Oasis version 2.2 gives the free soundscape app a more useful place in daily routines. The iPhone update adds ready-made soundscapes, new audio options, and quicker ways to return to a setup when you’re trying to focus, fall asleep, meditate, or cool down.

The biggest change is a new library of 16 presets built around calm, meditation, focus, and energy. Oasis also adds more than 10 sounds, a mini player, session memory, background mixed audio, interface updates, bug fixes, performance improvements, and accessibility tweaks.

It’s still free, and the App Store listing says the developer doesn’t collect data from the app. For a calm app, that privacy detail helps. Nobody wants another account, dashboard, or data trail standing between them and a few quieter minutes.

What makes this update useful

Presets should make Oasis faster to use when you don’t want to tune every layer yourself. You can open the app, pick a mood, and start from a finished soundscape instead of building one sound at a time.

The mini player gives the app a lighter feel during longer sessions. You won’t need to keep digging through the full interface just to manage what’s playing, and session memory helps bring back the setup you were already using.

Background mixed audio is the most flexible upgrade. Oasis can sit under music or podcasts, so you don’t have to choose between an ambient layer and something you’re already listening to.

How does Oasis build atmosphere

Oasis is built around spatial sound placement, letting users arrange nature sounds in a 3D audio environment. That gives it a more tactile feel than a standard loop player, especially when you’re stacking different sounds together.

The App Store listing also mentions binaural tones, which gives users another way to shape a focus or meditation bed. A sleep setup can lean heavier and softer, while a work session can stay lighter and less intrusive.

Where does Oasis still have limits

Oasis has a focused job. It’s an audio environment builder, not a larger wellness platform with coaching, lessons, or a broad content library, based on the supplied information.

Availability also needs a careful caveat, since the App Store page provided confirms the Austria listing. For now, Oasis version 2.2 looks easiest to recommend as a low-friction first step. Start with the presets, then adjust individual sounds once one feels close.

NeuroBell hopes to nab US clearance for its AI neonatal monitor Luna this year.

Cork medtech NeuroBell has raised $5.5m in a round led by Elkstone to support the US push for its AI neonatal brain monitor. Not-for-profit Parkview Health, Furthr, Atlantic Bridge, Medtech Syndicate and Enterprise Ireland (EI) supported the raise.

NeuroBell co-founder and CEO Mark O’Sullivan nabbed last year’s EI High-Potential Start-up (HPSU) Founder of the Year title.

He founded the University College Cork spin-out in 2023 alongside Dr Alison O’Shea and Colm Murphy, following nearly a decade of academic research into newborn brain health and AI-powered diagnostics.

NeuroBell’s AI monitor ‘Luna’ is capable of detecting seizures in newborns, a condition that generally produces no visible symptoms for ICU staff to catch. A lack of detection and treatment heightens risk for long-term brain damage in infants.

The pocket-sized, wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) enables bedside seizure detection with AI-assisted analysis and remote reviewing capabilities. The new raise will help NeuroBell work towards clearing Luna for use in the US in the coming months, the start-up said.

“Luna exists to put clinical-grade brain monitoring in the hands of every NICU [neonatal intensive care units] team, wherever they are. This investment gives us the resources to scale that vision to patients in the US and across Europe,” CEO O’Sullivan said.

NeuroBell recently established an US office in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It said that the investment from Parkview – a US community-based health system operating 15 hospitals with more than 17,500 staff – reinforces an existing partnership between the two.

“We are committed to bringing innovations to the bedside that help us detect and respond to conditions like seizures as early as possible,” said Parkview Health paediatric neurologist Dr Atiya Khan.

“NeuroBell’s technology represents a meaningful step forward in improving how we care for our most vulnerable patients.”

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One September night in 2025, the luminous face of Baby Jesus appeared in the sky over the Vatican—clearly, verifiably, witnessed by tens of thousands. It was some two millennia after the Book of Revelation prophesied, in John’s apocalyptic vision, that “he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.” Soon, the image transfigured into the late Pope Francis. In a spectacle at once holy and cyberpunk, the papal face blazing across the Roman sky was pixelated—composed not of divine light, but of drones.

Accompanying the apparition wasn’t a seraphic choir but two earthbound mortals, hundreds of feet below, singing “Amazing Grace”: the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and, bejeweled in gold chains and cross pendants, the face-tattooed American Teddy Swims. Later to appear above the basilica was a pointillistic rendering of a colossal Pietà, which soon reassembled into the two outstretched fingers of Michelangelo’s famous fresco. Some members of the crowd packed into St. Peter’s Square for “Grace for the World”—the first concert ever held on this holy ground—wept.

The “Grace for the World” show at the Vatican on September 13, 2025.

