• deGDID wipes cached tracking keys straight from the Windows registry permanently
• The script blocks Microsoft's DeviceAdd endpoint from ever seeing your device again
• Some Microsoft account and login services like login.live.com and account verification break once deGDID runs

Windscribe has built an open source script called deGDID to strip a persistent tracking identifier from Windows systems entirely.

The tool targets Microsoft's Global Device Identifier, a permanent marker that operates beneath the network layer where VPNs function.

Its release follows a federal case in which the identifier reportedly helped the FBI locate an alleged hacker.

How the script operates

The free script runs through PowerShell with administrator privileges and is available for download directly from GitHub.

It offers four execution flags that control its behaviour, starting with a read-only -Status check to confirm whether a GDID is active.

A -Status -Redact option generates diagnostic logs with the identifier hidden for safer sharing, while -Protect performs the core function.

This flag purges cached GDID keys from the registry and then modifies Access Control Lists and registry permissions to stop Windows from reissuing them.

It further puts up a firewall against the internal DeviceAdd endpoint, cutting off Microsoft identity services from recognizing the machine as registered at all.

A fourth flag, —Unprotect, lets users reverse the process and restore default settings if needed.

Testing on a Windows 11 machine confirmed the script functioned as described, with the -Status flag revealing several cached identifiers before removal.

No new GDID appeared even after a system restart, though the trade-offs became apparent almost immediately afterward.

Account verification through login.live.com stopped working across every browser tested, while login.microsoftonline.com continued functioning without issue.

Some Microsoft applications returned connection errors, though online games and other software kept working normally throughout testing.

Users should still keep antivirus and endpoint protection active since deGDID addresses tracking rather than malicious software.

Limitations of the workaround

Windscribe acknowledges that keys already stored on Microsoft's servers cannot be deleted, meaning the company retains indefinite access to previously collected data.

The script also refuses to run on managed systems or domain-joined accounts, restricting its use to individual unmanaged machines.

Windows currently offers no built-in method for disabling GDID, and the identifier persists across IP addresses regardless of any VPN tunneling applied.

"We tried the script on a Windows 11 computer, and it worked as intended," the company noted in its documentation of the testing process.

Windscribe describes deGDID as an ongoing research effort that will keep evolving as more details about the identifier's mechanics come to light.

The broken services represent a real cost for users weighing whether the privacy trade-off justifies losing certain Microsoft account functions.

Given that server-side keys remain permanently accessible to Microsoft, this script functions as a partial fix rather than a complete solution.

Via Tom's Hardware

Turtle Beach PlayTrek 2-in-1 Case for Nintendo Switch 2: review

The Turtle Beach PlayTrek 2-in-1 makes a good first impression. It’s quite sleek for a large Switch 2 carrying case, and also rather stylish. This is thanks to the dark grey color and the surprisingly elegant suede strip that runs around it, offset to the right. It features subtle blue and orange stitching, a nice detail and a nod to the color coding of the Joy-Con 2 controllers.

The material of the entire unit also impressed me with its ruggedness. The shell of the main compartment feels solid, too, with only a slight amount of flex. As for the detachable travel case on top, I appreciated the small rubber strip that runs along its back edge, as it provides a little more durability and protection when opening it up. What’s more, the entire case is pleasingly light and slender, which is all the more impressive considering what it’s designed to carry.

The zips are similarly well-made, with a reasonably long string and a thin plastic topper that’s easy to grip. However, I did find them a little awkward to open at times, as the lids of both the travel case and main compartment have a tendency to sag inwards, slightly obscuring the teeth. This is a minor issue, though, and not one that’s likely to frustrate.

It’s quite versatile in terms of storage. As mentioned, and as the name suggests, there are two elements to the PlayTrek 2-in-1. The first is the travel case, which is attached via hook-and-loop fastening. This feels quite strong, so I wasn’t worried about it detaching unintentionally. The case houses the console and up to 14 game cards, courtesy of the elastic slots attached to the screen protector flap. The inner part of the lid features zipped netting for storing other accessories, such as cables and the like. There’s no carrying handle, though, which is an oversight.

The fit for the console is very snug, and the case itself is thin all over with next to no extraneous bulk. This makes it great for tucking into a backpack, like the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories. However, it isn’t a hard shell; it flexes quite readily, so I wouldn’t be confident stacking anything heavy on top of it.

By contrast, the main compartment feels sturdy. The sides can bend inwards quite easily, but the same isn’t true of its corners, so I wouldn’t be concerned if it were subjected to outward forces.

Inside there are inserts for the console, the dock, the Joy-Cons, the charger, and a large gamepad, such as the Switch 2 Pro Controller. I managed to fit the GameSir G7 Pro here instead, which is one of the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers you can buy, with ease. The fit was snug and secure, as it was for all the other parts. Nothing moved out of place when I threw the loaded case up and down and spun it upside down several times.

The mold material is also just about soft enough to prevent scratching or marking the items within. However, during the course of my test, the glue adhering one side of the mold base to the bottom of the case failed, coming loose.

Obviously this was disappointing, although it’s possible I got unlucky with my particular unit. Regardless, it at least suggests some quality control issues. Despite the failure, I wasn’t too concerned that this would compromise the security of my contents: the other side of the base remained affixed, and since it sits tightly within the compartment, I wouldn’t be worried if all the glue came unstuck.

There are two straps adorning the main compartment. There’s a small carrying handle with a soft neoprene cover that’s very soft and comfortable in the hand. It provides just enough slack, although it's quite tight, which makes it awkward to move out of the way when accessing the main compartment and detaching the travel case; the handle slid out of one of its buckles accidentally on numerous occasions. On the other hand, this tightness does help to pin down the travel case on top, adding an extra layer of security to the hook-and-loop fastening.

The shoulder strap is a typical affair, with its nylon design and plastic karabiners. It's a small shame these and the buckles aren’t made of metal, but I guess this helps to keep the weight down. Fortunately, the karabiners are very solid, which can make them a little tough to remove, but this is a price I’m willing to pay for the security they offer in return.

The length of the strap is adjustable to a reasonable degree, although it could perhaps offer more slack to more easily accommodate taller users. The padded cover over the adjustment buckle is a little thin and lacks the cushioning of the neoprene carrying handle, but I still found it sufficient to prevent the strap digging into my skin.

At $50, the PlayTrek 2-in-1 is a reasonable price for such a feature-filled carrying case. It also has the quality to match, aside from the aforementioned issue with the inner mold. And since it’s cheaper than Nintendo’s own counterpart, it’s a compelling alternative.

Turtle Beach PlayTrek 2-in-1 Case for Nintendo Switch 2 review: Price & specs

Should I buy the Turtle Beach PlayTrek 2-in-1 Case for Nintendo Switch 2?

Scorecard

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Turtle Beach PlayTrek 2-in-1 Case for Nintendo Switch 2 review: Also consider

Nintendo Switch 2 All-In-One Carrying Case
As Nintendo’s official carrying case, you’d imagine the quality would be high here. And indeed it is, but it’s more expensive than the PlayTrek, yet less solid and with fewer features. There aren’t as many game card slots, and there’s no detachable travel case. Read our full Nintendo Switch 2 All-In-One Carrying Case review.

How I tested the Turtle Beach PlayTrek 2-in-1 Case for Nintendo Switch 2

I tested this case for a few days, storing the Switch 2 in the travel case compartment, as well as in the main compartment along with the dock, Joy-Cons, and a large controller.

I carried the case around, via both the handle and the shoulder strap, and regularly removed and replaced the handle to test how easy this was. I also tested the zips thoroughly by opening and closing them repeatedly.

I threw the case up and down and spun it upside down several times to test both the hold of the detachable travel case and the hold provided by the inner molds of the main compartment.

• Read more about how we test
• First reviewed: July 2026

I was fourteen or so when I went to the Gadget Show Live (once a big tech event in the UK which showed off the latest technology) in 2016 as a punter and overheard someone on a stand I'd visited mention they'd spent £1,000 on a custom gaming PC.

A thousand pounds. On a computer. I remember turning that figure over in my head (it's roughly $1,400) and not quite being able to make sense of it, not necessarily because I couldn't fathom how much money that was, but because at the time, it seemed like a lot of money to spend on a PC without any frame of reference as to what that price got you.

As it turned out, £1,000 would have bought you an upper mid-range system back then, and speccing a top-end system of the time would have added an awful lot more to my 'dream budget'. A properly specced 3XS system built around Intel's then-flagship Kaby Lake processor, the Core i7-7700K, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, would set you back around £1,700 including VAT.

Nvidia went one further with the venerable GTX 1080 Ti, which arrived in March 2017. It immediately became the card every serious PC gamer wanted, and pushed that high price even higher. Nonetheless, you still got an entire top-of-the-range PC for that price.

Here's what's strange about that number in 2026: it's roughly what you'd pay for a flagship graphics card alone. Nvidia's RTX 5090 should retail for roughly in line with what this entire PC cost, although the Asus ROG RTX 5090 Astral I've got for testing is over double the RRP of this PC, even taking inflation into account.

Intriguingly, the GPU that was the ceiling of consumer ambition in 2017 is now, in isolation, cheaper than a mid-range graphics card in 2026. Nvidia's GTX 1080 Ti launched at £699 / $699 (about AU$930); the RTX 5090 launched at £1,799, at least for the Founder's Edition card.

That's not a like-for-like comparison — flagship GPU pricing has always been a law unto itself — but it does tell you something about the economic difference between these two moments in PC gaming history.

Now, Scan has sent me that exact system, and I've plonked the GTX 1080 Ti Founder's Edition inside, and I've been running it alongside my own high-spec rig, with an RTX 5090 added for good measure, to see how the decade-old dream holds up.

What £1,700 bought you nearly a decade ago

Here's the entire spec sheet of the 3XS PC that Scan sent my way with the GPU swapped out:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
• Cooler: Corsair 240mm AIO
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti Founder's Edition
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB DDR4-3000
• SSD: Samsung 960 Evo 250GB SSD (supplemented with a further 1TB SSD for game storage in my case)
• Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix Z270F Gaming
• PSU: Corsair RM750x 750W White
• Case: Corsair Carbide 400C in white

On first impressions, I'm a fan of the Corsair Carbide 400C case, feeling it to be a quieter and more considered choice than a lot of the RGB-laden alternatives that were becoming increasingly common at the time. Coming in white adds a bit of style to proceedings, and it seems roomy enough for the build on offer here. The hinged door with glass window is a nice touch, too.

Inside, the Asus ROG Strix Z270F Gaming motherboard is decently feature-rich and adds a smattering of RGB in the top corner to sit alongside the white LEDs of the RAM and the stock case fan inside. The Samsung 960 Evo SSD would have been top spec at the time, but is the one component that feels particularly outdated. It's a fast, capable boot drive, but is easily filled up with a modern Windows 11 installation and a game or two. Back in 2017, you'd have definitely wanted a hard drive installed as well.

Then there's the GTX 1080 Ti Founder's Edition. Nvidia's reference cooler on the Ti was a meaningful step up from the blower-style designs of previous generations, with an open dual-fan layout that kept temperatures in check. It's a handsome card even by today's standards and feels more restrained than the AIB partner designs that surrounded it. Holding it in 2026 feels like handling something from a very specific and rather significant chapter in GPU history, given its legendary status.

The 1080 Ti has a reputation that outlasted the hardware cycle it was supposed to belong to. When Nvidia's RTX 2080 Ti arrived in 2018, it brought ray tracing and a steeper price — and offered only a slight bump in rasterisation performance that most 1080 Ti owners looked at the cost of upgrading and decided against it. Even now, folks are asking how good this card is today, which is testament to its performance - and indeed its reputation.

A modern point of reference

Of course, benchmark numbers are no good in isolation, so for comparison's sake, I'm putting the Scan system against my own personal gaming rig, with the added boost of the RTX 5090. Usually it'd be an RTX 4080 Super, but for a 'dream PC' angle, I needed to go with the modern dream. Here it is in terms of specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
• GPU: Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL36
• SSD: Lexar NM790 4TB
• Motherboard: NZXT N7 B650E
• PSU: NZXT C1200 1200W 80+ Gold ATX 3.0
• Case: NZXT H9 Flow (2023)

That isn't too bad of a PC if I do say so myself, and yes, I could use faster RAM or a beefier AMD processor if I wanted to eke out as much performance as possible, but I haven't seen fit to upgrade just yet.

Benchmarking methodology

To see how this 2017-era PC performs in the big 2026, I thought it might be fun to run it through a range of games – both ones that are contemporaries of the system and some slightly more modern titles that might push it quite hard. I've also put it through a range of modern benchmark tests to gauge performance against the newer hardware.

To Scan's credit, the machine came running the latest version of Windows 11 25H2 and Nvidia's latest driver release for GTX 10-series desktop cards, driver 582.66, which was a security update released in June 2026.

I've also elected to run games hooked up to my 4K QD-OLED monitor to see how far we can really push this Scan system, running at 1080p, 1440p and 4K to give you a full picture. The RTX 5090 system has also been put through the same tests, as close as possible, to give some comparable results and a frame of reference.

Testing 2017-era games

Firstly, I thought it was correct to run the Scan system through some games that would be period-correct for the time this PC was released to give an idea of a baseline. All four titles were run at their maximum settings, for reference.

