Author: The SUN

GOOGLE has upgraded its virtual Gemini assistant for your home – and you can ask it to fix the dishwasher, find out when your kids went to sleep, and even whether you left the car door open.The new Gemini for Home launches alongside three new “smart” gadgets, including a brainy Google Home Speaker and a pair of connected cameras.5There’s a new Google Home Speaker powered by brainy AI GeminiCredit: GoogleGemini is the Alexa- or Siri-style digital assistant that comes on Android phones as standard.But you can also access the AI helper on your iPhone, or your computer.And now Google is…

AMAZON has slashed the price of loads of Fire TV Stick models.And there’s a way to get one popular Fire TV Stick for as little as £17.99.3Amazon’s Fire TV Stick HD is available for a very low priceCredit: AmazonIt’s part of a major “limited-time” sale that sees Amazon cutting the cost of its plug-in streamers.If you’re unfamiliar with them, Fire TV Sticks plug in to the back of your television’s HDMI port and upgrade the telly with bonus apps, features and voice controls.And you can get a special bonus on one Fire TV Stick by buying Amazon’s Certified Refurbished model.Certified…

INSTAGRAM’S top boss has hit back at long-running claims that the app spies on you through your microphone.Both Facebook and Instagram have been repeatedly blasted by users over the years who say secret snooping allows the Meta apps to show you relevant ads.4Instagram boss Adam Mosseri has revealed the real reasons why it seems like the app is spying on youCredit: Picture Credit: Meta / Instagram / Adam MosseriOften gadget owners will say that they had a conversation with a friend in real life, only to see online ads for what they talked about later on.Now Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri…

A ROGUE planet was spotted growing at a mind-bending rate of six billion tonnes a SECOND.The lost world doesn’t have a home star, which means it’s drifting through space – and furiously feeding as it goes.4This illustration shows what the rogue planet looks like as it feeds on nearby matterCredit: ESO4The location in the sky of the rogue planet Cha 1107-7626 – it’s a tiny dot located in the dead centre of the imageIt’s called Cha 1107-7626 and it’s about five to 10 times the mass of Jupiter.And it’s roughly 620 lightyears away in the constellation of Chamaeleon.Astronomers say the…

MICROSOFT has hiked monthly subscription prices for millions of Xbox owners around the world.The gaming giant has jacked up the cost of its popular Xbox Game Pass plan by 50%, leaving gamers furious and vowing to quit.4Microsoft is massively hiking the cost of its Xbox Game Pass subscriptionsCredit: Microsoft / XboxXbox Game Pass is a paid-for service that gets you access to several perks.There are three tiers, all of which get you online console multiplayer, the ability to play games over the cloud, and a selection of free games to play.The top plan is rising from £14.99 / $19.99 a…

SPOTIFY is sending out notices about a major no-cost upgrade to free listeners.People who don’t pay for the music app have finally received one of the best perks normally reserved for Premium listeners.4Spotify is finally letting free users search for a track and play itCredit: Spotify4It works just by hitting the Search button at the bottom of the appCredit: SpotifyYou’ll now be able to search for specific songs and then play them individually.Previously, free users were only able to select playlists and then listen to them on shuffle.And if you wanted to choose a specific song then you’d need a…

A BRAINY new iPhone feature saves you from infuriating spam calls designed to waste your time – or worse, scam you.The clever trick was added in the latest iPhone update and is now available on millions of models.3Your iPhone has a new feature that will screen calls from unknown numbers for youCredit: AppleBut you’ll need to turn it on manually or it won’t work at all.It’s called Call Screening and it lets a robot voice answer calls from unknown numbers for you.This virtual robot will vet the callers before they ever get a chance to speak to you – and…

NASA’S top official has revealed plans to create a “village” on the Moon.It’s part of Nasa’s ongoing Artemis mission to put a permanent human presence on our lunar neighbour.8Many concept images have been released over the years to show what a human colony might look like, including this one with solar arrays and greenhouses for food productionCredit: ESA / P. Carril8Nasa administrator Sean Duffy has revealed the USA’s grand plans for Moon dominationCredit: NASAThe space agency is already partway through the Artemis program, with the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission blasting off to orbit the Moon back in 2022.Now Nasa administrator…

A MAJOR mystery surrounding tiny ancient human cousins nicknamed “Hobbits” has finally been solved.Scientists say they’ve cracked a main puzzle about how the 3-foot-tall species came to evolve.7This is the skeleton of a Homo floresiensis woman, as seen at London’s Natural History MuseumCredit: Emőke Dénes / Wikimedia Commons / Natural History Museum7This is a reconstruction sculpture of Homo floresiensisCredit: Alamy7Homo floresiensis has been compared to the Hobbit beings from the Lord of the Rings fantasy novels, which were later turned into feature films starring Sean Astin and Elijah Wood who played Hobbits Sam and FrodoCredit: AlamyOfficially named Homo floresiensis, the…

BRITS can soon pay a monthly subscription fee to stop seeing ads on Facebook and Instagram.Tech giant Meta says that you can pay £3.99 inside the iPhone and Android apps to cut out ads completely – but admitted there’s a way to get it discounted.5Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is letting Brits pay to stop seeing adsCredit: Meta5You’ll be able to cut out ads on both Facebook and Instagram with a single monthly Meta feeCredit: MetaFacebook and Instagram are some of the most used apps on the planet. Both apps have more than three billion users around the world.And of the…