A whole host of Mario-themed Lego sets are on the way, and the full details of the line-up have now leaked.

Eight Lego sets featuring characters from the Mario universe are coming in January 2027, headed up by a fairly large Fire Mario & Bowser’s Castle set.

That’s the most expensive of the upcoming kits, according to Unibricks, with the rest more on the cheaper end of the LEGO scale. Here’s the full list, along with the US prices we have so far:

• Mario's Pipe Jump — $9.99
• Mario Kart - Racing with Mario — $14.99, 84 pieces
• Mario's Beach Adventures — $19.99, 196 pieces
• Mario Kart - Luigi & Bowser Jr's Karts — $29.99, 104 pieces
• Yoshi at Mario's House — $39.99, 147 pieces
• Mario Kart - Bowser's Rumbling Kart — $59.99
• Fire Mario & Bowser's Castle — $99.99, 850 pieces
• Fire Luigi vs. Koopa Troopa Battle — $29.99, 241 pieces

LEGO teased these Mario sets earlier this year in an Instagram post. “New form unlocked! New sets coming in 2027,” it posted.

LEGO already has a whole host of Nintendo-themed sets, the first of which was released back in 2020. Among the biggest to date are the Mario and Luigi Mario Kart kits, at £149.99/£159.99 a pop and around 2000 pieces.

• The best LEGO Nintendo sets to unleash your inner child

There’s nothing quite at that scale in these upcoming drops, then, but a whole bunch of current Mario sets are listed as “retiring soon,” leaving room in the line-up for these new kits.

Sets leaving the catalogue include the “animated” Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi, a pixel art-style creation where Yoshi walks when a hand crank is turned, and the Piranha Plant set.

LEGO’s most recent Nintendo set isn’t a Mario one at all, but the brilliant Donkey Kong Arcade, a recreation of the 1981 arcade machine. A new wave of Pokemon 'Smart Play' sets with interactive electronic play features has recently launched, too.

No firm release date has been revealed for the new sets yet, but with January 2027 the expected window, these ones won’t classify for Christmas present buys — unless they’re willing to accept an IOU slip on Christmas Day, anyway.

• The 20 best LEGO sets of all time, ever!

Here’s a first — Grand Theft Auto 6, aka GTA 6, is getting an ‘Extended Look’ unveiling, and Netflix looks to be the platform of choice to view it on.

The streaming giant has partnered with GTA developers Rockstar to offer up the next big peek at the game, airing on August 27th, before anywhere else.

GTA 6 is already the most hotly anticipated…anything of all time, and it’s an unprecedented move to put preview-look access to the game behind Netflix’s subscriber wall — a press release accompanying the news explicitly says that it is ‘Netflix subscribers [getting] an extended look’, rather than free-tier members.

Not that you’ll have to wait too long if you’ve not signed up to Netflix, however. While Netflix gets first dibs at 3pm ET (8pm BST) on August 27th, the showcase will be available just a few hours later at 9pm (2am BST, August 28th) on the official Rockstar Games YouTube channel and the Grand Theft Auto VI website.

A Netflix first

Still, expect it to top the Netflix charts for some time to come following its release then, as GTA 6 isn’t scheduled to release until November 19th, and it’s a mighty sight more comfy watching something on your sofa than at a desk.

“Grand Theft Auto reveals have become cultural moments in their own right. The anticipation and fandom around Grand Theft Auto VI is unprecedented, and we’re honoured that Rockstar Games has partnered with us to debut the next part of the Grand Theft Auto story with Netflix members first,” says Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s VP of Nonfiction Series.

“It’s a reflection of what we hope Netflix is becoming: a place where the most ambitious storytelling, from any medium, can find the biggest possible audience.”

This’ll be feverishly awaited too — it’s been almost 13 years since the release of the last Grand Theft Auto (itself the biggest entertainment product of all time, amassing some $10 billion in revenue), and Rockstar has only drip fed two short trailers for this new game in all that time. Fans will be hoping the Netflix reveal will be the first time we get to see the actual gameplay in action, as all clips so far have been solely cutscenes or artfully-edited tasters of the in-game action.

• The 9 games you can't afford to miss in 2026

We all know renting has always come with its fair share of setbacks. But I never expected a lack of TV to be one of them.

When I first moved into my current London flat five years ago, there wasn’t even a hint of a problem. We happily connected our aerial cable and had everything we could want right on the telly.

But, as the years went by, my precious channels started to disappear; at first gradually and then all of a sudden, leaving only the BBC HD ones guaranteed to be working without the picture going and turning into pixelated blocks.

It was every telly addict's nightmare. But a new streaming solution might just save the day (and your binge-watching evenings, of course).

The problem with apps

Of course, I’m perfectly happy with streaming TV, but it doesn’t always work the way you hope. Not everything streams live; certain apps (looking at you, ITVx) are a bit of a nightmare to navigate, and there’s a whole cohort of mid-range free channels (the likes of Really, Dave and Drama) that don’t even have a streaming home.

Beyond that, there’s nothing quite like channel hopping around for some light entertainment; there’s a comfort in having everything at your fingertips in an all-in-one guide to browse when you’re indecisive and have no idea what to put on.

"Watching telly is still a huge part of our culture," says Alex Arbab-Zadeh, COO of Manhattan TV.

"Watching live broadcasts gives people a shared experience – big news events, sports, or even just trending shows that everyone watches and then talks about. Some experiences are just more meaningful when you know you're watching along with everyone else."

As a gameshow fan, that always used to mean throwing on Challenge and watching some reruns of The Chase in the background. Sadly, that’s not an experience that’s easily available via streaming services, where you actively need to have something in mind that you want to watch. I didn’t just give up on terrestrial telly immediately (after all, I’m paying my TV license), but after months of chasing building management to get the aerial working led to nothing, we eventually just stuck to watching The Traitors over iPlayer.

I wondered why nobody else in our building had complained about this, but it seems they all mostly watch streaming TV too, so it’s never been a priority to fix. In fact, this is all a bit of a “grey area” for renters. Of course, a management company should mend a communal aerial, but if they don’t, it’s not like there’s a law requiring landlords or building companies to sort these things out. There are likely obligations in a lease agreement, sure, but management didn’t bother with repairs and, unsurprisingly, it’s not something any renter can tackle themselves.

Enter Freely

Thankfully, Freely is not only the answer to my specific issue, but also to a long list of TV woes — whether your aerial cable is dodgy, you don’t have an aerial connection in a particular room, you have poor weather, signal interference, or a lack of HD channels over the terrestrial signal.

What is Freely, then? Think of it as the long-overdue upgrade to Freeview. Created by the UK's core broadcasters, it streams live TV straight over your Wi-Fi into a unified programme guide, so you can watch things as they’re broadcast.

It also offers a great range of channels including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5, and saves you from needing rooftop aerials, satellite dishes, or set-top box installations.

Small box, big upgrade

Given that most solutions with baked-in Freely are built into televisions themselves, and I was very much happy with the TV I already had, just a tiny box full of channels was what I needed.

And exactly what Manhattan has made with its Aero 4K. It costs £89, and affordably brings the Freely service to any TV, even my ageing Samsung.

I got the Manhattan Aero 4K up and running in about five minutes; you just plug it into the HDMI and power, and you’re sorted, with no subscription to worry about. And, yes, although it really shouldn’t need to be said: yes, of course you still need to pay for your TV license!

Using the Manhattan Aero 4K is as straightforward as it gets. It runs on TiVo OS rather than Android TV, and I find that a cleaner, simpler and more integrated experience that’s less about streaming-first. You have a “Guide” button on the remote that takes you straight to your old-school electronic programme guide (EPG) and I’ve found channels load fast, and it’s great that you also get access to TiVo+'s 400-plus free FAST channels (that means “free ad-supported TV”) including Sony Action Hits, the Pokemon channel, Bloomberg, CNN, plus movie and sports channels, too.

"People can buy a very affordable device like the Aero, then find that it has upgraded their viewing experience to such an extent that their old TV actually feels like a brand-new set," Arbab-Zadeh told Shortlist.

While Freely itself is in HD rather than 4K, this hardware supports 4K streaming and brings you all the services you expect too: all the UK catch-up platforms (integrated into the guide) and Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and YouTube are all present. The only major omission I noticed was Apple TV, which is a shame, and one that's hopefully rectified soon. Size-wise, it’s similar to a Sky Stream puck and a little smaller than an Apple TV box, so you won’t have trouble placing it anywhere.

There aren’t many downsides. I did notice it’s not as fast as the Apple TV device that I’m used to using for my streaming; the remote can be temperamental, and I do experience a little lag hopping between menus. It also doesn’t play along with my TV audio quite as well as I hoped, and it’s worth remembering you can't record telly from it. You'd need a different box that probably requires an aerial connection if you care about that. For Freely and getting proper TV over the Wi-Fi, though, this is perfect, and any drawbacks feel minor.

For me, it’s been the solution to my years-long struggle. In the past, I’d had to contend with unreliable live streaming and have missed certain events entirely (yes, not all live streams are available on iPlayer and ITV). This just feels easier than fussing with cables and aerials, and means you can put your TV anywhere in your home, not only where you’ve got a socket.

For renters, the Aero costs less than a couple of months' Sky subscription and requires no one's permission to install. And, much to my delight, it has an entire channel devoted to reruns of The Chase.

• Sky Glass gen 2 review: 7 reasons to buy this superior-sounding TV

Noticed the prices of everything techy are going up? Microsoft is the latest to announce some cost rises, this time for its Xbox game consoles.

And, brace yourselves, they are not small jumps.

The top-billing Xbox Series X with a disc drive and 1TB storage now costs £669.99, up from a launch price of £449.99 back in 2020, and £499.99 before this latest hike.

Remember when game consoles used to get cheaper as they aged? We’re in a different world now folks, and it’s not a friendly one.

Here’s the full list of reworked prices:

• Xbox Series S 512GB £429.99 (up from £299.99, £249.99 at launch in 2020)
• Xbox Series S 1TB £519.99 (up from £349.99, £299.99 at launch in 2023)
• Xbox Series X 1TB Digital £619.99 (up from £449.99, £429.99 at launch in 2024)
• Xbox Series X 1TB £669.99 (up from £499.99, £449.99 at launch in 2020)

We’re looking at price rises of up to 43 per cent here. And it is not at all surprising, because the US had already been subject to major price increases. This one was coming.

It means the Xbox Series X now costs more than the PlayStation 5, which will set you back £569.99 direct from Sony. The digital-only version costs £519.99, while the PlayStation 5 Pro costs £789.99.

There are signs this could also get even worse, too. According to Windows Central, Microsoft is losing money with each Xbox sold in the US, which has already had comparable price hikes. It's losing up to $150 a piece according to the report.

So what on Earth is going on?

You can blame what has been dubbed the RAM-Apocalypse. The cost of the memory chips that go into these consoles has been increasing quickly for some time now, thanks to giant tech companies gobbling up supply in order to produce server infrastructure for the (supposed) AI-powered future.

There is a point at which buyers are just priced out of participating, though. After Valve was forced to increase the price of its Steam Deck by hundreds of pounds, analysis of chart data suggests sales dropped by up to 80 per cent.

And we’re not at the end of this ride yet, either. Analysts predict we’ll see the cost of RAM increase throughout the remainder of 2026, and into 2027. That means giants like Sony and Microsoft will likely have to wring even more money out of us for a console in the future, too.

Casual gamers considering an upgrade ahead of GTA 6’s November release may be in for a shock.

• The 40 best Xbox Game Pass games: Essential games to download first

If this were a game of chess, the bosses at Samsung would be saying “your move, Apple”.

We won’t know if the South Korean giant has a checkmate over its Cupertino, California-based rival for a couple of months yet, but with the introduction of three new foldables the board is set and the game is very much on.

Samsung’s trio of foldables each have a unique hook, with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra sitting atop the pile when it comes to features, design and price, boasting powerful AI chops for ‘power-maxxing’ (Samsung’s phrase, not mine).

Then there’s the uniquely proportioned Galaxy Z Fold 8 (and there’s a very good reason for its new passport-like size and shape), while the compact Z Flip 8 gets even slimmer and lighter as it makes a play for the most portable foldable around.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: In short...

• The most capable AI productivity foldable
• Samsung’s slimmest and lightest fold ever
• Display has almost no visible crease
• Foldable screen equivalent to two 6.5-inch displays side-by-side
• Price starts at £1,899
• 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage, 12GB or 16GB of RAM

The ultimate foldable?

If you’re looking for the ultimate foldable phone, the Samsung Z Fold 8 Ultra could well be it. I’ve had hands-on time with it, and it’s impressively slender. Yet despite its wafer thin design, it still feels solid.

It’s the firm’s slimmest and lightest foldable to date. Compared to the phone it’s replacing - the Galaxy Z Fold 7 - it also boasts a brighter display, bigger battery, and upgraded camera system.

The upgraded hinge has a satisfying tactility to it, while the new Flex Titanium Technology display allows the phone to drop weight while remaining strong, while also offering up a smoother, flatter display.

The central visible crease on foldable displays has long been a bone of contention for some folk, but with the Z Fold 8 Ultra it’s impressively hard to see. Run your finger over the centre of the interior screen and you’ll feel a subtle undulation, but it’s less pronounced than on the firm’s previous foldable phones.

It’s not quite the smoothest or least visible crease I’ve seen in a foldable display - that honour remains with the Oppo Find N6 for now - but it’s pretty darn close.

A smart, yet subtle design tweak over the Z Fold 7 is the chamfered edge on the non-hinge vertical side of the phone, allowing you to guide the handset open a little more easily with your thumb - something the flat sides on the predecessor made trickier.

In terms of cameras, you’re looking at a 50MP ultra-wide (upgraded for higher resolution shooting up from its predecessor's 12MP) a stonking 200MP main camera, and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. All can capture HDR detailing, and video recording maxes out at an impressive 8K.

Samsung claims the 5,000mAh battery is good for up to 27 hours of video playback, while charging has been improved with 45W wired support able to replenish 67% of charge in 30 minutes. There’s 20W wireless charging support too, if you have a pad at home, in the office, or in your car.

Is the Z Fold 8 a new iPhone in disguise?

If the Z Fold 8 Ultra is the King on our board - a towering symbol of strength - the Z Fold 8 is the Queen, with the ability to cause havoc in the foldable phone world.

Samsung has decided 2026 is the year to introduce a third form factor to its foldable line-up, citing what it claims to be “a responsibility to give people greater choice” with a “new form factor for immersive media, content and creativity.”

That’s fair enough, but could the timing possibly have anything to do with the raft of rumours suggesting Apple will launch the iPhone Fold with the same passport-esque aspect ratio as the Fold 8 in just a couple of months time? No, of course not. This is just a huge coincidence. Ahem…

The move isn’t a surprise, since Apple has reportedly approved Samsung Display to make the flexible OLED displays for its upcoming foldable, so it looks as if Samsung has got the jump here.

From my time with the Z Fold 8, I’m excited for both it and the iPhone Fold to arrive, because the size and shape of this foldable phone absolutely slaps.

I wasn’t sure how it would sit in the hand, and when folded, it is wider than most phones on the market. That might be an issue for those with smaller hands, but for anyone who remembers the BlackBerry days, the muscle memory this phone evokes is really quite beautiful.

Open it up, and the 4:3 display is great for video playback and gaming, but turn it 90 degrees and the 3:4 aspect ratio makes social scrolling, web browsing and reading documents a more comfortable experience. Shortlist looks great on this screen, and I feel bad for you reading this article not on the Z Fold 8.

You still get flagship performance under the hood, and a sizable 4,800mAh battery is good for 26 hours of video playback according to Samsung, and can recharge 63% in 30 minutes. In terms of cameras, you’re getting a 50MP wide and a 50MP ultra wide tucked into the new form factor.

If you’re not immediately sold on the size and shape of the Z Fold 8, I recommend you make your way to a store and get your hands on it. You might just love it.

Flipping the FlexWindow switch with Z Flip 8

Rounding out the trio is Samsung’s latest flip foldable, aimed at those looking to express their style in a sleek, portable form factor.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 is slimmer and lighter than its predecessor - it’s the thinnest and lightest Z Flip ever - while boasting a stronger hinge and advanced armour aluminium frame for better durability, plus a sizable foldout screen when you need it.

I found the refined proportions allow the Z Flip 8 to sit more naturally in hand, and it slides seamlessly in pockets, but the upgrade I was most pleased to see was to the FlexWindow support.

Samsung’s Z Flip series to date have offered a slightly limited exterior screen experience when compared to Motorola’s flip foldables, which offer pretty much a full smartphone experience on the smaller outer display.

But now, with the Z Flip 8, the AI-powered automation is smarter, surfacing what you need, when you need it on the exterior display. Depending on the time of day, and the day of the week, this information could include your schedule, health stats, calendar appointments, commute details and more.

Samsung’s clever Now Brief AI assistant is also now more proactive, and you can use text prompts to easily build personalised cards to show exactly the information you want to see. If style is more important than raw performance, the Z Flip 8 is a phone you might want to experience.

Available to order now

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is available in four colours - Violet Shadow (that’s purple to you and me), Cream, Graphite, and Violet Green (online exclusive) - with the choice of 256GB, 512GB and 1TB of storage, either 12GB or 16GB of RAM, and prices start at £1,899.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 also comes in four colors - Lavender, Cream, Graphite, Pistachio (online exclusive) - the same storage and RAM variants as the Ultra, and the price starts at £1,699 for the 256GB model.

Meanwhile the Galaxy Z Flip 8 is available in, yep you’ve guessed it, four colours - Pink, Cream, Graphite,Mint (online exclusive) - with 256GB and 512GB models both packing 12GB of RAM. The Z Flip 8 price starts at £1,149 for the 256GB variant.

All three phones are available for pre-order from July 22nd.

• Hands-On: Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 should come with a warning, as it demands you live extreme

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 isn’t your ordinary fitness tracker or stylish smartwatch. The Ultra 2 is ready to kick down your door, fix itself to your forearm, and drag you off the sofa.

Samsung says this is its strongest, toughest, fastest, brightest Galaxy Watch to date, and it’s tailored to extreme sports athletes. That’s a pretty niche market, but is there a wider appeal outside those whose idea of a quiet weekend is a mountainous trail run followed by deep sea diving? Well let’s take a look.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: In short…

• Built for those who "push limits"
• You can use it as a professional diving computer
• Pro-level sports tracking with real-time guidance and monitoring
• Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 price is £649
• Pre-order July 22nd, on sale August 8th

Cast an eye over the spec sheet and you’ll see the Galaxy Watch 2 is well equipped, with the biggest battery Samsung has ever put in a smartwatch, a 35% increase over the original Ultra.

The larger screen, with narrower bezels, means it’s really easy to read data on the screen, as I found when I went hands-on with the watch at a special Samsung preview event in London.

And that screen gets bright — really bright. It’s the world’s brightest smartwatch display, with the ability to hit a peak brightness of 5,000 nits. That means you should still be able to clearly see what’s being shown in direct sunlight (something which was a little tricky to test in the windowless basement of the briefing location).

There are a host of other upgrades too, including more power, improved GPS, faster loading and a thinner design. While this is still a large watch at 47mm, I didn’t find the shock resistant titanium case overbearing on the wrist. It was actually rather comfortable, which was nice.

So you get a big, bright display, slimmer design, huge battery, and more power. For anyone looking for a feature-packed Apple Watch Ultra 3 rival for Android phones, the Ultra 2 is an obvious contender.

But it’s the pro-level sports tracking where Samsung wants the Ultra 2 to really shine. The new Trail Run mode offers specialized tracking for detailed route and elevation guidance, estimated completion time, climbing progress and also terrain advice.

It even features a real-time nutrition alert, as the watch monitors your sweat and other vitals to calculate the amount of fluid you need to drink to recover safely and avoid dehydration.

Then there’s the diving mode, which is now so advanced you’ll be able to use it as a professional diving computer when an accompanying Mares app arrives on the watch later this year, offering up the ability to track descent speed, monitor your time left at depth, and a safe ascending guide.

It’s waterproof to a depth of 100m (as you’d hope, given the diving credentials), 100% dust proof, and provides real-time tracking of depth, time, and water temperature. And the clever part is, you don’t even need to enable it - the Ultra 2 will automatically detect when you enter the water and switch to diving mode for you.

Of course, if you’re not into your extreme sports - and to be honest, I’m not - Samsung does have another new Galaxy Watch that might be more your speed…

Samsung Galaxy Watch 9: Health management for the masses

Say hello to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9, your new everyday health companion. Samsung claims the Watch 9 is the “easiest way to manage your health”, and it’s focused this iteration on improving its health and wellness features.

That means if you already own the Galaxy Watch 8, or are familiar with this wearable, the Watch 9 will look particularly familiar. Samsung even admits it’s done very little in terms of mixing up the hardware design, as it has only just refreshed the look of its core smartwatch with the Watch 8 model last year.

At almost half the price of the Watch Ultra 2, the Galaxy Watch 9 will have a wider appeal, and both devices offer Samsung’s new suite of preventative health features, which combines a variety of sensors and metrics with the power of Galaxy AI.

Samsung says the new watches offer data in a more digestible format, providing hints and tips you can implement in your day-to-day life, helping to reduce illness, recover faster, and prevent injury.

The new Vitals feature kicks in after a week of continuous wearing, monitoring heart rate variability (HRV), skin temperature, respiratory rate, blood oxygen and heart rate. If any of these metrics fall outside their recommended baseline, you’ll be alerted and given tips on how to restore it.

The Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2 might pick up on your skin temperature increasing, which could be a sign cold or flu is about to strike. The Samsung Health app will alert you to this, and provide advice such as eating more fruit and veg, and getting an early night, to help reduce the potential effect of the illness.

Another new feature is Heart Health Score, which gives you a simple daily metric and actionable tips to improve your heart health. The tips include advice to do more cardio and suggesting rest days if it detects you’re overtraining.

For runners, the new Daily Cardio Load feature will be of interest. Using your workout history, it creates training and recovery help based on workout intensity, maximum training load, and real-time heart rate. Samsung says it can help you recover faster and prevent injury from overtraining.

All of this is powered by AI, and Google’s Gemini assistant is literally available at the lift of a wrist. Move your wrist towards your mouth and the Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 will detect the movement and automatically wake Gemini. You can then start speaking immediately, without the need to say the wake word.

In the past I’ve found gesture controls like this to be hit and miss, but trying it out on both of the new watches I was impressed at just how accurate it was. Every time I attempted to trigger Gemini, it worked. Plus, a quick flick of the wrist to check the time will illuminate the screen, but the system is smart enough to know I’m not after Gemini.

Samsung’s gone big with health and wellness monitoring on both of its new watches, and while some might be tempted by the bells and whistles of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, I think for many the Watch 9 will be the better choice.

Pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 price is £649. It’s only available in the 47mm size, with two colour options of Titanium Gray Titanium Silver.

Meanwhile the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 price starts at £349 for the smaller, 40mm model, which is available in Graphite and Cream. For those after a bigger screen, the 44mm will cost you £379, with the choice of Graphite or Silver hues.

Pre-orders for both watches open on July 22nd, and they’ll hit stores and land on wrists from August 8th, 2026.

• Hands-On: Samsung lays down the foldable gauntlet to Apple with its new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and interestingly shaped Z Fold 8

The truth is out there... and it's made from 1,478 LEGO bricks.

LEGO has officially revealed the ‘LEGO Ideas The X-Files’ set, bringing one of television's greatest sci-fi series into brick form for the first time. Created in collaboration with Disney (the custodians of the X-Files franchise since its merger with Fox), the nostalgic set recreates some of the show's most memorable locations and is crammed with references that long-time fans will love spotting.

• The 20 all-time greatest The X-Files episodes

At the heart of the build is Fox Mulder's legendary basement office, complete with his iconic "I Want to Believe" poster, the "The Truth Is Out There" sign, X-Files case files, and even pencils stuck in the ceiling — a nod to the agent’s habit for firing them up into his grey office’s panelling. Above the office is a forest clearing featuring a hovering UFO mounted on a transparent display stand, allowing builders to recreate one of the show's classic alien encounters.

