As summer temperatures soar, driving can shift from a pleasant cruise to a demanding task. Road safety and breakdown organisation GEM Motoring Assist warns motorists not to underestimate the risks created by extreme heat…

High temperatures don’t just affect your comfort; they directly impact your concentration, reaction times, and the safety of everyone on board.

“A heatwave can make a car journey much more demanding for everyone,” warns James Luckhurst, Head of Road Safety at GEM. “The danger is not just about comfort; high temperatures can affect concentration, increase fatigue and create conditions in which vulnerable passengers are at real risk.”

Here are five key ways hot conditions raise your risk on the highway, and the practical steps you can take to stay safe.

1. Driver fatigue and fading focus

Hot weather can quickly make you feel sluggish and sleepy, drastically reducing your ability to concentrate over long periods. This sluggishness is especially dangerous during slow-moving gridlock or at the end of a long, tiring day when a split-second lapse in attention can lead to a serious collision.

2. Dehydration and slowed reactions

Driving in a hot cabin causes you to lose fluids faster than you think. Even mild dehydration can trigger headaches, slower reflexes, and poor decision-making behind the wheel. If you start feeling faint, dizzy, or unable to focus properly, continuing the journey becomes a major safety risk.

3. Passenger heat exhaustion

Children, elderly passengers and individuals with underlying health conditions struggle to regulate their body temperatures in stuffy vehicles. If an unexpected traffic delay extends your travel time, a hot cabin can quickly cause your passengers to experience severe discomfort, dizziness, or full-blown heat exhaustion.

4. Rapid pet heat stress

Animals are incredibly vulnerable to rising temperatures. Dogs can experience rapid heat stress whether your car is crawling through traffic or parked in the sun. Inside temperatures spike rapidly, meaning a pet left in a parked car – even for just a few minutes –will become distressed and dangerously unwell very quickly.

5. Vehicle strain and breakdowns

Extreme heat places immense stress on your car’s critical components. It increases the likelihood of tyre blowouts, engine overheating and sudden breakdowns. Breaking down and being stranded in a live traffic lane or a remote location during a heatwave escalates safety risks for everyone involved.

How to Protect Your Journey

To combat these seasonal hazards, GEM recommends incorporating these proactive habits into your summer driving routine:

• Prep the Car: Check your vehicle before setting off, paying close attention to tyre condition, coolant levels, and windscreen washer fluid.

• Pack Hydration: Always carry plenty of fresh drinking water for every passenger and pet in the vehicle.

• Take Cool Breaks: Plan longer journeys with built-in stops so you can regularly rest and stretch in the shade or an air-conditioned building.

• Manage the Cabin: Use your air conditioning sensibly or keep windows down to ensure the cabin stays well-ventilated, helping you remain alert.

• Never Leave Loved Ones: Absolute golden rule – never leave children, older passengers, or pets alone in a parked vehicle, even for a moment.

• Time Your Travel: Avoid peak heat by travelling during the cooler times of the day, such as early morning or late evening, and avoid driving if you already feel unwell.

If anyone in the car shows signs of distress, pull over safely as soon as possible to cool down and seek medical help if needed.

Keep up to date with GEM Motoring Assist at:
X: @motoringassist
Facebook: @gemmotoringassist
Instagram: @gem_motoringassist
LinkedIn: @gem-motoring-assist-limited

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For decades, workplace security has always followed a lot of very particular formulas. The office often relied on alarm systems, and physical keys in order to control who can enter specific spaces. 

While those systems still exist, many businesses are now beginning to realize that they no longer match the way in which modern workplaces operate. Work environments have become a lot more flexible and often more complex than ever before. 

Teams move between locations, businesses frequently need to manage their employees, deliveries and contractors all at the same time. As a result many companies are now moving towards smarter forms of workplace access. They want access that offers greater flexibility without creating extra administrative work for them. 

Traditional security measures have limits

Physical keys may seem simple, however they will quickly become extremely difficult to manage as your business starts to grow. Employees often lose them. 

Copies are made without authorization and replacing them can become expensive and very disruptive. The challenge will become even greater for businesses that have multiple departments and office locations. 

Keeping track of who has access to specific areas and when they have that access will often turn into an extremely time-consuming process. This is one of the main reasons that many organizations are now invested in modern access control systems that will allow permissions to be managed digitally. 

There will be no need to rely on physical keys and locks. 

