Google is rolling out the latest Find Hub app update on Android, while android.com now offers a comprehensive list of compatible devices.
Version 3.1.458 of Find Hub is rolling out with a pair of tweaks. Tapping your profile avatar in the top-right corner opens the fullscreen account menu (force stop the app after updating). Most Google services have been updated at this point, though the big exceptions are Pixel-exclusive apps: Weather, Recorder, Studio, and Journal.
In Settings, you’ll find a new “Distance units” menu with four options: Use default, Metric, US, and UK.
Meanwhile, Google in October significantly updated the Find Hub site on android.com: “Find Hub turns ‘lost’ into ‘found’ — helping you locate devices and connect with family and friends quickly and safely.”
This landing page is divided into Find (with a demo of UWB Precision Finding), Connect (People location sharing), and Protect (privacy features).
Compared to before, Google has also significantly filled out the “All compatible brands” with over 60 companies and a hundred devices. It’s organized by Tracking Tags, Headphones and Speakers, and Embedded Tracking.
From smart tracking tags, trackable earbuds, to headphones, know where your most important items are with Find Hub. Browse the full list of supported accessories and devices from top brands.
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The estimated Powerball jackpot is $490 million. The lump sum payment before taxes would be about $228.9 million.
The Double Play is a feature that gives players in select locations another chance to match their Powerball numbers in a separate drawing. The Double Play drawing is held following the regular drawing and has a top cash prize of $10 million.
Powerball is held in 45 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The Double Play add-on feature is available for purchase in 13 lottery jurisdictions, including Pennsylvania and Michigan.
A $2 ticket gives you a one in 292.2 million chance at joining the hall of Powerball jackpot champions.
The drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Eastern, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The deadline to purchase tickets is 9:45 p.m.
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SoftBank and OpenAI announced a new 50-50 joint venture this week to sell enterprise AI tools in Japan under the brand “Crystal Intelligence.” On paper, it’s a straightforward international expansion deal. But SoftBank’s role as a major investor in OpenAI is raising questions about whether AI’s biggest deals are creating real economic value or just moving money in circles.
On TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha and AI editor Russell Brandom break down why this deal has people skeptical, and what it signals about the sustainability of AI’s current investment model, and more.
Next year will see the end arrive for two of Facebook’s external social plugins. The platform’s Like button and Share button for third-party websites will be discontinued on February 10, 2026. The blog post from Meta explains that site admins shouldn’t have to take any additional steps as a result of the change, although they can choose to remove the plugins before the discontinue date. Any remaining plugins will “gracefully degrade,” which sounds much more dramatic than what will actually happen, which is that they’ll render as a 0x0 invisible element.
Ending support for these features marks the end of an era for Meta and Facebook. External Like and Share buttons were introduced in 2010. The tools were promoted as ways for sites to generate more traffic through the social network, which was a major way that people shared and saw articles at that time. The company’s official line is that the plugins “reflect an earlier era of web development, and their usage has naturally declined as the digital landscape has evolved.” But Facebook also plays a much smaller role in the broader Meta business operation than it once did, and anecdotally, it’s less common to see sites running only integrations with a single social network.
Update, November 10, 2025, 4:45PM ET: Corrected the original release date for the plugins.
Welcome to The Sideload episode 11, a 9to5Google podcast. This week, Will welcomes Ben Schoon back to the show to discuss his experience using Gemini for Home, Google’s AI-optimized suite of tools now available in early access. It’s a surprisingly positive experience in Ben’s eyes, but does that just make its letdowns sting that much more? Plus, Ben and Will talk through how Gemini can shine on Google TV, whether it’s improving the right parts of Android Auto, and Ben’s favorite smartphone of 2025.
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Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
02:01 – Gemini for Home
36:55 – Gemini’s next app takeover
50:08 – Ben’s favorite phone of 2025
53:20 – Wrap-up
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All Massachusetts residents eligible so far this month for federal government food assistance have received their full SNAP benefits, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday afternoon.
“My message to every SNAP recipient out there is this: Forget the noise that you’re hearing from Donald Trump. Forget the noise about further appeals to the Supreme Court,” Healey said at a press conference in her office. “I want you to know, because of the actions that we took, SNAP benefits have been restored to your cards. Go out and buy the food that you need to feed your family.”
A flurry of court actions surrounding the delivery of SNAP benefits has continued to create turmoil around the federal program amid the ongoing government shutdown.
SNAP benefits are delivered on a staggered basis over the first half of the month. Healey acknowledged there’s a “timeline for when people receive SNAP.”
“I can tell you that anybody who has been eligible to receive SNAP to date, or who missed their payments last week, has received their SNAP benefits now,” the governor said. “Now we’ll continue to apply for and send out SNAP benefits as people become eligible over the coming days and months in the normal course. That’s how it works in the normal course.”
A federal judge earlier Monday temporarily blocked an effort by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to force states to take back the full SNAP benefits they issued, Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office said. Further relief will be up for discussion at a 3:30 p.m. federal court hearing on Monday.
