Eliana Willis

ZDNETIn 2017, I sent DNA samples to Ancestry, as well as to two other DNA companies. My parents had recently passed away, and I had some questions about my family background that I hoped the DNA might reveal.As it turned out, that DNA reveal sparked a fairly long and painful story, which you can read here: Ever since then, I’ve kind of dabbled with my family tree. I enjoy digging through documents and connections, following clues, and updating charts.But then, a few weeks ago, I was contacted by one of my DNA matches. It was an odd sort of connection.Based on the DNA data, I knew exactly how related we were (roughly third cousins), with about 1% shared DNA. But I didn’t (and still don’t) know the person’s gender or name. The contact used an Ancestry username, which didn’t indicate either gender or first name. I also know that the person’s approximate age is close to mine, because they told me their age in the message.And then things started to get interesting. My cousin (for I know the person is my cousin, even if I don’t know their name) asked ChatGPT to provide insights into our possible relationship based on the DNA data. That included average lifespans and birth and death periods of our shared ancestors.Also: How ChatGPT scanned 170k lines of code in seconds, saving me hours of workI asked this mystery cousin’s permission to tell you about their ChatGPT use, which they granted. Based on the transcript of their session, along with some of my own questions, ChatGPT was able to shed some light on the family connection.In this article, I’m going to show you how I used ChatGPT (and, by extension, how you can use it) to explore genealogy connections between DNA relatives. I’ll show you the prompts, but in most cases, I’ll just summarize the responses, because those can get quite long. How are we related? My starting point was the DNA data itself. According to Ancestry:Shared DNA: 95 cM across 10 segments on my maternal sideUnweighted shared DNA: 95 cMLongest segment: 16 cMAncestry predicted that we were “half 2nd cousin 1x removed,” but the shared DNA quantity doesn’t necessarily place the relationship on a family tree. It just tells you how many jumps away one person is from the other. So those jumps can go equally all the way up and down the tree, or partially up on one side and down an extra generation on the other, or some variety of the two.I started asking ChatGPT about the DNA data. I asked:What does this mean? Shared DNA: 95 cM across 10 segments Unweighted shared DNA: 95 cM Longest segment 16 cMAlso: I spent hours testing ChatGPT Tasks – and its refusal to follow directions was mildly terrifyingI was told that cM is a unit of measurement for genetic linkage. It measures the length of DNA shared between two individuals. The 95 value indicates second cousins or greater. DNA is shared in blocks or segments. The more segments, the closer the relationship. Larger segments indicate closer relationships, while smaller segments indicate more distant relationships.Our shared DNA had few shared segments, and those segments were pretty small. All together, that put us about eight generational hops from each other. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The OnePlus 13 is a snappy, nearly no-compromise phone that starts at $899. A Snapdragon 8 Elite, paired with a 6,000mAh battery and 80W fast charging, is a recipe for endurance success. IP69 is almost excessive, but you’ll appreciate it when least expected. more buying choices It’s not often that I […] More

Zhou Yibao on Weibo A new foldable phone is about to hit the market, and it may be as thin as a phone can possibly be. Oppo is billing its upcoming Find N5 (it will likely be the OnePlus Open 2 when it hits the US market) as the world’s thinnest foldable. That title currently belongs to […] More

The Apple Watch Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Ring, and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have ushered a new age of AI wearables. Jason Hiner/ZDNETSamsung is kicking off its first Unpacked event for 2025 today, Wednesday, January 22. Although there are still a few more hours until airing, we have a fairly good sense of what will be revealed. Spoiler: The Galaxy S25 series will undoubtedly be the star of the show.Also: Samsung Unpacked 2025: How to watch and what to expectNew Galaxy smartphones are usually shown off during the first Unpacked of the year. Plus, Samsung revealed the topic in its formal invitation. The company stated that “the new Galaxy S series is about [to reset] the bar once again”. Artificial intelligence (AI) is probably set to be the second-biggest topic, as Samsung referred to the “new AI developments as premium Galaxy innovations.”But what about the rest of the show? Well, there’s a good chance more will be unveiled at the event, even if it’s in the form of a short teaser image or video. Samsung has been working on all sorts of devices outside of its wheelhouse for the past few years, and they could make a surprise appearance at Unpacked 2025. Below is a list of four potential candidates.1. Project Moohan XR headset More

