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While the U.S. grapples with an egg shortage caused by avian flu, eggs remain plentiful and affordable in Canada. There are reasons for that, including that egg farms there tend to be smaller.

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The Trump administration cut a clause from federal contracting rules that had been on the books since the 1960s: Companies are no longer explicitly prohibited from having segregated facilities.

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Twisters that tore through Union County, Missouri killed 6 people. One couple survived against incomprehensible odds in a trailer obliterated by the storm.

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Jersey City doesn’t have a long list of internet providers, but the good news is you can still get blazing-fast multigig speeds. Here are CNET's top picks.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

HP’s OfficeJet Pro 9012e is almost indistinguishable from the 9010e we crowned inkjet Labs winner this time last year. It’s a chunky-looking, businessy MFP aimed squarely at home and small offices. While it’s clearly not an enterprise-class device, it’s built to take moderately high use, with a one-time maximum monthly duty cycle of up to 25,000 pages.

In reality this MFP is unlikely to print anywhere near that volume, but it’s well set up for its recommended 1,500 pages a month. In its base you’ll find a 250-sheet paper cassette, while on top there’s a 35-sheet ADF. It can print, scan, copy and fax, with direct control coming via a 6.9cm color touchscreen running a user-friendly menu. It’s hidden slightly on the left side, but you also get a USB host port for direct prints and scans.

The “e” on some HP printers denotes that you must sign up to HP+ to activate the device, and thereafter leave it connected to the internet for it to function. Happily, that’s not the case here, with users allowed to choose whether to activate HP+, the Instant Ink subscription service, or neither. We asked HP to clarify whether it had changed its “dual SKU strategy” which obliged users to choose HP+ or not at the time of purchase, but didn’t hear back before we went to press.

Regardless, the 9012e offers the best of all worlds. Choose to sign up to HP+ and you’ll get an additional year’s warranty and six months of Instant Ink for free. Opt out and you can still get two years’ cover with online registration, and choose to sign up to Instant Ink if you want. We discuss the economics of this in View from the Labs, but without it – at 1p per page in black or 4.2p in color – the 9012e is cheap to run for a cartridge-based inkjet.

Control is via a user-friendly 6.9cm touchscreen (Image credit: Future)

HP claims the 9012e has self-healing Wi-Fi, but we had issues connecting it to our regular Labs router – an unremarkable dual-band TP-Link. It couldn’t detect the 2.4GHz network until we rebooted it, after which the printer failed to connect and lost sight of it again. We tried the 5GHz network with similar results, eventually giving up and using our main router. Although this worked without any problems, it’s further away from the test area, which may have slowed the 9012e down.

If it did, we can’t say we especially noticed. The OfficeJet Pro 9012e took quite a while to spool and start printing multi-page jobs, but once started it was the fastest inkjet in this group. It hit 21.1 pages per minute (ppm) on our 25-page text test, and reached an equally impressive 6.9ppm over 24 pages of color graphics. Encouraged by these results we tried our 50-page Alice in Wonderland test, but with a very long spool time this proved slower at just 11.6ppm. The 9012e was also underwhelming when duplexing, reaching only 3.4ipm when printing ten sides of color graphics.

For an inkjet, this is a fast copier, managing single black pages in nine seconds, and needing only ten seconds in color. It rattled off ten mono copies in 71 seconds, and again needed little longer in color, taking 79 seconds. A 10-page, 20-side duplex color photocopy took nearly five minutes, however.

When it came to scanning, this was again the fastest inkjet here, dispatching low-resolution A4 scans in only ten seconds. We were even more impressed at higher resolutions, the 9012e needing only 12 seconds to capture a 10 x 15cm photo at 600dpi.

The 9012e isn’t a great photo printer, with its pigment inks drying to a dull, semi-matte finish. We were also disappointed in its slightly dark and dingy photocopies. Otherwise, it’s hard to fault the quality of its prints and scans, particularly on typical office jobs such as text and color graphics. It’s certainly good enough for printing formal correspondence, and it would be great for archiving documents – if only it came with software that could save scans as searchable PDFs.

