This follows a raft of changes in the internet landscape, for example Google Search introducing AI Overviews, Boards.ie has lost significant volumes of traffic. As a result, the platform shifted towards showing ads, which can be removed by paying a fee.
Over a month into their efforts, progress towards their self-imposed revenue goals have slowed.
Interestingly, the website also includes the number of days remaining, suggesting there is a deadline of Friday, 7 November 2025. It’s not clear whether this is just a random date in the future because it adds suspense and increases donation count, or that Boards.ie has a genuine line in the sand with serious consequences.
Should that deadline be quite real, Boards.ie needs a significant uptick in paying subscribers to keep the site alive. It is possible that incremental revenue generated from ads being added to the site has not been factored into forecasts, and that the goals will be supplemented by this revenue too.
Still, without a renewed effort to attract subscribers, it seems that the fundraising efforts are some way behind where they need to be.
I’ve reached out to the team behind Boards.ie for comment.
This is dangerously close to being a sports article for a tech site. But given the wild summer of transfers in the Premier League, and particularly for me as a Liverpool fan, it’s hard for it not to be on the brain. Sprinkle the excitement of Football Manager 2026 being teased on top of all that “in the know” transfer gossip and you’ve got me in full fledged transfer mode. One of the biggest “in the knows” making a comeback in 2025 is Indykaila. I’ve been left wondering just who is behind the account that “reveals” so many transfer storys?
What is Indykaila?
Indykaila is the social media account on Twitter backed by 5 “elite reporters”. The account has over 630k followers; followers who are either seeking the latest transfer rumours, or rumours that border meme-tier. The account could be classed as an “in the know” account. “In the know” accounts claim to be football’s insider knowledge experts. The most famous of this is Fabrizio Romano, with over 25 million followers.
Obviously, Indykaila pales in comparison to Romano, arguably owing to a how often the accounts misses, rather than hits. The account churns out a relentless stream of transfer updates, “inside information”, and breaking news. It’s less enticing to football fans because posts tend to be vague, cryptic, and packed with dramatic language and emojis.
Here’s a good example from the Liverpool, Newcastle, Isak transfer drama:
It would be unusual if the likes of Romano posted saying a bid would come in 72 hours. The Indykaila account has just taken a swing at this, and missed.
Despite this, one of the accounts biggest wins was when it received a tip of the hat from top sports journo David Ornstein from The Athletic.
Speaking on The Sports Agents Podcast, Ornstein said lots of people asked him why did he credit Indykaila. Ornstein said a few people had said they’ve met “the guy” behind the account, that it’s “credible” and “there are some people working on it”.
Adding to fuel to the fire, leaving me asking who runs the account and is this a laugh or not?
Who Runs Indykaila?
The account’s own bio, which I’ve used above, claims to be a “team of 5 elite reporters” which makes sense given the varying style and accuracy of posts. I think what confuses me the most is when I try to work out if the account is pure parody, or a genuine attempt at being “in the know”.
The people behind the account have remained a mystery, despite racking up significantly more followers than many reputable sports journalists. Yet, some rumours surrounding the account are just ridiculous.
One persistent rumour is that the original person behind the Indykaila account worked at KFC. Football fans and online communities have joked that Indykaila was run by a KFC employee, some even speculating the account was started during their shifts and later sold to the current owners.
True or not, it’s all now part of the myth or legend that is Indykaila, with one Redditor posting under the Ornstein story, “the KFC guy is a legit source, that’s crazy”. The Liverpool subreddit uses a tier system to classify transfer rumour credibility, with Indykaila getting “Tier Zinger”, a KFC reference, to indicate this rumour should be taken with a fist of salt.
Indykaila Rumour Misses
Ornstein giving credit to Indykaila was a massive coup for the account. But it shouldn’t be forgotten how many misses the account has had. A famous miss in 2014 stoked a direct response from former Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva:
@indykaila so you giving wrong information to your followers.
Another famous miss was when the account suggested Wayne Rooney was moving to China. Wayne Rooney did not play in China.
