Category: Technologies

They get by with a little help from… artificial intelligence? A recently finished recording that’s being called the Beatles’ last song was released Thursday at 7 a.m. PT. Yes, those Beatles. The iconic band that broke up more than 50 years ago. It’s another sign of how AI is being woven more and more into the fabric of our lives.

As I reported in June, the song, called Now and Then, was written and sung by John Lennon shortly before he was murdered in 1980. Lennon sat at a piano in his New York apartment in the Dakota and recorded the rough track onto a boom box.

Paul McCartney received the demo tape in 1994 from Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. The surviving members of the Beatles tried to record the song in the mid-1990s, but quality issues forced the band to shelve that idea, even though McCartney praised Lennon’s singing and the tune’s “beautiful verse.”

The Beatles who survived Lennon worked on the song over the years. George Harrison died in 2001, but McCartney and Ringo Starr continued the work.

For its release now, a double A-side single pairs Now and Then, apparently the last Beatles’ song, with the very first one, the band’s 1962 debut single, Love Me Do. In a press release, the surviving Beatles call this “a truly fitting full-circle counterpart.” A music video for the new song is set to premiere Nov. 3.

Listening to the song now, decades after Lennon’s death, brings on a wistful, slightly sad feeling. Two of the Beatles are gone, and hearing Lennon sing from beyond whatever veil separates us is a little unnerving. With all the modern advances in technology, the one thing we can’t do is bring back our departed loved ones — and yet, that’s something like what’s happening here. Lennon’s voice wasn’t faked: It’s him, singing away, and the technology just clears things up, giving a famed singer one final song.

It may be the least controversial use of AI in the music industry.

Over the last year, we’ve witnessed the rapid and breathtaking arrival of generative AI, best known in its ChatGPT form, which responds to the prompts we give it with startlingly humanlike answers. It’s hardly the only kind of AI out there, but it’s stirred anxiety over potentially dire scenarios — will it replace writers, artists and musicians? — as much as it’s been heralded for the good it can do.

But AI in its other forms has long been toiling away out of sight and largely in uncontroversial ways. It does things like process photos on your smartphone or give you wording prompts when you’re texting. It’s also an emerging tool for making music.

What’s been happening with AI and music

AI is increasingly being used in the music industry, though not everyone is a fan. In 2023, singer-songwriter Nick Cave called an AI song written in his style “grotesque mockery.” But others, including musician and filmmaker Tayrn Southern, who spoke to CNET in 2022, are intrigued. Southern used the technology to create her 2018 record I Am AI. An artificial intelligence program wrote the music, with Southern contributing lyrics and melodies.

The debate about how AI will shape the future of music is getting harder to avoid. Time magazine this summer rounded up its list of the 100 most influential people in AI and included two musicians. One of them, singer-songwriter Holly Herndon, created a vocal deepfake of herself, Holly+, in 2021. She extensively trained a neural network on her voice, and the result can now be used by other artists.

Indie artist Grimes also made the list. This year, Grimes released AI software called Elf.Tech that lets other people “sing through her voice.” Time says she “encouraged musicians to release songs using it, provided that they split royalties with her.”

The fact that music is so deeply personal to fans may help create a strong resistance to even the very word “artificial” coming anywhere near this art form that means so much to so many. But we can hardly avoid it any longer. Now big league players such as the Beatles and the Grammy Awards have become involved, and it’s no longer as easy to dismiss AI in music as emotionless and robotic.

The Beatles song: AI to what degree?

McCartney told the press in June that an AI program was used to separate Lennon’s vocals from the background noise to clean up the sound. He credited Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, who worked with McCartney on the 2021 Beatles documentary series The Beatles: Get Back. McCartney specifically said Jackson used AI to “extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette.”

Beyond that, the details get a little fuzzy. A story in The New York Times digs down, reporting that the specific audio technology used was WingNut Films’ machine audio learning, known as MAL, which was what Jackson tapped to isolate musical elements in the Beatles documentary. (Machine learning, in which computers recognize patterns on their own, is one element of AI.) Herndon, meanwhile, suggested in an AP story that the work on the song involved “source separation,” which, she said, “has become much easier with machine learning.”

And as the Times noted, no artificially created sounds were used to represent Lennon’s voice or piano playing — instead, the technology was simply used to clear up the original performance.

Musical uses of AI

Another song made the news recently and stirred a deeper debate about AI in music.

The song Heart on My Sleeve, released in April by an anonymous creator who uses the name Ghostwriter, used AI to mimic the vocals of Drake and the Weeknd. This is probably more along the lines of what most people think of when they hear about AI and modern music. Neither of the stars whose voices were mimicked had anything to do with the song.

