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Bitdefender is a popular name in the online security market, primarily known for its robust antivirus solution. However, it also offers an all-around digital identity protection service called Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection.
If you’re an individual (especially a beginner) looking for an easy-to-use, affordable platform, Bitdefender could be the one for you. It helps you actively monitor your online identity, check for known breaches, and manage your financial accounts.
In this article, we will drill down into the various features of Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection, compare it with other products on the market, and examine its user experience. Read on to find out whether Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection is for you.
Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection and Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection are two separate products. This review will examine Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection. For our review of Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, please click here.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: Plans and pricingBitdefender Identity Theft Protection offers two plans: Standard and Premium. The Standard plan costs $69.99 for a yearly subscription, which boils down to $5.83 per month, making it one of the cheapest identity theft protection solutions on the market. This is also cheaper than Norton LifeLock's entry-level plan, which costs $10.46 per month.
With this plan, you get basic features like breach monitoring, credit reports and score, lost wallet protection, and identity theft insurance up to $1 million, along with one-bureau credit reports and monitoring.
The Premium plan costs $99.99 ($8.33/month). In addition to everything in the Standard plan, you get sex offender registry monitoring, bank, credit card, and investment account monitoring, and an additional $50,000 in ransomware protection and social engineering scams. Along with this, the plan also offers three-bureau credit record monitoring.
Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: FeaturesBitdefender offers a bundled collection of features, ideal for anyone looking for all-around identity monitoring and protection. For starters, there’s a smart SSN tracker, which alerts you if an unfamiliar name or address is associated with your Social Security number.
Then there’s dark web monitoring, which scours thousands of websites, black market chat rooms, and other sources to alert you to any sale of your personal information. You can also access your credit reports and scores from all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
There’s also a pretty handy credit score simulator, which helps you plan your finances and see how your future financial decisions may impact your credit score. You are also promptly notified if your personal details are used to apply for new credit, utility payments, or loans.
Much like other platforms, even if you’re unlucky and end up getting your identity compromised, Bitdefender offers restoration services from certified protection experts around the clock. These experts help you with paperwork and legal procedures while actively assisting you through the challenging process of identity restoration.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)With Bitdefender, you also get up to $2 million in identity theft insurance and an additional $25,000 for ransomware resolution and reimbursement in case you end up losing money due to ransomware attacks during your Bitdefender subscription.
Similarly, there’s a $25,000 social engineering resolution and reimbursement provision, which comes in handy if you fall prey to social engineering scams like phishing and end up incurring financial losses.
The Bitdefender website also lists credit freeze as one of its features. However, I found this to be a bit misleading, since Bitdefender only offers expert assistance with credit freezes. To actually place a credit freeze, you will have to contact the various agencies yourself. In comparison, platforms like Norton LifeLock allow you to instantly freeze your credit from the dashboard itself with a simple toggle button.
Bitdefender also offers a separate Digital Identity Protection product that gives you a 360-degree view of all your personal data. Much like its identity theft protection platform, digital identity protection also scans the public web and dark web for your personal data and sends you instant alerts if it finds any.
Besides this, there are simple one-click actions that help you close gaps in your digital footprint. You also get a graphic digital identity protection score, which tells you how well you are protected against common cybersecurity and identity theft threats.
We would have liked to see these features in the primary identity theft protection suite as well. But sadly, these essential features are missing. If you need them, you’ll have to get both products, but that would increase your total monthly cost to $9.16. Sure, that’s still pretty affordable, but managing two different subscriptions can be inconvenient in practice.
Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: Interface and in useIn addition to being affordable, it’s nice that Bitdefender is also easy to set up and use. Once you have logged into your account, you will see a sleek and intuitive dashboard with all features suites listed on the left-hand side panel. You need to click on Identity Theft Protection to access all its functions.
Inside that, you'll find options such as Identity Vault, Breach IQ, Alerts, Credits, and Help listed on the top panel. Simply click on any of these options to access your data.
The Bitdefender interface enables you to quickly visualize data and view suggested actions (Image credit: Bitdefender)For instance, if you click on Credits, you will be able to see your credit score in the center of your dashboard, along with detailed credit summaries including open accounts, credit utilized, and hard inquiries made.
However, the in-use experience is pretty smooth. There are hardly any lags or complicated hidden menus, making the platform very beginner-friendly.
Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: The competitionIdentity Theft Protection’s biggest advantage is its affordable pricing, with plans starting at just $69.99 per year. Even if you’re looking for three-bureau data credit monitoring, you effectively pay only $8.33/month with its annual plan, compared to IdentityForce's $34.90/month or Norton LifeLock's $29.17/month.
That said, I found Bitdefender a bit barebones when it comes to its feature set. Sure, it has everything you need to protect your identity, but it does lack certain advanced features offered by competitors. For instance, Norton LifeLock comes with an automatic data broker removal service, where the platform scans top data brokers and submits periodic opt-out requests so your data is not shared or sold on third-party websites.
Also, while Bitdefender’s identity insurance coverage of $2 million is certainly nothing to sniff at, Norton LifeLock gives you up to $3 million whereas Aura up to $5 million.
Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection: Final verdictBitdefender Identity Theft Protection is an ideal choice if you're an individual looking for basic identity protection services. The platform offers everything from social media monitoring, dark web monitoring, and identity breach alerts to credit monitoring and three-bureau credit reports. You also get identity theft protection of up to $1 million with the higher-end plan.
That said, if you're looking for identity theft protection for families, Bitdefender might not be the perfect pick, since it only offers individual plans. In that case, you'll have to look at other alternatives such as Aura or Norton LifeLock. Bitdefender also lacks certain advanced features, such as the ability to manage credit freezes from the dashboard and data broker removal services.
Businesses have spent years being told that data is their most valuable asset.
They have invested heavily in cloud storage, data warehouses, cybersecurity, access controls, compliance teams and governance frameworks. They have built sophisticated systems to store and protect first-party data.
Then, when they want to use it, they have to move it somewhere else.
That is the contradiction at the heart of today’s data strategy. Companies work hard to keep their data safe, only to export it into third-party platforms when they need to activate it for advertising, analytics, monetization or customer engagement.
The issue is that too much of the ecosystem still ignores ‘data gravity’. To put it simply, data gravity refers to who owns the data and where it lives. If customer data sits inside a brand’s platform or another controlled cloud environment, the starting point should always be respect for that environment.
Forcing the brand asset outside of its own atmosphere invites a leakage problem. As with every movement or duplication, there is risk.
Expectations of data movementThe industry has become resigned to the fact that data has to travel in order to be useful. Want insight, activation, measurement or personalization? The default answer is almost always to export it to a third party and then pay them for the privilege of analysing your own data.
But every export, upload, sync, copy or transfer creates a risk opening. It means another vendor to trust, another contract to manage, another access policy to audit. Put simply it means another place where something can go wrong.
The issue is not whether businesses should use their first-party data. Of course they should. It is direct, proprietary and built from real customer relationships. The issue is that using it should not require constantly duplicating it or shipping it away.
Every transfer is a new riskWhen large volumes of first-party data leave a company’s controlled environment, the risk increases. Data that is protected inside carefully managed IT infrastructure is suddenly passing through another system with completely different permission structures and potentially more lax security.
That does not mean third-party platforms are careless, as we know most are highly sophisticated. But network and internet security is not only about the strength of one organisation. It is also about how many places the data exists, how many systems must be trusted and how many people can access it.
For cybercriminals, sensitive customer and commercial data is incredibly valuable. The more copies that exist, the more targets there are - and the more opportunities to intercept, compromise, ransom or otherwise misuse that data. A business may have excellent internal controls, but once the data leaves its environment, it is relying on someone else’s controls too.
This is also where governance has to move upstream. As data activation and interoperability become bigger priorities, organizations need to bring legal and InfoSec teams into the design of the solution.
Far too often, any work in the data activation journey has been built around workarounds and that simply does not scale. A better model is to use those governance functions as enablers, so that activation can become usable and auditable from the start.
Leakage and corruptionWhen people hear “data leakage”, they often think of a major breach. But one of the more common risks is quieter: data corruption caused by constant movement between platforms, warehouses and third-party systems.
Every time data is exported, reformatted, matched, duplicated or re-imported, something can change. Fields can be mapped incorrectly, definitions can shift, permissions can be misapplied and outdated versions can keep circulating.
After enough movement, businesses can lose confidence in which dataset is accurate, who has touched it, where copies sit and whether the analysis of this data represents anything remotely valuable to the company.
