Latest Tech News

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

Filtered by: r_ Clear Filter

The best lights for streaming in 2025: Expert tested

'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

Ask HN: What is your fallback job if AI takes away your career?

For the sake of argument, assume that if your job consists of sitting at a computer, reading on a screen, and typing on a keyboard, then your career will go away. There is always room at the top, and there may always be room for humans at the top of any career. Assume (this is a tough ask, I know) that you are NOT one of those people. What is your fallback job? What skills do you have or would like to acquire that might keep you going? Bicycle mechanic? Teach music to children? Woodworking/car

The fastest way to detect a vowel in a string

Austin Z. Henley Associate Teaching Professor Carnegie Mellon University [email protected] @austinzhenley github/AZHenley The fastest way to detect a vowel in a string 6/13/2025 I was nerdsniped recently: What is the best way to detect if a string has a vowel in it? This is trivial, right? But as I started getting into it, I realized there is much more to this. I challenged myself to come up with as many ways to detect a vowel as possible. I even asked a few friends to give it a go. Whi

Using computers more freely and safely (2023)

How can we use computers more freely and safely? the punchline Prefer software: with thousands rather than millions of users that seldom requires updates that spawns lots of forks that is easy to modify that you can modify These are my suggestions. Prefer software with thousands rather than millions of users, that doesn't change often, that seems to get forked a lot, that can be modified without specialized tools, and, ideally that you can make small changes to. Yourself. In a single af

Will People Care About the ‘Minecraft’ Chicken Jockey From the Comfort of Their Homes?

A Minecraft Movie already had a towering built-in fan base thanks to its source material being the best-selling video game of all time. But few could have predicted that the movie—a goofy comedy starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa as human characters who get pulled into the chaotic cubic world—would become a Rocky Horror-style interactive sensation, with wild antics in theaters going viral almost overnight. Director Jared Hess found the “chicken jockey” frenzy to be hilarious; star Black took a

People Over Papers: The Creator of ‘Waze for Ice Immigration Raids’ Speaks Out

Born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from Mexico, Celeste, 30, is the creator of People Over Papers, a decentralized and anonymous collective that tracks and maps real-time ICE sightings submitted by the public. (For her safety, Gizmodo is using a synonym for Celeste’s real name.) The project functions like a kind of “Waze for immigration raids,” built not to direct traffic, but to save lives, offer warnings, and raise awareness about immigration enforcement operations across the U.S. Celeste,

Hasbro’s ‘Star Wars’ SDCC Exclusive Is the Ultimate ‘Revenge of the Sith’ Set

Dark side, light side, it doesn’t matter. This year’s Hasbro Star Wars exclusive at San Diego Comic-Con is certainly the chosen one, and we’re going to take the high ground to acquire it. Celebrating 20 years of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Hasbro just revealed a six-inch Black Series set, exclusively for release at San Diego Comic-Con, of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and their epic lightsaber duel over the lava on Mustafar. Retailing for $110, the set will first be availa

Best Gas Grills of 2025: We Tested More than 15

How much should you spend on a gas grill? A few of the pricier smart grills had built-in probe systems for precise temperature monitoring. James Bricknell/CNET While knowing what you want in a gas grill is important, knowing what you can spend is the first step when buying a grill. This is because you may want a six-burner grill, with a hot plate on the side, and a searing deck, but if you've only got $350 to spend, you're going to have to make some compromises. Now, there are still plenty of

The 10 Best Steam Next Fest Games You Need to Wishlist

It's nearly time for the Steam summer sale, which is one of the biggest retail events for patient PC gamers. It's also the perfect time to find new and innovative indie games to add to your wishlist: Before each big Steam sale, Valve runs a Next Fest event to let developers show off their projects, get feedback and build hype before their big release. Summer 2025's Next Fest has been chock full of Hades-likes, co-op hack-and-slash adventures and other reliably entertaining games but some of th

Play FBC: Firebreak, Deus Ex and More on PlayStation Plus Soon

Remedy Entertainment released the mind-bending action game Control in 2019. And on June 17, PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can return to the Federal Bureau of Control in the wacky, first-person co-op shooter FBC: Firebreak. PlayStation Plus is Sony's version of Xbox Game Pass, and it offers subscribers a large and constantly expanding library of games. There are three PlayStation Plus tiers -- Essential ($10 a month), Extra ($15 a month) and Premium ($18 a month) -- and each giv

