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A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, July 31 (game #880).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… As if!
NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #2 - clue wordsPlay any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- GAPE
- HUGE
- CRIER
- DRUG
- SURE
- STOP
• Spangram has 7 letters
NYT Strands today (game #881) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?• First side: left, 1st row
• Last side: right, 7th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #881) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Strands, game #881, are…
- SILLY
- ABSURD
- PREPOSTEROUS
- LUDICROUS
- LAUGHABLE
- SPANGRAM: GETREAL
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
I would be lying if I didn’t say it was great fun spotting and connecting PREPOSTEROUS, but I’m sure there weren’t many player who missed this 12-letter word practically standing out and waving at us on the left side of the board.
To be fair, the rest of the board was similarly easy to spot, with only LAUGHABLE slowing me down a little as I completed my search for reactions to an unbelievable statement.
In my schooldays, I was behind plenty of tall tales that would elicit an “as if!” response, although the thing was I believed most of them. Here are some of my claims aged nine, and the truth about each: my uncle was a professional footballer (he played for a village team), I was related to Paul McCartney (my mum fancied him), my mate Kevin's family were millionaires (they won a raffle). As if, indeed!
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, July 31, game #880)- CHARMING
- BOLD
- BOSSY
- LOYAL
- GENEROUS
- DRAMATIC
- SPANGRAM: LEOTHELION
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, July 31 (game #1146).
Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #1147) - today's words(Image credit: New York Times)Today's NYT Connections words are…
- WALTZ
- LOAFER
- SHAM
- BORE
- REAM
- BOULEVARD
- SHEET
- BALE
- THROW
- BUNDLE
- JORDAN
- ROLLS-ROYCE
- PHOENIX
- DRILL
- COMFORTER
- COUNTERSINK
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Sleep under or on it
- GREEN: Movie icons
- BLUE: Make a dent in things
- PURPLE: Ready, steady, bake
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #1147) - hint #2 - group answersWhat are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: BEDDING
- GREEN: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS SINCE 2010
- BLUE: PERFORM SOME HOLE MACHINING OPERATION
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH BREAD SHAPES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #1147) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Connections, game #1147, are…
- YELLOW: BEDDING: COMFORTER, SHAM, SHEET, THROW
- GREEN: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS SINCE 2010: BALE, JORDAN, PHOENIX, WALTZ
- BLUE: PERFORM SOME HOLE MACHINING OPERATION: S BORE, COUNTERSINK, DRILL, REAM
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH BREAD SHAPES: BOULEVARD, BUNDLE, LOAFER, ROLLS-ROYCE
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
I usually jump straight in when I have a hunch, but today I held back until I was certain.
The result was that I went through this game without any mistakes, however I also missed out on a “purple first”, as hesitancy held me back when I was feeling sure that roll, bun and loaf at the start of ROLLS-ROYCE, BUNDLE and LOAFER was no coincidence.
Alas, being unfamiliar with boule (it’s a type of French bread) meant I couldn't follow up on my half-baked theory.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, July 31, 2026, game #1146)- YELLOW: CONSTRUCT: FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, SHAPE
- GREEN: SUPER MARIO FIGURES: DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, PRINCESS
- BLUE: FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER: DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, SPEAR
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS: CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, JOYSTICK
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Friday, July 31 (game #1649).
Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.
Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #1650) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #1650) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.
Quordle today (game #1650) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.
Quordle today (game #1650) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.
If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:
Quordle today (game #1650) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?• O
• B
• S
• E
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #1650) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle, game #1650, are…
- OMEGA
- BIRCH
- SMOCK
- EERIE
There were a couple of really tricky words in this game.
Fortunately, I couldn’t think of anything that ended in R-I-E apart from EERIE and then after deciding the final word must begin O-M there was only one possible word it could be.
