Building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems for AI agents often involves using multiple layers and technologies for structured data, vectors and graph information. In recent months it has also become increasingly clear that agentic AI systems need memory, sometimes referred to as contextual memory, to operate effectively.
The complexity and synchronization of having different data layers to enable context can lead to performance and accuracy issues. It's a challenge that SurrealDB is looking to solve.
SurrealDB on Tuesday launched version 3.0 of its namesake database alongside a $23 million Series A extension, bringing total funding to $44 million. The company had taken a different architectural approach than relational databases like PostgreSQL, native vector databases like Pinecone or a graph database like Neo4j. The OpenAI engineering team recently detailed how it scaled Postgres to 800 million users using read replicas — an approach that works for read-heavy workloads. SurrealDB takes a different approach: Store agent memory, business logic, and multi-modal data directly inside the database. Instead of synchronizing across multiple systems, vector search, graph traversal, and relational queries all run transactionally in a single Rust-native engine that maintains consistency.
"People are running DuckDB, Postgres, Snowflake, Neo4j, Quadrant or Pinecone all together, and then they're wondering why they can't get good accuracy in their agents," CEO and co-founder Tobie Morgan Hitchcock told VentureBeat. "It's because they're having to send five different queries to five different databases which only have the knowledge or the context that they deal with."
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The architecture has resonated with developers, with 2.3 million downloads and 31,000 GitHub stars to date for the database. Existing deployments span edge devices in cars and defense systems, product recommendation engines for major New York retailers, and Android ad serving technologies, according to Hitchcock.
Agentic AI memory baked into the database
SurrealDB stores agent memory as graph relationships and semantic metadata directly in the database, not in application code or external caching layers.
The Surrealism plugin system in SurrealDB 3.0 lets developers define how agents build and query this memory; the logic runs inside the database with transactional guarantees rather than in middleware.
Here's what that means in practice: When an agent interacts with data, it creates context graphs that link entities, decisions and domain knowledge as database records. These relationships are queryable through the same SurrealQL interface used for vector search and structured data. An agent asking about a customer issue can traverse graph connections to related past incidents, pull vector embeddings of similar cases, and join with structured customer data — all in one transactional query.
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"People don't want to store just the latest data anymore," Hitchcock said. "They want to store all that data. They want to analyze and have the AI understand and run through all the data of an organization over the last year or two, because that informs their model, their AI agent about context, about history, and that can therefore deliver better results."
How SurrealDB's architecture differs from traditional RAG stacks
Traditional RAG systems query databases based on data types. Developers write separate queries for vector similarity search, graph traversal, and relational joins, then merge results in application code. This creates synchronization delays as queries round-trip between systems.
In contrast, Hitchcock explained that SurrealDB stores data as binary-encoded documents with graph relationships embedded directly alongside them. A single query through SurrealQL can traverse graph relationships, perform vector similarity searches, and join structured records without leaving the database.
That architecture also affects how consistency works at scale: Every node maintains transactional consistency, even at 50+ node scale, Hitchcock said. When an agent writes new context to node A, a query on node B immediately sees that update. No caching, no read replicas.
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"A lot of our use cases, a lot of our deployments are where data is constantly updated and the relationships, the context, the semantic understanding, or the graph connections between that data needs to be constantly refreshed," he said. "So no caching. There's no read replicas. In SurrealDB, every single thing is transactional."
What this means for enterprise IT
"It's important to say SurrealDB is not the best database for every task. I'd love to say we are, but it's not. And you can't be," Hitchcock said. "If you only need analysis over petabytes of data and you're never really updating that data, then you're going to be best going with object storage or a columnar database. If you're just dealing with vector search, then you can go with a vector database like Quadrant or Pinecone, and that's going to suffice."
The inflection point comes when you need multiple data types together. The practical benefit shows up in development timelines. What used to take months to build with multi-database orchestration can now launch in days, Hitchcock said.
If you weren’t around for the early PC era, or were a little more casual about operating systems, you could perhaps be forgiven for not knowing that DOS is not synonymous with MS-DOS. MS-DOS was just Microsoft’s implementation — or rather, an implementation they purchased — of a Disk Operating System, one that was…let’s just say “inspired by” Digital Research’s CP/M.
Digital Research shot back with DR-DOS, an operating system that was both compatible with and much superior in some ways to MS-DOS. The last version was released in 1991, after Novell bought the struggling Digital Research. Now it’s back, or at least, it’s on its way back with a fully clean-room implementation by a fellow who calls himself [CheeseWeezel] on Reddit.
He’s gone so far as to purchase the trademark, so this re-creation is the official DR-DOS. In any case [CheeseWeezel]’s DR-DOS is considered version 9.0, and is currently in Beta. The clean-sheet re-implementation of DR-DOS’s API was sadly necessary due to the rather tortured history of the IP after DR was bought by Novel, who sold DR-DOS to Caldera, who briefly open-sourced the code before retracting the license and selling on. Some of you may remember a controversy where a previous rights holder, DR DOS INC, was found purloining FreeDOS code in violation of the GPL. Perhaps because of that, [CheeseWeezel] isn’t using any old code, and isn’t open-sourcing what he’s done. Right now, the beta of DR-DOS 9 is free for non-commercial use, but as is standard for EULAs, that could change at any time without warning. [CheeseWeezel] is still working full compatibility, but at this point it at least runs DOOM.
