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The analog resurgence has been one of the biggest tech trends of 2026 after making a slow comeback last year.

Whether you’ve made the switch from a smartwatch to a Casio or you’re taking a trip down memory lane with your old iPod, more users are reverting to analog devices to escape brain-rotting algorithms and indulge in nostalgia. The same goes for the best compact cameras — and Lola is one of the next emerging brands to embrace this simplicity.

In October 2024, Lola launched its flagship $109/ £79/ AU$159 camera, a compact device that leans into early Y2K digital photography but with smartphone connectivity features. The camera was a response to the rising lo-fi tech craze, gaining exponential traction among Gen-Z users, and I grew increasingly curious.

Retro tech has become quite a prominent theme in my life at the moment. Recently I ditched Spotify and spent some time with the Miko cassette player by Gadhouse, but coming across the Lola camera online unlocked memories of my childhood I’d completely forgotten about.

I haven’t used a digital camera for the best part of 15 years, so it was time for a reunion.

For the past few weeks, the Lola camera has lived inside my everyday bag, and I used it at every opportunity I could — but I will never forget how I felt when I first took it out of the box.

First of all, the camera is absolutely tiny with dimensions of 3.75" x 0.75" x 2.25" and a weight of 0.5lbs (approximately 225 grams). I can’t remember if that’s always been the standard size for a digital camera, but I felt like a giant holding it in my hands. That said, it’s a handy pocket-sized device with a simple design to go with it.

Just like your average point-and-shoot camera, Lola has a built-in flash, supports SD cards, and packs an array of 19 fun effects, as well as 9 scene modes including Party, Beach, Night, & Portrait. One of the biggest differences is its USB-C charging port, which also comes in handy for transferring images to your smartphone.

Lola has numerous editions of its digital camera, including a cute Betty Boop-themed version and one in a clear shell finish that lets you see the inner workings of the camera. I quite like the stripped-back standard silver version because it’s minimal, but can still turn heads.

Then it was time to put the pedal to the metal.

Overall, Lola is a camera that’s bound to satisfy casual users who want to revert to a compact smartphone alternative for snapping images and creating memories. It’s great for taking photos to fill up a scrapbook or for your next Instagram photo dump, but it’s not one for established photographers who want crisp results. If anything, it’s for those who want to embrace imperfection.

Going into it, I knew that it wasn’t going to give picture-perfect results like professional cameras, but I developed a quick admiration for it as a beginner-friendly device. While its 8MP resolution is low by modern standards, it’s more than enough in this case, producing clear-looking images with a soft lo-fi finish that looks more authentic than a retro smartphone app filter — particularly for outdoor shots.

I found taking photos outside much easier than taking photos indoors, and for the most part, the camera adapts very well to natural environments. In some cases, however, it can be quite sensitive to sunlight, resulting in harsh, overexposed spills in the images.

This can be fixed with a few minor tweaks in the settings, and they don’t require a lot of photography knowledge. All I did was bring the exposure down to -1, increase the ISO to 100, and enable the Daylight preset in the White Balance setting. You can see the difference it made in the images below.

While these amendments made a big difference, it does mean that some parts of your image will appear darker than others in order to balance out the harshness of the light. In the second image, you can see the footpath and trees are slightly darker, but the grass patch in the background isn’t as overexposed, so for me it’s not too much of a setback.

But another feature that caught my eye was Lola’s surprising x20 digital zoom, which goes further than you think. Of course, the further you zoom in, the more crunchy your image will turn out, but zooming roughly halfway to two-thirds in is great for spotlighting the finer details of architecture and infrastructure, or for framing subjects in an entirely different way.

Lola takes everything you loved about your 2006 digital camera and puts it back into a refreshed device, but this is the 2020s, and the company is fully aware of your social media-posting intentions. This is where the SD card adapter comes in handy.

One of the biggest pain points I found with digital cameras 15 years ago was the importing process, which usually required a laptop or computer to transfer your images, since smartphones weren't as advanced as they are now. Admittedly, I was probably just too lazy to do this.

With the Lola camera, all you have to do is insert the SD card into the adapter, which goes into your phone’s charging port. You can then select the images you want to import right from your camera roll, and they’re imported in seconds, making it a lot easier to share them with your friends. For me, this was the icing on the cake.

