In recent weeks, we have seen eye-watering amounts of personal data exposed by criminal actors, in an attempt to either extort organizations for ransom payments or sell the information for financial gain.
In the UK, three major airports suffered data breaches that exposed information relating to nearly nine million people. In the fintech sector, Revolut mistakenly disclosed a wealth of customer data to scammers impersonating government officials.
While in North America, hackers reportedly offered scans of nearly 153 million US and Canadian driving licenses for sale on the dark web.
These incidents highlight the risks and vulnerabilities organizations face when they accumulate and retain large volumes of valuable personal data.
Beyond the obvious need for greater internet security and protection against AI related attacks or synthetic identities, it raises one other fundamental question: do companies really need to collect and retain so much personal data?
More data, more risk
Identity checks can typically involve companies collecting names, dates of birth, addresses, document scans and facial images. That data is then stored, and may be copied across different suppliers and systems in the hope that existing security protocols stay robust.
As a result, organizations may unintentionally be creating honeypots. If breached, this data could be used to facilitate a variety of illicit activities such as fraud, impersonation and social engineering. The more information an organization collects, the more places it is creating data exposure risks.
Data accumulation thus significantly increases a company’s security risk. As data’s value increases, breaches are becoming more lucrative for attackers and more catastrophic for businesses. As AI tools continue to become commoditized and easier to use, breaches may become even more frequent unless we find new ways to verify legitimate information without a person’s entire underlying dataset being at risk.
Verification doesn’t require lots of data
Many of the free online services we use everyday are at risk from disruption because they fundamentally ask for too much data. These services do not need to know 10+ pieces of personal information about an individual - yet, because this is still collected, the internet’s overall business model is vulnerable.
Authentication primitives that preserve privacy can offer a way forward, helping to protect the future of the internet. They enable people to access free content and services without revealing unnecessary personal details. For example, an age-gated service may only need proof that someone is above a minimum age requirement, or a government service may only need confirmation of residency.
All of these core aspects can be verified without needing to access and store someone’s full dataset. The only necessity is asking the right questions at the right time – in a way that ensures what needs to be verified is in fact legitimate.
Data minimization can therefore become a security control and risk mitigation tool. The less information a service collects and retains, the smaller the attack surface for illicit actors. By asking only for the information needed at a particular moment, organizations can attest what matters without creating an unnecessary, high-risk store of personal data.
Prove the fact: keep the details private
Modern zero-knowledge cryptography can help address this challenge. It enables individuals to optionally store digital credentials via information from physical, chip-enabled ID cards or government digital identities like mobile driver’s licenses through an app, without making it accessible to third parties.
An individual can then use their digital ID to prove things like age, nationality and unique document ownership without revealing their identity or giving that data to a third party. Zero-knowledge cryptography can verify these claims while keeping the original information private.
When proof generation takes place on the individual’s device, sensitive information can remain local while the receiving service gets the proof it needs. Holding less reusable identity data can limit what an attacker obtains if that service is breached.
Preserving privacy: why this matters
Beyond the security benefits outlined, reducing data retention will also become essential as AI makes it harder for us to distinguish what’s real, and what data to trust. At the same time, advances in computing power could mean that private data encrypted well today could be harvested and decrypted easily in a post-quantum future.
Zero-knowledge proofs are not the finished article, but this should form a key part of a broader shift to cryptographic systems that is going to be fundamental to how we verify real information it can trust, and prepares companies for threats that were barely conceivable a decade ago.
In a world where both personal data is becoming more valuable, harder to trust and secure, holding less will become one of the most essential security measures.
This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.
The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit
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Planet Zoo 2 is the sequel to 2020’s zoo-buildin...
Planet Zoo 2 is the sequel to 2020’s zoo-building management sim. And it’s crammed with more animals, scenery items, and game modes than ever, so you can really let your creativity run wild.
Building zoos is my happy place. Life is stressful, the cost of living is shocking, and politics is so absurd I often feel like I’m being doped with increasing levels of satire to make the world’s first irony-immune man. Playing games like Planet Zoo 2 lets me spend time in a simpler world, where I can spend five hours tweaking the placement of ferns and rocks to make simulated siamangs happy.
As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time playing the original Planet Zoo. More than a lot, actually. Over 1,100 hours. That’s more than 45 days straight — a fact that makes me feel slightly queasy about my priorities in life. I’ve spent more time experiencing its highs and dealing with its limitations than I’ve spent with my extended family. So, naturally, as soon as I heard Planet Zoo 2 was in development, I knew I had to be the person to put it through its paces.
With the addition of aquariums, aviaries, wildlife reserves and more besides, I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into the new game and see what it was capable of. Even if it meant jettisoning a thousand hours of work, binning my old zoo and starting building from scratch, I was eager to see how all the new tools and content upgraded play. So are the two games birds of a feather, or is Planet Zoo 2 of a different stripe entirely?
Wings, fins and fur
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
Best bit
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
Without a doubt, aquariums are my favorite new feature. Not only can you add a fantastic variety of undersea beasties, but you can also decorate tanks with rich-looking reefs, with everything from fronds of seaweed to brightly colored corals.
As a bit (okay, a lot) of a Planet Zoo nerd, when Planet Zoo 2 was announced, I had plenty of things on my mental wishlist of upgrades I’d like to see. But top of my list were the addition of both flying birds and fish, two types of critters that felt conspicuous in their absence from the huge roster of DLCs released for the original game. So honestly, it was pretty pleasing to see both of these kinds of exhibits included when previews of the game dropped.
Flat out my favorite addition has been aquariums. These new piscine enclosures are as pretty as a picture. Aquariums feel really versatile, whether you want huge open-air tanks or to build a wall of fish into your restaurant. Walkthrough tunnels make creating immersive exhibits a breeze, and the need to filter habitats separately depending on whether they require fresh, brackish, or salty water adds an extra layer of — excuse the pun — depth.
Underwater decorations also look fantastic, allowing you to create really richly colored coral reefs and rafts of seaweed and grasses. But naturally, the animals in Planet Zoo are the stars of the show, and there’s a huge variety of sea life on offer to populate your tanks, whether you’re looking for sharks, rays, turtles or schools of fish. Wisely, Frontier has steered away from including many sea mammals like whales and dolphins — a sensible decision in light of the increasing attention that’s been paid to the ethics of keeping highly intelligent, social mammals in small tanks — but the game does include manatees, and there’s still huge potential here for semi-aquatic mammals like seals and walruses.
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
Leading up to Planet Zoo 2’s release, I was particularly excited about the addition of flying birds, as this adds a whole new dimension to your habitats compared to flightless fowl like ostriches and emus. While aviaries — essentially roof support poles and netting sitting over a classic habitat — don’t feel quite as fresh an experience as creating aquariums, I can still see how I’ll be able to use them to create stunning enclosures. And the variety of feathered friends already on offer is decent, adding everything from toucans to brightly colored long-tailed parakeets.
