News
- A new option for the Copilot key has been spotted in testing
- Windows 11 users are getting the ability to remap it to 'Do nothing'
- This comes on top of work already underway to redefine the key to Right Ctrl or the context menu
Microsoft's latest revolutionary idea for Windows 11 is to have a key on your keyboard which can be remapped to do absolutely nothing.
Windows Latest noticed the latest twist in the tale of the Copilot key, as highlighted by regular leaker PhantomOfEarth on X, who spotted the development hidden in a recent Windows 11 preview build.
In the choices to customize the Copilot key – which, by default, summons Windows 11's Copilot AI (of course) – there's a new option to simply 'Do nothing'.
Yes, that's correct – you can change the key to simply be a pointless piece of plastic that does precisely zip. (Or at least you'll be able to in testing, when this ability comes into play, that is, although some Windows 11 testers have reportedly seen it live in preview already).
As you may have seen earlier this year, Microsoft is working on bringing fresh options to the Copilot key that include customizing it to invoke the context (right-click) menu, and to turn it back into Right Ctrl (which was the key that the Copilot button replaced on Copilot+ laptops and some keyboards).
Analysis: do nothing, be happy(Image credit: rui vale sousa / Shutterstock)What's the point of a key that does nothing? Good question. Maybe it's the keyboard equivalent of a stress ball – you can hammer on that key as much as you want when you're really annoyed, and it won't splurge a load of characters into the document you're working on as you exorcise your frustrated demons.
Okay, so maybe not, but perhaps the idea is that this is aimed at people who really hate the Copilot key, but haven't decided what they might want to remap it to. So, they can go ahead and elect for the key to do nothing if it's accidentally hit, while they figure out what they might want to redefine in its place. That's stretching things, admittedly, but it's the best guess I have.
At any rate, it's a harmless enough option, although it feels inescapably odd to have a 'blank' key on your keyboard. How far we've fallen since the Copilot key was first revealed and trumpeted by Microsoft as the biggest thing to happen to keyboards in 30 years since the Windows key was introduced. And indeed more recently, Microsoft promoted the Copilot key as the "button you can press to fix everything", so there's some irony that it could soon (optionally) become the button you can press to fix 'nothing' in a very literal sense.
Don't forget that you don't have to wait for Microsoft's Copilot key remapping functions to arrive in the release version of Windows 11. You can use the Keyboard Manager in PowerToys to do this instead, although it'll be far neater to have these options in Windows 11's settings, of course.
- The Star Wars Zero Company cast has been revealed
- The player character Hawks will be played by Jonathan Freeman (masculine) and Erica Luttrell (feminine)
- The Clone Wars stars Matt Lanter and Dee Bradley Baker will also return to voice Anakin Skywalker and a new Clone Trooper, Trick, respectively
Bit Reactor and Lucasfilm Games have revealed the stacked cast for Star Wars Zero Company, featuring some very familiar, fan-favorite voice actors from The Clone Wars.
Announced ahead of San Diego Comic Con on StarWars.com, it's confirmed that the player character, Hawks, will be played by Goliath actor Jonathan Freeman (masculine) and Erica Luttrell (feminine), who has also starred in another Star Wars game in the past, Squadrons.
"As the leader of Zero Company, an unconventional outfit of professionals for hire from across the galaxy, which includes a Clone Trooper, a Mandalorian, a Jedi Padawan and more, players must hunt down and stop Kundri Fathom (Rekha Sharma), the ruthless leader of the Separatist-aligned cult known as the Infinite Coil," a press release informs us.
In Zero Company, players will meet a collection of characters beyond their team members, and they're all played by some amazing talent.
Some of these characters include Kabb Uppercut, played by Arcane's JB Blanc; Jae Mordant, played by Judy Alice Lee of Marvel Rivals; and Neesh Renark, played by Marvel's Spider-Man 2's Jim Pirri. There's also D.C. Douglas, best known for Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, who will play M-3VO ('Meevo').
The game will also feature two veteran Star Wars voice cast performers, Matt Lanter and Dee Bradley Baker. Lanter played Anakin Skywalker in the hit animated series The Clone Wars and will reprise this role in Zero Company.
Baker is best known for voicing the Clone Troopers in the show, including Captain Rex and Commander Cody, as well as others in The Bad Batch, but will star in Zero Company as the Clone Trooper, Trick.
You can read the full cast list below:
- Hawks (Masculine): Jonathan Freeman
- Hawks (Feminine): Erica Luttrell
- Kundri Fathom: Rekha Sharma
- Trick: Dee Bradley Baker
- Anakin Skywalker: Matt Lanter
- Runa Blask: Vic Michaelis
- Kabb Uppercut: JB Blanc
- Jae Mordant: Judy Alice Lee
- Cly Kullervo: Alex McKenna
- Bennic Halloren: Leo Howard
- Visser: Dylan Kenin
- Tel-Rea: Nicole Rainteau
- Neesh Renark: Jim Pirri
- M-3VO / Meevo: D.C. Douglas
- Typhon: Hunter Smith
Star Wars Zero Company launches on August 27 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Series S.
Bit Reactor has confirmed that the turn-based tactics game will take 30-40 hours to beat, "depending on your difficulty level and experience with the strategy genre," and it won't feature a New Game Plus mode.
- Ukrainian hexacopter reportedly lowered an ARK-1 behind Russian lines using cables
- The ARK-1 carries a TM-series anti-tank mine toward enemy positions after release
- The ground robot reaches speeds up to 45 kilometers per hour
Ukraine has reportedly used heavy bomber drones to transport ARK-1 robotic vehicles carrying anti-tank mines behind Russian lines.
Footage released by the Russian military Telegram channel Arkhangel Spetsnaza appears to show a large hexacopter carrying the ground robot beneath it.
The reported operation involves an aerial drone delivering a ground platform that can continue moving after being released in contested areas.
Drone delivery gives ARK-1 a different battlefield roleThe footage appears to show the ARK-1 suspended under the drone using cables before being lowered into an area where it could operate independently.
Once released, the ARK-1 reportedly carries the TM-series anti-tank mines while continuing toward Russian positions.
The method allows the vehicle to avoid travelling long distances across terrain that could limit its movement or expose it to observation.
It also allows the larger drone to release its payload before entering areas where Russian weapons could threaten the aircraft.
The ARK-1 is a compact four-wheel-drive unmanned ground vehicle developed by a Ukrainian company involved with the Brave1 defense technology initiative.
The vehicle can reportedly reach speeds of up to 45 kilometers per hour while producing limited sound during movement.
Depending on its configuration, the ARK-1 can carry ammunition, medical supplies, food, and other equipment for battlefield support operations.
The platform can also be equipped with explosives for missions where returning the vehicle after deployment may not be required.
Its ability to carry different payloads allows Ukrainian forces to adapt the system for several battlefield tasks.
Ukraine expands use of unmanned battlefield systemsThe reported ARK-1 deployment follows other Ukrainian efforts to combine different types of unmanned military platforms during operations.
Earlier this month, Ukraine said an unmanned surface vessel transported and deployed an armed ground robot behind Russian positions on Kinburn Spit.
Kyiv described the operation as the first combat mission involving that combination of maritime and ground robotic systems.
The increasing use of robotic platforms has become a major feature of Ukraine's military technology development during the conflict.
Heavy drones, ground robots, and unmanned vessels are being used in different roles, including transport, reconnaissance, and attack missions.
However, details about the ARK-1 operation remain limited because the available evidence mainly comes from battlefield footage and military channels.
There has been no independent confirmation of the location, mission outcome, or frequency of similar deployments involving the robotic platform.
The available footage does not provide enough information to determine how effective the method has been under combat conditions.
That said, the conflict in Ukraine appears to be revealing rapid technological advancements in unmanned warfare, with drones and robotic platforms being adapted for new battlefield roles.
Via United 24 Media
I test over a dozen of the best coffee makers every year here at TechRadar, but having a small kitchen means I have to be very picky about which I choose to buy myself. The problem is, I love both drip coffee and espresso equally. I'd happily pick up a compact espresso machine and a quality drip coffee maker such as the Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal, but that would mean sacrificing valuable food prep space and, potentially, not having enough work surface available for rolling pastry and kneading dough.
Of course, a kitchen with no space in which to make pies or bread would be tragic — but, thankfully, it doesn't have to come to that because the Ninja Prestige DualBrew System can handle all my espresso and drip coffee-making needs in one convenient package.
I first tested the DualBrew System (known as the Ninja Espresso and Coffee Maker Barista System in the US) about nine months ago, and it's still the most impressive two-in-one coffee system I've ever used. It isn't a particularly glamorous appliance to have sitting on your counter — it's designed for function rather than looks — but it's enormously practical and has clearly been designed by people who know and love their coffee.
(Image credit: Future)On the left of its roughly cuboid-shaped body, you have a fully featured drip coffee maker, with a standard-sized brew basket and toughened glass carafe. It has all the features you'd expect from a good-quality standalone brewer, including different intensity settings (regular, rich, or over ice) and a timer to start brewing when you wake.
However, there are also some great additions, such as a drip-stop system that means you can safely remove the carafe partway through brewing without making a mess, as well as a fold-down drip tray so you can brew directly into a travel cup rather than the carafe if you want your coffee to-go in the morning.
Some drip coffee makers use of a double-walled insulated carafe to keep your drink at the ideal temperature after brewing, whereas others use a hotplate. The DualBrew System is in the latter camp, but unlike any other drip coffee maker I've tested, it has a smart hotplate that doesn't just heat your coffee consistently, but instead turns on and off to help maintain the right temperature without stewing your brew. It also turns off automatically when you take the carafe away.
FutureFutureFutureEspresso is handled on the right-hand side of the machine. The DualBrew System uses Nespresso Original-style coffee capsules, which means there's a huge array of different beans, blends, and roasts to choose from. Nestlé no longer owns the patent to this type of capsule, so any company is free to package its own freshly ground coffee in these little pods.
Personally, I like to use capsules from my local roastery, and an espresso made using these pods in the DualBrew System tastes almost identical to the same beans prepared with a manual coffee maker.
There's a choice of three drink sizes, and the espresso machine has an adjustable-height drip tray so you can use any cup you want. When you're done, the spent pod drops into a bin, ready to be emptied later.