Businesses want more control

One of the biggest advantages for using smart access technology is the ability you will get to change things very quickly. If an employee leaves a company or changes their role, access permissions can be updated instantly. 

This replaces the need for hardware or collecting physical keys. Temporary access can also be granted to delivery teams, maintenance workers and cleaning crews without creating any kind of long-term security risks. 

For business owners and office managers, this kind of flexibility is going to assist them with simplifying their daily operations. They can do this while improving oversight all at the same time. Instead of reacting to problems after they have taken place, companies are able to gain the ability to manage access a lot more proactively. 

Technology is making security feel more seamless

Modern workplace technology has been increasingly designed to quietly blend into the background instead of interrupting daily routines. Mobile credentials, smart key cards and touchless entry systems now allow employees to move through offices much more smoothly, all while still maintaining strong security standards for everyone. 

In many workplaces, people now expect technology to feel intuitive and fast. Logging processes and outdated access methods will quickly start to be extremely inefficient when it is compared to the systems that employees are using every day in their regular lives. 

This shift is pushing businesses towards modernizing not only for security reasons but to improve the overall workplace experience as well. 

The future of workplace access

As offices continue to evolve and grow, access management has become a part of a much larger conversation that surrounds workplace efficiency and connected technology. Businesses now find themselves looking for systems that will not only improve security, but also adapt easily as their team continues to grow.

The post Why Smart Access Is Replacing Traditional Office Security appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Former health secretary Wes Streeting has backed banning under-16s from social media in the UK, accusing regulators and politicians of being “asleep at the wheel” on the issue. Streeting, who recently resigned from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that big tech had used tactics similar to big tobacco in designing addictive platforms that posed harms to children. “The precautionary principle should apply here,” he said – adding that the government should act quickly and the UK is “behind the curve” on the issue. BBC

Ferrari has revealed the exterior design and full technical details of its new Luce electric car. Ferrari’s second five-door car (after the Purosangue) and its first five-seater will go on sale priced at around £440,000, with UK deliveries set for spring 2027. The Luce has four electric motors, one for each wheel, making a combined 1036bhp, with a 122kWh battery giving it an estimated range of 329 miles (subject to homologation). Autocar

The mother of a teenager who believes he died in a TikTok challenge gone wrong has said Downing Street has been too slow to move towards a social media ban for under-16s, and accused the government of “kicking it down the road”. Ellen Roome, the mother of Jools Sweeney, 14, is among the families who will meet Keir Starmer on Tuesday as a consultation on a possible social media ban closes this week. “Come on, get a grip, let’s actually stand up, do something, make a decision,” she said on Today, on BBC Radio 4. The Guardian

The charming French town of Vierzon should have been an oasis of calm for crypto executive David Balland and his wife. Instead, it became the scene of 48 hours of terror. The cryptocurrency executive, who founded Ledger, was kidnapped from his home in the town by a criminal gang demanding a $10m (£7.4m) ransom. French police launched a desperate manhunt and after more than a day, their special forces unit rescued Balland. About 24 hours later, his wife was saved. Telegraph

A new package of UK sanctions aiming to shut off funding to Russia’s war effort will target crypto networks. They target cryptocurrency exchanges and the so-called “A7 network”, which the Foreign Office said was being used by Russia to evade existing restrictions and channel funds to fuel its war against Ukraine. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK would continue to work with allies to expose, disrupt and dismantle such networks and said there would be no “safe havens” for those enabling Russia’s aggression. Indpendent

The post Honor 600 series launches in China with bigger batteries, Ferrari Luce EV details announced appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Then now’s the perfect time for you to actually sit and review your crypto portfolio as it currently stands. And we’re here to help you do so in three easy steps; check them out down below. 

How Many Risk Levels are You Working with?

You never want to put everything into just the one risk level, and carry only low risk investments or high risk investments all at once. 

If you do, there’s a chance your portfolio will never actually make any serious ‘gains’, or you may lose it all in the space of 5 minutes on a random Wednesday afternoon. 

That’s the problem with any investment portfolio you could put together, but in the crypto world, there’s a much higher chance of the latter occurring when you least expect it. 

So, when you look over your portfolio and see only extreme volatility anywhere you look, you may want to dial back and start rearranging where you put your weekly top ups. 

Look at Your Liquidity

Everyone wants to hold crypto assets that have both the reputation and the valuation that every investor dreams of. 

