Samsung now sells two book-style foldables side by side. The regular Galaxy Z Fold8 starts at $1,899.99. The Z Fold8 Ultra opens at $2,099.99 for the 256GB model and climbs to $2,699.99 for 1TB. That $200 jump lands the Ultra in rare air for a phone that still has to fold in half. The question is simple: does the extra money buy enough to matter?
Unfolded, the Ultra is only 4.1 millimetres thick and weighs roughly 215 grams, making it one of the thinnest and lightest foldables Samsung has ever created for a pocket. Underneath the large display is a dual-layer titanium structure, and the hinge is also made of titanium alloy, as it’s surprisingly difficult to spot the crease nowadays. The whole thing has an IP48 rating, which should be good for being submerged in 1.5 meters of fresh water for half an hour. When folded, it’s somewhat taller and thinner than the standard Fold8, so it’s not as pocket-friendly, but it’s still a good fit.
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The outside and inner screens have both expanded in size, with the cover display now measuring 6.5 inches of FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X goodness, and the main panel expanding to a full 8 inches of QXGA+ when the phone is opened. Peak brightness is increased to 3,000 nits, and there’s an anti-reflection coating to keep things from becoming too shiny on the larger surface. There’s also an Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, which helps keep things smooth whether you’re using the phone one-handed or treating it like a tiny tablet. The difference between viewing a video and running things side by side is rather noticeable.
The Ultra has also received a significant camera upgrade. The main sensor is a 200-megapixel beast with an f/1.7 lens, and there’s Quad Pixel autofocus for extra sharpness. You can also achieve a nice 2x optical-quality cut that retains sharpness. But that’s not all; in addition to the primary sensor, there’s a 50-megapixel ultrawide with an enhanced f/1.9 aperture for capturing more light, as well as a separate 10-megapixel telephoto picture that finally provides genuine 3x optical zoom. To make things even more intriguing, the main and ultrawide cameras can also shoot 8K video. When you add Nightography and the ProVisual Engine to help with low-light shots, as well as Super Steady to keep your handheld videos from being too shaky, it’s evident that the Ultra is in a class by itself when it comes to camera performance. You can’t help but make comparisons to the S26 Ultra, and to be honest, the difference is now less than it has ever been on a foldable. The normal Fold8, on the other hand, only has two 50-megapixel cameras and no optical telephoto. Zoom and detail are obviously going to be more of an issue with that one.
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Inside the Ultra, you’ll find the same dependable Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, which has been optimized to maximize Galaxy phone performance. You can get it with 256GB or 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, or if you want to go all out, 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM. The battery has finally expanded to 5,000 mAh, making it the largest Samsung has ever put in a Fold, and it claims up to 27 hours of video playback. There’s also charging, 45W wired charging should charge your battery to two-thirds capacity in under an hour.
Software includes the whole new One UI 9, which puts a comprehensive set of Galaxy AI tools at your fingertips. The Nudge tool just observes what you’re doing and makes excellent ideas for using split screen in a way that suits you. My FanCam can lock onto a subject and reframe the video on the fly, all without you having to move a finger. With Photo Assist, you can simply type a text prompt and move, remove, or expand items; it’s that simple. Many of these capabilities are also available on the standard Fold8, but having more screen real estate on the larger version helps them feel more natural, especially when you have numerous windows open. [Source]
These locally operated networks allow enterprises to take fuller advantage of the 5G spectrum.
UK technology service provider Logicalis is launching a private 5G service for enterprises in Ireland, following an €8m investment from the company to support the roll-out.
New regulatory changes introduced by ComReg have enabled access to private 5G spectrums in Ireland, which, according to Logicalis, represented “one of the most significant advances” in digital infrastructure in recent years.
These locally operated networks can be adapted to specific requirements and allow enterprises to take fuller advantage of the 5G spectrum, with lower latency connectivity across large operational sites.
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Access to private 5G is a “transformational development” for Ireland, Logicalis said, adding that the technology supports a new generation connected operations such as robotics, industrial AI, autonomous vehicles, IoT devices and edge computing.
Irish businesses can use the technology to accelerate digital automation, AI and Industry 4.0 initiatives, the company said, while strengthening its competitiveness as a destination for global investment.
Logicalis believes private 5G will become a foundational technology supporting the next generation of connected enterprise operations. The company is offering its private 5G services in partnership with technology vendors, including Cisco, Nokia and Neutral Wireless.
