Category: Tech

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The Raspberry Pi single-board computer offers myriad ways to learn, explore, and create. It can be as simple as a small, portable computer or as complicated as an arcade cabinet. Whether you want to build a Telegram texting machine, a motion-activated camera, a network-wide ad blocker, or the perfect handheld emulator, the humble Raspberry Pi does it all, and you can do even more with a few accessories.

Accessories are crucial to the Raspberry Pi experience. While there are many projects that don’t require a single accessory, the best projects often require at least one. Some accessories, like a piezo speaker, are small and inexpensive, and others, like a camera or display, offer more possibilities but cost more money.

Although a bigger budget opens the door to more complex projects, there are great Raspberry Pi accessories for every budget. If you want to supercharge your Raspberry Pi projects, these are the top 5 Raspberry Pi accessories we recommend.

Raspberry Pi HQ Camera Module

Though there are other camera modules for the Raspberry Pi, this HQ camera module takes it a step further. It’s an interchangeable lens camera module with a 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor, allowing you to customize your look and create high-resolution images. It can also capture video at 1080p.

So, what can you do with this camera module? The answer is a lot. With the HQ camera module, you can make a webcam for Zoom meetings and talking head recording. You can also make the camera turn photos into AI-generated images.

Using the Raspberry Pi HQ camera as a motion-activated security camera is one of the most popular uses. The camera can be set up to send you email alerts, which is great for keeping an eye on your home when you’re out of town. The motion-activated camera is also great for indoors, allowing you to monitor your pets while you’re at work. In addition to sending alerts, you can also access the camera feed at any point if you’re on the same network, an ideal situation for avid birdwatchers.

HiFiBerry DAC2 HD

Want to upgrade your sound system without spending a fortune? Despite what hi-fi audio snobs will tell you, it is possible with something like the HiFiBerry DAC2 HD. This Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) module, which converts a digital signal to analog sound, connects to the Raspberry Pi via the general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins on the device and transforms your mini computer into a portable sound hub that lets you listen to all your music.

The HiFiBerry DAC2 HD is not a plug-and-play device. You’ll need to install software, but it’s nothing too hard. The hardest part is choosing the right software. Available software includes HiFiBerryOS, LibreELEC, Roon, and Volumio. Each software has its advantages and disadvantages. HiFiBerryOS is simple and lets you stream Spotify. Volumio is complex and more customizable, allowing you to stream your favorite music and podcast services. Finally, Roon is made for streaming your music library, which is kept on a server on your network and requires a subscription.

No matter which option you go with, you’ll be able to experience your music in a new light. Combined with a stereo and some nice speakers, you’ll have a high-end system on a budget.

SunFounder I2C Display Module

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The SunFounder I2C display is an inexpensive and easy-to-install component. There are many Raspberry Pi projects that, while they don’t require a display, would greatly benefit from one. The reason is that a simple I2C LCD display can elevate a project with a few lines of text. A project such as a music streaming device can work without a screen, but adding a screen makes the project more practical. It lets you see everything from the song title and the artist to what’s coming next in the queue.

In some cases, the display is much needed, like if you’re creating a weather station that tracks temperature, humidity, and air pressure. In that case, this tiny display can relay all the basic information you need, and it’s small enough that it doesn’t require a separate power source. So, while it may look simple and can’t do much more than display text, the SunFounder I2C display is quietly an elite accessory.

Raspberry Pi Sense HAT

The Sense HAT is an official Raspberry Pi accessory that is now iconic. It was initially developed for use on the International Space Station — it was co-developed with the European Space Agency — and it has since been a must-have accessory because it’s both packed with features and fun to use. The LEDs make the device stand out and lend themselves to quirky projects.

Onboard the Sense HAT are the following sensors: gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and color and brightness. Essentially, this HAT can record everything in your immediate environment, and the accelerometer and gyroscope can be used for tracking speed and orientation.

There are projects galore for the Sense HAT, but creating a weather station is at the top of the list. You can track the temperature, humidity, and pressure of your surroundings, and you can keep track of it using the LEDs on the HAT. It’s not an efficient way to receive information, but the big, colorful LEDs make it fun.

Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+

The M.2 HAT+, which is another official Raspberry Pi accessory, solves the many issues that come along with using a microSD card. This HAT allows for the use of M.2 NMVe SSDs with your Raspberry Pi. This is currently the fastest type of storage available. The M.2 HAT+ supports 2230 and 2242-size NVMe drives, which can typically be found with a capacity of 1 or 2 terabytes. There’s also a Raspberry Pi SSD kit, which comes bundled with the HAT and either a 256 GB or 512 GB NVMe drive.

In addition to expanding storage, NVMe SSDs are much less prone to failure compared to a microSD card, and the transfer speeds make moving and accessing files quicker. With an M.2 HAT+, you can make the most of storage-dependent projects, like media servers and video game consoles. Or, if you use your Raspberry Pi as a desktop PC, the additional fast storage will ensure you can store as many applications and files as you want. 

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USB charging is everywhere, and if you have a newly built apartment or home, you may have a USB wall socket. It makes life convenient for those of us with several gadgets, eliminating the need for multiple power adapters. While providing a great way to charge devices such as smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and other gadgets, these outlets don’t typically have on/off switches. As a result, it’s understandable to wonder if these outlets are consuming power even when nothing is plugged in.

While USB outlets do draw a bit of power even when nothing is plugged in, it’s only 0.05 watts typically. This is a marginal power draw and should have next to no impact on your household energy. If you consider that some light bulbs will use 60W of electricity while turned on, by comparison, the 0.05W used by USB outlets in standby mode amounts to barely anything on your electrical bill.

Should you unplug USB cables when they’re not in use?

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Ultimately, the power draw of both USB Type-A and USB Type-C wall sockets is tiny. Even with a USB cable plugged in and no device connected, the power draw should remain at 0.05W.

When connected, the power your USB outlets draw depends on the device that is plugged in. Laptops, game consoles, or smartphones draw the most power, while earbuds or smartwatches draw less. For example, a MacBook Pro requires between 60 and 140-watts of power, whereas smartwatches such as the Apple Watch Series 10 only need a minimum of 5-watts to charge.  

If you’re worried about high energy costs and using too much power, it’s always best practice to unplug any devices that aren’t needing a charge. Unplugging your device after it’s fully charged can also help prolong your device’s battery. Lithium-ion batteries can only be charged from 0% to maximum charge so many hundred times, and when the battery is kept at a high charge voltage, this will accelerate this chemical aging process. 

USB best charging practices

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Leaving a fully charged device on its charger can run up your electrical bill and alter the lifecycle of the battery, so it’s a good idea to unplug it once it’s fully charged. Additionally, you should know that not all USB cables are made equally. It’s best to shop for high-quality cables from reputable brands, or buy cables directly from the manufacturer of the device in question; if you’re buying a cable for your iPhone, try to buy your cable directly from Apple. 

Reliable brands like Belkin and Anker are worthwhile options too. For example, Belkin offers this USB Type-A to USB Type-C 15W Charger – which is ideal for smartphones — for only $10, or even less in certain deals. It has an average 4.7 out of 5.0 rating on Amazon, with over 4,400 reviews. For high-powered devices like laptops, the Anker 100W USB-C Charging Cable is a top pick. Priced around $16, or less, it also boasts a 4.7 average star rating with more than 20,000 reviews.

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The UK Cyber Governance Code of Practice (CGCP), published in April by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is the outcome of a collaborative effort with industry and governance institutions. It brings the UK in line with global trends, where governments are increasingly setting clearer expectations around board-level responsibility for cyber risk.

The CGCP defines cyber governance through five principles: risk management, strategy, people, incident response, and oversight. Its purpose is to ensure that boards understand their responsibilities and embed cyber risk into the organisation’s overall risk management framework. Crucially, the CGCP uses non-technical language, reinforcing the message that effective cyber oversight does not require a background in technology.

Although the CGCP is aimed at board directors, it has clear implications for technology leaders. Boards committing to the CGCP will depend on input from their CIO, CTO or CISO to evaluate how well the organisation aligns with its principles. For technology executives, this presents an opportunity to lead by helping to shape governance practices and strengthening collaboration across the executive team.