If you’ve got some stable Bitcoins in your wallet, you know for a fact that you’re holding a better chance for long term profit than someone who’s playing around with new coins that just cropped up yesterday. 

However, access to these bigger and better coins can be limited, and that’s where liquidity becomes something else that can lead to a sting. 

Liquidity is the kind of metric you keep an eye on in the background, but it’s also something you need to have central to your ongoing investment plan. 

You need to know that the coins you’re putting your money into have a good chance to trade when you need to, and that it won’t be too difficult to find someone willing to buy them from you. 

And if you find that your current portfolio features predominantly low level, low liquidity holdings, you may want to try out crypto market making to put you in touch with a larger portion of buyers. 

How Hard Would it Be to Resist an Emotional Decision?

This is another way to determine the risk you’re working with – just on a much more sentimental level. Because no one walks into crypto investment without being worried they’re going to lose it all.

If you’ve constantly got an eye on your crypto wallet, and you’ve made quite a few panicked trades in the past, there’s a chance your portfolio doesn’t make you all that happy. If so, you may want to think about investing less in volatility here. 

Got a crypto investment portfolio? Look at your risk, liquidity, and how anxious it could make you.

The post How To Evaluate Your Crypto Portfolio In 3 Easy Steps appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Clive Payne, Founder of TBKFiT, gives his top tips for staying fit while travelling, including the best portable kit to take with you… 

When I’m away on business, exercise becomes even more important – not less. Travel can be physically draining. Long periods of sitting, changes in routine, different food, disrupted sleep – it all adds up. I’ve found that keeping some form of movement in my day helps me stay energised, focused and balanced.

Even a short workout can boost energy levels, improve focus and productivity, reduce stiffness from travelling, help maintain strength and fitness, and keep you feeling good mentally. It doesn’t have to be long or intense. Consistency is what counts.

Here are a few tips to take with you on your travels:

1. Keep it simple and be flexible

The biggest mistake people make is thinking they need to replicate their full gym routine while travelling. You don’t.

When I travel, I strip things back. I focus on short, effective sessions that I can do anywhere: a hotel room, outside, or even in a small apartment space. Flexibility is everything.

Some days I might train for 20 minutes. Other days it might just be 10. Sometimes it’s structured, sometimes it’s just movement. But I always do something.

2. Choose portable kit that suits you

Over the years, I’ve tested a lot of different travel-friendly fitness tools. The key is finding equipment that’s lightweight, compact, and versatile.

Here’s what I personally rely on:

Resistance bands take up almost no space but allow you to train your full body. You can use them for upper body (rows, presses, curls), for lower body (squats, glute work), and for mobility and stretching. They’re perfect when you want to add resistance without weights.

If I need quick cardio, a skipping rope is my go-to. Just a few minutes of skipping gets your heart rate up fast, improves co-ordination, and burns calories efficiently. It’s ideal when you’re short on time or space.

And TRiBOXKiNG is something I use a lot personally. It’s lightweight, easy to pack, and you can set it up pretty much anywhere: a hotel room, balcony, garden, or even a park. What I like about it is that it combines cardio, coordination and reaction speed.

3. Don’t underestimate bodyweight training

Even without equipment, you can get a solid workout in with squats, lunges, push-ups, planks and mountain climbers.

I’ll often put these into a quick circuit – a 15-minute hotel room workout might be:

• 15 squats
• 10 push-ups
• 20 lunges (10 each leg)
• 30-second plank
• 20 mountain climbers

Repeat 3–5 rounds. No equipment, no excuses.

4. Use your environment

One of the best parts about travelling is that your surroundings change, and you can use that to your advantage.

I’ve trained on hotel balconies, in parks, on the beach, using stairs for cardio, and even in small hotel rooms with limited space. Stairs are massively underrated. A quick stair session can replace a full cardio workout. And if I’ve got time, I’ll go for a run or a long walk. It’s one of the best ways to explore a new place while staying active.

5. Pack smart

A lot of my gym clothes double up as everyday wear: lightweight shorts, breathable t-shirts, comfortable trainers, and even pyjama bottoms can double up.

This means I’m always ready to train without needing a separate outfit. It sounds simple, but it makes a big difference. If it’s easy, you’re more likely to do it.

6. Use online workouts and apps

Not every session has to be self-led. There are so many great online workouts now that you can follow anywhere: quick HIIT sessions, yoga or mobility classes, strength workouts or guided circuits.

