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So, you’re tired of seeing rotating ads or Amazon’s preloaded graphics on your Kindle every time you put it to sleep. That’s understandable, especially if you’re voracious reader who’s been spending a lot of time on your ereader. In this piece, we’re going to walk you through how to change your Kindle sleep screen and even how to personalize it if you want. 

How to remove Kindle Special Offers

Kindles with Special Offers or lockscreen ads typically cost $20 less than the versions without them. These devices will show you a rotation of advertisements for books, for more Kindle devices or for Kindle Unlimited whenever you put your Kindle to sleep. As long as your device is ad-supported, you cannot customize your screensaver, so your first step is removing Special Offers from your ereader, which will understandably cost you some money. If your Kindle doesn’t have lockscreen ads, you can skip this step. But if it does, you can follow these instructions:

1. On desktop, go to the Amazon website, log in and click the hamburger menu on the left side of the screen. 

• Under Digital Content & Devices, go to Kindle E-readers & Books. 
• On the next screen, click on Manage Content and Devices under Apps & Resources. 
• On the new page that loads, click on Devices near the top of screen. If you have more than one Kindle attached to your account, click the box marked Kindle under Amazon Devices and then choose the ereader you want. 
• In the Special Offers box at the bottom, you’ll find a button to remove offers for $20. Again, you’ll have to pay for it, because Amazon says the original $20 discount you got was in exchange for getting ads.

Screenshot by Mariella Moon (Amazon)

2. On mobile, fire up the Amazon app. 

• Go to the “Alexa for Shopping” tab on the bottom right corner of your screen. 
• Type in “I want to end Special Offers on my Kindle.” Alexa will link you to the Manage Devices page. 
• From there, choose a Kindle and scroll down to end Special Offers for $20.

NOTE: If you’re not in the US but somehow have a US-version Kindle, you might have issues removing lockscreen ads. Amazon will ask you to add a US address and a card with US billing to be able to pay $20 for their removal. Without both, it won’t be possible to proceed to the next step. You can try talking to customer service and asking kindly if they can disable special offers for you at no cost, but there’s no guarantee that that will work. 

How to display book covers as your Kindle screensaver

Once you’re done getting lockscreen ads removed, or if you never had them in the first place, you’ll get a rotation of Amazon-provided illustrations as your screensaver. Those who own newer Kindles have the option of using the cover of the book you’re currently reading instead (see below for a full list of supported models). To make sure this feature is turned on, follow these steps: 

• Tap the three-dot menu on the upper right-hand corner of your Kindle. 
• Go to Device Options. Find Display Cover and toggle it to On. 
• On newer or updated devices, you’ll find the “Show covers on lock screen” option in the “Screen and brightness” section. Simply toggle it on. 

NOTE: The option to use book covers as screensavers is only available on the following models: 

Amazon

How to use custom images as your Kindle screensaver

Unfortunately, there’s no way to use custom images as your permanent Kindle screensaver without jailbreaking your device. There is, however, a trick you can consider: Replacing the cover of a book  with the illustration you want to see, then opening it before locking your device. Before you proceed with the instructions below, make sure you’ve already completed the steps above to toggle on the option to display book covers as your lockscreen. 

• The first step is to create custom wallpapers on programs like Canva or to look for an illustration you want to use. Just make sure it fits the device you have by searching for the dimensions of your ereader’s screen. The latest Kindle Paperwhite, for instance, has a 7-by-5-inch display. Some people recommend creating a wallpaper measuring 2,560 x 1,600 pixels, which will work for most Kindle models. 
• After you’re done designing your custom illustration, download it as a PNG image.
• Use a program like Calibre to convert any file it supports (like PDF) into an EPUB file. You’ll find the option to set a cover for your ebook on the conversation screen, so choose the PNG image you made. 
• You can also look for an “epub cover change” website online. Upload the book you’re reading or any EPUB you have and then choose the PNG image you saved earlier for your new cover.
• Use the “Send-to-Kindle” feature to upload the finished file to your ereader.

