Marvel Animation released the first trailer for season two of X-Men ’97 this week under the name Roll Call, and the footage makes the direction clear without giving every twist away. The core team ends up split across different eras after the events of the first season, with some members landing in the ancient past, others in a distant future, and all of them trying to find a route back to the time they know. Back in the 1990s, the absence leaves room for fresh waves of mutant fear and new enemies who see an opening.

The new season keeps the heart of the original but raises the stakes dramatically. Rogue is still devastated by Gambit’s death, and it will have a tremendous influence on the entire team. It has an impact not just on their mental well-being, but also on their ability to function. At the end of the last episode, there’s a brief end credits sequence in which Apocalypse holds one of Gambit’s playing cards while the guy talks to his buddies about anguish and death, hinting that old comic book themes may reemerge as the season develops. The trailer makes it clear that Apocalypse is the main antagonist, portraying himself as an Omega-level threat who claims to be the last one standing. The potential of a confrontation with Magneto heightens the drama.

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The main cast returns, including Ross Marquand as Professor X, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, and Ray Chase as Cyclops. We also have Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine (giving him that edge we adore), Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, and the same strong blend of resolve and personality that made the first season so popular.

Some mutants that played minor parts the previous season will have far more to do this time around. Strong Guy offers some serious muscle to the fights, Psylocke provides some slick psychic moves, and Wolfsbane and Siryn get to show off their animal and sonic abilities. Then there’s Multiple Man, who is rather good at the “making copies of himself to handle stuff” trick. Meanwhile, Archangel, Havok, Polaris, and Emma Frost all receive far more screen time than the prior time. Oh, and Nightcrawler enters, engaging in some great sword combat with Exodus, while Storm has a very wonderful moment that demonstrates her leadership talents.

There are numerous new costumes floating around, as well as some really cool homage to historical covers, including a subtle nod to the first Frank Miller Wolverine comic, which was first published in 1982. The conflicts are faster and more intense, which contributes to the season’s attractiveness. What are the settings? It’s extremely diverse, which is part of the fun. he season consists of nine episodes, all of which will be available on Disney+ on July 1st.

Facepalm: Few Apple devices have won as much praise as the MacBook Neo. Cupertino’s excellent budget laptop outsold the MacBook Air and Pro during its first three weeks, and it seems AMD is feeling a little jealous of all the attention. Team Red has just posted ads for its Ryzen laptops boasting of their gaming abilities, while also pointing out that the MacBook Neo can only play five out of twenty top PC games natively.

Like other companies, AMD likely feels a little threatened by the success of a budget MacBook, so it’s gone after its weakest area: PC gaming.

In its Ryzen AI processors ad, AMD compares an HP OmniBook X Flip, which features last year’s Zen 4-based Ryzen 5 220, against the Neo, which uses Apple’s A18 Pro chip. The company writes that the x86 machine offers access to game libraries across Steam, Epic, and PC Game Pass, complete with “high frame rates” and “advanced graphics,” and with “No workarounds required”

The ad also notes that just five of the “top 20” PC games run natively on the Neo. There are also stats about the HP laptop’s 512GB of storage (compared to the Neo’s 256GB), 2-in-1 touchscreen design, and extra ports. AMD adds that the Ryzen offers 57% better multitasking, 38% faster content creation, and up to double the WiFi speed.

While there’s no arguing that the OmniBook X Flip, which starts at $999, has plenty of elements that put it above the MacBook Neo, nobody is buying one of Apple’s machines to primarily play PC games, so it’s a strange comparison to make. It’s more like AMD is simply comparing operating systems, making points that will be obvious to most people.

Moreover, claiming the Radeon 740M GPU in the Ryzen 5 220 offers high frame rates and advanced graphics is quite a stretch – only the most forgiving games are playable, and even then, they have to set at their lowest 1080p settings. Meanwhile, the Neo has been shown to play some PC games quite well, given its hardware limitations.

The MacBook Neo is the clear budget-category winner in our Best Laptops feature. It sold 1.1 million units in under a month after launch thanks to its $599 starting price, design, and macOS experience. It’s an excellent laptop for the price, but not much good for PC gaming, obviously.

Image credit: Andrew Tsai

I’ve been testing the best fitness apps for many years now, and while I’m very grateful they all exist (after all, no one app will work for every user), it’s hard not to feel as though things have stagnated somewhat.

The AI boom (or bubble that could burst, depending on who you ask) means we have more options for AI fitness algorithms to pore over data than ever before, whether you’re using them on a phone or one of the best smartwatches.