Overall, this remains a great MFP for a typical home office. It’s fast, robust, produces good results, and is almost as cheap to run as cartridge-based inkjets get. However, its purchase price has crept up somewhat compared to the 9010e, so it loses out on value for money.

We've also ranked the best apps for working from home.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

HP’s LaserJet Pro MFP 4302fdw looks like the perfect color laser MFP for a small office. It’s a four-in-one with fax, topped off by a 50-sheet ADF. Both this and the printer are duplex-capable, so you can start a multi-page double-sided copy and go off to put the kettle on.

This MFP has virtually no packing to remove – you can just load up paper, join it to a network and install the drivers. Unfortunately, that didn’t go as smoothly as it should have. The touchscreen didn’t confirm whether the 4302fdw had joined our Labs network, and it didn’t respond when we repeatedly tried to print a network report. Shortly afterwards the printer sprang into life, delivering several unwanted copies.

We still don’t love HP’s TWAIN scan software, which in this case doesn’t offer 150dpi, but its MFPs’ lipless scan platens make it so much easier to retrieve your originals. This is quite a fast scanner, managing a 10 x 15cm photo at 600dpi in just 17 seconds, but it repeatedly dropped out midway through our 1,200dpi test.

The 4302fdw’s control panel makes life easy, but it wasn’t always particularly responsive (Image credit: Future)

If it’s been idle for a while, the 4302fdw needs only about three seconds extra to warm up before delivering a first black or color page. From standby it managed this in 17 seconds, and went on to deliver our 25-page test in exactly a minute. It was slower on our challenging color test, but its 14.4ppm still compares well at this price.

At 1.5p in black or 8p per color page this isn’t the cheapest laser to run, but you can sign it up to HP’s Instant Ink toner delivery, which brings the cost down as low as 1.3p. Unfortunately, you can’t do much about the 4302fdw’s indifferent print and scan quality. Black text was perfect, but graphics and photographs had a blue bias, apart from skin tones, which tended to look flushed. Office scans were perfectly good, but with photos we noticed a loss of detail from the darkest areas.

It’s a shame. The LaserJet Pro MFP 4302fdw should be the perfect small office device, but its results are just a little too weak.

We also ranked the best small business accounting software.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

If Epson’s EcoTank ET-2830 was a normal inkjet we’d be bemoaning its high price and taking aim at a relatively basic specification. We’ll come back to the latter, but the first is explained by this MFP’s refillable ink tanks. The ET-2830 arrives with about 6,000 pages’ worth of bottled ink – enough to see out a year or two of light use in the home. It’s better value out of the box than a comparable entry-level, cartridge-based device.

And entry-level the ET-2830 is. It’s a three-in-one, able to print, scan and copy, yet there’s no display, no USB port and no memory card slot. Instead, you get a few buttons and LEDs, and a reasonably appealing and uncluttered design. It offers just a single rear paper feed, and a basic scanner with no ADF. The printer can’t flip over pages for double-sided prints, although the driver will help you do it manually.

The ET-2830 arrives with blue tape holding down every conceivable flap. Remove that and it’s time to flip open its ink tanks and empty the supplied black and color inks into the relevant nozzle – they’re physically keyed to prevent a disastrous misfuelling. This is usually the bit where we gripe about waiting for the one-off ink priming to complete, but Epson’s new Smart Panel app lets you join the MFP to a wireless network and get on with installing software while you wait. We found its verbosity annoying, but it worked perfectly and turned out to be a time-saver overall.

Once set up, this MFP offers no real surprises. Despite its basic nature, it will happily get on with regular household or micro-office duties, leaving printed pages in a neat stack. As you might expect, it’s not especially fast, managing only 12.3ppm on our 25-page black text test. However, with the print quality dropped to draft it reached 17.2ppm – significantly more than Epson’s stated 15ppm.

These ink tanks make all the difference, turning this MFP into a bargain (Image credit: Future)

Cheaper inkjets often make a meal of our challenging 24-page colour graphics test, but the ET-2830 chugged along at a steady 4.5ppm – more competitive than it sounds. It wasn’t even that slow when printing larger photos, needing about three minutes for each 10 x 8in shot printed onto A4 paper. Unfortunately, it only offers borderless prints on 10 x 15cm paper, on which it took a beard-lengthening 14 minutes to deliver six prints. Color photocopies provided another opportunity to grow facial hair, with a single copy needing 35 seconds. At least mono copies, at 14 seconds each, were relatively brisk.