Daily Sequence today (game #1650) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1650, are…
- WINCE
- BRAKE
- COMET
- WORST
- Quordle #1649, Friday, 31 July: MANIA, SINGE, STOOL, LOFTY
- Quordle #1648, Thursday, 30 July: MODAL, IDLER, CHUMP, LUMPY
- Quordle #1647, Wednesday, 29 July: GAWKY, ALLOY, AUDIT, LATCH
- Quordle #1646, Tuesday, 28 July: SMITE, ROACH, RUDDY, GLOBE
- Quordle #1645, Monday, 27 July: TAFFY, FIGHT, GUILD, WAGER
- Quordle #1644, Sunday, 26 July: STOMP, LIMIT, FUNKY, STEAD
- Quordle #1643, Saturday, 25 July: SALON, SHEEN, BURST, GOURD
- Quordle #1642, Friday, 24 July: DOLLY, EDIFY, LAGER, PRANK
- Quordle #1641, Thursday, 23 July: LADEN, EVICT, WOVEN, SHIRE
- Quordle #1640, Wednesday, 22 July: COYLY, SINGE, AWASH, AWOKE
- Quordle #1639, Tuesday, 21 July: TRUSS, AXIAL, SWINE, THING
- Quordle #1638, Monday, 20 July: ICING, SLICK, GAILY, RISEN
- Quordle #1637, Sunday, 19 July: SPURT, ACRID, THRUM, BLEEP
- Quordle #1636, Saturday, 18 July: KNAVE, TIGHT, BLEAT, CHAOS
- Quordle #1635, Friday, 17 July: CUMIN, PALER, GRASS, INBOX
- Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
- Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
- Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
- Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
- Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
As of August 2026, there are 43 free cloud storage providers offering a combined capacity of almost 1.54TB.
The majority of these providers are based in Europe and offer capacities ranging from a few hundred MB to a staggering 1.02 TB.
Terabox exceeds the capacity of most paid cloud storage services but has some serious restrictions (but then again, 1TB...).
Against all odds, there are more free cloud storage providers than three years ago. This is bucking a trend (free web hosting services numbers are going down) and is in spite of more intense competition from hyperscalers (including Facebook) as well as increasing operational costs (hello Ram-geddon).
Over the past five years, dozens of cloud storage companies have either given up on free cloud storage (e.g Samsung, Amazon and Ionos) or closed shop altogether (e.g. Flipdrive, Ganso).
What you may end up needing is a cloud storage management service to aggregate all your cloud storage, presenting you with a unified interface. You won’t find any free ones as bandwidth is costly, which explains why a few services listed here have bandwidth restrictions (Icedrive, for example, has a 3GB per day limit).
For this article, we’ve selected free cloud storage providers that do offer totally free unrestricted access to their services: so no trial e.g. try free for 90 days.
Want to take the pain out of cloud storage?
For those who want to pay a bit extra. IDrive, the cloud storage veteran, delivers tons of storage online for an incredibly small outlay. 10TB for $4.98 for the first year is unmatched till now and so is the support for unlimited devices and the extensive file versioning system available.View Deal
How much do you spend on your cloud storage provider? Either as a standalone service or part of a bundle. Be it Google, Microsoft, Apple or someone else?
All free cloud storage providersPartner
Location
Free Cloud storage
CN
1024GB
US
100GB
US
40GB
EU
32GB
EU
30GB
EU
20GB
AU
20GB
US
20GB
IN
20GB
EU
20GB
JP
20GB
EU
15GB
US
15GB
US
10GB
US
10GB
EU
10GB
US
10GB
EU
10GB
EU
10GB
EU
10GB
EU
10GB
US
10GB
US
6.25GB
EU
5GB
EU
5GB
US
5GB
US
5GB
US
5GB
US
5GB
US
5GB
EU
5GB
EU
5GB
US
5GB
EU
3GB
EU
3GB
EU
3GB
US
2GB
EU
2GB
EU
1GB
EU
1GB
EU
1GB
EU
0.3GB
EU
0.25GB
- Reusable bomber drones join the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Program
- Payloads must exceed 8 kilograms, matching existing mortar rounds already available
- Drones must operate 15 to 30 kilometers from their launch positions
The Pentagon has expanded its Drone Dominance Program by seeking reusable unmanned aircraft capable of carrying bombs instead of functioning solely as one-way attack systems.
Unlike traditional strategic bombers, these aircraft are expected to carry payloads exceeding 8 kg (about 18 lb), placing these aircraft in a very different category from long-range bombers such as the B-52.
According to a new Request for Solutions, the Defence Department is seeking man-packable or light combat vehicle transportable drones capable of operating between 15 km and 30 km from their launch positions.
Small reusable bombers instead of strategic aircraftOfficials expect most candidate systems to weigh no more than 55 lb at gross take-off weight, excluding payload, making them substantially smaller than conventional military bombers.
The required payload exceeds 8 kg and should accommodate mortar rounds or similar munitions already available within existing military inventories.
Rather than releasing a single weapon before returning home, the aircraft should carry multiple warheads capable of engaging several moving or stationary.
Potential objectives include enemy personnel, light armoured vehicles, heavy armour, maritime surface craft, landing vessels, and additional battlefield assets requiring precision engagement.
The Pentagon also requires these systems to remain operational during adverse weather, varying lighting conditions, and attempts to disrupt communications or satellite navigation through electronic jamming.
