Apple is rumored to be planning to add a new model to its line-up of the best AirPods: specifically, AirPods with infrared cameras installed, which can be paired with a Vision Pro headset and create a spatial audio experience that changes as you move your head.
This comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is right more often than not when it comes to Apple predictions. However, the IR-enabled AirPods aren't going to be available anytime soon, with mass production said to start in 2026.
It's worth noting that back in February, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also reported that AirPods with cameras were being looked at by Apple. That's two good sources to back up this rumor, though of course Apple's plans can always change.
The camera system inside the AirPods will be similar to the tech used for Face ID on the iPhone, according to Kuo. They would be enough to detect when someone is turning their head – so certain sounds could be increased or decreased accordingly. If you're in a virtual 3D environment, that kind of audio trickery can be very effective.
What the future might hold
The Apple Vision Pro(Image credit: Apple)
Something else that the cameras might be able to detect are hand gestures, Kuo says. Gestures can already be used for actions inside the Vision Pro, but as our Apple Vision Pro review makes clear, there's absolutely room for improvement in this area.
While sales of the Vision Pro don't seem to have been particularly significant, Apple is said to be pressing ahead with a cheaper model – which coincidentally (or not?) is also said to be arriving on the consumer market at some point 2026.
When iOS 16 arrived in 2022 it brought with it a Personalized Spatial Audio feature for the AirPods, which worked with the help of an iPhone for the 3D scanning. These immersive experiences would seem to be something Apple is particularly interested in.
No doubt we'll hear more rumors and leaks about AirPods with cameras in the months ahead. In the meantime, the standard AirPods models are also supposed to be being refreshed this year or next, so we can apparently look forward to the 4th-gen standard AirPods and the Apple AirPods Pro 3 in the not-too-distant future.
The best wireless earbuds of 2024 so far have been impressed us a lot by packing top audio tech into teeny-tiny designs. We've seen a rise in open-ear designs that allow you to stay aware of your surroundings, advances in noise-cancelling technologies, and audio excellence that proves wireless earbuds are here to stay.
In this guide, we've rounded up all of the biggest launches from 2024 so far, including what we thought of the wireless earbuds during our testing, which bigger trends they reflect, and how these designs might be improved in the future.
We'll then take a look ahead at which brands we know are bringing out new wireless earbuds in the second half of the year, as well as some predictions about what we might see soon and where the super popular wireless earbuds form factor is heading next.
Whether you're a hardcore audio tech fan, or simply thinking about buying a pair of wireless earbuds, this guide will give you a temperature check of the highlights so far – and what's coming around the corner...
Wireless earbuds in 2024: what have been the biggest launches so far this year?
(Image credit: Final)
We've tested so many wireless earbuds over the past six months that it's challenging to know where to begin. But where better place to kick off our summary than with some incredible earbuds that sound excellent – because that's what's most important here, right?
When we first got our hands on the Final ZE8000 MK2 (above) we were unconvinced by the claims that these buds deliver '8K sound', but we were wrong. In our Final ZE8000 MK2 review our reviewer wrote: "I truly think this is among the most nuanced, detailed and just best audio you can buy in a set of true wireless earbuds." In terms of sonic excellence, also take a look at the gloriously expansive and agile Cambridge Audio Melomania M100 with some best-in-class ANC to boot.
We've also seen several brands launch buds that boast Dolby Atmos sound as their big selling point. If achieving an incredibly powerful and immersive audio experience is a priority for you, then you're going to want to take a look at the LG Tone Free T90S and the Jabra Elite 10. The latter in particular are a highly-accomplished pair of wireless earbuds, with our Jabra Elite 10 review praising their solid feature set, comfortable fit and excellent Dolby Atmos performance.
But we know not everyone needs immersive or audiophile-grade sound, or has the budget for it. Luckily, we've also tested some great mid-range wireless earbuds that still tick all of the boxes.
(Image credit: Future)
Our recent Nothing Ear (a) review showed us why we love this cool brand so much. At only $99 / £99 / AU$169, the Nothing Ear (a) are incredibly well-specced, with a sound we described during our testing as "fun, zealous and expansive", a great-looking transparent design that Nothing is becoming known for and top ANC. Nothing also launched the third-gen of its Nothing Ear wireless earbuds, too. Expect some seriously Earth-shaking bass, excellent sound personalization and a comfy fit. Did we mention how much we love the Nothing brand?
One of the biggest developments in wireless earbuds in 2024 so far has been the number of audio tech companies bringing out open-ear designs. These are designs that don't cover your ear, like the best over-ear headphones, or fit inside your ear, like many of the best true wireless earbuds. Instead, these wireless designs use what's called air conduction technology and place a tiny speaker above your ear canal instead.
