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As I said in my Razer Kiyo V2 X review , the 1440p webcam market is almost as niche as the 4K one, and that's almost entirely because of its price point. With the likes of the Emeet Pixy regularly sitting at the $90-100 mark, the $100 Kiyo V2 X really struggles to justify itself, and yet Dell's Pro 5 2K webcam is $20 more than that.

But Dell does have a few tricks up its sleeve to justify that extra cost, even if I think it's comparably as attractive as the Kiyo V2 X. One big feature, Windows Hello, is genuinely good and shows that resolution is important, but it's not everything when it comes to picking out a webcam.

Dell have crammed a Sony sensor in its 2K webcam and, for the most part, it's rather solid. Texture in my hair is captured well, lighting off the side of the webcam doesn't look too blown out, and autofocus is fairly snappy. Its focus doesn't match the near-unnatural speed of the likes of the Obsbot Tiny 3 or Tiny 2 Lite , but it's still more than good enough for showing off a box or label to your buddies over Discord.

One area I do think it drags behind other webcams I've tried is in colour accuracy. Video and pictures just look a little lighter than real life. For instance, the red streak in my hair comes through well in the DSLR-like Yolocam S3 but almost looks orange in the Dell webcam. The same goes for colours on my shirt and my background. This is definitely a matter of preference, but for me, I wanted to immediately tone that down.

Dell Pro 5 Webcam specs

(Image credit: Future) Resolution: 2560 x 1440 (60 fps)

Field of view: 78°

Sensor: Sony

Connection: USB Type-C (with Type-A adapter)

Microphone: Omni-directional

Dimensions: 36 x 42 x 58 mm

Weight: 210 g

Price: £119 | $120

Unfortunately, though Dell's own software is fairly easy to use, I couldn't quite tone down the image as I would have liked. Bringing up vibrance makes colours look a little more natural, and sharpening contrast helps it along, but it just looks like a brightness filter has been placed atop the image, which I can't seem to take off.

As well as this, I'd say none of the presets are worth using in a moderately well-lit environment. The 'smooth' preset cuts out all sharpness and looks generally too glossy, and both the 'Vibrant' and 'Warm' presets are simply too bright. The 'default' preset offers a decent enough level of quality, but one that feels like it has more of a software helping than I would like.

The Yololiv Yolocam S3 on the left and Dell Pro 5 on the right Dell / Yololiv I didn't realise I was pulling that face until after I took the screenshot, but you can probably tell I'm not a fan of this preset Dell Dell One could argue that treatment is necessary on an otherwise cheaper webcam to try and pull up that quality, but 1440p isn't exactly low. In fact, many bits of software won't even run at 4K if you want them to, so 1440p should be a great middle ground between quality, accessibility, and budget. The Sony sensor inside Dell's webcam shouldn't need that much of a software hand to help it out.

As far as design is concerned, the Dell Pro 5 is inconsistent. The webcam itself is chunky and sturdy, with the magnetic stand offering a comfortingly heavy weight, but the stand connects to the webcam with a magnetic pull, and that pull is simply not good enough. It won't fall down by itself, but if you accidentally tug on the wire a little, the webcam will slide, messing up your otherwise perfect framing.

This means that, despite the cable being one and a half meters long, you actually won't want to use it any more than 1.4 meters away from your computer; you need some slack in the wire to stop it wiggling on the stand. I suspect a chunkier wire would cause all sorts of problems, as it does for the weak magnetic stand of the Obsbot Meet 2, but the Dell webcam has a single attached wire. I don't like this, as it adds another point of failure to the device's design. If the wire goes, the webcam goes with it.

Future Future Future Future Future I do like the webcam's built-in privacy filter on the top. That's a welcome feature, and it's easy to use, but once again, that magnetic stand means that using the filter moves the webcam. This isn't a huge problem as you can simply adjust the webcam whilst you're flicking the switch, but it's a sign of just how weak the magnetic connection is.

The webcam's built-in omni-directional microphone picks up sound decently, with passable quality. Recording sounds a tad hollow, but it doesn't have any awkward filtering on it, and is generally fine for a quick call or conference.

