We've been following rumors of an exciting new Canon compact camera for some time, and that camera – the PowerShot V1 – has just been unveiled on the Canon Japan website.
Canon's latest PowerShot is primarily a vlogging compact camera, and on paper it looks like a Sony ZV-1 II-beating rival. It features a 16-50mm F2.8-4.5 lens and new stabilized 22.3MP sensor that's essentially the same size as Micro Four Thirds, save for its narrower 3:2 aspect ratio.
Users are equipped with 4K / 30p video and Canon's C-Log color profile, or 4K /60p with a heavy 1.4x crop – but that latter shouldn't be much of an issue considering the ultra-wide perspective of the 3.1x optical zoom lens.
There's also a built-in 3-stop ND filter, 5EV in-body image stabilization, mic and headphones ports, plus record times with a heat limit that starts at 25 minutes, but which can be extended to unlimited with the built-in cooling fan in action.
Photographers won't find features such as a viewfinder or built-in flash, but that doesn't mean they should ignore the PowerShot V1, because it has some incredibly powerful photo features. These includes burst shooting at rates of up to 15fps with the mechanical shutter (that's incredibly fast – only a handful of cameras can go that fast using a mechanical shutter), or up to 30fps with the electronic shutter.
Overall, the PowerShot V1 has a solid feature-set squeezed into a compact body with comfortable-looking hand grip, and here's where I think it'll be a hit: it's likely list price. At the time of writing, we only have the 148,500 Japanese Yen price, which converts to around $990 / £785 / AU$1,550 – that's pretty competitive considering the features on board.
Image 1 of 4(Image credit: Canon)Image 2 of 4(Image credit: Canon)Image 3 of 4(Image credit: Canon)Image 4 of 4(Image credit: Canon) Could the Canon Powershot V1 be the one compact camera to rule them all?From the Sony ZV-1 II compact to the gimbal stabilized DJI Osmo Pocket 3 and the Fujifilm XM-5 / Nikon Z30 mirrorless cameras, there's no shortage of sub $1,000 vlogging cameras. And it's into this market that the Canon PowerShot V1 steps in.
We haven't tested the feature-stacked PowerShot V1 yet – it is set for an April / May 2025 launch – but on paper it looks super impressive, and it's likely to enter the market at an enticing price point that I expect to make it very popular.
It's stabilized sensor is larger than the 1-inch type used by Sony and DJI rivals, while users still enjoy the convenience of a built-in lens that you don't get with mirrorless cameras such as the Nikon Z30.
And its image-making capabilities are supported by what looks like a complete user experience for video; in-body image stabilization rated up to 5EV, a built-in ND filter, cooling fan, mic and headphone ports and a hotshoe for accessories such as external flashguns.
At 15oz / 426g with card and battery inserted, the PowerShot V1 is a little weightier than I expected, but it's the complete package idea for video-first users who also want a highly competent photography tool.
We'll be sure to run our expert in-depth review as soon as the camera is available to develop our verdict, but even at this early stage the PowerShot V1 looks set to trouble our best vlogging cameras guide.
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(Image credit: Jim Watson)
Zoom has lifted the wraps off a new AI-powered tool designed to assist workers with repetitive and administrative work, freeing them up more time to produce meaningful outcomes.
The new Workflow Automation service centers around no-code automation templates that users can select and tweak to get certain tasks done for them, promising support for third-party apps as well as the company’s own software.
Head of Team Chat, Wei Li, described the feature as easy to use for workers who aren’t technically minded, adding: “Empowering people with AI to help them get more done is core to what we do at Zoom.”
Zoom on AI-powered productivity softwareIn its announcement, Zoom described how Workflow Automation could be used to generate summaries after meetings, and have that summary added directly into a Zoom Doc, Google Doc or Word document, before automatically sharing that document in a Team Chat channel, all without the involvement or direction of a worker (beyond the initial setup).
Zoom slated its competitors for requiring workers to possess a certain amount of technical knowledge, adding that its no-code technology can be used by virtually anyone for pretty significant productivity boosts.
