A little more than four years since its inception, UK-based (but Cayman Islands-registered) Nothing claims the smartphone and earbuds company has surpassed $1 billion in lifetime revenue—over half of which came in through 2024. The Carl Pei-founded brand had a busy year, launching three midrange and budget smartphones, including the CMF Phone 1, the first of a new subbrand focused on an even lower price category, not to mention new earbuds and a smartwatch.

Its next act will begin with the Nothing Phone (3a) series. In a Community Quarterly Update video posted this week, the company teased its 2025 budget phones will arrive on March 4. That’s during Mobile World Congress, the annual tradeshow in Barcelona where many new mobile devices and technologies are announced. The Phone (3a) is mostly hidden in the teaser image, though it retains the Glyph LEDs that distinguish Nothing’s devices from any other phone.

Nothing’s last high-end Android, the Phone (2), arrived in 2023 and has yet to see a successor, though Pei posted on X that it’s still in the works.

Rabbit’s R1 Gets Magical Voices

Remember the Rabbit R1? The super hyped-up AI gadget from CES 2024 that failed to deliver and got a spate of negative reviews at launch? Well, the company hasn’t stopped issuing updates and new features to the Teenage Engineering-designed R1, and its first big addition for 2025 introduces “Magic Voice,” which allows all 12 users (sorry) the option to customize the voice of the R1.

Thanks to a partnership with ElevenLabs, you can ask the R1 to change its voice to, say, “a Viking with a deep voice.” Or ask it to speak to you in a high-pitched voice. Of course, this won’t make the embattled R1 any more useful, sadly. But these aren’t the only interface-related customizations available on the R1. The company says R1 owners can already choose from 27 language options, can change the look of the on-screen rabbit assistant, and mix up the R1’s interface with generative user interfaces.

While the R1 may not have lived up to its original claims, these updates give us a peak at the potential for generative user interfaces, one that might not be so far away for devices like smartphones. At MWC 2024, a wave of companies showed off generative interfaces intent on killing off apps as we know them.

Xbox Games Will Come to the Switch 2

Photograph: Nintendo

Two weeks since the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement, and we already have confirmation that the long-awaited refresh of the popular handheld gaming console will feature Xbox games—at least, according to Xbox CEO Phil Spencer on the Gamertag Radio podcast. “Really looking forward to supporting them with the games that we have,” Spencer said. “I just think they’re such an important part of this industry.”

This tracks with Microsoft’s new trajectory of making every screen an Xbox rather than putting all its hopes into a dedicated console, especially after it effectively “lost” the console war against Nintendo and Sony. That said, the Xbox team is reportedly working on a handheld.

“It’s really games first, not platform first,” Spencer said on the podcast. “I look at hardware as a critical part of what we do, but not trying to gatekeep the games off of other places for the benefit of it—let’s go build innovative hardware that people want to use to play whether that’s in their hands, whether it’s on their television.”

We don’t know much else about the Switch 2 other than it’s a bigger console, features overhauled Joy-Con controllers, and backward compatibility with Switch games. Oh, and Mario Kart 9 will likely be a launch title. You’ll have to wait for the Nintendo Direct broadcast on April 2 for more.

Apple Finally Says How to Update AirPods

How do you update AirPods? Until now, all we knew is that they automatically update once they’re charging and within Bluetooth range of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, which needs to be connected to Wi-Fi. Well, if you’ve struggled to update the firmware, Apple has finally posted more specific instructions on a support page:

1. Make sure that your AirPods are in Bluetooth range of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac that’s connected to Wi-Fi.
2. Put your AirPods in their charging case and close the lid.
3. Plug the charging cable into your charging case, then plug the other end of the cable into a USB charger or port.
4. Keep the lid of the charging case closed, and wait at least 30 minutes for the firmware to update.
5. Open the lid of the charging case to reconnect your AirPods to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
6. Check the firmware version again.

The steps are the same for the AirPods Max headphones, except you can ignore the part about the charging case lid. To check the firmware version of your AirPods, go to Settings, tap the name of your AirPods, scroll to the About section, and then tap Version.

It’s unclear why it took Apple so long to detail these instructions, but we may have the big hearing aid software update that arrived late in 2024 to thank.

The Sims Turns 25

Courtesy of EA

Humple Borpnah! (That’s “happy birthday” in Simlish). The Sims turns 25 years old on February 4, and naturally, EA is throwing a celebratory sale. You can save on expansion packs, stuff packs, game packs, and bundles—some are discounted by as much as 50 percent. There are rumors of a new expansion pack arriving next week, which would make it the 18th expansion in the ever-evolving The Sims 4 universe (not counting the dozens of smaller game packs).

A brand-new Birthday Bundle includes The Sims, The Sims 2, and several expansion packs. It’s available for $40 on PC. EA is also unveiling a celebratory merch collection on February 5, and the whole birthday sale is slated to last through February 10.

I’m taking a moment to reflect on one of the few games that has been a staple throughout my entire life. Making grade-school crushes in Create a Sim so we could get married, trapping my high school enemies in the pool, and building my dream home while interior decorating my existing one. Some folks use The Sims to process emotions or figure out what they want in real life. It’s an escape worth escaping to. The base game is free, making now a perfect time to snag some cheap expansions and start playing God however you see fit. —Louryn Strampe

Apple Settles an Apple Watch Lawsuit

Did you own the original Apple Watch, Series 1, 2, or 3? Well, you may qualify for $20 to $50 compensation because Apple has decided to settle a class-action lawsuit about battery-swelling issues in its smartwatches that could then damage other components, such as the screen. (You can also only qualify if you’ve reported these battery-related issues in some way, like filing a complaint with Apple’s customer service between April 24, 2015, and February 6, 2024.)

Despite settling, in a statement sent to CNET Apple denied wrongdoing. “While we strongly disagree with the claims made against these early generation Apple Watch models, we agreed to settle to avoid further litigation.”