Category: 4. Technology

I’m a huge proponent of open ear headphones, especially for outdoor fitness. Open ear headphones don’t block your ears, meaning you can hear your surroundings clearly (unlike with noise-cancelling headphones).

Shokz makes many of my favorite open ear headphones, and its OpenRun model is at its lowest price ever right now. If you’ve ever wanted to try open ear headphones, these are the ones to get, especially at this discounted price.

I’ve tried a lot of open ear headphones, including every model from Shokz. The OpenRun strikes a delicate balance between price, features and sound quality. They wrap around the outside of your ears comfortably, and have reliable button controls along the headphones. They are lightweight and IP67 dust and waterproof, a great fit for outdoor exercise, no matter the weather — I use mine for outdoor runs and bike rides.

The version linked above charges with a standard USB-C cable, which I find much more convenient than the previous magnetic charging version.

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I’m a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology and fitness including recent stories on smartwatches, running shoes, cameras and more. For this piece, I checked Shokz OpenRun prices and price history across multiple retailers to find the best deal.

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The Soundcore Sleep A30s, the first sleep headphones to feature active noise cancelling technology, are now available for £199.99/€249.99/$229.99.

Soundcore

Soundcore Sleep A30 Earbuds And The Evolution of Sleep Technology

Many experts believe that we are going through a sleep crisis. While it has been an issue for a long time, many believe the problem has become significantly worse since the pandemic. In June 2024, the medical journal The Lancet described sleep as “a neglected public health issue and, drawing on a survey from The Sleep Charity, said that of 2,000 adults questioned, 90% reported current sleep problems. Then there’s this article from June 2025 that simply asks, “Why can’t Americans sleep?”

Aside from long-term issues caused by stress or mental health concerns, practical factors can mess with your sleep, whether it be your partner snoring, the bin men turning up too early, or a next-door neighbor’s gardener that comes to mow their grass and trim the hedges every single Tuesday morning all year round, whatever the weather, for years on end.. and OK, maybe that last one just impacts me.

Technology: The Problem and Yet, The Solution?

For many, technology is to blame, particularly your smartphone. Staying up late watching TV is one thing, but that small, addictive box of portable doomscrolling can all too easily stop you from getting a good night’s rest.

However, while technology is part of the problem, it can also be part of the solution.

Certainly, there’s a lot of sleep-related technology to choose from. Your smartphone has numerous sleep apps that can measure how well you sleep, or dedicated sensors that sit underneath your mattress, such as the Withings Sleep Analyzer, which can also analyze your heart rate and even claims to be able to detect potential sleep apnea, and the Apple Watch and some Samsung Galaxy Watch models can do the same.

The Sleep A30 pack an impressive amount of tech into a small buds that are 7% smaller than their predecessors.

Soundcore

SoundCore Sleep A30: Active Sleep Enhancers

However, while they will give you good data, these are all passive devices that won’t actively help you get a good night’s shuteye. This is where the Soundcore Sleep A30 earbuds come in, as they are specifically designed to aid your rest, not only by physically blocking out sounds but through playing music and calming audio, and now, also using active noise cancelling tech – and all without disturbing a partner.

Following along from the A10 and A20 models, Soundcore is really starting to build up expertise in this area. The A30s offer several improvements over the previous model. While the A20s are small, the A30s are 7% slimmer in the ear, making them even easier to use for side sleepers. With the A30s, Soundcore now offers memory foam ear and wing tips as well as silicon, the former optimized for comfort and the latter for sound isolation.

Smart ANC For Sleep

The A30s are also the first sleep earbuds to feature active noise cancellation (ANC), to block out low-frequency noise. Inevitably, this comes at the cost of some battery life, with Soundcore claiming nine hours from the earbuds, compared to 14 hours from the A20s. It’s a significant drop, but with an additional 45 hours in the case when fully charged, it’s still enough, and for most, it should be worth the trade-off.

Of course, you don’t want to then be woken up by a partner snoring, and it’s here that the A30 offers up its most interesting new feature, called “Adaptive Snore Masking”. This uses a microphone in the case to detect snoring sounds within a radius of 1.5 meters, which it then analyzes and gets the headphones to emit broad-spectrum masking audio, keeping you safely in the land of nod – and potentially saving your relationship.

