Campfire Audio is not exactly easing into 2026 quietly. The Portland-based IEM specialist has introduced Chimera, a new flagship $7,500 wired in-ear monitor that combines dynamic, balanced armature, electrostatic, and bone conduction driver technologies in one rather ambitious design.
Chimera just made its public debut at CanJam Singapore 2026 (May 16-17), with pre-sale beginning May 16th and shipping expected in early summer 2026. The timing makes sense. As we discovered at CanJam NYC 2026, wired IEMs are having a very real moment, which might seem strange in a world where tens of millions of listeners have made wireless earbuds their default source. Convenience still wins the subway. But for listeners chasing resolution, scale, imaging, and a more physical connection to the music, wired IEMs are showing real legs. Very expensive legs, mind you. The kind that apparently require a bespoke cable and a second look at your credit card limit. American Express already told me to forget about it.
Our recent review of the Campfire Audio Andromeda 10, released for the company’s anniversary, made it clear just how far the category has come. Better tuning, better driver integration, better materials, and far more ambitious engineering have pushed wired IEMs well beyond the old “audiophile niche” box. Chimera looks like Campfire Audio’s next line in the sand: a nine driver flagship built to prove that the wired IEM fight is not only alive, but getting a lot more interesting.
Nine Drivers, Four Technologies, and One Very Crowded Magnesium Shell
Chimera is built around a nine driver architecture that combines four different driver technologies, which is exactly the kind of thing that sounds absurd until you remember this is the flagship IEM category and restraint left the room several invoices ago. Walk around the show floor at any CanJam and none of this starts to feel absurd.
The driver array includes a newly developed 10mm True Glass dynamic driver handling low and low mid frequencies, a dual diaphragm balanced armature for midrange detail, two dedicated high frequency balanced armatures for clarity and articulation, and four electrostatic supertweeters designed to extend the top end with more air and precision.
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For the first time in a Campfire Audio IEM, Chimera also adds a 10mm bone conduction driver, embedded directly into the CNC machined magnesium shell. The goal is to make low frequencies feel more physical, not just audible, adding weight and impact without asking the dynamic driver to do all of the heavy lifting.
Campfire has also worked a number of internal acoustic elements into the design, including an embedded pressure valve that regulates airflow behind the dynamic driver and a final stage “Master Track” tuning damper integrated into the nozzle. Those parts are not there for brochure decoration. They are designed to help control pressure, refine the final output, and make the transition between the different driver types feel more seamless.
Chimera is rated at 5.5 ohms impedance at 1kHz, with a frequency response of 5Hz to 20kHz, sensitivity of 94dB at 1kHz, and THD listed at less than 0.5%. That low impedance figure suggests users will want to be thoughtful about source matching, because flagship IEMs this sensitive to the chain can expose noise, output impedance issues, and poor gain structure rather quickly.
“Chimera is the most advanced in ear monitor we’ve developed at Campfire so far,” said Ken Ball, Founder of Campfire Audio. “It reflects a new horizon in the performance of Campfire products and expands on what is possible from compact, portable audio systems. It brings together a range of technologies and engineering techniques to create an experience that truly deepens the listener’s connection to music.”
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Magnesium Shell, Damascus Faceplate, and the Return of ALO Audio
Chimera’s exterior design follows the same theme as its internal layout: multiple materials, tight tolerances, and very little evidence that Campfire was trying to keep things simple.
The shell is machined from billet magnesium and finished with a PVD coating, with gold and black versions available. Campfire says magnesium was selected for its combination of strength and lower weight, but it also plays a functional role here because the bone conduction driver is integrated directly into the shell. In other words, the enclosure is not just jewelry for the driver array. It is part of how the design is intended to work.
The faceplate uses a carbon fiber and brass Damascus construction, with layers of brass folded into carbon fiber and then CNC machined to create the final patterned surface. Because of that process, each pair has subtle visual differences. That does not change the sound, but it does give Chimera a more distinctive look than another flat black shell with an exotic price tag.
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Other hardware details include a machined brass nozzle with an integrated mesh screen, custom brass fasteners for added reinforcement, and standard 2 pin connectors. The use of 2 pin connectors is worth noting because it keeps Chimera compatible with a wide range of aftermarket cable options, even though Campfire is including a high-performance and custom cable in the box.
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Chimera ships with the ALO Audio Valence 6 cable, which also marks the return of the ALO Audio brand. The cable uses four high purity copper conductors along with two 50/50 copper and silver plated copper conductors. The termination housing, y-split, and chin slider are finished in black anodized aluminum.
Campfire also includes a black leather zipper case with a built in display, Breezy Bag Micro two pocket mesh bag, microfiber cleaning cloth, IEM cleaning tool, and three sets of ear tips: High & Clear traction silicone, standard silicone, and Marshmallow foam, each supplied in small, medium, and large sizes.
