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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Dell Technologies World 2025.We're on the ground in Las Vegas for this year's event, and are all set for an event which will be sure to be packed full of news and announcements.The event starts tomorrow with a star-studded keynote from company founder and CEO Michael Dell, so check back then for all the updates as they happen.

Good morning from sunny Las Vegas!TechRadar Pro is here and all set for Dell Technologies World 2025, which is set to kick off tomorrow, so check back then!

Meeting an online friend in person for the first time can be pretty awkward. If only there were a way to skip the weird small talk part and get right into the flow of real conversation — like, say, getting shrunk down to the size of a chess piece and trapped in a series of board games, forcing you to communicate so you can find your way out. That's exactly the scenario in which characters Alex and Sarah find themselves in the Playdate game Escape the Boardgame, and it's incredibly charming.

Escape the Boardgame is kind of like an interactive comic, and it's the second such game by Julie and Anders Bjørnskov, following 2024's Escape the Arcade. You use the crank and sometimes the D-pad to move the story forward panel by panel, running into puzzles along the way that will serve as temporary roadblocks until you've come up with the solution. While it is an escape room of sorts, this isn't a high-tension situation; Alex and Sarah are stuck in a cozy boardgame cafe, not Jumanji. As they try to make their way out the door by traversing various game boards, they encounter a bunch of quirky but ultimately harmless characters.

Just because it's casual doesn't mean it'll be a breeze to solve the puzzles, though. They're really creative, sometimes requiring you to pay close attention to every little detail on the screen in order to crack some obscure code, and other times forcing you to zoom out and consider the whole picture to see what's hidden in plain sight. The games within the game, like one in which you need to match pets with their correct owners, are a delight to take in. There are multiple hints for each puzzle, which you can access in the menu, so you can have varying degrees of assistance depending on how stuck you are.

Savvy puzzle solvers will probably finish Escape the Boardgame in under an hour, so this one is perfect for when you just want to play something easygoing that can be wrapped up neatly in one sitting. Instead of leaving you frustrated, it's a brain teaser you're likely to walk away from feeling all warm and fuzzy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/if-you-like-puzzles-check-out-this-trippy-comic-style-escape-room-game-for-playdate-200003217.html?src=rss

Computex 2025 is about to kick off, and the cavalcade of announcements about the latest chips, laptops, gaming devices and more from leading brands has already begun. The event in Taiwan will kick off Sunday night (US time) with a keynote at the Taipei Music Center from NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. There will be a livestream for anyone not attending in person, so you can watch along right here (see NVIDIA YouTube stream embedded below).

Huang’s keynote is scheduled for 11PM ET/ 8PM PT on May 18 (11AM on May 19 in Taiwan Time), and we can expect to hear all about the company's developments in the AI space. It’ll be followed that same day by a keynote from Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. Computex this year will, perhaps unsurprisingly, focus heavily on AI, with the overall theme being "AI Next." It’ll also highlight products in three categories: AI & Robotics, Next-Gen Tech and Future Mobility.

For Huang, the Computex keynote is a return home: He was born in Taiwan before eventually emigrating to the US, where he was instrumental in co-founding NVIDIA and guiding it to its current domination in the AI space. His appearance also caps off a busy week that saw him balancing the increasingly challenging diplomatic side of the AI landscape. After participating in President Trump's tour of Middle East nations — during which NVIDIA inked deals with Saudi and UAE-linked tech firms to sell its AI chips — NVIDIA downplayed its reported expansion plans in China.

An estimated 1,400 exhibitors will be in attendance at Computex, including ASUS, Acer and AMD, all of which have previously made big announcements at the annual expo. In fact, as of Friday (May 16), Acer has already gotten a jump on the others by making some announcements for the show, including the new Swift Edge AI laptop and five gaming monitors. Our senior reviewer Sam Rutherford has also managed to get his hands on the new Acer Predator Triton 14 AI, and he liked it so much he called it his new "most anticipated gaming laptop of the year."

Computex 2025 will run from May 20 to May 23, and we expect even more PC news in the next few days.

