Fidelity Imports UK has answered the first question we had when it announced plans to cross the Atlantic.

Who is coming with them?

The first answer is sonoro, the German audio manufacturer known for combining traditional hi-fi engineering with the kind of industrial design that does not require explaining to your spouse why a large black box has suddenly appeared in the living room.

Fidelity Imports UK will represent sonoro in the United Kingdom beginning October 1, 2026, when the new distribution operation officially begins trading. sonoro is the first manufacturer in what Fidelity describes as its premium audio launch portfolio, with additional brands scheduled to be announced individually over the coming weeks.

And the choice tells us something important about what Managing Director Jamie McKay is building.

Who Is sonoro?

Founded in 2006 and based in Neuss on Germany’s Lower Rhine, sonoro describes its approach as “German Audio Design” — combining sound quality, straightforward operation, materials and industrial design rather than treating those as unrelated departments.

The company has traditionally been associated with premium compact and all in one music systems, but its current portfolio reaches much further into conventional hi-fi. It now includes network capable electronics, turntables and passive loudspeakers alongside its integrated music systems.

That breadth makes sonoro an interesting first signing.

This is not simply another amplifier manufacturer trying to squeeze onto an already crowded specialist dealer shelf. sonoro can address customers looking for a complete hi-fi system, but it can also reach buyers who care about music and build quality without necessarily identifying as audiophiles.

McKay specifically points to that opportunity.

“sonoro also gives our retail partners an opportunity to engage customers who care deeply about music and quality but may not identify as traditional hi-fi buyers,” he said. “That makes it an exciting brand with which to begin our launch portfolio.”

There is some substance behind the positioning. sonoro’s current range includes all in one systems alongside products such as the MAESTRO Quantum streaming receiver and dedicated loudspeakers, turntables and newer Signature models. The MAESTRO Quantum, for example, combines network streaming, CD playback, HDMI ARC, an MM phono stage and Class D amplification rated at 180 watts per channel into 4 ohms.

In other words, sonoro would prefer not to be permanently filed under “expensive German radios.”

Fair enough.

sonoro Has Been Here Before

There is another distinction worth making.

Fidelity Imports UK is not introducing sonoro to Britain for the first time.

The brand had UK distribution more than a decade ago, and sonoro established its own UK subsidiary operation in Nottingham in 2017 as part of a previous attempt to expand its British dealer network.

What Fidelity appears to be offering is a renewed specialist retail push with dedicated distribution, dealer development, marketing, logistics and after sales support behind it. That difference is more important than pretending nobody in Britain has ever encountered the brand before.

sonoro’s current international distributor list does not identify a UK distribution partner, which makes the Fidelity appointment particularly relevant as the company looks to establish a wider presence in the market.

The First Brand Also Answers Another Question

When Fidelity Imports UK was first announced, one issue immediately stood out.

Fidelity Imports represents a substantial collection of audio brands in the United States, but several of them are British manufacturers including Cambridge Audio, Acoustic Energy, Michell Audio, Ruark Audio and Wilson Benesch. Obviously, nobody needs to import Cambridge Audio into Cambridge.

Other Fidelity brands already have established UK distribution arrangements.

That made it unlikely that Fidelity Imports UK would simply reproduce the American portfolio on the other side of the Atlantic.

sonoro confirms it.

The German manufacturer is not currently part of Fidelity Imports’ U.S. brand roster, making the first UK announcement a completely new partnership rather than the transfer of an existing North American relationship.

Instead of asking which Fidelity Imports brands are moving across the Atlantic, we should probably be asking which manufacturers McKay and Fidelity believe are underserved in Britain and could benefit from a stronger specialist dealer network.

Very different question.

Jamie McKay Knows the Territory

McKay remains a logical choice to run the operation.

Before joining Fidelity Imports UK, he served as Sales & Marketing Director for Armour Home Electronics, the British company behind Q Acoustics, QED and Goldring, where he was responsible for international sales and marketing strategy across the three brands. He previously held senior positions with D&M Group and Denon.

There is some interesting history there as well.

Q Acoustics, QED and Goldring were previously represented by Fidelity Imports in North America, although Fidelity no longer distributes those brands in either the United States or Canada. Armour Home appointed American Audio & Video as its exclusive U.S. distributor in August 2025, while Essentia Technology currently handles Q Acoustics in Canada.

