Tech

Are USB Flash Drives Still Worth Using In 2026?

Published

2 hours ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

A usb thumb drive with a lanyard attached to it, sitting on a keyboard

Ecbphotos/Getty Images

The humble flash drive has come a long way over the years, yet there’s no shortage of internet experts telling you to stop using them, or that there’s no need for them anymore. You’ve been told to throw them out and stop buying them; you’ve been told they’re obsolete, or have gone extinct. If that old story sounds familiar, it’s because it is — the same things were said about CDs and vinyl records. Neither of those formats ever died. Vinyl has been enjoying increased sales since 2008 and hit $1 billion in sales for the first time in history in 2025. CDs and other physical formats, despite never leaving, are also part of a bigger shift back towards physical media. There are still a surprising number of new cars that offer CD players.

I bring this up because it’s a recognizable pattern in technology — a new format will supersede and displace the last. CDs displaced vinyl, MP3s took over after CDs, and streaming now dominates everything. You can trace the same pattern throughout the history of computer storage, from magnetic tape all the way to cloud storage. While older USB flash drives have declined in use in favor of portable SSDs or cloud storage, flash-based storage has not disappeared. And just because you have some older flash drives lying around, that doesn’t mean they’re not worth using — unless they’re very old, to the tune of USB 1.x or USB 2.0, in which case you should probably opt for newer ones.

Despite being overshadowed by the cloud, Wi-Fi 6E/7, and wireless file sharing like AirDrop or Quick Share, flash drives refuse to die. That’s because certain use cases still make them worth using in 2026, and they still tend to be more portable than external SSDs.

Flash drives are dead; long live flash drives

A collection of several usb thumb drives of different colors, stacked on top of one another

Adrian Plitzco/Getty Images

The term flash drive in 2026 is murky; in the days of yore, before the advent of consumer SSDs, a flash drive only meant one thing, and that was the little thumb drive with an exposed USB-A connector. Nowadays, anything that uses NAND flash can technically be considered flash storage, although “USB flash drive” still usually refers to a small removable USB device. Just as HDDs have faded in use in favor of SSDs but still have their place, the same is true of flash drives.

In a world where everything is cloud-connected, powered by data centers, and requires user accounts, flash drives are the opposite — you plug them in, and they work. This makes them immune to the increasingly disruptive internet and cloud-service outages that can take down chunks of the web and the services that rely on it. Sometimes, simple is better. They are also reliable for large file transfers or one-time file transfers, especially in cases where internet service is slow or unreliable. Flash drives now come with USB 3.2 Gen 2 interfaces; certain flash drives can approach read-write speeds of 1,000 MB/s, which is several times faster than older USB 2.0 and 3.0 drives.

There is also the aspect of physical possession of local data, meaning the data isn’t sitting on a server where third parties have access to it. That data can also be shared or printed without having to upload or email it somewhere. USB drives are still handy for bootable OS media, so you can reformat and install an OS without an internet connection. You can also use USB drives for portable apps that you can use across different computers, without having to install them.

The line between flash drives and SSDs is becoming blurred

A laptop with an SSD plugged into it and a usb thumb drive sitting next to it, all on top of a wooden desk

Igorbondarenko/Getty Images

It needs to be said that in some cases, there is very little separating a flash drive from an external SSD — some flash drives are SSDs in all but name and form. In fact, there are a growing number of SSDs that are coming in the thumb drive form factor. Products like Adata SC750 and SK Hynix Tube T31 are actually SSDs that are roughly in the form of a USB stick. Many USB 3.2 Gen 2 flash drives now come in USB-C, but the presence of USB-C doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an SSD housed in a thumb drive. You can check out our picks for USB-C flash drives that are fast and worth the price.

The key differences that separate a flash drive from a proper SSD are usually the sophistication of the controller, the type and quality of flash used, and features like wear-leveling, which balances write activity across NAND cells and extends the drive’s longevity. Some SSDs also include DRAM cache. These are all things that a traditional USB thumb drive may not have or may implement in a much simpler form. With USB4 Version 2.0, we’re bound to see even more innovation in flash storage, but whether or not we can actually get USB4 Version 2.0 speeds in a flash drive remains to be seen.

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Computer maker Framework notifies ‘all customers’ of a data breach

Published

7 minutes ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Framework, a company that makes modular repairable computers, said it has notified all of its customers that hackers stole their names, email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses, due to an incident at a company that provides business intelligence.

On Thursday, several Framework customers said on social media that they had received an email from the company notifying them of the data breach.

Framework’s spokesperson Eric Schumacher told TechCrunch that the breach affected “all customers,” but declined to specify a specific number. Framework computers are relatively niche products, but some estimates say the company sold hundreds of thousands of devices.

According to the notification seen by TechCrunch, the company blamed the data breach on an upstream cyberattack at Metabase.

Metabase disclosed its own breach in a blog post on its official website, where it said that it was hacked by someone using an unknown security flaw, a so-called zero-day. The company said the hackers exploited the bug to give them the ability to access customers’ databases stored on Metabase’s cloud servers.

In its email to customers, Framework also included the email Metabase sent to the company, which says hackers accessed Framework’s cloud instance. The computer maker said it investigated the incident and found that hackers had stolen its customers’ personal data, but did not include their payment information.

Metabase did not respond to a request for comment.

