The App Store is a home for many kinds of apps (including, inexplicably, one that lets users undress strangers without their consent). But hey, it also has games! And soon the store's Apple Arcade service will include one more: the not-so-highly rated Civilization VII.
Apple announced on Wednesday that Sid Meier's Civilization VII will arrive almost exactly a year after launch. The game is already available for Apple devices, but its arrival on Apple Arcade will be a first.
Civilization VII arrives on Apple Arcade on February 5.
Firaxis Games / Apple
“Free (for Apple Arcade subscribers)” may be the right pricing for the game, given its mixed reviews. A common complaint is the way it handles transitions between eras. ("I have Ben Franklin leading the Romans that turned into Ben Franklin leading Spain... like what? Who asked for this?" a Steam reviewer wrote.) On the other hand, its visuals are praised by most.
The Apple Arcade edition of Civilization VII is scheduled to arrive on February 5. It will be playable on Mac, iPhone and iPad.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/civilization-vii-comes-to-apple-arcade-in-february-203000754.html?src=rss
California authorities have launched an investigation into xAI following weeks of reports that the chatbot was generating sexualized images of children. "xAI appears to be facilitating the large-scale production of deepfake nonconsensual intimate images that are being used to harass women and girls across the internet, including via the social media platform X," California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said in a statement.
The statement cited a report that "more than half of the 20,000 images generated by xAI between Christmas and New Years depicted people in minimal clothing," including some that appeared to be children. "We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material,” Bonta said. “Today, my office formally announces an investigation into xAI to determine whether and how xAI violated the law.
The investigation was announced as California Governor Gavin Newsom also called on Bonta to investigate xAI. "xAI’s decision to create and host a breeding ground for predators to spread nonconsensual sexually explicit AI deepfakes, including images that digitally undress children, is vile," Newsom wrote.
xAI’s decision to create and host a breeding ground for predators to spread nonconsensual sexually explicit AI deepfakes, including images that digitally undress children, is vile.
I am calling on the Attorney General to immediately investigate the company and hold xAI…
California authorities aren't the first to investigate the company following widespread reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and non-consensual intimate images of women. UK regulator Ofcom has also opened an official inquiry, and European Union officials have said they are also looking into the issue. Malaysia and Indonesia have moved to block Grok.
Last week, xAI began imposing rate limits on Grok's image generation abilities, but has so far declined to pull the plug entirely. When asked to comment on the California investigation, xAI responded with an automated email that said "Legacy Media Lies."
Earlier on Wednesday, Elon Musk said he was "not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok." Notably, that statement does not directly refute Bonta's allegation that Grok is being used "to alter images of children to depict them in minimal clothing and sexual situations." Musk said that "the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws" and that the company works to address cases of "adversarial hacking of Grok prompts."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/california-is-investigating-grok-over-ai-generated-csam-and-nonconsensual-deepfakes-202029635.html?src=rss
Formula 1 teams revealed their 2026 testing plans weeks ago, creating a strange temporal problem. Everyone knows Cadillac will run at Barcelona’s closed-door shakedown on January 26. Everyone knows the real livery reveal happens during the Super Bowl broadcast on February 8. That leaves a two-week gap where the team exists in public view but hasn’t officially launched. Most teams would treat this like dead air.
Cadillac’s response was to design specifically for that liminal space. The testing livery features what they call “the Cadillac precision geometric pattern” in gloss and matte sequences, turning functional camouflage into brand vocabulary. They’re using the constraint of secrecy to communicate design philosophy, establishing that their approach blends automotive prototype discipline with motorsport theater. The giant Cadillac crest draped across the engine cover isn’t trying to hide anything. It’s declaring that the space between stealth and spectacle is itself worth designing for.
Camouflage As A Design Language
Cadillac didn’t reach for F1’s usual testing camouflage playbook. They reached for Detroit’s. The vertical geometric pattern running front to back uses alternating gloss and matte treatments, which is straight out of automotive prototype testing methodology. When manufacturers test pre-production vehicles on public roads, they use dazzle camouflage patterns to break up body lines and prevent photographers from capturing accurate proportions. The gloss-matte alternation specifically disrupts how light reads surface contours, making it harder to discern where one body panel ends and another begins. Cadillac has imported that exact technique onto their F1 car, establishing a visual link between their production vehicle development and their racing program before anyone sees them turn a wheel.
