News

• Fitbit founders are launching a new screenless fitness tracker
• The Luffu Link is designed for caregivers, bringing all your relatives' health data to one place
• It's available for pre-order now, and will roll out early next year

Watch out Whoop, there’s a new screenless health and fitness wearable on the way — and it’s coming from the founders of Fitbit.

Developers James Park and Eric Friedman announced a new LTE fitness tracker, the Luffu Link, marking the pair’s first hardware device since launching their company Luffu earlier this year.

The Luffu Link is available to pre-order now at $249.99, but is expected to increase to $299.99 when it retails in early 2027. It’s also set to come in three different colors: Halo Gold, Onyx Black, and Sterling Blue.

What sets the new Luffu Link apart from the best fitness trackers is its focus. Instead of targeting individual health tracking, Park and Friedman designed their screenless wearable to include your whole family, which comes from their experiences with being caregivers.

“When you become a family caregiver, or the CEO of the family, these people are spending an enormous amount of time doing it,” Park told TechCrunch. “Research shows over 27 hours a week on average, which is a crazy amount of time…I think technology can play a big role in helping reduce this load, but as we found out, the tools to help them are pretty fragmented,” he added.

The Luffu Link looks a lot different to screenless wearables like Whoop and the Google Fitbit Air. For one, it doesn't adopt the same focus band design, and instead has a more sleek and technical look. It comes equipped with similar wellness tracking tools, of course, but it takes it further.

Though it’s not designed for step-tracking, the Luffu Link tracks everything else including sleep, activity, and heart rate, while also allowing you to record medications, symptoms, meals, and more using your voice.

With the help of the Luffu app, which launched back in February, you can easily view the data for each family member in your ecosystem. Using AI in the background to contextualize health metrics, the app gives you a comprehensive overview of your relatives’ information, all while working to learn daily patterns and identify any changes in your health.

While its data gathering abilities are widespread, the Luffu Link has built-in GPS and LTE, doubling as a communicative device that allows members in your family to alert trusted contacts. Not only can you track family members' location, you can check in with others without calling, texting, or having your phone nearby — and this could come in handy for emergencies.

Double-pressing the wearable’s button allows you to quickly alert others when help is needed, and you don’t need an additional LTE carrier plan. For example, if you’ve had an accident and need assistance you can say ‘I’ve fallen and hurt my leg. Can someone come and get me?’, and those in your Luffu family network will be notified.

The Luffu Link is just the start of the health tracking empire Park and Friedman want to build. In addition to the launch of the new fitness wearable, Luffu has teased a home device designed to help families monitor wellbeing across multiple households. It’s still in early development, but the company has said more details will be unveiled later this year.

Apple has just unveiled the new Mac mini with M6 processor, and for me the biggest news is the price hike to $899 for the cheapest model.

This is a jump from $799 for the previous Mac mini M4 model — but that had also received a de facto price rise only back in May, when Apple discontinued the $599 entry-level option (with 256GB of storage) and made the $799 version (with 512GB of storage) the new lowest-price option.

It means that between April 2026 and August 2026, the minimum price you can pay for a Mac mini has jumped by 50%. That's not an ideal situation at a time when it feels like our income is being squeezed harder and harder every week.

Yes, you get more storage and the new $899 version has more powerful chip than in the older $599 version — but, frankly, there will be plenty of people for whom price is the key factor, not the ability to run LLM requests faster.

Apple knows this; these people are exactly who the MacBook Neo is aimed at. So now that the Mac mini is no longer a budget buy, we need Apple to bring the Neo principle to the desktop.

As I said in the headline, I don't think a 'Mac Neo' PC even needs to be a complicated proposition to develop: we already know the A18 Pro chip runs macOS really well, because we've seen it do it in the MacBook Neo. And Apple already has a small body that can take the thermal requirements of iPhone-level chip, in the form of the latest Apple TV 4K.

The existing Apple TV 4K body already has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennae built in, and Ethernet and HDMI output ports — and while it no longer has USB-C, it used to, so it wouldn't be too hard to add back in.

Surely, in a plastic body, using an iPhone chip, we can get the price down below $600 again. The MacBook Neo is $699, and that includes a screen, keyboard and battery, after all.

If Apple is working on this, I expect we might have a bit of a wait — supposedly, the MacBook Neo will get a refresh in 2027 with an upgrade to the Apple A19 Pro processor (which brings a boost from 8GB of RAM to 12GB with it), which makes sense in terms of Apple saying that the new AI Siri's most powerful features require 12GB of RAM.