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Tech

JerryRigEverything’s Passport-Style Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Survives the Full Treatment

Published

21 minutes ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

JerryRigEverything Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Durability Test
Zack Nelson has a habit of taking brand-new phones and treating them the way most people accidentally treat their everyday carry. This time the victim is Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8, the shorter, wider passport-style foldable that opens into a nearly square tablet. He runs the usual sequence of scratches, grit, open flame, and the dreaded opposite-direction bend. What emerges is another quietly tough Samsung folder that refuses to fold the wrong way for good.

The outer glass on this phone is Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3, and scratches begin to appear at a Mohs hardness level of 6, as they do on most current flagship phones. Its inner flexible display, which is still coated with a layer of plastic that cannot be avoided, scratches at a super-low level 2, the same rating that foldables have had for years. You’ll notice lines left by coins, keys, and even the edge of a fingernail. The good news is that Samsung will continue to replace the inside screen protector for free once each year. After that, it’s $19.99, and underneath the pixels is a titanium substrate that is meant to help straighten out the crease, but to be honest, it doesn’t help the plastic surface on top, which is always scratched.

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JerryRigEverything Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Durability Test
This phone has Advanced Armor aluminum framing, but the back is still glass. Now, the area around the dual 50 megapixel cameras is new, as it is constructed of plastic, which is unusual for a Samsung foldable device. If you ever need to change the lenses, you can easily take off the metal ring around them. There’s even a gasket in the SIM tray, which is nice to see given the IP48 rating. When you pour some dust on it and open and close it a few times, the majority of it stays out of the way, albeit some collects on the corner magnets, and the hinge continues to function normally.

JerryRigEverything Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Durability Test
The inside 7.6-inch display was irreparably damaged when he placed an open flame to it with a lighter, which occurred after around seven seconds. The 5.5-inch cover lasted around ten seconds before becoming dark and green, indicating that it was nearly done, although keep in mind that the titanium layer on the screen provides no effective heat protection.

JerryRigEverything Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Durability Test
When the phone is closed, it has almost no flex, and sitting on it in your pocket while folded is probably fine, but when you open it up and apply some serious pressure, the entire thing begins to bend. The glass back even lifts out of its frame, but nothing splits along the antenna lines, the screen remains intact, and the hinge holds together. Let go, and the back glass sort of reseats itself; the phone still folds shut and powers on normally. This is the first time a Samsung book-style foldable has passed this test, with the exception of the trifold, which was a one-off, and the bigger Fold 8.

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What Are The 5 OSHA Rules On Extension Cords?

Published

35 minutes ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Hand holds orange extension cord connected above grass

Poggensee/Shutterstock

It’s the duty of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure that any and all workplaces are as safe as realistically possible. This means being vigilant for any potential dangerous situations people could get into at the workplace, from the most dire electrical hazards to something as simple as tripping over an extension cord. Extension cords, in particular, have an entire subset of OSHA regulations to ensure they are used safely in a professional workplace.

Extension cords may be a convenient way to extend your outlets’ reach in an office, warehouse, or other workplace, but there are many common mistakes you could make with an extension cord that could have potentially deadly consequences. Following OSHA’s rules on this matter will not only ensure that you don’t get pinged during an inspection, it will also go a long way toward ensuring everyone stays safe and doesn’t get electrocuted on the job.

Extension cords can only be used as temporary wiring

A red extension cord plugged into an outdoor outlet.

Aliaksander Pakhuchy/Shutterstock

A common trap that many people fall into with extension cords is plugging them in once and then never taking them out. You have some device or heavy-duty appliance that you want to use, but it’s just a little too far from the outlet, so you plug it into an extension cord and forget about it. Unfortunately, this would be considered an OSHA violation.

As stated by OSHA’s electrical standards, extension cords are only permitted to be used as a temporary wiring solution for a maximum of 90 days. You can plug one in for a device that you’re actively using for work purposes, but as soon as you’re finished with whatever you’re doing, that extension cord needs to come out of the wall and be put away. Extension cords aren’t intended or rated to be part of permanent fixtures, and using them in that way isn’t considered safe.

If you need to use a device consistently, you need to either move it closer to an outlet, or give the electrician a call to install another outlet nearby. Incidentally, OSHA’s regulations also prohibit “daisy chaining” extension cords and power strips, or plugging one extension cord into another to increase its range. Extension cords are not rated to be safely used in this manner, so doing so would be a violation.

Extension cords must be kept in good repair

A frayed, damaged green extension cord wire.

Jj Gouin/Getty Images

This might seem a little obvious, but it’s worth stressing: OSHA regulations stipulate that all extension cords must be kept in a state of good repair. This means no obvious physical defects; no visible wearing on the cord, the plugs, or the insulation; and definitely no exposed internal wiring. Using an extension cord with any kind of physical damage or otherwise clear defect in any capacity is considered an OSHA violation.

In the event an extension cord is damaged or somehow hampered in its ability to function properly, it must be removed from active service. That cord cannot return to service until it has been professionally repaired and restored — and that means a full repair job, not just a few pieces of electrical tape. If the cord is not in a state where it can be adequately restored to full function, the only permissible option is to replace it entirely.

Extension cords must not be tripping hazards

An industrial worker tripping over an extension cord.

cunaplus/Shutterstock

One of the most pressing safety hazards that an extension cord can present, aside from electrocution caused by a damaged cord, is as a tripping hazard. You might think that, as long as you know where a cord is, it’s easy to avoid tripping over it. However, not only can you never know exactly where your feet are unless you’re staring at them, you can’t expect everyone around you to know about the cord’s existence and where it’s placed.

