The hardest part about finding games like Hollow Knight is knowing where to start. The overwhelming success of Team Cherry's award-winning 2017 game--and anticipation of its long-awaited sequel, Silksong--prompted a flood of similar games all looking to capture the magic of combining soulslike combat with deep exploration. Some are more inventive than others, building on Hollow Knight's foundations to push that style of game forward in new or unexpected ways. Others take a specific aspect, such as grueling boss fights, and run with it. We've combed through the lot and picked out 15 of the best games like Hollow Knight to get you started in this impressively varied sub-genre.If you're not as excited about combat and want puzzles and exploration instead, head over to our list of the best metroidvania games. Nine Sols Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5Release Date: May 29, 2024Developer: Red Candle GamesIf Hollow Knight is the Dark Souls of metroidvanias, then Nine Sols is the genre's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Parrying is at the core of almost everything you do in Nine Sols, from dealing with standard enemies to wearing down some of its relentless bosses. Among games like Hollow Knight, it's also one of the most thematically and visually distinct. Developer Red Candle Games call Nine Sols a "Taopunk," a blend of sci-fi punk with traditional Taoist architecture and symbolism. Most protagonists in games like these are blank slates, but Nine Sols adds a personal touch by making the personality of its hero, Yi, an important part of the story. Yi starts out seeking revenge, and ends up on a journey to save the world and himself, becoming a reluctant hero in the process. See at Humble Animal Well Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5Release Date: May 9, 2024Developer: Billy Basso, Shared Memory LLCAnimal Well is a puzzle, or more accurately, a lot of puzzles. There's a bit of combat and some platforming, but mostly, it's about trying to unravel dozens of mysteries big and small as you delve ever further into a maze that wouldn't be out of place in Lewis Carrol's Wonderland stories. Explaining too much about what's going on would spoil what makes Animal Well special, but the most interesting and even subversive parts of it is that you have almost nothing to guide you and can make discoveries in any order. That freedom creates a sense of discovery and wonder that's often absent from the procedural methods inherent in these kinds of games.Read our Animal Well review. See at Steam Ultros Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5Release Date: February 13, 2024Developer: HadoqueOf all the games like Hollow Knight, Ultros takes the most organic approach to metroidvanias, and we mean that literally. You, an intergalactic explorer, arrive on a psychedelic space colony called The Sarcophagus and find it teeming with exotic life and mysterious spiritual energies. You use the life force and remains of enemies to nourish your mind and unlock new abilities, and there's a scoring system that ranks how efficiently you defeat your foes. That determines the quality of the loot they drop, so if you want to unlock and improve your skills, you have to plan each encounter carefully. Ultros is also absolutely beautiful, a dream-like blend of esoteric architecture and wild ecosystems with closer ties to the Sarcophagus' secrets than Ultros initially suggests. Read our Ultros review. See at Fanatical Blasphemous 2 Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: August 24, 2023Developer: The Game KitchenBlasphemous 2's big addition over its predecessor--apart from even more ghoulish and gory moments--is the inclusion of more platforming. The first Blasphemous is a bit one-note, which is great if you're just here for the combat, but not so much if you want, well, anything else. Blasphemous 2 throws in some challenging and smartly-designed platforming as well, bringing it closer to the likes of Hollow Knight. Better still, developer The Game Kitchen was more ambitious with its environment design as well, with more complex layouts, better backgrounds and lighting, and even colors that aren't brown, grey, and blood.Read our Blasphemous 2 review. See at Fanatical Elden Ring Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PCRelease Date: February 25, 2022Developer: FromSoftwareOkay, so Elden Ring doesn't have the exploration style of Hollow Knight, but it does have the kind of grueling combat that inspired Team Cherry's spectacular boss fights, and lots of it. It's FromSoftware's first open-world game, one that follows a lone, nameless warrior in their bid to bring salvation to a shattered land--or make its ruin everlasting. Mostly, though, it's a giant playground for dozens of exceptionally well-designed and challenging bosses to stomp (you) around in, with enemies ranging from fire-spewing land dragons to the spirits of an ancient civilization and a gigantic, greatsword-wielding prince on his favorite little horsey. Read our Elden Ring review. See at Fanatical Cuphead Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PCRelease Date: September 29, 2017Developer: Studio MDHRIf you really like boss fights and are less bothered about exploration and all the other Hollow Knight-y bits, Cuphead is definitely worth checking out. Don't let Studio MDHR's retro cartoon style give you the wrong impression, either. Cuphead's cutesy bosses demand careful planning, precise execution, and a lot of patience. The battles aren't the only thing Cuphead has going for it, though. Studio MDHR's exquisite animation, the soundtrack, even period-specific cartoon-style sound effects--the entire game is a spectacle in the best way. Read our Cuphead review. See at Fanatical Castlevania Advance Collection Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PCRelease Date: September 23, 2021Developer: KonamiAny of the Castlevania bundles are strong picks, but the Castlevania Advance Collection should be your go-to choice for the kind of classic action that Hollow Knight builds on. The collection includes Circle of the Moon--low on our list of the best Castlevania games only on account of it not really doing anything that Symphony of the Night didn't--the excellent Harmony of Dissonance, and the even better Aria of Sorrow. Sorrow is the standout inclusion, one that radically shook up the Castlevania formula by removing the Belmonts from the equation, telling an entirely new story set in the distant (at the time) future, and giving the protagonist, Soma, an ability that absorbed enemy souls for use in combat. It helps that Sorrow, as well as Harmony, have an excellent selection of bosses and some fantastically moody settings, too. See at Humble Ori and the Blind Forest Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PCRelease Date: March 11, 2015Developer: Moon StudiosOri and the Blind Forest starts like the end of a Disney movie. A cute little creature finds a family in the middle of a dream-like forest, and that family gets taken away from them. Your job is to figure out why and find a way to save the woods. Ori takes Hollow Knight's demanding platforming even further with some segments that wouldn't feel out of place in something like Celeste, but the real stand-out feature is the map. In addition to being a well-designed metroidvania world, it's absolutely gorgeous and a delight to explore. Blind Forest is a modern classic, and its sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps manages to improve it even further.Read our Ori and the Blind Forest review and Ori and the Will of the Wisps review. See at Fanatical Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: March 25, 2024Developer: AdiglobeIn the onslaught of games like Hollow Knight that released following Team Cherry's success, developer Adiglobe decided to shake up the formula first with Ender Lilies and then with the more refined Ender Magnolia. You've got your standard elements, such as gigantic bosses that force you to learn their patterns and a puzzle-like map that unfolds as you gain more powers. Those powers, however, are the spirits of fallen friends who also aid you in combat. You find several, but can only recruit a handful at a time, which adds a layer of strategy to exploration and combat. There's also a strong sense of emotional attachment, since you and your ghostly allies have history and connection of a kind that's often missing in these games when you just play as an outside observer. See at Steam Metroid Dread Platforms: Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: October 8, 2021Developer: Nintendo EADAny Metroid game is going to have something of that Hollow Knight feel, since the sci-fi series is a big part of where the genre and Hollow Knight in particular came from. However, the easiest to get your hands on without having to pay for a subscription is Metroid Dread. It's the culmination of the 2D Metroid saga that started in 1986, but you can get by just fine if this is your first. Dread follows bounty hunter Samus Aran as she searches for evidence of a deadly parasite, only to find herself hunted by rogue robots--sometimes. The stealth segments that have you hiding from your metal hunters only take place in specific areas. The rest of Metroid Dread takes you across sprawling subterranean research labs, sunken testing stations, and extravagant dwellings, featuring the series' biggest map ever, stuffed with secrets and formidable bosses. If you really enjoy those bosses, Dread has a boss rush mode you can test yourself against as well.Read our Metroid Dread review. See at Amazon Lone Fungus Platforms: PCRelease Date: September 21, 2021Developer: Basti GamesThese types of games tend to lean more toward the edgy, dark, and broody side of things, which makes Lone Fungus a gem in the genre. You're the last mushroom on Earth, exploring a vast network of tunnels and temples in search of treasure and using magic skills that change form depending on how you swing your sword. A ball of energy is damaging to one enemy, for example, but you can smack it and shatter it into several projectiles to clear out lots of foes at once. Best of all, though, Lone Fungus has a robust Assist Mode that lets people of all skill levels enjoy the game and just makes it more relaxed in general, with features such as extra platforms, no costs for spells, slower platforms, and invincibility so your little fungus won't die. See at Humble Dead Cells Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PCRelease Date: May 10, 2027Developer: Motion TwinDead Cells throws roguelite randomness into the metroidvania mix and ratchets up the challenge as well. You're a spirit determined to figure out why you died, and in the absence of a tangible vessel for your ethereal self, you pilot shambling corpses in a bid to make it through streets, swamps, dungeons, and horrors untold. These corpses aren't the sturdiest, so when you fail, they fall apart and you start again. Eventually, you can unlock permanent upgrades, but with no checkpoints at any stage of the journey, you'll have to rely on your skill with weapons and knowledge of enemy behavior to make it through. If you enjoy Dead Cells, you can pick up DLC packs that add new locations, weapons, and enemies, and there's even a Castlevania-themed expansion as well. Read our Dead Cells review. See at Fanatical Monster Sanctuary Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series One, PCRelease Date: August 28, 2019Developer: DeveloperIf you like a bit of Pokemon with your Hollow Knight, Monster Sanctuary might be for you. You play as a fledgling monster tamer out to explore the vast world with just a single critter by your side. You'll find and tame more, training them into the best versions of themselves and using their abilities not just to deal with threats in the sanctuary, but to explore its secrets and hidden areas as well. Monster Sanctuary is lighter and breezier than some games on this list, but if something more intense is to your liking, there's a robust PvP element where you can challenge other players and their monster teams too. See at Fanatical Salt and Sanctuary Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: March 15, 2016Developer: Ska StudiosUpgrades and customization are usually rather limited in games like Hollow Knight, which makes Salt and Sanctuary, with its more in-depth RPG components, something special. You play as a sailor, washed up on some evil-looking, godforsaken island and foolish enough to go exploring the mysterious labyrinth underneath. What you find is a parade of nightmares and some spectacular, bone-crunchingly hard 2D boss fights that are among the best Soulslike challenges out there. Read our Salt and Sanctuary review. See at Humble Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: July 17, 2024Developer: Squid Shock StudiosMovement is often a means to an end in video games--a double jump that propels you higher, for example, or a dash that lets you avoid dangerous terrain. In Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus, it's no exaggeration to say movement is everything. Bouncing, flying, gliding, moving with magical speed, and navigating the hand-drawn world is just as important as battling the myths and monsters inspired by Japanese folklore. Path of the Teal Lotus is one of the most elegant platformers around, and it even has a reset system where you can pause or rewind a failed jump to try again, perfect for learning some of the more difficult segments. Read our Path of the Teal Lotus review. See at Fanatical

The name, the myth, the icon: Barbie is almost synonymous with pink, the specific hues of the time responding to cultural trends across the decades. The doll – created by Ruth Handler in 1959, and distributed and produced by Mattel – has reflected and also shaped decades of American culture. Bauhaus-inspired, Barbie and HEWI have collaborated to present the Barbie x HEWI sanitaryware collection, bathed in an approachable yet sophisticated shade of pink. With a focus on celebrating individuality the Barbie way, HEWI fosters a precedent of inclusive design for bathrooms at large, ushering in a new era where all are safe and welcome. HEWI continues to set new standards in bathroom and accessory design for almost one hundred years. Their iconic extruded door handle has extended to every facet of the bathroom, including a towel bar, shower seat, soap dish, and toilet roll holder, offering everything you might need if your bathroom needs a bit of brightness. A lovely shade of light pink accented with an approachable cream color allows the Barbie x HEWI collection to fit in with existing decor, palette incredibly important in a room made for washing and cleanliness. With a satisfying thickness sometimes absent from bathroom collections, each piece receives the signature HEWI finish, glossy and made to last even through the toughest bath times. Barbie has been an integral part of our culture for over 65 years, offering a new perspective about what professions the doll could take part in and the roles she could play. In more recent years, inclusion has been a priority for the brand, choosing a more natural silhouette and featuring a more accurate and diverse picture of who Barbie and her friends could be. Here, this energy extends to the restroom, where the iconic Barbie pink meets the bold, Bauhaus silhouette of HEWI designs. HEWI has been at the forefront of product design for over 90 years, challenging themselves and others to anticipate the needs of subsequent generations. With work in healthcare, public projects, hotels, and education, HEWI strives to continue to push the boundaries of materials technology, closing loops on their production processes with projects like the Re-seat collection, made out of offcuts from injection molding. To learn more about the Barbie x HEWI sanitaryware collection, please visit barbiexhewi.com.  Imagery courtesy of HEWI.

