Adding magnets to a 3D print can be very useful in a design, but there are some things that can trip you up if you’re not aware of them. In a recent video by [Lost in Tech] some of the essentials are covered, including why you shouldn’t get magnets near most extruder nozzles or the printing bed.
The easiest method is of course to add magnets in after printing, using friction fit with or without ribs, or with a dab of glue. Here making sure that the magnet stays in place is the trick, as you do not want the magnet to get lost or end up in the tummy of a curious pet or toddler.
The magnetic pattern on an FDM printer’s magnetic bed.
Things get spicy when you’re talking about adding magnets during the printing process, as some extruders are made of a ferromagnetic material and thus a magnet will happily stick to said nozzle if it’s not pure brass or similar. As seen in the video even some purported ‘brass’ nozzles aren’t pure enough to not be significantly ferromagnetic.
Another issue is that of heat, which is something that magnets generally do not like much. Using magnets like you’d use heat inserts for bolts is a recipe for disaster, as the heat from a soldering iron will demagnetize the magnet, which for the typical magnet is less than 200°C. At least this should mean that the magnet stuck to your extruder nozzle will eventually fall off by itself after it demagnetizes.
With the bed of the typical FDM printer these days you’re talking about magnetically attached plates, with the underlying heated bed using a Halbach array configuration as is typical of flat magnets, yet with the gotcha that these aren’t typically real Halbach arrays, but knock-offs with simply alternating north-south pole magnets. As it turns out, these types of magnetic arrays can be disturbed by another magnet, such as a powerful neodymium magnet near said printing bed, flipping polarity in a way that cannot be easily undone.
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You can still install magnets during printing, but it’s recommended to use something like side-insertion, where the extruder nozzle cannot pull out a magnet. Regardless of your approach, it’s good to know of the risks with ferromagnetic nozzles, the magnetic bed and treating magnets like they’re just heat inserts. While you can get higher-temperature magnets, many of the same issues still remain here.
Threat actors are using email addresses exposed in data breaches leaked by the ShinyHunters extortion group to send sextortion emails demanding $2,000 in Bitcoin.
The emails claim to come from ShinyHunters and tell recipients that hackers compromised their devices after obtaining their email addresses from breached company databases.
However, the messages appear to be sent by someone who downloaded data previously leaked by ShinyHunters rather than by the extortion group itself, using the exposed email addresses to make the threats appear more legitimate.
BleepingComputer has seen leaked data from the Amtrak, Hallmark, Substack, Betterment, CarGurus, ADT, Panera Bread, and McGraw Hill breaches used in this sextortion email campaign.
For some recipients, BleepingComputer confirmed that the email addresses targeted by the sextortion emails were actually included in the associated data previously leaked by ShinyHunters.
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Extortion gangs often warn victims that refusing to pay will expose their customers and employees to additional abuse once stolen data is published. While those claims are intended to pressure organizations into paying, this campaign illustrates how leaked data can later be repurposed by unrelated threat actors for malicious purposes.
While the use of a recipient’s leaked email address may make these emails appear more convincing, there is no indication that the sender compromised recipients’ devices, installed malware, accessed their cameras, or monitored their activity on adult websites.
BleepingComputer contacted the ShinyHunters extortion group, which denied any involvement in the sextortion email campaign.
Fake ShinyHunters sextortion emails
In the emails seen by BleepingComputer, they are sent from random email addresses using the names “ShinyHunters” or “You’ve Been HACKED” and have the subject “Information about your online security.”
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The messages claim to be from the ShinyHunters hacking group and state that the attackers gained access to the recipient’s devices several months earlier.
The sender then names a company whose data was previously published by ShinyHunters, claiming that the breach allowed them to access the recipient’s email account.
We are the ShinyHunters hacking group.
A few months ago, we gained access to your devices and started monitoring your online activities.
What happened:
We gained access to the Cargurus.com database where you have an account and easily accessed your email.
You weren’t very careful about the links you opened.
A week later, we installed an exploit on your devices, including your phone, giving us access to your microphone, camera, keyboard, and all your data.
We have your photos, browsing history, conversations, and contact list.
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Sextortion email claiming to be from the ShinyHunters extortion group Source: BleepingComputer
The email falsely claims that the attackers later “installed an exploit” on the victim’s computers and phones, allowing them to access the microphone, camera, keyboard, photos, browsing history, conversations, and contact list.
The sender then claims to have recorded the recipient visiting adult websites and threatens to share intimate videos with their friends, colleagues, and family.
To prevent the alleged release of these compromising videos, the victim is told to send $2,000 in Bitcoin within 48 hours.
The email also warns recipients not to contact police, reply to the message, or reset their devices, claiming that the stolen information is stored on remote servers.
