A developer has a 28.9-million-parameter model generating TinyStories-style text at 9.88 tokens per second, fully offline, on a $10 microcontroller
It was achieved by fitting a language model on a chip with 512KB of RAM by leaving most of it in flash storage
The project is available on GitHub under an MIT license
A developer going by slvDev has a 28.9-million-parameter language model generating text on an ESP32-S3, a microcontroller built for sensor nodes and smart plugs, at 9.88 tokens per second, with nothing leaving the chip.
The project, esp32-ai, went up on GitHub under an MIT license in late July 2026, was showcased on the Better Stack YouTube channel, and has since collected over 3,600 stars and has more than 470 forks of the underlying code.
Given the underlying hardware's limitations, the attempt meant the model, which was trained on the TinyStories dataset by Microsoft Research, had to be scaled down.
Still a capable LLM despite the loss in accuracy
The arithmetic involved here is brutally unforgiving; weights typically need one to four bytes per parameter just to sit in memory, so 28.9 million parameters at 16-bit precision still require nearly 60 MB of RAM. An ESP32-S3 offers 512 KB of SRAM and 8 MB of PSRAM that is woefully inadequate at first glance.
Quantization closes the first part of the gap: dropping the weights to four-bit precision trades a little accuracy for a 75% reduction, bringing 60MB down to 14.9MB.
The second step is where the project earns most of its attention: most of a language model's parameters sit in embedding tables that the model reads from rather than computes against, and something you only read can live somewhere slow.
Borrowing Per-Layer Embeddings from Google's Gemma 3n, slvDev moved about 25 million parameters (roughly 12 MB at four-bit) into the board's 16 MB of flash, pulling around 6 rows, about 450 bytes, per token.
What remains in working memory is closer to 2 MB: the dense core and output head in PSRAM, and activations and norm weights in SRAM. Each tier stores whatever is read at its own frequency, and the chip's memory hierarchy serves as the architecture that enables the LLM.
Offloading weights to storage is not new; it is how people coax frontier-class models onto hardware that has no business running them, but it usually destroys throughput, turning tokens per second into seconds or minutes per token.
The PLE approach avoids that because the offloaded weights are accessed sparingly, so flash bandwidth never becomes the bottleneck. The resulting performance, 9.88 tokens per second, is faster than most people read.
The LLM has its limitations, however: the model writes short, mostly coherent stories and will not answer questions, follow instructions, write code, or know facts. The developer says the limit stems from the small part of the model that performs the reasoning (~4M parameters) and that the memory trick does not change its capabilities. His repository also ships a second model, Barista, which expressly answers espresso questions only (pun intended).
In short, the approach doesn't make small models smarter, but it does allow them to offload data within the board onto chips they could not previously run on, making it an interesting choice, though one with limited practical uses in its current iteration.
Welcome to the Blu-ray Bounty July 2026. This is where we test the latest 4K releases of each month that we think will be perfect for showing off your home theater. If you’re new to the Blu-ray Bounty, you can check out previous editions here, where we’ve reviewed over 100 discs since starting in November 2024.
4K Blu-ray is easily one of the best ways to enjoy a movie at home, especially when it’s on the best TVs and best soundbars. I personally use it as my main source for testing AV equipment, thanks to its uncompressed picture and audio quality.
In last month’s June 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, I tested seven discs, including Speed Racer (which is one of the best discs I’ve ever tested, and you can expect to see it as reference source in future reviews), EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert, Bullet In The Head (1991), Body Heat, Avatar: Fire & Ash, Five Easy Pieces and 36 Hours.
In this month’s list, I’ll be testing 4 discs, and I’ll be using our usual setup. This consists of the LG G6, one of 2026’s best OLED TVs, the Panasonic DP-UB820, the best 4K Blu-ray player for most users on the market, and the Samsung HW-Q990C, the brand’s flagship 11.1.4 channel Dolby Atmos system from 2023.
As always, I’ll only be discussing the video and audio quality of each disc, not the movie itself.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Universal Pictures)
Nintendo / Universal Pictures / Future Nintendo / Universal Pictures / Future Future
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, sequel to 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, follows Mario, Luigi, Peach Yoshi and Toad's adventure to rescue Princess Rosalina, who's been kidnapped by Bowser Jr. The film stars Chris Pratt, Anya-Taylor Joy, Charlie Day and Jack Black, who reprises his role as Bowser.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie looks gorgeous on 4K Blu-ray. This disc is so impressive, that I've even started using it for reference testing, and you can read my full thoughts on it here. Below is a summary about the disc's picture and audio.
It's all about color reproduction here, which is bold and vibrant, generating some amazing pop on screen. As the Lumas listen to Rosalina's bedtime story, the color of each Luma is punchy with some amazing highlights, especially with Dolby Vision HDR. The animation throughout is crisp, delivering 3D-like textures and depth that is seriously impressive.
