Eliana Willis

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways Amazon sells the Echo Hub for $180. The Echo Hub gives Alexa the place it has earned in the smart home market: A control panel to easily access smart devices, no ads, and no unnecessary fluff. The smart display can be slow and buggy, especially while loading multiple camera views more […] More

Anna Bliokh/Getty Images Have you ever wanted to build your own custom application but didn’t want to take the time to do any of the pesky learning that software development requires? If so, a new experimental project from GitHub might just make your dreams come true. GitHub Spark lets you build what the company calls […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Samsung Galaxy Watch FE LTE is available for $250 in three colors. The watch is small, supports a host of health and wellness features, and lets you use it for communications even if you leave your phone at home. The small watch body means the display is also small, the […] More

Jim Rapoza/ZDNETI have to admit, heading out to London for 2025 KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe, I thought I might see the beginning of the downward trend for the event about building, deploying, and managing next-generation cloud applications and infrastructures. After all, the show turned 10 last year, and, in my experience, that’s when conferences start to show their age. Plus, there has been lots of news around the effect of AI on application development, and while KubeCon isn’t directly about dev, much of its focus is on applications and services. Also: 7 strategic insights business and IT leaders need for AI transformation in 2025But boy, was I wrong. In fact, KubeCon 2025 in London was packed, with over 12,000 attendees. Getting through the crowds at the massive London ExCel center at times made me feel like an infected Brad Pitt trying to cut through an oncoming horde of zombies in World War Z. And good luck getting into any of the keynotes even a little bit late, with every seat in the main hall and overflow balconies taken.So, what’s behind the enthusiasm for core infrastructure and cloud technology? One key to success may be that Kubernetes and other core cloud-native technologies are proving fairly AI-resistant, especially compared with regular application coding.Also: How Salesforce’s 5-level framework for AI agents finally cuts through the hypeThe learning and information from a KubeCon event are focused on deployment, management, and integration issues that require expertise and an understanding of complex technologies. Plus, the rapid pace of change in cloud native can be tough for even recent models to keep up with, and anyone using AI will probably be building very out-of-date systems. More

Jack Wallen/ZDNETI’m always searching for ways to improve the sounds I hear. Whether it’s my record player, a streaming service on my desktop, or my phone, no device is exempt from my never-ending quest.Also: 5 easy ways to transfer photos from your Android device to your Windows PCIf your Android phone is your primary source of music, podcasts, and videos, and you’ve yet to feel satisfied with the audio, there are several ways to improve what you hear. Although you’ll never reach a state of audiophile nirvana on a mobile device, you can improve the results dramatically without too much work.Let me show you how.1. Use wired headphonesBluetooth is convenient but noisy. Two things happen when a Bluetooth signal travels from your phone to your headphones: First, the sound is compressed, losing a considerable degree of fidelity. Second, there’s always the chance of interference, which can introduce noise into the signal. Also: The best headphones for working out: Expert-tested and reviewedBecause of these two factors, you should opt for wired headphones or earbuds for higher-quality sound. Most modern phones require a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter More

slowmotiongli/Getty Images Dolphins are among the smartest creatures on the planet, and a new AI model from Google combined with Pixel phones is helping researchers better understand their language — and even hopefully communicate with them.  Here’s how it works.  Also: The top 20 AI tools – and the #1 thing to remember when you […] More