This matters because F1 test camouflage typically aims for generic obscurity. Teams either run bare carbon fiber (functional, boring) or apply random geometric patterns (functional, slightly less boring). What Cadillac did requires actual design development work. GM’s press release confirms the testing livery came from “a cross-continental collaboration” between their global design office and the F1 team’s operations spanning the US and UK. They committed design resources to a livery that will only exist for four days of closed-door testing in Barcelona between January 26-30. That’s an unusual allocation of effort for something most teams treat as throwaway content.
The monochrome palette reinforces the automotive prototype reference while giving Cadillac room to establish brand identity without committing to race colors. Black and silver create what GM describes as “a striking and premium appearance” linked to “a modern interpretation of the iconic Cadillac crest and shield”. Translation: they want you thinking about Cadillac’s luxury automotive positioning while accepting that you’re looking at operational camouflage. The cognitive dissonance is intentional.
Founder Names as Front-End Real Estate
Cadillac embedded the names of their founding team members from both the US and UK facilities onto the nose section. This is where the design brief gets interesting from a messaging perspective. F1 teams occasionally acknowledge personnel on liveries, usually through small decals or subtle typography. Cadillac made founder recognition a primary design element on arguably the most visible part of the car during front-facing photography. The nose gets scrutinized heavily during testing because it’s where teams often trial different aerodynamic configurations. Every photo analyzing nose geometry will also capture those founder names.
The positioning serves dual purposes: it humanizes what could have been pure corporate branding while reinforcing that this program exists because specific people made it happen. Cadillac can’t claim decades of F1 heritage like Ferrari or McLaren, so they’re building a founding mythology in real-time. The test livery becomes the origin story document. When people look back at Cadillac’s first F1 laps, those founder names will be visible in every archive photo. That’s smart long-term brand narrative construction disguised as a nice gesture.
It also signals confidence. Teams worried about looking amateurish during their debut typically minimize branding and keep things conservative. Cadillac put a massive crest across the engine cover and devoted premium nose real estate to personnel acknowledgment. They’re treating Barcelona testing like it matters as a brand moment, which suggests they believe their on-track performance won’t immediately embarrass them. Whether that confidence proves warranted remains speculation until they actually run, but the design choices indicate they’re comfortable being highly visible during the shakedown.
Designing for the Gap Between Testing and Launch
The Barcelona test runs January 26-30. The Super Bowl reveal happens February 8. Official pre-season testing in Bahrain starts February 26, where all teams must appear in their actual race liveries. Cadillac carved out a specific design approach for that middle window when they exist publicly but haven’t officially launched. Most teams would use placeholder graphics or early-reveal their race livery to fill that gap. Cadillac treated it as its own design challenge requiring a distinct solution.
This approach mirrors product launch strategies in consumer tech, where companies often deploy teaser campaigns that reveal design philosophy without showing final products. Apple does this constantly with cryptic event invitations that establish aesthetic direction before unveiling actual devices. Cadillac applied that thinking to F1, using the testing livery as a teaser that communicates brand values (precision, Detroit heritage, automotive development discipline) while maintaining suspense about the race livery. The testing design becomes a prologue rather than a placeholder, giving them two separate moments of visual impact instead of one.
The gamble is whether anyone cares about F1 testing liveries enough for this strategy to matter. Cadillac clearly believes the Barcelona shakedown will generate significant coverage despite being closed to the public, likely because they’re the first new F1 team since Haas in 2016. They’ve got Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas driving, both former race winners with existing fan bases. Media attention will be high regardless of access restrictions. By creating a testing livery with actual design intent, Cadillac ensures that coverage focuses on their visual identity and brand positioning rather than just “new team testing in generic camo.”
The Super Bowl Gambit: Two Reveals, Two Audiences
Announcing a February 8 Super Bowl reveal for the race livery turns the testing design into an explicitly temporary statement. Cadillac could have just revealed the race livery now and run it in Barcelona, but separating the reveals creates narrative momentum. The testing livery establishes that Cadillac takes design seriously and imports automotive development discipline into F1. The race livery reveal during America’s biggest television event positions F1 as mass-market entertainment rather than niche European motorsport. Two different messages for two different audiences, with the testing livery handling the credibility building while the Super Bowl moment handles scale and spectacle.
