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Exciting updates to Apple’s Messages are coming, but you’ll have to wait a little to get your hands on them (unless you’re in the company’s developer program). Apple revealed its iOS 17 software update on June 5, but it won’t arrive until the fall. The iOS 17 update makes some major changes to Messages, adding abilities like turning pictures into stickers, transcribing voice memos, keeping your friends and family notified on your way home, and more.

News about the iOS 17 Messages update came during the keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple traditionally uses the annual event to give developers a preview of updates to its desktop and mobile software, and sometimes it introduces new hardware too. At the conference the company unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro.

Live Stickers coming to iOS 17

With the update to Messages in iOS 17, people will be able to take their photos and turn them into stickers they use in text conversations, alongside standard emoji, which can also be used as stickers. People can customize their stickers with effects — like shiny, puffy, comic and outline — and keep them in a new drawer in the keyboard for streamlined access, Apple said in a press release. Stickers will be available systemwide, including in third-party apps.

To make a photo into a sticker, you’ll touch and hold an object in a photo. Then you can style your object with various effects, outline it or create animated Live Stickers with Live Photos. To use the sticker in Messages, you’ll add them in the bubble from the Tapback menu.

Watch this: Apple Reveals iOS 17

16:43

Search in Messages, Check In and more

Also coming is a refined search feature. People will be able to apply additional filters to their Messages search to more quickly find the exact conversation they’re looking for. Plus, when you’ve received lots of texts in a group chat, you’ll be able to use the catch-up arrow to locate where the conversation left off last.

iOS 17 Messages will also transcribe voice memos you receive, if you don’t have the time to listen to them. Apple also announced a new feature that will let you keep track of your friends by viewing their location in your text conversation.

Another new location sharing feature is Check In. If you want to keep a friend or family member updated on your journey home, for example, you’ll be able to use Check In, which notifies the person of your whereabouts and lets them know if you’re having trouble getting home. “If they are not making progress toward their destination, useful information will be temporarily shared with the selected contact, such as the device’s location, battery level, and cell service status,” Apple said in the press release. Check In will be end-to-end encrypted, so only you and the person you’re sharing this information with is privy to your location.

Developers can try out iOS 17 today, and everyone can try out the public beta in a month. These iPhones will be able to run the update.

Other iOS 17 updates

The iOS 17 updates don’t stop at Messages. Apple also introduced Live Voicemail, which will give people the ability to see the message a person is leaving you as it is being recorded. This could help with deciphering between important calls that unknown numbers leave and spam.

The iOS 17 update for FaceTime includes audio and video messages, so people can leave their friends and families a FaceTime voicemail of sorts.

Also, if people want to share a contact with one another, they can use the new feature NameDrop. By bringing two iPhones or one iPhone and one Apple Watch close together, contact information can be transferred from one device to the next.

Apple kicked off WWDC by unveiling a 15-inch MacBook Air and offering details on its latest desktop software, MacOS 14 Sonoma. Also at WWDC, Apple revealed its brainiest Mac chip yet and upgraded its Mac Pro to M2 Ultra Silicon. There are new features coming in Watch OS 10 too.

Motorola’s new version of its Moto G Stylus 5G has one intriguing advantage over other phones: It’s the most affordable stylus-packing handset that can connect to 5G. This year’s Moto G Stylus 5G retails for $400 (down from last year’s $500), which could make it more appealing to anyone who wants an affordable phone with added functionality. Having a gimmick has become increasingly important, both for Motorola’s own lineup and for how the Stylus 5G stacks up to the likes of rivals from Google and Samsung.

International pricing wasn’t immediately available, but $400 converts to roughly 320 or AU$590.

On the Motorola side of things, the 4G-only Moto G Stylus comes in at $200. After around a week of testing, I’ve found it to be a great value, but there are some reasons you’d want to pay double the price for a 5G version of the phone. The Stylus 5G gets potentially faster download speeds with 5G connectivity (though it only supports sub-6 5G) and it has better specs and a nicer display.

This is the best of Motorola’s cheap phones coming out in 2023, but it’s tough to recommend over the $500 just-launched Google Pixel 7A, or the newly discounted $350 Pixel 6A from last year (which can get even cheaper when price drops down to $300). The $450 Samsung Galaxy A54 5G makes the field even more crowded.

7.5

Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2023)

Like

• Bright display
• Good specs and speakers
• Long battery life Stylus is a fun addition

Don’t like

• 10W charging is slow
• Night photos are blurry
• Not many stylus apps

What the Stylus 5G offers over its competitors is, yes, the stylus — which I found novel but not essential — and a decent 1,080p display alongside good battery life. Its stereo speakers and 3.5mm headphone jack make it great for watching videos or listening to music.

