A dozen toothy grins stare out from every direction on a sphere the size of a beach ball. Soft fabric covers the outer shell while the heads shift and turn in coordinated waves. Labububot glides across flat surfaces, changes direction with a gentle tilt, and draws people closer just by moving.
Miranda Li, a graduate student in the Personal Robots group at the MIT Media Lab, spearheaded the research alongside Jake Read and Dimitar Dimitrov, both graduate students at the Center for Bits and Atoms. During a research residence in Shenzhen, China, all three of them collaborated. The goal was to create a robot that threw a wrench in our daily expectations about social robots and the types of things designers typically look for when creating them.
Labubu dolls happened to be the source of the parts. As it happens, they already have large eyes and pointy teeth in one face. The researchers removed the heads from a dozen of them and simply kept them, putting each on a short arm powered by its own servo motor. Two clamshell sections then cover the motors, cables, and other electronics, ensuring that there is adequate room for the arms to swing freely. The heads are then locked in place at the correct angle using hot glue and precise screws, ensuring that all of the ears and expressions line up perfectly.
Coordinated servo movement keeps the entire robot moving while the twelve arms extend or retract in patterns that spin, turn, or come to a complete halt. All while keeping an eye on its orientation, the robot is constantly assessing its tilt, rotation, and direction using an inbuilt sensor.Commands are transmitted wirelessly via a phone or laptop, and a web page may be used as a control panel, allowing users to trigger precise head motions or let the robot roam freely.
Inside the clamshell, an ESP32 board handles all of the day-to-day functions. However, it is the other board, the driver board, that sends all of the accurate signals to the 12 servos at the same time, followed by the sensor, which sends over all of the motion data in real time. The battery power keeps everything running for as long as you need it to. The code installed onto the board handles sensor readings, motor timing, and wireless signals, ensuring that the entire system reacts quickly and smoothly.
German authorities have shut down a relaunch version of the criminal marketplace ‘Crimenetwork’ that generated more than 3.6 million euros, and arrested its operator.
Crimenetwork was the largest online cybercrime marketplace in Germany, operating since 2012 and with 100,000 registered users. The platform enabled the sale of illegal services, substances, and stolen data.
In late 2024, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt am Main, the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT), and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) dismantled the operation by seizing the platform and arresting one of its administrators.
Just a few days later, a new version of the Crimenetwork emerged on a new infrastructure administered by a new operator.
Earlier this week, a 35-year-old German man suspected of administering the new Crimenetwork was arrested at his residence in Mallorca, Spain, by a special unit of the Spanish National Police under a European arrest warrant.
“The suspect is accused of having built and administered a completely new technical infrastructure only a few days after the shutdown of the previous version of Crimenetwork and the arrest of its former administrator in December 2024, also naming it Crimenetwork,” the BKA said in a press release.
The rebooted version of the cybercrime platform offered a similar range of illicit goods and services, and quickly amassed 22,000 users and over 100 vendors.
In terms of revenue, evidence gathered during the police action suggests that the new version of Crimenetwork had generated at least €3.6 million ($4.2 milion) in revenue.
The police also seized approximately €194,000 ($228,000) in allegedly illicit assets and obtained substantial amounts of user and transaction data to facilitate further investigation.
“The reboot of Crimenetwork has failed, and another administrator will have to answer before a German court,” stated Carsten Meywirth, Director at the Federal Criminal Police in Germany.
“Together with our national and international partners, we consistently enforce the law even in the darknet. Cybercrime does not pay.”
The following banner was placed on the seized online portal, informing visitors of the action.
The arrested administrator now faces charges under Section 127 of the German Criminal Code and Sections 29a and 30a of the German Narcotics Act, both potentially punishable by prison time.
In March, the operator of the original Crimenetwork marketplace was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than €10 million in criminal proceeds. However, the ruling is not yet final.
AI chained four zero-days into one exploit that bypassed both renderer and OS sandboxes. A wave of new exploits is coming.
At the Autonomous Validation Summit (May 12 & 14), see how autonomous, context-rich validation finds what’s exploitable, proves controls hold, and closes the remediation loop.
Tired of earbuds that sound great on the spec sheet but work themselves loose the moment you actually start moving?