If you have a bright display at home, you'll be rewarded with some beautiful brightness too. The star that one of the Lumas turns into dazzles on screen, and anytime Rosalina uses magic, there are stunning, glittery colors that illuminate the screen. The movie delivers excellent contrast too, particularly in space scenes where the dark blue sky of space balances nicely with the bright stars and vivid characters.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has an impressive Dolby Atmos soundtrack included too. There's excellent detail and precision here, as Peach and Toad first fly through the space on the star, the twinkling trail behind the star follows its path accurately, and is well defined in the mix, clearly audible even in the uplifting score. As characters fly towards Bowser Jr's ship, height effects are fully utilized, with the character's flight mapped overhead to create a fully immersive sound. There's even great demonstrations of bass throughout, as character's fire up ship engines or crash through things, generating plenty of impact.
To Live and Die in L.A (Arrow Video)
Arrow Video / Future Arrow Video / Future Future
To Live and Die in L.A. follows the story of two Secret Service agents, Richard Chance (William Petersen) and John Vukovich (John Pankow), who are in pursuit of counterfeiter-turned-killer Eric Masters (Willem Defoe) after Masters kills Chance’s former partner.
To Live and Die in L.A. looks excellent in 4K in this restoration, presented by Arrow Video. Textures have been cleaned up well, with skin looking realistic, and more intricate details such as scars and marks on people’s faces delivered with real clarity in close-up shots. Colors have seen beautiful pop, with the Dolby Vision grade really adding some serious punch. Reds, such as those on the US flags throughout, in particular jump off the screen.
There’s some strong contrast throughout, as well as some refined shadow detail. In dimly-lit areas, overhead lights create strong shadows across people’s faces, with a stakeout scene with Chance and Vukovich acting as one of the best demonstrations of this. Black tones are deep throughout as well, in both environments and people’s clothing.
There are two soundtracks included here: the original stereo audio and a DTS-HD 5.1 MA mix. Using the 5.1 MA mix, there’s some seriously good detail here. As Masters makes counterfeit notes, the whirring of the printing press balances nicely with Wang Chung’s score. Even intricate effects in the scene, such as Masters cutting out the notes and washing the surface, are clearly audible. During a night-time stakeout, the pouring rain is accurately mapped to the rear channels, even creating a sense of height. Speech is clear throughout, and the soundstage is wide enough to give all elements room to breathe.
Alice In Wonderland (1951) (Disney)
Disney / Future Disney / Future Future
Alice In Wonderland, based on both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, tells the story of Alice, a young girl who ends up in a magical world where she meets a weird and wonderful cast of characters, including the evil Queen of Hearts who rules over Wonderland.
Alice in Wonderland looks great in 4K. Colors are bold and accurate in equal measure, faithfully rendering that classic Disney look. While most colors are beautifully vivid, it’s reds and pinks that really stand out on screen, looking particularly dazzling. The animation style here looks refined and has been nicely upscaled, giving characters more depth.
On the LG G6 I used, bright colors such as the white of Alice’s clothes and the gold of the doorknob have striking brightness and vibrancy to them, aided by the Dolby Vision HDR featured on this disc. While I usually use Filmmaker Mode on the G6, I found this movie did benefit from the brighter Cinema Home mode for some added punch.
While there is still some film grain present for cinephiles, the movie has been refined quite a lot and this does give the animation a very clean look, making it look much more contemporary than its original 1951 animation style would suggest.
There are two soundtrack options available: DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 mono. The 2.0 mono is more faithful to the original, but the 5.1 MA mix has a nice balance to it, giving every element depth and warmth, while letting them all breathe. The score is mapped to the rear speakers, allowing the front channels to deliver speech and other effects. Outside of the score and vocals, there aren’t many other elements to show off your home theater, but this 5.1 mix does sound brilliant.
Hairspray (1988) (Criterion)
The Criterion Collection / Future The Criterion Collection / Future Future
Set in 1962, Hairspray follows Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake), a teenager who achieves stardom on a local dance show, and attempts to use her newfound fame to advocate for more racial integration on the dance show. Directed by John Waters, the movie also stars Divine, Sony Bono, Jerry Stiller and Debbie Harry.
As you’d expect from a movie set in the 1960s, there’s some seriously bold visuals here. From the bright pinks of the Turnblad home to the striking red of Link’s car, colors have some really nice pop on screen. Textures have been upscaled effectively, giving them a more 3D-like look, though not quite to the extent from other Criterion restorations such as 3:10 To Yuma. Finer details have also been refined, with individual strands of hair given some nice depth and volume.
There’s a lot of grain still present here, so cinephiles will be happy. Black tones are deep as well, shown predominantly in people’s hair. There’s some nice contrast too, as shaded areas contrast with the bright lights of the studios for the dance shows themselves.
For audio, there are two soundtracks available: DTS-HD MA 2.0 surround and DTS-HD MA 5.1. The 5.1 soundtrack does a great job of giving the soundtrack room to breathe, with a good balance between the speech and stacked tracklist of songs used for the dance scenes. More intricate effects such as the sound of shuffling feet and clapping hands during dance scenes have a nice clarity, clearly audible over the much louder songs.
Researchers tested AI-generated patches on six CVEs with poor success rates
Many fixes failed, altered behavior, or introduced new vulnerabilities
Guidance improved outcomes, leading to FLAWED evaluation harness release
When using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to fix vulnerabilities, security professionals are most of the time just robbing Peter to pay Paul, experts have warned.