In fact, animals in general have had a definite glow-up in Planet Zoo 2. Not only have the earliest, lower-definition critters from the base game, like lions and African elephants, received new meshes to bring them in line with sleeker-looking critters from later expansion packs, but fauna in general looks stunning in this game.
There’s also a really solid variety of animals on offer at launch, from gila monsters to giant pandas. Don’t get me wrong: some of my personal favorites from the original game and expansions still aren’t here. Frankly, any zoo that doesn’t have fennec foxes in it is not a zoo I want to spend time in. But all the classics are here, with just enough funky additions — Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo, anyone? — that I’m already pretty jazzed about additions that might be coming up with future updates.
All told, the variety offered by Planet Zoo 2 makes creating diverse, vibrant zoos feel easier than ever.
Management material
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
Given that Frontier Developments has launched two more park management games — Planet Coaster 2 and Jurassic World Evolution 3 — in the almost seven years since the OG Planet Zoo’s release, its core gameplay loop has inevitably evolved.
First off, career mode feels the most well-rounded it’s been in a Planet game to date. While you’ve always been able to dip in and out of individual missions on the map to complete objectives and pick up bronze, silver, and gold medals, the progression between them feels increasingly organic.
Functioning as an extended tutorial, career mode leads you through a variety of maps and scenarios throughout the world. As you complete bronze medals at each zoo, you’ll learn new mechanisms and unlock new accreditation tiers, in turn granting you access to higher tiers of animals. While this does mean your progression is somewhat locked to missions, the non-linear connection between maps made me feel much freer to pop in and out of maps than past games.
A big part of this is down to the addition of wildlife reserves. Releasing animals was a relatively shallow mechanic in Planet Zoo — enabling you to offload unneeded creatures in return for dollars or Conservation Points — in its sequel, this has been spun out into a sub-game in its own right.
Wildlife reserves’ core gameplay loop is pretty straightforward. When you arrive in a new reserve, you’ll create ecosystems for released animals by painting one in the landscape, clearing any invasive plant species, and balancing the terrain and plant requirements. Once it’s ready, you’ll be required to release animals from your zoos of the compatible type, balancing the ecosystem, and place research items like camera traps and acoustic monitors to unlock higher levels of research in your zoos.
I’ll be honest here: wildlife reserves are the area that I feel both sound like the most transformative on paper and yet haven’t fully clicked for me in practice. Part of this is because they rely heavily on my least favorite tool: the terrain painter — more on that shortly.
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
But it’s also just because these mechanics feel relatively shallow. These reserves don’t really require much ongoing management, and given there’s not much more detailed interplay among the flora and fauna once it’s placed, you can basically just set and forget these areas. As a result, I often found myself just rushing to establish ecosystems and dump the required animals in them so I could return to meatier zoo management. I’m hoping that the more I play with them, the more I’ll find to love about these freer locations, but so far they’ve stood out the least to me.
One other factor that's occasionally caused me slight discomfort is the presence of bugs. No, I'm not talking about those tarantula exhibits: at release, there have definitely been some odd issues creeping in.
I've encountered nothing game-breaking, just slightly hinky behavior here and there. At one point, items I was meticulously placing using the advanced move tools would randomly jump to a different position once I clicked place. Meanwhile, I've experienced several well-documented issues where animals ghost through their bars or get boxed up en masse inside their habitats for no clear reason. Fair play to Frontier Developments, though: they promised to patch these issues pretty quickly and, at the time of publishing, I think all of these issues have been fixed.
If you're wanting a freer experience than career mode can offer, Planet Zoo 2 still has all the other game modes you loved from the original. Franchise mode lets you focus on building your global zoo network from scratch as always, adding the ability to create your own wildlife reserves to help you feel like you’re really contributing to global conservation.
But hands-down my favorite gameplay mode is still Sandbox. I’m a bit prone to hyperfixating on small details — I know: the dude with 1,100 hours in the game is a bit obsessive. You don’t say. And that’s why I love this mode. Being able to concentrate on tweaking every last detail and focusing on building the most realistic zoo I can without needing to sweat about profitability or management just speaks to the creative part of my brain.
And, on that front, Planet Zoo 2 is better than ever.
Build baby, build
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
Given I’m talking about a game crammed with gorgeous wildlife, brand new habitats and new game modes, I’ll admit this makes me sound tiresomely dull. But honestly, what’s gotten me most excited about Planet Zoo 2 is the part that should be the most boring: logistics upgrades.
Rather than management sims, I’ve always felt like the Planet games are fantastically creative park design tools with a fun game on the side. And these tools have been refined across the board.
Let’s start with the placement tools. Not gonna lie, on release the placement tools in Planet Zoo were so rigid I can honestly understand if many people rarely dug into creating detailed scenery. Fortunately, these have been significantly improved — they feel more fluid, while the scale tools from Planet Coaster 2 and mirroring tools have been added, giving each decorative item significantly more versatility and making it much easier to create organic-looking areas like rockfaces.
Frustrating memories of trying to select scenery items in Planet Zoo — with their utterly random-seeming hitboxes — still haunt me to this day, particularly as deselecting items felt super awkward. In its sequel, these tools have been overhauled, not only making it easier to select and deselect items even on controller but also providing a range of toggles that allow you to restrict selection to certain types of objects, from nature objects to pathing.
While creating pathing used to involve an exasperating degree of trial and error in the original, pathing tools have had significant improvements here. Alongside the original’s straight and curved pathing options, upgrades from Planet Coaster 2 and the Jurassic World Evolution series have been introduced, like stamp and draw tools. This makes it trivial to introduce more organic-looking paths than ever and even super-precise circular courtyards and viewing areas.
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
All of these features contribute to making buildings and decorative items feel far easier and more fluid. But it’s not only placing man-made structures that has been improved. I’d argue that one of the hardest areas of creating your dream zoo in Planet Zoo used to be making natural scenery look organic. A significant proportion of that monumental playtime I clocked in the first game came from meticulously placing bushes piece by piece to make scenery look suitably wild.
Fortunately, Frontier has introduced the scenery brushes first created for Planet Coaster 2 into this game, enabling you to quickly paint scenery across your landscape. Not only does it come with a wide array of pre-created options, but you can also make up your own using any combination of scenery you’d like. While the end result can be slightly random-looking and the brushes still don’t get tight enough for creating really dense-looking foliage, this massively speeds up initial placement and allows you to then manually shift and complement the items for significantly faster decoration.
Similarly, terrain brushes have also had loads of new options added, with attract, repel, and curl brushes adding good variety to the existing toolset available. Terrain painting also comes with a significantly wider array of options, with not only lots of sub-terrain types — such as wild grass, long grass, forest floor or scree — but also brush presets that blend combos of the above.
Sadly, these terrain painting tools are the ones that I feel most lukewarm about. While they should add an enormous amount of extra variety to your landscapes, in practice I found them quite hard to blend subtly, with the intensity slider never quite going low enough to reduce hard borders between terrain types. You can achieve a similar effect by rapidly clicking to feather the brushes, but this is one of the few areas where I feel the tools at your disposal could do with some more refining.
