OpenAI has acknowledged that it did not publicly disclose an earlier incident in which its autonomous AI agents took over a German wiki to communicate, share answers, and exchange techniques for bypassing restrictions.
The company says it treated the activity as model “misalignment” rather than a security incident, but now admits its disclosure practices must expand as AI systems increasingly cause real-world impact.
The incident began in May while OpenAI agents were completing timed, multi-round web lookup tasks.
In their writeup, independent researchers Sydney Von Arx, Cormac Slade Byrd, Spencer Kitts, and Thomas Larsen state that they uncovered roughly 18,000 posts from autonomous agents that “colluded to share answers, research their environment, and bypass sandbox restrictions.”
The agents were supposed to have read-only Internet access but discovered they could write to an obscure German programming wiki, DSEWiki (or DeutschesSoftwareEntwickler). They turned it into a shared message board for pooling answers, cheating on tests, predicting future questions, and exchanging techniques for bypassing OpenAI’s sandbox restrictions.
The researchers also found agents probing the wiki for cross-site scripting (XSS) flaws, impersonating its moderators, and establishing backup communications, though they found no evidence the XSS attempts succeeded.
When the administrator began removing their pages, one agent warned others that a “wiki cleanup/deletion sweep appears active alphabetically” and directed them to a backup page beginning with “ZZZ” so it would survive longer.
The researchers attributed the activity to internal OpenAI systems based on agent names referencing OpenAI, the nature and speed of the evaluation tasks, infrastructure associated with Microsoft Azure, and subsequent visits to the wiki from OpenAI-linked IP addresses.
However, their investigation was limited to information the agents wrote publicly.
The research team did not have access to OpenAI’s internal transcripts or other data that could establish precisely how the agents discovered the wiki and began coordinating through it.
In a statement published today, OpenAI said it had historically treated model misalignment as a research issue, with findings communicated through research papers and system cards.
The company said it considered the wiki activity another example of “misalignment” similar to behaviors it had previously discussed, rather than an incident requiring a dedicated public disclosure.
OpenAI’s own wording suggests a wider footprint than the researchers documented, describing the episode as one “where our agents wrote to several internet sites.”
That differed from its response to the Hugging Face compromise in July, when OpenAI said its AI models hacked the platform after discovering a vulnerability while completing cybersecurity tasks.
A follow-up analysis found that nearly 700 rogue AI agents had coordinated during the attack, sharing strategies and creating persistent access mechanisms without direct human instructions.
OpenAI said it treated the Hugging Face breach as a conventional security incident because it affected the security of both OpenAI and third parties. The AI giant began working with Hugging Face and publicly disclosed the incident the following day.
However, OpenAI now acknowledges that the distinction between research misalignment and security incidents is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.
“This year, we’ve started to see misalignment cause new types of real-world impact,” the company said.
OpenAI says the AI industry lacks consistent standards governing when unexpected agent behavior during training, evaluation, or deployment should be reported, particularly when it does not resemble a traditional cybersecurity incident.
The company is developing a new disclosure framework that it plans to publish in the coming weeks and says it is discussing these issues with government regulators worldwide.
The timing of the acknowledgment is also notable, coming in the same week OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, which it touts as “the world’s most intelligent and aligned model” and state-of-the-art on computer use, browsing, software engineering, and cybersecurity.
OpenAI says Astra is better at staying within its intended scope, measured partly by a new evaluation it built in response to the Hugging Face incident.
However, the problem is not unique to OpenAI.
In July, Anthropic revealed that its Claude AI breached three organizations during internal security evaluations, in one case registering a package name it found in documentation and uploading malicious code to PyPI. The package was live for about an hour, in which 15 real systems downloaded and ran it.
As AI models become more capable and gain greater autonomy and access to the Internet and external tools, such incidents are expected to accelerate.
What remains unknown is what else these systems could become capable of, or end up doing, without stronger controls, oversight, and disclosure requirements.
Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply.
The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments.
Why you can trust TechRadar
We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Ever wondered what life would be like if your earbuds had a touchscreen case? OK, you probably haven’t, but stick with me here. The JBL Live Buds 4 are the new generation of the audio specialist’s in-ears that pair with a smart charging case, enabling you to adjust sound settings, adapt ANC, and more — all without having to download a companion app.
They’re a standout model in a congested market. The Live Buds 4 also sit within JBL’s wider Live range, which is itself fairly congested in that it also includes the stemmed JBL Live Beam, plus the open-fit JBL Live Flex. This specific model, though — the Live Buds 4 — comes with a number of claimed upgrades over its predecessor, including enhanced ANC, new “fidelity drivers,” and boosted call quality. But are they worth the money and can they compete with options in our best earbuds roundup? Here’s what I think after three weeks of testing.
We’ve got to start with the smart charging case, which has a revamped UI for a smoother, more complete user experience. The touchscreen is undoubtedly small, but it’s highly responsive, and there are clear menus to access EQ tweaking, ANC modes, appearance options, and even tools like a flashlight and timer. I sometimes preferred using the JBL Headphones app for the ease of a larger screen, and the ability to set a custom wallpaper from my photo gallery, but for on-the-go tweaks, the charging case is a neat option — even if it is arguably a little bit gimmicky. But hey, I like a good gimmick now and then.
Latest Videos FromTechRadar
Beyond what I’ve already mentioned, the case features a lot of fun features, like a smart-talk option, which picks up voices if you want to have a conversation while keeping your buds in. There are also customizable touch controls for the buds themselves (which I found to be reactive and convenient), and settings for how your voice sounds on a call, including a bright, natural, and powerful option.
