Cherry XTRFY announced the K63W Pro Compact at Computex 2026, and the standout feature is one you don’t often see in gaming keyboards: Ultra-Wideband technology. With a true 8000 Hz polling rate, this compact keyboard is positioning itself as a serious wireless option for gamers who don’t want to compromise on performance.

What is Ultra-Wideband doing in a keyboard?

Traditional wireless keyboards operate in narrow frequency bands, which is where interference creeps in and causes problems. Ultra-Wideband takes a different approach, transmitting data in short bursts across a much wider frequency spectrum. Cherry XTRFY claims this results in more precise signal timing, reduced interference, and a more stable connection, even in environments packed with wireless signals competing for the same space.

The K63W Pro Compact reports to your computer up to eight times every millisecond in both wired and wireless modes, matching the polling rate you would typically only find in wired keyboards. Cherry XTRFY is also equipping the keyboard with a 6,000 mAh battery, which is a generous capacity a 70% keyboard size. It will ensure that low battery warning doesn’t impact your long gaming sessions. 

What else you get with the new keyboard?

Beyond the wireless specs, Cherry XTRFY also made some notable changes to the physical design. The K63W Pro Compact uses a 70% layout that retains the F-row while trimming the sides down to free up more desk space for mouse movement. 

The keyboard uses CHERRY MX LOW PROFILE 2.0 switches combined with a new gasket construction, which the company says produces softer keystrokes and deeper acoustics than you would typically expect from a low-profile mechanical keyboard. 

Joakim Jansson, Director of Product Management at CHERRY, described the result as “a typing feel you would never expect from a low-profile keyboard.” As for pricing, the keyboard isn’t cheap, but it’s not excessively expensive either. The K63W Pro Compact will be available in the US in August for $169.99.

Microsoft Build is the company’s annual developer conference, running every year since 2011. This year, it has a clear organizing theme: AI agents. Scheduled for June 2 and 3 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, it’s the first time Build has left Seattle since 2016.

Microsoft has kept in-person attendance to around 2,500 developers, with Satya Nadella delivering an opening keynote framed around “creating new opportunities for developers across our platforms in this era of AI.” With a smaller attendance capacity and tight event schedule, Microsoft is hoping to make this the defining event for its AI-native products.

A rally that carried space-related stocks to extraordinary gains this year is showing serious cracks. The Procure Space ETF, which trades under the ticker UFO, has dropped almost 11% in just two sessions. Intuitive Machines and Rocket Lab have each fallen roughly 17%. AST SpaceMobile, which had become a retail-trading favourite, has sunk nearly 23%. The selloff extends losses that began late last week and accelerated on Monday.

Two catalysts converged. On Thursday, Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket exploded during a routine hot-fire test at Cape Canaveral, a spectacular failure that damaged the launchpad and reminded investors that the space business remains physically dangerous and technically unpredictable. On Friday, SpaceX cut its IPO valuation target to $1.8 trillion from at least $2 trillion, signalling that even the sector’s dominant player is acknowledging that market expectations may have run ahead of reality.

The proxy trade unwinds

The space stock rally of the past several months was driven substantially by the anticipation of SpaceX’s record-setting IPO. With SpaceX private, investors who wanted exposure to the space economy bought publicly listed proxies: Rocket Lab for launch, Intuitive Machines for lunar services, AST SpaceMobile for satellite communications, Redwire for space infrastructure. As SpaceX’s IPO filing moved from rumour to reality, these proxy stocks surged on the assumption that a rising tide would lift all rockets.

The Procure Space ETF is still up almost 60% year to date despite the two-day rout. Rocket Lab entered the selloff up 413% over the past year. But Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson identified the structural problem: once SpaceX is actually available to buy, investors may dump the proxies in favour of the real thing.

“The market may be worried investors that want exposure to space will drop the currently listed names for SpaceX, as it has a much larger and better record of space launches,” Ferguson said. “At similar valuations, SpaceX would likely be the better company to own.”