Considering that Samsung’s Unpacked invitation reads, “The new Galaxy S series is about to set the bar once again for mobile AI experiences now and into the future,” it’s nearly certain that the S25 lineup will launch at the event. When Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite in October, the company shared that Samsung would be one of the leading manufacturers to adopt the mobile platform. With this event being Samsung’s first release since the Snapdragon 8 Elite launch, it’s likely the S25 lineup will sport Qualcomm’s newest chipset. Also: Leaked Nothing Phone 3 email teases AI-powered flagship – but I’d rather see thisThe chipset will bring major improvements to smartphones, especially in the AI space with support for on-device processing, which will result in faster processing speeds, less latency by forgoing sending data to the cloud, and increased security, as data doesn’t have to leave the device.The Snapdragon 8 Elite has already launched in North America in the OnePlus 13, in which ZDNET’s Kerry Wan found the chipset to “gracefully” tackle day-to-day tasks such as bouncing between productivity apps. However, its performance with graphic-intensive applications is a bit less efficient. In terms of form factors, many leaks give us a good idea of what the phones will look like. An Android Headlines report claims the Galaxy S25 will have a 6.2-inch screen, the Galaxy S25 Plus will have a 6.7-inch screen, and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will have a 6.9-inch display. Images within the report also reveal that the S25 lineup will all have rounder edges, but other than that, it seems like all three will be staying very close to their current design. The color ways for the base models will include Iceblue, Mint, Navy, and Silver Shadow and for the Ultra will include Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Silver Blue, and Titanium White Silver, according to the report.  More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Asus RT-BE86U router is currently on sale for $300. This supports Wi-Fi 7 delivering fast, wireless connections protected by multiple security features. However, getting the most out of the device requires Wi-Fi extenders which can be an expensive endeavor. more buying choices Wi-Fi 7 has been around since last January, […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The TCL Tab 10 Nxtpaper 5G is a full-color, color paper, and ink paper tablet available at Verizon for $239. It’s a great entertainment tablet for daily use that also functions very well as an e-reader. Although the screen is versatile, don’t expect the graphics to compare to those on an […] More

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysLinux Lite 7.0 is available to download and install for free from the official site.This lightweight Linux distribution comes with everything you need and performs like an absolute champ.The default desktop is a bit bland, but it’s fairly easy to customize.My friend recently wanted to bring an old laptop back to life. Her aging Intel MacBook was no longer supported by Apple, and instead of letting the machine wind up in a landfill somewhere, she decided to install Linux, an OS she’d never used before.She started her quest with Linux Mint, which is always a good place to start. Unfortunately, the installation failed for her (mostly because of the doggedly slow nature of the machine), so she reached out.Also: 5 lightweight Linux distributions that will bring your old PC back to lifeGiven her hardware, there was only one logical suggestion to make — Linux Lite. This installation went well for her, except the keyboard layout was automatically selected incorrectly. Fortunately, that was an easy fix.After this experience, I realized I hadn’t reviewed Linux Lite in a while, and it was time to rectify that. So, I downloaded the ISO, spun up a virtual machine, and in less than five minutes logged into the desktop. Any time I review a lightweight Linux distribution, I know what I’m getting into. They tend to be fairly generic, with a lack of eye candy and panache. They get the job done and not much more.  That’s why Linux Lite struck me as unique among the “genre.” No, it doesn’t offer a plethora of effects or beautifications. It’s a very straightforward (albeit customized) version of the Xfce desktop, which means you can always further customize it to meet your needs. It took me all of two minutes to configure the desktop to how I prefer the interface (with a dock-like panel, no desktop icons, and a lighter theme). More