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Google just announced that it will soon drop support for the first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats. The devices won't stop working completely, but remote access is going away, as are software updates and compatibility with the Google Home app.
The older Nest Learning Thermostats that are losing support include the second-generation units for the U.S., released in 2014, as well as the European version of the second-gen thermostat, which also went on sale in 2014. The original Nest Learning Thermostat, which was released only in the U.S., landed in 2011.
Google says it will drop support for the thermostats starting October 25, 2025. Besides no longer receiving software updates, the older Nest Leaning thermostats will lose Nest and Google Home app support, meaning no more out-of-home control. Google Assistant will also lose access to the units.
You will still be able to control temperature, mode, schedules, and other settings manually on the thermostat itself, and existing schedules will continue to operate, Google added.
At least Google is offering discounts to affected Nest users for their trouble. U.S. owners of the older Nest Learning Thermostats can get $130 off the
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Why you should trust me: Here at PCWorld we've been testing computer hardware, software, and services since the 1980s. For my part, I'm continually testing all of the major VPNs on the market and many lesser-known services in order to curate a list of the very best VPNs across a variety of categories. Below you'll find my favorite VPNs, and below those, helpful advice about what to look for when choosing a VPN on your own.
If you're looking to use your VPN for more than streaming, be sure to check out our comprehensive roundup of the best VPNs in all categories, as well.
NordVPN - Best VPN overall for Netflix
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Almost a year since Microsoft announced its controversial Recall feature, and after several delays, the company has finally started bringing it to Copilot AI PCs today. The launch comes just a few weeks after Microsoft started testing Recall broadly with Windows Insiders. There are also a few other AI-powered features coming along with this release, including an improved Windows Search and Click to Do, which lets you quickly use AI features from within your existing apps. As usual, the release won't immediately roll out to all Copilot PCs, instead Microsoft is gradually releasing it over the next month (and likely monitoring potential issues along the way).
Recall was one of the biggest announcements at Microsoft's Copilot debut last May, but almost immediately, it came under fire for some glaring privacy issues. At a basic level, Recall constantly records what you're doing on your PC via screenshots, and it uses AI to search them for specific words and images. The idea is that you'll never forget where you put a document you were working on weeks ago, or which random website you've lost track of. Security and privacy advocates were initially concerned that Recall was automatically enabled on Copilot PCs and that it wasn't
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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the rumored look of the iPhone 17 "Air" and iPadOS 19's major productivity update.
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For years, the mantra in the tech world has been, buy the latest and greatest. The newer, the better. And for some companies, like AMD and Qualcomm, that's been true.
Not anymore. Intel told Wall Street analysts Thursday that it's selling out of its "Raptor Lake" processors and that the process technology they're built upon, Intel 7, is constrained. Put another way, Intel chief financial officer David Zinsner told analysts that Intel is selling more of its years-old 12th- and 13th-gen Raptor Lake (and Raptor Lake Refresh) chips than Lunar Lake.
That's embarrassing, to be sure. But it caps off years of struggles, which some might say date back to Intel's inability to move off of the 14nm node for several generations. Is it any surprise that Intel's new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, believes that Intel's organizational structure is bloated?
Maybe, but to most people in technology, the answer is simple: if you deliver processors that don't improve over their predecessors, why should you expect customers to buy your newest and most expensive chips? Instead, they'll turn to your older, cheaper processors. And that's what Intel says is happening — especially with the tariff typhoon blowing hard.
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But who would buy it? Unsurprisingly, there are beaucoup business beaus lining up around the block for this browser bachelorette. We've already heard that ChatGPT maker OpenAI is very interested, as testified in court by an executive. And another notable name in the AI space, search engine Perplexity, told a judge much the same thing. Bloomberg reports that Yahoo, which almost feels like legacy media at this point, would also be interested if Chrome becomes available.
That's three potential new homes for the world's most popular browser. But it's important to note that federal judge Amit Mehta hasn't yet made a determination on how Google will be punished for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. Just because prosecutors suggest breaking off Chrome doesn't mean that he'll agree it's an appropriate end. And whatever happens, Google will certainly exhaust its legal options with enough money to make Solomon blush. Google losing control of Chrome is not a foregone conclusion, even if it feels that way from recent reports.
But let's proceed under
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I found a quick and clean way to make the crispiest grilled cheese and now everything is different.
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 Apple is accelerating its manufacturing shift away from China, with plans to assemble all U.S.-bound iPhones in India by the end of 2026, according to a new Financial Times report.
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Meta is finally acknowledging that Facebook's feed is filled with too many spammy posts. In an update, the company says it plans to start "cracking down" on some of the worst offenders. "Facebook Feed doesn't always serve up fresh, engaging posts that you consistently enjoy," the company writes. "We're working on it."
Specifically, Meta says it will lower the reach of creators that share posts with "long, distracting captions" as well as posts with captions that are irrelevant or unrelated to the shared content. These accounts will also no longer be eligible for monetization. Likewise, the company says it's taking "more aggressive" steps to combat "spam networks that coordinate fake engagement." This includes making comments from these accounts less visible, and removing Facebook pages meant to "inflate reach." Meta is also testing a feature that allows users to anonymously downvote comments in order to flag them as not "useful."
The update comes as Meta is trying to revamp Facebook to make it more appealing to "young adults." The company recently brought back a tab for friends content, in an update Mark Zuckerberg described as making the platform more like "OG Facebook." Notably though, Meta's update doesn't mention one of the more persistent forms of engagement bait that's emerged on Facebook over the last year: AI slop.
The phenomenon, which has been
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 Netflix today announced that it is introducing a new subtitle option that only shows subtitles for spoken dialogue, aimed at those who don't need captions, but prefer to watch movies and TV shows with the subtitles turned on.
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 Apple is testing an iOS 18.5 update with developers and public beta testers, and we've had three betas so far. There aren't any notable changes so far, but the update will still bring important bug fixes and security improvements. So when can we expect it?
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