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture asserted that states that sent full SNAP payment files for November were “unauthorized,” called on states to “undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November, and threatened non-compliant states with the cancellation of federal cost-sharing.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
After helping several enterprises document how work actually happens, Scribe has raised $75 million at a $1.3 billion post-money valuation to roll out Scribe Optimize, a platform that maps workflows across the enterprise to reveal where automation and AI will actually yield returns — instead of becoming another sunk cost.
The all-equity Series C round was led by StepStone, with participation from existing investors Amplify Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Tiger Global, Morado Ventures, and New York Life Ventures. The new funding comes over a year after Scribe raised its $25 million Series B, capital the five-year-old startup has largely not needed to draw down, co-founder and CEO Jennifer Smith (pictured above, left) said in an exclusive interview. With this round, Scribe plans to accelerate the rollout of Scribe Optimize and related products, as enterprises struggle to determine where AI and automation will have the greatest impact.
Many companies are racing to adopt AI, but Smith told TechCrunch that most still cannot answer a fundamental question: What should we automate first? Enterprises often try to find the answer through interviews, workshops, or by bringing in consultants, she said, approaches that take months and still miss much of what people actually do on a day-to-day basis.
“Without really knowing how work is done, it is really hard to know where to improve it, where to automate it, where agents can help,” she said. “Scribe Optimize is all about answering that question. Very simply, it mines across workflows for what people are doing when they’re at work, and then it abstracts those up into being able to show you in a single pane of glass, here are the actual workflows that are being done. Here’s how often, how long it takes, etc.”
Founded in 2019 by Smith and Aaron Podoln (CTO) (pictured above, right), Scribe started before the GenAI boom, and its current flagship product, Scribe Capture, helps automatically document how work is done. When someone completes a process or workflow, Capture generates a step-by-step guide using its browser extension and desktop app, along with text and screenshots. Those guides can be shared with colleagues or embedded in internal tools to reduce repeated questions, minimize errors, and expedite onboarding.
Customers using Scribe Capture report saving 35 to 42 hours per person per month and making new hires 40% faster, the startup said.
The market of process documentation includes players including Tango, Iorad, UserGuiding, and Spekit. Nonetheless, Smith told TechCrunch that Scribe competes against the status quo of people manually recording workflows.
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“People are still using stopwatches to sit behind somebody and understand what this process is,” she said. “Even now, when it comes to deploying AI agents, the irony is that the process of deploying agents is incredibly manual.”
To date, Scribe has documented more than 10 million workflows across 40,000 software applications. The startup said that it has more than 5 million users and is used by teams inside 94% of Fortune 500 companies. Further, 78,000 organizations are its paid customers. It counts teams at New York Life, T-Mobile, LinkedIn, Hubspot, and Northern Trust among its users.
“Users come to Scribe not because their boss tells them to, but because they want to,” Smith told TechCrunch. “It starts with the end user, and then goes up to their team lead, department lead, and then some kind of central function who are all interested in it for the question of, how do we scale, what we know, how to do, and how do we get better?”
The San Francisco-based startup sees the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Europe among its biggest markets after the U.S.
Scribe said it has more than doubled its revenue over the past year, though it did not disclose figures, and also said its valuation has increased fivefold since its last round. The startup currently has a headcount of 120 employees, and it plans to double that number in the next 12 months, Smith said.
Typing, gaming, coding or just browsing — how your fingers connect with your keyboard can change the whole feel of your setup. Whether you’re looking for something whisper-quiet and compact or a thunderous mechanical board that sings with every stroke, the best keyboards make a real difference in comfort and performance.
Some people want a minimalist board that lives neatly next to their laptop or slips into a travel bag. Others need a full-size model with a numpad, dedicated macros and a build that stands up to long sessions. Today’s keyboard market is more diverse than ever. You’ll find boards designed for elegant workspace minimalism, gaming keyboards with aggressive RGB-lit setups and ergonomic keyboards built to reduce strain when you spend hours typing. Wireless models offer flexibility and tidy desks, while wired options still lead when speed and reliability matter most.
Whether you’re upgrading your first desktop, building a pro-level gaming rig or simply looking for a board that works better day after day, we’ve found the keyboards worth your time and money.
Connectivity: Bluetooth and Logi Bolt USB receiver | Size: Full-size layout | Material: Plastic chassis with low-profile scissor switches | Switches: Scissor switches | Hot-swappable: No | Backlight: Yes, smart illumination with ambient light sensors | Software: Logi Options+
Logitech knows how to make a solid keyboard, and the Master series has been an excellent one over the past few years. The MX Keys S is the latest full-sized edition and it combines a low-profile design with comfortable keys and handy customization tools. It looks quite sleek in black, white or graphite, measuring just under 17 inches in width and only 0.8 inches high off your desk. Its spherically-dished keys cradle your fingertips every time you press, and while I wouldn’t go so far to say they totally prevented me from putting any typos in this guide, the shape definitely helps more than other, flatter keycaps I’ve used.
