Tech
How to pause Activity Rings in watchOS 26 when you need a break
While Activity Rings are a staple for fitness enthusiasts, there might be times when you need to pause them. Here’s how you can do it in watchOS 26.
How to pause Activity Rings in watchOS 26
The Activity Rings on the Apple Watch are a great way to keep track of your daily movement, exercise, and standing goals. However, there are situations where keeping them active isn’t practical.
For instance, maintaining your usual activity level could interfere with the recovery process if you’re recovering from an illness or injury. Pausing the rings allows you to prioritize healing without feeling pressured to meet daily goals.
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Tech
Fascinating Look Back at Sony’s HDVS, the High-Definition Trailblazer That Arrived Decades Before Its Time
Sony engineers dropped jaws at a TV conference in Algeria in April 1981. They brought out a completely functional setup complete with a camera, monitor, and tape recorder capable of capturing images sharper and more detailed than anyone had ever seen outside of a laboratory. NHK, Japan’s main public broadcaster, had spent years working on a new standard called Hi-Vision, which effectively gave a lot more lines of resolution than ordinary TV ever could. As a result of their close collaboration, development work moved forward at full speed. Sony introduced a full line of commercial gear under the HDVS branding in April 1984, with the HDC-100 camera and HDV-1000 recorder at the center.
This system worked by creating high-definition signals from analog video across 1125 scanning lines, 1035 of which included the actual visible image. They started with a 5:3 screen ratio before switching to 16:9, which they still use today. To ensure seamless movement, video was scanned in an interlaced pattern at 60 fields per second, and the picture was noticeably clearer than anything else on TV at the time.
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The HDC-100 cameras were at the core of every production, with the original weighing approximately 22 pounds due to the three massive Saticon tubes within. It required calm hands to operate without overheating or causing unpleasant ‘burn in’ to the images. Later models, such as the HDC-300, attempted to enhance the tubes, while the 1988 HDC-500 began employing CCD sensors, which were much lighter and more dependable while still providing the same level of information. The recording equipment was similarly high-tech. The HDV-1000 reel-to-reel deck used standard one-inch tape but managed to record far more data. The tape moved so quickly on the heads that you were lucky to get an hour of recording on each reel, and a separate processor cleaned and smoothed the signal when you played it back.
As you can probably imagine, the pricing for this system were outrageous. In 1985, the total cost of a camera, recorder, and monitor was $1.5 million. Later digital improvements, such as the 1988 HDD-1000, boosted individual items to more than $600,000, with metal-evaporated tape adding thousands more each hour of recording. Few of these systems left the plant, but when they did, they were typically used in medical labs, aerospace facilities, or animation studios where the increased resolution was critical.
There were still opportunities for creative sorts to play. Arrival, a 1986 short film about Halley’s Comet, received a theatrical release after being converted to standard film. The next year, an Italian crew completed Julia and Julia, the first full-length drama shot exclusively on this system, and it starred Kathleen Turner. Genesis was also able to get some live music events on the list, capturing their Invisible Touch Tour at Wembley Stadium for home video release.
Stop signs can be found on roads across America, and unlike some of the more confusing traffic signs, the instruction that they give is a very straightforward one. You’ll see them at many different kinds of intersections, but one place you might not expect to see a stop sign is on an interstate on-ramp. Drivers usually expect to be increasing their speed to match traffic before merging onto the interstate, so stopping might seem counterintuitive.
They’re not common, but stop signs on on-ramps are sometimes used as a temporary measure when construction work is taking place. In February 2026, construction crews in Portsmouth, Virginia, installed a stop sign on the on-ramp from Frederick Boulevard to the westbound I-264. Crews needed to install sound walls along the side of the interstate and, therefore, needed access to the shoulders of the road. To enable that access, they had to partially block the on-ramp.
In an interview with WTKR, an official explained that they installed the stop sign because they “did not have enough room for the taper length to go from the on ramp to the interstate to have people move safely” onto the interstate. The option of closing the ramp altogether was floated, but in the end, officials decided that the stop sign would be less of an inconvenience for drivers.
