Venture capital-backed, $1bn companies are disrupting the way war will be waged with AI and futuristic weapons. Will they overthrow the traditional big military manufacturers, and what would that mean for the battlefield?

Visit tech startup Skydio’s headquarters on the San Francisco peninsula in California and you’re likely to find flying robots buzzing on the roof overhead. Docking stations with motorised covers open to allow small drones that resemble the TIE fighters from Star Wars films to take off; when each drone lands back again, they close. The drones can fly completely autonomously and without GPS, taking in data from onboard cameras and using AI to execute programmed missions and avoid obstacles.

Skydio, with more than $740m in venture capital funding and a valuation of about $2.5bn, makes drones for the military along with civilian organisations such as police forces and utility companies. The company moved away from the consumer market in 2020 and is now the largest US drone maker. Military uses touted on its website include gaining situational awareness on the battlefield and autonomously patrolling bases.

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Born of our craving for nuance, these ubiquitous little icons are now causing confusion themselves

Emojis are right now. Netflix’s Adolescence hinges on them. The US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, celebrates bombing Yemen with them. Prince William has a fondness for the aubergine.

Emoji use may seem childish or trite, but it’s not a passing fad. It’s increasingly a language in its own right and evolving fast. Not so long ago, few would bother searching for an icon when just typing a word is clearer and – crucially – quicker. That was then. Now, more and more people lean on those ubiquitous little icons.

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Some voice regret over Musk’s backing of Trump, but others say CEO’s views do not detract from the car’s appeal

Tesla showrooms across the world are expected to face anti-Elon Musk protests on Saturday, as Musk’s senior role in the Trump administration has contributed to a European consumer backlash by some Tesla owners and prospective buyers.

It follows a 44% drop in Tesla sales in Europe on average last month, according to the research platform Jato Dynamics. Tesla’s European market share fell to 9.6% last month, the lowest it has registered in February for five years.

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Misogynist ideas being normalised as accounts rebrand, with focus on ‘Sub5s’ and ‘looksmaxxing’, say researchers

Advocates of “incel” ideology are rebranding as “Sub5s” and adopting the language of self-improvement to push their content on TikTok, according to a study.

Hateful material is banned from the social media site but accounts disseminating the beliefs are said to be hiding behind new terms and “socially palatable” language.

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Specifics of deal remain unclear, including how X’s leaders will be integrated into new company

Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence firm has acquired Musk’s X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – for $33bn, marking the latest twist in the billionaire’s rapid consolidation of power.

The all-stock deal announced on Friday combines two of Musk’s multiple portfolio companies, which also include automaker Tesla and SpaceX, and potentially eases Musk’s ability to train his AI model known as Grok.

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PC, PS5, Xbox; Rebellion Developments
Inspired by the 1967 Windscale fire, Rebellion’s open-world adventure features an interesting mystery, but suffers from middling combat, poor stealth and an underutilised setting

‘What if the Chornobyl disaster happened in the UK?” is the question Atomfall asks. The answer, according to developer Rebellion, is that it would be considerably more picturesque and feature loads of pasties. Aping the nuclear catastrophe fiction of series such as Fallout and Stalker, Atomfall offers a mildly diverting scientific whodunit. But it struggles to muster the same clear identity of the games that inspired it.

Using the 1957 Windscale fire as its launchpad, Atomfall thrusts you into a postwar Britain where that accident was dramatically worse, prompting the government to send in the army before walling off a large portion of the Lake District, sealing everybody inside. Your character, an archetypal video game amnesiac, awakes inside the exclusion zone several years later. To escape, they must unravel the mystery behind what caused the disaster, who is responsible and how to fix it.

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Stick vacuums are a convenient alternative to corded designs, but which model wins for overall cleaning prowess? Our expert reveals all

• The best robot vacuums to keep your home clean and dust free

Choosing a cordless vacuum isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly. You’re likely to keep a vacuum cleaner for years, relying heavily on its ability to suck up dust, crumbs, mud, pet hair and any other dry spillages or sheddings that end up on your floor. Choosing the right model can be the difference between an effective cleaner that’s a delight to pull out of the cupboard and a dud that you dread having to unblock, detangle and clean after every use.

In this review, I took 10 of the leading cordless vacuum cleaners from a range of manufacturers and at various prices and inflicted the same cleaning tests on each one. That takes all the guesswork out of picking your next cleaner: I can tell you exactly which ones picked up the most mess.