These types of emails are known as “sextortion” emails and are designed to frighten recipients into paying a demand out of worry that they will have their reputation hurt with friends, family, and work colleagues.
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However, there is nothing to indicate that the sender ever had access to the recipients’ devices or personal activity.
Instead, the attackers use details from published leaked data breaches, such as an email address and the name of the breached company, to make a sextortion scam appear targeted.
The sextortion campaign appears to have started in April, with numerouspeople and organizationsreporting similar messages or warning recipients to ignore them.
One person who received an email referencing the Betterment breach posted about it on the Betterment Reddit.
Betterment responded that it was aware some clients had received threatening emails claiming to come from a hacking group.
“These messages are part of a common extortion scam designed to intimidate recipients,” Betterment said.
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“Please note, knowing an email address does not provide the ability to install malware or access someone’s device.”
The company advised recipients not to reply, send payment, click links, or open attachments and to delete the email. Betterment also asked customers who had interacted with the message to contact its fraud team.
Although their email address may have appeared in one of the published data leaks referenced in the email, this does not mean the sender compromised their devices, recorded videos, or obtained any of the other information described in the message.
Recipients of these messages should not pay the ransom or respond to the sender.
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Buying your next Apple device could soon look like leasing a car. Apple is launching its new Apple Upgrade program on Tuesday, July 28, replacing new enrollments in the long-running iPhone Upgrade Program with a lease-based option that covers iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches.
Backed by Klarna, the program is designed to lower the upfront cost of Apple’s premium devices, but it is also raising questions about whether you’ll actually own what you’re paying for.
The new program will reportedly launch first in the United States through Apple’s retail stores and online store. Eligible iPhones and Apple Watches will be offered on 24-month leases, while Macs and iPads will be offered on 36-month leases.
You’ll make monthly payments, with the option to pay off the device early, upgrade to a newer model during the lease, or keep or return it when the agreement ends. A soft credit check through Klarna will be required before you can enroll.
Apple Upgrade is expected to replace new signups for the current iPhone Upgrade Program, although existing financing plans will continue for current customers. Unlike the older program, reports suggest that AppleCare will not be included.
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The program also excludes the base iPad, iPhone 16, Apple Watch SE, MacBook Neo, and business or education purchases. The timing is interesting because it follows Apple’s recent price increase across much of its hardware and services lineup.
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Why does it matter?
The biggest concern is that Apple Upgrade may work more like a traditional car lease than a financing plan. If that is the case, your monthly payments would mainly cover the device’s depreciation instead of paying off its full value.
At the end of the lease, you could be asked to return the device or make an additional payment to own it outright. Whether this ends up saving you money or just keeps you locked into an endless upgrade cycle will likely depend entirely on how you use it.
Waiting for a massive Game Pass download to finish could soon become a little less painful. Microsoft has begun testing a new Smart Download Client as part of the latest Xbox Insider Alpha Skip-Ahead update. The feature is designed to speed up game installs and updates by automatically connecting users to the fastest available content server. While it’s currently limited to Xbox Insider testers, early reports suggest the improvements are also making their way to the Xbox PC app, potentially solving one of the platform’s longest-standing frustrations.
How the Smart Download Client works
According to Microsoft’s latest Xbox Insider release notes, the Smart Download Client first checks whether download servers are available before evaluating multiple server pools to identify the fastest connection. Instead of staying connected to a single server for the entire download, it can periodically reassess network performance and seamlessly switch to a better-performing server whenever one becomes available. The feature is designed to optimize both game installations and updates, ensuring users get the best possible download speeds throughout the process.
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It may sound like a small backend tweak, but it addresses a complaint Xbox users have had for years. Even with high-speed internet connections, downloads through the Xbox app have often struggled to fully utilize the available bandwidth, resulting in slower-than-expected installation speeds. By dynamically selecting the best-performing server throughout a download, Microsoft aims to deliver more consistent performance — especially as modern games continue to grow well beyond the 100GB mark.
More than just faster downloads
The Smart Download Client is one of several additions in the latest Alpha Skip-Ahead build, which also brings improvements to the Xbox Store’s game hub for easier DLC discovery, along with fixes for game installations, system updates, Remote Play, audio, and overall console stability.
Windows Central
For now, the feature is limited to Xbox Insider testers, although early testing by Windows Central suggests the faster download system is already benefiting the Xbox PC app as well. Microsoft hasn’t shared a wider release timeline, but if the results hold up, this could become one of the most impactful quality-of-life upgrades for Game Pass users. With modern games regularly exceeding 100GB, shaving even a few minutes off every download is a win gamers will gladly take.
