The race to build the next great affordable laptop is heating up, and Acer thinks it has a strong contender. The company today unveiled the Swift Air 14, a thin-and-light Windows laptop that combines a premium design, AI-ready hardware, and impressive battery claims for a starting price of just $699.

At a time when even mainstream laptops are creeping toward four-figure price tags, Acer’s latest machine feels refreshingly straightforward. It’s aimed at students, remote workers, and anyone who wants a laptop that looks and feels expensive without draining their bank account. The Swift Air 14 is powered by Intel’s new Core Series 3 processors and delivers up to 19 hours of battery life. That’s the sort of endurance that could realistically get many users through a full workday and beyond without scrambling for a charger.

Acer is focusing on things people actually notice

Laptop makers love talking about processor benchmarks, but most buyers notice other things first. How heavy is it? Does it look good? Is the screen nice to use? Can the speakers fill a room? That’s where the Swift Air 14 appears to have its priorities in order. The laptop weighs just 1.19 kg and measures only 12.9 mm at its thinnest point, all while using an aluminum chassis that should feel significantly more premium than the plastic-heavy designs common at this price point. Acer is also bringing some personality to the lineup with four color options: Sage Green, Frost Blue, Blossom Pink, and Lilac Purple.

The display sounds promising as well. Acer has equipped the Swift Air 14 with a 14-inch WUXGA panel featuring a 120Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB color reproduction. For students, creators, and everyday users, that’s a welcome upgrade over the dull screens that often plague budget laptops. Then there’s the audio. Acer says the laptop includes a quad-speaker setup with DTS:X Ultra support, a feature rarely highlighted in this segment but one that can make a noticeable difference when streaming movies, joining video calls, or listening to music.

The Swift Spin 14 AI raises the stakes

Acer wasn’t finished with just one Swift launch. The company also introduced the Swift Spin 14 AI, a more premium convertible aimed at users who need additional flexibility and performance. Powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 386H, the laptop features a dedicated NPU capable of up to 50 TOPS and up to 100 platform TOPS overall. It also supports stylus input through Wacom AES 2.0 technology, making it a potentially appealing option for artists, designers, note-takers, and hybrid professionals. Its 360-degree hinge allows it to switch between laptop, tablet, presentation, and display modes, while features like Wi-Fi 7, a 5MP IR camera, Copilot+ PC capabilities, and up to 26 hours of battery life round out a very ambitious package. Still, the more fascinating device may be the cheaper one.

The Swift Air 14 arrives at a moment when buyers are increasingly questioning whether they need to spend MacBook money for a great everyday laptop. Acer’s answer is clear: offer a premium metal design, long battery life, AI-powered features, and a modern display at a price that feels far easier to justify. The Acer Swift Air 14 is scheduled to launch in North America in August 2026, while the Swift Spin 14 AI will arrive during the same timeframe.

Acer is going straight after the MacBook Neo crowd

The comparison to Apple’s MacBook Neo feels impossible to ignore. Both laptops are targeting the same audience: students, first-time laptop buyers, and people who want something premium without spending MacBook Air money. Apple’s answer was a $599 machine with an aluminum design, an A18 Pro chip, up to 16 hours of battery life, and the familiar advantages of the macOS ecosystem. 

Acer, however, is taking a different route. The Swift Air 14 undercuts many of the compromises associated with entry-level laptops by offering a 120Hz display, more connectivity options, a larger battery, quad speakers, and a wider range of color choices, all while staying in the same affordability conversation. According to Acer’s specifications, the laptop packs a 70Wh battery, dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a 120Hz WUXGA panel — areas where it arguably looks more ambitious than Apple’s budget MacBook on paper. 

The real battle here isn’t Windows versus macOS. Which company can convince buyers that spending less no longer means settling for less?

Activision is ending Call of Duty: Warzone support for PS4 and Xbox One later this year, drawing a line under the battle royale’s last-gen era at a moment when the cost of upgrading to current hardware has risen sharply for players who have held off.

The game will be removed from PS4 and Xbox One storefronts on 4 June and will no longer be available to download, with Activision removing the in-game store on both platforms on 25 June before Warzone becomes fully unplayable once Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 season 1 begins later this year.