That matters because first-party data is valuable precisely because it is accurate and collected with user consent. Keeping it in one controlled environment is safer for consumer privacy and better for data integrity. The more it is moved and manipulated, the greater the risk that businesses turn a trusted asset into a liability.
Bring the software to the dataFor years, businesses have accepted constant data movement as the cost of progress. But that model is starting to look outdated. First-party data is more valuable, regulation is tighter, cybercrime is more sophisticated and customers are more privacy-conscious.
The future should not require businesses to choose between using their data and protecting it. The smarter model is to respect data gravity and activate data where it already lives.
That requires bringing software to the data by building activation around governance and control from the onset. It’s more than an ideal, it's a necessity and the businesses that benefit most will be those that respect the needs of data owners. As ultimately the asset belongs with them.
We've featured the best data migration tools.
This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.
The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit
- Researchers have spotted problems with AI pattern matching in science data
- It could mean false flags for signatures of life on other planets
- AI can still be useful, but checks need to be built in
One of the ways AI can be most helpful is in trawling through masses of scientific data that human researchers don't have time to analyze, looking for patterns — but this use-case is now proving problematic when it comes to the search for life beyond our planet.
A new study from researchers at Michigan State University suggests that AI systems can be too easily fooled into identifying signatures of life out in the universe where none exist. We need these flags to be accurate to know where to point our telescopes next, so it's important that the detection processes work.
The researchers set up a digital simulation including a key sign of life: the ability for molecules to replicate and mutate. Software was used to generate tens of thousands of digital organisms with and without this ability, which where then used to trail a neural network to spot the difference with an accuracy rating of 99.7%.
When the neural network was pointed towards data it hadn't previously seen, however, the AI's life-spotting skills fell apart. The researchers started with a digital organism that couldn't copy itself, which the AI correctly identified, then began making small edits and asking the AI to check again.
Essentially, as the AI was nudged out of its comfort zone of training data, it started seeing life where there wasn't any. "No matter what sequence of commands we started with, we were able to fool the AI 100% of the time," said Ankit Gupta, one of the researchers.
Space and beyondA representation of the simulation the AI was tested on (Image credit: University of Michigan)It's worth bearing in mind the limitations of this research: these tests were carried out in an artificial, digital simulation, and so didn't rely on any real data. The researchers were deliberately searching for errors too, rather than letting them happen by chance.
However, the study methods are solid enough to be concerning. The worry is that a Mars rover or a deep-space telescope could identify a life signature with a high degree of confidence, without necessarily having a human in the loop to check.
The researchers found there were a vast number of sequences that could trip up the AI too, meaning the risk of a mistake is more likely. While the digital organisms incorrectly identified by the neural network were close to what it had been trained to spot, they weren't full matches — despite the AI thinking they were.
These issues could crop up outside of space exploration too. The same errors might appear when looking for patterns in medical scans, security camera footage, and everywhere else the technology is used.
That said, the researchers are keen to emphasize that AI can still be useful in these scenarios — it just needs careful checks and supervision. "AI has an Achilles' heel: it can see a pattern and completely misclassify it," said Christoph Adami, one of the team. "There needs to be a human in the loop."
- OpenAI is releasing a preview of ChatGPT-5.6 to trusted partners on Thursday
- The new GPT-5.6 comes in three versions: Sol, Terra and Luna
- Initial access is via API only, with a broader rollout to ChatGPT later
GPT-5.6 is coming in three different versions, Sol, Terra, and Luna, but it won’t be anything like the normal ChatGPT releases we’ve been used to. First there will be a limited preview for trusted partners, followed by a broader rollout later. The preview begins this Thursday for the lucky few.
The staggered rollout is not by OpenAI’s design. In a release about the new models OpenAI said, “As part of our ongoing engagement with the U.S. government, we previewed our plans and the models’ capabilities ahead of today’s launch. At their request, we are starting with a limited preview for a small group of trusted partners whose participation has been shared with the government, before releasing more broadly.“
The delay comes after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a voluntary framework under which AI developers could provide the U.S. government with access to their new models for up to 30 days before releasing them to trusted partners.
OpenAI is clearly unhappy with the situation: “We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default. It keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them. “
Meet Sol, Terra and LunaOpenAI is launching GPT-5.6 as a family of three models named after celestial objects, rather than its more usual naming conventions like “Instant” and “Mini”. Sol, Terra and Luna are three versions of the new ChatGPT-5.6, each aimed at a different balance of intelligence, speed and cost.