Facepalm: Grand Theft Auto fans were already upset that GTA 6 will be a digital-only release, with the so-called physical edition containing just a code to download the game. Gamers who purchased the retail box are now expressing even more frustration after it was officially confirmed that PS5 product codes in Japan will expire 170 days after the game’s scheduled launch date of November 19, 2026.
Rockstar clarified that the expiration period is only applicable to the PS5 version of the game in Japan and won’t affect buyers in the rest of the world. The company also confirmed that codes purchased for the Xbox are not region locked and will not expire, but it did not explain why it’s implementing the policy on one platform but not the other.
Explaining the rationale behind the unusual decision, Rockstar said that download codes work differently depending on the platform and country of purchase, and the Japan-specific policy was put in place due to “regulatory restrictions” in the country. The company also recommended that gamers buy from local retailers to avoid potential activation problems.
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Following the announcement, many fans took to social media, slamming Rockstar for setting expiration dates on the download codes. While some likened digital gaming to renting rather than owning a product, others wondered whether Rockstar will also introduce a similar policy in other markets. Others joked that the much-hyped digital future looks brighter with every passing day.
It is worth noting that some gamers and social media commentators have speculated that the expiration date may not apply to the actual game, but only to the DLC content, which is available through a separate code in Japan. However, that still does not explain why the policy applies to PS5 but not Xbox. Rockstar has yet to clarify the matter.
GTA VI will launch on November 19, 2026, with the Standard Edition priced at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99. The game will be available only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S at launch, with no word on whether there will be a PC version in the future. It is currently available for pre-order on the official Rockstar Store, the PlayStation Store, and the Xbox Store.
We also now know when it will be released: January 22, 2027.
Apple
The Apple TV series based on William Gibson’s genre-defining 1984 cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer, will hit the streaming platform on January 22 of next year. Apple dropped the news at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend alongside the first official teaser. Neuromancer stars Callum Turner, Briana Middleton, Mark Strong, Joseph Lee, Peter Sarsgaard and Clémence Poésy.
“‘Neuromancer’ follows a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case (Turner) who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime with his partner Molly (Middleton), a razor-girl assassin, as they pull off a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets,” Apple says. The series will consist of 10 episodes and follow a weekly release schedule, with the first two dropping on January 22 followed by one per week through March 19. Apple has been killing it with sci-fi lately, so here’s hoping this continues that trend.
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It’s a good sign that Gibson, who is one of the show’s executive producers, seems to be happy with how it turned out. Sharing the teaser on Bluesky, the author posted, “Anyone who doesn’t see how very satisfied I’ve been throughout production doesn’t get what I most want out of an adaptatation [sic]. Mind you, that does tend to happen.”
Even as AMD’s GPUs have grown more competitive, the House of Zen has struggled to shake the perception that its chips are less capable because they don’t run CUDA. At its Advancing AI event in San Francisco this week, AMD unveiled ROCm.AI, which promises to let users vibe code their way to faster inference performance.
In reality, the so-called CUDA moat has become considerably shallower over the past few years as frameworks like PyTorch and JAX have made it possible for developers to write once and, for the most part, run anywhere without ever having to touch CUDA or AMD’s ROCm and HIP libraries.
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But just because the code runs, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s performant. Low-level programming interfaces like CUDA and ROCm remain key to unlocking a chip’s true potential.
However, hand tuning GPU kernels and general matrix-matrix multiplication (GEMM) routines to take full advantage of the silicon isn’t exactly something everyone has the experience necessary to do. But as it turns out, many of the same models developers are trying to optimize for are surprisingly good at it.
“For every generation of AMD GPUs, we have published not just the ISA spec. We actually publish the machine-readable ISA,” said AMD corporate VP of AI software and solutions Anush Elangovan, adding that as a result, “the frontier models are very, very capable of programming to AMD’s hardware.”
With ROCm.AI, AMD hopes to streamline this capability. The platform plugs into existing code assistants running on frontier models and provides them with the tools and documentation necessary to deploy, debug, and optimize models and serving frameworks for AMD Instinct hardware.
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One of these tools is an automated workload performance optimization system called Hyperloom.
When the tool is called, for example by prompting the code assistant to “optimize MiniMax M3 with Hyperloom,” it might spin up an inference server in a Docker container, run benchmarks to establish baseline performance, profile the workload to identify bottlenecks, and adjust the configuration or even generate custom CPU kernels on the fly, Elangovan explained.
In testing on AMD’s newly launched Helios racks, this process, Elangovan claims, was able to boost model performance by 38 percent over baseline.
“We want to give you the ability to eke out the maximum performance,” he said. “This makes it incredibly easy for anyone to consume, debug, profile, and deploy.”
