When I wrote my Ninja Creami Swirl review, I decided that the main reason that anyone should consider buying a Ninja Creami machine is so that they could make frozen treats that match their health goals. Whether you are trying to avoid processed foods, cut calories, reduce sugar, avoid dairy, or cater to any other specific dietary needs, any Ninja Creami model can make you a healthier version of ice cream or sorbet. I've tried tons of recipes, and here I'm sharing the ones I like best, specifically without artificial sweeteners. You can alter any recipe to best suit your own preferences.
Just fruit
Canned fruit makes the easiest possible sorbet. Just open a can of your favorite fruit, pour it in, freeze for 24 hours, and spin it on the Sorbet cycle. Canned fruit is so soft that there's no need to blend before freezing. I used a can of mangoes in 100% juice here. If you want more protein, you could add some yogurt or milk of your choice; I suggest a 2:1 fruit to dairy ratio.
I had a ton of watermelon left over from a recent party, so I threw some into the Ninja Creami container. Again, watermelon is a soft fruit so I didn't blend it first, but I did squash it down a bit to release some of the liquid so it would freeze as a solid block. The resulting sorbet had a lovely texture, but it really wasn't sweet enough for my palate so I'd recommend adding some honey before freezing. You could also add milk for some protein, or coconut water for extra electrolytes.
Here is the recipe I used, but there are many alterations you could make here. If you don't want nuts at all, you could use cacao powder instead of nut butter for a chocolate flavor. Or use both for a chocolate-nut option.
1/2 cup plain Greek (or vanilla) yogurt
2/3 cup water (or use milk for more protein)
2 tbsp nut butter (I use PB2 powder but any works)
1/2 large banana (or 2/3 small)
4-6 dates to taste (can skip if using flavored yogurt)
(optional) 1 tbsp hemp seeds
(optional) 1 scoop unflavored collagen powder
After blending and freezing for 24 hours, process this on the Frozen Yogurt setting. I used the hemp seeds and collagen for their health benefits, and they don't have an effect on the taste. You could skip those entirely if you like.
Ninja Creami banana date nut ice cream - yes, I ate the whole thingKaren Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / Future
Pistachio ice cream
I think this is tasty, though a friend of mine remarked that while it had the texture and mouthfeel of ice cream, it "tastes healthy". Do with that what you will.
1/2 cup cottage cheese (I used 2%)
1/4 cup yogurt (I used plain nonfat Greek)
1/2 cup pistachios (I used salted but rinsed them off)
1/2 cup milk (I used almond)
4-8 dates (I used 8 small)
1/4 tsp almond extract
Honey/maple syrup/agave syrup to taste if needed (I used about 1/2 tbsp agave)
If you use unsalted nuts you’ll want to add a pinch of salt. You do need to blend this well before freezing. Taste it before you freeze it to see if you need to add honey or syrup. You want it to be slightly sweeter than you think you need, because frozen food tastes less sweet.
Process this on the Frozen Yogurt cycle. If you like, add more nuts and/or chocolate chips in the Mix-In cycle.
Juice or milk to fill line (if milk you’ll want to add a little honey for sweetness)
Blend, then freeze for 24 hours and spin on the Sorbet setting. Top with berries, seeds, nuts, granola, coconut, nut butter, cacao nibs, or whatever you like. I enjoyed mine with chia pudding, pumpkin seeds, and granola.
Karen Freeman / FutureKaren Freeman / Future
Real ice cream
If by healthy you mean wholesome, with no fake anything, just real ingredients, then this is the way. Credit goes to the New York Times. It's a plain base, but by adding vanilla (or any flavor) extract, cacao powder, fruit, or just about anything, including Mix-Ins, you can make any flavor you can imagine. While it's obviously not low in calories, fat, or sugar, it doesn't have any unpronounceable junk in it. It's absolutely delicious and rivals anything you can buy, anywhere.
Here is the basic recipe:
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
6 large egg yolks
In a small pot, simmer the cream, milk, sugar, and salt until the sugar dissolves, about five minutes. Remove from heat.
In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the hot cream into the yolks.
Whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees.) Strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
Pour mixture into the Creami containers no higher than the fill line; this will be enough for two containers. Freeze for 24 hours and process on the regular Ice Cream setting.
Don't be afraid to experiment
It's worth noting that the Ninja Creami is sort of magic in the sense that it creates a lovely texture, almost regardless of what you put into it. However, it doesn't magically change the flavor, as people often hope. If you don't particularly like what you're putting in (a protein shake, for example) hoping that it will taste better after the Ninja Creami treatment, well, you'll be disappointed. You get out what you put in.
The Ninja Creami lends itself to experimentation. Even following someone else's tried and true recipe doesn't guarantee you'll like the results. But keep trying, you'll find the recipes that suit your tastes and health preferences.
Some of Suno's music-scraping tactics have been revealed
Hacked code shows tracks were ripped from YouTube Music and Deezer
The AI music maker is facing multiple lawsuits from artists
It's unlikely to come as a surprise to you that an AI company built training data on copyrighted works without permission or compensation, but a new hack of AI music maker Suno has seemingly revealed just how egregious the data theft has been.
As reported by 404 Media, a hacker known as ellie.191 was able to access Suno source code and training libraries, finding references to platforms such as YouTube, YouTube Music, Deezer, Genius, and the International Music Score Library Project.