Even still, it wasn’t as though an AI engine ingested songs by Drake and the Weeknd and just spat out a copy. Heart on My Sleeve is mostly original, written and recorded by humans. AI vocal filters, however, were indeed used to imitate the voices of the two musicians.

A representative for Ghostwriter said, “Ghostwriter attempted to match the content, delivery, tone and phrasing of the established stars before using AI components.”

The Grammy Awards complicate matters

The Ghostwriter song might not have made waves, except for the fact that Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. first told the Times that the song would be eligible for Grammy consideration, and then he backtracked.

Mason Jr. first said that “as far as the creative side, it’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.” But days later, Mason said on Instagram that the song wouldn’t qualify because the vocals weren’t cleared by the label or artists, weren’t “legally obtained,” and the song itself wasn’t commercially available. (Back in April, Universal Music Group, the parent company of the Weeknd and Drake’s label, requested it be pulled from major streaming services.)

But the Grammys ballot came out in October, and the Recording Academy confirmed in an email to CNET that Heart on My Sleeve was indeed on it. Ghostwriter told Billboard that a new version of the song that didn’t use AI voice filters was uploaded to streaming services just days before the award-eligibility cutoff.

Musical opinions differ on AI

McCartney himself has admitted he’s a bit wary of AI.

“I’m not on the internet that much, (but) people will say to me, ‘Oh, yeah, there’s a track where John’s singing one of my songs,’ and it’s just AI, you know?” McCartney said. “It’s kind of scary but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.”

Ghostwriter, the artist behind Heart on My Sleeve, has ideas for where it might lead. He told Billboard that he believes a business model can be worked out that’s fair to artists whose voices are now being used without permission.

“I think, in the near future, we’re going to have infrastructure that allows artists to not only license their voice, but do so with permissions,” Ghostwriter said. “Like, say I’m artist X, I want to license my voice out, but I want to take 50% of the revenue that’s generated. Plus users can’t use my voice for hate speech or politics. It’s possible to create tech that can have permissions like that. I think that’s where we are headed.”

It’s hard to argue with rewarding original artists — or with keeping hate speech out of their mouths. But there’s no question such changes will be hotly debated, especially since independence in music has been so highly prized.

If you were raised, as I was, to root for musicians who fight for the control of their own art — Prince writing “slave” on his cheek and changing his name to a symbol to protest Warner Music’s control over his name and his music — you’re bound to be nervous about what exactly lies down that AI path. I saw The Terminator and War Games.

That said, in the music field, we’re unlikely to encounter actual killer robots or nuclear weaponry. Ghostwriter’s statement is more positive than one might expect from someone who’s so obviously pro-AI. Artists deserve to be paid, and they certainly deserve not to hear their voice spouting hate speech. And they’re unlikely to sit back and take unfair representation, either. Just look at the anger that stirs up whenever an artist’s song is played at a political event with which they disagree.

My first reaction to hearing about AI making new inroads in music is to assume it’s a bad idea, trading artistic freedom for money and so-called progress. But there are always degrees to any change. I can’t find anything but good in the cleaning up of ambient noise in John Lennon’s apartment to home in on the lost Beatle’s voice.

The Beatles buy in

The idea of using modern technology to tweak older recordings may take some getting used to. But it would seem the two surviving Beatles are fans of the process.

On Wednesday, a 12-minute music video detailing the making of Now and Then debuted on YouTube and Disney Plus. In it, McCartney ponders whether Lennon would’ve wanted them to finish his song.

He comes up with a decisive answer: “Yeah! He would’ve loved that.”

And Lennon’s son Sean echoes McCartney, saying, “My dad would have loved that, because he was never shy to experiment with recording technology.”

Drummer Ringo Starr calls the ability to work with his late bandmate’s vocals “far out.”

There’s an eerie moment where McCartney calls for his late partner Lennon’s voice to be isolated from the piano music and the house distraction noises that filled the original tape. And the fabled voice rings out, clear and familiar, old yet new.

Says McCartney: “We’re actually messing around with state-of-the-art technology, which is something the Beatles would’ve been very interested in.”

The projector market doesn’t move particularly quickly. Most companies replace their models every few years and overall innovation is fairly slow. While there is certainly improvement over projectors from 10 to 20 years ago, that improvement is mild compared to the rapidly evolving TV market. That is, with one exception. The last few years has seen the rise in UST, or ultrashort throw, projectors. These short boxes don’t even look like projectors, nor do they install like one. Instead, they sit on a cabinet mere inches from a wall and are able to project 100-plus inch images.

With the promise of simple installations and impressive brightness specs, all wrapped with some elaborate marketing, UST projectors seem like the next big thing in the usually staid projector world. With companies both new and old coming out with models regularly, it sure seems like these weird projectors are the going to be huge.