The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are built as the answer to exactly that frustration, and they are down from $249.99 to $199.95 at Amazon, saving you $50 on a pair that underwent over 1,500 hours of testing with nearly 1,000 athletes to get the fit right.
Save $50 on the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 at Amazon as they return to sale
The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are back on sale at Amazon, and the revived $50 saving makes them feel newly relevant again.
The secure-fit earhooks are reinforced with a nickel-titanium alloy, making them 20% lighter than the previous generation whilst keeping them locked in place through runs, gym sessions, and anything else you can throw at them.
Sound is handled by the Apple H2 chip, which powers Adaptive EQ that measures what you are hearing and adjusts frequencies accordingly, alongside Personalised Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking for a more immersive listening experience when you step away from the weights.
Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode sit side by side so you can shut out the gym entirely or stay aware of your surroundings, depending on what the session demands, and the built-in heart rate monitor pulses over 100 times per second to keep your training data accurate in real time.
Battery life reaches 45 hours combined with the charging case, which is 33% smaller than its predecessor and supports Qi wireless charging, so topping up between sessions does not require hunting for a cable.
Thoughtfully engineered for the demands of real training, the Powerbeats Pro 2 carry an IPX4 sweat and water resistance rating that accounts for rain, humidity, and sweat-soaked sessions alike, with on-ear buttons and tactile volume rockers ensuring full control stays at your fingertips without breaking stride.
Note that a USB-C charging cable and power adaptor are sold separately, so factor that in if you are buying as a first-time Beats owner.
SQUIRREL_PLAYLIST_10148964
If you want a distraction-free fitness tracker then the newly announced screenless Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 are two brilliant options.
While you’ll need to be happy to forgo smartwatch features, both promise to quietly track your health, fitness and workout metrics without getting in the way of your everyday life.
While we’re yet to review the Fitbit Air, we have reviewed the Oura Ring 4 and not only gave the wearable a 4.5-star rating but also hailed it as being one of the best smart rings too. With this in mind, how do the Fitbit Air’s specs look set to compare?
We’ve highlighted the key differences, alongside noteworthy similarities, between the Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 below. Keep reading to see how the two differ and decide which one will likely suit you best.
Otherwise, our list of the best fitness trackers rounds up our current favourites on the market. If, however, you think you’d prefer a device that acts as an extension of your smartphone, then you should visit our best smartwatches list instead.
| Fitbit Air | Oura Ring 4 | |
| Dimensions | 34.9 x 17 x 8.3mm | 7.9 x 2.88mm |
| Water Rating | 5ATM | 10ATM |
| Battery Life | Up to seven days | Up to eight days |
| Sensors | Optical heart rate monitor, 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, SpO2, Skin Temperature and Vibration Motor | Optical heart rate monitor, 3-axis accelerometer, SpO2 and Skin Temperature |
| UK RRP | £84.99 | £349 |
| US RRP | $99.99 | $349 |
| Subscription | $9.99 a month | £/$5.99 a month |
At the time of writing, the Fitbit Air is available to pre-order and will launch in the UK and US from May 26. With a starting RRP of £84.99/$99.99, the Fitbit Air is one of the cheaper fitness trackers.
In comparison, the Oura Ring 4 has a considerably more expensive starting price of £349/$349 – though this can significantly alter depending on the finish you opt for. For example, the Silver or Black iterations are £349/$349 while the Gold or Rose Gold iterations will set you back £499/$499 instead.
Alternatively you can opt for the Oura Ring 4 Ceramic which comes in a choice of four colours but starts at £499/$499.
Let’s get the most obvious difference out of the way: the Oura Ring 4 is a smart ring while the Fitbit Air is a screenless band worn around the wrist. Naturally, this means the Oura Ring 4’s colour or shape can’t be changed after purchase, whereas the Fitbit Air’s band is entirely changeable.
Google explains that the Fitbit Air moves from “bracelet to workout band to sleep tracker” as you can purchase different bands separately.
However, that’s not to say the Oura Ring 4 stands out as an unsightly wearable. In fact, at 7.9mm wide and 2.88mm thick, the Oura Ring 4 is designed to look just like an ordinary ring and not stand out as a fitness tracker.
Compared to even the best Apple Watches, both the Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 boast much higher battery lives. In fact, while Google promises the Fitbit Air will see up to seven days of power, the Oura Ring 4 is promised up to eight.