Japan’s kei car regulations in the early 1990s capped length, width, engine size, and power in ways that pushed engineers toward inventive solutions. Mazda’s short-lived Autozam brand answered with a mid-engined two seater that looked ready to join far larger and more expensive exotics on any road. A 1992 AZ-1 example with roughly 33,400 miles recently changed hands at auction for $23,500. That figure drew attention because the car produces only 63 horsepower. Once the gullwing doors rise, though, the entire package starts to make sense to anyone who values presence over outright speed.

Suzuki’s mid-1980s prototypes, which experimented with mid-engine layouts within kei limitations, served as the foundation for development. Mazda then took up the idea, naming it the AZ-550 and presenting three different body versions at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show. After further testing, they decided to produce the variation with gull wing doors.

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The production cars measured 3,295 millimeters long, 1395 millimeters wide, and 1,150 millimeters tall. Weighing 720 kg, it was no slouch, thanks to a steel perimeter frame covered in lightweight composite panels that could be easily replaced after a bump or two. The engine, as it turned out, was mounted behind the cabin and drove the rear wheels through a five-speed manual transmission.

Suzuki generously offered a 657 cubic centimeter turbocharged three-cylinder engine for the AZ-1, which had the most power allowed under kei rules at the time, 64 PS at 6,500 rpm and 85 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. So, what about the AZ-1’s suspension and brakes? Independent struts all around and compact disc brakes, along with quick steering, keep the handling responsive. The car’s weight distribution was around 44% front and 56% rear.

In the real world, that translated into a 9 to 11 second sprint to 100 km/h for the pros and a top speed electronically limited to 140 km/h, but those modest stats belied a truly fascinating compact motorcar on a twisty route. At the time, reviewers lauded its sharp handling and lovely balance, which begged to be propelled forward by fluid inputs.

Design-wise, it was a bit of a cheat, since they replicated the styling of Italian supercars, with a low wedge shape, a big rear spoiler, and side intakes that screamed ‘look at me’. The gull wing doors hinged along the ceiling added to the drama while also allowing them to remove the body without utilizing B pillars. The side windows were more minimalist, with only minor folding sections, which was done on purpose to make the car appear more exotic.

Of course, not everything was perfect; taller drivers had to lower their necks slightly for the roof mechanism, and there was no automatic transmission, making it out of reach for certain buyers. It sat higher than the Suzuki Cappuccino and the Honda Beat.The Japanese economy’s bubble burst shortly after its inception, and demand was smaller than expected.

From October 1992 to 1994, they produced 4,392 AZ-1s. Suzuki later added a distinct “Cara” model, which raised the platform total by a notch or two. Unfortunately, this resulted in a huge number of unsold vehicles in storage, necessitating special edition runs to clear inventory. The limited numbers have spurred collector demand for the AZ-1, and you can now get an immaculate original example for a good price, far more than you would pay for a similar kei sports car from the same era.
[Source]

Looking ahead: Since taking over Xbox earlier this year, Asha Sharma and Matt Booty have hinted at radical changes in the coming weeks to turn Microsoft’s struggling game console business around. New reports indicate that little is off the table, including steps that could lead to a sale of the division.

People familiar with the matter told The Information that Microsoft executives have not ruled out restructuring Xbox as a wholly owned subsidiary or even a joint venture. Although no such plans are currently in place, they remain a possibility.

If doing so would turn Xbox’s fortunes around, Microsoft could reorganize the division into something resembling its other subsidiaries, such as LinkedIn and GitHub. The tech giant could also find a partner to run Xbox as a joint venture or spin the division out. As the news spread, former PlayStation CEO Shuhei Yoshida rather pessimistically predicted that Xbox would “dissolve” into Windows, possibly referencing Microsoft’s plans for the next Xbox console, codenamed Helix, to support PC games.

Asha Sharma has promised a dramatic change of course since becoming the new Xbox CEO in February. So far, that has included included turning away from multiplatform game releases and lowering the cost of Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service.

In a recent memo, Sharma hinted at more big changes on the horizon, which could include significant layoffs to help control costs. Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball also recently floated the idea of using in-game ads to help offset costs. Spending tens of billions of dollars on game studios and content over the past several years has not lifted Xbox console sales, the division’s profitability is falling, and the gaming industry at large currently faces skyrocketing memory costs.

