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Critical infrastructure faces a common challenge. Across transport, utilities and communications, organizations are expected to deliver higher levels of performance, resilience and security while working with ageing assets and increasingly constrained budgets.
Large-scale replacement programs are rarely practical, affordable or necessary.
Instead, the organizations making the greatest progress are taking a different approach. They are building a much deeper understanding of the IT infrastructure they already own, using data and operational insight to improve performance, target investment and extend asset life.
This shift reflects a broader change in how infrastructure is managed. Rather than asking what needs replacing, operators are asking how existing IT assets can deliver more value.
Intelligent Infrastructure is helping answer that question by connecting assets, improving visibility and enabling better operational decisions.
For organizations responsible for critical infrastructure, success increasingly depends on understanding what is already in place, optimizing its performance and ensuring every investment delivers measurable value.
Different sectors, the same infrastructure challengeWhile the infrastructure itself may differ between sectors, many of the challenges facing operators today are remarkably similar.
Whether managing a rail network, a water treatment facility, an electricity distribution network or a communications system, there is growing pressure to improve performance while operating within increasingly constrained budgets. At the same time, expectations around reliability, resilience and cybersecurity continue to rise, with customers and stakeholders expecting services to be available whenever they are needed.
Many organizations are also reliant on infrastructure that has been in operation for decades. In some cases, assets are performing well beyond their original design life. Replacing them is often costly, disruptive and difficult to justify when investment priorities are competing for limited resources.
Alongside this, operators are being asked to meet wider sustainability objectives, reduce unnecessary site visits and make better use of the resources available to them. The result is a complex balancing act between maintaining existing infrastructure, delivering operational improvements and planning for future requirements.
These challenges are not unique to one industry, and many organizations are asking the same questions. How can they improve resilience without significantly increasing costs? How can they make better use of existing assets? How can they prioritize investment with greater confidence? And how can they continue to meet rising expectations while working within finite resources?
Finding the answers starts with understanding infrastructure performance in greater detail. Not simply knowing whether an asset is operational, but understanding how it is performing, how its performance changes over time and what those changes might indicate. As infrastructure networks become larger, more connected and increasingly complex, that level of understanding is becoming essential.
Why understanding asset performance has become a strategic advantageInfrastructure operators have never had access to more information about their assets than they do today. Connected devices, sensors and operational systems continuously generate information about the condition and performance of infrastructure. The opportunity now lies in making better use of that information to gain meaningful understanding to enable operational decision making, supporting desired business outcomes.
For many organizations, operational data exists across multiple systems, technologies and teams. Individual systems may provide valuable insight into specific assets, but they rarely provide a complete view of how the wider infrastructure network is performing. This can make it difficult to identify emerging issues, understand relationships between assets or recognize changes in performance before they begin to affect service delivery.
This becomes even more challenging where infrastructure has evolved over many years and comprises different technologies from multiple manufacturers. Legacy systems often operate alongside newer technologies, with each generating its own data and requiring its own management processes. Bringing these different sources of information together provides a far richer understanding of how infrastructure is performing.
Greater visibility allows operators to move beyond simply reacting to faults. It creates an opportunity to understand what normal performance looks like, identify trends over time and recognize when assets begin operating outside expected parameters. In many cases, these early indicators provide valuable time to investigate, prioritize activity and resolve issues before they affect customers or critical services.
This is where Intelligent Infrastructure begins to deliver real value. By securely connecting assets, bringing together operational data and providing a clearer understanding of infrastructure performance, organizations are better equipped to make informed decisions about how networks are managed, maintained and developed.
From operational insight to better decisionsTraditionally, many maintenance programs have been built around routine inspection schedules or simply responding to faults after they occur. While these approaches continue to play an important role, they do not always reflect the actual condition of assets or where engineering effort will have the greatest impact.
A clearer understanding of infrastructure performance allows operators to take a more informed and prognostic approach. Maintenance activities can be prioritized according to operational need, performance trends and potential risk rather than treating every asset in the same way. Engineering teams are able to focus their attention where it will deliver the greatest benefit, while emerging issues can be investigated before they develop into larger operational problems.
Over time, this supports a more informed approach to asset management. Maintenance ceases to be reactive and becomes increasingly proactive driven by the condition and performance of assets rather than fixed schedules alone. This can help reduce unplanned outages, improve network resilience and minimize disruption for customers and end users.
