Three YouTube channels have banded together and filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, as first spotted by MacRumors. According to the lawsuit, the creators behind h3h3 Productions, MrShortGameGolf and Golfholics have accused Apple of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by scraping copyrighted videos on YouTube to train its AI models.

While the YouTubers’ videos are available to watch on the platform, the lawsuit alleged that Apple illegally circumvented the “controlled streaming architecture” that regular users are limited to. The creators claimed that Apple’s video scraping was used to train its generative AI products, adding that the tech giant’s “massive financial success would not have been possible without the video content created” by the YouTubers. MacRumors noted that these YouTube channels have also filed similar lawsuits against other tech companies, including Meta, Nvidia, ByteDance and Snap.

It’s not the first time a company’s alleged AI training methods have gotten them in legal trouble. OpenAI and Microsoft were both accused of using copyrighted articles from the NYTimes to train its AI chatbots. Similarly, Perplexity was recently sued by Reddit and Encyclopedia Britannica for alleged copyright and trademark infringements. Last year, Apple was also named in a separate class action lawsuit from two neuroscience professors who claimed their copyrighted works were used without permission. We reached out to Apple for comment and will update the story when we hear back.

from the what-would-jesus-bomb dept

Before we get into this, let’s set the scene a little:

The latest Pew Research Center survey, conducted Jan. 20-26, 2026, finds that most White evangelicals (69%) approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. And a majority (58%) say they support all or most of his plans and policies.

Let that sink in for a bit. The operative term here is probably “white,” but Trump has been embraced by the evangelical community, despite his being about as far removed from the ideals of Christianity as their arch-nemesis, trans people the Devil. (And let’s not forget I’m talking about the ideals, which are often preached but rarely practiced.)

Here’s how Trump handled Easter morning, one of the holiest (no pun intended) holidays observed by the people most likely to support him no matter what:

In Trump’s own words, at 5:03 am on Easter Sunday:

Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP

Now, I have to admit that when I first read this, I thought Trump was announcing some new celebration of US infrastructure before derailing his own train of thought. But it’s definitely not that.

It’s the other thing… which turns out to be Trump announcing planned war crimes. Again.

Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets like oil fields and desalination plants critical for drinking water. Iran’s U.N. mission on social media called Trump’s threat “clear evidence of intent to commit war crime.”

Iran’s military joint command warned of stepped-up retaliatory attacks on regional oil and civilian infrastructure if the U.S. and Israel attack such targets there, according to state television.

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The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It’s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.

While it looks like both sides in this war are willing to strike civilian infrastructure, the United States should be trying to take the high road (the one without war crimes). And if it can’t be bothered to do that, the administration should — at the very least — try to keep the president from publicly saying we’re going to commit war crimes.

But, alas, there’s no one willing to stop him. Pete Hegseth is definitely relishing his unearned role as the Secretary of Defense (“Back to the Stone Age.”) And he appears to be firing anyone who disagrees with things like drone-killing people in international waters and, you know, engaging in war crimes.

Both Trump and Hegseth have publicly claimed they’re doing God’s work by going to war with Iran, something that has been echoed by the same demographic detailed in the Pew Research survey.

Shamefully, they won’t see a drop in support despite Trump threatening war crimes, dropping an F-bomb, and promising to send people halfway around the world to hell, as if he were a god himself. And that’s a damning indictment of an entire segment of Americans who choose to treat their religion as a weapon and want the world to be remade in their own image — something they often accuse Muslims of doing. The irony is lost on them, along with the man they’ve chosen to treat as God’s appointed leader.

We’ve had a lot of low points as a nation, but usually we’ve at least tried to improve. That’s no longer the case. We’re under the rule of people who debase and abuse the nation they claim to love. Happy Fuckin’ Easter, you crazy bastards. Welcome to Hell.

Filed Under: evil, iran war, pete hegseth, trump administration, war crimes

Companies: truth social

Apple released the first public beta of iOS 26.5 on Monday, about two weeks after the company released the massive iOS 26.4 update, which included new emoji, video podcasts and more. The iOS 26.5 beta brings a few smaller — but significant — changes to the iPhones of developers and beta testers, including one feature that will be familiar to anyone who has kept up with past iOS betas.

Because this is a beta, I recommend downloading it only on something other than your primary device. This isn’t the final version of iOS 26.5, so the update might be buggy and battery life may be short, so it’s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.