There’s a handful of elements with the Lola camera that could do with some improvement (mainly its sensitivity), but for a $100 digital camera I think it has solid value for casual users. But beyond that, reverting to a digital camera removed the obsession with the finer details, evoking a deeper appreciation for being in the moment.

Sure, you can add effects and filters on the camera, but you can’t fine-tune individual settings such as saturation, contrast, shadows, and highlights on the device itself. That way, you have no choice but to embrace the realness and humanity of capturing what's before you.

I recently attended a bridal fitting for one of my closest friends, and instead of using my phone, I captured everything with Lola (I haven’t shared the images for obvious reasons). Though these photos have since been imported to my iPhone gallery, they stand out differently because I know how they were taken, and I look back at them filled with the same feelings of excitement from that day.

Simple, effective, and raw at its core, I’m going forward with a new attitude to memory-making. For some reason, somehow you remember the joy of each moment more vividly.

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, July 27 (game #1142).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CAPTAIN
• CLARKS
• OTTOMAN
• EMPIRE
• ANNAPOLIS
• BOBSLED
• CAMPER
• DIRECT
• EVEREST
• FUJI
• GALA
• HEAD
• CONVERSE
• LEAD
• HONEYCRISP
• CROCS

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Take charge
• GREEN: Varieties of a type of fruit
• BLUE: Footwear
• PURPLE: The same backward and forward

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: COMMAND
• GREEN: HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES
• BLUE: SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C"
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

The answers to today's Connections, game #1143, are…

• YELLOW: COMMAND: CAPTAIN, DIRECT, HEAD, LEAD
• GREEN: HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES: EMPIRE, FUJI, GALA, HONEYCRISP
• BLUE: SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C": CAMPER, CLARKS, CONVERSE, CROCS
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES: ANNAPOLIS, BOBSLED, EVEREST, OTTOMAN

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

I knew that HONEYCRISP and GALA were apple varieties, but I struggled to find the other pair and made a mistake picking CAPTAIN instead of FUJI.

In my defence these are unavailable in the UK, where I am based, where we are all about the Granny Smith and the Golden Delicious. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES? Very much, actually.

After munching my way through this troublesome quartet the remaining three groups came together relatively easy, with the SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C" appearing ahead of COMMAND — both of which remind me of the Clarks Commandos shoes I coveted as a small child, largely because they came with a compass in the sole; very useful for a six-year-old.

• YELLOW: GYMNASTICS APPARATUS: BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT
• GREEN: LONG TAPERED THINGS: CARROT, ICICLE, KNITTING NEEDLE, STALACTITE
• BLUE: KINDS OF SHIFTS: DOPPLER, GRAVEYARD, PARADIGM, STICK
• PURPLE: ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE: BELL, CART, HEART, MAGNIFYING GLASS

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

• Off-planet mobility company Lunar Outpost with use the Nvidia Jetson platform and Nvidia CUDA-X libraries for future lunar missions
• Nvidia Jetson modules will manage the command and control of the Lunar Voyage 2 rover's LiDAR system, set for launch later in 2026
• This follows Lunar Outpost’s successful bid to design and deliver the Pegasus Lunar Terrain Vehicle for NASA

Nvidia is collaborating with space economy infrastructure company Lunar Outpost to deliver edge AI for future missions to the Moon and beyond. Powering the first generation of AI space computing, Nvidia’s Jetson platform and Nvidia CUDA-X libraries are expected to underpin the Lunar Outpost’s growing mission manifest.

Everything from processing to mapping and communications will be handled by Nvidia’s edge AI provision, which is seen as the solution to Lunar Outpost’s contributions to the NASA Artemis program of modern space exploration.

Later in 2026, the Reiner Gamma exploration – the “lunar swirl” geographical feature on the Moon’s surface – will launch, with the Lunar Voyage 2 expected to be the first Lunar Outpost hardware to be deployed with Nvidia Jetson tech.

Lunar Outpost is no stranger to space exploration, having assisted NASA and MIT on the MOXIE project, generating oxygen on the surface of Mars on a project running 2021 to 2023. Its collaboration continues with the Reiner Gamma exploration, working with General Motors and Goodyear on its lunar rover.

“Lunar missions require intelligent systems that can process data and make decisions in real time," noted Chen Su, Head of edge AI product marketing at NVIDIA.

