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Unai Emrey's Villans host the struggling Toffees.

I tell my friends that the new iPhone 16 is coming and they all say the same thing, “What’s so new about it?” I heard an editor question whether the new phone was even worth being called the iPhone 15s, a reference to the iPhone 6s days when Apple would update internal parts bi-annually without changing the look of the iPhone. My only response is: can’t you see the new button? What more do you want?!

You think it’s just a button? Sure, the camera hasn’t changed much. It can’t take infrared photos or x-ray through walls. It doesn’t record holograms that you can have R2-D2 playback when you find Ben Kenobi. In fact, Apple’s camera software options are pretty simple compared to Samsung and Google, and the new button doesn’t catch up to the competition's pro controls. 

Was that Action Button there before? It feels new (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)

I still take umbrage with saying ‘just a button.’ A button is a big deal! How many buttons does a phone have? Three? Four? My iPhone 15 Pro Max has four: volume up, volume down, Siri (wait, where’s the Power button?), and Action Button. One of those was a brand new button when I bought that phone, I’m sure, but my iPhone 13 Pro Max also has four buttons, so maybe I’m wrong.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the most feature-packed phone I own, and it only has five buttons – and two of those are on the S Pen! Actually, I count the S Pen ejector click as a button, but it doesn’t do anything, it’s just for fun. Why doesn’t Apple give us any buttons that don’t do anything!? The iPhone 16 Camera Control button looks fun, but it actually does stuff.

What the Camera Control button does and doesn't do

The camera button will open the camera … I think? Right now, my Action Button opens my iPhone 15 Pro Max camera, but I will soon use my iPhone 16 Pro (desert titanium, of course) Camera Control for that. I hope. 

I'm pretty sure the Camera button doesn’t just open the camera, but also opens AI – that is Apple Intelligence. Holding the Camera Control button takes a photo that is immediately fed to Apple’s AI to grok. 

There’s a big chance I will forget how to open the Camera and accidentally feed Apple’s AI … over and over again. I mostly use my iPhone buttons to take accidental screenshots, so this will be an improvement. At least there will be intelligence involved. 

Anyway, with the Camera Control button, I finally get the two-stage shutter button that I’ve been hoping for. I can press the button halfway to focus the camera, then squeeze the rest of the way to take the shot.

This Fujifilm X100VI has a two-stage button, just like the iPhone 16! (Image credit: Future)

I get so many mystified stares when I explain a two-stage camera button, I’m guessing that half of you have no idea what I’m talking about. This is the way standard cameras work, and have worked since autofocus was invented, but I think most people had no idea a camera could do this. Most people just jam the camera button all the way to take a photo.

The two-stage button makes photos better. It is easier to focus a camera and hold the camera steady when you take the shot. That means photos are much more clear.

I honestly think this will be the biggest improvement to iPhone photography since Apple added a second camera lens. This is the biggest hardware improvement I wanted for smartphones, aside from bringing back the 3.5mm headphone jack.

More than just an iPhone 16 button, it's the start of something

...all Android phone makers will add a two-stage camera button within two years...

The new button is more than just a button. The Camera Control is touch-sensitive. You can swipe on it. Okay, that’s cool. I can see how that would be useful to change settings, and maybe even fun! I can also imagine switching between camera lenses with accidental swipes. That would be a disaster.

If Apple had given us only a two-stage focus, for that alone I would have been thankful. But Apple did not stop at an autofocus swipe button. Apple goes even further with  AI. Tying the Camera Control button directly to Apple Intelligence puts AI front-and-center in a way that Google and Samsung have avoided. 

You can find plenty of cool AI tools on the best Samsung phones. You can talk to Google Gemini by holding a button on your Pixel 9 phone. Neither of those make it so easy for AI to see what you see, at the press of a button. We’re not even sure what this will be useful for, we just know you can show the AI things and then you can,  umm…

Back to the button. A button is a big deal! We need more buttons. This isn’t the first new button I’ve seen recently (hi Action Button!) and it won’t be the last. Good. I’m getting tired of touch screens.

This Nokia Windows Phone had a two-stage camera button (Image credit: Nokia)

First, I expect all Android phone makers will add a two-stage camera button within two years. It will take a few months for existing buyers to get jealous and demand a button on their next Android, and then It takes around 18 months to design a new phone. Therefore, two years – I’d put money on it.

Second, a camera button is just the start. There may be more buttons on the way. AI buttons. Buttons we haven’t thought about yet. There will be more buttons on the way. The zombie specter of phone buttons has been awakened, and it is hungry for new ideas.

Finally, touchscreens are terrible, at least on their own. A touchscreen is a mistaken tap waiting to happen. It’s a million wrong buttons that I can press while trying to press the one right button. It’s an Escape Room without an Esc. key. We need more buttons to help us control our phones.

Touchscreens are good for people with certain skills – a level of dexterity, or fine motor control. It was always wrong to make touch the only paradigm to control our smartphones (and don’t get me started on cars). I want more buttons, and if you can’t see why the new button is a big deal, then you’re probably still trying to unlock your phone screen with your fingers.

You Might Also Like

• Apple unveils the iPhone 16 with iOS 18, Camera Control, and an all-new A18 chipset
• iPhone 16's Camera Control button has a new Visual Intelligence feature to compete with Google Lens
• As a photographer, the iPhone 16’s new Camera Control button has captured my attention – here’s why

Plus: Meta’s AI scrapes the UK, Google digitizes your passport, Chrome syncs your tabs everywhere, and (have you heard?) Apple announces some new iPhones.

Giselle with the English National ballet in London on Jan. 13, 2017.'/>

DePrince, born in Sierra Leone, lost both her parents during the country’s civil war. She became the youngest principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and later joined the Boston Ballet.

(Image credit: Ian Gavan)

The Backforce V Plus is the latest in the line of gaming chairs that can also function as an office chair.

Like so many of the best office chair models we've reviewed, it is designed with both gamers and professionals in mind, blending the two worlds seamlessly. The mix of customizable features, comfort, lumbar support, personalization options, and eco-friendly materials make up a fantastic option for consumers.

Backforce V Plus: Price and Availability

The Backforce V Plus is available for around €499 (roughly $535), with shipping options primarily in Europe. Custom patches and other upgrades can add to the cost. The chair’s price places it in the higher mid-range, competing with some top-tier gaming chairs, but with the unique appeal of eco-friendly materials. It's currently available from the official website by clicking here.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Backforce V Plus: Unboxing and First Impressions

The Backforce V Plus Chair arrives in a dense yet relatively compact box. The chair took a while to build, even for someone who spends quite a bit of time building chairs. The tools and diagrams aren't user-friendly, so allocate some extra time to read the instructions carefully. It took me about 1-2 hours to fully assemble, and having an additional set of hands to help lift and fit parts together is highly recommended.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

Once assembled, the chair looks impressive—sleek, stylish, and clearly designed with durability in mind, but the effort required to get it there could be off-putting for some.