Update, May 18, 6:22PM ET: Added additional background info on Jensen Huang and NVIDIA China news.

Update, May 15, 1:50PM ET: Added YouTube embed, and details on Jensen Huang's recent travels.

Update, May 16, 4:45PM ET: Added details on Acer's Computex announcements, which were unveiled today. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/computex-2025-watch-nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-deliver-the-opening-keynote-today-205326666.html?src=rss

MSI EdgeXpert sounds impressive, but calling it a supercomputer might be stretching realityDesktop AI supercomputers are a trend, but their usefulness still lacks real-world validationMSI’s EdgeXpert could be ideal for developers needing local AI power without relying on the cloud

MSI is the latest entrant in the race to miniaturize AI infrastructure with its upcoming EdgeXpert MS-C931, a compact desktop system positioned as an AI supercomputer.Following the launches of the Dell Pro Max with GB10 and the Asus Ascent GX10, MSI’s new machine is built on Nvidia’s DGX Spark platform and will be showcased at COMPUTEX 2025.While the hardware sounds formidable, questions remain about whether this device truly lives up to the lofty label of a "desktop AI supercomputer", or if it’s simply a case of marketing overreach.

A powerful machine built on familiar ground

The EdgeXpert MS-C931 is powered by Nvidia’s GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, delivering up to 1,000 TOPS of AI performance (FP4), 128 GB of unified memory, and ConnectX-7 high-speed networking.MSI says the system targets sectors like education, finance, and healthcare, where data privacy and low latency could justify on-premise hardware over cloud-based services.Given its specs, the MS-C931 could rank among the most capable workstation PCs currently in development. Its high memory bandwidth and AI-focused compute also suggest it could be a top-tier PC for coding, especially for machine learning or large-scale simulation tasks.However, the real value of this product depends less on its raw specs and more on how grounded MSI’s claims about its purpose truly are.The phrase “desktop AI supercomputer” continues to be used liberally, and MSI’s adoption of it raises similar concerns to those previously leveled at Asus and Dell.A supercomputer, by definition, implies massive parallel processing power, usually deployed across large-scale server racks. Shrinking that concept down to a single desktop machine, even with cutting-edge components, feels more like branding than technical accuracy.MSI isn’t alone in this; Nvidia’s DGX Spark framework itself seems at least partially designed to enable this kind of positioning.For all the talk of supporting top-tier AI tools and delivering enterprise-grade performance at the edge, there’s currently little evidence that these systems approach the breadth or scalability of true supercomputing infrastructure.Even 1,000 TOPS, while impressive, must be understood in the context of what modern AI teams actually require to train or run LLMs.While MSI may succeed in delivering a dense, high-performance system for localized inferencing and AI prototyping, the real-world utility of the MS-C931 is likely narrower than the “supercomputer” label implies.Until these machines prove their value in practice, calling them desktop supercomputers feels more like aspirational branding than a reflection of what they truly deliver.Via TechPowerUp

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HP is giving a much-needed power-up to its OmniBook 5 Series laptop lineup. As part of Computex 2025, HP debuted the laptops equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X and X Plus chips for better energy efficiency and performance. The 14-inch version of the new OmniBook 5 Series starts at $799, while the 16-inch variation costs at least $849.

Previously, if you wanted the benefits of a Snapdragon chip in an HP laptop, you were stuck with the more expensive OmniBook X options that retail for at least $1,000. Now, there are more affordable options from HP that still have the benefits of ARM processors. The OmniBook 5 series may not be as powerful as the OmniBook X, but it still gets access to Copilot+'s AI features, like Recall, Click-to-Do and an improved Windows Search experience.

All that comes in a laptop with a 2K OLED display that gets 34 hours of battery life and recharges up to 50 percent in 30 minutes. If the laptop's singular display isn't enough, the OmniBook 5 can hook up to a single external 5K monitor or two 4K displays. For all your virtual meeting needs, HP's newest laptops have an 1080p IR camera that's paired with its Audio Boost 2.0 feature to offer better sound quality and AI-powered noise removal.

