Apple Cider Vinegar Is the Latest Health Hack. 4 Unexpected Ways It Can Help

Apple cider vinegar isn't just a kitchen staple. Here's what to know about the potential health benefits, precautions and dosage.

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The topic of 8K TVs has become complicated over the past few years. At one stage, many brands including LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL, and Hisense jumped on the 8K TV bandwagon, embracing the new technology in an attempt to future-proof their TVs. So, if 8K TVs were meant to be the next big thing, what happened?

The main factor is price. You’re often paying double for one of the best 8K TVs compared to a 4K equivalent, For example, Samsung’s 2024 flagship 8K TV, the Samsung QN900D, is roughly $4,999 / £4,999 / AU$6,499 for the 65-inch model. The Samsung QN95D, its 4K equivalent, is £2,899. (The QN95D is a UK-only model, and its US/Australia price would roughly be $2,699 / AU$4,099). Also, there’s the ongoing lack of available 8K content, with a limited number of YouTube videos being the exception. As a result of these factors, 8K TVs lost popularity amongst consumers and companies began to move away from the tech. 

I never really bought into the 8K TV hype when I used to work in AV retail, mainly for the reasons stated above. However, after testing the Samsung QN800D, a fantastic mid-range 8K TV, that skepticism turned into belief – I’m starting to get 8K TVs. Still, there’s no getting over the fact that 8K TVs are expensive. 

Recent developments suggest that this could change in the future. Hisense, maker of some of the best TVs including the Hisense U7N and the Hisense U8K, have joined the 8K association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to future investment and development of 8K technologies. But, why is this such a big deal?

Could affordable 8K TVs be on the way? 

The Samsung QN900D (pictured) is the best 8K TV of 2024, but it carries a high price tag. (Image credit: Future)

Hisense TVs are popular amongst consumers and critics alike for offering solid picture quality and features at a fraction of the price of some competitors. I tested a budget and premium mini-LED TV side-by-side, with the budget model represented by the Hisense U6N, and the premium represented by the Sony X95L. Although the X95L was clearly the superior TV thanks to its richer contrast, deeper blacks, and more natural textures, the U6N offered solid performance across the board at a $1,200 / £700 cheaper price than the X95L (X93L in the US). 

If Hisense can achieve this in the world of 4K TVs, why not 8K TVs? The company joining the 8K association could signal the arrival of more affordable 8K TVs, ones with similar features to more premium options from major rivals such as Samsung. 

In a statement, David Gold, president of Hisense USA and Hisense Americas, said: “We are eager to contribute to the 8K ecosystem and collaborate with other industry leaders to accelerate the integration of 8K technology into the home entertainment experience.” So it appears that Hisense is keen to get 8K TVs into more homes – hopefully by selling them at lower prices. 

8K TVs – should they stay premium? 

Hisense has dabbled in the world of 8K before, with the Hisense U80 (pictured) – but this was still at a premium price. (Image credit: TechRadar)

My excitement for cheaper 8K TVs does come with reservations. 8K TVs, particularly those from Samsung, are designed with not just 8K in mind, but also 4K. The aforementioned Samsung QN900D and QN800D both use AI upscaling on 4K sources, and this processing gives an incredible boost to textures, detail, color and high dynamic range in pictures. 

Samsung’s AI technology is strengthened by the quality of the mini-LED backlighting used in its TVs. Part of this is the number of local dimming zones used – the more zones the better, as I discovered during a mini-LED backlight demo. 

Hisense sometimes makes performance sacrifices, such as the number of local dimming zones used in the TV, to achieve low price tags. But can this be done at the 8K level, where there isn’t as much room for picture quality compromise? This isn’t Hisense’s first foray into 8K TVs, with the U80G from 2021 and the recent ULED X 8K displayed at IFA 2023, among its contributions. But both those sets were premium models, which begs the question: Does Hisense believe 8K should remain premium? 