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To further improve this process, AMD says that it’s leaning on its close relationship with AI model houses like OpenAI and Anthropic to ensure their models are trained to better understand the inner workings of both their hardware and software.
“We’re not just using the frontier model to generate a kernel,” Elangovan said. “We’re working deeply with frontier model companies so that they natively speak AMD programming.”
In addition to its built-in command-line interface, ROCm.AI will be offered as a plug-in for popular coding assistants, including Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex, Google’s Antigravity, and Cursor. ®
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 8, announced Wednesday during the company’s Unpacked event, launches with the price hike we expected, along with a few welcome tweaks to its design and software that could make the phone easier to use.
I got to demo the $1,200 Z Flip 8, and even though that’s a $100 spike from the starting price of last year’s Z Flip 7 for the same 256GB of storage, the phone is noticeably lighter and thinner than prior iterations. Samsung says that at launch, the 180-gram Flip 8 will be the lightest flip-style foldable phone on the market. When unfolded, the phone is 6.1mm thick, which is noticeably thinner than the Z Flip 7 (6.8mm) and Motorola Razr Ultra (7.2mm).
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 8 now lets you add apps with a simple function in the app drawer on the cover screen.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
But I was more impressed by a number of software tweaks coming to the Z Flip 8 that make it easier to use while closed. For starters, you can now add apps to the cover screen by scrolling up on the app drawer and tapping “Add apps” to access any app installed on your phone. Previously, you had to dig through various settings menus to do the same thing. This is also much closer to how the latest Motorola Razr phones let you use any app you want on their cover screens.
The Z Flip 8’s cover screen is also getting the “Recent apps” shortcut button for the first time — which is wild, since quickly switching tasks is such a basic function on the rest of Android. When I test flip-style phones, I’m most likely on the cover screen using Maps for transit directions while playing music and texting friends — that simple button means I can now swap between these directly without having to kick back to the lock screen. That’s also a feature already available on the Razr.
You can now easily switch apps on the cover screen.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
The Z Flip 8 carries over several features that debuted on Samsung’s Galaxy S26 phone line — for instance, the foldable’s video camera includes Super Steady with horizontal lock to smooth out movement while filming. And I had a lot of fun playing with a new camera feature called My Fan Cam, which uses Galaxy AI to identify subjects in a video and create a crop that only follows that person throughout the recording, as if the camera is exclusively focused on them.
Samsung’s My FamCam lets you make videos focusing on individuals within a clip. The center example is the original, while the other two focus on me and my colleague Tara Brown.Mike Sorrentino/CNET
The Flip 8 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy — which is the same custom version of the processor used for the Galaxy S26 phones as well as the foldable’s pricier siblings, the Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra, which were also announced at Unpacked.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a 6.9-inch display when unfolded.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
Other specs carry over from last year’s Z Flip 7, including the 6.9-inch internal display and the 4.1-inch cover screen. It’s the same for the cameras, which are a 50-megapixel wide-angle, 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel selfie camera. The phone’s 4,300-mAh battery, 25-watt max wired charging speed and 15-watt max wireless charging are also the same. We’ll have to see when testing the phone whether the newer processor is efficient enough to improve the overall battery life.
The Galaxy Z Flip 8 in pink, cream and graphite colors. A mint color is also available as an online exclusive.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
The Galaxy Flip 8 comes in four colors: pink, graphite and cream, as well as mint as an online-exclusive offering. The phone goes on preorder today and will go on sale Aug. 7.
Mike Sorrentino
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Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches — obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.
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The first two of those three phones boast Samsung’s new Flex Titanium display technology, which gives them thinner, flatter, and more robust displays than any Galaxy foldables before them. And having spent time with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra already, I’ve been impressed with the progress Samsung has made in reducing the appearance of the crease, specifically.
From front-on, you can hardly make out the crease at all, and at an angle, it’s less obvious than on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Running my finger across the middle of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s display, there’s only a very subtle undulation running down the center. It’s so subtle that I’d wager you’ll stop registering that it’s even there after spending a few weeks with the new phone.
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And yet, for how impressed I am with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s display, I know there’s already something better available.
Enter the contender
Image 1 of 2
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The Oppo Find N6 (left) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (right)
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo Find N6 (left) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (right)
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo Find N6 launched in March 2026, four months earlier than Samsung’s Z8 series, and the big selling point was the claim that Oppo had managed to remove the crease in the foldable screen entirely.
Now, while that isn’t strictly true — at some acute angles, you can still see the crease — what is pretty amazing is the fact you can run your finger across the entire 8.12-inch display and not feel any interruption on the part of the screen that bends when folded.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have used most foldables, including reviewing the original Galaxy Fold, and the screen crease has always been there.
