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Credit: Andy Walker / Android Authority

Gboard is one of those Android apps that many of us use every day without giving it a second thought. It feels familiar and is certainly good enough that switching away can feel like more hassle than it’s worth. But there are plenty of other Android keyboards out there that can offer some people an experience they prefer, so we wanted to know our readers’ favorite Gboard alternative if Google’s option suddenly disappeared.

That was the question we put to you via a poll in our recent guide to the best Gboard alternatives for Android. The article looked at a mix of keyboard apps that take different approaches, from feature-packed options like Microsoft SwiftKey and Samsung Keyboard to more stripped-back or privacy-focused picks like HeliBoard, FUTO Keyboard, and Simple Keyboard. The result wasn’t a runaway victory, but there was a clear favorite among readers.

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Polish studio Rebel Wolves hasn't been shy about The Witcher 3's influence on its open world vampire RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker. Based on the four hours I've spent with it, I think the resemblance is unmistakable, but tasteful. It's far better than a clone, and it has a kit bag of ideas of its own. I came away feeling like it's better than a studio's first blockbuster RPG has any right to be.

The three-hour prologue sets the game's lockjaw tone. Protagonist Coen, before he becomes a Vrakhiri—basically a vampire—lives in a small village with his family. The village is ruled over by Brencis, a deteriorating husk of a being who nevertheless, compared to his tyrannical predecessors, is a fairly liberal fellow. The community need not worry about "taxes, tithes or chores" under his rule, which is exceedingly rare in this medieval approximation of eastern Europe.

But there is one significant rub: the gaunt, wraith-like Brencis requires every citizen to bleed out a pint of their blood every full moon. Which, I mean, you'd prefer not to. It may be slightly easier than a life of meaningless toil, I guess, but many understandably consider it objectionable. We meet Coen one morning as he tries to spoon feed his mother Esme her breakfast: she's been rendered mute and nil by mouth by the panic of having to give her blood that evening.

Funeral in Carpathia

Like The Witcher 3, the prologue of Dawnwalker works as a microcosm of the ensuing 40-odd hour experience: it sets me loose on a small open map with a sample of choice-based conundrums. The most urgent order of the day is to retrieve some natural medicine for my mother from local herbalist Anca, all the better to keep her alive, but there are very many other stories unfolding in this village.

This is where Dawnwalker's promising time system comes into play. Every day is split into eight segments, and most quests or activities I do "spend" one or more of these segments. I have a full day to spend in Coen's hometown before the bloodletting ceremony, but since every quest spends a segment I can't hope to do everything.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco) It's an oft-performed trick in the gritty RPG playbook: you go to do the right, or seemingly logical thing, only to discover that, well actually, that's bad too.

Think of it like Persona's calendar system, except more substantial: my time spent in Coen's hometown felt like a featureful day and not just an interminable runthrough of sidequests. I'm also compelled to prioritise based on my interests and temperament, rather than just do everything because I don't want to miss out. It feels more substantial, yes, but I can't tell yet how consequential my choices will be.

So keeping in mind the time system and my mother's ailment, of course I'm drawn into a fishing expedition with my siblings. Alas, it turns into a confrontation with one of Brencis' oafish denizens. The dialogue options permit me to give this standover lout a whole lot of impertinence, which I do, but thankfully I still manage to talk my way out of a fight.

The morning irrevocably wasted, I mosey back to town and meet Gremla, who advises of the mysterious disappearance of a banner she's been instructed by the vrakhir to display (“The vrakhir will rip me to shreds when he finds out!” she implores). Via the careful interaction with things that glow orange when using investigate mode, I gradually discover who the culprit is.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco) Time passes. By the afternoon I've met Vasil, a flat-jawed prat who's been following me around, cussing out my mother. I catch the little turd and go to beat him before his father turns up. Rather than intervene, this father—bloodshot eyes, coarse throat, sallow, pitted expression—encourages me to give Vasil a beating. Via dialogue options I'm given at least two opportunities to back out of beating Vasil, but for morbid curiosity I insist. When, at his father's demand, Vasil removes his shirt for a flogging across the back, the skin is deeply scarred by many previous flayings. My harasser has evidently lived a miserable life.

Just a regular day in the life of a 16th century Romanian peasant under vampiric rule!

(Image credit: Bandai Namco) It's an oft-performed trick in the gritty RPG playbook: you go to do the right, or seemingly logical thing, only to discover that, well actually , that's bad too! The misery of pre-enlightenment is peddled to an almost fetishistic degree in Blood of the Dawnwalker, which invites me to ponder whether subservience to a suss but mostly accommodating power is preferable to the bloodletting of resistance. As Coen's father succinctly puts it: "It’s knights who yield. Peasants like us just die".

