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• Kail Audio HP-1 are wireless cans with instant switching of sound profiles
• Sonic profiles for bass heavy and popular consumer headphones
• Launching at $199 / £199 / €199

If you make audio for other people to listen to, you'll know how much of a pain it is to have to listen on multiple things – but of course you have to do it, because what sounds good on neutral studio monitors may be too bassy on a pair of Beats or unclear on AirPods.

That means accumulating more earbuds and over-ears than you have ears, which is expensive and in my case, also very annoying because I keep forgetting to charge any of the wireless ones.

Kali Audio may have a better option.

Fancy a set of reference over-ear wireless headphones that can switch to emulate the sound of bassy boomers or airier options? That's what the new HP-1 promise to deliver, albeit without naming any specific headphone models. They're a single pair of headphones with a triple-split personality.

(Image credit: Kali Audio)Kali Audio HP-1: key features and price

The Kali Audio HP-1 headphones are over-ear closed-back headphones with 40mm drivers, a promised 18Hz to 22kHz frequency range, and custom digital signal processing profiles. There are three different voicings: studio, bass-heavy and consumer, all accessible instantly via the press of a button.

There's a 3.5mm cable (essential for latency-free music production) and the headphones also have Bluetooth for more relaxed listening, although that only has the basic standard SBC and AAC codecs, rather than aptX or LDAC.

Battery life is promised to be 40 hours, and there's active noise cancellation for when you need to take your show on the road.

The first profile, studio, is the standard one for these headphones, and it's designed to deliver transparent and accurate sound when you're mixing or mastering just like any other pair of studio headphones.

Press a button and you'll switch to the bass-heavy mode, which emulates the sound of "headphones that are popular with hip-hop and EDM creators and fans." The difference between fairly flat headphones and the more prominent low-end of such headphones can be quite considerable, so this setting should help keep the bass tight rather than overly boomy.

The third voicing is consumer, which according to Kali Audio "replicates the sound of popular headphones sold alongside phones and computers", which is an impressively phrased way of telling me you mean AirPods without telling me you mean AirPods.

I haven't tried these headphones, so I can't say how they compare to the headphones they aim to emulate. But if Kali has cracked the sound profiles, these could be a good option for those of us who can't afford to buy a library of headphones purely for mixing. With an official of $199 / £199 / €199 (about AU$400) the Kali Audio HP-1 are well within reach for bedroom producers as well as ones with bigger budgets.

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• Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection has been announced at the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase
• The third game in the series is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC via Steam
• The game has a 2026 release window

Capcom has announced the next game in its Monster Hunter Stories turn-based series, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection.

Revealed during the July 31 Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, Monster Hunter Stories 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC via Steam in 2026.

Capcom is calling the game "the next evolution of the turn-based, story-rich RPG series," and we got a first story trailer with an art style reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, teasing an open world, a new cast of characters, and Rathalos.

"Twin Rathalos, born in a twist of fate, ignite the long dormant flames of war between two fractured nations: Azuria and Vermeil," the trailer description reads.

"You are the heir to the kingdom of Azuria, and the sole Rathalos Rider in the kingdom. On the brink of war and amidst strange phenomena threatening the world, a life changing event propels you beyond the Meridian, and on an unforgettable journey in search of the truth."

Twisted Reflection follows the second game in the series, Wings of Ruin, which was released in 2021.

It will also be the first Monster Hunter Stories title to arrive on Nintendo Switch 2 since the console's release, and although the details haven't been confirmed, 60FPS is a possibility on the Switch 2 version.

There's no release date just yet, but the official website is now live.

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The Zootopia 2 trailer has given us our first look at Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde’s (Jason Bateman) next adventure almost a decade after the original movie was released. In a nutshell, the Disney movie will follow the pair hot on the trail of a mysterious snake who’s suddenly shown up in town, leading them to go undercover in parts of Zootopia they’ve never explored before.

Listen, we said ourselves that Zootopia deserved a sequel, but surely not like this. As you can tell from the premise above, Zootopia 2 is already setting itself up to be a total yawnfest. I’m not sure how much that matters to the target audience of under 10s, but hey, is there a more restless demographic than them? Regardless, I think our first few minutes of footage in the Zootopia 2 trailer highlight a real issue with Disney’s lack of creative engagement.

Following in the footsteps of Turning Red, Luca and Inside Out 2 (yes, I appreciate these are collaborations with Pixar), it feels as though the studio has regressed back to its cookie-cutter cash grab approach it took the minute it started churning out multiple streams of sequels and live-action adaptations. It’s not only the lack of imagination with the storyline that’s enraged me either – there was an obvious way to be much more playful with the title.

The Zootopia 2 trailer is lacklustre at best, but why isn’t the new movie called 2ootopia?

Disney, you can have this one on me. “2ootopia” (pronounced two-topia) would have been such a lightheartened way to inject some fun back into what is already proving to be a bit of a lazy launch. The internet often jokes about sequels adding their movie number into their title, and aside from us being genuinely hilarious on social media, it’s an easy win as far as kids films are concerned. Young’uns need something big and bold to grab onto, and that starts with the first impression a movie makes.

