Technology

Plus: Benjamin Netanyahu gives Donald Trump a golden pager, Hewlett Packard Enterprise blames Russian government hackers for a breach, and more.

• Nextcloud Talk ensures full data control and privacy
• AI features help streamline workflows and enhance productivity
• Interactive whiteboards allow for real-time brainstorming sessions

Many companies rely on popular platforms like Microsoft Teams, but there are concerns about data privacy and digital sovereignty which have led to the demand for alternatives that offer more control and flexibility.

For example, Microsoft Teams only recently introduced an alert for messages from external contracts after a spate of phishing attacks using the platform.

Nextcloud Talk, an open source online collaboration platform that prioritizes data protection, promises to offer workers the ability to work securely from anywhere while maintaining full data sovereignty and control over sensitive information.

Secure collaboration tools are essential for modern teams

Unlike browser-based tools that require constant tab-switching, the Nextcloud Talk desktop app integrates directly into a user’s workflow, providing real-time notifications and easy participation in calls. With this dedicated app, teams can access communication tools like chat, video calls, and webinars all in one place.

Nextcloud says its platform focuses on high-security communication. Unlike many collaboration platforms that depend on US-based providers, Nextcloud Talk ensures that all data is fully compliant with GDPR, making it an ideal choice for organizations and public institutions looking to remain compliant when processing data in the EU.

It also supports deployment in airgap environments, where communication networks are isolated from external networks for maximum security, ensuring that sensitive conversations and files remain secure.

Furthermore, it also comes with AI features that help users to simplify everyday tasks. Its AI can generate summaries of video conferences and chat logs, allowing users to quickly review key points from meetings. It can also assist in creating to-do lists, helping teams stay organized and on track with their projects.

Collaboration often requires more than just communication, it also involves brainstorming and sharing ideas in real time. To support this, Nextcloud Talk offers an interactive whiteboard feature that allows teams to visually collaborate during calls, and real-time in-call document editing

For those who have had to sit through one too many chats about the weather, Nextcloud Talk has introduced a feature that automatically ends calls after a set time, encouraging teams to maintain effective and focused meetings without dragging on unnecessarily.

"Companies need powerful collaboration tools – but most solutions are not GDPR-compliant and lock organizations into dependence on U.S. tech giants," says Nextcloud CEO Frank Karlitschek.

"We address the limitations of other platforms by delivering true digital sovereignty and full transparency. Our tools enable organizations to manage their communication with complete control over their data, independently and securely," Karlitschek added

You may also like

• These are the best video conferencing software
• We've listed the best business phone systems
• Google is ramping up Android security protection with new Android app safety tools

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of the best phones in Australia, and in 2025 it’ll be a difficult handset to beat as our attention turns to the Google Pixel 10 Pro and the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max coming later this year. It only improves upon the best cameraphone of 2024, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it continues a trend set by the S24. In 2025, software took over the stage almost entirely in San Jose at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event.

Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra received a new rounded design that makes it look more like its standard S25 and S25 Plus counterparts. Samsung also decided to axe Bluetooth features from the S Pen with the S25 Ultra, which enabled users to take photos with the phone’s included stylus (super useful for group shots and selfies, though Samsung said it’s not a popular feature). Hardware undoubtedly changed and indeed the phone did receive its annual CPU/GPU performance buff – but in 2025, Samsung’s more interested in software.

With the launch of One UI 7, Samsung’s app icons, widgets, status bar and other core software features have gotten a refresh. They feel more efficient, space-aware and better in line with the customization that many users crave from their smartphones. When I first received this phone, my colleagues and I were saddened at how limited the ‘Good Lock’ OS-modifying tool had become with One UI 7, but after toying with the operating system, I’ve come to realize that I could finally get by without it.

Better yet, the introduction of the Now Bar and the all-new Now Brief are actually useful productivity features that look good on the display, and they’re my favorite features of the launch.

Whether or not Samsung’s useful Now Brief page, which generates an AI-assisted snapshot of the rest of your day (or next day), effectively encompasses what has become the popular perception of AI (incorporating the use of large-language models and the like) feels beside the point. This is a genuinely useful feature and to some extent, I’m disappointed that it has been tarnished by the ‘AI’ tag that justifiably puts a bad taste in people’s mouths.

To that end, we can ignore the elephant in the room no longer – the messy state of affairs that is AI on a Samsung phone. Such phones are torn between Galaxy AI tools (many of which function on-device) and Google Gemini, and there’s cause for concern in this discrepancy.

