News

This week, Oakley and Meta finally revealed their smart glasses (and they look kinda awesome), we published our Nintendo Switch 2 review (it's great, but not perfect), and Donald Trump launched a mobile phone (yes, really, and it's stranger than it sounds).To catch up on all this and more, we have this quick recap of the seven biggest tech news stories of the week, as well as links to the full story so you can dive into the topic more deeply.Once you're finished, be sure to also check out our picks for the seven new movies and TV shows to stream this weekend (June 20).7. Garmin launched something other than a watch(Image credit: Garmin)Garmin's latest in a veritable barrage of new releases, the Garmin Index Sleep Monitor, is something other than a watch for once – designed to be worn on the upper arm, it's a dedicated sleep tracker. With a battery life of up to a week and a more accurate signal than wrist-based trackers, the idea seems to be to swap your Garmin watch for the sleep tracker overnight, as many people find chunky running watches uncomfortable to wear to bed.We've known this was coming for a while, and are excited to get to grips with it – and it's the latest in the trend of screenless wellness trackers. Polar is also getting in on the act with a screenless, subscription-free Whoop alternative, although that's not launching until September. If you're tired of the idea of yet another flashing display in your life, you can check out this week's discreet fitness tracker guide here.Read more: Garmin just launched the Index Sleep Monitor6. Xreal launched new smart glasses(Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector)Xreal’s new One Pro AR smart glasses are easily the best we’ve ever seen, in large part due to their new optical setup, which offers a larger image and clearer picture (due to reduced reflections) than any of its competition.This feels like a true precursor to the Android XR specs it’s working on, and if Project Aura can boast these features and more, Xreal could be onto a killer machine.The only downside of the Xreal One Pro’s impressive nature is, as you might expect, its price. Currently a pair costs $649 / £579, and if you factor in ‘optional’ add-ons like the Xreal Beam Pro (at $199 / £189) it can start to add up. Though as a portable entertainment and productivity companion, Xreal’s glasses won’t let you down if you decide to pick them up.Read more: Xreal has changed the game with its One Pro AR smart glasses5. Trump tried to make phones great again… we aren’t convinced (Image credit: Trump Mobile)Trump Mobile priced its mobile service at $45.47 a month, a not-too-subtle nod to Trump’s two terms as President of the United States. Beyond that, though, the service, and especially the new, gold T1 phone, aren’t offering too many direct references to the sitting president.We focused on the head-scratching device, which offers a mix of older and new technologies (some are thrilled about the 3.5mm headphone jack) and makes a hard-to-believe claim that it’ll be made in the USA.The $499 Android 15 phone is set to arrive in September, just in time for the next iPhone. We can’t wait to see that matchup.Read more: The Trump Mobile T1 Phone is official and strange4. Apple Music’s new AI DJ impressed many(Image credit: Apple)At Apple’s recent WWDC event, the company unveiled its exciting new AutoMix feature for Apple Music. Unlike the crossfade function, which simply crosses from one song to another to avoid gaps of silence, AutoMix creates a seamless playback experience using beat matching and time stretching to connect each song in a queue.Though we have a few months to go until AutoMix rolls out with the wider iOS 26 release, it’s currently in developer beta, and those with early access are already revealing its capabilities online, marking one of the first viral Apple Music trends.It’s a big step towards improving Apple Music’s sense of community, even if it’s still behind Spotify on the social front. But from what we’re seeing so far, AutoMix is a fun and engaging new feature that will win over many users, and as a Spotify fan, I hope it’s taking some notes.Read more: As a Spotify fan, I'm feeling very jealous of Apple Music3. We spent a week with Alexa+(Image credit: Amazon)It’s been months since Amazon unveiled Alexa+, its AI-infused reimagining of its popular voice assistant, but we’ve been waiting ever since for a full public release and a chance to try out the platform, until now.We spent a week with the Alexa+ early access and found that while it’s not fully baked (and sometimes buggy), the new platform shows tremendous promise.It’s the first LLM that seems smart home aware, and that means it can help you set up, adjust, and improve your smart home, provided all the gadgets work with Alexa and can be discovered by the new Alexa+.It’s also proving to be a great conversationalist, and it’s very likely that your relationship with Alexa+ will be far different from the one you had with the timer-friendly and weather-knowledgeable OG Alexa.Read more: This could be the AI that finally changes your home2. Meta teamed up with Oakley(Image credit: Oakley / Meta)Meta has expanded its smart glasses partnership with EssilorLuxottica