The Bottom Line
Campfire Audio Chimera is unique because it is not just another multi-driver flagship IEM with a luxury shell and a terrifying price tag. It combines a 10mm True Glass dynamic driver, balanced armatures, four electrostatic supertweeters, and Campfire’s first bone conduction driver in a CNC-machined magnesium body. That combination puts it squarely in the top tier of modern wired IEM design, where the goal is not only detail retrieval, but scale, physical bass impact, treble extension, and better driver integration in something that still fits in your ears. At $7,500, subtlety has clearly left the building.
What is missing? Wireless convenience, ANC, app control, EQ presets, Bluetooth codecs, and anything resembling mass-market practicality. This is not aimed at AirPods Pro, Sony, Bose, or Technics buyers, and it should not be judged by that yardstick. Chimera is for wired IEM listeners with serious portable sources, high-end DAPs, premium DAC/amp dongles, and enough experience to know whether they want this level of complexity near their skull. It is also for Campfire collectors and personal audio diehards who heard Andromeda 10 and wondered how much further Portland could push the engineering before someone had to check the zoning laws.
The obvious competitors are other statement-level hybrid and quadbrid IEMs, including Astell&Kern NOVUS, Empire Ears Odin MKII, Fir Audio Xenon 6, Fir Audio Radon 6, and other high-end models that combine dynamic, balanced armature, electrostatic, and bone conduction or kinetic bass technologies. NOVUS, for example, uses a 13-driver quadbrid configuration with BA, electrostatic, bone conduction, and dynamic drivers, while Fir Audio’s Xenon 6 and Radon 6 play in the same physical-bass, hybrid-driver universe.
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The ultra high-end IEM space is so competitive that Empire Ears recently announced that it was ceasing operations and Astell&Kern’s NOVUS sold out within months.
Chimera’s real pitch is simple: Campfire is taking its most ambitious swing yet at the ultra-high-end wired IEM category. The technology stack is unusual, the materials are serious, and the inclusion of bone conduction marks a meaningful shift for the brand. The price will narrow the audience fast, as it should. This is not for casual listeners looking to upgrade from wireless earbuds. It is for the small but very committed group of listeners who want wired IEMs to deliver more impact, more dimensionality, and more technical performance than the category was supposed to manage.
Echodyne CEO Eben Frankenberg, left, gives a tour of the company’s new manufacturing facility in Woodinville, Wash., to U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, center, and Sen. Maria Cantwell on Wednesday. (Echodyne Photo)
Echodyne, the Seattle-area radar-platform company, cut the ribbon Wednesday on a new $40 million manufacturing facility designed to meet growing demand for its drone-detection and airspace-monitoring systems.
Headquartered in Kirkland, Wash., Echodyne is opening an 86,350-square-foot manufacturing and operations hub in nearby Woodinville, Wash., that it says will eventually be able to produce more than 2,500 radars each month — or roughly 30,000 radars annually.
Echodyne says the expansion is fueled by U.S. and global demand for safety and security radars that can detect and track drones, driven in part by their proliferation on the battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine War and the fast-growing “low altitude economy” of commercial drone operations that require airspace monitoring.
Echodyne currently employs 260 people, and the new facility will support more than 100 new jobs and up to 200 as the facility reaches full production capacity, according to the company.
“Our global customer base is demanding more radar to be delivered as fast as possible,” CEO Eben Frankenberg said in a news release, adding that the proliferation of drones requires reliable, at-scale production. “The only way to defend against mass is with mass.”
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Echodyne plans to add 100 new jobs at its new manufacturing facility in Woodinville, Wash. (Echodyne Photo)
Echodyne was spun out of Bellevue-based Intellectual Ventures in 2014 and has drawn backing from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, along with NEA, Madrona Venture Group, Baillie Gifford and Northrop Grumman, among others. The company raised $135 million in a 2022 investment round and total funding is $200 million.
The company’s radar systems rely on patented “metamaterials” technology — a flat-panel antenna that can electronically steer its beam without any moving parts — which Echodyne says allows for smaller, cheaper radar than conventional designs.
Echodyne originally focused on using compact radar to help drones detect and avoid obstacles in flight, before pivoting toward counter-drone security as demand grew for systems that could track other drones — including cheap, mass-produced ones deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Echodyne’s radar technology is integrated into systems from Anduril, Axon, Moog and Northrop Grumman, among other defense companies, the company said. Most recently, Echodyne was selected as the primary radar provider for Trust Automation’s drone-detection platform, which is being delivered to the U.S. Air Force under a $490 million contract.
Wednesday’s ribbon cutting was attended by Sen. Maria Cantwell, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, Woodinville Mayor Sarah Arndt, and Michael Robbins, president and CEO of AUVSI, the trade association for the uncrewed systems, autonomy, and robotics industry.
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The new hub allocates approximately 74,350 square feet to manufacturing space and 12,000 square feet to warehousing.
Cutting the ribbon on Echodyne’s new manufacturing facility, from left: Sen. Maria Cantwell, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, Echodyne CEO Eben Frankenberg, and AUVSI President and CEO Michael Robbins. (Echodyne Photo)
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is giving Rush’s classic 1974 to 1985 studio run the audiophile treatment with a multi-year reissue campaign on UltraDisc One-Step vinyl, 45RPM 2LP sets, and Hybrid SACD, beginning this summer with Fly By Night and A Farewell to Kings. I have not stopped grinning since seeing Grace Under Pressure, Moving Pictures, and Power Windows on the schedule. Take my money, MoFi. Take it now.
