It's official: Fallout has set the streaming world on fire. The hit series, which only began streaming on April 10, has dropped some seriously impressive numbers in its first two weeks on Prime Video. So much so, in fact, that's now the second most popular Amazon show of all time.

Confirmed in an X/Twitter post, Amazon's Fallout TV show has been streamed by 65 million people since it debuted. To put that into context, other wildly successful Prime Video shows, including The Boys, Invincible, and Reacher, didn't pull in as many audience members after their first seasons were released. Simply put: Fallout has enjoyed an explosively epic start to life on Amazon's primary streaming service.

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As *ahem* rad as those viewing figures are, Fallout can't claim a place in the history books as the most popular Prime Video show ever made. That honor belongs to The Rings of Power, Amazon's non-canonical Lord of the Rings prequel series, whose first season was seen by 100 million people worldwide after its September 2022 release.

There is one small caveat to The Rings of Power's popularity among audiences, though. The aforementioned viewership figure for the high fantasy series' debut season was accumulated between September and December, aka the three-month period after its initial launch. The fact that Fallout has amassed around 66% of that 100 million figure in just over two weeks, then, suggests it might have the legs to eventually overhaul its Prime Video sibling at the most-watched Amazon TV summit.

Even if it doesn't, Fallout has confirmed its position as one of the best Prime Video shows in many people's eyes. And, with Fallout season 2 greenlit just days after its predecessor's critically and commercially acclaimed arrival, more adventures across the Wasteland await us down the road.

More than an okey-dokey kind of Prime Video show

Fallout season 1 has earned a megaton of praise since its April 10 debut. (Image credit: Amazon Studios)

So, what's behind Fallout becoming one of the most-streamed Amazon TV Originals of all time? 

There are a number of factors, including its authenticity to the source material, pleasing blend of multiple genres, its likeable cast, innovative and hard-working crew, and its accessibility to anyone who hasn't played any of Bethesda's post-apocalyptic game series, which Prime Video's TV show is also set in. 

Oh, and let's not forget the fact that it fleshes out and expands upon Fallout's universe in wholly original ways – a prime example being that Fallout includes 'the one thing we could never do' in said games, according to Bethesda boss Todd Howard.

All of that – and a whole lot more that I could get into but won't because I'll be here all day – positions Fallout as a truly epic videogame adaptation. Indeed, in my review of Fallout season 1, I called it "an ambitious, prestige-flavored adaptation that brings one of gaming’s most iconic series to life with a highly satisfying blend of source material devotion and narrative originality". 

Here's hoping season 2, which director/executive producer Jonathan Nolan teased some "really cool plans" for in my exclusive chat with him, will be as big of a blast as its forebear is on one of the world's best streaming services.

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Microsoft-owned developer platform GitHub has launched GitHub Copilot Workspace, a new Copilot-native environment designed to support brainstorming, planning, building, testing and running code, into technical preview.

Copilot Workspace, announced as part of a company blog post, builds on the successes of the platform’s other generative AI aids, Copilot and Copilot Chat, which were launched in 2022 and 2023.

Initially teased at the company’s annual Universe conference last October, the Workspace arm of GitHub’s Copilot brand is now open for those keen to get an early look.

GitHub opens up Copilot Workspace for some lucky previewers

GitHub says that its Copilot Workspace was designed to meet developers at the origin, be it a GitHub repo or a GitHub issue. The generative AI assistant is meant to assist developers from the earliest stages of idea conception, which would break down some of the barriers associated with getting started on new projects.

One of the standout features is the tool’s ability to create step-by-step plans to address coding challenges based on issue context.

Addressing concerns shared by many developers and tech workers globally, GitHub stated that its new tool is designed to help developers deliver on their creativity, rather than replace developers. Testament to this is that “everything GitHub Copilot Workspace proposes… is fully editable.”

The Microsoft-owned platform has also recognized an increasingly mobile landscape, adding support for Copiloy Workspace on all device types including “desktop, laptop, or on the go.”

GitHub’s vision with Copilot Workspace extends beyond equipping individual developers with enhanced tools to get the work done – the company hopes that by lowering the entry barrier to software development, it can support one billion people worldwide in creating software.

In the blog post, CEO Thomas Dohmke likens coding and developing software to riding a bicycle, highlighting the scale of the platform’s ambitious plans.

Prospective users can join the waitlist for GitHub Copilot Workspace now, before it transitions to a generally available product.

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It looks like the Delta Nintendo emulator for iOS has been a hit since it launched earlier this month, racking up tens of thousands of (very positive reviews) on the App Store, and we're assuming a lot more downloads. Now the developer has confirmed that an iPad version is imminent.

Posting on Threads (via 9to5Mac), Delta developer Riley Testut says that Delta for iPad is "near completion", and will be showing up on iOS the next time an update is pushed through – specifically, in version 1.6 of the app.

The developer has even included a preview video of Delta working on an iPad, showing how the extra screen space and multi-window capabilities of Apple's tablet will be used to present classic Nintendo games and consoles in a variety of ways on screen.

There's no time frame yet for when Delta for iPadOS will show up, but it shouldn't be too long now. If you live in the EU and you're signed up to the relevant Patreon, you can already download and install the tablet version from the AltStore.

Emulators and Apple

Delta is also available on the AltStore (Image credit: AltStore)

Apple first opened the App Store doors to emulator apps at the start of April, presumably in an attempt to avoid further antitrust pressure from governments in the EU and the US – pressure which has continued to grow this year.

