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    in Information Technology

    Apple’s $95 million Siri settlement could mean a payout for you – here’s how much

    Maria Diaz/ZDNETApple has settled a class action lawsuit in which tens of millions of users can expect a slice of the payout.Last Tuesday, the iPhone maker agreed to pay $95 million to settle a 2019 lawsuit claiming that Siri violated the privacy of Apple users by recording their conversations, as reported by Reuters.Lopez v. Apple, Inc.Known as Lopez v. Apple, Inc., the class action lawsuit was filed by three plaintiffs who alleged that Apple programmed Siri to intercept conversations even when no hot word, such as “Hey Siri,” was spoken. Further, the plaintiffs claimed that Apple violated their privacy by sharing recordings of the conversations with third-party contractors.Specifically, two of the plaintiffs said that mentioning Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants prompted ads for both products. The third plaintiff said he received ads for a surgical treatment after discussing it privately with his doctor.Also: iOS 18.2 was killing my iPhone’s battery until I turned off this featureIn settling the suit, Apple has denied any wrongdoing on its part. Before the plaintiffs and Apple users can receive their slice of the payout, the settlement must be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in the Oakland, Calif., federal court. More

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    in Information Technology

    I found a malicious Chrome extension on my system – here’s how and what I did next

    ZDNETWell, that wasn’t fun. Last week, Ars Technica ran a report about 33 Chrome extensions that have been found to have malware. And yeah, yesterday I found that I had one of them installed.You can read the Ars article for a list to check yourself. One seemed familiar: Reader Mode. It was intended to clear a page of all non-text to make it more readable, like Safari’s Reader Mode. I haven’t run it for quite some time, but the name was familiar. Also: Google’s favorite Chrome extensions of 2024 can save you time and moneyI went to my 3-dot menu in Chrome, then Extensions, then Manage Extensions. And there it was, right at the top of the page: “This extension contains malware.” Fortunately, the extension was switched off, but I have no idea when it became infected or whether it did any damage to the Chrome installs on my Macs or Windows machines. More

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    in Robotics

    Ring’s big CES announcement includes new Kidde smoke alarms and 2K cam upgrades

    Ring/Kidde CES is one of the biggest stages in the smart home industry, and Ring is one of the big brands making announcements during the event. The Amazon-owned home security company has announced it is upgrading two of its popular cameras to 2K video resolution and forming a new partnership with Kidde to integrate Ring technology […] More

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    in Robotics

    Home Depot’s upcoming smart home devices are surprisingly robust and capable

    Home Depot/ZDNETThe Home Depot has become a reliable resource for smart home devices powered by its Hubspace integration platform. The retail giant announced three new products at CES 2025 that will come to its shelves this year. The new Hubspace smart devices include a Remote Switch and two Vissani AC units with smart integrations.The Hubspace Remote Switch delivers smart control for Hubspace devices in your home, with on/off functionality and brightness control for lights. It comes in a wall-mounted plate that looks like a light switch, but the remote is removable. You can toggle the switch on and off to control a designated Hubspace device or double-click on or off to control the brightness.Also: CES 2025: What to expect and how to watchHubspace devices More

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    in Robotics

    Apple Intelligence now needs 7GB of storage, up from 4GB – here’s why

    Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETThose of you who activate and run Apple Intelligence on your devices will now need a bit more space to handle the latest AI skills. In December, Apple updated its Apple Intelligence requirements page to reveal that 7 GB of storage is now required, as spotted by 9to5Mac. That’s up from the initial demand of 4GB of free space.If you have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac with hundreds of gigabytes of storage, that requirement shouldn’t be too onerous. But if your device came with a small amount of real estate, say 128GB, and you’re already running low, then the Apple Intelligence requirement could pose a problem. Plus, you can’t selectively turn specific AI features on or off; it’s all or nothing.Also: iOS 18.2 was killing my iPhone’s battery until I turned off this featureOn the initial version of its Apple Intelligence requirements page, Apple did include a footnote explaining that “storage requirements for on-device Apple Intelligence models will increase as more features roll out.” So even that 4GB requirement was just a starting point.Why the need for additional space at this point? Apple pretty much spelled it out.The 4GB demand was in place in September before the company had even officially rolled out iOS 18.1, the first version of iOS with Apple Intelligence. The same held true for iPadOS and MacOS Sequoia. Those versions offered only a few AI-powered tidbits, including Writing Tools, a new visual look for Siri, notification summaries, and the ability to record and view summaries of your phone calls. More