This is a backlit keyboard with “smart illumination,” which just means the backlight will kick on when your hands approach the board and adjust depending on the lighting in your environment. I have a decent amount of natural light in my home office during regular working hours, so I opted to turn the backlight off — if you do the same, you can get up to five months of battery life out of the MX Keys S (Logitech estimates 10 days with smart illumination on). The keyboard has a built-in USB-C port for charging as well.
In addition to the low-profile design that still includes a number pad, the biggest kickers for the MX Keys S are its wide compatibility and customizable features with Logi Options+. This peripheral works with Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux and iPadOS, and it has three device pairing buttons so you can connect it to up to three devices at once and switch between them as necessary. Logi Options+ is free software that many Logitech accessories use, and for the MX Keys S, it allows you to customize brightness levels and duration, set smart actions (one-key shortcuts you program to your liking) and more.
The Master Series also includes a “mini” version of this keyboard that nixes the number pad and $10 from the price tag. I’ve used that and enjoy it as well, but when you’re only saving $10, the full-sized version feels like a better value. Can you find cheaper wireless keyboards than either of these? Of course. But Logitech’s expertise in this space really shines in the Master series, and with the MX Keys S in particular as it stands out as a high-quality wireless keyboard with a bunch of extra features at a decent price. — Valentina Palladino, Deputy Editor
Pros
Good build quality
Comfortable typing experience
Logi Options+ provides a ton of customization options
Works across all major OSes
Cons
Not the cheapest keyboard out there
Not a big price difference between the full-sized version and the mini model without the number pad
Connectivity: Bluetooth and Logi Bolt USB receiver | Size: Compact (75% layout) | Material: Plastic frame with retro-style keycaps | Switches: Mechanical switches | Hot-swappable: No | Backlight: No | Software: Logi Options+
Logitech’s Pop Icon Keys takes a lot of notes from the Master series and translates them into a more fun (and cheaper) package. The $50 keyboard doesn’t include a number pad, but instead has a row on the right side that includes four buttons that you can customize using Logi Options+. I have mine programmed to activate macOS’ mission control, open the emoji keyboard and to move page up and down, respectively. But those aren’t the only buttons you can customize — 11 of the top function keys can also be programmed to your liking as well.
The Pop Icon keycaps have a slight indentation to them, though not as dramatic as those on the Master series keys, and the typing experience is a comfortable and quiet one overall. While this isn’t billed as a travel keyboard, it’s small enough to fit into a standard work bag or backpack, so you could take it with you without much hassle.
You can connect the Pop Icon keys to up to three devices at once and switch between them easily, and the keyboard supports macOS, Windows, Linux, Chrome, iPadOS, iOS and Android devices. Besides there being no option for a number pad configuration, arguably the biggest downside to this keyboard is the fact that it runs on two AAA batteries. Logitech estimates it will last up to three years before you need to replace them, so maybe that’s a pro for some rather than a con. I also appreciate that, when connected to a Mac computer over Bluetooth, you can still monitor the Pop Icon Keys’ battery life from the Bluetooth menu.
This is also a great price for a solid wireless keyboard. Logitech itself makes even cheaper ones, but the Pop Icon Keys strikes a good balance between design and capabilities at this price point. The biggest question, if you choose this keyboard, is which colorway you fancy the most out of the five options. — V.P.
The Ergo K860 from Logitech combines four helpful ergonomic features in a keyboard that operates much like any standard board. The Alice split shifts your elbows apart while keeping your forearms and wrists lined up. The tenting raises the keys upward in the middle, rotating your palms subtly toward one another. The optional negative tilt slopes the bottom edge above the top edge to keep the backs of your hands straighter. And there’s a palm rest built in, which some find more comfortable during long typing sessions.
Unlike other more aggressively ergonomic boards, there’s no learning curve here. Typing on the Ergo K860 feels a lot like typing on a standard set of keys. The low profile, scissor-switch keys are springy and easy to hit. You even get a ten-key number pad, navigation keys and arrow buttons, all of which make it a full-featured and familiar accessory. You can program the keys with Logitech’s software, but this will likely appeal most to those who just want a plug-and-play board for a Mac or PC setup. — Amy Skorheim, Senior Reporter
If you’re ready to make a serious commitment to increasing your ergonomics, I recommend the ZSA Voyager. I use it every day and, even though it’s not super portable, I brought it with me when I worked away from my home office for a week. But at first, it took me at least three weeks before I was comfortable typing on it. Not only will you need to reprogram the keys (and remember what they do), you’ll need to use your fingers in a different way than you’re used to. For one, your thumbs will do far more than just hit the spacebar. They’ll operate the return, shift, control and even layer buttons, depending on how you program the board.
But the ergonomic benefits are equally significant. The fully split board lets me open up my arms and chest. On days when I’m feeling particularly tight, I’ll put the two halves a full foot apart. Relocating the return, command and forward-delete key to the thumbclusters saves me from shifting my hands around the board and the layers function allows for far more functionality than a standard keyboard.
That said, it also adds to the security of my computer, making it all but impossible for other people to type with the Voyager. It comes with magnetic knobs for the center tenting feature, but I wish it came with the option to lift the middle a little higher. I created extra lift by adding rubber bumpers to the board, but for the price, it’d be nice not to have to MacGuyver it. Still, whenever I’m forced to use a regular keyboard, I feel like I’m toiling in the typing pool at Sterling Cooper. — A.S.
