LG TVs add'delete' option for Copilot The transition from Assistant to Gemini will continue into 2026. Google wanted to remove Assistant from most Android phones by the end of 2025 and replace it with Gemini. But now the company has announced that it needs a bit more time to make its AI assistant the new default digital helper for most of its users. Google said that it's adjusting its previously announced timeline to make sure [it delivers] a seamless transition and that updates to convert Assistant to Gemini on Android devices will continue into the next year. The company also said that it's sharing more details in the coming months, so it's possible that the transition will go past early 2026. Assistant's retirement was pretty much expected the moment Google launched Gemini and started giving it Assistant's capabilities, such as the ability to control smart devices connected to your phone.

The navigation app Waze is dropping Google Assistant support for iPhones, citing "ongoing difficulties" with integrating the service. The company says it plans on replacing it with an "enhanced voice integration solution" at some point in the future. Google Assistant will still work for Android users. This is happening a full year after iPhone users began reporting issues related to Google Assistant, with many people noting that voice commands were totally broken. Waze says that it has "not been working as intended for over a year" and that it would rather "phase out Google Assistant on iOS" instead of "patching a feature that has faced ongoing difficulties." As previously stated, Google Assistant for Waze will continue to work on Android phones.

Google is stepping up its Gemini AI rollout for smart home users, delivering access to a new Gemini-powered feature in the Google Home app. Android users enrolled in Google Home's Public Preview can now help test "Help me create," a Gemini AI-infused tool that lets you create Google Home automations from natural-language prompts. Here's how it works: You open the Google Home app, tap the Automations tab, tap Add, then tap "Help me create." Next, just describe in English (yes, just English, at least for now) what you'd like the automation to do. For example, you could type (or say) "Turn off the lights at 11 p.m. every night," "Lock all the doors when everyone's away," or "Set a meditation time reminder."

When OpenAI released a ChatGPT app for the iPhone in May, it promised that Android users will get theirs soon. Now, the company has announced that ChatGPT for Android is rolling out to users sometime next week. Moreover, its Google Play listing is already up, and users can pre-register to get it as soon as it becomes available. It's unclear if the app will initially only be available in the US like the iPhone app, but I was able to pre-order it from Asia. OpenAI expanded the iOS app's reach to more regions just a few days after it was released, so the Android app will most likely be accessible in other countries soon even if it does launch only in the US.

Two factors had an effect on the deals we saw this week: spring sales and early Mother's Day promotions. Even if you don't need a gift for a mom or it's still cold (or weirdly summery hot) where you are, you can snag a decent price on some of our recommended tech. Like our top budget robot vacuum, iRobot's Roomba 694, which dropped back down to $179. Apple's only sub-$1,000 laptop, the MacBook Air M1, is $200 off at Best Buy only. We also saw a few deals on gadgets we like for the kitchen, like our favorite air fryer and a Vitamix blender. Both the latest and previous generation standard iPad are on sale, as is the older, but still-great M1 MacBook Air.

Earlier this year, Zoom announced a Byzantine policy change that, if I thought about it at all when it happened, I probably would have expected to have almost no impact on my life: One-on-one video calls, which had previously been free and unrestricted for all non-paying users of its platform, would now have a 40-minute time limit just like group calls. A bummer for thrifty Zoom power users, perhaps, but at the time, I was blessed to live an existence of only sporadic Zooming. Then a few months ago I had occasion to start using Zoom a little more frequently. I would love to leave the reasons for this sudden Zoomassaince vague and retain one emotional support shred of dignity, but there's no real way to explain the rest without disclosing the following: I had decided it was time to "get back out there" and was using Zoom to go on video dates. After meeting and chatting with people on dating apps, I would suggest we talk on video before actually getting together in person, et violà: video date.

In this fast-paced technology race, Artificial Intelligence is overtaking the world and creating an easy process for everything. AIEGS AI Private Limited an Artificial Intelligence company has announced the launch of its new mobile application AIEGS. It is developed to bring privacy with advanced technology to the fingertips of smartphone users. AIEGS stands for'Artificial Intelligence E-Privacy Genius System' which is making E-Privacy a new normal. AIEGS is launched for the Android users and will soon launch for the iOS users.

Hundreds of Android apps sent user location data to a data broker that had been banned from the Google Play Store since December 2020. Close to 200 messaging apps, video and file converters, dating sites, and religious and prayer apps downloaded tens of millions of times had X-Mode installed. Despite the ban, only ten per cent of these apps have been removed from Google Play. The tracker caused controversy after Vice's Motherboard reported that the United States military was buying the granular movement data of users of a a Muslim prayer and Quran app that had more than 98 million downloads worldwide. The US military has reportedly used location data to target drone strikes.

You won't find it written anywhere in the press materials, but the Beats Studio Buds may as well be called the AirPods 3. From their funky new design and minimalist theme to Apple-ready features like voice-activated Siri, these are immediately the obvious choice right now for AirPods fanatics who don't want to spend up for the AirPods Pro. Wisely, though, Apple has crafted these buds to be nearly as useful for either side of the mobile aisle, including native one-touch pairing for Android or iPhone, a simple but useful Android app, and quick access to alternative voice assistants. The result is a pair of buds that easily outdo the aging AirPods, no matter which phone you choose. The beats have a new pill-like design at their exterior for controls as well as easy insertion. The last Beats earbuds, the Powerbeats, were simply a step-down version of the Powerbeats Pro, chaining the clip-ons together for a more affordable workout option.

If you have ever used Google Maps on your phone without fiddling with the location settings, it goes without saying that the tech giant knows everywhere you've been. The really bad news is that even if you have previously tried to stop Google tracking your every movement, the company may have done so anyway. On Friday the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) won a legal action in the federal court, which ruled that, thanks to a peculiar set-up that required a user to check "No" or "Do Not Collect" to both "Location History" and "Web & App Activity" on some Android and Pixel phones, someone who ticked "No" to just one would still end up being tracked. We asked Dr Katharine Kemp, a legal academic from the University of New South Wales whose focus is consumer law, and the Australian cryptographer Vanessa Teague for their thoughts on the significance of the decision and how a person might go about securing their devices. Kemp, an Apple user herself, says that for many consumers, today's decision may not actually mean much, as the decision only related to Android users and Google has since updated the settings that formed the basis of the ACCC's complaint.