Interstate users should accommodate for on-ramp stop signs
The installation of a stop sign on an on-ramp demands extra care for drivers looking to merge onto the interstate, and anyone tempted to breeze through one using a rolling stop might find themselves attracting the attention of law enforcement.
On-ramp stop signs require drivers who are already on the interstate to be vigilant, too. Speaking to WTKR, the Virginia Department of Transportation official asked that drivers “slow down and be aware that there’s people who are going to be at the stop sign for that on ramp,” making sure that they “give them a little bit of room to safely merge onto the interstate.”
As unusual as they might be, these on-ramp stop signs are far from the only rare stop sign variant that Americans might be able to spot on the roads. On certain private roads, drivers might also come across bright blue stop signs, which are most commonly found in Hawaii.
HMD plans to introduce the Vibe 2 5G in India on May 8. Ahead of the official debut, Flipkart has published a landing page confirming the handset’s online availability in the country. The teaser also reveals part of the phone’s front panel design.
HMD Vibe 2 5G Expected Features
The upcoming HMD Vibe 2 5G is expected to continue the brand’s focus on the affordable smartphone segment. The device may offer 5G connectivity at a budget-friendly price, which could help it stand out in the entry-level market. Some reports also suggest that the company could introduce a separate 4G version powered by a Unisoc T7200 processor.
The phone is expected to feature a 6.75-inch HD+ LCD screen with a 90Hz refresh rate. Other features could include 4GB of RAM and up to 256GB of expandable memory. There will be a 50MP dual rear camera system and a 5,000mAh battery as well.
The rumors indicate that the phone will have a 6.75-inch LCD display with HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. In terms of photography, the device will have a rear camera with a 50MP primary sensor and a 2MP secondary sensor.
The HMD Vibe 2 5G is likely to target users looking for an affordable smartphone with modern features. According to rumors and previews, the phone might feature a huge screen that refreshes at 90 Hz, two rear cameras, memory expansion capabilities, and a large battery.
Most details about the HMD Vibe 2 5G are still under wraps for now. However, its predecessor, the Vibe 5G, offers a good look at the kind of features the new phone could bring. Last year, HMD launched the smartphone at a starting price of Rs. 11,999 in Black and Purple color options.
Amid a memory shortage that forced it to raise PS5 prices twice in less than a year, Sony sold just 1.5 million PS5s in its fourth fiscal quarter, down 46 percent from the year before. The company was relatively gloomy about its gaming division’s prospects next year too, forecasting that revenue would fall six percent ($1.69 billion).
Overall, Sony’s gaming division revenue was up slightly for the entire fiscal 2025 year with sales of 4.69 trillion yen ($29.9 billion) compared to 4.67 trillion yen ($29.8 billion) the previous year. Operating income was up 12 percent to 463.3 billion yen ($2.95 billion), thanks in part to an increase in PlayStation Network sales.
Some of Sony’s revenue and profit issues this year were down to impairment losses with Bungie due to Destiny 2′s poor sales. Without those charges on its back next year (plus the expected blockbuster launch of Grand Theft Auto VI in November), the company expects a 30 percent boost in profits for its next fiscal year despite the revenue drop.
Still, those forecasts will depend on its ability to obtain memory. “We plan to base our PS5 hardware sales in FY26 on the volume of memory we can procure at reasonable prices and we
expect hardware profitability to be essentially the same as FY25,” Sony said. In its previous earnings report, the company revealed that it had secured the minimum memory it needed to accommodate sales for the 2026 holiday season.
That may be cold comfort to PS5 fans, though, considering that a standard PS5 is far from affordable at $650 after the March 2026 price hike, up $150 from just a year ago. That’s for a nearly six-year-old console that’s inexorably approaching its end of life. Nintendo was going through the same thing with its aging Switch console early last year, but the June 2025 Switch 2 launch completely changed its fortunes, becoming the fastest-selling Nintendo console ever.
Verdict
The Philips 4000 Series (NA462) Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer is a decent stacked air fryer that looks stylish, has a reasonable array of functions and cooks food evenly. The top 200°C temperature can feel quite restrictive for some food, though, and there isn’t as much going on as with rival appliances with as dear a price tag.
