Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.
The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.
Tech
It Took 90 Seconds for This $100 Portable Photo Printer to Totally Change My July 4th Party
You know that one friend who always takes great photos but isn’t the best at sharing them? At my last Fourth of July party, I watched him snap a great picture of my fiancée and me, but instead of asking him to share when he had time, I pulled out Liene’s N200 Pro portable photo printer from my bag. I asked to print that photo on the spot and offered to print anything else he wanted.
Within minutes, it felt like half the party had their phones out, ready to print a photo. By the end of the night, nearly everyone went home with a physical memory of that party.
Like many children of the ’90s, I’ve seen no shortage of trends from my youth try to return with the assistance of modern technology. Capturing a moment that you can physically hold will always be more interesting to me than an Instagram shot, and over the last two years, we’ve seen photo printers get smaller, more capable and considerably less expensive.
The team at Liene, makers of photo and sticker printers with a reputation for being easy to use, created something so portable that it weighs less than a pound and is just 1.2 inches thick, making it an easy travel companion.
It doesn’t get much easier to use than this N200 printer. It charges via USB-C, which is convenient. On more than one occasion, while testing this printer, I’ve just connected it to the car charger on the way to a gathering, and that has been enough for 25 prints over more than an hour. Photo paper and ink cartridges are both easy to install and leave very little mess behind, aside from the small edge you tear off each photo as it exits the printer. As long as you have a phone, you can use this printer.
Swapping out the ink catridge doesn’t get much easier than this.
Liene printers use thermal dye sublimation to create images, which means every print is done in layers. You’ll see the photo paper move in and out of the machine a couple of times with each print as it applies yellow, magenta and blue ink to create the image before it gets a final lamination and exits the printer. This whole process takes just under 90 seconds, and the image quality is surprisingly good for a 3×2 printed image. And because the sheets Liene sells for this printer are also stickers, you can easily peel off the backing and stick the picture to whatever you want.
If you want to quickly go from your camera roll to printing, Liene’s app makes that pretty effortless. But if you want to have some fun, you’ll find loads of personalization options. If you want to take photos through the app using old-school camera filters, it’s right on the home screen. Want a border around the photo? Too easy, there are dozens of options that update constantly to reflect current holidays and sporting events.
The only part of the app I didn’t use too often was the collage function, but only because a 3×2 image is already pretty small and making it smaller wasn’t usually what friends around me would ask for.
The photo paper slot is well hidden, but no less easy to access.
The $100 version of this printer includes 50 sheets of sticker paper and five ink cartridges. There’s an $89 version that comes with 10 sheets of sticker paper and one ink cartridge, but you’re immediately spending more the moment you need more paper or ink because a new box of paper and ink is $25. This also means that each print comes out to about 50 cents, which is slightly less than the 65 cents per print average from competitors like Fujifilm and Canon.
What Liene created with this printer is a fun conversation starter at a party. Tiny sticker photos aren’t the most practical thing ever, but they’re undeniably fun to make and share at a cost that will work for just about everyone.
If you’re the kind of person who enjoys a good physical picture, and you have friends to share something like this with, there’s a lot to like about this printer.
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For decades, high-tech weapons have been designed around maximizing sophistication. Increasing the capability itself through longer ranges, increased maneuverability, and more sophisticated guidance systems mattered far more than how quickly the weapon could be manufactured. That approach is now changing. As conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have highlighted the enormous rate at which modern munitions are consumed, defense manufacturers are encountering a critical challenge. We know how to build capable missiles, but how can we build enough of them?
That shift has pushed additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing, into the spotlight. Once viewed as a useful prototyping tool, industrial-scale metal printing is increasingly being adopted by major defense contractors to accelerate production, simplify supply chains, and reduce dependence on specialized suppliers.
There are limitations though, and the reality is less dramatic than headlines describing 3D-printed missiles might imply. Manufacturers are not printing complete precision weapons. Instead, they are focusing effort on streamlining sectors of the production process where additive manufacturing offers genuine advantages. 3D printing today is not yet replacing traditional manufacturing, it’s simply delivering the greatest possible benefit as weapons development adapts to suit a new era of warfare.
Why missile manufacturing remains so difficult
If building missiles were simply a matter of printing metal components, defense companies would have embraced 3D printing years ago. The real obstacle isn’t just producing parts; it’s proving those parts can survive some of the harshest operating environments imaginable.
A modern cruise missile may spend years inside a storage container, aboard a ship, or in a military depot prior to being launched. From that moment, every structural component must withstand violent acceleration, sustained vibration, aerodynamic loading, rapid pressure changes, and significant temperature variation without the slightest loss of integrity. Even microscopic flaws can become catastrophic failures when encountering the extreme limits of high speed flight.
This demand for consistent dependability is why aerospace manufacturing remains one of the world’s most tightly controlled industries. Components typically incorporate a vast array of rare earth minerals, extremely tight-tolerance machining, heat treatment, precision finishing, and rigorous inspection before they are ever approved for service. The result is that component qualification, not manufacturing, is often the greatest bottleneck in ensuring trust in a munition that may be employed above or near civilians, or friendly forces.
From next year, additive manufacturing will produce select structural parts of the Tomahawk’s mid-body airframe and warhead casing, with rumors this may expand into printing avionics and guidance computer parts with Silicon-photonics-enabled 3D printers. However, 3D printing has not advanced enough to produce the rare-earth-element-intensive critical components that make the Tomahawk a truly state-of-the-art smart munition. Although additive manufacturing of samarium-cobalt and neodymium-iron-boron magnets, dysprosium and terbium-doped materials, and guidance and electronic components containing gallium, germanium, and tantalum is technically achievable, these technologies have yet to see implementation across live production lines. We can’t 3D print a Tomahawk, and we probably never will.
The future belongs to affordable mass
Ultimately, the greatest impact of 3D printing may not be simply increasing the production of today’s missiles, but enabling an entirely new generation of weapons designed from the outset for rapid, high-volume production.
Military planners are recognizing that advantage in future conflicts may be based on quantity, more so even than technological sophistication. Precision-guided weapons remain essential, but expensive missiles built slowly from limited supplies of rare-earth minerals are difficult to replace once wartime demand begins to outpace production. The answer to this problem is affordable mass, larger numbers of less sophisticated weapons built at a fraction of the cost, but at a much greater scale.
This is precisely where additive manufacturing excels. Engineers can consolidate dozens of conventionally machined parts into a single printed structure, reduce material waste, shorten production timelines, and simplify supply chains. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense is encouraging industrial expansion through multi-year procurement programs that give manufacturers confidence to invest in higher production capacity.
The result is unlikely to be a warehouse stocked with 3D-printed Tomahawks as we know them. Instead, tomorrow’s missiles will increasingly be designed around the realities of modern manufacturing and supply. A combination of additive manufacturing, commercial production techniques and modular components to deliver weapons that are easier to build at scale and less dependent on foreign-controlled raw materials. In an era where raw production capacity is returning to its Second World War level of value as a strategic asset, additive manufacturing is likely to be critical in attaining strategic advantage.
The European Union and the United Kingdom jointly sanctioned dozens of Russian individuals and entities and accused Russia of coordinating a network of hacking groups responsible for attacks across Europe.
Today, the Council of the European Union announced sanctions on nine individuals and four entities, including Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers and cybercriminals, while the UK separately sanctioned 24 individuals and entities, including senior GRU figures Vyacheslav Stafeyev, Ivan Senin, and Ivan Kasyanenko, whom officials say directed cyber and hybrid operations.
