Britain’s banks, telecoms, and weapons-makers have a new shared anxiety: that the AI they increasingly run on is built, owned, and controlled in the United States. A startup barely three years old is betting they will pay to fix it.

Cosine, a UK frontier-AI lab, has assembled a coalition of blue-chip British institutions to co-design Lumen Sovereign, what it bills as Britain’s first sovereign frontier AI model.

The signatories read like a roll-call of the national economy: BT, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, BAE Systems, Babcock, LSEG, PwC, Thales UK, Leonardo UK, and Telefónica Tech, each signing a memorandum of understanding to help shape the model’s use cases, security requirements, and governance.

The reveal was timed for the opening of London Tech Week, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer set out a more interventionist AI strategy and announced roughly £400mn of new spending on specialist AI chips to expand the country’s computing capacity. Britain’s next AI champions, he said, should “start here, scale here and stay here.”

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The selling point is control. Lumen Sovereign will be trained entirely on Isambard-AI, the Nvidia-powered Bristol supercomputer that ranks among Europe’s most powerful, using compute awarded under the government’s £500mn Sovereign AI programme, which named Cosine in its first cohort in April.

Cosine says the model will carry no dependence on foreign infrastructure at any stage, and can be deployed inside a customer’s own systems, including air-gapped environments with no connection to outside networks.

That is the crux of the pitch.

For most companies, choosing an AI model is a procurement decision; for a defence contractor, a bank running anti-money-laundering checks, or an operator of critical infrastructure, it is a legal and security one first. Sending classified systems, AML alerts, or clinical data to a server in a US data centre is often simply not allowed.

“Enterprises are increasingly waking up to the risk of being wholly dependent on foreign providers,” said Cosine co-founder and chief executive Alistair Pullen, who argues that vendor lock-in brings “security risk, dependency risk, and cost escalation risks.”

Cosine is an unusual candidate for the job, and a credible one.

Founded in 2022 by Pullen, Yang Li, and Sam Stenner, the Y Combinator-backed lab has raised just $8mn from investors including Lakestar, yet its coding models have topped independent benchmarks against OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and DeepSeek for two years running. It supports more than 38 programming languages, among them the COBOL, Fortran, and Ada that still run Britain’s defence systems and financial plumbing, and that most AI tools handle badly.

Lumen Sovereign, it says, will be built from scratch on proprietary datasets spanning more than 30 regulated workflows, rather than fine-tuned from an open-source model, with deployment targeted for the end of 2026.

The coalition partners are blunt about why they are in. “Cosine has offered us a path to a completely UK native and highly customisable AI stack,” said Peter Passaro, director of AI and data at Babcock, pointing to “the very complex defence environments we operate in.”

Priority uses span cybersecurity, KYC and AML investigations, legal document review, and healthcare administration, areas where UK AI adoption has stalled on exactly these security concerns.

Cosine’s effort is the sharp end of a wider British scramble for AI independence, one that keeps colliding with an awkward fact. The government has poured money into homegrown compute and chip supply, and struck sovereign-infrastructure deals with Nscale and Nvidia, even as flagship US projects such as OpenAI’s Stargate UK have stumbled.

Yet “sovereign” AI in Britain still tends to run on American chips, Isambard-AI among them.

For now, these are memoranda, not contracts, and Lumen Sovereign is still to be built. Training a frontier model from scratch to the assurance standards demanded by defence and finance, and doing it by the end of the year, is a formidable task, and Britain has announced sovereign-AI ambitions before.

What is different this time is the coalition: a row of institutions treating sovereign AI not as a slogan but as a procurement requirement.

The stream will last for about 50 minutes, followed by a deep dive into gameplay.

Retro gaming finds often arrive with layers of dust and stories. This Spider-Man plug-and-play TV game from Jakks Pacific, released in 2004, fits that pattern perfectly. James Channel recently pulled one from an online marketplace and gave it the full treatment: cleaning, testing every mode, and opening it up to see what made it tick. The result shows a licensed product that leaned hard into its character theme while delivering the kind of simple, self-contained entertainment common in that era.

When you take the unit out of the box, you can tell it has a distinct personality because Spider-Man’s masked visage stares at you from the front. The lower half of the device is an interesting blue with white eyes, while a long red joystick rises from the machine’s core, surrounded by a black web pattern. AV connections protrude from the back, connecting to any standard television, and a little white button sits at the top of the stick.