Speaking of calls, JBL has included 6 mics in these earbuds, as well as its new Perfect Calls 2.0 tech, which makes use of AI to keep your voice clear, even in noisier environments. As I mentioned in my JBL Live Beam 4 review (I know, it’s easy to get confused with names), I did find my voice to be relatively clear on calls and when taking a recording, but unfortunately I didn’t get the premium clarity I was expecting. There was some noticeable sibilance in my recording, and I also found that some background noises remained more prominent than anticipated.
I also want to talk about active noise cancellation, which has been improved for the Live 4 series. Overall, ANC is decent, but it’s still not up to the standards offered by buds from Apple and Bose. When out and about or on public transport, I could still make out background chatter, and in the office, typing sounds and doors closing were still audible. Sounds are still dulled effectively, and ANC is by no means bad — but if you’re expecting a curtain of silence when using the Live Buds 4, you may be left wanting more.
One area that the Buds 4 totally excel in, though, is sound quality. For earbuds in this price-range, the Buds 4 are excellent, dishing out impactful bass, clean mids, and expressive highs, impressive handling of dynamics, and good attention to detail.
When tuning into Labor of Love by Ned Doheny, I was struck by the beautifully textured and weighted acoustic guitars, which were well separated from clear, tonally accurate vocals. Subtle percussive details also came through beautifully, and funky bass sounded impactful without drowning out other sounds across the frequency range. What’s more, by activating the higher-res Bluetooth codec, LDAC, I could make out some more intricacies in the mid-range, with almost life-like guitars taking the listening experience to the next level.
The Live Buds 4 proved to cope brilliantly with any genre, though. With a deeper, more energetic track, such as Don’t Compare Yourself by Kolter, the pumping deep bass hit phenomenally hard, and reached down to tremendous depths for this level. Bassy synths sounded textured and controlled, lively drums sounded articulate and precise, and emotive vocals, while impactful, never overwhelmed the mix.
I have very few complaints about the sound, and it’s super-simple to customize it to your liking with the EQ settings on the charging case or JBL headphones app. But one thing that could’ve been better was the spatial audio setting, which just lacked the clarity and openness of the standard tuning. I’d also argue that the soundstage is relatively broad on the Live Buds 4 anyway, so you should just keep this mode off if you ask me.
Let’s also talk design, as this is the main area where the Live Buds 4 differentiate themselves from the Beam and Flex. They take up a small, snug in-ear feel, which is ideal for those who prefer earbuds without the stems. I found the buds to be incredibly comfortable, and had no issue keeping them in for multiple hours at a time. They’re also highly secure, never feeling as if they’ll fall out of your ears.
The buds also have a good standard of build, the case has an attractive, textured finish, and the model can be purchased in a wide range of colors. The buds are also IP55-rated, making them splashproof. Some rivals offer superior IP57 protection, but IP55 is enough to keep your buds safe on a rainy day.
One more difference the Buds 4 have, is that they offer the least amount of battery life in the Live 4 lineup, with 8 hours of playtime with the buds when ANC is on, and up to 40 hours with the case. That’s still a good amount of playtime, and competes well with major rivals.
So, are the JBL Live Buds 4 worth their £179.99 / AU$269.95 (about $240) asking price? For me, it’s an emphatic yes. Of course, they’re not the cheapest buds on the market, but they’re also a fair bit cheaper than big-name rivals like the AirPods Pro 3 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2. They also sound fantastic for the money, with the nifty charging case only adding more value. Sure, they could do better in the call quality and ANC department, but ultimately, they still offer decent enough quality in those areas.
The JBL Live Buds 4 were revealed in May 2026, alongside their siblings, the JBL Live Beam 4 and the JBL Live Flex 4. They released about two years after their predecessor, the JBL Live Buds 3.
They come in at £179.99 / AU$269.95 (about $240), which is the same as their predecessors cost at the point of launch (in the UK). We’re yet to catch wind of a release date and pricing for the US, but we’ll update this review accordingly if and when further details emerge.
These buds are available at a relatively affordable price for the quality on offer, coming in at a lower cost than rivals such as the Apple AirPods Pro 3 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2.
Our top pick for wireless earbuds whatever your budget is the Technics EAH-AZ100, at $299 / £259 (around AU$478). So at quite a bit less than those figures, the JBL Live Buds 4 can be yours for a shade under flagship money — and that’s a very good thing in terms of value.
That said, the Huawei Freebuds Pro 5 are our current ‘best mid-range’ pick in that detailed guide, and those excellent buds retail for the same £179.99 fee as the JBL option. They don’t have a smart charging case, but still, food for thought…
|
Drivers |
10mm dynamic |
|
Active noise cancellation |
Yes |
|
Battery life |
8 hours (buds, with ANC on); 10 hours (buds, with ANC off); 40 hours (with charging case) |
|
Weight |
4.8g (per bud) |
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth 6.0 |
|
Frequency range |
20Hz-40kHz |
|
Waterproofing |
IP55 |
|
Attribute |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Features |
Massive suite of features and neat smart case, but ANC and call quality could be better. |
4/5 |
|
Sound quality |
Detailed, impactful, and rich audio, but spatial sound option in need of improvement. |
4.5/5 |
|
Design |
Small and secure fit, strong standard of build, IP55-rated. |
4.5/5 |
|
Value |
Great price for the sound and feature-rich case. |
4.5/5 |
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
JBL Live Buds 4 |
Apple AirPods Pro 3 |
Huawei Freebuds Pro 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Price |
£179.99 / AU$269.95 (about $240) |
$249 / £219 / AU$429 |
£179.99 (around $240; AU$270) |
|
Drivers |
10mm dynamic |
Custom high excursion |
11mm dynamic woofer and micro-planar tweeter |
|
Active noise cancellation |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Battery life |
8 hours (buds, with ANC on); 10 hours (buds, with ANC off); 40 hours (with charging case) |
8 hours (buds, ANC on); 6.5 hours (buds, heart rate sensor on); 24 hours (case) |
9 hours buds, 38 hours case |
|
Weight |
4.8g (per bud) |
5.6g (per bud) |
5.5g (per bud) |
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth 6.0 |
Bluetooth 5.3 |
Bluetooth 6.0 |
|
Frequency range |
20Hz-40kHz |
Not stated |
10Hz to 48kHz |
|
Waterproofing |
IP55 |
IP57 |
IP57 buds, IP54 case |
I spent three weeks putting the JBL Live Buds 4 through their paces. During this time, I listened to countless hours of music, messed around with everything the smart charging case had to offer, and exhausted their various features.