However, they’re expensive. They’re expensive not just in terms of actual dollars, but especially when you compare them to more traditional projectors. Worse, the technology inside isn’t that different. In some key ways, it’s exactly the same. So are you paying more for similar or worse performance, and all for the promise of easier installation? Let’s take a closer look.

What’s a UST?

A traditional home projector can create a 100-inch image from a distance of around 10 feet. Depending on the lens, and if there’s any zoom, it can be a few feet farther or closer to the screen. A regular short-throw projector — not an ultrashort one — can create the same size image from around 5 feet. An ultrashort-throw projector can create a 100-inch image from less than a foot from the screen. They do this using a lens with far greater complexity than what you’d find in other projectors.

Most UST projectors use the latest in projector tech, including laser light sources and 4K imaging chips. So UST projectors can have an impressive spec list — most notably in terms of lumens, which are a measurement of brightness. Lumens are one of the most important differences between projectors. UST projectors are often rated for a lot of lumens, and since they’re restricted in their image size due to how their lenses work, the images they create can be very bright.

Brightness isn’t everything

Let’s first talk about those performance claims. All projector companies fudge their brightness numbers, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. So, a 3,000-lumen projector is almost certainly not 3x brighter than a 1,000-lumen projector. Brighter? Probably, but it’s not as obvious a difference as the numbers would suggest.

Anyway, this is only of secondary importance to what is the main determinator of picture quality: contrast ratio. This ratio is the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image. No projector has as good a contrast ratio as OLED or even the better LED LCDs. All UST projectors use the same imaging chips as regular projectors, so in the best case their contrast ratios are going to be the same. The elaborate lenses required for UST projectors to work typically reduce the contrast ratio in the models we’ve seen, so the overall image is going to be worse than far cheaper non-UST projectors. While the laser and LED light sources in many UST projectors can produce deeper, richer colors than what many traditional projectors can produce, lots of projectors are available with LEDs or lasers, negating that advantage.

One of main claimed benefits of UST projectors is an easier install. They’re positioned as something you can just place on a low cabinet and within seconds get an image. Technically this is true, sort of. First, you need a cabinet that’s a very specific height. All UST projectors have a significantly upwards throw. The bottom of the image they create is roughly a foot above the top of the projector. If you want to create a 100-inch image, that’s going to be roughly 4 feet tall. Then add in the foot above the projector and the 6 inches (approximately) of the projector itself: The cabinet can only be around 3 feet tall before your image is wrapping onto the ceiling.

For most people, installation of modern projectors isn’t difficult. A shelf or stand behind a couch will suffice. If there’s no space for that, a traditional short throw on a coffee table will also work.

Then there’s the screen aspect. While often hidden or played down in the marketing, you absolutely need a screen with any projector. Any imperfections in the wall, including the texture of the paint, will be visible in the projected image. Paint is also not designed to focus light, as many screens can do. So you’re losing out on some of that promised brightness by scattering the light throughout your room. There are plenty of budget screens available, but due to the extreme projection angle of UST models, you’re losing some of that performance as a portion of the light reflects onto the ceiling and not at you. If you want a fancy ambient light-rejecting screen — which lets you watch your projector with some lights on — they’re even more expensive. Some of the screens recommended for use with UST projectors cost in the thousands.

Even with one of those ALR screens, no projector can truly compete with ambient light. You can’t have lots of windows and expect to see much of an image during the day. Even if you have lots of lights on in the room, it’s going to wash out the image. USTs aren’t magic, they still have to obey the laws of physics, despite marketing promises.

Then there’s the cost. Even if you directly compare similar brightness and resolution projectors, USTs command a premium. This is due in part to the more complex lenses and higher-end light sources and chips, UST projectors tend to be significantly more expensive than traditional projectors. Ask any photographer how much lenses can get. While it’s not always possible to compare oranges to oranges, we’ll use this as an example of the price difference: the Epson Home Cinema 2350 is a 4K projector with 2,800 lumens brightness for $1,000, while the Epson LS300 UST costs double that and with an increase to 3,600 lumens. The potential difference could also be partially due to marketing: an attempt to make the new “thing” seem more luxury. It could also be the expectation that potential buyers will pay the higher price for the convenience of a “simpler” installation. Add in an ambient light rejecting screen and the price is even higher.

The potential pros

If we put performance and price aside, there are some admittedly interesting benefits to USTs. First, there are situations where traditional projectors just won’t work. In narrower or smaller rooms, it might be hard to get the projector far enough away to create the desired image size. Short throw projectors might work in these situations, but then you have the projector right in front of you, which might not be ideal. Not everyone has a coffee table, after all. If someone can’t drill holes in their ceiling to mount a projector, a UST might be the only projector option.

