Category: Technologies

In an era of Disney Plus, Netflix, Hulu, Paramount Plus, HBO Max and Peacock, there seem to be nearly as many streaming services as there are days in a month. With subscription prices constantly rising,the cost of signing up for more than one service can quickly rival an old cable bill.

Depending on your cellphone service, however, there could be ways to score discounts on one or more of these options. Some T-Mobile plans can get you a free subscription to Netflix and Apple TV Plus. Verizon offers the Disney Bundle (Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu) with certain plans, while one of Cricket Wireless’ unlimited plans includes ad-supported HBO Max.

Let’s break down the best streaming service deals that are available now from each carrier.

Read more: Best Streaming Service Deals

Verizon

T-Mobile

Metro by T-Mobile

Cricket

On Monday, Google announced three new Search features that could make planning your next vacation cheaper and easier. The new features can help you save money on your next flight, explore a hotel before you book it and easily plan things to do on your trip.

Here’s what you can expect to see if you plan your next vacation using Google.

Flight price guarantee

Google Flights already shows you whether flight prices are low or high compared to historical averages, but now Google is launching a pilot program for price guarantees in the US.

How it works is Google will place a badge next to low-priced flights. Google doesn’t think the price for these flights will get any lower, but if the price does go down, Google will send you the difference via Google Pay.

This pilot program is only available for “Book on Google” flights that depart from the US.

Explore hotels before booking

If you use Google Search on mobile to find a hotel, you can view a slideshow to explore different hotels and find the right one for you. You can save hotels you like and pull up more information about the area around particular hotels, too.

Find prices for and book nearby activities

Finally, you can find prices for nearby attractions in Google, and you’ll also find a link to book tickets for those activities.

To view these, you have to use Google Search or Google Maps to find an attraction or tour company. You’ll see prices attached to different attractions and companies, as well as a “Tickets” tab that pulls up different ways to book admission. Searching for some attractions will also show you suggestions for similar experiences you might enjoy.

For more on Google, check out eight new Google products CNET expects in 2023, how to travel back in time with Google Maps and tips and tricks to help you save money on Google Drive and Gmail.

If you’re stubbornly refusing to upgrade from your Samsung Galaxy S10 (we don’t blame you, it was a fantastic phone in its day), you may want to freshen it up with a new protective case to protect your smartphone and its delicate screen against cracks, chips and other damage. Whether you have the small (Galaxy S10E), medium (S10) or large (S10 Plus) from the Galaxy S10 series, there are plenty of Samsung Galaxy S10 case options out there for your device.

Here are some of our favorite picks for the best Galaxy S10 case in every style, from rugged armor cases to leather covers to polycarbonate cases and even a clear case. Some have button covers and reinforced corners for extra protection.There are options that are compatible with a belt clip holster so it’s always within grabbing distance. There are others that have a card slot so you don’t have to carry a wallet and a phone. Some of the recommendations for these Galaxy S series cases are based on our experience with the preceding S9 versions.

Tough but relatively slim

Wallet and folio cases

Tough cases

More phone advice

• Our Favorite Samsung Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra Cases

• Best Phone Under $200: Cheaper Phones for Just the Basics

Cleaning your Google Drive and Gmail is a nice way to kick off spring, and it could save you money, too. Google gives users a combined 15GB of storage space to use for free between Google Drive, Gmail and other Google services, and that space can can fill up fast. When you’re close to your limit, Google will ask if you want to buy more storage by subscribing to Google One. Or you can follow these tricks to manage your digital space and save yourself some money.

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

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.

Intel came very (very) late to the party with its desktop graphics cards, so it’s not surprising that they feel like a bit of a work in progress compared to veterans like Nvidia and AMD.

From a price and specs perspective, the A750 competes with Nvidia’s budget GeForce RTX 3050, which also falls roughly into the $250 to $300 price band. Intel dropped the price from $300 to $250 in February, but the market doesn’t seem to have totally caught up with that yet.

The Arc line currently includes a sub-$150 8GB entry-level Arc A380 and upmarket A770, which comes in two flavors: an Intel Limited Edition, with 16GB VRAM, and one available through board partners such as ASRock and Acer. The latter cards have bulked-up specs, notably four additional Xe graphics cores and faster clock speeds. So for less memory-demanding 1080p gaming the 8GB A770 might provide a little lift over the A750 — but it may not be worth the extra cash, depending on what they’re going for at any moment.

I’m not convinced the 16GB version makes a lot of sense. If you need that much memory, say for video editing or 1440p-plus gaming, you’re going to want more powerful components.

Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition

	Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition
Memory	8GB GDDR6
Memory bandwidth (GBps)	512.0
Memory clock (GHz)	2.0
GPU clock (GHz, base/boost)	2.1/2.4
Memory data rate/Interface	16Gbps/256 bits
Render Slices/RT cores	4/28
Texture mapping units	224
Tensor Cores	448
Process	6nm
TGP/min PSU	225/600W
Max thermal (degrees)	194F/90C
Bus	PCIe 4.0×16
Size	2 slots; 11.1 inches long (282mm)
Connections	3 x DP 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0
Current list price	$249
Ship date	October, 2022

You can get surprisingly reasonable 1440p performance out of the A750, especially if you’re aggressive with XeSS (Xe SuperSampling), the company’s upscaling technology a la Nvidia’s DLSS or AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution.

Keep in mind that if you’re upgrading an old system you may not get claimed (or as tested) performance. And by “old” I mean pre-2020 or earlier than Intel’s 10th-gen and AMD’s Zen 3 desktop CPUs. That’s because best performance requires resizable BAR support, which lets the CPU store its game-related data in the GPU’s VRAM rather than system RAM so the GPU doesn’t have to traverse the system bus to retrieve it. But the same RBAR performance caveat applies to most recent GPUs.

The visible design aspects are pretty typical for a GPU: two fans on one side, vents on top and bottom and out the end. It’s heavy for its class, but there’s a lot of metal and thick, sturdy plastic. You can add a waterblock, though I could only find a couple compatible ones, one of which costs as much as the card. And removing the backplate can potentially get ugly, since it’s glued rather than screwed on. (I didn’t disassemble mine, but TechPowerUp has a nice teardown of it.)

Performance

I’ve compared the A750 to the RTX 3060, since the EVGA RTX 3050 I reviewed is no longer produced — the company left the business in September 2022. The Asus Dual RTX 3060 OC is more expensive by about $100, but isn’t always the faster card. And even where the A750 lags it, for 1080p gaming it doesn’t do so by much. The RTX 3060’s 12GB of VRAM helps when you bump up resolution or do graphics work, but the newer architecture of the A750 means it acquits itself better than the two-year-old 3060 on operations like ray tracing. And because it’s not an old entry GPU, it supports AV1 encoding (for better streaming performance), while other low-end — Nvidia and AMD’s entry- and midlevel GPUs are still based on last-gen architecture.

My biggest gripe about the A750’s performance, though, isn’t about frame rates, it’s about the driver and related software. Some conflict with my network card — an Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 — made my system report it as having failed in Event Viewer, despite all indications to the contrary. It was still operational, though. But I never would have seen those event reports had I not been trying to track down the cause of freezes/BSODs. Removing the card and uninstalling the driver restored stability. Could be correlation, not causation, but I haven’t seen a BSOD in a long time.

Intel also configures its Arc Control Utility’s default well below the card’s stated maximum power consumption — 190 watts vs. 228 watts — which makes sense. For one thing, I saw only about a 4% frame-rate increase bumping it to 215 watts. But it also runs hot once you start playing with the overclocking settings, easily hitting its 90C maximum (and slightly above), and definitely hot enough to start exhibiting display glitches.

Overclocking anything runs the risk of system instability, but Arc Control doesn’t make it easy (or less tedious) to iterate through the possibilities.

These kinds of issues are normal for early generations of GPU technologies, and Arc is just a baby, which makes it a hard call against veteran competitors. But if you want something fast for less than $300, the Arc A750 is an attractive proposition. Just keep in mind you may have to change some GPU diapers.

Relative performance of comparable GPUs

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test (1080p)

Intel Arc A750 LE

111

Asus Dual RTX 3060 OC

120

Guardians of the Galaxy (1440p)

Intel Arc A750 LE

80

Asus Dual RTX 3060 OC

100

3DMark Time Spy

Asus Dual RTX 3060 OC

9,352

Intel Arc A750 LE

13,133

3DMark Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate)

Asus Dual RTX 3060 OC

2157

Intel Arc A750 LE

2366

SpecViewPerf 2020 SolidWorks (1080p)

Intel Arc A750 LE

131.94

Asus Dual RTX 3060 OC

198.65

3DMark DXR (DirectX Ray Tracing)

Asus Dual RTX 3060 OC

19.47

Arc A750 LE

29.57

Test PC configuration

Custom PC	Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (22H2); 3.2GHz Intel Core i9-12900K; 32GB DDR5-4800; 2x Corsair MP600 Pro SSD; Corsair HX1200 80 Plus Platinum PSU, MSI MPG Z690 Force Wi-Fi motherboard, Corsair 4000D Airflow midtower case

Mint Mobile may soon be acquired by T-Mobile, but that hasn’t stopped it from still making some moves on its own. Starting on April 14, the prepaid provider will be upping the amount of data it offers to new and existing users while still keeping its pricing at the same levels they are at today.

