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ICYMI: the week’s 7 biggest tech stories from Xbox Game Pass’ price hike to foldable iPhone teasers

by admin October 4, 2025

This week has rounded off September, or Tech-tember as we call it, with the last few events of the month, from Amazon to Google’s big hardware and software reveals.

We also watched the internet implode as Xbox Game Pass got a major price hike, leading many to question if the subscription is still a good deal for them.

To catch up on all of this and more, scroll down for our recap of the week’s seven biggest tech news stories.

1. Samsung teased the foldable iPhone

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

For ICYMI, we don’t normally include reports based on leaks and speculation, as while they can be right on the money, they can also be way off the mark – even from often reliable sources. We’re making an exception here as Samsung Display’s president Lee Cheong has said that the company is preparing to mass produce foldable phone panels for a North American client, and only one company comes to mind as this mysterious buyer: Apple.

That’s because the long-awaited foldable iPhone is rumored to be launching next year, and Samsung Display has long been making its other iPhone screens.

We’ve heard numerous rumors about what the foldable iPhone might look like, but expect something thin – it might even be thinner than the 5.6mm iPhone Air when unfolded. Pricing-wise, the most recent leaked price we’ve heard is $1,999 (around £1,500 / AU$3,050).

(Image credit: Meta)

The much-hyped Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are finally available to the public in the US, and you can even book a demo to give them a whirl.

This wearable is essentially Meta’s existing Ray-Ban smart glasses with a screen attached, offering additional functionality such as on-screen navigation, notification pop-ups, and even support for video calls.

But with pairs starting at $799, you probably want to try them before you buy them. That’s why, using Meta’s official scheduler page, you can find a retailer near you offering 25-minute demos. Just be prepared to wait a while, as demos are already booked up for months – although as more stores offer the specs and roll them out to more regions, it should become easier to book a demo slot.

3. We judged an AI ‘actress’

(Image credit: Xicoia)

Tilly Norwood is an AI ‘actress’ from “the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) talent studio,” Xicoia, and she burst onto the scene via social media to look for agent representation.

5. Amazon announced new hardware

(Image credit: Amazon)

On Tuesday, Amazon held a huge hardware event in New York, and we were right there in the audience, bringing you the full lowdown on every device as it was announced.

Some of the highlights included the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, which feels just like writing on paper, integrates with OneDrive and Google Docs, new Echo smart speakers and smart displays, three new Fire TVs, and updated Ring cameras and doorbells.

Everything is infused with AI courtesy of Alexa+, and we were able to get our hands (and ears) on everything to bring you our first impressions as soon as the presentations were over.

6. Google Home got an AI update

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

Google’s smart home tech is finally set to get the much-anticipated Gemini update, which will bring more conversational interactions, improved assistance for setting up your automations, and better object detection for your smart cameras.

Unfortunately, for the best features, you’ll need to start paying for a Google Home Premium subscription – yours for $10 a month or $100 a year (the Standard tier), or $20 a month or $200 a year (the Advanced tier).

The good news is you won’t need to upgrade to the new Google Home Speaker (though you can if you want), as the update will be supported by all of Google’s home tech launched in the last decade.

7. Xbox Game Pass got a price hike

(Image credit: Xbox)

Microsoft set the internet on fire by announcing big changes coming to Xbox Game Pass. That is that a top-tier Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription now costs $29.99 / £22.99 / AU$35.95.

This means that a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – at $359.88 – costs only a little less than an Xbox Series S – with its recently increased $379.99 price.

Now, Ultimate does come with some useful benefits. It now includes a Fortnite Crew membership (which nets you skins, 1,000 V-Bucks per month, and the Battle Pass), Ubisoft+ Classics (curated classic Ubisoft games), and shorter wait times and 1440p resolution when streaming.

That said, many gamers haven’t taken this news well, with the page players would use to cancel their subscriptions crashing. Yikes! Don’t worry completely about the price rise, as you can still get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $19.99 per month for now – while stock lasts.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Europe Prepares for Digital Euro With New Tech Deals

by admin October 2, 2025

The European Central Bank has signed agreements with several technology providers today as part of preparations for a potential digital euro.

The agreements cover parts of the central bank digital currency, including fraud prevention, risk management, secure exchange of payment information, and software development.

Big Tech Joins the Digital Euro Team

According to the Thursday notice, Seven companies have already been named, with at least one more expected to be added. Among the selected firms are Feedzai, a company that uses artificial intelligence to detect fraud, and security technology group Giesecke+Devrient, known for its work in payment systems and banknote production.

“Following the framework agreement conclusion, G+D and other successful tenderers will work with the ECB to finalize planning and timelines,” said Dr. Ralf Wintergerst, chief executive officer of Giesecke+Devrient.

He added that under the guidance of the ECB Governing Council, the work will cover design, and development of the Digital Euro Service Platform.

The agreements do not involve any financial payments at this stage, the ECB clarified, and contain safeguards that allow changes if European legislation requires adjustments. According to the bank, the actual development of components will be decided later, depending on the Governing Council’s approval of the next project phase.