Far Cry 5 seemed an ideal first candidate, being from 2018, and at the Ultra preset with HD textures enabled, it managed a 113fps average at 1080p. Going up to 1440p pushed things to 95fps, proving some surprisingly playable results. It was only when I got up to 4K that things dipped immensely, with a 50fps average. For reference, the RTX 5090 system hit 186fps at 4K, which tells you something about how much the goalposts have moved.

I followed this up with the original Dirt Rally, a game that relies on a strong CPU to help alongside the 1080 Ti, so the Core i7-7700K has to do a fair bit of heavy lifting. At the Ultra preset, the 1080 Ti managed 127fps at 1080p and 126fps at 1440p — results so close together that the GPU clearly isn't the bottleneck at either resolution; the 7700K is setting the ceiling, and it's holding it pretty well. At 4K, the GPU gets more of a say, and results come in at a still-reasonable 79fps.

However, this revealed one of the bigger gulfs between the older system and my more modern option. The RTX 5090 system managed 304fps at 1080p, 267fps at 1440p, and 225fps at 4K — numbers so high they serve as a reminder of how differently the two machines interpret the same game.

The original Hitman, which uses DirectX 12 at maximum settings, returned 128fps at 1080p, 106fps at 1440p, and 59.5fps at 4K. The RTX 5090 system managed 203fps at 1080p, 191fps at 1440p, and 186fps at 4K — again, the gap narrowing considerably at lower resolutions before opening up at 4K.

I'd argue Rise of the Tomb Raider is the 1080 Ti's finest hour in this period-correct lineup. Running at the Very High preset in DirectX 12, it returned 144fps at 1080p and 110fps at 1440p. These are numbers that would have felt sky-high at the time and still feel impressive today. Even at 4K, the 59.7fps result is the most modern-feeling 4K figure of the four period titles, suggesting this is a game the 1080 Ti was particularly well-matched for, and a near-60fps average provides some very playable results even today.

That is, until you get the RTX 5090 involved – it posted 316fps, 302fps, and 281fps across the three resolutions in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Trying newer games

The older game results paint a flattering picture of the 1080 Ti. However, modern titles are much less kind, as you might expect.

My first port of call was Cyberpunk 2077, perhaps this generation's Crysis equivalent, as it can be quite a demanding title for a range of systems. For the 1080 Ti, at the Ultra preset without any upscaling, it managed 52fps at 1080p — passable, if not quite the experience the game deserves — while 1440p dropped to 32fps, and 4K delivered a deeply unimpressive 13.9fps. Enabling FSR 2.1 Quality improved things to 62fps, 41fps, and 20.5fps across the three resolutions respectively, which at least makes 1080p feel workable.

Beyond that, it's a significant compromise. Ray tracing isn't an option here at all — the 1080 Ti simply has not got the hardware for it, and that means for 2026's most demanding titles, including Indiana Jones & The Great Circle that require hardware-based ray-tracing to even run, you won't be able to play them at all.

The RTX 5090, by contrast, ran the Ultra preset at 173fps, 148fps, and 116fps natively. Plus, a more modern card supplements its raw power with Nvidia's DLSS upscaler and fully-fledged RT performance. With DLSS Transformer enabled, those numbers climbed to 183fps, 170fps, and 167fps. With a combination of Cyberpunk 2077 at its RT: Ultra preset with DLSS Transformer enabled, it managed 130fps, 129fps, and 125fps at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. The gap between these two machines in Cyberpunk 2077 is the widest in my entire test suite, and the most instructive.

This is especially true when you take the multi-frame-gen tech Nvidia has put into these new Blackwell cards, acting as a multiplier for 'fake frames' for a smoother feeling experience, as long as you're starting with a solid enough base frame rate so too much latency isn't introduced. With the RT: Ultra preset, and the MFG multiplier set to 4x, the RTX 5090 system managed 511fps at 1080p, 452fps at 1440p and 355fps at 4K, widening the gulf even further.

Returnal tells a similar story for this matchup. The Epic preset returned 57fps at 1080p, 45fps at 1440p, and 27fps at 4K — the 1080p result is playable, but Returnal's fast-paced action makes anything below 60fps feel like a handicap, and 27fps at 4K is below any reasonable threshold. The RTX 5090 managed 231fps, 207fps, and 147fps at the same resolutions. In a game built around sharp reactions and split-second timing, that headroom matters more than in most.

Moving over to Rainbow Six Extraction, I had higher hopes for a more modern eSports-type title. The default Ultra preset includes a Dynamic resolution of 25-100% of the selected one, which is how I left it, revealing 126fps at 1080p, 85fps at 1440p, and a genuinely solid 66fps at 4K. It's the most comfortable the 1080 Ti looks across this entire modern test suite, and a reminder that there are modern titles that aren't particularly demanding, which are still playable on older hardware.

Meanwhile the RTX 5090-equipped modern PC scored 461fps at 1080p, 405fps at 1440p, and 272fps at 4K, and prove the benefit of the bevvy of high refresh rate OLED screens we've begun to see in recent years when paired with such powerful hardware.

For one final test, I thought it'd be interesting to try a super up-to-date Unreal Engine 5-based title in Black Myth Wukong, as one of the few titles that doesn't need any hardware-based ray-tracing, unlike a lot of its contemporaries.

I elected to step down to the Very High preset, with FSR enabled (with a resolution scale of 33 for 4K, 49 for 1440p and 66 for 1080p) and frame-gen on. The result was 46fps at 1080p, 44fps at 1440p, and 40fps at 4K, which make for some remarkably consistent numbers across different resolutions that make it clear that frame-gen is doing some form of heavy lifting to keep the output FPS so stable. The RTX 5090 managed 120fps, 122fps, and 119fps with the same settings.

Synthetic benchmark time!

The synthetic benchmarks tell a predictable story. The 7700K holds up reasonably well in single-core workloads — the gap to the 7800X3D is meaningful but not embarrassing, and is somewhere in the region of 50% depending on which test you trust.

Multi-threaded performance is a different matter, though, where nearly a decade of core count increases and architectural progress make the comparison increasingly one-sided.

On the GPU side, the picture is more interesting. In 3DMark Fire Strike — a DirectX 11 test that's broadly representative of the conditions the 1080 Ti was designed around — the RTX 5090 leads by roughly three time. Push to Fire Strike Ultra at 4K, and that becomes nearly five times, and the Time Spy results, which move into DirectX 12 territory, tell the same story: a 4x gap at 1440p becoming 4.6x at the Extreme variant.

The 1080 Ti doesn't just lose ground to newer hardware — it loses it disproportionately as resolution and API demands increase, which is worth keeping in mind as we come to a judgement on this entire system.

Summing up

The comparisons made here make for a fascinating reminder of just how much the PC gaming landscape has changed over the past decade.

In 2017, £1,700 bought you an entire dream machine built around the best consumer graphics hardware money could buy. In 2026, that same sort of money barely gets you through the door for a flagship GPU alone. The economics are strange, but the performance gulf is telling: the RTX 5090 system is several times faster in many of the tests here, especially as resolutions rise and modern rendering technologies come into play.

However, the old Scan system isn't the write-off those numbers might suggest when you drill down. The GTX 1080 Ti and Core i7-7700K remain a remarkably capable pairing in the games they were designed around, with high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming still very much within reach for those older titles. Even some newer titles remain playable with sensible settings, although the lack of dedicated ray-tracing hardware and modern AI-assisted upscaling means there are increasingly firm limits to what the system can do.

That perhaps says more about how well balanced the original machine was than anything else. The 1080 Ti earned its legendary reputation because it wasn't merely fast for its time, but rather remained relevant for years afterwards, and even now it can still provide a decent experience in the right games. There are still folks talking about how well it does today, which is a testament to its legacy.

Admittedly, the rest of the system has aged more unevenly, with the 16GB of DDR4 memory and tiny 250GB boot drive feeling particularly constrained in 2026, but there is still something satisfying about using a PC that once represented the absolute pinnacle of enthusiast gaming so far removed from the original situation.

The modern machine is undeniably better in almost every measurable sense. It's dramatically faster, more capable at 4K, and supported by technologies that simply didn't exist when the GTX 1080 Ti launched. Features such as DLSS, frame generation and hardware-accelerated ray tracing have changed what we expect from a high-end graphics card, while high-refresh-rate OLED displays, such as the one both systems have been hooked up to from Philips, give all that extra performance somewhere meaningful to go.

Still, there is a certain charm to the 2017 system in my book. It represents a point when a top-end gaming PC felt aspirational but not entirely unattainable — when spending £1,700 could buy the whole dream, rather than just the graphics card. The hardware may no longer be cutting-edge, but it hasn't become entirely obsolete either. If anything, testing it against a 2026 flagship proves just how exceptional the GTX 1080 Ti was, and how long a genuinely well-specced gaming PC can remain enjoyable.

The goalposts have moved enormously, but the old dream still has plenty of game left in it.

When it comes to mobile games, few remain culturally relevant for a decade, and none have shadows that loom quite as large as Pokémon Go. Now in its tenth year, the app remains a phenomenon.

It’s undergone massive changes since it first launched back in 2016; just as much as its players, our phones, and the world around us. Still, there’s a fondness that bookended much of my early 20s that I share with many players old and new; it’s also one I felt radiate from Kim Adams, VP of game development, when we sat down to discuss the title’s legacy and future as it celebrates this significant milestone.

Spotting the Togepi plush sat just in the frame of my Zoom camera capture, Adams’ affinity for the game and its players was immediately clear: “Togekiss is my favorite, but Mr. Mime is a close second, just because Mr. Mime is so strange!”

Everyone has different potential

What struck Adams most upon joining the Pokémon Go team was the relationship between the players and the game. “There's a loyalty and a love for the game that is really special, and I feel unlike any other game.“

“It’s how [players] have integrated the game into their lives. There's a group in Austin, Texas, who meets every Wednesday night to raid together, and then they all go to this very small local restaurant to have tacos. That's their thing, every week.”

Some groups use Pokémon Go as a vessel to organize park cleanups or local food drives, she says, and of course there are the many players who've met their life partner playing the game — one lucky couple even tied the knot in an official Pokémon Go wedding last year.

In numbers, that loyalty feels all the more tangible. “Ten years is a long time. We've had over 800 million people play the game during that time. People have walked over 50 billion kilometers. They've made almost a billion friends in the game. They've caught a trillion Pokémon, and that's across 150 countries.”

For Adams, though, her proudest achievements boil down to how the team behind Pokémon Go “stayed true to our mission of inspiring people to explore the world together, and we haven't really wavered from that.”

That evolution spans a decade of new features, from PvP battles and Buddies to more recent additions like Dynamax, with many built around the game’s core social foundations.

Adams feels “particularly proud” of the app’s first UGC feature, Routes, which launched in 2023. “When I go to a new city, I immediately look at what Routes are nearby, and I try different Routes so that I can see the neighborhood through the eyes of a local in a way that I couldn't otherwise… we currently have seven million Routes in the game across the world.”

Whether it’s through Routes, Raids or rankings, Pokémon Go’s expansive audience is at the core of its success, and it’s something Adams seems acutely aware of. “I really love some of the smaller quality of life improvements that we've made with existing features, because we're listening to players, right? Those always get a great reception because people know that we're interested in making improvements continually.”

The circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant

You never know what’s around the corner, but a global crisis like COVID-19 was unlikely to be on anyone’s business plan in the last ten years. So, how does an app with a core mission of going outside and playing with friends grapple with a pandemic that saw millions of people stuck at home?

Initially, with some difficulty, Adams explains, “When Covid first struck in March of 2020, we had three live events planned within the next three months. But of course, as things developed, it was literally illegal to go outside your home, depending on what region you were in in the world. So we had to cancel those.”

The problem almost became a philosophical one, in a sense. Adam contrasts her previous experience working with products that had “incredible tech in search of a purpose” with Pokémon Go’s reverse approach: “We started with this lovely mission to get people outside connecting, and we have this incredible and deep tech stack that supports that purpose… using the real world as our game board, and having a game that's designed to play outdoors with other people is not always easy.”

As a result, the game had to see some radical changes to meet its players where they were. “We had to make some pivots to support indoor play, which we had never designed for before. But the great thing that came out of that was it forced us to imagine what live events could be like if thousands of people weren't in the same physical location.”

That, she says, was the genesis of Pokémon Go’s global live events, making it possible for players around the world to join in the fun without being at a specific location. “Now we have the best of both worlds, where we kick off the season with three major live events across the world, and then we follow on with this global event afterwards.”

Later, the Community Ambassador Program launched in July 2022 as part of the Campfire app, cementing the platform-level approach to bringing players together by offering passionate players who love the game the chance to apply to become a community ambassador and host local weekly or monthly meetups.

“This program has totally caught fire: now we have over 3,000 across the world. At this point, we're only limited to how quickly we can thoughtfully onboard people. The nurturing of those relationships is really important to us because it keeps our finger on the pulse of how players are actually feeling about everything that we implement into the game. We've even brought them into the office from all over to pick their brains.”

“It’s so great — I used campfire, and I connected with folks a couple weeks ago. I went to a local park that I hadn't been to to play [with them]. I've raided in hotel lobbies with employees before. This community is really tight.”

If you don't struggle, you don't improve

Still, every rose has its thorns, and not every change to Pokémon Go has been received with open arms. For example, changes to remote raid price hikes, which allowed players in more remote areas or those with accessibility needs to join in the fun more easily, remain unresolved despite large-scale community outcry.