Still, given the origins of DOS in Digital Research’s early work on CP/M, it warms the heart to see what many of us thought of as the “true” DOS survive in some form in the 21st century. Arguably it already had, in the form of SvarDOS, but you can’t use that to make smug jokes about your operating system having PhD instead of a measly master’s. If you did not like DOS, we recall the joke from Mac users was that those were the degrees needed to operate the PC. Speaking of DOS, you don’t necessarily need a retrocomputer to run it.
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of March 8, 2026.
At the start of next year, Washington state shoppers will for the first time be able to visit showrooms for Rivian and Lucid Motors, take a test drive and buy an EV. … Read More
Gradient’s Renton, Wash., office space is home to 10 million sports and gaming cards, where a team of card geeks and engineers are using technology to upend a $15 billion U.S. … Read More
My view on Washington’s proposed tax on very high incomes is simple: if I’ve found myself in the position of making that much in a year, I can afford to contribute a little more to the place that helped make that circumstance possible. … Read More
Five contractors are suing the Seattle-area clean energy startup for more than $363,458, alleging unpaid invoices when the company suddenly slowed operations late last year. … Read More
Atlassian announced Wednesday that it will lay off about 10% of its staff, or 1,600 employees, as the 24-year-old software firm transitions to an “AI-first company.” … Read More
Some tech leaders and entrepreneurs worry the legislation could undermine their sector by souring Washington’s relatively favorable tax laws for startup founders, investors and high-wage earners. … Read More
Seattle entrepreneur Jesse Proudman on why he’s saddened by the state’s new income tax, writing that it comes at the “worst possible moment” amid the AI boom. … Read More
Brazil nuts are nearly impossible to farm, but White Lion Foods has cracked the challenge
The fitness and health industry has been growing rapidly around the world, including in Singapore. Alongside this shift, consumers are increasingly seeking out nutrient-dense foods that can support healthier lifestyles.
Among the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet is the Brazil nut, widely recognised as the richest natural dietary source of selenium.
Despite its nutritional benefits, however, producing Brazil nuts is far from straightforward. Unlike most nuts, they are not cultivated on plantations but are wild-harvested from trees deep within the Amazon rainforest.
Even when producers manage to source them, most Brazil nuts are sold either raw or coated in chocolate. This is because seasoning them has historically been difficult—the nut’s natural structure prevents flavours from sticking well.
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But Singapore-based Truly Nuts! has taken on that challenge. In 2024, it launched what it claims to be the world’s first savoury-flavoured Brazil nuts to local supermarkets.
Behind the brand is Singapore-headquartered agri-tech company White Lion Foods, which sources and processes Brazil nuts directly in the Amazon rainforest. The company operates two factories there—nearly 18,000 kilometres from the city-state—that can process up to one billion Brazil nuts each year.
We spoke with Gareth Lloyd, 48 and Greg Vickers, 46, the co-founders behind the business, to learn more about their entrepreneurial journey and how they managed to turn a nut that’s nearly impossible to farm into a global business.
They went from DJ tours to farming crops
Gareth and Greg’s path into the food industry was far from conventional.
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(Left to Right): Gareth Lloyd and Greg Vickers./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods
They first met during university in the United Kingdom and spent years working as electronic music DJs, performing across more than 15 countries and touring extensively throughout Latin America.
It was during these travels that they became familiar with the region’s agricultural exports. Countries like Peru were producing high-quality foods, such as avocados and blueberries, that were increasingly appearing in global supermarkets.
When Gareth moved to Singapore in 2012, he noticed many of these products were starting to be stocked locally, sparking the idea that other lesser-known exports could also find a market.
And thus, White Lion Foods was born. That same year, Gareth roped in Greg, who had been living in Brazil since 2010, and the duo invested about £60,000 each (about S$102,000 each) to start the Singapore-based agri-tech venture.
Andean purple garlic./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods
They first chose to focus on purple garlic. After extensive research, the duo discovered that these varieties were rare outside Peru, prompting them to concentrate on harvesting, processing, and exporting this unique crop grown high in the Andean mountains.
Over time, their business expanded globally, supplying purple garlic to markets “around the world,” and today, White Lion Foods claims to be the number one exporter of Andean purple garlic.
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It was a milestone for the business, but focusing solely on Peruvian garlic soon revealed a major challenge.
We were basically investing all year, and the garlic harvest would come around Sept. We’d sell until Dec, and then we had no revenue for the rest of the year.
Gareth Lloyd
In other words, the company had year-round operating costs but only a few months of income.
To solve the seasonal revenue problem, the founders began experimenting with other crops that could complement the garlic harvest cycle.