The testing livery will also be on display at the Detroit Auto Show through January 25, giving Detroit-area fans a chance to see it in person before Barcelona. That’s a local market play that reinforces the “Detroit design heritage” messaging GM President Mark Reuss emphasized during the unveiling. Cadillac is working multiple audience segments simultaneously: F1 enthusiasts who’ll scrutinize Barcelona testing, Detroit locals who can visit the auto show, and mainstream American viewers who’ll catch the Super Bowl reveal. The testing livery serves the first two groups while building anticipation for the third.
Whether this layered approach actually moves the needle on Cadillac’s brand perception or F1’s American growth depends on factors beyond livery design. But treating the gap between testing and launch as a design opportunity rather than dead space shows sophisticated thinking about how modern brand reveals work across multiple channels and timelines. The testing livery exists because Cadillac recognized that the waiting room deserves its own design language.
Verizon’s network is experiencing technical issues that are impacting calls and wireless data. Verizon customers on X have reported seeing “SOS” rather than the traditional network bars on their smartphones, and even the network provider’s own status page struggled to load, likely due to the number of customers trying to access it.
Based on the experience of Verizon users on Engadget’s staff, the services that are impacted appear to be calls and wireless data. Text messages continue to be delivered normally, at least for some users. On DownDetector, reports of a Verizon outage started growing around 12PM ET and numbered in the hundreds of thousands at their peak.
DownDetector also shows spikes in outage reports on competing networks like AT&T and T-Mobile, but in terms of magnitude, they’re much smaller than the issue Verizon is facing. For example, Verizon peaked at 181,769 reports, while AT&T’s was just 1,769 reports. The difference between the two is great enough that those AT&T reports could be from people trying to contact Verizon customers and thinking that their personal network was the problem.
We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.
In a post on the cell provider’s news account on X, Verizon acknowledged the issues with its network. “We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” Verizon wrote. “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.”
Based on DownDetector’s map of outage reports, issues with Verizon’s network appear to be concentrated in major cities in the eastern United States. The majority of reports appear to be coming out of Boston, New York and Washington DC, though the map also shows growing hot spots in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Verizon engineering teams are continuing to address today's service interruptions. Our teams remain fully deployed and are focused on the issue. We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.
At 2:14PM ET, Verizon shared on X that its engineering teams “remain fully deployed” to work on fixing the outage. The company didn’t share when the issue would resolved or how many of its customers are currently impacted. Reports on DownDetector have dropped since their peak at 12:43PM ET, but thousands of Verizon customers are still noticing issues with the service.
As of 3:09PM ET, Verizon has yet to share more information about the recovery of the company’s cell network. Some Verizon customers on X have noticed their cell service returning, but it’s not clear if this means the network’s technical issues have been fixed.
At 4:06PM ET, nearly two hours since the company’s last statement, at least one member of Engadget’s staff reports their service has been restored. The connectivity issues are still affecting Verizon customers, however. DownDetector received over 55,000 outage reports as recently as 3:47PM ET.
Verizon's team is on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue that is impacting some customers. We know this is a huge inconvenience, and our top priority is to get you back online and connected as fast as possible. We appreciate your patience while we work to…
Verizon posted at 4:12PM ET that work continues on addressing the outage, but the issue hasn’t been completely fixed. According to the company, its team is “on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue that is impacting some customers.”
As of 4:52PM ET, the Verizon’s network has been experiencing issues for around four hours, making today’s outage nearly as long as the last major outage the company had in 2024. Like that 2024 outage, Verizon has yet to share what exactly is causing the issues with its network. Without out an official update, it’s safe to assume the company is still working on a fix.
At 5:41PM ET, DownDetector latest tally still shows over 46,000 people reporting issues with Verizon’s network. Based on the platform’s map, the same cities are filing the bulk of the outage reports, though reporting appears more diffuse than before as news of the outage has spread across the country.
At 6:20PM ET, the situation was much the same. Tens of thousands of users (including Engadget editors) still don’t have proper service, and Verizon had not updated its customers since 4:12PM ET. There are intermittent reports of service coming back and then failing again but seemingly no true fix has been deployed.