GPT-5.6 Sol is the flagship model and OpenAI’s most capable AI yet. This is the model for the hardest jobs: complex coding, multi-step reasoning, agent-style work and specialist tasks where accuracy matters more than speed. OpenAI says Sol has improved capabilities in coding, biology and cybersecurity, and it is also getting new “max” and “ultra” modes designed to give it more time and, in ultra mode, extra subagents to work through complicated tasks. You can think of Sol as the ‘big-brain’ version of GPT-5.6, which you want when the question is difficult enough that waiting a little longer is worth it.
GPT-5.6 Terra is the middle option, and probably the one most ordinary people will use. OpenAI describes it as a balanced model for everyday work, with performance competitive with GPT-5.5 but at half the cost. That makes Terra sound like the likely daily-driver model: powerful enough for writing, planning, research, coding help and general ChatGPT use, but not as expensive or heavyweight as Sol. If Sol is the specialist you call in for the hard problems, Terra is the model you would expect to use for most normal tasks.
GPT-5.6 Luna is the fast and affordable model. It's designed to offer strong capability at OpenAI’s lowest cost in the GPT-5.6 family, which suggests it is aimed at quick responses, lighter tasks and high-volume use where speed matters. This is the model you would expect to handle simpler questions, summaries, rewrites, quick brainstorming, and everyday back-and-forth without needing the full power of Sol. Luna may not be the showpiece model, but it could end up being the one people interact with most often if it makes ChatGPT feel faster and cheaper to run.
What will you notice?As I’ve mentioned before, the test for new AI models, like GPT-5.6 or Claude Sonnet 5, will increasingly be how well they manage mult-step tasks and agentic processes.
For ordinary ChatGPT users, the most obvious change when using GPT-5.6 may not be a dramatic new button or interface. It will probably be that ChatGPT feels more capable when you ask it to do something complicated and less like a chatbot that needs to be carefully walked through every step.
That matters because most people do not use ChatGPT by comparing benchmark scores. They notice whether it understands a messy request, remembers the point of the task, follows instructions properly and gets closer to a finished result the first time. If GPT-5.6 works as OpenAI is suggesting, the upgrade should be most visible in those moments where today’s models still feel impressive but slightly fragile.
When can I get it?OpenAI’s three-model structure is interesting and it’s not clear if the ChatGPT version will automatically send your request to different models depending on how complex it is. Obviously, not every task will need the same level of intelligence. A fast, cheaper model such as Luna could handle simple summaries, rewrites and everyday questions, while a more powerful model such as Sol could be reserved for harder work where depth matters more than speed.
GPT-5.6 is not available in ChatGPT during the preview, so ordinary users may not notice any of this immediately. OpenAI says the models are currently available through the API and Codex to a limited group of trusted partners and organizations, with broader availability through ChatGPT planned later.
The Bambu Lab A1 mini is one of those beginner-friendly 3D printers that isn't just great for the price - it's absolutely brilliant, scoring the full 5 stars in our review.
And right now, the A1 mini has dropped to $209 (was $300) at Bambu Lab. That's a huge discount on one of the most beginner-friendly 3D printers available, while still offering the speed and print quality enthusiasts look for. A multi-color combo kit also discounted on the same page.
One of the printer's key features is fully automatic calibration, which removes much of the trial and error traditionally associated with 3D printing. Instead of manually adjusting settings before every print, the device handles calibration on its own, helping you get started faster. In the UK, the 3D printer is also down to £139 (was £149).
Today's top Bambu Lab 3D printer dealThe Bambu Lab A1 mini combines fully automatic calibration, print speeds up to 500mm/s, quiet 49dB operation, and a compact design with a 180 x 180 x 180mm build volume, making high-quality 3D printing simple and approachable. A multi-color combo version is also on sale.
In the UK: now £139 (was £149)View Deal
Although compact enough to fit comfortably on a desk, the A1 mini still offers a generous 180 x 180 x 180mm build volume. That's plenty of space for household projects, toys, models, organizers, and replacement parts.
Print speeds reach up to 500mm/s with acceleration of up to 10,000mm/s², allowing projects to finish much faster than many entry-level printers.
