Author: Geek Planet

Marketers like to say they’re used to chaos. Lately, that’s been put to the test. Between broken measurement systems, widening AI-created talent gaps and the ongoing existential crisis of what it means to be an “authentic” brand (sorry), they’re earning those paychecks just staying afloat.  That tension was front and center at Advertising Week New York, where a record 20,000 attendees flooded Midtown’s Penn Station District. The usual carousel of panels offered a familiar mix of cautious optimism and recycled talking points, while nearby coffee shops and happy hours played host to the real conversations – the kind that don’t…

If you follow the smartphone world closely, you know that we have hit a bit of a wall recently. For the last few years, Qualcomm has been relentlessly pushing clock speeds higher and higher, but physics is starting to push back. It doesn’t matter how fast a chip can go if it gets so hot within three minutes of gaming that it has to throttle itself down to a crawl. The current Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a beast, sure, but it is already dancing right on the edge of what is thermally possible inside a device that sits…

I just finished a group video call with my siblings in an utterly dark cabin surrounded by pine trees. And for the first time, I didn’t hear a complaint that goes something like “please turn up the brightness, I can’t see your darn face.”  It was the same Mac as usual, my go-to video call app, and a familiar cellular internet situation. The only difference this time around was the new display-driven light fill feature that has arrived with the macOS 26.2 update, which is now rolling out widely to Mac users.  Apple calls it Edge Light. Think of it…

It’s been a big few days for AI video. Meta launched its Vibes feed. OpenAI released the Sora app. Together, they preview a future of social media built on machine-made, perfectly personalized content. The takes came fast. Tech pundits weighed in, creators voiced concerns and cultural critics cried dystopia.  Marketers, for once, didn’t jump in. But they didn’t ignore it either, They’re curious, cautious and conflicted. Vibes and Sora clearly mark a shift in attention. But with every leap forward comes more complexity: fragmented platforms, blurred lines of control, and an open question — what even counts as “content” now?  Here’s…

Meta is facing a new lawsuit that takes direct aim at one of WhatsApp‘s biggest selling points: end-to-end encryption. Filed by a group of petitioners from multiple countries, the lawsuit alleges that Meta has made false claims about the privacy and security of WhatsApp chats, claiming the company can “store, analyze, and can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purported ‘private’ communications.” WhatsApp implemented end-to-end encryption for all communication back in 2016, and it has since been one of the key components of the platform’s pitch. The messaging app frequently reassures users that it doesn’t have access to the contents…

Google is trying out a major tweak to how AI works inside Chrome, specifically by mashing up Google Lens with the browser’s native AI side panel. Right now, this is popping up in Chrome Canary – the experimental playground where Google tests new features before they go mainstream. The big shift here is that Lens isn’t just acting as a standalone tool for looking up images anymore. Instead, it now triggers Chrome’s full AI interface right in the side panel, blending image search, page reading, and chat into one unified spot. In this new setup, activating Lens does more than…

Vibe marketing used to be a punchline. OpenAI is turning it into a product strategy.That probably wasn’t the intent when CEO Sam Altman rolled out a slate of updates at the company’s first developer conference in two years earlier this week, but the subtext was hard to miss: OpenAI wants ChatGPT to be the operating system for everything, from enterprise workflows to toys, and yes, marketing too.  “This is the best time in history to be a builder,” he said. “It has never been faster to go from idea to product.” Marketers heard it for what it was: both an…

We’re about a month away from the Galaxy S26’s rumored launch, but the rumor mill doesn’t really care about it. According to the latest report from Sammy Guru, which cites a Finnish retail listing, the baseline Galaxy S26 will feature 256GB of storage. Until now, the baseline Galaxy S25 came with 128GB of storage, while the Galaxy S25 Plus and the Galaxy S25 Ultra shipped with 256GB of storage on the base variant. However, doubling the storage on the upcoming Galaxy S26’s entry-level trim could be a welcome addition. A welcome upgrade or a pricing trap in disguise? With the…

Amazon shouldn’t struggle to draw interest. Other players have sold out; NBC Universal has lined up 170 advertisers across its coverage, including Kia, Wingstop and American Express. Over 70% have bought across streaming and linear. This month, betting app FanDuel was unveiled as the first sponsor of Amazon’s Prime coverage. It’s no surprise that a sportsbook wants a front-row seat, but FanDuel’s partnership goes beyond the usual sponsor’s playbook to alter how viewers experience the coverage itself. Digiday caught up with the betting firm’s president of sports Mike Raffensperger to discuss why the company’s pushed the boat out for its…

We recently learned that Google was prepping a new feature that would allow users to ask Gemini questions about their NotebookLM notebooks. Although Google still hasn’t made anything official, this feature now appears to be rolling out to users. According to recent X posts from Sai Nemani and TestingCatalog, the attachment menu in Gemini on the web now includes a NotebookLM button. This option lets users attach a notebook and ask Gemini questions about the attached notebook to get more relevant responses. TestingCatalog reports that the feature lets users attach multiple notebooks as sources. In addition, the NotebookLM integration works…