8. We chose our favorite technology for the World Cup
Yes, the World Cup has officially started, but it’s not too late to fine-tune your setup. Far from it: with over a month of football remaining, we’ve rounded up everything you need for a successful tournament at home.
From our dream party setup to soundbar upgrades and the best World Cup tech deals, you’ll have no shortage of ways to improve your viewing experience. And once everything is set, you can dive into our ultimate World Cup watching guide to find out how to follow every match, from anywhere in the world.
7. Ocarina of Time reborn
Closing out the week-long gaming celebration that is Summer Game Fest and the showcases surrounding it, Nintendo’s Direct featured an exciting mix of trailers, which included a teaser for a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Nintendo Switch 2.
Little has been revealed so far beyond the design of the child Link, and hints at a full voice acting as the Great Tree Deku is heard narrating the intro as he does at the start of the N64 game.
Better yet, the trailer ended with a release year: 2026, so we won’t wait too long to get it. Zelda game in our hands and find out if it’s the series Resident Evil 2 Remake moment, as many hope.
6. Trump Phone is not “made in America”
Unsurprisingly, after serious delays, changing promises, and accidentally scamming its buyers, the Trump Mobile T1 phone has been taken down by iFixit, and it turns out the “proud USA design” is just a gold-skinned HTC U24 Pro, aka a Taiwanese phone launching in 2024.
In fairness, it has some adjustments. The design has been adapted with a new camera bump shape, and the battery is a bit larger with a 5,000 mAh battery – up from 4,600 mAh – although it only offers 30W charging instead of the original HTC’s 60W.
iFixit notes that the markings on the phone indicate that it is “assembled in the USA,” which is significantly different from being “made in America,” which is subject to very specific FCC requirements that the Trump Mobile phone ironically does not appear to meet.
The teardown company says it best: “Unexpectedly, the T1 is actually attractively priced compared to the equivalent-spec U24 Pro, and the only things you’re giving up are 60W fast charging and your dignity.” »
Read the full story: Trump Phone unmasked as “HTC U24 Pro painted gold”
5. Valve ditched physical gift cards
It’s bad news for PC gamers on Steam this week, as Valve announced that it will no longer be restocking physical Steam gift cards. For what? Because scammers take advantage of consumers.
This is not exactly a new event; Steam scams have been around for years. However, Valve clarifies that it was effectively forced to stop physical gift card restocks because “fraudsters adapted,” even after actively working with retailers and law enforcement to thwart the scams.
Physical gift cards are a great gift option for less savvy gamers to give to their PC gaming loved ones, and can be useful for parents to top up their child’s Steam account with funds without attaching a credit card to it. However, once those are gone, Steam digital gift cards will be the only option, as soon as stock runs out at several retailers – and one can only hope that scammers don’t end up forcing Valve to restructure digital gift cards as well.
Read the full story: Valve is officially done with physical Steam gift cards
4. Philips launched a virtual skylight
Philips has unveiled a new ceiling light called ‘Philips Skylight’, designed to mimic the effect of natural light for indoor use, combining Philips’ advanced LED and NatureConnect technologies. Starting at 499.99 euros (around $580/£430), the ceiling light comes in four different models and will be available later this month in most regions. It arrives in the United States in September.
Each variant of the Philips Skylight comes with a slim ceiling profile for mounting, a remote control, five preset lighting scenes and Philips’ Day Rhythm tool, which automatically adjusts color temperature and brightness throughout the day. But despite its many features, it’s not Philips Hue.
This means that, unfortunately, it doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi or work with Matter over Thread, so you can’t integrate it into your existing smart home setup and you’ll have to use the included remote to control it manually.
3. Apple revealed some major software surprises
Siri AI (see #1 below) was the undoubted star of Apple’s WWDC event this week, but the software showcase revealed hundreds of other upgrades for iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches and more. And not all of them went well.
You can read our picks of the best features available on iPhones running iOS 27, or the highlights of macOS 27 below (in entry #2). But there were also some notable surprises, including the next version of watchOS dropping support for some recent models and Apple controversially adopting generative AI in Photos.
Apple also went to great lengths to strengthen parental controls at the event, leaving us with the feeling that it had one eye on child safety and another on increasingly demanding government regulators.
2. macOS 27 named Golden Gate
Tim Cook’s last WWDC as Apple CEO gave us a glimpse into the future of its software, including the upcoming macOS 27 release, called Golden Gate. But unlike previous years, it’s not the most exciting.
There’s Liquid Glass and other design changes that will make your Mac more usable, plus a new and improved search to help you locate just about anything on your computer. There are also some performance improvements, with apps meant to be more responsive, and of course there’s the debut of Siri AI, more on that below.
While it’s not the flashiest update, it’s a solid upgrade on the surface, but if you’re not a fan of the AI, it may feel like a downgrade.
1. Siri’s AI upgrade is here
It took a while with at least one false start, but the new Siri that is already in the hands of some, thanks to the iOS27 Dev Beta, arriving with the WWDC Keynote, is the Siri that Apple promised us in 2024 and beyond.
Sure, Apple is essentially playing catch-up with OpenAI and Google, but in what might later be considered one of the shrewdest moves in this AI race, Apple took Google’s best Gemini models and created something new. Siri AI and Apple Intelligence updates both look familiar and yet feel like a completely Apple experience. Yes, it even creates fake photorealistic images.
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