If I had a dollar for every time a character took their own life in Reacher season 4 to prevent a government conspiracy from being public knowledge, I'd have two dollars — which isn't much, but we're only three episodes in.

Last week's triple bill premiere set the stage for the show's pivot to political espionage, as Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is embroiled in a CIA conspiracy after suspecting a woman on a New York City subway train is actually a suicide bomber.

I already can't make head nor tail of what's going on. But when does Reacher season 4 episode 4 arrive on Prime Video?

What time can I watch Reacher season 4 episode 4 on Prime Video?

We're expecting episode 4 of Reacher season 4 to be available on Prime Video on August 19 at 12am PT / 3am ET in the US.

Internationally, look out for the below times:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 6pm AEST
• New Zealand – 8pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Reacher season 4 come out?

After its three-episode premiere, Reacher season 4 episodes will be airing on a weekly basis. This gives us the following season schedule:

• Episode 1: out now
• Episode 2: out now
• Episode 3: out now
• Episode 4: August 19
• Episode 5: August 26
• Episode 6: September 2
• Episode 7: September 9
• Episode 8: September 16

Interestingly, the Reacher season 4 finale coincides with the day that all episodes of spinoff Neagley will arrive on Prime Video.

• Watch Burnley vs West Ham on Sky Sports (UK) / Paramount+ (US)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save 75%)
• Burnley vs West Ham kick-off: Sun, Aug 16 at 11am ET / 4pm BST

The Burnley vs West Ham live stream serves up a blockbuster encounter between two of the favourites for the EFL Championship title, and a somewhat surreal first look at Jarrod Bowen – one of the best players in the top flight last season – plying his trade in the second tier.

Neither captain Bowen nor head coach Nuno Espirito Santo would have had any difficulty finding new employment after West Ham's relegation from the Premier League, but to their immense credit they've both opted to stick it out and right the wrongs of last season.

Only two players registered more assists than Bowen in the EPL last term, and all expectations are that the England international could set all kinds of records in the Championship. Espirito Santo, meanwhile, won the division with Wolves eight years ago. It's a potent combination.

Yo-yoing between the Premier League and Championship has filled Burnley's coffers, but for the first time in years, it appears as if there was no real vision for the campaign ahead. The Clarets failed to win any of their six preseason fixtures.

New coach Nicky Hayen could be a shrewd appointment. He indirectly succeeded Scott Parker after his disastrous spell at Brugge and turned their fortunes around. However, there's been an exodus over the summer and star striker Zian Flemming is another with his eyes set on the Turf Moor exit.

Here's how to watch Burnley vs West Ham in the 2026/27 EFL Championship from anywhere in the world.

Can you watch Burnley vs West Ham for free?

Burnley vs West Ham is locked behind a paywall, but there are some free trials available that will let you stream the game for free.

In the US, the game is being shown on CBS Sports Network, which is carried by YouTube TV (10-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial) and Hulu+Live TV (3-day free trial).

In Australia, beIN Sports offers new customers a 7-day free trial.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Burnley vs West Ham for free as if you were right at home.

How to watch Burnley vs West Ham from anywhere

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

How to watch Burnley vs West Ham live streams in the US

Burnley vs West Ham is available to live stream on Paramount+. in the US.

Prices start at $8.99/month or $899.99/year. However, you can access Paramount+ virtually for free with a Walmart Plus 30-day trial for $1.

The game is also being televised on CBS Sports Network.

The channel is carried by YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TVand DirecTV Stream, each of which offers a free trial to new users.

Outside the US for the game? Use NordVPN to access your usual coverage.

How to watch Burnley vs West Ham live streams in the UK

In the UK, Burnley vs West Ham is being shown on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football.

Sky Sports packages start at £22 per month for existing Sky subscribers and rise to £35 per month for those without a Sky subscription. Now is a great time to sign up, with England's Test series against Pakistan, the US Open and the Premier League season on the horizon.

You can also tune in via a NOW Sports membership that carries the Sky Sports channels.

If you're out of the UK but still want to watch Burnley vs West Ham, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your subscriptions from anywhere.

How to watch Burnley vs West Ham live streams in Canada

Burnley vs West Ham is available to watch on DAZN in Canada.

Plans start at CA$24.99/month, and DAZN is also home to the Champions League, Europa League, Carabao Cup and the Bundesliga.

Not in Canada? Use NordVPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your preferred Burnley vs West Ham coverage from anywhere.

How to watch Burnley vs West Ham live streams in Australia

beIN Sports is showing the Burnley vs West Ham game in Australia.

Subscriptions cost AU$15.99/month or AU$159.99/year, with both options including a 7-day free trial. From September 1, however, prices will rise to AU$16.99/month and AU$169.99/year.

beIN Sports is also available as a Prime Video add‑on for AU$14.99/month.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch all the action as if you were back home.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Visible watermarks on Gemini content are now optional
• The change applies to images, videos, and music
• Embedded, invisible AI watermarks will still be in place

If you use Google Gemini to create AI images, music, or videos then you'll know that they come with a Gemini logo attached to mark them as being AI-generated. Not any more though: you now have the option to hide this visible watermark.

As announced by Google's Josh Woodward, you can now toggle watermarks off for images made with the Nano Banana AI model, videos made with Omni, and songs made with Lyria — except in countries where visible watermarks are required by law (including China).

No specific reason was given for the change but Woodward described the tweak as a "papercut fixed", which sounds as though the overlaid logos had been frustrating users who wanted a clean AI content creation workflow.

The move puts Gemini on a par with ChatGPT, which doesn't have visible watermarks on images. Both apps still embed metadata inside files that identify AI-generated content, however, which is something to bear in mind when sharing your creations around.

How to disable visible watermarks

"We're striking a balance here between creative control and safety: while the visible watermarks are now optional, invisible SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata are still being used for transparency," says Woodward.

The easiest way to check if something has been made with AI is to ask AI: upload an image inside the Gemini app, for example, and it should be able to tell you if it was made with AI, because of the invisible watermarks included in the file.

To remove watermarks from your AI creations in Gemini on the web, click the cog icon (lower left), then choose Media watermark. As yet, the toggle doesn't appear to be available in the mobile apps, but it should show up in settings soon.

Of course, this is going to make it trickier than ever to spot when something has been produced with the help of AI. It might even make more sense to assume everything is AI at this stage, unless you have good reasons to believe otherwise.

• Watch Community Shield 2026 FREE: Nove TV (ITA) / TVP Sport (POL)
• US streams: ESPN Select / ESPN via YouTube TV
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save 75%)
• Arsenal vs Man City kick-off: Sun, Aug 16 at 10am ET / 3pm BST

The Community Shield 2026 offers a fascinating glimpse into the season ahead, as reigning Premier League champions Arsenal take on FA Cup holders Man City at the very beginning of a new cycle – a moment fans had hoped would never materialize.

Though a one-time protege of departed City boss Pep Guardiola, Enzo Maresca has witnessed a lukewarm reaction to his appointment, so he'll need to prove himself right off the bat. Mikel Arteta, of course, was once a member of Guardiola's backroom staff too. It's fair to say the two coaches have since taken divergent paths.

Arteta has built a hyper-physical Arsenal team that bullied its way to a first top-flight title in 22 years, winning few admirers along the way. Set-pieces and dark arts formed a deadly one-two combination, but William Saliba's back injury and Declan Rice's ongoing fitness issues have thrown a spanner in the works. The £75m signing Bruno Guimaraes is a ready-made replacement for Rice, while Cristhian Mosquera slots in to partner Gabriel Magalhaes.

Although Maresca's finicky methods got old very quickly at both Leicester and Chelsea, there was no doubt among the City hierarchy about his suitability to succeed Guardiola. The sense remains, however, that the Cityzens could enter their equivalent of Man Utd's post-Alex Ferguson years. Big-money signing Tijjani Reijnders has already been frozen out, while Maresca has big decisions to make, with both Rodri and £116m signing Elliot Anderson on the books.

Read on as we explain how to watch Community Shield 2026 between Arsenal and Man City from anywhere in the world.

Community Shield 2026 team news

Arsenal team: Raya, White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Guimaraes, Odegaard, Madueke, Tzolis, Havertz

Subs: Arrizabalaga, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Merino, Rice, Eze, Dowman, Saka, Gyokeres

Man City team: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Kovacic, Anderson, Semenyo, Foden, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Rulli,Guehi, Marmoush, Cherki, Nico, Grealish, Ait-Nouri, Nunes, Lewis

Can you watch Community Shield 2026 for free?

Yes, if you're lucky enough to live in Italy or Poland.

In the former, Nove TV will be showing the Community Shield 2026 without cost, while free-to-air TVP Sport has the rights to Arsenal vs Man City in the latter country.

In nearly every other country, the Community Shield 2026 is locked behind a paywall, but there are some free trials available.

In the US, the game is being shown on ESPN, which is carried by YouTube TV (10-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial) and Hulu+Live TV (3-day free trial).

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Community Shield 2026 for free as if you were right at home.

Use a VPN to watch Community Shield 2026 live streams

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

How to watch Community Shield 2026 live streams in the US

In the US, the 2026 Community Shield is available to live stream on ESPN Select.

A subscription costs $12.99/month or $129.99/year, but you can bundle it with Disney+ and Hulu for $19.99/month.

Another option is ESPN Unlimited, which costs $29.99/month or $299.99/year and includes streaming access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SECN, ACCN, ESPN+, ESPN on ABC, SECN+, ACCNX, NFL Network and CW Sports.

The Arsenal vs Man City game is also being televised on ESPN.

Sling TV carries ESPN on its Orange plan, which costs $4.99/day, $9.99 for three days, $14.99/week, $45.99/month or $115/quarter.

ESPN is also carried by YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TVand DirecTV Stream, each of which offers a free trial to new users.

Outside the US for a game? Use NordVPN to access your usual coverage.

How to watch Community Shield 2026 live streams in the UK

In the UK, live Community Shield 2026 coverage is being provided by TNT Sports 1.

You can add TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or get a HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports. Prices start at £25.99/month if you commit to a year.

If you're out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

How to watch Community Shield 2026 live streams in Australia

In Australia, the 2026 Community Shield is exclusive to Stan Sport.

Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$9.99/month. It's also home to the Premier League, Rugby's Greatest Rivalry, Super Rugby, the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch the action as if you were back home.

How to watch Community Shield 2026 live streams in Canada

The 2026 Community Shield is being shown on Sportsnet 1 in Canada.

Sportsnet channels are available to stream via Sportsnet Plus, which starts at CA$29.99/month or CA$249.99/year.

Not in Canada? Use NordVPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your preferred Arsenal vs Man City coverage from anywhere.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Dolby confirms that Dolby Vision 2 Max is intended to be the replacement for Dolby Vision 1 in more premium TVs
• Standard Dolby Vision 2 is intended to come to budget TVs that wouldn't have included DV1, and will be cheaper as a result
• More chips that support Dolby Vision 2 are coming to help make this happen, likely for use in 2027's models

Dolby Vision 2 is a next-gen HDR standard that comes in two flavors. Dolby Vision 2 Max is designed for premium TVs, taking takes full advantage of their higher-spec hardware to add in extra features — and it's arriving on its first TVs this month.

Meanwhile standard Dolby Vision 2 is designed to be simpler and more affordable for more budget sets, with the goal being to bring Dolby Vision 2 to TVs that previously went without it due to licensing costs, according to Dolby's experts.

I've been taking a deep dive into the technology with Dolby Laboratories' vice-president of home devices, Chris Turkstra, and director of business strategy, Jonas Klittmark — we've already discussed the ins and outs of Dolby Vision 2 coming to 4K Blu-ray, and how conversion to Dolby Vision 2 can be automated to ensure that lots of movies and shows are available in the new format. And according to Turkstra and Klittmark, the new Dolby Vision 2 technology may be the cheapest way for TV firms to deliver better picture quality on a budget.

As Turkstra explains, the decision to make a more affordable and less demanding version of the Dolby Vision 2 technology was made with affordable TVs in mind, a market infamous for razor-thin profit margins. "When it comes to improving picture quality, this is the cheapest bang for the buck for a TV [manufacturer] compared to a panel [upgrade], compared to a new backlighting technology, compared to anything else," he says. "This is way less expensive than those things."

He continues: "When we do [Dolby Vision 2] demos, the one that is the most impactful is the demo we have on two $300 TVs that show the difference between Dolby Vision 1 on one TV and Dolby Vision 2... it is surprisingly effective at increasing accuracy and pulling detail out."

Turkstra suggests that panel hardware upgrades to deliver similar improvements would be significantly more expensive than the cost of licensing Dolby Vision 2. I've seen the kind of comparison demo of Dolby Vision 2 on cheap TVs that Turkstra is referring to, and it's significant — though obviously I can't speak to whether Dolby's system would really be the cheapest way to a quality upgrade.

What are the differences between budget Dolby Vision 2 and the full-fat Dolby Vision 2 Max?

"As we were developing Dolby Vision 2, we found that it does amazing things on premium TVs," Turkstra told me. "It does a great job on the new TVs that are very bright, have a wide color gamut and have a lot of capabilities that we didn't have 10 years ago [when releasing Dolby Vision 1]. But it also brings a lot of benefit to mainstream users with TVs that are not as premium. So we split the product into two [versions].

"Dolby Vision 2 Max is the version that we believe will basically replace Dolby Vision… we think it will move into the premium position Dolby Vision has today. And we think that the standard version, Dolby Vision 2, will be in new TVs that don't have Dolby Vision today."

That doesn't mean the absolutely cheapest bargain-basement TVs, however. "We won't allow Full HD TVs," Turkstra says. "There is a set of requirements that the TVs have to meet. But Dolby Vision 2 will be on a lot more TVs than Dolby Vision is on today."

One of the things that will enable that is a new generation of TV processing chips that include the hardware upgrade necessary for Dolby Vision 2. At the moment, there's only one chip, the MediaTek Pentonic 800, but Turkstra confirmed that more are coming, and that the Pentonic 800 will spread from the upper-mid-range and premium TVs it's in now to more affordable models.

"We're seeing the Pentonic 800 being deployed [more widely], partly because it supports Dolby Vision 2," he says. "At the same time, there are new chips that we can't talk about, but we're working very closely with our silicon partners on that. They will be targeted more towards the mainstream TVs that will become compatible."

He continues: "Our launch partner is MediaTek, but our intent is to expand to have every TV SoC [system on a ship] supplier support Dolby Vision 2. There's a lot of that in the works… there will be continued support for the Pentonic 800, and there will be more for sure."

I expect that CES 2027 is when we can expect to start seeing the effect of that — including new brands support Dolby Vision 2 as well as more models. We know TCL, Hisense and Philips TVs (in Europe) will get support this year, but it seems like next year may be when we know whether it's really going widespread.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

• Ukraine's new antenna weighs little enough for compact unmanned platforms
• BlueBird Tech CLOVER can serve drones, monitoring equipment, and ground robots
• The antenna covers frequencies widely used by modern FPV systems

Ukrainian defense technology firm BlueBird Tech has introduced a compact antenna for boosted battlefield communications systems.

The CLOVER 5.8 GHz weighs only 25 grams, yet operates across a broad frequency range spanning 4.9 to 6.1 GHz for reliable connectivity.

Its clover-shaped design gives the antenna circular polarization and an omnidirectional radiation pattern suited to fast-changing combat environments across contested zones.

A compact design with wide compatibility

The antenna is fitted with an SMA male connector and an RG402 cable, features that simplify its integration into existing platforms currently in use.

BlueBird Tech representatives told RBC-Ukraine that the CLOVER 5.8 GHz can be installed on FPV drones, UAV detection equipment, and radio-monitoring systems.

The company also noted that measurement devices and ground-based robotic systems can carry the antenna, not only aerial FPV platforms.

Its operating range overlaps closely with the 5.8 GHz band that most FPV drone operators already rely on for video links.

Its lightweight construction minimizes the additional burden on FPV drones, helping preserve flight characteristics during normal operational use.

Compatibility with major systems already on the market means operators may avoid redesigning their equipment before adopting the new component.

Whether such compatibility claims hold up under sustained, real-world combat conditions is something only continued field use can eventually confirm.

