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Tech News
A tech guide highlights five Google Messages settings that are enabled by default but may hurt the user experience, including features tied to notifications and AI tools. The piece argues that disabling these options can make the app function better for most users, despite its overall strength as Android's default texting app.
Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra now supports up to 60-watt wired charging and faster wireless charging, up from the 45-watt cap on previous flagships, while the S26+ also sees wireless speed gains. The base Galaxy S26 keeps 25-watt charging but gets a larger 4,300 mAh battery, up from 4,000 mAh in the S25.
The New York Times has added an AI assistant to its NYT Cooking app, initially available to subscribers on iOS. The tool is designed to answer cooking questions, suggest ingredient swaps, and help troubleshoot recipes, drawing on the publication's existing recipe database and reader comments rather than generating fully new recipes.
The Criterion Channel, a streaming service known for its curated classic and arthouse film library, has suffered persistent technical problems since launching in 2019, including current incompatibility with many Samsung smart TVs. Subscribers have reported ongoing difficulty accessing the service through affected devices.
Amazon is selling the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra for $949.99, a $450 cut from its $1,399.99 list price. The listing carries a 4.6-star rating, and the phone features a 6.9-inch display, S Pen support, a customized Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip, and storage options up to 1TB.
Samsung has released its new Galaxy Buds On earbuds and Galaxy SmartTag 3 item tracker in the United States. The Buds On, priced at $229.99, feature a clip-on design, TwinBoost speakers, head-gesture controls, and Gemini Live voice access, with up to 9.5 hours of battery life. The SmartTag 3 costs $29.99 for a single unit or $99.99 for a four-pack, and comes in a slimmer, lighter design than earlier models.
A local startup called Tau Robotics is trialing a humanoid robot that cleans homes while a human operator pilots it remotely using onboard cameras, rather than operating autonomously. A journalist who signed up for the waitlist had the robot sent to clean their apartment and reported both glitches and moments suggesting future potential. Separately, Samsung is expanding its Pyeongtaek, South Korea semiconductor campus, where three fabs run continuously, a fourth is starting up, and a fifth is under construction to meet AI-driven memory chip demand.
Google has begun rolling out a 'Notify when left behind' feature in its Find Hub app, alerting users when they stray too far from a connected tracker or tagged item. The setting can be enabled per device via the tracker's settings page, and alerts won't trigger if the item is left at a user's designated Home address in Google Maps. The feature is currently live in the US and parts of Europe, and works across brands including Moto and Chipolo trackers, according to 9to5Google.
Samsung's second-generation Galaxy Watch Ultra features a 1.52-inch display with peak brightness of 5,000 nits, up from 3,500 nits on the original model, and is described as lighter and slimmer than its predecessor and Apple's Watch Ultra 4. It retains the 47mm squircle design, proprietary Dynamic Lug System for bands, and lacks a rotating bezel, with button protrusions reduced and less orange accenting than before.
New AC models unveiled through 2026, including LG's DualCool AI with a 5-meter radar sensor and Hisense's Companion Living AC, use motion tracking and smart home data to direct cooling only toward occupants rather than entire rooms. Similar targeted-cooling features have appeared from Samsung, Dyson, Dreo and Midea, building on occupancy-sensing technology Mitsubishi Electric first introduced in 1994.
Major Asian tech and chip stocks sold off sharply Friday after the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% overnight and entered correction territory. SK Hynix, Samsung, TSMC, SoftBank, Advantest and Tokyo Electron all posted double-digit or near-double-digit losses, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping 12.2% in the prior session.
Omdia's latest report shows Apple shipped 11.5 million iPads in Q3 2026, down 27.5% from a year earlier, though it still led the market with 36% share. The global tablet market fell 23% year-over-year to 32.2 million units, its lowest level in nearly three years, with only Lenovo among top vendors posting growth.