Networking

Damage from Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina. Steven Vaughan-Nichols/ZDNETWhen Hurricane Helene announced itself with wind and rain hammering on my house in Asheville, North Carolina, in the early hours of Sept. 27, I turned over and went back to sleep. Then, the crashes awoke me. I could tell my home was OK, but over the storm’s howls, I heard trees falling all around me on my neighbors’ homes. Even so, little did I know just how bad the situation was. Assessing the damages The morning came, and as often happens with severe storms, the sun was shining, and it was a lovely day. Until my partner and I went out, we didn’t know that every other home in our historic neighborhood of Montford had large, old trees down.Also: 5 hurricane-tracking apps I rely on as a Floridian tech pro – and which one is my favoriteOur neighbor had three trees down but, by a miracle, none had done serious damage. Three houses down the other way, it was a different story. There, a huge, century-old tree had crushed part of the front porch and the second floor. The pattern repeated as we walked around our neighborhood. Downed trees and powerlines were everywhere. All the streets were blocked in every direction. You couldn’t walk more than two blocks from our home, never mind drive. However, as we talked to our neighbors, we discovered no one had died or been hurt by the hurricane in our area. We had no idea how lucky we had been. More

Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for WIRED In a surprising announcement, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the web, and Rosemary Leith, co-founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, revealed that the organization is ceasing operations. The decision comes after 16 years of advocating for a safe, trusted, open web. Also: At 35, the web is broken, but […] More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETHave you run into hiccups trying to activate the cellular plan for an Apple Watch with Verizon? If so, you’re not alone. Some Apple Watch owners have reported issues setting up cellular access through the carrier, a problem that seems to be affecting people who bought the watch from a different vendor.Based on complaints from several users shared with AppleInsider, an Apple Watch sold by Verizon will activate correctly. But a watch purchased from another retailer, even Apple, fails to activate. The issue also appears to be more common than might be expected.Also: Preorder the new Apple Watch Series 10 now, here’s how (plus ways to save)”I am unable to connect my brand new Apple Watch 9 to Verizon cellular via the app. I contacted Verizon and they were unable to connect my Watch to the network,” said one person on an Apple discussion forum.”I am now trying to get my BYOD Apple Watch Ultra 2 activated and have not been able to activate the watch on cellular within the Apple Watch app,” said someone on a Verizon community forum. “After logging into my Verizon account when prompted, the page loads for a minute then errors out with the text ‘Something went wrong’ followed by ‘paring of not allowed’ (yes – that is the actual grammatically incorrect error message).” More

Opera Sick of Safari? The Opera One browser is now available for your iPhone. Opera has been my default desktop and mobile web browser for a long time — for so many reasons. First and foremost, the UI is clean and unobtrusive. Opera’s mobile app offers features few other browsers can match, including one of […] More

Muhammed Abdullah Kurtar/Anadolu via Getty Images Meta last week unveiled its largest large language model to date, Llama 3.1 405B, which the company claims is the first “frontier model” in open-source software, meaning, a model that can compete with the best that closed-source has to offer, such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini 1.5.  It […] More

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysScrewdrivers are a staple of any toolbox, but manual ones can be tiring to use and aren’t always the best tool for the job. Electric screwdrivers are a more efficient option that can take the stress out of DIY tasks, and I love using them. They’ve even replaced my precision screwdrivers in delicate work, such as working on laptops and smartphones.Also: The best electric screwdrivers: Expert tested   For the past few weeks, I’ve been using the Arrowmax SES Ultra Electric Mini Power Screwdriver kit More

When cruising down a lonely stretch of highway, it’s easy to get swept away and forget about the pressure of your foot on the gas. Next thing you know, you might be getting a pricey speeding ticket or even a date in traffic court. If only you had a radar detector.A radar detector notifies you when your vehicle’s speed may be monitored by law enforcement. This allows you to find police before they find you, allowing you to slow your speed and correct your driving. In short, radar detectors can help you drive safer while saving you money with fewer tickets. They are legal in only two areas (Washington, DC and Virginia). Also: Best dash camsWhat is the best radar detector right now?ZDNET researched the best radar detectors available based on features, display, and price. Our pick for the best radar detector overall is the Uniden R7 More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETOver the years, Windows PCs have gotten considerably more capable of squeezing a full day of work out of a laptop battery, but there’s still a certain level of anxiety that comes with disconnecting from a fixed power source. That’s especially true if you have an older PC that’s lost some of its battery capacity with age.Also: Microsoft is changing how it delivers Windows updates: 4 things you need to knowReducing battery anxiety doesn’t require drugs or meditation. All you need is knowledge about how your PC and Windows work together. The tools you need are all included with your Windows installation. Some are available as part of the Windows Settings app, but the most important one is the Power Settings Command-Line Tool, Powercfg.exe. With the right command-line switches, you can use this tool to gather an impressive amount of information about your PC’s power usage. This article assumes you’re using a portable PC that meets the Windows 11 hardware compatibility requirements, with a processor that’s capable of entering the Modern Standby state, running a recent Windows 11 release. With those criteria satisfied, all of the following steps should work just fine. More