Over the course of three days, Jacob Crowe walked 26 miles across Chicago in super-humid heat and rainy mornings, engaging in hundreds of virtual battles. Alongside tens of thousands of other players, he sought the rarest Pokemon, particularly Shiny variants.

“It makes it better to do it as a group together,” Crowe said of the crowds that gathered to play the mobile game as part of Pokemon Go Fest.

I was there, too, among those thousands, draining my phone battery out in the sun while catching hundreds of virtual creatures in Grant Park and other parts of the city.

During that mass gathering in early June, the game I’d been playing alone for the past year suddenly felt like a gigantic concert packed with fans as obsessed as I am. Or even more so. 

I hadn’t expected that. True, when Pokemon Go launched in 2016, it was a mobile gaming sensation. Phones in hand, players descended on parks and other public spaces to catch all those pocket monsters, in the form of augmented reality animations. For a while, it felt like everybody was playing Pokemon Go.

But then, as crazes do, Pokemon fever cooled down. People moved on. I stopped playing the game regularly not long after it debuted. 

Turns out the enthusiasm has been simmering all along, and it just takes something like Go Fest to bring things to a boil.

The event had been expected to attract 40,000 people per day. But according to the enthusiast site GoNintendo, more than twice that many (90,000) tickets were sold for the Grant Park event (players entered and left at staggered times), and over 717,000 players in Chicago were recorded catching nearly 62 million Pokemon during citywide play. Six couples got engaged at the event, proving that Pokemon Go may be a stealth dating app.   

Pokemon Go Fest 2026 was special because it marked the 10th anniversary of the game and the ninth anniversary of the first Go Fest, which also took place in Chicago. And it coincided with a Pokemon Fossil Museum exhibit at Chicago’s Field Museum, which provides a spectacularly detailed history of Pokemon evolution, complete with gigantic skeletons, remains trapped in amber and a very robust gift shop.

The weekend also included a US Men’s National Soccer Team match and a half-marathon. So many fans attended the various events that gameplay was suspended in some areas, including at the Field Museum.

Welcome back to Pokemon Go

Last year, I picked the game back up with some family members. Those of us who’d abandoned it came back with fierce devotion.

So much had been added to the game since I last played it — from trading with other players (even remotely) to user-generated routes to large-scale raids that sometimes require more than a dozen players. 

At first, the changes were overwhelming, but the experienced group I joined gave helpful advice. At the same time, online videos, Wiki pages and some Google searching provided answers to the obstacles I encountered.

The game became a daily habit for our group. We exchanged gifts, traded lucky Pokemon and did lots and lots of walking. Pokemon Go Fest provided a great excuse to meet up, eat lots of local food, and play a game together we’d all been enjoying separately.

We bought one-day passes for the Grant Park 10th anniversary event and secured tickets to the Fossil Museum exhibit. Upon arrival in Chicago, we saw Pokemon fans everywhere, some wearing Eevee hats or Gengar shirts, toting Pikachu backpacks or doing full-blown cosplay.

Age didn’t seem to matter. Boomers, Gen Z players, little kids, they all had their phones out, spinning PokéStops and waiting to capture some rare mega Pokemon characters.

Playing Pokemon Go with friends and strangers

When Niantic created Pokemon Go, it emphasized the game’s real-world aspects. Niantic’s founder, John Hanke, who also helped create Google Maps and Google Earth, told me last year when I covered its sale (Pokemon Go and other Niantic games were acquired by Scopely) that the game focused on encouraging players to venture outside and explore.

Even playing Pokemon Go outside, however, can be isolating. You’re looking at your phone and dealing with virtual characters or remote players, not interacting with the people around you.

That wasn’t the case at Go Fest. 

With tens of thousands of locals and travelers all around us, we were suddenly in a very large club. Strangers who saw us playing at the coffee shop asked what we’d caught so far. Passersby yelled, “Great outfit!” to my sister-in-law, Linh Gallaga, for her Sylveon cosplay. Some pointed and smiled at the Excavator Pikachu keychain plushies we picked up at the Field Museum and wore out in public.  

Within our small group, meanwhile, we traded Pokemon, bought virtual supplies, strategized to maximize our game objectives and shared news updates. I spent about $30 on microtransactions, like premium raid passes and extra storage to hold more items and more captured Pokemon. Some in my group spent hundreds of dollars in preparation for Go Fest.

In search of Mega Pokemon characters

Our group had two leaders: One was Linh, who kept us in the loop about social media posts. The other was Jacob Crowe, who toted up those 26 miles of walking that weekend (and who’s also an in-law of mine, a little more removed). He’s so dedicated to the game that he participated in 225 group raid battles to capture Mewtwo, one of the major Mega Pokemon characters at Go Fest.

The goal wasn’t just to catch Mewtwo, but to capture its rare variations, such as a perfect-stat one, called a Hundo. Capture one that’s both a Hundo and also a Shiny variant, and you’ve got yourself a coveted Shundo Mewtwo — and a lot of jealous fellow players. A version of Mewtwo featuring a Chicago backdrop was also highly sought after.

