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Several large technology firms including OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, Nvidia, and MGX have partnered to set up a new company in the US to ramp up AI infrastructure in the country. Named Project Stargate, the new company will see an investment of $500 billion over the next four years to support the US’ quest to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI) — a phase where a machine can think and act like a human being — faster…

Nina Raemont/ZDNET What’s the deal?  Training for a marathon in 2025? The Nothing Ear Open is on sale for $60 less than its asking price of $189. That means you can get these impeccable open earbuds that I’ve run many miles in for $129 right now.  ZDNET’s key takeaways The Nothing Ear Open is the design-forward brand’s first open earbuds, available now for a discounted $129 on Amazon.  They feel amazing to exercise with thanks to their…

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET There’s been plenty of chatter about Samsung debuting a second-generation Galaxy Ring at its Unpacked event tomorrow. At last year’s January Samsung Unpacked event, the tech giant gave a sneak peek at its first-ever smart ring that would roll out that summer. Naturally, people are wondering if Samsung will do the same with Galaxy Ring 2.  While a second-generation Galaxy Ring would be exciting, we aren’t convinced it will be coming any time…

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is just a day away from its official launch, but Honor is jumping into the ring early to challenge Samsung with its Magic 7 Pro. I’ve been daily-driving the flagship phone and it’s packed to the brim with features, making it a serious competitor. Also: 4 surprise products we could see at Samsung Unpacked 2025 – and are worth getting excited about With a refined design, a 200MP…

Jack Wallen/ZDNET As a technology writer, I often install applications, test them, write about them, and remove them. Sure, a few such applications remain on my machines, but for the most part, it’s one and done. After I’m done using those apps, I always remove them. Why? First, space. My MacBook Pro has finite internal storage, so I don’t want those unused apps to keep piling up. Then there are permissions. Why have an app…

Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET I’m not a fan of the Windows UI, and no Windows desktop has ever caught my attention. My general reaction to the Windows aesthetic is “Meh.” So, when I booted up the latest preview release of Deepin 25, my first reaction was, “That figures.” Let me explain.   When Deepin first landed some 20 years ago, the distro caught people’s attention (mine included). The desktop was exciting, beautiful, and professional-looking, showing that…

We’ve tested dozens of robot vacuums in homes with kids, dogs, and cats. We know the feeling of spending countless hours a week trying to clean the pet hair and mini fingerprints scattered around the home, yet feeling like it’s impossible to keep up with everything. Enter robot vacuums. Robot vacuums aren’t a one-size-fits-all affair, and the right for you depends on many factors. The ZDNET team has spent countless hours evaluating factors like floor mapping…

Cloud training for AI models Uptime believes that most AI models will be trained in the cloud rather than on dedicated enterprise infrastructure, as cloud services provide a more cost-effective way to fine-tune foundation models for specific use cases. The incremental training required to fine-tune a foundation model can be done cost-effectively on cloud platforms without the need for a large, expensive on-premises cluster. Enterprises can leverage on-demand cloud resources to customize the foundation model…

Eighteen countries, including the UK, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, Japan, and South Korea, are exempted from the AI export caps. The Biden administration had previously banned the export of some powerful AI chips to China, Russia, and other adversaries in rules from 2022 and 2023. But other countries friendly to the US, including Mexico, Israel, India, and Saudi Arabia, would be subject to the quotas. The export limits would take effect 120 days from the…

Google/ZDNET Google has done a pretty good job with accessibility features on Pixel phones for the past few years. With TalkBack, display customizations, Simple View, and more, Google’s flagship phones have come a long way. But the accessibility doesn’t stop there. If you have vision impairments and like to take photos, the Guided Frame feature can help.  Also: This hidden Pixel camera feature makes your photos more vibrant This feature uses voice prompts to help…