In today's social media age, celebrity brand ambassadors are a common sight, helping endorse or promote a brand's products or tools, giving that extra bit of sparkle or star power.
This is especially true in the consumer market, but we're now increasingly seeing it in the B2B tech world, where what 10 years ago would have been niche businesses now have the power to hire top talent to promote their brand - I'm talking Idris Elba promoting ServiceNow, Keanu Reeves bigging up Palo Alto Networks, and Matthew McConaghey being the voice of Salesforce.
But as a massive Formula 1 fan, I was intrigued to read a press release announcing reigning world champion Lando Norris as a "brand ambassador" for a data company I'd never heard of - so who (or what) exactly are Starburst?
All about Starburst
Founded in 2017, and boasting that organizations in more than 60 countries rely on it to unify their data, "from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises" - Starburst's initial pitch is strong.
In its press release, Starburst describes itself as, "the enterprise intelligence platform for governed data and AI" - a pretty big claim, and one that the likes of Salesforce and Oracle might raise eyebrows at.
Continuing, Starburst says its platform will allow customers to, "run AI directly on distributed data in place, without moving or replatforming it, across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments while providing consistent business context to queries, models, or agents regardless of where it is stored or processed."
Overall, this should help companies develop and run faster analytics, "trusted" AI, and "better decisions at enterprise scale."
(Image credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
So what does this have to do with Formula 1? Over to Lando to explain.
“People often see motor racing at the highest level as being about reactions, but most of the performance comes from preparation and understanding the details," he says (in the same press release).
"I’m constantly asking questions, looking for information, and trying to build the clearest possible picture before making decisions. Whether that’s racing, running a business, or working with a team, having access to the right information at the right time gives you confidence to act. That’s what stood out to me about Starburst and why I’m excited to partner with them."
Not much clearer then - but it seems the two-year partnership will launch Starburst’s “Ask. Know. Go.” campaign, which the company says will be "connecting the speed, precision, and data-driven decision-making of Formula 1 racing with the enterprise challenge of turning distributed data into trusted action."
The three parts of this, unsurprisingly, are around getting access to data via AI agents, making sure this data is accurate and trusted, and supporting it with fast and powerful systems.
“Lando represents what happens when preparation, data, and split-second decision-making come together,” said Justin Borgman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Starburst.
“That's the challenge enterprises face with AI: ask the right questions, access the complete context behind the answer, and act before the opportunity passes. Starburst makes that possible by giving teams and AI agents governed access to data wherever it lives.”
So there you have it - another stitch in the fabric joining enterprises and Formula 1 - and one that will hopefully lead to a more successful second half of the 2026 season and beyond for Lando.
OVHcloud will raise dedicated server prices from September 2026, with latest-generation Game range going up by as much as 87%
Current-generation hardware will see increases of 51%, while older, 2024-gen hardware will see prices go up by 28% on average
Move is linked to AI-related surge in memory and storage prices, with OVHcloud CEO stating the former has increased sixfold and could potentially double again by early 2027
French cloud platform OVHcloud is sounding the alarm for customers who use its dedicated gaming servers about a price increase that kicks in starting in September 2026 for server configurations, including its 'Game' offerings, that currently start at $357 on the US storefront.
In a post on X, CEO Octave Klaba highlighted the projected price increases as a percentage over prior commitments, stating that while 2024-built machines would not see a price increase, Gen 2026 would see a mammoth 87% increase in cost for consumers.
This marks the steepest increase across the board; otherwise, Gen 2026 servers saw a +51% increase in cost, even as OVHCloud states that existing options would see a lower overall increase in cost and that existing commitments would see "nothing change".
A sign of troubling times for private gaming servers?
Many gamers host private servers for their gaming needs, ranging from a small group of friends and family running a persistent Minecraft instance to servers that cater to hundreds, if not thousands, of players simultaneously, often with commercial caveats.
An increase in price affects both, though possibly the latter disproportionately, as monetization or donations generally sustain them, and they can already run into hundreds of dollars a month in upkeep.
OVHcloud's CEO has highlighted why the move, which seems to be focused on newer gaming servers, which saw the largest increase across the board, is necessary: its memory costs have increased sixfold and could rise to as much as twelvefold by early 2027.