An all-metal hot end with a stainless steel nozzle supports temperatures up to 300°C, making it compatible with popular materials including PLA, PETG, TPU, and PVA.
Built-in sensors that monitor filament movement detect tangles, warn when filament runs out, and recover prints after a power outage. This will help reduce wasted material and reduce failed prints during longer jobs.
A built-in monitoring camera supports timelapse recording, while MakerWorld integration makes it easier to discover new projects and begin printing with minimum effort.
Everything works together to streamline the experience from choosing a model to watching the finished result appear.
Promising a maximum of 49dB of noise, the A1 mini runs at about the level of a quiet library, making it much easier to use in a home office or shared living space.
In our five-star review, we said: "The A1 Mini packs quite a punch in terms of performance and quality for its price point and will find wide appeal for both amateur and professional 3D printing enthusiasts."
If you've been waiting for an affordable way to get into 3D printing, the Bambu Lab A1 mini one of the best deals I've seen recently.
For more top picks, these are the best 3D printers we've tested and reviewed. And check out the gallery below for our 3D printed test samples using Bambu Lab's A1 mini.
Ali JenningsAli JenningsAli JenningsAli JenningsAlastair JenningsAlso consider: More 3D printer deals for beginnersThe Anycubic Kobra X offers native four-color printing, expandable to 19 colors with additional modules, print speeds up to 600mm/s, AI monitoring, automatic bed leveling, dual-band Wi-Fi, and a spacious 260 x 260 x 260mm build volume. In our rave review we said, "The Kobra X marks a major update to the Anycubic range, offering faster printing and a boost in aesthetics and product design quality."
In the UK: now £279 (was £329)View Deal
- You can now run Claude Cowork in the cloud, from the web or mobile
- Knowledge work now accounts for around half of all Cowork sessions
- Traditional local Cowork sessions are still supported
Days after reports surfaced that Anthropic could be bringing Claude Cowork to its mobile app, the company has gone one further – users can now start, monitor and complete their agentic workflows from the mobile app and a dedicated web portal.
The upgrade is rolling out in beta now for Claude Max subscribers, but the company has plans to bring the functionality to more plans as rollout continues.
As part of the upgrade, Cowork sessions will also run in the cloud by default – another beta introduction that means workflows can continue even once a PC goes offline or shuts down.
Claude Cowork can now be used virtually anywhereBecause the AI agent can run autonomously across things like files and documents, emails and calendars, and other connected apps, many users mostly left Cowork to run independently. However because it ran locally, it required users to keep their desktop session active even when they stepped away.
Now, scheduled work no longer requires a device to remain online – though users can still choose to run Cowork locally when access to local files is required, for example.
As for why Claude Cowork is being used, Anthropic has revealed that the autonomous agent is mostly being used among knowledge workers despite initially being targeted at coders. "Pulling scattered updates into a single report, building onboarding checklists and reconciling spreadsheets" account for the largest chunk, at around 33% of all use cases across Anthropic's analysis of 1.2 million sessions.
Content creation and copywriting (16%) came next, with software development (9%) and DevOps and infrastructure (7%) actually only accounting for much smaller proportions.
With knowledge work now accounting for nearly half of all Claude Cowork sessions, the company's research shows agentic AI emerging as an everyday work colleague. Though the company didn't indicate how, or whether, this shift in behavior might impact its pipeline, a shift away from coding as a primary use case could evolve Cowork in different ways to how we might have imagined.
MI6 Approved: Screen-accurate 007 office gear
Q Branch: Bond-themed gear, gifts & gadgets
I'm a massive James Bond fan - if I had a specialist subject, it would be the 007 movies and books. So, I had a lot of fun building out the best James Bond home office gear I could find. Spreadsheets and online meetings might not always be quite as exciting as tackling Blofeld's never-ending plans for world domination - the same old dream - but at least this office setup brings the world of Bond to your workspace.
I've included 6 MI6-approved screen-accurate desk accessories and replicas. This includes GoldenEye's Parker Jotter (three clicks...), Bernard Lee's GPO 746 Red Rotary Phone - a staple of the Roger Moore era - and the iconic Royal Doulton Jack the Bulldog gifted to 007 by M in Skyfall. Consider this your official 00-Section requisition list.