At the same time, the California-based company previously known for its video conferencing software – which now wants to be known for its AI-enhance Workplace software – added new features to its AI Companion tool.
With hybrid working still commonplace in many industries, companion audi in Zoom Rooms promises to enhance the experience by using workers’ individual laptops as additional microphones for clearer audio, rather than requiring companies to invest in multiple in-room mics.
Zoom is also adding a YouTube app within Zoom Meetings “soon,” promising native and lag-free video sharing for each individual participant rather than a cumbersome screen sharing experience.
Furthermore, support for Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Indonesian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese and Dutch (Netherlands) have all been added to extend the company’s reach into many of the world’s most populous countries.
Paying Zoom subscribers can now access Workflow Automation at no additional cost with versions 6.3.10 and above of the desktop app.
You might also likeThere was a lot to digest from Apple’s iPhone 16e announcement, with the device potentially being the most significant budget iPhone in years. But if you’ve got a sharp eye, you might have noticed that it lacks a few key photography features, including Apple’s latest Photographic Styles.
Photographic Styles are essentially tweaks that are applied to things like image tone and contrast as you’re taking pictures on an iPhone, making them more intelligent than regular filters that are pressed onto flat pictures after they’re shot. They’ve been present in all the best iPhones since the iPhone 13, but Apple totally revamped them with the launch of the iPhone 16 range in 2024 – they now store more data in each photo, letting you apply Photographic Styles after the image has been taken.
Yet if you go to Apple’s iPhone comparison page and put the iPhone 16e up against any other device from the iPhone 16 lineup, you’ll notice that the iPhone 16e is just said to come with “Photographic Styles.” For any other iPhone 16 device, the feature is labeled as “Latest-generation Photographic Styles.”
That means that if you’re hoping to try Apple’s latest looks when shooting photos on the iPhone 16e, you’re out of luck. Past-generation Photographic Styles still give you plenty of ways to enhance your images, but they lack some of the features that the latest styles give you.
Missing features (Image credit: Apple / Future)That’s not the only way the iPhone 16e falls behind the other devices in the iPhone 16 range. Most clearly, it only has one camera lens, meaning it lacks the ultra-wide lens you’ll find in the other iPhone 16 products and the telephoto lens present in the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Elsewhere, the iPhone 16e is also lacking the Camera Control. This touch-sensitive strip can be found along the side of every other iPhone 16 and lets you quickly jump into your chosen camera app, switch photographic settings like zoom level, depth of field and exposure, and take photos.
Ultimately, some of these decisions probably come down to cost. With the iPhone 16e being Apple’s most affordable iPhone, Apple had to exclude some features to keep the price down. The lack of new Photographic Styles might also be a marketing decision on Apple’s part to maintain some distance between the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 16 and to ensure that the budget phone doesn’t cannibalize sales of the regular iPhone 16.
Regardless of the reasoning, the missing camera features mean the iPhone 16e might not be the iPhone for you if you’re into photography, and it certainly won’t be a contender for the best camera phone any time soon. It still has a lot to offer in other areas, but more serious photographers might want to look elsewhere.
You might also likeThe Samsung Galaxy S25 phones are all now out and available to buy, except for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, which has only been briefly teased. Now a new leak suggests the Edge model could differ in one key way from the rest of the S25 series.
According to information obtained by SamMobile, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is going to come with a ceramic back, switching from the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass on the back of the other handsets in the series.
That may go some way to explaining why the Galaxy S25 Edge was available to look at, but not to touch, during the Galaxy S25 launch event – it would've revealed the surprise. The side frame will apparently stick with aluminum, like the other handsets.
The main reason to pick ceramic as a backing material is durability, and this should give the Galaxy S25 Edge better protection against drops and knocks. Given its thinness and lightness, that extra protection might be needed.
Living on the Edge We may hear more about the Galaxy S25 Edge next month (Image credit: Future)As per the SamMobile report, the back material on the Galaxy S25 Edge could be fully ceramic or ceramic-fused glass – perhaps something similar to what Apple has been using on the front of its iPhones in recent years.