The Stylus 5G should be prized for its value, in fact, rather than for offering an accessory that feels like a novelty without many uses.

Like the stylus, love the media experience

The Moto G Stylus 5G is among the rare few phones that still have a stylus, and is the best option for folks who don’t want to pay $1,200 for a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

While you won’t get a button on the stylus or a robust suite of stylus-related features compared to Samsung’s flagship, the Stylus 5G has a small array of apps designed to use its accessory. Pop out the stylus from its slot on the right side of the bottom edge, and the phone opens the Notes app (by default, though you can set any app to open) for you to start writing or drawing. There are a few other apps that are meant to use the stylus, like categorizing entries and sending live-written notes, as well as transcribing written words to text — a very notes-heavy experience.

Having a stylus is a novelty and makes the Stylus 5G stand out among competitors, but a more subtle combination of factors distinguish it, too. The 6.6-inch Full HD (2,400×1,080-pixel) display is sharp and shows good detail for an IPS LCD. Though in side by side comparisons, premium phones with OLED displays had (unsurprisingly) more true-to-life color balance and slightly sharper detail. The Stylus 5G’s screen tended toward brighter, overly vibrant levels of saturation.

But for a $400 phone, I found it’s a good screen for watching media, especially with its 120Hz maximum refresh rate that makes swiping through apps or scrolling across the web a buttery-smooth experience. Add to that top-and-bottom stereo speakers that feel truly balanced and the Stylus 5G is great to use for watching shows or playing games.
The Stylus 5G is also a respectably sleek phone for $400. At a distance, its matte rear cover looks metallic instead of plastic, as does its polished-looking plastic frame. The glass-covered square camera block on the back looks refined, and the lock button is large enough to double as a fingerprint scanner without being obnoxiously big.

Like most phones with a stylus, when locked in the end of the stylus slightly protrudes so that you can push it in to extend the endcap enough to get a fingernail underneath to pry it out.

Strong battery life, weak charging speeds

This year’s Stylus 5G has a 5,000-mAh battery which, in my testing, often lasted for a full day of use and even well into the second day. The phone can recharge at up to 20 watts, but you wouldn’t know that if you just used the basic 10-watt charger that came with the phone. In my tests, 30 minutes with the 10-watt charger juiced the phone up a measly 23% (from 5% to 28%). When I hooked it up to a charger supporting the phone’s 20-watt maximum and it recharged 38% (from 28% to 66%) in the same amount of time.

In my 45-minute usage test, the battery started at 96% and dropped to 93% after 10 minutes of gaming. It was at 91% after 10 minutes of watching video, 89% after 10 minutes of social media use, 87% after 10 minutes of video call and down to 86% after 5 minutes of varied use.

The Stylus 5G doesn’t support wireless charging, though that’s common among budget phones. The phone has a water-repellent design, according to Motorola, which is equivalent to IP52 resistance to light dust and sprayed water — but the phone has no official IP rating. That means that unlike with premium phones, which have IP68 ratings that allow them to survive prolonged drops in the pool and tumbles in beach sand, you should be careful with the Stylus 5G around liquids and dirt.

Good performance for a midrange phone

The Stylus 5G has respectable specs for its $400 price. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset puts the handset’s performance above its peers. Motorola did make some compromises in the specs compared to last year’s model to get to a cheaper price. It offers only 4 or 6 GB of RAM rather than up to 8GB.

I didn’t notice any slowdown when doing daily tasks like switching in and out of apps, watching media or playing games. There’s a momentary pause when opening the camera app, but nothing egregious. Even with the display set to a buttery-smooth 120Hz, I didn’t notice any hitching or lag while when I used the phone for basic tasks.

The phone handled gameplay without issue, running through PUBG matches and getting into shootouts with ease, whether I was playing at default settings or the graphics were bumped up (though the phone did feel warm with the latter).

This was impressive given the phone’s middling benchmarks, including a Geekbench 6 single-core score of 945 and multicore score of 2,753, which are just below the Samsung Galaxy A54’s scores but far below the Google Pixel 7A’s single-core score of 1,439 and multicore score of 3,560). But the phone does perform better than its cheaper Motorola siblings — a 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test resulted in a ho-hum score of 609 (3.7 fps), though that outperformed the 4G-only Moto G Stylus, which scored 191 (1.2 fps).

The phone comes with 128GB of built-in storage, which is the same as in last year’s Stylus 5G but is nonetheless a respectable amount of space to start for a lower-cost phone. The Stylus 5G will also be sold in configurations 6GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of onboard storage, which is expandable up to 2TB via a microSD card.