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Most of the time, when you’re looking straight-on at the screen, it does disappear as your eyes focus on the content, but have the light hit at a certain angle, or run your finger across, and you’re immediately reminded of the minor imperfection.
I was stunned when I first got my hands on the Oppo Find N6. Swiping my finger back and forth across the middle of the display and feeling nothing, I thought, ‘This is the next frontier of foldables.’
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The crease on the Oppo Find N6
(Image credit: Future)
The crease on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8
(Image credit: Future)
To make sure I wasn’t just looking at the Oppo through rose-tinted specs, I took it to the Samsung preview event so I could experience it side-by-side with the Z Fold 8 Ultra. And sure enough, the Oppo continued to impress with a screen that is smoother and flatter than Samsung’s, but not by much.
Which one is right for you?
The Oppo Find N6 (left) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (right) (Image credit: Future)
Make no mistake, these are two very accomplished, flagship foldables. Both have similarly sized exterior and interior screens, and both are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is thinner, lighter, and actually readily available in multiple markets. It also has a brighter display (a peak brightness of 3,000 nits vs 2,500 nits on the Oppo) and the firm’s Galaxy AI, Now Brief, and Now Nudge features on top of Google’s Gemini assistant.
The Oppo Find N6 has the smoothest, flattest foldable display, an edge in the camera hardware, a bigger battery and faster charging — yet its availability is limited to just a few Asian markets at the time of writing.
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So, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra wins by default, which doesn’t feel particularly satisfying as a conclusion, but this shouldn’t diminish the progress that’s been made.
The main issue with foldable displays has been conquered. The next major hurdle we need manufacturers to clear is price.
The Z Fold 8 Ultra is available for pre-order for a lofty $2,099.99 / £1,899 / AU$2,999, which makes it Samsung’s most expensive foldable ever (if we ignore the limited-run TriFold). The Z Fold 8 (from $1,899.99 / £1,699 / AU$2,699) and Z Flip 8 (from $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,949) are cheaper, but they’re still not cheap.
So, if a manufacturer can find a way to deliver the same premium features for under $1,200/ £1,200 / AU$1,500, it could open the foldable floodgates.
Samsung’s new rugged smartwatch hasn’t changed much on the outside, but the biggest upgrades on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 are all hiding inside.
It has a larger battery, more powerful processor and new adventure features to take you from the office to the trails without extra gear. At $700 ($50 more than the original Galaxy Watch Ultra), it’s the most expensive watch in Samsung’s lineup, but it’s also the most durable and arguably the most interesting.
I’ve spent the past week testing the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and while the verdict is still out on its long-term features, like health tracking and battery life, it’s clear that it can pull double duty as both an adventure-ready companion and a luxury smartwatch.
Whether its $700 price tag is justified depends on what you’re looking for. If you want Samsung’s most rugged watch with the biggest battery, brightest display and the most outdoor features, it could be worth the premium. But if the package matters less than the core smartwatch features, you may be better off getting the standard Galaxy Watch 9 (or even older models) for nearly half the price.
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The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 keeps the squircle frame, but increases size and brightness of the screen.
Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: First impressions
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 looks identical to the original. It has the same premium titanium case, sapphire crystal display, signature squircle design and three programmable physical buttons. But look closer and you’ll notice a few subtle upgrades.
The display is slightly larger (1.52” compared to 1.5” on the original), even though the overall watch is smaller and lighter. Samsung also redesigned the bands, making them thinner and more breathable so the watch sits flatter against your wrist, which the company says improves sensor contact. The new clasp mechanism makes them easier to swap than traditional watch bands, though it also locks you into Samsung’s proprietary system.
Side by side look of the two new Galaxy Watches: Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2.Andrew Lanxon/CNET
The fact that I slept a few nights without ripping it off halfway through the night says a lot for a watch this size. I still wouldn’t choose to sleep with it long-term, but it’s noticeably more comfortable than I expected.
Samsung watches already have the best displays in the business, and the Ultra 2 kicks it up a notch with an even brighter, 5,000-nit display (vs 3,000 nits on the original) that looks flawless even in harsh mid-morning summer sun.
Galaxy Watch Ultra 2’s new trail running and diving features
The Ultra 2 edges closer to sports watch territory with a dedicated trail-running mode that surfaces real-time climb and elevation data, has offline trail map access and hydration reminders. I live near a regional park with hundreds of trail options, and I’ve been frustrated by traditional smartwatches that don’t account for uneven terrain or give me enough credit for the extreme elevation changes.
I took the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 on a trail run to test the new feature.