It said that the solution encompasses network design, radio planning, deployment, security and integration, alongside fully managed services. It already offers private 5G spectrum across the UK, Europe and North America.
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“Historically, enterprises wishing to deploy private 5G have had to rely on mobile operators as the spectrum was unavailable directly to industry,” said Frank Rubotham, the head of specialists and propositions at Logicalis’ UK and Irish operations.
“This framework created complexity and cost barriers to accessing this technology. Now, with industry access to private 5G spectrum, the technology has moved from pilot phase to production deployment at scale.
“At Logicalis, we have been investing and researching heavily into this technology for over 10 years, while deploying large scale private 5G networks in markets such as the UK, Germany and the US, ensuring we have the expertise to deliver truly transformative technology.”
The company is a division of Datatec and has operations across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa. It last reported annualised revenues of $1.7bn.
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“This advancement, in real terms, means that we can build and provide private 5G networks for enterprises in Ireland supporting greater automation, edge computing, industrial AI, robotics and real-time data analytics,” added Rubotham.
“This, in turn, helps to position Ireland as one of the world’s leading markets to deliver advanced interconnected technologies for business.”
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If you own an LG smart TV, there’s a chance one of your harmless-looking apps has been moonlighting as an internet relay for someone else’s traffic. According to a report from KrebsOnSecurity, LG says it’s finally stepping in to stop this menace. This week, the company confirmed it plans to suspend any webOS app that turns a TV into what’s called a residential proxy node.
The move follows a report from security firm Spur, which found that more than 42 percent of apps on LG’s webOS store include SDKs that quietly reroute internet traffic through your TV, indefinitely. Samsung isn’t spared either, with over a quarter of Tizen apps carrying similar code.
What is a residential proxy, and why should you care?
It’s like renting out your TV’s internet connection without fully realizing it. Companies pay app developers to bundle these SDKs into their software, and in return, your TV’s IP address gets used by paying customers elsewhere. Spur found this hidden in everything from simple games to screensavers and file utilities, not just obscure or sketchy apps.
Faiz Aly / Digital Trends
What is LG doing about it?
LG Senior Vice President John Taylor told KrebsOnSecurity that developers who don’t strip out the proxy feature will have their apps pulled entirely. He added that LG’s review of its app catalog is already underway, and the company plans to tighten how it evaluates submissions going forward.
Bright Data, the proxy network behind most of the SDKs in the report, defended its practices, saying users opt in through a dedicated screen and that customers go through a vetting process. Spur isn’t convinced, arguing that a single consent prompt buried inside a TV app isn’t real transparency, especially when anyone in the household, including kids, could be the one tapping agree.
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Spur.us
LG cleaning house is a welcome move, though it comes right after the company faced backlash for bundling McAfee promotions into its monitor drivers through Windows Update, with zero warning.
Apple receives a lot of criticism for taking too long to approve apps on its App Store, a problem significantly exacerbated by the deluge of video-coded app submissions. And while some of the criticisms are warranted and Apple has let some shady apps on its App Store, I would rather have a secure App Store than something like what LG’s offering.
After selling out the entire stock in 11 minutes in March, the US Mint’s commemorative Steve Jobs coin was briefly back on sale on Thursday.
It still only vaguely looks like Steve Jobs, but it’s intended to be him and to commemorate American innovation. But stop us if you’ve heard this one before, as the coin was released in May 2026.
The US Mint’s listing at the time said that it was a limited pressing, and the release schedule page still says that. It’s conceivable that part of the initial pressing was held back for some reason, but that would be the first time that was done in the American innovation line.
The original US Mint listing from May 2026, showing the coin as a limited edition – image credit: US Mint
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Regardless of how it’s happened, it was briefly possible to buy the Steve Jobs commemorative $1 coin. You had to be quick though.
The coins were initially being offered in 25-coin rolls and 100-coin bags. The rolls sold out in around ten minutes, the bags took about 20.
Those rolls were again priced at $61, while the bags are $154.40, both plus shipping. While stocks lasted, the coins were on sale through the US Mint’s online store.
The coins still feature “a young Steve Jobs sitting in front of a quintessentially northern California landscape of oak-covered rolling hills.”
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“Captured in a moment of reflection,” continues the US Mint listing, “his posture and expression reflect how this environment inspired his vision to transform complex technology into something as intuitive and organic as nature itself.”
This $1 coin is inscribed with “United States of America,” “California,” and also both “Steve Jobs” and “Make Something Wonderful.” On the opposite side to Jobs, the coin has a stylized Statue of Liberty.