Britain also sanctioned members of the IMPULS company, accused of recruiting hackers from Russian universities, as well as individuals tied to the Lumma Stealer malware operation, which UK authorities linked to at least 2,100 domestic victims over six months. Ten people connected to media outlet Rybar LLC were also designated for spreading anti-Ukraine narratives and alleged election interference in Moldova and Armenia.
The Council of the EU also publicly identified the 16th Centre of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) as controlling several cyber threat groups, including the notorious Turla hacking group.
Officials said the unit has spent years targeting government networks and critical infrastructure in France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, and Finland, running cyberespionage campaigns against government and defense targets since 2010.
Turla hackers were also linked to a recent failed strike targeting Poland’s critical infrastructure, including energy grid organizations such as heat and power plants, which could have cut power to roughly 500,000 people during winter.
“Cybercriminals, self-proclaimed hacktivists and private companies linked to Russia, including actors operating under its instructions, direction or control, have also carried out, enabled and facilitated a wide range of malicious activities. We strongly condemn Russia’s behaviour and misuse of this cyber ecosystem, targeting public services and critical infrastructure, causing disruptions and financial losses,” the Council of the EU said.
“In response to malicious activities, the EU is also imposing restrictive measures on nine individuals and four entities. These EU sanctions include GRU intelligence officers, as well as cybercriminals, self-proclaimed hacktivists and private companies that contribute to Russia’s efforts to destabilise the EU, its member states and international partners.”
As BleepingComputer previously reported, a cyberattack in late December that hit dozens of entities in Poland’s power grid damaged key operational technology (OT) equipment beyond repair but failed to disrupt power. The incident was later attributed to the Russian state-backed hacking group Sandworm, which attempted to deploy the destructive DynoWiper data-wiping malware and disable compromised devices.
More recently, Poland also blocked a cyberattack targeting the IT infrastructure of the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), the country’s main government nuclear research institute specializing in nuclear physics, reactor technology, and particle physics.
Today’s sanctions come on the heels of the European Commission’s January proposal for new cybersecurity legislation designed to strengthen defenses against cybercrime and state-backed threat groups targeting European critical infrastructure.
In March, the Council of the European Union also sanctioned three Chinese and Iranian companies for coordinating cyberattacks targeting EU member states’ critical infrastructure.
Losing an important file by mistake can be frustrating, especially if you’ve already emptied the Recycle Bin or deleted it using Shift + Delete. While it may seem like the file is gone forever, that’s not always the case. Deleted files often remain on the drive until new data overwrites them, giving you a chance to recover them. That’s why it’s important to stop using the affected drive as soon as possible. In this article, we’ll cover the best free ways to permanently recover deleted files and share important tips to avoid making the situation worse.
What Happens When a File Is Permanently Deleted?
Normal deletion and permanent deletion operate differently. A normal deletion means the file goes to the Recycle Bin, where it can be recovered later. Permanent deletion means the file will be deleted immediately or after the Recycle Bin is cleared. This can occur when deleting files on the USB drive or the SD card, or when deleting large files that cannot fit in the Recycle Bin. Until new files overwrite that space, the deleted file may still be recoverable.
Before proceeding with recovering your deleted files, ensure you stop using the drive containing them. Avoid copying, saving, installing, or downloading any data to this drive, as additional data could overwrite your deleted files. It is also a good idea to verify whether your file exists within your backup system or in your online storage. If your files have been deleted from a USB drive, an SD card, or an external hard drive, then do not use the drive anymore. Remember that SSDs use the TRIM feature, which can make file recovery more difficult if you wait too long.
Different Free Ways to Recover Permanently Deleted Files
1. Check the Recycle Bin
If you have deleted the files using the Recycle Bin or Shift + Delete, you can proceed directly to the next recovery steps. This approach will only work if the file is still in the Recycle Bin.
- Open the Recycle Bin.
- Search for the deleted file by name or file type.
- Right-click on the file and choose ‘Restore.’
- The file will be restored to its original place.
2. Restore from File History
Another way to recover deleted files is File History. It is a Windows feature that provides backup copies of your files. If it was enabled, you may be able to recover a previous version of your deleted file.
- Search for “Restore your files with File History” on Windows.
- Open the recovery window.
- Browse the available file versions.
- Select the file or folder you want to recover.
- Click Restore to save it back to its original location.
3. Check Cloud Storage
Deleted files may remain in cloud storage for some time before being permanently deleted. If you previously uploaded the file to a cloud storage service, you may be able to restore it.
- Log in to your OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or another cloud account.
- Browse to the folder where the file was saved.
- Open the Trash or Deleted Files folder.
- Restore the file to its original location or download a copy.
4. Restore from a Backup
If you have a backup of your files, recovering them is usually quick and easy. Check your external hard drive, USB backup, or any manually created backup folders for the missing file.
Recover Permanently Deleted Files for Free Using Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition
When manual recovery methods fail, you can try Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition. This software will help retrieve deleted files from a Windows PC, a USB drive, an SD card, or other external media. The program allows scanning the disk, browsing, and restoring the retrieved files. In the Free Edition, there is up to 2GB of free data retrieval, including 1GB by default and an additional 1 GB through social networking.
Follow these steps to recover permanently deleted files using Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition.
- Download and install Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition.
- Launch the software.
- Choose the type of files to recover or select Recover Everything.
- Select the drive where the files were deleted.
- Run a scan and use Deep Scan if needed.
- Preview recoverable files.
- Recover the selected files.
- Save recovered files to a different drive.
- If you need more recovery space, you can unlock an extra 1GB for free.
Steps to Get Your 2 GB Free Data Recovery
You can increase the free recovery limit by following these steps.
- Click Get it Now in the activation window.
- Select Upgrade Later to continue with the 1GB free version.
- When you reach the limit, click the option to unlock an additional 1GB.
- Share your experience on social media.
- Enter the review link, your name, and your email address.
- Submit the form to activate the 1GB bonus using the key sent to your email.
When Should You Use Deep Scan?
Most recovery tools start with a Quick Scan because it is faster. However, it may not find every deleted file. If the Quick Scan doesn’t show your file, try Deep Scan instead. It is also useful if the drive was formatted, the storage device became inaccessible, or the file was deleted a long time ago. Deep Scan takes longer to complete but may find additional recoverable files.
You can recover many different files that were deleted, depending on the storage device’s status. It can be documents, pictures, videos, emails, and ZIP files. The types of document files that can be recovered include Word, Excel, PDF, and PowerPoint files. At the same time, among the types of picture files that can be recovered are JPG, PNG, HEIC, and RAW. File recovery software is also compatible with Windows PCs/Laptops, SSDs, hard disks, USB drives/ SD cards.
Things to Keep in Mind
File recovery is not always successful, so it’s important to keep your expectations realistic. Once your files have been overwritten with new data, there is no way to recover them successfully. Another problem that might affect the success of file recovery is the TRIM functionality in SSDs. With the Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition, one can restore up to 2GB of data free of charge. If one needs to recover data larger than 2GB, they will have to purchase the software.
Tips to Improve Your Recovery Chances
The actions you perform after deletion could affect the ability to recover your files. It is important not to use the drive containing the deleted files, as you may overwrite them with fresh data. If possible, try installing the software on another drive. This helps avoid writing new data to the same storage location.
