This was a busy week in tech: Apple replaced the iPhone SE with the new iPhone 16e, Amazon is closing its Android app store, Pi-hole had a major update, and much more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.
The Big News
This Is the $600 iPhone 16e
Apple has announced the iPhone 16E, the long-awaited replacement for the iPhone SE. It has most of the functionality of the iPhone 16 at a $200 discount, and pre-orders begin on Friday, February 21. Continue reading…
Your iPhone Wants to Suggest Your Next Meal
Your iPhone already does a ton of stuff, but have you had it suggest you recipes? It’s something you probably didn’t think you needed until now, but if you want to let your phone take over and decide what you should eat, this new feature on Apple News+ might be what you’re looking for. Continue reading…
The Chromecast is Officially Dead
Google’s Chromecast range has been a popular one for years if you want to either replace your smart TV experience or make any TV into a “smart TV.” Now, Google thinks the lineup is redundant, though I would heavily disagree on that. Continue reading…
A Huge Apple Vision Pro Update Arrives This April
Apple confirms that its visionOS 2.4 update, planned for April, will bring Apple Intelligence to the Vision Pro headset. More importantly, this update packs some very useful quality-of-life features, such as remote app downloads and a refined Guest User management system. Continue reading…
Pi-Hole v6 Has Arrived: Here’s What’s New
Pi-hole, the popular software for network-wide content blocking, just released the Pi-hole v6 update. It has a redesigned interface, many performance improvements, and more. Continue reading…
Grand Theft Auto 5 on PC Is Finally Getting Console-Only Features
Grand Theft Auto V for PC is getting a big free update on March 4th. This update will add features that were only available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions. Continue reading…
iPhone 16e Graphics Performance Falls Short of iPhone 15 Pro
An early benchmark of the iPhone 16e reveals that graphics performance, while good, falls slightly short of the iPhone 15 Pro. This is to be expected, given that the new 16e uses a binned version of the A18 chipset. Continue reading…
New Tony Hawk Game Teased in Call of Duty Update
A possible announcement for a new Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game has been hinted at in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. This teaser showed up after the Season 2 Reloaded update. Continue reading…
Android Auto Updates Are Causing Wireless Connectivity Issues for Some Users
Recent updates to Android Auto displays have resulted in reports of dropped connections, phone reboots, and wireless connectivity that refuses to work. If you’ve been having similar issues, you’re not alone, and Google is aware of the situation. Continue reading…
LG’s Gaming Portal With Cloud Streaming Coming to More TVs and Displays
Gaming Portal, a feature on webOS smart TVs for playing cloud games and a limited selection of remote-compatible games, is getting a wider rollout. It will be offered in more regions and on other devices, including LG Smart Monitors and StanbyME screens. Continue reading…
Total Wireless and Straight Talk Have New Truly Unlimited Tablet Plans
Total Wireless and Straight Talk are launching new unlimited tablet plans for those who want to stay connected on the go with bigger screens. The cool thing about these plans is they really are “unlimited” without any data caps. Continue reading…
Your Next Jeep Might Have ‘Partially Autonomous’ Driving
Self-driving technology, while promising on paper, has needed a lot of work to get it right and even today still needs you to look at the road for the most part. Now, Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep and other brands, will start rolling out more capable self-driving technology. Continue reading…
Android Automotive Gets 70 New Apps and Games To Keep You Busy
Android Automotive, not to be confused with Android Auto, just received a massive update that will substantially improve the infotainment experience for vehicle owners. Starting this week and expanding in the coming months, owners can find dozens of apps and games compatible with their in-vehicle displays. Continue reading…
Fedora Linux Now Supports RISC-V Processors
The Fedora Linux project is “jumping on the RISC-V train,” joining other Linux distributions in supporting the emerging CPU architecture. Continue reading…
Sony Is Overcharging for Digital PlayStation Games, Says Class Action Lawsuit