The set includes eight Minifigures: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, Mr. X, Alex Krycek, Carl Busch, the gross Flukeman and a classic grey alien. You’ll have to build your own Mr Tooms though, as the stretchy and arguably-scariest X-Files monster villain didn’t make the cut for minifigure immortality.

Like every LEGO Ideas release, the set began life as a fan creation. Australian 3D artist Brent Waller originally designed Mulder's office as a personal project before LEGO Ideas voters helped turn it into an official product.

Scully's back on screen!

Debuting in 1993, The X-Files became one of television's defining sci-fi dramas, its blend of paranormal "monster of the week" investigations and an overarching aliens-on-Earth plot helping to shape modern prestige genre TV, as well as sparking the imaginations of conspiracy theorists across the globe. Across 11 seasons, two feature films and 218 episodes, FBI agents Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (portrayed by Gillian Anderson) became pop culture icons, with the series earning a devoted fanbase thanks to its mix of horror, science fiction and government paranoia. Its influence can still be seen in everything from Lost and Fringe to countless supernatural procedurals.

To mark the announcement, actress Anderson has stepped back into Dana Scully's shoes for a fun mini-film revealing the set:

“I didn’t expect to be stepping back into Scully’s heels to investigate a LEGO set,” said the star.

“It has been so much fun revisiting that world all these years later. This set is a wonderful celebration of the X-Files, and the fans who have kept its mystery alive. The level of detail is brilliant - there are so many little nods that fans will absolutely recognise - and as a LEGO fan myself, I love that people can now quite literally build their own X-Files moments at home.”

The LEGO Ideas The X-Files (21369) launches in LEGO Insiders early access on 1st August, before going on general sale from 4th August for £179.99. Early buyers between 1st and 10th August will also receive an exclusive Scully's Lab Gift with Purchase, letting them carry out mini extraterrestrial autopsies, while stocks last.

As for the future of The X-Files on TV? While early reports linked a revival to Jordan Peele, the new X-Files project is actually being spearheaded by Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther and Sinners. Hulu has ordered a pilot, with Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel starring as a new pair of FBI agents investigating unexplained phenomena. Gillian Anderson has said she's open to making an appearance, while Coogler has promised the reboot will balance standalone monster stories with a larger conspiracy arc in the spirit of the original series. With Coogler at the helm, sci-fi fans could be eating real good again soon.

You’ve walked over it, you’ve possibly floated under it, and watching its bridge lift is a rite of passage for anyone visiting London. And now? You can build it, too — LEGO has just revealed an all-new Tower Bridge model for brick-building landmark lovers.

The 3,745 piece set (number 21067) is about as faithful a recreation of the bridge as you can get at this scale, measuring over 13.5 in. (35 cm) high, 35 in. (89 cm) wide and 7 in. (19 cm) deep. Aimed at adults rather than younger builders, it includes a working draw bridge and a new shield with the City of London Coat of Arms printed on it across the upper walkway, which will make it a true collectors piece for those that have other fantasy-themed LEGO armies. There’s even a tiny red double decker bus to complete the illusion of a mini block London.

With its tan bricks and blue highlights, the set really captures the grandeur of Tower Bridge, a site only matched by Big Ben when it comes to recogniseable London locations.

The real Tower Bridge was completed in 1894, and is renowned for its twin Gothic towers and draw bridges. In the real world the bridge spans 800 feet and stands 213-foot tall, with the bridge still opening to passing waterway traffic as many as 900 times a year. Never seen it in action? You can check out the timetable for the next lift here.

A second attempt

It’s not the first time LEGO has brought out a Tower Bridge model in brick form. The landmark was also released in a larger ‘LEGO Creator Expert’ version in 2010, as model number 10214. It was retired in 2018, meaning only pricey second hand models are available now to collectors.

That model measured 102cm long and 45cm, making it more of a play, rather than display, piece. Though smaller, the new model’s detailing makes it a more accurate representation of the Thames-spanner.

This new build will is up for pre-order now, and goes on general sale on August 1st 2026, direct from LEGO.com and LEGO retail shops. It’ll cost £269.99.

• The 20 best LEGO sets of all time, ever!

I’ve been running up the hill from Greenwich Park’s St Mary’s Gate to the breathtaking peak at the Royal Observatory since probably the age of four. It was a local park for my family growing up, and I’d race my younger brother to the top before barrelling down after my favourite Action Man figure in his battle tank on the way back.

It was always great fun — even the time said tank flipped behind me causing me to roll and scrape most of the way back down — and always a healthy challenge, leaving you rewarded with a still-breathtaking view over the Queen’s House and National Maritime Museum, and into the financial heart of the Docklands beyond.

Closer now to age forty than four, that hill has a bit more bite to it, and years parked at my desk rather than in the park mean that I’d rather be listening to the Kate Bush song than actually running up that hill.

But a new gadget torn straight from the pages of a Marvel Comic has just made that hilltop challenge not only a breeze, but gives its users the confidence to take on even tougher outdoor goals.

The new Hypershell X Series is one of the first consumer-focused powered exoskeletons to hit the UK, and while it might look like something borrowed from a cyberpunk film, its ambitions are much more practical. It's designed to make walking, hiking and climbing hills less physically demanding, helping users go further while feeling less fatigued.

So I strapped in and set my sights on that good old hill to see what the fuss is about.

An electric boost for your legs

The Hypershell X Series straps around your waist and thighs, weighing around 1.7kg (which is distributed so evenly across your lower back and thighs that you hardly notice it), and uses a pair of electric motors to assist your hip movement as you walk. Rather than dragging you along, it works alongside your natural stride, giving you an extra robotic push with every step — think of it less like an electric bike and more like power steering for your legs.

The idea isn't that you stop putting in effort — the Hypershell X doesn’t do the walking for you. Instead, the exoskeleton reduces the amount of energy your muscles need to expend, particularly when you're climbing steep hills, carrying a heavy backpack or covering long distances.

According to Hypershell, independent testing found the gear can reduce oxygen consumption by up to 39% and lower heart rate by as much as 42%, potentially making demanding walks significantly less tiring, its motorised joints working with your legs’ own muscles to give an extra boost to your stride.

AI to help you do your job instead of stealing it

Almost every gadget launches with an AI story these days, but the Hypershell X literally couldn’t exist without some artificial intelligence help.

The company's new HyperIntuition system constantly monitors how you're moving using an array of sensors, analysing your speed, stride, the terrain you’re traversing and body position, thousands of times during your walk. Instead of waiting for you to struggle before reacting, it predicts your movement and adjusts the motor assistance almost instantly, using AI to anticipate when you’re going to need that extra bit of support most.

Hypershell says the system responds in just 0.31 seconds while synchronising with your gait 97.5% of the time, creating an experience that's designed to feel far more natural than previous generations of its exoskeletons.

It’s certainly a strange sensation initially. Your movements with the Hypershell X have to be intentional and controlled or the added oomph you’re given can come as a shock. But there’s no denying the extra support it offers, putting a spring into your step that makes more strenuous activity easier to manage. And that’s before you dial up into its super-powered mode...

App control — and a rocket boost mode

Yep, you read that right — the Hypershell X can be put into a ‘Rocket’ boost mode that sees its motors firing on all cylinders to give you a brief window of super-charged power. This is controlled from the Hypershell+ companion app, which acts as the control centre for the X Series, letting you fine-tune how much assistance the motors provide to match your walking style and the terrain ahead.

Though it can only be activated for a short period of time, the boost mode makes it feel as if a few litres of Red Bull have been injected straight into your legs. It’s got to be used cautiously as the jolt of power it gives every stride is substantial. But when the going gets particularly tough, it’s a welcome feature.

The app also offers workout tracking, performance insights and a quick-start guide to help you get everything fitted correctly before you head outdoors. During setup, the app recommends the correct fit adjustments based on your height and weight, while future firmware updates can add new features over time.

Hypershell is also introducing Shelly, an AI-powered assistant that can be controlled by voice or text, allowing users to ask questions about the exoskeleton, tweak settings and personalise the experience without diving through menus. It's still in beta, but you can imagine a future when you’re able to speak to the app conversationally about the effort you’re putting in, and see the Hypershell’s motor systems adapt accordingly.

More than just hiking

Mountain hikers are the obvious audience for the Hypershell X, but they're far from the only people who could benefit.

Anyone who regularly carries heavy camera gear, works outdoors or spends long days on foot could see the appeal. Search and rescue teams are already testing the technology through Hypershell's HyperLIFT programme to see whether it can reduce fatigue during demanding operations.

The company also believes active older adults will benefit from wearing the exoskeleton. A dedicated assistance mode is designed for slower walking speeds, aiming to reduce muscle fatigue while making longer walks feel more comfortable and confidence-inspiring.

It isn't intended as a medical device or rehabilitation aid, though. Instead, it's aimed squarely at healthy people who simply want a little extra endurance outdoors.

Urban adventures (or just an easier commute)

For Londoners, the appeal is perhaps less about conquering Everest and more about making everyday tasks and journeys feel easier. If your commute involves multiple Tube changes, endless station staircases or a brisk walk across the City, the Hypershell X Series could help take some of the strain out of the journey. It's also an intriguing option for anyone who spends all day on their feet – photographers covering events, delivery riders, tour guides or festival staff, for example, where shaving a little fatigue off every step could really add up by the end of the day.

It could also be a useful bit of kit for the capital's weekend adventurers. Whether you're tackling the steep climbs of Primrose Hill, spending hours wandering Richmond Park, or heading out of London for a hike in the Chilterns or South Downs, the exoskeleton is designed to make longer walks feel less physically demanding without doing the work for you. Rather than replacing the satisfaction of reaching the top of the hill, it's intended to help you arrive with a bit more energy left to enjoy the view (or make it back to the pub afterwards).

Would I want to wear it all day every day? Probably not — though it’s about as discreet as a set of robot leg aids can be, the Hypershell X definitely caught the attention of passers-by as I was wearing them. If you’ve got a load of hiking gear on nobody will bat an eyelid — but if you’ve got your pressed shirt and city slacks on, that might be another story.

Still, I managed to get served in the pub while wearing them without raising too many eyebrows. So if the next round is a twenty-pinter, popping on the Hypershell X might help you keep that much-needed balance without spilling a drop.

Harder, better, faster, stronger

Interestingly, the Hypershell X Series isn't just designed to make exercise easier – it can also make it harder. Alongside its various assistance modes, the exoskeleton includes a dedicated Fitness Mode that deliberately adds resistance to your movement, turning walks and runs into a wearable strength workout. Though it’s not the core offering of the product, I’d go as far as saying it was the area I thought it worked most effectively.

As you increase your pace, the motors apply greater resistance to challenge your leg muscles, while a separate Static Training Mode provides consistent resistance for lower-body exercises, offering a gym-like training experience without traditional weight machines. It's a clever twist on the concept: instead of simply helping you climb the next hill, the X Series can also help build the strength needed to tackle it under your own steam.

In the days and weeks following that initial Greenwich trek, it’s this way that I’ve used the Hypershell X most of all — around the house, almost passively working to help build my leg endurance and strength.

The price of robot legs

Note that the Hypershell X Series isn't a single product.

At the top sits the £1,699 X Ultra S, built for serious expeditions and the toughest terrain. It’s this model I’ve been testing, but the differences further down the pricing chain aren’t such that you’ll be massively missing out by saving some of that dough.

The £1,299 X Max S targets regular hikers who want strong assistance without paying flagship money — it’s essentially the same as the Ultra S, but has a smaller battery, reducing its walking range from 60km to 30km per charge, and slightly fewer tracked movement modes. The entry-level £899 X Pro S is aimed at lighter outdoor adventures and everyday walking, with a 17.5km range and a slightly weaker motor, meaning its assistance maxes out at 20km/h instead of 25km/h.

All three models feature multiple modes, including an Eco mode for longer battery life, a more powerful Hyper mode for steep climbs and even a downhill mode that cushions your knees when descending slopes.

The future of outdoor gear?

For years, outdoor technology has focused on lighter backpacks, better boots and smarter GPS watches. The Hypershell X Series takes a much bolder approach by enhancing the person wearing the equipment.

It's still undeniably an expensive gadget (we’re not quite at the Iron Man dream just yet), and plenty of hikers will argue that the challenge is the whole point of climbing a mountain in the first place. Others may see it as no different from using an e-bike instead of a traditional bicycle — technology making outdoor adventures accessible to more people rather than replacing them.

Either way, consumer exoskeletons are moving beyond lab demos and into real-world use. Hypershell is delivering on its promise of making long walks easier without making them feel artificial, making the X Series one of the most intriguing outdoor gadgets we've seen in years. Now excuse me while I go make mincemeat of my hill-climbing PB.

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It’s been called the guitar world’s worst-kept secret, and for good reason.

When Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong hit those first chords of Holiday at the 2026 Super Bowl pre-game show, eagle-eyed guitar fans spotted something unusual sitting behind him. Instead of the familiar black Marshall stack he usually tours with, there was a striking baby-blue amp head that sent gear heads into detective mode.

Now, the mystery has been solved.

Marshall has officially unveiled the Super Lead 1959BJA Billie Joe Armstrong Artist Signature, its first signature amplifier in 14 years, giving fans the chance to get closer than ever to the unmistakable guitar sound that powered Green Day's biggest hits. And we’ve had a chance to play on it.

Primed for power chords

Built in collaboration with Armstrong, the 100W valve head is based on Marshall's handwired 1959HW platform, but has been extensively reworked with a custom "Dookie Mod". Inspired by the tone developed alongside legendary producer Rob Cavallo during the recording of Green Day's breakthrough album Dookie, the amp offers higher gain, tighter low-end response and the saturated crunch that has become Armstrong's calling card across three decades of punk rock.

Handwired in the UK, the 1959BJA packs three ECC83 preamp valves, four EL34 power valves, a single-channel layout with master volume and three-band EQ, and dual speaker outputs with selectable impedance.

Firing it up at a Marshall showcase event in London yesterday, it doesn’t take much twiddling to get that signature Green Day sound. There’s more bite to the gain, and warmth and body to the tone, ready for some powerslamming power chords.

As something that rocked the Super Bowl however, it’s naturally not one best suited to a quick shred in a bedroom. That 100W output alongside the four EL34 tubes means this is a stadium-ready bit of kit. Whack out those opening chords to Welcome To Paradise in your flat and you might end up with the police knocking with an anti-social behaviour notice. Definitely one for the practice rooms, then.

The looks are every bit as distinctive as the sound. Wrapped in a baby-blue finish inspired by Armstrong's beloved first guitar, Blue, the amp features custom branding, brass and silver control panels, and the Green Day frontman's signature across both the front and rear. Marshall is selling it as a head-only unit, allowing players to pair it with the speaker cabinet of their choice.

‘Turn it the f*ck up!’

“I’m so overjoyed to have my own signature Marshall amp,” said Armstrong of his customised kit in a press release accompanying the reveal.

“These amps have been a part of my musical life, from my heroes down to little old me. Turn it the f**k up! …This amp is my ride or die. Play fast! Die trying.”

“Billie Joe’s guitar sound is instantly recognisable,” Steph Carter, culture marketing director at Marshall (and former Gallows guitarist) added.

“From the moment you hear those opening chords on Dookie, you know exactly who it is. Working with Billie to create an amp that captures that punch, aggression and clarity was an incredible project for our team.”

The Marshall 1959BJA Billie Joe Armstrong Artist Signature goes on sale from 21st July 2026 for £3,099.99, available through Marshall and authorised retailers.

Marshall also says purchases made through its Amplify loyalty programme will contribute 1% towards supporting grassroots music venues, adding a feel-good encore to one of the year's biggest gear launches.

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As T3 celebrates its 30th anniversary, the technology title has looked back at the products that genuinely changed our lives while also crowning the best-designed tech of 2026.

There are very few gadgets that can genuinely claim to have changed the way we live. Every year, brands promise the next AI-powered, titanium-coated rectangle will revolutionise our daily routine, only for it to quietly disappear into the same drawer as an old Kindle charger and a tangle of cables you'll definitely sort out one day.

As part of its special 30th anniversary awards, technology title T3 has named the iPod the Best Tech in T3's Lifetime, recognising the single biggest gadget to arrive since the magazine first launched back in 1996. For anyone who remembers painstakingly ripping CDs onto iTunes or carefully curating playlists for the bus journey to school, it's a choice that's difficult to argue with.

The iPod wasn't simply another MP3 player. It completely reshaped the music industry, changed how we bought albums and, ultimately, laid the foundations for the Apple ecosystem we know today.

T3 editor-in-chief Mat Gallagher said: "The iPod was more than just a product, it was a revolution of the whole music industry. What started with 1,000 songs in your pocket introduced the world to iTunes and paying for digital music. Though ultimately, the iPhone made the iPod redundant, without the iPod, the iPhone wouldn't have existed."

Thirty years of Tomorrow's Technology Today

The lifetime award forms part of an expanded T3 Awards celebrating three decades since the magazine first appeared on shelves. While the annual event still shines a spotlight on the very best products you can buy right now, this year's ceremony also takes a moment to recognise the people and innovations that have shaped modern technology.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was named the inaugural Person of the Year, while Sir Tim Berners-Lee received the British Icon award for inventing the World Wide Web. Considering most of us spend an alarming proportion of our waking hours online, that feels like a fairly safe pick.

The rest of the awards remained firmly focused on the latest and greatest gadgets. Across 84 categories, judges selected winners spanning everything from kitchen appliances and fitness gear to watches, TVs, speakers, cars and outdoor kit.

Garmin was crowned Brand of the Year, the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3 claimed Product of the Year, and LEGO Smart Play took home Tech Innovation of the Year. It's a reminder that the most exciting technology isn't always the flashiest. Sometimes it's the brands that quietly keep making products you'll end up recommending to everyone you know.

The best-looking tech of the year

Performance is one thing, but the T3 Design Awards celebrate products that also happen to look fantastic. After all, if you're spending hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of pounds on a gadget, it may as well look good sitting on your shelf, kitchen counter or driveway.

The winners were selected by a judging panel made up of editors from some of the biggest names across technology, design and lifestyle media, including Shortlist, Wallpaper*, Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Creative Bloq, SheerLuxe and T3.

Nike claimed the Active Design Award with its ACG Air Milano Jacket, proving technical outerwear no longer has to make you look like you're halfway through climbing Ben Nevis when you're actually just heading to the office.

Dyson continued its mission to make household appliances look like props from a sci-fi blockbuster, with the PencilVac taking the Home Design award. Meanwhile, Nothing's transparent Headphone (1) picked up the Tech Design prize, continuing the company's knack for producing gadgets that manage to stand out in a market full of anonymous black plastic.

Rounding things off, Rolls-Royce's Project Nightingale won the Auto Design award. It isn't the sort of car you'll accidentally lose in a supermarket car park, but then subtlety has never really been part of Rolls-Royce's design philosophy.

If you'd like to see the complete list of winners across all 84 categories, you'll find every category and every winner over on T3.

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The video games industry has had a rough few years. Studio closures, mass layoffs, ballooning development costs and an increasing shift towards digital-only gaming have all become depressingly familiar headlines. This week, things took another significant turn.

Xbox has confirmed it's laying off more than 1,600 employees immediately, with parent company Microsoft planning to cut 4,800 jobs overall as part of a wider restructuring. Even more strikingly, Xbox says it expects to eliminate more than 3,200 roles during its current financial year, making this one of the biggest shake-ups in the brand's history.

The announcement follows reports from Bloomberg earlier this summer that several Xbox-owned studios were at risk, including Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Arkane.

Rather than outright closures across the board, the picture is more complicated. Compulsion Games and Double Fine will become independent studios, retaining ownership of their IP and enough funding to develop their next projects. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are set to continue under new ownership, with financial backing to finish Senua and State of Decay 3. Arkane, meanwhile, faces a far less certain future, with consultations now underway to determine what happens next.

The cuts also extend well beyond Xbox's development studios, affecting staff across Activision, Bethesda, Blizzard, King, Mojang and Xbox Game Studios.

In a memo to employees, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said: "Our business today is not healthy." Despite the scale of the layoffs, Xbox says none of its previously announced first-party games has been cancelled.

The timing is particularly striking. Sharma only recently took over the role and initially won praise from fans by introducing new community initiatives, reaffirming console exclusives like the next Gears of War and Clockwork Revolution, and reshaping Xbox's broader strategy. That early goodwill has now been overshadowed by sweeping job cuts and yet another round of hardware price increases.

The layoffs also arrive during a period of wider uncertainty for the games industry. Just days earlier, PlayStation confirmed plans to stop releasing first-party games on physical discs from 2028, a move that has reignited speculation that the next generation of consoles could become entirely digital. Combined with rising game prices, subscription changes and increasing consolidation among major publishers, it's becoming clear that the traditional console market is changing rapidly.

Whether these changes ultimately strengthen the industry's future or simply accelerate its growing pains remains to be seen. For the thousands of developers, artists, writers and support staff now facing redundancy, though, that debate is likely to feel a long way off.

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The LEGO Group and Formula 1 have unveiled 22 fully drivable LEGO minicars that will take to the track ahead of the British Grand Prix, with every driver on the 2026 grid getting their own brick-built machine for the traditional pre-race parade.

That's a significant upgrade on last year's Miami Grand Prix, where drivers shared just 10 LEGO cars in a parade that quickly descended into the kind of light-hearted chaos fans couldn't get enough of. Instead of politely waving to the crowd, the drivers spent most of the lap laughing, overtaking each other and nudging rival teams, creating one of the most widely shared moments of the entire F1 season.

Fans wanted more, and it's been delivered.

Rather than sharing cars between teams, every one of the 22 current Formula 1 drivers will have their own personalised LEGO racer, each inspired by their team's 2026 livery and complete with official colours, sponsor detailing, team logos and driver numbers.

These aren't static display pieces either. Each minicar is made from more than 28,000 LEGO bricks, is fully drivable and can reach speeds of up to 25km/h, meaning they'll complete a full lap of Silverstone before the main event gets underway.

Building the fleet was no small task. A team of 20 LEGO designers, engineers and builders spent more than 6,400 hours bringing the cars to life at the LEGO Group's factory in Kladno, Czech Republic, balancing authentic Formula 1 styling with LEGO's unmistakably playful design.

The expanded parade is the latest step in the growing partnership between LEGO and Formula 1, which has become one of the sport's most successful collaborations since launching its full product range earlier this year.

With rivalries already bubbling away across the 2026 championship, don't expect the drivers to take it easy just because they're behind the wheel of something made from plastic bricks. If Miami proved anything, it's that once the helmets go on, every race becomes competitive, even when the top speed is closer to an e-bike than an F1 car.

The British Grand Prix gets underway this Sunday at Silverstone, but there's every chance the biggest smiles of the weekend will arrive long before the lights go out. If the sequel is anything like last year's viral hit, expect plenty of bumping, overtaking and the sort of racing that reminds everyone that, underneath it all, Formula 1 drivers are still just big kids when you hand them a LEGO car.

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LG has officially unveiled the StanbyME 2 Max, a supersized version of its portable lifestyle screen that swaps the original's 27-inch display for a much larger 32-inch 4K panel. It sits somewhere between a TV and a giant tablet, whilst making you consider whether you need a television fixed to your wall.

The headline upgrade is the bigger screen. The StanbyME 2 Max now packs a 32-inch 4K UHD display, giving films, games and box sets a noticeable boost over the original model's QHD panel. LG has also added Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support, so the picture should look sharper and the built-in speakers should sound considerably fuller, too.

Under the bonnet sits LG's latest Alpha 8 AI Processor Gen3, which handles everything from upscaling lower-resolution content to optimising sound on the fly. AI Picture Pro enhances contrast and detail, AI Super Upscaling sharpens older content to better suit the larger display, while AI Sound Pro creates a virtual 11.1.2 surround sound effect without needing an external speaker system.