So whether the account is an actual “in the know” or just about for a laugh, 2025 has been a good year for Indykaila. Whether or not it’s been a good year for fans trying to get accurate sports news and rumours, well that’s another question entirely.
The long awaited release of Football Manager 2026 is edging closer. To put into context how long it has been, the most recent release in the series is still Football Manager 2024 where my current save is in 2037 and I’ve brought Wrexham from the Vanarama to the Premier League. I’ve gotten my monies worth out of that game, for sure. But the great news for Football Manager fans is that we finally have signs of life from Sports Interactive after a teaser trailer just dropped.
Football Manager 2026 Teaser Trailer
5 Things We Learn from the FM2026 Teaser Trailer
Here’s what we’ve learned from it so far.
1. Football Manager 2026 Might Launch in November
The biggest reveal from the teaser for me is that we may be on for Football Manager 2026 launching in November. The teaser emerging in mid-August means the full launch trailer could very well come in early September. This would put Football Manager 2026 back on the same schedule as FM 2023 and FM 2024.
Music to the ears of fans who have been waiting patiently. However, not all signs from the teaser are massively positive.
2. Sports Interactive Still Has Lots to Do
The story of the teaser is a little disjointed in my opinion. It starts out at Brighton’s AMEX stadium (the last stadium I visited myself in 2025 to see Liverpool lose!).
It appears that the footage of the AMEX is real video footage, before cutting to some great looking Premier League branded shots (more on that in a bit). This footage is tagged as “Actual Game Footage – Not Final”. Which is a tale of two halves. It looks great, but is still work in progress, leaving plenty of space for nerves and doubt to creep back in.
The video then cuts to real world footage at what appears to be Bournemouth and Everton before cutting back to in-game footage. Here we see fully animated players and officials emerging from the tunnel with an animated crowd.
What’s worrying me here, isn’t the in game footage, but the cuts back to real-world footage for anything that would require seeing actual players or officials. The only sight we have of these players has heads out of shot for example. This might be worth a whole point on it’s own.
3. The In-game Graphics Engine Gets a Massive Overhaul
It would appear that the in game graphics is set to have the biggest upgrade in Football Manager (and even Championship Manager) history. This generation of Football Manager heralded the move towards a new Unity Engine. With that came a world of new graphics options and improvements.
The teaser suggests to me that the match experience will be closer to a slightly older FIFA game (which would be awesome), but that those graphics are someway away from being fit for public display.
This leaves me questioning my first point.
It would appear that we will get 3D players for the in-game match engine animation. But I’m left utterly confused by what expectation Sports Interactive is trying to set here. Because cutting to the real-world footage of teams emerging sets the expectation that this is the goal for the pre-match experience.
Hopefully they are just tweaking the final bits, but I do wonder how close to being ready some features are.
4. Peter Drury May Be the Voice of Football Manager 2026
The voice of modern football is Peter Drury. He’s a poet of the game. Him featuring on the teaser is incredible as he delivers a level of drama you’d expect from him: “The wait has been long. The buildup impossible to ignore. So much has changed, but that feeling… it never left”.
I initially thought this would only be a guest appearance in the trailer, but the more I think about it, the more possible it is that he wil feature as a commentator. EAFC has had a long term commitment to it’s commentary team which includes Guy Mowberry et al. So Peter Drury, while iconic in the sport of football, doesn’t have a digital home.
If the game is to get the graphical overhaul that Sports Interactive seems to be hinting at with this teaser, that same experience would be awful without a voiced commentator. Sports Interactive are surely savvy enough to know after the failure to launch of FM 2025, managing expectations of fans of the series is quite important.
All of this; just speculation on my part.
5. Premier League Licensing and EAFC Sponsorship
As I mentioned, a big thing for FM2026 is official Premier League licensing. Now, fair enough. You might not be learning this for the first time given it was supposed to be the big news for the “never saw light of day” Football Manager 2025, which Sports Interactive shelved due to time constraints. But Football Manager 2026 has finally secured the official licensing rights for the Premier League.
