News
- Logitech report finds not even a third of companies involve IT/AV teams at the early stages
- Failed audio and dropped connections are costing workers time
- Businesses should use tech downtime as a productivity metric
Logitech's latest Workplace Experience study has claimed technology teams are often brought into projects far too late, after important decisions about offices and meeting spaces have already been made, and it's leading to suboptimal tech and friction that could be impacting worker productivity.
In the UK, for example, fewer than one in three (31%) workplaces involve their IT and Audio-Visual (AV) teams before space planning begins.
It means that tech decision-makers are then having to piece together hardware in a room that's already being designed, rather than being able to integrate the smartest solutions from the ground up.
IT teams should be involved in office planning, Logitech saysWith hybrid working now commonplace, Logitech's data found that failed audio and dropped connections alone caused a median productivity loss of 12.2 minutes per person per poor meeting.
Despite poor IT team involvement, most business leaders agree that a strong workplace experience has a direct link with productivity (86%) and collaboration (90%).
However, upgrading tech and involving more teams from the get-go isn't quite so straightforward. Only half (56%) feel confident that have the right ROI data to justify workplace experience investments, with only 29% treating it as a core business strategy today.
Logitech's solution focuses firsts and foremost on aligning teams more closely. The report calls for greater collaboration between IT, HR and Real Estate earlier on in projects. By itself, planning rooms as a well-coordinated team could reduce long-term costs associated with upgrading legacy and unsuitable hardware.
But to further help with ROI justification, the study also introduces tech downtime as a metric, with impacted productivity serving as sufficient proof that office spaces need to perform better.
Work as you know it will be a relic of the past.
You wake up, pour a coffee and join a call. The first ten minutes are spent talking about why a colleague typed 1524 units in cell B4 of your shared spreadsheet. It should be 1759 units, obviously.
In the afternoon, you complete your third rewrite of an offer for a new prospect. You get a message just as you finish it. The scope has changed. Again.
This is a normal day for most knowledge workers. In five years, this type of day will seem archaic, and as strange as it sounds, we’ll probably miss it.
We’ve been here before after farming gave way to factory work, and then that turned into the knowledge work most of us do today. New tools automated the old jobs, and the nature of work changed with them. AI agents are doing the same to desk jobs.
Brilliant and useless at the same timeWe recently worked out how to turn AI from a just question-and-answer machine into something that does actual work. Coding is a clean example. Two years ago, AI coding was mostly defined by autocomplete and small scripts. Today, engineers at Anthropic report AI now writes up to 90% of their code, with some no longer coding by hand at all.
So why do hallucinations and basic errors still happen? Every few weeks a new example makes the rounds: a model can’t count how many Rs are in strawberry; another insists you walk to the car wash because it is only 50 meters away (stepping through the suds, sprayers and rollers doesn’t seem like a great idea). The labs patch each one and a fresh embarrassment turns up the next day.
AI researcher Andrej Karpathy calls this jagged intelligence. Models crack extremely complex problems and then trip over something a child would get right. The lesson is that you can’t tell in advance which you’ll get.
In other words, you can’t extract a human from the process, drop in an agent and assume the output is fine.
What to hand overWhat an agent can be trusted with hinges on two questions. What does a mistake cost, and what does checking it cost?
Error cost is the damage when the model gets it wrong. A hallucinated citation in a court filing is expensive, i.e. fines and reputational damage. A rough draft of a meeting summary not so much.
On the other hand, verification cost is how easy it is to check if what the agent produced is right. Mathematics sits at the inexpensive end of the spectrum, since proofs can be checked programmatically whereas a business strategy sits at the highest end, as you need deep expertise to properly evaluate it.
Gauge your tasks against those two questions. The higher a task scores on either, the more human verification, oversight and expertise is needed.
One point to keep in mind here is that what we see as one task can often involve several. Customer service, for example, might look like one task, but there is a big difference between routine first-level interactions, which have lower verification costs and clear escalation paths, and more complex second and third-level interactions, where the cost of errors and verification is much higher.
Klarna found this out very publicly, going hard with automation then hiring people back once quality dropped. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski's conclusion was that customers need to know a human is always there if they want one.
Why partial automation makes people more valuableATMs spread through banking in the 1970s, and there are now more than 400,000 of them in the US alone. The obvious prediction was fewer bank tellers. Instead, the number of tellers went up, and so did their wages.
Radiology is the modern version. AI tools now read some scans better than people do. Radiology departments aren’t sitting idle, however. Open positions can’t be filled and demand has never been higher.
Nobel-winning economist Michael Kremer’s O-Ring theory describes how modern knowledge work is multiplicative rather than additive. In other words, one faulty step drops the value of the whole output to zero.
In automation, a single weak link sinks the whole output, unless a human catches it. That makes the remaining humans more valuable rather than less; they're now gatekeeping a far larger volume of higher-quality work. Demand only falls when the whole chain automates, and as long as jaggedness and hallucination are with us, that's tough to picture.
The focus effectAutomation frees up time, and where that time goes decides whether any of this pays off. If it’s spent well, it goes to the bottleneck tasks, like building relationships with a potential client, understanding what a client really needs and making judgement calls, it can improve the quality of the finished work and raise the bar for what gets automated next.