The benefits extend well beyond day-to-day operations. Better insight into infrastructure performance also supports longer-term planning by helping organizations understand where investment will deliver the greatest value. It provides greater confidence when deciding which assets continue to perform effectively, where upgrades are required and how infrastructure investment can be prioritized over time.
For organizations operating large and complex infrastructure estates, this is becoming increasingly important. Every investment decision carries an opportunity cost, making it essential to understand where resources will have the greatest impact. Better operational insight provides the evidence needed to support those decisions while helping organizations maximize the value of the infrastructure they already own.
It also contributes to wider organizational objectives. Targeted preventative maintenance can reduce unnecessary site visits, improve the efficiency of engineering teams and support sustainability ambitions by reducing travel and extending the useful life of assets where appropriate.
Understanding infrastructure will define its futureThe debate about critical infrastructure often focuses on what needs replacing. In reality, the bigger opportunity lies in making better use of what already exists.
Organizations that combine connectivity, operational data and engineering expertise will be able to make better decisions about maintenance, investment and long-term asset management. They will improve resilience, extend asset life and deliver stronger outcomes without relying solely on large-scale capital programs.
Intelligent Infrastructure gives operators the insight to act earlier, invest with greater confidence and make better use of the assets they already own. Over time, that leads to more resilient networks, longer asset life and better outcomes for the customers and communities that rely on them.
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- Slack Code will let workers code as a team
- Dedicated channels will let coding teams track changes in real time
- A wide range of AI agents will be available to use
Cracking those complex coding tasks could soon be a lot easier thanks to a new release from Salesforce and Slack.
The new Slack Code looks to brings AI-powered coding into the team workspace, changing how employees build and work, making coding "multiplayer".
The launch will allow teams to set up dedicated channels where teams can focus on a singular task or project, sharing it with their fellow workers to ensure nothing gets missed.
Slack Code"We’re in the middle of a coding boom that’s changing how people build and work," a Salesforce blog post announcing the news declared, citing the popularity of coding agents such as Claude Code, Claude Tag, Devin from Cognition, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, and Vercel.
"Now the challenge is connecting what you’re building to the conversations your team is having, all in one interface."
Slack Code will look to tackle everyday tasks such as updating a web page or fixing a bug, but is also designed for the next big project or idea. Users simply tag in their coding agent of choice, which then creates a code channel to begin.
(Image credit: Salesforce)Anyone in the channel can see the conversation, review code diffs, check live previews, give feedback, and approve the work before it ships, without the need to ever leave Slack.
Every code channel maps to one project, meaning it (should) so it stays focused and tidy, with the ability to mute or archive when it's not needed.
All users will be able to follow the work as it happens, including live previews, in their own tabs, with the ability to see exactly what has changed, with old code being struck through. When it's ready to preview, the team can watch the HTML output run live, and when a task is completed, the channel archives itself, with the record remaining as an audit log.
Organizations can tailor agent behavior and connect with existing tools, including auto-provisioning of accounts, authenticating users, and automating parts of the workflow to fit how your company works.
"Coding agents changed how individuals build. Now Slack Code changes how teams build," Salesforce's blog post adds.
"Squeezing complex, multi-turn agent work into standard threads creates noise, and letting developers retreat into private browser tabs means losing the thing that makes teams effective: shared context. Slack Code gives your team a dedicated place to work with an agent on a specific coding session or project, together, right in Slack."
UK organizations are investing heavily in AI tools. According to latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, 29% of UK businesses were using at least one type of AI technology as of June 2026.
Yet despite growing adoption, many organizations are still focused on the wrong question.
Most AI discussions start with the technology. Which models should we use? Which platform should we buy? How quickly can we deploy it?
While these decisions matter, they are not what determines success. The biggest obstacle to AI transformation is not technology but the people.
Organizations have managed to navigate major technology shifts before, from cloud migration and agile development to Zero Trust security. AI, however, represents something different. Rather than simply introducing new tools, it is changing how work gets done.
The businesses that succeed will be those that give AI tools the context they need to be useful and the people who know how to put that context to work.
The first shift: changing the mindsetOne of the most striking trends in AI adoption is the gap between individual use and organizational readiness. According to recent research, nearly one in five UK workers now uses generative AI daily, yet only one in ten UK organizations has successfully scaled AI or embedded it into core operations.
Employees are embracing AI, whilst organizations are still figuring out how to turn that enthusiasm into lasting business value.
The people seeing the biggest gains aren't treating AI like business software. They're treating it like another worker. They know how to provide context. They know how to set expectations. They know how to review outputs, challenge assumptions and refine results. In short, they're managing AI rather than simply using it.
