Technologies
Amazon Knocks $300 Off the Previous-Gen Galaxy S22 Ultra
Up until last month, this was the most advanced phone in Samsung’s lineup, and right now you can get your hands on one for as little as $900.

Samsung last month released the Galaxy S23 lineup, the newest models in its flagship series, which means that right now is a great time to snag an older model if you don’t need absolutely the latest and greatest. The Galaxy S22 Ultra was the most advanced model of the previous generation, and right now at Amazon you can snag an unlocked 128GB model for as little as $900, saving you $300 compared to the usual price. You can also save $300 on the 256GB model or $304 on the 512GB model if you want some extra storage. There’s no telling how long these phones will remain discounted and in stock, so you may want to think about getting your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.
While it may be a generation old, the Galaxy S22 Ultra still comes packed full of powerful hardware. With an advanced Snapdragon 8 processor, as well as 5G connectivity, it boasts lightning-fast performance and load times. The 128GB version has 8GB of RAM, while the 256GB and 512GB models feature 12GB. The screen is a stunning 6.8-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and the embedded S Pen makes navigating and notetaking easier than ever. Aspiring photographers are sure to love the impressive 108-megapixel wide-angle rear camera, and it also boasts some truly impressive low-light shooting capabilities. It’s also fairly rugged, with a IP68 weather-resistance rating so it’s completely waterproof up to 1.5 meters, and a Gorilla Glass screen that’s resistant to scratches and dings. And it has impressive battery life, averaging about a day and a half of use during our tests, so you won’t have to worry about stopping to recharge in the middle of your day.
At $300 off for an unlocked model, this S22 Ultra deal is a great value, but you can also check out our roundup of all the best deals available on the new Galaxy S23 lineup for bargains on the latest models as well.
Technologies
You Can’t Trust Your Car’s Driving Assistance System Yet, AAA Report Finds
Both hands-on and hands-off systems required human intervention to avoid accidents in this study.
Technologies
Google’s AI Mode Is Getting New Agentic Features for Restaurant Reservations and More
AI Mode can now do most of the work to find dinner reservations for you.

Google’s AI Mode is getting new agentic capabilities and expanding to 180 new countries and territories around the world, Google announced Thursday. AI Mode allows you to ask questions directly to Google and it’ll kick off a series of searches on your behalf. From there, it will surface relevant information to your query without the need to do any of the deep research yourself. It changes the way you search for things online, and it’s getting even smarter with this latest rollout.
Powered by DeepMind’s Project Mariner, the latest additions bring us further into the agentic AI future we’ve been promised for some time, directly from a search box. Instead of just finding things for you, AI Mode can now do things for you, like finding dinner reservations, flights or concert tickets. The update also brings personalized recommendations and link-sharing capabilities for easier collaboration with friends and family.
Most of the new features are either limited to premium AI subscribers and tucked behind an experiment in Google Labs, but it might not take long before they’re a standard part of your future search experience.
Google did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for further comment.
Restaurant recommendations
Instead of searching for restaurant reservations and then clicking on a specific website to make a reservation, AI Mode surfaces everything you need to complete the action right there. Since it’s contextually aware, you can add specificities to your query that a typical Google search wouldn’t handle well.
You can add the type of cuisine, number of people, time and location to a single query, and AI Mode will get to work and display real-time restaurant reservation time slots to choose from.
Google says it’s partnered with OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Ticketmaster and several other companies to make finding and doing what you want easier, since you won’t have to put in the legwork yourself.
This feature is currently rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US who have enabled the specific experiment in Labs.
Personalized recommendations
Another experiment that’s currently available in the US (that also needs to be enabled in Labs) is personalized recommendations. Google says it’s starting with dining-related recommendations, which implies more options will be on the way in the future.
The experiment will use your past conversations with AI Mode, places you’ve interacted with on Search and Maps to provide suggestions tailored specifically to you.
Share AI Mode links with others for collaboration
If you’re planning a vacation or a party, you can now share your research directly with others with a new link-sharing feature built into AI Mode. People who interact with the link will be sent to the last response sent by AI Mode and can continue the conversation on their own to do more exploration on the topic. The original sender of the links can manage them and delete them at any time.
For more, don’t miss everything Google announced at its Pixel 10 event.
Technologies
IPhone or Android, Here’s How to Finally Escape That Endless Group Chat
Done with a group chat? Here’s how to ghost it on any service.