But to make this happen, leaders have to identify what agents can do, actively hand them over and then restructure processes so people can move to this higher value work rather than babysitting the machine.
Five years from nowPicture this: a dozen agents running in parallel, drafting offers, qualifying leads, clearing support tickets. The tedious and repetitive work is gone. Your cognitive load is higher because you’re having to mentally juggle all these tasks, giving feedback, while making sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Protect your mental bandwidth, keep the agents working for you rather than the other way round and spend what you get back on the things only you can do.
Otherwise, we’ll look back in a few years and wish we could argue about cell B4 again.
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- Disney has denied that ad-free tiers on Disney+ will start showing ads during movies and shows
- Last weekend, reports emerged that ad breaks would become commonplace for all fans
- Some users closed their accounts over the incorrect claims
Disney+ fans have been left angered — and then confused — after incorrect reports suggested they'd be subjected to ads even if they were subscribed to one of its ad-free experiences.
Last weekend (September 19/20), images were shared on the ResetEra forums and other social media platforms that showed an updated Subscriber Agreement for European users.
One screenshot of the revised document appeared to indicate that even those subscribed to the more ad-free expensive tiers — i.e., Standard and Premium — might soon see "promotional content, sponsorship, and advertisements before/after playback of Content and in channels, live/as-live, special events, and any third-party services content".
Soon: No more escaping ads on Disney+! https://t.co/ouAhn2xsF2September 21, 2026
Understandably, it didn't take long for users to lash out at Disney over the supposed change. As fan fury gained traction online, numerous outlets picked up on the story and ran with it, too, further fueling subscriber indignation.
However, it turns out that everyone had jumped the gun. In a statement shared with German language website anime2you.de, Disney said the rumors weren't accurate, and clarified that ad-free subscribers wouldn't start to see traditional ad breaks while watching movies and TV shows. Furthermore, a moderator post on the Disney+ Reddit page confirmed Disney's stance, adding that "nothing" has changed for Standard and Premium customers.
Responding to a request for comment from TechRadar, Disney reaffirmed that Standard and Premium users wouldn't be shown during movies and TV shows.
Before publishing this story, TechRadar also investigated whether ads had been added to the Standard and Premium experience. And, while trailers and other promotional materials appear before and after a movie or TV show begins (NB: Disney+ has done this for a while now), we confirmed that ads do not interrupt your viewing experience on these plans.
A minor inconvenience, or a big blow?Comment from r/entertainmentSo, why the confusion? As explained in the aforementioned Reddit thread, Disney — and other corporations, for that matter — occasionally make changes to their terms of service agreements. These tweaks are made to make things clearer for anyone who reads such documents — and, by proxy, reduce the legal risk posed to major companies.
The irony, of course, is that, by updating its user agreement, Disney didn't make things easier to understand, because this online maelstrom wouldn't have happened if it had.
Comment from r/entertainmentAs much as the House of Mouse has tried to limit the damage created by this, the episode has further eroded trust with small sections of its fanbase and, as the above Reddit posts exemplify, even led to some viewers canceling their Disney+ subscription.
Admittedly, those that have unsubscribed over this will be a mere drop in the ocean of the streamer's 100 million+ user base. Nonetheless, it's done a small but seemingly significant amount of damage to the reputation of Disney+. We'll see if it takes a further hit if, in October, the entertainment giant announces the inevitable yearly price hike to Disney+ and Hulu that's been a staple of the industry for the last few years.
President Trump has unveiled his latest plan to combat concerns around AI by appointing a new "czar" to oversee the technology, and also establish an "AI force" to help enforce this.
However there's just one problem - as anyone who actually pays attention to the technology industry news cycle will be well aware of, Salesforce recently revealed its latest interface platform for AI.
Its name...AIforce.
Which AIforce is best AIforce?Unveiled at its recent Dreamforce 2026 event, AIforce was the headline announcement for the company, promising no less than a new way of interfacing with the data and AI together to help unlock productivity and efficiency in the workplace like never before.
Described by Salesforce CEO and Chair Marc Benioff as "really the most exciting thing I've ever seen for Salesforce," AIforce was a huge presence at the show, one of the biggest technology conferences on the calendar, with posters and displays splashed around the venue.
The problem is, no-one seems to have told President Trump.
Let's be honest, the man is hardly a master of coming up with good names for anything ("Space Force"/"Big Beautiful Bill"/"Gulf of America") - and is currently seeking out views on an alternative name for the concept of Artificial Intelligence itself.
In a typically rambling post on his Truth Social site, the President noted that his administration “will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry. Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”
He also linked the idea of the AI Force to his creation of the Space Force, which he claimed was a “tremendous SUCCESS.”
The President gave no further details about the AI Force, such as when it might be announced or launched, nor who he had in mind to lead it. Luckily for all of us know, Trump has insisted that “Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!” for the position of AI Czar.
Mr Benioff - maybe it's time to give the President a call and avoid a copyright issue?
- Acer's CEO claims RAM supply is still "quite large"
- Jason Chen does acknowledge that PC prices will rise in Q4, though, by up to 20% on average
- However, those prices will fall by mid-2027, the CEO predicts, asserting that: "It's impossible for the shortage to last until 2030!"
