Author: Geek Planet

Samsung has started expanding One UI 8.5 to more Galaxy phones and tablets, bringing features that first arrived with the Galaxy S26 series in February 2026. The rollout has begun in Korea, with other regions set to follow later, depending on market and device model. Which older Galaxy devices are getting One UI 8.5? The update is headed to the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy S25 FE, Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy S24 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7, Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Tab S11 series, and Galaxy Tab S10 series. For users holding…

As a Mac fan, going through the entire butterfly keyboard saga was not easy, and I will be the first to admit that I have enjoyed the relative calmness of the M-series MacBook Pros. Yes, every new iterative update has not vowed me, but the performance and reliability have been a godsend. But after five years of using the same M1 Pro MacBook Pro I purchased on launch day, I am ready to upgrade to a new machine. And if current leaks and rumors hold true, the end of this year could be the ideal time to upgrade to a…

Apple’s long-delayed Siri upgrade is no longer just an embarrassing AI setback, as the company has agreed to a very real, very hefty settlement. The company is paying $250 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging it misled iPhone buyers in the US about the AI-powered Siri features announced as part of Apple Intelligence. According to the Financial Times, the case centers on Apple’s promise of a more personalized Siri that was first shown at WWDC 2024 and promoted alongside newer iPhones. Why is Apple paying out a quarter of a billion dollars? Apple originally pitched the new Siri as…

Computer engineers are required to study digital logic. This includes switching theory. Last week’s Micro Softy relates to this week’s puzzle, so let’s give last week’s solution first.  Solution to Micro Softy 68: An Overcrowded Prison   Frenchy was the 100th prisoner at the Pokey Nook Prison. Every day, each of the 100 prisoners here must flip a switch. Prisoner #1 goes first, then #2, etc up to prisoner #100. There are two switches next to each other. A prisoner can flip either switch but could only flip one. If Frenchy can tell the Warden with certainty when the 101st prisoner arrives, he’ll be released,     Frenchy and the other prisoners at Pokey Nook Prison flipped a switch each day for 101 days, On the 102nd day, Frenchy announced with certainty the 101st prisoner had arrived. How…

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 is down to $899.99, a $400 saving off its $1,299.99 list price, and it’s the kind of monitor purchase that makes everything you set up before it feel like a compromise. A 49-inch curved QD-OLED panel at Dual QHD resolution with 144Hz and a 0.03ms response time is a specification that most monitors at any price don’t reach, and the $400 discount brings it to a point where the conversation becomes considerably easier. What you’re getting QD-OLED is the technology that makes the Odyssey G9 worth the attention. Quantum dot filtering over an OLED panel…

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D has held its position as the gaming CPU benchmark since launch, and at $388.98 it’s $60 off its $449 list price. For anyone building or upgrading an AM5 system with gaming performance as the priority, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D remains the processor to build around, and the discount makes the decision easier than it already was. What you’re getting The 7800X3D’s advantage comes from AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology, which stacks an additional cache die directly on top of the processor to bring total L3 cache to 96MB. That number matters in gaming specifically because modern…

Android security is getting another layer of accountability, and it’s aimed squarely at a problem that digital signatures can’t solve. Google has announced that it is expanding Binary Transparency across the Android ecosystem. Starting with the production of Google apps for Android and Mainline modules, the company will log official releases on a public append-only ledger, which should make it easier to verify whether the software running on a device is the exact version Google intended to release. Why digital signatures no longer cut it For years, digital signatures have been the main way to confirm that an app is…

When it comes to flagship phones, the word “Ultra” has started to lose meaning. Every brand throws it around, but very few actually deliver something that feels… ultra. Take the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, for instance. It’s a solid phone, sure, but exciting? Not quite. And that’s the bigger issue with the US market right now. Some of the most interesting Android flagships simply don’t make it here. Meanwhile, brands like Vivo, Oppo, and Honor are quietly pushing smartphone cameras into territory that feels closer to dedicated cameras than ever before. And then there’s the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. After using…

China’s DeepSeek has a habit of showing up, uninvited, to Silicon Valley’s AI party, and this time, it has done so with the long-awaited V4 preview. The Hangzhou-based company has released its latest AI model, which beats popular American models in certain areas.  DeepSeek has launched two new models: V4-Pro (Expert mode) and V4-Flash (Instant mode). While the former is a massive 1.6 trillion parameter model, the latter is at a more manageable 284 billion parameters. However, both of them have a one-million-token context window.  What exactly did DeepSeek release? What’s even more important is that both models are open…

You’ve made up your mind to spend top dollar on a book-style foldable that provides you with a big-screen experience but folds in half when you want to carry it around. Sounds fantastic, right? Well, here’s something worth sitting with: the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (256GB), from July 2025, still retails for $1,999, while the just-announced Moto Razr Fold (512GB) costs $1,899. How did Motorola do that? Did it make any compromises in undercutting the Fold 7 by $100 and still offering twice the storage? Well, there are a couple of papercuts that might not sit well with you, particularly if…