Best cordless vacuum cleaner overall:
Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251
_{GBP369.91 at John Lewis}

Best budget cordless vacuum cleaner:
Vax HomePro Pet-Design
_{GBP317 at Amazon}

Best cordless vacuum for deep cleaning:
Dyson Gen5detect
_{GBP649 at John Lewis}

Best cordless vacuum for clean emptying:
Henry Quick Pro
_{GBP399 at Amazon}

Best handheld cordless vacuum cleaner
Dyson Car+Boat
_{GBP199 at AO}

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California Forever is back with a proposal that has some on board: using the land it owns to create a shipbuilding hub

In 2023, a group called California Forever, funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, introduced a splashy proposal to build a new city on tens of thousands acres of farmland it had acquired north-east of San Francisco.

Residents and officials of Solano county, where the city would sit, were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of local input and concerned about wealthy outsiders with big plans to reshape their region. After months of extensive news coverage and efforts to woo over local leaders, California Forever changed track: withdrawing a ballot measure that would have fast-tracked the plans and instead seeking approval through standard county processes.

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It drove me to distraction on the ZX Spectrum and now that a new version available on a PlayStation collection, I had to test myself against it once more – with inevitable consequences

I do not replay games. Don’t see the point. I don’t reread books either, and I rarely rewatch movies or TV shows. There’s too much new, bigger and better stuff coming out every day, and too little time to consume it. However, I made an exception with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because the original was so special.

It came along towards the end of my ZX Spectrum playing days. I was at university and was previously only interested in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle if it came in a tall glass and was at happy hour prices in the Mandela Bar. But the game hooked me one summer back home and became the hardest video game that I ever completed. And that’s what worried me when I started the rerelease on the PS4 that comes as part of the TMNT Cowabunga Collection. (Playstation Plus Essentials March)

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There’s no need to buy a new phone every year: make yours last with these accessories, and tips on maximising the battery and storage

Modern smartphones have reached a plateau. Each new release makes only small gains, rendering frequent upgrades to new models a waste of time and money.

The good news is that smartphones now last a long time: look after yours properly and it could last seven years or more. Here’s how to make your phone go the distance.

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The developers of Thank Goodness You’re Here!, Frog Detective and Consume Me discuss burnout, ‘second-album syndrome’, erotic fan art, and the other highs and lows of having a breakout success

It is now more or less impossible to put a precise figure on the number of video games released each year. According to data published by the digital store Steam, almost 19,000 titles were released in 2024 – and that’s just on one platform. Hundreds more arrived on consoles and smartphones. In some ways this is the positive sign of a vibrant industry, but how on earth does a new project get noticed? When Triple A titles with multimillion dollar marketing budgets are finding it hard to gain attention (disappointing sales have been reported for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the Final Fantasy VII remakes and EA Sports FC), what chance is there for a small team to break out?

And yet it does happen. Last year’s surprise hit Balatro has shifted more than 5m copies. Complex medieval strategy title Manor Lords sold 1m copies during its launch weekend. But what awaits a small developer after they achieve success? And what does success even mean in a continuously evolving industry?

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US president acknowledges Beijing’s role in any sale as app’s owner faces 5 April deadline to find non-Chinese buyer or be hit with US ban

Donald Trump has said he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to get a deal done with TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the social media app used by 170 million Americans.

He acknowledged the role China would play in any agreement. “With respect to TikTok, and China is going to have to play a role in that, possibly in the form of an approval, maybe, and I think they’ll do that,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” he added.

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With reports of people being turned away at airports over messages found on devices, here’s what to do to minimize risks

Welcome to Opt Out, a semi-regular column in which we help you navigate your online privacy and show you how to say no to surveillance. The last column covered what to do with your 23andMe account after the company filed bankruptcy. If you’d like to skip to a section about a particular tip, click the “Jump to” menu at the top of this article.

If you’re a visa or green card holder with plans to travel to the US, reports of people being turned away at airports over messages found on their devices might be prompting you to second-guess your travel plans. You might be asking whether Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can search your phone, whether you can opt out and what you should do to minimize your risks.

