Welcome to ZDNET’s Innovation Index, which identifies the most innovative developments in tech from the past week and ranks the top four, based on votes from our panel of editors and experts. Our mission is to help you identify the trends that will have the biggest impact on the future. More
rob dobi/Getty Images Artificial intelligence (AI) — as with cloud computing a few years prior — is upending the economics of information technology. In many ways, AI has the power to make technology much more efficient. The challenge, however, is helping people and organizations move to the next level and adapt to the new AI […] More
rob dobi/Getty Images X CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this week that he’s pulling the teeth out of X’s (formerly Twitter) blocking feature. Soon, users you’ve blocked will be able to view your posts again. Nina Owji, a web developer, posted, “X is about to remove the current block button, meaning that if an account is public, […] More
Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty Images Car owners, are you sitting down? Cybersecurity researchers recently reported a flaw in a website — operated by automaker Kia — that enabled them to remotely control key functions of millions of cars. The full report, published on the personal blog of Sam Curry — one of the researchers — offers a […] More
Marco Bottigelli/Getty Images In a significant milestone for the 2024 Stack Overflow developer’s favorite relational database management system (DBMS), the PostgreSQL Global Development Group has released PostgreSQL 17. This latest version of the open-source DBMS introduces a host of new features and performance improvements that further solidify PostgreSQL’s position as a leading database solution for enterprises and developers […] More
Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNETI just finished watching Mark Zuckerberg give his keynote address at Meta Connect 2024, the company’s big deep dive event into their technologies and research. Think of it as roughly the equivalent of Apple’s WWDC but for Meta’s tech.Just a few weeks ago, I watched the annual Apple event launching the new iPhone 16 line, and I couldn’t help but be struck by the contrast. Meta seems to be pushing hard to get to the future. Apple, for the most part, seems to be coasting.Also: Meta takes some big AI swings at Meta Connect 2024Well, that’s not really fair. Apple is constantly innovating and improving its products. The company has enormous engineering investments. But, with a few surprise exceptions, like the AirPods Pro 2 now available as hearing aids, Apple seems like a lot of the same ol’ with a new coat of paint.In fact, the new AirPods Max are exactly that. All Apple did was change the port and add some new colors. I’d like to tell you more about Apple Intelligence on my brand new $1600 iPhone 16 Pro Max, which Apple claims was built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence. Except Apple Intelligence isn’t ready yet. Pieces will be rolled out over a couple of releases.Also: 6 ways the new AirPods Max could have been so much betterAnd then there’s Meta. I can see why Zuckerberg changed the company name from Facebook because what we saw at Connect 2024 was way more than just Facebook.What I saw at Meta Connect 2024First, we saw the company confidently expanding its Quest product line. The Quest 3S will be priced at $299 More
I’ve seen people superglue their hand to their face, smash themselves in the teeth with a hammer while trying to put up storm shutters, struggle for over an hour trying to start a gasoline generator that didn’t have any gas in it, turn an expensive tent into a fireball attempting to refill a gasoline stove that was already lit, slice their hand open with a screwdriver, and settle down to read the instructions for some essential bit of kit as a massive storm approaches.Also: You’re using super glue all wrongAdd stress and fear into the mix, and you have the potential for a lot of chaos.Not sure how your portable battery pack, generator, or new weather app works? The time to be figuring this out is now, not when the winds are strengthening, the rain is starting, and the lights have gone out.Oh, and now is a good time to download and print out any manuals you might need.Also, the more you practice and use your gear, the more likely you are to remember you have it. I’ve known people forget that they have some useful bit of kit when an emergency hits. This is why practice and drills are important! More
Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and LWN editor, at Open Source Summit Europe 2024. The Linux Foundation Prominent Linux kernel developers gathered to share insights on kernel development’s current state and future at a recent roundtable discussion during the Open Source Summit Europe in Vienna. The panel, moderated by Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and co-founder of […] More