Always make sure to transfer the recovered files to another drive, not back to the original one. If your files are not found during a Quick Scan, a Deep Scan is available. Preview your recoverable files before recovery to ensure they are the right ones. Complete the file recovery process immediately and keep regular backups to reduce the risk of future data loss.
Final Verdict
Recovering permanently deleted files depends on how the files were deleted and whether the data has been overwritten. For instance, restoring files from the Recycle Bin or a backup is the preferred method when they are available. Whereas, when the files are deleted by pressing “Shift” and “Delete”, deleted from the Recycle Bin, or deleted from an external hard drive, then the use of Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition will be useful. It lets you scan your storage device, preview recoverable files, and recover up to 2 GB of data for free, with the option to upgrade to a paid edition if needed. For users who need to recover more than the free limit, Stellar offers paid plans starting at around $49. The paid plans are worth considering if you need to recover more than the free limit. However, the Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition is one of the best options to recover files.
Apple filed a lawsuit Friday against OpenAI over allegations of trade secret theft and breach of contract.
The iPhone maker alleges that this misconduct, which it says reveals a pattern of theft from OpenAI employees who previously worked at Apple, was directed by OpenAI’s senior leadership, including Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Tan of using Apple’s confidential project code names during OpenAI’s recruiting process, asking job candidates to bring in Apple hardware components to their interviews, coaching departing Apple employees on how to evade the company’s security procedures, and asking for details about the company’s unannounced products.
Before joining OpenAI, Tan had spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as VP of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch.
The accusations come at a time when OpenAI is rumored to be developing its first hardware product, which would likely compete with the iPhone. In April, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested this device could be a smartphone that would rely on AI agents instead of apps. If true, it would be one of the largest threats to Apple’s core hardware business to date.
Apple’s former lead designer Jony Ive’s device startup io was acquired by OpenAI last year in a $6.5 billion deal to aid the AI company with its hardware ambitions. While io was named in the filing, Ive was not.
Tan is not the only OpenAI employee referenced in the new complaint. Apple also alleges that Chang Liu, who spent eight years at Apple as a senior systems electrical engineer, failed to return an Apple-issued laptop after leaving the company for OpenAI in 2026 and had used the computer to download confidential Apple technical documents.
Apple says in the complaint that the stolen documents included information about unannounced technologies, features, and products, including technical specifications, engineering presentations, and proprietary project data.
Liu is also accused in the lawsuit of sharing Apple’s confidential information with other Apple employees applying for jobs at OpenAI, advising at least one of them on what to study before their interview.
Apple sent a letter to OpenAI in February to raise its concerns and received no response, the company said in the complaint.
It alleges that the behavior of these former employees is part of OpenAI’s strategy to extract Apple’s confidential information, which included asking Apple employees to bring designs and prototypes to their interviews, and answer questions about things like component and vendor selection processes.
Apple says its ongoing investigation revealed that OpenAI and its partners have even used Apple’s confidential information while the AI model maker develops its own hardware product. For instance, the filing references a proprietary metal finishing technique that OpenAI used after it allegedly misled a partner into believing it had Apple’s permission to do so.
Like many tech companies, Apple typically investigates potential trade secret theft or other improper activity by analyzing communications that took place on company-owned devices and reading through its server logs. By taking the case to court, Apple will have an opportunity to learn more about the extent of the alleged operation through the legal discovery process.
Apple is asking the court to bar OpenAI from using or disclosing its trade secrets, require the company to return any confidential Apple materials, and preserve evidence related to the case.
“This is the tip of the iceberg. Apple lacks visibility into what’s been happening behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by leadership,” the filing states. “As a natural result, OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
In a prepared statement, Apple also said the following:
At Apple, our teams are constantly developing breakthrough technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously. Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products. We will always defend our teams’ hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.
OpenAI was asked for comment. The company responded after publication, pointing to its public statement shared on X, which reads: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
The filing is available here, or you can read it below.
This story is developing and will be updated. It was originally published at 1:32 p.m. PT.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
The big picture: A new generation of cooling technology is beginning to move from lab testing into early real-world trials, as researchers and startups look for ways to cool buildings without relying on traditional refrigerants. The push comes as demand for air conditioning accelerates in Europe, where rising temperatures are exposing the limits of both existing systems and the buildings they are meant to cool.
Several of these new approaches are now being tested. Some rely on metals that cool when stretched and released. Others use semiconductors, magnetic fields, or pressure-sensitive materials to move heat without the chemical refrigerants used in conventional air conditioning. Most are still in early stages, but the activity reflects a growing effort to rethink how cooling works at a fundamental level.
The urgency reflects how quickly climate conditions are shifting beyond what much of Europe’s infrastructure can handle. In late June, temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the region, triggering a surge in demand for cooling equipment. In France, shoppers forced their way into stores to grab portable air conditioners and fans before supplies ran out. The International Energy Agency estimates that by 2050, two-thirds of households worldwide could have air conditioning.
Europe remains behind other markets, with about 20% of households using air conditioning, compared with roughly 90% in the United States. In the UK, adoption is closer to 4%. But that gap is expected to shrink as heat waves become more frequent, ..particularly in countries where air conditioning has not historically been a priority.
Cooling is no longer just about comfort. It affects productivity, sleep, and public health, especially during prolonged periods of extreme heat. Research has linked access to air conditioning with lower mortality rates during heat events, including an estimate that nearly 200,000 premature deaths among people over 65 were avoided globally in 2019.
At the same time, scaling conventional air conditioning presents its own set of challenges. Most systems still rely on refrigerants that cycle between liquid and gas to transfer heat. While effective, they are energy-intensive and carry environmental risks. Cooling already accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and demand for electricity used in cooling is expected to more than triple by 2050.
The refrigerants themselves are under increasing scrutiny. Fluorinated gases, widely used today, can have a global warming impact thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide if they leak. The European Union moved in 2024 to phase them out. “In the next few years, air conditioners and heat pumps using these gases won’t even be able to be sold here,” Fabian Voswinkel, an energy-efficiency policy analyst at the IEA, told Wired. Alternatives such as propane and ammonia are available but introduce trade-offs, including flammability and toxicity.
Those limits are pushing researchers toward solid-state cooling, a category of technologies that eliminates the need for refrigerants altogether. Instead, these systems rely on materials that change temperature when exposed to external forces such as mechanical stress, electrical current, or magnetic fields.
At Saarland University in Germany, researchers are testing nickel-titanium alloys that generate a cooling effect when stretched and released, a process known as elastocaloric cooling. Early results suggest the approach could lower indoor temperatures by 5 to 10 degrees Celsius and operate more efficiently than conventional systems.
The team, led by Paul Motzki, is working with Irish company Exergyn to develop refrigerant-free heat pumps and expects initial deployment in new buildings within the next few years. Motzki said the technology “could lead to disruption, even a paradigm shift, because the technology is so different from established cooling systems.”
Other companies are testing different approaches. Mimic Systems is testing a semiconductor-based heat pump that uses electrical currents to move heat, with a prototype installed in an apartment in Vancouver. Germany-based Magnotherm is developing cooling systems that rely on magnetic fields and plans to test them in a German supermarket chain before expanding into air conditioning. In the UK, Cambridge spinout Barocal is working with plastic crystals that release heat when compressed and has raised $10 million in seed funding.
