SAMSUNG

Samsung's Exynos 2700 enters mass production with 10% higher output than Exynos 2600, says leaker

Tipster Ice Universe claims Samsung has begun front-end wafer mass production of the Exynos 2700, a 2nm chipset built on the company's SF2P node. Initial output is reportedly 10% higher than the Exynos 2600's, and internal Geekbench 6 runs allegedly show a 9.5% multi-core lead over Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6.

Samsung has reportedly started mass production of the Exynos 2700, its next flagship smartphone chipset, according to tipster Ice Universe. The leaker claims the 2nm processor has entered front-end wafer production, moving beyond the limited sampling stage that comes before a commercial ramp.

Ice Universe further alleges that this initial run is roughly 10% larger than the Exynos 2600's at the same point in its cycle. The Exynos 2700 is expected to be fabricated on SF2P, an enhanced version of the SF2 process behind the Exynos 2600. Samsung announced the Exynos 2600 in December 2025 as the world's first 2nm chipset built with gate-all-around (GAA) transistors. It uses a 10-core CPU in a one-plus-three-plus-six layout, led by an Arm C1-Ultra prime core clocked at 3.80GHz.

A die shot of the Exynos 2700, leaked by semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis in early September, points to a reworked 10-core CPU with two prime cores instead of one. The chip reportedly pairs an Arm C2-Ultra core at 4.24GHz and four C2-Pro cores at 3.74GHz with a C1-Ultra core at 3.36GHz and four C1-Pro cores at 2.88GHz. The die also indicates LPDDR6 memory support, 24MB of system-level cache, a large NPU and an Xclipse 970 GPU with the same eight WGPs as the Exynos 2600's Xclipse 960.

Samsung's internal testing reportedly places the Exynos 2700 9.5% ahead of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 in the Geekbench 6 multi-core benchmark, partly due to a reported 4.00GHz target frequency for the chip's prime core. The leaked results include no power consumption figures or other efficiency metrics, so the performance claim cannot yet be weighed against energy use.

Qualcomm chipsets are still expected to power Galaxy S27 models sold in the US and China. Samsung's MX mobile division is reportedly assessing performance, thermals, cost, and SF2P manufacturing capacity before deciding whether a larger Exynos 2700 order makes economic sense. Staying with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 also carries a high cost, since both are manufactured on TSMC's 2nm N2P process. Samsung has not confirmed whether the Galaxy S27 Ultra will use the Exynos 2700 in any market.

A veritable "internal war" is currently underway between Samsung System LSI and the MX division, as the former advocates for the inclusion of the Exynos 2700 in the Galaxy S27 Ultra.

Samsung MX, on the other hand, is taking a much more cautious approach, evaluating factors such as performance, thermal behavior, cost, and production capacity regarding the 2-nanometer process.

Nevertheless, there is considerable excitement within the South Korean giant, particularly after the Exynos 2700 achieved a multi-core score 9.5% higher than that of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 on Geekbench.

Regarding the Geekbench results, the Qualcomm chip scored 12,856 points, whereas the Exynos 2700 managed to reach 14,000 points.

Samsung is not currently commenting on the leaks, but component production for the Galaxy S27 has already begun, and development of One UI 9.5 is progressing rapidly.

The Samsung Galaxy S27 Pro – along with the vanilla and plus models – will use the Exynos 2700 in Korea and Europe. These models will switch to a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip for the US and China.

As for the Galaxy S27 Ultra, that one is still up in the air. Samsung System LSI, which designs the Exynos chips, has confidence in the 2700 and is pushing to get it adopted on the top-tier S-phone. This would help the division’s earnings, of course, but it will also signal that the chip is good enough for an Ultra-class flagship.

Samsung MX, the division building the phones, has the final say, however. Right now it is considering multiple factors – benchmark and thermal performance as well as the price of Qualcomm’s chips and the production capacity for Exynos 2700 chips.

A while back, the news came out that internal testing had shown that the Exynos 2700 beats the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 on the multi-core Geekbench test by 9.5%. However, the Snapdragon still has the edge in the single-core test.

The Exynos 2700 will be fabbed on Samsung’s SF2P, a second generation 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) node. Compared to the first-gen node (SF2), which was used for the Exynos 2600, SF2P offers a 12% performance improvement, a 25% reduction in power usage and an 8% decrease in chip area. There will be some architectural improvements too, of course, with the Exynos 2700 likely using Arm C2 CPU cores (the 2600 used C1 cores).

Apparently, it takes three-four months from the moment a chipset goes into mass production to having the final product ready. The timing works out just right for a February or March launch of the Galaxy S27 series.

Samsung typically unveils new Exynos flagships shortly before the turn of the year, as it did with the Exynos 2600 on 19 December 2025. An official Exynos 2700 announcement is therefore expected in December 2026, or possibly earlier.

Galaxy S27...The Galaxy S27 Pro will be the new addition to the family. The model will feature a smaller screen than the S27+, yet it is expected to be a more advanced option, with features closer to those of the Ultra. The aim is to offer a premium experience in a more compact device.

Samsung Display is also expected to begin mass production of OLED screens for the new generation this month. The company has reportedly set an annual target of 47 to 48 million panels for the Galaxy S27 line—a figure more than 10% higher than the estimated volume for the Galaxy S26 series.

Privacy Display may come to more models... Another expected highlight is the expansion of Privacy Display, a feature that makes it difficult for people standing next to the user to view the screen.

In the current generation, the technology is reportedly restricted to the Galaxy S26 Ultra. For the Galaxy S27 line, it is expected to appear on the S27 Pro as well. The S27 and S27+ models are not expected to receive the feature. Notably, the Galaxy S27 Ultra might only mask part of the screen.

Demand for the technology in the current generation reportedly influenced Samsung's plans to expand its presence across the smartphone family.