Sometimes I’ll just put on a 10–20 minute session and follow along. It removes the thinking and keeps things structured.

7. Train early

If there’s one habit that’s helped me stay consistent while travelling, it’s to train early in the day. Once the day gets going, it becomes much harder to fit it in.

Even a quick session before breakfast sets the tone for the day, boosts energy and gets it done with no excuses. It doesn’t have to be long. Just start.

It’s not about perfection

When I travel, I don’t expect to train exactly how I would at home. That’s unrealistic. Instead, I focus on staying active, keeping momentum and doing what I can with what I have.

Maintaining your fitness is much easier than rebuilding it from scratch. So just ensure you keep moving and consistently do something every day, however small.

Travelling doesn’t mean your fitness routine has to stop. With the right approach, you can stay active anywhere without a gym, without heavy equipment, and without overcomplicating it.

For me, it comes down to:

• Keeping things simple
• Using portable tools like resistance bands or TRiBOXKiNG
• Making the most of your environment
• Staying flexible
• And most importantly, just showing up. Even if it’s just 10 minutes.

The small efforts all add up. And when you get back home, you’ll be glad you kept going.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clive Payne is a fitness innovator and home training specialist, and the founder of TBKFiT. 

The post 7 top tips to keep fit while travelling appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Apple will doubtless launch its next iPhones in September. And it looks like this fall will see three phones: iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the company’s first folding phone, which is increasingly believed to be called iPhone Ultra, but could still be named iPhone Fold. But when will we see these new models, exactly? Apple is a creature of habit (except for surprise announcements like the recent AirPods Max 2), and September is its month of choice for its biggest event of the year. Forbes

GameStop has made a non-binding $55.5 billion offer to buy eBay, proposing a price of $125 per share in a deal consisting of both cash and stock.The bid represents a 20% premium over eBay’s closing price on the Friday prior to the announcement. To fund the acquisition, GameStop intends to use its $9.4 billion cash reserve alongside a $20 billion debt financing commitment from TD Bank. Currently, GameStop has a market valuation of approximately $12 billion, while eBay is valued at roughly $46 billion. Tech Digest 

Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released the fourth betas.

Registered developers can download the betas from the Settings app on the iPhone or iPad by going to the General section and selecting Software Update. iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 do not include new Siri capabilities, suggesting any ‌Siri‌ updates are being held until iOS 27. Mac Rumors

Amazon Alexa was a magical concept at launch. It finally felt as though the future that Star Trek promised us was here, with a personal assistant you could talk to. As good as it was, clunky interactions via ‘Alexa Speak’ and several limitations ended up with Alexa (and its competition) feeling slightly more niche. Amazon Alexa+ fixes that. The GenAI-powered voice assistant is miles ahead of the original, and miles ahead of the competition. I wrote about my initial thoughts after a week with the service, describing what Alexa+ was good at (and what it needed to improve), but I’ve had more time with the system, so read my full review to find out why it’s the best. Trusted Reviews 

Sony is rumoured to be announcing a new pair of high-end over-ear wireless headphones later this month. In the meantime, it seems that a Hollywood actor has been pictured wearing the so-called ‘WH-1000XX The ColleXion’ before the Met Gala. From the picture above, it is evident that Damson Idris is wearing a pair of Sony over-ear headphones. However, their design differs from existing pairs like the recent WH-1000XM6 (curr. $428 on Amazon). For instance, a metal headband is visible throughout, which is missing on the WH-1000XM6 and its predecessors. Notebook Check 

The post Gmail scanning for AI goes live, Gamestop makes $55 billion offer to buy eBay appeared first on ShinyShiny.

The newly unveiled Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 introduces an important new technology to U.S.-focused smartphones: a silicon-carbon battery. It means the company has effectively beaten Apple, Google and Samsung to the new kind of cell in the States. Energy density is the primary benefit of silicon-carbon. The dynamics of phone design for foldable models makes the compactness that silicon-carbon can manage especially useful. As a result, the Razr Ultra 2026 has squeezed a 5,000mAh cell into the new phone, instead of the 4,700mAh battery found in last year’s model. Forbes

The Pentagon said on Friday it had reached agreements with seven leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies: SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. “These agreements accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare,” the Pentagon said in statement. The companies had agreed to the US military’s deployment of their technology for “any lawful use”, according to the Pentagon. Guardian