Final thoughts 

Ultimately, Hisense’s commitment to the 8K association signals that it is looking to an 8K future for both TVs and projectors. Hisense has provided budget alternatives to higher-end 4K models that offer unbeatable bang for your buck, so if there’s a chance the company can do the same with 8K TVs, then sign me up.  

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5K Video Camera

64MP WiFi, 18X & IR night vision 3.0.

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Intel has unveiled the industry's first fully integrated bidirectional optical I/O chiplet at the recent Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) 2024. 

This optical compute interconnect (OCI), showcased by Intel’s Integrated Photonics Solutions group, supports 64 channels of 32Gbps data transmission in both directions over up to 100 meters of fiber optics. 

The technology, which can be attached to CPUs and GPUs - a previously complicated task to achieve - addresses AI infrastructure's increasing demand for higher bandwidth, lower power consumption, and longer reach.

Meeting AI demand

It's well documented that AI-based applications, including LLMs and generative AI, are causing unprecedented demand in I/O bandwidth and driving the need for longer reach to support larger CPU/GPU clusters. Electrical I/O, which relies on copper traces, offers high bandwidth density and low power but is limited to short distances. Intel says its co-packaged optical I/O solution can transmit data over much longer distances with higher efficiency and reduced power consumption, vital for AI/ML infrastructure scaling.

The OCI chiplet integrates a silicon photonics integrated circuit (PIC) with on-chip lasers and optical amplifiers, with an electrical IC. It supports 4Tbps bidirectional data transfer, compatible with PCIe Gen5, using 8 wavelengths at 200GHz spacing on a single fiber. It also consumes just 5 pico-Joules (pJ) per bit, compared to 15 pJ/bit for pluggable optical transceiver modules.

Intel’s OCI chiplet is only a prototype right now, but company says it’s working with select customers to co-package OCI with systems-on-chips (SoCs) and system-in-packages (SiPs).

“The ever-increasing movement of data from server to server is straining the capabilities of today’s data center infrastructure, and current solutions are rapidly approaching the practical limits of electrical I/O performance," said Thomas Liljeberg, senior director of Product Management and Strategy at Intel’s Integrated Photonics Solutions Group.

"However, Intel’s achievement empowers customers to seamlessly integrate co-packaged silicon photonics interconnect solutions into next-generation compute systems, and increases reach, enabling ML workload acceleration that promises to revolutionize high-performance AI infrastructure.”

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In a major milestone for modernization, Japan’s government has eliminated the use of floppy disks in all its systems.

The achievement comes two or three decades after the technology’s prime, and marks a pivotal milestone in Japan’s ongoing campaign to digitize and streamline government operations.

By mid-June, the Digital Agency had successfully abolished 1,034 regulations governing the use of floppy disks, retaining only one environmental regulation related to vehicle recycling.

Floppy disks are now extinct in Japan

An iconic tool used in early computers up until the 2000s, the floppy disk continues to at least partly live on as the widely recognized symbol for saving a document.

While advancements have seen the likes of CDs, DVDs and USBs come and go (to a certain degree), making way for the cloud, floppy disks continued to be used in Japan for their numerous benefits. Known for their reliability and stability, they’re also less hackable than more modern solutions.

The eradication of floppy disks follows the establishment of the Digital Agency, which was tasked with creating a more efficient and digitally adept governmental framework. Taro Kono, Japan’s Minister for Digital Transformation and the head of the Agency, has been at the forefront of the country’s digitization efforts since assuming the position in August 2022.

Speaking to Reuters, Kono stated: “We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!”

However, despite these advancements, Japan’s journey towards full digitization has faced numerous challenges. The failure of a contact-tracing app during the pandemic and the slow adoption rates of the My Number digital identification card have highlighted these issues.

However, with Kono at the helm, Japan’s ambitious plans to ditch less efficient systems could see the progress they need.

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Instant Pot Pro

10-in-1 slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer & more, 8qt.

