News
- Grand Theft Auto 6 gameplay leaks have been appearing online since mid-August
- More and more footage is being posted every day by the leaker known as 'Cyberleek'
- Here's a full timeline featuring every gameplay leak so far
Grand Theft Auto 6 is just three months out from launch, and the game is set to get a special extended look premiering on Netflix this week. However, an unknown individual or group known as 'Cyberleek' has put a spanner in Rockstar Games' plan and has been posting leaked gameplay footage for over a week.
Cyberleek has since claimed the leaks stem from a goal to stop the end of physical game discs, which Sony plans to do starting January 2028, and Rockstar, which confirmed that the physical version of GTA 6 won't have a disc, but a digital code in the box instead.
While all alleged gameplay footage being posted shows an advertisement for Cyberleek's cryptocurrency scheme, which brings into question the leaker's true motivation, they've also released a manifesto protesting Rockstar's decision and threatened to "disrupt their operations" by leaking game material until the studio issues a public statement and apologizes.
Well, it's another day, and more alleged gameplay footage has been posted online. A lot has happened over the past week, but if you haven't caught up, here's a summary of everything that's leaked so far.
August 18The very first GTA 6 leak was posted on August 18 and shows co-protagonist Jason Duval playing basketball outside his house in the southern part of Leonida, in an area called Key Lento.
We've seen this area and Jason's house in past trailers, but Rockstar hadn't shared any gameplay. In the clip, Jason is wandering around before picking up a basketball; it looks like the player can dribble and use an aiming mechanic to shoot the ball into the net. There's also a focus meter that gradually increases, with a level system.
The second clip was posted the same day and gave fans a first look at what it's like driving around in GTA 6. Jason can be seen speeding along the roads before getting into a fight with a non-player character (NPC).
Cyberleek also posted a look at the game's Leonida map, which showed areas like Lummox County, Leonard County, Kelly County, Vice Dale County, and Mariana County.
August 19More gameplay footage, this time two minutes long, was posted the following day, showing Jason breaking into a gated area, killing security guards, before taking their tasers. He then steals a semitruck and drives off, and you can see vehicle health and fuel gauges on the HUD.
Then there's a short cutscene showing Jason and his friend Cal Hampton on a boat, which some suggest is a scene from the beginning of the game.
Another gameplay clip was posted shortly after, showing Jason stabbing a police officer and stealing his motorcycle, as well as what looks like six "Wanted" stars, which is one more than GTA 5. The footage continues, and Jason can then be seen using what looks like pain medication called "Zombix."
August 20The next clip features Jason flying a small plane over the map, presumably Vice City, and it looks highly detailed. The render distance looks impressive, and you can see lots of buildings, roads, traffic, and more. The player can also be seen browsing radio stations.
Afterward, a second clip shows the player spelling the word "LEEK" on the side of a building using bullets, leading many fans to believe Cyberleek has at least some sort of playable build and the footage isn't stolen from Rockstar's servers.
August 21The gameplay leaks continued the following day, with the next showing Jason driving a hypercar, specifically, the Truffade Thrax from GTA Online.
August 22The GTA 6 leaks continued into this past weekend, with longer footage showing a variety of activities, including Jason driving around, pulling into a gas station, physically refueling his car, and then going inside the shop to rob the clerk. When Jason punches him, you can see the hair tech in action, his hat flying off, and Jason taking money from the register.
The clip cuts after he drives away and crashes his car, then Jason can be seen entering a strip club. However, the footage ends with Cyberleek asking for "3mil marketcap = stripclub" in a message on screen for their cryptocurrency scheme.
Well, the leaker delivered, and the next clip shows a deeper look at the strip club, showing neon lights and dancers, as well as highly detailed NPCs in conversation.
August 23The following day, another clip was posted showing Jason driving to another gas station, stealing someone's truck, and running down the owner. When he crashes the car, the iconic "Wasted" screen pops up, and shortly after, it cuts to Jason having what appears to be an unscripted conversation with an NPC while they both pee in urinals.
Another notable feature of the clip is the mission marker that reads "Return to Lucia", suggesting the leaker could be in the middle of a mission that requires Jason to meet back up with his girlfriend.
More gameplay was posted later, showing Jason flying over Vice City at night.
August 24On August 24, new gameplay showed Jason walking around a nudist town in Leonida; he enters a party, where there's a pool and lots of naked people standing around or dancing, or ordering drinks at a bar. The player also zooms in on these NPCs using binoculars, and yeah... the bodies are very realistic.
When Jason focuses on another woman, she attacks him, and he kills her before firing his pistol at the rest of the surrounding NPCs.
August 25The latest leaks got posted today, and it is the first time we see Rockstar's impressive crowd tech at work, seemingly running in-game. The first clip is similar to a shot from the first GTA 6 trailer, but has Jason cycling along Vice City beach instead.
There are a ton of NPCs packed together, showcasing the density the developer's tech allows, and you can see them lounging around, playing in the water, or walking around; the water physics also look remarkable, as do the sand effects.
The next clip shows Jason visiting a shopping plaza and a used video game store that sells physical games, which is ironic given Rockstar's decision to not release a disc version of GTA 6.
The player zooms in on the shelves using binoculars, and every game and movie is named.
It's a bit blurry, but one game title looks like it reads "We Came Together I, II, & III Remasters of the Remakes" (or "Remixes," it's hard to tell), which seems like a little nod to Naughty Dog's multiple editions of The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2.
Signs also state that electronics, consoles, and collectibles can be traded in before Jason walks up to the counter and cycles through a selection of purchasable and wearable earbuds.
That's every alleged gameplay leak that Cyberleek has shared as of today, but we'll keep you updated if more details are posted.
Fans can also look forward to the Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look ahead of the game's launch on November 19, which is set to premiere on Netflix on August 27 at 3PM ET / 12PM PT / 8PM BST and later launch on the studio's YouTube channel at 9PM ET / 6PM PT / 2AM BST.
It's speculated that the extended look will finally reveal official gameplay and Trailer 3.
- Brain chemistry may contribute to memory beyond ordinary electrical signalling
- AI systems process information without the living cellular environment found inside brains
- Astrocytes could play an important role in processing cognitive information
A new scientific model argues that binary code, the 0s and 1s underlying every computer, cannot fully explain how memory works.
Researchers Gerard Marx of MX Biotech Ltd. and Chaim Gilon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem base their model on molecular and cellular evidence.
Their theory, called the Tripartite Mechanism of Memory, proposes that three biological components, not binary switches, are what generate genuine memory.
A chemical basis for how memory actually formsUnlike a silicon chip storing information as binary states, the tripartite model proposes that memory arises through three separate biological elements interacting.
These elements include brain cells, particularly astrocytes, interacting with neurons, along with the molecular environment surrounding those individual cells directly.
A third component involves specific chemicals, such as metal ions, neurotransmitters, and gliotransmitters, circulating continuously throughout the brain's living tissue.
The researchers suggest that living brains may do more than simply transmit electrical signals between individual neurons scattered across tissue.
They may also write and read certain kinds of information chemically, a process with no clear equivalent inside a silicon processor.