The underlying reason is one that is easy to point at: AI server demand is not only dictating storage and memory market prices, but it could also be weighing purchase decisions at cloud providers, many who can envisage growing and consistent demand for such server instances, therefore raising the opportunity cost of other deployments; OVHcloud's 2026 'Game' servers for example, come with AMD's Ryzen X3D CPUs in two trims currently.
While these CPUs are great for games, they might not be cost-effective for datacenter needs due to higher per-core costs and lower clock speeds than comparable mainstream options, placing them a distant third in a list that has core-heavy server-grade CPUs at the top.
The writing hasn't been on the wall exactly, and it makes for an interesting comparison of how far numbers have traveled in less than a year: in November 2025, Klaba anticipated cloud product prices rising 5 to 10% between April and September 2026. In February 2026, announcing the year's first increase, he described an impact on cloud deployments between 2021 and 2025 of 2 to 6%, depending on hardware age.
He conceded at the time that asking existing customers to subsidize new ones was a little unfair, and argued it was the only way to keep cloud accessible over the following two years.
OVHcloud is an unusual case here: it builds its own servers, which is rare in an industry that often offloads that end to a third-party provider, and while that vertical integration has historically been the source of its price advantage, it has not protected the company here because OVHcloud still buys the same DIMMs and NVMe drives as everyone else.
The hyperscalers have deeper balance sheets, longer supply agreements, and more room to absorb component costs quietly, so any move from them will likely be slower and less legible than a founder posting percentages on X. It will, however, arguably not be smaller and will be considerably more far-reaching thanks to how deeply integrated some of their products are across the world.
Founded in 2014 by competitive Starcraft 2 players Ian Ang and Alaric Choo, Secretlab has steadily grown from one of Singapore’s countless plucky start-ups to one of the most recognizable gaming chair brands in the world.
The award-winning Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 is its flagship product (named one of the best gaming chairs on the market in our review). The brand also manufactures a successful line of desks and this year branched into the productivity-focused task chair market with its new Atlas model.
Special edition gear has steadily become a key part of the offering as well. Shoppers can scoop up officially licensed products tied to some of the biggest games like Overwatch and Cyberpunk 2077, massive multimedia franchises including Pokémon and Warhammer, popular esports teams, or even luxury car brands McLaren and Lamborghini.
But it all began with a certain caped crusader.
The Batman blueprint
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“I chose Batman at the start,” Choo, who also heads the company’s partnerships, explains as I relax on a sofa in his corner office at the brand’s HQ. A pile of material samples amassed over years of research and development sits on the glass coffee table in front of me: strips of bright orange fabric designed to look like Dragon Ball hero Goku’s iconic robes, a moulded plate inspired by the front of a supercar, a detailed print of the Marauder's Map from Harry Potter, and countless other items.
“We were much smaller back then, so we didn't have many options, but Batman was such a huge IP, and I just felt like it made sense for us,” he continues. This was nine years ago and, although other gaming furniture brands have embraced similar collaborations in the years since, Choo says a crossover gaming chair was a novel idea at the time.
“DC was kind of like, 'we have a lot of license categories. We have everything. We have figures, we have statues, we have cups, we have shirts and bags, but we've never done a chair.’"
In such uncharted territory, Choo reckons that it took a whole year to work out how to approach the product’s design. “It sounds obvious now: a Batman chair is black, right? But do you go with the iconic Batman, where it's a yellow logo and retro? We were coming off the armor and whatnot — the [Dark Knight] movie was out at the time, so we went that direction.”
(Image credit: Future)
“We were thinking about what Batman would sit in; what chair would he have in his bat cave?” reveals Choo. The final design is sleek and understated, adorned with a subtle bat emblem and a carbon-fiber-like pattern. It looks like something that could exist in the world of comics, and this approach immediately resonated not just with franchise owner Warner Bros. but also with consumers.
Warner Bros. entered Secretlab in the 2021 Licensing International Excellence Awards, where it won ‘Best Licensed Product’ in the home décor category, and the chair remains one of the company’s most popular designs. It even caught the attention of Batman artist Jim Lee, who snuck the Secretlab logo onto the hero’s personal seat in Batman comic book issue #159.
“It was crazy. [A picture of the panel] was just sent to us randomly,” laughs Choo. “I bought three copies: I kept one for myself. I sent one to the guy that's in charge of Warner Bros. in Singapore, and then the third one I showed my mom.”
