WhatsApp Gets ‘Incognito’ Chat; Googlebook Will Replace Chromebook-Some Chromebooks Updatable Though; Apple-Many Changes for Next iPhone Camera; Heat Pump Startup from Former Tesla Exec

Posted: May 13, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WhatsApp is getting an AI chat function dubbed Incognito Chat, which will allow users to converse privately with Meta AI…Meta itself won’t be able to access the questions or answers. Wired.com reports that the new feature is based on WhatsApp’s Private Processing scheme that already undergirds WhatsApp’s present AI features. Meta says the intent of Incognito Chat is to offer AI integration that does not conflict with the communication platform’s commitment to end-to-end encryption, the privacy scheme in which only direct participants in a conversation can read messages or hear a call. Incognito chats are ephemeral by default and will disappear once your conversation is over. With more than 3 billion users around the world, Incognito Chat may offer many people their first opportunity to interact with an AI chatbot. So the fact that it is built to be privacy preserving is significant.

During The Android Show today, Google clarified that the Googlebook will essentially replace Chromebooks. According to 9to5google.com, Google has confirmed that Chromebooks will continue to be updated throughout their lifespans, while some machines will be eligible to move to the experience found on Googlebooks. It’s always good to find out that your old machine won’t become a boat anchor right away. While not giving specifics about models, Google said ‘many’ Chromebooks will be eligible to get the Googlebook experience. The Googlebook will apparently be positioned as a more premium line of hardware. Of course, the first ones to be released will be the ‘super premium’ models.

It looks like iOS 27 may completely overhaul Apple’s Camera app. engadget.com notes that well-known analyst Mark Gurman from Bloomberg says the updated app would make it more customizable and offer pro and hobbyist users more control over the image output of Apple’s phones. Apple is also adding new grid and level features while you’re capturing images and moving the toggle that lets you see all your available controls from the top right of the Camera app to the right of the shutter button. Siri’s changes are equally massive. Besides being smarter, the AI assistant’s glowing animation is moving from the border of iPhones, to a new home in the Dynamic Island as part of Apple’s planned updates. Users will also be able to type requests or searches through a new ”Search or Ask” interface that’s replacing iOS’ existing Spotlight Search.

A former exec from Tesla has started a heat pump startup. TechCrunch.com reports that the firm is called Sadi Thermal Machines and it actually started in stealth in the summer of 2025 in Scotts Valley, Ca. Drew Baglino is the CEO. He holds patents for a thermal management system that operates two coolant loops for cars…one cools the battery and another the drivetrain. The auto system is about the size of a suitcase. Baglino notes that making a heat pump for homes is easier than for a car because the vehicle “Is so constrained on mass and volume and energy.” A heat pump that can handle both HVAC and water heating in one unit is anticipated from the startup. Baglino said “We have learned a lot about how to make capable and reliable heat pumps that work in all environmental conditions and are excited about the idea of working on that problem one day. Let me put it that way, it’s definitely aligned with our mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.”

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Google Announces Gemini-Powered Googlebooks; Amazon Begins 30 Minute Delivery; Sony Wearable AC Takes it Up a Notch; eBay Rejects Gamestop $58 Billion Offer

Posted: May 12, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

It wasn’t long ago that Apple surprised us with the Neo, their new laptop in the mid priced segment. Now, at I/O, Google has dropped Googlebooks. 9to5google.com notes that the new laptops are a new category which Google claims will take the best of Android and ChromeOS. The GoogleBooks are packed with Gemini AI features. Google said they are intended to give users “personal and proactive help when and where you need it.”