With reclaimed land previously allocated to cars, the Grijalva River boardwalk offers generous public spaces and reconnects the Mexican city of Villahermosa to its river In Villahermosa, nature reigns supreme. Surrounded by rivers, lagoons, wild vegetation and the scorching heat of a humid tropical climate, the city’s identity is shaped by intense and unpredictable natural forces. The capital of the Mexican state of Tabasco was founded in 1564 on the banks of the Grijalva River, a vital trade route that has significantly shaped the city’s development. For locals, the river has long been both blessing and threat; major floods have been recorded since the 17th century. A devastating flood in 2007 submerged what officials estimated to be 80 per cent of the city, damaging or destroying more than 120,000 homes. In the aftermath of the inundation, high concrete retaining walls were built along both banks of the Grijalva River to prevent further flooding. While this was an understandable measure at first glance, it consequently caused residents to lose both their visual and physical connection with the river. As a result, people moved, particularly from the western bank where the historical centre is located, to new areas further away from the Grijalva River. The riverfront was left to deteriorate into a troubled zone. On the eastern bank, the neighbourhood of Gaviotas was already considered unsafe before the flood, yet it maintained more of its residential character. In 2022, 15 years after the dramatic flood, then‑president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, more commonly known as AMLO, announced the construction of a new 6km‑long riverfront promenade in Villahermosa, the capital of his home state. The idea was to enable the population to once again take pride in and live with their river, looking to Paris and Rome as examples. The monumental task, with its large urban scale and the population’s psychological trauma, was entrusted to the Ministry of Agricultural, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU) as part of their Programa de Mejoramiento Urbano (Urban Improvement Programme, or PMU). This programme aimed to use architecture as an ‘instrument of social transformation’. High expectations were placed on these projects; architects were asked to create ‘places of national pride’ while improving everyday living conditions. The architectural trio of Alejandro Castro Jiménez Labora, Mauricio Rocha Iturbide, and Óscar Rodríguez Castañeda, along with their teams, were commissioned to design a linear park along both banks of the Grijalva. Each architect contributed their strength: Castro brought his expertise in poetic urban furniture; Rocha his sensitive and atmospheric architectural approach; and Rodríguez his thoughtful urban and traffic planning skills. The SEDATU team provided technical and participatory expertise, enabling contextual sensitivity by sharing essential information about the site’s topography, soil conditions and water flows. From the city’s existing observatory, the Torre del Caballero landmark, visitors enjoy an excellent view over the redesigned riverbanks. The historical centre and the Gaviotas neighbourhood now form a single ensemble, while the intervention carefully responds to the different conditions found along the length of the river. The project’s main objective is to reclaim some of the land previously allocated to cars and create a promenade for pedestrians and slower vehicles, punctuated with public spaces and facilities. On both sides of the river, cars are now limited to just one or two grey asphalt lanes. Running alongside are generous cycle paths and pedestrian walkways made of earth‑coloured concrete. Speed bumps in the same material and colour connect the pavements on either side of the road while helping to limit traffic speed to 30km/h, further enhancing pedestrian safety. Several design elements are found along almost the entire promenade. A ribbon of light‑grey benches delineates the edge of the elevated riverfront; stone walls, steps and ramps are used to negotiate the slight changes in level; planters and lush vegetation soften the transition to the walkways, creating a welcome buffer from street traffic. The most visually striking components are the tall, red‑pigmented concrete light poles on the elevated path, adorned with elegant L‑shaped steel light fixtures, which establish a strong and cohesive visual rhythm. Only upon closer inspection you notice the 2007 retaining walls peeking through the dense tropical vegetation. Removing these unattractive concrete barriers was never an option; they stand as a symbol of successful flood protection for the local population. The architectural team ingeniously built the elevated promenade atop the existing wall – an effective concealment from the street side while simultaneously inviting residents to reconnect with the Grijalva.  At the foot of the observatory, directly below the retaining wall, the earth‑toned concrete platforms of the Carlos A Madrazo Becerra Park stretch towards the river. Visitors can access the park via a ramp from the promenade on the western bank or by ferry from the opposite side. In the park, concrete furnishings invite visitors to linger among tropical vegetation set against tall natural stone walls. Importantly, it is a space that is durable and requires minimal maintenance – a survival formula for public parks in the Mexican context. Small traces on the concrete benches reveal that the park weathered its baptism of fire last year: the design accommodates the river’s natural dynamics, adapting to fluctuating water levels without compromising public safety. Beyond providing much‑needed shade, the extensive planting of native, low‑maintenance plants on both riverbanks has improved soil stability. Above the park, on a broad extension of the elevated pathway, stand three long, elegant buildings with large cantilevered roofs supported by hefty beams resting on distinctive double columns. The tall glass walls that enclose the interiors are set back, creating a visual flow between interior and exterior spaces. While the beams evoke timber construction, they – like the columns – are made of the same pigmented concrete used for the promenade paving. Despite their refined composition, these structures have remained largely unused since their completion over a year ago, neither serving their intended function as restaurants nor hosting alternative uses. Even the beautifully designed park sees only limited public engagement. The ambitious goal of SEDATU with the PMU projects to ‘counteract violence and strengthen the social fabric’ appears, for now, to have fallen short in this area. According to national statistics, Villahermosa ranks first in perceived insecurity among Mexican cities. This sense of insecurity is tangible on the promenade by the city centre, where buildings that look abandoned contribute to an atmosphere of neglect. The situation is markedly different on the opposite riverbank, in the Gaviotas neighbourhood. Construction of the 3.5km promenade on this side began in 2021 with three open pavilions housing several small kiosks, which quickly evolved into popular taco stands. The Plaza Solidaridad, revitalised by the architectural trio, draws people from the surrounding vibrant neighbourhood. Further south, the final section that was built is a large sports area and children’s playground, which were embraced by the local community even before their official inauguration in February 2024. Especially after sunset, when the air cools, the well‑lit Gaviotas riverfront comes to life. During daylight hours, however, air‑conditioned shopping centres remain the preferred gathering places for the residents of Villahermosa. Rocha describes the city’s new promenade as a ‘jazz composition’, a striking metaphor that speaks of rhythmic complexity and the freedom to improvise. With just a few designed elements and carefully selected colours, the architects have harmoniously layered the river’s urban spaces. The project is earning international recognition but, in Mexico, it faced sharp criticism and was overshadowed by accusations of nepotism. Castro is a friend of AMLO’s son, and the fact that the intervention took place in the home state of the then‑president, coupled with its substantial budget by local standards, drew considerable attention. According to residents, this undermined public acceptance. When asked about the negative press, Rocha speaks of the need to develop a ‘crisis muscle’; he says architects working on public projects in Mexico must ‘let go of perfectionism’ as much lies beyond their control.  During AMLO’s six‑year term, which ended in 2024, SEDATU implemented 1,300 PMU projects in 193 highly marginalised municipalities across the country. While many of these interventions undoubtedly improved people’s quality of life, the Villahermosa riverside project also reveals architecture’s limitations, exposing some of the programme’s weaknesses: architectural interventions often act as sticking plasters on an extensively damaged urban fabric. They are handed over from a national ministry with comprehensive expertise and funding to local governments lacking the means to sustain them. Although SEDATU conducted participatory consultations during the project’s implementation, this engagement was absent once the project was completed. Public acceptance and appropriation can take time; what this project does is send an invitation out. 2025-06-05 Reuben J Brown Share AR June 2025RoadsBuy Now

Stone PC Case, Cooler Master GPU, DIY Case from Scratch, and Metal FansJune 4, 2025Last Updated: 2025-06-04Cooler Master is doing some really interesting stuff with its new casesThe HighlightsCooler Master’s upcoming MF600, MF500, and MF400 reconfigurable frame cases are assembled from columns and cornersThe company also showed off interesting stone facade case front panelsCooler Master is working on a “GPU” with AsusTable of ContentsAutoTOC Grab a GN Tear-Down Toolkit to support our AD-FREE reviews and IN-DEPTH testing while also getting a high-quality, highly portable 10-piece toolkit that was custom designed for use with video cards for repasting and water block installation. Includes a portable roll bag, hook hangers for pegboards, a storage compartment, and instructional GPU disassembly cards.IntroWe visited Cooler Master’s booth at Computex 2025 where the company showed off several new cases. Arguably the most interesting one is a modular case. It comes with, we believe, 8 corners and 12 columns.Editor's note: This was originally published on May 20, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.CreditsHostSteve BurkeCamera, Video EditingMike GaglioneVitalii MakhnovetsWriting, Web EditingJimmy ThangCooler Master MF CasesThe case comes with a front panel that has a dust filter in it. With it all assembled, it looks like the cases in the image above. The cases are the MF series, with the largest one being the MF600, which we assume translates to “Motherf***ing 600.” There’s also the MF500 and the smaller MF400. Initially, Cooler Master is basically going to be selling pre-configured models. Eventually, the company wants to allow people to customize the case on their site and have it assembled and shipped from around the City of Industry. It’s pretty cool as it’s a fully modular approach.The side panels are secured to the case via magnets, which is actually a nice touch. Internally, the MF600 we saw came with 3x140mm fans on the front and 1x120mm fan on the back. The motherboard tray is pretty standard for the most part. Exceptions include a rail system that provides numerous holes for screws to go in, which allows Cooler Master to reconfigure things. Inside the case towards the back, there’s also a rail system, which forms bits and pieces of the motherboard tray that allow for more customizability. Cooler Master has been kind of on-and-off in the DIY space over the years where they’ve had some really big wins and some really big losses. They were also kind of absent for a while, but these MF cases represent a better showing from what we’ve seen in a while from the company. According to Cooler Master, a pre-configured MF600 is supposed to cost $200. We expect to test and review the case. The MF500 is supposed to go for $165 and includes 2x200mm fans in the front and 1x120mm fan in the back. The smallest MF case, the MF600, which is a very large micro ATX box, is going for $150. In terms of fans, it has 2x120mm ones at the bottom coupled with a 1x120mm fan in the rear.  Cooler Master also showed off different panel types they’re experimenting with. One of them included a facade-style stone. One of the pre-built MF cases we looked at had stuff flipped around in an inverted layout. One of the benefits of its rail system allows the case to have a bar that screws in which can support the GPU. Looking into this system, you can see that the PSU is at the bottom next to a bottom intake fan. Updated Cosmos Visit our Patreon page to contribute a few dollars toward this website's operation (or consider a direct donation or buying something from our GN Store!) Additionally, when you purchase through links to retailers on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission.Cooler Master’s updated Cosmos has the NVIDIA-like DGX style front. We also saw a variant of the Cosmos with thermal baffles in it. We have some criticisms of its execution, but overall, it’s an interesting idea.  