Costs...Despite the expected increase in component production, Samsung intends to reuse some parts from the Galaxy S26 line for the new devices.

The company also reportedly has ambitious plans for the Galaxy S27 Pro. Samsung's display division expects to produce between 2 million and 3 million panels for the model by the end of this year, and between 4 million and 5 million next year. It is worth noting that while the Galaxy S27 may be significantly more powerful, the price is also expected to rise.

mundophone

 

TECH

Cement-based supercapacitors could power next-generation ‘smart’ buildings

Imagine a future in which the very concrete beneath your feet and around your windows does more than hold a building upright. In that future, the same material that forms slabs, stairs, and load-bearing walls also stores the electricity generated by rooftop solar panels, releasing it in bursts to light corridors, run sensors, and keep emergency systems alive during outages. That vision moved a significant step closer to reality with the publication of a peer-reviewed study in ACS Nano, in which researchers report an efficient, energy-storing cement supercapacitor that, crucially, performs as well as commercial concrete in mechanical tests. 

The work, led by corresponding author Jing Zhong together with colleagues Wencai Ren and Haiping Wu, demonstrates that cement need not be a passive, inert filler in the built environment. Instead, it can be engineered into an active electrochemical component, one that is 3D printable, structurally robust, and capable of powering real electronic devices.

To understand why this result matters, it helps to distinguish supercapacitors from the lithium-ion batteries that dominate consumer electronics. Batteries store large amounts of energy through slow chemical reactions, which is why they take hours to charge and degrade over hundreds or thousands of cycles. Supercapacitors, by contrast, store energy electrostatically, in the electric field that forms at the interface between an electrode and an electrolyte.

They hold relatively small amounts of energy compared with batteries, but they take that energy in and release it extremely rapidly, and in some designs they can survive millions of charge-discharge cycles without significant degradation. That combination of speed and durability makes them attractive for applications where power is needed in short, repeated bursts rather than as a long-duration reserve. For a building fitted with solar panels, supercapacitors embedded in the structure could absorb surges of renewable electricity as they arrive and discharge them on demand, smoothing the mismatch between when energy is generated and when it is actually used.

The central challenge in turning cement into a supercapacitor is that ordinary concrete is a poor electrical conductor. Cement hydrates into a porous, mineral-rich matrix that is excellent at bearing compressive loads but terrible at shuttling electrons and ions. The research team’s solution was to build conductivity directly into the material. They mixed carbon nanotubes, carbon black, and cement together to form a printable electrode ink. Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical structures of carbon atoms just nanometers in diameter, renowned for their exceptional electrical conductivity and mechanical strength. Carbon black, a much cheaper amorphous form of carbon, provides additional conductive pathways and helps form a percolating network throughout the composite. Blended into wet cement, these carbon additives transform the paste from an insulator into an electrode material, while the cement itself continues to cure and harden much as it would in any construction application.

Geometry proved to be just as important as chemistry. Using a 3D printer, the team deposited the electrode ink onto a small concrete slab in a pattern resembling interlocked fingers, a configuration known in electrochemistry as an interdigitated electrode design. In this arrangement, two sets of parallel electrode fingers alternate with one another, like the interlaced fingers of two hands held together without touching. The significance of this geometry lies in the distance that charged ions must travel. In a conventional two-plate capacitor, ions in the electrolyte have to migrate across the entire gap separating the electrodes, which slows the device down and wastes energy as internal resistance. With interdigitated electrodes, every finger of one polarity sits immediately adjacent to fingers of the opposite polarity, so ions move only short distances laterally. As the researchers note, this shortened travel distance made the overall supercapacitor more efficient than previous iterations of cement-based energy storage, which had struggled with exactly this ionic transport bottleneck.

A remarkable feature of the design is that the electrolyte is not added as a separate liquid component but arises from the cement itself. As the cement within the slab hydrated, the chemical reaction that gives concrete its strength, its pores filled with water and dissolved ions that could easily travel between the electrodes. In other words, the very process that turns printable ink into hardened concrete simultaneously creates the ionic medium the supercapacitor needs to function. This monolithic approach, in which electrode, electrolyte, and structural support are one continuous piece of material, is what the study’s title refers to in describing monolithic 3D-printed interdigitated cement-based supercapacitors for structural energy storage. It eliminates the interfaces and packaging that complicate conventional devices and means the energy-storage function can, in principle, be printed wherever a builder wants it within a larger concrete element.

Of course, an energy-storage device embedded in a building is useless if it compromises the building’s safety. Concrete in structural applications must meet strict compressive strength standards, and any multifunctional material has to prove it can carry loads without failing. The researchers therefore subjected their cement supercapacitor to mechanical testing and found that its compressive strength was comparable to that of commercial concrete used in slabs and stairs. This is the result that elevates the work from a laboratory curiosity toward practical relevance. Previous attempts at cement-based energy storage often faced a trade-off, in which adding conductive carbon or porosity weakened the material. Here, the team achieved a device that is simultaneously an electrode, an electrolyte-filled capacitor, and a structural material meeting the expectations placed on ordinary construction concrete.

The researchers also demonstrated that their devices do real electrical work. Three supercapacitors printed on the same slab and wired together successfully powered a small array of LEDs, a modest demonstration on its own but an important proof of concept showing that multiple devices fabricated from a single concrete element can be connected into a functioning energy system. Looking ahead, the team envisions these supercapacitors powering everything from emergency lighting to self-powered sensors. That second application deserves particular attention. Modern buildings increasingly depend on distributed sensor networks that monitor temperature, occupancy, air quality, and structural health, and wiring or periodically replacing batteries for thousands of such sensors is costly and cumbersome. Sensors embedded in or on concrete that draw their operating power from the concrete itself would remove that maintenance burden entirely, enabling dense, self-sustaining monitoring of the built environment.