One reason people prefer group chats in Apple’s iMessage or RCS texting is the extra control and security these platforms provide. If everyone in your group is using iPhones, or if you’re on Android chatting through RCS, you’ll get features like typing indicators, high-quality media sharing, and the option to mute or leave a conversation when you need fewer notifications.
The biggest advantage is privacy. Both iMessage and RCS group chats offer end-to-end encryption, so your conversations stay secure. The only time that doesn’t apply is when a thread includes a mix of iPhone and Android users, which limits encryption support.
Knowing these differences can help you manage your chats more effectively, whether you’re keeping up with friends, planning events, or just looking for a little more control over your notifications.
And with RCS support with iOS 18, group chats that include a mix of iPhone and Android participants have more features than ever — but it’s not at the level you’ll experience when a conversation is fully on iMessage or Google Messages. «Green bubble chats» from an iPhone to an Android phone can now include typing indicators, higher-quality media and easier group chats.
However, RCS conversations between the iPhone and Android phones don’t include encryption now, but it should be added in a future update. This will hopefully give these conversations a similar level of privacy that we expect when using chat services like iMessage, WhatsApp or Signal.
Regardless of how you’re in a group chat with others, you can leave a chat. Here are the steps to leave any conversation from your phone’s texting app, regardless of whether it’s happening on iMessage, RCS or as a mixed MMS chat.
Leaving group chats on an iPhone
You can leave group conversations on your iPhone in two ways. You can either mute a chat,which keeps you in a conversation but you no longer receive notifications about it, or you can outright leave and no longer have access to the chat.
On an iPhone, open Messages and go to the chat thread you want to leave. At the top of the screen are conversation controls, a group of icons with the participants. Tap this to open a pop-up menu. As long as your conversation has four or more participants, iOS gives you the ability to tap Leave this Conversation with red text. If your chat has three or fewer participants, though, the option is grayed out, but you can tap Hide Alerts to prevent the conversation from notifying you further. Tapping Hide Alerts also allows you to mute a conversation, letting you keep access to a chat without necessarily leaving it. These steps apply to both iMessage conversations and to those over RCS.
Hide and block MMS chats on an iPhone
Although you can’t officially leave MMS group chats, you can hide or block the conversation. It’s not as good as outright leaving a conversation (other participants will still see you as in it), but you at least have no personal evidence of the conversation continuing.
On an iPhone, visit the group chat and tap the conversation controls. Instead of seeing Leave this conversation, you will see the option to Delete and Block this conversation. If you’d rather just mute the conversation instead of deleting and blocking it, you can hit Hide Alerts to mute it.
Leave group chats on an Android phone
On an Android phone using Google Messages, visit the chat thread you want to leave. Tap the conversation’s name to bring up the Group Details menu. Within this menu is the Leave Group button. Unlike with iMessage, you can leave chats with as few as three participants.
If you want to just mute notifications, tap Notifications on the Group Details screen to bring up a window with notifications controls. This includes options to make the conversation stay Silent to prevent it from ringing your chat, and if you tap Lock Screen, a pop-up menu will give you the option to prevent notifications. Tap Don’t show notifications at all to enable.
Hide and block MMS chats on an Android phone
On an Android phone with Google Messages, follow the same steps to access options for controlling notifications. This includes visiting the MMS chat thread and then tapping either the name of the conversation or the names of the participants at the top to bring up the Group Details menu. You won’t see a Leave Group option like you did with an RCS thread, but you do get the same ability to tap Notifications to access controls for hiding the conversation. This includes the same options for turning the conversation to Silent and to select Don’t show notifications at all.
SMS vs. MMS vs. RCS
SMS stands for Short Message Service and debuted in 1992. Text messages are limited to 160 characters. MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service and supports sending photos, videos or other files and messages longer than 160 characters. MMS supports a group of people chatting in a single conversation thread, while SMS can text multiple people at once but is sent as individual messages to each person. RCS, which launched 15 years ago, is short for Rich Communication Services and can show typing indicators, read receipts and has end-to-end encryption.
While cross-platform chat apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram have better controls for conversations, encryption and privacy, regardless of the type of phone participants are using, they don’t support SMS, MMS or RCS. That’s why the default messaging app on most phones is still widely used, even if it means that a group chat is on a less feature-filled, unsecured standard like MMS.
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