Don’t let Siri become a hassle instead of an assistant; keep it quiet in the car to reduce distractions.

The most important toggle: Driving Focus

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Keep Siri quiet in the car

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Disable navigation guidance

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Why it matters: Sony Interactive Entertainment released Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls earlier this month, and things are not going well. The Marvel-focused fighting game is turning many PC players away, as technical issues are spoiling an otherwise enjoyable fighting game experience.

The DRM Sony uses to lock down Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls on PC is so aggressive that people with massively capable gaming machines are complaining about performance and network instability. The developers have already released a patch to fix some of the issues, but the number of people playing the game is quickly collapsing anyway.

A few days after the game’s original release, there is now a general consensus about the main culprit behind its performance problems. The “Rune” crew recently released a cracked version of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, stripping away the multiple DRM layers used by the game. Marvel Tokon’s PC version employs both the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) middleware and Theia.

The Theia DRM is not disclosed anywhere on the game’s Steam page. Many users have remarked how this particular protection can have a significant impact on how a game runs, calling it even worse than the much-maligned Denuvo DRM in terms of performance hit. The kernel-level EAC protection doesn’t help, either.

Many users have reported the alleged impact of Theia, EAC, and other protections on their systems. On older gaming laptops equipped with weak GPUs and CPUs, the cracked release of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls can allegedly run at a steady 60 FPS. On the same systems, the original game can barely reach 45 frames per second.

Judging from the Steam reviews, Marvel Tokon’s technical issues are making the game miserable even on much more powerful systems equipped with high-end AMD CPUs, top-tier Nvidia GPUs, and truly massive amounts of DRAM. Players concur that the game is a “mess,” advising potential buyers to stay away from the store until the developers have fixed the most outstanding performance issues.

Many users took the advice seriously, and Marvel Tokon’s sales are suffering as a consequence. The number of concurrent players is now a fraction of what it used to be just two weeks ago, with Steam reviews repeatedly bashing the product. The game is available on both PC and PlayStation 5, where users have had none of the issues experienced by Windows players.

Console gamers are now disabling cross-platform multiplayer with PC, as a degraded network and performance experience is eventually going to spoil the fun for both parties. Developers at Arc System Works promised to further improve Marvel Tokon’s PC experience, but many users are now just asking the Japanese studio, or publisher Sony, to completely eradicate the Theia DRM from the game.

Meanwhile, pirates playing the cracked release are once again enjoying the “best” version of the game performance-wise. So far, the only downside is that online play is limited to peer-to-peer connections via third-party tools.

Photo credit: Sonny Dickson
Apple’s long-awaited foldable phone has reached the hands of a small group of early testers, and the feedback arriving through Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter is largely positive. People who have spent time with the prototypes, referred to internally as the iPhone Ultra, keep coming back to how the device feels when closed and how it works once opened.

Those testers rave about a phone that fits comfortably in a pocket without adding bulk. The folded form is only 9.4 millimeters thick, and when held, it has the compact shape of a book rather than the tall, slender foldables that came before. They have a 5.5-inch exterior display for regular usage, and when you flip it open, the inside screen measures around 7.8 inches. People quickly realized that the device’s unusually wide aspect ratio makes it feel like a tablet when held, which is a major upgrade over simply juggling windows on your standard iPhone.

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The hinge has earned high praise, with early reports claiming that it is fairly solid and feels like it was built to last, with no creaks or squeaks while opening and closing it repeatedly. Some of the first people to try it out point to the liquid-metal construction, which is intended to be highly robust without adding any heft, which is exactly what you want when you need to keep that phone as thin as possible. When you open it, it shrinks to 4.5 millimeters, which is so little that Apple had to make some other compromises to reach that aim.

The prototype is beginning to win over folks in the software industry. The larger inner display allows for iPad-style layouts, and juggling windows side by side seems far more natural than using split-screen on your standard iPhone. People are also enjoying the open screen as a camera viewfinder, which is far larger than the tiny little window on your ordinary phone and allows you to take better photos. It all appears to be coming together very well, with individuals reporting that productivity tasks, video consumption, and gaming all benefit significantly from the added storage.

Now onto the camera hardware, where things begin to turn a little less rosy. The rear of the device is simply a pair of 48-megapixel sensors, one standard and one super-wide. There is no telephoto lens, which is a bit of a concern for a phone that will cost at least $2,000, if not more with storage. Many people will be disappointed that the zoom option is not included, especially since the lower-end Pro models already have it. Front-facing cameras have arrived, but only on both screens, and they aren’t saying much about them yet.