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Over the next few years, they experimented with a variety of crops—potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and even raisins—while exploring different supply chains. Many of these ventures, however, ended up as costly lessons.
The Brazil nut fruit, also called a pod, typically contains 10 to 25 individual nuts./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods
Eventually, in 2016, the duo discovered Brazil nuts.
Unlike purple garlic, Brazil nuts are harvested between Jan and May, creating a complementary revenue cycle. “We suddenly had this brilliant cycle,” Gareth said. “Brazil nuts collected during Q1 and Q2, and garlic in Q4.”
Hence, the founders decided to focus entirely on these two products: garlic and Brazil nuts, which are now known to be their signature offerings.
An “unusual” nut
The Brazil nut tree often tower over 50m in height and is a highly protected species of the Amazon./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods
But harvesting Brazil nuts came with its own set of challenges.
They are unusual when compared to most other nuts found in supermarkets. Attempts to farm them commercially have failed, making their production entirely dependent on natural, wild ecosystems deep within the Amazon rainforest.
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The Brazil nut tree itself can live for hundreds of years, producing large, coconut-like fruits that fall naturally to the forest floor when ripe during the rainy season. Local collectors, many from communities living in Amazon regions, gather the fallen fruits, crack them open, and transport the in-shell nuts back to processing facilities—it is largely a manual process.
As such, alongside the factory it had established in the Peruvian Amazon for purple garlic, White Lion Foods built another facility deep in the Brazilian Amazon in 2016 to manage Brazil nut processing, hiring a workforce capable of handling the labour-intensive work.
Currently, the company employs more than 10,000 local and indigenous harvesters to collect the fallen fruits, along with over 3,000 staff across both its factories. Gareth claimed that his workers are paid more than 50% higher than the regional market rate because he believes in supporting the local communities.
Brazil nuts are collected and processed mostly by hand, and shipped in bulk to across the world./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods
At White Lion Foods’ factories, the Brazil nuts are carefully cleaned and dried in controlled environments until their moisture content drops to around 2–3%, ensuring optimal quality and long shelf life.
The nuts are then sorted into different sizes and packed before being exported to retailers and supermarkets such as Aldi and Hyundai department stores under white-label arrangements.
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Today, Gareth shared that White Lion Foods controls roughly 16% of the global Brazil nut market. The company also processes both Brazil nuts and purple garlic for partners and retailers across more than 45 countries.
Creating their own consumer brand
After years of supplying Brazil nuts as a white-label manufacturer, the founders decided to create their own consumer brand, with a focus on highlighting the Brazil nut itself.
For decades, these nuts had been sold mostly raw or coated in chocolate, so the duo set out to develop a way to introduce new flavours, particularly savoury ones, that the market had never seen before.
Truly Nuts! offers raw Brazil nuts that can be enjoyed on their own or in various flavours with or without other nuts./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods, Vulcan Post
But savoury seasoning was difficult to apply because of the natural structure of Brazil nuts, which prevented flavours from sticking well.
After months of trial and error—and collaboration with confectionery flavouring experts in the UK—the company finally developed a process that allows savoury seasonings to adhere properly, unlocking a whole new way to enjoy this nutrient-dense superfood.
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That led to the launch of Truly Nuts! in the UK in December 2023 through British travel retailer WHSmith’s outlets across the country and e-commerce platform, Amazon.
The brand started out with four Brazil nut flavours, including chilli, smoked, and chocolate variants.
White Lion Foods manages the entire Brazil nut journey—from harvesting the nuts off the forest floor to packing them for retail shelves./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods
Since March 2024, White Lion Foods begun selling Truly Nuts! products in Singapore. Its products are now stocked in retailers such as FairPrice, Cold Storage, and Guardian, with a 120g bag of Brazil nuts starting from S$8.50.
“The Brazil nut was such an undermarketed nut,” Gareth said. “People don’t know about it, they don’t know about the health benefits, and they don’t know that it supports the Amazon.”
Singapore was chosen as one of the brand’s early markets partly because of its growing appetite for healthier snacks. Moreover, that lack of awareness is precisely what the brand hopes to change.
That said, the brand has also had to adjust some flavours to suit Asian taste preferences. Local consumers, Gareth noted, tend to prefer slightly lower salt levels but stronger flavour profiles in certain variants.
And of course, maintaining product quality has also led to tradeoffs, which the duo is willing to make.
Chocolate-coated nuts, for instance, are sensitive to heat—especially in tropical climates like Singapore. Instead of using stabilising chemicals often found in confectionery products, Gareth shared that the company transports its chocolate variants in refrigerated conditions to prevent melting.
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While this incurs additional logistics costs, he believes it is necessary to keep the products free from additives.
Targeted expansion through travel retail
As White Lion Food and its Truly Nuts! brand grows, the company expects its facilities to process more than one billion Brazil nuts this year—equivalent to roughly 3,500 tonnes.