Despite the challenges, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood have given Sharma the green light to increase spending to expedite the development of major franchises such as Halo, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls. While another Xbox titan, Gears of War, is receiving a prequel later this year, Halo, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls have not seen significant new releases in several years.

Microsoft is set to release a remake of the first Halo title next month, but the status of the next installment’s development remains unclear. After Halo Infinite’s disappointing 2021 launch bruised the Xbox Series X/S rollout, developer 343 Industries was reorganized into Halo Studios, and the next entry shifted from an in-house engine to Unreal Engine 5.

Meanwhile, Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls VI is nowhere to be seen eight years after its initial announcement. Since shipping Starfield, which also failed to revive Xbox sales, the studio has shifted to The Elder Scrolls VI, but CEO Todd Howard recently confirmed that it remains years away. The last installment, 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is one of the best-selling games of all time.

Fallout seems even further out – Bethesda does not plan to start production until after finishing The Elder Scrolls VI. However, a remaster of Fallout 3 is rumored to be coming soon. In the meantime, fans have hoped that Microsoft might hand Fallout to Obsidian, which currently employs Fallout creator Tim Cain and others involved with the first two installments. InXile, another Microsoft subsidiary, also has links to the franchise.

Something to look forward to: Microsoft has gradually rolled out its solution to shader compilation stutter since last year. The latest update for the feature, called Advanced Shader Delivery, just took a major step toward general availability. However, Nvidia GPU owners, who represent more than 90% of the desktop PC gaming market, must wait a few more months.

All Windows users with AMD Radeon graphics cards released in the past several years can now use a new feature from Microsoft that virtually eliminates shader compilation in PC games. However, the functionality currently only supports games played through the company’s Xbox app.

Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) reorganizes how games’ shaders are compiled so they can be stored in the cloud and downloaded when installing a title or updating GPU drivers. This eliminates the long loading times that occur when games must compile shaders locally, helping avoid unstable performance during the first launch or after a driver change. Microsoft claims that ASD cuts Forza Horizon 6’s initial load time by up to 95%.

– AMD Radeon (@AMDRadeon) June 12, 2026

ASD debuted on Asus ROG Xbox Ally devices last year, where it supports Avowed, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Control, Farming Simulator 25, Forza Horizon 5, Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Silent Hill f, and many other titles. In May, Microsoft extended the feature to Xbox Insiders with AMD RDNA 3, RDNA 3.5, and RDNA 4 graphics hardware.

As ASD exits beta, support now extends to RDNA 2 and RDNA 1, covering every Radeon GPU since the RX 5000 series from 2019. Users must update to AMD Adrenalin version 26.6.1 or newer.

Also read: Shader Compilation and Why It Causes Stuttering, Explained

Support for Nvidia RTX hardware arrives later this year, and Intel has also pledged to implement the feature. In the meantime, the beta version of the Nvidia app currently supports a similar function called Auto Shader Compilation. While it does not save users from needing to compile shaders in-game upon initial boot, it can retain those shaders even after driver updates.

However, it remains unclear when or if ASD will support other game launchers, such as Steam, which serves the majority of PC gamers. ASD was likely inspired by the Steam Deck’s ability to download precompiled shaders, owing to its locked hardware configuration.

NASA picked Lunar Outpost to deliver a new crewed rover called Pegasus for the Artemis program. Astronauts will drive it across the lunar south pole starting around 2028. The vehicle brings a clear step up in what crews can accomplish during surface operations. It offers the range, endurance, and flexibility needed to support longer stays and the groundwork for a permanent outpost.

Lunar Outpost won the contract for NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services and got a great deal in the process. They will receive $220 million to develop a flight-ready rover that meets the stringent requirements of a mission aimed at pushing the frontiers. They are not the only ones that received the contract; another company will work with Lunar Outpost to help astronauts make the most of their time at the moon’s south pole. Where the cold is severe, the shadows never end, and the terrain is a true impediment, it will be tough to achieve anything.

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The designers at Lunar Outpost were inspired by a prior concept called Eagle and produced a smaller, lighter version of it. The Pegasus is the end result, and it represents a huge breakthrough. It has a compact design that keeps it under NASA’s weight limit while yet packing all of the punch they need, and two astronauts sit side by side in a low-slung cabin with an unimpeded view of what lies ahead. To top it all off, it’s really easy to get into and out of, even on rough terrain. The design bears homage to the iconic Apollo roving vehicle, but it has been updated with cutting-edge technology and greatly enlarged capabilities.