Of course, the StanbyME has never really been about raw specs. The whole point is that it goes where a normal TV can't.

Like its predecessor, the screen clips onto a wheeled stand that can be rolled from room to room, but it can also be detached completely if you want to use it elsewhere. It's a very posh version of seeing a screen rolled into history to watch Downfall.

It'll also rotate between landscape and portrait mode, making it better suited to everything from TikTok and Instagram Reels to video calls and mobile apps. In many ways, it feels less like a traditional television, but it's easy to see how it can fit into modern life.

LG is also leaning into the "lifestyle" side of things. The StanbyME 2 Max comes with access to LG Gallery+, letting users display more than 5,000 artworks when the screen isn't busy streaming TV. So instead of staring at a blank black rectangle in your living room, you can pretend you're the sort of person who owns a digital art gallery.

Powering the whole thing is a built-in battery that promises up to four-and-a-half hours of video playback on a single charge, meaning you won't need to be tethered to a socket. When it does eventually run flat, you can recharge it either through the docking stand or directly via USB-C.

Entertainment options include LG Channels, the company's free ad-supported streaming service, alongside the usual selection of apps available through webOS.

The StanbyME 2 Max has already picked up a CES 2026 Innovation Award in the Content & Entertainment category, although LG has yet to confirm UK pricing or a release date. Given the original StanbyME wasn't exactly cheap, expect this bigger, smarter model to command a fairly premium price when it eventually lands.

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Olivia Rodrigo is heading to Fortnite – and she's swapping headshots for heartbreak, butterflies and karaoke.

The three-time Grammy winner officially joins Fortnite's coveted Icon Series today (25th June), becoming the latest music superstar to cross over into Epic Games' ever-expanding digital universe.

Launching at 8pm ET (1am BST), the collaboration arrives just as Rodrigo's third album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, continues its chart-conquering run. The record delivered another milestone for the singer-songwriter, making her the first artist to debut her first three lead singles at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while all three of her studio albums have opened atop the Billboard 200.

Now Fortnite players can step directly into Rodrigo's world.

SOUR skins

The crossover includes two playable skins inspired by different eras of the singer's career. The SOUR Olivia Rodrigo Outfit channels the purple-hued aesthetic of her breakthrough debut, while the Lover Girl Olivia Rodrigo Outfit celebrates her latest album. Both come with reactive styles and LEGO Fortnite variants.

Fans can also pick up a collection of themed cosmetics, including Olivia's Butterfly Wings Back Bling, new emotes based on good 4 u and maggots for brains, plus three Jam Tracks featuring drop dead, maggots for brains and the Rodrigo classic deja vu. Someone really needs to show her where that SHIFT key on her keyboard is.

The timing isn't accidental. Epic is also launching Fortnite Festival Karaoke on mobile, allowing players on iOS and Android to sing along to six Olivia Rodrigo tracks with performances scored in real time.

"I've always loved how Fortnite brings people together in a really specific way," Rodrigo said. "It's exciting to have my music brought into this world and to have players embrace different looks from my albums."

There's even a freebie for dedicated fans. Rodrigo now appears as an NPC on the Battle Royale island, and players who track her down and jam nearby can unlock a Heart Locket Spray and exclusive Loading Screen at no extra cost.

The Olivia Rodrigo takeover runs until 25th July.

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If you've spent any time on the London Underground during the current heatwave, you have my sympathies — we know all too well the feeling.

The Central line is somehow hotter than the sun. The tube mice have little sombreros on. And the tiny handheld fan you panic-bought during last summer's heatwave is doing little more than sputtering warm air directly into your face.

Enter the Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus — a wearable cooling gadget that feels like it has been designed specifically for surviving a sweltering Tube commute. I've been using it for a few weeks now and, as the mercury rises, it's one of the only things keeping me sane.

Reon Pocket Pro Plus: In Short...

• Hands-free cooling throughout the day
• Sauna-like tube journeys become considerably more bearable
• More effective than a handheld fan
• Discreet enough for office wear
• Heating function useful in winter too
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Priced at £199

There’s no denying though that the Reon Pocket Pro Plus is an odd looking thing. Like a backpack for a miniature astronaut, it has a vaguely medical look to it. Its angular white box, finished with a metal plate on one side and balancing on your back just below your neck with the help of two rubber-coated arms that reach over your shoulders, isn't immediately intuitive. Without a bit of explanation, a newbie wouldn't know what to do with it.

It won’t win any style awards, but that doesn’t matter — it's a surprisingly practical device that sits discreetly beneath your shirt and actively cools your body while you travel. Sony describes it as a wearable thermo device, but let's be honest: it's essentially a personal air conditioner for your back.

How it works

Rather than blasting air like a fan, the Reon Pocket Pro Plus uses a cooled stainless steel plate that sits against the upper spine, with an internal heat regulator working away to keep it fridge-like cool. The effect is immediate. Imagine pressing an ice cube against the back of your neck on a 30°C day, except it doesn’t melt, and continues working throughout your journey. Out and about in this oppressive heat, and even just sitting at my desk, I have found it noticeably more effective than conventional portable fans, particularly during commuting.

The latest Pro Plus model arrives at exactly the right moment, with London set to see a June record temperature of a 38°C high.

Sony claims it offers 20% greater cooling performance than its predecessor and can achieve an additional 2°C reduction in cooling plate temperature thanks to a redesigned thermal system and upgraded cooling algorithms. Measuring exactly how much it cooled me without thermal imaging gear wasn't really possible, but I can attest it's more than just a placebo — I felt calmer and more comfortable during the hottest moments of the day while wearing it.

More importantly for Londoners, Sony has also fixed one of the biggest complaints about previous versions. The new 'Adaptive Hold' neckband increases stability by as much as 40% they say, helping the device stay firmly in contact with your skin while walking through stations, climbing escalators or sprinting to catch a train. You'll need to maintain relatively good posture to get the greatest effect from the Reon Pocket Pro Plus, but that's no bad habit to get into.

It's also remarkably discreet. Despite being about the size of a Magnum ice cream (to keep the theme going), it's worn underneath a shirt with the top poking over your collar, so most people won't even realise you've got a cooling device attached to your back. Unlike a fan, it doesn't occupy a hand, is practically silent, and doesn't advertise your desperation to everybody in the carriage.

It takes some getting used to its sensation in use, but after a short while you forget its place against your skin, its little removable and adjustable exhaust fan (a larger one comes in the box for collared shirts) silently venting air away from you.

A companion app allows you to fine-tune cooling levels, while Smart Cool mode automatically adjusts performance depending on your surroundings. The Reon Pocket Pro Plus also comes with a small temperature sensor, the Reon Pocket Tag, on a carabiner that can be hooked onto a bag and paired with the app, giving detailed ambient heat and humidity readings and working in conjunction with the Smart Cool mode to balance cooling needs against unnecessary battery drain. Battery life is rated at up to 10 hours, which is enough to handle a full workday and commute.

It IS expensive though. £199 isn't cheap. But neither is arriving at the office looking like you've just completed ran a marathon ending in the fires of Mount Doom. We've also already seen retailers offering significant discounts on the device (though whether those cuts will survive the heatwave remains to be seen).

And unlike many seasonal gadgets, the Reon Pocket Pro Plus also includes a warming mode for winter use, potentially making it one of the few gadgets you'll appreciate in both July and January.

Verdict

As temperatures continue to climb and London's ageing transport network struggles to keep commuters comfortable, Sony's wearable cooler feels less like a novelty and more like a glimpse into how we'll all be surviving summer in the years ahead. It’s the end of the world as we know it, but this little gadget might just make you feel fine.

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There's no shortage of LEGO sets aimed squarely at grown-ups these days. You can build a Formula 1 car, recreate a famous painting, assemble a working typewriter or spend an entire weekend constructing a botanical garden that never needs watering.

The company has unveiled the LEGO Icons Arcade Pinball Machine, its first-ever playable pinball machine, giving fans the chance to build their own miniature arcade cabinet complete with functioning gameplay mechanics.

Unlike some of LEGO's more display-focused adult sets, this one is designed to be used once you've finished building it.

Made up of 2,274 pieces, the set recreates the look and feel of a vintage arcade machine while packing in a surprising amount of functionality. There's a spring-powered launcher to fire the ball into play, dual flippers to keep it alive, spinning bumpers, targets to hit and even an elevated ramp bridge that sends the ball looping back onto the playfield.

In other words, this isn't just a decorative nod to pinball. It's an actual game.

The set uses entirely mechanical systems rather than electronics, making it feel much closer to a traditional pinball table than some might expect. Once assembled, players can launch the ball and work their way around the board aiming for various targets and scoring opportunities.

The machine is built around a playful space theme that feels like a love letter to some of the company's most beloved classic sets. Players take on a mission to reunite a stranded astronaut with a baby astronaut travelling through space. Hitting key targets advances progress through the adventure, while an integrated progress tracker can be reset so the game can be played over and over again.

The set includes two minifigures to bring that story to life: a classic LEGO space astronaut and the fan-favourite "space baby", which has become something of a cult character among LEGO fans in recent years.

While the playable mechanics are the obvious headline feature, the finished model has also been designed to work as a display piece. Inspired by retro arcade cabinets, it features colourful space-themed artwork and plenty of nostalgic detailing. At 24cm high, 38cm long and 28cm wide, it's substantial enough to stand out on a shelf without completely taking over a room.

The release also continues LEGO's recent fascination with nostalgia. Over the past few years the company has increasingly targeted adult builders with sets inspired by childhood hobbies, vintage technology and pop culture icons. We've had brick-built Nintendo consoles, retro radios, Polaroid cameras and record players. A fully functioning pinball machine feels like the natural next step.

And while genuine pinball tables can cost thousands of pounds and require a dedicated room to house them, this version is considerably easier on both your wallet and your floor space.

The build is aimed at adults aged 18 and over, meaning it's likely to appeal just as much to arcade enthusiasts as it will to long-time LEGO collectors. The addition of working gameplay mechanics also gives it a novelty factor that many display-only sets simply don't have.

Whether you're a lifelong pinball fanatic, a nostalgic arcade obsessive or just someone who enjoys a LEGO set with a bit more interactivity, this feels like one of the more inventive launches the company has produced in recent memory.

The LEGO Icons Arcade Pinball Machine costs £189.99 and contains 2,274 pieces. It will be available through LEGO Insiders early access from the 1st of July, before going on general sale from the 4th of July via LEGO stores and online.

• 5 things you need to know about the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses

The Meta Ray-Ban Scriber Optics Gen 2 might be the first smart glasses that you’ll want to wear all day, every day.

For a gadget category that’s knocked around for a few years now, that's an important distinction. Despite the sci-fi concept, connected eyewear has felt like technology on the fringes. Most looked awkward, did too little, or demanded too many compromises. Meta’s latest releases, the Scriber Optics Gen 2 and Blayzer Optics Gen 2, change that equation by starting with something many people already wear every day: prescription glasses.

Instead of pushing users towards a futuristic gadget, Meta has instead embedded cameras, speakers, microphones and AI features into a frame that wouldn't look out of place in an optician's showroom. The result is a product that feels less like wearable technology and more like, well, a standard pair of glasses.

Priced starting at £429 for the Scriber Optics prescription models (dependant on lens options and prescription requirements), they sit firmly in premium territory. But unlike many tech products, their value isn't measured solely by specifications. It's measured by how seamlessly those techy features sit inside an item you’d otherwise take for granted.

I’ve been living with the Scriber Optics Gen 2 for about a month now, and while there’s still a social hurdle Meta needs to clear for the spectacles to become truly mainstream, I think I’m finally ready to pop smart glasses onto my head 7 days a week.

Meta Ray-Ban Scriber Optics Gen 2: In short…

• Prescription glasses with useful AI features
• Excellent hands-free photo and video capture
• Open-ear audio works surprisingly well
• Stylish enough for everyday wear
• Solid battery life you don’t need to worry about

1. They're smart glasses that actually look like glasses

The biggest achievement of the Scriber Optics Gen 2 isn't technological. It's aesthetic.

Previous generations of smart eyewear often announced themselves from across the room (by being bulky and tech-forward) and on your noggin' (by being too heavy to wear comfortably all day long). The Scriber, with its rounded frame shape and prescription-first design, simply looks like a premium pair of spectacles. The technology is largely hidden away inside slightly thicker temples and discreet camera modules.

That matters because wearable technology only works when people are willing to wear it. Unlike a smartwatch, glasses sit directly on your face. If they're uncomfortable or attention-grabbing, they'll spend most of their life in a drawer.

Meta's partnership with Ray-Ban and EssilorLuxottica continues to pay dividends here. The frames feel like proper eyewear rather than miniature computers, while the prescription-focused Scriber design adds practical fit improvements including adjustable nose pads and enhanced flexibility at the temples with spring-loaded arms.

For anyone who already wears glasses daily, the Scriber feels less like adopting a new gadget and more like upgrading a trusty old one.

2. The camera captures moments your phone never will

The headline hardware feature remains the integrated 12MP camera.

On paper, that specification doesn't sound particularly exciting in a world where smartphones routinely boast 50MP sensors. In practice, however, the appeal isn't image quality. It's perspective.

Being able to capture photos and videos hands-free (there’s also a capture button on the right arm) fundamentally changes the type of content you record. Walking through a city, cycling, travelling, cooking or spending time with family is made effortless to document. There is no fumbling for a phone, no interrupting a moment and no need to decide whether something is worth recording. You can even set snaps and videos to auto-populate on your Instagram feeds, including live streams.

Video quality has improved significantly over earlier models, with support for up to 3K recording and stabilisation features helping footage remain usable even while moving. The upgrade is especially noticeable in daylight conditions, where footage feels immersive and natural.

The trade-off is predictably low-light performance. Tiny sensors remain tiny sensors. Your flagship smartphone will still outperform these glasses after dark.

But that's missing the point. The best camera remains the one that's already there when something happens, and these will do in a pinch if you've nothing else to capture with. In fact, when placed against shots from a mid-range smartphone, the Meta Ray-Ban snaps held their own respectably.

The elephant in the room remains privacy. With glasses that look like regular no-tech spectacles, there’s a genuine and reasonable fear of bad-faith wearers taking ‘creepy’, non-consensual photos.

It’s a tough call — Meta has done well to signpost any recording actions with LED lights that flash on the front exterior of the glasses when a photo or video is being captured, along with a 'shutter' sound. That’s actually more visible than a sly smartphone snap someone can take while pretending to read their social feeds. But the different form factor, linked to a lingering human stare, will still make some people uncomfortable. I think Meta has done enough to allay fears here — but it’s going to take time for the general public to catch up.

3. The open-ear audio is more useful than you'd expect

One of the most underrated features of the whole Meta Ray-Ban line, and the one I find myself missing the most when popping back on my dumb glasses, is the built-in speaker system.

Integrated into the arms of the glasses, the open-ear speakers allow you to listen to music, podcasts, audiobooks and phone calls without blocking out the world around you. Tiny speakers sit just by your ears, loud enough for you to hear comfortably, but not so noticeable to annoy those sitting next to you at anything but the loudest of volume settings.

It's a surprisingly liberating experience. Unlike earbuds, there's no pressure inside your ears and no feeling of isolation from your surroundings. You remain aware of traffic, conversations and environmental sounds while still enjoying private audio. Audio quality can't compare, of course, to dedicated buds — it's tinny and lacking depth or bass. But the comfort of the form factor, and convenience, may still win out in many situations.

For commuters, walkers and anyone who spends long periods wearing glasses, this will quickly become one of the most-used features. Wearing the glasses on a hot Croatian beach holiday, after a few days I found myself leaving my regular earbuds back in the hotel room — having my ears open to the sound of waves and birds was not only more relaxing alongside my tunes, but felt physically, literally cooler as well. I can't say if it's anything more than a placebo effect, but when the summer sun ramps up, I'll be reaching for these rather than my regular buds.

Call quality is impressive, too, thanks to the six-microphone array — this new design places one closer to your nose, which helps isolate voices even in busy environments. Those on the other end of a call didn't realise I was speaking through glasses rather than headphones until I pointed it out to them.

4. Meta AI gets a practical home

AI features can feel bolted onto products because they're fashionable rather than useful.

There's still room for improvement with Meta's AI, but within the Scriber Optics Gen 2, it's one of the few use cases where conversational AI feels genuinely at home.

Using voice commands, wearers can ask questions about practically any topic or point of interest around them — landmarks, objects, signs and surroundings. Paired with the camera system, which effectively becomes a set of eyes for Meta AI, the glasses can provide contextual information about what you're looking at.

Need to identify a building while travelling? Translate a road sign? Remember where you've parked? Or simply can't remember who won the last World Cup? You can ask a quick question without reaching for your phone, and, between what the camera sees and Meta's AI knows, an answer can be read out over the built-in speakers. You can even ask follow up questions and carry on the conversation.

These are small conveniences rather than revolutionary breakthroughs, but they're precisely the kind of friction-free interactions that suit wearable technology.

These AI conversations are all stored in the Meta AI app, which also houses your camera captures, glasses pairing details and other useful settings. If you're AI-curious, you can also generate AI images and videos from prompts and your own imagery here (and browse a rather cringe 'Vibes' section where other people's AI creations live).

Importantly, the AI remains optional. The glasses continue functioning perfectly well as audio devices, cameras and prescription eyewear even if you never utter the trigger words "Hey Meta." That's a welcome contrast to many AI-first products that become considerably less useful once the novelty wears off.

But mileage will vary! Some specifics can be lost on the AI: I asked for 20 facts about a location to help me plan a day trip, but I only got five, and a reminder that 'you can now have a more natural conversation with [Meta's AI]', where it'll be 'more expressive, listen longer after you speak and won't play a chime after responding'. Show, don't tell, Meta, show, don't tell...

5. Battery life to see you through a day

Battery anxiety has haunted smart glasses for years — it's simply really difficult to put a battery of any great size into frames that you wan't to keep slim and lightweight.

But Meta appears to have made meaningful progress here.

The latest generation promises up to eight hours of use, while the included charging case extends that dramatically by providing multiple additional charges throughout the day. Meta claims up to 48 hours of total use with the case available.

Real-world performance naturally varies depending on how heavily you use the camera and AI functions. Record lots of video and you'll see endurance drop considerably.

But I found the glasses are now capable of lasting through most working days with mixed usage, representing a significant improvement over earlier generations. And a quick charge function will bring you back from 0% to 50% after just twenty minutes back in the USB-C charging case.

Crucially, the case (attractive in its own right with a faux-leather textured finish and charging LED where the lid magnetically snaps shut) is compact enough to throw into a bag and forget about. That removes much of the stress associated with managing another battery-powered device. Keep in mind though that, while a cleaning cloth is included in the case, a USB-C charging cable is not.

Verdict

The Scriber Optics Gen 2 succeeds because it solves a simple problem: if you're trying to coax the millions of people who wear prescription glasses every day to the smart headwear fold, they don't want to have to carry a second pair around to simply see clearly.

By combining eyewear, headphones, a camera and an AI assistant into a single product, Meta has created something that feels genuinely additive rather than experimental.

They're not perfect. The camera can't compete with a top-tier smartphone, privacy concerns will remain a discussion point, and the £429-plus price is a substantial investment. But for prescription-glasses wearers in particular, the Scriber Optics Gen 2 offers perhaps the clearest argument yet for why smart glasses deserve a place in everyday life. I won't be leaving home without them.

• 5 things you need to know about the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses

Marcel Wanders, the acclaimed Amsterdam-based product designer, doesn’t really get the enduring trend for modernism, in all its stripped back, plain functionality.

For him, it says nothing. It’s “outmoded”; even, like so much modern design, rather boring. Not so the London showroom of Moooi, the hugely influential design collective (of which Wanders is creative director) which marks its 25th anniversary this year.

But then what would anyone expect from the man who modelled a vessel on a spectacularly explosive nasal emittance, and then called it the Snotty Vase; or who worked out a way of effectively suspending rope in aspic, making it hard and forming it into his Knotty Chair; or a way of covering inflated party balloons with carbon fibre to produce, appropriately, the world’s lightest chair?

Here Wanders gives his off-the-top-of-his-head guide to appreciating design. Just not the boring stuff.

1. DESIGN IS NOT SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO OWN

People go to the theatre and like to discuss it. They don’t feel the need to own the play. They can see a lot of beautiful architecture and yet live in none of these buildings. That doesn’t mean you can only appreciate the home you live in.

And yet there is this idea that design has to be affordable, that it has to be owned to be enjoyed. It doesn’t. A painter painted for someone to own the painting but that’s never been the role of art for most normal people. The great thing about culture - of which design is a part - that we can step into that realm and recognise others in it. Ownership is irrelevant.

I find it tends to be people who complain about the prices of design who tend to be least appreciative of it. You can even hate design for free too.

2. THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO APPRECIATE A PIECE OF DESIGN

We all experience the world in different ways, some more visually, some through sound. And a piece of design can be liked for different reasons too. It might be how its made - the craft of it. Or on an intellectual level - what it might now about. Or It might be as simple as the fact that it makes a cool sound when you close it.

The task of the designer is to make sure that there’s something for everyone - and it makes me a better designer for trying. The task for you is to find what you do like in a piece of design - to make the same effort.

3. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN - GOOD DESGN IS EVERYWHERE

Not everything is well-designed Some things are just put together without care, maybe just to copy what others already make but do it cheaper. And people will buy it because it’s cheaper. Other people will only notice design when something doesn’t work.

Yet there is great design all around us even if most people just don’t see it. The railing in the Metro in Milan, for example is so beautiful but most people just see a railing. In short, pay attention.

4. A CHAIR IS NOT JUST A CHAIR

People think they understand chairs because they sit on them. But a chair is more than something to sit on. There’s a reason why designers love chairs. A chair is connected to the world of culture, to manufacturing and engineering. The more you understand the big picture behind what makes a chair, the more you’ll appreciate it, in the way that knowing the full complexity of the Milan Metro and so understanding what the railing does as part of that makes your sense of the entire design that much more amazing.

How to understand a chair better? Get active. Read about your subject. Talk to designers if you get the opportunity. I’m not going to argue with a dentist if he wants to put a hole in my tooth. I just trust him. But I can know more about dentistry with study. And I find it’s hard to get them to shut up about centrists if you ask them about it.

5. THE IDEA OF BAD DESIGN IS A BAD IDEA…

If I design chairs in Europe, or I teach design in San Francisco, the gods in each place are very different, because the cultures are different, and so ideas of what makes for ‘good’ or ‘bad’ are different. That’s why I think there are no set rules for design.

I’m not saying there aren’t stupid designs, because there are: they make no sense, or break easily. And yes designers are allowed to make stupid designs sometimes, maybe one every other year - though not if they design pacemakers.

But I think most of us know more than we think we know - and that means we can sometimes just know if a design piece works. And by work I don’t just mean function. You can buy a functional chair for €11 and if you pay more than that you’re not paying for function anymore. Obviously a €500 chair isn’t about function. For me the whole principle of design is that that it says new things. It has ideas, a sense of fantasy.

6. ...BUT KEEP HOLD OF THE GOOD STUFF

It’s fact that nobody finds a Marcel Breuer chair just sitting on a skip, unless maybe it’s a copy. People just know that it’s worth keeping. But that’s more than because it’s just useful. It speaks to them.

I’ve always liked the idea of making things that last forever, but not necessarily in the sense of being unbreakable — more psychologically. Most people throw stuff away not because it’s broken but because their relationship with that object is broken. I remember a fellow design student created this textile and as it wore away with use it revealed a pattern underneath. And I just loved that. It made me think about how poor we are at accepting things that get old, especially since design is fixated on the shiny, clean and new. Nothing has a patina, nothing can have a crack.

But nothing grows old faster than the new, so I like to make designs that are old to start with. They have the cracks already, so to speak. It makes for pieces that the people who like them are connected to for longer. That’s durability.