This is why, according to OSHA’s regulations, all extension cords, while in use, must be placed in such a way so as not to present either a tripping or slipping hazard. If you’ve got an extension cord clumsily snaking through a major footpath in the middle of your office, that’s an OSHA violation. Cords need to be moved out of the way and secured in such a fashion that they’re still visible and removable.

They can’t just be hidden under a heavy carpet or snaked into a wall, as both would be considered a fire hazard. If you absolutely have to have an extension cord passing through a footpath, it needs to be covered with a rubber protection panel, both to protect the cord itself and make it much harder to trip over.

Extension cords must not be placed in closing doorways

A worker working on a floor near an extension cord snaking through a doorway.

Picunique/Shutterstock

Tripping hazards aren’t the only reason to be conscious of where exactly you’re laying down your extension cords in your workplace. You also need to consider whether leaving it in a particular spot would cause it to regularly incur stress and damage. This is why, in a similar vein to OSHA’s regulations about not using extension cords in poor states of repair, you also can’t place an extension cord in a spot where it’s guaranteed to get damaged, specifically within a closing doorway.

It’s okay to place an extension cord in an open doorway without an actual closing door, so long as it’s secured in a way that it won’t be a tripping hazard. However, placing an extension cord in a closing doorway means that, every time you close the door, the top of the cord is going to get squished, scuffed, and otherwise gradually damaged. Remember, using damaged extension cords is prohibited, so placing an extension cord in a closing doorway is essentially one OSHA violation that’ll lead into a second OSHA violation.

Extension cords must be three-conductor grounding type

Three-pronged extension cords for sale in a hardware store.

ZikG/Shutterstock

In any workplace, though especially heavy-labor workplaces that make use of high-voltage equipment, it’s absolutely paramount that all possible measures are taken to prevent or reduce the likelihood of electrical shocks to workers. Naturally, these measures extend to extension cords, which is why OSHA’s regulations stipulate that any extension cords used in a professional environment must be of the three-pronged grounding type.

All OSHA-compliant extension cords use the three-wire format, ensuring that the cord itself is grounded while plugged in, and that the same goes for any tools, equipment, appliances, or devices as well. This helps to lower the risk of sudden electrical shocks while using an extension cord, not to mention the risk of potential damage to outlets and devices. The good news is that most high-quality extension cords use this connective format, though you should be careful when picking your extension cords to be certain. Using a two-pronged cord, besides being an OSHA-violation, will increase your risk of electrocution and electrical fires.

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Tech

A Falling Weight Just Broke the Sound Barrier with Tom Stanton’s Supersonic Trebuchet

Published

47 minutes ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Tom Stanton Supersonic Trebuchet
Tom Stanton has spent years chasing a number that gravity itself seemed to forbid. On a quiet field somewhere in the UK, a 40-kilogram mass dropped a short distance, spun a carbon-fiber arm past 2,300 revolutions per minute, and sent a 4-gram projectile into the air at 776 miles per hour. That is nine miles per hour past the speed of sound. For the first time, a purely gravity-powered trebuchet crossed the barrier.

Medieval engineers created these machines to fling huge stones at castle walls. The basic idea is to hoist a large heavy weight, let it fall down, and then use the lever and sling to redirect that energy into a much lighter projectile. Unfortunately, physics gets in the way. A weight in free fall accelerates at a maximum of 9.81 meters per second squared; drop one from 2 meters and it smacks into the ground at around 6 meters per second. No matter how heavy you make the weight, the speed remains constant, and a typical arm is like a car with a bike chain stuck in first gear, with lots of torque at first but just enough to get it moving by the end.

Tom Stanton Supersonic Trebuchet
Stanton devised a creative engineering solution to the speed problem. The counterweight is suspended from a pulley system with a 3:1 ratio, as a large diameter at the beginning propels the arm with plenty of force, and as it winds down, the smaller diameter end provides a significant jump in rotational speed. In the end, the drum was redesigned so that weight could be lifted up to 1.9 meters, storing more power in the system than previous iterations.

Tom Stanton Supersonic Trebuchet
The arm has to be both incredibly light and super rigid. Carbon fiber was really the only option because it isn’t heavy enough to weigh down the entire system while yet being able to withstand punishment. Stanton used his homemade CNC mill to carve the piece, keeping the dust under control with a HEPA vacuum and a good spray of water. It weighs only 116 grams. Stress tests and numerous defective 3D printed prototypes revealed that it would buckle under the sling’s pressure, so he modified the design to compensate, removed material from the tensioned side, toughened up the opposite side, and added some extra bracing for good measure. Aluminum hubs connect the arm to a short counter-arm, keeping the spinning bit as balanced as possible.

Tom Stanton Supersonic Trebuchet
The projectile now starts near the axle, wrapped firmly in a sling that unwraps at just the right moment. The entire system is mechanically released, using a spring-loaded catch that opens after a certain number of rope rotations. The release window is only a few milliseconds long, which is plenty of time to complete the task. Early iterations failed under stress, but the final pin-and-loop structure held up.

Tom Stanton Supersonic Trebuchet
Testing was carefully increased, and he began with a 10 kg weight. The modified aerodynamic arm reached a respectable 1248 rpm and launched at 394 mph with an incredible 43.7% efficiency. Twenty and thirty kilograms passed thru without a hitch. 40 kg, on the other hand, sped the arm to 2336 rpm and the missile to a blistering 716 mph, falling only 51 mph short of the magic barrier. The machine eventually snapped, and the clasp shattered beneath the weight of 50 kg. Stanton reduced the projectile weight to approximately 4 grams, changed the drum taper once more, and returned to the test area with the 40 kilogram setup.