Despite this, though, Adams says the mission remains the same: “to inspire people to play everywhere in every community across the world.” To catch ‘em all, one might say.

That includes players in more rural areas who are most affected by the game’s distribution of players and in-game features; a group Adams remains committed to servicing. “Over the years, we've done major map updates where we've added two and a half billion spawn points, and a lot of those are in rural areas… with tens of millions of players every day, there's never anyone who's too far away from you who also plays Pokémon Go.”

There’s always room for growth though, she acknowledges. “I’m really proud of the strong, talented, committed team that we've built, who truly aspire to bring the best experiences to players every day. Along those lines, quality is an ongoing issue that we're really looking at. We're doubling down on this year.”

I asked what the team would do differently, given the chance, from its ten-year tenure, and what Adams shared shapes much of what we can expect in the years to come: “We would probably invest even more in the core foundations of the technical implementation of the game so we could really deliver more solidly on the promises that we make to players, so that's something we're taking a close look at.

“We've had a minute to breathe now post-acquisition and really take a solid look at how we make improvements. We're also taking a look at design across the game; there have been so many elements added over the years that we're doing a pass, making sure that everything is as straightforward as possible for folks.”

Adams points to the Pokémon Go Times Square takeover as a career highlight.

The future is now, thanks to science!

Pokémon Go has seen many evolutions in its 10-year history as a mobile app, but when I ask Adams about her wildest dreams for the future of the game, she reflects on some of her previous experiences in the XR space. “This is my personal wish — I'm not making a company statement — my personal wish is that as wearables continue to develop into something more robust and scalable and light, I'd love the opportunity to explore playing our game truly heads up and hands free.

“If — or how — that may come together is still very much TBD, dependent upon what happens in the hardware space, which we're always tracking. I'm always having meetings, and we're doing some experimentation on our side, just to make sure that we keep up with the tech, and when it's ready, that is something that I would love to dig into further.”

I’ll let it be known in writing here that I pitched Pokéball-themed round-frame smart specs, for what it’s worth. Low-hanging fruit? Absolutely, but I’d have no shame in hitting the streets wearing those bad boys.

Beyond that, the immediate future for the app offers plenty to keep the team and players busy. “We're cooking up some really exciting new features. We still have the rest of our 10th anniversary year with lots of fun things coming up. I truly feel there's never been a better time to be a Pokémon Go player than right now.”

You can download Pokémon Go for iOS and Android via the App Store and Google Play Store.

Reacher season is my favorite time of year, and season 4 will account for much of my screen time over the next few months.

If you remember, the end of season 3 saw Reacher (Alan Ritchson) finally kill Quinn (Brian Tee) point-blank with a shotgun after reminding him of how he murdered Kohl (Mariah Robinson).

Reacher then, as is is way, leaves town... but does that mean that the drama stops? Of course not — it's just a new beginning (especially as season 5 has already been confirmed).

I haven't even seen any previews yet, but my advice is to strap in for what could be the wildest ride yet. But when do Reacher season 4 episodes 1-3 arrive on Prime Video?

What time can I watch Reacher season 4 episodes 1-3 on Prime Video?

We're expecting episodes 1-3 of Reacher season 4 to be available on Prime Video on August 12 at 12am PT / 3am ET in the US.

Internationally, look out for the below times:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 6pm AEST
• New Zealand – 8pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Reacher season 4 come out?

After its three-episode premiere, Reacher season 4 episodes will be airing on a weekly basis. This gives us the following season schedule:

• Episode 1: August 12
• Episode 2: August 12
• Episode 3: August 12
• Episode 4: August 19
• Episode 5: August 26
• Episode 6: September 2
• Episode 7: September 9
• Episode 8: September 16

Interestingly, the Reacher season 4 finale coincides with the day that all episodes of spinoff Neagley will arrive on Prime Video.

• The FCC wants to take 'military-grade' DJI drones off sale
• Numerous DJI models would be affected
• You can comment on the proposals until September 2

There's been a ban on new DJI drones and cameras in the US since last December, but now the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is making moves to retroactively take some models off shelves that were approved before the ban came into effect.

Specifically, the FCC wants to pull "military-grade" drones from stores (via PCMag), which apparently includes every model with LiDAR obstacle avoidance or thermal cameras. That would affect drones such as the DJI Air 3S, the DJI Avata 360, the DJI Mini 5 Pro, and the DJI Mavic 3T, for example.

Drones that weigh over 55 pounds (nearly 25 kilograms) will be included in the retroactive ban, as well models that use docking stations. The criteria laid out by the FCC is broad enough to cover a substantial number of drones in DJI's current range.

Now, if you've already bought one of these drones in the US, the FCC isn't going to come and take it off you. However, unless the regulator changes course, these models won't be available to buy in the US from September 2.

You can take action

DJI has already complained long and hard about the original ban, pointing out that its drones were blacklisted for security reasons without any actual security audit taking place. It's also taking a very dim view of the new proposals by the FCC.

"People could continue using DJI products they already own, but the same models in use today might no longer be available to purchase in the future," says DJI in a blog post. "This is a total reversal from the FCC's previous position, and it is U.S. operators that would bear the cost."

DJI argues that safety agencies, small businesses, and farmers in the US who rely on DJI equipment will be faced with more expensive and difficult upgrades in the future, and it's asking for the public's support while the FCC proposal is considered.

You can have your say during the public comment period up until September 2: head to the Drone Advocacy Alliance website to make your feelings known, and to explain to the FCC how you use drones and their capabilities for non-military purposes.

• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is believed to have published several AI-generated reports between 2024 and 2026
• The reports included various AI hallucinations, fabricated citations, and fake footnotes, which were identified by the GPTZero AI detection tool
• PwC is one of the world’s largest accounting firms

Accountancy and auditing giant PricewaterhouseCoopers is alleged to have published at last four AI-generated or enhanced reports over the past three years.

An investigation by the GPTZero team found the reports – which make inaccurate and false claims – were published by PwC Middle East between 2024 and 2026, and were intended to act as thought leadership pieces.

Various indicators of AI-generated links and citations have been highlighted as a result of the discovery, and while PwC has responded, there is no direct indication how this happened or if action has been taken.

Vibe citations

GPTZero may be better known as a software tool for discovering plagiarism and AI-generated content, but it also boasts an investigation team.

The work of Paul Esau, Om Ogale, and Alex Cui has highlighted several problems with the publications issued by PwC, uncovering “a pattern of irresponsible AI usage resulting in hallucinated (vibe) citations, fabricated claims, and incomprehensible drafting and formatting decisions.”

Vibe citations are hallucinated references to works that an AI-generated document cites as genuine. In some cases, specific pages may be cited, but usually the vibe citations refer to titles and authors.

They can be demonstrated as fake due to issues such as non-existence, incorrect authors, incorrect publication dates, erroneous URLs… or the citation may simply not exist, as in one case highlighted in the GPTZero report.

Not all inconsistencies are determined to be hallucinations, however, as not all meet the GPTZero team’s standard for identifying vibe coding. So, while some other references with issues may be genuine and simply poorly cited, others may still be fake, but impossible to define.

PwC’s account

The reports that PwC (and its competitors) are publishing are an attempt to position themselves as authorities on AI, and its responsible use. They seek to encourage organizations to avoid issues such as fabricated claims and vibe citations, but rather than provide advice, it has been a live demonstration in what not to do.

PwC responded to the GPTZero report by telling the Financial Times: “Consistent with our approach to responsible AI, we have quality control processes for research and content development we expect all our people to adhere to.”

Unfortunately, it seems that a better process of quality control and fact checking ahead of publishing was required for these reports, and perhaps others so far undetected.

Perhaps most concerning is the realization that PwC is not alone in this. In the past 12 months, GPTZero has documented similar issues with all the “big four” accountancy firms, with PwC joining Deloitte, EY, KPMG in this “vibes gallery” of fabricated and unchecked citations.

This year has already proved bountiful for brilliant EV releases, with the likes of BMW unleashing the debut models from its groundbreaking Neue Klasse series, Mercedes-Benz unveiling the impressively efficient CLA and Hyundai pushing electric high performance to the max with its Ioniq 6 N.

Granted, I haven’t been able to drive absolutely everything that has gone on sale globally this year, but I have done my best to get behind the wheel of what, to me, feels like a crop of groundbreaking electric vehicles that push the powertrain forward.

From enormous, opulent vans to arguably the first 'kei car' to be sold in the UK, the spectrum of brilliant, battery-powered vehicles is as wide and as interesting as any internal combustion engine counterpart. Here’s my pick of the bunch.

6. Hyundai Ioniq 6 N

I didn’t think Hyundai could improve much on the brilliant Ioniq 5 N, but the Ioniq 6 N seemingly takes everything that was great about the Korean marque's super hatch and seemingly turns performance up to eleven, while somehow making it more practical.

It takes the same recipe of simulated gears, synthesized engine noise and absurd straight-line performance and packages it in a more mature, long-distance-friendly sedan.

With 650 hp, 770 Nm of torque and a 0-62mph time of 3.2 seconds, it is seriously quick, but the revised suspension geometry and lower roll center make it considerably more composed at speed than its hot-hatch sibling.

The N e-Shift system now adds another simulated gear, while the upgraded sound system makes the artificial pops, bangs and revs remarkably convincing.

Yet it can switch back into a quiet, comfortable cruiser when the fun is over. Add 291 miles of WLTP range and 350 kW charging, and this might be the most complete performance EV I've driven, erm, ever.

• Read more: I didn’t think the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N could get much better — until I drove its bigger brother

5. Kia EV2

The Kia EV2 might be small, but it has the sort of big-car technology and practicality that makes it surprisingly easy to live with. At just over four meters long, it packs a slick triple-screen infotainment setup, a huge array of driver-assistance systems and an interior that feels considerably roomier than its dimensions suggest. Imagine an EV5 or EV9 that’s been hit with a shrink ray and you’re not far off.

The 144 bhp version I drove didn’t feel particularly sporty, taking almost nine seconds to reach 62mph, but that isn't really the point. Its ride is excellent, it remains impressively composed at highway speeds and the Long Range version should comfortably break out of the usual urban EV routine.

Charging is also respectable, with a 10-80% session taking just under 30 minutes. Best of all, it makes a compelling case for ignoring that massive, heavy SUV for daily driving duties and settling for something that will happily slot into a supermarket parking space.

• Read more: I’ve driven the smallest Kia EV yet and there’s a lot to love about the baby of the bunch

4. Cupra Raval

The Cupra Raval VZ is proof that small EVs don't have to be sensible or boring. With its squat proportions, aggressive styling and 19-inch wheels, it looks like a proper hot hatch, and the driving experience backs that up.

The 222 bhp front-wheel-drive powertrain can deliver 0-62 mph in 6.8 seconds, while Cupra mode brings huge amounts of grip, adjustable dynamic chassis control and a synthesized soundtrack to the party.

Yet it can settle down into a surprisingly comfortable and refined cruiser when required. I averaged around 4.5 miles per kWh during a day of enthusiastic driving, suggesting more than 200 miles of real-world range from the 52 kWh battery.

There's also a surprisingly spacious cabin and useful trunk, making the Raval an unusually convincing blend of fun and practicality — like all great hot hatches should be.

• Read more: I’ve driven the new Cupra Raval and it’s proof that the hot hatch can live on in the EV era

3. Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric

The Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric is a handsome demonstration of just how far EV performance has come. With up to 1,156 hp available using Launch Control, it can hit 62 mph in just 2.5 seconds and reach 162 mph, making it the most powerful production Porsche yet.

Those figures are astonishing, but what impressed me most was how effectively Porsche hides the car's considerable bulk. Despite weighing around 2.5 tons, it feels remarkably composed through corners, with superb feedback through the steering wheel, active suspension and optional rear-axle steering helping shrink its footprint on the road. It is also a seriously capable long-distance EV, with up to 415 miles of range in Coupe form and 390 kW charging capable of delivering a 10-80% top-up in as little as 16 minutes.

Oh, and the world’s first 11 kW wireless charging functionality is far from a gimmick, showcasing just how effortless life with an EV can be if you can afford it.

• Read more: ‘The performance is otherworldly’: I’ve driven the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric — and it’s a serious amount of car for the money

2. Honda Super-N

The Honda Super-N might be one of the least practical cars I've driven this year on paper, but that's completely missing the point. This tiny electric runaround is an absolute riot, with 94 bhp sent through the front wheels, a perfectly composed chassis and a big Boost button that encourages you to attack corners with old-school hot-hatch enthusiasm.

At just 1,097 kg, it feels wonderfully light and responsive, while clever regenerative braking and virtual gear changes add to the fun. The 29.6 kWh battery only offers around 128 miles of range and charging tops out at 50 kW, so it's hardly a road-trip machine. But for urban driving, it makes a brilliant case for small EVs, proving that you don't need huge power or battery capacity to have a genuinely entertaining car.

• Read more: I've driven the Honda Super-N — and I'm in love with this go-kart for the daily drive

1. Mercedes-Benz VLE

It’s the posh electric van that makes you wonder if that massive family SUV is really the right vehicle for your daily needs. Mercedes’ all-new VLE combines huge amounts of space with the sort of refinement more commonly associated with an S-Class, while the excellent air suspension delivers an exceptionally smooth, quiet ride.

The clever Roll & Go rear seats are by far my favorite feature, sliding along built-in rails and rolling out of the vehicle on their own wheels when removed — transforming the plush people-mover from a seven-seat bus into the ultimate transportation for active outdoor lifestyles.