The new prepaid options will be as follows (prices are under Mint’s 12-month structure, though the carrier also offers plans in 3-month and 6-month increments):

• 5GB per month of high-speed 5G/4G LTE data for $15 per month (up from 4GB)
• 15GB per month of high-speed 5G/4G LTE data for $20 per month (up from 10GB)
• 20GB per month of high-speed 5G/4G LTE data for $25 per month (up from 15GB)
• 40GB per month of high-speed 5G/4G LTE data for $30 per month, plus 10GB of hotspot data (this is Mint’s “unlimited” plan, and is an increase from the previous 35GB of high-speed data and 5GB of hotspot data)

Read more: Best Prepaid Phone Plans

In a press release, Mint says that current subscribers will get the new higher data plans automatically “when their monthly data refreshes” after April 14 and notes that users will not need to “enroll, register or take action of any kind” to get the additional data. The Ryan Reynolds-owned carrier has already begun alerting its users about the change on Sunday.

Mint’s plan refresh comes a bit over two weeks after T-Mobile announced it would be buying the prepaid carrier and its parent company, Ka’ena Corporation, in a potential $1.35 billion deal. That acquisition is expected to close later this year.

iOS 16.4 is here. After weeks of waiting, Apple’s latest iPhone update is now available to download. The update comes with a handful of bug and security fixes, as well as new features, like a collection of fresh emoji and voice isolation for cellular calls.

Below is some of what your iPhone gains with iOS 16.4. And here’s what you need to know before installing the update to help avoid running into issues with the download.

31 new emoji

The iOS 16.4 update brings 31 new emoji to your iOS device. The new emoji include a new smiley; new animals, like a moose and a goose; and new heart colors, including pink and light blue.

The new emoji all come from Unicode’s September 2022 recommendation list, Emoji 15.0.

Voice Isolation comes to cellular calls

Voice Isolation was introduced with iOS 15 in 2021, and at the time it worked only on FaceTime calls. Now with iOS 16.4, you can use the feature on your cellular calls too.

When enabled, Voice Isolation can help the person you’re on a call with hear you more clearly by muffling background sounds, like kids playing in the other room or construction outside your window. It could therefore cut back on the number of times you have to repeat yourself in a phone call because the other person can’t hear you.

Easily find photo duplicates across shared albums

In iOS 16.4, you can easily find duplicate photos in shared albums in Photos. If you share photos with family or friends via iCloud, iOS 16.4 will show you all the duplicates across albums. You can also Merge these duplicate photos.

Support for PlayStation 5 controller

According to MacRumors, iOS 16.4 adds support for the PlayStation 5 DualSense Edge Wireless Controller. You can use the controller to play controller-enabled games from services like Apple Arcade — a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick — on your iPhone.

Apple Books update

The page-turn curl animation is back in Apple Books with iOS 16.4, after it was removed in a previous iOS update. Before, when you turned a page in an ebook on your iPhone, the page would slide to one side of your screen or it would vanish and be replaced by the next page. You can still choose these other page-turn animations in addition to the curl animation.

Music app changes

The Music interface has been slightly modified in iOS 16.4. When you add a song to your queue, a small banner appears near the bottom of your screen instead of a full-screen pop-up like in previous iOS versions.

Also, if you go into your Library in Music, you can organize your Library by Artist and tap into an artist, across the top of your page you will see an icon for that artist. A search bar used to be at the top of this page. Tap the artist’s icon and you will be taken to that artist’s Music page.

Apple Podcasts updates

Apple Podcasts also gets an update with iOS 16.4. Now you can access a Channels tab in your Library, which shows you different networks you follow. Tap into each channel and you see can the shows you subscribe to and other shows that channel produces.

See who and what is covered under AppleCare

With iOS 16.4, you can go to Settings > General > About > Coverage to check who and what devices are covered on your AppleCare plan. That way, if your AirPods break, you can easily check whther they are covered. You can manage your coverage from here too.