The design of these buds is difficult to get right – there's nothing to 'anchor' them in place – but we've been testing many of these open-ear designs in our best open ear headphones guide and highly recommend taking a look at our Shokz OpenFit review and Bose Ultra Open Earbuds review for our current top picks.
Wireless earbuds in 2024: what launches are we expecting during the rest of the year?
(Image credit: Samsung)
It can be tricky to know which launches to expect in the future because we only tend to hear the biggest news and rumors about the biggest tech brands. That's why one of the most major launches we're expecting in the second half of 2024 comes from Samsung.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are going to be the next version of Samsung's flagship wireless earbuds and an upgrade on the already stellar Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Although Samsung hasn't said anything official about these buds, we're expecting them to be announced at its next Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event on July 10, and for them to pack some great, high-res sound quality with improvements on AI, ANC and noise-cancelling.
Rumors also suggest they might have a transparent Nothing-like case and long Apple AirPod-like stems. As well as the Pro version, we're also expecting a new version of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3. Expected to be announced at the same time, they're successors to the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2.
(Image credit: Beyerdynamic)
As air conduction tech was hugely popular during the first half of 2024, we can expect that trend to continue into the second half. We predict that several brands will launch open-ear designs, but what we know for sure is that Beyerdynamic’s first open-ear headphones (above) are on the way, and will promise hi-res audio quality without cutting you off from the world.
Another trend our spidey senses are noticing is upgrades to the charging cases of our wireless earbuds. Sure some have built-in features, like cleaning tech and even a screen. But this could become more of a thing in the second half of this year.
For example, the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 and the Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 earbuds will boast a smart case with Bluetooth LE audio. This means that a Bluetooth LE audio chip in the case will enable you to connect audio sources to the case via its 3.5mm jack. The case itself will then be capable of streaming audio to the earbuds in your ears.
(Image credit: Iyo)
Finally, expect more and more buds to integrate AI in interesting and innovative (and maybe in some cases totally unnecessary) ways. The Iyo One (above), a pair of wireless earbuds heading our way later this year, claim to be "the first audio computer", which includes real-time language translation, coaching you through workouts, life organization and audio features, like spatial audio, head tracking and AI-enhanced voice boosting. But hold up.
While the Iyo One is certainly interesting, plenty of other brands are doing things with AI. For example, Apple will be bringing Apple Intelligence to products, including its AirPods, later this year. And some other companies are already combining earbuds with AI, like the way Nothing is doing interesting things with its Nothing Ear integration with ChatGPT.
As with every other product category, the challenge will be determining whether AI is actually enhancing our experience with our wireless earbuds or just over-complicating things for the sake of sticking "AI" on the box. Expect to see a bit of both as we move into the second half of 2024.
We wrote about the Exos X26z, the largest hard drive Seagate makes, back in December 2023. The 25TB enterprise HDD is a host-managed shingled magnetic recording (HM-SMR) unit that doesn’t work with Windows or macOS. The Linux-compatible drive was created exclusively for Seagate’s largest enterprise customers and has always been famously hard for anyone else to get hold of.
In fact, when Storage Review did manage to get one to test, the site had to go through eBay as it wasn’t available to purchase directly from Seagate or any of its official partners.
That has changed now, as you can buy the Exos X26z online through ServerPartDeals, and it won’t cost you a fortune to do so either. The 25TB 3.5in 7.2K RPM SATA 6Gb/s drive is currently retailing for $319.99 (with discounts available for bulk orders).
Stop, HAMR time!
The drives for sale are “Manufacturer Recertified”, with a two year warranty. “New” and “Seller Refurbished” drives are listed (for $359.99 and $299.99 respectively) but they are currently sold out with no word on when the stock will be refreshed.
The Exos X26z is only really of use for the largest hyperscalers and increases the capacity per slot by 25% versus conventional hard drives. In the tests that Storage Review ran on the HDD – pitting it head-to-head with Seagate’s 20TB IonWolf Pro drive – the Exos X26z performed well, but it’s important to remember that since then Seagate has launched drives which use advanced hard-drive recording (HAMR) technology.
Seagate has said that its future drives, fueled by HAMR, will be able to break data capacity barriers. The company is ultimately eyeing 50TB, and unlike the Exos X26Z HDD, those drives won’t be quite so elusive when they eventually arrive.