Like any emerging technology, the cement supercapacitor has identified limits, and the team was candid about one of them. The devices operated stably under moderate heating and cooling, but at around zero degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 18 degrees Celsius, their performance started to wane. This matters because the electrolyte in the system is water-based, arising from the hydration of the cement, and water loses its ionic mobility as it approaches freezing. In cold climates, where buildings must perform year-round, a supercapacitor that fades in deep winter would be a serious limitation. The researchers state that future research will focus on fortifying the supercapacitors against cold-weather conditions, an engineering challenge that will likely involve strategies to keep the pore solution ionically active at low temperatures. It is a reminder that multifunctional materials must satisfy the demands of every function they take on, including environmental resilience across the full range of conditions a building experiences.

The broader implications reach toward what researchers call smart buildings, structures that generate, store, and manage energy within their own fabric. As Jing Zhong explains, if building materials could not only support structures but also store energy, sense their surroundings, and even interact with people, buildings would become more than passive shelters. They could become truly smart environments. The study, published in ACS Nano under the title Monolithic 3D-Printed Interdigitated Cement-Based Supercapacitors for Structural Energy Storage, was supported by funding from the Guangdong Hailong Construction Technology Company Limited, a subsidiary of China State Construction International Holdings Limited, an indication that the construction industry itself sees commercial potential in structural energy storage. 

Considerable work remains before supercapacitor walls appear on job sites, including scaling from small slabs to full structural elements, integrating renewable generation and power electronics, and solving the cold-weather performance gap. But the foundational demonstration is now on the table: a cement-based supercapacitor that stores energy efficiently, prints into interdigitated geometries, powers LEDs, and matches commercial concrete in compressive strength. The walls of future buildings may not merely shelter their occupants. They may quietly hold the charge that keeps those buildings alive.

Cement-based supercapacitors are emerging as a promising technology to transform passive buildings into active energy storage infrastructure, paving the way for the next generation of smart buildings. Research led by institutions such as MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) combines cement, water, and conductive additives—such as carbon black or graphitic carbon by-products—to create an internal fractal network capable of conducting and storing electricity.

How the technology works: Unlike conventional batteries that rely on slow chemical reactions, supercapacitors store energy electrostatically:

1. Conductive mixture: Carbon black (a highly conductive and affordable material) is mixed with cement and water. Due to the carbon's water-repellent nature, interconnected filaments form as the cement cures.

2. High surface area: This reaction creates a vast internal network of microscopic channels within the concrete block, resulting in an enormous surface area.

3. Electrolyte: The material is soaked in a standard electrolyte (such as potassium chloride), allowing ions to accumulate on the conductive cement plates to retain the charge.

Advantages for smart buildings:

• Integrated Structural Storage: Eliminates the need for rooms dedicated to heavy lithium-ion battery banks. Walls, foundations, and slabs themselves function as the building's energy storage system.

• Renewable Energy Support: Helps smooth out the intermittency of local clean energy sources, such as solar panels and wind turbines, by storing surplus energy generated during the day for use during peak evening hours. 

• Dedicated Power Supply: In recent laboratory tests released in October 2026 by the American Chemical Society (ACS), 3D-printed devices embedded in a concrete slab demonstrated mechanical strength comparable to commercial cement and were capable of powering LED arrays and autonomous sensors.

• Long Lifecycle: Supercapacitors charge and discharge almost instantaneously and withstand tens of thousands of cycles without suffering the severe degradation that affects standard batteries.

Current challenges...Although laboratory advances show that a standard-sized residential foundation could store enough energy to meet a home's daily needs, the technology still faces hurdles before reaching the commercial market. Energy density remains lower than that of lithium batteries, and tests indicate that performance drops in extremely cold climates (near -18°C), necessitating further research into chemically fortifying the material for low-temperature conditions.

ACS Nano

 

SONY

Sony Xperia 10 VIII: More expensive, barely better

The Sony Xperia 10 VIII remains a lightweight and compact mid-range smartphone with increasingly rare features such as a headphone jack and microSD support. The most important upgrade over its predecessor is the significantly brighter OLED display. However, given the higher price, mediocre performance, and numerous unchanged components, the overall progress is limited.

The Sony Xperia 10 VIII is one of the more compact smartphones, but it’s a bit on the thicker side at 8.3 mm. We measured 8.5 mm at the outer edges, and up to 10.1 mm including the camera. Weighing 168 g, it’s relatively light and fits comfortably in the hand.

With its rather thick screen bezels, the Sony smartphone looks a bit dated. On the other hand, the display isn’t interrupted by a camera, and the two speakers face forward. The build quality impresses in our test with even and tight gaps. During torsion tests, the Xperia 10 Mk 8 remains rigid and silent. 

The phone is both dust- and water-resistant according to IP65/IP68 standards. Access to the SIM card and microSD slot is also tool-free. 

The Xperia 10 VIII is available in Misty Lilac, Matte Gray, and Frozen White color options.

The Sony Xperia 10 VIII is once again available only with 128 GB of storage, though this can still be expanded using a microSD card. Another rarity is the built-in headphone jack. But that’s about it for the special features. 

For a €600 smartphone, USB 2.0 feels rather meager. Additionally, connected storage devices formatted with NTFS cannot be read. Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC are also on board.

Although the microSD card reader is slightly faster in testing than its predecessor, it still isn’t exactly setting the world on fire. On the plus side, the card can be swapped out without any additional tools.

Software: Only four years of Android version updates...The Sony Xperia 10 VIII ships with Google Android 16 and receives four years of version updates as well as two additional years of security patches.

Sony preinstalls a few of its own apps but is sparing with third-party apps. Only Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn come preinstalled. 

However, these apps cannot be completely uninstalled but only disabled.

Sony remains rather vague regarding the Xperia 10 VIII when it comes to sustainability aspects. The housing contains recycled plastic, but the manufacturer does not specify the exact percentage of recycled material. 