Astrocytes, abundant brain cells that interact closely with neurons, occupy a particularly important place within this newly proposed scientific model.
Marx and Gilon propose that clusters of astrocytes participate in processing cognitive information alongside neurons and the surrounding cellular environment.
A central part of their argument holds that biological memories are never simply pieces of stored logical information by themselves.
They argue that biological memory carries an emotional dimension that no binary code stored inside a computer's memory bank can replicate.
Their model treats chemical messengers, including neurotransmitters, as essential parts of the mechanism by which cognitive information becomes fully encoded.
What the chemistry of memory means for AIBoth computers and biological brains can store and retrieve information, though their underlying mechanisms may differ in fundamental ways.
In a computer, information ultimately carries a physical aspect that is encoded directly into its silicon hardware and internal circuitry.
Marx and Gilon ask whether biological memory also carries a physical aspect, though one rooted in living cells and organic chemistry.
That distinction grows increasingly relevant as AI systems become more capable of performing tasks tied closely to human logical reasoning.
Their paper directly challenges the assumption that greater computational power and complexity alone would necessarily produce biological-like consciousness in machines.
The researchers argue that purely electronic systems lack the biological infrastructure and emotional processes characteristic of living, breathing organisms entirely.
Their argument is not that AI cannot perform increasingly sophisticated intellectual tasks as computing power keeps expanding rapidly each year.
Rather, it raises a more fundamental question about whether intelligent behaviour equals the biological processes producing memory, emotion, and thought.
- Paradox Interactive has revealed the upcoming grand strategy game Afterworld
- It's set in a post-apocalyptic America that players can attempt to rebuild
- It's intended to be the studio's most "easy to learn" and "approachable" title yet
Paradox Interactive has revealed Afterworld, an upcoming post-apocalyptic title that looks like the perfect cross between franchises like Fallout or Mad Max and the company's popular grand strategy games.
Created by Paradox Development Studio, the same team behind Crusader Kings 3 and Hearts of Iron 4, Afterworld takes place in an entirely original vision of post-apocalyptic North America filled with resources to exploit, territory to conquer, and rival groups to trade resources, ally with, or wage war against.
Initially, the game is all about building up some semblance of civilization by creating a home and choosing the laws and ethics of your tribe, with the scale gradually developing until you're going head-to-head with other emerging powers to decide the fate of the continent.
Paradox InteractiveParadox InteractiveParadox InteractiveParadox InteractiveParadox InteractiveParadox InteractiveDifferent playable factions let you start your story as everything from apocalypse survivors that have just emerged from a hidden vault to fanatical zealots already familiar with the brutal new world.
“This is the first world we’ve gotten to build from scratch in a long time, and the first one we've had the pleasure of destroying before the game starts," explained game director Dan Lind.
"The old world is still out there in fragments, waiting to be found. What comes after it is entirely up to the players.”
Paradox InteractiveParadox InteractiveParadox InteractiveParadox InteractiveParadox InteractiveWith its "small-scale" starting hours, Afterworld is intended to be the studio's most "easy to learn" and "approachable" title yet — which is good news given the complex systems of games like Hearts of Iron 4 can be incredibly tricky to pick up.
This doesn't mean that surviving is going to be easy, though: the world is full of dangerous old technology and unknown horrors. It's also home to the Ancients, immortal leaders that survived the apocalypse and now dominate the wasteland.
It also sounds like there is going to be a lot of depth, with the developer promising that the experience "as rich and complex" as fans have "come to expect" from its games.
Afterworld doesn't have a release date yet, but can wishlist it on Steam today.
I’ve played about an hour of the Gears of War: E-Day campaign, which is shaping up to be a brilliant Xbox 360 throwback. Does E-Day reinvent the wheel? No, at least if the two missions that I’ve played are anything to go by, but everything that makes Gears of War good is present and accounted for.
My hands-on kicked off at the start of Act 2 of the campaign, with the fictional city of Kalona still grappling with the early stages of the mutant Locust invasion. Series hero Marcus Fenix and his rag-tag team of survivors, which includes long-time ally Dominic Santiago along with newcomers Mags Carter and Lucas Reyes, are holed up in the besieged city hall.
There are murmurings of a gigantic creature the group has just taken down — presumably a boss fight at the end of the previous chapter — and you’re quickly drafted into the military effort to take back the city.
Duck and cover(Image credit: Xbox)Your first goal is to head to a nearby Thrashball stadium (a familiar in-universe sport that looks like a weird hybrid of football and rugby), which involves traversing the crumbling streets and crossing a giant mechanical bridge. Obviously, things aren’t so simple — with countless Emergence Holes (or E-holes for short) opening and spewing out waves of foes as you make your way over.
Locust enemies are aggressive and, while they don’t pose much threat in isolation, can employ some pretty formidable tactics. The basic rifle-wielding drones will stick to cover like glue, popping up intermittently to spray your team with bullets. They can be hard to keep track of in large numbers, so be careful that those armed with shotguns don’t manage to flank you, as a few close-range hits will shred your health bar in seconds.
Tossed grenades and groups of fast-moving, dog-like Feral Wretches keep the pressure up by forcing you to change cover frequently, preventing fights from devolving into opposing sides taking pot shots at each other across the battlefield.
The steady introduction of new enemy types, from lethal snipers to giant bazooka-equipped brutes, kept the handful of encounters I experienced fresh with some interesting scenarios, like covering another squad located on the other side of the bridge, thrown in there too.
XboxXboxXboxXboxXboxIt’s classic Gears of War action, elevated by meaty gunplay.
Chipping away at enemies from a distance is relatively ineffective and awkward (unless you manage to scoop up one of the powerful Breechshot rifles from a fallen enemy sniper to pop a few heads), but the up-close action is beautifully slick. The Gnasher Shotgun remains an absolute beast, with blowing an enemy in half a wonderfully satisfying reward for pulling off the perfect flank.
Once Fenix gets his hands on a prototype chainsaw bayonet, you know that I was sawing practically anything in my path to pieces in a glorious explosion of gore and viscera.
Free roam(Image credit: Xbox)The latter portions of my hands-on had me tackling one of the game’s new ‘open district’ missions, and it’s about what you would expect from the name. You’re dropped into a large chunk of the city and granted the ability to explore it freely with a little map to guide you. It doesn’t feel like a true open world as you’re very much guided towards the next objective, though there are some optional side missions to discover and plenty of collectibles to scoop up.
The mission in my preview was a basic wave survival challenge that had me hunkered down in a car dealership with some non-player character (NPC) soldiers. It’s not the most exciting concept, and I’m hoping some of the side content available in the full game is more adventurous. I didn’t feel like my time was wasted, however, as completing it unlocked some powerful weapon mods.
Modding your guns is a new feature introduced in E-Day (presumably somewhat inspired by the similar upgrade system in strategy spinoff Gears Tactics) that lets you customize your gear by improving stats such as magazine size or fire rate. It can sometimes even change how an entire gun operates, for example, having your pistol fire in a two-bullet burst at the cost of long-range accuracy.