For now, most of these systems remain unproven at scale. Lindsay Rasmussen, who works with climate-tech startups at Third Derivative, said the technologies are “promising, but unproven at scale,” adding that “the space can move quickly if the right capital and partnerships are in place.” Their path to market may depend on whether large manufacturers adopt and scale them.
Even with new technologies, rising cooling demand cannot be addressed through equipment alone. Much of Europe’s building stock was designed to retain heat, and dense urban areas tend to trap it. Researchers and policymakers are increasingly calling for a “cooling hierarchy” that prioritizes reducing heat buildup through design measures such as shading, ventilation, and reflective materials before turning to mechanical systems.
Some cities are already experimenting with broader infrastructure solutions. Paris has expanded its district cooling network, which circulates chilled river water through underground pipes to cool public buildings. Voswinkel said such efforts reflect a growing recognition that adapting to rising temperatures will require more coordinated planning.
Tech
Augmodo raises $21M to push its spatial AI beyond just retail toward the broader physical workforce
Augmodo, the Seattle startup that straps AI-powered cameras onto retail workers to track store shelves, has raised $21 million as it pushes its technology beyond grocery aisles and into warehouses, factories, and other physical workplaces.
The new funding, led by existing investor TQ Ventures, values Augmodo at $350 million.
CEO Ross Finman, who told GeekWire he wasn’t even looking to raise fresh capital, said he was motivated by interest in the startup’s technology from customers beyond retail, including automotive settings and hospitals.
“Fundamentally, someone grabbing a wrench at an automotive factory isn’t that different from someone grabbing a Cheerios box,” Finman said. “Turns out the algorithms work pretty well across all of those.”
Founded in 2023, Augmodo builds AI-powered “Smartbadges” — lightweight wearable devices with dual cameras — that store employees wear passively as they move through aisles. The badges use computer vision, 3D mapping, and spatial computing to track shelf inventory in real time, building what the company calls a digital “Realogram” of each store.
Augmodo raised $37.5 million a year ago in a round that came after Australian pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse — the startup’s first big customer — moved from a pilot to a full contract and validated the technology at scale. Now others want in on the action.
“Our whole mission statement is AI systems for the physical workforce,” Finman said. “Everyone’s focused on the 20% of the workforce that’s knowledge work, and we’re focused on the 80% of the workforce that’s physical work.”
That demand has pulled Augmodo into warehouses, facility maintenance, delivery operations, and even employee training — verticals the company didn’t originally set out to serve. Existing retail customers, Finman said, kept expanding their contracts to cover new parts of their operations, from auditing warehouse pallets to logging maintenance work like HVAC repairs.
The Smartbadge itself has evolved, too. Finman said it’s now lighter than an iPhone Air and has grown into what he calls an “everything device,” adding walkie-talkie capabilities, an opt-in panic button, and a digital ID display, on top of its original inventory-tracking function.
“That’s actually become a really big selling point,” Finman said. “You don’t need to buy five or six different devices, you buy one at cost, and then here’s all the different features that you can get out of it.”
The company says it has grown 10x in revenue over the past year and now maps more than 186 million square feet of retail space monthly — a figure it expects to cross 1 billion square feet per month by year’s end. Augmodo is adding 50 to 100 new store locations a month.
The company’s headcount has grown 5x over the past year to more than 50 employees, including new CTO Bradford Snow, who joined in January after previous stints at Axon, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft.
Augmodo is ranked No. 145 on the GeekWire 200 list of top Pacific Northwest startups and was a finalist in the Hardware, Robotics, and Physical AI of the Year category at the 2026 GeekWire Awards.
Beyond TQ Ventures, backers include Lerer Hippeau, Jefferson River Capital, Arena Holdings, Chemist Warehouse, New Fare, Interlace, and Webb Investment Network.
Andrew Marks, co-founding partner at TQ, called Finman an “exceptional” leader and said every board meeting reinforced that demand for Augmodo’s tech was outpacing the team’s ability to serve it.
“When you pair a truly special founder with customers lining up around the door and pulling you into new markets, it was obvious we should propose putting more fuel on the fire,” Marks said.
Augmodo said it plans to use the new capital to expand its global enterprise footprint, invest further in its core AI models, and grow its engineering team — with a particular focus on hiring for computer vision and machine learning roles as the company scales its data processing beyond retail.
In the world of vacuum cleaners, especially in 2026, we’ve truly never had it so good. With continued innovation, driven by competition from brands across the globe, there’s a ton of variety available to people of all budgets and home sizes, but if you’re someone who lives with a pet or two then having a vacuum with a more powerful edge is essential. To truly stay on top of all the shedding our furry friends leave behind, you’ll need one of the best vacuums for pet hair.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s worth explaining exactly what pet-friendly vacuums are all about. Instead of the rest of the pack, which can be found in our guide to the best vacuum cleaners overall, these models have brush heads that are better equipped to collect and sift through pet hair, stopping it from getting all tangled up and creating issues down the line.
Because pet hair can be quite thick in certain cats and dogs, these vacuums also have fairly heavy-duty motors to allow for a high level of suction. On top of this, you might find accessories included, such as brush heads that are better equipped to vacuum pet beds. Some vacuums even boast HEPA filters to avoid unwanted smells from being agitated and added to the atmosphere, but this is a rarer feature.
The one issue to bear in mind is that, in order to access all of these extra features, consumers are expected to hand over a bit more than they would for a typical vacuum. This isn’t always the case as there are now more budget-friendly options within this sector, but for helping you to stay on top of accumulating pet hair, we’d argue that it’s worth the expense.
Regardless of the budget you have to work with, you can rest assured that every model featured on this list has been tested by one of our tech experts, so you can’t go wrong, no matter which one you get. If you’re tempted to go down the automation route and take a lot of the cleaning process off your to-do list then you can do exactly that with our list for the best robot vacuum cleaners. Similarly, the best cordless vacuum cleaners are perfect for stowing away when you don’t have much storage space to work with.
SQUIRREL_ANCHOR_LIST
Every vacuum cleaner that we test goes through exactly the same tests. We use both real-world tests and technical measurements to tell the good from the bad. First, we measure suction power in Air Watts (AW), which is a combination of suction and airflow. This lets us compare the raw power of each cleaner. Actual performance depends on a lot of factors including the quality of the accessories and the ability of a vacuum to agitate dirt. For that reason, we take before and after pictures of dust collection on carpet, hard floors and with pet hair.
We don’t weigh the before and after results, as this test is notoriously difficult to do properly, as vacuum cleaners will pick up fibres from the floor that will add to the weight collected. And, without a super-sensitive set of scales it’s impossible to measure fine differences between machines.
If you want to learn more, please visit our detailed page about how we test vacuum cleaners.
Very flexible
Self-empty station works brilliantly
Excellent performance
Hard to empty cleanly manually
The Shark PowerDetect Speed Clean and Empty Pet Pro IA324UKT already stands on some excellent foundations as the previous-gen version (which lacks the Pet Pro moniker), is still a fantastic vacuum, even if it can be a little heavy at times. This more recent revamp shakes up the design in a handful of meaningful ways and, as you might expect, is well equipped to tackle pet hair.
The first thing you’ll notice about the IA324UKT, especially if you’ve spent any time with its predecessor, is that this vacuum boasts a much sleeker build. At just 3.22kg, this vacuum is far easier to push around and you’re less likely to encounter fatigue which is really the last thing you want to come up against when giving your home a proper clean.
