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Stone tools may hint at ancestors of Homo floresiensis

Some stone tools found near a river on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi suggest that the first hominins had reached the islands by at least 1.04 million years ago. That's around the same time that the ancestors of the infamously diminutive “Hobbits” may have reached the island of Flores. Archaeologist Budianto Hakim of Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency and his colleagues were the ones who recently unearthed the tools from a site on Sulawesi. Although a handful of stone flakes

Researchers used Gemini to break into Google Home - here's how

Maria Diaz/ZDNET ZDNET's key takeaways Researchers demonstrated a way to hack Google Home devices via Gemini. Google put additional safeguards in place for Gemini in response. Keeping your devices up-to-date on security patches is the best protection. The idea that artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to maliciously control your home and life is one of the main reasons why many are reluctant to adopt the new technology -- it's downright scary. Almost as scary as having your smart devi

Gemini CLI GitHub Actions

In June, we launched Gemini CLI, an open-source AI agent that brings the power of Gemini to your terminal. The enthusiastic adoption from developers has been incredible. To keep up with the flood of feature requests and contributions, we put our own tool to the test — using Gemini CLI to automate issue triage and pull request reviews. When community members noticed our new workflows, they asked us to share what we’ve built. Today, we’re introducing Gemini CLI GitHub Actions. It’s a no-cost, pow

This $180 mini projector has no business being this good for the price

Dangbei N2 Mini Projector ZDNET's key takeaways The Dangbei N2 Mini projector is on sale on Amazon for $189. The N2 Mini is one of the easiest projectors to setup I've used, and delivers crisp 1080p video without much fuss. Unfortunately, it's limited to 1080p and does not do 4K, and you'll want to connect a Bluetooth speaker. $229 at Amazon I've used plenty of projectors over the years. Back in the day, they were a pain to set up and use, with complex, fragile internal components and finnick

The TSA-approved multitool myth: I tested it on a plane so you don't have to

NexTool Mini Multitool ZDNET's key takeaways The NexTool multitool is blade-free, making it TSA and airport security friendly. The tool is compact and can be attached to a keychain All the tools are decent quality, and can actually do the job they claim to be able to do. $21.98 at Amazon I like my EDC (everyday carry) gadgets, but when I travel by air, I almost always end up having to empty my pockets of a lot of useful stuff. I find it handy and convenient to have a screwdriver, scissors, an

Deals: M3 iPad Air all-time low $150 off, iPad mini 7, AirPods, Apple Watch Series 10, and more

Today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break is a big one with a massive collection of current-generation Apple gear now on sale. Starting with new all-time lows across the M3 iPad Air lineup at $150 off through to $100 price drops on iPad mini 7 and M4 iPad Pro offers. We are also still tracking some deep deals across the M4 MacBook Air/Pro lineups, AirPods offers, and a whole lot more. Check it all out down below. Massive Apple deal week event now live: M3 iPad Air all-time low, AirPods, M4 MacBooks $300 off

The Framework Desktop made me fall for small form factor PCs

Framework has built a name for itself by taking the locked down world of laptops and making them modular, upgradable, and repairable. So it’s surprising — and maybe even controversial — the way that Framework has approached its first desktop: it’s made a PC that’s actually less modular than most. Don’t worry; this isn’t a Mac Mini situation, where mere mortals are not meant to touch the innards of such a brilliant little computer. But it’s not a traditional small form factor PC, either. The Fr

How to Watch Bayern Munich vs. Tottenham From Anywhere: Stream Preseason Friendly Soccer

Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich hosts Premier League club Tottenham on Thursday as both teams continue their preparations for the season ahead. Below, we'll outline the best live TV streaming services to watch this friendly match as it happens, wherever you are in the world. We'll also explain how to use a VPN if the match isn't available where you are. Following its appearance at the recent FIFA Club World Cup, today's match is only Bayern's second preseason game of the summer. Vincent Komp

iPhone Gaming Is Convoluted. Here's What the iPhone 17 Needs to Sway Me as a Gamer

I've been trying to use my iPhone as a gaming handheld for years but I often hit the same roadblocks when trying to have it replace my Nintendo Switch when I travel. And it's not for lack of Apple and other companies trying, as there's tons of gaming content available for the iPhone between titles that run directly from the device to more-intensive games that I can stream over a strong internet connection. Gaming on the iPhone is more convoluted than it should be and it's frankly easier to do o

Google's Jules AI coding tool exits beta with serious upgrades - and more free tasks