So let’s chat Samsung’s latest OS polish, its handy new tricks, and its spotty AI-fication.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar) Hello, beautiful

I’ll quickly admit that Samsung’s approach to UI design up until now hasn’t been my favorite. Coming from iOS in 2022, the Google Pixel range won me over with the uniform aesthetic that makes it the closest thing to an iPhone on the Android side of the fence. Samsung’s phones, albeit partly due to their overstuffing of bloatware with a fresh install, tend to have a more tech-savvy aesthetic – showing more icons on a space, settings icons at all times across the settings bar (top of the display) and generally sharing more information than is necessary for a casual user.

That doesn't seem to be the case with the Samsung Galaxy S25 series and One UI 7. With this launch, subtle but sweeping changes have been made to the home screen, including app icon scale choice, dark icons in dark mode when ‘Color Palette’ is applied to apps, and expanded folders (which you can tap to open apps without opening said folder).

One of my big reservations about Samsung phones up until now has been the cluttered Status Bar, showing oh so many symbols that don’t need to be displayed at all times (for example, the 5G icon, NFC icon and Bluetooth icon, to name a few). These icons have now been relegated to the status bar only when accessing the quick settings and notifications menu (accessed by swiping down), while app notifications continue to persist on the left of the status bar (unless disabled).

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Widgets and lock screen/notifications menu pop-ups have also received a glow-up, and are now rounded at the corners and displaying more information on the home screen. However, to activate these notification ‘cards’ on the lock screen, you’ll need to do so in your lock screen settings (switching over from icons to cards).

It’s the little things that add up, surrounding the introduction of two big things. The Now bar comes first; it’s a multi-function widget that appears contextually at the bottom of the lock screen. I really love how it expands when tapped while playing music, displays timers and how it communicates Google Maps info. It’s great having it so low on the screen, so it’s more accessible one-handed. It feels more intuitive than Apple’s Dynamic Island which it seems inspired by.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Moreover, Now Brief is a genuinely useful addition to the One UI suite of features. In the morning, at mid-day and at night, the phone will produce a ‘Now Brief’ rundown of upcoming events (including weather reports, travel information and calendar notifications) and a recap of your last several hours (including sleep data, missed calls and photos taken).

It’s a useful tool for putting all your contextually appropriate alerts in the one spot for your review, and it pains me that it’s not even more useful. I’d love for it to pull information from more apps – recommending me to continue listening to a podcast, select audiobook or keep watching a Disney+ series. The best it’ll do on these fronts is recommend you a Spotify playlist or push you in the direction of YouTube Shorts.

I’d also like it to be a little less… wrong? After waking up one morning, it recommended me a ‘liquid EDM’ playlist. I've been known to l listen to the odd EDM song here or there, but it seems like a wild genre to wake up to.

But it’s in Now Brief that we approach the cluttered state of Samsung’s AI suite.

Samsung’s AI confusion

And then there’s Google Gemini. On One UI 7 and the S25 range, Gemini has replaced the default Google Assistant (Bixby who?), and while I do like Gemini as a virtual assistant, its coexistence with these other AI tools is potentially confusing to a casual user.

That being said, Samsung has added cross-app actions to the S25 range with Google Gemini. You can ask Gemini to perform a complex series of commands, such as finding the information on several businesses online to be added to your Notes app, and it will be done so fluidly (as demonstrated by our friends at Tom’s Guide). The only third-party apps currently supported are Whatsapp and Spotify, but this awesome time-saving feature genuinely has the potential to help get stuff done quickly.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Erring on the critical side, I think we’re being a bit liberal with what we’re appropriately calling an ‘AI feature’. For example; Google Circle to Search continues to be one of my favorite features of Android phones in 2024. It’s supposedly underpinned by AI, but it’s unclear how AI actually factors into the function of this tool. After all, it’s basically a simple-to-access spin on Google Lens with support for on-screen circling.

Similarly with Now Brief, it’s not clear just how much of it benefits from so-called AI features. A day-to-come or day-passed snapshot is simply a splash screen displaying your upcoming events, weather alerts, a smattering of content recommendations and health figures from throughout the day.

It might seem bereft to criticize AI features on the merit of being ‘AI-powered’, but I have one major concern. Since the launch of the Galaxy S24 range, Samsung has noted that it may, eventually, start to charge for its AI features. At the time of writing, the official company tagline is:

“Fees may apply for AI features at the end of 2025. Certain Galaxy AI features require [a] Samsung and Google Account. [An] internet connection may be required to use some features. AI Features will be provided free of charge until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices.”