It didn't take long for the first emulators to appear, though a Nintendo emulator was pulled by its own developer over concerns about possible legal consequences. While emulators are legal, pirating copyrighted software for them (in the form of ROMs) isn't.

Apple says emulators on iOS must comply with "all applicable laws", and so far we haven't seen any of these apps run into trouble in that area. We did see a Game Boy emulator taken down, but that was because it shamelessly ripped off another app.

Nintendo is usually fairly aggressive when it comes to chasing down game piracy, though it hasn't intervened here so far. It most often tackles emulator tech and ROM distribution rather than end users, with the issue further complicated by different loopholes in individual countries (like the right to make personal backups of software).

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Spy.pet, a website that offered billions of Discord chat logs for sale, has been taken offline by the chat app provider. Discord accounts associated with the service are also believed to have been banned from the service. 

In confirming the news, Discord itself said that the site and the database it was selling broke its terms of service.

"Scraping our services and self-botting are violations of our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines,” the company spokesperson said in a statement for The Register. “In addition to banning the affiliated accounts, we are considering appropriate legal action."

Last week, news broke that a website was selling more than four billion public messages, made by roughly 620 million users, logged into more than 14,000 servers. 

On the surface, it seemed as if there was no foul play, because the data was already public-facing. Discord is essentially an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) service, meaning that with the right bots and automation, all of its data could be harvested.

Backup domain

The website advertised the database as something that could be used by law enforcement agencies, or companies looking to train AI models on large logs of human interaction. Spying on people was also an option. 

The service used an unknown number of Discord accounts, which accessed open servers, or those with an easy invite link. Despite the open availability of the data, Discord confirmed that this, too, was prohibited. Some of the accounts that were engaged in data scraping have also been terminated:

“We identified certain accounts that we believe are affiliated with the Spy.pet website, which we have subsequently banned."

The Spy.pet website administrator allegedly told their followers on Telegram that they were working on propping up a backup domain, but at press time, the site was still showing as offline.

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In IDC’s own words, its Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment is "designed to provide clients with a better understanding of how enterprise infrastructure technologies (server, external enterprise storage systems, purpose-built appliances: HCI and PBBA) are being deployed in cloud environments and what type of buyers are acquiring them."

The Next Platform has been following these trackers as they are released every quarter, and noticed that while hyperscalers, cloud builders, and other service providers who “build datacenter infrastructure and sell capacity on it” surpassed 50 percent share of the combined server and storage revenues in the first quarter of 2020, by the close of 2028, if IDC is right, that figure will have jumped to 69.7 percent.

The reason, of course, is LLMs. While enterprises, governments, and academic institutions (EG&As) all desire to ride the AI wave, it will be more affordable for them to do so through the cloud rather than buying, running and maintaining their own data centers.

No server makers

Digging into IDC's data, The Next Platform’s Timothy Prickett Morgan has identified that “non-cloud” spending is now seriously below “all-cloud”, and this is a trend that shows no signs of slowing.

Prickett Morgan paints a grim picture of where this might lead us. “In that longest of runs, enterprises may lose the skillsets required to run their own infrastructure as they become more dependent on service providers. In that longest of runs, there may not be independent chip makers and system makers and storage makers, and IT may get a hell of a lot more expensive because of that. There may not be any server buyers at all, and no server makers. Just hyperscale clouds (that is an intentional hybrid) that sell application access with expensive AI built in that no one can easily replicate in a datacenter of their own, all based on hardware of their own design and making.“

And things get gloomier. “What if the plan for the hyperscalers and cloud builders is not just to build their own stuff, but to keep you and your OEM partners from building an alternative? That is what happens when the EG&A sector gets too small, and don’t think for a second these ever-hungry behemoths don’t know it.”

That may sound like the worst case scenario, and it may not come to pass, but the trends and projections presented by IDC and analyzed by The Next Platform underscore genuine concerns within the tech community. If organizations increasingly depend on hyperscale clouds and invariably lose the capability to run their own hardware, this could create a tech monopoly where only a handful of major players dictate the terms of IT solutions. The consequences could range from inflated pricing to reduced options for customization and flexibility. This is a transition that organizations, tech vendors, and policy makers need to monitor closely.

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Sora fans just learned a hard lesson: filmmakers will be filmmakers and will do what's necessary to make their creations as convincing and eye-popping as possible. But if this made them think less of OpenAI's generative AI video platform, they're wrong.

When OpenAI handed an early version of the generative Video AI platform to a bunch of creatives, one team – Shy Kids – created an unforgettable video of a man with a yellow balloon for a head. Many declared Air Head to be a weird and powerful breakthrough, but a behind-the-scenes video has cast a rather different spin on it. And it turns out that as good as Sora is at generating video from test prompts, there were many things that the platform either couldn't do or didn't produce just as the filmmakers wanted.

The video's post-production editor Patrick Cederberg offered, in an interview with FxGuide, a lengthy list of changes Cederberg's team made to Sora's output to create the stunning effects we saw in the final, 1-minute, 22-second Air Head video.

Sora's developers, for instance, included no understanding of typical film shots like panning, tracking, and zooming, so the team sometimes had to create a pan and tilt shot out of the existing more static clip.

Plus, while Sora is capable of outputting lengthy videos based on long text prompts, there is no guarantee that the subjects in each prompt will remain consistent from one output clip to another. It took considerable work and experimentation in prompts to get videos that connected disparate shots into a semi-connected whole.