McKay therefore arrives with experience working with manufacturers, distributors and specialist dealers from both sides of the table.

McKay therefore arrives with experience working with manufacturers, distributors and specialist dealers from both sides of the table. He is also a New Zealander who has lived and worked in the UK for years, so Fidelity is not handing the operation to someone learning the British market from a Heathrow arrivals lounge.

What Comes Next?

Fidelity Imports UK says sonoro is only the beginning.

The company describes its launch strategy as a group of complementary manufacturers, each offering specialist retailers something distinct rather than filling the portfolio with brands competing for exactly the same customer. Further manufacturer announcements will follow before Fidelity Imports UK begins trading on October 1.

It gives Fidelity a German manufacturer with products spanning lifestyle audio and dedicated hi-fi, while giving dealers access to a brand capable of reaching beyond the traditional audiophile customer without abandoning the specialist channel.

More importantly, it confirms that Fidelity Imports UK is developing its own portfolio rather than functioning as a British branch office for the American business.

We will have more on that strategy later this week when eCoustics speaks with Jamie McKay about Fidelity Imports UK, its approach to brand selection and what the company believes it can bring to an already crowded British hi-fi market.

For more information: fidelityimports.co.uk | sonoro.com

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[This is a sponsored article with viaim.]

On a typical workday, I’m usually juggling a few things at once: I have my laptop open, a client call starting in 20 minutes, yesterday’s interview transcript still waiting to be cleaned up, and a notes app full of half-sentences I’ll need to decode later.

The common thread running through my days as a writer is constant switching between listening, writing, recording and organising information. 

I jump between multiple apps: using my phone’s voice memos to record conversations, a separate transcription tool like Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai to turn them into text, and a notes app to pull everything together afterwards. 

Even then, the transcription isn’t always perfect, especially with background noise or multiple speakers, so I still end up spending time cleaning things up.

That’s why when viaim sent over the OpenNote—its open-ear AI earbuds with built-in recording, transcription, and note-taking—I wanted to know whether they could genuinely improve my productivity and make my workflow feel less fragmented.

After a week of wearing them through calls, here’s my verdict. 

First impressions

The viaim OpenNote retails at S$299. 

Unlike conventional in-ear earbuds, they sit around the ear without sealing the ear canal. 

I could leave them on for most of the workday without feeling like my ears were blocked off, while still hearing colleagues, traffic and announcements around me.

The battery life held up pretty well too. The earbuds offer up to 19 hours of use on their own, or up to 53 hours with the charging case, so I rarely had to think about charging them during the week. 

Whether I was sitting through a long keynote, jumping between client interviews or heading out for the day, the OpenNote had enough juice to keep up without me constantly reaching for a charger.

Putting the OpenNote’s features to work

Design is one thing. The real test was whether OpenNote’s features could actually make my workday easier.

Phone calls were the easiest place to notice the difference. Instead of putting my phone on speaker and juggling a recorder and a notes app, I could simply switch to Call Mode and let OpenNote record the conversation. 

That meant I could focus on the actual conversation, such as asking follow-up questions, listening for details, thinking about what might become a story, instead of frantically typing everything down.

Once the recording was done, I could easily sync it to the viaim app, where the transcript and AI-generated notes were waiting for me. 

Its AI chatbot, Vitana, pulls out key points, summaries and action items instead of leaving me to wade through a wall of text. 

Vitana also stores conversations in a dynamic database, making it easy to search and revisit information later, and it integrates with workplace tools like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Skype, which helps keep the workflow from being siloed across different apps. This is especially useful on client calls, where I need to track several requests or follow-ups without losing the thread of the conversation.

On the other hand, in-person meetings were a slightly different test. With multiple people talking, interruptions and background noise, I wasn’t sure Meeting Mode would keep up, but it handled the room reasonably well. 

The transcription wasn’t perfect, and I wouldn’t treat any AI-generated transcript as a final source without checking it, but it gave me a far more useful record to work from afterwards.

The device’s multilingual support was a bonus. viaim covers 78 languages and 145 accents and dialects, and I put that to the test to translate a workplace dialogue in Japanese to English. Compared with other transcription apps I’ve used, viaim handled the conversation quite accurately, particularly when it came to recognising different accents.