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A Strands Hint for July 2, #121 Can Be Found in Your Kitchen

Any Julia Child-wannabes out there? You'll have an easy time with the July 2 Strands puzzle, No. 121.

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The developer behind some tools for Ryzen processors, including ClockTuner and Project Hydra, has told us about an exciting new introduction for Ryzen 9000 chips that AMD is bringing in, namely Curve Shaper, a new add-on for Curve Optimizer (in Team Red's Ryzen Master software).

The release of Zen 5 is still a month away, but today I'll be bringing the curtain down on one incredible new overclocking feature for enthusiasts 😎Curve Shaper, an add-on for AMD Curve Optimizer. pic.twitter.com/L2n6rRaNGHJuly 2, 2024

As you can see, in the above post on X, the dev described the new ability as an "incredible new overclocking feature" no less.

So, what does the new Curve Shaper feature do? It gives enthusiasts control over the power curve for the whole temperature range, and prevents unnecessary boosting of the CPU (and power wastage therein) when the processor is idling or not doing much.

At present, the Curve Optimizer feature is available in Ryzen Master to hand-tune the AVFS curve of either specified CPU cores, or the entire processor, which can result in increased performance, but at the cost of higher temperatures. Multi-core overclocking benefits the likes of intensive rendering, whereas single-core better benefits gaming performance (to a large extent, at any rate).

In short, this new feature is a bid to lower temperatures when possible while engaging in overclocking Ryzen 9000 processors by using Curve Optimizer. That means you won't have to go in and manually disable the feature in the settings if you're planning on low activity instead of gaming or heavy CPU-bound processes, so everything's on track to be much smarter and more power-efficient for those wanting to squeeze the most out of the best processors from Team Red.

We'll soon get to see what AMD Zen 5 can really do

Everything we've seen about AMD Zen 5 (Ryzen 9000) from leaks to the official unveiling at Computex 2024 has given the impression that it's more of a slightly faster iteration than a revolution.

This isn't entirely unexpected from a second-generation AM5 chipset, though, as Team Red is working on how best to optimize its platform rather than reinventing the wheel. With features such as Curve Shaper baked into Curve Optimizer, those wanting the best performance will have the ability to push harder while gaining the mentioned efficiency benefits.

Also notable with Ryzen 9000 is that PC enthusiasts may get the ability to make the best gaming CPUs even better - given that X3D variants are rumored to be lined up for full overclocking support this time around (with the caveat that some safeguards are likely to be in place).

Via VideoCardz

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Best Laptop of 2024

Whether you're after a MacBook, Windows PC or Chromebook, these are the best laptops we've tested and reviewed, including the best laptop overall.

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Windows 11 is creeping up on its three-year anniversary since launch, and the OS has apparently hit an all-time high for users - almost 30% of all Windows PCs now run Windows 11, at least according to one analytics firm.

That may not seem like a lot - frankly, it isn’t - but it’s at least a marked improvement in recent times, where Windows 11’s adoption has actually slightly dropped, and this is certainly a positive sign compared to the cold reception that the operating system initially received.

Neowin flagged that Statcounter’s most recent monthly report shows Windows 11 at 29.7% of market share, with Windows 10 still currently enjoying a large majority of 66.1%. 

Normally, when a new operating system drops, it’s widely adopted. Still, if we’re celebrating a high of 30% nearly three years on from release, that’s obviously not a great indication that Windows 11 is being welcomed with open arms - despite all its extra perks and AI features, which are continuously being added.

That begs the question: Why are so many people reluctant to move to Windows 11? For starters, the more demanding system requirements that rule out older CPUs and machines without TPM are a hard barrier for adoption when it comes to some PCs.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Furthermore, since its launch, Windows 11 has suffered more than its fair share of poor updates and buggy behavior. Plus, the OS is slowly turning into a conduit for ads that you can’t escape in some cases. Also, there’s just not a lot of difference between Windows 10 and Windows 11 for people who aren’t really that fussed about AI or Copilot (and Copilot is in Windows 10 anyway, even if all of Microsoft’s various AI features aren’t). 

