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Google announced today that the Gemini Personal Intelligence feature is now available in Nano Banana 2, the company's popular AI image model.

Now, instead of uploading a photo, users can give Nano Banana access to their Google Photos library, which will allow Nano Banana to generate personalized images for users.

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"One of the biggest hurdles in AI image generation is finding the right prompt," reads a Google blog post. "Previously, to get a result that felt truly personal, you had to write long, detailed descriptions and manually upload a reference photo just to give Gemini the right context. Now, Personal Intelligence gives Gemini an inherent understanding of your preferences from the start."

Nano Banana is one of the web's leading AI image generators, and it's particularly good at editing photos. With Personal Intelligence, Nano Banana can reference your images and Labels to make photos based on you, your pets, or anything else in your library.

SEE ALSO: Love the caricature trend? 9 more viral ChatGPT image prompts to try.

Google gives several examples of how this could be useful. For instance, instead of uploading an image of your family and writing a detailed prompt, you can simply tell Gemini to "Make a claymation image of my family." Google also suggests prompts such as "Design my dream house" and "Create a picture of my desert island essentials."

AI-GENERATED IMAGE Credit: Google AI-GENERATED IMAGE Credit: Google

Users will need to organize and label their photos for the feature to work as intended, however.

Of course, before granting an AI tool like Gemini or Nano Banana access to your entire photo library, it's important to understand how your images will be used.

Google says that Gemini will not "directly" train its models on your photos; however, it will be able to train its models with the photos, prompts, and AI-generated images that appear in the Gemini app.

"The Gemini app does not directly train its models on your private Google Photos library," the blog post states. "We train on limited info, like specific prompts in Gemini and the model’s responses, to improve functionality over time. And connecting your Google apps to Gemini remains an opt-in experience that you can adjust in your settings at any time."

As ever, it's important to check the fine print before using a new feature like this. You can read more about training and privacy at the Google Gemini Privacy Hub.

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Featured Video For You Moltbook's real risk isn't AI. It's your data

Someone call Lucy Dacus, because the last few episodes of The Pitt Season 2 have been all about the night shift.

As the Emergency Department's day shift staffers wound down and focused on completing their charts, the night shift came in to pick up their cases. That reconnected viewers with characters like Dr. Abbot (Shawn Hatosy), Dr. Ellis (Ayesha Harris), and Dr. Shen (Ken Kirby). It also introduced new characters like Dr. Henderson (Luke Tennie) and Dr. Toomarian (Sofia Hasmik), who fit right into The Pitt sprawling ensemble.

With all these new characters entering the fray, fans speculated about a night shift spin-off series or even having a night shift-centric Season 3. Adding fuel to that fire? The fact that Harris has been promoted to series regular in Season 3, meaning we'll be seeing a lot more of Dr. Ellis in the future.

SEE ALSO: 'The Pitt' fans, you need to watch the Season 2 finale credits

While seeing more of the night shift in The Pitt is certainly in the realm of possibility, a full spin-off or a Season 3 night shift pivot seem unlikely at this time. Star and executive producer Noah Wyle shut down spin-off rumors at a Q&A during PaleyFest LA.

According to TheWrap, while The Pitt cast and creative team teased details of Season 3, an audience member called out "night shift," verbalizing viewers' desires to see more of that team going forward.

"You're getting just enough night shift," Wyle responded. "You don't want any more. You think you do, but you don't."

Featured Video For You How 'The Pitt's cinematographer created show's unique immersive style

Based on that, it seems pretty clear that The Pitt is taking a "less is more" approach with the night shift. Perhaps Harris's promotion to series regular signifies that Dr. Ellis is moving to the day shift instead. After all, employee churn is a a huge part of life in the ED: Actor Supriya Ganesh, who plays Dr. Mohan, will not be in Season 3.

At the PaleyFest Q&A, Wyle reportedly did reveal some key information about what to expect in Season 3: when the new shift would take place.

"It'll probably be in the fall, November," Wyle said, according to TheWrap. "Play with the cold weather, different cases."

The Pitt Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.

I don’t like the idea of storing my files on someone else’s PC, losing access whenever the internet goes down and having to trust strangers not to take a peak—and that was before companies started training AI models on whatever files they could get their hands on. I’ve long dreamed of going local only, but I’m starting to realize the many ways in which self-hosting my own cloud is worse.

There are some parts of your home that are full of smart home devices; I have a lot of smart devices in my living room, kitchen, and bedroom, for example. Other areas can often get neglected, including utility rooms or even your outdoor space. Here are some Home Assistant projects that can give those areas some love.

SAVE $24: Through April 30, new and returning Audible subscribers can get three months of the new Standard plan for just 99 cents per month. Usually $8.99 per month, that's a total of $24 in savings.

Opens in a new window Credit: Audible Audible Standard $0.99/month for 3 months (save $8/month) Get Deal

I'm going to be honest here: I don't think Audible Standard is worth it at full price. The new plan, launched in March, costs $8.99 per month and lets you select one audiobook each month from the entire Audible collection. But unlike the Premium Plus plan, you can't keep those titles if you cancel your subscription. It's basically like you're just borrowing them instead — and for $8.99 each month, that hardly seems fair. That's why I think it's 100 percent worth snapping up the three-month deal the audiobook company is offering this month.

Through April 30, new and returning subscribers can get three months of the Audible Standard plan for only 99 cents per month. That's less than $3 total to "borrow" three premium audiobook titles from Audible's expansive catalog. I deem that a damn good deal.

Along with the premium titles, you'll also be able to enjoy unlimited listening to a curated library with Audible Originals and nearly 200 of the most popular titles previously available on Wondery+. So, technically, you'll get more than just three audiobooks for $3.