This means the proper club names, logos and more. It should add realism, depth and immersion to the gaming experience. Many will argue that this depth was easily added by add-ons easily obtained online, something I’ve done every year. But to have this out of the box, simply improves the overall gaming experience for everyone.
6. Match Day First Look Coming Soon
We are going to learn a lot more from the full match day first look video which the teaser highlights is coming soon. Sega, the game’s publisher, is at Gamescom in Cologne next week. As am I, so I’ll be chasing down some contacts to see if there’s anything to happening.
I expect that new match day trailer to have either right or wrong some of the speculation I’ve made above.
If the game is back on track for a November launch, I’d fully expect that new match day trailer to emerge in the next few weeks ahead of an early September full launch video. Things could start moving quite quickly from here on out. I’m staying positive even after the pain of FM 2025.
OpenAI has announced the latest iteration of ChatGPT; GPT-5. GPT-5 Will roll out globally, including Ireland, in the coming hours. Parent company, OpenAI, said there will be a staggered release to ensure continued stability for all users. Here are several key updates and new functionality.
During today’s keynote launch (that notably gets the same excitement as phones used to) OpenAI’s Sam Altman highlighted improved reliability and accuracy: The model is designed for enhanced reliability and is expected to provide more accurate answers, with a reduction in instances of “hallucination.”
GPT-5 promises to bring improvements in writing skills, aiming for greater precision in results and an increased ability to adapt to contextual nuances.
For you “vibe coders” out there, GPT-5 claims to be OpenAI’s most capable model for coding applications. Even better news is if you’re using Cursor for your AI-powered coding, GPT-5 is already integrated and ready to go.
Rather surprisingly, OpenAI openly mentioned medical and health related queries being vastly improved. For years, these kinds of queries were dealt with great sensitivity thanks in search engines like Google. It’s not somewhere you want to make mistakes, and Search Engines had to take extra steps to surface the right information.
OpenAI bravely, or perhaps foolhardily, outlined how GPT-5 is the company’s most effective model for questions you may have about your health. I’m really interested to see how this works, what it says and how it frames medical advice. This is often highly regulated.
One of the biggest shifts for OpenAI is full Google integration with Gmail and Calendar. I’ve used Gemini several times to find old receipts in my Gmail that traditional search just can’t find.
There are several other minor changes, or at least changes that right not appear minor to me. For example, GPT-5 will prioritise delivering safe completions in response to prompts, rather than declining them and also follow-up questions when additional context is necessary to improve output quality.
Arguably the most interesting announcement in the keynote was that GPT-5 would be available to everyone; all subscribers including those on the free tier, with usage levels varying by subscription type.
Trump Media & Technology Group has begun public beta testing of Truth Search AI, an AI‑driven search feature on the browser version of Truth Social, powered by Perplexity AI. We’ve previously reported on Perplexity as a free benefit for Revolut customers. Truth Search AI uses Perplexity’s Sonar API to deliver summarised, cited answers to user queries. However, unlike Perplexity’s wider search platform, Truth Search AI appears to source responses primarily from conservative‑leaning outlets such as Fox News, Breitbart, Newsmax, The Washington Times, and The Epoch Times.
Further scrutiny of the partnership has raised concerns due to Perplexity’s past legal disputes. The company faces allegations of scraping content without authorisation, including using stealth crawlers that ignore websites’ robots.txt directives, and multiple copyright infringement lawsuits from major publishers like Dow Jones, the New York Times, and the BBC.
Ireland’s dedicated subreddit, r/Ireland, has just been forced into lock down. This comes as a result of what the r/Ireland Mod Team is calling “DEFCON 2”, restricting the sub to no new posts, and comments only from established users. The Mods have stated that the “brigading seems to be coming from accounts spreading disinformation/hate”.
What is r/Ireland?