However, it’s worth noting that in our review we actually found the Ring 4 struggled to see the full eight days and achieved around five days instead. That was with daily use, passive tracking and occasional workouts, so you’d likely need to be a particularly light user to see the full eight days.
Otherwise, the Fitbit Air is said to take around 90 minutes to go from 0 to 100% battery, while a five minute charge should result in an extra day’s worth of juice. In comparison, the Oura Ring 4 is said to take up to 80 minutes to charge, though it doesn’t benefit from any fast charging tricks like the Fitbit Air.
Women are said to make up 60% of Oura Ring 4 users, as the wearable offers in-depth cycle insights which include pregnancy metrics and even fertility insights too. Plus, the Ring 4 sports integration with Natural Cycles, a natural birth control or family planning tool that determines your most fertile times of the month according to your skin temperature.
This is especially appealing for those who don’t want to rely on hormonal birth control methods that usually come with a long list of side effects. Garmin also recently introduced an integration with Natural Cycles.
While the Fitbit Air does include menstrual cycle insights, with predicted periods and fertile windows shown on the new Google Health app, this is based on your recorded data and trends. Although the Fitbit Air can track skin temperature, if you forget to log a period then this can affect the accuracy of your insights.
The Fitbit Air is compatible with the new Google Health smartphone app, which has replaced the old Fitbit app. Google Health will act like the hub for your Fitbit’s data, bringing together your health and fitness tracking metrics and insights to your iPhone or Android.
While Google Health offers an overall insight, there is a paid subscription to opt for which unlocks many more features. Coined Google Health Premium, the $9.99-a-month subscription will provide access to Google Health Coach, the Gemini-powered AI tool that offers personalised workout plans and guidance according to you and your personal goals. In addition, Google Health Premium includes in-depth sleep tracking which is said to be 15% more accurate on the Fitbit Air compared to previous models.
Even so, we should note that the Fitbit Air doesn’t need this subscription to work, whereas the Ring 4 does require Oura’s subscription.
Slightly cheaper at £5.99/$5.99 a month, the Oura Membership is compulsory and required to unlock all the daily insights you’d expect to see from your Ring 4.
As neither the Fitbit Air or Ring 4 are equipped with a display, checking metrics and tracking workouts is done via their respective smartphone apps. While you can manually start tracking a workout through the app, both the Fitbit Air and Ring 4 promise to sport automatic workout detection. This means that you can simply start exercising and both the wearables will track and log the workout, without you needing to dive into the app.
In theory, this is a welcome time-saver and means you won’t miss out on key data like your HRV. However, we actually found the Ring 4’s automatic workout tracking to be somewhat hit and miss. While running was tracked well, other activities were sometimes missed entirely.
With this in mind, we’d always recommend manually inputting workouts.
As the concept is the same, with both offering screenless and therefore distraction-free health tracking, perhaps one of the biggest deciding factors between the Fitbit Air and Oura Ring 4 is whether you prefer wearing a band or a ring.
Having said that, it’s worth remembering that the Fitbit Air does benefit from the AI-powered Health Coach (albeit with the optional subscription) which could be useful for beginners who’d like help getting started on their fitness journey. Plus, the Oura Ring 4 is not only more expensive, but it requires the subscription to even track basic metrics, making it much more of a long-term investment.
On the other hand, the Oura Ring 4 is fitted with many women’s health insights which could be useful for those either looking to move away from hormonal birth control, start family planning or tracking pregnancies too.
We’ll be sure to update this versus once we review the Fitbit Air.
Though the Poco X8 Pro faces stiffer competition than ever, it’s still an easy recommendation for anyone after strong performance and fast charging at a less-than-premium price. It’s not the most powerful or polished phone around, but for the money, there’s enough here to keep it competitive – even if the Iron Man finish does it no favours.
Solid performance in virtually every situation
Gorgeous 120Hz AMOLED display for HDR gaming
Good enough camera in good conditions
Noticable background battery drain
Iron Man stylings are lackluster
Fair bit of pre-installed bloat
Review Price:
£349
Dimensity 8500-Ultra SoC
Matched with the Mali-G720, GPU, this 3.4Ghz chipset can handle the most demanding games and everyday tasks with ease.
6500mAh battery with 100W charging
Ultra-fast 100W charging from compatible power plugs lets you max out the massive battery in just over an hour.
