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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 Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, August 4 (game #785).

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 #786) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• DRESS
• SCARF
• SUBWAY
• GRATE
• PIPE
• TUBE
• CUBE
• ZIP
• HEALTH
• CARROT
• UNDERGROUND
• SECRET
• METRO
• MINCE
• COAL
• SLICE

NYT Connections today (game #786) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Urban trains
• GREEN: Veg reduction 
• BLUE: The weather outside is frightful 
• PURPLE: Password 

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 #786) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: SUBTERRANEAN TRANSIT 
• GREEN: MAKE INTO SMALLER PIECES WHILE COOKING 
• BLUE: USED TO DECORATE A SNOWMAN 
• PURPLE: CODE 

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

NYT Connections today (game #786) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #786, are…

• YELLOW: SUBTERRANEAN TRANSIT METRO, SUBWAY, TUBE, UNDERGROUND
• GREEN: MAKE INTO SMALLER PIECES WHILE COOKING CUBE, GRATE, MINCE, SLICE
• BLUE: USED TO DECORATE A SNOWMAN CARROT, COAL, PIPE, SCARF
• PURPLE: CODE DRESS, HEALTH, SECRET, ZIP

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

Did you know that if you were to lay all the track of the New York SUBWAY from end to end it would reach all the way to Chicago?

I know this because today’s Connections sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole looking at the world’s SUBTERRANEAN TRANSIT systems.

Anyway, I digress. This was a great game for me, as I completed it in color order and it made me feel smarter than I am.

This was mainly down to getting USED TO DECORATE A SNOWMAN – giving us this group in the middle of the summer is a bit sneaky, but seeing COAL and CARROT beside each other I knew what we were looking for.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, August 4, game #785)

• YELLOW: ARTHROPODS APHID, BEETLE, MITE, TICK
• GREEN: TREES BEECH, CEDAR, PINE, YEW
• BLUE: [LETTER] (IS) FOR __ APPLE, COOKIE, EFFORT, VENDETTA
• PURPLE: WORDS THAT SOUNDS LIKE TWO LETTERS DECAY, EASY, GEO, ZITI

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 Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, August 4 (game #519).

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… We have a winner!

NYT Strands today (game #520) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• VINE 
• WARD
• WING
• TEAK
• SWEET
• GRIN

NYT Strands today (game #520) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #520) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 6th row

Last side: right, 1st row

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

NYT Strands today (game #520) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #520, are…

• BINGO
• GIVEAWAY
• DRAWING
• SWEEPSTAKES
• LOTTERY
• SPANGRAM: LUCKY BREAK

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

It was possibly my LUCKY BREAK that I saw the spangram before anything else today, and immediately went in search of words associated with games of chance.

Not sure what DRAWING is in there for, but I guess numbers are drawn in lotteries and BINGO, so we’ll allow it.

Incredibly, I got SWEEPSTAKES without the S as a non-game word before I realized my error. A good job today’s search wasn’t too taxing.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, August 4, game #519)

• RAZOR
• CAPE
• CLIPPERS
• COMB
• TRIMMER
• AFTERSHAVE
• SPANGRAM: BARBERSHOP

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.

New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas.

(Image credit: Ariel Schalit)

In his new book, King of Kings, Scott Anderson chronicles the upheaval that deposed Iran's reigning monarch — and the blunders by American policymakers that played a key role in the outcome.

If you’re not including And Just Like That… season 3 in your best HBO Max shows of 2025 list, I can hardly blame you. Since its debut in 2021, the Sex and the City (SATC) sequel has had a rocky ride on screen, frequently being lambasted on social media for how it’s changed the core personalities of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon). While Miranda left Steve (David Eigenberg) in the dust and transformed into a legal intern lesbian, Charlotte felt out of touch with her helicopter parenting of kids Rock (Alexa Swinton) and Lily (Cathy Ang).

I couldn’t even tell you who any of the middling replacements for Samantha (Kim Cattrall) are, with Cattrall herself making the career move of a lifetime by staying well away from this absolutely underwhelming car crash (well, all except for that excruciating season 2 finale cameo). The point is, none of our other stars come anywhere near her, but as much as we might want Samantha’s miraculous return in the season 3 finale to scold everyone for making such terrible television, it’s not going to happen.