Most countries have a dedicated subreddit on Reddit to discuss everything and anything relating to that country. What makes Ireland’s subreddit somewhat unique is the high number of users versus the country’s population.
Partially because Irish people love Reddit, but also because we have a massive number of people who claim to be Irish (glares at USA).
Some of the most popular content discussed by the subreddit’s 1.2 million users news, culture, and memes with r/AskIreland taking up advice and questions instead.
There have been several posts to r/Ireland in the past few days following emerging news of attacks on people of Indian descent, living in Ireland. Prior to the lockdown there was also an article shared relating to a Syrian national attacking a woman out jogging in Dublin.
Why is r/Ireland Locked?
Both the attacks and the assault have brought wide condemnation from people around Ireland and indeed in the comments on r/Ireland.
However, shortly after the most recent article was shared, r/Ireland was locked down, with the mods citing brigading
What is Brigading on Reddit?
Brigading, in terms of Reddit, refers to a coordinated effort by a group of people to manipulate voting, comments, or other interactions on a post or subreddit. Often with the intent to promote a specific viewpoint, silence dissent, or harass other users.
Essentially it’s a form of online harassment where a “brigade” of users targets a specific post or user, usually by downvoting, flooding with negative comments, or engaging in other forms of disruptive behaviour.
In this case, the term relates to a subreddit or perhaps a race of people. The actual details have not been shared.
The r/Ireland Mod Team decided around 12am to lock the subreddit from new posts, and limited comments to regular posters, stating “the brigading seems to be coming from accounts spreading disinformation/hate”.
In the event that Reddit believes a mod team is not effectively moderating hate, disinformation, or brigading, Reddit admins can take further action against the r/Ireland subreddit. This includes, but isn’t limited to, issuing warnings, forcing changes, restricting, suspending or banning the subreddit.
The r/Ireland Mod Team has also referenced some posts being created from “bad actors”. These are relatively new accounts “posting rage bait”, posing as “as immigrants asking questions on housing”.
Does this Matter?
As I said, r/Ireland has over 1.2 million users. Many internet users, myself included, have jumped ship from sites like Twitter and Boards.ie has, by its own admission, struggled in recent years. Reddit is a massive source of news and it one of Ireland’s biggest online communities.
r/Ireland is often home to real-time reactions to news, social issues, and cultural moments in Ireland. While the lockdown seems to be temporary, we’ve lost that platform of discussion for now. Seemingly, because of a hate-fuelled targeted attack. Something which seems to be growing as a regular occurrence these days.
I do expect to see r/Ireland back up and running in no time, but it’s worth us all inspecting these events., Who is behind these targeted attempts to divert or distract our attention. This post about Galway is very interesting, showing how WhatsApp groups from certain groups can influence people.
Update 07/08/2025: Restrictions appear to have been lifted.
The beloved high street brand, Penneys, has launched a long overdue mobile app in Ireland. Online shopping lovers may still be disappointed as the app does not offer a transactional online store.
While you will still have to go to your nearest shop to actually buy anything, the Penneys app will let you check stock in stores closest to you.
Alongside product listings, the app has a built-in store locator for quick access to opening hours and directions, and a “favourites” feature to save your top picks for your next visit. You can also opt-in for personalised notifications to stay updated on new arrivals and exclusive updates.
Penneys has highlighted that the app’s launch in Ireland meets a growing demand for digital tools to enhance the in-store experience. The lack of online shopping could be a missed opportunity, but I personally find it somewhat understandable knowing just how tight margins are for a brand like Penneys and how expensive shipping has become.
Deflecting from the lack on an online shop, Fintan Costello, Head of Penneys Ireland, said “customers love the buzz of a Penneys store – from discovering the latest trends to picking up everyday essentials for the family” and that “digital channels are driving shoppers into our stores, and so with more people browsing online before they shop, the Penneys app extends that experience, offering a convenient and inspiring way to explore our ranges anytime, anywhere”.
Starting in November, Ryanair passengers will no longer be able to use printed boarding passes. When you travel with Ryanair, you will have to use the mobile app.
