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• New Chromium code has revealed NotebookLM will be pre-installed on ChromeOS
• NotebookLM is a powerful AI tool for educational work, and analysis
• It's not confirmed whether it will be rolled out in an update or only available on new Chromebooks

Google has announced a new suite of Gemini AI features coming to ChromeOS, including NotebookLM, which will soon ship on the hardware by default. It will soon be available in the app drawer on Chromebooks, as evidenced by a code change to Chromium Gerrit.

NotebookLM is an AI-powered tool for summarizing and analyzing documents, videos, and other forms of content. You upload sources to it, including PDFs, websites, YouTube videos, audio, and the Google Suite with answers generated by Google Gemini.

The AI tool is currently available through its dedicated website, but it's not something that's been widely marketed or pushed by Google, even with all the new updates and advancements made around Gemini in recent months.

Google will be adding NotebookLM to the preinstalled web apps in its operating system. However, it's currently unknown whether this will apply in an update for all ChromeOS users or if it will become standard in only brand-new Chromebooks being released, such as those upcoming from Acer this summer.

NotebookLM isn't just exclusive to ChromeOS, as the Google Gemini feature can be used by any Chrome (or Chromium) user. If you were not aware of then now you are, meaning the best laptops as well as the best Chromebooks can benefit from one of the best AI tools for getting work done.

Recognition for a undermarketed AI tool

NotebookLM has been available to users since July 2023, but there's a good chance this could be the first time that you've heard of it. Developed by Google Labs and powered by Gemini, it was originally conceived primarily as a research and note-taking assistant before its versatility expanded with a suite of updates over the last 19 months.

It's a powerful tool for understanding large amounts of information, as it can simplify otherwise complicated documentation for educational use. It was recently announced that Mind Maps will be coming to NotebookLM, which works for both the free and paid services of the program, with Audio Overviews applying to more than just podcasts. It's quickly becoming one of our favorite learning tools, and it's only getting better with time.

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• Severance's Dichen Lachman has revealed what she knew about Project Cold Harbor before this season's finale
• The Lumon experiment has been one of season 2's biggest mysteries
• Lachman says she wasn't told about what lay behind its test room door for a long time

Severance actor Dichen Lachman wasn't aware of what the show's creative team had planned for one of season 2's biggest mysteries for a long time.

Project Cold Harbor has dominated fan discussions ever since it was first mentioned in Severance season 2 episode 1. Indeed, one of the biggest enigmas of the Apple TV+ show has been speculated about since the series returned in mid-January.

I too have spent countless hours coming up with my own ideas on what Project Cold Harbor was. I've discussed the Lumon experiment in numerous articles over the past nine weeks, beginning with my season 2 episode 1 theories piece and recently in my season 2 episode 9 recap.

With the Severance season 2 finale, ironically titled 'Cold Harbor', making its long-awaited debut, we finally know what it's all about. Full spoilers immediately follow for season 2 episode 10, so turn back now if you haven't watched it yet.

This is what was hiding behind Cold Harbor's door all along (Image credit: Apple TV+)

The test room known as Project Cold Harbor is a near-empty space with a solitary baby's crib at its center.

That bassinet will be instantly recognizable to Severance diehards. It's an exact replica of the one Mark and Gemma owned, which we saw in season 2's Gemma-focused seventh episode.

So, what's it doing here? Well, it's the final test that Gemma has to complete – one that'll help Lumon determine if its severance procedure can be used to create multiple 'innies' within the same person. Gemma has been the test subject for these experiments and, once she completes this 25th and final one, Lumon will have the requisite data to prove it can sever someone numerous times.

Lumon won't need Gemma's services anymore, so they plan to kill her once she's finished. All she has to do, then, is – per Doctor Mauer's instructions – take apart the crib using the screwdriver she's given.

Gemma's Cold Harbor innie doesn't recognize the crib that she and Mark owned in the real world (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Unfortunately for Lumon, Mark – Gemma's husband – comes to her rescue and prevents her from completing Project Cold Harbor (NB: read my Severance season 2 ending explained piece for more details on that).