by introducing a pair of Oakley smart glasses based on the brand’s HSTN design.This writer thinks it’s beautiful, but our office Slack chat is less than appreciative of the distinctive look. Aesthetics aside, the glasses are packed with hardware and software upgrades.We’re talking double the battery life of the Meta Ray-Bans (it’s now eight hours instead of four), improved cameras (3K quality video capture), and improved AI assistance, which includes things like asking about surf conditions and golfing technique.They’re due to launch later this summer, starting at $399 / £399, but a limited edition pair will go up for preorder sooner on July 11, for $499 / £499.Read more: These new Oakley smart glasses are making me jealous1. We reviewed the Nintendo Switch 2(Image credit: Future)The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally here, and we've thoroughly tested the all-new console for review over the past couple of weeks. In short, it's a phenomenal upgrade over the original Switch system. While it certainly lacks that hallmark Nintendo innovation, what we have here is a powerful hybrid handheld gaming device.We now have a crisp 1080p display, capable of refresh rates of up to 120Hz. Furthermore, the handheld also features HDR and variable refresh rate tech for smoother performance while out on the go. Players who prefer docked mode aren't left out in the cold, though, as those playing on a TV or monitor can benefit from 4K and 1440p resolution settings.While battery life definitely leaves a lot to be desired, the Switch 2 is nonetheless an accomplished handheld games console, and we can't wait to see what kinds of games Nintendo has in store in the years to come.Read more: The Nintendo Switch 2 is the company’s least ambitious console to date

French startup IXI is working on glasses with autofocus lensesBuilt-in sensors track eye movementsLiquid crystal lenses adjust focus to match what you’re looking atSquinting to see a sign, tilting your head to look at someone, peering down your nose to read a menu: for millions of far-sighted people, glasses are a constant compromise. But a new kind of smart eyewear is aiming to clear things up, with the help of autofocus lenses.Finnish startup IXI is one company developing frames with adaptive optics. Its glasses uses tiny sensors to track what you’re looking at, then liquid crystal lenses to adjust your view to suit. So you can go from checking your phone to watching a game in a blink.What’s more, no-one should see any difference. IXI’s goal is to make them look and feel just like your normal glasses, with electronics tiny enough to fit into the frames. So while they might not let you ditch your specs entirely, autofocus glasses won’t require you to wear a bulky headset either.Take a look aroundImage 1 of 2(Image credit: IXI)Image 2 of 2(Image credit: IXI)When it comes to far-sightedness, the standard fix is currently bifocals. These lenses are divided into two zones: one for distant objects, the other for near detail. When a user wants to read something up close, they have to look through the latter. It’s a solution with a learning curve – and one that can involve unnatural head tilts and limited viewing angles.Progressive lenses offer a bit of a refinement, smoothing the transition between near and far, but they still have focal sweet spots. Fundamentally, you can’t look anywhere in the frame at anything you want. That’s the problem IXI plans to solve.At the heart of its design is a powerful pairing: eye-tracking sensors and a fast-shifting lens system. The sensors monitor eye movements, firing harmless light pulses to measure the distance between you and what you’re looking at. This data is then fed back to liquid crystal lenses, which can rapidly change their curvature to give perfect focus.According to IXI, the lenses adjust in just 0.2 seconds. The human eye focuses in around 0.4 seconds, which should mean there’s no discernible lag between looking and seeing. That’s particularly true for older users: our eyes get slower to focus as we age, because the eye’s natural lenses become less flexible. This is called presbyopia and it’s the same condition that causes long-sightedness.This kind of optical tech has been talked about before, but mainly in a research setting. IXI is one of the first labs attempting to miniaturize the concept into a product for daily wear. It helps that the startup has secured some $36 million (around £27m / AU$56m) in funding to accelerate development.That said, IXI isn’t the only company working on autofocus glasses. Laclarée and Elcyo are rival ventures developing similar solutions. None of the three has yet brought a commercial solution to market, which is perhaps indicative of the obstacles that remain before the frames land on public faces.Prescription-grade optics are subject to strict medical regulation, which means the autofocus lenses will need to pass muster. There’s also a question of durability whenever it comes to moving parts. Other factors include how to incorporate batteries to power the glasses, while keeping the frames lightweight and comfortable.Still, the promise is compelling: a single, adaptive pair of glasses that can replace reading specs, distance lenses and bifocals. It’s a step towards truly intelligent eyewear. If IXI can pull it off, the days of peering over rims might be behind us.You might also like...The best smart glasses 2025: the top AI and AR glasses you can findMicrosoft is developing tech that would let users write with their eyesThese smart contact lens prototypes could convince future me to ditch my glasses