Crowe and his wife, Maria, drove from Indianapolis, where they’d participated in local Pokemon raid events, but nothing like this.

“I knew it would be a lot of people, but I didn’t know it would be that many people,” he told me. 

He spent 18 hours each day playing Pokemon Go. He says he had a great time and wants to do it again. 

It was Crowe who led our group to a 5 a.m. “Raid Train” at Lincoln Park, ahead of the official Go Fest event at Grant Park we’d be participating in later. As soft rain started falling, we wandered the park, capturing all the Pokemon that we could and watching players trade and join raid battles. This wasn’t the main event. It was a social gathering and a preview of the big show to come later that day.

“Hundo! I got a Hundo!”

I wasn’t expecting to experience cognitive dissonance when I arrived at Grant Park with my group, but it happened as soon as I saw a gigantic pink inflatable Jigglypuff near the large park fountain. In the game, I think of Jigglypuff as tiny; here, the Pokemon was easily 10 feet tall.

Throughout the park, team banners, lures and spinning Pokestops were blown up to huge proportions, dotting a vast expanse with colorful landmarks.

We snapped photos and started preparing our virtual supplies. A cloudy morning quickly gave way to a hot day. Once gameplay began, we saw people walking around with tiny umbrellas attached to their phones, both to reduce glare on their screens and to keep their devices from overheating in the sun.

Challenges required moving from zone to zone and completing tasks such as capturing 20 different kinds of Pokemon in a single area. Raid battles to catch bigger, stronger Pokemon were constant.

Pokemon theme music blasted across the park. People walked, swiping their screens to toss Poké Balls as they went. One half of a couple near us shouted, “Hundo! I got a Hundo!” and the two embraced as if they’d just found out they were having a baby.

We walked and walked and caught and caught until the finale: a big group battle with hundreds of players together trying to defeat Mega versions of Mewtwo. 

Everyone fighting did so as part of a “Unity Raid.” Part of the battle required players to raise their phones up into the air and then bring them swinging down. 

When the mega raid was over, the crowd let out a loud, “Wooooo!” It was over. We were each left to attempt to capture the prize with our allotted premiere Pokeballs. We all caught our Mewtwos.

Pokemon at the museum

We kept raiding and trading over the evening and the next day, but our next big event was a visit to the Fossil Museum.

Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History is a real museum, with exhibits of actual fossils, but for the event, curators set up fossil exhibits of the various Pokemon characters. And they took their job seriously.

Far from a simple one-room pop-up, the carefully arranged exhibit features detailed descriptions and full skeletons of Pokemon characters, plus other artifacts like fossilized (fake) poop and Pokemon insects trapped in amber.

I felt bad for the parents of little kids who had to straddle the line between telling them that this exhibit isn’t real and letting those kids enjoy an incredibly imaginative presentation.

The exhibit was followed by a robust gift shop featuring only Pokemon merchandise and open exclusively to attendees. There was a five-item limit, and the hot item, limited to one per purchase, was an Excavator Pikachu plush. 

The exhibit runs through April 2027.

Pokemon Go Fest players: “They’re all so friendly”

By the end of the weekend, we were all exhausted. We were mentally and physically drained, like our phone batteries, from staring at our screens and keeping track of all our Shiny acquisitions.

We were amateurs, though. David Barnwell, an attendee who owns a dog-boarding business near Akron, Ohio, has been to Go Fest events with his wife in cities including Seattle, Miami and New York. He’s always been a collector, and says Pokemon Go’s focus on acquisition appeals to him. And he loves meeting different people who are into the game.

“We’re always amazed at the different kinds of people that you would never expect to be playing Pokemon Go that show up, and they’re all so friendly,” Barnwell said. 

But he also feels things have changed since last year’s Pokemon Go acquisition.

For one thing, Barnwell said, there aren’t any never-before-seen Pokemon released during the event anymore. And the event is more spread out, with citywide challenges that make it less centralized. 

“That’s really annoying. We liked it when it was all accessible by foot,” he said. “I appreciate you’re trying to get different people in different parts of the city or whatever it is you’re thinking you’re trying to do, but we don’t like that at all.”

His family’s attendance at future Go events will depend on whether the host city is one they want to visit. Tokyo, a return to Seattle and an event near the Grand Canyon are on their wish list.

As for our group, we’re already talking about hitting Go Fest next year, but it will also depend on everybody’s schedules and where the US event lands next. For the time being, we plan to keep playing and tending to our growing Pokemon collections. 

Microsoft has confirmed a confusing Windows bug that causes different filenames to appear in the confirmation dialog when deleting a file from the Recycle Bin.

“When permanently deleting a single item from the Recycle Bin, the confirmation dialog displays the internal Recycle Bin filename (for example, $Rxxxxx.ext) instead of the original filename,” the company explained in a Thursday update to the Windows release health dashboard.

