In a headphone market crowded with plastic shells and predictable tuning, Dongguan-based brand SIVGA continues to carve out its niche the old-fashioned way with real wood and old-school wired design. The new SV021 Pro arrives at $179 with handcrafted wooden earcups, a closed-back architecture, and a promise of premium aesthetics without the usual boutique markup.
But in a category where looks can only get you so far, the real question is whether SIVGA’s latest budget-friendly over-ear delivers the sonic performance to match its striking build, or if it’s simply another pretty face in a very competitive field.
Driver Technology
Inside each earcup of the SV021 Pro sits a 50mm dynamic driver developed specifically for this model rather than pulled from a generic parts bin. SIVGA states that considerable in-house tuning and material research went into its design.
The diaphragm uses a five-layer aluminum composite construction, intended to balance rigidity with controlled damping. In practical terms, a stiffer diaphragm can improve transient response and clarity, while proper damping helps prevent unwanted resonance that can blur detail.
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Driving the diaphragm is an ultra-fine black copper-clad aluminum voice coil. This type of voice coil is commonly used to reduce moving mass while maintaining conductivity, which can improve efficiency and responsiveness. SIVGA also claims benefits to perceived resolution and micro-detail retrieval.
The driver assembly itself is mounted within a six-layer reinforced composite housing, engineered to minimize unwanted vibration and reduce distortion by improving structural stability and energy transfer.
The technical story sounds promising on paper. Whether that engineering translates into real-world sonic performance is something best judged in listening — which we’ll dive into next.
Design & Comfort
Before getting to the sound, it’s worth spending a moment on design and comfort because this is an area where SIVGA has built a strong reputation. With the SV021 Pro, the brand continues that tradition. At $179, the overall build quality and material selection feel well above what you typically expect at this price point.
Our review sample came in the lighter beechwood finish. The fine grain pattern is clearly visible and gives the headphones an authentically handcrafted character rather than a synthetic “wood look.” For those who prefer something darker and more understated, SIVGA also offers a zebrawood version, which delivers a similarly premium aesthetic with a subtler visual impact. Whichever finish you choose, the attention to detail in the woodwork stands out immediately.
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The structural components including the headband frame, yokes, and adjustment rails, are constructed from CNC-machined metal. This manufacturing process allows for tight tolerances and consistent precision, contributing to a solid, confidence-inspiring feel. The headphones never come across as fragile or delicate. While I didn’t test their durability with an accidental drop, they feel robust enough to handle normal daily use without anxiety.
Comfort is another area where the SV021 Pro performs well. At 289 grams, it’s relatively lightweight for a full-size closed-back design, and that lower mass pays dividends during longer listening sessions. The earpads are generously padded and notably soft, allowing the headphones to sit securely without creating pressure hotspots. On the head, they largely “disappear,” which is exactly what you want from a daily-use wired model.
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The velour contact surfaces are also a smart choice. They feel gentle against the skin and do a good job of managing heat buildup, reducing that sweaty, sealed-in sensation that can occur with synthetic leather pads — especially in warmer environments.
There is one ergonomic limitation worth noting: the yokes do not swivel. For some listeners, a lack of horizontal articulation can affect how well the earcups conform to the jawline and head shape. In my case, the depth and plushness of the earpads compensated effectively, creating a consistent seal without issue. That said, fit is personal, and those with narrower or more angular head shapes may want to be aware of this design decision.
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SIVGA SV021 Pro (Beechwood)
SIVGA includes a 1.6-meter detachable cable with the SV021 Pro, and it’s noticeably better than the generic rubber leads often bundled at this price. The supplied cable uses a quad-braided design with a fabric outer sheath, giving it a more premium feel while also helping to minimize microphonics. In daily use, it resists kinks and doesn’t retain awkward bends, which makes it easy to manage at a desk or in a portable setup.
The stock termination is 3.5mm single-ended, which will suit most users and devices. That said, those running balanced outputs from modern portable DAC/amps may wish SIVGA had offered a 4.4mm option in the box. Fortunately, the detachable design makes aftermarket upgrades straightforward.
Also included are a simple hemp storage pouch and a 6.35mm adapter for use with full-size amplifiers. With accessories covered, it’s time to focus on what matters most: how the SV021 Pro actually sounds.
Listening
On paper and certainly in the hand, the SV021 Pro checks a lot of boxes. It looks distinctive, feels premium for $179, and remains comfortable over long sessions.
Where things become more complicated is in its tuning.
In practice, the sonic presentation comes across as uneven, with balance issues that are immediately noticeable. Within the first few minutes of listening to familiar reference tracks, it became clear that something was not quite aligned. The frequency response does not feel cohesively voiced, and certain areas of the spectrum draw attention to themselves in ways that disrupt overall musicality.
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That is somewhat surprising given SIVGA’s track record. The brand has demonstrated competent tuning before, and its sister company, Sendy Audio, recently impressed us with the Egret, a model that showed careful tonal balance and refinement. By comparison, the SV021 Pro feels less resolved in its final voicing decisions.
Let us break things down by frequency range, starting with the bass.
Bass
In the low frequencies, the SV021 Pro takes a decidedly heavy handed approach. The bass is elevated to the point where it becomes dominant, introducing bloom that spills into the lower midrange and softens overall clarity.
There is certainly an audience for this kind of presentation. Listeners who prioritize impact over precision may enjoy the added weight, especially with bass driven genres such as drum and bass or electronic music where a strong low end can create a more physical and immersive experience.
