Riot Games detailed its plans for League of Legends in 2025 ahead of Worlds 2025. The most notable change coming to the game concerns its seasonal model, which will shift to be more like League of Legends‘ live service peers.

Typically, each year of League of Legends is considered one season, with several patches released throughout it. In 2025, Riot Games will hold three distinctly themed seasons of the game. Each season will bring a new Champion alongside narrative, progression, and general gameplay content updates tied to the season’s theme. This is more similar to how games like Fortnite approach their seasonal models with more clearly scheduled themed updates.

We still don’t know a lot specific details about the new content coming to League of Legends in 2025, although Riot Games says it wants to explore “the feeling of a game being doomed when the losing team has an exposed Nexus” in the year’s first season. Riot Games also addressed the future of modes like Arena and Swarm, which it has been testing. Unfortunately, Swarm and Arena will not become permanent game modes; Arena will return for a limited time sometime in the first half of 2025, though.

In the more immediate future, players can expect patch 14.20, coming October 9, to feature an art and sustainability update for the Champion Teemo and adjustments so that players don’t feel like they lose more with a loss than they gain with a win. A League of Legends Player Days Event will also occur between October 9 and October 27, bringing special missions and champion skins.

Vivo has recently confirmed that its flagship X200 series will launch on October 14 in Beijing, China. While the company has been mum about the phone it will launch initially, we expect to see the Vivo X200 and X200 Pro on the said date. Besides, multiple rumors suggest the beefiest Android phone of the series, the Vivo X200 Ultra, could launch early next year. Now, in a new leak, a popular tipster has revealed some details about the camera and processor of the Vivo X200 Ultra.

A reliable tipster reveals the camera details of the Vivo X200 Ultra

According to a reliable Weibo tipster, Digital Chat Station, the Vivo X200 Ultra could launch with a 200MP periscope camera. The tipster also claims that the flagship phone will feature three other camera lenses, each with 50MP resolution. Among the three, one main module is said to come with a “fixed large aperture.” Although there’s no specific mention of the other two 50MP lenses, it is safe to assume they’ll handle ultrawide and telephoto shots.

Considering these details, one can tell that the Vivo X200 Ultra will feature a quad-camera setup. It’s worth noting that earlier in May, the company launched the Vivo X100 Ultra with a triple-camera setup. Besides, the Vivo X100 Pro similarly featured a triple-rear camera setup when it launched in December 2023. So, it’s safe to say that Vivo is bringing an upgraded camera setup with X200 Ultra.

The flagship phone could come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC

Besides, the Digital Chat Station also revealed that the Vivo X200 Ultra will pack a “SM8750” chipset under the hood. For those unaware, that’s the codename for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC. Additionally, the tipster has also talked about the battery size of the upcoming flagship phone in a separate Weibo post. He adds that the X200 Ultra will pack a big 6000mAh battery inside. On the other hand, the flagship phone could sport a 120Hz OLED display.

Additionally, there are rumors about a mid-variant phone named the Vivo X200 Mini for this year. It could pack a 5700mAh battery, slightly lower than the 5800mAh battery size tipped for the base model, Vivo X200. Moreover, the rest of the devices from the series could pack MediaTek’s upcoming Dimensity 9400 SoC under the hood. With the launch date nearing, we expect more and more leaks to arrive, so stay tuned.

Apple’s macOS updates have been so dull lately, the most interesting part of last year’s macOS Sonoma ended up being widgets. Widgets! Thankfully, macOS Sequoia has a lot more going on — or at least it will, once Apple Intelligence rolls out over the next few months. For now, though, Sequoia delivers a few helpful features like iPhone Mirroring, a full-fledged Passwords app and automatic transcription in the Notes app. At the very least, it’s got a lot more going on than widgets.

iPhone mirroring changes everything for Macs

Heading into WWDC earlier this year, I was hoping that Apple would let Vision Pro users mirror their iPhones just as easily as they can mirror their Macs. Well, we didn’t get that, but iPhone Mirroring on macOS Sequoia is close to what I’d want on the Vision Pro. Once you’ve got a Mac (with an Apple Silicon chip, or one of the last Intel models with a T2 security chip) running the new OS, as well as an iPhone running iOS 18, you can easily pair the two using the iPhone Mirroring app.

Once that connection is made, you’ll see a complete replication of your phone within the app. It took me a few minutes to get used to navigating iOS with a trackpad and keyboard (there are a few new hotkeys worth learning), but once I did, I had no trouble opening my usual iPhone apps and games. If you’re spoiled by the 120Hz ProMotion screen from an iPhone Pro, you’ll notice that the mirrored connection doesn’t look nearly as smooth, but from my testing it held a steady 60fps throughout games and videos. I didn’t notice any annoying audio or video lag either.