Not everyone is being totally downbeat about the RAM crisis, with Acer's CEO stating that he's hopeful that PC prices will drop from the middle of 2027, even if price rises are on the cards for the rest of this year.
VideoCardz higlighted a (translated) report from Taiwan's Economic Daily News that shares the most recent thoughts of Jason Chen, chief executive of Acer, on the RAM crisis.
Chen asserts that there isn't much of a DDR4 and DDR5 memory shortage at present, and that the "supply is quite large" for this RAM — we must bear in mind there may be some nuances lost in translation there — and also that there isn't much shortage of processors either.
The CEO does acknowledge that the prices of components are currently "fluctuating" at a high level, and that PC prices will continue to climb in the fourth quarter of 2026, with an average price rise of between 5% to 20%.
However, the good news, according to Chen, is that he believes PC prices should drop from mid-2027, and with more chip production coming online — especially in China — the memory shortage won't last for the rest of the decade.
Chen is pretty firm on that one, claiming that, "It's impossible for the shortage to last until 2030!"
Analysis: new hope for some stability?(Image credit: Unsplash / Liam Briese)As to whether there isn't much of a RAM shortage currently, almost everyone else begs to differ on that — although I accept that Chen's meaning may be altered in translation somewhat here, as noted, and perhaps the gist is that supply isn't as bad as some in the industry would have you believe.
Whatever the case, Chen is clearly sounding a more optimistic note than most. There have certainly been some analysts and prominent industry figures who are suggesting that the RAM crisis will indeed last until 2030, and those are the people who Chen is clearly directing that last comment at. The CEO does appear to be talking more about the Chinese market than the global picture here, though, and we should also bear that in mind.
Still, it's a relief to hear some more positive thinking on the RAM crisis, although there's one point that everyone can agree on: namely that prices are going to rise over the rest of 2026 and into 2027. Even Chen's predicted fall in PC pricing isn't forecast to come about until the middle of next year, and so for the time being, it's clear enough that we're stuck with rising prices.
The cost of RAM in particular has been soaring of late — against all odds, as it was already exorbitantly high — and GPUs are now being subject to some worrying price hikes (the top-end in particular is getting ridiculous), with more to come I expect. It's not pretty out there for consumers, and nothing is going to get better for some time — the question for me right now is: how much worse might things become?
I hope Chen's more positive noises here are indicative of at least some stabilizing around high pricing for PCs and components alike.
- Lidl is relaunching its affordable dehumidifier on September 27
- It packs dehumidifying and drying settings, with a 2.1L removable tank
- As well as the appliance, you'll also get washable filters, a drainage hose, and garden hose adapter
Sometimes, supermarket appliances are more than enough to meet your tech needs, and Lidl's new dehumidifier is designed to help you keep on top of your laundry over the winter months.
Lidl’s Tronic dehumidifier will land in stores this week on September 27 as part of the supermarket’s home event. Compared to models from brands like Meaco, Lidl’s version is listed for £79.99, making it a budget-friendly appliance that arrives just in time for winter, when it gets harder to dry your laundry in a cost-effective way.
As well as the appliance itself, Lidl’s new dehumidifier comes with a 30cm drainage hose, a garden hose adapter (both of which are ideal for continuous operation), and removable and washable filters.
The dehumidifier itself has dimensions of 27 x 20.5 x 42.2cm (W x D x H), making it more compact than the Meaco 12L Low Energy Dehumidifier (24.8 x 32.5 x 48.5cm) for example. Lidl’s version also comes with four castors, so you can easily move it between rooms.
However, don’t underestimate it because of its sub-£100 price and compact size — it doesn’t compromise on features.
(Image credit: Lidl)Packing two main programs, the appliance has distinct settings for dehumidifying and drying laundry, and can extract up to 10L of moisture over 24 hours. The only downside is that its removable water tank has a 2.1L capacity, so it’s not the biggest, and will require frequent emptying.
Despite this setback, the tank features a window allowing you to see how much water has been collected, with a warning signal that alerts you when the tank is full. If you somehow miss this alert, fear not, the dehumidifier has overflow protection to stop spills.
As the winter nights draw closer, many people are looking appliances to not only help dry clothes in the colder months, but dry clothes in the most cost-effective way. Dehumidifiers are just such an appliance.
If drying clothes at a lower cost takes priority over drying speed, we recommend compressor dehumidifiers, which draw damp air over a cold set of coils, allowing the water vapor to condense and is then collected in the tank. You can read more about which dehumidifier type is best for your needs by checking out our rundown of compressor and desiccant dehumidifiers.
Every now and then supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi replenish their middle aisles with affordable alternatives to devices from premium brands. Aldi recently did this with its Dyson and Shark stick vacuum rival.
Likewise with Aldi’s Specialbuys, Lidl’s upcoming appliance restock will be limited, so if your plan is to use your tumble dryer as little as possible this winter, get down to your nearest Lidl store as soon as you can when the dehumidifier drops this weekend.
