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  • Report: Samsung Inspired by Apple, Testing Return of Variable Aperture for Camera System

    Report: Samsung Inspired by Apple, Testing Return of Variable Aperture for Camera System

    Samsung is reported to be testing the return of a variable aperture for its camera system, supposedly taking inspiration from Apple that is said to include it on the iPhone 18 Pro. The funny part, Samsung has utilized a two-stage aperture in the past, last found on the Galaxy 10 series.

    On recent phones, software has handled a lot of the aperture’s job, but is significantly limited in comparison to what a mechanical variable aperture can deliver. The aperture controls the amount of light that reaches a camera’s sensor, but also plays into controlling the depth of field. Any amount of enhanced control over a camera’s aperture is a good thing for people who enjoy mobile photography.

    Testing is said to be in early development, so we likely won’t see it on the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. Samsung is reported to have requested variable aperture technology from multiple camera module partners, including but probably not limited to Samsung Electro-Mechanics and MCNEX.

    If Samsung plans to adopt, this is something that the company would most likely highlight ahead of any announcement. For example, when it launches new camera sensors, the company releases press material to help showcase what its next-gen phones will utilize. The reintroduction of a variable aperture would certainly be newsworthy once Samsung’s decision is finalized.

    Bring it on, Samsung.

    // etnews

  • Fitbit’s New Personal Health Coach Arrives on iOS

    Fitbit’s New Personal Health Coach Arrives on iOS

    In October of last year, Fitbit began rolling out its new Personal Health Coach to Premium subscribers on Android in a Public Preview, giving them an initial taste of what the future of Fitbit could look like. Google and Fitbit were betting big on the idea that people looking to stay healthy might want help from an AI assistant that they could regularly check-in with in order to reach goals.

    This new AI coach was supposed to arrive for iOS users “soon” following that Android launch, but we’ve gone months without seeing that access and even entered a new year. Today, that changes and iOS users will get a fresh look at an AI personal coach over the next few days.

    Fitbit shared the news today, saying that iOS users will need a Fitbit Premium subscription to give the Personal Health Coach a spin. They’ll find access by opening their Fitbit app and looking for an invitation from the Today screen or within Account Settings.

    What does the new Fitbit Personal Health Coach look like? You can see the refreshed design in the screenshots below. After testing it for several weeks when it first launched, what I can tell you is that you really have to buy into this personal coach companion. To get the most out of it, you’ll want to regularly check-in, have short conversations with the coach, tell it how you are feeling or how workouts went or if you are injured or why you missed a session or slept poorly. It wants to know everything so that it can fine-tune your schedule and continue to help you reach goals.

    It is very much a different experience from the regular Fitbit app, so there’s a chance you’ll hate it. You can always switch off of the preview to go back to the standard Fitbit experience. The coach is also missing a bunch of features, so if you see something on Google’s list that you need, maybe now isn’t the time to give it a try,

    New Fitbit App - Personal Health Coach

    Google also shared that users in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore should start to see access too.

  • Verizon’s Best Unlimited Plan

    Verizon’s Best Unlimited Plan

    2026 is going to be a big year for Verizon. After appointing a new CEO and then laying off a huge chunk of staff, they will set course to become “simpler, leaner, and scrappier.” New CEO Dan Schulman admitted in his first days that Verizon had “relied too heavily on price increases” and that his goal now was to create the “best overall value proposition” in the industry. Yes, Verizon is about to fight in the value space after spending decades in the premium space.

    While the promises from a new CEO are always vague and rarely share the true plan, we’ve already seen rewards return for loyal customers and a big promotion during the holidays that freaked out the Wall Street crowd. Verizon is looking like a company preparing for big moves and we’ll be ready to share those as they happen.

    But since we live in the now and have a new year upon us, we understand that you may be looking to find a new unlimited data plan through Verizon today. New years mean new changes for so many, so let’s talk about Verizon’s best unlimited plan.

    Best Verizon Unlimited Plan

    Again, we expect Verizon to make moves this year, but at the moment, they still have their myPlan plans available in 3 flavors. They also offer prepaid options that come in “unlimited” and could be the better option for some. We’ll talk about those in a separate post.