Naturally, this doesn’t impact the cast majority of passengers who are already using the app, but when I travel I always see at least a few people with printed boarding passes. And as expected, there’s been a little bit of backlash.
Older travellers, and people with varying levels of physical and mental ability, will often have support from family getting their documents together, but may have to travel alone. Typically, they are much more confident having a printed boarding pass over an app they have to find, navigate through and open.
According to the latest data from Comreg, we can estimate that anywhere from 900k to 1.8M non‑smartphones in use in Ireland. I’m sure a large proportion of these aren’t being used as daily phones and will never travel, but it’s 15% to 30% of active phone subs in Ireland.
All of this data shows this is an issue that might not affect you, but will almost certainly affect someone you know.
Other Scenarios Affected
There’s also the issue of technology breaking down. If your phone gets stolen, broken or the battery dies in the airport, retrieving your boarding pass can be a challenge.
I use quite a few layers of security, including 2FA and password managers. So I’m not sure how I could replace a sim or access my Ryanair account should my phone get stolen, and I didn’t have another personal device with me when travelling.
It’s also important to remember that while this makes the headlines, there are some exclusions. For example, when flying from Moroccan airports, you will still require a printed boarding pass, as per the Ryanair website. The airline says “the change will not apply to passengers travelling from Morocco”.
Onwards to Digital
Ryanair’s move towards digital-only travel isn’t too surprising, and it follows a trend we’ve all seen with banks and similar services moving towards digital. Ryanair says the move will improve airport customer experience and remove airport check-in fees, along with helping the environment by reducing paper waste.
You can make the argument that in today’s world, a smartphone is practically mandatory. And while this might be an unpopular move to some, as always – others will likely follow after Ryanair makes the unpopular move.
I bought myself a Backbone controller not too long ago. It was for my older iPhone with a lightening connection. When I upgraded to iPhone 16 Pro, I needed a USB-C controller. I had the CRKD NEO S Frost Edition controller, but I like the form-factor of a controller with the device in the middle. I also had an iPad Pro and let my imagination run wild.
The result was buying the Gamesir G8 Galileo.
Design
The Gamesir G8 Galileo is one of the most substantial mobile controllers to feel in the hand. Depending on the phone that you slot into it, it can be quite the heavy unit. But I was brought up to take that as being high quality.
The grips are fantastic and feel somewhat like a regular controller, just with the width of a screen in between. I was pleased with everything, including the buttons and the controllers. It’s the first time I found myself getting close to the level of immersion that the couch, PS5 controller and TV delivers.
There are some coo features here for people into modding and customisation. The controllers use Hall effect sticks and has magnetic replaceable plates. In the box, you’ll even get some different caps for your sticks, depending on your preference.
I did find that most phones I used needed the case to come off, which is a little annoying, but it’s a classic example of me scraping the barrel looking for some criticism if I’m honest.
I’ve played several games and streaming setups on iPhone with the Gamesir G8 Galileo, but I’ve also used it with my 11-inch M4 iPad. Let’s chat about that.
Gamesir G8: The 11-inch M4 iPad controller
In a bizarre moment of Googling, I had begun to wonder if there were any USB-C controllers on the market that fit my 11-inch M4 iPad. The PlayStation Portal had just come out, and I was tempted by it. But realising it had more things to annoy me than impress me, glancing at my iPad I thought surely there’s a better choice. Particularly when you can stream your PS5 library.
In my search frenzy, I found a tutorial that mentioned the Gamesir G8, ultimately the reason I bought it. You could basically “break” the controller so it would open far wider that it was intended to. By opening it so much, you could actually wrap it around the 11-inch M4 iPad and make the most amazing mobile gaming tablet.
11-inch M4 iPad with the Gamesir G8. Image: Marty Meany
Just look at that absolute beast!
A friend 3D-printed a piece to keep the controller at full stretch to fit an 11-inch iPad
A massive shout-out to Noel Campion who is a 3D printing wizard and created this amazing piece to make the controller much easier to use with an 11-inch iPad.