7. GIVE THE MODERNISM A REST

I think modernism is an outmoded way of thinking about design. It doesn't reflect the way we live now. It always puts forward this idea that the past is irrelevant to tomorrow - and tomorrow is all that matters. But the past is part of who we are. When I was young even to think about decoration was so not what designers did.

I went to Giulio Cappellini with this idea of 'new antiques', which is what I wanted to make, and the company was subsequently excluded from a design fair because it was no longer seen as being 'modern'. It was crazy. But why shouldn't we make connections with old or traditional products? They're beautiful and can be made relevant.

• The best exhibitions in London this summer: From Escher to Bowie to Marilyn Monroe

For more than a decade, reMarkable has been chasing a simple idea: recreate the feeling of writing on paper without sacrificing the modern conveniences of digital storage and sharing.

The new reMarkable Paper Pure is arguably the company’s, ahem, purest expression of that philosophy yet. Replacing the ageing reMarkable 2 as the brand’s entry-level black-and-white tablet, it strips away colour screens, app stores and endless notifications in favour of a singular focus: helping you think, write, sketch and read.

Starting at £359 with the standard Marker stylus, the Paper Pure arrives with a faster processor, improved display technology, three-week battery life and deeper integration with workplace tools such as Google Calendar, Outlook, Slack and Miro. It also introduces a more repairable, sustainable design, with 38% recycled materials and a carbon footprint reportedly 45% lower than its predecessor.

In a world where every device seems determined to grab your attention, the Paper Pure’s biggest strength may be its refusal to do so.

reMarkable Paper Pure: In Short…

• Outstanding paper-like writing feel
• Brilliantly distraction-free workspace
• Three-week battery life reduces charging anxiety
• Excellent note organisation and search tools
• Lightweight, repairable and sustainably designed

1. It delivers one of the best writing experiences in tech

The first thing that stands out is how convincing the writing experience feels.

reMarkable has borrowed the textured writing surface from its premium Paper Pro, pairing it with a third-generation monochrome Canvas display that feels remarkably close to pen and paper. Digital ink appears with just 21ms of latency, creating an experience that feels immediate and natural during note-taking, sketching and document annotation. How ever fast you scribble away at the screen, it’ll keep up, with no visible delay between stroke and resulting lines.

More importantly, the sensation has texture. Unlike writing on an iPad or conventional tablet, there’s resistance beneath the pen tip. It feels less like gliding across glass and more like working through a notebook page. The marker here is built with that added friction in mind — it’ll degrade over time, and you’ll need to replace the nib. And while that introduces a bit of long-term maintenance and investment, it’s well worth it given the feeling in the hand.

In my experience (and, notably, without trying this year’s rival Kindle Scribe Colorsoft for myself yet) it’s the most authentic digital writing device currently available. Opt for the premium Marker Plus add-on, which we tested here, and the stylus gets the added feature of an ‘eraser’ on its other end, like a traditional pencil. Neat.

Just note that there’s no colour screen here, and no backlight — if you like working on colour illustrations or colour-coded note-taking and… like doing so in the dark… you'll need to check out the pricier reMarkable devices and rivals. But if your primary goal is simply replacing thousands of notebook pages rather than owning another multipurpose tablet, the Paper Pure feels purpose-built for the task.

2. It helps you focus when every other device is competing for attention

The Paper Pure’s minimalist approach won’t appeal to everyone, but that’s exactly the point.

There are no social media feeds. No notification banners. No app marketplace tempting you away from the task at hand. Instead, you’re presented with a blank page and the freedom to fill it.

For journalists, students, writers and anyone who spends their days in meetings, that simplicity can be surprisingly liberating. The absence of distractions encourages deeper thinking and longer periods of concentration in a way that few modern devices manage.

This philosophy has always been reMarkable’s calling card, but it arguably makes more sense now than ever. The company isn’t trying to compete with the iPad or Galaxy Tab. It’s building a digital notebook for people who miss the focus that physical notebooks naturally provide.

3. Its software finally bridges the gap between paper and digital

Traditional notebooks are wonderful until you need to find something you wrote three months ago.

This is where the Paper Pure starts to justify its digital credentials.

Through reMarkable’s Connect service, handwritten notes become searchable, shareable and easier to integrate into everyday workflows. Meeting notes can be automatically generated from Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook events. Documents imported from Word, OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive can be converted into reMarkable-native notebooks for annotation and review.

The standout feature is arguably handwriting conversion. Notes can be transformed into editable text and easily shared to other services and devices, meaning your scribbled notes can easily be refined in word processors elsewhere. I was shocked at how well my messy scrawl was translated into typed text with rarely a readability hiccup. I was a bit disappointed though, that handwritten notes couldn’t be converted in batches onto a page — each scribbled note becomes its own separate typed page, so you’ll want to compile all your handwritten notes for a task in one go before exporting into a typed format.

The reMarkable platform also has a tonne of worksheet templates and notebooks to work from. If you’re a musician, there are stave sheets to work in and tablature pages. Architects get fixed-perspective sheets. There are lined pages of all major standards, and even templates for storyboarding and calendar tracking. Community-submitted ‘Methods’ let you grab community-approved templates from key reMarkable creators too, from journaling books to problem-solving flow sheets. And don't forget the man digital marker types you can use too, from calligraphy pens to technical pencils and ballpoints, each with an authentic grading to their strokes.

All your work can also be synced online with the Connect subscription and apps, priced at £3.99 a month. With apps for desktop, mobile and tablet, it lets you easily edit and share your work on over devices, get AI summaries and suggestions on what you’re working on, and even screen share from your Paper Pure during meetings.

None of these features feels revolutionary individually. Together, however, they solve one of paper’s biggest weaknesses: information becoming trapped on a page.

The result is a device that retains the freedom of handwriting while offering many of the benefits of digital productivity tools.

The only significant issue I had on the software side of things was how bare-bones the reMarkable is as an eReader. It’s fine that there’s no library store app — that’d be a distraction, and it’s easy enough to drag and drop your own eBooks onto the device over a cabled connection or through the Connect cloud platform. But beyond marker-powered annotations, there’s not much else here — no bookmarks, no key passage highlight collections, not even a dictionary tool. The dictionary especially feels like a simple addition that’d elevate a crucial secondary function most will expect of the device.

4. The battery life is refreshingly solid

Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay the Paper Pure is that you’ll rarely think about charging it.

reMarkable claims up to three weeks of battery life from a single charge. That figure will vary depending on usage, of course, but even half that stated figure will be more than enough for the average student or office-bound scribbler.

Part of that comes from the monochrome E Ink display, which consumes far less power than traditional LCD or OLED panels. Part comes from the company’s efficient internal hardware. Regardless, the result feels reassuringly analogue. You throw it into a bag, take it to meetings, scribble notes throughout the week, and only occasionally remember it has a battery at all.

For commuters, travellers and anyone tired of carrying multiple chargers, that’s a genuinely useful advantage.

5. It feels thoughtfully designed, inside and out

The Paper Pure is so, so easy to live with. At 360g and just 6mm thick, it’s lighter than many tablets and slips easily into a backpack or tote bag. But it won’t slip when you’re writing on it, thanks to some subtly-raised rubber feet on the back. The stylus snaps satisfyingly to the edge of the device for storage and charging, and an attractive (sold-separately) slipcase, in a range of pastel colours, keeps everything safe when on the go, too.

More impressively, reMarkable has made sustainability and repairability central to the design. The device uses 38% recycled materials, including recycled lithium, cobalt, magnesium and plastics. It is also assembled using screws and clips rather than excessive adhesive, making repairs easier for professionals.

That’s a welcome contrast to much of the consumer electronics industry, where slimness often comes at the expense of longevity.

Verdict

The reMarkable Paper Pure succeeds because it knows exactly what it wants to be.

It isn’t a replacement for an iPad. It doesn’t offer colour, entertainment apps or endless customisation. In fact, some prospective buyers may be disappointed by the continued absence of a front light and the bare-bones eReader offering. On that last front, I’d count myself among them.

Yet judged on its own terms, the Paper Pure is one of the most compelling digital notebooks available today.

Its writing experience is exceptional, its software is increasingly useful, and its distraction-free approach feels more valuable with every passing year. For writers, students, journalists, creatives and anyone else who still does their best thinking with a pen in hand, the reMarkable Paper Pure offers a persuasive blend of analogue freedom and digital convenience.

Not everyone needs one. But if you’ve ever found yourself reaching for a notebook before opening a laptop, there’s a good chance you’ll understand exactly why this device exists.

• iPad Mini review: 5 things you need to know about the latest model

If you've spent the last year gripping your phone like it's the Crown Jewels every time a scooter whizzes past, there's finally some encouraging news.

Apple has struck a new agreement with the Metropolitan Police aimed at making stolen iPhones dramatically less valuable to criminals, in what could be a significant blow to London's booming phone-snatching trade.

The move comes as phone theft continues to plague the capital. Around 80,000 devices were stolen in London last year alone, prompting us to put together a guide on how to protect your data and what to do if your phone gets nicked. As that piece explains, the real prize for thieves often isn't the handset itself, but the access it gives them to your bank accounts, emails and digital life.

Now Apple and the Met are trying to make the phones themselves far less useful.

• Had your phone nicked in London? Here's how to protect your data — and what to do to stay safe from thieves next time

Under the new partnership, device identifiers such as IMEI numbers will be shared between Apple and police, helping track stolen handsets and monitor whether they're being reactivated, exported overseas or broken down for parts.

The ultimate goal is simple: if a stolen iPhone can't be reused, resold or reactivated, there's far less incentive to steal it in the first place.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has been pushing tech firms for months to do more to tackle phone theft, previously warning that if manufacturers didn't act voluntarily, he would push for legislation forcing them to.

The Met says improvements to phone security are already having an impact. Thefts and robberies involving stolen phones fell by 18 per cent across London in the year to May 2026, while Westminster, one of the capital's worst hotspots for phone crime, has seen a 45.8 per cent drop so far this year.

Apple recently switched on its Stolen Device Protection feature by default for users, adding extra barriers that prevent thieves from changing passwords or disabling security settings, even if they've seen your passcode.

It's the sort of feature cyber security experts have been urging people to activate for months. In our guide to surviving a phone theft, experts warned that criminals often move fast, attempting to access banking apps, email accounts and social media profiles within minutes of stealing a handset.

The new data-sharing arrangement is designed to tackle the problem further up the chain by targeting the criminal networks that profit from moving thousands of stolen devices around the world.

Recent Met investigations uncovered one operation that allegedly trafficked up to 40,000 stolen phones to China, accounting for around 40 per cent of all devices stolen in London during a two-year period.

For anyone who's ever watched their phone disappear into the distance on the back of an e-bike, this gives you peace of mind that the portal to your life is worthless.

• These are the loudest spots on London’s tube: Here's how to protect your ears, according to an expert

For most people, wandering through central London on a weekday involves headphones in, head down, and a fairly committed relationship with your phone screen.

Sam Thompson had other ideas. As part of the LEGO Group’s World Play Day celebrations, the Made in Chelsea TV star, I'm A Celebrity winner, and radio presenter took to the streets of the capital armed with LEGO bricks, inviting strangers to stop, talk and, crucially, play. The idea behind it is simple but increasingly urgent. New research from the LEGO Group suggests that half of UK parents say work or long hours are stopping them from playing with their families as much as they would like, despite evidence that just five hours of play a week can significantly boost wellbeing.

For Sam, though, the issue goes beyond schedules. It is about something more fundamental. Somewhere along the way, he thinks, adults stopped feeling allowed to play at all.

“I find it a real shame that adults almost feel embarrassed to play now,” he says. “As a child and a teenager, you are taught it is good for you, good for your mind, good for your development, and then suddenly we decide as adults that it is not the way to go anymore. I do not understand the science behind it at all.”

It is not just a campaign talking point for him, either. He circles back to it repeatedly, almost surprised at how normal it has become to lose that side of yourself, especially in the big city where life can become so serious.

“Play for me has been so important and has got me through loads of times in my life,” he says. “I think it is something that should stay with you forever.”

Why play never really leaves you

Spend any time with Sam, and it does not take long for the conversation to drift towards childhood energy, imagination and chaos. The man has more energy than you thought was possible without consuming your own body weight in sugar, and it's immediately endearing.

In his case, fun often involves his nephew, whom he credits with helping him reconnect with the kind of unfiltered creativity most adults quietly abandon.

“I’ve got a nephew and one of my favourite things is to play with him,” he says. “What I thought I would love about it and what I actually love are two very different things. I love seeing his reaction to things I used to do when I was a kid. You can see the wonder in his eyes, like his imagination is just going.”

That sense of wonder, he says, is infectious. It is not about the LEGO sets or the finished product, but what happens in the process. “You can see his brain thinking, like this is an actual castle I have made or this is a car zooming around. It is like he is in a sort of flow state. I just love that so much.”

He pauses on that idea, that adults are the ones who have forgotten something, rather than children being the ones who need to learn it.

“I really hope I do not lose that at any point,” he adds.

London, parks and never really growing up

For someone who has spent much of his life in London, Sam is clear about where his own sense of play still lives. Not in nightlife or big city landmarks, but in something far simpler.

“The parks”, he says without hesitation. “There is something magical about a city park. You have got all these buildings everywhere, and then suddenly greenery. I have spent so much of my childhood in parks, playing football with my mates, pretending I was a wizard, building things, doing all sorts.”

Even now, that feeling has not really left him. “That magic as an adult is still there,” he says. “I wonder if it would be the same for someone who did not grow up in a city. For me, a park is everything.”

It is also where his idea of “proper play” still exists in full force. Not curated experiences or structured activities, but the kind of messy, improvised afternoons that tend to run on far longer than anyone planned.

“I love sports days,” he says. “Getting a group of friends together, playing rounders in the park, doing sack races, egg and spoon races. In the summer, that is my idea of heaven.”

With his nephew, it is even simpler.

“Swings,” he says. “I know it sounds boring, but to him it is a rocket ship. He thinks he is flying. You push him, and he is on the moon. That is my play as well, not just his”.

Why adults should stop overthinking play

The point Sam keeps coming back to is not that adults need to behave like children, but that they need to stop putting so much distance between themselves and the idea of play. “You do not have to play like a young child,” he says. “But if you have a kid or a nephew, just join in their world. If he is going to space, I am the rocket fuel. I am in his world.”

That mindset, he believes, changes more than just the moment itself. “It genuinely makes you more peaceful,” he says. “It calms your mind. If you can release that barrier of ‘I am an adult, and I need to think about everything all the time’, you can have so much fun.”

He also points to the broader importance of play in development, something he has become more aware of through his work.

“I did not realise how important it was until I saw the science behind it,” he says. “We have a responsibility to play with our kids because it is incredibly good for their brain development. We should be doing it, not just for them but for us too.”

An ideal London would be built out of LEGO bricks

Away from the parks and football pitches, Sam’s imagination still drifts back into the city itself, especially after a recent visit to the LEGO store in Piccadilly Circus.

“I was in the LEGO store last week, and they’ve got this amazing city build,” he says. “It’d be a bit like that for me. I’d have water, rivers flowing through the city, clean, fresh rivers, loads of greenery everywhere, futuristic buildings.”

It is a very Sam Thompson version of London. Less grey commuter belt, more living, shifting playground.

“I’ve got a pretty decent idea of what I’d build with my LEGO bricks,” he adds. “It all comes from what you can see in your head. That’s the fun of it.”

Sam Thompson’s World Cup predictions

Before heading back out into the streets of London, off the back of a strong Soccer Aid and the spirit of fun, we asked Sam about the upcoming summer of football and who he thought would take home the trophy.

He didn’t hesitate for long before stating “England.” Sam went on to add, “I wouldn’t normally say it, but I think this could be the time.”

His reasoning is rooted in manager Thomas Tuchel’s approach and what he sees as a more structured, decisive England side.

“I think he has picked a team he believes can win the tournament. There is no space for egos. It is about structure, and I like that.”

• Winner: England (Thanks to Tuchel’s cup management experience)
• Runner-up: Portugal
• Dark horses: Norway
• Player of the tournament: "Hopefully some kind of unknown like a James Rodriguez from 2014"
• Top scorer: Harry Kane. "Maybe Kai Havertz as a rogue choice. Especially after that header against the USA"

• 10 places to watch the 2026 World Cup in London (even if you’re not an England fan...)

Marshall has unveiled the Stockwell III, the first major update to its portable Bluetooth speaker range since 2019 and a speaker that looks determined to become the soundtrack to summer.

The new model arrives as part of the brand's 40th anniversary celebrations and builds on everything that made the previous Stockwell a favourite among music fans. The headline upgrade is battery life, with Marshall claiming more than 40 hours of wireless playback from a single charge. That's double what the previous generation offered and puts it among the longest-lasting portable speakers in its class.

Despite the focus on portability, Marshall says sound quality remains the priority. Stockwell III uses the company's True Stereophonic technology, delivering 360-degree audio that fills a room from every angle rather than relying on a traditional sweet spot. Dynamic Loudness technology is also onboard, automatically adjusting bass, mids and treble depending on volume levels to ensure music retains its detail whether you're listening quietly at home or cranking things up at a barbecue.

Visually, it sticks closely to the formula Marshall fans know and love. There's the familiar amp-inspired design language, complete with a textured exterior, solid metal grilles, tactile brass controls and the iconic Marshall logo front and centre. A guitar-inspired carry strap reinforces its rock-and-roll credentials, while a redesigned control panel introduces quicker access to presets and easier track navigation.

Marshall has also improved the speaker's durability. Stockwell III now carries an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance, making it better suited to life outdoors. Whether it's a festival, park gathering or a British summer garden party that unexpectedly turns wet, the speaker should be able to handle it.

One of the more interesting additions is a renewed focus on longevity. Rather than treating the speaker as a disposable piece of tech, Marshall has designed Stockwell III with modular and replaceable parts, including the battery, carry strap, silicone sleeve and front and rear grilles. It's a move that should help owners keep the speaker going for years rather than replacing it entirely when components wear out.

The speaker also doubles as a power bank thanks to its USB-C charging functionality, allowing users to top up a phone while listening on the move.

According to Marshall Product Manager Simona Berbec, advances in technology since the launch of Stockwell II have allowed the company to make significant improvements across the board, from battery life and acoustics to durability and usability.

Available in Black and Brass or Cream, the Marshall Stockwell III will be available to order online from the 18th of August, with retail availability following on the 25th of August. It is priced at £199.99, with sign-ups for updates opening on the 9th of June.

• Every Steven Spielberg movie ever… ranked!

As part of its 25th birthday celebrations, Xbox has unveiled a new limited-edition Series X console and controller inspired by the look and feel of the machine that launched the brand back in 2001.

Dubbed the Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition, the console takes the modern Series X and wraps it in a translucent OG Green finish that immediately recalls the chunky black-and-green aesthetic of the original Xbox.

It's the first time Microsoft has brought a translucent design to the Series X, and the nostalgia doesn't stop there. The console features a glowing green Xbox logo, special 25th anniversary branding and a number of hidden details designed as nods to the platform's history and the players who helped build it over the last quarter of a century.

The matching Xbox Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition follows a similar approach. Finished in the same translucent green, it features the original Xbox ABXY button colours, transparent rear housing and references to the infamous Duke controller, including shoulder buttons inspired by the original controller's black and white face buttons.

The announcement came during the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, where Microsoft used the occasion to celebrate both its future and its past. Alongside a slate of new game announcements, the company also confirmed that both Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will launch as Xbox console exclusives, underlining its renewed focus on the platform's hardware ecosystem.

For longtime fans, though, the anniversary collection will no doubt be the standout reveal. The original Xbox launched on the 15th of November 2001 and helped establish franchises including Halo, Fable and Forza, while laying the foundations for what would become one of gaming's biggest brands.

The Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition and Xbox Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition will launch in select markets this November. The controller will also be sold separately, with pricing and pre-order details expected to be announced closer to release.

• The 6 most exciting announcements from PlayStation's June State of Play

As streaming continues to dominate how most people listen to music, British audio brand Ruark is making a compelling argument for keeping your CDs and vinyl records close at hand.

Launching as part of the company's 40th anniversary celebrations, the new R710 is the most powerful addition yet to Ruark's acclaimed 100 Series range. Designed as an all-in-one music hub, it combines seemingly every modern listening option imaginable with a design language that feels lifted straight from the golden age of hi-fi.

At first glance, the R710 looks every bit the premium piece of furniture. Available in either Fused Walnut or Satin Charcoal finishes, it leans heavily into the seventies-inspired styling Ruark has become known for, pairing tactile physical controls with a large 6.8-inch colour display.

Underneath that retro-inspired exterior sits a very accomplished bit of kit. Streaming support includes Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast and internet radio, while Bluetooth arrives courtesy of aptX HD. The system also supports high-resolution audio files and can access music stored on local network drives or USB devices.

Where the R710 really stands out, though, is its refusal to abandon physical media. At a time when many manufacturers have quietly ditched disc drives altogether, Ruark has doubled down with an integrated CD player and built-in phono stage for turntables. It's a move that feels increasingly sensible as both formats continue to enjoy a resurgence among younger listeners and collectors alike.

There's also a practical side to the R710's ambitions. HDMI eARC connectivity means it can double as a powerful TV sound system, while multiroom support through AirPlay 2 and Google Cast allows it to slot seamlessly into a wider home audio setup.

Power comes from a newly developed Class-D amplification system capable of delivering up to 200 watts per channel. That's a considerable amount of muscle for a product of this size and should provide enough headroom to make everything from delicate jazz recordings to blockbuster movie soundtracks sound suitably expansive.

The all-in-one audio market has become increasingly crowded in recent years, but Ruark has carved out a reputation for building products that strike a rare balance between lifestyle appeal and genuine hi-fi credentials. The R710 looks set to continue that tradition.

The Ruark R710 is available now in Fused Walnut and Satin Charcoal finishes, for £2,199.

• Paul McCartney is heading to an intimate London music venue for a special In Conversation Evening to celebrate his new album

Robotaxis have been one of those "coming soon" technologies for what feels like forever, but Londoners are now one step closer to actually hailing one.

Uber has opened an interest list for its upcoming partnership with autonomous driving company Wayve, giving users in the capital the chance to register ahead of the public launch of self-driving rides in London.

From the 8th of June (today), users can opt into Uber's autonomous vehicle preference through the app, increasing their chances of being matched with a Wayve-powered vehicle once the service launches. The rollout marks a major milestone not just for Uber, but for the UK tech sector too, with Wayve's self-driving technology having been developed and trained on British roads.

Unlike many autonomous vehicle companies that rely heavily on pre-mapped routes and tightly controlled operating areas, Wayve has taken a different approach. The "AV2.0" system uses AI that learns from real-world driving experience in a way that more closely resembles human drivers, allowing it to adapt to unfamiliar roads, changing weather conditions and new environments without relying on detailed HD maps.

That flexibility has already seen the technology tested across more than 500 cities worldwide, but London remains its spiritual home. The company has been navigating the capital's famously chaotic streets since 2018, arguably one of the toughest environments on the planet for autonomous driving technology. If a self-driving car can survive a busy afternoon around Soho or negotiate a delivery van parked across half a lane in Camden, it can probably handle most things.

At launch, riders will be transported in all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles fitted with an array of cameras and radar systems that provide full 360-degree awareness of the world around them. The experience inside the vehicle has been designed specifically for autonomous journeys, with interactive displays allowing passengers to view routes, manage their ride and access support if needed.

Importantly, despite the autonomous technology, the first phase of the rollout won't be fully driverless. A licensed operator will remain behind the wheel — even if they're not touching it — while the service is introduced, with totally driver-free operations expected further down the line as regulations and public confidence continue to develop.

The move is part of a much bigger plan. Uber first invested in Wayve back in 2024, with ambitions to deploy self-driving vehicles across multiple global markets. Since then, the partnership has expanded significantly, including a recent collaboration with Nissan and plans to launch autonomous services in more than ten cities worldwide.