(The press release accompanying the release says that it is so effective that it can even block out someone “sawing wood or chopping logs” on the other side of the bed, though I would say that if this were happening, you’ve got bigger problems — I’d recommend abandoning attempting to sleep and instead suggest running away as far away as possible).

Binaural AI Brainwave Boost

Another boost over the A20s is the ability to play binaural soundscapes that Soundcore describes as Artificial Intelligence (AI) brainwave audio. These sound immersive and peaceful, but for this, the earbuds must be connected to your phone through Bluetooth. This reduces battery life to only 6.5 hours, but again, it sounds good enough to be worth the trade.

As with the A20s, you can download one piece of audio directly to the device, which is great if you want to maximize battery life or if you want to leave your phone in another room, but it’s a shame that this onboard audio isn’t in binaural, as presumably, the processing for this needs to be done on the phone.

Alarm Snooze and Microphone Additions

A great feature of these sleep headphones is that you can set an alarm so you can wake up without disturbing a sleeping partner, and with the A30s, these can now be snoozed too.

Soundcore has now also added a microphone, so while you may want to block calls while sleeping it does make them more flexible for use during the day, as while the A30s aren’t going to replace more audio-focused headphones for listening to music, but for casual use, they are acceptable – and you might want to listen to the binaural beats for focus.

Aside from this, the A30s also include all the niceties of the A20s, such as sleep monitoring and a Find My Earbud feature, and the A30s also now come in two colors – white and mist green, which is good news if you and a partner both own a set.

On The Path to Perfection

With the A30s, Soundcore continues its path to perfecting its sleep headphones, but I can see room for further enhancements. I would welcome the case offering wireless Qi charging, so it can charge without a cable, and also support for Bluetooth Multipoint. This would enable them to be paired with more than one device and to automatically switch between them. I fell afoul of this feature not being present when I discovered that I’d previously connected them to my iPad, which was downstairs, leaving me with the choice of using the built-in audio or getting out of bed, hunting for said iPad, and then manually disconnecting it.

Of course, adding new features will add to the cost. Having been available for a reduced cost via Kickstarter since June, they are now widely available on Soundcore’s website and major retailers for £199.99/€249.99/$229.99. However, this is more than double what you can pick up a pair of the still impressive A20s for, but at least now you have the choice.

Further reading:

After six years of waiting, Team Cherry’s long awaited Hollow Knight sequel, Silksong, launched globally today at 10 am eastern. Unfortunately, fans may have to wait a little longer to play the action-adventure game. Online retailers such as the Xbox and PlayStation stores, Steam, and Nintendo eShop, are rife with loading screens and error messages as people rush to buy it.

On Steam, players trying to add the game to their cart or complete their purchase are being met with the same message: an image of a frustrated blob with the caption “Something went wrong.” Switch players on Bluesky say the eShop hangs on loading screens or error messages. On the PlayStation store, the game appears to have disappeared entirely for some players, while it’s not available to purchase for others. According to Verge reporter Tom Warren, fans trying to buy the game on Xbox Game Pass should remote install it via the console’s website.

In lieu of playing the game, many fans are turning to social media to vent their frustrations.

“STEAM, LET ME PLAY SILKSONG,” posted one Bluesky user. “First boss of #Silksong is really tough,” wrote another with a picture of Steam’s error message. Twitch streamers trying to play the game for their viewers are running into similar problems. On X, user @HaydenSchiff posted a screenshot of many streamers encountering the same Steam error message.

Players who’ve successfully managed to buy the game, meanwhile, are gloating about their success. “God’s favorite,” wrote one with a picture of Silksong on their Switch 2.

Silksong, announced in 2019, is the followup to Team Cherry’s debut title, Hollow Knight. A winning combination of Dark Souls-like difficulty and cartoonish charm, Hollow Knight became an award-winning indie darling that sold over 15 million copies—an impressive feat for its tiny, Australia-based developer. While the team initially planned to release Silksong as downloadable content, the project eventually ballooned into a full-fledged title that took seven years to finish.

Despite years of few updates and little news, the Silksong fanbase has remained active. Some fan communities have even turned waiting into a game, while others dedicated their time to (mostly non-existent) daily news updates.

