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We don’t even have a release date for Virgin River season 7 yet, but Netflix has confirmed Virgin River season 8 has already been green lit. The news comes a week after season 7 wrapped shooting, officially making it the longest-running original series on the streaming service.

Though we won’t expect season 8 episodes to hit until 2026 at the earliest, season 7 is rumored to be released sometime in December 2025. That means we only have season 6 to speculate about where the show could go. The most recent season left us with five key cliffhangers to lead us into future episodes, and it’s unknown how many of these will go as far as season 8.

However, the early renewal news for the hit Netflix show now makes one of the cliffhangers from season 6 a lot less likely to be true, and that’s good news for anyone who hasn’t been a fan of the surrogate storyline.

Mel and Jack might not become parents until Virgin River season 8

Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson) in Virgin River. (Image credit: Netflix)

Season 6 finally saw Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson) get married, and Mel later approached by client Marley (Rachel Drance) with a proposition to be a surrogate mother for the couple. Marley’s prospective parents have pulled out of the adoption process at the last minute, with Marlely wanting Mel and Jack to have the baby instead. We haven’t seen Mel answer yet, but the news of season 8 means the plot could be less likely to stick.

Why? We’ve got two reasons. Firstly, Netflix loves to drag out the small-town storylines we’re desperate to see – not even a year has passed in Virgin River in the entire six seasons we’ve seen on screen. Secondly, the original book series tells us Mel and Jack ended up having two biological children, and making a family of four takes time.

Put our pessimistic hats on and we might think Marley’s proposition turns out to be nothing, or in a worst case scenario, a total scam. However, this very well might be the case. The dramatic u-turn happened in the last few moments of season 6 episode 10, with absolutely nothing earlier on in the series to indicate there were any problems. The expectant couple were overly protective of Marley during her clinic sessions with Mel, so this could easily be a moment of panic that gets resolved later down the line.

On top of this, we also want to see Mel win. She’s struggled with fertility issues since before she arrived in town, suffering yet another miscarriage in season 5. Fans will want to see Mel and Jack have children on their own terms (biologically or not) more than anything, and Netflix would be incredibly cruel to not deliver on that.

As Virgin River season 7 fast approaches (we hope), keep your eyes on the surrogacy storyline. My money is on it coming to nothing, making Virgin River season 8 the crowning moment of our romantic leads finally starting a family.

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President Trump is heading to Texas to assess the damage caused by the recent flooding. DOGE has access to a database that controls government payments to farmers and ranchers.

(Image credit: Brandon Bell)

Large scavengers like vultures and hyenas do an important job in protecting human health. But studies show these creatures are on the decline, allowing for the emergence of disease.

(Image credit: Anuwar Hazarika/NurPhoto)

• Screen-free pistol-grip digital camcorder with analog controls
• Four vintage-inspired filters and choice of aspect ratios
• Available for pre-order at the end of July

Call me a sucker for nostalgia, but I’ve long wanted to get my hands on the stunning 21st-century version of the Kodak Super 8. Now I’ve found something that scratches that itch without also requiring that I re-mortgage my house: the Camp Snap CS-8.

Kodak revived the Super 8 last year, and it’s truly something special. Supplied in a custom-made, foam-lined Pelican Case complete with a 6mm detachable lens and pack of 8mm film, the 2024 take on the iconic 1960s home movie camera can shoot both analog and digital video and is built to unimpeachable standards. The eye-watering asking price reflects that: it’s $5,495 (about £4,350 / AU$8,450).

For those seeking a shot of nostalgia at a cost that’s slightly more palatable, there’s always the option to pick up a good-quality original Super 8 camera on the used market. Or you could just go cheap, modern and digital. Step forward the Camp Snap CS-8, launching very soon.

The Camp Snap CS-8 camcorder in action. (Image credit: Camp Snap)

If the name rings a bell, it’s because the Redondo Beach, California-based company Camp Snap is responsible for the tiny, distinctive and vibrant screen-free point-and-shoot digital camera of the same moniker. Oozing retro appeal and available in a wide array of color finishes, this stripped-back 8MP snapper is yours for a mere $69.95 / £53 / $110 (and it resides in our best cameras for kids guide).

Clearly, the Camp Snap doesn’t perform like a Fujifilm X100IV – and in fact it’s kind of missing the point to even compare it to what most of us might class as a “real” digital camera. But I think its simplicity and “in the moment” unobtrusiveness makes it perfect for documenting weekend trips or handing to kids who want to take their first steps into photography. The basicness is the point.