That's more than enough rambling on my part, though. When did Lachman learn more about Project Cold Harbor? Funnily enough, just like Gemma, she was kept in the dark for a long time by creator Dan Erickson and executive producer Ben Stiller.

"I didn't read [the script for] episode ten until we were almost filming it," Lachman told me ahead of the Apple TV Original's latest episode. "I didn't find out until a few weeks before [filming began], whereas I'd had [the script for episode] seven for quite a long time. So, I had a lot of time to let seven's events sink in.

"I got ten's script relatively soon before we started filming it, but I never really dove into it with Dan because they [Dan and Ben] only told me what I needed to know," Lachman added. "I'm not sure why they [Lumon] put her [Gemma] in that particular situation. Obviously, they're trying to see if the severance technology holds, but I'm not sure why Mauer says to her [in episode seven] that this is going to change the world. I guess it's just like a final drug trial, which is that final step they [Lumon] have to cross."

Where will Gemma's story go next? (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

That isn't the only information that Erickson and Stiller have withheld from Lachman. She also told me that she has no idea when filming on season 3 will begin, nor has she seen any of next season's scripts that Stiller says Erickson and his fellow writers are currently working on.

Nevertheless, Lachman has some ideas of her own about where she'd like Gemma's story to go in one of the best Apple TV+ shows' recently announced third season.

"It's interesting that she has so many different innies," Lachman mused. "I wonder what they're all like and what that means for her in the real world. Mark only has [one innie in] Mark S. She has... I mean, I don't know how many rooms are down there. I stopped counting and focused on other things!

"But, how many different compartments are there in her brain?" Lachman added. "I do wonder if they [the writers] will explore that. But, you know, the possibilities with the show are endless."

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• Severance will return for season 3, Apple TV+ has confirmed
• The news was announced on social media after the season 2 finale arrived
• A release date for the third season is unknown

Praise Kier, because Severance season 3 is officially happening!

The news was confirmed on Friday, March 21, on Apple TV+'s official Instagram account, where the streamer shared some clips from the previous season which led all the way to this week's devastating Severance season 2 finale. For more on that, check out our Severance season 2 episode 10 ending explained piece which breaks it all down.

Take a look at Apple TV+'s announcement below, which reads: "Cue the choreography and merriment. Severance has been renewed for Season 3."

A post shared by Apple TV (@appletv)

A photo posted by on

Even though Severance has been crowned one of the best Apple TV + shows, it has seen some criticism this season, with our Phones Editor Axel Metz writing about how he thought Severance season 2 had a pacing problem, something that seems to have caused some serious debate in the fandom over the past few weeks.

Personally, I've enjoyed every minute, and in our glowing Severance season 2 review, senior entertainment reporter Tom Power said the series "deserved a pay rise for being this good". There's certainly an appetite for more, even if there has been frustration that the second season hasn't delivered many of the answers we were hoping for.

That's where Severance season 3 comes in, hopefully – even if we now have more questions that need answering. I'm not keen to turn my back on the show any time soon though, as it remains one of the best I've ever seen. There's nothing else like it, and that's about the highest compliment I can give.

Let's just hope we don't have another agonizingly long wait for season 3!

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• Spotify has launched a new playlist in its Live Events feed called Concerts Near You
• The new feature will make it easier for you to see which artists are touring in your area
• As well as including songs based on your listening habits, each song has a link that takes you to third-party booking platforms to secure tickets

Though Spotify has rubbed music fans the wrong way with its lack of lossless audio (I’m still waiting for you Spotify HiFi), there’s no doubt that people use it enough for it to still be considered one of the best music streaming services. When it comes to live music, Spotify is aiming to bring you closer to your favorite artists with its new Concerts Near You playlist feature.

Combining informative and personalized features, Spotify’s Concerts Near You playlist aims to help you discover upcoming concerts in your area while providing expandable track links to third party ticket sites such as Ticketmaster, AXS, See Tickets, and Dice so that you can secure yourself a place in the crowd. The playlist is updated every Wednesday based on your listening habits, bringing you 30 fresh songs from artists with scheduled shows in your area.