It would probably make sense to launch my new 'Mac Neo' or 'Mac Nano' or whatever you want to call it alongside the next MacBook Neo, if it were to happen.

The idea of putting a cheap Mac in the Apple TV's body is something I've been talking about ever since the M1 chip was unveiled back in 2020. When the Mac mini M4 redesign appeared, with its excellent $599 price, I basically felt like I got what I wanted from the start.

But at these prices, I'm returning on my crusade — all the pieces are there to bring the Mac back to a truly budget price, and now more than ever people need a reliable, privacy-friendly computing option that's easy on the wallet.

It's almost midnight, and I'm still playing Bit Reactor's turn-based tactics (TBT) strategy game, Star Wars Zero Company. I'm nearing the end of a tense battle that's lasted longer than I've realized, but I'm so close to success. Only a few enemies remain, and Hawks is out of med packs; Tricks, Tel, and Luco are all low on health, and I don't want to risk any more injuries that could lead to my favorite Operators' permanent death. One mistake will cause a domino effect that ends in defeat, but I have to make a move.

I have Luco and Trick fire their blasters at a single enemy, taking them down with a lucky critical hit, before positioning them behind cover alongside Hawks. I lay a trap; with Overwatch enabled and monitoring the area where the boss and the final enemy are located, I have Tel rush ahead into position. Using all the Advantage I've accrued through the last few tactical turns, the Jedi Padawan executes her special Force action, knocking back both enemies into the zone of my team's line of sight. Even though they have no Action Points (AP) left, thanks to my planning, Luco, Trick, and Hawks fire off three more shots each, and together, we achieve victory.

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
Release date: August 27, 2026

Before playing Zero Company, Bit Reactor's debut game made by a studio founded by former Firaxis Games and XCOM veterans, I was concerned my lack of experience with XCOM would hinder my enjoyment of this new Star Wars story. But after just a few hours of taking on mercs and clankers, jumping to various planets via hyperspace, and getting to know my fellow Operators, I quickly fell in love.

What I love about Star Wars, besides the lightsabers, the expansive lore, and dark side baddies, is the seemingly unlimited opportunity for new stories within the vast galaxy, far, far away.

While Zero Company is set 20BBY during the twilight of the Clone Wars, a frequently revisited era in the franchise, this story chooses to tell a story from the perspective of someone no longer tied directly to the conflict, but has been affected by it. The fact that the player character, Hawks, is a former captain in the Grand Army of the Republic is a unique premise that initially piqued my interest; they commanded the 100th Clone Company and led a campaign that led to a Trooper massacre, Trick being declared unfit for duty due to an injury, and Hawks' dismissal.

Hawks now leads the titular covert squad on a mission to take down the paramilitary cult known as The Infinite Coil and its leader, Kundri Fathom, who are all diseased by the mysterious Shadow Plague and are slowly building their forces across the galaxy.

As Hawks and Zero Company tackle this growing threat against the backdrop of the Clone Wars, the team is also dealing with their own personal issues and the consequences of warfare, whether at the hands of the Republic or the Separatists, with the story exploring themes of justice, revenge, belonging, grief, and guilt.

It's a compelling approach with surprising twists and turns that takes the story in an unexpected direction and had my Star Wars-loving heart pounding thanks to the brilliant way Bit Reactor seamlessly blends cinematic storytelling and a brilliantly formulated combat system.

Star Wars Zero Company's turn-based tactics gameplay is its best feature, offering an incredible amount of character customization that allows players to experiment with different loadouts and specializations for some immensely fun missions.

This is a spoiler-free review, and I won't get into the details, but Hawks' history has interesting implications for the narrative in ways I wasn't anticipating; they're a smart, funny, sarcastic, but decisive individual, navigating being a leader who is, once again, caught up in a galactic threat. And while they're a customizable character, they feel like they belong in this universe as much as any other protagonist we've had before.

Fathom herself, as the primary antagonist, however, separate from Coil members you run into plenty of times, feels a bit underutilized throughout the story, and I was left with a desire to know more about her.

The majority of the campaign finds Zero Company trying to track Fathom down while she continuously eludes them and works from the shadows, which means there aren't many opportunities for the antagonist to shine on screen; it feels like wasted potential as she's a very interesting villain with a unique motivation that compliments the broader narrative, but without that extra character exploration, especially in parallel to Hawks and their development, I was left with some unanswered questions and ultimately unsatisfied.

I stand by what I wrote in my preview: Star Wars fans with no knowledge of TBT games like XCOM can absolutely enjoy this game. Bit Reactor has done an excellent job making a beginner-friendly, not to mention incredibly rewarding, experience when you get accustomed to strategizing on the fly and go on to achieve win after win.