Technology leaders are often well positioned to introduce the CGCP to their board, highlight existing strengths, and identify areas for improvement. Cyber governance is still frequently associated with compliance or certification frameworks. However, its scope has evolved to encompass strategic alignment, organisational culture, expected behaviours and informed oversight. This broader framing helps board members connect cyber risk with familiar governance responsibilities and gives technology executives a platform to engage more meaningfully across the leadership team.

According to The Cyber Leadership Playbook, 41% of board members report difficulty in overseeing cyber risk effectively. Addressing this challenge, technology leaders must move from technical stewardship to strategic partnership. Anticipating the conversations that the CGCP will trigger allows CISOs and CIOs to build credibility and help the board make better-informed decisions.

Five practical steps for technology leaders:

1. Be proactive: Collaborate across the business on strategy, workforce engagement and incident response planning — before the board requests it.
2. Use a shared language: Leverage the CGCP’s terminology as a guide for engaging with board directors and aligning cyber with the broader risk management agenda. 
3. Seek board support: Use the CGCP as a basis to request backing – for example, for better policy enforcement, aligning budgets, or business-wide engagement.
4. Build trust through realism: Don’t promise “security” where you realistically cannot. Commit to preparedness, responsiveness and continuous improvement. 
5. Share insights, not just indicators: Help the board assess risks, trade-offs and options. Offer alternatives and criteria that should guide the board’s decision-making. 

Importantly, responsibility doesn’t rest with technology leaders alone. The CGCP calls on board members to improve their own cyber literacy and to establish a strong dialogue with the executive team on cyber risk. Many technology leaders have long argued that improving cyber knowledge in the boardroom is essential – and the CGCP explicitly creates space for that shift. As cyber governance matures, board expectations are changing too. Technology leaders have a powerful opportunity to guide the conversation.

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As competition in the key business sector ramps up, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has revealed that it has seen falls in revenues in its fixed broadband business over the course of the second quarter of 2025 despite an uptick in mobile connections.

The company’s official results showed that for the three months ended 30 June 2025, revenue – excluding handset and the impact of construction for its nexfibre joint venture business – was £2.175bn, down 0.4% compared with the same period in 2024. Total revenue decreased 5.5% year on year (YoY) to £2.527bn, while total mobile revenue slipped 0.9% on an annual basis to £1.385bn, driven by a 5.2% reduction in low margin handset revenue.

Consumer fixed revenue also decreased 0.9% to £857.1m, due to a reduction in the customer base while B2B fixed revenue decreased by 8.2% on a yearly basis to £99.2m, primarily driven by lower rental revenues. Other revenue decreased 38.7% to £185.5m, with a continued lower level of nexfibre construction revenue compared with the prior year.

Yet despite the mixed revenues, Q2 guided adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impact of nexfibre construction, were £985.9m, an increase of 1.1% compared with £974.8m in Q2 2024. Total adjusted EBITDA decreased 0.4% YoY to £984.2m. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA was attributable to negative nexfibre construction profitability, where construction revenues were said to have significantly reduced, excluding this impact growth was supported by cost efficiencies including a reduced level of Opex CTC. The second quarter of 2025 adjusted EBITDA margin was 39.0% compared with 36.9% in Q2 2024, primarily reflecting what VMO2 said was an improved revenue mix.

During the quarter, VMO2’s total fixed-line customer base stood at 5.7 million, the result of a 51,000-customer reduction in the quarter. VMO2’s total mobile connections (contract and prepaid) stood at 23 million, while the VMO2 mobile contract base totalled 15.6 million, with a reduction of 74,000 connections in Q2 predominantly due to lower value B2B losses, with O2 monthly contract churn improving YoY to 1.1%. Total mobile connection additions across the O2 network (including IoT and MVNO wholesale customers) increased by 480,000 in Q2 to 46 million.

As it assessed the quarterly performance, VMO2 emphasised that it had invested more than £1bn in the company in 2025 so far this year and that it would acquire 78.8 MHz of mobile spectrum for an investment of £343m,  which should “significantly boost the mobile network”, according to the company, improving customer experience and bringing VMO2’s total mobile spectrum share to approximately 30%.

