Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: ia Clear Filter

Best early Prime Day phone deals: These 14 sales are worth the upgrade

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Edible Microlasers Could Revolutionize Food Tracking and Safety

In a delicious turn of events, scientists succeeded in taking the optics of olive oil to create the first-ever microlaser made entirely from edible materials. If commercialized, they could offer an easy and safe way to monitor food or medications from inside your body. The technology, introduced earlier this month in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, exploits an interesting tendency for droplets of common cooking oils, which emit a photon of light when subjected to a certain amount of ene

Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

Photograph released by the Colombian Navy press office showing an unmanned semi-submersible, known as a Low Profile Vessel, between two Colombian Navy vessels, July 2, 2025. The Colombian navy on Wednesday announced its first seizure of an unmanned narco-submarine equipped with a Starlink antenna off its Caribbean coast. The vessel was not carrying drugs, but the Colombian navy and Western security sources based in the region told AFP they believed it was a trial run of an unmanned vessel by a

Is It Cake? How Our Brain Deciphers Materials

One of the greatest questions of the modern age is: Is it cake? As in: Is it an espresso machine, or cake? Paint can, or cake? Air fryer, or …? Millions of viewers have watched rapt as TikTok bakers slice or bite into inedible-looking objects with fluffy, frosting-filled innards … or have tuned into Is It Cake?, the aptly named Netflix show. Why? As a form of entertainment, this kind of visual trick is hardly new. For centuries, artists have delighted in fooling us into thinking one material is

Parametric shape optimization with differentiable FEM simulation

All examples are expected to run from the examples/<example_name> directory of the Tesseract-JAX repository . In this example, you will learn how to: Compose both Tesseracts with Tesseract-JAX to create a pipeline that can be used for differentiable shape optimization. Build a Tesseract that uses finite differences under the hood to enable differentiability of a non-autodifferentiable geometry operation (computing a signed distance field from a 3D model). In this notebook, we explore the opt

Optimizing Tool Selection for LLM Workflows with Differentiable Programming

Modern agentic architectures rely heavily on chaining LLM calls. A typical pattern looks like: Use an LLM to decide which tool to invoke Call the tool (e.g. search, calculator, API) Use another LLM call to interpret the result and generate a final response This structure is easy to reason about, simple to prototype, and generalizes well. But it scales poorly. Each LLM call incurs latency, cost, and token overhead. More subtly, it compounds context: every step includes not only the original q

Add Paramount+, STARZ, and more to your Prime Video account for just $0.99 a month - here's how

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Goodbye to All That – My Resignation from the FBI

On May 31 of this year, in a series of phone calls beginning at nine in the morning and ending that afternoon, the newly installed Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, Dominique Evans, made clear to me that, at the direction of Dan Bongino, my career with the organization had—for all intents and purposes—come to an end. It would be an understatement to say that I had not expected this. In fact, I was in the midst of preparing for a potential mov

This $12 gadget has become a permanent accessory on my keychain - here's why

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Your iPhone can be used as a digital drivers' license - but only in these states

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

My favorite Amazon Echo speaker is perfect for small rooms, and it's only $22 with this deal

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Free as Air, Free as Water, Free as Knowledge (1992)

``Free as Air, Free As Water, Free As Knowledge'' by Bruce Sterling Speech to the Library Information Technology Association June 1992, San Francisco CA Hi everybody. Well, this is the Library Information Technology Association, so I guess I ought to be talking about libraries, or information, or technology, or at least association. I'm gonna give it a shot, but I want to try this from an unusual perspective. I want to start by talking about money. You wouldn't guess it sometimes to hear so

These are the best July 4th laptop deals live now

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Sony’s got an Xperia 1 VII problem so bad, it had to temporarily halt sales