Surely I shouldn’t be telling the most famous animation company in the world how to do something as basic as their actual job, but if the best they have for Zootopia 2 is setting a snake loose in town only to be caught again, their heads clearly need a wobble. It’s certainly a nice touch to include a therapy session as a gentle way to poke fun at how we perceive ourselves – it’s definitely the strongest scene we’ve seen so far – but how much is that just superficial lip service? If you want to play it safe, it’s better to give the illusion of doing something different, and that’s exactly what Disney has done here.

I love Judy Hopps more than life itself, so I’m really hoping I’m wrong with my first-take assessment of the Zootopia 2 trailer. The fact I’ve not got a single interesting thing to say about it isn’t the best start, but at least there’s always time to rebrand to 2ootopia.

Zootopia 2 is set to be released on November 26, 2025.

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Some beach variety packs of High Noon hard seltzers included canned cocktails mislabeled as blue raspberry Celsius energy drinks. The affected lots were sent to retailers in six states last week.

(Image credit: Kevin Carter)

The hack-and-slash Nintendo Switch game expands on the lore of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

The enterprise software playbook seemed clear: everything moves to the cloud eventually. Applications, databases, storage: they all followed the same inevitable arc from on-premises to software-as-a-service.

But with the arrival and boom of artificial intelligence, we’re seeing a different story play out, one where the cloud is just one chapter rather than the entire book.

AI systems

AI workloads are fundamentally different beasts than the enterprise applications that defined the cloud migration wave. Traditional software scales predictably, processes data in batches, and can tolerate some latency.

AI systems are non-deterministic, require massive parallel processing, and often need to respond in real-time. These differences reshape the entire economic equation of where and how you run your infrastructure.

Take the challenge of long-running training jobs. Machine learning models don't train on schedule; they train until they converge. This could be hours, days, or weeks. Cloud providers excel at providing infrastructure at short notice, but GPU capacity at hyperscalers can be hard to get without a 1 year reservation.

The result is either paying for guaranteed capacity you might not fully use, or risking that your training job gets interrupted when using spot instances to reduce costs.

Then there's the inference challenge. Unlike web applications that might see traffic spikes during Black Friday, AI services often need to scale continuously as customer usage grows.

The token-based pricing models that govern large language models make this scaling unpredictable in ways that traditional per-request pricing never was. A single customer query might consume 10 tokens or 10,000, depending on the complexity of the response and the size of the context window.

Hybrid approaches

The most intriguing development involves companies discovering hybrid approaches that acknowledge these unique requirements rather than abandoning the cloud. They're using on-premises infrastructure for baseline, predictable workloads while leveraging cloud resources for genuine bursts of demand.

They're co-locating servers closer to users for latency-sensitive applications like conversational AI. They're finding that owning their core infrastructure gives them the stability to experiment more freely with cloud services for specific use cases.

This evolution is being accelerated by regulatory requirements that simply don't fit the cloud-first model. Financial services, healthcare, and government customers often cannot allow data to leave their premises.

For these sectors, on-premises or on-device inference represents a compliance requirement rather than a preference. Rather than being a limitation, this constraint is driving innovation in edge computing and specialized hardware that makes local AI deployment increasingly viable.

Infrastructure strategies

The cloud providers aren't standing still, of course. They're developing AI-specific services, improving GPU access, and creating new pricing models. But the fundamental mismatch between AI's resource requirements and traditional cloud economics suggests that the future won't be a simple rerun of the SaaS revolution.

Instead, we're heading toward a more nuanced landscape where different types of AI workloads find their natural homes. Experimentation and rapid prototyping will likely remain cloud-native. Production inference for established products might move closer to owned infrastructure. Training runs might split between cloud spot instances for cost efficiency and dedicated hardware for mission-critical model development.

The approach represents a step toward infrastructure strategies that match the actual needs of AI systems rather than forcing them into patterns designed for different types of computing

The most successful AI companies of the next decade will likely be those that think beyond the cloud-first assumptions and build infrastructure strategies as sophisticated as their algorithms.

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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

• The Lenovo Legion Go 2 prototype outperforms the MSI Claw A8 in new benchmark video
• The MSI Claw A8 featured in the video has 16GB of RAM, while the Legion Go 2 has 24GB
• The Legion Go 2 prototype is available on second-hand markets in China, but is yet to launch officially

As we approach the latter stages of 2025, several new contenders are about to enter the handheld gaming PC market – and one of them in particular, the Lenovo Legion Go 2, looks like it will make a big impression.

As highlighted by Notebookcheck, the Lenovo Legion Go 2 outperforms the MSI Claw A8, according to a new benchmark by Lines Tech on YouTube. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the MSI Claw A8 hit an average of 44 fps, while the Lenovo Legion Go 2 had an average of 49 fps, the latter producing 10% better performance.