FutureFutureFutureThe only downside of the DualBrew System is the lack of a steam wand (which makes sense, since there's no pressurized boiler here). Instead, there's an electric whisk that folds out from the rear of the machine. This doesn't heat your milk, but the DualBrew System offers a handy guide that advises how long to heat your milk for in the microwave, and how to whisk it for different espresso drinks. It's not the same as steam, but it's fine in a pinch when you don't have much space.
If that's a deal-breaker, a standalone milk frother such as the Dreo BaristaMaker or Smeg Mini Milk Frother will deliver more authentic results, and is small enough to tuck into the corner of a cabinet when it's not in use.
If you love coffee in all its forms but don't have acres of countertop space to spare, the DualBrew System provides everything you need in a single, neat package — and it's affordable, too. At the time of writing, it's available for $249.99 / £179, down from a list price of $279.99 / £249.99. You'll find all today's best deals at the bottom of this article.
- US bureau clears early design for South Korea's nuclear container ship concept
- Twin molten salt reactors replace conventional engines in ambitious cargo vessel proposal
- Engineers removed fuel tanks to create additional cargo-carrying capacity
South Korea has secured preliminary US approval for the conceptual design of a 15,000 TEU container ship powered by two molten salt small modular reactors (SMRs).
The Approval in Principle was issued by the American Bureau of Shipping, indicating the concept satisfies applicable safety intentions for this early design stage while remaining subject to additional technical conditions.
The proposal combines nuclear propulsion, energy storage, and an optimized vessel layout intended to improve operational efficiency while supporting long-term decarburization efforts across commercial shipping.
Dual-reactor concept focuses on safety and operational efficiencyThe Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) worked with Samsung Heavy Industries on hull development, reactor placement, and power management technologies for the vessel.
Meanwhile, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is responsible for developing the molten salt reactor intended for marine propulsion applications.
Together, the organizations designed a ship capable of carrying 15,000 TEU while maintaining operational characteristics suitable for commercial container transportation.
According to KRISO, the power architecture uses two redundant molten salt reactors that share electrical output while working alongside an onboard energy storage system.
Excess electricity can be stored before being supplied when demand increases, allowing reactor output and propulsion requirements to remain balanced throughout operations.
The conceptual design also incorporates a hull capable of reaching 25 knots while remaining compatible with the expanded Panama Canal.
Engineers placed the reactors near the vessel's center to reduce wave effects and lower potential collision risks during maritime operations.
Removing conventional fuel tanks and exhaust funnels also creates additional cargo space while allowing accommodation areas to be arranged with radiation protection and visibility requirements in mind.
To improve confidence in the design, researchers tested scaled ship models inside a deep-sea engineering tank to evaluate vessel motion under different marine conditions.
Those experiments produced data supporting hull development and reactor placement while examining how ship movement could affect major onboard systems.
Marine testing supports future nuclear shipping developmentPrincipal researcher Baek Bu-geun said reactor safety alone cannot determine whether nuclear propulsion is suitable for commercial vessels because overall ship design and operating conditions also require careful consideration.
"To apply SMRs to ship propulsion systems, not only the safety of the reactor but also the structure and operational characteristics of the ship and the marine environment must be comprehensively considered," Bu-geun said.
Future work would progress through basic and detailed design phases addressing the interface between the ship and reactor before possible demonstration projects.
"SMR-powered vessels are a next-generation technology that will determine the competitiveness of the future shipping industry…,” said KRISO President Hong Ki-yong.
Commercial shipping currently consumes approximately 350 million tonnes of fossil fuel annually and accounts for about 3% of global carbon emissions.
The proposed SMR-powered container forms part of ongoing efforts to develop lower-emission propulsion technologies, though commercial deployment remains years away.
Via WNN
- Pentagon issues Oracle with first ever direct-award contract
- Nearly $7 billion in existing Oracle licensing is consolidated into a single contract vehicle
- The contract is projected to deliver $441 million in savings by unifying technology purchases
The US Department of War (DoW) has awarded Oracle with a near-$7 billion contract as part of the Arsenal of Freedom to supply the Department with enterprise software and services.
The contract is one of the biggest Enterprise Software Agreements (ESA) ever issued by the Department, and is the first-ever, direct award contract. It is projected to deliver at least $441 million in savings by “consolidating fragmented, one-off information technology purchases into a unified, single award contract.”
The contract unifies all of Oracles’ previous software, services and licenses under a single vehicle, and will support the DoW, the Coast Guard and the Intelligence Community with consolidated licensing for vital software that the Department says will accelerate modernization and reduce “costly redundancies”.
Oracle awarded historic contractThe contract does not amount to new funding for Oracle, but is the total amount that Oracle receives across its existing contracts with the DoW under this new contract vehicle. The contract removes existing vertical purchasing channels between departments, and places procurement under a single entity that spans the US security and intelligence community.
This isn’t the first contract the DoW has awarded in an attempt to consolidate procurement between multiple branches. In May of this year, the Department awarded Dell and Microsoft with contracts worth $9.7 billion to provide unified software licensing across Microsoft 365, cloud subscriptions and on-premises licensing to prevent licensing sprawl and cut costs across the US defense community.
“For the Department of the Navy, this agreement supports faster delivery of secure, scalable software from the shore enterprise to the tactical edge for our Navy and Marine Corps teams,” said Barry Tanner, Performing the Duties of the Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer.
“Reducing fragmented procurement and advancing enterprise standardization will strengthen interoperability, reduce cybersecurity risk, and help us focus resources on resilient capabilities that can scale, integrate, and endure in contested conditions.”
Following the start of his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to centralize federal IT procurement under the General Services Administration (GSA) as part of efforts by the now defunct Department of Government Efficiency to reduce what it determined as unnecessary government spending.
Since financial auditing was introduced for the DoW in 2018, it has failed to pass a full department-wide evaluation.
Trump’s executive order prompted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to implement new measures on how the Pentagon negotiates licensing in order to receive the “most favorable rates on software and cloud services, so the DoD pays no more for IT services than any other enterprise in America.”
Marc Andreessen was a prominent figure in the early internet era, creating some of the earliest web browsers, including Netscape and Mosaic, which he authored. In recent years, he's weighed in on subjects including AI — but it was his comments on software that really summarised how technology evolved during the early 21st century.
Inside IntelAndreessen was running his venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, when he published his era-defining essay in the Wall Street Journal.
Quote of the dayThis article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.
The essay highlighted the dramatic shifts underway across the economy, with Andreessen centering his argument on the observation that software companies were poised to take over longstanding industries via the massive shift among consumers to online and digital spaces.
One example he highlighted was a misstep by the book retailer Borders, which closed all its US stores in 2011. In 2001, it handed over its online business to Amazon because, he argued, it saw online book sales as "non-strategic and unimportant".
Well, as Andreessen put it, "oops." He then highlighted Amazon's role as a software company with a core engine capable of selling virtually everything online.
Dog eat dogIn the cut and thrust of business over hundreds of years, there have been wave after wave of revolution, with new technologies overhauling and refreshing the landscape. Many businesses have persisted by adapting and pivoting, but the rapid proliferation of software over the last 30 years is now threatening to give way to an entirely new era.
Andreessen highlighted that, in 2011, the stock market "actually hates technology", and there's an argument to make that the stock market has once again turned its back on some of the biggest software giants, with AI threatening to make them redundant.
A few years on, Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, even built on the idea that the Netscape co-founder set out 15 years ago by suggesting that "AI is going to eat software".
- Russia arms Soviet-era aircraft with airborne FPV interceptor drone launch systems
- Yak-52 trainer receives six launch rails for interceptor drone operations
- Eighty-year-old An-2 gains unexpected role in modern aerial drone warfare
Russia has begun fitting Yak-52 trainer aircraft and An-2 utility planes with equipment designed for launching FPV interceptor drones against enemy UAVs.
A video released by the Russian unit BARS-Sarmat revealed two distinct aircraft configurations built for airborne drone launches.
One configuration is intended for ground launch, while the second version allows interceptor drones to be deployed directly from the air against approaching targets.
Yak-52 trials raise questions over cockpit space and drone targetsThe Yak-52 trainer aircraft carries six external launch rails mounted beneath its wings to hold interceptor drones ready for deployment.
The footage shows the aircraft taking off while carrying only four drones despite six visible launch positions on the airframe.
The Yak-52 is designed with a limited two-seat cockpit space, making it unclear how drone control is performed aboard this aircraft, as it appears to leave little room for equipment typically required to operate FPV interceptor systems mid-flight.
Russian interceptor drones were also shown engaging several Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles during the same exercise.
Some of the drones struck during the exercise reportedly appeared to be Maya decoys, alongside several other unidentified UAV types caught on camera during the flight.
The Yak-52 conversion allows an aircraft originally built for pilot instruction to assume a completely different battlefield function without requiring an entirely new airframe.
Although several technical details remain undisclosed, the aircraft marks Russia's latest attempt to combine existing aviation platforms with lower-cost counter-drone technology.
An-2's larger cabin enables onboard controlThe An-2 forms the second element of the programme, with its larger cabin providing sufficient space for onboard drone control equipment unavailable inside the more compact Yak-52.
Interceptor drones are launched from a fuselage-mounted attachment point, although Russia has not yet disclosed the aircraft's maximum payload or whether additional underwing launch stations will be introduced.
First introduced about 80 years ago, the An-2 remains one of the world's longest-serving utility aircraft and continues operating in both military and civilian aviation roles.
Russia has previously announced plans to restore 700 Soviet-era An-2 aircraft, making the interceptor drone programme another effort to extend the operational value of the aging fleet.
The concept bears similarities to Ukraine's earlier decision to adapt An-28 aircraft for launching P1-SUN interceptor drones equipped with an optical targeting system against Shahed UAVs.
Those modified aircraft can carry as many as six interceptor drones while supporting Ukraine's layered air defence network as a lower-cost alternative to conventional air-to-air missiles.
The latest Russian conversion illustrates how both sides are increasingly adapting legacy aircraft for counter-drone missions by pairing older airframes with modern FPV interceptor technology.
Via United 24 Media
A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Friday, July 24 (game #1642).
Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.
Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #1643) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #1643) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.
Quordle today (game #1643) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.
Quordle today (game #1643) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.