How limited the offer really is
The US Mint did not publicize the number of coins being pressed when they were first released, it only marked the offering as limited. The CoinNewscollectors’ site, however, said that a total of 1,233,750 were being produced between the Denver and Philadelphia minting facilities.
If correct, then regardless of whether the new offering represents a second pressing or not, more Steve Jobs coins are being produced than for any previous American Innovation releases. According to Coin Mintages, the program’s previous largest pressing was in 2019 when between Denver and Philadelphia, a total of 952,725 coins were made to commemorate the first US patent.
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Clearly, then, the US Mint expected the Steve Jobs coin to sell more than previous ones. It remains correct on that matter, based on how quickly they sold out to the walls the first time and now, how the rolls of them have sold out.
But a greater number of coins, coupled with how the limited release now appears to not have been limited, will reduce the appeal to numismatists.
While any stocks remain, though, it is possible to specify that you want coins from the Denver or Philadelphia pressing plants. According to Coin Week, the Denver press is more precise, while the Philadelphia plant produces coins with more errors than Denver does, which may appeal to a certain type of collector.
We reached out to the US Mint to find out if this is a second pressing, or remnants from the first. A representative from the mint got back to us, and while there was some confusion on if the coins were available or not, they did confirm that there was not nor will there be a second stamping.
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However, the coin will be included in the Reverse Proof Set that will go on sale later in 2026, which will be the only remaining unreleased product to feature the coin.
Hayete Gallot, now executive vice president of Microsoft Security, speaks at a Microsoft event in France in 2024. (Microsoft Photo)
GeekWire is profiling over the next few weeks some of the people and teams that are shaping the evolution of Microsoft in what we’re calling its “Microsoft 2.5” era.
AI has had an impact on just about every tech-product category, but especially security. Attackers are using AI; customers are looking to defend with AI. The goalposts keep shifting. “Agentic security” is now the holy grail, and Hayete Gallot, the newly minted executive vice president of Microsoft Security, is leading the charge toward it.
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Gallot, a 16-plus-year Microsoft veteran who rejoined the company in February after a 1.5-year Google detour, replaced Charlie Bell, who came to Microsoft from AWS in 2021 and continues at the company as an individual contributor focused on engineering quality.
“Customers care about two things: solving for security and being able to afford it,” Gallot said when I asked during our interview this week why she came back to Microsoft.
“I am a problem solver. And an engineer at heart (and by training). Security is the most important problem right now — and Microsoft is the only place with all of the puzzle pieces to help our customers.”
Since her return, Gallot hasn’t been shy about shaking things up. As noted recently by The Information, at least nine corporate vice presidents who previously reported to Bell have left the company this year.
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“We’re making changes to ensure we’re in the best formation to go after this opportunity,” she acknowledged.
“I’m motivated by doing the right thing for our customers, my teams, and tech outcomes. I like to move quickly; days and weeks, not months and years, learning through execution, iterating rapidly, and adjusting based on real customer signals.”
The company isn’t starting from scratch. As of 2021, Microsoft claimed security was a $10 billion business for the company. By 2023, security had reached a $20 billion annual revenue rate, officials said.
Those claims haven’t been without controversy. Microsoft has built a huge business in finding and fixing security problems which some customers felt were of the company’s own making.
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Microsoft has a wide-ranging and rather unwieldy security portfolio, encompassing identity management (Entra), endpoint protection (Defender), endpoint management (Intune), security information and event management (Sentinel), and compliance (Purview), among others.
In 2023, Microsoft introduced its Security Copilot set of AI analysis services that integrated with some of its existing security offerings. But a portal-based solution like Security Copilot doesn’t offer the kind of end-to-end coverage that an agentic security platform can, Gallot said.
The problem is that attackers are using agents, too. Customers need real-time insight into what’s happening in their environment, and the ability to act just as quickly, Gallot said.
Agentic security is about “taking the signals and turning them into a graph that is useful,” Gallot said. “If you’re trying to reason about 100 trillion signals, it’s not really effective.” The graph, she said, lets agents pick the right model for each threat and close the loop.
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In practice, that means the system can quarantine a device or revoke access on its own, for example, rather than waiting for a human.
Microsoft’s core existing security products will continue to play a role as the landscape evolves, both spotting the problems and acting on them. Security Copilot isn’t going away in the process: “You’ll have Copilot and you’ll have agentic security,” she said.