The ET-2850’s scanner didn’t hang about at lower resolutions. It completed a preview in 12 seconds, and in the same timeframe could capture an A4 document at 150dpi. At 300dpi, the same job took 22 seconds. Things got slower at middling resolutions, with the scanner needing 37 seconds to capture a 10 x 15cm photo at 600dpi. However, scan speeds remained competitive at 1,200dpi, with the same document needing just less than a minute.

Delightfully, there’s nothing especially entry-level about the quality of this MFP’s prints, scans or copies. Draft text was quite faint, but Normal quality produced crisp and dark results. Colour graphics weren’t the boldest we’ve seen, but they were free of banding, and comfortably good enough for home and internal business use. Photocopies faithfully reproduced the originals – although colour copies were a touch less saturated.

This MFP’s photo prints were a highlight of our tests, combining surprisingly crisp details with vivid colors and realistic skin tones. Only our black and white photo presented a challenge, with the ET-2830 adding a slight green tint and failing to preserve the darkest shade details. We were also very impressed with its scan quality, which combined excellent color accuracy with a wide dynamic range, making the most of office documents and photographs.

The EcoTank ET-2830 may be basic, but it’s not unduly slow, and it does everything well. Yes, it’s missing duplex printing and other helpful features, but it’s about as cheap as refillable inkjets get. Once you’ve used up the generous bundled ink, its ongoing running costs are less than 0.5p per color page. Don’t be fooled by the purchase price: the ET-2830 is a bargain.

We've also rated the best small business web hosting providers.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

While Canon’s Maxify printers are aimed at home and small offices, the Pixma series is unapologetically focused on creative and home use. The Pixma TS8750 sits near the top of the current lineup; a six-ink MFP offering high-quality photo prints and detailed scanning. What it lacks in office features it makes up for with photo-friendly touches such as the memory card slot and a huge color touchscreen display.

The TS8750 is a striking MFP, made from a mix of textured, shiny and translucent black plastics. Its squat stance makes it look as much like AV equipment as it does a printer. But although it looks as if you could sit the TS8750 on a bookshelf, you’d risk losing access to its scanner and its 100-sheet rear paper tray. The bulk of the MFP is inset slightly from a base that juts out at the front. Here you’ll find a 100-sheet paper cassette and the card slot.

If it’s not immediately obvious where paper comes out, all becomes clear when you start printing. The TS8750’s motorized paper output tray emerges – tilting the front panel upwards – shortly followed by your first page. It’s a slick party piece, partially reversed when you turn the MFP off; the panel itself isn’t motorized, so it stays slightly open.

With manufacturers including Canon making a big push on refillable printers, it almost feels odd to fit the TS8750’s six supplied cartridges. They’re easy to insert and, although you can physically put them in the wrong slots, the printer won’t initialize until it detects everything is ship-shape. This printer augments a standard black, cyan, magenta and yellow setup with grey and a second black cartridge. The three colors, grey and smaller black cartridges all contain dye-based inks, ideal for photo printing, while the main black tank is pigmented for strong black text on plain paper.

Squat, smart and very black, the TS8750 doesn’t look like the average MFP (Image credit: Future)

The TS8750’s chunky SD card slot might seem to the smartphone generation like a relic, but it makes sense when many high-end cameras still use full-sized SD for storage. Insert a loaded card and the initial single-shot preview isn’t that helpful. You can pull up a multi-frame view through which it’s easier to find specific shots from a selection of snaps, but it won’t let you batch select photos to print.

The TS8750 has two other foibles. There’s a handy lip to help you pull out its main paper cassette, but it’s obscured once the output tray is extended. The paper output tray has a flip-up stop, useful to rein in multiple pages after longer print jobs, but it’s not extended automatically when the tray itself emerges.

We hit the TS8750 with our usual mix of office documents and photos. It wasn’t especially fast, reaching just 13.4ppm over 25 pages of text, and only 3.9ppm on our demanding graphics test. Photo prints were snappier, with borderless 10 x 15cm postcards arriving every 70 seconds or so, although a borderless A4 print inched out over five minutes.