If you’re interested in the mod, there are two. You want to follow the one that has no mention of unscrewing parts. It’s just getting creative with a knife, similar to this one. But obviously, mod at your own risk.
Other Features
The Gamesir G8 Galileo doesn’t use Bluetooth, which largely is a good thing. As I mentioned, getting the USB-C port lined up with a controller can be tricky, but at least you get reduced compatibility issues.
Also, because it’s not Bluetooth you don’t have to worry about battery life. The controller simply runs off your phones power, but also doesn’t need a lot of power anyway. If you are worried about battery power, the Gamesir G8 features pass-through charging. So while your phone, or iPad’s, port is busy being plugged into the controller, you have another USB-C port on the bottom where you can charge. You even get a 3.5mm headphone jack – a true treat for modern phone owners.
Finally, there’s no fiddly app needed or attempts to upsell you to a subscription service (glares at Backbone).
Gamesir G8 Galileo Long-term Review: Verdict
The Gamesir G8 Galileo is a great piece of kit. I’ve found myself going nowhere without it in my bag. Weekends away, long trips, overnight trips, trips back home – it’s always in my bag. Because its just such a great portal to gaming.
I found that the biggest challenge, generally speaking, is finding the best mobile games to play, instead of the controller itself being a barrier. Subnautica mobile came out and stole many hours away from me already.
I really can’t fault this controller. It’s made me game a lot more on the got with both phones and my iPad. It’s a handy little peripheral to have in the back on a trip for those times you end up with an hour or two to yourself.
If you have a Fire Stick or regularly pop into Prime Video you’ll have spotted that there’s a decent looking film on; War of the Worlds. The movie has been reimagined for 2025. Well, really it’s been reimagined for 2020 and it’s awful.
What is War of the Worlds?
War of the Worlds is one of the most famous pieces of entertainment ever made. A radio adaption rose to fame in 1938 for all the wrong reasons. Based on the 1898 H.G. Wells novel of the same name, the 1938 radio adaption caused mass hysteria. Many tuned in and missed the intro, stating the show was just that, a show. Instead, many listeners believed the bulletin to be true. It took 30 minutes for someone to clarify to listeners who believed earth had been invaded.
Officially titled War of the Worlds: Revival, is the 2025 entry into the War of the Worlds series. It follows Will Radford (played by Ice Cube), a cynical cyber‑security analyst for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His day job is monitoring digital threats, while spending most of that time monitoring his kids. That is until an alien invasion begins.
Production on this movie began in late 2020, right in the heart of the pandemic. The producer wanted to make a movie that was all based on screens, in the zeitgeist of the time.
I’ve seen this done once before with Searching, a film I quite liked.
But this new War of the World’s movie literally made my skin crawl. I had to turn it off.
Why is War of the Worlds: Revival So Bad?
War of the Worlds: Revival doesn’t just get one or two things wrong. It seems to get everything wrong.
First, is the ridiculous character played by Ice Cube. Frantically running through networks to find the coffee shop his daughter frequents to take control of cameras in fridges and see if she’s getting her daily intake of protein.
Utterly stupid, and not even a semi-decent ensemble of other actors, including Eva Longoria and Clark Gregg, can help this recover.
Next up is the format. It literally made me feel like I could have a panic attack. The “all on screens” format never had this impact on me before, but War of the Worlds: Revival felt claustrophobic. I could feel the Teams calls and cursor movements giving me anxiety. I really can’t explain it, but after just 23 minutes, I turned it off.
Conveniently, at about 22 minutes, we see the first of the aliens on screen. Terribly animated CGI aliens. That was the end of the road for me.
War of the Worlds: Revival might have been groundbreaking if it came out in the entertainment vacuum of 2021, but in 2025 it’s triggering something terrible in my brain. Something I hope I can save you all from.
War of the Worlds: Revival is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video, but don’t do it to yourself.
