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Google has some of the most popular digital services in Google Drive and Gmail. Google gives you a combined 15GB of storage space for free for all its services, which can fill up pretty fast. When you get close to that limit, Google will notify you and ask if you want to pay for more storage. You might be tempted to pay more for storage, but you don’t have to. There are other, free ways to manage your digital space.

Here’s how to free up Google Drive and Gmail space on desktop and mobile so you don’t have to pay for storage. We recommend doing this on desktop, as you’ll have an easier time sorting through and managing files compared to doing it on your mobile device.

Delete large files first

If you only want to delete a few items from Google Drive and Gmail to free up space, you can sort each service by file size and delete one or two large files instead of a few dozen smaller items.

Here’s how to delete files by size in Google Drive on your desktop.

1. Log into your Google Drive account.

2. Once logged in, click Storage in the menu on the left side of the screen.

3. The Storage page should list your files from largest to smallest, but if not click Storage Used on the right side of the screen. The files should now be ordered from largest to smallest.

4. Click large files you want to delete to select them, then click either the trash bin in the top right of your screen or drag the large files to Trash on the left side of the screen.

5. Click Trash to go to the Trash menu.

6. Click Empty Trash in the top-right corner of your screen.

7. Click Delete forever and your files are gone.

You can do this in the Google Drive app, as well. Here’s how.

1. Open your Google Drive app and log into your account.

2. Tap Files in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

3. Tap Name underneath My Drive near the top of the screen.

4. Tap Storage Used. This will arrange your files from largest to smallest.

5. Tap the three dots (…) next to the item you want to delete.

6. Tap Remove.

7. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in Drive.

8. Tap Trash.

9. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner of the screen.

10. Tap Empty trash.

You can also arrange and delete files by size in Gmail on the desktop. Here’s how.

1. Log into your Gmail account.

2. Type has:attachment larger:10MB into the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10 MB from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other size files, not just 10 MBs.

3. Check the boxes to the left of each email you want to delete, then click the Trash icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

4. Click Trash on the left side of the screen to go to the Trash menu. If you don’t see Trash, click More and Trash should be in the expanded menu.

5. Once in Trash, click Empty trash now at the top of the screen.

Here’s how to arrange and delete files by size in the Gmail app.

1. Open your Gmail app and log into your account.

2. Type has:attachment larger:10MB into the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other size files too, not just 10MBs.

3. Tap into the email you want to delete.

4. Tap the trash bin icon in the top-right corner of your screen.

5. Tap < in the top-left corner of your screen.

6. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in mail.

7. Tap Trash.

8. Tap Empty trash now.

Note that once a file goes to Trash, it will automatically delete after 30 days.

Empty your Gmail spam folder

It’s easy to forget about emptying your spam folder, and it can double the amount of data your Gmail account uses. Emptying your spam folder (or your social or promotions folders) is an easy way to make space.

Here’s how to empty your spam folder on your desktop.

1. Log into your Gmail account.

2. Once logged in, click Spam on the left side of the screen. If you don’t see Spam, click More, and Spam should be in the expanded menu.

3. In your Spam folder, click Delete all spam messages now.

Here’s how to empty your spam folder in the mobile app.

1. Open the Gmail app and log into your account.

2. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in mail.

3. Tap Spam.

4. Tap Delete all spam messages now or Empty spam now.

Clean up your Google Photos

Google also includes Google Photos in the 15GB of free storage it gives its users. Photos and videos can take up more space than text-based files so it’s a good idea to go through and delete old photos and videos to make room.

Unfortunately, there’s no option to arrange your photos and videos from largest to smallest like in Google Drive and Gmail, so you will have to go through and delete items manually.

Here’s how to delete photos and videos from Google Photo on your desktop.

1. Open and log into Google Photos.

2. Scroll your mouse over photos and videos you want to delete and click the gray check mark icon in the top left corner of the photo or video.