The company’s new Agent 365 “control plane” — a central console for tracking every AI agent a company runs — fits in by letting customers see the “blast radius” of an agent, meaning everything a hijacked agent could reach, Gallot said. It’s similar in concept to Zero Trust, the “never trust, always verify” security model that limited how far an attacker could get with a stolen employee login, but applied now to agents rather than people.
Traditional AI security and agentic AI security are fundamentally different, Microsoft says. Agentic security doesn’t just protect models and training data; it also can protect tools, workflows, memory, connected systems and more. Because agents can take action, the potential positive and negative stakes are higher.
While AI has helped businesses make strides in finding and fixing vulnerabilities, it hasn’t gone much beyond that. Microsoft introduced its multi-model agentic scanning harness (MDASH) as its first step into the agentic security space, Gallot said.
The company used MDASH internally to boost finding and fixing Windows security issues, and it is now making it available to select customers in an expanded preview. MDASH will allow customers to use the best model for the right task to secure all different types of code bases, she said.
Microsoft is rumored to be readying a more comprehensive agentic security offering, of which MDASH is likely just one piece.
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Microsoft is far from the only one doing this. AWS, Anthropic, and OpenAI are offering security tools on their platforms, and dedicated security vendors are building their own agentic platforms.
Microsoft has the advantage of scale in the enterprise. The question is whether Gallot and her new leadership team can turn that scale and emerging AI tools into both a bigger business for the company and better protection for its customers.
With temperatures rising across the planet, air conditioners are less of an option and more of a necessity in many cities. Add to that the increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves, and ACs now have to run for hours continuously during extreme weather.
Effective cooling systems won’t set you back too much, but just because it blows cold air doesn’t automatically make it safe. Despite stringent manufacturing protocols, even buying from the most reliable air conditioner brands doesn’t guarantee a lifetime of safe operation. Technical malfunctions in air conditioners can lead to a variety of concerning problems beyond simple cooling issues, like mold growth, fire, and burn hazards.
Units with more serious, widespread issues undergo recalls and are pulled from circulation. However, people, whether intentionally or unintentionally, might sell these products second-hand at flea markets and online resale platforms. In this article, we discuss five air conditioner models that have been recalled so you can steer clear of them. These models span window ACs, PTACs, and portables. All of these are confirmed Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalls, so look out for these models, especially when buying used.
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Midea U and U+ Window Air Conditioners
ZikG/Shutterstock
Midea’s U and U+ Window AC line spanned over 40 models and was sold under many brand names, including Frigidaire, Danby, Comfort Aire, and Keystone. The unique U-shaped design of the air conditioner allowed it to sit on the windowsill without eating up the entire frame.
For anyone comparing a window AC and mini split, Midea’s U-shaped lineup has become a popular alternative, running quietly and obstructing less of the window view than standard window units. The models were sold between 2020 and 2025 at major retailers like Home Depot, Costco, and Amazon. They were even rated Wirecutter’s top pick, bolstering their credibility.
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This AC model didn’t experience a mechanical failure, but its design didn’t facilitate quick drainage of water, creating conditions ripe for mold growth. There were at least 152 complaints to the company, with a few customers experiencing allergies, sore throats, and full-blown respiratory infections. Midea issued the full recall on June 5, 2025, pulling back around 1.7 million units.
The organization gave customers the option for a free repair or a full or partial refund, depending on the date of purchase. For buyers opting for a repair, Midea would send a technician to install a new drain plug or mail a DIY repair kit. If you’re a current owner or are planning to purchase this air conditioner second-hand, make sure to cross-check its model number on the official Midea U and U+ window AC recall site.
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Amana Packaged Terminal Air Conditioners/Heat Pumps with DigiAir
Tada Images/Shutterstock
You might not recognize the term PTAC, but you’ve seen air-conditioning units built into or under windows in hotels. Packaged terminal air conditioners are common in hotels and apartments, working independently of a central system to keep your room cool.
Since property owners or managers maintain these units, most guests wouldn’t consider that they’re unsafe. In this case, a huge line of PTACs from Amana had a major engineering flaw that made them an active fire hazard. This line of ACs eventually cost the manufacturer, Daikin Comfort Technologies (DCT), millions. These ACs were sold from May 2015 to January 2023, and they were equipped with DigiAir Modules — systems that bring in outdoor air to dehumidify. However, the compressors in these modules were prone to overheating and posed a fire or burn risk.