Pros
Ergonomic, fully split board
Programmable thumb cluster minimizes hand travel
Low profile, mechanical keys make typing easy
Compact size and clever key mapping keep your hands in the home position
The Keychron Q Max series doesn’t come cheap, but it has just about everything we want out of a high-end mechanical keyboard. Its full aluminum case is exceedingly sturdy, hefty and cool to the touch. While its PBT-coated keycaps are on the taller side, they have a lovely texture and are sculpted in a way that gently hugs your fingertips. There are multiple switch options available, all of which are hot-swappable, while a double gasket-mount design inside the keyboard gives each press a cushioned yet springy feel by default. Combined with several layers of foam, those presses have a delightfully poppy and even sound.
We tested the tenkeyless Q3 Max, but Keychron offers several other size and layout options as well. Each can connect over a wireless dongle, Bluetooth or USB-C and includes extra Windows- and Mac-specific keycaps in the box. There are still things to nitpick — there’s a faint bit of rattle to a couple of the larger keys; you can’t adjust the keyboard’s height; and Keychron’s one-year warranty is pretty short — but if you just want to buy a mechanical keyboard that delivers a premium experience from the jump, this will get you there. – Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter
Pros
Superb typing feel and sound
Premium aluminum case
Crisp PBT keycaps
Hot-swappable
Reliable wireless performance
Tons of layout options
Knob!
Cons
A bit pricey
Keycaps aren’t shine-through and may be too tall for some
We recommend the Keychron C3 Pro if you want to spend as little as possible for a delightful mechanical keyboard. It’s a stellar value at just under $50, with factory-lubricated switches, a gasket mount, multiple layers of internal foam and other touches we don’t usually see in this price range. The stabilizers avoid any aggressive rattling, and there’s none of the pinging noise you get from many cheaper cases. All of this helps feel comfortable for typing, while the tactile Brown switches in our test unit sound pleasantly clacky.
As with any budget keyboard, you have to make some sacrifices. It only works wired, for one, and the ABS keycaps feel slicker and cheaper than the best PBT caps. While the case doesn’t exhibit any serious flexing, it’s still made of plastic. You also need to pay $10 extra to get a version with RGB backlighting and hot-swappable switches — the base model is still a great buy for those looking to get into the hobby on the cheap, but it saddles you with a red-only backlight and prevents you from easily popping in new switches down the road. – J.D.
Pros
Inexpensive
Tremendous typing experience for the money
Programmable with software
Shine-through keycaps
Cons
ABS keycaps are a bit slick
Wired only
RGB lighting and hot-swappable switch cost a little bit extra
The Wooting 80HE is our favorite keyboard for gamers thanks to its magnetic Hall effect switches, which can respond to varying levels of pressure. This lets you customize the actuation point of each individual key, so you could make them more sensitive during quick-twitch shooting games or more deliberate when you just want to type. Another feature called rapid trigger lets you repeat inputs faster, without having to wait for a given key to return to a fixed reset point. That can be a real boon for, say, strafing back and forth more precisely during a 1v1 shootout in Overwatch. You can also tie multiple commands to one key: In Halo Infinite, for example, you could make it so lightly pressing W makes you walk more stealthily, while pressing it all the way down makes you run at full speed.
Does everyone need all of this? Of course not. Any keyboard can be a “gaming keyboard,” and nothing here will magically make you good at games. But for more hardcore types looking for any extra bit of granular control, they can make a tangible difference.
The 80HE isn’t the only keyboard to offer this set of tricks, but it stands out for getting the rest of the package right as well. Wooting’s Wootility software is best-in-class, making it particularly easy to tweak settings and customize the RGB lighting. You can save multiple control profiles directly to the device. And while the all-plastic case isn’t the highest-quality thing out there for $200, the stock hardware still feels and sounds pleasant, with crisp PBT keycaps, smooth pre-lubed switches and a pleasingly thocky tone. – J.D.
If you want the Wooting 80HE’s gaming-friendly features in a wireless keyboard, we like the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3). It offers most of the same adjustable actuation and rapid trigger tools as the 80HE, plus a “protection mode” that makes it harder to hit nearby keys by accident and preset profiles for some popular games. The typing experience is a plus as well, with crisp and easy-to-reach PBT keycaps, a sturdy aluminum top plate and smooth-feeling switches that are sufficiently muffled. There’s a magnetic wrist rest in the box, and the whole thing can connect over a wireless dongle, Bluetooth or USB-C.
Our main issues with the Apex Pro involve SteelSeries’ GG app. So much of the experience with these analog-style keyboards comes down to software, and GG is a bit less refined than Wootility across the board. At $270, the Apex Pro is definitely on the higher end of the price spectrum, too. Still, the app is easy enough to grok over time — especially compared to other gaming models we’ve used — and the board as a whole gets much more right than wrong. – J.D.
