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Wool, water, Wi-Fi: Modernizing an ancient business at the final frontiers of e-commerce

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Wool, water, Wi-Fi: Modernizing an ancient business at the final frontiers of e-commerce

One night in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a felting artisan ended her day with a prayer. May our partners have good health. May they be ambitious, and successful, and may their businesses grow. The next morning, sisters-in-law Chinara Makashova and Nazgul Esenbaeva, and the people they worked with awoke to what seemed like a miracle: Shopify orders. So many Shopify orders.

They got to work. It felt like everything was falling into place: The company they had built from scratch was exporting felted slippers and artisan products to wholesale partners around the globe. And with help from USAID’s green business initiative in Central Asia, they were expanding their production abilities — and finally building their own modern, direct-to-consumer web store: one with the payment processing and data security infrastructure to help them reach customers directly.

Staff in one of the rooms in Tumar’s Bishkek factory, evaluating a finished batch of Kyrgies “wool slide” slippers.
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

But just as their new ecommerce infrastructure was coming together, the USAID funding vanished around the world — leaving them with a $35,000 funding gap. In so many places, the internet makes building a retail business easy — but in the world’s most land-locked country, with a banking system bogged down by sanctions against one neighbor and cybersecurity barriers against another, growth is a balancing act. Tumar’s path has been unconventional: bringing together nomadic tradition, Soviet legacy, and digital commerce to build a modern business, even when the infrastructure around them can’t keep up. Their first challenge: scaling a 5,000-year-old process that had never before been automated, with machines salvaged from the collapse of the USSR.

For centuries, Kyrgyz nomads on the Eurasian steppe drove their flocks from the low green valleys to the snowy slopes of the Tian Shan mountains, sheared their sheeps’ lush thick wool, and used heat, water, and friction to felt it into the durable shyrdak blankets that lined their yurts. Felt may have been the world’s first-ever textile. It was strong, dense, and durable. It could stand up to bitter cold or pouring rain. But between industrialization and the pressure, under Soviet rule, to abandon the past, Kyrgyz wet felting by hand almost disappeared. In fact this particular felting tradition was just a few farflung elders and hidden artifacts from extinction in the 1990s when some women in Bishkek, graduating from university into a post-Soviet world, began to seek out, re-learn, and revive the practice.

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Merino sheep near Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issykül, at Jaichy sheep farm and yurt camp run by shepherd Baatyrbek Akmatov and his family.

Merino sheep near Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issykül, at Jaichy sheep farm and yurt camp run by shepherd Baatyrbek Akmatov and his family.
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

Makashova and Esenbaeva — with help from Makashova’s aunt Roza — learned how to use this millennia-old technique of wet felting with Kyrgyz wool to make things like shyrdaks and kalpak hats. In 1998, they started Tumar Art Group. Within a decade, Tumar had its first wholesale partner. And in recent years, USAID-funded programs helped them share their knowledge with women throughout Central Asia, reviving an ancient industry while spurring a new economy.

On the felt factory floor

Today, Tumar’s Bishkek facility is a labyrinth of sunlit workspaces, some with pastel floor tiles, some with geraniums lining the windowsills, one full of old jelly jars and coffee containers full of pigments and dyes. Workers pull giant, fluffy sheets of “pre-felt” off the conveyor belt of a wool carding machine. On a switchboard that looks like a Cold War rocket launch interface, they toggle dials that are labeled in Chinese, with hand-scrawled Cyrillic translations taped above.

These days, modern, commercial felting operations use a water-free needle-felting process, Makashova explained. Some incorporate glue or synthetic fibers. But not here. Tumar’s engineering team hacked their way to avoiding all that, leveraging their custom manufacturing line to automate processes like carding (aligning the fibers), or kneading, done with a one-of-a-kind “beating machine.”

The Tumar team found these metal components in a scrap heap and restored them into this two-hammer machine for pressing felted shoes — “the most complicated process in the production of felt,” according to Makashova. “No one makes this kind of equipment nowadays. It is possible only by special order.”

The Tumar team found these metal components in a scrap heap and restored them into this two-hammer machine for pressing felted shoes — “the most complicated process in the production of felt,” according to Makashova. “No one makes this kind of equipment nowadays. It is possible only by special order.”
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

“We take care to keep our traditional technology of wet felting,” Makashova said. But “for the most complicated process of wet pressing, modern engineering does not offer machines, so we have to look for old Soviet schemes, adapt and make these machines ourselves — or restore old machines.”

