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The iPhone’s lock screen isn’t just the place you check the time or your notifications anymore — it’s a fully customizable space where you can express your personality, highlight your favorite photos and even stay on top of your day with helpful widgets. With iOS 18, Apple has given users even more control, letting you personalize your home screen and adjust lock screen controls..

Whether you want something functional, minimal, photo-heavy or playful, we’ll walk you through exactly how to make your lock screen your own — from changing fonts and adding widgets to switching between screens throughout the day.

How to create a custom lock screen

To start personalizing, you’ll first need to create a new lock screen or modify an existing one.

Wake your iPhone, then touch and hold anywhere on the lock screen until you feel a buzz and see the wallpaper editor.

You’ll see a carousel of lock screens you’ve created. Tap the “+” (Add New) button to start fresh, or swipe to an existing one and tap Customize.

A gallery of wallpaper options will appear. Choose from:

Photos (pick one from your library)

People (iOS intelligently finds portraits)

Photo Shuffle (select multiple images that change)

Emoji, Weather, or Astronomy

Suggested themes like color gradients or Live Photos

Once you’ve picked your background, you can dive into the fun part: customizing fonts, colors, widgets and more.

Georgie Peru for Engadget

Photos and People

You can set a favorite picture as your wallpaper and tweak its color or crop to make sure you have the best view of your loved ones. Note that these steps will only allow you to select one picture — if you want a rotating selection of backgrounds, skip to the Photo Shuffle section below.

Tap Photos to bring up a list of Photos and Collections. You can search for specific images, or filter by All, Featured, Live Photo, People, Pets, Nature and Cities.

Once you’ve selected a photo, you then have more options. You can Pinch to Crop the image, change and customize the filters (Natural, Black & White, Duotone and Color Wash)

You also have the option to Add Widgets and remove the Flashlight and/or Camera.

You can also set a photo as your wallpaper directly from the Photos app by tapping the Share icon, and then selecting “Use as Wallpaper.”

Photo Shuffle

With Photo Shuffle, you can select multiple photos that change depending on the frequency you’ve selected.

Select the types of photos you want to include, e.g. People, Pets, Nature and Cities, or select an Album.

Tap the Shuffle Frequency option and choose between On Tap, On Lock, Hourly or Daily.

Select whether you want to “Use Featured Photos” or “Select Photos Manually.”

It would be worth going through your selected photos separately to make sure they are cropped correctly (e.g. if you have a mix of landscape and portrait images).

You also have the option to Add Widgets and remove the Flashlight and/or Camera.

Emoji and Color

If you don’t want to use a photo, you can select an emoji or color instead.

Select Emoji and choose up to six emojis. Alternatively, if you want a single color, you can select the Color option.

Choose between Dynamic, Grid, Large, Radial and Spiral to customize how the emoji background will appear.

Once you’ve selected an emoji or multiple, you can change the color of the background.

You also have the option to Add Widgets and remove the Flashlight and/or Camera.

How to change the clock style

The default iPhone clock gets the job done, but it doesn’t have to be boring. In iOS, you can customize the font, weight and color of the clock to match your aesthetic. This small change can have a big impact on your lock screen’s overall vibe.

In the lock screen editor, tap the time. You can do this before or after you’ve personalized your lock screen with photos, weather, etc.

Choose from a selection of font styles. Drag the slider to increase the font weight and tap the available fonts to see what they look like.

Use the color picker or swipe through presets to find something that fits.

How to add widgets to your lock screen

Widgets are a game changer for lock screen productivity. Whether you want to see your calendar, the weather forecast, activity rings or even battery levels at a glance, widgets can make your lock screen both pretty and practical. Widgets are compact, but you can fit up to four small ones or a mix of two medium and one small on a single lock screen, depending on the layout.

While editing the lock screen, tap the field below the time or select Add Widgets if the option appears (sometimes it can be tricky to see).

Choose from Apple’s widget library or supported third-party apps.

Drag and drop widgets into the space where you’d like them to live.

You can also tap the date above the time to change or remove the default calendar widget.

Georgie Peru for Engadget

How to customize controls at the bottom of the lock screen

In iOS 18, Apple lets you personalize the quick access buttons at the bottom of the lock screen — the ones typically reserved for the flashlight and camera. You can set different controls for different lock screens and tie them to specific Focus modes as well.

Touch and hold the lock screen, then tap Customize.

Tap one of the bottom controls to select it.

Tap the Remove icon (-), then tap the Add (+) option to open the controls gallery.

You’ll see a gallery of available buttons for tools like Calculator, Translate, Shazam, Notes and more.

Pick the one you want, then tap Done.

How to link a Focus mode to your lock screen

One of the smartest features in iOS is the ability to link different lock screens to Focus modes. That means you can have a minimalist screen for work, a bright one for weekends and a sleep-ready design for winding down. If you don’t see Focus options when you edit your lock screen, go to Settings then Focus to set up a new one first.

Touch and hold the lock screen, then tap Focus.

Choose a Focus mode (e.g., Work, Sleep, Do Not Disturb).

That lock screen will now automatically appear when that Focus is active.

How to switch between lock screens

Once you’ve created a few lock screens, you can swap between them on the fly. If you’ve linked a Focus to any of them, switching lock screens will also switch the Focus automatically.

Touch and hold the lock screen.

Swipe left or right to cycle through your saved designs.

Tap the one you want to use.

How to delete a lock screen

If you want to delete a lock screen you no longer want or need, you can do so very easily.

Touch and hold the lock screen until the carousel appears.

Swipe to the screen you want to delete.

Swipe up on the lock screen.

Tap the Trash icon, then confirm with “Delete This Wallpaper”.

Don’t worry — this won’t delete any photos from your library. It just removes the layout.

If you’re looking for more iPhone customization tips, you might also enjoy our guide on how to make the most of the iPhone’s Action Button.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-personalize-your-iphone-lock-screen-120015173.html?src=rss

Blackmagic Design has unveiled DaVinci Resolve 20, the latest version of its editing app with free and paid versions that's a popular alternative to Adobe's Premiere Pro. The update offers over 100 new features including many powered by AI, along with improved cloud support and major quality-of-life updates to the cut, edit, color and fusion pages.

One of the key new features is called AI IntelliScript that can automatically generate a timeline based on the original project script. "AI IntelliScript will match the transcribed audio in media clips to the script and construct a timeline of the best selected takes, with any alternative takes placed on additional tracks for editor review," Blackmagic wrote. That new feature could drastically speed workflow for editors (like myself) who often use standup or voiceover clips.

Another key feature is the AI Set Extender that can create a scene extension to fill an entire frame based on a text prompt. If you want to reframe a shot or delete something, for instance, you can simply tell DaVinci Resolve what you want and it'll fill in the blanks. "Customers can even create new backgrounds behind foreground objects," the company wrote.

Other new AI features include AI Animated Subtitles, AI Mulltcam SmartSwitch (which can assemble a timeline based on who is speaking) and AI Audio Assistant. The latter can create a "professional audio mix" with a single click, according to Blackmagic Design. Finally, the AI Detect Music Beats feature does just that, analyzing music and automatically placing beat markers in the timeline.

Along with the AI stuff, DaVinci Resolve has a number of quality-of-life improvements in the cut, edit, color and fusion pages. Davinci Resolve Studio 20 (the paid version) now supports Apple Immersive Video on Apple Vision Pro, allowing creators to edit, color grade, mix audio and deliver Apple Immersive video capture on the company's recently launched URSA Cine Immersive camera.

Blackmagic Design

Other updates include improved Blackmagic Cloud support with improved collaboration tools, easier editing for vertical video, new voiceover palettes, a dedicated keyframe editor in cut and edit, a new Text+ tool, direct voiceover recording and more. On the color page, there's a new chroma warp function that lets you adjust color and saturation with a single motion. And the Fairlight audio page has a new feature that lets adjust a target clip's audio to match a reference clip, dynamic EQ to match tonality throughout a clip and Level Matcher to ensure that levels remain consistent in a given timeline.

A full list of features can be found on Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve 20 product page. It's now available to download in a public beta, and as usual, DaVinci Resolve 20 is free to download while DaVinci Resolve 20 Studio costs $295 with no subscription required.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/davinci-resolve-20s-latest-ai-feature-can-create-an-entire-timeline-based-on-a-script-120009351.html?src=rss

Musk promised a tri-motor version with over 500 miles of rangeThe max range proved around 350 miles, leaving quite the shortfallRange-extending battery pack was designed to combat this

The Tesla Cybertruck's range-extending battery pack appears to have disappeared from the company's online store, prompting speculation that the long-promised accessory has been canned.When the Tesla Cybertruck first launched, Elon Musk promised an impressively potent Cyberbeast tri-motor model that would not only deliver a 0-60mph sprint time of just 2.6 seconds but would also offer over 500 miles between recharge stops. Not long after launch, the world learned that this wasn’t the case – it was more like 300 miles.But Tesla unveiled a Band-Aid in the form of a removable, range-extending battery back that would see the electric range tickle 470 miles or more… so long as you were willing to give up a third of the polygonal pick-up’s bed.Just like the long-promised Roadster, Musk’s company was willing to take a $2,000 deposit (around £1,600 / AU$3,300) for the $16,000 (about £12,500 / AU$27,000) battery pack, but we are yet to see it materialize. However, Tesla has been able to adjust those originally promised range figures down from 470 miles to 445 miles.Now, Electrek reports that Tesla has removed the battery option from its online configurator entirely, suggesting that the project might have been scrapped, or at least that the company isn’t willing to accept any more deposits.Many online critics are suggesting the range extending battery was always vaporware, or that uptake has been so small, it doesn’t make financial sense for Tesla to actually put it into production.Whatever the real reason, you can likely chalk it up as another one of Musk’s promises that he and the company has failed to deliver on.

Analysis: Over-promising and under-delivering rarely works

(Image credit: Tesla)

Full Self-Driving, a flying Roadster with rocket thrusters, Hyperloop... the list of Elon Musk’s promises keeps growing – and while it has historically been a great tool in getting investors excited about future plans, the tactic is starting to wear thin with customers.It is all well and good signaling an intent to push forward with futuristic technologies, but over-promising and under-delivering on product is a surefire way of knocking customer confidence.A recent article by Forbes has dubbed the Cybertruck the auto industry’s “biggest flop in decades”, after claiming the $82,000 EV has a “lousy reputation” for recalls, while Musk’s predicted 250,000 annual sales looked more like 40,000 in 2024.Earlier this year, further reports surfaced that inventory for Cybertruck was building up as the original customer demand slowed.Couple this with the growing resentment for Tesla in the US, owing to Elon Musk’s dabbling in politics, and the outlook doesn’t look great for the Cybertruck in general – especially as it has such an intrinsic link with Musk and, as a result, has been the target of numerous attacks by protestors.It was always supposed to be a halo model, designed to get people talking, but Tesla didn’t back it up with a solid, reliable product.Instead, it has suffered numerous recalls, garnered a reputation for being unsafe and doesn’t do even half of what was promised at launch. We are yet to see it wade like a boat, the rear-bed tents were lame, and a 70mph real-world range test by Inside EVs revealed that Cybertruck manages 304 miles, while the Cyberbeast version can handle around 300 miles.

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Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are on sale via Amazon for just $179. This is a record-low price, as they normally cost $229. This deal is available for multiple colorways, including black, pink, beige and green.

These little cuties easily made our list of the best wireless earbuds. We admired the comfortable and secure fit and the addition of the Tensor chip to handle audio and ANC processing. They also offer a hands-free way to initiate Gemini AI.