Biometrics are another example of a compromise. There is no Face ID; instead, a Touch ID sensor is incorporated into the side power button, as seen on previous iPads. It’s a good move in terms of keeping the phone slim, and it works in any orientation, but it appears that many longtime iPhone customers will be disappointed that Face ID and fingerprint recognition are not included.

Let’s just say the prices aren’t cheap. Expect to pay at least $2,000, with higher-end models possibly exceeding $2,500. This means that when selecting whether this is the phone for them, consumers must examine a number of things, including the folding design, the wide open display, the revised hinge, and the lack of zoom and Face ID.
[Source]

Connecting the dots: PCs without a dedicated GPU already have to share a single memory pool between graphics, AI, and system tasks, and Windows currently makes that split on its own. That arrangement is becoming a much bigger deal as Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and others build AI PCs around unified memory pools that could potentially stretch into the hundreds of gigabytes.

A recent experimental Windows 11 build hides evidence that Microsoft is preparing to let users control the split between system and video memory in unified pools. The feature could give users more flexibility when juggling gaming and AI workloads, especially on upcoming unified-memory devices like Nvidia’s RTX Spark platform.

Windows 11 build 29648.1000, released August 17, carries a new feature called “IntelligentCarveout” that isn’t mentioned anywhere in Microsoft’s patch notes. Windows watcher @phantomofearth confirmed to Windows Latest that the build’s code strings reference reserving memory for accelerators, graphics, and AI.

That would let users manually set aside unified memory for games and AI-heavy applications, with that reserved portion off-limits to everything else.

Similar references previously turned up in Nvidia documentation. If the feature ships publicly, it could fundamentally change how users configure performance on unified-memory chips.

Unified memory has traditionally shown up in Macs, some laptops, handheld gaming PCs, and other systems built around integrated rather than discrete graphics.

Depending on the workload, performance on these systems can vary significantly compared to discrete GPUs with dedicated VRAM, and while GPU-heavy tasks can pull from system memory when they run short, doing so usually comes with a steep performance penalty.

Since running local AI models demands large amounts of fast memory, high-end GPUs once reserved mainly for gaming have become popular tools for AI work. Meanwhile, PCs built from the ground up for local models have featured progressively larger unified memory pools. Macs configured with 24GB of unified RAM or more have faced shortages amid the local AI boom, and Microsoft and Nvidia have answered that shift with RTX Spark devices offering up to 128GB.

Nvidia’s dominance in GPUs owes a lot to software, not just silicon – CUDA programming, DLSS upscaling, Reflex latency reduction, and the broader RTX suite have become real selling points on top of raw hardware. Carrying that same software stack into the integrated-graphics space gives RTX Spark a built-in edge over AMD, Qualcomm, and Intel, none of which can match Nvidia’s software ecosystem on AI or gaming performance yet.

When it unveiled the RTX Spark chip, Nvidia already touted it as carrying more addressable memory than any of its GPUs. Because IntelligentCarveout would let users route a large share of that 128GB pool toward graphics and AI tasks, RTX Spark’s GPU could end up with access to far more memory than even the RTX 5090’s 32GB of dedicated VRAM – though that shared, LPDDR5x-based pool is considerably slower than the RTX 5090’s GDDR7, so it’s a capacity advantage rather than a speed one.

A hot potato: As cookies become a less reliable way to track people online, AliExpress may be showing how far companies will go to fill that gap. Researchers found code on the site’s homepage that ran silent audio processes in the browser. Tied to Alibaba’s security systems, the scripts tap a device’s own audio hardware to generate a signal and measure the tiny, device-specific ways it comes back – producing something close to a fingerprint that doesn’t need a single cookie to work. It’s the kind of tracking a user would likely never notice.

The issue only surfaced after a developer had trouble using multipoint Bluetooth headphones while an AliExpress tab was open: the headphones wouldn’t switch properly from the computer to a phone. Once the tab was closed, the problem disappeared.

Digging into the site’s code, the developer found it was using the Web Audio API to build audio-processing graphs set to zero volume. The process produced no audible sound, but it still connected to the computer’s audio system, keeping the audio path active in the background, which appears to be what interfered with the headphones’ ability to switch devices.

This wasn’t the kind of audio activity tied to a normal media player. Because the processing graph ran at zero gain and connected directly to the system’s audio output, muting the browser tab did nothing to stop it: the browser kept processing the signal even though there was nothing to hear.

– Brave (@brave) August 22, 2026

The same code can also support browser fingerprinting, a technique that collects device-specific details and combines them to recognize a browser over time. In this case, the scripts measured tiny differences in how a device processed an identical audio signal – those differences are shaped by a computer’s processor, sound hardware, operating system, browser, and drivers.