And so the weekend comes to a close with a Strands puzzle that might cause you a few more problems than some recent instalments. If that's the case, you might find my hints to be useful.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #119) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Cut and color
NYT Strands today (game #119) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
PENT
SHEET
SEEM
SWEET
SWEEP
WELT
NYT Strands today (game #119) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Rock stars
NYT Strands today (game #119) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
• First: left, 4th row
• Last: right, 4th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #119) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Strands, game #119, are…
SAPPHIRE
EMERALD
TOPAZ
GARNET
AMETHYST
SPANGRAM: JEWELTONES
My rating: Moderate
My score: Perfect
I've never heard the term JEWEL TONES before, which made this Strands puzzle a rather difficult one to solve even once I had the concept worked out, which was relatively early on in the game.
The fact that I've never heard of GARNET, either, and didn't know how to spell AMETHYST also made things a lot tougher than they might otherwise have been. As a result of all that, this was rather a mixed game for me – the likes of EMERALD and RUBY were obvious and easy, some of the others less so. Still, I got there in the end, and without using any hints either. I'll take that any day.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday 29 June, game #118)
COMET
ASTEROID
PLANET
GALAXY
MOON
SATELLITE
SPANGRAM: OUTERPSACE
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
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Blackmagic Design, best known for the excellent DaVinci Resolve - a comprehensive video editing and color grading suite used by professionals - has released the Blackmagic Camera app for Android, extending professional digital film tools to Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel users.
This free app (which frankly we’d pay for) is based on the operating system of Blackmagic’s digital film cameras, and delivers television and film quality video production.
It features user-friendly controls for frame rate, shutter angle, white balance, and ISO adjustments, alongside recording directly to Blackmagic Cloud in formats up to 8K.
Advanced configuration options
The app, which you can download from Google Play now, essentially transforms Android smartphones into high-end film cameras by integrating detailed camera controls within an intuitive interface. Users can modify settings with a single tap, streamlining the filming process.
The new tool boasts a heads-up display showing vital camera settings and operational statuses, making adjustments straightforward and quick without navigating complex menus. This includes immediate changes to exposure by interacting with the ISO settings or adjusting audio levels directly.
The app also offers advanced configuration options for video monitoring, audio control, and camera setup. It supports various video resolutions and recording formats, including space-efficient H.264 and H.265, with professional audio configurations like VU or PPM meters. It even integrates tools such as zebra patterns for exposure checking, focus assist, and frame guides.
Comprehensive media management within the app allows users to organize and review clips efficiently, syncing directly with Blackmagic Cloud for immediate access to DaVinci Resolve projects. Media can be edited, graded, and shared from anywhere.
“The Blackmagic Camera app for iPhone has been incredibly popular since it was launched last year,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO.
“We are excited to be able to give customers with Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel phones the same controls for shooting digital film as our professional cameras. Plus, the Blackmagic Cloud workflow lets customers record to Blackmagic Cloud Storage and automatically sync with DaVinci Resolve. It’s really exciting to be able to give even more customers the ability to get their footage to the newsroom or post production studios in literally seconds.”
The 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day coincide as two excellent opportunities to bag a mid-summer bargain. Generally speaking, both offer great deals and we always cover each at TechRadar. You may be wondering, however, what the differences are and what you should be shopping in each event.
Luckily I can help. I've been covering these events as deals editor on TechRadar for four years now so I've got plenty of tips, advice, and experience to share for our readers. If you've got your 4th of July shopping list ready but are wondering whether you should simply wait until Prime Day (or even Black Friday), then I'll tell you exactly what to expect in each sale.
While you're here, I highly recommend bookmarking our 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day hub pages, which we'll be using to roundup all the best deals in each event. If you're looking for expert-picked deals, these pages should be your first port of call over the next month.
The key differences, explained
The 4th of July sales are a 'traditional' sales event
The 4th of July sales are what I'd call a 'traditional' sales event - one where the deals are shared between online retailers and brick and mortar stores. Overall, it's a pretty similar setup to other federal holiday sales like Memorial Day and Labor Day, which are other seasonal sales that tend to feature similar types of deals.
Amazon Prime Day, on the other hand, is an online exclusive mega-sale at the world's biggest retailer. It's a two day event that's all about Amazon specifically and you'll need to be an active Amazon Prime member to get access to the exclusive deals on offer.
It's worth noting that other retailers have started to try and muscle in on the action in recent years by offering their own 'anti-Prime Day' sales around the Amazon Prime Day period. In general, Prime Day has become a kind of mini-Black Friday event in July, although perhaps not quite as vast in content yet.
What to buy at each event
(Image credit: Amazon)
4th of July sales for appliances, furniture, grills, mattresses.