(Image credit: Xbox)The whole formula feels a bit retro, which is far from a bad thing. You don’t really get decent story-driven shooters these days, and the promise of a roughly 14-hour campaign alongside a suite of multiplayer modes to dive into afterwards is the kind of experience I crave as a palate cleanser between mega live-service releases.
It definitely helps that E-Day looks simply amazing from a technical perspective. Xbox has developed a bit of a reputation for delivering some visually stunning titles this generation (look at the borderline photorealistic fidelity of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2), and E-Day is shaping up to be the best-looking yet. Its art direction blends 1980s retro charm with grand Gothic architecture and a distinctly alien, unfamiliar edge, all presented with ray-traced lighting, geometrically complex models, and flawless texture work.
I found myself poring over every detail, soaking in the signs and posters advertising services, the little notices stuck to the front of shops, the names of all the train lines in a subway station; it’s a lovingly crafted world that truly feels lived in.
If I had one complaint, it’s that it all doesn’t really look much like the world of the first Gears of War. That game is admittedly set more than a decade later, on a different part of the planet, but its cars and buildings in particular seem so much more modern than those of E-Day that it just doesn’t line up in my head. Were companies still making new vehicles and updating their storefronts while hundreds of vicious creatures were pouring out of the ground?
This is nitpicking, of course, and it’s not hard to suspend your disbelief when it’s in the service of some truly beautiful design. I’m excited to see even more when Gears of War: E-Day releases for PC and Xbox Series X and Series S on October 6, 2026.
Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 has officially concluded, and the two-hour-long show was jam-packed with a deluge of game announcements and reveals.
From an official release date for the upcoming free-to-play open-world action game Ananta to our very first look at the highly anticipated The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past DLC, it offered a solid set of trailers — especially compared to some previous years.
If you weren't able to catch the show live, there's no need to worry about missing out. Here are the major announcements in the order that they happened to get you fully up to date.
Everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026- Nodus Fall — a new co-operative action game from Genshin Impact maker Hoyoverse
- Rainbow Six Tactics — new strategy spinoff launching in 2027
- Gears of War: E-Day — our first look at the villain in new cinematic story trailer
- Ananta — the free-to-play open world RPG is launching January 15, 2027
- Silent Hill Townfall got a new story trailer showing some creepy enemies
- Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy got another gameplay trailer ahead of release this week
- Sea of Remnants got a new gameplay trailer showing cute puppets and naval action
- Crimson Desert Enhanced announced with new content
- Tides of Annihilation trailer revealed new story details and gameplay
- Lofsong — announced for console and PC
- Megaman Dual Overdrive launches in 2027, and a crossover Pragmata skin is on the way
- Rayman Legends Retold launches on October 1
- PUBG Ded Net announced with a new gameplay trailer
- Control Resonant got an awesome new gameplay trailer
- The Blood of the Dawnwalker trailer revealed new story details and third-person action gameplay
- Game of Thrones: War for Westeros got a new gameplay trailer showing Daenerys and Jon Snow — launches in early 2027
- Dust Origins — a new isometric action game from Airship Syndicate
- Exodus got a new gameplay trailer showcasing a new character, a talking octopus named Salt — out April 7, 2027
- Warlock revealed as a new D&D game launching in 2027 for PC and console
- 1001 Threads of Mizan revealed — new narrative game
- Silver Palace: House of Greed got a new gameplay trailer
- Monster Hunter Outlanders — mobile spinoff got a new trailer
- Metro 2039 got a cinematic story trailer ahead of its February 2027 release
- Hitman World of Assassination - The Herbalist ft. rap legend Snoop Dogg DLC launching for free on August 27
- Aion 2 got a new trailer
- Afterworld, a new strategy game from Paradox Interactive, announced
- Petit Planet — life sim got an adorable new trailer
- Mewgenics — comes to consoles on September 8
- Alien Fireteam 2 got a new gameplay trailer
- 1666: Amsterdam got a new trailer ahead of its early access release today
- Showa American Story got a wacky new gameplay trailer, launching on PS5 and PC this year
- Road Kings got a new trailer showing off plenty of trucking action
- Stage Tour — upcoming Guitar-Hero-like music title got a brand new look showcasing setlists and ways to play ahead of December 10 launch
- Crazy Taxi multiplayer reveal trailer
- Turok Origins got a new cinematic trailer
- Gravehounds, furry shooter, got a gameplay trailer ahead of 2026 launch
- Lego Skylines — reveal trailer for bricky city builder game
- Transport Fever 3 got a new trailer, launches September 26
- Exterminauts announced
- Path of Exile full 1.0 release on December 11, will be free-to-play
- Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake revealed in cinematic trailer showing the reimagined strategy title
- No Law announced for 2027
- Project Zeta revealed as a new team-based MOBA
- Cinder City announced with a new trailer, available wishlist now
- Ontos announced with a creepy first-person trailer, launching 2027
- Pony Island 2: Panda Circus launches April 27, 2027
- Zoopunk gameplay reveal trailer shown
- There are no Ghosts at the Grand got a new trailer and is launching December 2026
- Roco Kingdom trailer confirmed closed beta test for October 27
- The Defiant announced
- Tarae the Unbound announced with a gameplay trailer
- Like or Die — quirky social media battle royale announced
- Final Fantasy 7 Revelation gets a new cinematic trailer
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered — announced as free upgrade with loads of new content
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Songs of the Past new cinematic footage shown
What did you think of this year's Opening Night Live show? Let us know in the comments or by voting in the poll below.
- GTA 6 leak hunters now face fake downloads designed to compromise their computers
- The suspicious ISO reportedly disables Windows security tools after execution on affected systems
- A tiny 50KB payload allegedly sits inside a gigantic 113GB file
Keen Grand Theft Auto 6 fans searching for leaked copies now face another risk: a huge ISO file is reportedly circulating across torrent sites.
The file is said to measure 113GB, yet online testers claim almost all that space consists of empty data rather than genuine game assets.
Their analysis reportedly found a small malicious program hidden inside the file, making the download appear far more dangerous than it normally would.
The huge size made it feel genuineThe suspicious file reportedly began circulating on torrent sites after renewed interest in leaked GTA 6material and claims of a complete game build.
However, testers who examined the ISO reportedly found that it contains 99.99% empty zeroes, leaving only about 50KB of data identified as malicious code.
“I did some reverse engineering and confirmed that it is fully fake and full of viruses,” said @Aidas29506493, an online researcher on X.
The 113GB figure was created to make the file resemble a legitimate game release while concealing a much smaller payload, which could be ransomware.
Yet file size alone provides no evidence that an alleged copy contains authentic game assets or executable code from Rockstar.
The alleged code reportedly includes commands designed to weaken Windows Defender and interfere with other security tools on affected computers.
Such behaviour would allow the malware to operate with fewer protections after someone launches the downloaded file on Windows.
The analysis also reportedly found a PowerShell command that adds the system drive to Windows Defender's exclusion list for scanning.
Another command was said to terminate security software, although independent verification of those findings remains limited at this time.