Rush fans have spent decades arguing over pressing variations, bass pedals, drum fills, Ayn Rand references, and whether Signals still gets treated unfairly because the keyboards started ordering bottle service. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has now handed them fresh material to debate for the next 30 years.
By the time the arguments over these new editions are finally settled, Geddy and Lerxst may well be reunited with the Professor somewhere beyond the drum riser — or, more appropriately, in some old-school basement in Willowdale, Ontario, where the amps are too loud, the time signatures are suspicious, and nobody has any interest in playing it safe.
This is not the entire Rush catalog, and it does not include the band’s later Atlantic-era albums. The series focuses on the first decade-plus of Rush’s recorded evolution, from the bluesy hard rock of Rush and Fly By Night to the widescreen progressive architecture of 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Power Windows.
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According to the announcement, most titles in the series will be released as UltraDisc One-Step vinyl sets, while every title in the campaign will receive a numbered Hybrid SACD edition. The first wave begins in summer 2026 with Fly By Night and A Farewell to Kings, followed by Rush in fall 2026. The remaining titles are scheduled to roll out through 2028.
The timing is not exactly subtle, and that is the obvious part. Rush are back in the public conversation in a way many fans probably never expected after the final R40 show at the Forum in Los Angeles on August 1, 2015, and Neil Peart’s death in January 2020. The Fifty Something tour is not Rush trying to pretend nothing changed. It is Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson stepping back onto the stage together after 11 years, carrying the music forward while honoring the friend, lyricist, drummer, and impossible standard who made the whole thing feel larger than rock music.
The tour is presently on a short interruption after Geddy Lee was diagnosed with laryngitis and bronchitis, forcing the postponement of two Fort Worth shows originally scheduled for June 30 and July 2. Those concerts have been rescheduled for July 11 and July 13, with the tour currently listed to continue in Chicago on July 16.
That makes the MoFi announcement feel less like a random catalog exercise and more like a very calculated moment. Rush are selling tickets, reintroducing their music to arena audiences, honoring Neil Peart’s legacy, and bringing Anika Nilles into one of the most intimidating drum chairs in rock history. At the same time, MoFi is preparing premium physical editions for the exact period of the catalog most likely to send Rush collectors into pre-order behavior normally associated with emergency storm preparation.
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Pricing and Formats
MoFi’s current product listings confirm the pricing for the initial releases.
Fly By Night is listed as a numbered 180g 45RPM 2LP set priced at $59.99, with the numbered Hybrid SACD priced at $34.99.
A Farewell to Kings is getting the deluxe treatment first, with MoFi listing it as a limited UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP box set priced at $125. The Hybrid SACD edition is listed at $34.99.
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The 1974 debut Rush, scheduled for fall 2026, is listed as a numbered 180g 45RPM 2LP set at $59.99, with the Hybrid SACD priced at $34.99.
That gives buyers a fairly clear pricing structure for the first wave: standard 45RPM 2LP editions at $59.99, Hybrid SACDs at $34.99, and UltraDisc One-Step titles at $125 when the album receives that treatment. Future title pricing has not yet been fully confirmed by MoFi, so assuming every later One-Step title will remain at the same price would be a little too enthusiastic, even for Rush fans who can count in 7/8 before coffee.
The Mastering Chain Matters
There is another important detail here: MoFi is being specific about the mastering chain on the listed vinyl titles. The Fly By Night 45RPM vinyl page lists the source chain as “1/4” / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe.” The Rush debut vinyl listing specifies “1/4” / 15 IPS Dolby A analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe.”
That means these are not AAA vinyl reissues. They are sourced from analog master tapes with a DSD 256 step in the chain before the analog console and lacquer cutting. For some collectors, that will be a deal-breaker. For others, it will be less important than the quality of the tapes, mastering choices, pressing quality, and whether Geddy Lee’s bass finally gets the scale and articulation it deserves without turning the upper midrange into a dental procedure.
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MoFi also says A Farewell to Kings was mastered at its California studio from tape boxes marked with both “master” and “safety copy,” pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and limited to 5,000 numbered copies in the UltraDisc One-Step 45RPM 2LP box set configuration.
Why These Albums Matter
The 1974 to 1985 window is the logical Rush era for this kind of treatment. It captures the band’s most dramatic transformation: the raw bar-band thunder of Rush, the arrival of Neil Peart on Fly By Night, the growing ambition of Caress of Steel, the breakthrough scale of 2112, the fantasy and architecture of A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres, the leaner precision of Permanent Waves, and the commercial and sonic peak of Moving Pictures.
Then things get more complicated, which is usually where Rush became more interesting. Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Power Windows pushed the band deeper into synthesizers, sequencers, colder textures, and more layered production. Some listeners still want to pretend that was some kind of betrayal. They are wrong, but at least they are persistent.