Starting in 2017, customers began filing warranty claims, and there were over a dozen fire reports and one injury due to smoke inhalation. Since DCT didn’t report this promptly to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it was slapped with an $8.5 million civil penalty and required to strengthen its compliance and submit annual compliance reports. Over 62,000 units were recalled in August 2023, and their model numbers start with PMC or PMH. If you’re an owner, visit the Amana PTAC DigiAir recall page to get help disabling the DigiAir compressor and getting a free technician visit.
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Royal Sovereign/Royal Centurian Portable Air Conditioners
Scharfsinn/Shutterstock
Easy on the wallet and easier to set up, portable air conditioners are great for targeted cooling. And when temperatures are at their peak, an inexpensive second-hand unit can feel like an oasis in the desert. However, some options shouldn’t be touched even with a 10-foot pole, like the Royal Sovereign (or Royal Centurian) portable air conditioners. Manufactured in China and imported by Royal Sovereign International in New Jersey, the affected lineup had seven models priced around $290. Over 33,000 units were sold from March 2008 to August 2014 at Costco, Amazon.com, Best Buy, and Home Depot.
The issue with these ACs was a defective drain motor that could ignite the unit’s plastic enclosure, posing a major fire and burn hazard. Worse than Daikin’s PTAC case, Royal Sovereign didn’t promptly notify the CPSC and misled it in 2010 by concealing active fire reports and falsely claiming it had discontinued the products. In 2016, a woman died from smoke inhalation and her two children were injured because their portable AC caught fire. The Department of Justice alleges that there were at least 42 fire reports by 2016.
Following a December 2021 recall, Royal Sovereign was fined $8 million in criminal fines and a $16.025 million civil penalty, the maximum authorized by the CPSA. The company, however, shuttered its consumer division and paid only $100,000 of the civil penalty. Current owners must stop using the unit and follow the instructions on the Royal Sovereign portable AC recall page.
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Goodman Packaged Terminal Air Conditioners/Heat Pumps (PTACs)
ZikG/Shutterstock
The Goodman PTAC/heat pump recall in March 2018 affected more than 530,000 units in the US and roughly 3,400 in Canada. These units were sold from January 2010 until February 2018 under four brand names — Goodman, Amana, York International, and Energy Knight. Distributed through Goodman Manufacturing’s dealers, these PTACs were commonly installed in hotels, schools, apartments, and commercial spaces, priced from $700 to $1,400.
The firm received nine reports of the units igniting, including one case of smoke inhalation requiring medical attention. The fault stemmed from the unit’s outdoor fan motor overheating, turning into a fire and burn hazard. Although this crisis was triggered by a design flaw, high temperatures can damage systems, making it important to identify warning signs that extreme heat is killing your AC.
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To correct the issue, Goodman sent consumers free repair kits, authorized technician support, and reached out directly to commercial owners to arrange free repairs. However, the safety hazard continued despite the 2018 recall because PTAC Crew and PTAC USA refurbished and resold some of these units, which were then recalled in 2021.
This failure wasn’t an isolated incident for the brand. Back in 2016, Goodman had already paid a $5.55 million penalty for failing to properly inform the CPSC about a different PTAC model’s power-cord fire hazard and for understating fire incidents. The official Goodman PTAC and heat pump recall page has more information regarding the 2018 recall models.
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Amana Window-Room-Air-Conditioners and Through-the-Wall ACs/Heat Pumps
Kevin Brine/Getty Images
The previous options in this list were spread across the past few years, but the Amana Window-Room-Air-Conditioners (WRAC) and Through-the-Wall (TTW) ACs and heat pumps were recalled just weeks ago on June 25, 2026. It was right at the start of the heatwave that’s impacting hundreds of millions of people, when demand for reliable air conditioning is especially high.
These ACs, ranging from $850 to $1,500, were sold from April to December in 2025 via HVAC dealers and direct sales. The affected units have model numbers starting with AE, AH, and PB, and they’re commonly installed in apartments, hotels, and commercial spaces. The safety concern with these models was that the heating element would remain active even after the device was turned off — nothing like the common problems with air conditioners. If an electrical fault occurred, the device would become a fire and burn hazard.
Over 13,000 units have been recalled, and as of July 2026, the company has reported a single case of plastic melting on the unit, but no injuries. Unfortunately, there’s no scope for repairing these models, and DCT has asked customers to stop using them immediately. Users are eligible for a full refund once they’ve shared an image of the AC with its cord cut and its serial number with DCT. You can find more information regarding these steps on the official Amana TTW & WRAC recall page.