The Dell Pro 5 Webcam feels like it's designed for more of an office setting, with its smooth, brightened software enhancement, ease of use, and, of course, its Windows Hello functionality. With this, you can register your face and sign into Windows by simply sitting in front of your computer. It works really well in practice and is a very strong feature for an otherwise just okay bit of hardware.

Buy if…

✅ You want a 1440p plug-and-play webcam: The Dell Pro 5's heavy-handed colour correction could actually be a boon in the right environment, as it means the whole thing needs little extra to get working

✅ You really want Windows Hello: The Pro 5 can unlock your Windows device with nothing but your face, and that is genuinely a very handy bit of software

Don't buy if…

❌ You like granular control: At the base level, the Dell Pro 5's colour accuracy isn't great and tweaking the software does little to fix it.

❌ You want the best quality capture for the money: The likes of Emeet and Obsbot offer better, higher resolution capture for the same price, and sometimes even less.

It's a shame that the lack of IR sensors means other webcams can't do the same, as I like the feature a lot, but I certainly wouldn't trade out my day-to-day webcam for the Dell one just because of Windows Hello.

Ultimately, the Dell Pro 5's biggest weakness is its price point. Though I do prefer it to the Kiyo V2 X's 1440p capture, it is very expensive for visuals that are worse than some 4K offerings and lacks the level of customisation necessary to really fine-tune it. The tethered cable and weak stand only make it a worse all-round package.

Ultimately, when you can get 4K webcams on a gimbal for smart tracking that provide better quality video for less money, it's Dell's name recognition, ease of use, and Windows Hello functionality that might pull it ahead. And for me, it's only that final quality which would grab me.

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A week from tomorrow, the entertainment world will descend upon the San Diego Convention Center once more for the 2026 iteration of San Diego Comic-Con , and guests continue to line up. Much of the attention is on the big names and studios in attendance, like Marvel, which is returning with a massive presentation including this year's Avengers: Doomsday after skipping their typical Hall H showcase last year. Expect massive reveals and insights on everything from Star Trek to Blade Runner 2099 , Ray Gunn , anniversary panels for classics like Pan's Labyrinth with Guillermo Del Toro , and multiple Collider-hosted conversations with directors, producers, showrunners, and more. Now, one of the most exciting films out of Cannes is charting a course for the convention courtesy of Neon .

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Rebecca Yarros, author of the widely popular fantasy romance book series Fourth Wing (The Empyrean series), announced the title of a new book called Threshing Day, which will be released on September 29, 2026.

Yarros originally revealed the hotly rumored book without a title, but with the ability to preorder back in April. Fans instantly speculated on what it was; Yarros had disclosed it was an "Untitled Empyrean" book, but that it was not book 4. Despite the lack of details, the preorders shot the book to #2 on Amazon .

It turns out the official title reveal was being held for Conscription Day, July 15, which is a day in the series where cadets need to prove themselves by surviving through a life-or-death challenge in order to become dragon riders.

Yarros shared the announcement and details in an Instagram post , stating the book will contain a collection of 13 stories from fan-favorite characters during their Threshing Day (the day they get their dragons).

The deluxe edition will have 16 original art pieces in full color by the artist Joe Requeza .

Yarros also confirmed Xaden's story – one of the main characters of the series, which has been a long-time POV request from readers – will be included in the book, as well as published on her website.

Yarros confirmed she is still in the process of writing book 4, and readers are waiting patiently for any release date news. Book 1 in The Empyrean series, Fourth Wing, was published on May 2, 2023. Book two, Iron Flame, came out on November 7, 2023, and book 3, Onyx Storm, released January 21, 2025.

Due to the bursting popularity of The Empyrean series and the fantasy romance genre in general, a Fourth Wing TV series is in the works at Amazon MGM Studios and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society. It's unknown if any character details from Threshing Day will be included in the show.

For more on The Empyrean series, check out our Fourth Wing hub with everything from latest news to how to buy the books to cool board games to play with fellow dragon riders!

For those looking to get your gloved hands on Threshing Day, you can preorder the book right here , which will release in stores on September 29, 2026.

