Cloud services like Google Drive and iCloud are fantastic – they let me access my most important files from any device, anywhere – but the free storage is never enough. 

Google offers 15GB while Apple offers an even more paltry 5GB of storage – but even the biggest ‘free’ tier isn’t enough for the vast majority of users with thousands of photos and videos, countless files and more to keep safe. 

So what do you do? You start paying, of course. It starts off cheap with the lowest tier paid option – £1.59/$1.99 for 100GB, in the case of Google’s cloud storage – and that’s enough to tide you over. For a while, anyway. 

As sure as day follows night, over time, you’ll begin to fill all that storage space back up – even if you delete files you no longer need. Slowly, all those holiday snaps, videos of nights out, and even work documents, all add up.

And with both Google and Apple, it also includes storage linked to associated services like Gmail or iCloud, so any large files you receive in your inbox further add to your quota.

Again, you have no choice but to upgrade to the next tier of storage, which for Google, is 200GB for £2.49/$2.99 per month. That’s not bad, but go above that limit and you’ll face a massive jump not only in storage but also in monthly cost, at a whopping £7.99/$9.99 per month for 2TB. 

Like our growing storage needs, it adds up over time. That’s just under £96/$120 per year if you pay for the 2TB option monthly, just to store your files.

And so on, and so on. It’s a never-ending loop of filling up storage and paying for more. It’s either that or say goodbye to years of precious memories. 

Pay up, or lose access

The worst part about Google and Apple’s monopoly on the cloud storage market is that they don’t just handle storage – they’re central to the digital experience for many of us. Google, for example, handles not just Drive but Gmail, Docs, Sheets and more, while Apple similarly handles iCloud email, iMessage and the like.

That may not sound like a big problem – one subscription covers multiple apps, after all – but it is once you start running out of storage. 

Advertisement

Advertisement

No matter whether you’re in camp Apple or Google, if you run out of storage or miss a monthly payment, you don’t just lose the ability to upload new files to your cloud storage – it also locks you out of other services. 

That means no access to Gmail or iMessage if you don’t pay up, and those are pretty central to the online experience for many. 

That’s too much power for my liking – but what was I supposed to do? I have over 30,000 photos and 5,000 videos tied to my Google Drive account, as well as thousands of emails linked to my Gmail over the years. The answer was simple in the end; get a NAS drive.   

UGreen’s latest NAS is the perfect remedy

NAS drives were all the rage in computing before the days of cloud storage, offering oodles of local storage accessible via your home network. But despite a lull in interest over the past few years, the hardware is more capable than ever. 

Advertisement

That’s certainly the case with the UGreen NASync DH4300 Plus, which was released at the tail-end of 2025. 

Advertisement

The bigger brother to the DH2300, the DH4300 Plus is a four-bay SATA NAS drive that supports up to 120TB of storage – 30TB per drive – for frankly massive amounts of storage. It’s powered by an 8-core processor and sports 8GB of RAM to keep things running smoothly, and its 2.5GbE LAN port boasts transfer speeds of up to 312.5MB/s depending on your home setup. Safe to say, it’s a bit of a beast. 

But despite its intimidating spec sheet, it was an absolute breeze to set up; all I had to do was insert the HDDs, plug it into my router via the provided high-speed Ethernet cable and power it on. From there, everything else was handled via the UGreen NAS companion app, and setup took no more than a couple of minutes – a far cry from the early days of NAS drive networking setup. 

That’s when I could start, what I affectionately called Operation Get Away From Google Drive As Soon As Possible, or OGAFGDASAP. Catchy, I know.

Advertisement

Getting out from Google’s clutches

This part was surprisingly easy; thanks to EU rules (gotta love the Europeans), cloud storage providers like Google and Apple have to make it easy to either download all your data or transfer it to another (ideally cheaper) service. 

Advertisement

For me, that meant going to Google Takeout, selecting the data I wanted to download – my Google Photos library and my Drive contents – and requesting a download link. Once I had the link, I downloaded the (frankly massive) nearly 300GB of data on my PC, and extracted the ZIP files to my NAS drive via my home network. 

But why stop at Google? I also pay for iCloud storage for when I’m testing the best iPhones, and that isn’t all that often, so I repeated the process, this time with iCloud. 

Now, that did introduce a few issues – the biggest being duplicate photos where the images were backed up on both Apple and Google cloud servers – but UGreen likely anticipated this issue. There’s baked-in AI accessible via the companion app on both PC and mobile that lets you easily identify and delete duplicate photos. It cleared nearly 10,000 duplicate images for me in the space of a few minutes. 

Advertisement

Now, all I have to do is open the UGreen companion app on my phone, and all my photos and videos are there waiting for me, complete with features like custom folders and facial recognition we’ve come to expect from the big platforms. 