The packaging consists of paper and Sony’s original blended material made from bamboo, sugarcane fibers, and recycled paper. Sony also does not provide a product-specific carbon footprint.

Sony does not offer a self-repair program for the Xperia 10 VIII. For hardware defects, the manufacturer refers users to its repair service and authorized service centers.

Sony isn’t exactly generous when it comes to supporting a wide range of mobile frequencies, and this applies to both 4G and 5G. Within Europe, however, this isn’t a problem; it’s only during intercontinental travel that one or two bands may be missing.

Although Wi-Fi 7 isn’t built in, at least 6 GHz Wi-Fi is supported. In testing, this not only delivers high data transfer rates but also ensures stable performance.

The Xperia 10 VIII's satfix is fast and accurate outdoors, even though the smartphone only supports single-band GNSS. It doesn’t take much longer indoors, but it is significantly less precise and also fluctuates considerably.

On a bike ride, we compare the smartphone’s positioning capabilities with those of a Garmin Venu 2. The two devices largely agree on the recorded total distance, differing by only 10 m. 

While the smartwatch tracks the distance traveled more accurately by the lake, the Xperia phone is more precise in the city center.

The call quality of the Sony Xperia 10 VIII felt quite natural when held to the ear, though the suppression of background noise could be better.

Only a nano-SIM card and/or an eSIM can be used.

Cameras: Slow dual-lens system in the Xperia 10 VIII...As for the cameras, everything remains the same — they’re identical to those on the Xperia 10 VII. Despite the small front-facing sensor, it takes pretty good selfies in daylight. However, the camera only records video in HD or full HD at 30 fps. 

The main rear sensor is complemented by an ultra-wide-angle lens. The former features natural white balance and could benefit from a bit more dynamic range, depending on the subject. 

In low light, the camera still produces decent shots, though these require a long exposure time. The ultra-wide-angle lens offers a balanced overall composition, but the image becomes slightly blurry at the edges. Zooming is exclusively digital, and the maximum magnification possible is 6x.

The main camera records videos in ultra HD (30 fps) at best. However, this resolution — as well as full HD at 60 fps — is only available to the main sensor. 

At 168 grams, the Sony Xperia 10 VIII is one of the lighter and more manageable smartphones around. Build quality is convincing, and the chassis carries an IP68 rating. While the wide display bezels look somewhat dated, the screen remains free of notches and punch-hole cutouts. The tool-free microSD slot and increasingly rare 3.5 mm headphone jack are also practical additions. However, with just 128 GB of internal storage and USB 2.0, the feature set feels rather unambitious considering the price. The 6.1-inch OLED display represents the biggest improvement over the Xperia 10 VII. Sony has increased brightness by around 50%, which makes a noticeable difference outdoors. Color reproduction is good, although HDR is not supported. The PWM frequency of 480 Hz could also cause discomfort for sensitive users.

Performance is another area where little has changed: Sony once again uses the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. It is fast enough for everyday tasks, but occasional stutters are noticeable. Demanding games quickly push the Adreno 710 to its limits. Under sustained load, the Xperia also gets noticeably warm and throttles somewhat. Sony has carried over the cameras from the previous model as well. The main camera delivers natural white balance and still produces decent images in low light, although its dynamic range could be better. The ultrawide camera loses noticeable sharpness toward the edges. The main camera can record video at up to Ultra HD resolution at 30 fps.

On the positive side, the Xperia offers accurate positioning, fast 6 GHz Wi-Fi, and decent call quality. The stereo speakers also sound respectable, although they tend to distort slightly at maximum volume. The 5,000 mAh battery delivers almost 20 hours of runtime in our testing and takes 69 minutes to fully recharge. The Xperia 10 VIII therefore remains an unusual smartphone thanks to its headphone jack, microSD support, good battery life, and bright OLED display. However, there is very little progress over the Xperia 10 VII. Considering the substantial price increase, the aging SoC, USB 2.0, 128 GB of storage, and unchanged cameras are difficult to overlook.

The Sony Xperia 10 VIII stands out with its bright OLED display, good battery life, precise location tracking, and rare extras like a headphone jack and microSD slot. The smartphone's build quality, light weight, and compact design are also appealing. 

However, the high price is offset by a slow Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor, only 128 GB of storage, USB 2.0, and unchanged cameras from the previous generation.

The lack of HDR support and occasional stuttering also detract from the overall impression. That being said, compared to the Xperia 10 VII, the significantly brighter display in particular stands out as a real improvement. 

Other new features are relatively minor. Given the substantial price increase, Sony offers too little added value overall compared to its predecessor.

mundophone

 

TECH

Screen effect: Young people's reading skills are declining — and experts fear the impact on anxiety and loneliness

During the 1990s and early 2000s, it was common to hear that this was one of the most well-prepared generations in history. Access to universities was growing, and there was optimism regarding the effects of educational expansion. A few decades later, professors and researchers are raising a different concern: many young people seem to struggle more with reading long, complex texts.

In the United States, university professors report students who cannot keep up with reading lists that were once considered standard. The phenomenon involves changes in education, the loss of reading habits, and a daily life dominated by screens and rapid stimuli.

The problem has already reached American universities. Jessica Hooten Wilson, a professor at Pepperdine University, told *Fortune* that the difficulty observed in some students goes beyond critical thinking.

According to her, there are students who struggle to comprehend even specific sentences and more complex sentence structures.

Other professors report a similar shift. Reading assignments of 25 to 40 pages between classes—once considered normal—are now viewed by some students as a burden that is difficult to manage.

In this context, artificial intelligence tools have entered the equation. Instead of reading the full material, some students turn to chatbots to generate summaries of key points.

This method may speed up studying, but it also eliminates some of the context, nuances, and details found during a full reading.

