Author: Geek Planet

WhatsApp is introducing a safer way for younger users to stay connected with friends and family. The messaging platform now allows parents to create protected WhatsApp accounts for kids under 13, giving guardians more control over how the account works. Instead of leaving safety decisions to automated systems, parents can be in charge of their child’s privacy settings and messaging environment. How to create and manage WhatsApp account for children under 13? You can follow these steps to set up a parent-managed WhatsApp account for preteens on both Android and iOS: Download WhatsApp from the Google Play Store or Apple…

In this saturated market, brands are hoping new mascots will tickle consumers’ nostalgia and help them stand out from the competition. In the last few months, Domino’s pizza launched Mac Scott, a penne-shaped mascot, fast-casual restaurant chain Cava rolled out Peter Chip, a pita chip with googly eyes, and candy brand Hi-Chew introduced Chewbie, the brand’s first official, self-described “ambiguous mascot with a big personality.” This is after Instacart’s first-ever Super Bowl ad this year featured notable brand mascots like Chester Cheetah, the Old Spice man, Mr. Clean, the Energizer Bunny, and the Kool-Aid Man. “They make more sense now…

Apple’s long-rumored foldable iPhone is shaping up to be the most expensive device the company has ever put in someone’s pocket. A fresh leak from Weibo-based tipster Instant Digital reveals that the iPhone Fold may launch in three storage tiers — 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB — with Chinese yuan-converted prices landing at approximately $2,320, $2,610, and $2,900, respectively. A foldable phone that costs more than a MacBook Pro? That last figure is genuinely startling. Apple’s base M5 MacBook Pro starts at $1,699, while the M5 Pro model begins at $2,199 with a 1TB SSD. In other words, the top-tier iPhone…

The Monday after President Trump’s tariffs rattled global markets and raised the specter of a recession, global agency group Dept did what few in advertising are built to do: it pivoted to policy. The shop stood up a 10-person team of strategists — not to pitch an idea but to translate Trump’s policies on tariffs into something a marketer could act on.And not a moment too soon. Unlike past macroeconomic crises, this one put marketers at the center. The ripple effects hit every part of their remit: media budgets, pricing models, procurement timelines. The usual buffers between policy and marketing…

If you watched any Galaxy S26 coverage before launch, you heard about this. Three AI assistants, one phone — Bixby, Gemini, and Perplexity all coexisting, each ready to jump in on command. It was the feature Samsung kept leading with, and fair enough, it was a genuinely good one. Except “Hey Plex,” the shorthand wake word for Perplexity, has quietly stopped working for a growing number of users. And the explanation behind it is, somehow, even more chaotic than the bug itself. Wait, so what actually broke? Early S26 owners reported “Hey Plex” working fine out of the box, only…

Interpublic Group (IPG) may be navigating an uncertain future, but it’s still hiring top tech talent in a bid to remain competitive.The U.S.-based holding company has appointed tech entrepreneur Yaniv Sarig as its global head of AI commerce, with a brief to rapidly integrate agentic AI into its commerce and performance media offering. It’s the latest top AI position created by an agency group in recent months. Last week, IPG’s crosstown rival Stagwell appointed IBM and Microsoft veteran John Kahan as its chief AI officer (CAIO), while Monks (formerly Media.Monks) recently made founding exec Wesley ter Haar, already the challenger…

Creator funds are back en vogue thanks to platforms like Substack and the Billion Dollar Boy agency launching fresh versions this year. And what better way to pique creators’ interests than by offering them cash rewards? Or so they thought.TikTok introduced creator funds to the scene back in 2020, which led to its platform peers trying to outdo each other by offering bigger pots of cash. But over the years, social media apps including YouTube and Snapchat have wound down their funds in favor of the more sustainable revenue-share deals – an offering which required a hefty upfront investment, (far…

The likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo have been offering sleek all-in-one (AIO) desktop PCs for years, but Apple usually takes the cake with the iMac. The mix of reliable performance, ecosystem perks, and peppy design often keeps it at the top of my recommendation list. At CES 2026, Lenovo is redrawing the lines with one of the most beautiful AIO machines I have ever seen.  An eye candy with practical perks Lenovo’s latest is the Yoga AIO i Aura Edition, a desktop with a floating glass design, similar to the LG Wallpaper TV that was announced a few days…

Generative AI tools keep finding their way deeper into the world of agencies in varying ways — but their main value seems to still be in saving time and money for creative output and execution. The latest example, Digiday has learned, comes from Brandtech Group’s Pencil unit, which is charged with offering AI-driven creative marketing solutions for a number of clients. Pencil is collaborating with Google to integrate the latter’s AI-based video generation model, Veo 2, into its offering.  The integration accesses Google’s AI models, such as Gemini for text generation, Imagen 3 for image creation and Google Cloud’s ABCD framework…

WhatsApp is rolling out parent-managed accounts for pre-teens, giving guardians full control over their child’s contacts and group chats, and how their privacy settings are configured, all managed from the parent’s own phone. The feature targets families with children under 13. It’s WhatsApp’s clearest move yet to position itself as a safe messaging environment for younger users, at a time when pressure on tech platforms over child online safety has never been higher. How parent-managed accounts actually work Setup requires both phones in the same room. Parents link their own device to their child’s to connect the two accounts, and…