-
Sturdy build quality
-
Reasonably consistent cooking
-
Good capacity for family meals
-
200°C top temperature can be limiting
-
Not as many functions as key rivals
-
Expensive
Key Features
-
10L capacity
This Philips air fryer has a large capacity across its two baskets, making it ideal for larger family cooking or for bulk arrangements.
-
Five cooking functions
It also has a decent array of food-specific functions, with everything from chips and fish to meat and vegetable covered.
Introduction
Stacked dual-zone air fryers are all the rage at the moment, as folks seek to maximise capacity while retaining as much countertop space as possible – the Philips 4000 Series (NA462) Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer is the brand’s first air fryer in this style.
On paper, everything looks to be in order, with a pair of five-litre stacked baskets, a bevvy of cooking functions and a stylish look that could make it a strong rival to the likes of the Ninja Double Stack XL 9.5 Air Fryer SL400UK and the Cosori Turbo Tower Pro 10.8L Dual Air Fryer.
At £269.99, though, it’s more expensive than both of those options, and will need to do quite a bit to come out on top as one of the best air fryers we’ve tested. I’ve been putting it through its paces for the last couple of weeks to find out.
Design and features
- Solid build quality
- Reasonable functions for family cooking
- Decently intuitive controls
This 4000 Series stacked air fryer is certainly compact, sitting at just 233 mm wide and 399 mm high, meaning it takes up roughly half the space across a countertop as a dual-basket side-by-side model.
At 469mm deep, though, it will still take up a fair amount of lateral space. Plus, since the baskets vent out the left side rather than the back, you’ll need to make sure they aren’t butted up too close to a wall on that side.
The black and gold accented colourway provides a bit of style to an otherwise quite non-descript box, and everything feels reassuringly sturdy. This air fryer tips the scales at 9.8kg, giving it a fair amount of heft for a smaller unit in some respects.
The two narrow baskets are evenly split in capacity, and the two five-litre baskets add up to a total of ten litres of capacity, putting it in the middle of the Ninja and Cosori options I’ve tested. Philips says it’s enough for this 4000 Series stacked air fryer to cook up to a kilo of chips, 24 chicken drumsticks or two whole chickens. It’s a good amount of space for family cooking. I’m also a fan of the fact that the baskets come with windows to make keeping an eye on food while it cooks nice and simple.
The preset functions here are based around specific foods rather than dedicated cooking modes, with five to choose from. You get a frozen chips setting, steak, fish, vegetables, and chicken, plus a reheat function and the customary sync and match options. The control panel sits above the baskets and is slightly angled – it’s easy to use, although in use, the lack of a proper minutes and seconds countdown is a bit of a shame.
Once you’re done with the fryer baskets and crisper plates, they can both be put in the dishwasher. I avoided this in my testing and instead chose to handwash them. Doing so is easy, and they were clean, dry and put back in a matter of minutes.
This 4000 Series stacked air fryer will go as high as 200°C, which is fine for most use cases, although it means your cooked food may lack the extra crispiness that a higher max temperature can bring. Both Cosori and Ninja’s equivalent options can go as high as 230°C and 240°C, respectively.
There isn’t any form of smart features or app control, as you’ll find on a variant of the Cosori Turbo Tower, plus dearer single-basket air fryers such as the Dreo ChefMaker or Typhur Dome 2.
Performance
- Reasonably even and crispy cooking
- 200°C top temperature can lead to longer cooking times
During my time with the 4000 Series stacked air fryer, I cooked a range of typical family foods to see how well it performs. In a general sense, I was happy with the results, although some items needed longer than in other air fryers I’ve used, such as frozen oven chips, and the array of functions is a little basic for the price.
Firstly, I cooked some breaded fishcakes at 190°C for 18 minutes on the Fish preset, and they came out well browned and piping hot after their time.
Similarly, some breaded chicken on the more ambiguous Chicken preset came out especially crispy in a very full basket after 20 minutes at 180°C.