For MoFi, those albums present different challenges. The earlier titles need weight, separation, and better organization without sanding off the urgency. The later albums need clarity and space without making the production sound sterile. Rush records are not supposed to sound polite. They need precision, but they also need velocity.
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2026 Rush Audiophile Reissue Schedule
Fly By Night (1975): 45RPM 2LP and Hybrid SACD, coming summer 2026
A Farewell to Kings (1977): UltraDisc One-Step 2LP and Hybrid SACD, coming summer 2026
Rush (1974): 45RPM 2LP and Hybrid SACD, coming fall 2026
2027 to 2028 Rush Audiophile Reissues
Caress of Steel (1975): 45RPM 2LP and Hybrid SACD
2112 (1976): UltraDisc One-Step and Hybrid SACD
Hemispheres (1978): UltraDisc One-Step and Hybrid SACD
Permanent Waves (1980): UltraDisc One-Step and Hybrid SACD
Moving Pictures (1981): UltraDisc One-Step and Hybrid SACD
Signals (1982): UltraDisc One-Step and Hybrid SACD
Grace Under Pressure (1984): 45RPM 2LP and Hybrid SACD
Power Windows (1985): 45RPM 2LP and Hybrid SACD
The Bottom Line
The MoFi Rush series arrives at exactly the right moment. Rush are back on the road, the Fifty Something tour has reignited interest in the band’s catalog, and the presence of Anika Nilles has added a new chapter to a story many fans assumed had ended with Neil Peart’s final performance.
The audiophile angle also makes sense. Rush records are built on musicianship, density, movement, and tiny details that disappear quickly when the mastering gets too compressed, too bright, or too polite. If MoFi gets this right, the series could become one of the most important rock reissue campaigns of the next few years.
It will not be inexpensive. The SACDs are the most accessible path at $34.99 each, while the 45RPM 2LP sets are priced at $59.99 and the One-Step titles begin at $125. But this is Rush, not a forgotten soft-rock side quest from 1978. The audience is there, the tour has put the band back in the spotlight, and the catalog deserves serious treatment.
Just remember: all titles are getting Hybrid SACD editions, but not every album is getting the UltraDisc One-Step treatment. That difference matters. So does the DSD 256 step in the vinyl mastering chain. Rush fans notice details. Our review copies are expected shortly.
If a new estimate is correct, and we suspect it is, then Apple is paying dramatically more to produce each iPhone 18 Pro Max compared to its predecessor, and that will mean price rises of $200 or more.
Apple left all iPhone models untouched in its recent and unprecedented price rise, but it was already likely that the forthcoming iPhone 18 Pro range would be affected. Now according to estimates from Counterpoint Research, the bill of materials (BOM) that Apple will pay for the iPhone 18 Pro Max is $300 more than for the current model.
Component costs are always increasing, which is why the iPhone 15 Pro Max cost 12% more than its predecessor, and the iPhone 16 models also had a slight rise. But because of the global chip shortage, Apple is having to pay significantly more for certain components.
It’s specifically the memory that will account for the higher costs for Apple. Counterpoint Research does not give detailed estimates, but on a 12GB iPhone 18 Pro Max with 1TB storage, it is expected that compared to the previous model:
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NAND will cost four times more
DRAM will cost almost four times as much
Processor costs may remain the same
Camera costs will rise slightly
Display costs may decrease slightly
Estimated component costs for the iPhone 18 Pro Max – image credit: Counterpoint Research
Apple has previously tried to hide price increases with a strategy of removing lower-cost configurations. With the iPhone 15 Pro Max, for example, Apple dropped the 128GB model and had its starting price be the same as the previous model’s 256GB configuration.
The new report expects that Apple will make similar changes for the iPhone 18 Pro range. It predicts an average $200 price rise for consumers, although even that is said to mean Apple will see reduced profits.
All of these estimates are reportedly based on information regarding each separate component that is expected in the iPhone 18 Pro Max. However, the bill of materials is only useful as a comparison to the BOM of previous models.
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It takes little account of Apple’s buying power meaning that it can sometimes negotiate better deals than its rivals. There’s also no calculation of development and marketing costs, which won’t have risen because of the chip shortage, but will certainly have gone up.
Consequently, Apple is juggling much more than the BOM with this iPhone launch, and we won’t know the outcome until the phones are released in September.
The internet loves a good usage dashboard, and today Anthropic is releasing one for Claude designed to help you “reflect” on the time you’ve spent with its chatbot. Think of the new feature as something of a cross between Spotify Wrapped and Apple’s Screen Time tool. You can generate your first report by opening Claude’s settings menu and navigating to the new “Reflect” tab. For now, the dashboard is only available through the Claude web client and desktop app.