PHOTOGRAPH: Grzegorz Galazka/Getty Images

The drone show in the Vatican sky was produced by Nova Sky Stories, a company owned by Kimbal Musk, younger brother of Elon (who, in a sense, owns the rest of the sky with his rockets and satellites). One recent afternoon in San Francisco, Kimbal recounted that night to me. “In a world where all the religious people are fighting each other, it was really a powerful message,” he said. Kimbal is the folksier Musk, with his signature cowboy hat and air of a small-town mayor. He found it surreal to be in a WhatsApp thread where Vatican officials and representatives for Pharrell debated artistic direction.

You could say that the unlikely crossover between drones and the papacy has its origins, as these things do, at Burning Man. In 2021, when the event was canceled due to the pandemic, Kimbal convinced longtime burners to join him in Black Rock Desert for an unofficial gathering that became known as the Free Burn. Typically, Burning Man ends with the torching of a massive human-shaped effigy—the eponymous Man—but that year, the US Bureau of Land Management forbade desert-goers from lighting anything on fire.

Present at the Free Burn was Ralph Nauta, a Dutch artist who works with light and technology. Kimbal asked if he could perform a fireless spectacle for the final night, and Nauta obliged. A crowd gathered on the playa as Nauta released a swarm of drones that floated over the earth for a few minutes before snapping into the dotted contour of the Man. The crowd gasped, then roared. The figure slowly raised its arms, turned flame-red, and vanished. “Everyone, including me, we were just in tears, absolute tears,” Kimbal said. “It was one of the most emotionally powerful moments of my life.”

A year later, Kimbal founded Nova Sky Stories; investors in the company’s latest $50 million round included the Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, who joined the board after witnessing a drone show in 2022 at—where else?—Burning Man. A drone show has transformative properties, Kimbal said: “The cynic in you goes away. It’s like a mainline to the spiritual center.” He told me that Pope Leo, who watched the Vatican show from a nearby apartment, passed him a note afterward. “His words,” Kimbal said, “were that I made Michelangelo proud.”

• BT and Verizon new joint venture could target $4 billion in annual revenue
• The companies are targeting 3,000 global enterprises across 180+ countries
• AI and cloud are the two primary selling points for this new joint venture

BT and Verizon have come together to form a 50:50 joint venture looking to serve around 3,000 multinational customers across more than 180 countries.

The official announcement details the creation of a new “scaled international connectivity platform” designed for a cloud-first, AI-first world.

public sector

KRA Consultancy Ltd fined £300K over fake bailiff threats in ‘calculated’ scheme that caused ‘real fear and distress’

“Am I confident on the data set? As long as I’m doing the cases, I don’t really give a f*** if it’s old as long as it’s making money.” 

According to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), this was part of a message sent by the director of a company fined for targeting financially vulnerable people with unlawful texts, including fake bailiff messages.

The message, sent by KRA Consultancy Ltd (KRA) director Khuram Rezvan Ahmad, appeared in the watchdog’s monetary penalty notice, which said the firm did not check “the loan decline data was accurate” or whether the recipients had consented to receive marketing messages.

The regulator fined KRA £300,000 last week, saying it had targeted people who were already in financial difficulty and had been turned down for loans. The watchdog described the operation as a “calculated, unlawful scheme,” saying the fake bailiff messages had left recipients fearing that bailiffs were coming to their homes to remove their family’s belongings.

The ICO said KRA sent fabricated bailiff threats in the hope of scaring recipients so much that they would then engage with the company’s debt services. The fake messages were sent using the sender ID “DEMAND.”

It read: “We have attempted on numerous occasions to contact you without any success. This matter has escalated further and an Enforcement agent will attend ****** within 48 hours to remove your goods as per Court Order. If you are on any legal/debt plan you will need proof readily available.”

The ICO also claimed the company deliberately tried to evade detection. It alleged that Ahmad had contacted a telecoms provider based in China and sought assurances from the telco that the mass text messages would be “completely untraceable.”

KRA promoted debt “solutions” to people, sending 5,575,715 unsolicited direct marketing texts between April 2022 and May 2025, the watchdog said.

The campaign generated more than 60,000 complaints to the ICO and Mobile UK’s 7726 spam-reporting service.

The company was not registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, despite directing people towards debt solutions, the ICO added.

In internal WhatsApp messages uncovered during its investigation, the ICO said Ahmad used the term “coaching” as a euphemism for the threats.

“Get through as much as and pitch whatever. Don’t worry about forcing anything back because the coaching will take care of that tomorrow morning.”

During the ICO‘s investigation, search warrants were executed at KRA’s offices and Ahmad’s home. The watchdog said KRA resumed its unlawful marketing activity following the searches, leading to 161 new complaints.