Ukraine expands its unmanned technology

The antenna arrives alongside other Ukrainian developments involving unmanned systems designed for military applications.

Ukrainian defense technology company WINFLY has introduced the WINFLY Spider, a reusable interceptor drone designed to capture aerial targets with a net before returning toward its launch location.

The Spider is based on the WINFLY 10 Hunter platform and reportedly reaches speeds of up to 160 km/h during operation.

Its stated operating ceiling reaches 5,000 meters, giving the system capabilities that differ substantially from the communications role associated with the CLOVER antenna.

The two systems therefore represent separate parts of Ukraine's growing unmanned technology sector, rather than components of one disclosed weapon system.

CLOVER is described as communications hardware, while Spider is designed specifically for intercepting aerial targets.

BlueBird Tech has not disclosed that the antenna itself contains electronic warfare, interception, encryption, or autonomous flight capabilities.

Its documented function remains transmitting and receiving radio signals across the specified frequency range, with integration depending on the host platform and communications equipment.

The antenna could therefore become useful within systems requiring lightweight radio hardware, although its actual battlefield effectiveness would depend heavily on the equipment and conditions surrounding its deployment.

Via United24Defense

• Watch UFC 330 live from 9pm ET on Saturday, August 15
• Get Paramount+ for $1 with a Walmart+ 30-day trial
• Unlock your stream with Norton VPN (save 70%)

UFC 330 sees Islam Makhachev, the enterprise's No.1 pound-for-pound fighter, put his welterweight belt on the line for the first time, against Ian Machado Garry. And you needn't worry about paying extortionate PPV fees to catch the big showdown.

That's because Walmart+ members get Paramount+ included with their subscription at no extra cost, meaning you can watch every kick, punch and takedown for next to nothing. No complicated sign-ups, no additional fees – just $1 to stream UFC 330.

Mackenzie Dern makes her first UFC women's strawweight championship defence in the co-main event, against Gillian Robertson.

But what if you're outside the US on vacation this weekend? Luckily, at TechRadar we've found a smart solution so you don't miss any of the action.

How to watch UFC 330 for $1

In the US, UFC 330 is live on Paramount Plus, which is is available through a Walmart Plus 30-day trial.

How does it work?

1. ➡️ Click the link to get started.
2. 🆙 Sign up for a $1 Walmart+ trial.
3. 📺 When prompted to choose a streaming benefit, select Paramount+.
4. 💻 Log in to your Paramount+ account.
5. 🤼 Watch UFC 330.
6. ‼️ Outside the US? You'll need a VPN – we recommend Norton VPN.

Use a VPN to access UFC 330 from anywhere

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend Norton VPN – it does everything and comes with up to 70% off.

Using a VPN is incredibly simple:

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, Norton VPN is our favourite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're visiting Canada and want to view your usual American coverage, you'd select 'United States' in the app.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Sign up to the Walmart+ 30-day trial, select Paramount+ and stream UFC 330 live.

UFC 330 full card

🤼‍♂️ Main card (9pm ET / 2am BST)

Islam Makhachev vs Ian Machado Garry

Mackenzie Dern vs Gillian Robertson

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Dustin Stoltzfus

Edson Barboza vs Esteban Ribovics

🔥 Prelims (7pm ET / 12am BST)

Chidi Njokuani vs Joel Alvarez

Jalin Turner vs Kaue Fernandes

Donte Johnson vs Eric McConico

Vicente Luque vs Tresean Gore

👀 Early prelims (5pm ET / 10pm BST)

Rafael Tobias vs Lucas Fernando

Neil Magny vs Ramiz Brahimaj

Jeremiah Wells vs Myktybek Orolbai

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Disney and Epic Games have been promising a ‘persistent, open and interoperable’ universe since February 2024, when Disney took a $1.5 billion equity stake in Epic Games, and Bob Iger called it the company's biggest foray into games ever. Two and a half years and a handful of Fortnite islands later, we're finally getting something that behaves like what was actually promised: a Disney park experience that connects, mechanically, to Fortnite itself.

Most of what's arrived since that 2024 announcement has been a slow drip of standalone content rather than anything tied to the parks. Disneyland Game Rush launched in November 2025 as a Creative island celebrating Disneyland's 70th anniversary, dropping players into mini games modeled on Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion — fun, but built entirely inside Fortnite, with nothing connecting back to an actual park visit. A Percy Jackson: Siege of Monsters island followed that December, timed to the Disney+ show's second season.

On the parks side, Imagineering has been running its own parallel experiments with a lot of the same underlying tech. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom now uses Unreal Engine to power real-time scoring.

And this past June, I exclusively got an early look at the next-generation animatronic system that debuted at Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland. This pirate transforms into a skeleton in real time, driven not by traditional animatronic mechanics but by a projection pipeline built on Unreal Engine-based rendering tools.

It's proven to be a divisive addition among park fans. Still, it's also more proof that the line between "ride system" and "game engine" has been blurring inside Imagineering for a while now, well before Fortnite entered the picture.

What none of those individual pieces actually did was talk to each other. That changes now, though, as Disney and Epic have unveiled Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | Fortnite. It's not the most original name, but it essentially combines Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run — the ride inside Galaxy's Edge at both Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, FL, and Disneyland Park in Anaheim, CA — with a new Fortnite island called Smugglers Gambit. And it's the first time riding a physical attraction produces something you bring into Fortnite — not just a shared theme, but an unlockable reward tied to a specific action you took inside the park.

According to Julia Humphreys, VP of Production at Disney Digital Entertainment, who walked me through the thinking in an exclusive interview, that's exactly the point. "Smugglers Gambit is definitely a first step and not a finish line," Humphreys told me.

"With this foundational experience we wanted to prove out something that we've believed for a long time: that a story doesn't have to end when you leave the park, and it doesn't have to start over from zero when you pick up a controller." Progress, discoveries, and relationships with characters, she said, are meant to actually carry over between the ride and the game rather than resetting every time a guest switches from one to the other.

Starting August 16, 2026, guests entering Galaxy's Edge can accept Hondo's mission through the Disneyland or Disney World’s My Disney Experience app, then ride Smugglers Run as usual. Finish it, and you'll get word — in the app or by email — that Hondo's waiting on the Smugglers Gambit island in Fortnite with, fittingly, "your cut of the profits." If you link an Epic Games account to your MyDisney equivalent, the reward will automatically unlock. If you can’t link or choose not to, they'll email you a redeemable code. It's free with park admission, and Fortnite is, of course, still free to play.

I haven't gone hands-on with Smugglers Gambit myself, but between the screenshots Disney shared and my conversation with Humphreys, the game puts players in the role of a smuggler working the Outer Rim. Environment art shows a hazy, sun-bleached Mersa Veta Station, freighters docked along exposed gangways with towering scrap-metal walkers looming in the fog, and ships like the Quadjumper parked in dim, blue-lit hangars. Quests run across a location called Ord Ryla, and combat screenshots show players in flooded, fire-lit corridors, consistent with the co-op missions, class and leveling system, and run-ins with pirates, Imperial remnants, and hostile wildlife Disney has described.

Graphically, it's a noticeable step down from the ride's own visual bar — but that tracks with what you'd expect from a Star Wars experience running in Fortnite rather than on Imagineering's custom multi-GPU hardware. Whether the Falcon itself shows up as a flyable or interactive ship in Smugglers Gambit remains to be seen.

The technical connection between the two experiences is where my own time on Smugglers Run at Disney World comes back into play. Back in June, I covered Imagineering's overhaul of the ride, including the engineer role that lets guests pick between three different planets and steers the whole mission depending on how they play — powered, Imagineering confirmed, by a heavily customized, multi-GPU build of Unreal Engine 5.

Smugglers Gambit, on the other hand, was built in UEFN — Unreal Editor for Fortnite, Epic's own related but distinct toolset that sits on top of the same underlying engine. That shared foundation, Humphreys said, meant the teams "didn't have to start from a blank page": ships, characters, and environment objects originally modeled for the physical ride were translated directly into the Fortnite experience rather than rebuilt from scratch.

Getting the two sides to actually talk to each other wasn't simple. Humphreys described it as "a team effort across Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Digital Entertainment, and so many other teams across Disney, Lucasfilm, and Epic Games" — everything from new physical signage in the park queues to the backend account-linking infrastructure to the Fortnite ecosystem work needed to make the in-game rewards possible.

It's also a bet backed by real numbers. This new experience builds on the Star Wars IP Toolkit, the creator toolset that powered a wave of Star Wars content in Fortnite this past May, shortly before The Mandalorian and Grogu hit the big screen. Disney says it pulled in close to 8 million players in its first 72 hours — not a small feat.

This new experience feels like the start of something we've been promised and have been waiting to see for a while. Will it drive more people to the parks just to unlock the Fortnite tie-in? My guess is that the impact will be minimal — the broader investment in parks and the kind of full-ride retheming Imagineering did with the Falcon itself make a far more compelling case for a visit than a Fortnite reward does.

The real impact is this: the experience you have flying the Falcon with Mando and Grogu over Endor or Coruscant can now carry beyond your time at the park. And that spreads the Star Wars story — your story — farther.

That's a long wait for a promise this specific — but Humphreys sounded like she'd have waited even longer. "As someone who loves both theme parks and games, this is the start of a collaboration I've wanted to see for years," she said. "It's very much the opening chapter with Epic Games, and I can't wait for people to experience where this relationship goes next."

Taken together, this is a cool first step — not because any single piece of it is groundbreaking on its own, but because it's the first time Disney has actually wired the reward loop between a park and Fortnite, instead of just theming a Fortnite island around a park. The ride itself is genuinely better than it was even a few months ago; my June story covered how the three-planet, choose-your-own-adventure overhaul already made Smugglers Run more replayable. Now that same ride experience feeds into a Fortnite island that, if it delivers at scale, could become a real destination on its own — one where Hondo is voiced by the same actor as on the ride, for what it's worth.

The redemption structure is a nice touch, too: finish the mission, and you get a Fortnite reward of an exclusive outfit for taking the ride. I'd expect Disney and Epic to keep tuning that loop over time, the same way Imagineering has kept iterating on the ride itself; more skins, more unlocks, deeper crossover content wouldn't be a heavy lift if this lands with players.

What I'm more curious about is where the "connected" half of this idea goes next. If riding the Falcon can unlock something in Fortnite, there's no obvious reason Disney stops at Star Wars. A Toy Story Mania tie-in wouldn't be a stretch, and we’ve already seen a version of WEB-Slingers in Fortnite, so why not give that attraction a similar tie-in?

Now that the plumbing between a ride and a persistent game world actually works, the list of places Disney could point it next gets long fast.

• UFC 330: Saturday, August 15
• Main Card time: 9pm ET / 6pm ET / 2am BST (Sun) / 11am AEST (Sun)
• Watch on Paramount Plus for $8.99 or for $1 with Walmart+ 30-day trial (US only)
• Overseas? Use Surfshark to watch your US services from anywhere

Tonight's UFC 330 headline bout is sure to be cracker as Islam Makhachev defends his welterweight crown for the first time, against Ian Machado Garry. Pound-for-pound king Makhachev is one win from a 17th straight UFC victory, a record, but Irishman Garry is desperate to live up to his nickname The Future.

Makhachev hasn't lost since a first-round knockout by Adriano Martins in October 2015 and in that 16-fight winning run the Dagestan 34-year-old has established himself as one of the most fearsome opponents in the UFC. Makhachev became the 11th two-weight champion in UFC history last time out with a fifth-round stoppage of Jack Della Maddalena in which his grappling ability was again to the fore.

Machado Garry has rebuilt impressively after losing a grapple-heavy bout to Shavkat Rakhmonov in December 2024, scoring back-to-back victories against Carlos Prates and Belal Muhammad. The 28-year-old was competitive in that sole defeat on his resume, and has rightly talked up his excellent striking in the build-up, but facing Makhachev's grappling is another question entirely. He'll start as a wide underdog, but that's just how the Irishman likes it.

That's the main event of a stacked card in which Mackenzie Dern defends her women's straightweight crown against Gillian Robertson.

Here's where to watch UFC 330 live streams online and from anywhere with a VPN – including a clever way to watch UFC 330 for just $1.

How to watch UFC 330 live stream in the US

Exclusive US coverage of the full UFC 330 event is on Paramount Plus. It's being headlined by Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway 2, which is expected to start at around 11pm ET / 8pm PT.

Plans start from only $8.99/month with the Paramount Plus Essential Plan, or you can upgrade to Premium for $13.99/month (see below for more details). You can also get a Paramount Plus trial with Walmart+ for $1 using this sneaky trick we found.

While Paramount Plus will show UFC 330 in its entirety, you can also watch the Early Prelims via UFC Fight Pass.

Traveling outside of the US? Use a VPN to watch Paramount Plus from abroad while you're away from home.

Use a VPN to watch UFC 330 from anywhere

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching UFC on your usual subscription?

You can still watch Makhachev vs Machado Garry live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software can make your devices appear to be back in your home country regardless of where you are, making it ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. One of our favorites is Surfshark – we explain why in our Surfshark review.

It's really straightforward to use a VPN to watch UFC 330.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, SurfShark is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For example, if you want to watch the Paramount+ stream, select 'United States' from the listed countries.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Paramount+ and tune into UFC 330.

How to watch UFC 330 live stream in the UK

The UFC 330 main card is available on TNT Sports 1 in the UK. It's set to begin at 2am BST in the early hours of Sunday morning.

You can get it by adding TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or pay from £25.99 per month for a HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports.

UFC Fight Pass subscribers can also watch the Prelims and Early Prelims.

If you're abroad whilst the MMA live stream is on, a VPN like Surfshark can help you to access your home streaming services from anywhere.

How to watch UFC 330 live stream in Canada

There are a host of pay-per-view providers offering a UFC 330 live stream in Canada.

You can head to the likes of Sportsnet, Bell or the UFC Fight Pass to watch the whole event, where the PPV price is set at $69.99. Prelims will also be shown on Sportsnet and TVA Sports, with Early Prelims also on UFC Fight Pass.

North of the border from the US? You can use Surfshark to watch your Paramount Plus subscription like you were back at home.

How to watch UFC 330 live stream in Australia

Sunday's Main Card at UFC 330 will be available on PPV in Australia, setting you back AU$59.95 from Foxtel Main Event or Kayo Sports Main Event.

That means you can live stream UFC 330 via your web browser and devices like Android, iOS, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Telstra TV and Chromecast.

You can also catch all the Prelims (but not the Makhachev vs Machado Garry main event) via Paramount+ and free-to-air Network 10.

Downloading a VPN will help you access your subscriptions from anywhere if you're abroad when the fight is on.

UFC 330 full card

Main card
Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry (Welterweight)
Mackenzie Dern vs. Gillian Robertson (Women's Strawweight)
Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (Middleweight)
Edson Barboza vs. Esteban Ribovics (Lightweight)

Prelims
Chidi Njokuani vs. Joel Álvarez (Welterweight)
Jalin Turner vs. Kauê Fernandes (Lightweight)
Donte Johnson vs. Eric McConico (Middleweight)
Vicente Luque vs. Tresean Gore (Middleweight)

Early prelims
Rafael Tobias vs. Lucas Fernando (Light Heavyweight)
Neil Magny vs. Ramiz Brahimaj (Welterweight)
Jeremiah Wells vs. Myktybek Orolbai (Welterweight)

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• USS Theodore Roosevelt is now the Navy’s first carrier ready for MQ-25 operations
• US Navy spent years developing infrastructure needed to operate unmanned aircraft aboard carriers
• Ronald Reagan is expected to join the MQ-25 carrier fleet in August 2026

The US Navy has completed a major step toward operating unmanned aircraft from carriers with dedicated facilities for controlling them.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt is now the service’s first carrier with a fully operational Unmanned Air Warfare Center supporting MQ-25 operations.

Another carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, is expected to have its own center ready for operational deployment by August 2026.

Theodore Roosevelt leads the carrier integration effort

The Unmanned Air Warfare Center combines equipment required to control and manage unmanned aircraft operating from an aircraft carrier.

The Navy says its systems include the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System and MD-5E Ground Control Station.

Those systems provide the command-and-control functions required for operating Boeing’s MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial refueling aircraft.