Tom Stanton Supersonic Trebuchet
The final test is obviously the most important, since the arm spun up to 2342 rpm. Tip speed reached a staggering 274 mph. The high-speed footage was truly eye-opening, as the missile traveled 1.94 meters in 5.6 milliseconds. Crunching those statistics yields 346.4 meters per second, or a more than respectable 776 mph. To top it all off, there was a loud crack followed by a pleasant echo, confirming the sonic boom to everyone within earshot. Not one aspect of the machine came close to failing, or so we’d like to think.

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Xiaomi Sound Play review: a great-looking JBL rival, but it could sound a little better

Published

57 minutes ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Why you can trust TechRadar

We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Xiaomi Sound Play review

It turns out that major mobile manufacturer Xiaomi also makes Bluetooth speakers, and its latest model, the Xiaomi Sound Play, is aiming to deliver “immersive, powerful sound” as well as a “stylish and versatile” design.

But that’s not all. The tech giant is doing all of this while keeping its speaker nice and cheap. It comes in at just £49.90 (about $67 / AU$95) — which is refreshingly affordable for an 18W model with features such as smart lighting, Auracast, and IP68 waterproofing.

So can the Xiaomi Sound Play compete with some of the very best Bluetooth speakers around? The answer is a little more complicated than a simple yes or no.

Xiaomi Sound Play review: price & release date

Priced at £49.90 (about $67 / AU$95)
Launched in May 2026
Scheduled to release in Australia in August 2026

The Xiaomi Sound Play was launched in May 2026, at the same time as its recently released 17T series. The speaker is available for £49.90 (about $67 / AU$95) in the UK, although Xiaomi told me that there are no plans for a US release, and the speaker won’t be available in Australia until August 2026. It can be purchased in one of four colors — Black, Green, Purple, or White — via Xiaomi’s digital store.

Xiaomi Sound Play review: specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Weight	0.9lbs / 415g Advertisement
Dimensions	2.5 x 2.7 x 7.9 inches / 63.4 x 69.5 x 201.1mm
Connectivity	Bluetooth 6.0 Advertisement
Battery life	14 hours
Speaker drivers	1x 18W full-range Advertisement
Waterproofing	IP68

Button controls on the Xiaomi Sound Play — (Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Xiaomi Sound Play?

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Attribute Advertisement	Notes	Score
Features	Adjustable lighting, good battery life, but lack of app is a shame. Advertisement	3.5/5
Performance	Decently balanced audio with clear vocals, but lacks the depth and dynamism of some rivals.	3.5/5 Advertisement
Design	Infinity mirror and lights look great, neat color options, well protected against the elements.	4.5/5
Value Advertisement	Decent enough audio and great design at a very affordable price point.	4/5

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Xiaomi Sound Play review: also consider

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Header Cell – Column 0	Xiaomi Sound Play	Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4	JBL Go 5 Advertisement
Price	£49.90 (about $67 / AU$95)	$99.99 / £89.99 / AU$149	$54.95 / £39.99 (about AU$75) Advertisement
Weight	0.9lbs / 415g	0.9lbs / 420g	0.5lbs / 230g Advertisement
Dimensions	2.5 x 2.7 x 7.9 inches / 63.4 x 69.5 x 201.1mm	4.1 x 3.8 x 3.8 inches / 104 x 95.3 x 95.3mm	4 x 3.1 x 1.7 inches / 101 x 77.4 x 43mm Advertisement
Connectivity	Bluetooth 6.0	Bluetooth 5.2	Bluetooth 6.0, USB-C Advertisement
Battery life	14 hours	14 hours	10 hours (with PlayTime Boost) Advertisement
Speaker drivers	1x 18W full-range	2 x 40mm active drivers, 2 x 46.1×65.2mm passive radiators	1x 45mm full range Advertisement
Waterproofing	IP68	IP67	IP68 Advertisement

How I tested the Xiaomi Sound Play

Xiaomi Sound Play with red LED light active — (Image credit: Future)

I spent multiple days testing
Mainly streamed tunes via Tidal
Reviewed by someone who’s tested more than 50 Bluetooth speakers

I spent multiple days testing out the Xiaomi Sound Play, during which time I listened to countless tunes, exhausted its various features, and compared it against various rivals.

When listening to music I mainly streamed tracks over Tidal, but I dipped into Spotify from time to time as well. As always, I started out by sifting through the TechRadar reference playlist, which features songs from a wide variety of genres. I also listened to a ton of tunes from my personal library as well, though.

More generally, I’ve spent years reviewing audio gear here at TechRadar, and have tested a whole lot of Bluetooth speakers — more than 50 in fact. I’ve tried out everything from pocket-sized audio companions like the Bose SoundLink Micro Gen 2 through to luxurious large-sized alternatives like the Marshall Bromley 750, as well as Xiaomi Sound Play rivals like the JBL Grip, so I know exactly what it takes for a speaker to stand out in this highly competitive market.

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Interview: Zoner Studio on skipping AI photo editing gimmicks

Published

1 hour ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

I’ve been a fan of Zoner Studio since first reviewing it in 2025 – it’s a fusion of Lightroom and Photoshop-style tools for photographers, with some compelling advantages over both.

My team recently re-reviewed the photo editing and organizing software, complete with its big summer updates roll-out, where it earned an even higher score for 2026 (read our Zoner Studio review).

