Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET There are thousands of songs about staying up all night to have fun, yet fewer about how nice it is to go to bed early. After a long day of work, nerve-inducing headlines, and strenuous exercise, all I want is sleep.  That’s when the lyrics of Hall and Oates’ song, “When the Morning Comes,” a tune mainly about rejection that can be interpreted as an ode to a good night’s…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The RingConn Gen 2 is a subscription-free smart ring that retails for $300. It monitors your sleep, activity, stress, and vitals, and it’s got a marathon battery life. The only downside is the user interface feels underdeveloped. more buying choices Most smart rings these days claim to offer marathon battery lives but often fall short of their promise. Many smart rings claim to last a week’s worth of battery but only make…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The NexTool multitool is blade-free, making it TSA and airport security friendly. The tool is compact and can be attached to a keychain All the tools are decent quality, and can actually do the job they claim to be able to do. I like my EDC (everyday carry) gadgets, but when I travel by air, I almost always end up having to empty my pockets of a lot of useful stuff. I…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The Audio-Technica Sound Burger retails for $199 and comes in yellow, black, or white. The Sound Burger has unparalleled portability, a long battery life, and provides a novel listening experience. It doesn’t have a counterweight, and also doesn’t have an auto-return feature. more buying choices The Audio-Technica Sound Burger is $25 off, making it cost $174. Note: This discount only applies to the black color.  Technology is all about embracing the now….

ZDNET’s key takeaways The Eufy Security Indoor Cam S350 is available for purchase at $130. The S350 indoor camera features dual telephoto and wide-angle lenses with 360-degree motion tracking and optional local storage to avoid monthly fees. The only drawback I’ve found is that I wish the camera had a button to engage privacy mode manually, but you can schedule it as needed on the app. It’s safe to say the Eufy Security Indoor Cam…

Google / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Google has dominated the search engine market for decades. However, the rise of generative AI has presented a new form of competition — AI search engines. With its AI Mode, Google provides users with exactly that: an AI chatbot that understands and outputs conversational search queries.  As you might expect, it looks less like a traditional Google search and more like ChatGPT Search. Also: Microsoft is offering free…