3D dual-layer IceLoop cooling system
The 5300mm² surface area cooling solution promises to chill the chipset by up to three degrees Celsius for to avoid throttling when gaming in humid areas.
As top-tier specs continue to trickle down into budget blowers, some of the long-standing bargain brands of the last ten years are still finding ways to stay firmly in the middle. For Xiaomi’s Poco brand, that’s the Poco X8 Pro line. It’s easy to see where the inspiration lies with this one.
With the Poco X8 Pro, we’re specifically looking at the Iron Man variant. It isn’t the first time a Poco handset has been adorned with Marvel graphics. But don’t let Tony Stark’s billion-dollar projects fool you: this isn’t a cutting-edge device.
Instead, it’s a solid performer for the cost, just with a frankly hideous interface that’s closer in appeal to the sort you’ll find in an after-market theme shop app than anything you’ll have seen in a Marvel movie. The best-looking part of this phone is its themed packaging. So it’s a good thing everything else functions well enough.
The Poco X8 Pro Iron Man sits well in the hand. It’s a comfortable device with just enough material-lending heft to feel premium without being uncomfortable. Generously rounded along each corner and with a stainless steel frame, it reminded me a lot of the first phone I decided to pony up a pretty penny for – a Nokia Lumia I lost on a press trip in Stockholm too long ago.
Along the suitably smooth outer edges are a single-piece volume rocker, a separate power button, a down-firing speaker, a super-speedy USB-C port, and plenty of microphones to make calls feel as clear as they reasonably need to be. Given the choice of materials here, the Poco X8 Pro is a solid device, with IP68 dust and water resistance, and a cool, smooth feel.
Unless you opt for the Iron Man look, you’ll be getting a flagship-style appearance in some appealing colours. Whether that’s what you want in a £349 device is up to you. I’m partial to how Motorola helps its budget blowers stand out with unique vegan leather looks, but the Iron Man version of the Poco X8 Pro sadly looks like a cheap sticker on a printed plastic back.
A tight screen-to-body ratio means the Poco X8 Pro’s curves create a display that’s pleasing to the eye – a full-screen look that would have cost a premium a few years back. The 120Hz AMOLED display clocks in at a sharp-enough 1.5k resolution, getting more than bright enough to stand against piercing outdoor glare and helping the AMOLED display show off its glossy colours.
Poco’s standing with streaming giants means you’ll struggle to put that high brightness to use with HDR content outside of your own photos and some games. Still, if you can find supported content, there’s HDR10+ capabilities and Dolby Vision certification to make use of.
Auto-HDR wizardry can offer a sample of bright, bold colours and tight contrast in games, too, but you’ll be banking on the nature of AMOLED to work its own magic on streamed content for the most part.
For gamers – of which Poco tends to attract many – there are some solid features here, too. The 480Hz touch sampling should already ensure your slides and taps register at rocket speed, but you can crank this all the way to 2560Hz through Game Turbo Mode just to be sure.
Similarly, the Wet Touch display 2.0 claim works well to stop a little splash or a drop of rain from making general use difficult, so it should work to offset any misplays in tense, sweaty conditions, too.
What is a shame, though, is its lack of adaptive refresh rates. Though you can set 120Hz to kick in only on specific apps, it can’t slow to 24Hz for an optimal movie-viewing experience, and it certainly can’t drop to 1Hz for comfortable, battery-efficient reading. It’s all go all the time.
With the Poco line initially gaining traction as one good for gaming at half the price of competing products, it isn’t surprising to see the Poco spec sheet rife with chatter about ‘revolutionary performance,’ various ‘boost’ features, and cooling tech with embellished titles.
In practice, the Poco X8 Pro is a powerful device for just £349, sporting a high-end (if not proper flagship) MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset and ample 12GB of RAM that leaves most phones at the price point in the dust.
Given its dominance in regions like India, where the go-to games are far from bleeding-edge gacha titles and console ports, the Poco X8 Pro maintains rock-solid frame rates, imperceivable input lag, and crams just enough passive cooling tech in there to keep gamers snagging chicken dinners in low-fidelity esports titles in the heat.