There’s now a built-in light on the head of the vacuum too which can reveal a lot of hidden dirt and debris that’s collected on your floor, making sure that nothing gets missed as you go. What really comes in handy for pet owners is the MultiFlex stem that allows the vacuum to bend seamlessly and reach under sofas and low tables. If you have pets that like to hide away in these placed then this gives you a chance to pick up any shedded hair there. As you might expect from a Shark vacuum, performance is stellar across the board. It can peak at 322W when setting the suction to the highest mode, which is more than enough to tackle serious messes. During our flour test, not only did the vacuum do an incredible job of making sure that nothing was left behind, but it also scooped up a whopping 95.9% of debris right up to the edge of a skirting board.
Hard floor performance is equally brilliant, so there isn’t really an issue that you won’t be able to tackle if you have the IA324UKT in tow. Unfortunately, trying to empty the dust bin manually can be a bit convoluted, so if you have a budget that can cover it, we recommend spending just a bit more to pick up the optional automatic self-emptying dock. You can thank us later.
Powerful cleaning
Large selection of tools
LiftOut mode makes the vacuum more flexible
Edge pickup could be better
Although we’re big fans of cordless options like the Dyson V16 Piston Animal for how easy they are to use in a pinch, for more involved cleans that require some heavy-duty features, the Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design is a great option to buy.
When putting the Vax cleaner to the test, we picked up on an impressive 151AW suction power which, despite being slightly less than certain competitors like the Hoover HL4 Pet, is able to achieve that suction at a more economical rate, using just 600W. In our dust test, the cleaner was able to scoop up roughly 97% of the debris when moving it forwards and backwards, and it performed to a similar degree when dust was scattered right up against the skirting board. Pet hair and human hair didn’t stand a chance either, and thanks to the design of the brush, it was all funnelled automatically into the onboard bin.
As great as the Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design is for the more open areas of your floors, where the appliance really comes into its own is when you need to tackle the parts that are tucked away under furniture. With the included LiftOut mechanism, you can separate the bin and motor from the floor head, making it simple to vacuum under the sofa, or on smaller surfaces such as the stairs.
If you have a large household to clean then you’ll be glad to know of the massive two-litre bin that’s included. With that much space in tow, you have the freedom to clean for longer in a single session, instead of having to stop things mid-way through and empty the bin before tackling whatever’s left.
Brilliant cleaning
Very well designed
Automatic power adjustment
If you live with quite a few pets and need a heavy-duty cordless solution to stay on top of all the hair-related mess involved then look no further than the Dyson V16 Piston Animal. This won’t be an option for most folks given its price tag of £749.99, but if you can stretch your budget to meet it then the V16 Piston Animal is well worth the investment.
The highlight of this vacuum is that it comes with an all-new motor that cranks up the degree of suction available. In our tests, we picked up on a whopping 401AW when running the vacuum on Boost mode, which is practically unheard of for a cordless vacuum and leaves the competition in the dust. To save you from using the vacuum with that much power too often and completely draining the battery as a result, the V16 has an ingenious auto detect mode that works brilliantly, taking out the guesswork from your cleaning by intelligently analysing the floor as you go.
When testing out this suction power on both carpet and hard floors, we were massively impressed by what the V16 could achieve. For example, when spreading 10g of flour on our test carpet, the V16 had no issue with collecting practically all of the mess in just a few swipes, even right up to the skirting board.
For collecting hair, the conical nature of the brush allows pet hair to shuffle off at the ends and be stored in the dust bin, saving you from needing to manually extract any hair after the fact. You can even use a compacting tool to push down on the contents of the bin and create more space as you go.
Lots of tools
Great suction and cleaning power
Excellent manoeuvrability
A little heavy
Tools can only attach to the long wand
If you’re looking for a vacuum that delivers consistently powerful cleaning performance, is easy to manoeuvre and makes light work of tricky jobs like picking up pet hair or cleaning hard-to-reach spaces, then the Dyson Ball Animal Multifloor is a great choice. Weighing 7.6kg, the Dyson Ball Animal Multifloor is heavier than most of the best cordless vacuum cleaners, however the large ball at its base ensures the vacuum is easy to push around. In fact, we hailed this as the “most manoeuvrable plug-in vacuum cleaner” we’ve tested.
Its anti-tangle floor head is fitted with cleverly arranged bristles which prevent hair from wrapping around and becoming tangled, making this a great choice for pet owners and those with long hair. Also included is a two-in-one crevice tool, dusting brush, stair tool and an anti-tangle turbine tool that’s specifically designed for tackling embedded pet hair. The latter was particularly impressive and even picked up longer hair without becoming tangled.
All tools work via the Dyson Ball Animal Multifloor’s extendable wand which we found makes it easy to vacuum higher up, particularly where the wall meets the ceiling.
Overall we found the Dyson Ball Animal Multifloor to be a powerful vacuum, able to collect between 92-94.35% of dirt across our carpet tests and 100% of mess on our hard floor tests. Most impressively, it showed no difficulty in picking up pet hair either.
Good battery life
Can stand up by itself
Lots of power
Good cleaning for the price
Weight not that well balanced
Edge cleaning could be better
Of all the models we’ve tested recently, the Hoover HF6 TurboSense is one of the best examples to show just how far the industry has come when regards to offering high-performing cordless vacuums at a very reasonable price. At £249.99, although we’ve seen it go for less at certain retailers, you’re getting an impressive amount of power that can tackle pretty much anything you care to throw at it.
The real draw here is the suction power, which we measured at 28AW on the lowest setting, and does the job for general maintenance of your floors, but crank that up to the mid-range level and you’re looking at 125AW – more of what you’d want most of the time. For instances where there’s a serious amount of debris that needs cleaning, the highest setting capped out at 336AW which is almost unbelievable for a vacuum of this price.
Within that context, the raw performance of the HF6 TurboSense isn’t that far off the Shark IA3241UKT or the Dyson V16 Piston Animal. What this translated to in our testing was that, for all of our on-hand debris including flour, rice and hair, the vacuum did an incredible job. Crucially, hair doesn’t get trapped in the brush head so for taking care of shedding left behind by pets, it works wonders.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that, in order to keep the power so high and the cost so low, the one area where Hoover would have had to make concessions is in battery life, but you’d be wrong. Absolutely trouncing a lot of the competition here, the HF6 can run for up to 100 minutes under the right circumstances. Even when toggling the boost mode, we still got the vacuum to last for 16 minutes and 50 seconds which isn’t bad at all. The only area where the HF6 TurboSense did let us down is with edge cleaning. This won’t be an issue for most messes but if something has gone right up to the skirting board then we recommend getting out the crevice tool as you’ll need it to do the job right. Otherwise, this is a fantastic cordless vacuum that offers outstanding value for money.
High suction power
Brilliant mopping
Can climb high thresholds
Flexible when dealing with mixed flooring
Too many water levels to choose from
If you’re thinking about offloading a fair amount of the cleaning process because you’re strapped for time or have more pressing responsibilities that need sorting, then the Roborock Saros 20 is by far one of the best robot vacuums you can buy if you’re a pet owner. This powerful automated cleaner can do a bit of everything, but it ticks all of the most important boxes so that you can get on with your day.
Starting with the power at hand, the Saros 20 is capable of 36,000Pa suction which, in real-world terms, means that it’s more than equipped to pick up dust and hair as it monitors your floors. Crucially for when it comes to cleaning up after any shedding, hair doesn’t get stuck in the brush so you won’t have to worry about trying to manually remove it from the brush head after the fact.