Magic Pointer lets you “Select anything to ask Gemini.” After wiggling the cursor, pointing at something will show “quick, contextual suggestions.” It also lets you add anything on your screen to a Gemini prompt. There is also Create My Widget. Also coming to phones, this generative UI capability lets you place custom pieces of information on your desktop. It draws from the web and your Gmail, Calendar, and other Google apps. There’s a guided creation process or the ability to enter a prompt. Besides these features, Google showed off how GoogleBooks with fit with your Android Phone. Cast my apps lets you access any application on your phone on the laptop’s bigger screen. Quick Access enables you to retrieve files no matter where they are stored. The file browser on Googlebooks lets you browse the files on your phone and insert from your laptop. Look for the first GoogleBooks to be out this fall. More details and pricing will be available then. 

Amazon has rolled out 30 minute delivery. TechCrunch.com says the service is called ‘Amazon Now,’ and it is initially available in dozens of US cities. For starters, thousands of items including fresh groceries, household supplies, and other items will be yours in about 30 minutes in  Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Seattle, and is expanding to Austin, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, Orlando, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. By year-end, Amazon expects to bring the service to tens of millions of customers in these and other cities, as the rollout continues across the U.S. Eligible items will be marked ’30 minute delivery’ on Amazon’s website and in the app. 

Don’t sweat it…literally. Sony has improved its wearable Reon personal cooling device that first came out in 2017 in Asia. According to engadget.com, the upgraded unit is not just a wearable fan attached to your neck. Sony claims the Reon works via the Peltier effect.  The device sits at the base of your neck, with an electrically cooled metal plate delivering lower temperatures at the ideal place for your circulatory system, like a tiny ice pack with a USB-C port. The new version offers more comfort and better battery life, and now gives you a 3.6 degree increase in cooling. It will run for up to 10 yours on the second highest cooling setting. The Reon Pocket Pro Plus comes with its own accessory, too, a second-gen Pocket Tag that’s smaller than its predecessor and monitors ambient temperature and humidity. It isn’t available in the US yet, but runs  £199 in the UK and €220 elsewhere in Europe. It should be out in the US before it gets really hot this summer. 

eBay has rejected GameStop’s $56 billion dollar offer. Arstechnica.com reports that eBay said in a letter quote ‘Your proposal is neither credible nor attractive.’ GameStop made the surprising offer last week. eBay’s rejection “could lead to a hostile bid” because GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has “said he was willing to take the offer directly to eBay shareholders, possibly by calling a special meeting.” 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Google, Microsoft, & xAI Will Give US Government Early Model Access; Walmart Gemini-Powered Smart Speaker; Apple Looks to Intel & Samsung for US Processor Manufacturing; iOS 26.5—End to End Encryption for iPhone to Android Texts 

Posted: May 5, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just as the White House was making noise about tightening oversight on the AI companies, several have signed agreements to provide the US government with advance access to their AI systems. Engadget.com reports that the Commerce Department Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) will evaluate new models the companies develop. CAISI director Chris Fall said in a statement that “Independent, rigorous measurement science is essential to understanding frontier AI and its national security implications.” It continued “These expanded industry collaborations help us scale our work in the public interest at a critical moment.” The deal reportedly calls for Google, Microsoft and xAI to provide their models to CAISI with reduced or even disabled safeguards in order for the organization to probe them for national security-related capabilities and risks. Let’s hope the government folks are on top of large language models enough to be up to the job!

 It’s a little funkier looking that Google’s own, but Walmart is coming out with a Gemini powered smart speaker. It’s charcoal and somewhat cone shaped, with fabric sides and physical buttons on top. According to androidpolice.com, there isn’t a release date yet, or a price…but it is a safe guess that it will be cheaper than Google’s own Home Speaker, which sells for $99.99, or the hapless Apple HomePod Mini with Siri at $99. The little Walmart speaker has WiFi and bluetooth, and a 10 watt amp. It may be a bit less flashy than the Google speaker, which comes in 4 colors…but with the same Gemini power, it should be a big hit for Walmart.