That distinction matters. AI isn't behaving like traditional software. It behaves more like a worker. The people getting the most value from it are those who know how to brief it, direct it and assess its output.
For many employees, that way of working is still emerging. AI is often used as a faster route to information rather than a collaborative tool capable of helping shape and execute work. Increasingly, every employee will need to become an AI manager. The ability to brief, direct and challenge AI will become a core workplace skill, regardless of role or department.
The second shift: treating upskilling as a business priorityOrganizations cannot hire their way to AI readiness. There simply aren't enough people with the necessary expertise, and external hiring alone cannot replace the institutional knowledge already sitting inside the business.
The businesses moving fastest are investing in the people they already have. They're helping employees develop the confidence, judgement and practical skills needed to work alongside AI every day.
Giving employees access to AI tools is only the starting point. Organizations also need structured training, clear governance and opportunities for practical experimentation. The real opportunity lies not in teaching people to use AI, but in helping them understand how to work alongside it, applying critical thinking and human expertise to deliver stronger outcomes than either could achieve alone.
As AI capabilities continue to evolve, the organizations that treat learning as an ongoing discipline rather than a one-off training program will be best positioned to adapt.
The third shift: redesigning the organization itselfThe final shift is organizational.
For decades, businesses have been structured around functions, departments and clearly defined handoffs. These models were designed to create accountability and specialization, but they can also introduce friction.
As AI begins working across teams and systems, some of those traditional boundaries begin to blur. Processes that once relied on handoffs between departments can increasingly be coordinated through connected digital workers. Activities that once required multiple individuals, applications and approval chains can increasingly be coordinated through connected digital workers.
While organizational structures will remain important, leaders will need to reconsider how work is organized and how value is generated.
Businesses will increasingly organize around outcomes rather than functions. As AI takes on more coordination work, we may start to see entirely new operating models emerge, including businesses capable of generating enormous value with far fewer employees than would have previously been possible.
AI runs on contextMany organizations are focused on the latest AI capabilities, but AI can only work with the context it has access to. The more relevant context AI can access, the more valuable its outputs become.
This is why digital transformation remains so important in the age of AI. Not because every organization needs to reinvent how people work overnight, but because information needs to flow more freely across the business.
Too often, transformation is viewed as a large-scale overhaul. Some of the most impactful improvements come from making existing workflows smarter.
For years, organizations have viewed printing as a blocker to digital transformation. Although when connected to modern workflows, cloud platforms and business systems, the print action can become an enabler instead. It can help trigger processes, route information and connect systems in ways that support both employees and AI.
Sometimes transformation starts with a major initiative. Sometimes it starts by making familiar actions more intelligent. The goal is the same: making information easier for both people and AI to access and use.
AI transformation is a people transformationAs organizations race to adopt AI, it's easy to assume success will be determined by the technology itself.
The real differentiator will be how effectively organizations prepare their people and unlock the knowledge already sitting across the business.
AI can only work with the context it has access to, and much of that context still lives in documents, workflows and everyday processes.
The organizations that see the greatest value from AI won't necessarily be those with the most advanced models. They'll be the ones that make information easier to access, enable people to work differently and create an environment where humans and AI can contribute together.
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- Logitech facing a class action lawsuit over tariff refunds, with the lawsuit alleging the company raised the price of some products to pass the cost of tariffs onto customers
- The US government collected an estimated $166 billion in IEEA tariffs which are to be returned to businesses, but their are no mechanisms in place to return the cost of tariff-inflated goods back to customers
- Nintendo and Sony are also facing lawsuits over tariff cost refunds
Following President Donald Trump’s return to power in January 2025, he almost immediately levied numerous International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEA) tariffs on imports of almost all goods coming into the United States.
According to Trump, the tariffs were imposed to boost domestic production of goods, and increase the purchasing of products manufactured in the US. Somewhat shortsightedly, the US was not able to suddenly change to the mass production of most imported goods and the tariffs were passed on to consumers as part of the price of imported goods.
Many of these and subsequent tariffs were deemed illegal by the Supreme Court of the United States, with around $166 billion in IEEA tariff revenue collected by the government to be refunded to businesses. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t really want to hand that money back to consumers, and Logitech is now being taken to court for it.
Tariffs refunded to businesses but not passed on to consumersA class action lawsuit has been filed by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, by the District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, against Logitech.
The lawsuit alleges Logitech raised the price of many of its products to cover the costs of the import tariffs, but the company has not made it possible for customers to claim back the tariff costs they covered.