When I open my Concerts Near You playlist, Spotify shows songs of artists with upcoming shows in my area - even for supporting acts. (Image credit: Future)

In Spotify’s announcement, the platform went into detail about the app’s newest addition claiming that “There’s nothing worse than realizing that your favorite artist played your town last week”.

Charlie Hellman, Vice President, Global Head of Music Product added: “this new playlist not only makes it easier for fans to find shows nearby, but it also gives artists a powerful new way of selling more tickets and filling venues with the audiences who love their music most.”

A useful feature, but one that’ll have to grow on me

Since it introduced its in-app Live Events feed, Spotify has doubled down on its mission to bring you closer to the artists you love the most, while also boosting artist ticket sales and exposing them to wider audiences. There’s no doubt that these listings are beneficial to those who aren’t in the loop with local gigs and tours, but what about those who are?

Don’t get me wrong, I love using Spotify to discover new artists through features like Blends and the New Music Friday playlists. But when it comes to live music, I pretty much have my ear to the ground with regard to local live music simply because I keep up with it by following the artists or reading live music listings on social media.

However, while I don’t find myself reaching for Spotify’s Live Events feed often, as a means of discovering new artists I can see how Concerts Near You could give you an advantage. As it stands, I’m not quite as enticed to use this feature as others might be, but heck, that was my first impression of Daylists, and now I can’t get enough of it.

Where to find Concerts Near You

(Image credit: Future)

It’s very easy to keep track of who’s performing in your area with Spotify’s Concerts Near You playlist, you just need to know where to look.

For starters, head to the search hub in the Spotify app and tap ‘Live Events’. From there, you can access your personalized Concerts Near You playlist under the ‘Discover concerts near you’ section. To get more accurate recommendations, make sure your location settings are adjusted in the Live Events feed, and Spotify will fill you in on upcoming shows and new announcements.

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• Nanoleaf has launched a new screen-mirroring light system for gaming PCs
• It connects to your PC via USB-C instead of using a camera on the screen
• This should mean less latency and better color reproduction

Nanoleaf, maker of some of the best smart lights we've tested here at TechRadar, has launched a new light strip designed to make PC gaming more immersive, by bathing the wall behind your monitor in a wash of color that shifts to mirror what's happening on screen. And it's much cheaper than you might expect.

The idea is that, like an Ambilight TV, the light strip effectively blurs the edges of the screen by extending its colors, helping you feel more involved in the action.

Many of the best Ambilight alternatives (such as the Nanoleaf 4D and the Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi TV Smart Bars) can do this with any screen, including TVs and PC monitors, but these usually work by using a camera to monitor the changing colors. This can work fine in optimum lighting conditions, but reflections on the screen can throw things off, and there's always a slight delay before the lights behind your TV change color to match.

With Nanoleaf's new PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip, that should no longer be a problem because the system connects directly to your PC via USB-C, and picks up the data being sent to your monitor. It's very similar to the way a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box intercepts the HDMI signal being sent to your TV, and uses it to provide real-time synced backlighting.

The light strip is shaped to bend around the corners of your monitor without cumbersome brackets (Image credit: Nanoleaf) How to order

As Notebookcheck explains, the system also does away with the awkward brackets that make many light strips tricky to fit onto the back of TVs and monitors. Instead, it has a zig-zag shape that lets it easily bend around corners. It's compatible with monitors up to 32 inches, and can be cut to fit smaller ones.

The PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip is controlled using Nanoleaf's desktop software, which is available for Windows and macOS, but at the time of writing it's not compatible with the Nanoleaf mobile app.

It's available to pre-order now direct from Nanoleaf for $49.99 in the US, £39.99 in the UK, and orders should be delivered by the end of March so you won't have to wait long. The company hasn't yet announced pricing or a launch date for Australia.

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Praise Kier!

• Dr. Squatch has revealed a new line of Call of Duty collaboration products
• It includes two bars of soap and two deodorant sticks
• They have scents inspired by the characters Soap and Ghost

Male grooming brand Dr. Squatch has announced a new Call of Duty collaboration with a line of new products inspired by the most iconic members of Task Force 141.

