Technology

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! You don't have to be a celebrity to want hotel privacy. Many guests, like Carol from Wisconsin, wonder if hidden cameras or security lapses could affect their next trip.The good news: most hotels value guest privacy because it's central to their business. Still, being aware and taking a few smart steps can give you extra peace of mind during your stay.Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide – free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM newsletter.SCHOOLS’ SAFETY TOOLS ARE SPYING ON KIDS — EVEN AT HOMEThe bottom line on hotel privacy: Risk is low, but awareness helpsHotels do not place camer...

AMD’s FSR 4 AI upscaling and frame-generation technology can now be enabled for “most games that support FSR 3.1 with DirectX 12,” the company says in the patch notes for its newest 25.9.1 driver. This support has been a big promise from AMD, but it’s taken awhile to come to fruition; FSR 4 first launched alongside the company’s RX 9000-series graphics cards back in March.AMD touts FSR 4, its competitor to Nvidia’s DLSS 4, as a “significant leap forward” over FSR 3. “By utilizing ML algorithms, FSR 4 can intelligently predict and compensate for lost pixels during low-resolution rendering, thereby providing gamers with high performance and crisp, high-definition visuals that are just as good as native,” AMD says.The new driver brings official FSR 4 support to cover more than 85 titles. B...

Signal is launching its first paid feature: the ability to make secure, end-to-end encrypted backups of your media history older than 45 days and of your text message history for $1.99 per month.“Media requires a lot of storage, and storing and transferring large amounts of data is expensive,” Signal’s VP of engineering, Jim O’Leary, says in a blog post. “As a nonprofit that refuses to collect or sell your data, Signal needs to cover those costs differently than other tech organizations that offer similar products but support themselves by selling ads and monetizing data.”Signal is also launching free secure backups that save your media from just the last 45 days. On that free tier, you’ll also be able to save your text messages past then, and while you’ll be limited to saving 100MB of ...

Nintendo has notched another victory in its crusade against piracy. Last week, a Washington District Court judge ordered Ryan Daley to pay Nintendo $2 million and stop selling modded Switch consoles online, as reported earlier by Engadget.In a copyright lawsuit filed last year, Nintendo accused Daley of operating the website Modded Hardware, which sold modded Switch consoles, modchips used to hack into Switch devices, and Mig flash cartridges that allow people to play pirated copies of games.Nintendo claimed Daley caused the company “significant and irreparable harm” — and the judge agreed. “The MIG Devices, Mod Chips, Hacked Consoles, and Circumvention Services allow members of the public to create, distribute, and play pirated Nintendo games on a massive scale,” the ruling states. Dal...

Google made three major updates to its Gemini-powered products on Monday: The Gemini app now accepts audio files; Search can handle five new languages; and NotebookLM creates reports in the form of blog posts, study guides, quizzes, and more.According to a Monday post on X by Josh Woodward, vice president of Google Labs and Gemini, audio file compatibility was the “#1 request” to the Gemini app.Free Gemini users max out at 10 minutes of audio, and five free prompts each day. AI Pro or AI Ultra users, meanwhile, can upload audio up to three hours in length. All Gemini prompts accommodate up to 10 files across various file formats, including within ZIP files.Additionally, Google Search’s AI Mode has rolled out five new language options: Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian P...

Some of us take a kind of “I eat to live” rather than an “I live to eat” approach to gadgets. They’re tools that help you get things done, not something you want to invest a lot of time or money in. If that’s you — and there’s no judgment here from a certifiable gadget nerd — then you can probably think of more worthwhile ways to spend $1,000 than on a phone.Budget phones to the rescue. These devices are roughly $500 or under, though not all of them, and they’re more capable than ever. You won’t get all the bells and whistles, but you will save a little money to spend on, I don’t know, actual bells and whistles. It’s your world.What I’m looking forHow we testCollapseThere’s no shortcut to properly testing a phone; I put my personal SIM card (physical or otherwise) in each phone I review...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! We all know the frustration of slow or unreliable Wi-Fi. Whether it's buffering during a favorite show or lagging video calls, it feels like you spend more time trying to fix the problem than actually enjoying the internet. But with a few easy settings changes, your Wi-Fi can work harder and give you the smooth connection you deserve. These tips don’t require any special apps or subscriptions, just tweak some settings and let your Wi-Fi do the heavy lifting.Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide – free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM newsletter.DON'T USE YOUR HOME WI-FI BEFORE FIXIN...

After nearly everyone working on the Nova Launcher, one of the most recognizable names in Android launchers, was laid off last year, founder Kevin Barry, Nova’s sole remaining developer, said this weekend that he has left Nova’s parent company after being asked to stop working on the launcher and an effort to open-source it. Nova Launcher’s website currently shows a 404 error, though the launcher is still available on Google Play.Mobile analytics company Branch Metrics acquired Nova in 2022. The company’s CEO at the time, co-founder Alex Austin, said on Reddit that if Barry were to leave Branch, “it’s contracted that the code will be open-sourced and put in the hands of the community.” Austin left Branch in 2023, and now with Barry officially gone from the company, too, it’s unclear if ...

It’s been five years since Polestar first introduced the Precept, a concept car that the electric automaker described as “a manifesto of things to come; a declaration.” Well, come they have, because today Polestar finally revealed the production car that’s based on this manifesto: the Polestar 5.And wow, these specs: up to 460 miles of range, 800-volt architecture for ultra-fast charging, 884 horsepower, 0–60mph in an oomph-inducing 3.1 seconds for the Performance trim. It certainly makes those five years feel like worth the wait.In final form, the Polestar 5 is an absolutely stunning fastback sedan with dramatic proportions that are sized similarly to the Porsche Panamera. The 5 will be built on a bespoke supercar-like bonded aluminum platform that’s was developed at Polestar’s own fac...

The doors to IFA 2025 in Berlin, Germany, have officially opened and new gadgets, tech, features, and upgrades continue to pour out of Europe’s largest consumer tech show.There’s a lot of news to stay on top of, and if you’re struggling to ingest it all, here are some of the best announcements from the show so far, including innovative new robovacs, more affordable smart home devices, and even a portable home theater on wheels. You can catch up on all of The Verge’s IFA 2025 coverage right here.Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeLenovo is no stranger to creating laptops with screens that offer unique functionality, such as the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 with a display that expands from 14 inches to 16.7 inches at the push of a button. Its latest concept is the ThinkBook VertiFlex Conce...