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ZDNET Earlier this year, Perplexity rolled out an Android app that gave you the ability to make it your default voice assistant over Gemini. You now have that option with ChatGPT, too. ChatGPT’s Android app isn’t new itself, but the latest update to the app (v1.2025.070 beta) lets you replace Gemini with OpenAI’s chatbot. Launch ChatGPT however you want If you do this, you’ll be able to launch ChatGPT by whatever method you use now…

Maria Diaz/ZDNET Apple joined the RCS bandwagon last year, giving its users the ability to exchange rich text messages with their Android counterparts. The only problem? Those messages are not encrypted, exposing them to security risks. Now, Apple will soon eliminate that obstacle. Also: Google Fi users finally get RCS on iPhone – here’s how to check if it’s activated In a new announcement, Apple said it will add support for encrypted RCS messages in future…

ZDNET Oh, Siri, why have you forsaken me? Yes, I’ve become increasingly frustrated with Apple’s voice assistant. There are just too many times when Siri fails to respond properly to my request, misunderstands my question, admits defeat right off the bat, or gives me the wrong answer. My impatience has grown as Apple’s plans to enhance Siri have been postponed yet again. On the flip side, I’ve become fond of Google’s Gemini AI, which has proven…

“It will truly change what customers are able to do with AI,” Stowell said. IBM’s mainframe processors The next generation of processors is expected to continue a long history of generation-to-generation improvements, IBM stated in a new white paper on AI and the mainframe. “They are projected to clock in at 5.5 GHz. and include ten 36 MB level 2 caches. They’ll feature built-in low-latency data processing for accelerated I/O as well as a completely…

Constantine Johnny/Getty Images As a kid, I was inspired by the decorative lighting in my grandparents’ finished basement. They had festooned the place with multicolored C9 string lights (aka old-school Christmas lights) from wall to wall, beneath the built-in wet bar, around hanging mirrors, and anywhere else they could add an ambient accent for the parties they hosted down there year-round. Since then, I’ve festooned every home I’ve lived in with decorative lighting, whether in…

ZDNET Amid growing concerns over Chinese AI models like DeepSeek, new research suggests that fears may be overblown – at least when it comes to data privacy. In fact, some popular US-based AI chatbots might be collecting even more of your personal information. When DeepSeek debuted its flagship open-source AI model in January, the American tech industry was thrown into hysteria. Some embraced the competition — claiming this is “AI’s Sputnik moment” — but others? Well,…

David Tramontan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Spotify wants to make it easier than ever for audiobook authors to have their work heard. The audio-streaming platform has a new website for independent authors to submit short-form books.  If Spotify likes what you send, it will publish the audiobook, pay you an advance and royalties, manage book production, and distribute it to major audiobook retailers. Also: Spotify users can ask Gemini AI to find and play their…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The Planck SSD gives your connected device quick access to up to 2TB of storage. It has read and write speeds of up to 1,050 MB/s, giving it support for Apple 4K ProRes recording. It’s not cheap at a starting price of $125, and due diligence is required for any Kickstarter project. We don’t often cover crowdfunded products at ZDNET, as the potential for production issues and undelivered promises far outweigh the…

Nina Raemont/ZDNET During last year’s summer edition of Samsung’s Unpacked hardware event, the company announced the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro with a new yet familiar design. Traditionally, Samsung’s premium earbuds sported a round bud design, but the third generation debuted with a bud-and-stem design. Also: This $399 Samsung Galaxy is the mid-range phone most people should buy According to rumors and insider sources, it appears Samsung is again shaking up its earbud form factor, this…

Intel’s discrete GPU ambitions — especially in enterprise AI — have often appeared reactive rather than part of a clear strategic vision. The company entered the market late, facing Nvidia’s dominant CUDA ecosystem and AMD’s aggressive push into AI GPUs. “Tan’s background suggests he is unlikely to double down on discrete GPUs at all costs,” Singh said. “He understands that the real AI war is not just about GPUs, but about AI-first compute architectures. The…