The USS George H.W. Bush became the first carrier to receive and test the center during August 2024.

However, Theodore Roosevelt is the first carrier where the capability has reached fully operational and deployable status.

According to a Pentagon acquisition document dated April 21, 2026, the Theodore Roosevelt “became the first fully operational/deployable MQ-25 capable aircraft carrier.”

The development gives the carrier force a dedicated infrastructure for unmanned aviation rather than treating drones as temporary additions.

That distinction matters because the MQ-25 requires specialized equipment alongside existing systems used for conventional carrier aviation.

The Navy expects the Ronald Reagan facility to become operational and deployable toward the end of August 2026.

MQ-25 moves closer to carrier deployment

The carrier infrastructure comes as the MQ-25 program advances after several years of development and testing.

In May 2026, the Stingray reached milestone C, allowing the program to move from development toward production and deployment.

The milestone followed nearly eight years of work since the Navy awarded Boeing an $805 million contract in 2018.

That contract covered four aircraft for design, development, fabrication, testing and delivery under the original program.

At that time, Navy estimates put the eventual cost near $13 billion for a planned fleet of 72 aircraft.

The program nevertheless experienced delays, including a first flight that occurred later than earlier schedules.

On April 25 2026, the Stingray completed an approximately two-hour flight near Mascoutah, Illinois, advancing its testing program.

The aircraft is intended primarily to provide aerial refueling, reducing the burden currently carried by F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

That change could allow more Super Hornets to remain available for strike missions rather than supporting carrier refueling requirements.

The MQ-25 therefore depends on both the aircraft itself and carrier infrastructure capable of controlling unmanned operations.

With another carrier approaching readiness, the U.S. Navy is now moving from isolated testing toward a broader carrier-based unmanned aviation capability.

Via Defense News

• OVHcloud will raise dedicated server prices from September 2026, with latest-generation Game range going up by as much as 87%
• Current-generation hardware will see increases of 51%, while older, 2024-gen hardware will see prices go up by 28% on average
• Move is linked to AI-related surge in memory and storage prices, with OVHcloud CEO stating the former has increased sixfold and could potentially double again by early 2027

French cloud platform OVHcloud is sounding the alarm for customers who use its dedicated gaming servers about a price increase that kicks in starting in September 2026 for server configurations, including its 'Game' offerings, that currently start at $357 on the US storefront.

In a post on X, CEO Octave Klaba highlighted the projected price increases as a percentage over prior commitments, stating that while 2024-built machines would not see a price increase, Gen 2026 would see a mammoth 87% increase in cost for consumers.

This marks the steepest increase across the board; otherwise, Gen 2026 servers saw a +51% increase in cost, even as OVHCloud states that existing options would see a lower overall increase in cost and that existing commitments would see "nothing change".

A sign of troubling times for private gaming servers?

Many gamers host private servers for their gaming needs, ranging from a small group of friends and family running a persistent Minecraft instance to servers that cater to hundreds, if not thousands, of players simultaneously, often with commercial caveats.

An increase in price affects both, though possibly the latter disproportionately, as monetization or donations generally sustain them, and they can already run into hundreds of dollars a month in upkeep.

OVHcloud's CEO has highlighted why the move, which seems to be focused on newer gaming servers, which saw the largest increase across the board, is necessary: its memory costs have increased sixfold and could rise to as much as twelvefold by early 2027.

The underlying reason is one that is easy to point at: AI server demand is not only dictating storage and memory market prices, but it could also be weighing purchase decisions at cloud providers, many who can envisage growing and consistent demand for such server instances, therefore raising the opportunity cost of other deployments; OVHcloud's 2026 'Game' servers for example, come with AMD's Ryzen X3D CPUs in two trims currently.

While these CPUs are great for games, they might not be cost-effective for datacenter needs due to higher per-core costs and lower clock speeds than comparable mainstream options, placing them a distant third in a list that has core-heavy server-grade CPUs at the top.

The writing hasn't been on the wall exactly, and it makes for an interesting comparison of how far numbers have traveled in less than a year: in November 2025, Klaba anticipated cloud product prices rising 5 to 10% between April and September 2026. In February 2026, announcing the year's first increase, he described an impact on cloud deployments between 2021 and 2025 of 2 to 6%, depending on hardware age.

He conceded at the time that asking existing customers to subsidize new ones was a little unfair, and argued it was the only way to keep cloud accessible over the following two years.

OVHcloud is an unusual case here: it builds its own servers, which is rare in an industry that often offloads that end to a third-party provider, and while that vertical integration has historically been the source of its price advantage, it has not protected the company here because OVHcloud still buys the same DIMMs and NVMe drives as everyone else.

The Register spoke to the founder of a mid-sized managed service provider who was entirely unsurprised by OVHcloud's announcement and expects AWS and Azure to follow.

The hyperscalers have deeper balance sheets, longer supply agreements, and more room to absorb component costs quietly, so any move from them will likely be slower and less legible than a founder posting percentages on X. It will, however, arguably not be smaller and will be considerably more far-reaching thanks to how deeply integrated some of their products are across the world.

• Volume and spend on tokens for Anthropic’s AI solutions made it more revenue than any of its competitors in July 2026, cementing its position as the top LLM provider
• This success is despite Anthropic’s tokens being more expensive than its competitors
• The data was collated by Vercel’s AI Gateway, an API service that routes LLMs for easy AI provider swapping

Monthly analysis of the AI industry has revealed a number of surprises for July 2026, not least the continued growth of Anthropic both in terms of revenue and token use.

This is despite the company charging a higher rate for tokens, AI’s computational data currency.

The data was compiled by agentic infrastructure company Vercel, whose AI Gateway is used by many major companies and developers, and found the price-per-token average across all analysed platforms fell following two months of growth in May and June. Despite the overall 37% increase in spend across the industry, the cost per token rate dropped.

Anthropic growth

Vercel’s analysis of transactions through its APIs has repeatedly demonstrated a dominance for Anthropic. Its reporting on gateway spend started in December 2025 and in every month since, Anthropic has had over 60% of the spend share, and in July that figure sat at 65.1% with 30% of the total volume (of all tokens sent through the Vercel AI Gateway).

Yet the average price per token was on 4.4 times higher than the overall average across all AI labs. Token prices have rarely proved to be steady, with Vercel’s data reporting an average price drop of 13.6% after a 20% rise in May and little change in June.

(For reference, the report’s definition of the price per token is the total spend divided by the total volume.)

Despite a higher price per token, however, Anthropic’s price per token was lower in July, a change attributed to the return to public access of Claude Fable 5 after its temporary suspension.

Monthly data collection

Vercel’s monthly look at the data that flows through its API paints a fascinating picture not just of Anthropic’s growth, but of the performance (or otherwise) of its competitors.

For example, it charts Chinese AI company DeepSeek’s surprise growth from May, through June; the report notes that “we said an open-weight lab would soon be second by volume. In July, DeepSeek surpassed Google to take that place.”

DeepSeek’s growth over Google has proved to be a surprise, one that puts it in second place on volume. The real story is Anthropic’s gradual cementing of its strong position over the rest of the LLM makers. Its larger revenue pull despite higher token price indicates that the recent iterations of Claude and anticipation over the gradual release of Mythos 5 are giving the company a strong reputation – much like Apple.

Rejoice, Marvel fans, because X-Men '97 season 3 is already deep into its development cycle. That means we'll see it sometime in 2027, which is a welcome change from the two-year gap we had to endure between the animated show's first two seasons.

Of course, we don't know its actual return date on Disney+, but other things have been revealed and teased about X-Men '97's third outing. Luckily for you, I've rounded up the most important details below, so don't delay — scroll on to learn all there is to know about the series' third season.

X-Men '97 season 3 release date: what we know

As I mentioned, X-Men '97 season 3 is set to arrive sometime next year.

Brad Winderbaum, aka Marvel's Head of Television, Animation, Streaming, and Comics, confirmed it'll premiere in 2027 during a chat with comicbook.com. Winderbaum recently doubled down on those comments in a separate interview with Collider.

As for when exactly season 3 will air, I predict it'll follow in last season's footsteps and land a mid-year release. Currently, Daredevil: Born Again season 3 is the only other Marvel TV show that'll drop next year, and rumors abound that it's eyeing a March 2027 launch. Should that be the case, I doubt we'll see the X-Men's animated series again until June or July 2027.

X-Men '97 season 3 trailer: is there one?

Nope. However, Marvel is deep into post-production on season 3, so it's possible that a trailer could be unveiled at New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2026.

Traditionally, Marvel has debuted teasers for new Disney+ shows during past editions of that fan expo. However, those trailers have been shown exclusively to attendees, meaning the rest of us had to wait a long time for them to become publicly available.

If X-Men '97 season 3's first footage is unveiled in October at NYCC 2026, it'll be a while before the rest of us see it. Regardless, once a trailer is released, I'll update this section.

X-Men '97 season 3 cast: confirmed and rumored

Full spoilers follow for X-Men '97 season 2.

Based on how last season ended, here's who I expect to see (and hear) again in X-Men '97 season 3:

• Ray Chase as Scott Summers/Cyclops
• Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey
• Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe/Storm
• Cal Dodd as James 'Logan' Howlett/Wolverine
• J.P. Marliak as Morph
• Lenore Zann as Rogue
• George Buza as Hank McCoy/Beast
• A.J. Locascio as Remy LeBeau/Gambit
• Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee/Jubilee
• Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop
• Ross Marquand as Charles Xavier/Professor X
• Chris Potter as Nathan Summers/Cable
• Gui Agustini as Roberto de Costa/Sunspot
• Gil Birmingham as Forge
• Teddy Sears as Havok
• Adrian Hough as Strong Guy
• Ron Rubin as Multiple Man
• Carolina Ravassa as Lorna Dane/Polaris
• Naoko Mori as Psylocke
• Christopher Barger as Warren Worthington III/Archangel
• Randall Carpenter as Mystique
• Catherine Disher as Valerie Cooper
• Donna Jay Fulks as Trish Tilby

There could be other returning faces/voices from the past two seasons as well.

Will Matthew Waterson's Erik 'Magnus' Lehnsherr/Magneto be among them despite his death in X-Men '97 season 2, episode 4? And will Waterson also be back to play the Celestial known as Eson the Searcher? Furthermore, will Hough and Marquand also voice Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler and Apocalypse, respectively, after what happened to them in the season 2 finale? We'll have to wait and see.

The Marvel Phase 6 TV show's ensemble is going to grow next season, too.

At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, Winderbaum revealed the Brotherhood of Mutants — Toad, Pyro, Blob, Avalanche, and Surge — will return in season 3. This group was last seen in X-Men '97's forebear, X-Men: The Animated Series, so this will mark their debut in the sequel series. There's no word on who'll voice this quintet yet, though, or whether they'll be officially led by Carpenter's Mystique, who appeared in season 2, episode 9's post-credits scene.

X-Men '97 season 3 story speculation

X-Men '97 season 3's story synopsis hasn't been revealed yet, but its predecessor's final episode offered some clues about where the plot will go next.

My X-Men '97 season 2 ending explained article covers the events of last season's finale and includes a couple of predictions for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) adjacent project's forthcoming season. That should be your starting point for all story-based information on season 3.

As for what else we know about next season's narrative, very little has been publicly revealed, so it's difficult to say which Marvel comic book storylines it could pull from. Hopefully, the comic titan will shed some light on next season's plot at D23 Expo 2026, which runs 14-16 August, and/or NYCC 2026.

Is Marvel working on X-Men '97 season 4 yet?

Yes. Even better, it's currently scheduled to be released in 2028 — Winderbaum stated as much in the Collider and comicbook.com articles I linked to in this guide's release date section.

Where the show's overall future is concerned, Marvel hasn't said how many seasons it'll run for. Larry Houston, who's worked on X-Men '97 and X-Men: The Animated Series, told The Direct that five or six seasons feels like the optimal amount. Speaking to POC Culture, though, Houston's fellow producer Eric Lewald suggested Winderbaum wants to make up to 10 seasons.

With so many X-Men comic book stories ripe for adaptation, there's plenty more narrative ground for X-Men '97 to cover. I guess we'll see how invested audiences are in it with each season that passes before we find its natural endpoint, though.

For more Marvel coverage, find out how to watch the Marvel movies in order and X-Men movies in order. Alternatively, read up on everything we know so far about Avengers: Doomsday and get the full scoop on VisionQuest.

• Stream La Liga 2026/27 free on the CazeTV YouTube channel (Brazil)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save up to 75%)
• La Liga week 1: Saturday, August 15 – Sunday, August 23

Watch La Liga 2026/27 live streams, as Jose Mourinho sets about knocking Barcelona off their perch by any means necessary. There was a chasm between the champions and Real Madrid last season, even though Lamine Yamal missed a chunk of the campaign. For the Special One to stand any chance of closing it, he'll surely have to have to build bridges with Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.

One La Liga title wasn't a bad return from his three-season stint in charge of Los Blancos from 2010-13, but Mourinho was in his pomp back then, and that Madrid side was packed with serial winners. Late-stage Mourinho tends to make more headlines for picking fights with imagined enemies than for achievements on the field of play – he has won one trophy, the 2021/22 Europa Conference League with Roma, in the past nine years. What could possibly go wrong?

When his Benfica side played Real Madrid last season, for instance, a game that was marred by an incident of alleged racial abuse by Gianluca Prestianni, it was Vinicius that Mourinho lashed out at. Mbappe, meanwhile, has been the target of a social media witch-hunt over recent months. The Frenchman lost his place in the Madrid team, only to top the scoring charts at the World Cup. And then there's the fight between Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde.

Elsewhere, Real Sociedad look capable of achieving great things under Pellegrino Matarazzo, who took them from potential relegation to the Copa del Rey title and Europe in half a season. Things are feeling a bit stale at Atletico Madrid, who finished behind Villarreal last season, so Real Betis, Celta Vigo, Getafe and plucky Rayo Vallecano might just fancy their chances of crashing the top four.

Here's how to watch La Liga 2026/27 from anywhere in the world. We've also listed the August La Liga fixtures below.

La Liga 2026/27 schedule

(All times UK)

Matchweek 1

Saturday, August 15
6.30pm – Alaves vs Getafe
8.30pm – Sevilla vs Rayo Vallecano

Sunday, August 16
4pm – Racing Santander vs Villarreal
6pm – Espanyol vs Levante
8.30pm – Celta Vigo vs Osasuna

Monday, August 17
8pm – Deportivo vs Elche

Wednesday, August 19
8pm – Atletico Madrid vs Malaga

Tuesday, August 25
8pm – Valencia vs Real Betis

Wednesday, August 26
8pm – Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad

Thursday, August 27
8pm – Barcelona vs Athletic Club

Matchweek 2

Thursday, August 20
8pm – Rayo Vallecano vs Alaves

Friday, August 21
8pm – Real Betis vs Real Sociedad

Saturday, August 22
4pm – Athletic Club vs Sevilla
6.30pm – Valencia vs Celta Vigo
8.30pm – Espanyol vs Real Madrid

Sunday, August 23
4pm – Atletico Madrid vs Villarreal
6pm – Getafe vs Racing Santander
8.30pm – Elche vs Barcelona

Monday, August 24
6.30pm – Osasuna vs Levante
8.30pm – Malaga vs Deportivo

Matchweek 3

Friday, August 28
6pm – Racing Santander vs Elche
8.30pm – Alaves vs Villarreal

Saturday, August 29
4pm – Levante vs Real Betis
6pm – Real Sociedad vs Espanyol
8.30pm – Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid

Sunday, August 30
4pm – Real Madrid vs Malaga
6.30pm – Deportivo vs Valencia
8.30pm – Celta Vigo vs Athletic Club

Monday, August 31
6.30pm – Osasuna vs Getafe
8.30pm – Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano

Can you watch La Liga 2026/27 for free?

La Liga coverage is mainly locked behind a paywall, but there are ways to tune in for nothing.

In Brazil, select games are free-to-air via the CazeTV YouTube channel. To tune in: visit the YouTube website or download the YouTube app (iOS / Android).

In the US, select games are being shown on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, which are all carried by YouTube TV (10-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial) and Hulu+Live TV (3-day free trial).