    Verizon’s current line-up of postpaid plans (the top plans that will get you deals on phones) includes Unlimited Ultimate, Unlimited Plus, and Unlimited Welcome. If you only need a single line, prices for those (in order) are $80, $70, and $55 per month (plus taxes and fees). If you need 4 lines, current promotions get you those for $50, $40, or $25 per line per month.

    Best Verizon Unlimited Plans

    Verizon Unlimited Plan Recap

    In the image above, the features are all laid out for each plan. Unlimited Ultimate gives you the most features, including access to Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network (their best and fastest), “unlimited” use of mobile hotspot (it’s really a 200GB cap), unlimited data/talk/text when traveling internationally, a slightly higher tier of upgrades, and 50% discounts on 2 accessory plans for tablets or watches. But look, if you don’t travel internationally on a regular basis, you are paying more for stuff you aren’t using.

    Unlimited Plus offers access to Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network, 30GB of hotspot use, phone upgrade deals, and a 50% discount on 1 smartwatch or tablet plan. You are only missing the international features.

    Finally, you also have Unlimited Welcome, but it can’t access 5G Ultra Wideband or hotspot. Your network experience will not be the best. This is a plan to avoid unless you are on a super limited budget and also need phone upgrades. But honestly, if your budget is this limited, you would be better off on a prepaid plan where you’ll get more for the price.

    All of Verizon’s unlimited plans come with Mexico & Canada talk/text/data, international texting, and Call Filter spam blocker.

    Verizon myPlan Perks

    Part of the sales pitch for myPlan plans is Verizon’s perks system. These are add-ons for your plan that mostly cost an extra $10 or $15 per month on top of your plan’s price. You can add things like the Disney bundle or Apple One or YouTube Premium or TravelPass Days. For services like the Disney+ or Netflix+HBO bundle, Verizon is giving you a discount because you are adding it through them.

    Depending on your need for streaming services, Verizon’s myPlan plans could save you money. For example, the Disney+ bundle is currently $10 cheaper through Verizon. Apple One is $5 cheaper, while YouTube Premium is $4 cheaper. So if you are wanting a Verizon Unlimited plan and also currently pay for those types of services, switching them over to Verizon could save you on subscription fees.

    Which is the best Verizon plan?

    For most people, Verizon Unlimited Plus is going to be the best option.

    This plan has everything you’ll need and none of the fluff. You get access to Verizon’s best network, tons of hotspot data (30GB), phone upgrades, and 50% off a smartwatch or tablet plan. If you end up traveling internationally, you can always add on their daily travel passes or pick-up a local SIM in the country you visit. But for those who stick around the US the majority of the time, Verizon Unlimited Plus gets you all of the data and network access you could need, as well as the option to add on perks.

    Sign-up for Verizon Unlimited


    UPDATE FEBRUARY 10 – ADDED AT&T’S BEST PLAN.

  • T-Mobile’s Best Unlimited Plan

    T-Mobile’s Best Unlimited Plan

    Both T-Mobile and AT&T have seen several years in a row of steady customer growth, likely because of improvements to their networks and the value customers must see in their plans. For T-Mobile, a semi-recent switch to “Experience” plans brought a shake-up to their approach that kept many of the add-ons or bonuses, but now no longer includes taxes and fees in the plan pricing. Figuring out a best T-Mobile unlimited plan used to be so easy. For 2026, I wouldn’t exactly call their plan line-up “easy” to understand.

    So we’ll dive into which T-Mobile unlimited plan might be the best for most people, but keep in mind that we might end up with a couple of difference choices depending on number of lines and whether or not you think you need bonus freebies included or you just want a standard plan with lots of data.

    Best T-Mobile Unlimited Plan

    When it comes to plan options, T-Mobile has more than anybody and I’m not actually sure if that’s a good thing. Not that choice is bad, this is all sort of confusing because so many plans are so similar, yet the pricing is not or the number of lines dictates whether or not you can even choose one. To be honest, it’s kind of a mess.

