Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) televisions have revolutionized the home viewing experience. By ensuring that every pixel in your display is individually illuminated, OLED screens enhance images by providing deeper contrasts, fast refresh rates, and wide viewing angles. Despite these gains, early OLED televisions came with significant drawbacks. One notable problem was known as burn-in, in which OLED displays retain images even after they left the screen.

Burn-in is an unfortunate byproduct of OLED’s organic pixels, or diodes, which are more delicate than the synthetic ones used in LED screens. OLED screens also don’t use an extra light source, such as a backlight, for illumination. Instead, each pixel self illuminates and shuts down when not displaying color, creating more vibrant hues and deeper blacks. Although self-illumination enables better contrast ratios, it also asks each individual pixels to take on more direct energy. When asked to do so for long periods, it causes the pixels to wear down unevenly. Image retention is the ghostly remnant of this uneven degradation.

Burn-in is most likely to occur when parts of a display remains static, particularly with high brightness, as hotter diodes degrade faster. An obvious case would be a still picture or paused program which remains on the screen. Other common instances include television logos and chyrons, program menus, news tickers, and even subtitles. Black bars from letterboxing or 4:3 aspect ratios can also affect panels as those pixels won’t degrade while others do. As a whole, static images, when constantly on your screen, can leave their ghostly remanence upon your otherwise vibrant OLED display. 

Unfortunately, manufacturers have yet to fully eradicate image retention. Several major display makers, such as LG , Samsung and Sony, host webpages coaching users on how to prevent burn-in. Phone manufacturers that deploy OLED screens, such as Google and Apple, also warn users about the potential for image retention. As LG reminds its users on its website, “it is possible to create image retention in almost any display if one really tries hard enough.”

It is important to stress that burn-in won’t likely occur after just a few hours. Rather, tests indicate that permanent burn-in will likely only occur after months or years of a TV displaying static elements. For example, during a long-term burn-in test from review site RTINGS, one user noticed subtitles caused burn-in after roughly 7,100 hours of viewing. In a statement given to CNET, a Sony spokesperson noted that consumers should avoid leaving static images, like a paused video game, “onscreen for several hours or days.”

You’re most likely to experience image retention from chyrons, logos, news tickers, and static elements found in video games. However, you’re only likely to run into problems if you watch the same television channel for hours on end. As such, your uncle who spends his days screaming at Fox News might be more likely to experience burn-in. Even in extreme cases, however, permanent image retention remains unlikely.

Importantly, not all static elements are created equal. During RTINGS‘ long-term study, for instance, testers found that “static scoreboards in sporting events don’t cause any problems.” But for most consumers who use their OLED televisions to watch films, series, sports and other content with varying imagery, burn-in is largely a relic of the past.

Many OLED displays come with features designed to prevent the likelihood of burn-in. LG, for instance, touts its OLED display as possessing “self-healing properties” that counteract the phenomenon. Automatic screensavers, meanwhile, can help prevent image retention by nixing static images from the screen. Some televisions offer pixel shift and panel noise features that periodically move or reset the screen’s image to prevent burn-in. Some can even automatically detect and adjust the brightness of static logos. Other helpful settings, like panel refresh or pixel refresh, can help reduce screen retention. These mitigating features are often turned on by default, but it’s worth checking to ensure everything that can help prevent marring your high definition television is enabled.

Ultimately, it’s largely up to viewers to prevent burn-in. However, anyone with a semi-regular viewing habit shouldn’t have much of a problem. If concerned, refrain from leaving static images on your screen, lower your brightness and enable the settings mentioned above. When you start to see the faint glimmer of retained images on your display, turn off your screen and let it rest. Upon returning to your display, watch a few hours of regular programming. Movies, television series and live sports should all provide enough variety. If worried about burn-in on your OLED computer or phone screen, change your wallpaper and flip to dark mode. Luckily, burn-in remains a remote possibility for most consumers. 

After becoming the first in the world to implement a social media ban for those under 16, Australia isn’t doubling down. In a press release, the Australian government announced that it will double the maximum penalty for any social media companies breaking its minimum age law, from 49.5 million to 99 million AUD, or more than $68 million.

“It’s clear big tech are not doing enough to comply with the law,” Anthony Albanese, the country’s prime minister, said. “These changes reflect the seriousness with which we take any failure by social media companies to comply with our world-leading law.”