It would be another way that the Galaxy S25 Edge could differentiate itself against the other handsets in the series, besides its thinness. The phone is apparently just 5.84mm front to back (compared to the 7.2mm of the standard Galaxy S25).
We're still waiting to get the full list of specs for the Galaxy S25 Edge, and we don't know when it's launching yet either. Given Mobile World Congress (MWC) is happening next month – the biggest mobile tech show of the year – we may get more info then.
The phone could restart a trend for super-thin smartphones: we're expecting Apple to launch the iPhone 17 Air later in the year alongside the other iPhone 17 models, though that might not be the final name of the device.
You might also likeThe iPhone 16e might not have Camera Control, the quick-open camera toggle found on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, but it can still access one of Apple Intelligence's best features.
Visual Intelligence lets you point your iPhone's camera at an object and get information on what you're looking at, whether that's through ChatGPT or via Google Search. The feature is one of the best use cases for Apple Intelligence and, until now, has been tied to Camera Control on the best iPhones (it's launched with a long press of the Camera Control toggle).
On the newly announced iPhone 16e, however, Visual Intelligence is activated differently due to the lack of Camera Control functionality. Instead, you can assign the feature to the Action Button or access it via Control Center.
While it's excellent that the 16e has full Apple Intelligence functionality thanks to the A18 chip and 8GB of RAM, missing a dedicated way to launch Visual Intelligence without assigning the feature to the customizable Action Button does slightly limit the user. The Action Button can be used to launch or perform many different shortcuts, and having Visual Intelligence assigned to a different input like Camera Control allows iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro users to get the most from their devices.
Camera Control on the iPhone 16 (Image credit: Future)On the 16e, users will have to choose between Visual Intelligence via the Action Button or one of the other endless shortcuts you can assign to the quick toggle.
If you don't want to assign Visual Intelligence to the Action Button on iPhone 16e, you can access the AI tool from Control Center, although that requires extra input such as dragging down from the top of your display.
The iPhone 16e is available for preorder starting February 21 and will be available from February 28. Prices start from $599 / £599 / AU$999.
What about the iPhone 15 Pro? The iPhone 15 Pro doesn't have Visual Intelligence functionality (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)While the iPhone 16e has Visual Intelligence functionality without the Camera Control, the iPhone 15 Pro does not, despite having everything else Apple Intelligence offers. Up until the iPhone 16e reveal, it was presumed that Visual Intelligence was not possible on the 15 Pro due to the lack of Camera Control, which was introduced with the iPhone 16 lineup.
Instead, it appears that the iPhone 15 Pro, just like iPhone 16e, could access Visual Intelligence in other ways, though Apple, for some reason, has decided against expanding the feature to this particular model – at least for now.
As someone who upgraded from the iPhone 15 Pro to the iPhone 16 Pro to try out Visual Intelligence, I'm disappointed that Apple could've in fact added the Google Lens competitor to the older device immediately (or so it seems).
Of course, now that the latest member of the iPhone family, the 16e, has Visual Intelligence without a Camera Control toggle, iPhone 15 Pro owners might see the feature come to their devices in the future. I'm not holding my breath, though.
You might also likeHealthcare organizations in Europe are being targeted by a never-before seen ransomware strain called NailaoLocker, experts have warned.
Cybersecurity researchers Orange Cyberdefense revealed the threat actors distributing NailaoLocker are most likely of Chinese origin. They are apparently abusing a high-severity vulnerability in Check Point Security Gateways to enumerate and extract password hashes for all local accounts.
The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2024-24919, and was patched in May 2024.
Diversion“Due to the fact all observed Check Point instances were still vulnerable at the time of their compromise, CVE-2024-24919 likely enabled the threat actors to retrieve user credentials and to connect to the VPN using a legitimate account,” Orange said.
The attackers would abuse this vulnerability to side-load a vulnerable DLL file, and use it to deploy ShadowPad and PlugX malware. These, in turn, would drop NailaoLocker and encrypt files on the victim computers.