Total fixed-line serviceable premises stood at 18.5 million premises, all of which were said to have access to speeds of at least 1Gbps. The company’s full-fibre footprint extended to more than 7 million premises as it continued to progress fibre upgrades and built fibre on behalf of nexfibre.

Commenting on the quarterly performance, VMO2 CEO Lutz Schüler assured investors that despite “a tough trading environment”, the company was reconfirming its guidance for the year, adding: “Our significant network investments are continuing, as we leverage our scaled gigabit broadband network today and roll out fibre for future, and on the mobile side we continue to boost our network across the country, expand 5G Standalone to more areas and have announced a significant spectrum acquisition that will materially enhance our network performance in future, further improving customer experience.”

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British organisations that have incorporated artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled solutions into their cyber security stack appear to be reaping the rewards of automation from a cost perspective at least, as data breach costs drop by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This is according to the UK-specific cut of IBM’s latest annual Cost of a data breach report, released this week, which found that even though less than one-third of UK organisations have deployed AI-enhanced security, overall average data breach costs for those that have came in at £3.11m per annum, compared to £3.78m for those that had not.

The 2025 report, compiled on IBM’s behalf by the Ponemon Institute, surveyed more than 600 organisations and interviewed around 3,500 people worldwide that had experienced a breach in the period between March 2024 and March 2025. Approximately 8% of respondents are UK-based.

Elaine Hanley, partner at IBM cyber security services for the UK and Ireland, described AI as a massive benefit to defenders: “Organisations that are using AI-based threat detection and threat response are massively more effective than organisations that aren’t. But the negative side is that attackers are using AI. It’s a race where you’ve got threat actors using AI and being much more effective with it, then you’ve got the defenders at the organisation using AI to spot that faster.”

The IBM survey found that UK organisations making use of security AI and automation are able to identify and contain cyber attacks much quicker. Its data reveal that mean time to identify (MTTI) a breach at an AI-powered organisation was 148 days, and mean time to contain (MTTC) was 42 days, down from 168 and 64 days at organisations relying on traditional methods.

Running to catch up

The benefits of AI-powered security may be evident, but IBM also found that UK organisations are struggling to keep up when it comes to implementing AI-specific security policies.

For example, 63% of UK-based respondents said they did not have AI access controls in place to reduce the risks associated with potential cyber attacks against AI models or applications. Only 31% of UK-based respondents had governance policies in place to properly manage wider unsanctioned use of so-called shadow AI by their staff.

“IBM’s report shows a clear trend that AI technologies continue to be a great tool, not just for productivity but also for security purposes,” said Matthew Evans, chief operating officer and director for markets at TechUK.

“However, AI alone is not the answer – as data breaches become faster and smarter, people and organisations need the proper tools and skills to use AI in the right way to protect themselves. Lifelong learning in the form of courses, training, and certifications can make the difference in supporting organisations and their employees in protecting themselves from costly data breaches,” he said.

DevSecOps, SIEM, as important as AI

But this is not to say that AI is the only significant investment that defenders need to be making. The report also outlined that organisations paying proper attention to best practice around DevSecOps saw similar impacts to their breach costs, while spending security analytics and security information and event management (SIEM) also had an effect, although a slightly less valuable one.

Breach costs were pushed up at organisations that were experiencing large-scale use of shadow AI technology. Those that had more complexity in their overall security stack, and those that were failing to properly account for risks arising through their supply chains, were also seeing increased costs. Among surveyed UK organisations, third-party supplier and supply chain compromises were the most commonly identified breach causes, ahead of phishing and credential theft.

“It’s not just about how good your security is,” said Hanley. “You need to look at third-party risk management and look at all the people that you’re interacting with digitally, and make sure that they care as much as you do about security.”

Worldwide findings

More widely, the IBM report found that global average costs are falling in line with the UK, down to $4.44m (£3.32m) on average, the first decline since 2020.

There were other encouraging trends to emerge in the data. For example, more organisations are now feeling empowered to push back against ransomware demands, with 63% opting not to pay compared to 59% last year.