For London, though, it feels like another sign that autonomous vehicles are edging out of the realm of tech demos and sci-fi clicks into everyday life. Whether you're excited about the future or simply curious to see what a driverless Uber feels like, the opportunity to find out may not be far away.

To join the interest list, users simply need to update the Uber app and head to Account > Settings > Ride Preferences > Autonomous Vehicles. Once live, autonomous rides will be offered at the same price as standard UberX, Uber Comfort and Uber Electric journeys, with passengers free to opt out if they'd prefer a human driver.

• LEGO's new Pokémon sets are exactly what SMART Play needs

Brand collaborations in tech often end with disappointing results. You might get an extra name plastered over a phone camera or a PC’s speakers, with little substance to show for it — and no doubt a good few quid added to the price.

The HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC is not one of these. It’s possibly the least half-assed laptop brand collab we’ve seen to date and is the fruit of a two-year project between PC masters HP and the Ferrari Design Studio.

Granted, most of us can’t afford one. At $5599, the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC is one of the most exclusive, or at least most expensive, ultraportable laptops in the world.

But there is more going on here than in the average portable PC. We had a closer look at the Ferrari Flagship Store London the other week for a closer look. Here are the five bits the Ferrari obsessive should take note of.

That shiny-but-invisible touchpad

Your first reaction to the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC may well be: where’s the touchpad? There is one here, but it blends seamlessly with the shiny, reactive red glass that extends across the entire bottom of the laptop’s inner area.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a pad style like this, and it’s made possible thanks to haptic touchpad tech. A trad laptop pad has a mechanical clicker that actually moves under your finger as you press. This one emulates that kind of mechanism using haptic motors — as used in Apple MacBook pads.

Some folks don’t like the idea of a purely non-visible pad, but HP also guides you with a subtle LED strip, which shows where the pad ends.

A true limited run

Part of the Ferrari concept is in not making quite enough cars to satisfy demand. The cheeky devils. It’s trying to pull off the same trick with the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC, which is strictly limited to 4999 units worldwide.

You can see which number in the run yours sits at because it’s printed on the heat pipes visible on the underside of the thing. And that takes us to the most eye-catching part of the laptop of all...

Hole-y window inspired by an engine bay

The part of your laptop you see most is the inside. The lid is what passers-by see most. But it’s arguably the bottom of the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC that’s actually the most exotic area.

The lower half is a carbon fibre panel, used in cars like the Ferrari Le Mans 499P to keep weight low. Up top is a transparent section inspired by Ferrari engine bays, one that lets you get an eyeful of some of the key components, including the cooling system.

And because that cooling system needs fresh air, the Ferrari x HP team had to work out how to carefully drill 2000 holes into the panel, which is a piece of Corning Gorilla Glass. Not, as you might see in a cheaper laptop, plastic.

You can even see a little map of the Ferrari private test track printed on the inside. This laptop is absolutely packed with Ferrari touches.

Ferrari keyboard with a gamer twist

One of the worries with a laptop like this is it will be made all for style and impact, with not enough attention paid to what it’s like to actually use. That hasn’t happened here. Case in point: the keyboard.

The HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC has keys with far more substance than expected. It’s not the wafer-thin, ultra-light style that for years has been fashionable in the style-driven end of the PC space.

The key font used here is Ferrari’s own, while the keyboard also has per-key lighting we usually only see in the higher-end tiers of gaming laptops. This is a true hybrid keyboard style, and we’re here for it.

Maxed-out specs

A big chunk of the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC’s cost comes from its lavish materials and, yes, the Ferrari brand involvement. But it is also a high-spec PC.

You get the latest third-generation Intel X7 Ultra chipset, with a 1TB SSD and 64GB RAM. To spec up a MacBook Pro to this level, you’re looking at spending £3000. Does that mean the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC is good value? Absolutely not, but “value” isn’t the point here. And as that Intel chipset is brand new, you are getting about as future-proof a laptop as you could ask for at this point.

Worth it? We’ll leave that one to you. But if you’re already a Ferrari owner, perhaps $5599 for a limited-edition Ferrari laptop sounds like a steal — its new Ferrari Luce electric car costs more than a hundred times that at $640,000.

The HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari PC will be available in a handful of countries, including the UK, from 12th June.

• Pac-Man, kart racing and alien battles are coming to London’s Southbank

Sony officially kicked off this year's summer gaming showcase season with a packed June State of Play that leaned heavily on big first-party projects, long-awaited updates and a handful of genuine surprises.

While there weren't quite as many announcements as some fans had hoped for, the show still delivered plenty to get excited about, including the reveal of an entirely new God of War game, a substantial gameplay showcase for Marvel's Wolverine and the unexpected return of Until Dawn.

Throw in some impressive-looking action RPGs, a cult classic revival and one of the most unsettling horror games we've seen in a while, and PlayStation has given players plenty to talk about ahead of what's shaping up to be a busy few years for PS5 owners.

1. God of War: Laufey

The biggest announcement of the night came right at the end, with Santa Monica Studio unveiling God of War: Laufey.

Rather than putting players back in control of Kratos or Atreus, the new game stars Faye, Kratos' late wife and Atreus' mother, who fans have only previously encountered through flashbacks and stories. The extended gameplay demo opens with Kratos seemingly cremating Faye's body, before she awakens in a strange afterlife populated by creatures, gods and mythological threats from multiple worlds.

Deborah Ann Woll reprises her role as Faye, and the footage showcases the same brutal, cinematic combat the series is known for, albeit with a much faster and more agile protagonist. There was also, somewhat unexpectedly, a talking gelatinous cube voiced by Jack Quaid.

No release date has been announced yet, but it's already shaping up to be PlayStation's next major blockbuster.

2. Marvel's Wolverine

After a period of relative silence, Insomniac finally gave fans a substantial new look at Marvel's Wolverine.

The gameplay reveal showed Logan tracking down a group of kidnapped mutants, carving through enemies in gloriously bloody fashion while proving this is very much not another Spider-Man game. The combat looks heavier, nastier and significantly more violent than anything Insomniac has tackled before.

There was also a surprise appearance from Jean Grey, hinting that Wolverine's adventure could have wider X-Men implications than previously expected.

Most importantly, the showcase confirmed a release date. Marvel's Wolverine launches on the 15th of September 2026.

3. Until Dawn 2

One of the night's biggest shocks came with the reveal of Until Dawn 2.

The sequel swaps snowy mountains for a seemingly idyllic tropical island, where a group of ghost hunters quickly discover they've made a terrible mistake. Judging by the trailer, players can expect masked killers, supernatural horrors and plenty of opportunities to accidentally get everyone killed.

The original Until Dawn became a cult hit thanks to its branching storylines and choice-driven gameplay, and it looks like the sequel will be doubling down on that formula.

Until Dawn 2 is currently scheduled for release in 2027.

4. Phantom Blade Zero

We've seen Phantom Blade Zero before, but every new trailer somehow manages to make it look even more impressive.

The latest footage showcased its lightning-fast sword combat, acrobatic martial arts and horrifying supernatural enemies, blending wuxia action cinema with dark fantasy horror. It remains one of the most visually striking games currently in development and could become a serious contender among action RPG fans.

Following the showcase, developer S-Game confirmed Phantom Blade Zero will launch on the 29th of October 2026 for PlayStation 5 and PC.

5. Stuntman Hollywood

Perhaps the most surprising reveal of the entire showcase was the return of Stuntman.

The cult driving franchise, which first launched back in the PS2 era, is being revived with a new entry that appears to recreate iconic moments from famous films and television shows. Footage shown during the presentation included sequences clearly inspired by Back to the Future and Knight Rider.

It's a niche revival, but exactly the kind of unexpected announcement that State of Play showcases often do best.

6. ILL might be the most disturbing game Sony showed

If Resident Evil and body horror movies are your thing, ILL is worth keeping an eye on.

The trailer was packed with grotesque creatures, disturbing transformations and some genuinely stomach-turning imagery. Set in a world overrun by horrifying monsters, the game appears to lean heavily into realistic physics and graphic dismemberment, creating some of the most unsettling enemy encounters shown during the event.

There's still plenty we don't know, but based on this latest footage, ILL could end up being one of the most talked-about horror games of 2027 and makes the list because the trailer is absolutely minging.

State of Play didn't have quite the volume of announcements some fans were hoping for, but between God of War: Laufey, Marvel's Wolverine finally getting a release date, and the surprise reveal of Until Dawn 2, Sony certainly delivered a few major talking points. The biggest winner, though, was arguably God of War. We've been waiting for some time to find out where we will be going next after Ragnarok, and Laufey looks like a good evolution for the series. You can check out the full showcase below:

• Pac-Man, kart racing and alien battles are coming to London’s Southbank

The LEGO Group and The Pokémon Company International have unveiled 12 new LEGO Pokémon sets, and they feel like the clearest sign yet of where LEGO wants its SMART Play technology to go.

Launching later this year, the range introduces fan favourites including Pikachu, Charizard, Squirtle, Eevee, Gengar and Mewtwo into LEGO's growing SMART Play ecosystem. Using the new LEGO SMART Brick, the sets respond to movement, touch and play with lights, sounds and interactive reactions, allowing children to train, nurture and battle their Pokémon without needing a screen.

It's a particularly clean fit for the technology. Pokémon has always revolved around collecting creatures, caring for them, training them and sending them into battle, all concepts that translate naturally into LEGO's new interactive play system. Children can feed Pikachu a sandwich, tickle Charizard to hear it laugh and build up relationships with their Pokémon through repeated play sessions.

More importantly, this feels like the kind of licence that could put SMART Bricks into far more homes than before. While themes such as Star Wars remain hugely popular, much of their audience now skews towards older builders and collectors. Pokémon continues to dominate with younger audiences, making it arguably the perfect vehicle for introducing LEGO's latest technology to a new generation of fans.

It also marks a shift from LEGO Pokémon's earlier releases. The first wave largely consisted of display-focused builds aimed at collectors and older fans. These new releases feel much closer to what LEGO is supposed to be: toys designed to be played with, rebuilt, experimented with and enjoyed by kids.

The full LEGO Pokémon SMART Play line-up

All-in-One sets

• Training House with Pikachu
• Charizard vs. Jolteon Ultimate Battle

Compatible expansion sets

• Berry Bash with Bulbasaur and Bidoof
• Trainer's Buggy Adventure with Squirtle
• Charmander and Geodude's Cavern Clash
• Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly Battle
• Jigglypuff Concert
• Drone Search for Mythical Mew
• Eevee and Lapras's Treasure Hunt
• Mewtwo's Lab Break
• Umbreon vs. Garchomp Championship Battle
• Cubone and Gengar's Spooky Showdown

If you purchase selected sets, you'll also be able to get a special Ditto as Squirtle: Movie Night gift-with-purchase while stocks last. The sets are available to pre-order now ahead of an August release.

• Best Pixar Movies: Top titles from Wall-E to Toy Story

Televisions are becoming gloriously complicated again.

Just when you thought you’d nailed all the acronyms (OLED, HDR, QLED, etc), there’s a bunch of new jargon to master as a fresh wave of screen TV tech heads to the high street. But don’t fret if you don’t know your True RGB from your Freely - we’re here to help you through what’s hot to watch in 2026.

It’s actually a great time to buy a new telly. The latest display innovations mean better-than-ever picture quality, while screen sizes are getting bigger than ever.

And with a summer of sport on the way, led by the FIFA World Cup, who doesn’t want a shiny new screen to catch all the action on?

We’ve taken an early look at the latest models and the best of the rest, so you can upgrade your viewing with confidence. Whether you want a picture-perfect OLED, massive Micro RGB, or simply the best value gogglebox around, we’ve got you covered…

Best TV for Picture Quality

• Samsung R95H Micro RGB
• Price: £3,299 (65-inch)
• Screen sizes available: 65-, 75-, 85-inches
• Size: 1442.9 x 831.2 x 52 mm (wxhxd)
• Display Technology: Micro RGB
• HDMI: Yes, x 4
• HDR: YesOperating System: Tizen
• Price: £3,299
• Weight: 19.1kg

Samsung’s latest flagship TV, the R95H, uses ground-breaking Micro RGB display technology for a truly scintillating picture. Micro-sized red, green, and blue LED backlights offer breathtaking brightness and colour richness. Powered by Samsung’s Micro RGB AI Engine, the R95H delivers exceptional colour accuracy, along with deep blacks and pristine detail. Not only is the R95H exceptionally bright, it sports a Glare Free screen coating that keeps unwanted room reflections and lights at bay. All this makes it ideal for bright room viewing.

Sound isn’t too shabby either, thanks to an 8-channel Dolby Atmos audio system. And if you need more reasons to buy, there’s also Tizen, Samsung’s highly polished smart platform, which comes with all the key streaming services, alongside Samsung TV Plus, a collection of free-to-watch linear channels.

The price tag may be toppy, but if you want the next-gen image quality, it’s definitely worth paying.

Best TV for Sports

• Sony BRAVIA 7 II True RGB
• Price £1,999 (55-inch)
• Screen sizes available: 50-, 55-, 65-, 75-, 85-, 98-inches
• Size: 1228 x 784 x 80mm (wxhxd)
• Display Technology: True RGB
• HDMI: Yes, x 4
• HDR: YesOperating System: Google TV
• Price: £1,999
• Weight: 18.4kg

Sony has been turning heads with its own take on Micro RGB technology, dubbed True RGB. The BRAVIA 7 II is the more affordable of its two debut launches (positioned under the all-singing and dancing BRAVIA 9 II), and we reckon it's the sweeter buy. Prices range from £1,899 for the 50-inch, up to £6,999 for the 98-incher.

Image quality is exceptionally good, with superb colours, punchy HDR and pronounced contrast. It looks great when you want to hunker down in the dark and watch a movie (it boasts Dolby Vision and IMAX Enhanced certification), but what’ll win you over is its bright room performance, colour fidelity and motion handling.

Long a strong suit for BRAVIA screens, frame interpolation is top-notch, with minimal blur and exceptional clarity, perfect for watching fast-moving sports.

Best TV for games

• LG OLED Evo C6
• Price: £2,599 (65-inch)
• Screen sizes available: 42-, 48-, 55-, 65-, 77- 83-inches
• Size: 1441 x 826 x 45.1mm (wxhxd)
• Display Technology: OLED
• HDMI: Yes, x 4
• HDR: YesOperating System: web OS
• Price: £2,599
• Weight: 16.6kg

The C series from LG is one of the world’s best-selling OLED TVs for good reason. Combining superb 4K picture quality with a feature-rich webOS smart TV platform, it’s a premium all-rounder and an irresistible option for gamers - and this year’s C6 OLED Evo may be its best yet.

All four HDMI inputs offer 4K/120Hz support, and there’s a host of PC friendly features, including a 165Hz refresh rate for PC gamers, low input lag Game mode, and NVIDIA G-Sync / AMD FreeSync Premium support.

OLED picture performance, as you’d expect, is gorgeous. Powered by LG’s latest Alpha 11 Gen 3 processor, HDR highlights are the brightest we’ve seen on a C series model, while black levels remain deep and inky. Whether you’re playing Overwatch or binging The Boroughs, the C6 looks detailed, vibrant and highly cinematic.

Best TV for value

• Hisense E7Q
• Price: £319 (50-inch)
• Screen sizes available: 43-, 50-, 55-, 65-, 75-, 85-, 98-inches
• Size (Dimensions without stand): 1119 x 649 x 80 mm (wxhxd)
• Display Technology: QLED
• HDMI: Yes, x 4
• HDR: YesOperating System: VIDAA
• Price: £319
• Weight: 9.4kg

Flagship flatscreens are all well and good, but when your purse demands you rein in your expectations, there are still exceptional buys to be had. This 50-inch Hisense E7Q will set you back just £319, while the monster 98-inch Pro version is a mere £1,199 (from AO.com).

There’s no skimping on features either. The E7Q is built around the VIDAA smart TV, so it comes with all the usual streaming apps and offers bright, colour-rich pictures courtesy of its QLED panel. Home cinema niceties include Dolby Vision HDR support and Filmmaker Mode, but there are also dedicated Game and Sport Modes, making it ideal for the footie.

But what really sells this affordable Hisense to us is the provision of Freely, the Internet delivered stablemate of Freeview. With Freely, you don’t need a traditional TV aerial to watch all your mainstream TV channels (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and so on), just Wi-Fi and an internet connection. This means you can park your new screen in any room, anywhere you like, without having to run cables. Hurrah!

Best TV for Pay channels

• Sky Glass Air
• Price: From £17 monthly + channel package (65-inch)
• Screen sizes available: 43-, 55-, 65-inches
• Size (Dimensions without stand): 1446 x 829 x 34 mm (wxhxd)
• Display Technology: QLED
• HDMI: Yes, x 3
• HDR: YesOperating System: Sky Entertainment OS
• Price: £17 monthly + channel package
• Weight: 24.2kg

So what if you fancy a snazzy new 4K TV, but would rather pay for one on a contract, like a smartphone? Sky Glass Air is for you. This smart-looking LED model comes with Sky’s premium pay TV services baked in, with no external set-top box or dish required. The entire Sky channel enchilada is delivered over Wi-Fi.

Slimmer and some might say sexier, than the step-up Sky Glass Gen 2, Sky Glass Air is available in three screen sizes (43-, 55- and 65- inches) and comes in a choice of colours - Sea Green, Carbon Grey or Cotton White.

There’s HDMI with eARC, Wi-Fi 6 for ultra stable connectivity, and Dolby Vision HDR. Gamers might want to give the Air a swerve though, as it’s a 60Hz screen with noticeably high input lag.

Picture quality is bright and punchy. An Auto picture mode works in the background, optimising picture quality based on what you’re watching.

Obviously, the real attraction here is the broader Sky experience. The Sky OS neatly unifies live TV, streaming apps and cloud recording into one easy-to-use interface. Obviously what you can watch depends on your subscription package, but there’s no doubting the sheer variety on offer when it comes to entertainment, movies and sports. We’d suggest the best deal is the recently announced Sky Ultimate TV bundle (£24 a month), which includes Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Hayu, along with all the Sky general entertainment channels.

Sky Glass Air prices start at £6 a month (for the 43-inch model ) for a 48 month contract, plus your chosen monthly channels bundle.

• London’s 10 best experience bars: From time-travelling cocktails to prison break games

Arcade Arena, a brand-new gaming attraction opening on the Southbank, London, this September, is promising real-world versions of iconic video game experiences complete with live-action gameplay, interactive environments and enough flashing lights to make you feel like you’ve accidentally wandered into the future.

Created by the team behind The Crystal Maze Experience, the new venue will combine multiple large-scale gaming experiences under one roof, with visitors able to bounce between life-sized Pac-Man, chaotic kart racing, and alien invasion battles.

The headline attraction is probably PAC-MAN LIVE, which turns the iconic arcade game into a fully immersive physical challenge. Players wear high-tech “PAC-Vests” before running through a full-scale interactive maze collecting pellets, dodging ghosts and trying not to embarrass themselves in front of their pals immediately. It’s the childhood fantasy of climbing inside an arcade machine finally becoming reality.

Alongside that will be Chaos Karts, a karting experience and Alien Invasion, a sci-fi combat experience involving themed missions and live-action gameplay.

The wider idea behind Arcade Arena seems to be turning gaming into a full social night out rather than something people do silently on Discord while eating crisps in the dark. There’ll be food, drinks and multi-game packages available, with tickets starting from £30 for a single experience and rising to £50 for access to all three.

While London is hardly short on immersive experiences these days, this one does feel slightly different. Most attractions still stop short of making you physically become the player character. Arcade Arena seems fully committed to the bit. This isn’t watching actors pretend you’re in a video game. This is you getting sweaty inside one.

It also makes complete sense that this is coming from Little Lion Entertainment, the people behind The Crystal Maze Experience, which has somehow spent the last decade convincing Londoners to willingly crawl through inflatable tunnels and scream at each other over oversized puzzle cubes.

Most importantly, though, it sounds fun. Not “networking event fun” or “team-building fun”. Genuine fun. The sort where your competitive instincts immediately take over and friendships are burdened with fragility.

Arcade Arena opens on London’s Southbank this September, with tickets on sale now.

• Two London hotels have been named among the best in the world in a new prestigious list

London doesn’t really do anything by halves: Arsenal celebrations, nights out, and, as shown by the upcoming weather forecast, summer. Or more specifically, heatwaves. After some disappointing weather in June so far, the UK is headed for a full on climate-change-special whopping heatwave. Cue Londoners sprawled like scattered shrimps across every conceivable inch of green space, and every single corner store completely stripped of Factor 50, aloe, and disposable barbecues.

With temperatures in London set to surge to north of 37 degrees people are already prepping. If you thought working from home was the solution to keeping cool (namely: able to work in trunks, on a balcony, with an ice cream, and have a cheeky lido swim at lunch) only to realise you have zero air conditioning, a broken fan, and three housemates who thought the same, then this new interactive map showing Londoners where they can best cool off might be your new wingman.

Catchily named Where’s Cool, the new app has created a map that shows which cafes, bars, and restaurants near you have air con. Consider your prayers literally answered. According to the team behind the app, when the UK gets caught in a heatwave, where do you go? Well, they couldn’t find a map of those places, so they built one.

As the map points out, there are over 280,000 pubs, cafes, restaurants and bars in England and Wales - only around 8,000 (3%) of them are confirmed to have air conditioning, so your odds of striking the frozen jackpot are rather slim if you roll the dice and just wander in somewhere.

Thanks to the sheer volume of pubs, cafes, restaurants and other public spots, a lot of the places on the map have ‘unconfirmed AC status’, where the map needs punters to help close the gaps and confirm if there’s AC or not. Luckily, though, there’s a useful toggle which you can set so you only see nearby locations with confirmed AC.

In terms of how they actually collected the data, it consisted of a fair bit of sleuthing from the self-confessed data nerds at Sabot, the engineers behind the app. Every food business in England and Wales is legally required to register with the FSA's Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, so to confirm the AC status, they cross-referenced this with the public MHCLG Energy Performance Certificate dataset. Where a venue's EPC said it had cooling, they marked it confirmed. For everything else, it’s the trusty - if slightly overheated - public who are helping to solve that riddle, inputting data to the app to let them know if a venue has AC or not. If a couple of people agree, the map is updated.

Thomas Chivers, Where's Cool creator said:

“As a ginger man, the heatwave this week has been the undoing of me. Unfortunately, working out of my sweatbox flat wasn't an option and finding a reliable cafe with AC wasn't as straightforward as I thought it was.

When doing the research, I managed to find a data source that shows confirmed venues that actually have air con. When I told this to some remote working friends they asked if I could create a map so they could benefit as well. It made too much sense not to share it around!”

You can find the app at wherescool.uk.

• Midnight Matinees at Shakespeare's Globe are officially back for summer – and there are still £5 tickets up for grabs

More than a decade after it was first released, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is officially getting brand new DLC.

Because apparently one of the greatest RPGs ever made still isn’t done with us yet.

Developer CD Projekt has announced a third expansion for The Witcher 3 called Songs of the Past, with the new DLC set to launch in 2027 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Which means Geralt of Rivia is somehow returning for another adventure 12 years after the original game launched back in 2015.

The expansion is being co-developed alongside Fool's Theory, a Polish studio made up of several former Witcher developers who previously worked on the original game. The team is also currently handling the remake of the very first Witcher game, so CD Projekt is clearly keeping things in the family here.

Details on Songs of the Past are still pretty thin for now, although CD Projekt confirmed players will once again step into the boots of Geralt for a completely new storyline. More information is expected later this summer.

The announcement doesn’t come entirely out of nowhere, either. Rumours about secret Witcher 3 DLC have been floating around online for months, with leaks suggesting a brand new region to explore and speculation that the expansion could help bridge the gap between The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 4.