My concern is that access to some of these genuinely useful features will be paywalled alongside the AI tools that many people won’t actually get any use from.

I have no problem paying a subscription for a genuinely useful product or service if I’m actually getting value from it. Between Circle to Search and Now Brief, I now have two AI features that I like.

And I don’t think I could sensibly pay for either.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar) Samsung needs to steer carefully

While Samsung has spent a fair amount of time beautifying its operating system, its AI software is starting to become a different story altogether. No doubt people are using such features at their own discretion, but so far there hasn’t been a must-have AI tool built into One UI (or any phone OS for that matter).

On the bright side, One UI 7 brings with it a nice aesthetic refresh, and in a hardware lull year, it’s the best I could have wanted from Samsung.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 range is available now.

Section: You may also like…

• Annoyed Samsung fans have started a petition to bring Bluetooth back to the S Pen – and they have a point
• I can’t believe the Samsung Galaxy S25 is still the only phone of its kind to have this one crucial feature
• Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge: latest news, rumors, and everything we know so far

Plus: Sonos’ next play is a streaming box, Amazon’s souped-up Alexa may land this month, VW’s cheapest ever EV, and Comcast adds Dolby support to its 4K Super Bowl stream.

Sellers and shoppers on the two sites say they saw items disappear and prices go up after President Donald Trump implemented tariffs on Chinese imports.

Since the “Saharan Gold Rush” in the 1990s, one researcher has been fighting for the North African country’s contributions to science to be recognized.

This week was a weird one in the world of tech, but we're still here to help you catch up on all the biggest tech news stories you might have missed in the past seven days.

On the normal end, we got a date and time for Nintendo's Switch 2 Direct presentation (April 2, 2025), and on the 'I can't believe we're syaing this end,' Apple got flustered by the iPhone's first-ever official porn app.

Once you've caught up on all that and more, be sure to check out our picks for the seven new movies and TV shows to stream this weekend (February 7).

7. Nintendo set a Switch 2 presentation date

(Image credit: Nintendo)

We now know exactly when the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct is happening on April 2. Thanks to Nintendo’s official social media channels over on X / Twitter, it’s been confirmed that the anticipated broadcast will happen at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm GMT / 3pm CEST. This really comes as no surprise, as Nintendo Direct presentations typically land in the morning for US audiences and mid-afternoon in the UK and Europe.

As for the contents of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, the company remains tight-lipped. We don’t think it’ll be a deep exploration of the system’s specs, but the presentation should give us a decent idea of the new hardware's improvements. It also seems reasonable to expect a look at new Nintendo Switch 2 games, potentially including a better look at that new Mario Kart title we saw in the official reveal teaser.

• Read more: The Switch 2 Nintendo Direct now has an official date and time

6. Dyson's new handheld vacuum turned out to be… not so new

(Image credit: Future)

Dyson has added a handheld vacuum to its range, but it turns out the Dyson Car+Boat is really just a V8 stick vacuum shipped without its wand and floorheads. We couldn't help but feel a little cheated, and not just because the V8 launched a decade ago, in 2016.

That disappointment aside, the new addition actually performed very well in our official Dyson Car+Boat review. Although it's not the newest Dyson stick vacuum, it is the smallest and lightest of the current range, and when pitted against other handhelds, the Car+Boat easily wins out. The battery life is double that of most handheld vacuums, and it's powerful enough to blast through even the most challenging cleanup tasks.

In short, the Car+Boat is an ultra-capable handheld vacuum, we just wish we were getting more of that trademark Dyson innovation instead.

• Read more: Turns out Dyson's new handheld vacuum is a decade-old V8

5. OpenAI fought back against DeepSeek R1

(Image credit: Scale AI, CAIS)

It didn’t take long for OpenAI to flex its muscles following the incredible success of Chinese start-up DeepSeek. Just last week, we were talking about the US AI company’s concerns following the launch of a completely free reasoning model, DeepSeek R1, that was just as good, if not better, than OpenAI’s o1 offering.

Now, not only has OpenAI revealed Deep Research, an incredible AI agent that works as your own personal analyst, ready to tackle any research you throw at it and come back with results, but Deep Research has also eclipsed all rivals on the world’s hardest AI exam.

If that wasn’t enough, OpenAI also announced this week that ChatGPT Search, its competitor to Google Search, would no longer require a login, allowing anyone to use the free AI search engine without the need to give up any personal information. It’s fair to say the company took DeepSeek’s attempt to shake up the AI industry personally, and now it’s us, the consumers, who are reaping the rewards.

