News

Investment in AI continues to accelerate at pace, with global spending projected to reach $2.59 trillion in 2026, a 47% year-on-year increase.

Yet only 28% of AI projects are currently generating a measurable ROI, with many failing to deliver expected business outcomes.

As organizations race to capitalize on AI opportunities, many continue to increase investments without fully understanding how AI will operate within their existing technology environments, particularly their data storage infrastructure.

Without careful planning in this area, businesses risk higher costs, growing technical debt and increased compliance complexity, all of which can undermine the value AI is set to deliver.

The IT industry often talks about AI in terms of performance, computing power and processing speed. But at its heart, AI is a data system.

In recent years, high-performance processing GPUs and NPUs have been getting much of the attention and investment. While compute remains essential, AI data is constantly evolving, expanding and requiring ongoing management throughout its lifecycle.

As organizations move from AI experimentation to deployment at scale, the importance of a robust data infrastructure becomes increasingly clear.

Businesses need the ability to capture, store, access and manage growing volumes of data efficiently at every stage of the AI journey.

To maximize AI ROI, organizations should view storage and data infrastructure as strategic enablers rather than supporting technologies. Long-term AI success depends on ensuring storage infrastructure is aligned with wider technology and business objectives from the start.

Historically, data storage needs were relatively predictable. A ‘set-and-forget’ approach was often sufficient. The AI era demands a fundamentally different mindset for several reasons.

For one, the scale of data associated with AI exceeds anything many organizations have previously encountered. According to IDC, annual global data creation is expected to more than triple over the next five years, reaching 718 zettabytes by 2030, representing a CAGR of 26.9%.

AI workloads also continuously generate additional data through logs, metadata, synthetic outputs, model updates and training datasets. Just as importantly, AI performance is heavily influenced by the quality of the underlying data infrastructure. The ability to access large, well-managed datasets efficiently has a direct impact on business outcomes.

When discussing return on AI investments with the C-suite, technical leaders should connect infrastructure decisions to financial performance. GPUs are typically among the most significant items within AI budgets, and any time spent waiting on storage input/output represents underutilized investment.

Storage architectures that are not designed for AI workloads can constrain performance and reduce overall returns from compute investments.

One example for an AI-optimized architecture approach is tiered storage. Not all data delivers the same value at every stage of the AI lifecycle, nor does it require the same level of performance. Frequently accessed datasets used for active model training and inference may benefit from high-performance storage, while historical data, archived outputs and compliance-related records can be moved to lower-cost capacity tiers.

By aligning storage performance and cost with the value and usage profile of different datasets, organizations can optimize infrastructure spending while maintaining access to the data needed to support AI innovation, governance and future model development.

Organizations that invest in cost-effective scalable, future-ready, AI workload optimized storage and data infrastructure are better positioned to unlock value from AI initiatives, while building a foundation that can support future growth.

Legal and regulatory considerations should also form part of AI planning from the start.

As AI laws are established, organizations must continue to comply with existing data-related obligations, including regulations like UK GDPR and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

Any organization with EU customers should also consider EU requirements around data governance, transparency and record-keeping. Retention periods for training datasets and model records can often be longer than anticipated, making long-term storage planning a decisive factor.

Addressing these needs early helps organizations avoid costly remediation efforts later and supports more effective governance as AI deployments scale.

As AI adoption grows and data volumes continue to expand, demand for storage capacity is increasing rapidly. This is creating new supply chain and procurement challenges across the industry.

As a result, organizations can no longer assume that capacity will be readily available whenever it is needed, particularly for large-scale AI projects.

In practice, this means considering forecasting storage requirements alongside GPU and infrastructure investments, exploring longer-term capacity planning arrangements, and incorporating storage needs into AI business cases from the beginning.

A proactive storage strategy is becoming essential for businesses looking to support future AI workloads with confidence, minimize operational risks, and maximize long-term returns from their AI investments.

AI ROI depends not just on the quality of its algorithms and applications, but also on how effectively organizations manage, store and govern their large-scale data estates.

Even a small difference in cost per terabyte can become significant when applied across petabyte- and exabyte-scale environments.