3. Click the trash icon in the top right corner of the screen.

4. Click Move to trash.

5. Click Trash on the left side of the screen.

6. Click Empty trash near the top-right corner of your screen.

7. Click Empty trash again, and you’re set.

Here’s how to delete photos and videos from the Google Photo mobile app.

1. Open and log into Google Photos.

2. Tap the photo or video you want to delete.

3. Tap the trash icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

4. Tap Delete.

5. Tap Library in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

6. Tap Trash.

7. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner of the screen.

8. Tap Empty trash.

9. Tap Delete.

If you don’t click or tap Empty trash on either platform, the photos and videos you’ve deleted will automatically delete after 60 days.

When all else fails, download your files

If your storage is still almost full and you can’t part with any more items from your Google Drive, Gmail or Google Photos, you can download your items and store them directly on your computer.

Here’s how to download your Google Drive files for storage on another hard drive.

1. Open and log into your Google Drive account on your desktop.

2. Select the files you want to download.

3. Click the three stacked dots in the upper-right corner of your screen.

4. Click Download.

5. Once the items are downloaded, feel free to delete them from your Google Drive.

You can also download your emails from Gmail. Here’s how.

1. Open and log into your Gmail account on your desktop.

2. Click and open an email you want to download.

3. Click the three stacked dots next to the date of the email.

4. Click Download message.

5. Once the emails are downloaded, you can delete them from your Gmail.

Here’s how to download photos and videos from Google Photos.

1. Open and log into your Gmail account on your desktop.

2. Click and open a photo or video you want to download.

3. Click the three stacked dots in the top-right corner of the screen.

4. Click Download.

5. Once the items are downloaded, you’re free to delete them from your Google Photos.

For more, check out these 10 Gmail tips and tools, nine Google Drive features you might have missed and five Google Photos features to try now.

A close reading of Bing’s AI-boosted search results reveals that the website can make the same kinds of errors that are apparent in the ChatGPT technology foundation it uses and in Google’s competing Bard.

A new version of Bing that’s in limited testing employs large language model, or LLM, technology from OpenAI, the research lab Microsoft invested in and that grabbed the tech spotlight with its ChatGPT AI chatbot. ChatGPT and related technology, trained on enormous swaths of the internet, can produce remarkable results, but they don’t truly know facts and they can make errors.

Bing tries to avoid such errors by “grounding” results with Microsoft’s search technology, assessing the veracity and authority of source documents and offering links to sources, so people can evaluate the results on their own better. But AI and search engine researcher Dmitri Brereton and others have spotted errors in Bing’s demo, including flawed financial data from a Gap quarterly earnings report.

It’s a buzzkill moment for AI. The technology truly can produce remarkable and useful results, but the trouble is assessing when it isn’t doing that. Expect more caution as the search engine industry tries to find the right formula.

Google felt the pain after a demo last week when its Bard tool, which isn’t yet publicly available, produced erroneous information about the James Webb Space Telescope.

Microsoft offered a similar response Tuesday to what Google said about its gaffe: “We recognize that there is still work to be done and are expecting that the system may make mistakes during this preview period, which is why the feedback is critical so we can learn and help the models get better.”

One basic problem is that large language models, even if trained using text like academic papers and Wikipedia entries that have passed some degree of scrutiny, don’t necessarily assemble factual responses from that raw material.

As internet pioneer and Google researcher Vint Cerf said Monday, AI is “like a salad shooter,” scattering facts all over the kitchen but not truly knowing what it’s producing. “We are a long way away from the self-awareness we want,” he said in a talk at the TechSurge Summit.

Summarizing documents might appear to be within AI’s advanced language processing abilities, but constructing human-readable sentences without drawing in inappropriate information can be difficult. For example, in this request to summarize a spec sheet for Canon’s new R8 mirrorless camera, Bing technology rattled off many features that actually are found in Canon’s earlier R5.