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The trade off is control. The excess warmth masks finer details and reduces separation between instruments. Male vocals are particularly affected, often sounding pushed back in the mix. On tracks like “Papaoutai” by Stromae, his voice loses immediacy and presence, as if it is positioned behind the instrumental layer rather than anchored at the forefront where it belongs.
Midrange
By contrast, the midrange feels recessed. There is a noticeable dip through the central vocal region that robs instruments and voices of density and presence. As a result, guitars lack crunch, pianos lose harmonic richness, and vocals struggle to anchor the mix.
The overall impression is one of distance and diffusion. Instead of sounding centered and tangible, the mids come across as washed out, with reduced impact and body. The tonal imbalance between the elevated bass and pulled back midrange makes the presentation feel hollow rather than cohesive. Even casual listeners are likely to sense that the tuning does not sound quite right, as the core of the music lacks the weight and immediacy that define a natural sounding headphone.
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Treble
The frequency response does recover somewhat as it moves into the upper midrange and lower treble. Female vocals cut through the mix with more clarity than male baritones, benefiting from the added energy in this region. There is a greater sense of articulation here, which helps prevent the presentation from sounding completely veiled.
However, that lift continues into the lower treble where it becomes problematic. A noticeable glare is introduced, adding sharpness that can turn strident at moderate to higher volumes. Over time, this emphasis contributes to listening fatigue rather than engagement.
Brass instruments in particular highlight the issue. On “Careless Whisper” by George Michael, the iconic saxophone line carries more bite than body, making the track sound harsher and more fatiguing than intended. Instead of smooth, sultry texture, the upper register leans toward edge and glare, which further reinforces the uneven tonal balance of the SV021 Pro.
Technicalities & Soundstaging
There is a sense that the underlying hardware in the SV021 Pro is capable of more than what its final tuning allows. The custom 50mm drivers appear technically competent, but the chosen sound signature limits their ability to showcase resolution and balance.
The elevated bass does more than just mask fine detail. It also compresses the perceived space, leading to a narrower soundstage and less precise imaging. Instruments tend to cluster rather than occupy clearly defined positions, which reduces layering and separation. While closed back headphones rarely deliver expansive staging, there is still a baseline expectation for coherence and placement that is not fully met here.
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In direct comparison, models such as the FiiO FT1 and Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X present a more balanced frequency response with stronger spatial performance. Both offer better control in the low end and more convincing imaging, allowing them to sound more open and organized despite operating within the same closed back category.
Drivability
With a rated sensitivity of 106dB/mW and an impedance of 45 ohms, the SV021 Pro is very easy to drive. In practice, it reaches high listening levels straight from a standard smartphone headphone jack without strain. There is no requirement for a dedicated amplifier to achieve adequate volume.
Using external sources does bring incremental improvements. Paired with dongle DACs and a desktop chain consisting of the SMSL DO400 and Aune S17 Pro, the presentation gained slight refinement in control and clarity. However, the changes were subtle rather than transformative. Given the headphone’s accessible price point, investing in higher end source equipment does not materially alter its core tuning characteristics. The fundamental tonal imbalance remains, and additional amplification cannot meaningfully correct it.
The SIVGA SV021 Pro are available in Beechwood (left) or Zebrawood (right)
The Bottom Line
The SV021 Pro is a frustrating release because so much of it is done right. The wood earcups look fantastic, the CNC machined metal frame feels durable and confidence inspiring, the cable is better than most at this price, and long term comfort is genuinely impressive. At 289 grams with plush velour pads, it is easy to wear for hours. From a design and build perspective, this is one of the more premium feeling options under $200.
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Unfortunately, none of that offsets the tuning. The elevated and bloated bass, recessed midrange, and glare in the lower treble combine to create an uneven and fatiguing presentation. Detail retrieval is masked, vocals lack natural body, and spatial performance suffers as a result. No amount of better amplification meaningfully corrects the core imbalance. That is the deal breaker.
SIVGA has proven it can voice headphones well in the past, which makes this outcome more disappointing. At $179, there are closed back alternatives that deliver a more cohesive and accurate sound signature. When sound quality is the primary metric, as it should be with any headphone, the SV021 Pro falls short. For that reason, it is difficult to recommend despite its undeniable strengths in design and comfort.
Pros:
Custom 50mm dynamic drivers with multi layer aluminum composite diaphragm and lightweight voice coil design
Genuine beechwood or zebrawood earcups with solid CNC machined metal frame give a premium look and feel for the price
Lightweight 289 g construction with plush velour pads delivers excellent long term comfort
Elevated bass response adds strong impact for electronic, hip hop, and other bass driven genres
Cons:
No swivel in the yokes may affect fit and seal for some head shapes
Uneven tuning with boosted bass, recessed midrange, and pronounced lower treble glare reduces tonal balance and realism
Congested staging and less precise imaging compared to similarly priced closed back competitors
Entering SKALA codes during RBMK operation. (Credit: Pripyat-Film studio)
Running a nuclear power plant isn’t an easy task, even with the level of automation available to a 1980s Soviet RBMK reactor. In their continuing efforts to build a full-sized, functional replica of an RBMK control room as at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant – retired in the early 2000s – the [Chornobyl Family] channel has now moved on to the SKALA system.
Previously we saw how they replicated the visually very striking control panel for the reactor core, with its many buttons and status lights. SKALA is essentially the industrial control system, with multiple V-3M processor racks (‘frames’), each with 20k 24-bit words of RAM. Although less powerful than a PDP-11, its task was to gather all the sensor information and process them in real-time, which was done in dedicated racks.