Along with the new penalty threshold, the Australian government is granting its eSafety Commissioner, Julie Grant, more enforcement power. Now, the commissioner can demand social media companies provide evidence of how they’re stopping children under 16 years old from starting an account. Notably, the Australian agency can gather evidence regarding compliance with the ban from third parties, like from age verification or app store providers, according to the press release. The country’s online safety agency also said it’s still “actively investigating potential non-compliance” with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.

While the government said it has already seen more than five million under-16 accounts removed, deactivated or restricted since the ban went into effect in December, there have been some recent studies and polls that note the potential ineffectiveness. In April, a charity organization called the Molly Rose Foundation found that 61 percent of more than 1,000 kids polled between 12 and 15 years old still had access to social media. More recently, the University of Newcastle published a study that claimed that more than 85 percent of Australian teens under 16 are still on social media apps.

Modern electric vehicles have come a long way since range anxiety was an actual concern. These days, EV makers have to clear an EPA-verified range of at least 300 miles to be taken seriously. Sorry, Fiat 500e. Some EVs even boast a range closer to 500 miles. Still, for longer road trips or if you plan to be passing through an EV charging desert, it might make sense to try some techniques to squeeze a little more range out of your EV’s battery. Beyond the typical ways to get more mileage out of cars in general, here are five ways to keep your EV going for longer between charging.

Instead of wasting all the kinetic energy generated from braking like in traditional internal combustion engine cars, hybrids and EVs can capture all that potentially lost energy and convert it into electricity that powers its battery. Each EV maker has its own way of doing regenerative braking, but the general idea is that the electric motors that propel the EV forward can also act as a generator that captures the electricity generated from slowing down.

In cases where emergency braking isn’t needed, regenerative braking will step in and create small bursts of battery charge and bumps in EV range. It’s hard to say exactly how many more miles you’ll get thanks to this, but the US Department of Energy said that regenerative braking results in 22 percent energy recovery for EVs in combined city and highway driving.

Unlike older gasoline-powered cars that use a compressor to power the air conditioning, an EV will rely on its battery to pump cold air into the cabin. That means EVs are using the same power source that supplies you with both air conditioning and range.

Instead, you may want to precondition your EV while it’s still plugged into an outlet at home. This way, all the heavy lifting of getting your cabin to the right temperature will be drawn from the power outlet and not the EV’s battery. Of course, you’ll still have to rely on the battery to keep you cool while driving, but it won’t have to work as hard to get down to the perfect temps. Alternatively, you could employ basic techniques like using sun shades, flushing out the stale air by rolling down the windows, or even opt for ventilated seats instead of turning on the AC.

On the other end of the thermometer, extreme cold weather conditions can also impact your EV range. In the winter, cold temperatures can slow down the chemical reactions in your EV battery that produce power. According to the Department of Energy, freezing temperatures can affect EV range by up to 32 percent.

Consumer Reports did real-world tests that showed that cold weather of around 16 degrees can reduce an EV’s range by about 25 percent when driving at 70 mph, compared to driving in the same conditions but on a day in the mid-60 degrees. Just like running the AC on a summer day, driving in the frigid weather may cost you some range through needing to pump heat into the cabin, too.

While aerodynamics affects all cars and how efficiently they drive, it’s a major contributing factor to how EVs calculate their range. Less drag means more range, which is why many EV makers boast about their low drag coefficient numbers, like the Lucid Air and its 0.197.

Considering that, it’s important to remove any accessories from your EV that would affect its aerodynamics, including roof racks, bike racks, tonneau covers or crossbars. To eke out even more range, you can try to keep your trunk clean since any additional weight will also reduce your EV’s efficiency.

As much as all EV drivers want to show off their rapid acceleration, it’s better to not have a lead foot when it comes to maximizing range. When you floor the accelerator, your EV has to burn a significant amount of power to achieve that burst of speed. If you add up that inefficient acceleration at every single intersection, you may end up spending more time charging your EV in the long run.

To get more range out of your EV, it’s better to coast on cruise control or tap into your EV’s eco mode. On top of that, the faster you go, the more air resistance you introduce. In tests conducted by Car and Driver, driving at 55 mph and at 75 mph contributed to more than 100 miles of range lost with the Kia EV9.

Thanks to the rise of AI, a new kind of surveillance camera has rapidly proliferated across the United States. Typically referred to as automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, they’re most often mounted along roadways, where they log the movements of cars which pass through their field of vision. Though various companies offer them, the most well known come from Flock Security, and the company has consequently been a lightning rod for public opinion. Shocking exactly nobody, there has been widespread public backlash to cameras that track everyone, whether or not they’ve been suspected of a crime.