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To make one of their most in-demand products — felted slippers — they needed a heavy metal tub to hold water and heat, and flywheels that could apply consistent rhythmic pressure and agitation to the wool. An old Soviet wool milling machine would have done the trick. “Unfortunately,” Makashova said, “they are almost impossible to find.”

With scant financial resources and an economy in upheaval, it was hard for this start-up to find, acquire, and ship in the machines they needed — in part because some of those machines didn’t yet exist: Kyrgyz hand felting had never before been automated. Makashova’s brother, an automotive engineer, organized the group’s own small “mechanization base,” collecting, first, Soviet tools and metalworking machines. Gradually, the company acquired textile processing equipment from Italy, China, Russia, and beyond, salvaging, renovating, retrofitting, and Frankensteining equipment to bring automation to an ancient craft.

Sheet felt is being dried in a large centrifuge — a piece of Soviet equipment “which we accidentally found during the dismantling of an old factory where we produced blankets,” Makashova said.

Sheet felt is being dried in a large centrifuge — a piece of Soviet equipment “which we accidentally found during the dismantling of an old factory where we produced blankets,” Makashova said.
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

Then, more good fortune arrived: A Tumar associate found a tub and flywheels in “a heap of scrap metal intended for recycling,” Makashova recalled. The company’s engineering group restored the find, “and now we can’t imagine our work without these machines.”

As of the 2010s, Tumar was working more with wholesale partners around the world while continuing to make goods for their brick-and-mortar shop of the same name, on a sunny corner in central Bishkek, popular with tourists and expats.

By the late 2010s, the global market for sustainable, natural materials was on an upswing, and travelers coming through their Bishkek shop took notice, including a guy in Richmond, Virginia named Barclay Saul. He loved that you could see Tumar’s entire supply chain, from field to factory, in a day, and in the exploding landscape of eco-conscious “Instagram brands,” he and a partner decided to launch Kyrgies out of a Richmond storage space, and sell the slippers online.

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At Tumar’s lone brick-and-mortar retail space in central Bishkek, the company makes about a quarter of its revenue, selling felted goods directly to shoppers.

At Tumar’s lone brick-and-mortar retail space in central Bishkek, the company makes about a quarter of its revenue, selling felted goods directly to shoppers.
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

In spring of 2020, when tourism came to a halt, Tumar’s bustling retail business did too. Saul’s bet was a smart one: Kyrgies’ sales surged. People were staying home — and they wanted the right footwear for it. But they also wanted natural materials. “This business has taught me simply that [people want to] buy less stuff, quality stuff,” Kyrgies CEO Saul said. Kyrgies’ ecommerce business has continued to double year over year, enabling Tumar to double its staff and scale their output fourfold in the past five years.

This is the dream, Chinara said — but there’s one dream they still haven’t been able to manifest in the reality of today’s complicated internet: their own web store. The sale of artisan goods out of the Bishkek storefront is still, in some ways, the most important thing they do, said Makashova. It’s just a quarter of their revenue, but it’s a source for their product innovation. Thanks to platforms like Shopify, Kyrgies could launch their retail business in the US virtually overnight. But for a Kyrgyzstan-based business, online retail is no easy feat. The cost of shipping by air or land from the heart of Central Asia is the first hurdle. And another thing: There’s no PayPal here. Payment systems, Makashova said, are “a very, very big problem.”

A handwritten ledger, detailing the recipes for each of Tumar’s dye colors.

A handwritten ledger, detailing the recipes for each of Tumar’s dye colors.
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

Still today, Kyrgyzstan’s banking system is closely tied to Russia’s, and Western sanctions put in place after Putin’s invasion of Crimea have made cross-border transactions tricky. Some Kyrgyz banks, wary of being blacklisted, have cut off connections to Russian-linked payment systems, and that’s left companies like Tumar in a lurch. Another wrinkle: With growing concerns over China’s access to US consumer data, platforms handling payments in countries near China — neighboring Kyrgyzstan included — are subject to serious cybersecurity hurdles. And if a payment doesn’t go through on the first attempt, often, there won’t be a second attempt. “We’ve lost many customers for this reason,” Esenbaeva said.