Range is impressive, too, with the single-motor VLE 300 capable of a claimed 435 miles thanks to its 115 kWh battery, while 300 kW charging makes long-distance driving much more realistic. Add superb infotainment technology, rear-wheel steering and limousine levels of comfort, and this is a hugely compelling EV for large families… so long as said families have a healthy vehicle budget.

• Read more: I've driven the new Mercedes VLE — and this limousine-like electric van made me rethink what a family car should be

Xiaomi Sound Play review

It turns out that major mobile manufacturer Xiaomi also makes Bluetooth speakers, and its latest model, the Xiaomi Sound Play, is aiming to deliver “immersive, powerful sound” as well as a “stylish and versatile” design.

But that’s not all. The tech giant is doing all of this while keeping its speaker nice and cheap. It comes in at just £49.90 (about $67 / AU$95) — which is refreshingly affordable for an 18W model with features such as smart lighting, Auracast, and IP68 waterproofing.

So can the Xiaomi Sound Play compete with some of the very best Bluetooth speakers around? The answer is a little more complicated than a simple yes or no.

Let’s start by looking at the areas in which the Sound Play excels, and there are a fair few of these. I alluded to some a moment ago — its waterproofing and LED lights, for example. That IP68 rating means that the speaker is fully dustproof, but can also survive a dunking under a meter and a half of water for as long as 30 minutes, so you really can take it anywhere without fear of damage.

The lighting — a key selling point of this speaker — is pretty neat too. Lights sit on the base of the speaker and beneath a panel on the top side, which resembles an infinity mirror. And the rings of lighting really help to make your listening sessions more immersive, especially in lower-lit conditions. You can customize the color and pattern of the lights too, and one setting also syncs up to bass output. That level of customizability is spectacular to see on a speaker in this price category.

More generally, I’m quite a big fan of how the Sound Play looks. It comes in four very stylish colors — the Purple variant I tried is quite the looker, as is the Green version. It is reminiscent of the JBL Flip 7 in terms of look and feel, with a neat fabric exterior and psuedo-cylindrical build. The inclusion of the infinity mirror light and handy rubber strap also make it a real stand-out, looks wise.

Another welcome inclusion is a built-in mic, for speakerphone duties. This is something you don't often see these days and it does add value, on paper. However, I made a phone call and although my voice sounded clear on the other end, I noticed a high-pitched chime whenever the other person wasn’t speaking. It wasn’t a dealbreaker (my discussion was still easy to navigate), but it's my job to notice these things.

Other highlights include a JBL Grip-rivalling 14-hour battery life — which is excellent for a speaker of this size — as well as Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity, and true wireless stereo playback for anyone with multiple Sound Play models at their disposal.

Something that the Sound Play omits, however, is companion app support. For me, this is a bigger miss — an app could’ve opened up EQ adjustment, remote light alteration, and precise battery life tracking. The speaker’s nominal price doesn’t quite excuse this either. There are a number of budget-friendly rivals from the likes of Earfun, Edifier, and Tribit that do come with app support.

By now you must be wondering how Xiaomi’s speaker sounds. In honesty, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. It’s a steady performer in some areas, but in need of improvement in others.

In general, the Sound Play delivers fairly clear audio. In Yes I Know My Way by Pino Daniele, vocals had good presence in the mix, and even had a decent sense of separation from other instruments in the mid-range. OK, higher-pitched drums weren’t the most expressive or articulate, but they didn’t sound tinny at mid-volume, and bass was weighted relatively well too.

With more energetic tracks, such as Trip by Ruze, the cracks started to show. There was a slightly compressed quality to the track, and the pumping bass just didn’t come through with the command or depth of similarly sized rivals, including the JBL Grip, which I directly tested against the Sound Play.

During this comparison, the Grip just delivered a more fun performance, with enhanced directionality and low-end punch. But that’s not to say Xiaomi’s speaker was blown out of the water — it still held its own with commendable clarity in the mid-range and fairly agile bass.

In House tracks, bass drops didn’t always have the impact or dynamism I was listening out for, and vibrant drums could occasionally sound on the blunt side. But then again, the Xiaomi didn’t succumb to a boomy, super-muddy sound that a lot of its budget rivals do — it puts up a fairly controlled performance overall.

As a smaller speaker, the Sound Play can’t get super loud, and bass will thin out substantially at top volume levels. It also won’t deliver the most detailed or open sound ever — again, I found a few tracks sounded a little compressed and narrow, which isn’t helped by the lack of higher-res codecs like LDAC or aptX.

All in all, I think the Sound Play sounds good enough for the price you pay. Sure, it’s not the most dynamic or revealing-sounding model on the market, but you get typically clear, decently balanced sound without having to shell out all too much cash.

So, looking at the Xiaomi Sound Play as a whole, would I consider it worth buying? Well that depends. If you’re on a tight budget, and you want a speaker for less than £50, then I think the Sound Play is an option worth considering. It doesn’t sound amazing, but it gets the job done, and I’m a big fan of its durable yet eye-catching design.

However, if you’ve got a little more money to play with, then I’d suggest picking up the JBL Flip 7. That model can produce truly seismic bass, incredibly clean audio, and has a top-class companion app to boot. The JBL Grip is another neat alternative, especially if you can grab it on sale.

Xiaomi Sound Play review: price & release date

• Priced at £49.90 (about $67 / AU$95)
• Launched in May 2026
• Scheduled to release in Australia in August 2026

The Xiaomi Sound Play was launched in May 2026, at the same time as its recently released 17T series. The speaker is available for £49.90 (about $67 / AU$95) in the UK, although Xiaomi told me that there are no plans for a US release, and the speaker won’t be available in Australia until August 2026. It can be purchased in one of four colors — Black, Green, Purple, or White — via Xiaomi’s digital store.

Xiaomi Sound Play review: specs

Should I buy the Xiaomi Sound Play?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Xiaomi Sound Play review: also consider

How I tested the Xiaomi Sound Play

• I spent multiple days testing
• Mainly streamed tunes via Tidal
• Reviewed by someone who’s tested more than 50 Bluetooth speakers

I spent multiple days testing out the Xiaomi Sound Play, during which time I listened to countless tunes, exhausted its various features, and compared it against various rivals.

When listening to music I mainly streamed tracks over Tidal, but I dipped into Spotify from time to time as well. As always, I started out by sifting through the TechRadar reference playlist, which features songs from a wide variety of genres. I also listened to a ton of tunes from my personal library as well, though.

More generally, I’ve spent years reviewing audio gear here at TechRadar, and have tested a whole lot of Bluetooth speakers — more than 50 in fact. I’ve tried out everything from pocket-sized audio companions like the Bose SoundLink Micro Gen 2 through to luxurious large-sized alternatives like the Marshall Bromley 750, as well as Xiaomi Sound Play rivals like the JBL Grip, so I know exactly what it takes for a speaker to stand out in this highly competitive market.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: August 2026

• British Grand Prix (August 7-9)
• Sunday's race: 8am ET / 1pm BST / 10pm AEST
• Free stream: ThreeNow (New Zealand)
• Watch live on TNT Sports (UK) / FS1 (US) / Foxtel Now, Kayo Sports (AUS)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save up to 75%)

The 2026 MotoGP season returns from its summer break as a fascinating riders' championship battle resumes at Silverstone, the home of UK motorsport, for the British Grand Prix 2026.

Just 24 points separates the top five riders in the standings, with 2024 champion Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) leading SuperFile Trackhouse's Ai Ogura by 14. However, the duo will be nervously looking over their shoulders after seven-time world champion Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) roared back into contention with three wins in the past four grands prix having recovered from a fractured foot. He is only 18 points off the summit, while Martin's Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi is a further four adrift with Fabio Di Giannantonio of Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing in fifth following a consistent first half of the season.

Bezzecchi has recent experience of success at Silverstone, taking the checkered flag in the 2025 race ahead of Johann Zarco and Marquez. The latter has historically struggled here, despite his incredible success over the years, managing just one British Grand Prix victory in his glittering career - and that was back in 2014. Meanwhile, his Ducati teammate and 2022 race winner Francesco Bagnaia is set to compete despite undergoing arm pump surgery during the four-week summer break, so it will be interesting to see how he fares in Northamptonshire.

So read on to find out how to watch the British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP for free online and from anywhere in the world.

Can you watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP for free?

Yes. ThreeNow in New Zealand has free-to-air coverage of every session, from first practice to qualifying and, of course, the race. The streaming service is showing all 22 races live across the 2026 season at no cost – you just need to create an account and away you go.

Free MotoGP coverage is also available from Servus On in Austria, RTBF in Belgium, and Canale 8 in Italy.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP for free as if you were right at home.

Use a VPN to watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP live streams

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

How to watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP live streams in the US

In the US, live coverage of the British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP will be on FS1, which is showing Saturday's qualifying session and the race on Sunday.

If you don't have the channel on cable, FS1 is available through Sling – specifically the Blue plan, which starts at $45.99/month. You can also access it via YouTube TV (free trial), Fubo (free trial), and DirecTV.

Alternatively, you can live stream every race of the 2026 MotoGP season via Fox One, which costs $19.99/month after a 3-day FREE trial.

Visiting the US coverage from New Zealand? Use NordVPN to watch free-to-air MotoGP coverage.

How to watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP live streams in the UK

TNT Sports is showing the British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP live in the UK.

TNT Sports is the exclusive rights holder of MotoGP in the UK, with coverage of every session at Silverstone live on TNT Sports 2.

You can add TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or get an HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports. Prices start at £25.99/month if you commit to a year.

If you're out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

How to watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP live streams in Australia

MotoGP fans in Australia can watch the British Grand Prix 2026 live on ESPN via Foxtel (streamed via Foxtel Now). Subscriptions start at AU$35/month for the Starter Plan.

The race can also be streamed through the excellent sports streaming platform Kayo Sports (from AU$29.99/month for the Standard Plan, or your first month for $1 if you choose the Premium Plan, which costs AU$45.99/month thereafter).

Both ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo Sports are showing every single MotoGP race live during the 2026 season, so you won't miss a lap.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch all the action as if you were back home.

How to watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP in Canada

In Canada, you can watch live coverage of the British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP on Sportsnet.

Sportsnet is available to live stream via Sportsnet Plus, which starts at CA$29.99/month or CA$249.99/year. The platform is Canada's leading sports network and will show all 22 grands prix during the 2026 MotoGP season.

If you're traveling outside of Canada, you can make use of NordVPN to catch the action.

MotoGP 2026 Q&A

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

I've been a fan of Zoner Studio since first reviewing it in 2025 - it's a fusion of Lightroom and Photoshop-style tools for photographers, with some compelling advantages over both.

My team recently re-reviewed the photo editing and organizing software, complete with its big summer updates roll-out, where it earned an even higher score for 2026 (read our Zoner Studio review).

I spoke to Zoner's Thomas Urban to find out what's new in this Windows-only photo editor, why the devs prefer meaningful features over flashy gimmicks, and how the software handles the messy realities of shooting.

Adobe has a near-monopoly on creative software. What is the elevator pitch to a photographer who is locked into the Lightroom/Photoshop ecosystem to try Zoner Studio?

Great point, they are a household name. If you want a single interface for all your editing, faster culling and RAW capabilities, not being stuck in a catalog while being able to work with local files if you’d like and all of this for a lower price, then you should try out Zoner Studio.

In your summer update, you intentionally avoided “flashy new features you’ll use once a year.” Why do you think so much of the industry is chasing AI gimmicks instead of fixing core editing speed?

Perhaps they think people will find these types of upgrades boring? Maybe the core issues are more difficult to address? And, some of these features like a completely revamped search engine, just aren’t visually that striking, for sure.

When you’ve taken thousands of photographs though and just want to get through the culling in a responsible and effective way with quality metadata and organisation, these less flashy things are going to save your time down the road and your mental state.

It seems the entire world now has the attention span of a few seconds and everyone is fighting for a fraction of your attention, god forbid your undivided attention. It may be that in order to actually present those important features, you need the flashy stuff to catch the attention first.

I hope with time, society as a whole, we make our way back to authentic things that matter, things that last and things we’re proud of because they’re done well.

Most suites force you to lock in your RAW edits before moving to layers. What’s the practical advantage of keeping a photographer’s entire pipeline inside a single workspace?

Simplicity. We all started this whole photography thing because it was fun and gave us something we kept coming back to. Photo editing should match that and complement this process instead of being a chore.

We want photographers to have a proper partner to their camera and being able to do everything in a single UI just felt like the natural solution.

The fact that each photographer can stay in the same interface allows them to stay in the creative flow rather than worry about whether or not this particular photo is now good enough to move on to layers. That just seems counter to what we're trying to do as photographers.

Cleaning sensor dust or portrait blemishes across a massive shoot is soul-crushing work. Where does your Smart Healing excel, and where do complex textures still force a photographer to step in manually?

Our tools still require manual inputs as we don’t have automatic detection of dust or blemishes. Our tools however, are non-destructive and fast compared to our competition (which is a rare combination).

Source search is on the verge of being possible without the use of AI and they also allow for very complex retouching. Retouching is divided into individual layers, and individual strokes are separated on the layers.

Within strokes, the user can utilize entire strokes (some only allow circles) or subtract from them, brushes have all parameters and we have the best tablet pen integration on the market. It’s possible to customize and map out your parameters based on your pen pressure.

