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Another year, another spate of tech hardware companies trying to entice gamers over to the dark side - by which I mean, trying to convince them that 3D display technology is the Next Big Thing in gaming. I’ve never been a fan; I shelled out for a Nintendo 3DS expecting a wild new dimension of gaming only to spend my entire time with the handheld in 2D mode.

Acer’s still trying to crack this particular nut, having launched its SpatialLabs glasses-free 3D tech a few years back. At the IEM Katowice esports tournament in Poland last week, I got to enjoy some hands-on time with its latest Predator SpatialLabs View 27 monitor - and honestly, although the tech has certainly improved since its earlier iterations, I’m still not convinced.

When most people hear the phrase ‘3D’, they think of a pair of chunky glasses (or perhaps the even older red-blue paper spectacles). SpatialLabs doesn’t work the same way as ‘conventional’ 3D displays; instead, it works by utilizing eye-tracking cameras to perfectly mesh two rendered images together on a stereoscopic display, creating a three-dimensional effect that shifts to remain effective even if you move your head - unlike Nintendo’s clunky handheld.

Gaming in three dimensions

Does it work? Yes, actually - while I’m not going to give you the spiel about graphics that ‘leap out of your screen’ or whatever, the Predator SpatialLabs View 27 does provide a good sense of physical depth, both for individual objects and wide scenes. I got to play some of Street Fighter VI’s World Tour mode on it, and it looked great; exploring Metro City (no, not the one from Megamind) demonstrated a tangible depth of field to the streets and the legions of random pedestrians I could challenge to a fistfight. I think some games might benefit from this tech more than others, and Acer has a list of supported titles if you’re curious.

Regardless of the game you play, though, there are a few glaring issues with using SpatialLabs for gaming. For starters, it’s liable to cause eye strain for some users - I certainly found this to be the case after just five minutes of getting my ass handed to me by Chun-Li, and I’ve heard similar reports from colleagues who have tested out previous SpatialLabs devices. Considering that many gamers (totally not me) are known to spend multi-hour binges at their desktops, it feels like a migraine waiting to happen.

Yes, I know the screen looks blurry; unfortunately, SpatialLabs can't track the 'eye' of a camera. (Image credit: Future)

The other major problem with SpatialLabs - and basically any glasses-free 3D gaming solution - is that it tanks performance. There’s no good way to put this; stereoscopic 3D requires the real-time rendering of two full-resolution frames, which means that you’re going to struggle to achieve high framerates in games unless you're packing some of the absolute best gaming hardware,

My esteemed colleague over at TechRadar Gaming, Dash Wood, struggled with exactly this problem when he reviewed the Acer Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition back in 2023. Despite being a relatively powerful gaming laptop, it struggled significantly once the 3D mode was turned on, and even the newer 2024 model (which uses an RTX 4080 GPU) is locked to a 2K resolution at 60Hz in 3D mode while running in 4K in 2D.

3D vs VR

I’m willing to give Acer a pass on the eye-strain point. Although it feels like 3D has been around forever, this sort of glasses-free tech is still a relatively fledgling technology. Some people struggle to use VR for extended periods of time, and while I used to feel this way, the technology has advanced enough that I’ve become more comfortable with strapping on my headset and picking up my motion controllers for some Beat Saber or Pistol Whip in lieu of going to the gym.

However, as I thought about this, a thought occurred to me: why does anyone still think 3D is the future of gaming when virtual reality exists as it does today? VR is still improving too, but faster than 3D displays are. I can attest to the extreme difference between a first-gen Oculus Rift and Apple’s Vision Pro headset; it’s night and day, a far greater leap than I feel Acer’s Predator SpatialLabs View 27 makes over a 3D TV from the 2000s like Sony’s first 3D Bravia, even if it’s managed to ditch the bulky glasses. Why would I want to use a screen that gives a kinda-sorta-three-dimensional effect when I could put on a Meta Quest 3 and be fully immersed in a rendered world that appears to surround me completely?