If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:
Quordle today (game #1643) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?• S
• S
• B
• G
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #1643) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle, game #1643, are…
- SALON
- SHEEN
- BURST
- GOURD
A nice and easy game (for me at least) to start the weekend.
My starter words paid huge dividends, giving me two straightforward anagrams to solve and making significant headstarts with SALON and GOURD. Happy days.
Daily Sequence today (game #1643) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1643, are…
- ETHOS
- DRIVE
- TALON
- PIZZA
- Quordle #1642, Friday, 24 July: DOLLY, EDIFY, LAGER, PRANK
- Quordle #1641, Thursday, 23 July: LADEN, EVICT, WOVEN, SHIRE
- Quordle #1640, Wednesday, 22 July: COYLY, SINGE, AWASH, AWOKE
- Quordle #1639, Tuesday, 21 July: TRUSS, AXIAL, SWINE, THING
- Quordle #1638, Monday, 20 July: ICING, SLICK, GAILY, RISEN
- Quordle #1637, Sunday, 19 July: SPURT, ACRID, THRUM, BLEEP
- Quordle #1636, Saturday, 18 July: KNAVE, TIGHT, BLEAT, CHAOS
- Quordle #1635, Friday, 17 July: CUMIN, PALER, GRASS, INBOX
- Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
- Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
- Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
- Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
- Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
- Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
- Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
- Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
- Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
- Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
- Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
- Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, July 24 (game #873).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #874) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Frocks and smocks
NYT Strands today (game #874) - hint #2 - clue wordsPlay any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- WORM
- RINK
- RIDE
- PAIN
- MUTE
- LUMP
• Spangram has 13 letters
NYT Strands today (game #874) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?• First side: top, 3rd column
• Last side: bottom, 5th column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #874) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Strands, game #874, are…
- GOWN
- TUNIC
- PINAFORE
- KIMONO
- DIRNDL
- MUUMUU
- SPANGRAM: YOUWEARITWELL
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 1 hint
THis was a game that started off easy and ended baffling.
After collecting the obvious pieces of clothing in GOWN, TUNIC, and PINAFORE, what remained on the board was a letter soup with no obvious words at all. After piecing together the spangram I did see KIMONO, but then drew a blank.
I needed a hint to get DIRNDL — the name for an Alpine dress — which left me MUUMUU, another garment I had not previously heard of but now know, thanks to Wikipedia, is a loose dress of Hawaiian origin.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 24, game #873)- EXTRA
- SURPLUS
- EXCESS
- LEFTOVER
- SPARE
- UNUSED
- SPANGRAM: ANDTHENSOME
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, July 24 (game #1139).
Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #1140) - today's words(Image credit: New York Times)Today's NYT Connections words are…
- STEAK
- LEONE
- PRIMO
- MALL
- MADRE
- MIST
- POKER
- CHOKE
- CLUB
- RAND
- TEAR
- NAIRA
- HIJO
- KWANZA
- WELL
- ABUELA
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Family members in another language
- GREEN: Sob
- BLUE: Money on the second largest continent
- PURPLE: Begin with a word that rhymes with “dip”
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #1140) - hint #2 - group answersWhat are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: SPANISH RELATIVES
- GREEN: START TO CRY, WITH "UP"
- BLUE: AFRICAN CURRENCIES
- PURPLE: STRIP____
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #1140) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Connections, game #1140, are…
- YELLOW: SPANISH RELATIVES: ABUELA, HIJO, MADRE, PRIMO
- GREEN: START TO CRY, WITH "UP": CHOKE, MIST, TEAR, WELL
- BLUE: AFRICAN CURRENCIES: KWANZA, LEONE, NAIRA, RAND
- PURPLE: STRIP____: CLUB, MALL, POKER, STEAK
- My rating: Hard
- My score: Perfect
Well this was annoying. As I was submitting AFRICAN CURRENCIES I couldn’t help but think to myself “I bet this bit of knowledge is worth a purple”, but no.
Sadly, knowing that KWANZA is used in Angola, the RAND in South Africa, LEONE in Sierra Leone, and NAIRA in Nigeria was only worth a blue. So where was the purple?
The answer came in the form of, in my view, the far easier thread of STRIP____.
I ended without any mistakes on what felt like a tricky game, so I’m not that annoyed really.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, July 24, 2026, game #1139)- YELLOW: TALK AT LENGTH: BABBLE, DRONE, RAMBLE, YAK
- GREEN: OUTCOMES FOR A BATTER: HOME RUN, SINGLE, STRIKEOUT, WALK
- BLUE: BRING TO MIND, AS A MEMORY: JOG, PROMPT, REFRESH, SPARK
- PURPLE: HOMOPHONES OF RELIGIOUS ROLES: CANTER, FRYER, LLAMA, NONE
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
- A reusable microwave drone reportedly disables more than 50 hostile UAVs per flight
- Lockheed Martin pushes cheaper answers to increasingly dangerous battlefield drone swarms
- The Morfius X-Rotor counter-drone system enters testing after successful multi-state flight evaluations
Lockheed Martin has unveiled its Morfius X-Rotor counter-drone system at the 2026 Farnborough Airshow, calling it a low-cost answer to challenging drone swarms.
The ground-launched system uses a one-to-many high-power microwave, or HPM, approach designed to disable multiple unmanned aerial vehicles during a single mission.
Company officials say the platform can neutralize more than 50 hostile drones in one flight, a capability aimed at addressing large-scale swarm attacks.
A reusable alternative to costly interceptorsThe 2026 Farnborough Airshow has centered largely on affordable counter-drone technology as militaries confront growing swarm threats across the globe.
Lockheed Martin says the approach avoids reliance on costly guided munitions typically used to strike individual aerial threats one at a time.
Unlike traditional interceptors that are destroyed after use, the Morfius X-Rotor is designed to be recovered and redeployed following each engagement.
According to Lockheed Martin, the system is compatible with existing command and control networks and does not require a dedicated sensor or fire-control radar.
That design choice, the company says, lowers the barrier for integration across a wide range of existing battlefield command networks.
The system “sets a new benchmark for counter-drone capability — delivering a high kill rate while keeping the cost per kill low,” said Randy Crites, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Advanced Programs.
“By leveraging a lightweight, field reusable high-power microwave architecture, we provide the most effective, low-cost solution on the market today.”
Lockheed Martin also announced plans to accelerate prototype production of both the drone platform and its microwave payload for frontline forces.
However, it has not disclosed a firm timeline for when the system might reach full-rate production for its military customers worldwide.
Testing continues amid interceptor shortagesThe Morfius X-Rotor recently completed flight testing in Arizona, California, and Oklahoma, where the system reportedly carried out interception missions.
Additional evaluation campaigns are scheduled for the coming months while engineers collect operational performance data before any broader deployment.
Lockheed Martin has not specified which branches of the U.S. military have expressed formal interest in acquiring the Morfius platform.
This announcement arrives as US forces seek cheaper alternatives to costly interceptors after depleting stockpiles against Iranian missiles and Shahed drones.
That shortfall has intensified debate over whether cheaper, non-kinetic systems like Morfius could reduce dependence on expensive munitions over time.
Lockheed Martin used the same event to introduce a lower-cost Patriot interceptor, part of a broader push to reduce per-unit defense costs.
Together, the two announcements suggest Lockheed Martin is betting heavily on affordability as a selling point amid tightening defense budgets.
Whether the Morfius X-Rotor can match its stated kill rate under real combat conditions remains unverified outside company-run trials so far.
Independent assessments of its effectiveness against dense, coordinated drone swarms will likely determine whether militaries adopt the system at scale.
Via Defense News
Spoilers for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 1 ahead.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 1 has arrived, and is now available to stream worldwide on HBO Max.
In short, our "starting" versions of Stuart (Kevin Sussman), Denise (Lauren Lapkus), Kripke (John Ross Bowie) and Bert (Brian Posehn) live in a reality akin to The Walking Dead, complete with Mad Max-style apocalyptic outposts and wasps that are the size of cars.
Stuart accidentally triggered this multiverse Armageddon after breaking a device supposedly built by Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki).
Shortly after Kripke, that universe's leader, is confronted by the rest of the group, we meet our first secret TBBT cameo: Raj (Kunal Nayyar). He's basically become a doomsday prepper, working on plans on a blackboard for how to get the device working and get the hell outta dodge.
But just as quickly as we've met him, Raj is killed while the others safely teleport to... well, hopefully somewhere better. It's a bold move, and one that has shocked fans if social media is anything to go by.
However, we've been so caught up in Raj's death that we haven't considered one major detail... it hasn't really happened at all.
Only one version of Raj is now dead... and it's certainly not the one from The Big Bang TheoryDid you forget? This is just one version of Raj in one universe, meaning there's still an infinite number of Raj's out there to be found.
As none of the versions of the characters we're meeting are actually the ones seen in TBBT, original Raj is safely in California doing some science equations in peace (probably).
This doesn't even rule out Raj appearing again later on in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. Now that we know he's a confirmed cameo for the HBO Max spinoff, it would be silly not to use him again where possible. With the overarching narrative so difficult to predict, the possibilities are endless.
If nothing else, this now means that we're likely to see other TBBT cast members cameo in other episodes, and whether they're killed off or not. However, who these cameos might be is anybody's guess.
What we do know for episodes 2-10 is pretty minimal, but the below preview gives us the faintest idea of what to expect. Strap in, is all I'm saying.
Fancy taking to the skies? DJI is the brand you're probably looking at — it's the name behind almost all the best drones around right now. If you're new to the world of drones, figuring out your options is tricky. This article is here to guide you through your options. I'll run through the main DJI ranges and who they're aimed at, and then once you've narrowed things down you can hop to the relevant section to read our reviews for each model. Let's get started...
Note: You'll only be able to see product cards for the models currently available to buy in your region. Due to FCC issues, not all DJI drones are available in the US. Hit the More details button to read our main takeaways for each model, and for a link to the full review.
DJI range guideDJI Mini
DJI's flagship compact drones, and the best-selling range for beginner pilots. These are all sub-250g models, which means they come with little-to-no flight restrictions, depending on where you fly.
• Check out the Mini lineup
DJI Air
A step up from the Mini series, aimed at enthusiasts. These drones fall into the next weight category up, which means they're sturdier and you'll be able to fly for longer, but you'll need your region's equivalent of a certificate of competency before you fly.
