Tangle Tech

It feels like only yesterday that the internet was abuzz with the news that Xiaomi – best known for its smartphones, watches and wearables – smashed the electric production car record at Germany’s infamous Nurburgring. The SU7 Ultra beat the formidable Porsche Taycan Turbo GT and the $2.5m Rimac Nevera, as well as shaming the Tesla Model S Plaid, itself a car that embarrassed many dedicated performance brands when it set a blistering time back in 2021. Now Yangwang has performed a similar feat, breaking an EV top speed record by hitting an eye-watering 293.54mph at the ATP test track in Germany. It beat previous records held by the Aspark Owl and the Rimac Nevera. Yup, another blow to the brand whose CEO is now head honcho at Bugatti. The fact that the Xiaomi SU7 bettered a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT on its very first lap around the Nurburgring is mildly embarrassing The Yangwang U9, which is just one model from the high-performance sub brand of BYD, is particularly impressiv...

It probably hasn't escaped your attention that Windows 10 support expires on October 14, 2025 . Given that, there's precious little time left before those who remain on the operating system without taking any action will be left with no security updates. Those patches are vital protection for your system, and without them, an unsupported version of Windows is open to new vulnerabilities and potentially being compromised. If you want to stick with Windows 10 – maybe you dislike Windows 11, or your PC is unable to run it – then there are actually a few options for getting additional support for an extra year. This will carry you through to October 2026, giving you more breathing room to decide on the next step for your Windows 10 PC. These options can be accessed via the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program that Microsoft revealed late last year , which is being offered to consumers for the first time. (Previously, this scheme was for businesses only.) You'll have thre...

The iconic floppy disk is reborn as a storage case for today's terabyte-packing SD cards From 1.44MB past to terabyte present, the new design bridges eras creatively Fun artwork references glitch aesthetics and retro computing Floppy disks are unquestionably a relic from the past, although they still keep resurfacing in unusual places - most recently, surfacing in the American prison service , and an enterprising YouTuber set out to build a floppy disk from scratch . If you're of a certain age, you'll no doubt still remember the feeling of sliding a floppy disk into a computer, hearing that quiet click, and waiting as files loaded bit by bit. That memory will come rushing back with the Floppy Disk-Inspired SD Card Packaging, a design concept created by Indian industrial designer Ayushmaan Singh Jodha for SanDisk. It takes the iconic 3.5-inch floppy and reimagines it as a different kind of storage device - as a case for today’s SD cards . (Image credit: Ayushm...

5G phones can be silently downgraded to insecure 4G, leaving the device exposed The exploit works without setting up expensive and complex fake towers Tested smartphones include flagship models from Samsung, Google, Huawei, and OnePlus In late 2023, researchers uncovered a set of flaws in 5G modem firmware from major chipmakers, including MediaTek and Qualcomm, collectively named 5Ghoul. A group of academics at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) has now shown how 5G phones can be tricked into falling back to 4G networks through a method that avoids the need for a fake base station. Instead, it targets a vulnerable stage of communication between phone and tower, where critical messages remain unencrypted. How the toolkit works in practice The SNI5GECT toolkit, short for “Sniffing 5G Inject,” makes use of the tiny time window at the start of a connection attempt. It targets the pre-authentication phase, when the data passing between the tower and the phon...

PC gaming giant Valve has started to bow to the UK’s Online Safety Act by requiring Steam users to verify their age with a credit card in order to access games with mature content. “In order to access Steam store pages for mature content games as well as their associated community hubs, you need to be logged into an active user account and explicitly opt-in through the account settings page.” Steam’s Support page details. "For UK users, this opt-in process requires age verification. Your UK Steam user account is considered age verified for as long as a valid credit card is stored on the account.” The Online Safety Act stems from a goal to prevent children from seeing inappropriate, sexual, or generally mature content across a myriad of online platforms and services. As such, users of services and sites that host mature content, even if not exclusively so, need to verify that they are 18 years of age or older. Often this requires things like a facial scan or credit card deta...

SK Telecom suffered a data breach that was discovered in April 2025 It affected roughly 27 million people The company was fined for it, and will need to make significant changes to its operations SK Telecom (SKT), one of the biggest telecommunications services providers in South Korea, was fined almost $100 million for failing to protect user data. In April 2025, the company discovered a malware breach that allowed threat actors to lurk within its systems for years. Some researchers even claim the attack started in August 2021. The miscreants targeted SKT’s Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and other critical infrastructure, exposing sensitive subscriber data, including USIM authentication keys (KI), International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers, IMEI device identifiers, phone numbers, email addresses, and possibly other personal data. "Very weak condition" Approximately 27 million people were affected by the breach. Now, Reuters reports that the government-r...