Malware risk rises alongside GTA 6 leak interestThe alleged ISO follows a series of GTA 6 leak claims that have generated substantial interest across gaming communities online.
A leaker known as Cyberleek has reportedly shared gameplay material and the game's fictional Leonidas map, while demanding changes from Rockstar.
Take-Two Interactive has also sought information from Microsoft that could help identify users connected with three Discord servers reportedly linked to leaks.
Those developments have increased attention around unofficial GTA 6 files, creating conditions that criminals can exploit with convincing fake downloads.
This situation also shows why unreleased game files can carry greater security risks than ordinary pirated software already available publicly.
Gamers downloading such files may expose passwords, personal files, browser data, or other information if malicious code gains access without warning.
Rockstar has scheduled the official release of Grand Theft Auto 6 for November 2026, giving players a legitimate alternative to unofficial copies elsewhere.
Until then, claims surrounding leaked builds and supposed ISOs should be treated cautiously because the files cannot be independently verified as genuine.
This case provides a strong warning, but further independent testing would be needed to establish every technical claim about the file itself.
Via Toms Hardware
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered has been announced
- The free upgrade arrives on September 29 for all platforms
- This remastered version features up to 40 new visual and gameplay improvements
CD Projekt Red has announced The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, a free upgrade featuring all-new improvements and revamped gameplay features for its blockbuster RPG game.
Revealed during Opening Night Live at Gamescom 2026, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered will arrive next month on September 29 for all available platforms and is free for current owners of the game. On top of that, players who own only the base game can claim the two included expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, at no extra cost.
The news came as a shock to fans, and the gameplay trailer is filled with too many brand-new features to count; even from the footage, you can tell there are some big visual and technical differences, and I can't wait to start another playthrough.
To make everything easier, I've put together a list below of every single new improvement mentioned in the trailer, whether it's upgraded visuals, a revamped combat system, new monster behaviour, or PlayStation 5 Pro support. Seriously, there's a lot!
What's included in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered?- Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions (at no extra cost if you don't own them)
- Upgraded visuals
- Enhanced combat
- Improved traversal and movement
- New witcher Signs FX
- Revamped mount handling
- Enhanced monster behaviours
- A skill tree revamp
- Transmogrification
- Expanded photo mode
- New finishers
- Cross-platform mod support
- Immersive meditation
- Refined animations
- New quest tracking
- UI improvements
- Looting rework
- Refreshed motion blur
- New accessibility features
- Updated textures
- Foliage shading rework
- Tutorial modernization
- HDR improvements
- GTAO
- Improved menu navigation
- Global lighting rework
- New shading model
- Subsurface scattering
- New tone mapper
- PlayStation 5 Pro support
- Xbox Play Anywhere support
- Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive features
- Nvdia DLSS 4.5
- AMD FSR 4
- Intel XESS 2.0
- Path tracing on PC
- Ray reconstruction on PC
- Raytraced hair
- Native DX12
- Rendering parallelization
The announcement also came right before CDPR showcased the game's third and final major expansion, Songs of the Past, which is due to launch in 2027.
Elsewhere, fans can also look forward to The Witcher 4, which CDPR has confirmed is targeting a 2028 release window.
Every time that a new Garmin smartwatch appears we know that our list of the best Garmin watches on the market is likely to be disrupted, and from what we've seen so far that certainly seems to be the case with the brand new Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro.
These wearables take over from the Fenix 8 and the Fenix 8 Pro at the very top of Garmin's product range, but are they the right buy for you? How much do they offer above and beyond the older models, and how do they compare to what's already available?
If you're weighing up a potential Fenix 9-themed upgrade, here's what you need to know in terms of what's new and what you get for your money.
All the modelsIf you're interested in a new Garmin Fenix 9, there's no shortage of models to pick from: there's the standard Fenix 9 in three sizes, the Fenix 9 Pro in three sizes, and the Fenix 9 Pro with InReach in three sizes.
On top of that (try and keep up at the back), there's a Fenix 9 Pro Solar model in two sizes, and a Fenix 9 Pro Solar with InReach model in two sizes.
Our comprehensive pricing table might make everything a little easier to digest.
Garmin Fenix model
43mm
47mm
51mm
Garmin Fenix 9
$999.99 / £859.99 / AU$1,599
$999.99 / £859.99 / AU$1,599
$1,099.99 / £949.99 / AU$1,749
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro
$1,099.99 / £949.99 / AU$1,749
$1,099.99 / £949.99 / AU$1,749
$1,199.99 / £1,029.99 / AU$1,899
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro Solar
N/A
$1,099.99 / £949.99 / AU$1,749
$1,199.99 / £1,029.99 / AU$1,899
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro with InReach
$1,199.99 / £1,029.99 / AU$1,899
$1,299.99 / £1,199.99 / AU$2,049
$1,399.99 / £1,209.99 / AU$2199
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro Solar with InReach
N/A
$1,199.99 / £1,029.99 / AU$1,899
$1,299.99 / £1,199.99 / AU$2,049
You can also check out the key specs of the Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro models below: we've compared the two 43mm OLED versions to make it a little easier to understand.
Component
Garmin Fenix 9 (43mm AMOLED)
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro (43mm AMOLED)
Price
From $999.99 / £859.99 / AUTBC
From $1,099.99 / £949.99 / AUTBC
Dimensions
43 x 43 x 13.8 mm
43 x 43 x 13.3 mm
Weight
61g
62g
Case/bezel
Titanium, fibre-reinforced polymer
Titanium
Display
416 x 416 px, AMOLED
416 x 416 px, AMOLED
GPS
Multi-band, GPS + Beidou + Glonass + Galileo + QZSS + SatIQ
Multi-band, GPS + Beidou + Glonass + Galileo + QZSS + SatIQ
Battery life
10 days (49 hours activity mode)
10 days (up to 50 hours activity mode)
Connection
Bluetooth, ANT, Wi-Fi
Bluetooth, ANT, Wi-Fi
Water resistant?
Yes, 10ATM
Yes, 10ATM
Memory
64GB (7,000 songs)
64GB (7,000 songs)
(Image credit: Garmin)Mapping upgradesThe on-board map is of course core to a lot of outdoor activities with the Fenix 9 series, and there are some useful-looking tweaks coming here. They include a new perspective view, which lets you see what's coming up more easily, at various different zoom levels, and there's more storage across the board with more map content already preloaded.
There's extra RAM inside these watches compared to their predecessors too, which Garmin says will make getting around the map on your wrist more fluid and responsive — panning is apparently now 30% faster, for example. Those are genuine improvements that should be noticeable if you're making the jump up from an older Garmin Fenix smartwatch.
New activity features(Image credit: Garmin / Future)There are some new activity features to talk about. The Fenix 9 watches offer stamina zones and stamina curves, to check how your endurance levels change over time, in relation to your training and fitness. The rucking features have been expanded meanwhile, to support pack changes during activities, and to enable more specific target metrics.
There's good news for regular indoor rowers. The new wearables are able to read data off selected machines directly, covering power curves and power zones, while the watches are able to calculate VO2 Max and certain other metrics from rowing sessions — which wasn't the case before. It means more detailed fitness insights from your rowing sessions.
