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With the FIFA World Cup 2026 now well underway, the excitement is building as the tournament reaches its most crucial stages.

But this edition of the world's biggest sporting event is also notable for being the most technologically-friendly so far, with a raft of new AI-powered tools, services and broadcast innovations.

As the official technology partner of the World Cup and FIFA itself, Lenovo has been at the heart of much of this innovation, and the company invited me to Miami to see it all in action.

Behind the curtain

Now - a word of caution - sadly this article isn't going to delve too much into specifics, or include photos of all the amazing work the FIFA team is doing to keep this World Cup safe and running smoothly.

That's because the organization is understandably pretty focused on making sure the tournament (the biggest and most spread-out yet, with 48 teams competing at 16 stadiums across 3 countries) continues to do so, and for that reason we weren't allowed to take any video or photos during our visit - for obvious reasons.

However the Technology Command Center (TCC), situated in the sleepy Miami suburb of Coral Gables, is a dream come true for tech nerds like me - banks of screens showing detail on everything from network infrastructure strength to any possible cyberattacks to the live match feeds themselves.

We're visiting on a day when six matches are scheduled to take place - a huge strain on the FIFA networks, Nacho Fresco, Director of Technology at FIFA explains.

The TCC is able to monitor in real-time across the entire tournament's tech stack, which includes 30 proprietary apps, spotting any issues before they happen, and ensuring fans around the world continue to get access to the action.

Inside the TCC is a huge team of analysts, managers and other tech experts making sure all the services are functioning properly, with direct links to the wider FIFA organization along with remote teams at all 16 stadiums.

This includes Lenovo engineers, who are present at stadiums but also the central International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Dallas overseeing the global distribution of the action to the estimated six billion people watching across the globe.

We saw a screen showing the various connections between the 16 venues and the IBC, all including fallback options in case any issues should occur, making sure the broadcast continues.

In order to help boost this, Lenovo has deployed servers at the IBC to provide the power needed for the most expansive broadcast operation in FIFA World Cup history, with a total of over 17,000 Lenovo and Motorola devices  also deployed across venues and Team Base Camp training sites.

Lenovo is the first ever official technology partner of the FIFA World Cup (Image credit: Future / Mike Moore) Under threat

Probably the most intriguing screen was the one showing cybersecurity threats targeting FIFA's systems and services at the World Cup.

In real-time, the team can see exactly how many attempts are being made to hack or disrupt the platforms, including the location of the criminals, and even what kind of bots are being used.

It's fascinating to see the sheer scale of attacks - Fresco says they currently face around a staggering 300-500 million cyberattacks a day, a number that seems crazy, but shows just how attractive a target FIFA is.

Fresco notes that attacks have been slowly ramping up over the last few months, and expects the total number to top that seen in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which saw around 11 billion attempted attacks.

I ask Fresco what would constitute success for FIFA when it comes to the technology stack at the tournament - is it making sure everything runs smoothly, or just keeping the lights on?

Unsurprisingly, he replies that delivering a great viewing experience for the fans is the priority, as the organization looks to continue with its Lenovo partnership and take it further in the future.

"It's a game changer," he says, "it's what we need for this tournament."

So - no pressure then. But as Fresco pointed out, the mere fact that all the talk around the tournament has been about the football itself, not any issues with the technology, is the best outcome FIFA and Lenovo can hope for.

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More than 100 people removed on ICE flight were being held in hotel in La Guaira when earthquakes struck

More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble, according to survivors.

A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before Wednesday’s earthquakes. Onboard were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights. They were transported to a hotel in La Guaira.

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Have you ever played 'comp stomp?' When I want to arrange an RTS playdate with a mix of casual and hardcore friends with wide gaps in skill level, it's the only way to play without someone (or perhaps everyone except the guy who can time his build order) getting smoked. Load into a map against a bunch of AI opponents, form an alliance with your buds, and proceed to mercilessly gang up on the bots. There's just one problem with comp stomp: it usually sucks.