Researchers from 1Passwords Off-by-1 Labs analyzed fixes proposed by two frontier models - ChatGPT 5.5 at “medium” effort, and Claude Opus 4.8 at “high” effort.
As an experiment, the researchers took six recently disclosed CVEs and produced 6,080 patches using two frontier, cyber-capable reasoning models. The results were underwhelming to say the least - of all the proposed patches, just a quarter (26%) fully resolved the issue.
FLAWED work?
This obviously leaves plenty to be desired, as half (49.3%) of the patches failed to fix at least one existing exploit path. A fifth (20.1%) fixed the original issue but changed application behavior, while 2.3% introduced new security issues. Funny enough, 2.2% failed to fix the vulnerability while also introducing additional exploit paths, as well.
Even among the patches that might be considered (26% of clean ones and 20.1% of those that changed app behavior), more than a third were fragile and not entirely addressing the underlying problem.
The researchers created an acronym for automated LLM patches: FLAWED (Fix-Like Artifacts With Embedded Defects), and warned against letting AI work without human oversight: "The expected value of a fully LLM-generated, non-human-reviewed patch is a net-negative by a considerable margin."
Results drastically improved when the AI was given better context, the researchers further explained. Before working on any patch, human developers are usually given initial guidance. When AI is given proper guidance, its success rate rises to 65%. Incorrect guidance, on the other hand, drops the success rate down to 15.2%. The difference between humans and AI is that humans are better at catching misleading information and poor guidance.
This doesn’t mean developers will, or should, abandon AI. Worst case scenario is that developers will spend more time reviewing AI-generated fixes which could increase cognitive load and still end up being net negative. Therefore, the researchers released a patch evaluation harness called FLAWED, which organizations can now use to determine the effectiveness of their AI-generated fixes.
The Apple AirPods Pro 3 have just received a surprise price cut at Amazon, bringing the excellent premium earbuds down to just $189 (was $249) at the retailer.
That's the lowest price since the retailer's annual Prime Day mega-sale back in June, and likely the best deal we'll see for a while. Ever since Prime Day, these buds have stubbornly held at $199, which is the usual 'sales price' for Apple's premium buds.
Even though the record low is officially $169, the AirPods Pro 3 only hit that on one occasion over Prime Day, so today's price cut is definitely worth considering. Even at $189, the AirPods Pro 3 are an excellent buy for anyone looking for some high-end buds. Not only do they feature excellent noise cancellation, but they're packed with new features like heart rate monitoring and Live Translation.
The AirPods Pro 3 are cheaper today at Amazon
Amazon has dropped Apple's AirPods Pro 3 to $189.99, which is the best deal I've seen on these buds in well over a month. Upgrades to the AirPods Pro 3 include improved Active Noise Cancellation and audio, a new comfortable in-ear design, and new features such as live translation and the ability to track heart rate, workouts, and calories burned.View Deal
We awarded the buds an impressive four and a half stars out of five in our AirPods Pro 3 review, calling them 'near-perfect noise-cancelling earbuds' at the time. While not exactly cheap, they offer excellent noise cancellation and sound quality.
If we had to draw any criticisms, we'd mention that the AirPods Pro 3 don't have class-leading battery life (around 5.5 hours in our testing). You'll also need one of the latest iPhones to really take advantage of their full suite of features like Live Translation and personalized fitness insights. They're still great with older devices, but iPhone 15 and newer devices support Apple Intelligence, which is required for the newest bells and whistles.
Spoilers for My Life with the Walter Boys season 3 ahead.
If you watched My Life with the Walter Boys season 3 with the hope that Jackie (Nikki Rodriguez) and Cole (Noah LaLonde) would be more loved up than ever before, you were sadly never going to get your wish.
Just before the season finale, Netflix pried the two apart once again, with Cole listening to Jackie's uncle Richard's (Alex Quijano) 'advice,' and believing that he was holding Jackie back from fulfilling her full potential.
Not only did this leave Jackie rightly heartbroken, but it's thrust her into the arms of newcomer Eliot (Naveen Paddock), who is all too happy to back Richard's beliefs up. While Jackie and Eliot move in for their first kiss at the community space launch party, Cole leaves his drag race final to try and win her back.
But before he can, disaster strikes. A mysterious car pulls up while Cole is driving to the party, and we see that it's the drag racing contestant who Cole left behind in the final.
He's clearly annoyed that the race has been cancelled, and is looking to take his revenge. Finally, the two cars clip, sending Cole's car into a nearby field, where it continues to roll.
Heading into the already-renewed My Life with the Walter Boysseason 4, Cole has been left for dead. Or has he? I'm convinced that the first details Netflix has revealed about the next season have also confirmed that Cole is still alive.
Noah LaLonde will be returning for My Life with the Walter Boys season 4 — and that's good news
According to Netflix, actor Noah LaLonde will be returning for season 4, with filming having started in Calgary in May 2026. He's seen in a new image of him, Rodriguez, and Ashby Gentry (Alex) on set, with the streamer confirming that the trio is "embarking on the next chapter."