Officials also want advanced automation integrated into the aircraft, including autonomous functions and automated target recognition intended to reduce operator workload during combat missions.
"Vendors shall demonstrate targeting capabilities designed to improve engagement effectiveness, increase delivery accuracy, and reduce operation cognitive workload during target prosecution," the solicitation states.
Testing will include engagements involving stationary and moving drones, as well as stationary and moving objectives, across different operating heights.
Prototype competition will determine larger future purchasesThe Pentagon expects reusable bomber drones to deliver greater reliability than manually piloted first-person-view aircraft. They will be designed for repeated combat operations instead of single-use attacks.
"Systems with advanced features are expected to achieve better results than simple first-person view (FPV) drones that are manual and rely on continuous operator input," the solicitation adds.
The department also said reusable platforms should provide higher reliability and capability than one-way attack systems because they are expected to survive multiple missions.
Manufacturers that complete the initial qualification stage will advance to a competitive evaluation known as the Gauntlet, scheduled for October, in which military personnel will assess complete operational systems.
Evaluators will examine aircraft performance together with payload release mechanisms, ground control equipment, and supporting hardware before determining which companies receive prototype awards.
Following those assessments, the Pentagon plans approximately $32 million in initial prototype contracts covering as many as 1,200 drone systems together with associated logistics packages.
The prototypes will be delivered within five months after receiving an order, while half of the requested systems must arrive within two-and-a-half months.
Via Defense Scoop
You could be forgiven for thinking that most wearable-tech categories have come as far as they're ever going to. All smartwatches look the same now, and that form factor isn’t going away anytime soon. It's a similar story with smart rings, with “slightly thinner” being the main selling point of the Oura Ring 5. And the screenless Whoop tracker has given birth to a bunch of copycats, including the Fitbit Air, and most recently the Garmin Cirqa.
When you think of wearable tech, you normally think of some sort of fitness tracker. But there is an area of wearables that’s still in flux, as categories do before there’s a consensus on what works: neurotech. Neurotech devices are generally wearable technology to monitor, or temporarily alter, our brain chemistry for optimal performance or to treat neurological injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
They’re also being used to improve our brains to rest harder and focus longer. Our writer Becca Caddy recently wrote about the dangerously addictive thrills of 'over-optimization', so it’s no surprise to see the out-there concept of rewiring the brain being embraced by the cult of biohacking.
(Image credit: Neurosity)Nootropics — mind-enhancing drugs — are promoted heavily on podcasts, with brands like Gorilla Mind and Alpha Brain enjoying airtime on popular ‘bro-science’ platforms like The Joe Rogan Experience to help get ‘cognitively dialed’. Away from pharmacological solutions, multi-millionaire longevity biohacker Bryan Johnson uses Nurosym, an electrical vagus nerve stimulation device, to “make [his] body more parasympathetic, more chill”.
It’s Nurosym that I’ve been using this week. There are other wearables out there that promise to do all sorts of things — the Neurosity Crown for example (pictured above), promises to improve concentration through “neuroadaptive meditation”, measuring your brainwaves and playing music to that pattern to improve focus during work. All while looking like the sort of thing you might see Patrick Stewart wear in the X-Men films.
The Muse 2 headband is a meditation aid that uses electroencephalography (EEG) sensors to read your brain activity and provide personalized meditation guidance, in much the same way as a smartwatch might read your heart rate and offer workout suggestions.
The vagus nerve, however, is a key target for brain health. Proper stimulation of the vagus nerve is said to offer all sorts of benefits, treating conditions as varied as depression, anxiety, inflammation, bipolar disorder, obesity, POTS, and Alzheimer's. For people without those conditions, vagus nerve stimulation can improve sleep quality, regulate stress and improve relaxation overall, ensuring you're well-rested and ready to tackle life's challenges.
There's unconfirmed but promising research suggesting that you may be able to stimulate the vagus nerve yourself through practices such as meditation and cold exposure — which might explain my predilection for cold showers, as perhaps I’ve been unconsciously hacking away at my brain all this time.
But what if I got a wearable to do it for me? I decided to try Nurosym myself for a week, to see if I could really begin to hack my brain better.
The vagus nerve stimulation device costs a whopping $699 / £599 (around AU$1,300), and looks quite stripped-back for a device of this price. It consists of a fairly simple handheld remote, an attached earpiece with a clamp to fix to your tragus (the small piece of cartilage outside your ear) and a charging cable. There’s mercifully no app or phone connection to speak of; everything happens on-device, which actually goes some way to making me trust it more, as it’s not collecting any data about me.
