Technology

• Google Wallet now has a built-in payment system for kids
• Parents can monitor their child’s transactions and enforce limits
• The update is rolling out over the next few weeks

Allowing your kids access to your phone’s wallet can be a surefire way to quickly lose your savings, but there are also times when you might want to let them in, such as when they need to use a digital library card. So, what can you do to get it right?

Well, Google thinks it has a solution of sorts. It’s just announced a new feature for Google Wallet that grants kids access to limited funds while ensuring that parents are still in control. The feature is being rolled out to users in the US, UK, Australia, Spain, and Poland “over the next few weeks,” Google says.

According to Google’s press release, parents and guardians can “allow their children to access digital payments on their Android device with appropriate supervision.” In practice, that means “kids can use Google Wallet to securely tap to pay in stores and keep supported passes like event tickets, library cards and gift cards in one convenient place.”

The update comes with built-in parental controls. “A child’s payment cards can only be added with parental consent,” Google says, “and parents will receive an email whenever their child makes a transaction. Parents can also easily track recent purchases, remove payment cards and turn off access to passes right in Family Link.”

Financial independence

(Image credit: Shutterstock / sdx15)

This isn’t the first time Google has implemented a kid-friendly payment system with parental controls included. In the company’s Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch, for example, children can tap to pay for items, while parents can monitor purchases and reward their youngsters when chores are completed.

Apple also has a similar feature built into Apple Cash. Parents or guardians can view a child’s recent card transactions, choose who they can send money to, receive notifications when a payment is made, lock the child’s Apple Cash account, and more.

Financial literacy is a great life skill for children to have, so it makes sense to allow them some degree of independence here, as Google and others are doing. The built-in controls should go some way to reassuring parents, although each family will need to work out an arrangement that works best for them.

You might also like

• Google Wallet now lets you add passports, library cards, and health insurance, thanks to AI
• Google Family Link is the best free app for parents – and it just got a great school-time upgrade
• Google's kid-friendly Fitbit Ace LTE just got a new feature that parents may not love

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 20.

Generative AI models must be trained on a lot of information, and sometimes you have to make it up.

Louisiana has many broadband options. We've rounded up the top ones to help you pick the right provider.

It's not too early to shop for Mother's Day. Check out these outstanding gifts for the queen of the castle.

• Comino Grando Server delivers extreme GPU performance for deep learning tasks
• High-speed Micron DDR5 memory powers AI, research, and rendering workloads
• Optimized for air-cooled and water-cooled environments, ensuring peak efficiency

Puget Systems has announced a partnership with Comino to provide advanced liquid-cooled multi-GPU servers optimized for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing workloads.

The collaboration will expand access to high-density GPU computing with its Comino Grando Server, delivering extreme performance, efficiency, and reliability at a more affordable price.

Featuring dual CPUs and up to eight GPUs, it competes with the most powerful computers for intensive computing tasks.

Optimized for AI, research, and rendering workloads

The Puget Systems Comino Grando Server is engineered for AI research, deep learning, and scientific simulations, supporting high-performance, high-reliability RAM featuring Micron 8x 32GB DDR5 5600 for high-speed data processing.

This makes it one of the best computers for running video editing software, complex visualizations, handling large datasets, and running real-time simulations.

The small business server is also designed for high reliability, with a redundant power supply system featuring up to 4x 2000W hot-swap CRPS modules that support multiple redundancy modes, allowing for continuous operation even in demanding scenarios.

One of the key advantages of the Puget Systems Comino Grando Server is its ability to operate efficiently in air-cooled and water-cooled racks, handling ambient temperatures up to 40°C ensuring compatibility with both legacy infrastructure and modern energy-efficient data centers.

The system offers scalable fan options, allowing configurations from ultra-performant, high noise level with up to 5.5 kW cooling capacity to low-performant, silent operation with up to 2.5 kW cooling capacity.

