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With AI undoubtedly revolutionizing the way many office jobs get done, the effects new technology is having on blue-collar jobs often flies under the radar.
But it is in these hands-on industries where AI can really make a difference, boosting not only productivity and efficiency, but also improving safety and worker welfare.
At its recent Samsara Beyond 2026 conference, I saw first-hand some of the new AI-powered tools and services which could revolutionize the operations industry in years to come - but also heard why the human connection will always remain vital.
AI improvement"Humans are extremely capable - and I don't see the machines or AI replacing that anytime soon - I see it augmenting us, and helping us," Johan Land, CPO at Samsara tells me at the event.
We're speaking after a jam-packed keynote which saw the company reveal a host of new AI-empowered tools and services, from a smart shipping label sticker, to a 360-degree camera which can help truck drivers navigate cramped delivery yards.
But it was the new AI tools which drew a lot of attention, including the ability for drivers to talk directly to their manager or an AI agent remotely, as well as a new AI Studio which lets customers create bespoke offerings for specific use cases - so why such a big focus on AI right now, I ask Land.
"First of all, the AI has got so much better over time - but then in addition to that, our customers want it," he notes, highlighting how Samsara can help customers on how to best plug AI into their systems.
"Physical operations is tough! It's very labor-intensive, there are many tasks that are very repetitive and it's hard to hire people - so this solves a really acute problem in that sense."
(Image credit: Future / Mike Moore)Ryan Yu, VP of Product at Samsara, agrees with Land, telling me Samsara's goal, "is to be the operating system for physical operations."
When it comes to improving the efficiency of customer's workflows, "there's so much low-hanging fruit", he notes, highlighting the importance automating the big things, in a way that makes sense.
Samsara's customer base is everyone from mining operations to building firms, from school districts to logistics firms, so I ask Land how important AI will be as a selling point over its competition - and how eager these more "traditional" industries are to get working with AI.
"The hardest thing with AI is probably making it work for people in their real life and to create true value," he says, "it can easily become vaporware, it looks good on the surface"
"Sometimes they get it (AI), and sometimes they don't," he adds, "but it doesn't matter - and it might be even better if you don't understand it, because their expectations are super high...that's the empowerment, they expect it to just work."
"We need to provide the rails," Yu adds, "and we also need to provide guidance to what types of use cases are best served...because the underlying technology is still evolving."
AI augmenting humansSo how long will it be before even the most hands-on industries are fully embracing AI to get their work done? Land notes that the work is already well underway.
"Overall, we see the AI augmenting humans, taking care of some tasks," he says, "but overall it's making humans more empowered, stronger and capable."
Yu notes the immediate future will be dominated by the themes of "discovery, education and adoption" by customers, and the role Samsara can play in this.
"We want to make sure we meet them where they are, and provide the right templates," he notes, "and the good thing is we know what their most important use cases are, and what they struggle with...when we talk about reducing manual drudgery, we understand deeply how customers engage with their products."
"This is a time of distractions," Land laughs, "but for us it's very simple, we follow our customers, we just talk to them, understand what their problems are, what they need from us, and then that's how we prioritize literally everything we do."
"The direction this is going is that a job site or workplace of the future will have all kinds of things inside of it...the way we see ourselves to be is as the connecting tissue - the agentic platform that ties all of this together."
Final VR3000 EX for Gaming: two-minute review
The Final VR3000 EX for Gaming is a multi-platform gaming headset aimed at the more affordable end of the gaming market. It offers a low-latency connection, a fold-to-mute mic, and spatial audio for a much more manageable price than many of the premium pads on the market. But does it deliver on everything it promises?
The Final VR3000 EX for Gaming’s build isn’t bad, all things considered. I’m not a huge fan of the plastic on its earcups or how rattly it can be — both make it feel a bit cheap and flimsy — while the adjustable headband doesn’t really go tight enough for people with smaller heads. But the fabric section of the headband and the faux leather cups are really comfortable: despite a tiny bit of sweatiness, I found them comfortable enough to wear for the best part of a day.