However, perhaps more worryingly, the IBM data also reveal that post-breach investment plans seem to be stalling – with only 49% of breached respondents saying they planned to spend more on cyber security, compared to 63% last year.

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GPT-5 has been the talk of the town lately, with reports claiming the highly consequential ChatGPT upgrade will drop in early August. Some reports suggested that GPT-5 would arrive after the launch of the highly anticipated open-source version of ChatGPT. OpenAI’s open model was rumored to launch in the final week of July, after multiple delays.

July is now over, and there’s still no open-source ChatGPT to download. These things happen. The biggest players in the field release new features on a regular basis. AI companies unveil new models and features every chance they get. The announcements come more frequently than we’re used to in the tech world. We wait a year between iPhone launches, but the next-generation AI upgrade is seemingly always just weeks away.

AI companies like OpenAI release their latest innovations as soon as they’re ready for mass consumption. ChatGPT Agent is one such example, a new AI model that can perform complex tasks on your behalf in a virtual computer of its own. The model arrived a few weeks ago, about half a year after OpenAI unveiled the Operator agent, now baked into ChatGPT Agent. The same goes for GPT-5 and the open-source ChatGPT model. OpenAI might need to conduct more safety tests before releasing the two models.

This is all speculation based on Sam Altman’s most recent tweet. The OpenAI CEO posted a teaser on X over the weekend saying that the company has “a ton of stuff” to launch in the coming weeks. He also said that hiccups might be part of the schedule, suggesting potential delays to some of OpenAI’s big launches.

Is GPT-5 delayed?

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“We have a ton of stuff to launch over the next couple of months–new models, products, features, and more,” the CEO said, without revealing specifics. “Please bear with us through some probable hiccups and capacity crunches. Although it may be slightly choppy, we think you’ll really love what we’ve created for you!” It’s unclear why Altman felt the need to post this particular teaser on a Saturday. However, the tweet follows weeks of GPT-5 leaks and teasers, including Altman mentioning the ChatGPT upgrade on a few occasions.

“This morning, I was testing our new model, and I got a question. I got emailed a question that I didn’t quite understand. And I put it in the model, this is GPT-5, and it answered it perfectly,” Altman said during a podcast interview after a visit to Washington D.C. a few days ago. “And I really kind of sat back in my chair, and I was just like, ‘Oh man, here it is moment’ […] I felt like useless relative to the AI in this thing that I felt like I should have been able to do, and I couldn’t. It was really hard. But the AI just did it like that. It was a weird feeling.”

During his visit, there were numerous GPT-5 teasers posted online from savvy AI users who discovered that unreleased ChatGPT versions were being tested online under various codenames. All these teasers suggested the GPT-5 release was imminent. After all, Altman promised the GPT-5 upgrade for ChatGPT several months ago. Even with delays, if there are any, GPT-5 should drop this year.

What can GPT-5 do?

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Interestingly, Altman shared the update a day after The Information published an article titled “Inside OpenAI’s Rocky Path to GPT-5.” The publication said that GPT-5 should launch as soon as August, echoing similar reports from The Verge and Axios. While it didn’t say anything about a delay, that “rocky path” to GPT-5 hints at OpenAI’s struggles to build a bigger, better AI experience.

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard about an AI company struggling to make meaningful upgrades to its models. It’s not just about the lack of data to train the more advanced models or the increasing infrastructure costs. Some reports claim that next-gen models like GPT-5 might not deliver the same massive leap as the GPT-4 family.

That said, The Information also presented the same general set of GPT-5 features that have appeared in other reports. GPT-5 will do away with the model picker, automatically deciding how to assist the user. Some questions will get immediate replies, while others will require in-depth reasoning. Like its predecessor, GPT-5 will be a multimodal AI, able to interpret text, images, and audio. The context window should increase in GPT-5, which should lead to improvements in memory and give the AI the ability to handle more data.

The report also noted that while the model picker is going away, OpenAI will still offer users multiple GPT-5 experiences. A core GPT-5 version will be available on the web and in its apps. Then there’s GPT-5 mini, which might work best for quick tasks. Finally, GPT-5 nano could be used on mobile devices and on other devices where an even lighter AI experience is needed.