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Watch British Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP for FREE: Live streams

Published

1 hour ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

The 2026 MotoGP season returns from its summer break as a fascinating riders’ championship battle resumes at Silverstone, the home of UK motorsport, for the British Grand Prix 2026.

Just 24 points separates the top five riders in the standings, with 2024 champion Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) leading SuperFile Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura by 14. However, the duo will be nervously looking over their shoulders after seven-time world champion Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) roared back into contention with three wins in the past four grands prix having recovered from a fractured foot. He is only 18 points off the summit, while Martin’s Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi is a further four adrift with Fabio Di Giannantonio of Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing in fifth following a consistent first half of the season.

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RPCS3 – Sony PlayStation 3 Emulator Download Free – 0.0.42-19699

Published

2 hours ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

RPCS3 is a multi-platform open-source Sony PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger written in C++ for Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD. The purpose of the project is to completely and accurately emulate the Sony PlayStation 3 Computer Entertainment System in its entirety with the power of open-source community and reverse engineering.

Our goal is to preserve the legacy of the PlayStation 3 hardware and its vast library by bringing it and its exclusives to the PC platform. We want to achieve this by targeting and supporting multiple operating systems as well as being compatible with a wide range of computer hardware with realistic requirements.

What input devices can I use with RPCS3?

We currently support keyboard / mouse inputs and native DualShock 3, DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers. We plan to add additional input methods in the future as we implement more meaningful features to the emulator.

What PlayStation 3 peripherals can I use with RPCS3?

We currently have support for the PlayStation Eye Camera, however PlayStation 3 Move controller support is still under development.

Can I just insert a PlayStation 3 game disc and start playing games?

In its current state, RPCS3 does not support reading game data directly from PlayStation 3 format discs. PlayStation 3 discs are formatted in a very special way that can only be read with an actual PlayStation 3 system, or a compatible Blu-ray drive from select manufacturers. For more information on what Blu-ray drives are capable of reading games, please refer to the Quickstart Guide.

Where do I get PlayStation 3 games and software?

Typically, you want to dump your own PlayStation 3 games and software from your own console. We believe that this is the most efficient and safest way to migrate your disc-based games and digital games from your console to your PC.

You can also dump games using select compatible Blu-ray drives. Not every Blu-ray drive will recognize PlayStation 3 games due to how data is formatted on the disc. For more information on what Blu-ray drives are capable of reading games, please refer to the Quickstart Guide.

RPCS3 uses the GNU General Public License Version 2 (June 1991). According to the license, you are welcome to use RPCS3 and its source code for any purpose, but distributing RPCS3 requires that the source code be released and attribution given. For more details on how the GNU General Public License system works, please refer to GNU.org

High Resolution Rendering

One of the most anticipated features has just been added to RPCS3! High resolution rendering allows users to play at resolutions far exceeding what the PS3 could handle. If you thought your favourite PS3 games were starting to look a bit dated, just wait until you get to experience them in up to 10k! Although, we doubt many users will have the setup necessary to benefit from 10k today, emulation is all about preserving for tomorrow.

Performance

Rendering a modern PC game in high resolutions such as 4k, while beautiful, is quite taxing on your hardware and there is often a massive hit in performance. However, since most of the workload for RPCS3 is on the CPU and GPU usage is low, there is a lot of untapped performance just waiting to be used. All processing is done CPU side, and as far as the GPU is concerned it is simply rendering 2006 era graphics (yes, the PS3 is 11 years old now). We’re happy to report that anyone with a dedicated graphics card that has Vulkan support can expect identical performance at 4k.

Anisotropic Filtering (AF)

High resolution support wasn’t the only thing that was added in this update! Another reason for such a massive upgrade in visual fidelity is having full 16x AF support. This greatly improves how textures can look, especially when viewed at an angle. Take a look at the below screenshots of Ni no Kuni as an example of the default AF vs forced 16x. The difference is especially noticeable on the ground inside the gate.

RPCS3 Compatibility List

These are the current compatible games that have been tested with the emulator. This list is subject to change frequently.