Improvements to LiveTrack and location tracking(Image credit: Future)We're already big fans of the Garmin LiveTrack feature, which lets you share your real-time location, route, and associated stats with other people, and it's getting better on the LTE version of the Fenix 9 Pro. Sharing can now be done inside Garmin Messenger from your wrist, with some preset messages available, and improved notifications.
There's also a brand new feature called Garmin Locate, which again works through Garmin Messenger from the other end: Here a contact requests your location, as a one-time share, if they need to know where you are. It's all a bit more elegant and social, but it does mean you're getting gently pushed more towards Garmin's own messaging platform.
(Image credit: Garmin)Garmin EpicAn 'Epic' is a new idea from Garmin, arriving with the Fenix 9 series. Essentially, it lets you selected group activities and workouts together, almost like a folder in a filing cabinet: the examples Garmin gives are backpacking trips, cycling stage races, and strength plans. Data from individual sessions can be collected in an Epic, and viewed and analyzed together.
At first glance, it looks like an interesting expansion of what you can do with your Garmin, and you can create these Epics from past activities too — potentially letting you unlock new insights from records going back years. Notes and photos can be added along the way as well, together with health data collected between the main activities of each Epic.
- The first trailer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past has been revealed at Gamescom
- The trailer showcases Geralt, a new region, monsters, and a weapon
- CD Projekt Red level design lead Miles Tost confirms, "This is Geralt's last adventure before we pass the torch on to Ciri" in The Witcher 4
CD Projekt Red has unveiled the first look at The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's third and final expansion, Songs of the Past, and it looks incredible.
Songs of the Past, which is being co-developed with Fool’s Theory, a studio whose leadership is made up of The Witcher 3 veterans, was revealed during Opening Night Live at Gamescom. While we still don't have a specific release date, the expansion's first trailer gave us a taste of what to look forward to.
We see Geralt of Rivia returning for a brand-new journey as he explores a new region, Letten, takes on creepy monsters, and wields a new chain weapon that can grapple enemies, first showcased in the first Witcher game.
CDPR Level design lead Miles Tost took to the stage during Opening Night Live at Gamescom to share a few more details about the game, including what players can expect.
"We had this idea for one more story with Geralt for a while, but we couldn't quite figure out how to fit it into our busy schedule," Tost said. "Luckily, our friends from Fool's Theory and they hired a bunch of old veteran Witcher three developers, including my mentor, Peter Jennings, and here we are today."
He continued, saying, "This is Geralt's last adventure before we pass the torch on to Ciri, and we wanted to go out with a bang. So this chain is a weapon that is new in the game, but many people, perhaps hardcore Witcher fans, will realize that this is a weapon we first showed in The Witcher 1 intro, and we will talk about that in many more things here at Gamescom."
On Letten, Tost called it "a whole new, unique region that has a unique identity," filled with quests, new monsters, adventures, and exploration.
"Just like the things that Witcher fans love," he said. "But it's an almost uncannily idyllic place that, however, has a dark secret lurking just underneath the surface. And as it is a Witcher game, this kind of secret requires a true professional witcher to solve."
Alongside the expansion trailer, the studio also announced The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, a free upgrade featuring all-new improvements and revamped gameplay features, arriving on September 29 for all platforms.
The developer also confirmed that all those features will be in Songs of the Past as well.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past is slated to launch in 2027, followed by The Witcher 4, which CDPR has confirmed is targeting a 2028 release window.
- The Future Games Show will return with three digital showcases at Gamescom 2026
- It will air on August 26, offering a look at over 40 games
- FGS Live From Gamescom will immediately follow, and the FGS Best Of Gamescom will return on August 30
Opening Night Live has officially wrapped, but there's plenty more to come from Gamescom 2026, as the Future Games Show will return with three digital showcases — here's how you can watch.
Future Games Show at Gamescom is the first of the three broadcasts and will air the same day the industry event kicks off, on August 26 at 10AM PDT / 1PM EDT / 6PM BST / 7PM CEST / 1AM CST.
You can tune in to the digital showcase at Twitch, YouTube, X, TikTok, Facebook, and GamesRadar+.
Hosted by Resident Evil Requiem stars Nick Apostolides and Angela Sant’Albano, fans can expect a guide through more than 40 games, including 13 world premieres, exclusive reveals, and developer deep dives "from some of the industry’s most exciting and creative studios."
Some of those include a behind-the-scenes look at Tides of Annihilation from Eclipse Glow Games, a closer look at samurai swordplay action game Onimusha: Way of the Sword, a new trailer for Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault from Digital Sun Games, and a trailer for Trees Hate You, a comedy adventure, and many more.
FGS Live From Gamescom will immediately follow the main showcase on August 26, hosted by FGS channel presenters Nathan and Jules, and feature more world premieres, trailers, news, and interviews from the Gamescom Koelnmesse convention centre.
This includes Apart, a new third-person adventure horror game from Turnkey Games; Nivalis Nights, a slice-of-life sim set in a cyberpunk city; a cozy coop horror game called Haunted Paws; We Are So Cooked, a 1-4 player co-op physics-stealth game; and the sequel to retro first-person shooter (FPS) Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun.
Finally, FGS Best Of Gamescom will return on August 30 at 10AM PDT / 1PM EDT / 6PM BST / 7PM CEST / 1AM CST, and bring viewers the "best of" the Gamescom show floor, including gameplay demos, booth tours, exclusive developer interviews, and a recap of all the week’s biggest announcements.
- IBM connects two box-shaped cryogenic modules into a single environment and cooled them below 15 millikelvin, linked by a thermally shielded tunnel carrying quantum cables between cells
- The cooling technology is established dilution refrigeration; what is new is an enclosure that offers up to twelve times more wiring area and lets modules sit side by side with shorter interconnects in tow
- IBM plans to install Nighthawk chips later this year, with a roadmap targeting 1,000 programmable qubits by 2027 and establishing fault tolerance in 2029
IBM has joined two cryogenic modules into a single environment at its Poughkeepsie facility and cooled the combined system to below 15 millikelvin, bringing it as close to absolute zero as possible.
The company said this was an important milestone on the road to IBM Quantum Starling, the fault-tolerant machine it intends to deliver in 2029.
IBM said the temperature is more than 180 times colder than deep space, and it is only part of the announcement, which furthers quantum computing considerably.
A story beyond temperatureSuperconducting qubits need to sit a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, and a dilution refrigerator gets them there. To date, IBM has housed these inside tall cylindrical cryostats, one processor per can, an approach that dictates how every IBM Quantum System One in the field currently operates.
IBM has not replaced the refrigerator but rather modified the container: its new cryogenic cells are box-shaped, built from solid aluminum panels and framing, roughly three times the size of a kitchen fridge.
Their rectangular shape has an advantage: they can stand in a tight row rather than being spaced out as cylinders must be, and openings in the side walls let quantum cables run from one cell into the next. Multiple layers of thermal shielding wrap those cables to form what IBM calls a protected cryogenic tunnel, keeping the link between processors at operating temperature rather than forcing signals out through a warm gap and back down again.