Although Flock cameras are often referred to as license plate readers, that’s reductive. Reading license plates is their primary task, but they can be used to track just about anyone or anything. Even without a license plate, law enforcement officers can search for things such as, hypothetically, “green sedan with American flag bumper sticker,” or, “pickup truck with paint scratches on left side and dirt bike in truck bed.” Reducing Flock ALPRs to license plate readers is a bit like calling your own eyes “Engadget article readers” simply because that’s what you’re using them for at this particular moment. The company also offers AI surveillance cameras which do track individuals.

The issues with Flock Safety cameras are well documented: Flock has been plagued by security vulnerabilities, rampant misuse by law enforcement officers and AI malfunctions which land innocent people in trouble with the law. And once Flock cameras take root in a city, weeding them out can be nearly impossible. There are now over 100,000 ALPRs installed nationwide, with the vast majority coming from Flock.

Flock Security cameras are, like most smart devices, small computers. They run a modified version of Android and wirelessly transmit footage to a database, where it is cataloged using AI for searched natural language searches by anyone with access to the system. Flock contracts with cities, towns, neighborhoods and businesses.

In addition to Flock’s infamous ALPRs, the company also offers AI security cameras, mobile security trailers, and  — just in case you’re a creep looking to point an AI camera into someone’s backyard  — quadcopter drones. All of them operate on the same principles. Just type what you’re looking for, and the system will show footage of anything it thinks matches your description. This makes AI powered cameras like Flock’s distinct from traditional surveillance or traffic cams, which require someone to manually look over footage in order to find a specific vehicle or individual.

The Flock network can be restricted to a contracted area, but many departments join a nationwide network. As the ACLU of Massachusetts pointed out, police as far away from the state as Texas can search its Flock footage. While Flock does not have a direct contract with federal law enforcement agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other Homeland Security agencies are often granted access to the system through data sharing programs with local police departments (a practice which began before Flock arrived on the scene). In Denver, the ACLU of Colorado obtained logs showing that local police had conducted over 1,400 searches on ICE’s behalf as of August.

That’s not to say the cameras never prove useful for crime-solving. Flock has helped to solve at least one murder case and to take down a vehicle smash-and-grab operation. But its AI-enhanced capabilities track everyone, innocent or not.

Flock vehemently insists that its cameras are secure. The truth is that Flock cannot seem to go very long without vulnerabilities becoming exposed. Many of the most critical exploits have been discovered by Benn Jordan, a musician and YouTuber with no formal background in cybersecurity research.

In December 2025, Jordan found that at least 70 Flock Safety cameras were exposed to the Internet and could be accessed through a commercial search engine. No password was required to view live footage of children at parks, couples having intimate arguments, and other moments people did not know were surveilled. Many exposed cameras belonged to Flock’s Condor cameras which track people, not vehicles. Jordan was even able to record Flock’s flippant response to his previous investigations onto a Flock Condor camera and then download the footage to include in his video.

That came after Jordan had already exposed numerous security holes in a November expose, many of which could be exploited with equally sophomoric techniques. With physical access to the outdoor cameras, Jordan and researcher John Gaines were able to press a physical button and connect to the camera over Wi-Fi, debug it with basic Android development tools, and gain root access  — even installing malware. There were also exposed USB ports vulnerable to a malicious USB drive. There were too many other findings to list, but Jordan’s video is comprehensive.

Most tech companies invite information about critical exploits with bug bounty programs, or at least by crediting independent researchers. Flock Safety, by contrast, has responded by smearing security researchers including Jordan as “activist groups who want to defund the police, weaken public safety, and normalize lawlessness.”

How intoxicating must it be, as a police officer, to gain access to the Flock network? Like Batman toward the end of The Dark Knight, you would instantly be able to spy on any individual, the entire city baring up its secrets to you with a few keystrokes. But unlike Batman, some police have used Flock to harass and stalk women, while Flock employees used footage of preschoolers to sell more cameras. That’s because there are very few guardrails, if any, to prevent abuse. A warrant is rarely required for a database search, and there’s no paperwork.

