Eliana Willis

ESR/ZDNETESR has unveiled a new affordable iPad stylus option at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and it looks super promising for the price. Also: CES 2025: The 15 most impressive products so farESR’s Geo Digital PencilApple’s popular Apple Pencil lineup is often the first choice for many iPad users, but they aren’t the most affordable, ranging upwards of $130 for the newest Pencil Pro. And while there are certainly alternatives on the market, ESR just shook it up with its latest release at CES 2025.ESR’s Geo Digital Pencil is equipped with Apple-certified FindMy integration, which means you won’t have to worry about losing or misplacing your stylus. A simple tap of a button will allow for easy location, “blending high performance, peace of mind, and functionality perfect for creative professionals,” according to ESR. Apple Pencil alternativeThe stylus is widely compatible with all iPad models released after 2018 (excluding iPad 10th Gen for magnetic attachment), making it an affordable choice for plenty of iPad users. More

ZDNETWith AI increasingly popping up in our personal and professional lives, it’s only natural that this area has become an in-demand skill in the job world. On Tuesday, LinkedIn revealed its take on the 25 fastest-growing jobs in the US, and AI captured three of the spots, including the first two.Number one on the list is Artificial Intelligence Engineer. In this role, people design, develop, and apply AI models and algorithms to improve business processes and solve complex problems. The skills required include Large Language Models (LLM), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and PyTorch, the open-source library for the Python programming language. Three to four years of prior experience are recommended.Also: The most popular programming languages (and what that even means)The most common industries in need of AI engineers are technology and internet, IT services and IT consulting, and computers and electronics manufacturing. You’ll find the most jobs in such cities as San Francisco, New York, and Boston. Flexible work is also available with 35% of the jobs remote and 27% in an hybrid environment.In second place is Artificial Intelligence Consultant. These professionals help organizations adopt and integrate AI technology to meet businsess goals and improve their operations. The most common skills are LLMs, prompt engineering, and Python programming with around 4.5 years of prior experience required. More

ZDNETSome Linux distributions ship with plenty of pre-installed apps, whereas others tend to be a bit leaner. Even those distributions that include a host of applications don’t always get the collection of pre-installed apps quite right.From my experience, there are certain apps that should be considered “must haves” for every new user, and it often confuses me why they aren’t included in many of the major distributions.Also: 5 Linux terminal apps that are better than your default – and free to installThe good news is that there are plenty of apps to easily install, most of which are found in the standard repositories.What is my list of “must haves” for Linux? Let’s find out.1. LibreOfficeStandard office suiteLibreOffice More

Jada Jones/ZDNETWhile walking through the evening shows at CES 2025, I was on the hunt for the latest audio products. While passing a booth, I thought I spotted a new pair of over-ear headphones, but to my surprise, they were actually advanced ear cleaners. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but this takes it to another level.The Bebird EarSight Flow ear cleaner uses small pods of water placed in one ear cup to supply water to a small spout in the other cup that gently shoots water into your ears to clean them. The spout includes a camera, and users can download the companion app to watch the EarSight Flow clean their ears in real time.Also: CES 2025: The 15 most impressive products you don’t want to missAccording to Bebird, the camera is a specialized optical lens with an adjustable ball axis to adjust the viewing angle in their ears during the cleaning. Additionally, there are over one million pixels to contribute to the high-resolution picture.After the water is streamed into the ear to clean it, the same spout employs a drying cycle to decrease the remaining moisture inside the ear. The device also includes an intelligent warming system that automatically adjusts the temperature of the liquid to ensure it’s not too hot or cold for the sensitive parts of the ear. More

Maria Diaz/ZDNET2025 just began, and it’s already shaping up to be a great year for robot vacuums. We’re seeing unparalleled innovation in this category at the Computer Electronics Show (CES), with futuristic technology coming to store shelves near you this year, including robotic arms and robots that can climb stairs. Also: CES 2025: The 15 most impressive products so farAs I roam the halls of CES this year, it’s becoming clear that robot vacuums are not what they were even five or six years ago. With self-washing and self-emptying robots becoming the norm, the competing edge has shifted to looking for innovation elsewhere, developing more of the robotic aspects of the device. We’ve checked out all of the most innovative robot vacuums at CES this year, and here are our picks for the best ones. More

Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images Is the art and science of prompt engineering, the refinement of instructions for generative AI, a good thing or a bad thing? Surprisingly, there isn’t universal agreement.  Prompt engineering emerged by 2024 as an increasingly important user interface tool after the runaway success of ChatGPT in 2022 and 2023. The realization […] More

Jack Wallen/ZDNETI have two MacBook Pros. My daily driver is an M1 version and the other is a 2017 edition with an Intel CPU. The M1 laptop works like a champ and will probably continue to do so for a few more years. However, the Intel-powered MacBook had pretty much become a paperweight. As usual, I upgrade apps and OSes when a new version arrives. Little did I know how much havoc upgrading to the latest (at the time) version of MacOS would wreak on the system. Also: How to install an LLM on MacOS (and why you should)Once I upgraded the OS, the laptop pretty much became useless. Not only were apps maddeningly slow to run, but the battery would last for about 20 minutes. To make matters worse, I could no longer do a factory reset because the latest OS didn’t support a reset on the Intel architecture.I was pretty much stuck. Because of that issue, the Intel MacBook gathered dust until we were blanketed by nearly a foot of snow, and I wound up with some extra time on my hands. I decided it was the perfect moment to install Linux on the laptop.Before I continue with this guide, you should note that the installation isn’t perfect. I installed Ubuntu 24.04 and found the following things didn’t work out of the gate:Wi-FiSoundTouchbarKeyboard backlightSuspendI could live without everything but Wi-Fi, and I tried to get it working. After a few hours, I did get Wi-Fi to work, but it was unreliable. Fortunately, I had a Wi-Fi dongle that was compatible with Linux. After inserting that dongle, Ubuntu had wireless, and I could do my thing.My first surprise was how well Ubuntu ran on the machine. I’d go so far as to say it performs as well as MacOS on my M1 machine. Ubuntu is fast and stable. My only complaint was that, while the trackpad worked, it was a bit twitchy, so I had to use it with extra care.Also: Elementary OS 8 continues the tradition of a beautiful, user-friendly desktopSo, how did I get Ubuntu installed on my 2017 Intel-based MacBook Pro? The process is fairly straightforward; here’s how it went. More

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETMy NYC apartment is far from a smart home, mostly because of the lack of space, and, as a result, a lack of things to optimize. However, I did opt for smart light bulbs to control my lights with an Alexa command or my phone. That’s why, when I passed the Lotus booth at the Computer Electronics Show (CES), I knew I had to stop by. Also: CES 2025: The 15 most impressive products so farThe idea of pointing at things in your smart home to turn them on seemed like something out of a sci-fi movie, but the technology is quite simple. The Lotus system consists of a ring with a button and switch covers. When the button is pressed, the switch is turned on as you point at the object. The ring fits comfortably on your index finger and the button sits on the outside, allowing you to press it easily with a quick thumb motion. Within seconds, I turned things on and off around the demo room.  More