“The Recycle Bin itself correctly displays the original filename, and restoring the item also restores it using the original filename.”

While Microsoft didn’t share how widespread this known issue is, it said that it affects all supported Windows releases across both client and server platforms after installing the June 2026 security updates.

The complete list of affected Windows versions includes:

• ​Client: Windows 11, version 26H1; Windows 11, version 25H2; Windows 11, version 24H2; Windows 11, version 23H2; Windows 10, version 22H2; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016,
• ​Server: Windows Server 2025; Windows Server 2022; Windows Server 2019; Windows Server 2016; Windows Server 2012 R2; Windows Server 2012.

Microsoft said that its engineers are working on a fix for this bug, which will ship to affected systems in a future Windows update.

However, while a fix is not yet generally available, Microsoft added that a temporary workaround is available for businesses that will reach out to its Business Support team.

“A workaround is available for affected devices. To apply this workaround in your organization and mitigate the issue, please contact Microsoft’s Support for business,” it noted.

Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed another issue that blocks third-party apps from launching Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and other Office applications (or from opening documents) on Windows systems after installing the June 2026 updates.

More recently, on Thursday, it also fixed a known issue that caused the June 2026 security updates to fail on Windows Server 2016 systems that didn’t have the May KB5087537 security update installed.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

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With electricity costs soaring, home batteries have never looked so attractive. Whether you want to store the excess generated by your solar panels or simply buy electricity at the cheapest possible rate to use later when power is most expensive, a home battery can help. It’s never been easier to get a home battery installed, but this rapidly expanding market can be confusing, and there are several things to consider before you buy.

I’ve spent months researching home batteries, chatting to folks who use them, and then having one installed myself, and I have tips for anyone interested in getting a home battery of their own.

Why Would You Want a Home Battery?

There are several reasons you might want to invest in a home battery, and they are not mutually exclusive:

• You want to store excess power from your solar panels.
• You want to live off-grid.
• You want to guard against power outages.
• You want to buy electricity at a cheap rate and store it for use later.

Home batteries are a win-win, potentially benefiting power companies too, because battery storage is an essential part of grid balancing and can help manage and make the most of the intermittent power generated by renewables (solar, wind, waves).

How Do Home Batteries Work?

Photograph: Simon Hill

A home battery is like a big power bank for your home. But rather than lithium-ion, they tend to be lithium iron phosphate (LFP or LiFePO₄), because it is safer, more durable, and less prone to thermal runaway. In other words, less likely to overheat and burst into flames. There are a few manufacturers working with sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries, which are potentially cheaper, more environmentally friendly (they don’t require lithium), and perform better in the cold, but they are also larger and don’t last as long.

Home battery technology is often the same as you’ll find in electric vehicles. Some folks have even suggested employing EV batteries as home batteries. But there are potential issues with that, not least finding your car battery drained in the morning. EVs are also driving the technology forward toward solid-state batteries, which are smaller for the same capacity, safer as they don’t have liquid electrolytes inside, and longer lasting.

Many home batteries come in modular systems, so you can add the capacity you want, but they require an inverter to convert the DC (direct current) power stored to AC (alternating current) power you can use. Folks with solar panels, or those who plan to add them in the future, should opt for a hybrid inverter, which can also convert the power from the panels for use or storage.

Inverters have different power ratings in kilowatts (kW) that dictate how much power you can draw at any given moment. Households with modest needs may get by with a 3.6-kW inverter, but that limits your continuous draw to 3.6 kW. They usually have a peak load capability that goes higher, enabling you to pull more for a brief period. If you have high-demand appliances like an EV charger or heat pump, you will want at least 5 kW, and folks with larger demands or larger batteries will want to go higher (6 to 10 kW).

What Should I Look For?

There are several things to watch out for when buying a home battery:

• Capacity: Measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), this tells you how much total energy the battery can hold.
• Power output: Measured in kilowatts (kW), this shows how much energy the battery and inverter can deliver at any moment.
• Depth of discharge: This is how much of the battery’s capacity you can safely use without damaging it.
• Efficiency: This is the percentage of the power you put into the battery that you can actually use, because some energy is always lost in the storage process.
• Warranty: This is a guarantee about the minimum performance you can expect before a battery degrades (they all degrade over time), and it’s often stated in years and charging cycles (whichever comes first). For example, EcoFlow promises at least 70 percent capacity after 15 years or 6,000 charging cycles.

How Much Home Battery Do You Need?

EcoFlow via Simon Hill

It can be tricky to calculate how much battery capacity you need, and it depends on your use case. If you want to guard against outages or live off-grid, you must consider how much power you use over time and also the sum of your maximum power usage at any given moment to ensure your capacity in kWh and output in kW are enough. If the output is not high enough you may not be able to run power-hungry appliances at the same time, so you’ll have to think about how you use your power.

