Author: Geek Planet

Every year, Samsung raises the bar on specs. This year, it raised something else instead — the price. The Galaxy S26 series landed this week, and all three models now start with 256GB of storage as the baseline. On paper that sounds like a win. In practice, the pricing tells a different story. The Galaxy S26 starts at $899 for 256GB, versus $859.99 for the 256GB Galaxy S25 — but the more telling number is that the S25’s 128GB base was $799, meaning the cheaper entry point is simply gone now. Revised introductory price for Galaxy S26 The S26 Plus…

AI-powered scams are no longer just a nuisance. They are quietly becoming a cost problem that everyday shoppers end up paying for. A new survey by the Identity Theft Resource Center highlights how small businesses are being hit by increasingly sophisticated cyber scams. Many of them powered by artificial intelligence, and the losses incurred by the businesses are now trickling down to customers in the form of higher prices. 4 out of 5 small businesses reported they were hit by a cyberscam or breach in the past year, showing how widespread the problem has become. Of those breached, 41% said…

As brands recalibrate their marketing budgets amid a tough economy, they’re trying to get the most bang for their buck this summer. While summer might be a slower season, it’s an important time for brands and retailers to ensure they’ve still got customers’ attention ahead of bigger sales periods like the back-to-school season and Black Friday. And this summer, it’s an especially critical time for companies to fine-tune their strategies while grappling with declining consumer confidence. Target, following a dismal earnings report, announced that it will release over 10,000 new products between now and August. The big-box retailer is also trying to generate foot…

Apple has just scored a major security certification from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), clearing both the iPhone and iPad to be used with classified information up to the “NATO restricted” level without needing any special software, custom configurations, or security add-ons. What the NATO Approval Means In its recent newsroom post, the brand announced that iPhone and iPad join an exclusive list of devices deemed secure enough to handle sensitive data used in alliance operations and communications. While “restricted” is technically just the entry level of classified data in NATO’s classification framework, it still covers information that would be…

Even without the Olympics or a major soccer tournament to tide sports fans over this summer, marketing investment in sports continues to rise. “Brand marketers are realizing that if you can connect through people’s passions and things that they love, it’s going to have much more effect and impact,” said Steve Martin, founding partner at specialist agency MSQ Sport & Entertainment. That investment is likely to grow again this year, as marketers at major brands come to depend more and more on live sports’ ability to reach mass audiences — a quality that’s increasingly rare, and increasingly valuable, in an era of…

That $599 price tag Apple’s budget MacBook was rumored to carry last August? It’s looking shakier by the day. When supply chain sources first floated the number, it made sense on paper — nearly as cheap as the M1 MacBook Air got during its Walmart clearance run, and enough to open Apple’s laptop lineup to a whole new tier of buyers. But component costs have moved against Apple since then, and two areas in particular are proving stubborn (via DigiTimes). The memory problem Memory is the bigger headache. Prices have climbed steeply over the past year, and the relief valve…

OpenAI first announced plans to introduce an automated age-prediction system for ChatGPT in September last year, aimed at helping the AI chatbot distinguish between teens and adults. After testing it in select countries over the past few months, the company has now started rolling it out on ChatGPT consumer plans. The system is designed to identify users under 18 and automatically redirect them to a more age-appropriate ChatGPT experience. According to OpenAI, the age-prediction model “looks at a combination of behavioural and account-level signals, including how long an account has existed, typical times of day when someone is active, usage…

For years, Amazon’s advertising playbook was all about keeping advertisers in-house — using its data to target shoppers within its own ecosystem. Now, it’s shifting gears, urging advertisers to take that data on the road to reach those same people, or ones just like them, elsewhere.The shift isn’t exactly a surprise. Its ad chief has been signaling the suggested strategy for a while, and advertisers have been reading the tea leaves. Still, without something concrete, it’s been tough for marketers to plan around. That’s what makes the latest pitch deck for its demand-side platform so telling: it puts Amazon’s off-Amazon’s…

This is the first Galaxy S26 Ultra deal that actually feels worth talking about. Amazon has the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 512GB pre-order bundle for $1,299.99, and it comes with a $200 Amazon gift card. That alone is a strong launch offer, but the real reason this stands out is the storage angle: this promo gives you double the storage without forcing you to pay the usual premium for it. That matters because flagship phone deals at launch are usually underwhelming. You might get a tiny credit, maybe a trade-in boost, and that’s it. This one is better. You’re getting…

It turns out that making a phone thinner doesn’t automatically make it more popular. Reports suggest the iPhone Air hasn’t sold well, and now it appears Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, a phone launched as a direct competitor to the iPhone Air, hasn’t performed much better. In an interview with Bloomberg, Won-Joon Choi, chief operating officer of Samsung’s Mobile Experience Business, said that the sales for Galaxy S25 Edge were “relatively lower than other lineups.” He attributed the lower sales numbers to the small battery pack, which provides lower endurance than the company’s other offering.  Samsung hasn’t decided whether there will…