Again, I wanted to remind you of the non-destructive model because this combination is not common for most of these operations in other photo editors. Users have to go to bitmap editors like Ps or Affinity whereas with Zoner Studio, you don’t even have to leave the Develop module.

This makes it easy and there’s no need to make a complicated trip from one program to another while also considering the correct order of operations.

Manual keywording and file tagging is a major chore. How does your Search engine let someone instantly pull up shots without forcing them to build a rigid catalog first?

Yes, this is a core issue with many photo editors. To start, the difference between Zoner Studio and most of the competition is that you don’t need to create a Catalog as a blackbox per se but rather a Catalog built on market standard files or data that sits next to these common files.

Because of this, our Catalog serves more as a cache and does not contain unique data that the photographer could lose and is always “rebuildable” based on the data stored in those photos. Therefore, the photographer is not locked into Zoner Studio’s infrastructure.

We still rely on manual keywording and tagging (unfortunately, the program cannot replace manually entered data because it’s our interpretation of structures) and we’re also working robustly with names and the folder structure, which are an important part of manually entered data and are often ignored by other photo programs.

We also focus on working effectively with them and also with regards to the data that is inherently in the photos themselves. Then based on your knowledge of your data, you can effectively find a lot of things.

Automatically grouping and merging panoramas or focus stacks sounds great in theory. But how did you design the software to handle the messy reality of real-world shooting?

For us, it’s not only good in theory but is great in practice. Of course, we can always improve but we have been optimizing the algorithms for several periods and are still working on them.

If the photographer uses the automatic camera functions like exposure and focus bracketing, and doesn’t make major mistakes when taking photos, we have an almost 100% hit rate.

Of course, it’s ideal to catch those deviations and we are very grateful to the user base for supplying us with samples. We’re really happy that in most cases it simply boils down to a shooting error. In our opinion, a large number of future disruptive technologies will be built on automatic stacking.

It’s necessary to realize that it’s not only about stacking panoramas and others that form a fraction of what a photographer processes but also continuous shots and generally similar images with which the user works as a whole and, for example, selects the best shot.

From turning burst sequences into time-lapses to simulating long exposures without an ND filter, what do you think are the most underrated creative tricks hidden in Zoner Studio?

Back to the basics; LUT's. There are plenty of them on the internet and they are great for everyone.

They'll be liked by the user who still can't click and use sliders to achieve their desired results and by the user who has the ability to accurately utilize the entire RAW processing pipeline.

We aren't exactly fans of the sort of "tricks" philosophy idea but if we had a choose an underrated function that can pull some serious weight, it would be the preview function in the Manager module that allows photographers to preview multiple images at once

Ready to start shooting? We tested the best cameras for photography.

• Telefónica upgrades 2,756 network sites before Spain's August solar eclipse
• More than 400 observation points received detailed mobile coverage assessments beforehand
• Engineers adjusted base station settings to handle expected traffic surges efficiently

Spain's upcoming solar eclipse is expected to attract large crowds, prompting Telefónica to strengthen its mobile network before millions of photographs and videos begin flowing online.

The telecommunications company has spent several months preparing for the event after assessing likely visitor numbers and network demand across hundreds of planned observation locations.

Rather than waiting for congestion to develop, the operator is adjusting network capacity in advance to maintain reliable mobile services during the eclipse.

Network upgrades span thousands of kilometres

Telefónica's preparations cover 31 Spanish provinces and 2,756 network sites distributed across the extensive path where the August 12, 2026 solar eclipse will be visible.

Engineers examined coverage conditions at more than 400 officially identified observation points before determining where additional network resources would be required during the event.

The operator expects unusually high demand from domestic and international visitors gathering to photograph, record, and share images across mobile networks simultaneously.

Instead of relying solely on additional infrastructure, engineers are adjusting technical settings inside existing base stations to match anticipated traffic patterns more effectively.

Those network changes redistribute available bandwidth and equipment capacity, helping mobile users maintain stable connections even when thousands attempt uploading content from the same locations.

People using AI tools to edit eclipse photographs and videos could also increase mobile data demand as content begins appearing online.

Eclipse preparations form part of a wider summer programme

The eclipse initiative forms one element of Telefónica's broader summer network programme, which includes more than 500 infrastructure improvements across different parts of Spain.

The seasonal programme also covers 34 strategic coastal locations alongside network optimization supporting 440 events expected to attract substantial visitor numbers throughout the summer period.

Additional mobile units have been assigned to locations expected to receive the largest crowds, expanding network resources wherever unusually high demand is anticipated.

Areas expected to experience particularly strong interest include Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castile – Castilla-La Mancha, Castile and León, Catalonia, Madrid, the Valencian Community, Galicia, La Rioja, Navarre, and the Basque Country.

Telefónica began organizing its eclipse preparations approximately five months before the event, allowing engineers sufficient time to analyse coverage requirements and technical priorities.

"This technical effort reflects our day-to-day commitment, as Telefónica always strives to be the best gateway for citizens to digital technologies, guaranteeing more and better services over the best network," said Juan José Marfil, Director of Network, IT and TV at Telefónica España.

TP-Link Roam 7: 30-second review

The TP-Link Roam 7 is a compact travel router that lets you connect to whatever internet you can find and turns that into your own private network. This helps reduce the need to reconnect all your devices in each new location; just connect the router and all other devices will connect automatically through it.

The Roam 7 differs from a mobile router insofar as there's no internal SIM or battery; power is supplied through a USB source such as a power bank, and the internet connection comes from a range of available options, including Ethernet at a hotel or business, public Wi-Fi, your phone tethered or a USB modem.

The size and weight are compact, so it’ll fit easily in a backpack or travel bag. The design is simple with a vented front: two fold-down aerials, and a customisable button on the side.

Setup is quick with the mobile Tether app, which lets you use the QR code on the base of the box to complete setup and configure logins. If you want anything more involved then once your device is connected to the router you can access the full web admin at 192.168.0.1.

This is all very clean and while it looks a little dated next to the app, it goes far deeper on the options and settings enabling you to manage the primary and guest networks, assign clients to 2.4GHz or 5GHz, configure Multi-Link Operation so one device takes priority over another, and monitor live CPU and memory usage. Considering this is a travel router, the amount of control is impressive.

There’s also a good level of built-in protection, which is helpful when connecting to public Wi-Fi or hotel networks. While the more advanced protections, including VPNs, are all paid options, there’s a good basic level of security and parental controls built in. The Web interface also gives you a huge amount of options.

Through the test, the one feature that really stood out as I wrote this review was the failover; with the router connected to the Netgear Nighthawk M7 through LAN and public Wi-Fi in a café. The café Wi-Fi was initially good, but as the hour progressed and the place filled, the speed dipped, and the router automatically switched over to the stronger SIM connection.

Overall, this is a well-balanced product that, at the price, offers far more than most, especially that Wi-Fi 7 connection speed. The internal hardware is, however, mid-range, and with only three devices connected, the web admin showed a CPU load of 40-60%. However, as a few more devices were added, the figure remained around the same.

If you work in different locations with multiple devices, then an option like the TP-Link Roam 7 makes absolute sense. Connect the router to the internet, then connect all other devices to it; no need to reconnect each. It offers a balanced set of security features, including VPN support, making it a great solution at a lower price than most mobile routers.

TP-Link Roam 7: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From $139 / £99
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Directly from tp-link and online retailers

The Roam 7 is available directly from TP-Link here for $139.99 / £99.99. In the US, it's also available for $130 at Amazon (down to $90 at time of review). In the UK, it's priced at £99.99 at Amazon.co.uk. Outside of that, it's widely available from online retailers.

• Value: 4.5 / 5

TP-Link Roam 7: Specs

RAM: 512MB
Rear Ports: One 2.5Gbps WAN, one 1Gbps LAN, one USB-A 3.0, one USB-C power input
Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi 7 at 2.4GHz and 5GHz, Ethernet, public Wi-Fi, USB phone tethering, 3G/4G/5G USB modem
Wireless Speed: 2,882Mbps at 5GHz and 688Mbps at 2.4GHz
VPN: OpenVPN, WireGuard, PPTP and L2TP, client and server
Size: 126 x 93.5 x 36mm
Weight: Approximately 250g
Power: 5V/3A USB-C, no built-in battery
Accessories: Power adapter, Ethernet cable, USB cable, quick-installation guide and Wi-Fi information card

TP-Link Roam 7: Design

The Roam 7 is a relatively compact black box that measures 126 x 93.5 x 36mm and weighs in at 250g. It features a large front vent and two aerials that fold flat against the sides when transporting. One thing to note about the design is that it’s noticeably larger than a pocket hotspot but still small enough to slip into a backpack or bag easily.

It’s also worth noting that while the Roam 7 is relatively small, it requires a power supply, and an AC plug is included in the box; alternatively, you can plug it into a power bank, and in this review I’ve used the Ugreen 145W. On top of the power supply, you’ll also need a way to connect the router to the internet, and this is where the clever bit of this device comes into play.

You can either connect directly to a WAN or LAN via the two ports at the back, hardwire a phone via a USB cable and piggyback off the phone's cellular network or use it as a pass-through for a Wi-Fi network, say, if you’re in a café.

Once plugged in, a simple status LED on the front illuminates to indicate connections or activity. While the design is simple, with most options and settings being controlled through the app or web interface, there is a physical toggle button on the side that can be configured to control power, the status LED, or the VPN connection.

The rear panel houses all the connections: a 2.5 Gbps WAN port, a 1 Gbps LAN port, USB-A 3.0 for storage or tethering, and USB-C for power.

As this is a travel router, it would have been great to see a carry case supplied as well. Unfortunately, aside from the power supply, USB-C-to-USB-A adapter, and network cable, there are no other accessories.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

TP-Link Roam 7: Features

Taking a look at the feature set, it really highlights how the Roam 7 differs from a standard router or mobile router. In the case of the first, the compact size and weight mean it can be taken anywhere, and the build and design are robust and highly portable, with power supplied via USB-C rather than the standard barrel-style connector to mains power, which is more common.

Unlike a mobile router, it has no built-in battery or SIM card, so it relies on other devices for both. I’ll come on to why this can be a great option in the performance section.

The Roam supports dual-band BE3600 Wi-Fi 7 with Multi-Link Operation, 4K-QAM, and four wireless streams, rated at 2,882 Mbps on 5GHz and 688 Mbps on 2.4GHz. Those are link rates rather than throughput figures, and there is no 6GHz band, so this is Wi-Fi 7 in its dual-band form rather than the full tri-band specification.

Looking through the different operating modes, there are seven in total: cover router, hotspot or WISP, USB tethering, USB modem, access point, range extender and client. Switching between Ethernet, USB tethering, USB modem, and hotspot occurs through the web interface, and in testing, it took around 45-50 seconds to switch between each. USB tethering to an iPhone was slower, occasionally up to a minute, but on Android it was far faster.

One of the modes I was pleased to see was Failover, as it lets you connect to a mobile router and a tethered phone at the same time, and the Roam 7 prioritises whichever provides the better connection.

There’s also VPN support for major brands, including OpenVPN, WireGuard, PPTP, and L2TP, as both client and server. A VPN connection can run alongside ordinary traffic rather than being on all the time; the physical switch on the side can be allocated as a quick on/off for the VPN, so for general browsing you can switch it off, and for financials, shopping, etc you can switch it on for that additional protection.

The device management is also well thought out, with two options tailored to the type of user, or you can switch between them, as I find myself doing. For most people, the Tether app, which enables initial setup via a QR code, provides access to most of the settings.

During the test, there were a couple of occasions when I was unable to find the settings I wanted through the mobile app, such as assigning the connection type. The Web Admin, however, made this easy and offered a more traditional approach to router and network settings along with many advanced options, including what I was looking for, which was an easy way to switch between inputs.

The web admin panel can be located once you have connected to the router through 192.168.0.1 in your browser, and once you log in, you have all the primary and guest network management, assigning clients between 2.4GHz and 5GHz, Multi-Link Operation configuration to give one device priority over another, and a live view of CPU and memory load, which is interesting especially as more devices connect.

The best way to look at the two options is that the app is for consumers and the web client is for businesses, so actually having both is a good balance.

Another point about this router is that, as it doesn’t have its own power source, it will be a drain on whatever it’s plugged into. However, a check of the power usage shows it is extremely low at less than 4W; still, TP-Link do offer three power modes. Boost is the default and the option I used in the test to maximise performance; below it are Balance and Eco for managing speed, heat, and power draw. The MLO mode that I mentioned earlier will increase power use, but again, this power usage is extremely well managed.

Alongside the hardware admin, there’s a good level of software support, including HomeShield, which adds a network scanner, parental controls, and device-level quality of service. For each of these features, there is a Free tier, but the more robust parental controls and Security+ features require a paid subscription.

• Features: 4 / 5

TP-Link Roam 7: Performance

Initial setup is relatively straightforward, as there’s nothing to install. Or charge. Once unboxed, the AC adapter of a power bank can be plugged in, and the front light glows orange. You then go to the Tether Mobile App, scan the QR code, complete the rest of the process, and you’re set.

After that initial setup, I took the Roam 7 to a café, plugged it into a power bank, joined the venue's Wi-Fi via the Tether app, connected my MacBook to the router's network, and enabled the VPN. The whole sequence took between two and three minutes depending on the connection type and strength. It required no laptop configuration at all, having already connected to the router at home; likewise, the same for the connection to my phone and iPad, which were all previously connected.