So yeah - sorry, Acer, and sorry to everyone else who is hard at work on 3D displays right now. I just don’t think the gaming sphere will ever truly embrace 3D when VR exists. Mind you, there are other valid uses for this technology - Acer highlights the value of its SpatialLabs displays to professionals like architects and 3D asset designers (and prison dentists, according to a conversation I had with Acer PR), so it’s probably not about to die out anytime soon. Still, I think it might be time for SpatialLabs to shift focus away from gamers, and take serious aim at the enterprise space.

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• A new Future survey reveals the most popular AI tools we're using
• ChatGPT remains the most popular AI tool, but its lead is relatively slender
• Rivals like Google Gemini are catching – as other research confirms

Artificial intelligence tools are transforming the way we work and create, but which apps are proving most popular right now? A survey run by Future Publishing (the owner of TechRadar) covering hundreds of tech consumers in the US and the UK shows AI use is increasing – and reveals the tools we're turning to the most often.

There are some familiar names in these results, but also some up-and-coming challengers in the AI space – showing there are more of these apps than ever, all ready and willing to lend a hand with writing text, creating images, searching files, and more. AI has never been more ubiquitous, and the trend is only going one way.

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Here are the 12 most popular AI tools right now, in reverse order. You may spot some you're already using, and some you feel you should be using. Both US and UK participants were quizzed at two points during 2024, to track changing use over time. Let's dive in…

10. DreamStudio, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion (joint)

• DreamStudio (used by 10% of US survey respondents, 7% in the UK)
• Midjourney (used by 10% in the US, 7% in the UK)
• Stable Diffusion (used by 10% in the US, 7% in the UK)

It's a three-way tie for 10th place, with DreamStudio (images), Midjourney (images), and Stable Diffusion (images, video, and audio) all used by 8.5% of our respondents (on average). They all offer speedy, prompt-based content generation for a wide variety of purposes.

(Image credit: Midjourney)

All three are on the up, too – with growth of 88% for Dream Studio, 59% for Midjourney, and 43% for Stable Diffusion in the months between our two survey snapshots. They're also all paid-for tools, with no free tiers available.

9. Jasper

• Used by 10% of US survey respondents, 7% in the UK

In 9th place, and used by 9% of the people we quizzed on average, there's Jasper. Jasper offers a range of AI services for marketers, so there's everything from chatbots to image generators to trend analysis – for a fee (though you can get a free trial).

(Image credit: Jasper / Future)

Jasper wasn't included in the first survey round, so we can't tell you how much its usage numbers have grown over the course of the last year, but the data shows it's slightly more popular in the US than the UK.

8. DALL-E

• Used by 12% of US survey respondents, 7% in the UK

Up to 8th now, and we have DALL-E, used by 9.5% of respondents: the AI image generator is owned and developed by OpenAI, and is now only available inside the ChatGPT interface for free users and subscribers (who get differing levels of access).

(Image credit: OpenAI / Future)

Type out a prompt, and DALL-E gives you an image – and you can even make edits afterwards. It's used by 12% of people in the US, and 7% of people in the UK, with usage growing an impressive 47.5% between our two survey points.

7. Claude

• Used by 11% of US survey respondents, 9% in the UK

Claude comes in 7th in our results. The AI chatbot can help you brainstorm ideas, produce visuals, create schedules, and work with documents and images. It does have a free plan, though you get a lot more features if you subscribe.

The Claude AI interface (Image credit: Claude / Future)

For example, you get a choice of models to pick from when using Claude, though some are exclusive to paying members. Like Jasper, Claude wasn't included as an option in our first survey snapshot, but is a little more widely used in the US compared to the UK.

6. Perplexity

• Used by 12% of US survey respondents, 9% in the UK

With an average of 11% of our survey participants using it, Perplexity is in 6th place: a chatbot that can generate text, analyze documents, search the web and more, with both free and paid-for plans available. It's also recently launched a Deep Research tool.