All this to say, Tumar’s old-school web store quickly became obsolete. They figured out they needed to rebuild their site with ISO 27001-compliant back-end infrastructure: encryption protocols, secure socket layers, and a payments gateway capable of navigating cross-border compliance from Central Asia, all in hopes of keeping international customers (and the cybersecurity platforms that protect them) from getting scared out of the purchase flow.

For its raw wool, Tumar does business with approximately 1,500 small, family owned farms (think a few dozen sheep each) across Kyrgyzstan. At this end of the supply chain, the technology may be even more rudimentary.

For its raw wool, Tumar does business with approximately 1,500 small, family owned farms (think a few dozen sheep each) across Kyrgyzstan. At this end of the supply chain, the technology may be even more rudimentary.
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

As of January 2025, the entire plan was in place. A new website was launched. They had the money in hand to build out the direct-sale infrastructure. But there was just one catch: The project was being financed by a green business grant from the now gutted and shuttered USAID.

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Tumar is hoping that enrolling in Estonia’s e-Residency program will pull their plans for modern, global payment processing out of a death spiral — but they still have about a $35,000 international funding gap to fill with USAID’s dissolution.

On the outskirts of Bishkek, at Tumar’s new wool processing facility, the “break yurt” feels like a step back in time. Workers drink black tea and snack on puffy little squares of fried dough with clotted cream and jam. Right next door, a more modern scene unfolds: sun pours through the oculus in the yurt’s tunduk dome roof onto architectural drawings unfurled on a conference table. Shelves of binders and spiral-bound notebooks lean against the richly colored, shyrdak-lined walls. A flat-bed all-in-one printer, reminiscent of HP circa 2010 — whirs. A similar-vintage, thick-bezeled, matte-black computer monitor and keyboard set-up peeks out from piles of print-outs, a glue stick, an old calculator.

A traditional yurt becomes an office where architects and the Tumar team are discussing plans for the expansion of their sustainable raw wool processing facility, which had been partially funded by USAID.

A traditional yurt becomes an office where architects and the Tumar team are discussing plans for the expansion of their sustainable raw wool processing facility, which had been partially funded by USAID.
Photo by Alexandra Marvar

At this new factory, some 100 tons per year of course wool that would have been burned as waste is instead being cleaned and processed. More USAID green business support had been on the way — and it would’ve helped Tumar double the output. Now, they may be on their way to accomplishing that on their own, expanding their product line to include, for example, an entirely biodegradable slipper, and soundproofing and insulation panels (both “no-waste” products made, in part, from slipper scraps). And, importantly to the founders, reliable stocks of high quality raw material that other businesses across the region haven’t previously had access to. Across a stretch of grass from the side-by-side yurts, the warehouse is abuzz with activity.

“We want to open [up] possibilities [for] artisans to get new direct online orders,” and to learn how to maintain quality and consistency as output increases, Makashova said. And the only way they can do it is to keep growing.

There are workshops and small businesses across Central Asia waiting for this raw material to come their way, Esenbaeva said. That means—aside from their own production of felted goods—they’re needing to expand their partnerships with small, family-owned Kyrgyz sheep farms, and increase their capacity for processing wholesale felt. To make it all happen, they’ll need to keep collecting—and building—machines. Esenbaeva laughed, quoting Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “We are responsible for those we tame.”

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This Windows gaming handheld has a screen that folds in half

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This Windows gaming handheld has a screen that folds in half

Lenovo put a foldable display on a gaming handheld. The Legion Go Fold Concept is a Windows-based handheld with a flexible POLED display, detachable Joy-Con-like controllers, and a folio case to turn the whole thing into a mini laptop.

You can use it as a standard Steam Deck-esque handheld with the display folded down to 7.7 inches and controllers attached at its sides, or you can unfold it for a bigger experience. When unfolded, the controllers can be repositioned to all four sides, allowing you to play with the screen in vertical or horizontal orientations.

In vertical splitscreen mode, you can put your game on one half of the screen and a second window (like your chat or game guide) on the other half. Horizontal fullscreen mode gives your game the full 11.6 inches of real estate in a 16:10 aspect ratio. To go into laptop mode, you remove the controllers and mount the handheld into a folio case with a stand, built-in keyboard, and trackpad. The controllers can be put into a separate grip mount to unify them as one gamepad.