As the companies were the ones who paid the tariffs, there is no mechanism in place for consumers to claim back the costs that companies silently imposed on them.
According to the lawsuit, Logitech investors were told by its executives that the price of its products had to be raised to offset the cost of the tariffs.
Around half of the Logitech product catalog saw price rises at around 14%, but the costs of some products were raised by as much as 25%.
Nintendo and Sony also in hot waterWhile the lawsuit singles out Logitech, numerous other companies have also been accused of raising the costs of goods to cover tariffs and then keeping the refunds for themselves.
For example, Nintendo’s operating profits were reported to be around $902 million between April 1 and June 30. But during the same period the previous year, the operating profit was around $360 million.
While some of this profit increase can be attributed to a boom in games sales and software purchases for the Switch and Switch 2, much of the profit has been alleged to have actually come from tariff refunds.
Nintendo claims to have covered the costs of tariffs itself despite the price of both Switch consoles rising by as much as $50 in 2025.
Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against the US government, demanding that the refunds from the “sweeping” and “constantly changing” tariffs be paid back with interest. Nintendo is also battling a lawsuit in court that demands the tariff refunds are also passed on to consumers.
Sony has been handed an estimated $508 million tariff refund, but raised the prices of key products such as the PlayStation 5 to cover the costs of the importation tariffs. A lawsuit has been filed, but Sony has made no indication that consumers who bought PlayStation consoles at elevated prices will see a dime back.
No matter if it's your first or fourth time here, thanks for checking out this week's TechRadar Crossword. Yes, I'm still having a lot of fun putting together these little puzzlers for you every Friday, so let's see how you get on with this latest grid-based arrangement of tech trivia.
TechRadar CrosswordMissed a previous puzzle? You can browse the archive and play all TechRadar Crosswords right here.
I try to mix a fairly broad range of tech subjects into each crossword to ensure there's a bit of variety, but it does require a lot of effort to stop myself from filling them with clues about gaming and movies — being the two biggest interests of mine.
I have, obviously, snuck a couple of clues in on those areas, given we technically cover them here at TechRadar in our gaming and streaming categories, but I'm very cautious that I don't just fill the grid with clues in those areas.
Reading more of the site has helped me broaden my horizons a little when coming up with clues, too. I've taken in more of the news we've covered and features we've written about AI, cameras, electric vehicles, and, relevant to this week's puzzle, solar panels, for example.
The latter is most interesting, given the news that plug-in options will soon be available to buy in the UK before the end of the month. It's got me thinking about whether I could add some to my home, if it'll be possible to find any of the limited stock.
Solar panel stock tracker incoming? Quite possibly. Enjoy the puzzle and I'll catch you soon.
- Beyerdynamic has announced the MMX 100 wireless and MMX 130 wireless
- The MMX 100 wireless launches on September 1 for £89
- The MMX 130 wireless arrives in October for £109
German audio specialist beyerdynamic has announced two new wireless headsets, the closed-back MMX 100 wireless and the open-back MMX 130 wireless.
Beyerdynamic's MMX gaming range expands with two new wireless headsets representing two styles of gaming: the closed-back MMX 100 wireless for players who want to minimize distracting ambient noise and focus on their game, or the MMX 130 wireless, which is ideal for gamers who prefer to experience the atmosphere, soundtracks, and ambient sounds in greater detail.
"With these two models, beyerdynamic is making its audio expertise accessible to an even wider gaming audience," the company said. "Rather than offering a plethora of unnecessary features and gimmicks, both headsets focus on the essentials: precise sound, high levels of comfort, flexible connectivity, and long-lasting quality."
The MX 100, with its velour ear pads and a lightweight 275-gram design, offers a closed-back design to reduce external noise, a detachable Meta Voice microphone for clear communication, and a replaceable battery that lasts over 80 hours.
It can also be connected to PCs, consoles, smartphones, and handheld devices via Bluetooth 6.0, the included low-latency USB dongle, or a cable.
As for the MMX 130, gamers can expect a wireless headset designed for audio enthusiasts, with an open-back design that balances "a natural, spacious soundstage" with external noise, whatever the user is listening to.
Sporting a titanium-coated 40 mm driver for precise sounds, the MMX 1300 is recommended for gamers who enjoy story-driven, open-world, role-playing games (RPGs), and simulation games.