Another high-profile computer scientist, former Stanford University Professor John Hennessy, was more bullish than Cerf, praising AI for its language skills in understanding search queries and generating results that often are correct. But he also cautioned, “It’s always confident that it has the right answer even when it doesn’t.”

OpenAI itself offers the same warning. “ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers. Fixing this issue is challenging,” the AI research lab said when it launched ChatGPT in November.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.

Apple released iOS 16.3.1 on Monday to fix some iPhone issues, but the update seemed to cause problems for people who use Google Photos. Some users on Twitter reported their Google Photos app would crash when they tried to open it after downloading the iOS update.

Google then released an update to the Google Photos app Tuesday morning to address some issues. Google writes in the App Store that the latest update fixes “user-reported issues,” and it adds new features. After updating Google Photos, users should be able to open the app without issue.

Here’s how to update Google Photos on your iPhone.

1. Open the App Store.

2. Tap Search in the bottom right corner.

3. Type Google Photos in the search bar.

4. Tap Google Photos. Do not Open.

5. Tap Update, and the update will download and install on your iPhone.

It’s unclear why some Google Photos users were affected and not others.

The iOS 16.3.1 update fixed other issues some iPhone users might have experienced, including not being able to backup to iCloud. The update also patched a bug that Apple said might be actively exploited.

For more, check out what iOS 16.3.1 brings to your iPhone and what features you might have missed in iOS 16.3.

While the Galaxy S22 is no longer Samsung’s flagship device, it’s still a solid smartphone for fans of Android — and now that the Galaxy S23 is due to arrive Feb. 17, you can find some substantial deals on the Galaxy S22 series. Right now Amazon has unlocked Galaxy S22 phones available from $643 for the 128GB model. That’s a $157 discount. And there are plenty of price cuts available on other models and configurations as well.

Samsung’s Galaxy S22 remains one of the best phones on the market. This particular model has 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM and comes equipped with a 6.1-inch AMOLED screen and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, delivering refresh rates up to 120Hz. It delivers solid performance, though the battery life leaves something to be desired. That said, it should last a full day with average use. And it supports 25-watt fast charging when you need a boost.

Compared to older model Samsung devices, the S22 has an updated camera system that includes a 50-megapixel rear camera and a 10-megapixel front camera with larger pixel sensors and Adaptive Pixel technology to improve photography and videography at night. It can even record in 8K. And you can watch content together with your friends with Google Duo live-sharing. If you’re considering upgrading your phone and don’t need the latest model, the S22 is worth considering.

Prefer to get Samsung’s latest? Check out all the best Galaxy S23 deals that are available right now.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S23 vs. S22: How Do the Flagship Phones Compare?

If you’re looking for a way to help your streams stand out from the crowd, Elgato’s Stream Deck MK.2 can help you do so. And right now at Amazon, you can pick it up for just $120, $30 off the usual price and the lowest price we’ve seen. It’s also available in white for the same price. There’s no clearcut expiration on this offer, so we can’t guarantee how long it will be available. We’d recommend ordering soon if you’re hoping to snag one at this price.

This second-gen Elgato Stream Deck has 15 customizable LCD keys that can make streaming and editing smooth and effortless. Use them to launch apps or games, trigger sound effects or GIFs, control lights and much more. You can even assign multiple actions to a single key so you’re ready to stream at just the touch of button. The Stream Deck is designed to integrate seamlessly with Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms, and connects to your computer with a USB-C cable. It comes with a detachable stand, and the faceplate can be swapped out for a more personalized look. And if you need even more customization, you can snag the Elgato Stream Deck XL, with 32 customizable LCD keys for $200 right now — that’s a $50 savings.

Even if you’re not into streaming, there are many other uses for a Stream Deck like controlling smart home devices, quickly opening all of the apps and websites you need for work, or simply having a handy mute button for Zoom calls.