At 10:20PM ET, Verizon has announced that the outage has been resolved and has encouraged subscribers still having issues to restart their devices to reconnect to the network. The company also said that it will provide account credits to affected customers.
Both T-Mobile and AT&T have confirmed that their own networks are unaffected by the issues facing their competitor. In a post on X, T-Mobile shared that its network is “operating normally and as expected.” Meanwhile, AT&T says that for any of its customers experiencing issues, “it’s not us...it’s the other guys.”
Update, January 14, 7:25PM ET: This article was published as a developing story and was updated multiple times over a period of around seven hours. These updates were additive, and noted with a timestamp within the article. As of writing, Verizon is still down for tens of thousands of users and the company’s support team has not issued an update on the stituation in over three hours. Happy Wednesday!
Update January 14, 10:39PM ET: This story has been updated to add Verizon’s latest update that the outage has been resolved.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/verizon-says-its-service-is-back-after-a-10-hour-outage-183048229.html?src=rss
Cheap office keyboards sound like plastic rain, which becomes unbearable in open-plan offices or when working late while someone else is trying to sleep. Custom mechanical keyboards feel better, but they tend to be loud, visually aggressive, and often shrink to compact layouts that sacrifice the numpad. Most people end up compromising on sound, feel, or functionality, rarely getting all three at once.
Angry Miao’s ATM 98 tries to bridge that gap with a silent-first philosophy. It keeps a full 98-key layout with a numpad and function row, wraps it in an aluminum shell that weighs around 2.6 kg, and centers a large Star Ring knob on the top right. The whole thing reads more like a desk sculpture than office equipment, built for people who type all day and want something that feels deliberate without announcing itself.
The design references are specific. One version channels Tadao Ando’s Church of the Light with a matte concrete-gray shell and controlled RGB lighting, treating the keyboard like a minimalist architectural object. The translucent Frost Whisper and Night Ink editions take inspiration from Off-White x Rimowa’s see-through luggage, revealing the gold-plated PCB and mounts underneath. The structure and lighting become part of the composition, not just decoration.
What matters more on a Tuesday morning is how it feels to type all day. Angry Miao worked with Bsun to develop custom Light Sakura silent linear switches with an S-shaped damping stem and low-friction LY material that delivers smooth, crisp bottom-out without the mushy rebound typical of silent switches. Paired with an eight-layer gasket stack, the board kills hollowness, letting you type emails without sounding like you are auditioning for a contest.
The 18.8mm front height and 8-degree typing angle let you skip a wrist rest without cramping by lunchtime. The 98% layout keeps the numpad for spreadsheets and shortcuts while fitting on a normal desk, and the Star Ring knob becomes a habit for volume, timelines, or switching layers. It is the kind of control you miss when you go back to a plain keyboard.
Tri-mode wireless with tuned 2.4GHz lets you jump from Bluetooth on a laptop to low-latency gaming on a PC without swapping dongles. The board runs QMK firmware for deep remapping, but Angry Miao also built a web-based configurator for people who just want to drag and drop keys and RGB effects without learning command-line tools, making it approachable even if this is your first custom board.
The Angry Miao ATM 98 treats quiet as a design material alongside aluminum and light. It is built for people who live at their keyboards and want something that feels deliberate under their fingers without turning every keystroke into a sound effect that echoes across the room. When loud gaming slabs and forgettable boards dominate the office space, that kind of architectural silence feels oddly refreshing, like finally getting a desk object that understands the difference between personality and noise.
Sony just announced January's Game Catalog additions for PS Plus subscribers and it's a fantastic lineup. All of these titles will be ready to play on January 20.
First up, there's Resident Evil Village. This is a direct sequel to 2017’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. It's a full game with plenty of jump scares and an engrossing narrative. It's set in a spooky village, thus the name, and a nearby castle. This shouldn't disappoint fans of the franchise and will be available for both PS4 and PS5.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthis a 2024 sequel toYakuza: Like a Dragon. It was a massive hit upon release, thanks to solid RPG mechanics and a truly unique sense of humor. There are minigames that parody both Pokémon and Animal Crossing. The combat and movement have also both been enhanced since the last entry. It'll be playable on both PS4 and PS5.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is a neat little riff on a driving sim, mixing in other genres. The meat and potatoes involve driving an off-road vehicle to locate treasures and uncover secrets, but there's also a base-building element. It'll be available for both PS4 and PS5.