IBM's achievement is demonstrating that it can run two previously independent cooling cells as one low-temperature environment, while offering 0.53 square meters of available wiring space and 2.75 cubic meters of vacuum chamber volume per cell.
IBM says this is up to twelve times more wiring room than its most widely used systems and addresses the constraint that has been quietly throttling superconducting quantum computers: every qubit you add needs control and readout lines running down into the cold, each line carries heat, and a cylinder runs out of cross-section long before one runs out of qubits.
Not only is IBM's new approach much more scalable than its previous ones, but it's goal here is different than what one would think at first glance given that It has already hit 1,000 qubits (its Condor processor already did so physically on a single chip in December 2023); its new approach is to have programmable qubits usable for computation across linked processors, a much different task than what IBM has already demonstrated.
Its 2027 target refers to qubits you can actually address and run a calculation on, spread across several chips linked together. That is a harder thing to deliver than a raw count, and IBM's roadmap, which also aims to have a fault-tolerant machine by 2029, is a reach by any measure, but one that is promising for a company that is at the forefront of quantum computing research and has just shown a bleeding-edge cooling enclosure to further its cause.
- AI authorship is increasingly employed for web pages, Pew Research Center report claims
- Over 33% of pages published since the launch of ChatGPT reportedly show signs of AI generation
- Of the 10,000-page sample used in the study, 10% of pages had signs of AI authorship
An incredible 35% of web pages published since the launch of ChatGPT show signs of AI authorship, new research has claimed.
A study from the Pew Research Center, which used automated tools to assess a sample of 10,000 web pages, also found that in the entire sample – based on data from the Common Crawl project – almost 10% of all pages had signs of AI creation.
The “How Much of the Internet Is Written With AI?” report also found that certain types of websites are more likely to feature some AI generation, while detecting some of the key fingerprints of AI-generated text, which goes beyond em dashes.
AI is writing more and more web pagesThe report – which was compiled using a machine learning model tasked with looking for signs of AI authorship – found that 9.6% of all pages in the sample of 10,000 appeared to have been written by AI. While that may seem a small amount, the sample from Common Crawl dates back to the beginning of the World Wide Web, over 30 years ago.
In keeping with other research (such as AI on the Internet), the data indicates that “large shares of recently published pages on the internet were likely written or substantially edited by AI.”
Reassuringly, the data highlights the interesting point that the majority of the suspected AI-generated web pages published in 2026 are .com domains and, as such typically commercial. In contrast, just 1% are .edu (US-based educational facilities) and 0.8% are .gov.
Is it written by AI?Using its evaluation of 490,000 English-language web pages, the Pew Research Center also established some more useful indicators (“common features”) of AI text generation.
The em dash is regularly held up as an example of AI writing, as is the use of the Oxford comma. The em dash appears “twice as frequently” in pages published since 2023, while Oxford commas have a 63% increase. The report authors note that these aren’t solitary indicators (“Humans use these in their writing too!”)
Other “tells” offer a more reliable giveaway of AI-generated writing, as demonstrated by the report. Certain words and trends are listed by the research, including "delve," "interplay," and "testament," which have apparently “more than doubled in usage.” The report lists numerous examples of “AI-typical vocabulary.”
Meanwhile, the negative parallelism, which you might have seen as “it’s not just X, it’s Y,” has almost trebled in use.
It might be increasingly difficult to identify an AI-generated web page these days, but if it comes from a .edu or .gov domain, it is overall more likely to have been written by a human.
- The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has released a preview of select winning images for its 62nd year
- Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London
- The full set of 100 winning images will be exhibited at the Museum following the full winners’ announcement on October 16
The winners announcement of the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is one of my favorite dates in the photographic calendar. It seems like every year the winning and commended photographers outdo themselves in capturing vivid, fascinating stories from the natural world.
One thing I also love doing is poring over which cameras the winning photographers are using to capture their spectacular shots. As such, when the Museum released this set of preview images to whet our appetites ahead of the full announcement, I headed straight to the caption information — and discovered to my great interest that the two most-used cameras on the list so far are both Nikon DSLRs!
The full list of cameras used to capture the sixteen shots on the full list is a real mixed bag. As well as a selection of pro and prosumer mirrorless and DSLR cameras, there’s also a DJI Mavic drone and a Leica Q3 43 compact. However, the two cameras that featured most prominently — with two images apiece, representing a quarter of the full list — were the ten-year-old Nikon D500 and the Nikon D850!
(Image credit: © Dewald Tromp / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)The highly commended image ‘Eye of the Storm’ by Dewald Tromp from South Africa, depicting a chameleon battling its way through a sandstorm in Nigeria (above), was captured using the Nikon D850, as was American Ralph Pace’s image of a sea hare gliding through eelgrass in Monterey Bay (below).
(Image credit: © Ralph Pace / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Jack Crawford in the UK has been highly commended in the 15-17 Years bracket for his perfectly timed moment of a swift flying underneath the looming bulk of a 747 — shot on a Nikon D500 (below).
(Image credit: © Jack Crockford / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)And Canadian Shane Gross strapped his Nikon D500 into an Aquatica AD500 underwater housing to capture his highly commended, half-in half-out image of a school of bigeye trevally off the coast of the Seychelles (below).
(Image credit: © Shane Gross / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)One thing’s for sure — the DSLR isn’t dead just yet!
If you want to be able to see these images for yourself when the exhibition begins in October, you can grab tickets here.
The D850 and D500The Nikon D850 is a hugely popular full-frame DSLR. (Image credit: Future)The Nikon D850, released in 2017, is a wildlife photography legend. A full-frame DSLR with a generous 45.7MP resolution, its 153-point AF system may not be as sophisticated as the flagship mirrorless cameras that have succeeded it, but it’s still incredibly tenacious and accurate for moving subjects.
With its pitch-perfect handling and large optical viewfinder, the D850 is a joy to shoot with and has captured many spectacular wildlife images since. There’s a reason that when Nikon came to release its mirrorless wildlife specialist the Z8, the manufacturer branded it as a new D850.
The smaller, more affordable Nikon D500. (Image credit: Future)The D500, meanwhile, was released a year earlier — meaning it has just marked its ten-year anniversary! Even so, this capable APS-C shooter made a reputation for being a speedster, thanks to its 10fps burst rate that could go up to 200 RAW files, as well as its simply superb autofocus system. As such, it has been embraced over the years by many wildlife photographers without the budget for the D850 — and as this year’s WPOTY results go to show, this stunning camera still has its share of devotees.
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is worried that powerful companies are dominating the evolution of AI
- Altman has also expressed concern over AI’s potential for acting autonomously and possibly escaping human control
- The comments are believed to be a reference to his rival, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
Are too few companies wielding undue influence on the direction of AI? That seems to be the belief of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who has warned against a scenario where the people don’t have a say in how AI changes the world. Speaking to the David Senra podcast, Altman expressed a desire to see "society and the models... co-evolve."