    As of today, there are six (6!) different unlimited plans to choose from at T-Mobile: Better Value, Experience Beyond, Experience More, Essentials, Essentials Saver, and Essentials “4 Line Offer.” What you have from T-Mobile is 2 categories of plans. You have the plans with tons of add-ons and bonuses and then the absolute bare bones offerings.

    T-Mobile Unlimited Plan Recap

    When choosing a T-Mobile plan, you need to decide if you need add-ons as a part of your plan or if you just need data. Choosing between those two paths at least gets you started.

    If you choose plans with add-ons, then you look at Better Value, Experience Beyond, and Experience More.

    [table id=250 /]

    And for the Essentials plans, there are 3 in total, but the Essentials Saver plan is only available to those with 1-2 lines. If you have more, you’d go with the other Essentials plans.

    [table id=251 /]

    Which is the best T-Mobile plan?

    As you have now seen, T-Mobile has a lot of plans and several of them include requirements that might not even make them an option for you. It is not easy to choose from just one plan as the “best” overall. Do you only need 1 or 2 lines? Maybe you have 3-4? Do you need to upgrade every year? Maybe you need streaming services bundled or maybe you just need some data? Lots of choices here.

    Here’s the thing – there is no best T-Mobile unlimited plan. Their plans have been designed to be confusing and the plan you should choose really comes down to your very specific situation. I know that’s not the answer you wanted from me, but there are too many situations here for me to tell you a blanket statement on the best plan.

    For example, someone needing 3+ lines and that likes to have streaming services bundled into their wireless plan should probably go with the new Better Value plan, unless you need to be able to upgrade easily each year. Then you would go with Experience Beyond, because it includes better deals on yearly upgrades. That yearly upgrade perk is going to cost you a lot, though.

    If you only need 1-2 lines and want streaming services bundled, Experience More is probably the best choice, but again, only if you are cool with the 2-year upgrade cycle. Only Experience Beyond does the yearly deals on upgrades at a large per month cost.

    For those who just need a basic plan with data, Essentials Saver is the clear choice if you only need 1-2 lines. However, at 3 lines you can only choose Essentials, but then at 4 lines you get a $5 discount by taking the special “Essentials 4 Line Offer.”

    Apologies for this not being a clear cut answer, but this is the T-Mobile way in 2026.

    Sign-up for T-Mobile Unlimited

    READ: Verizon’s Best Plan | AT&T’s Best Plan


    UPDATE FEBRUARY 10 – ADDED AT&T’S BEST PLAN.

  • YouTube TV Gets Flexible, Intros Sports Plan for $65/Mo and More

    YouTube TV Gets Flexible, Intros Sports Plan for $65/Mo and More

    YouTube TV is becoming more flexible for subscribers, allowing you to essentially pick and choose what your money gets you. A YouTube TV plan is currently $82.99/mo for 100+ networks across genres. In the coming weeks, YouTube TV will introduce 10+ plans across varying genres, offering you a way to get what you want and pay less each month.

    A prime example is the Sports Plan, priced at $65/mo. Listed at $18 cheaper per month, users get access to FS1, NBC Sports, all of ESPN, and ESPN Unlimited when it’s available in the fall. At $11 cheaper than the standard plan, there’s the Sports + News Plan. For those not interested in sports, the Entertainment Plan is $55/mo and gets you Comedy Central, FX, Paramount, Food Network, HGTV, and more.

    These are some of the YouTube TV options moving forward.

    • Sports Plan ($64.99/month, or $54.99/month for new users*): At $18 lower than the YouTube TV main plan, the Sports Plan gives fans access to all the major broadcasters as well as sports networks like FS1, NBC Sports Network, all of the ESPN networks, and ESPN Unlimited (coming this fall).
    • Sports + News Plan ($71.99/month, or $56.99/month for new users**): Priced $11 lower than the main YouTube TV plan, get everything in the Sports Plan plus your national news, with networks such as CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, in addition to CSPAN, Bloomberg, and Fox Business.
    • Entertainment Plan ($54.99/month, or $44.99/month for new users**): For the cinephiles and comedy buffs, the Entertainment Plan includes all your major broadcasters and content, ranging from FX dramas to Hallmark classics, with channels such as Comedy Central, Bravo, Paramount, Food Network, HGTV, and many more, all for $28 lower than the main plan.
    • News + Entertainment + Family Plan ($69.99/month, or $59.99/month for new users**): For $13 lower than the main plan, bundle your news and entertainment with content for families, such as Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, PBS Kids, and more.