The Lenovo Legion Go 2 is still in its prototype phase, but is already available on second-hand markets in China. Both the Legion Go 2 and the MSI Claw A8 utilize AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, so it may be a bit confusing to see the former managing better performance.

However, it more likely comes down to the amount of RAM available; the MSI Claw A8 has 16GB of RAM, while the Legion Go 2 has 24GB, which is 8GB more. It's also worth noting that the Legion Go 2 appears to have a placeholder CPU name, but we know it has the iGPU that's in the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, which is the Radeon 890M.

For the MSI Claw A8, there has strangely been been little to no mention of other configurations featuring less RAM than the marketed 24GB (according to the specifications on its website), which should specify 'up to 24GB', but that's beside the point.

Ultimately, based on these benchmarks, the Lenovo Legion Go 2's top configuration (featuring 32GB of RAM) should outperform the MSI Claw A8, which will be limited to a maximum of 24GB of RAM. We'll need to see both handhelds and their 24GB configurations go toe-to-toe, and if Lenovo's handheld still comes out as the victor, it could simply be due to better cooling.

Analysis: None of this will matter if availability and pricing are an issue...

Having seen the performance benchmarks of the MSI Claw A8 and personally used its similar counterpart, the MSI Claw 8 AI+, I've already written off a purchase of both handhelds. While the performance leap from AMD's Ryzen Z1 Extreme is evident, it's not enough to warrant such a huge expense, but that's slightly different with the Lenovo Legion Go 2.

If the Lenovo Legion Go 2 doesn't come with an unreasonable price tag above $1,000, I could see it being a big hit considering all the benefits. It has an 8.8-inch OLED screen powered by the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and if it wasn't clear already, the OLED display is what gives it an extra edge.

However, I'm worried that potential buyers will be thrown off by pricing – or worse, a lack of availability. Even if I had decided that I wanted to buy an MSI Claw 8 AI+, the stock would disappear before I could even come to a decision.

Fortunately, that's gradually changing with better availability at Currys in the UK, but I could easily see the same stock woes happening with the Claw A8 and the Lenovo Legion Go 2 when it eventually goes on sale.

Tariffs on Taiwan are certainly part of availability issues, as it's where both Lenovo and MSI manufacture these handhelds. Let's just hope it doesn't get out of hand...

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Cybersecurity and resilience are essential for organizations striving to succeed in our highly connected world. With threats evolving at a breakneck pace, protecting your business requires more than vigilance. It demands a two-pronged strategy. First, proactive measures that detect and stop attacks before they happen. Second, an agile, efficient response plan to recover quickly if a breach occurs.

Attack timelines in the age of AI

One of the most misunderstood aspects of cybersecurity attacks is timing. Cyberattacks don’t begin when they are detected; they begin when access is gained. This could be weeks or even months before detection. Studies suggest that the period between the disclosure and exploitation, known as “dwell time,” has a global median of around ten days.

During this window, attackers operate in stealth mode. They analyze your systems, identify gaps and vulnerabilities, and position themselves strategically for maximum impact. Attackers exploit this period to steal sensitive data, disrupt operations, or deploy malware like ransomware.

AI is now reshaping the timing and nature of these attacks. A report from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) highlights a growing disparity between organizations equipped to counter AI-enabled threats and those that falter. Worse, AI has the potential to increase the attack surface while simultaneously reducing dwell time. This dual dynamic will challenge even the most prepared defenders.

The cybersecurity challenges of AI

Every technological leap creates the potential for new security gaps, and AI is no exception. The NCSC stresses that improperly integrated AI systems can expose vulnerabilities. Generative AI (GenAI), for instance, introduces risks related to data exposure, manipulation of outputs, sensitive information leaks and even injection attacks that compromise AI tools.

Maintaining the integrity of training and inference data is becoming a growing challenge, especially as the data itself becomes more distributed. Nearly 90% of companies surveyed in Dell’s Global Data Protection Index recognize AI will generate large volumes of data requiring robust protection.

Yet 65% of organizations back up 50% or less of their total AI data, according to Enterprise Strategy Group research. This gap underscores an urgent need for comprehensive data protection strategies across infrastructure, operations and governance.

Proactive defense for staying ahead

The modern world of cyber threats requires smarter, faster responses. Proactive defense rooted in zero-trust principles is critical. Zero-trust is an architectural approach to security versus a product you buy.

It never trusts and always verifies legitimate business use before granting anyone or anything access to resources. This means that users and devices are not trusted by default, even if they’re connected to a permissioned network and even if they were previously verified.

The ability to advance cybersecurity maturity starts by focusing on three core practice areas: Reducing the attack surface, detecting and responding to threats, and recovering from potential breaches.

Reducing the attack surface literally means making it harder for the bad actors to get into your network, move around and cause havoc. This requires a multilayered approach, starting with penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to identify and address potential security gaps that require immediate attention.

Other critical measures include network segmentation, strict access controls, isolating sensitive data and consistently updating software and systems to mitigate exposure to risks.