As always, I made sure to use these buds in a range of environments — including at home or at the office, but also when out on walks near busy roads, and when on public transport like buses and trains. When listening to tunes, I predominantly streamed music over Tidal on my Xiaomi 17 phone, but I also jumped into Spotify now and then. I made sure to soft through the multi-genre TechRadar reference playlist, but also bumped a bunch of tunes from my personal library.
More generally, I’ve spent years testing audio gear here at TechRadar, where I serve as a Senior Reviews Writer. I’ve reviewed everything from premium wireless headphones like the Sony 1000X The Collexion to hulking party speakers like the Marshall Bromley 750. Of course, I’ve also tested many pairs of wireless earbuds, so I know exactly what it takes for a model to stand out in a highly competitive market.
Looking ahead: CERN engineers have unveiled a complex plan to move a number of computers to a new Linux distribution. The upgrade is required to prevent older, specialized hardware from becoming obsolete, though it’s turning out to be a challenging endeavor.
During a recent conference held in Winterthur, Switzerland, engineers working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) confirmed that the laboratory is going to move from Red Hat Enterprise Linux to Debian. The switch will affect more than 2,200 computers, many of which cannot be upgraded to newer RHEL releases because newer Red Hat releases will leave much older hardware behind.
As one of the world’s leading research institutions in particle physics, CERN generates massive amounts of data on a regular basis. The lab where Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web’s original vision was already packing 49 petabytes of digital files back in 2016. All this data requires a solid, ever-growing IT infrastructure, and the same goes for machines designed to manage scientific experiments through custom hardware boards.
CERN was an early adopter of the RHEL ecosystem. Over the past few years, the institute has been using the commercial system’s free variant AlmaLinux. The lab initially considered switching to CentOS Stream, which is one of the upstream sources for RHEL development. The engineers ultimately decided to abandon the entire RHEL infrastructure after the CentOS project decided to implement a disruptive change in the system’s compiler.
CentOS Stream 9, and thus RHEL 9, are built with the “-march=x86-64-v2” compiler flag. The x86-64v2 revision of the x86 ISA includes a few specific architectural changes, breaking compatibility with 64-bit CPUs released before 2009.Lack of support for pre-x86-64-v2 CPUs would force CERN to replace 47% of its embedded control computers. Even worse, since 2025, RHEL 10 has moved to x86-64-v3, which means an additional 17% of CERN’s computers would need to go to a landfill sooner rather than later.
CERN engineers explained that Debian 13 might save the institute a massive IT replacement job and related costs. The free, “universal” operating system is the second-oldest Linux distribution still in development behind Slackware, and serves as the basis for numerous popular distributions, most notably Ubuntu.
Still, replacing RHEL/AlmaLinux with Debian is proving to be a challenge of its own. CERN uses many custom hardware solutions, which require specific kernel drivers, bootloaders, and system images.
Debian does not provide a standard toolset for automating package building and publishing packages, which means the engineers are going to evaluate some additional provisioning solutions such as Debusine. Nevertheless, it’s better than throwing away thousands of perfectly functional computers and spending millions to build an entire IT infrastructure from scratch.
The Double Stack XL is one of the flagship models from Ninja, the UK’s best-selling air fryer brand, and it has just dropped by £80.
Right now, that two-drawer trick belongs to the Ninja Double Stack XL, down from its £269.99 RRP to £189.99 through Amazon’s limited-time deal, a saving of £80, or 30% off, and one of its better prices in recent months.
Save £80 on the Ninja Double Stack XL, one of our more popular air fryers
The Ninja Double Stack XL has had £80 slashed off its price, making it a brilliant time to grab one of our most in-demand air fryers.
This air fryer has spent most of the past two years above £220, so £189.99 lines up with only a handful of moments when it has ever dipped this low, making now a genuinely good time to buy one.
Ninja Double Stack XL‘s headline trick is DoubleStack technology, which lets two separate 4.75 litre drawers each hold a rack, so four different dishes can cook at once instead of the usual single-basket queue that leaves half the meal waiting its turn.
Sync and Match settings let each drawer run its own temperature and time or copy the other exactly, and six cooking modes cover air frying, roasting, baking, reheating and dehydrating without ever needing a second appliance.
Despite the extra capacity, the Double Stack XL is 30% slimmer than Ninja’s previous AF400 and stands just 38.5cm tall, so it slots comfortably under most kitchen cabinets and still feeds up to eight people.
The bundle also throws in a set of silicone tongs and pairs with the separately sold Ninja Pro Connect app, which sends live cooking updates and finish times straight to a phone for anyone who likes to check dinner without opening the drawer.
Ninja says the DoubleStack technology cooks up to 55% faster than a fan oven while using up to 55% less energy, and the Air Fry function cuts fat by up to 75% versus deep frying. Every part is dishwasher safe, and registering it with Ninja adds a two-year guarantee.
For only £189.99, it is easy to see why the Double Stack XL keeps turning up on our best air fryers of 2026 shortlist at this price.
Stacking its dual drawers on top of each other, the Ninja Double Stack XL 9.5L Air Fryer SL400UK offers a staggering 9.5 litres of cooking space squeezed into a device that only takes up the same counter space as a singe-zone air fryer. New to this model is dual-layer cooking, so you can cook four different things at once, with the slight caveat that it can be fiddly to turn food during cooking. That minor issue aside, brilliant results and intuitive controls make this my favourite dual-basket air fryer.