Organizations that integrate forward storage planning into their AI strategy, treat data infrastructure as a strategic asset and prepare early for future capacity requirements will be ideally positioned to realize the full value of their AI investments.

We've reviewed the best business cloud storage.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Three in four European businesses fear a US tech 'kill switch' as much as they fear a ransomware attack
• Less than half have a continuity plan in place that is tested and documented
• Email and cloud file storage are the two services European businesses have sought sovereign alternatives for

Most European businesses use some form of US-based software in their day-to-day operations. But as tensions across the Atlantic mount, almost 75% of European businesses fear the introduction of a US tech ‘kill switch’.

This is according to new data from Proton, which surveyed 1,500 businesses in the UK, France, and Germany. The data also shows that more than half (54.5%) of European businesses would not survive for more than one day if they lost access to US cloud and digital services.

One in four of those surveyed predicted the losses from a single day of downtime could be as much as €100,000, with half predicting losses of more than €50,000.

US President Donald Trump has become increasingly critical of his allies across the Atlantic since returning to the Presidency. He has repeatedly questioned NATO contributions, threatening to withdraw unless Europe upped its spending.

But Trump has also criticized European tech regulations for “robbing American companies and, in turn, the American taxpayer”. He has vowed to investigate the European Union for fining US tech companies for anti-competitive practices and GDPR violations, and has placed numerous tariffs on trade partners.

Many US tech companies poured funding into Trump's presidential campaign, with others making voluntary contributions to curry favor immediately after his inauguration. Many complained of the fines levied against them by EU regulations, and Trump has turned this into a sticking point for negotiations with Europe.

The fear is that Trump could use Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to deem the fines from such regulations to be unfair, and stop US companies from paying them, effectively allowing US companies to violate regulations without repercussions. In return, Europe would flip the ‘kill switch’ and stop US companies from operating in their territory.

"The kill switch is no longer an abstract geopolitical concern but a business continuity crisis. The study captures a clear shift in how European businesses perceive operational risk,” said Raphaël Auphan, Chief Operating Officer at Proton.

“The fact that concern about a government-imposed kill switch is virtually indistinguishable from concern about ransomware tells something significant: geopolitical risk applied to digital dependence is no longer a boardroom abstraction. It is joining the same threat register as criminal attacks, with the same sense of urgency and the same expectation that it could materialise without warning."

The EU has already begun taking steps towards developing European alternatives to the cloud, productivity, and other services that many businesses rely on today. A Tech Sovereignty Package, launched in June this year, seeks to reduce the reliance on US hyperscalers and Chinese tech manufacturing.

While the Proton data shows that a majority of European businesses (67.8%) would switch to a sovereign provider if the kill switch was flipped, the availability of European cloud providers is not quite at the same level as rival US services.

But steps are being taken to address this shortfall. Proton has launched a business continuity solution to help businesses continue operating during outages caused by ransomware attacks, software outages, and even a US tech kill switch.

• AI audio giant Suno has launched a vinyl pressing service
• Yes, it is seemingly just for AI tracks generated on its site
• It's eco-friendly, apparently

Among many audiophiles, vinyl records are considered sacred; I concur, which is why my turntable was the first thing I set up when I recently moved home. But that's clearly not the case for everyone.

For me and, I hope, fellow record-lovers, the draw is that vinyl is an undeniably human way of listening to music. By their sheer nature, records are full of everything and with nothing edited out: there are mistakes and imperfections (just as we all have), but the analog result is warm and familiar… and somehow welcoming.

However, in our 'everything-is-AI' modern world, someone somewhere had the tiring thought, "What if AI came to records too?" and so we have this news.

AI 'music'-making service Suno is now encouraging you to press tracks generated using the site onto records, and to buy them for $45.

That's right, you can now sully a perfectly good bit of PVC plastic with 'songs' made by a computer, bringing a hearty dose of cold inhumanity to this all-so-human format.

Apparently, you can only order one record per creation from your Suno library, which can be up to 46 minutes, so this isn't a way of mass-producing AI slop to vinyl (thankfully). And Suno claims the material used for the records is sourced in an "eco friendly" way — a pretty hilarious assertion given how disastrous for the planet AI is proving itself to be generally. It's like chopping down trees with a pre-owned chainsaw.