• Check out the DJI Air lineup
DJI Mavic
Top-tier consumer drones with industry-leading camera performance. These are another step up from the DJI Air range, and again you'll need a certificate of competency before you fly.
• Check out the DJI Mavic lineup
DJI Neo
The cheapest, smallest, lightest and simplest DJI drone. It comes with single-push take-off from your hand, designed for aerial selfies (this kind of drone is sometimes referred to as a selfie drone).
• Check out the DJI Neo lineup
DJI Avata
FPV (first person view) drones, designed to be used with goggles for immersive high-speed and responsive flight — legally you need a 'spotter' with you when flying drones through goggles.
• Check out the DJI Avata lineup
There are a few standalone options to be aware of. The Lito is a straightforward beginner drone at an extremely wallet-friendly price — it's a step down from the Mini range in both price and capabilities. The DJI Flip is another beginner drone with vlogger-friendly features. At the other end of the scale is the DJI Inspire range, aimed at professionals — the kind of thing that might be hired for productions.
- New 1-inch sensor with detail rich 4K HDR video
- Versatile camera with a 225 degree roll rotation
- Class-leading flight and safety features
- Actual take-off weight could result in being the next class of drone, hit with restrictions
- Flight times typically not as long as advertised
- Pricier than entry-level models like the Mini 4K
- Excellent value
- 4K video quality beats rivals
- Probably your best first drone
- No object-collision sensors
- Lacks subject tracking found in pricier models like the Mini 4 Pro
- Improved video features
- Omnidirectional Vision Sensing
- Remains under 250g
- Upgrades may not tempt Mini 3 Pro owners
- Not suited to windy conditions
- Fixed-aperture camera
- More affordable than the Mini 3 Pro
- Great image quality
- Small and lightweight
- No collision avoidance
- 4K video limited to 30fps
- No subject tracking
- Impressive low-light performance
- Useful obstacle avoidance
- Handy automated flight modes
- Pricier than previous Mini models
- Intuitive navigation
- Compact, convenient drone
- Great battery life
- Pricier than predecessor
- No new camera hardware
- No follow mode
- Excellent price
- Feature-packed
- Impressive cameras
- Weight just exceeds 2.2lbs / 1kg
- More features than many people will need
- Subject tracking is not as varied as the DJI Flip or Neo
- Four Thirds camera is excellent
- Useful adjustable aperture
- Improved safety features
- Telephoto lens a handy backup
- Pricier than Mavic 2 series
- Basic controller lacks info screen
- European classification issues
- Three useful cameras
- Excellent image quality
- Solid safety features
- C2 European rating
- Not everyone will need three cameras
- Slightly reduced flight times
- Less expensive than other Mavic 3 models
- Excellent image quality
- Impressive safety features
- Remains expensive despite lower cost
- Battery life shorter than claimed
- No Apple ProRes video capture
- Dual cameras
- Excellent wind resistance
- Generous 46-minute flight time
- Already excellent safety features improved further
- C1 European rating
- Fixed aperture is bad news for ND filter users
- Large protruding camera likely to suffer in case of accidents
- Superb battery life
- Easy and safe to fly
- Great all-round camera performance
- Weight-class restrictions apply
- A minor upgrade on the original Air 3
- 1-inch 20 MP sensor
- Great image quality
- Small and lightweight
- Controller isn’t foldable
- Image edges slightly soft
- No adjustable aperture
- Now has obstacle avoidance
- Improved camera performance
- More storage and faster transfer speed
- Still only shoots JPEG photos
- Limited battery life
- Small and lightweight
- Easy to use
- Multiple flight control options
- Only shoots photos in JPEG
- 4K video fixed at 30fps
- Expensive to add on goggles and FPV controller
- Great 10-bit image quality from dual sensor setup
- Choice of control methods
- Agile, speedy and safe flyer
- Good value for money
- Other DJI drones beat it on image quality
- Buying both FPV and standard controllers could push up the price
- No manual FPV flight option
- Long flight time
- Incredible image quality with improved dynamic range
- Easy to fly out of the box, and packed with safety features
- Unappealing to experienced FPV pilots outside of the DJI ecosystem
- Poor ergonomics of the DJI Controller 3 show no improvement over the DJI Controller 2
- Awkward handling in manual mode, probably down to inadequate tuning
- Great video quality for the price, especially with Lito X1
- Omnidirectional obstacle avoidance included
- Better battery life than the Neo 2 and Flip
- Camera doesn't rotate for 9:16 content
- Soft digital zoom
- No built-in storage on Lito 1 model
- Multi-use functionality
- Several flight-control options
- Sub-250g folding design
- Image quality is good but not great
- Not as agile as the Mini 4 Pro
- Not great in wind
- Excellent image quality
- Smooth and precise flight
- Interchangeable lenses
- Expensive
- Large and heavy
- More complicated than consumer models
- A huge amount of fun to fly
- Easy to fly for an FPV drone
- Goggles offer great image quality
- Solid transmission
- Front props visible in footage
- Stills photography severely limited
- 'Spotter' needed when flying outdoors
- UK plans include trebling data center capacity (and likely, water consumption) by 2030
- Daily average consumption doesn't reflect peak demand during times of stress
- Water UK sets out three considerations to prepare for increased demand
Despite the nation wanting to treble its data center capacity by 2030, a key trade body has warned British government policies have not considered the rising demand for water.
At the moment, England's water resources forecasts, for example, exclude the likes of data centers and gigafactories.
"Water companies therefore have a limit placed on how much future water they can provide," Water UK wrote, warning that air cooling doesn't quite cut it due to the high expense and inefficiency compared with water cooling.
UK data center plans forget to mention waterWith current estimations implying that Britain's data centers consume around 6.6 million litres per day, the equivalent of 20,000 homes, trebling capacity would ultimately mean the UK would need find find a volume of water equivalent to a further 40,000 homes.
But 'average' doesn't quite spell out the reality of water consumption, because peak demand can rise to around 14 million litres per day in the warmest weather. Under that guidance and with the current 2030 ambitions, the UK would need to be prepared to drop 42 million litres per day, highlighting the need for major storage facilities.
The report also slates the government for advising water companies to plan as if businesses would need less water in the future – forgetting that data center consumption changes this model.
Water UK sets out three options for the government to consider, beginning with temporarily removing the limit on how much water utility companies can take from the environment, with the important caveat that they spend that time exploring and funding new sources of water abstraction.
Two further options include allowing developers to fund new water supplies, and imposing tougher water efficiency standards on data center projects.
- Recorded Future found an Iran-linked group spreading spyware
- The malware is delivered through fake VPN and media player apps
- Researchers assess that most targets are Iranian users
A new report from Recorded Future's Insikt Group describes a campaign that inverts the whole point of a privacy tool: fake VPN apps built specifically to spy on the people who install them.
Researchers have linked fresh infrastructure to an Iran-nexus threat cluster they track as TAG-182, which is using fake VPN and media player downloads to allegedly deliver a surveillance tool called MarkiRAT. The group is "highly likely" to be targeting Iranians living inside and outside the country, the report says.
It's a blunt reminder that choosing one of the best VPN services is a lot more secure than downloading free, unvetted tools.
Fake apps, real surveillanceInsikt Group identified a cluster of attacker-controlled domains allegedly used to stage downloads of applications that appear nowhere on Google Play or Apple's App Store.
Two names stand out: Pis2ray VPN and a media player branded YESHICA, which was quietly renamed YESHICA YEPlayer in March 2026 after researchers publicly exposed the original.
According to researchers, if you download and run one of these files, you get MarkiRAT, a remote access Trojan. In plain terms, that is software that hands control of your device to somebody else.
A fake VPN app. A fake media player. Both delivering Iranian government surveillance #malware to targeted dissidents. Insikt Group has new research on TAG-182 and MarkiRAT:https://t.co/G7p9JO6peT#ThreatIntelligence #Cybersecurity pic.twitter.com/GwDyvGC99rJuly 2, 2026
Analysts have documented it capturing screenshots and uploading them to attacker-run servers, while disguising itself under believable process names.
It also abuses BITS, the background service Windows uses to fetch updates, to pull down further files. Because that activity looks like ordinary system housekeeping rather than an attack, it tends to slip past routine cleanup.
MarkiRAT is not new. It has previously been used by Ferocious Kitten, a group Kaspersky documented conducting years of covert surveillance against activists inside Iran.
Recorded Future stops short of attributing TAG-182 to any specific Iranian agency, but places it within a broader ecosystem of state-aligned surveillance groups.
Why a fake VPN makes such an effective lureDistribution runs largely through social media. Insikt Group found Instagram posts promoting Pis2ray VPN in the weeks following street protests in Iran in late 2025, and again around the country's prolonged internet shutdown, which ended with partial restoration of access on 26 May 2026.
The people most desperate for a virtual private network (VPN) in a censored country are exactly the people most likely to install one from a social media link, because the official stores are often the very thing they cannot reach.
Recorded Future considers it almost certain that most targets are located in Iran or tied to anti-government movements in Europe and North America. TechRadar has covered previous Iran-linked fake VPN campaigns, and this one seems to follow the same pattern with better infrastructure.
How to stay safeMost readers will never be targeted by a state actor, but the underlying lesson travels.
Install VPN apps only from official stores, and check that the provider has a real, verifiable presence outside the app listing.
Treat any VPN promoted through an Instagram post, a Telegram channel, or a direct message as suspect, however polished it looks.
Star ratings are a weak signal, since fake reviews are cheap.
Spoilers for The Crow Girl seasons 1 and 2 ahead.
It's no secret that we're beyond spoiled for choice when it comes to crime dramas, and that's just considering what's available to us on mainstream streaming services. But getting one that truly shakes us to the core is a lot rarer.
So when I stumbled across The Crow Girl season 1 on Paramount+, my mind was melted to mush by the time I got to the finale. In short, DCI Jeanette Kilburn (Eve Myles) and eminent psychotherapist Dr Sophia Craven (Katherine Kelly) join forces to hunt the killer of young men, but there's a lot more going on than meets the eye.
By the end of season 1, it was revealed that Victoria Burkeman, a prime suspect in the case, was actually Craven herself. She killed her father after he killed their daughter — meaning Victoria was sexually assaulted by her dad while her mum knew and did nothing to stop it.