- Malware botnets route traffic through the internet connection on many smart TVs
- Roku, Fire TV, Tizen and webOS all affected
- Some manufacturers are removing affected apps
LG, Samsung, Roku and Fire TV televisions and devices may have apps downloaded to them that mean they can be used as part of a malicious "botnet" — and millions of TVs could be affected, though LG and Samsung have committed to removing the relevant apps,
FlatpanelsHD rounded up pieces of this puzzle, stretching back several months. Back in April, it emerged that many apps and games included a feature called "residential proxy" that could be abused by bad actors.
The tech means the TVs were being used to bypass IP range blocks that affected AI data centers: because each individual TV has its own unique address, such blocks could easily be evaded by seeming to be 'real' traffic. And because the proxy feature doesn't require the app to be open, TV owners would be none the wiser that their device is being used this way — and that's partly because in many cases, you wouldn't assume that was the real purpose of the app.
One example of a residential proxy system, IPIDEA, had enlisted millions of smart TVs in a network that could crawl the web for AI training or even carry out coordinated attacks by groups in China, North Korea, Iran and Russia.
According to security researcher Harrison Sand at Mnemonic, one of the apps in question was a Pac-Man game, likely to be downloaded by kids, that Samsung featured as an Editor's Choice.
And according to security firm Spur, 26.5% of apps for Samsung Tizen smart TVs and over 42.5% of LG webOS apps could be used in this kind of way. That's a truly shocking statistic.
LG's webOS appears to be the most affected, with researchers claiming that over 42.5% of webOS apps contained reproxies (Image credit: Future)What is a residential proxy, and how can it be used maliciously?A residential proxy or "reproxy" transmits data through your device, in this case your TV, to make it look as if your TV is the sender of that data.
The feature isn't necessarily malicious — it can be used for testing and advertising purposes — but as security expert Spur explains, it also "provides attackers with a scalable way to hide automation, bypass geo-controls, and evade reputation-based defenses."
Spur's website goes into more detail of how they operate and how they differ from services such as the best VPNs.
It seems likely that at least some of the potentially dodgy apps weren't made maliciously; developers who use certain software development kits that have residential proxy features may not know those features are there.
LG and Samsung have now vowed to ban any smart TV apps that contain residential proxies. IPIDEA is already banned by Amazon, Roku and Google TV, and they have also restricted the new Bright Data network.
LG says that it working with developers to remove the functionality from their apps, and that it will suspend any apps that don't remove it. Samsung has restricted new app registrations for apps, and is "working to identify and remove all apps… that contain these components."
What worries me isn't so much that the malware exists — the more our TVs become like PCs, the more PC-like attacks will target them — but that it's made its way into so many TVs and is presumably still there on many of them, despite being publicized back in April.
It just adds to my distrust of smart TVs more widely: with features such as Automatic Content Recognition and ad injection (and here in the UK, prominent placing of TV channels I don't want anywhere near my TV on the home screen), plus too-frequent updates to terms and conditions that I just know mean more tracking, it seems to me that smart TVs are becoming both privacy and security risks.
Which is why I treat my smart TV like it isn't smart at all: it's merely a monitor for my Apple TV 4K.
For years, major governments around the world have routinely conducted wargames and simulation exercises to test their military readiness, crisis response, and supply chain resilience. For the first time ever, we're about to see how one plays out.
Based on its hit 2025 podcast of the same name, Sky TV has developed four-part docuseries The Wargame, which explores how a fictitious UK cabinet — made up of former MPs from multiple parties — could responded to completely made-up threats and eventual attack from Russia.
Here's how it works. Our cabinet (listed below) will face an escalating simulated crisis, beginning with the suspicious murders of two RAF soldiers. While the Russian side, and any international players, are being given instructions by producers, every decision we see from the UK side is being made in the moment.
With four episodes dropping nightly on both Sky and NOW from September 21, I won't sugar coat it: The Wargame is an absolutely terrifying watch. If you've ever seen anything like Threads, When the Wind Blows or the BBC 1966 film The Wargame, it's the same sense of impending dread... just from the other side of the table.
But, don't get me wrong — this might just be the most important piece of television of the 21st century. As the UK's War Book is being redrafted in real time to advise the public on how best to be prepared, consider that Sky TV is granting us an important head start
We can no longer bury our heads in the sand over just how unprepared the UK is, and artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the main reasons we'll be able to realize this.
The Wargame is the most important TV show you'll stream in your lifetime — just be preparedBefore we drill deeper into what you'll soon see, here's our full list of players and their assigned roles:
- ● Prime Minister: The Rt Hon. the Lord Gove PC
- ● Deputy Prime Minister: The Rt Hon. Nicola Sturgeon PC
- ● Defence Secretary: The Rt Hon. Dame Penny Mordaunt DBE PC
- ● Home Secretary: The Rt Hon. the Baroness Harman KC PC
- ● Foreign Secretary: The Rt Hon. Jim Murphy PC
- ● Attorney General: The Rt Hon. the Baroness Warsi PC
- ● Director of Communications: The Baroness Hazarika MBE
- ● Chief of Defence Staff: General Sir Richard Barrons KCB CBE
- ● National Security Adviser: The Rt Hon. the Lord Kim Darroch KCMG
- ● Intelligence Chief: Christopher Steele
- ● Nato Secretary General: The Rt Hon. the Lord Robertson KT GCMG PC
- ● US Secretary of State: Anthony Scaramucci
As you can see in the above trailer, Sky has been incredibly upfront about its use of generative AI visual effects to create scenes showcasing Russian missiles hitting numerous UK targets. This is normally the part where I'd do my "AI is unnecessary in the creative arts, why couldn't they have just used CGI instead?" tirade, but actually, I'm glad that this decision was made.
