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What is a TV? Does it have to be a giant panel that commands your attention in the living room, something attached to a wall, or nestled between wall-filling bookshelves? Not necessarily and if Apple is truly reconsidering making its own TV set, it may want to take a long hard look at its surging iPad Pro 13-inch.

Apple's interest in TV sets and television in general, goes back at least 15 years, and was solidified in some ways when Apple CEO Tim Cook told interviewers that Apple considered TVs "an area of incredible interest." He also noted that there was a grand vision for TV at the Cupertino tech company. In hindsight, Cook may have been describing Apple's work on its Apple TV 4K streaming box, which was followed by the TV app (which replaced Video and the iTunes video library and store) and even Apple TV Plus, which introduced the world to Apple's vision for streaming content. All in all, that does add up to something of a grand vision.

We find ourselves turning back the channel to talk yet again about the possibility of an Apple TV set because of a short item in Bloomberg's Power On newsletter that indicates building an "Apple" branded TV set is "something it’s evaluating." I know, it's not a lot to go on and I've long been skeptical of the concept of an Apple Television, a seemingly unnecessary piece of Apple hardware.

I'm not denying the market allure. Statista puts the worldwide TV set revenue opportunity at nearly $100b. On the other hand, the market is anticipated to have less than 1% annual growth over the next five years. That might be because people buy these big TV sets and then hold onto them for at least 5 years. Apple likes markets that either promise annuities like its services – including Apple TV Plus – and ones that have built-in upgrade cycles like the best iPhones. TV sets by themselves provide neither.

It's been the iPad all along

Let's say, for argument's sake, Apple is back on the TV hunt. It might be doing so not only because an Apple TV is the perfect delivery system for its own streaming service but also because of the obvious in-home branding opportunity: a big TV set with a visible Apple logo on the chin base. I believe, though, that the real reason Apple might be considering making a TV set is because it's been selling millions of small TV screens to Apple fans for years.

Going all the way back to 2013, a survey found that more than 50% of respondents were watching TV on an iPad. At the time, the entertainment was squeezed into a 9.7-inch LCD. As I write this, my TV is playing next to me. It's a 13-inch iPad Pro with a fantastic Ultra Retina XDR Tandem OLED (two stacked OLED panels) with clear and quite loud four-speaker audio that even supports spatial audio.

With my iPad, I have access to Apple TV Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Max, and my new live-broadcast favorite Sling TV. Obviously, this is an able TV set and, if the rumors are true, larger tandem OLED displays are coming. Near term they might still top out at 30 inches, so Apple will probably stick to the tech currently used in the best OLED TVs for… oh let's call it the 65-inch iPad Pro Max.

The limits

My iPad Pro 13, which is outselling all other iPads, is not a perfect TV. It lacks a remote (it's a touchscreen!) and HDMI ports for, say, attaching a gaming console. On an actual Apple TV in the form of a giant iPad, perhaps Apple should still avoid HDMI ports, bringing us fully into the cable-free streaming future – but it could add a separate connections box for anyone who needs them. This could even be wireless, like LG M-series OLED TVs, so you can keep a clean space around your TV. And you could use your iPhone as the remote by default. Admit it, you're already watching TV with your iPhone in your hand.

The benefit of the iPad Pro Max 65 inch as a TV set is that all the smarts are built in. It's already a gaming platform and, with support for all your key productivity apps, could also double as a giant workspace. It's already a smart home hub and might finally help people, if not fall in love with it, at least start adopting Apple Home in significant numbers. I even think the touchscreen TV could come in handy when you can't locate the remote, but I would recommend adding the ability to turn off the touchscreen.

Apple isn't, as I see it, far from building a TV set because it's been selling them for 13 years. The iPad is a TV and it's time for it to glow all the way up.

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• Microsoft gave the US government $150 million in cybersecurity tools
• The deal included the pricey Microsoft 365 Government G5
• Consultants accused of increasing dependency on Microsoft

As Microsoft looks to confront European antitrust regulator scrutiny, the company is also facing investigations over alleged business practices over the pond in the US.

It has been suggested Microsoft offered one of its most important customers, the US government, free services in order to keep it as a customer and stamp out competition.

A ProPublica report found the company pledged $150 million in cybersecurity services to the federal government during a 2021 White House summit led by President Joe Biden. Rumored to be internally known as the ‘White House Offer,’ Microsoft’s pledge would see federal agencies gain access to the Microsoft 365 Government G5 security suite, which includes security, compliance and collaboration features. G5 costs around 60% more than G3.

