Category: 4. Technology

Visma–Lease a Bike is testing new carbon-spoked Reserve wheels at the 2025 Tour de France.

The rims are pre-existing – we spotted 34 and 57mm deep front wheels, and a 64mm-deep rear wheel – but all have been reverse-engineered with carbon spokes. The 57/64 combination appears to be a new wheelset designed specifically for the updated S5, which we’ve also seen at this year’s Grand Départ (look out for a gallery on that bike coming soon).

Until now, Reserve hasn’t employed carbon spokes in its wheels.

In order to fit the spokes, Cervélo’s sports marketing director Richard Keeskamp said Reserve (a sibling brand of Cervélo) worked with hubset specialists Tune, to develop custom hubs with a lightweight shell and ceramic bearings.

The spokes attach to the rim via alloy nipples, which, in theory, makes them easier to replace. 

The design is similar in principle to that adopted by Hunt on its 48 Limitless UD Carbon Spoke Disc wheelset (plus others) and the FFWD Raw 44 hoops.

Keeskamp confirmed to BikeRadar that, in this case, the spokes are just as aerodynamic as their steel counterparts due to their bladed design. 

We weren’t able to weigh the wheels, but Keeskamp confirmed the carbon spokes were chosen for their lighter weight (relative to most steel spokes), as well as the more lively ride sensation they offer.

This tallies with my broad reflections when testing the Hunt and FFWD wheels, while Keeskamp said that the Visma pros who have tried the wheels were enjoying how they handled when climbing and descending.

Expect to see them raced in anger when the Tour hits the mountains, and Jonas Vingegaard and co. try to usurp pre-race favourite Tadej Pogačar.

Google has confirmed that Chrome is under attack again, and has issued another emergency update for all users following the mandatory “configuration change” it pushed out last week. Whatever device you’re running, you need to ensure you have downloaded the latest software and then you need to restart your browser.

As I suggested would happen, America’s cyber defence agency has now mandated federal employees update or stop using Chrome within 3 weeks, on or before July 23. The warning also applies to Microsoft Edge and other Chromium-based browsers.

ForbesDo Not Use Your Credit Card Online If You See These 2 ThingsBy Zak Doffman

CISA warns that Chrome’s V8 Javascript engine “contains a type confusion vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to perform arbitrary read/write via a crafted HTML page.” That means just visiting the wrong website could put you at risk.

In confirming CVE-2025-6554, Google explained that it would not release any further details at this time, “until a majority of users are updated with a fix.” But the fact it was discovered by Google’s own Threat Analysis Group just five days before the fix was released — with a config change even faster than that — tells you how urgent this is.

The assumption is that this will have been found in highly targeted attacks, the kind that use specialized websites to lure specific victims or links and other social media, email or text messages to deploy its attacks. But the fact this is now public domain and being fixed means the risks are high as attackers deployments before it’s too late.

This is the fourth actively exploited zero-day this year, and it highlights how important it is to keep all browsers updated at all times. While CISA’s mandate only applies to federal agency staff, its remit extends to all organizations to help them “better manage vulnerabilities and keep pace with threat activity.”

ForbesChange Your Browser Settings Now—‘Massive Security Risk’By Zak Doffman

You will see a flag within Chrome telling you an update has been downloaded and you need to restart. All your tabs should reopen, albeit your Incognito private browsing tabs will not. So make sure there’s nothing unsaved in any of those.

Following Google’s warning that it’s “aware that an exploit for CVE-2025-6554 exists in the wild,” we can expect more detail on the vulnerability over the coming weeks.

Crestron has unveiled version 4.6 of its Crestron Home OS, bringing a host of new user experience enhancements that place music and personalization at the center of the platform. The update introduces a revamped audio interface, a redesigned multi-room music control system, and several usability improvements designed to make smart home control more intuitive.

Music Control Central to Latest Home OS Update

The most visible change in OS 4.6 is a dedicated “Music” tile on the home screen, which displays album artwork and offers quick access to audio controls. Tapping the tile launches a simplified four-step process for selecting locations, sources, and playlists, minimizing the time it takes to start playing music throughout the home.

The updated interface also includes a “Music Circle” feature within the “Now Playing” tile, allowing users to add rooms or change sources without exiting the current view. These changes are designed to reduce friction in multi-room audio navigation.

“We obsessed over every detail of the multi-room experience,” said Michael Short, vice president of marketing operations and residential at Crestron, in a blog post. “The goal was to make it so intuitive that it disappears into the background.”