Sound quality on the VR3000 EX is really solid: trebles feel crisp enough to give everything real immediacy, while the mids have sufficient clarity that I could easily differentiate the different roars of demons I gunned my way through in Doom. The only area where I’d say the headset doesn’t quite match pace with the best wireless gaming headsets out there is bass. It would be nice if guns had a little more boom — unless I’ve really misunderstood, the F in BFG9000 does not stand for ‘feeble’.
On paper, the VR3000 EX has some pretty great features for its price point, but I found this was the point it really struggled to deliver. Although Final talks a good game about the headset’s spatial audio, in practice the only dimension I really found had strong differentiation was left / right, with noises behind me being harder to pinpoint and there seemingly being no height effect that I could detect at all.
(Image credit: Future)The headset’s Footstep Clarity Mode is a similar story. While creeping around the Dust II map on Counter-Strike 2, I found detecting the footfalls of rivals to be pretty easy, which is great. However, I couldn’t really appreciate a significant difference in this, whether the mode was enabled or not. It seems churlish to complain about this, given footsteps were still easy to hear, but I’m just not sure how much this feature actually adds.
I will give Final less faint praise over the headset’s foldaway mic though. Testing it out, I found it did a pretty creditable job of picking up my voice and its fold-to-mute functionality worked well to stifle the recording, even though there was a slight lag of a little under a second for it to kick in. However, it doesn’t seem to have a near-field mic or significant noise gating, as when it was recording it absolutely picked up the background music I was playing and the clack of my keyboard.
And whatever quibbles I may have about the VR3000 EX’s other features, I was pretty blown away by its battery life. During my battery tests, I found that Final was pretty on the money with its 55-hour estimate for this headset. That blows even many more premium headsets out of the water for longevity and means you’re unlikely to need to charge it more than once a week, even if you’re gaming for a significant proportion of each day.
Everything is relative. Given its price, I’d usually be pretty generous with the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming. And it doesn’t get everything wrong: it has decent enough mids and trebles and a good stereo field. But bass is pretty lacking and many of the features it professes to have are almost imperceptible. In light of that, I’d argue another budget option like the Corsair HS55 Wireless might serve you better instead.
(Image credit: Future)Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: price & release date- Launched on December 12, 2025
- List price of $149.99 / £99.99 / $259
- But it’s already on sale for £69.99 in the UK
Released on December 12, 2025, Final VR3000 EX for Gaming is available now. While it originally went on sale at a list price of $149.99 / £99.99 / $259, it’s already showing up for a fair amount less in some regions. You can currently pick it up for as little as £69.99 in the UK, which is a pretty low price for a gaming headset.
As for your options at that price, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that there’s not a whole load of customizability and it only comes in one colorway, black. On the plus side, there aren’t loads of different versions for different platforms: the one version of the VR3000 EX is compatible with PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC, although unfortunately there’s no Xbox Series X / S compatibility.
Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: specsDrivers
3D Extra Wide Sound Stage Over-Ear Dynamic Drivers
Weight
389g
Compatibility
PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, mobile
Connection type
2.4GHz Wireless (via ultra-low latency USB Transceiver), Bluetooth 5.3
Battery life
Up to 55 hours (800mAh capacity)
Features
25ms ultra-low latency mode, Footstep Clarity Modes, fold-to-mute microphone
Software
Dedicated final VR3000 EX mobile app (10-band EQ customization, Footstep Clarity Mode toggle)
(Image credit: Future)Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: design / features- Comfortable to wear
- Not all materials feel that premium
- Epic battery life
- Quite loose fitting
Given its price, it’s not surprising that the Final VR3000 EX’s build quality seems a little on the cheap side. Not only does the textured plastic on their cups feel pretty low quality, but they are incredibly rattly when you handle them, which doesn’t speak to a tremendously robust construction. On the plus side, they didn’t seem to rattle at all when they were on my head.
Additionally, the fabric headband and faux leather earcups are delightfully soft, meaning I actually found the VR3000 EX to be surprisingly comfortable. I wore them on and off for much of a day, and they didn’t start to squish my ears, a problem I’ve always found with cheaper headphones and headsets. However, I will say the faux leather gets decidedly sweaty during longer use, particularly during tense first-person shooters.