This is a reasonably fast scanner, completing a preview in 12 seconds, and needing 20 seconds to capture an A4 document at 150dpi. At a detailed 1,200dpi it needed 78 seconds to complete a 10 x 15cm photo scan. Copy speeds were middling, with a single page taking 17 seconds in black only or 23 in color.

The huge 10.8cm touchscreen is a doddle to use (Image credit: Future)

If we were underwhelmed by this MFP’s speeds, it rose sharply in our estimations once we looked at our results. Black text was as crisp and bold as you’ll get from an inkjet, while color graphics were punchy and consistent, with only the merest hint of banding. Photocopies were very strong, with both mono and color copies preserving the details of the original.

Without doubt, the best results came on glossy photo paper, and from the TS8750’s scanner. Captured images showed a sharp focus with faithful colors and a wide dynamic range that preserved detail from the very lightest and darkest parts of originals. Photo prints were exceptional, offering perfectly reproduced skin tones, vibrant colors and crisp detailing. Unsurprisingly, given the dedicated black and grey inks, black and white prints were rich and free of any color cast.

This isn’t a cheap multifunction in the first place, and with a cost per page upwards of 10p, it won’t prove especially economical in use. That’s particularly true if you’ll often print text, every page of which will set you back a steep 3.5p. However, if you want a smart home MFP that’s as comfortable printing photos as it is scanning artwork, the TS8750 may well prove worth the premium.

We also ranked the best home security systems.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

It’s hard to get excited about a laser printer, but Brother’s HL-L9430CDN might just put a hop in an office manager’s step. It’s a big beast, designed for use in small businesses and workgroups, and it comes with a suitable specification. In the base there’s a fully enclosed 520-sheet paper cassette, while the large flap at the front hides a 50-sheet multipurpose feed. Printed pages emerge into a 250-sheet tray on the top.

So far, so standard, but the HL-L9430CDN offers direct control through a large 8.8cm color touchscreen. While many business printers run rather cryptic, unfriendly menus, Brother’s is simple, offering quick access to functions and settings. It’s enhanced with web features, allowing you to access and print from cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and SharePoint. Hidden nearby on the left panel there’s a USB host port for walk-up printing.

The final front panel feature is an NFC reader, used to control access if you need to lock down users or features. Using the printer’s web interface you can block people from printing, using the USB port or accessing web functions, or you can limit the number of pages an individual can print.

It comes with USB and gigabit Ethernet ports. Curiously you can’t buy it off the shelf with a wireless interface, but Brother will sell you one as an option. There’s also a rear USB port for secure printing. Brother offers a range of extra paper trays and a staple finisher, so this printer can grow to match your business’ needs.

The big and fast HL-L9430CDN has good paper-handling features (Image credit: Future)

Load it up and you’ll see the usual nag about setting the correct paper type. The HL-L9430CDN follows this by asking if you ever want to see the question again – a brilliant timesaver if, like us, you rarely change paper type and it simply gets on your nerves. We were also happy to see clear orientation marks at the front of the main tray and in the center of the multipurpose feed. Too many lasers force you to unload the paper just to see how to orientate the stack; a pain if you’re re-using previously printed pages, or using single-sided media.

Start printing and it’s clear that this is a very rapid device. However, if it’s been idle for any length of time the warm-up period can be toe-tappingly long. After an hour of rest we timed a first black text page out in 25 seconds, but the first color page of the day took nearly a minute and a half.

This pause aside, the HL-L9430CDN made mincemeat of our tests. It reached 30.6ppm when printing 25 text pages, and managed 34.9ppm on our 50-page document. Both fall a way short of the stated 44ppm engine speed, but our tests include the time taken to spool and send the job. Discount this and it was almost bang on target.

Like all printers, the HL-L9430CDN was slower when printing our challenging color graphics test. Here it reached 21.8ppm, the fastest color result in this test, and not far behind the 27.7ppm mono result recorded by Kyocera’s P2235dn. At the best Fine print quality it delivered two 10 x 8in photos on A4 paper in only 22 seconds, and six 10 x 15cm prints on three A4 sheets in 21 seconds. It duplexed ten sides onto five sheets at a rate of 14ipm.