Pull that trigger

The Camp Snap CS-8 brings that very same low-tech, high-charm approach to a digital camcorder. Just like the film-based Super 8s of the past, it sports a pistol grip design – recording when the user holds down the trigger, stopping when it’s released. A small electronic viewfinder is used, but only for live composition – there are no menus to browse through and no options to play back recordings in-camera. Recording are instead stored on SD card (a 4GB card comes in the box) and can be off-loaded to your computer via USB-C (also used to recharge the battery).

The CS-8 comes with a selection of digital filters and the option to flip between four aspect ratios (1:1, 9:16, 4:3 or 16:9) on the fly, allowing users to record social media-ready clips without the need for any off-camera editing. All of these are selected by twisting old-fashioned dials, while remaining battery life and storage can be tracked by glancing at the needle’s position on an analog meter. The only other control you need to worry about are the buttons that zoom in and out.

The price for all this retro gorgeousness? A mere $199 (which currently converts to around £147 / AU$302), with pre-orders starting on 31 July. That's just 3.64% the price of Kodak's new Super 8.

Camp Snap has sent us a CS-8 to test, so look out for a full, in-depth review here very soon. Do let us know in the comments if there’s anything in particular you’d like us to focus on when we take this old-timer camcorder for a test drive.

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Low-code and no-code platforms have made app development dramatically more accessible. But building something like the NHS App is less about front-end design and more about navigating one of the most sensitive, fragmented, and highly regulated data environments in the UK.

At a glance, the NHS App looks like any other app on our phones - a convenient interface to access services like test results or prescriptions. But under the hood, it relies on deeply complex, often outdated infrastructure. The technology that enables these patient-facing features must operate across hundreds of hospitals, each with bespoke, often decades-old systems.

This isn’t unique to healthcare. Engineers in aerospace, nuclear, and defense face similar integration challenges: mission-critical systems built in the 1970s are still live today, propped up by domain experts who have spent decades maintaining them. You can’t simply switch these systems off. Instead, transformation must work around them - modernizing from within, while preserving service continuity.

The backend challenge

Digital transformation in healthcare is notoriously fragmented. While most CTOs can relate to the frustrations of siloed systems, healthcare takes it to another level. The latest generation, and leading Electronic Health Record in the UK by market size (25%) was optimistically named for the then upcoming Y2K.

Other systems are even older and, in some cases, the only people who understand how they work have delayed retirement simply to keep things running. These highly complex systems are the backbone to hospitals and are mission critical.

This creates significant challenges for integration. There are no clean REST APIs, no plug-and-play data gateways. Interfacing with these systems means navigating non-standard specs - or worse, undocumented ones - requiring deep insider knowledge. Where standards do exist (HL7, FHIR) these are implemented differently by different vendors, and even with a single vendor they can be used differently in practice within the same hospital.

Often, the first step in any digital upgrade is untangling the gap between what a system technically holds and what’s happening on the ground. Data must be restructured, manipulated, and reconciled to reflect real-world operations.

Even once technical integration is achieved, operational change can lag behind. True transformation requires hospitals to rethink ways of working - not just adopt new tools. The real value lies in modernizing these practices: digitizing clinic-by-clinic workflows, automating manual processes, and aligning backend data structures with real-life patient journeys.

This backend burden is a familiar challenge across industries. In sectors from banking to logistics, transformation depends on stitching together legacy platforms with modern APIs, standardizing data, and building for edge cases. But healthcare adds further complexity: regulatory scrutiny, cash-strapped buyers, disconnected procurement processes, and risk-averse culture all slow innovation.

Even promising national tools like the NHS’s Federated Data Platform (FDP) have struggled to gain traction - not because the technology isn’t sound, but because it's often a “solution in search of a problem,” lacking alignment with day-to-day clinical needs.

Trust and adoption

Front-end platforms like the NHS App can support behavioral change - but only when the experience is consistent, intuitive, and clearly beneficial. Users don’t trust apps because they exist. They trust apps because they deliver.

In many sectors, this is well understood. Healthcare could learn from Amazon’s model of standardized checkout, delivery and returns. We need to move from a patchwork of inconsistent user experiences to a standardized, streamlined journey that just works, regardless of provider.

The NHS App is, rightly, pushing hard for a common user experience. It looks like a single app but is actually powered by numerous 3rd party platforms that do the last mile integration to the myriads of hospital systems. The NHS App has a well-defined design system, and every platform it integrates with undergoes user journey testing for each new feature added to the app.

Even with this approach, there is a limit to how consistent it can feel for a patient. Getting full coverage of all appointments in the country will eventually require integrating with all the old legacy systems and not all of those support modern workflows.

Right now, patient experience with the NHS App varies widely. Some trusts enable rich appointment functionality. Others don’t. Some integrate with backend systems; others rely on manual workarounds. This inconsistency creates friction - and undermines adoption.