Given that the endgame of the Netflix series is surely to romantically unite Jackie and Cole for good — they just have to go through the worst in order to get there. Frankly, it would be ridiculous for showrunners to kill Cole off completely, especially considering that Alex has finally admitted his feelings for Kiley (Mya Lowe).
Hopefully, Cole's accident is the catalyst for bringing him back to Jackie, and will allow Jackie to fully forgive Cole for so coldly dumping her during season 3. Then, of course, there's the question of whether Jackie actually follows through with her kiss with Eliot at the same time that Cole crashes.
I've got a sneaking suspicion that she'll pull away at the last second... but perhaps that's wishful thinking. It's certainly a moment that her future relationship with Cole could hinge on, if he pulls through.
There is a worst-case scenario, however. LaLonde could simply be returning to film flashback scenes, or to communicate with Jackie through visions from beyond the grave. It's not something we can totally rule out, but it certainly would take My Life with the Walter Boys down a much darker route.
But how likely is this? At the moment, it's far too early to make a call. However, my educated guess is that Cole and Jackie will be just fine in the long run... sometimes, it takes the worst kind of tragedy to realize what you really want.
It will likely rely on the very new Starlink V3 satellite
SpaceX's huge Starship will play a crucial role in the effort to compete with major carriers
SpaceX's first earnings call this week as a publicly traded company was full of promises and hyperbole, including the prediction from boaster-in-chief Elon Musk (also SpaceX CEO and Chief Engineer) that Starlink "will deliver a majority of the world's internet, at least in countries where we're allowed to operate, which is the vast majority of countries." As for a time scale, think not the distant future, but fewer than 10 years.
That's some bold talk, but SpaceX President, COO, and someone far less likely to wax bombastic, Gwen shotwell, backed up those claims. "As far as revenue, I'm just going to take a very high-level kind of top-down. The big three in the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, roughly between them, $600 billion a year. I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers because I think our service will be better." Shotwell told investors.
These promises all hinge, in part, on the development and launch of Starlink's V3 satellites, which will, on a per-satellite basis, drastically improve throughput. Starlink's current V2 satellite has a downlink throughput of roughly 80GBps. V3 can, the company claims, deliver 1 Terabit of downlink connectivity. Uplink jumps from roughly 7 Gbps to between 160 and 200 Gbps.
It's not just the speed; Starlink V3 satellites promise exponentially more beams, which is basically support for more concurrent users. V2 offers just under 200 beams while V3 promises 2048 per satellite.
Still, with just a reported 10,918 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), they will need a way of quickly delivering tens of thousands of satellites into orbit to achieve this lofty goal.
And so the other part of this hyperbolic plan hinges on SpaceX's still-in-testing Starship rocket. Granted, the 408ft tall spacecraft is rapidly transitioning to the operational phase and may have a full launch as soon as this month. It's already lifted some V3 satellites into orbit during one of its earlier orbital test flights. Now, to realize Musk's plan, it must shift to rapid launch deployment and then relaunch and deploy again.
Musk told investors that "Starlink V3 satellite is about an order of magnitude more capable than the Starlink V2 satellite." Then he added some color on the scale of what SpaceX and Starlink are planning: "We expect to launch about an order of magnitude more Starlink V3 satellites. That would mean a roughly two-order-of-magnitude increase in the delivered bandwidth."
Musk believes we'll need all that bandwidth, not just for potential consumer mobile broadband users but for the vast amounts of data and connectivity required by AI and robotics (both here and possibly on a Moon base), two other sectors where Musk has a vested interest.
"With the advent of AI, and humanoid robotics and vehicle robotics and just a massive number of robots, the appetite for bandwidth will be much greater than it has been in the past," he explained during the earnings call.
Starlink Mobile reality check
Starlink, though, is quite a distance away from competing directly with Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T in the US. Across them, they have more than 300M connections (or customers). Starlink has a reported 12M global customers.
As for those V3 satellites that will help propel Starlink Mobile into the mobile broadband competitive space, they do not officially launch until next year. In the meantime, Starlink's V2 Satellites will fill the gaps and help provide partners like EchoStar with better, faster, and maybe more reliable satellite connectivity.
We do already have some proof of the efficacy of Starlink WiFi connectivity and throughput. Earlier this year, TechRadar US Managing Editor for News Jake Krol took a flight on a Starlink-equipped United Airlines aircraft where he enjoyed incredible connectivity and speed. Krol was a fan: "I could livestream a show or movie, or even select a 'live channel' via Disney+ on an iPad, watch any video on YouTube, and scroll through TikTok or Instagram Reels without the slowdowns or loading issues typical of non-Starlink-equipped United flights."
Of course, that connectivity goes from the Starlink satellites to a responder on the jet, which then feeds the signal to onboard Wi-Fi and connected devices. In the case of Starlink Mobile, there'll potentially be no middleman, just your phone, a satellite, and instant, fast connectivity.
The benefit of the low-Earth-orbit V3 satellites, when they do finally launch and fill the skies, is that they should allow consumers to connect with them just as they would with towers assigned to their favorite carrier.
There is also one major hurdle that SpaceX and Starlink already cleared when the FCC granted Starlink approval in January 2026 for the company's "Next-gen satellite constellation."
