iOS 16: The 15 Coolest Features You Probably Didn't Know Existed - CNET

From viewing your hidden Wi-Fi passwords to removing duplicate photos and videos, these 15 iOS 16 features will definitely change how you use your iPhone.

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Walmart to Offer Free Health Care Services This Weekend - CNET

The pharmacy giant is offering things like free glucose and cholesterol tests. Some locations will have free vision screenings.

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This generation’s lack of truly budget-minded components has been an issue for many consumers, but AMD could be fixing it very soon with the relaunch of some of its budget-friendly Ryzen 3000G-series chips.

According to a report from Board Channels, AMD may be bringing back the only two models of its low-end Ryzen 3000G series processors, the quad-core 3400G and quad-core 3200G. VideoCardz asserts that AMD will be manufacturing up to 30K of them, which will be sold alongside cheap motherboards like the B450M series.

It isn’t clear whether the 3000G series processors will be equipped with upgraded hardware or will ship as it was originally released back in 2019. These two were the Picasso family of processors that boasted 12nm Zen+ architecture with the Ryzen 5 3400G running with a 3.7GHz base clock and 4.2GHz boost, and the Ryzen 3 3200G hitting 3.6GHz and 4GHz respectively. 

Currently, the pricing on Newegg finds the former at $129.99 and the latter at $99.99. Absolute bargain pricing compared to current and even last gen chips, but the superior Ryzen 5 5600G is at $140 which means the lower-end processors are long overdue for a price adjustment.

This could inspire more affordable options in the future 

We’ve covered how expensive graphics cards are in this generation, with no proper budget options for those who can’t afford to spend tons of money on a single card. And just like GPUs, current-gen CPUs have been suffering the same pricing issue. 

However, AMD could score a minor win in its competition with Intel, and in a way that Intel doesn’t seem to be considering. While Team Blue has released its own budget graphics cards, it hasn’t launched or announced any relaunches of its older and cheaper versions of its processors.

If Team Red relaunches the 3400G and 3200G, this would open back up an underserved market of buyers who may need a cheap PC that performs well enough for them without breaking the bank. And especially in these hard times, that’s a valuable market to have and keep. And while it would be nice if Team Red refreshes the hardware to improve performance, even these processors on its old hardware would be plenty enough for many PC users.

Hopefully, a rereleased Ryzen 3000G series inspires the competition to try a similar tactic to compete. Then we all win with plenty of affordable choices on the market.

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Best Internet Providers in Charles Town, West Virginia - CNET

West Virginia may not have the fastest internet speeds in the US, but broadband providers in Charles Town have some above-average offerings. Learn more.

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Google is currently rolling out an update for its Home app that adds support for smart garage doors and a new Inbox feed for recently triggered events.

To try out these features, you'll need to download Google Home version 3.0 from the Play Store. You can also enter the Google Home Public Preview program to try out the tools if they don't appear after installation. To join, open the Google Home app, go to the Settings menu, and select Public Preview under General. Tap Request Invite and the company will send you an invitation to install a beta version of the app. You can leave the program at any time.

Now let's get into the details.

Users who own a smart garage door will be able to open and close it via a large on/off toggle on the app. Interestingly enough, this feature has been available on the Google Home app for several weeks now as seen in a Reddit post from last month, but it didn’t work initially. People still had to use alternate means like voice commands via Google Assistant to open the door.

A report from 9to5 Google was able to confirm it is now fully functional. However, its usability is still restricted. That same report notes that the tool only works with a couple of brands; namely Tailwind and Nexx. Because Google has yet to formally announce the update, there isn’t, at least at the time of this writing, an official source listing of all the supported products.

Under testing

Google Home is also adding a notification bell icon to the app where tapping it opens up the Inbox feed mentioned earlier. Other reports state, “that by all accounts”, it’s essentially the old Activity tab as it displays recent events in a smart home. There is some confusion as to where the bell icon will be placed. It seems to depend on which version of Google Home you have. Version 3.0 changes the Activity clock icon in the bottom bar into the bell, while the version you get from Google Home Public Preview places it next to the profile picture.

Besides these features, the company is currently working on redesigning the Google Home lighting tool. Instead of just having a predefined selection, the app will one day have a circular slider giving users a better way to pick a color of their choice. A temperature slider will also be added for people who want either a warmer or cooler hue. The brightness ring is changing into a pill-like shape that, as you can probably guess, functions as a slider for more granular control.

The redesigned lighting tools are not available to the public as they’re only part of the dog food version of Google Home. It’s a pretty weird name for a build, but basically, it means the redesign is currently being tested internally. 

We asked Google if they could provide us a list of the smart garage door brands that work with the new toggle and when people can expect the Inbox feed. This story will be updated with Google's response. 

• TechRadar's list of the best smart lights for 2023

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Social Security Guide: Understand How Your Benefits Work - CNET

Social Security benefits can get confusing. We'll help you understand the ins and outs.

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Back in August 2021, Microsoft revealed that the regular Clock app in Windows 11 would be getting a significant redesign. This included a brand-new integration with Spotify called Focus Sessions, which would let you create a Focus Timer that would allow you to set a certain amount of time to complete a task while giving you notice when a break is due.

However, Neowin reported that for the past several months, the certification for that integration has expired, leaving the feature completely unusable. And despite complaints from many users in Microsoft’s official support forums and Feedback Hub, there have been no official fixes on that side.

Spotify’s official forums received the same complaints, and eventually a representative stated that "We've checked around and it looks like this is a known limitation on Windows' side at the moment due to an expired certificate,” then went on to advise users to report the issue to Microsoft support for a more detailed explanation.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson reached out to TechRadar with the following statement: "Microsoft is aware and working on a fix."