Output from SKALA’s DREG program were also the last messages from the doomed #4 reactor. Unfortunately an industrial control system can only do so much if its operators have opted to disable every single safety feature. By the time the accident unfolded, the hardware was unable to even keep up with the rapid changes, and not all sensor information could even be recorded on the high-speed drum printer or RTA-80 teletypes, leaving gaps in our knowledge of the accident.
(Credit: Chornobyl Family, YouTube)
Setting up a genuine RTA-80 teletype is still one of the goals, but these old systems are not easy to use. Same with the original software that ran on these V-3M computer frames, which was loaded from paper tape (the ‘library’), including the aforementioned DREG program. This process creates executable code that is put on magnetic tapes, with magnetic tape also used for storage.
(Credit: Chornobyl Family, YouTube)
The workings of the SKALA system and its individual programs including KRV, DREG and PRIZMA are explained in the video, each having its own focus on a part of the RBMK reactor’s status and overall health. Interacting with SKALA occurs via a special keyboard, on which the operator enters command codes to change e.g. set points, with parameters encoded in this code.
Using this method, RBMK operators can set and request values, with parameters and any error codes displayed on a dedicated display. There is also the Mnemonic Display for the SKALA system which provides feedback to the operator on the status of the SKALA system, including any faults.
Although to many people the control system of a power plant is just the control room, with its many confusing buttons, switches, lights and displays, there is actually a lot more to it, with systems SKALA and its associated hardware an often overlooked aspect. It’s great to see this kind of knowledge being preserved, and even poured into a physical model that simulates the experience of using the system.
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The long-lived nature of nuclear power reactors means that even today 1960s and 1970s-era industrial automation system are still in active use, but once the final reactor goes offline – or is modernized during refurbishing – a lot of the institutional knowledge of these systems tends to vanish and with it a big part of history.
The State Department wants US diplomats to fight data localization around the world. The policy position is correct. It’s just that the messenger has spent the last few months systematically destroying every reason anyone might listen.
In the State Department cable, dated February 18 and signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the agency said such laws would “disrupt global data flows, increase costs and cybersecurity risks, limit Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud services, and expand government control in ways that can undermine civil liberties and enable censorship.”
The cable said the Trump administration was pushing for “a more assertive international data policy” and that diplomats should “counter unnecessarily burdensome regulations, such as data localization mandates.”
Now, if you’ve been reading Techdirt for any length of time, you know we’ve long been critical of data localization mandates. They really are bad for the internet. They fracture the global internet into national fiefdoms. They raise costs. They can actually weaken cybersecurity by forcing data onto local infrastructure that may be less secure. And in authoritarian or semi-authoritarian countries, data localization is often a thinly veiled mechanism for government surveillance and control of information. Requiring that data stay within a country’s borders makes it a whole lot easier for that country’s government to demand access to it.
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So on the merits, the policy position described in the cable is basically correct. Data sovereignty mandates do tend to hurt the open internet, and the US pushing back on them has, historically, been a genuinely good thing for global internet freedom. Indeed, the US State Department has a long history of pushing back on such efforts.
But the US already blew its credibility on this issue before this administration even took office. Remember the TikTok ban? That was a bipartisan effort—both Trump and Biden supported it—to do the exact same “data sovereignty” nonsense we’re now telling other countries not to do.
While the justification kept changing depending on the day and who you talked to, many of its supporters (including those in the Supreme Court who blessed that travesty) insisted that it was perfectly legitimate to force a “data localization” plan on TikTok because “ooh, scary foreigners shouldn’t have American data.” Literally this was the Supreme Court’s conclusion:
But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.
So both parties, both of the last two presidents, and the entirety of the Supreme Court announced to the world “it’s totally fine to force a foreign company to not just be required to hold data locally, but even to be forced to sell off local operations to a favored oligarch.”
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That alone would make this diplomatic push awkward. But let’s talk about why it lands as completely absurd right now.
The reason data sovereignty initiatives have been “gathering pace,” as Reuters puts it, is in no small part because of the behavior of this very administration. Countries—and especially our allies in Europe—are rushing to build digital walls because the US government has spent the last few months torching every alliance, cozying up to dictators, kicking off arbitrary trade wars, and generally making it abundantly clear that it has zero respect for the norms, rules, or institutions that underpin international cooperation.
You cannot spend your days insulting and threatening your closest allies, engaging in wildly protectionist trade policies, and signaling to the world that no agreement or partnership is safe from your whims, and then turn around and demand that those same allies keep the data pipeline wide open for American tech companies.
This would be like setting your neighbor’s house on fire and then asking to borrow their garden hose. And everyone sees exactly what’s happening:
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Bert Hubert, a Dutch cloud computing expert and former member of the board that regulates the Dutch intelligence services, said Europe’s increasing wariness of America’s tech companies may be spurring Washington to take a more aggressive tack.
“Where the previous administration attempted to woo European customers, the current one is demanding that Europeans disregard their own data privacy regulations that could hinder American business,” he said.
And then there’s what the cable actually reveals about its real motivations. The cable reportedly frames data sovereignty as a threat to “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud services,” which is a pretty revealing tell. It strips away any pretense that this is about internet freedom or civil liberties. What it actually says is: “American AI companies need access to your citizens’ data to train their models, and we’d appreciate it if you’d stop putting up barriers to that.”
This is the diplomatic equivalent of saying the quiet part loud. The US isn’t making a principled argument about the open internet here. It’s making a commercial demand dressed up in freedom rhetoric. And that’s not exactly a compelling pitch to countries that are already worried about the dominance of US tech firms and the lack of meaningful privacy protections in the US.