So, what will happen, or perhaps the more important question is: what needs to happen? If you’ve been managing to stay awake while watching the HBO Max show, you’ll have noticed Carrie is slowly edging closer to the version of herself she used to be in Sex and the City. She’s easily the biggest stumbling block in And Just Like That… (ATLJ), and if we have to watch two more episodes until it’s over, she better have the best damn fictional U-turn TV has ever seen.

And Just Like That has been rough on everyone, but Carrie Bradshaw needs to come full circle

Spoilers for And Just Like That… season 3 episodes 9 and 10 ahead.

If you’re a seasoned SATC watcher like me, you’ll have probably thought Carrie was the worst of the quartet in the 90s too… and you’d be right. Never taking responsibility for her own actions and feelings, and instead placing the blame anywhere else, she was too frustrating to consistently warm to (even if she was dressed immaculately). Watching her make the same mistakes over again was relatable and somewhat charming for the first few seasons, but after six seasons, two standalone movies and now three seasons of a sequel series, it all wears awfully thin.

That doesn’t mean Carrie hasn’t been through it in AJLT: she’s been through the fictional death of husband Big (Ron Galotti), the real-life death of Willie Garson, who played BFF Stanford, and she’s picked back up a tired-out situationship with Aidan (John Corbett). We’ve got to have some kind of sympathy for her, right? Wrong! For the bulk of ATLJ, Carrie’s been a burden on her friends, an even bigger burden on us, and the biggest burden of all to herself. All those years of living life in the city on screen, and she doesn’t seem to have learned a single lesson from them.

However, that’s slowly started to change. Just before breaking up with Aidan (finally) and striking up a sexy new attraction to Duncan (Jonathan Clarke), we see Miranda confront Carrie about her evasive defences after Charlotte’s house party in season 3 episode 9. Miranda points out the amount of continued distrust between Carrie and Aidan, and for a split second, AJLT becomes the closest thing we’ve ever seen to a true SATC revival. Finally cutting ties with what isn’t serving her is the healthiest move Carrie has made in years, but can she sustain it?

Here’s my pitch for the AJLT season 3 ending. Miranda stays with Joy (Dolly Wells) and continues to build a healthy relationship (nothing wrong with these two, so live and let live). Harry’s (Evan Handler) prostate cancer is cleared, leaving Charlotte space to thrive as the good friend and mother we know her to be, and the others… well, they can do whatever they like as we won’t be paying attention.

But Carrie needs to dump any and all men, work on herself in the therapeutic ways she’d always dismissed in SATC, and actually start to be a good person. We can’t bow out in good conscience if she still remains a threat to New York City’s female friendships, and there will truly be no evolution in her character if she leaves in an even worse state than when she started. In the most dramatic case, the best thing for Carrie would be to get out of New York completely, which could mean moving back to England with Duncan. Frankly, I don’t care where in the world she ends up, both Carrie and AJLT need to not be insufferable the first time ever in its final moments. I know it’s hard, but pretty please?

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• Ransomware attacks are rising quickly in the US
• Hackers are focusing on data exfiltration
• Oil and gas is growing increasingly popular among threat actors

The US is now the ransomware capital of the world. The majority of the attacks are targeting US organizations, and in the last year, the number of attacks has dramatically spiked. These are the conclusions echoed in the 2025 Ransomware Report, published by cybersecurity experts Zscaler ThreatLabz.

Using proprietary data, as well as samples and information collected from the wider internet, Zscaler’s researchers determined that 50% of all ransomware attacks in the last year happened in the United States, “significantly outpacing” Canada (5%) and the UK (4%).

Even when you combine all the attacks reported across the top 15 most-targeted countries, there are fewer than 3,671 that were reported in the US.

Stealing without encrypting

The number of attacks is also increasing. Year-on-year, it is up by 146% in the US, with manufacturing (1,063), technology (922), and healthcare (672) being the most-targeted industries, mostly for the potential for operational disruption, the sensitive of the stolen data, and the risk of regulatory pressure and reputational damage. Companies in the oil and gas sector saw a “staggering” increase in ransomware attacks - 900% year-on-year.