Also, since this isn’t the final version, there could be more features to land on your iPhone whenever 26.5 is released.

Here are some features developers and beta testers can try now, and what could land on your iPhone when Apple releases iOS 26.5.

End-to-end encrypted RCS messaging returns

The iOS 26.5 beta brings back an option to enable end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging on your device. When Apple brought RCS messaging to iPhones with iOS 18, one feature the messaging protocol was missing was end-to-end encryption, and iOS 26.5 could finally bring this privacy protection to your iPhone.

To find this setting, go to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging and tap the slider next to End-to-End Encryption (Beta). 

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Apple writes in the feature’s description that it’s still in beta and it works only on certain carriers and devices. Apple also writes that these encrypted messages will be labeled as such, so you should know when your messages do and don’t have this level of protection.

Apple included end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging in beta versions of iOS 26.4, but the tech giant didn’t include the feature in the final release.

Suggested Places in Maps

The iOS 26.5 beta also brings a new section called Suggested Places to your Maps app. Once in the app, tap your Search bar like you’re going to look up a nearby cafe or restaurant, and the section Suggested Places will appear below Recents.

Those are a few of the new features developers and public beta testers can try now with the first public beta of iOS 26.5. There will likely be more betas before the OS is released to the public, so there’s plenty of time for Apple to change these features and add others. Apple has not said when it will release iOS 26.5 to the general public.

For more iOS news, here’s everything you should know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet.

Watch this: Sharing Our Biggest Apple Memories After 50 Years

09:23

Building the next generation of robots for successful integration into our homes, offices, and factories is more than just solving the hardware and software problems – we also need to understand how they will be perceived and how they can work effectively with people in those spaces.

aspect_ratio

In summer 2025, RAI Institute set up a free popup robot experience in the CambridgeSide mall, designed to let people experience state-of-the-art robotics first hand. While news stories about robots and AI are common, with some being overly critical and some overly optimistic, most people have not encountered robots in the flesh (or metal) as it were. With no direct experience, their opinions are largely shaped by pop culture and social media, both of which are more focused on sensational stories instead of accurate information about how the robots might be used effectively and where the technology still falls short. Our goal with the popup was two-fold: first, to give people an opportunity to see robots that they would otherwise not have a chance to experience and second, to better understand how the public feels about interacting with these robots.

Designing a Robot Experience for the General Public

Some earlier versions legged robots, built by the RAI Institute’s Executive Director, Marc RaibertRAI Institute

The ANYmal by ANYrobotics (left) and a previous model of the RAI Institute’s UMV (right)RAI Institute

The pop-up space had two areas: a museum area where people could see historical and modern robots, including some RAI Institute builds like the UMV and an interactive experience called “Drive-a-Spot”. This area was a driving arena where anyone who came by could take the controls of a Spot quadruped, one of the more recognizable, commercially available robots available today.

The guest robot drivers used a custom controller built on an adaptive video game controller that was designed so that anyone of any age could use it. It featured basic controls: move forward, back, left, right, adjust height, sit, stand, and tilt. The buttons were large so that tiny or elderly hands could use the controller and the people who drove Spot ranged in age from two to over 90.

The guest robot drivers used a custom controller built on an adaptive video game controller that was designed so that anyone of any age could use it.RAI Institute

The demo area was designed to be a bit challenging for the Spot robot to maneuver in – it contained tight passages, low obstacles to step over, a barrier to crouch under, and taller objects the robot had to avoid. Much to the surprise of many of our guests, Spot is able to autonomously adjust itself to traverse and avoid those obstacles when being supervised by the joystick.

RAI Institute

The driving arena’s theme rotated every few weeks across four scenarios: a factory, a home, a hospital, and an outdoor/disaster environment. These were chosen to contrast settings where robots are broadly accepted (industrial, emergency response) with settings where public ambivalence is well-documented (domestic, healthcare).

The visitors who chose to drive the Spot robot could also participate in a short survey before and after their driving experience. The survey focused on two core dimensions:

• Comfort: how comfortable would you feel if you encountered a robot in a factory, home, hospital, office, or outdoor/disaster scenario?
• Suitability: how well would this robot work in each of those contexts?

The survey also recorded emotional reactions immediately after driving, likelihood to recommend the experience, and open-ended responses about what they found memorable or surprising. The researchers were careful to separate the environment participants drove through from the scenarios they were asked to evaluate in the survey). This distinction is important for interpreting the results given below.