The newly revealed data dates from 2023 and 2024, and references 2,013,545 tracks being ripped from YouTube Music, as well as 12,287 hours of music being ingested from Deezer. We're talking about decades' worth of tunes here.
Some of Suno's alleged ripping tactics are also revealed by the code: it seems its song grabber looks for acapella versions of tracks on YouTube for vocals training, while vast numbers of podcasts were also targeted by the software.
Lawsuits in the pipeline
Vast amounts of music have been sampled from YouTube Music (Image credit: YouTube)
Suno is already facing multiple ongoing lawsuits around the practice of training its AI on copyrighted songs without permission, including one filed with the participation of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The argument is not whether or not Suno has ripped this music — it's admitted to using "essentially all music files of reasonable quality that are accessible on the open internet" for AI training — but rather if it counts as 'fair use'.
It's a story that's playing out across other creative fields as well, including writing, photography, and filmmaking. AI models need human-made content in order to work properly, but the AI companies generally don't seem keen on paying for it.
Most commenters reacting online are expressing a lack of surprise that this is what Suno has been up to: one Redditor writes "this is literally what every LLM in existence has done", while another calls the practice "staggering theft".
It claims to be able to reduce AI generated codebases by up to 65% in size
They aim to "refactor vibecoded codebases back to maintainability"
Vibecoding has a lot to answer for, not least some excessively large codebases. A new team of software engineers are collaborating to reduce the size of these cumbersome projects… with a $10,000 per week bill.
Slopfix is the name of the team (comprising a trio: Maciej, Kuba, and Krzysztof), but its aim is efficiency and functionality, rather than code golf, where code is reduced to the shortest possible length.
However, while this might seem like a noble task and a service worth paying for, Slopfix isn’t taking a stand against the use of AI. In fact, it is employing AI tools to detect the AI flab in your codebases.
Use an AI to catch an AI
Challenges around vibecoded projects have increased in recent months, as the limitations of the technology become apparent.
While using an AI to program based on your prompts and requirements is straightforward, agents habitually begin to lose context and logic once the project reaches a certain size or age. Once that happens, you’re looking at duplication, features breaking, and of course, the dreaded hallucination.
Slopfix is targeting companies that have adopted vibecoding, built huge codebases, and found that they’re running into issues. To find the problematic AI code, however, Slopfix is employing AI.
They state that a full “screen by screen, endpoint by endpoint” evaluation of the vibecoded app is made, which aims to find the duplicated functions, broken logic, and other issues. There’s also the promise of a two-week warranty for anything they break.
All of this is aided by Claude Code “on a very short leash” which Slopfix uses find problems. They clearly state that “the agent doesn’t get a vote.” Instead, they’re relying on their experience as developers to improve your code.
$10,000 seem a bit steep?
While the price might seem high, $10,000 for one successful week’s work for three seasoned developers shouldn’t really be a budget breaker.
The fee covers successful work only, and as the Slopfix website states, payment is in proportion to how much of the reduction target the team hits, with $10,000 being the price for hitting the target – it’s not the default fee.
However, there is a lot of preparation involved, and the analysis of your codebase is conducted free of charge. If they can't fix your project's issues, they'll let you know and refuse the contract.
As software consultancies go, Slopfix is an unusual case. But as the problems with vibecoded projects begin to become apparent, competing consultancies may begin offering similar services.
In the past year I've spent tens of hours streaming with VPNs, and one thing is consistently problematic for even the best VPNs — live events.
So, if you're traveling and keen to catch BBC's coverage of England vs Argentina later this evening instead, you might think you're stuck. Thankfully, NordVPN proved to be the one streaming VPN I tested that consistently performed well in these scenarios.
Over the past year, I've used NordVPN with Peacock, BBC iPlayer, TNT Sports, ITVX, and 7Plus. And compared to any other VPN, it's proved the most effective.
I experienced the least delayed streams, the least buffering, and, most importantly, the fewest complete connection dropouts when using NordVPN. So, while cheaper alternatives such as Norton VPN and Surfshark exist, if you want the most reliable performance, this is where I'd put my money.
If you don't want a long term commitment, you could always choose to pick a monthly plan. For $15, you can watch the rest of the tournament and gain all the additional security benefits that come with a VPN.
NordVPN: from $3.49/month or $15 for one month It might not be the cheapest but NordVPN's price is more than worth it considering its performance. It's the most reliable VPN I've streamed with and it's packed with added security features to keep you secure once you've watched the big game. Unsure? Either pick up a monthly plan for only $15 or make use of NordVPN's 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal
You don't need NordVPN's most advanced features to watch England with a VPN. That's a good thing, as right now its premium plans are considerably more expensive than many other providers.
With long term plans, Surfshark plans start at $2.49/month, a full dollar cheaper per month; the same goes for Norton VPN. If you're really budget-focused, both PIA and Cyberghost are less than $1.60 per month right now, too.
But, should you choose a NordVPN Plus plan or above, you do get some great perks. NordPass, the best password manager we've tested, cloud storage, dark web monitoring, and more are on offer.
It's worth mentioning that buying the more premium plans monthly will set you back at least $20, so I'd recommend signing up for a longer duration if you prefer these extra features.
RayNeo, the AR glasses arm of TCL, launched the X3 Pro globally in December 2025, following a well-received debut in the Chinese market. It represents the company's most ambitious product to date: a standalone pair of AI-powered augmented reality smart glasses that aims to put a useful, persistent digital layer over your view of the world, without requiring you to carry a tethered compute unit.