Zscaler also said that ransomware actors are increasingly abandoning the encryption part of the attack, and are focusing solely on data theft. In the last year, 10 of the biggest ransomware groups exfiltrated 238 TB of data, up 92% from last year’s 123 TB.

Right now, the biggest names in the ransomware space are RansomHub (833 victims), Akira (520), and Clop (488), but the number of threat actors is also rising. In the last year alone, the researchers identified 34 newly active ransomware families, bringing the total number up to 425.

Ransomware “flourishes” in environments with fragmented security, limited visibility, implicit trust, and outdated legacy architectures, Zscaler stresses, urging businesses to mitigate these threats by adopting a cloud-native, AI-driven, zero-trust architecture.

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Lorcana’s Fabled set mixes plenty of familiar favorites with fresh new cards that bring serious potential to the table.

Apple's iPhone 17 lineup is just around the corner. If a foldable iPhone isn't part of it, Apple risks losing ground to Samsung.

It's almost time to return to Nevermore Academy. The second season of Wednesday, Netflix's massively popular TV take on The Addams Family franchise, is just a couple of days from making its debut. So, you'll want to know when Netflix's most-watched English language TV Original will return to a screen near you.

Below, I'll tell you when Wednesday season 2 will be released worldwide. Towards the end of this article, I'll also explain why the supernatural mystery series' next entry won't arrive in full on launch day and give you a full rundown of its complete release schedule.

So, throw on your favorite black ensemble, and get ready to get kooky and snap your fingers, and let's dive in together.

What is the release date and launch time for Wednesday season 2?

Airhorns at the ready, everyone – Wednesday Addams' TV show returns this, well, Wednesday (Image credit: Netflix)

Shocking no-one, Wednesday season 2 will be released on its weekday namesake. Indeed, one of the best Netflix shows' next semester at Nevermore will begin on Wednesday, August 6. It'll land on that date worldwide, too, so US viewers won't be able to watch it a day earlier on the world's best streaming service.

As for when new episodes of the Jenna Ortega-starring TV show will air, they'll roll out simultaneously across the world, albeit at different times. To find out when they'll drop where you live, check out the below list (NB: if your country isn't included, compare the 12am PT time slot to your time zone to determine when they'll be released where you live):

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• Australia – 5pm AEST
• New Zealand – 7pm NZST
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Japan – 4pm JST
• Brazil – 4am BRT

How many episodes are there in Wednesday season 2 part 1?

Wednesday's self-anointed bestie Enid is back for more shocking events in season 2 (Image credit: Netflix)

Wednesday season 2 volume 1 will comprise four episodes. They'll all drop on August 6, too, so you won't have to wait for new chapters to arrive every week.

As for why season 2 isn't launching in full: Netflix has made a point of releasing its biggest TV hits in two or three parts. Indeed, the most recent seasons of Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Cobra Kai, Emily in Paris, The Sandman, and Outer Banks have been split into various volumes.

In fact, Squid Game is the only one of its most popular TV Originals that didn't launch in two parts (you can make the argument that seasons 2 and 3 were two halves of the same installment, though). It's not a total surprise, then, that Wednesday is getting the same treatment as many of its peers.

When will Wednesday season 2 volume 2 launch on Netflix?

We'll see much more of The Addams Family in Wednesday's latest season (Image credit: Netflix)

The wait for Wednesday season 2's final four episodes might feel like a long one, but it won't be. That's because season 2 part 2 will launch on Netflix on Wednesday, September 3.

That quartet won't be the hit show's final episodes, either. On July 23, Netflix confirmed Wednesday season 3 had been greenlit. Prepare yourself for more murder-mystery adventures with the eponymous albeit reluctant hero in the future, then.

For more on the Tim Burton-directed series' return, check out our dedicated guide on Wednesday season 2 and read the section below for further coverage.

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• Apple's CFO said data center spend could "grow substantially"
• The company posted a 10% rise in quarterly earnings
• It's also staying on top of its sustainability credentials

Apple has alluded to wanting to increase spending on artificial intelligence and data centers to catch up with rivals after early Apple Intelligence features have left users wanting more in the shadow of Microsoft and Google systems.