In addition to streamlined navigation, OS 4.6 brings music favorites — including top playlists, stations, and artists — directly to the source selection screen, eliminating the need to browse multiple layers of menus.

Additional Features Added to Crestron Home OS 4.6

Beyond audio, the release also includes several broader improvements to the Crestron Home platform, such as:

• Simplified DALI Lighting Control via the new DIN-DLI hardware and web interface.

• Expanded door lock support, including international compatibility with Yale, August, and Emtek models.

• Improved intercom capabilities, with options for direct response, auto-answer, and custom tones.

• Customizable touch screen font sizes for accessibility.

• Support for DM NVX 385, expanding network AV distribution options.

Crestron emphasizes that OS 4.6 is the result of extensive beta testing and feedback from users.

“We meticulously analyzed every step of the process,” said Chase Bouchard, product owner for software applications, in the company’s blog. “Our focus was on reducing taps while increasing control and flexibility.”

Availability

The update is available now for Crestron Home systems, continuing the company’s push to simplify and enhance the smart home experience through regular software improvements.

Amazon plans to shut down its stand-alone Freevee app in August, according to an in-app notice to users. The free, ad-supported streaming service is directing viewers to continue watching Freevee content on Prime Video.

“Prime Video is the new exclusive home for Freevee TV shows, movies and Live TV,” the notice to readers states. “The Freevee app will be accessible until August 2025. Continue watching your favorite Free Originals and our library of hit movies, shows, and live TV on Prime Video for free, no subscription needed. Download Prime Video to get started and sign-in with your Amazon account.”

The move doesn’t come as a surprise, as Amazon confirmed back in November 2024 that it was sunsetting the service and integrating its content into Prime Video.

Amazon said in a statement at the time that it had “decided to phase out Freevee branding. There will be no change to the content available for Prime members, and a vast offering of free streaming content will still be accessible for non-Prime members, including select Originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a variety of licensed movies and series, and a broad library of FAST Channels — all available on Prime Video.”

Amazon’s decision to shut down the service likely reflects a strategic move to simplify its offerings and centralize content on a single platform. Instead of operating two separate services, the company is consolidating its streaming efforts around Prime Video.

Launched in 2019, Freevee is available in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Austria. The service was initially called “IMDb TV” and later rebranded to Freevee in 2022.

Popular original series on Freevee include Emmy-nominated reality comedy show “Jury Duty,” crime show “Bosch: Legacy,” soap opera “Neighbours,” and more. These shows are accessible on Prime Video under the “Watch for Free” section.

The news comes a few weeks after a Nielsen report found that streaming services surpassed both cable and network television in total viewership among people in the U.S. for the first time in May, and that free streaming services have been a major driver of streaming’s overall success. The report found that Pluto TV, Roku Channel, and Tubi accounted for a combined 5.7% of total TV viewing in May.

With less than a week until Prime Day kicks off, we’re already seeing some exciting early deals pop up. And now we can add two more great discounts to the list: the refurbished ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite is down to $106.99 ($37 off) at Amazon, while the refurbished Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is $126.99 ($53 off) at Amazon. Both discounts bring the like-new e-readers to all-time lows — just in time to read Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary before the movie adaptation hits theaters next year.

The Kindle Paperwhite is one of our favorite e-readers, especially for those who are already in the Kindle ecosystem. It offers a large 7-inch display, sharp 300ppi resolution, and an adjustable warm white front light, making it more comfortable to read in different environments. It’s also waterproof, so you can read while lounging by the pool, which I plan to do a lot of this summer. Meanwhile, the battery is rated to last for up to 12 weeks on a single charge, though your mileage may vary depending on your reading habits.

If you don’t want ads on your e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition offers an ad-free experience — plus a few other goodies that the standard Kindle Paperwhite doesn’t. For starters, the Signature Edition has double the storage, so you can download even more books, PDFs, and audiobooks, which you can listen to with Bluetooth headphones or speakers. It also features an auto-adjusting front light, so you don’t have to constantly adjust the brightness throughout the day. Finally, the Signature Edition supports wireless charging, a feature you don’t often see in this space.

Both models are faster than the last-gen iterations thanks to a dual-core processor, so turning pages, highlighting text, and looking up words is more responsive. Amazon says its refurbished products are thoroughly inspected, cleaned, and tested to ensure they’re fully functional, and you get the same one-year limited warranty as new products. If you need a break from games, movies, and podcasts, we have plenty of great book recommendations to check out.

An unreleased version of Cervélo’s R5 climbing bike has been spotted by BikeRadar at the 2025 Tour de France Grand Départ in Lille.