However, the main reason we recommend these earbuds is that they sound great. They provide a good low-end, which is tough to do with earbuds, and crunchy highs. Google says it redesigned the entire audio system and it shows. We called out the “noticeable improvement” over the original Pixel Buds Pro earbuds in our official review.

There are plenty of nifty features to set these earbuds apart from the competition. They can detect conversations and automatically adjust audio accordingly. Find My Device support is also included. They offer spatial audio with certain apps. The buds get around eight hours of use per charge, but 30 hours when considering the included charging case.

There are only two downsides here. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are incredibly small, which is cool, that means making adjustments on their equally tiny touch panels can be difficult. Also, the original asking price of $229 is certainly high. This sale alleviates that particular issue.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/googles-pixel-buds-pro-2-are-on-sale-for-a-record-low-price-164743633.html?src=rss

Cereal giant KW Kellogg has suffered a data breachFortunately, so far, only four people seem to be affectedThis could be connected to recent Cleo File Transfer breaches

Cereal giant WK Kellogg was hit with a data breach early in 2025, which has affected an unknown number of people.CyberNews reports breach notifications were sent to Attorney General’s offices in Maine and New Hampshire, but these claim only four people were affected between the two states.The servers affected by the breach were used to transfer employee records to WK Kellogg’s HR service vendors, meaning it’s likely some data exposed includes personally identifiable information (PII). This could leave those affected at risk of identity theft and fraud, so WK Kellogg is rightly offering a year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to those affected in the breach.

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A familiar story

The breach reportedly originated through a third party vendor, file transfer service Cleo, which was also used in a suspected C10p ransomware attack against Sam’s Club in late March of 2025.This incident saw attackers allegedly intercept the personal data of around 100,000 employees, and was part of a much wider campaign by the C10p group in which at least two dozen organizations were compromised through the file service vulnerability.It’s not yet clear if the WK Kellogg breach is a ransomware attack or if the same group behind the incident - and the company did not immediately respond with any comment.WK Kellogg is far from alone though, as third-party data breaches have become a major security concern, with almost all companies in Europe (98%) experiencing a third-party breach in the last year, compared to just 18% of organizations suffering a direct breach.In the age of globalization, it’s almost impossible to run a business without collaborating with third-parties, so knowing your vendor and being confident in managing the risks they come with is key to keeping your information secure.

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The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 could be one of the best-selling foldable phones of 2025 going by past form, as Samsung’s foldable flip phones combine a compact form factor with a more reasonable price than its Z Fold line, making them a popular choice. So will this trend continue into 2025?Well, nothing about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 has been confirmed just yet, but it sure is starting to leak. So below, you’ll find all the news, leaks, and rumors we’ve heard about this foldable contender so far.We’ll also update this article whenever any new rumors emerge, so make sure to check back soon if you want to stay informed. And if you want to know what we're hoping for from the Z Flip 7 too, check out five things we want from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7.

Latest newsThe Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 could ship with Android 16.View Deal

Cut to the chase

What is it? The next clamshell foldable from SamsungWhen is it out? Probably JulyHow much will it cost? Likely upwards of $1,099.99 / £1,049 / AU$1,799

Look out for it in July

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Based on past form it will probably launch in JulyCould cost the same as last year

Our best guess for when the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 will launch is July, as the previous two models had July announcements, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 also shipped in July.That said, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 shipped in August of its release year, and the Z Flip 4 wasn’t even announced until August. Still, if not July then we’ll probably see the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 in August.There isn’t much in the way of release date rumors yet, but @PandaFlashPro has claimed that production of Samsung’s upcoming foldables will start in May, which probably works for a July or August announcement.And sources have also spotted both a Galaxy Z Flip 7 codename (specifically ‘B7’) and a Galaxy Z Flip 7 model number (SM-F751), which at the very least suggests that this phone is in the works.We’ve also heard that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 might have the same starting price as the Galaxy Z Flip 6. That would mean a starting price of $1,099.99 / £1,049 / AU$1,799.

Can you trust these rumors?

The source that claims production will start in May and prices will be unchanged doesn’t have much of a track record, so we’d take this with a pinch of salt. Either way though, we’d think a launch in July or August is likely.

Bigger screens and a better hinge

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (Image credit: Future / Axel Metz)

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 might have bigger screens than its predecessorIt could also have a better hinge mechanism

We don’t have to rely purely on rumors when it comes to the design of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, as Samsung itself has said during an earnings call (via @Jukanlosreve) that this year “we will release new foldable products with improved form factors, durability,” so while the Z Flip 7 wasn’t named, it’s likely one of the devices the company is referring to.Beyond that, we’ve heard that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 might have bigger screens than its predecessor, with a source claiming the foldable display will be 6.85 inches (up from 6.7 inches), and the cover screen will be around 4 inches (up from 3.4 inches).Also on the design front, leaker @PandaFlashPro claims that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7’s hinge mechanism will be more smooth and durable, that the button placement will be the same as last year, and that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 will have a smaller display crease than its predecessor.

(Image credit: Android Headlines / OnLeaks)

And perhaps most excitingly of all, we've seen renders (one of which you can see above) showing a full-width cover screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 7.

Can you trust these rumors?

So far, the design leaks all only come from one source each, so we’d take them with a dose of skepticism. Though the claims of larger screens come from a source with a good track record, so that much may well be true.If nothing else though, Samsung’s own comments strongly suggest we’ll see some changes to the design.

Copying the cameras

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The cameras might not get an upgradeThat would mean a 50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, and 10MP selfie camera

There’s only one Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 camera leak so far and it’s not a very promising one, as apparently this phone will have exactly the same cameras as the Z Flip 6. That would mean a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide one, and a 10MP front-facing one.If so, that would be rather disappointing, so we hope that subsequent camera leaks will disagree with this.Still, if nothing else the software will probably be improved, and we’d expect to see new AI photography tools too.

Can you trust these rumors?

As we’ve only heard camera claims from one source so far, we’d take them with a pinch of salt. That said, it’s believable that Samsung wouldn’t improve the cameras, especially as the Samsung Galaxy S25’s cameras weren’t upgraded from the Samsung Galaxy S24’s.

An Exynos chipset and no change to RAM

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Likely to use an Exynos 2500 chipsetMay match its predecessor's RAM and storage

There’s potentially bad news when it comes to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7’s chipset, as according to one rumor, it will have an Exynos 2500.That’s set to be Samsung’s most powerful in-house smartphone chipset of 2025, and is almost certainly going to outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 used by the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. But based on past form it probably won’t quite be a match for the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is used by the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, and is what we were hoping would power the Galaxy Z Flip 7.There's still some hope for the Snapdragon 8 Elite though, as another source claims there are prototypes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 with both chipsets.This rumor is given more weight as Korean-language website The Bell reported there's been lower than expected yields of Samsung’s Exynos 2500 chip, which is why we saw the Galaxy S25 range get a Snapdragon chipset across all the phones and regions. And this situation is expected to continue for the Galaxy Z Flip 7, meaning it'll likely get Snapdragon 8 Elite tuned for Galaxy use.And for software, we're hearing that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 might launch with Android 16.Beyond that, we’ve elsewhere heard that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 could have 12GB of RAM, and a choice of 256GB or 512GB of storage – specs which are identical to the current model.And leaker @PandaFlashPro has posted on X, saying that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 will have a bigger vapor chamber than the Z Flip 6, which could help it keep cool and therefore avoid throttling.That might also aid the battery life, as might the use of a "highly efficient" display, though as yet we haven’t heard anything about the phone’s battery. For reference though, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 has a 4,000mAh battery, so we’d expect the Z Flip 7’s would be at least that size.A more recent tip has the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 slated to get a 4,300mAh battery, which is a boost up from 4,000mAh in the Galaxy Z Flip 6. Add in a improved chip and display efficiency and we could be looking at a very solid battery life for the Flip 7.

Can you trust these rumors?

All of these specs have each only been stated by one source, so we’d take them all with a pinch of salt for now, though there’s nothing unbelievable here.Hopefully though Samsung will either equip the phone with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset or give it more than 12GB of RAM – or both. But that’s just our hope, not a prediction.

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With the Samsung Galaxy S25 series now here we’re looking ahead to Samsung’s next big smartphone launch, which in all likelihood will consist of the brand's 2025 foldables.The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 could be the most high-end of these, though there are also reports of a tri-fold model in the works, which might have it beat. Either way though, the Z Fold 7 is likely to be an impressive phone.We don’t know anything for sure about it yet, but leaks and rumors have revealed some possible specs, features, and other details, so you’ll find all of that below. And we've also written an article focused on the five things we most want from the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Latest newsThe Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 could launch with Android 16 out of the box.View Deal

Cut to the chase

What is it? The next big-screen Samsung foldableWhen is it out? Probably JulyHow much will it cost? Likely upwards of $1,899.99 / £1,799 / AU$2,749

Likely landing in July

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Based on past form it will probably launch in JulyThe price is reportedly unchanged from last year

So far there’s no news on exactly when the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 might launch, but given that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 were both announced in July of their release years, July is our best guess, with the phone probably shipping either in late July or in August.We can confidently say that this phone is in the works though anyway, especially as multiple sources have come across codenames and model numbers for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. Plus, leaker @PandaFlashPro claims that production of the phone will start in May, which would likely work for a July launch.As for the price, according to one source the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will cost the same amount as its predecessor. That would mean a starting price of $1,899.99 / £1,799 / AU$2,749.

Can you trust these rumors?

Based on past form we’re fairly confident of a July or August launch for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.We’d take the price rumor above with a pinch of salt, since so far it only comes from one source. But given that the pricing of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series was for the most part identical to that of the S24, there’s a good chance prices will stay the same here too.

A bigger screen and a slimmer build

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Reports suggest the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will have bigger screens than the Z Fold 6It may also be slightly slimmerThe crease could be smaller this year too

During an earnings call (via @Jukanlosreve), Samsung itself said that its upcoming foldable phones would have “improved form factors, durability”, so we can probably expect some changes to the design and build of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.At MWC 2025, Samsung Display showed off a ceaseless foldable display, which hits at tech the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could adopt to remove, or at least go someway in removing, the display crease currently seen in the Fold 6.From other tips and some render images courtesy of tipster OnLeaks, who has a solid track record of accuracy, the Galaxy z Fold looks to be a decent bit slimmer than it's predecessor, measuring 4.5mm thick when unfolded compared to the Fld 6's 5.36mm; a millimeter makes a difference with foldable phones.The renders also tip a larger display, with the main display hitting 8.2 inches, up from 7.6 inches, with the cover display reaching 6.5 inches, a tad bigger than the 6.3 inches on the Fold 6.We’ve also heard that Samsung is considering not putting a digitizer on the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s screen, which might allow the phone to be around 1.5mm thinner, but would also mean the S Pen would likely be thicker and require a battery (and therefore need charging), as without a digitizer in the display, the stylus would instead have to generate an electric current to interact with the screen.This claim about a lack of digitizer and a redesigned S Pen is something we've now heard from another source too, so it could well be correct.Yet another source has now said this too, adding that as a result the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will be under 10mm thick when folded, making it the slimmest Z Fold model yet. However, the S Pen could get an unspecified "downgrade" as a result.Finally on the design front, leaker @PandaFlashPro has claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will have a smaller display crease than its predecessor, and a more smooth and durable hinge mechanism.

Can you trust these rumors?

