Robotics

Kerry Wan/ZDNETIf you’re a T-Mobile customer, your rates might be on the rise.After announcing a price bump less than a year ago, the mobile carrier is doing it again — and once again, it’s affecting customers on older plans. Also: Want free Starlink satellite texting? T-Mobile’s got a deal, but there’s a catchAccording to an internal memo to T-Mobile employees obtained by CNET, some legacy plans (plans that aren’t offered to new subscribers but are still available to existing subscribers) will see a $5 per-line increase starting April 2, 2025. Since these legacy plans are retired, it means those subscribers are among the company’s most loyal and long-term. T-Mobile blamed the increase on “rising costs.”Legacy plans will see the increaseLegacy plans include offerings like Magenta, Magenta MAX, Magenta 55+, ONE, and Simple Choice, but it’s not clear which of these will see the increase. The new rates will not impact current plans like Go5G Next, Go5G Plus, and Essentials. Also: The best phonesIf this increase affects you, you’ll receive a text from T-Mobile as soon as March 13. “For the first time in nearly a decade,” the text reads, “we’re making an update to the price of some of our older monthly service plans.” If you don’t get a notification today, your rates aren’t going up. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways Super-fast SSD that’s speedy enough to handle Apple ProRes video recording The drive is small, thin, and light enough to attach to an iPhone without adding too much bulk or weight Systems that don’t support USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 will see significantly slower speeds. –> The iPhone is a fantastic tool […] More

ZDNETIs Google collapsing right before our eyes? Legal battles are mounting, its AI products are “meh” at best, and the traditional search model faces real disruption from AI. Things don’t look great.But despite all that, what if I told you I’m still bullish on Google — just not for the reason you think? 🤓☝️ Also: Google launches Gemini with Personalization, beating Apple to personal AIHear me out. I know this sounds unbelievable, but YouTube, not AI, might be Google’s saving grace. Amid the tumultuous past 12 months, YouTube has quietly achieved remarkable success in the world of podcasting. With over 1 billion monthly views — yes, billion with a B — YouTube is quietly becoming the leading platform for podcast consumption. Here’s what’s fascinating about that stat. These podcast episodes are often available elsewhere in audio-only formats. Yet, audiences are choosing YouTube, a visual platform. This tells me people are seeking personal connections with podcast hosts. They don’t just want to hear hosts; they want to see them in action. It shows people still value human connection more than the next AI trend. 🤔 It’s so easy to get caught up in whether this is a video or a podcast and ignore what’s happening, which is our desire as humans to connect. Also: How to download YouTube videos for free – 2 waysIn this article, we’ll pull on the thread of what Google’s future could look like, why I’m bullish on Google even with all the drama, and how this might be your big opportunity to thrive in the years ahead. 🚀 This story is way more fascinating than a billion podcast views.Before we jump in, let me introduce myself. I’m Lester, but you can call me Les. 👋 I’m a founder with a successful exit, executive chairman of several DTC brands, and an award-winning performance marketer. My job is analyzing data and spotting trends, so we’ve built tools to do that precisely. If you like data-driven marketing insights, check out my free newsletter, No Fluff Just Facts. All that said, let’s get into why I’m so bullish on Google. More

Jada Jones/ZDNETIf you’re ready to upgrade to premium headphones with great sound, superb noise-canceling, and all-day comfort, I recommend the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones. They’re my top pick for over-ear headphones and noise-canceling headphones, and you can get them on sale at Amazon More

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETAlthough AI technology capable of taking over the world is limited to science fiction literature and movies, existing artificial intelligence is capable of wrongdoing, such as producing hallucinations, training on people’s data, and using other people’s work to create new outputs. How do these shortcomings align with rapid AI adoption?That question was heavily explored at SXSW, with most AI-related sessions either touching upon — or diving deep into — the topic of AI safety. Company leaders from IBM, Meta, Microsoft, and Adobe, to name a few, had insights to share on the future of AI. The consensus? It’s not all doom and gloom. Also: Microsoft is an AGI skeptic, but is there tension with OpenAI?”AI needs a better PR agent; everything we have learned is from sci-fi,” said Hannah Elsakr, founder of Firefly for Enterprise at Adobe. “We think AI is going to take over our lives; that’s not the purpose of it.”  Regardless of the panel, the leaders from some of the largest AI tech companies discussed three overarching themes about how safety and responsibility fit in the future of the technology. What they had to say may help put your concerns at ease. 1. The use case matters There is no denying that AI systems are flawed. They often hallucinate and incorporate biases in their responses. As a result, many worry that incorporating AI systems into the workplace will introduce errors in internal processes, negatively impacting employees, clients, and business goals. The key to mitigating this issue is carefully considering which task you delegate to AI. For example, Sarah Bird, CPO of responsible AI at Microsoft, looks for use cases that are a good match for what the technology can do today.  More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are on sale now for $129 They’re a reboot of the previous model with an even more comfortable, light fit, improved ANC, and booming, rich sound The app is a little clunky, the touch controls take some getting use to, and the voice commands can be finicky. […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Eero Pro 7 is available for $300. The tri-band Eero Pro 7 supports wireless speeds of up to 3.8Gbps and a coverage area of up to 2,500 square feet per unit, making it ideal for congestion management. As a midrange router, the Eero Pro 7 is not great for complicated […] More

ZDNETAmid growing concerns over Chinese AI models like DeepSeek, new research suggests that fears may be overblown – at least when it comes to data privacy. In fact, some popular US-based AI chatbots might be collecting even more of your personal information.When DeepSeek debuted its flagship open-source AI model in January, the American tech industry was thrown into hysteria. Some embraced the competition — claiming this is “AI’s Sputnik moment” — but others? Well, not so much. Still, about 12 million users worldwide downloaded the AI chatbot two days after its launch. Numerous privacy and security concerns quickly surfaced about it, prompting private and government organizations to ban DeepSeek’s use in the US and abroad.Also: Chatbots are distorting news – even for paid usersBut here’s the twist – despite all the frenzy, DeepSeek isn’t the biggest data offender out there. Curious to know how your favorite AI chatbot stacks up when it comes to privacy? Let’s look at what Surfshark’s researchers have found.AI chatbots collect and track user dataRecent data from Surfshark, a well-known VPN provider, uncovered that Google Gemini is the most data-intensive AI chatbot app. DeepSeek, however, comes in fifth out of the 10 most popular applications. The researchers analyzed the privacy details of the following chatbots that are the most popular on the Apple App Store: ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok, Jasper, Poe, Claude and Pi. Then, they compared the types of data each application collects, whether it collects any data linked to its users, and whether the app includes third-party advertisers.Also: Google claims Gemma 3 reaches 98% of DeepSeek’s accuracy using only one GPUThe investigation led the researchers to determine that Google Gemini collects significantly more personal data than its competitors. The app gathers 22 out of 35 user data types, including highly sensitive data like location data, user content, the device’s contacts list, and browsing history. Ultimately, it far outpaces the data collected by the other popular chatbots included in the study. Only Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity were found to collect precise location data, but about 30% of the chatbots were found to share sensitive user data, like location data and browsing history, with third parties such as data brokers. Thirty percent of these chatbots also track user data. In particular, Copilot, Poe, and Jasper collect data to track their users, which means that the user data collected from the app is linked with third-party data for the purpose of targeted advertising or ad measurement metrics. More