Eliana Willis

Kerry Wan/ZDNETDid you know that whenever you turn on your smart TV, you invite an unseen guest to watch it with you? These days, most popular TV models utilize automatic content recognition (ACR), a form of ad surveillance technology that gathers information about everything you watch and transmits it to a centralized database. Manufacturers then use your data to identify your viewing preferences, enabling them to deliver highly targeted ads.Also: The fastest VPNs of 2025: Great speeds and secure connections anywhereWhat’s the incentive behind this invasive technology? According to market research firm eMarketer, in 2022, advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads, and those numbers are only going up.To understand how ACR works, imagine a constant, real-time Shazam-like service running in the background while your TV is on. It identifies content displayed on your screen, including programs from cable TV boxes, streaming services, or gaming consoles. ACR does this by capturing continuous screenshots and cross-referencing them with a vast database of media content and advertisements. More

ZDNETAnother day. Another cloud service changing the rules on stuff we already bought and paid for.This time, Amazon is removing a feature that’s been part of the Kindle experience for more than a decade: downloading files to your computer. Also: This clever Kindle trick lets you download 25 books at once – but it’s riskyI’m not going to bury the lede: You have until Feb. 26, 2025, to download copies of your Kindle books to your computer. After that, Amazon will remove the ability to download books to files you can control yourself.I’m a little disappointed that Amazon doesn’t say anything about this in its main Digital Content management interface. More

Apple/ZDNETApple’s follow-up to the budget iPhone SE — the iPhone 16e — is here. As the more affordable option in the lineup, the tech giant cut a few features to keep costs down and make the pricier models more appealing. One of the notable omissions? MagSafe. Also: What does the ‘e’ in iPhone 16e stand for?While the iPhone 16e More

Handwriting your notes can be a give-and-take. On one hand, you retain information better, boost critical thinking skills, and improve your creative thinking by taking manual notes. On the other hand, it is convenient to type your notes on your tablet or laptop, store them more quickly, and compose them in a neater fashion. With smart pens, you can have the best of both worlds.These pens handle notes and can transform them into digital images, record audio, and edit pre-existing notes. Like the Livescribe Symphony Smartpen, which does all of those useful things, or the Rocketbook, which comes with fewer of the bells and whistles, serving the needs of professionals, artists, or even students. If you want to transform your note-writing game, read on for our best picks to find what suits you and your needs best.Also: The best stylus you can buyWhat is the best smart pen right now?We at ZDNET have scoured the internet to find the best options for smart pens. Our current top pick is the Livescribe Symhony Smartpen More

ZDNETI love a good note-taking app. They help keep me organized and ensure I don’t have to keep every thought that spills out of my head within the sulci and gyri of my brain. At their core, note-taking apps make my daily life a bit easier with:Bulleted lists of tasks.Notes for books I’m writing or planning to write.Shopping lists.Daily thoughts.And so much more.So, yeah, I use note-taking apps all the time. Usually, I try to make use of note-taking apps that are cross-platform so I can access my notes from anywhere. However, when I’m on MacOS, I might start using an app I only recently discovered.That app is called Craft. What can Craft do?Craft offers all the standard features, such as a block-based note-taking system, nested pages and folders, spaces to separate content by purpose, support for text, images, sketches, code blocks, PDF files, and rich link previews, the ability to add any kind of media directly into notes, real-time collaborative document editing, options to share notes as formatted emails, PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, or Markdown files, private link sharing for feedback and comments, automatic syncing across devices, a built-in calendar, templates, drag-and-drop functionality, integration with other apps like Ulysses, Day One, DevonThink, and Things, and export to various formats, including Textbundle for migration to other note-taking apps. Also: How I feed my files to a local AI for better, more relevant responsesThere’s one other feature that was added to the latest release. I’m sure you can guess what that feature is.Why would you need AI for a note-taking app?If you guessed AI, then you are correct. I kicked the tires of Craft and found the AI to actually be quite helpful.For instance, I wanted to create a general housekeeping chore task list, so I opened the Craft AI assistant and typed, “Write a general list of housekeeping chores.” To my surprise, the list presented was really handy — so much so, that I decided to keep it. Also: My 5 favorite note-taking apps for staying organized on a desktopI then gave it another test by typing, “Write me an encouraging statement,” and the results were equally impressive. The final test was to use the assistant to check the grammar and spelling of my notes. Let me show you how it works. More

ZDNETChatGPT can now field your questions as the default search engine in mobile Safari. With the latest version of the ChatGPT app on your iPhone or iPad, any search you conduct in Safari automatically uses OpenAI’s chatbot to respond to your queries.Sorry, Google – but here’s how it worksNo dig at Google, but ChatGPT is better equipped to handle certain types of requests, especially if you just want a direct answer rather than thousands of results. That’s why this option is certainly worth trying. Here’s how to do it. Assuming you already have the ChatGPT app on your iPhone or iPad, make sure you’re running the latest version. To do this, open the App Store app, tap your profile icon in the top right, and then tap the “Update All” link to update all installed apps. Otherwise, swipe through the list and just update ChatGPT. Also: ChatGPT’s user base just doubled in 6 months – to more than 400 million weekly usersNext, go to Settings and select Apps. Swipe down the screen and select Safari. On the next screen, tap the option for Extensions. Select ChatGPT Search and turn on the switch for “Allow Extension.” Under Permissions, tap google.com and change the setting to Allow. Now, fire up Safari. Type a question or query in the address field, then submit it. In response, ChatGPT pops up to provide the answer. By default, the AI will launch without an account, but you’ll probably want to log in with your own account. You can then opt to remember the device for 30 days so you don’t have to sign in each time. More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETKicked off on Tuesday, Apple’s first public beta of iOS 18.4 enhances a host of features in clever ways. But those of you expecting another AI-powered overhaul to Siri may be disappointed. What’s inside?On the plus side, the new beta adds more in the realm of Apple Intelligence. You can now enable Priority Notifications, which prompt the built-in AI to show them at the top of your notification stack. To activate this, go to Settings, select Notifications, tap Prioritize Notifications, and then turn on the switch for Prioritize Notifications. The Image Playground now includes a third style called Sketch, joining the Animation and Illustration styles that were already available. Accessing Genmoji is easier thanks to a new button that says “Genmoji.” Also: The latest iOS 18.3 update was killing my iPhone’s battery – until I disabled this popular featurePlus, Apple Intelligence now supports French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified), as well as the localized English language in India and Singapore. Of course, you’ll need the right type of device to access Apple Intelligence. That means any iPhone 16 model, an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone 15 Pro Max, any iPad with an A17 Pro or M1 or later chip, or any Mac with an M1 or later chip. Yes, Apple has also released public betas for iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4, which offer many of the same enhancements found in iOS 18.4. Also: Why Apple’s disabling of iCloud encryption in the UK is bad news for everyoneNext up, Apple News+ has cooked up a new Food section for subscribers seeking recipes, healthy eating tips, and other food-related information. A new Ambient Music option accessible through Control Panel lets you choose different sound categories such as Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Tapping one of the four then plays music in that style. The beta adds new widgets for the Podcasts app. The Library widget displays all saved episodes from your podcast library, while the Shows widget will show you all the episodes from a specific show. For CarPlay users, you’ll now see an extra row of icons on the screen, but only if your display is large enough. And for people who need to translate languages, you’re now able to set a default translation app. More