What’s New

Remove duplicated code in VKShaderInterpreter.cpp by @digant73 in #18832
Add “Enable Mouse-based Gyro” setting to I/O config by @Windsurf7 in #18835
SPU LLVM: Use 128-bit SVE2 for FMS by @Whatcookie in #18837
SPU LLVM: Idiomatic FSM implementation for ARM64 by @Whatcookie in #18806
SPU LLVM: SVE multiply optimizations (ARM) by @Whatcookie in #18789
vk: Autogrow descriptor pools based on demand by @kd-11 in #18844
Initialize rtmidi async by @Megamouse in #18843
Make FFB direction encoding for emulated G27 configurable by @ZerNico in #18776
usb_device: present wii instruments as PS3 instruments by @sanjay900 in #18796
SPU LLVM: Use I8MM for GBH and GBB by @Whatcookie in #18833
Update Submodules by @Megamouse in #18840
HOTFIX: JIT/AArch64: advertise +i8mm to the LLVM target machine by @Rad0van in #18846
SPU LLVM: Use TBL for AArch64 ROTQBY shuffles by @Whatcookie in #18818
cellAudio: fix _mxr000 surmixer event-queue key constant by @Rad0van in #18850
RSX: Add hardware spin_wait helper, use it in flush requests by @Whatcookie in #18830
rsx: Handle mipmap sampling edge case when SNORM emulation is active by @kd-11 in #18860
cellAudio: Fix _mxr000 event queue hack by @elad335 in #18857
SPU/PPU: Implement PPU reservation priority over SPUs by @elad335 in #18854
rsx: Use mip0 resolution scale when computing mipmap scaling factors by @kd-11 in #18866
Qt: Add exit game shortcut by @Megamouse in #18869
SaveStates: Fix lv2_timer serialization by @elad335 in #18878
ffmpeg: remove directshow backend by @Megamouse in #18879
Fix drag & drop of files on main window by @digant73 in #18885
gui: Move download database actions from game list to Manage -> Database submenu by @Vishrut2403 in #18870
rsxaudio: fix some VS warnings by @Megamouse in #18886
gui: Play preview videos on row selection, not just hover by @thephilcoulson in #18721
Use more std::move by @Megamouse in #18868
Add integrity check to PSN Content, DLC and Game Update files by @digant73 in #18669
Fix visual studio projects by @Megamouse in #18889
Do not throw on hex_to_bytes error in iso get_key by @Megamouse in #18891
Optimise PNGs across the repo by @Chubercik in #18831
Use more std::string_view (Part 1) by @Megamouse in #18890
gl: Maintenance fixes by @kd-11 in #18874
Use opengl renderer in game window title by @Megamouse in #18895
Use more fmt::split_sv by @Megamouse in #18898
Stop playing gamelist movies when the window loses focus by @Megamouse in #18899
Use more std::string_view (Part 2) by @Megamouse in #18901
[SPU] Optimize CLZ on targets without AVX512 by @WalterKruger in #18900
sys_rsx: Fix IOMAP syscalls argument types by @elad335 in #18909
Fix std::string_view regressions by @Megamouse in #18908
Qt: use readable strings for window visibility in gui settings by @Megamouse in #18907
[macOS] Update runners to OS 15, raise minimum deployment target accordingly by @schm1dtmac in #18897
Add user agent to curl requests by @Megamouse in #18912
[SPU] Calculate FRSQEST exponent using arithmetic by @WalterKruger in #18905
Add missing sanity check in savedata_op by @Megamouse in #18918
Update pugixml to 1.16 by @Megamouse in #18904
fix double path delimiter by @digant73 in #18923
Use more std::string_view (Part 3) by @Megamouse in #18903
[SPU LLVM] Calculate FREST fraction using vperm2d for AVX512 by @WalterKruger in #18931
SPU Analyzer: Giga Block Crash Fix for Skylanders Giants by @chotchki in #18935
SPU LLVM: Use SVE2 XAR for constant rotates by @Whatcookie in #18849
[SPU LLVM] Refactor SHUFB to improve readability by @WalterKruger in #18937
Update wolfssl to 5.9.2 by @Megamouse in #18946
Update 7zip to 26.02 by @Megamouse in #18947
[SPU LLVM] Additional SHUFB splat/special-index fast paths by @WalterKruger in #18945
emulated turntable: allow to map motion sensors by @Megamouse in #18958
Add more motion control mappings to turntable and ghltar by @Megamouse in #18961
Fix consteval read_from_ptr and add sanity checks if possible by @Megamouse in #18963
Propagate src_loc in write_to_ptr and read_from_ptr by @Megamouse in #18967
SPU Precompilation: Add support for unaligned segments by @elad335 in #18968
Fix TTY UTF-8 logging by @Megamouse in #18969
settings: Default async with shader interpreter with no shader compilation hint by @AniLeo in #18956
Fix cellKb when using key modifiers on linux by @Megamouse in #18938
macOS: DJ Hero Turntable support (deck buttons, passthrough conflict) by @silvatyrant in #18957
Fix out of bounds read in Dimensions by @Megamouse in #18972
cellSysmodule implementation by @capriots in #18962
[SPU ASMJIT] Vectorized 16-bit variable shifts for SSE2 targets by @WalterKruger in #18911
SPU LLVM: Use ARM USHL for masked infinite shifts by @Whatcookie in #18816
PPU LLVM: Fix core_lock locking by @elad335 in #18774
SPU: Comparisons via multiplications for ARM, checksums via absolute difference, and rolled loops by @Whatcookie in #18824
Fallback unsupported database SPU decoder on ARM64 by @cicerohellmann in #18651
sysinfo.cpp: Relax TSC calibration constraints by @elad335 in #17909
cellSysmodule: fixup by @capriots in #18977
Fix VSH on ARM64: Memory management fixes by @elad335 in #18707
cellSysmodule: fixup (part 2) by @capriots in #18978
Move unsafe raw pointer write_to_ptr and read_from_ptr to write_to_ptr_unsafe and read_from_ptr_unsafe by @Megamouse in #18975
Update Submodules by @Megamouse in #18980
Extra logging for GUI notifications by @RipleyTom in #18988
input: fix arrow key mapping roundtrip on macOS ARM by @Icnopandaz in #18920
Bump global savestate version by @capriots in #18989
VK: fix video_out_calibration_pass::get_fragment_inputs by @Megamouse in #18952
Add OpenCV 5 Support by @hcorion in #18998
Update fusion to 1.3.0 by @Megamouse in #19008
Update curl to 8.21.0 by @Megamouse in #18943
Fix PS1 classics shortcuts by @Megamouse in #19012
[SPU LLVM] Refactor SELB to improve readability by @WalterKruger in #19002
[SPU ASMJIT] Optimize xfloat compares and multiply by @WalterKruger in #19025
IDM: Optimize search for concurrency by @elad335 in #19027
sys_fs: Fix ENOTDIR check for paths ending with /dot or /dotdot by @elad335 in #19028
Update fusion to 1.3.1 by @Megamouse in #19030
PPU LLVM: Optimize vector NaN handling for AVX512 by @Yahfz in #19033
PPU LLVM: Optimize vector denormal handling for AVX512 by @Yahfz in #19034
[SPU LLVM] Replace constant float checks with LLVM’s KnownFPClass analysis by @WalterKruger in #19043
PPU LLVM: Accelerates NJ handling in FTZ environment by @elad335 in #19040
metainfo: Update screenshot preview by @AniLeo in #19044
qt: Fix save manager crash when deleting multiple entries by @ProtoJay4789 in #19019
Revert SPU Reduced Loop Optimizations to fix Arm64 regressions by @elad335 in #18979
SPU: Revert LQX/STQX reduction by @elad335 in #19050
[SPU LLVM] Use select in FMA to shorten its dependency chain by @WalterKruger in #19052
pad settings: Fix for clearing bindings by @Megamouse in #19054
Add more info to VFS exceptions by @Megamouse in #19055
[macOS] Update to the latest MoltenVK 1.4.2 prebuilt by @schm1dtmac in #19059
atomic: Fix BSD compilation by @AniLeo in #19061
LLVM: Improve v128 constant extraction by @elad335 in #19064
Fix: get_known_bits fix by @RipleyTom in #19051
cli: allow to boot last savestate of a game by @Megamouse in #19067
Qt: add guest memory dump utility by @canersaka in #19068
Qt: move guest memory dump code to own class by @Megamouse in #19070
rsx: Clean up the shader interpreters by @kd-11 in #19084
Update llvm to 22.1.8 by @Megamouse in #16807
rsxfp/interpreter – Implement missing texture functionality by @kd-11 in #19090
Fix package install failure warning message by @Megamouse in #19096
Fix recording encoder selection by @Megamouse in #19063
Fix DLC installation by @Megamouse in #19097
SPU/ARM64: Fix PS1 classics and RawSPU Games by @elad335 in #19088
vk: remove unused setting by @Megamouse in #19099
Replace some abort() calls with fmt::throw_exception by @Megamouse in #19094
Remove outdated LLVM ifdefs by @Megamouse in #19092
Fix value assignment in iota16 by @isztldav in #19105
Fix 1st regression on black textures in Sonic Generations by @digant73 in #19091
Add game invite handling to friends overlay #18417 by @primetime43 in #19108
UI/UX: Add Categories Broken and Completed to Filter Game List by @Darkhost1999 in #19106
add missing vids and pids for wii MPA devices by @sanjay900 in #19111
Allow to skip empty strings in fmt::merge by @Megamouse in #19110
rsx: Implement proper fix for incomplete image reconstruction in the texture cache when WCB is disabled by @kd-11 in #19104
rsx: Fix interpreter error spam due to incorrect format lookup by @kd-11 in #19113
ci/bsd: Update FreeBSD to 14.4, use LLVM 22 while keeping clang-devel by @AniLeo in #19116
rsx: fix some msvc warnings by @Megamouse in #19115
[SPU LLVM] Shorten FI’s dependency chain and fix SNaN clamping issue by @WalterKruger in #19107
ci/bsd: Compile with clang 22 by @AniLeo in #19119
overlay: Add trophy list sorting options by @Vishrut2403 in #18965
rpcs3_version: Bump to 0.0.42 by @AniLeo in #19121

