It feels like we haven’t seen many improvements and additions to Google Assistant in recent times, especially now that the company’s Bard chatbot is available.

But are you still using Google Assistant after all this time? Have you maybe switched to an alternative? We posed this question last week, and here’s how you answered it.

Apple is expected to reveal its Reality Pro XR headset at its WWDC event next week, and we’ve already seen plenty of apparent details regarding the device.

Now, display analyst Ross Young has tweeted apparent screen-related info for the new Apple headset. And it looks like the device could best rivals by a mile.

Skyline is the most popular Nintendo Switch emulator for Android, but the developers decided to abandon the project due to apparent legal trouble. Two of the developers decided to work on a follow-up emulator, but a new Switch emulator has already arrived on Android to fill the void.

The popular Yuzu emulator on PC has now landed on Android, the developers announced in a blog post (h/t: r/Android). The app can be downloaded via the Play Store in both free and paid early access versions.

Google has ended support for the first generation Chromecast that launched back in 2013. That was a decade ago, so it seems about right that Google is pulling the device out of its update priority list.

Our digital presence in 2023 necessitates the holding of dozens of passwords. We’re told to make them long and complex, all different from each other, and to change them regularly. But we’re also advised not to write them down for security reasons. If you don’t have a photographic memory, the only way to square all of those requirements is to use a password manager. We’ve compared two of the top options on the market: Bitwarden vs LastPass.

There’s no completely right answer here — both password managers are premium options with great features that are likely to be more than sufficient for any user. But there are big differences between them, and you might find that one better suits your needs and budget.

Since WhatsApp is the most popular messaging service globally, one can only imagine the number of URLs sent and received daily on the platform. One URL, though, appears to be wreaking havoc on the Android version of WhatsApp.

As first spotted by Brute Bee on Twitter and verified by Android Authority, sending the URL “wa.me/settings” causes a WhatsApp crash loop. It only appears to be a problem on the Android version of the app but does appear to affect both the consumer and business versions. The device we tested this on was running version 2.23.10.77, although other versions might also be affected.

Contrary to the lead-up of most Google devices, few details have leaked about the follow-up to the Pixel Watch. However, that may have just changed after a new leak just surfaced. We may now know about the Pixel Watch 2’s processor, battery life, and some of the specs.

Google could be thinking about changing the chip in the Pixel Watch 2, according to a report from 9to5Google. The outlet’s sources claim the smartwatch might ditch the Exynos processor in favor of a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip from the latest W5 generation. This could be the Snapdragon W5 Plus Gen 1, which is featured in the TicWatch Pro 5, or it could be a standard Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 SoC.

It’s relatively easy to find a good Chromebook on a budget. After all, the whole idea behind Chrome OS devices is that they serve as a cheaper alternative to Windows laptops or macBooks. We’ve rounded up some of the best Chromebook deals on the internet, so you won’t have to search too hard for a good price.

If you’re in the market for a new affordable laptop, scroll on to find a host of the best Chromebook deals available this month.

Amazon first introduced Celebrity Personalities for Alexa back in 2019. Now it appears Amazon is pulling the plug on Alexa’s celebrity voices skill.

If you go to the Celebrity Personalities for Alexa page, you’ll be greeted by the faces of Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy. But if you click on their individual pages, you’ll notice there’s an update. That update reveals that these Celebrity Personalities are no longer available for purchase. Not only are these voices no longer available for purchase, but Amazon also appears to be ending support.

It’s not uncommon for companies to bundle in offers to help entice purchases. From subscriptions to accessories, those benefits are usually available right out of the gate. However, one customer got a surprise from OnePlus after they had trouble activating a YouTube Premium trial.

A Reddit user got quite a shock after trying to redeem a perk that was supposed to come with their purchase of the OnePlus 11. OnePlus was reportedly holding a deal where buyers of the phone would get free OnePlus Buds and a six-month YouTube Premium subscription. According to the user, the promo said, “Once you get your new OnePlus 11 5G open the Google One app to claim your benefit!”

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you also have access to a service specifically catering to classical music. This app is a bit simpler than the main app and offers ways to search for music the main app doesn’t offer, such as by composer, conductor, catalog number, and more.

Today, the app for Apple Music Classical is on Android (via MacRumors). This makes it the second operating system to get access to the app, with iOS being the obvious first. This is interesting, though, because that means there is still no Classical app for iPadOS or macOS.