Yet, no matter how much the attack surface is reduced, breaches can still occur. Therefore, companies must also work on the second pillar - actively identifying and addressing potential security incidents and malicious activities in the earliest stages of a breach.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions harness the power of AI to monitor systems in real time, detect unusual activity and neutralize threats before they escalate. Whether it’s anomalies like strange login patterns, unusual traffic or tampered data, these systems catch issues early.

When combined with automation, these systems can immediately isolate compromised accounts or devices, preventing malicious actors from moving deeper into the network.

But detection goes beyond surface anomalies. Advanced analytics analyze data to granular levels, identifying even subtle warning signs of potential attacks. These tools can detect when data has been tampered with, signaling a possible breach before damage spreads. This foresight is invaluable, enabling organizations to act well before a threat spirals into a full-blown crisis.

When proactive measures aren’t enough

No defense strategy is foolproof, even with strict security protocols and advanced detection systems in place. Human error, insider threats or highly sophisticated cyberattacks can and will occasionally bypass safeguards. When this happens, recovery becomes the priority. Recovery can be guided by three AI-powered principles: isolation, immutability and intelligence.

An isolated recovery environment protects critical backups by separating them from normal operations. This containment prevents attackers from tampering with the stored data. Additionally, ensuring immutability means that backups cannot be altered, deleted or overwritten, providing a secure foundation for restoration. Automated System Recovery (ASR), for example, is a hardware-based tool that can bring compromised servers back to their last functioning state quickly.

AI-powered intelligence completes the recovery process. Analytical tools can review data for signs of corruption, look for anomalies like unauthorized encryption or mass deletions, and assess damage levels across the entire digital infrastructure. These forensic insights help businesses better understand the severity and scope of an attack while preparing for future resilience.

Navigating the threat landscape

We’re at a pivotal juncture for cybersecurity. Attackers are using AI to outmaneuver defenses more rapidly than ever before, but defenders are equally equipped to use the same technology to strengthen their protection and response strategies. By focusing on reducing vulnerabilities, detecting threats early and empowering teams with recovery mechanisms, organizations can achieve a resilience that’s critical for both surviving and thriving in today’s threat environment.

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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

• Spotify is now asking UK users to prove their age to access mature content
• The age verification checks have been introduced as part of the UK's Online Safety Act
• Spotify says it will present age checks if it suspects you're under 13, but many users have encountered checks despite being over 18

Spotify has become the latest app to introduce measures designed to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, by asking users to undergo age verification checks if they want to view or listen to age-restricted content – and many users aren't happy.

The age verification requirements of the Online Safety Act came into effect from July 25, and requires all platforms that display adult content to verify that users are over 18 using age verification checks.

So far, we've seen the likes of Xbox, Discord and Reddit introduce age verification, and now Spotify has done the same.

Like Reddit and X, Spotify has partnered with digital identification firm Yoti, a service that conducts age checks via facial scanning. For Spotify users, Yoti will use different means of age verification, from facial scanning to requesting a scan of your ID if it suspects you’re under 13 (Spotify’s minimum age requirement).

It will also use algorithmic methods to estimate a user’s age. But Spotify is taking it a step further, stating in its official outline that "your account will be deactivated and eventually deleted" if you fail to complete the age verification process.

While Yoti claims that your data will be kept safe, and eventually deleted, the new requirement has caused uproar among some Spotify users.

Some have take to forums such as Reddit to point that young people are clever enough to find ways around the checks, for example using a VPN to change their location to somewhere other than the UK – and a minority have even threatened to revert to piracy (see below).

Comment from r/ukpoliticsWhat is ‘mature content’ in Spotify?

(Image credit: Spotify)

This is the burning question among Spotify fans, considering the music streaming app doesn't host X-rated content on the same scale as Reddit or X. However, the platform does have certain features that are aimed at mature users.

In Spotify's case, you may be asked to verify your age if you try to "access some Spotify content and features, like Music videos that are labeled as 18+ by rightsholders". This could also apply to podcasts that discuss mature content and songs with explicit lyrics.

Fortunately, there is a way back if your account becomes deactivated due to an inaccurate age estimation. According to Spotify, you'll get an email that "allows you to reactivate your account within 90 days of deactivation", after which you'll need to go through age verification checks again.

So far, I haven’t been asked to verify my age in the Spotify app when trying to access mature podcasts and music videos, but a handful of users on forums like Reddit who are well over the age of 18 have have already encountered the checks.

Why have VPNs become so popular?

Spotify has explained in various community posts that it isn't designed to work with VPNs, and you naturally shouldn't use one to circumvent any age verification checks.

However, this hasn't stopped free VPNs from dominating Apple's UK App Store, as internet users look to find ways of protecting their data from future breaches, or perhaps even bypass those checks completely.

VPNs work by encrypting your internet traffic, but they're not all equal – so it's important to choose the right one for your needs. Free VPNs can log an excessive amount of data, which could ultimately put your privacy at risk, and sometimes lack important security features.

If you're interested in some of the best deals for paid VPNs, you can check them out below.

