More stories

  • in

    This Lenovo is my surprise pick for best productivity laptop – and it doesn’t look boring

    <!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways Lenovo’s 10th-Gen Yoga Slim 9i retails for $1,760. It’s a lightweight laptop with a striking design and an even more striking 4K OLED touchscreen. However, some will find its lack of ports limiting and the webcam low-quality. more buying choices One of the things I appreciate about Lenovo is its willingness […] More

  • in

    Google just gave Pixel Watch its most important update yet – and it’s free to use

    Matthew Miller/ZDNETThe Pixel Watch 3 is getting a first-of-its-kind, potentially life-saving feature. In a blog post, Google announced that it had received FDA clearance for its Loss of Pulse Detection feature.Also: My new favorite Android smartwatch outperforms Google and Samsung in a crucial wayThe feature works by tracking your heartbeat. If your heart stops beating — due to cardiac arrest, respiratory or circulatory failure, overdose, or poisoning — your watch will automatically turn on more accurate infrared LEDs and look for motion data. If the watch determines you’re not responsive, it will start a countdown and audio alarm. If you still don’t respond, the watch will place a call to emergency services using your LTE or phone connection, inform them that you don’t have a pulse, and share your location. More

  • in

    DirecTV’s new no-contract ‘Genre Packs’ start at $35 – and you can try them for free

    This package debuted in January as a beta, with a tempting discount for early subscribers. With today’s announcement, the beta label goes away, and so does the discount. For $70 a month, you get 25 channels, including MLB TV, the NFL and NBA and Golf channels, all the ESPN variants and ESPN+, TNT, TBS, and both Fox Sports channels, along with a handful of other sports networks. Also: Why I still recommend this Sony 4K TV over the cheaper Hisense and TCL modelsThe lineup also includes all of the big cable news networks (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNBC) and, depending on your market, local network affiliates from ABC/NBC/FOX/CW. It’s the most expensive of the new bundles, but it’s a relative bargain for diehard sports fans.For an additional $13 a month, you can add the five channels in the MySports Extra mini pack, which includes the NFL RedZone and Motor Trend channels. More

  • in

    Most US workers don’t use AI at work yet. This study suggests a reason why

    John W. Banagan/Getty Images Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have become increasingly entrenched in our daily lives. However, a new study suggests that the American workforce seems largely uninterested in adopting AI en masse.  According to a Pew Research study released this week, around 80% of Americans don’t […] More

  • in

    OpenAI finally unveils GPT-4.5. Here’s what it can do

    OpenAI Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a roadmap for its upcoming models, GPT-4.5 and GPT-5. In the X post, Altman shared that GPT-4.5, codenamed Orion internally, would be its last non-chain-of-thought model. Other than that, the details of the model remained a mystery — until today.  GPT-4.5 has launched On Thursday morning, […] More

  • in

    iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 14 Pro: Should you upgrade to the latest model?

    Jason Hiner/ZDNET & Maria Diaz/ZDNETApple held its annual iPhone event back in September 2024 and debuted the iPhone 16 series. Much of the presentation was dedicated to showing off all of the artificial intelligence (AI) features that would eventually come to the smartphone. While the AI tech was certainly impressive, does it make the iPhone 16 enough of an upgrade to warrant a new $1,000+ payment?Also: The best iPhones you can buy today (and if you should wait for iPhone 17)As an iPhone 14 Pro Max user, I’m not convinced that the new AI-enabled iPhone 16 Pro More

  • in

    This $100 Android phone reminded me of my Pixel 9 Pro in the best way

    <!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The NUU N30 is available now on Amazon for $129. This $129 phone would make an amazing first phone for a child or a backup device. The fingerprint scanner on the N30 is in the power button, so there’s no under-screen biometrics and the phone doesn’t support wireless charging. –> Let’s […] More