Services under the new deals will include “alias lookup,” a function that allows digital euro users to send or receive money without having to know the full details of the other person’s payment service provider. Giesecke+Devrient will also work on offline payment solutions, enabling users to make or receive digital euro transactions without an internet connection.

What’s Next for the Digital Euro?

The digital euro project was first launched in 2021 and entered its preparation phase in 2023. While no decision has been made to officially launch the currency, an ECB official recently suggested that 2029 could be a possible date for a rollout.

The project comes at a time when European regulators are raising concerns over the impact of stablecoins. ECB President Christine Lagarde said in September that EU lawmakers need to address risks posed by stablecoins issued by firms under the region’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, as well as those coming from outside the European Union.

Separately, the European Systemic Risk Board passed a recommendation urging a ban on certain jointly issued stablecoins, although the measure is non-binding. Officials argue these tokens could create risks for financial stability if left unchecked.

Also Read: FG Nexus to Tokenize Stock on Ethereum with Securitize

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October 2, 2025 0 comments

Esports

3I/ATLAS tanks energy blast from the Sun as alien tech theories intensify

by admin September 29, 2025

3I/ATLAS, long suspected by some to be alien tech, was hit with a direct blast from a massive solar eruption, and new reports reveal the interstellar object could be way bigger than previously believed.

In late September, the Sun fired off a violent coronal mass ejection (CME), a blast of plasma and magnetic fields, directly at the mammoth object as it speeds through the solar system at roughly 137,000 mph.

While comets within our system have been recorded enduring such encounters before, seeing an interstellar visitor withstand a solar strike is unprecedented.

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Back in 2007, NASA’s STEREO A spacecraft watched comet Encke lose and then quickly regrow its tail after a CME impact.

Scientists are monitoring whether the blast alters its trajectory or sheds new material that could reveal more about its makeup.

NASA3I/ATLAS has baffled scientists and sparked numerous alien theories.

3I/ATLAS could be way bigger than believed

This energy blast comes as Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who has long argued that 3I/ATLAS could be alien technology, revealed it could be much bigger than originally thought.

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By analyzing its movement and outgassing, Loeb estimates the mass of 3I/ATLAS exceeds 33 billion tons, far more than expected.

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“Is 3I/ATLAS an unusually massive comet with an unusual chemical composition on an unusually rare trajectory or alien technology?” he wrote in a blog post.

“In both cases, the object could shed CO2 and H2O ices from material that collected on its frozen surface as it plowed through interplanetary and interstellar space. We should not decide about the nature of 3I/ATLAS based on the chemical composition of its skin, for the same reason that we should not judge a book by its cover.”

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Loeb argues that if its core measures larger than three miles, the idea that it formed naturally from known interstellar materials becomes unlikely.

The astrophysicist has even suggested that 3I/ATLAS could be a technological artifact, possibly a probe sent to observe Earth. A paper he co-authored outlined two possibilities if the object is indeed intelligent: either its intentions are benign, or they are not.

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DexertoNASA insists 3I/ATLAS isn’t aliens.

Meanwhile other researchers, such as Susanne Pfalzner of Forschungszentrum Jülich, have suggested the object could even act as a “planet seed,” carrying material capable of kick-starting world formation around young stars.

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NASA, however, maintains that 3I/ATLAS is just a comet and not a mothership on its way to invade Earth. Still, the agency itself recently announced possible evidence of ancient alien life on Mars, a discovery that only adds to the atmosphere of speculation.

And even if 3I/ATLAS isn’t the beginning of an alien war, the space agency has expressed a desire to launch nukes at a “city killer” asteroid headed towards the Moon in 2032.

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As 3I/ATLAS continues its journey past Mars in the coming months, scientists and conspiracy theorists alike will be watching closely to see if this enigmatic traveler reveals more of its secrets.

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September 29, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

LCD vs. OLED: Which Is the Best TV Tech?

by admin September 29, 2025

While there are lots of associated marketing terms, nearly every TV today is either LCD or OLED. LCD TVs are also called LEDs, QLED TVs or even mini-LED, but the core technology is LCD — which stands for Liquid Crystal Display. Behind that LCD layer are LEDs; the number and arrangement of the LEDs are the main differences. The best ones use quantum dots and local dimming to create a vibrant, 4K HDR image.

OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, is newer to the mainstream market, although it’s been available for more than a decade. OLED panels are made by LG and Samsung and are also called QD-OLED and WOLED, depending on the specific version of the technology used.

How they work (the oversimplified edition)

The biggest difference between the two technologies is in how they work. Every TV’s picture is composed of millions of tiny “pixels,” or picture elements, that combine to create the image.

With OLED, each pixel provides its own illumination, so there’s no separate backlight. With an LCD TV, all of the pixels are illuminated by a separate LED backlight. This can have a handful of LEDs in the case of smaller, inexpensive TVs, or hundreds and thousands of LEDs for larger, more expensive TVs. This difference in how they create light directly impacts their overall picture quality, some of which favor LCD, but most of which benefit OLED.

Read more: QLED vs. OLED: What’s the difference between these types of TV?
Read more: QLED vs. LED: Which Is Better?