It's heavy stuff, but I cannot stress enough how unexpectedly the reveal was, and how cleverly the clues were woven through the storyline.
18 months later and I'm pleased to say that The Crow Girl season 2, now on the streamer and Channel 5, doesn't disappoint... and that means a whole new level of shocking reveals.
The Crow Girl season 2 ending leaves Kilburn for dead, but Craven — now her lover — isn't responsibleIt's important to remember that when we find out that Craven is actually Victoria, Kilburn is none the wiser. With the two women drawn to each other, a romantic connection sparks... secretly, seeing as Kilburn is technically cheating on her husband in the process.
Drama! Things get even worse in the finale, when the entire police station, which includes Kilburn's boss, finds out that she's been accidentally sleeping with the prime suspect in their murder case (the case itself hasn't changed since season 1).
Here's where the story gets more complicated. While we've known that Craven and Victoria are one, Craven apparently doesn't know herself. Kilburn explains that she's got DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), meaning that Victoria is likely responsible for every murder they've investigated so far, including her own dad.
At this point, Kilburn is forced out of the station and threatened with questioning the next morning, but Craven is back at the manor she used to be abused in, unwilling for the party being thrown there to do any further damage to young girls.
Craven entices Kilburn there, and by the time she arrives, all of the guests are dead with the girls safely hidden. But as Victoria takes over Craven's mind, a surviving abuser shows up and shoots at the pair, hitting Kilburn in the leg. Don't panic though... after some further antagonizing, Craven pops one in his head. But will Kilburn pull through?
I genuinely don't see how The Crow Girl season 2 could be any more unhinged. If we're lucky, season 3 will be renewed, with the original book series telling us that Craven will learn how to "blend" her identities.
Sign me up, once I've got my head around what's just happened.
Our mission at TechRadar is to deliver the very best tech news, features, and reviews every day, and that adds up to a lot of content — so much, in fact, that it's difficult to keep up with all the articles published on these pages across the course of any given week.
That's why we've put together this ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) review of the week, where we recap the most interesting and most important stories of the last seven days. You can get caught up without having to go back through hundreds of stories.
It's been another hectic week for technology fans, with new products from Garmin and Samsung, a rather worrying AI security incident, and plenty more.
Before we dive in, see how much of last week's ICYMI news round-up you remember first by taking the quiz below...
7. We tried Garmin’s new Whoop rivalWe've tested the Garmin Cirqa (Image credit: Future)Garmin's newest fitness tracker follows the lead of the Whoop bands and the Fitbit Air from Google by eschewing a screen and going as lightweight and minimal as possible (you can still check your stats in the app of course). The TechRadar team wasted no time in trying out the Garmin Cirqa, and comparing it with a highly rated heart rate strap.
The Cirqa held up impressively well against the Polar H10 heart rate monitor, which bodes well for the tracker's accuracy overall (and Garmin says it should be more accurate and more personalized the more you use it). You can pick up the Cirqa now in a choice of four colors for $199.99 / £179.99 / AU$299.99, with some features requiring a subscription.
- Read the full story: Is Garmin Cirqa good? I wanted to know if Garmin’s Fitbit Air rival is accurate — so I tested it against a 'gold standard' electrical heart rate strap
The much anticipated, long awaited Avengers: Doomsday movie hits theaters on December 18, but in the meantime we have the first trailer to pore over and dissect. We knew that Marvel was going to throw everything at this film, and that's evident in this 145-second clip, which packs in a whole host of significant scenes and star names from the series.
Let us guide you through all the reveals we've got in this trailer, including some you might have missed. There's Robert Downey Jr in his new role as Doctor Victor von Doom, the return of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, a collision of multiverses (spot the X-Men), and a whole gaggle of actual Avengers. Based on this trailer, the movie will be a thrill ride for fans.
- Read the full story: Avengers: Doomsday official trailer breakdown live — all of our analysis and theories on the new Marvel movie's latest teaser
Samsung launched several flagship devices this week, and while we'll get to the foldable phones shortly, there are also smartwatches to talk about. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is the successor to the original that launched in 2024, and continues Samsung's attempts to manufacture a wearable that sets the standard in terms of design and performance.
Based on the time we've spent with it, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is very much worthy of your consideration if you're thinking about a smartwatch upgrade. It's more lightweight than its predecessor, works seamlessly with other devices, offers numerous useful (and often AI-powered features), and can track a whole range of fitness statistics.
- Read the full story: Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 review: slimmer, lighter, better
In 'sign of the times' news, the government in China has taken steps to clamp down on AI apps that act like real people, and on romantic relationships with chatbots. The authorities in the country are now going to have much more control over the type of AI chatbots allowed, and what they can do in terms of human-like interactions with users.
Several of the biggest AI apps operating in China have simply shut down their 'persona' apps rather than try and navigate a way through the regulations, leaving a significant number of users heartbroken that their AI companion has suddenly disappeared. Whether the changes will do anything for China's declining birth rates remains to be seen.
- Read the full story: China just banned AI girlfriends and boyfriends — and millions of users were forced into sudden breakups
And another new Samsung product: the Galaxy Unpacked for July 2026 gave us the opportunity to check out Samsung Intelligent Eyewear, the series of smart glasses that will be available to buy in the coming months. There were two new designs unveiled at the show, with more on the way, though we don't yet have details like final product pricing.
Samsung executives were also on hand to talk through their ambitions and intentions with the Intelligent Eyewear series, and to discuss various privacy concerns — with many consumers worried about the potential for surreptitious surveillance using specs like these. "Intentional bad uses need to be covered and protected," Samsung told us.
- Read the full story: 'If, because of that, we stop innovation, we don’t go anywhere': we got a first look at Samsung Intelligent Eyewear, the smart glasses entering a fraught market worried about privacy
Not the most encouraging story if you're already worried about the nefarious use of AI: OpenAI says that one of its experimental agent models escaped a security sandbox and proceeded to hack into the Hugging Face website (one of the biggest AI and machine learning repositories on the web). It was a controlled experiment, but it's still worrying.
Click through on the link below for the full details, but the hack was the result of OpenAI's own testing on its latest AI models, and raises questions about how much longer we're going to be able to keep control of AI — or prevent bad actors from using it to trigger a serious cybersecurity incident. A serious rethink of AI guardrails could be in the offing.
- Read the full story: OpenAI says its models escaped a sandbox and breached Hugging Face
Finally: Samsung's brand new flagship foldables for 2026. There are three new models to talk about, and we've had hands-on time with all of them already — the Galaxy Z Fold 8 (with its new 'passport-style' form factor), the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and the Galaxy Z Flip 8. Whatever kind of foldable phone you're after, there's something to interest you here.
It's likely the Galaxy Z Fold 8 that will attract the most interest, given the new dimensions, and the supposed similarity to the rumored iPhone Fold (or Ultra) that's also said to be arriving this year. However, we've put all three foldables through some extensive early testing, including looking at how video viewing experiences compare across the models.
Sometimes, reviews are written with a heavy heart, and this is exactly that. I've championed Nothing's affordable "(a)" earbuds for well over two years — with the updated pink set for 2026 appearing to be right up my strasse. But all is not as it first appears.
The issues don't concern their cost. Like before, they come in at just under $100 and are therefore a candidate for our best budget earbuds guide.
Bizarrely, for the review star rating, I also have very few bones to pick with audio quality, which is still best pals with LDAC and now with Bluetooth 6.0 for a stronger connection. I recommend you tweak the sound profile from the box, mind — it's overly bassy by default — but that's hardly unheard of for earbuds at this level, and it can be rectified with a little effort.
It would have been lovely if Nothing had allowed its special sonic tests (for personalised EQ profile curation done by Nothing's software, rather than you tweaking sliders or blobs yourself) to be made available here, but the company has clearly decided that its three-minute hearing test is flagship only — although there is a new "Advanced" 8-band EQ tab with "Q factor" (more on this later).
What of the comfort levels and overall build quality? Here you get everything you'd expect of Nothing: rock-solid, colorful, and with just a couple of new flourishes to enjoy. Battery life has taken a knock, but that might possibly be down to having to work a bigger driver.
So what's the main problem? Actually there are two: Call Recording and Audio Snapshot (sometimes referred to as Audio Capture in Nothing's extensive marketing). Nobody asked for these features and, honestly, they're not the USP I wanted — even as a journalist who interviews people regularly.
None of the best noise-cancelling earbuds we recommend come with these features, but that's hardly a problem in itself. Such tech exists in the world, obviously; I point you to the Viaim RecDot, for example. But the Viaim's buds publicise their raison d'etre; there's a visible "record" button on the case, a light for in-person meetings, and a business-class $249.99 / £185 price tag. That's not the case with Nothing's version, where a surreptitious squeeze of the stem kicks off audio capture of your current call (or whatsapp voice note) in a set of buds that otherwise seem to scream "I'm a bit of fun!"
As with the RecDot, Nothing offers tech to transcribe your recordings (and not just on its own phones, either) — to a point. You get three months of its Pro Transcription service for free, with 120 minutes to use each month. And after the trial? Nothing tells me official pricing hasn't yet been finalised, but will be decided in August. If it was hard to recommend such a package before, it's even harder now when one doesn't know how much it will cost.
I can't help but feel that Nothing has taken a wrong turn here. I'd much rather have seen fan-favorite features such as personalised sound profiles and/or wireless charging rather than in-call recording. Some TechRadar team members have suggested I make like Elsa and just Let It Go, but in a year when consumer tech already feels uncomfortably intrusive (Meta, I'm looking at you with those smart glasses), adding call and voice note recording feels like a step too far. It's important to question where these features are taking us.
At $99 / £99, the price is definitely right. I'm just not sure the feature set is…
- Released on July 7, 2026
- Priced $99 / £99 / around AU$192, same as the 2024 Ear (a)
The Nothing Ear (3a) cost the same as their predecessor, priced at $99 / £99.
Although the name might suggest otherwise, these are the direct successors to the excellent, five-star Nothing Ear (a) from 2024 – there was never a Nothing Ear (1a) or Nothing Ear (2a). They also slot nicely alongside the still-current but more expensive Nothing Ear (3), with the shared 3 denoting that they're part of the same generation.
The Ear (a) are some of the best budget earbuds I've ever had the pleasure of testing, and I'd looked forward to their update ever since word was out that it was coming.
