If what you value in a label maker is a result that looks polished, professional, and decidedly not homemade, the P-touch Cube Plus is calling your name. It allows for great versatility in its labels, printing on tape as narrow as 6 mm and as wide as 24 mm, meaning you can use it to organize the small jars on your spice rack and large boxes in your storage unit.
The Cube Plus also supports a huge selection of designs, with hundreds of fonts, borders, and graphics, available via your choice of three design apps and platforms accessible via Bluetooth connection: Brother Design&Print 2 (also compatible with the Brother PT-n25bt), iPrint&Label, and P-touch Editor software that you can use with a desktop, the latter of which I did not test. Like the Brother Design&Print 2 app, discussed above, the iPrint&Label is seamless to use. Its templates are less ornate, but on this upscale device, I found this simple quality to be nice, eliminating the time-suck of customization flourishes but still producing a professional-quality label. You do have to use one of these apps, though, as there’s no on-device keyboard. Once you select “print,” the connection is quick—just a couple of seconds—and the Cube Plus self-cuts your new label for you.
At nearly three times the price of the Brother PT-n25bt, the Cube Plus’ upscale features do come at a cost, though—and the bills don’t stop once you buy the machine. The Cube Plus works with Brother’s TZe laminated label tape; replacement cartridges start at $15 for black print on clear tape and are pricier for specialty colors, like $24 for black print on glitter yellow tape. But the labels feel as premium as they claim to be, with text printed between seven layers of lamination. In my testing, the tape held up to heat, sunlight, microwaving, dishwashing, and general wear and tear.
Price aside, there is something joy-inducing about making a jazzed-up label—my 4-year-old, for one, was thrilled about his shimmery gold new lunchbox label. Also, I was intrigued to learn that Brother sells a TZe fabric label tape that’s compatible with the Cube Plus. Though I didn’t test it, fabric tape is something I haven’t seen as an option on other home label makers, and parents in particular will find the ability to label clothes super-useful, even though this version still requires the extra step of ironing it on.
| Specs | |
|---|---|
| Type of ink | Thermal transfer |
| Power source: | USB |
| Dimensions: | 5″ x 2.6″ x 5″ |
| App compatibility: | Brother Design&Print 2, iPrint&Label, or P-touch Editor software from a PC |
| Tape-width range and cost: | 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, 18 mm, and 24 mm widths, available in dozens of color options, starting at $15 for 26.2-ft tape cartridges |
| Warranty: | 1 year limited |
Bill Gates has published a memo proposing a tax on AI, a category of jobs reserved for humans and new institutions to manage the transition, and told GeekWire that industry leaders are worried privately while staying quiet publicly. He proposed a robot tax in February 2017, the same month the European Parliament adopted robotics rules that left the tax out.
Bill Gates says the people building AI are worried in private and quiet in public. “I know they’re all worried. Or all of them that I know, which is basically everybody but Elon,” he told GeekWire.
The reason he is talking is a memo he published this week. It argues the industry is crossing the safety lines it set for itself, and that nobody is preparing for what follows.
TNW covered the proposals when it landed. A tax on AI, a category of jobs reserved for humans, and new institutions to manage the transition.
The interview adds the part he did not put in writing. “Even lack of control that I thought would be many years from now, we’re seeing lack of control,” he said.
On the tax, Gates is repeating himself. He first proposed taxing robots in February 2017, when the argument was about factory automation rather than models, and the reasoning was the same.
Europe answered that question the same month. The European Parliament voted 396 to 123, with 85 abstentions, on rules for robotics, and the tax was not in what passed.
What passed instead is worth reading. The resolution asked the Commission to look at the viability of member states’ social security systems as robots spread, which is the diagnosis behind the remedy MEPs had just dropped.
It also floated something stranger. The adopted text raised electronic personhood for the most sophisticated autonomous robots, an idea that has gone nowhere since.
The rapporteur was not pleased. Mady Delvaux said certain coalitions in the Parliament had rejected a forward-looking debate about workers, and the robotics industry welcomed the outcome.
Nine years on the position has not moved. The AI Act regulates risk and requires human oversight, and TNW has asked whether it can protect jobs without stifling innovation.
It does neither of the things Gates wants. It does not tax a model, it does not reserve a category of work for people, and no member state has proposed either.
The evidence base is thinner than either side admits. TNW has argued that what AI is doing to jobs in Europe looks different from the headline numbers.
Which leaves the memo where it started. A man who proposed this in 2017 is proposing it again, and Europe has already voted.
Anthropic is warning some Claude users that infostealer malware on their PCs has stolen active Claude login sessions, allowing attackers to access accounts and consume their usage.
The company is signing affected users out of Claude, removing saved payment methods, and refunding charges it identifies as unauthorized.
“We have recently become aware of a bad actor that is using common infostealer malware to steal Claude login sessions from people’s computers, then using those login sessions to access Claude accounts and consume their usage,” Anthropic said in an email sent to an affected user, who shared it on Reddit.
“If your usage limits looked like they refilled and then drained while you weren’t using Claude, this was likely the cause,” Anthropic warned.
It is also worth noting that infostealers can copy an already authenticated browser session, which means the attacker may not need to go through the normal password and 2FA login process again.
In the email, which is also being sent out to other compromised account holders, Anthropic says its investigation is ongoing, but computers were likely already infected with general-purpose infostealer malware.