TL;DR Sony has halted sales and shipments of the Xperia 1 VII in its native Japan. Affected phones spontaneously reset, and may refuse to turn back on. Right now we have no confirmation that there’s any problem with the Xperia 1 VII outside of Japan. For a major electronics company, there’s probably no brand whose smartphones are more of niche product than Sony’s. While we’ve had Xperia phones going back to the early days of Android, Xperia handsets have never really taken off in the US. But

I'm a phone reviewer, and you don't want to miss these July 4th phone deals

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Supergiant’s latest Hades II patch is likely its last before launch

Despite it having upward of 61,000 reviews on Steam, Hades II isn’t actually out yet. The sequel to Supergiant Games’ hugely successful roguelite dungeon crawler has been in early access on PC for over a year, and even the early builds were extremely polished and content-rich for what is still a work-in-progress game. But we (and Switch owners) have been waiting patiently for that 1.0 release date, and it looks like it might be just around the corner, with Supergiant confirming that the latest U

Your Samsung phone has secret Wi-Fi settings that are seriously useful - here's how to unlock them

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

July 4th sales: The 65+ best deals we've found (and we've tested almost all of them)

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

My favorite smart scale tracks 16 different measurements and is 50% off -- but hurry

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

``Free as Air, Free as Water, Free as Knowledge'' (1992)

``Free as Air, Free As Water, Free As Knowledge'' by Bruce Sterling Speech to the Library Information Technology Association June 1992, San Francisco CA Hi everybody. Well, this is the Library Information Technology Association, so I guess I ought to be talking about libraries, or information, or technology, or at least association. I'm gonna give it a shot, but I want to try this from an unusual perspective. I want to start by talking about money. You wouldn't guess it sometimes to hear so

Best July 4th TV deals 2025: My favorite sales save you up to $2,500

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

My favorite Dyson vacuum busts dirt and dust with ease, and it's $180 off ahead of Prime Day

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

AI claims and a hoax spokesman: Viral band confuses the world of music

AI claims and a hoax spokesman: Viral band confuses the world of music Critics say even the image of the band is AI-generated A band called The Velvet Sundown has had its tracks played hundreds of thousands of times on Spotify since appearing several weeks ago - without anyone knowing for sure what it is. The band has a verified page on the music streaming platform, with more than 850,000 monthly listeners. However, none of the four named musicians in the band have given any interviews or ap

Topics: ai band hoax media music

The 67+ best July 4th deals live now: Save on outdoor, tech, home and more

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

I'm a phone expert, and you won't want to miss these July 4th phone deals

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

The Download: India’s AI independence, and predicting future epidemics

Despite its status as a global tech hub, India lags far behind the likes of the US and China when it comes to homegrown AI. That gap has opened largely because India has chronically underinvested in R&D, institutions, and invention. Meanwhile, since no one native language is spoken by the majority of the population, training language models is far more complicated than it is elsewhere. So when the open-source foundation model DeepSeek-R1 suddenly outperformed many global peers, it struck a

The best printers of 2025: Your home office is about to get so much better

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Inside India’s scramble for AI independence

Nonetheless, a small but determined group of Indian builders is starting to shape the country’s AI future. For example, Sarvam AI has created OpenHathi-Hi-v0.1, an open-source Hindi language model that shows the Indian AI field’s growing ability to address the country’s vast linguistic diversity. The model, built on Meta’s Llama 2 architecture, was trained on 40 billion tokens of Hindi and related Indian-language content, making it one of the largest open-source Hindi models available to date.

Your iPad is getting a big upgrade for free. 4 top features I can't wait to use on iPadOS 26

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Enhanced Radar (YC W25) is hiring a founding engineer

Enhanced Radar is building safer air traffic control systems. We're behind Y2, aviation's state of the art speech recognition model, and 100% of the company is comprised of software engineers who are also pilots. Ask us about: - our not-yet-announced fundraise - who we're working with (also not announced) - our vision for the future of air traffic control Ideally you are: - a talented SWE with a track record of exceptional talent - a pilot or with an aviation background We're a small team wit