Still, though, the impact of the tool and brush improvements has made the game feel far more fluid in action. They’re all tiny QoL upgrades in isolation, but they’re huge in aggregate. It takes Planet Zoo from a game that’s almost notoriously fiddly and rigid to something that feels more approachable for people who don’t have 1,000 hours to learn all of its tricks.
Should you play Planet Zoo 2?
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
Play it if…
You want a whole new world of aquatic and avian critters Aquariums and aviaries add a whole host of flexible new habitats to bring your zoos to life. Watching turtles and toucans explore their new homes is still a magical experience.
You want the best park design tools to date Honestly, I can’t think of a single clunky tool from the OG Planet Zoo that hasn’t had a QoL improvement here. They’re more usable, flexible, and creative than ever before.
Don’t play it if…
You want to fill a quick 15 minutes Preset buildings make playing Planet Zoo 2 much quicker, but creating things from scratch can take a long time. If you want to design your own zoo piece by piece, be prepared to invest some serious time.
You want a whole new game Planet Zoo 2 builds on its predecessor, so it’s more evolution than revolution. You’ll see some duplicate items and animals, but the range is still staggering, feeling much larger than in the original.
Accessibility features
There’s a small range of accessibility features available here. For those with visual impairments, you can scale the in-game font from 60% to 100% and the UI from 70% to 100%. Meanwhile, Planet Zoo 2 caters to most forms of color blindness, allowing you to change the color of subtitles, as well as the positive, warning, and negative UI feedback colors.
How I reviewed Planet Zoo 2
(Image credit: Frontier Developments)
Given its lengthy career mode and how long it can take to build custom enclosures, I wanted to make sure I had a broad experience of the game, so I played Planet Zoo 2 for over 75 hours. While I was reviewing the PC version, I made sure to try it out on a variety of devices, including my desktop gaming PC, the Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark, and my Steam Deck. I also tried playing it with the SteelSeries Aeon Pro controller to ensure it was as playable on controller as it is on mouse and keyboard.
When in-game, I tried to test out as wide a variety of content as possible. I played a significant chunk of the campaign, started several franchise zoos, and began building my own zoo in sandbox mode. I built aquariums, aviaries, and traditional habitats, as well as other scenery items. And I completed multiple research levels in different wildlife reserves.
As for my own experience, not only do I have that ludicrous 1,100-hour playtime in the original Planet Zoo game, but I’ve been playing management sim games ever since the OG, Theme Park, back in 1994. I’ve been gaming across a wide variety of platforms for at least 35 years and now play principally on my PC, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.
First reviewed: October 2026
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Any personal information posted on the web remain...
Any personal information posted on the web remains there for a long time and can reach far-flung corners. That name, email address, and location can be aggregated by people-finder sites (or data brokers) and sold to subscribers.
These data broker sites pose privacy risks, but there’s a way to protect yourself online. You can use platforms like Malwarebytes’ Personal Data Remover to scan sites for your data, then send deletion requests if found. Malwarebytes facilitates the deletion requests, so there isn’t much to worry about.
Malwarebytes is an all-in-one cybersecurity software suite and is mostly known for its antivirus app. However, it offers other valuable tools, including the Personal Data Remover (if the name didn't give it away, it's a data removal service).
I’m reviewing this tool to help you decide whether it’s worth adopting. Read on to learn about its pros, cons, pricing, support, ease of use, and other essential factors.
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover: Plans and pricing
Malwarebytes doesn’t offer the Personal Data Remover as a separate tool. Rather, it’s offered as part of the Ultimate plan but you can scan for free by clicking here.
The Ultimate plan costs $280 per year, but it’s discounted 50% to $140 on the first year. It unlocks access to the Personal Data Remover and complete antivirus protection, a VPN, and identity protection for 3 devices.
For $400 per year, discounted to $200 on the first year, the Ultimate bundle can be extended to 10 devices for family use.
There are less costly Malwarebytes bundles (Standard for $60 per year and Plus for $80 per year), but none of them include the Personal Data Remover. It seems that if you want access to the Data Remover, you’ll also need to adopt Malwarebytes’ antivirus and VPN apps, which is a major drawback. I’d prefer if the Data Remover were offered as a standalone tool, which I could use alongside other VPN and antivirus tools.
(Image credit: Malwarebytes )
Malwarebytes offers a 14-day free trial of its Ultimate plan, allowing you to test its features before making a final decision. Who knows, you could choose to adopt Malwarebytes as your all-in-one cybersecurity suite after a free trial. There’s also a 60-day money-back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied after paying.
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover: Setup
Firstly, I should note that Malwarebytes’ Personal Data Remover is only offered to U.S. residents. Non-U.S. residents can use the free Digital Footprint Scanner, which scans your email address against known data breaches and alerts you if any associated account was compromised. However, this Digital Footprint Scanner can’t scan people-finder sites and send deletion requests like the Personal Data Remover.
Malwarebytes’ setup follows a straightforward pattern. First, you’ll activate your subscription (or free trial) on the website. After this step, sign in to Malwarebytes and head to the Secure Hub page. This page provides an overview of all Malwarebytes services available under your subscription.
On the Secure Hub page, look for Personal Data Remover and click “Activate Now”. Once activated, enter your personal details (first and last name, state, city, etc.) to begin a search. Submit the details, and Malwarebytes will run a deep scan across people-finder sites for this data.
The scan can take anywhere from a few hours to several days, depending on how many people-finder sites your data gets discovered on. Once the scan is complete, you’ll be alerted by email to take further action.
Malwarebytes’ scan covers over 100 popular people-finder sites that aggregate data on U.S. residents. This coverage is lower than I encountered on rival platforms, but quantity isn’t all that matters. Malwarebytes makes it clear that its Personal Data Remover is designed for U.S. residents and doesn’t offer global coverage. It focuses on the sites that host U.S.-centric data.
After the scan, you’ll see a list of all sites found to host your personal data. Then, you can initiate deletion requests right from the dashboard. Malwarebytes sends automated deletion requests, and you can track the progress of each request.
However, it doesn’t support manually drafted requests, which is a disadvantage. For websites where automated requests won’t suffice, it does offer to guide you through the site’s manual opt-out process, but that’s no substitute for sending manual requests directly to a site.
I’ve reviewed various data removal platforms that draft deletion request letters where automated requests aren’t enough, and the lack of this service on Malwarebytes is a major drawback.
I’ll rate Malwarebytes’ Personal Data Remover as a decent service, but there’s a lot that could be improved on. The lack of manual requests and non-U.S. coverage are major drawbacks. Malwarebytes is more of an antivirus and VPN software suite, and the data removal service seems like an add-on.
It’s suitable if you already use Malwarebytes as your cybersecurity suite and don’t want to pay extra for a data removal service, but I wouldn't pick the data removal platform as a first choice.