For folks like me, simply looking to buy at a cheaper rate to use when power is more expensive, any capacity will benefit you. But if you have a cheap six-hour rate overnight, for example, then you ideally want it to last for the other 18 hours. It makes sense to get as much as you can up-front because the installation costs are high. Even adding to modular systems later often requires professional installation to avoid voiding your warranty.

Do You Need Upgrades or Permission?

The home battery will connect to your main electrical panel via a cable, and it may require some upgrades. There was no room on my fuse board when I got a home battery installed, so they had to install a second breaker box.

Some inverters may require permission from your electric distribution utility or local distribution company. Here in Scotland, the distribution network operator must approve your inverter, but you can install and then notify up to 3.6 kW, whereas larger inverters require prior approval.

OFFBEAT

Stop Killing Games campaign suffers setback as European Commission favors industry code of conduct over legal obligation

The Stop Killing Games movement was dealt a blow this week after the European Commission decided not to propose a legal obligation to keep video games playable after they are no longer commercially available.

Users of licensed software that depends on online components may also find this development of interest – more on that later.

The grievance concerns online video games that become unplayable when publishers shut down the servers they run on. Almost 1.3 million grumpy gamers signed a petition calling for publishers to ensure games enjoy an afterlife, leading to a public hearing in the European Parliament.

It’s a contentious issue. On one hand, customers who have purchased a game might feel aggrieved when it is rendered unplayable by a commercial decision. On the other, publishers argue that shutting down services must be an option when a game is no longer commercially viable.

A middle path would be a patch that lets the game run standalone, or releasing software so enthusiasts can host their own.

Ross Scott, founder of the Stop Killing Games movement, told The Register: “The behavior of the Commission seems to go beyond simply disagreeing this is a problem that needs solving. On the contrary, they haven’t clarified how the law views this situation and are trying to pass the ambiguity off to individual nation states. This is a recipe for policy fragmentation, which is under the Commission’s charter to prevent.”

Scott added that the group was not calling for “endless support” for online games. “All we can say is the Commission appears to have an agenda independent of the initiative’s request and their charter.”

Business is not a game

Software shutouts are a depressingly familiar scenario for users. Licensed software can stop working or suffer reduced functionality when online services are lost. A recent example is the impending demise of Microsoft Office 2019 for macOS, which will reach the end of the road in July due to a certificate expiration. If the application cannot reach the licensing servers, users can’t edit or save documents – rendering it mostly useless.

Scott told us the group was focused on video games for the time being because “they have an almost unique place under the law.”

“EU court rulings consider them more than ‘just’ software due to all the copyrighted content contained within them and thus subject to more laws than just those that pertain to software.”

The European Commission cited existing intellectual property protections for creators and publishers as one reason not to propose new rules. It also noted that EU consumer law already provides some safeguards. “Video game providers must inform consumers about the duration and the conditions for terminating the contract before the consumers sign up for the video game,” it said.

Instead, the Commission said it would work with the industry to draw up a code of conduct.

Stop Killing Games posted on X: “This decision is not unexpected. But we were prepared. Hence, we’re pushing forward with @Europarl_EN amending #StopKillingGames to the Digital Fairness Act.”

In other words, the next step is to try to get the group’s suggestions into the Digital Fairness Act, a legislative proposal by the European Commission, which, according to Scott, “coincidentally is an excellent fit for it.” ®

The UK has recently announced that, from Spring 2027, all those under 16 years old will be banned from accessing certain social media platforms.

This, pretty unsurprisingly, has been met with mixed reactions as many parents, guardians, teachers and even under-16s have praised the ban. On the other hand, some have criticised the ban as, to them, it simply makes “no sense”. 

Whatever your stance on the social media ban is, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know, from what platforms will be included and how the ban will be enforced. We should disclaim that the ban isn’t expected until next year, so there’s still a lot of unanswered questions.

For more, visit our overview on the social media ban while our very own Dave Ludlow has given his two cents on the ban.

The UK government is planning to ban social media for those aged under 16. This means that although under-16s will still have general access to the internet, and can read the news, research topics and play games, they won’t be able to use platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X. At the time of writing, we don’t know whether that list is exhaustive, or if the government will eventually include more platforms to the ban list.

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You’d be right in thinking this sounds familiar, as the government has stated that it’s using the “same model” as Australia’s social media ban which was implemented back in December 2025.

The purpose of the social media ban is partly in response to a national consultation which showed an “overwhelming public demand for action”. According to the consultation, the vast majority of parents and under-16s alike agreed that social media platforms shouldn’t be used by young people.

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According to the government, the social media ban will be implemented in Spring 2027 after the first set of regulations are laid out by the end of the year. At the time of writing, there haven’t been any specific dates provided. 

Judging from the fact sheet on gov.uk, it would be fair to say that the details haven’t been formalised yet. Instead, the government states that it plans on following Australia’s ban, whose model included “platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X”. We’d assume that YouTube Kids will still be available for under 16s, but the government hasn’t confirmed this just yet.

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What about WhatsApp and other messaging apps?