Becoming the experts
(Image credit: Future)
The success of the Batman chair gave Secretlab plenty of reason to pursue future collaborations, and informed how it approaches each one to this day. “We don't want to just put logos on things and call it a day. We want to go in depth. We want to know the lore,” begins Choo.
Whether it's poring over comic book panels, diving into video games, or watching all the movies or cartoons in a particular series, the team isn’t afraid to go deep into the source material of any intellectual property they are working with. “If we weren't originally fans of the IP before, we become experts,” he adds.
Choo does admit there are occasions when this isn’t possible though, like the build-up to a new release where details are kept under wraps: “Sometimes we're designing stuff with very little information. We don't like to do that, but sometimes we have to do it.”
Walking around the company’s global headquarters, it’s easy to see that employees are encouraged not to shy away from the properties they love. Desks are covered in figurines and other collectibles based on a wide range of games, comic books, manga, movies, and more. Even Choo’s own space is adorned with nerdy memorabilia.
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“All the IP that we work with, even currently, a lot of it is stuff that we are very, very passionate about. “I'm a Pokémon fan, so I don't just want to put whatever on a chair. I want to go deep into it with them; I want to collaborate at a high level. I want to come up with, like, assembly manuals that have custom art and that kind of thing,” he continues, gesturing to a colorful Genshin Impact print.
Secretlab currently has three separate Pokémon chairdesigns inspired by Pikachu, Gengar, and Eevee. You might assume that choosing which characters to base designs on is a simple popularity contest. Still, Choo argues that the team is actually more concerned with coming up with ideas that are unique and fit Secretlab’s premium brand image.
“Sometimes a popular Pokémon doesn't have a good color scheme, for example, and it would be off brand for us. We also need to think about Pokémon's guidelines as well; it's one of those things where there are so many rules,” he explains. “If it's all color, then it's too loud as well. Only a kid would want it. How do I make it tasteful in a way where an older fan can have it in their house, and it will be a good fit?
Consistent quality
(Image credit: Future)
Secretlab collaborations are characterized by a careful attention to detail, with intricate design elements that often incorporate new materials and manufacturing techniques.
“I think we've always gone all out on all of our collabs,” says Choo. “We have certain manufacturing methods that have become more viable to use. One of the things that we talk about a lot is the embroidery. It's something that I think companies don't like to use because it's very expensive. It's very time-consuming. We have certain panels that can take seven, eight hours to do.”
We've always gone all out on all of our collabs
Alaric Choo, co-founder and technical & partnerships director at Secretlab
Secretlab’s crossovers with luxury car brands stand out as perhaps the most materially complex in its portfolio. The most premium Automobili Lamborghini editions, for example, are decked out in the same Dinamica microsuede material found on high-end car dashboards and lightweight carbon fiber plating.
“Lamborghini is one of the greatest luxury names, so we were thinking about how we can elevate the partnership,” Choo explains as I examine a sturdy black panel from the table. “When we look at Lamborghinis, there is a lot of carbon fiber usage. The weave that they use and how they put it together — carbon fiber is a pain in the ass to work with. It's like you're layering different sheets, and it bubbles very easily.
(Image credit: Future)
“When we did it, we looked at the shape of the carbon fiber on Lamborghini cars, and we were like, ‘We think that this is it.’ We had to come up with a mounting method and learn to use carbon fiber. Obviously, we used it sometimes in certain prototypes, but we hadn’t actually mass-produced it, so it was a first for us.”
Creating new manufacturing processes and tools can be expensive, but Choo isn’t worried that the added cost could hurt profits. “It may not always directly translate financially, but we don't think about things in so much of the short term,” he says. “In the overall term, it pays off that when we do something, we do it properly. I think that's the main point for us: if we're going to do it half-assed, let's not do it at all.”
He thinks that consumers appreciate the overall “consistency” and have come to expect a lot of effort from the brand: “Holding yourself to a very high standard pays off over time.”
A privately held company, Secretlab can afford to invest in developing this kind of relationship with consumers in a way that some of its biggest competitors perhaps can’t. With the company’s value estimated to be nearing the billion-dollar mark back in 2021, Choo’s long-term thinking is obviously paying off.
