<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Viture Pro XR glasses are available for a retail price of $459 in black. The display is larger, brighter, and smoother with the same form factor, fit, and excellent construction. An additional accessory is needed for devices without USB-C and multiple pieces are required for gaming. –> Right now, you […] More
Disconnected marketing tools bring more challenges than results. If you’ve got customer data scattered all over, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of every conversation with each new lead across different channels.Customer relationship management, or CRM, software is supposed to help with that. But sometimes it just adds to the pile of things to keep pace with. Constant switching between your CRM, social network, and email marketing tool wastes time and creates gaps that leads can slip through.Also: The best CRM softwareI’ve been spending a lot of time looking at CRM tools with built-in email marketing components that can save you time and money. You get both for the price of one, plus the benefit of having everything in one place. What is the best CRM software with email marketing right now?My top pick for this list is ActiveCampaign. This platform combines powerful marketing automation with a CRM that works for both marketers and sales teams. It’s also got a very smooth no-code automation builder, so you can create complex email sequences that respond to customer behavior.Also: The best email marketing softwareWhen selecting the vendors for this list, I focused most on how well the CRM component plays together with the email marketing tools. It’s not worth having them together on the same platform but still at a great remove. Automation capabilities came next, since any modern marketing campaign needs emails that are triggered based on customer actions and data changes. I also looked into data management, testing how well each platform handles segmentation and personalization at scale.The best CRM software with email marketing in 2025 ActiveCampaign is my top choice for this category, mainly because of its visual automation builder that makes even the most complex workflows feel intuitive. The drag-and-drop interface requires virtually no training to understand, which is rare in the marketing automation space. This platform is great at creating personalized customer journeys based on user behavior and business data.ActiveCampaign has the most sophisticated segmentation and tagging system I’ve seen — it works kind of like digital sticky notes for each contact. You can automatically assign tags based on actions, behaviors, and integrations. Then all you have to do is use those tags to trigger highly targeted campaigns.ActiveCampaign’s pricing starts at just $15 per month, making it accessible for small businesses and scaling all the way up to enterprise needs. Whether you have just a couple of customers or a couple million, it offers world-class deliverability and error-free contact management.ActiveCampaign features: Marketing automation | Email segmentation | Lead scoring | Predictive content | Site tracking | SMS marketing | Machine learning insights
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<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Tineco Pure One Station 5 vacuum cleaner normally retails for $459; now it’s on sale for $339. It’s a powerful cordless vacuum with a self-emptying base station, perfect for pet owners and parents. Some parts can be finicky, like lining up the floor brush on the base station, or its […] More
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETIf you’re running into problems with ChatGPT this morning, you’re not alone.Just after 8:30 a.m. ET, reports began surfacing that paid users were experiencing quite a few errors when trying to converse with the chatbot. In some cases, ChatGPT responds with an error message; in others, it doesn’t respond at all. OpenAI confirmed the issueThe outage‑tracking website DownDetector showed a spike in reports about that time. Reports were declining but still present by 9:45 a.m. ET. ZDNET’s parent company, Ziff Davis, also owns DownDetector. Also: My 8 ChatGPT Agent tests produced only 1 near-perfect result – and a lot of alternative factsOpenAI confirmed the issue on its status page, saying there were “Elevated errors on ChatGPT for all paid users.” It added that it was working on mitigation. At the time of this writing, the issues had persisted for about 90 minutes. The status page noted that the “Conversations” component was experiencing the most elevated error rates. More
TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus <!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus is available for $249. This tablet can switch from full color to an E Ink-like display with the press of a button, it has 256GB of storage, and an eye-catching matte display with 120Hz refresh rate. The Nxtpaper 11 Plus can get […] More
sankai/Getty Microsoft has patched two critical zero-day SharePoint security flaws that have already been exploited by hackers to attack vulnerable organizations. Responding to the exploits, the software giant has issued fixes for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition and SharePoint Server 2019 but is still working on a patch for SharePoint Server 2016. Designated as CVE-2025-53771 and […] More
Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETLubuntu. Say it with me. Looboontoo. Has a nice ring, doesn’t it?Lubuntu isn’t just an adorable name that rolls off the tongue like caramel. It’s also a Linux distribution that combines the Ubuntu distribution and the LXQT desktop. LXQT is a lightweight Linux desktop based on the Qt cross-platform application development framework. LXQT is fast, simple, works well on older hardware, is customizable, and includes a decent collection of software to get you started. Also: 5 lightweight Linux distributions that will bring your old PC back to lifeLubuntu greatly benefits from the combination of the LXQT desktop and its Ubuntu base, so it’s fast, reliable, and easy to use. Thanks to some components borrowed from KDE Plasma (such as the Discover app store), it’s very user-friendly. What, exactly, makes Lubuntu so user-friendly? Let’s take a look. It’s all about the desktop There are two different routes to designing a Linux desktop: Stick with what’s familiar.Make something modern and different.The general consensus is that if you want to attract new users (specifically, those who typically use Windows), you should go the familiar route. The last thing you want is to attract new users only to have them shy away because they can’t figure out how to use the desktop. Lubuntu went the familiar route. Also: Want to save your old computer? Try one of these 8 Linux distros for freeOn the desktop, you’ll find a panel, a start menu, a system tray, and clickable icons. For the average user, the Lubuntu desktop looks as though it could be designed by Microsoft. Click on the “start” button and you’ll see a menu that’s as familiar as any you’ve ever used. The applications are broken into simple categories, and you can use the search field to find what you’re looking for. You’ll also find two buttons at the bottom right corner of the menu, one for the power option and one to open the Configuration Center. More
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETWhen I first started using Linux in the late 90s, there was really only one way to install an application. You would download the app, unpack the archive, run the ./configure command, build the app with make, and then install it with make install. Inevitably, when you ran through that course, you would stumble because of dependencies and have to locate the dependency, run through the same process as you just did (only with the new software), and then find out the new dependency had dependencies of its own.That was always a fun time. Also: 6 reasons why I’ve stuck with Ubuntu-based Linux distros for the last 20 yearsModern Linux distributions don’t require users to install applications from source, which is a good thing. Imagine if users still had to jump through those same hoops to get software installed. If that were the case, Linux wouldn’t have finally broken the 5% market share barrier recently. Thankfully, Linux distributions now ship with their own built-in package managers that handle the complicated process of installing software. For instance, apt and dnf are very good at checking for dependencies and then installing them for you. Although simplicity is a very good reason to use the built-in package managers, there are other reasons for doing so, and those reasons are more important than you might know. 1. Keeping it all in check If there’s one reason why you should use the built-in package manager to install all of your software, it’s this. When you use the distribution’s package manager to install an app, the package manager is then aware of the application it installed. Because of that, any time the app has an available update, the package manager does its thing by downloading the updated software (and any required dependency), and then upgrades the app. Your distribution’s package manager is very good at keeping tabs on what’s installed on your system, what version of the app is on your system, and when or if there are available updates. If you were to compile and install that app from source, there would be no automatic updates. Instead, you’d have to download the latest version and go through the same process. Even worse is the fact that you’d have to manually check to see if there’s a new version by going to the site for the app, locating the latest version, finding the version you have installed, and then compiling and installing the latest. Also: The easiest way to try out Ubuntu LinuxUpdates are a key component of keeping your system safe and running smoothly. Updates often contain security patches, which could prevent unwanted users from breaking into your computer and doing bad things. You want updates, and you want them regularly (and easily). That’s not the only reason to install software this way. 2. Security is key Generally speaking, software available from the standard repositories for your distribution has been vetted, so it is far less likely to contain problems. The software you downloaded from some rando website and installed from source isn’t. When installing from source that was created by an unknown developer, you run the risk of adding malicious code to your system. It’s like downloading an Android APK from some unknown site and installing it as if it’s perfectly fine to do so. Also: While Windows 10 users panic, Ubuntu makes extending support easy – here’s howIt’s not. It rarely is. Because of this, you should always use your package manager for installing applications. Speaking of which… 3. Unknown repositories Almost every Linux distribution uses a standard repository. What does that mean? Think of it as a sort of “official repository” that is maintained by a group of trusted people who actually have your best interests in mind. But just because your distribution has an official repository, it doesn’t mean you can’t add other repositories. When you do, you take a risk that the software contained within could include malicious code. Also: 10 Linux apps I install on every new machine (and why you should, too)Recently, it was discovered that the Arch AUR repository (a community-driven repository) contained a few malicious packages that included a remote access trojan. Those packages were librewolf-fix-bin, firefox-patch-bin, and zen-browser-patched-bin. Immediately upon discovery, the packages were removed, but there’s no telling if the malicious code was installed on anyone’s machine. Also: 5 of the easiest, quickest Linux distros to install – and I’ve tried them allI’m not saying that you should never add a non-standard repository to your system, but you should always vet any repository you include because not doing so could cause any number of headaches. More