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover: Ease of use
I didn’t encounter issues when navigating Malwarebytes’ Personal Data Remover and other features. The signup process was smooth, and so was inputting my personal data, initiating a scan, and getting alerted about the scan results. After initiating removal requests, I tracked the progress of each request conveniently from my dashboard. Malwarebytes has a user-friendly interface that makes using its tools very convenient.
(Image credit: Malwarebytes )
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover: Security and privacy
Malwarebytes’ Personal Data Remover doesn’t rank high over various options I’ve tested. Its data removal features are decent, but rival platforms like DeleteMe offer much more.
However, when considering Malwarebytes’ complete cybersecurity suite, it proves invaluable for your online privacy. Under a single subscription, you'll get a VPN to encrypt your browsing activities and hide info from third parties, an antivirus tool to guard against malware attacks, and a platform for removing your data from U.S.-centric people-finder sites.
Identity protection (with insurance) is also offered under the Ultimate bundle, completing the toolkit needed to stay safe online.
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover: Support
Paid subscribers get extensive support resources from Malwarebytes, starting with the official cybersecurity help center. This help center features in-depth guides about data removal and all other Malwarebytes features.
It also contains guides on routine cybersecurity topics like password management, identifying deepfakes and phishing attempts, spoofing, and more.
If you need direct help, Malwarebytes offers email and live chat support. During my live chat support experience I first got connected to a chatbot, but after requesting human support, I was quickly connected to a real support agent.
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover: Competition
Incogni and DeleteMe are two major competitors to Malwarebytes’ Personal Data Remover. They improve on the Malwarebytes limitations I mentioned earlier, offering much broader broker coverage and manual deletion requests. You’ll get more data scrubbed when using Incogni and DeleteMe, particularly as a U.S. resident.
On the other hand, Incogni and DeleteMe don’t offer the various complementary features you’ll find on Malwarebytes. They’re focused primarily on data removal, while Malwarebytes is more of a complete cybersecurity software suite.
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover: Final verdict
I recommend Malwarebytes more as a complete cybersecurity suite than as a data removal platform. It frankly isn’t my top choice for a data removal service, but considering the other security features accessible through a Malwarebytes subscription, it proves valuable.
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Imagine a NASCAR team where leadership decides th...
Imagine a NASCAR team where leadership decides the winner is the car that burns the most fuel. The crew chief tunes every engine to run rich and wasteful. Drivers ride the gas and the brake at once. The telemetry shows record fuel consumption. The car finishes dead last.
For a stretch this year, wasteful consumption metrics drove AI measurement programs. Companies stood up internal leaderboards ranking employees by how many tokens they burned. A Meta employee built one, crowned the top "token legends," then quietly took it after the numbers leaked externally. By spring the trend had a name: tokenmaxxing.
By the start of summer the inevitable backlash arrived, with companies like Uber acknowledging they’d already spent their entire AI budget for the year in a matter of months.
More recently, the inevitable swing toward using the minimal number of AI tokens (tokenminning) leads to the same problem. If leadership defines winning as using the least amount of fuel, the winning car would never leave the starting line.
Burning or saving tokens should never be the end goal. The objective is shipping more products, at higher quality, with the same or fewer people. The job of a leader is to define the most strategic path toward the finish line, and based on that definition, build metrics that support it.
Why leaderboards miss the mark
A vanity metric is any number that looks great on a slide, leaderboard or dashboard but doesn't change how you run your business. In the AI space, even highly technical and complex metrics can become vanity metrics.
Here’s a couple I’ve seen lately, each a different way to look busy GPU utilization rates that brag about how much raw compute you’ve hoarded, regardless of whether it's solving real problems. AI features shipped per quarter, where leadership slaps a sparkle-emoji text summarizer on every legacy product to pad the release notes.
Metrics like these can feel rigorous, but they're detached from the end work itself. When leaders don’t relate metrics to end goals, engineers may race toward the nearest countable item.
The missing race map
Work completed only matters if it’s the right work. When leadership celebrates "95% adoption" of GitHub Copilot because the licenses are deployed, they can mistake superficial access for deep engagement. They assume productivity is skyrocketing. They're measuring who adopted the tool, not who is effectively using it to improve outcomes.
Developers might be generating more code faster, but if the tool isn't deeply integrated into a refined process, PR sizes inflate and the bottleneck simply shifts to human code review. Cycle time stays stagnant, or worse, bug rates go up because humans are rubber-stamping AI hallucinations.
Close the disconnect: tie depth of use directly to outcomes and business goals. If you have 95% "adoption" but your cycle time hasn't dropped by 30% or your rework hasn't decreased, you don't have high use. You just have an expensive new software distribution.
How to set the finish line
A single number rarely tells a story. If I can produce twice as much code but it takes twice as long to ship, I haven't gained efficiency. I've created more work. The right question isn't how much AI you're using — it's whether the work is actually getting better.
For engineering teams with more established workflows, start with the outcome you want to move, then use a framework like DORA or SPACE to check whether you got there. The framework is the instrument, not the goal. DORA tracks the health of your delivery pipeline — how often you deploy, how long changes take, how quickly you recover from failures, how often changes cause incidents.
SPACE tracks the full picture of developer productivity across five dimensions, including outcomes and satisfaction. Neither was designed for AI, which is exactly why they're useful: they’ll help you measure whether AI made the work better, not whether AI got used.
Pair one of those frameworks against your AI tool usage and your business outcomes like cycle time, rework rate, cost per change. A 25% increase in AI adoption that correlates with a drop in delivery stability isn't a win. The 2025 DORA report found that's exactly what many teams got when they deployed AI into underprepared systems. The tools amplified what was already there. Good engineering foundations got better, fragile ones got more fragile.
For roles outside engineering — marketing, finance, operations — build from first principles. Start with one outcome you're already trying to move: response time, pipeline conversion, forecast accuracy. Establish the finish line before AI enters the workflow. Measure toward that same outcome after. If it moved, figure out whether AI caused it and whether you can repeat it. If it didn't, you've learned something too. Picture a support team that wants to cut first-response time.
They baseline it at nine hours, then let agents draft replies with an AI assistant. Two months later response time is down to three hours, and reopen rates haven’t budged — so the speed isn’t costing them quality. That’s an outcome they can name, measure and repeat. It never needed a leaderboard.
Keeping the finish line in sight
The goal of a metric is to manage toward an outcome. If you're doing more work on the metric than on the outcome, you're upside down. You're looking at the gas tank, not the finish line. So before you stand up your next AI metric, ask one question: what outcome would move if this number did? If you can’t name it, you’re not measuring progress — you’re watching the fuel gauge. Define the finish line first; everything else is just telemetry.
This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.
The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit
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25,000 Dutch government jobs will be cut by 2035,...
25,000 Dutch government jobs will be cut by 2035, new plans say
The Netherlands is looking to save €3.5 billion by 2035
Selling off buildings, simplifying rules, and smaller desks will also contribute to the savings
The Dutch government has announced plans to phase out 25,000 jobs by 2035 in an effort to increase efficiency with the end goal of saving €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion), amounting to about 16% of the government’s total workforce.