There are a lot of ways you can use this folding handheld, including turning one of its controllers into a vertical mouse like on other Legion Go handhelds, but there’s one thing it doesn’t do: fold down to close and protect its screen. The Go Fold only folds outwards, so don’t expect a Nintendo DS or GameBoy Advance-like clamshell that closes for portability. Instead, it’s all about getting bigger than your average gaming handheld and offering more. (Though we’ve tried bigger before.)

The Legion Go Fold has some formidable specs: an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Lunar Lake processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 48Whr battery. The plastic-covered OLED has a resolution of 2435 x 1712 and 165Hz refresh rate. And there’s even a second, circular toushscreen on the right controller, under the face buttons. It doubles as a touchpad and can be a support display, allowing you to swipe between extracted UI elements from a game (which I wouldn’t expect to be widely supported), a clock, system monitoring, or an animated GIF (just for fun).

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During my brief in-person demo I didn’t get to play any graphically-intense games — just Balatro, which can practically play on a potato. The screen looked plenty sharp, but like any foldable there’s a crease down the middle; it’s very visible, but you learn to look past it and ignore it after just a bit. The build and feel of the whole thing felt a little fragile, and detaching and reattaching the controllers was definitely janky. Build quality will hopefully be improved if this device ever actually makes it to market.

The laptop mode was a pleasant surprise for me though. I did not expect a gaming handheld to double as a conventional computer you could get work done on. The Legion Go Fold’s case took quite a bit of fumbling before I set it up correctly, but it shouldn’t take too long to get used to if you actually lived with it.

Then again, I don’t know if anyone is going to be able to live with this thing — ever. I’d love for the Legion Go Fold to go from concept to real product like other out-there Lenovo ideas, but I shudder to think what it might cost. The Legion Go 2 is already priced well over $1,000. And with the ongoing RAMageddon crisis we’re living through, there’s no telling how much more expensive an actual Legion Go Fold would be if it came out in a year or more.

But even if it’s not the kind of foldable I expected, and even though it may never come out, it’s certainly cool. Now somebody please make a folding PC handheld that goes from kinda-big to really small. I think that’d be the one for me.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

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Iran networks suffer losses amid airstrikes, showing digital evolution of conflicts

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Iran networks suffer losses amid airstrikes, showing digital evolution of conflicts

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When missiles fly, we expect explosions. We expect smoke, sirens and satellite images. What we do not expect is silence. 

On February 28, 2026, as fighter jets and cruise missiles struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard command centers during Operation Roar of the Lion, a parallel assault reportedly unfolded in cyberspace. 

Official news sites and key media platforms went offline, government digital services and local apps failed across major cities, and security communications systems reportedly stopped functioning, plunging Iran into a near-total digital blackout.

According to NetBlocks, a global internet monitoring organization that tracks connectivity disruptions, nationwide internet traffic in Iran plunged to just 4 percent of normal levels. 

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That level of collapse suggests either a deliberate state-ordered shutdown or a large-scale cyberattack designed to paralyze critical infrastructure. Western intelligence sources later indicated the digital offensive aimed to disrupt IRGC command and control systems and limit coordination of counterattacks. 

For the United States and its allies, the episode offers a stark reminder that modern conflict now blends airstrikes with digital warfare in ways that can ripple far beyond the battlefield.

In a matter of hours, modern conflict looked less like tanks and more like a blinking cursor.

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Iran’s national symbols stand in contrast to reports of a sweeping digital blackout that reportedly disrupted communications and critical systems across the country. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Iran internet shutdown: A country offline in real time

Reports described widespread outages across Iran. Official news sites stopped functioning. IRNA, Iran’s state-run news agency, went offline. 

Tasnim, a semi-official news outlet closely aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reportedly displayed subversive messages targeting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

THINK YOUR NEW YEAR’S PRIVACY RESET WORKED? THINK AGAIN

The IRGC, Iran’s powerful military and intelligence force, plays a central role in national security and regional operations. At the same time, local apps and government digital services failed in cities like Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz.

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This was not one website defaced for headlines. It appeared systemic. Electronic warfare reportedly disrupted navigation and communications systems. 

Distributed denial of service attacks, often called DDoS attacks, flooded networks with traffic to overwhelm and disable them. 

Deep intrusions targeted energy and aviation systems. Even Iran’s isolated national internet struggled under pressure. 

CHINA VS SPACEX IN RACE FOR SPACE AI DATA CENTERS

For a regime that tightly controls information, losing digital command creates both operational and political risk.