I’m less convinced by the VR3000 EX’s fit, unfortunately. While the clamping force feels just about right, it’s not all that easy to adjust the stiff adjustable headband while the headset is on your dome. And Final seems to have modeled this headset around Mr Mackey from South Park — I have a pretty big head and yet the VR3000 EX only just about felt stable on the shortest setting, while one of my smaller-skulled colleagues definitely found he couldn’t get it small enough for it to feel comfortable.
(Image credit: Future)All of its controls are on the left earcup. There’s an on switch, the volume dial, a Mode button that lets you switch between Bluetooth and USB mode — as well as play/pause media and answer/end calls — and the Control button, which allows you to trigger Footstep Clarity Mode. Each button has a clicky enough action to provide decent tactile feedback, while the volume dial is lightly notched to make increasing the volume feel nicely precise. However, I will say that they’re positioned close enough that it’s not always easy to know right away which button is which by feel alone.
The app for the Final VR3000 EX is pretty limited. It has three features: it enables you to update the headset’s firmware, switch on Footstep Clarity Mode, and provides access to Final’s EQ settings. While it’s hard to justify using the app just for the Footstep Clarity Mode, the 10-band EQ that’s included is pretty decent, even if I’m not all that convinced that the impact of the lowest 31Hz is really that appreciable. So while it’s not like you need to rush to download this, it’s still useful so I’ll count this one as a bonus.
A far more unequivocal win for the VR3000 EX though is its battery life. Final quotes its total life as being up to 55 hours, and this was borne out by my testing. I set it streaming music constantly for six hours, and during that time the battery only dropped to 90% — a back-of-the-envelope calculation would put its total life at 60 hours. So even factoring in that battery discharge curves aren’t necessarily regular, I’d say 55 hours is a perfectly reasonable expectation for how long this headset should last you.
(Image credit: Future)Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: performance- Good sound performance, even if bass is weaker
- Spatial audio claims totally overblown
- Not sure Footstep Clarity mode adds much
Design and features are all well and good. But where the rubber meets the road for a gaming headset is whether those things translate into a good sonic performance in-game. And, sadly, when you actually take the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming for a test drive, it doesn’t quite deliver on the expectations it’s set for itself.
The VR3000 EX sounds very decent, but it is a little uneven in how it handles the balance of frequencies. On the plus side, it has a good level of bite in the high-end. The screams of the possessed when I was playing Doom were immediate enough to be rattling, while the whine of my chainsaw as I carved up imps felt sufficiently realistic.
But it’s when it comes to bass that the VR3000 EX is a little more lacking. When I tested the Turtle Beach Atlas 200, I heaped praise on it for the almighty boom that issued when I was clicking heads with the sniper rifle in Counter-Strike 2. With the VR3000 EX, it almost felt like I was playing a different game, with the game’s rifles having scarcely any more impact than my dual Berettas. While that has a very limited impact on your kill ratio in-game, it does make the whole thing feel a lot less immersive.
(Image credit: Future)Speaking of, Final spends a lot of time hyping up the VR3000 EX’s spatial audio skills in its product description. And yet I’d say rumors of its immersiveness have been greatly exaggerated.
On the one hand, the VR3000 EX has a pretty creditable stereo field, with action occurring on either side of me always feeling pretty easy to pinpoint. Whether I was trying to spot where an inbound explosive engineer was charging from or fleeing from hell knights in Doom, the VR3000 EX generally made it easy to tell which side their howls and roars came from.
Unfortunately, I can’t say Final’s headset fares as well in other dimensions. There’s just enough variation in footsteps in front and behind you that I could tell which was which when giving it my full attention — but in the heat of battle, I’m not sure how useful I actually found these subtle cues. And while Final explicitly mentions height effects on its site, I could not spot any significant difference at all between action happening above me and gunfights happening right under my nose.
Honestly, that’s fine: I do not expect accomplished Dolby Atmos-style effects from hardware that costs roughly the same dough as a couple of AAA computer games. But I do wish brands would stop denuding the term spatial audio of its meaning by using it as a marketing gimmick.