While this may seem desirable, a byproduct of this thinking might be harder to accommodate. Altman also expanded on his view that governments should not regulate AI, expressing a view that prefers the existence of liberty over the possibility of safety.
Altman is the latest tech founder to appear on David Senra’s weekly podcast, which started in 2025 with Spotify’s Daniel Ek as the guest.
Evolving togetherAltman’s view is he sees AI evolving alongside human acceptance of the technology. “Society and the model will evolve together,” he said. “The right approach is for people to deeply control the future.”
However, he revealed that things haven’t moved quite as fast as he thought they might when OpenAI first released GPT-4. “I thought when we got to GPT-4, which was back in 2023, that very quickly after that there was going to be much more disruption.” One of Altman’s expectations back then was software businesses being more widely and directly impacted by AI.
While the inertia in the economy has reduced the impact in that regard (for the moment, at least), Altman is excited about AI’s ability to unlock small business opportunities. “We are about to see the greatest boom in people starting smaller businesses than we have ever seen… AI is empowering that.”
Liberty and open modelsAltman’s view of liberty and the need for open models puts him in direct opposition to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who, in June 2026, stated that the latest Mythos model could prove a risk to the financial sector and infrastructure and present a challenge to cybersecurity.
For Sam Altman, this is the wrong way around. “There are a lot of people who are so nervous about the magnitude of those risks and get so taken by that and feel a need to protect the world,” he said. “Like, you know, ‘We should trade off a lot of liberty for safety.’”
Interestingly, most major Chinese AI companies release open-weight (the open source of AI) models, enabling them to match Anthropic and OpenAI. While Anthropic is yet to release an open weight model, OpenAI has released two: gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b.
But will the people and small businesses derive long-term advantage from OpenAI’s liberty-based open models or stick with Anthropic’s closed, "safe" models?
- Xiaomi opens reservations at JD.com for the Xiaomi Smart Storage, its first NAS, with prices starting at CNY 2,699 for a 4 TB two-bay unit
- The box pairs the same entry-level Realtek RTD1619B chip Synology used in its 2023 DS223 models with more generous RAM and faster networking than what Synology offered, in addition to an HDMI port
- The China-only launch gets considerably cheaper per terabyte as one moves up the storage ladder and currently ships in three different trims (4TB, 8TB, and 16TB)
Xiaomi has opened reservations on JD.com for its Xiaomi Smart Storage, its first Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, ahead of general availability, running from August 27 to September 26 2026.
The reservations follow an earlier crowdfunding phase, Xiaomi's usual route to market in China for new product categories, which rewards the urgency and scarcity that often come with steep discounts on its products.
Three configurations are listed for the Smart Storage NAS, all bundled with drives out of the box: the entry model is CNY 2,699 for 4 TB, made up of two 2 TB hard disks; the middle option is CNY 3,499 for 8 TB; and the top configuration is CNY 5,499 for 16 TB.
(Image credit: Xiaomi)A small, capable NAS with a competitive price tag in towThe Xiaomi Smart Storage NAS is priced extremely competitively when you factor in US NAS drive prices. Its baseline 4TB SKU, which uses 2 x 2TB HDDs, costs ~$402, while the 8TB and 16TB trims, both using a similar dual-HDD configuration, cost $521 and $818, respectively (converted using Google's published mid-market rates).
For context, one of the cheapest 8TB NAS drives on Amazon costs about $250, and the highest-end Xiaomi offering includes two of these, suggesting you get a capable NAS without drives for about $300 at the top end of the offering.
The math is even more skewed when one considers that two 2TB NAS HDDs cost nearly as much as the entry-model NAS offering, making Xiaomi's offering essentially free, at least by US standards once you deduct the cost of storage.
The dual-bay unit is small compared to other NAS offerings, at 200.5 by 85 by 161 mm and about 2.3 kg, wrapped in an aluminum alloy frame. Its two SATA bays accept either 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives, and it runs a Realtek RTD1619B quad-core ARM processor with 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard storage, plus 2.5-gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, and USB-A.
The underlying RTD1619B isn't new: it is the same quad-core Cortex-A55 running at 1.7 GHz that Synology put in the DS223 and DS223j, its entry-level two-bay boxes, back in 2023. Anyone expecting Xiaomi's first NAS to arrive with something exotic will be disappointed.
That said, Xiaomi has been noticeably more generous with the chip than Synology was. The DS223j shipped with 1 GB of RAM and the DS223 with 2 GB, both over a single gigabit Ethernet port. Xiaomi gives users 4 GB and a 2.5-gigabit port, plus an HDMI output that neither Synology model has. This makes it a meaningfully better configuration on the same foundation, and the HDMI port makes sense since the Realtek part descends from the company's media processor line and supports media playback.
Xiaomi advertises a relatively modest maximum capacity of 60TB (2 x 30TB drives) and also sells a companion UPS accessory for 349 CNY. Xiaomi's competitors have been advertising 124 TB and 132 TB support on similar hardware. The reservation window for Chinese customers interested in grabbing it closes on August 27. Independent testing and any verdict on the software that Xiaomi integrated will have to wait until units are in reviewers' hands, however.
- Company chiefs are farming off more work to AI than their underlings, a new study suggests
- Almost 40% of C-suite leaders are relying on AI to complete tasks, despite privacy and security implications
- The survey, by Adobe Acrobat, explored the use of AI in workplaces across the UK
New research has demonstrated a an apparent disconnect between AI use and responsibilities concerning sensitive data.
Adobe Acrobat's “The Rise of AI Documents in the Workplace” report surveyed 2,000 UK adults on their use of AI in the workplace, claiming found that almost 75% of C-suite leaders are happy to share their work documents with AI tools for tasks that include marketing, translating, and data analysis. These are all documents that are likely to hold confidential information.
Conversely, just 20% of non-management employees are comfortable with this type of AI use, with a sizeable chunk (almost two-thirds) avoiding AI tools completely.
Wide AI adoptionThe report highlighted several revelations about the adoption of AI within companies in the UK. While the 74% of C-suite leaders using AI might be a surprise, it’s just the first of several stats from the report that paint a picture of widespread AI adoption in among company chiefs.
Within that group, 37% use AI to save between 3 and 5 hours of work each week, and 35% use the technology to perform analytical tasks (which might include data).
Yet the figures concerning employees outside of the C-suite paint a different picture. Here, 59% don’t use AI tools at all. This figure is not unusual throughout the report, which illustrates that in most cases, AI use among those with “non management responsibility” is considerably lower – often more than 50% less.
Could this be due to a general reluctance to use AI, or perhaps something more specific, such as feeling AI use is banned, or its use might highlight weaknesses within a team?
Secure-suite?The results also highlight concerns over AI use and training, with 19% of respondents highlighting a “lack of training or clear guidance.” This is something that probably needs addressing, not least from a security and privacy angle.
For IT departments and anyone tasked with information management and data security, the report’s findings make for difficult reading. The obvious conclusion to draw is that company chiefs are dropping sensitive information into AI chatbots, potentially saving time – but also risking other issues.
