Amazon has rebranded its Kindle Unlimited subscription as Kindle+, keeping the price at $12 a month and the existing ebook borrowing model. The main change is a wider audiobook catalog that includes titles narrated by AI. Authors in the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program can use the free Virtual Voice service to produce AI-narrated au…
Microsoft released PowerToys version 0.102, adding two mouse utilities: Mouse Button Lock and CursorHide. Mouse Button Lock lets users hold a mouse button briefly, release it, and extend a text selection by moving the cursor. It improves on the built-in Windows ClickLock setting by allowing a choice of left, right or middle button, a mill…
A ZDNET consumer how-to article describes how to make Waze the default mapping app on a Google Pixel phone. The author says the August Android update removed the option to choose a default mapping app from the Default apps settings. The article describes no security incident, vulnerability or threat activity, and has no direct defender re…
ZDNET's Jack Wallen reviews GridCraft, a free, open-source, Rust-based spreadsheet application from ArtCraft that mimics Microsoft Excel. It runs natively on Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Windows and supports XLSX files, more than 500 functions, charts and pivot tables. The reviewer notes weak template support, with no .xltx saving, and advis…
Apple announced the HomePod Mini 2 last week. According to MacRumors, as cited by ZDNET, HomePod 27.2 software is in developer and public beta and may ship next week, bringing selected features to older HomePod models. This is consumer product news with no security incident, vulnerability or threat activity described. Technical Details - …
Amazon's Blink home surveillance line is getting five new cameras, available for preorder from October 21, 2026, at prices from $50 to $200. They are the Blink Frontier XR+, Blink Outdoor 2K XR+, Blink Mini 4K+, Blink Pan-Tilt Zoom 2K+ and Blink Spotlight 2K+. The Mini 4K+ is Blink's first 4K wired camera, and the two XR+ models extend co…
ServiceNow and Nvidia announced general availability of Arc, a long-running personal AI agent for enterprise productivity tasks such as email and Microsoft Teams. Arc was first announced in May and is available now on Mac, with Windows support still pending. It is designed for Nvidia's new RTX Spark devices and can run locally or inside N…
Google is rolling out Gemini Personal Intelligence on Android Auto, letting the Gemini assistant draw on a user's Gmail, Calendar, Photos and other Google services to tailor in-car responses. The feature is opt-in and off by default, and users can choose which apps and services to permit. The article reports no vulnerability, attack or in…
CNET Group is launching TechPulse, a free iOS and Android app that combines articles and videos from ZDNET, CNET, PCMag, Mashable, Lifehacker and ExtremeTech into a single feed. Users can choose which publications appear, and the feed is described as algorithm-free. No subscription is required. The article is product news with no security…
Amazon's Ring announced its first smart lock, the Ring Smart Lock, which has a manual dial that generates enough power to wake the keypad and fingerprint reader when the battery is dead. The lock supports fingerprint scanning, PIN codes (including temporary codes), Alexa commands and the Ring app. The battery pack, called Quick Release Ul…
Amazon announced three Android-based Alexa Tablets (Tablet 8 from $230, Tablet 11 from $330, Tablet 12 Pro from $500) built around the Alexa+ AI assistant, with shipping set to start on October 14. They are the first of Amazon's newer tablets to support Google Play in addition to Amazon's own app store. Amazon also launched two Kids Table…
At Open Source Summit Europe in Prague, Linus Torvalds told Dirk Hohndel (Ericsson Software Technology) that he likes using AI, particularly for beginners and for tasks outside his expertise. He cautioned that it must be used carefully in important work such as the Linux kernel. AI tools now help find and fix kernel bugs, including genuin…
Microsoft announced changes to its Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium and Pro subscriptions, replacing per-member 1 TB OneDrive allowances with a single shared storage pool and shared AI usage credits. Family and Premium plans drop from up to 6 TB of total storage to 2 TB, and the new Microsoft 365 Pro plan offers 5 TB at about $100 …
This ZDNET consumer review by Maria Diaz assesses Apple's new Home Collection, which includes the HomeView smart panel ($299), a new HomePod mini, an Apple TV 4K and nine smart home devices priced from $40 (sensors) to $400 (security cameras). It concludes that only the LG Indoor Cam ($200) and LG Outdoor Cam ($300) are well suited to ren…
Apple has reportedly invited media to an "all-day product launch" in Los Angeles on Oct. 28, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Expected announcements include its first touchscreen OLED MacBook line (14- and 16-inch, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, possibly 5G), a 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro, an OLED iPad mini with an M6 chip at a rumored $799, an…
Nvidia has released Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, a 120-billion-parameter open-weight model aimed at agentic workloads, together with two edge models, Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9B 24GB and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt E4B 4GB. Nvidia claims it is 5x faster than the next-best model in its class, based on Artificial Analysis benchmarks that ranked InclusionAI's…
Google announced Universal Cart and the When to Buy Guide, two consumer shopping features ahead of the holiday season. Universal Cart saves products from multiple retailers via AI Mode in Search or the Gemini app. It tracks price drops and restocks using the Shopping Graph (60+ billion product listings). It is built on Google Wallet, inte…
Google has announced the Fitbit Edge, a $180 slim smartwatch positioned between the screenless Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 5. The article is a consumer product preview with no security, vulnerability or threat content. The Edge is 11.5 mm thick, has a hybrid OLED touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and adds a side button for star…
Employ's annual Recruiter Nation report, based on an August 2026 Zogby Analytics survey, finds that AI-polished resumes are now the top recruiter stressor at 33%. This is the first time in the report's 19-year history that it has overtaken a lack of qualified candidates. Confirmed AI-driven candidate fraud rose to 27% of surveyed organiza…
Google announced that anyone with a standard Google account can now build personal Android apps in Google AI Studio by describing them in a prompt. The apps run on the creator's own device, are launched from a private section of Google Play, and are not listed in the public Play Store. The feature extends the existing AI Studio app creato…