Even with all this in place, the stars must align with Starship being fully operational, all those new satellites launched, and customers lined up by the millions. The last bit is surely the biggest question mark. Even if most of their modern cellphones support these direct-to-satellite connections, how likely are consumers to leave their trusted carrier behind?
Shotwell, for one, is bullish: "I'm quite excited about Starlink Mobile going forward," she told investors, "We will start to fly the satellites next year, and we will start providing service end of next year."
Distillation sidesteps the logic of US export controls, which restrict the chips needed to train frontier models but cannot restrict the text those models produce
Review of more than 80 Chinese papers and patents found PLA-linked researchers distilling outputs from OpenAI and Anthropic models into small systems they can run locally
The Trump administration is increasingly critical of the approach and has claimed Chinese research lab-created Kimi K3 distilled Anthropic's Fable model
A new investigation has claimed Chinese military researchers have used outputs from American AI models built by OpenAI and Anthropic to train domestic systems intended to advance the country's defense capabilities.
The findings are based on a Reuters review of more than 80 Chinese academic papers and patents, incorporating research compiled by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation shared exclusively with the news agency.
Reuters says it independently verified the literature and found a further two dozen military-linked case studies of its own.
A distillation problem in an AI race that continues to heat up
The mechanism at issue is model distillation, in which the outputs of a large, capable system are used as training data for a smaller one. The smaller model inherits selected behaviors at a fraction of the compute cost and, crucially, can run on modest local hardware.
That is the strategic point. Washington's export controls are built to deny China the chips needed to train frontier models. Distillation does not need those chips, because the expensive part has already been paid for by someone else. It sits alongside Beijing's other route around the controls: substituting domestic silicon for American designs, a shift that carries its own long-term threat to Nvidia and AMD.
Sunny Cheung, the Jamestown fellow who analyzed more than 60 of the papers, frames the value as reasoning rather than answers. Getting a model to produce the right output is comparatively easy, he told Reuters, but "teaching it the reasoning behind the answer is much harder."
The papers, on his reading, show Chinese military-linked researchers trying to move that expensive proprietary reasoning into small systems they can control and deploy themselves.
The asymmetry points at what is wrong with the US instrument. Export controls regulate objects: chips, tools, hardware that crosses a border and can be counted. The thing being transferred here is text a model produced- which crosses no border in any customs sense and cannot be enumerated.
The White House has registered the problem at both the chip and distillation end, but registering it is not the same as having a lever. For now, the debate over whether distillation is theft or standard practice may matter less than the fact that neither answer offers a workable control.
A new bill introduced to Congress wants to ban data centers from federal land
The bill has been co-sponsored by numerous representatives across the US
Trump's data center buildout is worsening pollution and raising utility bills for millions of Americans
A bill that would see data centers banned from being built on US federal lands has been introduced to Congress by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12).
The ‘No AI Data Centers on Federal Lands Act’ would also see existing AI data centers removed from federal land, and the sites decontaminated to protect the local environment and water systems.
“Everywhere I go in our district, our residents tell me loud and clear, data centers are not welcome in our communities. AI data centers bring noise, light, air, and water pollution, and can increase energy costs by as much as 267%,” said Rep. Tlaib, co-founder of the People’s Environmental Justice Caucus.
AI at any cost
As part of the Trump administration’s plans to remain a world leader in AI technology, the Department of Defense has requested $30 billion in funding to build secure AI data centers as part of the Pentagon’s “AI Arsenal initiative”. This initiative is part of a move to equip the US military with AI systems to be integrated into battle management and warfare operations, threat detection and analysis, and supply chain logistics.
These military data centers could also be built without being subject to the Clean Air Act, meaning construction of the sites would be allowed to go ahead without any consideration for health risks to local populations.
The Department of Energy is also looking to build 16 new data centers under guidance from the Trump administration. The DoE data centers would be provided with fast-track approval for energy generation. Many new data centers are turning to polluting gas-burning turbine generators that produce noise levels similar to international airports, and cause sickness in local populations.
“Our residents are choking on smog and already paying too much for their utility bills, yet the Trump administration wants to place heavier cost burdens on the shoulders of hardworking Americans,” Rep. Tlaib said.
“Our corrupt, AI-addicted President cannot be allowed to sacrifice our federal lands so that Big Tech oligarchs can get richer. I will continue to push back against harmful AI data centers alongside our residents to protect our public lands, health, and environment.”
“While the Trump administration willingly serves up our environment on a platter to Big Tech and their data centers, Rep. Tlaib’s proposed legislation is drawing a line in the sand,” said Camden Weber, senior climate and energy policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Public lands belong to the people, not to Big Tech’s bottom line. This bill is a necessary step toward holding the industry accountable and protecting the air, water and places all species depend on.”
Fanxiang is a Chinese storage brand, most commonly known as Shenzhen Fanxiang Information Technology. The company grew out of a team with a decade of prior experience in storage design, firmware, and product sales, and they've built their range around four main product lines: solid-state drives, mobile storage, memory modules, and storage cards.
It’s been making external SSD storage for about five years, with a wide range of devices and specifications.
The PS2000W appeared in 2025, and delivers capacities from 500Mb to 4TB in a slim aluminium case. It comes with a soft carry pouch and a cable that has an integrated adapter for both USB-A and USB-C connections.