Until we’ve seen renders of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 we’d take any design claims with a pinch of salt. But with Samsung itself saying that at least some of its foldables will be in for a change, there’s a good chance the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will be among them.There’s also a fair chance the claims of larger screens and a slimmer build are accurate, since multiple sources have said as much.

A big 200MP upgrade

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 could have a new 200MP main cameraThere's no news yet on the other cameras

So far the only Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 camera claim we’ve heard is that it will have the same 200MP main camera as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, which would be quite an upgrade on the 50MP main camera of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.This rumor was given more heft by another that claims the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will get the 200MP main camera from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Given the high price of the Fold phones, it's arguably high time they got givne the same powerful main camera as their S-seires Ultra counterparts.There’s no word yet on the other cameras, but for reference the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition both have a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, a 12MP ultra-wide with a 120-degree field of view, a 10MP cover screen camera, and a 4MP camera on the foldable screen. So there’s a good chance the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will stick with at least some of these.However, the Z Fold 6 uses an under-display camera for that 4MP sensor, while on the Z Fold Special Edition the lens isn’t hidden under the screen, so it remains to be seen whether the Z Fold 7’s camera will be under-display or not.

Can you trust these rumors?

Since only one source has really shared any camera details yet we’d remain skeptical until we’ve heard more, but we certainly hope the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will get that rumored 200MP camera.

An Elite chipset

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Likely to use a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipsetCould have 12GB of RAM, just like the current model

According to one source, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will use a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is what we’d expect since that’s what the Samsung Galaxy S25 series uses. If it does, then it should be significantly more powerful than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.The same source though says to expect 12GB of RAM and a choice of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB of storage, all of which are the same specs as the current model.Another source has similarly said to expect a faster chipset than the Z Fold 6, and both they and @PandaFlashPro have pointed to a bigger vapor chamber (which could help with sustained performance) and better speakers.And it could have new software in the form of One UI 8 based on Android 16 according to one source.Sadly, what the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 might not have is a bigger battery, with a source claiming the Z Fold 7's battery is the same size as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6's, which would make it 4,400mAh. However, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7's battery life might still be improved through the use of a highly efficient display.

Can you trust these rumors?

We’d be very surprised if the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 didn’t use a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, since that’s the next model on from the chipset used by the Z Fold 6, and since it’s also used by the Galaxy S25 series.The storage and vapor chamber claims also sound believable, and sadly so does the claim that it will stick with 12GB of RAM, since even the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra only has that much in most regions.And Samsung often doesn't increase battery sizes, so the claim that this aspect won't be changing is believable too.

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DOGE reportedly planning a “mega API” to be created in a hackathonThe API will streamline tax data sharing for the IRSTrump’s executive order aims to stop waste, fraud and abuse

Elon Musk’s brainchild government agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is reportedly planning a ‘hackathon’ to build a “mega API” for accessing IRS data in a major streamlining move.According to Wired, the goal is to centralize IRS data into a single-cloud hosting platform that could become the “read center of all IRS systems,” and unnamed sources cited by Wired have already named one potential partner.“Palantir… has been brought up consistently by DOGE representatives as a possible candidate,” Wired’s sources say.

Musk wants to make an IRS “mega API”

Palantir Technologies, which currently has a market cap of $173.5 billion, notably counts Peter Thiel among its co-founders – a known associate of Musk.The firm’s main clients include US government agencies, but some private sector firms are also customers.“Dozens” of IRS engineers are being invited to a Washington DC hackathon event to collaborate on the API, and it’s believed that the API has a short timeline of just 30 days – something that insiders believe is both unrealistic and potentially harmful.With the API, DOGE hopes to collate core sensitive data like names, addresses, SSNs, tax returns and employment details.It could considerably streamline inter-departmental data sharing, however critics argue that it could present a major security risk, describing it as “an open door controlled by Musk for all American's most sensitive information with none of the rules that normally secure that data.”On March 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order to banish information silos, with the aim of “stopping waste, fraud and abuse.” The order appeared to focus on the IRS, declaring an interest in “eliminating bureaucratic duplication and inefficiency while enhancing the Government’s ability to detect overpayments and fraud.”The White House has not yet shared any plans for the rumored hackathon.

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Ooft. To say that the reviews of Y2K on Max haven't been great might be an understatement: Decider.com said it's "the movie equivalent of the sentence, 'hey, remember the Sneaker Pimps?'" and that the screenplay is "flimsy and sloppy".According to Empire, the problem is that the film "leans too heavily on nostalgia; it's concerned far more with familiar products and pop-culture details than with how its characters might behave". Part comedy, part drama, it doesn't quite commit to either and falls flat as a result, meaning it's not one of the best Max movies.That's a shame, because the premise sounded fun. But there are plenty of more entertaining options on Max right now, so here are three very different movies that should excite and delight instead.

Logan

You know the drill: Hugh Jackman, adamantium claws, Patrick Stewart as Professor X. It's "the best Wolverine movie yet," Empire says, "grown-up, ballsy, character-driven and grounded."The final Wolverine movie is "a poignant study of ageing and infirmity," The Guardian says. "What happens when superheroes get old? Actually, what happens when, like many non-superheroes, they arrive at late middle-age without a partner, in ill health, and with an ageing parent to look after?"That's not to say this isn't also a great action movie. It is, but it has brains as well as brawn: think Unforgiven with claws.

Land of the Lost

Bear with me on this one, because while many people piled on the movie – RogerEbert.com notes that it "inspires fervent hatred" – and the 27% Rotten Tomatoes rating is the sort of thing you tend to see next to a Jennifer Lopez film, Ebert reckons this "deranged" movie is worth a watch.Will Ferrell is Dr Rick Marshall, who invents a machine that can import fossil fuels from a parallel dimension. Naturally he uses that machine to transport him and his friends into that parallel dimension, the dinosaur-packed Land of the Lost. As Ebert says, the film is packed with "deliriously fake locations, props and special effects", and he found it an absolute blast to watch.Is it a five-star movie? Absolutely not. But as The Guardian says, "It is very surreal, absurd, and often quite gross, with loads of very arch and knowing gags." Lower your expectations and I think you'll laugh a lot.

Severance (2006)

No, not the TV show: this is a horror comedy about office culture in which a team-building retreat is stalked by a brutal killer. Danny Dyer's in it, which gives you an idea of the target market: this is a Saturday night beers on the couch movie, a slashy stabby film that doesn't take itself too seriously.The broadsheets didn't like it, but then it isn't really aimed at their critics; it's a movie for readers of sites like PopHorror, who found it "wicked and funny". Common Sense Media warns that it's definitely not for kids thanks to being "full of explicit, grotesque violence and outrageous injuries", and that's exactly the kind of thing the folks on r/horror like about it: it's "funny as f--- with lots of gore as well," says one happy viewer.I'm now imagining a mashup of Severance the show and Severance the movie. Paging Ben Stiller...

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Nothing just teased gadgets in its CMF sub-brandThe highlight is the CMF Phone 2 ProWe're also getting new CMF Buds 2, Buds 2a, and Buds 2 Plus

Nothing announced it will soon reveal the CMF Phone 2 Pro alongside the new CMF Buds 2, Buds 2a, and Buds 2 Plus. However, it leaves us more confused than ever about its other release plans and with one big question: where's the new watch?In an email we received and in a post on social media, Nothing revealed that on April 28, 2025, at 9 am ET / 2 pm BST / 11 pm AEST, it’ll showcase the four devices under its CMF brand.CMF gadgets – which stands for Color, Material, and Finish – are usually more budget-friendly by skimping on some high-end specs without compromising Nothing’s design standards.What makes this reveal kinda weird is Nothing yet again has skipped the base model – just like it recently did by releasing the Phone 3a and 3a Pro before even announcing the regular Phone 3. In this instance, the CMF Phone 2 Pro is coming out before the CMF Phone 2 got a regular model, and before the CMF Phone 1 could get a Pro.It also didn’t tease a new CMF Watch. The CMF Watch Pro 2 was showcased alongside its phone and earbuds last year, and while it wasn’t the perfect smart watch, it was an excellent budget pick. We’re disappointed it doesn't look to be getting a follow-up for now.

New wonderful things.Featuring CMF Phone 2 Pro, alongside a trio of buds – Buds 2, Buds 2a or Buds 2 Plus.28 April, 2:00 BST. pic.twitter.com/1CIlMae2umApril 7, 2025

CMF Phone 2 Pro camera upgrade incoming?

Enough focusing on the tech we didn’t see, however. Let’s focus on the announcements we did get.Beyond the names, there’s not a lot to go on, but we think Nothing has at least teased a camera upgrade for its upcoming CMF Phone 2 Pro.That’s based on a section of the short video clip it shared with the announcement. In it, four circles appear – two identical gray ones stacked above each other – and to the left of them, a smaller gray one above an even smaller orange dot.This looks a lot like the classic three-camera array you’ll find on the back of any self-respecting Pro-tier smartphone – usually a main, ultra-wide, and Telephoto lens setup.

It looks an awful lot like this phone back (Image credit: Future)

The rest of the clip just simply spells out ‘Phone’ in dots before flashing ‘Phone 2 Pro’ onscreen, followed by the April 27, 2025, reveal date, and finally showing 'CMF by Nothing'. So we don’t get any more tech teases, but we expect Nothing will provide a few more teases in the run-up to the announcement.An announcement that isn’t too far away. So we won’t be left in the dark about the latest Nothing release for much longer – and as soon as it showcases the new tech, you can be sure we’ll be ready to tell you all about it.

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Anker’s lifestyle brand Eufy has already swallowed a big chunk of the robot vacuum market and now it’s got its sights on your yard. The company has been sharing details of its first two robot mowers since the start of the year, and now they’re ready to start selling them. Eufy’s E15 and E18 are designed to automate one of the most tedious jobs around the home — if you’re able to pay. I’ve been testing an E15 for the last few weeks ahead of their retail debut today and I’m fairly impressed.

Early robot mowers needed a boundary wire to tell them where they were allowed to mow. But digging a trench around your lawn is time consuming, costly and less than ideal if you eventually move. It prompted companies to pivot to other methods, such as GPS or RTK (real time kinematics) to navigate. Eufy, however, is harnessing its computer vision know-how to trim your lawn with even less fuss, calling its technology “visual full self-driving,” or vFSD. Yes, I know. Anker says there are plenty of benefits in using cameras over GPS, like more reliable mowing and better obstacle avoidance.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

The E15 is capable of covering lawns up to 800 square meters while the E18 will conquer lands as broad as 1,200 square meters. If you assumed, like I did, that the difference between the two is battery size, you’ll be mistaken — both have the same 4,200mAh battery, but the E18 has more on-board memory to accommodate a bigger map size. Otherwise, they are the same machine, with an adjustable cutting height between 25 - 75mm, a maximum climb of 18 degrees and a combined GPS / 4G anti-theft system. One feature I’m very partial to is that the garage (the mower’s charging station) comes with a rain cover, meaning fewer worries if you’re out and the weather suddenly gets a bit intense. Not that it’s necessary, since the hardware is rated IPX6 — enough to withstand being cleaned with a hose.

Setting up the E15 is painless so long as your lawn is nicely mown, with the grass no taller than 3.5 inches. All you’ll need to do is fix the garage in place with some hefty ground screws, hook it up to power and connect it to your home’s Wi-Fi. Then all you’ll need to do is send it out for one or two mapping runs in order for it to get a sense of your space.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

My lawn is cut into a hill, with a sunken pathway and a 1.5 meter drop at one end, which is a problem. Since it maps visually, I opted to babysit the mower during the process to make sure it didn’t hurl itself into the chasm. I also have a small lean-to wood shed with a green roof (at the bottom of the chasm) that I reckoned a computer vision system could easily mistake for grass, so I wanted to keep an eye on it. Once it had made a few too many furtive advances toward that roof, I paused the mapping, sent the E15 back to its garage and set up a keep out zone in the app before finishing the job.