It can be fun to mow down crummy AI here and there, but it's the equivalent of getting a bunch of people together for a baseball game and then deciding, well, let's actually go to the batting cages instead and all practice our swing next to each other. RTS bots tend to either try and fail to mimic a decent human player or cheat out the wazoo, and if there's no real contest, no threat big or clever enough to push me into genuine improvisation and panic, I'm hardly playing an RTS at all.

Enter Dawn of War 2's The Last Stand , a decidedly Warhammer 40,000 answer to comp stomp. It might be an apocalyptic hell-future where everyone in the universe hates each other, but when you're down to a single measly commander unit and surrounded on all sides by waves of souped-up aliens, there's no time to be choosy about allies.

(Image credit: Relic Entertainment) Where to play

(Image credit: Relic Entertainment) In 2011, the popular mode was spun off as The Last Standalone on Steam, but that version is no longer available. The best way to play it now is via Dawn of War 2: Anniversary Edition , a 2024 re-release that includes all the original's expansions.

It's RTS by way of Killing Floor: take cover, work together, kill 'em all. If everyone on your team dies, it's over.

The Last Stand retains the chill vibes of comp stomp because of its cooperative setup, but it's hard enough that everyone in a lobby has to rely on one another. The first few waves are breezy, small packs of jobber orks and tyranids, but soon the game starts chucking much heftier units at you: artillery, infantry with grenades and rockets, and anti-everything monsters and bosses. The sort of stuff you can't kill with just one unit.

With enough kiting and clever use of whatever active abilities you've brought with you, getting through all 20 waves is a doable, lengthy challenge. But the game does not make it easy, and that's the best part—rather than ape strategies a real player might use, The Last Stand opts for the blunt force approach. The game tries to crush you in an avalanche of hopeless odds, with one wave going so far as to pit you against exact copies of your own characters, retaining the ability to revive each other and use whatever gear you've collected against you.

It's careful to extend a hand both to novices, who can get a feel for the game without having to worry about juggling several squads or managing the macro aspect that just becomes noise in a rushed PvP match, and to experts, for whom it becomes a de facto arcade mode. Score multipliers stack up based on how long you all go without dying, how many control points you're able to hold at once, and how quickly you best each wave. At first it’s a struggle just to see the end, and as you improve, it becomes a race to get there as efficiently as possible.

Where some casual RTS modes try to relieve the tension by making it certain you and your friends will win, Dawn of War 2 does it by making it likely you and your friends will lose, at least until you’ve taken your licks. That sort of punishment is exactly what I come to Warhammer adaptations to drink deep of; it’s the grim darkness of the far future! I don’t want the privilege of an even fight, I want to be beset on all sides, drowning in horrors, sustained by lonely rage at the futility of every spent magazine. It doesn't seem like I'm alone.

(Image credit: Relic Entertainment) When I queue up for standard games in Dawn of War 2 these days, I tend to get bored of waiting before I find a single match. But with The Last Stand? I'm rarely left waiting for long, and you can still find people discussing the mode online these days, 15 years after Dawn of War 2's final expansion came out.

The same is true of other co-op modes in the genre, like Starcraft 2's excellent two-player missions. But I think The Last Stand has a unique quality that makes it worth going back to even if you don't play RTS at all: it mutates the genre’s DNA so much that it actually just cracks the code on a PvE MOBA, and because it's ( almost ) the only one, it takes the genre crown by default.

To MO-BE, or not to MO-BE

In this mode, nearly all the conventions of standard RTS play are stripped away. You only control a single hero unit, and you cycle between a few simple abilities restrained by resource costs and cooldowns. Sound familiar?

Dawn of War 2's standard PvP modes had already ( controversially , at the time) done away with base-building and labyrinthine research trees to focus on lean, tactical scraps. Last Stand just takes that distillation to its natural conclusion.

You might think of this as cynical trend-chasing now that the traditional RTS is an aging carcass and MOBAs remain a big deal , but The Last Stand first debuted in October 2009—the s ame month League of Legends released. If anything, the mode was sort of forward-thinking for its time.

It's the perfect time for it to have come out, I reckon, because it has a lot of MOBA-esque ideas without feeling too similar to League or Dota. It feels like the result of alike influences rather than an impulse to ride the wave. As you play, you unlock wargear: weapons, accessories, and armor, each of which grants you new abilities and fundamentally alters your playstyle. Two space marine captains at the same level might play completely differently, with one toting a supportive healing aura and ranged bolter and the other tackling every witch in sight with lightning claws and heavy armor.

