|
 Apple's first foldable iPhone may not carry the speculative media-derived "Fold" branding after all, according to Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station.
|
|
 There's a new movie tracking app in town, with a twist for squeamish horror fans. Binge leverages Apple's Live Activities feature to warn viewers about jump scares in horror movies.
This seems to work rather simply. Users open the app when starting a movie and Apple devices will display warnings on the lock screen ahead of frightening scenes. The settings can be adjusted to only warn about major jump scares and the like, leaving viewers vulnerable to some of the smaller terrors.
However, the app doesn't integrate with any streaming services. It only knows a movie starts because a button has been tapped. This means that people will have to notify the app when taking a bathroom break or making popcorn, lest the timing of the notifications get all messed up. This information can also be accessed via a timeline.
Binge
Binge is also vying to become an all-in-one movie tracking app, like Letterboxd and JustWatch. So it provides details about the cast and crew of movies and shows, along with reviews, awards, runtimes and other basic information. It also tracks which streaming platforms are home to a specific piece of content, which is handy as stuff tends to move around a lot in this modern age.
|
RELATED ARTICLES | | |
|
 Google is making some changes to how Gemini handles mental health crises. The chatbot now includes a redesigned crisis hotline module with a one-touch interface to connect to real-world help. The company is also changing how Gemini responds to signs that a user may be experiencing a mental health crisis.
The redesigned module shows a one-touch interface to text, call or chat with a human crisis agent or visit the 988 website. "Once the interface is activated, the option to reach out for professional help will remain clearly available throughout the remainder of the conversation," the company wrote in a blog post. However, as you can see in the image below, the module includes an option to dismiss it.
Not mentioned in Google's announcement is the elephant in the room: a recent lawsuit accusing the chatbot of instructing a man to commit suicide. The family of 36-year-old Jonathan Gavalas, who took his own life last year, sued the company in March.
Court documents indicate that Gemini role-played as Gavalas's romantic partner, sent him on real-world spy missions and ultimately told him to kill himself so that he, too, could become a digital being. When he expressed fears about dying, Gemini said he wasn't choosing to die, but rather choosing to arrive. "The
|
|
 The all-new MacBook Neo has been such a hit that Apple is facing a "massive dilemma," according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan.
|
|
How will Mr. Charles react to Fisk's latest devious move? Tune in as we hit the halfway mark for this season.
|
|
As ever, Xbox is bringing a bunch of high-profile titles to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass this month, while adding several to the lower tiers of the service. There aren't too many surprises among this first wave of April newcomers, though. Many of these additions were previously confirmed, while EA Sports NHL 26 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (the remake) were always going to join Game Pass at some point.
Still, there's plenty to dive into on the service this month. April 14 is a particularly eye-catching day, with both Hades 2 (which is debuting on Xbox Series X/S and PS5) and the long-awaited Replaced hitting Game Pass alongside the turn-based, character-driven RPG The Thaumaturge.
Here's a breakdown of everything coming to Game Pass over the next few weeks:
April 7Final Fantasy IV — Cloud, Xbox Series X/S and PC on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass
April 8DayZ — PC on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, Game Pass Essential and PC Game Pass
Endless Legend 2 — PC game preview on Game Pass Premium (already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass)
FBC:
|
|
Motorola has announced its two latest devices: the budget-friendly Moto G Stylus smartphone and the Moto Pad. The latter is a tablet and a new addition to the Motorola lineup with an 11-inch 2.5K display, compared to the 6.7-inch screen on the Moto G Stylus.
The Moto Pad offers a MediaTek D6300 5G processor and 5G connectivity. It also has quad speakers with Dolby technology, including Dolby Atmos capability on speakers or through headphones with using supporting platforms. The Moto Pad comes with a 7040mAh battery that can stream for 12 hours on one charge.
The new Moto Pad is available in Pantone's Bronze Green on April 30 from T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile. Motorola has yet to share an exact price, instead stating it will be "communicated by carrier upon availability."
Meanwhile, the 2026 Moto G Stylus is an upgrade of its predecessor, offering a built-in active stylus. Inside the Notes app, it offers Sketch to Image, an AI tool for polishing drawings, and Handwriting Calculator, a feature for solving handwritten equations without switching to a calculator.
The Moto G Stylus also has 100 hours of standby time. It only lasts four hours while continually writing, but Motorola claims it recharges in 15 minutes. It comes with a 50MP Ultra Pixel main camera, 13MP Ultrawide & Macro Vision camera and 32MP selfie camera. Plus, its 6.7-inch screen is an Extreme AMOLED display with a 1.5K super HD resolution and 120Hz refresh rate — the Moto Pad has a 90Hz refresh rate, in comparison.
Motorola is releasing the 2026 Moto G Stylus on April 16 and will start at $500. The 126GB option will initially come with four free Moto Tags, while the 256GB version will offer free
|
|
When NASA allowed Artemis II astronauts to take their smartphones with them, we already knew it could lead to some epic phone shots of the moon. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman took one such photo on his iPhone, just as the Orion spacecraft his crew was on approached the moon for a lunar flyby. The astronauts turned off all the lights inside the cabin to be able to take better pictures. In the livestream, Wiseman showed the camera a photo he took on his iPhone 17 Pro.
As 9to5Mac notes, he said on the livestream that he took the picture on his iPhone camera with an 8x zoom. NASA reportedly said that the image showed the Chebyshev crater, a lunar impact sight located on the far side of the moon, or the side we don't see from our planet. Artemis II launched on April 1 for a 10-day journey, with four astronauts onboard the mission's Orion spacecraft. On April 6, it flew farther away from Earth than any
|
|
Google has started rolling out a small but significant update to Chrome on desktop. Starting today, users will begin seeing an option to organize their tabs vertically. To use the new feature, right click on any Chrome window and select "Show Tabs Vertically."