The Witcher 4 is expected to shift focus towards Ciri as the series’ new lead protagonist, so Songs of the Past could end up acting as one final swansong for Geralt before CD Projekt fully moves on to the next era of the franchise.

And considering how beloved expansions like Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine already are, expectations are understandably sky high.

Blood and Wine, in particular, is still regularly spoken about like it was basically an entire extra Witcher game disguised as DLC, so announcing another expansion this late into the game’s lifespan feels massive.

CD Projekt actually planned to reveal the expansion during an anniversary livestream celebrating Blood and Wine this week, but according to the studio, an accidental launcher leak forced them to announce it early instead.

Which feels very on-brand for the modern games industry at this point.

The studio also confirmed the new DLC will only launch on current-gen hardware, meaning PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch players are being left behind this time around. CD Projekt says upcoming updates will also overhaul the game’s technical requirements on PC, with SSDs becoming mandatory going forward as the studio continues modernising the game for newer hardware.

It’s a hugely busy period for CD Projekt overall, too. Alongside Songs of the Past, the studio is currently developing The Witcher 4, future Witcher sequels, a Witcher multiplayer project and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season two.

Still, despite everything else on the horizon, it’s pretty exciting seeing The Witcher 3 continue to grow this far after release.

Most games are lucky to survive a few months before disappearing into the backlog abyss forever. Meanwhile, Geralt is out here casually getting fresh expansions 12 years later like none of us ever emotionally left Novigrad in the first place.

• Nintendo Switch 2 review: Powered up in all the right places

Just a few weeks ago Ferrari opened a flagship store in Central London. But at first glance, the place may not have all that much for the petrolhead Ferrari fan.

It is predominantly a fashion store, Ferrari’s first in the UK. From it you can buy £6,000-plus women’s leather coats, or £750 sweatshirts.

The construction of this space, at 45 Old Bond Street, is absolutely mad — more on that later — but if the whole concept sounds like a turn off, you just need to head down to the lower ground floor.

Behind a massive leather curtain, made using the same leather seen in Ferrari cockpits, lives a mini Ferrari museum. But in this museum you can buy all the exhibits. We are in Old Bond Street, not South Kensington, after all.

The concept of this area of the Ferrari Store is it’s the brand’s Collectables Collection. But because this is Ferrari, most of these are actual fragments of automotive history.

You’ve have to be quick to see it before it’s shipped off to the buyer — we were told it was heading out within days — but one wall was taken up by the shoes and suit worn by Sebastian Vettel during his final season with Ferrari in 2020.

It’s not a replica. It’s the real thing.

We weren’t told quite how much the suit cost in the end, but we’re undoubtedly talking about some factor of fortune here. There are other pieces of automotive art you can pick up at slightly more palatable prices, though.

Along the rear wall of the Ferrari Store’s collectibles exhibit are pieces of actual historically important Ferrari cars. For example, you can pick up a conrod from a 2003 F1 series car for £1,850, or an engine valve from a 2000 season F1 car for £950.

These are all parts from real F1 cars, broken down into their constituent parts like pieces of the Holy Grail — except real.

They are arranged like beautiful museum pieces, which they could very well be. But the best bit is they haven’t been polished and ground down to look new. You can see the use they’ve had on their surface, like automotive laughter lines. And it’s kinda fascinating to see, even if you don’t have the knowledge to point out exactly where inside a car each of these bits would go.

Ferrari’s Colleactables collection goes far further too. When we visited, there were two F1 crankshafts on show, which when separated from their fellow components look like something that could actually be dropped right into the Tate Modern as a sculptural exhibit.

No price tags on these but, well, they’re not going to be cheap are they? For the richest and most obsessed of Ferrari fans, you can even pick up an entire motor, as a “collectable” the Ferrari rep told us would likely end up between some car collectors’ various actual, complete Ferrari cars.

And for the rest of us? Ferrari also offers some absolutely amazing scale model recreations of classic Ferrari cars. But before you get too excited, these are also not remotely cheap.

They start at £13,500, rising a good chunk higher for the limited run designs. During our visit cars on display included the Ferrari 499P and Ferrari 12Clinindri Spider, once again arranged like museum exhibits in acrylic cases.

These aren’t actually Ferrari models. They are 1:8 scale replicas made by Amalgam Collection, whose works we’ve written about before.

The aim is always for the greatest possible fidelity, the claim being they are “almost impossible to discern from a real car in photographs.”

You can browse through these cars online. Amalgam Collection has, somehow, made hundreds of them in 1:8 scale alone. However, actually getting to see these models in person is a rarity — Mr Porter also lists them, but is an online-only retailer, while Amalgam Collection is based in Bristol and does not have an actual showroom.

They are fantastically detailed not-that-little works of art in their own right.

Ferrari’s fashion store probably isn’t hoping to attract petrolhead model obsessives, but that crowd really should take note.

The Ferrari fashion store is also notable — some might even say deranged — in its commitment to bringing about that Ferrari sense of luxury and attention to detail. Across the three floors are giant curtains made using the same leather used to upholster Ferrari interiors. As are the leather-handrails that adorn the massive single-piece stair cases so large the front of the shop had to be removed to fit them in, closing off nearby Piccadilly in the process.

By the entrance, the shiny red mannequins have been sprayed using the same process used to paint Ferrari cars — which we are informed was a bit of a nightmare.

Even the metallic decoration of the Ferrari fashion store’s walls is designed to evoke that of Ferrari workshops. And no, not all of Ferrari’s clothing is the marque’s signature red. Just a lot of it.

Ferrari’s first UK fashion store is found at 45 Old Bond Street, a site formerly home to jeweller De Beers, and is open seven days a week.

• Cars, clobber and countryside: How to do the Cotswolds properly

Sony’s flagship noise-cancelling headphones have long been hard to beat, offering the ultimate over-ear noise cancelling performance against some incredibly stiff competition. And they’ve also occupied a rare position in the audio sphere — mainstream enough to dominate airport lounges and commuter trains, yet serious enough to tempt audiophiles who would normally avoid wireless cans altogether.

With the all-new, long-rumoured 1000X THE COLLEXION headphones, Sony wants to make sure those most discerning of listeners are fully catered for.

While it’d be easy to think of THE COLLEXION as a ‘WH-1000XM6 Pro’ upgrade to last year’s world beating over-ears, that’d be slightly missing the point. This is not simply another yearly upgrade focused on cancelling more engine rumble or squeezing in another AI feature (even if it’s also attempting to do both). Instead, THE COLLEXION feels like Sony asking what happens when its most-loved headphone line is given the spared-no-expense treatment — something designed to be worn and admired as much as getting down to the nitty-gritty of making your tunes sound great.

Want some luxury to accompany your playlists? Here’s five reasons why the Sony 1000X THE COLLEXION might be the headphones for you.

Sony 1000X THE COLLEXION: In short…

• Luxury stainless steel and matte faux leather design feels genuinely premium
• Comfort-focused fit reduces pressure during long listening sessions
• Refined audio tuning prioritises clarity and immersive sound quality
• AI upscaling and spatial modes personalise music, movies and gaming
• Advanced microphones improve calls, adaptive noise cancelling and daily usability
• Available from May 2026 in Platinum (white) and Black shades
• Priced at £550

1. The Design Feels As Premium As The Price Tag

Sony says the design philosophy behind its 1000X THE COLLEXION headphones (right, from here on in, to save our fingers, we’re just going to call ‘em the ‘COLLEXION’) is “Resonate” — the idea that you should hear, feel and experience premium sound and texture at the same time. Marketing language aside, there is a noticeable shift in approach here.

Every visible surface uses just two materials: hand-polished stainless steel and a newly developed faux leather finish. That faux leather alone reportedly took two years to develop, and it shows in the details. Rather than the glossy synthetic textures that can make premium headphones feel oddly plastic, Sony has opted for a matte finish that looks restrained and feels high-end to the touch — important, as you’ll be swiping and tapping the cups regularly to control playback.

The result is cleaner and more architectural than previous over-ear models. In black, the headphones look understated and expensive. In ‘Platinum’ white, they feel closer to luxury fashion tech than your usual over-ears. But they’re not flashy, either — these aren’t the diamond-encrusted nonsense that often tempts the higher-end of the tech market. It’s classic Sony minimalism.

That extends to the accompanying carry case too, which manages to do something even Apple’s equally-luxurious AirPods Pro Max couldn’t — being stylish and functional. Like the Apple competition, Sony’s case opts for a carry handle style. But, with the headphone cups rotating flat rather than folding inwards, the case wraps around the headband to create that carry handle. Fastening closed with a magnetic snap, the entirety of the headphone is enclosed and protected. Apple, take note.

Sony has also made the earcups slimmer than the WH-1000XM6, reducing the depth to 40.1mm from 45.4mm. That sounds minor on paper, but visually it creates a more refined silhouette on the head, giving the illusion of a softer, slightly curvier can.

2. Comfort Has Been Given Real Attention

Premium headphones live or die by comfort. Nobody cares how advanced the internals are if they’re clamping to your noggin’ like a vice.

The COLLEXION however is supremely comfortable. Designed with long listening sessions in mind, using a wider headband, and with softer earpads to reduce side pressure, you can wear them for hours without any fatigue. The internal earcup space is also notably generous, meaning the pads sit around the ear rather than pressing directly onto it. As a glasses wearer, that clamping force was just right in all the right places too — tight enough to keep them from slipping, but not so squeezed as to push my specs’ arms into my skull.

Even the internal battery layout has been reconsidered. Sony split the battery into two separate components to improve weight distribution and maximise acoustic space inside the cups. Again, it is the sort of engineering decision that users may never consciously notice, but they will feel the benefits over several hours of wear.

There is no official IP rating here, which may disappoint gym users or anyone regularly caught in the customary surprise UK downpour. But these are clearly intended as luxury listening headphones first, and all-day comfort seems to have been prioritised above ruggedness.

3. The Sound Is The Real Star

Sony’s flagship headphones have always balanced sound quality against noise cancelling. With COLLEXION, the balance appears to tilt slightly more toward the audio side. The aim here is to get closer to an artist’s intention in the studio, trimming back some of the bass-heavy moments of the WH-1000XM6, and promoting clarity over sheer noise-cancelling grunt.

The redeveloped driver unit uses a unidirectional carbon layered core composite material in the diaphragm dome section (intended to deliver natural tones from the most delicate high-frequency moments), alongside Sony’s HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN3 and an entirely new integrated V3 processor.

That V3 processor delivers some of the COLLEXION’s smartest audio tricks. Support for Hi-Res Wireless audio and LDAC is onboard, but the headline addition may actually be DSEE Ultimate. Available in Sony headphones for the first time in this form, the AI-powered upscaling system attempts to restore detail lost in compressed music files.

Sony claims it can effectively upscale 44kHz audio to 96kHz and increase 16-bit audio to 24-bit equivalents, very useful when using streaming services over a mobile connection. Whether listeners hear every technical improvement will vary, but the intention is clear: these are headphones built for people who genuinely care about music quality, not simply background listening.

Equally interesting is how much Sony has borrowed from its dedicated Walkman audio division. COLLEXION includes technologies such as a low-phase-noise crystal oscillator, advanced solder containing gold and optimised circuitry components — details normally associated with specialist hi-fi gear rather than wireless travel headphones.

The proof, as ever, is in the listening, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time with the COLLEXION headphones. Note: from our experience, you’re going to get the most from the headphones with a Hi-Res playback source, as you’d expect. But the COLLEXION is pretty agnostic when it comes to genre.

With the glacial ‘Computer Love’ of electro pioneers Kraftwerk, the COLLEXION shows off its precision and clarity — tight bass tones, snappy drum clicks and crystal clear high-end synths.

For something a little more earthy, Love’s ‘You Set The Scene’ from the masterful Forever Changes album is a great work out for the COLLEXION’s claimed wide soundstage and instrumental separation. The headphones do a great job, bringing a warmth and immediacy to the presentation, and ably pulling out the individual orchestral qualities of strings, horns and guitars as the three all battle in the song’s final third.

At the other end of the spectrum, Nine Inch Nail’s brutal ‘March Of The Pigs’ hits like a hammer blow. Guitars have bite and power, while the complex industrial underpinnings of the song feel thick and full, without Trent Reznor’s raspy vocal being lost.

There’s a feeling that the most demanding of audiophiles will be looking for a little more dynamism in the mid-range, but that’s nitpicking, and when paired with the rest of the feature set offered here, the COLLEXION is a great package.

4. The Features Feel More Personal And Flexible

Wireless headphones increasingly succeed or fail based on how adaptable they are to everyday life, but Sony’s had a handle on that right from the start with its 1000X series. Each successive model has brought new smarts to the table — and the COLLEXION might be the smartest of them all.

The V3 processor introduces several new upmix modes, including dedicated 360-degree settings for music, movies and gaming. These modes attempt to create a more immersive spatial presentation depending on what you are listening to.

I usually avoid additional processing modes on audio devices — they tend to move the music too far away from the original intention of a mix. But I had a lot of fun with Sony’s music upmix mode. It gives an almost ‘live’ quality to a recording, widening the soundstage and putting you closer to the centre of a performance. It’s lively and an interesting way to get a new perspective on tracks you’re well versed in, if not necessarily the most faithful reproduction. The gaming mode was enjoyable and explosive too, adding a level of immersive bombast to proceedings — but I was disappointed by relatively high latency when gaming over Bluetooth, meaning some audio cues felt just a beat behind the action.

There is also a surprisingly intriguing “background music” mode (returning from the WH-1000XM6) designed to make songs feel as though they are playing slightly away from you, like music drifting through a café rather than directly into your ears. It sounds gimmicky initially, but it could prove genuinely useful for people who dislike the intense isolation that noise-cancelling headphones can create.

A customisable physical button on the headset lets users quickly switch between modes without diving into menus or apps, which is exactly the kind of practical touch premium products should include.

Sony also includes a 10-band EQ for users who want more detailed control over tuning. Casual listeners can leave everything alone, while enthusiasts can fine-tune the presentation to suit different genres.

It all adds up to a product that feels less rigidly one-size-fits-all than many rivals, and makes the accompanying Sound Connect app less of an optional add-on and more an essential tweak station.

5. They Still Deliver Serious Everyday Practicality

Even with the more luxurious positioning, Sony has not abandoned the practical strengths that made its over-ear line successful in the first place.

COLLEXION uses 12 onboard microphones for adaptive noise-cancelling optimisation, allowing the headphones to constantly adjust to changing environments. Sony is not pushing noise cancelling as aggressively as before — the messaging here is more about sound refinement — but the capability is still substantial. Aggressive pre-release secrecy around the headphones mean I’ve not been able to test them against the rigours of public transport yet, but I was able to mimic the hum of a flight quite effectively, thanks to the whirring of my gaming PC’s fan in my hotbox of a flat. While not quite a match for the total isolation of the WH-1000XM6 cans, the noise cancelling here is still better than the majority of Sony’s competitors.

Sony also has the advantage of its smart adaptive noise cancelling features. Let the Sound Connect app access your location, and the headphones will adapt their noise-blocking features according to the situation. Walking down the road, you can set them to let in a little more exterior sound so as to better hear an oncoming Uber Eats bike, and then seamlessly switch to zen-like full noise cancellation once you reach the office.

Call quality has also received serious attention. Six beamforming microphones help isolate the speaker’s voice while reducing wind interference, and Bluetooth LE Audio support enables Super Wide Band speech transmission for clearer calls. The audio mode selecting button can also be configured to act as a physical mic mute switch, something that feels particularly relevant in the hybrid-working era where headphones double as office equipment as often as entertainment devices.

I’d say, however, that the decision to leave a USB-C cable out of the package feels a little bit stingy, though. Yes, e-waste needs to be taken into consideration. But grab these at an airport shop before boarding your flight, and you’re going to have a long, noisy journey ahead of you unless you come prepared with a charging cable. Battery life shouldn’t be much of a concern though — 24 hours with ANC switched on will see you around the world, even if it’s a few hours short of the battery life managed by the WH-1000XM6. And there is a 3.5mm jack cable in the box.

Final Verdict

Sony’s 1000X THE COLLEXION headphones admirably merge luxury looks, audiophile ambition and daily practicality into one sumptuous package. It’s a complex balancing act, but COLLEXION feels like Sony recognising that premium headphones are no longer just tech accessories, but fashion objects, productivity tools and personal audio systems all at once.

That versatility comes with a hefty price tag, but for listeners who want one pair of headphones capable of handling all three roles with a little more elegance than usual, they’ll be confidently covered.

The toss up between the older WH-1000XM6 and the COLLEXION model will be a difficult one to make — if cream-of-the-crop noise cancelling is your primary concern, the former will probably still win out. But for a taste of the high life, 1000X THE COLLEXION is among the best headphones Sony’s ever made.

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Marshall has never struggled with aesthetic cool. Its iconic amplifiers have been stage staples for the biggest rock bands of all time, since the days when all Bluetooth meant was that someone had drunk one too many gnasher-dyeing Slush Puppies. Away from the mosh pit, its headphones have spent the last decade translating that rock-and-roll heritage into commuter-friendly tech. And with its latest release, the Marshall Milton A.N.C. headphones, it's ready to power your playlists for a non-stop weekend or longer.

Priced at £179.99, these new wireless on-ear headphones arrive with adaptive noise cancelling, spatial audio and a frankly outrageous battery life figure. More importantly, they appear designed for people who actually live in their headphones — commuters, travellers, office workers and anyone who can’t function without their own personal soundtrack on at all times.

For those about to rock, here’s five reasons the Marshall Milton A.N.C might be the headphones for you.

Marshall Milton A.N.C.: In short…

• Adaptive ANC reacts automatically to surroundings
• Up to 80 hours battery life, 50+ with noise cancelling
• Foldable design built for constant travel
• Spatial audio adds depth to everyday listening
• Repairable design with replaceable battery
• Available now, priced £179.99

1. Battery life that borders on barmy

Most wireless headphones promise enough battery to survive a few work sessions. Marshall laughs at that paltry goal. There’s battery life so good here you might forget you ever needed to charge them in the first place.

The Milton A.N.C. delivers up to 80 hours of wireless playtime without active noise cancelling switched on, or more than 50 hours with ANC enabled. That is several long-haul flights, countless Tube journeys and probably an entire festival weekend without desperately hunting for a USB-C cable.

For people tired of battery anxiety, this is arguably the headline feature. Marshall is essentially removing charging from the daily routine. Two hours gets the headphones fully recharged, and then you’re back into musical bliss for another solid couple of days.

2. Adaptive ANC that works with on-ear headphones

Over-ear headphones have dominated the premium ANC market for years largely because on-ear alternatives often leaked sound and struggled with isolation. And though the ANC of the Milton isn’t quite as all-encompassing as over-ear alternatives, those that prefer the on-ear form factor will thankfully still be able to block out the majority of surrounding annoyances with these new cans.

The Milton A.N.C. uses adaptive active noise cancelling that continuously analyses surroundings and adjusts in real time. Six microphones work together to reduce environmental noise while also improving call quality. Crucially, Marshall has enlarged the ear cushions and added softer memory foam to improve passive isolation before the electronics even get involved.

That ‘adaptive’ feature means that, instead of aggressively silencing the world, the headphones react to it. In a quiet library? It’ll dial back the intensity of noise-cancellation, but on a train, in an open-plan office or during a flight, they adapt automatically to the din and work harder to block out distractions. And when situational awareness matters, Transparency mode lets outside sound back in instantly with a single press of a button.

3. Portable — but still pretty

At just over 200 grams, the Milton A.N.C is light and portable, with a foldable design intended to survive constant packing, commuting and travel. But Marshall hasn’t stripped back any of those stage-ready good looks.

The textured leather finish, brass logo detailing and powder-coated metal arms all lean into the company’s vintage rock aesthetic. Importantly, they still feel grown-up. These are headphones designed to look as comfortable beside a MacBook in Soho as they would backstage at a venue.

The durability angle matters too. Marshall says the headphones are repairable and include a replaceable battery — you’ll have to get Marshall’s own engineers to do the job, though.

And they’re comfortable on your head, too. On-ear headphones can feel quite clampy, pushing on the squishy bits of your ears uncomfortably over longer stretches of time. But the Milton A.N.C is light and breezy, with well-padded cans and a forgiving clamping force that means they don’t cause fatigue over longer periods of time.

4. Sound improvements

Marshall headphones tend to lean warmer and more energetic rather than neutral in their tuning, and the Milton A.N.C follows suit.

A redesigned driver system promises improved bass and treble alongside Hi-Res audio support. Bluetooth 6.0 compatibility and support for SBC, AAC, LC3 and LDAC codecs show Marshall is taking wireless audio quality seriously, even at a mid-range price.

Though they’re not going to tempt audiophiles away from their studio-tuned favourites, the Marshall Milton A.N.C is an exciting listen. They’re bass and mid forward in a way that suits crunchier rock music and big beat pop best, and can go ear-splittingly loud when pushed to max volume.

An intriguing feature is Soundstage spatial audio, Marshall’s in-house spatialisation system that adds depth and width to stereo tracks. It’s not a true-to-source sound, but can be fun for giving a more live-performance-feel to your tracks.

There’s also Adaptive Loudness, which subtly adjusts tonal balance depending on listening volume and background noise. In practice, that means late-night listening should still sound rich rather than thin and anaemic — though it can flatten highs in some circumstances.

5. Convenient design

One of the smartest details is the customisable M-button. Instead of burying features inside endless app menus, Marshall lets users assign shortcuts for ANC, Transparency mode, EQ presets, Spotify access, spatial audio or voice assistant controls.

We’ll take a physical control over a touch-pad swipe any day.

It’s a winning combo of solid sound, smart features, convenience and style. If you like your headphones as rocking as your tunes, the Milton A.N.C are ready to hit the road with you.

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Was Nintendo’s movement-based Wii a blip on the gaming cultural radar? The modern games console is usually designed around one thing: sitting still. Whether it’s sprawling online adventures or endless YouTube rabbit holes, most screen time now happens sprawled across the sofa with little movement.

Nex Playground wants to change that.

Launching in the UK and Ireland this summer after selling close to a million units in North America (it outsold the Xbox overseas last year), the motion-controlled console has quickly built a reputation as a different kind of gaming machine — one aimed squarely at families who want children to be active, social and safely entertained in the same space.

A tiny cube that sits in front of your TV and ditches traditional controllers for hands-free movement, the camera-equipped console tracks your frantic waves and weaves, and is designed to be as simple to use as possible. And it’s mighty good fun for all the family, from toddlers right up to nan and grandad.

Here are five reasons why it might become one of the most interesting family tech launches of 2026.

Nex Playground: In Short…

• A controller-free family games console that uses motion tracking
• Launches in the UK in late June 2026, with pre-orders opening from May 18th through retailers including Amazon UK, Argos and Smyths Toys
• Pricing starts at £269 in the UK, which includes the console and five starter games
• Play Pass subscription costs £90 annually or £45 quarterly, unlocking a library of more than 60 games
• Family-friendly franchises and games, with titles tied to Bluey, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Sesame Street and more
• Focussed around child safety and privacy — with no ads, no in-app purchases, no open internet access

1. It Turns Screen Time Into Active Play

Perhaps the biggest selling point of Nex Playground is that it gets players moving.

Unlike traditional consoles that rely on controllers, Nex uses motion tracking to turn players’ bodies into the controller itself. A small camera on the front of the cube is able to see into your room, picking up the players in front of it, and translating the movements of their arms and legs into controls for the games. With Nex Playground games, you’ll be jumping, stretching, dancing, running on the spot and mimicking actions on-screen, making it feel closer to offline play than your standard game session.

That approach has already drawn comparisons with the golden era of Nintendo Wii-style gaming, but Nex is arguably simpler and more intuitive, seeing as no controller is needed — a remote control is included just for navigating menus.