• Read more: OpenAI's Deep Research smashes records for the world's hardest AI exam

4. Amazon teased Alexa upgrades

(Image credit: Amazon)

Amazon invited people to an exclusive product launch event in New York City later in February. While many details from the invite made us reasonably confident it would be for the long-awaited Alexa AI upgrade we’ve been waiting for, Amazon spelled it out for us as it was discovered that combining five invites would show you ‘alexa’ in a cursive font.

We’re not certain what this new Alexa will be capable of, but leaks have suggested it’ll finally start to catch up with the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, and other LLMs, which have left the smart assistant in their dust.

More specifically, they tease that Alexa will be better at understanding and responding to natural human speech, such as multiple prompts presented in a row. It’ll also be able to perform more tasks autonomously as an AI agent. Unfortunately, it might also cost $5-$10 a month – but we’ll have to take all these details with a pinch of salt until Amazon’s event in a couple of weeks.

• Read more: Alexa AI is landing soon – 3 things to expect from the new voice assistant

3. Apple launched Invites

(Image credit: Future)

Apple has been making slow and steady Calendar app improvements across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but it just made organizing parties 100 times easier with the brand-new Apple Invites app for iCloud+ users.

It’s designed to be a one-stop shop for creating the event invite, from setting an event description to correctly capture the vibe to building a guest list and managing who has RSVP'd and who isn't coming. It can even serve as an easy one-stop shop for guests who can see all the event info without everyone needing to message the host the same questions individually.

iCloud+ is a central part of this, as you need it to send invites and create an event but anyone can receive them even people on Android.

• Read more: Apple’s Invites app gives iCloud+ subscribers an better way to organize parties

2. Apple got mad about the iPhone’s first porn app

(Image credit: AltStore PAL / Future)

That isn’t a sentence we expected to write this week, but it’s 2025, so all bets are off. Yes, the iPhone’s first official porn app (called Hot Tub, of course) has just landed in the EU, and Apple isn’t best pleased – to put it mildly.

Hot Tub arrived thanks to EU regulations that recently opened the door to third-party iOS app stores like AltStore, where you can download the app (or so we’ve heard). Apple was quick to point out it’s “deeply concerned about the safety risks” and disapproves of the controversial porn aggregator.

An added dimension to the story is that AltStore is funded by Apple’s nemesis Epic Games, who recently battled it over Fortnite. We can feel a Netflix documentary coming on…

• Read more: The iPhone’s first official porn app has just landed in the EU – and Apple really isn’t happy about it

1. Apple’s robot stole our hearts

Apple also showed off its ELEGANT (Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robot) lamp this week – and this real-life Pixar lamp is wonderfully cute.

Videos showcased the robot’s functional meets expressive approach, which saw it perform tasks with a bit of flair – at one point, the robot was asked to grab something out of reach, and rather than simply realizing it wasn’t long enough, the lamp tries to stretch a few times before shaking its head and admitting it can’t complete the task.

While playing music, it danced along, and while helping a user build a 3D printer, it performed micro-adjustments that made it seem alive before playing a video of the instructions when it saw they were struggling. Apple hasn’t announced any plans to launch this as something you can buy one day, but we’re hoping we’ll one day get an Apple iLamp announcement.

• Read more: Apple built a super-cute, expressive robot lamp

• The latest Oppo Find N5 image shows a near-invisible crease
• We should see the phone called the OnePlus Open 2 internationally
• A launch is happening within the next two weeks

We know that we're just days away from the launch of the Oppo Find N5 – which will almost definitely be available in some markets as the OnePlus Open 2 – and a new teaser image of the foldable hints at one way it could best the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

The image was posted by Pete Lau, Chief Product Officer at Oppo and previously the founder of OnePlus. It shows the Oppo Find N5 on the left, up against an unnamed foldable – which looks very much like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 launched last July.

When it comes to crease visibility, the Oppo Find N5 is the clear winner. This is something Oppo and OnePlus have form for too: in our OnePlus Open review, we praised the foldable for having a screen crease that was "nearly invisible and barely tactile".

It would seem the Oppo Find N5 and OnePlus Open 2 will be even better in this regard. It looks as though the phone will outdo the Galaxy Z Fold 6 in terms of screen size too – the Samsung handset has a main display measuring 7.6 inches, corner to corner (and the OnePlus Open had a 7.82-inch panel).