Valuations detached from financials

Jefferies analyst Greg Konrad underscored the disconnect on Monday by downgrading Redwire from buy to hold, writing that the stock’s recent gains “do not correlate with financials” and instead reflect “multiple expansion on the excitement of the SpaceX IPO that has shed a positive spotlight on the space sector.” Redwire had nearly tripled in the previous month to a record high before dropping 16% on Monday. SpaceX’s own S-1 filing revealed the financial scale that makes comparisons with smaller space companies difficult to sustain.

AST SpaceMobile trades at roughly 260 times estimated 2026 sales. Rocket Lab, despite its operational progress with the Electron and Neutron rockets, carries a valuation built on optimism about future government and commercial contracts rather than current revenue. The space sector has followed a pattern familiar from the AI boom: a narrative-driven rally that prices in years of growth before the revenue materialises.

The Blue Origin factor

The New Glenn explosion added a visceral dimension to the correction. The rocket erupted during a hot-fire test of its seven BE-4 first-stage engines, sending debris across the Cape Canaveral launchpad and causing heavy damage to the infrastructure. While SpaceX has experienced its own launch failures, the Blue Origin incident reminded public market investors, many of them new to the space sector, that rockets are not software. Hardware failures destroy expensive assets instantly and set development timelines back by months or years.

“That implies valuations are a bit rich,” Ferguson said. The Blue Origin explosion was “a reminder that this is a difficult business.”

Virgin Galactic’s divergence

Not every space stock fell. Virgin Galactic soared as much as 44% on Monday before paring gains to as little as 1.1%, a move that illustrated the speculative, momentum-driven character of the sector rather than any fundamental shift in the company’s business. SpaceX’s lowered valuation target may have triggered short-covering in some names while accelerating selling in others.

The question for the space sector is whether the SpaceX IPO, expected to price in early June with marketing beginning on 4 June, draws capital into the sector or pulls it out of everything that is not SpaceX. If institutional investors consolidate their space exposure into the one company with a proven business model, consistent launch cadence, and Starlink revenue, the proxy stocks that rode the wave up could face sustained pressure even as the overall sector grows.

Skill-based matchmaking was built to make competitive games feel legitimate. A new study says that balance can carry a hidden cost, because equal-skill contests can create the kind of losing streaks that push people out of the queue.

The research, published in Management Science, argues that game matchmaking works better when it looks beyond raw ability and accounts for how people react to recent wins, losses, and competitive patterns. In an analysis of 5.4 million Lichess matches, optimized matchmaking lifted engagement by 4% to 6% compared with conventional skill-based approaches.

The old skill-based matchmaking or SBMM rulebook now looks too blunt for platforms fighting to keep people around.

Why do fair matches backfire

SBMM pairs opponents near the same ability level to create balanced contests. On paper, that sounds like the cleanest answer. Nobody wants to get crushed by someone far better, and nobody learns much from steamrolling a beginner.

The problem is sequence. A single loss is part of competition, but a run of losses can make a player feel trapped in a system that keeps serving up frustration.

That is the behavioral gap standard matchmaking misses. Each round shapes the next decision, whether someone queues again, takes a break, or closes the game for the night.

How much engagement is at stake

The Lichess data gives the finding real weight. Across 5.4 million matches, the optimized system increased engagement by 4% to 6% over regular skill-based matchmaking. In theoretical scenarios, the gains reached as high as 50%.

For players, the change would be subtle. A better system would treat recent outcomes as part of the signal, then build matchups around the longer session instead of leaning only on ratings.

For game makers, those small percentages can add up fast. According to the Global Games Market Report, the global gaming market is projected to generate nearly $188 billion annually, so even modest retention gains can turn into real platform value.

When does retention go too far

Smarter matchmaking doesn’t give developers a free pass to manipulate the queue. It raises a harder trust problem, because competitive integrity and retention goals can pull in different directions when systems become harder to read.