Microsoft accused of monopolizing US government contracts

Furthermore, Microsoft consultants working within the government’s agencies to assist with the implementation of the company’s tools reportedly created a dependency on its services, effectively making it more difficult for the US government to switch providers.

The White House Offer benefited Microsoft beyond the cybersecurity space, as well. By boosting adoption of its Azure cloud platform, Microsoft would be able to intensify its competition against Amazon Web Services, which accounts for the largest portion of the cloud pie.

Steve Faehl, Federal Security CTO for Microsoft, stated the company’s “sole goal during this period was to support an urgent request by the Administration to enhance the security posture of federal agencies who were continuously being targeted by sophisticated nation-state threat actors.”

A White House spokesperson sought to distance the government from Microsoft’s conduct: “This was a voluntary commitment made by Microsoft… and Microsoft alone was responsible for it.”

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• 2021 Twitch breach exposed sensitive data on thousands of users
• An investigation by the Turkish data protection watchdog concluded the company was to blame
• Twitch has to pay $58,000

Türkiye has fined Amazon $58,000 for the Twitch data breach in 2021 which affected thousands of Turkish nationals.

An anonymous hacker leaked the entirety of popular video game live streaming service Twitch, including its source code and personally identifiable information (PII) of its users. The leaked data was rolled into a 125 GB torrent, and its link was posted to the popular 4chan imageboard.

Since the breach was said to have affected Turkish citizens, the country’s Personal Data Protection Board (KVKK) opened up an investigation soon after the attack. In total, 35,274 Turkish nationals were affected, so KVKK imposed a 1.75 million lira fine for inadequate security and 250,000 lira for failing to report the breach.

Lumma and AMOS

The results of the investigation showed that the company, which was acquired by Amazon back in 2014 for $970 million in cash, “failed to take adequate security measures beforehand, addressing the issue only afterward.” What’s more, KVKK concluded that the company’s risk and threat assessment were “insufficient.”

At press time, Twitch was not commenting on the incident, however it did, at the time, downplay the importance of the breach, saying the attackers didn’t get their hands on the login credentials of users, suggesting that the threat was somewhat limited.

“Twitch passwords have not been exposed. We are also confident that systems that store Twitch login credentials, which are hashed with bcrypt, were not accessed, nor were full credit card numbers or ACH / bank information,” Twitch said.

At the time, it was reported the hacker wasn’t pleased with the community that had built around the service. and leaked the data in a bid to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space.”

Soon afterward, Twitch confirmed the breach, saying its team was “working with urgency” to understand the extent of the incident.

Via Reuters

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• AnnieMac says thousands of customers have had data stolen in breach

• AnnieMac says more than 170,000 people have had names and SSNs exposed
• New filing with the Maine Attorney General covers Summer 2023 hack
• The identity and motive of the attackers are unknown at this time

AnnieMac Home Mortgage has revealed suffering a data breach in which the sensitive data on hundreds of thousands of customers was exposed.

The mortgage company confirmed the information in a filing with the Maine Office of the Attorney General, saying it spotted “suspicious activity on certain systems” within its network on August 23, 2023.

Subsequent investigation determined that an unnamed attacker accessed the company’s IT infrastructure on August 21, and “viewed and/or copied certain files” from these systems.

No one claimed responsibility yet

These “certain files” held people’s full names and Social Security Numbers (SSN). A total of 171,074 individuals were affected by the incident.

This, arguably, isn’t that disruptive of a breach. Cybercriminals prefer databases with email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers, since they can use the information to impersonate other people, engage in spam and phishing, and more. There are not plenty of things they can do with just names and SSNs.

To tackle the incident, AnnieMac did what most victim organizations do these days - it employed a third-party forensics company, notified the police, mailed the affected people, and offered a year’s worth of identity theft protection and credit monitoring, via CyEx.

It also apologized, saying the “confidentiality, privacy, and security of personal information within our care are among AnnieMac’s highest priorities.”

We don’t know who stole the files. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the files are yet to pop up anywhere on the dark web.

AnnieMac Home Mortgage is a full-service mortgage lender that provides a wide range of home financing solutions, such as conventional loans, FHA loans, VA loans, USDA loans, and jumbo loans. With hundreds of thousands of customers, the company generates an estimated annual revenue of approximately $240 million.

Via The Register

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Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame review

The Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame is a true 2K picture frame that arrives at a sweet spot when it comes to cost. With a price tag of $159.99 / £149.99, it remains more affordable than many mid-market and premium frames, while offering pretty decent specs and admirable performance. And since it uses local storage, there are no ongoing subscription costs. In terms of return on investment, then, I’d argue it represents a pretty sweet deal.