Revenue from its Brazil nut segment alone is projected to reach between US$40 million and US$45 million, with about US$2 million coming from Truly Nuts!. Gareth envisions White Lion Foods expanding to supply a third of the world’s Brazil nuts in the future.
Considering the brand is still relatively young, Gareth sees this as just the beginning. Rather than expanding into new countries all at once, the company plans to grow through travel retail first.
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(Left): Some members of the White Lion Foods team behind Truly Nuts!; (Right): Truly Nuts! is expanding through travel retailers like WHSmith./ Image Credit: White Lion Foods
It might sound surprising, but his reasoning is simple: airports give the brand direct access to international travellers, helping build awareness and demand before moving into broader retail markets.
By May, Truly Nuts! aims to go live in about 80 more WHSmith airport outlets across the globe, including Europe and Singapore.
The company is also developing new product lines, with Brazil nut butter seen as having particularly high potential.
Reflecting on the company’s unconventional journey—from DJ tours to running processing facilities in the Amazon—Gareth says entrepreneurship rarely follows a linear path.
“You’ve just got to get going with it,” he said. “As I like to say, you should build the plane while you’re flying.”
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Learn more about Truly Nuts! here and White Lion Foods here.
Read more stories we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.
After an embarrassing midweek defeat in Europe, woeful Tottenham Hotspur will be hoping to avoid further humiliation on Sunday as they travel to Anfield to face top-four-chasing Liverpool in the English Premier League.
Spurs continued their dire run of form with a 5-2 loss away to Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. Interim boss Igor Tudor came under fierce criticism in the aftermath of that defeat, following his controversial decision to substitute young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after just 17 minutes at 3-0 down.
Tudor remains in charge for today’s game, but after four defeats from each of his four games in charge, and with his side just a point above the relegation zone, this game could prove to be his last chance to save his brief tenure.
Liverpool’s midweek Champions League defeat to Galatasaray was not quite as disastrous as Tottenham’s. Nevertheless, the Reds’ 1-0 midweek loss in Istanbul will have boss Arne Slot determined to get his side back to winning ways as they look to climb back into the UCL qualification places.
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Liverpool hosts Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, March 15, at Anfield, with kickoff set for 4:30 p.m. GMT. That makes it a 12:30 p.m. ET or 9:30 a.m. PT start in the US and Canada, and a 3:30 a.m. AEDT kickoff in Australia on Monday morning.
Under-fire Tottenham boss Igor Tudor faces a defensive selection issue for this crucial game, with center back Micky van de Ven suspended following his red card in last week’s EPL defeat to Crystal Palace.
Dennis Agyeman/Europa Press/Getty Images
How to watch Liverpool vs. Tottenham in the US without cable
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This match at Anfield will be broadcast on streaming service Peacock. To catch the game live, you’ll need a Peacock Premium or Premium Plus subscription.
Peacock offers two Premium plans, and after recent price increases, the ad-supported Premium plan costs $11 a month and the ad-free Premium Plus plan costs $17 a month.
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How to watch the Premier League 2025-26 from anywhere with a VPN
If you’re traveling abroad and want to keep up with Premier League action 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, and can also be helpful when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks while traveling, adding 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 that restrict 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, 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 verify whether your streaming subscription allows VPN use.
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James Martin/CNET
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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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Livestream Liverpool vs. Tottenham in the UK
This Sunday afternoon clash is exclusive to Sky Sports and will be shown on its Sky Sports Main Event channel. If you already have Sky Sports as part of your TV package, you can stream the game via its Sky Go app. Cord-cutters will want to set up a Now account and a Now Sports membership to stream the game.
Now TV
Sky’s standalone streaming service Now offers access to Sky Sports channels with a Now Sports membership. You can get a day of access for £15 or sign up to a monthly plan from £35 a month right now.
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Livestream Liverpool vs. Tottenham in Canada
If you want to livestream EPL games in Canada this season, you’ll need to subscribe to Fubo. The service has once again secured exclusive rights to the Premier League and is broadcasting all 380 matches live.
Fubo
Fubo is the go-to destination for Canadians looking to watch the EPL, with exclusive streaming rights to every match. It currently costs CA$27 for the first month, then CA$31.50 per month from then on.
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Livestream Liverpool vs. Tottenham in Australia
Livestreaming rights for the EPL are now with Stan Sport, which is showing all 380 matches live, including this game.
Stan
Stan Sport will set you back AU$20 a month (on top of a Stan subscription, which starts at AU$12). It’s also worth noting that the streaming service is currently offering a seven-day free trial.
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A subscription will also give you access to Premier League, Champions League and Europa League action, as well as international rugby and Formula E.
Marshals, a new Yellowstone spinoff starring Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton, is currently airing on CBS. You can also tune in with Paramount Plus.
The Yellowstone sequel series sees Grimes’ former Navy SEAL join an elite unit of US Marshals to bring range justice to Montana, according to a synopsis from CBS. The show also includes Yellowstone actors Gil Birmingham as Thomas Rainwater, Mo Brings Plenty as Mo and Brecken Merrill as Tate. Spencer Hudnut is the showrunner of Marshals — formerly known as Y: Marshals — and Taylor Sheridan is an executive producer.