The government has stated that it does not “intend” for messaging services to be included in the social media ban, which is likely to be a relief for parents who are concerned about keeping in touch with kids while they’re out and about. However, it has currently only mentioned Whatsapp and Signal, and fails to explain whether the likes of Telegram will be banned. 

We also wonder whether Messenger will be banned too. Yes, you need a Facebook account to initially set-up the tool, but you can technically still use it even if you deactivate your account.

It seems that the main method of enforcing the social media ban will be via age verification, with stronger requirements needed for age checks on platforms. Ofcom is said to be setting out different options for effective forms of age verification that are “accurate, robust, reliable and fair”. However, the government hasn’t provided any further details on what those verifications will look like. 

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Adults won’t need to do checks, as many already have a social media account that’s been open for more than 16 years (what a way to make us feel old), has a credit card connected or is linked to an email address that’s already passed age verification in other ways. If those steps fail to prove an age, then apparently a simply face scan should verify a person’s age.

What does the ban mean for parents and children?

For children, the ban has been hailed by the government as “kickstarting a cultural shift”, and is promised to give kids their childhoods “back” as there will be less time for scrolling and “more time for play”.

However, those slightly older children who have grown up with social media platforms and will soon lose access may struggle to get used to the so-called “new normal”. There’s even, at the time of writing, a petition calling for the social media ban to be stopped which has over 208,000 signatures. 

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Essentially, people are clearly divided by the ban as although the harms of social media are widely acknowledged, many hail it a useful tool to stay in contact with friends and family. 

Otherwise, the government has assured parents that, as of right now, they don’t have to do anything and they will be provided with further detail ahead of the changes in 2027. For now, it’s advisable that parents start taking steps with their children to discuss the upcoming ban and explain why the government is implementing it.

What about 16 and 17-year olds?

Being 16 or 17 years old has always been a difficult age to navigate, and it seems the social media ban will feel similar. While 16 and 17 year olds will be able to access social media, the government plans to ban live streaming and stranger communication for those ages.

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This follows a smartphone and tablet ban in classrooms.

Sony has filed a PSN login patent, first spotted by RespawnFirst, that would pull the DualSense controller into the sign-in process. A PlayStation console would start the request, then the controller would help confirm that the account holder is close enough to approve access.

For players, the appeal is easy to see. PSN account abuse can lead to unauthorized purchases, lost access, and attempts to resell established accounts. Sony already offers 2-step verification and passkeys, but this idea adds a hardware check to the login chain.

How would the controller approve access

The patent describes a handoff that begins at the console. A PS5 or another PlayStation system would send a sign-in request, then the controller would scan for a nearby device such as a smartphone. The diagrams show the console, controller, and account screen as separate parts of the same approval flow.

The controller could use Bluetooth, NFC, proximity sensors, light, sound, or haptic feedback to make contact. After the nearby device responds, credentials would move through the controller and return to the console so the sign-in can finish.

Why would passkeys need backup

Passkeys already give PlayStation users a cleaner way to sign in with a stored credential, including through the PlayStation app. Sony’s patent changes the burden on an attacker. A stolen login becomes harder to use if the console also expects a specific controller to join the process.

There’s a tradeoff, and it isn’t small. A lost, broken, or unavailable DualSense could become a lockout risk unless Sony builds in another way to get back in. The filing doesn’t confirm whether current controllers would support the system, or whether it would require future hardware.

Where could the weak spot remain

The harder PSN security problem may sit outside the console. Attackers can exploit account recovery by persuading customer support to provide sensitive account access using limited details.

That leaves Sony with two jobs if this ever becomes real. The controller check would need to be convenient enough for regular players, and account recovery would need tougher guardrails. Until then, the PSN login patent is worth watching, but it shouldn’t be treated as a full answer to account theft.

Many organizations view multi-factor authentication as one of their strongest defenses against account compromise. However, attackers increasingly use phishing techniques that don’t require stealing passwords or bypassing MFA at all.

On July 8, 2026, BleepingComputer will host a live webinar titled “Stop chasing alerts: Automating email security with behavioral AI” presented by Dan Nickolaisen, Solutions Architect Manager at Abnormal AI, and Eric Danneker, Director of Cyber Vigilance and Defense at Novant Health.

The webinar will examine how modern phishing campaigns, business email compromise (BEC), and account takeover (ATO) attacks exploit trusted services and authentication workflows to gain access to corporate accounts.

One technique receiving growing attention is Device Code phishing, where attackers trick users into authorizing access through legitimate Microsoft authentication pages. Because users complete a real login and MFA challenge, attackers can obtain persistent access without ever stealing credentials.

This shift presents a challenge for security teams. Traditional email defenses, credential monitoring, and MFA protections may not detect these attacks, leaving analysts to investigate suspicious activity only after an account has already been compromised.

Abnormal AI uses behavioral AI to identify unusual account activity, suspicious communications, and attack patterns that conventional security controls may miss.

Attendees will learn practical approaches for detecting account compromise earlier, reducing investigation workloads, and improving response times through automation and behavioral analysis.