Trump’s FTC may impose merger condition that forbids advertising boycotts

FTC chair alleged “serious risk” from ad boycotts After Musk's purchase of Twitter, the social network lost advertisers for various reasons, including changes to content moderation and an incident in which Musk posted a favorable response to an antisemitic tweet and then told concerned advertisers to "go fuck yourself." FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said at a conference in April that "the risk of an advertiser boycott is a pretty serious risk to the free exchange of ideas." "If advertisers get

Belkin’s 3-in-1 Qi2 wireless charger is the cheapest it’s been in months

If you’re looking to declutter the cables on your desk or nightstand and keep all of your devices charged, Belkin’s Qi2-ready BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 wireless charger will help you get the job done. Right now, it’s on sale for $99.99 ($30 off) at Amazon in black and white color schemes. That’s both its best price to date and the cheapest it has sold for in months. This Qi2-certified charger can quickly charge MagSafe compatible iPhones, delivering up to 15W of power. What’s more, it also support

Startups Weekly: No sign of pause

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. You’d think WWDC would cause a lull in startup news. But not in June, when everyone is eager to announce their latest deals — or even to go public. Most interesting startup stories from the week Image Credits:Nasdaq This week brought us many reminders that no startup journey is linear — but the next billion-dollar idea may only be one click

Apple’s Liquid Glass design is paving the way for AR glasses

At Apple’s WWDC 2025 event, the company announced its most dramatic software design change in over a decade: Liquid Glass. This visual overhaul gives us a glimpse into what might be coming in Apple’s rumored AR glasses, which will reportedly debut next year. Users are connecting Liquid Glass to potential AR glasses because the new design draws strong inspiration from that of Apple’s Vision Pro VR headset. Liquid Glass is named with the idea that each window on a phone is like a pane of glass,

Google tests Audio Overviews for Search queries

Google Search is experimenting with Audio Overviews for certain Search queries, the company announced on Friday. The feature was first introduced to NotebookLM, Google’s AI-based note-taking and research assistant. The tech giant says Audio Overviews will use its latest Gemini models to give users another way to absorb and understand information. “An audio overview can help you get a lay of the land, offering a convenient, hands-free way to absorb information whether you’re multitasking or sim

TechCrunch Mobility: The cost of Waymo

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced late this week that it plans to streamline the Part 555 exemption process to make it faster for automakers that want to deploy self-driving vehicles built without human controls like a steering wheel or pedals. The letter sent to “stakeholders” (meaning those com

Computing’s Top 30: Deven Panchal

Leading a global open source project with hundreds of contributors across borders, cultures, platforms, and organizations is a prospect fraught with challenges. Deven Panchal is well aware of those challenges, having led two such projects for AT&T Labs: Acumos, the world’s first open source AI marketplace ONAP, which allowed developers to embed AI into the design and deployment of network, telecom, and security services To manage—if not avoid—the myriad complications entailed by such endeavo

Computing’s Top 30: Sukanya Meher

Sukanya S. Meher loves a good intersection. Especially the one between theory and application, which she first seriously explored in the realm of superconductor electronics. Today, Meher works in electronic design automation (EDA), bringing with her a unique perspective on circuit design, modeling, simulation, and tool development. This EDA work is also giving her the chance to explore a new intersection: that between technology design and customer success. As an AMS staff engineer at Synopsys

Microsoft's own Xbox handheld is "essentially cancelled"

TL;DR: Microsoft and Asus recently announced two new Xbox-branded handheld devices: the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. While these represent a new step for Xbox gaming on portable devices, a new report suggests that Microsoft has internally shelved its own Xbox handheld project – one that was never officially announced but had been the subject of considerable speculation. According to The Verge, Microsoft has "essentially canceled" its native Xbox handheld to focus on the Xbox software plat

Epic Games sues Fortnite cheat developer for selling wallhack and auto-aim tools

Editor's take: Multiplayer gaming is about fair fights, not shortcuts. But cheaters keep buying their wins, ruining it for everyone else. Epic Games is cracking down hard because cheating isn't just unfair – it's a threat to the whole game. Sorry, losers. Cheating doesn't pay. Epic Games recently announced a new lawsuit targeting developers of Fortnite cheating tools. The company is going after an individual who created software that lets players see through walls and use auto-aim. Epic shared