The weeks leading up to Silksong, available today for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, have been chaotic for both gamemakers and fans. After developers made a surprise announcement in August that the game would launch in two weeks, at least half a dozen fellow indie developers delayed their own games to make way. “Dropping the GTA of indie games with 2 weeks notice makes everyone freak out,” wrote one developer, Demonschool developer Necrosoft on Bluesky after announcing its own delay.

The game’s popularity is undeniable. As of writing, Silksong is Steam’s top-selling game; it already has more than 100,000 concurrent players on that platform alone. For the rest still waiting to buy a copy, it turns out years of waiting may have been good practice for launch day.

Star Wars Outlaws™, the open-world Star Wars™ game where you play as cunning scoundrel Kay Vess (Humberly González) and her loyal companion, Nix (Dee Bradley Baker) as they fight, steal, and outwit their way through the galaxy’s criminal underworld, is now available on Nintendo Switch 2. Star Wars Outlaws is also available on Ubisoft+ Premium, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro, Amazon Luna, and PC through the Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store, and Steam.  

In Star Wars Outlaws, Kay and Nix seek the means to start a new life. To free herself from the bounty that follows her, Kay needs to assemble a crew to pull off one of the greatest heists the Outer Rim has ever seen. In this open world, you will visit new and familiar locations across the Star Wars™ galaxy, from the windswept savannah of Toshara, to the sandy dunes of Tatooine, into the wilds of space, and more. 

Nintendo Switch 2 gives players new ways to play Star Wars Outlaws at home or on the go with intuitive touch controls for menu navigation and select minigames, gyroscope-assisted aiming, an optimized handheld mode, and immersive motion controls for key gameplay features. 

Purchasing Star Wars Outlaws on Nintendo Switch 2 gives owners access to the base game and the Season Pass. The Season Pass includes:  

Players can purchase the Ultimate Pack for even more stylish gear for Kay and Nix, which includes the Sabacc Shark Cosmetic Bundle, Rogue Infiltrator Cosmetic Bundle, Naboo Nobility Cosmetic Bundle, Desert Nomad Cosmetic Bundle, and Forest Commando Character Pack. 

For more on Star Wars Outlaws, check out our accessibility spotlight, and visit starwarsoutlaws.com.

New research examining 16 million URLs aligns with Google’s predictions that hallucinated links will become an issue across AI platforms.

An Ahrefs study shows that AI assistants send users to broken web pages nearly three times more often than Google Search.

The data arrives six months after Google’s John Mueller raised awareness about this issue.

ChatGPT Leads In URL Hallucination Rates

ChatGPT creates the most fake URLs among all AI assistants tested. The study found that 1% of URLs people clicked led to 404 pages. Google’s rate is just 0.15%.

The problem gets worse when looking at all URLs ChatGPT mentions, not just clicked ones. Here, 2.38% lead to error pages. Compare this to Google’s top search results, where only 0.84% are broken links.

Claude came in second with 0.58% broken links for clicked URLs. Copilot had 0.34%, Perplexity 0.31%, and Gemini 0.21%. Mistral had the best rate at 0.12%, but it also sends the least traffic to websites.

Why Does This Happen?

The research found two main reasons why AI creates fake links.

First, some URLs used to exist but don’t anymore. When AI relies on old information instead of searching the web in real-time, it might suggest pages that have been deleted or moved.

Second, AI sometimes invents URLs that sound right but never existed.

Ryan Law from Ahrefs shared examples from their own site. AI assistants created fake URLs like “/blog/internal-links/” and “/blog/newsletter/” because these sound like pages Ahrefs might have. But they don’t actually exist.

Limited Impact on Overall Traffic

The problem may seem significant, but most websites won’t notice much impact. AI assistants only bring in about 0.25% of website traffic. Google, by comparison, drives 39.35% of traffic.

This means fake URLs affect a tiny portion of an already small traffic source. Still, the issue might grow as more people use AI for research and information.

The study also found that 74% of new web pages contain AI-generated content. When this content includes fake links, web crawlers might index them, spreading the problem further.

Mueller’s Prediction Proves Accurate

These findings match what Google’s John Mueller predicted in March. He forecasted a “slight uptick of these hallucinated links being clicked” over the next 6-12 months.

Mueller suggested focusing on better 404 pages rather than chasing accidental traffic.

His advice to collect data before making big changes looks smart now, given the small traffic impact Ahrefs found.