For parents increasingly concerned about their kids being glued to screens, that physical element is a major draw. Nex is positioning the console as an antidote to endless scrolling and sedentary entertainment, and the timing is notable. In both Britain and Ireland, conversations around children’s screen time and online wellbeing have intensified over the past year, creating demand for devices that feel healthier and more purposeful.

2. It’s Built Specifically With Families in Mind

Games consoles from the big three manufacturers — Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Switch — try to be all things to all people. Hardcore shooters sit next to cosy farming sims, horror games sit next to cutesy platformers. They are not especially tailored to children, meaning ensuring a child is playing an appropriate title can take a fair bit of preparation.

It’s here where Nex feels it can win, where previous motion-based consoles (like Microsoft’s mega-selling Kinect, which eventually fell from favour with core gamers who demanded more complex experiences) failed. Nex Playground feels different because families are clearly the priority from the outset.

The system is designed as a closed ecosystem, meaning there are no ads, no web browsing functions and no mature content unexpectedly surfacing through recommendations or online interactions. Every game on the platform is published directly by Nex, giving the company tighter control over quality and age suitability.

That safety-first philosophy has become a major part of the brand’s identity. Nex Playground aligns with GDPR requirements, carries PEGI 3 ratings on its starter bundle and maintains kidSAFE+ certification alongside COPPA compliance in the United States.

Importantly, the console also addresses privacy concerns in ways many larger tech brands have been criticised for ignoring. Motion-tracking data is processed locally on the device rather than uploaded externally, and every console includes a physical camera cover.

In a market where many parents remain uneasy about connected devices listening, recording or collecting data, that straightforward emphasis on trust feels refreshingly direct.

The same goes for hidden fees — while there’s a subscription cost to access the vast majority of games available on Nex Playground (a service which feels essential to get the most out of the console, and should be factored into any purchase price), the team has vowed to never allow in-app purchases in its apps. Pay that subscription fee, and that’s all — little Jimmy won’t be running up a thousand-pound bill for Dora the Explorer skins.

3. The Games Library Is Surprisingly Broad

A motion-controlled family console only works if the games are good enough to sustain attention beyond the first week. That appears to be where Nex has quietly exceeded expectations.

The platform now includes more than 60 games covering sports, dance, fitness and educational experiences, with recognisable children’s brands helping broaden its appeal. Bluey is there. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are there. Elmo and Cookie Monster make an appearance. You don’t even have to have kids to recognise the characters fronting games here.

That variety matters because it prevents the console from feeling like a novelty fitness gadget, and having access to all of them under one subscription lets you flit between them all without a major commitment.

Kids in the US that have been playing with Nex over the past couple of years have been seen to play a wide variety of games, Nex tells us, swapping between energetic party games, educational activities and collaborative family challenges. The ease of play encourages cross-generational appeal too — even those not interested in gaming can get involved immediately.

4. It Encourages Co-operative Play Rather Than Solo Gaming

Online multiplayer has never been more popular, but Nex Playground harks back to the lost-art of local multiplayer experiences. There’s still nothing quite like staring into the whites of the eyes of your competitor, or hi-fiving a game-playing comrade. And with Nex focused around living room play, practically every title on the machine offers multiplayer fun.

Most of its experiences are designed around people sharing the same room, taking turns, competing side-by-side or cooperating physically together. Instead of children disappearing into bedrooms with headphones on, the console encourages communal play in the living room. Parents are more likely to participate, younger siblings can watch and join in, and gaming becomes a visible household activity rather than a solitary one.

I can see it being a particularly big hit come those major family gatherings like Christmas — there’s no complicated setup or gaming knowledge required to get involved. Nex Playground doesn’t demand existing gaming literacy, meaning grandparents, younger children and casual players can all take part almost immediately.

5. It Feels Like a Fresh Alternative to Current Consoles

At £269 with five starter games included, Nex Playground is not necessarily a budget purchase. Yet compared with the escalating costs associated with mainstream gaming consoles, subscriptions and accessories, it occupies an intriguing middle ground.

More importantly, it offers something genuinely different.

Rather than competing directly with PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo on graphical power or blockbuster franchises, Nex has carved out a niche centred around movement, simplicity and family interaction.

And, it's a minor point, but boy, is it cute. With colour-matched cabling and a colourful construction, it's attractive but subtle, its playfulness expressed in the device itself in a way that more serious consoles don't match.

For families looking to make screen time feel more active — and safe from the worries of other digital experiences — Nex Playground may arrive at exactly the right moment.

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JBL is prepped for a party. It has just announced a whole new range of absolutely massive wireless speakers and an absolutely tiny microphone that uses AI to revolutionise your karaoke game.

No, the JBL EasyClip Mic Mini is not going to auto-tune your vocals on the fly, which is basically the equivalent of shamelessly using your phone to cheat at a pub quiz. But it can remove the central vocal channel of songs you feed it — yep, using good old artificial intelligence.

Any track can become a backing track, and this all happens on-the-fly like magic. We got to hear it working in action and the results were frankly mind-blowingly good. It was pretty much as if the JBL EasyClip Mic Mini had access to the producer’s multi-track version of the song and just deleted the central vocal.

It's tech we've encountered before in JBL's cracking BandBox Solo guitar speaker.

Will it work for death metal as well as cleanly produced pop? We have our doubts, and even the JBL bod we talked to noted it’s not going to work the same for backing vocals too — it’s just not how this tech works. But, damn, it can’t half do a good job when the track suits the tech.

You control the voice zapping using the button on the JBL EasyClip Mic Mini’s front, and can also simply turn down the lead vocal line instead of getting rid of it entirely. This can be useful for those somewhat overconfident folks who choose to karaoke a song they only really know the chorus of.

Here’s how it works. The JBL EasyClip Mic Mini’s main microphone part is just a little rounded capsule of a thing, but it also slots into a grip handle.

This is because, if you haven't noticed, content creators these days hold up mics like they're a brooch they just found on the floor, not like a rock singer holding a trusty Shure SM58. And this mic is for content creators as well as karaoke fans, letting them adopt the correct viral mannerisms or... y'know, clip the thing to their clothing.

The other half of the JBL EasyClip Mic Mini is a USB dongle, and this is actually the brains of the operation. You plug it into a compatible JBL speaker, and not only does it turn that unit into a karaoke machine, it’s this USB dongle that apparently does the AI vocal removal. We’re told there’s just a slight delay of a couple of seconds, to let the software smarts do their thing.

JBL’s EasyClip Mic Mini costs £129.99 and is available to order now.

But what can you plug it into? We’ve had a go with some of these too.

Among the contenders are JBL’s new PartyBox models. These are not for everyone, but are apparently the market leaders in the massive-LED-laden-party-speaker category. You basically get the accessibility of a Bluetooth speaker, combined with the size and power of a PA or busker speaker. Oh, and a whole loads of LED light show pizzazz on top.

This range is long-standing, but the new models are called the JBL PartyBox 130 and 330.

JBL’s more affordable PartyBox 130 only costs as much as a higher-end wireless speaker at £349.99, but is seriously powerful. It has a 5.25-inch woofer and two 25mm tweeters, and a chunky fold-out handle to help you shift around its sold 11-plus kilo frame.

Not serious enough? The PartyBox 330 upgrades the driver to a 6.5-inch whopper, while JBL says the two tweeters are the same units it puts into some of its pro-grade speakers. It’s not just rubbish drivers for the beer-chugging idiot crowd here.

This larger, 16-plus-kilo contender is also designed a bit like a piece of holiday luggage, with a telescopic handle and built-in wheels. No doing your back in just to move it around a bit.

I got to hear the PartyBox 330, and then a quartet from this family playing together, using one of the family’s more up-to-date features, Bluetooth Auracast. This lets a bunch of headphones or speakers stream from the one source — a party mode that doesn’t require a bespoke, proprietary system.

First impressions suggest the JBL PartyBox duo are fantastic for projection and punch, which is going to be a massive benefit if you want to play music outdoors as well as inside. Loud looks matched with loud audio, these speakers also have highly customisable LED light rings that snake around the main drivers.

But if you mostly want to listen in a more casual way, I’d strongly suggesting considering something like the JBL Xtreme 5 instead, which also works with the JBL’s EasyClip Mic Mini. This speaker also looks pretty loud, but it’s also a surprisingly sweet-sounding and insightful wireless option that is fantastic for casual listening and social gatherings, or picnics. It’s going to be far more suitable for bedroom listening than a PartyBox.

I should know, because there’s one in my bedroom right now.

These aren’t the only new JBL bits of kit out either. JBL has also announced these goodies:

JBL Live 780NC and 680NC: Two pairs of premium wireless headphones with active noise cancellation. They come in a range of colours, including iPhone-matching orange. What’s the difference? The Live 780NC are over-ear headphones, the 680NC are on-ear.

JBL Live 4 TWS: True wireless earphones with a charging case that has its own little screen. This shows you the battery level of both the earbuds and the case itself. They, of course, have active noise cancellation too.

Technology has gone a bit too far, don’t you think? The Gen Z backlash is real, continuing the millennial’s vinyl revival with a rejection of social media and embrace of good old cabled headphones. We’re here for it, but maybe it’s time for the classic Hi-Fi to make a reappearance too.

OK, so most Gen Z may not have the space for a massive Hi-Fi system with gigantic floorstander speakers. And if you live in a flat, cranking them is probably risking a noise order or eviction.

We had a chance to see what the Hi-Fi of decades past was actually like to live with as part of JBL’s 80th birthday celebrations, though, and test drive some absolute classics from the past. Are old Hi-Fis really that much better than a Sonos or a Bluetooth speaker? Of course they are, but it’s not quite as simple as all that.

Let’s start by digging into a design from all the way back in the 1950s...

JBL Paragon D44000 - A piece of history

This is the JBL Paragon D44000, first produced in 1957. It originally cost $1830, equivalent to more than $21,500, or £16,000-plus today.

It’s much more than just a speaker system. It is a piece of furniture, and a proper centrepiece. The Paragon is almost nine feet wide, weighs 390kg and is a bit of a masterpiece from a visual perspective alone.

You can only really see two of the six speaker drivers here, but their extreme angling tells you a lot about the intention here. They’re pointed towards a single, central, ideal listener position. And even though it’s coming up to its 70th birthday, you still get a pretty awesome experience when you sit in that spot.

Sweet and detailed vocals have the kind of imaging today’s modern, basically mono, wireless speaker couldn’t hope to achieve. But there is a problem.

Despite having a pair of absolutely massive 15-inch drivers inside the enclosure, the JBL Paragon D44000 doesn’t really have anything approaching deep bass. A modern 15-inch woofer could shake the plaster off your walls, but these old designs? They have such slight movement when vibrating to produce sound, true deep bass just isn’t possible.

But, hey, let’s not be too harsh when this was apparently the “first stereo loudspeaker for the home,” JBL claims.

JBL L100 - The 1970s classic

Stepping ahead a couple of decades, the JBL L100 came out in 1970 and are an undeniable design classic if you ask us. We would love a pair of these, while their iconic orange foam speaker grilles feel like they inspired the orange Apple uses today in its iPhones.

These speakers had “West coast sound” tuning that helped make them comfortably JBL’s best-selling speaker of the era. And even though the pair we heard were legit decades old — not one of the re-releases JBL has made in the last few years, including one in January 2026 — they sound great.

They’re sweet and engaging, not boomy or brash. And by now JBL had firmly solved the whole “no bass” issue it had back in the 1950s.

The one problem is most will find they sound best with the grilles removed. But to our eyes they look far better with that orange foam face in place.

You can pick up the remade version of them, the JBL L100 Mk2, for around £3999 online.

JBL 250Ti - Because more is more in the 1980s

These eye-catching slanted JBL floor standers were introduced in 1985, but they were setup to represent the 90s era. The Titanic VHS and Friends boxset present tell you everything you need to know.

In person these speakers do take on some of the more provocative character their visual design brings. Compared to the L100, you can hear the 250Ti have significantly more of the low-bass punch you might otherwise buy a subwoofer to get.

The sound is chunkier, larger. It’s the kind of room-filling stuff larger wireless speakers try to achieve these days, but with a bunch of massive speaker drivers rather than audio tricks.

Another decade of development has let JBL fill in even more of the lower audio frequency range. They occasionally pop up on eBay too. But, you've been warned, these beasts weigh 68kg each.

One odd part is we reckon some folks will see the JBL 250TI as the most obviously “dated” design of these three, even though it’s easily the newest. But given baggy trousers are back in fashion, maybe weird slanted floorstanders are next.

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Anyone who’s spent even five minutes on the Central line in August knows the London summer commute can feel less like public transport and more like being slowly steamed alive in a metal tunnel. Sony apparently knows this too, because it’s back with another attempt to stop Londoners melting through their work shirts on the morning tube ride.

The tech giant has just unveiled the REON POCKET PRO Plus, the newest version of its wearable personal cooling device, and it’s a tiny portable air-con unit designed to sit discreetly on the back of your neck. Yes, it sounds slightly ridiculous. Yes, it also sounds quite useful once temperatures start pushing past 30 degrees and the Victoria line turns into a sauna on rails.

The REON POCKET PRO Plus is Sony’s new flagship model in the REON series, arriving with upgraded cooling power, smarter sensors and a redesigned neckband that promises a more secure fit while walking around the city.

According to Sony, cooling performance has increased by up to 20 per cent compared to the previous version, while SMART COOL mode drops the cooling plate temperature by an additional 2°C for what the company describes as the most powerful cooling experience in the line’s history.

The idea is simple. The wearable device sits against the back of your neck and uses thermal technology to cool your skin directly, while built-in sensors monitor temperature in real time to adjust performance automatically. It’s less “portable fan from Boots” and more “cyberpunk commuter gadget from five years in the future”.

Sony has also redesigned the neckband entirely with what it calls an “Adaptive Hold Design”, which sounds like corporate jargon but essentially means it grips more securely without feeling uncomfortable. The airflow vents can also be adjusted depending on what you’re wearing, so whether you’re in a T-shirt, a collared shirt, or a light jacket, it should still dissipate heat properly without sticking out too obviously.

Alongside the main unit, Sony is also releasing the REON POCKET TAG 2, a smaller wearable sensor that tracks ambient temperature and humidity around you. The new version is around 18 per cent smaller than before and can now clip onto bags or belt loops using a carabiner attachment.

The REON series first launched back in 2019 and has quietly built up a following among commuters, office workers and anyone who’s ever had to survive summer in a city where most buildings still seem philosophically opposed to air conditioning.

The REON POCKET PRO Plus is already out via the Sony Store, priced at £199.

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While there has been a bit of a “return to the office” push in the last year or so, most of us are still splitting our work between our homes and the office. And, in many cases, that means a pokey London flat that was never designed for work in the first place. It’s not ideal.

So, whether you’re working from a desk that you need to fold away at the end of the day or trying to make the most of a small space, I’ve got some tips on the products and habits you’ll need that’ll make a big difference to your comfort.

Firstly, though, it’s worth dwelling on just why this is all so important.

“People often ignore the early warning signs, which present as aches and discomfort,” Graham Ashton, Ergonomist at Posturite, told me.

“If ignored, these can progress into persistent musculoskeletal pain, nerve irritation – like tingling in fingers – chronic fatigue and reduced concentration.”

If you don’t yet have back pain or RSI, now’s the time to make sure you don’t get it. Make sure you’re keeping an eye out for any neck and shoulder pain – as a result of looking down at a laptop – lower back discomfort (from a lack of lumbar support), wrist or forearm pain, eye strain, fatigue or headaches.

For elevating your posture

Working while hunched over can lead to pain quite quickly, and while there’s no such thing as perfect posture, staying static and reinforcing an uncomfortable sitting position can leave you hurting.

“If you’re working from a dining table or kitchen island, the goal is neutral posture with minimal kit,” Ashton said.

“My non-negotiables are a laptop riser, so the screen can be set to eye level to avoid neck flexion, and a separate keyboard and mouse… essential once the screen is elevated, otherwise you trade neck strain for shoulder/wrist strain – the key is function over furniture as its about creating alignment, not a perfect office.”

So, to recap: at the very least, you need to elevate your screen to your eye level (with a quality laptop stand or monitor) and get a portable keyboard and mouse.

My all-time favourite laptop stand is the Nexstand K2 (£24.99). It’s light, adjustable and collapses flat for travel. Hybrid workers will love it. If you need something weightier and destined to stay at home, though, I would pick the Twelve South Curve Flex (£79.99) instead. It also has a variety of heights and a very robust base that feels secure.

For typing and clicking

I’m big on accessories that won’t take up loads of space in your bag, so you can bring an ergonomic desk setup with you wherever you go. My mouse of choice would be the Logitech MX Anywhere 3S (£65), which is tiny and excellent, but you can save a little cash by going for the Logitech Pop Mouse (£24.99), which is even lighter, albeit less premium.

When it comes to light keyboards, little has impressed me more than the portable Keychron B1 Pro (£45.99); it’s slim, affordable and has months-long battery life. If the lack of backlighting is a dealbreaker for you, though, Logitech’s MX Keys Mini (£79.99) is a worthy, if pricey, alternative.

I asked Ashton about whether there were any potential pitfalls with small devices, and he mentioned that there could be.

“Compact devices can be helpful in tight spaces and easy to store, but they become problematic when they create poor working postures,” Ashton said.

“Those who use the numbers frequently can find separate number pads to maintain productivity. A general rule of thumb would be that ‘compact’ is fine, however ‘cramped’ is not.”

For charging and connecting

If you’re working with a small desk space, maximising that space is essential. These days, you can charge multiple devices with a single adapter, and as a charging nerd, I of course have a favourite plug. I’d opt for Anker’s Prime 160W charger with three USB-C slots (£129.99). It’ll charge three devices – like a MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone – at top speed, and tell you how fast it’s going with its screen. Overkill for a charger? Sure. But it’s excellent.

I’d also suggest connecting everything to a dock or USB-C hub. A basic USB-C hub should only set you back a tenner or so, but I’ve been highly impressed by the Anker 13-in-1 Docking Station (£129.99), as it handles every essential connection and has a tiny detachable hub for use on the go. Once again, pricey, but worth it.

For spreadsheets and YouTube

Unless you’re using a screen for gaming, you really don’t need to overspend on your monitor. 27 inches is the ideal size, and the BenQ GW2790E (£99.99) offers everything you need at a sensible price, while having features that reduce eye strain and an anti-reflective finish. I bought this monitor myself, and got around the lack of height adjustment by mounting it on the surprisingly great Amazon Basics Monitor Arm (£22.93).

If you do need to step up to a smarter monitor for productivity, pick the HP E27m G4 (£307.47), which has a built-in webcam, speakers and height adjustment.

For taking calls

Taking calls in a room where you’re constantly hearing the outside world or dealing with loud flatmates? Invest in the Jabra Evolve3 85s (£449). They’re the most impressive work headset that I’ve ever tried, and I love that they now come without the unsightly boom mic that makes them look like a headset.

I’ve taken calls on these in the middle of Oxford Street, with the radio playing at home and in the middle of Pret. Every time, the person on the other end said they heard my voice clearly and, on my end, powerful noise-cancelling kept my environment from distracting me.

Prefer earbuds? I’ve had great experiences making calls using the AirPods Pro 3 (£189) in the middle of busy Canary Wharf, and I haven’t been let down by Bose’s second-gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (£249) either.

For a high-quality dedicated webcam, I’d go with the Logitech MX Brio (£140.91), which makes it much easier for others to see you on calls, even in a darker room.

For comfort and cleanliness

The furniture can be the part that matters most.

If you’re genuinely so short on space that you can’t have a permanent desk, look for a fold-flat desk that you can store behind a door when not in use. If you have space for a desk, try to get one that you can raise up and down, allowing you to stand while working – the KOJI from Posturite (£599.94) is impressively compact.

Want to sit comfortably? The £681 Herman Miller Sayl is hardly cheap, but it may make sense as a long-term investment and as a way to avoid physio bills. Plus, it has a ridiculous 12-year warranty.

Keeping your desk tidy isn’t essential, but it helps! I’d recommend picking up some of Harber London’s excellent leather or felt desk mats, laptop pads or mouse pads. This can be the investment that makes a small corner of your home actually feel like a proper workspace.

Lastly, while it may seem a small thing, Dyson’s Pencil Vac (£429.99) is genuinely useful for keeping a tidy office without hauling out your big hoover. It’s the world's slimmest vacuum and smart, too, cleaning into edges, illuminating your space and running for 30 minutes of cleaning. Surprisingly fun to use (Editor Gerald Lynch swears by it), and one that may end up feeling essential pretty quickly.

Working smarter, not harder

Overall, though, the most important thing to take away from this piece is that you should never just “make do” with a poor setup and hunching over a laptop all day.

“So many people accept the poor working position of just opening a laptop,” Ashton said when I asked about the one biggest mistake we’re making.

“Taking that one minute to set up a laptop stand, keyboard and mouse is so effective in reducing the risk of developing aches and pains.”

It won’t surprise you that it’s important to stretch to avoid getting hurt, too. Ashton recommends you try to move around, and you don’t need loads of space! Aim to “reset” your posture every 20 to 30 minutes, try shoulder rolls, neck rotations, ankle pumps and sit-to-stand transitions (even without a standing desk). And, of course, get up and have a little walk. Use this to justify getting up on your feet and making your much-needed cup of tea.

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There are few objects more deeply tied to rock mythology than a Marshall amp. Stick one behind someone holding a guitar, and they instantly look about 40 per cent cooler. Stick six behind Jimi Hendrix, and you get the sort of images that end up printed on pub walls, band tees and uni bedroom posters for the next half century.

So this new collaboration between Marshall and the Hendrix estate feels less like a random merch drop and more like something that probably should have happened years ago. To mark 60 years since Hendrix first plugged into a Marshall amp in 1966, the company has unveiled a limited-edition collection inspired by both the guitarist’s sound and his famously chaotic sense of style.

The standout piece is a special edition Acton III Bluetooth speaker, which swaps Marshall’s usual understated rock aesthetic for something far more psychedelic. The whole thing is wrapped in crushed purple velvet, finished with cosmic graphics, glowing purple controls and a giant all-seeing eye on the side panel. Even the startup sounds have been lifted from rare Hendrix recordings.

It looks less like a speaker and more like an artefact recovered from a 1969 recording studio after several days without sleep.

Underneath all the flamboyance, though, there’s some genuinely serious gear. Marshall has also produced a limited-edition version of its 1959HW 100-watt amplifier and matching 1960AHW cabinet, complete with Celestion speakers and handmade construction from the company’s Bletchley factory.

The setup recreates the towering half-stack rigs Hendrix became synonymous with during the late 60s, back when louder apparently meant better and tinnitus was barely considered a medical issue.

There’s also a custom Hendrix-inspired version of the legendary Fuzz Face pedal, the snarling little stompbox that helped define some of the most recognisable guitar tones ever recorded. Hendrix used the effect constantly, pushing its fuzzy analogue distortion into something that sounded less like a guitar and more like the amp itself was about to physically disintegrate.

The collaboration lands at an interesting time for Marshall. While the brand still makes amps, it has spent the past decade transforming itself into something closer to a lifestyle audio company, branching into headphones, Bluetooth speakers and home sound systems. Guitar culture itself is also having another moment, with younger artists dragging old-school pedals, analogue setups and vintage rock gear back into fashion.

Which makes this collection feel surprisingly well timed. Nostalgia is booming, guitar music is creeping back into the mainstream, and apparently, people are once again interested in owning speakers covered in purple velvet.

The Acton III is priced at £259.99, while the full Marshall x Hendrix 60th Anniversary amp comes in at a considerably louder £3,799.99.

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For guitarists raised on bedroom amps and clunky practice rigs, the idea of a compact speaker that can also isolate tracks in real time sounds almost too good to be true. Like many a 30-something indie kid, I’d spend hours playing along to songs with my trusty axe, but was always frustrated by how difficult it was to rip out just the bits I wanted to play along with — if only not to have to compare my rudimentary playing to the guitar god trinity of Hendrix, Page and Marr.