HP said the OmniBook 5 with Snapdragon in its 14-inch configuration will be available first on Amazon and Microsoft, starting in June. In July, the 14-inch OmniBook 5 will make its way to HP's own site, Best Buy and Costco. The 16-inch version will also be available in July through HP directly and its retail partners.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/hp-is-bringing-snapdragon-chips-to-its-more-affordable-laptops-060019642.html?src=rss

Sony recently launched one of its most-anticipated products of 2025 in the WH-1000XM6 headphones. The company’s previous efforts, namely the XM4 and XM5, have proven incredibly successful, so it’s unsurprising that Sony felt the need to continue the lineage.Those previous models have actually proven to be so popular that both will remain on sale alongside their newly upgraded sibling.I’ve been using the XM6 for about a week now to find out if they could dethrone my trusted Sonos Ace as my go-to over-ear cans. But, as you would have already guessed from the headline of this piece, they’ve fallen a bit short in that challenge for the top.It’s got nothing to do with sound quality or noise cancellation, although I’ll touch on those features further down. Instead, it has everything to do with how they fit.I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a fan of Sonos’ first attempt at producing a pair of headphones, predominantly because I find the Ace so darn comfortable, and that’s still true nearly a year after they launched in June 2024.I’ve never worn the previous XM4 or the XM5 for prolonged periods, but having read my colleague Gerald Lynch's Sony WH-1000XM5 review, which praised the overall comfort level, I was expecting glorious things from the XM6.According our new Sony WH-1000XM6 review, those expectations should have been met. For me, however, they've unfortunately missed the mark.

The different hinge designs of the Sony (left) and Sonos (right) headphones plays a big role in on-head comfort. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

Perhaps I have a fussy head (hopefully not) or abnormally large ears (the shame) but, for me, the XM6 feel like they’re clamping down a little too much, at least when compared against the Sonos Ace. Sony has said it’s increased the clamping force of the new model compared to the XM5 to help aid with passive noise isolation, and it does indeed work on that front.For my noggin, though, it’s just a little too forceful for comfort. They feel more akin to on-ear headphones when I wear them because the padding presses onto my ears a little too much. The Sonos Ace earcups, meanwhile, completely envelop my ears and feel much softer, and as a result feel way more comfortable.I should add the realization that the Ace earcups envelop my ears more is an interesting one, because the openings are physically smaller than the Sony pair. I think the fact that the space inside the earcups of the Ace is deeper than on the XM6 is the reason for this peculiar phenomenon.Despite weighing roughly 50g more than the Sony, I think the Sonos engineers have done a better job of distributing the weight of the Ace too. Again, I’m probably just being fussy, but it’s something I noticed as soon as I wore the XM6 for the first time and haven’t been able to shake.In my opinion, one of the biggest factors to support my claim that the Sonos Ace feels more comfortable for me is the hinge mechanism used.Both pairs feature hinges that integrate into the earcups, but the one on the Sonos Ace appears to have a greater range of flexibility, so it’s able to better conform to the shape of my head.

The Sony XM6 hinge integrated a folding mechanism for easier travel, but which I think limits its flexibility. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

In contrast, the hinge on the Sony XM6 has a more limited range and so can’t adjust to the shape of my head as freely. That said, Sony's said the XM6 are inspired by an older hinge design, inherited from the XM4, that allow them to better fold for traveling. The Sonos mechanism, meanwhile, doesn’t fold away as compactly, so that could have something to do with it.Don’t get me wrong, that extra compactness is absolutely a great feature to have – although one that’s admittedly a little lost on me, as I don’t travel that much – but my head is probably just a little too limiting. Perhaps the hinge will loosen up over time and the XM6 will fit me better? We’ll see.Mind you, the carry case for the XM6 is, hands down, a winner over the Sonos design in my view. Sony has implemented a magnetic fastener this time around and it works a treat. The zip on the case of my Sonos Ace broke within a few months, rendering it next to useless – a trait I've noticed many other Sonos Ace owners have come across. I hope other headphone manufacturers follow Sony’s design choice with new pairs in the future.