Additionally, its liquid cooling system supports up to 5.5kW of thermal dissipation, ensuring consistent performance across demanding computational tasks.

By combining Puget Systems’ expertise in custom computing solutions with Comino’s liquid cooling technology, this partnership delivers a high-performance server solution at a lower cost. Additionally, businesses can install up to 8 hot-swap SSDs (SATA or NVMe) for expanded storage flexibility making it one of the best workstations available.

The Puget Systems Comino Grando Server is set to debut at GTC 2025 and will be available for configuration across a wide range of applications.

You may also like

• These are the best cloud computing services
• Infamous ransomware hackers reveal new tool to brute-force VPNs
• We've rounded up the best cloud hosting providers

Stability AI's videos have infused text and images with movement and life for a few years but are now literally adding a new dimension by turning two-dimensional images into three-dimensional videos.

The company's new Stable Virtual Camera tool is designed to process even a single image into a moving, multi-perspective video, meaning you could rotate around and view the film from any angle.

It's not entirely a new concept, as virtual cameras have long been a staple of filmmaking and animation, letting creators navigate and manipulate digital scenes. But Stability AI has taken that concept and thrown in a heavy dose of generative AI. The result means that instead of requiring detailed 3D scene reconstructions or painstakingly calibrated camera settings, Stable Virtual Camera lets users generate smooth, depth-accurate 3D motion from even a single image, all with minimal effort.

What makes this different from other AI-generated video tools is that it doesn’t just guess its way through animation and rely on huge datasets or frame-by-frame reconstructions. Stable Virtual Camera uses a multi-view diffusion process to generate new angles based on the provided image so that the result looks like a model that could actually exist in the real world.

The tool lets users control camera trajectories with cinematic precision, choosing from movements like zoom, rotating orbit, or even a spiral. The resulting video can be in vertical form for mobile devices or widescreen if you have a cinema. The virtual camera can work with just one image but will handle up to 32.

Stability AI has made the model available under a Non-Commercial License for research purposes. That means you can play with it if you have some technical ability by grabbing the code from GitHub. Going open-source as Stability AI usually does also means the AI developer community can refine and expand the virtual camera's capabilities without the company needing to pay.

3D AI

Of course, no AI model is perfect, and Stability AI is upfront about the kinks still being worked out. If you were hoping to generate realistic people, animals, or particularly chaotic textures (like water), you might end up with something that belongs in a low-budget horror film.

Don't be surprised if you see videos made with it featuring perspectives that awkwardly travel through objects or have perspective shifts leading to flickering, ghostly artifacts. Whether this will be a widely adopted tool or just another AI gimmick ignored by dedicated filmmakers remains to be seen.

Not to mention how much competition it faces among AI video tools OpenAI's Sora, Pika, Runway, Pollo, and Luma Labs' Dream Machine. Stable Virtual Camera will have to show it performs well in the real world of filmmaking to go beyond just another fun demo video.

You might also like

• I tried adding audio to videos in Dream Machine, and Sora's silence sounds deafening in comparison
• YouTube Shorts might soon be filled with AI videos
• TikTok owner ByteDance has a new AI video creator you have to see to believe

Project Digits is now officially Nvidia DGX.

The new software uses AI to help with video editing, writing and recommending where you should eat dinner.

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 178, for March 20.

• Elecom’s 9,000mAh sodium-ion battery offers superior safety and longevity
• The first sodium-ion mobile battery sets new standards but remains costly
• Retains temperature of -35°C to 50°C in extreme conditions

Elecom has introduced the world’s first sodium-ion mobile batteries, the DE-C55L-9000BK and DE-C55L-9000LGY, featuring a 9,000mAh capacity and prioritizing safety, longevity, and sustainability over traditional lithium-ion alternatives, making them a strong contender for the best portable power station.

Per PC Watch (originally in Japanese), the battery features a USB Type-C port with 45W output and 30W input, an 18W USB Type-A output, support for USB PD / PPS fast-charging protocols, a low-current mode, and a simultaneous charging function that allows users to charge both the power bank and their devices at the same time, offering performance that rivals those in the best laptops for all day computing.