Getting started with the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame is super easy. Once you’ve plugged it in and connected it to your Wi-Fi, you can scan a QR code to download the third-party Frameo app. Then all you need to do is press the 'Add a Friend' button on-screen, type the code that appears into the app and you can start sending images to your heart's content. Naturally, this also allows you to connect friends and family, so they can also add photos to your frame.

For anyone wary of uploading photos of their nearest and dearest to the cloud, there’s some good news here. The Pexar comes with 32GB of built-in storage, which should be plenty; that’s enough to store almost a quarter of my photos and I’ve been snapping them since 2010. Should you want more space, you can easily upgrade the frame’s storage – just add an SD card, USB-A or USB-C stick and you can add up to 1TB.

(Image credit: Future)

Adding photos is as easy as it is with many of the best digital photo frames, although there are some peculiarities. You can scroll through your whole phone’s image library or each album, either tapping on individual photos or selecting up to 10 at a time – if you want to upload more than this in one go, you’ll have to upgrade to Frameo+ for $1.99 / £0.99 a month or $16.99 / £7.99 a year. You’ll then have a chance to add captions, before selecting a circular focal area the Pexar will ensure remains framed in either portrait or landscape orientation. Note that you can’t resize this focal area, and sometimes it frames things oddly – honestly, I’d rather just have the option to crop each photo manually.

However, once images have been uploaded on the Pexar, they generally look sumptuous. Its 11-inch screen is true 2K, giving it an impressive 212 PPI pixel density that few frames can rival. You could potentially argue the screen is an odd aspect ratio; 5:3 is an unusual ratio for photos compared to 4:3 or 16:9, but I do actually find its slimline portrait and super-wide landscape format pretty striking, even if it does mean losing a little more of my snaps.

For showing off your pictures, the Pexar does an excellent job. Every image displays superb contrast, making my black-and-white photography really pop. Meanwhile, the color profile seems unerringly precise – the ochers and umbers of Fuerteventura’s stark landscape looked suitably brooding, while my close-up shots of rhododendrons at the arboretum were a riot of vivid purples, reds, oranges and yellows. Even by the iPhone’s very exacting color standards, the Pexar didn’t seem to struggle to match what I saw on my phone screen.

(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell)

The matte screen also makes images look super-realistic and feels nice to the touch. While it inevitably attracts the odd fingerprint, I can’t say I noticed all that many smears and smudges. Also, the anti-glare feature does a decent job of keeping reflected light from spoiling your snaps – although the British weather meant there wasn’t much direct sunlight during my testing period, so I was able to position the frame facing my large sash windows without it having a significant effect on the viewability of my photos.

You don’t just have to make do with static images, though: you can also share videos with the Pexar – although if you want these to be any longer than 15 seconds, you’ll again need to upgrade to Frameo+. And while I was skeptical about how these would translate to the screen, I was pleasantly surprised; color balance and contrast are solid, even if they don’t quite match the HDR brilliance of my iPhone 13 Pro’s display. Motion definitely isn’t 120Hz, but it’s fluid enough that your videos still look true to life. The only place it lets itself down is sound quality: as with TV screens, there’s been much less investment in the Pexar’s speakers and this is readily apparent. Most of my videos sounded echoey and unpleasant and, personally, I’d be happier just leaving the sound off entirely.

Generally speaking, the auto-rotate feature works well – when stand-mounted, you just pop out the magnetic stand, attach it to the other side of the frame, and place the frame down in its new orientation; images will spin to match. Wall-mounting is easy, too. You can hang it in either orientation using nails or picture hooks, although rotating it won’t be as easy using this mounting option – there’s no swivel mount here.

(Image credit: Future)

When it comes to the rest of its design, it looks smart. The white bezels around the screen give it a classy vibe and make it feel much more like a real photo frame and mount. Meanwhile, the black frame is nicely understated, purposely doing as little to distract from your photos as possible. Admittedly, I’m not super into the scored, textured effect that’s been applied to it, but you can only really see that very close-up and it does at least improve your grip when you pick it up.

Ultimately, the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame is a great compromise between picture quality and cost. For its relatively modest $159.99 / £149.99 price, you get a crisp 2K picture, decent color reproduction, and offline storage for added security. There are some limits: uploading a bulk lot of photos using the app will take a long time without a Frameo+ account; the aspect ratio is definitely unusual; and the built-in speakers aren't worth the bother. But that doesn’t change the fact that this digital photo frame offers far more than most others – and even some that cost a fair bit more – at this price.