The Apple Watch Ultra was only released last fall but we’ve already seen a few Apple Watch Ultra deals worth jumping on, though they never last long. But right now, you have the opportunity to score the rugged smartwatch for its lowest price to date with a $69 discount at Amazon. That’s thanks to a direct price drop to $749 and a further $19 taken off at checkout, dropping it lower than ever before at $730. The deal applies to several Alpine Loop-equipped models, so be sure to click through the different styles and band sizes available at Amazon.

There are several great smartwatch options in Apple’s current lineup, but the Ultra is CNET’s best smartwatch pick. It comes with a large 49mm case, a tough titanium construction, an Action button for quickly launching apps and workouts, and a dual-frequency GPS that offers improved tracking accuracy. Voice calls get a boost with this watch as well, as there are extra microphones included in the build. And unlike other models, this Apple Watch includes LTE connectivity by default.

As for the screen, it’s not just a bigger size that you’ll notice. The screen is brighter, too. The always-on retina OLED display is twice as bright as the Apple Watch Series 8. It also has the best battery life of any Apple Watch on the market.

While this watch is designed with athletes in mind, coming with a ton of sensors and safety features, there are plenty of upgrades that make this watch a compelling choice for the average person, too.

Read more: Apple Watch Ultra vs. Series 8 vs. SE: The Entire Lineup Compared

Windows 11 has a ton to offer, and since its launch in October 2021, the operating system has been gradually adding even more features aimed at making your computer a little bit better. However, sometimes you have to mix things around to find the optimal settings. Some Windows 11 defaults are lackluster, and in certain cases they can even undermine your PC accessories. So the next time you start up for work, or before your next gaming session, go into your settings and consider these changes.

Enable dark mode

The option to change between light mode and dark mode in Windows 11 isn’t in the most obvious place. Instead of being filed under display options, it can be found under Settings > Personalization > Colors. There, you can choose light mode, dark mode, or use different settings for Windows vs. apps. You can also set transparency effects and accent colors in this menu.

Default browser

Not a fan of Microsoft Edge? You can change Windows 11 to use whatever browser you prefer. Go to Settings > Apps and look for the browser you’d like to use. Then just click ‘Set default’ in the top-right corner, and Windows will automatically use that browser when opening links from other apps. You also have the ability to customize by file type if, say, you want PDF files to open in a different browser.

Manage updates settings

Keeping your computer updated is important for security, as Windows updates often include patches to prevent security exploits. Still, unexpected updates can be annoying, especially if your computer forces a restart. To take more control of your Windows 11 updates, go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options. From this menu, you can set your active hours (so your device won’t restart while you’re doing things) or ask Windows to give you a 15-minute heads-up before automatically restarting to apply updates.

Change startup apps

There’s no annoyance quite like getting a new device but feeling like it’s sluggish as soon as you turn it on. Most of the time, the culprit is too many startup apps. The more apps your device launches on startup, the more resources it drains. To save on resources and make things a bit snappier, go to Settings > Apps > Startup and turn off everything you don’t need immediately after turning on your computer. (I recommend turning off OneDrive, as that consistently slowed down my PC.) You can always open these apps when you’re ready to use them, and if there’s something you typically do first thing after booting up, you can always enable it to save you the step of opening it manually.

Refresh rate

Don’t let your fancy new monitor go to waste because you’re using the wrong refresh rate. Windows 11 defaults to a low refresh rate, likely to save power, but this default means you’re not getting the most value out of your monitor. Go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced display and look for your display. There will be a dropdown menu labeled Choose a refresh rate and pick the highest option your monitor can support. You can choose a lower setting if, say, your device can’t quite match your refresh rate while gaming, but if you play any shooters, you’re going to want that refresh rate to be as high as possible.

Sound quality

As with refresh rate, your default sound settings could be holding back your accessories. To check, go to System > Sound > Properties and choose the sound device you’re using. Then under Output settings, make sure the Format option dropdown uses the highest available setting. This will ensure you’re getting the maximum audio quality. If you’re using a headset for three-dimensional audio, make sure the spatial sound setting is turned on (Windows Sonic for Headphones).