LCD panels are made by several companies across Asia. All current OLED panels are built by either LG Display or Samsung Display, the display panel manufacturing divisions of those companies. Other companies will buy panels from those manufacturers, sometimes even from each other, but if you’re buying an OLED TV, the image-producing panel is made by one of those companies.

OLED is consistently, year over year and test after test, the picture quality king, but LCD TVs usually cost less and can still provide excellent picture quality. A variety of new technologies, which we’ll discuss, help keep LCD from getting too far behind its newer tech competition.

So which one is better? Read on for their strengths and weaknesses. In general, we’ll be comparing OLED to the best (read: most expensive) LCD has to offer, mainly because there’s no such thing as a cheap OLED TV (yet).

Light output (brightness)

Winner: LCD
Loser: OLED

Take this category with a grain of salt. Both TV types are very bright and can look good in even a sunny room, let alone more moderate indoor lighting situations or the dark rooms that make TV images look their best. When it comes down to it, no modern TV could ever be considered “dim.”

LCD gets the nod here specifically because the whole screen can be brighter, which is a function of its backlight. Generally, it’s mini-LED that offers the highest brightness. Both QD-OLED and LG’s new 4-stack OLED still offer impressive brightness though, so the difference here isn’t as big as it once was.

Raúl Vázquez/EyeEm/GettyImages

Black level

Winner: OLED
Loser: LCD

At the other side of light output is black level, or how dark the TV can get. OLED wins here because of its ability to turn off individual pixels completely. It can produce truly perfect black.

The better LCDs have local dimming, where parts of the screen can dim independently of others. This isn’t quite as good as per-pixel control because the black areas still aren’t absolutely black but it’s better than nothing. The best LCDs have full-array local dimming, which provides even finer control over the contrast of what’s onscreen — but even they can suffer from “blooming,” where a bright area spoils the black of an adjacent dark area. Most notably, mini-LED has significantly more LEDs than traditional LED LCDs, so they can look almost as good as OLED in some situations.

Check out this LED LCD backlights explainer and LED local dimming explained for more info.

Contrast ratio

Winner: OLED
Loser: LCD

Here’s where it comes together. Contrast ratio is the difference between the brightest and the darkest a TV can be. OLED is the winner here because it can get extremely bright, plus it can produce absolute black with no blooming. It has the best contrast ratio of any modern display.

Contrast ratio is the most important aspect of picture quality. A high contrast-ratio display will look more realistic than one with a lower contrast ratio. There’s a far greater difference between the best LCD and the worst, with mini-LED once again offering the best performance overall for that tech. The “worst” OLED will still look better than almost all LCDs, however.

For more info, check out the basics of contrast ratio and why it’s important to understand contrast ratio.

ShaoChen Yang/Getty Images

Resolution

Winner: Tie

This one’s easy. Both OLED and LCD are widely available in UltraHD, aka 4K, form, and there are 8K versions of both if you’re particularly well-heeled.

There are also small, inexpensive 1080p and even 720p resolution LCDs. There are no 1080p or lower resolution OLEDs currently on the market.

Refresh rate and motion blur

Winner: Tie

Refresh rate is important in reducing motion blur, or the blurring of anything on screen that moves (including the whole image if the camera pans). Sadly, the current version of OLED has motion blur, just like LCD. OLEDs, and mid- and high-end LCDs, have a 120Hz refresh rate. Cheaper LCDs are 60Hz. Keep in mind, most companies use numbers that are higher than their “true” refresh rate.

OLEDs and many LCD use black-frame insertion, which is a way to improve motion resolution without resorting to the (usually) dreaded Soap Opera Effect.

Don’t stand this close when checking out a TV.

Peter Cade/Getty Images

Viewing angle

Winner: OLED
Loser: LCD

One of the main downsides of LCD TVs is a change in picture quality if you sit away from dead center (as in, off to the sides). How much this matters to you certainly depends on your seating arrangement but also on how much you love your loved ones.

A few LCDs use in-plane switching panels, which have better off-axis picture quality than other kinds of LCDs but don’t look as good as other LCDs straight on (primarily because of a lower contrast ratio).

OLED doesn’t have the off-axis issue LCDs have; its image looks basically the same, even from extreme angles. So if you have a wide seating area, OLED is the better option.

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

Winner: OLED (with caveats)

Watching High Dynamic Range content lets your TV really expand its potential. Sort of like driving on the highway vs a two-lane dirt road. It lets your TV produce more colorful bright highlights and typically a wider color gamut.

Nearly all current TVs are HDR compatible, but that’s not the entire story. Just because a TV claims HDR compatibility doesn’t mean it can accurately display HDR content. All OLED TVs have the dynamic range to take advantage of HDR, but lower-priced LCDs, especially those without local-dimming backlights, do not. So if you want to see HDR content in all its dynamic, vibrant beauty, go for OLED or an LCD with local dimming, for example mini-LED.

In our tests comparing the best new OLED and LCD TVs with HDR games and movies, OLED usually looks better. Its superior contrast and lack of blooming win the day despite LCD’s brightness advantage. In other words, LCD TVs can get brighter, especially in full-screen bright scenes and HDR highlights, but none of them can control that illumination as precisely as an OLED TV.