Once that was done, however, the E15 very easily staked out the rest of the space and made sure it could get nicely close to the path without going over. From there, you’re doing everything of note within the app. You can set the cutting height as low as 25mm or as high as 75mm, and can also set the unit’s movement and cutting speed — letting you use more power if you’re pressed for time. Plus, you can schedule mows, and if the device detects rain or too much wet in the grass, it’ll head back to base until things have dried out.

One feature I’m a big fan of is that it’s the first such machine I’ve encountered that lets you set a cutting direction for stripes. It’s not that I have an issue with most robomowers’ chaotic mowing per se, but I’ve always seen striped lawns as desirable. While the unit isn’t going to give you the sort of over-manicured, inch-perfect stripes you’d find at a tennis club, you can at least see the contrast.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

An additional benefit of remote control is that if it does run into an issue and you’re not at home, you can activate a remote control mode. Not only are you able to access the camera feed, but you can trigger on-screen controls to navigate out of any tricky spots it might have wound up in.

It's funny, but something I didn't notice, but my in-laws did when they visited, was how shockingly quiet the E15 was. When I set the hardware running to satisfy their curiosity, they were baffled that the thing was scuttling around on the lawn making almost no noise whatsoever. It's certainly a perk, especially if you choose to set this thing off for a scheduled trim in the early morning — it's quiet enough that even the ants probably won't complain.

All in all, I like the package Eufy is offering, and it even handled some of my misgivings about its computer vision system. If I have gripes, it’s not really about the E-series at all and more about this category of product generally. For a start, robot mowers may not get every square inch of your lawn, especially if some of your edges neighbor deep crevasses, like mine. That means you’ll still need to go out there every once in a while with a weed wacker to trim the borders of your turf.

And I’d still love nothing more than to be able to exert more control over the initial mapping phase to eliminate some of the trial and error. I wish for a system that would let me use my phone as a tool to trace the outside edge of a space myself, to set some basic expectations. Sure, the hardware would still have to scuttle around making sure it can get where I need it to go, but it’d save some of the busywork for both of us.

The Eufy E15 (800 sqm) and E18 (1,200 sqm) are available to order today from Eufy and Amazon. The E15 will set you back $1,599, while E18 is priced at $1,999.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/eufys-new-robot-mowers-use-smart-vision-to-trim-your-grass-130008542.html?src=rss

The weather is turning warmer, so it's about time to hang up that winter coat with the big pockets you use to store everything. That also means things might be a bit harder to keep track of now — I lost my phone, alone, multiple times over this sunny weekend. But, now there's a (cheaper) potential solution: The Chipolo One bluetooth tracker.

Right now, a four-pack of Chipolo Ones is down to $50 from $75 — a 33 percent discount. This sale is a record-low price for this set of our favorite Bluetooth tracker for 2025. It also offers two different color sets to choose between and is a great deal if you want multiple trackers (just one is usually $20).

Beyond the convenient keyhole (sorry Apple), we like the Chipolo One for features like how loud it is when you're searching for something — plus, it never has a delay when you press find. It's also very quick to ask if you've left something behind and works equally well with an iPhone or Android.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/a-four-pack-of-chipolo-one-trackers-drops-to-an-all-time-low-of-50-131257240.html?src=rss

Windows 10 adoption has dropped to nearly one in two devices (54.2%)Windows 11 could even finally overtake in the coming monthsAI PCs are also boosting sales, report claims

Windows 11 is finally starting to pick up some real momentum as the flagship OS continues on its long journey to overtake Windows 10 – a milestone that could happen within the next few months.A significant uptick in the first few months of 2025 means that Windows 11 adoption now stands at 42.7% (as of March 2025), with Windows 10 installs dropping to 54.2% (via Statcounter)If recent trends continue, it’s possible that Windows 10 adoption could fall below 50% next month – Windows 11 overtaking Windows 10 might not be that far behind, either.

Windows 11 set to overtake Windows 10?

The sudden growth is largely due to the looming Windows 10 end of support, which arrived in October 2024, leading to widespread enterprise upgrades to avoid disruption.Exploring 2024 as a whole, industry analysts from Canalys noted the use of aggressive holiday discounts to get consumers to spend more after a fairly stagnant year. The twelve-month period saw a mediocre 3.9% increase in PC shipments globally, but the firm remained optimistic for the year ahead.“The PC market is set for accelerating growth, primarily driven by commercial demand as businesses prepare for the end of Windows 10,” noted Principal Analyst Ishan Dutt.Enterprises are in the midst of refreshing hardware in order to make more systems compatible with Windows 11, though user interest has been fairly low with the OS featuring few stand-out apps and must-haves.Since the launch of Windows 11, Microsoft has been busy shoehorning endless AI features into desktops and laptops across the globe in the hope that consumers and businesses might be more keen to upgrade, not to miss out, hence the emergence of a new category of PC – the Copilot PC.AI-capable PCs accounted for nearly one in four (23%) of all PCs in the final three months of 2024; Canalys anticipates this figure to stand at 35% for 2025.

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The White Lotus season 3 finale episode has been released Mike White teased that the fourth season might not be on the coast againSeason 4 location scouting rumors suggest Europe could be next

The White Lotus season 3 finale has wrapped, which means the show's stay at Max has sadly ended for another chapter, and that has us wondering where the series could go next.Following the release of the eighth and final episode, the latest retrospective video interview with the show's creator, Mike White, was posted on YouTube (see below), and it gives fans some clues about the next destination.The anthology series has become a hit with critics and audiences alike for its murder mysteries, complex character studies, catchy theme songs, and – of course – the stunning locations each new season is set in.

Like White says in the latest video, "there's always room for more murders at The White Lotus hotels." So where could fans expect to be next in the next installment of one of the best Max shows?"For the fourth season, I want to get a little bit out of the ‘crashing waves against rocks’ vernacular," White said in the video, which is in line with what HBO's Francesca Orsi noted earlier this year.In an interview with Deadline, the executive said, "chances are somewhere in Europe" when it came to where The White Lotus season 4 might be heading next. Considering there are a limited number of Four Seasons Hotels in Europe, I bet this will keep internet sleuths busy over the next year or so.

What do we know so far about The White Lotus season 4?

Absolutely nothing has been confirmed by HBO or Max about what fans can expect from a fourth season of The White Lotus, but going off recent interviews that White has done, it could be a lot different from the seasons that have come before it.Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, White had previously confirmed that there was no set formula for the series, suggesting that even the murder mystery element was something that could be switched up."I don’t think it needs to always be a body," he revealed. "There are so many ways that we want to reinvent the show each year. Like, what is this show – other than people? A fresh mystery, people maybe expect that. But I don’t feel constrained by expectation. It’s fun."That could suggest that a fourth installment of the show goes in a very new direction, but I wouldn't expect White to completely abandon the themes that he likes to centre each season around – the The White Lotus season 3 focused on religion and I suspect that an overarching theme will continue to be part of future installments. Lastly – and this is a major blow to me – Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, who is the critically-acclaimed composer that wrote the memorable theme songs for the show, won't be returning for season 4, according to The New York Times.

Following the backlash from fans over season 3's new title song, which I personally did not agree with, the composer has decided to part ways with HBO over reported "creative differences." Although Tapia de Veer stands by season 3's new club anthem tempo, his original version (see the video above) of the season 3 title song incorporated more of the original's recognizable 'ooh-loo-loos.'Had this full, unedited version made it into the show's latest chapter, I bet we wouldn't have seen half the amount of backlash as we did, but then it sounds like that might be down to HBO. What we can expect from season 4's theme song is very unclear then. Indeed, whoever does end up landing the job has very big shoes to fill.Looking ahead, it seems fans could be in for a very different type of vacation when The White Lotus next returns to our screens. With White suggesting he might abandon the body bag element of the show, a new theme song having to be written by a different composer, and it having a non-beachside setting, let's hope the characters are just as interesting!

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Looking for a different day?A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, April 7 (game #666).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #667) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

NEGATIVENUMBERSSEANJOBPIERCESUGARSTICKROGERSUREDANIELOVERSIOBHANРОКЕCOPYJUDGESJAB

NYT Connections today (game #667) - hint #1 - group hints

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

YELLOW: Break the surfaceGREEN: 10-4 BLUE: BiblePURPLE: Say it quietly

Need more clues?We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #667) - hint #2 - group answers

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

YELLOW: PRICK GREEN: RADIO LINGO BLUE: OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS PURPLE: WORDS PRONOUNCED "SH" WITHOUT AN "SH"

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

NYT Connections today (game #667) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #667, are…

YELLOW: PRICK JAB, PIERCE, POKE, STICKGREEN: RADIO LINGO COPY, NEGATIVE, OVER, ROGERBLUE: OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS DANIEL, JOB, JUDGES, NUMBERSPURPLE: WORDS PRONOUNCED "SH" WITHOUT AN "SH" SEAN, SIOBHAN, SUGAR, SURE

My rating: HardMy score: 2 mistakes

I fell for today’s trick group, even though I suspected it was a trick group – I just couldn’t help myself.DANIEL, PIERCE, SEAN and ROGER are, of course, all the first names of actors who have portrayed British Secret Service Agent James Bond. Alas, Craig, Brosnan, Connery and Moore were just a sleight of hand by the mischievous Connections gang, who are no doubt sniggering into their sleeves.A Bond link caused my second mistake, too, as it made me think that the word ODD was also a common theme beginning with OddJOB – a rather memorable Bond movie henchman. I linked it with NUMBERS, STICK and SUGAR, but again came up blank.I finally made headway after seeing the four synonyms for PRICK and the quartet of OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS.All Sean Connery impressions exaggerate the way he pronounced the letter S as an elongated “Sh” sound, sho in a shurprising way I shaw the four WORDS PRONOUNCED “SH” WITHOUT AN “SH”. Oh yesh.How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 7 April, game #666)

YELLOW: THROB BEAT, POUND, PULSE, THUMPGREEN: LANDFORMS CAPE, CRATER, GORGE, RIDGEBLUE: PICTURE HANGING NEEDS HAMMER, HANGER, LEVEL, NAILPURPLE: FOOT__ BALL, HILLS, LOCKER, PRINT

What is NYT Connections?NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Monday, April 7 (game #1169).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1170) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1170) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1170) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1170) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1170) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?• W• V• M• B

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

Quordle today (game #1170) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1170, are…

WIDTHVISORMEDALBROOK

A great start for me today, with my three start words giving me five letters in two columns.On the flipside, the other two columns were less revealing – with two letters in one and just the letter O in the other.I wasn’t completely clueless: the absence of any other vowels and the O being in the wrong second spot convinced me I was looking for a double-O word, and so it proved with BROOK.VISOR was harder to get; I guessed BISON before getting it correct, but I was on the right lines at least.How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1170) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1170, are…