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The iPhone 17 series will be unveiled in about a month, introducing one of the most noteworthy changes to the iPhone’s design since the iPhone X. The iPhone 17 Air will replace the Plus model, featuring a similar display size but a much thinner body. That’s what rumors have been saying for about a year, and iPhone leaks that pop up this often tend to be correct.

To achieve that ultra-thin chassis, Apple has made a few notable compromises, according to the same set of rumors. First, the rear camera will have only a single lens instead of the minimum of two that’s customary for most iPhones. The slim body also means the phone will feature a much thinner battery than before, with reports pegging it at around 2,800 mAh capacity. Finally, the iPhone 17 Air will not have a SIM tray in international markets where Apple still sells iPhones with physical SIM cards.

Even without leaks to spoil them, some of these compromises would seem obvious when considering an ultra-thin iPhone. The most concerning element of these rumors has always been the battery, but there’s a brand new iPhone 17 Pro battery leak that might explain a different iPhone 17 Air compromise — the rumored removal of the SIM card tray.

New iPhone 17 Pro battery leak

Leaker Majin Bu routinely shares Apple product rumors online. Not all of them turn out to be accurate, but many do. The new iPhone 17 Pro battery leak comes from Bu, who penned a blog post to show off purported iPhone 17 Air battery designs. However, he quickly corrected his report, noting that the batteries in the pictures he obtained show two different designs for the iPhone 17 Pro models.

Both batteries are enclosed in stainless steel, similar to the iPhone 16 Pro battery. That’s the only iPhone 16 model to feature a metal battery case. Batteries enclosed in metal should be safer to remove and easier to handle. They can also offer better cooling. Finally, the design allows Apple to prepare for new battery-related laws in the European Union.

If the images Bu produced are accurate, we’re going to see metal batteries in at least one iPhone 17 model. However, Bu makes a strange claim about these purported iPhone 17 Pro batteries. He says Apple will use two different L-shaped battery designs in the iPhone 17 Pro series, one for the U.S. market (image above) and one for international markets like China (image below). The latter would accommodate the SIM slot, which is absent from U.S. models. If that’s accurate, then the U.S. iPhone 17 Pro models should feature a slightly larger battery than the international ones.

The iPhone 14 models were the first ones to ship without physical SIM cards in the U.S. Apple did not repurpose that space to increase the battery capacity, and every iPhone sold in the U.S. since then has come without SIM trays. But they all featured the same batteries as their international counterparts. If Bu’s claim is accurate, this might be the first year when iPhones without SIM trays feature larger batteries.

What does this mean for the iPhone 17 Air?

The iPhone 17 Air, with its rumored 5.5mm profile, could benefit from this battery design choice. Internal space becomes an even bigger problem if you reduce the iPhone thickness significantly. Battery life has to be a priority for Apple, especially for the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air. Bu’s iPhone 17 Pro battery leak seems to suggest that Apple will indeed sacrifice the iPhone 17 Air’s SIM card slot to utilize that space for extra battery capacity. This is speculation for now, and we’ll have to wait for the first iPhone 17 teardowns to see what sort of battery design Apple used.

Of all the rumored iPhone 17 Air compromises, dropping the physical SIM might be the most controversial. I say that as someone looking to buy the iPhone 17 Air this fall, but someone who isn’t excited about going eSIM-only. That’s the norm in the U.S. but not in Europe or other international markets. I’d take a slightly smaller battery in a thin iPhone with a physical SIM card if that choice were available.

On the other hand, Bu’s claim that Apple will use two different battery designs inside the same iPhone model is unusual. First of all, Apple would have to advertise different battery life estimates for the same device. Then there’s Apple’s supply chain to consider. Apple would save more money by using the same battery design instead of having suppliers manufacture two different batteries for three of the four iPhone 17 models. If Apple uses two battery designs for the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max might get the same treatment.

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As part of its broader effort to improve its AI offerings, Apple is reportedly putting together an “Answers, Knowledge, and Information” team tasked with improving the Siri user experience. 