The cable also takes a swipe at the GDPR specifically, calling it an example of “unnecessarily burdensome data processing restrictions.” Look, the GDPR has plenty of problems and we’ve written about many of them. But when the US government is publicly calling Europe’s flagship privacy law a burden it wants to fight, while simultaneously offering no credible privacy framework of its own, it’s hard to see how that’s going to win hearts and minds.
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Meanwhile, Rubio has also been ordering diplomats to fight against the EU’s Digital Services Act, and the US reportedly wants to set up a portal to help Europeans “bypass” content moderation rules around hate speech and terrorist content.
So the diplomatic message from the US to Europe is currently: ignore your privacy laws, ignore your content moderation laws, give our companies access to your data for AI training, and also we might slap tariffs on you tomorrow. Good luck getting anyone to take the “open internet” pitch seriously after that.
The deeply frustrating thing about all of this is that there really is a strong case to be made against data localization. The open, global internet has been one of the most powerful engines of innovation, communication, and human rights in history, and fragmenting it into national data silos is genuinely dangerous. But making that case requires credibility. It requires being the kind of partner that other countries can trust with their citizens’ data. It requires demonstrating, through your own behavior, that you believe in the rule of law, in stable institutions, and in respecting the sovereignty of your allies even while you advocate for open data flows.
Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore’s 2013 Foreign Affairs piece on “The End of Hypocrisy” keeps proving prescient. A huge part of America’s moral power around the world resulted from the clear hypocrisy between America’s stated values and the ones we repeatedly failed to uphold. But it was a convenient myth that we could pretend to hold the moral high ground, and use that as a form of soft power to demand better of others. That falls apart entirely with administrations like Trump’s, where the idea of soft power, or even the moral high ground, is seen as woke nonsense. The Trump administration refuses to understand the power of that myth.
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But now it’s gone. And that has a real cost: the policy position in Rubio’s cable is exactly right. The US should be pushing back on problematic data localization and “data sovereignty” laws. They’re bad for the open internet and good for local surveillance. This is an argument worth making—and we’ve surrendered the ability to make it credibly at precisely the moment it most needs to be made.
Foreign diplomats aren’t stupid. They can see that we demanded TikTok localize or divest while telling them localization is bad. They can see that we’re attacking their privacy laws while offering nothing in return. They can see that we’re framing this as “freedom” while the cable itself reveals it’s about feeding data to American AI companies. The policy is correct. The hypocrisy is total. And the result is that we’ve handed every country in the world a perfectly reasonable justification to ignore us.
The ballot also includes nominees for delegate-elect/director-elect offices submitted by division and region nominating committees, as well as IEEE Technical Activities vice president-elect; IEEE-USA president-elect; and IEEE Standards Association board of governors members-at-large.
Those elected take office on 1 January 2027.
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IEEE members who want to run for an office, except for IEEE president-elect, who have not been nominated, must submit their petition intention to the IEEE Board of Directors by 1 April. Petitions should be sent to the IEEE Corporate Governance staff at elections@ieee.org. The petition intention deadline for IEEE president-elect was 31 December.
Election Updates
Regional elections will also take place. Eligible voting members in IEEE Region 1 (Northeastern U.S.) and Region 2 (Eastern U.S.) will elect the future IEEE Region 2 delegate-elect/director-elect (Eastern and Northeastern U.S.) for the 2027—2028 term. Members in the future IEEE Region 10 (North Asia) will elect the IEEE Region 10 delegate-elect/director-elect for the same term. These changes reflect IEEE’s upcoming region realignment, as outlined in The Institute’s September 2024 article, “How Region Realignment Will Impact IEEE Elections.”
Beginning this year, only professional members will be eligible to vote in IEEE’s annual election or sign related petitions. Ballots will be created for eligible voting members on record as of 31 March. To ensure voting eligibility, all members should review and update their contact information and communication preferences by that date.
To support sustainability initiatives, the “Candidate Biographies and Statements” booklet will no longer be available in print. Members can access the candidate biographies and statements within their electronic ballot, view them on the annual election website, or download the digital booklet. Members are also encouraged to vote electronically.
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For more information about the offices up for election, the process for getting on the annual ballot, and deadlines, visit the website or email elections@ieee.org.
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It will help if you’re a basketball fan, at least for the answer to 1-Down. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Security researchers say a highly sophisticated iPhone exploitation toolkit dubbed “Coruna,” which possibly originated from a U.S. government contractor, has spread from suspected Russian espionage operations to crypto-stealing criminal campaigns. Apple has patched the exploited vulnerabilities in newer iOS versions, but tens of thousands of devices may have already been compromised. An anonymous reader quotes an excerpt from Wired’s report: Security researchers at Google on Tuesday released a report describing what they’re calling “Coruna,” a highly sophisticated iPhone hacking toolkit that includes five complete hacking techniques capable of bypassing all the defenses of an iPhone to silently install malware on a device when it visits a website containing the exploitation code. In total, Coruna takes advantage of 23 distinct vulnerabilities in iOS, a rare collection of hacking components that suggests it was created by a well-resourced, likely state-sponsored group of hackers.