The first thing you’ll want to consider when it comes to your next computer keyboard’s design is size. There are a number of different keyboard layouts to choose from, but the most common are full-sized, tenkeyless and those smaller than tenkeyless.
Full-sized keyboards, or 100 percent, include a function row at the top and a complete numpad with arrow keys on the right side, along with all of the rest of the alphanumeric keys you’d expect on a standard QWERTY layout. Tenkeyless, or 80 percent, removes the number pad but keeps the arrow keys and the function row, reducing the overall width measurement of the board by a decent amount. Compact keyboards keep things ultra simple by including only the alphanumeric keys and modifiers like Alt, Shift, Ctrl and others and they come in different sizes like 60 percent, 65 percent and more. These are the most popular sizes out there, but you can find plenty of other designs that include different mixes of keys along with the standard letters and numbers all should have.
Aside from size, there are two other big categories that you could use to define a keyboard: ergonomic and mechanical. Ergonomic keyboards are designed with, you guessed it, better ergonomics in mind, taking into account where you should position your fingers, hands and forearms to maintain proper posture. Separately, mechanical keyboards use mechanical switches (of which there are many types) that differ greatly from the membrane or scissor-switch keyboards you’ll find dominating most wired and wireless options widely available today. We have guides to the best ergonomic keyboards and best mechanical keyboards, but we’ll summarize what you need to know about both here.
Ergonomic keyboards
If you deal with discomfort from working at a computer all day, ergonomic keyboards can help. These specially designed boards re-orient the keys, allowing you to hold your elbows farther apart and maintain a straighter line from your forearms to hands. Some people find this subtle change more comfortable.
Ergonomic keyboards typically fall into two categories: Alice and split keyboards. The former is a single unit with an A-shaped gap in the center of the keys. Split models come in two separate pieces which you can arrange as you like on your desk. Additional ergonomic features like tenting and negative tilt can make typing feel even more comfortable, and are often available on both Alice and split boards. Tenting raises the middle of the keys up so your hands take on more of a “handshake” position. Negative tilting lowers the top of the keyboard to keep your wrists angled downward instead of back towards your forearms.
The way the keys are arranged on the keyboard may make typing easier as well. Traditionally, keyboards are staggered, with one row of letters slightly offset from the row beneath it. Columnar keyboards arrange the keys in a grid of rows and columns. This style takes a little getting used to, but some people find it allows them to type faster. You can also make the keys of some keyboards do more than just produce letters. Programmable boards let you map shortcuts and other functions, including macros, which may keep you from reaching for the mouse quite so often, saving you time and possibly strain as well.
Mechanical keyboards
Mechanical keyboards have blown up in popularity as more people have been thrust into creating their own workspaces at home. It’s easy to see why: Compared to a traditional membrane keyboard, a good mechanical board is more durable, more satisfying to press and, most importantly, infinitely more customizable. The best of them usually come with a price premium, but even some cheaper models let you “hot-swap” between keycaps, switches and other materials, letting you tinker with different typing sensations and sound profiles until you find a combination that best expresses your preferences.
Do you want each press to feel deep and full or fast and light? Do you need them to sound loud and clacky or almost totally muffled? Do you prefer your keycaps to look subdued and professional, stuffed with RGB lights or written in an Elvish language from The Lord of the Rings for some reason? With the right new keyboard, it’s all up to you — the only things really holding you back are your imagination and your wallet.
We have a dedicated buying guide that digs deeper into the key aspects to consider when buying a mechanical gaming keyboard, so we encourage you to look at that for a full rundown. To keep things high-level, the most influential part of your purchase is your keyboard’s switch type. These little mechanisms slot underneath the keycaps and generally have the biggest effect on how your keyboard feels and sounds as you type away.
You can broadly separate mechanical switches into three buckets: linear, tactile and clicky. Linear switches feel smooth all the way down; they’re often popular with gamers since they tend to be light and fast to actuate. Tactile switches create a tangible “bump” sensation partway through a press; many people who spend all day typing prefer them because they clearly confirm each press without (always) being all that loud. Clicky switches are functionally similar to tactiles but make an audible “click” sound to match the bump; your coworkers may hate them, but others love the full-throated sense of feedback they provide. To be clear, just because two switches fall within the same bucket doesn’t mean they feel or sound exactly the same. The only way to figure out which switch works best for you is to do your research and, preferably, try some out for yourself.
Other keyboards have a mechanical-style feel but are built on different mechanisms entirely. The hot new trend in gaming-focused keyboards, for example, is Hall effect switches, which use tiny magnets to register keystrokes and let you customize the sensitivity of each press. Optical switches, meanwhile, offer similar functionality by replacing the physical contact point of a typical mechanical switch with a beam of infrared light. More recently, we’ve seen a couplekeyboards launch with inductive switches, which can work like magnetic switches but use inductive coils in the keyboard’s printed circuit board (PCB) to cater to all switches collectively and don’t require a sensor for each individual switch. We touch on a couple of magnetic-switch keyboards in our picks below, but for a fuller breakdown of this sort of tech, we recommend you check out our dedicated buying guide to the best gaming keyboards.