RURALSTEAKWEARYBEVEL

Quordle answers: The past 20

Quordle #1169, Monday 7 April: BROTH, SHOUT, BRUTE, CABINQuordle #1168, Sunday 6 April: AMBER, GAUZE, STORE, SLICKQuordle #1167, Saturday 5 April: GUSTY, VAULT, WHINE, BEGATQuordle #1166, Friday 4 April: OAKEN, LOOPY, CURIO, BUTTEQuordle #1165, Thursday 3 April: ASCOT, JETTY, DRUNK, JOLLYQuordle #1164, Wednesday 2 April: INDEX, QUEEN, INCUR, STOLEQuordle #1163, Tuesday 1 April: HUMUS, BALMY, WORRY, ERECTQuordle #1162, Monday 31 March: RECUT, MOODY, WHERE, BRACEQuordle #1161, Sunday 30 March: CRIME, DRINK, CLOVE, TRUERQuordle #1160, Saturday 29 March: LATER, ODDLY, CUMIN, AGREEQuordle #1159, Friday 28 March: TERSE, MUSHY, PROVE, FRONDQuordle #1158, Thursday 27 March: CRONE, APNEA, LIGHT, AWOKEQuordle #1157, Wednesday 26 March: LEFTY, NOOSE, NOISE, TRIADQuordle #1156, Tuesday 25 March: SNEER, WATCH, FLORA, STAINQuordle #1155, Monday 24 March: FLOUT, SMASH, RAZOR, SMALLQuordle #1154, Sunday 23 March: ALLEY, GAMUT, GEESE, RADIIQuordle #1153, Saturday 22 March: PICKY, BRACE, BOOZE, SURLYQuordle #1152, Friday 21 March: DITTY, VALOR, TOWER, AMISSQuordle #1151, Thursday 20 March: RIPER, STILL, WAFER, NOTCHQuordle #1150, Wednesday 19 March: FLAME, CARAT, SPAWN, TUNIC

Looking for a different day?A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, April 7 (game #400).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #401) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Out of this world

NYT Strands today (game #401) - hint #2 - clue words

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

TARNFEUDMOPSSMOGNEEDPLAIN

NYT Strands today (game #401) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?• Spangram has 14 letters

NYT Strands today (game #401) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?First side: left, 4th rowLast side: top, 5th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #401) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #401, are…

GRAVITYARRIVALDUNEALIENMEGALOPOLISSPANGRAM: SCIENCE FICTION

My rating: EasyMy score: Perfect

Unusually, I got the Spangram first today.It felt a bit like that old-fashioned trick where a magician pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and different colored hankies keep appearing. It could be because today’s yellow snake spelled SCIENCE FICTION, but spanning from one side to the top also felt spooky and otherworldly, like it was breaking the rules of the space-time continuum. Well, sort of.Anyway, it was wonderful to be reminded of these sci-fi classics – and MEGALOPOLIS.The list also includes two films directed by the incredible Denis Villeneuve – ARRIVAL and DUNE (although, the compilers could have been thinking of the David Lynch version).I would sincerely recommend seeking out the short story ARRIVAL was based on – Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. Like all of his stories it unravels and haunts you in a very peculiar way – a bit like today's spangram.How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, 7 April, game #400)

SATYRMERMANGRIFFINCENTAURJACKALOPESPANGRAM: HYBRID CREATURE

What is NYT Strands?Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, cloud applications serve as powerful enablers, providing businesses with the agility to rapidly deploy new services and updates. They empower businesses to innovate and provide more resilience than traditional IT infrastructure – enabling organizations to scale resources dynamically, such as handling traffic spikes at key moments.None of this is new information – in fact, cloud migration has been on the agenda for a decade now - with businesses grappling on-premises, multi- or hybrid- cloud infrastructure decisions. Key ambitions have been focused on maximizing cost-effectiveness, improving resilience and elevating customer experiences.On a macro level, many UK businesses feel good progress has been made, with 61% of executives believing the computing infrastructure in the UK is a strength, according to new Accenture research. Yet, businesses are still facing major challenges, in particular with their highly complex, monolithic core solutions, and these are getting ever more urgent as organizations look to liberate their huge wealth of data and apply AI.

The impact of AI on cloud adoption

So much has been said on the opportunity of gen AI – a technology that could double the UK’s economic growth during the next 15 years. Not only in its personal productivity promise, but gen AI is already showing potential to reinvent processes across the entire value chain.But applying AI into business processes has also introduced new challenges, including diverting attention away from ensuring their core foundations have the agility to keep up with AI’s advances in the first place. While companies can be lured by the short-term productivity boost of sporadic AI solutions, businesses need to keep focused on the core – not just the cool – and build their infrastructure around an AI strategy. A short-term view of AI risks complicating cloud costs and leads to the proliferation of AI products within the enterprise.The development of technologies such as AI has also highlighted businesses are grappling with varying digital infrastructure capabilities, which can affect how an organization harnesses the potential of these new and innovative technologies. In fact, our research found when asked about their ability to realize the full potential from generative AI, one in five (19%) businesses felt their tech stack fell below cloud computing requirements and 16% felt they were below the cybersecurity requirements. And how to train such models? Clean, accurate data from the start helps companies avoid unwieldy and costly errors that can hold back the power of their AI investments.Going back to basics then. A strong digital core allows enterprises to integrate key components and infrastructure like cloud, data, AI, and security easily, enabling dynamic operations, quick responses to market demands and the ability to drive reinvention.

Security as a foundational element

Organizations must prepare for constant flux and change. Geopolitical instability, environmental challenges, shifting consumer preferences, and spiraling supply chains continue to evolve the risk landscape. Meanwhile innovation, including AI, offers immense opportunities, but can also expand the attack surface and provide cybercriminals with powerful weaponry.It’s therefore particularly worrying that against this backdrop, only half of organizations (53%) report to be completely prepared to defend against emerging threats, including deepfakes and generative AI powered malware, according to Accenture’s Pulse of Change research. Cloud providers offer advanced features like automated threat detection and AI-driven responses, helping businesses quickly identify and address cyber threats. These tools, along with robust encryption, access controls, and reliable disaster recovery solutions, provide critical protection against evolving risks.

Training for resilience

As cyberattacks become more sophisticated, adopting these security measures is a key step in ensuring operational resilience and safeguarding business operations. However, this should no longer solely be the responsibility of a CISO but instead should sit at the backbone of any business. The human element remains crucially important.Employees are the first line of defense, and often the chink in the armor, so their ability to identify and report suspicious activity makes all the difference. However, effective training requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Simulations that replicate phishing attempts, for example, are invaluable in helping employees recognize and react to potential scams.

Driving growth

According to a recent Accenture study, companies with a strong digital core report faster growth and higher profitability compared to their peers. Such posture also helps enterprises to gain a fast or first-mover advantage and stay ahead of the competition. As businesses generate more data, the need for agile digital infrastructure that can analyze and leverage this are only becoming more critical.Integrating robust security measures into the digital core is also not just a necessity but offers a strategic advantage. It ultimately helps to prevent threats, protect value and build a trusted ecosystem with partners and suppliers, in which collective growth can be fostered. Of course, having a customized solution to the enterprise or industry is also important – this is not a one size fits all approach. Yet, the common theme is that as businesses navigate the complexities of the modern technological landscape, those that prioritize a strong, secure digital core and are focused on smooth integration, will be better positioned to thrive.

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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

Nothing has enough storage these days. Whether it's a Mac or a PS5, it feels like everyone I know spends far too much time deleting things on their devices to clear up space. That annoyance is what makes SSDs so appealing, especially the Crucial X9 Pro.

We find the Crucial X9 Pro to be the best portable SSD for most people and, right now, the 1TB model is down to $70 from $101. The 31 percent discount brings this device to only $10 more than its all-time low price. If you need even more storage then pick up the 2TB option for $120, down from $180, or the 4TB one for $210, down from $279.

The Crucial X9 Pro is our favorite portable SSD for a few reasons, including excellent performance for its speed class and its very compact size. It uses a USB-C cord to connect with devices like an Xbox, PC, PS4 or 5, Mac and more. Plus, it offers a five-year warranty. One of our biggest quips with the Crucial X9 Pro is the price, but the sale really takes care of that.

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Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti has popped up in yet more sightingsAsus TUF and Prime models of the graphics card have been spottedOn top of that, leaked FurMark benchmarks have appeared, all of which adds to the pile of rumors suggesting the RTX 5060 Ti is about to arrive

Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti has appeared in multiple sightings, reinforcing rumors around this GPU that’s expected to launch next week.VideoCardz noticed that Momomo_us posted on X to share details of the RTX 5060 Ti models that Asus is apparently now preparing to launch.

TUF-RTX5060TI-O16G-GAMINGPRIME-RTX5060TI-O16GPRIME-RTX5060TI-16GPRIME-RTX5060TI-O8GPRIME-RTX5060TI-8GApril 5, 2025

Add an appropriate pinch of salt, but it seems Asus is readying TUF Gaming and Prime models of the RTX 5060 Ti, with 8GB or 16GB of video RAM, as per past rumors that the GPU will come in these two variants (just like the RTX 4060 Ti before it).And as VideoCardz notes, these mentions are turning up on retailer websites and also via info from GPU distributors, but there don’t seem to be any ROG Strix or Dual variants (other common models that Asus produces).VideoCardz also flagged up that review samples of the RTX 5060 Ti are supposedly shipping – meaning that, in theory, the wheels are fully in motion for the launch at this point – and that the GPU has appeared on FurMark with several results.Again, this was posted on X, courtesy of Richard Huynh this time, as you can see below.

Here's what appears to be a 5060 Ti benchmark. Judging by the score (since this is run at 4k), it appears to sit just under where a 3080 Ti would score.That aside, I can confirm that the device ID does indeed match a 5060 Ti. Not sure if 16 or 8gb SKU though... pic.twitter.com/HGflctXbDpApril 5, 2025

As Huynh observes, the graphics card is not explicitly named, but the device ID code corresponds to the RTX 5060 Ti – and it’d be no surprise to see benchmarks popping up now, if the GPU is imminent.As for the actual benchmark scores, I’d ignore those, really, as they appear to be out of line with expectations in some way, at least in some of these runs. (They are using different, likely outdated, graphics drivers and dropping the power supplied to the GPU, drastically in some cases, which would affect performance considerably.) Besides, FurMark isn’t much of a metric for gauging a gaming GPU anyway.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Analysis: A worrying sign – or not?

The models aired from Asus here are a little thin on the ground, with some big names missing (notably, as mentioned, the ROG Strix variant). Is that a worrying sign? Well, it’ll probably be taken as such, because everyone is fretting about whether the supply of the RTX 5060 Ti is going to be suspect (because the rest of the Blackwell GPU launches have been so far).I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion, though – it might be that we’re just not seeing everything in the above leak, and there could be more models on the boil from Asus. Also, what gives me a bit more hope with the prospect of launch stock with these next Nvidia graphics card is that the company has had more time to build up some supply.In fact, there have been rumors that Team Green has delayed the RTX 5060 Ti, possibly a couple of times, and that might have been down to production issues, if the grapevine is right, but part of this may also relate to ensuring the production of more inventory before launch, perhaps.Nvidia must surely be aware that the RTX 5060 Ti (and 5060) will be more popular models, as they’re more affordable, and so it’d be unwise to launch without some kind of decent amount of chips having rolled off the production lines.Obviously, this is all just guesswork, but we should find out the truth soon enough. These latest launch rumors come on top of a pile of other recent speculation about both the RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti, after all, and when enough of this material has accumulated, it’s a strong sign that things are indeed in place as theorized.Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti is set to launch on April 16, or that’s the rumor, with the RTX 5060 to follow later in mid-May. Recently, we’ve heard some chatter on the likely price points for both of these graphics cards, too, and it seems that Nvidia could stick to the same MSRPs as the existing RTX 4060 and 4060 Ti – which again wouldn’t surprise me. Given the likely demand here, it seems overly optimistic to believe that Nvidia might drop prices for this generation (even though this has happened with some Blackwell GPUs).