According to plans laid out by Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations and Effective Government Eric van der Burg, the cuts will save €900 million ($1 billion) by 2027 while AI will deliver increased productivity to take up the additional workload.
"We cannot keep doing what we did," Van der Burg said. "That is why we are going to make sharp choices for a central government that really works: simpler, smarter and smaller."
Smaller desks and AI part of savings plans
The plans hope to deliver a 20% productivity boost by using AI to increase efficiency, while simultaneously reducing the total government workload by simplifying rules. To that end, the Dutch government also has a plan in place to scrap or simplify at least 500 rules a year.
But AI isn’t the only way the government is looking to reduce costs. New rules will see pairs of employees sharing a single desk, surplus buildings sold off, and IT systems standardized.
While police and defense jobs are not being affected by the cuts, permanent advisory councils and advisory committees are not. The government will release new targets for the number of advisory bodies later this year, with current numbers sitting at 28 and 150 respectively.
According to Bloomberg several motions - albeit voluntary motions - to increase productivity using AI have already been passed. These motions are a catalyst for the resulting job and spending cuts, according to Van der Burg.
The Dutch government has seen a record number of central government officials, peaking at 160,000 by the end of 2025 - a rise of 41% since 2018 according to Bloomberg.
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Individual cybersecurity could previously be glos...
Individual cybersecurity could previously be glossed over, but the situation has changed. Cyber threats have become more sophisticated, as malicious actors increasingly deploy artificial intelligence (AI) tools. From AI-generated phishing emails to deepfakes and automated vulnerability scanning, individuals need protection against the widening net of cyberattacks.
The good thing is that AI also aids in fighting cyberattacks. Cybersecurity tools have become much more sophisticated at countering sneaky methods. To make online protection more accessible, platforms offer all-in-one cybersecurity suites with many features.
IDX is one example, and I’m reviewing it to see how it stacks up alongside the best data removal services and identity theft protection tools we've tested. Read on to learn about the features you’ll get with an IDX Complete subscription, its pros & cons, and how it fares against competitors.
IDX Complete: Plans and pricing
You can see the full list of services from IDX by clicking here.
IDX offers various pricing plans, but in this review I’m focusing on the Complete bundle. For $33 monthly, this bundle offers a data removal service, password manager, VPN, dark web monitoring, identity theft insurance, and many other features.
It's a steal compared to paying for each feature separately. Think of having to pay separately for a VPN, password manager, and data removal platform– it can run into $100 a month, compared to a $33-per-month IDX Complete plan.
(Image credit: IDX )
Users who pay annually get a 10% discount compared to paying month-to-month. I’m unimpressed with this discount, as 30% to 50% is the norm for most cybersecurity bundles I’ve reviewed. If I decide to pay for 12 months upfront, I think I deserve more than 10% off, but some platforms disagree.
IDX also offers a family version of the Complete plan. For $65 per month, the same features on the individual plan are expanded to 2 adults and 5 dependents under 18. It’s built for a conventional family of two parents and several children.
I’ve reviewed many family cybersecurity bundles and hardly encountered age specifications for users. It’s usually just a limit (e.g., 5 or 10 members) regardless of age, but IDX Complete is the exception.
IDX doesn’t offer a standard free trial or money-back guarantee. This is another complaint I have about its pricing system.
IDX Complete: Setup
Setting up IDX follows a straightforward pattern. It starts by entering your name and email, then choosing a password. However, there’s an obstacle here. I mentioned that IDX doesn’t offer a free trial—users have to choose a plan and enter payment details before gaining access. It’s a strictly paywalled service, unlike several platforms I’ve tested that offered free trials at the get-go, then requested a payment later.
After subscribing to the IDX Complete bundle and gaining access, it’s time to start using its security features. IDX offers many features under this bundle, so much that I’ll struggle to cover every one in this review. Instead, I’ll focus on the core features that keep users safe online.
The first is the ForgetMe data removal service. With this feature, you can scan data broker sites for your personal information. If your information is found on any site, IDX sends automated deletion requests. An IDX scan covers 100+ data broker sites, which isn’t as extensive as designated data removal platforms (many rivals cover 500+ sites), but it’s sufficient to remove your information from the most popular data broker sites.
The second is the password manager. This tool lets you store passwords securely and, if needed, share them with others. When it’s time to log into any site with a saved password, you’ll simply autofill the details. This tool also checks if your password got compromised in data breach incidents and alerts you immediately– the corrective action is to change the password for every site where you’ve used it.
The third is the virtual private network (VPN) feature. A VPN encrypts your online traffic by routing it through remote servers—think of surfing the web in the U.K., but using an IP address from faraway Australia. Your identity gets disguised to third parties that want to show you personalized ads or maybe stage malicious attacks.
A VPN is particularly important when you use public WiFi networks, which are often insecure. When using the IDX VPN, I could choose from roughly 20 server locations. This figure pales compared to dedicated VPN apps, some of which offer 200+ locations from countries down to cities. IDX’s server coverage is nowhere near as widespread, but the VPN worked reliably.
For U.S.-based users, IDX Complete includes identity theft recovery and insurance. That is, if a user experiences identity theft, IDX experts walk them through the corrective actions (e.g., freezing credit files and closing certain accounts). Users can get reimbursed for damages if they pay for an insurance plan.
Admittedly, I didn’t get to test the identity theft recovery feature (and hopefully won’t need it soon), but it’s a valuable service when needed.
From my perspective, IDX Complete doesn’t offer the best of each feature, relative to competitors, but the bundle is unbeatable. It’s not the best VPN compared to standalone VPN apps, nor the best data removal platform compared to rivals. However, offering many cybersecurity features in one cost-effective package is the selling point.
IDX Complete: Ease of use
IDX offers a modern interface that I liked using. It’s best described as minimal and simple. It’s not too interactive like I’ve found on some apps, yet not too bland. I’ll say it prioritized function over form, with features neatly arranged in places users can easily find them.
You can access IDX from a web browser or download the mobile app (iOS and Android). I’ve tested various cybersecurity tools that didn’t have mobile apps, so I’ll note that having both iOS and Android apps is a benefit.
(Image credit: IDX )
IDX Complete: Security and privacy
Given its numerous features, IDX Complete is a highly effective privacy protection tool. With it, you get to kill multiple cybersecurity-related birds with one stone. Better still, you get the numerous features at a lower cost in one bundle compared to paying for each one separately.
IDX Complete: Support
IDX users get decent support resources, starting with a Knowledge Center offering detailed user guides, how-tos, and articles discussing emerging cyber threats to watch out for. There’s also an FAQs section that provides solutions to frequently encountered issues. For direct support, users can contact IDX’s staff by filling out an online ticket, and a response is delivered via email.