(Image credit: Future)Sadly, the VR3000 EX also treads a pretty similar path with its Footstep mode. While engaged in a free-for-all deathmatch in Counter-Strike 2, the headset did a perfectly adequate job of allowing me to pick out my rivals’ footfall and react accordingly. So far, so good, right? Except during this match I switched Footstep mode on and off many times, and I genuinely couldn’t spot whether I was actually getting an enhanced sense of steps or whether it was largely just a placebo.
One area I’ll happily give the VR3000 EX its due, though, is its connectivity. Using its USB dongle, I honestly couldn’t detect any latency between kills onscreen and the crack of gunfire. While an effective low-latency mode is pretty common with gaming headsets, it’s still a welcome feature on a headset this affordably priced. Even when connected via Bluetooth, the audio wasn’t remotely laggy and enabled me to respond pretty quickly to what was going on around me. So it definitely gets some points there.
And as long as you don’t have particularly high expectations, the VR3000 EX’s foldaway mic works well enough as well. Its action is smooth, and the fold-to-mute function absolutely works, meaning you can be sure no one is overhearing you when you want a bit of privacy — although there is a lag of around a second before it mutes, so bear that in mind. Unfortunately, though, sound quality isn’t great, with my voice sounding a little bit on the tinnier side, and there’s no noise-gating that I can tell, meaning friends and foes online will be able to hear any background chatter or music in your room.
(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming?Buy it if…You want decent game sound without spending a fortune
Despite not having quite as much low-end heft as some headsets, the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming has clear enough mids and treble to bring your games to life.
You want an epic battery life
Even compared to much more expensive headsets, the VR3000 EX has an impressive battery life, clocking in at roughly 55 hours. That should keep you gaming for days and days.
You want a premium-feeling experience
The VR3000 EX feels comfortable enough on your head. But it’s not made of the most luxe-feeling materials, and the adjustable headband doesn’t run tight enough for smaller heads.
You want a premium-feeling experience
The VR3000 EX feels comfortable enough on your head. But it’s not made of the most luxe-feeling materials, and the adjustable headband doesn’t run tight enough for smaller heads.
Final VR3000 EX for Gaming
Corsair HS55 Wireless
Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023)
Drivers
3D Extra Wide Sound Stage Over-Ear Dynamic Drivers
50mm Neodymium
Customized Dynamic 50mm Driver (Razer TriForce Titanium)
Weight
389g
266g
320g
Compatibility
PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, mobile
PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, mobile
PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, mobile
Connection type
2.4GHz Wireless (via USB Adapter), Bluetooth 5.3
2.4GHz Wireless (via USB Adapter), Bluetooth
2.4GHz Wireless (via USB Adapter), Bluetooth 5.2
Battery life
Up to 55 hours
Up to 24 hours (2.4GHz) / Up to 37 hours (Bluetooth)
Up to 70 hours
Features
25ms ultra-low latency mode, Footstep Clarity Modes, fold-to-mute microphone
Dolby Audio 7.1 surround sound (PC/Mac), Flip-to-mute boom mic
Detachable HyperClear Super Wideband 9.9mm Mic, THX Spatial Audio, Razer SmartSwitch toggle, FPS audio profiles
Software
Dedicated final VR3000 EX mobile app (10-band EQ customization, Footstep Clarity Mode toggle)
Corsair iCUE (10-band EQ, mic settings, EQ presets)
Razer Synapse (10-band graphic EQ, THX Spatial layout)
Corsair HS55 Wireless
There’s a reason that the Corsair HS55 Wireless is our current budget pick for the best PC gaming headsets. Its 50mm Neodymium audio drivers serve up crystal-clear sound with generous bass, while its build is super comfortable to wear. Most importantly, it offers true 7.1 Surround Sound, meaning it’s capable of much more impressive spatialized sound.
Read our full Corsair HS55 Wireless review.