One of the key things the designers wanted to get right with Pegasus was its range and endurance, and to be honest, the stats are quite impressive. We’re talking up to 900 kilometers on a single set of batteries, with a year of operation following delivery to the surface. Top speed isn’t exactly rocket science (15 kilometers per hour), but traveling any faster on the moon would be disastrous. The surface is loose, with craters and slopes everywhere, and the Pegasus has been engineered to manage it all, thanks to some excellent engineering input from General Motors.

The power comes from exceptionally powerful battery packs based on General Motors’ production electric vehicle technology. They can provide the long-term dependability and fault tolerance required for months of operation in a vacuum, as well as in conditions that would be harsh even on Earth. While GM isn’t the only partner who has contributed; Goodyear donated specialty tires designed for the moon’s unique conditions, and Leidos added some muscle with their systems engineering expertise.

So, how does all of this translate into practice? It indicates that the Pegasus can be driven directly from the seat by an astronaut or navigate autonomously across known terrain utilizing onboard technologies. If it isn’t enough, Earth-based teams can take over the rover in real time if needed. This is the type of versatility that will make all the difference whether doing science or construction on the moon.

Thermal regulation is critical when working at the South Pole. Plus, a system that automatically regulates temperature levels throughout the rover at all times, protecting batteries, electronics, and mechanical components wherever temperatures range from a scorching 250 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface to icy lows of -410 degrees Fahrenheit in those shadowed craters. It does all of this independently of whether the rover is carrying a crew or is merely winging it, allowing astronauts to concentrate on other tasks rather than worrying about it.

It was all developed very systematically, building on past successes. Remember the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform and Explorer-class rovers that Lunar Outpost once employed? They used their abilities to create a number of full-scale models of the Eagle design, conduct several test simulations, and even subject the crew to human-in-the-loop testing. After that, they scaled back the design to meet the Pegasus project’s mass and volume limits while retaining all performance goals, and the next step is to provide a flight-ready version to NASA by November 2027.

When the Eagle rover lands on the Moon, it will already have a lot on its plate; the crew will be able to use it to look for water ice in permanently shadowed areas, prepare some locations for future base elements, conduct science experiments, transfer equipment, and so on. Pegasus is more than a one-trick pony; it can perform crewed driving, teleoperation, and autonomy all at once, which is highly beneficial when mission needs change on a dime. With livestreaming capability from the lunar surface, anyone can now join in on the fun and get a front-row seat to the action.
[Source]

Computex is always chaotic, and Computex 2026 kept the same pace. This year’s show had the usual parade of powerful laptops, overbuilt gaming rigs, and the fun, if not strange, prototypes. AI was everywhere, handheld gaming got a serious power boost, and even monitor makers came ready with displays that sound like they were pulled from a wishlist.

That’s why we’ve put together our Computex 2026 Publisher Awards, spotlighting the products that pushed the show forward.

NVIDIA RTX Spark

The most important announcement at Computex 2026 was NVIDIA RTX Spark. Yes, the AI PC label is starting to sound like a broken record, but this is one of the few examples where the hardware underneath shows impressive potential. NVIDIA is calling this a new superchip for Windows PCs, built around a 20-core Grace CPU, a Blackwell RTX GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores, up to 128GB of unified memory, and up to 1 petaflop of AI performance.

The company has designed the Spark for local AI agents, improved creative workflows, and AAA gaming in slim laptops and compact desktops. We’ve seen plenty of powerful chip announcements, but what makes the RTX Spark a bit different is the scale of its impact. It is Nvidia making a proper play for the future of Windows PCs, bringing CUDA, RTX, DLSS, Reflex, G-Sync, and local AI acceleration into a single platform. With systems expected from brands including Dell, HP, Microsoft Surface, and more, RTX Spark could shape the next wave of premium PCs.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra

Windows is one of the biggest operating systems in the world, so one would naturally expect Microsoft’s own Surface laptops to be the best way to experience it. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra feels like the answer many people have wanted: a powerful and premium Windows laptop built around genuinely cutting-edge hardware.

Leveraging NVIDIA’s new silicon to deliver up to a petaflop of AI compute, along with 128GB of unified memory, this notebook was built for larger local models and datasets. It also looks like Microsoft is finally taking ports seriously. The Surface Laptop Ultra includes USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader, which makes it feel far more creator-friendly than the average thin flagship. Add in a new thermal system rated for up to 2.5 times the thermal capacity of the Surface Laptop 15-inch, and this easily becomes what a true Windows flagship should’ve been all along.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is the handheld that really showcased Intel’s portable gaming handheld push. MSI says it is the world’s first gaming handheld powered by Intel Arc G3 Extreme processors, which also makes it one of the most powerful of its kind. Coupled with an 8-inch 120Hz VRR display, upgraded ergonomic grips, Hall-effect triggers and sticks, and a refined D-pad, you have a powerful and well-built handheld gaming PC.