System-wide integration

The NHS App is a valuable interface - but it currently only accounts for 16% of patient interactions. The real work lies behind the scenes: integrating ancient systems, transforming operational practices, and ensuring that clinical and admin teams can trust and use the data in front of them.

Time will tell if the government’s plans to ramp up the app’s functionality as part of its 10 Year Plan will be successful.

This isn’t a healthcare-specific lesson. For developers building systems in any regulated, data-sensitive industry, the message is the same: front-end transformation is only possible when backend systems are integrated, legacy infrastructure is respected (but modernized), and user trust is earned through consistency.

Ultimately, scaling change isn’t about the app. It’s about what happens before the user ever opens it.

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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

• Future Apple Watch models might use AI to detect health issues
• Apple believes this approach is more accurate than traditional sensors
• But it raises questions over the privacy of your sensitive health data

There’s a lot of doom and gloom surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) these days, and it’s justified in many cases. But one area where AI can potentially make a hugely positive impact is in healthcare, and it looks like Apple is considering whether machine learning power can bolster health metrics in future Apple Watch models. There’s no guarantee it’ll make it into a finished product, but if it does, it could upend how you manage your wellbeing through the wearable.

That idea comes from a recent research paper published by Apple's Machine Learning Research arm. There, the company states that a new AI model trained on Apple Watch behavioral data is able to predict a wide array of health ailments. Impressively, Apple claims that the model is able to detect these conditions more accurately than the sensors you’ll typically find in many of the best smartwatches today.

While traditional wrist-based health analytics work by scanning real-time data directly provided to them by your wearable’s sensors, the AI model is instead able to spot patterns in the way you exercise, move and sleep. It then uses that information to identify any potential issues with your wellbeing.

Apple says that its AI model – dubbed the Wearable Behavior Model, or WBM – is particularly good at recognizing the signs of pregnancy, where it achieved up to 92% accuracy when combined with biometric data.

The model was also a strong performer when it came to determining static health states – such as whether you’re taking beta blockers – and transient health conditions like sleep quality.

Potential controversy ahead

(Image credit: Apple)

AI models have generated a lot of controversy over the ways they are trained, with journalists, artists and more arguing that their works have been used without permission by AI companies. How does Apple’s reputation for watertight privacy controls square with this concern when it comes to the Apple Watch’s AI model?

Well, the model’s training data apparently came from Apple’s Heart and Movement Study, where 160,000 participants voluntarily shared their health data through iPhones and Apple Watches. Over 2.5 billion hours of data were used to shape the model, and it was tested across 57 different health-related tasks.

Still, there remain significant privacy concerns over the combination of AI and health analytics, such as when it comes to pregnancy data. With reproductive rights being rolled back in many places, the idea of this kind of information being fed into an opaque AI algorithm – even one produced by privacy champion Apple – will be an uncomfortable prospect for many.

It also comes at a time when United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to “make America healthy again” by encouraging every American to own a wearable within four years. How will AI figure in such a plan? We don’t know for sure, but if Apple’s AI makes it into the Apple Watch, we could soon find out.

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Jamilah, Zaynah and Latifah McBryde grew up wrestling one another in Buffalo, N.Y. Coaches recognized their talent, but they couldn't wear the required wrestling singlet due to their faith.

Cross-border payments have long carried the promise of something bigger than convenience. They imagine a more connected financial world—one where distance doesn’t delay progress, and borders don’t slow the movement of capital. As global commerce expands and digital economies accelerate, it becomes more urgent that we fully realize this vision and take advantage of the enormous benefits it affords.

But while we work towards this promise, we must manage complexities in getting there: fragmented systems, a patchwork of compliance requirements, and often, slow manual processes that can threaten to erode trust and efficiency.

It’s exactly here that agentic AI can have an impact. Not just by automating these manual processes, but by introducing intelligence and adaptability at the heart of payment infrastructure.

Smarter Systems for a Faster, Fairer Flow of Funds

Agentic AI refers to systems capable of independent decision-making, learning, and acting within defined objectives. Unlike traditional automation, which follows predetermined rules, agentic AI can work autonomously, responding to new data or situations in real time. In the context of cross-border payments, that adaptability opens up a range of opportunities.

Consider the coordination involved in sending money between countries: a single transaction might pass through multiple partners, banking systems, currencies, and regulatory frameworks.

When everything works perfectly, the process feels seamless. But when something goes wrong—delays, failed compliance checks, technical errors—resolution typically requires human intervention. Logs must be pulled. Partners contacted. Systems checked.

Agentic AI has the potential to radically speed up that process.

Intelligent systems trained on payment corridors, transaction histories, and partner system behaviors can flag issues early, pinpoint the likely causes, and suggest fixes fast. Instead of starting every investigation from scratch, agents can work alongside AI models that have already done the legwork, making operations more responsive and far less dependent on time-consuming manual deep dives.