After a 5-mile trail run through the Northern California hills, I was impressed by two things: turn-by-turn audio navigation and real-time elevation tracking. I don’t like wearing headphones when I trail run because I prefer to stay aware of my surroundings, so hearing directions through the watch speaker is the perfect solution. It’s worth noting that getting a route onto the watch for those directions was tedious. Samsung says you’ll eventually be able to search for nearby trails directly from Google Maps, but that feature wasn’t ready during my testing, so I had to load a trail route from a .gpx file on my phone.
With real-time elevation tracking, the watch automatically broke my route into individual climbs and showed my progress. Having a live progress bar as I approach a hill gives me a tangible goal, making it easier to push through steeper sections.
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The trail running feature on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 shows real-time elevation.
I was less enthused about the hydration reminders. I’d traded my water bottle for my tripod that day, so the three reminders I received during my hour-long trail run mostly fell on deaf ears. Considering the heat, I probably should have listened. But because the reminders are based on AI estimates of hydration loss rather than a dedicated sensor that measures sweat loss directly, I found myself trusting them less.
The Ultra 2 also debuts a recreational diving feature developed in partnership with Italian diving company Mares. Because it doesn’t track gas or oxygen consumption, it’s not meant to replace a dedicated dive computer. Instead, it seems aimed at casual recreational divers who want basic dive information on a device they’re already wearing. The app won’t be available at launch, so I’ll reserve judgment until I can test it myself later this year.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 has big changes under the hood with a new processor and bigger battery.
Galaxy Watch Ultra 2’s raise-to-talk Gemini
My favorite feature, however, has nothing to do with rugged adventure sports. It’s Gemini. I’ve already raved about how useful Google’s AI assistant is on your wrist in smartwatches like the Google Pixel 4, and the new raise-to-talk feature makes it even better.
No button presses or wake words required, just raise your wrist and start talking. This added layer of convenience made me much more likely to use it and helped me get things done completely hands-free. At the risk of sounding like a trad wife, I use it a lot in the kitchen. I had meat sitting in the fridge that was about to go bad, so I asked for a simple slow cooker carnitas recipe, and it delivered. I didn’t even have to smudge the screen with meat juice to get the step-by-step instructions read aloud. It’s also been handy for settling debates with my endlessly curious 9-year-old before he loses patience and I have to dig my phone out of my pocket.
Better battery life in theory, in practice its still TBD
The Ultra 2 packs an 800-mAh battery, up from 590-mAh on the original, paired with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear Elite processor, which should be more power efficient. On-device AI that optimizes battery life as it learns your habits. Samsung rates it for up to 60 hours with the watch’s always-on display enabled.
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The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is rated for 10ATM and be used for recreational diving.
It’s still too soon to know if that 60-hour claim is realistic because my initial results haven’t been great. That five-mile trail run chewed through nearly 30% of the battery, and I have yet to reach the watch’s promised 60-hour mark. I have gotten closer to 48 hours before needing to recharge, though.
Either way, don’t expect sports watch-level endurance. A Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, for example, can last more than a week on a charge. The Ultra 2 powers a brighter display, Wear OS and always-ready Gemini, all of which demand far more energy than what a dedicated sports watch.
Extra health and recovery tools
Both watches also get a new suite of health features, which feed into the redesigned Samsung Health app on your phone.
Vitals tracking can flag possible signs of illness by monitoring metrics like heart rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature. There’s also a new Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load to help guide recovery, and a Fitness Index assessment that uses AI to build you a personalized training plan.
Many of these features require at least seven nights of sleep before they unlock (which I haven’t yet logged), so I’m holding off on judging for now.
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I appreciate that Samsung isn’t putting these health insights behind a subscription the way companies like Whoop and Oura do. Some guided workouts and iFit content still require separate subscriptions, but the core health features are included with the watch.
Samsung also hasn’t confirmed whether these software features will come to older Galaxy Watches. So, for now, they’re another point in favor of upgrading.
The three new Galaxy Watches: Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Galaxy Watch 9 (44mm) and Galaxy Watch 9 (40mm). Joe Maldonado/CNET
Should you upgrade to the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2?
After a week of testing, the Ultra 2 feels like more of an upgrade than its familiar design would suggest. If you’re coming from an older Galaxy Watch and want the latest hardware with the peace of mind that it’ll hold up to the elements, this is the one I’d be looking at.
But I still have plenty left to test. Many of the health features haven’t unlocked yet, and I need to spend more time with the battery before delivering a final verdict. Battery life, in particular, will make or break my recommendation — both over the Galaxy Watch 9 and for anyone considering upgrading from the original Ultra.
Vanessa Hand Orellana
Principal Writer
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Vanessa is a lead writer at CNET, reviewing and writing about the latest smartwatches and fitness trackers. She joined the brand first as an on-camera reporter for CNET’s Spanish-language site, then moved on to the English side to host and produce some of CNET’s videos and YouTube series. When she’s not testing out the latest health tech, you can catch her on a hike or trail run with her family.
