Author: Press Room

Every September, like clockwork (fitting, really), Apple rolls out new Apple Watches, and every September I’m asked whether the Ultra is worth buying over the regular model. It’s a fair question. The Ultra used to be the obvious choice for people who climb things for fun, but the gap has narrowed with each generation, and plenty of people I know who’ve never ventured further off-grid than a National Trust car park wear one simply because they like how it looks. This year’s Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 share more similarities than ever – the same new…

Serious about swimming? A set of smart swim goggles can seriously help improve your performance in the water, projecting real-time performance metrics including pace, distance, stroke rate, and, importantly, your heart rate directly into your field of vision, via an AR display. Here we put two brilliant new sets, the Form Smart Swim 2 LT, $150 / £130, and Speedo IQ Vanquisher, $190/£149, head-to-head.  Design and fit The Smart Swim 2 LT, which weigh 68g, aren’t as sleek as regular goggles yet still pull off packing in the sensor and battery without feeling hulking to wear in the water. The…

The best tablets might let you tote around a collection of tomes, but backlit pixels aren’t the best for bookworms. If you want a portable library without any eye strain, then the best e-readers go easy on your eyes by impersonating paper. With E Ink displays that imitate printed words, e-readers offer a more natural reading experience and many are lighter than a paperback, too. Some e-readers are even waterproof for summer beach reads, and some even feature built-in backlights for gentle illumination – so you won’t need a torch if book club runs past bedtime. Tempted to digitise your…

CROSSROADS Maldives is adding another reason to explore its interconnected dining and social scene, with SunRay Maldives opening at The Marina on 24 September. The new oceanfront swim and social club joins a collection of 12 restaurants and bars spread across the integrated destination’s three resorts and Marina. Opening on 24 September, SunRay is set to add a new daytime-to-sunset venue to CROSSROADS Maldives’ existing collection of 12 restaurants and bars across SAii Lagoon Maldives, Hard Rock Hotel Maldives and the wider Marina. From 1 October, the dining offering is set to expand further, with guests staying at SAii…

When Brian Fantana slathers himself with ‘Sex Panther’ cologne in Anchorman, he’s convinced his suave new scent will prove irresistible to the ladies, not least because he’s fallen for the hilarious hype that “60% of the time it works all the time.” But as anyone who has watched the film knowns, the scent does not have the desired effect (and it seems there is a very good reason why Sex Panther is illegal in nine countries). Perhaps humans are often offended by very strong scents because we have great noses. Granted, not as great as dogs, for example, but good…

September is always a busy month for watches, and this one didn’t disappoint. Geneva Watch Days kicked things off at the beginning of the month, and the launches haven’t really stopped since. H. Moser & Cie. built a digital watch that we’re big fans of, and Rolex surprised us all by adding a new model in the Perpetual Padellone. Elsewhere, Hublot turned Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog into a wristwatch, Audemars Piguet teamed up with Serena Williams, and Girard-Perregaux launched its first watch with Williams F1. There’s something for most budgets too, from a US$795 / £499 Bulova to Bulgari’s laser-engraved…

Vibe-coding has changed a lot about what it takes to build software. Not too long ago, someone with little to no technical background would have had to sit through hours of coding tutorials, learn the basics of a programming language, and spend even longer figuring out why their code refused to work. Now, you can describe what you want in plain English, point an AI coding agent in the right direction, and end up with something functional without understanding every line underneath it. But we’ve moved well beyond LLMs simply spitting out lines of code behind the scenes. Coding models…

The allure of a plug-in solar setup is hard to ignore. Put a small system somewhere sunny, hook everything up, and let it chip away at your electricity bill. No need to cover the roof in panels and waste hours of your life getting quotes over the phone. Lovely. What’s less obvious though, is just how many appliances it can actually power. A fridge looks like a bigger job than a kettle, but appearances are misleading. Heating water quickly takes a lot of power, for example, while keeping the milk cold can be a much more manageable task. So what…

Open back gaming headsets are still very much in the minority, and in 2026 wired ones are even more niche – yet it’s a niche Sony wants to fill with the InZone H6 Air. The firm’s PC gaming sub-brand has taken inspiration from its flagship wireless model but focused on sound. The result is a headset focused more on story-focused single player games rather than esports, courtesy of large 40mm open-back drivers, but with a boom mic at the ready should you decide to venture online. At $198/£179 it’s more affordable than the Asus ROG Kithara, which has planar magnetic…

Most TVs look fantastic, and it’s something we pay a lot of attention to while buying one. But the sound coming out of it matters just as much to the overall experience, especially if you aren’t using a soundbar or a speaker system. Built-in TV speakers usually aren’t great, but they’re not as bad as they sound out of the box. I recently took the time to tweak the sound settings on my TCL Google TV, and the difference was huge. Related One hidden setting made my smart TV feel much faster to use It does exactly what it promises.…