Consequently, universities have begun adapting their classes. Some have reduced the volume of required reading. Others have started conducting group readings in class or replacing some written content with audio and video.

The problem may begin long before university...The signs are not limited to college students.

Educational data from the United States also reveals difficulties among younger students. In some schools, full books have been replaced by shorter excerpts, reducing students' exposure to lengthy texts. Recent results from U.S. assessments indicate that students are underperforming compared to their counterparts from a decade ago in certain areas. Experts have even used the term "learning recession" to describe part of this trend.

While the pandemic exacerbated various educational issues, it does not account for everything; some negative trends were already evident prior to 2020.

Similar signs are appearing outside the United States. In France, data cited by neuroscientist Michel Desmurget point to reading difficulties among a segment of young adults.

In Spain, conversely, recent indicators regarding the reading habits of children and adolescents are more positive. Even so, teachers report issues with attention and reading comprehension in the classroom.

A major concern is the rise of so-called "skimming" or superficial reading.

Instead of following a text from beginning to end, the reader searches for keywords, highlighted phrases, and quick information. While this behavior is quite useful in certain situations, it differs from the deep reading required to grasp complex arguments.

According to teachers in the United States, some students struggle to maintain focus on long texts.

This difficulty can also trigger an emotional reaction. When individuals come to believe they cannot comprehend a particular book or article, they may avoid reading altogether, thereby losing even more practice.

The result is a potential cycle: less reading leads to reduced familiarity with complex texts, making the next reading experience even more challenging.

Books also help us understand others...The concern extends beyond academic grades. Research links reading habits to various cognitive and social benefits. Books—particularly narratives—expose readers to perspectives, experiences, and situations different from their own.

This can foster skills related to empathy and the understanding of other people.

Michel Desmurget further argues that reading provides valuable knowledge about the world and helps develop the tools needed to analyze information critically. For this reason, researchers and educators fear that a prolonged decline in deep reading could leave young people more vulnerable to simplistic interpretations and misinformation.

Some experts also raise a broader hypothesis: a society that reads less might lose one of the cultural activities that help people share experiences and discuss ideas.

This does not mean that abandoning books directly causes anxiety or loneliness; these phenomena have multiple causes. However, researchers are debating whether the loss of reading-related habits might contribute to an environment of greater isolation.

Our language also seems to be getting simpler...The transformation isn't limited to the reader.

Research has found signs of simplification across various forms of communication. Studies analyzing song lyrics over recent decades have observed shifts in linguistic complexity.

Analyses of political speeches have also identified changes in vocabulary and message structure.

Even certain contemporary books feature more accessible language compared to works from earlier eras.

There is no single explanation for this; cultural, commercial, educational, and technological changes are occurring simultaneously.

But there is one factor impossible to ignore: screens.

Smartphones have changed our relationship with information...Television was already competing with books decades before the internet arrived.

Studies cited by Desmurget show that the leisure time adolescents devoted to reading had already dropped sharply during the second half of the 20th century.

Smartphones and social media have intensified this battle for attention.

Spending hours consuming digital content simply means having less time available for other activities. However, researchers are also studying how the format of these platforms influences the way we consume information.

Short videos, notifications, and infinite feeds provide constant stimulation. Information must grab attention quickly before the user swipes to the next piece of content.

Ángel Barbas, a professor of Communication Theory at UNED, argues that this information avalanche fosters rapid processing and can make it difficult to sustain deep reading.

A generation raised without pauses...To blame young people exclusively would be to ignore the environment in which they grew up.

Generation Z spent much of their childhood and adolescence in an already digitized world. Generation Alpha is growing up in an even more connected environment.

Ariadna Vilalta, author of *Una vida siempre en línea* ("A Life Always Online"), highlights a childhood marked by constant stimulation and few moments of pause.

There is also a shift in life away from screens. In many families, safety concerns have curtailed children's autonomy to play and socialize without supervision. More time spent indoors can also mean more time in front of electronic devices.

Screens, therefore, can be both a cause and a consequence of much broader social shifts.

Reading could become a new kind of privilege...The most worrying consequence may only emerge in the long run.

If the ability to grapple with complex texts becomes increasingly rare, skills related to interpretation, argumentation, and critical thinking could end up being distributed unequally.

In this scenario, families with greater resources could continue to provide books, quiet environments, quality schools, and less reliance on screens, while other groups would have fewer opportunities to develop these habits.

Digital disconnection is already being framed as a sort of modern luxury. Reading could follow the same path. The challenge, then, is not simply to convince a generation to swap smartphones for books. It is to rebuild spaces for attention, silence, and time—allowing children and young people to learn something no technology has rendered obsolete: how to pause before a complex idea and devote enough time to truly understand it.

Young people's reading skills and habits are declining primarily due to the constant distraction of smartphones, social media, and short-form digital content that shorten attention spans and replace deep reading.

Recent reports, assessments, and analyses highlight several core factors contributing to this trend:

Key causes of the decline:

• Digital distractions and Short-Form Media: Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and general smartphone use train young brains to skim information and crave fast-paced entertainment. This makes focusing on long, dense, or complex texts feel difficult and frustrating.

• The rise of generative AI: Tools that instantly supply ready-made answers reduce the need for young people to wrestle with text, analyze information, and build vocabulary or comprehension skills independently.

• Loss of foundational instruction time: Disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic caused lasting gaps in basic reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

• Inadequate teacher training: Many school districts mandate early literacy screenings, but teachers often lack sufficient professional development or confidence to interpret screening data and apply effective instructional methods.

• Simpler books and skimming habits: Even popular modern literature features shorter sentences and simpler structures, reducing the regular mental exercise required to parse sophisticated arguments or literary works

mundophone

HMD

HMD debuts new affordable 5G smartphone with 120 Hz display and 6,000mAh battery

HMD has launched the Vibe2 Pro smartphone in India. The company’s new affordable 5G smartphone features a 64 MP Sony IMX682 primary camera, a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor, and a 120 Hz FHD+ display. Plus, the device comes in silver mist, aqua green, and cosmic purple color options.