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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 Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Thursday, July 31 (game #1284).

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 #1285) - hint #1 - VowelsHow 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 #1285) - hint #2 - repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #1285) - hint #3 - uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

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

Quordle today (game #1285) - 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 2.

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 #1285) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• A

• M

• W

• A

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

Quordle today (game #1285) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1285, are…

• ACTOR
• MEALY
• WIDTH
• ADOBE

Knowing letters that go together can really speed up a Quordle game. Today, it was predicting the TH in WIDTH and LY in MEALY that helped me complete the puzzle.

That said, I still struggled with a wrong guess, trying “maple” ahead of the correct word.

As with many Quordle games ADOBE was pulled from my memory bank of previous games – this is its third entry since March.

Daily Sequence today (game #1285) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1285, are…

• WREST
• LATHE
• ALERT
• WOULD

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1284, Thursday, 31 July: STYLE, VALET, AGONY, ALLOY
• Quordle #1283, Wednesday, 30 July: DEBAR, ADMIN, FOLIO, USAGE
• Quordle #1282, Tuesday, 29 July: BATCH, TOPIC, MURKY, BUNCH
• Quordle #1281, Monday, 28 July: CANDY, TRYST, SHIRT, FORGO
• Quordle #1280, Sunday, 27 July: TRAWL, BALER, PIANO, MINCE
• Quordle #1279, Saturday, 26 July: MUDDY, SAINT, KINKY, POLAR
• Quordle #1278, Friday, 25 July: BONUS, RESIN, CEDAR, MADAM
• Quordle #1277, Thursday, 24 July: AGONY, VERVE, GLEAN, MINUS
• Quordle #1276, Wednesday, 23 July: OZONE, PENCE, ROOMY, WIDER
• Quordle #1275, Tuesday, 22 July: OPTIC, GIDDY, VOCAL, ADULT
• Quordle #1274, Monday, 21 July: KNEED, SNAIL, PINTO, FEAST
• Quordle #1273, Sunday, 20 July: GRACE, COUNT, EGRET, GIANT
• Quordle #1272, Saturday, 19 July: EARLY, CLICK, TRITE, SPREE
• Quordle #1271, Friday, 18 July: CINCH, FOYER, FUDGE, TAFFY
• Quordle #1270, Thursday, 17 July: CRESS, TABOO, POWER, HATER
• Quordle #1269, Wednesday, 16 July: UNCLE, NADIR, REMIT, BROOM
• Quordle #1268, Tuesday, 15 July: VILLA, FLECK, TIGER, CRANE
• Quordle #1267, Monday, 14 July: SURGE, PIZZA, PAPER, POPPY
• Quordle #1266, Sunday, 13 July: KAYAK, DECRY, RUDDY, HATER

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections 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 Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, July 31 (game #781).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

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

NYT Connections today (game #782) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PLAYWRIGHT
• DEAN
• ROOF
• TEMPLE
• FACULTY
• WREATH
• BENT
• SWORD
• GARLAND
• HAY
• GIFT
• WRAP
• JACKPOT
• FLAIR
• GABLE
• ROAD

NYT Connections today (game #782) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Skill
• GREEN: A letter you cannot hear
• BLUE: Silver screen icons
• PURPLE: A striking word in common

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #782) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: APTITUDE 
• GREEN: SILENT "W" 
• BLUE: LEGENDS OF CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD 
• PURPLE: HIT THE ____ 

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

NYT Connections today (game #782) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #782, are…

• YELLOW: APTITUDE BENT, FACULTY, FLAIR, GIFT
• GREEN: SILENT "W" PLAYWRIGHT, SWORD, WRAP, WREATH
• BLUE: LEGENDS OF CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD DEAN, GABLE, GARLAND, TEMPLE
• PURPLE: HIT THE ____ HAY, JACKPOT, ROAD, ROOF

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

I made two mistakes today trying to put together what I thought was a group about plant-based decorations, based on the fact that GARLAND and WREATH were the only two words in common that I could see among the entire 16.

Thankfully, I abandoned this dead end and made the link between GABLE, DEAN and TEMPLE and then the four words featuring a silent W.

My struggles weren’t over, however, as I had JACKPOT instead of FACULTY before realizing my error after getting a “one away”. I hope it was a bit easier for you.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, July 31, game #781)

• YELLOW: FIRST___ AID, LADY, NATIONS, RESPONDER
• GREEN: SECOND___ COMING, FIDDLE, GUESS, NATURE
• BLUE: THIRD___ EYE, PARTY, RAIL, ROCK
• PURPLE: LAST___ LAUGH, RESORT, STRAW, SUPPER

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, July 31 (game #515).

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

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

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

NYT Strands today (game #516) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Slithering away

NYT Strands today (game #516) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• CANADA
• TRADER
• PLACE
• BEAT
• POLAR
• CLEAR

NYT Strands today (game #516) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 7 letters

NYT Strands today (game #516) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 5th row

Last side: right, 6th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #516) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #516, are…

• ADDER
• PYTHON
• COBRA
• MAMBA
• VIPER
• ANACONDA
• RATTLER
• SPANGRAM: SERPENT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

I was expecting the spangram to spell out “snake”, but that would be too obvious – and too short.