Moving over to the Meat setting, I cooked a reasonably sized beef joint for a Sunday roast, which was put on 200°C for the first 20 minutes to brown and sear, before being turned down to 165°C for 40 minutes. The end result was a decent sear and a moist piece of meat that was slightly pink in the middle as desired.
To go with the beef, I used the Vegetable setting to cook cavalo nero and broccolini, which went on for 25 minutes at 180°C. Halfway through cooking, I added some more cavalo nero and sprayed it with oil and seasoned it with salt. The end result was crispy in places, but not necessarily everywhere.
I went back to the Chicken preset for some chicken cordon bleu at 180°C for 30 minutes, which came out crispy and piping hot.
The disappointment with this 4000 Series stacked air fryer was how it cooked some frozen oven chips, which were initially put in the basket and cooked for 25 minutes at the top temperature of 200°C on their dedicated setting. It ended up taking closer to 35 minutes for them to be ready, which feels a lot longer than other air fryers I’ve used.
Should you buy it?
This Philips air fryer cooks food evenly in my testing across a range of different types that makes it a good choice for families.
For the higher price, though, it feels quite basic in terms of functions and the top 200°C temperature when rival devices offer more in both senses.
Final Thoughts
The Philips 4000 Series (NA462) Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer is a decent stacked air fryer that looks stylish, has a reasonable array of functions and cooks food evenly. The top 200°C temperature can feel quite restrictive for some food, though, and there isn’t as much going on as with rival appliances with as dear a price tag.
For instance, the Cosori Turbo Tower Pro 10.8L Dual Air Fryer provides more functions, a higher top temperature, a larger overall capacity and a bottom basket with dual elements for a similar price, while the Ninja Double Stack XL 9.5 Air Fryer SL400UK also has more functions and a higher top-end temperature. For more choices, check out our list of the best air fryers we’ve tested.
How We Test
We test every air fryer we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our main air fryer for the review period
- We cook real food in each air fryer, making chips, frying sausages and cooking frozen hash browns. This lets us compare quality between each air fryer that we test.
FAQs
The Philips 4000 Series (NA462) Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer has a ten litre capacity, split evenly across the two five-litre baskets.
Test Data
| Philips 4000 Series (NA462) Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer |
|---|
Full Specs
| Philips 4000 Series (NA462) Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £269.99 |
| Manufacturer | Philips |
| Size (Dimensions) | 233 x 469 x 399 MM |
| Weight | 9.8 KG |
| Release Date | 2025 |
| First Reviewed Date | 30/03/2026 |
| Accessories | Crisper plates, baskets |
| Stated Power | 2750 W |
| Number of compartments | 2 |
| Cooking modes | Chips, Fish, Chicken, Vegetables, Meat, Reheat |
| Total food capacity | 10 litres |
AI is still something most people have to consciously engage with. You open an app, type a prompt, take a photo, or ask a question. Apple’s next major AirPods upgrade could change that. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is in late-stage development on camera-equipped earbuds that could put visual AI into a device that many people already use every day.
How close are these AI AirPods to launch?
Bloomberg reports that the earbuds have reached design validation testing, one of the final hardware stages before early mass-production testing. That means the hardware may be close, but the launch appears tied to Apple’s delayed Siri overhaul.
Gurman says Apple had planned to release the earbuds as early as the first half of this year, but the launch was pushed back after delays to a revamped Siri. That overhaul is reportedly on track for September after Apple upgraded its underlying models using Alphabet’s Gemini technology.
What would cameras in AirPods actually do?
The cameras are reportedly not meant for regular photos or videos. They would feed low-resolution visual information to Siri, helping it answer questions about what the user is looking at.
That could make visual AI more practical. You could look at ingredients and ask what to cook, get walking directions based on landmarks, or receive reminders connected to something the earbuds see.
Privacy will be the hard part. Bloomberg says Apple has built a small LED light into the earbuds that notifies users when visual data is being sent to the cloud. Apple will need to make that signal clear, because camera-equipped earbuds will only work if people trust when and how they are being used.