As Cederberg notes in an Air Head Behind the Scenes video "What ultimately you're seeing took work time and human hands to get it looking semi-consistent."

The balloon head sounds particularly challenging, as Sora understands the idea of a balloon but doesn't base its output on, say, an individual video or photo of a balloon. In Sora's original idea, every balloon had a sting attached; Cederberg's team had to paint that out of each frame. More frustratingly, Sora often wanted to put the impression (see above), outline, or drawing of a face on the balloons. And while the final video features a yellow balloon in each shot, the Sora output usually had different balloon colors that Shy Kids would adjust in post.

Shy Kids told FxGuide that all the video they used is Sora output, it's just that if they had used the video untouched, the film would've lacked the continuity and cohesion of the final, wistful product.

This is good news

Does this news turn the charming Shy Kids video into Sora's Milkshake Duck? Not necessarily.

If you look at some of the unretouched videos and images in the Behind the Scenes video, they're still remarkable and while post-production was necessary, Shy Kids never shot a single bit of real film to produce the initial images and video.

Even as AI innovation races forward and we see huge generational leaps as often as every three months, AI of almost any stripe is far from perfect. ChatGPT's responses are usually accurate, but can still miss the context and get basic facts wrong. With text-to-imagery, the results are even more varied because, unlike AI-generated text response – which can use fact-based sources and mostly predicts the right next word – generative imaging base their output on a representation of that idea or concept. That's particularly true of diffusion models that use training information to figure out what something should look like, which means that output can vary wildly from image to image.

"It's not as easy as a magic trick: type something in and get exactly what you're hoping for," Shy Kids Producer Syndey Leeder says in the Behind the Scenes video.

These models may have a general idea of what a balloon or person looks like. Asking such a system to imagine a man on a bike six times will get you six different results. They may all look good, but it's unlikely the man or bicycle will be the same in every image. Video generation likely compounds the issue, with the odds of maintaining scene and image consistency across thousands of frames and from clip to clip extremely low.

With that in mind, Shy Kids' accomplishment is even more noteworthy. Air Heads manages to maintain both the otherworldliness of an AI video and a cinematic essence.

This is how AI should work

Automation doesn't mean the complete removal of human intervention. This is as true for videos as it is on the factory floor, where the introduction of robots has not meant people-free production. I vividly recall Elon Musk's efforts to automate as much of the Tesla Model 3's production as possible. It was a near disaster and production went more smoothly when he added back the humanity.

A creative process such as filmmaking or production will always require the human touch. Shy Kids needed an idea before they could start feeding it to Sora. And when Sora didn't understand their intentions, they had to adjust the output by hand. As most creative endeavors do, it became a partnership, one where the accomplished Sora AI provided a tremendous shortcut, but one that still didn't take the project to completion.

Instead of bursting Air Head's bubble, these revelations remind us that the marriage of traditional media and AI still requires a human's guiding hand and that's unlikely to change – at least for the time being.

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Despite security experts constantly warning about the risks of reusing passwords, a shockingly high number of people still do just that - and to make matters worse, many are even writing them down on pieces of paper that can easily fall into the wrong hands.

A new report from password management firm Bitwarden surveying 2,400 individuals from the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan, ahead of World Password Day (May 2), on their password practices found a quarter admitted to reusing passwords across 11-20+ accounts.

What’s more, a third (36%) put personal information in their passwords, information that can easily be obtained on social media (60%) and online forums (30%) (think birth dates, names of spouses, etc.). Also, 54% try to memorize all of their passwords, while a third (33%) write it down on a piece of paper they keep at home. Roughly half (48%) reuse passwords across workplace platforms or accounts “frequently, or rather frequently”.

2FA on the rise

Many (19%) have experienced data loss, or another security breach, as a consequence of their poor password hygiene, the report further uncovered. 

A quarter (23%) confirmed having their passwords stolen, or otherwise compromised, in the past. At the same time, the majority is confident in their password practices. Almost two-thirds (60%) feel they would be able to identify a phishing attack, and 68% feel prepared to identify and mitigate AI-enhanced cyberattacks. 

Passwords for private accounts fare no better, either, Bitwarden found. 

The good news is that awareness about the importance of strong passwords is rising. Half (51%) of global respondents adopted a password manager at home, and are growing more security-conscious at work, as well. Another 45% said they now reuse passwords “less frequently”. Finally, 80% of global respondents now use more two-factor authentication (2FA) for personal accounts, and 66% use it for workplace accounts. 

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With Apple set to announce iOS 18 (and a whole lot more) at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 10, it's rumored that the company is in talks with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to help with a major AI upgrade for the iPhone.

This comes from the usually reliable Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, who says discussions between Apple and OpenAI have been "renewed" and are now intensifying, according to unnamed people "familiar with the matter".

Last month Bloomberg reported that Apple was speaking to Google about using the Gemini chatbot inside iOS 18, so this hasn't come completely out of the blue: Apple is clearly looking for a partnership with someone for its next big software upgrade.

What this latest report suggests is that OpenAI might have emerged as the frontrunner in the race, which means tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E (also developed by OpenAI) might find their way into the iOS 18 update, expected to be rolled out around September time.

To be confirmed

Siri could be in line for an upgrade (Image credit: Apple)

Gurman says that Apple hasn't made a decision yet: it might decide to work with Google, or with OpenAI, or with both companies. What is certain is that iOS 18 is going to be focused very much on artificial intelligence – Apple has already confirmed it.

