Category: 4. Technology

  • 7 hidden iOS 26 features iPhone users need to know about

    7 hidden iOS 26 features iPhone users need to know about

    iOS 26 is still a few months away. Once it’s available to all iPhone users, we’re sure to start finding many new features we didn’t know Apple was adding. Since the focus will be the new Liquid Glass UI, it’s only natural that users will start there.

    However, it’s the hidden iOS 26 features that will keep you coming back to explore the update in the weeks and months to come. With that said, here are seven hidden features in iOS 26 that you need to check out as soon as you update.

    Custom snooze duration: One of the most interesting iOS 26 features lets users set a snooze duration between 1 and 15 minutes. That way, you can have a snooze timer that works for your schedule, and you don’t have to use Apple’s default 9-minute timer.

    AirPods Camera Remote: Apple Watch users can already control their iPhone’s Camera. However, iOS 26 will let users control the app using AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2. They just have to press and hold the stem to start recording video.

    Multiple journals: With this fall’s update, Apple is expanding the Journal app to the Mac and the iPad. Additionally, one new iOS 26 feature will be the ability to create multiple journals for different aspects of users’ lives. Images can also be added inline with text, and a map view shows where the users created each journal entry.

    Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

    AirPods auto-pause: Another interesting hidden iOS 26 feature is that AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 will be able to detect when you fell asleep and stop playing media.

    Adaptive Power: iOS 26 has a new Adaptive Power mode when using your iPhone. Apple explains: “When your battery usage is higher than usual, iPhone can make small performance adjustments to extend your battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to take a little longer.”

    Pin favorite Apple Music tunes: If you’re an Apple Music user, you can pin your favorite songs, artists, albums, and stations to the top of your library. You can also select an action, such as go to album, shuffle, or start playing automatically.

    Manage credit cards in Wallet: This is one of the best iOS 26 features, as Apple now lets you manage your real life credit cards in the Wallet app. You can also manage autofill cards, which means you no longer need to carry your physical cards around, even when Apple Pay isn’t available.

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  • Many NGG Improvements Arrive For AMD’s Open-Source Linux OpenGL/Vulkan Drivers

    Many NGG Improvements Arrive For AMD’s Open-Source Linux OpenGL/Vulkan Drivers

    Well known AMD Mesa developer Marek Olšák has been working on a number of improvements to benefit the Next-Gen Geometry “NGG” support within the RadeonSI and RADV graphics drivers for benefiting modern Radeon GPUs under Linux.

    The NGG support continues to be improved upon for the AMD RadeonSI Gallium3D and RADV Vulkan driver code within Mesa for this modern geometry pipeline on RDNA GPUs.

    Merged this week was this MR with various NGG changes and kicking off the first part of a set of four planned set of patches around AMD Next-Gen Geometry.

    There was then this second MR providing more NGG changes. Among that work now merged is for NGG geometry shaders can now optionally cull against clip and cull distances. clip vertex and position outputs. NGG VS/TES/GS shaders can also now optionally skip cull distance exports. Plus other improvements.

    RADV NGG 3 MR

    Yet to be merged but currently being reviewed is the third part providing “major changes” to NGG for the RADV Vulkan driver along with enabling more culling and clipping/culling optimizations. This third set of patches provide a number of RADV driver improvements to enhance performance.

    There is also the fourth merge request with “lots of radeonSI changes”, dropping the LLVM LDS linking code, and other improvements. It will be interesting to see the net performance impact for these NGG improvements to the OpenGL and Vulkan AMD Linux drivers once all of the code is merged.

    Nice seeing all of these improvements being worked on by Marek for the open-source AMD Mesa driver code ahead of this quarter’s Mesa 25.2 code branching — especially the RADV improvements now that Radeon Software for Linux is no longer focusing on its proprietary Vulkan driver option.

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  • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Flip 7 (FE), Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch Ultra (2025) to be available later than expected

    Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Flip 7 (FE), Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch Ultra (2025) to be available later than expected

    This week will be exciting for Samsung fans, although quite a lot is already known about the new Samsung products that will be unveiled on July 9 at the summer Galaxy Unpacked event in New York. Just this weekend, for example, a first real-life image and a hands-on video of the new Samsung flip phone were leaked, and last week a French leaker commented on the Euro prices of the Galaxy Watch 8th generation.