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When to watch new Marshals episodes on Paramount Plus
Episode 3 of Marshals airs on CBS on Sunday, March 15. Viewing options for Paramount Plus customers vary by subscription tier. You can watch the episode live if you have Paramount Plus Premium, which includes your local CBS station. If you subscribe to Paramount Plus Essential, you can watch the installment on demand the following Monday, but not live on Sunday.
Here’s how to watch the next two episodes of Marshals.
Episode 3, Road to Nowhere: Premieres on CBS/Paramount Plus Premium on March 15 at 8 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT/7 p.m. CT. Streams on Paramount Plus Essential on March 16.
Episode 4, The Gathering Storm: Premieres on CBS/Paramount Plus Premium on March 22 at 8 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT/7 p.m. CT. Streams on Paramount Plus Essential on March 23.
You can also watch CBS and the third episode of Marshals without cable with a live TV streaming service such as YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TV or the DirecTV MyNews skinny bundle. In addition to offering a lower-cost option, Paramount Plus lets you watch the other two Yellowstone spinoffs: the prequels 1883 and 1923.
After a price increase in early 2026, the ad-supported Essential version runs $9 per month or $90 per year. The ad-free Premium version runs $14 per month or $140 per year. Paying more for Premium gives you downloads, the ability to watch more Showtime programming than Essential and access to your live, local CBS station.
TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance has figured out a way to access NVIDIA’s latest AI chips despite export restrictions, according to a report by . The company is working with a firm called Aolani Cloud and building out Blackwell computing systems in Malaysia.
This should give ByteDance access to around 36,000 B200 chips. That’s NVIDIA’s most powerful processor. The hardware buildout will reportedly cost more than $2.5 billion. The company says it plans on using this new computing power for AI research and development outside of China.
The country has been unable to access the B200 chip, as it was designed in California and, as such, subject to US export controls. This has led to do what ByteDance is doing with Aolani Cloud. The Singapore-based firm will buy up the components from NVIDIA and will operate exclusively in Malaysia, giving ByteDance access in the process.
“By design, the export rules allow clouds to be built and operated outside controlled countries,” an NVIDIA spokesperson said. They also said that all of the company’s cloud partners go through review before being approved to receive its products.
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A representative from Aolani Cloud that the company adheres to all applicable export control regulations and that ByteDance will be just one of many customers. It plans on providing cloud-computing services to multiple companies across Asia and the globe. However, it’s worth noting that Aolani currently operates with just $100 million worth of hardware and ByteDance is planning to inject a whopping $2.5 billion.
The US did recently , but they’ve been slapped with a 25 percent tariff. Additionally, the US government mandated that the export license would only be approved if NVIDIA accepted a Know-Your-Customer requirement, which is an attempt to ensure that China’s military can’t access the chips. NVIDIA .
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in 2023 set off a wave of migrations that shows no signs of subsiding. But moving from VMware to another hypervisor may introduce significant technical and operational risks.
IT teams must prepare for challenges that are not always apparent at the start of a migration.
Price hikes, licensing changes and shifts in customer support have driven VMware customers to look for alternatives. Recent operational problems haven’t helped.
Many of those workloads will shift to platforms such as Microsoft Hyper‑V, Azure Stack HCI, Nutanix AHV, Proxmox VE or KVM. Unfortunately, the journey comes with challenges. Switching hypervisors is a high-stakes infrastructure change.
IT professionals need to focus on completing a successful migration with their data intact and available.
Why hypervisor migration is technically risky
It sounds simple: Export data, convert it to a new format and then import it into a new hypervisor. But that process is far riskier than it sounds.
That’s because hypervisors don’t interoperate. Multiple technical variables increase the risk of failed or unstable migrations. Hypervisors differ in disk formats, hardware abstractions, driver stacks and networking models.
Snapshots and templates behave differently. Even subtle configuration differences can create instability that only surfaces once workloads are under real production pressure.
Migrating from VMware can increase cost, risk and operational drag, while limiting strategic options.
Acronis Cyber Protect gives IT leaders control with a flexible, AI‑powered cyber protection platform that cuts migration time by up to 60% and keeps the business secure and responsive throughout change.
Backup is essential to a successful hypervisor migration
The most important prerequisite for any platform migration is not a conversion tool. It is verified, restorable backup.
Organizations need to protect workloads with full-image, application-consistent backups that IT pros can restore not only to the same hypervisor but to dissimilar hardware or an entirely different virtualization platform.
IT teams need to perform recovery drills before they start migration, not just after cutover.
A platform-agnostic backup architecture provides a necessary safety net. It enables restoration from the source environment to the destination environment, and it allows rapid reversion to the original platform if compatibility or performance issues arise.
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The bottom line is that data remains safe and accessible.