In our flour test, the Saros 20 did an incredible job of making sure that no hint of the previous mess was left behind, and that extended to edge cleaning too. Where the Saros 20 really kicks things up a notch is with the mopping element. By using dual spinning microfibre pads, the vacuum is able to agitate dried in messes and remove them with ease. This is perfect for any muddy paws that have turned your floors into a right state. In our mopping tests, the Saros 20 made short work of coffee, red wine and mud, so it isn’t hard to imagine it handling most messes without issue. The only time it ran into a bit of trouble was with trying to remove a stubborn ketchup stain, but it just took a few more passes in order to get rid of it completely.
If you live in a home with mixed flooring then you won’t have to worry as the Saros 20 can intelligently separate hard floors from carpet and adjust its settings accordingly. Your home can also be mapped out via the Roborock app, so if you only want the vacuum to tackle a few rooms at a time, you can do just that. Lastly, if you have any thresholds that might trip up robot vacuums then fear not as the AdaptLift system allows the Saros 20 to climb right over them, so long as they’re not higher than 4.5cm.
Huge range of accessories
Clever filter cleaning
Powerful cleaning
Average suction power
Can’t fold in half for storage
If you need a vacuum cleaner that’s both powerful enough to make light work of cleaning up pet hair across all household surfaces but is considerably cheaper than a premium option then the Bosch Unlimited 7 ProAnimal is a great choice.
We found the Bosch Unlimited 7 ProAnimal has enough suction power for everyday household tasks, which is made even easier with the included tools and accessories, although we did conclude that it doesn’t have quite the same reach as more powerful models. As it’s a mid-range option, this perhaps isn’t too surprising but still worth keeping in mind. Even so, the Bosch Unlimited 7 ProAnimal is able to clean up notoriously difficult pet hair combed into carpet, and even long strands of human hair, without issue.
Bosch includes a selection of tools and accessories to assist in a whole house clean. The main tool, and probably the one you’ll use the most, is the ProAnimal floor head which is fitted with Bosch’s anti-tangle technology, designed to pick up hair without it getting caught in the brush, resulting in fewer troublesome blockages.
Also provided is a mini motorised tool for stairs and upholstery (which is especially useful for removing hair from pet beds), a long and flexible crevice tool to help you reach tricky areas, and even a keyboard and drawer nozzle which is made up of multiple tubes for removing dust from tricky areas.
With an impressive battery life of over 30-minutes on its lowest power mode and nearly 17-minutes on automatic mode, the Bosch Unlimited 7 ProAnimal should last long enough to comfortably clean your entire home. The vacuum is also compatible with the Power For All 18V battery range which means you can swap out batteries with other compatible devices for uninterrupted use.
Good value
Powerful cleaning
Dust-free emptying
Long battery life
Not an anti-tangle floor head
Could do with mid-level power mode
For households with allergy sufferers, the Henry Quick Pet cordless vacuum uses a clever pod system that keeps dust and pollutants secure and makes emptying the vacuum that much easier.
Included with the Henry Quick Pet are six pods which are essentially dust bags. Simply slot a pod into the front of the vacuum and, when full, push the eject button to have the pod deposit itself cleanly and efficiently into the bin, ensuring no dust or debris is spilled.
The Henry Quick Pet boasts the majority of features found in its sibling, the Henry Quick, including a long battery life that can last over an hour on low power mode and the same range of accessories: a crevice tool, a two-in-one brush and a motorised main floor head.
The difference is that the Henry Quick Pet comes equipped with a motorised mini tool for pet beds and upholstery. Overall we found the Henry Quick Pet has a slightly lower than average air watt rate in standard mode, at just 23AW, although this increases significantly to a more powerful 192AW when Boost mode is enabled.
This means for everyday vacuuming the Henry Quick Pet should suffice in standard power mode, however for more difficult cleaning such as against edges, Boost mode will need to be enabled.
We also found that while the main floor head picked up shorter pet hair with ease, any longer human hair tended to get wrapped around the brush and needed to be cut out, which is a particularly unpleasant job. An anti-tangle floor head would have been better suited.
There’s also a scent stick that can be inserted into the back of the vacuum which freshens the exhaust air, much like the Shark Stratos IZ420UKT. Although this doesn’t actually help in cleaning the floor, it does ensure the room smells fresh. If you or members of your household suffer from allergies then the Henry Quick Pet is a great way to collect pesky dust and debris and eventually dispose of it without risking any spillage.
Brilliant to use
Cleans well on low power setting
Super light
Not for carpets
Doesn’t have a smaller handheld mode
Dyson has put out some pretty inventive vacuums in its time, but very few have had the head-turning quality of the Dyson PencilVac. This is a vacuum so thin that it’ll have you questioning how it all works the moment you lay eyes on it – it’s a marvel of engineering, but all you need to know is that it works as intended, and brilliantly at that.
At just 38mm across and weighing only 1.8kg, the PencilVac is the easiest vacuum to manoeuvre on this entire list, and that in turn makes the process of cleaning up the leftover hair from your pets far less of a workout. With the unique conical brush head, the PencilVac can glide across your floors like no one’s business.
That same brush head, thanks to its design, is able to pick up hair and let it slide off at the sides where it can then be swooped up into the bin – there’s no need to get the scissors out and remove hair manually. In spite of its slimline stature, the PencilVac still does a great job with picking up dust, even at the edges of your floors. Of course, because this is such a light vacuum, you don’t have to worry about carving out a decent amount of space to store the PencilVac when it’s not in use. You can easily stow it away in a cupboard where it won’t take up much space at all.
The only place where the PencilVac does struggle is in vacuuming carpets to a degree that we’re happy with. You can find much better carpet-ready vacuums like the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT, so that’s worth bearing in mind before deciding on which vacuum to buy. If you only have hard floors however then this won’t be an issue, and you’ll get on just fine with the Dyson PencilVac.
A motorised floor brush is an essential, as it agitates and loosens pet hair in carpets. For sofas and soft furnishings, look for a vacuum cleaner with a mini motorised tool.
Suction power is important in so much as it helps a vacuum cleaner remove dirt, but a motorised brush is more important. Vacuum cleaner that operate on suction alone are not very effective at removing pet hair.
Yes. Most people are allergic to a pet’s saliva or dead skin cells, which attach themselves to the pet hair. Removing the hair, removes the allergens also. Either will do the job: corded cleaners have the advantage that they can keep running and are slightly more powerful; cordless models are more convenient, particularly if you want to clean other areas, such as your car.
Learn more about how we test vacuum cleaners
FAQs
What accessories are needed for pet hair removal?
Is suction power important for pet hair removal?
Will removing pet hair help with allergies?
Should I get a cordless or corded vacuum cleaner?