The printer comes with generous amounts of toner (Image credit: Future)

So often, a promising color laser is torpedoed by high running costs, but happily that’s not the case here. The HL-L9430CDN is complex, requiring four toners, a drum, a waste bottle and transfer belt, but even factoring in all these it costs 0.9p per black page or 6.1p in color. This printer arrives with generous 9,000-page black and 6,500-page color inbox toners. With the largest replacements good for 12,000 black or 9,000 color pages, maintenance intervals shouldn’t be too frequent.

While not offering perfect color reproduction, the HL-L9430CDN still made a good job of our test photos, and printed excellent color graphics with a pleasing luster.

Black text was as good as you’d expect, too. Overall we could hardly call this hulking laser exciting, but it delivers everything you need in a busy business printer. And with Brother having won our Best Printer Manufacturer award for ten years in a row, you can expect great reliability and support, too.

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Across Europe the role of the CISO has become increasingly demanding in recent years, as the scope of the role has expanded to include more C-level interactions, more direct alignment with broader business strategy, and as cybersecurity threats and technical environments have become bigger and more complex. CISOs oversee teams that are on the front lines of a constant battle against evolving attack vectors, and the CISO themselves often have quite a high seat at the business table.

The pressure to maintain airtight security while navigating complex regulations and internal business priorities is taking a toll. According to a recent survey 35% of UK CISOs experience regular stress and overwork, highlighting a growing crisis that threatens not only individual well-being, but also the security posture of businesses. Can businesses effectively protect themselves from cyber threats when the leaders responsible for their security are stressed out?

Business Impact of Burnout

The challenge security teams face is compounded by an increasingly complex threat landscape. Beyond traditional (but still incredibly prevalent and effective) threats such as phishing and malware; teams are facing sophisticated ransomware attacks that can cripple entire organizations, extortion, supply chain attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in third-party software, and possibly (in the coming years) AI-powered attacks (though the jury’s still out on that one).

This isn't just an issue of retention: burnout on the security team can translate into increased vulnerability to cyberattacks. Exhausted security professionals can be more prone to make mistakes, miss critical alerts, and struggle to implement effective security strategies. In fact, companies with burned-out security teams are more likely to experience a data breach, with the average cost of such breaches now exceeding millions.

Additionally, high CISO turnover due to burnout exacerbates the existing cybersecurity skills shortage, making it even harder for organizations to build and maintain strong security teams. Replacing a CISO represents a significant investment, not to mention the prospect of disruption and loss of in-house knowledge.

A Reactive vs. Proactive Approach

CISO burnout threatens to prevent security leaders from focusing on strategic initiatives, such as building a robust security culture or implementing proactive threat-detecting programs. When CISOs are constantly putting out fires, they don't have time to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that aligns with business goals. This inability to strategically plan and implement can hinder innovation and growth, as businesses become hesitant to adopt new technologies or expand into new markets due to security concerns.

A Multi-Pronged Approach

So, what can businesses do to address the issue of CISO stress (and, for that matter, stress within the wider security team)? There's no silver bullet, but a multi-pronged approach is key. I would recommend:

1. Cultivating a culture of cybersecurity awareness: Cybersecurity needs to be recognized as a core business imperative, not just an IT issue. CISOs need direct and meaningful engagement with boards to ensure security priorities align with business objectives. This requires a cultural shift that empowers CISOs to effectively communicate the risks and needs of their teams.

2. Realistic resource allocation: Boards need to provide adequate funding and resources for cybersecurity teams. This includes not only financial investment in technology and personnel but also realistic expectations regarding workload and responsibilities. CISOs cannot be expected to be on-call 24/7. Organizations should create structured downtime policies and distribute security responsibilities more effectively.

3. Prioritizing work-life balance: Promoting work-life balance for CISOs and their teams is crucial. This includes encouraging mandatory vacation time, offering flexible work arrangements where possible, and providing access to mental health resources and support programs. A healthy and rested security team is a more effective security team.