Any-to-any hypervisor recovery — restoration from physical, virtual or cloud environments to any other destination — reduces migration risk and has the added advantage of reducing long-term vendor lock-in.
How to avoid three risks most teams underestimate during migration
Even the most carefully planned and executed migrations can fail for predictable reasons.
1. Teams often underestimate planned downtime
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Too many teams plan for an ideal level of downtime as opposed to a worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, migrations frequently stretch beyond maintenance windows. If a window closes when systems are not stable, organizations can suffer missed transactions, stalled operations, SLA violations and reputational damage.
That’s why migration planning must include a formal business continuity strategy, Ask in advance:
How long can each workload realistically be offline?
What happens if rollback is required?
Who makes the go or no-go decision?
What is the communication plan if restoration time exceeds expectations?
Backup and recovery are critical. The ability to quickly restore workloads to their original platform can mean the difference between a short delay and a multi-day outage.
2. Backup and recovery gaps can plague transitions
Migration creates a dangerous gray zone for backup and disaster recovery, with environments are often split between old and new platforms. That is when recoverability must be strongest. The time it takes to restore backups from either environment is critical.
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Common gaps appear when:
Backup chains are broken during VM exports.
Incremental backup jobs may fail after platform conversion.
Application-consistent snapshots are not validated on the new hypervisor.
DR replication targets are not synchronized during phased cutovers.
Backup and recovery must function continuously throughout the migration. IT teams need to maintain parallel protection during overlap periods so that workloads are recoverable from both the legacy and target platforms until the transition is finished.
3. An expanding attack surface means backup images need protection
Migration also expands your attack surface.
With two hypervisor stacks running, complexity spikes. Backup repositories, an image-level backups in particular, can become high-value targets. If attackers compromise them during migration, your rollback and recovery options disappear.
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Immutability is essential during this phase. IT teams need to protect backup images against modification or deletion, even by privileged accounts. They need to tighten role-based access controls and limit administrative access.
Equally important is adherence to the 3-2-1 principle: At least three copies of data, on two different media types, with one copy stored off-site or offline. During migration, that third copy becomes critical insurance.
If both production and primary backup infrastructure are affected, an isolated copy preserves your recovery path.
The value of a natively integrated platform
Maintaining parallel protection is essential because it lowers operational risk. However, it also increases management complexity. Two hypervisor stacks, multiple storage systems and parallel protection policies must coexist without creating gaps.
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A unified cyber protection platform can simplify this process for IT teams. A unified cyber protection platform can reduce complexity by delivering consistent backup, recovery and security controls across physical servers, hypervisors and cloud workloads through a single point of control.
Natively integrated protection and migration capabilities in Acronis Cyber Protect can reduce transition timelines while maintaining rollback readiness and continuous synchronization.
Migration as a resilience opportunity
The shift away from VMware has made one concept clear: Migration planning is a long-term competency, not a one-time project.
Teams that succeed treat hypervisor transitions as resilience exercises. They validate backups in advance, ensure cross-platform recovery capability, maintain rollback paths, harden backup storage against ransomware and verify data integrity after cutover.
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With these safeguards in place, migration becomes more predictable and significantly more likely to succeed.
VMware migrations don’t have to be slow, risky or disruptive.
With Acronis Cyber Protect, IT teams gain a flexible, responsive platform that accelerates migration while delivering AI‑powered security, backup and recovery in one natively integrated solution.
If you’re planning a move away from VMware, see how Acronis helps organizations migrate faster and stay protected at every step.
With newer car brands like Tesla gaining prominence, along with the broader rise of electric powertrains, and other formerly high-end technology becoming common on even the most basic new cars, it often feels that the line between luxury automakers and mainstream car brands is blurrier than ever.
Still, no matter what type of powertrain is under the hood, there are lots of car buyers who desire the prestige, performance, and extra amenities that come with these luxury brands, and they’re happy to pay the additional cost to own them. This market position is distinct enough for luxury brands to have their own separate category when it comes to ranking things like reliability and customer satisfaction. When it comes to the top-ranked luxury brand for customer satisfaction, the winner shouldn’t be too surprising for anyone who has followed the industry for a while.
In the 2025 American Customer Satisfaction Index Automobile Study, it was the Toyota-owned Lexus that ranked highest among luxury automakers, jumping up two spots and overtaking both Mercedes-Benz and Tesla when compared to the previous year’s rankings. A big part of of that is the wide-ranging and high-quality Lexus hybrid vehicle lineup, with hybrids in general earning higher satisfaction rankings across all brands, especially when compared to electric vehicles.
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Hybrid is the way
ACSI conducted its automobile satisfaction survey between 2024 and 2025, surveying a little under 10,000 vehicle owners on a variety of different categories that summarize the ownership experience. The list includes traditional satisfaction categories like driving performance, efficiency, comfort, and reliability, along with two new categories added for 2025, total range on a fuel tank or electric charge, and expected resale value.