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Used accessories like this may eventually show signs of wear and tear, as battery leaks have been known to create corrosion, and unless you want to go through the cleaning procedure, you’ll have to fix it before the machine will start correctly. Even when it has been cleaned up, it reverts to a plain interface with only five built-in games and a high score list. There are no cartridges or memory cards needed; simply enter the device, turn on the power, and you’ll be ready to play.

The first game drops you into the streets and rooftops of a city as Spider-Man, and it’s a dead simple platformer in which you simply run, leap, and grab items while avoiding the traps that lay around every corner. The other modes are a touch more varied, with an on-rails shooter in a training facility, a time-sensitive battle against Venom, a sewer maze through which you must navigate all of the hazards, and an aerial shooter against the Vulture’s minions.

Controls are basically made up of the stick and the button at its end. Movement appears to be pretty direct for standard left, right, up, and down movements, but when you try to get crazy with diagonal inputs, the stick can become a little challenging. The rubber touch pads beneath have become hard over time, and the top button controls web shots or attacks depending on the game. There are also some more buttons on the base that let you to jump and perform other things, but some units can become loose with time, and the buttons can pop out in mid-game. Additionally, the spring inside the stick can wear down, making accurate swings or dodges more of a chance than a talent.

Inside the case, the build speaks for itself: you’re staring at a big integrated circuit attempting to manage everything, graphics, sound, processor, and memory, and it’s not up to the task. The game data is contained on a little flash ROM chip, and the PCB contains a few other supporting components and jumpers that allow you to toggle between PAL and NTSC countries. The problem is that the soldering and component quality all hint to a gadget designed to be inexpensive, since it works well for a time but isn’t made to last. Swapping the crystal might help get the video working, but that’s about all.

Microsoft picked June 7 to show off a new limited edition Xbox Series X, called the X25, that celebrates the company’s gaming hardware reaching its 25th birthday. The machine carries a translucent green shell that lets light pass through and gives a glimpse of the structure inside. This marks the first time a Series X has received a see-through treatment.

The design is primarily inspired by the original Xbox system, which debuted in 2001. The enclosure includes a prominent 25th anniversary logo. When it boots up, the distinctive green light of the original Xbox button appears, just as fans remember it. There are references to Xbox heritage throughout the case, as well as a few cheeky surprises to honor long-time players. The shell preserves all of the standard qualities introduced by the Xbox Series X, so power, functionality, and performance remain unchanged. You still get a terabyte of storage. The special version simply covers all of the tried-and-true hardware in a new set of colors and embellishments.

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This restomod of sorts includes a matching controller, which completes the package. It’s also made of translucent green, with the rear cover and battery door totally transparent, letting you to view the iconic Xbox logo beneath. However, the buttons are identical to the original; green, red, blue, and yellow all return. The controller’s bumpers resemble the black and white buttons on the vintage “Duke” controller, but the grip texture and overall appearance are comparable to the current models, making it feel right at home in your hands. Wireless connectivity, button quickness, vibration, and all other great features remain same. You basically get a nice nostalgic touch for collectors and anyone who wants to go back to where Xbox began.

In November, the console and controller will be offered in a limited edition package, with the controller sold separately. Microsoft claims it will soon disclose the exact price and pre-order details with select stores in participating areas, but there is one catch: supplies will be limited, so if you’re interested, keep an eye out for updates.

According to Jason Ronald, Xbox’s vice president of next-generation efforts, the collection is all about reproducing the look and feel of the original console, plus a few clever touches to memorialize the journey with the people who helped launch the brand. The release is merely one part of a bigger effort to celebrate this major milestone with the community that has helped propel Xbox to its current position. For fans, this translucent green edition offers a fresh opportunity to own a piece of Xbox history while maintaining current-generation performance.

Massachusetts lawmakers have voted to pass privacy protections that grant the state’s residents new rights over accessing and deleting their data held by big tech giants. The bill also bans companies from selling their users’ precise location data.

Lawmakers in the Massachusetts House passed the state’s Consumer Data Privacy Act in a unanimous 146-0 vote on Thursday, months after all of the Senate’s 40 lawmakers voted in favor of advancing its own bill in September. Now, the bills will be combined in the Senate, and sent to the state governor’s office, where it is expected to be signed into law. It’s not immediately clear when that will happen.

