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• Sega America and Europe CEO Shuji Utsumi has discussed the company's philosophy in a recent interview
• He stated that Sega "needs to be innovative" to remain relevant
• He also confirmed that there will not be any further mini retro consoles

In some bad news for retro game enjoyers, Sega America and Europe CEO Shuji Utsumi has suggested that the company will not be making any more mini retro consoles.

The words come from a recent interview with The Guardian in which Utsumi discusses the company’s current philosophy. “Gamers loved Sega because we showed a new style, attitude and lifestyle to gamers,” he said. “I want to bring that feeling back. But we are not just a nostalgic company, we need to be innovative.”

This approach seems evident in Sega’s recent output, which has included a number of successful new titles such as Metaphor: ReFantazio in addition to new entries in long-running fan-favorite franchises like Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. The company has also seen success in its multimedia efforts, with the new Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film already performing well at the box office.

When asked whether the company would pursue any new mini consoles, presumably to follow up the popular Sega Genesis (or Sega Mega Drive for those outside of the US) Mini, he simply replied: “I’m not going for the mini direction. It’s not me. I want to embrace modern gamers”.

The Guardian also states that Sega then clarified that this meant there are currently no plans for any more mini consoles, which is going to be a bit of disappointment for anyone looking forward to a potential Sega Dreamcast Mini or Sega Saturn Mini.

Even so, Utsumi rounds off the interview by reiterating his forward-facing point of view. “We are not a retro company,” he said. “We really appreciate our legacy, we value it, but at the same time, we want to deliver something new – otherwise we’ll become history.”

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• The creators of Netflix's new show also brought us Narcos and Griselda
• De Niro is a former President investigating a devastating cyberattack
• Zero Day is streaming from February 20, 2025

It's not every day you see a giant of cinema starring in a TV show: in the pre-streaming era that kind of thing was not something successful stars would do. But this is no ordinary day and this is no ordinary show, which is no doubt why Robert De Niro agreed to be in it. That, and probably Santa-sized sacks of money.

De Niro is the star of Zero Day, a new Netflix show created by Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim. Between them the two have a stellar CV that includes Narcos, Narcos: Mexico, President, The Watcher, Griselda, The Maze Runner and more. In this show, which has the potential to be one of the best Netflix series, De Niro plays a former US president who leads an investigation into a devastating cyberattack.

What happens in Zero Day?

As you can see from the trailer, the cyberattack has a devastating effect on the US and causes thousands of deaths. And with the US already on a political precipice, the attack threatens to push the nation over the edge.

According to Oppenheim, "The show also looks at the cost of power for those who are asked to take on these enormous challenges – what it means for them personally, and what it means for their families.”

De Niro is former President George Mullen, appointed head of the 'Zero Day Commission' into the attacks. And to find the truth he'll also have to battle his own personal demons.

Mullen, De Niro says, is a straight-shooter. "That’s the spine of my character in the show. Don’t dodge anything. Don’t play games. Be honest about what’s going on so that the public knows what’s going on.”

De Niro is joined by an impressive cast that includes Angela Bassett, Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Matthew Modine and more.

Zero Day is a limited series and it'll premiere on Netflix on February 20, 2025.

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Xencelabs Pen Display 16: one-minute review

The Xencelabs Pen Display 16 is a drawing tablet the brand describes as ‘the first 4K 16-inch OLED’ on the market. It’s a very comprehensive package, offering two styluses, a stylus case and a carry case, but this is expanded upon in the Pen Display 16 Bundle I was sent for review, which also included a USB-C hub, the Mobile Easel Stand and the Quick Keys shortcut accessory.

Thanks to its smaller 16-inch size and 4K resolution, it has an impressive 275ppi pixel density, while its High Color Gamut Coverage (covering 1.07 billion colors, 98% Adobe RGB, 98% P3-D65 and 99% sRGB) means it offers vibrant, true-to-life hues. The rest of its design is pleasingly minimal. It needs scant cables for a beginner’s setup – although you’ll need to use a lot more if you want max brightness and video output, while the discrete, wireless Quick Keys accessory handles shortcuts.

In terms of performance, it’s exceedingly responsive and can rival many of the best drawing tablets. There’s minimal parallax or jitter while using either of its pens and with 8,192 pressure levels, I found each stroke felt realistic and in line with how hard I was pressing. It was also easy to adapt things to my workflow – I was able to tweak pressure curves in the Xencelabs driver and assign my most used functions like undo, zoom and scroll to clicks of the pen buttons or the buttons and dial of the quick keys.