Novodisq claims 230PB rack capacity using proprietary 144TB SSDs Novoblade integrates compute, networking, and storage in dense blade servers Novodisq promises 95% lower power compared with conventional arrays At the recent Flash Memory Summit, a new name from New Zealand surfaced in a bid to cause waves in the enterprise storage space. Novodisq presented its Novoblade system, a platform built to combine dense storage, compute acceleration, and network capacity in a compact design. The Novoblade modules are designed as blade servers, each offering 576TB of raw storage built on flash drives. The drives themselves are based on E2 form factor SSD units with capacities reaching 144TB per device. How Novoblade is structured The company says a 2U enclosure can hold up to 20 modules, which equates to 11.75PB of capacity in a single shelf. Scaling this configuration across an entire 42U rack, Novodisq projects that storage can rise to 230PB. Alongside the storage figures, Novodisq...

Windows 11's August update reportedly introduced an SSD breaking bug It's been suggested that SSDs using Phison controllers are more likely to be affected Phison has conducted extensive testing, but couldn't reproduce the bug a single time, adding that its customers haven't reported the glitch either The bug that recently emerged in Windows 11, which is reportedly breaking some SSDs, is being investigated by Microsoft and its partners - and now we've heard back from one of the parties involved. This is Phison, which manufactures SSD controllers used across a wide range of drives from various manufacturers, and is involved in this controversy because some reports suggest that SSDs using these controllers were more likely to be affected by the bug. Phison has now shared the results from its extensive testing pertaining to this matter, as Neowin reports , issuing the following statement: "Phison dedicated over 4,500 cumulative testing hours to the drives...

As a veteran of covering Apple’s iPhone launches, I can rather confidently say that the iPhone 16 will drop in price when the so-called iPhone 17 is launched and subsequently released. Judging by previous iPhone launches, my educated prediction is that the iPhone 16 will stick around as Apple’s cheaper alternative to the new phones, with its price likely to be some $100 / £100/ AU$150 cheaper than at launch. Such a price drop isn’t huge, but it’s not bad either, given the rumors aren’t pointing towards a significant generational upgrade for the iPhone 17. The much-rumored iPhone 17 Air could shake things up if it replaces the standard iPhone and its Plus stablemate, but I’m not so sure that’ll happen. While I bemoan the lack of a 120Hz display, the current iPhone 16 is still a great phone for most people and has the performance needed for Apple Intelligence and most phone-centric tasks, all slotted neatly into Apple’s ecosystem. So presuming Apple keeps it in its line-up, it’ll...

Nvidia’s H20 chip became collateral in a heated geopolitical clash Nvidia’s revenue stream risks serious disruption with the Chinese market tightening Chinese tech giants hesitate to abandon Nvidia hardware for weaker alternatives China’s recent decision to tighten restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 chip sales has drawn attention not only because of the technology involved, but also because of the circumstances which triggered it. Reports indicate comments made by U. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in mid-July 2025 were viewed as both “insulting” and brash by China's government. In a televised interview, Lutnick stated Washington’s strategy was to ensure Chinese developers became “addicted” to the American technology stack. Rising tensions after controversial remarks “We don’t sell them our best stuff, not our second-best stuff, not even our third-best,” Lutnick had told CNBC . “You want to sell the Chinese enough that their developers get addicted to the American technolog...

Ask anyone in the luxury business about what well-heeled Chinese customers demand and the answer is almost unanimously pointed towards technology. But Bentley’s CEO, Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, has just claimed that digital will never be luxurious. "It will be maybe expensive, but not luxury," Walliser told Newsweek , going on to state that there will be always be a need for good craftsmanship. While many modern luxury brands will agree, there has been a huge shift in what the next generation of wealthy individuals want, with Istituto Marangoni , a leading private school of fashion, art and design, claiming that China will account for 25% of the global personal luxury goods market by 2030. Gen Z and Millennials, who account 70% of luxury spending, are looking more towards advanced AI assistants, immersive virtual reality and the latest innovations in technology, rather than overt displays of wealth. Walliser doesn’t deny the need to embrace new and emerging technologies,...

Researcher finds a free nuggets exploit exposed much deeper flaws within McDonald’s systems McDonald’s apparently has no obvious path for researchers to report vulnerabilities A URL change from “login” to “register” granted account access What began as an attempt to claim free food through the McDonald’s app rewards system turned into something far more revealing for one expert. A security researcher known as “BobDaHacker” discovered serious weaknesses in McDonald’s online systems while trying to redeem a reward for free McNuggets through the company’s mobile app. The flaw ran deep, granting access to the “Feel-Good Design Hub,” a central platform for marketing assets and brand materials used by employees and agencies in more than 120 countries. Reporting security issues the hard way Attempts to disclose these flaws highlighted another concern: McDonald’s had no clear path for researchers to report vulnerabilities - according to Bob, the company once had a “security.txt” file...