Key rivals to the Nothing Ear (3a) include the Apple AirPods 4, which offer gesture control alongside a few other iPhone-exclusive features, or, for a little less, the five-star Cambridge Audio Melomania A100. If you're tempted by open earbuds instead, the Huawei FreeArc or even clip-style SoundPEATS Clip1 can both be picked up for less than the Nothing Ear (3a) right now, making them excellent-value alternatives.
Nothing Ear (a) on the left, Ear (2) on the right. Yes, there are key differences (Image credit: Future)Nothing Ear (3a) review: SpecsDrivers
12mm custom driver
Active noise cancellation
Yes
Battery life
Up to 6 hours (ANC off); up to 4.5 hours (ANC on); up to 25 hours with case (ANC off) or up to 18 hours (ANC on)
Weight
4.53g per earbud
Connectivity
Bluetooth 6.0 with LDAC, USB-C
Frequency range
20Hz – 40kHz
Waterproofing
IP54
Other features
Wideband Active Noise Cancellation up to 45dB, 3 MEMs mics per earbuds with AI ENC, Nothing X App support, Custom 8-band EQ, Find My Earbuds, Low Lag mode, auto-off, Dual Connection, extra ear-tip, Audio Snapshot and in-call recording
Hello, yellow! (Image credit: Future)Nothing Ear (3a) review: Features- Bluetooth 6.0 (15m range) with LDAC support
- Improved ANC (cancellation up to 45 dB, effective to 5 kHz)
- Pinch stems for Call Recording/Audio Snapshot, no Nothing phone required
It would be easy to say, "Look, you don't like the cutesy branding of Nothing's new 'Audio Snapshot' offering? Don't use it — there's still plenty to like for $99!" but let's dig in to see why the take is not so simple.
Firstly, we should get granular on what Audio Snapshot and Call Recording do, and what they cannot do. I mentioned above that as a journalist, I regularly record interviews, often over Zoom, Google Meet or even Microsoft Teams. When set up as an interview, my subjects usually take it as a given that I will be recording — and where I reside in the UK, it is legal to record calls, even without consent from the other party. I still always ask.
In the US, however, the laws on recording phone calls are different, varying from state to state. For calls crossing state lines, the stricter 'two party consent' law (as per the Federal Wiretap Act) applies, where both parties on a call must consent to a recording.
So what is Nothing doing about it? In its reviewers' guide, the company says it "aligns with internationally recognised privacy standards ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and EN 18031". To this end, during setup, the Nothing X app also displays a short tutorial reminding users to obtain permission before recording calls — as shown below.
Interestingly, on a traditional phone call made in the UK, the "prompt" Nothing promises will be played to everyone on the call is a simple beep. On Google Meet, a female voice announces "This call will be recorded in 3, 2, 1", presumably so anyone not OK with that can scream "Oh no you don't!". From smartphone to smartphone, there's no vocal.
Thanks to the Nothing Ear (3a)'s 32MB of onboard storage, you can start recording with just a pinch of the stems, storing up to two hours of audio on the earbuds themselves. You can also record and transcribe voice notes from apps such as Instagram or WhatsApp — and from August, Nothing says it will add summaries of call recordings, speaker identification and the ability to create calendar reminders based on what was discussed.
Nothing (app screen grabs by Future) Nothing (app screen grabs by Future)What these earbuds can't do is record conversations that take place around you, or indeed your own voice. So, thankfully, there's no scope for eavesdropping around the water cooler.
However, my thoughts on this are clear— I'm not wholly OK with it. It puts the onus on buyers to adhere to laws, and opens the door for flouting rules of consent. I tried muting my mics to see whether the beep could be silenced, but it still plays for the person on the other end of the call to signal that recording has begun. Nevertheless, I think I've made my concerns around this feature clear.
Elsewhere, you get Bluetooth v6.0 and LDAC support for hi-res audio (the Sony-developed codec that lets you stream high-resolution audio up to 32-bit/96kHz over Bluetooth at up to 990kbps, if your device supports it and the file is up to scratch). While the predecessor did also include the latter, it remains a valuable inclusion here.
There's also onboard spatial audio, albeit of the "static" variety rather than head-tracked spatial audio that keeps the sound anchored to your source device as you move your head. It adds a little extra depth and height to the presentation, but for me, the effect is decidedly light-touch compared to what you get from pricier earbuds.
Note that you don't get the Ear (3)'s splendid personalized hearing tests, or the useful "walkie-talkie" Super Mic. That said, there's in-ear detection (to pause music when you remove the buds and resume it when they're in), a low-lag toggle for gaming, seamless pairing, multipoint to two devices, an ear-tip fit test and a Find My Earbuds feature, which emits a rattlesnake-style sound from whichever bud you're trying to locate, to help you find it.
Nothing's Transparency mode is decent. It's a little warm, but it still delivers a more three-dimensional presentation than many buds at this level. I could hear the placement of the TV, voices in my home and a dog outside, rather than all of these sounds appearing tinny, omnipresent and seemingly on top of one another.
When deploying ANC (rather than "Transparency" or "Off"), you can once again select from High, Mid, Low, and Adaptive noise-nixing profiles. High is decent: Nothing tells me performance is up to 45dB (effective to 5 kHz), which equates to a 17.1% improvement compared to the Ear (a), thanks to a software upgrade and improved architecture regarding where the mic sits.
The issue in 2026 is the existence of the AirPods Pro 3 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (Gen 2). Although it would be unfair to compare like for like, owing to the chasm in pricing, you can get better if you're willing to pay for it. That said, the ANC here is no slouch, giving a fairly clean, largely uninterrupted and issue-free neutral background for my music.
If you have a Nothing Phone, the Nothing X app and the ChatGPT app, then you can once again you can also access ChatGPT access via the Ear (3a)'s stem; simply squeeze and talk.
The new EQ tab is now an eight-band offering (up from three in the older buds), as well as the more basic audio splodge Nothing made its own — and which I rather like since it reminds me of Nura True Pro's visual depictions, rather than a mixing desk. You also get five presets in the Advanced tab, and four in the Simple tab — but you can create your custom EQ using whichever system you prefer.
And I think you'll need to get familiar with these, as I'm about to explain…
- Features score: 4 / 5
- LDAC support represents value
- Fun, V-shaped sound — if a little quiet
- A little bass-heavy from the box, but you can fix it
As was the case with their siblings, it would be wrong of me to knock Nothing Ear (3a) in the sonic department for this money. The sound quality is easily worthy of the outlay.
That said, there are a few points to bring to your attention.
Those with a Sony or Samsung smartphone (I used a Sony Xperia) will find much to celebrate in LDAC music streaming. In My Chemical Romance's The Ghost of You, guitars snake from my left to right ear in a cohesive mix — with Gerard Way's vocal central, petulant and every bit as emotive as I remember it in the mid-noughties.
Even when I stream Apple Music songs from my iPhone, the Nothing Ear (3a) offer ample width as my playlist continues to Thank You For the Venom and the intro guitars find a spacious home in my left ear. There's room around every stem in the mix to shine, but they're all held properly in check, even in this fast-paced and challenging song.
It's a little bass-heavy at times, though. Fleetwood Mac's The Chain is a good test of a regimented low-end, and alongside the kick-drums, I did lose just a little of Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham in that glorious upper harmony through the chorus. It seems to be Nothing's modus operandi to offer a bassy listen generally, and while I did find that the new Advanced EQ tab helped, I think the enhanced low-end went a little far here.
Nothing offers a "Q Factor" in addition to what you've just tweaked in the 8-band tab, to control the width or sharpness of your adjustment. So, imagine it as a "quality factor" (because that is what it stands for), where the number you select between 0.1 and 10 determines how wide or narrow of a frequency range is boosted or cut — all of this specific to your chosen frequency. Selecting a low Q Factor will generate a wider, more gentle curve to your adjustment, where a high Q Factor will make the change narrower, steeper and more effective around that specific frequency augmentation (or reduction).
I eased off the bass and selected a Q Factor of 3.2, but you must of course play with these things yourself — and sadly, Nothing hasn't included its hearing tests here, to check how perceptive your ears are within this particular tuning.
For dynamics and nuance, the Nothing Ear (3a) are perhaps a shade less engaging and arresting than I'm used to, owing to their volume. Once criticism often levelled at Nothing's budget earbuds is they don't go especially loud, and I frequently found myself listening above 50% volume. Also, since battery life is measured at that volume, it did mean the quoted "4.5-hour battery life with ANC deployed" claims although bang on, were still disappointing.
- Sound quality score: 4 / 5
- Curvier case
- That 1mm bigger driver is sucks up power
- And the battery life isn't great
Hold the Nothing Ear (3a) earpieces and case next to their older Nothing Ear (a) and you'll certainly struggle in a game of spot the difference. There's the color, obviously — also available in black, white and a slightly different yellow to the hue I love in this older set — and the 50% curvier case. There's also a trio of LEDs on the case that deliver a total of six status indications for battery status, pairing status, charging levels and so on.
For further tweaks, we have to look deeper.
The driver is now 12mm rather than 11mm and features an "aerospace-grade diaphragm". You also get an extra set of ear-tips in the box, four in total, and although the XS will appeal to owners of small ears, the actual earpieces here aren't tiny, despite being lighter in weight than Ear (a), at 4.53g versus 4.8g. The actual design of the tips has been finessed, too: they're a little thicker and more flared across the outer wall. I found the buds very secure, if a little big to accommodate comfortably over my small-ish ears over the course of long listening sessions.
I've said it before now and I'll say it again: I think we've reached a point of diminishing — perhaps even negative — returns when it comes to ever-larger earbud drivers. Every new release seems to tout a bigger driver without adding weight, as if bigger automatically means better. But where does it end? 13mm drivers? 15mm drivers? To my ears, the Ear (3a)'s 1mm larger driver hasn't negatively impacted the sound, but I don wonder if it's contributed to sthe shorter battery life. In my briefing, I was told the buds themselves would last 10 hours — but that turned out not to be the case.
While the battery in each earpiece — along with the larger driver and onboard 16MB flash drive — works hard to power the buds, it's only good for up to 6 hours without ANC, or 4.5 hours with ANC turned on. And remember, I had to pump the volume up higher than 50%, which the level at which those measurements are typically taken. With the case, you'll get up to 25 hours with ANC off, or up to 18 hours with it on.