"With the MMX 100 wireless and MMX 130 wireless, we're offering gamers not just two more headsets, but two different ways to experience their games," said Matthias Heilig, product marketing manager for gaming at beyerdynamic. "Those looking for focus and isolation will find it in the closed-back MMX 100 wireless. Those who want to experience gaming worlds as naturally and spatially as possible will find an exciting alternative in the open-back MMX 130 wireless."
The MMX 100 wireless will launch first on September 1 in Black and Arctic White for £89, while the MMX 130 wireless will follow in October, also in Black and Arctic White, for £109.
The MMX 100 wireless will also premiere at Gamescom 2026 and be available for public testing.
- Windows 11 can remove a discrete GPU driver as part of its clean-up routines, as shown on Reddit
- This can happen if the laptop has been in Eco mode for an extended period
- Because the GPU is effectively gated off from the system, the driver is marked as unused and therefore deleted by the OS during clean-up – but you can stop this from happening
Apparently, Windows 11 can end up stripping away the discrete GPU driver from your laptop in certain scenarios if the OS is left to run in Eco mode for a long time – and that's a distinct annoyance if you own a gaming laptop, as per a report on Reddit.
Wccftech spotted a Redditor who posted about their Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop with a discrete Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti, and how Windows turned off that GPU.
At this point, some of you may immediately be thinking: who runs their gaming laptop in Eco mode? And that's a fair point, and one raised in the Reddit thread – I'll come back to that.
First, let's look at the mechanics of how this works, based on the Redditor's investigation of what went on (they noted that it "took me months to work this out"). When the laptop is put into Eco mode, power is completely cut to the discrete GPU, effectively leaving it offline (just as if it were an unplugged USB stick, as the Redditor describes).
That's not a problem – obviously it's a power-saving measure – but the issue is that Windows 11 runs a driver clean-up process from time to time as part of routine system maintenance. By default, this happens every 30 days, though the Redditor notes their laptop was set to 15 days, and this can be modified.
What happens is that if the laptop has been in Eco mode for a long time, with the GPU effectively walled off and not present as far as the system is concerned, and the clean-up happens, it judges the driver to now be superfluous, and it's removed.
When Eco mode is subsequently switched off, the driver doesn't return – it remains ditched, and the GPU shows as a 'Microsoft Basic Display Adapter' instead of an Nvidia GPU in Windows 11's Device Manager.
The Nvidia graphics driver must then be reinstalled to get the GeForce graphics card functional again – and the same is reportedly true of AMD discrete GPUs.
Analysis: a niche problem, but an annoying one – here's how to avoid it(Image credit: Future)Let's return to that question: who runs a gaming laptop in Eco mode? No gamer really does this, at least not when they're regularly playing some of the top PC games on their notebook. However, someone might be a student cramming for finals and using the laptop for work, having given up gaming distractions for a few months. In this case, with Eco mode enabled to keep battery life up while studying, Windows 11 could disable the GPU.
Okay, so it's something of a niche situation – and the Windows 11 clean-up routines are useful for keeping the system streamlined. But it's not an unthinkable scenario, and Microsoft's OS should be tuned to be more careful around GPU drivers – and it'd be useful if the system could give a warning of such a clean-up happening (so it could be avoided).
That said, this may not happen in all situations. Another Redditor notes that they have had their Zephyrus G16 in Eco mode for two months, and the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti is still present and correct.
Whatever the case, if you run into this problem yourself, at least you know why it's happening. The fix is to simply reinstall the Nvidia driver, although the same thing could happen again if you're one of those people who regularly uses Eco mode on your gaming laptop.
You can apply a Registry fix to permanently stop the clean-up process, but I wouldn't recommend messing with those settings unless you're confident (see the Reddit post for instructions). Also note that you'll miss out on other clean-up duties, not just GPU-related activity.
A better solution is to simply remember to take your laptop out of Eco mode now and then (every couple of weeks), which will bring the discrete GPU back into play, and save the driver from being earmarked for removal.
The Redditor notes: "Or just keep the GPU visible now and then. Optimized mode in G-Helper turns the dGPU [discrete GPU] on whenever you plug in. Flipping to Standard [mode] every couple of weeks does the same thing. Resets the counter, no Registry editing."
- The BluHub reads and writes Blu-rays, DVDs and CDs
- It has 4x USB 3.0 ports and two card reader slots
- The Kickstarter Super Early bird price is $59 (about £40 / AU$80)
If you've got a fairly recent computer you'll be vividly aware that for everything but high-powered gaming PCs, thin is most definitely in: the pursuit of ultra-thin laptops in particular means that computers have shed their optical drives and many of their expansion ports to reduce their size and weight. But what if you want those things without having to live in World of Hubs, like I currently do? One Kickstarter may have the answer.
