Personal Technology

Apple earbuds and others can help you hear dining companions. Here’s how to use them.

By Pete Wells

The detention of Telegram’s founder has highlighted the messaging app’s outsize status in Europe’s deadliest war since World War II.

By Anatoly Kurmanaev

Try this short quiz on popular fiction that has been transformed into interactive adventures.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

Apple, Microsoft and Google need more access to our data as they promote new phones and personal computers that are powered by artificial intelligence. Should we trust them?

By Brian X. Chen

Apple and Google are getting up close and personal with user data to craft memos, summarize documents and generate images.

By Brian X. Chen

Everyday tools and free apps on your mobile device can help you collect, translate and digitize new material for your family-tree files.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

OpenAI released GPT-4o, its latest chatbot technology, in a partly finished state. It has much to prove.

By Brian X. Chen

Cable cars are still trundling up the city’s hills, but robotaxis from Waymo are shaping up as the city’s latest must-do for visitors.

By Lauren Sloss

Google and Samsung used to update smartphone software for only three years. That has changed.

By Brian X. Chen

Travel-focused A.I. bots and more eco-friendly transportation options in online maps and search tools can help you quickly organize your seasonal getaway.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

The horror video game Content Warning, a surprise hit, lets players microdose as momentary celebrities on the fictional website SpookTube.

By Kieran Press-Reynolds

Meta, Google and others are driving a renaissance for voice assistants, but people have found the technology uncool for more than a decade.

By Brian X. Chen

Despite Mark Zuckerberg’s hope for the chatbot to be the smartest, it struggles with facts, numbers and web search.

By Brian X. Chen

It doesn’t take a lot of work to keep copies of your phone’s photos, videos and other files stashed securely in case of an emergency.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

The $700 Ai Pin, funded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Microsoft, can be helpful — until it struggles with tasks like doing math and crafting sandwich recipes.

By Brian X. Chen and Andri Tambunan

Even if you manage to ditch your iPhone, Apple’s hooks are still there.

By Brian X. Chen

What happens when a columnist and a reporter use A.I. glasses to scan groceries, monuments and zoo animals? Hilarity, wonder and lots of mistakes ensued.

By Brian X. Chen and Mike Isaac

Roku recently changed its policy to make it even harder for customers to take legal action. It’s a reminder of how we need to protect ourselves.

By Brian X. Chen

The latest smartphone software includes tools to help you more easily connect with the people you want to contact — and avoid those you don’t.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

A wallet-free lifestyle relying on your phone is attainable, but it requires preparation and some compromise.

By Brian X. Chen and Yiwen Lu

Canceling is simple. The tough part is remembering to do it.

By Brian X. Chen

Retro-photography apps that mimic the appearance of analog film formats make your digital files seem like they’re from another era.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

Billed as the future of computing, the $3,500 goggles can’t replace a laptop for work. At times, wearing them also made our columnist feel nauseated.

By Brian X. Chen

Videos, many of them stunts or jokes, of people wearing Apple’s new virtual reality headset while driving Teslas in Autopilot mode prompted officials to issue warnings.

By Jesus Jiménez

The new headset teaches a valuable lesson about the cost of tech products: The upsells and add-ons will get you.

By Brian X. Chen

The music-streaming platform’s new “daylist” feature serves users three personalized playlists a day, with titles ranging from quirky to bewildering.

By Frank Rojas

Starting with Google Glass, all have been plagued with the same issues, even as Apple plunges into the market with its Vision Pro.

By Brian X. Chen

Hunching over a device can mess with your gait, slow you down and poison your mood. And that’s before you trip and fall.

By Markham Heid

Google’s Routines and Apple’s Shortcuts combine multiple steps into one command to make your phone or tablet do more of the work for you.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

People who subscribe to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus service will be able to browse the new store for tailored chatbots that perform different tasks.

By Cade Metz

The best tech, from universal power charging to foldable phones, solved practical problems. But the worst tech, including self-driving cars and cryptocurrency, put us in harm’s way.

By Brian X. Chen

After misplacing his iPhone while returning a rental car, a traveler tracked down the device and presented strong evidence to the agency that a worker took it — to no avail.

By Seth Kugel

Overwhelmed by apps, profiles and not-quite-matches? Here’s how to start the new year fresh.