Bluetti's power stations show up often in our outdoor gear coverage, and we put the Elite 30 V2 through real-world testing during storm outages, inflating mattresses, and topping off tool batteries on a job site. And right now, the Bluetti Elite 30 V2 is down to $219 (was $299) at Amazon.
It's a compact 288Wh station built around a LiFePO4 battery, with a 600W inverter that can briefly lift to 1500W in Power Lift mode, plus a 140W USB-C port and dual AC outlets for topping off laptops, phones, and small appliances. In the UK, the Elite 30 V2 is now £200 (was £239) at Amazon.
Elite 30 V2 Portable Power Station: was $299 now $218.98 288Wh LiFePO4 battery rated for 3,000+ charge cycles, 600W continuous output with a 1500W Power Lift mode for brief high-demand loads, two AC outlets, a 140W and a 100W USB-C port, two USB-A ports, and both car-socket and solar charging inputs.
We've used the Elite 30 V2 in several real scenarios: recharging phones and tools during storm outages, powering an air mattress pump while camping, and running small job-site gear.
In our 4.5-star review, we found it held up consistently across all of them, and the 1500W Power Lift mode gave it enough headroom for occasional higher-draw devices that would stall a lower-wattage station.
The form factor is a genuine strength here. At around 9.5 lbs with an integrated handle, it's light enough to carry one-handed, and the front-facing port layout makes it easy to plug in multiple devices without fumbling around the back of the unit.
You can check out the full round-up, including the Elite 30 V2 in our guide to the best portable power stations.
Price Context & Historical Value
An $80.02 discount off $299 works out to roughly 27 percent, one of the larger price cuts we've tracked on this model. Compared to similarly sized LiFePO4 power stations from other brands, this price puts the Elite 30 V2 solidly in budget-that-doesn't-feel-budget territory.
Should you buy it?
✅ Buy the Bluetti Elite 30 V2 if...
You want backup power for short outages or outdoor trips, need to recharge devices and small appliances without lugging a heavier station, or want UPS-style backup for sensitive electronics with fast switching.
❌ Skip the Bluetti Elite 30 V2 if...
You need to run a full-size fridge or power tools for extended hours, you want the largest possible capacity in this size class, or you're looking for the fastest AC recharge speed available.
The Catch: What to know before you buy
At 288Wh, this isn't a station built for extended off-grid use or running larger appliances for hours at a time; it's built for short bursts and topping devices off. AC recharge time is also more moderate than some competitors, so if you need to refill quickly between uses, factor that into your decision.
Marvel's Wolverine will feature New Game Plus at launch
The game will also offer extra features like Mission Replay and a Nightmare Doors side activity
Nightmare Doors contains trials where players "confront Logan's nightmares to uncover his past"
Marvel's Wolverine is shaping up to be a big hit for 2026, and now Insomniac Games has revealed even more features that players can expect when the game launches next month.
Insomniac has confirmed that, unlike Marvel's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Marvel's Wolverine will launch with New Game Plus, allowing players to replay the game with all their upgrades, unlocked suits, and more.
"In a New Game Plus, you can use all of your loadout and progression that you already unlocked," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed told IGN. "You can choose whatever suit you want. So there's some fun things that happen there. And also there's some adaptations that are only available in New Game Plus. So there's some fresh gameplay for folks."
Insomniac head of technology Mike Fitzgerald added that these adaptations, which are unlockable buffs, let players "amp up the difficulty" or make Wolverine "much more powerful and aggressive character."
Confront Logan's nightmares to uncover his past. 🚪Get to know the man behind the claws when Marvel's #WolverinePS5 releases on September 15th on PlayStation 5! pic.twitter.com/Zy5rz6ZWjsAugust 11, 2026
Alongside New Game Plus, the game will also offer Mission Replay, a feature that lets players rerun any mission for fun or to find collectibles, whiskey bottles that act as power-ups for Wolverine’s progression, and material crates holding raw materials that can be used to unlock new suits.
Another major feature is Nightmare Doors, a side activity containing trials where players "confront Logan's nightmares to uncover his past." According to Reiner-Reed, Nightmare Doors is "a story-driven adventure" where "Logan is pulled through uncovering these mysteries of his past. But you can go off the beaten path."
In these trials, Reiner-Reed added, players will encounter "manifestations of the horrible things happening in Logan's mind."