Direct from Q Branch, I've also rounded up James Bond-inspired office gear for field-work and gadgets that keep SPECTRE from nosing through your files. They might not have appeared in the films, but they at least make you feel more like taking part in a global espionage caper (the rearview mirror dish is a particular favorite, as well as a "genuine Felix lighter").
MI6 approved 007 home office gear Royal Doulton Jack the Bulldog - No Time to Die edition Parker Parker Jotter Ballpoint Pen GPO GPO 746 Rotary Phone Anglepoise Anglepoise Type 75 Desk Lamp SHISEDECO Shisedeco Classic Hang It All Rack Pioneer DJ Pioneer DJ HDJ-X10-S Headphones Q Branch: James Bond office gear, gifts & gadgets Balvi Secret Agent Bookend SNDEC Rear View Desk Mirror Dish Factory Entertainment James Bond: Dr. No Tin Tote JiveZync Flash Drive Pen SUMNEW Fingerprint Cabinet Lock Collectable Sign and Clock Walther PPK Patent Backlit Clock Custom Car Posters Aston Martin DB5 Handmade Poster Amazon Basics Book Safe with Key Lock Official James Bond 007 Official Diamonds Are Forever Ceramic Mug Alpine Swiss Executive Aluminum Briefcase KCD 007 James Bond Vinyl Decals Nordik By Design Nordik Leather Desk Mat Cable Organizer HWC Trading The Spy Who Loved Me Framed Movie Poster Apricorn Apricorn 1TB Encrypted Hard Drive Zonsuli Golden Hands Sculpture Vaydeer Metal Pen Holder Rite in the Rain Weatherproof Hard Cover Notebook Zippo James Bond 007 Engraved Zippo LighterI hate buying compressed air in cans. They're expensive, bulky, and they never last as long as they should. But I've found an awesome, affordable alternative that's a lot less wasteful (and a lot more fun).
The Wolfbox MF60 electric air duster is currently discounted to $31 (was $50) at Amazon. This rechargeable electric duster features 110,000 RPM brushless motor delivering that's capable of clearing out dust and debris from keyboards, computers, camera gear, and plenty more.
It's one of those home office gadgets that you never realize you need until you get one. In the UK, the MF60 is also discounted to £37 (was £44) at Amazon, too.
Today's top office accessory dealA rechargeable cordless air duster with a 110,000 RPM brushless motor and three adjustable speed settings. The lowest speed is gentle enough for delicate components and camera lenses; the highest moves real debris from keyboards, fan grilles, and car vents.
In the UK: now £37 (was £44)View Deal
The three-speed control is more useful than it sounds. A single-speed electric duster forces you to manage the distance from the surface to control airflow intensity, which can get awkward with delicate components. The MF60’s lowest speed lets you safely clean around camera sensors, circuit boards, and laptop keyboards without blasting debris deeper into gaps or risking damage to fragile parts. The highest speed is reserved for the jobs that need it — shifting compacted dust from heatsinks, clearing a fan grille that hasn’t been touched in years, or blasting pet hair from a car seat.
The brushless motor is the component that determines both the lifespan and the consistent performance of an electric air duster. Brushless motors have no physical contact points that wear down over time, which is why the Gadgeteer’s review of the MF100 found it delivered “impressive power” that held up across extended testing. The same brushless motor architecture carries through to the MF60, which means it should perform consistently whether you’re using it for the first time or the five hundredth.
USB-C charging is the practical detail that matters most for day-to-day use. It means the duster charges from the same cable as your laptop, phone, or other devices — no proprietary charger to lose, and it works from a power bank if you’re using it away from a wall outlet. The full charge time is reasonable for a device you’ll use in bursts rather than continuously.
The nozzle kit covers the practical range of cleaning scenarios: a narrow extension nozzle for getting into tight gaps between keyboard keys or fan blades, a wider deflector for broader surface coverage, and a brush attachment for simultaneously scrubbing and blowing on surfaces with caked-on dust. For a PC that’s been neglected for a year or more, the brush attachment on the GPU heatsink makes a noticeable difference over a bare nozzle alone.
One note on expectations: the MF60 at 110,000 RPM produces strong, consistent airflow for the cleaning tasks most people need — keyboards, electronics, camera gear, car interiors. The flagship MF100 at 150,000 RPM pushes more air per second and is the better choice if you regularly clean large surfaces or heavily clogged components. So, the MF60 is the right entry point for anyone who just wants to get off canned air without spending flagship money.