The Stylus 5G comes with a relatively clean version of Android 13 without too many add-ons or other modifications, though there are some annoying preinstalled apps and prompts to add ones from major shopping brands. Like other cheap phones, the Stylus 5G will only get one operating system upgrade — to Android 14, which is expected to come out later in 2023. The phone will get three years of security patches, but that still means owners will get left behind by next year’s Android update.

Respectable cameras for the price, but no zoom photography

The Moto G Stylus 5G comes with a pair of rear cameras that are largely capable of taking photos in and outdoors, with some decent landscape and portrait capability, though detail drops off with night photography and there’s no telephoto lens.

The phone’s dual rear cameras include a 50 megapixel f/1.88 main shooter, which captures plenty of detail in daylight photos and a wide range of colors. This year’s model has a bigger 2-micrometer light sensor (up from 0.64 micrometers in last year’s G Stylus), which captures a lot more detail and color, though the phone tends to lump adjacent hues together into a blended spread — this makes skyscapes look blown out as the cameras fail to render subtle cloud contours.

The other rear lens is an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, which takes noticeably less sharp photos. It can also be used for close-up photos (via a macrophotography toggle), capturing an admirable amount of detail in subjects mere centimeters from the lens, though focusing on the right part of the subject can take some practice.

On the plus side, the cameras make food look tasty.

The Stylus 5G doesn’t have a telephoto lens, meaning I relied on digital zoom to get closer to subjects — though its maximum digital zoom doesn’t look much blurrier than an iPhone’s. Through software tricks, the phone can take portrait photos that look reasonable, but it can take some effort to frame the focus on the right subject.

The Stylus 5G captures respectable photos in low-light conditions, but nighttime pics are blurry, failing to capture much detail even with ambient streetlight. It’s the most major weakness of the phone’s photo capabilities.

The 16-megapixel front-facing camera tucked in a punch-hole in the center of the display captures good detail in daylight, and while it can take sharp photos in low-light conditions, it may take a few tries and some unwanted blurry extras. Photos tend toward blown-out patches of brightly white subjects (like, you know, me), but otherwise they’re reasonably crisp.

The phone shoots 4K video at 30fps, or 1080p at 60fps, with the option for 720p slow motion at 240fps.

Moto G Stylus 5G: Bottom line

Motorola made reasonable compromises with its 5G stylus phone to drop the price, which is crucial with the more expensive Pixel 7A leading the charge for best midrange phones and the Pixel 6A nipping at the Stylus 5G’s heels.

What separates the Stylus 5G from the pack is, yes, the stylus — and you really have to love its note-taking capabilities to prize it above the competition. The Pixel phones have better performance benchmarks and take arguably better photos than the Stylus 5G. Motorola’s phone does have one advantage in its battery, which lasts longer than other phones, though its recharge rate isn’t much to brag about. Getting up to 2TB of expandable storage could move the needle for users who like to store a ton of photos and media on their devices.

There’s lots to like about this year’s Stylus 5G, with its price and specs at the top of that list. It may be hard to compete with the Pixel 7A’s Tensor 2 chipset, but coming in at $100 or 20% cheaper is significant, and may make this the right phone for those who don’t want to compromise on phone features while sticking to a budget.

How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using both standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds, foldable displays among others that can be useful. And we balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value.

You don’t have to spend a ton to get a decent pair of earbuds these days. Amazon’s Echo Buds are a solid value with a list price of just $50, and right now, you can snag the latest generation for even less. The online retailer is currently offering $10 off the 2023 Echo Buds, which drops them down to the all-time low price of $40. There’s no set expiration for this deal, but considering these earbuds only hit shelves last week, we doubt it will last for long. Get your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

These third-gen Echo Buds have a lot to offer for less than $50. They’re equipped with 12mm drivers for crisp, balanced audio, and support Bluetooth 5.2 for seamless connectivity with up to two devices at a time. They also feature two internal microphones with voice detection for clear audio on voice calls and hands-free access to Amazon Alexa, so you can make calls, set reminders and more using just the sound of your voice. Plus, they allow you to customize the tap controls so you can skip songs, adjust volume and more on the fly. They boast a total battery life of up to 20 hours with the charging case, and just 15 minutes of charging gives you two hours of listening time.

Or, if you’re in the market for a different pair, you can check out our full roundup of all the best headphone and earbuds deals for even more bargains.

7.0

OnePlus Nord N30 5G

$300 at Best Buy

Like

• Truly fast charging
• Large 120Hz refresh rate screen
• NFC for contactless payments

Don’t like

• Mixed photography
• Short software update timeline

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G makes quite the first impression. OnePlus has stacked its $300 phone with features you simply don’t see at this price.