Bloodlust

This is a dark game, but it can be arch. Later I finally get to herbalist Anca, with whom Coen has some unmistakable chemistry. It starts to rain, so she invites me to stick around and pass the time via the learning of Latin, which I think is historically what Romanian peasants did in their medieval downtime. She insists on Petronius, but—thanks to the option to do so, and then to persist—I insist on Catallus. A little knowledge of your Roman tomes can make the difference between a dry or fraught lesson.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco) I can see The Blood of Dawnwalker being a very spicy horror-tinged fantasy RPG, but like The Witcher 3, I think the combat is boring. By dint of being a Dawnwalker, Coen can fight as either human or vampire. As a human the combat is reminiscent of Kingdom Come Deliverance: I have to issue longsword strikes and blocks in the right direction, in a simulation of real swordplay. It's easier than Deliverance, albeit neither revelatory or especially engaging. When fighting packs, my enemies tend to take gentlemanly turns swiping at me.

There's blocking of course, and perfect blocking, and unblockable attacks. You'll manage stamina, gradually unlock abilities from three major skill trees (Witchcraft, Swordmastery and Vampirism) and circle strafe around many a locked-on enemy. I don't think it's fair to expect a new studio to reinvent action RPG combat, but scrapping was the aspect I liked least about The Blood of Dawnwalker.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco) I enjoyed Coen's vampire beatdowns a whole lot more, mostly because it's where Rebel Wolves let their freak flag fly a bit. Coen's survival and effectiveness as a vampire naturally rests on his blood consumption, which can also be used to pull off some neat tricks: I can dash a good five metres ahead of me in the blink of an eye, and I can warp to the rear of an enemy all the better to suck the life out of 'em. Aside from these neat tricks, moment-to-moment hand-to-hand combat still works mostly the same.

Outside of combat, as a vampire, Coen can planeshift onto walls and traverse them vertically, or claw ride down surfaces to descend treacherous drops. Of course, being a vampire means craving blood, and if I failed to feed for long out in the open world I'd run the risk of perishing. Amusingly—though I didn't see this in action—if you enter dialogue as a hungry vampire you run the risk of draining the person you're talking to, even if you're buddies.

I can tell Rebel Wolves has spent the majority of its creative labour applying painterly detail to this ancient and sordid realm. The open world is gorgeously gothic with its grey silhouetted ruins, its mulch green bogs, lonely fir forests, and distant snowy peaks. I already feel invested in its grimy, unflinching narrative. Failing disaster or technical wobbles—it ran perfectly on Namco Bandai's extremely well-endowed PCs—I reckon it could be the RPG of 2026, so long as I'm allowed to talk my way out of at least some of the combat.

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This summer's weather has made it hard for anyone to enjoy a day at the beach, but luckily HBO Max and Jason Statham are here to show us all the silver lining. One look at The Meg will have you fleeing from the coast, grateful even if you've been driven indoors by a heat wave. The Meg was released in 2018, but it was just added to HBO Max this week. It's a perfect summer flick for action buffs , marine biology enthusiasts, and fans of a good old-fashioned one-liner. For those that want to keep the adventure going, HBO Max already has the sequel as well — Meg 2: The Trench .

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Wild Hornets expanding use of 3D printing to meet demand

In-house manufacturing reduces reliance on third-party suppliers

The company is focusing on software as drone swarm threats evolve

Ukrainian drone manufacturer Wild Hornets believes 3D printing could be the answer to modern warfare, helping companies like it to reduce costs and boost production.

DOU reports the company is now growing its 3D printing footprint using large numbers of FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) desktop printers, like Bambu Lab and Elegoo devices, rather than using expensive industrial systems.

This allows the company to churn out plastic drone components at high volume, but it also improves the speed of manufacturing allowing the company to iterate design more quickly as enemy tactics evolve.

3D printing’s role in modern warfare

Recent reporting on the company by industry experts at 3D Printing Industry , highlights how desktop 3D printers offer several advantages for quickly evolving digital and aerial warfare, like lower capital costs for manufacturing, quick prototyping support and easier scaling via new printers, rather than having to build new tools and moulds.

This comes as Ukraine continues to face enemy threats – the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) continues to report rising attacks from Russia as the country doubles down on Iranian Shahed-type drones.

In-house, affordable manufacturing also covers battery packs, flight controllers and other electronics and components, all helping to reduce costs and support Ukraine’s efforts. It also reduces reliance on third parties and external supply chains.