    The main YouTube TV plan ($82.99/month w/100+ networks across genres) will remain our most comprehensive offering.

    And before you ask, all of the usual YouTube TV features will be available to all plans (cloud DVR, multiview, etc.), plus any plan will be able to have add-ons, such as NFL RedZone, HBO Max, etc. The only real change is that you can start saving some money each month on YouTube TV, which is awesome.

    This seems like a very positive move, yes?

    // YouTube TV

  • Monday Question: Are You Paying for a Music Streaming Service?

    Monday Question: Are You Paying for a Music Streaming Service?

    Apple Music. Spotify. YouTube Music. Pandora. Amazon Music. In 2026, there are plenty of music streaming services to choose from, and if you aren’t using the same one as your friend group, sharing tunes can be a little difficult and maybe even downright embarrassing.

    When someone links me to Spotify, I have to search for the song on YouTube Music, the service that I subscribe to. And if I want to share a song, because I know that most folks (the “cool” ones, at least) have Spotify, I go into the Spotify app, find the song, copy the share link, and then send it over. It’s a time consuming process, but it really spares me the potential embarrassment of telling people that I don’t use Spotify. The embarrassment is all on my part, but at least I know we all feel the same way when someone links any of us to Amazon Music. I mean, what a weirdo, am I right? Just kidding, friends.

    Here’s my mbillion dollar idea: All of these apps link to a universal song URL, accessible via all of the major music streaming services. You hit the link and it takes you to your music service of choice. No more individual links to each separate platform. I’m no programmer or engineer, so I don’t know how the logistics of that will work. I’m simply the idea guy and I’m still looking for my Wozniak. Let’s make it happen.

    But back to the question. Are you paying for a music streaming service, and if so, which one? I want to say we’ll see a lot of YouTube Music love in here, but I won’t be shocked if Spotify wins.

  • YouTube Music Lyrics Feature Now Behind Premium Paywall

    YouTube Music Lyrics Feature Now Behind Premium Paywall

    Bad news, non-Premium subscribers who use YouTube Music — the lyrics tab is officially behind a paywall.

    The feature, if you haven’t used it before, has the lyrics scroll automatically as the song plays for you. It’s helpful if you’re jamming some karaoke or just can’t understand what the artist is saying. This move has been in testing for a while from YouTube Music, but it’s still disappointing to see it officially here and staying.

    Here’s what you’ll see in the Lyrics tab after the change if you aren’t subscribed to YouTube Premium.

    Worst case scenario, you can simply Google the lyrics to any song you want, but still, this isn’t ideal. We can’t imagine this specific feature being the thing that would get folks to subscribe to Premium, so why even put it behind a paywall?

    // reddit

  • ChatGPT Gets Ads Starting Today

    ChatGPT Gets Ads Starting Today

    If you caught the “Big Game” last night, you might’ve seen a few ads that teased the fact that OpenAI will begin testing ads inside of your ChatGPT sessions starting today. While OpenAI CEO Sam Altman labels the ads as “deceptive” in a lengthy post on X, logged in users and people subscribe to the Go tier will begin to see “clearly labeled” ads at the bottom of their chats.

    While the company says that it will keep your conversations private from advertisers, it’s noted that ads will be optimized, “based on what’s most helpful to you,” but overall your ChatGPT experience (aka the answers you receive) won’t be impacted by ads.

    In other ChatGPT news, an internal memo sent out by Altman says that the company intends to launch an updated chat model this week. If you’re a ChatGPT user, maybe that will make up for the inclusion of ads?

    Someone ask the ChatGPT bot what it thinks about ads coming to the platform.

    // CNBC | The Verge