In fact, Google traces components of Coruna to hacking techniques it spotted in use in February of last year and attributed to what it describes only as a “customer of a surveillance company.” Then, five months later, Google says a more complete version of Coruna reappeared in what appears to have been an espionage campaign carried out by a suspected Russian spy group, which hid the hacking code in a common visitor-counting component of Ukrainian websites. Finally, Google spotted Coruna in use yet again in what seems to have been a purely profit-focused hacking campaign, infecting Chinese-language crypto and gambling sites to deliver malware that steals victims cryptocurrency.
Conspicuously absent from Google’s report is any mention of who the original surveillance company “customer” that deployed Coruna may have been. But the mobile security company iVerify, which also analyzed a version of Coruna it obtained from one of the infected Chinese sites, suggests the code may well have started life as a hacking kit built for or purchased by the US government. Google and iVerify both note that Coruna contains multiple components previously used in a hacking operation known as “Triangulation” that was discovered targeting Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky in 2023, which the Russian government claimed was the work of the NSA. (The US government didn’t respond to Russia’s claim.)
Coruna’s code also appears to have been originally written by English-speaking coders, notes iVerify’s cofounder Rocky Cole. “It’s highly sophisticated, took millions of dollars to develop, and it bears the hallmarks of other modules that have been publicly attributed to the US government,” Cole tells WIRED. “This is the first example we’ve seen of very likely US government tools — based on what the code is telling us — spinning out of control and being used by both our adversaries and cybercriminal groups.” Regardless of Coruna’s origin, Google warns that a highly valuable and rare hacking toolkit appears to have traveled through a series of unlikely hands, and now exists in the wild where it could still be adopted — or adapted — by any hacker group seeking to target iPhone users. “How this proliferation occurred is unclear, but suggests an active market for ‘second hand’ zero-day exploits,” Google’s report reads. “Beyond these identified exploits, multiple threat actors have now acquired advanced exploitation techniques that can be re-used and modified with newly identified vulnerabilities.”
Apple CarPlay is quite useful for techie drivers who want to use their iPhones for navigation, entertainment, and other tasks while driving. But even though this car interface is designed to reduce distractions and let you focus more on your driving, the fact that you have to take one hand off the steering wheel and your eyes off the road to manipulate it can be dangerous at times.
That’s why you should turn on Apple CarPlay voice commands. To do so, you need to go to CarPlay’s settings (when you’re parked), choose Accessibility, scroll down to Physical and Motor, and then turn on Voice Control. You’ll also find the ability to change CarPlay’s text size in this menu, which is one of the useful CarPlay features most users miss out on. After you’ve turned on Voice Control, you should see its icon appear under the signal bar on the left side of your display.
There are quite a few commands available, but we’re listing the most useful ones we found and now use daily. So, if you want additional convenience without compromising on safety, here are some of the Apple CarPlay voice commands you need to start using.
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Stop or start listening
Jowi Morales/SlashGear
While voice control is convenient if you’re driving alone, it might become an issue if you have a passenger and want to enjoy a conversation. So, if you want Apple CarPlay to stop listening to you and mistake your words for commands, you can simply make it stop by saying, “Stop Listening.” When it registers this command, the Voice Control icon will gray out and will have a slash running through it.
Once you’ve dropped off your passenger or if you want to make some changes on your car’s infotainment screen, you can just say, “Start Listening.” This will cause the Voice Control icon to revert back to its original color, and CarPlay will be ready to receive your commands again.
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Note that these commands only work on the Apple CarPlay system, so it does not automatically mute the microphone in your car. So, telling Apple CarPlay to “Stop Listening” will not stop the other party from hearing you if you’re on a call. Aside from that, CarPlay will still respond to voice commands, even if you mute the speakers.
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Open app
Jowi Morales/SlashGear
This is one of the most useful voice commands on Apple CarPlay, as it lets you quickly open the app that you want without having to swipe through the home screen. This is especially great if you’ve installed some of the best CarPlay apps but don’t want to take your eyes off the road just to look for them on your car’s infotainment display.
This command is pretty simple to use — all you need to do is say Open “name of app.” For example, if you’re tired of listening to Apple Podcasts and want to play your favorite Spotify playlist instead, you can just say “Open Spotify,” and it will then pull up your playlists. You can also say “Open Calendar” while you’re driving home to ensure that you’re not forgetting anything on your schedule. Personally, I use Voice Control to launch my smart home app from my car by saying “Open SmartLife” as I approach my neighborhood. That way, I can just tap on the scenes I’ve set up to turn on my air conditioning units and arrive to a cool home.
The only downside to this is that it sometimes has trouble recognizing complicated app names. For example, it readily understands when I say “Open Maps” or “Open Brave.” But when I asked it to “Open SpotHero” or “Open OnTheWay,” it refused to respond.
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Pan directions
Jowi Morales/SlashGear
You still need to use Siri if you want to set a destination on your preferred navigation app and avoid traffic jams and accidents. But once you’re on your way and want to see what the traffic is like several miles ahead without dragging your finger along the map, you can instead say “Pan Left,” “Pan Right,” “Pan Down,” or “Pan Up.” This is particularly useful if you find yourself in a traffic jam and you’re deciding between taking that longer alternative route that your navigation app has ignored so far or sticking with its recommended path instead.
Apple has also introduced other commands for using your navigation app with your voice, like “Zoom In,” “Zoom Out,” or “Route Overview.” Unfortunately, I tried all these other commands on Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Waze, and none of them worked — they only recognized the “Pan” voice commands that I issued. This is a bummer, especially as all these other commands are quite useful, but I guess we’ll have to wait for further updates to iOS before they work properly (or maybe I need a new iPhone).