In Australia, beIN Sports offers new customers a 7-day free trial.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch La Liga for free as if you were right at home.

Use a VPN to watch La Liga 2026/27 live streams

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

How to watch La Liga 2026/27 live streams in the US

In the US, all 380 games of the 2026/27 La Liga season are available to live stream on ESPN Select.

A subscription costs $12.99/month or $129.99/year, but you can bundle it with Disney+ and Hulu for $19.99/month.

Another option is ESPN Unlimited, which costs $29.99/month or $299.99/year and includes streaming access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SECN, ACCN, ESPN+, ESPN on ABC, SECN+, ACCNX, NFL Network and CW Sports.

At least 20 La Liga games will also be televised, on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

Sling TV carries ESPN and ESPN2 on its Orange plan, which costs $4.99/day, $9.99 for three days, $14.99/week, $45.99/month or $115/quarter. ABC, NBC and Fox are available on its Blue plan in select locations, along with FS1, USA Network, FX and more. Prices start at $45.99, though it comes with an up to half-price discount for your first month.

You can combine them with the Orange + Blue plan for $66 per month ($33 for your first month).

Alternatively, all three channels are also carried by YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TVand DirecTV Stream, each of which offers a free trial to new users.

Outside the US for a game? Use NordVPN to access your usual coverage.

How to watch La Liga 2026/27 live streams in the UK

In the UK, La Liga 2026/27 coverage is split between Premier Sports and Disney+.

Premier Sports is showing nine of 10 games each matchweek, while the 8.30pm BST Saturday kick-off is exclusive to Disney+ Premium.

Premier Sports costs £17.99 on a rolling monthly basis, or £130/year if you pay upfront. Alternatively, you can add it to an existing Sky TV, Virgin Media or Prime Video plan.

Disney+ Premium starts at £14.99/month.

If you're out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

How to watch La Liga 2026/27 live streams in Australia

beIN Sports is showing all 380 games of the 2026/27 La Liga season in Australia.

Subscriptions cost AU$15.99/month or AU$159.99/year, with both options including a 7-day free trial. From September 1, however, prices will rise to AU$16.99/month and AU$169.99/year.

beIN Sports is also available as a Prime Video add‑on for AU$14.99/month.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch all the action as if you were back home.

How to watch La Liga 2026/27 live streams in Canada

In Canada, all 380 games of the 2026/27 La Liga season are available to watch on TSN.

If you don't have cable, the TSN Plus streaming service costs CA$8/month or CA$80/year.

If you're out of Canada but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

La Liga 2026/27 FAQs

What were the La Liga 2025/26 final standings?

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Watch Bulls vs All Blacks FREE on RugbyPass TV (US)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save 75%)
• Bulls vs All Blacks kick-off: Sat, Aug 15 at 1pm ET / 6pm BST / 3am AEST (Sun)

The third game of the inaugural Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour sees New Zealand attempt to extend their perfect record when they travel to Pretoria to take on the Vodacom Bulls.

The All Blacks looked somewhat sluggish in the opening match of the tour as they struggled to overcome a makeshift Stormers side. It wasn’t until the final exchanges that New Zealand finally pulled away and secured an underwhelming 38-21 victory. However, Dave Rennie’s side responded in some style in midweek as they secured a thumping 54-0 win over the Sharks.

The tourists ran in eight tries in a convincing performance in Durban that saw a vast improvement across all aspects of the game, especially set-pieces and when putting boot to ball. Now they’ll aim to follow that result up with another powerful display at altitude in Pretoria.

The Bulls may be in pre-season but they will hope to present a far sterner test than the Sharks. One of South Africa’s leading sides, they reached the United Rugby Championship Grand Final in both 2025 and 2026, and have an astute head coach in former Springbok lock Johan Ackermann.

Read on as we explain how to watch Bulls vs All Blacks for free in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry 2026.

Can you watch Bulls vs All Blacks for free?

Yes. Bulls vs All Blacks is being shown on free-to-air RugbyPass TV in the US. RugbyPass also offer an app for streaming (iOS/Android).

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Bulls vs New Zealand for free as if you were right at home.

▶︎ Read More: Rugby's Greatest Rivalry 2026 Streaming Guide

Use a VPN to watch Bulls vs All Blacks live streams

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

How to watch Bulls vs All Blacks live streams in the US

Bulls vs All Blacks is available to live stream for FREE on Rugbypass TV in the US.

RugbyPass TV will have full live coverage of Rugby's Greatest Rivalry, including the four test matches between the Springboks and New Zealand.

Outside of the US? Use a VPN while you're traveling away from home to unlock your stream.

How to watch Bulls vs All Blacks live streams in the UK

In the UK, Bulls vs All Blacks is being shown on Sky Sports Action.

Sky Sports packages start at £24 per month for existing Sky subscribers and rise to £35 per month for those without a Sky subscription. Now is a great time to sign up, with England's Test series against Pakistan, the US Open and the Premier League season on the horizon.

You can also watch Rugby's Greatest Rivalry unfold via a NOW Sports membership that carries the Sky Sports channels.

Those outside of the UK can get NordVPN to unlock Sky Sports from anywhere in the world.

How to watch Bulls vs All Blacks live streams in Australia

In Australia, Bulls vs All Blacks is exclusive to Stan Sport.

Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$9.99/month. As well as Rugby's Greatest Rivalry, you can also access live coverage of huge competitions including Super Rugby, the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch the action as if you were back home.

How to watch Bulls vs All Blacks live streams in New Zealand

In New Zealand, Sky Sport NZ is showing the Bulls vs All Blacks game on the Sky Sport 1 channel.

You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream, with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at NZ$29.99 per day or NZ$59.99 per month.

Those outside of New Zealand can use NordVPN to gain access to their home streaming service.

How to watch Bulls vs All Blacks live streams in South Africa

The Bulls vs All Blacks game is being shown on Supersport in South Africa.

SuperSport is the home of live rugby in South Africa, including coverage of the Springboks and the United Rugby Championship. You'll need a DStv access package to watch the game, with prices starting at Rs99/month for the streaming version.

Abroad right now? Use a VPN to tell your device that you're back home and you'll be good to go.

How to watch Bulls vs All Blacks live streams in Canada

The Bulls vs All Blacks game is available to watch on Premier Sports in Canada.

A monthly pass costs CA$29.99. You'll need either the CA$79.99 six-month pass or the CA$139.99/year annual subscription to tune into the whole tournament.

If you're out of Canada but still want to catch the action, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• You can now hide the AI Coach in Google Health
• The change is coming in version 5.06 for Android and iOS
• Only premium subscribers get AI Coach access

Since Google Health replaced the Fitbit app back in May, the transition hasn't exactly been a smooth one, but Google is gradually dealing with the biggest user complaints — including, in the latest Google Health update, adding the option to hide AI Coach insights from the Today view.

As reported by 9to5Google, version 5.06 of Google Health for Android and iOS is rolling out with the extra option. You can find it in the app by tapping on your profile picture (top right), then choosing Google Health settings and Coach.

Or at least, that's how it should work: Numerous Redditors are reporting that the change isn't showing up for them, even though they've got the updated app. It's possible that Google also needs to flip a switch at its end, so it may take a while for everyone to get this.

The only other change mentioned by Google for this update are some bug fixes for the map views, so data such as heart rate and pace should now always be accurately displayed. If you were waiting for any other upgrades, you'll have to keep waiting.

Nice to have the option

Google's AI advisor is available to everyone with a Google Health Coach subscription (previously known as Fitbit Premium). In its initial incarnation, it was front and center in the app and was keen to chat as much as possible.

It's something I've seen in my Google Health app, and it can be tiresome to have to scroll through reams of text about how well I slept and what time I should go on a run just to get to the key stats I'm interested in — so I'm glad of the change.

The new setting doesn't fully turn off the Google AI Coach (which was already possible), but it does hide it from the Today view which appears by default when you open the app. The AI is still available on the Fitness tab if you need to ask it any questions.

Based on past feedback we've seen, the change is going to be a welcome one for users — when they actually get it. When the option to hide the AI Coach was rumored a few weeks ago, commenters on Reddit expressed frustration at it "playing '20 questions' every morning" and the way it "inanely comments on things you've already done".

This week Google debuted its Pixel 11 tech, and Honor wowed us with a Robot Phone. Though we doubt it's the next iPhone revolution, we did also celebrate the birthday of a phone that did spark one back in the 90s — the Nokia 9000 Communicator, which just turned 30 years old.

But that's enough nostalgia for now — to catch up on all of the freshest gadget news, scroll down for the seven biggest tech news stories from the past week, plus links to the wider picture if you're desperate to learn more.

And before that test your memory against last week's biggest tech news stories with our quiz.

7. We reviewed Garmin’s 5-Star smartwatch

We spent months with the latest Garmin Fenix Pro 8 smartwatch — it survived heatwaves, blizzards and 4,000m altitudes — and our reviewer decided to declare it “the pinnacle of multisport smartwatch performance.”

Why? Well, it boasts the full suite of Garmin functionality from sleep tracking to a bewildering array of activity tracking options, as well as the ability to follow stats like altitude and atmospheric pressure. Plus, it can operate as a full-on dive watch, and boasts satellite messaging for the extreme wilderness wanderers amongst us.

The only downside is that it costs significantly more than the AMOLED version and has a shorter battery life (it’s still four days, though, and turning the always-on display off will see it jump to over 10), but these don’t stop it from being the champion of the sports tracking world right now.

• Read our full Garmin Fenix Pro 8 microLED review

6. Spotify labelled AI music

Earlier this week, Spotify announced its new AI Persona tags, a new feature designed to differentiate human artists from those that are AI-generated. The tags are tipped to roll out in mid-September.

Once AI Persona becomes available, it will give users some peace of mind knowing that they’re listening to music that hasn't been generated by AI. Spotify added that artists with AI Persona tags will be excluded from all personalized recommendations by default — which is an added bonus.

Artists can disclose to Spotify if they are AI musicians, but Spotify will conduct reviews of profiles where it thinks an artist’s images have been created using generative AI to imitate a lifelike persona. The only caveat is that Spotify uses an artist’s image to determine if they’re an AI Persona, and not the music itself.

• Read more: Spotify is introducing AI Persona tags to differentiate real artists from fake ones

5. We spent two hours with Honor’s Robot Phone

Look. We love to call out marketing department hyperbole as much as the next tech news outlet, but while we must disagree with Honor’s attempt to position its new device as the evolutionary successor to the iPhone — the best-selling phone of all time — it is fair to say the Robot Phone is unlike anything we’ve seen before.

TechRadar’s Axel Metz was among the first tech journalists to touch and test the new phone, and the device’s unfolding gimbal is genuinely impressive as a content capture tool — effectively combining the DJI Osmo Pocket with Honor’s flagship Magic 8 Pro.

It also allows the phone’s assistant, YOYO, to express itself in a physical way. This is the definition of gimmicky, though controlling the gimbal with hands-free controls can be genuinely useful.

• Read more: I spent two hours with the Honor Robot Phone, and this ridiculous, remarkable device made me feel like a kid again

4. We photographed the solar eclipse

The peak of the Perseid meteor shower, with perfect viewing conditions and a rare six-planet alignment, was a celestial treat on August 12, but it was the total solar eclipse hours before that captured the world's attention. In select parts of Europe, northern Spain and in Iceland, totality lasted around 2 minutes while a partial eclipse could be seen as far afield as northern North America. Viewers lucky enough to get solar glasses could enjoy the phases around totality, while others came outside with their DIY pinhole cameras and colanders. Predictably, we've been treated to spectacular images in the aftermath of this once-in-a-generation show.

• Read more: 9 of the best photos from Europe's 2026 solar eclipse

3. Google gave us its answer to Apple’s AirTags

Apple’s AirTags launched over five years ago, and we now finally have a Google-made equivalent for Android fans. The Pixel Tag is a little tracker that weighs only 12g and helps you follow the location of your keys, luggage, or devices via a web browser or Android app.

Unfortunately, it won’t actually be launching until November, but when it does, you’ll be able to buy one for $29 / £29 / AU$49 for a single Tag or $99 / £99 / AU$169 for a four-pack. That’s pretty competitive considering the Pixel Tag is water-resistant and has ultra-wideband (UWB) support for more precise location tracking.

However, as you can read below, the Find Hub network still has weaknesses compared to its Apple Find My equivalent, which we hope Google addresses by the time its Tag launches in a few months.

• Read the full story: The Pixel Tag is here — but it won't be an AirTag for Android until Google fixes these Find Hub issues

2. Google’s Pixel Watch 5 debuted

Along with Google's cornucopia of new phones, the Google Pixel Watch 5 was also released in two sizes and with the same teardrop design as previous years. However, we've got a bunch of new features and improvements at play, with more accurate GPS, the redesigned Google Health app with its AI coach, better on-device Gemini, and a suite of Health Guardian features. These include Breathing Emergency Detection, which alerts emergency services and contacts if you have a consistent blood oxygen drop, and Insulin Resistance Trends, which helps users control their blood sugar levels. Apple and Samsung haven't quite cracked this technology yet, and we can't wait to test them for ourselves — although hopefully we don't have any breathing emergencies during our review.

• Read more: Sorry, Apple and Samsung — I test smartwatches for a living, and the Google Pixel Watch 5 specs beat the Series 11 and Galaxy Watch 9 in these five key areas

1. Google debuted its Pixel 11 lineup

Of course, the stars of Wednesday's Made by Google 2026 event were the debut of new Pixel 11 phones.

They boast the usual slew of updates you should expect from flagship refreshes by now, but also a brand new ‘HiLight’. This is an array of LED lights built into the camera’s flash module, which can alert you to calls from favorite contacts via customized color glows when your phone is face down and silenced. And these lights will also pulse when Gemini is listening, thinking, or responding.

Not everything is an improvement, disappointingly. You'll only get 12GB of RAM as standard rather than 16GB, perhaps a reflection of the surging computer memory costs.

• Read more: I’ve used the new Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, and Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Google's made nearly all the improvements I wanted to see

• Watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 free on YouTube & BBC iPlayer (UK)
• Unlock your stream with Surfshark (save up to 85%)
• Hockey World Cup: Friday, August 14 – Sunday, August 30

All eyes are on the Netherlands men's team and the Belgium women's team at the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup, as each side has a golden opportunity to end their respective droughts in this competition. The Oranje last tasted World Cup glory in 1998, while the Red Panthers' best result was third, way back in 1978.

Not only are they amongst the top-ranked teams at this edition of the tournament, the sides will enjoy home advantage as the World Cup is being co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium, in Amstelveen and Wavre respectively.

The Belgium men's team, beaten finalists last time out and winners before that in 2018, top the rankings off the back of their recent FIH Pro League triumph. The Dutch, meanwhile, are the reigning Olympic gold medallists, and Germany the world champions, so the competition looks fierce.

The Netherlands women's team, however, might be impossible to stop. They're the back-to-back-to-back world champions, back-to-back Olympic champions and have just won their sixth FIH Pro League title in seven attempts – by 15 points. Argentina, Belgium and China have their work cut out.

Here's how to watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 from anywhere in the world. We've also listed the schedule and recent champions below.

Today's FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 fixtures

(All times BST)

MEN'S FIXTURES

Sunday, August 16
10.30am – Australia vs Ireland
1.30pm – Spain vs South Africa
3pm – Netherlands vs New Zealand
6pm – Argentina vs Japan

WOMEN'S FIXTURES

Sunday, August 16
9am – England vs South Africa
12pm – China vs India
4.30pm – Belgium vs New Zealand
7.30pm – Spain vs Ireland

Can you watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 for free?

Yes. Free Hockey World Cup coverage is available in the UK courtesy of the Channel 4 Sport YouTube channel, which is live streaming every England, Scotland and Wales game.

Wales and Scotland games are also being shown on Welsh-language station S4C and Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba respectively, with live streaming available via BBC iPlayer.

It's also free-to-air on RTL Play and Sporza in Belgium and NOS in the Netherlands.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 for free as if you were right at home.

Use a VPN to watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 live streams

A VPN is a handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country and unlock your usual streaming services. The best VPN right now? We recommend Surfshark – it does everything and comes with up to 85% off.