"There's many of those throughout the game with different types of trials," the developer said.
Linus Torvalds called Linux 7.2-rc7 part of a "new normal" of oversized release candidates
Torvalds attributes the volume of fixes to reviews by various AI tools, a week after calling rc6 the biggest in years by commit count
The growth is in late-cycle bug fixes rather than features, and Torvalds credits AI review rather than AI authorship, with humans still writing and submitting the patches
Modern coding approaches dictate that Release Candidates should be expected to shrink as patches and code fixes get increasingly smaller as the software enters what many call a "stabilization phase".
Linux 7.2-rc7 did not do that, and neither did rc6 before it - and announcing the seventh candidate on August 9, 2026 Linus Torvalds wrote he could not say he was thrilled about the size of it, but that it is what it is: the new normal, with a lot of fixes, many of them the result of review by various AI tools.
A week earlier, opening the rc6 message, Torvalds had been blunter still, calling that release candidate huge and reckoning it the biggest rc6 in years by commit count.
An easier, detailed AI-enabled review process?
Torvalds is not describing AI writing for the Linux kernel; that still requires human intervention. The tools being used are review and analysis agents pointed at existing code, and they produce actionable bug reports. Humans then write the fixes, submit them through the normal subsystem maintainer process, and the creator of Linux, as the maintainer, pulls the code.
Phoronix, which closely tracks the cycle, describes the current environment as one in which AI and LLM coding and review agents keep kernel activity at an all-time high. It has resulted in a much larger-than-normal Release Candidate this late in the cycle; RC7 comes packed with a plethora of bug fixes that would otherwise have been in play much earlier in past cycles.
By one count of the RC7 pull, more than 400 fixes came in from upwards of 230 contributors, a volume more typical of an early merge window than a closing candidate.
Torvalds noted in the accompanying message that nothing looked particularly scary, and that the majority of the fixes were spread across drivers, filesystems, core networking, and architecture code, which was relatively small, making a potential release by the following weekend possible.
The AI approach doesn't have Mr. Torvalds particularly keen, but he has subtly acknowledged its advantages when it comes to code review, and it could bring a different issue into play: the maintainer model, which involves a few trusted individuals to read and test code before it is eventually released to the masses may not be too keen to have the equivalent of an AI-powered firehose of fixes and new information to deal with indefinitely.
For now, it seems larger updates are the new norm, for better or worse, and AI will be powering an increasingly large share of code review in an ecosystem that drives most of the world's servers, smartphones and tablets, as well as a sizeable portion of its personal computers.
Apple's MacBook Air is facing supply constraints, as delivery estimates last up to a month
The delivery delays are a direct result of the ongoing RAM crisis
Consumers may have to look at Windows alternatives, as the RAM crisis gets worse
PC hardware manufacturers can't catch a break from the ongoing RAM crisis, and unfortunately, Apple arguably knows that more than anyone.
As reported by 9to5Mac, MacBook Air shortages are worsening, as delivery estimates for configurations on Apple's online store are longer than usual. Nearly all configurations have a 2-3 week shipment estimate, while those with 32GB of RAM have up to 4-5 weeks.
It's increasingly clear that RAM shortages are causing supply issues for Apple, and the extended delivery estimates come shortly after Apple's recent slate of price hikes on Macs and iPads. Notably, the MacBook Air M5 saw a $200 price increase earlier in June, and despite that, shortages remain.
Supply is so bad that 9to5Mac notes that Apple retail employees state that the MacBook Air shipments are "more constrained than they can ever recall", and that's a fitting statement since the PC hardware market is possibly at its worst state ever.
Fresh rumors also point to Apple being set on a price increase for its iPhone 17 — so without a doubt, proceedings aren't looking great for the tech giant (and several other hardware companies) in terms of supply stability.
Apple also has a history of rarely dropping prices for its devices, so the only other options consumers have are to buy MacBooks from other retailers or consider Windows alternatives.
What now?
(Image credit: Shutterstock / D.L.Sakharova)
Outside of Apple's online store, Amazon currently has the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air available at a lower price ($1,256) and a shorter delivery window using Prime. The same applies to several other configurations, including the 15-inch model.
