Kerry Wan/ZDNET Did you know that whenever you turn on your smart TV, you invite an unseen guest to watch it with you? These days, most popular TV models utilize automatic content recognition (ACR), a form of ad surveillance technology that gathers information about everything you watch and transmits it to a centralized database. Manufacturers then use your data to identify your viewing preferences, enabling them to deliver highly targeted ads. Also: The fastest VPNs of 2025:…

“One of the challenges for AI — for any brand new technology — is putting the right combination of infrastructure together to make the technology work,” says Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research. “If one of those components isn’t on par with the other two, you’re going to be wasting your money.” Time is taking care of the first problem. More and more enterprises are moving from pilot projects to production, and…

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET Amazon has been focused on bringing generative AI to Alexa for the past few years, hitting multiple delays in launching new features that the company first announced in September 2023. The delayed Alexa 2.0 was poised for a 2025 release, and Amazon just wrapped up an event where it made big announcements for the artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant. Amid rumors of Alexa 2.0 shortcomings, Amazon skipped its 2024 Devices and Services event, where…

ZDNET Another day. Another cloud service changing the rules on stuff we already bought and paid for. This time, Amazon is removing a feature that’s been part of the Kindle experience for more than a decade: downloading files to your computer. Also: This clever Kindle trick lets you download 25 books at once – but it’s risky I’m not going to bury the lede: You have until Feb. 26, 2025, to download copies of your…

Apple/ZDNET Apple’s follow-up to the budget iPhone SE — the iPhone 16e — is here. As the more affordable option in the lineup, the tech giant cut a few features to keep costs down and make the pricier models more appealing.  One of the notable omissions? MagSafe.  Also: What does the ‘e’ in iPhone 16e stand for? While the iPhone 16e supports older, low-speed Qi wireless charging (capped at 7.5W), it lacks the magnets that…

Handwriting your notes can be a give-and-take. On one hand, you retain information better, boost critical thinking skills, and improve your creative thinking by taking manual notes. On the other hand, it is convenient to type your notes on your tablet or laptop, store them more quickly, and compose them in a neater fashion. With smart pens, you can have the best of both worlds. These pens handle notes and can transform them into digital images, record audio,…

ZDNET I love a good note-taking app. They help keep me organized and ensure I don’t have to keep every thought that spills out of my head within the sulci and gyri of my brain. At their core, note-taking apps make my daily life a bit easier with: Bulleted lists of tasks. Notes for books I’m writing or planning to write. Shopping lists. Daily thoughts. And so much more. So, yeah, I use note-taking apps…