Software

Microsoft is preparing Windows 11 optimizations designed to improve performance on PCs with 8GB of RAM, targeting high idle memory use. The updates will roll out gradually, with broader improvements expected by the end of 2026.

Google's Gemini Spark agent can now open Chrome, use your logged-in accounts and saved passwords, and start a flight booking for you. That part is US-only. And despite Google calling Spark worldwide, it is still unavailable in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and Nigeria.

ZeniMax Online Studios has revised The Elder Scrolls Online’s roadmap following major Microsoft layoffs, delaying Update 52 and other planned content into 2027 while shifting its focus from fixed deadlines to quality. Game Director Nick Giacomini reassured players that ESO will continue, supported by closer collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios, with Update 51 now scheduled for September 28, 2026.

CISA warns of active exploitation targeting on-premises SharePoint Server, with attackers stealing IIS machine keys to survive patching. See which CVEs are confirmed exploited and how to respond.

Users of various Amazfit smartwatches can benefit from a new feature that provides another way to play music, making them even less reliant on locally stored tracks.

EzBench, the Norwegian studio behind 2022's brutal free UE5 benchmark, has released NukeMark into Steam early access. Launched nearly two months ago, it's a commercial, ray-tracing-focused GPU stress test that allegedly drops an RTX 5090 to 15-20 FPS at native 4K.

An AI can not only read your notes, it can also create, change and delete them. Nine systems compared, from Obsidian, Logseq and Joplin to Notion, OneNote and NotebookLM. One question decides everything: do your notes sit as files on your own machine, or in someone else's database?

Anthropic went back through 141,006 test runs and found three cases where Claude reached out of the test environment and broke into real company systems. One model built a malicious Python package and uploaded it to PyPI. Why the models thought they were still in a simulation, and what it means if you use Claude.

A new software update is rolling out to several Garmin smartwatches, bringing a range of performance improvements. The release aims to enhance the user experience across select Forerunner, Venu and Vivoactive models.

A global Xbox Series X|S outage unexpectedly blocked some disc-based games, exposing a flaw in Microsoft’s offline entitlement system. Microsoft called the failure unacceptable and said it is developing a fix to ensure physical games remain accessible during future service disruptions.

OpenAI has cut pricing across its GPT-5.6 lineup and introduced a new Fast mode for the API. The changes affect Luna and Terra, OpenAI's lower-cost tiers, and come alongside benchmark data comparing Luna's price-performance against models from Google, Anthropic, and other competitors.

Garmin has released a new update globally. Available across many of its recent mid-range smartwatches, the new update aims to improve Garmin's intervals workout experience before a future stable software launch.

A malicious Workshop map exploited a mod-loading flaw in Meccha Chameleon to drop a RAT on players' PCs, and the investigation led to the game's Discord server being hijacked. Here's what happened and how to check if you're affected.

iOS 27 allows users to remove or replace the annoying dictation shortcut in Messages. This change fixes a long-standing frustration for iPhone users who've accidentally triggered dictation or voice messages.

A key feature of the SuperStation FPGA console is finally available, namely the console mode. This means that the PlayStation-inspired console now sports a polished interface with artwork and an improved UI.

Winamp and Deezer have signed a strategic partnership for Winamp to make a comeback, hopefully a successful one this time. The new Winamp Player will bring the customizability back, along with more modern streaming features.

Samsung Messages may be gone, but a new third-party app brings back its look and adds RCS support via Google’s platform. It’s not an official Samsung replacement, but it might be the closest thing yet for Galaxy users who don’t want to switch to Google Messages.

Unity and Epic Games have demonstrated for the first time how a Unity game can run inside an Unreal Engine environment. While it may sound like little more than a technical curiosity, the technology could save developers a great deal of work – and make Fortnite an even bigger platform for games.

OpenAI says its experimental AI went beyond hacking Hugging Face, compromising four third-party accounts after escaping a controlled cybersecurity test. The company has since shut down the evaluation models, patched the security hole and added safeguards to prevent AI testing from leaking into the real world in the future.

Microsoft's KB5101684 preview update brings File Explorer unit fixes, more secure Windows Hello external fingerprint support, and Voice Isolation.

Cheap AI from China could be pushed out of reach by politics. Washington accuses Moonshot of siphoning off Anthropic's Fable and is floating restrictions on Kimi K3 and DeepSeek. Nothing has been decided, and the evidence is missing. What the agencies actually measured, and what it means for your access.

Two Anthropic researchers used Claude to find a flaw in Safari. Apple closed it with iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6 and names the AI model in its acknowledgments. In total the update fixes 87 vulnerabilities. Apple also explains why your iPhone runs warmer right after the update.

Garmin has released a new update to one of its latest high-end smartwatches. Rolling out globally, the new update brings over a dozen improvements to the Fenix 8 Pro and associated smartwatches.

Keychron previously revealed the G6 HE, a new wireless gaming mouse that uses hybrid optical-magnetic mouse switches, but the peripheral maker has also announced a new custom gaming mouse firmware that is entirely open-source.

Garmin is rolling out a new software update aimed at improving several of its smartwatches in multiple areas. Shipping with fresh bug fixes, the update is available across the entire Instinct 3 series, including the Instinct E and Instinct Crossover AMOLED.

A fan-made recompilation brings the 1999 PlayStation cult classic Pepsiman to modern browsers, running natively at 60 FPS through WebAssembly for users with legally obtained game files. The release adds widescreen support, visual fixes, browser saves, offline play, and leaderboards, though compatibility issues remain on some browsers and mobile devices.

