Eliana Willis

Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETDistractions are terrible. It seems like just when I’m getting into a flow, something pulls me out of it. The stoppage of said flow lasts as long as the distraction and the ramp-up time to get back into the flow — or (worse) the loss of an idea. It happens to me a lot, especially when I’m writing, which requires a high level of concentration. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid distraction, especially if you use Android as your OS. One such way is through Modes. Modes let Android block distractions during important periods. Out of the box, you’ll find modes for Do Not Disturb, Bedtime, and Driving. You can, however, create custom modes that are specific to your needs. Also: My 5 favorite AI apps on Android right now – and how I use themFor example, I created a Writing mode that shuts off notifications from everything and everyone (except certain contacts) and even disables all apps (including alarms) from interrupting. By doing this, I can have a totally distraction-free writing period. When that period is over, the floodgates open and the distractions hit me with full force. But how do you create such a custom mode? It’s actually quite simple. How to create a custom mode on Android What you’ll need: The custom mode feature was added to Android 15 QPR2 (Quarterly Platform Release 2), so you’ll need a device running at least that version. I’m demonstrating on my Pixel. If you have a Samsung or other device, it may look a little different but you should still have the same basic options. That’s it. Let’s make some magic. More

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETMany have dubbed this year “the year of AI agents,” as these AI systems that can carry out tasks for users are especially useful for optimizing enterprise workflows. At ServiceNow’s annual Knowledge 2025 conference, the company unveiled a new model in partnership with Nvidia to advance AI agents.Apriel Nemotron 15BOn Tuesday, ServiceNow and Nvidia launched Apriel Nemotron 15B, a new, open-source reasoning language model (LLM) built to deliver lower latency, lower inference costs, and agentic AI. According to the release, the model was trained on Nvidia Nemo, the Nvidia Llama Nemotron Post-Training Dataset, and ServiceNow’s domain-specific data. Also: Nvidia’s 70+ projects at ICLR show how raw chip power is central to AI’s accelerationThe biggest takeaway of the model is that it packages advanced reasoning capabilities in a smaller size. This makes the model cheaper and faster to run on Nvidia GPU infrastructure as an Nvidia NIM microservice while still delivering the enterprise-grade intelligence companies are looking for. The company shares that Apriel Nemotron 15B shows promising results for its model category in benchmark testing, confirming that the model could be a good fit for supporting agentic AI workflows. Also: Will synthetic data derail generative AI’s momentum or be the breakthrough we need?Reasoning capabilities are especially important when using agentic AI because, in these automated experiences, AI performs tasks for the end user in various settings. Since it is performing tasks without human direction, it needs to do some processing or reasoning of its own to determine how to proceed best. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways NixOS is an open-source operating system that is available to install and use for free. It offers several desktop environments to choose from, is as rock-solid as any OS on the market, and performs quite well. However, there’s a fairly steep learning curve for installing non-free software. –> Before we get […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Bose SoundLink Max retails for $399 in the colors Black and Blue Dusk This unassuming Bluetooth speaker delivers the high-quality sound that Bose is known for, with the battery life to keep the party going all night. The regular price might be a turn-off, given you can get perfectly capable […] More

Opera / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETOpera’s Android browser now includes Tab Islands. This new feature not only makes it possible to group tabs together, but also allows you to search for open tabs, reopen recently closed tabs, or mute every tab you have open. It arrives with version 89 of the mobile browser and includes new tab gallery layouts, more customizations, and the introduction of Tab Islands. Also: Too many tabs? Try these browsers with better tab management than ChromeAccording to Stefan Stjernelund, product manager for Opera for Android, “Many of our users love tabs and have been requesting new ways of working with them. As always, we’ve listened carefully and are following through today by releasing the most comprehensive tab management system of any mobile browser.”Because Opera was the first early adopter of browser tabs in 1996, the company has plenty of experience with making tabs useful. According to the PR email I was sent by the company, it ran a study and found that more than 15% of users have at least 15 tabs open at any given time, while more than 25% of users keep more than 30 tabs at the ready. Because of this, Opera designed a comprehensive new system for mobile tab management, which they claim is the best tab management system on the market. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt 3 is available now for $329. The Bolt 3 is fairly small and lightweight, comes with out-front and center post mounts, and it’s affordable for all the features you get. The display may be too small for some people and the battery life takes a hit with […] More

To help protect your privacy while using your PS5, you can customize certain settings to control what information is visible to others, restrict who can communicate with you, and manage your account security. This includes limiting who can see your online status, gaming history, and profile information, as well as controlling access to your account and console. Under Settings, head to Users and Accounts  > Privacy  > View and Customize Your Privacy Settings. Here, you can control who can see your real name, profile picture, friends list, game activity and history, and who can send friend requests or interact with you online. For each of the variables in this menu, I recommend choosing “No One” and “Close Friends Only.” This should significantly reduce unwanted friend requests or spam.Also: How to clear your TV cache (and why it makes such a big difference)If you’re like me, you don’t feel a need to infuse Sony’s database with more personal information than required, such as the voice data collected through your DualSense controller’s microphone.Under Privacy, scroll down to “Control how your data is collected and used” to access three options: Data You Provide, Personalization, and Voice Data Collection. For the former (Data You Provide), change the setting to Limited. For Personalization, I recommend turning off all four of the sub-options, including Standard Personalization. For the latter, switch to Don’t Allow for Voice Data Collection. More

Sean Gladwell/Getty Images Have you decided what to do with your Windows 10 PCs when they reach their official end-of-support date five months from now? I know some people who are convinced that Microsoft will back down at the last minute and extend that deadline. Take this prediction to the bank: That’s not gonna happen. Also: Microsoft […] More