The way the baffles are designed, Cooler Master is trying to bring air straight in through its channels. There’s a channel for the CPU that exposes the fin stack and Cooler Master's V8 CPU cooler. It conveys an idea similar to an engine cover. The GPU has a separate baffle beneath the CPU one. The company is trying to isolate air flow. In theory, this should work well and we would love this idea applied to more affordable cases, like the MF series, especially since they’re already kind of configurable. Looking at the back, fans can be mounted on the rear, which can help pull air out. We also saw another variant of the Cosmos case running liquid cooling with a distro block. It was coupled with 4x180mm fans and a “720” radiator, which pulled air into the case. Unfortunately, the air is blowing straight into the wall of a motherboard tray, but Cooler Master says the plan is to pull the air up and out of the case with additional 180mm fans on the top and to move the PSU towards the bottom of the case. Looking closer at the front of the special edition of the Cosmos cases, we can see the NVIDIA DGX shroud, which Cooler Master manufactures. It’s essentially like a sponge-like mesh. The special edition of the Cosmos doesn’t have a price yet, but the non-special edition variant is supposed to be around $400, which is before any potential tariffs. Cooler Master CoolersCooler Master showed off some CPU air coolers that had some 3D heat pipes, which had more heat pipes protruding from the center. The company also showed off its V8 cooler and a full-metal fan. The fan’s blades and frame are both aluminum.  Cooler Master Elite Series CasesCooler Master does some really cool sh*t but has a branding problem. For instance, the company’s “Elite” series cases, shown in the image above, are actually budget cases. From left to right, we believe they are called the Elite 482 ($50), Elite 600 ($65), Elite 490 Wood ($50), Elite 691 Wood ($60), Elite 693 ($60), Elite 692 ($70), Elite 302 ($40), and Elite 502 ($60). Our advice to Cooler Master here is for them to unf*ck these names.Most of the Elite series cases don’t come with fans with the exception of the Elite 302 and Elite 502, which come with 3 ARGB fans. MF360Next up are Cooler Master’s MF360 cases, which conveys that you can see inside the case from all sides. While it’s going to have some thermal challenges, to give the company credit, it’s actually really good looking. The MF360 is a showcase fish-tank style PC that you can see through from both sides. Inside the case, we saw a distro block and tubes routed through on both sides.Cooling XThe case in the image above, which goes by "Cooling X,” and uses the company’s new MF frame system. If you look at the corner, you can see the individual columns. At Computex, we saw it as a pre-built system.The top of the case has a magnetically attached panel, which just pulls right off. The panel itself provides really good porosity and the material is pretty nice. Removing the top panel exposes 2 offset fans. The back fan tries to pull in air with the front fan trying to exhaust air out of the top, which is why they’re offset. That’s kind of cool to see.  Cooler Master FansCooler Master showed off all-aluminum fans, which include the blades and frame. The MF120 XT is a 120mm model, is supposed to be $35, and the company says it goes up to 4,000 RPM. The fan’s RPM can also be button-controlled via an external remote and it uses a dual-ball-bearing solution. Cooler Master’s mixed fans, which use plastic blades coupled with an aluminum frame, come with fluid dynamic bearings (FDBs). The clearance between the fan blade tip and the frame is important as the smaller that clearance is, the better performance you get. The major downside is that as the fan ages, it can start to clip the interior of the frame. Having it too close can also negatively impact yields. The solution to this is LCP, which is incredibly expensive, or metal, because it doesn’t deform, but that’s also expensive. Right now, Cooler Master says it’s about a .8mm distance, which is pretty good. The company is targeting 0.6mm by the time the fan launches. Cooler Master Video Card Shroud Grab a GN15 Large Anti-Static Modmat to celebrate our 15th Anniversary and for a high-quality PC building work surface. The Modmat features useful PC building diagrams and is anti-static conductive. Purchases directly fund our work! (or consider a direct donation or a Patreon contribution!)Cooler Master also showed off some video cards, which is not something the company is typically involved with. Cooler Master created a GPU shroud with adjustable slats that can accommodate 15-30mm fans. This solution is geared towards pre-built PCs and isn’t planned to be sold separately.Examining one of the fans, we saw a standard 25mm-thick fan, which Cooler Master’s GPU shroud solution can adjust to via different notch options.Cooler Master is also using a vapor chamber, which is supported by 8x8mm heat pipes running through the shroud and a gigantic fin stack. In total, it weighs almost 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms).Cooler Master claims that, in terms of cooling, it performs similar to the 4-fan Astral solution at lower noise levels, but we don’t have those numbers. With 4,000 RPM fans running on a 600-watt heat load, Cooler Master claims a 5090 will run at about 49 degrees C or so for the GPU.

It has long been said that an organisation’s greatest asset is its people. Employees are the driving force behind innovation, customer engagement, revenue growth, and company culture. In an era where political, social, and economic climates are in constant flux, particularly with ongoing debates surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), it is more critical than ever for organisations to recognise the value of an inclusive workforce. There is a well-known saying: “When America sneezes, the rest of Europe catches a cold.” (often attributed to Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, a French diplomat from the 18th and 19th centuries). It rings particularly true today, as shifts in political and social climates challenge the notion of diversity programmes. This is evident in the recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. However, history has shown that political regimes and societal norms can change rapidly. Regardless of where one stands on these issues, the reality remains that for an organisation to thrive, its people must feel valued, supported, and included. Despite the growing focus on DEI programmes since 2020, many past initiatives have not been as effective as hoped. To move forward, the DEI industry and DEI professionals must conduct a rigorous retrospective analysis: What has worked? What hasn’t been effective? How can we improve? Without tangible metrics and data-driven insights, it becomes difficult to measure the success and impact of these initiatives, and this lack of clear outcomes may have contributed to what some define as the “backlash against DEI.” A common challenge has been the prioritisation of diversity over inclusion, leaving organisations ill-prepared to integrate diverse talent effectively. This has often resulted in short-term disruption - what change management refers to as the "storming" phase of team development - which in turn has led to team friction, a lack of belonging, and ultimately higher turnover rates among underrepresented employees. Organisations have not allowed enough time for teams to progress to the "norming" and "performing" periods in the face of high pressure to deliver results. To counter this, organisations must shift their mindset to focus on inclusion and belonging first. When a workplace fosters an inclusive culture, diverse talent is naturally welcomed, supported, and empowered to succeed. Rather than viewing differences as an obstacle, businesses must embrace them as strengths that drive innovation and growth. I often advocate for culture “add” rather than culture “fit”. As a former project and programme manager who transitioned into HR, I have witnessed firsthand the value of applying change management principles to DEI efforts. A successful change programme requires clearly defined goals, strong leadership buy-in, stakeholder engagement, a structured delivery methodology, and measurable outcomes. When these elements are absent, initiatives tend to falter. By adopting a structured, results-oriented, and data-driven approach, organisations can embed true inclusion into their core business strategy rather than treating it as a secondary initiative or a “nice to have”. It’s also important to regularly assess and reflect on what has worked, what hasn’t, and adapt and improve accordingly. In agile methodology, we call these retrospectives. Inclusion is key to successful DEI initiatives. In the past, these efforts may have created exclusion by failing to involve those who do not identify with the Equality Act's nine protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation). This has led to defensiveness and fear instead of an understanding of historical inequity. When you are accustomed to privilege, equality can feel like oppression or exclusion and so we need to focus on how we can reframe inclusion work as being beneficial to all rather than to a few. Using storytelling, education, and relatability helps onboard more allies, understanding that equity is crucial to achieve equality. Inclusion means widening opportunities for everyone rather than limiting them to a select few. A wealth of research underscores the positive impact of inclusivity on business success. According to CIPD, 70% of employees report that a strong DEI culture positively impacts their job satisfaction. Forbes also discovered that 88% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to a company that supports social and environmental causes. Additionally, employees working in inclusive environments are 50% more likely to stay with their current employer for more than three years. Just over half of UK consumers (53%) say a brand's diversity and inclusion efforts, influence their purchase decisions. In fact, brands failing to act on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion risk losing out on £102bn annual spend from marginalised groups. Boston Consulting Group’s research demonstrates that organizations with diverse leadership see 19% higher innovation revenues. Beyond traditional meritocratic arguments, one principle is clear: inclusivity must be at the heart of every business strategy. Organisations where employees feel seen, heard, and valued naturally attract a broader, more diverse talent pool. Such employees tend to be more engaged, loyal, and productive, further strengthening the organisation's overall success and their bottom line. The UK tech industry is poised for continued growth and innovation, with a focus on emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing, however there is also a need to address challenges like talent shortages and international competition to maintain its position as a global leader.  Almost 95% of employers looking for tech talent have encountered a skills shortage in 2022, according to HR and recruitment firm Hays. In today’s job market, competitive salaries alone are not enough to attract and retain top talent. Employees now prioritise benefits, flexible working arrangements, career growth opportunities, and a sense of belonging. Organisations that prioritise inclusion, equal opportunities, and adaptability will be better positioned to navigate the evolving talent landscape and sustain long-term success. Ultimately, fostering an inclusive workplace is not merely a moral obligation; it is a business imperative. Companies that prioritise inclusion are more likely to attract top diverse talent, enhance employee engagement, and drive sustainable growth. Companies that fail to create inclusive environments are setting themselves up for failure. We are seeing more and more cases of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination cases with high price tags. So, whether through loss of business, bad publicity or legal consequences, the price tag on exclusion can be staggering. Inclusion should not be seen as a separate HR initiative but as an integral part of an organisation’s DNA with all leaders owning an inclusion goal as part of their performance management. What gets measured, gets done! However, this can only happen if leaders and managers understand what inclusion truly means and they recognise that a diversity of voices, experiences and opinions will benefit their teams rather than hinder them. The future of work is about more than just employment—it is about providing opportunities for people to live, support their families, and achieve personal and professional growth. A poll, conducted by Ipsos for PA Mediapoint, indicates widespread support among the British public for key workplace DEI drives, including flexible working (71%), gender pay gap reporting (65%), and inclusivity training (64%). People care about wellbeing, inclusion and culture, which is why it is so important that organisations create workplaces where everyone is valued, empowered, and given the chance to succeed. True prosperity comes from ensuring that every individual, regardless of background and differences, can flourish. So, Inclusion does matter, particularly if you value creating a positive work environment that benefits employees, impacts the bottom line, and ensures everyone feels included rather than excluded. Read more about DEI in tech A lack of work-life balance and discrimination are among the biggest challenges for women in tech, finds Lorien When asked their opinions on the growing use of AI, girls expressed concerns about possible biases it will perpetuate, while boys were worried about cyber security

Adobe Photoshop was released for iOS in February, and now the popular image editing program is available in a beta version for Android. Users will have access to most of the features in the desktop version, though some tools are hidden until you might need them, according to Ars Technica. Notably, filters are absent, but users do get a number of AI features that make it easy to delete unwanted objects from an image or create content from a text prompt. To use the app, a user must first create an Adobe account and have a mobile phone running Android 11 or later. As long as the app is classified as a beta version, it’s free to use; expect some features to go behind a paywall eventually.