It’s also worth learning about the differences between HDR for photography and HDR for TVs.

The smallest triangle (circles at corners) is what your current HDTV can do. The next largest (squares) is P3 color. The largest (triangle edges) is Rec 2020.

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET (triangles); Sakurambo (base chart)

Expanded Color Gamut

Winner: Tie

Wide Color Gamut, or WCG, is related to HDR, although you can technically have one without the other. It’s an expansion of the colors possible on “standard” TVs. Think richer, deeper and more vibrant colors.

Most mid- and high-end LCDs and all new OLED models are capable of WCG. In some models of both that capability is caused by the use of quantum dots.

Read more about how TVs make color, how they will make color and how Wide Color Gamut works.

Uniformity

Winner: OLED
Loser: LCD

Uniformity refers to the consistency of brightness across the screen. Many inexpensive LCDs are pretty terrible with this, “leaking” light from their edges. This can be distracting, especially during darker movies. On mid- and higher-end models this is usually less of an issue.

Energy consumption

Winner: Basically a tie

OLED’s energy consumption is directly related to screen brightness. The brighter the screen, the more power it draws. It even varies with content. A dark movie will require less power than a hockey game or ski competition.

The energy consumption of LCD varies depending on the backlight setting. The lower the backlight, the lower the power consumption. A basic LED LCD with its backlight set low will draw less power than OLED.

Overall, though, all new TVs are fairly energy efficient, and even the least energy efficient modern TV would only cost you a few dollars more per year to use. That said, larger, brighter TVs will use a lot more energy than smaller, dimmer ones.

shaunl/Getty Images

Lifespan

Winner: Tie (sort of)

LG has said their OLED TVs have a lifespan of 100,000 hours to half brightness, a figure that’s similar to LED LCDs. Generally speaking, all modern TVs are quite reliable and should last many years.

Does that mean your new LCD or OLED will last for several decades like your parent’s last CRT (like the one pictured). Probably not, but then, why would you want it to? A 42-inch flat panel cost $14,000 in the late 90’s, and now a 55-inch TV with more than 16x the resolution and a million times better contrast ratio costs $250. Which is to say, by the time you’ll want/need to replace it, there will be something even better than what’s available now, for less money.

Because they are quite reliable on the whole, you won’t have to replace them anytime soon.

Burn-in

Winner: LCD
Loser: OLED

All TVs can “burn in” or develop what’s called “image persistence,” where the ghost of an image remains onscreen. It’s really hard to do this with most LCDs. It’s easier with OLED, so LCD wins this category.

Even with OLED TVs, however, most people don’t have to worry about burn-in. Some edge-lit LED LCD, typically cheaper models, can have their own version of burn in where the LEDs age poorly and the plastic layers that help create the image warp and discolor. Which is to say, both technologies have issues but how those issues manifest is different.

If you want a REALLY big TV, neither OLED nor LCD will do.

Screen size

Winner: LCD
Loser: OLED

OLED TVs are available in sizes from 48 to 97 inches but LCD TVs come in smaller and even larger sizes than that — with many more choices in between — so LCD wins. At the high end of the size scale, however, the biggest “TVs” don’t use either technology.

The easiest, and cheapest, way to get a truly massive image in your home is with a projector. For about $1,000 you can get an excellent 100-inch-plus image.

If you want something even brighter, and don’t mind spending a literal fortune to get it, Samsung, Sony, LG and some other companies sell direct-view LED displays. In most cases these are microLED.

Price

Winner: LCD
Loser: OLED

You can get 4K resolution, 50-inch LCDs for less than $200. It’s going to be a long time before OLEDs are that price, but they have come down considerably.

So if your goal is to get the cheapest TV possible, that’s LCD. If you want something with great picture quality, the prices are fairly comparable. The most expensive OLED TVs are more expensive than the best similarly sized LCD TVs, but that difference shrinks every year.

And the picture-quality winner is … OLED

LCD dominates the market because it’s cheap to manufacture and delivers good enough picture quality for just about everybody. But according to reviews at CNET and elsewhere, OLED wins for overall picture quality, largely because of the incredible contrast ratio. The price difference isn’t as severe as it used to be, and in the mid- to high-end of the market, there are a lot of options.

LCDs continue to improve, though, and many models offer excellent picture quality for far less money than OLED, especially in larger sizes.

Which is to say, there are a lot of great TVs out there.

In addition to covering cameras and display tech, Geoff does photo essays about cool museums and other stuff, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers and 10,000-mile road trips.

Also, check out Budget Travel for Dummies, his travel book and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.

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September 29, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Microsoft block Israel’s access to Azure and genAI tech used to surveil millions of Palestinian phone calls, according to report

by admin September 28, 2025

Amid a consumer boycott of their Xbox business, Microsoft are apparently ending the Israeli military’s access to certain Azure cloud and generative AI technologies used to surveil Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. As reported by the Guardian, one of the publications who originally exposed the surveillance project, the company told Israeli officials last week that spy agency Unit 8200 had violated Microsoft’s terms of service by storing records of civilian phone calls and other data on Azure servers.