And despite being linked to my home network, I can access my files from anywhere with an internet connection via UGreen’s cloud service network. It doesn’t actually store your files in the cloud; rather, it just provides cloud-based access to the drive, which means you don’t need to faff around with port forwarding as you do with more basic drives. 

Advertisement

Not just for network storage either

Now the beauty of the UGreen NASync DH4300 Plus is that it’s not just for network storage. With a fairly powerful spec under the hood, the NAS drive can also run full apps that can massively expand what it can do.

It meant that, rather than splashing out £112 for a Home Assistant Green to get more advanced control over my smart home tech, I could install and run it directly from my NAS drive – with great results, might I add.

It’s not the only app either; there’s actually an app store accessible via the app that gives you access to a range of apps including a Google Docs, Sheets and Slides alternative called Online Office that you can access via browser from any PC, further reducing my reliance on Google’s cloud-based services. 

Advertisement

There’s also Docker support, so depending on your level of tech knowledge, you can run other custom apps directly from the NAS.

Advertisement

Yes, it’s an expensive upfront cost, but it’ll save you a lot in the long run, and with the UGreen DH4300 Plus specifically, there’s much more to it than simply acting as a way to back up your photos and videos. Goodbye, Google Drive. I definitely won’t miss you.

The Dome is big. It’s not portable, practical, or inexpensive. It accepts the romance of wood, or the brute power of propane or natural gas. Its height makes it versatile enough for steaks, fish, or other skillet meals. This pizza oven is designed to be a fixture in your life and backyard, bolstered by an ever-expanding accessory set. And it also more than earns its place there, once you buy a snap-on Neapolitan arch accessory ($60) to bolster its insulation.

The Gozney makes truly excellent high-temperature pizza. Most backyard ovens, even our other favorites on this list, tend to struggle to reach and maintain the 900-degree temps needed for proper Neapolitan crust. The Dome Gen 2 gets there in 20 minutes, it heats admirably evenly, and it’s responsible for the best pizzas that my colleague Kat Merck says she’s made in her entire life. This is worth noting, given that she was editor and recipe tester for pizzaiolo Ken Forkish’s iconic pizza book The Elements of Pizza. (For what it’s worth, Forkish also uses a Dome Gen 2 at home, while enjoying his retirement. He likes using dough at 67 percent hydration, while cooking at 900 degrees in the Dome.)

A couple caveats, however: Gozney often markets the Dome as being able to cook two pizzas at the same time. This is a silly thing to do at the temperatures you’re cooking at. Cook one pizza. If you use the Neapolitan Arch, it’ll make the oven’s aperture narrow enough that you’ll need to limit yourself to a 12-inch peel anyway. The price of a Gozney Dome also rises considerably once you start delving into the accessories. With the stand, cover, Neapolitan arch, wood fire control kit, turning peel, and 15 pounds of Gozney-brand kiln-dried hardwood, the final price for the Dome Gen 2 can rack up as high as $3,270.

Best Big Pizza Oven for Families: Ooni Koda Max

Ooni’s large oven is for everyone who is sick of feeding their families with multiple teeny-tiny 12-inch pies and just wants to make a massive 20-inch cheese pizza for all the kids at once. You can either attach a propane tank or hook it to your natural gas line. If this is a possibility for you, then I recommend the latter. Ooni has a new gas management technology that keeps the temperature consistent across the huge surface. But big, powerful ovens use a lot of fuel: Its 35,000 BTUs put this Koda Max nearly on par with a 3-burner Traeger griddle. That heat will also come pouring out the open front of the oven, which means the Max is not ideal for small patios.

Photo credit: RW Genting
The First World Hotel, located in the Genting Highlands, some 50 kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur, stands out against the backdrop of the greenery. Its two main buildings and annex include a remarkable 7,351 rooms, which kept the Guinness World Record for world’s largest hotel under lock and key since 2015. People come via cable car or by making their way up the mountain roads, and then find themselves in a realm of continual motion, as you can’t help but keep going forward to the next surprise.

Construction began in the early 2000s, and the first major section opened in 2006, with over 6,000 rooms. Then, for a brief period in 2008, a Las Vegas property knocked it off the top rank, but the Malaysian crew returned in 2015 and added 1,233 additional rooms to restore the record permanently. Today, the hotel sprawls across three connected buildings, with dramatic horizontal streaks of color that stand out against the verdant hills. The design is deceptively basic but effective, transforming the entire structure into a landmark visible from miles away.