Audio measurements were only one part of the reported data collection. The scripts also gathered information tied to canvas rendering, WebGL, display settings, hardware configuration, WebRTC behavior and user interactions. Together, those signals can create a more detailed profile of a device than any one signal would provide on its own.

Fingerprinting is often used by large online platforms for fraud prevention, bot detection and risk assessment. It can help companies spot suspicious transactions or automated activity when cookies have been deleted or accounts have changed. But privacy advocates have raised concerns because users may not know the tracking is happening and have limited control over it.

Not a Google story, but you get the point…

Brave was among the first to call out the behavior. In an August 22 post on X, the company said its browser blocks the AliExpress scripts responsible for the audio-based tracking, noting that it has built in default protections against audio fingerprinting for more than six years. Brave’s approach alters certain browser outputs so that websites receive inconsistent fingerprinting signals rather than a stable, trackable identifier.

The company has since extended similar protections to GPU fingerprinting, a method that uses graphics hardware and driver behavior to identify devices, and says fingerprinting techniques will keep evolving as sites look for new ways to tell users and devices apart.

People using other browsers may be able to block this kind of scripts through content blockers such as uBlock Origin, though doing so could affect parts of AliExpress that rely on the same code for security or fraud prevention.

The episode is a reminder of the trade-off baked into much of online security today. Companies want more ways to identify suspicious activity. Users and browser makers want limits on tools that can track a device without a clear notice or consent.

When Ninja first released its hefty Ninja Slushi Twist machine in May, it sold out on the brand’s website in less than two hours. Today, the company is launching the same machine again, but with another twist.

Ahead of the release of Practical Magic 2, Ninja is conjuring the Ninja Slushi Twist in four colors related to the cult-classic franchise: potion purple, midnight margarita, bewitching blue and moon stone.

Besides the colors, inspired by the film’s main characters, the Owens sisters, no other changes were made to the popular machine, which is like two Ninja Slushi machines in one.

The Slushi Twist, though, features two separate sides that can each hold 48 ounces of liquid and together make up to 72 ounces of frozen drinks, since the liquid expands as it freezes. A Dual Slush Assist button allows both sides to begin mixing and freezing, but if you only want to use one side of the machine, that’s possible, too. 

It also has two levers so you can enjoy both flavors at once or one at a time, depending on your preference. And speaking of levers, Tara Brown, our social media guru, who got her hands on the potion purple color, said, “I know it’s supposed to give Practical Magic, but it’s also giving Yzma from Emperor’s New Groove.” 

The machine excels at slushie-making, as long as sugar or alcohol is added to the mix to help it freeze. Since I first received the device, it has become a staple at birthday parties and other family gatherings. 

The Ninja Slushi Twist sells for $400 and is now available in the four bewitching colors. 

Corin Cesaric-Epple

Editor

Corin Cesaric-Epple is an Editor at CNET covering home and kitchen tech and meal kits, and reporting regularly on artificial intelligence. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before joining CNET, she covered crime at People Magazine and national and international news for NBC Local Television Stations.

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It got to the point where I couldn’t remember why I picked up my phone. I compulsively opened Threads and TikTok at all hours of the day and got sucked into the endless scroll — but I found a way to retrain my brain this week, thanks to a new iOS 27 feature. 

I’m beta testing the upcoming operating system and its refreshed Shortcuts app, which lets you program your iPhone to do things using ordinary language. It’s called Describe a Shortcut. I speak my wishes into the app, and it obeys.

So in this week’s One More Thing video, which you can watch embedded above, I found out what happens when you tell Shortcuts to not let you open Instagram (or Threads, or TikTok) during work hours.

This is probably not what Apple developers had in mind for Shortcuts. After all, the Apple Screen Time app already has plenty of ways to help curb a social media addiction. But reprograming my phone to turn it into a brick is more fun than paying for another company to “Brick” my phone. (Yes, people do this.)

For more One More Thing, subscribe to our YouTube page to catch Bridget Carey breaking down the latest Apple news and issues every Friday.

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Bridget Carey is an award-winning consumer technology reporter and host of the weekly Apple show, “One More Thing.”

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If you’re eyeing an iPhone upgrade this September, the equation is a bit more complicated than usual. Apple is reportedly splitting its big September reveal into two relatively smaller but equally important product drops: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra (the rumored foldable) this fall, and the regular iPhone 18, iPhone Air 2, and the iPhone 18e in spring 2027. 