(Image credit: Relic Entertainment) Even today, when there are so many great Warhammer-themed games all competing for your attention, it has a larger-than-average smorgasbord of playable xenos from the tabletop. Dawn of War 2: Retribution's base roster of factions each lend a single hero: the orkish mekboy can be anything from an oppressive rocket-wielding tankbuster to an explosive, randomly teleporting imp, while the chaos sorcerer can possess enemies (yes, even a clone of himself!) or simply melt them with hellfire. The playstyles range from gimmicky as all hell, like that teleporting mekboy, to straightforward and suitable for learning the game, like the imperial guard hero who can call in a retinue of AI-controlled soldiers.

(Image credit: Relic Entertainment) After Retribution's release, The Last Stand was furnished with a faction selection even beyond that of the core game: the Necron overlord and (my favorite) the Tau battlesuit are a mite overpowered, but as a fanboy of the greater good who still wishes Fire Warrior was a decent game, I think I'm owed that. These factions are rarely playable in Warhammer videogames, most of which stick you in a familiar human body or its genetically super-enhanced astartes counterpart, and getting to draft your own uneasy alliance in this mode is a treat for fans of the tabletop game and its lore.

I think it says something about the hunger people have for a mode like this that it still attracts a chatty, if extremely small , group all these years later when so many alternatives exist. Darktide and Space Marine 2 might have bigger, more lavish horde-blasting modes for shooter fans, but there’s just something so very Warhammer about watching all the carnage unfurl from a bird’s eye view, anxiously wondering whether to dive behind cover or charge into melee.

It’s a smooth shot of what I dig about both MOBAs and Relic's more tactics-oriented strategy games, like standard Dawn of War 2 and Company of Heroes, while remaining accessible to newcomers as it straddles two genres notorious for their complexity. Because you're struggling against enemies you often can't solo and there's no economy to manage, no one can outscale their teammates so hard the challenge is trivialized. And there’s just enough build variety that every player gets to make their personalized mark shaving seconds off each wave.

Dawn of War 4 (Image credit: Deep Silver) Like plenty of dweebs addled by plastic glue fumes, I am looking forward to the release of Dawn of War 4 later this year, but it is more accurate to say I am specifically waiting to see its reprisal of Last Stand. While I'm glad DoW 4 looks to give diehard fans of the first game what they've been missing for the last two decades, the sequel more or less converted me to its RPG-inspired ' ding gratz lol ' way of thinking, and I'm more keen to see an evolution of its best ideas than I am a base-building blast from the past. I got countless hours out of this mode in DoW 2 despite its spartan setup for progression and nearly no baked-in replayability aside from the score attack aspect—the waves are always the same, and there are only two maps.

I'm hoping DoW 4 can remix things just enough to keep it fresher for longer, without compromising the purity nor the brutality that make The Last Stand so special.

Best Warhammer games : Fantasy epics

Best Warhammer 40K games : The complete ranking

Best Warhammer TTRPGs : Across all three settings

Best Warhammer 40K books : Grimdark novels

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Nearly 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius buried a vast collection of scrolls in ash and scorched them into solid black lumps. Now, without unrolling them, researchers have virtually read two of them —‬ and uncovered what may be a work by a well-known Stoic philosopher.

The breakthrough comes from the Vesuvius Challenge , an international research effort to digitally read the scrolls that were preserved when Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried by ash and pumice in A.D. 79. Papyrologists, who study and preserve the ancient manuscripts, announced June 25 that they had digitally unwrapped the surviving portion of one scroll, known as PHerc. 1667, revealing roughly 5 feet (1.5 meters) of continuous Greek text across 20 columns. Researchers also recovered more than 70 columns of text from a second scroll, PHerc. 172.

"For nearly two millennia, many of these texts have been physically preserved but intellectually inaccessible," Brent Seales , Vesuvius Challenge co-founder and a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky, said in a statement . "Today ‪—‬ after years of interdisciplinary work combining advanced imaging, artificial intelligence , academic research and an innovation contest ‪—‬ we are finally able to read them."