CEO Tim Cook expressed an interest in acquiring larger AI companies after the company bought out seven smaller companies in 2025, marking a shift from the iPhone maker's typical strategy of low-key acquisitions.

The news came as Apple announced its third-quarter financial results, revealing a 10% year-over-year quarterly revenue of $94.0 billion.

Apple plans to invest more in Apple Intelligence

Speaking about double-digit growth across iPhone, Mac, and Services, Cook said: "We were excited to introduce a beautiful new software design that extends across all of our platforms, and we announced even more great Apple Intelligence features."

The company has fallen behind the likes of Microsoft and Google, who are spending around $85-100 billion annually on AI and data centers. Currently, Apple mostly relies on third-party data centers and has built a handful of AI tools in house, however users have been left facing disappointing launches and delays.

All of this could be about to change if Bloomberg reporting suggesting that Apple could buy Perplexity turns out to be true.

Speaking about data center spend on the earnings call, CFO Kevan Parekh explained: "It's not going to be exponential growth, but it is going to grow substantially."

However, Apple's cautious approach has proven valuable in terms of the company's environmental impact, where other companies have seen significant impacts from rapid data center expansion. In its 2024 Environmental Progress Report, the company highlighted its own proprietary server designs, which have boosted energy efficiency and reduced water consumption – they've also been powered by renewable energy since 2018.

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It’s pretty much common knowledge by this point that Siri is lacking compared to rival assistants and artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT. But according to a new report, Apple might be about to inject it with some much-needed power that could potentially transform it into a true force in AI.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman claims that Apple is essentially building its own ChatGPT rival that would bring chatbot capabilities to Siri.

The company has reportedly created its own 'Answers, Knowledge and Information' team to do this – and if it works, it could fix one of the biggest gripes I have with Siri. Too often, I ask Siri a question, only for it to bring up a search engine results page and cheerily respond with “Here’s what I found on the web.”

Other times, it’ll suggest handing over to ChatGPT instead of answering the question itself. For example, just try asking Siri a relatively simple question – “what is the most common type of tree in North America?”, for instance – and it’ll ask if you want to enlist ChatGPT for this task.

Both outcomes highlight how incapable Siri is compared to AI tools like ChatGPT. It’s like Siri is hoisting the white flag. “I don’t know what the answer is, but maybe you can find it yourself?” seems to be the message it’s conveying.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

And there’s another aspect to this. Whereas ChatGPT can actually find the answer for me, Siri’s response is the equivalent of those sarcastic “let me Google that for you” web pages that rudely hint at your own stupidity for not simply searching for the answer yourself. That’s never a good look for a personal assistant like Siri.

But the bigger problem is that handing off to Google or ChatGPT doesn’t actually solve the problem I wanted a solution for in the first place, and it misses the entire reason why people ask Siri questions in the first place.

People ask Siri because they want answers, not because they want to do the heavy lifting themselves. If the outcome I’m looking for is a Google search results page, I could have opened Safari and done that myself. I wanted an answer, not more hunting around.

And that’s the key difference between tools like ChatGPT and Siri right now: ChatGPT provides answers, while Siri does not. Even when Siri ropes ChatGPT into the situation, it’s an extra step compared to Siri just giving you the result you wanted. Whatever the question, Siri is rarely the answer.

A shot in the arm

(Image credit: Apple)

Hopefully, Apple adding these “answer” capabilities to Siri could be the shot in the arm its virtual assistant desperately needs. That prospect is certainly more exciting to me than some of the other delayed Siri features, like its ability to work within apps or understand your personal context.

While those features are interesting and might grab the headlines, I don’t see myself using them very often. They’re more complex and specialized, whereas asking Siri a simple question is a much more common occurrence for me and, I suspect, the majority of Apple users.

Still, questions remain over how Apple will transform Siri into a proper answer engine. How will the company train Siri to be able to answer more questions? Will Siri simply search online for results, or will it be able to rely on stored knowledge? How will Siri be trained in a way that aligns with Apple’s much-vaunted privacy principles? And will it take away traffic from third-party websites, withering the web in the way ChatGPT and Google’s own AI overviews are threatening to do?