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The official trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has dropped, and it's packed full of action – as well as featuring Mr Milchick from Severance.Will Ethan Hunt choose 'Defiant Jazz' in this final Mission: Impossible movie like we saw in one of the best Apple TV+ shows? As much as I'd love to see Tramell Tillman reprise his Choreography and Merriment spectacle from Severance season 2 [spoilers], he's here as a more serious character while Tom Cruise runs here, there and everywhere doing what he so loves to do: putting himself in mortal danger by swinging from a 1930s biplane, jumping off a fighter jet, and getting into deep trouble in deep water.The trailer, which was first shown during CinemaCon 2025, looks like an absolute hoot and you don't have long to wait to see the movie: it hits theaters in May.

What can we expect from The Final Reckoning?

We left the last Mission: Impossible movie with an unresolved mission: stopping 'The Entity', a powerful AI, from unleashing havoc on the entire world. And it's not certain that this second instalment – the eighth and apparently final film in the Mission: Impossible franchise – is going to have a happy ending.Could this be the end of Ethan Hunt's run in life, as well as the end of the line for the movie franchise? It certainly looks that way, with the trailer strongly suggesting that Hunt's luck is about to run out. But given the billions that the Mission: Impossible movies have made, somehow I doubt the studio will want this mission to end without at least the possibility of a future resurrection.According to director Christopher McQuarrie, the stunts in this movie "will melt your brain" – and one stunt in particular will be more anxiety-inducing than anything you've seen in the series before. "I truly want to puke thinking about the stress," McQuarrie told Empire magazine. "It was intense."Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will be in theaters from May 23, 2025, before eventually becoming one of the best Paramount+ movies to stream.

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Hackers are targeting business CRM accounts to steal mailing listsEmails used to send spam and trick people into setting up compromised crypto walletsThe goal is to steal the money, so be on your guard

Hackers are stealing mailing lists from major companies and using them to break into people’s cryptocurrency wallets and snatch their funds.A new report from cybersecurity researchers Silent Push, who dubbed the campaign ‘PoisonSeed’, outlined how the criminals first set up spoofed landing pages for companies such as Coinbase, Ledger, Mailchimp, SendGrid, Hubspot, and others. They harvest people’s login credentials, which allow cybercriminals to log into mailing service accounts and exfiltrate any mailing lists.Then they would send emails, impersonating those companies, and urging users to set up a new Coinbase Wallet, using the seed phrase embedded in the email. A seed phrase is a series of 12 to 24 words generated by the wallet that gives access to the funds inside. It acts as a master key, so anyone who has it can restore the wallet and control the cryptocurrencies inside.

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Seed phrase poisoning attack

"Recipients of the bulk spam are targeted with a cryptocurrency seed phrase poisoning attack," Silent Push explained."As part of the attack, PoisonSeed provides security seed phrases to get potential victims to copy and paste them into new cryptocurrency wallets for future compromising."Once users set up new wallets, and top them up with their funds, the criminals can simply send the money elsewhere, which is a permanent loss for the victims.The researchers believe the campaign is the work of two “loosely aligned” threat actors, called Scattered Spider, and CryptoChameleon, both of which are reportedly part of a broader cybercrime ecosystem called The Com.Since cryptocurrency is permissionless and decentralized, once the funds are sent from one wallet to another, the only way to retrieve them is to have the other side send the money back.In 2024, the US government has seized tens of millions of dollars' worth of crypto, as part of a broader investigation into market manipulation, theft, fraud, and more.Via The Hacker News

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Microsoft looks to be mulling a redesign for the Start menuWe saw that last week, hidden in testing, and now we’ve caught a glimpse of what it looks like with the Phone Link side panel enabledThis configuration of the Start menu takes up most of the desktop, but there’s a switch you can flick to change this

If you saw the major revamp that could be in the works for Windows 11’s Start menu – though note it’s still only hidden in testing – we’ve caught another look at it, this time with the Phone Link side panel active.As a quick refresher, Phone Link is Microsoft’s app that hooks up your Android smartphone so you can use the device for various functions (texts, notifications, or even some apps) on the Windows 11 desktop. The mentioned side panel puts all the relevant details relating to your phone in a box, floating off to the right of the Start menu.As you can see below, known leaker PhantomOfEarth on X has shown us what the Start menu redesign will look like with that side panel active (as highlighted by Windows Latest).

New Start menu, follow up: here's how Companions look, Phone Link one used for the demo. The companion panel is a bit wider, and you can now quickly hide/show companions with a button at the top, next to the search box. pic.twitter.com/hMS7E56KIuApril 4, 2025

The key point to remember here is that Microsoft’s proposed redesign makes the Start menu wider, which is part of a move to condense the layout from two separate sections to one, and accommodate this (all of this is in theory, of course).Not only is the Start menu wider, as PhantomOfEarth makes clear, but the Phone Link panel is also a bit wider here, meaning that 75% (maybe even slightly more) of the desktop is obscured by this configuration of the Start menu. That’s pretty much the entire screen eaten up, in other words.However, as PhantomOfEarth also points out in the above post (watch the video clip), there’s a button you can click to hide (or show) the companion panel. Meaning it only takes a click to retract this additional piece of the interface, and trim down the Start menu (although it’s still notably more expansive than it was before).

(Image credit: George Dolgikh / Shutterstock)

Analysis: Windows 8 flashbacks aside, the overall direction Microsoft is heading in feels positive

Does this bother me at all? No, in a word. As noted, you don’t need to have the side panel for the Phone Link app active. And, of course, there are a good deal more folks who don’t use this Android smartphone hookup than the people who do use it – actually, I’d like to know what kind of percentage usage Phone Link has. I don’t have this app set up for now, but I’m mulling it over and will likely take the plunge in the future.Still, for those who are in this scenario where the Start menu unfurls to cover most of the desktop, is that even a problem? Again, not for me. I guess the unfortunate aspect here is that it sort of feels like a full-screen Start menu in some ways, and that might give some users flashbacks to the days of Windows 8 (which had an actual full-screen Start menu – well, technically it was a Start screen, one that nobody really used or liked).But again, you can just disable the Phone Link panel if the new layout bugs you that much. Besides, I must underline (strongly, in bold red pen) that this work on the Start menu redesign – which also comes with a huge, red tick, in the form of an option to turn off Microsoft’s recommendations – is not even in testing yet. It’s hidden in the background of preview builds, so nothing may happen with all these concepts. Or, if they are realized, Microsoft might implement them differently from what we see here.All that said, the changes happening hidden away in the background do seem to be relatively polished – given their totally unofficial status – and this is one to keep an eye on.Rest assured, though, that the idea very much appears to be to give Windows 11 users more control over what they see in their Start menu, including taming it from any excesses of expanding across the whole desktop in certain scenarios. And that has to get a big thumbs-up, surely?

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Cloud adoption is a crucial business strategy to achieve success and unlock value in today's digital landscape. As per a recent survey, 95 percent of European companies claim to capture value from the cloud. However, what really needs to be considered is whether the value realized is merely from improvements to IT and resultant cost savings, or whether it is based on higher-value cloud use cases that leverage new age technologies.The research also indicates that companies that have effectively integrated gen AI (generative AI) in their transformations, could achieve up to seven times the ROI (Return on Investment) of their peers for each migrated business domain. Therefore, successful cloud adoption must extend beyond technology and should involve accomplishing specific business objectives.

Metrics for a robust cloud strategy

A well-planned cloud strategy is one that emphasizes elements like strategic management, cost optimization, business agility, resilience, business domain adoption and foundational capabilities.Strategic management involves aligning cloud adoption with business goals and establishing governance frameworks, where technical decisions are directly tied to business outcomes. The next metric of cost optimization is realized by shifting from capital to operational expenses, ensuring scalable resource allocation, and faster solution delivery. It involves monitoring metrics like cost per usage to maximize returns on cloud investments.This ideally leads to decreased IT expenses and frees up resources for strategic endeavors. The third metric of business agility assesses the organization's adaptability to dynamic market changes. Cloud services can play a pivotal role in accelerating time-to-market for new product showcases, thereby fostering innovation. Performance and scalability of cloud infrastructures can be evaluated through application uptime and the ability to scale on demand, towards seamless operations and enhanced customer experiences.The next component of a comprehensive cloud strategy is resilience, which essentially refers to the ability of the cloud infrastructure to bounce back from setbacks seamlessly. In the new era of cloud resiliency, security is prioritized from the outset, through continuous operations and formidable security measures against cyber threats. This includes implementing robust access controls, data encryption, threat detection measures and tracking security incidents through audits to uphold data security and compliance.Building resilience also involves modernizing IT infrastructure, automating infrastructure management, and implementing modern networking solutions. Technologies that enable flexible workloads and optimize resource utilization can significantly enhance operational efficiency. Automation and infrastructure modernization further streamlines operations and unlocks new possibilities for innovation and growth.Business domain adoption, another element of an effective cloud strategy, focuses on integrating cloud technologies to drive innovation and enhance customer experiences. Cloud adoption drives revenue growth through new offerings, elevates customer satisfaction via quicker interactions, and empowers the workforce with superior collaboration tools. Lastly, focus must be laid on building foundational capabilities by developing technical skills, adopting agile methodologies, and modernizing IT infrastructure to support seamless integration with cloud services.Skill building also needs to be considered for successful cloud adoption. Skills such as automating infrastructure configurations and managing APIs can be developed as the cloud environment matures. DevOps principles and automated deployments can nurture collaboration, facilitated by continuous integration and delivery pipelines. By prioritizing these metrics, organizations can gain a strategic edge and foster long-term success.

Challenges to realizing cloud value

Transitioning to a cloud-based operation involves a dual-pronged strategy. While cost optimization, requires right-sizing resources, leveraging discounted instances, and implementing auto-scaling based on demand, accurately forecasting demand and navigating complex cloud pricing structures can be difficult. Likewise, while scalability is enabled by containerization, serverless computing, and infrastructure automation, managing complex applications, ensuring security during scaling, and avoiding vendor lock-in present additional challenges. Therefore, organizations must continuously monitor and adapt their strategies while addressing these challenges.

Developing a cloud governance framework

An effective cloud strategy aligns business goals through a strong governance framework that prioritizes security, compliance, and cost optimization, while being flexible to accommodate growth. Piloting non-critical applications can help refine this strategy before larger migrations. Cloud optimization is an iterative journey, requiring ongoing refinement to sustain benefits.Companies must first assess their maturity model to identify areas for improvement. This includes optimizing their cloud mix by exploring different cloud providers or cost structures, providing regular policy updates for compliance, cultivating a continuous improvement culture, proactively addressing challenges, and having active leadership involvement in the cloud vision for stakeholder buy-in.Today, cloud technology has transformed the way businesses provide customer services, offering them a personalized, scalable, real-time interaction experience. Companies can offer their customers seamless experiences across multiple channels, ensuring the same level of service whether their customers interact online, through mobile apps, or in-store. Cloud-based data analytics helps businesses gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, allowing them to provide proactive support, and fostering long-term loyalty.

Conclusion

The merits of cloud computing are well established and European companies have shifted focus on deriving business value such as increased operational efficiency, faster time-to-market for products and services, enhanced customer satisfaction, and improved bottom-line results. By aligning their business goals and cloud strategies, these companies will realize tangible results to unlock even more business value in future.