“We have no reason to believe that this malware is related to Claude, installed through Claude, or related to anything you did with Claude,” the company stressed.
According to Anthropic, the malware typically arrives through downloads or malicious apps and steals information stored locally, including browser passwords, login cookies, and credentials belonging to other apps.
“Your Claude session was likely one of the many things it collected. It appears that a bad actor has now started picking the Claude sessions out of what it collected and using them,” Anthropic said.
In this case, the Redditor who shared the email confirmed that they downloaded a pirated game, which explains why their system got compromised.
Anthropic has identified multiple malware, including Vidar, LummaC2, StealC, RedLine, and Acreed on Windows, along with Atomic Stealer (AMOS) on a small number of Macs.
If you get affected, Claude will revoke compromised sessions and remove saved payment methods to prevent unauthorized purchases.
“Signing you out of Claude stops the stolen sessions, but it doesn’t remove the malware,” Anthropic warned. “If it’s still on your computer, your next login session could be stolen the same way.”
Anthropic has urged affected users to take basic security steps, including changing credentials, revoking other sessions, and removing the malware from the PCs.
Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply.
The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments.
Google Maps now labels Lake Ontario as Lake America for users in the United States, following an update to the US Geographic Names Information System, while Canadian users see the old name and everyone else sees both. Google Maps has been a designated very large online platform in the EU since April 2023, with duties to assess systemic risks including effects on civic discourse.
Google Maps now shows Lake Ontario as Lake America to anyone using it in the United States. Alphabet announced the change, Bloomberg reported.
What you see depends on where you are standing. Canadian users still get Lake Ontario, and everyone else, Europe included, gets both names printed on the same water.
The trigger was a database entry. The US Geographic Names Information System was updated on 27 August, after President Trump said he would rename the lake.
“These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country,” Alphabet said in a statement.
Not everyone went along with it. MapQuest refused outright and built a generator letting users invent their own names for the lake, and Apple Maps was still showing Lake Ontario to American users.
There is a precedent for the mechanism. The Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America in the same product last year, under the same stated policy.
The rule underneath is worth stating plainly. A government can change what the world’s most used map says by changing its own naming database.
Europe has that machinery too. Geographical names are a harmonised data theme under the INSPIRE directive, maintained by national mapping agencies.
No European government has used it this way. That is an observation about restraint rather than about capability, and the two are easily confused.
The other half of this is regulatory. Google Maps has been a designated very large online platform in the EU since April 2023.
That designation brings duties with it. A platform of that size has to assess the systemic risks arising from the design and functioning of its service, including negative effects on civic discourse and public security.
The Commission does act on those duties. Poland has asked it to fine Meta €250M over scam advertising under the same regime.
Nobody has tested the mapping question. A product that shows two countries different geography, on the strength of one database entry, has never had to explain itself in Brussels.
In this week’s Sunday Reboot, Apple’s inconvenient Mac launch timing and the transition from Cook to Ternus nears its conclusion.
Sunday Reboot is a weekly column covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days. All to get the next week underway with a good first step.
It is the pre-iPhone event season, and the media is hard at work preparing for what Apple will be showing off in its early September event. It’s usually a busy period, with lots of pre-writing of pieces that will be adjusted and added to as Apple makes its announcements.
Except this week, Apple decided to change things up a lot. It announced some products way earlier than we expected.
Cue a week of writing about the Mac Studio, the Mac mini, and the new M6 generation of Apple Silicon.
To people covering Apple, this meant a sudden influx of launches to analyze and write about at length. This wouldn’t entirely be a bad thing, except that we were expecting Mac stuff to arrive either during the September event or in October.
The Mac preparations usually happen after the iPhone launch posts. This meant the Mac posts this week were created with no pre-made elements, no prep work. Doing it live.
However, one thing did pop into my head about this week’s Mac launch. Why did Apple do this now?
Mac Studio, one of Apple’s August updates.
Someone speculating on Apple’s current situation may see it as an attempt by Apple to shake up how it launches products even more. After all, it’s already separated the Pro and non-Pro iPhone launches, so other changes are fair game.
The impending Ternus change could be a license for Apple to switch things up even more.
There’s also the idea that Apple would rather use its events for bigger product launches, like its new smart home items. They would certainly rank higher than a spec-bump update.
However, looking back over Apple’s launches in recent years, we also see that it’s not entirely a new phenomenon for the company.
The last time Apple launched a product in August was an iMac in 2020. Since then, it has launched Mac products in June and July, such as the M2 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in 2022, as well as the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, and Mac Studio updates in 2023.
There was a HomePod mini update in July 2024, but nothing Mac-based during the summers of 2024 and 2025. That doesn’t mean Apple gave up on them, as this week’s Mac launches have confirmed.
The real question is whether Apple has more products that it could put out in October to warrant a second event. With some of its Mac lineup already announced, that reduces the potential pool of Mac updates.
With this year introducing a folding iPhone that will eat into the September event’s time, we may see Apple keeping its OLED iPad mini update for the October one, alongside a much smaller collection of MacBook launches.
This early batch of Mac launches could well be in service of creating two events that have far fewer products on show.
For us at least, it helps spread the stress out a little.
The week ahead will be a major one for Apple’s history. Apple CEO Tim Cook is vacating his role for a similar board-based one, and giving it up for hardware chief John Ternus to take over.
It’s a transition that we have known about for months, thanks to Apple’s decision to announce the change in advance. But as the changeover date draws near, you can expect an awful lot of coverage about it.