Backforce V Plus: Design and Build Quality Specs

Weight Capacity: 130 kg
Height Range: 1.51 m to 1.92 m
Materials: Recycled PET fabric, plastic base
Armrests: 4D adjustable
Warranty: 10 years
Price: €499

The Backforce V Plus chair is known for its robust build, made possible by recycled PET fabric. It also offers customization options, such as velcro patches on the backrest's shoulder area, adding a fun gamer element and allowing users to personalize their chairs. 

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

However, its heavy and bulky design may not be suitable for those with limited space, as it's challenging to maneuver, especially in smaller areas. The chair's eco-friendly materials, including Oeko-Tex 100-certified fabric, make it stand out from competitors, but some users may find the texture slightly rough for long sessions. Despite having a plastic base, as opposed to the aluminum bases of its competitors, the chair remains sturdy and well-built.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Backforce V Plus: In Use

After assembly, the V Plus provides comfortable and ergonomic support. The adjustable lumbar support and synchro-tilt mechanism offer personalized back support, making long gaming or work sessions easier on the body. The armrests are flexible but lack resistance, making them prone to unexpected shifting. We had to be careful not to lean on them aggressively during testing. Despite its sturdy build, the chair's weight makes moving difficult, and the lack of softer fabric limits all-day comfort. While we appreciate using recycled materials, the rough texture might only suit some. Some members of my team don't mind it, while others find the rough material uncomfortable.

Regarding other features, the seat depth and tilt adjustments are intuitive, allowing customization based on body type and preference. One of my team members, who is 5 feet 6 inches tall, has adjusted the backrest, seat depth, armrests, and seat height to fit perfectly.

Initially, the chair felt firm and supportive, perhaps too much so. However, over time, it has softened up.

Backforce V Plus: Final Verdict

The Backforce V Plus is a well-built, comfortable, and eco-friendly gaming chair with strong ergonomic features and customizable options. However, it has its flaws: some buyers may be put off by the challenging assembly process and high price. For those who value durability, sustainability, and personalization, it's a worthy investment.

If you're looking for a home office chair suitable for gaming, this chair is a good option for your home workspace. Additionally, this chair could be an excellent fit if you want the gamer look. However, if you're not into gaming and don't like the gamer aesthetic, there may be a better chair for you.

For more workspace essentials, we've assembled the best standing desk and the best office desk options out there.

Nothing Phone 2a Plus: Two-minute review

Nothing has already confirmed that its next flagship smartphone – the Nothing Phone 3 – won't be making its debut until 2025, but that doesn't mean fans of the brand aren't without new phones to get excited about in the meantime.

In March, we were introduced to the Nothing Phone 2a: a device with all the sensibilities of the current top-tier Nothing Phone 2, but with more modest hardware and a price tag to match. It did well – very well in fact, becoming the brand's best-selling smartphone to date, and proving that a market exists for the company's distinct design aesthetics and forward-looking user experience in a more affordable package.

It's this success (and the long wait for another flagship phone from the company) that likely led to the creation of the Nothing Phone 2a Plus: a new variant of the 2a, announced only four months after the original's arrival.

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

The 2a Plus is much the same phone as its namesake, but rather than being a larger-screened version of the 2a, the 'Plus' in this instance actually refers to the slight uplift in performance, camera hardware, and battery tech boasted by this refreshed model over the standard iteration; although it does also come with a price increase to match.

On sale from September 10 for $50 / £50 / AU$40 more than the equivalent storage capacity Phone 2a, the 2a Plus remains mostly unchanged; with the same transparent polycarbonate-backed design (this time with extra metallic detailing), the same strong 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED display, the same rear cameras, same battery capacity, and same software promise.

The higher asking price buys you, among other things, a beefier Dimensity 7350 Pro chip, which delivers on the promised benchmarks of 10% better CPU performance and 30% greater graphical performance, compared to the more modest MediaTek chip powering the standard Phone 2a. You also get 50W charging, compared to 45W on the 2a that's – as you might expect – fractionally quicker (a full charge takes just under, compared to just over, an hour), and a new higher-resolution 50MP front camera (compared to a 32MP snapper on the 2a), which serves up more detail; not to mention the Plus boasts a richer shooting experience, thanks to a new AI-supported 'Vivid' mode.

All in all, the question is not whether Phone 2a users have been short-changed and if there's any point in upgrading (there isn't). Instead, the Nothing Phone 2a Plus edges the needle closer to the performance of the company's current flagship (especially graphically) for a lot less, whereas we saw the standard model as more of an improvement on the original Nothing Phone 1, as you'll read in our original Nothing Phone 2a review.

You still pay a premium for that Nothing aesthetic and unique Glyph lighting, though, meaning similarly-priced rivals offer more in areas like software support, faster charging, or a superior viewing experience, but at the expense of the sense of style that Nothing has cultivated with its products.

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• Priced at $399 / £399 / AU$639
• On sale from September 10, 2024
• US availability via Nothing Beta Program

The Nothing Phone 2a Plus comes in a sole 12GB RAM / 256GB storage variant, which means, in most markets, it comes in at a single price (you can get it with 8GB or 12GB of RAM in India). In Nothing's homeland of the UK, the phone costs £399 (direct from Nothing), £50 more than the original asking price of an equivalent 256GB standard Phone 2a.

Even in the short months since the standard 2a debuted, however, the company has already officially cut its price in key markets. A 256GB 2a costs £329 at the time of writing, meaning you actually pay £70 more for the Plus today.

The assumption is that the Phone 2a will remain on sale until Nothing runs out of stock, at which point the 2a Plus will be the company's sole mid-ranger (the newer phone should also come with a price reduction of its own by that point).

In the US, as with the Phone 2a, the 2a Plus is currently only available through the company's Beta Program. Despite being competitively priced in the market, there are caveats to purchasing this phone in the region; namely a significantly shorter 14-day return period and – as the devices being sold are international models – incomplete support for US carrier bands (i.e. spotty cellular connectivity with major US networks).