Did Interacting with the Robot Change People’s Feelings about Robots?

Out of approximately 10,000 guests that visited the Robot Lab, 10 percent of those drove the Spot and opted-in to our surveys. Of those surveyed, more than 65% of people had seen images or videos of Spot robots online, but most had never seen one of the robots in person.

Increased Comfort Through Experience

Across all five contexts presented in the survey (factory, home, hospital, office, and outdoor/disaster scenarios), comfort scores increased significantly after the driving session. The effects were small to moderate in magnitude, but they were consistent and statistically robust after correcting for multiple comparisons across all participants spanning children to older adults.

The largest gain appeared in the outdoor/disaster context, which started with low comfort despite high-perceived suitability. People already thought Spot would be useful in search-and-rescue scenarios; they just weren’t comfortable with it performing in that scenario. This discomfort may stem from media portrayals of quadruped robots in military contexts. A few minutes of hands-on control appears to partially dissolve that apprehension.

Participants who drove through the factory-themed arena showed no significant increase in comfort, but this scenario already had the highest rating of any rated context at baseline, leaving little room for improvement.

No matter their previous experience, most people were neutral about having a Spot robot in their home before their driving experience. However, after the experience of controlling the Spot robot, people had a statistically significant increase in their comfort at having a Spot in their home and also felt that a Spot robot was more suitable for work in any environment, not just the one they had driven it in.

Better Understanding of Where Robots Can Fit into Daily Life

Perceived suitability for Spot to operate in each context also increased. However, the pattern in the data is different. The largest gains weren’t in the high-baseline industrial and outdoor contexts. They were in home, office, and hospital – the very environments where people started out most skeptical.

Participants who drove the Spot robot in a home-themed environment didn’t just consider homes more suitable for robots; they also rated hospitals and offices as more suitable. This result suggests that hands-on control alters something more fundamental than just context-specific familiarity. It may change a person’s underlying understanding of a robot’s capabilities and, consequently, where they believe robots are appropriate.

Results by Demographic

The hands-on experience seems to be similarly effective across genders, although it does not completely eliminate existing disparities. For example, men reported higher baseline comfort than women across all five contexts. However, all genders improved at similar rates after interaction. The gap didn’t significantly widen or close in most contexts, though it did narrow in factory and office settings.

Age effects were more context dependent. Children (aged 8–17) rated factory environments as less comfortable and less suitable before the study. However, this could be because most children do not have experience with factory settings or industrial environments. After interaction, this gap largely persisted. By contrast, children showed stronger gains in office comfort than older adults and entered the study rating home contexts more favorably than adults did.

Participants ranged from age 8 to over age 75.RAI Institute

Participants who had previously driven Spot (mainly robotics professionals) began with higher comfort across the board. But after the hands-on session, people with no prior exposure caught up to experienced drivers. This level of familiarity would be difficult to replicate with images and videos alone.

Post-Interaction Results

Post-interaction emotional data was overwhelmingly positive. “Excitement” was reported by 74% of participants, “happiness” by 50%, and only 12% reported “nervousness.” Over 55% rated the experience as “brilliant” and 62% said they were very likely to recommend it to a friend.

The open-ended responses added a lot more color. The most commonly mentioned moments were locomotion and terrain adaptation (22%). This included the way Spot navigated steps, tight spaces, and uneven ground and expressive tilt movements (22%), which people found surprisingly dog-like or dance-like. A smaller set of responses (3%) described anthropomorphic reactions: worrying about “hurting” the robot or finding its behavior “silly” in a way that prompted genuine emotional response.

When asked what tasks they’d want a robot to perform, responses shifted meaningfully. Before driving, answers clustered around domestic assistance and heavy or hazardous labor. After driving, domestic help remained prominent, but entertainment and play jumped from 7.5% to 19.4%. Companionship also appeared at 5%. References to hazardous or industrial tasks declined as people who had operated the robot began imagining it as a companion and playmate, not just a labor-replacement tool.

Key Takeaways from The Robot Lab

In the not-so-distant future, robots will become more common in public and private spaces. But whether that integration into daily life will be accepted by the general public remains to be seen. The standard approach to building acceptance has been passive exposure such as videos, exhibits, and articles. This study suggests giving people agency and letting them actually operate a robot is a qualitatively different intervention.