Given its price – $999 / £969 (around AU$1597) for the Essentials edition or $1,299 / £1,199 (around AU$2,080) for the Bundle edition featured here – it’s really hard to quibble with the quality or breadth of what the Pen Display 16 offers. If you’re a professional artist or have loads of money to burn, you might want to go with a behemoth like the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27. But for most people, this is the perfect combo of price and high-end results.

Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review: price and availability

• Announced: May 8, 2024
• Retails for $999 / £969
• Bundle reviewed here retails for $1,299 / £1,199

First announced on May 8, 2024, the Xencelabs Pen Display 16 went on sale later that month and is available for purchase now. It currently retails for $999 / £969 (around AU$1597), which is a competitive price, especially considering the closest equivalent from Wacom, the Wacom Cintiq Pro 16, retails for a much spendier $1,599.95 / £1,399.99 / AU$2,399.

However, it’s worth noting this isn’t the only option: the Xencelabs Pen Display 16 Bundle we received for review here actually retails for $1,299 / £1,199 (around AU$2,080). While that’s a bit of a markup, I’d argue you get a huge amount of value in return for the extra spend: it comes with a USB hub and all the cabling to allow you to hook it up using HDMI, Display Port and mains power. It also provides power adaptors for international plug sockets, the Mobile Easel stand and the customizable Quick Keys accessory, which adds programmable buttons and a dial to your setup. In my book, that’s well worth spending the additional cash.

(Image credit: Future) Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review: specs

(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell) Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review: design

• 16-inch 4K display with high 275ppi pixel density
• Simple to use and setup for beginners
• Can get very cable heavy with more professional setups

Xencelabs describes the Pen Display 16’s screen as the ‘industry’s first’ 16-inch 4K OLED. Not only is it 10-bit and capable of delivering 1.07 billion colors, which means it should give vibrant color reproduction, but its contrast ratio of 100,000:1 should enable it to offer really inky blacks and decent highlights. While 16 inches isn’t the largest drawing tablet Xencelabs has produced – that accolade goes to the Xencelabs Pen Display 24 – it is worth bearing in mind the two devices’ identical resolution means you’re getting a much higher pixel density here: 275ppi vs 183ppi.

According to Xencelabs specs, the screen is also etched to provide a ‘traditional pen-and-paper-like drawing experience’. If I’m being completely honest, although I tried using both the standard and felt nibs supplied, I can’t say this offered quite as much bite as I was expecting. The nibs don’t slip as readily as they would across a glossy display but I wouldn’t describe it as being that much like drawing on paper, especially not compared to using some e-paper displays. On the flip side, the nibs don’t catch as they do on some other drawing tablets, so subtle is definitely better here.

While the Pen Display 16 is absolutely light enough to use freehand, the bundle we received for review also comes with Xencelabs Mobile Easel stand for those times you want to mount it on your desk. At first, I was a bit underwhelmed by its construction. It features two kickstands that allow you to set it at two different drawing angles but often when I did, it would collapse if I pressed too hard or moved my hand too rapidly. Turned out I was having a bit of a middle-aged moment though: I eventually realized that I needed to push harder to click the stand into position and, once you do, it’s solid as a rock. D’oh.

And whatever angle you’re using this drawing tablet at, it’s a pretty comfortable experience. Rather than putting aesthetics ahead of usability and giving the Pen Display 16 tiny, tablet-like bezels, Xencelabs has sensibly given it a nice, chunky 1.57 inch / 4cm border, which makes it easy to rest your wrists on while sketching. Aside from this though, there’s very little to distract from your artwork on the screen – the Pen Display 16 is gorgeously minimal, with the only other embellishments being its sole USB-C port, power button, and the optional pen clips you can affix to it.

This simplicity also extends to its cabling – at least up until a point. Aspiring artists will likely appreciate how simple it is to hook up to your hardware – at its most minimal, you can simply connect it to your laptop or desktop via USB-C, plug in the dongle for its Quick Keys accessory and you’re good to go. Unfortunately, if you want the highest brightness output and to be able to record or output your video directly to an external display, things quickly get more complicated: once you’ve added the required USB hub, power cable, and HDMI or Display Port cable, your desk will look like a spilled spaghetti cable-nara. But I’d argue that won’t be unfamiliar for anyone wanting a truly pro-level setup.