Looking to the past, there’s going to be discussions about Cook’s legacy, reminiscing about key moments at the company, and picking apart what he got right and wrong.
Then there’s the other side of the coin. Articles explaining who Ternus is, speculation on how the company could change, and a lot about potential executive team changes.
From Apple itself, you’re not going to get much of a song or dance about the situation.
Pikachu at Apple Park.
Sure, there will be press releases about Cook’s role shift, as well as one about Ternus becoming CEO. Cook will also take to social media to thank Apple employees for their work, and Apple’s fans too.
But really, this week ahead is going to be a gradual introduction of Ternus to the public. A very gradual one, that has so far involved Pikachu.
Apple will want to gently break in Ternus being in charge, because not everyone knows about this. At September’s special event, despite the long wind-up period, people are still going to see Ternus and ask who he is in complete surprise.
Maybe Apple could do its own version of the “Doctor Who” regenerations as a pre-announcement skit.
Last week’s Sunday Reboot talked about the leaked video for the AirPods Pro with Cameras, and how they could be the best smart glasses for people who wear glasses.
on-prem
Tree huggers aim to end blanket critical infrastructure status for bit barns and ensure environmental standards are met
The Green Party of England and Wales wants the government to end the blanket designation of new bit barns as “critical infrastructure” and change planning rules to stop such facilities taking precedence over households for water and energy.
The current UK government designated datacenters as critical national infrastructure (CNI) back in 2024, putting them on the same footing as essential services such as water and power. This made them eligible for special protection, but may also make it easier for developers to overcome any local objections to their construction, as The Register pointed out.
The Green Party claims that CNI status means that server farms are prioritized for access to water and energy, even when ordinary households are hit with drought restrictions, as over 27 million people currently are in England.
It wants to see planning permission for new facilities granted only when the developer can show it will meet the highest environmental standards, and there has been full community consultation.
“We need to slam the brakes on the rampant building of new datacenters which could put our communities at risk of water shortages and drive up energy bills – and yet are currently being waved through by our government,” said Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
“Data should serve people, not the other way around – but right now, because datacenters are designated as critical infrastructure, people come a poor second, with datacenters even being given priority for water and electricity.”
“We need clear criteria to distinguish between datacenters vital to national security or public services, and those that simply serve private tech companies and private profit,” Polanski added.
There was certainly talk earlier this year of prioritizing “strategically important” grid connections, which would include data campuses, and a report published by the London Assembly late last year highlighted the pressure on the power supply in the capital, with some areas of West London having to put a hold on new housing developments.
On the water side, MPs were warned earlier this year that official forecasts of England’s future water needs excluded datacenters, despite the growing number of them, and that they could end up competing with homes and businesses for supply.
The Green Party claims that a single large-scale datacenter can use around 1.5 million liters (396,258 US gallons) of water per day, comparable to the daily water needs of a town of around 10,000 people. Yet bit barn construction is projected to expand rapidly, with growth often concentrated in areas already classified as water-stressed, like London and the South East.
But water consumption can vary, depending on the cooling systems in use at specific facilities. In theory, newer campuses should require less water, especially if they are deploying AI infrastructure that uses so-called direct-to-chip cooling, where fluid is circulated through a closed-loop system.
A government spokesperson told us: “A pause on building new datacenters would simply send investment and good jobs abroad, while leaving Britain dependent on overseas computing for the processing of sensitive health and defense data. Put simply, it would be a disaster for jobs and national security.”
However, the spokesperson added: “This does not mean a blank cheque for Big Tech or that every datacenter should be approved. Developers should prioritize clean power, use water responsibly, create British jobs and supply chains, and provide investment to the communities in which they are built.”
The Green Party is also calling on the government to urgently develop a comprehensive national strategy for AI infrastructure, as the country is currently dependent on foreign-owned infrastructure for critical services, from healthcare to public safety – something the Institute for Public Policy Research was warning about just this week. ®
The Manchester Airports Group data breach has been claimed by extortion group FulcrumSec, which told BleepingComputer that it stole approximately 86 GB of data.
Samples reviewed by BleepingComputer contained information consistent with MAG’s disclosure while indicating that the breach exposed considerably more detailed customer, booking, and travel information than initially revealed.
Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the United Kingdom’s largest airport operator, disclosed on August 27 that an unauthorized third party had stolen customer data related to Manchester, London Stansted, and East Midlands airports.
The company said the affected information came from car park, lounge, and Fast Track bookings and in-airport Wi-Fi registrations.
In emails to BleepingComputer, FulcrumSec claimed responsibility for the attack and shared samples of the allegedly stolen data as evidence.
BleepingComputer validated one record by comparing it with the traveller’s known Manchester Airport purchase history.
The record accurately listed previous Fast Track purchases, booking and scheduled-arrival times, the terminal used, amounts paid, purchase references, total spending and the apparent purpose of the trips.
The material included a roughly 21.5 GB Manchester customer export containing consolidated profiles that combined customer identifiers with historical booking activity and marketing classifications.
The group claims it obtained access using airport-specific Iterable API credentials exposed in client-side JavaScript and that the stolen material includes nearly 200,000 records related to upcoming travel during the remainder of 2026.
These records allegedly contain dates, times and booking information linked to personally identifiable information.