Excellent results
Huge amount of cooking controls
Brilliant controls
Can be fiddly to turn food with dual-layer cooking
SQUIRREL_PLAYLIST_10148964
XPPen has unveiled the Magic Pro 13, a new professional drawing pad designed to bridge the gap between creating on the move and working at a desktop setup. The device made its debut at IFA 2026 in Berlin, where XPPen positioned it as an all-scenario creative tool for artists who want professional capabilities without being tied to a fixed workstation.
The Magic Pro 13 is built around a two-in-one concept. It works as a portable drawing pad for capturing ideas away from a desk, while also functioning as a desktop-grade drawing display when connected to a PC. It runs Android 16 and features a 3K, 120Hz display, along with XPPen’s new X4 Smart Chip Stylus.
The key feature is XPPen’s hardware-level Drawing Display Mode. When connected to a PC using a single full-featured USB-C cable, the Magic Pro 13 can switch into a mode intended for professional desktop workflows.
According to XPPen, the dedicated hardware architecture enables ultra-low latency, native colour output and higher-bandwidth video transmission. The company says this allows the device to deliver detailed visuals, fluid strokes and 16K levels of pressure sensitivity.
For creators, the significance is less about simply adding another drawing screen and more about reducing the need to carry separate devices for different stages of the creative process. An artist could capture an idea away from the studio and then continue refining it on a PC using the same device.
XPPen has also developed a software ecosystem around the Magic Pro 13. Its Shelf app automatically tags, organises and archives creative assets, functioning as an inspiration library, while Canvas provides a simpler environment for quickly sketching ideas without the complexity of traditional creative software.
The Magic Pro 13 is only one part of XPPen’s IFA 2026 showcase. The company is also highlighting the Magic Note Pad, Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2), Artist Ultra 14 and Pilot Pro, covering areas including professional drawing, mobile creation and editing.
The company says the wider lineup reflects its effort to make professional creative tools more connected and flexible. At IFA, visitors can also try the products and contribute to XPPen’s “DOODLE THE WORLD” Doodle Wall, which brings individual sketches together into a shared display.
For buyers, the Magic Pro 13’s actual availability will be the next important detail. XPPen says it is expected to launch in October 2026, with further information to be announced closer to launch.
Tata Consultancy Services said its HyperVault unit and partners have committed 700 billion rupees, about $7.4B, to an AI data centre campus of up to one gigawatt in Hyderabad, using green energy and water-neutral design principles. EU rules require any data centre above 500kW to report total and drinking water consumption to a European database every year.
Tata Consultancy Services said its HyperVault unit and partners have committed 700 billion rupees, about $7.4B, to an AI data centre campus in southern India. Bloomberg News reported the exchange filing on Saturday.
The site sits on 264 acres in Hyderabad, in Telangana, and will have a capacity of up to one gigawatt. The land is already secured, and TCS expects the campus to rank among the largest AI infrastructure sites in India.
“The campus will support frontier AI companies and hyperscalers with high-density, liquid-cooled compute infrastructure on a global scale,” the company said.
TCS also says the project will use green energy and water-neutral design principles. Neither term is defined in the filing.
The money follows a pattern. TPG put $1B into the company’s data centre business last November, part of a wider flow of foreign capital into Indian AI infrastructure through local firms.
Two of those words carry obligations in Europe that they do not carry in India, and the gap is not rhetorical.
Any data centre in the EU with at least 500kW of installed IT power must report annually to a European database, under a delegated regulation adopted in 2024.
The indicators include total water consumption and drinking water consumption, from which water usage effectiveness is calculated. Energy demand, waste heat recovery and the renewable share are in there too.
The annual deadline is 15 May. The regulation itself sets out no penalty for not filing, so the discipline is disclosure rather than enforcement.
So water-neutral design is a phrase in Hyderabad and a filed number in Frankfurt. Neither guarantees the water, but only one leaves evidence.
The scale runs the other way. Europe has opened bidding for up to seven AI gigafactories worth roughly EUR 30B, of which about EUR 10B would be public money and only around EUR 1B of Brussels’ share is committed.
Construction there is targeted for early 2027. TCS is putting $7.4B into one campus now, most of it private money rather than public.
Europe built the measuring regime first and the gigawatts second. Its own gigafactory plan has already stumbled on delays, and this filing is what the other order looks like.
[Adafruit]’s Voicebox FX gadget is a fun, well-documented project that serves another useful purpose: being a fantastic reference design for audio on CircuitPython, with I2S audio components. Be sure to check it out if you have a project that involves any of that and could use a few pointers, or if you just want to jog a few ideas loose.
I2S (Inter-IC Sound) is a protocol aimed squarely at moving audio data between components as digital signals. Our own [Jenny List] can tell you everything you need to know about I2S. It’s a relatively simple interface that is not at all fussy about actually being used for audio, and that has led to it being put to some unusual uses.
The Voicebox FX uses an I2S microphone, an I2S amplifier, and an RP2350 microcontroller to record and play sound as well as offer a variety of effects controlled by physical inputs. It’s all wrapped up in a slick 3D printed case, and while it’s a fantastic reference design, it looks like a fun toy in its own right.
applications
Built-in plagiarism police to hand in badge next month
Microsoft is retiring Word’s Similarity Checker on October 3 and stripping the feature from Microsoft Editor.
Other writing and editing tools, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, won’t be affected. But if an organization uses Similarity Checker as part of its workflow, it’s time to consider alternatives.
Similarity Checker has been around for a few years. Launched in 2020, the Bing Search-powered service compared text from the user to online sources and came up with a percentage score – how much of the text was similar to those online sources.