IDX Complete: Competition
Competition is the name of the game in the cybersecurity niche, with countless platforms offering all-in-one bundles similar to IDX Complete. The PrivacyHawk bundle is the most notable rival I’ll mention. It offers similar personal protection features at an affordable price: $30 per month for the most advanced plan, which includes identity theft protection, dark web monitoring, data removal, and spam filtering.
Personally, I prefer PrivacyHawk because it offers some free scans to help users test its features, unlike IDX, which requires payment before granting access. PrivacyHawk also has a 30-day money-back guarantee, which IDX doesn’t offer.
IDX Complete: Final verdict
IDX Complete provides much value for money. For a monthly subscription, you’ll unlock various tools to protect your online privacy, getting a good deal compared to paying for each tool independently. However, I think IDX should offer a standard free trial to attract users. Being hard-paywalled puts it at a competitive disadvantage.
UK organizations are already feeling AI's effect on the bottom line: a recent study found that 66% of UK enterprises are experiencing significant AI-driven productivity improvements, with leaders reporting that AI is freeing up time specifically for strategic decision-making, not just automating routine tasks.
That shift matters as, despite advances, analytics remained a retrospective or heavy human driven insight tool for long – reactive and slow to respond. With deterministic rule-based architecture, hard code, and static workflows. It worked well enough in predictable use-cases, but not in in dynamic, data-intensive scenarios.
This is changing rapidly, as AI re-imagines traditional analytics into decision intelligence, and autonomous AI goes even further, making decisions, scenario planning, and activating context aware actions with limited or no human instruction based on autonomy dial. Where traditional automation executed predefined workflows, agentic AI systems working in squads analyze data from varied sources to make a chain of complex decisions.
For instance, an AI underwriting agent typically estimates a prospective borrower’s creditworthiness, tweaks loan pricing, routes paperwork, alerts supervisors to compliance concerns. decisions once made by people, now made by systems working in squads.
The scale of the opportunity is significant. The decision intelligence market in Europe, estimated to be $4.35 billion in 2025, is steadily advancing towards a projected value of $20.61 billion by 2035. UK organizations could be well placed to capture a meaningful share of that value if they move deliberately.
Drawing the line between AI and human judgement
The central challenge for any organization adopting decision intelligence is not the technology itself, it's deciding who gets to decide what and when. Several organizations lack a formal mechanism for deciding the extent of autonomy they should allow their systems. This frequently leads to ad-hoc practices, without any limit’s enforcement or governance of autonomy.
The fix is to re-invent or re-imagine clear business decision flow rights into the system from the outset - what an agent may act on independently, and what it must escalate to a person. Going back to underwriting agent example, it can reasonably price a loan or route paperwork on its own, but if it flags a compliance concern or encounters an applicant whose profile falls outside its constraints data, that decision should stop with a human, not get resolved by the agent guessing its way through an edge case.
The future enterprise is not about replacing human judgment but augmenting it through intelligent delegation. Enterprise Decision Intelligence systems, fueled by domain aware foundational models and machine-consumable context, can autonomously handle high-volume, full explainability, data-intensive decisions across supply chains, customer operations, pricing, and activation ecosystems.
Human expertise, meanwhile, remains indispensable for governance, ethical oversight, exception handling, and decisions where business context outweighs algorithmic certainty.
Profound potential, profound risks
The potential benefits are substantial. For instance, when beauty and fragrance retailers have implemented an AI decision engine that determined the right time and proposition for engaging each customer, it earned a double-digit ROI through strategic AI collaboration.
However, AI-based decision intelligence systems come with concerns such as cybersecurity risk, compliance failure, lack of transparency and accountability, and occasionally, improper outcomes.
Even the entry cost, especially when agentic AI is involved, can be quite high and can be optimized through enterprise intelligence foundation models. Above all, full implementation needs to be iterative, involving not only a technology upgrade, but also operating model changes, deep integrations, specialized talent, and a robust ethical and governance framework to build transparency, accountability, and trust in these systems.
As organizations build experience and confidence, they will be able to progressively transition from reactive analytics to proactive decision intelligence. The ones that get the human-AI division of labor right first, not just the ones that move fastest, will be the ones that capture the advantage.
This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.
The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit
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Passkeys are being marketed as the silver bullet ...
Passkeys are being marketed as the silver bullet for online security. Major companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have all rolled them out recently, and many websites now offer them as a login option.
The question is, do they deliver on that promise? Furthermore, what might you be giving up in exchange for this supposed convenience? Let’s break it down.
Why passwords are failing (and how passkeys fix it)
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Passwords are showing their age. They’re easy to forget, and impossible to remember when you use unique ones everywhere.
Every time there’s a massive data breach, millions of your credentials end up floating around on dark web marketplaces. Plus, we also reuse passwords too often, which means one compromised site can give attackers access to your email, bank account, and social media.
Yes, password managers help – but they don’t protect against phishing, and they rely on you trusting that single database.
Then there’s phishing. Even the savviest person can get tricked into typing their password into a fake login page that looks identical to the real one.
Enter passkeys. Instead of something you remember, passkeys use cryptographic keys. One public key lives on the website’s servers, and one private key stays securely locked on your device. When you log in, your device proves your identity mathematically without ever transmitting. There’s no password to type, so there’s nothing for a hacker to steal remotely.
The biometric elephant in the room
Here’s where things get tricky. To unlock most passkeys, you need to authenticate with your phone or computer using a fingerprint, facial scan, or PIN. You might worry that you’re just handing over our biometric data to Big Tech but that’s fortunately not the case.
Your fingerprint or face scan never leaves your device. That scan simply unlocks a secure chip that stores your private key.
Once unlocked, the chip confirms your identity to the website. Companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft never see your actual biometric template. They just manage the encrypted container holding your passkeys.
The real risks: Device access and lock-in
Passkeys aren’t perfect, though. Instead of someone guessing your password online, the concern becomes physical access to your unlocked phone.
If a thief has your device and knows your screen lock PIN, they could potentially access all your passkey-secured accounts. The good news is most devices require re-authentication for each login attempt anyway.
Another issue is ecosystem lock-in. Passkeys are often tied tightly to specific platforms such as Apple iCloud Keychain and Google Password Manager.
While syncing across devices within an ecosystem works smoothly, moving between iPhone and Android can be a headache. You might find yourself locked out of accounts unless you’ve exported your passkeys properly beforehand.
The verdict
Passkeys provide stronger protection than passwords – especially against remote attackers and phishing attempts.
The cryptographic approach eliminates whole categories of attacks that plague traditional passwords. That said, they introduce new considerations around physical device security and platform dependency.
Should you start using them? Yes. Treat them as an upgrade, not a magic wand. Combine passkeys with good habits such as keeping your devices updated and using screen locks, and you’ll be protected against common threats.
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When I last looked at Movavi Video Editor, I was ...
But time waits for no computer program, and as version 27 has recently been released, I thought it was time to check how it has improved.