Then there’s FlashRecord, which turned out to be useful well beyond calls and meetings. 

I listen to quite a few industry podcasts on my commute, so I tried using the OpenNote to capture interesting statistics and points I wanted to revisit along the way. By the time I got to my desk, those snippets were already captured and organised on the viaim app, ready for me to refer back to later.

Beyond transcription

Inside the viaim app, Vitana goes beyond simply summarising recordings. 

You can prompt it to turn a conversation into something more immediately useful, or generate mind maps that organise a dense chunk of information into something easier to scan and revisit. You can also point Vitana to a captured recording and ask it to draft a follow-up email or action-item list, specifying the recipient, tone and key takeaways you want included.

The good news is that viaim’s core AI features don’t require a separate subscription. 

OpenNote comes with 600 free minutes (10 hours) of AI transcription per month using standard AI models. For heavier users, a Pro plan runs US$79.99/year (S$102.04/year) for 1,800 minutes a month, while an Unlimited plan is US$159.99/year (S$204.08/year).

For comparison, Otter.ai’s entry-level plan starts around US$8.33/month (S$10.66/month) for 1,200 minutes—about S$106.60 a year. Fireflies.ai starts at US$10/month (S$12.80/month) for 8,000 minutes, or roughly S$128 a year. Both of those, though, add another recurring subscription on top of whatever earbuds or recording device you’re already using.

Meanwhile, the viaim OpenNote takes a different approach. 

It is an upfront cost that bundles the earbuds, recording and AI transcription all into one device, with optional paid plans for anyone who needs more transcription time or more advanced AI models. 

So while the initial outlay is higher than simply subscribing to a transcription app, the value proposition shifts if you’re already in the market for earbuds and regularly need transcription for work.

Options for everyone

OpenNote worked for me because I wanted to stay aware of my surroundings while I worked.

But that won’t be everyone’s preference. If you work in a noisy café, an open office, or a shared workspace, you might actually want earbuds that block out the world rather than keep you connected to it.

That’s where the viaim RecDot comes in. Priced at S$279, it offers similar AI and software features—transcription, summaries, action items, and the same support for 78 languages and 145 accents and dialects. 

What sets it apart is a more conventional in-ear form factor, with 48dB active noise cancellation and a 36-hour battery built for deeper noise isolation in loud environments.

Both OpenNote and RecDot can also be paired with the NoteKit adapter, which brings viaim’s recording and transcription capabilities to a computer and is designed to improve transcription accuracy for desktop use.

Ultimately, the choice comes down to how you work: OpenNote is better if you want to stay connected to your surroundings, while RecDot makes more sense if you’d rather block out distractions and focus.

The verdict

A week isn’t long enough to declare any gadget indispensable, but it was long enough for me to notice a change in my routine—I stopped reaching for three different apps just to record, transcribe and organise a single conversation.

The bigger difference was the reduced mental load. That constant nagging thought of “I should really write that down” became less frequent, because I knew I could capture it and come back to it later.

Whether OpenNote is worth the investment ultimately depends on how much of your work involves meetings, calls, interviews and those half-baked ideas that show up at inconvenient times. 

For me, there were enough of those moments in a single work week to make the earbuds feel less like another gadget to manage, and more like one less thing I had to think about.

If you’re keen on getting the viaim OpenNote or RecDot, both are available through viaim’s online stores on Shopee, Lazada and TikTok. There are also bundle options that include the NoteKit adapter and annual AI plans, depending on how much transcription and AI functionality you need.

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

When Apple announced the new iPhones last year, it claimed to deliver “industry-leading durability.” However, within a few weeks of launch, the internet had a collective meltdown about the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max demo units looking scratched up in stores and a few units facing discoloration.

Reacting to the internet theories, Apple told CNET that the scratching was due to worn-out MagSafe risers, which transferred material to some iPhone models’ backs. (You could remove it by simply cleaning the back.) On the other hand, CNET’s Andrew Lanxon chemically treated his Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro to test the discoloration claims.

He concluded that it “wasn’t going to be an issue for the vast majority of owners, and I don’t believe this can be considered any kind of fault on Apple’s side.” So I put my iPhone 17 Pro Max through 11 months of caseless use to find out how daily life affects its cosmetics. I didn’t put a case, skin or screen guard on it — just a ring stand on its back.