We can expect iOS 18 to come with some kind of local, device-based AI too. Apple has already been showing off some new large language models (LLMs) that are small enough to be stored and run from a smartphone.

Exactly what we'll get remains to be seen, but some kind of AI text and image generation seems likely, plus a substantial upgrade to Siri. There have also been rumors of features like AI-powered playlist generation in Apple Music.

All eyes are now on WWDC 2024 in June, when everything Apple has been working on should be revealed – for iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and more. Public betas of these updates will then follow, before the final versions get pushed out. 

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If you’ve lost track of this week’s most important tech news then don’t fret, as we’re here to catch you up to speed – and this is one week you won't want to have missed.

We say that because some major things have happened in the last seven days. Meta announced that it’s sharing its Horizon OS with other VR headset makers – which is the biggest announcement it will likely make this decade – Apple teased its 2024 iPad lines and gave us a launch date for them, and DJI gave us a release date for its cheapest-ever 4K drone.

And here at TechRadar we hosted our first Sustainability Week, producing a whole host of articles showcasing some fantastic examples of how the tech industry is focusing on sustainability – and a few instances where it still needs to do better.

Let’s get you all caught up on the week’s biggest stories that you might have missed…

7. We hosted Sustainability Week 

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Troyan)

We ran our first Sustainability Week, highlighting the sustainability heroes working to make a difference in tech – and some we think could do more. We talked to Samsung about its energy efficient, AI-driven appliances, delved deep into Apple's recent patent for removable uniform battery enclosures, and even spoke with the creators of a bioengineered plant purifier. 

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though, as we also zoned in on the energy impact of processors and graphics cards, calling for the likes of AMD, Nvidia and Intel to work together towards a more sustainable chipmaking future. We've also shared insights on how you can do your bit, whether that's by opting for refurbished tech, seeking out sustainably sourced devices, or using your phone to save the planet.

• Read more: Our sustainability week coverage

6. Apple set a launch date for its new iPads

The official invite for Apple's May 7 launch event (Image credit: Apple)

Apple has confirmed the date for its next “special Apple Event” as May 7 at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BST, which is midnight AEST on May 8, and while iPads aren’t officially on the cards, the invite includes a snazzy Apple logo featuring an Apple Pencil surrounded by splashes of color – a strong indication that new tablets will be shown off.

We’re expecting the headline announcement to be a new iPad Pro with an OLED display and M3 chipset, with two iPad Air 6 models plus some accessories – such as a new Pencil and potentially a Magic Keyboard – also likely to get shown off.

And if this isn’t enough Apple for you, just over a month later Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC 2024, will kick off on June 10. So make sure to check back here regularly to keep yourself in the loop.

• Read more: Apple sets imminent launch date for new iPads

5. Meta made a massive OS announcement 

(Image credit: Meta)

This week Meta announced that its Horizon OS – the operating system used by its VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 – is coming to third-party hardware, starting with ASUS, Lenovo and Xbox devices.

This is huge news, as it’ll hopefully lead to a much more diverse range of VR headsets in the near future, with the already teased gadgets including a “performance gaming headset,” “mixed-reality devices for productivity,” and a more Quest-like headset coming from the trio of partners respectively.

However, Meta might want to make sure that Horizon OS doesn’t copy too many of the bad aspects of Windows, though only time will tell how this move will play out.

• Read more: Meta is making spatial computing's Windows with Horizon OS

4. A Sony wearable took us one step closer to Dune 

(Image credit: Future / Axel Metz)

With the recent launch of Apple’s Vision Pro headset and Dyson’s Bane-like air-purifying headphones, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’ve reached peak wearable tech. However, this week Sony showed us that the wearable product class is just getting started.

The Sony Reon Pocket 5 is a wearable thermo device that cools or warms your body, depending on the conditions of your environment. Designed to sit neatly on the back of your neck, the Reon Pocket 5 uses a plate-like "thermos module" and five sensors to determine optimal body temperature and, hopefully, make you more comfortable while you're traveling on public transport or walking in less-than-ideal conditions.

The Reon Pocket 5 offers five levels of cooling and four levels of warmth, meaning that – in theory – it’s just as useful on a stuffy commuter train as it is outdoors on a frosty morning. We took the device for a spin at a recent demo event, and we can confirm that it does indeed regulate body temperature pretty effectively – though you’ll have to put up with looking like an extra from a sci-fi movie when wearing it.

• Read more: Sony’s wearable air conditioner could improve your commute

3. An Android phone served up superior audio 

(Image credit: Moondrop)

The lack of an audio jack in most of today’s phones hasn’t been popular with everyone – especially not audiophiles, who love the fidelity of wired connections for hi-res audio. Enter the Moondrop MIAD01 – this phone not only has a 3.5mm jack, it also has a 4.4mm balanced output for connecting to a powerful music system without distortion, and a “flagship” DAC to make sure high-end digital files get treated properly on the way to your ears.

On top of that, it’s a pretty cool phone as well. It’s got a great futuristic look (as do all Moondrop products – just check out their earbuds when you’re bored), a large 120Hz OLED screen, and dual cameras on the back. For serious streaming audiophiles, a dedicated music player or a portable DAC tend to be a big part of listening on the go, and this phone aims to replace both – and the music lovers on the TechRadar team are watching closely.