The downside is its bulkier design and heavier weight of approximately 350g, comparable to that of an average 20,000mAh lithium-ion mobile power bank, which may limit its appeal despite its potential to rival the batteries in the best business smartphones.

More expensive and bulkier - but safer and last longer

Elecom's sodium-ion battery operates in extreme climates temperatures ranging from -35°C to 50°C, while its design incorporates sustainability by using recycled plastic for the casing and paper-based packaging to minimize waste.

This reduces reliance on environmentally damaging mining operations and supports sustainable resource management, as its sodium-ion battery eliminates the need for rare metals like cobalt and lithium, unlike traditional lithium-ion batteries.

Currently, the battery does not fall under Japan’s PSE certification due to the novelty of sodium-ion technology, but Elecom has conducted similar safety tests to ensure compliance with existing standards.

However, disposal remains a challenge as it is not yet part of standard electronic recycling programs, requiring users to contact local authorities, Elecom’s support center, or designated drop-off locations.

This new battery offers several advantages over lithium-ion technology, significantly reducing the risk of thermal runaway, a common safety concern, by remaining stable even in extreme conditions and lowering the chances of fires or explosions.

Another key benefit is its lifespan, lasting up to ten times longer than conventional lithium-ion cells, with daily use potentially extending its life to over a decade, making it a durable solution for users needing reliability.

Nevertheless, the limited adoption of sodium-ion technology makes the battery expensive, with a retail price of 9,980 yen (around $67), and even with a limited-time discount lowering it to 8,980 yen ($60), it remains costly compared to lithium-based alternatives.

You may also like

• These are the best portable power stations around
• And these are the best Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)
• Security issue in open source software leaves businesses concerned for systems

For the ultimate in TV picture quality, you have to go OLED. Here are the best ones we've tested.

See Dennis Quaid portray a serial killer in the drama series.

Many Murfreesboro residents have access co-op-owned internet providers for improved rural coverage and affordability. Where that’s not available, we've rounded up the best alternate broadband providers in the area.

There are several reasons Apple might choose to include a USB-C port on the rumored iPhone 17 Air. Regulation isn't one of them.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 382 for March 20.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle No. 1,370 for March 20.

Hints and answers for Connections for March 20, #648.

Designed for comfort and support, the WinkBed pillow-top mattress promises quality at a competitive price. Our experts tested it to see if this American-made bed lives up to the hype -- here’s what we found.

The EU is officially out of control. It's now demanding that Apple break down the competitive advantage it's built with attractive features like AirPlay and AirDrop and essentially open them up to the competition. Thereby stripping Apple – bit by bit – of its competitive advantage.

Ever since the EU first implemented its Digital Markets Act, it's treated Apple like a global monopoly or rather a disrespectful child that deserves to spend time in a corner.

It's used the strength of the union to force Apple to make technical changes that theoretically benefit its constituents, like a charge port standard (USB-C) and more recently the side-loading of Apps outside the protective arms of the App Store.

I know many cheer these changes. Why should Apple force people to use its App Store or its now retired lightning cable?

Apple has complied but also warned about the dangers of such compliance. When the EU forced sideloading, Apple promised, "the risks will increase." If we haven't seen that happen, it may be because the majority of iPhone owners are still using the trusted and well-regarded App Store.

I consider this a change no one, save the EU and some software companies that pressed the issue, wanted.

In the case of USB-C, I've long believed Apple was heading in that direction anyway but the threat of fines forced Apple's hand and made it accelerate its plans.

Open sesame

Now, though, we have the EU demanding that Apple open up nine core iOS features, including push notifications for non-Apple smartwatches, seamless pairing between non-Apple headphones and Apple devices, and AirPlay and AirDrop. In the last instance, the EU is demanding Apple open iOS up to third-party solutions and ensure they work as well as native software.