Amazon Prime Day for TVs, laptops, and electronics
I'd primarily recommend the 4th of July sales for appliances, furniture, grills, mattresses and so on - you know, the kind of things you'd buy in an outlet store. There are plenty of other deals (more on that later), but generally speaking these core categories are the best buys for 4th of July and other seasonal sales.
Amazon Prime Day, on the other hand, I'd recommend for electronics. TVs, laptops, headphones, and things along that vein. While the retailer's huge inventory covers a huge range of everyday essentials, it's usually the deals on electronics that we recommend people check out here at TechRadar - especially on own-brand devices like Echo Dots, Kindle, or Fire TV Sticks. We usually find Black Friday-level deals on models that we've personally tested and reviewed on-site so it's easy to recommend waiting until Prime Day to buy electronics.
It's not that simple, however
Yep - unfortunately not. While Amazon Prime Day remains the primo mid-Summer sales event, the 4th of July sales can sometimes have some superb hidden gems. It's not unusual to see decent price cuts on TVs, laptops, or other electronics earlier in the month at retailers like Dell, HP, Best Buy, and others.
Right now, for example, the official HP Store is running its own 4th of July sale that's offering up to 55% off its range of Pavilion, Envy, and Spectre laptops - one of the better events we've seen from the retailer in recent months. Dell is also hosting a 'Summer Sale' right now with decent price cuts, although we could potentially see an even better 'Black Friday in July' sale at some point based on recent years.
Because of this it's definitely worth at least checking out the 4th of July sales - even if you're shopping for electronics. In general we expect Amazon Prime Day to have better deals overall but there could be a few hidden gems here or there - which we'll of course be including in our 4th of July sales roundup.
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I really enjoyed today's Strands puzzle and hope you will do too. Maybe that's because I found it to be quite easy – but don't worry if you struggle a little, because I've got some hints for you below.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #118) - hint #1 - today's theme
What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?
• Today's NYT Strands theme is… It's way over your head
NYT Strands today (game #118) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
LETTER
ELITE
SPOON
NOTE
PLAN
PLAY
NYT Strands today (game #118) - hint #3 - spangram
What is a hint for today's spangram?
• Heavens above
NYT Strands today (game #118) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?
• First: left, 4th row
• Last: right, 4th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #118) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Strands, game #118, are…
COMET
ASTEROID
PLANET
GALAXY
MOON
SATELLITE
SPANGRAM: OUTERPSACE
My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect
I'm a proper space buff and spend much of my free time staring at the skies through a telescope, taking photos of distant galaxies and nebulae – or more often cursing the fact that it's a cloudy night yet again.
Anyway, that helped me find all of the answers easily once again today – well, once I'd worked out what the theme was. I'd uncovered dozens of potential answers, all of which ended up merely being hints (none of which I used), before I finally got COMET, and realized what the connection was. After that it was plain sailing, other than the spangram, which took me a little while to identify.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 28 June, game #117)
SALSA
SOUL
JAZZ
BLUES
ROCK
DISCO
FOLK
COUNTRY
SPANGRAM: MUSICGENRE
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
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Google Translate is adding 110 new languages to its library, the largest expansion ever made to the platform. The update leverages Google's PaLM 2 large language model, an artificial intelligence tool that helps accurately translate across a wider array of languages than before. Those languages are spoken by approximately 614 million people, or about 8% of the global population.
The list includes some widely spoken tongues, dialects, and languages that are native to smaller communities. Notably, African languages saw their biggest expansion, with Fon, Kikongo, Luo, Ga, Swati, Venda, and Wolof joining the list. On the other end of the spectrum, Cantonese is likely one of the most widely spoken languages on the new list, as is Punjabi (Shahmukhi), the most spoken language in Pakistan.
There's also the Sicilian version of Italian, Manx, a Celtic language spoken on the Isle of Man that nearly went extinct, and a Papua New Guinea creole called Tok Pisin.
PaLM 2 Talk
For languages that blend regional dialects and different spelling standards, Google goes for something that might be best understood by most people, as with the Romani language offered by Google Translate, which includes three different dialects.
The PaLM 2 LLM made the update possible, enhancing Google Translate's ability to learn and shift between languages efficiently. This model is particularly adept at handling languages that are closely related, like Awadhi and Marwadi, to Hindi or the various French creoles. PaLM 2's advanced capabilities allow it to manage the nuances and variations within these languages, providing more accurate and culturally relevant translations.
The application of PaLM 2 to Google Translate is also interesting due to its origins as a tool for helping foster communications between humans and AI. For instance, both PaLM and PaLM 2 have been employed for helping teach robots how to carry out tasks and process commands from humans into steps to complete those tasks.