Jessie Wade is Associate Director of Editorial Programming at IGN. You can find her playing cozy games on her Switch or watching the latest rom-com and drama shows, as well as getting lost in way too many fantasy romance books. She would be a dragon rider at Basgiath War College (even though a Scribe also sounds cool).

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A four-legged robot has learned to change the way it runs while navigating forests, staircases and obstacle courses. — seamlessly switching between a steady trot and a faster bounding gait without instructions from a human operator.

The 100-pound (45 kilograms) robot, called KAIST HOUND, uses cameras and lidar to scan the ground ahead, then selects an appropriate gait and adjusts its movements in real time. In outdoor tests, it crossed a 0.7-mile (1.1- kilometers) university campus route and a 0.2-mile (0.3 km) forest trail strewn with roots, logs and slippery leaves.

The researchers described the robotic framework on July 15 in the journal Science Robotics .

Changing gait

Animals naturally change their gait depending on their speed and surroundings. A dog might trot carefully across uneven ground, for example , before bounding over a fallen branch. Reproducing this adaptability in robots is tricky because different movements are often controlled by separate, highly specialized coding systems, and transitions between them can cause a lag that drives the robot to stumble.

To overcome this issue, researchers developed a special training framework called action pretrained transformer–based reinforcement learning (APT-RL). This is an artificial intelligence (AI) training system that first studies many examples of actions, uses a transformer to understand patterns across those actions, and then improves through rewards and penalties.

The training began with a simple, two-dimensional computer model of the robot. Using trajectory optimization — a technique that calculates physically workable movements for the robot — the team generated 180,000 short trotting and bounding sequences, including the joint forces the robot's legs need to perform. The dataset represented about 15.5 hours of movement but took only around eight minutes to produce.

During reinforcement learning — a machine learning technique where AI learns to make the best decisions by engaging with a particular environment through trial and error — an AI system then learned how to select and modify those skills while negotiating simulated stairs, stepping stones, hurdles, gaps and rough ground.

In digital simulations, the robot dog was not limited to copying its prerecorded movements. It could also make corrections for three-dimensional terrain and unexpected situations, such as jumping over a log — a behavior that wasn't included in the original, flat-ground training data.

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Finally, the researchers configured the system to include the robot's depth camera and lidar scanner in the simulation.

In one indoor test, HOUND bounded across an obstacle 2 feet (60 centimeters) high while briefly achieving 9.5 mph (15 km/h). It also jumped down a three-step staircase. The robot generally chose trotting at lower speeds on irregular ground, while bounding became more common at higher speeds or when it encountered larger steps, hurdles or gaps. The AI system that could select either gait performed more consistently across the different simulated environments than the version restricted to trotting or bounding alone.

The researchers suggest the technology could eventually help robots navigate disaster zones or other places inaccessible for wheeled machines. However, the current framework only allows two gait choices and mainly handles forward movement. Rapid turning, sideways motion and other behaviors like crawling remain future goals for the research team.

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Rex the Dinosaur is regarded as one of Jacksonville’s most lovable roadside landmark. Built in the 1960s, he was originally installed as part of Goony Golf, a mini-golf and family-fun complex which closed its doors and putting greens in the late 1990s.

When the land was purchased for redevelopment, locals protested his destruction and, in 2007, Rex was not only saved but restored with help from students in the University of North Florida's Building Construction Management program.

Rex still stands at his original location, now developed into a small shopping center. He has been featured on Jacksonville City merchandise and was a prize for a 2025 scavenger hunt where players could find 3D-printed miniature Rex replicas hidden around Duval.

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For those yearning for the golden age of fantasy television, there is good news. Shows like The Witcher and Vikings were the crown jewels of lore-inspired fantasy, and now there is more to come. Netflix’s adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’ s fantasy series mastered the art of action and musical interludes under the stewardship of Henry Cavill and, later, Liam Hemsworth . Vikings also featured a seasoned warrior, though in a slightly more realistic setting. The History Channel series follows the historical Viking Ragnar Lothbrok, played by Dune: Prophecy star Travis Fimmel .