After years of waiting, iOS 18.2 has finally allowed third-party app developers to create tools to automatically block spam calls. All of this has been possible on Android for years now, but until recently, Apple's privacy settings had prevented it. Finally, anti-spam apps like Truecaller can have full functionality on the iPhone, too.iOS 18.2's Live Caller ID Lookup solves an age-old problemApple's privacy limitations have so far stopped third-party app developers from creating a true call screening tool. For example, the Truecaller app on Android can run an online check for a number as soon as you get a call. The number goes through Truecaller's live database of known spam callers, and if identified, Truecaller warns the user with a big red box, or even automatically rejects the call for the user if set up to do so.Previously, all of this could never happen on the iPhone because apps weren't allowed to send this phone number data to their servers. But with iOS 18.2, Apple has introduced a new API called Live Caller ID. This uses homomorphic encryption to hide phone numbers as they travel between your iPhone and Truecaller's servers, letting the iPhone version of the app finally catch up to the Android one.As it stands, Truecaller is the only popular app that supports the new Live Caller ID API, but I'm sure more companies will follow suit.How live caller ID and spam rejection works in TruecallerTruecaller's free plan only supports caller ID for verified businesses. If you're looking for the real deal, the spam caller ID and automatic call blocking, you'll have to pay for Truecaller Premium, which is $9.99/month or $74.99/year. Alternatively, you can get the family plan for $14.99/month or $99/year for up to 5 users, so adding on more people does represent a pretty significant discount.After installing Truecaller and upgrading to Truecaller Premium, you'll need to make a trip to the Settings app to enable the Caller ID feature. Go to Settings > Apps > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification. Credit: Khamosh Pathak Here, you'll see multiple entries for Truecaller. Enable all of them. The last one, Truecaller Part 5 in the Live Caller ID Lookup section, will enable the latest caller ID features.Finally, to enable the option to automatically block calls from known spammers, open the Truecaller app. Tap on the Protect tab, go to Calls, and enable the Auto-block spam feature. Then, you can choose to block Top spammers or All spammers.The new version of Truecaller for iOS is rolling out globally over the next few days. According to early access from TechCrunch, the app successfully blocked most calls, but may still miss some.

Samsung Unpacked is once again upon us, and, like clockwork, Samsung used the occasion to unveil their latest flagship Android phones. This time around, the company is releasing the aptly named Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra, perhaps some unsurprising upgrades from the Galaxy S24 series. That said, there are a number of new features and changes with these devices that are worth exploring.New Galaxy AI features Credit: Sachin Bahal As you might expect, Samsung is launching the Galaxy S25 series with new Galaxy AI features. First up, there's Now Brief, which gives you AI-powered summaries of your sleep results, the weather, and your events for the day. The feature learns your patterns, and shows you relevant information over time. Your "Now Brief" can be accessed on the lock screen or via the Home screen widget.Next, there's Cross App Action. This feature lets you create tasks you want to be completed and the AI will combine these tasks and finish them for you. You can access Cross App Action by long-pressing the power button to open Google Gemini.Auto Suggestions is another AI-powered feature that gives you suggestions based on your previously used routines. For example, Auto Suggestions could suggest you start your robot vacuum when you're not home, or open your favorite navigation app when heading out for a trip. Multimodal Search, on the other hand, lets you search for items through various, sometimes non-traditional means. You could hum a song when you don't remember the name of it, then the AI can try to piece it together and search for the track.Then, there's Auto Trim, which automatically removes unnecessary elements in your videos, such as "um's" and other pauses. You can also uses keywords to help the AI identify which clips or sounds to trim out. Lastly, there's Audio Eraser, which removes background noise and conversations, and isolates vocals and dialogue in videos shot on your phone.Galaxy S25 specs Credit: Sachin Bahal All phones in the Galaxy S25 lineup are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, along with 12GB of RAM. Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the 8 Elite chip brings a 45% performance boost and 44% improved power efficiency, thanks to the new 3 nanometer manufacturing process. The new Adreno GPU in the 8 Elite also improves performance by 40%, which could be helpful for mobile gaming. Like past phones, all three Galaxy S25 models come with a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display which supports an adaptive refresh rate of 1120Hz. They all come with an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor as well as facial recognition. Storage options for each include 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. The most immediate difference between each device is their display size:Galaxy S25: 6.2-inch display (2340 x 1080)Galaxy S25+: 6.7-inch display (3120 x 1440)Galaxy S25 Ultra: 6.9-inch display (3120 x 1440)As usual, Samsung is including large batteries in all three devices. The S25 comes with a 4,000 mAh battery, the S25+ has a 4,900 mAh battery, and the S25 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery. In terms of charging speeds, the S25 supports up to 25W of both wired and wireless charging. Meanwhile, the S25+ and S25 Ultra are capable of 45W wired and 25W wireless charging. All devices support reverse wireless charging with Wireless PowerShare, like previous Galaxy phones. It's worth noting the Galaxy S25 series does not have Qi2 support, which would bring MagSafe-like charging to Samsung phones. Samsung has said that some of their official cases for the Galaxy S25 series will have magnets built-in, so they're compatible with magnetic accessories. Galaxy S25 cameras Credit: Sachin Bahal The Galaxy S25 and S25+ sport a 12MP ultra-wide lens, 50MP wide, and 10MP telephoto. Meanwhile, the S25 Ultra gets a 200MP wide lens, 50MP ultra-wide, and two telephoto lensesone 10MP (3x) and one 50MP (5x). All three Galaxy S25 phones have a 12MP front camera, but the Ultra's front camera comes with auto-focus. The Snapdragon 8 Elite also impacts the performance of these cameras. The new chip can erase unwanted elements from videos, using on-device AI processing. It also improves low-light video capture, which should help when shooting video at nighttime. Galaxy S25 colors Credit: Sachin Bahal The Galaxy S25 and S25+ come in Silver Shadow, Navy, Icy Blue and Mint. The S25 Ultra, on the other hand, is available in Titanium Black, Titanium Grey, Titanium Whitesilver and Titanium Silverblue. When is the Galaxy S25 available?The Galaxy S25 series is launching on Feb. 7, with pre-orders available starting today.