Apple's RAM and supply constraints won't end anytime soon, so Windows alternatives are also sensible for consumers to aim for. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, Yoga Slim 7i Aura, and even Dell's XPS 13 are solid laptop options. They may not all match the MacBook Air in performance, but they are enough to get the job done.
There's no better time than now for consumers to act on purchasing a new laptop, as insiders like Mark Gurman and even Apple chief financial officer Kevan Parekh indicate that Apple's supply constraints aren't set to improve, but only worsen — and that likely extends to 2027 and beyond.
The FlexiSpot EN1 has long been the budget standing desk we recommend for those who wants a more secure wobble-free setup. Currently, the EN1 is $110 (was $170) at Amazon. Both the black desk and a model with a white frame and wooden top are discounted right now, to suit a variety of workspaces.
And what seals the deal based on our testing of standing desks is the inclusion of a single-piece desktop. Most cheap electric desks of this price have the less stable splice-board, with the desk using two pieces of wood instead of one.
An electric height-adjustable desk with a seamless, single-piece 48"x24" desktop. Height range runs 28.9in to 46.5in, with 4 memory presets for quick sit-stand switching and a 176lb weight capacity. Assembly is simplified compared to older FlexiSpot models, with fewer steps and less lifting required.View Deal
Why we recommend it
We've tested many FlexiSpot standing desks, and each one has impressed us with their build quality and price. So, while we haven't tried the EN1, expect the same quality here that we've experienced across the company's range.
Beyond our excellent experience with FlexiSpot in general, the main reason we recommend the EN1 is because of its single-piece desktop design.
Most standing desks under $150 use a splice-board top, essentially two pieces of wood joined at a seam, which keeps costs down but sacrifices rigidity. The EN1 uses a whole-piece desktop instead.
That makes it more stable when loaded with your laptop, monitor, and accessories, holding up better over time than cheaper alternatives in the same price bracket. The reasoning is simple: a one-piece top flexes less under load and doesn't develop the seam gap that splice-board desktops can show after a year or two of use.
It's also a genuinely simple desk to assemble and operate, with a four-button memory panel that handles the sit-stand switching without any fuss.
You can find cheaper standing desks (the Fezibo model seen in our guide to the best standing desks is the cheapest). But if you're prepared to spend a few dollars more, we absolutely recommend opting for the EN1.
Should you buy it?
✅ Buy the FlexiSpot EN1 if...
You want the sturdiness of a single-piece desktop without paying premium prices, you're working with a couple of monitors and the usual desk clutter within a 176lb limit, or you want a simple four-preset control panel without extra frills.
❌ Skip the FlexiSpot EN1 if...
You need storage and built-in cable management, a higher weight limit, or more premium materials, like those found on FlexiSpot's E7 Pro or a Herman Miller.
Price Context & Historical Value
This is the usual deal price we see on the EN1 - although it briefly dipped to $100 back in January, which is relatively rare. We wouldn't recommend paying full price for this, as it's often on sale for $110.
The discount brings the EN1 close to what budget splice-board desks typically cost, which is why this deal is worth flagging. You're not paying a premium for the single-piece top, and you get all the core features we expect to see in a standing desk.
The Catch: What to know before you buy
This is a two-leg desk, so if you're loading it up with heavy monitor arms or a lot of desktop hardware, you may notice more flex at full height than you would on a four-legged design. There's also no built-in cable management, so budget for a separate tray or sleeve if a tidy setup matters to you.
For anyone who wants a stable, no-frills standing desk without paying for features they won't use, the FlexiSpot EN1 at $109.99 is worth a look.
Apple may or may not be working on a mostly-glass 20th anniversary iPhone. This long-rumored passion project would not necessarily transform the iPhone into a fully translucent device, but would extend the front and back glass panels so that they almost meet around a far thinner metal border.
But like a rabbit hiding inside the secret compartment of a magician's hat, the device, depending on your perspective, might not exist and may only appear through the force of sheer will or alchemy.
What's not in question is that the iPhone will celebrate 20 years of existence that started on January 9, 2007, the day Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs held it aloft at Macworld in San Francisco. That it didn't ship for another six months is unlikely to dissuade Apple from engaging in some introspection and external celebration.
That might include a glassy iPhone.
On one side, we have an analyst stating that, owing to poor manufacturing yields, Apple scrapped plans for the 20th anniversary device. On the other side, we have Apple soothsayer Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claiming the glass iPhone is on track. In the middle, though, is the reality of a device that challenges the limits of physics and promises more glass than metal.