Why? Not only is there a poetic irony of using AI to depict missile attacks mere weeks after the global public was told that there's a 10% that AI could kill us all within the next decade, but its use feeds into a wider point that The Wargame is trying to make. We've become so used to a certain type of 'peacetime life' and concerned ourselves with other issues (such as AI) that we've lost any kind of resilience we've ever had since World War II.
While the exact military capabilities of the UK are made up, seeing just how weak and unprepared we are if direct conflict was to strike our shores will hopefully be a wake-up call to anyone watching. As Sturgeon tells us, these choices are often like picking between "bad and worse," and it's nice to see our politicians slightly more humanized, even if the docuseries doesn't fill me confidence as to how international conflict could be handled.
With a fake COBR-style boardroom, military ops room, and press room all in use, it does feel as though this is the closest we'll ever get to an all-politician version of Big Brother. But, fake TikTok clips from real-life influencers capturing their reactions to the fictional breaking news brings the effects straight back home.
What do our players hope we take away from watching? "Governments have to, of course, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. And that's not just about defence spending," Sturgeon said at the show's launch event. "There's a whole debate about preparedness of the population and some really basic things that we're just not at the races of, in terms of being prepared for even a fraction of this unfolding.
"So, getting rid of the optimism bias that this won't happen, to starting to think seriously about the prospect of this possibly happening." Deep breaths, people.
Colder, wetter weather might on the way, but that doesn't mean outdoor adventuring is off the cards. Quite the opposite, actually — with the right kit, fall and winter can be an excellent time to get out and about. If you need to fill out your cold weather wardrobe, head to Backcountry's flash sale, where for a (very) limited time, there's up to 70% off a massive range of outdoor clothing, accessories, and footwear from brands including Patagonia, The North Face, Mammut and Rab.
I've combed through the sale and rounded up my top picks below. I spent two years reviewing outdoors kit, and some of my favorite brands are included here. If you can't see what you want, it's well worth exploring the sale yourself — there are hundreds of products discounted, so chances are you'll find what you're looking for. You'll need to be quick though, as at time of writing the sale was due to end in a matter of hours.
Backcountry bargains Osprey Transporter Roll Top WP 30L Pack Fjallraven High Coast Wind Jacket - Men's Patagonia Stormstride Pant - Men's Rab Namche GORE-TEX Jacket - Men's Forsake Fifteen Mid WP Hiking Shoe - Men's Rab Staden Crew Shirt - Men's Mountain Hardware First Tracks Insulated Jacket - Men's Helly Hansen HP Ahiga Evo 5 Shoe - Men's Rab Buckstone Hoodie - Men's Mammut Stoney HS Pant - Men's Big Agnes Crag Lake SL Backpacking Tent: 2-Person 3-Season The North Face Surge 31L Backpack Scarpa Spin Ultra Trail Running Shoe - Men's Patagonia Houdini Stash 1/2-Zip Pullover - Men's Patagonia Better Sweater 1/2-Zip Pullover - Men's Helly Hansen Kestrel Trail Running Shoe - Men's Patagonia Light Gust Hooded Pullover - Men's- Vivo reveals its new flagship X500 series of phones, with three new models
- The X500 Pro Max is the priciest model, succeeding the X300 Ultra
- They're only available in China at launch, with wider availability coming later
It's no longer a secret that some of the best camera phones are coming out of China, and Vivo is very much competing with Oppo and Xiaomi with its flagship 'X' series — it has just revealed the latest crop; the X500, X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max.
I'm at the launch event in Shanghai, China, and have already had 24 hours with the Vivo X500 Pro Max, which effectively replaces last year's X300 Ultra. Like the previous flagship, it features a triple front camera array comprising ultra-wide, main, and telephoto Zeiss optics, only this time, the main lens has a 24mm focal length, like most other flagship wide cameras (whereas the X300 Ultra stood out with a tighter 35mm main camera lens).
The 3.5x telephoto lens has an 85mm equivalent focal length — a well-loved focal length by portrait photographers — and a mode which unleashes a 200MP resolution, while the 50MP boosted resolution is available for the ultra-wide and main cameras.
Tim ColemanTim ColemanThe Vivo X500 Pro Max photographer's kit, in lavish black presentation box. It includes two telephoto converters, grip, additional cases and moreTim ColemanThe 4.7x teleconverter lens (left), 2.35x lens (middle) and grip (right)Tim ColemanI'll be bringing you an in-depth camera comparison soon with the Vivo X500 Pro Max, Vivo X300 Ultra, and the Oppo Find X9 Ultra (a top camera phone from last year) soon, plus more details on the former. In the meantime, I've included some of my favorite photos that I've taken with the X500 Pro Max already, so you can begin to see what it's capable of.
The X500 series was announced on September 21 and, at launch, is exclusive to China, with a wider rollout expected later, although it's unlikely to come to the US. With the Oppo Find X9 Ultra and Xiaomi 17 Ultra, both now available in the UK, I'll be keeping an eye out for Vivo's release plans with the X500 models.
