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 In a video uploaded to its YouTube channel in South Korea today, Apple showed off a handful of iPhone 17 Pro devices decorated with tiny stickers.
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 OpenAI is making several updates to its Codex AI coding agent. Codex is now able to operate desktop Mac apps with its own cursor, seeing what's on the screen, clicking, and typing to complete tasks.
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GPS spoofing with a VPN lets you mask your real location for easier access to geo-restricted content and more control over location-based apps, but there are some cases where you won't want it.
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Last month, following reporting from The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI confirmed it was working on a desktop super app that would combine ChatGPT, its Codex coding agent and Atlas web browser into one cohesive experience. OpenAI is not releasing that application today. Instead, it's pushing out a major update to Codex that significantly expands what that software can do. However, the new release offers a glimpse of what OpenAI hopes to build with its latest effort.
"We're building the super app out in the open," said Thibault Sottiaux, the head of Codex, during a press briefing held by OpenAI. "This release is about developers. In the future, we will broaden it up to a wider audience." Until then, the latest version of Codex offers developers multi-purpose AI agents that can work across a "larger surface area," while being more proactive. In practice, that translates to a host of new capabilities, starting with computer use.
The agents inside of Codex can interact with other apps on your PC. When prompting one of OpenAI's models, you can name a specific program or let it determine the best application for the job. Computer use is available in competing apps like Claude Cowork, but where OpenAI believes Codex offers an edge in that depart
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Love 'em or hate 'em, no modern browser is complete without robust tab support, and so too would it seem Google's AI Mode. Starting today, the company is rolling out an update to users in the US that makes the tool better at interacting and understanding tabs.
To start, the next time you use AI Mode on Chrome for desktop and click on a link, the chatbot will open a new side-by-side interface that allows you to both browse the new webpage and ask questions of AI Mode. The connection allows the chatbot to maintain the context of the search that brought you to that website in the first place.
For instance, say you're looking for a new coffee maker to buy for your apartment. After AI Mode finds a handful of different models for you to compare, you can click on one to go to the manufacturer's website and ask additional questions of the chatbot like "how easy is this to clean?" Thanks to the expanded context window, you don't need to refer to the specific name of the model.
Meanwhile, if you have an existing tab or group of tabs that you'd like AI Mode to factor into a new search, you can do that now too. From the redesigned Plus menu, just click the new option that's there. While you're in the Plus menu, you can also prompt AI Mode to consider other materials, including images and PDFs, alongside any relevant tabs.
In testing, Google says users found the integration translated to less tab switching, and made it easier to focus. Mike Torres, vice-president of product for Chrome, said the new features represent a broader effort by Google to bring practical AI capabilities to its web browser. Torres added the company would soon bring today's updates to more places around the world.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-chrome-makes-it
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They promise weeks of hands-free cleaning, but auto-empty robot vacuums defer maintenance rather than eliminating it. Here's what you need to know about the hidden costs and upkeep before you buy one.
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Available for free to any company that wants to use it, the "completely anonymous" app puts the pressure on porn sites and social media platforms to start blocking access by minors.
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Playdate is getting a third season of curated, surprise games, Panic announced today. We don't know much beyond the fact that Season Three is officially happening, but Panic's Head of Playdate Greg Maletic said in an announcement video that it will be here "in time for the holidays" this year. Considering we had to wait a whole three years for Season Two to come out following Season One's release with the console in 2022, that doesn't sound so bad.
Panic hasn't yet said how many games Season Three will include, or how much it will cost. While Season One had a total of 24 games — with a release schedule of two games per week for 12 weeks — last year's Season Two had half the amount (plus Blippo ), and cost $39. But that drop in quantity thankfully didn't mean a drop in quality. Season Two was great, with a collection of games that felt stronger overall than the first. I, for one, can't wait to see what Season Three brings. In other exciting news, Panic also announced today that the much, much-awaited game Office Chair Curling is finally availa
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The Explorian E310 had a good run, but after more than 10 years, Vitamix is retiring its cheapest model. Meet the entry-level replacement.
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 iOS 27 is likely to introduce at least four new Apple Intelligence features that function within system apps, based on backend code discovered by Nicolás Alvarez and confirmed by MacRumors.
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Much to our surprise, the beloved Explorian E310 is being phased out of production after more than a decade. Here's a look at the new entry-level blender from Vitamix replacing it.
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A group of researchers from across the US and the UK have conducted a study on what AI does to our brains and the results are, in a word, grim. These results were published in a paper called "AI assistance reduces persistence and hurts independent performance" which kind of tells you everything you need to know.