The quoted performance is 2000MB/s reads, and 1800MB/s writes, but that assumes you have a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port, and that’s not a common standard.
More realistically, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port will achieve a little over 1000 MB/s reads, and 950 MB/s writes with either a USB-C or USB-A connection.
For those wanting faster transfers, you either need a system with the rare USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port, or choose a different drive that supports the USB4 standard, like the Fanxiang PS3000 portable SSD.
However, that option costs $350 for the 1TB model, which is substantially more than the $150 the PS2000W is typically priced at for that capacity.
The problem the PS2000W doesn’t address is that this drive is double the price it was only eight months ago, and unless you have a system that can make the most of its enhanced performance, there are cheaper alternatives. In fact, if you have a spare NVMe drive, then buying an external enclosure for USB4 is probably a better choice.
Not the best portable SSD, or the worst, but sadly impacted by the outrageous cost of flash memory in 2026.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Fanxiang PS2000W: Pricing and availability
How much does it cost? Starts from $90
When is it out? Available now
Where can you get it? Sold through online retailers and also directly from Fanxiang.
The Fanxiang PS2000W portable SSD comes in capacities starting at 500 GB, doubling each step to include 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB drives.
Directly from the maker, these are priced at $112.99, $203.99, $379.99 and $495.99 for the largest capacity. That pricing makes the 4TB the best value, and the 500MB the worst.
But the maker prices aren’t especially good, and I was able to find it much cheaper on Amazon. On Amazon.com in the US, the 500MB model is only $89.99, the 1TB model is $149.99, and the 4TB model is $419.99. There wasn’t a price for the 2TB version.
UK pricing via Amazon.co.uk is £64.60, £119.99, £169.99, and £319.99, and Amazon EU sites are €94.99, €139.99, €229.99, and €379.99, respectively.
For those curious, the UK is the cheapest place to buy this hardware, followed by the EU, and the most expensive is the USA.
While officially Crucial has exited the retail market, its equivalent product, the X10, is still available from many retailers. At $207 for the 1TB option, and $299.99 for the 2TB option, the X10 is slightly more expensive. But it is rated as water-resistant, and while there isn’t a 500GB model, there are 6TB and 8TB options.
A cheaper option with the same spec is the PNY RP60, but the 1TB model is still $10 more than the PS2000W.
But many of the familiar brands are more expensive, such as the SanDisk Extreme Pro V2, Samsung T9, Kingston XS2000 and LaCie Rugged Mini. Western Digital has its My Passport SSD, but it’s the same price as the PS2000W, but only offers half the performance.
Those looking for a cheaper option should consider the $82 Orico S20 with 512GB storage.
It’s tempting to look at the pricing of the PS2000W and see it as a good deal, when it’s far from that.
Price tracking the 1TB model: it was $149.99 at the time of writing; it was $75.99 in November of 2025. That’s nearly a 100% markup.
Now, I should say that Fanxiang doesn’t control the price of Flash memory, which has spiked since AI companies and speculators decided to buy all of it. But in good conscience, I can’t recommend people spend this sort of money on devices that cost half as much a year ago.
Value: 3 / 5
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Fanxiang PS2000W: Specs
Model
Fanxiang PS2000W
Interface
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20Gbps)
Sequential read
Up to 2050MB/s
Sequential write
Up to 1800MB/s
Flash type
TLC 3D NAND
Capacities
500GB, 1TB, 2TB
Dimensions
8.5cm x 5cm x 0.8cm
Weight
Approximately 45g
Build
Aluminium alloy unibody
Cables included
USB Type C to C, plus Type C to A adapter
Compatibility
Windows, Mac, Android, PS5/PS4, iPhone 15 and later via USB-C
Warranty
5 years
Fanxiang PS2000W: Design
Aluminium enclosure
Dual USB standards cable
Some brands, and you know the names, will try to make their external SSDs and HDDs as cheaply as possible, typically by using mostly plastic construction.
Thankfully, Fanxiang didn’t go down that path with the PS2000W, and this device appears to be entirely made of metal. And, based on its relatively low weight, it uses aluminium.
The package is a simple lozenge shape with curved sides and flattened ends, measuring 85mm long by 50mm wide and less than a centimetre thick.
Out of the box, it comes with a 30cm USB-C to USB-C cable that has a USB-A adapter permanently attached. The drive and cable fit neatly into a soft drawstring bag, also provided, making for a neat and easily pocketable solution.
The review model was a 2TB capacity drive, which translated into 1863GiB of usable space, and it connects to the host device using USAP (Serial ATA).
To achieve the best performance, it requires a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port, but the drive is backwards compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 2, Gen 1, and even USB 2.0. However, as you move down the USB interface pecking order, the expected speed decreases.
As for features, this drive is basic. It supports S.M.A.R.T. NCQ, TRIM and GPL, but it doesn’t offer hardware encryption like on the Kingston XS2000 or the Crucial X10 Pro.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
There are also no software tools included, though you can download a utility for SSD management from the Fanxiang website. I didn’t notice any means to update the installed firmware, or any firmware releases.