A real strength of the Xencelabs Pen Display 16 Bundle we reviewed is that absolutely everything you’ll need is provided for you. Unlike some tech brands that have ruthlessly cut back on all the accessories they provide – **cough** Apple **cough** – this bundle means you don’t need to purchase a single additional product. Whether it’s the full gamut of USB cables, international power adapters, the dedicated stylus box for the two types of pen provided, spare nibs, dongles, and the Mobile Easel, you really have everything you’ll need here. It even comes with a carrying case that fits all of these accessories inside while being comfortable to carry. It’s a level of thoughtfulness that’s all too often overlooked when buying modern gadgets.

• Design score: 5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell) Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review: performance

• Gorgeous color reproduction
• Very precise with no noticeable parallax or jitter
• Supremely customizable Quick Keys shortcuts accessory

First of all, the screen looks gorgeous, with the 4K resolution and impressive pixel density meaning your drawings look impressively crisp. Additionally, the color reproduction makes artwork look lush and vibrant – moving an Illustrator file I was working on between the drawing tablet and my 2017 MacBook Pro’s native screen, I noticed how much more brilliant they were on the former, with the OLED display and that insane color gamut really giving the red and amber hues extra warmth.

When it comes to brightness, it can sometimes look a little on the dull side, particularly in a well-lit room. But given its OLED panel and matt effect screen, I wouldn’t say this was an enormous surprise – it’s just the price you pay for such gorgeous color reproduction and deep blacks and I found it scarcely noticeable when I was working in the evenings under marginally softer light. In some circumstances, you can improve the brightness from 170 nits to 300 nits to by hooking the tablet up to mains power and the included USB hub; however, I found this didn’t make much difference for my setup, as the MacBook Pro’s USB-C port clearly outputs enough juice on its own.

To test out the Xencelabs Pen Display 16’s drawing performance, I tried a few line tests using different brushes, before progressing to doing some detailed line drawings of my own. Generally speaking, I found it to be swift and precise: there was almost zero parallax using either stylus and I found it very easy to sketch accurately even when attempting fine detail. And when sketching at speeds, there was very little jitter or imprecision: motion was smooth and fluid. There was occasionally a little bit of lag where the tool fell behind the nib but this could well have been down more to my laptop’s age than the Pen Display 16’s performance.

As I’ve mentioned above, the Pen Display 16 hardly has any buttons on the device itself; instead, it deputizes its Quick Keys accessory to handle additional functionality on its behalf. This is a supremely flexible tool: it offers eight programmable buttons that you can assign using the Xencelabs driver to a variety of functions, everything from different types of mouse click and modifier keys like command or option, to display, navigation and even OS-level options. You can create 5 different profiles of presets, making it easy to switch between different setups at the press of a button. Its wheel also has four fully customizable settings: I set one to scroll and one to rotate, which made it really to control my canvas and get the angle right for specific strokes.

And this isn’t the only customizable thing. Using the Xencelabs drivers, you can tweak a wide range of settings for the pens – not only can you adjust pressure sensitivity but you can also adjust the pressure curves to ensure it responds exactly the way you’d draw naturally. You can also set the shortcut buttons on each stylus: being able to quickly access undo, right clicks, and a range of other features without taking my hands off the pen was a huge time saver.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

(Image credit: Future) Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review: stylus

• Two pens, each with customizable buttons
• Ergonomic, comfortable design
• 8K pressure sensitivity with programmable curves

The pens that come with the Xencelabs Pen Display 16 are both well-designed, comfortable to hold, and offer flexible functionality. First, the fact that there are two options meant I was able to switch things up based on the kind of work I was doing: the slimmer, two-button Thin Pen felt super comfortable and ergonomic for light sketching, while the sturdier 3-Button Pen was better suited for longer sessions where I’d benefit from extra shortcuts.

Both pens are well-designed and feel comfortable in the hand – their rubber grip makes it easy to keep precise control over them without having to apply loads of pressure. My one criticism is that it is quite easy to sometimes accidentally press the buttons when you’re holding the pens. However, as a result of the functionality I had them set to, I rarely found this to cause major problems and, eventually, I formed the muscle memory to grip the pens in an orientation that kept my fingers off the buttons.