Zepp Health is rolling out a software update for Amazfit smartwatches paired with iOS devices. The update introduces expanded notification capabilities, enabling users to interact directly with incoming alerts rather than just viewing them—though the feature is currently limited to the European Union.

Microsoft is linking Windows volume activation to the TPM chip. This led to reports over the weekend that pirated versions of Windows 11 would soon stop working. The blog post from July 22 does not say that. KMS servers in companies are affected, not individual computers. What was actually announced and when it takes effect.

Garmin is rolling out a new software update for a wide range of smartwatches. Designed to resolve numerous bugs, the patch aims to significantly improve overall system stability and user experience. The beta firmware, version 23.185, is currently available for the Fenix 8 model series.

Anthropic's Claude AI assistant has come under renewed scrutiny after users discovered that some publicly shared conversations were appearing in Google search results. The incident has reignited concerns over how AI platforms communicate the extent of privacy and security of AI generated content.

Moonshot AI has released its Kimi K3 AI model weights for free. The 2.8T parameter model gives businesses, researchers, and AI enthusiasts access to a leading-edge AI model that eliminates the need to pay costly API fees that other top-ranked AI models require.

Rockstar Games has confirmed that retail download codes for Grand Theft Auto VI will be strictly region-locked on PlayStation 5, a restriction that Xbox Series X|S players will entirely avoid. This limitation requires PS5 owners to perfectly match their PlayStation Network account region to the country where the code was purchased.

(Update: description of the event log flaw corrected) Passkeys are replacing the password, and Microsoft is making them the default from September. Security researcher Michael Grafnetter is presenting a family of attacks called Pass-the-Passkey at Black Hat. This follow-up explains cloud passkey versus hardware key, what the research found and how to close the most common password back door.

Anyone who searched for the Claude desktop app on Bing was sent by a paid ad to claude.ai, Anthropic's real address. The page waiting there was built by attackers and looked like the official download. 7,100 views, at least 29 organizations hit, and a trojan at the end that steals passwords and credit card data.

The AI Act's transparency rules take effect on August 2. Chatbots have to identify themselves and deepfakes have to be disclosed. You will barely see a visible label, though, because systems already on the market have until December. In Germany, complaints go to the Federal Network Agency.

Amazfit offers more than just a broad lineup of smartwatches. Through Zepp Health, the company has built a comprehensive ecosystem for tracking and analyzing health and fitness metrics. We take a closer look at how the platform holds up in practice.

Anthropic released Claude Opus 5 on July 24. The model is meant to come close to the flagship Fable 5 at half the price. What changes for you is who gets the model at all and how much of your quota it burns through. Here is what is actually new and what only sounds like a discount.

Ultrahuman’s Emerald update overhauls its app with AI-powered health recommendations, offline processing, redesigned navigation and improved fitness and sleep tracking. The free release also expands third-party device support and adds real-time monitoring, longevity tools and enhanced heart-rate and VO₂ Max analysis.

A new test compares the SharpEmu and KyTyPS5 PlayStation 5 emulators across six games using a Radeon RX 6650 XT and Ryzen 5 5600X. The results show high CPU usage, limited compatibility, and that PS5 emulation is still in its early stages.

Garmin has brought almost two dozen changes to some of its latest smartwatches. Available globally as a free update, Software Version 9.17 promises to address numerous launch bugs, with a few new features added too.

Garmin has issued a new update to its current high-end smartwatches. Rolling out globally, the new update aims to address multiple issues for the Enduro 3, Fenix E, Fenix 8, Fenix 8 Pro and the Tactix 8, including a bug that caused system resets when playing golf.

OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health on July 23 for all users in the U.S. The feature links medical records and Apple Health data to the chatbot and answers questions based on the user’s own metrics. In Germany, the EU, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, the feature remains blocked. One day before the launch, a user sued OpenAI over dangerous health advice.

Garmin has rolled out Garmin Connect version 5.27. The latest update introduces a new feature designed to streamline key metrics, helping users manage the app's extensive data volume with a clearer overview.

Geekbench 7 is here with overhauled CPU and GPU tests, a new scoring baseline and several workloads designed around modern applications. These changes mean Geekbench 7 results aren't directly comparable with scores from older versions of the benchmark.

China’s new flagship model is breaking size records, and the headlines are coming thick and fast. Moonshot itself ranks Kimi K3 behind Claude and GPT. We’ll break down what the numbers really mean, whether you’ll ever be able to run the model yourself, what it actually costs, and what happens to your input.

The OnePlus Pad 3 is the latest device to gain dual Bluetooth audio support. With the new OxygenOS update, users can stream audio to two Bluetooth devices simultaneously.

(Update: Incorrect version number) Several Garmin smartwatches are set to receive functional upgrades and bug fixes with software version 15.14. However, the rollout for the Instinct 3 series is currently limited for two main reasons.

Microsoft has launched Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC in early release, bringing four original Xbox games, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy, to Windows 11 PCs and handhelds. The games support up to 4x resolution upscaling and other PC-specific enhancements, with more titles and Achievement support planned.

Zepp Health is rolling out a new software update for select Amazfit smartwatches across the Balance and Cheetah series. The release introduces new functionality for both training and daily use, including the option to use the devices as Bluetooth speakers.

Leaks from early Xiaomi 18-series prototypes suggest that HyperOS 4 is set for a major visual redesign, including wallpapers and the user interface. This could feature translucent “Liquid Glass” elements, refreshed icons, revised navigation details and more.