Coming soon

IPX6 ✅ IPX8 ✅ IPX9 ✅Immensely durable, rain or shine. #OPPOFindN5 pic.twitter.com/Yg0G3Qm8Z0February 7, 2025

Lau has also been promoting the improved waterproofing on the upcoming Oppo Find N5. The phone is apparently "immensely durable, rain or shine", and should offer more protection against the elements than the Oppo Find N3 (and OnePlus Open).

We've already heard from other Oppo executives that waterproofing is going to be one of the key features on the upcoming foldable phone. Much has been made of its thinness too: even thinner than an M4 iPad Pro, apparently.

Camera upgrades over the previous model have also been rumored, and if you add in a processor bump as well, this sounds like it could be a contender for the top spot in our best foldables list – but we'll have to wait and see.

Oppo has given us a rough idea of when its Find N5 handset will make an appearance – around February 19 or February 20 – but we don't have an exact date yet. The phone is getting a global launch, but certain parts of the world should also see the device appear as the OnePlus Open 2 later in 2025.

You might also like

• Our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
• 5 things we want from the OnePlus Open 2
• Apple’s foldable iPhone specs hinted at in fresh leak

• A new feature could almost miraculously cut energy consumption of data centers by 30%
• Interrupt request suspension dynamically alters CPU power usage and can be done via OS
• Hyperscalers are likely to be the big winners and it will be interesting to see how it impacts AI

Data centers reportedly account for between 2-4% of total electricity consumption around the world, something hyperscalers are understandably looking to reduce wherever possible.

Potential solutions include implementing next-generation architectures like Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) and employing advanced cooling techniques.

Professor Martin Karsten at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, within the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, has a cheaper, easier solution. He claims that data center energy consumption could be cut by up to 30%, simply by changing a few lines of Linux code.

Small change, big impact

Working with Joe Damato at Fastly, Professor Karsten has developed a small, non-intrusive kernel change of just 30 lines of code that uses IRQ (interrupt request) suspension to reduce unnecessary CPU interruptions and improve Linux’s network traffic processing. This tweak has now been published as part of Linux’s newest kernel, release version 6.13.

This code change, which reportedly improves Linux networking efficiency and boosts throughput by up to 45% without increasing latency, is based on a research paper called “Kernel vs. User-Level Networking: Don’t Throw Out the Stack with the Interrupts”, which Professor Karsten authored with former master’s student Peter Cai in 2023.

"We didn’t add anything,” Professor Karsten said of the code change. “We just rearranged what is done when, which leads to a much better usage of the data center’s CPU caches. It’s kind of like rearranging the pipeline at a manufacturing plant so that you don’t have people running around all the time.”

The Professor believes this small adjustment could have a huge impact. “All these big companies - Amazon, Google, Meta - use Linux in some capacity, but they’re very picky about how they decide to use it. If they choose to ‘switch on’ our method in their data centers, it could save gigawatt-hours of energy worldwide. Almost every single service request that happens on the Internet could be positively affected by this.”

Aoife Foley, IEEE senior member and professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast, welcomes the potential savings but observes that it’s going to take a lot more than just changing a few lines of code to address the broader energy challenges.

“There is a long way to go yet," she says. "These facilities represent huge electricity demands, adding pressure to electricity grids and increasing the challenge of energy transitions, especially in smaller countries. Although it is impossible to calculate precisely, the entire ICT sector is estimated to account for about 1.4 per cent of CO₂ emissions globally. Infrastructure and operations leaders have a responsibility here and need to consider the unnecessary waste associated with data storage and commit to generating power from more renewable sources.”

Yandex recently released an open source tool called Perforator, which takes a similar approach to Professor Karsten’s research, helping businesses optimize their code, reduce server load, and ultimately lower energy and equipment costs.

Sergey Skvortsov, who leads the team behind Perforator, told us: “This latest research confirms what we have long believed: optimizing code is one of the most effective ways to reduce data center energy consumption. Perforator helps businesses identify and fix inefficient code, cutting CPU usage by up to 20% and reducing infrastructure costs - without sacrificing performance. With data centers consuming up to 4% of global electricity, tools like Perforator can play a crucial role in making tech infrastructure more sustainable.”

You might also like

• Why the data center of 2030 will look very different from today
• Data centers are transforming waste heat into community energy assets
• The AI boom is spurring an energy crisis: is there a sustainable way out?

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 8.

Google really wants you to know that Gemini 2.0 Flash is a big deal. It's the first generally released member of the Gemini 2.0 family, and the company is hyping it up as faster, smarter, and more powerful than ever, hinting without outright claiming it should replace OpenAI’s ChatGPT in people's hearts and smartphones.