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AI agents are part of your team now. Here’s how to secure all of them.

Published

2 hours ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Presented by JumpCloud

A practical framework for securing every identity in the modern workforce, human or not.

Your organization already has a rigorous process for governing human identities. New employees go through onboarding. They get a role, a set of entitlements, and a named manager accountable for their access. When they leave, their credentials are revoked and access is terminated. It’s a well known IT process: every workforce identity that can access your systems needs to be known, scoped, and accountable from the moment they enter your world, to the moment they are off-boarded.

AI agents are now operating inside those same systems. They access Salesforce, create tickets in Jira, provision infrastructure, process financial transactions, and communicate on behalf of your teams. In every meaningful sense they are members of your workforce, except that in most organizations they were never onboarded, have no named owner, and have no offboarding process when their purpose expires.

JumpCloud’s Q3 2026 research found that non-human identities now outnumber human users in 83% of organizations, and only 21% have implemented governance controls specifically for them. The framework below is designed to close that gap.

Stage 1: Discover every agent operating in your environment

Governance starts with an accurate inventory, and most organizations are working with an incomplete one. AI agents are being deployed by product teams, operations leaders, and individual contributors who have both the tools and the motivation to move fast. IT inherits the governance responsibility after the fact, often without knowing the full scope of what has been deployed.

Shadow AI is the practical consequence: agents operating across production environments with no formal record, no defined owner, and no systematic way to stop them if something goes wrong. Discovering your agent population is an ongoing practice, not a one-time audit. Build an inventory across every environment where agents could be running: cloud platforms, managed devices, SaaS integrations, and on-premise systems. For each agent, document what it can access, what workflows it influences, and what triggers its actions. That inventory is the foundation everything else in this framework depends on.

Stage 2: Register every agent as a formal identity with a named owner

Every agent that operates in your environment should exist as a formal identity in your directory, with the same basic attributes you assign to any employee: a defined purpose, a scope of authorized action, and a named human owner who is accountable for its behavior.