(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell) Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame review: price & release date

• $159.99 / £149.99
• Launched in the US and UK September 5, 2024
• Frameo app free or $1.99 / £0.99 a month for Frameo+

The Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame was released on September 5, 2024, and is now available direct from the Pexar store, as well as from major retailers such as Amazon.

Retailing for $159.99 / £149.99, it sits somewhere in the middle of the market – it’s more expensive than cheap and cheerful options such as the 10-inch Aeezo Portrait 01, but it costs half the price of the premium Aura Walden.

One thing that’s worth factoring in is that you don’t need to pay for a cloud subscription to get started with the Pexar: its local storage means you can upload photos using the Frameo app for free. However, you may find you want to upgrade to Frameo+: for $1.99 / £0.99 a month or $16.99 / £7.99 a year, the upgraded tier will allow you to upload 100 photos at a time, rather than 10, and upload videos up to two-minutes long, rather than 15 seconds. It also provides access to cloud backups for your photos and allows you to browse the images sent to your Pexar through the smartphone app.

(Image credit: Future) Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame review: specs

(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell) Should I buy the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame? Buy it if…

You want really high resolution
The Pexar’s 2000 x 1200, 11-inch screen gives it a seriously impressive pixel density of 212 pixels per inch. Compare it to something like the 133 pixels per inch offered by the $299 / £299 Aura Walden, and you can see what a good deal the Pexar presents.

You’re concerned about your family’s privacy
With its offline storage, you don’t have to worry about whether your personal photos are vulnerable to interception in the cloud with this frame. This makes the Pexar a great choice for anyone with a family or who values peace of mind.

Don’t buy it if…

You want to show your snaps at their largest
While an 11-inch screen isn’t bad, there are larger frames out there. For example, the Vieunite Textura comes in at a whopping 27 inches, which is perfect for displaying art in larger rooms.

You want unlimited storage
On the flipside, the lack of cloud storage on offer here does mean that the Pexar’s total capacity is finite. You can add an extra 1TB via USB or SD card, so it’s unlikely to be a problem for most people; but it's something you’ll need to bear in mind if you want to drop a lifetime of photos on there.

Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame review: also consider

Aura Walden
The Aura Walden is a seriously attractive premium option, offering a larger 15.6-inch screen and a gorgeous finish to its mount and frame. Its app is also easy to use and it offers free unlimited cloud storage – which definitely gives it the edge over subscription-based products. It does come in at a much higher price though, and its lower pixel density does show off some pixelation at close range. Read our full Aura Walden review.

Aeezo Portrait 01
If you’re looking to spend a lot less, the $69.99 / £55.99 Aeezo Portrait 01 is likely your best option. It also utilizes the Frameo app to allow friends and family to share photos and videos and offers internal storage or the option to add an SD card / USB stick to give you more space. Unfortunately, it isn't as solid a performer as the Pexar: its 1280 x 800 pixel resolution is much lower and it’s much less bright at 227 nits. Read our full Pexar 11-inch review.

How I tested the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame

I tested the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame over a period of two weeks. I uploaded a variety of photos using the Frameo+ app and set up several other people so they could share photos with the frame as well.

I uploaded a range of images, including portraits and landscapes and everything from brightly colored shots of animals and flowers to black-and-white scenery. I also uploaded a series of videos to assess their resolution and refresh rate. I tried the frame in multiple positions around my home and the TechRadar office and changed its orientation between portrait and landscape.

I’m an experienced photographer, having spent many years shooting both on my Canon DSLR and my iPhone 16 Pro. I’ve taken over 40,000 photos over the years and have spent many years doing post-production on photos and preparing images for print, meaning I have a keen eye for how images should display to look as natural as possible.

• First reviewed: November 2024
• Read more about how we test

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The Samsung XR headset project has been an open secret for some time, but a new report suggests it has finally settled on a design we’ll see in 2025. The bad news? It could be landing later in the year than we’d like and might not be as ‘XR’ as we had hoped.

The report is from Wellsen XR Research from China, and has been shared by the likes of Samsung leaker @Jukanlosreve on social media. With the highlight being the Q3 2025 release date (that’ll be July, August, or September). Samsung usually hosts one of its Unpacked events in July for its foldables, so it’s possible it’ll slip its glasses into the mix for 2025 if we’re lucky.