While it’s nice to be able to launch my iPhone from my Mac, I was surprised at what ended up being the most useful aspect of this feature: Notifications. Once you’ve connected your phone, its alerts pop up in your Mac’s Notification Center, and it takes just one click to launch the app it’s tied to. That’s useful for alerts from Instagram, DoorDash and other popular apps that have no real Mac options, aside from launching their websites in a browser.

iPhone Mirroring is also a sneaky way to get in a few rounds of Vampire Survivors during interminably long meetings or classes. (Not that I would ever do such a thing.) While many mobile games have made their way over to the Mac App Store, there are still thousands that haven’t, so it’s nice to have a way to access them on a larger screen. Not every game works well on Macs — it’s just tough to replicate a handheld touchscreen experience with a large trackpad — but mirroring is a decent option for slower-paced titles. I didn’t encounter any strange framerate or lagging issues, and sound carried over flawlessly as well.

I typically always have my phone within reach, even when I’m working at a desk. But picking it up would inevitably disrupt my workflow — it’s just far too easy to get a notification and find yourself scrolling TikTok or Instagram, with no memory of how you got there. With iPhone Mirroring, I can just keep on working on my Mac without missing any updates from my phone. It’s also been useful when my iPhone is connected to a wireless charger and I desperately need more power before I run out the house.

If you’re the sort of person who leaves your phone around your home, I’d bet mirroring would also be helpful. The feature requires having both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on, and the connection range is around 50 feet, or what I’d expect from Bluetooth. Thick walls and other obstructions can also reduce that range significantly. In my testing, I could leave my iPhone in my backyard and still be able to mirror it in my living room 40 feet away. Naturally, the further you get, the choppier the experience.

Sure, Apple isn’t the first company to bring smartphone mirroring to PCs. Samsung and other Android phone makers have been offering it for years, and Microsoft also has the “Phone Link” app (formerly Your Phone) for mirroring and file syncing. But those implementations differ dramatically depending on the smartphone you’re using, they don’t seamlessly integrate notifications and simply put, they would often fail to connect. Once you set up iPhone Mirroring, getting into your phone takes just a few seconds. It just works. And after testing the feature for weeks, I haven’t run into any major connection issues.

Better window tiling, finally!

It’s 2024 and Apple has finally made it easier to position Mac windows around your monitor. Now you can drag apps to the sides or corners of your screen, and they’ll automatically adjust themselves. It’s allowed me to quickly place a browser I’m using for research alongside an Evernote window or Google Doc. Similar to Stage Manager in macOS Ventura, the tiling shortcuts are a significant shift for Mac window management.

And, of course, they’re also clearly similar to Windows 10 and 11’s snapping feature. Given that much of Apple’s UI focus is on iOS, iPadOS and VisionOS these days, it’s easy to feel like the Mac has been left behind a bit. I don’t blame Apple for cribbing Microsoft’s UI innovations, especially when it makes life easier for Mac users.

Slick video conferencing background replacement

Apple has offered lighting adjustments and portrait background blurring in video chats for years, and now it’s using that same machine learning technology to completely replace your backgrounds. Admittedly, this isn’t a very new or exciting feature. But it’s worth highlighting because it works across every video chat app on your Mac, and since it’s relying on Apple’s Neural Engine, it looks much better than software-based background replacements.

Apple’s technology does a better job of keeping your hair and clothes within focus, but still separated from artificial backgrounds. And best of all, it doesn’t look like a cheap green screen effect. You can choose from a few color gradients, shots of Apple Park or your own pictures or videos.

Other highlights of macOS Sequoia

Here are a few other upgrades I appreciated:

• The Passwords app does a decent job of collecting your stored passwords, but it’s clearly just a first attempt. It’s not nearly as smart about plugging in my passwords into browser fields as apps like 1Password and LastPass.

• The Notes app now lets you record voice notes and automatically transcribes them. You can also continue to jot down text during a voice recording, making it a useful way to keep track of interviews and lectures. I’m hoping future updates add features like multi-speaker detection.

• Being able to jot down math equations in Notes is cool, but it’s not something I rely on daily. I’m sure it’ll be very useful to high school and college kids taking advanced math courses, though.

• Messages finally gets rich text formatting and a send later option. Huzzah!