Microsoft’s vice-chair and president Brad Smith allegedly informed staff of the termination of the Unit 8200 partnership in an email sent on Thursday 18th September, shared with the Guardian. In that email, he said that Microsoft had “ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israel ministry of defense”, including cloud storage and AI services. “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” the email continues. “We have applied this principle in every country around the world, and we have insisted on it repeatedly for more than two decades.”

The Guardian also cite another email from a senior Microsoft executive to Israel’s ministry of defence, sent late last week, in which the executive noted that “[w]hile our review is ongoing, we have at this juncture identified evidence that supports elements of the Guardian’s reporting.”

Microsoft confirmed that they had supplied technology and services to the Israeli military during the latter’s current Gaza offensive this May, following an investigation of the alleged use of Microsoft genAI models to facilitate airstrikes, among other operations.

A protest by Microsoft staff at the company’s headquarters in August 2025. | Image credit: No Azure For Apartheid / Rock Paper Shotgun

In August this year, a joint investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call found that Microsoft had worked with Unit 8200 specifically to create an “indiscriminate new system” for gathering data on Palestinians, including a sizeable pool of non-combatants. For context, according to alleged leaked Israeli military intelligence, around 83% of the tens of thousands of Palestinians reported killed in the current conflict’s first 19 months were civilians.

The reporting inspired the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions organisation to launch a campaign against Microsoft’s gaming business. Microsoft workers have been openly protesting against their employer’s involvement with the assault on Gaza since early 2024.

Back in May, Microsoft insisted that they had found “no evidence” that their technology was being used to target or harm Palestinians, following a review carried out by an unnamed third party. In August, a spokesperson announced that they would carry out another review, while insisting that “[a]t no time during this engagement has Microsoft been aware of the surveillance of civilians or collection of their cellphone conversations using Microsoft’s services, including through the external review it commissioned.”

Image credit: No Azure For Apartheid / Rock Paper Shotgun

The Guardian claim that as much as 8000 terabytes of intercepted calls were being held in Azure datacentres in the Netherlands as part of the Microsoft/Unit 8200 partnership. The paper adds that Unit 8200 appear to have swiftly moved the data elsewhere in the wake of their reporting. Israel now allegedly plan to transfer it all to Amazon’s Web Services cloud platform – neither Amazon nor the Israel Defense Forces have responded to the Guardian’s request for comment.

The reported partial divestment from Israel doesn’t reveal which “elements” of the Guardian’s reporting Microsoft have corroborated as part of their review. Microsoft continue to have a wider commercial relationship with the Israeli armed forces. They are also far from the only big overseas technology company to have significant dealings with Israel’s military, before and during the current invasion and destruction of Gaza – an Associated Press investigation in February also mentions Google, Amazon, Palantir, Cisco, and Oracle. A UN special rapporteur has accused western tech firms at large of being complicit in an “economy of genocide”.

We recently interviewed a number of developers, including former Microsoft worker Abdo Mohamed, about their participation in the internal No Azure for Apartheid movement and the wider BDS action against Microsoft.

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September 28, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

This Wireless Tech Could Fix the Most Annoying Thing About Using Wireless Earbuds at Home

by admin September 28, 2025

Your phone is usually attached to your hip (in terms of the recent iPhone 17’s Crossbody Strap, I mean that literally). But in the comfort of your own home when you’re trying to unwind and escape your phone with your favorite music, needing to stay in Bluetooth range for your headphones and wireless earbuds can be a little annoying. Qualcomm’s audio engineers are trying to solve that issue by seamlessly switching to Wi-Fi if you travel away from your audio source. Sure, that sounds neat, but the tech implies a future where you won’t even need any other device nearby to listen to your favorite tunes on your AirPods.

I can already hear the whining in the comments. The problem this feature hopes to fix is a very niche use case, but it’s one that could end up in many next-gen wireless earbuds in the near future. I tested out this feature at Snapdragon Summer in Hawaii (full disclosure: travel and lodging were paid by Qualcomm, and Gizmodo did not guarantee any coverage as a condition of accepting the trip), dubbed XPAN for “Expanded Personal Area Network,” with a pair of nonspecific reference wireless earbuds used by Qualcomm. With the feature enabled, the buds work with the phone to detect if the device is in Bluetooth range. If you start walking away, they will automatically switch over to Wi-Fi.

In many ways, the tech is far more interesting than the end result. The wireless earbuds contained a Wi-Fi antenna, though neither the case nor the buds looked much different from what I’ve used in the past. I walked 30 feet away from the phone and back, and I didn’t notice any interruptions in the song playing. The phone showed how it was swapping from a P2P (peer-to-peer) connection through various other connection types. A Bluetooth 5.3 connection range is technically close to 33 feet. While that means you won’t lose connection walking from one end of the room to the other, intervening walls or—in my case—a crowd of bodies could interrupt that signal. XPAN merely expands the range to encompass everywhere there’s a Wi-Fi signal.