The headline hardware is the dual-eye full-colour MicroLED display, powered by RayNeo's own 'Firefly Optical Engine' and delivered through waveguides co-developed with Applied Materials. With 6,000 nits of peak brightness and 16.77 million colours, it is probably the best display currently available in any smart glass product, eclipsing even the Meta Ray-Ban Display's 5,000-nit panel. The simulated image is equivalent to a 43-inch screen viewed from two metres, within a 30-degree field of view.
Under the frame sits a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 processor — the purpose-built platform for this class of device — paired with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The X3 Pro runs RayNeo's AIOS, an Android-based operating system, and is integrated with Google Gemini 2.5 (Beta) for multimodal AI assistance. A 12MP Sony IMX681 sensor handles photography and 4K video, accompanied by a secondary monochrome camera for spatial positioning and depth tracking with 6DoF + SLAM support.
At 76 grams, the X3 Pro is lighter than the Inmo Air 3 (119g), and only a few grams heavier than the Meta Ray-Ban Display (69g). The frame is built from an aerospace-grade magnesium-aluminium alloy, and control is handled via a five-way touch panel on the right temple, with support for Apple Watch gesture control promised in a future OTA update.
The device's single greatest limitation is its 245mAh battery. Under light use, you may approach three to five hours. Under active use that might be navigation, AI queries, camera recording, or app usage, the running time plummets to as little as one or two hours, and it can be as little as 45 minutes. The only saving grace is a recharge of around 45 minutes via USB-C.
At $1,169, the X3 Pro is a premium early-adopter product with genuine technological credibility, but a hefty price tag. The display alone makes a compelling case for the future of AR glasses. Whether that future is worth over a thousand pounds to experience today is a question each buyer must answer for themselves.
RayNeo X3 Pro: Price & availability
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
The RayNeo X3 Pro launched globally in December 2025, initially priced at $1,099 on an early-bird basis, rising to $1,299 at standard retail.
At the time of writing, RayNeo sells direct from its website here, with delivery to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and other markets.
In the UK, the full retail price is £1,169, and in the USA it’s $1,169. Considering that the exchange rate on the day of writing is $1.34 to the pound, UK customers pay roughly 25% more for the same products for no obvious good reason.
Prescription lens inserts are available separately from around $49 / £49, supplied through RayNeo's partner Lensology.
What’s a little odd is that these glasses aren’t available on Amazon.com, when almost everything else RayNeo makes is.
By way of comparison, the Meta Ray-Ban Display starts at $799, the Even Realities G2 at $599, and the Halliday Smart Glasses at $500. Traditional smart glasses without a display, such as the Ray-Ban Meta, are available for considerably less.
The X3 Pro commands a significant premium, but the technical specification that includes the dual-eye MicroLED display and the Snapdragon AR1 platform is a major step up from those alternatives.
RayNeo also offers existing X-series customers a 'RayNeo Explorer' lifetime benefit, providing a $200 discount towards future X Series purchases.
What colours my perspective on the price is that these aren’t dual-purpose glasses that can also be used to watch movies. They’re only for AR, which makes the high price even harder to justify.
Supported (lens inserts via Lensology, from ~$49/£49)
Colours
Black (single style)
RayNeo X3 Pro: Design & build
Divisive aesthetics
Wearability issues
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
There is an obvious problem with products like the X3 Pro, which is that the design telegraphs that these aren’t just glasses, drawing attention to the wearer.
This tension between engineering achievement and social wearability is perhaps the defining characteristic of this first generation of capable AR glasses, and the X3 Pro didn’t dodge that bullet.
The frame takes broadly Wayfarer-style cues, i.e. being thick, squarish and dark. In short, these look like John-Paul Belmondo wore them at the end of the 1960s, before Michael Cain borrowed them to play the classic British spy, Harry Palmer.
That might be delightfully retro, but two cameras sit in the bridge between the lenses, a small indicator light sits on the front frame (active when recording), and distinctive protrusions near the temple hinges house the MicroLED projectors, giving the game away.
The temples are noticeably thicker than conventional eyewear, accommodating the speakers, electronics, and battery. The USB-C charging port sits at the tip of the right temple.
Structurally, the X3 Pro is more refined than its predecessor, the X2 Pro. RayNeo cites eleven structural optimisations and the use of aerospace-grade magnesium-aluminium alloy to achieve a 36% weight reduction over that earlier model. The result is a frame that, at 76g, sits comfortably on most faces without the ear pressure or nose strain that plagued heavier competitors. Multiple reviewers noted that they occasionally forgot they were wearing them during prolonged use.
The lenses themselves have good optical transparency when the display is off, meaning the world doesn't take on the tinted quality of sunglasses during non-display use. Interchangeable nose pads in different sizes are included, and prescription lens inserts are available through Lensology.
For older people, me included, these lens inserts are a necessity, since the glasses require abnormal eye-muscle acrobatics that those without perfect vision are unlikely to achieve without some help.
Fit adjustment is largely limited to nose pad selection, which does tend to put more pressure on the bridge of the nose. Previously, with the Air 3s Pro, RayNeo offered adjustable temple angles, but these aren’t available on the X3 Pro.
And, because of this, depending on your face shape, you can find that the display is dramatically offset from the ideal line of sight. As I’ll talk about later, I had big issues with this, and it made using them extremely difficult.