If, like the Phone 2, Nothing decides to launch the 2a Plus Stateside officially, the model sold will feature more complete US carrier support, but the company hasn't announced any such plans at the time of writing.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Specs Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Design

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• Iconic Nothing aesthetic
• IP54-certified polycarbonate body
• Repels scuffs well but back attracts smudges

While the Phone 2a marked a slight departure from the company's previous smartphones, with its main dual camera placed transversely along the center line of the phone's back, rather than being offset in the corner, it otherwise carried across all the hallmarks of the Nothing's now-established design language.

The Phone 2a Plus echoes the standard model's dimensions, weight, and aesthetic identically; there's a transparent polycarbonate back, under which you'll find tracks of faux circuitry, a cluster of diffused LEDs around the camera, which make up the phone's Glyph Interface, and a matte plastic frame, with a power button set into the right side and large volume up and down keys along the left edge.

It's in the color department where Nothing has set the 2a and 2a Plus apart visually. While the standard phone arrived in black or Milk (white) – both variants also sported a red accent – the 2a Plus can be bought in either Black or Grey, with that circuitry no longer color-matching the bodywork, and instead sporting a more eye-catching reflective silver finish.

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It's a simple and effective way to distinguish the Plus from the standard 2a, and it feels a little more premium, too. However, I do miss the cleaner look of both launch finishes of the standard 2a (especially Milk).

In the hand, the proportions and weight of the 2a Plus make it a surprisingly comfortable phone to use one-handed. For its size, it feels beautifully put together, especially for a device that is, externally, mostly polycarbonate. Scuffs and scrapes are repelled surprisingly well; I just wish it didn't hold onto smudges so readily.

Nothing goes into some detail on the stress testing the 2a line is subjected to, for peace of mind, but the build is also independently certified against dust and water ingress with an IP54 rating; not quite as advanced as high-end devices, but perfectly at home for use in wet weather and the like.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Display

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• 6.7-inch 120Hz Full HD+ OLED
• Protected by Gorilla Glass 5
• Sluggish in-display optical fingerprint sensor

Sticking with aesthetics, Nothing's love for flexible OLED panels grants the Phone 2a Plus balanced bezels around its flat 6.7-inch Full HD+ (1084 x 2412) screen; framing things neatly with a 91.65% screen-to-body ratio (for comparison, the pricier Galaxy A55 sports a 86.9% ratio).

The display is protected by both a factory-fitted screen protector and Gorilla Glass 5 (i.e. not Corning's latest and greatest, but respectable in terms of both impact and scratch protection), and after several weeks of use, my device only picked up one or two superficial abrasions.

That upgraded front-facing camera sits neatly at the center of the panel's top edge, while an optical under-display fingerprint sensor hangs down near the bottom bezel. Practically, I think the sensor placement is a little too low, and, surprisingly, the response time of this particular fingerprint reader is well behind what I've come to expect from the technology. We're talking milliseconds here, but I hope Nothing works to improve read speed via subsequent updates, as it lags behind the quality of the rest of the experience served up by the 2a Plus.

The Phone 2a (left), Phone 2a Plus (center) and Phone 2 (right) (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

As for the panel itself, it's the same screen found on the standard 2a, with nice colors, contrast, and a respectable 1,100-nit average maximum brightness (with a 1,300-nit peak). Other reviewers have reported fractionally better brightness scores from the panel on the 2a Plus, compared to the 2a, but anecdotally I never saw a noticeable difference while testing them side by side; both are visible in bright conditions, even if there is plenty of room for improvement.

While the use of OLED tech ensures nice vibrant colors and deep blacks, the 2a Plus doesn't pack LTPO tech, meaning the 120Hz refresh can step down to 30Hz, but no lower, and in fairly sizable increments, too. In practice, the OS tends to err on the side of fluidity, even if that means higher power consumption (you do have the ability to cap it at 60Hz manually, if you prefer).

Nothing doesn't grant a huge amount of control over customizing the viewing experience, beyond including always-on display (AoD) support and Night Light (which warms display color temperature when it's dark or late). You have Alive or Standard color profiles to choose between, with a warm-to-cool slider, too, but again, while appreciated, this is a comparatively bare-bones take on display personalization, compared to what you'd find on equivalent Xiaomi.

• Display score: 3.5 / 5

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Software

Nothing OS' stylized weather app (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• 3 years of OS & 4 years security updates
• Launches with Nothing OS 2.6 atop Android 14
• Nothing AI news widget is novel but has provenance issues

Nothing OS fast found a home among fans, thanks to its distinct, minimalist aesthetic, monochrome icon and widget theming, and as the means of interaction with the defining functional design feature of the brand's phones: the Glyph Interface.

Since the original Nothing Phone, the company has continued to build out this experience with new functionality, without straying from the path; ensuring a consistent experience across all its devices at all price points (from the top-tier Phone 2, down to the recently released affordable CMF Phone 1).

Like the standard Phone 2a, the 2a Plus arrives on Android 14 but sports the latest (at the time of writing) Nothing OS 2.6. The experience is as great as every other Nothing Phone, with the look and feel being one of its major draws. It's really nice to use, slick, and responsive on the 2a Plus thanks to that high refresh rate display. The ability to have supersized folders and app icons is a nice, unique bit of personalization and the native widgets are oozing with the dot matrix charm that embodies Nothing OS' visual style.

The new News widget, introduced in Nothing OS 2.6 (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

One of the most interesting additions in Nothing OS 2.6 is a new news widget. Add it to your home screen and select as many topics as you like from a shortlist of seven during the initial setup screen (these include business, entertainment, sports, technology, and more).

Once set up, tap the widget each day to hear an impressively convincing AI-generated version of Nothing's CFO Tim Holbrow read out various stories, covering your chosen topics. It's a novel and convenient way to digest current affairs, and a meaningful implementation of free AI functionality that few other mid-rangers come close to offering. There are, however, some obvious drawbacks.

For one, you have no idea about the provenance of the stories being read out. Even during setup, the widget never cites its sources, and there's no way to dive deeper or access the source material on a story Tim just read to you. There's the obvious risk of AI hallucination to consider with a tool like this, too, not to mention the ethical quandary of fair attribution to the journalists whose work this widget has scraped for content.

While I like the method of delivery, here's hoping subsequent updates iron out at least some of the pitfalls with this otherwise capable news widget.

The 2a Plus' Glyph Interface lit up in darkness (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

Despite its lower standing in Nothing's smartphone portfolio, the 2a Plus doesn't lose out on the brand's signature Glyph Interface – the diffused LED segments around the phone's rear camera.

