Robotics

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Sharge Icemag 2 power bank is available on Amazon now for $50. With a perfect size, a powerful battery, RBG lighting, and a tiny fan to keep things cool, this power bank is ideal for those on the go. The Icemag 2 isn’t exactly the fastest charging power bank on […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Tineco Pure One Station 5 vacuum cleaner is available for $459. It’s a powerful cordless vacuum with a self-emptying base station, perfect for pet owners and parents. Some parts can be finicky, like lining up the floor brush on the base station, or its accessories getting stuck and not easily […] More

ZDNETArch Linux is one of the most stable and reliable operating systems on the market. The caveat to using Arch Linux is the installation is not exactly a point-and-click affair. It’s not nearly as hard as Gentoo, but it’s not even close to the user-friendliness of, say, Ubuntu.That does not mean it’s impossible. In fact, the developers have added a handy script to make the installation of Arch Linux considerably easier than it once was. You no longer have to manually partition your drive and take care of several complicated steps … just to get to the point of installation.Also: Archcraft is a solid, super fast distro for anyone ready to move beyond beginner LinuxEven better, that script is now included in the Arch Linux live image, which can be downloaded for free from the official download site. You’ll need to either have a virtual machine app (such as VirtualBox) or burn the ISO to a USB drive and boot your system from there. I prefer to go the virtual machine route because it’s the easiest way to test things.Let me show you how to install Arch Linux without losing your mind.How to install Arch Linux the easy wayWhat you’ll need: The only things you’ll need is the live image of Arch Linux booted and ready to go. It does not matter if you’ve chosen to install the OS as a virtual machine or on bare metal (aka, a standard computer). Of course, you’ll also need network connectivity for this to work. More

Screenshot by Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETUntil now, ChatGPT has been a useful assistant, hoping to help at the command of a quick prompt. But what if ChatGPT could carry out tasks for you without even being asked?ChatGPT TasksOn Tuesday, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Tasks, a feature that lets users prompt the chatbot once to carry out recurring tasks in the future. For example, in the demo, a user asks ChatGPT to send them a work out reminder every morning along with a motivational speech. Today we’re rolling out a beta version of tasks—a new way to ask ChatGPT to do things for you at a future time.Whether it’s one-time reminders or recurring actions, tell ChatGPT what you need and when, and it will automatically take care of it. pic.twitter.com/7lgvsPehHv— OpenAI (@OpenAI) January 14, 2025

But Tasks isn’t just limited to reminders. Users can ask ChatGPT to do any task it is regularly capable of doing repetitively. For instance, you can ask it to pull specific information from the web every day and present it to you at a certain time, creating comprehensive news briefs, industry analyses, weather forecasts, social media trend tracking, and more.Also: The five biggest mistakes people make when prompting an AIFor business professionals, I can see the feature being particularly helpful in streamlining daily communications, such as generating daily emails or briefs.Karina Nguyen, member of technical staff at OpenAI, shared via an X post that her favorite way to use the feature is to check stock prices every morning. The prompt she used said, “at 10 am every morning check Apple stock and tell me the price.”We’re excited to introduce Tasks! For the first time, ChatGPT can manage tasks asynchronously on your behalf—whether it’s a one-time request or an ongoing routine. Here are my favorite use cases:1/ ChatGPT checks stock price every morning! pic.twitter.com/ce1sEodBwh— Karina Nguyen (@karinanguyen_) January 14, 2025

How to use TasksTo use the feature, all you have to do is select “4o with scheduled tasks” from the model picker. Then, you’ll enter a prompt, similar to the ones above, delineating what task you want done and the exact cadence. The tasks can be managed at a later date from the “tasks” bar in the profile menu.Also: How I set ChatGPT as Siri’s backup – and what else it can do on my iPhoneOpenAI shares it is beginning to roll out Tasks in beta to Plus, Team, and Pro users globally over the next few days. Users will be limited to 10 Tasks per day during beta. At the time of writing this article, with my ChatGPT Plus subscription, I could already access the feature. OpenAI will collect insights and refine the feature before expanding to all users.This feature is the first that OpenAI has put out that allows users to experiment with AI agents — AI assistants capable of autonomously carrying out tasks without being prompted every time. Although it is a baby step, it is exciting to see OpenAI begin exploring agentic AI, as it will likely be the biggest AI trend in 2025.Artificial Intelligence More

The Swippitt phone charger took this year’s CES by storm, but isn’t one of my picks. Kerry Wan/ZDNETWhile this year’s CES felt more bustling than ever, you didn’t need to physically be in Vegas to know just how much vaporware flooded the show floor. At this point, it’s almost an expectation for the flashiest, most promising products at the show to be ones that will either never go on sale or cease to exist in a matter of years — when companies, small and large, shift their focuses to the next big industry buzzword. Also: CES 2025: ZDNET’s 25 products that impressed us the mostBut of all the product unveilings and announcements that took place, five products, in particular, caught my eye and made me verbally exclaim, “Take my money!”. Here are my top picks for the things I saw at CES that I’d actually spend my hard-earned money on.1. Mcon MagSafe phone controller More

ZDNETGenerative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot can be powerful. Even though generative AI is a fairly new technology, a powerful limitation on its use dates back to the 1950s or earlier: GIGO. GIGO means “garbage in, garbage out.” If you ask AIs the wrong questions or don’t ask them correctly, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get nonhelpful answers.Also: 7 ways to write better ChatGPT prompts – and get the results you want fasterIn this article, I’m going to show you what I consider the five biggest mistakes, but I’m only one source. So, in addition to my own answers, I took this question to the “people” who should know best about this particular topic, the AIs.I’ve asked ChatGPT, Copilot, Grok, Gemini and Meta AI the same question: “What are the five biggest mistakes people make when prompting an AI?”To make sure my thoughts weren’t influenced by those of the AIs, I started out with a list of what are, in my opinion, people’s five biggest mistakes and had already written my detailed descriptions before prompting the AIs for their opinions. The results (and especially the common themes) are very interesting. Here’s a table that aggregates all our answers. More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETFor the past few years, Nothing has been synonymous with mid-range Android phones that offer an aesthetic no other phone manufacturer can match. The Nothing phones are unique devices, beloved by fans.The company recently announced that the Nothing Phone 3 will be its first true flagship phone, and that should have fans champing at the bit to get their hands on the next iteration.Also: This hidden Pixel camera feature makes your photos more vibrant – how to enable itThe Nothing Phone 3 was originally set to be released in 2024, but Nothing CEO Carl Pei pushed the release to Q1 2025. On X, @evleaks shared a leaked internal email from Pei confirming the Nothing Phone 3 release. According to the leaked email, the device will introduce “breakthrough innovations in user interface, taking our first step toward our AI-powered platform.” Although the leak does not confirm the phone’s specs, according to Phone Arena, some of the rumored specs include:Camera – Sony’s latest LYTIA sensor with a 2X zoomStorage – 128 GB, 256GB, and 512GB.Design – transparent back with Glyph lightsDisplay – 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 1600 nits, and HDR10+ supportBattery – 5,000 mAh or 4,880 mAhCPU – Snapdragon 8 Gen 3The above are only rumored specs, but if Pei plans to release this as a flagship device, the official specs better come close. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways HP’s Envy x360 2-in-1 16-inch (2024) comes in a variety of configurations, but the version with 1TB of storage and an OLED display is on sale for $949. It sports one of the most gorgeous displays I’ve seen on a convertible laptop in this price range. It’s a little on the […] More