This week saw the return of Anthropic’s Fable, and PlayStation set the gaming world on fire by announcing the end of physical discs for its consoles in 2028.
To catch up on these two mega stories and several more, scroll down to read our recaps of the biggest tech news stories from the past seven days. You’ll find links to the longer original stories under each entry if you need to know more.
Before you catch up on this week’s tech news, why not test yourself on last week’s seven biggest tech stories to see how good your memory is? Take the quiz below or scroll on for the biggest tech news of the week…
7. Tidal hit back at AI-made music
Tired of music made from text prompts infiltrating your recommended feeds? You are in good company; it seems the tide is finally turning on AI-generated audio.
This week, in what must be extremely welcome news for recording artists (and their parents, landlords, loved ones and just plain lovers of original music with human vocals and instruments), high-resolution music streaming giant Tidal has drawn a line in the sand.
The platform released a new comprehensive AI policy with the strap “Promoting Fairness and Economic Empowerment in the Era of AI-Generated Music”. The key is that and working with what the platform told TechRadar is “an external partner to manage detection,” the site will also completely exclude AI-generated music from all royalty payments.
The news follows big strides in this area made by Deezer with its free AI detection tool that works on any streaming platform, Bandcamp’s strong and succinct anti-AI stance laid out in January, Qobuz’s announcement of a proprietary AI detection system in February, Apple Music’s March release of ‘Transparency Tags’ (how reichly unfortunate) and Spotify’s… er, Verified by Spotify badge, which verifies that an artist is human. but won’t help filter the remaining AI slop from your playlists.
All this makes Tidal’s position, even if not before time, particularly firm.
6. Netflix got another hated account update
A handful of Netflix users have noticed a new pop-up in the app that requires each member of a shared account to add individual email addresses to their individual profiles instead of using the account owner’s email address as the primary one. One of the most appalling parts about it is that the popup won’t clear unless the request is fulfilled.
Netflix household accounts have always been built on the traditional ‘one email, one password’ basis, but why Netflix has decided to roll out yet another crackdown is the question on everyone’s mind.
Although Netflix says it’s to make way for more convenient log-ins and more personalized recommendations, users believe it will give the streaming giant another way to better distinguish the activity of individual profiles or even move them to individual accounts later on.
Netflix said the rollout began on June 15th, we imagine a global rollout is on the way.
5. We ran with the Garmin Forerunner 70
We have taken this new Garmin running watch for a spin. While it offers some definite upgrades over the Forerunner 55 that came before it, those improvements come at a price ($249.99 / £219.99 / AU$399), making this gadget less budget or entry-level and more mid-range.
The problem is not specific to this smart watch. In fact, with new fitness and smartwatch features, a vibrant AMOLED screen, and with solid compatibility across Android and iOS, the watch is pretty solid. What we’re concerned about with the Forerunner 70 is that at this price (or for just a handful of dollars more), you can snag watches from competing brands that boast richer features and newer hardware.
Four stars is certainly good, but if you’re looking for the best, or even just the best at this price point, the Garmin Forerunner 70 might not be it.
4. Steam Machine sold out in Japan
The upcoming Valve gaming PC console hybrid has launched, and the reality is that it’s a pretty terrible deal at first – although that hasn’t stopped it from selling out in Japan and from scalpers asking ridiculous prices for their reservation space (giving people a better chance of getting their hands on the device).
Rather than struggle with the disappointment of pre-ordering or the high cost of the right machine, some have looked at alternatives, but you have to be careful. For every Stim machine that presents itself as a sensible alternative (with some admitted drawbacks), there are a host of cheap alternatives online that are, frankly, too good to be true.
With components that wouldn’t actually fit into the pictured chassis, a combination of parts that wouldn’t work together, and the abundance of never-before-seen companies proposing Steam Machine alternatives at impossibly cheap prices suggests that a majority of these options are likely some form of scam.
3. Anthropics Fable 5 was allowed to be released
Anthropic’s Fable 5, the public version of its Mythos model, is returning after the US government lifted export controls that had forced the company to suspend access to it, and the Mythos 5, earlier in June. The models were pulled after officials raised national security concerns related to a possible jailbreak, a method of bypassing an AI model’s security restrictions.
Anthropic pushed back strongly, saying it believed the issue was “a misunderstanding” and argued that it had not been shown evidence of a broad or universal jailbreak. The company said governments should be able to block unsafe AI deployments, but only through a process that is transparent, fair, clear and based on technical facts.
Fable 5’s return matters because it shows how cross-border AI launches can increasingly be shaped by governments, not just tech companies. Powerful models can now be launched, constrained, negotiated and restored within weeks.
2. WhatsApp debuted usernames
WhatsApp has revolutionized its platform this week by introducing usernames – allowing you to build your contact information without sharing your phone number. They won’t take over completely for a while, but people are already reserving their username so they’ll be ready for when the update goes into full swing.
While many are quite positive about the change, many fear that this could increase the presence of cybercrime and fraud as bad actors reserve and use names that try to impersonate politicians, celebrities and companies. This problem is not new to social media, but given the more direct nature of WhatsApp and that businesses use the platform to chat with customers, potential scammers may have an easier time.
WhatsApp has fought back against this “only the legitimate account owners are able to reserve well-known public names” saying, but it’s unclear whether people with enough imagination will find ways to reserve names that the Meta-owned platform hasn’t been able to accommodate.
1. PlayStation killed physical games
Just days after Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders opened with purely digital versions and code-in-a-box releases, PlayStation rocked the gaming world this week by announcing that it will end all releases of new PlayStation games on physical discs from January 2028. It also comes just days after Sony deleted select movies from users’ accounts that were purchased digitally and offered no compensation.
Claiming that the move “will enable us to adapt to how most of our society prefers to access and play games today,” Sony appears to be reflecting recent statistics which show that the vast majority of game purchases are indeed digital.
The move has not gone down well with fans, gamers and the wider industry as it likely paves the way for an all-digital future and possibly a critical, perhaps terminal, blow to the used game market, the ability to share games with others and from a game preservation perspective
It also means that the PS6 will likely be fully digital by default – perhaps with an optional disc drive – and will be released in 2028 at the earliest. With rumors that Xbox could follow suit with its next-gen console, the future is looking increasingly digital, and game collectors like ourselves are deeply worried and saddened.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