Squad appearances, tailored loudouts, and the numerous specializations on offer, be it Medic, Scoundrel, Heavy, or Scout, present an unbelievable amount of player freedom, which allows for some impressive customization, as well as what seems like an opportunity for limitless playthroughs.

This is especially true when the secondary specializations are unlocked for Zero Company; I gave my Hawks the Medic spec, which allowed an extra sense of security for playing on permadeath mode, and I was amazed by how my second spec, Gunslinger, completely refreshed battles and provided new and imaginative strategies on the battlefield.

My squad for Tactical Missions typically included Tel because of her ranged Force abilities, and Trick, who can withstand getting Downed and can automatically revive during the next turn in battle; their Hero Talents came in handy when the mission was on the verge of failure, and their fully upgraded skill trees made them a must-have, especially for higher difficulty battles that featured a variety of enemies that are tougher than others.

Kabb also has a sick uppercut ability that lets him wollop enemies, while Luco has a sniper skill that guarantees a 100% hit; learning how these talents work, strategizing how best to spend my squad's limited three AP should have been stressful, but the process was just awesome.

Continuously maneuvering across ever-shifting and lovingly crafted isometric maps wrapped in an authentic Star Wars atmosphere, outplaying a contingent of droids, deadly Coil soldiers, and syndicate members with just wit, and mixing and matching team builds to your preference with a ton of options to experiment with; all of this offers an immensely rewarding gameplay experience that continuously delivers.

No Tactical Mission feels the same, and even when they take longer to complete because of their difficulty level—and believe me, they can take a while—it doesn't matter, because the sense of accomplishment I felt after every mission was worth the time.

The campaign is also strengthened by Zero Company's interpersonal relationships, consisting of multiple colorful characters, including a loyal ex-Clone Trooper, a Mandalorian turned bounty hunter, a sharp-tongued Umbaran sniper, a Jedi Padawan without a Master, and more.

The game leans into role-playing game (RPG) systems by melding TBT gameplay and Bonds, a relationship approval system vital for unlocking features like new talents, focus points, and stat bonuses. Similar to Bioware's dynamic relationship system found in Dragon Age and Mass Effect, minus the romance and branching dialogue trees, Bonds are deepened by completing each character's personal questline, how you approach Operations, or how you respond in conversations.

Zero Company's Bond system is great, and I know it's primarily a TBT strategy game; however, I can't help but think it would have benefited even more if it went harder with the RPG mechanics, like additional dialogue choices, to really reinforce and shape those Bonds.

Characters may also have negative opinions of each other, and it's pretty fun, and essentially the key to success, to purposefully pair them together during missions to make them grow closer with the benefit of improving their loadout and unlocking new combat synergies.

Outside of missions, it's pretty neat how Operators, even the ones you can create and recruit yourself, can be found around The Den having conversations and revealing a bit more behind the curtain; the switch to a third-person perspective here also brings a personal touch to these relationships, making them feel alive in their environment.

Alongside other characters like Runa and Bennic, authored Operators have so much personality with their own motivations and perspectives, with stellar performances from the ensemble cast; they're not just soldiers along for the ride, and while some pairings have more fleshed-out Bonds that are more ingrained in the main campaign than others, like Trick and Luco, they're equally memorable.

Whether it's Tel, Jae, Kabb, or particularly Trick, they feel like the backbone of the narrative and are as authentic to the Star Wars world they occupy, which is why when/if a character is killed in permadeath mode, the loss is truly felt.

This feature is a must if you want to up the risk factor during missions and truly heightens the stakes as you build these meaningful relationships, even if it means you'll be locked out of some pretty amazing missions if Operators die.

Bit Reactor seamlessly blends cinematic storytelling and a brilliantly formulated combat system.

I had some issues during my preview session, mostly frame rate problems that took me out of the experience, but I'm happy to say performance has been vastly improved with my review copy on PC. With my mid-to-high range build, which consists of an Nvidia RTX 3060Ti graphics card and Ryzen 7 5700X 8-Core processor, the gorgeous cinematics and gameplay frame rates were consistently high, hitting 60fps the majority of the time, with the odd dip to the upper 40fp to lower 50fps range occasionally depending on how visually busy the scene is.

I also didn't encounter any significant performance snags, either. Bugs are almost non-existent, aside from a few encounters during conversations and cinematics where audio didn't sync correctly and tactical turns sometimes took a little longer to load from the enemies' side; otherwise, I had a pretty smooth experience.