Why MFA isn’t stopping every account takeover

Many phishing attacks still focus on stealing passwords, but increasingly attackers are targeting authentication workflows themselves.

By abusing legitimate authorization processes, attackers can obtain access tokens that grant ongoing access to email, cloud applications, and corporate resources without triggering many traditional security controls.

This webinar will explore how organizations can identify these attacks sooner and use behavioral AI to automate detection and response activities before compromised accounts lead to larger security incidents.

The upcoming webinar will cover:

• How Device Code phishing works and why it bypasses traditional credential theft protections
• Why modern phishing, BEC, and ATO attacks increasingly evade conventional email security controls
• The operational challenges these attacks create for SOC and incident response teams
• How behavioral AI can identify suspicious account activity and automate investigations
• Practical approaches for reducing response times and limiting account takeover risks

Join us to learn how organizations can better defend against modern phishing techniques that exploit trust, identity, and legitimate authentication workflows.

➡ Register now to secure your spot!

BYD executive vice president Stella Li said the Chinese automaker has complied with all environmental regulations at its Szeged factory in Hungary, pushing back against allegations that the company violated its obligations during construction. Li made the comments at a press conference in Belgrade on Friday, where she met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to discuss a potential second European production site.

The denial comes after Hungary’s environment minister said in May that BYD had “seriously violated” its environmental obligations at the Szeged site, where Hungarian police are investigating whether toxic soil was improperly handled during construction work. The government imposed a fine of 10 million forints, roughly $27,000, on the company over the incident.

BYD began trial production at the Szeged plant in early 2026 and plans to start full assembly operations in the fourth quarter. The factory is the first major Chinese automaker production facility in Europe, a milestone that has drawn both investment interest and political scrutiny. Hungary positioned itself as China’s gateway into the EU under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, capturing 44% of all Chinese foreign direct investment into Europe in 2023.

The political landscape has since shifted. Peter Magyar, who replaced Orban earlier this year, has taken a harder line on environmental and labour standards at Chinese-backed projects. The scrutiny of BYD’s Szeged site is part of a broader review that has also targeted battery manufacturers CATL and Samsung SDI, both of which operate or are building large facilities in Hungary.

However, subsequent testing has complicated the initial allegations. According to Hungary Today, later soil tests on surrounding farmlands found no contamination above regulatory limits. The distinction matters: the police investigation centres on whether soil from the construction site itself was improperly disposed of, not whether the factory is actively polluting surrounding land.

Li’s appearance in Belgrade served a dual purpose. Beyond addressing the environmental controversy, she was there to discuss BYD’s search for a second European plant. Bloomberg reported that BYD is open to buying an existing facility, partnering with another manufacturer, or building from scratch.

Vucic offered Serbia as a production site during the meeting, pitching the country’s lower labour costs and proximity to EU markets.

The second-plant search has also involved conversations with Stellantis, according to Bloomberg. The Franco-Italian automaker has excess factory capacity across Europe, and a deal would give BYD immediate production infrastructure without the multi-year timeline of a greenfield build. European EV demand has surged in 2026, with battery-electric registrations jumping 51% in March alone, creating urgency for Chinese manufacturers to localise production and avoid EU import tariffs.

The Szeged controversy sits within an even broader pattern of scrutiny. China Labor Watch and other organisations have raised separate allegations of forced labour practices at the construction site, claims that BYD has denied. The European Parliament has also flagged labour conditions at Chinese-backed projects in Hungary, adding another dimension to the political pressure on Magyar’s government to demonstrate tighter oversight.

For BYD, the stakes extend well beyond a $27,000 fine. The company overtook Tesla as the world’s largest seller of battery-electric vehicles in 2025 and is racing alongside other Chinese automakers to establish European manufacturing before tariff walls rise further. Any sustained regulatory friction in Hungary could complicate its expansion plans at a moment when the European market is its fastest-growing opportunity.

Li told reporters in Belgrade that BYD will continue to invest in Hungary and cooperate fully with the investigation. Whether that cooperation satisfies Magyar’s government, which has political incentives to distance itself from Orban’s permissive approach to Chinese investment, remains the open question.

Siri AI and system optimizations are the focus of iPadOS 27, but that’s enough for iPad’s usual in-between year. Power users will notice the changes the most.

The iPad operating system has been on a predictable tick-tock upgrade cycle where one year is significant and the other minimal. Apple focused on Siri AI for its OS 27 releases, but iPadOS 27 still has a few new and useful upgrades.

As an iPad-first user, I’m most interested in how iPadOS might affect my workflows each year. I do have a Mac mini for recording a video podcast, and my Apple Vision Pro is still used regularly for focused work, but the iPad is where I live.

Of those three platforms, funny enough, the Apple Vision Pro saw the most new feature upgrades overall.

That isn’t to say what’s new in iPadOS 27 won’t affect me or my work. There are some interesting new automation and windowing features that may prove useful.