To audiophiles (or how about actual human bands, whose markup on a physical music product is far bigger than in streaming?) Suno's move feels destined to anger.

For me, it devalues a beloved format. It pulls apart the big black disc — with all the human, tangible attributes that makes me revere it — and makes it fake. When talking this piece through with my editor, she said, "I think it is a hideous idea that makes me feel unclean".

If there's any possible silver lining, it's that Suno's vinyl offerings might encourage people who use the site to discover the joys of real records; think older, couldn't-be-AI albums (and if that's you, why not check out our list of the best turntables to listen with, and I'll forgive your AI use if you buy something).

Or perhaps this is the last angry gasp of an AI slop machine? Google Trends data shows that interest in Suno is slowly dropping: as of early August, search is 10% down month-on-month, and over three months its interest is slowly dropping too.

Perhaps this could be fueled by the rebellion against AI music, with a growing number of streaming sites keeping it at bay. Deezer is bringing down the hammer hard, and we recently spoke to Qobuz's managing director about its own stance against slop. Even Spotify is belatedly taking some baby steps.

So is this Suno's victory lap against 'real' music, showing it's so prominent that nothing is sacred? Or is this its attempt to catch up, by adopting a format beloved by audiophiles? It's hard to say. All I know is that no AI slop record is getting anywhere near my turntable.

I’ve spent a week with the Garmin Cirqa screenless fitness tracker, wearing it constantly during sleep, exercise and rest to determine how comfortable it is in everyday life, and measuring it against an electrical heart rate monitor and other wearables to determine accuracy.

After all my testing, I can confirm the Whoop and Google Fitbit Air have got serious competition. While some people will still want the AI-powered coaching from Whoop and Google Health, and others will want the screen-based interaction and notification features available on the best smartwatches, most users looking for a simple but high-quality screenless fitness tracker will be just fine getting the Cirqa.

If you’re reading this review wondering how it compares to the likes of the Whoop MG and the Google Fitbit Air, you’ll already know what to expect from the design: a fabric band that stretches over the fitness tracker’s plastic puck to create a solid-color screenless wearable. The idea is that you can use it for working out, sleeping, rest and work, get accurate metrics all day, and not glance at it all the time or be distracted by notifications on your wrist.

Where it differs is in the design specifics. It’s quite a large fitness tracker, sitting more obviously on the wrist compared to its rivals, and thus people with very small wrists might want to try it before they commit. However, I like the design overall, especially the inclusion of an actual button on the side of the device. This button is used to start a workout, signified by a strong vibration, and stop a workout, at which point it vibrates again. You can also use it to turn off its vibrating smart-wake alarm. It’s so much easier than tapping the Whoop’s puck, and provides certainty and security when tracking an activity, so you're not just hoping the device picks it up. It’s the perfect level of minimalist interaction for a tracker like this.

I generally found it accurate over my testing period, apart from a single outlier workout in which the heart rate sensor showed a 10BPM difference compared to my electrical heart rate monitor, the Polar H10 — my accuracy benchmark. The other workouts I recorded were within 1-2bpm of accuracy, and Garmin Connect correctly showed my wake-up times when recording sleep.

I found myself enjoying running more than I have in months by ‘vibe running’: ditching my watch with its pace and heart rate metrics updating me every kilometer and allowing the Cirqa to track in the background, leaving me to focus on my form, the trees, my music and my thoughts. It’s no good for specific training for timed runs, new courses, intervals and the like due to the lack of on-wrist information, but for wellness tracking, it works nicely.

It’s going to be a real boon for cyclists using Garmin’s Edge series of cycling computers. Many of the best Garmin watches double-up on the cycling computer's GPS features, so the Cirqa allows cyclists to add wellness metrics without a more expensive watch.

• $199.99 in the US
• £179.99 in the UK
• AU$299.99 in the AU

The Garmin Cirqa fitness tracker costs $199.99 in the US, £179.99 in the UK and AU$299.99 in Australia. There’s no subscription fee — at least, no mandatory one — but Garmin Coach features are locked behind the Garmin Connect+ paywall in the app, which costs an extra $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$120 annually. A bicep band for the Cirqa comes at an added extra too.