You're a Star Wars fan
You'll have a great experience if you've been itching for more Clone Wars-era stories, and Star Wars Zero Company presents a unique premise that takes you on an adventure.

You enjoy turn-based combat
If you like the process of strategizing and adapting on a continuously shifting battlefield, you'll love Star Wars Zero Company and its addictive turn-based tactics gameplay.

You're looking for a cinematic story
While Star Wars Zero Company's core gameplay is turn-based tactics, the game also offers gorgeous cinematic visuals with heart-pounding missions

You don't like turn-based gameplay
If you know you're looking for something more fast-paced and want to just experience the story, Star Wars Zero Company may not be for you

You're looking for a shorter experience
Star Wars Zero Company takes between 30 and 40 hours to beat, depending on the difficulty level, and some higher-risk missions can take some time to beat

Star Wars Zero Company is a bit short on accessibility features, having only standard vision settings like text size and color blind mode, as well as a motion reduction setting for on-screen action.

I spent just over 40 hours playing Star Wars Zero Company on my gaming PC with my Logitech G G715 wireless gaming keyboard and Logitech G703 wireless gaming mouse. I used a Gigabyte M32U gaming monitor and my Sony WH-CH520 wireless headphones for audio.

First reviewed August 2026.

• SOCRadar uncovers AnonyMousKIT, a phishing kit abusing Apple’s Lost Mode contact info
• Crooks spoof Find My pages, trick victims into giving credentials to unlock stolen iPhones
• Active since 2024, it operates like a criminal software business with 500+ domains and AI‑driven vishing

Security researchers have discovered AnonyMousKIT, a new phishing kit designed to bypass the last line of defense for stolen iPhones, which has been in use for more than two years.

Apple devices come with several anti-theft mechanisms working together to make iPhones a lot less attractive to thieves, including Find My, Activation Lock, and Lost Mode.

If a user’s device is lost or stolen, they can use their tablet, laptop, or a similar device to enable Find My iPhone, which can then locate the device through an app or a website. They can also see its location on a map, make it play a sound, remotely wipe it, or receive a notification when it’s found. Enabling the Find My feature also turns on Activation Lock, which locks the phone and prevents it from being set up by someone else.

Even if the thief factory resets it, the phone remains connected to the real owner’s Apple account, and they simply can’t set it up. To do that, they would need the iPhone device passcode to exit Lost Mode, and the Apple account password, if Activation Lock/setup authentication is required.

But there is another feature Apple added, just in case the device isn’t actually stolen, but rather lost. For these occasions, there is an option to display the owner’s contact information on the screen so that a good samaritan who finds it can return it to its rightful owner.

As is the case with many other well-intended features, this one is now also being abused as part of the AnonyMousKIT phishing kit.

According to security researchers SOCRadar, crooks are using AnonyMousKIT to create fake Find My or Apple pages. Then, they use the contact information displayed on the stolen iPhone to reach out to the victim. Through the kit, they can send emails, SMS messages, WhatsApp texts, or even AI-powered phone calls. Reaching out to the victim, the attackers introduce themselves as Apple customer support agents, and tell the victim their smartphone had been retrieved.

They also provide the victim with the correct model and IMEI details to confirm the authenticity of their claims. Then they require the victim to confirm their identity by visiting the spoofed Find My page and providing the credentials needed to unlock the phone.

The credentials end up with the attackers, who can then unlock the phone, wipe it, and sell it on the black market for a much higher price.

SOCRadar says the earliest records of the AnonyMousKIT date back to early 2024. Since then it has grown into a major operation, counting more than 500 domains, and having more than 150 storefront brands working as resellers and affiliates.

As part of their investigation, the researchers found records of roughly 200 calls, which the crooks made to victims between August 2025 and May 2026. The calls were done using five different AI agent personas and 55 different interaction transcripts.

Every call had cost the attackers $0.10, and most of them - 90% - were made to Brazilian victims. A small percentage of email correspondence was made towards government and corporate addresses, as well. Just under 30 attempts were made towards South African government domains, and three to a local university. While the campaign is global in its reach, it’s mostly focused on South Africa, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Brazil, and Italy.

SOCRadar describes AnonyMousKIT "not as a phishing kit but as a small software business with a criminal customer base."

"Its primary innovation is an automated, LLM-driven voice vector. At ~$0.10 per call, the platform initiates dynamic vishing across three languages using structured pretexts synced with email and SMS lure data, removing the need for fluent human callers."

At the moment the report was published, the campaign was still ongoing, and the researchers are still tracking it.

Via BleepingComputer