Earlier this year, HMD announced the vanilla Vibe2 smartphone. Now, the brand has introduced the Vibe2 Pro smartphone with an interesting set of features in India. Under the hood, the device is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset paired with up to 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage with room for storage expansion via microSD card. 

You get a 64 MP Sony IMX682 main camera complemented by a 2 MP macro camera. There is a 13 MP camera at the front for selfies and video calls. A 6,000 mAh battery powers the entire system and supports 33 W wired charging. It boasts a 6.78-inch LCD display that outputs at FHD+ resolutions with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. 

Software-wise, the Vibe2 Pro runs Android 16 out of the box, and the company promises only two years of security updates for the smartphone. Unfortunately, there’s no word on major Android update support, indicating it may never arrive. Other features include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, a microSD card slot, stereo speakers, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, and 5G connectivity. 

Available in aqua green, cosmic purple, and silver mist color options, the HMD Vibe2 Pro starts at ₹14,999 ($156) for the base 6 GB + 128 GB model, while the 8 GB + 128 GB model is priced at ₹16,999 ($177). It will be available for purchase on Flipkart starting 8th October.

In addition to its high-capacity battery and high-resolution camera setup, the device is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor. It features a 6.78-inch LCD screen with Full HD+ resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate, ensuring much smoother visuals during navigation and gaming.

On the back, the phone sports the aforementioned 64 MP Sony IMX682 main sensor, accompanied by a 2 MP macro lens for close-up shots. For selfies and video calls, the front houses a 13 MP camera.

The device is powered by a 6,000 mAh battery that supports 33 W wired charging. The Vibe 2 Pro ships with the new Android 16 operating system and includes region-exclusive artificial intelligence tools.

Software and connectivity...The smartphone runs on Android 16. HMD promises to release security updates for two years. The system integrates the Indus AI assistant from Sarvam AI, designed to support 22 Indian languages and local cultural context. The service’s servers and data are hosted in India.

The Sanchar Saathi government platform is also supported, allowing users to check mobile numbers registered to them, report fraudulent calls, and block lost or stolen smartphones. Installing the application remains voluntary.

Among other features are a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, two microphones, a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack, 5G, Wi-Fi 5, and Bluetooth 5.2.

The body dimensions are 168,4 × 76,3 × 8,3 mm, and the weight is 197 grams.

The smartphone also features a standard headphone jack, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, a microSD card slot, stereo speakers, and a USB-C port. Connectivity options include 5G support, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, and GPS.

6.78-inch LCD screen with Full HD+ resolution

120 Hz refresh rate display

MediaTek Dimensity 6300 platform

6 GB or 8 GB of RAM

128 GB of storage

13 MP front camera

Dual rear camera setup

64 MP main sensor

2 MP macro sensor

5G, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, USB-C port, and headphone jack

6,000 mAh battery with 33 W charging

Android 16 operating system

 

mundophone

 

TECH

Video games could make us better people

Addiction, violence, aggression, social withdrawal: Video games have been in the crosshairs for a litany of negative impacts. Researchers at Macquarie University, however, are working on the premise that video games can have positive impacts, too—that just as pilots use simulators to learn and hone their flight skills, people could use video games to develop their moral skills.

"Some of the same sorts of moral skills we use in real life can be used in games, and games can interact with those skills and develop them. That's really what we've been looking at in our research," says Dr. Paul Formosa, senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy.

"A lot of the media around video games is pretty negative and a lot of the research, too, has been on the negative effects—meta-analysis shows there is some real-life impact of video games, but it's not huge and it's not shown in every single study—but we're far more interested in the positive effects, which are much less studied."

Formosa is part of a multidisciplinary team that, based on its theoretical findings, is building a video game for experiments examining how different design features can engage various moral skills.

Those features include timers and how they affect decision-making, and whether so-called virtue meters, which award points for good deeds and vice versa, instrumentalize morality so that players seek to maximize the meter rather than engage with the moral issues.

Video Games Could Make Us Better Decision Makers...While many people play video games for fun, new research suggests that they could actually help us to be better at making decisions.

A recent study from Georgia State University compared response times and brain activity in people who played a lot of video games and people who played them only a little during a decision-making task.

The study involved 47 college-age participants, 28 of whom played video games for at least five hours per week over the last two years, and 19 of whom played less than an hour per week. These two groups were referred to as "video game players" and "non-video game players."

The games played by video game players were all types that require quick responses, such as first-person shooters and real-time strategy games.

All participants were given the same task, which involved deciding which way different colored dots were moving on a screen, and pressing left or right buttons on a controller with their thumbs. The participants were asked to respond as quickly and accurately as possible.

It was found that, on average, video game players were faster by 190 milliseconds and 2% more accurate than non-video game players. Brain scanning during the task also showed more activity in three regions of the gamers' brains compared to the non-gamers' brains.

According to the researchers, these results show that video game playing can change the brain, and might improve processes for sensation, perception and directing action, which can help to improve decision making skills.

The researchers also noted that the results showed no "trade-off" between speed and accuracy among participants who played video games, adding that this shows video game playing could be a good method of cognitive training for making decisions.

"Video games are played by the overwhelming majority of our youth more than three hours every week," said lead researcher Dr. Mukesh Dhamala. "But the beneficial effects on decision-making abilities and the brain are not exactly known."

"Our work provides some answers on that," he said.

'It's important not to have a moral panic'...Formosa says the research has employed moral psychology to pinpoint four moral skills (see below) that people need in real life and that games can engage.