Although wireless earbuds with the technology will be limited to local Wi-Fi, the technology could potentially allow you to listen to your device from “anywhere in the world” through a Wi-Fi access point. Dino Bekis, Qualcomm’s general manager of connectivity, told me in a Q&A that there’s no issue with latency on a Wi-Fi connection compared to Bluetooth. Modern wireless earbuds are already so damn good at cutting down on latency even when streaming high-bitrate lossless audio. Wi-Fi networks should be able to handle the 96kHz speeds necessary for lossless. It shouldn’t matter if you’re still using Wi-Fi 6 or the modern Wi-Fi 7 standard, either.

“Today, with XPAN, it’s 96kHz 24-bit, but we see that evolving to 192kHz to be truly lossless,” Bekis said.

Qualcomm has talked up Wi-Fi audio connections for the past two years with its previous-gen S7 and S7 Pro platforms. The first wireless earbuds with XPAN built in were the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro released earlier this year. They support the 96kHz standard, though Bekis promised we should see more wireless earbuds soon enough with current or future S7 chips. Audiophiles would still extol the benefits of lossless and minimum latency. Regular folk who just want to listen to their tunes simply care that they need to be within close range of their paired music source. Still, the feature may end up being more useful for taking calls with your wireless earbuds than for listening to music.

Inevitably, it seems our wireless earbuds will become as connected as our phones are today. What that means for music listeners is a future where we connect to Spotify or Apple Music right from our wireless earbuds’ or headphones’ case, rather than needing to go through a phone. I don’t think we’ll need to wait long to see more wireless earbuds cases with screens used to control music. Hell, if you were longing for a device as dedicated to music as your old iPod, a Wi-Fi-enabled pair of wireless earbuds could fit the bill. You’ll still have to pay your tithe to your favorite music streaming app, of course.

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September 28, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Tech Billionaires Already Captured the White House. They Still Want to Be Kings

by admin September 27, 2025

During our conversation, Brown compared Praxis to Israel—minus a world war and a holocaust, of course. “There were these stateless people who were scattered,” he says, and they had “this idea of Judea and building a state and returning to the OG homeland.” (Srinivasan has been even more direct in the past, saying, “What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism.”)

Of course, the beauty of a network state is that it can embody “the West” without actually having to be there. In addition to the Vandenberg location, Praxis announced that its team would be traveling to Morocco, Japan, and the Dominican Republic, among other countries, to explore the possibility of establishing an SEZ. While Brown says he does not consider Morocco to be Western, Praxis is willing to work with countries that are willing to give it land. Like Ion, Brown promises an influx of companies and tech talent that “can radically benefit” those places, boosting property values and creating jobs for local residents. It is unclear if those Moroccan residents would be considered “citizens” in a Praxian SEZ. In the meantime, through an initiative called Praxis Development, the group plans to buy up residential properties where its members can live as a stepping stone toward “real territory, real assets, and real power.”

“This is a colonial project, aimed at tech empire,” says Gil Duran, a former political consultant and author of the independent newsletter The Nerd Reich. “It sounds like colonization 2.0. When you go to another person’s country and create your own country there, no matter your excuse, no matter your rationale.”

Or, as the Praxis X account posted on September 1, “Cyberpunk East India Company.”

The most evolved version of the SEZ strategy is Próspera, a charter community, backed by Pronomos Capital, on the island of Roatán in Honduras. It has an arbitration system, low taxes, and a code of rules. (Vitalia, Ion’s original project, considered setting up a permanent location within Próspera.)

Próspera’s leaders say they do not consider it a network state, that their goal is “city-scale development that advances human progress and prosperity—within Honduran sovereignty and law.” The Honduran government, then led by Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado, granted the city its charter in 2017. But Hernández was arrested in 2022 for drug trafficking (he has since been convicted), and the new government repealed Próspera’s SEZ status, alleging that these types of zones violated the country’s sovereignty. Próspera then filed an $11 billion lawsuit against the Honduran government, alleging that the government had failed to “honor its guarantees of legal stability.” The case is ongoing.

Ion, for his part, says that he “would approach different things differently” in Viva City.

Back at Viva Frontier Tower, after the morning rave and a full day of sessions on health and longevity, Ion, now dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, leads a few dozen attendees on a tour of his pop-up fiefdom. While the AI-generated images on the group’s website portray a semitropical seaside paradise that looks like a cross between Monaco and Atlantis, in real life, the WeWork turned “vertical village” turned temporary network state is in various states of repair.

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September 27, 2025 0 comments

Fear and greed index falls to new low, last seen in Oct 2023. (Chris Charles/Unsplash)

Crypto Trends

Experiment With Pension Funds Proves Blockchain as ‘Ultimate’ Identity Tech

by admin September 26, 2025

The United Nations leaned into blockchain technology to overhaul its own pension system, and a study of that process concluded the innovation is the “ultimate technology for digital identity verification,” which has spurred the UN toward extending the system and sharing it with other international groups.

The UN — which has explored various blockchain uses over the years — tried it out on their United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF), according to a white paper released this week that suggested its use in confirming people’s identities can help in security, efficiency and transparency. In cooperation with the Hyperledger Foundation, the UN sought to “improve and secure the UN pension process globally by putting a blockchain-supported digital identification infrastructure into production.”