Connectivity
You’ve got two options here: wired or wireless. Wired keyboards typically have an attached cable that plugs into a USB-A or USB-C port on your computer (or docking station), although some come with cables that can be removed. Wireless mechanical keyboards connect to your machine either via Bluetooth or a wireless receiver dongle. There’s always the chance of some latency with wireless keyboards, so keep that in mind if you’re picking one up to use primarily with a gaming PC. Of course, you’ll only have to worry about battery life with Bluetooth keyboards.
Gemini for Google Home has arrived and, with it, a glimpse of Google’s view of the future of the smart home. But that future is still held back by the simple fact that, like anything with AI, it makes too many mistakes.
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Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had Gemini for Home active with my Google Nest devices and my feelings are pretty split. On the one hand, Gemini adds a lot of impressive new functionality to the experience.
Starting with “Ask Home,” the ability to just search for a thing that happened instead of combing through footage is awesome. Being able to know my camera was watching and ask “where is my laptop” only to get a response is just… well, it’s the future, isn’t it?
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Of course, search is just one piece of that puzzle, and it’s built in part on Gemini’s ability to see a Nest Cam feed and intelligently label the event with what it saw. Again, super useful! Frankly, it’s a little crazy this isn’t how the smart home has always worked. Truly, it’s just invaluable, because previously, your only indication regarding what the camera saw was basically “here’s this person” or “hey look, a dog” or “well, something definitely moved,” meaning the task of figuring out when an event happened fell on you. Looking back, generic notifications just weren’t enough.
The three pillars of Gemini for Home are truly brilliant ideas
This also leads to the third big piece of Gemini for Home, which is “Home Brief,” a daily summary of your Nest Cam recordings.The idea here is to give you a quick overview of what happened over the course of the day, rather than just relying on you constantly watching your notification feed. Neat!
But, it doesn’t always work.
Each of these three pillars of the new Gemini-enhanced Google Home experience has its own set of issues, and they take away from what is otherwise an incredibly smart way to treat the smart home.
Starting with notification labels, this succumbs to the same trap that every AI product faces – absurd overconfidence.
Gemini’s summaries of what happened in a given piece of Nest footage are sometimes accurate, but sometimes make Google Home look like a fool. For every “Ben is in the kitchen cooking chicken” – yes, it managed to correctly recognize chicken – there’s a “Ben loads a bicycle into the car” when, in fact, I did not. It’s usually minor stuff like this. Mislabeling an object that’s not quite sure what to do with. For instance, the “bicycle” I took out of the car was actually a disc golf cart (which looks nothing like a bike), and I didn’t actually take it out of the car in the clip that was labeled. There was another instance where my wife took the trash outside, but Gemini labeled that as her placing a package on the porch. For some reason, Gemini also can’t decide if my car is blue, which it is, or gray, which it is not even close to. I’ll certainly give it credit for accurately being able to tell the right make and model of both of our cars, though. Similarly, it also sometimes identifies the same event in different ways. While using a leaf blower in the backyard, Gemini changed its mind halfway through and said I was using a rake instead.
The mistakes are usually minor stuff, but enough to make you do a double-take. That said, there are examples out there of… worse failures.
For every time Gemini gets something right, it also tends to make a weird mistake that makes you do a double-take
The Verge noted earlier this week that Gemini was unable to recognize the homeowner walking by their camera with a shotgun, instead calling it a “garden tool,” and also wouldn’t label a knife in the summary. I’ve also noticed that Gemini tends to be pretty non-descript around objects it’s not sure about, but with these being security cameras, knives and guns are pretty high on the list of objects I want it to be able to properly identify!
These same issues bleed over to “Home Brief.” The summaries are a useful way to get a quick overview, but they are too confident about what they’re trying to say. I also feel like this feature is too eager to make a long list. “Ben sat on the couch” really provides no value in one of these summaries in my book. “Ask Home” only has one headache so far, at least to me, which is that it’s kind of slow. Again, the feature is generally way faster than scouring through the footage yourself, but it’s just slow enough to respond to your query that it can be frustrating. I definitely don’t need it to be instant, but waiting 15-25 seconds while it “thinks” feels like a bit of wasted time.
So, what’s next?
Well, Google Home’s Gemini features are, for now, all in beta anyway. This is the “Early Access” period where things are not reflective of the final product and, with that in mind, we’re seeing a rather good foundation. There’s a lot of room for improvement, definitely, but also a lot of great ideas already at play.
That said, I’m not sure we’ll ever fully be rid of this missteps, at least in this current step for AI. The biggest problem with Gemini for Home is also the reason why these features are possible in the first place. AI is powerful, but it’s still overconfident and prone to mistakes that, well, look stupid! That’s why I’m glad Google’s setup here is opt-in, as you won’t get most of these features without explicitly signing up for them.
What do you think? Have you been using Gemini for Home?
This Week’s Top Stories
The YouTube TV-Disney battle continues
After channels went dark late last week, the battle between YouTube TV and Disney has only continued to push on. Neither side seems ready to give in, and everything looks very hostile. Meanwhile, YouTube TV subscribers seem ready to cancel, while Disney is seeing a drop in viewer numbers.