Samsung just held its Unpacked event and the company announced all kinds of new products. The most notable of the bunch, however, was likely the Galaxy S25 Ultra flagship smartphone. It's the most powerful of the just-announced S25 line and Amazon is offering a pretty swell pre-order bonus, to the tune of a $200 gift card. Thats right. If you pre-order a Galaxy S25 Ultra handset, you get a $200 Amazon gift card that can be used on just about anything. This can help shave off some of the sticker shock of that $1,300 price tag. If the price still isnt right, Amazon is offering similar promotions for the standard S25 and the slightly beefier S25+. However, the gift card amount shrinks to just $100. The regular S25 starts at $700 and the S25+ starts at $1,000. Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S25 series are open right now. Deliveries should start going out on February 7. We have full reviews of all three phones coming soon, if you want to wait make sure the handsets are worth the cost. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazon-includes-a-200-gift-card-when-you-pre-order-the-samsung-galaxy-s25-ultra-195455473.html?src=rss

Samsungs first Unpacked event of 2025 delivered the Galaxy S25 series as expected. Although the phones dont have dramatically upgraded specs, the company stuffed you guessed it! more AI into the devices. This latest batch is more context-sensitive and predictive, and some of it even squeezes more out of the phones mildly upgraded hardware. Galaxy S25 Ultra Sam Rutherford for Engadget The Galaxy S25 Ultra is still the biggest, best and most expensive of the bunch. It has a 6.9-inch display and a more rounded edge for a comfortable grip. Samsung says its the slimmest, lightest, and most durable Galaxy Ultra device ever, rocking a titanium body with Cornings Gorilla Armor 2 for advanced drop protection and scratch resistance. Unlike the two smaller models, the Ultras camera sensors got a spec upgrade: Its ultrawide lens is now 50MP, up from the mere 12MP one in last years model. Like its siblings, the S25 Ultra is powered by a customized version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which lets the trio of phones process many of their AI experiences on-device. Of course, thats better for privacy. Although the phone continues the tradition of including an S Pen (its now essentially the Galaxy Note), Air Commands have bit the dust. Samsung told Engadget in a briefing that fewer than one percent of S Pen-toting customers used them. And those who did mostly used them as a camera shutter, which is easily replicated in other ways. Samsung says the removal let it shed some weight and boost the S Pens durability. Engadgets Sam Rutherford got an early hands-on with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and said it looks like a good phone and described Samsungs AI suite as much more cohesive and easier to get into. However, he also had a few reservations. But at the same time, it seems like the biggest phone maker in the world could be doing more for its most expensive non-folding phone. The Galaxy S25 Ultra has 12GB of RAM, and it ships in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage tiers. Its still quite the investment, though starting at $1,300. Galaxy S25 and S25+ Sam Rutherford for Engadget The Galaxy S25 and S25+ saw their RAM upgraded to 12GB (same as the Ultra), up from 8GB in their 2024 predecessors. It combines with the Snapdragon 8 Elite to better handle the phones many AI features. (More in a minute.) The rest of their hardware is remarkably similar to the S24 and S24+. They still have 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch displays, respectively. But Samsungs new ProScaler AI tool can upscale images in real time to perhaps make up for the unchanged specs. Samsung says it can boost the quality of what you see by 40 percent. Engadgets Mat Smith tried the Galaxy S25 and S25+ and