That tension gets sharper around pay-to-win design. The research found that paid advantages can improve engagement under specific conditions by changing the skill mix, but it does not present that as a universal win. More engagement isn’t always a better experience.

The danger for studios is invisible matchmaking that players stop trusting. If developers move beyond pure SBMM, they’ll need to prove the queue still respects competition. The next version of matchmaking has to keep people playing without making the game feel managed against them.

Congress is increasing its pressure with stronger language in a letter from more members that claims Apple Towson is a “high-performing” store with 100 technologically skilled workers.

Congress doesn’t think Apple should close the Apple Towson store, which also happens to be its first unionized retail store. Nine members said so before, but an additional 39 new members and one returning member have said so again.

The letter states outright that the store closure is likely a violation of Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. The union representing the store, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Union, filed an unfair labor practice charge against Apple in April.

While the letter doesn’t go into detail about exactly how Apple has violated Section 7, it does urge Apple to change its mind in one of two ways. It is suggested that Apple should refrain from closing the store “during one of the most difficult economies in recent history.”

The second demand/strongly-worded request is that if the store must close, the employees get equal treatment to other closed stores. Basically, the unionized employees should be transferred to other nearby stores without needing to reapply.

Honoring the union’s contract

Apple did promise the unionized workers severance, which was part of the contract. The negotiated contract also gives the workers first refusal if Apple opens a new store within 50 miles of Towson.

Apparently, the union never negotiated terms for relocation or other benefits, but expected them anyway since Apple employees get them. However, as Apple has stated, it will honor the letter of the contract it negotiated with the union.

AppleInsider has verified that the area that the Apple Towson store is in has become a ghost town. Even if it is “well-performing” as the Congress members assert, it isn’t in an area with high traffic and can’t carry the region on its own.

Other recent Apple Store closures are also due to being in neglected malls and shopping centers. Apple has also been prioritizing standalone stores with more unique designs and offerings in recent years.

Going to court

Towson may be Apple’s first unionized store, but if Apple can reliably prove it was underperforming and isn’t worth keeping open, the union and its representatives likely can’t argue union busting. Apple has a right to close a store if it chooses to.

Apple may have to defend its decisions to close Apple Towson in court

The issue the employees are facing is the one that Apple retail chief Deirdre O’Brien raised in 2022.

“It is your right to join a union — and it is equally your right not to join a union,” O’Brien said at the time. “And if you’re faced with that decision, I want to encourage you to consult a wide range of people and sources to make sure you understand what it could mean to work at Apple under a collective bargaining agreement.”

Her concern was that an external organization may not understand employees’ needs nor have their best interests at heart. Given the problems the union has faced with its negotiated contract, again and again, that may be true.

Employees at other Apple Stores are being offered the chance to relocate to other locations. If the union didn’t get that in writing for its members, it’s tough to argue.

Apple will no doubt close the store and go to court over its decisions. That court will be responsible for deciding if Apple was actively trying to crush a union or if it was simply closing a store.

Regardless, it seems the employees of Apple Towson will need to work on their resumes before the store closes on June 20.

Gigascale Capital, the venture firm led by former Meta chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer, has raised a $250 million fund to invest in energy, grid infrastructure, and critical minerals startups. The fund, announced on Monday, is Gigascale’s second and its first to include institutional investors. It arrives as most of the venture capital industry has pivoted away from climate tech and toward AI, making Schroepfer’s continued bet on the physical economy a deliberate contrarian move.

“The companies we back win because they’re cheaper, faster, and more reliable,” Schroepfer said. “Climate impact is the result of better-performing systems.” The framing is notable: Gigascale is positioning clean technology not as a values-driven investment thesis but as an economic inevitability driven by performance advantages.

AI is the catalyst, not the competitor

The irony of a former tech executive raising a climate fund during an AI boom is less contradictory than it appears. US utilities plan to spend $1.4 trillion by 2030 to meet the electricity demands of AI data centres, which could consume 9% of the country’s total electricity by the end of the decade, up from 4% in 2023. Natural gas turbines, the default backup power source, have waitlists stretching into the early 2030s.

