Eliana Willis

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ZDNETAccessible through the Wallet app, the Apple Cash feature on your iPhone lets you exchange money with another person. I’ve used it several times when I needed to reimburse someone or request money from a friend or family member.In the past, you’d have to send a text message to transfer cash to a fellow iPhone user. But with iOS 18, there’s another option that works as long as the other person is with you. Thanks to the new Tap to Cash method, simply bring your iPhone next to the phone of the other person, and the money is sent.Both phones must be running iOS 18. You also need to have enabled Apple Cash on both devices. Once set up, the process is quick and simple, at least most of the time. Here’s how it works. More

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETFive years ago, when Microsoft launched the Surface Pro X and Surface Laptop 3, it made a tiny design change that turned out to be pretty huge, in retrospect.Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11In previous versions of the Surface line, storage devices had been fixed to the motherboard, making it impossible to add disk space after the initial purchase. The new design used standard M.2 NVMe storage devices in a slot that’s accessible from the outside of the device. Corporate IT managers were the main driver of this change. For repairability and security reasons, they wanted the ability to replace SSDs when swapping out devices.Why should you consider a storage upgrade?This design has been a game-changer for Surface customers in home and small business environments, who now have the opportunity to upgrade storage after the initial purchase, potentially at a fraction of the cost that Microsoft charges for upgrades.Also: The best M.2 SSDs of 2024: Expert tested and reviewedAs regular readers might remember, I purchased the cheapest Surface Pro 11 model earlier this year, with a 256 GB SSD included. I would have had to pay an extra $200 to upgrade that storage to 512 GB, which was the maximum available for my configuration. On higher-end configurations, going from 512 GB to 1 TB costs another $200, and there’s currently no 2 TB option available. (You can buy a 1 TB replacement drive for the Surface Pro 9 More

isayildiz/Getty Images In June, the United States Department of Commerce announced a ban on Kaspersky software. As of September 29, ZDNET’s Lance Whitney reported, Kaspersky will no longer be able to provide antivirus signature updates and code updates for the banned products to customers in the United States. Also: Did you get a fake McAfee or […] More

Intel’s Senior Principal Engineer for system-on-chip design Arik Gihon takes audience members through the design of Intel’s latest data center chip, Lunar Lake. Tiernan Ray for ZDNETThe science and engineering of making chips dedicated to processing artificial intelligence is as vibrant as ever, judging from a well-attended chip conference taking place this week at Stanford University called Hot Chips.The Hot Chips show, currently in its 36th year, draws 1,500 attendees, just over half of whom participate via the online live feed and the rest at Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium. For decades, the show has been a hotbed for discussion of the most cutting-edge chips from Intel, AMD, IBM, and many other vendors, with companies often using the show to unveil new products. Also: Linus Torvalds talks AI, Rust adoption, and why the Linux kernel is ‘the only thing that matters’This year’s conference received over a hundred submissions for presentation from all over the world. In the end, 24 talks were accepted, about as many as would fit in a two-day conference format. Two tutorial sessions took place on Sunday, with a keynote on Monday and Tuesday. There are also thirteen poster sessions. The tech talks onstage and the poster presentations are highly technical and oriented toward engineers. The audience tends to spread out laptops and multiple screens as if spending the sessions in their personal offices.  More

JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images Meta’s annual Connect conference is almost here, and if you’re interested in new hardware, you’re in luck. While a large portion of the conference will likely focus on the company’s AI efforts, at least two devices should debut: a new Quest headset and new smart glasses. Also: Why Meta’s […] More

A good multitool can be a reliable companion for decades (as long as you don’t lose it!). Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETI like having a good multitool close at hand. While they can’t replace a proper toolkit, I don’t fancy carrying a full toolkit with me when I’m out and about. Many of my readers are like me, often finding themselves doing random and unplanned DIY tasks throughout the day, so having a portable toolkit that can handle the basics is essential.View at Amazon More