NookNinja Member Jan 15, 2025 504 tokyo Switch 2 is hype. hype season is here. God knows that I am more hyped about this than anyone. But there is one section of the hardware I feel they really fucked up The damn Joycon trofts on sides of the tablet are colored. WHY Should have been like this man, i swear to god. what the hell were they thinking? I buy all the joycon colors. What are they going to do? make a green joycon with blue and red inside?! WHAT THE FUCK. my OCD is not ready for this.. I legit might not buy more joycon because of this.  Wrexis Member Nov 4, 2017 29,759 NookNinja said: Should have been like this man, i swear to god. what the hell were they thinking? Click to expand... Click to shrink... "The blue one goes in the blue slot, the red one goes in the red slot." I can see why they did it.  OhhEldenRing Member Aug 14, 2024 2,964 Maybe they'll have a plain grey Switch2 at some point like the OG and absent the joy con. I suspect those internal colours are specific to the joy cons they are packaged with. Still doesn't solve your problem lol  PapaJustify Member Nov 3, 2017 1,325 Germany What if they are not selling new colors seperately anymore but only in a Switch 2 bundle with the matching color on the device? Or they do sell seperately but you have to live with matching a green Joy-Con insert with a blue port on your Switch 2.  Aleh Member Oct 27, 2017 20,211 It's silly but annoying yeah. At least it won't be a real issue since you can't see the mismatch when they're attached   Liam Allen-Miller Member Nov 2, 2017 8,037 Shibuya NookNinja said: [...] I buy all the joycon colors. What are they going to do? make a green joycon with blue and red inside?! WHAT THE FUCK. my OCD is not ready for this.. I legit might not buy more joycon because of this. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Well, I don't want to tell you what to do with your money, but maybe not having to buy every color Joy-Con isn't such a bad thing! :P Real talk I have to imagine future units will have different color schemes. When I was looking at the demo unit at my local Bic Camera I was thinking the same thing, that it was an odd choice.  Pentagon Member Mar 14, 2025 73 Much like themes, you're going to get two colours the whole generation and you're going to like it, dammit!   Dukie85 Chicken Chaser Member Oct 25, 2017 3,165 NookNinja said: Switch 2 is hype. hype season is here. God knows that I am more hyped about this than anyone. But there is one section of the hardware I feel they really fucked up The damn Joycon trofts on sides of the tablet are colored. WHY Should have been like this man, i swear to god. what the hell were they thinking? I buy all the joycon colors. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Peer, is that you?   SixelAlexiS Member Oct 27, 2017 9,267 Italy NookNinja said: Switch 2 is hype. hype season is here. God knows that I am more hyped about this than anyone. But there is one section of the hardware I feel they really fucked up The damn Joycon trofts on sides of the tablet are colored. WHY Should have been like this man, i swear to god. what the hell were they thinking? I buy all the joycon colors. What are they going to do? make a green joycon with blue and red inside?! WHAT THE FUCK. my OCD is not ready for this.. I legit might not buy more joycon because of this. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I'm more annoyed by the first image not working :P   Shahadan Member Oct 27, 2017 5,620 Bluer and Redder edition Or they will color the black part and leave the blue and red for maximum ugliness. Or better yet they change the inner colors but release a switch 2 model with matching trofts, each time. You'll have to buy them all  KaladinSB Member Oct 27, 2017 844 They have the PLUS and MINUS indicator so the inner plastic doesn't have to color match. You'd only have to push through the agony for a few seconds when you see the green joycon going in or out of the blue slot or train yourself to do it blindfolded.   OP OP NookNinja Member Jan 15, 2025 504 tokyo i hate that there is color on the inside of the grooves. infuriating. It will bother me every time I put something that doesnt match it on there. WHY   OP OP NookNinja Member Jan 15, 2025 504 tokyo Liam Allen-Miller said: Well, I don't want to tell you what to do with your money, but maybe not having to buy every color Joy-Con isn't such a bad thing! :P Real talk I have to imagine future units will have different color schemes. When I was looking at the demo unit at my local Bic Camera I was thinking the same thing, that it was an odd choice. Click to expand... Click to shrink... but what if they make green ones? or red? I'll need purple ones and Yellow.. Real talk? What if they do a dpad one. PLEASE GOD.  Delaney Member Oct 25, 2017 3,947 Maybe the joycons this time around do something like the Chroma Dualsenses while keeping the blue-orange inside.   OP OP NookNinja Member Jan 15, 2025 504 tokyo Delaney said: Maybe the joycons this time around do something like the Chroma Dualsenses while keeping the blue-orange inside. Click to expand... Click to shrink... So every joycon 2 has to have some element of blue and red? so lame   Duffking Member Oct 27, 2017 6,799 They'll make pure blue/red ones and sell them to you for extra in 6 months.   Killyoh Member Oct 28, 2017 1,809 Paris, France   Windrunner Sly Member Oct 25, 2017 7,836 Calm down, it's not that serious.  

Architectural education is an important part of becoming an architect. It provides a foundation in art and architectural history, basic concepts of design, and foundational technical knowledge. It promotes critical thinking, examines social and economic complexities, and encourages creativity and teamwork. I may be biased, but I believe the camaraderie and pride that are part of architectural students’ design studio experience are unmatched by any other educational program.    In this issue of the AIA Canada Journal, Pauline Thimm, Hannah Allawi and I reached out to schools of architecture from across the country. Our conversations centred on research themes in today’s design studios, with a focus on housing affordability. Students and faculties are actively engaging in challenging the status quo on the shortage of housing. It takes a village to derive plausible solutions—and schools of architecture across the country are united in bringing their voices and minds to this pressing issue. In a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)-supported partnership, AIA Canada Society is also actively participating in research on designing inclusive, sustainable and healthy cities.  We want to thank all the educators who took time to speak with us and provide their invaluable insights.  -Dora Ng, AIA Canada Society President Rick Haldenby Professor, School of Architecture, University of Waterloo Rick Haldenby, FRAIC, served as Director of the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo from 1988 to 2013, and founded the Waterloo Rome Program in 1979. Among many accomplishments, Haldenby was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2021, and has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Council of University Schools of Architecture, the Special Jury Prize at the Kitchener Waterloo Arts Awards, and the Dr. Jean Steckle Award for Heritage Education from the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation. Q: Kitchener-Waterloo is known as a university town that is home to top Ontario post-secondary institutions. Tell us a bit about the twin cities. A: The Waterloo Region’s industrial development began with the arrival of German-speaking immigrants in the 19th century. Its cities were literally “founded on factories.” Its prosperity was influenced by a rail-based transport system. In the late 19th century, the extension of the Grand Trunk Railway contributed to the industrialization of the area. In the 1950s, visionary community leaders made concerted efforts to build educational infrastructure, and in just a few years created the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College. The region experienced significant growth in manufacturing industries, insurance companies, and high-tech businesses over time. Home to two universities and a college, it is an education hub that attracts talents and businesses, which increases the demand for housing for students and families. The once-suburban neighbourhood of Northdale, surrounded by these post-secondary institutions, saw a surge in student population in the early 2000s, including a large percentage of international students. We saw a building boom to increase medium-density housing like stacked townhomes and row houses, as well as taller buildings up to 30+ stories in what was once a primarily low-density town. Q:  Like the building boom in Waterloo, we saw many residential high-rises going up in the GTA, but this growth still does not adequately address housing demand. In many cities across Canada, there are unprecedented housing issues including affordability and homelessness. What do you see emerging as key areas of interest and inquiry among students at your school? Is housing one of them? A: Connection between affordability and homelessness is not a one-to-one problem. The housing crisis can have many dimensions. In our undergraduate design studios, we are laying the groundwork for approaches to affordability, environmental responsibility and social justice. Many of my colleagues and graduate students at the University of Waterloo are involved in various research studies, exhibitions and campaigns, including the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. We also try to keep a balance to cover diverse topics in architecture, including housing. Second- and third-year design studios focus on urban intensification amid the building boom, enabling students to discuss ideas for keeping cities habitable and attractive for future growth. Design studios have also worked with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity to support the ambitious program to build affordable housing for families in need. In partnership with the City of Cambridge, Waterloo architecture students designed and built tiny homes as prototypes for emergency shelter. Photo courtesy University of Waterloo Q: Any examples of collaboration between studio projects and practicing professionals in tackling the housing crisis? A: Through collaboration and communication with the community, the School of Architecture has engaged with social housing agencies, municipality planning authorities, Indigenous groups and aging-in-place consultants to develop housing solutions for a diverse population including seniors. Moving the School of Architecture from Waterloo to Cambridge in 2004 was a communal project with great support from the City of Cambridge. Occupying the repurposed silk mill in Cambridge, the school aims to be the design campus for the city to allow exchange of creative ideas and intellectual stimulation. Since the move, we have had many opportunities to collaborate and work closely with the municipality. The Tiny Homes project is an initiative in partnership with the City of Cambridge, whereby Waterloo architecture students were engaged to design and build prototype tiny homes that offer practical, cost-effective and dignified emergency housing solutions. It is an example of collaboration that makes a meaningful difference.  Photo by Danielle Sneesby Shauna Mallory-Hill Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba Shauna Mallory-Hill, PhD, is currently Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Research at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture. Her 25-year-long career spans teaching, research and advocacy, with a focus on building systems, universal and sustainable design, as well as building performance evaluation. Her sponsored research includes accessible design, along with post-occupancy work on how sustainably designed environments impact human health and productivity. Q: How is The University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture (FAUM) specifically engaging in design explorations addressing housing?  A: In addition to hosting public events and delivering focused design studios, we are actively engaged and support research collaborations including funded research with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). We are also committed to partnering and working with communities.    In 2022, U of M professor Lancelot Coar’s undergraduate studio engaged with One House Many Nations to develop a mobile design and construction trailer for on-site design-build work. Photo by Lancelot Coar One House Many Nations (OHMN) originally started as a grassroots movement to shed light on the housing crisis faced by Indigenous communities.  For the past four years, OHMN, led by Dr. Alex Wilson and Sylvia McAdam, has been working with faculty and students from FAUM, houseless First Nations youth, and students at Saskatoon’s Nutana Collegiate to design and construct small, affordable homes that are trucked to remote Indigenous communities in Northern Saskatchewan. After a house is delivered, it is occupied by one of the youth participants. Each year, another house is built, informed by post-occupancy data that was collected on the previous year’s house(s).  First Nations youth participants have learned to advocate for community needs while gaining skills and knowledge about home-building and maintenance.  Lancelot Coar’s 2022 undergraduate architecture studio engaged with OHMN to create a mobile design lab that can be brought onsite to design-build in First Nations communities. OHMN’s work was exhibited at the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2023.    Q: What are key areas of interest and inquiry among students at your school? Is housing one of them?  A: We are seeing that this generation is increasingly concerned about what is happening to the world—concerns about sustainability, housing, and food deserts are paramount. Students want to work on things that are meaningful. Students also really embrace hands-on learning. Any time students are encouraged and supported to engage with community, they feel like they are making a difference.     Here in Winnipeg, we can all see the encampments of the unhoused. It is apparent that there is work to do to solve this dilemma.This past year, one of our housing-themed studios worked with a local grassroots organization, St. Boniface Street Links, in the design and construction of a prototype transitional house as a safer interim housing solution. This housing project ultimately was built and included as part of the annual Warming Huts design competition at the Forks. Q: Are there any barriers to collaborating in this way, involving practitioners and real community groups? A: We often get groups who approach us to collaborate. We need to be clear that we are not providing a design service, but we are committed to the exploration of ideas and working together on important problems.     It is important to me that doing housing research work in collaboration with Indigenous communities is respectful, responsible and reciprocal. Ensuring that some benefit of the research stays with the community is crucial, given the long history of research involving Indigenous populations where this did not happen. A willingness to listen and understand community priorities and context—and adapt—is key.  It can be difficult for some to have enough capacity to deal with added administration (meetings, paperwork, report writing, etc.); a local liaison is helpful.  The Wîkiwin student-built house is part of an ongoing collaboration with Kawéchiwasik Development Corporation at York Factory First Nation. Photo by Shauna Mallory-Hill Q: Some of your current research and design work is supported by the CMHC Housing Supply Challenge. Can you tell us a bit about that project?  