Apple is apparently in early talks with Intel about using its chip-making services, and Apple brass has also visited a Samsung chip plant being built in Texas. Macrumors.com notes that up to now, main processors have been built for Apple by Taiwan Semiconductor…TSMC. Apple is said to be seeking potential additional suppliers beyond TSMC as a way to avoid recent shortages almost entirely driven by the current build-out of AI data centers. Neither Intel nor Samsung can reliably provide the kind of production and scale that TSMC offers, so it’s not clear how much, if anything, will come out of the discussions. Apple has already worked with TSMC to help expand its plant in Phoenix, which is now producing a limited number of chips for Apple and expects to make 100 million chips for the company in 2026.

In other Apple news, iOs 26.5 is getting end-to-end encryption from iPhones to Android RCS messages…FINALLY…Macrumors.com reports. The feature is available with supported carriers and will roll out over time, and for conversations to be encrypted, both the receiver and the sender must use a carrier that supports the latest version of ‌RCS‌. End-to-end encryption is on by default, and there is a toggle for it in the Messages section of the Settings app. Encrypted messages are denoted with a small lock symbol like on you browser. This is some good news, and not to beat a dead horse, but it’s about time, Apple!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technifiedl’ for now. 

Apple-Two New ‘Ultra’ Products This Year; Google Tests AI Chatbot Search for YouTube; OpenAI Working on AI Agent Smartphone; Taylor Swift Files to Trademark Voice and Likeness

Posted: April 28, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple’s first folding phone will drop this fall, and it will be branded the ‘iPhone Ultra’ according to macrumors.com. That has been rumored already, but apparently now Apple plans a MacBook Ultra as well. It’s possible that device will slip to an early 2027 date, though. The MacBook Ultra will have an OLED panel and a touchscreen. It will be positioned above the present MacBook Pro series. Naturally, it will be more expensive…reportedly significantly more expensive. With an iPhone Ultra, MacBook Ultra, and Watch Ultra…will we also get AirPods Ultra as well? Stay tuned.

Google is testing out an AI mode search experience on YouTube. Theverge.com reports that Google has designed it to feel ‘more like a conversation.’ The search results will get you long form videos, YouTube Shorts, and text for things you are searching for. The “experiment” is now available if you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber in the US who is 18 or older. YouTube says it’s already “working on” expanding this experiment to users who don’t have Premium. Just as it’s continued to iterate on AI Mode and brought AI Mode to Gmail, it seems likely that “Ask YouTube” is something Google sees a big future for.

There is a virtual graveyard with devices that were going to replace the current smartphones we all use. Now, OpenAI is going into that arena. Thenextweb.com says they are working on an a smartphone where the AI agent is the interface, and there are NO apps…apps are ‘obsolete.’ Well known analyst Ming Chi Kuo notes that simpler tasks will be handled on the phone directly, while more involved ones will hit up the cloud. With the OpenAI phone, you will just tell the agent to order you an Uber or Lyft, or to book reservations at a restaurant. It will manage your email, do research, and write messages for you (oh, I see some funny and terrible results from that one!) It will continuously capturing a user’s location, activity, communication, and environmental context to feed the agents. OpenAI thinks that the AI agent will replace the operating system and apps completely. I’m not sure people are ready to just talk to their phones. This has failed with couple of pin type devices. Remember Humane or the Rabbit R1? Yeah…now in the device graveyard. Here’s the keeper…OpenAI thinks they will be able to sell 400 million of these phones a year. To put that in perspective, Apple ships about 230 million phones a year and Samsung ships about 220 million Galaxy phones. You can say one thing…Sam Altman and OpenAI are thinking big!