There are far fewer than on the Phone 2, but the trio that are present still fulfill all the same functions: as visual indicators for incoming calls and notifications when the phone is face down, to represent timers and ETAs on supported apps, and as a softer fill light when shooting video. You can also create your own Glyph patterns by downloading Nothing's Glyph Composer app, which is a fun bonus.

While not everyone will appreciate a phone that flashes (you can disable it if you don't like the Glyphs at all), it's another novel and aesthetic-defining characteristic of Nothing's phones and I appreciate its presence; although I wish more third-party developers put it to use, as it doesn't feel like it's being utilized to its full potential.

The Glyph Interfaces on the Nothing Phone 2a (left), Phone 2a Plus (center) and Phone 2 (right) (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

When it comes to software updates, Nothing is great at constantly pushing fixes and features to its devices; it's far more prolific than bigger brands like Motorola or Sony, and they should take note, as it constantly feels like your phone is improving. Nothing's also great at granting its users early access to Android betas, ahead of each OS' full release, which right now means you can technically already get your hands on Android 15, if you're willing to hazard its unfinished state.

The flip side is that software promises have become increasingly competitive in the market, with Apple and, more recently, the likes of OnePlus, Samsung and Google pushing for five, six or even seven years of support on its latest devices.

In the case of the Phone 2a Plus, the promise of three years of OS updates and four years of security updates seems acceptable for the phone's mid-range standing, but looks like a much weaker proposition on the more expensive Phone 2. If Nothing has the resources, being able to up those numbers would keep it competitive.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Camera

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• Same dual 50MP rear sensors as Phone 2a
• Upgraded 50MP front camera
• New Vivid Mode with real time analysis

The Phone 2a's distinct rear dual 50MP sensors (a Samsung GN9 for the main sensor and a Samsung JN1 for the ultra-wide) remain unchanged from the standard Phone 2a, as does the Imagiq 765 ISP (image signal processor) handling things behind the scenes; despite the change in silicon between the two phones.

The more prominent difference is the upgraded front camera, which sees the 2a's 32MP snapper traded for another 50MP JN1 (yes, the same sensor used by the ultra-wide). The result is higher-resolution selfies with a different capture profile and the ability to shoot 4K video on the phone's front, too.

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Side by side, selfies taken on the 2a Plus display greater detail and dynamic range in well-lit scenes. However, the fact that shots are captured at 50MP natively, and not pixel-binned, means blurring and detail loss in low light conditions is prevalent.

Portrait shooting across the front and back sensors can be hit and miss, too, with edge detection from the Portrait Optimizer within Nothing's TrueLens Engine (i.e. its camera software) tripping up from time to time. Otherwise, results are good.

Another camera addition that remains unique to the Phone 2a Plus is Vivid Mode; not even the Phone 2 running the same version of Nothing OS has this feature, at the time of writing. Not only does Vivid Mode change the color science employed to achieve more saturated shots, but it also uses AI to analyze what's in-frame and serves up real-time insight into what it's actually doing.

Within Vivid Mode, the 'result' section grants real-time AI-generated insight into how the camera is processing whatever's in frame. (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

It's another novel use of AI, but one that shows Nothing is thinking about new ways to enhance the mobile photography experience and also give the user more insight into how to compose shots and what to consider. Vivid Mode lends itself well to further improving low-light shots, too.

• Camera score: 3.5 / 5

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Performance

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• 3nm MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro chipset
• 8GB / 12GB RAM w/ RAM Booster up to 20GB
• Sole 256GB storage variant (non-expandable)

One of the three tentpole upgrades – and perhaps the most significant – that the 2a Plus lords over the standard 2a is a new chipset. MediaTek has once again supplied Nothing with an exclusive variant of its mobile silicon variant, which promises a 10% CPU uptick and up to a 30% graphical performance boost, compared to the Dimensity 7200 Pro that powers the vanilla Phone 2a.

In practice, my benchmark results suggest more modest improvements (about 3.5% better in CPU, 6% in AI, and 12% in GPU performance). That said, this doesn't detract from the fact that this Dimensity 7350 Pro-powered phone is more capable outright; scoring closely to the original Phone 1, as well as more recent rivals, like Samsung's Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A54, along with the Tensor G2-powered Google's Pixel 7 line.

By default, high-fidelity 3D titles like Zenless Zone Zero default to 'low' graphical settings at 30fps and deliver perfectly consistent performance at that level. If you want to dial things up to 'high' at 60fps, though, the 7350 Pro seems happy to be pushed in short bursts; you'll just start to notice heat build-up (there is a vapor chamber to help internal cooling) and the occasional dropped frame after about 20 to 30-minutes of play time, as I did.

Nothing is keeping things simple with a single 256GB (non-expandable) storage option in all markets, with most of the world getting 12GB of RAM. You can also use the RAM Booster tech in Nothing OS to allocate some of that storage as additional memory to give you up to an additional 8GB of virtual RAM), if desired, allowing more apps to remain in suspension in the background.

Beyond the engine of the phone, the performance of its asymmetrical stereo speaker setup also surprised and impressed, with a much fuller and clearer sound than you'd expect for a mid-ranger such as the Plus, not to mention some usable bass, too.

• Performance score: 3.5 / 5

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Battery

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• 5,000mAh battery
• Fastest-charging Nothing Phone yet, at 50W
• 7 hours of screen-on time per charge

The 2a Plus is tied for the largest battery capacity on a Nothing Phone, at 5,000mAh, but it trumps the rest of the range – including the Phone 2 and 2a – when it comes to fast charging; with an elevated top speed of 50W.

While we're not approaching OnePlus or Xiaomi numbers here, 50W is decently fast against key competitors; so fast, in fact, that Nothing's own-brand charger 45W can't refill the Phone 2a Plus at full speed. For that, the $39 / £39 CMF Power 65W GaN charger is the next-best thing; especially as Nothing doesn't include a power adapter in-box, just its iconic transparent-ended USB-C cable.

In testing, the Phone 2a Plus reached 40% charge in 15 minutes, over 70% in 30, and a full charge took just under an hour (55 minutes). As you might expect, with only a 5W uptick compared to the standard Phone 2a, the gains in fast-charging are limited; the base 2a hit 30% charge in 15 minutes, just over 60% in 30, and recharged completely in just over an hour, under the same conditions as the Plus.

Screen-on time for the 2a Plus is respectable at 7 hours per charge, which should see most users through a day and a half of use without worry (the Phone 2a offered on average 6 hours and 45 minutes of screen-on time). For added peace of mind, Nothing also states that even after 1,000 charge cycles, the 2a Plus' battery will retain 90% of its original capacity, which is well above the kinds of figures rivals promise; perhaps even an industry-leading claim.

