Eliana Willis

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    in Robotics

    Google Home users can ask Gemini to control their smart homes now – how it works

    Kerry Wan/ZDNETGoogle Home users are getting a free smart home upgrade, as Gemini will now be able to control their devices. The Gemini mobile app’s new integrations, rolling out to the public, let you ask Google’s most capable AI assistant to control your smart home devices as intuitively as you would ask the AI to generate text.Gemini, Google’s latest AI assistant, is a generative AI tool that can generate text and discuss topics with you conversationally, making the interaction almost as natural as speaking to another person. Also: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on: One day later, I’m slowly becoming an AI phone believerThe new Google Home integration enables users to open the Gemini app and ask the AI bot to turn lights on or off or control other smart devices. Giving the Gemini App this functionality brings Google that much closer to making Gemini the default AI assistant across all Google apps.  More

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    in Information Technology

    The top 10 brands exploited in phishing attacks – and how to protect yourself

    ZDNETCybercriminals who specialize in phishing attacks often spoof popular companies and products to trick unsuspecting users. By impersonating a well-known brand, the scammers try to convince their victims that their malicious emails and web pages are legitimate. A new report from cyber intelligence firm Check Point Research highlights the most spoofed brands so you’ll know which emails and pages to scrutinize.Top 10 most-phished brandsAmong the top 10 most-phished brands in the fourth quarter of 2024, Microsoft remained in the top spot, appearing in 32% of all attacks seen by Check Point. Apple and Google took second and third place, respectively, each appearing in 12% of the attacks.LinkedIn was next with 11%, followed by Alibaba with 4%. Rounding out the list were WhatsApp, Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook, each with 2%. In the tenth spot was Adobe, found in 1% of the phishing campaigns.Also: How to protect yourself from phishing attacks in Chrome and FirefoxAs last quarter marked the traditional holiday season, retail brands were also targeted in phishing attacks. Scammers often create fraudulent retail domains with phony sales and fake discounts to try to steal the passwords and sensitive data of innocent visitors.During the fourth quarter, malicious domains like nike-blazers.fr and adidasyeezy.ro mimicked the legitimate sites of Nike and Adidas. Other retail brands recently exploited included Lululemon, Hugo Boss, Guess, and Ralph Lauren.In its report, Check Point focused on two especially deceptive phishing campaigns. In one attack, the phishing site impersonated PayPal’s login page to try to capture the credentials and financial data of users. In another, a phony website imitated Facebook’s login page to trick people into sharing their account details. Though both sites are now flagged as deceptive, the phishing threat remains in full force. More

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    in Robotics

    I tried Perplexity’s assistant, and only one thing stops it from being my default phone AI

    ZDNETPerplexity AI is going mobile with a new digital assistant for your Android phone. The company announced the feature this week, explaining that it lets you use Perplexity as usual, but takes things a step further by integrating with other apps on your phone and chaining commands — meaning you can play media, set reminders, send texts and emails, book rides, learn about things using your camera, and more. Also: Operator isn’t worth its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription yet – here’s whyPerplexity’s phone assistant is free and doesn’t require a Pro subscription. It’s not available for iOS just yet.I decided to give it a try for a while and made it my default phone assistant. Just one thing is keeping me from sticking with it for good: its current lack of integration with my calendar. What Perplexity could do on my Android phoneI started simple. I asked Perplexity to make a list of the best local date-night restaurants and text them to my wife (I used her name). At first, it made a list of restaurants in Orlando, Fla., over 500 miles away. I asked Perplexity if it knew my location, just to make sure I had all the proper permissions turned on, and it identified where I was. A second attempt, asking the same query, produced a much better list of restaurants in Charlotte, NC — all swanky options perfect for a date night.To push things a little further, I replied that all of those were too far away and asked for restaurants specifically in my city, just outside Charlotte. It populated another list of nice restaurants limited to my city and asked if it could text the list. When I approved, it sent the list as a text message.Also: I changed these 12 settings on my Android phone to instantly improve battery lifePlaying around with examples I had seen other people use, I was able to get Perplexity to connect with quite a few apps. When I asked for a ride, Perplexity asked where I wanted to go and then fired up Uber with my destination set. Asking it to “Play the most popular songs from the 1960s” brought up Spotify and started playing songs. After a request to “Send an email saying I’m running 10 minutes late,” the assistant asked where it should be sent, asked my preferred email client (Gmail), and sent the message.To test out the Google Lens-style capabilities, I pointed it at my TV and asked what movies this actor was in (it was Steve Martin in an episode of Only Murders in the Building). Perplexity told me it couldn’t identify people. I asked what TV show I was watching, though, and Perplexity not only identified all three actors on screen, but also identified and summarized the specific episode I was watching. More