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Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETFinals season is here, and students everywhere are inundated with exams, projects, and late-night study sessions. To help lighten the load, Google is making all of its most advanced tools available for free to students. Free Gemini Advanced Gemini Advanced refers to Google’s premium AI subscription tier, which grants users access to its latest and most advanced AI offerings. Typically, access to Gemini Advanced is only available through Google’s One AI Premium Plan, which costs $20 per user per month. Also: Google’s Veo 2 AI text-to-video generator is now available – how to try itHowever, on Thursday, Google introduced another option for students, giving them free access to Google’s One AI Premium Plan just in time for finals. OpenAI launched a similar promotion last week, offering US students free access to ChatGPT Plus during finals. Google’s competitive edge? Students who enroll before June 30 will receive free access through spring 2026. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways JBL’s refreshed flagship headphones improve on core features while introducing an innovative sidekick for $400. The Tour One M3 are packed with useful features, have a marathon battery, and deliver a sufficient noise-canceling and audio performance. The Smart Tx is a clever idea, but many people probably won’t use it to […] More

With the recent release of the M4 processor, Apple’s sprawling lineup of laptops is harder than ever to differentiate. Luckily, we’ve gone hands-on with all of Apple’s latest MacBooks, from the light and portable MacBook Air to the powerhouse MacBook Pro. Taking into account memory, portability, features and value, we broke down the pros, cons, and ideal use cases across Apple’s laptops. Informed by a combination of benchmarking programs, performance testing, and everyday use, we tested Apple’s latest MacBooks to measure battery life, visual quality, performance, and practical use in everyday settings. What’s the best MacBook right now?The 15-inch MacBook Air M4 More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETOne of the most useful Gemini features will soon be available on a much wider scale. In a post yesterday, Google announced that Gemini Live with camera and screen share is rolling out to all Android users.Also: Google’s Veo 2 AI text-to-video generator is now available – how to try itTap on the new “Share screen with Live” button, and you can show Gemini what’s on your screen and have a conversation about it. It works for files, images, and YouTube videos. The feature was first introduced back in January, when it was exclusive to the Pixel 9 series and Galaxy S24 and S25. The March Pixel Drop made it available on more phones, including the Pixel 6 and newer. More

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETRecycling is not only good for the planet, but it can also be profitable. Also: 3 Apple devices you definitely shouldn’t buy this month (and 10 to get instead)That is the idea behind a new promotion unveiled by Apple to commemorate Earth Day. In a promotion running in the US from April 16 through May 16, Apple will trim 10% off certain products and accessories. Bring in your old techThe promotion is available only at Apple Stores. Also: Can your phone last 10 years? Back Market and iFixit want to make it happen – here’s howAll you have to do is give up an older electronic item for recycling.  You must physically bring in the product you want to recycle. Additionally, you must purchase the new item at the same time you part ways with your older product.What kinds of items qualify?The list is long and varied, and it even covers many non-Apple products, including the following: AirPodsAirPortAirTagApple TVComputersDisplaysHard Drives and StorageHeadphones and SpeakersHomePodMice and KeyboardsNetworkingPrinters and ScannersSmartphonesTabletsWatchesiPodAlso: Want to save your old computer? Try these 6 Linux distros More

Artie Beaty/ZDNETLess than two months after Facebook added a new community notes feature that lets users add context to posts with missing or wrong information, TikTok is doing the same with something called Footnotes.The company announced the feature in a blog post yesterday.Also: How to become a Meta Community Notes editor”Footnotes will draw on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content on our platform,” the post explains. To start, the platform is testing the feature in the US on short-form videos. It’s unclear where the notes will appear or how they will look. Footnotes on TikTok will work much like Community Notes on Facebook, only TikTok’s version doesn’t completely replace fact-checkers. If eligible users see a video that needs context, they can add a footnote. A bridging-based ranking system (one that rewards behavior that bridges divides) will find agreement between people who may have different viewpoints. If a footnote gets enough helpful ratings from other contributors, it becomes visible on TikTok, at which point the broader community can vote on it too.  More

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETYears before I started my Linux journey, I was an artist. It wasn’t until much later that I realized another side of my multifaceted artistic self needed to write words. At first, I used paper and pen, but eventually, I migrated to a word processor.Also: My 6 must-have Linux apps for productivity, and why they make work easierIn those early days, that was StarOffice, and with it, I began another journey that would continue throughout my life. I was an actor. Then I was a writer and author. Then came podcasting and filmmaking. I wonder: What’s next?Regardless, when I needed the right tools for the job, I was lucky enough to find them all on Linux. Here are the apps I find most important for artistic expression and creation. 1. DaVinci Resolve DaVinci Resolve More

Maria Diaz/ZDNETGoogle’s Imagen 3 is a powerful AI text-to-image generator that earned ZDNET’s pick as the best image generator — even against competitors like Midjourney and OpenAI. As a result, the release of its Veo 2 text-to-video generator has been highly anticipated. Well, it’s finally here, and it comes with a surprise.Also: The top 20 AI tools of 2025 – and the #1 thing to remember when you use themHow to try Veo 2 in GeminiOn Tuesday, Google announced via a blog post that its state-of-the-art Veo 2 video generator is now available in Gemini. This feature allows users to create eight-second video clips at 720p resolution in a 16:9 landscape format using a simple text prompt. According to Google, Veo 2 was designed to produce high-quality videos that better understand real-world physics and human motion to create videos that have “lifelike scenes” and “fluid character movement.” To create these videos, users can be as detailed as they like, giving them as much control as they want. Also: 5 easy Gemini settings tweaks to protect your privacy from AIThe caveat? The experience is only rolling out to Gemini Advanced users worldwide on the web and mobile, part of the Google One AI Premium plan, which costs $20 per month. Even with the subscription, there is a monthly limit to the number of videos users can create. Google doesn’t specify the limit, but it says it will notify users when they are getting close. However, if $20 per month seems expensive, it’s the same cost required for OpenAI’s Sora access via ChatGPT Plus.Also: Gemini Pro 2.5 is a stunningly capable coding assistant – and a big threat to ChatGPTThe Google One AI Premium plan also comes with other perks, such as 2TB of storage, NotebookLM Plus with five-times higher usage limits and premium features, Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and more, and another feature unveiled today, Whisk Animate. Whisk Animate Whisk Animate is a new Google generative AI experiment powered by Veo 2. It builds on Whisk’s previous capabilities, which let users create new images from text and image prompts, and now lets them animate the images into eight-second videos. As mentioned above, this feature is also limited to Gemini Advanced users and can be accessed via Google Labs. More