In recent years, the handheld PC space has become crowded, but the Claw 8 EX AI+ is carving its spot by chasing a higher-end AAA gaming experience in a portable form factor, with XeSS 3 Multi-Frame Generation, and Xbox Mode support helping round out the software side.

Thermaltake CAPO X

Thermaltake’s CAPO X is exactly what you’d expect to see at an exhibition like Computex, where you typically find absolutely unhinged PC hardware. CAPO X is a dual-system Micro-ATX chassis that supports up to two M-ATX motherboards in one case. That is basically two computers in one tower.

You also get two independent I/O panels for the upper and lower systems. Thermaltake built it for AI agent workspaces and streaming, where one system can run the game while the other handles broadcast duties. It is niche, sure, but it is also clever and useful.

Dell Alienware AW3926QW

After a quick glance at Alienware AW3926QW’s spec sheet, I had to do a double-take. Dell’s latest curved gaming monitor is the world’s first 39-inch 5K OLED gaming monitor with RGB stripe technology, using RGB stripe tandem OLED to hit up to 1,300 nits of peak brightness while improving text clarity.

OLED monitors have always been incredible for contrast and motion, so adding a 1500R curved screen, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500, Dolby Vision, and a dual-mode setup that can run at 5K 165Hz or 1080p 330Hz just makes the gaming experience even more immersive and smooth. After getting a short first-hand experience with this gaming monitor, I am definitely looking forward to this one.

Dell XPS 13

Despite seeing some wacky and cool things during Computex 2026, the Dell XPS 13 was a surprising favorite of ours. It brings the premium XPS lineup back to a far more accessible place. It starts at $699 in the US, with a $599 price for eligible buyers, while still offering features such as a 2.5K touch display, a lightweight all-aluminum body, a backlit keyboard, and quad speakers.

Powered by Intel’s Wildcat processors, the Dell XPS 13 is expected to hit the market on June 16, 2026. For many, this laptop is a whole package: premium enough to feel special, but priced low enough to make sense. The ongoing memory crunch has hit the PC segment hard, so having more premium yet affordable laptops is always a win for consumers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is pulling back the curtain on a 22,000 square-foot replica town on its Huntsville, Alabama campus that it built to train law enforcement in simulating and investigating real-world cyberattacks.

The aim is to teach investigators in a secure environment beyond the classroom by getting hands-on with some of the latest consumer and enterprise technologies, many of which are frequently targeted by malicious hackers. The numbers put the training into context. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, drawing on more than one million complaints, logged a record $20.9 billion in U.S. cybercrime losses, a 26% jump over the prior year, with ransomware ranked the top ongoing threat to critical infrastructure.

Dubbed the Kinetic Cyber Range, the FBI’s small purpose-built town opened in February 2025 and features fully furnished houses, a hotel, a gas station and grocery mart, a courthouse, a hospital, and a power company — complete with roads and traffic lights — designed to mimic a real U.S. community. Since opening, says the agency, the facility has trained more than 1,400 students, including FBI personnel and partners from other federal and local agencies.

Each part of the town is wired with functioning devices and systems that behave as they would in a real community or business, while preventing any simulated attacks from spilling out of the facility.

The range also includes a data center with more than 200 physical servers — some running Windows, some Linux — reflecting the corporate environments investigators are likely to encounter when responding to a breach or executing a search warrant. “They’re cold, they’re cramped, they’re noisy, they’re dark, they’re miserable,” Dave Beachboard, the range’s program manager, explains in the FBI’s write-up about the training environment.

The replica town also allows the FBI to simulate ransomware attacks and their real-world consequences, including the high-pressure decisions that investigators must make when responding to incidents that could cause harm to people, such as hospital systems going dark.

The Kinetic Cyber Range also helps to train U.S. investigators in digital forensics, which police use to crack the cybersecurity defenses of encrypted modern devices to extract data from devices, often for the purposes of building a criminal investigation. The tools used for this are controversial as they work by exploiting vulnerabilities that are never disclosed to the device maker, such as Apple or Google, to defeat the protections those companies build in for their users.