Integration Without the Bottleneck

Another long-standing friction point for cross-border payments enterprises is the challenge of integrating new partners. Every integration means studying APIs, aligning data structures, and ensuring compatibility. It’s a time-consuming process that slows down innovation and expansion.

Agentic AI can simplify this. By learning the patterns and structures behind common integration workflows, it can assist in parsing APIs, mapping connections, and reducing the manual overhead typically required. This results in faster partner onboarding, more agile ecosystems, and a much smoother path to scalability.

This also rebalances the cost-benefit analysis for smaller institutions or partners looking to join global networks. Lowering the technical barriers means broader access—and broader access strengthens the entire system.

Compliance That Moves at the Speed of AI

No discussion of payments, especially international ones - is complete without compliance. From sanctions screening to AML checks, compliance teams face growing pressure to review increasing volumes of alerts with limited time and resources. And in many cases, today’s systems still rely on rigid rulesets that generate large numbers of false positives, overwhelming reviewers.

Agentic AI offers a way to improve both speed and accuracy. These models can learn from human decisions over time, categorizing alerts more effectively, recognizing patterns that traditional systems miss, and escalating only when needed. Crucially, AI doesn’t need to act alone. A layered approach, where multiple AI agents validate each other’s conclusions - can build greater confidence and traceability into the decision-making process.

To be clear: this isn’t about removing humans from the loop. It’s about giving them better tools - augmenting expert judgment with analysis that is both faster and broader in scope.

Laying the Data Groundwork

Of course, none of this works without good data. Agentic AI, like any system, is only as strong as the information it’s trained on. And for many financial institutions, the data challenge is real: important insights are locked in silos, scattered across SaaS platforms, legacy systems, and poorly indexed databases.

To take full advantage of intelligent systems, businesses need to invest in the foundational work: structured, unified data repositories that make relevant information accessible and usable. That means not only cleaning the data, but also breaking down internal barriers to visibility, rethinking fragmented architectures in favor of shared intelligence layers.

This will also reshape how financial firms choose and deploy their tech stacks. Stitching together dozens of narrow SaaS platforms may no longer be sustainable in a world where AI needs a full picture to function effectively. The focus will likely move toward more integrated environments, purpose-built for intelligent orchestration.

Even in these environments, agentic AI isn’t a silver bullet, but it is a powerful lever. Used wisely, it can help build payment systems that are faster, more reliable, and more inclusive. It can reduce the time it takes to connect with a new market, resolve an issue, or adapt to a regulatory change. And as the technology matures, cost barriers will fall, accessibility will rise, and open-source alternatives will drive further innovation.

Ultimately, this isn’t just about smarter or faster transactions, it’s about making the financial infrastructure of the future more human in its outcomes: more responsive, more accessible, and more aligned with the needs of real people moving money across borders every day.

The infrastructure we build today will define the shape of tomorrow’s financial landscape. And with agentic AI in the mix, that landscape has the potential to be more open, more intelligent, and more connected than ever before.

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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

• Security researchers found nine flaws across two Ruckus products
• The flaws have not yet been patched, so users should beware
• Users advised to limit access to the wireless management environments

Almost a dozen vulnerabilities have been found in two Ruckus Networks products which could be abused to take full control over the network environments they operate in.

Ruckus Networks (formerly Ruckus Wireless) is a networking gear manufacturer, whose products include Virtual Smart Zone (vSZ) and Ruckus Network Director (RND).

VSZ is a virtualized network controller that manages Ruckus access points and switches. It is usually used by medium to large enterprises for centralized control, scalability, and advanced Wi-Fi management features. RND, on the other hand, is a centralized network management platform used for deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of large-scale Ruckus wired and wireless networks.

Meaningful disruption

At press time, the vulnerabilities remain unpatched, putting countless businesses at risk.

According to Noam Moshe from Claroty’s research arm Team82, these two carried nine vulnerabilities:

• CVE-2025-44957 – hardcoded secrets in vSZ that allow bypassing authentication and admin-level access using crafted HTTP headers and valid API keys
• CVE-2025-44962 – path traversal in vSZ that allows arbitrary file reads for authenticated users
• CVE-2025-44954 – vSZ has hardcoded default public/private SSH keys that allows anyone to connect to vulnerable devices with root access
• CVE-2025-44960 – vSZ has an API route with a user-controlled parameter that isn't sanitized, allowing execution of arbitrary operating system commands
• CVE-2025-44961 – command injection in vSZ allows an authenticated user to supply an unsanitized IP address to an OS command
• CVE-2025-44963 – RND uses a hardcoded backend JWT secret key, allowing anyone with it to forge valid admin session tokens
• CVE-2025-44955 – RND includes a "jailed" environment with a built-in jailbreak using a weak, hardcoded password to gain root access
• CVE-2025-6243 – RND includes a root-privileged user (sshuser) with hardcoded public/private SSH keys that allow root access
• CVE-2025-44958 – RND encrypts stored passwords with a hardcoded weak secret key and can return them in plaintext if compromised

Moshe reported his findings to Carnegie Mellon University’s CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC), who confirmed that the flaws can be abused to cause meaningful disruption to businesses.