After almost a year of daily use with multiple accidental drops and pocketing with another phone, my cosmic orange iPhone is as cosmically orange as it was on day one (for the most part). There’s the expected color chipping and dents from drops, but the real surprise came when I put it against my iPhone 16 Pro (with similar usage). It helped put things in better context.

Here’s how my iPhone 17 Pro Max looks after a year of no-case use.

The Ceramic Shield 2 protection is real

The iPhone 17 models (and the iPhone Air) have an upgraded Ceramic Shield 2 protection for “3x better scratch resistance,” according to Apple. The 3x remark isn’t something you can instantly quantify. I could only see the difference when I put my iPhone 17 Pro Max next to my iPhone 16 Pro.

I used both devices for a period of 10 to 11 months without a screen guard. So they’ve gone through similar use: being kept in the same pocket as another phone, placed screen-down on a table and accidentally dropped.

My iPhone 16 Pro’s screen looks several times worse in comparison. It’s covered with scratches, both minor and deep. The soft scratches are gathered all over its cover glass. In contrast, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a few minor ones here and there but nothing prominent. It looks pristine next to its predecessor. I can’t feel the scratches with my thumb on either screen, but the current-gen screen is smoother to scroll, while the iPhone 16 Pro feels comparatively rougher.

Ideally, glasses with better scratch resistance are prone to shattering easily, but my iPhone 17 Pro Max has fared far better than expected. I don’t have the exact number of times that I’ve dropped my phone; it’s slipped out of my pocket onto a bus floor, a marble floor, as well as onto concrete on the streets. I’ve dropped it from waist-height and my clumsiness has led to dents on its sides, but no screen damage. Each time I dreaded I had broken the display, my iPhone came out unscathed.

That doesn’t mean cracking is impossible — CNET’s Bridget Carey broke her iPhone 17 Pro Max’s screen soon after buying one after simply dropping it on the street. But from my time with it, I’m quite impressed.

Discoloration and color chipping

Turning to the backside, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have Ceramic Shield protection instead of glass. The layer consists of nano ceramic crystals embedded in a glass matrix, which is, according to Apple, four times more resistant to cracks than the iPhone 16 Pro’s back glass.

While no two drops are the same, I’ve broke my 16 Pro when it fell on concrete flooring. The iPhone 17 Pro Max has managed such drops just fine. It has dent marks on the top and bottom right corners, but nothing worrisome. It’s survived more than I expected it would. To be clear, I don’t go around smashing my phones on different types of floor; it’s just hard to keep them in my hands (or pocket) when I’m on the road comparing two models.

Due to the nature of my work, I often carry multiple phones with me — usually with two in the same pocket. Possibly from rubbing against another phone, I notice there’s some color chipping on the edges of my iPhone 17 Pro Max’s camera island.

As for discoloration, over time, the cosmic orange polish has lightened in certain places. It’s most noticeable on the back side’s curved corners. There’s a permanent silver mark on the bottom-right side of my iPhone and a fading orange polish on the other side.

It’s the only cosmetic change that I reckon has occurred from daily use and not one of those accidental drops. The magnetic ring stand I often attach to the back hasn’t caused any discoloration either. While it doesn’t cause any durability or usability issue, this is one thing to keep in mind if you’re planning to use a cosmic orange iPhone 17 Pro without a case.

Overall, I’m impressed with how my current-gen iPhone has aged in 11 months. The color chipping and dents were expected from my clumsy caseless drops. I also expected the screen to gather soft scratches all over its cover glass, but it surprised me in the best possible way. While some may want a case to truly protect the phone’s body, I’m glad that it simply looks a little worn from typical wear and tear.

But it’s the Ceramic Shield 2 protection on the display that provides the most noticeable durability upgrade. It’s fantastic how clear my screen still looks after nearly a year. If Apple continues to include it on the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models, they’d be the first iPhones I can confidently recommend using without any added screen protection.

Prakhar Khanna is a Writer at CNET with bylines in ZDNET, Forbes, and other major outlets. A digital nomad at heart, he thrives in chaos–mixing deadlines with travel, often writing stories on planes, trains, and cafe tables while hunting down the best pizza spots wherever he lands. His backpack usually carries one phone too many, and his playlists are stacked with 2000s Bollywood. Find him across social media @ParkyPrakhar.
Contact: parkydoesstuff(at)gmail(dot)com

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The driving force behind our universe’s accelerated expansion remains one of the greatest mysteries in astronomy. While this force, which scientists refer to as dark energy, pervades our universe, we know almost nothing about it.