    Another leaker, Steve Hemmerstoffer aka @OnLeaks, who is surely familiar to many readers, also recently published a post via X on the topic, revealing not only the start of the pre-order phase but also its end. According to the post, interested parties can place orders starting July 9, 2025, at 3:00 PM (in Central Europe), but the new Galaxy models are not expected to be delivered or available in stores until July 25.

    Specifically, this refers to the Galaxy Z Fold7, the Galaxy Z Flip7 and its slimmed-down Fan Edition, the Galaxy Z Flip7 FE, as well as the Galaxy Watch8, Galaxy Watch8 Classic and the Galaxy Watch Ultra2, which will likely launch under the name Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025). Of course, it’s not impossible that pre-orderers in certain regions will receive delivery a few days earlier, but Friday, July 25, appears to be the day of official availability around the globe.

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  • AI Designs Ocean Gliders Inspired by Sea Creatures to Boost Underwater Research Efficiency

    AI Designs Ocean Gliders Inspired by Sea Creatures to Boost Underwater Research Efficiency

    Marine animals like fish and seals have long inspired ocean engineers due to their fluid, energy-efficient movements. Now, researchers are turning to these sea animals to create a new class of underwater gliders that requires very little energy, according to a team led by researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They used artificial intelligence to design forms that slide through the water with less resistance, making long-term ocean exploration more efficient. These gliders, fabricated via 3D printing, promise better data collection on currents, salt levels, and climate impacts.

    AI-Powered 3D Designs Create Energy-Efficient Underwater Gliders Inspired by Marine Life Forms

    As per a study published on the arXiv preprint server, the team used machine learning to create and simulate numerous novel 3D glider shapes. By comparing traditional models—like submarines and sharks—with digitally altered versions, their algorithm learnt how different designs behaved at various “angles-of-attack.” A neural network then evaluated the lift-to-drag ratio of each shape, identifying those most likely to glide efficiently through water. These shapes were then fabricated using lightweight materials that minimised energy use.

    In tests, two AI-generated prototypes—one shaped like a two-winged plane and the other like a four-finned flatfish—were built and tested both in wind tunnels and underwater. Key hardware was integrated with the gliders, including buoyancy control by a pump and a mass shifter to move the angle during displacements. The new gliders, with better shapes and lift-to-drag ratios, could travel farther on less power than traditional torpedo-shaped types.

    The team added that what they are doing not only makes new types of designs possible but also reduces design times and cuts the cost since it doesn’t require physical prototyping. “This high degree of shape diversity hasn’t been investigated before,” Peter Yichen Chen, an MIT postdoc and co-lead author on the project, mentioned. He also noted that their AI pipeline allows testing forms that would be “very taxing” for humans to manually design.

    The future plans are to produce slimmer and more manoeuvrable gliders and to improve the AI system with more configurable options. Intelligent bioinspired vehicles like these, the researchers say, will be essential in studying dynamic ocean environments that are changing quickly with the intensifying demands of industrial activity, ultimately offering more flexible and efficient ways for us to explore Earth’s last frontier.

     

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    Hubble Observations Give Forgotten Globular Cluster Its Moment to Shine


    Narivetta OTT Release Date: When and Where to Watch Tovino Thomas Starrer Political Drama Online?


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  • Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are $115 off for Prime Day

    Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are $115 off for Prime Day

    Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are $115 off as part of the Prime Day festivities, which brings the price down to $285. This discount applies to multiple colorways.

    These headphones once topped our list of the best wireless headphones before being usurped by the XM6. They are still fantastic, despite being slightly outshined by the newer kid on the block. We praised the “supreme comfort” and “great sound” in our official review, along with the powerful ANC technology.

    Sony

    The battery life is also incredible here. Users can expect around 30 hours per charge, which will more than handle a long train ride or flight. It’s also lighter than the XM4, which adds to the overall comfort. There are touch controls on the outside panel of the right ear cup, with the ability to play, pause, skip tracks and adjust the volume.

    These cans also work with various voice assistants and there’s an affiliated app that allows for even more customization. The headphones offer multipoint connectivity and there are a handful of integrated microphones for phone calls. The only downside here remains the price, which has been somewhat alleviated by this sale.

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  • Exynos 2500 trades blows with the Snapdragon 8 Elite in GPU benchmark but lags behind in CPU performance

    Exynos 2500 trades blows with the Snapdragon 8 Elite in GPU benchmark but lags behind in CPU performance

    The Galaxy Z Flip7 looks set to deliver identical CPU performance to the Galaxy Z Flip6. (Image Source: Samsung)

    The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 has now made several trips to Geekbench ahead of its official debut at Unpacked. The foldable impresses in the OpenCL test but only performs as well as the last-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 on the CPU side.