"Lunar Outpost is using NVIDIA Jetson and CUDA-X libraries to give its rovers the onboard AI computing needed for terrain mapping, autonomous navigation, mission data processing and scientific discovery.”

Set for dispatch to the lunar surface at some point in the second half of 2026 via SpaceX Falcon 9, Lunar Outpost’s Lunar Voyage 2 will be overseen from Earth, while the Nvidia AI technology handles advanced autonomy and communications, as well as lunar mapping and onboard data processing.

Justin Cyrus, Founder and CEO of Lunar Outpost, said “NVIDIA has set the standard for advanced AI computing, and we're proud to work alongside them as we bring increasingly intelligent capabilities to the lunar surface and build towards a Moon Base.”

Partnering with Nvidia for edge AI support appears to be the first stage of some pioneering missions. The future of Lunar Outpost’s off-world activities includes Lunar Voyage 3 and Lunar Voyage 5 missions, where the first human-robot exploration of another world is planned. For this, the Nvidia Space-1 Vera Rubin Module will be deployed, managing real-time data, mapping, and real-time video streaming from the Moon to Lunar Outpost’s mission control.

Lunar Outpost is contracted to a further nine lunar and cislunar (the area between the Earth and Moon) missions before 2030, with Nvidia Jetson and the CUDA-X libraries expected to play a part in all 10.

• Ukraine's State Border Guard Service says its Phoenix unit destroyed a Russian Buk-M3 launcher with a single low-cost drone
• The strike is one of many rather than a first, with Ukraine claiming dozens of Buk systems of this type have been damaged or destroyed
• Drones are increasingly being used to take out high-value military targets for a fraction of the cost

Ukraine's decision to use drones as part of its key asymmetrical war doctrine against Russia continues to deliver dividends for the country on multiple fronts, with its recent success on the battlefield centering around a Russian Buk-M3 launcher that, based on independent estimates, costs between $40 and $50 million.

This is not the first, and probably not the last, Russian Buk-M3 launcher that Ukraine has targeted of late, with Oryx, an open-source intelligence blog, putting the number at over 40 confirmed Buk kills since the conflict began.

Despite being relatively routine, Buk-M3 systems are relatively expensive to replace, and Ukraine claims to have done so with an FPV drone that cost them "only several thousand dollars."

Ukraine and Russia's turn toward drones has produced one rather obvious casualty: expensive military equipment costing millions of dollars to build, and the Buk-M3 launcher is no exception.

The Buk-M3, also known as Viking in its export form and designated SA-27 by NATO, is Russia's newest medium-range surface-to-air missile system. It was adopted into Russian service in 2016 as the successor to the Buk-M2, and occupies the medium tier of Russia's layered air defense, sitting above short-range systems such as Pantsir and Tor and below the long-range S-300 and S-400.

The M3 fires the 9M317M, a single-stage solid-fuel missile with a more powerful dual-mode motor than the M2's round. That gives it roughly 70 km of range, a ceiling around 35 km, and a top speed near 1,550 m/s. The launcher carries six missiles, compared to four on the M1 and M2, and upgraded electronics are credited with reducing the time to bring the system to readiness.

That makes it a valuable target for Ukrainian drone operators, and an ironic one, since the Buk-M3 is built partly to shoot down aerial threats. Its minimum effective engagement range is roughly 2.5 km, however, so a small drone that closes inside that distance is beneath the floor of what the system's own missiles can engage.

Ukraine has developed a range of methods for reaching Russian airfields, armor, and artillery positions, among them Operation Spiderweb, which Ukraine's security service assessed as having destroyed some $7 billion in Russian military hardware, including aircraft no longer in production.

The Ukrainian Border Guard says this system was struck in transit, moving toward the front and unconcealed. That detail matters more than it appears. Air defense vehicles are at their most vulnerable during relocation, since they cannot engage effectively on the move and their protective screen is degraded, making the transit window a predictable target rather than a lucky one.

The aim behind Ukraine's systematic degradation of Russian medium-range air defense is to open corridors through radar coverage for long-range strike drones and manned aviation, which is why the tempo has increased and why strikes now reach deep into Russian territory.

A Buk-M3 lost to an FPV drone is the kind of incident that illustrates the wider problem Russia faces against a maturing Ukrainian drone industry, in a war that has settled into attrition across multiple fronts.