It includes two bars of soap and two deodorant sticks. The Ghost Grit Bar Soap is a heavy-grit bar described as having 'deep earthy scents of pepper, leather, and smoky charcoal' while the Sarge Soap Bar boasts 'invigorating notes of Scottish juniper, pine, and moss' - presumably meant to call to mind the character's Scottish heritage.

I'm not a huge fan of gritty soap, so the Sarge Soap Bar definitely sounds the most appealing to me here. I also can't pretend that there isn't something funny about the inherently ridiculous nature of a Soap soap bar.

As for the deodorant sticks, there's the Ghost Sticc Deodorant, with a 'bold, earthy scent;' and the Sarge Sticc Deodorant, which is apparently 'crisp and revitalizing'. Key ingredients include field balm extract and ghost plant extract (which I suspect were chosen given their obvious associations with the characters) plus moisturizing coconut oil.

Inside each soap bar is a code to unlock an exclusive in-game item - a cool little calling card with the Dr. Squatch mascot dressed as Soap that I certainly wouldn't mind rocking in my online matches.

(Image credit: Dr. Squatch / Activision)

The products are available now via the Dr. Squatch website in three separate bundles in both the US and UK. You can choose between a two-pack of soaps that costs $16 / £16, a $22 / £21 two-pack with one soap and one deodorant stick, or a complete four-pack with both soaps and both deodorants that comes to $43 / £42.

This is far from the first Call of Duty collaboration, but it is quite an amusing one. The connection between (the character) Soap and soap seems pretty obvious in hindsight and the scents here don't sound half bad either. On top of this, anything that might encourage the average gamer to improve their personal hygiene can only be considered a win in my book.

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• ServiceNow fixed three flaws in July 2024, but researchers from GreyNoise saw a resurgence of abuse
• The flaws can be used for full database access
• Users should patch immediately to make sure they are protected

There has been a “notable resurgence” in the abuse of three concerning ServiceNow security vulnerabilities, experts are warning.

In May 2024, security researchers from Assetnote found vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2024-4879, CVE-2024-5178, and CVE-2024-5217, which ServiceNow patched the same day.

However, it seems that many organizations did not get the memo (which was released in July the same year, when CVEs were released as part of a coordinated effort with Assetnote), since their instances remained unpatched, and have now become a target, according to researchers from GreyNoise.

Chaining the bugs

The researchers found there has been a significant uptick in the attacks abusing these flaws, and although they couldn’t attribute the attacks to any known threat actors, they did note that almost three-quarters (70%) of the attacks targeted Israeli firms. Notable activity was also spotted in Germany, Japan, and Lithuania.

The vulnerabilities can be abused separately, but when they’re chained, they grant “full database access,” GreyNoise added, which puts vulnerable organizations at immense risk, since ServiceNow is used to handle sensitive employee information.

The attackers would inject a payload which checks for a specific result in the server response. If it gets the appropriate one, it deploys a second-stage payload that checks the contents of the database.

The last step is to dump user lists and account credentials. While most of the time the credentials are hashed, there are some examples where the credentials were dumped in plaintext.

That can lead to account compromise which, in turn, can carry devastating consequences, such as ransomware attacks.

ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform that provides enterprise IT service management (ITSM) and automation solutions.

It helps organizations streamline workflows, automate business processes, and improve efficiency across IT, HR, customer service, security, and other departments.

ServiceNow has almost 300,000 internet-exposed instances, making it quite a popular solution.

Some of its clients include Coca-Cola (uses it for streamlining IT service management), Dell (IT service automation and management), Deloitte (IT service automation and optimization), and the State of California ( managing state-wide IT services and operations).

Via TechCrunch

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Gamers will get better games, while developers enjoy a higher quality of life, the United Videogame Workers says.

Commentary: The M4 MacBook Air has all the power and ports I need. But I could use one Pro feature that's still not an option for Apple's thin-and-light laptop.

Earlier this week we celebrated the news that Samsung’s One UI 7 update finally has a release date for older devices as the company marked April 7 as the day it would begin rolling out to Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy Z Flip 6, and Galaxy Z Fold 6 devices. This news wasn’t well received by users of older handsets, unfortunately, but now they too could have a reason to get excited.