(Image credit: Future)“For a long time, neuromodulation has largely meant invasive procedures or treatment delivered in specialist environments,” Dr Greta Dalle Luche, PhD., Nurosym’s head of science, tells me. “Nurosym demonstrates how this science can be translated into non-invasive technology that fits into people’s everyday lives.”
As well as being a doctor in biochemistry, Dalle Luche is also a former professional surfer, so she knows all about optimizing for peak performance. She explains that Nurosym is all about taking “evidence-led neuromodulation” out of the clinical space and turning it into accessible technology. A lot of clinical tests have been done on this device, and it’s advertised as “the world’s most studied vagus nerve stimulator” with $10 million invested in over 60 independent research papers, backed by notable universities and health bodies worldwide.
To use it, you moisten your tragus, fix the clamp, then adjust the signal on the remote — turning it up until you feel a light tingling sensation. That’s the electricity pulsing through your ear to your vagus nerve, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system to activate your body’s “rest and digest” response.
It seems like as good a place as any to start. I wet my ear, clamped it onto myself and sat quietly, letting the tingles of electricity wash down my ear canal and into my brain. Nurosym guidelines, and reports on the r/vagusnerve subreddit (because of course there’s a subreddit), suggest that it can take anything from a few days to months to feel the effects, which are said to include a reduction in depressive or anxiety-related symptoms, better sleep, and better-quality rest and relaxation. These claims are anecdotal, and user-dependent, and the results are subjective, with no objective measure of they actually work or produce meaningful results, certainly in a short amount of time such as a week.
Dalle Luche tells me that “factors such as an individual’s underlying vagal tone, or in other words, the ‘health of their autonomic nervous system,’ influence the proportion of the response to the device". So it's possible that I may end up not having a proportional, or significant, response.
(Image credit: Future)Nonetheless, I did my best to empirically measure my body’s responses to this new technology, monitoring my sessions on a Garmin Cirqa fitness tracker as if it was a workout, and wearing it to bed nightly to monitor sleep quality and heart-rate variability.
You can watch our video review of the Garmin Cirqa below:
According to the Garmin, the stimulation did have some effect. There could be any number of contributing factors for this, but after spending 15 minutes at rest to settle my heart, I fired up the Nurosym and monitored my heart rate over a 25-minute session, and I did see a decrease in spikes my heart rate as the session went on. Note the regularity in the middle there, too, between the 10 and 17-minute marks — a clear indication that something was working.
(Image credit: Future)Across the week while using the device, I also saw a general improvement in sleep quality and drastically rising heart-rate variability, as measured here via my Garmin. I’m not sure I saw any immediate, dramatic improvement in focus or relaxation, but the graphs were moving in the right direction.
Whether this is partly due to the sessions enforcing at least 30 minutes of screenless, conscious relaxation time each day, so that my nervous system was deliberately being calmed, or whether it’s due to the device, I’m not sure. But I’ll take the W, as the kids say.
(Image credit: Future)For $700 / £600 / AU$1,300, is 'seemed to work' enough? When I asked about the high price of the device, Nurosym’s head of science Dr Greta Dalle Luche said its price does not reflect the physical device alone.
“It reflects more than a decade of scientific research and development, our proprietary technology, extensive continuous testing to ensure safety and maintenance of regulatory certification, as well as continued investment in clinical research,” she told me. “That makes a direct product-for-product comparison with lower-cost non-validated wellness gadgets difficult.
“When people buy Nurosym, they have the certainty of holding in their hands something that works, and that comes with very little risk.”
While the results have been inconclusive so far, I've seen enough to suggest that something is happening here, so I'll continue electrocuting my brain for a while yet to see if I achieve more definitive results. Wearable neurotechnology is still in its infancy, but it’s a technology that's on the rise, and I imagine, now that Nurosym has done the hard work of all that proprietary testing, there will be more low-strength vagus nerve-stimulation devices hitting the market in the near future.
I’m interested in seeing where the category goes. If companies like Nurosym can bring down prices, and make the technology more accessible, a wearable that improves your quality of relaxation — and which doesn’t harvest your data to feed big tech via an AI-powered app — sounds like a win in my book.
- Zelensky says Ukraine's drones will soon fly far enough to hit anywhere in Russia
- Kyiv and Washington quietly push forward a plan to build drones on US soil
- Ukraine's drone range could jump to 10,000 km, but engineers still face big hurdles
In a recent interview with American conservative commentator Laura Loomer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian drones should exceed 4,000 km in range in 2026.
The Ukrainian leader added that long-range drones could achieve distances between 5,000 km and 10,000 km, or about 6,000 miles, by 2027.