Specific lumen claims aside, most UST projectors are very, very bright. Since most are designed for a specific range of screen sizes (100 to 120 inches, most commonly), they might not create an image that’s TV-bright, but certainly brighter than many, though not all, regular projectors.

UST projectors often have better built-in speakers compared to other projectors. A big image deserves big sound, and we typically recommend at least a soundbar to go with a projector, or ideally a full surround sound with a subwoofer. Not everyone has the money or space for such a system, and might just want a single box to do it all. In that case, the larger cabinet size of UST projectors lend themselves to more and larger speakers. Many projector companies have partnered with big-name audio companies to help tune the sound. Real speakers will still be better, but the sound of many USTs we’ve heard is about the same as an average soundbar.

Are USTs worth it?

I’ve been reviewing projectors for a long time. I’ve used one as my main “TV” for 20 years. They are, and I’m the first to admit, not as easy to live with as a regular TV. Having a 100-inch “screen” is worth the hassle though, I think. I also think that many more people could have a projector than currently do, since they’re not difficult to set up. So I understand the pitch for ultrashort-throw projectors: big screen, minimal hassle.

The issue with UST projectors is two-fold. First is the cost, which is far higher than projectors with similar performance. Which is to say, you can get a similar, or better-looking image for far less money. You’re paying for the novelty and the promise of easier installation.

It’s that promise that’s the second issue. Every piece of marketing for UST projectors makes it seem that you can just plunk it down in front of any wall and get a TV-like picture. While you will get an image, the reality is more complex. You need a screen to get the promised performance, like you would with any projector, and you need furniture of a specific height or else the image could become lopped off by your ceiling. Even in best case scenario you’re not going to get something that’s as easily viewable in every light condition, like a TV is.

The picture will, however, be far larger than a TV. Having movie theater-sized images in your home is awesome, and I would never talk someone out of having that themselves. I would, however, caution against spending huge amounts of money on it, when you can spend less than $1,000 and get something that looks fantastic.

---

As well as covering TV and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips, and more. Check out Tech Treks for all his tours and adventures.

He wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines and Budget Travel for Dummies. You can follow his adventures on Instagram and his YouTube channel.

Sure, you can watch TV shows and movies using just your TV’s built-in speakers, but it’s far from the best way to do it. The humble soundbar is a much better way to get audio from your home entertainment gear and into your ears — and the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar is an excellent, low-cost example.

That Amazon Fire TV Soundbar would normally set you back around $120, which is already cheaper than a lot of the competition. Right now, Amazon has it on sale for a new all-time low price, a cent less than $100. Just place your order soon — we don’t know how long this deal is going to last.

The Fire TV Soundbar is compact at just 24 inches wide and it’s designed to work best with Fire TV streaming devices and smart TVs, as you’d expect, though you can use it with other smart TVs and media players. When it comes to actually getting audio into this thing you’ll benefit from Bluetooth, HDMI eARC and digital optical as well. There’s support for DTS Virtual:X built in, and all of that for just $100 if you act now.

Like all the best soundbars, this one doesn’t try to capture the attention below your TV and is nice and simple. It only comes in one, understated color but it can be wall-mounted if that’s something you want to do to match your room’s aesthetic.

The Will Levis Show moves to prime time. The Titans’ rookie quarterback was impressive in his first NFL start last week, leading the team to a win and tossing four touchdowns in the process. Levis faces a tough task tonight, going up against T.J. Watt and the stout Steelers defense in Pittsburgh. The Steelers will also have defensive tackle Cameron Heyward back in the lineup. A team captain and key piece in the middle of Pittsburgh’s defensive line, Heyward has been out since being injured in week 1.

Kickoff for the Titans-Steelers game on Thursday Night Football is set for 8:15 p.m. ET (5:15 p.m. PT) tonight with the game streaming nationally on Prime Video and for free on Twitch.

Keep reading to see your options for watching Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, Twitch, NFL Plus and — if you live in the home markets of the Titans or Steelers — a local network channel.

With YouTube and YouTube TV now the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket, along with games also streaming on Paramount Plus, Peacock and ESPN Plus, there’s lots for NFL fans to keep track of this season. Check out our picks for the best live TV streaming services for NFL fans in 2023.

TNF streaming: Prime Video, Twitch and NFL Plus

Thursday Night Football games are streamed nationally on Amazon Prime Video, giving NFL fans more incentive than free two-day shipping to sign up for an Amazon Prime account, which costs $15 a month or $139 a year. You can also subscribe only to Prime Video for $9 a month.

Fans in the local market of each team playing on Thursday night will be able to watch on an over-the-air station, while those who don’t pay for either of Amazon’s services can watch for free on Prime Video’s Twitch channel. (Twitch is also owned by Amazon.)

