 | | Created for techradar.com@quicklydone.com | Web Version | | | | Failure is a part of tech (and life), but it’s rare that a company screws up quite as badly as Sonos did in 2024. That was then and this is now, though, and Sonos is back with two new speakers and a desire to move on from its whole app debacle.
Matt Bolton, our Managing Editor of Home Tech, sat down this week with Sonos CEO Tom Conrad to discuss what went wrong, and what the future holds for the audio giant, and his articles below are required reading for anyone who’s interested in how even the best companies can make mistakes.
That got us thinking about the biggest tech fails ever, so do vote in our poll at the bottom of this newsletter. (For what it’s worth, I’m voting for iTunes/U2. Wow!) Marc McLaren, Global Editor-in-Chief | | | | What happened – this week's biggest stories | |  | | Tom Conrad has been talking to TechRadar — and unveiling new speakers (Sonos / Future) | What happened? TechRadar’s Managing Editor of Home Tech sat down with Sonos CEO Tom Conrad for an exclusive chat, and the big topic of discussion was the home audio brand’s disastrous attempt to update its app last year, which sparked a massive user backlash. Conrad was candid about what went wrong, conceding that “the real story there is we just changed too much too fast”. On the podcast… Sonos is a big talking point on the latest episode of the TechRadar podcast, and the team also weigh in on last week’s slew of hardware releases from Apple, Sam Altman's controversial deal with the US Department of Defense/War, the Samsung S26 Ultra, and the most interesting and innovative new phones we saw at MWC. Follow TechRadar on YouTube. | | | |  | | (Shutterstock / Stockcrafterpro) | | | | | Get caught up: the rest of the news in 30 seconds | DJI’s first 360-degree drone, the Avata 360, will arrive this month — and we’re very much looking forward to trying it. We’re also pretty excited about what Google is saying is its biggest navigation upgrade to Maps in two decades, with two new Gemini-powered features that could prove seriously useful. We’re a lot less enthusiastic about Tilly Norwood’s first foray into pop music. Not sure who Tilly is? That’s fine, in an ideal world we’d have forgotten her too. But as a reminder, she’s the world’s first AI actress, or at least the world’s first AI creation that people are trying to pass off as an actress. And now she's a pop star too, courtesy of an AI-generated song/video that Lance Ulanoff describes as “so, so bad on so many levels.” Check it out at your own peril. | | |  | | Tim Cook is throwing a party, and everyone's invited (Getty Images) | | | | | |  | | The M5 MacBook Air is our new favorite ultraportable (Future) | | We’ve long been big fans of Apple’s MacBook Air line, and the new M5-powered model has done nothing to change our minds. Editor at Large Lance Ulanoff hailed it as “still the best ultraportable I've ever used”, and “an exquisite, lightweight yet durable laptop that fits perfectly into your work, play, home life, and the Apple ecosystem”. There’s not much that’s new here other than the new Apple silicon, but the Air was already pretty much the perfect laptop, so there didn’t need to be. What is new this year is that Apple is also competing at the other end of the laptop market, and it’s doing so in style with the MacBook Neo, which Matt Hanson, our Managing Editor of Core Tech, calls quite simply “the best budget laptop you can buy”. Rounding up our slate of Apple reviews this week, Jacob Krol says the new M4 iPad Air maintains the line’s reputation as the best ‘pro’ iPad for most people, and is impressed by the iPhone 17e, which packs a bunch of upgrades while costing the same as last year’s 16e. A game-changing product such as the MacBook Neo makes you rethink your priorities, or at least how you prioritize which laptop or tablet to buy. If you’d assumed that a MacBook was out of your budget, the Neo opens a new door; but then you might wonder if it’s powerful enough; or maybe you’d be better off with an iPad paired with Apple’s Magic Keyboard. It can all get rather daunting, but we can help — via our expert MacBook Air M5 vs MacBook Neo and MacBook Neo vs iPad 11 comparisons (Rowan Davies’ mind is already made up on the latter contest). | | | | | What's on – the week in entertainment | |  | | Ryan Gosling delivers another unmissable performance in Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM Studios) | “A mesmerizing and profoundly moving near-masterpiece that needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible” — that’s Tom Power’s verdict on the Ryan Gosling-starring sci-fi epic Project Hail Mary, which lands in theaters next week. The movie follows Gosling’s teacher-turned-astronaut, who embarks on a perilous spacefaring mission to solve the mystery of why every star, including our Sun, bar one is dying. This weekend is Oscars weekend, and we've got details of how to watch the awards in our round-up of the biggest new movie and shows on the major streamers, which also features One Piece season 2 on Netflix, and new Prime Video crime show Scarpetta, based on Patricia Cornwell's book series and starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis. | | | This week on TikTok we unboxed the laptop everyone's talking about, the new MacBook Neo. We also check out the new Sonos Play, and the stylish MemoMind One smart glasses. Follow TechRadar on TikTok! | | |  | | Ready to go electric? Check out our top EV picks (Tesla/Hyundai/Nissan) | Drivers have been peeking at the price displays outside filling stations through their fingers for the past couple of weeks as gas prices (or petrol prices for those of us in the UK) continue to soar as a result of events in the Middle East. If you weren’t already thinking of buying an electric car they’re suddenly looking like a very enticing proposition — and TechRadar’s EV specialist Leon Poultney can recommend three of the best models he’s test-driven. Most of us could probably use a bit more sleep, and better-quality sleep into the bargain. We’ve tested dozens of gadgets that promise to help you improve your shut-eye at TechRadar, and Ruth Hamilton has rounded up 12 of the best, from smart rings and smart lamps to earplugs. And when it’s time to wake up we can help there too, with Cat Ellis’ pick of the three best espresso machines from Smeg. We talk a lot about cutting the cord in this business, but sometimes reattaching the cord might actually be the way to go. After moving home, Matt Bolton found his cordless vac wasn’t up to the task of keeping a larger house with lots of carpets clean, so he switched back to corded — and he’s never looked back. Check out his pick of four top corded models — and if you’re in the UK they’re all on sale in Amazon’s Spring Deal Days event. | | | | What you think – this week's poll | | | What's the biggest tech fail of all time? | | | | | | | | | | © Future Publishing Limited. Reg No. 2008885 England. | | Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. | | | | |
