The everyday tech stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
Google'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 PhotoshopA 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 fasterSpotify 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 againNvidia 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 itWhatsApp 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 messagesA Galaxy Watch 9 owner says turning off Always On Display added six to eight hours of battery, without losing the features that make a smartwatch useful.
Read more: Turning off one watch setting added hours of battery lifeA new report says Google still gets 18 times the traffic of ChatGPT, which matters if customers find your business through search.
Read more: Google still draws 18 times the traffic of ChatGPTOpenAI and ServiceNow now let staff look up work data and take actions from inside ChatGPT, within each company's own permission rules.
Read more: ChatGPT can now carry out work tasks inside ServiceNowA new AI model called Jev returns a probability score instead of text. Its maker says that makes sorting tasks far cheaper, though the claim needs checking.
Read more: New AI model answers with odds, not text, and claims 100x lower costA researcher released working attack code for an Android flaw that can crash a phone or cut off calls with one text. Older phones may stay exposed.
Read more: A single text message can crash some Android phonesTikTok launched a restaurant guide called Must Eat and is reportedly working on payments, a sign it wants to be the app you use for almost everything.
Read more: TikTok is adding restaurant picks and payments to become an everything appInstagram's repost button shares public posts and reels with your followers in one tap. It is also easy to hit by mistake, and undoing it takes seconds.
Read more: How to repost on Instagram, and how to undo an accidental oneOne Apple IT writer argues that heavy AI users could save money by running models on a Mac instead of paying cloud bills that grow with every task.
Read more: Running AI on your own Mac may cost less than paying per useA writer at Android Police deleted a VPN app, VLC and the download app 1DM after switching to the Aloha browser. Here is what it does and what to check first.
Read more: One Android browser replaced this writer's VPN, video player and downloaderSamsung's One UI software can share a keyboard between phone and tablet and send apps to different speakers. Other Android phones can't match these tricks.
Read more: Samsung phones can do some audio and multi-device tricks others can'tPhones like the iPhone 18 Pro can survive a dunk, but CNET says pools and the sea are a different matter, and a warranty will likely not cover the damage.
Read more: Your Waterproof Phone Is Not Meant for the Pool or the SeaA tech reporter spent five days with Apple's roughly $2,000 iPhone Duo and kept using it over a top-end iPhone, despite broken apps and a return to Touch ID.
Read more: A reporter took two iPhones on vacation and kept the new DuoExperts expect more fake delivery texts, often posing as Royal Mail, as Christmas online shopping peaks in November and December.
Read more: Fake parcel texts are expected to spike as Christmas shopping startsResearchers showed that opening a shared ChatGPT link could let an attacker read private chats. OpenAI says it fixed the flaw on October 26.
Read more: Researchers Showed One Shared Link Could Hijack a ChatGPT AccountA congressional review finds federal agencies cannot say how much scam money is lost or returned, while the FBI reports losses above $2 million an hour.
Read more: Americans lost nearly $18 billion to online scams, and little comes back