And then there’s the question of when Siri’s chatbot update will arrive. Apple is reportedly targeting a spring 2026 launch date for its next-generation Siri features, but that hasn’t previously included any mention of a chatbot, which could take a long time to develop. With AI developments moving at breakneck speed, will a Siri-based chatbot be able to keep up with its rivals?

Those questions will be answered in due course, but in the meantime, I’m looking forward to a more capable (and, frankly, less useless) virtual assistant. If Apple can offer these features in a way that respects your privacy and doesn’t rip off the world’s online content, then I won’t mind if Siri is a little less capable than ChatGPT. As long as it’s more capable than it is right now.

After all, the whole point of using an AI helper for search is to get actual answers, not a list of results that I could have searched for myself. If Apple can pull it off, this could be the upgrade Siri has been in dire need of for years.

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• A South Korean YouTuber is folding and unfolding the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 200,000 times in an extreme durability test
• The test is, at the time of writing, still being livestreamed on YouTube
• The phone has survived more than 130,000 near-consecutive folds

A South Korean tech YouTuber has taken on the challenge of unfolding and folding the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 200,000 times, putting Samsung’s latest flagship foldable through an extreme durability test.

YouTube channel Tech It is, at the time of writing, still streaming the experimental test, marking interesting developments as they go.

At 6,000 fold-unfold cycles, the phone suffered a reboot error, possibly overwhelmed by the constant switching between its folded and unfolded states.

At 46,000 cycles, the hinge began to creak – not encouraging at such a low number of folds, but keep in mind that this test is the furthest possible thing from everyday use.

At 75,000 cycles, text overlaid on the screen says an “unidentified liquid” began to leak from the hinge. Again, this is intriguing, but shouldn’t be cause for alarm unless you also plan to put your Galaxy Z Fold 7 through several thousand folds consecutively.

At the time of writing, the livestream has been running for nine hours, with just over 137,000 fold-unfold cycles registered. That suggests an average pace of around 4 cycles per second, though the current pace seems to have slowed to around 2.5 cycles per second.

At their current pace, and at the time of publishing, Tech It will complete their mission in around seven hours.

Should you pay attention to durability tests?

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is more durable than its predecessor on paper, but that's a hard claim to accurately test. (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

As we previously reported, Samsung claims the Galaxy Z Fold 7 can withstand 500,000 folds – assuming you unfold your phone 50 times a day, that’s around 27 years of daily usage.

However, there’s no truly useful way to put this claim to the test – it’s not practical, or sensible, for the everyday user to count and log each time they unfold their phone.

Here at TechRadar, we don’t test for durability – though phone makers are always improving the resilience and longevity of their devices, there’s simply no objective way to test most durability claims.

Even quantifiable limits, like the 500,000 fold promise made by Samsung, can rely on a number of factors like temperature, frequency of use, or manufacturing inconsistencies.

Still, there is some value in tests like this – in the latest infamous bend test from YouTuber Jerry Rig Everything, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 refused to break in half – that's about as blunt a measurement as you could possibly take, but still noteworthy for a hinged device.

So while these tests are fun and eye-catching, be sure to check out our guides to the best folding phones and the best Samsung phones to find out how these handsets perform in real-world usage.

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From new episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 to the premiere of Amazon Originals like The Pickup (pictured above), Prime Video has a stacked list of new titles being added throughout the month.

August's lineup is slightly smaller then everything new on Prime Video in July, but there are notably more Amazon Originals to look out for, including two sporting docuseries Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues and Taurasi, the spy thriller Butterfly, the animated series Sausage Party: Foodtopia and the romantic drama The Map That Leads to You.

As usual, these titles will be joined by a bumper crop of licensed movies from the Hollywood vaults, including 80s classics such as Raging Bull and Sixteen Candles, and various live sporting matches from the New York Yankees, WNBA, and more. Read on for the full list of everything new on one of the best streaming services.