The user could then add citations if appropriate, or try again for originality. Microsoft had previously said: “This can aid writers in focusing less on the mechanics of writing, and more on the content.”
Word’s citation capabilities will not be affected by the retirement, nor will its spelling and grammar checking tools. Although Microsoft’s AI assistant is unaffected, Microsoft warned, “Copilot is not intended to serve as a formal similarity, plagiarism, or originality validation tool.”
Plagiarism spotting and similarity checking have become all the more important in recent years. Turnitin, for example, added features to identify AI-generated text, and there is evidence that plagiarism-detecting tools have had an impact (although there are plenty of other nefarious uses for AI.)
The writing for the Similarity Checker in Word has been on the wall for a while now. Although Microsoft has not shared usage statistics, it did hint that users were giving it a swerve:
“This change allows us to focus on experiences and capabilities that are more broadly used across Microsoft Word.”
The functionality is certainly at odds with the Copilot-All-The-Things fever that has gripped Microsoft in recent years, despite Microsoft’s insistence that Copilot is not a tool for formal similarity checking.
That said, there were a few alarmed users when the tool stopped working for a few days in 2023.
After October 3, 2026, the Similarity Checker will stop working for good and cease to be accessible through the Editor experience in Word. ®
If you’d like to stream music online, you might consider Apple Music or Spotify. These two stand out as possible options because they’re among the major music streaming services available as of this writing. When comparing Apple Music and Spotify head-to-head, it’s a tight race as they offer nearly the same value proposition – a wide catalog of music, cross-platform support across mobile and desktop apps, music discovery features, and playlists, to name a few.
Spotify has built a massive fan base of over 700 million users, thanks to its free subscription tier, excellent music discovery, social features, and availability across practically every platform. In addition to that, Spotify offers plenty of features that enhance your listening experience. If you haven’t made up your mind yet, you might be leaning toward Spotify because of its free tier at a time when streaming services are hiking prices, or its handy features, like Spotify Connect and content variety, which includes audiobooks and podcasts.
But while Spotify has its advantages over Apple Music, the latter isn’t totally behind in all the areas that matter in a music streaming platform. By choosing Spotify over Apple Music, you should be ready to make certain compromises as a music listener. If you’re considering Spotify — or already use it as your go-to music streaming app and wonder what you might be missing — here are the biggest areas where Apple Music has the edge.
Although Spotify offers a free tier for those who don’t mind a limited version of the service, if you decide to upgrade, you’ll actually pay more money compared with Apple Music. Yes, while Apple is typically famous for its premium price tags on products, colloquially known as the Apple tax, the company’s flagship streaming service is actually cheaper than Spotify. As of this writing, a Spotify Premium plan costs $12.99 a month for an individual account.
In comparison, Apple Music’s Individual plan will set you back $11.99/month. That’s $1 cheaper than Spotify’s Premium Individual plan, which might not seem like much, but stretch that out over a year or two, and the savings add up. The Family plan on Apple Music will also save you some cash. An Apple Music Family plan costs $19.99/month, $2 less than Spotify’s Premium plan for family users. And since both platforms offer six seats per family plan, Apple Music is simply the better value across the board.
Beyond just the standalone plans, if you’re deep into Apple’s ecosystem, you can subscribe to Apple One, which includes Apple TV, Apple Music, iCloud+, and Apple Arcade. For just $19.95/month for an Individual plan or $27.95 for a Family plan, Apple One saves you more cash than subscribing to the mentioned services individually.
Another area where you’ll make a compromise if you choose Spotify over Apple Music is audio quality. This is still the case despite Spotify adding lossless streaming to its service in 2025. As they say, the devil is in the details, and that statement rings true for Spotify’s lossless streaming support. Spotify offers lossless streaming quality up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz, a massive improvement over the company’s previous 320 kbps limit.
Still, the new quality falls short of Apple Music’s lossless streaming playback, which offers up to 24-bit/192 kHz. Additionally, Apple Music offers two lossless streaming options: 24-bit Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless. The first option tops out at 24-bit/48 kHz, while the second offers Apple Music’s maximum 24-bit/192 kHz, and both are better than Spotify’s current 24-bit/44.1 kHz Lossless quality. To make it even worse, you might not yet have access to Spotify’s 24-bit/44.1 kHz Lossless quality, depending on where you live.
As of August 2026, lossless quality is available in only 50 markets, including the U.S., U.K., Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, and Portugal, while Spotify’s streaming service is available in 184 markets. In addition to higher streaming quality, Apple Music offers Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos support on some tracks in its catalog for an immersive listening experience. In contrast, Spotify doesn’t support Dolby Atmos. But Spotify isn’t alone in missing out on Dolby Atmos. As of this writing, only a handful of streaming services do, including Tidal and Amazon Music.
Spotify’s app offers radio-style features, such as artist, song, and album radio. Apple Music also offers the same experience under the name “stations.” But one feature you’ll definitely miss out on when you switch from Apple Music to Spotify is traditional-style radio. On Apple Music, there are six live radio stations available. They include Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits, Apple Music Chill, Apple Music Country, Apple Music Club, and Apple Música Uno.
These radio stations play a variety of music and are live 24/7, so if you’d like to listen to songs without any personalization or without the burden of selection, you can tune in at any time. The stations feature traditional-style radio with scheduled programming. If you head over to the Radio tab on mobile, you’ll see the stations under the On Air Now section, with a brief description of what’s currently playing.
Furthermore, there are live radio stations from local and international broadcasters on Apple Music that you can listen to, such as BBC Radio 1 and Radio Capital. If you love the old-school radio experience, you’ll have to go with Apple Music. Since live radio shows aren’t curated based on your taste, they can also be a great chance to discover new music.