None of these stats is much to write home about. Take Nothing's own Ear (a), which offered up to 9.5 hours of playback on a single charge with ANC off, and about 5.5 hours with ANC on. Now, consider the very inexpensive Cambridge Melomania A100, which offer 11 hours per charge or up to 39 hours with the case, along with aptX Lossless. I know which I'd rather take on long road-trips…
Again, Nothing's pinch-to-control stems return here, and while volume controls aren't enabled by default, you can assign them in the Nothing X app — provided you're happy to sacrifice another shortcut in the process.
While I'm here, a quick note on call-handling. It's absolutely clear and clean as a whistle, thanks to the 3 MEMS mics per bud.
- Design score: 4 / 5
- Still very good-looking earbuds
- Decent ANC; not so great for stamina
- LDAC adds value, but call-recording (for me, at least) is a no
Before now, I've always championed Nothing's "(a)" buds — and while the basics in the (3a) are fine, there are a few issues that are hard to ignore.
The Call Recording feature is top of the list here. More than any technical limitation, it's the privacy implications that concern me. Much as seeing someone wearing smart glasses now makes me wonder whether I'm being recorded, these earbuds leave me asking why someone might want to capture our conversations. I appreciate that some readers may see this as an overreaction, but it's a genuine concern for me, informed by my own experiences as a woman and former dancer who had to deal with overly familiar fans.
I think the audio quality here is perfectly acceptable for $99 / £99, but the stamina and feature set can be bettered. Even in the open earbuds market, I'd happily direct you to the cheaper Huawei FreeArc or SoundPEATS Clip1 over these earbuds.
- Value score: 4 / 5
Section
Notes
Score
Features
I can't get behind Call Recording — although the ANC is good enough
4/5
Sound quality
An fun listen that's easy to tweak if the bass proves a bit much. Just a tad quiet overall
4/5
Design
Good-looking buds let down by disappointing stamina
4/5
Value
It's hard for me to write it, but the smart money isn't always with Nothing
4/5
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}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-carousel-counter { font-size: 14px !important; color: #374151 !important; text-align: center !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-legend { display: flex !important; justify-content: center !important; flex-wrap: wrap !important; gap: 8px 16px !important; margin: 0 !important; padding: 0 !important; margin-top: 1rem !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-legend-item { display: flex !important; align-items: center !important; gap: 6px !important; font-size: 14px !important; color: #374151 !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-legend-color { width: 12px !important; height: 12px !important; border-radius: 3px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-multi-value-legend {display: flex !important;justify-content: center !important;flex-wrap: wrap !important;gap: 12px 24px !important;margin-bottom: 1.5rem !important;padding: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-multi-legend-item { display: flex !important; align-items: center !important; gap: 8px !important; font-size: 14px !important; color: #374151 !important; font-weight: 500 !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-multi-legend-swatch { width: 16px !important; height: 16px !important; border-radius: 3px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-benchmark-group { margin-bottom: 1rem !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-benchmark-title {font-size: 18px !important; font-weight: 600 !important; margin-bottom: 16px !important; margin-top: 0 !important; padding: 0 !important;text-align: center !important; color: var(--riv-primary) !important; flex: 1 !important; min-width: 0 !important;font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.3 !important;text-transform: none !important;white-space: normal !important;overflow-wrap: break-word !important;word-wrap: break-word !important;max-width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-row, #fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-stacked-product { display: flex !important; align-items: center !important; width: 100% !important; margin-bottom: 0.75rem !important; position: relative !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-label { width: 150px !important; flex-shrink: 0 !important; font-size: 14px !important; color: #374151 !important; padding-right: 10px !important; text-align: right !important; font-weight: 500 !important; display: block !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-container { flex-grow: 1 !important; background-color: #E5E7EB !important; border-radius: 4px !important; min-height: 25px !important; border: 1px solid #D1D5DB !important; position: relative !important; display: flex !important; align-items: center !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-commentary-inline { display: none !important; position: absolute !important; left: 150px !important; top: 0 !important; bottom: 0 !important; right: 0 !important; width: calc(100% - 150px) !important; margin: 0 !important; padding: 0 8px !important; font-size: 13px !important; color: #fff !important; background: rgba(0,0,0,0.8) !important; border-radius: 4px !important; line-height: 1.4 !important; font-weight: normal !important; text-transform: none !important; word-wrap: break-word !important; z-index: 10 !important; align-items: center !important; overflow-y: auto !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.preview-wrapper .fv-bar-row:hover .fv-bar-commentary-inline, #fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.preview-wrapper .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus, #fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.preview-wrapper .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus-within, #fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-row:hover .fv-bar-commentary-inline, #fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus, #fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus-within { display: flex !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar { height: 100% !important; border-radius: 3px !important; display: flex !important; align-items: center !important; transition: opacity 0.2s ease, width 0.8s ease-out !important; min-height: 23px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar:hover { opacity: 0.8 !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-inner-content { display: flex !important; justify-content: space-between !important; align-items: center !important; width: 100% !important; height: 100% !important; padding: 0 8px !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: bold !important; overflow: hidden !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-inner-label { white-space: nowrap !important; overflow: hidden !important; text-overflow: ellipsis !important; padding-right: 8px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-inner-value { flex-shrink: 0 !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-value-outside { padding-left: 8px !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: bold !important; color: #374151 !important; white-space: nowrap !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-label.fv-primary-product { font-weight: bold !important; color: var(--riv-primary) !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-multi-bar-container { flex-direction: column !important; padding: 4px !important; align-items: stretch !important; gap: 4px !important; height: auto !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-multi-bar-item { display: flex !important; align-items: center !important; height: 25px !important; width: 100% !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-stacked-bar { display: flex !important; overflow: hidden !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-stacked-segment { height: 100% !important; display: flex !important; align-items: center !important; justify-content: flex-end !important; padding-right: 8px !important; border-right: 1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.3) !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-stacked-segment:last-child { border-right: none !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-segment-value { font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: bold !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-grouped-bar-product { display: flex !important; flex-direction: column !important; width: 100% !important; margin-bottom: 1.25rem !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-grouped-product-title-wrapper { padding-left: 150px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-grouped-product-title { width: 100% !important; text-align: left !important; padding-right: 0 !important; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; font-weight: 700 !important; font-size: 14px !important; color: #374151 !important; text-transform: none !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-cluster { width: 100% !important; flex-grow: 1 !important; display: flex !important; flex-direction: column !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-cluster .fv-bar-row { margin-bottom: 3px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-cluster .fv-bar-container { height: 20px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .riv-grid line {stroke: #D1D5DB !important;stroke-dasharray: 3 3 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-wrapper { display: flex !important; width: 100% !important; margin-top: 0.5rem !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-label-space { width: 150px !important; padding-right: 10px !important; flex-shrink: 0 !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-chart-space { flex-grow: 1 !important; padding-right: 8px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-wrapper.fv-grouped-x-axis { margin-left: 0 !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-line { border-top: 1px solid #D1D5DB !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-ticks { display: flex !important; justify-content: space-between !important; padding-top: 4px !important; font-size: 13px !important; color: #374151 !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-ticks span { position: relative !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-ticks span::before { content: '' !important; position: absolute !important; top: -6px !important; left: 50% !important; transform: translateX(-50%) !important; width: 2px !important; height: 4px !important; background-color: #D1D5DB !important; border-radius: 1px !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-unit { text-align: center !important; font-size: 14px !important; color: #374151 !important; margin-top: 8px !important; display: block !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-title { text-align: center !important; font-size: 15px !important; color: #374151 !important; margin-top: 8px !important; margin-bottom: 16px !important; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding: 0 1rem !important; display: block !important; font-weight: bold !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-y-axis-title {font-size: 15px !important;color: #374151 !important;line-height: 1.5 !important;text-align: left !important;padding-left: 5.83% !important;margin-bottom: 4px !important;display: block !important;font-weight: bold !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-pie-container,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-pie-container {flex-direction: column !important; gap: 1rem !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-grouped-product-title-wrapper,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-grouped-product-title-wrapper {padding-left: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-row,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-stacked-product,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-grouped-bar-product,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-row,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-stacked-product,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-grouped-bar-product {flex-direction: column !important; align-items: flex-start !important; margin-bottom: 1.25rem !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-label:not(.fv-grouped-product-title),#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-label:not(.fv-grouped-product-title) {width: 100% !important; text-align: left !important; padding-right: 0 !important; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: 700 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-label,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-grouped-product-title,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-label,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-grouped-product-title {width: 100% !important; text-align: left !important; padding-right: 0 !important; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: 700 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-container,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-cluster,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-container,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-cluster {width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-row:hover .fv-bar-commentary-inline,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus-within,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-row:hover .fv-bar-commentary-inline,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus-within {position: static !important; display: block !important; width: 100% !important; margin: 4px 0 0 0 !important; padding: 0 !important; background: transparent !important; color: #6B7280 !important; font-size: 12px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-x-axis-wrapper,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-x-axis-wrapper {margin-left: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-x-axis-label-space,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-x-axis-label-space {display: none !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-x-axis-chart-space,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-x-axis-chart-space {padding-right: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-benchmark-title,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-benchmark-title {font-size: 16px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-dropdown-title,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-dropdown-title {font-size: 16px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-carousel-nav-btn,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-carousel-nav-btn {padding: 8px 12px !important; font-size: 14px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-chart-title,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-chart-title {padding: 0 8px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-chart-subhead,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-chart-subhead {padding: 0 8px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-header,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-header {flex-direction: column !important; align-items: center !important; padding: 0 !important; gap: 0.5rem !