Samsung had already teased that the update would steadily roll out beyond 2024’s flagships to older and less powerful devices including the Galaxy S24 FE, the Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, the Galaxy Tab S10 series and the Galaxy Tab S9 series, but now it seems even older phones will also get One UI 7.

At least that’s what Samsung’s Singapore team believes as its announcement also lists: Galaxy S22 Series, Galaxy S21 Series, Galaxy S21 FE, Galaxy Z Fold4, Galaxy Z Flip4, Galaxy Z Fold3, and Galaxy Z Flip3 devices as being eligible.

However, these older handsets will seemingly have to wait a little longer as the blog post tips April 14 as One UI 7’s launch date – a week later than its initial rollout.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Image credit: TechRadar)

There’s seemingly no reason why Singapore’s phones would get the update and not the same devices in other parts of the world, so we expect OneUI 7 will be hitting Galaxy S22 and S21 phones next month in the US, UK, and Australia too.

However, don’t expect the update to include the same features on every device. Older handsets lack the hardware power to perform several AI tasks.

Writing Assist and Drawing Assist will come to handsets as old as the Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and Galaxy Tab S9, while Audio Eraser will skip these older phones and only come to the Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy Z Flip 6, and Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy S24 FE and Galaxy Tab S10 series.

Is it confusing? Yes. Unfortunately, on-device AI necessitates performance levels that older devices can't achieve.

The only way to secure these new features for yourself will be to snag a newer Samsung smartphone – and to help with that you can check out today’s best Samsung Galaxy S25 deals.

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The Strongest Heart, is a book she wished she could have read when she was growing up and coping with her father's mental illness.'/>

Saadia Faruqi, author of the popular Yasmin book series, has written a new book, The Strongest Heart, that mirrors her own life — growing up with a father who likely had undiagnosed schizophrenia.

(Image credit: Saadia Faruqi)

Sudan's army has taken control of the presidential palace in Khartoum, in a major turning point during the war. The palace and the capital had been occupied by the Rapid Support Force paramilitary since the start of the war, but over the last year the army have been making gradual gains.

(Image credit: Social Media)

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Siri is failing at fielding basic questions, and fixes aren't coming soon.

• Metal Eden is set to launch on May 6
• It's coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S
• A free demo featuring two missions will arrive on April 8 for those platforms

Reikon Games has revealed that a new public demo for upcoming sci-fi first-person shooter (FPS) Metal Eden will arrive for free on April 8.

It will feature the first two missions of the game: Mission 0 and Mission 1, Paradise Lost. Mission 0 is something of a tutorial, introducing the basic combat and parkour mechanics of the game and kicking off the story. Mission 1 then focuses on increasingly complex challenges, with a range of enemies introduced.

This first proper mission also outlines the player upgrade system through Body Modules and Weapon Upgrades. The demo will be available indefinitely on all platforms where Metal Eden is launching, which includes PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. The full game will arrive on May 6.

Set in a futuristic world, Metal Eden sees players embody the cybernetic protagonist Aska - an advanced Hyper Unit sent on a doomed quest to rescue the citizens of the dystopian city Moebius.

I had the chance to try an early build of the game ahead of its official reveal and was impressed on the whole. It's got great graphics and I was impressed with not only the huge variety of weapons on offer, but also the ability to change how each one looks and feels through the meaty upgrade tree.

Add on the punchy parkour, which lets you run, jump, and slide off almost every surface in the battlefield, plus some weighty melee combat and you have a very moreish formula.

With a total of eight levels to master, it seems like it could be a fantastic starter course for FPS fans to dig into ahead of the launch of Doom: The Dark Ages later this year.

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• Developer Remedy has shared a new trailer for FBC: Firebreak
• The game is a co-op FPS control spin-off
• It is set to release later this year

Developer Remedy Entertainment has released a new gameplay trailer for its three-player co-op first-person shooter (FPS) FBC: Firebreak as part of the latest Future Games Show.