Short, well-designed, hands-on encounters can raise comfort in precisely the social domains where ambivalence is highest and where future robotics deployment will likely take place. This hands-on experience shouldn’t be limited to tech conferences and museums, as it may be more valuable than just entertaining.

Fun for all ages!RAI Institute

We consider the popup a success, but as with all experiments, we also learned a lot along the way. For our takeaways, in addition to the increased comfort with robots, we also found that the guests to our space really enjoyed talking to the robotics experts that staffed the location. For many people, the opportunity to talk to a roboticist was as unique as the opportunity to drive a robot, and in the future, we are excited to continue to share our technical work as well as the experiences of our humans in addition to our humanoids.

Does building a space where folks can experience robots firsthand have the potential to create meaningful, long-term attitude shifts? That remains an open question. But the effect’s direction and consistency across different situations, ages, and genders are hard to ignore.

Pop-Up Encounters with Spot: Shaping Public Perceptions of Robots Through Hands-On Experience, by Hae Won Park, Georgia Van de Zande, Xiajie Zhang, Dawn Wendell, and Jessica Hodgins from the RAI Institute and the MIT Media Lab, was presented last month at the 2026 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction in Edinburgh, Scotland.

For the fifth and final time, The Boys are coming back. Season 5 of Amazon’s hit series, which was created by Eric Kripke and inspired by the comic book run by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, returns for its victory lap. That’s not to say that this is really the end — The Boys’ cinematic universe has grown with spinoffs Gen V, the short-lived Diabolical animated series and the other in-development spin-off currently in the works.

But by all accounts, this is the last run of Homelander and Billy Butcher’s respective crews. Their five-season-long story arc, and the enduring battle between Butcher’s resistance fighters and Vought’s 7, will reach its final crescendo. Needless to say, the internet is about to be lit up with Supe reviews, rumors and gossip.

All the familiar faces are back, including Antony Starr, Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, Chace Crawford, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso and Tomer Capone. Jensen Ackles makes his return as Soldier Boy; his Supernatural co-stars Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins are also on board for the new season.

Scroll on to learn when and where to watch The Boys season 5 and more streaming details.

Read more: Prime Video: 24 of the Best Sci-Fi TV Shows You Need to Stream Right Now

When does The Boys season 5 come out?

The Boys will have a two-episode premiere for its fifth season, kicking off on Wednesday, April 8, at 12 a.m. PT (3 a.m. ET) on Prime Video. Each Wednesday after, a new episode will drop until the finale, which is scheduled to hit streaming on May 20.

Here’s the complete episode schedule:

• Episode 1: Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite — April 8
• Episode 2: Teenage Kix — April 8
• Episode 3: Every One of You Sons of Bitches — April 15
• Episode 4: Though the Heavens Fall — April 22
• Episode 5: One-Shots — April 29
• Episode 6: King of Hell — May 6
• Episode 7: The Frenchman, the Female and the Man Called Mother’s Milk — May 13
• Episode 8: Blood and Bone — May 20

Prime Video is one of the membership perks of Amazon Prime, which costs $15 a month or $139 a year. If you’d like a membership but don’t want to get Amazon Prime, you can do so for $9 a month. 

Prime Video’s standard service comes with ad breaks for viewers in the US. If you want to go ad-free, there’s an additional $3 monthly fee. This option is available to both Amazon Prime subscribers and those who pay for a standalone Prime Video membership. For more information about the streamer, check out our review.

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How to watch The Boys season 5 with a VPN

If you’re traveling abroad and want to watch The Boys while away from home, a VPN can help enhance your privacy and security when streaming. 

It encrypts your traffic and prevents your internet service provider from throttling your speeds. Additionally, it can be helpful when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks while traveling, providing an extra layer of protection for your devices and logins. VPNs are legal in many countries, including the US and Canada, and can be used for legitimate purposes such as improving online privacy and security. 

However, some streaming services may have policies restricting VPN use to access region-specific content. If you’re considering a VPN for streaming, check the platform’s terms of service to ensure compliance. 

If you choose to use a VPN, follow the provider’s installation instructions to ensure you’re connected securely and in compliance with applicable laws and service agreements. Some streaming platforms may block access when a VPN is detected, so verifying if your streaming subscription allows VPN use is crucial.

ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. Prices start at $3.49 a month on a two-year plan for the service’s Basic tier.

Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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If you choose to use a VPN, follow the provider’s installation instructions, ensuring you’re connected securely and in compliance with applicable laws and service agreements. Some streaming platforms may block access when a VPN is detected, so verifying if your streaming subscription allows VPN usage is crucial.

While browsing our website a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon “How and When the Memory Chip Shortage Will End” by Senior Editor Samuel K. Moore. His analysis focuses on the current DRAM shortage caused by AI hyperscalers’ ravenous appetite for memory, a major constraint on the speed at which large language models run. Moore provides a clear explanation of the shortage, particularly for high bandwidth memory (HBM).

As we and the rest of the tech media have documented, AI is a resource hog. AI electricity consumption could account for up to 12 percent of all U.S. power by 2028. Generative AI queries consumed 15 terawatt-hours in 2025 and are projected to consume 347 TWh by 2030. Water consumption for cooling AI data centers is predicted to double or even quadruple by 2028 compared to 2023.

But Moore’s reporting shines a light on an obscure corner of the AI boom. HBM is a particular type of memory product tailor-made to serve AI processors. Makers of those processors, notably Nvidia and AMD, are demanding more and more memory for each of their chips, driven by the needs and wants of firms like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, which are underwriting an unprecedented buildout of data centers. And some of these facilities are colossal: You can read about the engineering challenges of building Meta’s mind-boggling 5-gigawatt Hyperion site in Louisiana, in “What Will It Take to Build the World’s Largest Data Center?”

We realized that Moore’s HBM story was both important and unique, and so we decided to include it in this issue, with some updates since the original published on 10 February. We paired it with a recent story by Contributing Editor Matthew S. Smith exploring how the memory-chip shortage is driving up the price of low-cost computers like the Raspberry Pi. The result is “AI Is a Memory Hog.”

The big question now is, When will the shortage end? Price pressure caused by AI hyperscaler demand on all kinds of consumer electronics is being masked by stubborn inflation combined with a perpetually shifting tariff regime, at least here in the United States. So I asked Moore what indicators he’s looking for that would signal an easing of the memory shortage.

“On the supply side, I’d say that if any of the big three HBM companies—Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix—say that they are adjusting the schedule of the arrival of new production, that’d be an important signal,” Moore told me. “On the demand side, it will be interesting to see how tech companies adapt up and down the supply chain. Data centers might steer toward hardware that sacrifices some performance for less memory. Startups developing all sorts of products might pivot toward creative redesigns that use less memory. Constraints like shortages can lead to interesting technology solutions, so I’m looking forward to covering those.”

To be sure you don’t miss any of Moore’s analysis of this topic and to stay current on the entire spectrum of technology development, sign up for our weekly newsletter, Tech Alert.

The news is full of reports from the moon-bound Integrity, otherwise known as Artemis II. Mostly, the news is good, but there has been one “Houston, we have a problem…” moment. The space toilet, otherwise known as the Universal Waste Management System or UWMS is making a burning smell while in use. While we would love to be astronauts, we really don’t want to go ten days without using the can, and it made us wonder how, exactly, the astronauts answered the call of nature.

The Old Days

Back in the Apollo-era, going to the bathroom was a messy business. The capsule wasn’t that big, and there were no women on board. So you simply strapped an adhesive-rimmed bag or tube to yourself and answered nature’s call with your two closest coworkers right there.

To add insult to injury, the “#2 bags” needed some packet mixed in to keep it from going bad in the bag before it could return to Earth for — no kidding — scientific study.

The system was far from perfect. Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 both had to do some housekeeping due to leaky bags.

Astronaut Ken Mattingly reportedly said, “Man, one of the feats of my existence the other day was, in 42 minutes, I strapped on a bag, went out of both ends, and ate lunch…. I used to want to be the first man to Mars. This has convinced me that, if we got to go on Apollo, I ain’t interested.”

Still, it was better than the first Mercury launch, where Alan Shepard famously relieved himself in his spacesuit while sitting on the pad for over eight hours. Later missions used hoses.

Things got slightly better with Skylab, where there was more room. The Shuttle also had a toilet. You got a curtain for privacy, but you couldn’t go #1 and #2 at the same time. Also, apparently, the contraptions were not easily workable for females.