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Those of us who spend our lives gaming can no longer deny knowledge that our online communities are awash with disturbing hate speech and violent rhetoric

There is a lot of attention on young men and toxic masculinity at the moment. It’s about time. The devastating Netflix drama Adolescence, about a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a girl after being radicalised by the online manosphere, has drawn attention to the problem through the sheer force of its brilliant writing and a blistering lead performance from teenager Owen Cooper. Recently, former England football manager Gareth Southgate gave a speech about the state of boyhood in the UK, specifically about how young men, lacking moral mentors, are turning to gambling and video gaming, thereby disconnecting from society and immersing themselves in predominantly male online communities where misogyny and racism are often rife. There has been some kickback in the gaming press to the idea that games have provided a less-than-ideal environment for boys, but even those of us who have played and enjoyed games all our lives need to face up to the fact that gaming forums, message boards, streaming platforms and social media groups are awash with disturbing hate speech and violent rhetoric.

Honestly, we have known this for a while. The 2014 harassment campaign GamerGate, which claimed to be about a lack of objectivity in games journalism, but was really a reaction to increasing inclusivity and progressive thinking in game development, was a testing ground for the radicalisation of young white men by “alt-right” influencers and news outlets such as Breitbart. Many of the apparatus of online rightwing extremism, including mass harassment and doxing of victims, originated in that rancid cauldron, where female and LGBTQI+ game developers, and game-makers of colour, were made to fear for their lives.

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‘It is impossible to ignore video game music now,’ says Tommy Pearson, founder and artistic director of the inaugural London Soundtrack festival

Did you know that soundtrack concerts are among the most popular for touring orchestras? A full third of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s first-time audience members are coming to the concert hall via their favourite series and movies – and video games. It is a huge cultural growth area, and one that may have gone unrecognised by the general public.

“It is impossible to ignore video game music now,” says Tommy Pearson, founder and artistic director of the inaugural London Soundtrack festival. “The sheer creativity and artistry in games is incredible, and it’s been fascinating to see so many composers blossom in the genre.”

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This thrilling trip through Japan is the best the series has given us in years

I have played many Assassin’s Creed games over the years, but I’ve rarely loved them. Ubisoft’s historical fiction is perennially almost-great. A lot of players would say it reached its peak in the late 2000s, with the trio of renaissance Italy games beginning with Assassin’s Creed 2, and their charismatic hero, Ezio Auditore. Since then, the series has become bloated, offering hundreds of hours of repetitive open-world exploration and assassination in ancient Greece, Egypt and even Viking Britain. Odyssey (the Greek one) was the last I played seriously; I found the setting exquisite, the gameplay somewhat irritating and the scale completely overwhelming.

The Assassin’s Creed games are extraordinary works of historical fiction, fastidiously recreating lost periods of history and letting you walk around in them. They’re the closest thing to time travel. I play them for the virtual tourism, and find myself vaguely disappointed that 80% of what you do in these painstakingly realised worlds boils down to parkouring around killing people.

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With launch problems fixed, first colour Kindle improves reading experience – but it is pricey and too small for comics

Amazon’s first Kindle with a colour screen had been a very long time coming and then suffered a rough landing last year, plagued with yellowing screen issues and shipping delays. But with those problems fixed, is a splash of colour the revolution the Kindle needs?

Amazon isn’t the first to use a colour e-ink screen in an e-reader, but it thinks its upgrades meaningfully improve on the tech used by others such as Boox and Kobo over the past four years by offering greater contrast and speed.

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Transparent back, flashing LEDs, novel design, long battery life and huge triple camera help this Android stand out

London-based Nothing has brought one of the last things setting top-level phones apart from cheaper mid-range models down to a more affordable price: high-quality camera zoom.

Cameras have long been the battleground of the most expensive phones, each vying for better quality, longer reach and multiple lenses. While much of this costly progress has trickled down to cheaper models, optical zoom cameras are few and far between below the GBP600 mark.

Screen: 6.77in 120Hz FHD+ OLED (387ppi)

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3

RAM: 12GB

Storage: 256GB

Operating system: Nothing OS 3.1 (Android 15)

Camera: 50MP main, 50MP 3x tele and 8MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie

Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4 and GNSS

Water resistance: IP64 (spray resistant)

Dimensions: 163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4mm

Weight: 211g

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Stripped back iPhone offers latest chips, AI and longer battery life, but with only a single camera on the back

Apple’s cheapest new smartphone is the iPhone 16e, which offers the basic modern iPhone experience including the latest chips and AI features but for a little less than its other models.