That's really just the tip of the iceberg. This is a big month for PS Plus subscribers. Other titles dropping on January 20 include the iconic roguelike Darkest Dungeon II and the horror adventure A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/ps-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-january-include-resident-evil-village-and-like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-181501574.html?src=rss
Generative AI, we are repeatedly told, is a transformative and complicated technology. So complicated that its own creators are unabletoexplain why it acts the way it does, and so transformative that we'd be fools to stand in the way of progress. Even when progress resembles a machine for undressing strangers without their consent on an unprecedented scale, as has been the case of late with Elon Musk's Grok chatbot.
UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer seems to have so fully bought into the grand lie of the AI bubble that he was willing to announce:
"I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law."
Not that it currently is in compliance. Nor a timeline in which it is expected to do so. Just that he seems satisfied that someday, eventually, Musk's pet robot will stop generating child sexual abuse material.
This statement comes just under two days after Starmer was quoted as saying "If X cannot control Grok, we will." What could Elon possibly have said to earn this pathetic capitulation. AI is difficult? Solutions take time?
These are entirely cogent technical arguments until you remember: He could just turn it off.
Elon Musk has the power to disable Grok, if not in whole (we should be so lucky) than its image generation capabilities. We know this intuitively, but also because he rate-limited Grok's image generation after this latest scandal: after a few requests, free users are now prompted to pay $8 per month to continue enlisting a wasteful technology to remove articles of clothing from women. Sweep it under the rug, make a couple bucks along the way.
Not only is it entirely possible for image generation to be turned off, it's the only responsible option. Software engineers regularly roll back updates or turn off features that work less than optimally; this one's still up and running despite likely running afoul of the law.
That we have now gone the better part of a month aware this problem exists; that the "feature" still remains should tell Starmer and others all they need to know. Buddy, you're carrying water for a bozo who does not seem to care that one such victim was reportedly Ashley St Clair, the mother of one of his (many) children.
Some countries — namely Malaysia and Indonesia — chose to turn Grok off for their citizens by blocking the service. Indonesia's Communication and Digital Affairs Minister was quoted as saying “The government sees nonconsensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights." Imagine if everyone in the business of statecraft felt that way.
The UK (not to mention the US, but please, expect nothing from us, we're busy doingauthoritarianism) has a lot more sway over X, and by extension Elon, than either of those countries. Musk does, and is looking to do even more, business in the UK. Even if Musk were not perhaps the world's most well known liar, Grok can still make images and that should speak for itself. Grok should bewell out of second chances by now, and it's up to government leaders to say no more until they can independently verify it's no longer capable of harm.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/he-could-just-turn-it-off-180209551.html?src=rss
Look, virtual private networks are great — I wouldn't have made a list of the best VPNs if I didn't recommend using them. But being able to control your own technology is also important. A VPN can provide protection and peace of mind when used properly, but you may not want it active on your phone all the time.
For example: Are your Google search results suddenly in German? That’s one example of what can happen if you leave your virtual location set to Berlin or Vienna. Or maybe a VPN you installed for work or to watch a single tennis match is persistently trying to keep itself active.
The point is, deactivating a VPN on an iPhone can sometimes be unusually tricky, because there’s more than one off switch. Fortunately, it's not hard. There are several easy ways to disconnect from an iOS VPN or delete it entirely. If you catch it turning itself back on, I'll show you how to stop that too.
Three ways to turn off your iPhone VPN
I'm using a fluid definition of "turn off" here. Some of the steps below simply disconnect the VPN, while others remove it from your phone altogether. I'll make it clear in each section what the outcome will be.
How to disconnect in the VPN app
This is the easiest way to turn off a VPN on your iPhone. First, find the VPN app that’s active, which should be on your home screen somewhere. Each app has a different interface for connecting and disconnecting, but the disconnect button should be fairly obvious — it may say the word "disconnect" or show a green power icon. In any case, it should be right on the home screen, without requiring any digging through menus.
Example of where to find the disconnect option on a VPN's home screen.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Tap the disconnect button and wait for the VPN to clearly state that it's disconnected. Check to make sure the rectangle with "VPN" inside has disappeared from the top of your iPhone screen. The VPN is now disconnected.