(Image credit: Perplexity / Future)

It's also noticeable for letting you run models from other companies inside its interface. We don't have figures for usage over time when it comes to Perplexity, but it is slightly more popular in the US than the UK – 12% vs 9%.

5. Image Creator from Microsoft Designer

• Used by 14% of US survey respondents, 9% in the UK

Into our top five, and in 5th place we've got Image Creator from Microsoft Designer. As you can tell from the name, it's an AI-powered graphic design tool inside the larger Microsoft Designer app, and it's used by an average of 11.5% of our survey participants.

(Image credit: Microsoft / Future)

Used by 14% of US respondents and 9% of UK respondents, it's clear a lot of visuals are being churned out by Image Creator – usage is also up 29% over the course of our survey period. You can use it for free, and pay for additional image generation credits.

4. Grammarly

• Used by 24% of US survey respondents, 16% in the UK

You might not have expected to see Grammarly on this list, but the writing checker has rolled out a host of AI features in recent times, and it's in 4th place with an average usage level of 20%. You can use it for free, though a Pro account gives you more AI access.

(Image credit: Grammarly / Future)

Grammarly's main focus is on text, whether it's generating it from scratch, rewriting what you've already written, or checking for mistakes. It's used by 24% of people in the US and 16% of people in the UK, with a small 3.5% level of growth over the course of the survey.

3. Microsoft Copilot

• Used by 23% of US survey respondents, 17% in the UK

You can't have failed to notice Microsoft Copilot trying to find its way into every single Microsoft product in recent times – Microsoft is really, really keen for people to use it, and it averages 20% in terms of those in our survey who are using it, putting it in 3rd place.

(Image credit: Microsoft / Future)

Copilot can be used to generate text, think through problems, come up with ideas, create images, search the web, and more, with extra features for paying users. Usage is up 64% across last year, with 23% of US users and 17% of UK users regularly logging in.

2. Google Gemini

• Used by 27% of US survey respondents, 18% in the UK

Our 2nd place spot goes to one of the more familiar names in AI apps, Google Gemini. Across the US and UK, 22.5% of people are using it (27% in the US and 18% in the UK), and Gemini grew its userbase by a whopping 97% over our survey period. We weren't the only survey to discover this trend, as you can see further down this page.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Gemini is a multimodal AI app that can deal in text, audio, images, and documents, and Google isn't slowing down when it comes to adding new features. There is a free tier, but paying users get more advanced models and tools.

1. ChatGPT

• Used by 39% of US survey respondents, 35% in the UK

The competition may be gaining on it, but ChatGPT is still out in front as the most used AI tool – with an average of 37% of users we surveyed now making use of it (that's 39% in the US and 35% in the UK). Growth was 7% over the course of our study period.

(Image credit: OpenAI / Future)

ChatGPT is the multimodal bot that's mainly responsible for kickstarting the generative AI revolution: it can produce text and images, analyze documents, and search the web, plus it sounds like there's much more to come too.

Those results in full...

Here's a graph showing those results from our AI survey, where ChatGPT remains on top, but perhaps not as far ahead of its rivals as you might expect...

Our results also chime with some other recent research on the subject. Ben Wood, Chief Analyst at CCS Insight, told us: "At CCS Insight we’ve noted similar findings when it comes to the most popular AI services. ChatGPT leads with 39% of Brits telling us that they have used the service, with that number being even higher in the US, where we recorded that 42% of consumers have interacted with the platform," he said.

"Google’s Gemini is lagging ChatGPT, but we are seeing engagement growing. Awareness is also extremely high for both services, reaching over 80% in the UK and US for ChatGPT. In the US, awareness of Gemini is only fractionally behind ChatGPT at 73% while in the UK it has reached 69%," he added.

The race for the title of best AI tool is only just getting started, then – and it's clear why OpenAI, Google and Microsoft are all keen to add new features on a seemingly weekly basis. It'll be fascinating to see what this chart looks like in a year and beyond.