praised the phones premium and solidly built slim designs and vivid, bright and gorgeous displays. However, he was skeptical of the phones AI-centric focus. In just a few years, Samsung has built up a substantial collection of artificial intelligence tricks, features and apps, he wrote. While some of them have been impressive, like live translation and annotation, others (often involving generative AI) arent actually helpful or notable enough to warrant regular use." Storage is also unchanged from the S24 series: 128GB or 256GB in the Galaxy S25 and 256GB or 512GB in the Galaxy S25+. Fortunately, pricing is also unchanged. Youll pay $800 or more for the S25 and $1,000 and up for the S25+. Galaxy AI Sam Rutherford for Engadget With most hardware upgrades (apart from the Snapdragon chip) coming in soft this generation, Samsung is leaning hard on AI features to make you want to throw down hard-earned cash on the new models. This year, Samsungs One UI 7 on top of Android 15 combines to create what Samsung calls a new AI-integrated OS. It aims for a more personalized and context-sensitive AI, rather than just a series of one-off tools. AI plays a central role in the phones camera features, with the Qualcomm chip making the phones better at analyzing noise leading to what Samsung says is better low-lit performance. Audio Eraser is an AI tool that separates audio channels, letting you cut out unwanted ones like wind or a random stranger talking. Samsung gathers its new collection of on-device AI tools into what it calls the Personal Data Engine. The series of multimodal (text, images, video, audio) machine learning agents leads to features like AI Select, which builds on Samsungs legacy Smart Select tool. The new AI-powered version can scan your screen and suggest context-aware tasks like creating a GIF from a YouTube video youre watching. Sam Rutherford for Engadget You could say the AI-powered Now Bar is Samsungs answer to the iPhones Dynamic Island. The pill-shaped bar sits at the bottom of the lock screen and below the digital clock when the phone is unlocked. It generates a series of reminders based on context. Within the Now Bar is another AI feature, the Now Brief, which generates morning, midday and evening summaries of info it thinks will be relevant to you. Samsungs Sketch to Image tool has been rebranded as Drawing Assist, and Samsung says the feature is more polished and accurate. It also adds an option to import existing images for your prompt. The S25 series also adds an upgraded version of Googles Circle to Search (activated by long-pressing the home button). It can now recognize phone numbers, emails and URLs, letting you trigger their corresponding actions with a single tap. Samsung Wallet updates Sam Rutherford for Engadget The company added two new payment features: Instant Installment and Tap to Transfer. As its name suggests, Instant Installment is a buy now, pay later service that lets you turn purchases into an offline payment plan experience. Its managed entirely on-device and available for Visa and Mastercard purchases. Engadgets Cherlynn Low was briefed by Samsung on the service. Its not that Samsung is pivoting to becoming a credit provider and taking on loans. Instead, it facilitates your purchases and turns your payments into what the companys rep said is the first offline payment plan experience. Meanwhile, Tap to Transfer is a peer-to-peer payment service, rivaling the likes of Apples Tap to Cash. Tap phones with someone you want to pay (or be paid by). It isnt limited to Samsung Pay; you can use it with third-party apps, too, since its tied to the associated card or account. It works with Visa and Mastercard. Developing... This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/everything-samsung-announced-at-the-galaxy-s25-unpacked-event-183331979.html?src=rss

In an interview with Bloomberg Samsung showed me why it'll succeed where others haven't with XR.