Zscaler ThreatLabs found 77 malicious apps in the Play Store They were downloaded more than 19 million times, carrying different malware The most prevalent variant was Joker Security researchers have discovered 77 apps on the Google Play Store delivering all sorts of malware to users. Cumulatively, the apps were downloaded 19 million times, according to Zscaler ThreatLabs, which uncovered the large campaign after investigating an infection by a popular Android baking trojan called Anatsa (or Tea Bot). In the investigation, the researchers determined the majority of the apps - 25% - were used to deploy Joker, a piece of malware that can send texts, grab screenshots, make phone calls, exfiltrate contacts list, subscribe users to premium services, and more. How to stay safe Besides Joker, the researchers also spotted a variant called Harly, different adware code, and Anatsa, a dangerous banking trojan that can now steal login credentials and other sensitive information from mor...

Google has rolled out a Messages feature in beta that lets you use QR codes to verify the device of the person you're texting It's Google Messages' new security measure, which is designed to prevent impersonation scams Google revealed last year that it would be rolled out to users in 2025 It seems as though a new security measure is on the way to Google Messages, as the company has begun rolling out a new QR code feature in the latest beta, which verifies the device of the person you’re chatting with. First spotted by 9to5Google , Google’s new verification tool in Messages aims to prevent impersonation scams. Before, you could verify contacts by tapping ‘Verify encryption’, presenting an 80-digit code that you can share with the other person to verify your device and vice versa. While Google Messages has always had a verification feature, its new QR code approach provides a more convenient way to prove the identity of the person you’re texting with. In that case, if...

Samsung’s massive, in both price and size, micro-RGB TV is barely two weeks old, but it’s making waves for those two factors as well as the promised visual quality. The 115-inch Micro RGB Samsung Vision AI Smart TV – yes, a long formal product name for sure – is out in Korea right now for 44.9 million KRW and will soon be up for order in the United States at $29,999 with more markets to follow. I had the chance to check one out in person at Samsung’s new headquarters in New Jersey. While it wasn’t a formal testing session, it was clear from my first look that Samsung's micro-RGB tech here is creating immersion on a grand scale with picture quality to rival even the best OLED TVs . I also had the chance to view it after seeing the similarly sized and priced, but notably different 115” Class Samsung QN90F Neo QLED 4K TV. And while that TV looks sharp and bright, the new micro-RGB TV's picture is much more controlled and realistic. Samsung even created a custom Micro RGB AI ...

Best Buy Marketplace sells DVD and Blu-Ray discs Online only via third party sellers Available in-app and online from today We've been saying for ages that reports of the death of movie discs are premature, and it looks like Best Buy agrees with us: it's launching a new online marketplace that'll sell DVDs, Blu-Rays and UHD Steelbooks as part of a doubling of its online offering. If you're thinking, "Hang on, didn't Best Buy stop selling disc-based movies in early 2024?", you're right: they did. Citing the changing way we enjoy entertainment, Best Buy announced in late 2023 that it'd stop selling DVDs and Blu-rays in its stores and online after the holiday season, though it continued to sell the best 4K Blu-ray players afterward. So what's going on? As FlatpanelsHD reports, this isn't a reversal: you're not going to see the DVD or Blu-Ray aisles return to your local store. The new marketplace is online and features third-pa...

Compact colorful laptop concept designed by Microsoft employee offers fresh ideas for portability Experimental a_77 laptop shows how compact layouts and playful design can work together Microsoft designer’s laptop concept isn't real, but we wish someone would make it In his spare time, Braz de Pina, Principal Product Designer at Microsoft, comes up with some amazing hardware concepts that we wish were real, and shares these on his website, and Behance and Instagram pages. Although he came up with the a_77 compact laptop concept over a year ago, I’ve only just stumbled across it and wanted to share the device with anyone else who might have missed it. The a_77 started life as a simple 3D model of a small keyboard. De Pina then added a screen and ports, eventually shaping the model into a fully realized laptop. (Image credit: Braz de Pina) Copilot key The process gave the device an unusual form that looks very different from traditional designs. The keyboard its...

If Huda felt like she'd been ganged-up on in the villa, as she's stated in interviews, at the very least Love Island was good preparation for the reunion. Olandria understandably wants answers, but the trailer (embedded below) teases what appears to be something of a pile-on. You can watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free. Premiere: 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Monday, August 25 (US, CA) WATCH FREE: CTV (CA) Stream: Peacock (US) | Crave (CA) Use Nord VPN to watch any stream On-hand to stir the pot are Andy Cohen and Ariana Madix, experts at feigning concern while picking gleefully at fresh wounds. One of the big topics of conversation is a cheating scandal involving one half of Love Island season 7's winning couple. Bryan describes his indiscretion as "a lapse in judgement", though he and Amaya still appear to be together. On-hand to witness said lapse was Chris, although to b...