That power crunch creates the opening Gigascale is targeting. Companies that need massive amounts of electricity, whether for AI training, manufacturing, or industrial processes, cannot wait for utility-scale infrastructure to catch up. Startups building solutions to the data centre energy problem are already attracting significant capital, and Schroepfer has argued on podcasts that “bring-your-own power is going to be a competitive advantage over time” for energy-intensive businesses.

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Gigascale’s existing portfolio reflects this thesis. Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which raised $863 million from investors including Nvidia, Google, and Bill Gates, is developing commercial fusion reactors. Form Energy builds 100-hour iron-air batteries designed for grid-scale storage. Heron Power raised $140 million for grid infrastructure technology. These are not consumer apps. They are companies building the physical infrastructure that the digital economy requires.

Bucking the climate tech backlash

The $250 million raise is significant because it comes at a moment when much of the venture industry has abandoned the “climate tech” label. After a wave of high-profile climate-focused funds launched between 2020 and 2023, returns have been mixed and several prominent climate startups have struggled. European venture firms are raising large funds with broader mandates, and US investors have largely redirected capital toward AI-native companies.

Schroepfer started Gigascale after studying climate technology during the pandemic. His argument is that the sector’s problems are not technological but commercial: clean technologies need to be cheaper and faster than incumbents, not just greener. Solar energy is his reference case, a technology that won market share not because of environmental mandates but because it became the cheapest source of electricity in most of the world.

The fund will also look at critical minerals and what Schroepfer calls “physical AI,” a term that likely refers to robotics and automation applied to manufacturing, mining, and construction. Battery storage and mineral supply chains are increasingly recognised as bottlenecks in the energy transition, and startups that can address those constraints have a clearer path to revenue than companies building yet another solar panel.

The Meta connection

Schroepfer served as Meta’s CTO for more than a decade before stepping down in 2022. His tenure included oversight of the company’s infrastructure buildout, including the data centres that now consume massive amounts of electricity to run AI workloads. The experience gave him direct exposure to the energy constraints that large-scale computing faces, an understanding that informs Gigascale’s investment thesis.

Meta itself has become one of the largest corporate buyers of clean energy, with 2026 capital expenditure guidance between $125 billion and $145 billion, much of it directed toward AI infrastructure. The search for solutions to AI’s energy problem has produced ideas ranging from data centres in space to small modular nuclear reactors, but the most commercially viable answers are likely to come from startups building practical improvements to energy generation, storage, and distribution.

Gigascale’s $250 million is modest relative to the scale of the energy infrastructure challenge, but the fund’s contrarian positioning could prove well-timed. If the AI industry’s power consumption continues to accelerate and legacy energy infrastructure cannot keep up, the startups building the physical layer will capture value that no amount of software optimisation can replace.

Apple’s MacBook Pro has had a comfortable run as the default laptop for creative professionals. Video editors, photographers, 3D artists, and developers all converged on the device, both because of the performance and the exceptional connectivity and continuity with iPhones. 

Dell thinks it has finally built something that changes that calculus. Announced at Computex 2026, the XPS 16 Creator Edition is Dell’s first laptop built around Nvidia’s new RTX Spark superchip.

What does the XPS 16 Creator Edition actually offer?

The RTX Spark architecture at its core combines a high-performance Nvidia GPU with an efficient CPU. It also supports up to 128GB of unified memory, the same approach that made Apple silicon so effective for creative workflows. 

For video editors specifically, Dell says this translates to smoother playback on 4:2:2 4K timelines, along with faster export times. For 3D artists, they should experience improved responsiveness when working across complex, multi-layered scenes. Developers working with AI-assisted tools get reduced reliance on cloud processing.

The XPS 16 Creator Edition comes with a tandem OLED panel with True Black HDR 600 certification, the same underlying technology that has made recent OLED laptops genuinely useful for outdoor usage and color-accurate professional work.