The phone’s 108-megapixel main camera is the headline feature as far as the spec list is concerned, but the real star is the phone’s included 50-watt SuperVooc charger. In multiple tests, I got the OnePlus Nord N30 5G to recharge its 5,000-mAh battery from near-zero to roughly 75% in 30 minutes. It’s ludicrously fast, and similarly priced phones that max out at 15-watt charging speeds don’t come close.

Despite the N30’s high megapixel count, the camera is what gives away that this is a cheaper phone. It falls prey to many of the same issues as other phones that cost $300 or less: Its photos look nice in daytime settings but they struggle with scenes that include lots of movement or low light.

The other issue isn’t with OnePlus so much as Google and its Pixel 6A, which has an excellent camera and consistently goes on sale for $300. But if photography isn’t a high priority for you in a cheaper phone, the OnePlus N30 has many perks to consider that the Pixel doesn’t. The N30 is only being sold in the US and Canada, but the $300 price roughly converts to 240, AU$440.

OnePlus Nord N30 5G design, specs

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G has an eye-catching design out of the box, accentuated by its two large camera bumps, its glossy back and a simple OnePlus logo. The result is flashy, and a bit of a fingerprint magnet. While the phone only comes in one color, phones at this price often sacrifice style, so it’s good to see OnePlus ignore that trend.

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G has a bright 6.72-inch, 120Hz refresh rate display with a 1080p resolution. The screen makes videos, games, apps and websites look great and animate smoothly. It runs on a midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor which pairs up nicely with the phone’s 8GB of memory to run most apps and games while allowing for multitasking.

In our benchmark tests, the OnePlus’ score compares favorably to the Moto G Power. In real-world use, this isn’t a speedy phone, but it gets the job done.

The N30’s OxygenOS is a light customization on top of Android 13, which adds in a game mode that automatically disables notifications and shifts some resources for games. Like last year’s OnePlus N300, you aren’t going to crank out power-intensive graphics with this phone.

The N30 will only receive one software update to Android 14, along with three years of security updates. While this timeline matches what Motorola offers its Moto G phones, it’s still disappointing that budget phones often get shorter update timelines, especially when Samsung’s A-series phones often get longer support. Plus Google’s Pixel 6A, despite being a year old, has two more years of software updates and four more years of security updates remaining.

OnePlus Nord N30 5G charging speed, battery

As I mentioned in the introduction, the N30’s 50-watt charging speed is easily the best feature of this phone. These are speeds that we typically see in Android phones that cost $650 or more. And there aren’t any Apple iPhone models that even come close to 50 watts right now.

A full recharge from near zero typically takes just 45 minutes, and with that you could completely forego overnight phone charging. The phone’s 5,000-mAh battery lasted me between a day and a half to two days of use on a single charge, depending on how heavy my usage was. On my weekdays with the phone, for instance, I was primarily using it while commuting, for video calls and light gaming, I easily made two days. But on a weekend trip to Washington, DC, with frequent camera use and texting, the phone’s battery needed a recharge midway through the weekend.

OnePlus Nord N30 5G cameras

Around back the phone are two camera bumps that house the phone’s main 108-megapixel camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth assist camera for portrait mode. There’s also a 16-megapixel front-facing camera housed in a punchout on the display.

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G’s 108-megapixel camera is simply not going to rival anything we see on more expensive phones. Despite that eye-popping resolution figure, software and processing power are a big reason why more-expensive phones capture great photos.

I took the N30 to the DC Pride Parade, and while the camera did a nice job capturing the colorful floats and people, it struggled keeping things in focus. Many of my photos have motion blur, while other more stable scenes retain detail.

Things took a turn for the worse when I tried to photograph an evening drag show at Metrobar. Even the phone’s night mode only offered a few additional enhancements to the festivities.

I had better success using night mode on an empty dance floor, capturing the chairs and the decor of the room.

The N30 shines the most with food photography and portrait mode photos. My meals from Purple Patch look as tasty as they actually were. Portraits taken with both the front and rear camera had a good bokeh effect.

Compared to photos shot on the $300 Moto G Power 5G, the OnePlus does a good job capturing detail. But the problem for the OnePlus is that the Pixel 6A — again, often discounted to $300 — runs circles around it. The Pixel 6A’s Tensor chip allows for better color depth, Real Tone for more accurate skin tones and a slew of photo enhancement options.

In my photo test using a grass wall in CNET’s office, both the Moto G Power 5G and the Pixel 6A captured the various shades of green on the wall, while the OnePlus seemed to struggle with sensing those differences.