At the top, you’ll see a paragraph-long summary of your recent conversations with the chatbot. By default, Claude will collate your last month of interactions, but you can also see your last three, six or 12 months of usage. Under that, the interface lists your most active day, peak hour and total chats over your selected time period, with a visual representation just below. In the future, you’ll also be able to see how much time you’ve spent chatting with Claude, but for now that metric isn’t available. If you continue scrolling, there’s a toggle to configure break reminders and time limits. You can independently set these of the Reflect interface by navigating to the “Time and focus” tab, and dismiss the nudges if you’re in the middle of something.
Anthropic
Further down, there’s a breakdown of topics you’ve discussed with Claude, with a percentage assigned to the ones you bring up most often. If you’ve been following along with the screenshots, all of this should feel broadly familiar. The penultimate section does things a bit differently, offering a set of AI “fluency” recommendations designed to streamline your usage of Claude, which are grouped around guidelines Anthropic co-created with a group of academics. For example, if Claude finds you frequently re-establish the same or similar context when you go to write a question or request, it will recommend you use its Projects feature to group your prompts together, so that you don’t need to repeat yourself so often.
For a more specific example, I’ve been working on a story about inference costs — the amount of AI labs like Anthropic pay for their trained models to process data — and I’ve turned to Claude a few times to track down statements from executives like Dario Amodei and Sam Altman. Based on that usage, the Reflect dashboard recommended creating a custom fact-checking skill for Claude. When I went ahead with that suggestion, the chatbot devised a text template to ensure it would always list its source for a claim, as well as its confidence in the information it had found alongside any caveats. I’ll admit I found the template helpful, and it wasn’t something I would have thought to ask Claude to do on its own.
Anthropic
According to Ryn Linthicum, Anthropic’s head of wellbeing policy, Reflect came out of a study the company’s Societal Impacts team recently completed where participants expressed a mixture of optimism and anxiety around Claude and other AI products. “We were really intentional about building [the dashboard] with an eye toward how we can upskill people’s usage of Claude, not in a way that encourages them to spend more time with it, but instead enables them to get more efficient at meeting their goals, and hopefully get off of Claude or preserve the things that they want to think about,” Linthicum told Engadget.
Linthicum says part of the reason the dashboard doesn’t currently display the exact amount of time you’ve used Claude is because it wasn’t a metric Anthropic had been tracking internally, due to it being something the product team “didn’t want to maximize.” Looking forward, they note Anthropic plans to surface that information for users so they can use it alongside the usage management settings. In the future, the dashboard will also be available mobile, and reflect your usage there.
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Anthropic is releasing Reflect in beta today. Notably, the company is making the feature available to Free accounts, in addition to Pro and Max subscribers.
Between the speed and reliability of modern desktop 3D printers and the abundance of powerful single-board computers, there’s never been a better time to build a personal computing device that bucks traditional forms for something more bespoke. Whether you want to go all in on Gibsonian cyberdeck aesthetic or a distraction-free writing device to take notes on, there’s no shortage of examples out there that you can turn to for inspiration.
A recent entry into the field, the Don’t Panic Cyberdeck from [Paul Rickards], is a particularly approachable specimen for those looking to experiment with alternative computing experiences. While the final product certainly stands out among the throngs of nearly identical laptops, it doesn’t take a huge investment in time or money to put one of your own together.
Which is not to say the project is simplistic, exactly. Rather, as [Paul] released the design under the Creative Commons license and was kind enough to provide not only a detailed Bill of Materials but assembly instructions, the community is able to benefit from the sleepless nights he no doubt put into it.
In it’s baseline configuration, the Don’t Panic uses a Raspberry Pi 3A+, a Pimoroni HyperPixel 4.0 Square LCD (touch optional), and a Rii 518BT keyboard. Those core components would be enough to get you up and running, but if you want battery power you’ll also need to add a LX-2BUPS UPS board and a pair of 18650 cells. Audio might be nice as well, and for that [Paul] recommends a PAM8403 breakout board. He’s even got a printable volume knob that slips over the board’s potentiometer and peeks outside the case.
from the pay-no-attention-to-the-formaldehyde-plumes dept
Civil rights groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) have noted how Elon Musk’s Colossus xAI data centers in Memphis disproportionately pollute the air in minority neighborhoods. A joint lawsuit by SELC, Earthjustice, and the NAACP filed last April argued that Musk and friends didn’t bother to get the necessary permits to run the 57 gas turbines powering the system.
As is so often the case, Musk’s “innovation” is quite often just a combination of media manipulation, opportunism, crony capitalism, and openly ignoring public safety. The more you look, the more of a theme it becomes across Musk’s entire post-IPO delusionverse.
Anyway, the lawsuit points out that his Memphis-area data centers are violating the Clean Air Act, funneling all manner of pollutants into minority neighborhoods that already see a disproportionately high number of pollution-caused childhood illnesses:
“xAI’s power plant in Southaven has the potential to emit more than 1,700 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) each year. The staggering emissions numbers likely make the facility the largest industrial source of NOx in the greater Memphis area, an area already failing to meet national smog standards. The illegal turbines also have the potential to release up to 180 tons of fine particulate matter, 500 tons of carbon monoxide, and 19 tons of formaldehyde—a toxic, cancer-causing chemical—each year.”