The Dutch consumer group Massaschade & Consument is suing Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Dutch gamers can sign up to join the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges Sony is taking advantage of its strong market position by selling PlayStation games online. Continue reading…
Amazon Is Isolating Itself From the Android Ecosystem
Amazon is warning customers that its Appstore will no longer work on Android devices after August 20th, 2025. Fire Tablets and Fire TVs are not impacted by this change, though the move away from Android may be reflected in these first-party devices at some point. Continue reading…
Mint Mobile Says Goodbye to Unlimited Data Caps
Mint Mobile, recently acquired by T-Mobile, made a big change to its wireless service this week. Those with “unlimited” data plans will truly have unlimited data instead of being capped after hitting a certain data usage threshold. Continue reading…
Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS Has Arrived: Here’s What’s New
A lot of people using Ubuntu prefer to stick with the old reliable LTS builds. They’re not as bleeding edge, but they’re supported for a long time—even over a decade if you’re willing to pay. Now, Ubuntu is getting a new minor LTS update. Continue reading…
ASUS’s New Fitness Band Can Detect Blood Pressure and ECGs
ASUS isn’t well known for its wearable devices, but it has sneakily released two feature-packed fitness trackers. The latest is the VivoWatch 6 AERO, which the company claims is the “world’s first” smart wristband that can detect blood pressure and electrocardiogram–but is that true? Continue reading…
NVIDIA Now Has a ‘Priority Access’ List to Buy RTX 5000 Cards
In case you haven’t visited a hardware store lately, there is a shortage of NVIDIA’s RTX 5000 cards. The circumstances are not the exact same as the big shortage of GPUs back in 2021, but the whole situation is playing out in a similar way. So similar, in fact, that we now even have “waitlists” to buy NVIDIA’s GPUs. Continue reading…
MSI Is Also Making a Smart Monitor With Google TV
MSI has released the Modern MD272UPSW, a Smart Monitor running Google TV. This is MSI’s first Smart Monitor with Google TV, but a 27-inch monitor doesn’t seem to be a good idea compared to its larger competitors. Continue reading…
Chrome and Google iPhone Apps Are Getting Circle-To-Search
One of the most recent, and useful, improvements we’ve seen on Android phones is the addition of Circle to Search, which lets you circle anything on your screen to search it on the web. Now, thanks to Google Lens, iPhones are getting pretty close to that. Continue reading…
This Is Why The Last of Us Factions Was Cancelled
The cancelation of The Last of Us Factions, was really surprising, but it turns out it was the best possible outcome. Some details from a previous PlayStation executive help explain why the cancelation happened. Continue reading…
NVIDIA RTX 50 Series Cards No Longer Support PhysX
NVIDIA has stopped supporting 32-bit CUDA applications. Now, many games, including Mirror’s Edge, Borderlands 2, and the Batman: Arkham series, can no longer use GPU acceleration for PhysX. Continue reading…
Google Wants You To Find a Job Using AI
It’s the AI age, and companies want to bake AI into everything right now. Google, for its own part, has just announced a brand new tool for… applying to jobs using AI, apparently. We’re not sure this is the best idea. Continue reading…
Eero’s New Wi-Fi 7 Router Is Missing a Critical Feature
Amazon is finally offering some new Wi-Fi 7 routers. The new Eero 7 and Eero Pro 7 launch later this month with prices starting at $170. Unfortunately, neither of these routers would be my first choice when shopping for an Eero mesh system. Continue reading…
Microsoft Excel Can Now Pull In More Data With Copilot
Microsoft has just announced a significant update to Excel that uses AI to tackle menial, time-consuming data-importing tasks. Copilot in Excel can now pull in snippets of information from various sources, saving you the hassle of creating and preparing your figures manually. Continue reading…
Humane AI Pin Is Shutting Down After HP Acquisition
Humane, the company that developed a widely-covered AI pin, is shutting down and selling its assets to HP for $116 million. This sale includes Humane’s CosmOS operating system, more than 300 patents and applications, and its technical staff. Continue reading…
Valve Releases Team Fortress 2 Code, Promises to Update Old Games
Valve’s latest Source SDK update contains the full client and server code for TF2. The company has also confirmed that classic Source Engine titles will soon gain 64-bit binary support. Continue reading…
Microsoft Edge is Becoming Even Faster