As reported this month by 404 Media, there have been dozens of documented instances in which cops have abused Flock to track the whereabouts of ex-girlfriends, current partners, and other individuals. In most cases, the stalking was only discovered when a victim searched their plate in HaveIBeenFlocked or a similar tool and discovered their whereabouts had been searched hundreds of times. That may sound bad, but it’s worse than it sounds. Since the only known cases are those where the offending officer was caught and arrested or fired, the true scope of abuse is likely much larger. Flock told 404 Media that “15 incidents of abuse” had surfaced because of “the transparency and accountability features” built into its platform, adding that its Audit Assistance tool “proactively flags unintended use.”

There have been issues inside of Flock itself, too. One particularly shocking report from 404 Media found that Flock employees had been watching children swimming in the pool and during gymnastics classes at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, and even showing those camera feeds to police departments as part of a sales demo. Flock responded belligerently, writing in part, “The employees being named online are well-intentioned employees who accessed a camera network with the city’s explicit permission, as part of their job. They are now being called predators for it.”

We can look to just one of the many cities Flock operates in to see how its cameras create issues, even without explicit abuse. In May of 2024, Denver, Colorado installed 111 cameras across the city. The contract was renewed in 2025 when Mayor Mike Johnston overruled a unanimous city council vote against the extension.

One Denver woman, financial advisor Chrisanna Elser, was stunned when Columbine police officer Sgt. Jamie Milliman knocked on her door and delivered a summons for theft. According to Milliman, she’d been caught on camera stealing a package from a front door. “You know we have cameras in that town. You can’t get a breath of fresh air in or out of that place without us knowing,” the officer can be heard saying in Ring doorbell footage from the September 2025 incident. Elser was lucky. Her Rivian truck has cameras of its own, and she was able to deliver footage from the day of the alleged crime, proving she had not stopped while driving through the area from which the package was stolen. The charges were eventually dropped.

Others haven’t been so lucky. Multiple Colorado drivers have been pulled over and treated as suspected criminals when Flock ALPRs mistook a number zero for a letter ‘O’, or vice versa. One driver told the local 9News he feels his safety is at risk because officers are alerted every time a Flock camera sees his vehicle. Police claimed they were unable to remove him from their hotlist.

After widespread protest, including a packed town hall in October attended by city council members and nationally known privacy advocates, Denver cancelled its Flock contract… and awarded it to Axon, a company which already provides body cameras to police departments.

With so many alarming issues around Flock Safety, it’s hard to understand why these AI surveillance cameras keep cropping up. There are a few reasons, ranging from citizen disenfranchisement to restrictive Flock contracts.

While average citizens dislike the technology, especially those from marginalized groups most likely to be targeted by AI surveillance, they often have little to no say in the matter. Flock markets directly to law enforcement, and if you’re a cop or pro-law-enforcement city official, it’s easy to see why blanketing your locale in AI-powered cameras is a tantalizing prospect. Despite little evidence that Flock cameras actually reduce crime, the company markets its products as powerful crime-stopping and deterrence tools.

In Denver, Mayor Johnston defended his decision to retain Flock’s services by claiming in a 9News interview that the cameras had aided in solving the murder of a transgender woman, Jax Gratton, whose body was found in the nearby town of Lakewood. The case had become a rallying cry for LGBTQ safety in the Denver area. But the mayor’s claims were doubly false. Not only had Flock not assisted in the case, but no arrest had been made. Gratton’s mother publicly demanded a forthcoming apology from the mayor.

Shooing Flock away is made more difficult by its ironclad contracts. When Dayton, Ohio and Evanston, Illinois wanted out of their Flock deals, they were unsure whether removing the cameras would constitute a breach of contract. Their solution? Both cities covered the Flock cameras with garbage bags. The only way to evoke a more heavy-handed metaphor would have been to cover them with lampshades.

To see whether any Flock cameras are lurking near you, you can use the map created by DeFlock, an open-source tool tracking the proliferation of ALPR cameras.

Sony has notified customers in a handful of European countries that they’ll soon lose access to some movies that they’ve purchased through the PlayStation Store due to the upcoming expiration of a licensing deal with Studio Canal. If you bought any of the movies on the list in affected regions, which includes hundreds of titles, “it will be removed from your video library” on September 1, according to the warning. It’s yet another frustrating reminder that paying for a digital product doesn’t actually equate ownership — when licenses expire or servers are shut down, your purchased content might go right with them. 

The PlayStation Store posted the notice about the termination of Studio Canal movies on several regional pages, including those for UK, French, Italian and Spanish customers. Don’t get your hopes up for a refund, either. The notice doesn’t mention anything of the sort. The expiration date is still a few months away, though, so there’s still a chance things could change. The PlayStation Store was set to pull Discovery shows a few years back due to licensing issues, but it ultimately worked out a new licensing agreement so it could reverse course on their planned removal.