Gemini 2.0 Flash is essentially a high-efficiency version of the model that is faster but supposedly maintains as good an accuracy rate. I decided to play around with Gemini's new model, testing it out in some basic ways the average person would use it. To spice things up, I sent the same prompts to ChatGPT.

Working it out

(Image credit: Screenshots of Google Gemini and ChatGPT)

I started with a prompt about fitness as it's the kind of thing a lot of people turn to the internet to help with. I think a good AI chatbot should not only suggest a reasonable workout routine but also explain the reasons for its suggestions, variations on the exercise, and more information about how to be healthy and avoid injury.

I wanted to see which chatbot would provide the most well-rounded response, but both honestly did quite well. Gemini included links and tips for its workout, while ChatGPT had a whole weekly schedule for workouts and its own set of helpful advice on getting in shape safely. I had to call it a tie, though the multi-day schedule from ChatGPT did stand out somewhat.

Translation Total

(Image credit: Screenshots of Google Gemini and ChatGPT)

(Image credit: Screenshots of Google Gemini and ChatGPT)

Translations are always a popular use of AI chatbots, and this prompt covers three vastly different languages: one classical, one historical, and one fictional. Latin requires proper grammatical structure, while Middle English isn’t just modern English with “ye” thrown in; it has distinct grammar and vocabulary. Of course, Klingon follows an entirely different syntax, created artificially with its own fake etymology. A smart AI should recognize these differences and ask for and provide natural-sounding translations of a common saying instead of just swapping words.

ChatGPT broke down each translated phrase and explained the word comparisons, including references to changes in phrasing. Gemini was more concise but included explanations for each translation in terms of alternate phrasing and spelling, as well as calling out when it might be a bit too literal. The Latin translations were the same, but the Middle English and Klingon versions differed. To be honest, I like the Gemini Middle English version more than ChatGPT's, but the other aspects also put Gemini over the top as the winner here.

Crossword Key

(Image credit: Screenshots of Google Gemini and ChatGPT)

For the final test, I used logic, word association, vocabulary, and pattern recognition. In other words, a crossword puzzle. Any AI chatbot should be able to quickly identify words that match letter patterns and match the definition.

Crossword clues can be tricky because words often have multiple meanings. Both handled it well, though Gemini decided to go for the British spelling for unknown reasons.

Gemini Flash matches ChatGPT

Both Gemini 2.0 Flash and ChatGPT offer incredibly advanced AI models, and for most users, the difference comes down to preferences, ecosystem, and specific use cases rather than raw ability. Any clear technological edge that might have existed a year ago has essentially closed for the average person. Even 'personality' differences are likely due to the prompts used as much as any underlying programming.

If you primarily operate in Google's ecosystem, Gemini 2.0 Flash has obvious appeal. Its integration with Google Search, Google Docs, Gmail, and other Google services makes great for anyone who relies on these tools daily. You can use it to draft emails, summarize documents, and even assist with research, all within the Google suite. If speed and efficiency are priorities, Gemini is there for you.

On the other hand, ChatGPT is well-established and has deep partnerships. In particular, ChatGPT is embedded throughout Microsoft Office tools like Word and Excel. ChatGPT is often more conversational and expressive in my experience, though again, that is likely contingent on the prompts used.

At the core, both models have reached a level where their intelligence feels equally matched. There’s no longer a clear “better” option. You have to decide which AI fits more seamlessly into your daily life. Google and OpenAI are in an ongoing race, constantly refining their models and adding new capabilities. Gemini might take the lead in one update, only for ChatGPT to counter with an even stronger feature. There’s no wrong answer or best option. Whether you choose Gemini 2.0 Flash or ChatGPT, you’re getting one of the best AI models ever built. You just have to decide who you want to translate your Klingon for you.

You might also like...

• DeepSeek has already dethroned ChatGPT – is it coming for Midjourney and DALL-E next?
• OpenAI is making ChatGPT's Canvas feature smarter and sleeker
• ChatGPT Tasks can start taking over your calendar and remind you to finish your to-do list

You just spent a lot of money on a new Samsung phone. Keep it safe with these cases and screen protectors.

Sonos has had a tumultuous few months, all of which date back to what was now clearly a rushed app design that led to a terrible experience for many customers and a long, messy process of repairing those relationships. It overshadowed the long-anticipated launch of the Ace over-ear headphones, though the more recently launched Arc Ultra soundbar’s impressive specs did shine through.

