Kerry Wan/ZDNETBefore CES even started in January, Hisense announced its latest home theater projector. Aspiring to deliver a crystal-clear display of up to 150 inches, the company touted the L9Q More
When is Amazon’s Spring Sale 2025? Amazon’s Spring Sale started on March 25 and will end on March 31. That gives you six days to snag great discounts on tech like TVs, sound bars, and more.Are TVs really cheaper during Amazon sales? They can be. Many brands will often mark down popular models and screen sizes during Amazon sales to help move inventory ahead of new releases. And if you’re lucky, you may be able to find an older model at a steep discount or a combination of coupons that help you save even more on a new TV.How did we choose these Spring Sale deals?While plenty of TVs are discounted for the Amazon Spring Sale, not all TVs and discounts are created equal. I focused on reputable brands like Samsung, TCL, and Hisense, as well as TV models that I and other ZDNET experts have reviewed and had hands-on testing experience with. I also made sure that each TV featured on this list had plenty of features that customers have come to expect as standard, such as built-in voice controls, preloaded streaming apps, and enhanced HDR.What are the best Amazon Spring Sale 2025 deals?ZDNET’s experts are searching through Amazon’s Spring Sale deals to find the best discounts by category. These are the best deals so far:You can also find the best Amazon Spring Sale deals by price:And the best deals from other retailers this week:Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends. More
Kerry Wan/ZDNETDid you know that whenever you turn on your smart TV, you invite an unseen guest to watch it with you? These days, most popular TV models utilize automatic content recognition (ACR), a form of ad surveillance technology that gathers information about everything you watch and transmits it to a centralized database. Manufacturers then use your data to identify your viewing preferences, enabling them to deliver highly targeted ads.Also: 5 Chromecast tricks to unlock your TV’s full potential (including a hidden streaming hack)What’s the incentive behind this invasive technology? According to market research firm eMarketer, in 2022, advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads, and those numbers are only going up.To understand how ACR works, imagine a constant, real-time Shazam-like service running in the background while your TV is on. It identifies content displayed on your screen, including programs from cable TV boxes, streaming services, or gaming consoles. ACR does this by capturing continuous screenshots and cross-referencing them with a vast database of media content and advertisements. More
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETOpenAI has continually expanded its ChatGPT offerings, adding an AI voice assistant, file and image understanding, advanced research capabilities, AI agents, and more. However, there was one glaring omission: A really capable image generator.Last week, OpenAI launched 4o image generation. This image model is significantly better — albeit slower — than the DALL-E models previously offered by OpenAI. It tackles very difficult prompts, such as realistic images and, most impressively, accurate text. Also: I tried ChatGPT’s new Advanced Voice Mode update – here’s what changedFor example, in the live stream demo, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, joined by researchers Gabriel Goh and Prafulla Dhariwal, prompted 4o to create a photo from a specific POV with a flyer that included lots of text. After loading for a few seconds, it got the cinematic direction right and accurately printed all the text. More
MacBook Air M4 in Sky Blue Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETWhen Apple announced the MacBook Air M4 More
Jason Hiner/ZDNETApple’s iOS 18.4 update offers a variety of new and improved features, but the star of the show may be priority notifications and expanded Apple Intelligence. Although the company’s AI-powered technology has received some criticism, Apple remains focused on improving its reach and capabilities. Here are the biggest changes coming to your iPhone and iPad, plus what’s new in other software updates rolling out to Apple devices.1. Priority notificationsFirst up: Apple Intelligence will now display urgent or important notifications in a separate section on the Lock screen, so that you can more easily see what you may have missed. To view all your notifications, simply swipe up on the screen. To control this feature, head to Settings and select Notifications. From there, you are able to turn it on or off and choose which apps you want included.2. EU gets Apple IntelligenceApple Intelligence has added support for French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, and localized English for India and Singapore. Also: Forget Siri: Apple Intelligence’s true potential on iPad and Mac lies in third-party appsEven further, iPhone users across the EU will now have access to Apple Intelligence for the first time. This means that the AI will be available in many of the major languages and regions around the world.3. Visual Intelligence via Action ButtonVisual Intelligence is another AI-powered skill that’s reaching more iPhone users. Serving up information on the objects you view through the camera, this capability was previously available only on the iPhone 16 lineup through the Camera control. Now, it’s accessible via the Action button, which means that iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, and iPhone 16e users can take advantage of it. 4. Additional AI changesThe update adds a couple of other AI-based changes. The Image Playground app now offers a Sketch style along with the Animation and Illustration styles. Plus, Apple has added the word “Genmoj” to the Genmoji icon on the keyboard, so you can better identify it. 5. Photos app updateThere’s more to the update beyond Apple Intelligence. The much-maligned Photos app is one example. Also: How to use the Photos app on your iPhoneYou can now show or hide photos that aren’t in an album or synced from your computer. You are able to reorder the different categories in the Media Types and Utilities collections. Sorting your photos by oldest or newest first is now consistent across all collections. Plus, you can choose not to display recently viewed and recently shared photos. 6. Apple News+ recipe directionsFoodies who subscribe to Apple News+ will find a few new items. Also: Need a news app? Here are my top 5 across Android, Linux, and iOSThe app now provides recipes and step-by-step directions for preparing tasty meals. The new recipe catalog helps you find and save your favorite recipes. A food section adds news and information about restaurants, healthy eating, and more. 7. Vision Pro upgradesWhat else is there? Vision Pro users now have their own dedicated iOS app to download apps, find tips, set up a guest mode, and otherwise manage the headset. 8. Control Panel optionsA new Ambient Music option in Control Panel lets you choose different sound categories such as Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Also in Control Panel is a new Apple Intelligence section with three options: Talk to Siri, Type to Siri, and Visual Intelligence.9. Podcast app widgetsUsers of the Podcasts app will find a couple of new widgets. Also: Everything you need to start a podcastThe Library widget displays all saved episodes from your library, while the Shows widget will show you all the episodes from a specific show. CarPlay will now reveal an extra row of icons on the screen if your display is large enough. Subscribers of Google Fi and certain T-Mobile MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) will now be able to use RCS in their text conversations with Android users. 10. Security patchesAside from these and other enhancements, iOS 18.4 also carries with it a host of security patches, more than 60 in total. The patches fix bugs in such apps and features as Calendar, Focus mode, Journal, Maps, Photos, Safari, and Siri. More
<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways NixOS is an open-source operating system that is available to install and use for free. It offers several desktop environments to choose from, is as rock-solid as any OS on the market, and performs quite well. However, there’s a fairly steep learning curve for installing non-free software. –> Before we get […] More
Over the last year, I’ve used fitness wearables to dial into my workout regimen, and they have totally improved my health journey. Smartwatches and smart rings have helped me track my progress over time, monitor my vitals, better understand my post-workout recovery, and stay motivated to keep my activity streaks alive. If you’re honing into your fitness routine or want to learn more about your daily activity patterns, a health tracker is worth trying — especially if it’s on sale. Also: The best Amazon Spring Sale deals still availableAmazon’s Big Spring Sale is in full swing, and we’ve already seen record-low savings on the latest health and sleep trackers. The e-commerce giant kicked off its annual sale event last week, and today is the final day of deals. Whether you’re investing in your first-ever Apple Watch for step-counting or upgrading that Garmin Forerunner to the latest generation, I’ve rounded up some of the hottest deals on health trackers that you can take advantage of right now. Shop these deals before they’re gone. The best smartwatch, smart ring, and fitness tracker deals for Amazon Spring Sale 2025Oura Ring 3 More