When I tested the night mode on both the OnePlus and the Pixel using CNET’s dark TV lab area, the Pixel brightened up a lot of the image. By comparison, the OnePlus appears substantially darker.

Photos of my colleague Joseph Kaminski both look nice, but the Pixel version captures substantially more detail when zooming into the photo.

Zoom in general is better on the Pixel. This photo of a plant taken using the 2x zoom option on the Pixel heartily outperforms the 3x zoom on the OnePlus.

Overall the OnePlus N30’s camera system performs well compared to other new phones in the $200 to $300 price range. But with the Pixel 6A’s price often dipping into that range, it’s now a competitive option that the OnePlus has to contend with, and the 108-megapixel camera isn’t yet enough.

OnePlus Nord N30 5G bottom line

OnePlus deserves some serious credit for bringing specs to the Nord N30 5G that are unheard of at its price range. The fast charging speed is something that can be universally appreciated, and the effort to offer a 108-megapixel camera at this low of a price is impressive.

However the phone’s tradeoffs ultimately mean you should seriously compare it with the competition before buying. If you want more storage and care less about the camera, then the 256GB Moto G Power 5G (also $300) might be a better option. Or if you want a phone that takes better photos with more years of software and security support, then snag a Google Pixel 6A whenever it’s discounted to $300 from its $349 price.

But if the Pixel 6A isn’t on sale, and if a two-day battery life and a ludicrously fast recharge time are appealing, the OnePlus Nord N30 5G is a respectable option among its $300 peers.

How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using both standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds, foldable displays among others that can be useful. And we balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value.

A decent set of noise-canceling earbuds doesn’t have to break the bank these days. And with solid sound quality, active noise cancellation and a transparency mode, the Beats Studio Buds are a great option to consider. Right now, the true wireless earbuds are back on sale at Woot where they’re seeing a 40% discount. At $90, this is a return to the best price we’ve ever seen them hit and the first time they’ve gone this low since holiday sales late last year.

Beats Studio Buds are small, lightweight, comfortable to wear and fit most ears securely. Despite being made by Apple these days, Beats products work great with both iPhones and Android phones and there are plenty of features to love, including quick pairing. CNET’s David Carnoy said their sound quality beats out AirPods Pro and Powerbeats Pro in his review.

Unlike some other Apple-made Beats products, the Studio Buds lack a few of the fanciest features like in-ear detection and the ability to pair to all of your Apple devices via iCloud and switch between them automatically. That probably won’t be a deal-breaker for most folks, especially given the price difference between the Studio Buds and something like the AirPods Pro.

The Beats Studio Buds provide up to 8 hours of listening time on a single charge, with up to 24 hours when combined with the charging case. They are also IPX4-rated sweat and water-resistant, so they’re a solid option to use on your commute or at the gym.

While Beats recently released the improved Studio Buds Plus, the upgraded model — with better noise-canceling and battery life — debuted at $170, which might be more than you’re prepared to spend.

If the Studio Buds aren’t quite the right fit for you, check out the other Beats headphones deals currently available, as well as our list of best wireless earbuds.

In preparation for launching CPUs later this year that use its new Meteor Lake architecture, Intel has rolled out new branding for its consumer Core processor line — dropping the “i” from a name like “Core i7” and turning it into “Core 7” — as well as introducing “Ultra” equivalents of each. There will still be four tiers of the processor: Core 3, 5, 7 and 9.

All Intel will say at the moment about the new Core Ultra is that it will be for “cutting-edge, premium offerings.” Given that Meteor Lake will debut Intel’s AI Boost engine in its Core line, it’s a fair bet that the Ultra versions will be the first to incorporate it. Is it a coincidence that Apple happens to use “Ultra” to designate its top-of-the-line CPU? Hmm.

It could also mean a return to the spirit of the X series “Extreme” processors Intel stopped updating in 2019; a rebranding rolling in its K-series unlocked processors; or possibly a line of Core processors with better integrated graphics (next-gen Arc rather than Xe) or integrated Movidius Vision Processing Units (for enhanced AI acceleration used by features like Windows’ creepy, thousand-yard-stare Eye Contact). Or some combination of any of the above.

With any luck, Intel will apply the naming conventions only to Meteor Lake and newer architectures, and won’t go all fuzzy on us and start retroactively applying them to new chips with old architectures. The company tends to apply the same naming conventions to the budget-laptop chips it launches toward the end of a year, even though they’re technically last-gen architectures.

But Intel also plans to ditch generational marketing as well; in other words, don’t expect Intel to call the Meteor Lake chips “14th gen.” It will still be identifiable in the part name, and thankfully Intel doesn’t plan to change those naming conventions.