In fast-paced, graphically intense combat titles that push the boundaries of mobile chipsets, a solid 60fps is easily attainable at the highest settings. Zenless Zone Zero, we’re looking at you. In general use, the situation is much the same – solid, stable, and snappy. Flicking between apps and drawers is like butter. Your Chrome tab hoarding won’t phase this one.
To put things into numbers, our typical Geekbench 6 benchmark came back with a single-core result of 1724, with multicore clocking in at 6614. The Mali-G720 GPU returned an impressive score of 12,549 there, too, translating to a 24fps average in 3DMark Wildlife Extreme and around 26fps in the lighting-heavy Solar Bay test, all of which align with the premium, but not quite top-end, chipset on offer.
The stress test showed barely any change in performance as the temperature slowly rose before plateauing at 38°C in 20°C ambient room temperatures. Now, that’s obviously not a good enough test for a cooler designed to keep you gaming in arid conditions, but proof enough that it can hold its own.
Overall, it’s a decent improvement over last year’s Poco X7 Pro, but probably not enough to justify an upgrade.
Running Xiaomi HyperOS fork of Android 16, what you’re getting here is a fairly up-to-date handset. It’s worth noting that if you get the Iron Man Edition, you’ll also get a custom theme to enjoy.
You’ll find a few iconic bits of app bloat here, but they’re largely the big names: TikTok, Spotify, Facebook, Amazon Music, and the rest, which is honestly fascinating. But that doesn’t mean it’s bereft of the usual slew of basic waiting room games. Oh, and Mi/Poco-branded apps with infuriating full-screen startup ads.
You’ll have to dig through the search bar to uninstall them, but removing them from the dashboard sends things off in a nice little pop of a bubble – at least on our Iron Man-inspired review device. Is it an annoyance? Always. But at least Poco made cleaning things up a relatively satisfying experience.
You also get the admittedly handy Gemini AI assistant. Camera and Circle to Search features are all intact, and getting Google to voice what it sees through the camera is always a fun little party trick – a way for an older person to quickly read their mail without their glasses, or a great way to identify pretty foliage on a morning walk.
Dig through the settings, and you’ll find Poco’s own AI App Boost options. Beyond smart uses of sometimes scary technological buzzwords like auto-translate/transcribe and image sharpening, you’ll find options to turn photos into dynamic wallpapers and expand them with additional details.
Packing a 50MP Sony lens on the rear, the Poco X8 isn’t out of its depth when it comes to photography, either. As long as you keep your expectations in check.
Today’s chips and AI enhancements mean there’s enough computational gubbins here to grab some great shots with little effort. In the bright Spring sunshine around the Greek Isles, I had a great time capturing the rare snow-covered caps of Crete from Chania and photographing traffic jams.
The lack of a telephoto means you won’t be zooming in to shoot distant details in a hurry, but there’s enough detail here to pinch in to reframe shots. Again, within reason. The depth sensor pairs well with today’s processors to make portrait shots look particularly pleasing, too, with frankly fantastic edge detection in perfect conditions. The 8MP ultrawide helps to cram more detail into cramped scenes, too.
Where once a budget gaming blower meant sacrificing a half-decent snapper in your pocket, the sensor of the Poco X8 Pro could genuinely be a solid upgrade for some. Paired with speedy UFS 4.1 storage, another previously premium option, there’s enough general performance here to please most amateur shutterbugs, but low-light isn’t a strong suit. Unsurprising, given the price point.
A massive 6500mAh cell keeps the Poco X8 Pro going for days at a time. Paired with increasingly scary 100W charging with a compatible plug, it doesn’t take long at all to get back in the game.
With such a focus on playing hours of matches before needing to recharge, it would have been nice to see Poco lean on the teachings of the now-absent Asus ROG Phone with a side-mounted USB-C plug for comfortable charging while gaming. That would really put the cooling tech to the test.
Interestingly, the reverse wired charging came in clutch while away from home, enabling it to be used akin to a power bank for other devices, saving me from needing to buy yet another travel adapter to litter a drawer back home.
Bewildering background battery drain was a concern, though. It’s difficult to chalk up the reason why, but it often lost far more power overnight than my ageing iPhone 13 Pro Max. Hopefully it’s something an update will fix, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you’re often away from a charger.
At £349 (or cheaper with the launch discount), the Poco X8 Pro is considerably cheaper than its fancy-sounding name would suggest. And in raw performance, it’s a value king.