Nearly 20 years ago (!), in 2007, I published my first and only book: Microsoft 2.0. It focused on changes I expected at the company in the “Post-Gates” era. What would remain the same and what likely would be different once co-founder and CEO Bill Gates had left the building?
CEO Satya Nadella has not exited the company (yet). But there’s no question that Microsoft and its mission have morphed considerably in the past year or two. I’m not quite ready to christen this the Microsoft 3.0 era, even though Nadella handed the reins of Microsoft’s dominant commercial business to Judson Althoff nearly a year ago.
That decision resulted in Nadella moving into more of a “founder mode” role, allowing him to focus less on the day-to-day work of running the business. (Microsoft historians may recall that Gates made a somewhat similar move back in 2000 when he became Microsoft’s chief software architect.)
While it might not yet be time for Microsoft 3.0, we arguably could be in the “Microsoft 2.5” era. Windows and Office are still around and still play a big role. Microsoft still builds and sells developer tools and databases. But there’s no question that the cloud and all things AI are at the top of the pecking order now.
I’m embarking on a series here at GeekWire that will focus on what matters to Microsoft and, by extension, to its customers, partners, investors, and employees these days. Who are some of the people shaping and leading the company? What are their opportunities and challenges right now?
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Over the next few weeks, I will be profiling various Microsoft execs working on plans for Microsoft’s ongoing evolution. Some are company veterans; some are newcomers. I’ll be talking with top execs from Microsoft’s Security, Copilot, Windows + Devices, Xbox, GitHub, and more.
I’m interested in their strategies for Microsoft’s key products and technologies and how they plan to try to turn Microsoft’s ambitious vision into reality. What are their teams building? What do they see as their biggest challenges and opportunities? And where do they see the technologies in their respective areas heading?
I feel like many of us who’ve been keeping track of the biggest tech companies (myself included) have fallen into the trap of blaming or attributing everything a company does to AI. Layoffs? AI is the culprit. Price increases? It’s all thanks to AI. Changing sales strategies? Chalk it up to AI …
But upon further reflection, I believe Microsoft’s strategy is more nuanced than “AI or bust.” There’s no question that Microsoft’s AI ambitions are shaping its goals and tactics. But Microsoft, as a heavily enterprise-focused entity, can’t simply stop supporting products that aren’t built from the ground up with AI (as much as it might like to do so). Nor can it just leave behind customers who aren’t 100% onboard with its AI moves.
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Couple those enterprise hurdles with some not-so-popular consumer decisions, like axing 3,200 people in the gaming unit, and Microsoft’s approach to turning the ship looks a lot trickier.
Our Microsoft 2.5 series kicks off Thursday. Stay tuned.
Before you ship your college kid back to campus, you might consider the quality of water coming out of their dorm or apartment taps. In partnership with ZeroWater, Culligan has released the first-ever ranking of US college towns based on tap water quality, grading the largest college towns in each state on a scale of A to F for lead and PFAS (“forever chemicals”). The timing is notable with back-to-school season approaching and water quality a growing concern for college-aged adults.
The Best Water Filter Pitchers, Tested by CNET
This year’s incoming class is shaping up to be the most health-conscious yet — nearly 30% of Gen Z and Millennials surveyed say wellness matters more to them now than it did a year ago.
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Results suggest most college towns have work to do
PFAS concerns: Roughly one-third of towns scored a “C” or worse on PFAS contamination.
Widespread water contamination: Nearly all college towns evaluated by Culligan — 92% — showed at least one harmful contaminant in their water supply. New York City was the sole town to receive an “F” for lead levels.
Alarming lead levels: Just 8 of the 50 college towns had water quality meeting EPA lead standards.
New York City has a reputation for having good water but got a failing grade in Culligan’s recent test.
Nearly 30% of Gen Z and millennials noted that wellness matters more to them this year than last, including water quality. The ranking gives incoming students a simple way to check what’s really coming out of the tap in their new college town and decide if some form of filtration is necessary.
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Why testing is important
A simple at-home testing kit from TapScore will illuminate exactly what’s lurking in your tap water.David Watsky/CNET
CNET spoke to a water-quality expert while testing countertop filters earlier this year. Dr. Eric Roy explained that the most harmful contaminants, including lead and PFAS, rarely affect the taste or smell of water, underscoring the importance of having your local water tested, especially if it comes from a well. TapScore is one of the leading at-home water quality services with lab testing for around $299.