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Why cyber warfare matters in the Iran conflict

Cyber operations offer something missiles cannot. They disrupt without always killing. They send a signal without immediately triggering full-scale war. That matters in a region where escalation can spiral fast. 

History shows Iran understands this logic. Between 2012 and 2014, Iranian actors targeted U.S. financial institutions in Operation Ababil. Saudi Aramco also suffered a major cyberattack. 

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After Israeli strikes in 2025, cyberattacks targeting Israel surged dramatically within days.

Cyber retaliation lets leaders respond while limiting direct military confrontation. It buys leverage in negotiations. It creates pressure without necessarily crossing a red line.

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But there is a catch. Every cyber strike risks miscalculation. And digital damage can spill into the real world fast if critical infrastructure is hit.

As military strikes targeted IRGC command centers, internet traffic inside Iran reportedly plunged to just 4 percent of normal levels.  (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

If the blackout and strikes mark a turning point, Tehran has options. None are simple.

1) Cyberattacks against U.S. or allied infrastructure

Cyber retaliation remains one of Iran’s most flexible tools. It can range from disruptive attacks and influence campaigns to more targeted intrusions that pressure critical services. Recent expert commentary warns that U.S. cyber defenses and the private sector could face sustained testing.

2) Targeting U.S. drones and unmanned systems

Iran has used drones and electronic interference as signals before. Analysts continue to flag jamming, spoofing and harassment of unmanned systems as a way to raise costs without immediately striking large numbers of personnel.

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3) Maritime attacks in the Strait of Hormuz

This risk is rising fast. An EU naval mission official reportedly said IRGC radio transmissions warned ships that passage through Hormuz was “not allowed”. Greece has also urged ships to avoid high-risk routes and warned about electronic interference that can disrupt navigation. Insurers are already repricing the danger, with reports of war-risk policies being canceled or sharply increased.

4) Support for allied or informal armed groups

Iran has long worked with allied forces and militias in the region, and some of those groups could step up attacks on U.S. interests or allied partners in retaliation, widening the clash without direct state-to-state engagement.

5) Limited ballistic missile strikes

Missile strikes remain a high-impact option, but they raise the odds of rapid escalation. Recent expert analysis continues to frame them as a tool Iran may use for signaling, especially if leadership feels cornered.

Tehran’s skyline, including the Azadi Tower, became the backdrop to a crisis shaped as much by cyber disruption as by missiles in the sky.  (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

The escalation risk between the U.S. and Iran

Here is the uncomfortable truth. Neither Washington nor Tehran likely wants a full-scale regional war. In moments like this, military strikes rarely stand alone. 

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They often move alongside diplomacy. Leaders send signals. They apply pressure. At the same time, they try to leave room for talks.

But escalation has momentum. Each missile changes the equation. Each casualty raises the stakes. The more damage done, the harder it becomes to step back. 

5 SIMPLE TECH TIPS TO IMPROVE DIGITAL PRIVACY

Fear plays a role. So does pride. Domestic audiences demand strength. Leaders feel pressure to respond in kind. That is how limited strikes can spiral into something much larger.

What the Iran cyberattack blackout means for global cybersecurity

This episode highlights something bigger than regional tension. Nation-states now pair kinetic strikes with digital offensives. 

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Cyberattacks can blind communications, freeze infrastructure and disrupt financial systems before the world even processes the first explosion.

TRUMP TELLS IRANIANS THE ‘HOUR OF YOUR FREEDOM IS AT HAND’ AS US-ISRAEL LAUNCH STRIKES AGAINST IRAN

For businesses and individuals, that reality matters. Modern conflict no longer stays confined to battlefields. 

Supply chains, energy grids and online platforms can feel the ripple effects. The blackout in Iran serves as a reminder that digital resilience is now a national security issue. 

How to stay safe during rising cyber tensions

When a country’s internet can plunge to just 4 percent of normal traffic in hours, it is a reminder that cyber conflict can escalate quickly. 

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Even if the disruption happens overseas, global networks are interconnected. Financial systems, supply chains and online platforms can feel the ripple effects.

You cannot control geopolitics. You can control your digital hygiene. Here are practical steps to reduce your personal risk during periods of heightened cyber activity:

Install strong antivirus software to guard against state-linked phishing and malware campaigns that often spike during geopolitical conflicts. 