Andy Curry, head of investigations at the ICO, said:

“People in financial difficulty deserve support, not exploitation. KRA deliberately sought these people out – knowing they might be especially susceptible to this kind of high-pressure marketing – and bombarded them with illegal texts. When that wasn’t enough, it sent fake threats telling people bailiffs were coming to their homes to remove their belongings. This was a calculated, unlawful scheme, and it caused real fear and distress to people who were already struggling with debt.

“KRA showed complete disregard for the law throughout our investigation and this £300,000 fine – one of the largest for nuisance marketing in recent years – reflects that. It should leave no doubt that we will pursue any company that thinks it can evade the law and prey on the public.”

Alongside the Monetary Penalty, the ICO also issued KRA with an Enforcement Notice, ordering the company to stop sending marketing messages without consent within 30 days. ®

Assa Abloy, the parent company of Level, has laid off most of the company’s staff. While the Apple Home Key locks will work in the short term, others are concerned about the platform’s future.

The Verge reported on June 26 that Assa Abloy laid off most of Level Home’s employees and is folding the smart lock maker into its Kwikset brand. Assa Abloy disputed reports that Level was shutting down.

The company said it will continue developing, selling, and supporting its smart locks while keeping customer support in place. Existing owners shouldn’t expect immediate problems.

Basic locking and unlocking through Apple Home and Matter should continue because those features work locally instead of relying on Level’s cloud. Features such as the mobile app, auto-unlock, and door status updates still depend on the company’s online services.

Assa Abloy hasn’t announced any plans to shut those services down. If that ever changed, cloud-based features could stop working while local Apple Home and Matter functions would continue.

The restructuring reportedly includes the departure of Level co-founders John Martin and Ken Goto along with most of the engineering team. However, a small group of employees will stay on to finish a smart lock designed for multi-family housing.

According to The Verge, the anonymous source who described the restructuring offered a much less optimistic view of Level’s future.

“I think consumers should know that Assa Abloy is not equipped to preserve the customer base,” the source told the publication.

Assa Abloy bought Level Home in 2024 and already owns Kwikset and Yale. Folding Level into Kwikset brings three smart lock brands under the same parent company.

Level will continue operating as a business within Assa Abloy, the company said. Assa Abloy said it remains committed to investing in the smart lock category and doesn’t expect existing customers to see any changes to product support.

Level earned a following by hiding its battery, motor, and electronics inside a standard deadbolt instead of adding a bulky interior box. The design, combined with support for Apple’s Home Key feature, made it one of the more distinctive smart locks in the Apple Home ecosystem.

Current owners don’t need to replace their locks or worry about losing basic functionality based on Assa Abloy’s statements. The bigger unknown is whether Level will keep introducing new products and features, or if the Level cloud functionality will keep working, after losing much of the engineering team that built the platform.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Quiet, or a flower
Answer: MUM

4A clue: N.Y.C. home of van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”
Answer: MOMA

5A clue: “Seriously? We’re still doing this?”
Answer: AGAIN

7A clue: Pyramid inhabitant
Answer: MUMMY

8A clue: Top-tier, as celebrities
Answer: ALIST

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Super-rich individual
Answer: MOGUL

2D clue: Savory flavor, as in kimchi and soy sauce
Answer: UMAMI

3D clue: Seriously injures
Answer: MAIMS

4D clue: Baby’s first word, maybe
Answer: MAMA

6D clue: Parent company of The Athletic: Abbr.
Answer: NYT

Apple has lost yet another upper-level executive to OpenAI, this time Paul Meade from its Vision Products Group.

Longtime Apple executive Paul Meade, known for his work on the Apple Vision Pro, is reportedly leaving Cupertino for Mission Bay. There, he’ll join OpenAI alongside fellow Apple alumni Jony Ive, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey.

According to Bloomberg, the vice president of hardware engineering for the Vision Products Group is set to depart for OpenAI at some point in the next week. He’ll start working at OpenAI’s hardware unit on OpenAI’s upcoming line of AI-powered devices.

Meade’s tenure at Apple lasted over 15 years. He first joined in 2010 as an iPad manager. Two years later, he oversaw program management for the iPhone.

In 2017, he joined the Vision Products Group. Then, in 2019, after a notable shift in Apple’s management, he overtook all hardware engineering for the Apple Vision Pro.

Meade is just another in a long line of departures. In October 2025, Apple lost Head of the Apple Intelligence Answers, Knowledge, and Information team, Ke Yang, to Meta.

Apple’s VP of Human Interface Design, Alan Dye, also left for Meta two months later.

OpenAI, who acquired Jony Ive’s AI startup in 2025, seems to have a special interest in poaching Apple veterans. Tang Tan, who formerly worked at Apple, was instrumental in recruiting Cyrus Daniel Irani from Apple’s human interface design team and Erik de Jong from Apple Watch hardware.