Plus, the merging of Spotlight and Siri saved the search tool from being a broken mess.

If you’re an iPad user who’s mainly using the iPad as a tablet, there’s a chance you won’t notice much new beyond Siri AI. Power users definitely got the most focus this year thanks to system optimizations, design changes, and a couple of new features.

Let’s get into it.

iPadOS 27 review: Features & optimizations

Apple’s WWDC keynote didn’t split up features by OS due to a focus on optimizations and child safety features. I’m not getting into the child safety stuff in this early review since it doesn’t affect me.

There are many small changes across every operating system, but when you break down exactly what’s in each, it feels small versus previous years. That’s likely because of Apple’s stability and optimization focus this year, and how nearly all the truly new features are tied to AI.

Spotlight reindexed

Spotlight search is vastly improved thanks to a completely rethought indexing system. Everything stored on your device, from Contacts to Journal entries, is crawled after installing iPadOS 27.

iPadOS 27 review: Spotlight is finally instant again

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The process can take up to a week, depending on how much data you have saved locally. The improvements are immediately noticeable because you can actually use Spotlight without waiting for results to populate.

There’s word that the new indexing is being added in iPadOS 26.6 so people upgrading to iPadOS 27 in the fall will already have everything done day one. However, while that indexing will be done, it won’t be used until the fall releases.

That’s important because the new Siri AI relies heavily on that newly indexed data. Some queries flat out didn’t work when indexing was still going on, so keep that in mind.

While the Spotlight interface has integrated Siri AI, they are still distinct entities. If you search for an app name, hit enter, and it launches, that’s Spotlight.

In my use this past week I can say that Apple accomplished its goal. Spotlight is instant.

Optimizations

Quality-of-life improvements aren’t always the most exciting, especially when discussed during a keynote. However, they are felt in everything you do when implemented properly.

iPadOS 27 review: paste suggestions are helpful

One feature everyone will notice almost immediately is the new paste option in the typing suggestions. On iPad, that shows up whether you’re using the virtual keyboard or a physical one.

Not only is it convenient when using the touch interface, it’s great for verifying what is in your clipboard before pasting. So, even if you’re on a physical keyboard, there is some benefit.

Apple says that windowing actions are faster in iPadOS 27. I’m not sure if I notice faster, but they certainly feel more fluid and responsive.

Transferring files in the Files app to an external drive is five times faster. While I didn’t pull out a stopwatch, it certainly seems to be true.

I need to get photos from my camera’s SD card to my iPad, then from my iPad to an SSD later for backup, and both can be quite annoying when in progress.

iPadOS 27 review: Files app transfers to external drives are now up to 5 times faster

Family photoshoots can take ages to transfer, especially when you’re trying to transfer photos while on the move. That 5-minute transfer turning into 1 minute is a huge workflow improvement.

6GB took around 20 seconds to transfer to my external SSD I keep attached to my Studio Display. While I don’t have a good way to compare, it’s certainly faster.

The iPad menu bar is also changed, and I think for the better. Whatever your active app is, wherever it is on the display, the name is shown in the top left corner.

Hovering over that name with a cursor, or tapping with a finger, opens the menu bar items for that app. The window controls appear there too in full-screen mode, but otherwise stick with the window.

iPadOS 27 review: Siri AI

Siri AI is here and it’s deeply ingrained in Apple’s operating systems. However, I stand by the idea that the AI side of Apple is still ignorable if that’s what you want.

iPadOS 27 review: Siri AI has a home in the new Siri app

I understand the anti-AI sentiments, but I do think we shouldn’t be throwing a blanket over all AI. It’s a dumb term that applies to too many technologies.

Many of these implementations are bad, yes.

Apple’s use of AI, arguably, is one of the few that feels right. It is private and secure with a focus on local operation, though there are powerful cloud models when needed.

There are five new third-generation Apple Foundation Models.

• AFM Core: the on-device model we had before, upgraded and using a 3-billion parameter model
• AFM Core Advanced: an on-device model with a 20-billion parameter model built with sparse architecture that activates 1 to 4 billion parameters as needed
• AFM Cloud: the server-side model that’s a step above the on-device models
• AFM Cloud for images: an image-focused model for image generation and editing
• AFM Cloud Pro: the model to be used for agentic tools and complex reasoning

Users don’t really need to worry about the specifics of this. And while the new Apple Foundation Models were built thanks to a partnership with Google, the Gemini Assistant and Google Search are nowhere to be found.

It’s Apple AI all the way down.

I’m conflicted on what I should talk about here in regard to an iPadOS review. The Siri AI and new Apple Intelligence features are available across Apple’s ecosystem.

The new live proofreading feature is a nice addition. If I make a silly grammatical mistake, a blue line appears in my text.

Writing Tools vanished in beta 1 a day after I installed it. However, those grammar suggestions still work, so that’s a good in-between until the Writing Tools Proofread function returns in a later beta.