I think it's safe to say that Apple will ultimately produce an exciting, albeit practical, 20th anniversary device that we may get off-schedule in mid-2027. If the design is particularly challenging, then it may be a limited run, priced like a museum piece, and mostly never used by the relative handful or so Apple enthusiasts who manage to score one.
Buried under the [rumor] mill
The entire saga, though, led me to a different realization. I mean, what are we even talking about here? This conversation about a 20th anniversary iPhone is raging (and has been for years) just weeks before Apple unveils not just its iPhone 18 line, but the highly anticipated folding iPhone or iPhone Ultra.
That's a big deal, even more so because the flexible device will be held up not by long-time CEO Tim Cook, but by John Ternus, who will have officially taken over the reins just days before (September 1). It's a huge moment for the company and the tech industry.
And yet we're still obsessed with "what's next?"
No doubt, most tech companies suffer from this a little bit, but nothing like the insatiable curiosity that's dogged Apple since the launch of the first iPhone. The tech rumor mill was, in some ways, developed simply to support all the leaks and guesswork surrounding much of what Apple does, especially as it pertains to the iPhone.
We're still obsessed with "what's next?"
This impulse didn't take years to develop. It was on full display in 2007. This October 9, 2007, story mused about whether or not the next iPhone would feature an Intel chip. This CNet feature obsessed somewhat presciently over a potential name change ("the 2G iPhone"). And the 2009 YouTube video went on an iPhone design deep dive, even touching on the never-delivered "iPhone Nano".
Apple, I'm certain, doesn't mind the attention, and as long as the leaks are not breaking the law or revealing clearly stolen information, they're happy to let the rumors percolate. For those working on these new devices, however, there must also be some level of frustration.
Just imagine if you're working on a big project and your customers say, "Yeah, great, but what about the next one?" Or every time you serve dinner, your family asks what you're making for tomorrow or begins speculating on what you might make and how it'll obviously be better than what you just served.
Apple can never get away from attention, turning our distractible heads toward the future.
When I attend an Apple iPhone launch event, I always laugh at how stories about the next iteration appear right after the launch of the still new iPhone — one I haven't even reviewed yet.
None of this serves consumers, who are usually still struggling to understand their current devices and maybe some of the new hardware currently on offer. Talking about a distant and sometimes improbable future only confuses and probably frustrates them.
Who is this serving?
Lately, the impulse to look past the present is creating this sonic dissonance wherein the pundits cannot even agree on the fundamentals of an uncertain future. They're free to make proclamations, even wildly different ones, because Apple will naturally never tell them (or us) otherwise. The information is so contrasting that it becomes useless (even if markets sometimes move on these rumors).
It's gotten so out of hand that we're already discussing the iPhone Ultra 2 and the Ultra 3. That's right, the unreleased folding phone has, according to rumor, been greenlit for second and third iterations. This is the only scientific proof we have that vacuums have weight and, in fact, get heavier over time. (Narrator: Pure vacuums have zero mass and weight.)
What if we stopped trying to fill these information vacuums with pure speculation and unfounded guesswork? What if we stopped fixating on the "what's next" and stuck with the "what's new," especially at least until we understand the impact of the new thing?
How, for example, will the folding iPhone, which may or may not be called Ultra, fare? It too is entering an uncertain future where it will compete with the well-established Samsung Galaxy Z8 line, especially that oddball Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8.
As you may have noticed, for as popular as Samsung is, it doesn't really suffer or enjoy a rumor mill in quite the same way. Yes, there are always rumors about the next Galaxy line, but they're usually confined to the upcoming model release and not two or more years down the line.
I'm excited about Apple's next iPhone and am honestly over speculating about anything beyond that. Perhaps you and Apple are too.
The WD Red Plus HDDs have always performed well in our tests - they're not fancy, not especially expensive, and do what most NAS system users will need.
Built for round-the-clock use, I rarely see these HDDs get any discount at all, so while not massive, a saving is a saving in my book.
Should you buy it?
✅ Buy the WD Red Plus 2TB if...
You're building or expanding a NAS array, you want CMR recording for RAID reliability, or you need a drive rated for continuous operation.
❌ Skip the WD Red Plus 2TB if...