Here's how to turn off public posting on the Meta AI app

This photo illustration created Jan. 7, 2025, shows an image of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and an image of the Meta logo. AI generated images of women kissing while mud wrestling and President Donald Trump eating poop are some of the conversations users are unknowingly sharing publicly through Meta's newly launched AI app. The company rolled out the Meta AI app in April, putting it in direct competition with OpenAI's ChatGPT. But the tool has recently garnered some negative publicity and sp

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors will step down as CEO; deputy Phil Rogers will take his place

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors is stepping down as CEO while his deputy CEO Phil Rogers will take over the top job in August. Wingefors spun his Swedish game holding company out of Nordic Games Group in 2016, and he renamed it Embracer Group in 2019. Wingefors was a controversial leader in the game industry, as he built up Embracer Group to more than 100 game studios, only to fall victim in the post-pandemic slowdown. As growth slowed, Wingefors had to lay off a lot of people, sell off studios or

Samsung snuck in a surprise for its latest SmartThings app update

Robert Triggs / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung has rolled out a sizeable update to the SmartThings mobile app. The changelog mentions a new Home Life survey, improved routine configurations, sharing Galaxy Tag location, and easier navigation of SmartThings Map View. Not listed in the changelog is support for SmartThings in Now Bar and Live Notifications. If you haven’t seen it yet, be on the lookout for a new update for the SmartThings mobile app. The smart home app has recently received a

Apple TV+ has two premieres this weekend, here’s what to watch

Following the successful debut of Stick, and ahead of the much-anticipated return of The Buccaneers for its second season, Apple TV+ has two releases this weekend that promise to grip both kids and adults alike. Here’s what to watch: Echo Valley From Apple Original Films, Echo Valley stars Julianne Moore (The Big Lebowski) as Kate, a mother whose stable life running a horse therapy ranch is shattered when her drug-addicted daughter Claire, played by Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), shows up covered

Topics: apple award emmy tv watch

How to turn off Google’s AI Overviews in web searches

Save some time (and energy and water) and Google without the “help” of AI. Google’s AI Overviews do not save me time. For one, I work for a tech blog and am therefore professionally curious as to whether or not the generated answers are correct, so I spend a few ticks figuring that out. (Answer: Sometimes, but not always!) Then things get existential as I contemplate how long a self-cannibalizing system can sustain itself — if the AI gives answers pulled from websites that survive on visits fr

Google links massive cloud outage to API management issue

Google says an API management issue is behind Thursday's massive Google Cloud outage, which disrupted or brought down its services and many other online platforms. Google says the cloud outage started around 10:49 ET and ended at 3:49 ET, after causing issues for millions of users worldwide for over three hours. Besides Google Cloud, the incident also impacted Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, Google Cloud Search, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Google Tasks, Google Voice, Google Le

The best rechargeable batteries of 2025

It's time to rethink disposable batteries. We toss out billions of them each year, filling landfills, creating hazardous waste, and spending our hard-earned money. Rechargeable batteries have come a long way and can now outperform disposables. They're a smart upgrade for anyone tired of constantly replacing dead AAs. I tested and ranked the best rechargeable batteries of 2025 to help you get top-tier performance, longevity, and value from your batteries. Keep reading for my top picks below. Al

How to install iOS 26 beta on your iPhone (and which models support it)

'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

Best Buy’s Giving You $1,000 Off Refurbished Microsoft Surface Touchscreen Laptop, Nearly Free Right Now

Looking to replace you laptop but don’t feel like shelling out thousands for the latest MacBook? Well you don’t need to sweat. You can grab yourself something perfectly capable of meeting your everyday needs. New is overrated. Like-new is good enough for just about anything and is a great way to save yourself hundreds and hundreds of dollars. What happens to new products anyway? Well I’ll tell you. They become old. It happens to us all. Stop trying to fight the entropy of the universe and just a

The Real-World Places Behind ‘Andor’ Season 2’s Architectural Marvels

Andor, the live-action Star Wars prequel series created by Tony Gilroy and starring Diego Luna, concluded its second and final season last month. Spanning the years prior to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the series has garnered massive praise from Star Wars fans and critics alike for its deft storytelling, stirring lead performances, and majestic setpieces. This is especially true in the show’s second season, which sees the former thief-turned-rebel-fighter on the run for his life