Two privacy researchers have just unveiled a one-of-a-kind private web browserPsylo offers anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting features that promise to go beyond VPN protectionPsylo is currently available on iOS and iPadOS onlyTwo privacy researchers have just unveiled a "new kind of private web browser" that promises to fix an issue afflicting the industry – browser fingerprinting.Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk built Psylos with an innovative isolated tab system powered by a proxy network. This means each tab is open in its own "silo," with isolated storage, cookies, and even its own IP address.Psylos' anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting features promise to go way beyond the protection of the best VPN services, too. The app is currently available for iOS and iPadOS only.Getting where VPNs cannot(Image credit: Mysk Inc.)Recent research conducted by Texas A&M University found the first hard evidence that many websites use browser fingerprinting to track people for online advertisement purposes.Browser fingerprinting is a technique to track internet users across apps and websites. It does so by collecting details about their devices and browsers to create a unique digital fingerprint.More users have been turning to virtual private networks (VPN) to minimize online surveillance. Yet, while a VPN can mask your real IP address, it cannot do the same for your device model, system timezone, language, and other identifiable bits of metadata. All these details, however, can still be enough to reveal the user's identity.Bakry and Mysk built this proof-of-concept web page to show how your real location can be revealed by details such as the system’s timezone settings, even when you are connected to a VPN"This is one place where Psylo really shines. Not only does every silo get a unique IP address through our proxy network, but it also matches the locale and timezone of its associated proxy server," Bakry and Mysk explain in a blog post.How Psylo worksAs mentioned earlier, Psylo works via a system made of web silos, or isolated web sessions, that runs within a no-log proxy network – the Mysk Private Proxy Network.This means that every Psylo tab becomes completely customizable and detached from each other, making it even harder to track you across the apps and websites you visit.For example, you can configure one tab to connect to your X account with a Canadian IP, while configuring another for Instagram, connecting via Germany. Psylo will also automatically spoof the browser's language and timezone accordingly.At the moment, you can choose among 40+ servers dotted across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK, Japan, and the US.🚀🤘Introducing Psylo: A New Kind of Private BrowserAfter 9 months of development, we're super excited to finally launch Psylo, a new kind of private web browser for iOS and iPadOS.In Psylo, each tab is its own “silo” with isolated storage, cookies, and even its own IP… pic.twitter.com/zvPXbM8qexJune 17, 2025Not only that, though. As Mysk explains: " Every Psylo tab has its own fuzzy set of device properties to block fingerprinting."Psylo also includes more common anti-fingerprinting measures, such as canvas randomization, that you may already find in some private web browsers like Brave.All in all, "The goal of any anti-fingerprinting system is to make the user’s fingerprint as fuzzy as possible, making it more difficult to accurately track them," said Bakry and Mysk.Psylo also promises a truly private and transparent experience with all the software internally developed and controlled, alongside a strict no-log policy. The system doesn't require new users to create an account, but claims to track only subscription statuses, free of any identifiable metadata.How to get PsyloAfter a successful Beta launch last February, Psylo officially entered the market on June 17, 2025.Psylo version 1.0.0 is now available in the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad devices as a monthly or annual subscription, with a free 3-day trial offering full access to all features.While it isn't a set commitment just yet, developers are also considering releasing an Android version if the iOS counterpart proves to be successful.Definitely an application worth trying if you're looking to limit your online data exposure.You might also likeThese are the worst web browsers for sucking up all your data, so you may want to stop using themEuropol doesn't only want an encryption backdoor, but also your metadataThese free VPNs may have ties to China’s military – and they are still hidden in Apple and Google app stores

