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 Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2.
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Learn from my mistakes and navigate travel like a pro with these tips.
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Tax professionals are a solid way to have some peace of mind during tax season, but no one is perfect, and you should know what to do if they make a mistake.
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 Amazon today has all-time low prices on the new M4 MacBook Air, with up to $60 off the 13-inch and 15-inch versions of the computer. Right now these discounts are only available on Amazon, and most of them have estimated delivery windows of early April.
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SpaceX has successfully launched the Fram2 private crewed mission on March 31 at 9:46 PM Eastern time on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. Fram2 is the first human spaceflight to explore the Earth's polar regions, which are not visible to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The crew will observe the Earth's poles through a panoramic cupola attachment from an altitude of 430 km (267 miles). SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule can fly from the North to the South Pole in around 46 minutes and Fram2 is a three-to-five day mission, so it's expected to provide scientists with a healthy amount of footage capturing the polar regions. In fact, SpaceX has already released the mission's first views of the Earth's poles from space.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 1, 2025
The crew will observe unusual light emissions resembling auroras in the regions, including STEVEs, which appear as purple and green light ribbons in the night sky. They will also conduct 22 experiments designed to better understand human health in space for the sake of long-duration missions in the future. The crew will capture the first human X-rays in space, study exercises meant to preserve muscle and bone mass, explore sleep and stress patterns using wearable tech, monitor their glucose and observe the female crew members' hormonal health. They also won't get the typical medical and mobility assistance upon landing to see how they re-acclimate to gravity on
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Quick Machine Recovery is the first tangible result of Microsoft's work following the massive CrowdStrike incident of 2024, which knocked out large parts of the global IT infrastructure. QMR allows IT administrators to fix boot problems remotely, even when a problem is so grave that the computer can no longer boot as usual.
The recovery is done via the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), where the system connects to the internet and sends diagnostic data to Microsoft. Based on this, targeted updates can be sent back to the computer via Windows Update, Thurrott reports.
Previously, the feature was mainly aimed at business users, but now Microsoft confirms that private individuals will also have access to it—and it will be enabled by default. In managed IT environments, administrators will be able to control availability.
QMR is available in the Windows recovery menu as an option under "Advanced Options." According to Microsoft, the feature contributes to increased system resilience by automatically detecting errors and applying solutions, without any manual troubleshooting.
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ChatGPT's built-in image generation feature is now available to everyone. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last week that the company is delaying its rollout to free tier "for a while," because the tool was way more popular than they had expected. But the company made the feature available to free users over the weekend, allowing them to generate images from within ChatGPT and without having to switch to OpenAI's DALL-E generator. Prior to its rollout to the free tier, the tool was only available to Plus, Pro and Team subscribers.
Altman previously said that free users will get a limit of three images per day. Based on our experience trying it out, some accounts are limited to just one a day. Those who find themselves able to generate more than one will still have to wait anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours. One of the tool's most popular uses that we've seen so far is the creation of Ghibli-style images using real-life photos. Users simply have to upload the photo they want to use and then instruct ChatGPT in natural language to create a Ghibli-style version of it. The trend had raised concerns, yet again, about the legality of using copyrighted work as training data for artificial intelligence. It also resurfaced the reaction of Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli's founder, upon being shown AI-generated animation years ago. "I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself," the director said.
In a tweet, Altman said that the tool could still exhibit erra
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The genetic testing company has filed for bankruptcy protection and it's unclear what will happen to its massive collection of customer data.
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 Apple has now refreshed the Mac Studio twice since its introduction in 2022, so should you upgrade your unit and is an older model still worth buying?
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The Amazon Spring Sale might be over, but there are still lots of great deals to shop. For instance, there's a 33 percent discount on one of our favorite portable Bluetooth speakers for 2025. The Beats Pill is down to $100 from $150 — a record-low price for the speaker.
Let's be honest, that first glimpse of warm weather is here and it's making us dream of sitting by the beach or picnics with friends. The Beats Pill is a solid option to provide the soundtrack to your summer. We gave it in 83 in our review thanks, in part, to its durability. The speaker has an IP67 waterproof rating, so you shouldn't have to worry at all if it gets
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 When we reviewed the iPhone 16 Pro last year, Apple Intelligence was barely available. Since then, the iPhone 16 series has benefitted from several new features, apps and improvements. Some (or most) of them were Apple Intelligence features that were teased back at WWDC 2024, months before the iPhone 16 Pro launched.
AI features weren't the only changes this time around, with the iPhone 16 getting an entirely new button. The so-called Camera Control wasn't just a simple app shortcut, but an elaborate multifunction button that offered a haptic half-press and the ability to swipe across to adjust camera settings and options.
Managing Editor Cherlynn Low said we were still "waiting on Apple Intelligence" in our initial review. Now, as we hit iOS 18.4, was it worth the wait?
iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence so far
Mat Smith for Engadget
Apple Intelligence was late, arriving as part of iOS 18.1 back in October 2024. Initial generative AI features included writing tools like proofreading and rewriting, as
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StackSocial's lowest price of 2025 on this massive productivity bundle is just $50, 77% off its regular retail price of $220.