Located on a remote mountain in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has spent the past five years mapping the cosmos with the goal of unraveling this mystery. The result is the largest three-dimensional map of the universe ever created. And now—with the release of the latest version of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys, a free online tool for exploring the vast imaging data—you too can poke around the universe.

The new map boasts an overwhelming amount of information: 5.6 trillion pixels containing approximately 4 billion celestial objects including stars, galaxies, black holes, and asteroids. It covers approximately 75 percent of the entire sky, recording both visible light and near-infrared wavelengths.

Those missing pieces include the deeper parts of space blocked by the stars, space dust, and other matter in our own galaxy, which is a major challenge for astronomy surveys, especially ground-based ones. However, since the Milky Way is splayed out like a fried egg—which is why it appears as a dense band of stars in the night sky—the researchers aim DESI’s 5,000 mechanical eyes out of the top or bottom of our galaxy to capture some of the clearest images of distant space yet.

A galaxy cluster located in the constellation Leo, affectionately known as “Copeland’s Septuplets.”

Photograph: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys/LBNL/DOE & KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Though this particular survey lasted five years, it built on another 13 years of groundwork. More than 160 scientists were involved in data collection, and over the course of the project, researchers have already published upwards of 1,800 scientific papers referencing the data.

“It’s part of the fabric of astronomy research now,” David Schlegel, a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-lead of the Legacy Surveys, said in a press release. “When you’re working with astronomical objects today, you often start by pulling up the Legacy Imaging Viewer to see what you’re looking at.”

Earlier this year, DESI researchers released another map, which projected the distances of 47 million galaxies and quasars. This reconstructed 11 billion years of cosmic history, bringing the effects of dark energy into focus. Dark energy is thought to be responsible for the expansion of our universe, and while the force itself remains ellusive, astronomers can track it by analyzing the rates at which other celestial objects appear to be moving away from us.

According to the standard model of cosmology, that expansion rate should be the same no matter how you measure it. But in recent years, scientists have found that the expansion rate of the early universe and that of the more recent universe vary by approximately 9 percent.

That discrepancy, or tension, “has provoked heated debates in the cosmology community about whether this difference could be due to systematic errors or whether it is a signal of new physics,” Teixeira and her co-authors wrote. Their model posits that in a world where dark energy and dark matter interact, what seemed to be a crisis caused by disparate expansion rates instead becomes something to be expected.

A Dark Dimension

If dark energy and dark matter do interact, it could mean that they have a common origin, Khoury said.

Ongoing work in string theory—the idea that our universe, at its smallest, most fundamental level, is made up of vibrating strings—suggests a way these concepts might be connected. In 2019, building on the idea in string theory that dark energy is naturally varying, Vafa and two collaborators concluded that the mass of dark matter particles may also vary over time. This led them to propose in 2022 that dark matter and dark energy could share a link with a so-called dark dimension.

String theory posits the existence of six or seven extra dimensions in addition to our familiar three dimensions of space and one of time. All of these dimensions are thought to be as small as physically possible—close to the Planck scale (10^-35 meters)—but the researchers proposed that the dark dimension could be significantly bigger than the others—on the order of a micron (10^-6 meters).

Gravitons, theoretical particles that impart the force of gravity, could leak into this enlarged dark dimension. If they did, they would pick up mass and become what are called dark gravitons. These massive gravitons would reside in the dark dimension, but their gravitational effects could be felt in other dimensions, allowing them to fulfill the role that is normally ascribed to dark matter.

Cumrun Vafa, a physicist at Harvard University, thinks the mass of dark matter may vary over time.

Courtesy of Quanta

In this scenario, “there is a very natural coupling between dark energy and dark matter,” said Georges Obied, a physicist at the University of Chicago. Changes in the size of the dark dimension would affect both dark energy and dark matter.