Modern Times

The early International Space Station used a similar system to the shuttle. However, in 2020, the UWMS debuted. It is easier to use for the female anatomy, and it has a door. This is essentially the same bathroom crammed into Integrity. Given the size of the capsule, we doubt the door is more than a symbol, but still.

Rather than explain the UWMS operation, you can watch the video below. Note that everyone has their own funnel. There are some things you just don’t want to share.

What’s That Smell?

We don’t know what the burning smell is on Integrity, but we are sure we are going to find out. One other thing we never quite see addressed is how you clean up afterward. We aren’t sure we want to know.

Perhaps it is ironic that the first Artemis mission with a crew is having bathroom problems. After all, the Artemis slogan is “Let’s Go!” You’ll have to finish that joke on your own.

Back in 2016, NASA solicited ideas about space toilets. If you have any ideas, maybe drop them a line.

Microsoft says that Storm-1175, a China-based financially motivated cybercriminal group known for deploying Medusa ransomware payloads, has been deploying n-day and zero-day exploits in high-velocity attacks.

This cybercrime gang quickly shifts to targeting new security vulnerabilities to gain access to its victims’ networks, weaponizing some of them within a day and, in some cases, exploiting them a week before patches are released.

“Storm-1175 rapidly moves from initial access to data exfiltration and deployment of Medusa ransomware, often within a few days and, in some cases, within 24 hours,” Microsoft said.

“The threat actor’s high operational tempo and proficiency in identifying exposed perimeter assets have proven successful, with recent intrusions heavily impacting healthcare organizations, as well as those in the education, professional services, and finance sectors in Australia, United Kingdom, and United States.”

Microsoft has also observed Storm-1175 operators chaining multiple exploits to gain persistence on compromised systems by creating new user accounts, deploying remote monitoring and management software, stealing credentials, and disabling security software before dropping ransomware payloads.

In October, Microsoft reported that Storm-1175 had been exploiting a maximum-severity GoAnywhere MFT vulnerability (CVE-2025-10035) in Medusa ransomware attacks for over one week before it was patched.

Another vulnerability Storm-1175 exploited as a zero-day was CVE-2026-23760, an authentication bypass in SmarterTools’ SmarterMail email server and collaboration tool.

“While these more recent attacks demonstrate an evolved development capability or new access to resources like exploit brokers for Storm-1175, it is worth noting that GoAnywhere MFT has previously been targeted by ransomware attackers, and that the SmarterMail vulnerability was reportedly similar to a previously disclosed flaw,” Microsoft added.

“These factors may have helped to facilitate subsequent zero-day exploitation activity by Storm-1175, who still primarily leverages N-day vulnerabilities.”

​In recent campaigns, Storm-1175 has exploited more than 16 vulnerabilities across 10 software products, including Microsoft Exchange (CVE-2023-21529), Papercut (CVE-2023-27351 and CVE-2023-27350), Ivanti Connect Secure and Policy Secure (CVE-2023-46805 and CVE-2024-21887), and ConnectWise ScreenConnect (CVE-2024-1709 and CVE-2024-1708).

Microsoft has also seen them exploit vulnerabilities in JetBrains TeamCity (CVE-2024-27198 and CVE-2024-27199), SimpleHelp (CVE-2024-57726, CVE-2024-57727, and CVE-2024-57728), CrushFTP (CVE‑2025‑31161), SmarterMail (CVE-2025-52691), and BeyondTrust (CVE-2026-1731).

CISA issued a joint advisory with the FBI and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) in March 2025, warning that the Medusa ransomware gang’s attacks had impacted over 300 critical infrastructure organizations across the United States.

In July 2024, Microsoft also linked the Storm-1175 threat group, along with three other cybercrime gangs, to Black Basta and Akira ransomware attacks that exploited a VMware ESXi authentication-bypass flaw.

Automated pentesting proves the path exists. BAS proves whether your controls stop it. Most teams run one without the other.

This whitepaper maps six validation surfaces, shows where coverage ends, and provides practitioners with three diagnostic questions for any tool evaluation.

Get Your Copy Now

Samsung isn’t chasing the soundbar market; it has effectively been running it for 12 straight years alongside two decades of dominance in global TV sales. The company’s 2026 Q-Series soundbars, the HW-Q990H, HW-Q900H, HW-Q800H, and HW-QS90H, build on that position, with the flagship Q990H and QS90H first previewed at CES 2026 and now joined by the full lineup. Following its latest OLED, Neo QLED, MiniLED, and Frame TV announcements, Samsung is tightening its grip on the TV and home audio ecosystem in one move.