•  Battery score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Nothing Phone 2a Plus? Buy it if...

You want a great-value Nothing experience
The Phone 2a Plus distills the full-fat Nothing experience down in all the right ways; from design to user experience.

You want a phone that turns heads
Nothing's hardware and software are already eye-catching in a market of black rectangles, but the shiny silver circuitry and Glyph Interface mean the Phone 2a Plus makes a real statement.

Don't buy it if...

You want a meaningful upgrade over the Phone 2a
It's hard to reconcile why the Phone 2a Plus exists alongside the Phone 2a, when the upgrades, while appreciated, don't move the needle all that much.

You want a top performing mid-ranger
The Phone 2a Plus puts more points into style than many of its direct competitors but, as a result, lags behind on performance; even with a beefier chipset than the standard Phone 2a.

Nothing Phone 2a Plus review: Also consider

The specific blend of style and features that make up the Nothing Phone 2a Plus might not be for you after all. If that's the case, what about one of these alternatives?

Samsung Galaxy A35
A more boring design than the Phone 2a Plus conceals comparable performance, better dust and water resistance, an extra camera, and longer software support, all for a little less money.

Xiaomi Poco F6
Faster charging and better water resistance are nice, but the Poco F6 really outshines the 2a Plus on performance. Its near-flagship Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip serves up way more power and even ray tracing support for the same price.

How I tested the Nothing Phone 2a Plus

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

• Review test period: one month
• Testing included: everyday use including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
• Tools used: Geekbench 6, Geekbench AI, GFXBench, native Android stats, Samsung 65W trio charger

On receiving the Nothing Phone 2a Plus, I also picked up the Phone 2 and Phone 2a, to make constant comparisons between the three devices. I lived and worked with the Phone 2a Plus for a month, using it as my main phone for everything from social media use to photography and gaming.

I kept track of battery usage each day and ran several benchmark apps to help compare performance against rival devices I did and didn't have to hand.

As a reviewer with 13 years of experience, and having reviewed previous Nothing phones, I felt confident assessing and scoring the Nothing Phone 2a Plus, both relative to other mid-rangers, and in the context of the wider smartphone market.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2024

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As a huge fan of both theme parks and computer games, 2016’s Planet Coaster was in many ways a dream game for me. Since playing Bullfrog’s seminal game, Theme Park, back in the mid-90s, first on the Amiga and then on PC, I have been obsessed with theme park management strategy games. 

As you can imagine, then, the announcement earlier this year that Planet Coaster 2 was to come in late 2024 (pre-orders are now live, and it launches on November 6, 2024), made me very happy given my history with the PC game and theme park sims.

For context, in Planet Coaster, I vividly remember plotting my parks on paper, then creating them in the game, dividing the map into different themes, just like the beloved theme parks I visited as a kid. Building the parks, and rides, of my dreams (and sometimes my guests’ nightmares) captured some of the magic from those magic kingdoms, but Theme Park also reminded players that these parks aren’t just for fun: they are made to create money.

By placing a French Fries stall, hiking up the salt content, and then putting a drinks stall next to it with inflated prices (and extra ice), I was able to squeeze extra money out of my thirsty punters. As a kid, it was my first lesson that capitalism can be evil… but also fun.

But anyway, while the original Planet Coaster gave me hundreds of hours of enjoyment, there were plenty of things that could be improved. So, when I got the opportunity to have some early time with the sequel, I was keen to jump the queue and see what was new.

(Image credit: Frontier Developments) Splash back

The biggest change with Planet Coaster 2 is the inclusion of water park features, including pools, flumes, and new themes. Frontier has experience with this, having worked on the Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 expansion pack (old person speak for DLC) Soaked, which added flumes.

Weirdly, I’m not as interested in water parks as theme parks, but being given more things to play with when designing a park is always welcome.

While water park features aren’t the only new things in Planet Coaster 2, it would have been understandable if Frontier had called it a day there. During my time playing the game, it’s clear just how big an undertaking adding water rides has been.

Of course, there are all the additional art assets and models, but it also introduces an entirely new physics system to accurately simulate water, slides, and more.

For players of the original game, creating pools, adding features, and building water slides will feel familiar. Slides are built piece-by-piece in the same way as rollercoasters, and while new players may feel a bit lost, it’s intuitive enough to get the hang of pretty quickly, while also being flexible enough that you can create some pretty spectacular rides in not much time. 

(Image credit: Frontier Developments)

Whether or not your guests will want to ride your creations, however, is another question. By testing your rides before they open, you’ll be able to see if the ride works as intended (I.E it doesn’t launch the test dummy into the stratosphere due to a misjudged hump),  and you’ll get feedback on how exciting, scary and how nauseous it’ll make the riders. It’s here where the real art of constructing a theme park ride comes in – you’ll need to balance all of those aspects. Too scary and few people will want to ride it, if it makes people too ill then not only will it put people off riding, but you’ll also have to deal with people throwing up all over your lovely park. You can lower these values by making adjustments to the ride – lowing drops and banking corners for example – but if you make the ride too tame, its excitement will drop and people won’t want to ride.

As with the first game, I can tell this part of building your park could be a huge – and enjoyable – time-sink as you try to build the ultimate ride.

In Planet Coaster 2, more customization options allow you to add design elements to the ride, including coaster cars, and while I only had a short time with the game, it’s clear that it’s going to offer a huge amount of tools to help you craft and tweak almost every aspect of your park.

While I wasn’t overly excited by the inclusion of pools and water slides, I ended up really liking them. Building both was fun and intuitive, and the pools especially looked fantastic.

I didn’t notice much of a visual upgrade over Planet Coaster, but that was still a fine-looking game that was both realistic and cartoony. However, the pools in Planet Coaster 2 look fantastic. Clear, realistic water that sparkles under a cloudless sky made me want to crawl through the screen and dive in. It made me nostalgic for the summer – before I remembered that here in the UK we’d just endured one of the wettest and miserable summers in recent memory.

Interestingly, it seems like the weather in Planet Coaster 2 won’t always be perfect. I didn’t see it in action, but the launch trailer shows guests running for shelter during rainy weather, and I noticed a weather forecast icon in the game’s menu.

While the eternally sunny weather of the first game gave us UK players a nice bit of escapism, including different weather conditions for the sequel, more realistic weather in the sequel will add to the realism – and could bring some interesting challenges – and opportunities. Rainy weather could make guest numbers drop, but some carefully placed umbrella stores could help raise profits – especially if you can, like in Rollercoaster Tycoon, up the prices when the rain starts to fall. There’s that evil capitalism working again.