The magnetic fastener on the Sony case (left) is a major design win in my book. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

One person’s music is another person’s sound

I’ve learned in my years writing about speakers, headphones and other hi-fi components, sound quality can be subjective and that, ultimately, if you like what you hear, then that’s the product for you.There are instances where it’s impossible to say something sounds good. But more often than not, I’ve found that I don’t necessarily appreciate how a particular product sounds despite someone else thinking it’s great, or vice versa.It’s a similar story here, because while our Sony WH-1000XM6 review heaps praise upon their sonic capabilities, I’m a little less enthusiastic. Or at least, I don’t think the Sonos Ace should be completely disregarded if your budget can afford either pair.As I’ve said, though, sound is a personal preference and I actually prefer the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless to either of these competitors for outright sound quality. However, comfort is still at the top of my wishlist, which is why I keep returning to the Sonos Ace. If I could get the Sennheiser sound in the Sonos body, it could just be my dream set of headphones.I will admit the Sony headphones sound objectively better than the Sonos Ace. They’re more energetic, unearth a bit more detail and have tighter control over particularly tricky songs such as The Darkness’ I Believe in a Thing Called Love, resulting in a more cohesive listen.While the Sonos Ace don’t sound bad in any sense of the word, I find myself having fun and bopping my head with the Ace in place when listening to dance music, which is my go-to genre – far more than when I’m listening to the same tracks on the XM6.This could boil down to the fact that my ears don’t feel as constrained when using the Ace, resulting in a more 3D-like soundstage.

The Sonos Ace look and feel like a premium pair of headphones and the integrated hinge is excellent. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

Silence is golden

Now, when it comes to ANC performance of headphones, I personally don’t notice much of a difference between many of the latest pairs from the top brands. That could be because I listen to music quite loudly (perhaps to my own future detriment) and can’t hear any ambient sounds over it, including colleagues sitting next to me in the office. So it’s hard for me to judge if the noise-canceling tech is working as promised or not.However, going off the in-depth reviews on TechRadar and speaking with my colleagues, the consensus is the ANC performance of the Sonos Ace isn’t class-leading. The opposite is the case for the Sony XM6, which are “the real deal as far as ANC is concerned” according to our reviewer.This, too, might well be a personal preference. The amount of external noise you want to be blocked out could be different to my preference. If I can hear a train announcer telling me what station is coming up next, it doesn’t particularly bother me. If anything, it’s proven to be helpful if I’m taking a journey for the first time and I’m not sure where I’m going.If you do want total silence, however, then I have to give it the Sony XM6 – though you could also consider the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, which have long been considered the class leader. The Sonos Ace are great, but ANC performance isn’t an area I can confidently defend them for.

Sony has redesigned the speaker driver for the XM6 headphones (left), which you can view when you take off the ear cushion. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

With both the Sonos and Sony pairs costing a not-insignificant amount of money – Sonos Ace retails for $449 / £449 / AU$699 and Sony XM6 come in at $449 / £400 / AU$699 – neither should be an impulse buy. If you’re looking to spend this kind of money on a new set of headphones, then I'd strongly recommend auditioning both pairs first if you’re able to.While you’re at it, you should probably give the recently released Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 a listen too, along with the aforementioned Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. B&W’s premium over-ears have always been excellent where sound quality is concerned, but have often lacked in other areas such as ANC. That’s no longer the case with the Px7 S3, which have much-improved noise canceling capabilities. Combined with their gorgeous looks, they could be the ultimate pair in this price bracket.

The internal area of the ear cup of the Sonos Ace (right) is deeper compared to the XM6, which I find much more comfortable. (Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)

Therein lies a positive to take away from all of this: we now have so many quality choices when choosing a pair of headphones, that it’s hard for even experts like me to give a definitive answer on which brand one-ups the other. And given just how personal our choices are (one of my colleagues prefers the XM6 to the Ace for fit, for example), deciding upon and choosing the right pair is something only you can do for yourself.

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