While much of the focus in recent weeks has been on what appears to be a new S5 aero bike, the American brand admits the new R5 was hiding in plain sight at this year’s Criterium du Dauphiné.

Claimed to be capable of hitting the UCI’s minimum bike weight limit of 6.8kg ready-to-ride, the new R5 doubles down on weight savings and ride quality.

Spotted at the Visma–Lease a Bike team hotel, ahead of the 2025 Tour de France, the bike we saw belonged to Matteo Jorgenson, the team’s American rising-star.

Let’s take a look at what’s changed for this latest version of Cervélo’s iconic climbing bike – and reveal how much a pro-spec build actually weighs.

Lighter everywhere

While we still believe aero bikes will dominate the opening part of the 2025 Tour de France, the second half of this year’s race is packed with climbing – including a mountain time trial on stage 13.

With this in mind, Cervélo has given the R5 an even purer focus on weight than before, aiming to have it hit the UCI’s 6.8kg limit with all the accessories needed to make it race-ready (such as pedals, bottle cages, bike computer mounts and so on).

The new R5 retains its classic silhouette and Cervélo’s signature squoval (square-oval) aero tube shapes – because unlike the Specialized S-Works Aethos, the R5 remains a designated ‘race bike’ – but the brand nevertheless says “every single piece [of the bike] has been changed”.

The tube shapes of the frame, fork and seatpost have all been slimmed down, for example.

According to the brand, the pencil-thin seat stays are designed to be slimmer than the UCI’s minimum tube thickness of 10mm when unpainted, with the knowledge a coat of lightweight paint will add the required extra millimetre on.

Up front, the R5’s fork no longer flows as smoothly into the down tube, as it did previously.

It’s possible there’s an aerodynamic penalty for this, but Cervélo said no stone was left unturned in the pursuit of cutting weight.

This included remodelling the fork brake mounting area, which now sees bolts go straight through the fork (from the front) and directly into the brake caliper. According to Cervélo, this change negates the need for a flat mount brake adaptor, and for a threaded insert inside the fork – which saves around 30g of weight.

The brand has also developed a new one-piece integrated handlebar for the new R5.

It features an aerodynamic profile but also contributes to the goal of saving weight, through the elimination of unnecessary hardware at the stem clamp and the use of a more traditional shape compared to the S5’s cockpit.

Scores on the doors

While some Tour de France teams are cautious about letting us weigh their bikes, Visma-Lease a Bike was more than happy for us to do so.

All-in, including two (empty) water bottles, Jorgenson’s new Cervélo R5 weighed 7.03kg, according to our scales – just 200g more than the UCI weight limit.

The bike we saw was a size 58cm, set up with mid-depth Reserve 42/49 wheels and 29c Vittoria Corsa Pro ‘Wide Rim Optimised’ tubeless tyres.

Jorgenson’s bike featured a SRAM Red AXS groupset – the lightest electronic road bike groupset with disc brakes until recently (when Campagnolo launched it’s new Super Record 13 groupset) – in 2x form, with a 54/41t crankset and a wide-ranging 10-36t cassette out back.

Notably, the bike was also specced with 165mm cranks – an extremely short crank length for a rider as rangy as Jorgenson (the American is reportedly 190cm-tall).

In contrast, Jorgenson had a lengthy stem measuring around 150mm, paired with a relatively narrow, 380mm handlebar width (measured centre-to-centre at the brake hoods).

Jorgenson’s bike was completed with Tacx Ciro bottle cages, a Prologo Nago C3 saddle, Wahoo Speedplay Aero pedals and a tiny Garmin Edge 130 bike computer (clearly the weight weenie’s choice).

As at last year’s Tour, Jorgenson’s bike also had a waxed chain, for improved cleanliness and drivetrain efficiency.

Additional weight savings could doubtless be found with a 1x drivetrain or a shallower set of wheels, should Jorgenson wish the shed every last possible gram.

Even a simple swap to Vittoria’s time trial-specific Corsa Pro Speed TLR tyres would save around 90g (per pair of tyres) – which we’ve no doubt he’ll do if he uses this bike for the Tour’s mountain TT on stage 13.

