Author: Geek Planet

At the Daily Mail last month, Wiliam Hunter reports on a recent study of 48 near-death experiences: Some participants described seeing heavenly beings, while one even said they experienced a terrifying journey into a black hole. Others, meanwhile, described grand visions featuring religious figures and profound emotional experiences. For example, one participant told scientists: ‘There were stone stairs on the left in front of me, and Jesus was toward the top, wearing a white robe,’ while another described how ‘God appeared as a great light in the distance’. Yet some people’s visions of the afterlife were far more fantastical, featuring…

If you’re bored of the usual “glass rectangle” phones and you want something that feels genuinely different without giving up flagship-level performance, this deal is worth a look. The Nothing Phone (3) (256GB, unlocked) is down to $639.00 (was $799.00), saving you $160 at 20% off. That’s a meaningful discount on a 2025 model that’s aiming for premium specs plus personality, not just another minor refresh. What you’re getting The highlights here are big: 256GB storage, Android 15, and a Snapdragon 8s Gen4 chipset that’s positioned for fast everyday performance and longevity. You’re also getting an AMOLED display, a 5150mAh…

Meta has acquired Manus, a Singapore-based startup behind a general-purpose autonomous agent it plans to fold into its products. Meta Manus AI agents are being framed as the next step beyond chat, software that can carry work through to completion. Meta and Manus say the agent can independently handle tasks like market research, coding, and data analysis. The expectation is, you keep working where you already are, and the agent takes on more of the busywork that normally eats a day. If you already use Manus, the companies are stressing continuity. The subscription service will keep running through the current…

What should have been a celebratory year for the 28-year-old business proved to be one of its hardest. “We took a margin hit,” said Scherz. And Bela wasn’t the only one.  For Sam Piliero, CEO and founder of media agency The Moonlighters, it’s been a “whirlwind” of a year. The agency works with almost 100 brands, 80% of which are e-commerce businesses – many spending between $1 million-$10 million annually. During the choppiest period of Trump’s tariff maneuvers, Piliero estimated some clients cut back on media spending by 50% as they navigated higher costs on imported goods and the end…

This week, Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko told the country’s Energy Minister Alexei Kushnarenko that he wants to use their surplus of electricity to mine cryptocurrency like Bitcoin to accumulate a reserve. “Look at this mining. More and more people are turning to me. If it is profitable for us, let’s do it,” President Lukashenko said. “We have excess electricity. Let them make this cryptocurrency and so on.”  NEW: 🇧🇾 Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko says if Bitcoin & crypto mining is profitable, “let’s do it.” “We have excess electricity. Let them make this cryptocurrency and so on.” pic.twitter.com/rSmqUR5gdn— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine)…

A Samsung reversible flip phone patent spotted on the World Intellectual Property Organization site hints at a clamshell with no obvious “right” side when it’s shut. Based on the designs spotted by XpertPick, Samsung is exploring a reversible front and back design where either outer face could be the one you see. That’s a notable shift from today’s flip phones, which usually have a clear split between a cover display side and a plainer rear panel. This filing looks like it’s trying to make the closed phone feel consistent from both sides. It’s also worth keeping expectations grounded. This is…

Micro Softy 52:  Elon Musk Parody Asks if You Are a Genius In his early career, Elon Musk did a lot of coding. Good coders must be clever — so here’s a puzzle for our clever readers. This is not Elon Musk either/Grok. We got this one from a post on X on April 13, 2025, by Not Elon Musk. This is identified as a parody account, meaning that the post was not from Musk. Still, it’s a hard one. Readers are told that “People with the right answer are certified geniuses.” The author did not claim to have solved…

If you’ve been missing a BlackBerry-style keyboard phone, iKKO is betting you’ll make room for MindOne. It’s roughly credit-card sized, designed for thumb typing, and aimed at people who want a smaller device that feels intentional instead of endless-scroll friendly. The company is also trying to solve a modern headache that old keyboard phones never had to. Staying online while you move between weak Wi-Fi, patchy cellular, and unfamiliar networks. MindOne leans on a MediaTek platform and SIMO connectivity to keep data available when your usual connection isn’t. The BlackBerry vibe is the point This is a keys-first device, and…

Some may call this Target’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. Others, sitting in Minneapolis, hope this year was when the retailer started to get back on track. Much of the front half of the year for Target was defined by the company’s decision in January to pull back on some diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as the Trump administration took power. That led Black-owned brands and employees to question Target’s commitment to the progressive values that once defined its brand. In May, Target’s CEO finally addressed the topic, somewhat, saying its values of inclusivity, connection and drive “are not up for debate.” Still, communications and…

Imagine: A researcher uses ChatGPT to learn more about a pending federal court lawsuit. ChatGPT tells the researcher that your former employer is suing you for committing fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and embezzlement while you were Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer. ChatGPT even provides a copy of the formal complaint filed in court. But then it turns out: The complaint ChatGPT provided verbatim is entirely and utterly false.  It spelled your name right but otherwise it falsely calls you a major wrongdoer, perhaps a criminal.  Can you sue OpenAI, which is the creator and host of ChatGPT, for libel?…