Spotify started as a dedicated platform for music streaming. Don’t be mistaken, though; Spotify is still a music streaming service. However, in recent years, we’ve seen the platform evolve into more than just a music streaming service. Spotify has expanded its content to offer podcasts and audiobooks, which have become a bigger part of the platform. Now, its apps offer dedicated buttons on the homepage for audiobooks and podcasts, in addition to music, and you’ll also see that variety in other parts of the app, like search results.
That makes it great for someone who’d like everything in one place. But if your primary goal is streaming music, then you might find Spotify less focused and the interface cluttered with content you don’t need. If that’s you, then you’ll find Apple Music’s laser focus on music better. Apple Music has also gone the extra mile to offer a dedicated app for classical music, dubbed Apple Music Classical, which, if you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll appreciate even more.
And you don’t pay extra for Apple Music Classical as it’s included in your Apple Music subscription. Apple Music also hosts exclusive live performances featuring different artists and has music-dedicated shows featuring artists, producers, and other influential figures in the industry. It also offers DJ mixes, allowing you to enjoy curated sets from different DJs and discover new music.
Both Spotify and Apple Music let you play your local music files on their platforms, which is great if you have a library of music files you bought over the years. However, the experience isn’t the same on both platforms. Unfortunately, Spotify falls behind in this area, so if you decide to go with it over Apple Music, then you should be ready to make some compromises. With Spotify, you can only play local music files on the devices where they’re stored.
If you want to access those files on your other devices, you’ll need to store them locally on those devices as well, which is inconvenient. Spotify used to offer a way to sync local files across devices on the same network, but a Spotify Community FAQ states that the feature has been discontinued and may not work as expected. Apple Music offers a seamless experience, allowing you to upload local music files and sync them to your iCloud account, making them available to stream on all your devices without a fuss.
Before we get into the iPhone launch in the coming days, we’ve got IFA. This is the start of a few huge months of tech launches, and the Berlin-based show is the launchpad for numerous high-profile releases.
IFA has changed a lot over the past few years. What was once a show focussed a lot of smart home tech has evolved into something much more general. This year there have been big and very varied launches from brands like Anker, Xiaomi, Dreame and many more.
Our product experts have been running around the huge show floor, attending multiple product briefings and getting their hands on the new tech to bring you, our dear readers, the ultimate best-in-show guide.
This air purifier is designed specifically for the bedroom thanks to a clever system that monitors and responds to changing airborne particle levels year-round.
It does all this quietly, so it doesn’t affect your slumber and is designed to be compact so it doesn’t affect the flow of your room.
The latest smart ring from RingConn is a refinement of the formula, but one that makes for a much better overall product.
There are now vascular health insights to give you a better overview of your heart, plus clever vibration alerts that are more akin to a smartwatch. Battery life stands at about 2 weeks – which is good – and there is no monthly subscription to access your data, which is great.
Instead of just overloading wearers of this smart ring with data that is hard to do anything with, the R1 turns that data into insights that can be actually acted upon. Smart.
The ring tracks all the usual metrics, and then turns all the collected data into four states, followed by personalised recommendations on how to improve.
Do you love birds? Do you love high-res pictures? Well, this 4K-capable bird feeder is certainly going to be up your street.
Perhaps the cleverest bird feeder we’ve ever laid our eyes upon: the Metal 2 combines 4K imaging with AI to intelligently detect the species that pay a visit.
Govee makes some of the very best smart lights around, and this could be its most interesting model yet. This new ceiling light uses AI to, according to Govee, ‘adjust the lighting to users’ emotional states’.
This can include making you feel more energetic or focused, ensuring you don’t fall into an afternoon lull.
Reolink’s latest home security camera ticks just about every box we look for. It offers dual-view coverage, with both 4K wide-angle and 3K pan-tilt cameras. SyncTrack combines footage from both of these cameras to ensure you don’t miss a single bit of what’s going on. There’s also Smart Detection, which uses AI to accurately detect people, animals and vehicles.
The solar charger can keep the camera running on a mere 30 minutes of sunlight a day, and a detachable 10,000mAh battery delivers up to 6 months on just one charge.
This is MOVA’s most advanced robo vac yet – designed to deal with everything from pet hair to dirt and everything in between. MOVA has really focused on making this a ‘do-all’ machine by ensuring it can reach deep into corners, clean beneath low furniture and do this all without much input.
Key features include up to 42,000Pa suction power, an industry-first 17 cm extending mop, bagless dust collection and 100 days of hands-free operation.
There’s been a growing trend of devices recently designed to make you look at your phone less, and the Verso sits in that pile – even though it actually attaches to your phone. This small e-paper device captures meetings, gives you an easy-on-the-eyes screen for reading and includes AI for message dictation.
Basically, it lets you do a lot without unlocking your phone and all the distractions that come with it.
UGREEN wants to take over your home, and the HA100 Pro has so much going for it that it could, in fact, achieve that. This is a complete AI-fuelled smart home system, with local intelligence, storage, cloud computing and smart home control in one place.
The system can control your entire home with natural spoken language, so you can ask it to tell you when specific people appear or to summarise events so you don’t need to trawl through hours of video. And as it all runs on local AI, everything is private and secure.
This HA100 Pro model packs 32GB memory, a 128GB SSD, 3x NAS bays and 205 TOPS of AI performance.
Eufy’s latest robo vac packs an exclusive multi-cyclone system that can separate more than 99% of dust from the air before it reaches the filter, ensuring suction doesn’t get disrupted during your cleaning cycle. A side-facing laser with a dynamic brush ensures true wall-to-wall coverage.
It also cleverly continuously rinses the rollers throughout a cleaning cycle so you’re not dragging a dirty mop around.
Anker’s eufyMake brand is moving beyond UV printing with this desktop fabric printer designed to bring professional garment printing to homes and small studios.
It combines Direct-to-Garment (DTG) and Direct-to-Film (DTF) printing and can produce full-colour DTG designs that can be paired with single-colour embroidery.