I don’t generate images, text, or anything for work and don’t plan to start. Spotlight and Siri AI are useful in that it’s easier than ever to uncover an old email.

The new Photo editing tools like extend and reframe are interesting, but I don’t think this is the place to discuss them. I’ll be examining those more closely in the future.

iPadOS 27 review: world knowledge helps get things answered without using Google

I’m sure some workflows might emerge from this new Apple Intelligence, but I didn’t use AI before either. I have considered that the Siri app might be a good search alternative.

The idea would be to ask Siri if there are any gaps in my longform pieces and have it present me with some results. I’d reference the included sourcing and verify if that information indeed was missing and learn what I needed to add from there.

I can say that I will never take a Siri text response as the default answer or paste in a response into my text as fact. The results of some queries are interesting though, as Siri generally doesn’t summarize what it is sharing.

Instead, Siri shares giant clumps of data from various sources. Since the text is verbatim from the source, it can even include typos. Apple is doing this to prevent hallucinations in the output, which actually works quite well.

iPadOS 27 review: Siri is always available via Spotlight

That said, it is still AI, and I do catch it in a hallucination from time to time. So, since I know I can’t catch every bit of wrong information, I just default to it as a reference and open the link to verify.

As we said in US Navy nuclear power operations when checking each other’s work: trust, but verify.

I believe this is a great starting point for Siri AI and Apple Intelligence. Apple delivered on everything it promised in 2024, and took things even further with its new models.

I believe Apple is the only player on the market with an entire ecosystem of products and data with an AI built in at this scale. Google Gemini has some of this on Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, and a few others, but not to the depth of Apple’s AI integrations.

It can only improve from here. I’m especially excited for third-party developer support.

iPadOS 27 review: Shortcuts

Shortcuts is quite the powerful tool that I’m not sure many Apple users actually know about. That, or they’ve stumbled into it and got intimidated and never came back.

iPadOS 27 review: Shortcuts are easier to generate

Either way, iPadOS 27 and the other new releases make Shortcuts much easier to use. You simply hit the plus button and type in what you want a shortcut to do, and if it’s reasonable and within the app’s abilities, it generates that shortcut.

That’s it, you’re done. Now, you’re not going to generate a 200-step shortcut using this method, but you can massage out a task with a few commands to refine what you’d like to do.

I’ll remind everyone that is experimenting with Shortcuts: simple is better. Instead of making a giant and complex shortcut with a million actions, break each section of actions out into their own shortcuts.

Then, once you’ve got your various separate tasks, you can combine the shortcuts into one action using the Run Shortcut option. But of course, that’s a bit more manual.

Now you can just voice your shortcut into being.

It is limited to Apple apps at the moment, so you won’t be making Shortcuts with third-party actions just yet. That should become available once developers can add support outside of the beta.

iPadOS 27 users got one new action that could come in handy. You can now have a shortcut run when removing or attaching a keyboard.

So, toggle between full-screen apps for tablet mode and multitasking for keyboard mode. It’s a simple automation that helps lean into iPad’s ability to be a naked robotic core and transform into the device you need in the moment.

A good off year for iPad

The refinements and optimization paired with Siri AI make the 2027 release feel like it’s good enough. Had Apple ignored the platform entirely beyond the new Siri, we’d be having a very different discussion.

iPadOS 27 review: iPad continues to be whatever you need it to be thanks to a strong OS base

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There’s also the chance iPadOS could see more changes through the beta and through the OS 27 cycle. Never count Apple out of introducing some big paradigm-shifting feature in iPadOS 27.3 or something.

I do wish more time could have been spent on some of the pain points, like the awkwardness of Slide Over and some windowing actions. Resizing my Safari window from the right shouldn’t reduce its size from the left too, especially when it was touching the left side before.

We’re all still waiting on features like clipboard history and system-wide extensions similar to those found on macOS. I do wonder with the continued attention on the menu bar if we won’t see menu bar apps in iPadOS eventually.

The iPad Pro continues to be my device and platform of choice. Apple Vision Pro is another great option, but there are several awkward areas there that make work a little slower versus the iPad.

My Mac mini is great for capturing our video version of the AppleInsider Podcast. I wonder if we’ll see a dedicated podcast recording and editing tool for Apple Creator Studio at some point.

Then, and only then, will I fully leave Mac behind. For now, Continuity Camera and multiple recording options are only available on Mac.

Oh, one last thing: bring Universal Control to iPad. Let me move my cursor from my iPad Pro to my iPad mini without a Mac present.

Anyway, this is an early review of iPadOS 27 conducted during the first developer beta. A lot could change in the coming months, and AppleInsider will be back to review the shipping version in the fall.

iPadOS 27 Pros

iPadOS 27 Cons

Rating: 4 out of 5

As far as in-between iPadOS years go, this is a strong offering. Siri AI is transformative to the entire ecosystem, including on iPad.

It is never a bad thing to take time to focus on optimization, speed, and design. More could have been done for multitasking and pro tools, but we’ll see what iPadOS 28 offers in that regard.