That means anyone who wants a new iPhone in September most likely has three options, all at the premium end of Apple’s lineup, including a foldable that could cost as much as a laptop. Although the company hasn’t sent out invitations for the event yet (they could go out on August 26), plenty of rumors from reputable sources paint a picture of what to expect from Apple’s 2026 September event. 

When is Apple’s September event happening?

Usually, Apple prefers the second Tuesday of September to reveal its new iPhones. That’s what happened with the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 15, with the iPhone 16 being the only exception. This year, rumors point to Wednesday, September 9, 2026, as the potential date for the big fall event, as Monday, September 7, is Labor Day. 

Pre-orders for the announced iPhones could begin on September 11 or 12, likely the latter, as Apple might want to sidestep the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on September 11, with retail availability expected from September 18. That is everything we know about Apple’s launch timeline for the upcoming iPhones. Below are details on the three expected iPhones. 

Apple’s September 2026 event at a glance

iPhone 18 Pro: Silicon refresh with minor upgrades across the board

The iPhone 18 Pro could be a classic example of Apple’s tried-and-tested playbook of making the biggest leap under the hood while keeping everything else relatively familiar. To begin with the expected changes, we could see a slightly smaller Dynamic Island. Some reports point to under-display Face ID components, though I don’t think it will happen this year. 

The 6.3-inch display size is expected to carry over unchanged from the iPhone 17 Pro. Under its shiny aluminum and glass exterior, the iPhone 18 Pro could sport the new A20 Pro chip, which could be Apple’s first chip to embrace the highly efficient 2nm fabrication technology (after Samsung and Google). 

Rumors also mention a new Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) packaging, which places the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and memory closer together for better performance and AI efficiency. A new in-house C2 modem is also expected to debut on the flagship, potentially running alongside Qualcomm hardware depending on region, likely with expanded satellite connectivity that unlocks 5G via satellite.

Like every year, the new iPhones will ship with stable iOS 27 builds and deeper Apple Intelligence integration, including the new Siri AI experience, new editing features in Photos, and a couple of other new features. On the optics front, the most repeated rumor is new variable-aperture hardware paired with the primary sensor, giving photographers more control over depth and low-light performance. 

A 24MP selfie camera is also expected (up from 18MP), likely with the square-shaped camera sensor that enables the Center Stage camera experience on the iPhone 17. Battery capacity estimates vary across sources, but I expect them to be similar to the iPhone 17 Pro: around 4,288 mAh for the eSIM-only model and 4,065 mAh for the ones with a physical SIM. 

Pricing is expected to rise by $200 to $300 over the iPhone 17 Pro’s $1,099 starting price, so we could be looking at $1,299 and $1,399 for the baseline iPhone 18 Pro.

iPhone 18 Pro Max could pack similar internals in a bigger chassis

The iPhone 18 Pro Max should carry the same core upgrades as its smaller sibling, scaled up to fit the larger 6.9-inch form factor. Expect the same shrunken Dynamic Island, the same A20 Pro chip on TSMC’s 2nm node running iOS 27, and the same C2 modem with expanded satellite internet as the iPhone 18 Pro. 

When it comes to optics, a recent rumor claims the variable-aperture primary camera could be exclusive to the Pro Max variant. However, that would leave buyers with one less compelling reason to consider the iPhone 18 Pro, especially if they’re coming from the iPhone 17 Pro. It could also further narrow the gap between the iPhone 18 Pro and the regular iPhone 18.

The Pro Max could really pull ahead in battery capacity. The numbers differ across sources so that I won’t confuse you with them. However, we could be looking at a ~10% bigger battery on the upcoming handset compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s eSIM-only (5,088 mAh) and physical SIM (4,823 mAh) batteries. 

If that happens, the iPhone 18 Pro Max could offer a few more hours of use between charges, making it the longest-lasting iPhone Apple has ever shipped. However, pricing is where the handset starts looking less impressive. Like the Pro, the Pro Max is said to see a price hike of around $250 to $300, which could put the base iPhone 18 Pro Max between $1,449 and $1,499. 

That’s a meaningful jump for buyers already stretched by rising memory costs across the entire smartphone industry this year. Apple may or may not offset that increase by bumping the base model storage from 256GB to 512GB, but the price hike seems inevitable. A recent rumor also suggests the iPhone 18 Pro models could be in short supply at launch, possibly extending delivery times.  

Apple’s first foldable might be available in limited quantity at launch

Apple’s first foldable iPhone, widely expected to carry the “Ultra” moniker, could be the company’s most important launch in a few years, especially after the last big design breakthrough with the iPhone X in 2017. 