Razer BlackShark V2 Pro
Despite having been released in 2022, the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is still one of our favorite gaming headsets, thanks to its lush sound quality, epic battery life and THX spatial audio. And while its original list price of $179.99 / £179 / AU$299 is a fair bit higher than the VR3000 EX, in the years since its release its price has come way down: I’ve seen offers placing it more in the region of $107.99 / £99.98 / AU$176.55.
Read our full Razer BlackShark V2 Pro review.
(Image credit: Future)How I tested the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming- Tested over a week
- Tried out on a range of titles including Counter-Strike 2 and Doom
- Have 10 years experience writing about audio and 35 of gaming
I tested the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming over the course of a week. I paired it with my desktop PC at home, my MacBook Pro M4 and TechRadar’s Acer Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop. I then tested it out with multiple titles including Counter-Strike 2 and Doom, as well as listening to some playlists on Apple Music.
In terms of specifics, I tested out the spatial audio in multiple Counter-Strike 2 deathmatches and tried switching the Footstep Clarity Mode on and off to see how much difference that made to how perceptible opponents’ positions were. I recorded myself while talking, typing, and playing music to test the VR3000 EX’s foldaway mic, as well as folding it away to test how effectively it muted incoming audio.
When it comes to my personal experience, I’ve been writing about and testing audio gadgets for over ten years now, as well as using audio gear to produce and listen to music. I’ve been playing games on a daily basis since they were all 8-bit, sharing my time pretty evenly between console, handheld and PC gaming. And yet, it turns out, I still get thoroughly mogged when playing Counter-Strike 2, which I blame on my middle-aged reflexes.
- First reviewed: June 2026
- Read more about how we test
Sometimes I feel like the only person who actually liked Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. Sure, the old third-person shooter isn’t exactly the most fun to play — but that’s entirely the point.
Under the RadarUnder the Radar is our way of highlighting great games that might have passed you by. Through a regular mix of news stories and features, we'll cover great experiences that we feel haven't found the audience they deserve. Read the full series here.
It’s the gory swansong of two disgusting men, presented entirely through the low-res lens of a handheld camcorder that intentionally leaves you disoriented as you navigate the towering concrete skyscrapers of Shanghai. The game does everything it can to overwhelm, with its fragmented plot told almost entirely in a language that you can’t even understand.
The whole experience is devoted to being as unapologetically miserable as possible, and that’s exactly what makes it so alluring. Like a grimy slasher movie, you just can’t look away. In my eyes, there’s never really been an experience quite like it. That is until now.
Pure rage(Image credit: MicroProse Software)When an ad for Better Than Dead came across my Instagram feed, I instantly knew it was just what I’ve been looking for. The camcorder perspective is the most obvious similarity, although unlike Kane & Lynch 2, the camera in Better Than Dead is being held by the protagonist, so everything unfolds in first-person.
The storytelling is just as raw. The game opens on a visual of a bright blue sky, distorted by the fisheye lens and film grain effects. This serene scene is nothing more than a clever visual trick, a poster plastered to the wall of the cell where our young woman protagonist has been confined.
You look around to discover a mattress covered in blood, gross scraps of discarded food, a filthy squat toilet, and an alluring side table bathed in light from a little lamp.
On it, you find a pistol, accompanied by an unknown message in Chinese and a drawing of a bird fleeing a cage. You don’t need a translation to know the stakes: something horrible is happening here, and this gun is your only way to escape.
(Image credit: MicroProse Software)From there, your rampage begins, sprinting through the corridors of what turns out to be a dodgy porn studio, gunning down members of the triad before eventually bursting out onto the street.
After this, each level has you infiltrating other triad-affiliated locations, like seedy restaurants or shifty back alleys, to take out every gang member in sight. It’s paced almost like a first-person Hotline Miami, with dense layouts and tricky enemy placements that require at least a few goes to learn the ropes, and an emphasis on speed and brutality.
You’ve got a slick slide that helps dodge incoming fire and offers a sliver of bullet time — vital for success as you die in just two hits.
Back for more(Image credit: MicroProse Software)The gunplay isn’t exactly simple, though. Although our protagonist is fueled by pure rage, she’s still untrained with firearms, with swaying hands that make it difficult to land hits on target. Mercifully, ammunition is unlimited, so dumping a whole magazine in the general direction of enemies is the way to go.