By Catherine Pearson

As the year winds down, take the time to explore iOS 17 and Android 14 with new wallpaper and widgets or by creating a digital diary.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

With Shopify, Mercari and other retailers rolling out chatbots to help buyers, this holiday shopping season is the first to be powered by A.I.

By Yiwen Lu

Meta’s $300 smart glasses look cool but lack a killer app, and they offer a glimpse into a future with even less privacy and more distraction.

By Brian X. Chen

While texting technology will soon get better, the “blue versus green bubble” disparity is far from over.

By Brian X. Chen

We are overpaying for phone plans from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. Budget wireless services, similarly fast and robust, can save thousands.

By Brian X. Chen

Meta’s rival to Twitter will now offer users — who signed up in droves at its launch — the option to delete.

By Isabella Kwai

A first impression of Humane’s new magnetic Ai Pin: equal parts magical and awkward.

By Erin Griffith

The so-called iPhone giveaways marketed by Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T can make customers spend more on perks they don’t need.

By Brian X. Chen

With a free library card and the right app, you can check out e-books, audiobooks and more from your local branch.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

MyShake, an earthquake alerts app created to give people a few seconds’ warning before dangerous shaking, sent a test seven hours early on Thursday.

By Amanda Holpuch

Google’s new $700 Pixel 8 lets you use artificial intelligence to add or remove elements from your images. It’s not clear we really need this.

By Brian X. Chen

For a decade, marketers have found success on social media by roasting customers, and even flirting with them. But with Gen Z, and platforms like TikTok on the rise, the jokes may be wearing thin.

By Sopan Deb

The right hardware and software — combined with time to learn — can improve the soundtrack in your videos, podcasts and other creative endeavors.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

The new $500 headset lets people see the outside world while immersed in virtual reality. The benefits are to be determined.

By Brian X. Chen

Google says a change takes just a few steps, but a panel of designers found otherwise. The issue is at the heart of a federal antitrust trial.

By Brian X. Chen

As texting continues to be central to our social circles, the name and image attached are often more considered than the messages themselves.

By Alyson Krueger

The dream of carrying one power cable for all your devices is becoming a reality. But things aren’t as simple as they sound.

By Brian X. Chen

Apps that offer short lessons in various subjects can help get the most out of your time whether you’re waiting for a train or a meeting.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

El consumo de video cambia de las salas de cine hacia un contenido comprimido para dispositivos pequeños, y lograr que los diálogos sean nítidos se ha convertido en un gran reto para el mundo del entretenimiento.

By Brian X. Chen

Many of us stream shows and movies with the subtitles on all the time — and not because it’s cool.

By Brian X. Chen

A Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer shares tips on how to use your smartphone to shoot, arrange and edit your landscapes, portraits and other travel photos.

By James Hill

The mobile wallet service is a cautionary tale of how apps born at least a decade ago may be exposing more information than you would like.

By Brian X. Chen

If you have a story you want to share, you can easily publish your work in popular electronic bookstores — and maybe even make a little money.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

To mitigate the production and spread of misinformation from chatbots, we can steer them toward high-quality data.

By Brian X. Chen

One of us is a Twitter addict; the other not so much. In the end, we were both unsure how people might use Threads in the long run.

By Brian X. Chen and Mike Isaac

Graphs, maps and data analyses? Now ChatGPT can do even more.

By Yiwen Lu

Instagram’s new app was downloaded more than 30 million times in 16 hours. Twitter threatened legal action against its rival.

By Mike Isaac

Here’s what to know about Instagram’s new app for public conversations and how it differs from Twitter.

By Mike Isaac

This season has seen excessive heat, violent storms and hazardous smoke already, but you can prepare for future events with a few apps and tools.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

Google’s new $1,800 gadget proves that phones with bendable screens are something people might want. Now they just need to get cheaper.

By Brian X. Chen

The obscure term was recently used by the world’s most valuable company in a product launch, probably in hopes that it inspires, rather than answers, questions.

By Sarah Kessler

Hotels and airlines struggling to recoup their losses from the pandemic have been including more hidden charges. Don’t fall for them.

By Brian X. Chen

Volunteer moderators closed off access to numerous subreddits and denounced the platform’s pricing plan for developers of popular outside apps used to navigate the site.

By Michael Levenson

I briefly got my hands on Apple’s new high-tech goggles, which impressed and creeped me out and raised a question: Why do we need these?