Mueller also predicted the problem would fade as AI services improve how they handle URLs. Time will tell if he’s right about this, too.

Looking Forward

For now, most websites should focus on two things. Create helpful 404 pages for users who hit broken links. Then, set up redirects only for fake URLs that get meaningful traffic.

This allows you to handle the problem without overreacting to what remains a minor issue for most sites.

The new Horizon 20 lineup of 4K Google TV projectors from Xgimi targets gamers who want to play day and night on the biggest screen possible. In addition to promising an incredibly bright image from the flagship model, Xgimi is at IFA 2025 saying the entire lineup supports low-latency gaming with an input lag of just 1ms — that’s very responsive for a projector that will likely be able to produce a large image in rooms where you can’t control the ambient lighting.

The Horizon 20 lineup — compromised of the base Horizon 20 model, the 20 Pro, and 20 Max — is built around an RGB triple laser architecture. The flagship Horizon 20 Max projector can produce an astounding 5700 ISO lumens of brightness, according to Xgimi, which is “perfect for viewers who want immersive visuals even in daylight or high-ambient light environments.” That puts it just behind Dangbei’s 6200 ISO lumen claim for its S7 Ultra Max projector. The Horizon 20 Pro model can still produce a very respectable 4200 ISO lumens while the base model drops it down to 3100 ISO lumens, according to Xgimi.

Chinese projector makers have gotten into trouble for misleading customers on brightness in the past, but that was before they started measuring brightness in ISO lumens — a legitimate measurement that often yields a number slightly smaller than tests conducted using the ANSI standard. 5,700 ISO lumens is so high that it’s in the range associated with projectors meant for large spaces that cost well over $10,000. Nevertheless, Xgimi tells me that it’s confident that reviewers and users will see this performance reflected in practice.

Xgimi’s projectors also support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and IMAX Enhanced modes, with the inclusion of optical zoom and lens shifting tech. Lens shift works by physically adjusting the position of the lens relative to the DMD chip, allowing the image to move up, down, left, or right without distorting or scaling it digitally.

These projectors support a 240Hz refresh and VRR to match the output of a gaming console or PC. However, that 1ms response is only at 1080/240fps — lag increases to 2.2ms at 1080p/120Hz or 3ms at 4K/60Hz. Xgimi also claims a 10,000:1 contrast ratio when a dynamic black level enhancement mode is turned on. Netflix works out of the box which isn’t guaranteed with all-in-one projectors, and you get 24W of built-in Harman Kardon Speakers for 360-degree sound.

The Horizon 20 lineup can be preordered in the UK and US starting on September 5th with shipments expected in October. Retail pricing will range between $1,699 for the base model and $2,999 for the Horizon 20 Max. However, temporary early bird pricing at launch drops that range down to $1,189 to $2,399, and you also get a floor stand and an Assassin’s Creed game code.

Google is adding Veo 3 software capabilities to its video generation feature for Google Photos. US-based users can turn static images into four-second videos by clicking either the “Subtle movements” or, for the more adventurous, the “I’m feeling lucky” options under the Create tab in Google Photos. According to Google spokesperson Michael Marconi, you can get your photo subjects to dance or shower them with confetti.

Veo 3 replaces Veo 2 in Photos, which was rolled out beginning in July. The upgrade to the video generation software will improve the resolution and fidelity of the clips made from static images, Marconi said.

This is the latest release in Google’s push to bring video generation software to its users. At the May I/O event, Google launched the AI video generation model Veo 3 alongside the text-to-video software Flow. In August, users got access to a limited version of the AI-powered video editor Vids, which included an AI-generated avatar that could deliver a message on their behalf.

Veo 3’s most important feature, according to Google’s VP of Gemini Josh Woodward at the I/O event, was the “incredibly realistic” sound generation. At the time, Veo 3 was available under the $250 per month “AI Ultra” plan. Now, free Photos users can bring Veo 3-powered video generation — but not sound — to a limited, unspecified number of their own pictures each day. Ultra and Pro subscribers have access to more generations.

The AI tool is now in the Photos Create tab. In addition to adding motion to still images, users can restyle a photo into a 3D animation, which can then be turned into a video. The highlights feature creates a video montage of photos based on keywords typed into your gallery.