NOTE: You will have to switch to the book that uses your custom cover before you put your device to sleep every time you want to see it on your lockscreen. Alternatively, you can change the cover of every book you read, though that sounds pretty time-consuming, especially if you blaze through books quickly. While this solution isn’t very straightforward, it’s an effective way to personalize your device. 

If Day 1 of the BMPS 2026 Grand Finals belonged to Divine Gaming, Day 2 was all about Victoris Sumus and GodsReign. Both teams consistently found themselves in the late game across multiple matches and looked like one of the most complete squads on the battlefield. At the same time, teams like GodLike Esports mounted impressive comebacks, while iQOO SouL finally showed signs of life after a disastrous opening day. Here’s everything that happened on Day 2 of the BMPS 2026 Grand Finals.

Victoris Sumus Emerges as a Serious Title Contender

The biggest story of the day was undoubtedly Victoris Sumus. The squad started strong in the opening Rondo match and eventually secured a crucial chicken dinner after outlasting GodLike Esports in the final fight. That momentum continued throughout the day as they repeatedly put themselves in winning positions.

Match 2 saw Victoris Sumus pull off one of the most surprising endgames of the tournament. Despite being forced to rotate into the zone under pressure from GodLike, the team somehow survived without losing a player. Moments later, they eliminated GodLike and secured another chicken dinner. Even when they weren’t winning matches, Victoris Sumus remained a constant threat. Their positioning, rotations, and ability to capitalize on mistakes made them one of the most dangerous teams on the server.

After spending most of Day 1 near the bottom of the standings, iQOO SouL desperately needed a response. Unfortunately, the day didn’t start well. Genesis Esports eliminated SouL in the opening match, exposing the same coordination issues that had haunted the team throughout Day 1. Match 2 wasn’t much better, as TAG stunned the crowd by wiping SouL near Pochinki.

However, things finally clicked during the Miramar games. SouL looked far more coordinated, won several crucial engagements, and secured their first chicken dinner of the tournament in Match 5. The team followed that up with another solid performance in the final game, highlighted by a clutch play from Legit that helped eliminate GodLike during the closing stages. It wasn’t a perfect day, but it was exactly the kind of comeback SouL fans had been hoping for.

GodLike Esports entered Day 2 with plenty of ground to make up and looked significantly sharper throughout the day. The team consistently found itself in favorable late-game positions and finally converted one of those opportunities into a chicken dinner during Match 3. Their aggressive pushes and grenade usage were among the best we’ve seen so far in Jaipur. While they narrowly missed out on a few additional wins, GodLike’s Day 2 performance firmly placed them back into contention heading into the final day.

TAG Continues to Entertain, But Results Remain Elusive

No team generated more crowd reactions than Team Aryan x TMG. Whether it was aggressive early-game pushes, risky compound crashes, or unconventional strategies, TAG constantly found themselves in the middle of the action.

The team showed flashes of brilliance, including a memorable win over SouL and an impressive shotgun push against Genesis. Unfortunately, their aggressive playstyle often backfired, preventing them from converting strong starts into meaningful points. TAG remains one of the most entertaining teams to watch, but they’ll need a much cleaner Day 3 to climb the leaderboard.

God’s Reign Pulls Off the Biggest Comeback of the Day

While much of the attention was on Victoris Sumus, SouL, and GodLike, Gods Reign quietly put together one of the most impressive comeback stories of the tournament. After spending much of the event in the lower half of the standings, GDR consistently picked up crucial finish points throughout Day 2. Their biggest moment came in the final Miramar match, where they secured 19 points and a chicken dinner to cap off the day in style.

That massive haul propelled them all the way to second place in the overall standings, turning them from an outside contender into a genuine title threat heading into the final day. Check out the full standings after day 2 of the BMPS Grand Finals here.

The takeaway: New research is challenging a basic assumption about espresso: that it has to be made with hot water. Instead of relying on near-boiling water, researchers have shown that high-frequency sound waves can produce an espresso-style shot with similar strength and taste – no heat required.

