Eliana Willis

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Garmin eTrex Solar is available now for $250, while the eTrex SE without solar sells for $150. Potential for unlimited battery life, extensive GNSS support, rugged build, and affordable. Small monochrome display, no turn-by-turn directions of TopoActive maps. –> Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I gained a deep affection […] More

Google / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETOn Oct. 14, 2025, Windows 10 will officially reach its end of life. Some of your older PCs will be unable to upgrade to Windows 11.Also: Windows 10 PC can’t be upgraded? You have 5 options and 6 months to take action What should you do? Of course, you can buy a new PC with Windows 11 already installed, but thanks to tariffs, we can expect computer prices to rise. Some people are still buying Windows 11 PCs, but that still leaves you with a perfectly good, albeit soon no longer secure to run, Windows 10 machine. Or perhaps you simply don’t have the money to buy a new PC.In either case, you should consider upgrading your old computer to Google’s ChromeOS Flex. What is ChromeOS Flex, you ask? It’s a free, cloud-first operating system from Google designed to modernize and extend the life of existing Windows PCs and Macs by replacing their original operating systems with a fast, secure, and easy-to-manage alternative.It is based on Chromium OS — the open-source foundation for ChromeOS — and brings many of the same features and benefits found on Chromebooks to a broader range of hardware. If you can use a web browser, you can use ChromeOS Flex. It’s that simple. Also: 7 reasons why a Chromebook is the best laptop for most peopleWhat ChromeOS Flex can’t do is run your standalone Windows applications. However, it can run Microsoft 365 and other Microsoft Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. You simply log in to the relevant Microsoft web portals and use the applications as you would on any other operating system. You can also use any files you’ve stored on Microsoft OneDrive just as you normally would. For that matter, if you want to use ChromeOS Flex in a Windows business environment, you can do that too. It supports Single Sign-On (SSO) and integrates with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). This enables users to log in once and access Microsoft 365 web apps seamlessly. IT admins can also preconfigure and pin Microsoft 365 web apps for users, manage file associations, and enforce cloud storage policies from the Google Admin console. In short, ChromeOS Flex works well for both businesses and individuals. Why you should consider ChromeOS FlexSecurity is its top priority. It includes automatic updates, data encryption, and sandboxing to protect against malware and online threats. There has never been a ChromeOS Flex ransomware attack. Additionally, you don’t need traditional antivirus software. ChromeOS Flex is also fast. Even on PCs that are slowing down due to age and Windows software clutter, it can run quickly. The operating system is lightweight and optimized for speed, with boot times as fast as six seconds and no slowdowns over time. It can breathe new life into older hardware that struggles with Windows 10 and can’t run Windows 11 at all. For example, one of my favorite old PCs is a Dell Inspiron One 2320. This all-in-one (AIO) computer, with a 2.4GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GT525M, and a 320GB hard drive, was a great machine… in 2012. Thirteen years later? Not so much. Also: Microsoft still has a massive Windows 10 problem – and there’s no easy way outHowever, this once Windows 7 PC still features a 23-inch HD display. What it can’t do is run Windows 10 well, and let’s not even talk about Windows 11. I could run Linux on it, but I already have several Linux PCs, so I tried something different: I decided to install ChromeOS Flex on it. I had left Windows 7 on this machine, which was a dedicated accounting system. I had disconnected it from the Internet, though, since running Windows 7 on an Internet-connected PC is essentially asking to be hacked. That will also soon be true for most Windows 10 PCs. Like most old Windows PCs, it had slowed to the point where it was essentially useless. Just booting it up would take — no exaggeration — three minutes. ChromeOS Flex system requirementsChromeOS Flex is fundamentally a Linux system and can run on low-powered computers. Don’t let the word “Linux” scare you. You’ll only see it if you dig deep into the system, and there’s no reason for most users to ever do that. Oh, and how little processing power do you need for ChromeOS Flex? Barely anything. According to Google, ChromeOS Flex’s minimum requirements are: Intel or AMD x86-64-bit compatible device (it won’t work with 32-bit processors) RAM: 4 GBInternal storage: 16 GBBootable from a USB driveBIOS: Full administrator access (you’ll need to boot from the ChromeOS Flex USB installer and make some adjustments in the BIOS if you run into issues)It boils down to the fact that if you have a PC built in 2010 or later, it should work. It might work with even older components if you’re feeling adventurous. However, if you’re running a box with Intel GMA 500, 600, 3600, or 3650 graphics hardware, you’re asking for trouble. Also: 5 things ChromeOS needs to rival MacOSIf you want to be reasonably sure it will work on your old computer, you can check if it’s listed on Google’s ChromeOS Flex Certified models list. My Inspiron One 2320? No, I was taking the life of my computer in my hands. I was OK with that. More