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If you've been paying attention, you know that the Windows world is badly fragmented. Not only are users split between Windows 10 and Windows 11, but Windows 11 users aren't even all on the same version. Now, over the past year, AI has added another wrinkle with Microsoft mainly developing its Copilot PC features for Qualcomm's Snapdragon X platform while neglecting AMD's Ryzen AI 300 and Intel's Core Ultra 200 series processors.
Fortunately, that's changing. On Monday, Microsoft wrote in a blog post that PCs powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300 series, Intel Core Ultra 200V, and Snapdragon X series processors are all eligible for "exclusive Copilot PC experiences like Live Captions, Cocreator, Restyle Image, and Image Creator." The word "like" offers some wiggle room, since other AI-powered experiences—such as the ability to resize photos—is only available in the Photos app on PCs running on a Snapdragon chip.
Still, it's a major step up for AMD and Intel. Microsoft and its partners launched Copilot PCs in May 2024, showing off all of its favored AI features on Snapdragon machines. Although Microsoft promised that it would soon bring those features to Copilot PCs powered by AMD and Intel, months passed… Microsoft then eventually released Windows Recall for Copilot Snapdragon PCs, then offered that feature
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 iOS 18.4 is the fourth major update to the iOS 18 operating system that first came out last September, and it adds a long list of new features. Some features are limited to Apple's newer and more powerful iPhone models, while others are available to all ?iOS 18? users.
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NEW RESOURCES New-to-me, from Get Info: Macintosh Magazine Media: 1 million files. "I am proud to announce that my Macintosh Magazine Media project has surpassed my self-imposed goal of 1 million files, […]
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An expert weighs in on how often you should clean your oven. Plus, cleaning products that will help get the job done quickly.
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 Apple has released iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS 15.4 and visionOS 2.4, bringing a grab bag of new features to the companies devices and expanding Apple Intelligence to new countries and languages.
As previously announced by Apple iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4 include a new Apple News Food section in the News app that collects recipes and food-oriented articles, including exclusive recipes for Apple News subscribers. The updates also introduce new emoji, AI-sorted Priority Notifications in Notification Center, new ways to filter photos in the Photos app and lossless audio on the AirPods Max. That's on top of a random assortment of other quality-of-life features like:
AI-generated summaries of App Store reviews
An Ambient Music tool in Control Center
The ability to add and control Matter-compatible robot vacuums to the Home app
New widgets for the Podcasts app
A new "Sketch" style for images in Image Playground
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NEW RESOURCES University of Hawaii: VNR: New maps developed by UH improve Hawai?i's wildfire risk warnings. "Scientists at the University of Hawai?i have developed new wildfire risk maps to better predict fire […]
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 Apple today released a new firmware update for the USB-C version of the AirPods Max headphones. The new firmware is version 7E99, up from the prior 7A291 firmware the device was previously running.
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If there's one thing you can count on with AI tools is that they'll launch without most of the promised features. It happened with Apple Intelligence. It happened with Galaxy AI. Now, it's happening with Alexa , Amazon's AI-heavy upgrade to its virtual assistant. The tool is officially available but it doesn't do a whole lot, according to reporting by The Washington Post.
The paper reviewed a number of internal company documents that noted the delay of many features. These documents suggest that a bunch of tools won't be available for two months or longer. Alexa users won't be able to use the platform to order takeout on Grubhub or identify family members via camera to remind them to do chores.
The same goes for that neat-sounding tool that the company says will auto-generate a story to entertain kids. Also, Alexa cannot be used to brainstorm gift ideas or order groceries. Finally, there isn't a browser-based version available. The company says these delays are because the features do not "meet Amazon's standards for public release."
So what can Alexa do right now? I haven't gotten a chance to fool around with it, but the
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Get peace of mind with the best outdoor security cameras -- our expert picks combine strong video quality with reliable home protection.
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USEFUL STUFF Mashable: YouTube channels to help keep your mind calm. "The age of being extremely online has produced many unusual meditative practices. Many of us apparently enjoy singing bowl TikToks. Others […]
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Keith Sonderling, commissioner of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), has for years been sounding the alarm about the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to run afoul of federal anti-discrimination laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It was not until the advent of ChatGPT, Bard, and other popular generative AI tools, however, that local, state and national lawmakers began taking notice — and companies became aware of the pitfalls posed by a technology that can automate efficiencies in the business process.
Instead of speeches he'd typically make to groups of chief human resource officers or labor employment lawyers, Sonderling has found himself in recent months talking more and more about AI. His focus has been on how companies can stay compliant as they hand over more of the responsibility for hiring and other aspects of corporate HR to algorithms that are vastly faster and capable of parsing thousands of resumes in seconds.
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