Set in the same universe as third-person action game Control, FBC: Firebreak sees players working together as part of Firebreak: an elite team within the fictional Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) responsible for protecting the agency against the most dangerous paranormal threats.

The game features Jobs, repayable missions with uniquely designed challenges, objectives, and environments. The gameplay trailer gives us a glimpse at Paper Chase, one such Job where deadly sticky notes have begun replicating at an alarming pace. We see a wide variety of enemies, including a terrifying giant sticky note creature that spews streams of the stationary item between attacks.

You can see the trailer for yourself below.

Remedy has also explained one of the game's key mechanics: Crisis Kits. These are different sets of gear designed to compliment both your preferred playstyle and the rest of your team. There's the Jump Kit, which focuses on controlling the battlefield with electrical attacks, the melee-focussed Fix Kit, and the water-based Splash Kit.

Every Crisis Kit comes with a unique tool powered by a strange item recovered by the FBC. This includes a garden gnome that is capable of being launched to summon a lightning storm, a regenerating piggy bank you can stick on the end of a wrench for added damage, and a teapot loaded on to a fluid launcher to create blasts of boiling hot water.

Everything looks like a lot of fun and I'm certainly looking forward to diving in with friends. FBC: Firebreak is set to launch in summer and is coming to PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PlayStation 5. It will be part of PC Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog (via PS Plus Extra and Premium) on day one.

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• Windows 11 has a new preview build that improves performance with ZIPs
• Unzipping now happens faster in File Explorer, particularly with ZIPs crammed with a ton of small files
• Complaints about sluggish performance with unzipping have been around for quite some time, though, and this fix has been a long time coming

Windows 11 has a new preview out and it does some useful – albeit long-awaited – work in terms of accelerating the rate at which files are pulled out of ZIPs within File Explorer, plus there are some handy bug fixes here – and a minor feature that’s been ditched.

All this is happening in Windows 11 preview build 27818 (which is in the Canary channel, the earliest external test build).

As mentioned, one of the more notable changes means you’ll be able to extract files from ZIPs, particularly large ZIP archives, at a quicker pace in File Explorer.

A ZIP is a collection of files that have been lumped together and compressed so they take up less space on your drive, and unzipping such a file is the process whereby you copy those files out of the ZIP.

File Explorer – which is the name for the app in Windows 11 that allows you to view your folders and files (check here for a more in-depth explanation) – has a built-in ability to deal with such ZIP files, and Microsoft has made this work faster.

Microsoft explains in the blog post for this preview build: “Did some more work to improve the performance of extracting zipped files in File Explorer, particularly where you’re unzipping a large number of small files.”

It’s worth noting that this is a performance boost that only applies to File Explorer’s integrated unzipping powers, and not other file compression tools such as WinRAR or 7-Zip (which, in case you missed it, are now natively supported in Windows 11).

Elsewhere in build 27818, Microsoft has fixed some glitches with the interface – including one in File Explorer, where the home page fails to load and just shows some floating text that says ‘Name’ (nasty) – and a problem where the remote desktop could freeze up.

There’s also a cure for a bug that could cause some games to fail to launch after they’ve been updated (due to a DirectX error), and some other smoothing over of general wonkiness like this.

Finally, Microsoft informs us that it has deprecated a minor feature here. The suggested actions that popped up when you copied a phone number (or a future date) in Windows 11 have been disabled, so these suggestions are now on borrowed time.

(Image credit: Future / Jeremy Laird) Analysis: Curing sluggishness rather than ushering in super-zippy performance

Windows Latest noticed the change to ensure ZIP performance is better in File Explorer with this preview, and tested the build, observing that speeds did indeed seem to be up to 10% faster with larger, file-packed ZIPs.

Clearly, that’s good news – and it’s great to see Microsoft’s assertion backed up by the tech site – but at the same time, this is more about fixing poor performance levels, rather than providing super-snappy unzipping.

Complaints about File Explorer’s unzipping capabilities being woefully slow in Windows 11 date back some time, particularly in scenarios where loads of small files are involved – so really, this is work Microsoft needs to carry out rather than any kind of bonus. If Windows Latest’s testing is on the money, a 10% speed boost (at best) may not be enough to placate these complainers, either, but I guess Microsoft is going to continue to fine-tune this aspect of File Explorer.