4. Technology that enables, rather than overloads: AI and automation have the potential to ease the workload, but they should be implemented strategically. The focus should be on tools that reduce noise and improve efficiency, not add to the existing overload. Adopting the right technology can free up CISOs and their teams to focus on strategic initiatives.

5. Investing in wellbeing programs: Investing in mental health, exercise, and broader wellness initiatives, including peer support networks, and leadership coaching for cybersecurity professionals is not just about retention - it's about ensuring that cybersecurity teams can function at their best. These programs demonstrate a commitment to employee well-being, helping CISOs and their teams manage stress and burnout.

The Future of Cybersecurity Leadership

If businesses continue to push CISOs while offering insufficient support, they risk not only losing key talent but also compromising their own security resilience. Without a concerted effort to create a sustainable working environment, businesses will continue to face high turnover rates, increased security risks, and ultimately, a weakened ability to protect their assets. Now is the time for corporate leaders to take meaningful action before more CISOs succumb to the pressures of an already demanding profession.

Checkout our list of the best identity management software.

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

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President Trump said he was ending "immediately" the Secret Service protection details assigned to Democrat Joe Biden's adult children.

(Image credit: Patrick Semansky)

Enjoy at least 10% off headphones, speakers, soundbars, and other audio products from Bose.

Israel said the early Tuesday attacks were launched after Hamas refused to release more hostages held in Gaza. The strikes appeared to end the current ceasefire that took began in mid-January.

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Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 18.

• ViewSonic VP2788-5K enters the growing 5K space, but does it justify its premium price tag?
• ASUS ProArt PA27JCV offers pro-level color accuracy without breaking the bank
• Samsung ViewFinity S9 redefines what a 5K monitor can be with built-in smart TV capabilities

The growing market for 5K and 8K monitors has seen more brands introducing high-resolution monitors for photo editing and video editing, with ViewSonic becoming the 10th vendor to enter this space by unveiling its VP2788-5K at the Pepcom Digital Experience in January 2025.

ViewSonic had announced the VP2788-5K would launch in Q1 2025, but scepticism arose due to the fate of its previous 8K monitor, the VP3286-8K, which was announced but never reached the market, raising concerns about potential delays.

However, the VP2788-5K has broken this trend, and it's now officially available on Amazon.

ViewSonic VP2788-5K: A professional-grade 5K monitor

(Image credit: ViewSonic)

The ViewSonic VP2788-5K is a 27-inch monitor with a 5120 x 2880 resolution, making it one of the smallest 5K displays available, and specifically designed for Mac users and creative professionals, offering 100% sRGB and 99% DCI-P3 color coverage to ensure precise and accurate visuals.

It has Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, which supports data transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps, 100W power delivery, and daisy-chaining for dual-monitor setups, while HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C, and USB-A ports enhance compatibility with a variety of devices.

With Pantone validation and HDR400 certification, the VP2788-5K delivers vibrant colors and deep contrast, while its matte screen minimizes glare, and the ergonomic stand allows users to adjust height, tilt, and swivel for greater comfort.

At $1,041.66 on Amazon, the ViewSonic VP2788-5K is positioned as a premium option, but with alternatives offering similar features at lower prices, it remains to be seen whether it can still make an impact in the growing 5K monitor market.

Here are some other popular options that we spotted on Amazon, which sell for almost half the price of the Apple Studio Display.

ASUS ProArt PA27JCV: A budget-friendly 5K option

(Image credit: Amazon Product Review)

The ASUS ProArt PA27JCV is another 27-inch 5K monitor, priced at $799 on Amazon. Like the ViewSonic VP2788-5K, it offers 99% DCI-P3 and 100% sRGB color accuracy, making it ideal for design and editing work.

It's Calman Verified, meaning it has been factory-calibrated for high color accuracy. The USB-C port provides 96W power delivery, supporting MacBooks and other USB-C devices.

The standout feature is Auto KVM, which enables seamless switching between multiple devices using a single keyboard and mouse, while LuxPixel technology reduces glare for better visibility in bright environments.

Samsung ViewFinity S9: A smart 5K alternative

(Image credit: Amazon Product Review)

Samsung’s ViewFinity S9 (LS27C900PANXZA) is another contender in the 5K monitor market, priced at $848 on Amazon. Unlike the other two monitors, it includes smart features, making it a hybrid between a monitor and a TV.