How to turn off the VPN in Settings
If you aren't sure which VPN app is active, or if its interface doesn't make it clear how to turn it off, you can shut it down from the Settings menu instead. Find the app on your home screen that looks like several interlocking gray gears and tap it.
Next, scroll down and tap the VPN option. If it's not present (which it won’t be on older iOS versions), tap the General option next to another picture of a gray gear. Scroll down again and tap VPN & Device Management by yet another gray gear. Finally, tap the VPN option at the top of the screen to reach the VPN management page.
Location of the VPN settings on iOS.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
If you have a VPN active, you should see an option at the top of the page labeled VPN Status. Toggle it from Connected to Not Connected. The VPN icon should disappear from the top of your screen, indicating that it's turned off.
How to delete the VPN app altogether
If you don't want the VPN on your phone at all, you can turn it off permanently by deleting both the app and the configuration. This is a lot harder to undo, so only do it if you're certain.
Start by deleting the app the same way you'd get rid of any other app. Tap the icon and hold until a pop-up menu appears. Select the Remove App option in red text, then click Remove App again when prompted.
Deleting a VPN on the iOS home screen.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Deleting the app should also delete the configuration, but you can verify this for yourself. Follow the process from the previous section to find the VPN settings page. If there's still a VPN profile in those settings, tap the circled letter "i" next to its name, then tap Delete VPN at the bottom of the screen. The VPN is now gone from your iPhone unless you re-download it from the App Store.
Troubleshooting: When an iPhone VPN turns itself back on
Sometimes, even though you've followed all the steps, that pesky VPN rectangle is back on your screen the next time you unlock your phone. If your iOS VPN keeps turning itself back on, a few things might be happening, most of them thankfully fixable.
If you did not delete the VPN, it may be turning itself back on because its settings are telling it to. Go into its preferences menu and check for a setting called "auto-connect" or something similar. Settings like these have the VPN connect by itself to protect users who forget to activate it manually. Toggle all auto-connect options off and the problem should stop.
It's also possible that settings on the iOS side are making the VPN reconnect. Go to the VPN settings page (you'll find instructions for getting there in the previous section) and find the name of the active VPN profile. Tap the "i" next to it. On the next page, turn off "connect on demand" to stop the automatic reconnections.
If you did delete the VPN, but it's still reinstalling itself and turning back on, make sure that you deleted both the app and the connection profile. Reboot your iPhone to make sure all the settings stick. If the problem persists after all this, you've either got malware disguised as a VPN or you're using a school or work phone where the VPN can't be uninstalled.
If you aren't on a phone provided by a school or office, meaning you probably have malware, download an antivirus app and run a complete scan of your iPhone. This should remove any persistent files that keep reinstalling the virus. If, after all this, the VPN is still turning itself back on, I recommend burning your phone in a salt circle with a bundle of sage.
When should you turn off your iPhone VPN?
I encourage everyone to use a VPN every time they connect to the internet, but there are some situations where going through a VPN server is less convenient (this is the whole reason split tunneling exists). Here are a few cases in which temporarily turning off your VPN might be a good idea.
The VPN isn't working. If your browsing speed is sluggish or the VPN keeps dropping the connection, your VPN server might be having problems. Disconnecting and reconnecting, even in the same location, should switch you to a different server that may work better.
The VPN is causing unintended browsing errors. If you’re using mapping software or just trying to do a location-based search, having your VPN active can cause more problems than it solves.
Your internet connection is unstable.A VPN adds an extra step to the process of getting online. If your phone is already struggling, the VPN might be an unnecessary complication.
You're on a site that blocks all VPNs. Sites that work based on your location, including all streaming sites, may blanket-block VPNs so nothing messes with their location services. Good VPNs can get around these blocks, but even the best sometimes fail. In these cases, briefly turning off the VPN may be a good idea.
Your battery is low. VPNs can put a strain on your phone's battery life. This varies with the quality of your VPN, but you may sometimes need to shut it off if your battery is in the red.
How to turn off iCloud Private Relay
iCloud Private Relay is not a VPN, but it's often confused for one. If you found this page because you want to turn it off, you're in luck — the steps are just as simple as turning off a VPN. Start by opening Settings, then tap your name. Scroll down and tap iCloud.