To be blunt, this is a basic USB SSD with a Gen 2x2 interface, but otherwise it’s unremarkable. And therefore, if you don’t have that interface, there appears to be no compelling reason why you would choose this one over another brand.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Design: 3.5 / 5
Fanxiang PS2000W: Performance
Needs USB 3.2 Gen 2x2
Performs within quoted specification
Fanxiang PS2000W Benchmark
Bench
Test
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2
USB 3.2 Gen 2
CrystalDiskMark 9.03
Default Read
2002MB/s
1041MB/s
Default Write
1853MB/s
948MB/S
Real World Read
1336MB/s
993MB/s
Real World Write
1219MB/s
912MB/s
AJA System Test 64GB
Read
1804MB/s
971MB/s
Write
1645MB/s
891MB/s
AS SSD
Read
1771MB/s
971MB/s
Write
1496MB/s
879MB/s
ATTO
Read
1.89GB/s
994MB/s
Write
1.73GB/s
906MB/s
PCMark Data Drive Bench
Score
2028
1250
Let’s be brutally honest: USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 was a dead standard walking from its inception, and USB4 didn’t really include it in its repertoire of supported prior standards. There are a few exceptions, but in general, if you don’t actually have a port to the 2x2 standard, then you won’t see the true performance that this drive can muster.
For that reason, I’ve presented the performance via a Gen 2x2 port and a much more common Gen 2 variety. How does it compare with the best Gen 2x2 drives?
Well, read speed is below the Crucial X10 Pro, ADATA Elite SE880 and LaCie Rugged Mini SSD, but write speed is close to what all those achieve.
Given the different controllers and implementations of Gen 2x2 interfaces, the Fanxiang PS2000W portable SSD doesn’t have a compelling reason to be chosen over any other drive in Gen 2x2 mode, but it can get close to the maximum realistic speed for this interface.
But if speed is the prerequisite, then a USB4 or Thunderbolt external drive, like the Corsair EX400U or the SanDisk Extreme PRO with USB4, would be a better choice if you have a USB4 port. These drives can hit read speeds of 3800MB/s or higher, and 3650MB/s writes.
And, if I were rushing to catch a plane or train, and needed to transfer files, I know which I’d prefer.
Performance: 4 / 5
Fanxiang PS2000W: Final verdict
If the Fanxiang PS2000W portable SSD had appeared during the golden age of Gen 2x2, when the Kingston XS2000 appeared back in early 2022, and at a reasonable price, then it might have been something I’d recommend.
And the fine irony of that comparison is that the price of the PS2000W is almost exactly the same as the XS2000's MSRP was nearly four years ago. And the Kingston device supported hardware encryption, where the Fanxiang does not.
To be clear, the construction quality and performance of the PS2000W are absolutely fine, but what isn’t is the amount of money being asked for.
If money isn’t an issue for you, I’d buy the Crucial X10 Pro before they’re extinct, as it has hardware encryption. Or I’d consider a USB4-capable drive, like the Corsair EX400U, if you have a port that supports that specification.
Should I buy the Fanxiang PS2000W?
Value
100% more expensive than it was 8 months ago
3 / 5
Design
Metal construction, comes with a carry pouch and a dual standard cable
3.5 / 5
Performance
Works well at Gen 2x2 speeds, if you have that port
4 / 5
Overall
A nice drive, but hardly great value
3.5 / 5
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Buy it if...
You have USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 If you have a USB port that is Gen 2x2 (not just Gen 2), then this might be the drive you want to exploit the extra speed that it offers. However, unless all the ports you are likely to plug it into are this spec, the advantage will be limited.
Money isn’t a concern Buying RAM, storage or GPUs is currently only for those people not paying with their own money. Since, depending on what you are buying, the price hikes range from 100% up to 400% and higher, if you can wait for the AI bubble to burst, you could save yourself, or your business, lots of money.
Don't buy it if...
You have USB 4.0 If you have USB4 or Thunderbolt 4, then this isn’t the drive for you, at whatever price. There are USB4-specified drives that are twice the speed of this one, and most of them only cost a little more.
You need bigger than 4TB The largest drive available in this range is 4TB. And those wanting 8TB or more need to look for a different product entirely.
Also consider
Nextorage NX-PS1PRO Series One of the first USB 4.0 capable external SSDs available, the Nextorage NX-PS1PRO Series comes in 1TB, 2TB or 4TB capacities.
OWC Envoy Pro FX If you have Thunderbolt 3 ports or intend to add this functionality soon, then the Envoy Pro FX might well be worth your time. A beautifully engineered external storage option that can provide exceptional performance in the right circumstances, the OWC Envoy Pro FX is effective if expensive.
Bitdefender reported Roblox players lured by a fake “undetected” Xeno Executor mod spreading malware
Infection chain delivers a Java‑based RAT and infostealer stealing browser data, online accounts, payment info, and crypto wallets
Malware also enables surveillance and remote control; campaign peaked in March 2026 and remains active against Roblox’s 82M players
Cybercriminals are targeting Roblox players with an infostealer and a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) malware that grants them full control over compromised computers, experts have warned.