Could this small victory for Windows 11 - which represents a monthly uptick of just over 2% in Statcounter’s figures - simply be the result of people buying new machines? You’d be hard-pressed to find a new Windows desktop PC or laptop that isn’t running Windows 11, and downgrading your system is just not worth the effort for many (or may not even be possible). Especially given that Windows 10 isn’t far off its End of Life anyway (that rolls around in October 2025).

It might be the case that we’ll have to wait until Windows 12 eventually debuts and hope that it’s a big enough improvement to get Windows 10 users to jump ship and skip Windows 11 - although, again, system requirements are likely to prove an insurmountable hurdle for some older PCs.

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Threat actors are abusing a vulnerability in an outdated D-Link router to steal people’s sensitive data, researchers have claimed.

Cybersecurity experts from GreyNoise recently reported observing hackers in the wild, abusing a critical vulnerability in D-Link DIR-859 Wi-Fi routers. 

The flaw is described as a path traversal vulnerability that leads to information disclosure, and is tracked as CVE-2024-0769. It has a severity score of 9.8/10, and was first discovered in January 2024.

A fair warning

The researchers said that the threat actors are targeting the ‘DEVICE.ACCOUNT.xml’ file, in order to grab all account names, passwords, user groups, and user descriptions, found on the device. 

The worst part is that the device reached end-of-life in early 2020, meaning D-Link will not be patching this flaw. Instead, users are advised to replace the hardware with a newer component that still receives vendor support. Still, D-Link released a security advisory warning its customers of a vulnerability discovered in the ‘fatlady.php’ component of the device. In the advisory, the company explained that the flaw affects all versions of the firmware, and allows threat actors to escalate privileges and gain full control of the device through the admin panel.

The researchers subtly criticized D-Link, suggesting that publishing a security advisory without a patch is meaningless. 

"It is unclear at this time what the intended use of this disclosed information is, it should be noted that these devices will never receive a patch," the researchers said. 

"Any information disclosed from the device will remain valuable to attackers for the lifetime of the device as long as it remains internet facing.”

However, information such as this one can serve as a warning to motivate users into migrating towards a newer device, or at least to shift the responsibility of a potential data breach towards the consumer.

Via BleepingComputer

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Save Up to $1,500 When You Reserve a Galaxy Device From Samsung

Samsung is unleashing its legendary Unpacked event in July. To celebrate, they're offering $1,500 off when you reserve a new Galaxy device.

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Apple is rumored to be planning to add a new model to its line-up of the best AirPods: specifically, AirPods with infrared cameras installed, which can be paired with a Vision Pro headset and create a spatial audio experience that changes as you move your head.

This comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is right more often than not when it comes to Apple predictions. However, the IR-enabled AirPods aren't going to be available anytime soon, with mass production said to start in 2026.

It's worth noting that back in February, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also reported that AirPods with cameras were being looked at by Apple. That's two good sources to back up this rumor, though of course Apple's plans can always change.

The camera system inside the AirPods will be similar to the tech used for Face ID on the iPhone, according to Kuo. They would be enough to detect when someone is turning their head – so certain sounds could be increased or decreased accordingly. If you're in a virtual 3D environment, that kind of audio trickery can be very effective.

What the future might hold

The Apple Vision Pro (Image credit: Apple)

Something else that the cameras might be able to detect are hand gestures, Kuo says. Gestures can already be used for actions inside the Vision Pro, but as our Apple Vision Pro review makes clear, there's absolutely room for improvement in this area.

While sales of the Vision Pro don't seem to have been particularly significant, Apple is said to be pressing ahead with a cheaper model – which coincidentally (or not?) is also said to be arriving on the consumer market at some point 2026.