FulcrumSec says it intends to publish the stolen data and a technical account of the intrusion. However, it told BleepingComputer that it is considering withholding or redacting those records because of the potential for “real-world harm.”
While the samples appeared authentic, BleepingComputer could not independently verify the alleged source or extent of the threat actor’s access, the overall size of the stolen dataset, or the claim concerning nearly 200,000 upcoming-travel records.
After completing its verification, BleepingComputer securely deleted all supplied material without retaining copies and will not publish or share any part of it.
FulcrumSec is a financially motivated data-extortion group active since 2025 that focuses on stealing sensitive corporate data and threatening to publish it rather than encrypting victims’ systems.
The group has previously claimed attacks on organizations including LexisNexis, Novo Nordisk, Global Schools Group, and Avnet.
BleepingComputer contacted MAG again before publication and asked the company to address FulcrumSec’s claims concerning the 86 GB dataset, exposed credentials and future-travel data.
A spokesperson declined to address the specific claims, referring instead to an updated statement confirming that affected customers with upcoming bookings had been contacted.
“MAG is confident that we have taken effective measures to protect our customers and we have contacted all those affected, including reaching out to all those with upcoming bookings to advise them of additional support,” a MAG spokesperson told BleepingComputer.
The attackers reportedly demanded a monetary ransom, which MAG was understood to have refused to pay.
Beyond the email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registrations and postcodes disclosed by MAG, sampled records contained purchase and booking references, airport and product selections, prices, discounts, booking status, parking dates and times, historical spending, IP addresses, approximate locations, device information and customer-engagement data.
BleepingComputer did not observe payment-card or bank-account information in the reviewed samples.
Unlike US ZIP codes, which generally cover broader delivery areas, a full UK postcode can identify a small group of neighboring properties. According to the UK Office for National Statistics, a typical small-user postcode covers approximately 15 addresses, while some postcodes are assigned to a single address.
Combined with contact, vehicle and travel information, these details could allow attackers to reference a victim’s airport, vehicle, parking dates, booking status or purchased services in convincing phishing emails, text messages or telephone scams impersonating MAG or a booking provider.
MAG said it has contacted affected customers and advised them to remain vigilant for suspicious emails, text messages, and telephone calls.
The airport operator stressed that it would never contact customers unexpectedly to request payment-card details, banking information, or passwords.
The incident has not caused operational disruption, and MAG says passenger safety and aviation security were not compromised.
A MAG spokesperson previously told the Manchester Evening News that around 8.7 million customers were affected, although only email addresses were exposed for the “vast majority.”
That makes it the largest known customer data breach affecting a British airport operator.
With files from Bill Toulas
Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply.
The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments.
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The LS Luxe is the new high-point — by which I mean ‘most expensive’ — of KEF’s fêted range of wireless stereo speaker systems. Having precisely nothing left to prove where products of this type are concerned in the lower $1,000 / £750 – $3,400 / £2,500 arena, the company has made a decisive move upmarket — and the LS Luxe seems to leave very little to chance where engineering, specification and aesthetic shock and awe are concerned.
You will make your own mind up about the looks, of course; for my money, the ‘eclipse black’ of my review sample is the least successful of the three available finishes, but there’s no denying the LS Luxe is an individual looker in a market where design flourishes are always at a premium. But when talk turns to engineering and specification, subjectivity ceases to be all that much of an issue.
Numerous input options (both wired and wireless), genuinely high-resolution playback (24bit/192kHz is yours if you connect the speakers together, while 24bit/96kHz is available from a wireless connection), and some proven technologies exclusive to KEF serve to make the LS Luxe look like a very serious proposition on the page.It’s only fractionally less serious when it comes to performance, too.
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Make sure you’ve positioned the speakers carefully, get beyond the slightly restricted dimensions of the soundstage it conjures… and then there’s a huge amount to enjoy here. Some of the best stereo speakers on the market? Yes.
The LS Luxe is a deftly accomplished listen, able to combine forensic attention to detail with an energetic, almost forceful attitude that brings recordings of all types bounding to life. It manages to combine analysis with entertainment in a way that’s rare at any price.
The KEF LS Luxe wireless stereo speaker system is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it costs £3,499. In the United States it sells for $3,999, while in Australia the going rate is AU$6,399.
If you don’t want this to be the end of your spending, KEF will happily sell you a pair of its bespoke ‘S-Luxe’ speaker stands for £799 / $799 / AU$1199…
What of note at the level? The Sonus faber Duetto are the same price and also present a fantastic listen, albeit with a very different aesthetic.
It’s not the only thing that’s attention-grabbing about the look of the LS Luxe, of course, but there’s no denying that the 12th generation Uni-Q driver array is just as visually impactful as it was when the first generation was revealed back in 1988.
Here, it features a 25mm aluminium tweeter behind a complex waveguide, in the throat of a 165mm aluminum mid/bass cone — as always, the arrangement is designed for optimum time-alignment and superior driver integration.
A more recent KEF innovation, ‘metamaterial absorption technology’, sits behind the tweeter where it’s designed to mop up energy travelling from the back of the tweeter dome and allow for sweeter, cleaner treble response as a result.
The driver arrangement is mechanically decoupled from the cabinet, and a decoupling chassis within the assembly damps any vibrations from the motor system — in both cases, the idea is to reduce the vibration affecting the cabinet structure to an absolute minimum. Low distortion and sky-high clarity are the results KEF is aiming for.