I plan to continue to use the nomenclature, though, because it’s an efficient way to refer to a cohort of chips. And though I suspect I won’t be the only one, it’s possible that system manufacturers may be precluded from using the terminology in their marketing materials, which can potentially cause a lot of confusion while shopping.

Intel has built a quantum processor called Tunnel Falls that it will offer to research labs hoping to make the revolutionary computing technology practical.

The Tunnel Falls processor, announced Thursday, houses 12 of the fundamental data processing elements called qubits. It’s a major step in the chipmaker’s attempt to develop quantum computing hardware it hopes will eventually surpass rivals.

Intel, unlike most of its rivals, makes its qubits from individual electrons housed in computer chips that are cousins to those that power millions of PCs. The company is lagging behind. Rivals like IBM, Google, Quantinuum and IonQ have been offering quantum computers for years, but Intel believes tying its fortunes to conventional chip technology will ultimately enable faster progress.

“To me, it’s natural to use the tools already developed rather than having to develop new tools,” said Jim Clarke, director of quantum computing hardware at Intel Labs. Intel makes its own quantum computing chips at its D1 fab in Oregon.

You won’t buy your own quantum computer, but they could affect your life very directly. Among those investing in the technology are financial services companies seeking more profitable investments, materials science researchers hoping for better batteries, pharmaceutical companies trying to design better drugs and governments trying to crack adversaries’ encrypted communications.

Those challenges are out of reach of conventional computers, but quantum computing has the potential to tackle them by taking advantage of the weird physics of the ultrasmall. Today’s quantum computers aren’t generally practical, and the full promise of the technology remains years away, but physicists and engineers have made steady progress year after year.

Intel, an expert in large-scale manufacturing, hopes to help speed things along by building many quantum chips, which it calls quantum processing units, or QPUs. The University of Maryland, one of the centers benefiting from a US government program to accelerate quantum computing progress, will use Intel machines.

The quantum computing race

One notable feature of quantum computing is the tremendous variety of approaches. Intel is using electrons, storing data with a quantum mechanical property called spin that’s analogous to the two directions a top can spin. IBM and Google are using small electrical circuits of superconducting materials. IonQ and Quantinuum manipulate charged atoms stored in a trap. Other approaches involve neutral atoms and even that most fleeting of particles, the photon.

At a sufficiently small scale, quantum mechanics dominates physics and anything can become a qubit, quantum computing pioneer and MIT researcher Seth Lloyd said in an earlier interview. “It’s a question of whether you can massage them in the right way to convince them to compute.”

In other words, quantum computing isn’t a horse race like in the traditional computer chip market. It’s more like a horse pitted against a falcon, a motorcycle and an Olympic sprinter.

Intel likes its approach. Tunnel Falls is in manufacturing today, but the company very soon will “tape out” its successor, meaning the design is finished, and it’s begun designing the model after that, Clarke said. Twelve qubits is a tiny fraction of what’s needed for useful quantum computers, but Intel started with a simple approach designed for fast improvement and sustained progress over the years required to make serious quantum computers.

“The next big milestone is when we have a few thousand qubits,” a quantity that will let quantum computer engineers correct the frequent errors that plague qubit operations, Clarke said. “That’s probably three, four years, maybe five years away,” Clarke said. “And it’s probably the early 2030s or mid-2030s before we have a million cubits that are going to change the world.”

And Intel is engineering not just the QPUs, but the crucial data links that link each qubit to the outside world. Today’s quantum computers often look like high-tech chandeliers, with gleaming metal communication conduits looping down toward the processor, but that bulky design won’t work with thousands or millions of qubits, and Intel believes its control chips and chip interconnect technology will be necessary parts of an overall system.

Plenty of competitors

Intel is unusual in selecting photons housed in computer circuits for its quantum computing foundation. One of its biggest rivals, IBM, already offers multiple 127-qubit quantum computers for research and commercial use, with a 433-qubit machine up and running.

“We have a plan to get this out to hundreds of thousands of qubits using superconducting qubits,” said Jerry Chow, leader of IBM’s quantum computing hardware effort. IBM is working on quantum computer chips with a flock of code names — Egret, Heron, Condor, Crossbill — that are designed to prove out new technologies to reduce errors and improve the qubit-to-qubit connections that are central to the machines.

And it’s making progress. On Wednesday, it secured a coveted spot on the cover of the journal Nature for research showing its 127-qubit Eagle quantum computing chip can surpass conventional machines in simulating the materials physics that produce effects like magnetism.