Natalya_Yudina/Getty Images ZDNET's key takeaways Google's Jules coding agent is out of beta, with clear pricing tiers. Even the free tier has newer, more generous usage limits. Updates include improved AI and better setup management. Google's coding AI Jules is out of beta. Announced in a blog post on Wednesday, the coding helper will be powered by Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro LLM. You might recall that Google also recently announced its Gemini CLI GitHub Actions coding tool. What do all these

Massive IPTV piracy service with 28,000 channels taken offline

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced the shutdown of Rare Breed TV, a major illegal IPTV service provider, after reaching a financial settlement with its operators. North Carolina-based Rare Breed TV was one of the world's largest digital piracy operations, claiming to offer subscribers access to over 28,000 channels and more than 100,000 movies and series. "As part of the agreement, the operators will permanently shut down their illegal service and pay a significant f

New AI Coding Teammate: Gemini CLI GitHub Actions

In June, we launched Gemini CLI, an open-source AI agent that brings the power of Gemini to your terminal. The enthusiastic adoption from developers has been incredible. To keep up with the flood of feature requests and contributions, we put our own tool to the test — using Gemini CLI to automate issue triage and pull request reviews. When community members noticed our new workflows, they asked us to share what we’ve built. Today, we’re introducing Gemini CLI GitHub Actions. It’s a no-cost, pow

Want a Little More Sleep? Try This iOS 26 Alarm Trick

Apple released the first public beta of iOS 26 on July 24, which brought a new Liquid Glass design, call screening, and other features to developers' and beta testers' iPhones. It also updated the alarm feature in the clock app so you can change your snooze length, affording you a few more z's before you get up and tackle the day. Prior to this change, if you hit your iPhone alarm's snooze feature, you would always get an extra 9 minutes of shut-eye. With the iOS 26 beta, you can customize your

This mini projector beats more expensive models (and took 5 minutes to set up)

Dangbei N2 Mini Projector ZDNET's key takeaways The Dangbei N2 Mini projector is on sale on Amazon for $189. The N2 Mini is one of the easiest projectors to setup I've used, and delivers crisp 1080p video without much fuss. Unfortunately, it's limited to 1080p and does not do 4K, and you'll want to connect a Bluetooth speaker. $229 at Amazon I've used plenty of projectors over the years. Back in the day, they were a pain to set up and use, with complex, fragile internal components and finnick

Today's NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, Aug. 7

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today's Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles. I was cruising through the Across clues on today's Mini Crossword until I got to 5-Across, which threw me for a loop. But once the Down answers began filling in, I figured it out. Need some help with today's Mini Crossword answers? Read on. And if you could use some hint

Researchers Seize Control of Smart Homes With Malicious Gemini AI Prompts

Recent reports and demonstrations from the Black Hat computer-security conference have shown how outside Gemini AI prompts, dubbed promptware, could fool the AI and force it to control Google Home-connected smart devices. That's an issue for Google, which has been working to add Gemini features to its Google Home app and replace Google Assistant with the new AI helper. The secret to these serious vulnerabilities is how Gemini is designed to respond to basic commands in English. Demonstrations s

Topics: ai gemini google home new

Researchers design “promptware” attack with Google Calendar to turn Gemini evil

Generative AI systems have proliferated across the technology industry over the last several years to such a degree that it can be hard to avoid using them. Google and other big names in AI spend a lot of time talking about AI safety, but the ever-evolving capabilities of AI have also led to a changing landscape of malware threats—or as researchers from Tel Aviv University would say, "promptware." Using simple calendar appointments, this team managed to trick Gemini into manipulating Google smar

Android 16 lets the Linux Terminal use your phone’s entire storage

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR The Terminal app on Pixel phones enables users to run Linux apps via a Debian virtual machine. The Android 16 Beta 4, and subsequently the stable Android 16 release, removed the previous 16GB storage cap for the Linux VM. In Android 16 QPR1, manual storage resizing has been replaced with dynamic storage ballooning, allowing the VM to adjust its storage needs automatically. Update 1, August 6, 2025 (02:24 PM ET): With the release of Android 16 QPR1 Bet

Gemini's new Guided Learning mode can quiz students and create interactive study aids

Google is updating Gemini to make it a better education tool with a new feature called Guided Learning. Like similar learning-focused updates to ChatGPT and Claude, Guided Learning tries to promote understanding by breaking down problems into step-by-step instructions, follow-up questions and interactive examples, rather than simply providing an answer. Guided Learning will be available as toggle in the prompt box of Gemini as the feature rolls out. When it's toggled on, Gemini will treat quest

You can now try Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot AI assistant on PC

Microsoft revealed that it was working on an AI chatbot specifically for gamers back in March, and now it's here for a test drive. The beta version of Gaming Copilot is available to Xbox Insiders on PC via the Game Bar functionality. It's also available to try on Windows-based handheld gaming devices, but the company says the functionality there is currently limited. A variant of this tool recently launched as a beta for mobile . This is kind of like an AI version of those old Nintendo phone he