Despite knowing what we were searching for, I struggled to find a SERPENT – but did locate plenty of non-game words, so I took a hint to get me going. ADDER set me off and from there I slithered to glory.

That said, I did tap out “rattle” instead of RATTLER about three times before adding the R once there was no other option.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, July 31, game #515)

• SPONGE
• LAVA
• BUNDT
• FRUIT
• POUND
• CHEESE
• FUNNEL
• SPANGRAM: PIECE OF CAKE

What is NYT Strands?

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

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

• Meta and Stanford University researchers have developed new MR glasses
• These specs use holography to produce high-quality images
• Support rumors that Meta's headsets may turn into slim goggles

Meta’s newly published research gives us a glimpse at its future XR plans, and seemingly confirms it wants to make ultra-slim XR goggles.

That’s because Meta’s Reality Labs, alongside Stanford University, published a paper in Nature Photonics showcasing a prototype that uses holography and AI to create a super-slim mixed reality headset design.

The optical stack is just 3mm thick, and unlike other mixed reality headsets we’re used to – like the Meta Quest 3 – this design doesn’t layer stereoscopic images to create a sense of depth. Instead, it produces holograms that should look more realistic and be more natural to view.

That means it’s not only thin, but high-quality too – an important combination.

(Image credit: Suyeon Choi, Changwon Jang, Douglas Lanman and Gordon Wetzstein)

Now there’s still more work to be done. The prototype shown in the image above doesn’t look close to being a consumer-grade product that’s ready to hit store shelves.

What’s more, it doesn’t yet seem to pass what’s called the Visual Turing Test. This would be the point at which it's impossible to distinguish between a hologram and a real-world object, though that goal looks to be what Reality Labs and Stanford hope to eventually achieve.

Even with this technology still likely years (perhaps even a decade) from making it to a gadget you or I could go out and buy, the prototype’s design does showcase Meta’s desire to produce ultra-thin MR tech.

It lends credence to rumors that Meta’s next VR headset could be a pair of lightweight goggles about a fifth as heavy as the 515g Meta Quest 3.

Given these rumored goggles are believed to be coming in the next few years, they’ll likely avoid the experimental holography tech found in Meta and Stanford’s report, but if Meta were looking to trim weight and slim down the design further in future iterations, the research it’s conducting now would be a vital first step.

Are glasses and goggles the future? (Image credit: Oakley / Meta)

I, for one, am increasingly excited to see what XR tech Meta is cooking up.

It's Ray-Ban, and now Oakley, glasses have showcased the wild popularity that XR wearables can achieve if they find the sweet spot of comfort, utility, and price, with that first factor looking to be the most vital.

Meta’s other recent research into VR on the software side also highlights that a lighter headset would remove friction in keeping people immersed for hours on end.

This could lead to more meaningful productivity applications, but also more immersive and expansive gaming experiences, and other use cases I’m excited to see and try when the time is right.

For now, I'm content with my Meta Quest 3, but I can't deny it now looks a little like a boulder next to this 3 mm-thick prototype design.

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• Marvel is reportedly searching for young actors for its X-Men movie reboot
• A new report suggests it'll help the studio to make a cheaper film
• If true, it might solve a big mystery about one of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's cast members

A new report claims Marvel is looking for up-and-coming actors to play the X-Men in its rebooted film series – and, if true, it might solve one of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's biggest mysteries.

Per Variety, the comic giant is eyeing younger talent to portray its iconic mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). According to an agent Variety spoke to, Marvel's decision to hire rising stars and unknown quantities is part of a new cost-cutting mandate that aims to reduce how much it spends on new movies and Disney+ shows.

Variety's article, which was published yesterday (July 30), arrives just over a week after Marvel president Kevin Feige dropped the biggest hint yet over the type of star he wants to see in Marvel's untitled X-Men movie.

Speaking to Nerdist, Feige, who also confirmed Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier would direct the flick after online reports claimed he would, said: "Jake has his pulse on, shall we say, a younger demographic. Not – he’s younger than me, for sure – but he’s tapped into that in a way that I think is important. It was important for Thunderbolts* [and] much more important for X-Men, because X-Men, as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused, and cast movie."

What has Marvel's X-Men movie cast scouting got to do with Spider-Man 4?

Tom Holland's next Spider-Man film will reportedly see him appear opposite a Stranger Things star (Image credit: Sony Pictures/Marvel Entertainment)

In some ways, Marvel's plan to scour the globe for young talent to star in its forthcoming X-Men film is similar to 20th Century Fox's approach to its own X-Men movie series reboot. The latter saw the likes of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence appear in four films – starting with 2011's X-Men: First Class – that featured a younger version of Professor X, Magneto, and company.