Can it be frustrating? Incredibly, but that only increases the satisfaction of pulling off the perfect massacre. Throw in the fact that the game isn’t afraid to touch on some pretty dark subject matter, and I’m feeling the same rush that had me so in love with Kane & Lynch 2.
I can’t fault the presentation either. If you can look past the crude menu UI, the total lack of on-screen icons in the game lends the action a cinematic, realistic feel. The strong camcorder effects and wise decision to pixelate characters’ faces (facial animation is usually a sticking point for lower budget games) do a great job of smoothing out the visuals. Squint, and you could even mistake what’s on screen for real video footage.
The sound design is impeccable as well. Gunfire is meaty, and enemies scream in pain when they’re shot, often dropping to the floor and twitching a little before you finish them off. Given that all of this comes from a solo developer and costs just $14.99 / £13.75 / AU$ 20.95, it’s a pretty impressive achievement.
Better Than Dead is currently in early access via Steam and is receiving frequent updates. There are only a handful of levels now, but in the time I’ve owned the game, the developer has already added the start of a hub world with a handy practice firing range and is constantly tuning things based on player feedback.
Kayne and Lynch 2 fans (I know there are potentially dozens of us out there), this is one to watch.
- Despite Tesla trademark application, the Megapod concept already exists
- Megapod's trademark is owned by someone else
- Nvidia and others already dominate this market
Tesla has filed a trademark application for ‘Megapod’ as the company begins to expand beyond electric cars, batteries and solar energy. Already with fingers in the autonomous transportation and humanoid robotics pies with Robotaxi and Optimus, the company is now looking to build modular AI data center infrastructure.
Though the filing is based on an intent-to-use application, meaning that no commercial product is available yet, it describes a self-contained AI computing platform that includes servers, AI hardware, networking equipment, power distribution units, cooling and software.
However, the project and associated trademark application has already hit three big walls – the concept already exists, the ‘Megapod’ trademark is already owned by somebody else, and the market itself is highly crowded with Nvidia, Huawei and others already more established.
Megapod could be related to MegapackTesla already uses the ‘Mega’ naming strategy, as evidenced by its Megapack. A battery system that offers a similar commercial proposition to the proposed Megapod, consisting of factory-built complete modules that can be deployed quickly with minimal on-site assembly or construction.
Rather than customers assembling servers, networking, cooling and other infrastructure themselves on-premises, Megapod could arrive as a plug-and-play AI data center, expandable by its modular design.
The news comes around a year after Musk’s company reportedly wound down its Dojo AI training computer project, indicating that it’s no longer gunning for the AI chip market. It now looks like Tesla could be going after more complete physical infrastructure using existing chips, instead.
Mitsubishi already has its own MegaPod, and it possesses a trademark already. And it’s not the first time Musk has faced complications over trademarks, failing to acquire a Robotaxi trademark over it being too generic and facing Cybercab trademark delays after another applicant got in first.
Submer even sells its own MegaPod, described as a data center in a box, adding to the naming complications.
Is there room for Tesla to join the market?Trademarks aside, if Tesla were to launch a Megapod-type product, it would face stiff competition from established rivals. Nvidia’s DGX and HGX platforms are already commonplace in enterprise deployments, and Huawei has also developed its own solutions based around its Ascend accelerators. Server manufacturers like Dell and HPE also have their own hardware.
However, Tesla could bring its broader experience to the market to entice some customers into its ecosystem. Integration with its Megapack could, for example, give it uninterrupted power supply – xAI has already purchased $1 billion worth of Megapacks. Purchasing power and other internal efficiencies could also keep costs low.
While the company doesn’t really have an existing enterprise customer base, AI startups could be sold on its tech.
Integrated cooling could also be a major selling point, with thermal efficiency now nearly as important as chip performance itself. Nvidia, for example, has already introduced next-generation liquid cooling specifically for its Rubin systems.
As for what’s next, given Musk’s track record and those of his companies, we’re probably more likely to learn about any potential Megapod developments via X posts or surprise launches, rather than blog posts and official announcements.