A: The CMHC funding in part supports the Wîkiwin Training Enterprise of York Factory First Nation project, geared to building healthy homes by leveraging local resources and tradespeople in collaboration with the Kawéchiwasik Development Corporation. The purpose is to provide design education and construction skills in the northern communities where they are needed. A key goal is that kids won’t need to leave their communities to get skills, and communities can develop capacity to increase their self-sufficiency.    In collaboration with FAUM, the project will include a comprehensive education model based on a co-created curriculum, training programs, housing designs and research on building materials. Students earn micro-credentials through distance education to get basic training in design and construction, or have the opportunity to work as research assistants to assist with collection of data, such as indoor air quality.     Focusing on sustainable construction techniques, using local materials like stone and wood, the initiative promises to employ residents, cut production costs, and enhance housing quality. Additionally, the creation of a year-round skilled trades school facility and housing for students and teachers will boost the local labour force.    Stage 2 of the project involves the building of the Wîkiwin skilled trades training and research facility and dormitory. This phase will also see the expansion of the educational curriculum in partnership with the University of Manitoba, ultimately increasing the labour force capacity of York Factory First Nation and creating more opportunities for its youth.  Sasha Tsenkova Professor of Planning and Director of the Cities, Policy & Planning Lab at the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape (SAPL), University of Calgary Sasha Tsenkova, PhD, is a professor at the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape at the University of Calgary. With a background in architecture, urbanism, and planning, her work spans over 30 years of research, teaching, and professional practice, focusing on creating more inclusive and sustainable urban environments. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada/Academy of Social Sciences. Q: Major cities across Canada are seeing unprecedented housing issues. As an educator, what have you seen in research or studio projects that tackle these issues?    A: We are a nation of suburban homeowners, where much of the wealth creation in the urban system is driven by investment in housing. Today, income and wealth inequality in Canadian cities is higher than ever before, which is exacerbated by the suburban homeownership model. In cities, newcomers to the housing market—young and old—face incredible affordability constraints. Homelessness has grown exponentially and homeownership is not within the reach of the middle class. In the design world, we must begin to address, through systemic intervention, these challenges. Many of our research and studio projects focus on sustainable urbanism through designs  that explore strategies to provide affordable homes across the income spectrum and embrace different types of housing.      We cannot continue to replicate a model of postwar city building that no longer serves the needs of the people. We encourage students to learn from successful cities in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, where a more systematic approach to neighbourhood design and redevelopment allows various types of housing to be built along the same street within a community. This is a different approach to growth premised on urban regeneration and intensification, where people come before cars and community identity evolves over time.   Q: Any examples of collaboration between studio projects and practicing professionals in tackling the housing crisis?  A: We focus on community-engaged scholarship, research and teaching at SAPL. Integration with communities of practice is necessary, but so is a direct relationship with clients, so that we situate our studio projects in the real-world. The housing crisis is multi-faceted and future professionals need to be aware of the complexity of design intervention—solutions require a nexus of policy, planning and design approaches. In a graduate school, we must prepare aspiring designers, architects and planners to embrace these challenges.      The interface with critical practice is the ultimate test for us to remain relevant and committed to innovation and excellence within the realm of what we can control. Studio teaching needs to address housing affordability in a systematic way, as it will make a critical difference within Canadian society and will define the future of our cities. This requires a much stronger emphasis on sustainable urbanism and community-based projects.  Q: What policies do you feel cities in Canada should create or address to aid in addressing the housing crisis and homelessness?  A: The planning regulation, upzoning, and permitting processes can be improved to enhance infill housing, gentle density and inner-city intensification. Recognizing that cities and neighbourhoods need to be built for people and not for cars requires a focus on transit-oriented development in strategic locations where low-density retail, industrial and housing sites can be redeveloped to become mixed-use urban villages with a variety of housing types. Changes to minimum parking standards and lot coverage can energize the infusion of missing middle housing to create opportunities for multi-generational living, cohousing and home sharing with renters. But the real difference in addressing the homelessness and affordability crisis is the renewed investment into affordable housing through partnerships of federal, provincial and municipal governments with non-profit organizations. We need to grow this segment of the housing market and to make sure that it is an integral part of our urban neighbourhoods through the design process. Q: What role do you think schools of architecture and design have in tackling the housing crisis in Canada?  A: We need to make a major commitment to building knowledge and capacity that focuses on solutions to the housing crisis in our curriculum. Design thinking is premised on innovation; it is part of the competency, creativity and collaboration that we try to instill in future professionals. Architects today are absent from the design of neighbourhoods on the periphery of our cities. We need to bring back that creativity and the knowledge of architects, planners, and designers, and develop the prototypes that will provide solutions to the housing crisis.     SAPL is moving downtown so that we can be a part of downtown rebuilding and innovation. Our adaptive reuse of existing office space in Calgary’s downtown will provide opportunities to connect to local businesses and residents and offer immersion in city life that is critical for our students. Our school will be a living urban design lab, where we embrace social justice, community-inspired design work and collaborate with different communities of practice to demonstrate viable solutions for changing cities and changing societies.   Sara Stevens Associate Professor & Chair – Urban Design at the School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture (SALA), University of British Columbia Sara Stevens is an architectural historian and Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her book Developing Expertise (Yale University Press, 2016) studies real estate development in 20th-century American cities. She is a member of the collective Architects Against Housing Alienation, curators of the Canada Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Q:  Major cities across Canada are seeing unprecedented housing issues (affordability issues and homelessness). As an educator, what have you seen in research or studio projects that tackle these issues?  A: There are so many great examples of design studios in Canada that are looking at housing challenges, such as the ‘Not for Sale’ study abroad course on contemporary housing that recently won the ACSA’s 2024 Architectural Education Award. McGill has a long history of housing research with the Minimum Cost Housing Group, which was the subject of a recent exhibition curated by Ipek Türeli. The work of Shawn Bailey and Lancelot Coar at the University of Manitoba is bringing really innovative pedagogy to the question of housing for Indigenous communities to design schools.  Q: Any examples of collaboration between studio projects and practicing professionals in tackling the housing crisis?  A: At UBC, questions around missing middle housing brought forth a collaboration between Haeccity Studio Architects and UBC students that resulted in a publication of the students’ work, co-sponsored by SALA and the Urbanarium, an organization in Vancouver that is a forum for sharing ideas about city building, particularly around climate change and housing affordability. The Urbananium’s design competitions have focused on missing middle housing, mixed-use neighbourhoods, and the codes and regulations that are barriers to housing affordability. Their current competition, Decoding Timber Towers, is focused on prefab and mass timber housing.  Q: What policies do you feel cities in Canada should create or address to aid in the housing crisis and homelessness?  A: I think that Canada needs to take UNDRIP and the TRC Calls to Action seriously. We can’t separate the issue of housing for Indigenous people, and the history of colonization that it’s part of, from the housing challenges everyone else faces. The United Nations Housing as a Human Right work is a great resource on this, as their work also points to the problems of financialization and the effect this has had on renters, social housing, and un-housed folks.  The Land Back Courtyard was part of the Not For Sale exhibition at the Canada Pavilion in the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Photo by Maris Mezulis Q: What role do you think schools of architecture and design have in tackling the housing crisis in Canada? A: Schools of architecture and design can play an important role by educating students about the role of architects in the housing crisis in Canada. We need the next generation of architects to understand that they have a part to play. It’s not an issue that can be solved through policy and the market alone: their expertise in design, which of course touches policy and works with the private sector, is inherently part of this issue.     To develop deeper conversations around this, I am working with collaborators in the collective Architects Against Housing Alienation to organize a super-studio across Canada for the next school year (25-26) called “End Housing Alienation Now!” that is inviting all schools of architecture to run studios on a shared set of themes and principles. (This builds off of the exhibition and campaign we did for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, which the teaching award I mentioned is also related to.) We have commitments from almost all the schools already, and have hosted a number of conversations with people from the schools to develop how this will work, balancing what is shared vs. independent, the different schedules and levels of students, etc.      For these studios, one ambition is that the studios work with local activists, advocates, and professional practices to show students how important these kinds of collaborations can be, and how important embedded local knowledge is. We hope to share resources and create opportunities for students to connect across geographies to ensure that many, many people with lots of passion and expertise are focused on this topic.     As appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine  The post AIA Canada Journal: Canadian educators on housing affordability appeared first on Canadian Architect.

The housing catalogue includes 50 low-rise home designs, including for garden suites, duplexes, four-plexes and six-plexes. Each design was developed by local architecture and engineering teams with the intent of aligning with regional building codes, planning rules, climate zones, construction methods and materials. TEXT John Lorinc RENDERINGS Office In Search Of During the spring election, the Liberals leaned into messaging that evoked a historic moment from the late 1940s, when Ottawa succeeded in confronting a severe housing crisis.  “We used to build things in this country,” begins Prime Minister Mark Carney in a nostalgic ad filled with archival images of streets lined with brand new post-World War II “strawberry box” bungalows, built for returning Canadian soldiers and their young families.  The video also includes montages from the now-iconic design “catalogues,” published by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). These supplied floor plans and unlocked cheap mortgages for tens of thousands of simple suburban houses found in communities across the country. “The government built prefabricated homes that were easy to assemble and inexpensive,” Carney said in the voice-over. “And those homes are still here.”  Over the past year, CMHC has initiated a 21st century re-do of that design catalogue, and the first tranche of 50 plans—for garden suites, duplexes, four-plexes and six-plexes—went live in early March. A second tranche, with plans for small apartments, is under development.  Unlike the postwar versions, these focus on infill sites, not green fields. One of CMHC’s goals is to promote so-called gentle density to residential properties with easily constructed plans that reflect regional variations, local zoning and building-code regulations, accessibility features and low-carbon design. As with those postwar catalogues, CMHC’s other goal was to tamp down on soft costs for homeowners or small builders looking to develop these kinds of housing by providing no-cost designs that were effectively permit sets. The early reviews are generally positive. “I find the design really very compelling in a kind of understated way,” says SvN principal Sam Dufaux. By making available vetted plans that can be either pre-approved or approved as of right, CMHC will remove some of the friction that impedes this scale of housing. “One of the elements of the housing crisis has to do with how do we approve these kinds of projects,” Dufaux adds. “I’m hoping it is a bit of a new beginning.” Yet other observers offer cautions about the extent to which the CMHC program can blunt the housing crisis. “It’s a small piece and a positive one,” says missing middle advocate and economist Mike Moffatt, who is executive in residence at the Smart Prosperity Institute and an assistant professor at Western’s Ivey Business School. “But [it’s] one that probably captures a disproportionate amount of attention because it’s something people can visualize in a way that they can’t with an apartment tax credit.” This kind of new-build infill is unlikely to provide much in the way of affordable or deeply affordable housing, adds Carolyn Whitzman, housing and social policy researcher, and author of Home Truths: Fixing Canada’s Housing Crisis (UBC Press, 2024). She estimates Canada needs about three million new dwellings that can be rented for $1,000 per month or less. The policies that will enable new housing at that scale, she says, involve financing subsidies, publicly owned land, and construction innovation, e.g., prefabricated or factory-built components, as well as “consistent and permissive zoning and consistent and permissive building codes.”  Indeed, the make-or-break question hovering over CMHC’s design catalogue is whether municipalities will green-light these plans or simply find new ways to hold up approvals.   