Millions of you in the United States could be eligible for compensatory PSN credit, and it’s all because of a $7.85 million class action lawsuit which Sony has agreed to settle. This is one of many similar legal battles the Japanese giant is currently fighting, and it all pertains to the manufacturer’s decision to stop selling digital game vouchers via retail. While you can still snag denominations of PSN credit from most major third-party stores, the platform holder famously ceased selling game-specific vouchers in April 2019, which entitled you to purchase digital games from a variety of different shops. PushSquare

A group of iLamps in Morocco. Image: Conflow Power Group

There have been many attempts to put data centres in unusual places over the years – Microsoft put a data centre under the sea, Elon Musk has suggested putting them in space. Now a UK firm is betting on data centres using thousands of connected smart lampposts, and has signed a formal agreement with a Nigerian state to deploy 50,000 of them. Warwickshire-based Conflow Power Group Limited (CPG) says networked together its solar-powered iLamp units “double as a revenue-generating distributed AI data centre”. However, some experts have told the BBC the tech isn’t a substitute for the powerful data centres needed to run the toughest AI tasks. BBC 

When DeepSeek, a Chinese chatbot, was released in January last year, more than $1tn (£740bn) was wiped from US markets over fears that Beijing had successfully caught up to Silicon Valley in the AI race. DeepSeek, little known outside AI circles, appeared to have developed a system that could match the likes of ChatGPT and Claude despite lacking the billions in funding or enormous data centre resources of its rivals. But before long, suspicions emerged about how the Chinese company had got there. OpenAI claimed that DeepSeek had been improperly trained by siphoning information from the US company’s own systems. Telegraph 

The Honor 600 Pro adopts a more premium look and feel compared to previous phones in the series, adding to the sensation that Honor is gunning harder than ever for the flagship brigade. Its new look has clearly (and some might say shamelessly) been influenced by the iPhone 17 Pro, which, in conjunction with Honor’s iOS-imitating Magic OS 10 software, effectively results in a more affordable alternative to Apple’s flagship phone. Indeed, certain design elements — like the 600 Pro’s skinny bezels and IP69K certification — actually beat the iPhone 17 Pro. Tech Radar 

The post Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 debuts innovative battery tech, Pentagon inks deal with 7 AI companies appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Image by hartono subagio from Pixabay 

Going out used to mean that you have the same few options every single time. A movie, dinner and maybe a casual meet up with your friends. While those still have their place, more people are starting to look for something that is a little bit different. 

There’s a growing interest in experiences that feels a lot more memorable, engaging and interactive. Instead of simply passing time, people want to feel as if they are a part of something. 

That’s where interactive activities have now started to stand out. 

Moving beyond passive entertainment

Traditional entertainment is often quite passive. You will sit, enjoy, watch, but you’re not actively involved in anything. Interactive experiences have changed all of that. 

They will pull you in and make you a part of everything that’s happening. You’re not just observing, you’re thinking and reacting as well as participating. 

That shift will make the experience feel a lot more personal to you. 

Why are people looking for something different? 

With so many digital distractions out there, people are starting to value having real-world experiences a lot more. Time spent away from screens feels much more intentional. 

Activities that require focus and teamwork give a different sort of break. They create moments that feel less routine and much more present. It’s not just about doing something, it’s also about feeling it as well. 

The appeal of problem solving

One of the biggest draws of interactive experiences is a chance for you to solve problems as a whole group. Working through challenges with others will create a firm sense of connection for you. 

It’s not about getting everything right. It’s also about the process. The conversations as well as the ideas. It’s even about all the mistakes that will become a part of the experience. That shared effort is what makes everything memorable. 

A fresh way to explore the city

Cities are full of places where you can visit, but interactive experiences give you a new way in which you can explore them. Instead of simply moving from one location to the next, you’re engaging with an activity that will give your outing a lot more structure. 

For example, trying something such as Birmingham escape room will add a sense of purpose as well as excitement to your timeout. It turns what should be a regular day into something a lot more engaging without requiring that you have a complicated plan. 

It’s a simple way in which you can do something different.

Making time feel more meaningful

When you start actively being involved in something, time will feel a lot different. It will move faster but it will also feel much more full. Interactive experiences are going to create moments that will stand out. 

Even if they only last for 1-2 hours, they’ll give you something that you can remember well beyond the usual routine. 

A break that feels real

Stepping into an activity that requires your attention can be very refreshing. It will pull you out of your usual environment and give your mind something new that you can focus on. 