If you subscribe to NFL Plus, the league’s $7-per-month streaming service (or $15 a month with Red Zone included), you can also stream the game without subscribing to Prime or Prime Video. Note that NFL Plus viewing is limited to watching on just a phone or tablet, not on a computer or TV.

Can I watch Thursday Night Football on local TV?

Yes, you can, if you live in the local market of either of the teams playing on Thursday. For this week, that’s WTVF CBS 5 in Nashville and WPXI NBC 11 in Pittsburgh. There are two ways to watch local channels on your TV. The first is with a live TV streaming service. And the second is with an over-the-air antenna, if you live in an area that has good reception.

Four of the five of the live TV streaming services carry CBS and NBC, but not every service carries every local network, so check each one using the links below to make sure it carries CBS and NBC in your particular area.

All the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.

With Black Friday just around the corner, photography specialist Moment is taking as much as 50% off its phone lenses, mounts, backpacks and other accessories.

I’ve been using Moment camera lenses on my iPhone since 2021. My iPhone 12 didn’t have a dedicated telephoto camera, so I added a lens over the primary camera in the form of the M-Series tele lens. While there’s a new Moment T-series 58mm lens, its predecessor is on sale, alongside plenty of other gear that I’ve used and loved. Here are some of my favorite Moment products that I think you should definitely try.

• Moment 1.33x anamorphic lens: $110 (save $40). The anamorphic lens adds a gold flare to your videos, giving them a cinematic look. It’s great for adding a more artistic style to your clips.
• Moment 18mm wide mobile lens: $100 (save $30). Your iPhone has an ultrawide angle lens but the 18mm Moment lens gives better results with more details and less distortion around the edges. Go for it if you take a lot of scenic shots.
• Moment 14mm fisheye mobile lens: $100 (save $20). The fisheye lens adds more flavor to your wide-angle shots. With a 170-degree field of view, it gives a 30% wider image than the 120 degrees you get on your phone’s ultrawide camera.
• Moment tripod mount for MagSafe: $45 (save $5). If you have a tripod and shoot with an iPhone, you might want to get a Moment tripod mount for your device, which attaches magnetically to the device, thanks to MagSafe.

These are some of my favorite Moment products that you should definitely take a look at if you’re a keen photographer. The lenses will definitely give you more perspectives while shooting.

For Android users, Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic are our overall favorite smartwatches on the market right now. Deals have been pretty slim since they first hit shelves this summer, but right now, you can save $50 on nearly all configurations at Best Buy. That drops the starting price down to just $250. These deals are only available today. They expire at 9:59 p.m. PT (12:59 a.m. ET), so be sure to get your order in before then if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

The new Galaxy Watch 6 lineup comes equipped with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage and is powered by Samsung’s latest WearOS 4. These updated Samsung smartwatches also feature a rugged design with IP68 weather resistance, and are waterproof up to 50 meters. They’re also equipped with solid fitness tracking capabilities, and allow you to monitor your speed, distance, heart rate, sleep patterns and more, and can even give you a breakdown of your BMI, skeletal muscle, body water and more right from your wrist.

There are quite a few different configurations to choose from. Prices start at $250, which scores you the basic 40mm Galaxy Watch 6, and you can upgrade to the larger 44mm display for $280. The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic has a more heavy-duty stainless steel frame and a rotating bezel, and starts at $350 for the 43mm model and $380 for the 47mm model. If you want cellular connectivity, prices jump up by $50 for the basic Galaxy Watch 6 and $70 for the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic (which are only discounted by $30). It’s also worth noting that you’ll find select configurations discounted at Amazon right now as well, but most are only around $30 off.

Last week, Amazon announced that it would be hopping on the Passkey train. This means that you’ll now be able to use passkeys to log in to some of your Amazon accounts (we’ll get to which ones later). The tech giant joins a slew of other companies who are saying goodbye to passwords and opting for passkeys instead.

Switching to passkeys isn’t mandatory for Amazon customers, the shopping giant said, so if you’re not ready to make the switch, you can keep using your passwords. But if you’re interested in ditching your passwords for good, you can go ahead and set up your Amazon passkey right now.

Here’s what to know about Amazon’s adoption of the password alternative. For more, here’s how Apple’s adopting passkeys and what Google is doing to ditch passwords.

What is a passkey?

Passkeys are a new, secure and easier way to log in to a service or website using biometric authentication like a fingerprint or face scan (or other methods, like a PIN) instead of a password. You might already have a bit of experience with passkeys. For example, if you have Face ID set up on your iPhone, some apps allow you to to use Face ID to sign in instead of typing your account password.

According to backers of passkeys, it’s a more secure method of logging into your accounts than with traditional passwords and is much less susceptible to phishing attacks. Passkeys can be more convenient than keeping track of all of your passwords, let you log in usually with just a click instead of several taps and eliminate the need for two-factor authentication codes, which can clog up your inbox or messages app.