The UN pension fund had been working off of a 70-year-old system to identify beneficiaries in 190 countries, relying on a paper-based approach to prove more than 70,000 beneficiaries were who they said they were, still alive and where they claimed to be. It was prone to error and abuse, and resulted in about 1,400 payment suspensions every year, according to the document. So the organization shifted to the blockchain-powered digital certification, beginning with a 2020 pilot program and a 2021 implementation.

“The shift away from physical documentation has substantially reduced processing times previously spent on receiving, opening, scanning, and archiving paper documents,” the paper said.

The blockchain helped eliminate the single-point-of-failure problem posed by a centrally managed approach, according to the paper that detailed the process and results, with the authors suggesting its success could be repeated elsewhere. Its open access and usability by multiple entities reduces the repetitious need for identity checks, the authors found.

The UN is exploring spreading similar technology throughout its own system and sharing it elsewhere as a “digital public good,” seeking to expand the Digital Certificate of Entitlement approach to other international organizations.

“The project has provided not only a technical prototype but also an operational model for how organizations across the UN family can collaborate to design secure, scalable, and inclusive digital public infrastructure,” wrote Sameer Chauhan, the director of the United Nations International Computing Centre, in a conclusion included in the paper.

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September 26, 2025 0 comments

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 9: A U.S. Department of Commerce sign is displayed at the Herbert C. Hoover Federal Building on June 9, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

Product Reviews

Trump administration is reportedly planning to tariff US tech firms that don’t source equal numbers of imported and American chips

by admin September 26, 2025

Every tech firm in the US heavily relies on the likes of China and Taiwan for its products, whether it involves the wholesale manufacturing of them or the supply of the vast number of semiconductor chips and components required. However, if a purported idea being considered by the Trump administration comes to fruition, they will all need to massively reduce imports and switch to locally-made chips to avoid being hit with a fresh tariff.

That’s according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which claims that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has already mooted the idea with various executives within America’s semiconductor industry. If we use Nvidia as an example, it currently relies almost exclusively on companies outside of the US for all the chips and other electronic components that are used to manufacture its graphics cards and AI data servers.

Its GPUs and CPUs are made by TSMC in Taiwan, with circuit boards and the host of parts that are fitted to them produced in China. Nvidia tends to use Micron for VRAM chips more than any other firm, and while that company is US-based, it also has production facilities in Singapore and China.

To comply with a mandate that requires it to maintain a 1:1 ratio of locally-produced semiconductor chips versus those that it imports, Nvidia would need to drastically change its supply chain somehow. Either that, or it would have to rely on the majority of its suppliers having facilities within the US to produce said components.

At the moment, there’s no indication of the nature or size of the tariff that would be applied if companies failed to reach the ratio target, but even if the threat of it is big enough to make all US tech companies immediately comply, one question remains unanswered. And it’s because there is no answer for it.

TSMC’s chip foundry in Arizona. America’s going to need a lot more of these. (Image credit: TSMC)

How is America’s semiconductor industry supposed to match the combined output, breadth of products, and level of technological accomplishment of Taiwan, South Korea, China, Japan, and Singapore? Despite having the likes of Intel, GlobalFoundries, and Micron, as well as fabrication plants from Samsung and TSMC, the supply chain for the global tech market is predominantly based outside of the US.

If one assumes that it can be scaled up to the level required to meet the 1:1 demand, it certainly can’t happen overnight, and the cost for adjusting the supply chain to this extent is likely to be enormous. So much so that it’s possible that any tariff would pale in comparison.

WSJ’s report also claims that the plan would allow companies to make manufacturing pledges, to give themselves sufficient time to build the required infrastructure in America, without incurring the tariff. There may also be a relief period if and when the plan is introduced, to allow for US-based production to be ramped up.

While it can be argued that having a more equally distributed semiconductor supply chain is beneficial for stability and security reasons, the economic impact of forcing it to significantly adjust so rapidly could be too much for the industry to bear; at the very least, tech companies that are currently struggling with uncertain revenues or low profit margins would not welcome the plan.

For the US tech industry, this could ultimately be good news or catastrophic news, but until any official statement is made by the Trump administration, we’re just left with speculation. Any move to significantly reduce chip imports might seem like a great idea, but with the devil being in the details, and details being thin on the ground right now, tech firms are probably feeling a tad jittery about all of this.

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September 26, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Early sales on tech from Apple, Roku, Shark, Anker and more

by admin September 25, 2025

Now that we know October Prime Day is on the horizon, it’s time to start thinking about what you may want to snag at a discount during the sale. If you pay the $139 annual fee for Prime, sale events like these are a great time to stock up on essentials and cross things off your wishlist while you can save some money.

Most discounts will be exclusively available to Prime subscribers, but there are always a few that anyone shopping on Amazon can grab. Similarly, there are always early deals in the days and weeks leading up to Prime Day, and this year is no different. Here, we’ve collected the best October Prime Day deals you can shop for right now and we’ll keep updating this post as we get close to Prime Day proper.

Best Prime Day deals: Engadget’s top picks

Apple

Apple MagSafe charger (25W, 2m) for $35 (30 percent off): The latest version of Apple’s MagSafe puck is Qi2.2-certified and supports up to 25W of wireless power when paired with a 30W adapter. The two-meter cable length on this particular model gives you more flexibility on where you can use it: in bed, on the couch, at your desk and elsewhere.