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Saturday’s rollout of news and trailers at San Diego Comic-Con wrapped up three days of big reveals, and CNET was in attendance to keep up with it all. Marvel’s Hall H presentation was highly anticipated, but there aren’t any new teasers to share.
Still, we want to make sure you’re clued in to all the biggest trailer drops and release dates for upcoming movies and TV shows. Though fans got an early round of official trailers for Clayface, Other Mommy and Avengers: Doomsday ahead of the convention, Apple TV, Warner Bros., Prime Video, Paramount and more studios continued to push out sneak peeks and thrilling teasers for their slates.
What are the must-watch trailers so far? All of them, basically. You can catch Carrie, The Rings of Power, Lanterns, Avatar: Seven Havens and others, and also be sure to scroll through all the SDCC merch reveals that you may’ve missed, too.
Carrie
Stephen King gave his stamp of approval and is an executive producer for Prime Video’s Carrie TV series that’s set to premiere on Oct. 7. From director Mike Flanagan, the show drops Carrie into a modernized world where cell phones and the internet give bullies a larger audience. But just because the novel took place in 1974 and it’s 2026 now, it doesn’t mean this new take won’t have Carrie’s telekinetic abilities setting things on fire.
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Lanterns
When the Earth-heavy Lanters teaser dropped from DC a few months ago, it felt pretty full. There was Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan challenging John Stewart’s worthiness to carry a Green Lantern Corp. ring, desert-bound conspiracy vibes, flashbacks to John’s childhood and even a flash of Guy Gardner on screen. DC teased the ring’s powers, but with its new Comic-Con trailer released on Friday, things ramp up when Manhunters arrive on the planet to take out the Lanterns. Take a look at the interstellar enforcers and Sinestro in the trailer, and prepare for the series to land on HBO Max on Aug. 16.
Blade Runner 2099
Several years in the making, Blade Runner 2099 will debut on Nov. 25 on Prime Video. The eight-episode limited series is a sequel to the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049 and stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer, along with Sheila Atim, Katelyn Rose Downey, Dimitri Abold and Daniel Rigby among the cast.
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Set in an alternate version of LA where replicants run things, and the humans play second fiddle, the series sees Yeoh’s replicant Olwen chasing down outlaw replicants who’ve gone missing. With her own shelf life on a ticking clock, the stakes are high for her and for her human fugitive partner, Cora (Schafer).
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 3
Remember in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all that talk of “the One Ring to rule them all?” Well, season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is going to be all about that. These episodes take place five years after season 2, and by the looks of things, Sauron’s war with the elves is going strong, and he’s expanded his power across the majority of Middle-earth. Now all Sauron has to do is forge that pesky One Ring so he can, well, rule them all.
Jamie Campbell Bower joins the cast as the elven lord Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband and noble warrior in the fight against Sauron. This season will also introduce Nazgnagôl, better known as the Ringwraiths, in an early form of the corrupted ringholders in the story. The new season debuts on Nov. 11 on Prime Video.
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Reacher, season 4
Season 4 of Reacher, which is based on Gone Tomorrow, the 13th book in Lee Child’s hit novel series, finds Jack Reacher traveling from rural America to the streets of Manhattan. Switching gears from previous seasons, the new installment finds Reacher immersed in a political conspiracy, leaving him with few people he can trust.
Stuck on the streets of New York, with the FBI and CIA on the hunt for Jack Reacher, this season finds our hero once again immersed in a mission to bring evildoers to justice. It just so happens that this time, that bad guy is apparently running for president. Alan Ritchson is back as Reacher alongside series newcomers Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette, Sydell Noel, Agnez Mo, Anggun and Kevin Corrigan.
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Neagley
Maria Sten’s Neagley has been one of Jack Reacher’s fiercest and most skilled protégés. Now in her own spinoff show, she’ll be taking shots in the name of justice and ends up uncovering something grimmer than imagined. Season 1 of the action series debuts on Prime Video on Sept. 16.
Queen of the Damned
AMC’s Interview With the Vampire series is poised to slide into its fourth season with a focus on the vampire Akasha and has titled the new season as Queen of the Damned. Season 3 (titled The Vampire Lestat) brought her into the story and introduced actor Sheila Atim as the very first vampire. Atim, along with co-stars Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman and Eric Bogosian, appeared in Hall H to share the news.
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Matchbox The Movie
Kids who played with Matchbox cars when they were young grow up and learn their friend is a CIA agent who gets them caught up in a case. That’s the premise of Apple TV’s new comedy film starring John Cena as the spy and Jessica Biel, Teyonah Parris, Sam Richardson and Arturo Castro as said friends. You can stream the movie on Oct. 9.