• Read more: This Android phone for audiophiles offers a hi-res DAC and 3.5mm jack

2. The Deadpool and Wolverine trailer delivered Easter egg galore 

(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Deadpool and Wolverine is edging closer towards its July 26 launch date, so it’s high time that Marvel released some new footage to further fuel our excitement for the duo’s multiversal buddy-cop flick.

Thankfully, the comic book giant duly obliged earlier this week (April 22) with a brand-new trailer – and, unsurprisingly, the Marvel Phase 5  movie’s latest teaser is packed with Easter eggs. Some are easier to spot than others, mind you, so we’ve taken the liberty of picking out six of the best and/or easily missable ones from Deadpool 3’s newest trailer. Once you’ve read that, check out our X-Men movies in order guide to see what films you need to stream ahead of the MCU’s next flick, too.

• Read more: New Deadpool and Wolverine trailer is packed with Marvel Easter eggs

1. DJI’s cheapest-ever 4K drone got a release date

(Image credit: DJI)

A DJI drone announcement without the usual speculation, rumors and leaked pictures is a rare thing, but the DJI Mini 4K quietly popped up on the DJI Amazon store this week, complete with a April 29 release date. 

We’re not expecting big things from the Mini 4K – it will likely be a modest refresh of the DJI Mini 2 SE, with similar specs like 31-minute flight time, level 5 wind resistance and a sub-250g body – but it will become DJI’s cheapest ever drone to shoot 4K video, and that should make it one of 2024’s most popular drone for beginners.

• Read more: DJI Mini 4K release date confirmed, here's what to expect

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Trading in your old Apple device is a good way to score a discount on the latest iPhones and Macs, and it’s usually a pretty seamless process if you go direct to Apple. But people who have done exactly that have been getting weird messages from Apple saying that their trade in has been canceled, often many months after they’ve actually gotten rid of their old tech.

Over the last couple of days, numerous posts have appeared online from people who have previously traded in Apple devices. According to AppleInsider, people have been receiving an official email from Apple claiming that “because we didn’t receive your device within the required time frame, your trade in has been canceled. If you’ve already sent your device to our trade-in partner, it will be shipped back to you.”

Receiving a message like this might not be unusual in and of itself, as Apple can cancel a trade in if the device has not been received within 14 days. But in most of the recent cases, devices were sent in months ago, with the trade-in process already being successfully completed.

As it turns out, the messages were sent in error. AppleInsider says that “Apple has confirmed that this is some kind of system error, and no action by the consumer is necessary.” If you’ve received one of these messages, then, there’s no need to worry.

A weird glitch

(Image credit: Future)

Apple is not known for giving particularly generous valuations of old tech that you want to trade in (although it does occasionally raise its prices), so it’s often a good idea to look at third-party recyclers, as they might offer you a better price.

However, the main attraction of going to Apple is convenience, as you can trade in your old device and get a discount towards a new one in a single transaction. If you go elsewhere, you must sell your device to one company, then go to Apple and pay full price for your new product, which can be a hassle.

Errors like the ones seen recently are quite unusual, and the fact that they have happened to so many people is a strong indication that there was some sort of problem in Apple’s backend system.

With Apple aware of the issue, we doubt it will continue for long. That means trading in your old device at Apple is still a decent idea, especially if you want to get some money off a new iPhone. We’ve got a guide on trading in your old phone to help you get the best deal possible, so check that out if you’re thinking of clearing out your old tech.

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July 10 could be one of the biggest days in the mobile calendar this year, as according to the latest leak that’s when the next Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event will be held.

This comes from “multiple sources” with “an excellent track record” speaking to SamMobile, and it’s not really a surprise given that Samsung also held an Unpacked event last July – albeit later in the month, on July 26.

In any case, while we’d still take this particular claim with a pinch of salt, it’s the only date that’s been put forward so far, and SamMobile seems fairly confident of it.

Phones, tablets, a ring, and more

This next Samsung Galaxy Unpacked will apparently be held in Paris, and there are likely to be a lot of new gadgets in attendance. Based on leaks and past form, we’d expect to see the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 line, and probably also the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 series.

There’s a good chance we’ll also get another look at the Samsung Galaxy Ring at this event, and the company will quite possibly launch the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 and the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.

We may even see a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Ultra and/or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 FE, though there are still questions over whether Samsung will launch either of these – and if there is going to be a Z Fold 6 FE, that might land later than July.

Either way, this is sounding like a packed event, so whether you’re more interested in phones, tablets, smartwatches, earbuds or even smart rings, there’s likely to be something for you here.

TechRadar will be reporting live from Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, and you’re sure to be able to watch the event online too, so whenever it happens you'll want to check back here for all the announcements and our expert analysis – and stay tuned in the meantime for additional leaks and rumors about Samsung’s upcoming product influx.

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We’ve all been waiting for new Surface hardware to debut, and as we gear up for Microsoft’s upcoming event in May it seems like Surface fans are in for a serious treat. We know that the Surface Pro 10 will come fitted with a Snapdragon X Plus chip, and now we finally have solid Geekbench specs for the upcoming device. 

According to Windows Report, the Surface Pro 10 will be fitted with the Snapdragon X Plus, a powerful but lower-cost variant of the Snapdragon X Elite. Think Apple's M1 versus the M1 Pro. So, rather than 12 cores like the Elite, the Snapdragon X Plus has 10 cores, and will come with 16GB of RAM. 