The Pen Display 16’s pens handle pressure very well indeed. They’re capable of 8,192 pressure levels, which is plenty for professional artwork – while you’ll find some devices on the market that offer 16K, this is likely far more granular control than your hand will ever be able to reproduce. This was borne out during my testing: while sketching the barbs of a feather, I found the stylus responded accurately with each stroke, enabling me to reproduce realistic pencil strokes. And it was trivial to add realistic watercolor pigments over the top, as the blending brush responded very precisely to the force of my hand.

• Stylus Score: 4.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell) Should I buy the Xencelabs Pen Display 16? Buy it if…

You want a fantastic drawing experience
The Xencelabs Pen Display 16 is unerringly precise, ergonomic to use and offers plenty of customizability to allow you to tailor your drawing experience to your preferences. It also offers great visual fidelity, with its crisp 4K detail and vibrant colors showing off your artwork in fantastic detail.

You want an all-in-one package for not much money
The Xencelabs Pen Display 16 Bundle I reviewed offers an absurd number of accessories, while still coming in cheaper than some direct rivals. From cabling and the Quick Keys remote to the Mobile Easel and carry case, it packs everything you could possibly need into a single package.

Don’t buy it if…

You need a larger drawing area
While 16 inches is a decent drawing space, you know what’s better? 24 inches. If you’re going to be doing particularly large artwork and designs, that extra screen estate will give you that little bit more room without having to zoom or scroll.

You’d prefer a standalone solution
While this is a fantastic drawing solution, it is dependent on you having a laptop or desktop that’s up to snuff and means you’ll have to cart additional hardware around with you. If that’s not your bag, a traditional tablet or a standalone drawing tablet like the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad might suit you better.

Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review: also consider

Xencelabs Pen Display 24
The bigger sibling of the Pen Display 16, the Xencelabs Pen Display 24 is pricier but offers even more screen estate for you to sketch out larger designs and artwork. Otherwise, it offers all the same strengths and benefits as the model on review here – so it’s not surprising it currently sits as our pick for the best drawing tablet available. Read our full Xencelabs Pen Display 24 review.

iPad Pro 13-inch (2024)
If you don’t want to have to drag an extra laptop around, this is the tablet for you. Heck, with its M4 chip, there’s a good chance it’s more powerful than your laptop. It’s also absurdly responsive, thanks to that 120Hz display, and the new Apple Pencil, with its hover, squeeze and barrel roll features, unlocks even more ways to control your stylus. Read our full iPad Pro 13-inch (2024) review.

(Image credit: Future) Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review: how I tested

• I used it for a week
• Created a range of artwork using Photoshop and Illustrator
• Performed line tests and utilized a range of brushes

During the week I spent testing the Xencelabs Pen Display 16, I performed a range of tests, from simple to complex. First off I carried out multiple line tests with different brushes to check for issues like parallax and jitter, as well as to test how the pens responded to pressure.

I then embarked on creating several artworks in both Photoshop and Illustrator to test out both the performance of the stylus and the screen in a variety of real-world situations. I created a simple line sketch with multiple watercolor effects over the top, created a multi-layered illustration using vector shapes and retouched a portrait in Photoshop.

In terms of experience, not only have I been testing gadgets for many years, but I’ve spent several decades using tools like Photoshop and Illustrator to create art, as well as sketching and painting in real media.

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

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• RUVDS expands hosting to Earth’s coldest, remote regions
• Tests promise high-speed data access for extreme remote environments
• Antarctica mission tests data center limits and innovation

Russian hosting firm RUVDS has announced plans to deliver a server to one of Earth’s most isolated locations: the South Pole.

Building on its previous Arctic experiment, the company aims to explore the feasibility of providing high-speed, uninterrupted data access from Antarctica's remote, freezing landscape.

According to the company’s schedule, this ambitious venture will take place next year and it seeks to prove that reliable server infrastructure that can operate even under the harshest conditions.

World’s most challenging climates

This venture follows RUVDS’s earlier success at the Barneo Ice Camp, a temporary station on an ice floe near the North Pole. Earlier in 2024, the company delivered a “data center in a box” to Barneo via an airdrop from an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft.

The server is equipped with weather-resistant materials and connected to RUVDS’s satellite. It is designed to provide internet access and data hosting capabilities in the Arctic. While the server was intended to operate for a month, an emergency evacuation due to a crack in the ice cut the experiment short after just one week.