Battery life is still unclear. These are earbuds at the end of the day, and the addition of cameras is likely to use more power. AirPods Pro 3 currently offer up to 8 hours of listening time with Active Noise Cancellation on, and up to 24 hours with the charging case. Apple will likely have to decide whether it is willing to take a hit on battery life for visual AI, or find a smarter way to keep battery life respectable.
If you use Google’s Chrome browser for desktop, there’s probably a Gemini Nano AI model running on your computer right now and taking up about 4 GB of space. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you didn’t know about it and don’t want it, there’s a way to turn it off.
The file started auto-downloading for Chrome users in 2024 after Google built Gemini Nano into the browser. But a report by That Privacy Guy this week and the ensuing reception it received highlighted how unaware many users were—perhaps a result of a flood of AI services and features across the tech industry that have been difficult for users to keep up with.
To uninstall the Gemini Nano file, open Chrome on your computer, in the top right corner click the “More” menu represented by three vertical dots, then go to Settings, System, and then toggle “On-device AI” to be off. The Privacy Guy article noted that if you directly uninstall the Gemini Nano file in the directory, Chrome will silently, automatically redownload it the next time the browser reboots.
A Google spokesperson tells WIRED that the company started rolling out the On-device AI toggle in February so users can turn off the features if they choose and remove the model. “Once disabled, the model will no longer download or update,” the spokesperson says in a statement. The company added, too, that the system is designed so Gemini Nano “will automatically uninstall if the device is low on resources.”
Google built the model into Chrome to enabled on-device AI scam-detection features. It was also aimed at providing a way for developers to integrate AI-related application programming interfaces while keeping data on users’ devices when possible and out of the cloud. These features are separate from Chrome’s AI Mode, which does not use the local Gemini Nano model.
Parisa Tabriz, Chrome’s general manager, emphasized in a post on X on Wednesday that integrating Gemini Nano “powers important security capabilities like on-device scam detection and developer APIs without sending your data to the cloud.”
Google certainly did announce the Gemini Nano integration into Chrome and discussed it publicly, but for users who simply use Chrome because it is the world’s biggest, most recognizable browser and don’t necessarily follow every granular update, the lack of an in-your-face notification about a large AI model file sitting and running on your computer may be upsetting.
Longtime security and compliance consultant Davi Ottenheimer says that he follows Chrome updates closely but could have easily missed the Gemini Nano integration. “An on-device model could be a hidden minefield,” he says. And the fact that Google launched the integration in 2024 but didn’t start rolling out a settings control for users to turn it off until February shows that, at least initially, the feature wasn’t conceived as something that users would interact with.
Just because you can remove Gemini Nano from Chrome doesn’t mean you necessarily should—or that doing so is better for your privacy.
Local processing is a more private way to utilize AI capabilities. If you remove the model, the features Google uses it for—including the AI-enabled scam detection—will cease to function. But since Gemini Nano is also used by Chrome to enable local AI processing for third-party developers, blocking this route could have a range of outcomes when interacting with non-Google web services in the browser. A Google spokesperson tells WIRED that if you turn off On-device AI, “certain security features will not be available, and sites that use the on device APIs will behave differently.”
Of course, if neither option seems right, there’s always an alternative: Use a different browser.
OpenAI has launched three new audio models in its Realtime API, and they are a big deal for anyone building voice-powered apps. The three models are GPT-Realtime-2, GPT-Realtime-Translate, and GPT-Realtime-Whisper.
Together, they move voice AI beyond simple back-and-forth responses toward something that can understand you, take action, and keep up with a real conversation.
If their demo is anything to go by, we have just seen the next evolution in how voice AI models work.
So what can these models actually do?
GPT-Realtime-2 is the headline act. It brings GPT-5-class reasoning to live voice interactions, meaning it can handle harder requests without dropping the thread of the conversation.
It can call multiple tools simultaneously and even narrate what it’s doing with phrases like “checking your calendar” or “let me look into that.” It also has a larger context window of 128K tokens, which means longer, more coherent sessions. Developers can even adjust the reasoning effort based on the complexity of the request.
GPT-Realtime-Translate is probably my favorite. It’s the closest we have come to having Star Trek’s Universal Translator in real life. It supports live speech translation across 70+ input languages and 13 output languages.
