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MicroStockHub/Getty When we hear the word “technology,” most of us automatically think of hardware; the physical devices that have become such a conspicuously present part of many of our day-to-day lives. But technology is a much more expansive phenomenon, encompassing not only all the various tools and gadgets we can clearly see, but also a […] More
Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETFollowing the success of the Meta Ray-Bans, the company partnered with luxury eyewear brand Oakley, appealing to an entirely new demographic of users — athletes and outdoorsy types who appreciate a more rugged pair of shades. Both smart glasses have built-in speakers, mics, cameras, and AI, with the same functionalities when it comes to capturing videos and audio playback, be that music, a phone call, or the Meta AI assistant. However, there are some major differences with specs and design to provide users with different experiences for different environments. Also: I took a walk with Meta’s new Oakley smart glasses – they beat my Ray-Bans in every wayRight off the bat, if you want to look at prices, I should mention the Meta Oakley HSTN Limited Edition More
Jada Jones/ZDNETBack-to-school season is approaching, whether you want to admit it or not. For those starting college this fall, a good computer and noise-canceling headphones are the most excellent tools. Luckily, Apple has a convenient sale where you can get the best of both worlds, but without paying full price.Also: Get 50% off an Amazon Prime membership if you’re age 18-24 – here’s howNow through September 30, Apple is offering a deal just in time: you can get a free pair of AirPods or any eligible accessory More
Uber/ZDNETUber is giving women more control over their next ride. The ride-share app launched Women Preferences on Wednesday, which allows women to be matched with women drivers for further safety and security. The change has been widely requested among women riders and drivers, according to Uber’s press release. Also: The best Apple Watch: Here’s the best smartwatch for youThe new feature will launch in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit in the next few weeks. Women Drivers will be among the options, like UberX, Green, or XL, available when ordering an Uber on-demand. If the wait for a woman Uber driver is longer than other options, women can choose another ride option in place of a woman driver. They’ll also have the chance to reserve a ride with a woman driver and create a preference in the app for women drivers to increase the chances of getting matched with one by toggling to preferences in Uber’s app settings. More
<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Dreo Smart 5L Humidifier is available for $70. This humidifier is easy to use, includes a demineralization filter, works with Alexa, allows you to add essential oils, adds both sleep and auto modes, and packs plenty of other features to help it rise above the rest. The only downside of […] More
<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet is available for $190. Designed for older children aged six to 12, this kids’ tablet features a slimmer design, better performance, strong parental controls, and a free screen repair or replacement within two years of purchase. While it’s better than other Amazon Fire Kids […] More
Replit / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETWhen AI leader Andrej Karpathy coined the phrase “vibe coding” for just letting AI chatbots do their thing when programming, he added, “It’s not too bad for throwaway weekend projects … but it’s not really coding — I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy-paste stuff, and it mostly works.” Also: Coding with AI? My top 5 tips for vetting its output – and staying out of troubleThere were lots of red flags in his comments, but that hasn’t stopped people using vibe coding for real work. Recently, vibe coding bit Jason Lemkin, trusted advisor to SaaStr, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business community, in the worst possible way. The vibe program, Replit, he said, went “rogue during a code freeze and shutdown and deleted our entire database.”In a word: Wow. Just wow. How it startedReplit claims that, with its program, you can “build sophisticated applications by simply describing features in plain English — Replit Agent translates your descriptions into working code without requiring technical syntax.” At first, Lemkin, who described his AI programming adventure in detail on X, spoke in glowing terms. He described Replit’s AI platform as “the most addictive app I’ve ever used.”On his blog, Lemkin added, “Three and one-half days into building my latest project, I checked my Replit usage: $607.70 in additional charges beyond my $25/month Core plan. And another $200-plus yesterday alone. At this burn rate, I’ll likely be spending $8,000 a month. And you know what? I’m not even mad about it. I’m locked in. But my goal here isn’t to play around. It’s to go from idea and ideation to a commercial-grade production app, all 100% inside Replit, without a developer or any other tools.” Also: How to use ChatGPT to write code – and my top trick for debugging what it generatesAt that point, he estimated his odds were 50-50 that he’d get his entire project done in Replit. For a week, his experience was exhilarating: prototypes were built in hours, streamlined quality-assurance (QA) checks, and deploying to production was a “pure dopamine hit.”Things would changeLemkin knew he was in trouble when Replit started lying to him about unit test results. At that point, I would have brought the project to a hard stop. But Lemkin kept going. He asked Claude 4, the Large Language Model (LLM) that powered Replit for this project, what was going on. It replied, I kid you not, “Intentional Deception: This wasn’t a hallucination or training-data leakage — it was deliberate fabrication.” Worse still, when called on this, Lemkin said the program replied with an email apology, which demonstrated “sophisticated understanding of wrongdoing while providing zero guarantee of future compliance.” Also: Claude Code’s new tool is all about maximizing ROI in your organization – how to try itLemkin tried, and failed, to implement a rollback to good code, put a code freeze in, and then went to bed. The next day was the biggest roller coaster yet. He got out of bed early, excited to get back to @Replit despite it constantly ignoring code freezes. By the end of the day, it rewrote core pages and made them much better. And then — it deleted the production database. The database had been wiped clean, eliminating months of curated SaaStr executive records. Even more aggravating: the AI ignored repeated all-caps instructions not to make any changes to production code or data. As Lemkin added, “I know vibe coding is fluid and new … But you can’t overwrite a production database.” Nope, never, not ever. That kind of mistake gets you fired, your boss fired, and as far off the management tree as the CEO wants it to go. You might well ask, as many did, why he ever gave Replit permission to even touch the production database in the first place. He replied, “I didn’t give it permission or ever know it had permission.”Oy! More
<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Audio-Technica Sound Burger retails for $199 and comes in yellow, black, or white. The Sound Burger has unparalleled portability, a long battery life, and provides a novel listening experience. It doesn’t have a counterweight, and also doesn’t have an auto-return feature. –> The Audio-Technica Sound Burger<!–> is $24 when you […] More