Musk also promised to build a next-gen water filtration system so that the xAI data center doesn’t imperil the local water supply, but he simply decided to apparently not do that. Instead, Musk ran crying to the Trump administration, whose DOJ is trying to have the pollution case-dismissed on national security grounds, because the administration sometimes uses Musk’s shoddy fifth-place AI services.
“The unique capabilities of the Colossus datacenters could not be accomplished without the partnership and support from the local Memphis community.” SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink engineering, Michael Nicolls, wrote on X on Tuesday.
“Happy to bring affordable and great @SpaceX @Starlink connectivity to our neighbors,” Nicolls added.
I’m sure a temporary (these sorts of discounted rates never last) internet access discount will definitely help the kids with formaldehyde-driven asthma. There are a few other layers of irony: one being that data has repeatedly shown that Starlink is routinely too congested to be of help in more densely populated areas like Memphis. Hidden “congestion” fees also ensure the service isn’t really affordable.
Meanwhile, you have guys like Mark Andreessen pretending to be confused why civil rights groups like the NAACP wouldn’t be big fans of discriminatory environmental pollution. As with all (bipartisan) opposition to AI data centers, the very legitimate complaints going on outside of Memphis are being portrayed as unreasonable attacks on innovation by radicals:
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These people are, in case you’ve not been paying attention, just foundationally not good human beings, who simply love to engage in phony surprise at the width and breadth of the public backlash to AI.
It features panels you can remove to peek inside at replicas of Hubble’s instruments, such as gyroscopes and mirrors. You’ll be able to adjust the antennas and solar arrays, and place this version of Hubble on a display stand that features an information plaque. You’ll also get an astronaut minifigure that you can position to give a rough visual representation of the model’s scale. When completed and the aperture door is open, Lego’s take on Hubble will be over 12.5 inches tall, 15 inches long and 15 inches wide.
This isn’t Lego’s first version of Hubble, though. Back in 2021, the company released a Space Shuttle Discovery set that featured the space telescope as a payload.
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If you’d like to snap up the latest set before the actual Hubble (which launched in 1990) deorbits, you’ve got plenty of time. The real deal isn’t expected to burn up in our atmosphere until at least the mid-2030s. This Hubble set, however, will outlive all of us because the plastic Lego typically uses is not biodegradable.
Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi are among the stars aiming to fire their countries one step closer to glory in the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals — and you can live stream all four games around the world for free.
France face Morocco, Spain play Belgium, Norway take on England and Argentina go up against Switzerland in four days of football action.
So, read on as we show you exactly how to watch the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals for free from anywhere.
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How to watch the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals for free
The FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals are available to watch for free in multiple countries, including the UK, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey.
Abroad? Can’t access your free stream? Unblock your free World Cup stream with Norton VPN — more on that below.
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Use a VPN to watch FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals live streams
It’s the World Cup, and if you’re traveling, you might discover your usual FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals stream is suddenly unavailable due to geo-restrictions.
Don’t worry, that’s exactly where a VPN can help. A virtual private network lets you connect to servers around the world so you can securely access your usual World Cup coverage as if you were back home.
Visiting the US from the UK? You can still watch your World Cup stream for free thanks to Norton VPN (try for 60 days).
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How to watch FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals in the UK
UK customers are in luck as they can stream all of the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals for free on BBC and ITV.
ITV is showing France vs Morocco, Norway vs England and Argentina vs Switzerland. Live coverage is on ITV1 and ITVX.
Meanwhile, Spain vs Belgium is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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You require a TV license and a valid UK postcode for an account (e.g. SE1 7PB).
Norton VPN can unlock your stream if you’re abroad today.
How to watch FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals in Australia
(Image credit: free)
The FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals will be shown for free in Australia on SBS On Demand.
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The streaming platform has every game of the tournament for free, making it the perfect place for your World Cup viewing.
Traveling for work or on holiday? A VPN like Norton VPN can help unlock your free stream.
How to watch FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals in Canada
(Image credit: Other)
In Canada, TSN and free-to-air channel CTV will be broadcasting all of the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals.
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You can live stream via the TSN+ streaming platform, which costs CA$8 per month or CA$80 per year.
CTV will require TV provider login details for you to watch for free online.
Outside of Canada? Use Norton VPN whilst you’re traveling away from home to unlock your stream.
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FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals: Match Information
Preview
A mouth-watering set of fixtures begins with France’s clash with Morocco in Boston, in a repeat of the World Cup 2022 semi-final. Les Bleus have looked almost unstoppable so far this summer, with Mbappe scoring seven goals in just five matches, but the Atlas Lions have already gone toe-to-toe with Brazil and the Netherlands in this tournament and will believe they can spring a shock. That game is followed by Spain’s meeting with Belgium in Los Angeles, in which the Euro 2024 champions will aim to extend a record run of six successive World Cup clean sheets. That streak will be tested by the Red Devils, who have scored 12 goals in their past three matches.