Who else is implementing passkeys?

Amazon is the latest in a string of tech companies that have either axed passwords or given customers the option to use a passkey instead of a password. In adopting passkeys, the online retailer joins the likes of Google, Nintendo and Apple in passwordless support.

Which Amazon services work with passkeys now?

Right now, Amazon has only rolled out passkeys to its primary retail website.

In a response to CNET’s request for comment on where users could take advantage of passkeys, Amazon said “Passkey support is available globally today for all Amazon customers using browsers.” The company indicated that more support would be rolling out to the iOS Amazon Shopping app and that the Android Amazon Shopping app would be receiving passkey support in the near future.

The company also said that it “will be adding passkeys to more apps in the future,” so users of Amazon-owned companies like Goodreads and Twitch could expect to see passkey support at some point in their future, too.

How to set up a passkey on your Amazon account

If you’re interested in ditching your password and opting to use a passkey for your Amazon account, it’s easy to set up. Again, passkeys aren’t mandatory for Amazon customers, so if you feel more comfortable using your password, you won’t have to worry about changing over right away.

To set up a passkey, all you have to do is go to your Account page and select Login & Security.

Once in the Login & Security menu, scroll down to the Passkeys tab and select the Set Up button.

This should bring you to another screen, where you will select Set Up again.

After selecting Set Up a second time, follow the onscreen instructions that are specific to your device or browser to set up your passkey.

After completing these steps, you can say goodbye to your passwords and use your passkey to log in to your Amazon account.

For more, here’s how to use passkeys to login to your Google account and the best password manager for 2023.

It’s been a busy fall for Apple. The company has introduced a slew of new features and products this fall, from a flurry of Apple hardware and software upgrades to brand-new Apple Watches, iPhones, Apple Pencils and new editions of all of Apple’s flagship softwares. Most recently, the tech giant unveiled it’s brand-new M3 chip, the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and a refreshed version of the iMac at it’s “Scary Fast” Event held earlier this week.

Even though MacOS Sonoma’s smaller updates didn’t get the pomp and circumstance that they deserved earlier this year, several brand-new Macs hitting the scene this fall will be sure to shake things up. So if you’re looking to upgrade your Mac and your iPhone in one fell swoop this year, you’re gonna want them to work together seamlessly.

Luckily for those who plan on upgrading both their computer and their phone, MacOS Sonoma’s update brings features that iPhone users have enjoyed for several years and some brand-new ones that iPhone users first saw in iOS 17.

Check out these new Mac features that I think make my phone and computer work better together. For more, check out how to fix the most annoying iOS 17 features and the Mac keyboard shortcuts you need to know.

Widgets come to your desktop

While widgets aren’t an earth-shattering productivity feature, or even new to Apple fans, having them on your desktop is pretty helpful. For instance, some of my co-workers work on the west coast, while I work on the east coast, so I have a clock widget that displays what the current time is in Pacific Standard Time that makes coordinating with my coworkers a bit simpler.

The widgets are also super simple to use — all you have to do is right-click with your mouse or double-click your trackpad on your desktop and a menu will pop out. You can select Edit Widgets and a widget menu will appear where you can select small, medium or large widgets for a variety of applications. If you want to remove a widget, you can either right-click or use two fingers to click your trackpad and select Remove Widget, or you can click the small red button that appears after selecting Edit Widget to remove your widget.

You can also drag and drop widgets from your Notification Center to your desktop. If you want to add widgets to your notification center, all you need to do is scroll to the bottom of your notification center and click Edit Widgets. You remove widgets from your notification center in the same way you would from your desktop.

You can also add your iPhone widgets to your Mac’s desktop, even if you don’t have the widget’s corresponding app downloaded to your computer. To enable this, you will need to go to System Settings, then scroll down to Desktop and Dock and from there scroll to the Widgets section. Once in the widgets section, simply toggle the Use iPhone Widgets option on. Your iPhone widgets will be available from the widget browser that appears when selecting Edit Widget on your desktop or notification center.

Auto-sorting grocery lists

I’m a pretty organized person, but to be honest, I’ve never turned to Apple’s Reminders app for help with this. The app didn’t make much sense to me and I traditionally have opted for third-party organization apps. While these new reminders features aren’t enough to sway me away from my preferred organization apps, there are some additions that have gotten me to make use of the app.

The changes to reminders are pretty easy to take advantage of. The most major update is the auto-sorting grocery list feature. To make use of this feature, click the Add List button at the bottom of the reminders page. Give your list a name (and change the color of the list and the icon if you’d like). Then, under the List Type drop-down menu, select Groceries.