An axonometric of a rowhouse development from the Housing Catalogue, designed for Alberta. A team effort Janna Levitt, partner at LGA Architectural Partners, says that when CMHC issued an RFP for the design catalogue, her firm decided to pitch a team of architects and peer reviewers from across Canada, with LGA serving as project manager. After they were selected, Levitt says they had to quickly clarify a key detail, which was the assumption that the program could deliver pre-approved, permit-ready plans absent a piece of property to build on. “Even in 1947,” she says, “it wasn’t a permit set until you had a site.” LGA’s team and CMHC agreed to expand the scope of the assignment so that the finished product wasn’t just a catalogue of plans but also included details about local regulations and typical lot sizes. Re-Housing co-founder Michael Piper, an associate professor at U of T’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, came on board to carry out research on similar programs, and found initiatives in places like Georgia, Indiana and Texas. “I have not found any that moved forward,” he says. “Canada’s national design catalogue is pretty novel in that regard, which is exciting.” The noteworthy exceptions are California, which has made significant advances in recent years in pre-approving ADUs across the state, and British Columbia, which last fall released its own standardized design catalogue.  He also carried out a scan of land use and zoning rules in Ontario for 15 to 20 municipalities. “We looked to see [what] their zoning permitted and what the rules were, and as you might expect, they’re all over the place,” he says. “Hence the challenge with the standardized design.” At present, high-level overviews for the 50 designs are available, including basic floor plans, 3D axonometrics, and building dimensions. Full architectural design packages are expected to be released later this year. Levitt says the architects on the team set out to come up with designs that used wood frame construction, had no basements (to save on cost and reduce embodied carbon), and drew on vernacular architectural styles. They researched representative lot sizes in the various regions, and configured designs to suit small, medium and large properties. Some versions have accessibility features—CMHC’s remit included both accessible units and aging-in-place as objectives—or can be adapted later on.  As for climate and energy efficiency considerations, the recommended materials include low-carbon components and cladding. The designs do reflect geographical variations, but Levitt says there’s only so much her team could do in terms of energy modelling. “How do you do heat energy calculations when you don’t have a site? You don’t have north, south, east, west [orientations] and you don’t have what zone are you in. In B.C. and Ontario, there are seven climatic regions. There was a lot of working through those kinds of very practical requirements, which were very complicated and actually fed into the design work quite significantly.” As Levitt adds, “in 1947, there were no heat loss models because the world wasn’t like that.” LGA provided the architects on the team with templates for interior elements, such as bathrooms, as well as standards for features such as bedroom sizes, dining areas, storage sufficient to hold strollers, and access to outdoor space, either at grade or via a balcony. “We gathered together these ideas about the quality of life that we wanted baked into each of the designs, so that [they] expressed a really good quality of life—modest but good quality,” she says. “It’s not about the finishes. People had to be able to live there and live there well.” “This isn’t a boutique home solution,” Whitzman says. “This is a cheap and mass-produced solution. And compared to other cheap and mass-produced solutions, whether they be condos or suburban subdivisions, [the catalogue designs] look fine to my untrained eye.” A selection of Housing Catalogue designs for the Atlantic region. Will it succeed?  With the plans now public, the other important variables, besides their conformity with local bylaws, have to do with cost and visibility to potential users, including homeowners, contractors and developers specializing in smaller-scale projects.  On the costing side, N. Barry Lyons Consultants (NBLC) has been retained by CMHC to develop models to accompany the design catalogue, but those figures have yet to be released. While pricing is inevitably dynamic, the calculus behind the entire exercise turns on whether the savings on design outlays and the use of prefabricated components will make such small-scale projects pencil, particularly at a time when there are live concerns about tariffs, skilled labour shortages, and supply chain interruptions on building materials.  Finally, there’s the horse-to-water problem. While the design catalogue has received a reasonable amount of media attention since it launched, does CMHC need to find ways to market it more aggressively? “From my experience,” says Levitt, “they are extremely proactive, and have assembled a kind of dream team with a huge range of experience and expertise. They are doing very concerted and deep work with municipalities across the country.” Proper promotion, observes Moffatt, “is going to be important in particular, just for political reasons. The prime minister has made a lot of bold promises about [adding] 500,000 homes.” Carney’s pledge to get Canada back into building will take time to ramp up, he adds. “I do think the federal government needs to visibly show progress, and if they can’t point to a [new] building across the road, they could at least [say], `We’ve got this design catalogue. Here’s how it works. We’ve already got so many builders and developers looking at this.’”  While it’s far too soon to draw conclusions about the success of this ambitious program, Levitt is well aware of the long and rich legacy of the predecessor CMHC catalogues from the late 40s and the 1950s, all of which gave many young Canadian architects their earliest commissions and then left an enduring aesthetic on countless communities across Canada.   She hopes the updated 21st-century catalogue—fitted out as it is for 21st-century concerns about carbon, resilience and urban density—will acquire a similar cachet.  “These are architecturally designed houses for a group of people across the country who will have never lived in an architecturally designed house,” she muses. “I would love it if, 80 years from now, the consistent feedback [from occupants] was that they were able to live generously and well in those houses, and that everything was where it should be.” ARCHITECTURE FIRM COLLABORATORS Michael Green Architecture, Dub Architects, 5468796 Architecture Inc, Oxbow Architecture, LGA Architectural Partners, KANVA Architecture, Abbott Brown Architects, Taylor Architecture Group  As appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine  The post A housing design catalogue for the 21st century appeared first on Canadian Architect.

ExpressVPN is good at its job. It's easy to be skeptical of any service with a knack for self-promotion, but don't let ExpressVPN's hype distract you from the fact that it keeps its front-page promise of "just working." Outside of solid security, the two best things ExpressVPN offers are fast speeds and a simple interface. Our tests showed only a 7% average drop in download speed and a 2% loss of upload speed, worldwide. And while the lack of extra features may frustrate experienced users, it makes for a true set-and-forget VPN on any platform. This isn't to say ExpressVPN is without flaws — it's nearly bereft of customization options and it's notably more expensive than its competition — but it beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup. For this review, we followed our rigorous 10-step VPN testing process, exploring ExpressVPN's security, privacy, speed, interfaces and more. Whether you read straight through or skip to the sections that are most important for you, you should come away with all the information you need to decide whether to subscribe. Editors' note: We're in the process of rebooting all of our VPN reviews from scratch. Once we do a fresh pass on the top services, we'll be updating each review with a rating and additional comparative information. Table of contents Findings at a glance Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks How much does ExpressVPN cost? ExpressVPN side apps and bundles Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location? Investigating ExpressVPN's server network Extra features of ExpressVPN ExpressVPN customer support options ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies Final verdict Findings at a glance Category Notes Installation and UI All interfaces are clean and minimalist, with no glitches and not enough depth to get lost in Windows and Mac clients are similar in both setup and general user experience Android and iOS are likewise almost identical, but Android has a nice-looking dark mode Speed Retains a worldwide average of 93% of starting download speeds Upload speeds average 98% of starting speeds Latency rises with distance, but global average stayed under 300 ms in tests Security OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Lightway VPN protocols all use secure ciphers Packet-sniffing test showed working encryption We detected no IP leaks Blocks IPv6 and WebRTC by default to prevent leaks Pricing Base price: $12.95 per month or $99.95 per year Lowest prepaid rate: $4.99 per month Can save money by paying for 28 months in advance, but only once per account 30-day money-back guarantee Bundles ExpressVPN Keys password manager and ID alerts included on all plans Dedicated IP addresses come at an extra price ID theft insurance, data removal and credit scanning available to new one-year and two-year subscribers for free 1GB eSIM deal included through holiday.com Privacy policy No storage of connection logs or device logs permitted The only risky exceptions are personal account data (which doesn't leave the ExpressVPN website) and marketing data (which the policy says should be anonymized) An independent audit found that ExpressVPN's RAM-only server infrastructure makes it impossible to keep logs Virtual location change Successfully unblocked five international Netflix libraries, succeeding on 14 out of 15 attempts Server network 164 server locations in 105 countries 38% of servers are virtual, though most virtual locations are accessed through physical servers within 1,000 miles A large number of locations in South America, Africa and central Asia Features Simple but effective kill switch Can block ads, trackers, adult sites and/or malware sites but blocklists can't be customized Split tunneling is convenient but unavailable on iOS and modern Macs Aircove is the best VPN router, albeit expensive Customer support Setup and troubleshooting guides are organized and useful, with lots of screenshots and videos Live chat starts with a bot but you can get to a person within a couple minutes Email tickets are only accessible from the mobile apps or after live chat has failed Background check Founded in 2009; based in the British Virgin Islands Has never been caught selling or mishandling user data Turkish police seized servers in 2017 but couldn't find any logs of user activity Owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and Private Internet Access A previous CIO formerly worked on surveillance in the United Arab Emirates; no evidence of shady behavior during his time at ExpressVPN Windows Version 12 leaked some DNS requests when Split Tunneling was active Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN This section focuses on how it feels to use ExpressVPN on each of the major platforms where it's available. The first step for any setup process is to make an account on expressvpn.com and buy a subscription. Windows Once subscribed, download the Windows VPN from either expressvpn.com or the Microsoft Store, then open the .exe file. Click "Yes" to let it make changes, wait for the install, then let your computer reboot. Including the reboot, the whole process takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To finish, you'll need your activation code, which you can find by going to expressvpn.com and clicking "Setup" in the top-right corner. You can install ExpressVPN's Windows app from the Microsoft store, but we found the website more convenient. Sam Chapman for Engadget Extreme simplicity is the watchword for all ExpressVPN's designs. The Windows client's launch panel consists of three buttons and less than ten words. You can change your location or let the app pick a location for you — the "Smart Location" is the server with the best combination of being nearby and unburdened. Everything else is crammed into the hamburger menu at the top left. Here, in seven tabs, you'll find the Network Lock kill switch, the four types of content blockers, the split tunneling menu and the option to change your VPN protocol. You can also add shortcuts to various websites, useful if you regularly use your VPN for the same online destinations. To sum up, there's almost nothing here to get in the way: no delays, no snags, no nested menus to get lost in. It may be the world's most ignorable VPN client. That's not a bad thing at all. Mac ExpressVPN's app for macOS is almost identical in design to its Windows app. The process for downloading and setting it up is nearly the same too. As on Windows, it can be downloaded from the App Store or sideloaded directly from the expressvpn.com download center. Only a few features are missing and a couple others have been added. Split tunneling is gone (unless you're still on a macOS lower than 11), and you won't see the Lightway Turbo setting. ExpressVPN recommends some servers, but it's easy to search the whole list. Sam Chapman for Engadget Mac users do gain access to the IKEv2 protocol, along with the option to turn off automatic IPv6 blocking — Windows users have to leave it blocked at all times. Almost every website is still accessible via IPv4, but it's useful if you do need to access a specific IPv6 address while the VPN is active. Android Android users can download ExpressVPN through the Google Play Store. Open the app, sign in and you're ready to go. The Android app has a very nice dark-colored design, only slightly marred by an unnecessary information box about how long you've used the VPN this week. ExpressVPN's Android app puts a little more information on the screen than it needs to, but still runs well. Sam Chapman for Engadget There's a large button for connecting. Clicking on the server name takes you to a list of locations. On this list, you can either search or scroll and can choose individual locations within a country that has more than one. We connected to as many far-flung server locations as we could, but not a single one took longer than a few seconds. The options menu is organized sensibly, with no option located more than two clicks deep. You will see a couple of options here that aren't available on desktop, the best of which is the ability to automatically connect to your last-used ExpressVPN server whenever your phone connects to a non-trusted wifi network. There are also a few general security tools: an IP address checker, DNS and WebRTC leak testers and a password generator. These are also available on the website, but here, they're built into the app. With the exception of the latter, we'd recommend using third-party testing tools instead — even a VPN with integrity has an incentive to make its own app look like it's working. iPhone and iPad You can only install ExpressVPN's iOS app through the app store. During setup, you may need to enter your password to allow your phone to use VPN configurations. Otherwise, there are no major differences from the Android process. ExpressVPN looks good on iPhone and iPad. Sam Chapman for Engadget The interface is not quite as pleasing as the dark-mode Android app, but it makes up for that by cutting out some of the clutter. The tabs and features are similar, though split tunneling and shortcuts are absent. Also, both mobile apps make customer support a lot more accessible than their desktop counterparts — plus, mobile is the only way to send email support tickets. Browser extension ExpressVPN also includes browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These let you connect, disconnect and change server locations without leaving your browser window. It's nice, but not essential unless you have a very specific web browser flow you like. ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages Connecting to a VPN almost always decreases your speed, but the best VPNs mitigate the drop as much as possible. We used Ookla's speed testing app to see how much of your internet speed ExpressVPN preserves. For this test, we emphasized the locations ExpressVPN uses for most of its virtual servers, including the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and Singapore. Some terms before we start: Latency, measured in milliseconds (ms), is the time it takes one data packet to travel between your device and a web server through the VPN. Latency increases with distance. It's most important for real-time tasks like video chatting and online gaming. Download speed, measured in megabits per second (Mbps), is the amount of information that can download onto your device at one time — such as when loading a web page or streaming a video. Upload speed, also measured in Mbps, is the amount of information your device can send to the web at once. It's most important for torrenting, since the amount of data you can seed determines how fast you can download in exchange. The table below shows our results. We conducted this on Windows, using the automatic protocol setting with the Lightway Turbo feature active — a recent ExpressVPN addition that keeps speed more consistent by processing connections in parallel. Server location Latency (ms) Increase factor Download speed (Mbps) Percentage dropoff Upload speed (Mbps) Percentage dropoff Portland, Oregon, USA (unprotected) 18 -- 58.77 -- 5.70 -- Seattle, Washington, USA (best server) 26 1.4x 54.86 6.7% 5.52 3.2% New York, NY, USA 156 8.7x 57.25 2.6% 5.57 2.3% Amsterdam, Netherlands 306 17x 53.83 8.4% 5.58 2.1% São Paulo, Brazil 371 20.6x 53.82 8.4% 5.65 0.9% Frankfurt, Germany 404 22.4x 55.71 5.2% 5.67 0.5% Singapore, Singapore 381 21.2x 52.76 10.2% 5.64 1.0% Average 274 15.2x 54.71 6.9% 5.61 1.6% These are extremely good results. ExpressVPN is a winner on both download and upload speed. No matter where we went in the world, we never lost more than about 7% of our download speeds, and upload lost an astoundingly low average of 2%. This suggests that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its user load between servers to eliminate bottlenecks. This Ookla speedtest shows you can still get fast internet while connected to ExpressVPN -- our unprotected speeds are around 58 Mbps. Sam Chapman for Engadget The latency numbers look worse, but the rise in the table is less sharp than we projected. Ping length depends far more on distance than download speed does, so we expect it to shoot up on servers more than 1,000 miles from our location. Keeping the average below 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does here, is a strong showing. ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks A VPN's core mission is to hide your IP address and make you untraceable online. Our task in this section is to figure out if ExpressVPN can carry out this mission every time you connect. While we can't be 100% certain, the tests we'll run through below have led us to believe that ExpressVPN is currently leak-proof. Available VPN protocols A VPN protocol is like a common language that a VPN server can use to mediate between your devices and the web servers you visit. If a VPN uses outdated or insecure protocols, or relies on unique protocols with no visible specs or source code, that's a bad sign. Not all protocols are available on all apps, but Mac has the full range. Sam Chapman for Engadget ExpressVPN gives you a selection of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The first two are solid choices that support the latest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been fully open-source for years and is the best choice if privacy is your goal. While IKEv2 started life as a closed project by Microsoft and Cisco, ExpressVPN uses an open-source reverse-engineering, which is both better for privacy and quite fast. Lightway is the odd one out, a protocol you'll only find on ExpressVPN, though its source code is available on Github. It's similar to WireGuard, in that both reach for faster speeds and lower processing demands by keeping their codebases slim. However, Lightway was recently rewritten in Rust to better protect the keys stored in its memory. Ultimately, you can't go wrong with any of ExpressVPN's protocol options. 99% of the time, your best choice will be to set the controls to Automatic and let the VPN decide which runs best. Testing for leaks ExpressVPN is one of the best services, but it's not leak-proof (as you can read in the Background Check below). Luckily, checking for DNS leaks is a simple matter of checking your IP address before and after connecting to a VPN server. If the new address matches the VPN server, you're good; if not, your VPN is leaking. First, we checked the Windows app with split tunneling active to ensure the flaw really had been patched. We tested several servers and didn't find any leaks, which suggests the patch worked, though leaks were rare even before ExpressVPN fixed the vulnerability. We checked our IP while connected to the virtual India location, which is run from a physical server in Singapore. Don't worry -- it still looks like India to streaming services. Sam Chapman for Engadget In fact, we didn't find any leaks on any ExpressVPN server we tested on any platform. Though questions remain about iOS, as you'll see later in this section, that's a problem on Apple's end that even the best VPNs can do very little about for now. The most common cause of VPN leaks is the use of public DNS servers to connect users to websites, which can mistakenly send browsing activity outside the VPN's encrypted tunnel. ExpressVPN avoids the risks of the public system by installing its own DNS resolvers on every server. This is the key factor behind its clean bill of health in our leak testing. Two other common flaws can lead to VPN leaks: WebRTC traffic and IPv6. The former is a communication protocol used in live streaming and the latter is a new IP standard designed to expand domain availability. Both are nice, but currently optional, so ExpressVPN automatically blocks both to ensure there's no opportunity for leaks to arise. One note about VPN security on iOS: it's a known and continuing problem that iOS VPNs do not prevent many online apps from communicating with Apple directly, outside the VPN tunnel. This risks leaking sensitive data, even with Lockdown Mode active in iOS 16. A blog post by Proton VPN shares a workaround: connect to a VPN server, then turn Airplane Mode on and off again to end all connections that were active before you connected to the VPN. Testing encryption We finished up our battery of security tests by checking out ExpressVPN's encryption directly. Using WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected what it looks like when ExpressVPN transmits data from one of its servers to the internet. The screenshot below shows a data stream encrypted with Lightway UDP. After connecting to ExpressVPN, HTTP packets were rendered unreadable while in transit. Sam Chapman for Engadget That lack of any identifiable information, or even readable information, means encryption is working as intended. We repeated the test several times, always getting the same result. This left us satisfied that ExpressVPN's core features are working as intended. How much does ExpressVPN cost? ExpressVPN subscriptions cost $12.95 per month. Long-term subscriptions can bring the monthly cost down, but the great deals they offer tend to only last for the first billing period. A 12-month subscription costs $99.95 and includes three months for free with your first payment, costing a total of $6.67 per month. The bonus disappears for all subsequent years, raising the monthly cost to $8.33. You can also sign up for 28 months at a cost of $139.72, but this is also once-only — ExpressVPN can only be renewed at the $99.95 per year level. There are two ways to test ExpressVPN for free before making a financial commitment. Users on iOS and Android can download the ExpressVPN app without entering any payment details and use it free for seven days. On any platform, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, which ExpressVPN has historically honored with no questions asked. You will have to pay before you can use it, though. In our opinion, ExpressVPN's service is solid enough that it's worth paying extra. Perhaps not this much extra, but that depends on what you get out of it. We recommend using the 30-day refund period and seeing how well ExpressVPN works for you. If it's a VPN you can enjoy using, that runs fast and unblocks everything you need, that's worth a server's weight in gold. ExpressVPN side apps and bundles ExpressVPN includes some special features that work mostly or wholly separate from its VPN apps. Some of these come free with a subscription, while others add an extra cost. Every subscription includes the ExpressVPN keys password manager. This is available under its own tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you'll need to download a separate extension from your browser's store, then sign in using your account activation code. It's available on all Chromium browsers, but not Firefox. Starting in 2025, new subscribers get an eSIM plan through holiday.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB holiday eSIM plans last for 5 days and can apply to countries, regions, or the entire world (though it's not clear whether the package deal applies to the regional and global plans). Longer-term plans include larger eSIM plans. You can add a dedicated IP address to your ExpressVPN subscription for an additional cost per month. A dedicated IP lets you use the same IP address every time you connect to ExpressVPN. You can add the address to whitelists on restricted networks, and you're assured to never be blocked because of someone else's bad activity on a shared IP. Unlike many of its competitors, ExpressVPN doesn't currently offer antivirus or online storage services, but there is a comprehensive bundle of ID protection tools called Identity Defender. We haven't reviewed any of these products in detail, but here's a list for reference: ID Alerts will inform you if any of your sensitive information is leaked or misused online. It's free with all plans, but you'll have to enter your personal information on your ExpressVPN account page or a mobile app. ID Theft Insurance grants up to $1 million in identity theft reimbursement and comes free with new ExpressVPN one-year or two-year subscriptions. It's not yet available to those who subscribed before it launched in October 2024. Data Removal scans for your information in data brokerages and automatically requests that it be deleted. It's also free with one-year and two-year plans. Credit Scanner is only available for United States users. It monitors your activity on the three credit bureaus so you can quickly spot any suspicious transactions. The Identity Defender features are currently only available to new ExpressVPN customers in the US. Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy Although we worry that the consolidation of VPN brands under the umbrella of Kape Technologies (ExpressVPN's parent company) will make the industry less competitive, we don't believe it's influencing ExpressVPN to take advantage of its users' privacy. To confirm, and get a full sense of what sort of privacy ExpressVPN promises its users, we set out to read ExpressVPN's privacy policy in detail. It's long, but thankfully aimed at casual users instead of lawyers. You can see it for yourself here. In the introduction, ExpressVPN states that it does not keep either activity logs (such as a user's browsing history while connected to the VPN) or connection logs (such as the duration of a user's session and their IP address, which can be used to extrapolate browsing activity). It then specifies the seven types of data it's legally allowed to collect: Data used to sign up for an account, such as names, emails and payment methods. VPN usage data which is aggregated and can't be traced to any individual. Credentials stored in the ExpressVPN Keys password manager. Diagnostic data such as crash reports, which are only shared upon user request. IP addresses authorized for MediaStreamer, which is only for streaming devices that don't otherwise support VPN apps. Marketing data collected directly from the app — a "limited amount" that's kept anonymous. Data voluntarily submitted for identity theft protection apps. Of those seven exceptions, the only ones that count as red flags are account data and marketing data. Both categories are highly personal and could be damaging if mishandled. Fortunately, complying with subpoenas is not one of the allowed uses listed for either data category, nor does the policy let ExpressVPN sell the data to other private parties. The only really annoying thing here is that if you ask ExpressVPN to delete your personal data, you won't be able to use your account from then on. You aren't even eligible for a refund in this case, unless you're within 30 days of your initial subscription. As for marketing data, ExpressVPN collects device fingerprints and location data when you sign up for an account on its website. The privacy policy also claims this is anonymized, as its "systems are engineered to decouple such data from personally identifiable information." Audits corroborate this, as we'll see in the next section. So, while it would be better if ExpressVPN didn't collect any personal data at all, its practices don't appear to pose a risk to anything you do while using the VPN — just the ExpressVPN website. Privacy audits VPN providers often get third-party accounting firms to audit their privacy policies. The idea is that a well-known firm won't mortgage its reputation to lie on behalf of a VPN, so their results can be trusted. For the last several years, ExpressVPN has had KPMG look over its privacy policy and relevant infrastructure (see "TrustedServer" below). KPMG's most recent report, completed in December 2023 and released in May 2024, found that ExpressVPN had enough internal controls in place that users could trust its privacy policy. The report is freely available to read. This is a very good sign, though we're looking out for a more up-to-date audit soon. TrustedServer "TrustedServer" is a marketing term ExpressVPN uses for its RAM-only server infrastructure. RAM-only servers have no hard drives for long-term storage and return to a standard disk image with every reboot. This makes it theoretically impossible to store user activity logs on them, even if ExpressVPN wanted to do that. The KPMG audit, linked above, reports that TrustedServer works as advertised. Between its many clean privacy audits and the Turkish server incident in 2017, we're prepared to say ExpressVPN is a private VPN, in spite of its aggravating exception for marketing. Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location? Next, we tested whether ExpressVPN can actually convince websites that you're somewhere other than your real location. Our security tests have already proven it can hide your IP address, but it takes more than leak-proofing to fool streaming sites these days — Netflix and the others have gotten very good at combing through metadata to sniff out proxy users. The process for testing this is a lot like how we handled the DNS leak tests: try several different servers and see if we get caught. We checked five sample locations outside the U.S. to see if we a) got into Netflix and b) saw different titles in the library. The results are below. Server Location Unblocked Netflix? Library changed? Canada Y Y United Kingdom Y (second try; Docklands failed) Y Slovakia Y Y India Y Y (different from UK library) Australia Y Y In fifteen tests, ExpressVPN slipped up only once. Docklands, the UK server it chose as the fastest, wasn't able to access Netflix. We switched to a server labeled simply "London" and unblocked it without issue. ExpressVPN can change your virtual location so you can explore the wonderful world of K-drama. Sam Chapman for Engadget All the other locations got us access to an alternate Netflix library on the first try. We even checked whether the India server, which is physically located in the UK, showed us different videos than the UK servers. It did, which makes us even more confident that ExpressVPN's virtual locations are airtight. Investigating ExpressVPN's server network ExpressVPN users can connect to a total of 164 server locations in 105 countries and territories. These locations are reasonably well distributed across the globe, but as with all VPNs, there's a bias toward the northern hemisphere. There are 24 locations in the U.S. alone and a further 66 in Europe. That isn't to say users in the Global South get nothing. ExpressVPN has IP addresses from nine nations in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and six in Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa). The network even includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, impressive since central Asia may be the region most often shafted by VPNs. However, many of these servers have virtual locations different from their real ones. For those of you choosing a server based on performance instead of a particular IP address, ExpressVPN's website has a helpful list of which servers are virtual. The bad news is that it's a big chunk of the list. A total of 63 ExpressVPN locations are virtual, or 38% of its entire network. To reduce the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to locate virtual servers as close to their real locations as possible. Its virtual locations in Indonesia and India are physically based in Singapore. This isn't always practical, leading to some awkwardness like operating a Ghana IP address out of Germany. But it helps ExpressVPN perform better in the southern hemisphere. Extra features of ExpressVPN Compared to direct competitors like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN doesn't have many special features. It's aimed squarely at the casual market and will probably disappoint power users. Having said that, what they do include works well. In this section, we'll run through ExpressVPN's four substantial features outside its VPN servers themselves. Network Lock kill switch "Network Lock" is the name ExpressVPN gives to its kill switch (though it's called "Network Protection" on mobile). A VPN kill switch is a safety feature that keeps you from broadcasting outside the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you aren't connected to a legitimate ExpressVPN server, it cuts off your internet access. You won't be able to get back online until you either reconnect to the VPN or disable Network Lock. ExpressVPN's kill switch is called Network Lock on desktop, and Network Protection on mobile (Android pictured) Sam Chapman for Engadget This is important for everyone, not just users who need to hide sensitive traffic. The recently discovered TunnelVision bug theoretically allows hackers to set up fake public wi-fi networks through which they redirect you to equally fake VPN servers, which then harvest your personal information. It's unlikely, but not impossible, and a kill switch is the best way to prevent it — the switch always triggers unless you're connected to a real server in the VPN's network. Like most of ExpressVPN's features, all you can do with Network Lock is turn it on and off. You can also toggle whether you'll still be able to access local devices while the kill switch is blocking your internet — this is allowed by default. Threat manager, ad blocker and parental controls ExpressVPN groups three tools under the heading of "advanced protection" — Threat Manager, an ad blocker and parental controls. Threat Manager consists of two checkboxes: one that blocks your browser from communicating with activity tracking software and one that blocks a list of websites known to be used for malware. Check any of these boxes to use the pre-set blocklists whenever you're connected to ExpressVPN. Sam Chapman for Engadget You can't customize the lists, so you're limited to what ExpressVPN considers worthy of blocking. They share their sources on the website. While the lists are extensive and open-source, they rely on after-the-fact reporting and can't detect and block unknown threats like a proper antivirus. The adblock and parental control options work the same way: check a box to block everything on the list, uncheck it to allow everything through. In tests, the ad blocker was nearly 100% effective against banner ads, but failed to block any video ads on YouTube or Netflix. The parental control option blocks a list of porn sites. It's an easy option for concerned parents, but only works while ExpressVPN is connected. As such, it's meant to be used in conjunction with device-level parental controls that prevent the child from turning off or uninstalling the VPN client. Split tunneling Sometimes, you'll find it helpful to have your device getting online through two different IP addresses at once — one for your home services and one for a location you're trying to spoof. That's where split tunneling is helpful: it runs some apps through the VPN while leaving others unprotected. This can also improve your speeds, since the VPN needs to encrypt less in total. You can configure split tunneling through either a blocklist or an allowlist. Sam Chapman for Engadget ExpressVPN includes split tunneling on Windows, Android and Mac (though only on versions 10 and below). You can only split by app, not by website, but it's still pretty useful. For example, you can have BitTorrent handling a heavy download in the background while you use your browser for innocuous activities that don't need protecting. ExpressVPN Aircove router By now, it should be clear that we find ExpressVPN to be a highly reliable but often unexceptional VPN service. However, there's one area in which it's a clear industry leader: VPN routers. ExpressVPN Aircove is, to our knowledge, the only router with a built-in commercial VPN that comes with its own dashboard interface. Usually, installing a VPN on your router requires tinkering with the router control panel, which turns off all but the most experienced users — not to mention making it a massive pain to switch to a new server location. Aircove's dashboard, by contrast, will be instantly familiar to anyone who already knows how to use an ExpressVPN client. It even allows different devices in your home to connect to different locations through the router VPN. Aircove's biggest drawback is its price. Currently retailing at $189 (not including an ExpressVPN subscription), it's around three times more expensive than an aftermarket router fitted with free VPN firmware. Some of you might still find the convenience worth the one-time payment. ExpressVPN customer support options ExpressVPN's written help pages are some of the best on the market. Its live chat is more of a mixed bag, and complex questions may cause delays. However, it is at least staffed with human agents who aim to reply accurately, rather than resolve your ticket as quickly as possible. You can directly access both live chat and email from ExpressVPN's mobile apps (on desktop, you'll have to go to the website). Sam Chapman for Engadget We approached ExpressVPN's support features with a simple question: "If I requested that ExpressVPN delete all my personal data, would I be able to get a refund for my unused subscription time?" (Remember from the Privacy Policy section that submitting a full deletion request also cancels your ExpressVPN account.) Our first stop was expressvpn.com/support, the written support center and FAQ page. It's divided into setup guides, troubleshooting, account management and information on each of ExpressVPN's products. The setup guides are excellent, including screenshots and clearly written steps; each one includes a video guide for those who learn better that way. Troubleshooting is just as good — no videos, but the same standards of clarity and usefulness prevail. The section starts with general problems, then delves into specific issues you might face on each operating system. Each article clearly derives from a real customer need. The live support experience To get answers on our refund question, we visited the account management FAQs. This section stated that the refund policy only applies within 30 days of purchase. Pretty clear-cut, but we still wanted an answer on our special case, so we contacted live chat by clicking the button at the bottom-right of every FAQ page. Live chat is in the bottom-right corner of every page of expressvpn.com. Sam Chapman for Engadget Live chat starts with an AI assistant, which is not too hard to get past — just ask it a question it can't answer, then click "Transfer to an Agent." We got online with (what claimed to be) a human in less than a minute. Answering the question took longer and involved an uncomfortable 10-minute silence, but we did get a clear verdict from a real person: refunds are within 30 days only, no matter what. If the live chat agent can't answer your question, you'll be redirected to open an email support ticket. Annoyingly, there's no way to go directly to email support through the website or desktop apps, though mobile users have the option to skip directly there. ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies ExpressVPN launched in 2009, which makes it one of the oldest consumer VPNs in continual operation. In more than 15 years of operation, it's never been caught violating its own privacy policy, though its record isn't free of more minor blemishes. Headquarters in the British Virgin Islands Founders Dan Pomerantz and Peter Burchhardt registered the company in the British Virgin Islands from the start to take advantage of that territory's favorable legal environment for online privacy. The BVIs have no law requiring businesses to retain data on their users, and the process for extraditing data is famously difficult, requiring a direct order from the highest court. In 2021, the BVI implemented the Data Protection Act (DPA) [PDF link], which prevents companies based in the territory from accessing data on their users anywhere in the world. It's a great privacy law in theory, modeled on best-in-class legislation in the EU. However, we couldn't find any evidence that its supervising authority — the Office of the Information Commissioner — has a leader or staff. In other words, while ExpressVPN is not legally required to log any data on its users, there's technically nobody stopping them from doing so. Whether you trust the jurisdiction depends on whether you trust the company itself. Let's see what the other evidence says. Security and privacy incidents Two significant incidents stand out from ExpressVPN's 16-year history. In 2017, when Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was shot to death at an art show. Turkish police suspected someone had used ExpressVPN to mask their identity while they deleted information from social media accounts belonging to the alleged assassin. To investigate, they confiscated an ExpressVPN server to comb for evidence. They didn't find anything. A police seizure is the best possible test of a VPN's approach to privacy. The provider can't prepare beforehand, fake anything, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident is still one of the best reasons to recommend ExpressVPN, though eight years is a long time for policy to change. The second incident began in March 2024, when a researcher at CNET informed ExpressVPN that its version 12 for Windows occasionally leaked DNS requests when users enabled the split tunneling feature. While these users remained connected to an ExpressVPN server, their browsing activity was often going directly to their ISP, unmasked. The bug only impacted a few users, and to their credit, ExpressVPN sprang into action as soon as they learned about it. The team had it patched by April, as confirmed by the researcher who initially discovered the vulnerability. But while their quick and effective response deserves praise, it's still a mark against them that a journalist noticed the bug before they did. Kape Technologies ownership and management questions In 2021, an Israeli-owned, UK-based firm called Kape Technologies purchased a controlling interest in ExpressVPN. In addition to ExpressVPN, privately held Kape owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and Zenmate (before it merged into CyberGhost). As shown on its website, it also owns Webselenese, publisher of VPN review websites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an apparent conflict of interest. When reached for comment, a representative for ExpressVPN said that "ExpressVPN does not directly engage with, nor seek to influence, the content on any Webselenese site," and pointed us to disclosure statements on the websites in question — here's one example. Even so, it's a good reminder not to take VPN reviews at face value without knowing who's behind them (Engadget is owned by Yahoo, which does not own any VPNs). Diving deeper into the background of Kape's ownership will lead you to owner Teddy Sagi. Go back far enough, and you'll see he did prison time in Israel and was mentioned in the Pandora Papers, among other things. More recently, headlines about the billionaire have focused more his businesses in the online gambling and fintech arenas, as well as his real estate ventures. An ExpressVPN representative told us that "Kape's brands continue to operate independently," and our investigation bore that out — we couldn't find any proof that Kape or Sagi have directly attempted to influence ExpressVPN's software or daily operations. Closer to the immediate day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the company's employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 through 2023. During that time, the US Justice Department announced it had fined Gericke and two others for their previous employment on a surveillance operation called Project Raven, which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used to spy on its own citizens. The revelation prompted a public response from ExpressVPN defending its decision to hire Gericke, arguing that "[t]he best goalkeepers are the ones trained by the best strikers." ExpressVPN's representative confirmed that the company still stands by that linked statement. Gericke parted ways with ExpressVPN in October 2023, per his LinkedIn profile. While we don't know what we don't know, we can say that ExpressVPN has not notably changed its public-facing security and privacy policies during the time it's been connected to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke. In the end, how much ExpressVPN's history matters to you is a personal choice. If you object to any current or past actions by Kape Technologies or Teddy Sagi, there are other premium VPN options you might prefer. If you need more information to make up your mind, we recommend reading through CNET's 2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN's corporate history. Final verdict ExpressVPN is the VPN we most often recommend to beginners. It takes zero training to use, and consistently gets past filters on streaming sites. It also runs in the background with virtually no impact. If anything is worth the high price of admission, it's the excellent speeds distributed evenly across the worldwide server network. However, for certain specific cases, ExpressVPN may not be the best choice. There's no way to set up your own server locations, like NordVPN offers, and no double VPN connections, like you can build for yourself on Surfshark. Its corporate background is more suspect than the entities backing Proton VPN, and unlike Mullvad, ExpressVPN doesn't work in China — it's so well-known that the government targets its servers specifically. We suggest going with ExpressVPN for general online privacy, for spoofing locations in your home country while traveling, or if you regularly need to unblock sites in other countries. That encompasses 19 of every 20 users, which is fine by us, as ExpressVPN is a great service. It's just more of a reliable old screwdriver than a multi-tool. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/expressvpn-review-2025-fast-speeds-and-a-low-learning-curve-160052884.html?src=rss