Unusually, KEF has deployed two distinct methods of amplifying the Uni-Q array. Each mid/bass driver feels the benefit of 280 watts of Class D power, while each tweeter is driven by 100 watts of Class A/B amplification — an all-in total of 760 watts of power really ought to prove adequate. KEF reckons a frequency response of 42Hz – 28kHz results from all this very thorough engineering.
Naturally, that’s not the end of it where clever technologies are concerned. KEF’s ‘Velocity Control Technology’, first seen in the XIO soundbar, measures the speed of movement of the cone and compensates for discrepancies between actual and expected values in real time. The ‘Music Integrity Engine’, meanwhile, maintains tonal consistency at all volume levels.
In terms of getting audio information into the system where it can be had at by these various highlights of specification, your options are fairly extensive. Dual-band wi-fi is on board, naturally — there’s also an Ethernet socket on the rear of the ‘primary’ speaker for absolute network stability — and this allows the system to be compatible with Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, the ‘Connect’ versions of Qobuz, Spotify and TIDAL, and UPnP. Internet radio is available too, and Roon Ready status is due to be confirmed much sooner rather than later.
A USB-C slot looks promising, but it’s ‘only’ a 5V output for charging. Bluetooth 5.3 is also on board as an additional wireless option – all the wireless stuff is handled by KEF’s proven ‘W2 Wireless Platform’.
The primary speaker is also home to the system’s physical connectivity. Here that means an HDMI eARC socket, optical and coaxial digital inputs, and a 3.5mm analogue input, as well as a kettle-lead socket for connection to mains power, a pre-out for a subwoofer and an RJ45 socket for connection to the secondary speaker. That secondary speaker makes do with a mains power socket, a corresponding RJ45 and a subwoofer pre-out.
The LS Luxe will support resolutions of up to 24bit/384kHz and DSD128 via its network inputs, 24bit/192kHz via coaxial and HDMI, and 24bit/96kHz via its optical input. If the speakers are connected using the supplied cable, everything is up- or down-sampled to 24bit/192kHz – if you decide the cleaner look of a wireless connection between the two is your preference, then the system tops out at 24bit/96kHz.
First things first: the LEF LS Luxe is not remotely forgiving where the positioning of the speakers is concerned.
The overwhelming majority of stereo speakers I’ve tested, both active and passive, have given their best when toed in towards the listening position — in fact, off the top of my head I can only think of Dali that recommends its speakers should be pointing dead ahead to perform to their full potential. The KEF, though, like only the tiniest amount of toe-in. Too little or, especially, too much and they lose some of the width of their soundstage and a more noticeable amount of sonic height.
Even when ideally positioned, the soundstage they generate is not the biggest you’ve ever heard. It escapes the confines of cabinets quite comfortably, in both horizontal and vertical directions, but is still relatively limited.
Mind you, it’s fair to say a) the soundstage is extremely well laid-out and controlled, and b) that’s just about where my complaints end regarding the way the LS Luxe performs. In every other respect it’s a remarkably accomplished listen, and is undoubtedly one of the most effective pound-for-pound wireless stereo speaker systems around.
No matter if you listen to the avant-electronica of Arca’s eponymous debut album via a CD player connected to the KEFs digital optical input, a 24bit/192kHz FLAC file of David Bowie’s Stationtostation wirelessly streamed from Qobuz Connect or a heavyweight vinyl reissue of Takk… by Sigur Rós from a pre-amplified turntable, the LS Luxe is a remarkably articulate, utterly revealing and deftly punchy system that is likely to steal your time away.
The tonal balance is exquisitely neutral. The KEF is more than happy to get out of the way of a recording and let it dictate terms in this respect. It’s similarly balanced and egoless where frequency response is concerned, too — it digs deep into the low frequencies and hits with real authority and control, while the opposite end has the substance to counteract the brilliance of the treble response, but at no point does the system over- or understate any part of the range.
The balanced and even-handed nature of its presentation goes a long way towards creating a strong impression of fidelity. So does the amount of detail it’s able to retrieve, reveal and contextualise. At every stage it is alert to the finest, most minor occurrences in a recording, in a voice or an individual instrument — and it’s able to give these details the appropriate amount of weighting no matter how fleeting they might be.
Its transient response is thrillingly positive, and the overall sound is eloquently alive and communicative as a result.
And when it comes to communication, the way the LS Luxe resolves the midrange means it’s brilliantly informative where voices are concerned. The minutiae of timbre, texture and technique are all made available, and the KEF can describe the attitude and character of a vocalist just as directly.
Rhythmic expression is confident, thanks to the careful control the system pays to the attack of low-frequency information. It’s a deftly fluent listen at the bottom end, and marries outright punch to a huge amount of tonal and textural variation. And when it comes to the dynamic of a recording, whether that’s the big shifts in intensity and volume or the more nuanced dynamics of harmonic changes, the KEF is an assured and convincing performer.
Q: When did you last see a pair of speakers that look like this? A: Never, that’s when.
The LS Luxe is the latest results of KEF’s ongoing collaboration with designer Ross Lovegrove and, just as with previous KEF/Lovegrove designs, there’s something almost organic about the shape of these loudspeakers.
The use of BMC (‘bulk moulding compound’) as the material for the cabinets means this smoothly curvaceous shape has no edges or visible seams, and is less prone to the build-up of internal standing waves than a more conventional box. It also means the requirement for internal bracing is minimised, so there’s greater internal volume than would otherwise be the case as a result. And there’s further visual drama at the rear of the cabinet: an elaborately shaped and channelled heatsink, fashioned from aluminium, has sufficient surface area to allow the heat from the internal electronics to be efficiently dispersed.