Under the Surface

So, why is it exciting news that this new Qualcomm chip is appearing on the Surface Pro 10? As we said earlier, the Snapdragon X Plus may be the laptop chip of Intel and Apple’s nightmares, and the Surface Pro 10 is highly anticipated to debut with better quality, brighter OLED screen, and boosted front-facing webcam (including AI capabilities). If the rumors are true the Surface refresh is expected to bring about huge performance jumps and overall quality-of-life improvements. 

It seems quite clear that Microsoft is focused on delivering AI capabilities to users, and to do so would require not just a powerful processor but appropriate software as well - like Copilot, for example. Right now, most people can already use Microsoft Copilot on their Windows devices and take advantage of a lot of its features. 

However, as Microsoft continues to put out powerful AI-focused computers like the Surface Pro 10, we could see a whole new list of power-user features that take advantage of the Snapdragon X Plus. Qualcomm could be the perfect ally for Microsoft as it forges ahead in the AI race - and we can't wait to see how the new Surface performs.

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Edge, Microsoft’s default web browser in Windows 11, is getting new text editing capabilities, including Copilot-assisted rewriting, improved clipboard functionality, and support for handwritten text in forms and web pages via a stylus. 

Windows Copilot is the AI assistant that Microsoft has been busy integrating into Windows 11 and various other products, including Microsoft Edge. It was presented as eventually being able to help you with any task on your device, and while it still looks like there’s a way to go before Copilot lives up to that lofty ambition, it is getting there. 

The new feature, AI Compose, will make rewrite suggestions for text selected by users in editable parts of a web page and can assist writers with possible phrasing improvements and pointers on sentence structure. It’ll also allow users to change the text suggestions’ tone, format, or length.

MSPowerUser compares the new functionality to the popular AI-powered writing assistance tool Grammarly. Apparently, this update will make Copilot more competitive with Google’s large language model and AI assistant project, Gemini, which is rumored to bring similar features to Google’s rival Chrome web browser. 

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Jacob Lund)

Adding support in for digital pens and more

Edge will also get support for digital pen writing that will let users write in web pages’ input fields directly, turning their handwriting into text. Microsoft also describes in a blog post that users will be able to make use of Windows Ink support in Edge to do the following with digital pens:  

• Enter text by writing with a pen in or near an input field 
• Delete text by scribbling over words to delete them
• Add or remove spaces by drawing vertical lines in the text
• Add line breaks by drawing horizontal lines

Other text-related updates that are coming to Edge include a new EditContext API tool for web developers that’s intended to simplify the process of creating custom text editors, an enhanced copy-and-paste function that allows users to copy and paste formatted rich HTML content more reliably, and more control for web developers over Edge’s text prediction function. 

I think this certainly has the potential to be a very helpful addition to Edge, because as Microsoft itself points out, a lot of the web’s success in general is due to its form submission and text editing capabilities. Microsoft has also stated that it would like feedback to improve the feature if needed, and this is a feature where it could take the initiative and actively encourage users to try the feature.

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AMD could use much slower video RAM than Nvidia when it comes to next-gen graphics cards, a new rumor contends.

This one is from regular leaker Kepler on X (formerly Twitter), who posted a very brief snippet to the effect that with RX 8000 graphics cards, AMD will only use GDDR6 VRAM running at 18Gbps – slower than some current RX 7000 models.

Only 18Gbps 🤔April 23, 2024

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Kepler further clarifies that this will apply to all RDNA 4 GPUs – the entire line-up is set to be equipped with 18Gbps GDDR6.

Currently with the RDNA 3 family, AMD uses a mix of 18-20Gbps GDDR6, so technically, locking all models for the next-gen series to 18Gbps would not just be a failure to move forward – it’d represent a small step backwards.

Cue flailing of arms, gnashing of teeth, and so forth from some GPU enthusiasts calling out AMD for what would surely be a ludicrous move. Right? Especially when Nvidia is planning to use much faster GDDR7 RAM for its next-gen Blackwell GPUs, or at least with the higher-end boards anyway, or so runs the chatter from the grapevine.

Well, let’s think about all this a bit more – and why maybe it might not be such a crazy move for AMD to give GDDR7 a swerve with all of its next-gen GPUs.

---

Analysis: Could it all be in the pricing?

Firstly, this is just a rumor, so we should always be careful about leaping to any conclusions. Kepler could be plain wrong, and the plan might be to stick to the same way of working as RDNA 3 with VRAM (18-20Gbps), or indeed AMD could up the ante – we don’t know for sure, by any means.

However, assuming that this assertion is correct, it’s also possible Team Red might be looking to a design for RDNA 4 that makes up for any lack of speed on the memory front elsewhere (such as with beefier cache). Furthermore, this GDDR6 rumor could actually be a positive hint of what’s to come from AMD – sort of. How so?

Let’s move back a bit from focusing purely on how fast the VRAM may (or may not) be with RDNA 4 to take in the bigger picture. Remember, there’s been a very consistent thread of rumors that RX 8000 GPUs will top out at the mid-range – meaning there won’t be an AMD high-end competitor to the likes of Nvidia’s RTX 5090 or 5080.

If that (plentiful at this point) speculation is correct, the fastest RDNA 4 model will be a mid-range graphics card that’ll probably come close to the speed of the current RX 7900 XTX flagship (it’ll be faster than the 7900 XT, but just shy of the XTX, or that’s the theory).