Once in the list, create the categories you want for your list. For example, my list had three categories: meats, produce and miscellaneous. After you create your categories, you should be able to start putting your list together, and the items you add should be automatically sorted. Be warned — this feature seems to be a bit buggy. My best advice is to keep trying the feature, and you can always drag and drop your items to their correct category if nothing else works.

Messages that mirror your phone

One of my favorite things about having an Apple family of products is that I can text from my computer. This sounds small, but this has proven super-helpful in my day-to-day life. When I’m working on my computer, I can put my phone completely away so I can focus, but it’s nice to still be able to be reached.

One thing that has always frustrated me about iMessage on my computer is that it feels years behind my phone. For the longest time, I couldn’t use tap-back reactions or even reply to messages like I could when I would text on my phone. Sonoma has changed this for the better — there is finally parity between phone and computer when it comes to the messages experience.

The biggest feature that I had been missing was the reply function. Essentially, this function allows you to swipe across on a message and reply directly to that specific message. I’ve found this feature particularly helpful when making complicated plans or in noisy group chats.

All you have to do to use the reply function is swipe two fingers to the right until you can reply to the message. If you don’t want to swipe, you can click the message you wish to reply to with two fingers and select Reply from the drop-down menu.

For more, here’s the best MacBook of 2023.

There’s no denying that we live in a constantly connected world, where losing your cellphone signal doesn’t just mean you can’t check Twitter and Instagram — it could be a matter of life and death. It doesn’t matter what type of phone you use or even which cellular service provider you have, you’re bound to run into service disruptions, either from bad weather or remote areas that might weaken your phone signal.

As travel is ramping up for the winter holidays, losing your cellphone signal can get you into a real jam. If you want to avoid getting lost or missing important calls this holiday season, there are several tips and tricks you can use to improve your cellphone signal.

The tried-and-true approach of turning on Airplane mode, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it off again can definitely help with reception. But when that doesn’t work, you might need to take more drastic steps, like removing your SIM card or resetting your network settings.

Before you dive into your phone’s settings, take a few minutes to perform some basic troubleshooting steps that could get your phone working at peak performance.

Note: Although software across different iPhone models is relatively the same, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and other Android devices may have different software versions, and so certain settings and where they are located might differ from device to device.

To improve your cellphone service, try these steps first

The settings on your phone can help you get better cell service, but there are other tricks for improving your reception without even touching your phone’s software.

• Move yourself so that there are no obstructions between your phone and any cell towers outside. That might involve stepping away from metal objects or concrete walls, which both kill reception. Instead, get to a window or go outside if possible.
• Remove your phone case. It doesn’t hurt to remove whatever case you have on your phone, especially if it’s thick, so that the phone’s antenna isn’t blocked by anything and can get a better signal.
• Make sure your phone is charged. Searching for and connecting to a stronger signal drains power, so if your phone battery is already low on charge, you may have a difficult time getting good service.

Always start by turning Airplane mode on and off

Turning your phone’s connection off and then back on is the quickest and easiest way to try and fix your signal woes. If you’re moving around from one location to another, toggling Airplane mode restarts the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular network modems, which forces them to find the best signal in the area.

Android: Swipe down from the top of your screen — to access the Quick Settings panel — and then tap the Airplane mode icon. Wait for your phone to completely disconnect from its Wi-Fi and cellular connections. It doesn’t happen instantly, so give it a good 15 seconds before you tap on the Airplane mode icon again.

iPhone: On the iPhone, you can access Airplane mode from the Control Center, but that varies depending on which iPhone model you have. On the iPhone X and later, swipe down from the top-right corner to access the Control Center. On older iPhone models, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Then tap the Airplane mode icon, which will turn orange when it’s enabled. Again, wait up to 15 seconds before turning it off.

If airplane mode doesn’t work, restart your phone

Our phones are miniature computers, and just like computers, sometimes you can fix issues like network connection by simply restarting them.

Android: Hold down the power button, or the power button and the volume down key (depending on your Android phone), until the on-screen menu shows up, and then tap Restart. If your phone doesn’t offer a restart option, you can simply tap Power Off to shut down your device, and then boot it back up with the power button.

iPhone: On the iPhone X and older models, hold down the sleep/wake button and either one of the volume buttons and then swipe right on the power slider to turn off the device. Wait until it fully turns off, then press down on the sleep/wake button to turn it back on.

Alternatively, you can do a force reset on your iPhone: Press the volume up button, followed by the volume down button and then press and hold the side button. Keep holding it in, after your phone’s screen goes black and until you see the Apple logo appear again.

If your iPhone has a home button, hold down the sleep/wake button until the power slider is displayed and then drag the slider to the right. Once the device is turned off, press and hold the sleep/wake button until you see the Apple logo.