Developed by engineers and food scientists at UNSW Sydney, this new method is called “ultrasonic espresso” and replaces heat with mechanical energy. It runs at room temperature, using sound waves to pull flavor from finely ground coffee, and reaches espresso-level intensity in under three minutes despite the cold-water start.

The setup still begins with a standard espresso basket. A small metal transducer is mounted against its wall, and once activated, it emits ultrasound – sound waves above the range of human hearing – that travel through the water and coffee bed.

What happens next is the key step.

The sound waves trigger acoustic cavitation, a process where tiny bubbles form in the liquid and collapse in rapid succession. When those bubbles implode near coffee particles, they generate microscopic bursts of force that chip away at the grounds, speeding up the release of oils, flavor compounds, and caffeine into the water.

In effect, the system swaps heat for controlled agitation at a microscopic level, using pressure changes and localized mechanical action instead of temperature to drive extraction.

That distinction matters more at scale than it does on a kitchen counter. For a home user, skipping the heating step might not move the needle much. But in industrial settings – particularly ready-to-drink coffee production – energy consumption becomes a central concern, and the researchers estimate that eliminating the need to heat water could cut energy use by up to 75%.

The process also introduces some logistical flexibility. Because the coffee is produced at room temperature, it can go straight into bottled drinks or milk-based products, or be shipped as a concentrated liquid and diluted later, potentially simplifying production and distribution.

Ultrasound is not entirely new to coffee science. Earlier work from the same UNSW team explored its ability to speed up cold brewing, compressing what is typically a 12 to 24-hour process into a matter of minutes. But espresso presents a different challenge: it is not just about extracting caffeine or basic flavor, but about achieving a specific balance of bitterness, aroma, and body typically associated with high heat and pressure.

To hit that target, the researchers, led by Dr. Francisco Trujillo, fine-tuned several variables. Grind size played a clear role, with finer particles allowing faster extraction. The water-to-coffee ratio had to be carefully controlled to avoid under-extraction or dilution, and timing proved equally important, with the optimal window landing between two-and-a-half and three minutes of ultrasonic exposure.

Matching the chemistry of espresso is only part of the equation, though. The more practical question is whether people can actually taste the difference.

To test that, the team ran a blind evaluation with about 100 regular coffee drinkers, those findings are published in the Journal of Food Engineering. Participants sampled four coffees: traditional espresso, ultrasonic espresso, and both traditional and ultrasonic filter coffee, served at the same temperature and in random order.

The results were strikingly close. Participants couldn’t reliably distinguish between the traditional espresso and the ultrasonic version, with the two performing nearly identically across aroma, flavor, bitterness, and overall preference. In the filter category, the ultrasonic version was actually favored, with tasters describing its bitterness as more balanced.

The findings suggest that heat may not be as essential to espresso as long assumed. By using ultrasound to accelerate extraction, the process reproduces the defining characteristics of espresso while significantly reducing energy input. For an industry built around heat-driven methods, this opens up a different way of thinking about how coffee can be made.

Image credit: The Conversation

The most controversial feature is Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Direction (SOCD) customization. This allows one key to override another rather than registering both simultaneously, which is ideal for strafing in tactical shooters like Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant. The difference in reaction speed is immediately noticeable, making quick peeks far more consistent. However, because of the distinct advantage it provides, the feature has been banned in some competitive games because it reduces the delay between directional movement to near-zero levels without requiring any additional skills.

Testing these features across a variety of shooters and racing games, I was consistently impressed by the level of fine-tuning Wootility offers—something not possible on a traditional mechanical keyboard.

The gaming experience of this keyboard is simply impressive. The switches are incredibly smooth and consistent, offering granular control with near-instantaneous, low-latency inputs. While older Hall Effect keyboards from competitors like Keychron and Asus often lacked the tactile feel of traditional mechanical designs, Wooting’s Lekker switches easily bridge the gap.

The RGB lighting also looks great and is deeply customizable. Like most LEDs, it tends to lean slightly blue, but this is easily corrected in the software (I set mine to 203/192/180 for a true white). It is a minor quirk in an otherwise impressive lighting setup.