Test Data
Shark PowerDetect Speed Clean and Empty Pet Pro IA3241UKT
Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design
Dyson V16 Piston Animal
Dyson Ball Animal Multifloor
Hoover HF6 TurboSense
Roborock Saros 20
Bosch Unlimited 7 ProAnimal
Henry Quick Pet
Dyson PencilVac
AirWatts (low)
59 AW
–
45 AW
–
28 AW
–
27 AW
23 AW
33 AW
AirWatts (medium)
82 AW
–
98 AW
–
125 AW
–
–
–
56 AW
AirWatts (high)
322 AW
151 AW
401 AW
203 AW
338 AW
–
93 AW
192 AW
103 AW
Sound (low)
65.5 dB
–
63.3 dB
–
67.5 dB
–
67.3 dB
70.5 dB
69.8 dB
Sound (medium)
68.6 dB
–
70.4 dB
–
69.5 dB
–
–
–
71.2 dB
Sound (high)
75.1 dB
73.2 dB
75.1 dB
67.8 dB
73.8 dB
58 dB
72.5 dB
76.5 dB
74.5 dB
Full Specs
Shark PowerDetect Speed Clean and Empty Pet Pro IA3241UKT Review
Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design Review
Dyson V16 Piston Animal Review
Dyson Ball Animal Multifloor Review
Hoover HF6 TurboSense Review
Roborock Saros 20 Review
Bosch Unlimited 7 ProAnimal Review
Henry Quick Pet Review
Dyson PencilVac Review
Manufacturer
Shark
Vax
–
Dyson
Hoover
roborock
Bosch
Numatic
Dyson
Size (Dimensions)
260 x 350 x 1120 MM
270 x 370 x 1160 MM
250 x 1298 x 259 MM
280 x 390 x 1065 MM
298 x 222 x 1200 MM
350 x 353 x 79.8 MM
202 x 251 x 1320 MM
240 x 270 x 1220 MM
38 x 226 x 1160 MM
Weight
3.22 KG
6.63 KG
3.4 KG
7.3 KG
5.76 KG
–
2.8 KG
3.2 KG
1.8 KG
ASIN
–
–
–
–
–
–
B09YMR9QGN
–
–
Release Date
2026
2025
2025
2024
2026
2026
2024
2023
2026
First Reviewed Date
27/04/2026
15/01/2026
09/09/2025
28/01/2025
28/04/2026
26/02/2026
28/03/2024
26/07/2024
02/02/2026
Model Number
Shark PowerDetect Speed Clean and Empty Pet Pro IA3241UKT
Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design
Dyson V16 Piston Animal
Dyson Ball Animal Multifloor
Hoover HF6 TurboSense
Roborock Saros 20
Bosch Unlimited 7 ProAnimal
Henry Quick Pet
Dyson PencilVac
Vacuum cleaner type
Cordless stick
Plug-in upright
Cordless stick
Plug-in upright
Cordless stick
Vacuum cleaner and mop
Cordless stick
Cordless stick
Cordless stick
Provided heads
Floor head, 2-in-1 tool, mini motorised brush
Crevice tool, mini motorised brush, pet hair remover, stair tool
Floor head, crevice tool, 2-in-1 tool, mini motorised brush
Floor head, stair tool, Flat out head, soft dusting brush, combination tool, quick-release tangle-free turbine tool
Floor head, crevice tool, dusting tool
–
Floor head, mini power brush, crevice tool, mattress tool, furniture tool, long flexible crevice tool, keyboard and drawer nozzle
Motorised floor head, mini pet tool, crevice tool, brush
Fluffycones floor head, 2-in-1 crevice tool
Bin capacity
0.47 litres
2 litres
1.3 litres
1.8 litres
0.7 litres
2 litres
0.3 litres
1 litres
0.08 litres
Bagless
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
–
Yes
–
Yes
Modes
Auto, Boost, Eco
On/off
Eco, Auto, Boost
On/off (brush bar can be turned on/off, too)
Three power modes
Vacuum, Mop, Vacuum and mop, Mop after vacuuming
Eco, turbo, auto
Standard, boost
Eco, Standard, Boost
Filters
2 (washable)
2 (one washable, one replaceable)
1 (washable)
1 (washable)
1 (washable)
1 (washable)
1 (integrated cleaner)
N/A
1 (washable)
Run time
1 hrs min
hrs min
70 mins min
hrs min
100 mins min
200 mins min
–
–
30 mins min
Charge time
–
–
3.5 hrs
–
3.5 hrs
2.5 hrs
1 hrs
2.5 hrs
–
Brushes
–
–
–
–
–
1x side brush, 1x roller
–
–
–
Mop Option
–
–
–
–
–
Dual microfibres mops
–
–
–
Smart assistants
–
–
–
–
–
Yes
–
–
–
UK RRP
£499.99
£269.99
£749.99
£379.99
£249.99
£1299
£349.99
£339
£429.99
USA RRP
–
–
–
–
–
$1299
–
–
–
Given how many options we have at our disposal, it’s never been easier to find a television that fits specific requirements and a budget — but it has also never been harder to decide which one is actually worth buying. One quick look at a retailer’s website, and you’ll find yourself scratching your head trying to pick between LCD, OLED, or Mini LED options. If you’re even a bit tech-savvy, you’ll recognize OLED as the superior display technology of the bunch — but OLED TVs aren’t exactly budget-friendly.
Mini LED technology has been on the rise recently, bridging the gap between LCD and OLED panels. How Mini LED works is pretty fascinating — it uses hundreds of tiny LEDs behind the LCD panel, giving you several local dimming zones. This lets the TV control bright and dark elements on screen more precisely, as opposed to how a traditional LCD TV would simply light up large portions of the panel. Mini LED panels, can therefore, produce inky blacks while also maintaining high brightness levels when required.
Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution with Mini LED TVs. Sure, newer technologies like QD-Mini LED produce more convincing images, but there are a few downsides that the more expensive OLED TVs don’t have to deal with. I’ve recently made the jump to Mini LED myself, and while it is a noticeable upgrade over my older LCD TV, there are still a few compromises that I’ve had to accept.
Mini LED TVs suffer from blooming
It’s difficult to completely eliminate the blooming effect even on premium mini LED TV models — this is simply a technological limitation that comes with panels that use any form of backlight. Blooming refers to the weird halo effect you can sometimes spot around bright objects that are surrounded by a dark background — think of streetlights or the moon against a dark night sky. Blooming is even more noticeable with white subtitles if they are laid over a particularly dark scene, or positioned within the letterbox bars — this is quite difficult for me to miss on my TV.
Blooming happens because of the limited number of dimming zones found in Mini LED TVs. If a bright object is smaller than the dimming zone it’s positioned within, the TV still lights up the entire dimming zone, in turn bleeding the light into the surrounding pixels that should technically have remained dark. A way to make sure you don’t get stuck with a TV with horrendous amounts of blooming is to simply buy one that has more local dimming zones. This ramps up the price noticeably, but it’s still a more affordable affair than going with an OLED panel.
I noticed that reducing the overall brightness of my TV or turning on a light source in the room helped lessen the visibility of the halo effect. OLEDs don’t suffer from blooming, since every pixel is self-emissive and doesn’t rely on a backlight.
Worse contrast and a higher response time than OLED
OLED’s biggest selling point is how inky the blacks can get, and since every pixel generates its own light, all the TV has to do is turn off the ones responsible for displaying pure black. While premium Mini LED TVs can do a remarkably good job at replicating the contrast levels of OLED panels, the latter is clearly superior given how it has a loyal following among home theater enthusiasts despite the price difference.
RTINGS compared the two technologies in great detail, and another aspect where Mini LED panels fall short is response time. OLED panels have pretty much no latency compared to LCD panels, since each pixel can be updated instantaneously. While response time is mostly relevant when shopping for gaming monitors, it does also affect how fast-moving images appear on TVs. Plus, many OLED and Mini LED TVs are now being advertised as being gaming-ready, and if you’re hooking up a console or gaming PC and meaning to get competitive, this is a factor worth considering. I’ve played some fast-paced games on my TV, and its 288Hz VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) is quite fantastic.