GL.inet launches Comet, an open source remote KVM hardware, offering BIOS compatibility for OS installations and secure remote access.

Many Instagram users have complained that Meta has automatically enrolled them into following accounts for President Donald Trump without their consent.

Samsung launched the S25 series which comes in three variants the S25, S25+ and the S25 Ultra.

TikTok owner ByteDance on Wednesday released an update to its flagship AI model aimed at challenging Microsoft-backed OpenAIs latest reasoning model products, as a global race intensified to create AI models capable of tackling complex problems.The company released Doubao-1.5-pro, an upgrade to its flagship AI model, which it claims outperforms OpenAIs o1 in AIME, a benchmark test that measures how well AI models understand and respond to complex instructions.ByteDances release comes after Chinese AI startup DeepSeek rolled out an open-source reasoning model called DeepSeek-R1 on Monday that it said rivaled OpenAIs o1 on several performance benchmarks.DeepSeek drew widespread attention in global AI circles last month after tests showed its V3 large language model outperformed those of OpenAI and Meta, despite a smaller development budget and plans to charge users a lot less.The developments in AI reasoning by ByteDance, DeepSeek and others is likely to challenge the market share of OpenAI and other large language models in terms of both performance metrics and fees charged to users.Other Chinese firms that have unveiled their own reasoning models in the past weeks include Moonshot AI, Minimax and iFlyTek.OpenAI triggered the race in AI development after it launched ChatGPT in November 2022 and its Strawberry series of AI reasoning models in September last year. The latter are capable of reasoning through complex tasks and solving more challenging problems than previous models in science, coding and math.Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said they had finalized a version of its new reasoning AI model o3 mini, and would be launching it in a couple of weeks.DeepSeek proposed a cut-price fee offering for accessing and using DeepSeek-R1, at 16 yuan ($2.20) per million tokens, considerably less than OpenAIs o1 438 yuan for the same usage.ByteDances pricing is even more aggressive. Doubao-1.5-pro-32k costs 2 yuan per million tokens for output, while its more powerful Doubao-1.5-pro-256k version is priced at 9 yuan, according to ByteDances cloud platform Volcano Engine.($1 = 7.2798 Chinese yuan renminbi)Liam Mo and Brenda Goh, Reuters

Okay fine, Ill buy TikTok so it doesnt get banned, MrBeast posted on X on January 13. Turns out, he wasnt kidding. Jimmy Donaldson, known to his 347 million YouTube subscribers as MrBeast, has officially joined a bid to acquire TikToks U.S. operations.Days after his initial X post, Donaldson shared a TikTok video again teasing his interest in acquiring TikTok. I just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires, he said. TikTok, we mean business.True to his word, MrBeast has indeed teamed up with Employer.com CEO Jesse Tinsley and other investors, submitting an all-cash bid for TikTok, according to a report in Bloomberg.The U.S. law firm Paul Hastings confirmed MrBeasts TikTok bid in a statement on Tuesday, revealing that Tinsley is spearheading the investor group. The group reportedly includes institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals, with MrBeast being the only publicly named member.The statement didnt disclose the size of the all-cash bid, though former president Donald Trump estimated TikToks value at $1 trillion on the same day. Forbes previously named Donaldson the worlds highest-earning internet creator of 2023, with a staggering $85 million in earnings.It remains unclear whether ByteDance, TikToks parent company, is seriously considering the offer, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, other big names like Elon Musk, Oracle, and billionaire Frank McCourt are also rumored to be potential buyers.TikTok briefly went dark on Saturday. Less than 24 hours later it was back. Former President Donald Trump, now back in office, signed an executive order on Monday allowing the app to continue U.S. operationsfor now. The move delays any potential ban for 75 days but doesnt offer a permanent solution.ByteDance again faces two options: Sell the U.S. operations to a buyer or hope for an improbable legislative reversal. For TikTok, the clock is ticking once again.