How to watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 in the US, Canada and Australia

FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 is available to watch on the Watch.Hockey streaming service in the US, Canada and Australia.

A World Cup pass costs US$44.99, and will let you stream all 100 games live.

If you have a subscription but you're away during the tournament, you can unlock access your streaming accounts from anywhere by using a VPN.

How to watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 live streams in the UK

All games involving England, Scotland and Wales are-free-to-air in the UK, on the Channel 4 Sport YouTube channel. That's 11 pool-stage fixtures – and more beyond.

Welsh-language channel S4C and Gaelic-language station BBC Alba will show Wales and Scotland games too, with live streaming available via free-to-air BBC iPlayer.

For comprehensive FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 coverage, however, you'll need a $44.99 Watch.Hockey subscription.

If you're out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

How to watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 live streams in the US

In addition to the US$44.99 Watch.Hockey option in the US, CBS Sports Network will be showing the US women's team matches during the tournament.

You can access on OTT streaming platforms such as Fubo, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV, all of which feature a free trial for new users of varying lengths.

Once the free trial period is up, there will be a charge to subscribe. Check your local operator for details.

Not in the US right now, explore the VPN route to access the field hockey from anywhere.

How to watch FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 live streams in India

In India, FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 is being shown on Star Sports channels, with live streaming available via JioHotstar.

JioHotstar prices start at Rs. 299 ($3.49) per month, rising to Rs. 899 ($10.50 USD) per year.

If you're currently out of India but want to watch a Hockey World Cup live stream, you'll need to get yourself a VPN, as per the instructions above.

FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 Q&A

FIH Hockey World Cup schedule 2026

(All times UK)

MEN'S POOL STAGE

Saturday, August 15
India 3-1 Wales | YouTube
Germany 5-1 Malaysia
England 4-1 Pakistan | YouTube
Belgium 3-2 France

Sunday, August 16
10.30am – Australia vs Ireland
1.30pm – Spain vs South Africa
3pm – Netherlands vs New Zealand
6pm – Argentina vs Japan

Monday, August 17
11.30am – Pakistan vs Wales | YouTube
1pm – France vs Malaysia
2pm – India vs England
7.30pm – Germany vs Belgium

Tuesday, August 18
8.30am – New Zealand vs Japan
1pm – Spain vs Australia
4pm – Ireland vs South Africa
5pm – Argentina vs Netherlands

Wednesday, August 19
11.30am – England vs Wales | YouTube
2pm – Pakistan vs India
4pm – France vs Germany
7.30pm – Belgium vs Malaysia

Thursday, August 20
10am – Australia vs South Africa
11.30am – New Zealand vs Argentina
4pm – Ireland vs Spain
5pm – Netherlands vs Japan

WOMEN'S POOL STAGE

Saturday, August 15
Australia 2-0 Japan
Germany 3-0 Scotland | YouTube
Netherlands 2-0 Chile
Argentina 1-1 USA

Sunday, August 16
9am – England vs South Africa | YouTube
12pm – China vs India
4.30pm – Belgium vs New Zealand
7.30pm – Spain vs Ireland

Monday, August 17
8.30am – Chile vs Japan
10am – USA vs Scotland | YouTube
4pm – Germany vs Argentina
5pm – Australia vs Netherlands

Tuesday, August 18
10am – New Zealand vs Ireland
11.30am – England vs China | YouTube
2pm – India vs South Africa
7.30pm – Spain vs Belgium

Wednesday, August 19
8.30am – Chile vs Australia
10am – Argentina vs Scotland | YouTube
1pm – USA vs Germany
5pm – Netherlands vs Japan

Thursday, August 20
8.30am – China vs South Africa
1pm – New Zealand vs Spain
2pm – India vs England | YouTube
7.30pm – Belgium vs Ireland

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Cincinnati Open 2026: Thursday, August 13 to Sunday, August 23
• Daily start time: 11am ET / 8am PT / 4pm BST / 1am AEST
• US streams: Tennis Channel
• Access your usual streaming services with Proton VPN

Watch Cincinnati Open 2026 live streams as the world's best players gather at the 127-year-old tournament to continue their preparation for the year's fourth and final Grand Slam – the US Open – which is only a few weeks away. The Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, again hosts.

Both draws are wide open. Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Świątek may be the reigning men's and women's singles champions respectively, but the Spaniard remains injured and the Pole's has failed to make a grand slam semi-final this year – Świątek, though, did win her first title of the season last week in Toronto, a WTA 1000 event, no less.

Elsewhere on the men's side, world No.1 Jannik Sinner will also miss Cincinnati through injury, meaning French Open champ and 2021 winner Alexander Zverev is promoted to top seed. Although in his 40th year, three-time champion Novak Djokovic will be one of the biggest threats, with Americans Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton – who won last week's Canadian Open – and Learner Tien all hoping to do well. Keep an eye out for fast-rising teen Rafael Jódar, too, and Wimbledon wild card semi-finalist Arthur Fery.

There's also a strong US contingent on the women's side, with Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova all among the top 10 seeds. Naturally, world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina and freshly crowned Wimbledon winner Linda Nosková will be their biggest rivals here.

Here's how to watch Cincinnati Open 2026 tennis from anywhere, including worldwide TV channels, broadcasters and a full list of the tournament's seeds, schedule and daily start times.

Use a VPN to watch any Cincinnati Open 2026 stream

The Cincinnati Open 2026 is being streamed all over the world, but what if you are outside your usual country and can't watch your home stream?

Don't worry – this is where a VPN comes in very handy. The best VPNs allow you to appear as though you're still at home regardless of where you actually are in the world, meaning you don't have to miss out because of geo-restrictions. Proton VPN is one of the providers we most recommend:

It's really straightforward to use a VPN to watch the Cincinnati Open 2026.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, Proton VPN is one of our favorites.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For example, if you want to watch a US stream, select 'United States' from the listed countries.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your usual streaming service and tune into Cincinnati Open 2026 as normal.

How to watch Cincinnati Open 2026 live streams in the US

In the US, comprehensive coverage of the 2026 Cincinnati Open is being shown on the Tennis Channel, which appears on a wide range of cable plans.

It has also been confirmed that some matches will also be shown absolutely free on Tennis Channel 2.

Cord cutters can get a dedicated online Tennis Channel subscription that costs $109.99 per year or $11.99 per month. New subscribers can get their first year for $77 for a limited time with code HOT77. And the free Tennis Channel 2 streams can be watched without even needing to log in.

Looking for an OTT cable replacement option that carries hundreds of other channels? The Tennis Channel is available on Sling TV (with its Sport Extra add-on), YouTube TV (with another sport add-on) or Fubo, the latter two of which come with free trials for new users.

Outside the US for this tournament? Use Proton VPN to unlock your usual stream of Cincinnati Open 2026.

How to watch Cincinnati Open 2026 live streams in Canada

Tennis fans in Canada can live stream the Cincinnati Open 2026 on the TSN network of channels.

If you don't have cable, the TSN Plus streaming service costs CA$8 a month or $80 each year.

Outside Canada while the Cincinnati Open is on? Simply use a VPN to watch from abroad.

How to watch Cincinnati Open 2026 live streams in the UK

Sky Sports is broadcasting the Cincinnati Open 2026 in the UK.

Prices currently start from £22 a month for existing customers. However, tennis fans can also watch using a NOW Sports Membership, which costs from £14.99 for a one-day pass.

Not in the UK right now? Use Proton VPN to access your usual tennis streams.

How to watch Cincinnati Open 2026 live streams in Australia

In Australia, the Cincinnati Open 2026 is exclusive to beIN Sports, which offers new users a 7-day FREE trial.

You can add beIN Sports to most pre-existing TV packages, or you can sign up as a separate subscription. It costs AU$15.99 month or AU$130 if you pay for a year up front, once that week-long trial ends.

As part of a sub-licensing agreement with beIN, the women's WTA event is also available on Stan Sport. You'll need a Stan Sport add-on for AU$20 in addition to a Basic subscription that costs from AU$9.99.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like Proton VPN to watch all the action on beIN Sports as if you were back home.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Study finds 25% of business leaders struggle to explain AI-generated outputs to stakeholders
• SMEs are trusting AI with complex financial tasks including audits and compliance
• Customers and investors are increasingly avoiding businesses that use unverified AI

Business leaders are being outfoxed by AI, with a quarter of those surveyed apparently unable to explain AI generated outputs, 12% “with a lot of difficulty” and only 22% “easily.”

Even more worryingly, the survey, by Startup.co.uk, appears to reveal a culture of “leave it to AI” regardless of the consequences.

The survey has also uncovered other concerns, from questions over GDPR to how SMEs are trusting AI to carry out sensitive financial work, including audits, expenses, and accounts payable automation.

Would you let your AI do this?

With GDPR responsibilities hovering over startups and dynamic new SMBs, the overuse of AI solutions could prove to be devastating if customer data is found to have been misused. Meanwhile concerns over the use of the technology could be affecting businesses that fail to verify AI work.

While the inability of startup leaders to explain AI generated work might be a surprise, the depth of AI use across financial tasks is of particular concern. The report revealed how 85% of small businesses are using AI to complete financial tasks of some sensitivity.

Among the figures are 37% using AI to automate accounts payable processes, 32% to handle audit and compliance, and 31% to manage spend and expenses. While there is some suitability for AI with fraud detection (26%) and performance insights (27%) with its capacity to analyze data in bulk, the inability of leaders to deal with questions about AI is a matter of concern.

Blind trust in AI

What the figures seem to indicate is an over-reliance on AI.

Zohra Huda, editor of Startups.co.uk, noted the data “highlights the bizarre corporate milestone we’ve reached in 2026. Founders are letting AI manage their fraud detection and accounting, but if a stakeholder asks how the numbers were calculated, a quarter of them can’t answer.”

The solution to that might be a bit of rehearsal, but it doesn’t change how data is being used by AI and what the implications for this are, and the likelihood of breaching Article 15 of the UK GDPR (concerning how data is processed).

“Blindly trusting a tech “black box” with sensitive financial data is a massive legal and compliance gamble," added Huda. The takeaway for business leaders? If you can’t explain your AI’s logic to an investor or a customer, you're potentially risking a very expensive GDPR fine.”

With the ICO able to fine businesses up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover for verified GDPR breaches, it is clear that startups relying heavily on AI need to up their game.

• RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra tells banks that AI trained on alternative data such as cash flows, GST filings, and utility payments can extend credit to borrowers that manual underwriting cannot currently assess
• The pitch came bundled with caution, insisting that banks take safety and visibility measures including complete AI inventories, red-teaming before deployment, and the capacity to explain lending and fraud decisions
• The RBI insists, however, that accountability stays human; banks, not their algorithms, will be answerable to customers, auditors, and the Reserve Bank when AI-driven decisions go wrong

The governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has told the country's banks to put artificial intelligence at the heart of their lending patterns.

The approach is based on the assumption that models trained on unconventional data can identify and leverage data points that manual underwriters would struggle to spot or justify easily.

This would, as per RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra, both strengthen the credit market and enable financial inclusion by adding a new class of borrowers previously overlooked by conventional methods.

Cautious AI optimism from one of the world's largest central banks

The Reserve Bank of India is not a small central bank by any measure, and remarks by its governor therefore can often shape not only domestic but global markets.

His position on unlocking credit markets for users with little or no financial history by adding raw compute that considers other signals such as cash flow, GST tax filings, utility payments, and one's digital footprint considerably changes the landscape in a part of the world where banks are traditionally more conservative than their global peers when it comes to lending.

Malhotra also noted that this is exactly the data that a first-time borrower, a gig worker, or a small enterprise without formal books lacks, even as AI enables better monitoring of debtors' financials.

“Predictive models can identify borrowers on the cusp of default early enough to counsel rather than merely recover,” he added. “Used well, AI may be the most powerful accelerator to financial inclusion.”

It is important to point out Malhotra wanted AI to be used as an assistant here - not that AI should overrule loan officers on applications they have already rejected.

His claim is narrower and arguably more persuasive: entire categories of borrowers are effectively invisible to conventional credit assessment because the paperwork it requires does not exist, and machine learning, over other data, can make those borrowers assessable to banks and vice versa.

Malhotra also cited concerns that most modern AI models are black boxes and do not always explain their reasoning fully or adequately, and that borrowers are generally entitled to know why they were turned down. This could help keep potential algorithmic bias in check and rationalize such decisions at a time when AI models are known to be vulnerable to data poisoning attacks.

This would require a human touch, especially when it comes to accountability for such decisions, rather than the complete hands-off approach that AI enthusiasts sometimes suggest is inevitable.

To this end, the conclusion of his speech may be the most telling of what India's central bank feels about an increased AI footprint in the banking industry: Malhotra said that the winners of the AI era will not be the fastest or heaviest adopters but the institutions that best understand what they deploy, own its outcomes, and keep customer trust, something he equated to the enduring capital of Indian banking.

• Kick-off: Saturday, August 15 at 1.15am ET / 6.15am BST / 3.15pm AEST
• FREE stream: 9Now (AUS) / RugbyPass TV (US)
• Watch Anywhere: Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save 75%)

Watch Australia vs Japan live streams as the Wallabies look to follow up their hard-fought 35-32 victory over the Brave Blossoms with a more comprehensive victory on home soil in Townsville, Queensland.

The first game in the post-Joe Schmidt era proved to be a tough one for Australia as they were forced to hang on for a narrow win in Osaka. Surviving a first-half red card for Miles Amatosero and a second-half onslaught from Japan, new head coach Les Kiss would have been nervy on the touchline. He’ll hope for a more convincing display on home soil and has opted for Carter Gordon at fly-half instead of Declan Meredith.

Japan coach Eddie Jones was a mixture of proud and frustrated after last week’s defeat. Disappointed with “fundamental errors” late in the game as they sought to earn a memorable victory, he was still pleased with how far the team has come and how hard they played. He’ll hope they can cut out the mistakes and show the same attacking dynamism that got them tantalisingly close to a first-ever victory over Australia.

Read on as we explain how to watch Australia vs Japan online from anywhere in the world.

Use a VPN to watch Australia vs Japan live streams

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

Can I watch Australia vs Japan live streams in the US

Australia vs Japan will be shown on RugbyPass TV in the US.

RugbyPass TV has live coverage of a range of international rugby, including Rugby's Greatest Rivalry and the Nations Championship, plus on-demand content including full game replays, classic matches and documentaries.

Outside of the US? Use NordVPN while you're traveling away from home to unlock your stream.

Can I watch Australia vs Japan live streams in the UK and Ireland?

Australia vs Japan will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK with Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action your go-to channels.

Sky Sports packages start at £24/month right now for existing subscribers and you can also access streams via a NOW Sports membership (£27.99/month).

Abroad? Stream Australia vs Japan as normal thanks to NordVPN.

How to watch Australia vs Japan live streams in Australia

Down Under, the Australia vs Japan game is available to watch on the free streaming service 9Now or on Stan Sport.

9Now requires an account with a valid Australian zipcode (e.g. 2042).

Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$9.99/month. As well as watching Australia vs Japan, you can also access live coverage of huge competitions including the Six Nations, Rugby's Greatest Rivalry and the Rugby Championship.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch the action as if you were back home.

How to watch Australia vs Japan live streams in New Zealand

In New Zealand, Sky Sport Now will be showing Australia vs Japan.

A day pass costs NZ$29.99, or you can pay NZ$59.99 to access Sky Sport Now for an entire month. Sky Sport Now is the home of the All Blacks and the Black Ferns in New Zealand, while you can also watch several other competitions including Super Rugby and the World Rugby Under 20 Championship.

Those outside of New Zealand today can use NordVPN to gain access to their home streaming service.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Watch Sri Lanka vs India 1st test free on DD Sports (India) / Siyatha TV (Sri Lanka) / Kayo (FREE trial) (AUS)
• BLOCKED? Unblock cricket streams with NordVPN (try risk-free for 30 days)
• First test: August 15-19 from 10am IST / 5:30am BST / 12:30am ET daily

Test cricket returns to Sri Lanka after more than a year as the hosts prepare to take on neighbours India in an exciting two-match Test series, starting from August 15 in Galle. For India, more than Sri Lanka, there are crucial World Test Championship (WTC) points at stake.