There are plenty of other issues to iron out with File Explorer too, as I’ve discussed recently – there are a fair few complaints about its overall performance being lackluster in Windows 11, so this is a much broader problem than mere ZIP files.

Furthermore, Microsoft breaking File Explorer for some folks with last month’s February update doubtless didn’t help any negative perceptions around this central element of the Windows 11 interface.

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• There's a new update for the Philips Hue app that adds support for QR codes
• Scanning codes on lights lets you add them to rooms in the app more easily
• You can also use QR codes to add switches, cameras, and other devices

Philips Hue bulbs and lamps are some of the best smart lights around, and they're already pretty easy to set up; but a new app update has made things even easier, letting you add several lights to a room at once.

Once you've installed app version 5.38, which is available now for Android and iOS, you'll be able to simply scan the QR codes on several Hue devices to add them to the app together, rather than doing them one at a time.

That should be handy if you've splurged on a new set of smart bulbs in the Amazon spring sale, and will reduce headaches if you move house and need to set everything up again.

The editor of Hueblog.com has already experimented by adding a dimmer switch to their (no doubt extensive) setup, and reports that it works perfectly.

You can now use QR codes to add lights to a room in the Philips Hue app, plus other devices like dimmer switches (Image credit: Signify)

If the device you want to add doesn't have a QR code, you can bypass the new option by tapping the 'No QR code' button, and the app will find it for you the old-fashioned way, then allow you to assign it to a room.

Still no AI

This is a helpful addition to the Philips Hue app, but we're still waiting for the major software update that will add the generative AI assistant that Signify (the company behind Philips Hue) promised back in January.

According to Signify, the assistant will be able to create "personalized lighting scenes based on mood, occasion or style," and will let you use natural language to describe what you want rather than using a photo as a starting point or picking shades from a color wheel.

The company hasn't announced when the new tool will arrive, but it should be available before the end of the year – hopefully in time to let you describe your perfect festive lighting, and have all your fixtures adapt automatically. I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas.

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• Apple’s iPhone 18 might get a major chip upgrade after all
• This claim comes from an analyst who has revised their initial prediction
• Apple might also be working on a stronger front glass panel for iPhones

A few days ago, Apple analyst Jeff Pu claimed in a research note that Apple’s A20 chip – which will come to the iPhone 18 lineup – would offer disappointing performance increase over past chips. Now, Pu has just reversed course on this idea.

In the original report, Pu claimed that the A20 chip will be made with a 3-nanometer process dubbed N3P. While this is expected to bring improvements to performance and efficiency, they’re only likely to be modest changes compared to the iPhone 17’s A19 chip, which is also likely to be made using a 3nm process.

That was odd because it clashed with another report from Pu’s employer GF Securities, which outlined that Apple would use a 2nm process in the A20.

After being contacted by MacRumors, Pu has updated the report to clarify that the A20 could actually be made using a 2nm process. If correct, this would likely mean much more significant performance increases, and could make the iPhone 18 a tempting prospect if you’re thinking of upgrading your device.

Protecting your iPhone screen

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

There’s more good news for iPhone fans in the form of a fresh patent uncovered by Patently Apple. Here, Apple describes a new technique that would strengthen the iPhone’s front surface with a mixture of glass and other components.

In the patent, Apple explains that combining several different materials can result in a front iPhone screen that's resistant to scratches, can cut down reflections, and can prevent the screen from becoming burnished over time.

This is done by taking the front glass and applying a hard coating that's resistant to scratches and burnishing. Below that, an 'interference layer' made up of several compounds can be included, which helps to cut down on reflections when you look at the screen. The idea is to give your iPhone a range of different protections without making the display too thick or heavy.

It’s an interesting idea, but we might have to wait a little while until we see it. Apple only filed the patent in September 2024, so it’s very unlikely that this tech has found its way into the iPhone 16 range. Whether it will arrive in the iPhone 17 is anyone’s guess, but with six months to go until Apple reveals its next iPhones, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled.

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