“Impact of these vulnerabilities vary from information leakage to total compromise of the wireless environment managed by the affected products. As an example, an attacker with network access to Ruckus Wireless vSZ can exploit CVE-2025-44954 to gain full administrator access that will lead to total compromise of the vSZ wireless management environment,” the organization explained.

“Furthermore, multiple vulnerabilities can be chained to create chained attacks that can allow the attacker to combine attacks to bypass any security controls that prevent only specific attacks.”

Severity scores have not yet been assigned, and Ruckus has not yet come forward with a patch.

Therefore, to mitigate the risk, CERT/CC advises network admins to limit access to the wireless management environments using the affected products, allowing a limited set of trusted users and their authenticated clients to manage Ruckus infrastructure through a secure protocol.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Apple’s M5 MacBook Pro might have been delayed until 2026
• No reason has been given for the apparent postponement
• It means Apple might launch two MacBook Pro models next year

For the last few years, Apple has launched a new MacBook Pro in the fall like clockwork – but this year, that could all change. That’s because a new report has claimed that the M5 MacBook Pro might be pushed back to early 2026, with Apple supposedly “internally targeting” that date instead of the regular late-year release window.

The surprising news comes from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, who has been a reliable source of Apple leaks and rumors in the past. Gurman’s latest report contradicts his earlier reporting, which suggested that the M5 MacBook Pro would be unveiled near the tail end of 2025. That implies that something has changed Apple’s mind on when to push the new laptop into the limelight.

Gurman hasn’t provided a reason for the delay, so the cause of Apple’s decision is anyone’s guess. That said, the reporter noted that the timing is “fluid,” which suggests there’s a chance that the next MacBook Pro could make an appearance before this 2025 is over.

Still, launching a MacBook Pro early in the year is not without precedent, as the M2 MacBook Pro, for example, was released in January 2023. Still, that model has been the exception in the Apple silicon era, with the M1, M3 and M4 MacBook Pro editions all coming out in the fall.

Disappointing delays

(Image credit: Future)

What could be causing this delay? Gurman didn’t offer any hints here, and it’s not immediately clear what Apple’s thought process might be.

The M5 MacBook Pro is likely to be a minor update, with new Apple’s M5 chip being the main differentiator between it and the M4 MacBook Pro. That means issues with the chip could be one of the main reasons for the delay. Alternatively, Apple might simply be holding the device over until 2026 for sales reasons.

Next year could be a big one for the MacBook Pro, with a redesigned model expected to arrive in late 2026. This version is slated to come with a new design and an OLED display, marking the biggest update to the MacBook Pro since the last overhaul in 2021.

But with the M5 MacBook Pro potentially creeping into 2026, we’ll have to see whether the OLED MacBook Pro also gets punted into the long grass as a result.

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• There have been rumors of a Galaxy AI subscription
• Samsung has just confirmed many features will stay free
• But it's not clear how Galaxy AI may evolve in the future

Samsung certainly hasn't been shy about stuffing AI features into its phones and other devices in recent years, and there has been some uncertainty over whether these features might eventually cost money – but we now have a bit more clarity.

Speaking to Android Police at this week's Galaxy Unpacked event, a Samsung representative said that Galaxy AI features that are "on your phone by default" are always going to be available for free.

That includes Live Translate, Note Assist, Zoom Nightography, Writing Assist, Drawing Assist, Now Brief, and the Audio Eraser. There's a full list here of everything you get, AI-wise, when you buy a new Samsung phone or tablet.

What's not immediately clear is which AI features might not be covered – at the moment, there aren't any Galaxy AI add-ons that don't come bundled with devices, though perhaps we might see some introduced in the future.

The Gemini model

Samsung has introduced numerous AI features (Image credit: Samsung)

There is of course a freemium model to the Gemini AI assistant that now appears on most Android devices, including Samsung phones and tablets. Paying for Google AI Pro or Google AI Ultra gets you more features and access to better AI models.

Google AI Pro starts at $19.99 / £18.99 / AU$32.99 and includes extras such as 2TB of Google cloud storage, but you often get a few months free. If you buy one of the Google Pixel 9 phones, you get a full year of use before you have to start paying.