Apple famously doesn’t like to offer deep discounts on its flagship devices, so this deal caught our eye. Thanks to an on-page Amazon coupon, you can currently pick up the 256GB model of the 6th-gen iPad Mini for $539.99 ($109 off).

While the latest iPad Mini has been on sale periodically since it launched in 2021, This is the first time we’ve tracked any price drop of more than $100. The rare savings are only available on the pink colorway of the tablet, but you can always throw an iPad Mini case on it, which is advisable anyway when you’re forking out hundreds of bucks on a high-end device.

Opinion post by

Ryan Haines

I’ve been a Verizon subscriber for as long as I’ve had a cell phone. My parents got a discount through their jobs, so Big Red is where we’ve been for over a decade. I’ve seen phone prices rise, streaming perks explode, and a constantly rotating slate of plans rise and fall through the years. Usually, Verizon finds good ways to add value each time it shakes up its plans, but now I’m unsure. I’m not convinced that Verizon’s new MyPlan makes any sense stacked against its current offerings — especially not for families.

What does MyPlan change?

It’s tough to get into the meat of Verizon’s MyPlan changes without talking myself in circles, but thankfully my colleague Andrew Grush already took a good long look at Big Red’s new plans. He broke down what the old plans offered and what the new ones include and put it into one handy table, which you can see below.

At the beginning of this month, Motorola launched three new phones, one of which was the budget-tier Moto G Stylus (2023). Now the company is launching one more phone before the month ends. That phone is the Stylus’s slightly more premium sibling — the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Here’s everything you need to know about the latest hardware from Motorola.

Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2023): Design

In addition to Arm’s 2023 CPU cores, we’re taking a deep dive into what Arm has built into its recently announced 5th Gen mobile graphics architecture that will inevitably power future high-end mobile games. Before getting into the fine details, Arm’s 2023 GPU architecture comes in three product varieties — the Immortalis-G720, Mali-G720, and Mali-G620.

Like last year’s Immortalis-G715, Immortalis-G720 is the flagship product designed with ray tracing capabilities in hand. The Mali-G720 and G620 sport the same architectural capabilities, just with fewer cores and no mandatory ray tracing for more affordable product lines. As in previous Arm GPUs, the graphics core count remains key to scaling performance. So expect to see the Immortalis-G720 in flagship chipsets, the Mali-G720 in the upper-mid-range, and the G620 in more budget-oriented products. The table below highlights the key differences.

Google finally launched the Pixel Fold this month, and it looks like a pretty polished foldable phone. Between the free-stop hinge, IPX8 rating, respectable internals, and flexible camera system, there’s a lot to like here.

But are you actually planning to buy Google’s first foldable? That’s what we wanted to know, posting a poll inside a news article last week.

The smartphone industry is currently in a slump right now in terms of total shipments, with a double-digit drop compared to a year ago. But it turns out that the high-end phone segment ($500 or higher) has bucked the trend.

Tracking company Canalys revealed that the high-end segment grew by 4.7% compared to a year ago. The firm also dished out a list of the top 15 most popular high-end phones by sell-in (sales to retailers).

MediaTek confirmed yesterday that its next-generation flagship phone processor (presumably called the Dimensity 9300) would use Arm’s brand-new Cortex-X4 and Cortex-A720 CPU cores along with the Immortalis Mali-G720 GPU. The company didn’t mention the new Cortex-A520 little CPU core, and it turns out there might be a good reason for that.

Long-time leaker Digital Chat Station has claimed on Weibo that the Dimensity 9300 won’t use little CPU cores at all. Instead, the tipster asserts that the chipset will have an octacore CPU consisting of four Cortex-X4 cores and four Cortex-A720 cores.

Google announced the Pixel Tablet at I/O 2023 after a whole year of teasing the slate. New information from noted tipster Kamila Wojciechowska suggests this wasn’t intentional but rather a development delay on Google’s part. According to Wojciechowska, we might still not have the complete picture regarding the official accessories of the Pixel Tablet. Google is apparently still working on an official stylus and a keyboard to accompany the device.

Third-party gaming accessories have come a long way in recent years. The 8Bitdo Ultimate wired controller is officially licensed by Xbox and makes an affordable option if you’re looking to replace your controller or expand your multiplayer options. That’s especially true today, as the 8Bitdo Ultimate deal that just dropped on Amazon slashes the asking price to a record-low of just $29.25 ($16 off).

For context, the versatile controller has usually sold for $45 since its release last year and has rarely dipped below the $30 mark. This sale only applies to the Ultimate White colorway of the accessory, which is the sleekest-looking one anyway.