The iPhone 17 will likely launch in a few months, but what if you need a new phone right now? Should you wait for the next iPhone? Definitely not. I can help you pick a phone that you'll love for years, and won't regret buying when you see what Apple has next.To buy a new phone, you need to answer three questions for me. Are you willing to sign a contract? Would you consider a pre-owned iPhone? Are you sure about getting an iPhone versus an Android? Here’s the best iPhone for you.Get an iPhone 16 Pro for free with a new contract on a wireless carrier(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)If you don't have $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$1,800 to spend on a new iPhone 16 Pro, you might consider signing up for a new contract with a wireless carrier. If you’re not entirely happy with your old carrier, most carriers will give you a free phone if you switch.With three months to go until a new iPhone arrives, I’m seeing wireless carriers clearing out inventory. In the US right now, all three major wireless carriers will give you a free iPhone 16 Pro for switching.You'll need to stay with them for two years (T-Mobile) or three years (AT&T and Verizon), depending on the carrier, and you’ll need to subscribe to an unlimited data plan, but it’s a good deal if those conditions fit your needs.Get an iPhone 13 Pro Max refurbished from Amazon or Best Buy(Image credit: Future)If you need to save money and don't want to sign up with a wireless carrier, you can also shop for renewed or refurbished devices. I've had a great experience buying used devices on Swappa.com in the US, but Best Buy, Amazon, and other major retailers sell refreshed products at a discount.I would recommend an iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max as the oldest refreshed iPhone you should consider. Those phones have a great reputation for battery life and performance. Also, Apple gave the iPhone 13 Pro a major camera upgrade over the iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone cameras haven't improved dramatically since.The iPhone 15 Pro is still available new, just not from Apple(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)If you want a new iPhone, I'd recommend the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro (including the Plus and Max models). Compared to the new iPhone 16 family, the only feature that you'll lose is the Camera Control button, and frankly… I think you're better off without it.In my experience, the Camera Control has been buggy and inconsistent. I prefer using the Action Button – first launched on the iPhone 15 Pro – to open the camera instead.I wouldn't buy a new iPhone older than an iPhone 15, because older iPhone models use Lightning for charging and cables, and you don't want to be stuck with an old connector on its way to the connector's graveyard.The iPhone 15 and newer iPhones use USB-C. This universal connector makes a huge difference when shopping for accessories or just borrowing a charger.Here's why I would avoid the iPhone 16e(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)The iPhone I would avoid is the new iPhone 16e. While it looks good on a spec sheet, in practice, the iPhone 16e compromises too much to make it a better choice than buying a slightly older iPhone 15.A new iPhone 15 is only $100 / £100 / AU$300 more than the iPhone 16e, but it offers a more iPhone-like experience. First of all, you get much better cameras – two sensors instead of one, including an ultra-wide lens.Second, you get MagSafe, which is a huge part of Apple's accessory ecosystem. MagSafe accessories include batteries, wallets, grips, cases, wireless chargers, and much more. I pop my iPhone sideways onto a wireless stand every night, and it becomes my Standby bedside clock. You can't do that without MagSafe.The OnePlus 13 will exceed your expectations, iPhone switchersThe OnePlus 13 can use MagSafe accessories thanks to this case (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)What if you want to venture outside Apple's walled garden? Have you been admiring the green grass on the Android lawn? Assuming you are coming from an iPhone, I have a suggestion that will be an easy transition to enjoy.These phones are a great choice today and will be fun to own for yearsThe OnePlus 13 is the best Android phone for iPhone switchers. OnePlus has an elegant interface that will be somewhat familiar and easy to pick up. The phone itself is polished and well-built, and it is impressively durable. I watched a OnePlus representative wash the phone in a dishwasher with plates and cups.The OnePlus 13 has incredibly fast charging and amazing battery life that will last you more than a full day. It performs as fast as any phone I've tested. Its cameras are excellent and produce photos that are stylish and unique, thanks to OnePlus's partnership with Hasselblad cameras.If you need a new phone right now, don’t wait until September. I don't expect any groundbreaking innovation from Apple this year, and these phones are a great choice today and will be fun to own for years. The iPhone 17 will arrive with a totally new look, and you can just shake it off and read the news from your brand new phone.You might also like...iPhone 17 Pro: latest rumors, tips and everything we’ve heard so farThe iPhone 17 could come with a nasty price hike – here's howReady for an iPhone upgrade? Here's why you (probably) don't need to buy a Pro