In a July 2025 paper, Obied and Vafa, along with Alek Bedroya of Princeton and David Wu of Harvard, found that the scenario proposed in 2019 was consistent with the DESI data. Their model predicts that the strength of dark energy and the mass of dark matter will decrease over time and that the rate at which dark energy changes will be proportional to its energy density. Because astrophysical measurements tell us that the energy density of dark energy is extraordinarily small, “it won’t change fast,” Vafa said.

“It’s not surprising that we didn’t see it until now,” he said, because the rate of change is so tiny. “We had to wait the entire age of the universe to detect something that small.”

The new research from Irish Life explores how increased longevity is impacting finances, working life and retirement planning.

Irish Life has published the results of the Life100+ ‘Exploring Ireland’s Longevity Opportunity’, report, which takes a closer look at how an increasing lifespan is transforming life patterns, financial planning and career paths. 

In partnership with independent researcher Big Window Consulting, Irish Life collected data from 2,000 adults in Ireland and also carried out an employer round table, geared around the topic of challenges and opportunities that longevity presents to their organisations and their people.

What was noted in Irish Life’s report is that only one out of every five who participated in the research, expects to fully retire in what is seen as the traditional way. Nearly three in four said they will have to work longer to support themselves in their later years and this figure rose close to nine out of ten for those aged 65 and older. 

Younger groups aged 18 to 24, said that they expect to extend their retirement age by making only minimal adjustments, adding around three years, while the older than 65 cohort said it would take at least four additional years. All other categories added around one year. 

Comparable research carried out with a UK-based workforce found that harsher adjustments to future plans might be a wiser long-term goal, as the research found those in the UK were more open to substantial changes. 

Young people aged 18-34 expect to increase their planned retirement age by five years on average. The report argued that in Ireland, those closest to retirement appear to be willing to make the smallest adjustments, reflecting the constraints of changing long-established plans.

Thinking ahead

For many of the participants who contributed their insights to the research, financial preparation and longevity go hand in hand. Roughly eight in 10 adults are aware of the financial planning that is needed, 77pc have regular retirement plan reviews and 70pc said they would save or invest more. 

Two in three would seek to transition into part-time or flexible work later in life and a similar proportion would work for longer before retiring altogether (63pc). 

Almost 60pc of young people under 34 expect to have to retrain or pursue multiple careers, thereby extending and diversifying their working lives. This group also expects to save and invest more. Comparatively, 72pc of 35 to 44 year olds are also considering future saving and investing. 

Older groups were shown in the research to have a preference for a phased retirement plan that involves moving into part time and flexible roles (78pc).  

There was also a clear gender gap as men (52pc) were found to be more likely to anticipate pursuing multiple careers compared to women (45pc), as well as starting a business (52pc versus 42pc), undertaking freelance work (55 versus 48pc), or participating in the gig economy (48pc versus 36pc).

Lack of knowledge

Despite the interest in working towards the future, Irish Life’s research also identified areas in which those looking to prepare for retirement should study further, as more than two in every three respondents said that they had little or no experience of investing.

A similar number of respondents said that they preferred bank deposits to riskier investments, particularly those aged 65 and older (75pc) and 58pc said they were uncomfortable with stock market swings. This discomfort was higher among those aged 65 and older and for women more than men (61pc versus 55pc). 

The report said, “The findings point to a tension at the heart of the 100-year life. People know longer lives require greater financial resources, but few have plans in place or are confident in their ability to generate them. 

“A savings gap exists between what people believe they will need and what they actually have. Most understand the need to save more, but relatively few feel confident about investing, despite the role that long-term investment growth can play in funding extended retirements.

“The challenge is about building confidence and financial capability. Professional advice, financial education and accessible investment solutions may be key to turning awareness of longevity into meaningful financial plans.”

Organisations will also have to commit to making the workplace a more suitable environment for an ageing workforce. The report said, “As expectations around work and retirement evolve, there is widespread recognition that workplaces will need to change. Almost all adults in Ireland believe organisations will need to adapt to a future in which people work later into life (95pc).

When asked how workplaces should respond, cultural change emerges as the most important priority. This includes a focus on a more age-friendly culture, increased flexibility in working arrangements, health and well-being support and support for phased retirement. 

Declan Bolgere, the CEO of Irish Life said, “The 100-year life is a really positive prospect. A well lived later life means more years with the people we love, pursuing ambitions and new experiences. Preparing for longer lives goes beyond individual responsibility and extends to the State, policy makers, employers and providers. 

