way, meaning they could well be included as part of a spring event hosted by Apple – or simply announced in a more low-key fashion.

Like the iPhone SE 4, the iPad 11 has also been claimed to be getting Apple’s own 5G modem. And with Apple pushing to bring Apple Intelligence to as many of its products as possible, that also feels like a likely inclusion. It would require a new chip, with the A17 Pro being put forward as a possibility to match the one found in the iPad mini.

The iPad Air, meanwhile, will feature “internal improvements,” Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman claims. It could also get a new Magic Keyboard for both the 11-inch and 13-inch sizes.

• Rumored launch: sometime in March or April

Apple HomePod with screen

(Image credit: Future)

Apple last updated the HomePod in 2023, but a third-generation model could be coming as soon as this spring – although the latest rumors have thrown that into doubt.

Apparently, the new HomePod may feature Siri voice control and Apple Intelligence, although other sources have called that into question. It might also have an OLED display measuring six or seven inches across, which would give it a new degree of functionality not seen in previous models.

There seems to be a lot of crossover with reports that Apple is working on a home hub device that combines a speaker with a display. Apple is also said to be working on a speaker with a screen that is attached to a robotic arm.

Whether these will be branded as HomePod devices isn’t clear, but they’re still at least several months away from being announced, Mark Gurman believes. So don't expect HomePod news until well after the rumored iPhone SE 4, M3 MacBook Air, new iPad Air and iPad 11.

• Rumored launch: sometime in 2025, but still apparently "months away from shipping"

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• IBM’s Finance & Operations teams given an ultimatum
• Workers told they must move closer or accept a redundancy package
• Expensive workers will be replaced with new recruits and AI

IBM has enforced a revised return-to-office policy among its Finance & Operations business unit amid what is being referred to as a ‘soft layoff.’

Reports have claimed employees were told they must relocate to be nearer to the company’s North Carolina or New York offices in order to comply with the new office-working mandate.

Workers who prefer not to do so will need to leave the company, but they will be able to do so with a severance package worth up to six months, depending on how long they’ve been with IBM.

IBM using RTO to enact layoffs

“Managers are being instructed to reach out to their reports and ask that they relocate to Raleigh, North Carolina, or Poughkeepsie, New York,” a spokesperson told The Register. “They must be within 50 miles of one of these sites. If not, they will be offered severance.”

The Finance & Operations division is believed to be a costly unit for the company, but by employing artificial intelligence, fresh graduates and outsourcing, IBM hopes to cut costs. The Register’s source confirmed: “AI will be implemented to replace people.”

IBM’s RTO mandate pushed employees to resign voluntarily, therefore avoiding formal layoffs, hence the ‘soft layoff’ description. Previously, the company has faced allegations of discrimination when enacting layoffs.

Two weeks ago, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report: “Three years ago, we laid out a vision for a faster-growing, more-profitable IBM. I'm proud of the work the IBM team has done to meet or exceed our commitments.” Quarterly and full-year revenue were up just 1% year-over-year. IBM hopes for 5% revenue growth in 2025.

Looking ahead, The Register’s source said: “The CEO has stated, 'thousands will be replaced by AI,' and management is currently heavily focused on cuts and slowing hiring.”

TechRadar Pro has asked IBM to confirm its revised policy and the impacts of artificial intelligence on its workforce, but we did not receive an immediate response.

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• Gemini Live is now more conversational and dynamic
• It is better at translating languages and recognizing accents
• Screen sharing and video streaming abilities coming soon

If you’re a Gemini user then you will have got an email from Google today explaining that the company is rolling out an upgrade to Gemini Live to “make your conversations even more dynamic and engaging”.

The new upgrade to Gemini Live (the conversational part of Gemini that you can access on your phone) means that conversations have been improved by an, as yet unnamed, new AI model. Google stated that “With our latest model, Live can better understand multiple languages, dialects or accents in a single Live chat and help with your translation needs.”

As well as the February improvements to Gemini Live, Google also shared its plans for Gemini Live updates in the future. “In the coming months, we'll also bring screen sharing and live video streaming capabilities to Live.”

These updates hint at a multimodal future for Gemini Live on all devices, where it has the ability to be aware of what is being shown on the screen so you can ask questions about it. Currently that’s something it can’t do unless you own a Pixel 9 phone, which has the ability to "Talk live about this". While you can upload a photo to standard Gemini, and ask the chatbot questions about it, or ask it to extract text from the photo, you can’t do this in Live mode yet unless you won a Pixel 9.

Privacy update

Along with this new ability, Google also issued a privacy update, stating that “As part of providing this improved experience, your audio, video and screenshares are stored in your Gemini Apps activity (if it's on). Your data in Gemini Apps activity is deleted per your auto-delete period in that setting, and you can manage and delete your Gemini Apps activity at any time.”

To access your Gemini Apps activity, on a mobile device, click on your profile picture in the Gemini app, then on ‘Gemini Apps Activity’. In a web browser, go to gemini.google.com and click on the menu icon, then Activity.

(Image credit: Future, Lance Ulanoff) What I found

A conversation being more dynamic is pretty subjective, so I tried a conversation with the new update today and while it went smoothly it was hard to pinpoint what the differences were, if any, from my previous interactions with Gemini Live. Sure, Gemini sounded perky and eager to please, but it has always sounded like that.

The next thing I wanted to try was the translation abilities. I tried to get Gemini Live to translate words from Spanish to English, but more often than not it kept telling me that the word I was saying was the name of a town in California or Michigan, rather than translating it into English! However, that may have more to do with my Spanish pronunciation than Gemini’s ability to translate from Spanish to English. To be fair, I did manage to get it to understand some of my Spanish words and translate them eventually.

So, I’d say it was hard to pinpoint exactly what had changed in Live, however when I asked Gemini Live when it was last updated, it said February 2025, so I’m assuming it has been updated with the new abilities. Let me know in the comments if you’ve noticed that your Gemini chats feel more alive compared to before.

Gemini LIve is currently free to all Android users, but also available in the Gemini app to iPhone users who are subscribed to Gemini Advanced.

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