You can get along just fine without the subscription, if you don’t want the coaching features. Live heart rate broadcasting was also originally locked behind this paywall, but Garmin rolled that back after an outcry. The free tier of Connect is an excellent training aid, and isn’t as stripped-back as the free tier of the Google Health app you use with the Google Fitbit Air. However, the Cirqa is also twice the price of Fitbit, so this is reflected in the price, and Connect (being Garmin’s app for all its devices) lists some stats you don’t get access to via the Cirqa if you dig a little deeper, leading to some annoying friction moments.

However, for most people, it’s better value than Whoop, which requires an annual subscription starting at £169 / $199 / AU$299 and going up from there. With Whoop, you never actually own either the device or the data you collect, merely rent it. With two years of the cheapest Whoop subscription, you could also buy a cheap Garmin running watch like the Garmin Forerunner 165 as well as a Cirqa and alternate between the two of them for many years.

While serious athletes such as CrossFit and Hyrox enthusiasts will want Whoop’s vast swathes of unique metrics such as the Strain score and AI-powered workout building features, the Cirqa’s subscription-free tier is much more affordable and better value for most, despite the relatively high price of the tracker itself compared to some of Garmin's more feature-rich running watches.

• Value score: 3.5/5

• Choice of four colors
• Screenless form factor
• Tactile button

The Garmin Cirqa is a simple design. A fabric band with four color options — Mauve, French Grey, Captain Blue and Black — wraps around a plastic puck with Garmin’s Elevate V4 heart rate sensor array. The puck is slightly curved to mimic the wrist’s shape, and as previously mentioned, it includes a ridged button on the side to start and stop workouts.

The design is very simple, and the button is the only way to interact with the puck. It’s very comfortable to wear, weighing only 21g, and light enough and comfortable enough that I often forgot I was wearing it during the week. That made wearing it for sleep and exercise a frictionless experience, and the band is soft to the touch.

It’s quite large for a ‘discreet’ band due to the size of Garmin’s Elevate V4 sensor, but not uncomfortable — at least, for my wrists. Those with very thin wrists may struggle, but I was told the more up-to-date Elevate V5 sensor would have made the puck even bigger.

I’ve always been a fan of the Garmin Connect app, and its design is really comprehensive. It can be difficult to navigate at first due to the breadth of information on offer, meaning some stats and features get lost in the mix, but once you’re used to it, it’s easy to access a lot of detail along with community features such as challenges.

• Design score: 4.5/5

• Deliberately hardware feature-light
• Plenty of detailed metrics
• Not as many as a full Garmin watch, or Whoop

There are very few interactive features on the Garmin Cirqa puck; you can start and stop workouts, or stop an alarm, but that’s more or less it. However, the information the Cirqa collects and shows you in the app aren't lacking in detail.

The Garmin Cirqa tracker collects data on sleep stages, heart rate variability (HRV), pulse ox and provides Garmin’s Training Readiness and Body Battery scores. Garmin’s Sleep Coach feature can recommend bedtimes and sleep length, letting you know if you’re in a sleep deficit, and smart wake alarm using the device’s haptic sensors buzzes on your wrist in a light sleep stage to wake you within a pre-prescribed window.

Automatic activity detection means the Cirqa quietly records activities lasting longer than 15 minutes, such as walks, which become more accurate if you amend the detected activities in the Garmin Connect app, including extending or trimming the duration. Alternatively, you can simply press the button to start a timed activity, and again amend in-app.

While you won’t get advanced running features like many Garmin watches, such as cadence, stride length, Hill Score (based on elevation) and so on, you still get generic training information like heart rate, VO2 Max and Training Load, which can help you tell you if you’re under or overtraining. Garmin also carries features like Fitness Age, which uses heart rate and activity data to tell you how well your body performs compared to its actual age. Whoop has a similar feature named Whoop Age — another example of the Cirqa eating Whoop’s lunch here.

You get quite a lot for your money. There's a small value issue, though: it’s not packing quite as many features as the premium Whoop subscriptions, nor a watch like the Garmin Forerunner 165, which gets you all of the above plus dedicated GPS, running and notification features for the same price. But it also comes with a screen, which you might not want. The Cirqa avoids bloat, prioritising the fitness and recovery metrics users want to see and eliminating the interactive features that screenless wearables fans don't want at all.