The newly-announced Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 come with six months free, and clearly Google is hoping that by the time that free period is up, you won't be able to live without all the AI goodness you get with a subscription.

Samsung has dropped hints about introducing a Samsung Health subscription package, granting you extra features for a monthly fee, so it's possible that some additional AI tools might be included in that – though we'll have to wait and see.

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• Samsung says it didn't give the Z Fold 7 a bigger battery because users wanted it to prioritize other features
• Instead, the company prioritized improving the cameras, making the phone thinner, and giving it a wider cover screen
• However, with silicon-carbon battery tech now available, it seems like the company could still have upgraded the battery too

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is an upgrade on the previous model in numerous ways, but one notable area where Samsung hasn’t made any improvements is the battery capacity, with both phones having a 4,400mAh unit.

This is especially odd as the battery capacity was one of the main things the company did improve on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 – and now Samsung has explained its reasoning.

Speaking to SamMobile, the company has claimed that in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, a bigger battery was the most-wanted feature by users, but with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, there were other priorities from foldable fans, including “better cameras, a thinner and lighter body, and a wider cover screen.”

But we’re not entirely convinced by this explanation for a few reasons. First off, 4,400mAh really is a very low capacity for a phone of this size, with the much smaller Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra for example having a far larger 5,000mAh battery.

So the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could certainly have done with a larger battery, and with the phone now being longer and wider (thanks to its larger screens) Samsung surely could have found space for a bigger battery if it hadn’t chosen to further slim the phone down instead.

The best of both worlds

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

But Samsung didn’t even necessarily need to choose between a thinner phone and a bigger battery. That's because some handsets – including the OnePlus 13 and the foldable Honor Magic V5 – now use silicon-carbon batteries.

This type of battery tech allows you to increase the battery capacity without increasing its size, and it’s a tech that Samsung is reportedly considering using for the Galaxy S26 series – a line of phones that’s arguably less in need of this, since the Samsung Galaxy S25 series already have decent battery capacities for their screen sizes.

So why couldn’t Samsung offer this tech in the Galaxy Z Fold 7? Perhaps it’s a matter of cost, with a silicon-carbon battery possibly pushing the price up. Or perhaps Samsung is exhibiting an abundance of caution in increasing capacities, so as not to risk a repeat of the widespread battery issues faced by the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

The good news at least is that if Samsung really is considering silicon-carbon batteries for the Galaxy S25 line then the same tech may well be used for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 – it’s just a shame we'll have to wait another year to possibly get it.

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New Disney+ movies have been non-existent for a month. Finally, though, the streamer's latest film drought is over, albeit thanks to the debut of a new Disney Channel Original Movie in Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires.

But, fear not, Disney+ user, because more new movies will land on one of the world's best streaming services next week, too. In short: I'll be updating this article again very, very soon. In the meantime, if none of the forthcoming films are of interest to you, our best Disney+ movies article is full of great recommendations for you to check out instead. So, read that after you've perused what's on offer in this guide.

New Disney+ movies: JulyZombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires

Release date: July 11
Runtimes: 88 minutes
Age rating: TV-G (US); U (UK)
Directors: Paul Hoen
Main cast: Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Kylee Russell, Chandler Kinney, Malachi Barton, Freya Skye, Julian Lerner, Swayam Bhatia, Mekonnen Knife, Lisa Chappell, and Jonno Roberts
Rotten Tomatoes (RT) score: TBC (critics); TBC (audiences)

• Watch Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires on Disney+

New Disney+ movies: JuneSnow White

Release date: June 11
Runtimes: 114 minutes
Age rating: PG (US); 9+ (UK)
Directors: Marc Webb
Main cast: Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, and Andrew Burnap
Rotten Tomatoes (RT) score: 40% (critics); 71% (audiences)

• Watch 2025's Snow White on Disney+

New Disney+ movies: coming soon

The Amateur will join Disney+'s movie library very soon (Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

As I mentioned in this article's intro, there'll be a few more new Disney+ movies to enjoy in the weeks to come. Here's a brief guide on all of the films you'll be able to stream soon:

• Transformers – July 16 (UK only)
• Transformers: Age of Extinction – July 16 (UK only)
• Transformers: The Last Knight – July 16 (UK only)
• The Amateur – July 17

Not up for a movie? Try our pick of the best Disney+ shows, see if there's a free Disney+ trial available, read our Disney+ review, or get the lowdown on the new Disney+ price points.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 launches later today (July 11), adding Phoenix as a brand new Duelist. So far, we've gotten an in-depth look at the new Heroe's moveset, a deep dive into the changes to Team Ups and Daily Missions, and an extended peek at Klyntar: Celestial Husk, the game's new Domination map.