If it's true that Marvel is seeking out less established actors to portray the MCU's X-Men to save cash, it almost certainly puts a pin in one cast rumor concerning Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Indeed, Spider-Man 4, which has just started filming in Glasgow, Scotland, is reportedly set to feature Sadie Sink in a substantial role alongside Tom Holland's webslinger.

There's been no official word on which character the Stranger Things actor might play – in fact, nobody close to the movie's production has actually confirmed that she's part of proceedings. Nevertheless, one of the prevailing theories about who she could portray is Jean Grey, aka one of the most famous mutants in Marvel's storied history.

In light of Marvel's apparent desire to keep costs down across the board on its X-Men project, though, the possibility that Sink could play Jean Grey is basically a non-starter.

Some Marvel fans think Sadie Sink has been hired to play Jean Grey in Spider-Man 4 (Image credit: Netflxi)

According to a Puck newsletter circulated to subscribers in January 2023, Sink is reportedly set to earn over $7 million for Stranger Things season 5. At the time, Puck indicated the wildly popular Netflix show's final season led to all of its main cast members receiving bumper new pay deals.

It's difficult to corroborate Puck's claim. However, if it's true, Sink's seven-figure sum for one of the best Netflix shows' final hurrah would basically rule her out of playing Jean Grey in the MCU. Marvel isn't going to pay Sink that kind of sum if it planned on hiring her to play the telekinetic superhuman across multiple projects. Feige has already confirmed the X-Men will be front and center of the MCU after Avengers: Secret Wars wraps up the Multiverse Saga. Whoever signs on to play one of mutant-kind, then, will be in it for the long haul and Marvel will ensure they're locked into deals that won't increase their pay 10-fold every time they appear.

Need more proof that hiring non-A-listers for comic book movies is the way to go from a financial perspective? Just look at Superman, the first DC Universe (DCU) movie released as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran's rebooted cinematic franchise. According to a July 2025 edition of the Puck newsletter, leading man David Corenswet was paid just $750,000 to appear in the DCU Chapter One film. That's around a tenth of what Sink is apparently going to earn from Stranger Things 5.

If Marvel wants to save money, it should follow DC Studios' lead and not fork out seven-figure sums to anyone it hires to play one of the X-Men. It's for that reason alone that I'm more than convinced than ever that Sink can't possibly be playing Jean Grey in Spider-Man's next big-screen adventure.

For more on Holland's next MCU project, including why Spider-Man 4's release date was delayed, check out my dedicated guide on Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Once you're done, peruse the below section for more X-Men, Spider-Man, and Marvel-based content.

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• Ingram Micro confirmed suffering a ransomware attack in July 2025
• It has been revealed this was the work of the SafePay group
• The threat actors have added Ingram Micro to its data leak site

Ingram Micro has been added to SafePay’s data leak site, meaning the countdown is on before terabytes of data are leaked on the dark web.

The company suffered a ransomware attack in July 2025 which forced it to shut down parts of its infrastructure. As a result, its business operations were disrupted, and some of its employees were sent to work from home.

The company managed to restore its services rather fast, but the miscreants made away with 3.5TB of sensitive data - which they are now threatening to release unless they are paid.

Terabytes of sensitive files

At the time of the attack, the company did not say who the threat actors were, but BleepingComputer has now uncovered the attack was the work of SafePay, a relatively young ransomware operation that emerged between September and November, 2024.

This group engages in the usual double-extortion tactics (encryption + data theft), and claims to have breached more than 200 organizations across different industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, or education.

At the time of the attack it was also said SafePay broke through the company’s GlobalProtect VPN platform, and left ransom notes on employee devices.

Among the systems impacted by the breach was Ingram Micro’s AI-powered Xvantage distribution platform, and the Impulse license provisioning platform.

Should SafePay leak Ingram Micro’s data, it could send ripples throughout the business world, since it is one of the biggest B2B service providers and technology distributors around, servicing more than 160,000 customers globally, including giants such as Apple, HP, and Cisco.

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I’ll tell you a secret: I hate having to update our best cheap tablets guide. Not because I’m against the idea of affordable tech slates, but because I feel bad about the state of the cheap tablet market in 2025.

There are really only a handful of lower-end tablets worth considering at the time of writing, and it’s a challenge to recommend anything other than Apple’s latest entry-level iPad, which, I acknowledge, stretches the definition of ‘affordable’ for most people.

I’m mildly relieved, then, that Huawei has announced a refreshed version of its impressive MatePad 11.5 tablet, which is coming to the UK and Europe later this month. This 11.5-inch slate will boast a 120Hz LCD display with a 2.5k resolution, 8GB of RAM, a sizeable 10,100mAh battery, and optional PaperMatte technology – all decent specs, if Huawei gets the price right.

Of course, if you’re living in the US, this is useless information. The MatePad 11.5 won’t be getting a truly global release, just as the OnePlus Pad Go and all of Xiaomi and Honor’s budget-friendly tabs are confined to British, European, and Asian markets.