As for what the specs will be capable of, the leaks don’t mention a display and the teased weight doesn’t leave room for one (unless Samsung has developed some super next-gen display tech). Overall, the specs sound remarkably similar to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses; Samsung’s glasses would apparently also be equipped with a Qualcomm AR 1 chipset, a 12MP camera sensor, and has a 155mAh battery capacity and a 50g weight – compared to Meta’s 154mAh battery and 48g weight.

The only difference this smart glasses clone can claim is it’ll reportedly rely on Google Gemini instead of Meta AI for its AI functionality. Though right now it doesn’t appear one option is significantly better than the other, so the race to the summit of our best smart glasses guide could be a tight one.

No XR, no problem?

(Image credit: Meta)

The lack of displays means these specs wouldn't really be XR – certainly not in the way the Meta Quest 3 is or the Meta Orion AR Glasses will be.

But it’s not necessarily the end of the world. While wired AR glasses – such as the Xreal Air 2 specs – are a delight, they aren’t faultless. They rinse the battery of the device they’re connected to, and they aren’t smart glasses you wear around casually – they’re best for when you’re sat down and want to watch a movie on a giant virtual screen.

The leaked Samsung glasses, as with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, are something you wear all the time. And thanks to their solid AI abilities and in-built speakers I’ve been using my pair of Meta glasses a lot more recently and loving it.

While I’d love Samsung to make an XR headset still, I’m not disappointed to hear they’re working on a different kind of smart glasses. And while all rumors should be taken with a pinch of salt the success of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses (and their lack of competition) does suggest there’s room for some rivals in the space.

We’ll have to wait and see what 2025 brings, but for Samsung it looks like it could be an exciting year with yet another major launch.

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• Infosys founder Narayama Murthy pushes need for working longer hours
• 70 hour work weeks are needed to grow productivity, he says
• Murthy says he worked 80 hour weeks until retirement

If you find yourself dreading the weekend and wishing you could work a double shift every day, you might be Infosys founder Narayama Murthy’s dream employee.

Hvaing already spoken out against the supposedly workshy youth of today, who protested against working long hours, the Indian tech boss has revealed he doesn’t  “believe in work-life balance”, and that he won’t budge in his thinking.

Murthy went on to hit out against the very concept of weekends, claiming the idea was a mistake, and that Indian citizens need to work longer hours.

Facing India’s challenges

When asked by CNBC-TV18 if his past controversial comments on a 70 hour work week were being misunderstood, Murthy assured that he means what he says.

He pointed to the 1986 swap from a 6-day standard work week, to the now standard 5 days as a disappointment, and claims he worked over 14 hours a day, six days a week until his retirement. Murthy, the father-in-law of recent ex-British PM, Rishi Sunak, says young people should look to post WW2 Japan and Germany, where determined, disciplined, and hardworking youngsters rebuilt the nations.

Interestingly, he doesn’t point to better productivity, happiness, or money for reasons to work a double shift every day, but rather because India needs young people to work hard to improve itself.

“I think in this country, we have to work very hard because there is no substitute for hard work even if you're the most intelligent guy” he said.

Murthy previously said that young people in India have an ‘enormous responsibility to work very, very hard’ in order to support future generations.

These comments were widely criticized, and excessive working hours have been found to harm productivity amongst workers rather than contributing to higher output. It’s well established that happier and healthier workers are more productive, so Murthy’s comments haven’t been entirely welcomed.

Infosys was also criticized heavily in April 2024 for forcing its employees to return to the office.

Its ‘In-Person Collab Weeks’ acted to force more workers to return to the office, with Infosys designating six weeks per quarter as mandatory in-person collaboration periods.

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(Image credit: John Hamilton)

• Mercedes targets over 460 miles on a single charge
• Upcoming CLA could be most efficient EV on sale next year
• Impressive in-car tech also promised

Mercedes has revealed more information about its hotly-anticipated CLA model, which is due to go on sale next year sporting either a compact 1.5-liter petrol hybrid powertrain or two battery electric options.

Although we were treated to a pretty stunning concept at last year’s IAA Mobility show in Munich, complete with masses of infotainment real estate and the promise of a new Mercedes-Benz Operating System, the company has remained tight-lipped about further details.

That is until now, as the German marque has recently revealed that it will be among the most efficient EVs on the market when it goes on sale next year. The company is targeting long range battery-to-wheel efficiency of 93%, as well as an overall battery efficiency of 5.2 miles per kWh.

Currently, only the 2025 Lucid Air Pure has been able to hit those heady heights, with a proposed figure of 5 miles per kWh, while Tesla is making wild claims that its Cybercab will be capable of 5.5kWh per mile travelled.