Specs | Matteo Jorgenson’s new Cervélo R5 for the 2025 Tour de France

• Frameset: Cervélo R5
• Groupset: SRAM Red AXS
• Wheelset: Reserve 42/49
• Power meter: SRAM Red AXS
• Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR, 700x29c
• Handlebar: Cervélo integrated, 150x380mm
• Seatpost: Cervélo R5
• Saddle: Prologo Nago C3
• Bottle cages: Tacx Ciro
• Pedals: Wahoo Speedplay Aero
• Weight: 7.03kg

At iPX London, we caught up with impact.com’s Senior Director, AI and Marketplace Products, Alex Springer, to learn more about the platform’s product roadmap this year – before he got the chance to explore the rest of London’s Science Museum.

Springer relayed all of the new features coming to impact.com throughout a session earlier in the day.

There is a wealth of new additions. Some of the highlights include: a mobile app; a Chrome extension; an intuitive AI chatbot; deeper programme analysis; SPOT Commerce (a retail media booster); Real Time Search; and agentic AI tools.

Of the new features, Springer pinpoints advanced programme recommendations as the most revolutionary.

“The scale at which we can process data now has allowed us to start to understand some very unique things that we couldn’t before,” he says. “If I can deterministically tell you that an audience who reads about this stuff eventually goes and buys this stuff – that’s huge. That’s the Holy Grail. That’s what we’ve been looking for across the marketing industry.”

He continues, “It redefines demographic. I don’t care if you’re old or young, or from this country or that country. What we care about now is interest demographics. We’ve been using machine learning to be able to determine those links and surface them to people.”

We also discuss planning entire campaigns with natural language alone; scepticism and optimism around AI; and what impact.com has to offer affiliate marketers in today’s landscape. 

Watch the full interview below.

California Tinder users will find a new feature when they open up the dating app on July 7: A mandatory Face Check on their phones will be required before they can log into their profiles. 

The Face Check step will begin with a new request to record a video of your face, a more casual version of setting up Apple’s Face ID login. Tinder will then run checks comparing your face data to your current profile pics and automatically create a small face badge for your profile. We know just how it works, because Tinder has already launched the feature in Canada and Colombia.

The technology, powered by FaceTec, will keep biometric data of the user’s face in encrypted form but discard the scanning video for privacy. Tinder will be able to use the face data to detect duplicate accounts, in an effort to cut down on fake profiles and identity theft.  

Tinder’s facial recognition rollout is also made to prevent catfishing, or people pretending to be someone else on Tinder to scam or blackmail them. But that also points to a deeper problem on the rise in dating apps — a growing number of bots, many controlled by AI, are designed to glean personal information or fool users into scammy subscriptions, among other problems. 

Tinder’s working against these bots on several fronts, including this Face Check push as well as ID Check, which requires a government-issued ID and other types of photo verification. 

There’s no word yet on when Face Check will move beyond California. 

The dating app also recently released a feature in June to enable double-dating with your friends, which Tinder reports is especially popular with Gen Z users. If you’re worried about the latest hazards on Tinder, we have guide to safety practices. 

A representative for Tinder did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The edgy cool of a rockstar-esque studded leather jacket on feet? That’s the promise of Vans’ LX Authentic 44.

There’s a tangible coolness associated with a fatigued leather jacket, all the more so when it’s studded. Vans’ premium sub-label, OTW, managed to capture this ineffable “It” factor and plaster it all over a Vans Authentic sneaker that’s darn-near too fly to skate in.

Vans’ LX Authentic 44 sneaker has the punked-out exuberance of a worn-out leather jacket thanks to its pebbled leather upper accented with metal studs throughout. The pre-scuffed outsole also adds to the skate shoe’s lived-in charm.

This unique mix of durability and luxury has become a hallmark of the OTW label, especially when it comes to the Vans Authentic sneaker, a true footwear muse.

Just take a look at how streetwear label Satoshi Nakamoto turned Vans’ Authentic sneaker into a pearled-out gem, toughened up with a scuffed outsole that actually looks a lot like what the Vans LX Authentic 44 has going on right now. If it ain’t broke, bejewel it.

Now, I know Vans is likely not top of mind when we think of nice leather sneakers. But believe it or not, OTW does full-grain leather really well. Consistently too. And this is not exclusive to the Authentic sneaker, either.

In fact, one of the best displays of Vans’ leather expertise comes in the form of Vans OTW’s recent red and black checkerboard Slip-On sneaker. To be fair, there is also an Authentic version of the sneaker, which looks equally delicious. But there is just something about a shiny slip-on that eats down.

Available later this year on OTW’s website this fall, the Vans’ LX Authentic 44 sneaker allows Vans to flex its rapidly developing leather muscle. 

And where other luxe Vans sneakers wear shiny patent leather uppers, Vans’ LX Authentic 44’s pebbled leather is almost more decadent in its beautiful bumpiness.

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