Our Editor at Large Chris Boylan got to spend some quality time with the QS90H and Q990H at Samsung’s US headquarters last month and was impressed by what he saw (and heard).

Samsung Q-Series Soundbars

Samsung’s 2026 Q Series soundbars are aimed at anyone who wants a cinematic experience without dealing with an AVR or a room full of wired speakers. The focus here is scale and flexibility, delivering immersive sound that adapts to different room sizes and listening habits without requiring a dedicated home theater setup.

Q Series Soundbar Features 

Here are some key features shared across Samsung’s 2026 Q Series soundbars:

AI Dynamic Bass Control: Designed to deliver deeper, more controlled low frequencies with reduced distortion, while supporting high resolution audio up to 24-bit/96kHz.

Active Voice Amplifier Pro: This feature analyzes background noise in real time and adjusts dialogue levels accordingly, helping voices cut through without constantly reaching for the remote.

Wireless Dolby Atmos: Although Q-Series soundbars provide a Dolby Atmos-compatible HDMI-eARC connection, there is a wireless connection option. The soundbars are compatible with Dolby Atmos delivered over Wi-Fi from select streaming sources.

Pro Tip: Samsung’s Wireless Dolby Atmos is not the same as Dolby Atmos Flex Connect. 

Eclipsa Audio: Samsung’s Q-Series SoundBars incorporate Eclipsa Audio, an open immersive surround sound format developed by Samsung in partnership with Google and other companies. Similar to Dolby Atmos, Eclipsa Audio expands on traditional surround sound with the addition of height information. With Eclipsa Audio-encoded content, sound can come from all around and above the listener. This enables a more enveloping and immersive listening experience with sound emanating from all three dimensions, just like in real life. Eclipsa Audio is currently the only immersive surround sound format supported on YouTube.

Sound Elevation: Designed to align audio with what you’re seeing on screen, this feature directs sound upward so dialogue appears to come from the characters, not the soundbar sitting below the TV.

Auto Volume: Helps keep levels consistent across channels, apps, and sources, reducing those sudden jumps that usually send you scrambling for the remote. 

Q-Symphony: This feature allows Q Series soundbars to work with compatible Samsung TVs and Wi Fi speakers as a single, integrated system. It can pair with up to five Samsung audio devices, creating a more flexible home theater setup while adjusting performance based on speaker placement in the room.

SpaceFit Sound Pro: Samsung’s built-in room calibration system uses the soundbar’s onboard microphones to analyze your space and adjust playback accordingly. It can update settings automatically over time, or recalibrate when the soundbar is moved, helping maintain consistent performance without manual tweaking.

Voice Assistants and Control: Q Series soundbars support voice control via Alexa, Google Assistant, and Bixby. For those who prefer buttons, onboard controls and the upcoming Samsung Sound app handle the basics, and there’s even a dedicated Spotify Connect button. Notably, a traditional remote is not included.

HW-Q990H

The HW-Q990H is Samsung’s Q Series flagship and its most ambitious soundbar to date. It uses an 11.1.4 channel layout with three front channels, two side firing, two wide firing, and four rear channels, along with four upfiring channels split between the front and rear. The included compact subwoofer features a dual 8-inch driver design aimed at delivering serious low end without overwhelming the room.

Height effects are handled by the upfiring channels in both the bar itself and the included rear speakers, while next generation AI tuning adjusts output in real time based on both the room and the content. The goal is to deliver a level of immersion that approaches a full home theater system, without the rack of gear or the wiring that usually comes with it. Just as important, Samsung is focusing on features that address everyday soundbar frustrations rather than piling on gimmicks.

The Q990H supports Dolby Atmos and DTS-X as well as Eclipsa Audio immersive surround sound.

The main soundbar measures 48.5 inches wide, 2.8 inches high, and 5.5 inches deep, making it a solid match for 50-inch and larger TVs. It can be placed on a shelf or wall mounted.

Per editor at Large, Chris Boylan, the HW-Q990H offered a cinematic sound on DTS-X and Dolby Atmos soundtracks like “Blade Runner” and “F1” with nice immersion and surprisingly solid bass reproduction, considering the compact size of the included subwoofer.