It does all this in a smaller-than-expected design that won’t look out of place in a smaller studio
IFA isn’t a show packed with audio tech, but there are definitely some gems to be found inside the halls.
This set of over-ear cans combines adaptive ANC with a focus on immersive audio. There’s an 8-microphone noise-cancelling system to drown out that background rumble and head tracking for a superior spatial listening experience. You’ll even get 70 hours of battery life, which is very impressive.
Wearable AI devices had a moment a few years ago, but they weren’t really ready. Things feel a little different in 2026, and SwitchBot is hoping the tech has advanced. This AI MindClip is a tiny accessory that captures ideas, to-dos and more without forcing you to get out your phone and open up an app.
The device can also organise conversations and allow them to be searchable, so you don’t need to worry about promises you made that might have slipped out of your head.
If you need serious amounts of power, this is the power station to go for. An industrial-level product designed for pro-level jobs, the PowerRock 4000 delivers 4 kW continuously and 7.2 kW for up to 100 seconds. It features an industry-first residual current device, with 30 mA leakage detection and cut-off in under 300 ms. This will mean less hassle to get power to your site.
AC charging reaches 80% in a very impressive 48 minutes and a full charge in 60 minutes.
Ice might seem simple, but to get really good ice, you need some proper kit – especially if you want your home bar to be the best it can be.
This ice maker looks like a dream, with the ability to make perfectly round 2.5-inch crystal cube ice spheres that melt slowly and work perfectly in those cocktails you don’t want to dilute fast.
It looks good too, with leather accents and stainless steel and aluminium construction. There’s even a circular display that gives you real-time updates on your ice and system itself.
In a decade or so, we’re going to see a huge boom in personal robots, and we’re already starting to see some arrive. This one is being touted as the ‘first truly personal robot’ as it can be completely customised from its look to its personality. Users will be able to create a robot that reflects ‘their own personality, interests, and imagination’.
It should also do a better job of understanding, as it’s built upon a new interaction model that includes an emotional computing engine.
Dreame has packed so much into this robot lawnmower that it’s hard to decide where to start. We could start with the 360-degree LiDAR with AI vision tech for exceptional object recognition, or the wire-free setup and auto-mapping.
Then there are the 4WD hub motors that allow it to climb 80 degrees and navigate typical garden obstacles with ease, and the floating Dual Discs that make cutting grass effortless.
The e-ink tablet aims to set itself apart from the crowd by focusing on not just writing, but speaking too. The software can record meetings and convert them to text in real-time, so you know you won’t be missing any important details. While it’s transcribing, you can add in your own handwritten notes too.
To make things even more practical, you can also translate meetings in up to 14 languages. Very handy. The tablet itself is super-thin, made of metal and looks very sleek.
Open-ear headphones are getting more popular by the year, and this pair is Noise’s first entry into the packed category.
The Master Buds Open feature Sound by Bose and have been designed in collaboration with the ANC masters, so you can expect impressive audio. Design, of course, is key for these sorts of headphones, and these have been built with all-day wear in mind.
There are so many portable chargers on the market; it can be hard to stand out. But take a closer look at UGREEN’s latest MagFlow product, and you’ll notice something different – a liquid cooling panel on the front that dissipates heat faster for much better temperature control.
There’s a 45w cable clipped onto the front, a smart display for precise readings and Qi2 25W magnetic charging for quick juice-ups.
At IFA 2026, worldwide availability of the Luna Band has been announced – and we can’t wait to strap one of these to our wrist. This screenless tracker aims to adapt differently to the wearer, changing what it measures depending on the goals you’re trying to achieve. LifeOS, the software here, retrains its models constantly, depending on different objectives.
The Winmau Autodarts system aims to solve a basic problem with darts – the maths involved can often put off the casual player.
This system has a few tricks included to remove those issues, including a camera-laden accessory that clips onto your existing dartboard and tracks the board as you throw.
There’s also an app which uses your phone or tablet camera as a scoring assistant and lets you play against opponents online.
The AWOL LuxVision is a true high-end UST projector that doesn’t seem to cut any corners. This is the first ultra short-throw projector we’ve seen that can produce a 4K 120Hz image – a huge benefit for many.
The set-up process has been drastically improved too, and the brightness levels have been drastically increased – up to a whopping 6000 ISO lumens.
These might look like a standard set of over-ear cans – but they come with a neat trick, and one that could help them last a seriously long time.
The Aventho Y include a swappable battery, so when the initial cell runs dry, you don’t need to send these to landfill; just swap it out for a fresh one. This is fantastic for sustainability. You can also swap out the earpads when they start to wear out.
That battery should also last an impressive 90 hours on a single charge, which is fantastic.
You might think a dishwasher has to have a myriad of connected features for it to stand out, but that’s not really the case with the Teka InsideMax.
This is smart for different reasons, notably its clever insides that are built around ensuring items people actually use – tall glasses, oddly shaped mugs, espresso cups, etc. Each inner level has been designed for flexibility, while baskets can be adjusted and the third rack has been made deeper.
There are lots of gimbal cameras on the market now, so it can be harder to stand out from a crowd dominated by Insta360 and DJI. Hohem has done just that by letting you actually remove the camera and use it separately from the gimbal.
The specs look good. The Eyepic captures video up to 4K at 60fps either vertically or horizontally, and there’s a joystick for zooming and framing adjustments.
We’re approaching the dawn of the iPhone 18 Pro, but a new report is addressing what to expect from the iPhone 20. Here’s what to expect, so far.
From the earliest days of Apple’s iPhone there has been that graphic showing the sea change it brought to smartphones. Before it, nothing looked like the iPhone, and after it, everything looked like it.
It wasn’t as clear cut when the iPhone celebrated its tenth anniversary with the iPhone X. But when you first used it, or now if you use an older one, you see the huge difference.