Thanks to our pals at Tom's Hardware we've been introduced to a docking station with a difference: it's a USB hub that also has a Blu-ray drive in it. The BluHub, as it's called, is a 9-in-1 PC and Mac dock that promises "everything you need in one compact drive". It's smashed its Kickstarter goal, which to be fair was a very low $700 / £512 (about AU$977). Pledges are currently sitting at $214,411 / £157,127 (about AU$301,250).
It's clearly designed for people like me: I've got multiple hubs and accessories in front of my Mac so I can do things like burn discs, attach external storage and read camera memory cards, and that means a lot of cables and clutter. This could be a more elegant option, and it's not terribly expensive.
BluHub 9-in-1 docking station: key features and pricing(Image credit: BluHub)The BluHub connects via USB 3.2 Gen 2 at up to 10Gbps, and it's bus-powered so you don't need a power supply. It's compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS and USB On-The-Go for mobile devices.
In addition to the expected USB ports (4x USB-A / USB 3.0) it has SD and microSD slots and a Blu-ray, DVD and CD drive capable of up to 6x Blu-ray burning speeds.
The promotional images confused me at first because what looks like a lid for the BD/DVD/CD drive isn't; it's just a place to park a disc or discs. The drive itself pops out of the side, with the same kind of mechanism as the drives in desktop PCs.
It's not remotely pretty, but it's a lot less messy than my desk — and the mobile compatibility means it's an interesting option for road warriors who need to expand their Android tablet or iPad.
(Image credit: BluHub)The retail price of the BluHub will be $129 (£90 / AU$180), but at the moment there's a super early bird offer of $59 (about £40 / AU$80) with a predicted ship date of November 2026.
Whether that early bird deal is a good one or not very much depends on your opinion of crowdfunders and your risk tolerance: they can be a great way to get in on the ground floor and save some money, but you're buying something without the benefit of being able to read reviews or see what customers have to say, and there are no guarantees.
Many early commenters on the likes of Reddit also seem a little dubious of the BluHub's credentials, noting that the enclosure appears 3D-printed and that the listing doesn't reveal the make or model of the Blu-ray drive.
As always, all of the usual caveats apply — Kickstarter isn't a retailer and doesn't offer refunds after a project is fully funded, so consider yourself warned.
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Insidious, we meet again. For the sixth time, in fact. It's become one of the world's biggest horror franchises but the new horror movie is making me question whether or not it needs to carry on at all.
I should preface this largely negative review by saying that I was a huge fan of the first Insidious movie, and have been a fan of James Wan's ever since Saw. So it truly does pain me to say I did not have a good time with Insidious: Out of the Further, because I went in hoping to see an intriguing new entry, but what followed was almost entirely predictable.
Recently, we have seen some good horror sequels. Take a look at Saw X for example, which is infinitely better than some of the movies that came before it (I still can't get over how bad Jigsaw is). But Insidious: Out of the Further feels like a way to profit from the popular franchise without really adding much to it.
It's a shame, because it did have potential. Here, Alice Eve plays Gemma, a young mother who is raising her daughter in her childhood home. She lives a normal life until she discovers she can travel into The Further, which is a purgatorial realm of lost souls. Gemma realizes she can bring what lives in The Further back to the real world, which is great news for demonic entities who use Gemma to their full advantage. Cue carnage unfolding in our realm, and plenty of evil round the corner.
I first saw Alice Eve in Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor, and she is undoubtedly the best thing about Insidious: Out of the Further. As a new arrival to the Insidious franchise she's front and center of this sequel, and does a great job in the role.
Unfortunately, Eve's strong performance can't make up for the movie's many flaws. Insidious: Out of the Further is the scariest of the franchise due to the sheer number of jump scares, many of which have extremely loud audio to go along with it.
But the fact it was able to make me jump in my seat multiple times does not make it a good movie. The special effects and makeup feel really off, and not at all on the same level as previous movies. A lot of the narrative decisions frustrated me too, and I think it tries to take itself too seriously by stuffing loads of new lore into its runtime, making it feel bloated.
(Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)It's essential to see the other Insidious movies first, which may seem obvious, but I would encourage you to rewatch (or at least read up on them) before you go and see Insidious: Out of the Further, otherwise you might end up feeling lost. This really is for die-hard Insidious fans who know their stuff, so casual fans might be left scratching their heads.
