Eliana Willis

Buena Vista Images/Getty Images In today’s fragmented social media landscape, staying active across multiple platforms can feel like a full-time job. Many people have started seeking alternatives with the recent shifts at X (formerly Twitter), including the rise in toxicity, relaxed moderation, and decisions that undermine the blocking feature.  Also: How to easily fly away from […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Pixel 9 is Google’s latest baseline flagship phone, starting at $649 ahead of Black Friday. It comes with the new Tensor G4 processor, an updated design, a bigger battery, and a slightly higher asking price. The hardware improvements over last year’s model are relatively small. more buying choices I had […] More

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Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETWhat’s the deal?Black Friday is only three weeks away, and ahead of the sale event several smartphone accessories have received substantial discounts.  Anker’s handy MagGo 3-in-1 Charging Station has been reduced to $88, a $22 discount off its original price. However, only the white model is seeing the price drop.Also: The 40+ best Black Friday Amazon deals 2024: Early sales live nowZDNET’s key takeawaysAnker unveiled its MagGo 3-in-1 Charging Station More

If you’re already experiencing problems hearing sounds around you, then it may be time for a hearing aid. Before you buy an expensive one, you may want to enlist your AirPods Pro 2 to see if they can help.Return to the AirPods settings screen and tap the link for Hearing Assistance. Read the details on this feature. If you’ve already taken the hearing test, tap the button to use the prior test result. Answer the questions on the details screen and tap Continue.Also: The 10 best tech stocking stuffers people will actually wantSelect the hearing test you want to use and tap Next. To try this, I purposely took another hearing test and didn’t respond to most of the tones, so the results indicated profound hearing loss. The next screen offers suggestions on how to deal with your hearing loss, including taking another test and seeing an audiologist. Tap the link at the bottom to learn about hearing aid. More

Microsoft releases new versions of Windows at regular intervals. Each new version has a core set of features and security updates. For Windows 11, those new versions come out once a year, in the second half of the year. So far, Microsoft has released four versions of Windows 11: 21H2, 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2. You can probably decode the naming scheme without too much effort: the release date (displayed as the year by two digits), followed by the letters H2 (to represent the second half of the year).Also: Have a Windows problem that you just can’t fix? Try this ultimate troubleshooting trickEach version of Windows is released in multiple editions at different price points. For retail customers, the two most common editions are Home and Pro. All editions share common features, but they are sold and distributed differently depending on the type of device and market for which they’re intended. Higher-priced editions have features that aren’t available in the lower-priced editions.You will often hear the terms edition and SKU used interchangeably. That’s a common shorthand, and good enough for a casual discussion, but there are some important distinctions between the two terms. The short version? An edition is a general description. A SKU is an extremely specific description encompassing the product name, version, channel, licensing method, and more.SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit, which is the part number a manufacturer assigns to specific items it sells. A single product, like Windows 11 Pro, is sold in many different physical and digital packages, each with its own part number, or SKU. Also: The best Windows laptops of 2024: Expert tested and reviewedThe full list of SKUs for Windows 11 goes on for page after page, but unless you’re in the purchasing office for a Fortune 500 company, you don’t need to pay attention to those identifiers.This isn’t unusual in the computing industry. Apple, for example, has a different SKU for every combination of storage, color, and carrier for every iPhone. You will rarely see them because whoever you buy your phone from will filter that list to show only the ones relevant to you. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The NUU N10 Android phone is available now on Amazon for $99. This phone is about as impressive as it gets on a tight budget. The NUU N10 does suffer a bit of lag with animations, and the camera won’t blow you away. –> I’ve seen just about every type of […] More