Now that we're in the build-up of Marvel Rivals' next season, I'll be providing you with up-to-date information on what's set to change, what you'll want to be focusing on before the end of Season 2.5, and some impressions from my time playing the new season as part of my early access preview opportunity, provided by NetEase.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 key info

Release date and time
Downtime
Phoenix info
Patch notes
New map
Ranked changes
Jump to our live coverage as it happens

NetEase has now unveiled the next season of Marvel Rivals, revealing Phoenix's kit and a deep dive into the latest patch notes and balance changes. There's a new Domination map to look at, too: the dark and mysterious lair of the villainous Knull. If my early impressions are correct, Season 3 seriously shakes up the meta, especially with its new Team Ups for Heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine.

Having covered Season 2.5's launch and the subsequent balancing changes to the Hero roster, I'm excited to see what this new era of Marvel Rivals has in store. I'm especially interested to see how the new release schedule - NetEase is planning a new Season, and two new Heroes every two months - will change the pace of the meta.

I've now spent hundreds of hours playing Marvel Rivals Competitive Mode since launch, mostly focusing on Vanguard Heroes like Venom and Magneto, but I'm really liking how Phoenix is shaping up pre-release. Here's the launch of Marvel Rivals Season 3 as it happens. I'll be covering today's launch live, focusing on downtime, and the early hours of Season 3.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 - cut to the chase

Looking for a quick overview? Here are the most important parts of Season 3 to know about:

• Start time: July 11 at 7AM EDT / 4AM PDT / 12PM BST (after estimated downtime)
• New Hero: Phoenix
• New map: Klyntar - Celestial Husk (Domination)
• Season event: Milano Repair Logs
• Hero balancing
• New Rank Rewards: Phoenix - Emerald Flames

Marvel Rivals Season 3 release date and estimated release time

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals Season 3 will launch on July 11, 2025. Downtime is set for 5AM EDT / 2AM PDT / 10AM BST, and based on previous season launches, I expect it to last for two hours. Given this estimate, here's when I'd expect Season 3 to launch in your timezone:

• 4am PDT
• 7am EDT
• 12pm BST
• 1pm CEST
• 8pm JST
• 9pm AEST

Marvel Rivals Season 3 downtime is estimated to be 1-2 hours, though this is subject to change. I'll be keeping this part of our live coverage updated during downtime, and will bring you the news when servers go back online. You can also look out for intel over on the Marvel Rivals Twitter account.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 downtime

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals Season 3 will arrive after a period of downtime. This is scheduled to kick in at the following time (depending on your timezone):

• 2am PDT
• 5am EDT
• 10am BST
• 11am CEST
• 6pm JST
• 7pm AEST

Downtime has typically lasted two hours for major seasonal updates to Marvel Rivals. I expect it to be the same this time around, but stay tuned on the live section of this blog for updates on when the game is back online.

Marvel Rivals Phoenix

(Image credit: NetEase Games)

Phoenix is the new Hero being added to Marvel Rivals Season 3. I've spent some time trying her out, and she's primarily a ranged Duelist who works best at off-angles. She plays very similarly to Hela, though she has a passive that stacks damage on enemies with each hit. Every third hit triggers an explosion, dealing extra damage, hitting any nearby enemies, and tagging them with a Phoenix mark. As such, Phoenix is extremely powerful when teams are grouped together.

As a Duelist, Phoenix is mostly about dealing huge amounts of damage, though she's also great at removing enemy support passives, like Loki clones and Peni Parker mines. Her Ultimate is a dive bomb attack that deals massive area of effect damage, before returning Phoenix back to where she triggered the ability. She has a new Team Up called Primal Flame, which buffs Wolverine with flame damage with his Primal Leap. She also applies life steal to Wolverine's attacks once the Team Up is triggered.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 patch notes

(Image credit: NetEase)

NetEase has now released the full patch notes for Marvel Rivals Season 3. It outlines loads of bug fixes for Heroes like The Thing, as well as some adjustments to in-game audio. There's a new Accessory system too, allowing players to add small trinkets onto Heroes for an extra bit of visual flair. You can read the full patch notes here.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 new map

(Image credit: NetEase)

Klyntar: Celestial Husk is a brand new Domination map set to be added in Marvel Rivals Season 3. It's the setting for Knull's seasonal debut, and it's appropriately menacing. Having spent some time with the new map, I can say it's one of the best released so far. There are tight corridors, perfect for the new Hero Phoenix to unleash AoE attacks in. There are a lot of possibilities for flanking and off-angle play, too. You can check out a deep dive on the new map in the video below:

Marvel Rivals Ranked changes

(Image credit: NetEase)

In addition to the new map, there's going to be a rank reset for Competitive Mode players. If you've reached the higher tiers in Marvel Rivals, expect to be demoted by seven tiers upon the launch of Season 3. This means that if you hit Diamond I in Season 2.5, you'll go down to Gold II. There's a Phoenix skin to earn by reaching Gold by the end of this season, and several nameplates and banners corresponding to Grandmaster, Celestial, and Eternity ranks.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 live coverageWelcome to my live coverage of Marvel Rivals Season 3

(Image credit: NetEase)

Welcome to my live coverage of Marvel Rivals Season 3, which is set to launch after some downtime. There's just fifteen minutes until the game goes offline, so let's get started.