Originally brought to light by Bloomberg, Apple’s goal for Siri is to provide users with a more conversational experience while also improving Siri’s ability to handle general knowledge questions. Apple’s current plan is to develop an “answer engine” capable of scouring the web for pertinent and accurate answers to user queries. This development is certainly welcome news to folks who have been frustrated with Siri’s ability to quickly and accurately answer even simple questions.

Of particular interest is that Apple’s AI improvements may not just appear in Siri, but in a separate chatbot app as well. “A standalone app is currently under exploration,” the report notes, “alongside new back-end infrastructure meant to power search capabilities in future versions of Siri, Spotlight and Safari.”

Apple believes it can fix its AI mistakes

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Apple isn’t currently a major player in the AI space, but recent comments from Tim Cook underscore the company’s confidence that this can change. During a recent internal meeting, Tim Cook said that Apple doesn’t pride itself on being first to market, but rather the best. To this point, recall that Apple wasn’t a first mover in either the MP3 player or smartphone market, but eventually came to dominate them both with the iPod and iPhone, respectively. Therefore, Cook believes Apple can do the same with AI. Cook also stressed that Apple is taking AI incredibly seriously and that it’s also open to making strategic acquisitions to “accelerate our roadmap.”

You might also recall rumblings that Apple was interested in acquiring Perplexity AI. While such an acquisition would immediately bolster Apple’s position in the industry, Perplexity’s recent valuation at $18 billion makes an outright acquisition somewhat unlikely. While companies like Meta aren’t afraid to throw around huge sums of cash for acquisitions, Apple has historically been much more frugal. Indeed, Apple’s most expensive acquisition to date was when it purchased Beats for $3 billion in 2014.

Apple is already hiring new AI engineers

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Apple over the past two weeks alone has added dozens of new job listings for experienced AI researchers and engineers to join the Siri team. For instance, one listing from July 24 seeks a Senior Machine Learning Engineer with deep LLM expertise to help Apple develop “state-of-the-art generative AI technology.”

Apple’s effort to solidify its Siri team with top talent comes at a crucial time. Over the last few weeks, Apple lost some of its more distinguished AI engineers to rival companies. For instance, Ruoming Pang recently left Apple to join Meta after being offered a $200 million compensation package. Pang will be especially tough to replace, as he was responsible for developing the foundational models that underpin Apple Intelligence. He was also in charge of Apple’s Foundational Model team.

For now, Apple’s nascent “Answers, Knowledge, and Information” team is under the direction of Robby Walker. Walker, if you recall, labeled Apple’s slow progress with Siri “ugly” and “embarrassing.”

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A new report from Cloudflare claims that Perplexity has been scraping content from websites that have opted to block AI web scrapers. The company says that Perplexity’s continued attempts to hide its crawling activity has led to diminished trust from websites that have opted out of sharing their content with AI companies like Perplexity.

In a new report shared on Cloudflare’s blog, the network service provider says that Perplexity has been using stealth and modifying its user agents and source ASNs to hide their crawling activity, as well as ignoring or completely failing to fetch the robots.txt files set up for these websites.

That particular file — for those who haven’t run a website — is responsible for relaying a website owner’s preferences to bots. And since Perplexity has supposedly been ignoring the preferences set by users, Cloudflare says it has delisted the company as a verified bot and has added additional measures to its services to block the stealthy crawling attempts. These accusations could throw a wrench into other ongoing plans from third-party companies like Samsung, which might have planned to include Perplexity on its S26 smartphones.

Testing the claims

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Cloudflare isn’t just blindly making these accusations. The company says that it conducted a series of tests and experiments to determine if Perplexity was really trying to skirt outside of the boundaries set by the owners of the various websites it was scraping. According to the findings that the team shared, it does appear that Perplexity has been figuring out ways around the preferences set by the websites.

Cloudflare says that it found that when met with blockage, Perplexity resorted to using an undeclared user-agent intended to mimic Google Chrome on macOS. This undeclared crawler then utilized multiple IP addresses not listed in Perplexity’s official IP range and would rotate through those IPs as it ran into blockages from the robots.txt file for certain pages.

While a Perplexity spokesperson told TechCrunch that the bot listed in the image shared within the research report isn’t one of theirs, that hasn’t stopped Cloudflare from standing strong against its allegations. This is also not the first time that Perplexity has been accused of scraping content without the proper authorization.