Hot Reviews Summer™ is in full swing, and we’re back with another round of devices that we’ve recently put through their paces. If you’re into gaming handhelds, smart glasses, smart speakers and both pro-grade and vlogging cameras, this week’s roundup is for you. Keep scrolling to catch up on some of the reviews you might’ve missed before the next batch arrives. 

New gaming handhelds are popping up all of the time, and MSI’s Claw 8 EX AI+ made a lasting impression during our tests. It’s expensive, but for the high price you get massive performance, according to senior reviews writer Sam Rutherford. “The Claw 8 EX is a beastly handheld that has pushed mobile PC gaming performance to new highs,” he said. “It just sucks that the price basically makes it off limits to most folks, unless you have seriously deep pockets.”

With Sony’s cameras, you typically have to choose between either speed or resolution. The company hasn’t delivered both in the same model until the arrival of the A7R VI. And that combination, according to contributing writer Steve Dent, makes a near-perfect high-resolution camera. “The A7R VI is Sony’s most impressive camera in years, offering ultra-high resolution images and impressive speed,” he said. “It’s still primarily a portrait and landscape camera, but might tempt action photographers who would love the extra megapixels to crop in on distant subjects.”

The Ray-Ban/Meta team-up has delivered several options for the smart glasses crowd, but only recently has the duo given users the ability to grab a pair with prescription lenses. They aren’t cheap, but they do offer a better fit than previous versions. “Ultimately, if you already like Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and you want to use them with your prescription, the Optics line is definitely the most comfortable, premium version you can get,” senior reporter Karissa Bell said. “It’s just a question of whether you can justify what it costs.”

Insta360 is not only coming for DJI’s grip on the gimbal camera market, but the company beat its rival to the punch with a dual-lens model. The Luna Ultra also offers optical zoom and a clever detachable display, but the most attractive feature (for now) is availability. “The good news is that the Luna Ultra is independently a great vlogging camera,” said contributing reviews writer James Trew. “Insta360 made a great debut into the category and we’re all just waiting to see how DJI responds.”

Google has a new smart speaker for the new Gemini for Home era. Unfortunately, that means we may not know the ultimate usefulness of the plainly named Google Home Speaker for a while. “If you’re someone who already has some Google or Nest speakers and aren’t happy with how the Google Home app and Gemini are working, this new speaker doesn’t change that,” deputy news editor Nathan Ingraham said. “Hopefully Google will continue to improve things on the software front, because the Google Home Speaker does a good job of holding up its end of the bargain.”

If you’re worried AI could ruin your smart glasses experience, look away now. Senior writer Daniel Cooper discovered an awfully creepy AI assistant on the XGIMI MemoMind One glasses, despite the device having several excellent qualities. “The irony is that I actually quite like using MemoMind One as my glasses, because I find having a second screen to be tremendously useful,” he said. “What lets all of this down is the finer margins that just need a little more time in the oven before they’re fully baked. Perhaps that could be a wish the creepy Wishes app could capture and fulfill, deleting itself from the product before it launches.”

Volkswagen, the auto giant that leads Europe in electric vehicle production, plans to cut 100,000 jobs or 15 percent of its global workforce at German plants over the coming years, Manager Magazin reported. The plan represents the automaker’s largest overhaul in its 89-year history.

As part of the changes, Volkswagen will reportedly cease production at its Hanover, Zwickau, Emden and Audi Neckarsulm plants. Zwickau, in Saxony, was recently converted to an electric car production site for six EV models across the company’s VW, Audi and Cupra brands. That plant has seen multiple production pauses due to what the company has called weak demand for EVs.

Volkswagen had previously laid out plans for 50,000 job cuts, citing Trump’s tariffs and Chinese car sales at the time. Volkswagen’s unions agreed to those layoffs in a deal struck in late 2024, provided that the manufacturer didn’t cut jobs further or close additional plants until at least 2030. 

However, VW has now escalated that significantly despite the agreement. “The entire Group — including its brands and subsidiaries — must undergo profound changes,” a spokesperson told CNBC. Volkswagen declined to comment on other details from “internal, confidential documents,” the spokesperson added. 

The automaker’s unions and representative organizations pledged to fight the reported layoffs and plant closures. “If such plans were to be pushed forward, we would prevent them with all our might,” the IG Metal union and General Works Council said in a joint statement.