I used Android Auto and Apple CarPlay on long drives for a month and one is clearly better than the other

Smart plugs are replacing smart appliances, and your decade-old washing machine just became future-proof

Smart plug (Zigbee) giá rẻ (~$15) thay thế smart appliance nhờ ưu điểm tiết kiệm chi phí, tránh lệ thuộc cloud, kéo dài tuổi thọ thiết bị và giảm rác thải điện tử. Chúng theo dõi dòng điện, kích hoạt tự động hóa (Home Assistant) như thông báo kết thúc chu trình, tính toán chi phí năng lượng hay ngắt an toàn mà không cần internet.

Lập trình viên nên đọc bài này để hiểu cách xây dựng hệ thống nhà thông minh tự động hóa hiệu quả bằng cách kết hợp các thiết bị cơ bản với các công cụ mở nguồn như Home Assistant, giảm chi phí và tránh phụ thuộc vào dịch vụ đám mây đắt tiền.

4 apps I always remove from every Samsung Galaxy phone

A Samsung Galaxy user shares four preinstalled apps they always remove: Samsung Browser (replaced by Chrome for cross-device consistency), Samsung Notes (replaced by Google Keep for web accessibility), Samsung TV Plus (unused ad-supported streaming service), and Samsung Global Goals (a charity app they prefer not to use). The author clarifies these aren't truly bloatware — they're decent apps — but cross-platform compatibility with iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Windows PC makes Samsung's ecosystem apps redundant for their workflow.

Two more Gemini researchers are leaving Google for Anthropic

Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, two key contributors to Google's Gemini model, are leaving for Anthropic — the second such pair in a week. This follows the departures of Noam Shazeer (co-author of 'Attention Is All You Need') to OpenAI and Nobel laureate John Jumper to Anthropic. The pattern points to a broader talent drain from Google, driven by pre-IPO equity opportunities at Anthropic and OpenAI, and constrained access to compute resources internally. Four senior departures in days has caused reputational and market damage, with Jumper's exit alone wiping $245bn from Alphabet's market cap.

Control an Android Phone with Gemini 3.5 Flash Computer Use

Gemini 3.5 Flash has built-in Computer Use capability that lets it control Android devices by analyzing screenshots and issuing structured actions like taps, swipes, and text input. This guide walks through setting up an Android emulator on Mac without Android Studio, installing Python dependencies, and running an agent loop that connects the Google GenAI SDK with ADB to execute model-requested actions. Supported mobile actions include open_app, click, type, long_press, drag_and_drop, press_key, go_back, wait, list_apps, and take_screenshot, all using a normalized 0-999 coordinate grid. The guide also covers connecting to physical or remote devices and notes on extending to iOS, adding production robustness, and handling safety decisions.

These Home Assistant Prime Day deals transformed my smart home, but one was the game-changer

A personal roundup of Prime Day smart home deals from a long-time Home Assistant user, covering five devices they actually use: the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle (Zigbee coordinator), GoveeLife Tower Fan with Home Assistant integration, ESP32 development boards for DIY sensors, Sonoff SNZB-02P humidity/temperature sensor, and ThirdReality Zigbee smart plugs with energy monitoring. Each pick is framed around real-world use cases like reducing Wi-Fi congestion, humidity control in older homes, and power usage tracking via automations.

Why South Africans spend so little time on 5G

South African mobile users spent just 3.7% of their connected time on 5G in Q1 2026, compared to 34.6% in India. Despite 58% population coverage and 5G-capable devices being widely available, users with 5G handsets still spend 86.1% of their time on 4G. Opensignal's analysis attributes this to operators deploying 5G only on mid-band spectrum (3.5GHz), while low-band frequencies (700MHz and 800MHz) remain almost entirely on 4G. Low-band is critical for indoor coverage and cell-edge reach, but operators are reluctant to refarm it due to its role carrying existing LTE traffic. The result is a 5G capacity layer without the coverage layer needed to keep users connected, meaning 5G remains a brief passthrough rather than a sustained experience.

Fika Jobs raises $4M to build a video-first hiring platform where AI agents interview candidates

Stockholm-based Fika Jobs has raised $4M in pre-seed funding to build a video-first hiring platform that uses AI agents (powered by Google Gemini) to conduct candidate interviews. Instead of traditional resumes, candidates complete a ~10-minute AI video interview, which is then turned into short video clips forming a live profile that employers can browse. Unlike competitors focused on employer-side screening, Fika centers the experience on candidates maintaining persistent video profiles. The platform is free for job seekers; employers pay a 10% placement fee on first-year salary upon a successful hire. Early access opens this week, with a broader launch planned for fall 2026, starting in Sweden. The round was led by Luminar Ventures.