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-select-wrapper,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-select-wrapper {flex: 1 !important; min-width: 0 !important; width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-select-wrapper.fv-left,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-select-wrapper.fv-left {text-align: center !important; padding-right: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-select-wrapper.fv-right,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-select-wrapper.fv-right {text-align: center !important; padding-left: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-select.fv-select-left,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-select.fv-select-left {text-align: center !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-select.fv-select-right,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-select.fv-select-right {text-align: center !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-vs,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-vs {text-align: center !important; padding: 0.25rem 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-select-container,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-select-container {max-width: 100% !important; width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-versus-select,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-versus-select {font-size: 14px !important; width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-stl-shop-all-btn,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-stl-shop-all-btn {bottom: 0.5rem !important; right: 0.5rem !important; height: 2rem !important; font-size: 0.75rem !important; padding: 0 0.75rem 0 2.5rem !important; max-width: calc(100% - 1rem) !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-stl-shop-all-logo,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-stl-shop-all-icon,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-stl-shop-all-logo,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-stl-shop-all-icon {width: 2rem !important; height: 2rem !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-stl-shop-all-icon svg,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-stl-shop-all-icon svg {width: 14px !important; height: 14px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-bar-commentary-inline,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.labels-on-top .fv-bar-commentary-inline {display: block !important; margin-left: 0 !important; width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view .fv-y-axis-title { padding-left: 5% !important; }#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc.mobile-view.fv-contains-line-chart .fv-footer-content {margin-left: -1rem !important;margin-right: -1rem !important;}@media (max-width: 599px) {#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-pie-container {flex-direction: column !important; gap: 1rem !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-grouped-product-title-wrapper {padding-left: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-row,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-stacked-product,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-grouped-bar-product {flex-direction: column !important; align-items: flex-start !important; margin-bottom: 1.25rem !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-label:not(.fv-grouped-product-title) {width: 100% !important; text-align: left !important; padding-right: 0 !important; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: 700 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-label,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-grouped-product-title {width: 100% !important; text-align: left !important; padding-right: 0 !important; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: 700 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-container,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-cluster {width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-row:hover .fv-bar-commentary-inline,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus,#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-bar-row .fv-bar-commentary-inline:focus-within {position: static !important; display: block !important; width: 100% !important; margin: 4px 0 0 0 !important; padding: 0 !important; background: transparent !important; color: #6B7280 !important; font-size: 12px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-wrapper {margin-left: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-label-space {display: none !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-x-axis-chart-space {padding-right: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-benchmark-title {font-size: 16px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-dropdown-title {font-size: 16px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-carousel-nav-btn {padding: 8px 12px !important; font-size: 14px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-chart-title {padding: 0 8px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-chart-subhead {padding: 0 8px !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-versus-header {flex-direction: column !important; align-items: center !important; padding: 0 !important; gap: 0.5rem !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-versus-select-wrapper {flex: 1 !important; min-width: 0 !important; width: 100% !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-versus-select-wrapper.fv-left {text-align: center !important; padding-right: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-versus-select-wrapper.fv-right {text-align: center !important; padding-left: 0 !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-versus-select.fv-select-left {text-align: center !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-versus-select.fv-select-right {text-align: center !important;}#fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc .fv-versus-vs {text-align: center !important; 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'0' : '') + n; };var updateCountdown = function() {var difference = +targetDate - +new Date();var d = 0, h = 0, m = 0, s = 0;if (difference > 0) {d = Math.floor(difference / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));h = Math.floor((difference / (1000 * 60 * 60)) % 24);m = Math.floor((difference / 1000 / 60) % 60);s = Math.floor((difference / 1000) % 60);}var daysEl = countdownContainer.querySelector('[data-time="days"]');var hoursEl = countdownContainer.querySelector('[data-time="hours"]');var minsEl = countdownContainer.querySelector('[data-time="minutes"]');var secsEl = countdownContainer.querySelector('[data-time="seconds"]');if (daysEl) daysEl.textContent = d;if (hoursEl) hoursEl.textContent = pad(h);if (minsEl) minsEl.textContent = pad(m);if (secsEl) secsEl.textContent = pad(s);};updateCountdown();setInterval(updateCountdown, 1000);}}}if (false) {var slideshowContainer = document.getElementById(uniqueId + '-slideshow');if (slideshowContainer) {var slides = slideshowContainer.querySelectorAll('.fv-slide');slides.forEach(function(slide) {setupWrapper(slide.querySelector('.fv-chart-wrapper'));});}} else {setupWrapper(root);}}if (document.readyState === 'loading') {document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() { initialize('fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc', false); });} else {initialize('fv-chart-1784740420126-ma76xl7lc', false);}})();Buy them if...You want buds that say "look at me"
The pink colorway is super-striking and fun, especially against their black/transparent stems.
You have a Sony or Samsung phone
LDAC support for $99 / £99? That's good stuff.
You want to record your phone calls
These buds do offer the option to record and transcribe up to 2 hours of audio from calls, songs or voice notes — and you don't need a Nothing source device to do it.
You want extra-special spatial audio
Nothing adds its "static" spatial audio profile here, for a slightly more immersive sound profile to your music. For me, though, it's a little bit lightweight.
You have bijou ears
This design just about works for my smaller ears with the small ear-tips (there's even an XS option included now), but if your concha or ear-well is particularly diminutive, then you may still find these earpieces a little big.
The idea of covert surveillance bothers you
As a journalist, I have no issue with recording when everyone has consented. My concern is Nothing's playful marketing if in-call recording as a lifestyle feature, despite the obvious privacy implications.View Deal
Nothing Ear (3a)
Cambridge Audio Melomania A100
Huawei FreeArc
Price
$99 / £99 / Approx. AU$192
$149 / £119 / AU$TBC (but around AU$249) at launch, discounted now
£99 (roughly $130, AU$200) but discounted now
Drivers
12m custom
10mm Neodymium dynamic
17mm x 12mm (open earbuds)
Active noise cancellation
Yes
Yes
No
Quoted battery life
Buds: 6 hrs (without ANC) or 4.5 hrs with ANC; Total with case: 18 hrs with ANC (or 25 hrs without ANC)
11 hours per charge; up to 39 hours with the case
7 hours (earbuds), 23 hours (total)
Weight
4.53g
4.7g
8.9g
Connectivity
Bluetooth 6.0, LDAC, USB-C (no wireless charging)
Bluetooth 5.4 with LDAC and aptX Lossless
Bluetooth 5.2
Frequency range
20 Hz – 40 kHz
Not stated
Not stated
Waterproofing
Yes, IP54
Yes, IPX5
Yes, IP57
Other features
Audio Snapshot and Call Recording; auto-off, static spatial audio, ChatGPT with a Nothing Phone
7-band EQ, ANC, DynamEQ for optimised tuning, wireless charging, 3 mics per bud
Huawei AI Life app, 10-band EQ, audio presets, find your earbuds
Huawei FreeArc
Up for taking a punt on affordable and great-sounding open earbuds? The FreeArc are available at a generous discount right now — but in all honesty, we loved them even at full price.
Read more on this in our full Huawei FreeArc review
Cambridge Audio Melomania A100
These June 2025-release earbuds didn't get the fanfare they deserved, unless you count our glowing five-star review, of course. They don't look as flamboyant — but oh, do they sound good, and the ANC is great too. Did I mention they've been discounted recently? Highly recommended for their current price.
Learn more in our in-depth Cambridge Melomania A100 review
- Tested for two weeks, listened against the Ear (a), Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (Gen 2), Technics EAH-AZ100 and AirPods 4
- Listened in the office, walking along a beach, on a train into London, into Central London and at home
- Listened to Tidal Masters, Apple Music Lossless tracks and Spotify on an iPhone 15 Pro, MacBook Pro and Sony Xperia smartphone
The Nothing Ear (3a) became my primary musical companions for well over two weeks — after a 48-hour run-in period.
They accompanied me to work (walking brusquely to our Paddington office and on the London Underground to various press events) and even walking on a beach at sunset.
To assess comfort levels, ANC and battery life claims, I followed TechRadar's meticulous methodology testing and found much of note — including slightly disappointing stamina.
To check the audio quality across the frequencies, I listened for several hours to my own reference playlists on Apple Music and Tidal, alongside TechRadar's reference tracks, plus podcasts and movies. Additionally, I wore them to watch YouTube tutorials from my MacBook Pro.
I’ve been testing audio products for well over seven years, full-time. As a dancer, aerialist and musical theater performer in another life, sound quality, fit, and user experience have always been a priority for me, but having heard how wonderful ANC can be when done well, I know what I'm listening to here, too.
Read more about how we test earbuds at TechRadar
- First reviewed: July 2026
There are some very good and obvious reasons why a VPN should be part of your summer holiday plans.
Anyone who's ever had to rely on crawling hotel Wi-Fi speeds or faced blocks on their regular home streaming services while abroad will understand the frustration, and a VPN is a great solution for both of those.
A VPN will mask your online activities to make sure you can access whatever you like on public Wi-Fi without the network restricting your bandwidth or recording the sites and services you go to.
You can also use a VPN to supply you with an IP address of any country in the world, of course. That means that your device can appear to be connecting from back home and you won't get blocked from accessing iPlayer, Sling or any of your other regular streamers.
All good VPNs offer these things, and for a few dollars a month, it's well worth downloading one for this year's summer vacation.
If you are going to give that a try, then you should have a think about IPVanish. It's a very good VPN – not the best VPN, but a very good one – but the reason it's a good choice for your travels this time is that an IPVanish subscription currently comes with a free eSIM to use for 30 days too.
Get a 3GB eSIM with IPVanish: $2.19 per month
IPVanish is only one of two recommended VPNs that come with a free eSIM. ExpressVPN is the other one. But the deal is far better with IPV's. For $2.19 per month, the Essential plan includes use of a 3GB eSIM for 30 days. With ExpressVPN, it's around twice the price, and you only get 3 days of usage. Try IPV's Advanced plan if you want to up the data to 5GB.
Try out IPVanish with a 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal
Compare that to ExpressVPN – the only other recommended VPN company that offers a free eSIM right now. First, ExpressVPN's plans are twice as expensive ($2.19 per month vs $4.49 per month) but, secondly, you only get access to your eSIM for 3 days with ExpressVPN!
Sign up to the IPVanish Essential plan ($2.19 per month) and you'll get 3GB for 30 days. If you go for the Advanced plan ($3.29 per month), then it's 5GB for 30 days.
The other good reason to try Advanced is that it comes with access to a cloud based browser called Secure Browser. This means that you'll do all your browsing and service accessing from IPVanish's cloud servers, instead of your own device, while on shared Wi-Fi networks. There's no way that any restricting network will have any idea of what you're doing and that should mean you're scot-free to access whatever you need with minimal disruptions.
You can read more about IPVanish and Secure Browser here. Have a great vacation and happy travels!