Everything new on Prime Video in August 2025

Arriving August 1

30 Rock seasons 1–7 (2006) – TV show

A Guy Thing (2003) – movie

Big Fat Liar (2002) – movie

Blow Out (1981) – movie

Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues (2025) – TV show

Cape Fear (1991) – movie

Conan the Barbarian (1982) – TV show

Conan the Destroyer (1984) – TV show

Death Becomes Her (1992) – movie

Death Race (2008) – movie

Death Race (Unrated) (2008) – movie

Duck, You Sucker! A Fistful of Dynamite (1972) – movie

Hazlo como hombre (2017) – movie

Hercules (2014) – movie

Howard the Duck (1986) – movie

King Solomon's Mines (1985) – movie

Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) – movie

Lone Survivor (2013) – movie

Love Actually (2003) – movie

Maid in Manhattan (2002) – movie

Mermaids (1990) – movie

Miami Vice (2006) – movie

Mr. Mom (1983) – movie

Navy SEALS (1990) – movie

Only the Brave (2017) – movie

Out of Time (2003) – movie

Over the Top (1987) – movie

Overboard (2018) – movie

Pulp Fiction (1994) – movie

Raging Bull (1980) – movie

Ranchlands season 1 (2019) – TV show

Red Dragon (2002) – movie

Sixteen Candles (1984) – movie

Sleepover (2004) – movie

Something New (2006) – movie

Stigmata (1999) – movie

The Alamo (2004) – movie

The Battle of Britain (1969) – movie

The Return of the Living Dead (1985) – movie

The Strangers (2008) – movie

Transformers (2007) – movie

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) – movie

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) – movie

Uptown Girls (2003) – movie

Walking Tall (2004) – movie

Walking Tall: The Payback (2007) – movie

Wrath of Man (2021) – movie

Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) – movie

August 2

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) – movie

August 6

My Dead Boyfriend (2016) – movie

The Pickup (2025) – movie

The Summer I turned Pretty season 3 episode 5 (2025) – TV show

August 7

Taurasi (2025) – TV show

August 11

Father Stu (2022) – movie

August 13

Butterfly season 1 (2025) – TV show

Run the Tide (2016) – movie

Sausage Party: Foodtopia season 2 (2025) – TV show

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 episode 6 (2025) – TV show

August 15

Betty la Fea: La Historia Continúa season 2 (2025) – TV show

The Siege at Thorn High (2025) – movie

August 16

Creed (2015) – movie

August 18

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• Valve's SteamOS market share has grown by 0.32%, based on new Steam Hardware & Software survey
• Microsoft's Windows 11 market share fell by 0.44%, suggesting gamers are migrating to SteamOS
• These results come right before Microsoft's new 'full-screen experience' for the Xbox PC app

Microsoft's Windows 11 is on the verge of receiving significant updates leading into 2026, specifically for gamers with its new Xbox PC app 'full-screen experience'. However, it appears as though Valve's Linux-based operating system is gradually taking the lead as the better operating system for gaming.

As reported by TweakTown, Steam's July 2025 Hardware & Software survey results suggests gamers are switching to Valve's SteamOS from Microsoft's Windows 11, with a 0.32% growth in Linux market share – while the market share for Windows 11 fell by 0.44%.

TweakTown highlights that Linux's 2.89% operating system market share equates to around four million players out of Steam's 132 million users, so the growth is fairly significant. It may also be a huge indication of how popular handheld gaming has become since Valve introduced its Steam Deck back in 2022, if a majority of these results stem from handheld gamers.

It's quite clear that Valve's SteamOS still has a long way to go in terms of its user count compared to Windows 11, but the Linux operating system has arguably already surpassed Windows in terms of game performance, accessibility, and features.

It's also worth noting that both Valve and Microsoft have pledged commitments to improve their respective operating systems. The former plans to expand SteamOS's compatibility with other handhelds and desktop PCs, while Microsoft is bringing a 'full-screen experience' to handhelds, debuting on the ROG Xbox Ally.

Analysis: I doubt the new Xbox PC app 'full-screen experience' will check the SteamOS momentum

(Image credit: Future)

As I've stated previously, it's very hard for me to see how Microsoft's upcoming Xbox PC app experience will shift me away from SteamOS, because the latter has simply won me over (at least with handhelds).

I won't say Microsoft doesn't stand a chance, and I'm certainly going to be checking it out once it's available – but I think the stage is already set for Valve to take the lead when it comes to PC gaming.