Private Relay will only be active if you're an iCloud+ subscriber. If you are, tap Private Relay, then choose whether to turn it off temporarily or indefinitely.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/how-to-turn-off-a-vpn-on-iphone-180000533.html?src=rss
Some plastics never get recycled, no matter how much you sort them. Fishing nets, buoys, agricultural films, and multilayer snack packaging are too dirty or too mixed for normal recycling systems, so they end up burned or buried. Meanwhile, we keep pouring concrete into retaining walls and bases, even though concrete production is heavy on CO₂ and performs poorly under tension when soil shifts or water builds up behind a wall.
Eco-C CUBE treats those two problems as one solution. Developed by WES-Tec Global and the Korea Low Impact Development Association, it turns hard-to-recycle mixed plastic waste into a structural block for civil infrastructure. The New-Cycling process melts fishing nets, buoys, and film waste at low temperature without sorting or washing, then extrudes the material directly into three-dimensional interlocking blocks designed to hold back hillsides, stabilize slopes, and form solar panel bases.
Picture a discarded fishing net or multilayer wrapper that normally has no second life. Instead of being shredded, washed, and downgraded into pellets, it goes straight into a controlled low-temperature extruder that preserves the polymer structure. What comes out is a dense, high-strength block with better tensile and compressive performance than concrete, which is what you want in a retaining wall trying to hold back a hillside after heavy rain or freeze-thaw cycles.
The three-dimensional interlocking design lets crews stack the blocks into buttress-style or box-style retaining walls without cement or adhesives. Gravity and geometry keep everything stable, which means faster installation, easier disassembly if something needs repair, and built-in drainage through hollow channels so water does not accumulate pressure behind the wall. That drainage feature also makes the blocks compatible with low-impact development strategies that manage stormwater on site.
Each kilogram of Eco-C CUBE reduces about 2.99 g of CO₂ compared to business as usual, verified by Life Cycle Assessment through the SDX Foundation. That reduction comes from avoiding incineration, skipping energy-intensive washing and sorting, and replacing concrete. Because the blocks use waste collected through extended producer responsibility systems, they plug directly into existing collection networks instead of requiring new infrastructure to gather and transport material.
A coastal town shoring up eroding slopes could use these blocks instead of pouring concrete, cutting carbon while handling weight and drainage. Solar farms needing stable panel bases that do not leach heavy metals can be built with Eco-C CUBE instead of traditional footings. To most people, these installations will just look like dark modular blocks, but underneath, they are turning plastic that would otherwise drift in oceans or burn in incinerators into long-term structural work.
Eco-C CUBE does not chase perfect purity or pretend mixed plastics can return to virgin resin. It accepts the messiness and turns it into something structurally useful. For designers and engineers, that shift from trying to eliminate waste to actually building with it might be the more interesting part, treating the worst materials we generate as a feedstock instead of an endpoint.
The first-generation Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones are on sale right now for $280, marked down from $430. That 35 percent savings is an even steeper discount than we saw last year Black Friday.
In our review of the first-generation Ultras, we gave them a score of 86 out of 100, noting their best-in-class active noise cancellation (ANC) and comfort. Bose improved its stock tuning for these headphones, which we could immediately tell sounded warmer and clearer. Bose has typically lagged behind the likes of Sony and Sennheiser in raw sound quality, but the first-generation QuietComfort Ultra was a big step toward catching up.
Bose added "Immersive Audio" to this model, which is the company's take on spatial audio. The company claims this feature effectively puts you in the acoustic sweet spot of a set of stereo speakers. In our testing, we felt this didn't always make songs sound better, but it did make them louder and in some cases made certain details more noticeable.
The Ultras offer up to 24 hours of battery life with ANC turned on and about 18 hours with both ANC and Immersive Audio enabled. In our testing, however, we were actually able to beat Bose's estimates for battery life.
The second generation of these headphones are currently our top pick for best noise-canceling headphones, but when this older model is heavily on sale, the differences between them are less dramatic. If you're in the market for a pair of great noise-canceling cans, consider checking these out.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-first-gen-bose-quietcomfort-ultra-headphones-are-150-off-right-now-164826329.html?src=rss