After losing to South Africa at home, India now need 8 wins out of 9 matches to make it to the WTC final. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, need 6 out of 7 wins to keep their hopes alive, but they also depend on other results.

However, India will be without the services of their ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who has sustained an impact injury to his left knee. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be without opener Pathum Nissanka and wicket-keeper Kusal Mendis.

The head-to-head record sits heavily in favour of Shubman Gill’s men. India haven’t lost a series against Sri Lanka since 2008. In fact, India last lost a Test match against Sri Lanka way back in 2015. But that was a very different Indian side.

The recent home results against New Zealand and South Africa have left a big question mark on the Indians’ spin-batting capabilities, which will be exactly what the Sri Lankan spinners will look to exploit.

India also got some valuable game time ahead of the series in a three-day practice match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo. Devdutt Padikkal made the most of the opportunity, smashing 142, and looks set to be a straight swap for the injured Sai Sudharsan at No. 3.

Read on to find out how to watch the Sri Lanka vs India test series from wherever you are, including free options.

Use a VPN to watch Sri Lanka vs India 1st test from anywhere

If you're keen to watch cricket but you're away from home and your preferred coverage is geo-blocked, you could always use a VPN to access it (assuming you're not breaching any broadcaster T&Cs, of course). You may be surprised by how simple it is to do.

The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 75% discount, and three months for free.

Quick start: Using a VPN to watch Sri Lanka vs India 1st test from anywhere

Using a VPN is incredibly simple, just follow these steps.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're visiting the U.S. and want to view an Australian streaming service, you'd select a location from Down Under (like Perth) from the server list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Kayo Sports and watch Sri Lanka vs India just like you would at home.

How to watch Sri Lanka vs India 1st test live streams in the US

Cricket streaming service Willow TV is the place to watch the Sri Lanka vs India 1st test in the US.

If you don't have it as part of your cable package, you can watch Willow coverage through your choice of Sling TV's Desi Binge Plus or Dakshin Flex plans – starting from $10 per month.

Alternatively, you can add Willow TV to your Prime Video subscription and watch cricket live streams from there.

Outside the US right now? You can make use of NordVPN to catch the action.

How to watch Sri Lanka vs India 1st test live streams in the UK

The first test between Sri Lanka and India will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 & 4 in the UK, with live streaming available via HBO Max.

HBO Max in the UK starts at £5.99 per month, but you'll have to get the TNT Sports plan if you wish to stream TNT Sports channels 1 to 4. That costs £25.99 per month for a fixed 12-month contract.

If you're on holiday outside the UK, you can use NordVPN to access Sri Lanka vs India on HBO Max.

How to watch Sri Lanka vs India 1st test live streams in India

In India, Sri Lanka vs India 1st test at Galle is being shown on the Sony Sports Network, with live streaming available via Sony LIV.

Sony LIV subscription plans in India start at ₹599 for the Mobile-Only yearly plan, or you can get the ₹999 Premium yearly plan.

If you're currently out of India but want to watch the matches live, you'll need to get yourself a VPN, as per the instructions above.

How to watch Sri Lanka vs India 1st test live streams in Australia

The Sri Lanka vs India test series is being shown on Kayo Sports.

Kayo Sports starts at AU$30 per month after a 7-day free trial. Or you can get your first month for AU$1.

Outside Australia right now? Use NordVPN to access your favorite live cricket streams.

Sri Lanka vs India 1st test Q+A

Squads

Sri Lanka: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kamindu Mendis (vc), Lahiru Udana, Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Sonal Dinusha, Niroshan Dickwella, Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Keshara Nuwantha, Milan Rathnayake, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka.

India: Gill (c), KL Rahul (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Sarfaraz Khan.

Sri Lanka vs India test series schedule

First Test: August 15-19; Galle International Cricket Stadium

Second Test: August 23-27; Colombo (SSC)

What time does the Sri Lanka vs India 1st test match start?

The first Sri Lanka vs India test match starts at 10am IST / 5:30am BST / 12:30am ET every day from Saturday, August 15 to Wednesday, August 19 at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Dolby says that Dolby Vision HDR movies can be upgraded to Dolby Vision 2 using an automated process based on the existing mastering information
• This means support may be more widespread than expected, since apparently it will be relatively low-effort for streamers to achieve
• The Authentic Motion and Precision Black features will be excluded from this, because Dolby says they they require human judgment to get right

If you're wondering where all the Dolby Vision 2 media is going to come from, we've got good news: it's already here, at least partly. Dolby Laboratories told me that it's created a process that can upgrade existing Dolby Vision media to add most features of the new HDR standard using an automated process based on the existing mastering data — and there are only two key features that are excluded, because they're areas that depend on new input from creators.

With Dolby Vision 2 arriving on TVs from this month, I caught up with Dolby Laboratories' director of business strategy, Jonas Klittmark, to find out the details: what it could do for 4K Blu-rays, what benefits it'll bring to streaming and most importantly of all, what to watch.

One of the biggest concerns with Dolby Vision 2 is that creators just won't be inclined to master video for it when it doesn't have widespread support — but it's unlikely to get widespread support if there's no content. But it turns out that existing Dolby Vision masters can be adapted to use many of its features without being reworked.

"There is a bunch of new features in Dolby Vision 2 that don't rely on new content at all," Turkstra told me. "Because you already have all the Dolby Vision content in the world... the streaming providers will have more to say about this later, but the existing Dolby Vision library will start to get converted and the new metadata for Dolby Vision 2 will be added."

Klittmark estimates that there are around 33,000 movies and TV show episodes available in Dolby Vision. "There's no realistic chance that all that content is going to get remastered from scratch," he says.

"The cost of doing that is just astronomical. So what we're offering instead is a semi-automated way of doing it where we're using modern techniques such as machine learning to assist in the creation of the additional metadata that's needed to make the most of Dolby Vision 2."

He elaborated that "many of the features, including the image engine, including the new version of LightSense, the intensity control, the pro settings, and sports optimization, all of those features can work through a combination of existing metadata."

That metadata is based on existing mastering data, and as will all of Dolby Vision 2, the next-gen data is in addition to the existing data; it doesn't replace it, so the automation won't affect the visuals of, or compatibility with, TVs that have the first generation of Dolby Vision but not the second.

What Dolby Vision 2 features can arrive automatically – and what ones can't

The two exceptions to the automated upgrade are Authentic Motion, which enables creators to control how strong your TV's motion processing is applied on a moment-to-moment basis, and Precision Black, which is designed to address dark scenes that looked great in the creators' mastering suite but appear too dark on TVs.

Klittmark said: "Authentic Motion is an example of a feature where it's just too sensitive. I don't know if you've been following the fairly polarized debate about motion that has been playing out over the years, with Tom Cruise making public service announcements, and things like that. That feature is so sensitive that we don't generate that metadata, it has to be manually authored."

I've seen Dolby Vision 2's Authentic Motion in action, and I think it's a great addition — it means that judder can be removed in scenes that need it, but motion smoothing can be deactivated in scenes that don't. I suspect that actually it probably could be automated to good effect, but as Klittmark says, I don't thing anyone would really trust that, so it's best that Dolby is leaving that to humans.

When it comes to Precision Black, Klittmark says this can't be automated because in order to get it right you need to know all about the creator's environment: "how dark was their ambient light, what kind of reference monitor were they using, et cetera... that cannot be speculated about or generated, so that needs to come manually from the creative."

When is Dolby Vision 2 not Dolby Vision 2?

I asked if this meant that movies might be labelled as supporting different Dolby Vision 2 features, but Klittmark says the firm doesn't want to make things complicated in that way.

"We've taken the simplest possible approach for consumers' benefit, which is that all the content is going to be Dolby Vision. There is no asterisk. There's no 'Dolby Vision 2' content, for example. There's no 'Dolby Vision 2 Max' content or anything like that. It's just all Dolby Vision content," he says. "And that way, it's very simple for a consumer to know what to look for. If you see that the content is in Dolby Vision, then you are getting the best experience you can get with that particular movie or whatever it is you're looking for."

I think this makes sense — your TV will be labelled as Dolby Vision 2 or Dolby Vision 2 Max, and potentially could tell you which features of the format are active, but when it comes to browsing the library, it makes sense to simply use the Dolby Vision logo to indicate that you're getting as many advanced features as the service has added, regardless of what they are.

Klittmark pointed out that this would be new to Dolby Vision 2, either. "The original version of Dolby Vision had tons of features in it, and not all creatives chose to use all of them all of the time. And there was no way to know that. And that's essentially a choice up to the creative. Which of the Dolby tools do they need do they feel like they need to use for which content? We leave that decision to the creative," he said.

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• Ukrainian drone forces have proved so successful against US troops in exercises that “destroyed” equipment had to be reintroduced into the simulated combat
• Over the course of the two-week-long exercise, US forces improved at camouflage, dispersing, and using electronic warfare against the aerial attacks
• The Combined Resolve military exercise took place in Germany earlier this year

US forces engaged in military exercises were stunned to be defeated quickly by Ukraine drone teams, so much so that the units were allowed to be re-added into the scenario.

Taking place in Germany earlier in 2026, the event was one of several exercises intended to simulate real drone warfare and develop responses and countermeasures to attacks. Ukraine's drone warfare has proved vital in its ongoing war with Russia, with its successes in the conflict defining the country as a pioneer of Unmanned Systems Forces and electronic warfare integration.

The US isn’t the only country to have engaged in wargames with Ukraine, with the UK, Estonia, and Sweden all recently outmatched

Recording a “kill”

Despite the US incorporating long-range drones into its arsenal during the War on Terror, it has had mixed results in defending against drone attacks, both in combat and in exercises. The simulated conflict with Ukraine took place in April and May 2026, and while the Fort Hood-based US forces may have come away from the event with some pride, the speed and decisiveness of the Ukraine drone forces clearly took them by surprise.

Rather than using live ammunition in these exercises, an observer is employed to determine whether a “kill” has been made. This is usually achieved by the drone controller hovering the craft above a vehicle or other combat equipment long enough for a potential kill to have been made.

In this particular incident, the Ukraine drones were recording kills so quickly that vehicles had to be sent back as new units, like a video game respawn.

However, as the exercises progressed, the US forces were able to improve their performance. Their responses to drone attacks relied on faster camouflage and concealing, effective dispersal, and employing electronic countermeasures to block the drones.

Ukrainian drones dominate

As part of the training, Ukrainian drone controllers also switched sides to assist the US troops in making effective offensive use of drones.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top military leader, stated that “You can’t get training like this in the United States,” but observed a noted improvement in NATO forces after training: “The change is remarkable.”

It isn’t just the Americans that have struggled with Ukrainian drone warfare in simulated scenarios. Other events in 2026 have revealed shortcomings in handling drone attacks in exercises involving the UK, Estonia, some US troops, and other NATO forces. In addition, a military exercise involving Swedish-led NATO troops and Ukraine's drone warfare resulted in the NATO side being outmatched.

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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

NYT Strands today (game #895) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #895) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• BASE
• PULP
• CLAN
• SELL
• CHIP

NYT Strands today (game #895) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #895) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #895) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #895, are…

• PULPIT
• BIBLE
• ALTAR
• HYMNAL
• CANDLES
• LECTERN
• SPANGRAM: INCHURCH

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Some days the theme puzzles me, but today was one of those where you get it immediately and spot the spangram first.

After this it was just a case of finding the various churchy things — of which there are legions.

My favorite thing you see INCHURCH was not included: stained glass windows. I love them and think they should be everywhere — schools, supermarkets, police stations, stadiums — not just picturing the life and times of saints but also the incredible wonders of the secular world.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, August 14, game #894)

• SLINKY
• VELCRO
• PLASTIC
• MICROWAVE
• PENICILLIN
• SPANGRAM: INVENTIONS

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

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

Quordle today (game #1664) — hint #1 — Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1664) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1664) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1664) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1664) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1664) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1664, are…

• RIDER
• MOLDY
• MEALY
• LYMPH

Another day featuring a word without vowels.

I already had the Y here, so it was simply a case of finding the P to make up LYMPH.

Y was the hero letter of the day featuring in the trickiest word but also helping out at the end of two others — MOLDY and MEALY — making for an easier game than usual.

Daily Sequence today (game #1664) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1664, are…

• FIBRE
• JUMPY
• LATHE
• LIVER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1663, Friday, 14 August: SEIZE, MYRRH, SANER, GLOAT
• Quordle #1662, Thursday, 13 August: TOPAZ, PURGE, WHINE, SIGHT
• Quordle #1661, Wednesday, 12 August: HOTLY, CROWD, HEART, SWASH
• Quordle #1660, Tuesday, 11 August: ONSET, BRAWL, TEPID, SLANG
• Quordle #1659, Monday, 10 August: GAVEL, CRUSH, SPEED, ETHOS
• Quordle #1658, Sunday, 9 August: KAPPA, WIDEN, FOLIO, STEEP
• Quordle #1657, Saturday, 8 August: FUROR, BUGLE, REUSE, SCOOP
• Quordle #1656, Friday, 7 August: AMISS, SHIRK, SALSA, RABBI
• Quordle #1655, Thursday, 6 August: AMUSE, BRAND, CEDAR, BLURB
• Quordle #1654, Wednesday, 5 August: MOUND, WRONG, STOOD, WEIRD
• Quordle #1653, Tuesday, 4 August: GOOEY, TARDY, HUMAN, CHALK
• Quordle #1652, Monday, 3 August: FUNGI, MUDDY, DEBUT, MANIA
• Quordle #1651, Sunday, 2 August: BOOTH, EASEL, REACH, MAKER
• Quordle #1650, Saturday, 1 August: OMEGA, BIRCH, SMOCK, EERIE
• Quordle #1649, Friday, 31 July: MANIA, SINGE, STOOL, LOFTY
• Quordle #1648, Thursday, 30 July: MODAL, IDLER, CHUMP, LUMPY
• Quordle #1647, Wednesday, 29 July: GAWKY, ALLOY, AUDIT, LATCH
• Quordle #1646, Tuesday, 28 July: SMITE, ROACH, RUDDY, GLOBE
• Quordle #1645, Monday, 27 July: TAFFY, FIGHT, GUILD, WAGER
• Quordle #1644, Sunday, 26 July: STOMP, LIMIT, FUNKY, STEAD

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #1161) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• GRINCH
• BEANSTALK
• STAGE
• LANYARD
• HIGHTAIL
• LEG
• SOUNDTRACK
• HOTFOOT
• BEAT
• STRETCH
• FRIED
• CHAMOMILE
• SPENT
• EYESHADOW
• PHASE
• WORN OUT

NYT Connections today (game #1161) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Shattered
• GREEN: A part of something bigger
• BLUE: Imperial segments
• PURPLE: Creepy segments

Need more clues?

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

NYT Connections today (game #1161) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: EXHAUSTED
• GREEN: SEGMENT
• BLUE: ENDING IN UNITS OF LENGTH
• PURPLE: ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR FOLLOW SECRETLY

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

NYT Connections today (game #1161) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1161, are…

• YELLOW: EXHAUSTED BEAT, FRIED, SPENT, WORN OUT
• GREEN: SEGMENT LEG, PHASE, STAGE, STRETCH
• BLUE: ENDING IN UNITS OF LENGTH CHAMOMILE, GRINCH, HOTFOOT, LANYARD
• PURPLE: ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR FOLLOW SECRETLY BEANSTALK, EYESHADOW, HIGHTAIL, SOUNDTRACK

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I was thrilled when I spotted the words ENDING IN UNITS OF LENGTH straight off the bat, but then disappointed when it turned out to be blue instead of purple.

The hardest group of the day honor went to another set of words where the ending was significant, in this case ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR FOLLOW SECRETLY.