Over the past few years, Seales and his team have used a synchrotron to essentially X-ray inside the scrolls and detect the ink ancient Romans used to write. The letters are then studied by papyrologists, who translate the text.

Part of PHerc. 1667 was physically opened in the 1980s, but overlapping layers obscured the writing so badly that the scroll was given a readability score of zero, Federica Nicolardi , a papyrologist at the University of Naples Federico II, said in the statement.

The handwriting and text of PHerc. 1667 suggest the scroll dates to the second or third century B.C., making it one of the oldest scrolls in the Herculaneum collection. This early date means it could not have been authored by Philodemus of Gadara , the first-century-B.C. Epicurean philosopher whose writings dominated the Herculaneum library.

Experts think the text reads more like a Stoic treatise on ethics and human behavior, and it specifically mentions Aristocreon, the nephew and pupil of the influential Stoic philosopher Chrysippus . Very little of Chrysippus' own writing has survived, so if the attribution holds up, it would be a significant addition to the historical record of early Stoic thought.

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In a separate discovery, researchers identified a new book title within scroll PHerc. 139. The end of the scroll references Philodemus' eighth book of "On Gods." While this treatise had previously been known to exist, the new discovery reveals the work extended across at least eight volumes. Experts plan to reexamine other texts in the Herculaneum collection for additional volumes that may belong to the same series.

More than 600 Herculaneum scrolls remain unopened. It's thought that the villa was once owned by the father-in-law of Julius Caesar .

How much do you know about the Roman town destroyed by Mount Vesuvius? Find out by taking our Pompeii quiz!

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Disney Imagineering is planning to use Adobe's Firefly AI services to build the next generation of theme park rides based on its own IP

Disney says the move builds further on decades of collaboration between the two companies

The move is being seen as an important win for Adobe as it navigates increasingly pessimistic investor sentiment with its own AI offerings

Adobe and Walt Disney Imagineering have revealed the studio's research-and-development arm will leverage Adobe's Firefly Foundry's tech to design future parks, hotels, cruises, and attractions.

Adobe's Firefly Foundry AI offering is not just another one-size-fits-all service but one custom-tuned to handle Disney's unique needs. The customized AI is trained on Disney's own IP offerings, allowing for what the companies call a 'responsibly built' solution to handle the following workflows to start:

- A sketch-to-image model that transforms rough hand-drawn concepts into fully rendered 2D concept art.

- A custom image model trained on Disney's own IP that generates franchise-accurate creative assets across Mickey & Friends, Frozen, Moana, Lilo & Stitch, and Cars.

- A 3D modeling capability that takes 2D renderings and transforms them into detailed prototypes for planning builds and coordinating with engineering teams.

How does AI help build the next generation of Disney rides?

Kyle Laughlin, SVP, Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, stated that the company is 'long-time users' of Adobe's Creative Cloud tools, with a relationship spanning decades, and were also among the early adopters of its Firefly offerings.

“We were looking to find a collaborator that could help us do that responsibly and do it in a way that ultimately respected the fact that we are a creator-driven company," Laughlin noted. "We are a talent-driven company, and respecting that the creative process has a human as a part of what we do.”

Disney says it does not plan to replace the human element in the process but will use solutions provided by Firefly to compress workloads and speed things up considerably, even as "outputs remain consistent with the company’s storytelling heritage and visual language."

"As the teams at Imagineering build new experiences for fans around the world, our tools and workflows will provide a creative foundation to explore bolder ideas and make the best ones a reality," noted Hannah Elsakr, vice president, GenAI New Business Ventures at Adobe.

Collaborations with companies such as Disney are the need of the hour for Adobe, which has investors often questioning the viability of its business model in an AI-enabled future where everyone has access to generative AI tools, even as it pitches itself as a frontrunner in a fast-evolving industry.

The move is being seen as a big win for Adobe, with Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development arguably being one of the biggest clients it could court for its Firefly Foundry service.

The move comes at a time when Disney is a plaintiff in multiple IP-centric lawsuits against AI firms, including image- and video-generation firm Midjourney , that have allegedly plagiarized and therefore abused its copyrights.