(Image credit: Frontier Developments)

I also got a glimpse of a few new themes – Mythical and Resort – and my mind is already fizzing with ideas of how I can use them in my parks.

Plus ça changing room

As I mentioned earlier, the original Planet Coaster did a lot of things right – but there were plenty of things that needed improvement, and from my short time with Planet Coaster 2, I found some of those were indeed fixed – but I still had a few concerns.

Making paths in the original, for example, could sometimes be annoyingly fiddly, and you could end up with some ugly bodge jobs when trying to make certain things, such as large plazas. The good news is that Planet Coaster 2 mainly fixes this with new path-making tools that make things much more simple, and give you additional settings to tweak, to help you get the desired effects. I found this made creating paths easier – when on the ground, at least. Creating stairs and bridges seemed to be more complicated – but that might just have been me being a bit rusty.

(Image credit: Frontier Developments)

Putting down shops, food stalls, and guest services, such as toilets and new changing rooms (which need to be added for your guests to use the pools), seems a bit over-complicated as well. In the version of Planet Coaster 2 that I played, some shops and facilities were just ‘shells’ – basically empty buildings that were elaborately themed. Placing them in the park didn’t give me the actual facilities themselves – I would have to find those, then either place them in the park, place the shell over them, or add them by editing the shell’s blueprint (the name for ready-made, yet customizable, pre-built elements).

Confusingly, some facilities in the default Planet Coaster theme were included, while other themes just included the shell. I’ll clarify with Frontier about whether this is just because I was playing a limited preview version of the game, or if this will be the case in the full version as well. I hope not.

By searching for the actual shop or facility to add to the shell, I was reminded about another issue that I’ve had with the original Planet Coaster, which seems to be still present in the sequel. It can be difficult to find certain building parts, and while there is a decent tagging system in place that lets you search, you still need to remember where certain things are located, as there are a few different menus where the item could be. Sometimes things are in the ‘Shops and Facilities’ menu. But then there are also the ‘Scenery’ and ‘Building’ menus, which can also have items you need – and you’ll need to remember which menu they are in. When you start expanding the game with DLC, which will be inevitable considering the various expansion packs the original game got, these menus become more unwieldy, so finding things can take even longer.

(Image credit: Frontier Developments)

I was also shown a level in the campaign mode. I felt that the campaign of Planet Coaster was not that engaging – I usually spent my time playing in sandbox mode, with unlimited money. While this gives you more freedom, it also means you miss out on the challenge and management aspects of the game. So, with Planet Coaster 2, I’m hoping to have more reasons to play the campaign and to dig into the (hopefully) more expansive management options.

From what I played, that might not be the case. The level required me to build a park but only in a certain part of the map, for reasons that didn’t make too much sense. However, unless I was being thick (a likely possibility), once in the game I wasn’t given any onscreen guidance for where to build or suggestions on how to hit the goals to allow me to progress. Eventually, a kindly press representative of Frontier took pity on me and informed me I was building in the wrong part of the map.

This confusion, along with not being sure where to find parts to build facilities and how to make paths on higher levels, makes me worried that the interface of Planet Coaster 2 needs a bit of a rethink with more onscreen help and tips. After all, if an (admittedly a bit stupid) longtime player of the original game can get lost, what hope do newcomers have?

(Image credit: Frontier Developments) Open for business

While some doubts remain, from the time I had with Planet Coaster 2 I am very excited to play the full release when it launches in November. It’s a charming and fun game that’s clearly been made by people who love the subject matter.

I can see myself playing this game a heck of a lot, and I can’t wait to see what the imaginative community makes with the new and improved tools – as before, PC gamers will be able to easily add other user’s creations to their own parks via the Steam Workshop.

As a fun toy that lets my imagination run wild, my inner child could not be more excited for Planet Coaster 2. The part of me that enjoys playing challenging games, however, will need a bit more convincing.

Planet Coaster 2 releases on November 6, 2024, on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

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Silo season 2: key information

- Announced in June 2023
- Set to debut exclusively on Apple TV Plus in November
- No trailer revealed yet
- Many actors returning from season 1
- Steven Zahn is the only new confirmed addition to the cast roster
- Plot synopsis yet to be revealed
- Story expected to focus on the second novel in Hugh Howey's 'Wool' series, which the show is based on
- No word on whether further seasons will be greenlit

Silo season 2 is one of the most anticipated Apple TV Plus shows of the year. The dystopian sci-fi series' first outing was met with critical and award-based acclaim upon its mid-2023 debut, so it wasn't a huge surprise to see the Rebecca Ferguson-led project renewed for another installment ahead of its season 1 finale.

With the Apple-developed show set to re-emerge from its underground bunker soon, you'll want more details on what to expect from Silo's second season. In this guide, we've rounded up everything worth knowing about one of the best Apple TV Plus shows' next entries, including its official release date, potential plot points, cast details, and more. It goes without saying, but full spoilers follow for Silo season 1. Potential season 2 spoilers are also discussed, as are story threads from Hugh Howey's 'Wool' book trilogy, which the series is inspired by.

Silo season 2 release date

“In the event of a failed cleaning, prepare for war.” — The OrderSilo Season 2 arrives November 15 on Apple TV+ #JulietteLives #Silo pic.twitter.com/uDqxqAM5veJuly 27, 2024

Silo season 2's official release date was one of nine big Comic-Con 2024 announcements that delighted us earlier this year, with news of the Apple TV show's return – it'll debut on Friday, November 15 – coming in late July.

Before then, we only knew that Apple TV Plus had renewed Silo for another season, with that confirmation coming in June 2023 ahead of season 1's final episode. One month later, lead star Rebecca Ferguson told TechRadar that season 2 was a long way from making its debut on the streaming platform, with its development being heavily impacted by the 2023 Hollywood strikes that brought the industry to a standstill for much of last year.

With that industry action now a distant memory, we can look forward to Silo season 2, which will arrive with a one-episode premiere on launch day. The following nine episodes will stream weekly until the finale airs on January 17, 2025.

Silo season 2 trailer: is there one?

Traversing the wilderness in search of Silo season 2's trailer like... (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

If you jump over to YouTube and search for a Silo season 2 trailer, you might be surprised to find that there are several different ones, but hold your horses! All of these are fan made – and in some cases, created with artificial intelligence (AI).

Apple is yet to release an official teaser but, with the series returning in less than two months, we predict one will be released before the end of September. We'll embed it in this guide once it's revealed.