Learning from its Arctic experience, RUVDS is now preparing the Antarctic server with advanced insulation and backup power systems.

The equipment will include uninterruptible power supplies to counter power failures and ensure continuous operations. RUVDS’s goal is to create an “Antarctic data center” capable of providing high-speed data access to users, regardless of the extreme temperatures.

The server’s connection will rely on a high-speed communication channel, expected to be delivered alongside the hardware. RUVDS has not yet specified the exact technologies it will employ for this channel, but its Arctic experiment leveraged its own satellite, the StratoSat TK-1, which was launched in June 2023 in collaboration with Russian aerospace firm Statonautica.

This satellite, a Low Earth Orbit pico-satellite, is a key part of RUVDS’s Arctic and Antarctic operations. Despite memory damage during launch, StratoSat TK-1 remains operational, broadcasting a simple HTML page from space.

The company has a couple of options for the delivery of the server. It will engage transport planes and ships that can withstand the challenges of reaching the South Pole.

If successful, the server installation could pave the way for future data centers in remote polar regions, contributing to scientific research and potentially opening new avenues for communications in inaccessible parts of the world.

"We already have a successful experience of test launching a server at the North Pole - this was a kind of first approach to testing. And Antarctica, as a region with much more complex logistics and conditions, allows us to continue research at a new level," said Nikita Tsaplin, CEO of the VDS server hosting provider RUVDS.

"As part of the mission, the possibility of establishing satellite communications, including high-speed channels, will be studied, and I do not rule out that we will carry out a kind of beta test of commercial use of the server," Tsaplin continued.

Via DCD

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• An Arizona charter school will use AI instead of human teachers for two hours a day on academic lessons.
• The AI will customize lessons in real-time to match each student’s needs.
• The company has only tested this idea at private schools before but claims it hugely increases student academic success.

One school in Arizona is trying out a new educational model built around AI and a two-hour school day. When Arizona’s Unbound Academy opens, the only teachers will be artificial intelligence algorithms in a perfect utopia or dystopia, depending on your point of view.

The Unbound Academy's unconventional approach to teaching needed approval from the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, which it received in a contentious 4-3 vote. Students in fourth through eighth grade will be enrolled in the program, in which academic lessons for two hours a day will be delivered by personalized AI, which will rely on platforms including IXL and Khan Academy. The idea pitched by Unbound is that it will make students happier and smarter, with more time to explore life skills and passions.

During those two hours, the students will be going through adaptive learning programs. While they study science, math, or literature, the AI will track their progress in real time. Depending on their performance, the AI will then adapt the curriculum's style and difficulty to help them succeed. That might mean slowing down and spending more time on some subjects or upping the ante and making some parts of the educational plan more difficult.

While academic lessons are condensed, the rest of the day is filled with hands-on workshops in areas like financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and public speaking. Instead of traditional teachers, students are guided by mentors who lead these sessions and help develop practical skills that aim to go beyond the classroom.

Academic AI

Unbound Academy has tested this concept elsewhere in similar programs at private schools in Texas and Florida under the name Alpha Schools. They claim that students in these programs learn twice as much in half the time. Arizona officials are now betting this success will work in public schools, albeit charter schools instead of standard educational institutes.

This isn't Arizona's first foray into AI education. Arizona State University (ASU) worked with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT as a kind of faculty member. The difference is that ASU has AI helping students to write academic papers and aiding professors in running more complex simulations and studies. It's not actually running any classes. What Unbound Academy is doing is closer to a trial run in the UK. London’s David Game College is running an AI-taught class as part of its new Sabrewing program, bringing 20 GCSE students into the program, which employs AI platforms and virtual reality headsets to guide their learning.

The idea that AI allows for hyper-personalized learning and can make for more successful students is, of course, appealing. The extra time freed up for life-skills workshops is another selling point, preparing students for challenges outside the classroom. But it's all too easy to see the shadow cast by what's lost without human teachers. AI can't replace the mentorship, encouragement, and emotional support that define a great teacher, at least not in any of its current forms.

AI may be able to boost a teacher's ability to help students, but it's objectively ridiculous to claim AI as it is now can be better than a human teacher. It may be cheaper for a district to turn to a for-profit company in the short term, but it's a shortsighted way of considering the value of educators. For now, students at Unbound Academy will be the pioneers of this new approach. Everyone will learn something from the result, one way or another.

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