Poco handsets often focus on raw power, and the X8 Pro is no different – it can take good shots in bright conditions, but its certainly not a strong suit.
Though the Poco line has stiffer competition today than ever before, the X8 Pro is still an easy recommendation for those looking for a powerful handset at a less-than-premium price.
Sturdy construction means it sits just fine alongside today’s more fashion-forward phones. And if you’re the type to savour every minute, its lightning-fast charging is part of what makes this one not a big deal, but a great deal.
It’s far from the most powerful device on the market today, but at this price, there’s enough going on to keep it (and you) competitive, making it one of the best budget phones around (even in its Iron Man finish).
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
No, there’s no included charger with the Poco X8 Pro despite its 100W HyperCharge capabilities. The Iron Man version doesn’t include one, either.
The Poco X8 Pro is rated for IP68, suggesting long-term water submersion shouldn’t be a problem if proper precautions are followed.
| Poco X8 Pro | |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 single core | 1724 |
| Geekbench 6 multi core | 6616 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU | 12549 |
| 3DMark Solar Bay | 26 |
| Time from 0-100% charge | 62 min |
| Time from 0-50% charge | 29 Min |
| 30-min recharge (no charger included) | 52 % |
| 15-min recharge (no charger included) | 31 % |
| 3D Mark – Wild Life | 4053 |
| Poco X8 Pro Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £349 |
| Manufacturer | Poco |
| Screen Size | 6.59 inches |
| Storage Capacity | 512GB |
| Rear Camera | 50MP + 8MP |
| Front Camera | 20MP |
| Video Recording | Yes |
| IP rating | IP68 |
| Battery | 6500 mAh |
| Fast Charging | Yes |
| Size (Dimensions) | 75.19 x 8.38 x 157.53 MM |
| Weight | 201 G |
| Operating System | HyperOS (Android 16) |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| First Reviewed Date | 08/05/2026 |
| Resolution | 2756 x 1268 |
| HDR | Yes |
| Refresh Rate | 120 Hz |
| Ports | USB-C |
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Colours | Black, Mint Green, White, Iron Man |
As families across the U.S. prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day this Sunday, Allison Stern is looking beyond the single day of appreciation.
Stern just closed $10 million in commitments for her debut early-stage fund, Mother Ventures, which focuses exclusively on the mother as a consumer.
“In the U.S., moms are responsible for 85% of household purchases and have $2.4 trillion in spending power,” Stern (pictured below) told TechCrunch. “The numbers say that moms are the buyers, and they really are a very unique economic engine.”
Stern, a mother of two, is tapping into that spending clout by backing startups that reflect the needs of modern mothers. Since launching Mother Ventures two years ago, she has already deployed $4 million into 13 startups. Her portfolio includes Coral Care, which allows instant booking of pediatric specialists for children with developmental delays, and Tin Can, a popular Wi-Fi-enabled “landline” designed as a retro-style phone for kids.
Before launching her own fund, she co-founded Tubular Labs, a social video analytics startup she helped grow to $25 million in annual recurring revenue prior to its 2023 acquisition by private equity, and served as an operating partner at The Chernin Group (TCG), a consumer-focused growth equity firm.
Part of TCG’s investment thesis included backing companies serving “overlooked unique audiences with spending power,” such as Barstool Sports, which originally targeted Boston sports fans, she said.
When Stern set out to launch her own fund, she identified mothers as a similarly underserved market with the potential to deliver superior returns. “I felt like motherhood is the ultimate niche that’s not really a niche,” she said,
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026
Stern convinced Tony James, the former president and COO of Blackstone and current board chair of Costco, to back Mother Ventures as an anchor LP. Other backers of the fund include Jessica Rolph, founder of the child development startup Lovevery, as well as female executives from Netflix, Rent the Runway, and Sesame Street, she said.
She argues that millennial and Gen Z mothers expect a different set of products, from on-demand transportation services such as Zum, to ready-meal delivery from DoorDash, and fintech tools like Greenlight that allow parents to instantly fund a child’s debit card.
“We want healthy things. We want subscription things. We want digital communities,” she said.
However, Stern doesn’t want her fund to be perceived as one that invests only in parenting tech. “It’s a consumer fund, and focus on the mom as the consumer allows us to be wider in our bets,” she said.