Privacy settings

Some of the default privacy settings in Windows 11 give Microsoft ways to sneak advertisements into your experience. Fortunately, you can disable those avenues in settings. Go to Settings > Privacy & security > General and toggle off any of the options you don’t like. (I particularly recommend turning off Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID and Show me suggested content in the settings app.) The privacy & security menu also lets you change other options, like turning location services off or choosing which apps can access your camera.

For more on Windows 11, check out how to take screenshots and our favorite keyboard shortcuts.

Gone are the days when you need to be tethered to your TV or computer to play your favorite games. With Xbox Cloud Gaming, you can stream them on almost any device anywhere you are. Mobile gaming is often improved with a handful of accessories, and we’ve rounded up the best Xbox Cloud Gaming controllers and accessories you can use to enhance your experience.

Xbox Cloud Gaming, formerly Project xCloud, lets you play a subset of Xbox Game Pass games on a device other than a console by streaming them from the cloud. It’s similar to Google Stadia (RIP) and Nvidia GeForce Now. To use it, you need to be an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, which costs $15 a month or $160 annually (with four three-month membership codes). For Windows PCs, it lets you play games your system might not otherwise have the power or space to run locally via Game Pass for PC. Navigate to Xbox Game Pass games on your console and look for games with a cloud icon, then click the “play” button.

I’m not here to review Xbox Cloud Gaming, which requires a fast internet connection for smooth game streaming. Rather, I’m highlighting the best controllers and accessories to use with supported devices. As you might expect, the various iterations of Xbox controllers are your primary options, but there are plenty of other controllers and accessories to choose from and some are designed exclusively for Android phones, Windows PC and iOS devices.

Microsoft maintains a list of supported controllers, but you’ll find others that work. Initially, Microsoft said that if you’re using a web browser to play cloud games, the Xbox Wireless Controller was the only “officially supported controller.” However, most controllers I’ve tried — and every controller on this list — works for cloud gaming on a browser.

If you’re an Apple user, you simply go to and then sign in to the Microsoft account linked to your Xbox Game Pass, then tap the share button at the bottom of the screen and select Add to Home Screen. Android users can download the Xbox Game Pass app from the Google Play Store or Samsung Galaxy Store (Samsung devices only).

I’ll update this list as more Xbox Cloud Gaming controllers and accessories are released, and we test additional products.

Best Xbox Cloud controllers for Apple devices

Best Xbox Cloud controllers for Android and Windows PCs

Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, has some harsh words for the suddenly hot technology behind the ChatGPT AI chatbot: “Snake oil.”

Google’s internet evangelist wasn’t completely down on the artificial intelligence technology behind ChatGPT and Google’s own competing Bard, called a large language model. But, speaking Monday at Celesta Capital’s TechSurge Summit, he did warn about ethical issues of a technology that can generate plausible sounding but incorrect information even when trained on a foundation of factual material.

If an executive tried to get him to apply ChatGPT to some business problem, his response would be to call it snake oil, referring to bogus medicines that quacks sold in the 1800s, he said. Another ChatGPT metaphor involved kitchen appliances.

“It’s like a salad shooter — you know how the lettuce goes all over everywhere,” Cerf said. “The facts are all over everywhere, and it mixes them together because it doesn’t know any better.”

Cerf shared the 2004 Turing Award, the top prize in computing, for helping to develop the internet foundation called TCP/IP, which shuttles data from one computer to another by breaking it into small, individually addressed packets that can take different routes from source to destination. He’s not an AI researcher, but he’s a computing engineer who’d like to see his colleagues improve AI’s shortcomings.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT and competitors like Google’s Bard hold the potential to significantly transform our online lives by answering questions, drafting emails, summarizing presentations and performing many other tasks. Microsoft has begun building OpenAI’s language technology into its Bing search engine in a significant challenge to Google, but it uses its own index of the web to try to “ground” OpenAI’s flights of fancy with authoritative, trustworthy documents.