Back in December, Meta announced a new AI support assistant it promised would make the account recovery process “faster and simpler” for people who had been locked out of their Facebook or Instagram pages. Now, it seems that Meta may have over-delivered on that promise. 

That same Meta AI support assistant has apparently been used by hackers to hijack a bunch of Instagram accounts. According to security researchers, the AI tool made it ridiculously easy for hackers to take over the accounts, even if they were protected by two-factor authentication.

The exploit was flagged over the weekend by numerous security researchers on X. Details about how to take over accounts, as well as screenshots and video showing the takeovers in action, were circulating widely on Telegram, the researchers said. The images and videos suggest that hackers were able to simply ask the AI support chatbot to change the email associated with their desired account and then request a password reset.

Meta has now addressed the issue, though it’s unclear how many accounts were affected by the exploit before it was patched. According to 404 Media, users on Telegram have been discussing the vulnerability since March. When reached for comment, Meta directed Engadget to a post on X from VP of communications Andy Stone. “This issue has been resolved and we are securing impacted accounts,” Stone said in a reply to an account that posted about the account takeovers.

This issue has been resolved and we are securing impacted accounts.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) June 1, 2026

Though Meta didn’t provide additional info on why its AI support tool would have such a gaping security vulnerability, it seems that hackers discovered the Meta chatbot relied on account holders’ physical location to enable support. The now-patched exploit required hackers to use a VPN to show that their location matched the location of the person whose account they were targeting, according to Neowin. “Our systems recognize the device you usually use and familiar locations better than ever,” Meta wrote in its December blog post about the AI support tool.

While we don’t know officially how many accounts were hijacked with the AI tool, the timing seems to coincide with a wave of hacks of high-profile accounts, including an account for the Obama White House. The account, which hadn’t posted since 2017, posted an AI-generated image that translates to “the White House is under Shiites’ control,” according to TMZ. Meta confirmed the hack to the outlet but didn’t provide details on how it was carried out or who might have been behind it. Other accounts that may have been caught up in the exploit include beauty retailer Sephora and a high-ranking Space Force official, according to 404 Media.

SVS has started rolling out SVS Auto EQ for its 3000 R|Evolution, 5000 R|Evolution, and 17-Ultra R|Evolution subwoofers, giving owners a more direct way to address room-related bass issues without relying solely on an AVR or processor’s room correction system. First previewed in 2024, the software works through the SVS Subwoofer Control App and uses a phone microphone or optional external microphone to measure in-room response and apply correction filters.

For SVS, this is an important step forward because it brings automated subwoofer calibration into its own control ecosystem, where setup, tuning, and daily adjustment already live.

SVS Auto EQ Takes Aim at the Real Bass Problem: The Room

SVS Auto EQ is designed to address one of the biggest challenges in subwoofer setup: the room itself.

Using guided steps in the SVS Subwoofer Control App, Auto EQ measures in-room bass response through a smartphone’s built-in microphone or the optional SVS Auto EQ Mic. The software then analyzes the results and applies DSP-based equalization to help smooth peaks, manage room gain, and improve bass response at the main listening position or across multiple seating positions.

SVS says the process takes only a few minutes and does not require specialized calibration knowledge or manual tuning. The app walks users through each measurement step and displays before-and-after results once calibration is complete. For users who want greater measurement accuracy, SVS offers the optional SVS Auto EQ Mic for $45, which includes USB-C and MFi-certified Lightning adapters.

SVS Auto EQ Benefits:

• Simple firmware update.
• Guided setup only takes minutes to execute.
• Optimized performance across multiple listening positions.
• Smoother, more balanced, musical bass.
• More accurate frequency response and tonal accuracy.
• Acoustically optimized room gain for deeper extension and greater impact.
• Reduces localization, peaks, and nulls caused by room acoustics.

Home Theater and Music? No Problem

SVS Auto EQ is designed to improve bass performance in both 2-channel music and home theater systems by reducing the impact of room-related peaks, uneven response, and placement-related acoustic issues.