This is unacceptable 

This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve had a malfunctioning Windows 11 feature, or one that Microsoft took months to solve. Between the tech giant’s OS stealth-nerfing graphics cards due to a security feature, forced updates causing Bluetooth instabilities, AMD processors not working, and more, there seems to be no end to the woes.

But this one, in particular, isn’t a good look for Microsoft, as it’s a feature that Microsoft's Chief Product Officer Panos Panay promoted himself, and championed as a “gaming-changing” integration on his official Twitter. Now, after two years, the integration is dead in the water, with no signs of Microsoft fixing it or even wanting to fix it.

While this isn’t one of those software features people paid real money for, with no hope of a refund, Focus Sessions was undoubtedly a useful tool for people who struggle with focusing on work. It’s an incredibly useful feature, and one of the few I can think of for Windows 11 that was genuinely helpful, and seeing it gutted without any sort of replacement or fix in sight feels particularly frustrating.

Hopefully, Microsoft will announce that it's addressing the issue soon, or, barring that, some saint out there will create a third-party app with the same concept and better long-term support.

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Latest Gadgets News

Israel has seized around 190 crypto accounts at crypto exchange Binance since 2021, including two it said were linked to Islamic State and dozens of others it said were owned by Palestinian firms connected to the Islamist Hamas group, documents released by the country's counter-terror authorities show. Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) on J...

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What the Failure of First Republic Bank Means for You - CNET

It's the second-biggest bank collapse in US history.

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Did you doubt that we would be getting a Pixel Fold from Google soon? I find your lack of faith disturbing. With a nod to May the Fourth and Star Wars Day, Google has announced the Pixel Fold on Twitter and launched a supporting site with a good look at the upcoming folding smartphone. 

The new phone will be launched at the Google I/O event on May 10, and we will be there to take a proper look. Google gave up the timing and location on Twitter, along with officially naming the device Pixel Fold, as we expected. We don't know much more about the device besides what we've learned from rumors and leaks, but we're excited nonetheless. 

✨May The Fold Be With You✨https://ift.tt/9MkaGpJ #PixelFoldMay 10 pic.twitter.com/K8Gk21nmo8May 4, 2023

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Along with the announcement tweet came a promo video showing the new phone opening and twirling. It gives us a good, clear look at the back of the phone, the large internal display, and even the external screen, in passing.

Here's what the Pixel Fold video shows us

This promo video confirms that the Pixel Fold will have a more generous aspect ratio than the tall and stingy Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Z Fold is very narrow when closed and its aspect ratio is much taller than a normal smartphone. The Pixel Fold seems to be wider, which should make it more usable when closed.

That camera on the right looks like a telephoto lens (Image credit: Google)

On the back of the phone, we can clearly see a triple-camera array, and one of those cameras resembles the folded zoom lenses that manufacturers are using for longer-range shooting.

As the phone opens, it is unclear how much of a crease will be present on the unfurled inner display. The glass itself is shrouded in darkness in the unfolding sequence, so it is hard to get a good look at the inner edges.

Hard to tell if there's a big crease here (Image credit: Google)

Once the Pixel Fold is open, we get a good look at its home screen. It doesn't seem much different than the Android 13 home screen on our Pixel 7 phone. The widgets are all available now, so nothing new has been shown yet in terms of software features. It's unclear if the Pixel Fold will ship with Android 13, or if there is some new software variant, perhaps an Android 13L, like Android 12L was for larger screens.

Finally, we get to see a glimpse of the external display, but it seems to be in an Always-On Display mode, so the screen is totally black except for a few white notifications and highlights. Rumors suggest that the external display could be very large, but this new video doesn't give us much to work with.

Pixel Fold coming soon, but when can we buy it?

Now we know the Pixel Fold is definitely being announced on May 10, but when can we buy one? That seems less clear. The Pixel 7a, which is also rumored to be announced on May 10 at Google I/O, has recently been spotted on eBay. This tells us that retail units are being shipped. That phone may be available very soon. 

Nothing new on the software front (Image credit: Google)

The Pixel Fold, on the other hand, has only shown up in early leaks. We haven't seen packaging, and nobody is selling a device on eBay or secretly unboxing one in an employee break room. That tells us availability could be farther off.

We know that Samsung holds a regular, yearly event in August that has been focused on Folding phones for the last four years. We expect a Galaxy Z Fold 5 and a Galaxy Z Flip 5 in the second half of the year.

OnePlus is also rumored to be launching a OnePlus folding phone around the same time frame. The latter half of 2023 will be dominated by folding phones. The big question is whether Google will be the first to the party, or whether it will show up fashionably late.

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Latest Gadgets News

President Joe Biden attended a White House meeting with CEOs of top artificial intelligence companies, including Alphabet's Google and Microsoft, on Thursday to discuss risks and safeguards as the technology catches the attention of governments and lawmakers globally. Biden, who "dropped by" the meeting, has also used ChatGPT, a White House official told Reuters.

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I Tried the Ninja Ice Cream Maker Everyone's Buzzing About. Here's How It Went - CNET

If your ice cream bill gets scary during summer, start making the sweet stuff at home with this easy appliance.

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The Best Horror Movies on HBO Max - CNET

It really doesn't get better than HBO Max's horror selection right now.

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iOS 16.5 Beta 4: A Look at Your iPhone's Potential New Features - CNET

These features aren't guaranteed, but beta testers can try them now.

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California's Guide to Solar Panels, Including Pricing and Incentives - CNET

Going solar in California could be worth it even with the state's new net metering rules.

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