Testing methodology
Culligan ZeroWater analyzed public water quality data for the largest university’s water system in each state (per 2024 IPEDS enrollment data), grading lead levels against the EPA’s 10 ppb action threshold and five PFAS chemicals (PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX) against UCMR5 monitoring data collected from 2023 to 2025.
David Watsky
Managing Editor / Home and Kitchen
David lives in Brooklyn where he’s spent more than a decade covering all things edible, including meal kit services, food subscriptions, kitchen tools and cooking tips.
David earned his BA from Northeastern and has toiled in nearly every aspect of the food business, including as a line cook in Rhode Island where he once made a steak sandwich for Lamar Odom.
Right now he’s likely somewhere stress-testing a blender or tinkering with a toaster. Anything with sesame is his all-time favorite food this week.
See full bio
Jensen Huang travelled to Monterey this week to give the US Navy a machine that most defence contractors would have had to sell it.
Nvidia’s founder helped commission a DGX GB300 AI supercomputer at the Naval Postgraduate School, the first system of its kind installed anywhere in the American military, and the company donated it rather than route it through a procurement contract.
The hardware is a single liquid-cooled rack that packs 72 Blackwell Ultra GPUs alongside 36 Grace CPUs, wired together as one memory domain and running Nvidia’s Mission Control orchestration software.
It is the rack-scale configuration Nvidia sells for inference and reasoning workloads, and by the standards of the DGX line it is the top of the range. NPS now runs what is, for the moment, the most powerful supercomputer the Pentagon has.
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One estimate put the value of the system at roughly $15m, though neither Nvidia nor the school confirmed a figure publicly.
The donation went to the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation rather than through a defence procurement contract, a route that sidesteps the usual competitive-bid machinery.
DDN, VAST Data, and Vertiv supplied the storage, data infrastructure, and cooling wrapped around the rack.
NPS is the Navy’s graduate research university, and the machine is meant for teaching and research rather than live operations.
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Faculty and students plan to point it at weather prediction, ocean modelling, cybersecurity, and disaster-response planning, and to build maritime digital twins through Nvidia’s Omniverse platform.
The school also wants to train its own foundation models, including an internal system it is reportedly calling NPS GPT for handling sensitive data.
The rack lands on a campus that stood up a dedicated AI research centre the previous year, so the compute arrives with somewhere to go.
The pull is partly in the resolution. Owen has described being able to forecast conditions for very localised operations rather than working from the coarse grids, roughly 50km across, that most models settle for.
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For a Navy that plans amphibious landings and small-boat movements around weather it cannot control, tighter prediction is not an abstraction.
“The question is not whether these technologies will exist,” said Captain Michael Owen, the school’s vice provost for warfare studies.
“The question is whether future military leaders understand them well enough to evaluate their limitations, apply them ethically and employ them responsibly.”
That framing matters, because unlike the Department of Defense’s existing supercomputing centres, which run operational workloads, the NPS system is pitched at research and innovation.
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The idea is to let the school refine the models that the wider joint force might one day depend on, rather than to fold the rack into day-to-day command.
Huang, who attended the commissioning alongside Admiral Samuel Paparo, the head of US Pacific Command, described AI as a coming “backbone of America’s defense.”
It is not an entirely neutral observation from the man whose company now supplies much of that backbone.
The event caps an arrangement that started quietly in December 2024, when NPS and Nvidia signed a cooperative research and development agreement.
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The Pentagon’s appetite for Nvidia silicon has grown conspicuously over the past year, and the company has spent much of that time selling similar systems to national governments.
The Monterey donation lands the hardware inside a military institution for the first time, which is a different kind of foothold.
A school full of serving officers is also, in effect, a training ground for the customers who will one day write the requirements.
Paparo told the audience that officers would increasingly command in settings where response times compress and advantage goes to whoever can act faster than an adversary.
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Vice Admiral Ann Rondeau, the school’s president, put the pitch more plainly. “Education remains our greatest strategic advantage,” she said.
Whether a rack of GPUs counts as education or as infrastructure is, for now, a question the Navy seems content to leave open.
The arrival of Samsung’s latest crop of foldable flagship and ultra-flagship devices came with a $100 price increase across the board. My reaction, perversely, was relief that the figure wasn’t higher, given how badly the AI bubble has severed the link between component pricing and value. My relief isn’t just for the wallets of my fellow consumers, but the health of the industry overall.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on the rumor mill, you’re expecting to see every major handset maker follow Samsung’s lead. Google is thought to be adding at least $100 onto the price of the new Pixel handsets. That wouldn’t be ideal, but if you care enough about getting a brand new phone and can afford it, it won’t be the end of the world. Especially if it’s split across the length of your contract, burying the bad news across the next 12 or 24 months.