    A few weeks ago, Samsung quietly unveiled the Exynos 2500 as its flagship chipset for the year. While the Exynos 2500 isn’t widely expected to keep up with its peers in the CPU department, it appears things may be different on the GPU side.

    As shared by Abhishek Yadav, the Exynos 2500 on Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Flip7 records a score of 18,601 on Geekbench’s OpenCL test. That’s a respectable score, as Geekbench’s official chart lists the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy-powered Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with 18,365 on the same test. 

    While this is just one benchmark—and, as such, not definitive evidence of the chipset’s performance—it does seem like the Exynos 2500’s RDNA 3-based Xclipse 950 GPU will be competent at the very least. That isn’t particularly surprising, as the Exynos 2400 outpaced the A17 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 on a several GPU benchmarks as well. 

    Things are less impressive on the CPU side, unfortunately. The Galaxy Z Flip7 in its “SM-F766B” guise has made multiple trips to Geekbench and mostly underperformed. The last of those visits saw the foldable score 2,313 and 7,965 on the single-core and multi-core tests respectively, with both of those scores indicating CPU performance merely on par with last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. 

    The Exynos 2500 only matches the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in CPU tests.
    The Exynos 2500 only matches the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in CPU tests.
    The Exynos 2500 looks set to offer competitive GPU performance.
    The Exynos 2500 looks set to offer competitive GPU performance.

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  • This 2TB Cloud Storage Plan With No Fees Is 81% Off During StackSocial’s Version of Prime Day – PCMag

    1. This 2TB Cloud Storage Plan With No Fees Is 81% Off During StackSocial’s Version of Prime Day  PCMag
    2. Keep 10TB of files private for life for A$421 with Internxt Cloud Storage  Mashable
    3. This 20TB cloud storage lifetime subscription is now the cheapest it has ever been  MSN
    4. Stack’s Lowest Price Ever for 10TB of Cloud Storage  PCMag

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  • Sega Teases New Sonic Racing Animation, Speeding Ahead This September

    Sega Teases New Sonic Racing Animation, Speeding Ahead This September

    Sega is promoting its upcoming release Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds in all sorts of ways, and apart from the game’s opening theme reveal earlier this week, it’s also recently teased a new animation.

    This new animation celebrating Sonic’s latest racing game is scheduled to arrive this September (the same month as the game), and this initial preview was originally featured at Anime Expo. It shows Sonic and Shadow speeding along, but we don’t get much else.

    Sega released a two-part animated series for the previous game Team Sonic Racing. And more recently it released its Dark Beginnings animation to promote Sonic X Shadow Generations (which is now also available on the Switch 2).

    Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will launch for the Switch on 25th September 2025, with the Switch 2 version of this new game to arrive at a “later date”, with a paid upgrade path also planned.

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  • I’ve found the best Prime Day soundbar deals — save up to $168 on Samsung, Sony, Sonos and more

    I’ve found the best Prime Day soundbar deals — save up to $168 on Samsung, Sony, Sonos and more

    We’re tracking the best early Prime Day deals ahead of the main event this week. I’ve got my finger on everything from Bluetooth speakers, to headphones, to earbuds, aaaand… soundbars!

    Some of the best soundbars are really expensive, there’s no doubt about it. I test soundbars for a living, so I’ve had the privilege of testing everything from a $67 soundbar all the way up to a premium $1,799 home theater setup. And that’s not even the most expensive option out there. You can easily drop $5k on a home cinema sound system.

    Because soundbars are so pricey, I’ve rounded up some of the best deals ahead of Prime Day (8-11 July). These deals include iconic brands like Sonos, Samsung, Sony, and JBL, and the sales extend to both the U.K. and the U.S..

    Quick links

    Best soundbar deals

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  • Every single MacBook of the next year just leaked – and one sounds more intriguing than the rest

    Every single MacBook of the next year just leaked – and one sounds more intriguing than the rest

    While the release roadmap for the iPhone has remained pretty consistent for the last decade, Apple’s MacBook schedule is a little harder to predict. New models can pop up at WWDC in June, at one-off events throughout the year, or via a quiet press release on the Apple website.

    But thanks to new leaks, and a touch of sleuthing from AppleInsider, we now have a pretty solid idea of what to expect from Apple on the Mac front through to the end of 2026 – with no less than fifteen(!) Macs allegedly on the roadmap. We’d better start making space in our roundup of the best laptops for graphic design.

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