Google is late to the game here. Before today, every other major browser but Chrome offered support for vertical tabs — though the quality of implementation varies widely. Firefox, for instance, has supported vertical tabs since its 136 update in March of last year, and in my experience, has one of the best interfaces for managing dozens of tabs. Apple's own Safari is another browser with the option to stack tabs vertically, though things can quickly get confusing due to all the different ways you can group webpages.
Separately, Google is rolling out an enhanced reading mode that offers a new full-page interface. To use the feature, right click on a page and select "Open in reading mode." As you might imagine, reading mode is designed to make busy webpages easier to get through without distraction. As with most Chrome upgrades, it may take a few days before today's update rolls out to your device, so be patient if you don't see it right away.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/chrome-finally-adds-support-for-vertical-tabs-170000081.html?src=rss
|
|
 Spotify's Prompted Playlist tool now works for podcasts, after launching the feature for music earlier this year. As the name suggests, this is an AI thing. It lets users use natural language, or prompts, to describe what they're looking for in a playlist and the algorithm does the rest.
The platform says the tool is a good match for podcasts, as listeners can use it to discover a new favorite show or "dive deeper into a topic or piece of culture." Spotify adds that the algorithm generates playlists based on both the prompt and a person's listening history, along with "what's happening in the world today."
Spotify
Spotify gives some examples of the kinds of prompts that could be used to generate podcast playlists, which include a user asking the bot to build a playlist "all about science and innovation" and another "with the biggest entertainment news from the past few days." It'll be interesting to see if the algorithm prioritizes podcasts from its ever-growing stable of in-house creators over third party releases.
Spotify says the tool "unlocks powerful new opportunities" for creators. This is because it can recommend older episodes from a back catalog, thus giving them a little boost.
The featu
|
|
Netflix today launched a new Netflix Playground app designed for kids who are eight and under. Playground offers a selection of games with popular characters from shows like Sesame Street and Peppa Pig, with no ads and no in-app purchases.
|
|
NASA's Artemis II crew just set a new distance record in miles traveled away from Earth. The team of four astronauts are in the process of circling the Moon, reaching 5,000 miles beyond the natural satellite. That brings the total distance traveled away from our home to over 250,000 miles. Gene Roddenberry would be proud.
This broke the previous 1970 record set by Apollo 13's crew by around 4,000 miles. The four astronauts - Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency - are the first humans to cross the lunar threshold since 1972's Apollo 17 mission.
"We challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived," Commander Reid Wiseman said upon crossing the distance threshold. He also suggested that NASA name a lunar crater after the craft itself.
The astronauts aren't landing on the lunar surface, but are conducting a lengthy flyby that should provide clear images of the Moon's far side "that have never been seen" by humans. These areas were too difficult to clearly see by the various Apollo crew members. They'll also get a peek at a solar eclipse, though the crew will be out of contact with mission control for around 40 minutes.
"We'll get eyes on the moon, kind of map it out and then continue to go back in force," NASA flight director, Judd Frieling, said. Astronaut Christina Koch
|
|
Apple has released the first public beta for iOS 26.5, just a few days after the beta for developers came out. One of the biggest changes the new operating system brings is the "Suggested Places" feature in Apple Maps. It will show you trending places to visit, such as restaurants and other establishments, near your location or based on your search history. You can see Suggested Places when you tap on the search bar in the Maps app.
iOS 26.5 beta also will also come with notifications that the company will be putting ads inside Maps. Apple confirmed in March that it was going to expand its ads outside of the App Store and Apple News apps. The ads you see will be based on your location, the search terms you've used and what you're looking up on Maps. They will show up at the top of your search results and in Apple's Suggested Places list. Apple said the ads will be clearly marked and won't be a danger to your privacy. Your current location and the ads you interact with will not be associated with your Apple Account, and your personal data will stay on your iPhone and won't be collected.
In addition, Apple is testing end-to-end encryption for RCS messages on iOS 26.5 beta yet again. However, the company has yet to reveal whether the feature will roll out with the operating system's stable release. To be able to get Apple's public beta releases
|
|
In a surprise release, OpenAI has made ChatGPT's Voice mode available through Apple CarPlay. If you're running the latest version of both iOS and the ChatGPT app, and own a CarPlay-compatible vehicle, you can check out the experience. To get started, download all the necessary software, connect your iPhone to CarPlay and select "New voice chat" from ChatGPT. When the in-app text indicates ChatGPT is "listening," you can start a conversation.
There are some notable limitations to using ChatGPT Voice with CarPlay. For one, OpenAI's chatbot can't control car functions. If you want to adjust the cabin temperature or skip tracks, you'll still need Siri for those tasks. Due to Apple's restrictions, you also can't start using ChatGPT through a wake word like you can Siri. For example, to resume a previous conversation, you need to open the ChatGPT app from CarPlay and tap a recent or pinned chat.
With those limitations in mind, OpenAI suggests you can use Voice mode to get how-to advice, brainstorm ideas and practice languages. Personally, I like to listen to podcasts and music when I'm driving, but if talking with ChatGPT is your thing, you do you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-brings-chatgpts-voice-mode-to-carplay-191422297.html?src=rss
|
|
Meta's AI smart glasses allegedly exposed intimate footage to contractors in Kenya, sparking major privacy concerns and legal action over AI training.
|
|