More recently, CEO Patrick Spence left, and a new leadership was ushered in. Earlier this week, it was announced that Sonos would further reduce its overall headcount, laying off 200 employees. Still, the new interim CEO Tom Conrad is shedding a bit more light on the internal changes – and much of it can be read in a way that’s returning to form.

While Conrad is quick to repeat that a lot more work needs to be done, he’s almost looking back in a good way. “I'm returning Sonos to a scrappier and more focused enterprise,” said Conrad, who’s focused on changing how Sonos operates. “I've reorganized our product and engineering staff into functional teams for hardware, software, design, quality and operations and away from dedicated business units devoted to individual product categories. This allows us to bring together rightsized cross functional projects that maximize our efficiency as we continuously evaluate, prioritize and focus on the highest value market opportunities,” explained Conrad.

(Image credit: Sonos México)

It’s a re-do on a previous structure that clearly did not work in a fluid way, most notably with folks mostly just working on individual parts of the business. Quite possibly just the app or maybe even more segments, that didn’t come together to improve the entire ecosystem of Sonos. That was likely a miss, and we saw some of the potential outcomes come to fruition, but Conrad and the teams left at Sonos have now been reorganized to better look at the brand as a whole.

For instance, the app is likely no longer siloed, with a team focused solely on it; rather, it might be more integrated across the entire lineup. How can the app better work with the Arc Ultra while improving interoperability with future products or creating a new flow to help you regroup existing, connected products when new ones are introduced?

Conrad described the setup at Sonos as being layered with redundancies, which likely made it hard to work across departments and, therefore, across product lines. Similarly, with a focus on “improving the Sonos experience to a place that exceeds the expectations of all of our customers,” he’s ensuring the company is operating in a way to hit this, or at least setting it up with that hope.

In the same vein, Conrad also stated that even with the near-constant app updates and other changes, "our core experience still needs significant improvement.” And that certainly should bring some hope to Sonos customers, long-standing ones and future ones. The restructure, while tough, and it is never good to see employees let go at any business, might help Sonos right the ship a bit more and ensure that a disaster on the level of the app doesn't occur again.

As for what might be next, our Managing Editor of Home Entertainment, Matthew Bolton, gave his expert analysis on the rumored streaming box.

And you can see the full transcript of the Sonos Quarter One of 2025 earnings call here.

You might also like

• 'We’ve let them down': Sonos gets a new CEO after its disastrous year, and it looks like better times are ahead
• The leaked Sonos streaming box could be a huge hit for custom home theaters, if it adds 2 key missing features from the current line-up

• North Korean hackers are using LinkedIn to scam jobseekers
• The fake job offers often promise well-paid remote work
• But the victims are eventually infected with malware

A long-running campaign by notorious North Korean hacking group Lazarus has seen job hopefuls scammed in many different ways, including downloading malware disguised as interview software, fake coding tests, infostealers, and some companies have even accidentally hired North Korean hackers as remote IT workers.

Now, a new facet of the ‘Contagious Interview’ campaign has arisen, and this time, hackers are using LinkedIn to scam victims, research from Bitdefender warns.

LinkedIn can be a fantastic tool for professionals to network, and many businesses use the app to recruit new employees, and now, it turns out, so are the Lazarus group.

Malicious offers

The fake recruitment scams ultimately result in the victim being infected with malware, and the hackers tend to target jobseekers in high profile industries, like defense, aerospace, or engineering - looking to exfiltrate classified or sensitive information, or even corporate credentials.

The fake jobs researchers observed in these scams were often remote work, flexible and well paid, sometimes involving cryptocurrencies as payment. These are designed to be enticing offers, so be wary of anything that looks a little too good to be true.

Scammers will message a victim via LinkedIn, then requesting a CV or personal GitHub repository link (which could be used to harvest personal information). From there, the ‘recruiter’ shares a ‘feedback’ document, which infects the victim with malware.

There are some warning signs to look out for, like vague job descriptions, poor communications, and users without popper documentations. Make sure to vet any job offers, applications, and interview offers thoroughly - and don’t click any links from unknown sources.

In February 2025, Apple delivered a new patch on Xprotect, its on-device malware removal tool to block variants of the macOS ‘FerretFamily’ - which had been found disguised as Chrome or Zoom installers targeting applicants.

You might also like

• Take a look at our pick of the best antivirus software
• Check out our recommendations for the best small business router picks around
• “Everyone will experience a hack” - how incident response can protect your organization

Layoffs, wildfires and deportations. Why is the jobs report still positive?