One issue that struck me early on was the number of wires and gadgets I had suddenly accumulated around the MacBook; I had my phone, the power bank, and the router all connected along with wires. While it didn’t take up a huge amount of space, it was more than I’m used to.

One point about the connection speeds is that the public Wi-Fi connection was faster than connection tethered through my mobile phone. During testing on location, the 4G connection showed as full, however connected to the Wi-Fi without a VPN, I saw speeds of around 150 Mbps, down to around 120 Mbps with VPN on.

Through a series of checks to see how long it takes to connect in the café location from cold, it I found it took just under two minutes to boot, and connecting and getting the computer online added another minute. There’s also time to unpack the three devices you need to make that connection: the router, the power bank, and the mobile device.

The average connection time in the test was just under three minutes from nothing to a working connection on a public Wi-Fi network. OK, it’s faster to connect directly, but a public Wi-Fi, isn’t secure and the cost saving of the Roam 7 compared with a mobile router is huge.

Through the test, I was interested to see how long it would take to switch between connection types, say, from Wi-Fi to a tethered mobile connection. To do this you need to dip into the web interface, not the app, and the switchover took around 45-50 seconds.

As highlighted, there is no internal power, so the draw from the host machine is an important factor for travel, and surprisingly it’s very low. With a MacBook Pro, an iPad and an iPhone all connected, the router pulled 3.8W. This is really nothing, and my 145W power bank essentially ran through a working day without issue. It was also good that I was able to set up a local network, and the colleagues were also able to connect as guests, again all easily set up through the web interface.

For the most part, I was piggybacking off the wireless network in the café, and, interestingly, a single device connected, I saw 87.3 Mbps down and 98.5 Mbps up. With three connected, the individual figures ranged from 11.5 Mbps to 75.4 Mbps down, but their combined total came to 103.9 Mbps, more than that first single device. The issue is that the café's internet is open to the public, so there will be some fluctuation due to other users.

Internet speed is part of the picture, especially as more devices connect. One of the features I liked was that, through the web admin, you can see live CPU and memory usage. With only three devices connected, CPU load averaged 40-60%, while memory sat at around 50% of the installed 512 MB.

TP-Link states that it supports up to 90 devices, which I think may be a little bit hopeful. Still, for the three I had connected during the test, all checking the internet speed, then watching a 4K YouTube video and uploading files to an ftp this speed generally felt stable and fast.

A travel router like this has a very focused job and won't be for everyone; however, if you connect multiple devices to an internet connection away from home and need something lightweight and portable, this is a great solution that balances features, performance, and cost.

• Performance: 4 / 5

TP-Link Roam 7: Final verdict

At first it may be difficult to see why you would want the Roam 7 over just connecting directly to your mobile phone or the public Wi-Fi. But then, in the workplace, where you may have multiple devices you use while travelling, or you’re dubious about using public Wi-Fi, this well-priced travel router makes sense.

Setup is easy, and whatever connection mode you use, once you’ve run through the process a few times, it all makes sense. Essentially, arrive, plug in, order a coffee, and by the time you’ve unpacked and set up your computer you’ll be ready to go.

Overall, the connection seemed robust, especially with the failover. While the router can only be as good as the local connections, the test proved it was a solid option, switching from mobile to Wi-Fi to enable the fastest connection without issue.

I had to ask: with mobile routers also available, who is this best for? The Roam 7 is an ideal solution if you travel and use multiple devices. It essentially lets you connect all devices to it, and you just need to connect it to an internet connection. When you arrive at your destination, you connect to the router, and everything else follows suit, without you needing to log in to every device individually.

While you can do this with your mobile, the added network features and the ability to turn your phone into a mobile router are definitely appealing and much cheaper than a dedicated mobile router.

Then there’s the price, which at a fraction of dedicated mobile routers and with all the additional features suddenly makes this very appealing as an option to use anywhere, be that travelling or in a location that you just want to set up a private network, such as in an office, studio or workshop where a separate network can be useful.

Should I buy a TP-Link Roam 7?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

For more connectivity solutions, we've reviewed the best Wi-Fi routers.

RingConn Gen 3: One minute review

RingConn has always been a solid challenger to Oura in the smart ring space, and after spending two weeks testing it, I can safely say the new RingConn Gen 3 continues that trend. You’ll get most of the same health, sleep and recovery tracking features as rivals in our best smart rings guide here, but without the monthly subscription that puts some people off buying a smart ring altogether.

The Gen 3 tracks heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, respiratory rate, stress, activity and sleep. New additions include a haptic motor for some alerts and reminders, improved battery life and new vascular health trend insights, which are designed to give you a picture of your cardiovascular wellbeing over time.

However, this version does feel similar to the Gen 2 that came before it. The design and app experience feel largely unchanged and many of the core features will already be familiar to anyone thinking of upgrading from a RingConn Gen 2.

Although that's not necessarily a bad thing. The lightweight titanium design is still incredibly comfortable to wear and the app is simple to navigate. RingConn also continues to stand out by offering useful features like sleep apnea monitoring, something that still isn't standard across the smart ring market.

The experience here isn't perfect. During my testing, I found that some health insights can feel generic, certain wellness scores lack meaningful context and some of the messaging around features like vascular insight trends can be confusing. And, while the app is clean and easy to use, it still doesn't feel quite as refined or polished as Oura's.

But RingConn continues to occupy a compelling middle ground. It isn't the cheapest smart ring you can buy, but it undercuts premium competitors while delivering a similar experience overall.

The RingConn Gen 3 may not be the most exciting smart ring launch of the year, but for anyone looking for comprehensive health tracking without an ongoing subscription, it's shaping up to be one of the easiest smart rings for me to recommend.

RingConn Gen 3: Specifications

RingConn Gen 3: Price and availability

• Priced at $426 / $454; £322 / £343 (approx)
• Rolled out from late May 2026
• No subscription needed

Pricing starts at $426 for the silver, gold and matte black versions. That rises to $454 if you’d like the new brushed silver and brushed rose gold finishes.

I only tested the standard silver, but the brushed effect is really appealing. At least what I can see from promo shots, it makes the ring look a little more refined and if I was buying one myself I’d probably pay extra for that finish.

UK pricing hasn’t yet been confirmed at the time of writing, but that US pricing works out at approximately £322 to £343, depending on the finish you choose.

That places the RingConn Gen 3 firmly in the premium smart ring category. It's not cheap by any means. You can now find more affordable smart rings, like the Circular Ring 2, which starts at $349 / £280 / AU$497.

However, it still manages to undercut some of its biggest competitors, making a tempting value proposition. For context, the new Oura Ring 5 starts from £399. Which, granted, isn’t that much more expensive. But you do need to factor in the ongoing monthly subscription, which you’ll need to unlock all of the Oura’s features. That costs $5.99 / £5.99 per month. So paid monthly, that’s around an additional $70 / £70 per year.

What makes RingConn stand out is that there are no subscription fees here. Once you've bought the ring, you get access to all of the core health and wellness features without any additional monthly costs.

It’s worth mentioning that other smart ring brands are offering their devices without a monthly subscription too. And the gap between RingConn and its premium competitors isn't quite as large as it once was, especially as smart ring prices continue to rise across the board. But when you factor in the lack of subscription fees and the breadth of features on offer, the RingConn Gen 3 still represents good value.

• Value score: 4/5

RingConn Gen 3: Design

• Lightweight and comfortable design
• Distinctive squared circle shape
• New finishes and expanded sizing options

The first thing you'll notice about the RingConn Gen 3 when you take it out of the box is its unusual shape. Rather than being perfectly round, it has a subtle squared-off design. It looks a little unusual at first, but I really liked it. Plus it seemed like a refreshing choice in a market where so many smart rings are almost indistinguishable from each other.

At between 2.5g and 3.5g depending on which size you get, and measuring 2.3mm thick, the ring is light and discreet enough to forget you're wearing it. I wore it day and night when I was testing it, including while sleeping, without any issues.

That weight and thickness are both fairly standard compared to other smart rings. The only notable exception is the new Oura Ring 5, which has been designed to be slimmer and lighter than previous generations and almost all rivals.

The Gen 3 ring is made from titanium with a medical-grade resin interior and is rated IP68 and 10ATM for water resistance. In practical terms, that means you can wear it in the shower, while swimming and during workouts without worrying about taking it off. During testing, I rarely had to think about removing it, whether I was washing up, showering or exercising — though I did remove it when lifting weights to avoid any scratching.

RingConn has also expanded its sizing range this time around, now offering up to size 15. Many competing brands don't go beyond size 14. One thing to be aware of here is that RingConn says the Gen 3 sizing may differ slightly from standard ring sizing and other smart rings. Which means it may be worth using the sizing kit first just to be safe. Although I tested my usual size without any issues.

There are several new finishes available, including brushed silver and brushed rose gold. I tested the glossy silver model, which held up surprisingly well during testing. After more than a week of daily wear, there were no visible scuffs or scratches, even on close inspection.

That's really notable because when I’ve tested many smart rings in the past I've found that some finishes, particularly matte black ones, can start showing signs of wear after only a few days.

That said, if I were buying this ring myself rather than reviewing it, I'd probably choose one of the new brushed finishes, even though they cost a little more. After years of testing smart rings, I've come to think that the super glossy finishes are often what make them look like gadgets rather than jewellery. So if making sure a smart ring blends in is important to you, the brushed options are probably worth considering.

My only real criticism is that there isn't an obvious external marker showing which way round the ring should be worn. That's really nit-picking, but it's something some competitors have added. While it's easy enough to identify the correct orientation from the sensor placement inside the ring, a small external indicator, like a tiny notch, would make it quicker and easier to position correctly for the most accurate readings.

The charging case is handy. It's compact, easy to throw into a bag and feels more refined than previous versions. Unlike some competitors, it's also not tied to a specific ring size, which might be useful for you if you know someone else who has a RingConn ring.

• Design Score: 4/5

RingConn Gen 3: Features

• Subtle haptic alerts
• Comprehensive health and wellness tracking
• Sleep apnea monitoring and vascular insights

You’ll find all of the health and wellness features you'd expect from a premium smart ring here. The Gen 3 continuously tracks heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), respiratory rate, skin temperature, stress, activity levels and sleep. There's also menstrual tracking and a Baby Prep mode to support ovulation prediction.

Alongside these core features, RingConn offers a few more advanced tools that are designed to help it stand out from rivals. One of the most useful is sleep apnea monitoring. Once enabled, it monitors for the core signs of sleep apnea and provides short-term risk indicators alongside longer-term trends.

Like any wearable health feature, it's not designed to diagnose a medical condition. But I think it could be useful if you're concerned about your sleep quality or breathing patterns and want some additional information before you speak to a doctor.

New for the Gen 3 is a built-in haptic motor, which means the ring can now vibrate for health alerts, inactivity reminders and low-battery warnings.

At first, I was conflicted about this addition. Part of the appeal of smart rings for me is that they collect data in the background without demanding attention in the way a smartwatch can. Fortunately, RingConn has taken a restrained approach. The vibrations are subtle, focused on health-related notifications rather than phone alerts and can be disabled entirely if you'd prefer that.

Another notable addition is RingConn's vascular health tracking. Rather than attempting to estimate blood pressure directly, the feature combines overnight vascular load data with blood pressure readings and lifestyle information to provide longer-term cardiovascular insights.

To use it, you'll need to periodically enter blood pressure readings from a traditional blood pressure cuff. Initially, I wasn't convinced of the value of this feature. Wouldn’t you just use a cuff instead of the ring if you have one? But it became clear during testing that the goal here isn't to replace a blood pressure monitor. Instead, it's designed to help identify broader patterns over time.

One reason for the confusion is likely that in the app this section is labelled as 'blood pressure trends', which RingConn tells me is out-of-date copy and will be changed to 'vascular insights' soon to make it clear this isn't just a blood pressure reading feature.

Because the data you get here is about circulation stress tracking, which RingConn describes as a measure of how effectively your body moves between activity and recovery. Results are then also broken down into areas such as day-night rhythm, sleep breathing, post-exercise recovery and stress response.

The insights aren't especially deep, and if anything is flagged you'll need to go and search for what it means, but they're among the most detailed explanations available in the RingConn app and provide useful context without becoming overwhelming.

• Features Score: 4/5

RingConn Gen 3: Performance

• Clean, easy-to-use app
• Excellent battery life
• Strong sleep and wellness tracking

As with any smart ring, the Gen 3 relies heavily on its app, and RingConn gets a lot right here. While it doesn't feel quite as polished as Oura's software, I found it easy to navigate through the different menus. I also liked the flower-like Wellness Balance graphic at the top of the dashboard, which provides a quick visual snapshot of your overall health.

The app makes it easy to check key metrics at a glance, while more detailed charts, historical trends and explanations are there if you click through into each dedicated section, including sleep, activity and stress. Stress tracking was a particular highlight, making it easy to spot recurring patterns and periods of higher pressure throughout the day.

Some of the written insights can feel a little generic though, as daily summaries occasionally surfaced observations that felt obvious or lacked enough context to be genuinely useful. Sleep insights tended to be more helpful, with more detailed explanations and recommendations.

Sleep tracking is one of RingConn's strongest areas. The app presents sleep duration, efficiency, stages, overnight heart rate and movement data clearly without overwhelming you with information. During testing, it also handled my occasionally unusual sleep schedule surprisingly well, which meant that on nights when I woke up for an hour in the early morning before falling back asleep, RingConn correctly identified this as a brief 'awake' period rather than ending the sleep session entirely.