Vivo X500 Pro Max sample galleryI shot this photo using the phone's Portrait mode. I set the bokeh effect to natural and maxed it to f/0.95. However, bokeh effect edits can be made afterwards to photos shot with the Portrait mode (see photo of the phone, above) — I could reduce the strength of the effect if I wanted to. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)The Landscape & Night mode enables high-resolution shooting. I upped the resolution to 50MP and used the B/W color style — taking the exposure reading from the bright part of the sky to get the low key effect. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)I used the regular Photo mode here, and left the phone to its own devices, and the results are really good — color is pleasant, and the HDR effect not overly aggressive. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)The famous Bund skyline in Shanghai. I used a long exposure effect for the vistaTim ColemanAnd here I add the 4.7x teleconverter lens, which works with the 3.5 zoom camera for a 400mm effective focal length. This was shot handheld and the image is still pretty sharpTim ColemanThe telephoto camera is a 3.5x zoom optic, with an equivalent 85mm focal length. Tim ColemanHere I've used the 10x zoom setting, which is a digital zoom from the 3.5x telephoto Zeiss lensTim ColemanAnd here's a cute kitty with longest coat, well, just because! (Image credit: Tim Coleman)I spent quite a bit of this year wondering about Googlebooks. After Google announced them in May, things got a little quiet, and I noticed that when I was at the huge Computex 2026 show in Taiwan, no one seemed to be talking about them — Nvidia’s RTX Spark ARM chip, and Windows 11 competitors to the (then recently-released) MacBook Neo, were the talk of Taipei.
Computex would have been the ideal event for Google and its hardware partners to hype up Googlebooks, if only to give us a bit of a tease. Instead, the silence made me worry that they could end up being another Google product that quickly gets forgotten about.
So, when rumors of an impending Googlebook launch started cropping up a month or so ago, I was very interested. However, with information still so thin on the ground, no one was really sure what a Googlebook would be. Would they be budget laptops designed to replace Chromebooks? Or, might they be mid-rangers aimed at taking on the MacBook Neo?
Well, now that we have pricing information, and I’ve spent time with the five Googlebooks that will go on sale on October 5, I can confirm that Googlebooks are neither of those things — instead, they’re premium thin and light laptops designed to rival the MacBook Air, and Windows 11-powered Ultrabooks. And that makes them all the more interesting.
(Image credit: Future)More ambitious than a ChromebookWith the cheapest Googlebook, the Acer Googlebook 14, starting at $899 / £999 (around AU$1,899), you might be disappointed that these aren’t going to be ultra-affordable Chromebook replacements, especially at a time when prices of everything, especially tech, seems to be climbing.
However, as multiple Google employees told me when I visited the company's UK headquarters in London, Googlebooks are not replacing Chromebooks. Instead, Chromebooks will remain the budget, entry-level, laptop choice running Chrome OS, while Chromebook Plus devices will remain the mid-range option.
Googlebooks, meanwhile, will be the high-end, flagship laptops that run an entirely new operating system — Googlebook OS — while still offering plenty of value for money.
The $1,000 / £1,000-plus price has allowed Google and its hardware partners to be rather ambitious with these first-generation Googlebooks. Each one (the aforementioned Acer Googlebook 14, plus the Lenovo Googlebook 15, HP Googlebook 14, Dell XPS Googlebook, and Asus Googlebook 14) has a stylish thin and light design, and, depending on the model, offers premium features such as OLED touch displays, haptic touchpads, and fingerprint sensors.
(Image credit: Future)Each Googlebook also has a ‘Glowbar’, which is an LED stripe located on the back of the lid that can light up in a variety of ways depending on what you’re doing on the Googlebook. Described by John Maletis, Google’s VP Laptops and Tablets, at the launch event I attended, as a ‘distinctively Google design statement’, it adds a nice bit of color to each Googlebook, and I especially liked how it can show the battery level of the device when it’s plugged in and charging.
In the future, third-party developers will have access to the Glowbar, so that their apps can use the feature, and while I can’t see it being an essential part of the Googlebook experience (remember, the Glowbar is on the back of the laptop’s lid, so usually facing away from the user, limiting its usefulness), it’s a nice little detail that helps these laptops stand out.
Googlebooks also have premium components to complement their designs. Each one comes with at least 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, and some models will allow for higher configurations up to 32GB of RAM and larger SSDs. They're also powered by high-end chips from Intel (series 3 Core Ultra processors) and Qualcomm (Snapdragon X Elite and X1 Elite chips), and feature NPUs capable of over 45 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) for on-device AI — as you might expect from Google, a big focus of Googlebooks is AI.
(Image credit: Future)Thanks to this combination of powerful specs and the lightweight Googlebook OS, Googlebooks feel very fast and responsive in use. While I wasn’t able to run any benchmarks during my time with the new devices, I spent a decent amount of time with each one browsing the web, using apps and even playing some games (admittedly Android games designed for mobile, but even they can be quite graphically impressive these days), and Googlebook OS was fast and fluid, with nary a pause as I opened up multiple apps.