The locker itself is apparently very basic, almost amateurish. Orange says it doesn’t kill security processes or running services, has no anti-debugging or sandbox evasion techniques, and doesn’t scan network shares. "Written in C++, NailaoLocker is relatively unsophisticated and poorly designed, seemingly not intended to guarantee full encryption," Orange said.
That has fueled speculation that encryption is not the end goal of these campaigns. Instead, they could either be a way to divert attention from the actual goal, which is to steal sensitive data from the targets, or a way to earn a little money on the side, while at the same time achieving the true goal of cyber-espionage. However, Orange also said the targets were mostly healthcare organizations which are not exactly the usual targets for cyber-espionage.
The researchers don’t know for sure, therefore they’re not attributing this attack to any particular threat actor, at least not yet.
Via BleepingComputer
You might also likeOriginal Xbox console designer Seamus Blackley has said that good games are more important than powerful hardware today.
Speaking in an interview with VideoGamer, Blackley said that marketing the original Xbox as the most powerful console "really worked and was relevant then because we were still [in] the nascent stages of graphics."
This is not the case today, however, where the differences between the likes of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are significantly less pronounced. "I remember seeing Gran Turismo when it came out for PlayStation, and I had to buy it just because I couldn't believe what was happening on the screen [...] that was compelling and that doesn't exist anymore," he continued.
He argued that the games themselves are now more important than ever. "The battle [...] has switched away from that sort of technical achievement into other things [...] you have to create an experience where, when people see it, they have to have it."
He highlighted the record breaking sales of the Nintendo Switch as an example of a console that has succeeded despite lacking any real cutting edge specs. "That's all you need," he said. "I have played through Breath of the Wild maybe three or four times. I'll just keep playing through it and I can carry it with me."
He also commented on the current state of Xbox. With the Xbox Series X touted as the most powerful console out there (at least, before the arrival of the PS5 Pro), but falling significantly behind the PS5 in sales, it's clear that raw power isn't the way to win. "How they managed that brand and the story going forward is not my f***ing fault," he remarked. "I would not have done things the same way [...] I certainly think that this narrative around being more powerful is not helpful today."
You might also like...The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 launch has been a rather sorry episode for Nvidia, due to demand far exceeding supply, on top of issues with scalpers - but fortunately, Team Green is taking action to give genuine buyers a better chance of getting one of these high-end GPUs at their recommended prices.
As spotted by Wccftech, Nvidia has brought back its Verified Priority Access program, a scheme that allows a limited number of gamers (or indeed creators) in the US to purchase the RTX 5090 or RTX 5080 at MSRP by completing a form to indicate their interest.
The only stipulation is that people need to have an Nvidia account (that was created on or before January 30, 2025), and note that this only offers the chance to purchase Nvidia's own Founders Edition versions of the graphics cards.
You may remember that Nvidia introduced this scheme with the RTX 4090 and eventually the RTX 4080 too, after these GPUs were launched.
Considering the still very limited supply of high-end Blackwell GPUs, this will likely prove highly beneficial for would-be buyers. It's a struggle to find anything near MSRP at all, and third-party RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards (meaning GPUs not from Nvidia) which can be found on sale cost far more than their recommended pricing. Of course, this scheme won't help you buy such a third-party board, only a Founders Edition GPU.
While this priority access scheme is not going to completely turn the tide of the battle against scalpers, it'll surely help in that fight. If a scalper doesn't already have a pre-existing Nvidia account, they'll be out of luck, as creating a new one to get onto the scheme won't work (due to the mentioned January 30 deadline).
This is similar to Valve's move with the Steam Deck, where the initial pre-orders were limited to those with a Steam account that had been created in the previous year (and had made a purchase).
While Nvidia's priority access scheme is only in the US for now, hopefully it'll be expanded beyond that to other regions in the future.
(Image credit: Future) Nvidia should keep this priority access scheme going forwardNvidia's GPUs are always highly sought after upon launch, seemingly regardless of how well any new GPUs are received by gamers, and we're seeing that again with Blackwell graphics cards. This inevitably introduces two main problems in terms of scalping and inflated prices - with the end result being that very few gamers are lucky enough to snag a new card, and they end up paying far too much for that privilege.