When iOS 16 arrived in 2022 it brought with it a Personalized Spatial Audio feature for the AirPods, which worked with the help of an iPhone for the 3D scanning. These immersive experiences would seem to be something Apple is particularly interested in.

No doubt we'll hear more rumors and leaks about AirPods with cameras in the months ahead. In the meantime, the standard AirPods models are also supposed to be being refreshed this year or next, so we can apparently look forward to the 4th-gen standard AirPods and the Apple AirPods Pro 3 in the not-too-distant future.

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Save $36 With 3 Free Months of Kindle Unlimited Just Before Prime Day

Amazon's Kindle Unlimited is perfect for readers who want a relaxing way to enjoy their summer.

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The 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day coincide as two excellent opportunities to bag a mid-summer bargain. Generally speaking, both offer great deals and we always cover each at TechRadar. You may be wondering, however, what the differences are and what you should be shopping in each event.

Luckily I can help. I've been covering these events as deals editor on TechRadar for four years now so I've got plenty of tips, advice, and experience to share for our readers. If you've got your 4th of July shopping list ready but are wondering whether you should simply wait until Prime Day (or even Black Friday), then I'll tell you exactly what to expect in each sale. 

While you're here, I highly recommend bookmarking our 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day hub pages, which we'll be using to roundup all the best deals in each event. If you're looking for expert-picked deals, these pages should be your first port of call over the next month. 

The key differences, explained

The 4th of July sales are a 'traditional' sales event

The 4th of July sales are what I'd call a 'traditional' sales event - one where the deals are shared between online retailers and brick and mortar stores. Overall, it's a pretty similar setup to other federal holiday sales like Memorial Day and Labor Day, which are other seasonal sales that tend to feature similar types of deals.

Amazon Prime Day, on the other hand, is an online exclusive mega-sale at the world's biggest retailer. It's a two day event that's all about Amazon specifically and you'll need to be an active Amazon Prime member to get access to the exclusive deals on offer. 

It's worth noting that other retailers have started to try and muscle in on the action in recent years by offering their own 'anti-Prime Day' sales around the Amazon Prime Day period. In general, Prime Day has become a kind of mini-Black Friday event in July, although perhaps not quite as vast in content yet. 

What to buy at each event

(Image credit: Amazon)

• 4th of July sales for appliances, furniture, grills, mattresses.
• Amazon Prime Day for TVs, laptops, and electronics

I'd primarily recommend the 4th of July sales for appliances, furniture, grills, mattresses and so on - you know, the kind of things you'd buy in an outlet store. There are plenty of other deals (more on that later), but generally speaking these core categories are the best buys for 4th of July and other seasonal sales.

Amazon Prime Day, on the other hand, I'd recommend for electronics. TVs, laptops, headphones, and things along that vein. While the retailer's huge inventory covers a huge range of everyday essentials, it's usually the deals on electronics that we recommend people check out here at TechRadar - especially on own-brand devices like Echo Dots, Kindle, or Fire TV Sticks. We usually find Black Friday-level deals on models that we've personally tested and reviewed on-site so it's easy to recommend waiting until Prime Day to buy electronics.

It's not that simple, however

Yep - unfortunately not. While Amazon Prime Day remains the primo mid-Summer sales event, the 4th of July sales can sometimes have some superb hidden gems. It's not unusual to see decent price cuts on TVs, laptops, or other electronics earlier in the month at retailers like Dell, HP, Best Buy, and others. 

Right now, for example, the official HP Store is running its own 4th of July sale that's offering up to 55% off its range of Pavilion, Envy, and Spectre laptops - one of the better events we've seen from the retailer in recent months. Dell is also hosting a 'Summer Sale' right now with decent price cuts, although we could potentially see an even better 'Black Friday in July' sale at some point based on recent years. 

Because of this it's definitely worth at least checking out the 4th of July sales - even if you're shopping for electronics. In general we expect Amazon Prime Day to have better deals overall but there could be a few hidden gems here or there - which we'll of course be including in our 4th of July sales roundup.

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