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The excitement around the Humane AI Pin has faded. The company behind the $700 AI device has sold its assets to HP for $116 million, and some of the employees have joined the company. It's a lot of money, but not exactly a coup for Humane, considering the startup had raised over $230 million. HP discontinuing the AI Pin is just the capper.

The withering of Humane's fortunes has more significant implications for another AI device, the Rabbit’s R1. The chirpy little AI gadget and the startup behind it may end up in a similar place as Humane if it's not careful. There are plenty of reasons why Humane may have failed, though I have a few theories.

The biggest reason may have been a lack of features people wanted. There were some intriguing ideas, like the screenless interaction with the AI, the laser projector that looked great in demo videos, and the continual link to the AI assistant. However, the reviews all highlighted slow AI processing, unreliable hardware, and feeling like the $24 monthly subscription fee was too much, especially on top of the $700 purchase price. As AI apps like ChatGPT improved, many may have decided they could get all the features they liked from their smartphone and returned the Humane AI Pin.

Rabbit should be taking notes. Right now, the R1 is struggling with some of the exact same issues: a lack of must-have features, performance hiccups, and a growing sense that it's an inessential accessory. Rushing out a prototype too quickly when the hardware is still unstable is a problem, especially when the hardware is the main selling point. A lack of certain features, like messaging and social media support, raises the same questions about its value as Humane faced.

Rabbit hole

I think the R1 can survive if Rabbit makes the right moves. That includes upgrading the R1’s Large Action Model (LAM) AI engine. The LAM is supposed to be the magic sauce that makes the R1 superior to Siri or Alexa, but even being just as good won't help it stand out. It needs to be instant and accurate when booking a ride, answering a question, or summarizing emails. Rabbit should throw everything they have into improving LAM, even if that means bringing in outside help and partnering with OpenAI or Anthropic.

Rabbit also needs to get deals in place to work with WhatsApp, Slack, and the Android and iOS messaging services at the very least. Even better, they should lean into voice-based messaging and AI-powered summaries, though they'd need to make sure they work at least as well as Apple Intelligence.

Ultimately, Rabbit needs to work out its positioning. Right now, it’s unclear who the R1 is for. Is it a productivity tool? A digital assistant for busy professionals? A toy for tech enthusiasts? Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, they should focus on a specific audience and go all in. If they position the R1 as an ultra-efficient personal AI secretary, something that can handle voice-to-text notes, summarize meetings, and manage calendars in a smoother way than any smartphone assistant, they might find a real niche.

And let’s not forget developers. Rabbit should aggressively court third-party developers, giving them the tools to build new integrations and apps for the R1. A strong developer ecosystem could turn the R1 from a novelty into a platform.

The Rabbit R1 isn’t doomed yet, but it is at a crossroads. It risks becoming another Humane AI Pin, an ambitious but ultimately forgettable attempt at AI hardware. But if Rabbit takes decisive action, it might just pull a, well, rabbit out of its AI hat.

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• Pika has released an iOS app that enables easy AI video creation from your phone
• The app includes many features, like Pikaffects, PikaScenes, and Pikadditions
• A new mobile feature called PikaMemes will make your face a reaction video GIF

Pika Labs has introduced an iOS app for those who want to play with the AI video creator's tools while on the go. With a few taps and a little patience, you can produce impossible videos ready to post on social media.

Pika chose to release the app only a few weeks after rolling out the Pika 2.1 model and its many new features and upgrades, including higher quality videos, more lifelike people and animals, and far more realistic movement and physics in general.

Further, if you're too impatient to wait for Pika 2.1, you can switch to Pika Turbo, a three times faster model that uses far fewer Pika credits to make a video, though it might not produce quite as impressive results.

AI imagination

All of Pika's popular tools are in the app – including Pikaffects, which creates bizarre transformations that deliver surreal, slightly unhinged visual spectacles. Give that vacation photo a melting Salvador Dalí look, turn the elephant at the zoo into the cake, and explode the litter thrown by a careless driver, all from your phone.