In terms of accuracy, I wore the RingConn Gen 3 alongside a Whoop 5.0. The two devices produced very similar results. Whoop measured a 84% sleep performance, 6 hours and 31 minutes of sleep and a 49bpm average overnight heart rate. RingConn gave me a 77 sleep score, recorded 6 hours and16 minutes of sleep with a 48bpm average overnight heart rate

Sleep stage breakdowns also aligned closely, with only minor differences in deep and REM sleep estimates. No wearable tracks sleep perfectly, but the results were broadly consistent.

I also appreciated how RingConn handles unusual readings. Rather than generating alarming warnings whenever a metric moves outside of its normal range, the app generally presents changes with reasonable context. I'd still like more explanation in some areas, particularly when a metric is flagged. I was often felt feeling a little frustrated at the lack of context and additional information as to why a reading deviated and what that really means. But the overall approach feels useful and sensible.

Sleep apnea monitoring is well implemented here. The feature presents trends clearly, includes some useful explanations and feels more mature than some of the app's other health insights. It's worth noting though that monitoring won't function properly once battery levels drop below 30%.

Exercise tracking is more basic than what you'll get from a dedicated sports watch, although that's true of most smart rings. During testing, the ring automatically detected walking, running and strength-training sessions without requiring manual input. You just need to acknowledge it’s identified your activity correctly and there are a wide range to choose from.

In the activity section you’ll find useful information like activity intensity, active time, calories burned and step count, which should be enough for most users.

Step tracking was accurate, although RingConn did seem to slightly under report compared to other devices. On one test day it recorded 5,167 steps versus 5,500 on the Whoop, a pattern I noticed in a few other comparisons.

Battery life is still one of RingConn's biggest strengths. The company claims between 11 and 14 days per charge, and in my testing the ring lasted nearly 12.5 days with both vascular insights and haptic alerts enabled.

That comfortably exceeds most rivals these days. For comparison, the Oura Ring 5 offers up to 7 days, the Samsung Galaxy Ring up to 7 days, while the Ultrahuman Ring Air and Circular Ring 2 both offer around 6 days.

For me, this is one of the RingConn's biggest selling points. The less often you need to remove a wearable for charging, the more likely you are to wear it consistently and collect uninterrupted data. RingConn also displays both remaining battery percentage and an estimate of days remaining in the map, which is a small but useful touch.

Overall, the RingConn Gen 3 delivers a strong experience. The app isn't quite as refined as Oura's, and some insights could go further, but the combination of comprehensive health tracking, clear data presentation, excellent battery life and a subscription-free model makes it one of the most compelling smart rings currently available.

• Performance score: 4/5

RingConn Gen 3: Scorecard

RingConn Gen 3: Should I buy?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested

I tested the Ringconn Gen 3 for just over 2 weeks. I wore it all day and all night, only taking it off to either charge it or lift weights — I've learned many times in the past that smart rings are very easy to scratch with metal dumbbells. The smart ring was on throughout workouts, while I was working, out socializing, relaxing on an evening and sleeping at night.

I've been reviewing smart rings since the very first version of the Oura ring came out back in 2017. Since then, I've tested almost every generation from every smart ring brand that came after it. This puts me in a solid position to not only test the newest rings, but compare the models, tell you which one might be right for you and bring you loads of context about the smart ring space.

• First reviewed: June 2026

These days, millions of us have smart devices strapped to our wrists, fingers and arms, measuring our metrics and building a picture of the “quantified self” to make us healthier, more active and better prepared for a medical emergency.

Wearables can help improve our wellbeing and nudge us towards better habits, but it’s less common to hear about the flipside: the anxiety at failing to close your rings, the frantic exercise to ensure you maintain your streak, and the obsession with meeting your targets on a daily basis.

These are feelings I know all too well. Having worn some of the best Apple Watches for close to a decade, I’ve watched it become an essential part of my life — so much so that I’ve tried closing my rings when I’m ill, on vacation, or should otherwise be resting and recuperating. I obsess over those little rings on my watch.

I know this is a problem for me. But what I wanted to find out was whether this is a more widespread issue, and if it is, what can be done about it. Is wearable tech making us more anxious? And can it be redesigned to push back against these tendencies and help us feel more relaxed, not less?

To find out, I spoke to tech and wellness experts who shared their thoughts on the ways wearables can impact our health — for better or worse.

The endless streak

During the FIFA World Cup in July, I was preparing to wake up in the early hours to watch England play Mexico at 1am local time. I set my alarm, went to bed early, and got ready to cheer on my team without waking the neighbors.

Yet there was one thought that I couldn’t get out of my mind as I contemplated the looming disruption to my sleep: my Apple Watch is going to hate this.

It’s now become part of my morning ritual to check my sleep score on my Apple Watch. Every high score gives me a little dopamine hit, every low result a crushing sense of disappointment. And I knew that waking up at 1am and staying awake for two hours in the middle of the night was going to make my Watch very disappointed indeed.

In the end, I rolled over and went back to sleep when my alarm woke me for the game. I didn’t watch it, and I know that was only partly because I was woken at some ungodly hour — it was also because, to a certain extent, I’ve allowed the scores and metrics on my Watch to govern the way I live my life.

That’s not the only way this has happened to me. I recently hit a streak of closing my Move ring for 2,000 consecutive days. But I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some days when I entered a fake exercise to get me past my calorie goal on a day when I was ill, tired or simply unmotivated.

Why cheating is fine, but resting is not, is something I admit doesn’t make much sense. But what I do know is that the thought of losing my streak absolutely fills me with dread. 2,000 consecutive days on my Move streak sounds like a lot, but knowing myself, I’m sure I’m going to try to continue it until the day I die, such is the anxiety associated with the idea of my streak ending.

The dark side of wearable tech

I’ve long had perfectionist tendencies, but it’s through observing the way I interact with my Watch that it’s really become clear to me how strongly my device’s gamification of fitness has struck a chord with me — and led me into some unhealthy, possibly obsessive behaviors.

I spoke to Dr Dana McKay, Associate Dean of Interaction, Technology & Information at RMIT University in Australia, to get her opinion.

“These technologies are often designed to help us form habits,” McKay pointed out. "They often use tools for so called ‘persuasive design’.... to persuade us to do something we wanted to anyway when we bought the device."

There are two problems with this:, Dr McKay points out: the possibility of becoming “unhealthily focused” on the device, and the prospect of being convinced to don a wearable by an outside party, like an insurance company, and sharing data we don’t want to share. Some private health insurance companies may subsidise the purchase of a wearable in exchange to access to lower premiums, and sharing your tracker's information to an insurer's app.

Yang Wei, Professor of Wearable Technology at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, agreed, saying that while wearables can help us form positive habits, we also need to be careful around them.

“For many people, wearables can be motivating and empowering,” Wei noted, “but for some users they can also create pressure, anxiety, guilt, or unhealthy dependence on data.” After all, wearables “create a framework for what counts as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ activity, sleep, recovery, or productivity,” Wei said. If that data is framed the wrong way, it can push users in an unhelpful direction.

Wei also warned that “One of the risks is that people may start to trust the device more than their own body. For example, someone may feel they slept badly because their watch gave them a poor sleep score, even if they felt fine. Or they may feel they have failed because they did not close a ring or reach a step target, even if they had a perfectly reasonable day.”

That certainly resonates with me: I consciously work to close my Apple Watch’s rings, viewing it as a requirement for each day. A full set has almost become a condition for having a ‘good’ day, regardless of how I’m feeling or what I’ve achieved. And this overreliance on a piece of tech strapped to my wrist feels key to the negative habits I seem to have formed. So what can I do about it?

How to push back

If wearables have the potential to form negative habits, what can we do to put things right? The answer is often remarkably simple, both McKay and Wei believe: take your watch off from time to time.

“There is no need to wear your device while on vacation unless a health practitioner recommends it,” McKay advised. If your relationship with your fitness tracker has become a problem, “start by turning all the notifications off, limit checking of goals to help reduce obsession, and consider not using the device at all if possible.”

You also need to understand why you are using the device in the first place, Wei contends. “Is it to be more active? To understand sleep? To monitor a specific health concern? Or simply to be more aware of daily patterns? Having a purpose makes it easier to keep the technology in perspective.”

“I would also encourage people to treat wearable data as guidance, not judgement,” said Wei. “These devices can be useful, but they are not perfect and they do not understand the full context of a person’s life. Illness, stress, caring responsibilities, disability, travel, recovery, or simply needing rest can all affect what a ‘good’ day looks like.”

And both McKay and Wei said that if your device is causing significant anxiety or obsessive behavior, it might be best to speak to a medical professional. As Wei put it, “The aim should be for the wearable to support the person, not control how they feel about themselves.”

But this has to go beyond the user’s own actions — wearables themselves should be designed to better support healthy habits and discourage negative ones. For McKay, that includes “allowing people who use trackers to set the number of notifications they get” and hide those they don’t want to see, as well as “removing gamification elements like badges and sharing (competing) with friends and family.”

Many of these features, like push notification controls, are already buried in the watch's settings, but a lot of smartwatch users don't go looking for them.

“I think we need to move from a data-driven relationship with wearables to a more reflective and human-centered one,” Wei added. That means designers should “move away from purely addictive or performance-based features” and towards focusing on “long-term wellbeing rather than daily judgement.”

Ultimately, Wei said, “I think the best wearable technologies will be those that help people feel more confident and informed, not more anxious or dependent.”

I can’t change how Apple designs its smartwatches, but I can reduce the pressure on myself to hit my goals day after day, even when my body is telling me to rest. Staying fit and healthy is a worthwhile pursuit, but when it comes at the cost of anxiously worrying what will happen if your streak ends, it might just be time to bite the bullet, take off the watch, and enjoy some tech-free time with friends and family. After all, losing a streak is not the end of the world.

Recently, I had the chance to attend High End Vienna, where I bore witness to an incredible array of audio gear. Whether it was new flagship loudspeakers from Bowers & Wilkins, futuristic looking headphones, or innovative portable DACs, there was a lot to get excited about. But one product really caught my attention.

As I walked through the Austria Center Vienna, I could hear the sounds of birds singing and crickets chirping. I followed the sound through and discovered a tropical-rainforest-themed room, and within it, sat the Dynaudio Opus One — a large, premium soundbar with mechanized wooden fins. It really was unlike anything I’d seen before.

I got the chance to check out the soundbar for myself, I attended a listening demo, and I even got to speak with Dynaudio Chief Commercial Officer, Julien Bergere, about the one-of-a-kind product ahead of its launch.

Opus One: an introduction

So what is the Dynaudio Opus One? Bergere describes it as “a new, immersive sound product for the home” for both movies and music. It's the first product in the company’s Symphony line of products that are expected to connect together to create a home ecosystem — in a similar vein to Sonos’ multi-speaker array systems, for example.

Something that’s instantly striking about the Opus One is its grand width — it measures 73.4 inches / 1864mm across. Larger TVs have become a lot more popular in recent years, and I asked Bergere if this had influenced the decision to make the Opus One so large. “Absolutely,” he said. “More premium soundbars are usually the size of a 55-inch TV, but there is no solution if you have a bigger TV or a bigger room, and this one is bringing a new dimension in terms of, you know, bass and immersive rendering”.

On the topic of immersion, I was curious as to whether the Opus One would support formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Bergere responded: “It will support all the major audio formats including immersive audio, but we're not done yet with the certification.” In addition, the soundbar makes use of spatial sound algorithms designed in Denmark, where Dynaudio is based.

But it’s not all about immersive movie watching. “It can also be used as a stereo device,” said Bergere. “If you have stereo in, you can also play in pure stereo with only the left section and the right section activated to play in a really pure stereo rendering.” You’re able to take the center channel out of the equation entirely, he said, and I’ve personally seen quite a few premium soundbars skip on such a feature, resulting in weaker left and right channel separation. The soundbar can also upmix some stereo content into a more immersive format, but the option for a more purist stereo experience is certainly captivating.

There are a number of ways to experience the Opus One. You can connect to your TV via HDMI ARC, stream music over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or make use of an AUX port. There’s also an Ethernet port on the soundbar, enabling you to access more stable connectivity. The Opus one also features a massive array of drivers — 24 to be exact — with six soft-dome tweeters, 14 mid/bass drivers, and four dual-diaphragm force-cancelling subwoofers. They come with 1500W of digital amplification, enabling the Opus One to deliver roaring power.

Wooden fins made in Japan bring serious style

As well as its impressive connectivity, power, and size, the Opus One is a joy to look at. It only seems natural to begin with the mechanized wooden fins, which move as you watch a movie or listen to music. “We call them kinetic fins,” said Bergere.

There are 72 mechanized fins on each unit of the Opus One, all of which are handmade, and personify Dynaudio’s ambition to forge a premium audio and visual product.

“[The fins] are actually made in a white oak from Hokkaido by Karimoku,” he said, noting that Karimoku is one of the largest furniture makers in Japan. “We are trying to mix technology and lifestyle… trying to hide the technology [in] beautiful objects but also bring a touch of magic, in this case, with the fact that the fins are moving and can be used to create surprise.”

Bergere confirmed that the wooden fins have no sonic benefit, but did note one functional benefit. “When the product is off, they’re [the fins] actually sealed, so they’re hiding the speaker drivers and protecting them at the same time," he said. He also pointed to acoustically transparent fabric, used on the top and side of the Opus One, which is just as stylish as it is practical.