HW-Q900H

The HW-Q900H is a step down from the Q990H but still brings a substantial feature set. It uses a 9.1.4 channel layout with three front channels, two side firing, two wide firing, and two rear channels, along with four upfiring height channels split between the front and rear. The system also includes a compact active subwoofer with a dual 8 inch driver design intended to deliver strong low end without overwhelming the room.

Unlike the flagship, the Q900H supports Dolby and Eclipsa Audio formats but does not include DTS compatibility.

The main soundbar measures 43.71 inches wide, 2.8 inches high, and 4.73 inches deep, making it a good fit for a wide range of TVs. It can be placed on a shelf or wall mounted.

HW-Q800H

The HW-Q800H is a more streamlined option in the lineup, built around a 5.1.2 channel configuration with three front channels, two side firing, and two upfiring height channels, paired with a wireless subwoofer.

Like the Q900H, it supports Dolby and Eclipsa Audio formats but does not include DTS compatibility.

The soundbar measures 43.71 inches wide, 2.8 inches high, and 4.72 inches deep, making it an easy fit for most TV setups. It can be placed on a shelf or wall mounted.

HW-QS90H

The Samsung HW-QS90H takes a different approach, trading modular expansion for simplicity. It features a self contained 7.1.2 channel design with 13 drivers, including nine wide range speakers, eliminating the need for separate surrounds or a dedicated subwoofer.

The unit features a “Convertible Fit” design which uses an internal gyroscope to detect whether it is installed horizontally (like on a credenza) or vertically (like mounted on a wall) and automatically adjusts its driver array to accommodate these different placements. The result is a soundbar that adapts to the room rather than forcing the room to adapt to it, which makes a lot more sense as living spaces get tighter.

The QS90H uses a built-in Quad Bass Woofer system, designed to deliver meaningful low frequency impact from a single enclosure, keeping floor space clear and setup straightforward.

The QS90H supports both Dolby and DTS formats as well as Eclipsa Audio.

It measures 49.02 inches wide, 2.71 inches high, and 4.92 inches deep, and can be placed on a shelf or wall mounted.

Our Editor at Large Chris Boylan tested the QS90H with several 4K Blu-rays and clips from a Kaleidescape Strato E 4K media player including “Blade Runner, “Baby Driver,” “F1” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.” He found that the bar did a convincing job drawing the viewer into the action, when mounted on a wall below the company’s S90H OLED TV. Surround sound virtualization was effective at giving the illusion of sound coming from behind the viewing position and bass was solid for a one-piece unit though he did miss the bass extension you get with a separate dedicated subwoofer. Boylan confirmed that the bar could decode both Dolby Atmos and Eclipsa Audio (DTS-X is also supported).

Comparison

The Bottom Line 

Samsung didn’t reinvent the soundbar in 2026, but it didn’t need to. What it’s doing here is doubling down on the formula that put it on top in the first place: tight integration with its TVs, flexible system scaling, and fewer wires without completely sacrificing immersion.

What’s new or at least more refined is the range itself. You now have a clearer ladder from the full surround Q990H, to the more compact Q900H and Q800H, all the way down to the one-piece QS90H, which ditches the usual box of extras and goes all in on a single enclosure. The QS90H in particular stands out because it tries to solve the biggest real world problem: people want better sound, but they don’t want more stuff in the room.

What still makes Samsung unique is ecosystem control. Q-Symphony, SpaceFit, and Wireless Dolby Atmos aren’t just features, they are leverage. Pair these with a recent Samsung TV and you get the full experience. Use another brand and you leave performance and functionality on the table. That’s not a bug, it’s the strategy.

What’s missing is just as important. DTS support is inconsistent across the lineup, which is hard to ignore for anyone with a physical media library. But they do offer Eclipsa Audio decoding, which may matter in time as more content creators create immersive audio content in that format on YouTube. There’s also still a reliance on Samsung’s ecosystem to unlock everything, which won’t sit well with buyers who mix and match brands.

So who is this for? Anyone building a TV-first home theater who wants strong, immersive sound without the complexity of separates. If you already own a Samsung TV, the case is easy. If you don’t, these are still competitive soundbars, but the real value only shows up when you stay inside the walled garden.

Pricing & Availability

HW-Q990H – $1,999.99 at Samsung

HW-Q900H – $1,499.99 (Coming Soon) 

HW-Q800H – $1,099.99 at Samsung

HW-QS90H – $999.99 (Coming Soon)