The US Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract on Friday to build satellites that track foreign aircraft and missiles. The programme is called Space-Based Advanced Moving Target Indicator, or SB-AMTI. It is part of the Trump administration’s $185 billion Golden Dome missile defence initiative.

Two days earlier, the Space Force awarded SpaceX $2.29 billion for the Space Data Network Backbone, a secure communications layer built on Starshield satellites. Combined, SpaceX now holds approximately $6.45 billion in Golden Dome contracts. That figure exceeds the combined prototype awards given to every other company in the programme.

The AMTI satellites are designed as an interconnected system combining space-based sensors, secure communications links, and AI-enabled ground processing. The system will detect, track, and alert for airborne threats from orbit. The US has historically relied on ground-based sensors and military aircraft for this function.

Placing detection capabilities in space eliminates potential blind spots that ground-based systems cannot cover. The Space Force described the architecture as designed to “drive closer cooperation across the government space industrial base.” SpaceX must integrate the AMTI sensors with the data transport backbone it is already building under the separate $2.29 billion contract.

The scale of SpaceX’s Golden Dome position is unprecedented for a commercial contractor. The programme has distributed more than $3.2 billion in prototype contracts across SpaceX and 11 other firms, including Anduril, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and True Anomaly. SpaceX’s $4.16 billion AMTI contract alone exceeds that entire prototype pool.

SpaceX filed its IPO prospectus last week, targeting a valuation of more than $1.75 trillion. The company is expected to raise approximately $75 billion in what would be the largest IPO in history. Every new defence contract adds to the revenue narrative that underpins the listing.

The timing is notable. Two major Golden Dome contracts awarded in the same week as a Starship V3 test flight and an IPO roadshow preparation creates a cadence that looks orchestrated to maximise pre-IPO momentum. SpaceX held more than $22 billion in government contracts as of 2024. The Golden Dome awards add meaningfully to that base.

The Golden Dome programme’s total cost has risen to $185 billion, up $10 billion from the original estimate, after the programme director approved an acceleration of space-based capabilities in March. The fiscal 2027 budget request includes initial Golden Dome funding. Full-scale procurement is expected to begin post-2028.

True Anomaly raised $650 million in April after being selected for Golden Dome space-based interceptor prototypes. Anduril raised $5 billion at a $61 billion valuation. Both are working on separate Golden Dome layers. But neither holds a position comparable to SpaceX’s combined sensing, tracking, and communications role.

The conflict-of-interest concerns that have surrounded SpaceX’s government contracting are amplified by the Golden Dome awards. Elon Musk is simultaneously the largest financial backer of the sitting president, the CEO of the company receiving the contracts, and the owner of a social media platform that shapes public discourse about the programme. The IPO prospectus acknowledges government contract risk but does not address the political dimensions directly.

Friday’s Starship V3 test flight demonstrated that SpaceX can deploy satellites from the vehicle, even though the Super Heavy booster was destroyed after separation. The AMTI constellation will eventually require launch capacity that only Starship can provide at scale. The contract, the IPO, and the rocket programme are three legs of the same strategy.

Two contracts, $6.45 billion, four days. SpaceX is not just participating in Golden Dome. It is becoming the programme’s commercial backbone. Whether that concentration of national security infrastructure in a single pre-IPO company is a strategic advantage or a systemic risk is a question the Space Force has implicitly answered by signing the contracts. The market will answer it again when the IPO prices in June.

Apple is preparing to overhaul Siri at WWDC 2026 in ways that go well beyond a simple feature update, and we’ve just had our first look at the redesigned UI.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has published an early preview of the company’s redesign of the iPhone’s interface, placing its Gemini-powered AI agent at the centre of everyday use.

The redesign moves Siri into the iPhone’s Dynamic Island, where it will remain accessible via voice, the power button, or a new downward swipe from the top centre of the screen that opens a “Search or Ask” interface drawing on elements from iOS 26‘s existing Search experience.

That interface brings together familiar features like Siri Suggestions alongside new functionality, with Gurman reporting it will support app launches, text messages, calendar appointments, note searches, and more, with results surfacing in a rich text card that expands directly from the Dynamic Island.