There are already a couple of laws in California protecting a person’s voice and likeness. Also, SAG-AFTRA has language about this in a number of their contracts. Congress has even considered this, although no laws have gotten passed. Now, taking no chances, Taylor Swift has filed to trademark her voice and likeness. For Swift and others, this is intended to give some protection against AI misuse. Variety.com notes that Swift has filed three trademark applications…two for sound and another for a visual trademark. Trademarks aren’t generally used to protect voices or general likenesses, but Swift’s legal team thinks this will give them another way to protect the artist from being cloned and used in AI fakes. Several other artists have taken this action. It hasn’t been tested in court yet…but if you have the money then it is a way to fight off clones doing or saying things the artist would never do or say.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

iPhone Fold May Be on Track for September; Google Photos Adds ‘AI Enhance’ Button; Anthropic Launches Initiative to Prevent AI Cyberattacks; Spotify-Big Upgrade for Podcast Listeners

Posted: April 7, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We have seen a couple reports that say Apple’s folding phone is being tested out right now after a small production run, but that it may not be out until around December. Now, techcrunch.com reports that highly reliable Apple tout Mark Gurman of Bloomberg says it is on track to bow in September along with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. As with numerous brand new Apple products, it may not get into users’ hands until October, though. Apple apparently has resolved issues with screen quality and durability, and it has a notably less visible crease when it is unfolded. If it doesn’t cost over $2400, I’ll eat my hat…that is if I can find a nice, dark chocolate hat!

Google Photos gets an ‘AI Enhance button, and video playback speed controls. The features are being rolled out now according to 9to5google.com. The AI Enhance tool will work for Google Photos for all Android users. The button gives users an option to apply a magic fix to their photos, using AI, of course. It’s a sort of do-it-all button and gives users the option to skip over extensive editing with a quick fix that focuses on adjusting lighting and contrast levels. As for the video feature for Photos,  in each video, the three-dot menu will present “playback speed” among the other tools. Users can choose speeds from 0.25x to 2x. Google says this has been a long-requested feature. The video rollout isn’t global as yet…but should show up on Android devices everywhere shortly. 

Anthropic has launched Project Glasswing, which will use AI to try to prevent AI-powered cyberattacks. Engadget.com notes that they are joined in the effort by Amazon Web Services, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorganChase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Palo Alto Networks as partners. The participants will use Claude Mythos Preview, n unreleased, general-purpose model from Anthropic, to enhance their own security projects. Anthropic claims that this model has found thousands of exploitable vulnerabilities, “including some in every major operating system and web browser.” Let’s hope that this does help prevent or minimize AI cyberattacks. 

There is such a flood of podcasts out there, it’s hard to sift through all of them to find things that interest you. It’s kind of like scrolling through all the old movies on Netflix. Well, now Spotify has a potential solution. Androidpolice.com reports that they have expanded the Prompted Playlist feature to work with podcasts. You can create a playlist of podcasts with a text prompt. You give it a prompt, just like with music, and it uses AI to generate a playlist around it. The feature is rolling out to US users of Premium right now. You can set it up to refresh daily or weekly if you like. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

White House App-A Security Mess; Meta Launching Ray-Ban Smart Glasses With Corrective Lenses; Bluesky Bows Attie AI App to Build Custom Feeds; Amazon Tries Phone-Again

Posted: March 30, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The White House app from the Trump administration is apparently a privacy nightmare. Mashable.com reports that The White House app requests user permission to access precise locations, network connections, fingerprint and biometric data, the ability to prevent the device from sleeping, and even modify or delete contents of shared storage. In other words, it is pretty much spyware! It shares location data every 4.5 minutes, and sends that to a third party called OneSignal. OneSignal puts out push notifications to users for location based campaigns. That’s enough, but the app also is apparently loading YouTube video embeds via a random GitHub user’s personal page. According to the report, if this GitHub user’s account is ever compromised, an attacker could “serve arbitrary HTML and JavaScript to every user of this app.” Just do yourself a favor and never download this app!

Meta is releasing a new version of its Ray-Ban smart glasses that are specially designed for users who already wear prescription glasses. According to 9to5google.com, there will be two versions…one rectangular and another with rounded style rims, both specifically designed for people that need prescription lenses. Now, to be fair, you can already add prescription lenses to existing Meta Ray-Bans, but there’s new models are specifically designed for them They are reportedly to be sold through ‘traditional prescription eyewear channels.’