Naturally, Apple is not happy and shared this comment with TechRadar:

"Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules. It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users."

As I'm sure you can gather from the tone, Apple is fed up. This constant stream of EU enforcements, all designed to diminish Apple and hoist up competitors, is ridiculous and increasingly unfair.

Let's zero in on AirDrop as an example.

Drop it like it's hot

(Image credit: TechRadar)

AirDrop, which lets you quickly share files, photos, and videos between iPhones and other Apple ecosystem devices, arrived more than a decade ago on iOS 7. It was a transformative and brilliant bit of programming that instantly opened up an ad-hoc network between, say, a pair of iPhones. It did require some learning. Open AirDrop settings on phones could result in you unexpectedly receiving an illicit photo (yes, it happened to me once and it was terrible). Apple has since vastly improved AirDrop controls.

Not a lot of people used it at first, but every time I went to a party where I was often taking pictures, I would grab the host and quickly drop the photos onto their phones. They were usually shocked and deeply appreciative.

There was, for years, nothing quite like it on the Android side until Samsung unveiled Quick Share and Google launched Nearby in 2020. The two later merged to become just Quick Share.

There's no doubt Apple's success with AirDrop spurred the development of Quick Share and isn't that exactly how competition is supposed to work? You don't look at one company's successful deployment of technology and then demand that they make it possible for you to deploy a copycat app, and on the successful company's platform no less.

There's no doubt Apple's success with AirDrop spurred the development of Quick Share and isn't that exactly how competition is supposed to work?

But this is what the EU is demanding of Apple. It must make it possible for competitors to compete with Apple on its own platform, and why? Because apparently, they cannot do it without the EU's help.

I actually do not think that's true. Google and Samsung, for instance, are not stepping up to say they do not need this help because it serves them no purpose to do so. If the EU wants to slap Apple, let them. It certainly doesn't harm any of these competitors (until they fall under the EU's watchful gaze).

In the EU's world, there is no difference between competitors. They want a level playing field, even if at an innovation level, one company is outperforming the other.

Ecosystem FTW

Apple has built a fantastic ecosystem that pays significant benefits to those who live inside of it. Yes, that does in a way define which smartwatch and earbuds I use. But, for more than 20 years, it had no impact on the laptop I carried. I was a dyed-in-the-wool Windows fan and even though I used an iPhone and AirPods, and I wore an Apple Watch, I saw no need to switch to a MacBook.

When I did make the switch, it was to see if I liked the macOS experience better than Windows (spoiler alert: I did), and, yes it turns out that there were instant benefits to the switch, like AirDrop access to files on my iPhone and iPad.

Everything is easier when you have all Apple products but that's not an unfair advantage, it's engineering and excellence. The EU would like to wipe that out and make Apple as average as possible so it's fair for everyone. But that's not fair to Apple and, honestly, not to you, the Apple user, either. You pay a premium for the best programming, the best products, and the best interoperability.

Everything is easier when you have all Apple products but that's not an unfair advantage, it's engineering and excellence.

You won't get that by mixing and matching some from Apple and some from, for instance, Samsung, even if the EU wants you to. I love many Samsung, Google, OnePlus, and Microsoft products and there is nothing wrong with a non-homogenous setup. There should not, however, be an issue with all-Apple-all-the-time.

The EU needs to step back and get out of the way of smart technology and only act when consumers are being harmed. There was no harm here, just some small companies whining because they weren't winning.

You might think this is an EU-only issue but remember that what starts in Europe usually flies over the Atlantic to the US and eventually all global markets. Put another way, when the EU sneezes, we all catch a cold.

You might also like

• 'The risks will increase': Apple slams the EU for forcing it to allow sideloading on some iPhones
• The big Siri Apple Intelligence delay proves that maybe we really don't know Apple at all
• Apple officially delays the AI-infused Siri and admits, ‘It’s going to take us longer than we thought’