Adobe Acrobat’s survey found 22% of organizations adopting AI tools had data security and privacy as their biggest concerns and challenges. Similarly, 20% were concerned about accuracy and errors generated in AI outputs.
- Plug-in solar kits become legal in the UK from August 27
- These lower-cost solar panels are ideal for renters and flat owners
- We want to hear from you in our poll below — will you be buying one?
Plug-in solar kits become legal in the UK from August 27, which makes that date a pretty significant one in the UK's energy history.
That's because these kits are, in theory, a much more affordable and user-friendly way to bring the bill-cutting benefits of solar power to your home. The UK government estimates that plug-in panels could save households up to £70-£110 a year on their energy bills.
For renters and flat owners with little roof space, they represent a long-awaited new alternative to pricey rooftop installations. Instead, as their name suggests, you can theoretically plug them directly into your mains electricity, and place them outdoors in places like balcony railings, fences, garden sheds or patios.
However, despite their promised savings, early plug-in solar kits aren't exactly cheap. Early options that have gained regulatory approval, such as the UKSOL Plug-In Solar Pro Compact 460W Ground Mount Kit, will start at £699 from retailers, and it isn't yet clear when we'll be able to buy them directly from the likes of Lidl, Amazon and Currys.
(Image credit: Getty Images / imageBROKER / Robert Poorten)Other potential drawbacks include limitations on where you can actually install plug-in solar (in some cases, you may need planning permission) and the fact that you can't currently connect your panels to a battery, without professional help. For many, plug-in batteries are the real game-changer, and some will be waiting for those to become legal before diving into plug-in solar.
But now we want to hear from you — are you planning to buy a plug-in solar kit when they become legal on August 27? Vote in our poll below and let us know your thoughts in the comments too.
- Executive producer Jon Bloch reveals Metro 2039's audio system has been rebuilt and "reimagined"
- Bloch says the new system supports the game's "dense atmosphere"
- 4A Games' newest game engine also offers a sense of realism in both visuals and audio
4A Games has confirmed that Metro 2039's audio system has been rebuilt to offer a deeper sense of immersion.
In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, where creative director Andriy Shevchenko and executive producer Jon Bloch discussed Metro 3039 at length, the pair revealed that the newest version of the studio's engine has allowed the team to take things to the next level, whether that's improving the visual density of the game, having full ray-tracing, or an overhauled audio system.
When asked how the audio design is key to bringing the game's post-apocalyptic world to life, Bloch called it "hugely important," and said the audio team will come in after the level designers have completed their work to add in all the effects players will hear.
"They need to see what elements are in there," Bloch explained. "If there's water that needs to be dripping or, you know, if there's a machine in the corner, like that kind of stuff, like they have to wait for level artists to do their thing first.
"But it's hugely important, and it's one of the reasons why we spend so much time and energy overhauling the audio system; the entire audio system has been rebuilt."
Bloch continued, explaining that the audio system hasn't necessarily been built from the ground up, but built upon and "reimagined in a way to really support thick, dense atmosphere" on top of the refined visuals.
"The audio system is more dense," the developer said. "There's a lot more going on. There are a lot more things you can hear. There's a lot more variety when it comes to, you know, even simple things like footsteps on different materials on the ground. Every bush makes a sound when you touch it.
"The dynamics of how the player moves and what you hear in his equipment and his suit, like things that might normally be forgotten as a really important thing in some games, like the level of detail, the granularity that the audio department can get to is more than we've ever been able to do in Metro games, certainly."
Metro 2039 launches in February 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
- Metro 2039 creative director Andriy Shevchenko discusses how the Russia-Ukraine war has impacted the game
- The developer says, "We are not afraid to call evil evil"
- He adds that there are "no gray zones" in the story
Metro 2039 creative director Andriy Shevchenko has shared how the events of the Russia-Ukraine war have manifested in the upcoming first-person shooter.
The next installment in the Metro series was revealed earlier this year and is expected to deliver another dark survival story set in the heart of the Moscow metro, where the last survivors of the nuclear apocalypse struggle to exist.
At the time, Bloch explained that the team at Ukrainian studio 4A Games had everything planned for the next chapter, until it all changed in 2020, and "more significantly in 2022" with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
As a result, the studio "changed the story to be even more about choices, actions, consequences, and what you have to pay to have a future."
"Now war is our reality, and our message has shifted to be about the circumstance, the cost of silence, the horrors of tyranny, and the price of freedom," Shevchenko said.
Now, in a new interview with TechRadar Gaming alongside executive producer Jon Bloch, the developers explained how the real-life impact of the ongoing war has influenced the game's messaging and the story's moral core.
"We are not afraid to call evil evil," Shevchenko said. "If you see evil, we now have a protagonist [The Stranger] who can talk, who can share his own thoughts. He will call this character, this situation, this story element evil. It is bad. And there are no gray zones."
While neither could delve into the details, the creative director said the game will feature enemies, and the antagonist, Führer Hunter, has enemies as well, and "the enemies must be destroyed from both sides."
"But who is your enemy?" he teased.
Metro 2039 is slated to launch in February 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
- Metro 2039 creative director Andriy Shevchenko says the new game engine allows for "billions" of objects
- Executive producer Jon Bloch reveals it enables 4A Games to create a realistic and dense world
- Bloch says the team is working to optimize the game for lower-spec, as well as high-spec, systems
Metro 2039 creative director Andriy Shevchenko has revealed that 4A Games' latest game engine allows for "billions" of assets to create a dense, realistic world.
In a new interview with TechRadar Gaming, Shevchenko, alongside executive producer Jon Bloch, discussed how the new engine enabled the team to overhaul the game's audio system, enhance ray-tracing, and improve visual immersion by increasing the density of objects and characters.
"We're able to push so much more into the world to make it that much more realistic, that much more alive feeling, that much more tactile," Bloch said, adding that these improvements also come with challenges of balancing these features and ensuring the game is "performant."
"I would say probably the most striking on the surface thing is going to be the density of what you see in the picture of all the objects," he said.
Shevchenko added that during the development of Metro Exodus, the game engine could support up to 30 million objects, but it supports "billions of objects" for Metro 2039.
"It's all to give freedom for level art, level design, all [the] people working on this level, [to] do whatever you want," the creative director said. "We have almost endless limits. And we are reaching these limits every time."
As Bloch said, these impressive technical leaps also come with challenges, with Shevchenko explaining that there's some "black magic of balancing" and "getting rid of something really unnecessary and focusing on really cool things. But it's a really user-friendly engine," with "limits only in your head."
Metro 2039 will be multiplatform, launching on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, and Bloch explained that it's one of the team's priorities to make sure the game is optimized across all platforms.
"We don't develop on PC and then port later to consoles," he said. "We're developing constantly across everything that we're going to support. So from day one, we're running on console, and so we're keeping all that in mind.
"We're optimising to the low end, to the lowest spec, and then also trying to push things as far as we can with the other platforms that allow us to push, particularly obviously with PC when new kinds of video cards come out; we're like, 'Oh, what can we do with this now?' While still making sure that the lower-spec hardware can still handle things."
Metro 2039 arrives in February 2027.