Downtime triggers in ten minutes

Marvel Rivals will go offline in just 10 minutes, as downtime kicks in. This should last for around two hours, but I’ll keep you updated on exactly when the game is back online.

Costume Coins can be exchanged for skins

(Image credit: NetEase)

You can earn a Costume Coin from the Venom’s Bubble Pop event, which ends once Season 3 downtime kicks in (you can make it a permanent event by purchasing the Premium version). This can be exchanged for a number of skins in the Store. I went with the Master of Magnetism skin for Magneto.

Spider-Man gets his flame on

(Image credit: NetEase)

Ever-Flaming Bond is a brand new Team Up between Human Torch and Spider-Man. It adds a Burn-Tracer to Spidey’s kit, tagging enemies and sending Spider-Man flipping backwards. This opens up new combo abilities, and in my testing, it’s really powerful.

Season 3.5 will launch August 8

(Image credit: NetEase)

Thanks to the Season 3 roadmap provided by NetEase yesterday (July 10), we know that Season 3.5 will launch on August 8. This should be when we get Blade as a new Hero, and he's rumored to be a Duelist.

Marvel Rivals will go offline any minute

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals downtime is scheduled to end in a few minutes. You should still be able to finish off your match, but expect to be kicked from servers too.

Downtime has started

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals is now offline. I’ll still be covering the launch of the new season live, so let’s continue with some of the key changes coming once things go back online.

Marvel Rivals Server connection failed error message

When trying to load up Marvel Rivals, you'll now be greeted with the 'Server connection failed' error message. Don't worry, this us ask normal for downtime.

Phoenix could be a real contender

(Image credit: NetEase)

Phoenix will be added as a new Hero in Season 3, and she’s already feeling very powerful indeed. Her primary damage output is especially high, and thanks to a dash ability, she can escape dive characters quite easily.

• Experienced developers actually spent 19% more time on tasks when using AI, report claims
• Only 44% of AI-generated code was accepted by experienced devs
• Developers still feel that work is easier when using AI

Artificial intelligence might not be as beneficial to experienced developers as it can be to new starters and those who are yet to develop the right skills, new research has claimed.

A new study conducted by Model Evaluation & Threat Research (METR) has suggested not only were the developers less optimistic following the study, but the real results suggest that artificial intelligence actually ended up costing them time.

The study found that, with AI, devs spent less time coding and searching, and more time prompting, waiting for and more important, reviewing, AI output. An estimated 9% of the time went on reviewing and cleaning up AI-generated code, with AI suggestions generally on the right tracks but lacking in detail.

AI doesn't actually same these developers any time

Observing 16 experienced developers across 246 real tasks on mature open-source projects that they were already familiar with, the researchers analyzed how the developers interacted with popular tools from Cursor Pro and Claude 3.5/3.7.

Before the study, the 16 experienced developers in question expected to reduce task time by 24% when combining their expertise with artificial intelligence. After the study, they reduced their expectations to just 20%, however post-study analysis reveals that AI actually increased task completion time by 19%.

Fewer than 44% of the suggestions were accepted, with a lack of contextual knowledge and large, complex repositories highlighted as contributing factors to developer slowdown. The study also noted that the experienced developers already had high familiarity with the codebases, leaving little room for AI to add any meaningful value.

However, despite the slowdown, many developers continued to use AI tools because the work felt less effortful, making work feel more pleasant even if it wasn't faster.

"AI capabilities in the wild may be lower than results on commonly used benchmarks may suggest," the research paper concludes.

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A federal judge in New Hampshire on Thursday blocked President Trump's executive order that attempted to end birthright citizenship, stopping it from taking effect anywhere in the U.S.

Elon Musk and his AI have been busy. So has the TSA. And Amazon. Were you paying attention?

The 900-page tax and policy package fulfills several key campaign promises but also makes cuts that could boot millions from health care and food assistance programs.

(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski)

Rep. Robert Garcia is the new top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. At a moment when his party is craving more confrontation with President Trump, he says he's ready to lean into the fray.

(Image credit: Rod Lamkey)