SEAN GLADWELL/Getty Images The message from experts is clear: artificial intelligence (AI) can help professionals spend less time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks and more on value-adding activities. Also: 5 ways to manage your team more effectively in the AI-enabled enterprise However, there’s just one issue: what are these value-adding activities? Senior executives may like the […] More

PM Images/Getty Images Key takeaways: 77% of surveyed homeowners recently installed a major system or are planning the next one. More than half of heating and cooling systems are replaced only after failing. 88% of households considering energy upgrades are looking at technology other than solar. Soon after becoming a homeowner for the first time, […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The EarFun Wave Life headphones are available on Amazon for $59. These headphones offer crisp, spacious sound and can last for days on a single charge. Although the headphones sound great out of the box, you’ll want to connect them to the EarFun app to get the most out of them. […] More

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETPeople have found a new use for ChatGPT: Figuring out locations from photos. OpenAI’s latest AI models, o3 and o4-mini, can analyze images beyond just recognizing objects; they can zoom in, crop, and detect visual clues in photos to help identify places, landmarks, and even specific businesses. This capability is fascinating, but it’s also raised some privacy concerns about how easily people can use AI to reverse-engineer location data from images.Also: ChatGPT just made it easy to find and edit all the AI images you’ve ever generatedTechCrunch reported that people are uploading photos — anything from restaurant menu snapshots to casual selfies — and asking ChatGPT to guess where they were taken. The AI does this by looking at everything in the image: the type of buildings, landscape features, and even subtle hints like the architecture or the layout of a city. It then taps into its knowledge database and sometimes the internet to make an educated guess about the location. The results can be surprisingly accurate, and it’s got people talking. Some users have even tested the AI with blurry photos or images with partial objects, and the model still managed to make a guess. Also: Is ChatGPT Plus worth your $20? Here’s how it compares to Free and Pro plansI love playing GeoGuessr, a game where you’re dropped into a random location on Google Street View and have to guess where you are based on the surroundings. So this ChatGPT capability was super fun to test myself. I uploaded a few photos to see how ChatGPT would handle the challenge. However, as with any AI, the result was not always perfect. More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETYour LG TV might soon keep tabs on your emotional state to show you more relevant ads.In a recent press release, marketing and data science company Zenapse announced a partnership with LG to bring “emotionally intelligent insights and targeting” to connected televisions — or ads targeted to your emotions.Also: You should probably clear your TV cache right now (and why it makes such a big difference)Here’s how this works.Zenapse will use a technology called “ZenVision” that watches content along with the viewer. That itself isn’t unique. It’s automatic content recognition, or a form of surveillance that understands what type of content you watch, and most smart TVs use it (ZDNET editor Chris Bayer recommends turning this off, by the way).Traditional automatic content recognition builds a demographic profile including information like your age and location, but ZenVision, which is coming to LG televisions (the company didn’t say which models specifically), takes that information and uses AI to build a psychological profile to show ads that will resonate with you. These ads aren’t just tailored to what kind of content you’re watching, but ones tied to your overall emotions, beliefs, and sentiments.Also: I discovered Netflix’s secret genre codes and my watchlist exploded – how they workAfter AI analyzes your profile, your TV will place you into categories. The Zenapse website lists a number of “master segments” viewers can fall into, including family-centric, money matters, wellness seekers, digital adopters, social experiences & connectors, positive impact and environment, convenience seekers, and knowledge-focused. More