Focus Mode filters added

If you have an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, iOS 16.4 lets you enable or disable the always-on display option with certain Focus Modes. When creating a new filter, scroll down to the bottom of the edit page, tap Focus Filter, then tap Always-On Display to enable or disable the display for that Focus Mode.

New Apple Wallet features

You can add three new order-tracking widgets for Apple Wallet to your home screen with iOS 16.4. Each widget displays your tracking information on active orders, but the widgets are different sizes: small, medium and large.

More accessibility options

The update also adds new accessibility options. One new option is called Dim Flashing Lights, and it can be found in the Motion menu in Settings. The option’s description says video content that depicts repeated flashing or strobing lights will automatically be dimmed. Video timelines will also show when flashing lights will occur. VoiceOver support has also been expanded to the maps and Weather apps.

Apple ID and beta software updates

With iOS 16.4, developers and beta testers can check whether their Apple ID is associated with the developer beta, public beta or both. If you have a different Apple ID, like one for your job, that has access to beta updates, iOS 16.4 also lets you switch to that account from your device.

New keyboards, Siri voices and language updates

This iOS 16.4 update also adds keyboards for the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages, and there are new Siri voices for Arabic and Hebrew. Language updates have also come to Korean, Ukrainian, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu.

Here are Apple’s release notes for iOS 16.4.

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:
• 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
• Notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen
• Voice Isolation for cellular calls prioritizes your voice and blocks out ambient noise around you
• Duplicates album in Photos expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo
Library
• VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
• Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
• Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent’s device
• Addresses issues where Matter-compatible thermostats could become unresponsive when paired to Apple Home
• Crash Detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone
14 Pro models

For more, check out what was included in iOS 16.3.1 and features you may have missed in iOS 16.3.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is coming up soon. The iPhone maker revealed Wednesday that the event will kick off on June 5. The annual developer confab will showcase Apple’s latest software, including advancements to its iOS, iPadOS, MacOS, WatchOS and TVOS operating systems.

At WWDC 2023, Apple is expected to unveil iOS 17, the next version of its software for iPhones, which could launch alongside the expected iPhone 15 later this year. Apple could also unveil its long-rumored AR/VR headset at WWDC. The new mixed-reality device was reportedly demoed to executives this month.

The conference will take place online from June 5 to June 9 and is free for developers to attend. Apple will hold an in-person event at its Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, for its keynote and state of the union presentations on the first day.

At WWDC 2022 last June, Apple revealed iOS 16, a redesign for its MacBook line of laptops using the M2 chip, MacOS Ventura, and WatchOS 9.

Apple’s newest iPhone software, iOS 16.4, is here, meaning you can download the update now if you haven’t yet. If you already installed iOS 16.4, however, you might’ve noticed your iPhone got some new features, bug fixes and a fresh collection of emoji to try out.

The new emoji include a shaking-head smiley, animals like a donkey, moose and a goose, and additional heart colors, including plain pink and light blue. The plain pink heart has been a long-sought emoji, according to Emojipedia, which named it one of the site’s top emoji requests in 2015. Last year’s significant emoji drop in iOS 15.4 included a melting face, a biting lip and a pregnant man, with 37 new designs in total.

Emojipedia said the new emoji came from Unicode’s September 2022 recommendation list, Emoji 15.0.

You can start using all the latest emoji and other new features, like voice isolation in phone calls, by downloading iOS 16.4 now.

For more, check out how to decipher each emoji and take a look at the emoji you may have missed with the release of iOS 15.4.

Here’s the complete list of new emoji in iOS 16.4

1. Shaking Face
2. Pink Heart
3. Light Blue Heart
4. Grey Heart
5. Donkey
6. Moose
7. Goose
8. Wing
9. Jellyfish
10. Hyacinth
11. Pea Pod
12. Ginger
13. Folding Hand Fan
14. Hair Pick
15. Flute
16. Maracas
17. Khanda
18. Wireless
19. Rightward Pushing Hand
20. Leftward Pushing Hand
21. Black Bird
22. Rightward Pushing Hand: Light Skin Tone
23. Rightward Pushing Hand: Medium-Light Skin Tone
24. Rightward Pushing Hand: Medium Skin Tone
25. Rightward Pushing Hand: Medium-Dark Skin Tone
26. Rightward Pushing Hand: Dark Skin Tone
27. Leftward Pushing Hand: Light Skin Tone
28. Leftward Pushing Hand: Medium-Light Skin Tone
29. Leftward Pushing Hand: Medium Skin Tone
30. Leftward Pushing Hand: Medium-Dark Skin Tone
31. Leftward Pushing Hand: Dark Skin Tone