Movavi Video Editor 27: Pricing & plans
Subscription is fairly priced
Perpetual license is way more expensive for Americans
Free trial available
You can grab Movavi Video Editor 27 from the official site by clicking here.
Let’s face it: everything’s getting more expensive. Whether it’s food, petrol, or subscriptions, the price keeps going ever higher, so it was with trepidation that I looked at Movavi’s current pricing structure.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom: Movavi have actually lowered their prices. Should you decide to pay monthly for your video editor, you’ll need to fork out $20, €19 or £18, but the big incentive is to pay yearly, as it’s only $55, €44, or £41, which is a little over 2 months’ worth.
It’s not as cheap as free of course (like DaVinci Resolve), but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than Adobe Premiere Pro (which would set you back $276 each year).
If you’d rather pay once and actually own the software you’re downloading, a perpetual licence is also available for £150, €90 or £90 (the massive discrepancy between currencies is… puzzling).
And perhaps best of all, the software is multi-platform, allowing you to work with it, whether you use a PC or a Mac.
If you’re not sure about investing in this application, there’s a free trial you can access. A watermark will be added to any output, and your projects are limited to 60 seconds in length. Still, it should be enough to give you an idea of what you can do with Movavi Video Editor.
Score: 4/5
Movavi Video Editor 27: Getting started
(Image credit: Future)
The software still doesn’t know which language your OS is set to
So it defaults to Japanese
Last time I checked out Movavi, back when it was on version 25, I made a point of stating that unusually, the first time you launch the software, you’re not greeted with an interface in your own native tongue, or at the very least in English.
Instead, all the menus are in Japanese. That’s not an issue if you know that language, but if you’re more familiar with those that use the Latin alphabet, you’re faced with an unexpected challenge.
Thankfully, if you grab a screenshot of the interface and submit it to Google Translate, the solution will become more obvious, and changing the default language then becomes a trivial matter. But it’s disappointing to see that after all this time, Movavi still treats this as a feature, not a bug.
Software should be able to detect the OS’s chosen language and default to that when you launch it. I’m surprised Movavi still insists on making life difficult for many of its customers.
Score: 2.5/5
Movavi Video Editor 27: Editing
(Image credit: Future)
Excellent video editor with a wealth of useful, powerful, and well implemented tools
Shame so many of them are locked behind subscription plans
Initial frustrations aside, when it comes to video editing - what the software is designed for - Movavi Video Editor does a sterling job. It starts with mousing over an imported clip in the media section. Doing that allows you to preview the clip as you move the cursor over it, enabling you to set in and out points with ease.
You can work with multiple layers of course, although there is a base layer beneath which you can’t add other clips, which can be a little annoying if you like to create complex projects and move clips around a lot.
There are Titles, Transitions, Effects, and Elements aplenty, all organised by category with a handy search field available, although many of those are restricted behind a paywall. These are identified by a little ‘crown’ logo, top right of their thumbnails.
You can still use them in your project, but you’ll be informed upon export that you need to purchase a subscription to be able to share any video with them in it, for either €36 a month, or €110 a year, which, I’m sure you can tell, is much more expensive than the actual program itself. This can be annoying but it’s entirely possible to restrict yourself to non-premium assets by setting the filter for each section to ‘free’.
The Tools section houses important features, such as image stabilisation, background removal, green green work, and an AI-based subtitle feature which worked incredibly well when I tried it out. Thankfully, everything stored in that section is part of the software’s base cost.
But all of this was already part of Movavi Video Editor. The big innovation that’s being introduced in version 27, is Templates.
Score: 4/5
Movavi Video Editor 27: Templates
(Image credit: Future)
Templates offers a great and versatile way to spice up your project
Can be used wholesale or just choosing just the parts you’re interested in
The concept of Templates is pretty clever: editing can be hard and time consuming, and if you just want to put something out there but lack the skills or experience, it can really be a chore. So Movavi have created a large collection of ready-made templates which you can add to your project. One template could be your entire video, or alternatively, be part of a larger one. It’s also entirely possible to add multiple templates to the same project.
These are organised into 12 categories, from Beauty and Fashion, to Gaming, to Marketing and Promo, and more. And it probably won’t surprise you to know that nearly all these templates include some premium features of some kind, although each category has at least one free option for you to choose.
Dragging a template to a project expands it into various sections, each of which lets you know how many placeholders within it need to be replaced. Some sections don’t give you the option to replace theirs which is odd, but it’s a simple matter of deleting them entirely and adding one of your own clips in their place.
As for actually replacing those placeholders, it wasn’t as intuitive as I had expected, but once you’re aware of the concept, the process is quite simple: click on the ‘clips to replace’ text on the section’s representation in your timeline, to reveal the placeholder’s large thumbnail above it.
Clicking on that thumbnail opens a window containing all the media you imported into this project. Select the one you want, choose the part of it you’d like to use, and click on ‘Apply’. Repeat that for every placeholder.
Need more customisation? Double-click on a Template’s Section to reveal its ‘Clip Settings’. In addition to offering you another way to replace those placeholder clips, you also have other options, such as customising the text fields, or checking the applied effects, for instance.
These templates also come with a soundtrack which you’re free to use or discard, just like you can reorder or delete the sections it came with, which actually allows you to mix and match parts of different templates to create your own unique project in minutes rather than hours.
I found it a great fun way to quickly build something original.
Score: 4.5/5
Should I buy Movavi Video Editor 27?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if...
You’re into video editing and are looking for an affordable application that will let you do just that, and you appreciate the addition of versatile and customisable templates to speed up your work.
Don't buy it if...
You don’t spend enough time editing video to warrant paying for such software, so you’d rather find something that’s free, even if it means having fewer tools at your disposal.
FutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture
How I tested Movavi Video Editor 27
Movavi Video Editor is multi-platform, being compatible with Windows and Macs alike, which is a great thing (sorry Linux users). I always like to test such software primarily with the underdog (or I prefer just Macs… you decide).
In this instance, I put it through its paces on a recent laptop sporting Apple Silicon, as based on my previous exploration of this software when it was at version 25, I had concluded it needed a ‘decently powerful machine’ to run effectively.
The software ran incredibly smoothly and was very responsive. I particularly liked the way it looks but, to be honest, that could be due to the fact the interface, and even the way the clips are presented in the timeline, resembles Final Cut Pro, one of my preferred video editing platforms.
Not so long ago, you could have compared Hyundai (and sister company Kia) to the numerous Chinese newcomers currently wreaking havoc on the new car market.
The pair did to the legacy automakers what the Chinese are doing now, in so much as they undercut prices with exceptional value propositions.
How times have changed, as both Korean marques now offer luxurious electric vehicles that cost upwards of £70,000 / $70,000 / AU$130,000 and are now synonymous with quality, innovation and cutting-edge design.
Not one to back down, Hyundai is ploughing on with its plans to be one of the leading electric vehicle manufacturers in the world, promising to launch or update 100 models by the year 2030.
