Information Technology

Kerry Wan/ZDNETUsually, whenever a new feature comes out for Windows, Microsoft advertises it widely in a blog post to let everyone know. Or if they don’t, people discover the feature soon after an update. However, a helpful feature sometimes slips through the cracks, only to be unearthed years later.Also: Hate Windows 11? Here’s how you can make it work more like Windows 10That was my reaction when I found this obscure Emergency Restart method for Windows 11 after stumbling across a post on the Sysadmin subreddit. Reddit user ‘-Steets-‘ shared the information in 2022, although other commenters claim the method was present on Windows XP, which came out over 20 years ago.To access Emergency Restart, press the CTRL + ALT + DEL keys on your Windows PC — a pretty normal action. However, this time, hold down the CTRL key and click the power button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. More

Asus Zenbook A14 <!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Asus Zenbook A14 with 16GB of memory is on sale at Best Buy for $599. It’s a fantastic balance of innovation and value with an OLED display, competitive hardware, and a satisfying physical form. While its use case is clearly defined, the laptop has its limits when […] More

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETIn 2005, about 3.3 million cars sold that year included at least one USB port. Twenty years later, more than 200 million cars have embedded connectivity outlets (USB-A), and these days, a significant portion of them have USB-C ports. Some vehicles have as many as nine ports! Even many newer-model motorcycles have USB outlets.Also: Wyze wants to keep prying eyes away from your cameras with this new featureUsually situated on the front or rear consoles (and sometimes inside the glove compartment), USB ports offer more than just a way to charge devices. They enable music playback, phone connectivity, access to navigation systems, and more. I’ve put together a few common — and maybe not-so-common — ways you can utilize the ports in your car, along with some helpful notes. More

Apple It feels like Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC) was just weeks ago, but the pubic beta of Apple’s biggest operating systems has already arrived, bringing big changes to Apple CarPlay users. Also: How to install iOS 26 beta on your iPhone (and which models support it) While you’ll have to enroll in the beta […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways Sigma’s BF is a $2,200, 35mm full-frame, mirrorless digital camera that radically changes the mode of operation by replacing the gaggle of buttons with an elegant click-wheel. It’s a great first camera but also has tons of pro features A future upgrade to a higher-resolution 60-megapixel sensor would be a welcome […] More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 users are entitled to a six-month subscription to Google AI Pro for free.The premium tier includes access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, Veo 3, 2TB of cloud storage, and more.You can renew the subscription or cancel it at expiration.The Galaxy Z Fold 7 More

SOPA Images / Contributor / Getty Images ZDNET’s key takeaways PayPal and Venmo experienced an outage Friday morning. Affected accounts couldn’t send or receive payments. PayPal has since fixed the problem, and Venmo and PayPal are working again Did you have trouble with PayPal or Venmo this morning? You weren’t alone. The problem has been […] More

How did we choose these deals?While considering the products on this list, I considered each discounted device’s popularity, quality, deal amount, and general deal worthiness, based on my own testing.Should I buy a smartwatch or a smart ring?A smartwatch functions as a health tracker and an around-the-wrist companion to your phone. You can answer texts, set timers, ask the smartwatch’s AI assistant questions, and more with an Apple Watch, Pixel Watch, Galaxy Watch, or Garmin. It will record your exercise and sleep and deliver that through the smartwatch’s health app, as well as on your phone’s health app. A smart ring is a little different. It doesn’t have a screen, so it won’t distract you throughout the day with pings or messages. All of the data it collects is displayed on your phone. If a smartwatch is a lifestyle wearable with health functionalities, a smartwatch is a health-centered wearable. Should I buy a health tracker?If you are an active person who is interested in keeping tabs on your vitals, like heart rate, body temperature, or heart rate variability, or activity, like steps and calories burned, a health tracker is an effective device. With recent medical advancements, health trackers do more than just count steps: they can monitor sleep and shine light on often undiagnosed conditions, like sleep apnea, atrial fibrillation, and more. However, some people buy a smartwatch or smart ring and then experience data overload: constantly monitoring their biometrics makes them anxious, or their sleep and activity scores are never where they want them to be, and they end up constantly worrying about this data.  More