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Lexus took the top spot among all luxury brands with a total score of 87 on a scale of 100, five points ahead of second-place Mercedes-Benz. The result isn’t shocking, as the brand’s corporate parent, Toyota, is also ranked highly when it comes to customer satisfaction. What especially drove Lexus’ rise in this year’s rankings is its hybrid vehicles. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles like the popular Lexus RX 500h crossover make up a big part of the brand’s volume, with the vast majority of the Lexus lineup offering some form of hybrid powertrain.
When separated by powertrain type across all luxury brands, hybrids earned the highest satisfaction score with an 83 out of 100, followed by gasoline at 80, and electric at 78. While Lexus does have EV offerings in its lineup, the brand has largely gone the way of parent company Toyota in focusing heavily on hybrid models over pure electric vehicles. Right now, that decision seems to be paying dividends, especially when compared to the European luxury brands that have pursued EVs more aggressively.
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Other findings in the luxury car market
Overall, across the luxury segment, customer satisfaction scores were down slightly in 2025 from the previous year, with most of that decline attributed to poor performance from electric vehicles, particularly those from Audi and BMW. In its findings, ACSI points out that high driver frustration with those German EVs not only drags down an individual brand’s rankings, but aggregates customer satisfaction across all brands.
One of the new customer satisfaction categories added for 2025, which looks at the driving distance on a full charge or full tank of gas is especially interesting to look at, as it represents a real-world interpretation of driving range that can differ from official specs or EPA ratings. It’s here where luxury hybrids win once again, with a score of 76, compared to 74 for gasoline, and 71 for electric vehicles.
As for the future, with EV sales on a downward trend in America, it’s possible that brands like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes could regain some of their lost ground if EVs represent a smaller slice of their sales going forward, but for now, Lexus seems to be in the catbird seat. Along with luxury brand rankings, ACSI’s study also covers mass market brands, and in the 2025 mass market car customer satisfaction rankings, it was another Japanese automaker that earned the number one spot.
Apple introduction of its late Siri overhaul is expected to finally arrive during WWDC, as part of a trend by the company to improve the quality of the software it ships.
We’re still waiting for New Siri…
Apple was thought to be preparing its big update to Siri for a developer beta of iOS 26.4, as well as similar betas for macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26.4. With it not visible in the developer beta builds at this late stage, the next probable launch time for it will be during WWDC in June. However, Siri faces being only a part of a number of areas Apple will improve during its annual developer showcase. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
The Camp Snap is a digital pocket camera with the design of a retro-styled film camera. It’s extremely inexpensive and leans into the digicam trend that’s popular among 20-somethings and younger. It doesn’t quite succeed in the same way similar cameras do, like the Flashback.
Image quality is fairly mediocre, even for a budget camera, which, to be fair, might be what some people are looking for with the retro trend. However, spending even a small amount more can get you better images to start with, giving you more options for how the final photos look.
For the price, the Camp Snap isn’t bad. In fact, it’s better than some ultrabudget cameras I’ve tested, but beyond the overall design, the Camp Snap has less to offer, even compared to other cameras with similar vibes and style.
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Camp Snap specs
Photo resolution
8 megapixels (3,264×2,448)
Video resolution
N/A
Sensor size
1/3.2-inch
Lens
32mm (35mm equivalent) f/1.8
Image stabilization
None
Screen type
Monochrome LCD with image count only
Storage
MicroSD (4GB card included)
Weight
97grams (0.2 pounds)
App
None
The Camp Snap has fairly unimpressive specs, not too surprising for something that costs $70. The version I bought was V105, which overall looks the same as previous versions but has the ability to install custom filters for the photos and a slight redesign of the flash toggle.
The toggle also turns the camera on and off. Previous versions used the shutter button to do that. I can see why they made that change. It’s far less likely to take 50 photos of the inside of your bag with a physical power switch.
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Geoff Morrison/CNET
Surprisingly, the camera actually has a removable microSD card on the bottom under a door that’s secured with a screw. That’s not exactly the most user-friendly design, which I suppose is why Camp Snap recommends connecting the camera via USB and barely mentions the card.
Next to the card slot, hidden by the same door, are the extent of the Camp Snap’s settings: a mode button and two others for up and down. This is to set the date recorded in the photo’s metadata. That’s it. No exposure settings, modes, switchable filters, nada.
This camera was designed to replicate the feeling of using disposable film cameras. If you want more than that, look elsewhere.
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Geoff Morrison/CNET
You can install a filter for your photos, though this process also isn’t user-friendly. To switch filters, you need to plug the camera into a computer and download a .flt file from the Camp Snap website, drop it into the camera’s memory and all images taken after that will use that filter’s settings. You can’t change it on the go, and unlike the Flashback, you don’t get unfiltered photos to adjust later.
Geoff Morrison/CNET
You can, however, design your own filter if one of the premade options on the website isn’t to your liking. It’s an easy-to-use interface, complete with a preview of your adjustments.
Most people buying the Camp Snap will probably stick with either the preinstalled “Camp Classic” or “Vintage” filter (it’s called both on different parts of its site) or choose one of the other premade ones that are available, but being able to design your own this easily is a great feature.