Nation-state actors frequently exploit breaking news and global instability to spread malicious links and ransomware. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com

Keep devices updated so security patches close vulnerabilities that attackers often exploit during global cyber spikes.

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WORLD LEADERS SPLIT OVER MILITARY ACTION AS US-ISRAEL STRIKE IRAN IN COORDINATED OPERATION

Use strong, unique passwords stored in a reputable password manager to protect your accounts if cyber retaliation campaigns expand beyond government targets. Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at Cyberguy.com

Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on financial, email and social accounts to safeguard access in case stolen credentials circulate during heightened cyber conflict.

Be cautious with urgent headlines or alerts about international conflict, since attackers frequently mimic breaking news.

Monitor financial accounts for unusual activity in case broader disruptions spill into banking systems.

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When tensions rise, phishing campaigns often rise with them. Threat actors exploit fear and confusion. Staying disciplined with basic security habits makes you a harder target if malicious traffic increases.

Take my quiz: How safe is your online security?

Think your devices and data are truly protected? Take this quick quiz to see where your digital habits stand. From passwords to Wi-Fi settings, you’ll get a personalized breakdown of what you’re doing right and what needs improvement. Take my Quiz here: Cyberguy.com        

Kurt’s key takeaways

The reported cyber blackout inside Iran may signal a new chapter in modern conflict. Jets and missiles still matter. But so do servers, satellites and code. Leaders may try to contain the damage while showing strength. 

Still, history shows how quickly careful plans can unravel once pressure builds. War today runs on electricity and bandwidth as much as fuel and ammunition. 

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When networks go dark, the impact does not stay on a battlefield. It spills into banking systems, airports, hospitals and the phones in our pockets. That is what makes this moment different.

If an entire nation’s digital systems can be disrupted in hours, how prepared is your community if something similar ever hits closer to home?  Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com.  All rights reserved. 

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Soundcore new Space 2 promise improved ANC and sound

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Soundcore new Space 2 promise improved ANC and sound

We finally have an update to the Soundcore Space One that launched two and a half years ago. At MWC 2026, Soundcore has announced the Space 2, which will be available in the US on April 21st in three colors — linen white, jet black, and seafoam green — for $129.99. That’s $30 more than the Space One’s original price.

According to Soundcore, the Space 2 have had a full-band noise cancellation upgrade with the focus of those improvements on the low-frequency sounds we all generally use ANC headphones to block — things like airplane, train, and bus engine sounds while traveling. The Space 2 use the same number of microphones as the Space One for noise canceling, instead relying on optimized mic placement and structure and materials improvements for the boost in performance.

Redesigned 40mm drivers incorporate dual layers in their design. There’s a silk diaphragm with metal ceramic that supposedly results in faster transient response — the driver’s ability to respond to sudden sound quickly and accurately — with better balanced sound reproduction. The Space One had great sound performance for the price, but I’m all for any improvement to sound performance accuracy. Like the Space One, the Space 2 will support LDAC high-res audio.

The headphones connect wirelessly over Bluetooth 6.1, although they do not support Auracast transmissions — an unfortunate exclusion. There’s also a 3.5mm jack for a wired connection.

Battery life has been increased to up to 50 hours with ANC and 70 hours with ANC off. This is up from 40 hours with ANC and 55 hours without ANC with the Space One headphones. With a five-minute charge the Space 2 get an additional four hours of listening.

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The Space 2 will include many of the features found on the Space One. You can use HearID 3.0 to go through a series of sound samples to tune the headphones’ sound to your preferences. It worked well for me on the Space One to get them closer to a sound I liked, with a bit of the edge taken off the higher frequencies. There’s also a sensor that detects when you remove the headphones and stops playback so you don’t miss any of your music or podcast. They once again come with a cloth bag that matches the color of the headphones instead of a case, which is one change I wish Soundcore had made, as the cloth bag doesn’t offer as much protection if you tend to throw your headphones into your backpack or bag.

The Soundcore Space One were among the best budget ANC headphones when they came out, and still hold up to more recent releases. But with the bump in price to over $100 for the Space 2, there’s a bit more expectation on them. ANC performance continues to improve — and products get cheaper — across manufacturers, so the Soundcore Space 2 has some competition from companies like Sony, EarFun, and JLab. If the ANC on the Space 2 stands up to current budget headphones and they still sound as good and are as comfortable as the Space One, you can expect to see the new Soundcore Space 2 on many recommendation lists.

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