Renders point to a short, wide, “passport-style” book-fold with a 5.5-inch cover display and a 7.8-inch inner display at roughly a 4:3 ratio, closer to an iPad mini or the recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 8. Thickness estimates land around 4.5 mm unfolded and 9-9.5 mm folded. 

While it might not be the thinnest foldable available at launch, Apple is reportedly working on the handset’s hinge and crease, using liquid metal and ultra-thin glass to strengthen them (respectively). For the chassis, the company might go with a mix of titanium and aluminum. The foldable could also feature a Touch ID biometric authentication system to make up for the lack of Face ID. 

Under the hood, the iPhone Ultra will most likely run on the A20 Pro (2nm) chip with Apple’s C2 modem. Like the Pro models, the silicon could be paired with 12GB of RAM on the foldable, with 256GB of storage on the base variant. While the rest of the lineup will share Siri AI and the iOS 27 experience, the foldable iPhone could get a multi-app split-screen layout to leverage the extra screen real estate. 

The handset could feature a dual-camera setup similar to the iPhone 17: a primary and ultrawide sensor with 48MP resolution. Whether the front-facing camera on the cover screen and the inner screen (rumored to be 18MP sensors) will feature Center Stage is still unclear. 

For those wondering about the battery, Apple could go with a dual-cell design with a combined capacity of around 5,000 mAh or more. Some rumors also suggest the iPhone Ultra could have the biggest battery Apple has ever shipped. However, all of that could seem a little less impressive once you see the rumored price.

The baseline iPhone Ultra with 256GB could cost around $2,000 to $2,300. If Apple goes with the $2,300 tag, it could risk placing the iPhone above the $2,099.99 Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, making it a bit too expensive.

Should you buy now or wait?

If you’re using an older iPhone, like an iPhone 12 or iPhone 13, and you’ve been waiting for the iPhone 18 series to upgrade, keep two things in mind before you decide. First, there might not be a baseline iPhone 18 at the September launch event. Second, the new iPhone 18 Pro models could command a $200 to $300 premium over the iPhone 17 Pro. 

If you ask me, the iPhone 17 or iPhone 17 Pro is still an excellent upgrade for anyone using an iPhone 14 or older. Practically speaking, you can buy it right now instead of waiting for the September event. However, if budget isn’t a constraint for you and you’re comfortable paying a higher asking price, you could wait and see what Apple has in store.

Forrester reports that 55% of employers regret laying off workers for AI and expects half of AI-attributed layoffs to be quietly reversed, with jobs returning offshore or at significantly lower wages. In Europe, a revised directive will require consultation before such decisions, backed by financial penalties.

The companies that cut jobs for AI are having second thoughts. Forrester reports that 55% of employers regret laying workers off for AI, and expects half of all AI-attributed layoffs to be quietly reversed.

That reversal is not the happy ending it sounds like. Forrester says the jobs come back offshore or at significantly lower wages, which means the correction costs the worker rather than the employer.

The fear has not moved with the evidence. A Reuters Ipsos poll found 53% of Americans worry AI will put someone in their household out of work, and TNW has asked what AI is doing to European jobs on the same question.

Inside the workplace the number is identical. A 2026 Software Finder report found 53% of workers worry AI tools will make their role feel less necessary.

Gartner’s Jackie Swanson describes the gap precisely. “Every organization has an AI adoption roadmap. Almost none of them have an honest plan for what AI is doing to their people, their pace and their pipeline of future leaders,” she wrote.

The fixes companies are reaching for are all voluntary. Ironclad’s chief technology officer taught internal classes, the syrup maker Torani has gone 103 years without a layoff, and Superhuman lets teams choose their own tools.

“We don’t start with a top-down AI mandate,” said Kenny Mendes, Superhuman’s chief people officer. Teams close to a problem pick up a tool themselves, which he says stops the change reading as cost-cutting.

In Europe none of this is a management philosophy. Informing and consulting workers before a decision that reshapes their work is a legal duty, in a region still arguing over whether rules can protect jobs without slowing innovation.

That duty is about to get sharper. Directive 2025/2450 revises the European Works Councils rules, must be transposed by 1 January 2028, and requires consultation in good time and in a form that allows a thorough assessment before decisions are taken.

It also arrives with money attached. Member states must impose effective and dissuasive financial sanctions calculated with company turnover in the mix, in a period when Meta alone cut 8,000 jobs while redirecting billions toward AI infrastructure.

So the two continents are having different arguments. America is debating whether to tell workers what AI is doing to their jobs, while Europe is settling when, in what form, and what it costs to get it wrong.