“We greatly appreciate the patience our community has shown as we worked tirelessly to get this feature launched. If we had known the complexity of getting it right, we would’ve kept it a secret until the launch today,” said Gary Yacoubian, President of SVS, “SVS Auto EQ is a welcome upgrade for every R|Evolution subwoofer we’ve ever shipped and every one going forward. It unlocks a level of precision, control, and performance that simply wasn’t possible before without complicated calibration tools, and now it’s available through a simple app update and process. The result is cleaner, more impactful low-frequency sound that’s more accurately tuned to a room.”

Yacoubian continued, “SVS is a restless company, and we’re constantly challenging ourselves to set the bar higher. The new SVS Auto EQ feature allows SVS R|Evolution subwoofers to reach their true performance potential in any listening space. And it’s free.”

Subwoofer DSP

SVS Auto EQ is supported by the DSP platform built into the company’s R|Evolution subwoofers, including a 295 MHz Analog Devices processor that SVS says is the most powerful it has used in a home subwoofer to date. That processing power allows the 3000 R|Evolution, 5000 R|Evolution, and 17-Ultra R|Evolution models to handle Auto EQ calibration, expanded tuning controls, thermal management, and current delivery to the driver motor system.

SVS also points to advanced digital audio processing and premium DACs with a claimed signal-to-noise ratio of more than 120 dB. The goal is not just more output, but better control: deeper bass with lower noise, greater headroom, and more accurate low-frequency performance when properly set up in the room.

The Bottom Line 

Subwoofer setup is where good intentions often go to die. AVR room correction can help, but it does not always fix the subwoofer properly on its own, and more advanced bass-management options such as Dirac Live Bass Control can require an additional paid license.

That is what makes SVS Auto EQ useful. For owners of compatible SVS R|Evolution subwoofers, the software is available through the SVS Subwoofer Control App at no extra cost. The app walks users through a guided measurement process, analyzes the subwoofer’s in-room response, and applies DSP-based correction inside the subwoofer itself. The optional SVS Auto EQ Mic adds another layer of measurement accuracy for $45, but the core feature does not require a paid software upgrade.

SVS recommends running Auto EQ before using an AVR’s room correction system. If the AVR or processor has already been calibrated, the better approach is to run SVS Auto EQ first and then re-run the AVR’s room correction afterward, so the system is working from a better subwoofer baseline. Owners using two compatible SVS subwoofers should run Auto EQ separately for each one.

SVS says older subwoofers do not have the processing power required to support Auto EQ calibration, but the feature will be included on all new standalone SVS subwoofers going forward.

Who needs this? Anyone with a compatible SVS subwoofer who wants better bass integration without buying a separate calibration package, learning manual parametric EQ, or spending an afternoon pretending the room is not the real problem. It is especially useful for 2-channel systems without AVR room correction, home theater systems where the subwoofer is difficult to place, and rooms where bass sounds bloated, uneven, or weak from seat to seat.

The real advantage is control. SVS Auto EQ does not replace good placement or proper system setup, but it gives owners a free, repeatable way to recalibrate the subwoofer when it is moved, when the room changes, or when the system is rebuilt. That makes it more than a convenience feature. It turns subwoofer tuning into something normal owners can actually manage.

Availability

SVS Auto EQ is available now as an over-the-air update for SVS R|Evolution subwoofers via the SVS Subwoofer Control App (iOS, Android, Amazon). The optional Auto EQ mic is priced at $45 from SVS.

Pro Tip: SVS Auto EQ will be available for the recently released 3000 Micro R|Evolution subwoofer later in June or July 2026. Older subwoofers do not have the processing power required to support Auto EQ calibration, but the feature will be included on all new standalone SVS subwoofers going forward.

SVS Auto EQ will be demonstrated at High End Vienna 2026 in Hall X2, Level 2, Booth B01, June 4 -7.

For more details, check out the SVS Auto EQ FAQ page.

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