With Google promising up to 10 years of software support, these Googlebooks could be the last laptop you buy for a long time — and that makes their higher prices slightly more palatable. A 10-year lifespan for a laptop feels very MacBook-like too.
(Image credit: Future)A brand-new operating systemPerhaps the most exciting thing about Googlebooks is that they're running on an entirely new operating system, Googlebook OS, rather than simply using Google’s Chrome OS software.
While Chrome OS has come on in leaps and bounds since its inception, Google’s lightweight operating system built around its Chrome web browser has plenty of limitations. While these limitations have helped keep hardware requirements and costs down, making Chromebooks excellent budget laptops, they can also be frustrating for users. It’s the main reason why I stopped using my Google Pixelbook Go, one of my favorite laptops ever, as my daily driver some years ago.
Googlebook OS combines the best things about Chrome OS, namely its lack of bloat, with Google’s other incredibly popular operating system, Android, to create something entirely new. Built on Linux, and making use of the higher hardware specs of Googlebooks, Googlebook OS is a fully-fledged desktop operating system that really feels like it can compete with Windows 11 and macOS.
(Image credit: Future)Thanks to the OS's ability to run Android apps, Googlebooks will launch on October 5 with access to millions of apps and games via Google’s Play Store, and there will be a dedicated section of the Play Store for desktop apps. These apps won’t just be mobile Android apps clumsily expanded onto a larger screen, but more complex and capable apps that have been designed for Googlebooks with keyboard and touchpad controls. I imagine at launch that this library of desktop apps will be rather limited, but will hopefully expand quickly, especially if Googlebooks turn out to be a hit.
At the launch event, I saw how Googlebook OS fixes one of my biggest issues with Chrome OS. Apps for Chrome OS are usually very limited, sometimes requiring an internet connection to run. The Chrome web browser was the mobile version, which meant you couldn’t run extensions, a deal breaker for myself, as I have several extensions I need to run for my job.
So, one of the first things I did when playing around with a Googlebook was launch Chrome, and I’m happy to report that it’s the full desktop version, so extensions are supported.
Googlebook OS also has a fast and intuitive file browser app, with built-in AI that allows you to use natural language to search your files. In the example I was shown, you could search for ‘a photo with a dog in it’, and Googlebook OS will identify any photo which includes a dog, rather than just going off file names or tags. It’s the kind of responsive and easy-to-use search that Microsoft has long promised in Windows 11, but has never managed to nail. Google has made it look easy.
While Googlebook OS is a new operating system, the aim, according to Alex Kuscher Senior Director, Laptops and Tablets at Google, is to create “a laptop that feels familiar to Android users”.
(Image credit: Future)That means an interface that, despite being built for desktops, looks a lot like Android on smartphones. It uses the same Material 3 Expressive interface, and widgets, menus and settings should be recognizable to anyone who's used a modern Android device. The fact that every Googlebook comes with a touchscreen means there should only be a small learning curve for Android users.
Of course, if you use a version of Android that’s heavily modified, such as with the OneUI interface found on Samsung devices, things won’t be quite as similar, as the Googlebook OS interface is very much based on the stock Android you find on Google’s own Pixel series of devices. Still, anyone who's used an Android device should find Googlebook OS easier to pick up and use compared to Windows or macOS… or even Chrome OS.
Googlebooks and Android devices will also work seamlessly with each other, so once paired, you’ll be able to access and launch apps and files from your smartphone on a Googlebook, even allowing you to carry on where you left off on one device when switching to another.
I saw this in action with a few apps, and it looked like it worked very well. It was intuitive and slick, and finally offers the kind of interoperability between mobile device and laptop that Android users have been wanting. If you’ve ever been jealous of how well MacBooks and iPhones work with each other as an Android user, then a Googlebook is definitely worth considering.
One thing to note is that, while you’ll be able to see and reply to text messages your Android phone receives on your Googlebook, you won’t be able to make and answer calls. A Google employee told me this is for security reasons; however, iPhone users can answer their iPhone through macOS, so if Apple has found a way to do this securely, I’m sure Google will figure it out as well. I was also assured that WearOS devices, such as the Pixel Watch 5, will get some sort of compatibility with Googlebooks as well, but that feature will come in the future.
Based on my time with the first tranche of Googlebooks, I've been impressed with the Apple-like way in which they work with Android devices. If anyone has tried the rather clumsy way Windows 11 works with Android, the way Googlebook OS handles things will be a revelation. Previously, only Samsung got close to this kind of ecosystem, but that relied on using Samsung apps and devices. The Googlebook OS way of doing things feels far more natural.
It's also hard to overstate how big a deal a new operating system to challenge the dominance of Windows (and to a lesser extent, macOS) on laptops is. Many people have been growing frustrated with Windows 11’s instability and bloat, and while Googlebook OS also features heaps of AI (a common complaint of Windows 11 these days), it does so in a less obtrusive way. It certainly feels like Googlebook OS was built to incorporate AI, rather than it being bolted on, as with Windows 11 (which, to be fair to Microsoft, was launched before AI really took off).
The Magic Pointer feature, for example, brings up Google’s Gemini AI with a shake of mouse cursor, and while I don’t think this is a killer feature, it’s at least easy to ignore if you don’t need it (and just as easy to use if you do).