The move makes Massachusetts the latest U.S. state to push for stronger consumer privacy rights after years of documented abuses by the wider technology, advertising and social media industries. While the United States does not have a nationwide privacy law, unlike many of the world’s major democracies, U.S. states have filled the void of legislation by bringing their own patchwork of privacy rules that apply to their states.

The bill, if passed into law, will apply to companies that handle or process the personal data of more than 100,000 consumers. It will largely affect medium-sized startups as well as Silicon Valley technology titans.

The law would block the sharing or sale of sensitive information without a user’s explicit consent. This data includes biometrics (such as health data, genetic information, and fingerprints), their precise geolocation data, and other markers about their religion, immigration status and sexual orientation.

The collection and sale of people’s location data has been a major flashpoint in privacy debates for years. Data brokers have for years relied on app developers selling their users’ location data to repackage and sell it to anyone who can pay, including stalkers, governments and militaries. In many cases, the government says it does not need a warrant to purchase data that’s commercially available on the open marketplace. 

The Biden administration came close to banning the sale of sensitive Americans’ data at the federal level, but the Trump government has since scrapped the change. 

By applying the location data ban to both residents and visitors, the Massachusetts law will effectively blanket ban the sale of location data across the state. The bill is anticipated to have a broad effect on startups that collect, share and sell location data in Massachusetts, as well as advertising companies that use location data to target people with ads.

According to local media WBUR and Massachusetts newspaper Lynn Journal, state lawmakers worked across party lines under the belief that privacy is a fundamental right to Massachusetts state residents.

The bill was generally praised by privacy groups and advocates.

Evan Greer, director of the Fight for the Future advocacy group, said the Massachusetts bill “took a major step toward cracking down on Big Tech’s surveillance abuses,” while the ACLU praised the landmark bill as positioning the state as a “leader in protecting personal privacy and curbing digital surveillance.”

SCIENCE

Global Talent visa program aims to draw in dissatisfied scientists from countries including the US

Britain’s much-heralded scheme to attract top scientific talent has managed to attract a total of 18 takers, the government has admitted.

The Global Talent visa program was launched last summer following announcements from the EU and France that they intended to tempt scientists unhappy with their lot in Trump’s America and elsewhere.

But while the EU was putting up €500 million ($575 million) in funding for foreign eggheads, the UK could only stump up a dedicated pot of £54 million ($72 million) to lure boffins to Britain.

According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), UK research organizations have managed to attract ten leading international researchers in the latest wave, who are expected to drive breakthroughs in clean energy, life sciences, and other advanced technologies.

This is on top of eight researchers previously announced by the agency.

Nevertheless, DSIT today declared a key milestone for the scheme, with all 12 of the Global Talent Fund research organizations taking part having successfully recruited international candidates. This demonstrates strong delivery against initial program objectives, it claimed.

DSIT highlighted two scientists that have left the US for Great Britain: Professor Bryony DuPont is joining the University of Strathclyde in Scotland from Oregon State University to work on the use of AI to improve energy systems and make them more resilient to the changing environment.

The second is Dr Ivana Bukvin, who is joining the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, from Stanford University. She is researching proteins to advance understanding of aging and neurodegeneration in diseases such as Huntington’s. 

UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), which oversees the scheme, says it is expanding its Global Talent visa fast-track route to cover all of the Association for Innovation, Research and Technology Organisation members (including IBM).

Doing so means it will cover about 100 R&D-intensive businesses across key high-growth sectors, including advanced manufacturing and digital technologies. 

“It’s no coincidence that the world’s top researchers, driving groundbreaking innovations in AI, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy, are choosing to come to the UK to advance their work,” stated Lord Vallance, Minister for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear.

The government says the Global Talent Fund is also strengthening UK research capability thanks to early investment in infrastructure and lab equipment. Some organizations are already deploying funding into specialist facilities and start‑up resources to support incoming talent, it claims. ®

Dell has shaped its XPS line into new territory with a mini PC that brings together NVIDIA RTX Spark technology and a chassis styled after the Mac Studio. The result sits in a space between traditional towers and ultra-compact devices, offering desktop performance in a package that fits easily alongside a display or on a shelf. A dark gray finish covers the boxy form, with ventilation slots running along the sides to keep temperatures in check during extended work sessions. A removable lid on the underside opens access to the internal storage drive, allowing straightforward upgrades without special tools or disassembly of the whole unit.

