Author: Geek Planet

In October, OpenAI outlined plans for turning ChatGPT into a platform for apps. So far, the AI chatbot has answered your queries, done research on your behalf, made images, and even done a bit of autonomous work in the web browser. Now, it’s turning into a hub of apps that you push on a daily basis.  A few days ago, the ChatGPT app store finally went live, and the company has already invited developers to submit their apps. The whole idea behind the initiative is that instead of opening apps on your phone, you can simply turn to ChatGPT and…

Apple has changed trade-in rates for older iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches. While this is the first revision in 2026, it is the third since the iPhone 17 broke cover in September 2025. Exchange values for most of the products have taken a hit, especially the newer ones, while older models appear to be aging much better. In September 2025, the company offered up to $700 for an iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the maximum trade-in value dropped to $670 in November. Now, exchanging the handset would get you up to $650 (down 7% in a little over four…

More NFL games will be broadcast by creators.After hiring four creators to host alternative broadcasts on YouTube of this season’s opening game, the league is already determining who’s next, said Ian Trombetta, its svp of social, influencer and content marketing. That doesn’t mean creators like iShowSpeed — one of the four hired to air the opener — are replacing NBC or ESPN. The idea isn’t so much about reaching existing fans as it is to draw in those who might never otherwise have shown an interest. Few conduits work better than that than creators — the kind of personalities who sit at…

Google is exploring a foldable phone battery that isn’t glued in place. A leaked Pixel patent reported by Hypertxt describes a removable battery assembly built to stay electrically stable as a device bends, folds, and flexes, while avoiding the usual adhesive approach. That matters because battery swaps are one of the most common repairs, and they’re often the messiest. When a battery is bonded down, getting it out can mean heat, solvents, and a lot of careful prying. Google’s filing frames the goal as a battery that’s easier to service without turning the job into a risk. This is still…

Paradox Customs has introduced a rather radical option to its prebuilt PC configurator: the ability to order a system with no RAM installed. The boutique builder says the move is a direct answer to the massive memory shortage and sky-high DRAM prices currently rocking the industry, which have made it nearly impossible for system builders to keep kits in stock at a predictable price. For buyers who have a spare set of sticks at home or want to find a deal elsewhere, it’s a way to dodge the “RAM tax” that has been driving up prebuilt costs. A pragmatic response…

Early retail pages for the unannounced Realme 16 have already laid out the spec sheet, as leaked by a Vietnamese publication. Images, colors, and memory options are visible, which usually points to a launch that’s close. The main hook is a small secondary screen tucked into the rear camera island, not unlike the Nubia or the Lava Agni 3. It sits beside the lenses and pairs with a reflective panel, letting you frame yourself while using the main camera instead of the front shooter. The rest reads like a practical build. There’s an AMOLED display with a fast refresh rate,…

Netflix has spent three years convincing advertisers it was serious about building an ads business. Now, it’s talking like one that expects to be on every major media plan – not as a novelty but as a line item with weight behind it.A big part of that push is its reach, which the streamer now describes with a new “Monthly Active Viewers” metric. As it stands, that count comes to more than 190 million globally. The math: subscribers who have watched at least one minute of ads on the platform a month, multiplied by the estimated average of people in…

This article is republished from Science and Culture Today. Our recent profile of Homann.COSM 2025 hosted a fascinating session on artificial intelligence (AI) with Uli Homann, Corporate Vice President in the cloud and AI business at Microsoft. Homann took us through a brief history of AI, reminding us that it was only three years ago — in November 2022 — that OpenAI first released ChatGPT to the public, and everyone went “gaga.”  But Homann quickly brought us back to reality. He said that the promise that ChatGPT represented artificial general intelligence (AGI) — “a ‘superbeing’ that would know everything” — is “fake.” Instead,…

Amazon’s biggest rival for programmatic ad dollars is once again waving off the comparison. For the second quarter in a row, The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green told analysts that Amazon isn’t a direct threat to his business.  To some, that might sound even more outlandish this time round. After all, Amazon is leaning harder on its data and pricing advantages, using partnerships and incentives to pull more ad dollars into its business. So much so in fact that it made $17.7 billion in the last quarter alone.  And yet, Green spent a noticeable stretch of the call laying out why…

Mozilla is promising a Firefox AI kill switch, but you won’t get it soon. In a reply to a Reddit open letter aimed at Mozilla’s new CEO, a Mozilla figure posting as user anthony-firefox said a real kill switch to turn off AI features is coming in Q1 2026. That reply tries to reassure anxious users on two fronts: Firefox has to serve “almost everyone” (developers, Linux users, students, parents, and people who never change a default), and it will stay built around user control. The letter, written by a self-described developer and everyday user, argues the problem is less…