Meanwhile, Apple’s outgoing CEO Tim Cook has already laid the groundwork for iPhones to get more expensive, too. Not long after uncharacteristically saying the company couldn’t hold prices at their current level, it bumped up the prices on almost all of its product lines. It doesn’t take a genius to know that similar rises will be applied to the new iPhones when they launch this fall.
There’s a wildtheory that Apple is going to split the launch of the iPhones 18 in two as part of this price strategy. It proposes that the (rumored) ultra-flagship iPhone Fold will debut alongside the more lucrative Pro models, with their higher price and higher markup, in the fall. Only after the holiday buying season would the regular iPhone 18 make its debut, perhaps alongside an even more “affordable” iPhone 18e.
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The industry-wide price rises have certainly been tough to swallow, and it’s clear it’s made a lot of people reconsider purchases. It’s not as if this is limited to the technology industry, either, as the US Department of Labor says the price of energy has risen by 15.7 percent in the last 12 months.
As budgets get stretched, it’s clear people are hoping to make do with what they’ve got.
There’s already hints that the rises are having a chilling effect. In May 2026, Valve withdrew the entry-level Steam Deck, which was priced at $399. The mid-range and premium tier models, meanwhile, saw their prices rise from $549 and $649 to $789 and $949, respectively. A BoilingSteam report believes the price increases caused sales of the popular gaming handheld to drop by a whopping 82 percent.
Similarly, 9to5Mac polled its readers on how the price rises would affect their behavior, with 38 percent saying they would hold onto their hardware for longer. Industry analysts IDC believe the rises will cause a hefty drop in sales across the rest of the year and across 2027. Similarly, it says the smartphone industry should expect to see a “record low” as the memory crunch bites.
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So while a $100 price increase certainly isn’t the gift we’d all like to see, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. It may just shake out that the monthly cost of all these phones, which was already more than some people would be willing to pay, is even more out of reach.
Ultrahuman is rolling out Emerald today, its biggest platform update in four years. If you own an Ultrahuman Ring Air, Ring Pro, or any of its other health devices, your app is about to look and feel very different.
What is UltraSphere, and why does it matter?
The big update is the UltraSphere, a decision engine Ultrahuman claims is a first for a smart ring. Instead of throwing another chart at you, it sits front and center on the home screen and hands out more than 60 Next Best Actions based on your sleep, recovery, HRV, stress, movement, and even glucose data if you use the M1 or M2 CGM.
Ultrahuman
These suggestions change depending on where you are, the weather, and your circadian rhythm, so a jet-lagged traveler and a new parent will not get the same advice. Examples Ultrahuman shared include a nudge to step outside soon after waking to reset your body clock, or a heads-up that caffeine past a certain point will mess with your sleep later.
Ultrahuman
Mohit Kumar, CEO of Ultrahuman, explained the thinking behind the shift. “All wearable trackers generate data. Data is empowering, but people need something more than a number, they want to know what to do. The Emerald Update is focused on making data actionable, adding layers of biointelligence that finally answer the question of so what with context and insight at every layer.”
What else changes with this update?
Ultrahuman is also adding an essential feature for frequent flyers and anyone stuck without signal. It can now process everything on the device, so your recovery score, stress rhythm, and Next Best Actions keep working with zero connectivity.
Ultrahuman
Workout tracking also gets an upgrade, with better automatic detection and heart rate accuracy validated against gold standard devices. If you prefer an Apple Watch, Garmin, WHOOP, or even AirPods Pro Gen 3 for workouts, you can now pair that data directly into the app instead of relying on the ring alone.
VO2 Max, one of the best predictors of long-term health, also got smarter. Ultrahuman says its updated algorithm lands within 5 mL per kg per min of real lab results, tested across more than 100 athletes.
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There is plenty more packed in too, including a new Longevity tab for markers like UltraAge and Brain Age, a Sleep Screener that bundles your nightly signals into one report, and the option to finally share cycle and ovulation data with a partner.
Should you update?
The Emerald update is rolling out globally starting today, so there is really no reason to skip it. What I like most is that none of this costs extra. It’s a free update, and it genuinely makes the whole experience feel better.
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