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Siri
Jowi Morales/SlashGear
Many modern vehicles have a button on the steering wheel that will activate your phone’s voice assistant, whether you’re using Android or iOS. However, if you retrofitted your older vehicle with an Apple CarPlay or Android Auto screen, which is one of the cool car gadgets you can get from Amazon, you will not have this option — you’ll have to extend your hand to press and hold the home or apps icon on the touchscreen, making it a bit more inconvenient to call up Siri.
But with Voice Control turned on, you can just say “Siri” and the trusty Apple voice assistant will instantly pop up on your display. You can then use it to ask for directions, play a track that just popped into your memory, call saved contacts, or even open your garage door if you’ve set up home automation. This makes it one of the CarPlay features you should definitely check out after updating to iOS 26.
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Swipe left or right
Jowi Morales/SlashGear
No, the “swipe left” and “swipe right” voice commands do not let you pick or reject potential dates on Tinder. Instead, they allow you to move between screens when you’re on the CarPlay home screen. This command is particularly useful if you use CarPlay widgets, which Apple introduced in iOS 26.
There are some CarPlay widgets that are surprisingly useful, like Dynamic Lyrics for Carpool Karaoke. But if you find yourself lost and need to check directions, you can just say “Swipe Left” to go back to the main view and see your map, destination, and now playing song, instead of swiping your finger across the display. And when you want to return to the widgets view, you can just say “Swipe Right,” and CarPlay will take you back to the song lyrics (or whatever widget you were last viewing).
It is often much easier to just swipe your finger across the screen, but this command is still a convenient backup for those who don’t want to take their hands off the steering wheel. More importantly, some car brands, like Mazda, deactivate the touchscreen function while you’re driving, meaning this will be the only option you have if you want to change screens without touching the command control dial.
Need to fill up the tank but don’t want to drain the wallet in the process? You might want to think about hitting the gas station on Sundays, at least in 2026. That’s according to a new nationwide analysis from GasBuddy, which found that Sunday is the cheapest day of the week to buy gas in most of America. Remember: That’s most, not all. Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wyoming are all exceptions to the rule.
Another trend that remains true for much of the country: From coast to coast, prices typically climb higher during the middle of the week. And even though there are some exceptions to this data, as well, there’s a single fact that applies to every single one of these 50 states: Per their findings, Sunday is no state’s worst day to fill up. Saturday’s the best in Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wyoming, while Tuesday’s the best in Montana alone.
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How GasBuddy was able to narrow down the data
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The discount fill-up app’s report looked at daily statewide average gas prices over the past year and pinpointed the most consistent weekday pricing patterns. Across much of America, it looks like prices start going up on Monday, peak around midweek, and start going back down again heading into the weekend. That’s a steady weekly rhythm most of us can depend on. In most states, the difference between the lowest-priced day and the most expensive one can be anywhere from 4 to 9 cents per gallon. For motorists filling a standard 12- to 16-gallon tank, that difference is going to add up over time.
Most of us know to expect some modest fluctuations in gas prices from week to week. However, according to GasBuddy, some states actually experience much more dramatic price swings than others. It’s due to a pattern known as price cycling, and it’s most prevalent in states like Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and some West Coast areas. There, prices often spike much more sharply on a given day before gradually declining over the next several days. In these places, the difference between the highest and lowest points in a weekly cycle can be way more dramatic: as much as 15 to 45 cents per gallon. Don’t forget that gas prices always add an extra 9/10 of a cent to add insult to injury.
The multinational Dutch paint company AkzoNobel has confirmed to BleepingComputer that hackers breached the network of one of its U.S. sites.
Following a data leak from the Anubis ransomware gang, a company spokesperson said that the intrusion has been contained and that the impact is limited.
“AkzoNobel has identified a security incident at one of our sites in the United States. The incident was limited to the respective site and was already contained,” the company told BleepingComputer.
“The impact is limited, and we are taking the appropriate steps to notify and support impacted parties, and will work closely with relevant authorities.”
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AkzoNobel is a major paints and coatings company with 35,000 employees. It has an annual revenue exceeding $12 billion and active operations in over 150 countries. Brands under its corporate umbrella include Dulux, Sikkens, International, and Interpon.
Anubis ransomware claims to have stolen from AkzoNobel 170GB of data, almost 170,000 files, and leaked on its leak site samples that include screenshots of select documents and a list of the stolen files.
AkzoNobel entry on the Anubis ransomware site Source: BleepingComputer
The published data contains confidential agreements with high-profile clients, email addresses and phone numbers, private email correspondence, passport scans, material testing documents, and internal technical specification sheets.
At the time of writing, the Anubis leak is only partial. AkzoNobel did not share with BleepingComputer any information on whether it engaged with the threat actor.
Anubis is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation that launched in December 2024, offering affiliates 80% of the paid ransoms.
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In February 2025, the operators launched an affiliate program on the RAMP forum, boosting its activity and influence in the cybercrime space.
In June the same year, Anubis added to its arsenal a data wiper that destroys the victim’s files to make recovery impossible.
Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.
Download our analysis of 1.1 million malicious samples to uncover the top 10 techniques and see if your security stack is blinded.
The administration has burnt the “presumption of regularity” to a crispness normally reserved for conquered bridges succumbing to heat death. It is now well known that the Trump administration will do whatever it wants to do, whether or not it’s supported by law. And when the courts push back, the administration responds with implicit “fuck you’s” or explicit verbal attacks on the judiciary.
The administration isn’t playing with a full deck, albeit not in the way that phrase is normally understood. Normally, it would mean the administration is batshit crazy. And it is! But its insanity isn’t of the pro-se-complainant-arguing-flag-fringe-merits variety. It’s the other thing: the refusal to respect court rulings it disagrees with. Ever.