The existing Huawei MatePad 11.5 (above) is getting a 2025 refresh (Image credit: Huawei)

For our friends across the pond (I’m writing this from London), the cheap tablet situation boils down to three, maybe four options. If you’re willing to stretch your budget a little further, the iPad 11-inch (2025) is, hands-down, one of the best tablets you can buy, while Android fans should consider the Lenovo Tab or Lenovo Idea Tab Pro. For a truly affordable option, I’d recommend one of Amazon’s cheap and cheerful Fire tablets.

That’s pretty much it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 never came to the US, and while US folks can buy the larger Galaxy Tab A9 Plus, that device launched almost two years ago, meaning it’s hard to recommend in 2025. There’s still no sign of the Galaxy Tab A10 series.

Similarly, the Google Pixel Tablet debuted in May 2023, and we haven’t heard a peep about a potential second-generation model (August’s Made by Google showcase will almost certainly be reserved for the Pixel 10 series and Pixel Watch 4).

The iPad 11-inch (2025) is our go-to cheap tablet recommendation (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

It’s nothing new for US buyers to have access to a smaller pool of products than those in other regions – good luck getting one of the best Xiaomi phones or best Oppo phones in the US – but the affordable tablet situation feels particularly dire.

There are, of course, various strategic, economic, and even political factors at play here, and I’m not going to weigh in on whether those factors are right or wrong. Rather, I’m just drawing attention to a problem I keep encountering when updating our best cheap tablets guide each month: there are very few options worth recommending to a global audience.

Apple’s entry-level iPad is an excellent device, but I’d like to see Google and Samsung have another proper crack at the lower end of the tablet market.

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Have your own summer movie night with these picks.

• Microsoft has put together a new promotional video
• It sells the benefits of transferring to a new PC via the Backup app
• However, it's also pushing a OneDrive subscription - but there are free alternatives

Microsoft has published a video clip explaining how easy it is to move to Windows 11 using the Backup app to transfer the contents of your Windows 10 PC (or most of them, anyway).

Windows Latest spotted the new promotional video from Microsoft, which shows how easy it is to make the leap to a Windows 11 PC (see the clip below).

As the video makes clear, you can back up your personal files, Windows settings, and also some apps from your Windows 10 PC, and transfer them directly to a Windows 11 computer with a minimum of fuss (or that's certainly the idea).

To be fair to Microsoft, it also points out the major catches with using the Windows Backup app to switch over to a Windows 11 PC.

Namely, that you can't take third-party apps with you - they need manual reinstallation, only Microsoft Store apps can be ported across (their pins will be where you left them, and you can click on the relevant pin to restore the application) - and that you're limited to 5GB of files by default.

The 5GB restriction is in place because the backup that the Windows app creates is stored on OneDrive - so you need an account with Microsoft's cloud storage locker. The basic free account only has 5GB of cloud storage, and if you want more space than that, you'll have to pay for a OneDrive subscription.

(Image credit: Foxy burrow / Shutterstock / Microsoft)Analysis: other options for PC migration that are free

So, the long and short of it is, if your data and settings amount to more than 5GB - which it surely will in most cases - then you'll need a paid plan on OneDrive to ensure Windows Backup transfers all your stuff to a new Windows 11 PC.

In other words, this is Microsoft not-so-subtly pushing a OneDrive subscription (not for the first time, I might add). If you want to use Microsoft's built-in Windows Backup facility, there's no alternative to OneDrive. If you paid for cloud storage with another provider, no choice is offered to use that cloud locker instead.

There are alternatives to paying for a OneDrive subscription to ensure you have enough capacity to fully transfer all your files across to a new PC. You can simply be very selective about what you choose for Microsoft's Backup app to port over, and perhaps leave out the hefty chunk of media files (photos, videos) you may have on your computer.

To move those media files, you could simply copy them to an external drive, and then subsequently manually move them onto the new PC - okay, that's a bit of extra hassle, but it's not really a big deal. (If you do go this route, don't delete the files from the original PC until they're safely transferred - always be sure to keep multiple copies. Never rely on a single copy of any data, as in this case, if the external drive goes kaput, you've lost everything).

Another eventual option will be the PC-to-PC migration feature in the Windows Backup app, which transfers your files over from one computer to another via the local network (with no need for OneDrive). However, you will need a Microsoft account still, and in this case, no apps will be ported across at all (not even those from the Microsoft Store).

Even so, this will be a useful alternative in the future, but the feature isn't live yet. Indeed, it hasn't appeared on Windows 10 at all - only the non-functional shell of the PC-to-PC migration feature is available on Windows 11 currently - but I can only presume that Microsoft is working to get this up and running before October 2025, when Windows 10 support runs dry.

Notably, though, Microsoft doesn't mention PC-to-PC migration in the above video clip. Fair enough, as noted, it isn't working yet, and so the company does have an excuse - but I'm betting there won't be an all-singing-and-dancing promotional video campaign for this feature when it debuts. Unlike pushing OneDrive, this isn't going to give Microsoft any immediate (potential) financial benefit.

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