Ports are a key selling factor for the XPS Mini PC. The device’s front panel contains two USB-C ports as well as a handy full SD card reader, which is a significant feature because most competitors’ RTX Spark tiny PCs lack it. Moving on to the back, there’s even more going on: a slew of USB-C connectors capable of handling high-speed data, power delivery to keep peripherals or the PC charged, an HDMI output for a monitor or TV, a regular Ethernet port for a dependable wired network connection, and the power button.

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All of this means that many creators will no longer need to use adapters or external docks to complete their projects. A photographer can simply insert a card and start uploading files, whereas a video editor can connect many drives, a main display, and network storage all at once without any hassle or fussing. The unified memory is particularly impressive, with capacities of up to 128GB of LPDDR5X, making it ideal for use in huge projects with numerous sophisticated features and AI components.

Photo credit: Wccftech
Users can also easily expand storage by just lifting the bottom up. Consider the power under the hood. This device is powered by NVIDIA’s RTX Spark, which combines up to 20 ARM-based Grace cores for general tasks with a Blackwell graphics engine capable of scaling up to 6,144 CUDA cores. It all adds up to a seriously high bandwidth of 300 gigabytes per second at the very top end, with AI acceleration yielding a petaflop of FP4 precision. All this means is that you get extremely gorgeous seamless high-resolution video playback, substantially faster rendering and exports, and the ability to mess about with 3D models or run local AI tools for upscaling, noise reduction, or generative features in the right apps.

Photo credit: Wccftech
The desktop cooling system enables the components to run hotter for longer periods of time than a compact laptop, making it perfect for sustaining optimum performance. Dell is now pushing the XPS tiny PC as part of their creator-focused lineup, alongside the XPS 16 Creator Edition laptop, which has the same CPU but is in laptop form. They focused construction quality and beneficial elements that are only suitable for pros.

Photo credit: Wccftech
Compared to the Mac Studio, the XPS Mini PC offers a Windows environment with native software support in a variety of industries, as well as a wealth of built-in connections that will appeal to a diverse spectrum of customers. The unified memory architecture serves the same purpose, but the NVIDIA graphics stack has a speed edge in CUDA-accelerated programs and gaming-specific features.

We’ll have to wait a little longer to find out the final price, specific configurations, and shipping dates. What is clear is that this is a well-thought-out little desktop that provides artists with a new Windows-based option for power, as well as appropriate space and connectivity.
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ASUS has introduced a new initiative to make genuine laptop battery replacements easier for customers across India. Through this initiative, customers can now replace their laptop batteries with ease and get proper service and warranty advantages in the process. Rather than opting for risky third-party alternatives, customers can now purchase official ASUS batteries. This initiative covers not only regular laptops but also gaming laptops.

Battery Finder Tool Simplifies the Replacement Process

ASUS has launched a Battery Finder microsite that will make laptop battery replacement easy for its customers. Using this facility, consumers can enter their laptop model and find a compatible battery. The system also finds the locations nearest to them where such batteries are available at exclusive ASUS outlets and channel partners. Consumers can even contact ASUS’s authorized service centers for assistance.

The battery replacement program supports many of ASUS’s most popular laptop series. Customers with Vivobook laptops can access genuine replacement batteries through the initiative. Several ROG gaming laptops are also part of the program. ASUS has further expanded coverage to include ExpertBook, ProArt, and TUF models. The Battery Finder platform helps users confirm compatibility before visiting a store or service center.

ASUS Strengthens Its After-Sales Support Network

As part of enhancing its customer support services, ASUS has extended its post-sale service network in various parts of India. This has included areas such as Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab, and others. ASUS has made this service available as part of its Assurance Program. The organization’s main aim is to provide reliable and effective service, warranties, and an enhanced customer experience.

Apart from increasing the number of battery sources, ASUS is also working to help consumers manage their batteries effectively. Consumers are advised on how to charge their laptop batteries to ensure that their performance remains high. ASUS also highlights the need to control laptop temperature and have devices serviced regularly.