There’s also a fairly large bass reflex port nearby — it features KEF’s ‘Flexible Port Technology’. This means the walls of the port are not completely rigid, which should in theory help keep internal resonance to a minimum.
The LS Luxe is available in three finishes. My review sample is in ‘eclipse black’, which is my least favourite of the three. To my eyes it makes the cabinets look bulkier and heavier than they actually are. Check out the alternative ‘mineral white’ or ‘dusk titanium’ and see if you know what I mean. Regardless of the finish you choose, though, you’ll be the owner of a pair of speakers that are beautifully constructed, flawlessly finished, and both look and feel like the money’s-worth.
KEF didn’t supply me with the cost-option ‘S-Luxe’ stands developed specifically for use with this system, but unless you intend to position your speakers on a shelf or desktop (in which case I will judge you quite strongly) it’s worth factoring this extra cost in.
Other speaker stands work perfectly well, of course — I position the KEF on a pair of Soundstyle Z2, and they perform admirably. But the way the cabinet swoops and tapers towards the base means that a lot of the (regulation size) top plate of my stands is visible when the speaker is in place, and the look is not especially harmonious.
There’s really not that much to setting up the KEF LS Luxe, and once it’s set up it’s pretty straightforward to operate — but that’s not the same as saying it doesn’t require a little attention.
As already discussed, this is a wireless system that requires at least two wires; both speakers must be plugged into the mains. After that, you can choose to connect the speakers together using a supplied cable, or you can take the hit in terms of resolution and establish a wireless connection between them.
There are a couple of control methods available. KEF supplies quite a nice, metal-fronted remote control that covers off the fundamentals like playback, power, volume and input selection — and there’s also the ‘KEF Connect’ control app that’s free for iOS and Android.
Naturally it duplicates all the remote control functions, and adds in the ability to integrate music streaming services, search for and save internet radio stations, trim the system’s response to suit your specific environment, check for firmware updates and so on. It can be a little lethargic at times, but on the whole it’s a stable and useful user interface.
If you want your fancy new wireless stereo system to turn heads on the basis of its looks as well as its sound, you can’t really argue with the value the KEF LS Luxe represents.
If you’re after great build quality and nicely realised control options to go along with the sonic performance and the visual drama, the case for this system gets stronger still. The bespoke stands are no one’s idea of a bargain, admittedly, but in every other respect there’s undeniable value for money on offer here.
|
Attribute |
Notes |
Score |
|
Features |
As fully featured as you could ever hope in such a design |
5 / 5 |
|
Sound quality |
Very fussy with placement, but get it right and they’ll reward you |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Design |
Ross Lovegrove’s stylings won’t be for everyone, but they’re refreshingly unusual |
4 / 5 |
|
Setup & usability |
‘Wireless’ means either two or three wires, but a little patience gets things all set |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Value |
Excellent in the sound-per-pound stakes, but those stands are nobody’s idea of a bargain |
4 / 5 |
The Sonus faber Duetto is, in its own way, just as visually arresting as the LS Luxe — it’s more identifiably a pair of speakers, but the established Sonus faber virtue of outstanding cabinet-making means this system looks and even feels the part.
It’s no slouch sonically, either — it’s a composed, informative and periodically thrilling listen.
At the other end of the spectrum (at least where aesthetic considerations are concerned) you’ll find the sonically impeccable, visually challenging JBL 4329P. JBL speakers have looked like this since the middle of the last century, and there’s no denying that in terms of performance they’re a roaring success. Their appearance in your home may cause a row based on their divisive looks, though…
I position the KEF LS Luxe on a pair of Soundstyle Z2 speaker stands, and plug each one into the mains.
I listen with the speakers connected wirelessly, and I also listen when they’re physically joined together.
I stream music using TIDAL Connect and also access a lot of hi-res content from a Synology BeeStation Plus NAS device.
I connect a preamplified turntable to the analog input, a CD player to the coaxial input, and an OLED TV to the HDMI eARC socket. This means I’m able to access lots of different styles of content, in lots of different digital file types, and in a variety of resolutions.
A specific cadence for contemporary group chats eludes me. The rapid-fire tempo of texts combined with custom stickers, often based on inside jokes, leaves me behind. My digital fate: the silent lurker. As I let the notifications wash over me, I am a ghostlike figure haunting the group chat, a silent watcher who rarely responds without a specific invocation.
Group chats are dominating the social lives of younger Americans. In a recent YouGov poll, 34 percent of adults under 30 said they are in at least four group chats, whether via text or other messaging app. Power texters are spending hours juggling multiple message threads—3 percent of adults under 30 said they are in more than 20 distinct group chats.
These group chats are not just for the young folk, though. All attempts at social interactions now spark a new group message. A WhatsApp thread for our monthly book club. An Instagram group for that weekend getaway. A bulbous iMessage chat with random cousins attempting to plan a family reunion. Group chat hell is everywhere you turn.
Here are a few tips for maintaining your sanity during the reign of the group chat, without becoming a textless social pariah. Hint: It’s all about boundaries.