(Image credit: Mercedes-Benz)

Mercedes has taken learnings from its record-breaking VISION EQXX electric concept, which travelled 747 miles from Stuttgart, Germany to Silverstone, UK on a single charge. The German marque claims the CLA’s latest Electric Drive Unit (EDU 2.0) is heavily influenced by the hyper-miling concept vehicle.

The first car to ride on the new Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA), the upcoming CLA will boast 800V electrical architecture as standard, with the ability to charge at speeds of up to 320kW from the appropriate outlet.

What’s more, it has been revealed that it will also be among the first EVs to sport both CCS and the Tesla-derived NACS charging ports under one flap. This will allow North American customers to take advantage of the Tesla Supercharger network.

Available with either a 1.5-liter petrol/hybrid powertrain or the choice of two battery electric options, Mercedes-Benz is aiming for maximum efficiency and energy returns in both guises.

The largest 85kWh battery packs in the pure EV variants feature anodes that use both silicon oxide and graphite for greater energy density. The company claims that these larger battery models can travel in excess of 460-miles on a single charge.

As standard, the compact and highly efficient EDU 2.0 drive unit will send 268bhp to the rear wheels of the upcoming CLA, although all-wheel-drive 4Matic will introduce a second 107bhp motor on the front axle for improved performance and grip.

There is currently no word on pricing or an official release date, but the Mercedes C-Class has traditionally offered a more ‘entry-level’ pricing strategy than some of its more luxurious models.

Analysis: Efficiency is key

(Image credit: Mercedes-Benz)

Although arguably not the sexiest subject, Mercedes is right to focus its attention on electric vehicle efficiencies, as accurate range read-outs still separate some of the best EVs on sale from some of the worst.

The ability to travel over 450-miles on a single charge and potentially charge the upcoming CLA from 10-80% in just 10 minutes from the appropriate charger will ensure that even those with plenty of regular miles to cover are catered for.

The German marque has proven that it can make the technology work, with its EQXX rolling lab able to travel 628 miles across the Arabian desert at an impressive 8.4 miles per kWh efficiency level.

This concept has been more than an excellent PR opportunity, as the company has some of the learnings to inform engineering decisions in the CLA. It will use an air-to-air heat pump, for example, that is able to capture excess heat from the motor, battery, and ambient air to heat the cabin, rather than rely on an energy-sapping HVAC system to do all of the heavy lifting in colder climates.

Pair this with smaller battery options and a compact petrol hybrid and there will be options to suit most demands, while the promise of a dazzling array of infotainment tech (complete with a razor-sharp MBOS operating system) and the CLA could very well be one to watch.

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• Lego has revealed a new Horizon set
• It's based on the recently-released video game Lego Horizon Adventures
• It will launch on March 1, 2025

Toy manufacturer Lego has revealed an upcoming set based on the recently released Lego Horizon Adventures. It is the first Lego set based on the game.

Lego Horizon Adventures Aloy & Varl vs. Shell-Walker & Sawtooth will be available to buy from March 1 2025 and contains 768 pieces. It will cost $44.99 / £39.99 and includes two minifigures, one of protagonist Aloy and the other of her companion Varl.

The duo, armed with a bow and makeshift spear, are fighting off two large robotic creatures - the crab-like Shell-Walker and the Sawtooth. The Sawtooth is the largest construction in the set and measures over 7 inches / 18cm centimeters high.

The set seems like a great way to get your hands on the delightful Aloy mini-figure, which was previously only available as part of the considerably more expensive $89.99 / £79.99 Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck set.

“Lego Horizon Adventures has brought Aloy and the acclaimed Horizon universe to a new audience and we’ve been very pleased with the title’s launch,” said Guerrilla Games art director Roy Postma regarding the reveal of the toy. “This new set adds to that momentum by enabling players to build on the excitement of the adventures they experience in the game in true Lego fashion.”

"We’re delighted to bring one of gaming’s most beloved franchises to life in both physical and digital Lego brick form,” added Lego branded games product lead Kate Bryant. "We hope this latest set continues to fulfil our commitment to seamless play and empowers our fans to expand on their favourite games in their own, unique way."

Lego Horizon Adventures launched early this month on November 14 and is currently available for PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

In our Lego Horizon Adventures review, writer Sarah Thwaites praised the game’s visually stunning Lego world. The humor was also a high point, though the dull mechanics mean that the title ultimately “fails to reach its full potential.”

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