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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

I appreciate devices that don’t try to do too much. There are too many products throwing too many features at the consumer in the hope one or two sticks. I’m reminded of the recently revived Pebble, which offers a pared down way to check your phone’s notifications from your wrist, and little else. That’s the best way to describe Even Realities’ G1 smart glasses, which puts a second screen for your smartphone on your face.

G1 is almost aggressively low-tech, putting in your line of sight a dot matrix display that’ll leap into life when required. You’ll be able to see the time, phone notifications, calendar, stock and news updates from a handful of chosen publishers. Tap the temple tips (also known as earpieces) and you’ll be able to speak to an AI to answer questions or dictate a note without touching your phone at all. Open the app to activate heads-up turn-by-turn directions, access real-time translation and use the glasses as a portable teleprompter.

On devices like this, the limited feature set goes hand-in-hand with lowered expectations: If it promises the basics and delivers them, all good, right? Problems arise when it fails to do them well, or if it’s obvious to anyone there are features that would work here but have been omitted. The G1 doesn't stumble on the essentials, but I do find myself flip-flopping about how much praise they should get. They’re useful right now, but I’d love to see how much better they’ll get in a year or two.

Hardware

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

Until the laws of physics change quite dramatically, smart glasses will always be noticeably bigger and heavier than their siblings. But the G1 is hardly an embarrassment in those stakes, and while chunky, they’re not comically oversized. The frame is built from magnesium and titanium alloy and weighs in at 44 grams. That’s more than the 26 grams my regular glasses weigh, but not to such an extent that it’s burdensome. It’s no surprise to learn some of the company’s leadership team came from the glasses industry, including stints at high-end eyewear brand Lindberg and Mykita.

Each lens houses a rectangular waveguide with a 25-degree field of view displaying a 640 x 200 20Hz dot matrix green monochrome screen. It brings to mind the old workstation terminals from the early 1990s. This isn’t shameless hipsterism, since green is more easily seen by the eye, and it also reduces the display’s power consumption, which is useful since the maximum brightness is 1,000 nits, and you’ll need all of it to see your screen on a bright day.

Much of the hardware is housed in the temple tips — the bits sitting behind your ears, if you’re not au fait with glasses terminology. These chunky boxes include the wireless charging gear, 160mAh battery, Bluetooth LE 5.2 radio and the touch control sensors. As for the rest, the projector and microphones are housed in the end pieces (the hinges on the frame), and that’s it. There’s no camera, speakers, headphones, bone conduction audio or any touch surface along the arms themselves, because the makers expect you to have your own camera and audio gear.

In the box, you’ll get the glasses and USB-C charging case, the latter of which has its own 2,000mAh battery which the company says will charge your glasses two and a half times before you need to head back to a socket. You can also get a pair of clip-on sunglass lenses for your specs to ensure you can wear them outdoors. I had initially presumed, given the heft of the original investment, that the clip-on glasses were thrown in but no, they’ll set you back an additional $100 in the US, €100 in Europe or £85 in the UK.

Glasses need to be up to the challenge of withstanding the same conditions the rest of your head is exposed to. Even Realities says the G1 can resist a “splash" or "light rain,” but doesn’t include a specific IP rating, so you may need to baby them a little.

There is only one size of the G1 available, and the company says it’ll suit anyone with a pupillary distance between 54 and 80. The temples can be adjusted to go looser or tighter, depending on the unique topography of your skull. But the frames are fairly stylish, and if you prefer the rounded “Panto” style of glasses, or a squarer one, you can opt for the B1 model instead.

Naturally, glasses aren’t a one-and-done deal, with most folks changing their prescriptions on a bi-annual basis. Even Realities says that you should be able to send your glasses back to HQ when your eyesight changes, along with your updated prescription, for up-to-date lenses. In the EU that’ll cost €230, or if you’re further abroad, €240 ($260).

Random musing about Smart Glasses vs AR

I’ve deliberately not referred to the G1 as a pair of augmented reality glasses because I don’t think they fit the description. The dictionary says AR is anything that puts a digital view in front of the real world, but that’s too broad a definition. After all, if I held a paper map in my line of sight I wouldn’t be augmenting my reality as the map doesn’t engage with its environment. And it’s the same thing here — just because the display in question is transparent doesn’t, for me, move the needle enough for it to be classified as AR.

In-use

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

Charge the glasses, download the app and you’ll walk through the brief setup and tutorial process. Software updates take around five minutes each time, surprisingly long given the low-tech nature of the system. Put the glasses on and you’ll notice the waveguide prisms add a slight tint to whatever you’re looking at. For instance, when staring at a white page on my computer, the prism adds a hint of gold that’s noticeable compared to the white around it.

The glasses are deactivated by default, behaving like any regular pair of specs as you go about your day. If you want to look up at the dashboard, which is your home screen, you’ll need to tilt your head up. This is the first thing you’ll define in the settings: How far you need to move your head up to trigger the dashboard. I found I had to tweak it regularly, given my head naturally drift upwards more often when I'm, say, relaxing against the sofa versus standing at my desk.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

The dashboard is the first sign the G1 has some limitations. You only have three layout options for what you can see, one of which is the Status Pane, which is always on. Status shows you the time, date, temperature, a notification indicator and (when required) low battery warnings. You can add one widget or two, but if you pick two, one of those widgets will default to your calendar. The other widgets include News, Stocks, QuickNotes or a Map.

News, Stocks and Maps feel like the default options you get with every gadget while its makers work out what its users really want and need. The news feed pulls from a handful of outlets and you can select from which categories (Politics, Science, Sports and the like) you want to see. The map view gives you a little peek at your location to the nearest 25, 50 or 100 meters, which I’m sure is helpful for some folks, like delivery drivers. But I’m not sure there are many folks who want or need to have this information so immediately at hand.

Notifications

You’ll be able to gatekeep which apps you can permit to be put through to your glasses, and when you get a message, a speech bubble will pop up on your blank display. When it appears, you can just flick your head up to see the message, or tap the temple tip while in Dashboard.

It’s the same limited message you would get with any basic wearable connected to your iPhone. The obvious benefit is removing the need for you to get your phone out of your pocket or look at your wrist.

On a Saturday jaunt into the city, several of my group chats sprung into life and I was able to keep abreast of the conversation without having to look at my phone. That was a real benefit, as I’d have been frustrated if I’d have had to check my pocket on the regular for messages that didn’t entirely concern me. The only downside is that you can’t do anything with the messages, like respond to them, unless you do finally succumb to your phone.

Teleprompt, Transcribe and QuickNote

Even Realities

Even if you’re comfortable speaking off the cuff, using the G1 as a teleprompter is a staggeringly good idea. As soon as I started using it, I was thinking they would be great for shooting review videos, as well as giving presentations and acting. Hell, I’ve recited the Gettysburg Address a few too many times in the last week.

The glasses will also offer a way to turn what it’s hearing into text, either with the dedicated Transcription setup, or the QuickNote action. For the latter, all you need to do is touch a temple tip and you can then speak, with the system picking up your words and turning them into text. You’ll then be able to read the note, and play back the audio recording in the app, although you can only share the text of what you’ve said. It’s perhaps a lot more pertinent to journalists than other folks but the ability to have such easy access to a tool like this is exciting.

Translation

The G1s presently support real-time translation of 24 languages, including the major European languages, Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Turkish. After you open the app, select the language in question and activate the feature, you’ll get a translation two or three seconds later when someone talks to you. I’ve tested the feature with native French and Turkish speakers and while the translations did at times miss a word, the overall sentiment was well conveyed.

Without a doubt, this is one of the glasses’ most eye-catching and useful features, since it subtitles the real world. But while the idea and implementation is all there, it’s not as sci-fi perfect as it could or should be, and that’s a problem. For a start, there’s the obvious moment you have to wait for while the system translates what your counterpart has said. Then there’s the fact it’ll translate anything it can hear, so when I asked my Turkish friend to speak to me, and then I read out the translation in English, the glasses tried to translate my response back into English.

Everything’s far more reliant on the app than it could be — you can’t activate the feature or swap languages without having the phone in your hand. If you were able to switch the options around with a tap on the touch sensor, you could theoretically have a conversation just with the glasses. But as soon as you need the phone in your hand, it’s easier to just open up Google Translate and harness the power of conversation mode.

Navigation

The ability to project basic information in your line of sight is enormously helpful when it comes to navigation. After all, if you’re wandering around unfamiliar streets, then you probably don’t want to appear to look like you’re lost. Certainly, the spate of phone thefts where well-prepared poachers snatch devices from people’s hands is a sign of that. Much like every other feature, you’ll start by… opening the app, activating the navigation pane and setting your destination.

You can pick walking or cycling directions, and you’ll get a turn-by-turn layout on the phone as well as in the glasses. Once the route has been calculated, which will take a second, you can put the phone in your pocket and start moving around. On the left, you’ll get the road name, an arrow for your direction and the distance in meters before the next move. In the middle, you’ll get the projected journey time and distance, and on the right a mini-map showing you the route. Look up (triggering the Dashboard) and you’ll get a full sized route map showing your progress as well as an indication of your speed. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t adore this feature and would love to test it out while roaming an unfamiliar city, because it’s supremely effortless.

Even AI

Rounding out the spec list is Even AI which, at the tap of the left temple tip, will be available for you to ask questions. Even AI is essentially just an interaction layer for either Perplexity, which is the default AI client, or ChatGPT. Press the button and you’ll be able to ask it questions, the answers of which will then be displayed in your field of view.

If you have a beginner’s knowledge of AI, by which I mean a fundamental distrust of anything it says, then this might be useful. Defining words, answering basic questions like “Who is Florence Nightingale” and looking up facts like the price of Bitcoin are all easily done. But that’s all, I think, I’d trust any AI to do, given how generally incapable of providing useful information it is.

Controls

There are two buttons, one on each temple tip, which will let you engage EvenAI or QuickNotes and scroll through notifications. Two buttons, however, even with the ability to accept multiple taps, is a little too few input mechanisms for a device this sophisticated. I keep thinking about the ways you can control true wireless headphones with all of that rhythmic tapping and that’s just for audio playback.

It means you’ll be relying on your phone a lot more than you may like, and while it’s not a deal breaker, it is an issue. After all, if these glasses offer a way of spending more time engaging with the world around me, then I don’t want to be constantly snatching up my phone. I imagine this is another area that, as the software develops and more commands can be incorporated into the buttons, things will get easier. But it is, for now, a fairly significant frustration.

Battery Life

I’d consider myself a fairly heavy user, and I would regularly get a day and a half’s worth of life from the G1 glasses before needing a recharge. It’s vexing in the extreme that the glasses don’t have an off switch, so they’ll be draining an admittedly small amount of power when not in use. I suspect, if I was living with these full time, I’d get into the habit of keeping them in their charging cradle on the nightstand while in bed to avoid any inadvertent losses of power while out and about.

Price

Even Realities’ G1 is available in two different frame styles: The G1A with the “panto” round-rim style and the G1B, with a rectangular frame. If I’m honest, I’d have preferred to test the G1B, which is more in keeping with my regular glasses preference, but c’est la vie. The glasses on their own cost $599, with corrective lenses costing you an extra $150 and the sunglass clip an additional $100. It puts these glasses in the same sort of territory as the highest-end designer frames you can get at LensCrafters.

I’m not sure there’s a mainstream competitor sitting in exactly the same category as the G1. There are similar headsets, like TCL’s RayNeo, but that has a far higher resolution display since it promises real AR. The Frame by Brilliant Labs, perhaps, but that only has a display in one lens and relies far more upon AI to operate. Captify’s glasses use binocular vision but are only designed to offer real-time captioning for users with hearing loss. Vuzix’s Z100 only has the display in one lens and, as far as I understand it, Meizu’s Myvu glasses are only available in eastern countries. Which means, for now, Even Realities is your one stop for a product like this.