Silo season 2 cast: confirmed and rumored

Steven Zahn is the only new actor confirmed to appear in season 2 so far (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Full spoilers follow for Silo season 1.

Here's the confirmed cast for Silo season 2 so far, as revealed in an Apple press release:

• Rebecca Ferguson as Juliette Nicholls
• Common as Robert Sims
• Tim Robbins as Bernard Holland
• Harriet Walter as Martha Walker
• Chinaza Uche as Paul Billings
• Avi Nash as Lukas Kyle
• Alexandria Riley as Camille Sims
• Shane McRae as Knox
• Remmie Milner as Shirly Campbell
• Clare Perkins as Carla
• Billy Postelthwaite as Hank
• Rick Gomez as Patrick Kennedy
• Caitlin Zoz as Kathleen Billings
• Tanya Moodie as Judge Meadows
• Iain Glen as Doctor Pete Nichols
• Steven Zahn as Solo

Of the above contingent,  the only new cast addition 2 is that of Steve Zahn. Last seen as the angsty dad Mark Mossbacher in The White Lotus, he'll be appearing as the character called Solo. Apple hasn't provided any further insight into this individual, so he's an enigma for the time being.

As for main season 1 cast members who won't return, Rashida Jones and David Oyelowo won't be back as Allison Becker and her husband Holston, who was the titular silo's sheriff. The pair perished after leaving the underground bunker whilst wearing defective suits, so don't expect to see this duo again next time.

Silo season 2 plot speculation

Bernard Holland will return in one of season 2's dual storylines (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Full spoilers follow for Silo's first season.

Apple hasn't provided us with an official story brief for Silo season 2 yet. Indeed, the only things we’ve been given so far are the aforementioned X/Twitter release date post, which comes captioned with an ominous sentence reading "'In the event of a failed cleaning, prepare for war’ – The Order", and some first-look images.

Based on what we know about Howey's novels, plus what transpired in the season 1 finale, we have a vague idea of where things could go.

What secrets lie beyond the silo?Your first look at Silo Season 2. pic.twitter.com/UxXzN2FgTEJune 10, 2024

Season 1's ending was incredibly bleak. After Juliette discovered the hidden conspiracy hidden within the Silo, and believing that the outside world was a beautiful and verdant place, rather than the barren hellscape shown to those who live inside it, she managed to escape and learn the truth once and for all. Unfortunately, when she finally emerged, the idyllic world was all an illusion to deceive cleaners (individuals who, upon breaking the law, are forced to venture outside and clean the silo's exterior). The world, in fact, is a fat lot of barren nothingness – well, apart from the many craters lining its surface, each with their own hundred-plus storied silos. 

So, where can the series go from here? It's unconfirmed, but we suspect season 2 will likely be based on 'Shift', the second novel in Howey's 'Wool' book trilogy, which tells the origins of the silos, as well as that of young congressman Donald Keene who's ordered to design and build them by Senator Thurman. 

How much of this original storyline is going to be used in the show, though, is very much being kept under lock and key. However, showrunner Graham Yost has provided a couple of telling details about how Silo season 2 will begin – and it sounds like she'll be forced to find safety in a new silo to escape the toxic environment surrounding her. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly (EW), Yost said: "Juliette has a very difficult time getting into this other silo, and she's looking for safety 'cause her suit is running out of air. The wondrous tape that Walker [Harriet Walter] arranged for her to have her suit wrapped in, that's going to fail. A lot of the episode is about Juliette just trying to survive and the engineering stuff she has to do to try to stay alive."

Juliette will spend much of season 2's premiere searching for a new place to stay alive (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Season 2's opener won't just focus on its titular character, however. Expanding on what viewers can expect, Yost also told EW: "The premiere [follows] Juliette, but we actually don't start with her. We're going to start back an undetermined – at least at first – amount of time ago, in another silo. We're going to see a rebellion going very wrong.

"They [the rebels] run up and we cut from them just as they're going outside to seeing that same flag sticking up out of the ground, out of the hand of a skeleton, and it's God knows how many years later. In the distance is this person in a cleaning suit walking toward it, and it's Juliette, who will follow the trail of bodies that will lead her into a dead silo."

Sounds like we're going to go deeper (if you pardon the pun) into the mythology and lore surrounding the silos, then. Not only that, but Silo season 2 will also tell concurrent storylines – one that follows Juliette, and the other taking place at her original home. "Juliette knows [what] could happen to her silo," Yost added during his EW chat, "And is there any way she could get back to them to help them to stop that from happening? Stuff’s starting to get really, really scary". Roll on November, we say. In the meantime, learn more clues about where Silo season 2's plot could go, based on its literature.

Is Silo season 2 going to be the sci-fi show's final entry?

Book fans will know if we'll see Common's Robert again in future seasons (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

No. It looks like we’ll be getting at least two more seasons of Silo, with Ferguson telling Collider (in April 2024) that the show’s future was already written in the books: "I believe that the show has an ending, and I know when that is, so that's the answer. You will find out when the show is done. To be honest, I don't think it's a secret. The books are the books. It's three books, and the three books are divided into four seasons. 

"So, I believe…I think we're absolutely fine with saying season 1, we've done. Season 2 is shot and coming out, and we're now looking at green-lighting seasons 3 and 4. And I think we would film them maybe together and that would be the end."

It's unclear if the final two seasons would be shot back to back, or if it'll be a few years before this series is wrapped up. Regardless, Silo season 2 isn't too long from launching, so we can take comfort from its impending arrival – oh, and the fact that we don't live in a post-apocalyptic world where the very air we breathe can kill us.

For more Apple TV Plus coverage, read our guides on the best Apple TV Plus movies, Foundation season 3, and Severance season 2.

James Earl Jones sadly passed away this week at 93, leaving an amazing legacy as an actor. His iconic voice lent gravitas to the CNN tag, Mufasa in The Lion King, and, most famously, Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise. But, thanks to some foresight by Jones and Star Wars owner Disney, his voice could very well return in future projects performing all-new lines. 

Though Jones is credited with Darth Vader’s voice from the original Star Wars in 1977 until now, his interest in stepping back from working led to some AI assistance in his most recent Vader performance in the Obi-Wan Kenobi television series. Disney unsurprisingly wanted to make sure Darth Vader sounded like Jones in the show. So, the company worked with Jones and Ukrainian AI voice company Respeecher to turn samples of Jones’ past performances into a voice clone that could recreate how he sounded but read from a new script. It’s similar to how Respeecher replicated the voice of video game actor Miłogost Reczek for Cyberpunk 2077.

