AI, software, security and the apps you use every day, written for business owners and everyday people. New stories through the day, zero clickbait.
AirPods that seem to drop out may be bouncing between your Apple devices. A few settings changes can stop it without buying new earbuds.
Read more: Why your AirPods keep cutting out and the settings that fix itA reviewer tested Samsung's Galaxy AI tools one by one. Several save real time, but voice transcripts and summaries need a second look.
Read more: Samsung's AI phone tools tested: some save time, some are fillerThe USB port on your router can share a drive with the whole house, but big file copies can strain the router and make calls and streams stutter.
Read more: Using your router's USB port as file storage can slow your whole home networkAbout six million small businesses may change owners by 2035 as owners retire, and many could close without a plan for who takes over.
Read more: Six million small businesses may change hands as owners retire by 2035A MakeUseOf writer gave Claude Code a key to his Home Assistant setup. It could then control real devices, and a wrong answer could change real things.
Read more: A writer gave Claude the keys to his smart home, and it got complicatedNorthflank, a hosting platform for developers, says customers' AI keys were used without permission. Anyone with keys stored there could face a surprise bill.
Read more: Hackers stole AI account keys from a hosting company's customersGoogle moved a tool called AppFunctions to beta, letting AI assistants run actions inside Android apps. Businesses with booking or ordering apps should take note.
Read more: Google lets AI assistants use your phone's apps directly, in betaA new comparison of Anthropic's Claude models lists prices of $4, $2 and $0.10, so picking the wrong one could change what a business pays for AI.
Read more: Claude AI models compared: prices run from $4 down to $0.10Phonic-1, a new voice AI, begins looking up answers while you talk. In the company's own demo, it replied 1.1 seconds after the speaker stopped.
Read more: New voice AI starts looking up answers while you are still talkingGoogle's Gemini app can now make, preview and edit files inside a chat, but on phones only PDFs work. Everything else needs a web browser.
Read more: Gemini can now make and edit documents right inside the chatA developer's free, open-source apps now mimic Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe tools. They could cut subscription bills, but they come with real gaps.
Read more: Free AI-built apps now copy Word, Excel and PhotoshopAdobe's new Marketing Campaign Analytics tool aims to show which marketing actually drove sales, but it depends on clean data and has no announced price.
Read more: Adobe's new tool shows which ads actually brought in salesFedEx and Stripe plan to use your shipping activity to help judge small business funding requests, with a first product due in early 2027.
Read more: FedEx and Stripe Plan Loans Based on Your Shipping ActivityA frozen touchscreen is often fixable at home. Engadget lays out free steps to try first, from removing the case to a force restart, before paying for a repair.
Read more: What to try when your phone screen stops responding to touchChrome on Android has a hidden menu of experimental switches. Four of them may smooth scrolling, speed up some downloads and darken every page.
Read more: Four hidden Chrome settings that can make Android browsing feel fasterMicrosoft is offering voluntary severance to about 60,000 employees, a quarter of its staff, while it keeps spending heavily on AI.
Read more: Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 workers, a quarter of its staffSpotify offline downloads can quietly fill a phone. A few settings changes can free up gigabytes without giving up music on the go.
Read more: Spotify downloads can eat 22GB of phone space, and you can cut thatA writer paid $100 for a 2011 iMac that Apple no longer supports, installed free Linux, and ended up with a computer fine for browsing, office work and DVDs.
Read more: A $100 used iMac from 2011 became a useful computer againOpenAI will train its models on Daybreak Blue session data from November 29, even for users who had switched training off. A separate opt-out is promised.
Read more: OpenAI will start training on a security tool's data it once excludedNvidia raised the Shield TV Pro to $300, and a report says a $150 to $250 mini computer can do more for a TV setup, if you like to tinker.
Read more: A $300 Nvidia streaming box now loses to a cheaper mini computerA writer who long found Google's Gemini lazy at coding says its new Argon model built a note-taking app with far more features than requested.
Read more: Google's new AI coder surprised a writer who had doubted itMeta and Chinese robotics firm Fourier built a 106-pound humanoid prototype, and a second version is underway as Meta aims for robots in people's homes.
Read more: Meta built a humanoid robot with a Chinese company, eyeing the homeWealth firm Arca lets AI agents do the background work, but only human advisors can trade or move client money. Here is why that setup matters for your own tools.
Read more: This wealth firm lets AI do the prep work and humans move the moneyWhatsApp test versions show timer choices of 24 hours, seven days or 90 days for disappearing messages, but there is no release date yet.
Read more: WhatsApp tests more choices for disappearing messages