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Now that two of us from the TechRadar Gaming team have spent hours in free-to-play third-person action looter-shooter Tom Clancy’s The Division: Resurgence – and I, as the big Division fan, am still committing hours to it – we are happy to report that it’s a terrific mobile game and proof that big AAA series from console and PC can successfully make the jump over to the small screen to produce something excellent.
Review info
Platform reviewed: Android
Available on: Android, iOS, PC
Release date: March 31, 2026
Combine that with a story that’s relatively plain but one that perfectly complements the events of the first game and will be best enjoyed by existing fans, and a well-realized version of that post-apocalyptic New York City setting (complete with weather effects and a robust standard of graphical quality) as well as an intuitive and excellent control scheme on mobile, and the experience is complete.
As an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division (SHD) activated after the deadly Green Poison rips through the populace after spreading on money during Black Friday, your job is to save what’s left of the civilized world, help out its inhabitants, defeat factions looking to take control, and build up the SHD’s presence.
You might not have a military background, but you do have access to weapons, gear, and specialist skills and abilities. You’ll choose the latter by picking a specialization based on some pretty typical video game archetypes: there’s a tanky one, a healer, an assault expert, and an engineer type. Familiar skills such as the shield and gun combo, turrets and drones, and an excellent pulse ability work beautifully once again as you tear up Resurgence’s streets.
It’s worth noting that the protagonist actually offers something more than those found in the main games, too: they’re fully voiced and, as such, feel like more of a character. It’s a welcome move as spending hundreds of hours in the likes of The Division 2 and its many expansions, and even the Ghost Recon games, without saying a single word felt odd. Still, it is a shame that there aren’t more character customization options for the lead in Resurgence, which may irk some used to more expansion character creation systems.
Your chatty agent can combine your preferred specialization with a host of different weapons, which provide a huge range of ways to play. From assault rifles to sub-machine guns and high-powered shotguns to marksman rifles, there are loads of combos to try out, and you’ll also have lots of opportunity to level up and improve gear, and make it your own with a variety of attachments.
Best bit
The loot-improve-loot loop is incredibly satisfying in The Division: Resurgence and will constantly have you chasing better weapons and gear to optimize builds and improve your power score, and take down baddies with greater ease.
Most of your time will be spent in the expansive PvE part of the New York map, which features a host of recognizable foes for returning players. There’s the Rikers and fire-crazy Cleaners, as well as a newer faction in the form of the Freemen.
As you cross the map, unlocking safe houses and new areas, you’ll carry out a lot of story missions and side missions that take place up and down the streets. Th overall story are nothing to really write home about, but one specific gripe I do have is that at multiple points in the main story (and thus overall progress) are level gated, requiring you to grind.
At least the selection of enemy nests, alcoves, and urban squares all make for fun and action-packed arenas. The world is very nicely executed on the whole, and does a great job of nailing the aesthetic and vibes of the original game.
Encounters can feel straightforward in design, but still manage to be suitably high-octane and high-tension. It’s a great mix to have, as you can settle into the rhythm of looting, but still have to sometimes get creative and tactical to get yourself out of sticky situations.
For committed looter shooter players, the extraction shooter style Dark Zone is back to provide a sterner PvPvE test, while Conflict offers a dedicated PvP mode for those who fancy testing their skills against other players directly. As someone who prefers cooperation over competition, I’ve really enjoyed the fact that the open world is shared with other players, and there are ample informal opportunities to help others or be helped by them with no matchmaking necessary.
While pouring time into the game to level up my character, I soon found that Resurgence really scratched that looter-shooter itch of needing to find more gear to improve, take down enemies more efficiently, and get even more gear in the process. The steady stream of upgrades keeps pulling you along, as does the desire for the XP gained from main and side missions.
The handful of ongoing elements in the game, such as weekly and daily tasks and plenty of fresh bounties, should also be enough to keep fans engaged over the long term, too. Adjacent to this, the series’ monetization and microtransactions are, naturally, present too, and while they can largely be ignored and not engaged with, it is a looming factor.
While the game successfully translates the core experience established in The Division series, it’s another thing to have it perform on smaller, less powerful hardware.
With the visual settings cranked up to max, environments in Resurgence certainly look the part. It feels very faithful to the original 2016 game, thanks to its highly atmospheric snowy New York streets and a great level of environmental detail. It can achieve a mostly solid 30fps on a beefy Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered gaming tablet, though cracks do start to show if you want to hit a higher framerate.