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Swiping further down opens a full chatbot-style conversation view inside a dedicated Siri app, which Apple intends to position as a direct competitor to ChatGPT and Claude, supporting text and voice input alongside photo and document uploads and persistent conversation history.

Interface and camera changes

To accommodate Siri’s new prominence, Apple is moving Notification Centre access to a pull-down from the top left of the screen, a small but consequential shift that reflects how central the assistant has become to the iPhone’s navigation logic.

Camera and Photos also see significant changes, with a new mode set to replace Visual Intelligence by combining Google reverse image search with third-party AI analysis, while the Photos app gains Reframe and Extend tools that use AI to alter image perspective or generate content beyond a photo’s existing frame.

Underpinning all of it is a Siri that can search the web and draw on-screen context and personal data to complete tasks, with Gurman noting the assistant will be able to cross-reference a user’s calendar availability before scheduling anything.

All of that remains subject to change, however, with Gurman noting Apple tests multiple designs internally and the final version shown at WWDC on 9 June could differ from what Bloomberg has illustrated, with a release expected as early as September.

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I used to say that all my best days started with waking up in a sleeping bag. Waking up in a sleeping bag usually means you’re out there somewhere, doing something interesting. In the past couple of years, though, I’ve found myself waking up out there to wonderful days spent doing interesting things, but without a sleeping bag in sight. Instead, I’m sleeping in what thru-hikers and ultralight redditors call a quilt.

This is not a quilt like the one your grandmother gave you. Backpacking quilts are made of nylon and filled with down like a traditional sleeping bag. The difference is that they lay over you like, well, a quilt, rather than wrapping all the way around you like a sleeping bag. The benefit is twofold: A quilt is lighter, meaning less weight to carry in your pack, and, as an added bonus, I sleep better than I ever have in the backcountry.

Mummified

Let’s face it, there’s a reason backpackers have nicknamed sleeping bags “mummy bags.” They’re constricting at the best of times, suffocating at the worst. I don’t know about you, but for me, there’s nothing about a mummy that I want to emulate, not even when I’m sleeping. I was, therefore, as well primed as anyone to jump on the quilt bandwagon when it really began to take off a few years ago. And yet, I didn’t. Perhaps it was something like Stockholm Syndrome; I’d finally accepted the mummy thing and was, honestly, a little nervous to give up my sleeping bag for a quilt. But then I did, and I’m never coming back. Or mostly never coming back.

But first, what’s the difference between a sleeping bag and a quilt? As briefly noted above, the quilt goes on top of you, rather than all around you like a sleeping bag. Consider the burrito vs. the taco. In this case, the sleeping bag/quilt is the tortilla and you are the filling. Would you rather be wrapped up like a burrito? Sleeping bag. Prefer the obviously superior experience of the taco, with its warm, soft tortilla lying on top of you? You’re (potentially) a quilt person.

The science here is that when you lie down in your traditional sleeping bag, the weight of your body forces most of the down fill off to the sides. The down left under you is so compacted you’re not getting any real insulation from it anyway—so why carry that extra nylon and down around? Enter the quilt. Quilts get rid of the bottom layer of useless nylon and down, and lay over you like the quilt on your bed at home. Quilts typically weigh less than sleeping bags and pack down smaller, making them very popular with backpackers trying to reduce weight and save space.

While I think the weight savings make quilts a great choice for anyone looking to carry a lighter load, how much you love a quilt over a sleeping bag will depend somewhat on how you sleep. If you’re a taco person, and the thought of having a sleeping bag wrapped up like burrito gives you the sweats just thinking it, the quilt is your happy, happy future. Or, if you like to curl up in a ball, move around a lot at night, are a side sleeper, or want to share covers with your tent mate, then again, the quilt is for you.

If you rarely move around at night, sleeping somewhat like a mummy, then you might not mind a traditional sleeping bag and wouldn’t share my enthusiasm for the quilt.

Photo credit: Sonny Dickson
Images shared this week by longtime leaker Sonny Dickson give the first clear look at the finishes Apple appears ready to offer on the iPhone 18 Pro. Four dummy units sit side by side, each finished in a different shade and built to the same overall shape as last year’s Pro model. Four color choices stand out clearly in the shared photos.