In short, if social discretion is a priority, this is not the device for you. If you are the sort of person who wears technology proudly, or who has a professional or specialist use case, the design is functional as long as your face and eye geometry fall within a specific envelope.
Design & build: 3.5/5
RayNeo X3 Pro: Features
Impressive display technology
Sony IMX681 camera sensor
Tiny battery
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
The X3 Pro's MicroLED dual-eye display is, by wide consensus, the standout feature of this device. Unlike single-eye displays used by some competitors, the X3 Pro projects identical imagery to both eyes, producing a more natural and immersive AR experience that doesn’t assume binocular compensation on the viewer's part. The 640 × 480 resolution per eye is modest by smartphone standards, but it is appropriate for a heads-up overlay and is rendered with genuine clarity at the 30-degree field of view.
Peak brightness of 6,000 nits is a notch above the Meta Ray-Ban’s 5,000 nits, making the display legible in direct sunlight and suitable for navigation or outdoor use. These aren’t meant for media consumption, and therefore don’t include shields to reduce external views, so the graphics need to be bright.
The display sits centrally in the wearer's field of view, rather than in the lower-right corner (as on the Meta Ray-Ban Display). This means AR content is more prominent and easier to read, but also more obtrusive. You cannot easily consume AR content passively while doing something else. It is a deliberate design choice that suits dedicated, task-focused use over an ambient, always-on overlay.
The primary camera uses a Sony IMX681 sensor capable of 12MP stills and 4K/3K video. A secondary monochrome camera assists with spatial positioning, depth tracking, and dual recording. In daylight conditions, camera output is described as decent, with the wide-angle field of view well-suited to point-of-view recording.
But in low light, there is a tendency to visible noise and graininess, and the lack of digital zoom or manual camera controls reduces flexibility. A recording indicator light on the front frame activates when the camera is in use, serving both as a privacy indicator and a practical reminder.
These don’t take pictures that would worry any mid-tier phone, and most entry-level Android phones have better sensors.
The X3 Pro's battery life is probably its greatest limitation, since a 245mAh cell is simply not large enough to support extended active use of the device's headline features.
RayNeo's claim of up to five hours applies to very light use, and by that, they probably mean music playback and limited screen time. In practice, active use scenarios significantly reduce this figure. In a few of my sessions, the time was a fraction of that amount, and the worst offenders for eating battery capacity were translation, video capture and navigation.
In theory, you could have a hip-mounted power pack attached to the USB port of the X3 Pro, but when I tried this, it pulled them out of square and made reading the display even harder.
Thankfully, the glasses do feature wear detection, automatically powering down when removed. This helps conserve battery during breaks, but carrying a power pack around is practically a necessity if you intend to use them for any extended time.
Contextually, the limited battery is an inevitable consequence of the 76g weight target. A larger cell would mean a heavier device. RayNeo engineers have made a considered trade-off here, and future hardware iterations will presumably seek to improve energy density. It may be that the makers can engineer better power management through firmware adjustments, but with only 245mAh of battery to work with, there is only so much that can be done.
Without a doubt, the primary reason to hesitate before purchase is battery life.
Features: 3.5/5
RayNeo X3 Pro: Software
(Image credit: RayNeo)
Google Gemini 2.5 (Beta)
Live translation
Side-loading apps
RayNeo AIOS, the operating system built on Android and structured around four primary screens: a home screen showing time and status indicators, a quick-actions panel, an app launcher, and a notifications screen. Navigation is via the five-way touch panel on the right temple, with voice commands available via 'Hey RayNeo'. The interface is responsive and, for the constrained form factor, relatively intuitive.
According to RayNeo, it's Google Gemini that’s the flavour of AI baked into AIOS, and I suspect it’s Google Gemini 2.5 (Beta), which is a long way behind the current models that Google is promoting.
Compared to some other talking AI’s I’ve used, this one is pretty average. For starters, even though I’m in the UK, it insisted on using a chirpy American accent. And, if I asked what the temperature was, the answer arrived in Fahrenheit, times in a 12-hour clock and distances in feet and inches. Yes, Gemini, the world is America.
But aside from being fixated on a region that’s more than 3,000 miles away, the other issue was that it got simple questions wrong from the outset. As it loves America, I asked it to name the last ten U.S. leaders. It got the name and the order correct and then fumbled the answer by saying that all these people had been President in the past ten years.
I tried to subtly nudge it in the right direction by asking which ones were the President in the past ten years, but it failed to notice the discrepancy between what it was saying now and what it said previously.
Thankfully, it didn’t fall for the classic "walk or drive" question for the car wash, but I think all AI platforms are hardwired to answer that way, since it’s an obvious pitfall.
Compared to the latest versions of the major AI providers, the AI on this platform isn’t going to write Skynet anytime soon.
Real-time translation is a more advanced feature, supporting 14 languages and delivering approximately 2.1-second response times. Translation can be delivered as on-screen text or synchronised audio. In testing by other reviewers, accuracy was broadly good, though the system waits for the speaker to finish before translating. That’s necessary in some languages, like German, but it does come across as a less-than-natural conversation and can feel stilted.
Navigation is powered by HERE WeGo Maps (used by BMW and Audi), projecting turn-by-turn directions and nearby landmarks directly into your field of view. This is one of the most practically compelling use cases for the device, eliminating the need to look down at a phone while on foot. Unfortunately, the app never loaded on my glasses. Every time I tried to download and install it, it failed. Other apps were installed, so I’m unsure why this one refused to.