By Brian X. Chen

An A.I.-powered version of Photoshop and the image generator Midjourney live up to the hype.

By Brian X. Chen

Alternative apps and shared photo albums let you set up your own exclusive club for online conversations and digital pictures.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

Concerned parents have many tools, including free software from Apple and Google, to actively oversee how children use their tech.

By Brian X. Chen

OpenAI is aiming to build on the popularity of its chatbot with a smartphone app that responds to voice prompts.

By Cade Metz

Google’s latest entry-level phone, which costs $500, is just as good as devices nearly double its price.

By Brian X. Chen

Summer is the season where romantic encounters heat up. Some singles are logging off to see what’s out there.

By Gina Cherelus

As head of public relations, she worked closely with Steve Jobs, the company’s visionary chief executive, to spread the word about products like the iMac and the iPhone.

By Richard Sandomir

Photo apps have been using artificial intelligence for years to give you control over the look of your images. Here’s how to take advantage of that.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

Pi, an A.I. tool that debuted this week, is a twist on the new wave of chatbots: It assists people with their wellness and emotions.

By Erin Griffith

A.I. entrepreneur Gary Marcus thinks the technology is too important to cede to corporate control.

By David Marchese

Facebook, TikTok and Twitter seem to be increasingly connecting users with brands and influencers. To restore a sense of community, some users are trying smaller social networks.

By Brian X. Chen

An Apple Watch or a Garmin can draw incorrect conclusions about your health, but the broad trends may be more valuable than the numbers.

By Brian X. Chen

Nearly six months after buying Twitter, Mr. Musk has made tweaks that have altered what people see on the platform and how they interact with it.

By Kate Conger

David was passionate, courteous and (artificially) intelligent.

By Anita M. Harris

Many apps and tools for online collaboration work just as well for personal projects as they do for office tasks, and can be fun.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

La tecnología eSIM, versión digital de la tarjeta SIM, está destinada a convertirse en la predominante. Este es un buen momento para hacer la transición.

By Brian X. Chen

He wrote a program that allowed people to buy and sell stocks on their home computers and co-founded a company that reaped its benefits.

By Sam Roberts

Elon Musk, Twitter’s owner, is changing the platform’s longstanding practice of verifying accounts. That has implications for a range of users.

By Brian X. Chen and Ryan Mac

A first-generation Apple smartphone is going up for auction.

By Jacob Bernstein

Google’s Bard chatbot fared far worse than OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but human assistants might soon be out of their jobs.

By Brian X. Chen

The digital version of the SIM card, included on many newer phones, is set to become prevalent. It also offers affordable cellular data abroad.

By Brian X. Chen

Artificial intelligence can make adults nervous, but experts say exploring it as a family is the best way to understand its pros and cons.

By Christina Caron

The virtual assistants had more than a decade to become indispensable. But they were hampered by clunky design and miscalculations, leaving room for chatbots to rise.

By Brian X. Chen, Nico Grant and Karen Weise

If you haven’t used some of your phone’s preloaded programs in years, the software may surprise you with updated or hidden features.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

Teenagers and young adults are flummoxed. The reason it keeps happening involves an online prompt and product design.

By Kalley Huang and Sheera Frenkel

Lawmakers in numerous countries have expressed concerns that TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, may expose sensitive user data.

By Sapna Maheshwari and Amanda Holpuch

Payment apps and touch screens have made it easy for merchants to ask us for preset gratuity amounts. We don’t need to succumb to the pressure.

By Brian X. Chen

Hint: Tackle your photos last.

By Jancee Dunn

Elon Musk was right: Text messages are not the most secure way to protect your account.

By Brian X. Chen

No, chatbots aren’t sentient. Here’s how their underlying technology works.

By Cade Metz

Sony’s new $550 headset offers best-in-class virtual reality gaming, but it’s still hard to see why we need V.R. goggles at all.

By Brian X. Chen

You may never have to deal with a missing device, but planning ahead with a few simple steps can make it easier if disaster strikes.

By J. D. Biersdorfer

Cada vez hay más sitios web y aplicaciones que piden este dato para acceder a ellos. Así pueden rastrear tu actividad y perfilar tus intereses. Te explicamos cómo evitar dejar un rastro de migajas digitales.

By Brian X. Chen