You need higher capacity per dollar (larger Red Plus drives scale better), you're using this in a standard desktop rather than a NAS, or you want faster 7200 RPM performance — look at Red Pro instead.
We've previously reviewed the 4TB WD Red Plus HDD and awarded it 4 stars in our review. Expect similar performance for this 2TB model, as beyond the capacity, it's pretty much the same.
Red Plus drives run Western Digital's NASware firmware, tuned specifically for multi-bay NAS workloads, along with rotation vibration sensors and dual-plane balance control that help performance and reliability stay steady when several drives are spinning in the same enclosure.
Unlike SMR drives, which can cause slowdowns and rebuild issues in RAID arrays, this is CMR — the safer choice for NAS duty.
Price Context & Historical Value
Generally speaking, NAS drives hold their price. So, at $12.50 off list, this isn't a deep discount — WD Red Plus drives tend to hold their price fairly steady rather than swing wildly in flash sales.
Overall, $154.99 is a solid, dependable price for a drive built specifically for NAS use rather than a one-off promotional gimmick.
2TB is on the smaller side if you're planning a larger NAS array, and 5400 RPM means it won't match the speed of WD's 7200 RPM Red Pro line. If raw performance matters more than cost per drive, that's worth weighing before you buy.
SpaceX and Tesla commit $16.8 billion to build a gigantic Texas chip factory
TeraFab could cover more than 100 million square feet when fully built
Elon Musk claims TeraFab will reach 50 times the size of the Pentagon
SpaceX and Tesla have revealed more details in their plan to invest $16.8 billion in a massive semiconductor factory planned for Grimes County, Texas.
The facility, known as TeraFab, is expected to manufacture chips for several computing-intensive applications associated with both companies.
At full construction, SpaceX says the factory could exceed 100 million square feet, or approximately 9.3 million square metres.
A semiconductor factory on an unprecedented scale
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described the planned facility as potentially the largest and most valuable building on Earth after completion.
“TeraFab will be 50 times the size of the Pentagon when complete,” Musk said on X.
Since the Pentagon is 6.6 million square feet and SpaceX has only confirmed TeraFab will exceed 100 million square feet, Musk's "50 times" figure would require a final size closer to 330 million square feet — a number the company has not disclosed or confirmed.
Even so, the scale remains extraordinary: the Pentagon, Apple Park, Mall of America, and Giga Texas together total 25.04 million square feet, meaning TeraFab's confirmed 100 million square feet alone would already be roughly four times larger than all four combined.
The project originally emerged from Musk’s concern that existing semiconductor suppliers could not satisfy Tesla’s future computing requirements.
Tesla first discussed the concept publicly in November 2025, describing it as a much larger version of its Gigafactory model.
Plans announced in March 2026 called for the semiconductor plant to operate beside Tesla’s Austin headquarters.
SpaceX and Tesla subsequently established the project as a joint venture, with Intel later joining the development effort.
Musk has said the facility would use Intel’s 14A manufacturing process, although production plans may evolve during development.
The companies have linked the factory to chips required for space-based computing, advanced vehicles, and humanoid robotic systems.
Costs, employment and environmental commitments
The initial project estimate was $20 billion, but later filings indicated substantially larger potential spending during subsequent development phases.
A May property tax abatement application revealed that an initial phase could cost $55 billion, with eventual spending potentially reaching $119 billion.
The latest $16.8 billion commitment, therefore, does not represent the maximum investment that may eventually be required.
SpaceX expects the facility to employ at least 3,000 workers, including people from Grimes County and neighboring Brazos County.
Local authorities approved a 100% property tax abatement in June 2026 after county commissioners voted 4-1 on three related proposals.
The companies also say industrial operations will use water from Gibbons Creek Reservoir instead of relying on nearby groundwater supplies.
SpaceX and Tesla have also committed to wastewater treatment, water reuse, conservation measures, and compliance with environmental regulations.
Their plans include regulated handling of hazardous materials, chemicals, and industrial byproducts generated during semiconductor manufacturing.
“The combined SpaceX and Tesla demand for chips is expected to be in excess of 1 terawatt (TW) of compute,” said SpaceX in its website post.
The proposed scale makes TeraFab an unusually large industrial project, while its final cost and construction scope remain subject to future expansion.