The courts are sick of this refusal to respect a co-equal government branch. Hundreds of cases handled by dozens of judges have resulted in adverse rulings against the Trump administration. And yet, the administration refuses to stop doing the things hundreds of rulings have stated it can’t do.
It’s never been a regional thing (Fifth Circuit explicitly excluded). These are not the efforts of judges in “liberal” states who have been appointed by Democratic Party presidents. This is universal.
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West Virginia, a state where Trump secured 70% of the votes in the last presidential election, is now poised to hand his masked ICE goons a significant loss. In one of thousands of similar habeas corpus cases filed around the nation following Trump’s racist anti-brown people surge, a federal judge has said he’s seen enough to move forward with contempt hearings and possible fines for government officials. (h/t Kyle Cheney)
The plaintiff is a Honduras native who was arrested by ICE and immediately sent to a detention facility one state over. This is something ICE does regularly, for the obvious reason of making it more difficult for detainees to challenge their detention. Since cases need to be filed wherever the person is detained, keeping arrestees in a state of perpetual motion makes this almost impossible.
But Miguel Izaguirre managed to get his case to court before he was moved again. That kept ICE from sending him to another detention center in another, possibly ICE-friendlier state (I’m glaring at you, Fifth Circuit).
Izaguirre’s allegations resemble those of most ICE detainees: he was denied his due process rights despite being arrested for a mere civil violation. The government has refused (probably because it doesn’t have it) to provide anything supporting it’s claim that Izaguirre must remain incarcerated while his civil case plays out in court.
[T[he Government stated that it had “carefully reviewed the pending petition and determined that the same or substantially similar issues arise in the case at bar.” [ECF No. 16- 1, at 2]. The Government further confirmed that it would not offer evidence beyond the documents attached to its response, nor would it offer any witnesses.
Since the government doesn’t actually have anything to offer in support of violating this detainee’s due process rights, the court gets right to the point:
For the reasons explained and analyzed in previous cases before this court and this district, I will once again FIND: First, the court has jurisdiction. Petitioner does not challenge an immigration proceeding or decision that would bar this court’s jurisdiction. Second, Petitioner is not “seeking admission” into the country, and the discretionary detention of 8 U.S.C. § 1226 applies to him. Third, Petitioner’s due process rights have been violated. Despite facing no criminal charge, Petitioner sits in the local jail with no hearing to determine his custody. There is no evidence in the record that Petitioner is a danger to the community or a flight risk, and there is sufficient evidence that he has community ties. Still, he has been afforded no hearing. This violates his due process rights.
Immediate release is the only appropriate remedy. Where detention has been found unlawful and no constitutionally adequate bond hearing has been provided, continued custody cannot stand.
Simply stated, but with some spite. The court makes it clear this is symptomatic of Trump’s anti-migrant efforts — something familiar enough that the court knows it needs to go further than just simply ordering the release of yet another migrant whose rights have been violated.
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It’s something this court has seen multiple times in one week.
This case is one of 17 immigration habeas petitions assigned to the court this week. According to the Government, the detention of these Petitioners is “mandatory” under 8 U.S.C. §1225, and regardless of the constitutional defects, the federal district courts lack jurisdiction over these claims—an argument unanimously rejected in this district.
A flood of cases alleging similar violations of rights would be irritating enough. But the government absolutely refuses to abide by rulings issued in several similar cases. (Emphasis in the original.)
In 15 of the cases, Petitioners challenge their continued unlawful detention resulting from an arrest occurring on or after February 12, 2026.
The court then cites three previous rulings on similar cases, in which federal judges not only ruled they had jurisdiction to handle these cases, but that this mandatory detention violated detainees’ due process rights. All of those occurred prior to February 12. Judge Joseph Goodwin is sick of it.
But on February 12, 14, 17, 18, 21, and 22, 2026, the Government arrested noncitizens already in the interior of the United States. Today, the Government continues to wrongfully detain those petitioners without due process. Even now the Government incredulously asserts that the federal district courts do not have jurisdiction, that petitioners cannot raise due process violations, and that the Government has authority to mandatorily and indefinitely detain noncitizens in the local jail.
The Government is wrong. Judges in this district have said that over and over and over again. I have said it myself.
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And that’s where Judge Goodwin invites the government to fuck around and find out, including the subservient local boys who are far too anxious to help ICE violate people’s rights:
This Memorandum Opinion and Order serves as explicit notice to all officials—state and federal—involved in the detention of individuals whose cases come before this court.
Continued detention without individualized custody determinations, after this court’s repeated holdings that such detention violates the Fifth Amendment, will result in legal consequences. For state jail officials, those consequences include personal civil liability without qualified immunity protection. For federal officials, those consequences include exercise of this court’s full inherent authority to enforce constitutional compliance including contempt.
Officials who believe this court has erred in its constitutional analysis may seek stay of this court’s orders pending appeal or pursue appellate review. What they may not do is continue systematic constitutional violations while preserving appellate objections and expecting this court to grant relief in case after case without enforcing its rulings.
Judge Goodwin signs off with this statement, which should be self-evident:
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This court will enforce the Constitution.
Let’s hope he does it. Let’s hope jail officials cut people loose rather than start coughing up part of their paychecks. Let’s hope some ICE officials get to spend a few days in the cooler for refusing to comply with court orders. And let’s hope that courts across the nation generate the sort of collective and concerted pressure that will force the Supreme Court to set precedent that vastly undermines this administration’s bigoted efforts to scrub this country of people who aren’t white enough to be considered human beings by the racist goons infesting the White House.