It has 99% DCI-P3 color coverage and a matte display to reduce reflections. Thunderbolt 4 connectivity supports up to 90W charging, making it a convenient choice for Mac users.

It includes a detachable business webcam, a remote control, and a two-year warranty, setting it apart from traditional monitors. However, it lacks Pantone validation and Calman certification, which may be important for professional designers.

The increasing availability of affordable 5K monitors suggests that they're now a practical choice for professionals who need more detail than 4K but don’t require an 8K monitor — which remain rare and expensive.

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• Amazon's devices chief, Panos Panay, chatted Alexa+ hardware with Bloomberg
• Panos teased new hardware across its entry, core, and signature categories
• We'll likely see new speakers and smart displays, but also new device types, including wearables like smart glasses and 'wrist-worn devices'

Since October 2023, we’ve seen Panos Panay's arrival usher in changes within Amazon Devices group – think Echo, Fire TV, Kindle, and Alexa – at the broader shopping giant. Most recently, though, we saw Panos and his team at Amazon introduce a new Alexa, Alexa+, which reinvigorates the classic assistant with a ton of AI.

In a new interview with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Panay teases the next part of evolution and that he wants “perfection in every single product that we ship.”

He teased that he plans to re-engineer hardware across the lineup for more affordable, mid-range, and premium devices – dubbed ‘entry, core or signature.’

Better yet, Panos says battery life will be longer for portables, that the speakers will sound better – maybe even setting a standard higher than the first generation Echo Studio with a squeal – and, potentially taking a page from his time as Surface’s lead, promises ‘the best security available.’

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

It’s said that the first devices featuring Alexa+ that Panos has touched, beyond the Kindles and even the Echo Show 15 or 21, will arrive in the fall – think August to October of 2025.

Indeed, Panos is setting a high level for future Echo smart speakers and smart displays, as well as its lineup of Fire TV sticks and televisions, Fire HD tablets, and various other devices. We already saw the next generation of Kindle debuted in the last quarter of 2024, and in this wide-ranging interview, Panay stated: “There won’t be a corner cut. It won’t matter if we tried it before. It won’t matter what you thought it used to be.”

This could lead to a sharper focus for Amazon’s entire devices team, which is still starting at the customer and working backwards but also putting out future devices with more polish. It could also be a device type that Amazon has tried. However, this does not mean Amazon is bringing back the short-lived Fire Phone – Panos made it clear he doesn’t have plans to do that, though it’s not entirely off the table.

More likely, it could mean reinvestment in robots for the home, like the Ring Always Home Cam – a flying security drone – and Amazon Astro. The latter is still an invite-only Day One product, but Panos summed up a big part of the vision as giving folks a reason or a better one to use Alexa.

On Astro and robots as a whole, Panos said, “if a robot is part of that, then I’ll make sure we have a great robot.” He also hinted that augmented reality glasses and new wrist-worn devices could be part of a future lineup. This might mean future versions of Echo Frames could feature cameras, much like Ray-Ban Metas, but also be more full-featured devices with access to Alexa+. Panos confirmed that hardware upgrades are coming to Amazon’s current wearables, Echo Frames and Echo Buds.

It also makes more sense why Alexa+ had to be unveiled first. It will be the central feature of these future devices, essentially serving as the new platform on which they can hopefully excel. I still bet Amazon wants a screen in everyone’s house.

(Image credit: Future)

Like Panos’ strategy at Microsoft for Surface, Amazon’s forthcoming devices will likely have the utmost attention to detail and not just offer speeds for the sake of going fast but rather be there to provide some sort of functionality and genuine helpfulness for whoever is using it.

Panos stated, “We’re envisioning what’s the next thing for a customer when it comes to AI devices and we have some incredible ones.” It’s doubling down on Amazon’s devices lineup, and I’m just keen to see if Amazon will flood the market with new devices in the fall like its previous events or if it will be a more tempered approach. At the minimum, I hope for a few new Echo speakers across the entry, core, and signature lineup.

You can read the full interview with Panos Panay at Bloomberg here.

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