College students can get Google's AI Pro plan for free now. Here's how

Google / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET ZDNET's key takeaways Students ages 18+ get the Google AI Pro plan for free for 12 months. Plan includes access to Deep Research, Veo 3, Jules, and more. Part of a larger $1 billion investment in AI education and job training. As AI tools continue to develop, they expand beyond the standard question-and-answer loop and offer more meaningful assistance for students. Google, for instance, has tools that can create podcasts for users from their notes, debu

Companies Find Potential Way to Avoid Trump Tariffs and Keep Prices Low

Donald Trump’s tariff regime has been scoffed at by business leaders and world economists (Larry Summers, for instance, called it both “crazy” and “dumb”), but the White House hasn’t backed down from its highly unconventional program. The tariffs, which are taxing American businesses on their imports, are reportedly generating billions of dollars in revenue for the federal government on a month-to-month basis. Many businesses aren’t happy about it, however, and now several lawsuits are threateni

The 12 Most Effective Cardio Workouts

Cardio is more than just running laps or hopping on a bike. It's any movement that gets your heart pumping, your body sweating and your energy levels soaring. Whether you're chasing a weight loss goal or looking to boost endurance, there's a cardio workout that fits your mood and motivation. Not into high-impact moves? Go for swimming or a rowing session that's easier on the joints. Want something that pushes your limits? Sprinting or HIIT might be your jam. Cardio is flexible and lets you mix i

Google takes on ChatGPT’s Study Mode with new ‘Guided Learning’ tool in Gemini

As the new school year approaches, Google announced on Wednesday that it’s launching a new tool called Guided Learning within Gemini. The tool sort of functions like an AI tutor, as it’s designed to help users build a deep understanding instead of just getting answers. The launch follows just over a week after OpenAI rolled out Study Mode for ChatGPT, which is also designed to go beyond simply obtaining answers to questions by actually helping users develop critical thinking skills. Both compa

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT Enterprise to the executive branch workforce for $1

OpenAI has announced that it will be partnering with the US General Services Administration (GSA) to offer ChatGPT Enterprise practically free of charge to the entire executive-branch federal workforce for one year. The dozens of agencies under this umbrella encompass over two million civilian workers. Each agency will be able to access ChatGPT Enterprise for $1 for the year-long period. The year-long trial will also include an additional 60 days of ChatGPT's most advanced models like Deep Resea

The Hulu App May Not Be Long for This World

Hulu shows and movies have been available to stream on Disney+ for a while now, but Disney announced today that it finally plans to fully merge the two into a single app. Disney CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston dropped the news in the company’s third-quarter earnings report this morning. In a statement, the two said that work is already underway to introduce new improvements in the Disney+ app in the coming months, including a more personalized homepage. They added that all this work will cu

Microsoft is bringing its Xbox Copilot to the Windows Game Bar

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Microsoft started testing its Xbox Copilot on iOS and Android earlier this year, and now it’s bringing the chatbot to the Game Bar feature on Windows 11. Xbox Insiders can start testing a preview of the Gaming Copilot integration in the Game Bar today, and Microsoft is planning “further opt

Pixel 10 phones may coach you on how to take better photos

Google TL;DR Google could introduce a Gemini-powered feature called “Camera Coach” with the Pixel 10 series. Camera Coach would give you tips in real-time on how to take the best picture. It will reportedly work by analyzing the scene to provide suggestions. Capturing the best photo can be more difficult than it seems. It requires finding the right angle, the right lighting, making sure the subject is in the right spot, and the list goes on. To help improve your picture-taking skills, it app

ESPN’s new streaming service arrives August 21

ESPN’s long-awaited new standalone streaming service will launch on August 21, alongside an overhauled ESPN app that gives users a "more personalized, dynamic viewing experience." Simply (and potentially confusingly) called ESPN, the new platform arrives just ahead of the new NFL season and the US Open tennis competition, as well as a number of other returning sports that ESPN broadcasts. ESPN’s streaming service will be offered with a choice of two plans. The $30 per month ($300 annually) "unl

5 Linux distros I recommend to help businesses cut costs and boost security

PM Images/Getty Images Businesses around the world may not realize this, but they absolutely depend on Linux and open-source. Without those two pieces of technology, we wouldn't have nearly the services and sites we now enjoy. But Linux isn't just a good option for servers and technology stacks. Linux is also viable as a desktop operating system. Why? It's not only one of the most reliable platforms available, it's also very secure… and cost-effective. Also: 5 command line backup tools every