Deepfaking celebrity voices has rapidly become popular as the technology has improved and the price has fallen. Jones was one of the first actors of his stature to actually work out a contract for how and when his AI voice clone could be used, even after he passed away. Deciding to pursue the option at all took some time, according to reporting at the time. Disney and Lucasfilm wanted vocal consistency but knew it could alienate fans if they felt Jones wasn’t okay with it. In the end, Jones’ AI voice replica sounded nearly indistinguishable from him in the 1970s, though the distorted Vader voice may have smoothed over any bumps. 

The voice of the Force

Many actors worry that AI will eventually render human performances obsolete, especially in industries like video games, where voice actors are already facing significant challenges. This was a question during both the screen actors’ strike and the video game voice actors’ strike that followed. In both cases, actors demanded stronger protections against AI replication of their performances.

In Jones’ case, the actor gave explicit approval for his voice to be used in perpetuity through AI, but not every performer has his clout with the production companies. It's not just Respeecher offering AI voice clones of celebrities. ElevenLabs recently debuted AI versions of the voices of James Dean, Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland, and Sir Laurence Olivier for its Reader App. As with Jones, the company got permission to do so, in this case, from the estates of the actors. But, as Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson can attest, not everyone asks before making an AI clone. 

With James Earl Jones, what matters most may be if fans feel the connection to Darth Vader when the role is performed by his AI duplicate that so many have felt when hearing the actor speak the lines. A brief speech is one thing, but a starring role for the AI voice of Jones might not go down as well. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

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Your headphones could work so much better if you just cleaned them.

Though the Get a Mac ads of the mid-late 2000s are probably only a memory to most of us, Apple has, with its latest keynote, further impressed on us business types that whatever a PC can do, a Mac can do better - and actually make that thing fun and worthwhile.

Enter Apple Intelligence, a content and context-sensitive AI tool baked into iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, which is headed for launch in October 2024 with US English support and other languages soon after.

It’s much like Microsoft 365 Copilot, the company’s AI platform we’ve been conditioned to want to bother with at work, but geared towards consumers.

(Image credit: Apple)

Generative AI, very much still the buzzword in the tech world, comes to Apple users in the form of ‘Writing Tools’, with the company showing off a demo of writing emails. The (slightly tenuous) B2B link we’re going for here is that Apple showed it being used by a new graduate to send an email to a recruiter. The e-mail is only four sentences long, which makes the whole thing err on the side of bleak, but yes, this is a thing that can be done now.

It’s not a new concept, allowing AI to replace the expression of any and all identity, but consider what makes Apple Intelligence different; that “many of the models that power Apple Intelligence run entirely on device,” which means that your expensive designer computer will now be bogged down by stuff preventing you from truly applying yourself to the things we invented computers to help us do in the first place.

Apple's dedicated cloud compute for Intelligence

There’s also the fact the company noted its “Private Cloud Compute offers the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers”, which should mean this is a predominantly Apple operation, with no nVidia chip or server involvement.

This is actually commendable; in running its own server infrastructure, Apple appears to be trying to achieve something, even if it isn’t necessarily innovating. ChatGPT is baked into the all new Siri and those ‘Writing Tools’, though, so you can’t have everything.

And yes, while we still mourn the Windows Phone, iOS gets in on the fun too. All that boring stuffy boardroom stuff about recording and summarising Microsoft Teams calls has now trickled down to the consumer; this now works on phone calls, with participants informed during. No word on whether this works across platforms or only between iOS devices. Natural language prompts can now be used to create photo galleries from descriptions, while automated clean-up features, well, exist.

AI belongs in the B2C space more than B2B

To me, AI’s place has always been to replace tedium. B2B writers and audiences find it easy to apply this to the world of work, as computers have, ironically, complicated our working lives far more than they’ve simplified them.

However, there is still merit in passing AI on to those who have access to technology but are often far too overwhelmed to be able to use it well. They’re bombarded with information like notifications, they’re bad at organising photos and documents, and they’re bad at making home movies and photo albums. As quite possibly the biggest household name on the planet, Apple is probably about to send AI truly to the stratosphere. In isolation, this is good. TechRadar Pro is annoyed that we shouldn’t really be writing about what Apple has planned, but it could make people more tech-proficient, which will help them get jobs in a firmly digital world, which is a B2B concern.

It doesn’t necessarily make people more tech-literate, which is a big concern for the sustainability of tech and AI infrastructure going forward, though I don’t really know how people can be driven to understand that Siri isn’t a living breathing superbeing, how bleak AI is for the environment, or that a lack of respect for the copyright of training dataset material are a living nightmare for anyone trying to earn money from their work. It’s bad™ that there’s ignorance around these things, and Apple bringing AI to however many more billions of people can only perpetuate this.

But, if AI is going to exist, then I’d rather the consumers have it first. The human element in all of the work that makes the work go round can be invaluable; the idea that AI can really take over purposeful written expression seems laughable, and the idea that it can replace infrastructure where some element of human compassion and analysis is actually beneficial seems definitely terrifying, and then some. But if you want to find every picture of your cat and throw them in a photo slideshow with just one sentence? Yeah, why not.

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Researchers from North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University have developed a DNA-based technology capable of storing, retrieving, computing, erasing, and rewriting data.

This new advancement marks the first time all these tasks have been combined in a DNA storage system, with the potential to transform how data is stored in the future.

The project, led by Albert Keung, a professor at NC State, represents a leap forward for DNA computing. While DNA has long been seen as a potential solution for long-term data storage, it had not previously been capable of handling multiple operations like modern electronic systems. The team’s new system, however, has changed that.

Real-time data manipulation

The breakthrough was made possible through the creation of dendricolloids, a polymer structure that allows DNA to be stored densely without sacrificing capacity. “You could store the data of a thousand laptops in a DNA structure the size of a pencil eraser,” Keung noted. This storage solution could be vital as global data demands continue to rise, particularly in areas such as AI, cloud computing, and large-scale data management.

In addition to storing data, the system allows for real-time data manipulation, including copying, erasing, and rewriting DNA sequences. Kevin Lin, the paper’s lead author, explained, “We can perform many of the same tasks as with electronic devices - like deleting and rewriting data on the same surface.”

The system has also demonstrated computational abilities, solving simple problems such as Sudoku puzzles and chess problems. The research team believes that this development could pave the way for molecular computing, potentially storing petabytes of data in very small spaces.

Although the technology is still in its early stages, the researchers hope it will lead to practical applications in the future. The study was published in Nature Nanotechnology and supported by the National Science Foundation.

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