This kind of break will feel a lot more real because you’re fully present in the moment.

The post Why Interactive Experiences Are Becoming the New Way to Spend Time Out appeared first on ShinyShiny.

After years of speculation, patent filings and prototype rumours, 2026 is shaping up to be the landmark year when Apple finally enters the foldable market.

Under the leadership of new Chief Executive John Ternus, the tech giant is preparing to challenge the dominance of Samsung and Google with a device that promises to redefine the iPhone’s architecture.

From a revolutionary crease-free display to a potential price tag that could make it the most expensive consumer phone in history, here is a complete breakdown of everything we know so far about Apple’s first foldable.

What’s in a name? Why iPhone Ultra?

While many early reports referred to the device simply as the “iPhone Fold,” recent leaks suggest Apple will lean into its established high-end branding. A report from Macworld indicates that the device will most likely be called the iPhone Ultra.

This naming convention aligns the phone with the Apple Watch Ultra, signalling it as a premium, rugged, and top-tier category. By using the “Ultra” moniker, Apple can position the foldable not just as a variation of the standard iPhone, but as a distinct flagship that sits above the Pro and Pro Max models. This branding is expected to expand further into the ecosystem, with rumours of a touchscreen MacBook Ultra and an iPad Ultra following in its wake.

Design: An iPad in Your Pocket?

The iPhone Ultra is expected to adopt a “book-style” design, opening horizontally to reveal a massive tablet-like display. Current mock-ups and dummy units suggest a device that is wider and more compact than competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, making it easier to fit into a pocket.

• Displays: The device will reportedly feature a 5.5-inch outer cover screen and a 7.8-inch inner display.
• Crease-Free Technology: Apple is reportedly obsessed with achieving a completely crease-free design  – a feat that has eluded mainstream manufacturers so far.
• Dimensions: When folded, the device may be as thin as 9mm to 11mm, expanding to a nearly paper-thin 4.5mm when unfolded.
• Materials: To ensure durability, the hinge is rumoured to combine stainless steel and titanium alloy, while the casing will utilise titanium only.

Key features and specifications

Apple is expected to market the iPhone Ultra based on four pillars: durability, performance, the crease-free display, and the “iPad effect”. By framing the device as an “iPhone with an iPad inside,” Apple hopes to entice users who want a larger 4:3 aspect ratio for content consumption and productivity without carrying two devices.

• Processing Power: The Ultra will likely boast the A20 chip, built on TSMC’s 2nm process, which is predicted to be 15% faster and 30% more efficient than previous generations.
• RAM and Battery: Reports suggest 12GB of RAM and a mammoth battery capacity between 5,400mAh and 5,800mAh – the largest ever in an iPhone.
• Security: Due to space constraints, Face ID may be absent. Instead, a Touch ID sensor is expected to be housed in the power button, similar to the iPad mini.
• Cameras: A dual-lens 48MP rear setup is expected, along with a potential 24MP under-screen camera on the inner display.

Price: the most expensive iPhone ever?

Potential buyers should start saving now, as the iPhone Ultra is predicted to carry a staggering price tag. Industry analysts, including Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo, suggest that the cost of engineering a crease-free foldable will push the starting price well beyond the $2,000 mark.

According to leaked pricing structures, the costs could break down by storage capacity as follows:

• • 256GB: $2,320 (£1,720)
  • 512GB: $2,610 (£1,940)
  • 1TB: $2,900 (£2,150)

While these prices are high, they are intended to boost Apple’s average sales price and position the Ultra as a luxury productivity tool rather than a mass-market device.

Availability and launch strategy

Apple is expected to shift its traditional launch strategy to accommodate the iPhone Ultra. Reports indicate that the September 2026 keynote will be reserved exclusively for the iPhone Ultra, the iPhone 18 Pro, and the 18 Pro Max. The standard iPhone 18 may be delayed until Spring 2027 to give the high-end models the spotlight.

While the announcement is set for September 8 or 9, 2026, availability might follow a staggered release. Similar to the launch of the iPhone X, Apple may unveil the foldable in September but delay actual shipments until December 2026.

This would allow the company to finalize software optimization and ensure the complex manufacturing process meets its rigorous quality standards before reaching consumers.

The post Everything we know about the iPhone Ultra folding phone so far appeared first on ShinyShiny.