I know that some software for this device requires side-loading, which isn’t something many users will be happy to perform.
Software: 3.5/5
RayNeo X3 Pro: Performance
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
The Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 is purpose-designed for augmented reality applications, and the X3 Pro benefits accordingly. Day-to-day navigation, AI queries, notification handling, and app use are smooth under normal conditions. The combination of 4GB LPDDR5 RAM and 32GB storage is appropriate for the use cases the device targets.
That said, compared with a modern smartphone, this isn’t the most powerful platform, and with some more resource-intensive tasks, the cracks start to show.
The glasses do support 6DoF + SLAM with Falcon Image spatial positioning, and the AR overlay alignment is typically accurate and stable under testing. But the issue here is more about how close this platform is to being overrun, and there are hints it's not ever too far from the edge.
But this reviewer had many more issues with this device, which is partly why I waited more than six months before completing my review.
When I first got these in 2025, they did almost nothing. Since then, the firmware updates and enhancements that come via the mobile app have transformed the functionality provided, but they haven’t addressed some of the issues I’ve had from the outset.
The first big problem I had was seeing the projected images, not because the glasses didn’t work, but because they were almost out of my field of view. Some of this was my long-sightedness that made the images seem soft, but I couldn’t see the entirety of the display without balancing the glasses on the very tip of my nose. If I didn’t do that, the image would have been presented as below me and barely in sight. Lifting the glasses to make the image central causes it to disappear.
I’m not confident that spending another £50 on the proper lenses would fix that issue.
That made just seeing things a challenge, but the other issue I had was using the touch panels on the sides of the glasses for directing the interface, because half the time they just ignored my instructions or did something I didn’t ask for. In one instance, I deleted the To-do application from the glasses, not because I wanted to, but because the glasses took one swipe as my instruction to do that, and then refused to cancel that erroneous request.
I did consider getting a small hand controller to make it easier to use or even using the phone as a touchpad, but frankly, at this price, it should be easier than it was.
My final complaint about this device is how some aspects aren’t thought through. One of the apps is a translation app, and you can stand in front of a person from another country and get real-time translation of what they are saying. And, it works. You can even run a YouTube video of someone speaking another language and see it translated.
However, my problem is how you might use this in the context of being a tourist in a foreign country. Let’s imagine I’m in Japan, where they speak a language I don’t, and I walk into a shop where a sales assistant asks, ‘What are you looking for?’ I understand this, because the glasses translate for me, but it can’t reply in Japanese.
At which point, phone translation, where you can show the person your reply in their language, or it speaks for you, works much better. Obviously, if you like to sit on a train and listen to people gossiping about you in their language, thinking you can’t understand them, it's great, but it seems an expensive device to do just that.
The RayNeo X3 Pro is, technically, the most impressive pair of smart glasses currently available for purchase. The dual-eye MicroLED display is genuinely impressive, with bright enough images for outdoor use, colourful, and binocular in a way that no other glasses at this price point can match.
The integration of Gemini AI would make it genuinely useful beyond being a novelty if the model were newer and didn’t assume that all English speakers are Americans.
The camera produces capable results in good light, and the 76g weight is a remarkable achievement for the hardware it contains.
But the £1,000+ price tag demands honest scrutiny of what you're buying, and the answer is: a first-generation product. The battery will frustrate most users who intend to use its headline features for more than an hour or two at a time. The app ecosystem requires technical workarounds.
The aesthetic is also overly conspicuous, and considering how people are quite rightly objecting to unwanted image capture and AI in general, expect some push-back from others if you wear these in public.
For early adopters, AR developers, and professionals with specific use cases, such as live translation, heads-up navigation, and meeting transcription, the X3 Pro is credible but far from perfect. For mainstream buyers hoping for an all-day, all-purpose wearable, the technology is not quite there yet, but this is the clearest indication yet of where it is heading.
Value
An expensive option even with these features
3/5
Design
Lightweight design, but obviously AR
3.5/5
Features
Great displays but tiny battery
3.5/5
Soware
AI and navigation, but side-loading is a thing
3.5/5
Performance
Wearability issues and patchy performance
3.5/5
Total
Expensive and the ecosystem is a work in progress
3.5/5
(Image credit: RayNeo)
Buy it if...
You want the best AR display available today The dual-eye MicroLED is a genuine leap forward. If seeing what AR glasses can look like is important to you, nothing else currently matches it.
You have a specific professional use case Live translation, navigation, meeting transcription, and developer access make the X3 Pro a serious productivity tool for the right scenarios.
Don't buy it if...
Social discretion matters to you Multiple experienced smart glasses reviewers noted that the X3 Pro draws looks and comments in public. If you are not prepared to stand out, this is not the device for you yet.
You need all-day battery life Under active use, the 245mAh cell simply cannot deliver a full day of use. If you need more than an hour or two from a single charge, look elsewhere or accept that a power bank becomes a permanent companion.
The boss of SK Hynix believes that the RAM crisis is going to get much worse
The CEO said 2027 will be the 'worst year' in the RAM industry's history, and that the crisis will likely roll on to 2030 and beyond
Analysis from the Bank of America also claims that SK Hynix's expansion of memory production capacity is going to fall well short of its target for 2028
We keep getting told that the RAM crisis is dug in as a fixture for the foreseeable future, and, whether you want them or not, here are a couple more unwelcome reminders.