Bluesky has created an AI assistant to help you design your own algorithm, create custom feeds, and they say soon…vibe’ code your own app. TechCrunch.com says the AI app is named Attie. The app is now going to be beta tested by folks who attended the Atmosphere conference. They explained that it is a new product and not part of the actual Bluesky app. If you are excited about building your own custom feed by typing commands in natural language, this may be just the ticket. Stay tuned for it to be released to general users soon. 

Facebook tried, and failed. Amazon tried and failed. Now, Amazon is giving it another go. Mashable.com reports that after the Fire phone tanked a few years ago, Amazon is working on a new one code-named ‘Transformer.’ Amazon is calling this handset a ‘mobile personalization device’ that syncs with Alexa. The idea is for the phone to make interacting with various Amazon services easier. This includes buying from Amazon, watching Prime Video, or listening to Prime Music. Of course, AI would be in the middle of it all, though Alexa may not be the “primary operating system” of the phone. Amazon may rely on another company’s AI to run things on the device. It’s possible that this may not see the light of day, so no release dates, etc. If at first you don’t succeed…try, try again. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Microsoft Cuts Back Copilot AI Bloat; Reddit Looks at ID Verification to Battle AI Bots; Hackers Selling Data of 6 Million Verizon Users; Samsung Rolling out AirDrop Support

Posted: March 23, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft is rolling back a bit when it comes to the intrusiveness of its AI assistant, Copilot in Windows 11. TechCrunch.com reports that the company will reduce AI Copilot integration in some apps…beginning with Photos, Widgets, Notepad, and its Snipping Tool. Pavan Davuluri, the EVP of Windows and Devices wrote on the company’s blog that the goal is to focus on AI experiences that are ‘genuinely useful.’ What a concept! This ‘less ls more’ angle probably flows from increased consumer pushback against AI bloat. A Pew Research study that just came out this month showed that half of US adults are more concerned than excited about AI…up from 37% in 2021. 

Reddit is getting flooded with AI bots. In order to deal with the onslaught, the platform is considering a controversial move: requiring ID verification. According to mashable.com, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman discussed the problem on the tech show TBPN. He emphasized that ‘Reddit is for humans.’ Huffman said regarding screening out bots that “The most lightweight way is something like face ID or touch ID or broadly the family of technology that’s called passkeys.” He went on to say “Every platform wants to know ‘is this is a person?’ Now Reddit’s version is ‘is this a person but we don’t want to know which person this is.'” That is a huge deal for Reddit, which has made its bones on the ability of users to maintain their anonymity. Whatever they do, it is likely that Reddit will get blowback from their highly opinionated and privacy prone users.  

Hackers have gotten ahold of the data from 6 million customers and employees of  one of Verizon’s largest Verizon Authorized retailers Androidpolice.com says the info is now for sale on the dark web. That’s bad enough, but you’ll love this part…61 gigs of data is available for $1200. Your data on its own is a pretty cheap commodity. The retailer is Russell Cellular, which has over 2,000 employees and 750 locations. What is exposed in the breach? Names, phone numbers, email addresses, account numbers, device identifiers, and more. It also included employee usernames, passwords, and access roles; Verizon is also aware of the leak, and has begun an investigation, and promises to share the results of such when they become available. You can bet they are going to lock things down and make changes.  