Many commercial games already engage these skills. Examples include "Papers, Please," in which the player is an immigration officer checking papers on the border of a totalitarian state; "The Walking Dead," which holds the player accountable for their life-and-death choices and asks them to justify their actions; and "This War of Mine," where you're a civilian stuck in a war zone having to make all sorts of tough choices to survive.

"Fortnite"—the shoot-'em-up game du jour—does not, in case you were wondering, engage moral skills. But Formosa does not have a problem with that, and he emphasizes that researchers are not suggesting violent games should not be played.

"It's important not to have a moral panic about games in general because they are not a homogeneous group," he says.

"People play them for all sorts of reasons. Some games require a lot more focus and engagement than others. A lot of people play short games on their phones for 5 or 10 minutes, "Candy Crush" and so forth, which are not supposed to be deep engagements; they are something to pass the time, and for some people they can relieve stress. So short instances of gaming like that can also have positive effects.

"We're not saying that games like 'Fortnite' shouldn't be played. They have their role, but so do these other sorts of ethical games."

Gamer stereotypes are out the window...Formosa says more than 50% of people play games regularly. Many of them are women, and the average age is increasing, sitting right now in the mid-30s.

"People have this image of the gamer as this teenage boy, but that's very inaccurate," he says.

"When you look on the train, the 50-year-old woman is playing games on the mobile phone just as much as the 13-year-old boy; she may not be pulling out the Xbox when she gets home, but these are still forms of games."

Dr. Malcolm Ryan, senior lecturer for games design and development in Macquarie's Department of Computing, is leading the design of the experimental game, which Formosa describes as Australian noir: "It's set in the 1940s and '50s, in a town cinema where there's going to be a fire and a whole bunch of difficult moral judgments people will have to engage with."

Writing the dialogue is Associate Professor Jane Messer, from the Creative Writing program in the Department of English, while Dr. Stephanie Howarth, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Cognitive Science, has brought expertise in moral psychology to the project.

The moral skills the experimental game will seek to engage include:

Moral sensitivity, which is about being sensitive to the very presence of moral situations, which "we can often overlook or just ignore or not see," Formosa says. "You can see this in games where sometimes people might not even notice the moral issues at stake."

Moral judgment. "Often games will have big moral judgments where you have to choose between A and B, or decide whether you sacrifice some people to save these other people, and that's a really useful way to practice and develop your moral judgment without real-world stakes."

Moral focus, which is about prioritizing moral concerns when they conflict with self-interest.

Moral action. This involves implementing moral judgment, which "might require a fair bit of perseverance or excellent communication skills or a lot of emotional maturity."

"What we're interested in is different ways games can be designed so they can engage with these different moral skills," Formosa says.

"We want to look at why some design choices might be better than others, and ultimately, hopefully, that would get incorporated into commercial games."

Provided by Macquarie University

TECH

AI won't make the call: Why human judgment still drives innovation

Business leaders and entrepreneurs increasingly turn to generative AI software for ideas and advice. Yet, despite widespread access, not all receive the same benefits of this technology—at times because users themselves differ (and those differences can reflect broader societal disparities). New research shows human experience and judgment are still critical to making decisions, because AI can't reliably distinguish good ideas from mediocre ones or guide long-term business strategies on its own. Knowing the limitations of these tools, how to apply human oversight to their output, and how to recognize ways in which they might reinforce rather than break down barriers, is critical to using them effectively.

Since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022, generative AI tools have increasingly been adopted to craft business documents and presentations, write computer code, and generate images. They're also used by business leaders and entrepreneurs to help brainstorm strategies, flesh out ideas, and probe the weak points of a business plan.

Yet, while millions of people now have access to artificial intelligence, not all of them receive the same benefits.

One striking example comes from a study by academics at Harvard Business School and the University of California at Berkeley, which revealed that today's AI can't substitute for human judgment or experience, meaning the technology alone cannot overcome unequal skills, which may be influenced by disparities in education, access to training, and digital literacy.

For artificial intelligence to have more holistic impact, executives and entrepreneurs must acquire not only the skills to use AI effectively, but those that lead to productive decision-making and sound strategy. In short, they must develop solid business judgment.

“For anybody who’s using AI in their work, you need to think carefully about the person who’s using the tool,” said Rembrand M. Koning, an associate professor at Harvard Business School. “Do they have enough judgment for tasks that are required?”

In the study, titled “The Uneven Impact of Generative AI on Entrepreneurial Performance,” Koning and a team of scholars worked with 640 small business entrepreneurs in Kenya to test the effect of an AI assistant optimized to give business advice.

Roughly half the participants received access to the AI and could communicate via the popular messaging program WhatsApp. The other half received access to written business guides developed by the International Labor Organization. The experiment is thought to be the first such test conducted in the developing world.

When the study concluded, the researchers were surprised to see no statistical difference in business performance, as measured by a formula based on revenue and profit, suggesting that investment in support, training, and decision-making frameworks may be as important as access to AI tools themselves.

“If we want to realize the democratizing promise of AI tools, business and policy leaders need to address gaps in access to the underlying skills and knowledge that allow people to use the technology effectively. Otherwise, these tools are likely to perpetuate the very inequalities they purport to overcome,” said Colleen Ammerman, director of the Race, Gender & Equity Initiative at Harvard Business School.

Helping entrepreneurs make decisions...Before the study began, the research team worked with additional Kenyan entrepreneurs to test and tune the virtual assistant, which was based on OpenAI's GPT-4 AI model.

This process led to an assistant that provided users with a numbered list of three to five “tailored, actionable, enumerated strategies” in response to business questions. Users could then respond with the number of a particular suggestion to drill deeper and receive an additional three to five on-topic tips.

As the researchers honed the instructions they gave the AI, Koning, who has also researched how entrepreneurs get advice from each other and from business mentors, said he was impressed by the ability to steer it in a direction intended to be more helpful specifically to entrepreneurs in Kenya.