Intel tried and rejected the supercomputing qubit approach, Clarke said. Its spin qubits are a million times smaller than a superconducting circuit, letting the company fit 25,000 of them on each 300mm silicon wafer that transits through its chip fabrication plant, called a fab. When Intel finds a problem building quantum chips, it figures out how to adapt the qubit to traditional chip manufacturing, not vice versa.

Disagreement with Intel’s approach

Such arguments haven’t persuaded others. Google is sticking with superconducting qubits.

“Superconducting qubits lead in critical metrics. We are confident they are the leading technology for the future of quantum supercomputers,” Google said in a statement, pointing to their processing speed and progress toward error correction to keep calculations on track longer. “We see a clear path to scale our technology to large-scale, error-corrected machines of general use.”

And IonQ Chief Executive Peter Chapman believes Intel’s approach is too inflexible for practical, large-scale quantum computers. His company is developing ion trap machines that scoot charged atoms around, letting different qubits interact with each other for computation. Fixing qubits onto the surface of a chip drastically complicates computations, he said.

“What worked in computing in the past — silicon-based processors — is not the right solution for the age of quantum,” Chapman said.

The deep disagreements about the best approach will perhaps be resolved as the machines evolve and grow larger. Intel’s plans rely on its manufacturing advantage, tapping into its experience building some of the most complicated electronics devices on the planet.

“Not everybody has a fab like this in their back pocket,” Clarke said.

Just last week, Apple unveiled its all-new 15-inch MacBook Air — and you can already save $100 on the company’s latest laptop. The larger MacBook Air only started shipping to customers on Tuesday, but over at Amazon, you can get your hands on the new machines from just $1,199. You can upgrade to the 512GB model while saving the same amount, too. B&H is matching the discounts.

This is the biggest direct dollar discount we’ve seen so far on the 15-inch MacBook Air and it represents a rare chance to save on such a new Apple product. Amazon isn’t listing an end date to this sale, so it’s worth locking in the reduced price while you can if you’re in the market for a laptop upgrade.

Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air is the largest Air model to date and offers an attractive option for those wanting a big screen Mac portable without spending over the odds on a MacBook Pro. It’s essentially the same as the 13-inch MacBook Air but with a larger, 15.3-inch display. It features the same M2 chip, Touch ID sensor, two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, MagSafe charger and 18-hour battery life. Its screen supports up to 500 nits of brightness and up to a billion colors. And there’s a built-in 1080p camera for FaceTime calls, too, as well as a three-mic array and six speakers for spatial audio support.

Despite offering a larger display, the 15-inch MacBook Air still feels thin and light, as CNET’s Dan Ackerman found in his hands-on time with the device, weighing in at just over 3 pounds and measuring less than half an inch thick.

Google is letting the public test drive new AI-driven search tools housed on the Search Labs sites.

“Every year in Search, we do hundreds of thousands of quality tests and experiments to figure out how to make Google more helpful for you,” Google Product Management Director David Gasca said in a statement. “Many of these ideas don’t pan out, but some do, and it’s through experimentation that Search gets better.

The first slate of Search Lab experiments, unveiled in May at Google I/O, includes Search Generative Experience, which uses AI to make results more responsive and focused, whether you’re looking for information, products or places to visit.

“You’ll be able to quickly make sense of information with an AI-powered snapshot, pointers to explore more and natural ways to ask,” Google said in a release.

Other offerings include Add to Sheets, designed to help users insert results directly into shared spreadsheets, and Code Tips, which can answer questions about Java, Python and other computer languages.

“Your feedback will help us understand what’s most helpful to make Search better for everyone, and where we might need to make some adjustments,” Gasca added.

Google hasn’t opened the door to Search Labs just yet, but if you want to try out these AI-driven features, you can sign up on the waiting list.

For now, the Search Lab will only be available in the US and in English.

Watch this: Google Search Gets New AI Tools

09:40

Read on: How to Sign Up for Bard, Google’s New AI Chatbot

Apple’s iOS 17 plans to overhaul the Messages app, bringing some of the best features we’ve already seen on WhatsApp, Signal, Google Messages and other rivals to iMessage. And in a move that takes the Messages app forward, Apple is also bringing a new Check In feature — to help alert friends or family when you get home — which could very well be the next feature we see get copied back by other texting apps.

Even if some of these new-to-Messages features are already familiar for someone who juggles multiple texting apps and group chats, wider adoption will only make communicating on phones better, regardless of your preferred chat app. On top of that, some of iOS 17’s new features will indirectly assist you when texting in a non-Apple chat app — such as the updates to autocorrect keyboards that’ll contextually recognize if swearing is a regular part of how you speak.