As well as the Garmin Coach features, AI-powered photograph-based nutrition tracking and AI-generated training insights are also available as part of Garmin’s premium Connect+ tier.

• Features score: 4/5

• Accurate workout metrics, aside from one outlying workout
• Sleep tracking was competent
• Comfy and easy to wear

I tested the Garmin Cirqa for around nine days, performing several workouts compared against a Polar H10 heart rate monitor, tracking my sleep, and draining the battery. If you’re working out three to four times a week and enabling auto-detection for walks and other activities, it lasts a solid week between charges — I topped mine up on day seven of testing.

It recorded my sleep well and correctly identified wake-up times in the middle of the night and in the early hours of the morning. If I slept well or went to bed early, the Cirqa correctly identified this and the numbers matched my energy levels and perceived sleep quality. If I got up in the middle of the night (which I often do several nights out of the week), the Cirqa clocked it. Its sleep stages graph is easy to parse, while Sleep Score and HRV are sortable by the last week, month or year to show trends.

When it comes to measuring workout accuracy, while there’s no GPS to draw from other than piggybacking off my phone, the Cirqa closely matched my Polar H10 heart rate monitor during workouts. There was one instance in which it was an average of 10bpm off during a 40-minute strength session in the gym, but other workouts cleaved very closely to the HRM, within 2-3bpm accuracy (as you can see below). My guess is that if that particular workout was longer, the readings would have evened out.

Like other Garmin devices using the Elevate V4, the Cirqa is generally accurate enough for anyone who doesn’t need elite-level metrics, at which point they’d be using a heart rate monitor or Garmin’s Elevate V5. But even record-breaker Sebastian Sawe was spotted using a Garmin Forerunner 55, which uses a V4, during his sub-two hour London Marathon run.

I can’t overstate how nice the Cirqa is to wear. I found it a better daily driver than the Whoop band, despite its size, largely due to the Whoop’s often-detaching clasp. The tactile button gave me a sense of certainty in my recording, and I didn’t have to open the app to manually start a workout like the Google Fitbit Air if I wanted to be accurate. The haptics are nice and strong too.

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Category

Comment

Score

Value

Sits comfortably between the super-cheap Fitbit Air and the recurring-sub Whoop.

4/5

Design

Thoughtfully designed, albeit a little large for some.

4.5/5

Features

Enough to keep you focused while avoiding unnecessary feature bloat.

4/5

Performance

Accurate and comfortable to wear with great battery life.

4.5/5

You’re an existing Garmin user
Don’t want to wear a chunky Garmin watch constantly, or do you use a Garmin Edge? This is the perfect way to track wellness and fitness discreetly and remain in the Garmin ecosystem.

You’re after holistic metrics
Readiness, recovery, and basic workout stats are enough for most people. This does the job without getting in the way.

You want to own your device
Although the product is great, Whoop’s membership model means the device reverts to an inert hunk of plastic if you stop subscribing. Buying the Cirqa at least means you own your tracker, improving it as a value proposition.

You need a screen
Want updates during your workout? Just get a running watch instead.

You’re on a tight budget
If you’re not invested in the Garmin ecosystem or you’re looking for something cheaper, you might be persuaded by the Fitbit Air or Amazfit Helio Strap.

Money is no object
For those who don’t mind paying annually in perpetuity, Whoop is a more tightly-engineered product from a software standpoint, tracking a wider variety of metrics.

Google Fitbit Air

The screenless Fitbit weighs just 5g and tracks the basics, with an intelligent do-it-all AI chatbot tier.

Read our full Google Fitbit Air review

Amazfit Helio Strap

We called it 'a terrific value, generally very accurate fitness tracker with great battery life and no subscription required'.

Read our full Amazfit Helio Strap review

I tested the Garmin Cirqa for over one week, draining the battery down and wearing it constantly during sleep, work, exercise and rest. I undertook multiple workouts, comparing them to a Polar H10 electrical heart rate monitor for accuracy, and compared its featureset to its peers in the screenless fitness tracker market.

First reviewed: August 2026

A gaming laptop is a good investment if you're headed off to college but still want to play your library of games. For one, a gaming laptop is easily powerful enough to tackle any study duties on the side.