Alibaba’s Qwen team of AI researchers have been among the most prolific and well-regarded by international machine learning community — shipping dozens of powerful generalized and specialized generative models starting last summer, most of them entirely open source and free.
But now, just 24 hours after shipping the open source Qwen3.5 small model series—a release that drew public praise from Elon Musk for its “impressive intelligence density”—the project’s technical architect and several other Qwen team members have exited the company under unclear circumstances, raising questions and concerns from around the world about the future direction of the Qwen team and its focus on open source.
The departure of Junyang “Justin” Lin, the technical lead who steered Qwen from a nascent lab project to a global powerhouse with over 600 million downloads, alongside two fellow colleagues — staff research scientist Binyuan Hui and intern Kaixin Li — marks a volatile inflection point for Alibaba Cloud and its role as an international open source AI leader.
These three Qwen Team members announced their departures on X today, though they did not share the reasons or whether or not it they were voluntary. VentureBeat reached out to sources at Alibaba for more information and will update when we obtain it. Lin himself signed off with a simple post: “me stepping down. bye my beloved qwen.”
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While the company celebrates a technical triumph, the sudden exit of its core leadership suggests a deepening rift between the researchers who built the models and a corporate hierarchy now pivoting toward aggressive monetization.
The departing researchers’ final gift: pocket-sized intelligence
The Qwen3.5 small model series (ranging from 0.8B to 9B parameters) represents a final masterstroke in “intelligence density” from the founding team.
The models employ a Gated DeltaNet hybrid architecture that allows a 9B-parameter model to rival the reasoning capabilities of much larger systems.
By utilizing a 3:1 ratio of linear attention to full attention, the models maintain a massive 262,000-token context window while remaining efficient enough to run natively on standard laptops and smartphones — even in web browsers.
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Lin, a PKU humanities graduate and polyglot, has long advocated for this “algorithm-hardware co-design” to bypass compute constraints—a philosophy he detailed at the January 2026 Tsinghua AI Summit.
For the developer community, Qwen3.5 wasn’t just another update; it was a blueprint for the “Agentic Inflection,” where models shift from being chatbots to autonomous “all-in-one AI workers” capable of navigating UIs and executing complex code.
The enterprise dilemma
For the 90,000+ enterprises currently deploying Qwen via DingTalk or Alibaba Cloud, the leadership vacuum creates a crisis of confidence.
Many companies migrated to Qwen because it offered a “third way”: the performance of a proprietary US model with the transparency of open weights.
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Alibaba has recently consolidated its AI efforts into the “Qwen C-end Business Group,” merging its model labs with consumer hardware teams. The goal is clear: transition Qwen from a research project into the operating system for a new era of AI-integrated glasses and rings.
However, the reported appointment of Hao Zhou, a veteran of Google DeepMind’s Gemini team, to lead the Qwen team indicates a shift from “research-first” to “metric-driven” leadership.
Enterprises relying on the Apache 2.0-licensed Qwen models now face the possibility that future flagships —such as the rumored Qwen3.5-Max—will be locked behind paid, proprietary APIs to drive Cloud DAU (Daily Active User) metrics.
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The takeaway? If you value Qwen’s open source efforts, download and preserve the models now, while you still can.
The “Gemini-fication” of Qwen?
The internal friction at Alibaba mirrors the tensions seen at OpenAI and Google: the “soul” of the machine is often at odds with the “scale” of the business. Xinyu Yang, a researcher at rival Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, captured this sentiment in a stark post on X: “Replace the excellent leader with a non-core people from Google Gemini, driven by DAU metrics. If you judge foundation model teams like consumer apps, don’t be surprised when the innovation curve flattens.”
This “Gemini-fication”—the shift toward a highly regulated, product-centric culture—threatens the very agility that allowed Qwen to surpass Meta’s Llama in derivative model creation. For the global AI community, the loss of Junyang Lin is symbolic.
He was the primary bridge between China’s deep engineering talent and the Western open-source ecosystem. Without his advocacy, there are fears that the project will retreat into a “walled garden” strategy similar to its Western rivals.
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‘Leaving wasn’t your choice’
The technical brilliance of the Qwen3.5 release has been overshadowed by the heartbreak of its creators. On social media, the sentiment among the team members who built the model is one of mourning rather than celebration:
Chen Cheng, a Qwen contributor, explicitly alluded to a forced departure, writing in a post on X: “I’m truly heartbroken. I know leaving wasn’t your choice… I honestly can’t imagine Qwen without you.”
Li suggested the exit signaled the end of broader ambitions, such as a planned Singapore-based research hub: “Qwen could have had a Singapore base, all thanks to Junyang. But now that he’s gone, there’s no reason left to stay here.”
What happens to Qwen’s open source AI efforts from here on out?
The known facts are simple: Qwen has never been technically stronger, yet its founding core has been dismantled. As Alibaba prepares to face investors for its fiscal Q3 earnings report on March 5, the narrative will likely focus on “efficiency” and “commercial scale.”
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For the enterprises currently excited about the 60% cost reductions promised by Qwen3.5, the immediate future is bright.
But for the larger AI community, the cost of that efficiency may be the loss of the most vibrant open-source lab in the East.
As Hao Zhou takes the reins, the world is watching to see if Qwen remains a “model for the world” or becomes merely a component in Alibaba’s corporate bottom line.