And while they’re not in the same category at all, it feels negligent to not even mention Meta and Ray-Ban’s Wayfarers. The retail price may be cheaper but, once you’ve added prescription lenses they’ll set you back around $600, putting them close to the G1. But they’re obviously a very different product, with no heads-up display and a greater emphasis on AI and photography.

Wrap-Up

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

I really like Even Realities’ G1 for what they can do right now, but I’m also hopeful that it’ll get far more useful in the future. It seems to me there are so many things that could be tweaked, primped and plumped to make these far more appealing.

I’d love to be able to switch the translation mode with a press of the temple tip, so I could get a translation of what’s said, flip it to translate my English to the other language and then say it back to them so we could actually have a(n admittedly stilted) conversation. Adding reminders and other options to the dashboard would make it a lot more desirable to use. Hell, imagine a future dashboard update that pulls your step count from your phone so you can see how well you’re moving. Not to mention the ability to offer some form of real-time captioning for users who may have hearing issues.

I’m not going to judge the G1 on its potential but for what it offers now, and what it offers now is plenty good enough. The biggest obstacle is the price, but what can you expect for a first generation product in a niche category? When speaking to friends about them, many said if the price wasn’t that much more than a regular pair of glasses, they’d struggle to say no to what’s on offer here. And I agree, once you’ve had a taste of the functionality that’s on show here, it’s hard to go back to normal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/even-realities-g1-review-limited-but-effective-smart-glasses-140059586.html?src=rss

Disney has unveiled the first trailer for the upcoming sequel to a legacy sequel, Tron: Ares.Some 15 years since we last ventured inside the Grid, the new film "follows a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with AI beings". And judging by the trailer, which can be viewed below, it’s going to be a wild ride, with all the Light Cycle action fans could want after a decade and a half of waiting.

The history of the Tron franchise has been a case of enduring IP, little content. The first film arrived in 1982, riding the wave of the then-new video game and arcade craze with a story that saw a fresh faced Jeff Bridges play Kevin Flynn, a game developer transported inside a computer world. Using pioneering CGI, the film introduced the iconic Light Cycles, presenting a wholly original fantasy world.While sequels were mooted straight away, it took until 2010 for Tron: Legacy to finally hit screens, focusing on Kevin’s son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) and his investigation into his father’s disappearance, ultimately leading him into another, altogether more modern digital world.While the film saw Jeff Bridges reprise his role and used state of the art 3D effects, a sequel failed to materialize, and it’s best remembered for the iconic soundtrack by Daft Punk.An Animated TV series, Tron: Uprising – which you won't see ranking among the best Disney+ series – set between the two movies, aired on Disney XD in 2012, but failed to gather momentum and was cancelled after one season. Disney has kept the franchise alive via their parks however, with Tron Light Cycle Power Run serving as a flagship roller coaster attraction in both their Shanghai and Orlando resorts.

What can we expect from Tron: Ares?

Tron: Ares looks to be a big swing from Disney to keep the franchise relevant, and judging by this first trailer, could be one of the best Disney+ movies of the year.While much of the plot is being kept under wraps for now, we do know that Jared Leto plays Ares, a sophisticated, sentient program which makes its way from the digital world to our own. The trailer’s glimpse of a neon red Light Cycle slicing a police cruiser in two while speeding down a packed highway has us very excited for what’s in store, especially if Nine Inch Nails’ full score (Daft who?) is half as thumping as the snippet we hear in the trailer.Coming from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales director Joachim Rønning, the third installment in the saga also appears to be very much a soft reboot of the franchise, with none of the threads left hanging after Legacy’s conclusion seemingly picked up, and although we hear Jeff Bridges gravely voiceover, his role could well be cameo stuff. The new sneak peak also gives us our first glimpse of Greta Lee as Eve, Evan Peters as Julian and Gillian Anderson.With a topical spin pitting the human race against ever-learning AI and eye-popping visuals, Tron: Ares looks like it will be well worth the wait for content starved franchise fans. We can't wait to plug back into the Grid when the threequel arrives on October 10.

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While the Nintendo Switch 2 had its splashy debut last week, including details about the hardware and launch games, there's still lots about the console that Nintendo has yet to clear up. For instance, the company hasn't gone into specifics about the CPU and GPU that are powering the Switch 2, other than to touch on the performance enhancements that they offer over the Switch (NVIDIA separately confirmed that the Switch 2 uses its Deep Learning Super Sampling tech).

However, since last Wednesday's blockbuster Direct, Nintendo has touched on some new Switch 2 details in interviews with the press. For one thing, Nate Bihldorff, Senior Vice President of Product Development & Publishing at Nintendo of America, told Nintendo Life that the console's Joy-Con 2 controllers do not use Hall effect tech. "The Joy-Con 2's controllers have been designed from the ground up," Bihldorff said. "They're not Hall effect sticks, but they feel really good."

Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto separately said that the Joy-Con 2 joysticks "are quieter and don’t make noise, even when they’re moved quickly to the edge." The company is referring to them as "smooth-gliding sticks."

Engadget has asked Nintendo why the company opted not to use Hall effect tech in the Joy-Con 2. We've also asked whether the Switch 2 Pro Controller foregoes Hall effect sensors as well.

This technology is becoming increasingly common in the thumbsticks of third-party gamepads, but Nintendo has yet to implement it in its own joysticks (nor have Sony or Microsoft, for that matter). The idea behind Hall effect sensors is that they reduce the likelihood of stick drift. This problem was so pervasive on the original Switch's Joy-Cons that Nintendo offered free, unlimited repairs for stick drift in Europe. So it's not clear why Nintendo would opt out of having Hall effect sensors in the Joy-Con 2 to help mitigate such problems.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has confirmed US pricing for a few Switch 2 experiences. The company told IGN that the upgrades for two The Legend of Zelda games — Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom — cost $10 each for those who already own either game. However, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers get access to the upgrades at no extra cost.

The Switch 2 upgrades include visual fidelity and framerate enhancements, along with the inclusion of HDR support and faster loading times. You'll also be able to use the Switch mobile app as a Sheikah Slate of sorts, helping you to find hidden items with voiced directions.

In addition, Nintendo has revealed that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which seems like a tech demo that will take you through all the features of the console, will cost $10. As for why Nintendo is charging 10 bucks for this as opposed to offering it for free (like Valve did with the fun Steam Deck tech demo, Aperture Desk Job, or Sony did with Astro's Playroom on PS5), Nintendo of America's Vice President of Product and Player Experience Bill Trinen had this to say to IGN:

For some people, I think there are people who are particularly interested in the tech and the specs of the system and things like that, for them I think it's going to be a great product. It's really for people that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does. And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, 'Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you're getting out of the product.'This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-says-the-switch-2-joy-con-controllers-dont-have-hall-effect-thumbsticks-145541771.html?src=rss

Researchers found three malicious PyPI packages, two targeting bitcoin developers, and one WooCommerce storesTwo are designed to steal data, and the third to test for valid credit cardsAll three have since been removed from the repository

Multiple open source software packages on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository were found to be malicious, likely compromising thousands of devices, experts have warned.Cybersecurity researchers at ReversingLabs found two malicious packages, “bitcoinlibdbfix” and “bitcoinlib-dev”, which cumulatively have around 2,000 downloads.They claim to be a fix for a legitimate Python module named “bitcoinlib”, which contains features for creating and managing cryptocurrency wallets.

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WooCommerce stores also under attack

Recently, the community discussed an issue related to how the package generates error messages.The crooks saw this as an opportunity, created the two malicious packages and jumped into the conversation in an attempt to distribute them. It doesn’t seem to have worked: “The malicious content of that library was detected by the package contributors and the comments were deleted,” ReversingLabs said.Both libraries attempted a similar attack, the researchers further explained. The idea was to overwrite the legitimate ‘clw cli’ command with malicious code, exfiltrating sensitive database files.At the same time, researchers from Socket found a third package, which doesn’t target bitcoin developers, but rather WooCommerce stores. Furthermore, this package doesn’t even try to hide its true intentions, and instead is “openly malicious”. Despite being obvious malware, it still managed to rake in 37,217 downloads.The malware is called “disgrasya” and works as a fully automated carding script. "The malicious payload was introduced in version 7.36.9, and all subsequent versions carried the same embedded attack logic," Socket said.Carding is a type of cybercrime where stolen credit card information is used to make unauthorized purchases or test if the card is still active. Since criminals often buy these card details from the dark web, whoever built and distributed disgrasya could have profited greatly from it.Via The Hacker News

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Samsung Galaxy S25 smartphones just got a free major AI upgradeS25 users will gain access to Visual AI in Gemini Live, via an update that's rolling out nowVisual AI allows users to ask questions about what they see in real time on screen or via camera access

Samsung just announced that all Galaxy S25 users will get a brand-new Visual AI experience on their smartphones, and it's starting to roll out today – April 7, 2025 – as an update.The upgrade, powered by Google Gemini, allows S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra smartphone owners to have 'real-time visual and conversational interactions' with Gemini Live.In the press release published on Samsung's website, the company gives multiple examples of how Visual AI can help users get even more from Gemini, which is built into the best Galaxy smartphones.With Visual AI, you can grant Gemini Live access to your camera and screen sharing, and the AI voice assistant will be able to tell you what you're looking at.Samsung says the new upgrade to Gemini Live means the AI can 'have a real-time conversation with users about what it sees – making everyday tasks easier.'If you own a Samsung S25 device, the free update is starting to roll out today. So, you'll want to keep your eyes peeled for an update to take full advantage of this new Visual AI feature.

(Image credit: Samsung)

Google and Samsung continue their strong partnership

“Together with Google, we are marking a bold step toward the future of mobile AI, delivering smarter interactions that are deeply in sync with how we live, work and communicate,” said Jay Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of Customer Experience Office, Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics.The partnership between the two companies is stronger than ever, with Galaxy AI deeply intertwined with Google Gemini on S25 devices.Kim added, "With this new visual capability, Galaxy S25 series brings next-generation AI experiences to life, setting new standards for how users engage with the world through their devices.”I'm excited to try Visual AI, as I absolutely love the ability to ask Gemini questions about what's on my screen via text on Android.Adding that functionality to Gemini Live will make S25 devices feel even more alive, taking a huge leap towards a future where we all have an AI voice assistant in our pockets capable of managing the mundane elements of life.

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Later than expected, Google has begun rolling a pair of new Gemini Live features to Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 devices. The company first previewed Gemini live video and screensharing during Mobile World Congress in March. As you might have guessed from their names, the two features allow you to take advantage of Gemini's multi-modal capabilities to ask Google's chatbot questions about what you see in front of your or on your phone's screen.

📣 It’s here: ask Gemini about anything you see. Share your screen or camera in Gemini Live to brainstorm, troubleshoot, and more.Rolling out to Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 devices today and available for all Advanced users on @Android in the Gemini app:… pic.twitter.com/fjTD4qhvjz— Google Gemini App (@GeminiApp) April 7, 2025

If you don't own a Pixel 9 or Galaxy S25, Google says you can still access the new features through the Gemini app on Android. However, you'll need a Google One AI Premium plan, which costs $20 per month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-live-video-and-screensharing-starts-rolling-out-to-pixel-9-and-galaxy-s25-phones-151032356.html?src=rss