Dark Cherry appears to be a deep, rich color with an almost wine-like depth that can shift to a purple-tinged hue depending on how the light hits it. Light Blue gives off a gentler, more airy vibe, similar to the misty hue of the former base model Sierra Blue finishes or the more traditional era finishes. Silver is back in a very straightforward metal finish, while Dark Gray steps up as the new black option, with its dark finish sitting very close to the deep blue from the iPhone 17 Pro and the classic Black Titanium look from the iPhone 16 Pro days, as anyone who has missed the black option in recent years should be very happy to hear it is back.

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Taking a closer look at the camera area reveals some subtle changes. The rectangular glass strip beneath the primary camera bar has been tweaked to match the surrounding metal frame much better than previously, and it now rests somewhat higher on the body. These improvements are minimal, but they are quite helpful to case manufacturers since they provide them with the exact measurements they need to get started right away. The remainder of the fake units are based on the same layout as the 17 Pro, and it’s nice to see that button placement, port locations, and proportions are all accurate.

As is customary, dummy units like these exist primarily for accessory makers to test their designs and ensure fit and finish before receiving real production units. History suggests that Apple’s color options are occasionally trimmed shortly before they hit shops, so one of these hues (Dark Cherry, Light Blue, or the original black) may yet be removed before the phones arrive in the autumn.

The iPhone 17 Pro was available in Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue, and Silver, but the new version replaces the deep blue with Dark Cherry and Light Blue, as well as the new Black. These early versions already provide a solid indication of what to expect, allowing case makers to finalize their designs and purchasers to determine which one will best suit them months before the official release. With a September launch date now seeming certain, we have a better sense of what colors to expect, although we wouldn’t be surprised if the Ultra, is released before the big day.

IOI’s Hitman roots are clear from the very beginning of First Light, but they become even more apparent once you reach the end of spy school. First you have to infiltrate a crowded night club to track down a suspect, which hearkens back to a handful of classic Hitman levels. The game’s scale becomes truly apparent in the second mission, where you’re looking for a former MI:6 agent in a boutique hotel (which also happens to be holding a chess tournament). The hotel itself is massive, immaculately designed and filled with dozens of guests and attendees, many of which are involved in scripted routines or conversations. This one portion of First Light’s clockwork pocket universe feels more alive than many soulless open world games.

It’s not quite an immersive sim like the Dishonored games, but in true Hitman fashion, you can accomplish your objectives in multiple ways. Just don’t expect to go in guns blazing. In most scenarios, First Light‘s “License to Kill” feature prohibits you from firing on enemies unless they pull their guns first. It’s really just a reminder that you’re not playing a cold-blooded assassin, and it encourages you to spend your time stealthily moving around environments and taking down enemies silently.

The game is thankfully more forgiving than Hitman if you blow your cover, where doing so could alert the entire map and force you to re-load a save. If an enemy spots Bond, you can just beat them down or slam them into nearby surfaces. Things get more complicated if multiple enemies see you, but you can still proceed with your mission once you take care of them.

While First Light remains relatively grounded most of the time, it wouldn’t be a Bond game without a few elaborate set pieces. You’ll find yourself parkouring through London skylines (a nod to Casino Royale’s opening), having fist fights where you’re crashing through multiple floors and plowing through cars in a garbage truck. There are also a handful of shootouts where you’ll have to mow down dozens of enemies, which offer visceral thrills but also quickly feel repetitive.

IOI has clearly spent more time thinking about stealth than large-scale action, and it’s sometimes tough to tell where you need to go when 20 people are shooting at you. I replayed the first major shootout, which took place in an airport, around 10 times before I found a survivable pathway. (For the easily frustrated, you can also reduce your difficulty level on the fly.)

Perhaps it was just a result of flying through the game for this review, but it was hard to ignore pacing issues throughout First Light. As the action and nefarious conspiracy escalates, the game gets bogged down by extended stealth sequences, fetch quests and half-hearted boss fights. They don’t ruin First Light’s overall experience, but it definitely feels like it could use some narrative tightening.