It’s worth noting that while these iOS 17 improvements are certainly welcome, there are definitely a few areas Apple could still improve for a better universal chatting experience. Chief among them are the infamous green bubble-blue bubble conflicts. So far Apple hasn’t announced any SMS conversation improvements, but there are features that are also on other messaging services and apps that are worth taking a closer look at.

Check In is the new Messages feature that should get copied

Apple’s upcoming Check In feature takes a very common request and makes it easier to honor. There’ve been many times after a gathering with friends or family when we’ve asked each other to text after getting home. It’s so common in my life it’s practically part of the goodbye ritual, just to get assurance that everyone’s arrived safely by subway or car. Despite that, it’s also very common to forget to send that text.

Apple’s Check In could fix that problem. Though CNET has yet to test the feature, theoretically it could be turned on right as friends or family ask for that “made it home” message. Then it could automatically send the ping when I’ve walked through my door. That way, if the hour’s late or I’m just too tired from the journey, the status update still goes out.

Check In builds on a location-sharing tool for friends and family members that Apple has had in Messages for years, and the new feature makes that tool far more automated. Check In takes things a step further by allowing for notifications when a delay could be holding up someone. For friends and family who want that kind of safety check, it could be an additional tool that helps loved ones look out for each other.

There are currently other ways to set up a similar ping, using navigation apps like Google Maps, but the version Apple previewed during WWDC shows an easy way to get these notifications directly in the Messages app. Hopefully other chat apps find their own ways to mimic this idea, whether it’s through integration with a maps service or through improvements to an already-existing location sharing feature.

Catch Up will make group chats much easier to follow

Apple’s Catch Up feature for group chats caught my eye when it was revealed. An arrow indicates where you left off in a busy group chat that carried on while you were away from your phone.

This is a feature that’s quite common in other chat apps, and I didn’t realize Apple lacked it until the company pointed it out. The unread label in WhatsApp, for instance, helps me when I check in with a neighbor group chat I have for my apartment building within that app. This is a group chat I don’t participate in actively — and I often mute it — but on days when I do want to check it, a label for unread messages helps me with finding the last part of the conversation I looked at.

Currently there’s an unread filter in the iPhone’s Messages app, but the Catch Up arrow should make it clearer what messages you missed. The adoption of Catch Up in iOS 17 could be an indirect sign that Apple is bridging the gap between iMessage group chats and an SMS/MMS chat that includes other types of phones. Though we’ll have to wait for iOS 17’s release this fall to confirm, a simple indicator that helps with organizing any conversation only serves to help when chatting with friends or family.

Audio message transcription brings a great Pixel feature to the iPhone

Google’s Pixel phones have included various audio transcription features for years, with the Pixel 7 series adding the ability to transcribe any audio message that’s received within the Google Messages app. Now Apple plans to bring the feature across its iPhone line using iOS 17.

New audio messages received in the Messages app will be transcribed automatically, and that’s a boon for accessibility. For someone who prefers to do audio messages, the gist will immediately be available for the receiver, and at times that transcription could be more than enough.

Until the transcription feature gets adopted into more services though, anyone who frequently sends audio messages should please remember to be patient while waiting for others to get a chance to listen.

Swipe to reply fits right (or left) in

I’ve been using Signal a lot lately, and like Telegram it offers the ability to quickly reply to messages with a swipe. It’s faster than pressing and holding on a message, and then tapping a corresponding option.

Swipe to reply could streamline the menu of options that pop up when you press and hold on a message. Apple’s Messages app already includes shortcuts for emoji reactions, reply, copy, Translate and a “More…” option for selecting multiple texts. By moving this into a swipe action, Apple could eventually decide to tack additional features onto this menu, or simplify the menu down to basics.

In an unrelated organizational move, Apple moved iMessage apps from a row above the keyboard in the Messages app to a list that pops up when you tap a plus-sign icon. It shows that Apple is trying to declutter where it can, and make replies faster.

iMessage improvements (hopefully) still to come

While we wait for iOS 17’s final version, which comes out this fall, there’s the possibility that even more Messages features will be added as Apple continues development. For instance, the XDA Developers website says the iOS 17 developer beta keeps a number of iMessage features available for group chats with Android phones. Should this indeed make it into a public release, it could be a relief for iPhone users who still want to use threaded replies and message edits. XDA’s report notes, however, that non-iPhone participants might not see any of these Messages changes.

We’ll ultimately have to sit tight for iOS 17’s official release to see whether all these iMessage features announced at WWDC make it, or whether some get pushed to a later release. For instance, iOS 15’s SharePlay missed the September launch of that year’s operating system but arrived a month later. But the fact that these Messages improvements are in the pipeline shows that substantial improvements to iPhone texting are on the way.