Maybe you thrive in the chaos of hundreds of notifications, but I don’t. I started by choosing which text threads were most important to me. A text thread with my immediate family is nonnegotiable. A group message about a trip that’s in one month is actually helpful for logistics. A random thread where people are throwing out Halloween ideas might be fun, but it’s on the chopping block. Make a short list of what you actually want to participate in and stay there.
For the others, you can leave the chat. It really is that easy. Especially for event-based group chats, I’m quick to leave the conversation after it’s all wrapped and any outstanding bills are settled. Much like I’m not going to be the last person to leave an afterparty, I’m walking away from group chats without hesitation. If there’s a specific aspect of the conversation I want to keep going, I’ll follow up with those people.
You’ve picked your core group chats you don’t want to give up, and you’ve walked away from the rest. Now is your time to play with the notification settings and see what your smartphone offers. It’s worth looking into the settings overall, as well as the options for individualized threads inside apps, especially if some notifications rarely come through while other text threads are more active.
If you balk at the idea of notification distractions, consider Do Not Disturb settings. Be forewarned that being this unreachable can sometimes become a headache for those closest to you.
For those group chats you decide to stay in, why not spruce up the place a bit? Whether you’re on an iPhone or Android, there are plenty of options for making your group chats more specific to your context and potentially just more fun to use. Right now I’m watching Game of Thrones from the beginning for the first time. I have a group chat with friends to process some of our reactions and update the background image to whatever character I’m currently rooting for.
I mentioned earlier that when I leave a group thread and I want to keep some aspect of the conversation going, I’ll follow up directly with people. This seems to be the better direction to take overall. While you may get a dopamine rush from shooting off hilarious memes and receiving reaction emojis in the group chat, cultivating relationships often happens best with one-on-one moments. Directly texting someone feels like a worthwhile compromise to escape from group chat hell, without fully excluding yourself from modern messaging. Though a face-to-face chat always feels best.
One day in 1982, Joseph “Rod” Canion and two colleagues from Texas Instruments sat down at the House of Pies in Houston and used a napkin to sketch out what would become Compaq’s portable PC. In 1996, Felix Zandman, founder of Vishay Intertechnology, dined at Husker Steak House in Columbus, Neb., grabbed a napkin and drafted a design for a power metal strip resistor, which became crucial to power-management components in industrial, automotive, and consumer applications. Now that wispy piece of paper resides at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Perhaps most famously, Robert Metcalfe, working at Xerox PARC in 1973, roughed out some early designs for what would become the [?] Ethernet, though contrary to popular belief, no napkin was involved.
Yet another napkin was pressed into service last year, when Kurt Polzin, chief engineer of the space nuclear propulsion project at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, met Robert Schleicher of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems at a conference and started talking about nuclear rocket design.
“They did the classic let’s-sketch-out-an-idea-on-a-napkin,” says IEEE Spectrum’s Special Projects Editor and our in-house spaceflight expert Stephen Cass. “This rocket engine is still at the paper-planning stage, which, to be fair, is where most of NASA’s humans-to-Mars planning has been for the last 60 years.”
Meanwhile, the world’s richest person is pushing for humans to colonize Mars in time for him to escape our hospitable blue marble for a completely barren red planet. One big problem with this idea: It takes a long time in hostile space to get there.
“Here’s our napkin. Noodle on this with us and tell us what you think.” —Stephen Cass
There’s an old saw, mostly used in the context of road safety, that speed kills. But when it comes to sending humans on interplanetary missions, the faster the better. As Cass pointed out, “Once you get outside the Van Allen belts, there’s so much natural radioactivity—that’s the real killer.” Nuclear electric propulsion could both minimize launch costs and the time fragile human bodies are subjected to microgravity and radiation. And that makes a synchronal bimodal nuclear engine that could both power and propel a spaceship an attractive alternative to a conventional rocket.
Polzin and Schleicher think their nuclear engines could halve the time it takes to get to Mars. There may be ways to tweak the design to go even faster and further. But for now, the idea sits on the drawing board, awaiting feedback and refinement.
“They’re pulling together a lot of fairly mature technology,” says Cass, who edited Polzin and Schleicher’s article, “A Reimagined Nuclear Rocket.” “Electric propulsion is mature. Nuclear thermal propulsion is not, but thanks to [previous efforts], we have a good idea how to do it. The new part is merging them together, and that of course throws up its own challenges.”
Thanks to Cass and illustrator John MacNeill, Polzin and Schleicher’s idea has moved from a napkin to the pages of this month’s issue. Says Cass, “The whole point of the article is to say, ‘Here’s our napkin. Noodle on this with us and tell us what you think.’” We invite you to do so in the comments beneath the web version of this article. Or do it the old-fashioned way and mail the authors your own napkin.
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Nintendo’s worst-ever console was awkward to use and didn’t even sell a million units.
For as many massively successful systems as Nintendo has had (like the Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo Switch), the company has also suffered through stumbles. Some of the minor missteps were limited to accessories, such as the clumsy e-Reader, or Nintendo 64DD that never released outside of Japan. But entire consoles have flopped too, which stings much more.
When you think of failed Nintendo platforms, the GameCube or Wii U might come to mind. During the sixth generation, the GameCube came in third place behind the wildly successful PS2 and newcomer Xbox. And the Wii U represented one of Nintendo’s darkest periods, offering many mixed-reception games for confusing hardware that wasn’t marketed well.