Annoyingly, finding a super-cheap gaming laptop is difficult these days due to RAM and other components being so expensive. Decent deals do exist, however, if you're willing to cast the net out further.

Just below, you can see the five best gaming laptop deals I've spotted this week, which mostly include options from Best Buy's excellent 'back to school sale' that's running right now.

By far and away, the best deal right now (in my opinion) is this Gigabyte Aero X16 for $1,329 (was $1,499) at Best Buy. This is a deal that harkens back to a time when you didn't have to pay extortionate amounts for a laptop with 32GB of RAM - and it's also got a really decent RTX 5070 graphics card to boot.

Another great choice for students is the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for $1,599 (was $2,299) at Best Buy. This is a machine that features a really lovely high-end design that's easily portable, as well as a 3K OLED display - which is perfect for both games and content. While pricey, this is a good option if you want a stylish MacBook-style laptop that can still handle all the latest games. You can read more about this deal, and others, just down below.

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core i7-13620H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB

Getting a reasonably priced RTX 5060 gaming laptop is increasingly tricky these days, but there are still options out there for prospective students. This Gigabyte A16, for example, gets you everything you need for decent performance without completely breaking the bank. On board is an RTX 5060, Intel Core i7 chipset, and a spacious 1TB SSD. Annoyingly, you do only get 16GB of RAM, but that's almost to be expected these days... unfortunately.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core i7-14650HX
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB

Here's a really nice deal on an Asus F16 at Best Buy. The F16 is one of the brand's more affordable options, but it's a great buy for the money considering you get 32GB of RAM, an RTX 5060 graphics card, and a really decent 14th-gen Intel Core i7 chipset. Put these together, and you should get really respectable 1080p gaming performance here.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5070
Processor: AMD Ryzen Al 7 350
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB

This Gigabyte Aero X16 is a rare deal. Yes, it's a little pricey, but I can't recall seeing an RTX 5070 gaming laptop with 32GB of RAM for under $1,500 in the past few months. With a Ryzen 7 chipset and 1600p display, this Gigabyte is definitely one of the best value options if you're willing to spend a little more. You'll get great performance right out of the box here - and it should last a few years down the line, too. View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 270
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB

Looking for a lightweight laptop that can still provide excellent gaming performance? The Asus Zephyrus G14 is an outstanding candidate. At 14-inches, it's a little smaller than most gaming laptops, but it features a stunning high-end design and 120Hz OLED display. Even though this configuration only features an RTX 5060 graphics card and 16GB of RAM, it's a very versatile machine that's worth checking out if you want a do-it-all laptop for college.View Deal

Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core 7-240H
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB

It's always worth keeping an eye on the official Dell Store for deals on Alienware gaming laptops. Right now, my favorite listing is on this Alienware 15, which is the brand's new entry-level model. It's still a premium laptop, however, and this spec features an RTX 5060 graphics card, 32GB of RAM, and a decent Core 7 chipset, so it's certainly not lacking in terms of performance. View Deal

• A user on Reddit shared a solution to stop AirPods from slipping out of your ears
• They switched to liquid silicone tips instead of Apple's standard silicone ones
• The user claims these have solved the slipping issue, and they fit just as well as foam tips

We’ve tested pretty much all the best earbuds out there, and the AirPods Pro lineup always lands in our list of top models — but keeping them tucked securely in your ears can be a bit of a challenge during activities that involve a lot of movement.

If you find that your AirPods Pro slip out while running, or even walking and chewing, you’re not in the minority. Turns out, there’s a whole community of AirPod users out there who are running into the same issues.

I switched from earbuds to using some of the best headphones a while back, but when I had my old AirPods I endured the same frustrations of having to push them back into my ear every now and then. It’s quite annoying, especially if you use AirPods Pro for exercising — but one user has found a fix.

In a post on Reddit (see below), u/LatissimusDorsi26 shared that they decided to ditch their Apple-made ear tips for cheap liquid silicone replacements they bought from Amazon (they said it cost them $5 for 4 pairs in XS, S, M, and L). They said the tips ‘permanently’ solved the problem for them and their AirPods Pro 2.