(Image credit: Hyundai)
Spearheading that campaign is the new Ioniq 3 — a fully electric compact hatchback that Hyundai says is designed to make electrified mobility intuitive, comfortable and relevant for everyday European needs.
To do this, it is offering highly competitive all-electric range, punchy performance and distinctive looks in a package that can easily be threaded through busy city streets and parked in typically tight urban spaces.
But above all this is the exceptional value proposition. In the UK, the Hyundai Ioniq 3 starts at £18,495 after the full £3,750 Electric Car Grant (that's around $25,000 / AU$35,000), slotting it in among some of the most affordable EVs on the market today, without the tech and space compromises of something like the super cheap Dacia Spring, Honda Super-N or Leapmotor T03.
Tech-cellent value
(Image credit: Hyundai)
It might seem odd that one of Hyundai’s cheapest vehicles is also the first to sport Hyundai’s all-new Pleos infotainment system, but the technological update has helped keep costs down.
Gone is the sweeping (and more expensive) multi-screen array found in other models, such as the Ioniq 5, and in its place is either a 12.9-inch or 14.6-inch central touchscreen (depending on the trim level) that is based on the now ubiquitous Android Automotive Operating System.
Zero points for guessing which company Pleos clearly drew a huge amount of inspiration from, as the graphical layout is almost identical to a Tesla, complete with the ability to adjust the on-screen set-up with a few intuitive swipes.
(Image credit: Hyundai)
Zero points for guessing which company Pleos clearly drew a huge amount of inspiration from
There’s a graphical representation of the car on the left of the screen that can open the trunk and windows (like Tesla), navigation to the right (like Tesla) and a read-out for current speed in the corner closest to the driver (you guessed it, just like Tesla).
Homework copying aside, Pleos isn’t as handsome as other Hyundai set-ups, as it feels a little ‘bolted on’ to the dash.
But it all works seamlessly, is very fast to respond and is an improvement in so much as it offers much more detailed connected navigation with EV route planning, over-the-air software updates and access to the Pleos App Market, which will grow as the weeks pass.
Weirdly, Hyundai has also opted to offer a second digital driver display, which sits behind the steering wheel, as an optional extra.
Some corners of the internet lost their minds over this, forgetting that Tesla has relied solely on its central infotainment display for years.
(Image credit: Hyundai)
So, if you prefer your speed read-outs in a position where you don’t have to take your eyes off the road, it could be worth ticking that option box.
Hyundai also introduces Gleo AI with the new infotainment system, an AI-powered voice assistant integrated into Pleos Connect.
It uses natural-language commands to control selected vehicle functions, access information and interact with connected services.
During testing, it worked very well, able to make the cabin warmer via chatty conversation and even interact with third-party apps, such as Spotify.
There’s also the option of Hyundai Digital Key 2, which allows compatible smartphones and wearable devices to lock, unlock and start the car without a physical key, while a dedicated app provides remote access to vehicle information and selected functions through a smartphone.
Despite the price, customers aren’t getting short-changed on the technology front and here, it feels like Hyundai has poured hours of dev work into the Ioniq 3 to make sure it’s all intuitive and easy to figure out… which can’t be said for many cut-price Chinese rivals.
Styled to stand out
(Image credit: Hyundai)
Hyundai’s decision to combine its ‘Art of Steel’ design language with what the company calls an ‘Aero Hatch’ silhouette is likely to raise eyebrows and cause some debate over whether or not it actually works, but this is a car that demands attention whichever side of the argument you sit on.
The shape pairs a low front end with a roofline designed to maximize headroom for front and rear passengers before tapering toward the rear spoiler.
Hyundai said it targeted a drag coefficient of approximately 0.263 in order to boost EV efficiency, while the company’s signature pixel lighting and four central dots referencing the letter ‘H’ in Morse code give the car a distinctive visual identity when it’s dark.
(Image credit: Hyundai)
Divisive exterior design aside, there’s plenty of room inside the car. The ‘Furnished Space’ approach of the concept has taken a bit of a backseat, but it’s a very minimalist space with a flat floor that’s intended to maximize passenger roominess, with Hyundai claiming the five-seat cabin can comfortably accommodate three adults in the rear — although it will be a squeeze.
Customers can stash a total of 441 liters of stuff in the back, which is split between a 322-liter trunk and an integrated 119-liter “Megabox”, which is essentially a large space underneath the trunk floor.
Having seen most of the variations Hyundai offers, the N-Line cars, with their larger wheels and more pronounced rear spoiler, certainly look the best. It’s no hot hatch, but ‘Aero Hatch’ wears the rear wing and diffuser with more confidence, making it look less awkward than base cars.
A fine drive
(Image credit: Hyundai)
Navigating Hyundai’s various trim levels is a little confusing, especially given that the cheaper, shorter-range versions are actually faster — which you can't specify in the racier N-Line guise.
All cars ride on Hyundai’s latest K3 Platform with a 400-volt electrical architecture, allowing for 10 to 80% top-ups in approximately 29 minutes using a DC fast charger. The Standard Range model uses a 42.2 kWh battery, while the Long Range version gets a 61 kWh unit.
Both feature a front-mounted electric motor and front-wheel drive, with the Standard Range producing 107.8 kW (147 hp) and the Long Range delivering 99.5 kW (135 hp).
It feels like the wrong way around, but it’s very difficult to discern the additional 12 hp from behind the wheel anyway.
(Image credit: Hyundai)
The ‘Furnished Space’ approach of the concept has taken a bit of a backseat
Hyundai quotes WLTP ranges of over 344km (around 214 miles) for the Standard Range and over 497km (around 310 miles) for the Long Range, which feels about right given the sort of efficiencies we were experiencing during our test drives.
Across the often broken road surfaces just outside of Istanbul, Turkey, the Ioniq 3 leaned on its smart regenerative braking functionality to top up the batteries on descents and generally make the most out of a charge. I clocked around 4.2 miles per kWh during my test.
With that in mind, expect to return around 250 miles from the longer-range versions and around 200+ miles from the Standard variant under typical driving conditions.
Acceleration is brisk across the board and this is definitely a car that has been tuned for quick city sprints, rather than long motorway stretches.
(Image credit: Hyundai)
During these, there’s a fair amount of wind noise and the Ioniq 3 felt out of its depth keeping up with Turkey’s circa-90 mph speed limits.
But under normal (read slower) driving conditions, it feels much more mature than its budget price tag would suggest. The cabin is neatly laid out and the soft-touch fabrics adorning most surfaces elevate it to a point that Hyundai could easily charge more.
Above all else, it’s very difficult not to keep returning to the price, because the Ioniq 3 feels like an extremely accomplished EV that will happily rival the likes of the Renault 5 E-Tech and the VW ID 3, while undercutting sister company Kia’s EV2 by a considerable amount.
As a retort to the waves of cheaper Chinese rivals, it’s a formidable proposition with great in-car tech, a sweet drive, excellent range and a premium-felling interior.
In fact, when you consider the price, it has to be one of the most well-rounded affordable EVs currently on sale.
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