Such a capability would theoretically allow a drone to cover Russia’s entire territory and reach distances comparable to the route between Kyiv and San Francisco.
Ukraine plans expanded drone cooperation with the United StatesThe projected increase in range forms part of Kyiv’s efforts to expand drone production through cooperation with Washington and possible manufacturing facilities inside America.
The discussions include joint production, technology exchanges, testing arrangements, and the development of production lines for advanced unmanned systems.
Ukraine has gained extensive experience with aerial drones, naval drones, and deep-strike platforms in its ongoing war with Russia.
Those battlefield developments have become central to discussions about future cooperation, as Kyiv seeks wider access to industrial capacity and advanced manufacturing resources.
The first stage of agreements between Ukraine and the United States has already been completed, while further documents remain under preparation.
"We're going to build a great factory," Zelensky said, describing plans for production lines that could support future drone manufacturing.
Both parties have already signed documents allowing various Ukrainian drone systems to undergo testing in the United States.
Those arrangements involve aerial drones, sea-based systems, and other high-technology products before any broader production agreement receives final approval.
Ukraine has also pursued similar defence partnerships with European countries as it attempts to expand its role in defence technology development.
Long-range drone ambitions face technical challengesThe planned range increase would require significant advances in propulsion, communications, navigation systems, and endurance capabilities before becoming operationally realistic.
Flying thousands of kilometres would create new challenges involving reliability, electronic warfare threats, satellite connectivity, and the ability to maintain accurate targeting.
Military analysts have often noted that extending drone range involves more than increasing flight distance because other systems must operate effectively.
A drone capable of travelling up to 10,000 km would require dependable control systems and protection against attempts to disrupt communications.
The development timeline could also depend on access to funding, manufacturing capacity, and successful testing under demanding operational conditions.
While Ukraine has rapidly expanded its unmanned capabilities during the war, achieving the announced range goals would require continued technological progress.
The proposed timeline shows Kyiv’s ambition to develop longer-range strike capabilities, although the final performance of such systems remains dependent on future development outcomes.
Via NV
- It's a full Dolby Atmos mixing studio... in a shed
- Designed to deliver accurate Atmos audio with pin-sharp precision
- Artists are delighted with the mixes, which required no tweaks
If like me you used to have, or still have, a backyard office or shed for working in, you're going to be green with envy at the sight of mixing maestro Kurt Martinez's personal Dolby Atmos studio.
The award-nominated Atmos expert designed and built his own backyard office and filled it with enviable gear, and if he doesn't call it his Spatial shed I'm going to be very disappointed.
Martinez has been nominated for the prestigious Music Producers Guild award as Atmos Engineer of the Year, and he spent three years as the Head Dolby Atmos Mix Engineer at the world-famous Dean Street studios. He's worked on live and recorded music by a host of stars including Kylie Minogue, Def Leppard, Soft Play, Billy Idol and Duran Duran.
Like many freelancers, Martinez figured that having a home office was a much better idea than a long commute into the city, and in Martinez's case that decision was compounded by being a new dad. So he built an entire Atmos mixing studio in his back garden, doing everything himself apart from the electrics and internet connectivity.
(Image credit: Kurt Martinez)How to make a spatial shedAs Mixonline reports, Martinez built the 2.5m x 3.5m garden office with a combination of porous timber walls to absorb the low frequencies, acoustic panelling in the ceiling and sides, a large rear bookshelf for dispersion, and acoustic slat panels at the front. There's thick acoustic underlay below the laminate floor and even the furniture has a function: the armchairs and rug are there to absorb audio reflections.
With the building ready, the next step was to add the tech. Martinez uses a Pro Tools system based around an Audient ORIA, which sends audio to a Ginger Audio Ground Control Sphere that's controlled by an Elgato Stream Deck+.
The speakers are striking. They're PMC6-2 left and right monitors, a PMC6 center speaker, an 8 Sub LFE, and Ci30 height and surround monitors. Final mixes are tested on AirPods Max and a Sonos home theater setup to check that still sounds good on consumer Atmos hardware as well a studio-level setup.
I used to have a very similar-looking setup for my own home studio, but sadly I didn't have Martinez's high-end gear or even more importantly, Martinez's ears, which is why nobody's nominating me for anything.
But I do love to see a good audio project, and it's clearly been very successful: according to ETNow.com Martinez's last five full-length records, which he mixed in that studio, required no tweaking at all when he tested them in large commercial studios.
All five of those records have been signed off by their delighted artists. I'd like to think that one of them was Shed Seven.