But when remote workers are logging on to their company network, accessing private client details, and writing confidential emails, how many of them are staying safe with a VPN?

VPNs make it much easier to work in a private and secure way when you’re outside of the office. Especially if you like to work anywhere other than your own home, where your wifi router is protected by a private, unique password. 

A VPN could be the difference between losing data across an unsecure connection, and never even letting anyone know you were there in the first place. 

And one of the best VPNS that remote workers should try using this year? Mysterium VPN. Here’s the lowdown on their VPN and data privacy services in 2026. 

There’s a Lot of VPNs Out There – What Makes Mysterium VPN Different?

If you’re the kind of person who approaches VPNs as just any old bit of software, we’re here to deliver a bit of a quick reality check: every VPN is different. 

They have different features, different levels of security, and different pricing structures. When you sign up for the first VPN you come across, you could get both a bad deal and a data leak somewhere down the line. 

You need to be careful about the VPN you decide to work with – your job security could very well depend on it. 

And when it comes to Mysterium VPN, they go out of their way to keep your connection private. Here’s how:

They run a decentralized network

Most VPNs run through user connections through datacenters – and Mysterium can do that too. But their main VPN service works with residential IPs instead. 

These are private routers that exist in everyday homes, and aren’t part of larger data networks that can be instantly pinpointed when you bring up Google Maps. 

In fact, Mysterium VPN pulls from a pool of 7500 residential IPs every time you turn on your VPN connection. That’ll make it rare for your internet signal to look like it’s coming from the same place twice. 

Important note: Mysterium won’t use your IP

Of course, you may have just read the phrase ‘residential IP’ and thought that your own router counts as one of those. And yes, it does. But Mysterium’s network isn’t going to use it – and that’s a promise. 

Mysterium’s residential IP pool is sourced entirely separately from their user base. Every router that makes up the 7500 private IPs we mentioned above has also given explicit consent for their IPs to be used in this way.

What You Get When You Use Mysterium VPN

A fast, secure connection

Mysterium VPN uses WireGuard ports to make sure their VPN connection is both fast and secure. There’s little to no latency on a connection like this, which makes it great for use in the business workday. 

Which includes GDPR compliance

Any data you share when connected via Mysterium VPN is treated according to GDPR’s strong data privacy rules. 

Servers in 100+ countries

This means you get global VPN coverage, no matter where certain content may be geo-locked or require age verification based on user location. And if you’ve taken your laptop traveling, you might get unexpectedly blocked from many websites! 

Keep up to 15 devices secure at any one time

That makes it a lot easier for you to work across devices without ever letting your guard down. You can move from your laptop to your desktop PC and back again, and then pick up your phone to message or browse in between. 

Not Sure if Mysterium is For You? They Have a 7 Day Money Back Guarantee

Mysterium seems to have quite a robust plug and play capability to it, so you can just turn it on, choose your server country, and get browsing in peace. 

That makes their 7 day money back guarantee a pretty safe bet. It won’t take long for you to work out whether or not Mysterium is the right VPN for either you or your team.

And this is on top of the fact that you’ll get your money back if you’re not happy with the VPN services you get.

Plus, prices start from $2.59 per month

That’s really quite affordable for such a powerful VPN. Although it’s only their basic tier that comes in at $2.59 per month – and there are fewer features to make use of as well. 

That being said, their ‘plus’ tier isn’t all that much more expensive. For only $0.50 extra ($3.09) per month, you get quite a few more features packed in. 

Their highest ‘pro’ tier costs $4.79 a month, and even comes with a built-in malware blocker. 

We should note here that Mysterium’s VPN plans last for two years at a time, and these prices are billed all at once every two years.

But all in all, these aren’t bad prices for someone who needs the promise of security that’s just as flexible as their own work location. 

Should You Use Mysterium VPN as a Remote Worker?

It could be a very effective choice for you, absolutely! 

If you’re a self employed person who likes to work both at home or the local coffee shop, or you want to spend more time in a co-working space, Mysterium can keep your signal private at all times. 

Similarly, if you run a remote team within your organization, Mysterium VPN can be a pretty affordable choice. Remember, up to 15 devices can be connected simultaneously. 

All in all, if you’ve been looking for a worthy VPN that guarantees security for your work, while also not breaking the bank, Mysterium VPN is worth your time and attention.

The post The Best VPN For Remote Workers: A Review Of Mysterium VPN For 2026 appeared first on ShinyShiny.