Since its inception, Wild Hornets has grown from a volunteer initiative into a manufacturer capable of producing around 100 drones per day – deepening its 3D printing strategy will only help.

Speaking about artificial intelligence, an anonymous spokesperson from Wild Hornets told DOU AI’s use in drone-based warfare is limited but is starting to expand, primarily spanning recognition and navigation. However, Wild Hornets estimates that adding AI functionality currently raises costs by $150 to $500 per drone, making it a costly consideration.

Drones are becoming much more than hardware

Looking ahead, Wild Hornets is seeing defense partner interest moving beyond the drone itself to the entire Hornet Vision package, which includes digital video transmission, remote control, AI and more.

The system itself was originally designed because Chinese digital control systems became unavailable amid ongoing geopolitical conflicts, but with the company recently demonstrating successful remote operation of its Sting interceptor from 2,000km away, from a country outside of Ukraine, partners are increasingly interested in the full hardware and software package.

However, even while aerial, autonomous threats continue to rise, the company’s unnamed speaker told DOU that drone swarms don’t exist in the way they’re made out to exist, describing them as ‘a cool legend and a mechanism for a scam to get money from naive investors.’

The company promises to add drone swarm technology as and when it emerges and evolves, but for now it’s neither an option nor a realistic threat.

“We would like the war to end,” they added. “Then, instead of increasing production volumes, we would focus on technologies, R&D, design solutions and cooperation with foreign partners.”

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A team of conservationists has discovered and restored the tombstone of Sebastian, a formerly enslaved man who died free in 1729.

"That discovery is likely one of the oldest gravestones of a free Black person in America," Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, said in a July 4 speech . "It's been there all along. We just had to go look and share the story."

The stone marker is inscribed with Sebastian's chosen name, Boston, and features an image common in 17th- and early 18th-century tombstones in New England: the death's head . The symbol includes a stylized skull flanked by wings, which were possibly intended to symbolize spiritual resurrection .

On the tombstone, a simple, five-line inscription reads:

Original Inscription

HERE LYES Y e

BODY OF BOSTON

AGED 70 YEARS

DEC D FEB Y Y e 28

1728

Modern English

HERE LIES THE

BODY OF BOSTON

AGED 70 YEARS

DECEASED FEBRUARY THE 28

1728

In 18th-century American writing, the word "the" was often abbreviated with a Y-shaped letter form called a " thorn " representing the "th" sound. Tombstones also frequently abbreviated "deceased" and the month. Somewhat confusingly, before 1752, the American colonies regularly used the Julian calendar , as did Britain, in which the new year started on March 25. Boston's year of death is listed on the tombstone as 1728, but his February 28 death was actually in 1729 in our modern Gregorian calendar.

Kelly Thomas, the director of the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, told WBZ News Radio that she identified the gravestone during a restoration project at the Granary Burying Ground , the city's third-oldest cemetery. Established in 1660, the cemetery includes over 5,000 graves, including the final resting places of Declaration of Independence signers Samuel Adams and John Hancock; the U.S. Revolutionary War officer Paul Revere; and Crispus Attucks, a sailor of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry who is thought to be the first American killed in the Boston Massacre.

"I was reviewing the photos of headstones, and then I noticed that the stone only had one name," rather than a first and last name, Thomas told WBZ News Radio, suggesting that Boston was either enslaved or free when he died. Based on a search of historical records, Thomas determined that Boston's enslaved name was Sebastian and that he also went by Bastian.

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A surprising amount of information was recorded about Boston and his wife, Jane Lake. In 1701, they had their daughter, also named Jane, baptized at First Church in Boston, where they regularly attended worship services. But while the two were married with children, they were also both enslaved and lived in different households, historian Gloria Whiting wrote in a 2016 study .

Boston was likely freed in the early 18th century, some time after the 1702 death of John Waite, who had held him in slavery. By 1708, a list of free Black people included the name Boston, and he had gained a reputation in the city as a hardworking handyman, according to Whiting's study. He had been freed for roughly 30 years when he died in 1729 and was well-known enough to have an obituary published for him in the New-England Weekly Journal , a rare occurrence for enslaved or freed Black people in colonial America.

Wu also said that, in recent weeks, archaeologists in Boston had discovered musket balls and gun flints from the infamous Battle of Bunker Hill that took place on June 17, 1775. The battle was fought by British Crown forces and New England troops in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War.

See if you know what these mysterious artifacts are with our archaeological fragments quiz!