Author: Geek Planet

If you’ve ever paid off your Verizon phone and waited what felt like forever to unlock it, you’re not alone. What’s more, Verizon now appears to agree. Following backlash over a new 35-day waiting period for unlocking fully paid-off devices, the carrier has acknowledged in a statement to Android Authority that the process is frustrating and states that relief is coming soon. Under Verizon’s updated unlocking policy, postpaid customers who settle a device’s balance through common channels like the My Verizon app, online my account payment, or using a Verizon gift card may face a 35-day delay before their phone…

Samsung’s new Bixby beta is a direct push to make the assistant feel more like ChatGPT or Gemini, but with a clearer job, running your Galaxy phone. Instead of barking precise commands, you’re supposed to talk normally and let it translate intent into actions. The update is tied to One UI 8.5 and starts in select markets, including Germany, India, Korea, Poland, the UK, and the US Samsung says a wider expansion is coming, but it hasn’t shared a timeline or a list of supported devices, so availability will vary by model and region. The headline feature is fewer trips…

WhatsApp is introducing a small but meaningful tweak to group chats, and it addresses a longstanding annoyance for anyone who has ever added a new member to an ongoing conversation. Until now, new group chat members could only see messages sent after they were added, so they were dropped in with zero context. In busy family threads, office groups, or event planning chats, newcomers were often thrown into the middle of a conversation with no clue what had already been discussed. The usual workaround involved copying and pasting key messages or sending a string of screenshots to bring them up…

It turns out that when the smartest AI models “think,” they might actually be hosting a heated internal debate. A fascinating new study co-authored by researchers at Google has thrown a wrench into how we traditionally understand artificial intelligence. It suggests that advanced reasoning models – specifically DeepSeek-R1 and Alibaba’s QwQ-32B – aren’t just crunching numbers in a straight, logical line. Instead, they appear to be behaving surprisingly like a group of humans trying to solve a puzzle together. The paper, published on arXiv with the evocative title Reasoning Models Generate Societies of Thought, posits that these models don’t merely…

It seems the ad networks have finally hit their maturation curve, inking partnerships with ad tech and off-site platforms to prove their value beyond lower-funnel conversions.  Last week, a flurry of product, measurement and partnership announcements came out of this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity from the likes of DoorDash Ads, Albertsons Media Collective and Walmart Connect. To media buyers, all signs point to a new, necessary — and more attractive — phase of growth for retail, commerce and ad networks. “We’re seeing more convergence between commerce, media, and technology with new partnerships and capabilities designed to bring better…

With the iPhone 16e, Apple tried to revive the affordable iPhone segment by offering a familiar form factor and capable hardware. But despite that, 2025’s cheapest iPhone release wasn’t as hot and popular as the other ones. Well, that could change with the arrival of the iPhone 17e. With detailed rumors pouring in for over six months now, the iPhone 17e is among the most-anticipated Apple product launches in the first half of the year, and so far, the rumor mill has only been kind to the device. So, without any further ado, here’s everything we know about the iPhone…

Google has officially unveiled the Pixel 10a, its newest entry in the A-series lineup. On the surface, it looks like another compelling budget-friendly Pixel: minimalist design, fresh colours, a large battery, and Google’s well-known AI features. But dig a little deeper, and the excitement quickly fades. For many buyers, the Pixel 10a may feel like a déjà vu moment – a phone that looks new but behaves very much like last year’s Pixel 9a. In fact, the similarities run so deep that a growing number of users and reviewers are asking the same question: Why upgrade at all? Despite its…

While TikTok’s U.S. lifespan remains uncertain, the entertainment app is firmly focused on its future.“When I met with TikTok last week, they were talking me through their product roadmap for the rest of the year,” said one Cannes Lions attendee, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about what they discussed during their meeting with TikTok at the festival.  A big part of that roadmap includes evolving their eight-month-old AI-campaign tool, Smart+, so marketers have more control over how it buys their ads. “They said they’re going to improve the Smart+ platform by providing advertisers with more control around bidding,…

It has been nearly two years since Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicted that generative AI would take over knowledge work, but if you look around a typical law firm or investment bank today, the human workforce is still very much in charge. Despite all the hype about “reasoning” and “planning,” a new study from training-data company Mercor explains exactly why the robot revolution is stalled: AI just can’t handle the messiness of real work. A reality check for the “replacement” theory Mercor released a new benchmark called APEX-Agents, and it is brutal. Unlike the usual tests that ask AI to…

Google is expanding the multimodal capabilities of Gemini, once again. Following the success of the viral Nano Banana image generator, the company is releasing Lyria 3, an AI model that can generate music. Google says you can get started with your words and describe what kind of music you want to generate, and the model will comply. Alternatively, you can feed it a picture or even a video, and Lyria 3 will generate a “high-fidelity track,” with custom lyrics in tow. “From funny jingles to lo-fi beats, you can create custom 30-second soundtracks for any moment,” says the company. Lyria…