The Verified Priority Access scheme gives gamers a better chance of buying a powerhouse GPU, and what's more, they get it at a fair price - the MSRP, in fact. So in my opinion, this must be part of Team Green's sales strategy going forward (at least while stock woes persist).
Scalpers may still find ways to manipulate the system, especially if accounts were made before the January 30 deadline. However, there is no guarantee that those who fill in a form will get a chance to purchase, and Nvidia is 'verifying' any applicants to hopefully weed out any dubious would-be buyers. Plus each account is still limited to one purchase only.
As I've stated, this isn't going to benefit all potential buyers as there are caveats involved (notably that the scheme is restricted to US buyers only), but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
You may also like...Former PlayStation head Shuhei Yoshida has some thoughts on when the next console generation - namely the PlayStation 6 - could end up happening.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Yoshida spoke about the ever-increasing length of console generations and what that could mean for the eventual release of the PlayStation 6. Spoilers, he doesn't think it's coming any time soon.
"Right, it’s getting longer," Yoshida said in relation to the time between console generations. "The last cycle was seven years. If it’s seven years, we’ll see a new one in 2027. I have no information about the next PlayStation, but it feels a bit too early for me to say. The PS5 generation was slowed down because of manufacturing issues. If the next PlayStation comes out in 2028, that feels right to me."
Yoshida also speculated that the next Xbox console could launch around the same time, referring directly to Microsoft's "leak about a 2028 plan."
He also relates this slowing of growth, overhiring and subsequent industry-wide layoffs to the Covid 19 pandemic of recent years, saying: "I think it’s an overreaction to the Covid situation. Companies invested too much, including ourselves. Then we had to face reality and make adjustments. If you take out the Covid years you’d have smoother growth over the years."
It remains to be seen whether or not (and indeed when) the games industry can get back to a stable, sustainable level of growth over time. But Yoshida's speculation is sound here. That can also be seen in the transition from Nintendo Switch into Nintendo Switch 2, which will be a gap of more than eight years by the time the upcoming console launches.
For now, though, you can be sure that you'll still be getting a good few years of use out of your PS5 console yet.
You might also like...We published our hands on preview for the OnePlus Watch 3, and all early signs point to it being one of the best smartwatches of the year. Sadly, that recommendation might need to come with an asterisk if you're in the US or Canada: the big-but-beautiful smartwatch will be missing some features, tied to the lack of certification for the ECG (electrocardiogram) sensor from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA certification is considered the 'gold standard' for a smartwatch's health features. The best Apple Watches carry FDA-approved features such as irregular heart rate rhythm notification, authorizing the feature for use in studies and some medical settings. FDA approval is often used as a marketing play, signifying a smartwatch's health features are accurate and reliable.
“The OnePlus Watch 3 did not receive official certification from the U.S. FDA on its ECS capabilities, the ECG Analyzer feature on the OnePlus Watch 3 will not be available to users in the United States or Canada,” a statement from the manufacturer explained to Android Authority.
OnePlus Watch 3 missing features in US and CanadaAs we mentioned in our preview, one of the biggest new features is the 60-second health check in, which includes a variety of measurements taken all at once, including an ECG. Its absence means that two of the new flagship features, the ECG and the 60-second health check-in, won't be available – at least at launch.
It's not the first time a device has had problems with features at launch. Even Apple is not immune: most recently, Apple's blood oxygen monitoring technology infringed on health tech firm Masimo's patent, and the feature was removed via a software update. We're still waiting for them to return — it's in there, it's just deactivated until the disagreement can be hashed out.
There's every chance OnePlus gets the FDA 'thumbs up' in future, but for now it's something to be aware of.
You might also likeThailand, China and Myanmar have coordinated efforts over the past month to shut down the scam centers that bilked victims around the world out of billions of dollars.
(Image credit: Sarot Meksophawannakul)