However, again, switching filters isn’t as simple as pressing a button or scrolling through menus.
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The filter design page on Camp Snap’s website.
Camp Snap/CNET
Not having Bluetooth or Wi-Fi is likely one of the reasons the Camp Snap is so cheap. It’s also why spending a bit more on the Flashback is probably a wise investment. Not having to connect to a computer to do anything is definitely a bonus.
The other problem is that the base image quality isn’t great, limiting the effectiveness of the filters in general. I’ll get to that in the next section.
Usability and photo quality
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All images in this section are unedited other than cropping and use the preinstalled Camp Classic/Vintage filter unless otherwise noted.
Geoff Morrison/CNET
Using the Camp Snap isn’t quite as satisfying as the Flashback either. First, it feels even more cheaply made. You wouldn’t think there’d be much of a difference between the Camp Snap’s 97 grams and the Flashback’s 147 grams, but it’s noticeable, and the lighter Camp Snap feels even more disposable.
There’s less tactile and audible enjoyment as well, with a cheap-feeling shutter button, extremely unsatisfying electronic shutter sound and none of the ratcheting click-click-click of the Flashback’s “film” advance dial.
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Geoff Morrison/CNET
That said, with a single button and no settings to adjust, the Camp Snap is obviously very easy to use. It doesn’t even have a screen, unless you count a small monochromatic LCD that shows the picture count. You can line up a shot with an optical viewfinder. These never worked particularly well, but it’s better than nothing.
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Geoff Morrison/CNET
Going for the retro aesthetic is one thing, but it invites the question: What’s retro? Does that mean the 2000s digital cameras? Or is it 90s disposable film cameras? Black and white?
Digital cameras have long had settings and “filters” that adjust how the final image looks. Some, like many Fujifilm cameras, have built a cult following around their filters (or, as we in the cult call them, recipes).
The Camp Snap’s preinstalled filter is alternately called Camp Classic or Vintage, which they describe as “that classic summer camp vibe.” But again, summer camp from what period?
Geoff Morrison/CNET
The images with the preinstalled filter have an overly warm color temperature that wasn’t typical in-era, but some imagine it was. The images are noisy and oversharpened, looking vaguely like a budget 2000s digital camera or early camera phone. The camera also tends to blow out highlights. They look better than the Kodak Charmera, at least.
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From left to right: Camp Classic/Vintage, Kodaclone, 101Clone and a custom “neutral” filter made using the website tool’s Standard preset.
Geoff Morrison/CNET
I can see what Camp Snap was trying for with the looks of some of the filters, but because the underlying images are mediocre, the filters end up looking like the kind of filters you’d get on a cheap digital camera that you never use after the first day.
Then again, that’s not entirely different than what Camp Snap says it’s going for with this camera. Such marketing just ends up feeling like “if you can’t fix it, feature it,” though. Or to put it another way, you could do what these filters are doing on a camera that produces better images, and the final result would overall be better.
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Maybe I’m overthinking it. If people wanted “better” photos, they wouldn’t be looking to mimic old disposable cameras.
More camp, less snap
Geoff Morrison/CNET
I’ve mentioned it a bunch in this review because I came away from my time with the Flashback rather enamored with it. It’s a nostalgia-induced dopamine hit for those who used disposable cameras and something delightfully retro for many (most?) of its potential customers that likely never experienced such things the first time around. That’s fine — every generation has that about something.
The bones on the Flashback were good, though. It took decent pictures for a $120 camera, and it was easy to use. I didn’t get that same warm feeling after my time with the Camp Snap. This is a very inexpensive camera that feels and performs like a very inexpensive camera, trying to mimic something it isn’t.
The Camp Snap has the added hassle of needing to connect to a computer to view your images. Not ideal. Even if you have a microSD card reader for your phone, you’d need to also carry a tiny screwdriver to get at the card. Also not ideal.
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Then there’s the pictures themselves, which are retro but in a bad way. The Flashback presents images that are an idealized aesthetic of what once was. The Camp Snap is what was, specifically, the worst cameras of the era.
Swan boats with the 101Clone filter taken approximately 0.75 miles from the 101 highway.
Geoff Morrison/CNET
Physically, though, it looks great, and is available in a selection of colors I wish more products had in this era of grays on grays on grays. I don’t believe for a second they sell out of specific colors as often as its website says. That manufactured scarcity seems to be a trend in budget camera viral marketing.
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For a little more, the Flashback is the better option. Also, for the same price as that camera is a step-up Camp Snap model, the CS-Pro, which has a 16-megapixel resolution and the ability to choose between four filters on the fly. Plus, it upgrades the flash from the base model’s LED to Xenon.
That latter feature should help get that 90s flashbang look when using it. Camp Snap’s marketing says it has better image quality, but it still doesn’t have Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. It also has a silver-on-black design that looks like SLRs from the 70s. To each their own, but I prefer the color options of the base Camp, snappy as they are.