The concerns over this possible breach of trust have serious implications, as AI web scrapers have been under fire for years due to concerns they would plagiarize human written content to train the AI — thus profiting off of someone’s hard work. And with Perplexity’s Comet browser making headlines lately, this kind of accusation could incentivize some users to steer clear.

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Just over five years into the commercial launch of 5G, many mobile network operators (MNOs) around the world are offering 5G standalone (SA) and fixed wireless access (FWA) networks for enterprises, and growth in these advances on the base 5G infrastructure will be a key driver for technology spend, according to an industry report from Dell’Oro Group.

The Mobile core network and multi-access edge computing quarterly report estimates 70 MNOs have deployed 5G SA networks in 39 countries and territories. In 2025 alone, five new 5G SA networks were launched, including Orange in France, Romania and Slovakia; Vodafone in Spain; and O2 in Czechia. Regionally, there are five networks in North America, 26 in Europe, seven in the Middle East and Africa, 13 in Northeast Asia, 13 in Southeast Asia, and six in Latin America.

It calculates that the global 5G mobile core network (MCN) market is projected to grow at a 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the period of 2024–2029, with market acceleration largely driven by the increasing adoption of 5G Standalone (SA) architecture.

In parallel, the report notes that the multi-access edge computing (MEC) market is expected to expand at a much faster CAGR (17%), fuelled by the roll-out of dynamic network slicing, reduced capability (RedCap) devices, and the rise of network APIs aligned with GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative. It adds that 17 APIs have already been defined, with support from 72 MNOs worldwide. Suppliers are actively building and marketing Open Gateway-compliant services, further accelerating MEC adoption and ecosystem expansion.

The report also found that as 3G networks shut down, Circuit Switched Core networks must be upgraded to IMS Core to maintain voice calling on 4G networks, and that would mean the IMS Core/Voice Core cumulative revenue (2025–2029) would increase by 9%.

Commenting on the report, Dave Bolan, research director at Dell’Oro Group, said: “Our forecasts are primarily driven by subscriber growth rates and the usual subscriber behaviour, and for the 5G MCN segment, our current projection is at a 6% CAGR.

However, the emergence of generative AI and agentic AI, especially with increased data traffic and expectations for continuous, low-latency connectivity, may eventually require expanded network capacity, which could push the growth rate even higher. Agentic AI is also the key to reaching L4 autonomous networking, which could dramatically reduce operational costs for MNOs.”

Another similar and recent report by Dell’Oro projects that worldwide radio access network (RAN) revenues, excluding services, will stay flat and reach $160bn in cumulative revenue over the 2025–2029 forecast period, as rapidly declining LTE revenues offset continued 5G investments. New technologies and architectures such as Open RAN, Cloud RAN and AI RAN are seen as playing an important role going forward, but the analysis concludes they are not expected to expand the RAN market.

Dell’Oro regards the flat baseline scenario as implying upside risks if non-traditional RAN growth vehicles – including FWA, private wireless, public safety and mission-critical, and MBB expansion to support changing end user requirements – accelerate the market more than expected. 

As the investment focus gradually shifts from coverage to capacity, one of the most significant downward risks is slowing mobile data traffic growth. Should mobile data traffic growth decelerate more than anticipated, and operators transition into a maintenance mode following the completion of 5G coverage, capex-to-revenue could decline more sharply than currently projected.

“After two consecutive years of steep declines that wiped out nearly $9bn of RAN equipment revenues globally, it is encouraging that market conditions are now stabilising,” added Stefan Pongratz, vice-president for RAN market research at Dell’Oro Group.

“At the same time, we should not get too excited and assume a swift recovery. Market conditions can fluctuate over the short term, partly due to the asynchronous nature of new technology deployments. However, these ebbs and flows don’t alter the fundamentals that shape the long-term trajectory.”

The analyst also sees 5G Advanced technology as playing an essential role in the broader 5G journey, but does not expect this evolution will fuel another major capex cycle. Instead, it says operators will gradually transition their spending from 5G towards 5G-Advanced within their confined capex budgets.

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