Samsung is rolling out AirDrop support over its QuickShare, starting today. The support will initially be for The Galaxy S26, 26+, and 26 Ultra. 9to5google.com notes that AirDrop showed up on Google Pixel 10 devices in late 2025, and has now expanded to Pixel 9 phones. The support allows sharing between Samsung phones and Apple’s devices. One point with Samsung: unlike Pixel, where AirDrop support is enabled by default, you have to choose it. Under QuickShare settings, look for ‘Share With Apple Devices.’ For the Apple user to receive the shared picture or whatever, that Apple user needs to select ‘Everyone’ mode…that’s also true on the Galaxy devices if they are receiving from an Apple device. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Amazon Announces 1-3 Hour Delivery; Tim Cook Denies Retirement Soon; Galaxy Z Trifold Being Discontinued; Google ‘Personal Intelligence’ Expands to All US Users

Posted: March 17, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon is making it easier for users to find products eligible for its’ 1 hour and 3 hour delivery options. The ease comes via a new ‘getitfast’ page for same day delivery. Theverge.com reports that the 1 hour delivery is presently available in parts of major metro areas like LA, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. In addition, it is available in smaller cities like Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; and American Fork, Utah. 3-hour delivery is offered in over 2,000 cities and towns, which includes large, mid-size, and small cities. Amazon has even tested 30 minute deliveries in Seattle and Philly…though if you need it that fast…hey, jump in the car and run to the store, for Pete’s sake! Amazon 1 hour delivery is $9.99 for Prime members, or $19.99 extra for non-members. the 3 hour window runs $4.99 for Prime members or $14.99 non-prime. You can already get same-day delivery free for Prime members on orders over $25. 

Rumors have been floating around since last year about Tim Cook, who has turned 65, retiring from Apple. Now, according to macrumors.com, Cook cooled those rumors off at least a bit in an interview on Good Morning America. Cook in fact called it merely ‘a rumor,’ and while he didn’t explicitly confirm or deny that he will be stepping down as CEO anytime soon, he said ‘I Can’t imaging life without Apple.’ Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, is widely viewed as Cook’s most likely successor. Cook reportedly gave oversight of Apple’s design teams to Ternus at the end of last year, and Ternus has been making a lot more public appearances in interviews and in product introduction videos over the past few years. Cook has been Apple CEO since 2011. 

In what may be a record for short smartphone life, Samsung has discontinued the Galaxy Z TriFold in just 3 months. It just went on sale in the US the end of January. 9to5google.com says Samsung claims it never intended to sell to the mass market…and at $2899 they weren’t going to! It may not just be the cost, but the complexity of trying to make a device with two hinges and three inner display sections. Add in the rapidly increasing RAM prices due to AI, and it was probably a perfect storm that ended the tri-fold device. 

Google is bringing “Personal Intelligence” to all US users. Techcrunch.com notes that the AI assistant will now tailor its responses by connecting across your Google ecosystem, such as Gmail and Google Photos, to all users in the U.S. Previously only available to paid users, Personal Intelligence is available in AI Mode in Search, the Gemini app, and Gemini in Chrome. The feature is off by default, but users have the option to choose it. For those concerned, Gemini doesn’t train directly on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library. Instead, it trains on specific prompts in Gemini or AI Mode and the model’s responses, Google says.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Highlights Feb ’26

Posted: February 26, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

After the usual multitude of leaks, today we got the official rollout of the Samsung Galaxy S26 series of smartphones with Galaxy Unpacked. Note that there are no folders today. Samsung generally releases those in late August, 2-3 weeks before Apple’s phone extravaganza. 9to5google. reports that maybe the biggest change is the pricing. We’ll get to that in a minute. The headline is that not much has changed from the S25 series. That’s not such a bad thing…the S25’s are great phones. The Galaxy S26 Ultra gets more rounded corners like the other top line S26 phones…which, in my opinion, it needed. It stays with the huge 6.9 inch display. The Ultra gets a unified camera bump, but visually, it’s pretty identical to last year’s model. 

The S26 and S26+ are virtually identical to the models they replace, again except for the updated camera module. The S26 and Plus both rock the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 system. The Ultra gets a new Vapor Chamber. One new feature on the Ultra is Privacy Display. What does it do for you? Well, if the system detects something that could be sensitive, like incoming notification, it obscures them from off-angle viewers. It is customizable, by the way. This is a good feature and it would be nice to be offered on the other two models. The S Pen on the ultra now only comes in black and white. 