(Image credit: Future)New Googlebooks will come with 12 months of Gemini Spark — Google's personal AI agent — which is a nice added value, though I worry how much of Googlebook OS’ AI features will suddenly become unusable when those 12 months are up and you don’t resubscribe.
Also, while Googlebook OS feels lightweight thanks to the lack of preinstalled ‘bloatware’ and speed, it offers plenty of depth as well, with full Terminal access, support for Linux containers, and access to Google’s Antigravity tool for coding your own apps. The Create My Widget feature, currently in beta, lets users make their own desktop widgets using natural-language prompts.
So, it looks like Googlebook OS could be the best example yet of a lightweight operating system that doesn’t feel limiting for more advanced users. The integration between Googlebooks and Android devices is also impressive, and perhaps the thing that both Microsoft and Apple should be most worried about, as there are a lot of Android device owners looking for a laptop that works this well with their smartphone.
There’s no doubt that Googlebooks are going to be impressive laptops, and I left the event increasingly confident that pitching Googlebooks to compete with MacBook Airs (especially after Apple has raised the price of its laptops) rather than limiting them to budget laptops, is a canny move. We’ll be getting all of the new Googlebooks in for review soon at TechRadar, but from my early time with them, I would advise any Android owner who's currently thinking about buying a new laptop to hold fire until October 5.
- Weaponizable File Protection is getting more custom controls months after launching
- Teams has become an attractive environment for attackers lately
- Microsoft is set to add plenty of new features, too
Microsoft has announced an upgrade to its Weaponizable File Protection feature within Teams, which now means admins can control which types of files users can send through the workplace collaboration app to prevent the likelihood of spreading malware and other malicious files.
Weaponizable File Protection is a tool that's already been rolled out to Teams, but previously, it only automatically scanned for potentially dangerous attachments.
The automated part of the tool began rolling out in early 2026 after an earlier preview from a roadmap entry, and it's another roadmap entry that shows us what we can expect moving forward.
Teams admins can now block certain file types"Administrators will be able to customize which file types are blocked in Teams to align with their organization's security requirements or continue using the Microsoft-recommended default list," a new roadmap entry reads.
According to the entry, Microsoft is aiming for a November 2026 rollout, so it shouldn't be long before admins gain greater control over prescribing which file types are blocked across the organization.
And it's around one year ago this month that Microsoft rolled out a largely similar, automated feature across Teams that scanned links for potentially malicious intent.
"Unlike email, Teams traffic typically bypasses secure email gateways and benefits from the perceived legitimacy of a colleague-initiated chat, which can make lures particularly effective in this environment," Microsoft wrote in a separate security study in a bid to explain why Teams attacks are becoming increasingly common.
More broadly, it looks like November's gearing up to be a big month for Teams both from a security perspective but also in terms of new features. Other roadmap entries point toward introduction like simultaneous screen sharing for two presenters, breakout room support for Android and a Meeting Shared Files window where users can easily access attachments from specific meetings.
- Tesla has re-opened the order books for its long-awaited Roadster
- It is asking buyers for a $50,000 deposit
- Some customers have been waiting since 2017 for news of their cars
Tesla has announced that it will finally reveal the next generation Roadster in October during a glitzy event in Waco, Texas... although we still really don’t know what to expect.
Reports suggest the high-performance EV could use cold-gas thrusters, developed by SpaceX, to produce previously unseen levels of acceleration, while others have stated that the car itself has received a 'Cyber' redesign since the 2017 car was first unveiled.
What we do know is that Tesla wants your money. It has re-opened the reservations list to be among the first allocated build slots of the electric sports car when (or if) it eventually goes on sale.
Similarly to the 2017 launch, the EV company is asking for a $5,000 “fully-refundable” instant credit or debit card payment, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days to reserve a build slot.
While we are still firmly left in the dark about the final cost of the upcoming Roadster, it was previously stated that customers would have to hand over a further $250,000 for a “Founders Series” vehicle, which was initially claimed to have been promised for the year 2020.
Back then, Tesla customers were backing a promise of a 600+ mile electric range, a sub-2 second 0-60mph sprint time and a top speed in excess of 250mph.
Fast-forward nine years and the speculation has been blown up to sci-fi proportions, but more importantly, all of those original customers are yet to receive a new vehicle.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that the October demonstration will be a “banger” and that the company needed to invite an audience to “vouch for the fact that this is not AI,” but those who placed deposits are likely just hoping a real vehicle arrives on stage.
Analysis: all speculation?(Image credit: Tesla)We can spend hours theorizing about what we might see during Tesla’s October Roadster event, whether that’s a vehicle that hovers for a brief time or the use of banned F1 aero tech that creates massive amounts of downforce... it’s all up for discussion.
Alas, it’s worth noting that Tesla hasn’t launched an all-new model since the Cybertruck, which wasn’t exactly the success story that the company had hoped. In fact, sales of that model have been in steep decline since its initial reveal in 2023.
The Cybertruck program also proved that it pays to take Tesla’s facts with a pinch of salt, as everything from its off-road abilities, electric range, build quality and even price have been brought into question during its lifetime.
October 1 will hopefully reveal all. But those queuing to place a deposit should proceed with caution.