Technologies

I Just Posted to Instagram Using Only an AI Agent. I’m Not Sure I Would Again

At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii,, I got a glimpse of how I’ll interact with my phone in the future. Unfortunately, the future is not quite ready for us yet.

The big promise of AI agents is that they’ll be able to handle tasks for you — using their knowledge and understanding of you and what’s stored in your phone to suggest, predict and automate what you need, to ease the burden on you.

For the most part, the situations in which we’d use AI agents in our day-to-day lives have so far been largely hypothetical. But at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, I got a first-hand look at how we might use an agent to complete a routine task: uploading content to social media.

Using a prototype phone packing Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, I asked the device, using my voice, to find all pictures of beaches stored in the Photos app. A large language model (LLM) running on the device picked up what I was saying and interacted with a vision model that classifies all the photos on the phone. It pulled up two options.

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«I like the second option,» I told the agent. «Please post it to Instagram with the hashtag #lovethecolor.» Without my touching the screen, the agent opened the Instagram app on the phone and posted the photo as a Reel (which is what it had been preprogrammed to do). Again, the LLM kicked in, but rather than sending a command to the photo classifier, this time it sent the command to the Instagram API.

After posting, the agent also asked me if I’d like to check for new comments. I’m pretty sure this is what notifications are for, but this was just an example to show how proactive the agent was able to be.

In fact, the whole demo was just an example of how an agent could assist you in your daily phone business. In the US, most social platforms, including Instagram, don’t currently allow access to their APIs that would make this process possible. Qualcomm built the demo together with AI company ModelBest and is going to launch it in China on the popular social site Weibo.

After my demo, I’m not in a particular rush to engage the services of an agent to upload to Instagram for me. I appreciated the image classification tool most of all, since being able to describe a photo in your camera roll to post rather than having to scroll to find it was a definite time saver. But posting to Instagram is already a pretty slick and seamless process that I’m not sure warrants automating.

I’d also want the option to post to either Stories, Reels or the main grid, and give more complex instructions about editing, filters and captions before I’d be willing to hand over the reins to an agent.

For now, I’m happy to continue uploading to Instagram under my own steam, but I’m keen to see how agentic AI evolves to be able to handle more complex tasks and commands over time.

Qualcomm and many other tech companies are convinced that agents are gradually going to become the de facto way we interact with our technology. The jury’s still out for me, but I’ll keep an open mind.

Technologies

A Burner Phone Is Your Best Defense Against Border Searches. Here’s What to Know.

Find out why even a locked phone is not safe from border patrol searches and how a burner phone is the best solution.

Crossing the border can be extremely stressful. And now your phone adds another layer. According to new figures from US Customs and Border Protection, nearly 15,000 device searches were carried out between April and June — over 1,000 of them using advanced tools that copy or analyze a phone’s contents. The rising numbers raise questions about how much personal data travelers may be handing over without realizing it.

The answer? Buying a burner phone. It can keep you connected for calls and texts while limiting the amount of personal information stored on it. It’s not just about crossing borders either — having a stripped-down device can help cut screen time, reduce distractions and give you a mental break from constant notifications.

Even celebrities have embraced the switch. Conan O’Brien has said that carrying a simpler phone helps him stay focused, proving that sometimes less really is more. If your smartphone feels like it holds too much of your life, scaling back — whether for travel or everyday use — might be worth considering.

Read more: Best Prepaid Phone of 2025

Although carriers have offered prepaid phones since the ’90s, «burner phones» or «burners» became more popular in the 2000s following the celebrated HBO series The Wire, where they helped characters avoid getting caught by the police. Though often portrayed in that light, burners aren’t only used by criminals, but really by anyone concerned with surveillance or privacy infringement.

What is a burner phone, and how does it work? Here’s everything you need to know about burners and how to get one.

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What is a burner phone?

A burner phone is a cheap prepaid phone with no commitments. It comes with a set number of prepaid call minutes, text messages or data, and it’s designed to be disposed of after use.

Burners are contract-free, and you can grab them off the counter. They’re called burner phones because you can «burn» them (trash them after use), and the phone can’t be traced back to you, which makes them appealing to criminals. Burner phones are typically used when you need a phone quickly, without intentions of long-term usage.

Burners are different from getting a regular, contract-bound cellphone plans that require your information to be on file.

Why should you use a burner phone?

Burner phones are an easy way to avoid cellphone contracts or spam that you get on your primary phone number. Burners aren’t linked to your identity, so you can avoid being tracked down or contacted.

You don’t have to dispose of a burner phone after use. You can add more minutes and continue using it. Burner phones can still function as regular phones, minus the hassle of a contract.

You can also get a burner phone as a secondary phone for a specific purpose, like having a spare phone number for two-factor authentication texts, for business or to avoid roaming charges while traveling. Burner phones are often used by anyone concerned with privacy.

Read more: The Data Privacy Tips Digital Security Experts Wish You Knew

Burner phones, prepaid phones, smartphones and burner SIMs: What’s the difference?

Burner phones are cheap phones with simple designs that lack the bells and whistles of a smartphone. Because they’re designed to be disposable, you only get the essentials, as seen by the most common version, the flip phone.

All burner phones are prepaid phones, but not all prepaid phones are burners. What sets a burner apart is that you won’t have to give away any personal information to get one, and it won’t be traceable back to you. Again, a burner phone is cheap enough to be destroyed after use.

Prepaid smartphones are generally low-end models. You can use any unlocked smartphone with prepaid SIM cards, essentially making it a prepaid phone.

If you want a burner, you don’t necessarily have to buy a new phone. You can get a burner SIM and use it with an existing phone. Burner SIMs are prepaid SIMs you can get without a contract or giving away personal information.

Where can you buy a burner phone?

Burner phones are available at all major retail outlets, including Best Buy, Target and Walmart. They’re also often available at convenience stores like 7-Eleven, local supermarkets, gas stations and retail phone outlets like Cricket and Metro.

You can get a burner phone with cash, and it should cost between $10 and $50, though it may cost more if you get more minutes and data. If you’re getting a burner phone specifically to avoid having the phone traced back to you, it makes sense to pay with cash instead of a credit card.

If you just want a prepaid secondary phone, you can use a credit card. Just keep in mind that credit cards leave a trail that leads back to you.

There are also many apps that let you get secondary phone numbers, including Google Fi and the Burner app. However, these aren’t burners necessarily because the providers typically have at least some of your personal information.

If you’re just looking to get a solid prepaid phone without anonymity, check out our full guide for the best prepaid phone plans available. We also have a guide for the best cheap phone plans.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Sept. 28

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 28.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Wow, 1-Across was tricky today. In short, «chicken» doesn’t always refer to the bird. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Make chicken?
Answer: SCARE

6A clue: Stretchy glove material
Answer: LATEX

7A clue: Island that’s the «A» of the so-called ABC Islands
Answer: ARUBA

8A clue: Gently play, as a guitar
Answer: STRUM

9A clue: Helpful link for a daily Spelling Bee solver
Answer: HINTS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: What’s typed instead of a question mark if you forget to press shift
Answer: SLASH

2D clue: Rapper Playboi ___
Answer: CARTI

3D clue: Take ___ for the worse
Answer: ATURN

4D clue: Make a counterargument against
Answer: REBUT

5D clue: Midterms and finals
Answer: EXAMS

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 28, #840

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Sept. 28, #840.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has one category that could actually go into the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle. And the yellow category, which is supposed to be the easiest, was a stumper for me. If you need help, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Support.

Green group hint: Be careful on your computer.

Blue group hint: Blow a bubble.

Purple group hint: Are you ready for some football?