Roblox is an online gaming platform, virtual universe, and game creation system where users play millions of games and user-generated mods. Among the mods is Xeno Executor, a utility that allows players to run scripts that automate certain actions or run custom code. Some players use Xeno Executor to run cheats, too.
Since it’s an unofficial script, Roblox does not allow it and blocks it whenever a new version is released. Now, security researchers Bitdefender have reported finding an “undetected” version being promoted on various gaming forums, Discord communities, and similar.
CornFlake and CocoShell
This version is advertised as “invisible” to Roblox’s anti-cheat systems, but in reality, all it does is trigger an infection chain that ends in a Java-based RAT and information stealer.
The malware grabs browser data such as passwords and cookies from some of the most popular browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi), as well as online accounts and payment data (Discord, Roblox, Minecraft, Microsoft Store tokens, and more).
It also steals cryptocurrency wallet data, particularly targeting the Exodus Wallet.
As for surveillance, it can log keys, track mouse movements, grab screenshots, stream whatever is on the desktop, and access the webcam. The crooks are also granted file upload and download, PowerShell command execution, and more.
The campaign was kicked off at the start of the year, reaching its peak in March, it was said. It has now stabilized and is still going relatively strong.
We don’t know exactly how many players fell victim to this campaign, but Roblox is an incredibly popular platform, so it is possible the campaign was rather successful, too.
According to Activeplayer, Roblox currently has more than 82 million active players.
Thanks to an exclusive preview of the Mystery Booster Commander Edition at Gen Con 2026 and now the set’s full release notes, we got a deeper look at what we can expect from the limited set — and Wizards, I’m begging you to make it as widely available as possible.
This is Magic: The Gathering’s third go at Mystery Booster (and for me, it’s third time’s the charm). Filled with reprints from across Magic’s past, the aim of the packs is to create a delightfully chaotic draft environment — a format where players only use cards they open up in the packs they are given.
This chaos is enhanced by fan-favorite art treatments giving cards strange new looks — such as Mystery Booster 2’s return to White Bordered and Future Framed cards — and ‘Playtest’ cards, game pieces that bend Magic’s rules or meme on the game and its community.
Commander Edition follows this trend with two very notable exceptions that make me more desperate than ever to play it myself: it’s a commander draft, and it has mechanically unique cards for the first time, which are legal in constructed play.
Commander draft shaped hole in my life
My favorite draft format is Commander. Instead of creating any hodgepodge of cards, you have to build your deck like you would for a standard EDH game. That is, a deck where all of the cards match the color identity of your leader, your Commander.
It’s not 100 cards, and it’s not singleton (you can play as many copies of cards you open as you have in your draft pool), but I find the deck-building restrictions of Commander an engaging puzzle to tackle while drafting.
(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)
I’ve found it also has a few advantages for chaos drafting. Luck can play a much bigger factor in what deck you can make, so taking two cards a pack can help you counter that variance. If someone is able to open some incredible cards, you have two other players to help you fight back, and the generally more casual feel makes defeat sting a little less.
Commander draft requires the right kind of set to work, and in a world where we get six or seven Standard releases a year, there isn’t a lot of room to also push out a Commander set. Mystery Booster Commander Edition fills this void.
The chance to draft Commander is my main reason for wanting Mystery Booster Commander Edition, but for most there’s a far bigger request: access to new cards.
Playing with power
Besides Playtest cards and physical reprints of previously Arena-exclusive cards (Magic: The Gathering’s digital version) Mystery Booster sets have only included cards we’ve seen in paper before, and these unique cards aren’t officially allowed outside of drafts — so you can’t put a powerful playtest card in a deck and rock up to a tournament.
That’s changing with Mystery Booster Commander Edition as it’ll be adding a lot of new cards to the game, some of which literally break the rules. These so-called Rulebreakers are special Commanders who let you get around some deck-building restrictions — such as the previously revealed Tolabow, Loch Rascal letting you put one other color of Instant and Sorcery cards (and basic lands) in what would otherwise be a mono-blue deck. Or the newly teased The Unlickiest Planeswalker letting you play with auras of any color in your deck (honoring that this fan-favorite character is often featured in the artwork for curses).
There are other new game pieces too, including Sorceries, which can be your Commander like Ashaya’s Enduring Bond, new Eminence Commanders who affect the game even when not in play, such as Sahir, Visitor in Darkness, and just generally fun and unique game pieces that support existing strategies or create new options — also cards like Arzakon that can create Black Lotus tokens.
(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)
All in all, we’ll see 59 unique Legends in the set, and while I expect several will see reprints down the line, for now there’s only one way to get them — and if access to Mystery Booster Commander Edition is going as limited as Mystery Booster 2, I’m worried.
If anything, Mystery Booster Commander Edition will only be more impossible to get your hands on because these unique cards will almost certainly drive up demand beyond what art-treatments could ever do.
So I’m begging you, Wizards of the Coast, please print this set as much as you can.
Bring it to every possible event, make sure copious quantities are available through Secret Lair Festival in a Box drops, and maybe send a load of boxes to local game stores to run Commander drafts over the next couple of years. Ideally, do all three.
I want to play so much of this set, and I know every other Commander player is chomping at the bit too. Please just give us what we want.