What AMD will need to do to make this graphics card work – at least the way we see it – is attack on price. With RDNA 4 lacking a powerhouse GPU Team Red can sit back and be proud of to compete at the top-end, the firm will need to take a different angle – which, and this is just our guess, makes the most sense as a relatively powerful mid-range GPU that comes in as a truly tempting value proposition.

If AMD is using what would be the slowest VRAM it could get away with for next-gen graphics cards, maybe that’s part of this strategy. Remember, this is also the most affordable route to take, so could be part of keeping the cost of the bill of materials down – and ultimately the price tag for consumers.

Really, pricing is key, so for now, no matter what rumors we see about the spec of RDNA 4, we wouldn’t panic. AMD could still ensure that these kind of VRAM spec decisions make sense depending on other specs (cache, for example) and how pricing is pitched – and its next-gen GPUs can still easily be compelling contenders for our roundup of the best graphics cards.

Via Tom’s Hardware

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Nintendo has rolled out a fix in its latest system update for the Nintendo Switch that addresses the console's inability to detect wireless access points (Wi-Fi) when setting up a new network connection.

Spotted by VGC, this latest system update, Ver. 18.0.1, specifically addresses players not being able to set up new wireless network connections, due to their access points not showing up in the network selection menu. This does seem to have been sorted now, thankfully, along with the usual "stability improvements" we've come to expect from every Switch firmware update.

The full patch notes, as listed on Nintendo's official support page, are as follows:

• Fixed an issue where some wireless access points cannot be found when setting up a new wireless network.
  • If you’re unable to update to Version 18.0.1 because of the issue, temporarily change the security settings for your wireless network to use only “WPA2 (AES)” so you can connect wirelessly to download and install the system update.
  • After updating to Version 18.0.1, restore your network’s security settings to its previous settings.
• General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience.

Your Nintendo Switch console will usually prompt you to update on restart or when booting up a game. Failing that, you can head to System Settings, followed by the 'System Update' option to apply the latest update manually. The console will restart once the update has been completed.

While Nintendo's online infrastructure has been infamously rocky at the best of times, it's good that the company was able to fix this specific issue swiftly. There's no shortage of the best Nintendo Switch games that rely on internet connections for online multiplayer, including Splatoon 3, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Monster Hunter Rise.

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Webflow, the company behind the website builder of the same name, announced the acquisition of Intellimize, a customer experience optimization platform.

Both companies confirmed the acquisition on their social channels earlier this week, but did not share the financial details, the timeline, or whether this acquisition will change anything in the Intellimize management structure. 

After reaching out to Webflow, a company representative said they would not be sharing the price of the deal, which was completed as of last week. 

As for the employees, Intellimize’s CEO Guy Yalif will join Webflow as Head of Personalization, alongside his co-founders and a majority of the Intellimize team, it was said.

A source told TechCrunch that this was an eight-figure deal, and that an unknown number of workers took outplacement packages, or were fired and given severance. 

Personalization and customer experience

In a press release shared with TechRadar, Webflow said that buying Intellimize brings it a step closer to its idea of becoming the world’s first “Website Experience Platform (WXP)”. According to the Webflow CEO and co-founder, Vlad Magdalin, the way websites are built has changed dramatically over the past decade, as designers and marketing teams got “development superpowers” through various tools.

However, personalization and visitor experience optimization remained a painful process, he added. “With the acquisition of Intellimize, we're taking a huge leap in expanding the superpowers we give to web teams — and offering a much better alternative to clunky, complex, and expensive digital experience platforms."

“Webflow has coined this concept the Website Experience Platform (WXP), and we're excited to help bring this vision to life and to scale rapidly across Webflow's 200K+ customer base,” Intellimize CEO and co-founder, Guy Yalif, added. 

In an announcement posted on the Intellimize website, the CEO added that the company will natively integrate its products into Webflow “in the coming months”, allowing customers to implement advanced personalization and experimentation directly in Webflow. 

“For our existing customers, it's business as usual with our product for the foreseeable future,” he added. 

Webflow will continue pushing into WXP, which might include further acquisitions, the company representative tells us. 

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AI-generated video is already a reality, and now another player has joined the fray: Microsoft. Apparently, the tech giant has developed a generative AI system that can whip up realistic talking avatars from a single picture and an audio clip. The tool is named VASA-1, and it goes beyond mimicking mouth movement; it can capture lifelike emotions and produce natural-looking movements as well.

The system offers its user the ability to modify the subject’s eye movements, the distance the subject is being perceived at, and the emotions expressed. VASA-1 is the first model in what is rumored to be a series of AI tools, and MSPowerUser reports that it can conjure up specific facial expressions, synchronize lip movements to a high degree, and produce human-like head motions. 

It can offer a wide range of emotions to choose from and generate facial subtleties, which sounds like it could make for a scarily convincing result. 

How VASA-1 works and what it's capable of

Seemingly taking a note from how human 3D animators and modelers work, VASA-1 makes use of a process it calls ‘disentanglement,’ allowing the system to control and edit the facial expressions, 3D head position, and facial features independently of each other, and this is what powers VASA-1’s realism.

As you might be imagining already, this has seismic potential, offering the possibility to totally change our experiences of digital apps and interfaces. According to MSPowerUser, VASA-1 can produce videos unlike those that it was trained on. Apparently, the system wasn’t trained on artistic photos, singing voices, or non-English speech, but if you request a video that features one of these, it’ll oblige. 