Sale

LEGO Icons Boutique Hotel Model Kits – Bedroom or Office Decor for Men & Women, Ages 18+ – Building…

• LEGO Boutique Hotel set for adults is a tribute to turn-of-the-century European architecture, celebrating 15 years of LEGO Modular Buildings
• Authentic architectural details with 5 sections including guest rooms, penthouse, terrace and staircase, plus an art gallery and coffee cart
• This LEGO hotel set includes 7 minifigures: porter, receptionist, coffee vendor and gallery owner alongside a selection of guests and staff

Room sizes vary to accommodate every type of visitor, with standard and deluxe options measuring 180 square feet. While compact, they are spotless and have everything you need for a short stay. Triple rooms include three beds, making family visits or group excursions possible without wasting space. The superior deluxes and World Club rooms offer a decent 320 or 430 square feet, ideal for couples or business travelers who desire a separate living area and a little extra comfort. Every one of them looks out onto vistas of the forest or the resort below, and the mountain air keeps the temperature a little cooler than in the city.

The truth is that tourists rarely stay in their rooms for extended periods of time. A skybridge and walkways go directly into First World Plaza, which is essentially a mini-city for shopping and entertainment. Inside, the Skytropolis Funland has indoor rides, bumper cars, and arcade games that will keep the kids entertained for hours. Snow World then provides a wonderful contrast with its artificial snow and ice slides, which are ideal for escaping the hot heat outside. The plaza also has a bowling alley, a video game park, and a variety of dining options, from casual food courts to quick ice cream kiosks.

Next door to all of this, the resort continues to expand. Families who still have energy to burn can visit Genting SkyWorlds, a large outdoor theme park with roller coasters, cinema and adventure zones. A quick cable car trip brings everything together, allowing you to enjoy the huge thrill attractions in the morning, shop in the afternoon, and return to your room without ever leaving the site. The only legal casino in the country is also right on your doorstep, and it always draws large groups that fill the hotel nightly.
[Source]

The report shows that many organisations are facing significant challenges as they work to implement generative and agentic AI.

Writer, a provider of AI agents for enterprise, has partnered with research firm Workplace Intelligence to release the second annual AI survey, AI Adoption in the Enterprise. 

To gather the data Writer and Workplace Intelligence collected information from 2,400 employees and C-suite leaders from the US, UK, Ireland, Benelux, France and Germany. What was discovered is that organisations are still facing significant obstacles when it comes to implementing agentic and GenAI. 

The report found that almost 80pc of contributing executives are struggling with problems related to lagging, ROI, strategy gaps and internal power struggles, with 38pc of CEOs reporting a high or crippling amount of stress around their AI strategy. In fact 64pc of CEOs worry that they could lose their jobs if they fail to navigate their organisation through the AI transition. 

As a result 92pc of c-suite participants said that they are actively cultivating  a “new class of AI elite employees” as a means of getting ahead in the AI race. Nearly 90pc of contributing leaders are of the opinion that “AI super-users” are at least five times more productive than employees who have yet to embrace AI. 

“The stakes are high for those who lag behind”, claims the report, which said “77pc of executives warn that employees who refuse to become AI-proficient won’t be considered for promotions or leadership roles and 60pc plan to lay off employees who can’t or won’t use AI.”

“This is a defining moment in AI adoption and the gap between super-users and laggards is widening fast,” said Dan Schawbel, a managing partner at Workplace Intelligence. 

“We’re already seeing this play out, the super-users we surveyed were around 3 times more likely to have received both a promotion and pay raise in the past year, compared to employees who have been slow to adopt these tools. Top AI users are also saving nearly nine hours per week using AI, 4.5 times more than the two hours a week reported by AI laggards.”

For May Habib, the CEO and co-founder of Writer, “layoffs are not a viable AI strategy”.

Habib said: “The leaders who are putting in the work to radically redesign operations with human-agent collaboration at the centre are the ones compounding their advantage in ways competitors can’t replicate.

“AI transformation is ultimately about people and the future belongs to the companies putting agent-building power directly into the hands of people closest to the work.”

C-suite challenges

A gap in strategy was among the challenges being navigated in the workplace, by c-suite personnel. 39pc admitted that they don’t have a formal strategy in place to drive revenue from AI tools and even in scenarios where strategies do exist, it was found that quality is lacking. Three-quarters of participants noted that their company’s AI strategy is more for show than for actual internal guidance.

Security and governance was also found to be of concern to executives. 67pc of executives said that they believe their company has suffered a data leak or security breach because an employee used an unapproved AI tool. More than one-third concede they aren’t very confident they could “pull the plug” on a rogue AI agent if it started causing financial or reputational damage to their company.

There may also be an element of employee sabotage as the data suggested that rather than embracing AI, 29pc of employees, including 44pc of GenZ participants admitted to entering company information into public tools, using unapproved tools or refusing to use AI altogether. Moreover, three-quarters said that employee sabotage poses a serious threat to their company’s future.

For others, lagging ROI and confusion around the benefits of the tech are impacting adoption. Nearly all of the contributing executives (97pc) have said that AI has been beneficial, with three-quarters of the opinion that AI agents will be a part of their organisation’s c-suite within the next five years. However, nearly half said that AI adoption at their organisation has been a “massive disappointment”. 

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.