Colors are a huge part of what makes a movie watching experience enjoyable, and fortunately, most Mini LED TVs have excellent color reproduction. In fact, they beat WOLED panels and are on par with QD-OLED displays, thanks to the fact that many mid-range and high-end Mini LED TVs also use quantum dot technology, which produces richer colors.
Poor viewing angles and the Dirty Screen Effect
In RTINGS’ roundup of the best Mini LED TVs, a common criticism was poor viewing angles, even on the Sony Bravia 9, which is a flagship television. This is because most Mini LED TVs and monitors opt for VA panels that provide deep contrast, but have noticeably poor visibility when viewed from extreme angles. For large living room setups attempting to accommodate multiple viewers, this can be a genuine drawback with Mini LED TVs. That said, traditional LCD TVs also suffer from poor viewing angles, and generally, only OLED panels get you the best viewing experience regardless of where you’re seated.
Mid-range and flagship Mini LED TVs, when adjusted for the optimal TV viewing distance, can still provide a great experience. Another characteristic of OLED TVs is how slim they are. Since Mini LED and regular LCD TVs require a backlight, the additional layer behind the panel adds both thickness and weight. If you’re looking to wall-mount your TV and care about getting the aesthetics just right, then an OLED’s paper-thin profile is difficult to beat.
Mini LED TVs are also susceptible to the Dirty Screen Effect (DSE). It usually shows up as dark patches or long streaks of lines, mostly visible on plain, gray backgrounds. Inconsistencies in backlight diffusion are often the cause of the Dirty Screen Effect, to which OLEDs are nearly immune. That said, I appreciate not having to worry about burn-in on my TV — something OLED owners always have to keep in the back of their minds.
Our methodology
Despite all the downsides, Mini LED is an exciting technology that borrows from the positives of both OLED and LCD panels. You get much better contrast levels than LCD TVs and noticeably higher brightness than OLED TVs. Most of the drawbacks we’ve noted are also true for traditional LCD TVs, so unless you’re willing to spend the premium that OLED TVs ask for, we’d say Mini LED TVs are still a fantastic option.
For this article, we also referred to the in-depth analysis carried out by RTINGS across different aspects of TV performance, like contrast ratios, color reproduction, gray uniformity, and response times. Upper-mid-range or premium Mini LED TVs manage to deliver excellent picture quality, even if they can’t quite match OLED in terms of black levels or response time. Some of the best TVs you can buy use either OLED panels or Mini LED technology with a thousand or more dimming zones.
In fact, after much deliberation, I picked up the TCL C7K (QM7K in other regions) for my own living room. It has 1,008 dimming zones and support for high refresh rate. While I do notice blooming around the subtitles, the contrast ratios being infinitely better than traditional LCD TVs more than make up for it. My unit fortunately doesn’t have the DSE and viewing angles are pretty solid. More importantly, the TV’s peak brightness of 2,600 nits helps with visibility even during the day with the sun at full blast.
offbeat
Solar boss reckons challenges are regulatory, not technological
It is just over a year since a pilot project to install photovoltaics on a railway line kicked off. According to the CEO of Sun-Ways, the company behind the scheme, the challenge was not so much technical as regulatory.
The project, a 100-meter photovoltaic installation on a railway line open to traffic, was inaugurated on April 24, 2025 in Buttes, Switzerland. It’s fair to say it went well; the 48 solar panels wedged between the tracks have generated more than 19 MWh to date.
According to the company’s CEO, Joseph Scuderi, more than 11,000 trains have passed over the solar power plant without incident. There has been no impact on railway operations or solar generation.
It’s a novel idea – use the space between rails for solar power generation. While the angle of the panels might not be ideal, the losses would be relatively minor compared to the potential gains. In Switzerland alone, Sun-Ways reckons there is a potential 1 TWh available, enough to meet 30 percent of the country’s public transport needs.
The panels themselves use anti-reflection material to avoid distracting train drivers with glare, and are resistant to micro-cracks, which could lead to a higher risk of fires.
And then there is the installation itself, which required coming up with a rail-mounted machine to deploy the panels. According to Scuderi, the company now has a machine capable of installing up to 300 solar panels per hour, over hundreds of kilometers, rather than the 100 meters of the pilot.
However, as Scuderi told The Register, “Technology wasn’t the problem.
“After all, we’re capable of sending people to the Moon…
“The real challenge is regulation. The strictest safety requirements apply in the rail sector. It took us years to obtain authorization to test our Sun-Ways solar power plant on a line open to passenger trains.”
According to a report published in April by the European Environment Agency, renewables (including solar) accounted for 25.2 percent of final energy consumption in the European Union. In the past year, renewables have accounted for 43.3 percent of generation in the UK, according to the National Grid (the UK’s power transmission network), with 6.9 percent coming from solar.
The EU’s minimum target is 42.5 percent from renewables by 2030, so sticking solar panels on the space between the rails carries a certain appeal. Scuderi told us that agreements had been made with Italy and France’s SNCF, and that talks were underway with South Korea, Spain, and Portugal.
He said, “I envisage a market launch as early as 2028, with the deployment of small Sun-Ways power plants of 10 km (10,000 m2), then an increase in capacity to reach 1000 km installed by 2035 and 10,000 km in 2040.”
It’s an ambitious plan, and might have seemed the stuff of fiction when Sun-Ways was founded in the early 2020s. Maintaining the panels, track (and track bed), and keeping the units clean enough to generate a worthwhile amount of power were obvious concerns, but the project has shown that these technical challenges can be overcome.
Indeed, equipment capable of installing 300 panels per hour beats the rate at which canopies and station buildings could be plastered with photovoltaics. That said, panels away from the line don’t share the same concerns about impacts from rail traffic or the inconvenience of track maintenance.
Scuderi told The Register, “The financial projection we have made show a LCOE [Levelized Cost of Energy] from 0.05 €/kWh to 0.09 €/kWh, depending on the amount of sunlight (southern or northern Europe).”
“And for a customer such as a railroad company,” he added, “the LCOE corresponds to the final cost of electricity, since it is not subject to taxes or fees on the public grid, as solar energy is fed directly into the traction grid.”
It is hard not to remember the initial excitement that surrounded solar roadways a decade ago, which unraveled as realities such as the weight of traffic and maintenance requirements struck home. Solar railways, however, appear to be a success thus far, with the panels requiring little maintenance and producing the expected power. The next challenge is scaling it up. ®
If any astute Hackaday reader saw [dongvua90]’s Newton’s cradle go on without human intervention all day long, they’d probably suspect the truth: there’s a battery and a magnet involved. But it is a nice desk piece, and you might be able to fool your less enlightened friends that you’ve discovered perpetual motion. Watch the resulting faux perpetual motion machine in action in the video below.
The trick is to sense the ball’s travel and inject a little electromagnetic pulse at just the right time. No problem for an ESP32 and a proximity sensor like the ones you find on some 3D printers. In fact, there’s very little custom circuitry. Everything is a module, and even the Newton’s cradle is cut out of a premade toy. A printed case and some software are really the heart of the design.
We can imagine this might be an interesting science demonstrator. Show the class the cradle with the electronics turned off, then subtly turn it on and ask the class what changed. You could even make the point by having students do it normally, while only you can get it to keep going forever, and challenge them to deduce what’s going on.
You might correctly imagine that this isn’t the first one of these we’ve seen. You can also build one that is sort of simulated.
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