But the Nintendo console that had the worst run wasn’t either of these. Rather, it was a short-lived system from the mid-1990s that didn’t even last a year and sold just a fraction of the units. And as lambasted as it was, a recent comeback means it’s easier than ever to try today.
You’ll realize the Virtual Boy is unusual just by looking at it. Rather than a traditional home video game console that hooks up to a TV or a portable one you hold in your hands, the Virtual Boy falls into an awkward middle ground. It uses a viewfinder “binocular” design supported by a stand to guide you into the flagship feature: rudimentary three-dimensional visuals. The proper term for this is “stereoscopic 3D,” where a different image is shown to each of your eyes to create the illusion of 3D. And while this technology sounds impressive for the time, it was really an underbaked mess fraught with problems.
Nintendo began selling the Virtual Boy in North America in August 1995, shortly after its Japanese release. This was before the Nintendo 64 or the Game Boy Pocket revision arrived in 1996, meaning Nintendo’s hardware market had been quiet since the SNES’s North American release in 1991. March 1996 saw the last Virtual Boy game released in North America (Tetris 3D), with Nintendo silently discontinuing the system not long after. Europe never even got it.
In June 1996, Nintendo reported that the console had sold 770,000 units. This makes it the worst-selling Nintendo console by far — the Wii U is next-worst, but still miles away at 13.6 million sold.
If you’re wondering how you’re supposed to comfortably play the Virtual Boy, you’ve happened upon the first major problem. Setting the Virtual Boy’s stand on a table meant you had to lean forward to put your face inside, which wasn’t a comfortable position to hold for long periods. Tilting the stand could help, or you could get creative with various angles like lying down. A strap would have been great, but Nintendo never released one. It’s not a good sign when simply figuring out how to start using a system is a challenge.
For power, the Virtual Boy used six AA batteries in the back of the controller (or an optional adapter for a wall plug that slid onto the back of the controller instead). Its controller had a unique double D-pad design, which several games utilized. However, the A/B and Start/Select buttons having the exact same shape made it easy to forget which was which, since you couldn’t easily look down to see them.
There were also complaints at the time about not being connected to the people around you while playing, since the Virtual Boy was a one-person experience. Others in the house couldn’t watch you or easily pass the controller around. It clearly wasn’t a portable console either; using this in a car would have been ridiculous.
The Virtual Boy’s discomfort doesn’t end with getting your face into the device. Once you put your eyes up to the screen, another one of its huge issues becomes apparent: the screen is only in black and red. According to Nintendo, adding full color would have made production far too expensive. The color palette commonly caused eye strain and headaches, especially given how close your eyes were to the screen.
Aside from a boring single color, the Virtual Boy’s 3D display technology made people feel nauseous. Internally, the system used oscillating mirrors to reflect a single-pixel-wide line of LEDs and create the images you see while playing (this video from The Slow Mo Guys illustrates it well). Because everyone’s eyes are different, the unit had a slider on top to adjust the distance between the mirrors. I’m sure many people didn’t do this properly (or at all), which contributed to the eye and head sickness.
Nintendo was aware of these problems, so the Virtual Boy had a built-in reminder to take a break every 15 minutes or so. The longer you went without stopping, the more likely you were to feel unwell. It’s hard to get absorbed in an experience when you have to keep breaking the immersion.
Perhaps people would have forgiven the hurdles to using the Virtual Boy if the games had been worth playing. Unfortunately, almost all the system’s titles were unremarkable. Many were hurt by the lackluster graphics of primitive wireframes and vast pools of black. Releases also fell into repetitive genres like sports, arcade, and puzzle. Plus, Nintendo’s best-known franchises were largely absent; Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, and many others were nowhere to be seen.
A few Virtual Boy games were highlights, but hardly justified the price of the console. Teleroboxer had a lot of the same “puzzle-fighting” elements as Punch-Out!!, while the pack-in title Mario’s Tennis was a good showcase for the 3D effects (and is the first game in the Mario Tennis series). But because of their short lengths and basic gameplay, nearly the entire library felt like tech demos instead of must-have releases.
Nearly everyone agrees Virtual Boy Wario Land is the best game for the system, featuring crisp graphics and a neat gimmick where you can swap between background and foreground layers. It’s a brief experience, but a fun one — that’s unfortunately stuck on Virtual Boy.
Clearly, the Virtual Boy hit shelves in an incomplete state; it was rushed out so Nintendo could focus on the upcoming N64. Unlike the Wii, where everyone who tried one wanted their own, people trialing the Virtual Boy at a friend’s house or through a Blockbuster rental promo realized how shallow it was. Its competition didn’t help the situation, either. In North America, the PlayStation arrived a month after the Virtual Boy (in September 1995) and offered far superior 3D graphics.
Aside from a few minor references in other games, Nintendo was mostly silent about the Virtual Boy until September 2025, when it revealed Virtual Boy games would come to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. Place your Switch or Switch 2 into either a cardboard slot or a replica of the original Virtual Boy and you’ll experience what the Virtual Boy was like. Two images are displayed on your system’s screen, with lenses creating the 3D effect. Your Switch controller of choice is compatible, while an August 2026 update enabled changing the color to something other than red.
The Expansion Pack is $50/year (there’s no option to pay monthly), with the replica model costing $100 and the cardboard version at $25. There’s no option to disable the 3D effect, so you can’t play these games on the TV. That’s quite a cost to try such a limited library of games, but those curious about Nintendo’s biggest flop should still have some fun with it.
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