Author: News Room

Google Home chief Anish Kattukaran announced several updates to the smart home platform that fix a long list of annoyances and idiosyncrasies. There’s also one noteworthy new addition: the introduction of “Live Search” for your cameras.So, instead of Gemini only knowing about things that have already happened, it now understands what it sees in your live camera feeds. That means you can ask things like, “Hey Google, is there a car in the driveway?” Live Search requires a subscription to the Advanced plan of Google Home Premium which costs $20/month or $200/year.Gemini for Home is now also using updated models.…

Sharing content to Mastodon is getting easier with the addition of a universal “Share to Mastodon” button for the decentralized social media platform. Announced on Monday, the widget allows users to share content on any Mastodon server by connecting your Mastodon account and redirecting you to the server that account is on. The blog post announcing the feature also explains that the tool “works entirely in your browser: there is no tracking data, and it does not store any information on the server.”Previously, a “share” widget wasn’t available on Mastodon mainly due to the technical challenges that come with the…

Just days after showing off the Galaxy S26, Samsung is finally rolling out the ability for users to unlock their home with a tap of their phone or by simply approaching their door. The new feature, called Digital Home Key, will live inside Samsung Wallet and is powered by the Aliro smart home standard.Samsung first teased its Digital Home Key feature in 2024 and said the feature would be available in 2025. That didn’t pan out, as the CSA’s Aliro standard — which will let users unlock smart locks with any phone — only arrived in February of this year.…

Anthropic is making it easier to switch to its Claude AI from other chatbots with an update that brings Claude’s memory feature to users on the free plan, along with a new prompt and dedicated tool for importing data from other chatbots. These upgrades could allow users who have been using rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini to quickly copy the data their preferred AI has collected on them and bring it over to Anthropic’s chatbot. That way, they don’t have to “start over” teaching Claude the context and history their previous chatbot already knows.The option to import and…

Apple has asked Google to look into “setting up servers” for a new version of Siri that’s Gemini-powered and meets Apple’s privacy requirements, The Information reports. Apple had already announced in January that Google’s Gemini AI models would help power the upgraded version of Siri it delayed last year, but The Information’s report indicates Apple might lean even more on Google so it can catch up in AI.The original partnership announcement said that “the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology,” and that the models would “help power future Apple Intelligence…

It’s a good day for Apple fans on a budget. Not only did the company introduce a new budget phone, its entry-level AirPods 4 are also on sale. Right now, you can snag a pair of Apple’s AirPods 4 starting at just $89 ($30 off) at Walmart. The model with active noise-cancellation are also down to their second best price to date, going for $119 ($60 off) at Amazon and Walmart.The AirPods 4 are the best and most comfortable entry-level earbuds from Apple yet. They deliver fuller bass along with clearer, more detailed sound than previous models, and even now…

Unlike its predecessor, the iPhone 17E supports MagSafe. | Image: Apple The iPhone 17 lineup now has a “budget” option. Announced this week, the iPhone 17E will hit stores on Wednesday, March 11th, starting at $599, with preorders opening on March 4th. The 6.1-inch phone joins the rest of Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup, which includes the iPhone 17 ($799), the more powerful iPhone 17 Pro ($1,099), and the iPhone 17 Pro Max ($1,199), as well as the ultra-thin iPhone Air ($999). Unlike last year’s iPhone 16E, the 17E features MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging, along with the faster A19 chip…

Alongside the next round of preorders Analogue also announced a new product that can be used to care for aging game carts the company’s products all use. The Analogue Cartridge Cleaners come in a 12-pack for $14.99 and are designed to “remove oxidation using a proprietarily designed dry, precision-fit cleaning pad without fluids or chemicals.” They’re one-time use only, but are potentially a more effective alternative to blowing into the bottom of your old NES carts. Read the full article here

In late February, Puck reported on a strange case: An influencer with more than a million followers was inadvertently promoting products on Instagram. On some of Julia Berolzheimer’s posts, a “Shop the look” button hovered in the corner. When followers clicked it, they were fed similar items to what Berolzheimer was wearing.Her job is to promote clothing, accessories, and other products to her followers, so having links to specific items isn’t strange. What was odd was that she hadn’t placed the links there herself — Instagram added them without her consent. The product links led followers not to the actual…

Nvidia announced on Monday that it’s investing $2 billion each into Lumentum and Coherent, which are both developing photonics technology for data centers, like optical transceivers, circuit switches, and lasers, which are used to move data at high speeds over long distances. Their tech could improve energy efficiency, data transfer speeds, and bandwidth in future AI data centers, after Nvidia already capitalized on its 2020 acquisition of the network hardware company Mellanox to beef up NVLink and increase the amount of data moving between its GPUs.For Lumentum, the nonexclusive multiyear deal includes a “multibillion purchase commitment and future capacity access…

Apple’s Magic Keyboard cases offer a fantastic typing experience, elevating the iPad to laptop status with a large trackpad that offers haptic feedback, and an articulating hinge to help you angle the display just right for your comfort. It’s typically a very pricey accessory, but Woot has new / open-box models selling at great discounts for the 11-inch and 13-inch sizing options. The 11-inch Magic Keyboard Case starts at $209.99 for the white version (originally $289.99) while the black keyboard case is $239.99. The retailer only has the white version for the 13-inch Pro, and it costs $249.99 (originally $339).The…

As a kid, I went door to door collecting cans to earn some pocket change. Today, I still take pride in recycling. I slice cardboard boxes down to size each Sunday, and make sure every viable plastic container winds up in my family’s recycling bins. Sometimes I even pull cellophane windows out of paper envelopes, just in case it’ll save a tree someday.In other words: I’m nearly the perfect customer for Clear Drop’s Soft Plastic Compactor, a gadget that turns all your unrecyclable plastic shopping bags, mailers, food packaging, and bubble wrap into a 3-pound brick that doesn’t need to…