The ACLU says it stands ready to sue for access to government records that detail DOGE’s access to sensitive personnel data.

• Gravy Analytics is being sued for failing to protect personal data
• The suit comes after 17TB of records were allegedly stolen from the firm
• The hack on a data broker has sparked four lawsuits so far

A complaint has been filed in the federal court of Northern California outlining allegations that data broker Gravy Analytics has failed to properly safeguard vast amounts of personal data, which may now have been stolen.

This is the fourth such lawsuit since January 2025, when screenshots were posted to Russian cybercrime forum XSS fuelling fears that a staggering 17TB of records were swiped from the analytics firm’s AWS S3 storage buckets.

This breached information puts the privacy of millions at risk, and outlines the enormous risk when personal data is harvested and stored by private companies.

This week's suit alleges a huge archive of geo-locations from smartphone devices - here’s what we know so far.

Insufficient data protection

Arguing the firm had a duty to protect the data it collected and stored, the lawsuit points to the risk of identity theft for anyone whose information was compromised.

The latest complaint, reported by The Register, alleges "the hacked Gravy Analytics data included tens of millions of mobile phone coordinates of devices inside the US, Russia, and Europe, obtained through individuals’ use of major mobile applications such as Tinder, Grindr, Candy Crush [and more”.

The first breach was reported in early January 2025 after a hacker threatened to publish stolen location data, customer lists, and personal information harvested by Gravy Analytics and stolen in a huge hack.

Gravy Analytics has since been banned by the FTC from selling sensitive location data, alongside its subsidiary Venntel, after the FTC alleged the two violated the FTC Act by ‘unfairly selling sensitive consumer location data, and by collecting and using consumers’ location data without obtaining verifiable user consent for commercial and government uses.’

There are plenty of popular apps which collect your data, and often this is sold on to brokers for profit. Because a lot of this collection occurs through the ‘advertising ecosystem’ rather than a code the app creators themselves develop, this data collection is ‘likely happening without users’ or even app developers’ knowledge’.

The collection of personal information by the data broker industry comes with some serious risks and the industry is largely unregulated in the US, so the protections provided by laws like GDPR don’t apply.

The specific details of the hack aren't yet known, but keeping your organization safe is about anticipating and preparing for a potential attack, says Pierre Noel, Field CISO EMEA at Expel.

"The solutions to prevent a major security incident are well known- adequate protection, detection, and swift incident response. However, the real challenge lies in human nature: we instinctively believe cyberattacks only happen to others, rather than ourselves".

Take control of your data

If you regularly use the internet, unfortunately, it’s pretty likely that your information has fallen into the hands of a third party, whether it’s a company you use and gave permission to, appeared in a data breach, or whether it's been sold on legally to a broker.

“Data Privacy Day serves as a crucial reminder to safeguard sensitive information in an era where data dominates” comments Dr Ellison Anne Williams, CEO and founder of Enveil.

“As we navigate an increasingly interconnected world and transformative technologies such as AI grow their foothold in the digital economy, finding ways to protect data privacy and mitigate risk will be essential.”

Because of this, a market has opened up for the best personal data removal services, which can be a really powerful tool in helping you scrub you or your employees safe by removing your information from data brokers.

If you’re in the EU or UK and are protected by GDPR but still want to completely disappear your online persona - we still have some tricks for you.

The first is to delete your social media accounts. As much as you might enjoy scrolling, the Cambridge Analytica scandal told us that social media platforms have been used to harvest your data and map out your personal relationships and personality - so if you really value your privacy, the socials have to go.

Once those are gone, you’ll need to scour through your other accounts. Innocuous accounts like shopping sites or dating profiles will more than likely be monitoring your purchases or selling your demographic information, so removing these is also key. A great tip is to search your inbox for ‘sign-up’ or related phrases to get a reasonably accurate list to work from.

Going forward, staying anonymous online will be much easier with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). These essentially encrypt your internet traffic so that your browsing history isn’t recorded, and hides your IP address, so your location can’t be shared. We’ve listed the best VPN services to keep yourself safe.

You might also like

• Check out our list of the best firewall software around today
• Foh&Boh data leak leaves millions of CVs exposed - KFS, Taco Bell, Nordstrom applicants at risk
• We've also rounded up the best malware removal software on offer right now

Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form says were received in exchange for consulting services.

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 608 for Feb. 8.

Fashionistas, you should do well on today's Feb. 8 Strands puzzle, No. 342.