Next up is a tale of two strikers, as Haaland’s Norway face Harry Kane’s England in Miami. The Norwegian hitman has also bagged seven goals this tournament, including a match-winning double against Brazil, but the Three Lions will be buoyed by a thrilling 3-2 victory over co-hosts Mexico at Estadio Azteca in the last 16. The quarter-final line-up is completed by reigning champions Argentina’s clash with Switzerland in Kansas, which will see Messi – who is leading the tournament’s goalscoring charts, with eight – try to breach a defence that is yet to concede in almost four hours of knockout football.
What time do the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals start?
France vs Morocco: Thursday, July 9 | 9pm BST / 4pm ET / 6am AEST (Fri)
Spain vs Belgium: Friday, July 10 | 8pm BST / 3pm ET / 5am AEST (Sat)
Norway vs England: Saturday, July 11 | 10pm BST / 5pm ET / 7am AEST (Sun)
Argentina vs Switzerland: Sunday, July 12 | 2am BST / 9pm ET (Sat) / 11am AEST
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Road to the quarter-finals
Stage
France
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Morocco
Spain
Belgium
Norway
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England
Argentina
Switzerland
Group stage
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Group I: 1st, 9 points
Group C: 2nd, 7 points
Group H: 1st, 7 points
Group G: 1st, 5 points
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Group I: 2nd, 6 points
Group L: 1st, 7 points
Group J: 1st, 9 points
Group B: 1st, 7 points
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Last 32
Beat Sweden (3-0)
Beat Netherlands (1-1 AET; 3-2 on pens)
Beat Austria (3-0)
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Beat Senegal (3-2 AET)
Beat Ivory Coast (2-1)
Beat DR Congo (2-1)
Beat Cape Verde (3-2 AET)
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Beat Algeria (2-0)
Last 16
Beat Paraguay (1-0)
Beat Canada (3-0)
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Beat Portugal (1-0)
Beat USA (4-1)
Beat Brazil (2-1)
Beat Mexico (3-2)
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Beat Egypt (3-2)
Beat Colombia (0-0 AET; 4-3 pens)
Can I watch the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser.
You can also stay up-to-date with all of the key World Cup moments on the official social media channels on X/Twitter (@FIFAWorldCup), Instagram (@FIFAWorldCup), TikTok (@FIFAWorldCup) and YouTube (@FIFA).
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A new phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) operation called Forg365 focuses on stealing Microsoft 365 accounts by combining adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) and device code methods with AI-assisted lure generation.
The platform also provides a browser extension for continued access to the Microsoft services linked to the compromised accounts without the need to re-authenticate.
Researchers at ZeroBEC email security company say that many of the features in Forg365 are present in other infamous PhaaS platforms such as Kali365 and Sneaky2FA, although they could not establish a connection.
Their investigation began by analyzing phishing emails that posed as business documents, carefully crafted to mimic a trusted service.
“The observed sender domain used Amazon SES delivery, while the message body included SendGrid-hosted image or tracking resources,” ZeroBEC says in a report today.
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This combination of legitimate services and phishing infrastructure indicates a mature PhaaS operation capable of blending its messages into regular email traffic.
The platform features device-code phishing, adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) phishing, AI-assisted email content generation, token and cookie management, and post-compromise operations.
Digging deeper, the researchers obtained access to the Forg365 dashboard, which allows creating new phishing campaigns, manage phishing links, configure OAuth apps and SMTP profiles, manage tokens, and generate phishing emails with the help of AI.
The Forg365 panel Source: ZeroBec
Although the use of AI in crafting custom phishing lures is not new, the researchers highlight that the feature is directly integrated in Forg365’s panel, allowing the operator to create the malicious emails, prepare the text, and refine the messages from the same dashboard used to control the post-compromise activity.
According to the researchers, this integration is strategic, as “AI reduces the cost of developing custom phishing content, but it also reduces the cost of building custom PhaaS platforms.”
The panel also includes an account intelligence dashboard and a keyword monitoring feature that scans compromised mailboxes for predefined terms, alerting operators whenever a match is detected.
Operators are provided a browser extension called ForgCookie that is compatible with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Brave, and is specifically designed for automatically refreshing Microsoft SSO cookies.
The extension works by requesting account data from the Forg365 backend, clearing session cookies, and triggering a silent OAuth flow to capture the fresh cookies.
This provides the attacker with persistent access to the Microsoft services associated with the victim’s account.
The ForgCookie extension Source: ZeroBec
According to ZeroBEC, Forg365 supports two primary attack paths: the trending device-code phishing and the more traditional AiTM phishing.
In the first case, victims are shown a Microsoft-style verification code page and instructed to complete authentication using Microsoft’s device-code flow designed for any endpoint with input constraints (e.g. smartTV, IoT appliances, tools without a browser).
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Rather than targeting the victim’s password directly, the victim is tricked into authorizing an attacker-controlled gadget through the legitimate OAuth 2.0 device code flow authentication method.
The device-code phishing method Source: ZeroBec
For AiTM phishing, the platform uses a proxy for the authentication requests and data exchanged between the Microsoft infrastructure and the target account, capturing session cookies in the process.