Peak Repairability

Photograph: Henri Robbins

The 60HE v2’s simple internal design makes repairs easy, allowing the keyboard to be disassembled in seconds. Despite this ease of access, Wooting’s solid construction ensures everything stays securely in place. Inside, you will find a plate, switches, a silicone layer, a PCB with rubber feet on the underside, your choice of sound dampening layer, and the case.

Switch compatibility is often a weak point for analog keyboards, but the 60HE v2 easily outpaces competitors from Keychron, Razer, and ROG, which typically only support two or three options. By adopting the widely used KS-20 design, the 60HE v2 works with switches from Gateron, Geon, and several other manufacturers, giving users a constantly growing range of options.

My only real complaint is the adherence to the standard GH60 form factor, which places the USB-C port directly on the left side of the PCB. While I would prefer a centered port on a separate daughterboard for convenience and repairability, I understand the choice. The benefits of standardization for both consumers and manufacturers ultimately outweigh this minor design gripe.

I’m impressed by how well this keyboard performs across every metric. The build quality is robust, the switches are smooth and consistent, and nearly every aspect can be tailored to the individual player. Aside from the lack of wireless connectivity, it leaves nothing to be desired.

The 60HE v2 is easily one of the best gaming keyboards available today. While it is currently backordered, if you are willing to be patient, it is absolutely worth the $240 price tag.

Day 2 of the BMPS Grand Finals was truly the day of comebacks, with teams like GDR and Victoris Summus making the largest leap, and occupying the second and third place in the rankings, respectively. While there was plenty of action from the bottom dwellers, Divine held their 30-point lead, thanks to clever strategies that put them in the top five of almost every match consistently. Here’s what the schedule will look like for day 3 of the BMPS Grand Finals.

BMPS 2026 Grand Finals Day 3 Schedule & Timing

The live broadcast will begin at 2:45 PM IST. Fans can catch the games like on Krafton’s YouTube channel in Hindi, English, and a few other regional languages. Or, if you want to support your team live, head over to the Jaipur Convention Center. Tickets are available on the District app. Maps for today will include:

• Match 1 — Rondo
• Match 2 — Erangel
• Match 3 — Erangel
• Match 4 — Erangel
• Match 5 — Miramar
• Match 6 — Miramar

A total of 18 matches will be played over the course of this weekend. And the format is pretty simple. Points are awarded for each finish, and also for how long a team survives. In the end, the team with the most total points (position + finish) will be the winners.

BMPS Grand Finals Standings After Day 2

British World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Louise Cook recently climbed into Forza Horizon 6 with an enthusiast-grade Direct Drive (DD) wheel setup, triple screen monitor rig, and a digital 1986 Audi Quattro rally car. She is most likely using dialed in custom force feedback values, before threading the car through narrow mountain roads, tunnels, and tight corners with pro racer precision.

Playground Games launched the latest installment in Japan, and the setting is better suited to the franchise than any previous location. The map covers a variety of biomes, including actual elevation fluctuations. You have snow-capped alpine passes rising over the verdant highlands and coastal highways, and then there’s Tokyo City, which is five times larger than anything they’ve done before, with distinct districts that change character as you walk around them. So you’ll be passing through cherry blossom tunnels one minute and neon-lit streets the next, before returning to peaceful (yet narrow) alleyways. The seasonal weather does a fantastic job of adjusting grip and visibility without making each drive difficult. They’ve also included a few vertical slopes and hairpin sequences to test your ability to use momentum rather than pure power.

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The game has approximately 550 cars, with the majority of them being Japanese vehicles, ranging from everyday icons like the Nissan Cedric to legends like the R32 Skyline, S15 Silvia, and Honda NSX. You also have some recent standouts, such as the Toyota Land Cruiser and the GR GT Prototype (on the cover). Of course, you’ll come across some barn treasures that will surprise you, like a vintage Toyota 2000GT hidden away on a dirt track. The tuning depth has also been increased, with engine swaps, aero options, and visual layers now available, and community-shared tunes and liveries provide an excellent way to skip some of the grind while still customizing cars for certain routes or events.