The S26 does get a bigger battery, and the Ultra gets Super Fast Charging 3.0…up to 60W speeds. That’s great for people who seem to always forget to charge their phone overnight…we all know some of those people. You’re in the car and ‘Hey, can I borrow a cord and top off my phone…it’s about to die.’ The Plus and Ultra both get upgrades  to their charging speeds with Qi2 at 20W and 25W respectively. NO built in magnets, though. That is a drag. Both Google and Apple offer those. 

There are some minor software upgrades to the cameras, including the Ultra’s wider apertures and ‘Nightography Video’. Of course, Samsung is touting its more muscular AI. Samsung claims that with its One UI 8.5, it will ‘simplify’ your life. Nudge will make you ‘timely suggestions’ as you use the phone. Nudge…seriously? They named it Nudge. 

The phones will be out March 11th, with the same colors available on all three models. You can choose Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, White, and Black, with Pink Gold and Silver Shadow kept as Samsung.com exclusive. Now for what we were waiting for…the prices. The Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at $12.99.99 for 256 gigs. The Galaxy S26 starts at $899.99 for 256 gigs, and the S26+ starts at $1099.99. You can get 512 gigs on all three models, or pick 1TB for the Ultra. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ’Technified’ for now.

Galaxy Unpacked This Week, Apple Multi-Day Product Reveal; Conduent Data Breach Expands; New Gaming Head at Microsoft

Posted: February 23, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

There are tech announcements pretty much continuously, but not many that get as much attention as those from Samsung and Apple. Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked is This Thursday…February 26th. The event is at 10am Pacific in San Francisco. In addition to new AI announcements, refreshed hardware is expected. Word is, the Galaxy S26, 26+, and Ultra will keep similar physical designs as the S25 models. The upgrades will be to screens, chips, and cameras sensors. The screens should grow slightly from 6.2 to 6.3 inches, and batteries will have a bit more life. One notable advance: the entry level S26 will get the 50 megapixel main cam its big brothers have. The Galaxy Z Trifold will probably get a mention, but as it was available in the US on January 30th- for the hefty price of $2900, don’t expect a lot of time to be spent on it.

What about Apple? Cupertino has announced that it will have the latest product introduction on March 4th. Unlike in the past, this looks to be a 3 day event instead of a single keynote rolling out all the new or upgraded hardware. According to techcrunch.com, some devices will be announced online, with the big finale being on March 4th. The events are going to begin New York, London, and Shanghai, instead of Cupertino. What is coming? It looks like the low-cost MacBook, iPhone 17e, iPad Air, a new entry-level iPad, and upgraded MacBook Air and Pro models. 

Don’t you just love when you get a letter saying some of your data was leaked. I just got one a few days ago. Now, Mashable.com says that the data breach by Conduent…an intermediary that handles data for corporations…had a bigger breach than originally announced. A LOT bigger. At least 25 million have been affected by the breach in just Texas and Oregon! Conduent handles data for corporations, Clients include: Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. Data leaked includes users’ names, Social Security numbers, medical information, and health insurance information. One has to wonder at this point what…if any…of our data hasn’t been hacked and aggregated somewhere on the dark web. 

Microsoft had a shakeup after the head of gaming Phil Spencer exited after 38 years at the company. Now, Asha Sharma steps into that role. Geekwire.com notes that the new CEO of gaming will be tasked with turning around the ailing division. Sharma has been an exec at Facebook, Instacart, a startup, and finally Microsoft’s AI Platform. Although Sharma doesn’t have any video game industry experience, what she does bring to the table is decades of experience in running large tech platforms. She did say in an opening statement something that resonated with employees and gamers in this age of AI  and ‘soulless AI Slop.’ Sharma wrote that  “Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.” 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

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