Insidious: Out of the Further does not come close to the quality we've seen in a wave of recent great horror movies. It pales in comparison to fresh horror hits like Obsession and Backrooms, despite the fact the trailer repeatedly reminds us that it's produced by the same people; Blumhouse and Atomic Monster.
Having said that, if you want to go just to be startled by a carousel of jump scares, it's a great choice. I'd recommend this for those who want to test their nerve, and it's best seen with a crowd for this reason. I would advise against buying any popcorn in case you throw it all over yourself, because the scares are certainly in abundance here.
But it's not a necessary addition to the Insidious franchise at all, and doesn't live up to the 2010 movie that started it all. After 16 years, perhaps it's time to put this franchise to bed for good.
- Researchers show how an expired contactless card can still complete a real purchase because the expiry date the terminal reads is not covered by its signature
- The attack needs physical possession of the discarded card and two ordinary smartphones, and results vary per bank, with Visa cards being susceptible in testing
- Existing EMV protections can detect the relay, but they are optional and were not enabled on any card or terminal tested, and neither Visa nor the notified banks have confirmed a fix is in the works
For a layman, the date printed on a credit card looks like a hard stop, but that might not always be the case.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that a 'zombie card' past its expiration date can be persuaded to complete a contactless purchase at a real checkout terminal, creating a real security threat.
The irony is that it is not that EMV cryptography is not bypassed in any way, but rather that card expiry is enforced in a different way for contactless payments, as a policy check between two parties rather than as a fixed property of the card itself, and interestingly, the parties do not always know who is the one checking.
Dead plastic can still be used to pay under certain conditionsBuilding on the last part, a contactless transaction involves a card, a point-of-sale terminal, the merchant's bank, a card network, and the issuer. Each holds a fragment of the decision that eventually results in a successful or declined card transaction.
The EMV contactless flow is only selectively authenticated: some fields travel between the card and terminal in unencrypted text and are linked to cryptographic verification later, opening a potential attack vector for users with physical access to an expired card.
The exposure here is not that those fields can be read, since the expiry date is printed on the card anyway, but that it can be changed with relative ease. The Application Expiration Date that the terminal reads sits in the unprotected portion.
In the Visa configuration the team tested, that field is not covered by the card's digital signature and is subsequently not cryptographically bound to the expiry value the issuer sees in the online authorization request.
While this should not be the case, it opens an attack vector for a device between the card and the terminal that processes the charge by simply modifying the expiry value to one that is still valid. The issue is compounded by a second issue: cards carry an expiry date inside the digital certificate used to establish the card-to-terminal conversation, and researchers have found that the certificate outlasts the printed date on the plastic. In essence, a check that might have caught the problem is looking at a clock set further ahead.
The scope of the attack, however, is narrow: it affects Visa contactless cards only, with Mastercard, Discover, and American Express rejecting the altered expiry outright. It also requires physical access to the card and two smartphones to pull it off, making it a slightly more complex endeavor, to say the least.
The irony is that EMV does have a protection that would essentially undo such an attempt altogether: Relay Resistance Protocol, which measures timing to detect an inserted relay and can stop the transaction altogether, but it remains optional and was not enabled on any of the terminals or cards the researchers tested.
The team notified Visa and the relevant banks in May 2025 and again in December 2025, supplying a reproduction guide, transaction traces, and a video. Visa's report passed initial triage, and the company's red team was reproducing it.
However, as of publication, neither Visa nor the notified banks had confirmed a mitigation attempt, and Visa also did not respond to a press request from The Register for comment.
The underlying failure, however, is based on how payment decisions have now spread across multiple players, including chip, terminal, network, and bank architectures, all of which assume that expiry is someone else's problem, an approach that could come back to haunt them and their customers. For now, the researcher's advice remains important until a fix is rolled out: stop treating dead plastic as harmless, destroy the underlying chip, and cut through the card numbers to prevent abuse.
- Apple Music will soon force artists to label their AI-generated tunes
- It follows moves from rival streaming services to limit AI music
- Some users want Apple to outright ban AI tracks from its platform
The subject of music generated by artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic over the last couple of years, with the matter proving to be deeply polarizing among music lovers. Now, Apple is stepping in to enforce AI tags in Apple Music — but some users don’t think it’s going far enough.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Apple sent out emails to “industry partners” earlier this week outlining its position. Those messages made it clear that AI labels will start appearing “later this year” and won't be optional.