Lately, Microsoft has been on a crusade to make Edge faster. With the latest update to Edge 132, the company is taking extra measures to get one step closer to that goal. Continue reading…
Amazon’s TikTok-Like ‘Inspire’ Mode Is Gone
Amazon has recently decided to shut down its mobile app’s short video and photo feature called Inspire. Inspire, which started in 2022, lets users find products through videos and pictures made by influencers, brands, and other customers, similar to what TikTok does. Continue reading…
This iPhone SE Is Stuck Inside a Nokia Lumia 1020
We’ve seen countless hardware mods on iPhones over the years, but someone just set out to make one of the wildest ones we’ve seen. The result is an iPhone that looks and very much feels like a Nokia Lumia phone. Continue reading…
The Elder Scrolls 6 Will Get a Fan-Made NPC, Supporting Make-A-Wish
Bethesda Softworks is giving fans a special chance through a charity auction for Make-A-Wish. The person who wins the auction will get to create an NPC in The Elder Scrolls VI. Continue reading…
NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 Supply Won’t Be Good, Either
Scalpers made an official comeback with the launch of the RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080, NVIDIA’s newest flagship cards. Now, it looks like supply for the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti might be similarly dire. Continue reading…
Steam Could Download Games Faster With Updated Compression
Steam is planning to use a new type of compression called zstandard (ZSTD) for downloaded game files. Right now, Steam uses a different compression method called LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain Algorithm) for chunks of game data that are 1MB in size. Continue reading…
This Flappy Bird Clone Runs in Your Browser’s Page Icon
The infamous mobile game Flappy Bird has been recreated in many forms over the years. Now, there’s a version of it that runs inside the icon of a web browser tab. Continue reading…
My Nintendo Gold Points Are Going Away
Nintendo is ending its My Nintendo Gold Points reward program. March will be the last month players can earn points, and then it will be discontinued. Continue reading…
More Cars Can Now Use Samsung Phones as Keys
The age of smartphones has also allowed us to digitalize a lot of stuff we used to carry in our pockets. The biggest example that comes to mind is payment cards, but some car makers also allow owners to have digital car keys. Now, Samsung Wallet is getting an important expansion, with two new car brands. Continue reading…
Avowed Is Using Xbox Cloud Saves, Even on Steam
Avowed, Obsidian Entertainment’s latest RPG and a Microsoft Studios title, is using Xbox cloud saves outside Microsoft’s stores. This means players can use it on the Steam platform. Continue reading…
The ‘Dune: Awakening’ MMO Is Coming in 2025
Dune: Awakening released a trailer that gave away the release date. The game will be an MMO, so it seems the series is going the games-as-a-service route. Continue reading…
No, Windows 11 Isn’t Dropping Support for More Intel CPUs
There have been some reports saying that Windows 11 will stop supporting Intel processors from the 10th generation and earlier. However, these claims are overexaggerated. Continue reading…
Take-Two Boss Says GTA Online 2 Won’t Kill the Original
Take-Two’s CEO has stated that if there is another version of Grand Theft Auto Online (possibly called GTA Online 2), it won’t take away from the current GTA Online. Basically, GTA Online will stay up for as long as there’s an audience. Continue reading…
The Other Stuff
The up-and-coming Linux desktop environment from System76, COSMIC, just released its sixth alpha build. It’s getting closer to being a full-fledged replacement for KDE Plasma and GNOME Shell, and it has some cool ideas for window management and boosting productivity. Here’s hoping a stable release isn’t too far off.
Also, Apple is pulling its Advanced Data Protection feature in the United Kingdom, after the UK government requested a security backdoor. ADP is a feature that secures all iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, so no one can access your data except you and your trusted connections. It’s still available in the United States and other countries, at least for now.
HP was also in the news this week for something unrelated to its Humane AI pin acquisition: it started making all phone support calls wait at least 15 minutes. The move was intended to move people to online support channels, but the policy was quickly reversed after public backlash. To quote the great Douglas Adams, “This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