Neuromancer
Apple TV’s sci-fi shows tend to be top-notch, and the cyberpunk-themed Neuromancer looks like it could be a remarkable addition. Callum Turner is Case, a hacker who gets drawn into a dangerous life-or-death game involving espionage, artificial intelligence and deceit. Based on William Gibson’s 1984 novel, the TV adaptation will have 10 episodes and premiere on Jan. 22, 2027.
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Coyote vs. Acme
Formerly shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery, the film is an animation-meets-live-action story that Ketchup Entertainment picked up and will open in theaters on Aug. 28. Fed up with Acme’s unreliable products, Wile E. Coyote decides to hire a lawyer and sue the company. Will Forte plays Kevin Avery, who represents Coyote in his case, with John Cena as Buddy Crane, corporate counsel for Acme. The movie also features Lana Condor along with a host of Looney Tunes characters like Porky Pig, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn and Granny (who gets dinged by an anvil).
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, season 3
A host of new gods and demigods are set to descend in season 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, including Aphrodite and the children of Hades. The new eight-episode installment will premiere on Nov. 20.
Back in January, Disney Plus gave viewers a tease of what’s to come when it dropped with a scene of Percy (Walker Scobell) and Annabeth (Leah Sava’ Jeffries) hitting the dance floor at a middle school dance. But things get a little darker and more dangerous this time for the Camp Half-Blood kids.
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Based on the third book in Rick Riordan’s series, The Titan’s Curse, this season takes Percy and crew on a rescue mission to save the goddess Artemis (played by Dafne Keen). Viewers will be introduced to the titan Atlas (Holt McCallany), Annabeth’s human dad (Jesse L. Martin), and Olympian gods Hera (Ming-Na Wen), Demeter (Jennifer Beals) and Apollo (Hubert Smielecki). Kate McKinnon plays Aphrodite.
Ebenezer
Johnny Depp made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con, donning a costume as Ebenezer Scrooge for the upcoming movie, where he plays Charles Dickens’ legendary miser. The film, due in theaters on Nov. 13, also features Rupert Grint, Ian McKellen, Daisy Ridley and Sam Claflin in a star-studded cast.
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Avatar: Seven Havens
From the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this new series picks up after The Legend of Korra and follows a pair of twin avatars, one of whom is Korra’s successor. Marked as an omen of destruction during a time when the spirit world and physical world are imbalanced, Pavi — and her sister Nisha — will need to look to the past to discover who they are and find a way to save the Seven Havens. The animated series debuts this fall on Paramount Plus.
Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO
Kenji Kamiyama is directing the new anime film from Sola Animation, which will serve as a sort of prequel. Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO takes place about 100 years before Gundam Rogue Orbit, breaking down the origins of the world that fans are familiar with. Guided by Kamiyama’s vision, the 2027 movie will also tie in with a video game universe.
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Regular Show: The Lost Tapes
An extended sneak peek for the new season of Regular Show: The Lost Tapes is now out for our consumption. When the show was revived as The Lost Tapes, it gave viewers new adventures with Mordecai and Rigby through the lens of Pops keeping up with them from the afterlife. Well, there are more VHS tapes to dig through when the next season lands on Cartoon Network and HBO Max this September.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe
HBO Max’s spin-off of The Big Bang Theory follows Kevin Sussman’s Stuart as he tries to undo the damage he caused after breaking one of Leonard and Sheldon’s inventions. A multiversal, reality-hopping, trippy joyride ensues, where viewers see alternate versions of characters they know and much more. The first episode debuted on July 23, but a clip was shared during the show’s Comic-Con panel. You can stream new episodes on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Dark Matter, Season 2
Apple TV’s panel also included a preview of Dark Matter’s second season, which draws the Dessen family deeper into the mysteries of The Box. Their stability is threatened, as is that of Amanda and Ryan when the series returns on Aug. 28.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 4
During Star Trek’s 60th anniversary celebration in Hall H on Saturday, the crew gave the audience a sneak peek of what’s coming in season 4 of Strange New Worlds.
Kourtnee Jackson
Senior Editor
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Kourtnee covers streaming services and entertainment. She previously worked as an entertainment reporter at Endgame 360, where she wrote about film, television, music, celebrities and streaming platforms.
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Aaron covers what’s exciting and new in the world of home entertainment and streaming TV. Previously, he wrote about entertainment for places like Rotten Tomatoes, Inverse, TheWrap, Washington Post and The Hollywood Reporter. Aaron is also an actor and stay-at-home dad, which means coffee is his friend.
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