You can also add a touch of whimsy or unreality to a video with the Pikadditions tool. You pick a video to alter, then upload another image and describe how you want to infuse your footage with unreal elements. You might add a dragon to your backyard barbecue video or yourself in your favorite movie. As a test, I gave my dog some surprising new friends in our snowy backyard.

If you want a more narrative film, PikaScenes, formerly Scene Ingredients, lets you set the stage for your stories. If you forget a friend's birthday, you could send a personalized video of an animated scene starring them and a range of appropriate AI-crafted characters, props, and settings from your own photos or by a text prompt.

There's also a mobile app-exclusive feature called PikaMemes. As the name suggests, you can meld a photo with an emoji or popular meme concept and bring it to life in a short video or GIF. Say you want to share exactly how you feel when overwhelmed on a Monday. Just upload a good selfie or headshot and match it to the right mood; you won't need words to share how you feel.

All of these tools on a mobile app really encourage a lot of playing around. To take advantage of this, you'll need more than 150 tokens a month, which are provided for free, as the videos can range from five tokens for a Turbo model basic video to 60 credits for using Pika 2.1 and the most complex features. You can sign up for the Basic plan at $8 per month and get 700 credits, or the Standard plan for $28 and 2,300 credits.

Still, if you want to really stand out on TikTok or Instagram or just feel like really hammering home how much heat you're feeling, it's probably going to be hard to resist giving it a shot.

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Apple has just revealed the iPhone 16e, its new budget phone to replace the aged iPhone SE, but it’s more than just a cheaper take on the iPhone 16, as it comes with a brand-new component: the C1 cellular modem.

That’s Apple’s first-ever modem chip created for an iPhone and marks what could be a major move from using Qualcomm modem chips, further letting the Cupertino crew have greater control over iPhone hardware at a granular level.

We don’t have a vast amount of information about the C1 modem chip. Still, Apple touted that it’s “the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone, delivering fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity."

A fast and reliable 5G connection is to be expected, especially when the iPhone 16e is a $599 / 3599 / AU$999 phone, so it is hardly a slam-dunk contender for our best cheap phones list, at least in its current content. But what got my attention was the power-efficiency claim.

Unbelievably, I live in a part of London that has yet to get fiber internet connectivity, so when it comes to doing anything that requires a lot of bandwidth, say downloading a PS5 or Xbox Series X game, I need to tether to my iPhone 16 Pro Max to tap into the faster 5G connection.

This is fine until I look at how much battery gets gobbled up from using sustained 5G data transfer, plus the phone gets rather toasty to the touch.

If the C1 can significantly improve power efficiency, we could see the iPhone 16e, and perhaps the likes of the rumored iPhone 17 family, combat this by glugging less juice from the battery and getting less hot under the silicon collar.

Overall, we could see that iPhones improve on the already solid battery life that Apple phones tend to offer, though they are far from being the longest-lasting smartphones. At a time when we’re seeing demanding AI-powered tools and features pop up in the best phones, having improved power efficiency will become rather more important.

Chipping away

(Image credit: Apple)

Another interesting point that popped up when I dug into Apple’s iPhone 16e announcement is that the combination of the new C1 chip and the A18 chip, which can be found in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, has allowed for a new internal design with the iPhone 16e.

Apple hasn’t gone into details here, but like in the world of cars, especially Formula One, new methods of packaging in components can lead to more efficient designs and potentially improved performance.

Or a new internal design for iPhones could yield new hardware features; maybe with next-generation iPhones, we could get a dedicated graphic processing unit separate from the A18 chip that could bring in huge graphics power to supercharge gaming and other graphically demanding tasks on iPhones.

This is just me pondering, of course. But if nothing else, a new internal design could yield more compact and slimmer iPhones.

So, while a new in-house-designed modem chip might not be the most exciting of new Apple components, it could be a bigger deal for future iPhones than one might first think.

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