I missed the purple group completely and I think it's because I had already connected one ENDING group and assumed there would not be another. I really should know better, as this is classic Connections trickery.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, August 14, 2026, game #1160)

• YELLOW: BLACK-AND-YELLOW: BUMBLEBEE, CAUTION TAPE, CHARLIE BROWN, WOLVERINE
• GREEN: PLACES WHERE EVERYONE THINKS THE SAME WAYS: BUBBLE, ECHO CHAMBER, HIVEMIND, SILO
• BLUE: COMIC BOOK ARTIST'S TOOLS: BRISTOL BOARD, DIP PEN, INDIA INK, STRAIGHTEDGE
• PURPLE: TRIANGLE LOGOS: BASS ALE, CITGO, DELTA AIRLINES, GOOGLE DRIVE

• Quad-Level-Cell (QLC) 3D flash memory sets the industry benchmark for performance, bit density, and power efficiency
• It is the first QLC 3D flash to reach a 4.8 GB/s interface, ensuring super-fast data transfer between storage and processor
• This is the breakthrough that could deliver 1 PB (petabyte) storage to data centers

SanDisk has unveiled the chip that could revolutionize data centers and push cloud storage and AI to the next level with its QLC 3D flash memory technology, developed with Kioxia. Employing the companies’ CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) technology, the 10th generation Quad-Level-Cell 3D flash memory has set a new industry standard, representing the baseline for competing memory manufacturers.

The chip has a 60% increase in bit density compared to the 8th generation 3D flash memory, also setting the benchmark for performance and power efficiency.

With a 37 Gb/mm² (gigabits per square millimeter) density, the QLC 3D flash can be used to assemble the first 1 petabyte (that’s 1,000 terabytes) solid-state drives for data center servers.

Wafer bonding

The CMOS directly Bonded to Array technology, in which CMOS wafers are bonded with cell array wafers after separate manufacturing, is at the heart of the QLC 3D flash memory development. Using “high-precision wafer-to-wafer alignment,” the new chips are the first to hit a 4.8 Gb/s interface (under test conditions) using the QLD 3D technology.

The die capacity and packaging density for a potential 1 PB SSD based on the QLC 3D flash memory are not practical (both in cost and space) for home systems but can be adapted for ultra-dense 1U and 2U rack servers in modern purpose-built data centers.

The size of the chips makes other uses impractical and requires advanced 3D packaging in 64- or 128- die stacks to hit the 1 PB SSD target, using the ruler-like, 318 mm long EDSFF E1.L and E3.L form factor PCBs, as well as the recently defined E2 form factor (measuring 200 mm x 76 mm). This was specifically designed to handle 1 PB drives.

Next-generation infrastructure

The march towards implementing AI across the connected world requires increasingly sophisticated storage so that agent-based, physical AI, and generative AI can be efficiently delivered. A chip that is dense enough to deliver a 1 PB SSD is key to this next step.

“By redefining the performance and efficiency envelope of QLC NAND, our 10th-generation QLC 3D flash memory delivers simultaneous gains in density, bandwidth, and energy efficiency and establishes a new paradigm for high‑capacity flash storage to provide a scalable foundation for next‑generation infrastructure applications," noted Sandisk’s Chief Technology Officer Alper Ilkbahar.

Kioxia’s CTO Hideshi Miyajima adds, “QLC technology enables the efficient storage of rapidly expanding data volumes, helping deliver greater performance and scalability for AI systems.”

For AI data centers and cloud providers, this is a long-awaited development, and places Sandisk and Kioxia ahead of the main competitor in this area, Samsung, which is approaching the challenge using more layers (1,000+ in ultra-tall stacks, compared with Sandisk/Kioxia’s 332-layers). Additionally, this announcement suggests that a 1 PB Sandisk/Kioxia SSD could ship in 2027, ahead of any forthcoming 1 PB Samsung SSD.

• iVANKY FusionDock Ultra packs 26 ports into a desktop workstation dock
• Four external 6K displays can run natively on compatible Apple Silicon Macs
• Up to 120Gbps bandwidth supports demanding display-focused professional workflows simultaneously

The iVANKY FusionDock Ultra is a 26-port desktop dock designed specifically for Apple Silicon Macs and demanding professional workstations.

The company says its dock supports native quad 6K monitors, high-speed connectivity, and charging capabilities for professional users.

Unlike many universal docking stations, this model does not support Windows PCs, Intel Macs, or Chromebooks, limiting its audience considerably.

Built around high-end Apple Silicon workstations

The dock uses a dual-chip architecture intended to keep multiple displays, storage devices, networking equipment, and peripherals operating simultaneously under sustained professional workloads.

It supports up to 80Gbps bidirectional bandwidth, while display-heavy configurations can reach 120Gbps through asymmetric data allocation across connected devices.

An included 80Gbps active cable is designed to support the connection speeds required by demanding storage and multi-display workflows during professional production sessions.

On compatible Apple Silicon systems, the dock can drive four external 6K displays without relying on DisplayLink or third-party display drivers.

However, the number of supported screens, resolutions, and refresh rates still depends on the specific Mac chip and connected monitors.

That native approach may appeal to creators who want additional displays without introducing another software layer into their macOS workstation.

Apple's hardware limitations are not bypassed, meaning buyers still need a compatible Mac capable of supporting their intended display configuration.

The dock also provides 10Gb Ethernet, giving users a high-speed wired connection for network storage, shared files, and other demanding workflows.

Its 26 ports include USB-C and USB-A connections, DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.0, UHS-II card readers, and optical audio.

It features front and rear 3.5mm audio connections, allowing microphones, headphones, speakers, and other audio equipment to remain connected.

The magnetically articulated dual-cable connectors are designed to accommodate different Apple Silicon computers, including MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Studio.

Cooling and power for extended workloads

Power delivery is another major part of the dock, with up to 140W available for compatible MacBook Pro systems during demanding workloads.

A separate 45W USB-C power-delivery port can charge devices such as an iPad, iPhone, or another compatible accessory.

The cooling system combines passive heat dissipation with two adaptive fans that increase cooling activity as workloads become heavier.

iVANKY claims noise levels of 44 to 46 dBA at one centimeter under controlled conditions, with lower noise expected farther away.

That cooling design is intended to maintain stable connections and performance during extended sessions involving displays, storage, networking, and other peripherals.

At a promotional price of $649.99, reduced from an RRP of $749.99, the FusionDock Ultra enters an expensive docking market.

The company says the current price represents a 13% discount, although buyers should consider their actual requirements before paying for its extensive connectivity.

If you are not running an Apple Silicon Mac, this particular dock was never really built with you in mind.

Windows users, Intel Mac owners, and Chromebook owners are shut out entirely, regardless of how much they might want in.

• Marvel's Wolverine will feature New Game Plus at launch
• The game will also offer extra features like Mission Replay and a Nightmare Doors side activity
• Nightmare Doors contains trials where players "confront Logan's nightmares to uncover his past"

Marvel's Wolverine is shaping up to be a big hit for 2026, and now Insomniac Games has revealed even more features that players can expect when the game launches next month.

Insomniac has confirmed that, unlike Marvel's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Marvel's Wolverine will launch with New Game Plus, allowing players to replay the game with all their upgrades, unlocked suits, and more.

"In a New Game Plus, you can use all of your loadout and progression that you already unlocked," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed told IGN. "You can choose whatever suit you want. So there's some fun things that happen there. And also there's some adaptations that are only available in New Game Plus. So there's some fresh gameplay for folks."

Insomniac head of technology Mike Fitzgerald added that these adaptations, which are unlockable buffs, let players "amp up the difficulty" or make Wolverine "much more powerful and aggressive character."

Alongside New Game Plus, the game will also offer Mission Replay, a feature that lets players rerun any mission for fun or to find collectibles, whiskey bottles that act as power-ups for Wolverine’s progression, and material crates holding raw materials that can be used to unlock new suits.

Another major feature is Nightmare Doors, a side activity containing trials where players "confront Logan's nightmares to uncover his past." According to Reiner-Reed, Nightmare Doors is "a story-driven adventure" where "Logan is pulled through uncovering these mysteries of his past. But you can go off the beaten path."

In these trials, Reiner-Reed added, players will encounter "manifestations of the horrible things happening in Logan's mind."

"There's many of those throughout the game with different types of trials," the developer said.

Marvel's Wolverine launches exclusively on PlayStation 5 on September 16 and will be "fully playable" on disc. The game's Performance Mode will also run at 60fps with ray tracing enabled on the base PS5, which Insomniac says is the default mode.

• Study finds young people are increasingly pessimistic about AI
• Nearly half say AI will have a negative impact on their careers
• They're also suspicious of leading AI figures and executives

Younger Americans are becoming increasingly distrustful not only of AI, but also the executives and evangelists who promote the technology, a new study has claimed.

A CNBC/Generation Labs survey of 1,088 Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 found the vast majority saying they distrusted the leaders of major companies investing in AI, including the likes of Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg.

The reasons behind this distrust were fairly clear to spot - with nearly half (45%) of respondents saying AI would have a negative impact on their careers, compared to just 10% who believed the technology will help them.

AI villains

The study covered a range of wider concerns young people may have around the future, with worries around the economy and jobs among the biggest pressures, however the threat of AI was seemingly ever-present, with the technology increasingly influencing all areas of everyday life.

This expands to the figures becoming the poster children for AI - respondents were given nine key people in the AI industry and asked whether they trusted each of them to act responsibly on AI moving forward.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, every figure was marked negatively - with Palantir CEO Alex Karp scoring the worst, as 81% of respondents saying they do not trust him. Karp was followed by Palantir Chairman Peter Thiel (79%), Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai (75%) and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (75%).

Other notable figures, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk all scored about the same 70% figure - but there was 'better' news for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who recorded the "highest" score, with just 65% of respondents saying they don’t trust him.

Looking at technology's place in the wider world, 40% of Americans said they believed “the federal government” should establish rules for AI, with just over a third (36%) believing “an independent expert body” should do so - and just 8% said they think AI “shouldn’t be regulated.”

Keeping with the spirit of protests across the nation, nearly two-thirds (60%) of Americans believed data center construction “must be slowed,” with just 15% saying they wanted to be “speeding it up.”

Looking forward, the when asked about how they would rate the American economy, nearly 80% said they had a negative sentiment - and when asked about the future of the economy, 50% believed it “will get worse,” compared with just 22% who said it “will get better.”

• Socket's Threat Research Team found 737 fake VPN and proxy extensions on the Chrome Web Store, with more than 75,000 combined installs
• The add-ons pose as trusted names like Proton VPN and NordVPN while routing your entire browser session through proxies run by one operator
• Hundreds are still live, so it's worth checking your browser now and removing anything suspicious

A new investigation has exposed a huge cluster of counterfeit VPN extensions that promise privacy while rerouting your traffic.

Socket's Threat Research Team said it identified 737 free VPN and proxy extensions published across at least 40 Chrome Web Store developer accounts. More than 27o of these impersonate 66 of the best VPN services and privacy brands, including big names like NordVPN and Proton VPN.

Between them, the extensions racked up more than 75,000 installs, mostly among Russian-speaking users hunting for ways to reach blocked services.

If you use Chrome and rely on a browser add-on to stay private, it's worth making sure the one you installed is a genuine product from a real provider rather than one of these lookalikes.

What the researchers found

Socket's team traced the whole network back to a single Russian VPN subscription business trading as Myxa VPN.

The researchers linked the extensions using a shared analytics account, clustered domain registrations, common hosting, and leaked Windows build paths pointing to one project folder. The free extensions appear to act as a funnel, nudging users toward a paid subscription.

Some of the paid promises were pure fiction. Socket says the premium tiers advertised servers in countries like Japan, Singapore, and Australia, but when it tested 200 premium hostnames across 40 domains, none returned an A record, meaning those servers simply did not exist.

The core trick is the same across nearly every extension. Once you press Connect, everything you browse gets pushed through a server the operator controls, with no per-site exceptions.

It adds no encryption, so it isn't doing the protective work a real VPN would. Worse, 104 extensions resolved their proxy addresses through Cloudflare or Google DNS-over-HTTPS and handed Chrome a raw IP, a technique that makes the operator's servers harder to block or spot.

Why fake VPN are dangerous, and how to stay safe

Sitting in the middle of your traffic gives the operator a clear view. Socket says the setup lets whoever runs the proxy observe the websites you visit, TLS SNI metadata, your source IP address, and any data sent over unencrypted HTTP. That means anything you type into a non-HTTPS page, including logins, could be exposed.

Socket doesn't know whether this data has actually been collected or misused, but the fact that it can be is the problem. It's the same pattern behind earlier warnings about fake VPN extensions in the Chrome Web Store and Google's own alerts about spyware posing as VPN apps.

Google has already acted, but not completely. By the time Socket collected its data, 221 of the 737 extensions had been removed, while 516 remained listed, so the threat hasn't fully gone away.

If you think you installed one, the advice from Socket is straightforward. Remove the extension immediately, then check that Chrome's proxy configuration has returned to normal and change any credentials you entered on non-HTTPS sites while it was active. You can review your proxy settings by heading to your browser settings and searching for "proxy."

• Researchers uncovered “Download more RAM” flaw in consumer DDR4/DDR5 memory
• Attack bypassed Windows VBS and HVCI, disabling antivirus and protections
• Microsoft patched CVE‑2026‑23670; tools now help enable memory write protection

Microsoft has recently fixed a vulnerability that allowed threat actors to bypass advanced security measures, disable antivirus software, and expose the target device to full system takeover.

All of this, it seems, could have been possible with a very simple script, and a single click from the victim’s side.

Luckily, the vulnerability was discovered by white hat hackers, reported to Microsoft and remedied before falling into the wrong hands.

Download more RAM

During the 2026 USENIX Security Symposium, security researchers from the University of Birmingham and Durham University presented a discovery they called “Download more RAM”.

According to the researchers, some consumer memory chips (DDR4 and DDR5 DIMM) allowed software to alter the configuration reports it sends to the motherboard. In practice, it means that a threat actor could instruct the RAM chip to tell the computer it was bigger than it actually was, making the device “think” it has twice as much RAM memory as it actually has.

The researchers then established that this phantom extra memory can serve as an alias for real memory locations, granting them the ability to both read, and modify, memory allocations that should be under the processor’s, and Windows’ protection.

This window let them work around both Virtualization-based Security (VBS) and Hypervisor-Enforced Code Integrity (HVCI).

VBS, first introduced with Windows 10, is a security feature that uses hardware virtualization to isolate critical security functions from the OS, while HVCI uses virtualization to make sure only trusted and verified code can run in the Windows kernel.

The researchers also used the flaw to disable both antivirus and endpoint detection and response (EDR) software, re-introduce older, vulnerable drivers, compromise corporate systems under lockdown, and bypass kernel-level game anti-cheat protections.

The worst part is that this entire process can be chained together into a one-click script. In theory, if a victim is served this script as a file and they run it, they would trigger a chain of events that includes creating memory aliases, rebooting the computer, and disabling security protections.

"Our work exploits the fact that all processes share the same memory to bypass Windows' strongest security guarantees,” said Professor Tom Chothia, from the University of Birmingham. “Previous attacks of this kind needed a screwdriver and physical access to the machine. This one just needs a script. That changes who can carry it out and how far it can spread."

Who is vulnerable and how to stay safe

The attack surface is rather large, as well. The researchers analyzed the market and found three major manufacturers (Corsair, G.Skill, and ADATA) shipping at least one consumer memory product line in which the configuration chip was left entirely unprotected. Together, these vendors make up more than half (55%) of the high-performance consumer memory market and more than 70% of the gaming market (this doesn’t mean that 55% of the high-performance market is vulnerable - many devices are running other modules, too).

Modules from Crucial, Kingston and HyperX, and some G.Skill lines, were found to use partial write protection, but still enough to keep the device secure.

Before publishing their work, the researchers disclosed their findings to Microsoft, who quickly addressed it. The bug is now tracked as CVE-2026-23670, and is described on the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) as an “untrusted pointer dereference in Windows Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) Enclave” which “allows an authorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally.”

The bug was given a severity score of 5.7/10 (medium), and was fixed as part of the April 2026 Patch Tuesday cumulative update. Therefore, systems with Secure Boot running should be protected against this vulnerability.

Corsair added a feature to its iCue tools that lets users retroactively enable write protection on their memory modules. There is also a free tool called HWinfo with the same functionality, the researchers said, stressing that it mitigates the issue on non-Corsair models. Also, some motherboards offer a BIOS setting to block writes to memory configuration chips, which users can enable as an interim measure.

“The ‘Download More RAM’ attack demonstrates once more the importance of understanding systems, especially in terms of security guarantees. If a lower layer can become compromised, it puts the full system at risk,” said Dr Marius Muench, from the University of Birmingham.