The iPhone 16e costs GBP599 (€699/$599/A$999) and is the spiritual successor to the iPhone SE line. Where the iPhone SE still had the old-school chunky design with home button, the 16e has the body of the iPhone 14 with the chips of the GBP799 iPhone 16.

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The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said more than 1 million US federal employees responded to an email sent by Elon Musk's Department of government efficiency asking them to list five things they had accomplished in the last week. 'It took me about a minute and a half to think of five things I did last week. I do five things in about 10 minutes, and all federal workers should be working at the same pace that President Trump is working,' said Leavitt. She added that a new email was being sent threatening employees that they will be fired if they don’t respond

• More than 20 Musk staffers resign over Doge’s ‘dismantling of public services’

• Trump defends Musk as backlash to federal workers ultimatum grows

• US politics live

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Compact phone has flagship chip and buckets of AI, but hasn’t changed much from predecessors

The smallest and cheapest of Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 line might be the one to buy, offering top performance and the very latest AI features for less and proving that smaller-sized Androids can still be great.

Unlike previous generations of Samsung’s smaller models sold in the UK and Europe, the regular S25 has the same top-flight chip as the enormous and pricey Ultra model, offering a lot of performance while costing GBP799 (€919/$800/A$1,399).

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Better fit, great sound, noise cancelling, longer battery life and heart rate sensors upgrade just about everything

After five years, Apple is back with a full revamp of the earbuds that put its Beats headphones brand on the map for athletes and sports people: the Powerbeats Pro 2.

Designed to hook on to the ear and stay put without wires, the original Powerbeats Pro were the best earbuds for working out and were worn by sports superstars including LeBron James and Anthony Joshua.

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Collaboration and opportunity were at the centre of the talks, as JD Vance urged his ‘European friends’ to view the technology with ‘optimism rather than trepidation’. The US and the UK refused to sign a declaration on ‘inclusive and sustainable’ artificial intelligence at the summit. Campaign groups criticised the UK’s decision and said it risked damaging its reputation in this area

• US and UK refuse to sign Paris summit declaration on ‘inclusive’ AI

• Europe live

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Channel 1 is a new rolling news channel with a difference – its stories are scripted, edited and presented by AI. Available in more than 30 languages and able to transmit bespoke news stories faster than ever, its threat to the mainstream media is clear. But can we trust it? And would anybody actually watch a channel that lacks the human touch? The Guardian visited the channel’s creators in Los Angeles to find out more – and to audition for a role

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New smartphone has 2025’s fastest Qualcomm chip, two-day battery life, great camera and standout design

OnePlus is trying to prove you don’t need a Samsung or a Google to have a top-tier premium Android in 2025, and mostly succeeds.

The OnePlus 13 is the latest in the Oppo sub-brand’s series of keenly priced phones. Despite becoming more expensive every year, the GBP899 (€1,049/$899) new model still costs a little less than its GBP1,000-plus Google and Samsung rivals.

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Tenth generation Apple smartwatch gets a bigger screen and body overhaul, but blink and you might miss it

A larger screen and thinner body mark the biggest change to the Apple Watch in years, but you might have to squint to see it.

That is because Apple has kept much the same design on the outside despite requiring significant changes on the inside to make the watch thinner and lighter. As a result, the Series 10 feels like another evolutionary, rather than revolutionary step for the Apple Watch’s 10th year.

Case size: 42 or 46mm

Case thickness: 9.7mm

Weight: 30/29.3g or 36.4/35.3g

Processor: S10

Storage: 64GB

Operating system: watchOS 11

Water resistance: 50 metres (5ATM)

Sensors: HR, ECG, spO2, air and water temp, depth, mic, speaker, NFC, GNSS, compass, altimeter

Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, wifi 4, NFC, UWB, optional 4G/eSIM

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Sleek, celeb-favoured gadget tracks sleep, activity and heart health without a smartwatch, but comes at high cost

Oura’s stylish smart ring worn by celebrities and athletes alike has slimmed down for its fourth iteration, making it easier to put on, more comfortable to wear and last longer between charges.

The Ring 4 swaps the clear plastic insides of its predecessor for shiny titanium to look even less like a cutting-edge piece of tech on your finger. It still weighs practically nothing – 3.3g to 5.2g depending on size – and comes in an expanded choice of 12 sizes and six finishes, including black, silver, gold and rose gold.

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