“Content providers will be required to include AI Transparency Tags in any instance where AI was used to create a material portion of the content, including tracks that are AI platform generated,” Apple said. “We define AI-platform-generated content as anything that is primarily derived from a generative AI service.”
This comes a few months after Apple started allowing record labels and artists to voluntarily signal that tracks were made with AI assistance through so-called ‘Transparency Tags.’ The latest update goes further, though, requiring music distributors to flag AI content so consumers know exactly what they’re getting.
AI fraud and streaming manipulation(Image credit: TechRadar)Apple didn’t outline how exactly it would enforce its new policy. It follows a similar move from Spotify, which revealed earlier this month that it would start labeling AI artists and would exclude them from curated and algorithmic recommendations. Rival service Tidal no longer pays uploaders if it detects that their submissions were made with AI.
Apple Music's new course of action comes amid growing disquiet over the use of AI in music creation. Popular concern over AI tracks has grown so much that tools like Detect Music have emerged to help people identify whether AI was used in the music they listen to.
Surveying social media, it’s clear that plenty of people support Apple’s move. “Good, but that took way too long,” lamented one person on Reddit. Another user wondered, “I might switch over to Apple Music once this is implemented, if there’s also an option to block AI content.”
Yet for others, Apple isn’t going far enough. “As a paying customer, you should be able to block it as a setting,” said one, while another contended that AI-generated music “shouldn’t be on the platform at all.” One Redditor was blunt, arguing that a “Better move would be to outright ban it.”
For many, the problem with AI music is a double one: feeling duped by the lack of artistry when a machine created the tracks you listen to, and concern that genuine musicians are being squeezed out as a result. Add to that the known cases of fraud and streaming manipulation that are often tied to the use of AI in music, and it’s clear that Apple felt that something had to be done.
With the proliferation of AI music-generation services like Suno and Beatoven, this is not a problem that will disappear overnight. But with AI tunes appearing to be highly unpopular — at least once they’re identified as such — Apple’s latest move could help to make a dent in their spread.
- Four GEEKOM A9 Mega mini PCs link together through simple USB4 cables
- Each unit runs on the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor chip
- Combined cluster memory reaches 512GB across all four connected systems
Geekom has released the DeepSeek V4 Flash model across four A9 Mega mini PCs, forming a distributed cluster aimed at enterprise AI workloads.
The setup connects the devices through USB4 rather than relying on a traditional data center server.
Each A9 Mega runs on the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, which combines 16 Zen 5 CPU cores with Radeon 8060S graphics and unified memory in one compact chassis
Local processing over cloud dependenceThe four-node configuration brings a combined 512GB of RAM to the task, with Ubuntu, ROCm, and DwarfStar software distributing the optimized model across the machines.
An OpenAI-compatible API links applications and AI agents to the cluster, while USB4 removes any need for a proprietary switch or server rack.
The arrangement allows organizations to keep prompts, documents, source code, and credentials within local infrastructure rather than routing them through a public cloud.
Businesses could theoretically build private knowledge assistants capable of searching contracts, manuals, and internal reports without external exposure.
For agent-based systems, Geekom says the cluster can process tools, policies, memory, and logs before executing any action, with a technical path that has operated using contexts up to 250K tokens.
Performance numbers under scrutinyTesting reported by Geekom recorded approximately 14.61 tokens per second at single concurrency, while P95 time to first token reached about 0.42 seconds.
The company says the configuration also provides greater capacity for long prompts, rather than concentrating solely on faster short-response generation.
Users can begin with one or two A9 Mega systems before expanding the configuration to four nodes as workloads increase over time.
Each machine can operate independently, while connected systems can contribute to distributed inference when greater computing capacity becomes necessary for demanding workloads.
The A9 Mega mini PC itself supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5x memory, although four systems provide the stated 512GB cluster capacity for distributed inference workloads.
Its specifications include 120W sustained performance, dual M.2 PCIe Gen4x4 storage slots, and support for up to 8TB of RAID-configured storage.
Geekom lists the A9 Mega at $3,999 for a configuration with 128GB RAM and 2TB SSD, while the four-system cluster reaches $16,000.
The individual units also carry 126 total TOPS of combined processing output, with 120W of sustained thermal design power under load.
It also supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, dual 2.5G Ethernet, and four simultaneous 8K displays for professional environments.
The performance values above are vendor-supplied benchmarks without third-party testing - therefore, the real-world reliability of the setup for sustained enterprise use has not been independently confirmed.