“Windows makes a strong promise: that even an attacker with administrator rights can't touch the secure kernel. We found that promise rests on the assumption that your memory is telling the truth about itself - on a lot of the memory people actually buy, it doesn't have to."

• The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has released security requirements for VPNs under the Cyber Resilience Act
• NordVPN and Surfshark are among the industry players collaborating to help shape these security baselines
• The new rules ensure that all VPNs sold in Europe adhere to auditable standards for encryption, authentication, and vulnerability management

The European Union is fundamentally changing how privacy tools are regulated, introducing an official security standard for VPN services on the market. Crafted under the sweeping Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the new framework sets strict, auditable cybersecurity requirements for any virtual private network sold in Europe.

Until now, users looking to protect their digital footprint have largely had to rely on a provider's own marketing claims or third-party audits to verify encryption strength or no-logs VPN policies. Now, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has stepped in to establish a unified legal baseline known as EN 304 620.

This comprehensive standard was not drafted in a vacuum. Major industry players, like Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, Airbus, and Google, alongside industry heavyweights NordVPN and Surfshark, have actively contributed to shaping these security parameters to ensure they are both operationally feasible and technically robust.

For everyday users, this legislation is a massive win. It ensures that any VPN software you download complies with mandatory European benchmarks for data confidentiality, authentication, and secure key management.

Miguel Fornes compares this shift to the arrival of seat belts and airbags in cars. "Before crash tests and seatbelt laws, drivers simply had to hope their car was safe. Once official safety standards existed, every car had to meet them. Surfshark is helping do the same thing for VPNs."

Setting a new benchmark for VPN security

Draft standard EN 304 620 specifically targets VPN clients, servers, and gateways. It dictates exactly how these products must encapsulate and encrypt your traffic to protect data integrity as it travels across untrusted networks.

Whether a provider uses industry-standard AES-256 encryption, cutting-edge WireGuard protocols, or RAM-only VPN servers, they will need to demonstrate deterministic and testable security controls.

The standard is a vital pillar of the broader Cyber Resilience Act, which by the end of 2027, will fully require manufacturers of digital products to meet essential cybersecurity requirements.

New rules also mandate rapid incident reporting for actively exploited vulnerabilities, keeping providers strictly accountable if their infrastructure is ever compromised.

For anyone wondering, "Are VPNs safe?" this EU-wide standardization effectively guarantees a much higher baseline of protection, forcing potentially shady free VPN apps to either step up their security engineering or face removal from the European market entirely.

Not just VPNs: A wider net for software security

VPNs aren't the only software getting a major regulatory upgrade. Alongside the VPN guidelines, ETSI recently launched the approval process for 17 European standards supporting the CRA.

The expanded list covers everyday digital essentials, including password managers, antivirus software, smart home assistants, connected toys, and wearables.

As these proposals move through public enquiry and final approvals, the end result is clear: European consumers are about to benefit from a much safer, more resilient digital ecosystem by default.

• Insomniac Games says the X-Men don't exist in Marvel's Wolverine since mutants aren't safe in this world
• Narrative director Walt Williams says mutants are outsiders, and Logan's POV is the perfect fit for this story
• Williams says, "We wanted to bring players back to that mindset of that these are characters who exist on the outside"

Insomniac Games has finally explained why the X-Men don't exist in Marvel's Wolverine, and it's all about telling a story where mutants aren't safe.

In the upcoming superhero game, Logan, aka Wolverine, is a former member of the mutant black ops unit, Team X, which also includes Sabretooth and Mystique, meaning the X-Men haven't been established in this world.

"So Team X is canonical. It is Logan's first team in his history," narrative director Walt Williams said in an interview with IGN. "It was a black ops team from the '70s made up of wetworks mutant workers. So in telling Wolverine's story, we wanted to bring it back to the beginning of where his story really began in that long string of teams. Because as we know, he's been a member of many teams by this point in his 50-plus year history.

"But really what we were looking to do is, because superheroes have become so mainstream at this point in just pop culture and everything through TV shows, comics, movies, and everything, that even especially with our own Spider-Man games, these are characters with superpowers that a lot of the world has accepted, that they are celebrated. They have parades, they are honored and stuff. But mutants at the core are outsiders, even within the Marvel universe. And we have not really had that aspect of them be brought out a lot lately in the stories that we get in the bigger mainstream."

According to Williams, the studio wanted to tell a story where mutants are still outsiders and don't have a safe place to go, such as the X-Mansion. Logan's point of view, he explained, is the "perfect" way to get that across to the player.

"We wanted to bring players back to that mindset of that these are characters who exist on the outside," he continued. "They are not superheroes. They don't have a safe space. They are people who are living in shadow. They are people who are hiding their powers from the world because they are afraid of what would happen if people would discover them.

"And so if we had started this story with the X-Men in existence, there would already be that aspect of a safe place for them. And we wanted to remind people that existence for a mutant is not safe. It's hard. It's scary. And entering that world through Logan, it really felt like the best POV possible."

Williams goes on to describe Logan as an "incredibly complex, layered character that has so much potential to write," but he's also "an outsider's outsider," even among other mutants.

"He was that perfect POV for us to be able to enter into that mutant world and begin to understand just how much mutants do not feel as if they belong anywhere," he said.

Marvel's Wolverine launches exclusively on PS5 on September 16, and its Performance Mode will run at 60 frames-per-second (fps) with ray tracing enabled on the base PlayStation 5.

• Huntress uncovers Shopify refund scam using fake orders and app notifications
• Attackers embed contact details in shipping addresses to trick victims into paying
• Users advised to ignore suspicious info, verify refunds, and report fake stores

Hackers are targeting businesses and individuals running Shopify stores with a highly sophisticated fake refund scam, experts have warned.

Security researchers at Huntress outlined how the fake refund scam works: first, a victim gets a notification that they received a refund. It could be for a returned iPhone, or a canceled service or order. The “refund” can be anywhere from a few hundred, to a few thousand dollars. Soon after, the scammers call (or mail) the victim, say they work at the company that gave the erroneous refund, and convince the victim to return the funds.

If the victim complies, they are actually sending their own money to the victims, since the “refund” part never happened.

Abusing Shopify's infrastructure

There are a couple of ways to pull this attack off: sometimes the scammers really make the initial transaction, but are able to cancel it and return the funds; in other scenarios, they create spoofed pages showing the transactions, tricking those slightly more gullible.

In most cases, fake refund scams can be spotted relatively easily, which is why they are not that popular nowadays. However, this new campaign comes with a sinister twist that will make even hardened veterans wince.

Huntress’ report notes the attackers start by creating a Shopify store of their own (or use a compromised one). The one the researchers observed was called “My Store” and was later deleted before it could be further scrutinized. Then, the attackers make a fake order themselves, setting their targets as the recipients using their phone numbers, or email addresses.

This type of information isn’t that difficult to come by these days. There are hundreds of email and phone number databases leaked on the dark web, which can be picked up for free (or for a handful of dollars). When they submit the purchase order, a notification appears in the victim’s Shop apps.

Yes, that’s right. In the Shopify app itself. Coming through Shopify infrastructure. As such, it can easily be confused for an authentic notification. It is even worse for users that enabled push notifications on their mobile phones, since they’ll see a notification with the Shopify logo, next to all the other notifications on their phone.

But the attackers still need to pull off the hardest part - getting the victim to “return” the money. In this case, instead of calling or messaging them, they leave their contact information in the shipping address, hoping victims would panic and reach out themselves.

In one shared example, the shipping address was listed as: Owen Nolan “2856 If You Didnt Place This Order Call Us at 1_888_690_3420-”, Albany NY United States 1_888_690_3420.”

For those treading carefully through the internet’s wastelands, the message included in the shipping address is an immediate red flag. Grammar mistakes, all letters capitalized, and a phone number completely out of place should be quite an obvious sign of an attempted fraud. However, since these kinds of scams bet on people being fast, reckless, overworked, and afraid, it might just work.

Huntress did not say if the scam made any meaningful impact among the Shopify’s community, or if it targeted a specific subgroup of users.

Defending against fake refund scams

To protect against such attacks, the researchers advise users never interact with phone numbers, email addresses, or links contained in an order that aren’t recognizable. They also advise users concerned about the security of their SHop account or personal data to contact support, and stress users should check their bank accounts to confirm whether they were actually changed. If they weren’t, they can report the order as “Not my order” in the shop app.

Finally, when purchasing from a store on Shop in general, users should check the store and its product reviews to learn about other customers’ experiences. If users are concerned that a product or store could be fake, it can easily be reported. Many of the shops in this scam were brand-new, with some using a "coming soon" description, as well.

• Mur mur is 'a speaker that plays ambient sounds from the tiny world inside'
• No, I've never seen anything quite like it — there's an eyepiece in the top
• Still in prototype now, but the company is looking to bring it to market

Just when you thought you'd seen enough 'Eucalyptus' (or as I like to call it, 'Shrek') green audio kit for one month — and please see the new Bose QuietComfort over-ear headphones for proof — a truly unusual prototype speaker crosses your desk and makes you go "It's a… what now?"

What you're looking at is mur mur. How to describe it? Let's try 'speaker meets AI-generated terrarium on a keychain'. No? Maybe 'AI-generated ambient music linked to a tiny society, squirrelled into a physical product you can carry around, spy on and listen to as it evolves and changes'.

As for what goes on inside: maybe it'll rain; maybe it'll be sunny. Maybe there will be another heatwave and marine mammals will start migrating to areas never seen before in new and increasingly worrying ecological developments — all with accompanying AI-generated ambient sounds.

Mur mur is made by "a creative company on a quest to turn emerging technologies into an approachable, everyday and sustainable reality, for humans and beyond" of the same name.

Unusually for a portable speaker, there are no listed Bluetooth credentials. That's because it won't play your Spotify playlists or connect with your phone; this is a self-governing ecosystem, thank you very much.

Hey tiny kingdom, how do? Any climate crisis in there (and if not, can I come in)?

Mur mur is available in three colorways, but they're not skin-deep. Here, the hue corresponds to the type of society you'll get when you look through the viewfinder at the top of the speaker. 'Block!' (white with orange accents) mur mur owners can expect "A tiny city and its society — morning rush hours, street musicians, delivery robots, pigeons". 'Plot!' (green) meanwhile is a "lively forest full of chirping birds, crackling leaves, and the occasional lost hiker", and 'Pond!' (blue) is a watery ecosystem "where soothing waves come alive with fish, ducks, and occasional boats".

Perhaps the green model sounds most intriguing, because who could imagine being a hiker lost in an ever-evolving AI ecosystem? The accompanying audio I listened to for around 20 minutes on mur mur's website sounds decidedly soothing (even if that scenario does not), but remember, you have no input here — the music and scenarios in this little thing happen whether you're looking and listening or not. No AI prompt-made music here.

Mur mur says this trio of tiny worlds in speakers are currently still prototypes, so you can't buy one yet, but the company is "looking for musicians, technologists, and hardware producers to help bring it to your desk, your keychain, or your studio".

As a lover of human-made music, I won't be first in line, but there's something compelling about the promised uniqueness of each unit. Who knows, maybe 10 years down the line, certain mur mur communities will be running for government with a "lost hiker" running the show…

Does anybody think August is going way too fast? It feels like I've blinked and somehow it's already the middle of the month.

Well, at least it's the weekend again, which means it's time to enjoy one or more of the new movies and shows that have debuted on the world's best streaming services over the last few days — or, in the case of one show, will debut very shortly.

As always, we couldn't include every new release, but I'm confident you'll find something to enjoy from the seven we've highlighted below. — Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

Lanterns (HBO Max)

With Supergirl giving DC Studios its first major flop in late June, all eyes are on Lanterns — i.e., the DC Universe's (DCU) next TV show — to see if that was a mere blip or the beginning of something more foreboding.

So, which is it? You'll have to read my Lanterns review for a definitive answer. I'll give you a clue, though: co-leads Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre are absolutely fantastic in this DCU Chapter One project, which sees their characters — aka iconic Green Lantern pair Hal Jordan and John Stewart — investigate a small-town murder in rural America.

Saying much more will spoil your viewing experience, so I advise you to a) find out what we know so far about Lanterns, and b) check out this sci-fi crime drama on HBO Max as soon as you can. Depending on where you live, Lanterns episode 1 debuts on August 16/17, with new episodes airing weekly until October 4. — TP

• Watch Lanterns on HBO Max

Reacher season 4 (Prime Video)

He's big! He punches! You'll love him regardless! Alan Ritchson's version of Jack Reacher is back on Prime Video — and in season 4, things are getting political.

Adapting the Lee Child novel Gone Tomorrow, the Amazon TV original's latest chapter sees Reacher become embroiled in a CIA conspiracy after suspecting a woman on a New York City subway train is actually a suicide bomber. It's drama that makes you think, for the first time ever in this franchise.

For easy comfort viewing, season 4 is ticking every box you'd expect after its last three seasons, and that makes for some satisfying weekly viewing. That said, it isn't as strong as previous entries, and you'll have to read my review of Reacher season 4 to find out why. — Jasmine Valentine, entertainment reporter

• Watch Reacher season 4 on Prime Video

Don't Say Good Luck (Netflix)

Any theater kid will know that saying "good luck" before a performance is forbidden. You don't want to tempt fate, after all. But, in Netflix's new movie, events going on in a young actress' life are far more dramatic than anything under the spotlight.

In Don't Say Good Luck, Sunny Sandler plays Sophie, who is preparing for her high school musical of Waitress. However, she ends up with more emotional turmoil than expected when she learns that her mother's (Melanie Lynskey) cancer has returned.

The movie explores how a teenager processes family illness while trying to channel her feelings through art, so you might need tissues for this one. — Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer

• Watch Don't Say Good Luck on Netflix

Michael (Starz)

Your Spotify Wrapped is about to change thanks to all of the Michael Jackson songs you're bound to replay after watching his highly acclaimed biopic, Michael, which is now available on Starz.

Starring his real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson in the titular role, we follow the singer's career from his days in The Jackson 5 up until the 1987 release of the album Bad. In between, there's a lot of focus on how Thriller — which is still the best-selling album of all time — was created, which is satisfying regardless of whether you're a fan.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this is that Michael 2 is supposedly in the works, given we know what happened in the singer's life in the 1990s onwards. For now, the vibes are very much 'hee hee!'. — JV

• Watch Michael on Starz

The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Vrach Frankenshteyn (Hulu/Disney+)

20 years after The X-Files: I Want to Believe was released, we're finally getting Chris Carter's director's cut.

If you haven't seen the original film, it follows Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Doctor Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they're pulled back into a case years after leaving the FBI when a federal agent vanishes without a trace. As ever, the truth is out there.

Carter's cut intensifies the horror elements that were removed from the theatrically released edition in order to give it a PG-13 rating. So if, like me, you loved the darker side of The X-Files series, this is well worth watching on Hulu or Disney+ this weekend. — LB

• Watch The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Vrach Frankenshteyn on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally)

Camp Rock 3 (Disney+)

Fellow Millennials, did you ever think that you'd see the day that Camp Rock was resurrected? Perhaps you're tuning in because you've seen that song doing the rounds on social media, or because you've heard about a certain Disney legend cameo... but you're in for a wild ride regardless.

Thankfully, the Jonas Brothers are back as Connect 3. They return to Camp Rock after losing their opening act for a major reunion tour, and host a high-stakes musical competition and discover fresh new talent.

In Camp Rock 3, expect more traveling choreography as performers move through the woods, more original music, and youthful romantic drama in abundance. It's truly as if I'm a teenager again. — JV

• Watch Camp Rock 3 on Disney+

Conversations With a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes (Netflix)

Netflix's final installment of the Conversations With a Killer series centers around Charles Manson, one of the world's most notorious cult leaders.

Manson has provided inspiration for countless stories over the years, be it Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story: Cult. Indeed, Conversations With a Killer's director Joe Berlinger says Manson “ushered in the modern era of America’s fascination with true crime", making him the ideal subject to focus on as this series comes to a close.

Expect archival audio footage and tapes, and featuring exclusive interviews with key figures involved, journalists, and investigators in this shocking three-part finale. — LB

• Watch Conversations With a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes on Netflix