The Microsoft researchers behind VASA-1 praise its real-time efficiency, stating that the system can make fairly high-resolution videos (512×512 pixels) with high frame rates. Frame rate, or frames per second (fps), is the frequency at which a series of images (referred to as frames) can be captured or displayed in succession within a piece of media. The researchers claim that VASA-1 can generate videos with 45fps in offline mode, and 40fps with online generation. 

You can check out the state of VASA-1 and learn more about it on Microsoft’s dedicated webpage for the project. It has several demonstrations and includes links to download information about it, ending with a section headlined ‘Risks and responsible AI considerations.’

Works like magic - but is it a miracle spell or a recipe for disaster?

In this final reflective section, Microsoft acknowledges that a tool like this has plentiful scope for misuse, but the researchers try to emphasize the potential positives of VASA-1. They’re not wrong; a technology like this could mean next-level educational experiences that are available to more students than ever before, better assistance to people who have difficulties communicating, the capability to provide companionship, and improved digital therapeutic support. 

All of that said, it would be foolish to ignore the potential for harm and wrongdoing with something like this. Microsoft does state that it doesn’t currently have plans to make VASA-1 available in any form to the public until it’s reassured that “the technology will be used responsibly and in accordance with proper regulations.” If Microsoft sticks to this ethos, I think it could be a long wait. 

All in all, I think it’s becoming hard to deny that generative AI video tools are going to become more commonplace and the countdown to when they saturate our lives has begun. Google has been working on an analogous AI system with the moniker VLOGGER, and also recently put out a paper detailing how VLOGGER can create realistic videos of people moving, speaking, and gesturing with the input of a single photo. 

OpenAI also made headlines recently by introducing its own AI video generation tool, Sora, which can generate videos from text descriptions. OpenAI explained how Sora works on a dedicated page, and provided demonstrations that impressed a lot of people - and worried even more. 

I am wary of what these innovations will enable us to do, and I’m glad that, as far as we know, all three of these new tools are being kept tightly under wraps. I think realistically the best guardrails we have against the misuse of technologies like these are airtight regulations, but I’m doubtful that all governments will take these steps in time. 

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The not-for-profit research and development organization MITRE suffered a cyberattack early this year, with the attack apparently hindering some operations, but there was no talk of stolen data.

In a breach notification published on the MITRE website late last week, CEO and president Jason Providakes explained what happened and what the organization was doing about it.

Apparently, the company spotted suspicious activity on its Networked Experimentation, Research, and Virtualization Environment (NERVE), a collaborative network used for research, development, and prototyping.

Chinese threat actors

To contain the incident, the organization took the NERVE environment offline, launched an investigation, and notified relevant authorities. It is currently working to restore “operational alternatives for collaboration,” suggesting that some operations were hampered by the attack.

Nothing else was said in the notification, other than it was a “foreign nation-state threat actor” behind the attack. However, BleepingComputer found a separate advisory, published by MITRE CTO Charles Clancy, and Cybersecurity Engineer Lex Crumpton, in which it was explained that the attackers had chained two Ivanti Connect Secure zero-day vulnerabilities to breach a MITRE Virtual Private Network (VPN).

By using the two flaws, the attackers were also able to hijack user sessions, thus bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions and moving laterally throughout the compromised network. 

Late last year, Ivanti warned its users that it discovered multiple security vulnerabilities in its VPN products, including an authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2023-46805), and a command injection flaw (CVE-2024-21887). These flaws were used by different threat actors to drop infostealers, malware, and ransomware, on vulnerable targets. 

Some researchers said Chinese state-sponsored threat actors were actively exploiting the flaws, while others were warning that more than 2,000 Ivanti appliances were being abused to steal login credentials, session data, and more. The large scale of the attacks even prompted the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security (CISA) agency to issue an emergency directive and urge federal agencies to apply the patches immediately.

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We've been enjoying being able to play around with the AI-powered Circle to Search feature since it arrived – first on the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 8 phones – and it seems it could be getting some new capabilities in the near future.

According to well-known tipster @AssembleDebug (via PiunikaWeb), hidden snippets lurking in the Circle to Search code seem set to boost the feature with options for capturing parts of the screen and sharing them with other people.

Sections of the screen can be selected with a tap, a circle, or a scribble with Circle to Search, and you're then able to tweak the area that's been selected. As it stands now, you can then run a search based on the highlighted pictures or text.

What's apparently coming soon are new Copy image and Share image buttons that'll pop up whenever something is selected. It's effectively a quick and easy way of capturing part of the screen, to go alongside the existing screenshot options on Android.

More AI to come

🔥 Circle to Search on Pixel will soon let you copy and share selected areas as images📝 Read - https://ift.tt/jJqVBp9 #Google #Android pic.twitter.com/CCUljuTq4qApril 20, 2024

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As yet there's no indication of when this might roll out to smartphones – and of course there's always the option that Google software engineers will change their minds and decide not to add the extra Circle to Search capabilities after all.

However, considering that the source of this leak has been able to get the feature working – complete with new-look blue handles at the sides of selections, rather than white brackets – it can't be too long before this feature gets introduced (if indeed it does).

Circle to Search and various other AI features have slowly been rolling out to older Pixel and Galaxy phones, after making their debut in the latest flagships. It's not clear exactly what kind of hardware performance is required to get the tool to run smoothly.

We're likely to get even more artificial intelligence tricks with the Google Pixel 9 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 over the next 12 months too – with more of the AI likely to be running locally on the devices themselves as they get more powerful.

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