The handling has also been dramatically enhanced, with cars transmitting weight more convincingly around corners and steering inputs feeling noticeably sharper than in the last game. Drifting down the winding roads of the Highlands is no longer a source of frustration, but rather a delight. They’ve also introduced a new simulation steering mode to help prevent understeer in controller configurations. Wheel support has also been significantly improved, with more detailed force feedback and cockpit animations displaying a complete 540 degrees of rotation.

Hackers breached Brazil’s national civil defense alert system overnight, sending fake “Extreme Alert” notifications containing the word “misantropi4” to millions of mobile phones across at least seven states. The Civil Defense Alert platform was taken offline at 1:30 am on Saturday after the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development confirmed the intrusion.

The Federal Police has been activated to investigate. No timeframe has been given for when the platform will be restored.

The first unauthorized alert was registered around 11:40 pm on Friday, 19 June, in Paraná. Within hours, the same emergency sound, the type that bypasses silent mode and overrides whatever is on screen, reached phones in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Bahia, Pará, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Acre.

National Secretary of Protection and Civil Defense Wolnei Wolff told a press conference that 10 alerts were tracked across various Brazilian states, with most sent via Cell Broadcast and at least one via SMS. The total number of phones affected was not officially disclosed, though German outlet Ad-hoc-News reported an estimate of approximately 30 million people reached.

“It’s difficult to say whether one or more people participated in this criminal act,” Wolff said. He added that the incident was “very bad for the system, considering that we are dealing with people’s safety when we issue the alert.”

Phones displayed “Defesa Civil: misantropi4,” with the final letter “a” in the Portuguese word “misantropia” replaced by the number 4, a substitution common in leetspeak. Misantropia translates to misanthropy, meaning hatred or aversion to humanity.

No dangerous instructions accompanied the message, but the use of the most severe alert category, which is reserved for imminent natural disasters, caused widespread alarm. Recipients across seven states were jolted awake by the emergency sound.

Wolff confirmed that the attackers managed to regain access after an initial blocking attempt. The platform was ultimately shut down entirely at 1:30 am The system will remain suspended until all digital security conditions are re-established, according to the ministry.

Brazil’s Cell Broadcast system is relatively new. It was mandated by telecommunications regulator Anatel in 2022, piloted in 11 cities beginning in August 2024, and expanded to cover the entire national territory by October 2025.

The technology broadcasts alerts to all devices within a cell tower’s range without requiring phone numbers or prior registration. The four operators that deliver the service, Algar, Claro, TIM, and Vivo, were involved in the overnight response alongside Anatel.

The vulnerability exploited in the attack has not been publicly disclosed, and the investigation is ongoing. Security researchers have noted that Cell Broadcast systems globally lack cryptographic authentication, meaning devices cannot independently verify whether an alert was genuinely sent by civil defense authorities.

Academic research since 2019 has demonstrated that fake alerts can be transmitted using relatively inexpensive equipment, including software-defined radios. Whether the Brazilian attack exploited the central platform, as the government’s statement implies, or used a clandestine transmitter remains unclear.

A person claiming responsibility for the attack posted on X (formerly Twitter) before the posts were removed by the platform, according to Brazilian tech outlet TecMundo. The Federal Police has not confirmed whether this individual is a genuine suspect.

The incident echoes a pattern of critical infrastructure alert systems being compromised through surprisingly basic attack vectors. In Taiwan last month, a 23-year-old student triggered emergency braking on four high-speed trains using a laptop and a cheap software-defined radio, exploiting cryptographic keys that had not been changed in 19 years. The European Commission was breached in March through a poisoned open-source security tool, resulting in 92 gigabytes of stolen data.

The immediate concern for Brazil is the erosion of public trust. The Cell Broadcast system was built to save lives during floods, landslides, and severe weather events.

If citizens learn to associate the emergency sound with pranks rather than genuine warnings, they may ignore future alerts when a real disaster is unfolding. That risk, more than any technical vulnerability, is the lasting damage of a hack that woke up a country with a single strange word.