The best part of the demo was that even when a new person joined and spoke a different language, GPT-Realtime-Translate had no issues in translating both speakers into English in real time.
Finally, there’s the GPT-Realtime-Whisper. Most speech-to-text models wait for the speaker to finish before providing the full translation. This one is a streaming transcription model that converts speech to text as the speaker talks. It is useful for live captions, meeting notes, and any voice-powered workflow where waiting for a transcription is not an option.
Can anyone use these new voice AI models?
Currently, OpenAI has released these models for developers. But the apps they build will affect everyone. For example, a developer can build a real-time translator app, allowing users to converse with people in different languages.
Many companies are already testing these new models. Zillow is building a voice assistant that can search homes and schedule tours from a single spoken request. Priceline can check your flights and hotels, cancel them, and book new ones. Vimeo is using it for real-time transcription, and so on.
Pricing starts at $0.017 per minute for Whisper, $0.034 per minute for Translate, and $32 per 1M audio input tokens for GPT-Realtime-2.
The first invoices arrive in September. Meta wants the basis changed before they do.
Meta has filed a judicial review against Ofcom over the way the regulator calculates fees and penalties under the UK’s Online Safety Act, the High Court was told on Thursday.
The dispute is narrow on its surface and substantial underneath. Ofcom’s methodology bills platforms based on what it calls qualifying worldwide revenue, the global income tied to a regulated service rather than just the UK slice.
Fines work the same way and can reach 10% of that worldwide figure. Meta’s position, restated outside court, is that any levy should reflect the country in which the service is regulated.
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“We and others in the tech industry believe (Ofcom’s) decisions on the methodology to calculate fees and potential fines are disproportionate,” a Meta spokesperson told reporters. “
We believe fees and penalties should be based on the services being regulated in the countries they’re being regulated in. This would still allow Ofcom to impose the largest fines in UK corporate history.”
Ofcom said the framework was set out in the legislation Parliament passed and that it had consulted at length on how to apply it. “Disappointingly, Meta is objecting to the payment of fees, and any penalties that could be levied on companies in the future, that are calculated on this basis,” the regulator said.
What is actually at stake
The fees themselves are not large in Meta’s terms. Ofcom has signalled the levy will fall between 0.02% and 0.03% of qualifying worldwide revenue, with a £250m revenue threshold for liability and a £10m UK-revenue floor below which providers are exempt. For Meta, that translates to a few tens of millions of pounds a year on a roughly $165bn revenue base.
The penalty exposure is the larger number. The Online Safety Act lets Ofcom fine in-scope services up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, the same multiplier the GDPR uses. On Meta’s 2025 figures, the theoretical ceiling sits in the $16bn range. Whether the calculation starts from worldwide or UK-only revenue makes the difference between a remedy that hurts and one that does not.
Ofcom’s lawyer, Javan Herberg, told the court the regulator intends to issue the first round of invoices in the third quarter of this year, most likely September. If Meta wins, refunds may follow. That timetable explains the urgency: a methodology fight after invoicing would mean clawing back money already paid.
Meta’s challenge is procedural rather than constitutional. The company is not arguing the Online Safety Act itself is unlawful. It is arguing that Ofcom’s interpretation of “qualifying worldwide revenue” reaches further than Parliament intended and that the resulting calculation is disproportionate within the meaning of public-law principles.
That framing rhymes with the proportionality fight Meta is also running with Brussels, where Meta has argued the Commission’s interpretation of the Digital Markets Act exceeds what the text supports.
The High Court will not rule on the merits at this stage. Thursday’s hearing covered timing, refund mechanics and the procedural shape of the review. A substantive judgment is unlikely before the autumn, by which time Ofcom will already have issued the first invoices.
If Ofcom prevails, the methodology stands and the UK regime joins the EU’s GDPR and DSA in calibrating penalties to global revenue. If Meta prevails, Ofcom will have to recalibrate; the implications would also extend to TikTok, X, Snap, Pinterest and the other large platforms in scope, none of which has yet joined Meta’s filing publicly but most of which are believed to share the underlying objection.