Cerf said he was surprised to learn that ChatGPT could fabricate bogus information from a factual foundation. “I asked it, ‘Write me a biography of Vint Cerf.’ It got a bunch of things wrong,” Cerf said. That’s when he learned the technology’s inner workings — that it uses statistical patterns spotted from huge amounts of training data to construct its response.

“It knows how to string a sentence together that’s grammatically likely to be correct,” but it has no true knowledge of what it’s saying, Cerf said. “We are a long way away from the self-awareness we want.”

OpenAI, which earlier in February launched a $20 per month plan to use ChatGPT, has been clear about about the technology’s shortcomings but aims to improve it through “continuous iteration.”

“ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers. Fixing this issue is challenging,” the AI research lab said when it launched ChatGPT in November.

Cerf hopes for progress, too. “Engineers like me should be responsible for trying to find a way to tame some of these technologies so they are less likely to cause trouble,” he said.

Cerf’s comments stood in contrast to those of another Turing award winner at the conference, chip design pioneer and former Stanford President John Hennessy, who offered a more optimistic assessment of AI.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personalfinance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. Formore, see this post.

Hogwarts Legacy officially launched last week, allowing wizarding fans the chance to enter their own magical fantasy. The open-world RPG is set in the Harry Potter universe, and it seems like the game that many fans of the books have long hoped for.

The new game from developer Avalanche Software lets playersexperience the famed school of witchcraft and wizardry as a student in the 1800s, before the events of the Harry Potter books. Here are some basic things to know about Hogwarts Legacy, including when you can snag a copy depending on your platform.

What’s the story?

Hogwarts Legacy players will “embark on a dangerous journey to uncover a hidden truth of the wizarding world,” according to the game’s website. You can explore Hogwarts Castle, where you attend classes. You can also go beyond it to new and familiar locations, per the website.

You can customize your character, choose a Hogwarts house and grow your magical abilities by brewing potions, mastering spells and taming beasts. Hogwarts Legacy sticks to the lore but doesn’t adapt the Harry Potter books and films.

What systems can I play Hogwarts Legacy on?

PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC versions of the game launched on Feb. 10. Those looking to play the PS4 and Xbox One versions will, unfortunately, need to wait until April 4.

Nintendo Switch users will have to hang on even longer, until July 25, to play Hogwarts Legacy.

The game was first announced in 2020, and its release dates have changed three times. It’s published by Warner Bros. Games under its Portkey Games label.

Is there early access?

The Deluxe Edition or Digital Deluxe Edition for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC included 72 hours of early access, starting Feb. 7.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions won’t have an early access period.

How do I preorder Hogwarts Legacy?

If you’re eyeing the Standard Edition, you can buy the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions from stores including GameStop, Amazon and Best Buy for $70 (about 57, AU$99). You can also preorder the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions from those stores for $60 (roughly 49, $AU85). The PC version is available for $60 at Steam and the Epic Games store.

You can view more ways to purchase Hogwarts Legacy (including how to buy the Deluxe Edition) on the game’s website. The Collector’s Edition has already sold out, but you may be able to find it online for a markup. The official site breaks down what comes with each edition.

What are critics saying?

The game has a Metacritic score of 85 on PS5. (The score is higher on Xbox Series X|S, and a bit lower on PC, but the PS5 score is based on the most reviews, 69.)

CNET critic Sean Keane played the PS5 version and writes in a positive review that “it captures the wonder of the early books, with an intriguing original narrative, engagingly varied gameplay and intricately designed world to explore.”

J.K. Rowling and Hogwarts Legacy

The game’s connection to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has led her critics to call for a boycott, according to The Week. Over the past few years, Rowling has repeatedly made comments that mocked transgender individuals and infuriated trans advocates.

The Hogwarts Legacy website notes that Rowling isn’t involved in the creation of Hogwarts Legacy. But her writing is the foundation for the project and she still makes money off of sales.