Dash mostly plays on the medium pre-set in order to reach a smooth 45 fps, and the difference in quality is stark. The models of prominent objects, like abandoned cars, look slightly lower fidelity, and the textures become quite muddy. Render distance takes a bit of a hit, too, resulting in quite obvious pop-in on the horizon as you explore. The game is still perfectly playable and holds up decently well on a smaller phone screen, but it’s not as good-looking as similar AAA mobile releases like Delta Force and Once Human.
Even when it looks a bit grim, the game still feels fantastic to play as touch controls are brilliantly implemented. The layout (which includes a wealth of movement options like vaulting, diving, and jumping into cover in addition to your standard virtual thumbstick and aiming stroke firing buttons) does a commendable job of translating a The Division 2-like control scheme to a touch screen format.
The control scheme will be instantly familiar to existing fans and intuitive to those new to the franchise, but we think it really excels when played with a controller
Although it’s no trouble for experienced touch control players, there are still loads of options to simplify the controls if you’re finding it a little too much. This includes the ability to automate entering cover, aiming down sights, climbing, or vaulting. You even have the option to aim weapons from a first-person perspective, something found in the recent Ghost Recon games but a new and welcome addition for The Division.
Mobile controller support is top-notch, too, as we tested multiple mobile pads from the likes of GameSir, Nacon, SteelSeries, and 8BitDo that all enabled the game to be played exactly like one can play The Division 2 on console.
The control scheme will be instantly familiar to existing fans and intuitive to those new to the franchise, but we think it really excels when played with a controller.
Tested as it was initially released as a mobile game, The Division Resurgence sadly doesn’t have a huge number of accessibility features. While there are a host of settings around controls that allow you to change sensitivity across touch, controller, or even mouse and keyboard inputs and gyro sensitivity, there is no way to change subtitle size or color (though you can change languages), no colorblind modes, or extra audio settings.
There are also some assists you can alter with to find the right balance of play, such as aim assists, aiming down sights settings, and things like vaulting and climbing can be toggled to become automatic.
We tested The Division Resurgence in both single-player and multiplayer modes for many hours. Dash tested the game on an Honor Magic 8 Pro, while Rob used a Samsung S20 Ultra (which was only capable of running it on the lowest settings), and then an Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro combined with a Nacon MGX-Pro mobile gaming controller.
Rob also tested the game using other mobile controllers such as the 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller, the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth controller, and a Stratus+ from SteelSeries. Often using the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s own speakers for audio, he also tried the game through the new SteelSeries Arcits Nova Pro Omni headset.
While Dash is TechRadar Gaming’s mobile gaming expert, Rob is a longtime fan of the Division series, having committed hundreds and hundreds of hours to both main games on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 since 2018. He still plays The Division 2 regularly with friends, and is perfectly placed to know what works and what doesn’t in this mobile version.
First reviewed March-May 2026.
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I’ve been running for the past decade, and somewhere along the way I went from couch to coach. Since gaining my coaching qualification I’ve supported around 100 runners, from people taking their very first running steps to those tackling ultra marathon distances.
One thing I didn’t expect when I started coaching was how often I’d become an unofficial kit helpline. Athletes ask about everything: what shoes to buy when they don’t know where to start, which is the best running watch, and how to pick a hydration vest that doesn’t bounce you into next week. And I get it, because kit is overwhelming now. There’s more choice than ever, a lot of it is expensive, and almost everything is advertised as essential to peak performance.
I also spend a good amount of time testing gear for running publications, so I’ve built up a slightly ridiculous amount of hands-on experience. My own running ranges from parkrun to 100-mile races, plus multi-day races, overseas trips, and plenty of hilly and mountainous days where you learn very quickly what works and what absolutely doesn’t.
Through thousands of miles on the road and trail, I’ve curated a collection of my favourite kit which I reach for year after year. This isn’t “the best kit money can buy”, it’s those tried and tested – and sometimes stinking, fraying-at-the-edges – pieces of kit I cannot run without. Check them all out below, and click “View Details” to learn more about each one.
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It’s the latest escalation in a dispute that began with Samsung workers demanding a direct share of the money generated by the AI memory boom.
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