Potentially, the best part is that it's available on the web or via the Google Translate app on Android and iOS.
Cybersecurity researchers from Outpost24’s KrakenLabs observed a new and quite unique malware campaign that seems to values quantity over quality.
Usually, when hackers compromise a device, they deploy a single piece of malware and try their best to remain unseen and persistent, as they use the computer for whatever end goal they have.
But this new campaign, dubbed Unfurling Hemlock, does the exact opposite, making it stand out in the world of cybercrime. The researchers are saying that once the victim triggers the malware executable - in this case called ‘EXTRACT.EXE’ - they receive a handful of different malware, infostealers, and botnet executables.
Malware cluster bomb
The chances of the malware being picked up by cybersecurity solutions is high, but the researchers believe the attackers are hoping at least some of the payloads will survive the purge. Among the things dropped on the devices are Redline (popular infostealer), RisePro (an upcoming infostealer), Mystic Stealer (infostealing malware-as-a-service), Amadey (loader), SmokeLoader (another loader), Protection Disabler (a utility that disables Windows Defender and other security features), Enigma Packer (obfuscation tool), Healer (anti-security solution), and Performance Checker (a utility that checks and logs the performance of malware execution).
This “malware cluster bomb” was first spotted in February 2024, the researchers said, claiming to have seen more than 50,000 cluster bomb files, all with unique characteristics that link them back to Unfurling Hemlock.
KrakenLabs could not say with absolute certainty who the threat actors behind Unfurling Hemlock are, but they are fairly confident they are of Eastern European origin. Some of the evidence pointing in that direction is the use of Russian language in some of the samples, and the use of the Autonomous System 203727, related to a hosting service cybercrime groups in the region usually use.
Luckily enough, the malware being pushed through this campaign is well-known and most reputable antivirus programs will flag it.
Character.AI's collection of virtual personalities based on real and fictional sources will speak up thanks to the new Character Calls audio feature. The artificial intelligence-fueled chatbots can now engage in two-way voice conversations for free on the startup's app.
Augmenting the synthetic people hosted on Character.AI's hub with voices is supposed to make them more fun to talk to, according to the company. Users can tap a button in the window of their chat and start talking to the bot in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. Tapping while the bot is talking will interrupt it and you can switch back to texting the same way.
Character counts
The Character Calls is an extension of the Character Voices feature launched in March, which only allowed audio responses from the AI chatbots, not human voice interaction. Character.ai says there are now more than a million voice options available. For those who'd like to make their own Character.ai chatbot or already have some, the voice options incorporate a lot of styles and accents.
The company tested the new feature before the launch and said more than 20 million calls have already been made by more than 3 million people. Those calls included people learning new languages, practicing for job interviews, and working on game characters and storytelling ideas.
Character.ai was early to the virtual celebrity and AI-powered pal market, but it may need this new feature to help it keep up with some recent competition. Meta now offers Celebrity AI chatbots linked to official partnerships with those celebrities. And Google is reportedly working on doing something similar, potentially centered on YouTube and YouTube influencers, as well as letting people design their own chatbots.
Identity verification company AU10TIX kept a set of admin credentials exposed for more than a year, possibly allowing threat actors to steal its customers’ sensitive data.
AU10TIX verifies user identities on behalf of its clients, which include, among others, TikTok, X, and Uber, via selfie pictures and scans of people’s driver’s licenses.
Cybersecurity researchers from spiderSilk were the first (among white hat researchers) to stumble upon the credentials. They claim that the login information grants access to a logging platform, where access to the identity documents is unabated.
Stolen credentials
“My personal reading of this situation is that an ID Verification service provider was entrusted with people's identities and it failed to implement simple measures to protect people's identities and sensitive ID documents,” said Mossab Hussein, the chief security officer at spiderSilk.
Unfortunately, it seems that malicious players beat spiderSilk to the punch, as account information was probably picked up by a piece of malware in December 2022, and shared via Telegram in March 2023.
If someone did access this database (which AU10TIX claims was not abused in the wild), they would have gotten access to people’s names, birth dates, nationalities, ID numbers, and images of their faces. This is more than enough to run successful identity theft of phishing attacks. Such data is also quite expensive on the black market, too.
AU10TIX said it notified the affected customers and that it is replacing the current operating system with a new one, with more focus on security.
It signed X as a client in September 2023, when we reported that the company had a clean rap sheet, without any public data breaches. As such, it was seen as a good choice for the social media behemoth. We did, however, said we’d remain skeptical given Musk’s controversial decisions in the past, and we were most definitely right.