"We find that AI assistance improves immediate performance, but it comes at a heavy cognitive cost," the study declares. Researchers went on to state that just ten minutes of using AI made people dependent on the technology, which led to worsening performance and burnout once the tools were removed.
The study followed people who use AI for "reasoning-intensive" cognitive labor. This refers to stuff like writing, coding and brainstorming new ideas, which are some of the most common use cases.
The researchers recruited 350 Americans, who were asked to complete some fraction-based equations. Half of the participants were randomly granted access to a specialized chatbot built on OpenAI's GPT-5 for help and the others had to go it alone. Halfway through the exam, the AI group had their access cut off.
This led to a steep decline in correct answers by the AI group and many instances of people simply giving up. This result, in which performance and perseverance both dropped, was repeated in a larger experiment with 670 people. Finally, the scientists performed one final experiment with reading comprehension questions, and not math. The results were more of the same.
"Once the AI is taken away from people, it's not that people are just giving wrong answers. They're also not willing to try without AI," Rachit Dubey, an assistant professor at the University of California and coauthor of the study,
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Apple's MacBook Neo is a $600 (or $500 for students) shot across the bow at affordable Windows laptops, and it seems like Microsoft has ready its first response. The newly announced "Microsoft College Offer" is a bundle of Microsoft 365 Premium, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, custom Xbox controller and discounted laptop that the company thinks could woo students away from Apple's new deal.
With the purchase of a discounted machine directly from Microsoft, retailers like Amazon and Best Buy or PC makers like HP, ASUS and Acer, you can get what the company says is an extra $500 of value from its bundle. The laptop deals include a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x with a Snapdragon X chip, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $500 from Best Buy, around $250 off the laptop's usual $750 price. Or if you wanted something even cheaper, Walmart is selling an HP Omnibook 3 for $429, a discount of $270 off its usual $699 price. Microsoft is less generous with the deals on its own laptops and tablets, but you can even get a discount on a Surface Laptop as part of the offer.
A discounted laptop is great, but where the value of the Microsoft College Offer gets harder to define is with the services the company is packing in. Getting what would normally be a $200 year-long subscription to Microsoft 365 Premium for free is a meaningful deal, but many colleges give their students access to Microsoft's ap
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 Apple retail locations and Apple Authorized Service Providers will soon be able to restore Apple Watch software in-store without needing to send an Apple Watch to a service center, according to a retail source that spoke to MacRumors.
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Live Nation, which operates the Ticketmaster platform, has been determined to be a monopoly. A federal jury handed down its decision today that the company violated federal and state antitrust rules. This finding won't surprise anyone who has used Ticketmaster and been sticker-shocked by their final bill. However, it's unclear what the jury's decision will mean in practice.
For starters, the judge overseeing the case hasn't determined what remedies will be applied. The actions could go as far as requiring Live Nation to sell off Ticketmaster. There are also monetary damages to be awarded, which haven't been set yet. And whatever the judge decides, it's also likely that Live Nation will appeal the decision. We've reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.
The Department of Justice and a group of state and district attorneys general
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Every data-stealing virus requires a unique approach, but these are the essential first steps for reclaiming an infected device.
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It's free to postpone your federal tax deadline for six months, but there's a huge catch.
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Google News has begun showing Polymarket bets and odds alongside actual stories, according to a report by Futurism. These look to appear as large blocks that include links to numerous ways for people to lose their money.
Bets tend to appear in the "For you" section of Google News, which is supposed to be tailored to a person's particular interests. Futurism notes that the platform actually placed a Polymarket bet as the top news result when inquiring about the price of Bitcoin.
The publication saw links to the prediction market all over Google News, including in searches. It popped up in queries regarding the Strait of Hormuz, which presents a link that lets people bet on the number of ships that would be allowed to pass through the critical passageway. The report even indicates that users were able to set the gambling platform as a source, which directs readers to an aggregate page of other Polymarket links.
We Cooked. pic.twitter.com/IFBbYFdn2A
— Anthony Higman (@AnthonyHigman) March 26, 2026
There's a caveat here. I wasn't personally able to confirm most of these results. This could indicate that Google has quietly made some changes behind the scenes following Futurism's initial report.
Complaints from user
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If Apple's AI tech isn't for you, here's how you can disable all or parts of it.
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There is a lot of news about TikTok and the legislation that would require the company to change ownership. It's important to keep ourselves informed about how to keep our families safer when using it.
The post Updates on America's TikTok Use and a Guide For Parents appeared first on ConnectSafely.
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