MakeUseOf

After hands-on time with Googlebooks, I understand why Google is excited — and why buyers might hesitate

Brady Snyder — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:15 GMT

We're right in the middle of a computing shift. Tasks are completed on phones and tablets instead of laptops, laptops are increasingly featuring Arm-based processors for better efficiency, and desktops, as we know them, are shrinking. It's all evolving, and Google has a new vision for what the laptop of the future should be.

Google Maps isn't giving everyone the same route, and these 3 settings are why

Tashreef Shareef — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 23:00:14 GMT

Google Maps seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to suggesting a route. When my friend and I decided to leave our co-working space at the same time for the same destination, it suggested different routes to each of us, with nearly a 3-minute difference. We were both at the same place, both using Android phones, and entered the destination maybe a minute apart.

This power tool brand has become my go-to for keeping my yard in order, and it's not Milwaukee or Ryobi

Chris Hachey — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 20:30:14 GMT

Taming a large yard is tricky. You can pay a lot of money for a lot of property and then find that you have no time to actually maintain it. That's when you might have to make some concessions and only get to some parts of the yard every once in a while or even hire someone to maintain the lawn for you.

An AI agent hacked a government website, and officials don’t know what to do

Hamed Paydarfar — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:36:17 GMT

As the global outcry is getting amplified about the dangers of AI, an OpenAI agent has made the headlines today for hacking an Australian public health service website.

I can't wait for Android Auto's full redesign, with widgets, 3D maps, and Gemini

Rob LeFebvre — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:00:14 GMT

I've been checking my car's dashboard after every Android Auto update since May, hoping to see the redesign Google showed off at I/O.

Microsoft already built a better Windows Search; it just forgot to put it in Windows

Tashreef Shareef — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:00:14 GMT

Windows Search is one Windows feature that I can never recommend to anyone. It's painfully slow, inaccurate, and recommends everything under the sun except what you need. I've mostly tried to replace Windows Search with Listary, which I can't recommend enough because of how fast it can find your files.

If you're the only good prompt-maker at your company, Notion will now let you share your skills with the team

Will McCurdy — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:16:45 GMT

Digital workspace platform Notion has rolled out a new tool that lets you share prompts for AI tools like Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex, Gemini, or Grok with the rest of your company using Notion's new skills feature.

I decluttered my Z Fold 8's cover screen with One UI 9's widgets and stopped unfolding it out of habit

Rob LeFebvre — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:01:14 GMT

I've had my Galaxy Z Fold 8 for about a month, and for most of that I opened the phone to do things the cover screen could easily handle. It's not that it made logical sense to use the larger screen, just that a new fancy folding phone just got me used to opening it.

After a decade in Adobe's ecosystem, I replaced Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, and Premiere with free alternatives

Yadullah Abidi — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:31:14 GMT

Adobe's creative applications remain industry standard for good reason. Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, and Premiere are mature, powerful, and supported by an enormous ecosystem. The problem is that using them means accepting an ongoing subscription, even if you only need a fraction of their features.

Google is sending AI into space, but there's one brutal problem

Sara Heritage — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:47:07 GMT

Google is aiming for the stars — literally — with Project Suncatcher, its latest attempt to take artificial intelligence where no chatbot has gone before: outer space.