Meta’s relationship with British and European regulators has been litigious for some time. Meta has now amassed more than €2.5bn in EU fines, more than half the cumulative GDPR penalties levied across the bloc, and the company has appealed most of them. Ofcom’s Telegram CSAM probe is one of several ongoing Online Safety Act investigations into large platforms, alongside Ofcom’s letters in March demanding evidence of further child-safety improvements from Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
The judicial review lands in a moment when the Online Safety Act regime is moving from set-up to enforcement. Ofcom fined 4chan £520,000 in March and AVS Group £1.05m in December for age-check failings. The questions Meta is raising about how the meter is read are exactly the ones the next round of cases will turn on, and they sit alongside longstanding critique of the Online Safety Act from civil-society groups who argue the law’s scope is already too wide.
September will tell whether the company has bought itself a refund mechanism, a methodology change or simply a footnote in the first OSA bill of its life.
Off-Prem
Around 20 percent of staff get an ‘In one hour, you might not work here anymore’ email
Cloudflare
has revealed it will farewell 1,100 staff, due to its current and future use of
AI.
In a blog post that oozes
Orwellian “doublespeak,” CEO Matthew Prince and President/COO Michelle
Zatlyn used the headline “Building for the future” to share the email they sent
to all employees.
That mail opens: “We are writing to let you know directly
that we’ve made the decision to reduce Cloudflare’s workforce by more than
1,100 employees globally.”
The post explains, “Cloudflare’s usage of AI has increased
by more than 600% in the last three months alone. Employees across the company
from engineering to HR to finance to marketing run thousands of AI agent
sessions each day to get their work done.”
All that AI means “we have to be intentional in how we
architect our company for the agentic AI era in order to supercharge the value
we deliver to our customers and to honor our mission to help build a better
Internet for everyone, everywhere.”
Sackings are therefore needed, and are “about defining how a
world-class, high-growth company operates and creates value in the agentic AI
era.”
To rub salt into the wounds of sacked staff, the email went
out not long before Cloudflare announced quarterly results that included 34 percent
year-over-year revenue growth and guidance for 30 percent future growth.
Prince opened the company’s earnings call by stating “We had
a very strong start to 2026.”
Analysts on the earnings call asked Prince to explain the
layoffs and whether they will make Cloudflare stronger.
“We have seen that there are roles at Cloudflare that
are not the roles we need for the future,” Prince responded. “Just because you
are fit does not mean you cannot get fitter. Over the last six months
especially, the productivity gains from the people directly talking to
customers and directly creating code have been incredible, and a lot of the
support roles behind them are not going to be the roles that drive companies
going forward.”
The CEO said Cloudflare has “always lived a little bit in
the future” and said the company is an early beneficiary of AI.
And he said the company will keep hiring.
“The people embracing these tools are so much more
productive than we have ever seen before,” he said. “I would guess that in 2027
we will have more employees than we did at any point in 2026, but the roles are
changing dramatically, and you have to do something dramatic to make that
shift.”
“This is not about downsizing or saving costs,” Prince said.
“This is about having the right people in the right roles to build the future.”
As is often
the case these days, the email to staff warned them of a brief doomsday
countdown.
“Within
the next hour, every member of our global team will receive an email from both
of us clarifying how this change affects them,” the message states. “For those
departing today, we will send this update to both their personal and Cloudflare
addresses to ensure they receive the information immediately.”
The
Register imagines that went down well for workers in time zones where
employees might avoid their work email outside 9-5, but sneak an early-morning-or-late-night-glance
at their personal inboxes.
Prince and Zatlyn
told employees they hope “to do this only once” and then contradict themselves by
saying they “don’t want to do it again for the foreseeable future.”
“By taking decisive action now, we provide immediate clarity
to those departing and protect the stability of the team that remains,” they
wrote, before adding their view that one deep cut because “dragging a
reorganization out over multiple quarters creates prolonged emotional
uncertainty for employees and stalls our ability to build.”
Firing 1,100 people is therefore “the right thing to do;
it’s the honest thing to do; and it reflects the values of the company we are
continuing to build.” ®
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