- Spotify has quietly updated its Mixed Playlists tools
- You can now fine-tune transitions smoother by amending effect curves
- It's starting to crop up for more users, and it's a smash hit so far
There’s one thing that Spotify does really well, and that’s offering a roster of different playlist-making tools for you to really get creative with. Though some are AI-powered, Spotify’s Mixed Playlists encourages you to use your originality when compiling songs, all while putting you in the DJ booth.
Just as you’d get with music-mixing software, Spotify’s Mixed Playlists allow you to create smooth transitions between songs to ensure your playlist flows like a classic DJ set. Its mixing interface presents you with preset effects, and even tells you the key and BPM of each track — and now users have noticed a new upgrade that gives you even more freedom on the customization front.
A recent post on the r/truespotify Reddit page shows the latest update, revealing that you can now amend the Volume, EQ, and Filter settings even more by simply dragging each effect curve to control how the transition runs. According to a small number of users, this feature has been live for a few months, but the majority of listeners in the replies are only now running into it — myself included.
Spotify first launched Mixed Playlists in August 2025, hot on the heels of Apple’s own AutoMix function. But instead of relying on AI to mix songs, Spotify’s version puts the control right into your hands, and it quickly became one of my favorite new tools.
The effect curves as a preset (right) versus the updated customization version (left) (Image credit: Future)Prior to the update, you could create song transitions by selecting a preset which would automatically amend the Volume, EQ, and Filter settings, or you could go into each of the three and select your own preset to curate a custom transition. While these are still available, you can fine-tune your song-mixing even more, and after testing things out for myself I can see why listeners have taken to it so well.
For starters, it allows you to clean up the small but noticeable imperfections in your transitions that you can’t achieve by presetting the three audio categories individually. For example, if you go into the Filter category and select the ‘High-pass filter out option’, it’s stuck in one place on the audio track. When you tap the ‘Customize’ button, three points appear on the effect curve which you can move around the audio track display so that your chosen effect comes in at a specific time.
Comment from r/truespotifyHowever, there are a few small blips (not so much setbacks) with the feature that users have picked up on. When you start off with customizing your transitions, it can feel a little fiddly when trying to find the exact placement for each of the effect curve points but this you’ll get used to.
Additionally, other users have also pointed out that the effect curve points sometimes move back to their original spots after you’ve shifted them. I’ve only run into this a few times, so it’s not a major issue that’s going to put you off for good.
For once, it’s refreshing to see Spotify give one of its existing tools some TLC instead of pumping out new features without a lot of thought behind them. If this is the approach Spotify is taking from here on, just think of what it could do to improve features like this in the future.
I've been living for the episode titles for Rick and Morty season 9, but this week is the first time I've felt genuinely terrified for what I'm about to see.
Episode 8 is called Rickuiem Mort a Dream, which is a play on the Darren Aronofsky film Requiem for a Dream. If you've been brave enough to watch that movie, you'll know that it's so traumatizing, you can never, ever see it again.
What on earth that means for an animated TV series, I have no idea. But when does Rick and Morty season 9 episode 8 arrive on Adult Swim, Hulu, and HBO Max?
What time can I watch Rick and Morty season 9 episode 8 on Adult Swim, Hulu, and HBO Max?In the US, Rick and Morty season 9 episode 8 will debut on Adult Swim on Sunday, July 12 at 8pm PT / 11pm ET.
Viewers elsewhere, as well as in the US, have two streaming options: Hulu and HBO Max. Episodes should appear on these platforms 24 hours after they've aired on Adult Swim, meaning you can expect episode 8 on Monday, July 13.
These are the timings you need to take note of:
- US – 12am PT / 3am ET
- Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
- UK – 8am BST
- India – 12:30pm IST
- Singapore – 3pm SGT
- Australia – 6pm AEST
- New Zealand – 8pm NZDT
Rick and Morty season 9 is set to have 10 episodes. As long as there are no unexpected delays, we can expect it to follow the following release schedule:
- Episode 1: out now
- Episode 2: out now
- Episode 3: out now
- Episode 4: out now
- Episode 5: out now
- Episode 6: out now
- Episode 7: out now
- Episode 8: July 12
- Episode 9: July 19
- Episode 10: July 26