As you’d expect, the fusion of designer-grade materials with such a premium, 24-driver model, means that the Opus One is pretty pricey. Specifically, the Opus One comes in at €13,000 (about $15,000 / £11,000) — a lot more than premium bars you’d see from the likes of Samsung, JBL, and Sonos. In addition, Bergere told me that accessories, such as stands and mounting gear, will cost between €500 and €5,000. “So together with a good quality screen, it’s around €20,000 for a complete setup with the floor stand,” he said.

Sound check: raw power and impressive imaging combine

With a price like this, you’re going to expect stellar sound from this soundbar to match its undoubtedly gorgeous look. And luckily, I got the chance to hear the Opus One for myself in a demo room. And yeah, it’s fair to say I was pretty impressed.

In 2025’s F1, I was astonished by the thunderous bass output that the Opus One conjured up — the roar of cars whizzing by was palpable, showing off the model’s 1,500W amplification to full effect.

Something else that struck me was the effectiveness of spatial audio effects. Whether it was vehicles zooming across the screen or fireworks blasting into the sky, the Opus One tracked each movement with precision and care.

We listened to some music too, including a stereo mix of Eric Clapton’s Tears In Heaven, where vocals were beautifully defined, subtle strings came through with great clarity, and warm bass came through cleanly.

With Atmos music, I felt similar — vocal-led tracks were beautifully detailed, instruments were well separated, and percussion in the treble range was articulate and expressive. Individual sounds also dispersed across the listening space to create an expansive, immersive experience.

The Opus One officially launched in June, but availability is still relatively limited. To begin with, Dynaudio has opted to release the soundbar in its home market, Denmark, as well as China — though Bergere said Dynaudio plans to launch the product across “more markets in 2027”. It’s available in two different finishes: one with White Oak fins, and another with Appalachian Walnut.

I’ve always been a fan of premium formats at the cinema, and thanks to the combination of a large screen, rich visuals, and sound that really packs a punch, Dolby Cinema has long been my go-to choice — even over IMAX.

This week, I ventured to a local AMC in New Jersey for Spider-Man: Brand New Day in Dolby Cinema. The theater featured stadium-style seating and was practically sold out, with only a handful of seats remaining in the front row. Considering the film has grossed more than a billion dollars globally, including over half a billion dollars in the US alone, it’s no surprise that tickets for Dolby Cinema and theaters in general have been hard to come by.

So, while my screening came a few days after opening, it was well worth the wait and ended up being one of my favorite Dolby Cinema experiences in a while.

For starters, the dual 4K laser projectors that power Dolby Cinema did a fantastic job with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Colors were rich and vibrant, while the finer details in darker scenes remained visible without losing that cinematic contrast. Yes, a Dolby Cinema screen is typically smaller than a true IMAX screen, but that didn’t bother me here. Between the picture quality and the audio, I still felt completely immersed in the world of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

I was pulled into the action almost immediately, and the combination of the screen, seating, and sound made the theater itself almost disappear.

You could, of course, opt for ScreenX, which wraps the image around you across the side walls, or catch Brand New Day on select IMAX screens in the US for a limited time. Just remember that those screenings aren’t necessarily the same as seeing a film presented in true 70mm IMAX — an important distinction when talking about premium cinema formats.

But for me, the real highlight was the Dolby Atmos sound.

Dolby Cinema’s audio setup is an expansive, full-range system designed to deliver sound throughout the theater, and Brand New Day makes particularly good use of it. It can pack a serious punch when the action kicks in, but what impressed me most was the low end. The bass wasn’t simply loud; it had weight and presence, adding another physical dimension to explosions, movement, and the film’s bigger action sequences.

Spoilers lie ahead

Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day ahead

As noted above, the real highlight for me was the sound. While the entire mix was well done and made excellent use of Dolby Cinema’s audio capabilities, there is one scene in particular that stands out — hence the spoiler warning, as it revolves around a pretty major plot point.

As Peter Parker begins to deal with the rise of arachnid traits in his genes — see a taste in the image above — he starts experiencing heightened senses. When he heads onto a rooftop, the sequence becomes a fantastic showcase for what a well-designed cinema sound system can actually do.

You hear the rush and bustle of New York City around Peter. Footsteps take on a heightened presence. An empty bag of chips scraping and tumbling along the ground suddenly becomes an important part of the soundscape. Instead of simply hearing these sounds as background noise, you’re placed inside Peter’s heightened perception of them.

And this is where Dolby Atmos really shines, especially when it all rushes together.

From a spatial perspective, the mix does a tremendous job of pinpointing where sounds are coming from and matching them to what’s happening on screen. Sounds move around the theater in a way that feels deliberate rather than gimmicky, helping put you directly into Peter’s headspace. The result is a sequence that feels less like you’re watching someone experience heightened senses and more like you’re experiencing them alongside him.

It’s a real tour de force for the sound team — and arguably one of the better demonstrations I’ve experienced of what premium cinema audio can add to a movie beyond simply making things louder.

When I head in for my second viewing of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’ll most certainly be in Dolby Cinema again. The picture is excellent, the seating and presentation are fantastic, and the overall experience is incredibly immersive.

But ultimately, it’ll be for the sound.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day reminded me that when Dolby Cinema is firing on all cylinders, the audio can be just as important to the cinematic experience as what’s happening on the screen.

• Voyager drone boats tracked smugglers before US Navy forces intercepted the shipment
• Autonomous vessels helped seize cocaine worth more than $81 million offshore
• Electric-powered drone boats can patrol continuously for more than 100 days

Unmanned surface vessels have helped the US Navy intercept a cocaine shipment worth more than $81 million in the Caribbean Sea.

Two Voyager drone boats, built by California-based Saildrone, tracked a vessel of interest before coordinating directly with naval forces stationed nearby.

This coordination allowed a Navy ship to move in, intercept the suspect craft, and seize its illegal cargo without delay.

Built for extended maritime patrols

The Voyager measures over 10 meters (33 feet) in length and runs on an electric motor rather than conventional fuel.

It can operate continuously for more than 100 days before returning to port for maintenance work.

Saildrone describes the vessel as a high-capacity platform supporting advanced sensor integration across a wide range of maritime surveillance missions.

According to the company, Voyager remains the only unmanned surface vessel maintaining continuous operations with the Navy's Fourth Fleet.

This fleet oversees the Caribbean along with sections of the Atlantic and Pacific near Central and South America.

Unlike a typical budget drone built for hobbyist use, this system is a purpose-built military asset designed for sustained, long-range ocean surveillance.

A growing role for autonomous systems

Saildrone argues that the recent seizure shows how autonomous vessels can support real operational missions rather than remaining limited to experimental demonstrations.

“The continuity of Saildrone’s presence along the southern border for nearly three years demonstrates the strategic value we bring as the world's most experienced operators of unmanned surface vehicles,” said John Mustin, president of Saildrone.

“Our unmatched ability to remain on station and on mission in critical regions for months at a time is why our fleet serves as a powerful deterrent to bad actors.”

The company expects continued cooperation with the Navy as maritime security efforts extend across the country's southern approaches and border regions.

It describes the Voyager as a high-capacity platform capable of supporting numerous surveillance sensors while maintaining long endurance without requiring frequent maintenance or logistical support.

The US Navy previously awarded Saildrone a task order worth $16.3 million to expand Voyager operations across the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific region.

That contract specifically supports efforts to combat drug trafficking alongside other illicit activity occurring across international waters.

Whether autonomous drone boats can consistently replace crewed vessels for high-risk interdiction work still remains an open question for naval planners.

However, the technology clearly reduces risk to personnel by allowing unmanned surface vessels to do the hard job before a US Navy ship swoops in.

What started as something closer to a beginner drone concept for coastal monitoring has evolved into a sophisticated tool for international drug enforcement.

Via The DroneFront

After falling in love with Disneyland Handcrafted, I was excited to dive into the studio's latest documentary movie, Disney Worldbuilders. Directed by Leslie Iwerks, the new movie has a tiny runtime of 58 minutes and call me greedy, but I really wanted more.

Disney Worldbuilders gets up-close-and-personal with some of Disney's most influential voices, where we learn about creative processes and their lasting impact on both cinema and the Disney Parks around the world.

Even though I loved what I saw, I did feel as though Worldbuilders tries to squeeze too much into its runtime. Unlike Handcrafted, which solely focuses on Walt's vision for Disneyland in Anaheim, this jumps around between subjects, and I wish we'd had an episode for each person interviewed so we could've taken a deeper dive.

The stacked line-up is made up of Bob Iger, James Cameron, Jon Favreau, Kevin Feige, Jennifer Lee, Pete Docter, Dave Filoni, Jared Bush, and Josh D’Amaro. That's a lot of people to talk to in under an hour, so I really wish we'd had more time with all of them!

Bob Iger in particular deserves a documentary of his own, and I hope we get one so we can properly examine the huge impact he's had on the Walt Disney Company, because it's not to be sniffed at. His segments didn't seem to fit with the rest of the interviews.

Still, that doesn't mean Worldbuilders is not worth your time. Far from it, in fact; I think it gives some really valuable and inspiring insights from some of the biggest names across Disney properties like Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel, and it's hard not to smile when you're greeted with this footage.

The scale of the Disney Parks really is fascinating, and I liked how we were able to see the early days of areas such as Hollywood Studios' Galaxy's Edge and Animal Kingdom’s Pandora, especially how the directors of those movies responded to seeing their creations come to life. Now, fans get to walk through the worlds we see on screen, and the constant innovation going on across the global parks is jaw-dropping.

I found myself getting emotional during certain parts, particularly Jennifer Lee's reaction to World of Frozen at Disneyland Paris. Seeing her wandering around with Olaf and reflecting on her relationship with her sister is incredibly touching, given how Anna and Elsa are such inspirational figures to a lot of people out there.

Even though the interviews with each subject are short, we do get a lot of heartfelt anecdotes which I found to be very interesting. As someone who has been enamored with filmmaking from a young age, it's inspiring to see how these amazing creatives can help shape future attractions for all ages. In Worldbuilders, they reflect on their own childhoods and how they ended up working for one of the biggest media companies in the world.

Ultimately, this would have worked so much better in an episodic format because I could have happily watched eight hours of this, as opposed to the one hour we did get. I am hopeful that Disney will do more long-form Parks-focused documentaries like this, especially ones that talk to the creatives responsible for writing these worlds we know and love.

Disney Worldbuilders comes to Disney+ on August 20. While you wait, why not check out the best Disney+ movies and best Disney+ TV shows to stream right now.

• Army seeks NGCM missile capable of defeating larger drone threats faster
• New missile programme builds on proven Coyote counter-drone launch infrastructure
• Army demands rapid launch capability with extended interception range against drones

The US Army has launched a search for a new surface-to-air missile called the Next Generation C-sUAS Missile (NGCM), designed to destroy small drones while extending the range of existing counter-unmanned aircraft systems.

According to the Army's requirements, the missile should engage Group 2 drones like Boeing's ScanEagle, weighing between 21 and 55 pounds, flying below 3,500 feet at speeds under 250 knots.

It must also defeat larger Group 3 drones like Insitu's RQ-21 Blackjack, weighing less than 1,320 pounds, operating below 18,000 feet while remaining under 250 knots.

Army seeks faster missile with longer reach

The Army expects the missile to leave its launcher within five seconds after the operator issues a firing command during an engagement.

Initial performance requirements call for intercepting drones at 6 kilometers altitude beyond 16 kilometers, while future objectives extend engagement beyond 25 kilometers at 8 kilometers altitude.

Guidance should rely on a radar seeker, allowing the missile to operate alongside existing air defense networks supporting broader battlefield surveillance.

“The Army is looking for NGCM to be produced and integrated into the existing Coyote Launch System to provide extended range, rapid launch time, and reduced time-to-target over current effectors,” the notice said.

"The missile must be compatible with the Coyote Launcher with minimal to no modifications," it reemphasized.

The repeated references to the Coyote Launcher indicate that the Army wants the NGCM to integrate with its existing counter-drone infrastructure.

The requirement indicates the Army intends to build on its existing air defence architecture rather than introduce a new launch platform.

Compatibility is also required with Sentinel A3 and A4, LTAMDS, and TPQ-53 radar systems, allowing easier integration without extensive infrastructure changes.

Contractors have until August 20 to respond to the Army's Sources Sought notice outlining the proposed capability.

Cost questions remain despite procurement ambitions

The Army plans both a fixed-site configuration using multiple sensors and a mobile version mounted on tactical vehicles capable of operating while stationary or moving.

Officials want the programme to reach Technology Readiness Level 7 through field prototype testing before the end of fiscal 2027.

The procurement schedule also requires contractors to supply 50 missiles for operational assessment by the beginning of 2028 before larger production decisions proceed.

Army planning documents indicate an ambition to acquire 5,000 missiles costing less than $150,000 each through bulk procurement arrangements.

This missile will be considerably cheaper than the Patriot interceptor, which costs roughly $4 million.

Though, it is still a far cry from the Iranian Shahed-136 drone costing an estimated $35,000 and can therefore be launched in swarms.

This comparison partly explains continuing investment in laser and microwave technologies, which promise significantly lower costs per engagement under suitable operating conditions.

However, missiles continue to operate in weather conditions that may reduce the effectiveness of laser systems.

Via Defense News