“I also became more and more convinced about the potential power of this technology to help entrepreneurs everywhere,” he said.

Entrepreneurs given access to the assistant indeed put it to use, with the average user receiving nearly two dozen suggestions, on topics ranging from chicken cultivation to expanding offerings at a car wash to how to deal with bankruptcy. Yet the researchers found the initial results — no major differences between those with the AI and those in the control group — perplexing.

Thinking that the AI advice might have had a stronger effect on businesspeople who previously weren't doing as well, the researchers then examined the effect of AI access on previously high-performing and low-performing entrepreneurs. Again, they were surprised.

“When we looked at the data, we kind of fell out of our seats,” he said.

They found that the assistant appeared to boost the performance of entrepreneurs who were already doing well, raising their profits and revenues by about 10% to 15%, and actually lowered the results of those who were already on the low-performing side, who saw their numbers decrease by about 8%. Even though the AI had been designed with Kenyan entrepreneurs in mind, it didn’t on its own ameliorate—and even worsened—deficiencies that struggling business owners faced.

How to use an AI advisor...It appeared to be the opposite of what several other AI studies have found. Recent research suggests that AI assistance can bring the most benefit to lower-performing workers who carry out jobs such as taxi route optimization, management consulting tasks, and customer support. In those studies, AI appeared to disproportionately help less-skilled or less-experienced workers more than their higher-performing peers. Yet among the Kenyan entrepreneurs, the performance gap actually widened.

“We were shocked, a little puzzled, and then had to dig into our data to try to understand why,” Koning said.

What they found was that the difference wasn't between the types of questions users asked the AI or the responses they received in return, which weren't significantly different between high and low performers. Instead, it appeared that the high-performing users selected different advice from the AI to follow.

In many cases, they followed recommendations specific to their businesses, including one entrepreneur who took advice on buying a generator to deal with rolling blackouts in his area; one who began selling cold sodas to patrons of his car wash; and one who received guidance on what sort of chickens to buy for an agricultural business.

“I don't think a lot of people at Harvard Business School have great advice on what the best chickens are, but the AI knew and was able to give him exactly the advice he needed,” Koning said. “But he needed the judgment to know to listen to that advice.”

By contrast, the low-performing entrepreneurs were more likely to take more generic suggestions, such as lowering prices or focusing on advertising. The trouble is that those more general tips can't address deeper business issues and can actually backfire, because advertising and discounts cost money that may not be recouped without other strategies to grow a business.

Experience and judgment matter...In the future, Koning said it may be possible to steer the AI away from offering generic suggestions by ensuring it has more context about specific businesses, but

for now, human judgment remains critical to interpreting and applying advice, whatever the source.

Research in other domains supports this view. One study from the London School of Economics and Political Science, which randomly assigned some participants in university debates assistance from ChatGPT in developing arguments, found the AI tool seemed to disproportionately benefit stronger debaters, who could better judge which of the AI's suggested angles of argument were more likely to prevail.

Another recent study from scholars at the University of Minnesota and the University of Texas at Dallas, tasked participants with a variety of expertise in writing ad copy to do the job with assistance from generative AI, either using the technology as a ghostwriter that actually generated ad content or simply as a sounding board. The researchers found using AI as a sounding board was beneficial to the non-expert writers, but using the technology as a ghostwriter delivered no benefit and actually reduced the performance of expert users.

In other words, human expertise and creativity still matter, as do fundamental skills like communication and critical thinking. The research by Koning and his colleagues suggests that today's AI can't substitute for human experience, and that access to AI isn't a replacement for general education or business-specific training.

AI adoption requires expansive education...These findings suggest that AI isn’t necessarily an antidote to inequality. While there are many reasons users might differ in skill and knowledge, access to quality education is well known to differ by socioeconomic strata. Research on organizations has found that race and gender can influence who receives developmental learning opportunities. When it comes to entrepreneurship, the human networks through which information and expert knowledge flow have been shown to have limited racial and gender diversity. These underlying access gaps may influence the extent to which users are equipped to leverage even the best AI tools.

Embedded inequality can surface earlier in the process of AI adoption, too. Prior research by Koning and colleagues found that women were less likely to use generative AI tools. In that report, Koning and his colleagues examined 18 studies involving more than 140,000 students and workers who use AI in the United States, China, Mexico and other countries. Only one of those studies showed women using AI more than men. The rest showed the share of women using AI was 10% to 40% smaller, with the average being 25%.

Koning notes that, for women, the downside risks of using AI tools could be greater than for male peers. Studies of gender in the workplace have consistently found that women face more skepticism about their competence than men, awareness of which could fuel reluctance to take advantage of tools that replace human effort. Particularly in organizations where women feel an imperative to repeatedly prove their expertise or standing, they may worry that taking advantage of AI-generated information opens them up to additional scrutiny.

Unfortunately, the gender gap in AI use could perpetuate gender inequities over time, as well as diminish overall company productivity, Koning said. Women who don’t use AI may not advance as quickly, and AI tools may wind up lacking critical input from women, potentially leading to bias in the information offered by the technology.

For generative AI to reach its full potential in business, and to address inequality, requires investing in access to the technology, training in AI skills, and the general and business-specific education that has long helped entrepreneurs of all kinds innovate and prosper.

In some cases, Koning suggested, this may mean the case study framework that’s long been a hallmark of business schools. AI users may also benefit from training and instruction that’s specific to the new technology, including the understanding that it is okay—ideal even—to meet its suggestions with skepticism rooted in the user’s human expertise and experience. One recent study from scholars at Dickinson College and Stevens Institute of Technology found that humans collaborating with AI performed better when they were prompted to critically analyze the output of the AI rather than just treating it as fact.

“We really need to think about the ways we can help people gain those skills, gain that judgment,” Koning said. “I think it's just a really pressing and important problem.”

Author: Steven Melendez--Harvard Business School