First, Android Headline flagged a Reuters interview with Kwak Noh-jung, the CEO of SK Hynix, one of the big memory chip makers. The chief executive didn't have comforting words about the prospect of RAM pricing in 2027, observing, "We forecast that next year will be the worst year in the [memory] industry's history from the supply perspective."
So, seemingly next year will see RAM hit peak pricing, with no relief likely until 2030 (as previously forecast by the chairman of parent company SK Group) according to the CEO — and even then, he suggested that demand will continue to outweigh supply as the next decade rolls on beyond 2030.
The second RAM-related blow comes from analysis by the Bank of America highlighted by the Commercial Times in Taiwan (via Wccftech), which pours doubt on the South Korean president's recent boasts about the major expansion of the country's overall memory chip production by 2030.
Part of this analysis is a claim from a memory industry insider over in Taiwan that SK Hynix might only add just a sixth of its originally planned production capacity increase by 2028. Obviously that assertion needs to be liberally seasoned, but it's such a large potential shortfall that it's bound to raise some eyebrows.
The Commercial Times notes that while huge new chip manufacturing plants are being built by SK Hynix and Samsung in South Korea, they will take a lot longer than 2030 to come fully online — and this process is more likely to take a full decade. The report contends that a realistic level of memory wafer capacity expansion for South Korea is around 10% (or slightly less) per year, which will leave the country falling well short of the president's claims for production in 2030.
Analysis: diverging RAM timelines
(Image credit: Unsplash / Liam Briese)
It's grim news from the CEO of SK Hynix, then, although of course, the skeptics will quickly point out that it's the chief exec's job to talk up the company's value — in terms of a booming market and the struggle to meet demand — coming off the back of its debut on the Nasdaq. Stock prices around the big memory chip makers have been turbulent of late, it should be noted, as investors start to worry about whether these companies are currently overvalued — and indeed whether the AI boom might start to run out of momentum.
So, that's a consideration, but there's no denying that SK Hynix's boss isn't the only person making gloomy predictions along these lines. Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang said that he expects the RAM crisis to last "quite a few years", indicating that we'll be stuck in pricing hell until 2030 or thereabouts, although others don't see it that way. In the opposing camp we notably have the likes of an AMD exec, the ex-chief of Samsung's semiconductor division, and Jefferies, an investment banking firm, who all believe RAM pricing will start to ease in 2028.
However, the sting in the tail there is that Jefferies is also predicting big memory price hikes over the rest of this year, and in 2027 too, backing up the CEO of SK Hynix in that respect. When you consider the estimated massive shortfall of SK Hynix's production capacity boost based on the rumor mill, everything feels distinctly shakier in the nearer-term for RAM pricing.
I also can't help but recall the blow Microsoft recently delivered when talking about Xbox price rises, when the company informed us that it expects another doubling in the cost of RAM in just over a year (by the fall of 2027).
While there's a mixed bag in terms of longer-term predictions, then, the outlook for this year and next remains worryingly negative on the RAM front.
Engineers at the German Aerospace Center are developing a morphing wing currently intended to reduce drag and replace functions of other parts of the plane’s design
A drone equipped with a morphing wing has been used in testing
The Morphing Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Research (morphAIR) project has a one million Euro budget
A wing that changes shape is in development at the German Aerospace Center, as part of a one million Euro project that could redefine the traditional view of an aircraft.
Rather than a tube with fixed wings and tailplane, future aircraft based on this technology could change shape to cope with changes in flight conditions, reduce drag, and even morph a portion of the wings to handle pitch control and other tailplane functions.
Engineers have tested the technology – part of the Morphing Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Research (morphAIR) project – with a 70 kilo drone, equipped with a 3-meter wide morphing wing.
How does the AI morphing wing work?
The morphing wing relies on a smooth surface with motorized components inside that can alter its shape. Success so far has led to the introduction of a follow-up program, UAdapt (Unmanned Aircraft Wing Adaption) to focus on reducing fuel consumption, by making the plane’s surface less prone to drag, and potentially removing the tail completely.
On the team is Martin Radestock, senior adaptive systems engineer, who told Aerospace America that current wings are essentially inefficient: “Aircraft are flying with turbulent flow over their wings, because they have steps and gaps [e.g. ailerons and flaps] between their control surfaces.”
Smooth wings have no gaps, no screws and rivets, and are assembled in a completely different way to standard aircraft. The wing is described as a “morphable trailing edge” and appears to be a series of motorized, actuator-controlled arms that move left, right, up, and down.
Morphing aircraft is nothing new
While morphAIR’s approach takes full advantage of modern technology, the concept of employing multiple profiles for aircraft to suit different flight conditions and deployment purposes is an old concept given a new life.
The most famous implementation of this is the “swing wing” technology, first tested in 1951 (the Bell X-5 experimental craft) and later a key element of 1967’s F-111 Aardvark. 13 production craft used the tech in total, although the most famous is probably the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which co-starred with Tom Cruise in the movie Top Gun. These craft were able to sweep the wings backward, sharpening their angle (to 68 degrees from perpendicular to the fuselage) for stable high-speed flight, while the "straight" wings (22 degrees) generated lift for short takeoffs, such as on an aircraft carrier, where the runway is short.
Interestingly, a Grumman Gulfstream II was fitted with morphing flaps as part of testing by FlexSys in partnership with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, so morphAIR is not the only group researching the next stage of flight.
Developments in aerodynamic flight technology and flight control made the swing wing generation obsolete, but morphAIR’s intriguing re-visitation of the concept of a craft that changes shape in midair could take it in a whole new direction.