The tools at my disposal while using Bazzite (a SteamOS clone) are great for UI customization, and perhaps most importantly, improved game performance with Decky Framegen and Decky Lossless Scaling, all via Decky Loader.

Sure, there are certainly equivalent tools on Windows 11, but navigation and tinkering on this operating system, especially with a handheld, is something I don't want to deal with anymore. That's why this 'full-screen experience' sounds promising, as it sounds like an equivalent to SteamOS's game mode.

Microsoft's new efforts to improve gaming on its operating system are very welcome and appreciated, and I think it will attract many gamers once it launches with the ROG Xbox Ally – but overall, I suspect it won't check SteamOS's momentum.

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• Meta Ads and an SMS campaign is driving traffic to hundreds of fake Play Store pages
• There, victims download fake apps that carry the PlayPraetor malware
• The malware can log keystrokes, grab credentials, and monitor the clipboard

More than 11,000 Android devices were recently infected by a new variant of the PlayPraetor remote access trojan (RAT).

This is according to cybersecurity researchers Cleafy, who said that there is an ongoing, aggressive campaign to distribute the malware to as many devices as possible. So far, the RAT creates more than 2,000 new infections every week, targeting mostly devices in Portugal, Spain, France, Morocco, Peru, and Hong Kong.

PlayPraetor is apparently a Chinese piece of malware, The Hacker News reports. Citing previous research, the publication claims there are “thousands” of fake Google Play Store download pages, advertised through Meta Ads and SMS messages, in an attempt to reach as big of an audience as it can. So far, the researchers spotted five distinct variants of PlayPraetor, among which is one called Phantom, and a variant called Phish.

Hundreds of spoofed apps

Those that end up installing the malware can expect to lose their banking credentials, have their clipboard tracked, and their keystrokes/taps logged. At the moment, PlayPreator can impersonate more than 200 banking apps and cryptocurrency wallets, as it delivers an overlay that steals the login credentials.

Besides pretending to be actual apps, the malware is also distributed through fake Progressive Web Apps (PWA), as well as WebView-based apps. The latter was observed in the Phish variant while Phantom, for example, exploits accessibility services to obtain persistent access.

This variant also grants the attackers the ability to conduct on-device fraud and is apparently operated by two affiliates who control almost two-thirds of the botnet (around 4,500 endpoints).

To defend against such attacks, the best course of action is to be careful when downloading apps, and only go for those listed on official repositories such as the Play Store. Even there, users should only go for apps developed by well-established brands, which have thousands of downloads and positive reviews.

Via The Hacker News

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• PDP has revealed a new version of one of its best controllers
• The Turtle Beach Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded features an enhanced fightpad module and Hall effect thumbsticks and triggers
• It's up for pre-order in the US, and out now in the UK

Turtle Beach's competitive gaming accessory brand Victrix has revealed the successor to one of its best controllers.

The Turtle Beach Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded is an overhauled version of the popular Victrix Pro BFG, already one of of the best PS5 controllers today. It retains all the modular functionality of the original but boasts an enhanced design with an improved fightpad module designed for a better claw grip.

It also comes with Hall effect thumbsticks and triggers right out of the box, two major upgrades that should improve precision and help reduce wear over the years.

In addition to the PlayStation variant, an Xbox version will also be available. Both come in either black or white colorways, and cost $209.99 / £179.99.

Although the controller is out now in the UK, it's currently exclusively available to attendees of EVO 2025 in the US. It's up for pre-order on the Turtle Beach website, though, for a wider September 28 release.

The Victrix Pro BFG stands apart from most controllers thanks to its unique modularity. It can be customized and tweaked via a range of interchangeable components, such as alternate d-pads, thumbstick caps, and gates.

It also boasts a range of high-end features, including remappable rear buttons, a hair-trigger mode, and a robust companion app.

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• The iPhone 17 series could cost $50 more than the iPhone 16 line
• This is reportedly due to tariffs, though the impact has apparently been reduced thanks to Apple negotiating lower component costs
• We've also seen photos of many possible iPhone 17 series colors

It’s looking increasingly likely that the iPhone 17 series will cost more than previous models, because while we haven't seen many price leaks yet, most of the ones we have seen point in that direction – including the latest one.