Gemini expands to the car
Google announced this week that Google Maps would pick up new Gemini features and, right alongside that, Android Auto has started its Gemini rollout, replacing Google Assistant.
(*A brief scheduling note: This newsletter will be taking a breather on Monday, Nov. 17. We’ll be back in action on Nov. 24.)
Good Monday morning, everyone.
In case you weren’t keeping track, it’s been a year since Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question giving state Auditor Diana DiZoglio the power to audit her former colleagues in the state Legislature.
At the time, it was hailed as a victory for transparency and accountability on Beacon Hill, which has long resisted both.
One year later, however, the audit remains undone, hitting a brick wall of resistance from senior legislative leaders who have argued that it violates the separation of powers under the state constitution.
One more complication: State Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s ongoing reluctance to let DiZoglio take legislators to court to force them to comply with an audit that’s now enshrined in state law.
During a radio interview last week, Campbell, a Democrat, said she’d asked DiZoglio’s office “for certain information” that could finally force a resolution on that litigation. For now, however, it remains in park.
A screenshot from Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s appearance Nov. 4, 2025, on Boston Public Radio as part of the monthly “Ask the AG” segment with GBH.(GBH News)
“I absolutely support the will of the voters and I take that very seriously,” Campbell told GBH-FM’s “Boston Public Radio” program.
Campbell told hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagen that her office had asked DiZoglio for answers to a battery of questions that ranged from the purpose of the audit, whom she intended to sue and the sort of relief she would be seeking.
“I represent almost every state agency and state official in the commonwealth as your attorney general,“ Campbell said. ”We have not received responses to those questions. And I, then, am not able to go into court and then to bring information to the court and the judges until she gives us that information.”
Michael Leung-Tat, a top lawyer for DiZoglio, told WBUR-FM last week that “this legal dispute is ripe for litigation, and litigation is the only means of resolution given the Legislature’s refusal to comply.”
DiZoglio herself, meanwhile, has kept up a pretty relentless public pressure campaign, building support on social media and across party lines.
There, she called for action on the audit and denounced her onetime colleagues as “bullies.” She also criticized Campbell, a fellow Democrat, for dragging her heels on the litigation.
“Friends, 72% of the vote, that’s no small deal,” DiZoglio said, referring to the percentage of voters who approved the ballot question. “And we expect that our elected leaders here in Massachusetts are going to respect the will of the voters and follow the law.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Michael Minogue is helping to foot the bill, MassLive previously reported.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, remain dug in.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, said the chamber is annually audited and the results are publicly available.
“Also online is a public database of the salaries of every senator and their staff, every expense that the institution has to run operations and every dollar we appropriate around the commonwealth,” the spokesperson said.
State House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, has called DiZoglio’s attacks “inflammatory” and argued that they are “kind of a nonsensical response to the activities that happen in the legislative debate.”
“We have an honest disagreement, an honest difference of opinion. We think there are constitutional issues involved in the separation of powers, and what she wants to do and what that valid question allows her to do. And that’s the way she deals with disagreements, I guess, is … tweet,” Mariano said earlier this year, according to WBZ-TV in Boston.
Meanwhile, legislative reformers are busy gathering signatures for a brace of new government transparency ballot questions that could go before the voters on next year’s general election ballot.
That would be a full two years after voters gave DiZoglio the green light. Change, when it comes, comes slowly.
Sabrina Carpenter will perform at the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 7, 2025, which will mark her debut at the iconic venue.Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
This group wants you to ‘Please, please, please’ register to vote
With data showing voters aged 18-30 turned out big in last week’s elections, one voting advocacy group is training its sights on 2026 and mobilizing those same voters again.
And to do it, New York-based HeadCount is hitting those voters where they live: At concerts for such artists as Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae, Brandi Carlile and Chappell Roan.
The group’s executive director, Lucille Wenegieme, took a few minutes to chat with MassLive about the 2025 results and what to expect in 2026. This conversation has been lightly edited for content and clarity.
Q: We know that [young voters] came out big for Zohran Mamdani in New York City on Tuesday. What did you see happening there with that cohort?
A: “Community is really the word that comes to mind, you know, when we’re thinking about young voters, [and] young people, in general, who are thinking about their civic identity. They’re really looking for like-minded folks that they can have a good time with and they can share their ideas with.
“And one of the things that we’ve seen with the most successful campaigns, you know, at the local level and at the national level, is a feeling of community, whether that’s in-person making bracelets, or doing a scavenger hunt or online in forums. So, definitely, finding that community of people who make you feel seen and heard is very key for young people. Of course, yes, it’s about the issues, but community is definitely that cornerstone.”
Q: What is HeadCount? What does it do?
A: “For the last 21 years, HeadCount has been one of the largest voter registration organizations in the country. I like to say that we turn music fans into voters … We work in the music and entertainment industry to get fans to register to vote, to get their friends to register to vote, and also to volunteer to help other people get registered to vote, as well as actually vote when the time comes.”