Finally, a macOS update worth getting excited about

You’d be forgiven for completely ignoring the last batch of macOS updates, especially if you haven’t been excited about Stage Manager or, sigh, widgets. But if you’re a Mac and iPhone owner, Sequoia is worth an immediate upgrade. Being able to mirror your iPhone and its notifications is genuinely useful, and it’s stuffed with other helpful features. And of course, if you want to get some Apple Intelligence action next month, you’ll have no choice but to upgrade. (We’ll have further impressions on all of Apple’s AI features as they launch.)

Sure, it’s a bit ironic that Apple’s aging desktop OS is getting a shot of life via its mobile platform, but honestly, the best recent Mac features have been directly lifted from iOS and iPadOS. It’s clear that Apple is prioritizing the devices that get updated far more frequently than laptops and desktops. I can’t blame the company for being realistic – for now, I’m just glad it’s thoughtfully trying to make its devices play nice together. (And seriously, just bring iPhone mirroring to the Vision Pro already.)

James McGinniss has been obsessed with decarbonization and the energy grid since he was a high schooler over a decade ago. Now, his startup David Energy has a lofty goal: getting the energy grid to run entirely on clean energy in the next 10 years.

Brooklyn-based David Energy is a software-enabled retail energy provider. It sells electricity to small businesses and residential customers in certain states like New Jersey and Massachusetts, not dissimilar to a Southern Company or Pacific Gas & Electric. But unlike incumbents, it’s focused entirely on clean energy. It also helps customers optimize their energy usage and get monetary rewards for saving energy.

The startup has two business streams right now. Its first and larger focus is its small business strategy, which launched in 2022. This approach supplies these companies with clean energy, and also gives companies a dashboard to track their energy use and audit their energy bills to avoid overconsumption.

McGinniss, the co-founder and CEO of David Energy, told TechCrunch the company just launched its residential-focused business in 2023, which is currently available to consumers in Texas who own an electric vehicle or have smart home systems like Nest. David Energy taps into smart home devices and electric car chargers to help them optimize power and notify users when to charge their car.

“Software is uniquely suited to solve these problems automatically for them,” McGinniss said about both commercial and residential customers. “If we can identify a way to get cheaper power, they buy that through us. What they are coming to us for is basically becoming their energy manager through their software platform.”

McGinniss launched David Energy in 2019. He originally wanted to join a company looking to decarbonize the grid but couldn’t find anyone tackling the problem in the way he thought they could. Now, David Energy now serves thousands of customers and has raised more money to scale.

The startup just raised a $23 million Series A-1 round led by Cathay Innovation with participation from existing investors including USV, Keyframe Capital, Equal Ventures, and BoxGroup. McGinniss said the company plans to use the funds to continue expansion into more geographies and to prove repeatable product market fit before raising its next round.

“Anything related to the power grid, each round the broader investment community has gotten smarter and smarter about it,” McGinniss said. “Back in 2019, no one was really aware of the opportunity. By the next time we were raising, people were talking about climate tech and starting to understand that in the electricity sector there is this massive opportunity.”

Simon Wu, a partner at Cathay Innovation, told TechCrunch that they got interested in David Energy because it aligns perfectly with the French venture firm’s climate thesis. The company has big ambitions but also a product line that is out and making money now.

“David Energy was one of the first [companies] saying, ‘Hey let’s try not to make new energy assets, let’s see what we can do or what we have right now,’” Wu said. “If we are able to optimize what we have that hasn’t moved digitally, we can structurally lower costs on energy in a more software-oriented manner.”

David Energy may face some strong headwinds when it comes to scaling. Each state approaches its energy grids differently, and switching to clean energy or managing energy consumption details aren’t necessarily top-of-mind for residents or commercial businesses.

Residential customers also have to end their contracts with a legacy energy provider to join David Energy, which means the company needs to maintain a rock-solid foundation of trust. On the commercial side, McGinniss said that many of David Energy’s customers thus far are from outbound outreach, as there is an education element involved to get people to sign up. He added that many businesses aren’t thinking about switching to clean energy nor realize that tracking their energy consumption can help them reduce it and save money.

Other startups are looking to tackle the grid’s problems, too. Octopus Energy is one that provides clean energy to residents in the U.K. and Texas; it’s raised more than $2.9 billion in venture funding. Arcadia is a late-stage startup looking to decarbonize the electric grid, and it has raised more than $575 million from VCs.

McGinniss acknowledged that David Energy’s strategy is just one approach to fixing the energy crisis. He added that the company is starting to see a flywheel effect from its existing customers leading to new users, and he’s optimistic about the company’s incentives and software approach, too.

“We want to build the new incumbent on the power grid that will be able to handle this new environment that incumbents aren’t equipped to adapt to,” he said.