According to leaker @Jukanlosreve, the iPhone 17 series will cost roughly $50 (around £40 / AU$75) more than the iPhone 16 series.

If that's the case, the starting price of the iPhone 17 would be around $850 / £850 / AU$1,475, the starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro would be roughly $1,050 / £1,050 / AU$1,875, and the starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro Max would be approximately $1,250 / £1,250 / AU$2,225.

A Brief Note on iPhone 17 Series Price IncreaseA few days ago, Jefferies analysts revealed in their note that the iPhone 17 series could see a $50 price increase.Additionally, WSJ reported last May that Apple was considering raising prices for the iPhone 17 series.Apple's…August 4, 2025

We’re also expecting an iPhone 17 Air, and this has previously been said to cost around the same as the iPhone 16 Plus, which would mean $899 / £899 / AU$1,599, though possibly around $50 / £40 / AU$75 more if this latest price leak is right.

In any case, this $50 increase claim echoes a recent report from Jefferies analyst Edison Lee (via @DeItaone), who claimed that all models except the standard iPhone 17 would see this increase.

@Jukanlosreve for their part claims to have reached this figure through modeling how tariffs, “the weak dollar effect”, and Apple’s own efforts to reduce the cost of components will impact the price.

A full selection of shades

Potential price rises are never fun, but in more positive news, leaked photos of potentially every iPhone 17 series shade have emerged.

Which model and color will you choose this year? pic.twitter.com/AtDFutgSX0August 3, 2025

Shared by leaker Majin Bu, these show the iPhone 17 in black, white, pink, blue, and green shades, the iPhone 17 Air in black, white, blue, and a pale yellow, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in black, white, blue, gray, and brown.

These colors largely match what we saw in another recent iPhone 17 colors leak, but the green and gray shades weren’t included there, and the color that looks brown here appeared more orange in that leak – so there’s still plenty of uncertainty around exactly which colors will be on offer.

We should know exactly what will be on offer fairly soon though, as the iPhone 17 series is likely to launch in the first half of September, so around a month from now.

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• Cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting mobile browsers
• Compromised WordPress sites lead to the installation of malicious PWAs
• Both site owners and users can mitigate the threat

There is a growing trend in client-side attacks, as cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting mobile browsers to bypass traditional security controls.

This is according to the latest “Client-Side Attack Report Q2 2025”, published by security researchers c/side. A “client-side” attack is a type of security breach that occurs on the user’s device (typically on their browser or mobile app), rather than on the server.

Based on extensive research of the market (compromised domains, autonomous crawling, AI-driven script analysis, and behavioral review of third-party JavaScript dependencies), the report says cybercriminals are injecting malicious code into service workers and the Progressive Web App (PWA) logic of popular WordPress themes.

Weaker sandboxing

Once a mobile user visits an infected site, the browser viewport is hijacked using a full-screen iframe. The victim is then lured into installing a fake PWA, often disguised as an adult-themed APK or a crypto app, hosted on rotating subdomains.

Primarily, the apps are designed to persist on the device beyond the browser session and act as a long-term foothold. However, they can also steal login credentials (by spoofing login pages or browser prompts), intercept cryptocurrency wallet interactions, and drain assets by injecting malicious scripts. In some cases, the apps can hijack session tokens, as well.

The criminals are using different techniques to evade detection, including fingerprinting and cloaking techniques that prevent the payload from being triggered in sandboxed environments, or by automated scanners.

The mobile platform is being increasingly targeted because web browsers have weaker sandboxing and limited runtime visibility, which makes them more vulnerable and susceptible to attacks. At the same time, c/side says users are more likely to trust full-screen prompts, or install suggested apps, without suspecting anything.

To mitigate the risk, there are things both developers and end-users can do, c/side says. Devs and site operators should monitor and secure third-party scripts, since these are a common delivery mechanism for malicious payloads. C/side also advocates for real-time visibility into what scripts are executing in the browser, rather than relying solely on server-side protections.

Users, on the other hand, should be careful when installing Progressive Web Apps from unfamiliar sources, and should be skeptical of unexpected login flows, particularly those that seem to come from Google.

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