Q: So in those states where there were big contests, what did you see in terms of interest from younger voters? And what is that signaling, do you think, going into 2026?
A: “I think NewYork is definitely one of the more interesting places. We saw the largest turnout in a local election since 1969. So, I mean, across the board, just really great interest and participation. California is another interesting one. Of course, in recent years, we have seen that local elections and special elections have actually drawn higher turnout than general elections, which is quite uncommon. And then, you know, there’s those smaller races. I mean, there were over 600 ballot measures across 24 states. And we know that a lot of those, the turnout is under 10%. So those are really places where young people’s voices can matter a lot.”
Billy Strings joined Dead & Company on stage Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. John Mayer, Bob Weir, Jay Lane and Mickey Hart are also shown.(Jay Blakesberg)
Q: Who’s been the most fun to work with?
A: “Well, I can never say the most fun, but I’ll tell you, the folks we’ve done the most with, particularly this year, is Dead & Company and Sabrina Carpenter. [They] have definitely been our top partners for this year in terms of the level of impact that they’ve had. On National Voter Registration Day, Sabrina Carpenter had over 30,000 people take action on her digital campaign with us. We’ve been on tour with her as well as Dead & Company.”
Massachusetts residents are jumpy about the state and national economy, according to a recent poll. AP
Monday numbers
Bay State voters aren’t feeling great about the state and national economy, according to a recent UMass Amherst/WCVB-TV poll, pointing to choppy waters ahead for pols facing the voters in the 2026 midterms.
Just 23% of the 800 respondents to the poll said the national economy was “excellent” or “good” compared to 77% who said it was “fair” or “poor.”
When it comes to the Massachusetts economy, residents were feeling (slightly) more optimistic: 44% said the state’s economy was “excellent” or “good” compared to 55% who said it was “fair” or “poor,” according to the poll.
Forty-two percent of respondents rated their own economic situation as “excellent” or “good,” compared to 58% said it was “fair” or “poor,” pollsters found.
And the biggest warning shot: 70% of respondents said the nation was on the wrong track, with 22% saying it was headed in the right direction. Eight percent said they weren’t sure.
There was (slightly) more unanimity when it comes to the state, with 43% saying Massachusetts was on the wrong track, compared to 40% who said it was headed in the right direction. Eighteen percent of respondents said they weren’t sure.
The response on the latter puts Bay State residents within the poll’s 4.1% margin of error. UMass pollsters were in the field from Oct. 21 to Oct. 29.
Mayor Michelle Wu celebrates her reelection during an election night party at Grace by Nia in the Seaport.(Tréa Lavery/MassLive)
They said it
“Four years ago, we sent a message from every corner of our city that Boston is a home for everyone. We are the city of champions, the cradle of liberty, the safest major city in the country, because we honor our roots. We learn from our history, draw strength from our diversity and empower our people.”
— Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who was reelected on Tuesday, Nov. 4, without opposition, rallies supporters during her victory speech at Grace by Nia in the city’s Seaport neighborhood.
The Massachusetts State House as pictured on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 in Boston, Mass.Sebastian Restrepo
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey addresses the New England Council at the Omni Parker House in Boston on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.John L. Micek/MassLive
What goes on
If you’re the sort who keeps track of such things — mark your calendars: Massachusetts Democrats will hold their annual holiday reception on Dec. 15 at the Omni Parker House in Boston, just down Beacon Street from the State House.
Confirmed guests include Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, along with state party Chairperson Steve Kerrigan. So one can imagine the frivolity to follow.
Oh, and you’d better be prepared to dig deep: The minimum ask is $100 running all the way up to $10,000, depending on how badly you want to bask in all that reflected glow.
Sophia Laforteza, from left, Manon Bannerman, Yoonchae, Daniela Avanzini, Megan Skiendiel and Lara Raj of KATSEYE pose for a portrait on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in Los Angeles.Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP
The Mandeans, a little-known religious sect that believes they are descendants of the disciples of John the Baptist, have found a home in Texas after fleeing religious persecution in the Middle East, Religion News Service reports.
Some of the group’s members tell the wire service that the central Texas climate matches that of Ahvaz, the southwestern Iranian city in which many of Iran’s Mandaeans originate.
While the rest of us celebrated Halloween on Oct. 31, the Mandeans celebrated one of their holiest feasts, known as “Dehwa Hanina.”
Here’s the germane bit:
“Meaning ‘Little Feast’ in Mandaic, a dialect of Aramaic, Dehwa Hanina commemorates the creation of the world and the return of Hibil Ziwa — an angelic being identified as Gabriel in the Mandaean scriptures — from the underworlds to the worlds of light.”
“According to Mandaean tradition, Hibil Ziwa leaves the world of light at God’s behest and travels to defeat the evil entities inhabiting the worlds of darkness. Descending into the depths of the underworld, Hibil Ziwa subdues the forces of darkness and prepares the world for the creation of Adam, the first man.”
While they feel welcome in the U.S., some members of the group tell RNS they’re hoping for the day they can return home.
That’s it for today. As ever, send me your comments, questions and tips at jmicek@masslive.com. Have a good week, friends.
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