“The importance of acting today holds true. Navigating what lies ahead is a shared undertaking to support people and workplaces across Ireland to unlock the benefits of longer, well lived lives.”

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Cryptocurrency hardware wallet maker Trezor says an August data breach at its shipping and logistics provider, ShipMonk, affects an additional 67,000 U.S. customers.

In total, the breach has affected 81,000 customers after Trezor initially disclosed on August 13 that attackers accessed the data of nearly 14,000 customers, including their full names, shipping addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

As the company explained at the time, the incident also affected customers in Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom who received orders between May 10 and August 8, 2026.

On Friday, it published an update to confirm that the breach impact has expanded after ShipMonk failed to delete the exposed data from its systems as required by Trezor’s contract and data policy.

“Another 67,000 customers from the US who ordered between November 2019 and August 2021 were affected, with their full details (name, email, phone number, shipping address, order number) exposed,” Trezor said.

“Throughout our entire relationship with ShipMonk, we repeatedly requested and received written assurance confirming the deletion of the data, in line with our contract, data policy, and past communications. We are very disappointed that, despite receiving this confirmation, the data was not deleted in their systems.”

The company added that the breach did not affect its operations or services, that its systems were not compromised, and that all Trezor devices are secure.

It also warned affected customers to be wary of any messages requesting personal information, as they may be targeted in phishing attacks.

“Be aware of the increased risk of phishing. The leaked information could be used for scam emails, fraudulent calls or letters, and could potentially expose affected individuals to physical security risks,” Trezor said.

Metabase campaign linked to ShinyHunters extortion gang

While the company has yet to share how ShipMonk’s systems were breached, breach notification emails sent to affected customers and seen by BleepingComputer said the attackers exploited a vulnerability in the third-party analytics platform Metabase.

As BleepingComputer previously reported, Metabase revealed that the threat actors exploited a critical SQL injection zero-day vulnerability to breach customer instances and carry out data theft attacks after gaining administrator access to the compromised instance.

BleepingComputer has also learned that ShipMonk has received extortion emails from the ShinyHunters extortion gang.

The list of affected companies in the Metabase campaign includes online form-building platform Tally and laptop maker Framework, which have also notified customers of data breaches after their instances were hijacked.

In January 2024, Trezor disclosed another data breach after threat actors compromised its third-party support ticketing portal and accessed data (e.g., names, usernames, and email addresses) from roughly 66,000 users.

This stolen data was later used in phishing attacks attempting to steal recipients’ 24-word wallet recovery seeds.

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.

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Leaked files contains identity documents, payslips and employment references among other personal data.

Cybercriminals claiming to be from a group called ‘Rhysida’ leaked nearly 6TB of sensitive data from the Berlin state administration after hacking the government department late last month. The attack comes just weeks before Berlin is set to conduct state elections.

Rhysida claimed responsibility for the attack on its leak site on August 28, posting an entry titled ‘Berlin, Germany’, which contained nearly 1.5m files – sized 5.79TB, including personal information on more than 12,000 individuals.

The data was leaked last Friday (4 September) after the German state refused to pay a 30 bitcoin ransom, equivalent to around €2m.

The Berlin Senate Chancellery and security authorities said they are conducting a thorough review of the data following the leak on Friday.

“IT forensic experts working on behalf of the State of Berlin are working around the clock to examine the published data. Appropriate measures will be taken based on the findings,” an official statement from the Senate Chancellery said. Affected individuals will be notified on a risk-based basis, it added.

Citizens who, independently of this, become aware “that their data has been published or is being used for criminal offenses such as fraud or identity theft should file a criminal complaint,” the statement read.

The leaked files reportedly contain scanned identity documents, payslips, employment references and contract documents, as well as sensitive data on critical infrastructure. Rhysida is already sharing lists of filenames on social media, according to news publications.

Meanwhile, Hamburg-based investigative journalist and weapons expert Lars Winkelsdorf said that the leaked files contain plans concerning national defence “ranging from the federal government’s secret communication channels in the event of an apocalypse to defence-related companies and emergency plans developed by government agencies”.

Last month, France disclosed a cyberattack on its tax authority in June and July that resulted in the theft of tax data belonging to around 678,000 French individuals and businesses.

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