Take your SIM card out of your phone

Another troubleshooting step that might help is to remove your SIM card and then place it back in your phone with the phone turned on. If the SIM card is dirty, clean it. If it has any physical defects, you may need to replace it.

You’ll need a SIM card tool — usually included in your phone’s box — or an unfolded paper clip or sewing needle to get the SIM tray out of your phone.

All phones: Remove the SIM card, check to see if it’s damaged and positioned in the SIM tray correctly, then put it back in your phone.

eSIM: For phones with an eSIM — that is, an embedded electronic SIM in your phone — there’s nothing for you to remove. The best you can do is restart your phone.

Check your carrier settings (and update your software)

Mobile carriers frequently send out carrier settings updates to help improve connectivity for calls, data and messages on their network. Although this feature is available on all iPhone models, it’s not universal on Android, so you might not find carrier settings if you don’t have a supported phone.

iPhone: Carrier updates should just appear, and you can update from the pop-up message that appears. To force your iPhone to check for a carrier settings update, go to Settings > General > About on your phone. If an update is available, you’ll be prompted to install it.

Android: As mentioned before, not all Android phones have carrier settings, so you’ll have to open the Settings app and type in “carrier settings” to find any possible updates. On supported Pixels, go to Settings > Network & internet > Internet, tap the gear next to your carrier name and then tap Carrier settings versions.

Reset your phone’s network settings

Sometimes all you need is a clean slate to fix an annoying connectivity issue. Refreshing your phone’s network settings is one way to do that. But be forewarned, resetting your network settings will also reset any saved Wi-Fi passwords, VPN connections and custom APN settings for those on carriers that require additional setup.

Android: In the Settings app, search for “reset” or more specifically “reset network settings” and tap on the setting. On the Pixel 6 Pro running Android 13, the setting is called Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth. After you reset your network settings, remember to reconnect your phone to your home and work Wi-Fi networks.

iPhone: Go to Settings > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network settings. The next page will warn you that resetting your network settings will reset your settings for Wi-Fi, mobile data and Bluetooth. Tap Reset Network Settings and your phone will restart.

Contact your phone carrier

Sometimes unexpected signal issues can be traced back to problems with your wireless carrier. A cell tower could be down, or the tower’s fiber optic cable could have been cut, causing an outage.

For consistent problems connecting to or staying connected to a cellular or data network, it’s possible your carrier’s coverage doesn’t extend well into your neighborhood. To help, some carriers will offer a network extender — a device that acts as a small wireless tower that relies on your internet connection, such as AT&T’s MicroCell or T-Mobile’s Personal CellSpot.

Other times, a newfound signal issue can be due to a defect with your phone or a SIM card that’s gone bad. Contacting your carrier to begin troubleshooting after you’ve tried these fixes is the next best step to resolving your spotty signal.

If all else fails, try a signal booster to improve cell reception

If after going through all of our troubleshooting steps, including talking to your carrier to go over your options, you’re still struggling to keep a good signal — try a booster. A signal booster receives the same cellular signal your carrier uses, then amplifies it just enough to provide coverage in a room or your entire house.

The big downside here is the cost. Wilson has three different boosters designed for home use, ranging in price from $349 for single room coverage to $999 to cover your entire home. To be clear, we haven’t specifically tested these models. Wilson offers a 30-day money back guarantee and a two-year warranty should you have any trouble with its products.

With your signal issues resolved, using your phone as a mobile hotspot for a backup connection is easy, but there are some things you need to know. If you’re looking for iPhone-specific tips and tricks, check out our guide to hidden features on iOS 16. And for Android fans, we have some hidden features for Android 12 as well.

There are no shortage of streaming services to choose from these days — and an increasing number of shows and films have been released exclusively on those platforms, making it harder for streaming holdouts to access major hits. For those that have yet to invest in a media streamer, now is a great time to take the plunge.

Right now Chromecast with Google TV HD — one of our picks for best streaming devices for 2023 — is back down to just $20, saving you 33% off its list price. We don’t know how long this offer will last, so we recommend getting your order in soon if you want to nab one for your place at this price.

If you don’t yet have a 4K TV or stream your content in HD anyway, this entry-level streamer is a good bargain. You don’t have to worry about line-of-sight and the remote has a built-in button for instant access to Google Assistant — so you can quickly search with your voice. Simply plug it into the HDMI port on your TV, and once you’re connected to your Wi-Fi, this baby can stream all your favorite shows, movies and more.

This Chromecast device shows everything from your streaming services in one place, so you won’t have to jump between apps to decide what to watch. Plus, you can manage your connected devices from your couch. And you can set parental controls if you have little ones at home. As long as you don’t need all the bells and whistles, this is a solid streaming option at a bargain price.