$35 at Amazon

Apple iPad (A16) for $299 ($50 off): The new base-model iPad now comes with twice the storage of the previous model and the A16 chip. That makes the most affordable iPad faster and more capable, but still isn’t enough to support Apple Intelligence.

Apple Mac mini (M4) for $499 $100 off): If you prefer desktops, the upgraded M4 Mac mini is one that won’t take up too much space, but will provide a ton of power at the same time. Not only does it come with an M4 chipset, but it also includes 16GB of RAM in the base model, plus front-facing USB-C and headphone ports for easier access.

Apple iPad Air (11-inch, M3) for $449 ($150 off): The only major difference between the latest iPad Air and the previous generation is the addition of the faster M3 chip. We awarded the new slab an 89 in our review, appreciating the fact that the M3 chip was about 16 percent faster in benchmark tests than the M2. This is the iPad to get if you want a reasonable amount of productivity out of an iPad that’s more affordable than the Pro models.

Jisulife Life7 handheld fan for $25 (14 percent off, Prime exclusive): This handy little fan is a must-have if you life in a warm climate or have a tropical vacation planned anytime soon. It can be used as a table or handheld fan and even be worn around the neck so you don’t have to hold it at all. Its 5,000 mAh battery allows it to last hours on a single charge, and the small display in the middle of the fan’s blades show its remaining battery level.

Roku Streaming Stick Plus 2025 for $29 (27 percent off): Roku makes some of the best streaming devices available, and this small dongle gives you access to a ton of free content plus all the other streaming services you could ask for: Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max and many more.

Anker 622 5K magnetic power bank with stand for $34 (29 percent off, Prime exclusive): This 0.5-inch thick power bank attaches magnetically to iPhones and won’t get in your way when you’re using your phone. It also has a built-in stand so you can watch videos, make FaceTime calls and more hands-free while your phone is powering up.

Leebein 2025 electric spin scrubber for $40 (43 percent off, Prime exclusive): This is an updated version of my beloved Leebein electric scrubber, which has made cleaning my shower easier than ever before. It comes with seven brush heads so you can use it to clean all kinds of surfaces, and its adjustable arm length makes it easier to clean hard-to-reach spots. It’s IPX7 waterproof and recharges via USB-C.

Anker Nano 5K ultra-slim power bank (Qi2, 15W) for $46 (16 percent off): A top pick in our guide to the best MagSafe power banks, this super-slim battery is great for anyone who wants the convenient of extra power without the bulk. We found its proportions work very well with iPhones, and its smooth, matte texture and solid build quality make it feel premium.

Shark AI robot vacuum with self-empty base for $230 (58 percent off, Prime exclusive): A version of one of our favorite robot vacuums, this Shark machine has strong suction power and supports home mapping. The Shark mobile app lets you set cleaning schedules, and the self-empty base that it comes with will hold 30 days worth of dust and debris.

Levoit LVAC-300 cordless vacuum for $250 ($100 off, Prime exclusive): One of our favorite cordless vacuums, this Levoit machine has great handling, strong suction power for its price and a premium-feeling design. Its bin isn’t too small, it has HEPA filtration and its battery life should be more than enough for you to clean your whole home many times over before it needs a recharge.

Best Prime Day deals on tech

Soundcore

Samsung EVO Select microSD card (256GB) for $23 (15 percent off): This Samsung card has been one of our recommended models for a long time. It’s a no-frills microSD card that, while not the fastest, will be perfectly capable in most devices where you’re just looking for simple, expanded storage.

JBL Go 4 portable speaker for $40 (20 percent off): The Go 4 is a handy little Bluetooth speaker that you can take anywhere you go thanks to its small, IP67-rated design and built-in carrying loop. It’ll get seven hours of playtime on a single charge, and you can pair two together for stereo sound.

Anker MagGo 10K power bank (Qi2, 15W) for $63 (22 percent off, Prime exclusive): A 10K power bank like this is ideal if you want to be able to recharge your phone at least once fully and have extra power to spare. This one is also Qi2 compatible, providing up to 15W of power to supported phones.

Rode Wireless Go III for $199 (30 percent off): A top pick in our guide to the best wireless microphones, the Wireless Go III records pro-grade sound and has handy extras like onboard storage, 32-bit float and universal compatibility with iPhones, Android, cameras and PCs.

Shark Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo for $300 (57 percent off, Prime exclusive): If you’re looking for an autonomous dirt-sucker that can also mop, this is a good option. It has a mopping pad and water reservoir built in, and it supports home mapping as well. Its self-emptying base can hold up to 60 days worth of debris, too.

Nintendo Switch 2 for $449: While not technically a discount, it’s worth mentioning that the Switch 2 and the Mario Kart Switch 2 bundle are both available at Amazon now, no invitation required. Amazon only listed the new console for the first time in July after being left out of the initial pre-order/availability window in April. Once it became available, Amazon customers looking to buy the Switch 2 had to sign up to receive an invitation to do so. Now, that extra step has been removed and anyone can purchase the Switch 2 on Amazon.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

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September 25, 2025 0 comments