We absolutely loved the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo when we tested out this 3D printer. It's fast, user-friendly, and suitable for beginners, hobbyists, and even micro-business users.
Built around a high-speed CoreXY motion system, the Kobra S1 Combo reaches print speeds of up to 600mm/s without loss of accuracy, which is important when producing prototypes, home projects, or detailed models. In the UK, the Kobra S1 is now £400 (was £599)
Today's top 3D printer deal
This fully enclosed 3D printer offers fast 600mm/s CoreXY printing, built-in four-color support, active filament drying, automatic bed leveling, smart app control, and reliable performance for detailed, multi-color creations.
In his rave review, our 3D printer expert Alastair said the Kobra S1 delivered "next-generation multi-filament printing at an outstanding price" and called it "a printer that you can't fail to be impressed with."
He added that the model "blends build quality, price, and absolute precision" and "when it comes to single-material printing, not only can you print with a wide variety of materials, but it's fast and the precision is hard to beat."
One of the features we liked most is the built-in active filament drying system. This helps prevent moisture-related problems such as bubbles and clogged nozzles. Keeping filament dry improves print quality and reliability, especially during long, multi-day jobs.
Beginners will appreciate one-click auto-leveling, vibration compensation, and flow rate calibration which work together to produce consistent results with minimal setup.
The fully enclosed design maintains stable temperatures for more demanding materials such as ABS.
The Kobra S1 Combo brings color printing within easy reach and supports four-color printing out of the box. Connecting two Ace Pro units expands that to eight colors while reducing filament waste via an optimized printing algorithm.
The Anycubic app and LAN connectivity allows you to monitor and control jobs remotely. Maintenance is simple thanks to a quick-swap nozzle system that lets you replace nozzles in seconds instead of dismantling the print head.
Having tested a wide range of machines, the Kobra S1 remains one of our favorite 3D printers thanks to its combination of speed, ease of use, and excellent print quality. As Alistair noted, "there's a lot to be impressed with here."
If you’ve been thinking about getting into 3D printing or upgrading your current setup, this is an excellent opportunity to pick up a highly capable multi-color 3D printer at a fraction of the usual price.
Anycubic's fast CoreXY 3D printer offers native four-color printing, expandable to 19 colors, 600mm/s print speeds, AI monitoring, automatic bed leveling, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a spacious 260 × 260 × 260mm build volume.
This high-speed 3D printer offers native seven-color printing, expandable to 19 colors, automatic bed leveling, AI monitoring, Wi-Fi connectivity, a spacious 260 × 260 × 260mm build volume, and print speeds up to 600mm/s.
Three mandatory standards now cover China's entire solar manufacturing chain
Rules take effect January 1, 2027, across polysilicon, wafers, and modules
Older polysilicon facilities face pressure to upgrade heat recovery systems
China is preparing a major reset of its solar industry by introducing mandatory energy rules that could remove inefficient production capacity.
The new standards cover the entire photovoltaic supply chain, including polysilicon, silicon wafers, modules, and inverters across domestic manufacturing.
Set to take effect on January 1, 2027, the measures aim to reduce excessive capacity and shift competition away from low prices.
New rules target energy-heavy solar production
The three standards, known as GB 29447-2026, GB 47835-2026, and GB 47834-2026, establish binding requirements for solar manufacturing efficiency.
Unlike previous voluntary guidelines, these rules create compulsory limits that can influence production, procurement, imports, and renewable energy project decisions.
GB 29447-2026 focuses on polysilicon and germanium production by tightening energy consumption limits for major manufacturing processes.
The requirements are expected to pressure older polysilicon facilities that consume more power while encouraging upgrades in efficiency systems.
Manufacturers may need to adopt improved heat recovery, hydrogen recycling, and process optimisation methods to meet the updated energy requirements.
The wafer sector will also face stricter rules through GB 47835-2026, which covers monocrystalline silicon production standards.
Older crystal-pulling equipment and inefficient wafer lines could face increasing pressure as the industry moves toward improved manufacturing methods.
Technologies such as continuous crystal pulling, better thermal management, and thinner wafers are expected to gain greater importance.
GB 47834-2026 introduces energy efficiency requirements for crystalline silicon modules and grid-connected inverters, affecting finished solar products.
The module standard reportedly introduces three efficiency grades, with Grade 1 representing the highest level under the classification system.
Minimum Grade 3 efficiency levels are reported at around 23.2% for TOPCon and HJT modules, alongside 23.5% for BC designs.
The standard also introduces environmental stress testing and bifacial performance requirements for different module technologies.
Solar price wars face pressure from stricter standards
China's solar industry has faced nearly two years of severe oversupply, forcing manufacturers into aggressive price competition, and the new rules are expected to accelerate retirement of older production lines and increase pressure on less efficient manufacturers.
Legacy PERC module facilities, early TOPCon production capacity, and high-energy polysilicon plants could experience the strongest impact.
Companies operating newer production systems with lower energy consumption may find it easier to meet future requirements, and the changes could also affect how solar projects select equipment as government-backed tenders adopt stricter compliance measures.
State-owned utilities and public renewable projects may increasingly favour products meeting higher efficiency and energy performance standards.
For solar manufacturers, the shift may increase short-term costs through equipment upgrades, factory changes, and capacity reductions, however, the new framework could push the industry away from endless price cuts toward efficiency-focused competition.