If the JBL BandBox Solo had been around in my guitar playing glory years, perhaps I too could have joined that hallowed pantheon. Part Bluetooth speaker, part smart practice amp and part songwriting tool, it’s designed for modern musicians who learn from streaming platforms rather than dusty tab books.

More importantly, it makes practice genuinely addictive again, with some of the smartest use of AI I’ve seen so far in off-the-shelf music gear. Here are five reasons this clever little box deserves a place in your setup.

JBL BandBox Solo: In short...

• Clever AI stem separation isolates tracks from streaming in real time
• Includes a full practice studio: looper, tuner, drum machine, effects
• Sound is punchy and bigger than its small, compact size
• Designed for streaming practice; portable with six-hour battery life
• Surprisingly affordable, offering great flexibility for the £230 price

1. The AI stem separation is genuinely good

The headline feature is JBL’s Stem AI technology, which can isolate or remove vocals, guitar and drums from streamed tracks in real time. In practice, that means you can jam along with Spotify playlists and effectively create your own backing tracks without touching a laptop.

Unlike many gimmicky “smart” music products, this solves a real problem. Want to learn a solo? Strip out the original guitar. Want to practise rhythm? Remove the drums and become the timekeeper yourself. The fact that it’s doing it from a stream in real time (well, almost real-time — there’s a miniscule delay as you fire up each track) is crazy, the sort of feat once reserved for meticulously deconstructed tape reels.

It’s not perfect — every now and then the opening of a guitar line will pop through, or a cymbal crash will be needlessly dimmed. But the speed and ease with which this can be done with the accompanying JBL One app is incredible.

2. It packs an entire practice studio into one box

The BandBox Solo may be small (weighing about half a kilo and measuring 210x106x76mm), but it’s packed full of features beyond even that clever stem-removing tool. JBL has loaded it with a looper, tuner, metronome, drum machine, USB recording interface and multiple effects and amp models. There’s even a pinhole mic for vocals to go along with the ¼” guitar jack input.

And that’s before checking out a surprisingly-robust range of guitar tone ‘pedal’ presets, letting you add just the right amount of crunch or reverb to your playback.

That means fewer cables, fewer pedals and far less clutter. For newer players especially, it removes the intimidation factor of building a complicated home setup. You plug in, connect the app via Bluetooth with your phone and start playing within minutes.

3. It sounds far bigger than it looks

Compact practice amps often sound thin, fizzy or lifeless. But the BandBox Solo manages to sound much bigger than its diminutive size. JBL’s full-range speaker design (there’s a 2.25” full range speaker capable of 30W output in here) proves surprisingly punchy.

It has to serve several instrumental functions of course, and low-end frequencies for bass practice will suffer. But it’s still impressive considering the tiny size.

4. It’s built for the streaming generation — and on the road play

JBL understands how budding musicians actually consume music in 2026. The BandBox solo works directly with streamed audio over Bluetooth and integrates with the JBL One app for tone editing and control. That might sound like a small detail, but it fundamentally changes how convenient practice becomes. Instead of downloading tracks or hunting for backing versions on YouTube, you can simply stream a song and start interacting with it immediately.

For younger players especially, this feels intuitive in the same way older generations once found plugging into a cassette deck intuitive.

It feels like it’s built to last, too. Though the outer casing is plastic, rubberised corner padding will see that the BandBox Solo can survive a tumble or too. And despite the techy-innards, it’s very tactile to use. Menu buttons are clicky, the dial knob has notched feedback to make dialling in settings easier, and the small LED text indicator will be useful for making changes to settings in low-lit rooms.

The rechargeable battery (offering a respectable six-hour’s play per USB-C charge) is good for the size, and small dimensions make it easy to carry from the sofa to a backpack to a rehearsal space, which encourages more spontaneous playing. And that usually means more improvement when practicing over time.

The one drawback is one that will hopefully be easy to fix with an app update — there’s no master volume slider for all your different settings and playback tracks, making fine tuning the overall audio mix a bit of a pain.

5. It’s surprisingly affordable

This might be the biggest selling point of all. At just a £229.99 RRP (and already hitting storefronts for below the £200 mark) the JBL BandBox Solo is pretty darn good value.

Sure, there are simpler, cheaper, louder practice amps out there. But the sheer amount of flexibility the different features of the BandBox Solo offers for the price makes it really attractive. As a portable practice tool for a pro it’s a space-saving on-the-road replacement for loads of gear — and for a total beginner there’s loads of cool sounds to play with without breaking the bank on individual units.

Final verdict

The JBL BandBox Solo is the sort of gadget that would have seemed impossible just a few short years ago. Surprisingly intuitive, it opens up a world of practice options for the budding axe-master, and does so with sonic punch at a good price point.

For beginners it’s approachable, for experienced players it’s inspiring, and for anyone bored of traditional practice routines, it might be the most enjoyable guitar gadget you can throw in a bag.

Transport for London has upgraded its TfL Go app, with added intel on your spending, and for bus travel.

The big change to the freebie TfL Go app is you’ll now be informed when you’ve hit the daily or weekly travel cap, meaning you’re pretty much free to go wild on the Tube without incurring any additional fees.

This will of course apply when you use contactless “pay as you go” payments rather than a random Oyster card that’s been in your wallet for years. You can setup contactless payments from within the TfL Go app.

TfL also claims to have improved bus intel for those using the iPhone and iPhone versions of the app.

You’ll be able to see the location of the next bus you need in real-time, which is always handy when the minute count-down doesn’t seem to tally with reality. You can usually blame traffic lights.

We’ve checked out the Android version of the app, but it doesn’t appear to have this bus upgrade just yet.

“Android users can expect these features in the coming months,” says TfL.

Other new features include the ability to save locations, which does appear to be in the Android version already.

Better journey planning

TfL Go is of course not the only option you have for getting around London, but it’s a handy way to avoid being tempted to snag an Uber or other taxi brand when there’s a wait for the next train.

The app also offers journey planning across Tube, trains and buses, and an easy-access visual map of the transport network across London.

“We are always looking to improve our free TfL Go app and these latest improvements aim to make it easier for people to see when they have reached the daily or weekly cap,” says Emma Strain, TfL Customer Director.

“We have a range of further improvements planned to the app in the coming months to further make travelling in London by public transport as simple as possible.”

TfL Go has been around since 2020, and — sorry Android fans — its features often debut on Apple devices before they land on Androids. But we hopefully won’t have too long to wait for these new additions to arrive outside of iPhones and iPads.

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There’s a fine line between “retro-inspired” and just flogging you a grey box with a red button on it. This, thankfully, leans more toward the former.

Game Outlet Europe has announced that the 8BitDo Retro Cube 2 Speaker - N Edition is landing across Europe today (the 27th of April), and it’s about as subtle as a nostalgia hit to the face. Think chunky, cubic, and unapologetically throwback, clearly riffing on the design language of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which, slightly terrifyingly, is now pushing 40.

It’s tiny, too. Under 90mm on each side, which basically means it’ll sit happily on a cluttered desk, disappear into a backpack, or get dragged along to a park hang without much thought. At 450g, it’s not exactly weightless, but you’re not going to resent carrying it either.

Where it earns its keep is versatility. You’ve got three ways to hook it up: Bluetooth, 2.4GHz wireless, or good old wired USB, so it’ll play nice whether you’re pairing it with a phone, a laptop, or something a bit more niche in your gaming setup. There’s even a wireless charging dock bundled in, which doubles as a signal extender, so you’re not dealing with dropouts when you wander off mid-playlist.

The controls are pure fan service: a chunky D-pad up top handling volume, playback and pairing. It’s the kind of detail that could’ve felt gimmicky but actually makes sense once you’re using it.

Sound-wise, it’s doing more than just coasting on looks. Dual speakers push proper stereo audio, and there’s a built-in mic if you end up taking calls through it. Battery life clocks in at up to 30 hours, which is comfortably in “charge it and forget about it for the weekend” territory.

There’s also a toggle to flip between music and gaming modes, which is a nice touch if you’re bouncing between Spotify and whatever you’re currently rinsing.

At £39.99, it’s not trying to be your main speaker setup, and it doesn’t need to be. This is more about having something portable, functional, and just a bit fun to look at. A desk toy that actually does something useful, rather than just collecting dust.

If you’ve got even a passing soft spot for that old-school red-and-grey aesthetic, it’s going to be a tough one to ignore.

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For Star Wars fans across the globe May the 4th is an exciting time of year, but no doubt a terrifying one for their bank accounts.

With The Mandalorian and everyone’s favourite chaos gremlin Grogu still riding high as the franchise’s most bankable duo, brands have properly gone in on the May the 4th celebrations.

From slick toys, LEGO and even desk companions, this year’s drops lean hard into that Mando-and-Grogu sweet spot. The bounty hunter and his tiny, soup-sipping sidekick are doing what they do best: quietly stealing the spotlight… and your money. Here are our favourites.

LEGO Razor Crest

Big ship. Big nostalgia hit. Big dent in your wallet.

This 930-piece build gives The Mandalorian’s iconic Razor Crest a proper refresh, with opening panels, a detailed interior and just enough play features to justify actually taking it off the shelf now and then.

You’ve got Grogu in there too, obviously, alongside a few extras to pad out the scene. It’s not the most hardcore collector set LEGO’s ever done, but that’s kind of the appeal. It’s solid, good-looking, and doesn’t feel like homework to build.

Klang Talking Action Figure

The Klang talking figure leans fully into the interactive side of things, packing in a bunch of phrases, sound effects and little reactive touches. And look at that eyebrow and tache combo, how could you not love him?

It’s not trying to be a pristine collector’s item. This is more about instant, slightly chaotic fun, the kind of thing you pick up for a quick play and then realise you’ve been pressing the same button for five minutes straight.

LEGO Grogu

This is very much LEGO’s “let’s make Grogu into a centrepiece object again” strategy, and honestly, it works better than it should.

The set turns Grogu into a fully buildable display model, complete with beskar armour, his satchel, and a selection of poseable joints so you can tweak the expression and stance until it feels just smug enough for your shelf. There’s even a little display plaque if you want to lean fully into collector territory.

It’s less toy, more desk statue with a bit of personality, which feels very on-brand for May the 4th. The kind of thing you don’t necessarily “play” with, but you definitely adjust every time you walk past it.

The Mandalorian Voice-Changing Helmet

Full-size Mandalorian helmet with voice-changing effects and pre-recorded phrases

This is the closest you’ll get to actually becoming The Mandalorian without committing to full bounty hunter career training.

It’s a full-size adult helmet with built-in voice-changing tech and a set of pre-recorded lines, so you can finally say “This is the Way” in a slightly more intimidating tone than you would in real life. The interior is adjustable for fit, and the whole thing is built for proper roleplay rather than just display, even if most people will absolutely end up wearing it around the house for ten minutes and then putting it on a shelf.

It sits in that sweet spot between cosplay and collector piece, which basically means it’s designed to be both mildly ridiculous and completely irresistible.

Grogu Phone Stand

Grogu is doing what Grogu does best: sitting there, looking cute, and now physically supporting your tech lifestyle.

It’s a desktop phone holder shaped around Grogu, designed to cradle your phone (or controller) while he sits in his little Force-sensitive calm pose. It’s officially licensed, which means it’s just about polished enough to live on your desk without looking like a knock-off impulse buy, but still playful enough that it clearly knows exactly what it is.

It’s not trying to be clever or complicated. You put your phone on it, Grogu holds it, and that’s the entire pitch.

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Assassin’s Creed Black Flag has been doing the rounds for over a decade now, so Ubisoft could’ve easily got away with a quick polish and called it a day. Instead, it’s gone back in properly, remaking what is historically considered one of the franchise's best entries.

Black Flag Resynced, landing on the 9th of July is a full remake rather than a lazy remaster, keeping the pirate swagger intact but reworking enough of the systems to make it feel fresh again.

It’s still Edward Kenway, still the Caribbean, still the Jackdaw cutting through the waves, but quite a bit has changed under the surface. Here are the five biggest differences you’ll actually notice when you jump back in.

A full visual overhaul

Resynced is rebuilt in Ubisoft’s latest Anvil engine, bringing in ray-traced lighting, improved reflections and massively upgraded water simulation. The sea alone looks like a completely different game, which is kind of important when you spend half your time sailing it. Cities like Havana and Nassau feel denser and more alive, with more detail packed into every corner.

Character models have had a big upgrade too, with more expressive faces and sharper animations. It does make everyone look a bit cleaner than you might expect from a bunch of 18th-century pirates, but the trade-off is performances that land better in cutscenes. It’s less about nostalgia, more about making the world feel properly lived-in.

Combat is faster, sharper and less of a cakewalk

If you remember tearing through entire groups of enemies without breaking a sweat, that’s getting toned down. Combat in Resynced leans more into timing and precision, with a bigger focus on parries and counter-attacks. Edward moves faster, enemies hit harder and there’s a bit more thought required if you don’t want to get overwhelmed.

There are also new enemy types and additional weapons to mix things up, which should stop fights from feeling too samey. It still looks like Black Flag at its core, just with a bit more bite and less button-mashing your way through every encounter.

Parkour gets an upgrade

Movement was always fun in Black Flag, but it could feel a bit limited compared to later entries. Resynced fixes that by adding more advanced parkour mechanics, including manual jumps, side ejects and back ejects that let you control exactly where Edward goes.

It means freerunning is less automated and more skill-based, giving you more freedom to chain together routes and actually express how you move through the world. It might sound like a small tweak, but it makes a big difference once you’re darting across rooftops or escaping guards.

A stealthy improvement

One of the strangest omissions in the original game was the lack of a proper crouch button. That’s been sorted here, with Edward now able to lower his profile anywhere, not just when hiding in bushes. It instantly makes sneaking around feel more natural.

There’s more to it than that though. A new observe mode enhances Eagle Vision, letting you plan routes more effectively, while lighting and shadows now affect how visible you are. You can also approach targets from the sea more freely, adding a few extra options when you’re trying to stay unseen.

Those painful tailing missions are finally fixed

Ask anyone what they hated most about the original Black Flag, and this will come up. The game had loads of tailing missions, and failing them meant starting all over again. It was frustrating then, and it hasn’t aged well.

Resynced dials that back in a big way. If you get spotted or lose your target, the mission doesn’t just end. Instead, you’re given a chance to recover and carry on, whether that means tracking the target down again or dealing with things in a more direct way. It’s a small change on paper, but easily one of the most welcome.

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IKEA has unveiled the first pieces from its PS 2026 collection, which includes an inflatable chair and a rocking bench.

As part of its Milan Design Week activities, IKEA has shown off three eye-catching designs that you’ll be able to order from May 14th.

One is an inflatable chair. The second is a wooden rocking bench, the third an unusual and funky-looking bending lamp.

The inflatable chair is perhaps the most eye-catching of the lot, if not the one we’d necessarily stick at the top of our own shopping list. After all, IKEA has published the story of its failed past attempts at inflatable furniture.

This new stab comes from designer, Mikael Axelsson, and it features two large inflatable elements held within a shiny carbon steel frame. It’s apparently inspired by tyres.

“My initial idea was to create a metal frame with a balloon trapped inside. It not only makes it firmer and sturdier, but also gives it a more playful expression, like a balloon bulging out,” says Axelsson.

It uses a manual foot pump, and is designed to fit into pretty much flatpack-format packaging once deconstructed.

Next up is the rocking bench, from designer Marta Krupińska. It’s a clean and minimalist design, apparently inspired by the kind of bench you might sit on while at an event like Oktoberfest.

As IKEA explains, the difficult part with this one was making the bench strong enough to withstand the pressures of movement. Early iterations fell apart under the stress of having multiple people rocking on the thing.

The third PS 2026 item is something we can picture all sort of folks actually picking up. It’s a lamp that bends at two points of articulation, letting it shift from an upright light to a spotlight.

This is a design from Lex Pott, and it comes in three colours: yellow, blue and a rich red.

“I chose a warm, light yellow, which really lights up a space and adds a subtle touch of colour, then cobalt blue, because it's timeless, with a lot of history. Finally, I chose a dark Bordeaux red because it's a more classical, warm tone that is versatile enough to fit with many different ambiences,” says Pott.

The lamp’s frame is steel, which is cut at 45 degrees at the two twist points. “This simple form is no less than an uplighter, spotlight and reading lamp all in one,” is the pitch here.

As these are preview teasers, IKEA hasn’t announced pricing yet, but the whole concept of the PS series is it offers clever design at a “low price.”

The entire 35-strong PS 2026 range will get a full unveil on May 13th, ahead of their release on May 14th.

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If you’ve been eyeing up Xbox Game Pass but couldn’t quite justify the monthly hit, there’s some decent news. Microsoft has just dropped the price of its top tiers in the UK, bringing Game Pass Ultimate down from £22.99 to £16.99 a month, and PC Game Pass from £13.49 to £10.99.

That’s a pretty chunky saving, especially considering the service still gives you access to hundreds of games, cloud streaming and day-one releases for first-party titles. But before you start mentally reallocating your subscription budget, there is a bit of a trade-off here. And it’s a big one if you’re into shooters.

Going forward, new entries in the Call of Duty series will no longer launch on Game Pass on day one. Instead, they’ll be added around a year later, usually during the following holiday season. Existing Call of Duty titles already on the service aren’t going anywhere, but that headline perk of getting the latest release instantly has now been pulled back.

It marks a fairly significant shift in strategy. Microsoft spent years pushing Game Pass as the place to play major titles the moment they drop, and that approach even extended to Call of Duty after its massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Now, it looks like the cost of that model is starting to show.

Part of the reasoning comes from the new Xbox leadership. CEO Asha Sharma has reportedly described Game Pass as becoming “too expensive for players”, with a need to rebalance the value of the service. Cutting the monthly price is the first step in that, but removing day-one access to one of the biggest franchises in gaming suggests there’s a wider rethink going on behind the scenes.

It’s not hard to see why; while Game Pass has been a big success in terms of engagement, it has also raised questions about how it impacts game sales, especially for blockbuster releases. Dialling back the biggest perk while lowering the price feels like Microsoft trying to find a middle ground that keeps both players and publishers on side.

For now, though, the takeaway is fairly simple. Game Pass is cheaper than it was last week, which is great if you’ve been holding off. Just don’t expect to jump straight into the next Call of Duty the day it lands.

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It's long been rumoured, and now it's been confirmed: Apple's next CEO will be John Ternus.

The Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering will take over from current CEO Tim Cook from September 1st, 2026, with Cook moving into an executive chairman role.

“I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” said Ternus, who has spent half his life working at Apple, following the news.

“Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor. It has been a privilege to help shape the products and experiences that have changed so much of how we interact with the world and with one another."

What better time than now then to re-visit our exclusive chat with Ternus? We spoke with the soon-to-be Apple head honcho in London following the release of the iPhone Air, during which he gave some insight into what may be the future of the company under his stewardship.

The full interview continues below...

Even if you're not fully clued up on all the latest tech, you'll probably have heard that there's a new iPhone in town. Well, there are a few actually. You might not know about the latest Apple Watches or the new AirPods Pro 3 with a heart rate sensor built in, but we would hazard a guess you've caught wind of the new iPhone Air and maybe even the redesigned iPhone 17 Pro models and heavily improved iPhone 17 too, if you've been paying attention.

If, like us, you have been wowed by the new iPhone Air, impressed by the new health features on Apple Watch, or disappointed there is still no folding iPhone, then you should hear what the person at Apple who oversees all new products had to say when we caught up with him.

John Ternus, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, gave Shortlist a glimpse into the design philosophy behind the new super slim iPhone Air, a glimmer of hope that a folding iPhone wasn't off the cards — and a great book he reckon's everyone needs to read, too.

A new 'wow' moment

For John Ternus, the last thing that made him go "wow" was easy to identify.

"It was the first time I got to pick up an iPhone Air model," he told us before adding that he'd enjoyed watching other people pick up the device for the first time too. He said he'd witnessed a "universal reaction" where "people pick it up, they turn, and go, 'oh wow'," and while it all sounds very cheesy, we have to admit we were one of those people.

As you might expect (these things never happen overnight), the creation of the iPhone Air was the culmination of years of technological development.

"We wanted to do a product like this for a long time," Ternus told us, but to make it a "great iPhone with great battery life, performance and camera, we needed to develop a lot of technologies that have been in the works and we've been getting better at over the years."

He highlighted the significance of Apple Silicon (the company's own chips), explaining, "for the first time on an iPhone, we have A19 Pro, the SOC is Apple Silicon; we have C1X, the cellular modem; and now N1 which is our Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip. Having all of that allowed us to have incredible efficiency, which means we can have great battery life on such a thin phone."

And thin it most definitely is. At 5.6mm, it's thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge — and it looks as good as half our friends on Mounjaro.

Beyond looking after all the new products Apple announces, it might surprise you to learn Ternus still has a little spare time for hobbies. We asked him what the coolest thing he'd shot on iPhone was and he told us he likes to scuba dive.

"I shoot film and video and photos underwater with an iPhone in a case and it's really, really good for that," he said. On a professional level, he thought the movie 28 Days Later, much of which was shot on iPhone, was "absolutely amazing".

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When it came to the latest iPhone feature that will have the biggest impact on everyday people, Ternus highlighted one that we're big fans of too – the new Center Stage front camera, which is available on all the new models from the standard iPhone 17 to the iPhone 17 Pro.

"I think that the new Centre Stage front camera is going to be really exciting because people love taking selfies," he told us. He also mentioned the staggering 500 billion selfies that have been taken on iPhone in the past year, suggesting this feature "completely changes that experience" by automatically shifting the view if another person enters the frame and allowing you to switch between portrait and landscape without rotating the phone. It's such a good feature, it's a surprise it's taken this long for someone to think of it, to be honest.

A folding iPhone isn't off the cards (it's just not confirmed yet either)

When asked about the future of Apple and if a folding iPhone is on the horizon, Ternus was, as expected, elusive. He was never going to tell us outright, of course — but don't ask, don't get, as the saying goes. He did give a little tease, saying "the future is the future ,and it's always going to be exciting," and when pressed on a folding iPhone, he simply replied, "who's to say..."

For those that love a deep dive, he did give us a little more insight into Apple's design philosophy, suggesting that technologies developed for one product often find their way into others.

"I think what's exciting is when we develop new technologies and new capabilities that enable a product like iPhone Air... we apply those things in different places," he told us. He used the example of the miniaturisation of technology developed for the Apple Watch and AirPods, noting that now Apple has got "good at certain things and materials, they'll start to show up in other places as well."

To us, the iPhone Air looks exactly what we would expect half a folding iPhone to look like so we're hoping that what Apple learned in making the Air does exactly what Ternus says and shows up in new places, including new formats, in the future.

For those of you deciding between the new iPhone models (it's a tough choice this year after all), Ternus compared it to Apple Mac.

"I think the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is a good analogy for it," he said. The iPhone Air was built for customers who love a "premium 'pro' iPhone experience" but are excited by a new form factor.

By creating it though, it allowed Apple to push the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max to be "even more pro", with "more performance, more battery life, better cameras, all of those things". Like with MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Ternus said "you kind of choose based on what matters the most to you", in this case slim form factor with good performance and battery, or top performance, camera and battery.

Health, wellness, and personal streaks

Ternus also gave us a little insight into Apple’s vision for health and wellness during our chat.

"I think what's amazing with products like Apple Watch and AirPods, we want to help empower people to have the tools they need to take care of their own health," he said.

He highlighted features like Sleep Apnea detection and Hypertension Notifications as ways to "inform people of what's going on in their body and so that they can go and talk to a doctor," before concluding that he thought it was "all about empowerment and providing great information".

When we asked him about his Apple Watch Ring streak though, we think we might beat him with our 565 days.

"I'm travelling, so I always struggle with my streaks when I'm travelling, but I guess we'll start a new one when I get home," he said. Time to put those wearables to good use!

This article was originally published on September 26, 2025.

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