A new Costco membership comes with a free $20 gift card right now. StackSocial Thinking about joining Costco? Or, have you been sharing a membership card with your parents or friends? Now that Costco is starting to crack down on membership sharing (in the coming months, the stores will start scanning cards at the entrance […] More
AntonioSolano/Getty Images Looking for a quick and simple method to share files between Windows and Android? Sit tight because a new trick is headed your way. Currently available in the latest Windows Insider builds, the new option uses Microsoft’s Phone Link and Link to Windows apps to help you send files back and forth. Also: Wiping […] More
Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETWhat’s the deal?Right now, you can get the Anker Nano 22.5W Power Bank More
As The Tubes once sang, “She’s a beauty.” Jack Wallen/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysThe System76 Thelio r3 More
Get Windows 11 Pro at a big discount right now. StackSocial Need an operating system upgrade? Windows 11 Pro puts productivity in your hands with features that make everything from hybrid work to streaming entertainment easy, and you can grab the software for a discounted price right now through StackSocial. A lifetime subscription for the […] More
Kayla Solino/ZDNETZDNET’S key takeawaysThanks to some upgrades and a handy kickstand, Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro Qi2 MagSafe power bank More
Kerry Wan/ZDNETOne of generative AI’s most useful (and needed) applications is enhancing voice assistants, which have remained relatively unchanged for years. Now, Google is making several upgrades to its voice assistant experience with the help of Gemini. At the company’s Made by Google event on Tuesday, Google made Gemini its default voice assistant, replacing Google Assistant with a smarter alternative that can be interrupted, is aware of your Google apps, and can even help answer questions about the contents of your screen. Also: Google tops the Index with Gemini Live and Pixel’s AI featuresArguably the biggest Gemini announcement is that Google made Gemini Live available three months after announcing it at Google I/O. Gemini Live is an advanced voice assistant that can have human-like, multi-turn (or exchanges), verbal conversations on complex topics and even give you advice. For example, when speaking to the assistant, you can interrupt it mid-sentence, and the assistant will still understand you. You can also pick from multiple voices to enhance your conversation experience.However, there’s a catch: only Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android devices can access it. The feature is already being rolled out to both Samsung and Pixel devices. As a bonus, Pixel Pro 9 users get access to the Google One AI Premium Plan, which includes access to Gemini Advanced — and, therefore, Gemini Live — at no additional cost for the first year. But for all other Android users, it’s hard to say whether Gemini Live is worth paying $20 per month for a Google One AI Premium Plan. If you want to see whether the plan is worth it, you can try it for free via a one-month trial. Also: How to try Google’s new Gemini Live AI assistant for freeWhen announced at Google I/O, Gemini Live also had multimodal capabilities, which allowed it to use the camera to see the world around you and ingest that as context for answers. That feature, however, has not been released yet. More
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET ZDNET’s key takeaways The Blackview Mega 1 is available directly from Blackview More