Apple made the Home button a key part of the original iPhone and then threw it away. It changed how we used our iPhones completely.
And there have long been rumors that it aims to do the same thing for the 20th anniversary. But we couldn’t imagine the iPhone before we had it, and we couldn’t imagine the iPhone X before it was launched, so we’ve just been trusting that Apple can pull it off again.
According to Bloomberg, it will and it’s right on track to do so. In a report listing what Apple will launch in the next couple of years, it says that the 20th anniversary iPhone will be the biggest overhaul to the device, and the most groundbreaking model in years.
The only further detail it has is that we should expect the iPhone 20 to have a curved glass chassis, and thinner bezels. So far that doesn’t seem as revolutionary as when the iPhone X made us learn a new set of swipes, though.
Perhaps this why there has been speculation that Apple won’t do an anniversary iPhone because it really can’t. Yet right back at the launch of the iPhone X, Tim Cook said that it would “set the path for technology for the next decade.”
Apple’s iPhone X in 2017 was genuinely revolutionary – image credit: Apple.
He was certainly right about it being a new path, and as well as every iPhone eventually adopting the new style, so did every Android phone. In 2027, it will be time to see whether he was right about how long the technology would, or should, last.
The original iPhone was not called the iPhone 1, and the second was not called the iPhone 2. It was the iPhone 3G, and then there was the 3GS, the 4, the 4s, and so it went on until the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.
Those were released to great fanfare by Apple in 2017, only to be pushed from everyone’s mind by the iPhone X that was announced in the same event. If you watched that event at the time, you wanted an iPhone 8, until you then saw the iPhone X.
The iPhone 8 looks so dated now that it’s hard to believe it launched on the same day as the iPhone X.
It’s not clear whether a similar thing will happen again for the 20th anniversary. That’s because we’re about to see the iPhone 18 range, so Apple would ordinarily be expected to release the iPhone 19 lineup in 2027.
Previous reports have said that it will skip the 19 and go straight to the iPhone 20, in recognition of the anniversary. But that would suggest that the whole lineup will be the iPhone 20 range, rather than Apple singling out one single model.
There will certainly be an iPhone released on the 20th anniversary of the original. It would seem odd if it weren’t commemorating that anniversary, and the new report backs up the idea that it will.
But beyond that, the new claim also backs up AppleInsider reports that Apple has been attempting an all-glass iPhone since at least 2020.
“For example, glass backs and glass sides may be transparent, allowing the electronic device to include additional displays that are viewable through the sides and/or the back,” said an Apple patent. “Moreover, the side- and back-viewable displays may be made touch and/or force sensitive using touch- and/or force-sensing systems, effectively turning the side and back surfaces into additional input devices or surfaces with which a user may interact to control the electronic device.”
There is the question of how this would feel in the hand, and of how case manufacturers would work with it. There is the question of just how breakable the glass is if there isn’t a metal frame to it.
Other reports about the use of glass in the anniversary iPhone have claimed that Apple wants to entirely get rid of the bezel around the display. The new report only goes so far as to say that bezels will be thinner, but Apple has been reducing their size for years and years.
The 2025 iPhone Air is not all glass and it doesn’t have unusually thin bezels, but still it was clearly a proving ground for Apple designs. It may most obviously have affected the design of the foldable iPhone Ultra, for instance.
Apple’s current iPhone Air.
But the ability to engineer such a small and light iPhone made the iPhone Air feel like a glimpse of the future. It’s already been claimed that the iPhone 20’s chassis will use the same or a similar glass assembly, even if it will be more rounded.
Strictly speaking, the iPhone 20 does not need anything but to be better in some ways than the phones that precede it. But if Apple is to get the same attention it did for the iPhone X, the changes can’t be as simple as a more powerful processor.
Every year’s phones get more powerful processors. Then it’s less of an annual universal rule, but iPhones over the years have had their bezels decreasing.
So that wouldn’t feel special and it wouldn’t be noticeable to the general buying public, unless it was a spectacular difference. Such as there being no bezel at all, and instead a wraparound OLED screen that displayed information on the edges.
Consequently, the iPhone 20 is surely going to have to look markedly and very appealingly different to its predecessors – while remaining clearly an iPhone. It’s an enormous task, and it’s been easy to think Apple might not be able to do it.
So if the new report is chiefly regurgitating old rumors, its insistence that the iPhone 20 is on track is a relief.
Bitcoin price stalls near $82K as key resistance holds
Best Gaming Laptops, CPUs, TVs, And Keyboards To Upgrade Your Set Up For GTA VI
The Birds Outside, Drawn For You Automatically
IMF Says El Salvador’s Post-Review Bitcoin Purchases Used No Public Funds
U.S. added stronger than expected 162,000 jobs in August as labor market bounced back
Weekend Open Thread: Beyond Yoga
Alexandre Pato consortium’s Northampton Town investment approved
Golden Eaglets Drawn in Group B for 2026 WAFU B U17 Championship
Commanders’ Chig Okonkwo is a top breakout fantasy football candidate
XRP price breaks falling channel as bulls target $1.53
A new European chapter for Gibraltar
How To Avoid Winter Colds: 4 Everyday Habits That Spread Germs, Says Pharmacist
The House | Bin the lectures, bring gossip and be ready to banter: how the new PM should prepare for his Trump encounter
From warning to listing: UK’s largest retail investment platform opens access to crypto ETNs
A Worthy Android Ereader, With Some Tradeoffs
FinCEN flags $12.7B tied to Southeast Asia crypto investment scams
Trezor Data Breach Impacts 67,000 More US Customers
33 Cosy Autumn Home Decor Ideas: Blankets, Pumpkin Decorations, And Candles
Seven wickets in 21 balls: Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu scripts history with record-breaking spell
How To Edit Claude’s Memory
You must be logged in to post a comment Login