The rules mark a major change for a market that expanded rapidly through low-cost manufacturing and large production volumes.
By limiting inefficient capacity, China appears to be moving toward a solar sector built around energy savings and higher-quality output.
Pentagon receives 2,000 Ukrainian attack drones after landmark export approval
Ukraine completes first official export of fully assembled combat drones
F10 drone secures Pentagon contract after strong Gauntlet I performance
The United States has taken delivery of 2,000 Ukrainian F10 attack drones after manufacturer F-Drones secured a Pentagon contract during the opening phase of the Drone Dominance program.
The shipment follows Ukraine's first official export permit for completed combat drones, marking a notable change from earlier approvals covering mainly technologies, components, or accessories.
Ukraine grants its first export permit for finished combat drones
Ukraine's State Service for Export Control issued the permit on July 1 2026, clearing F-Drones to send a batch of F10 units across the border into American territory.
A company representative said the permit had already taken effect, with the drones crossing that border soon after approval was granted.
F-Drones noted this approval arrived before new government measures simplifying military exports under martial law had formally taken effect.
The company completed the full approval cycle under the export control mechanism that was already in place at the time.
That process required a positive decision from the interdepartmental commission overseeing military-technical cooperation and export policy matters.
State-owned company Spetstechnoexport accompanied the entire procedure, from initial review through to final sign-off.
Previous Ukrainian export decisions had typically involved individual components or subsystems rather than complete, combat-ready drone systems shipped in bulk.
This shift suggests Ukrainian officials now view finished drone exports as both commercially valuable and diplomatically useful for deepening ties with Washington.
UDD Tech Corp's path to winning the Pentagon contract
American firm UDD Tech Corp, which represents F-Drones products in the United States, entered the programme's first phase known as Gauntlet I.
Testing took place at Fort Benning in Georgia in February 2026, involving 25 competing drone systems from multiple manufacturers.
The F10 system finished sixth among those 25 competitors and secured a place among 11 total programme winners.
That result brought the contract to supply 2,000 drones to the U.S. Department of War directly.
UDD Tech Corp also earned selection to continue into the programme's next competitive phase going forward.
The Drone Dominance initiative itself is designed to accelerate American access to low-cost, combat-tested unmanned systems developed outside traditional domestic supply chains.
Established American defence contractors have reportedly watched the programme with some caution, given the scale of foreign competition it now permits.
This deal signals a shift toward foreign-made hardware entering a Pentagon pipeline long dominated by established American defence contractors nationwide.
Whether that shift continues at scale, or remains a single contract, is not yet clear from information currently available publicly.
Many PlayStation owners are vowing to boycott the PlayStation Store, cancel their PlayStation Plus membership and never buy PlayStation products again.
It's a PR nightmare for sure, with pretty much any online PlayStation content becoming a place for gamers to protest, derailing any attempt to talk about anything else.
I think the answer is: yes it could, but no it won't.
What Sonos got right and Sony probably won't
Speaking to TechRadar earlier this year, Sonos CEO Tom Conrad set out his views on how to try and make angry customers happy again. "You just have to show up in people's life with some humility and do the hard work of earning their trust back through great execution, great product, great software, great experiences, and never forget what you put people through."
Sonos CEO Tom Conrad admits Sonos got it wrong and has been working hard to regain customers' trust through direct communication and carefully targeting what's being worked on (Image credit: Sonos / Future Publishing Ltd)
So far, Sony isn't doing that: rather than respond to gamers' concerns, it's battening down the hatches and staying silent about its move to digital-only. And that's a shame, because there are genuine reasons for gamers to worry about Sony's decision.
There are three key concerns about digital-only. The first, and I think the most important, is cost. The PlayStation Store is ludicrously expensive: for example Spider-Man 2, a three-year-old game, is £69.99 digital today in the UK, where I'm based. Competition between retailers means it's around £37 on disc.
The second is second-hand gaming. I buy many games second-hand, and many gamers like to sell their games after they've completed them or got annoyed by them, so that they can spend what they recoup on more new games (a win for the industry overall). So I can buy Returnal for about £20 on eBay. I can't buy the digital edition second-hand, so if I want the digital version it's… you guessed it, £69.99.
To be fair, you can get both games, and others, on PlayStation Plus Extra. But not everyone wants or can sustain yet another subscription, and we know that all subscription services go up in price — often dramatically so, as we saw with Xbox Game Pass last year.
Sony may have to eat humble pie for a while in order to mimic Sonos here, seeking out customer views to talk about those concerns, and maybe thinking about how to address them — so for example it could tell us that digital codes would still be sold through multiple retailers, like Nintendo does with its key cards, or that we'd be able to resell our digital-only games (even if it hasn't developed the mechanism for this yet).
However, the reality is that for a firm the size of Sony, even a significant customer backlash such as 246,586 signatures on a petition represents a microscopic proportion of its 125 million PlayStation Plus subscribers, let alone the many more PlayStation owners — and it can afford to ignore them.
That's something of a gamble. Just ask Microsoft, whose Game Pass price hike scared off far more customers than expected — according to reports, it lost 4 million out of 34 million Game Pass subscribers when it was expecting huge growth instead, forcing a partial reversal.
But Sony's gaming business is far bigger, and that means it can still upset a lot of customers without feeling much pain.
I suspect Sony is going to take a different lesson from the Sonos situation: even at the height of customer anger, Sonos still sold lots of speakers, soundbars and subs.