This is the architectural decision that separates organizations that can govern their agents from those that cannot. Agents registered as proper identities can be assigned entitlements, subjected to conditional access policies, and included in access reviews. Agents that exist only as service account workarounds or API keys in environment variables are ungovernable by any systematic means.

Registration is also the mechanism for addressing Zombie Agents: agents that outlived their original purpose but kept running, kept accessing systems, and kept accumulating permissions. When every agent has a named owner responsible for its renewal, agents without active ownership naturally lose their access when that ownership lapses. The offboarding happens as a consequence of process rather than as a reactive cleanup after something breaks.

Stage 3: Manage agent access with least privilege and zero standing credentials

Registered agents need access to do their jobs. The governing principle for that access is least privilege: each agent should have entitlements scoped precisely to what its defined purpose requires, with access that is time-bounded wherever possible and revocable immediately if the agent’s behavior changes.

Standing credentials in environment variables are a persistent liability. Static API keys that never rotate are a persistent liability. In practice, managing agent access securely means issuing just-in-time credentials for privileged operations, building approval workflows that require human sign-off before agents reach sensitive systems, and maintaining emergency shutdown mechanisms that work at the speed the situation requires.

For agents that need access to privileged web applications, SSH servers, or databases, credential shielding is an additional requirement: the agent should be able to complete its task without the underlying credentials ever being exposed to the model running it. Every privileged session should be recorded and available for audit.

Stage 4: Govern agent behavior continuously, not just at deployment

The first three stages establish the controls. Governance is what keeps them current. It is the ongoing practice of verifying that what agents are actually doing matches what they are authorized to do, and course-correcting when those diverge.

Every agent action should be logged. Access reviews should happen on a regular cadence, evaluating whether each agent’s entitlements remain appropriate for its current purpose. When an agent’s behavior deviates from its defined scope, the anomaly should be detectable before it becomes an incident. When an agent’s purpose ends, access revocation should be a procedural step, not a reactive measure triggered by something going wrong.

Governance also means maintaining the audit trail needed to answer accountability questions: what did this agent access, what actions did it take, who authorized it, and what was the outcome? Organizations that cannot reconstruct that chain for any given agent are not governing their agents in any meaningful sense. They have deployed them and hoped for the best.

The foundation underneath all four stages

Each stage of this framework becomes significantly harder to execute when the underlying IT environment is fragmented. Identity, access, device management, and security controls spread across disconnected systems create the gaps where agent governance falls through, and organizations end up applying different policies in different places rather than consistent governance everywhere.

JumpCloud’s research found that organizations operating in fully unified IT environments are five times more likely to deploy agents in business-critical workflows than those running fragmented stacks. Whether the control layer is coherent enough to apply consistent policies across humans, devices, and agents simultaneously is what determines whether governance scales with AI adoption or lags behind it.

This is the core premise of Agentic IAM: that governing humans, devices, and agents through a single coherent control layer is what makes the framework above executable at scale rather than aspirational.

Securing every identity, human or not, is the operational foundation that makes AI safe to scale. Organizations that build it now will not just reduce risk. They will expand AI into more workflows, move faster, and do it with the confidence that comes from knowing every identity in their environment is known, governed, and accountable.

JumpCloud’s Q3 2026 IT Trends Research report (n=800 IT leaders, US + UK) is available here. The Agentic IAM lifecycle framework referenced in this article was developed by JumpCloud and is available here.

Greg Keller is CTO and Co-founder at JumpCloud.

Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.

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Microsoft tosses Teams Live chat into its feature graveyard

Published

2 hours ago

9 August 2026

NewsAdmin

APPLICATIONS

Website support widget lasted 18 months before Redmond ended the conversation

Microsoft is killing Live chat in Teams about 18 months after launch as it seeks to “focus investments on newer customer engagement and communication experiences.”

The service will be retired on October 5, when customer messages will stop reaching Teams. Microsoft blocked new setups on August 6 and told users to remove the widget from their websites before retirement. Any remaining instances will be hidden afterward.

Live chat was a relatively simple feature available with the Teams versions of Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, and Premium. Companies embedded a chat widget on their websites, and messages from visitors were routed to a support team in Teams. Administrators could specify business hours and assign up to 25 users to handle conversations.

Existing customer data and Teams channels will remain available, but no new conversations, escalations, or interactions will be possible.

Microsoft pointed customers toward Dynamics 365 Contact Center with Live Chat and Copilot Studio’s contact center AI tools instead.

In March 2025, it was all going to be very different as Microsoft trumpeted the service’s arrival. Brenna Robinson, General Manager, Microsoft 365 & Copilot, Small and Medium Business, wrote: “Today we’re excited to take that customer experience to a new level with the introduction of live chat in Microsoft Teams – a faster and more engaging way for you to connect with your customers.”

Robinson has since become Microsoft’s General Manager for AI Business Solutions. Live chat, meanwhile, has been wheeled into the Raiders of the Lost Ark-style warehouse where Microsoft stores everything that once seemed like a good idea.

Microsoft has axed several Teams services over the last few months. In February, it announced the end of Teams live events, replaced by a Teams “events experience.” The Teams Together mode, which placed users in a virtual meeting space, was also ditched.

Live chat is another casualty of Microsoft’s efforts to tidy Teams’ unwieldy collection of features. The company has not elaborated on those “newer customer engagement and communication experiences,” although its recommendation of Copilot Studio means AI is already waiting in the wings. ®

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