Summary When AI chatbots like ChatGPT first launched, many of us were skeptical of their accuracy. Asking AI questions was more of a party trick than a legitimate use case. Since it’s been a couple of years of steady improvements, the question arises: Can we finally replace manual search with AI? Only free versions of AI chatbots were used in the creation of this article. AI Is Faster and More Precise Than Google When I say “precise,” I mean that chatbots rarely lose focus, regardless of how weird or specific your question is....

Animated live wallpapers have been around since the earliest days of Android, but I’ll admit to having forgotten about them for several years. Here are the six best options I’ve found after giving them another go. 6Chill Vector Live Wallpaper It’s easy for a live wallpaper to be overstimulating. Chill Vector Live Wallpaper is anything but. This app provides a variety of different landscapes all created using soothing vector shapes. There are mountain ranges, rolling hills, city skylines, and open skies....

Quick Links I love geeking out over my music stats, so it was like a dream come true when I discovered Last.fm—a tool that lets me combine my listening history all in one place. I bet you’ll feel the same way once you’re up to speed on what it can do. I Love My Spotify Wrapped, but It Doesn’t Capture the Full Picture I look forward to getting mySpotify Wrappedat the end of every year....

Summary This winter, my wife and I decided it was time to invest in a home energy backup plan. Instead of a built-in home battery like a Tesla Powerwall, we decided to buy an abundance of Anker portable power stations instead. It Comes Down to Cost​ There’s a trade-off that comes with opting for portable solar generators over a built-in home backup battery, but there’s one primary reason we decided to go with the former: cost....

Mozilla, the company behind Firefox and Thunderbird, has talked a lot in recent years about the unfair advantages that platforms give to their first-party web browsers. Platform Tilt is a new effort from Mozilla to show how Firefox and other third-party browsers stack up against Chrome on Android, Safari on iPhone, and other platform pairings. Mozilla said in a blog post, “There’s a long history of companies leveraging their control of devices and operating systems to tilt the playing field in favor of their own browser....

Summary As part of the push toward a subscription-based PlayStation Plus model, Sony has started porting many of its classic games to the PS5 with native releases that rely on emulation. While its PS1 selection generally works well, Sony’s PS2 emulator has some pretty glaring issues that make it hard to recommend. PlayStation 2 Emulation Was Mastered Years Ago While the PS2 took a while for enthusiasts to fully crack when it came to emulation, the console has become a staple in the retro gaming emulator world....

Summary You would rightfully assume the apps and photos in the “Secure Folder”—emphasis onSecure—on your Galaxy phone were safe. Well, a sneaky little flaw allowed anyone with physical access to your device to peek at your hidden treasures. Samsung is finally addressing this with the One UI 8 update. When Samsung first launched Secure Folder back in 2017, Android wasn’t really built for such a feature. So, it had to use the existing “work profile” framework....

Summary Using the Variants on the Design tab, you may create a PowerPoint theme with your own style. Save the theme and reuse it for future presentations to build your brand with a consistent appearance. Do you often find yourself tweaking the cosmetic elements of your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to get a consistent look throughout? Rather than change each element on your slide individually, you can save time by making and applying your own theme....

Summary The Meta Quest 3 is priced at a stiff $500 for the 128GB model and $650 for the 512GB variant, making mobile and high-end PC VR a reality. But is it worth your hard-earned cash? Let’s take a closer look. Meta Quest 3 Is All About Mixed Reality The Quest 3 shows what direction Meta is heading in, and is no longer a purely VR headset. Its advancedmixed reality, powered by a new sensor architecture with two RGB cameras and a depth sensor, offers a high-quality pass through, rendering your physical environment in the virtual world with ten times the resolution ofQuest 2and thrice that ofQuest Pro....

Quick Links Summary TVs and monitors seem to be the same thing on the surface, but there are important differences that make each one suitable for specific jobs. For example, TVs are meant to be viewed at a distance but also aren’t designed for color accuracy, which is vital in content creation. Large, high-resolution computer monitors are expensive, so why not use a TV instead? There are good reasons to consider using a TV instead of a monitor, but at the same time, there are important tradeoffs to consider before you commit....

Summary Onscreen awareness is an upcoming feature that lets you ask Siri for information about what’s currently displayed on your iPhone screen. However, if your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, you can already do exactly that. What Is Onscreen Awareness for Siri? When Appleshowcased what would be featured in iOS 18, one of the upgrades announced for Siri was the addition of onscreen awareness. According to Apple, Siri will be able to perform actions based on the information that’s currently displayed on the screen of your iPhone....

Quick Links It would be tough to argue that the best value for a streaming service is paying nothing. After all, there are many services to choose from, and it’s challenging to determine which ones are worth paying for. But with a solid range of free and even FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) services available nowadays, it’s easier than ever to feel like you’re making off like a bandit. While you may not have to worry about price hikes, pricing tiers, or even payment altogether, there is still the matter of selection to consider—and finding your new favorite free streamer can still be challenging....

Summary “Pro” gaming controllers are a whole concept in and of themselves, but they often involve better-quality materials, back programmable macro triggers, and a whole lot of extra features made forrealgamers. If you’ve thought about whether you can buy one for your phone, the Backbone Pro might just be what you want, and it’s looking pretty good. Backbone has just announced the Backbone Pro, basically a more premium version of itsBackbone One controller....