To prevent researchers from accessing the administration panel, Forg365 has an AntiBot feature that boasts “AES-encrypted redirectors, bot detection, debugger traps, sandbox checks, and polymorphic code.”
Additionally, when a VPN connection is detected, the platform redirects to innocuous content instead of exposing the phishing pages.
ZeroBec reports that the platform leverages Amazon SES for phishing email delivery and Cloudflare Pages for the landing pages. Also, the Gophish infrastructure is used for campaign delivery.
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Users are recommended to restrict or disable Microsoft device-code authentication unless required and to monitor Microsoft Entra logs for device-code authentication events.
Mailbox rules, new device sign-ins, Microsoft Authentication Broker activity, and OAuth grants must also be investigated for unexpected entries.
If a compromise is suspected, all tokens and sessions must be revoked and refreshed as soon as possible.
Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.
The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.
Auger co-founders Leigh Anne Clark and Dave Clark at the company’s Bellevue, Wash., office. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)
While investors spent much of the spring concerned that frontier AI models from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI would consume the software industry, Dave Clark was closing a funding round for exactly the kind of enterprise software those models are supposedly going to replace.
Auger, the supply chain technology startup founded in Bellevue, Wash., by the former Amazon executive, has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Eclipse, with existing investor Oak HC/FT also participating in the new round.
The round brings total funding to $150 million for the company, which has grown to about 130 employees and counts Meta’s virtual and augmented reality division, sports merchandise giant Fanatics, and consumer products maker Kimberly-Clark among its customers.
Clark’s view is that general-purpose AI can generate insights but can’t handle deeply specialized domains like running a supply chain. Making financial and operational decisions and executing them at the scale of big companies requires systems built on strong supply chain expertise — what Auger calls its ontology, essentially a detailed map of how supply chains actually work.
“Many a pure technology company died on the hill of supply chain over the last decade,” said Clark, the company’s CEO, in an interview this week. “You really need to understand the complexity and the contextual requirements.”
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Auger sits on top of a company’s existing systems — ERP, warehouse management, transportation management, and demand planning tools — and unifies the data into a single operating layer. Rather than replacing those systems, it connects them, using AI agents and traditional optimization models to make decisions and execute them automatically, as much as possible.
For example, in a recent demo at the company’s Bellevue office, Clark showed how the system would handle a supplier missing a delivery commitment when there isn’t enough product to go around. Auger identifies the shortfall, determines which customers get priority, reallocates inventory, and pushes the updated plan back to the company’s existing systems.
Most supply chain software, Clark said, generates alerts and waits for a person to act. Auger is designed to make routine decisions on its own and flag the exceptions for human review.
“We’re not really a tool,” he said. “We’re really the new employee.”
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At Fanatics, the sports merchandise company, Clark said about 85% of decisions in the process Auger manages are happening autonomously, with a goal of reaching the mid-90s soon. In addition to the customers it has named so far, Clark said another eight to 10 companies are in contract negotiations or pilot programs.
Clark spent 23 years at Amazon, rising to lead the company’s worldwide operations and later its worldwide consumer business. He left in 2022 and became CEO of Flexport, the freight forwarding startup, but that tenure lasted less than a year amid a turbulent period for the company.
He launched Auger in 2024 with a team that includes Leigh Anne Clark, his wife, who serves as co-founder and president of the company’s fashion and beauty division, focused on an industry Clark describes as one of the most wasteful supply chains outside of groceries.
Clark moved back to the Seattle area from Texas to tap the region’s talent pool, and raised a $100 million Series A from Oak HC/FT. The company quickly assembled a C-suite drawn heavily from Amazon’s senior ranks, along with leaders from Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Salesforce, spanning supply chain operations, AI, data science, and product development.
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In March, Auger was named a premier supply chain partner on Microsoft Fabric, the tech giant’s data platform. Auger’s product is built on Azure, and Microsoft sales reps can earn commission on Auger deals. Clark said the partnership has generated engagement but is still early.
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Clark said Auger went out for the Series B early, before the company needed it, to avoid the distraction of fundraising during what he expects to be a busy fall of customer onboarding.
With the investment, Eclipse partner Jiten Behl joined the Auger board, which also includes Clark, president and CFO Alex Ceballos, and Oak HC/FT’s Matt Streisfeld.
Auger hasn’t disclosed revenue or other financial metrics, but Clark said the valuation was roughly double the level set by Auger’s initial round. “We didn’t shoot for the crazy astronomical valuation,” he said. “We sat at a place that we felt really comfortable with.”
That pragmatic approach extends to how Auger operates. In Bellevue, the company works out of an office it subleased after Microsoft vacated the space. Auger kept the desks, monitors, and chairs the tech giant left behind, furnishing its new offices for next to nothing.
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But Clark’s ambitions for the company are anything but modest. He said Auger’s goal is to have half of U.S. GDP flowing through its platform by 2030, with revenue exceeding $1 billion.
“That requires a pretty steep curve to get there,” he said. “We’re not playing small.”
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