Yes, AirPods Pro come with silicone ear tips out of the box, but they’re not 'liquid silicone', which is what the author of the Reddit post believes makes the difference, detailing the replacement tips’ "sticky/ tacky finish on their surface which makes them stick to your ear canal".

I know what you might be thinking: won't your AirPods then be too big to fit in the charging case?. I thought that too, but according to the poster, they fit just as perfectly as they would with standard Apple earbud tips, and you won’t need to remove the tips for charging.

Since sharing this, fellow AirPods owners flocked to the replies, and it's sparked a deeper conversation about silicone vs foam tips for earbuds.

Though silicone tips are pretty much the go-to for a lot of earbud brands, and not just Apple — the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 4 also have silicone tips — a lot of users choose to upgrade to foam replacements from brands such as Comply. There are many reasons for this.

In short, foam tips can provide a grip that’s a lot more snug, and are arguably better for locking in audio and preserving noise cancellation. That said, foam replacements are expensive alternatives and don’t have the same durability as silicone — one user in the replies highlighted that Comply foam tips are the best part of $25 for three pairs, while another said that they still keep slipping out.

That’s not to say silicone tips don’t have their setbacks. By standards, some versions don’t fit quite as tight as foam ones, and transparent ones as shown earlier don’t quite fit the clean-cut aesthetic of the AirPods themselves. But silicone wins on the durability front, and won’t need frequent replacing like foam tips.

Based on this Reddit poster’s hack, it appears that there is a way to solve the pain points on both sides after all. On the one hand the liquid silicone tips stick to the user’s ear canal, providing a secure fit, and are durable and affordable on the other — all from a mere $5 Amazon purchase.

• Hisense TVs with Google TV or VIDAA OS are getting Dolby Vision 2 first — the first models are 2026 TVs including the UX, UR9, UR8 and U7
• The update will roll out soon to customers in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific
• Peacock is the big initial streamer to support it in the US, with and Chinese giant iQIYI is now also on board

Dolby Vision 2, the next generation of the advanced HDR format, is arriving on multiple TVs today — and it's rolling out to more models in the coming weeks.

Hisense is rolling out a firmware update from today for customers in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific countries — and Chinese streaming giant iQIYI is confirmed to be on board as supporting the format, in addition to US streamer Peacock.

In addition to adding compatibility for features unique to Dolby Vision 2, the upgrade to DV2 means that existing Dolby Vision titles will also look better on these TVs, thanks to upgrades in the core image processing engine.

Dolby says that everything produced for first-generation format "will look more captivating and authentic, offering a significant and immediate improvement".

The initial rollout is to 2026 Hisense TVs running either Google TV or VIDAA OS, and the first models will be these, which will all get Dolby Vision 2 Max:

• Hisense UX
• Hisense UR9
• Hisense UR8
• Hisense U7 (US)
• Hisense U7 Pro (Europe and other regions)

Exactly which other TVs will get it remains to be announced. It's a little complicated, because support requires a particular chip (the MediaTek Pentonic 800) in the TV, but Dolby told TechRadar that there are more chips coming that can support it, and that the Pentonic 800 is being rolled out more widely than it was previously.

It's also been confirmed that some TCL and European Philips TVs will get Dolby Vision 2 later this year, but there's no exact schedule for that yet.

Media that fully uses Dolby Vision 2's enhanced tools will be able to take advantage of features including Content Intelligence, which enables creators to embed precise instructions in each scene to dynamically adjust the picture, and an intensity slider to customize the Dolby Vision 2 experience to suit your room and personal preferences.

In addition to the standard improvements, Dolby Vision 2 Max can also leverage the processing power of more premium TVs with two key features: Authentic Motion, which delivers cinematic visuals while reducing unwanted judder and "soap opera" effects, which can result from excessive motion smoothing; and Light Sense 2, which can more intelligently optimize picture quality based on the lighting environment so you can see the dark bits when you're in a brightly lit room.

Dolby Vision 2 will be arriving as a firmware upgrade from Hisense today, with the full rollout taking several weeks.

The announcement and rollout have clearly been planned for some time, which suggests that Samsung's announcement of Prime Video supporting its rival format, HDR10+ Advanced earlier this week was designed to steal Dolby's thunder.

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