So, why pay 99 cents per month instead of using a free library-based audiobook app like Libby? Well, plain and simple, there are no wait times. The Audible Standard membership allows you to check out whatever premium title you want with no waiting involved. That means you can enjoy 2026 releases, BookTok favorites, and more whenever you want. Just remember, you need to finish listening before you cancel your subscription, or you'll lose access forever.

Whether your file manager is KDE’s Dolphin, GNOME’s Files, or an alternative, it’s probably an essential part of your workflow, used daily to navigate and organize your files. However, Linux users have been performing these tasks for decades, long before GUI desktops even existed.

Hybrid badges tend to dominate the fuel-economy conversation, but not every buyer needs electrification to keep running costs low. In 2026, several affordable gasoline-powered cars are proving that smart engineering, lighter weight, and efficient powertrains can still deliver outstanding mileage without the added cost or complexity of a hybrid system.

Samsung has given its SmartThings hub an AI injection that could make it more useful for tracking your smart home, and not just from your phone. The company's Now Brief feature, which provides timely AI-curated updates, now supports home security, Family Care (support for aging parents), and pets, and is coming to TVs and refrigerators "soon."

One of the biggest inconveniences when the power goes out is worrying about food spoiling in the refrigerator. A storm that knocks out power always seems to show up just a few days after doing a major fridge and freezer restock. We used to transfer items out of the fridge and into a cooler, but portable power stations made that a thing of the past. Bluetti, a leader in the portable power industry, has made things even easier.

Tucked neatly above the fridge, the Bluetti FridgePower will kick on automatically during an outage. Credit: Bluetti

The Bluetti FridgePower is the brand's latest portable station, aimed directly at keeping the refrigerator and freezer cooling when the power cuts out. Unlike the majority of portable power stations that have a rectangular shape, Bluetti built the FridgePower to be slim to easily sit atop your fridge. It's less than three inches in height and has anti-slip silicone feet for better stability.

According to Bluetti's calculations, the FridgePower's 2,016Wh battery capacity will keep a refrigerator powered on for nearly 22 hours if the appliance pulls about 2,000Wh per day. Instead of worrying about food going bad during an outage or strategizing opening the fridge for 10 seconds to grab the milk as quickly as possible, you'll have the reassurance your fridge will stay powered on for about a day.

Bluetti FridgePower spec breakdown

• Capacity: 2,016Wh

• Battery type: LiFePO4

• Continuous output: 1,800W

• Surge power: 3,600W

• UPS: under 10 milliseconds

• Weight: 43 pounds

• Dimensions: 22.83 in. × 13.78 in. × 2.95 in.

• Warranty: 5 years

Versatile design and major expansion ability

In addition to setting the FridgePower either directly on top of your fridge or in a cabinet above, you can also mount the unit vertically to a nearby wall. The FridgePower has built-in wall mounting brackets and it comes with a mounting kit. That means you can easily set it up on a wall near the fridge in the kitchen or in the garage to power up the extra fridge or chest freezer.

Credit: Bluetti

If the 2,016Wh capacity doesn't feel like enough, you can add up to three BlueCell 200 expansion batteries for a total of 8,064Wh. Each BlueCell 200 has identical dimensions to the FridgePower for perfect stacking ability.

Convenience of a dedicated fridge backup

I've tested dozens of power stations and one of the most useful scenarios for them is to keep the fridge cooling. Not only does that mean food doesn't spoil, it's essential for some households that have medical supplies that need to stay cold. The majority of the power stations I've tested are capable of running a refrigerator for various amounts of time, but adding the Bluetti FridgePower to your home takes it to a new level of convenience.

When my home's power went out for almost 24 hours in December, I plugged the refrigerator into a 2,000Wh power station and left it sitting on the kitchen floor. But when I needed to charge my phone with the portable power station, I was tethered to the kitchen floor since it was keeping the fridge cooling. The Bluetti FridgePower serving as a dedicated fridge backup frees up any other portable power station you have to use around the house for lights, the WiFi router, and recharging phones.

Wall mounting is ideal in the garage for a chest freezer or extra refrigerator.. Credit: Bluetti Plentiful recharging options

With standard AC wall charging, the Bluetti FridgePower will take about an hour to go from 0 to 80% and about 105 minutes to reach a full charge. With a 1,000W solar panel, it'll take a bit over 120 minutes to reach full power. Bluetti also plans on launching the Alternator Charger 2 soon which will allow you to recharge the FridgePower with your car's alternator.

How to pre-order the Bluetti FridgePower

Bluetti is launching the FridgePower via Kickstarter with big discounts for pre-orders. Between April 16 and May 31, early orders save at least 42%. Bluetti expects shipments to begin in early June to make use of during summer storms and hurricane season.

Bluetti FridgePower preorder details: Starter bundle Bluetti FridgePower $759 (save $540) Pre-Order Here Plus Bundle Bluetti FridgePower + BlueCell 200 $1,398 (save $1,100) Pre-Order Here Pro Bundle Bluetti FridgePower + two BlueCell 200 $2,097 (save $1,600) Pre-Order Here Max Bundle Bluetti FridgePower + three BlueCell 200 $2,699 (save $2,197) Pre-Order Here

Bluetti mentions these sale prices are super early bird offers. Once those sell out, prices will shift to normal early bird pricing. They're still good deals, just not quiet as attractive as the super early bird offers. A standalone FridgePower, for example, will shift from super early bird $759 to early bird $819.

If you live in an area that's prone to power outages and food spoilage is a major concern, the Bluetti FridgePower could be the perfect backup system. With these early bird sale prices taking at least $540 off, it's worth jumping on them asap.

Here's a PSA for everyone preparing to tune into The Pitt Season 2 finale tonight: Make sure you keep watching through the episode's credits.

The finale features the show's first mid-credits sequence, in which Nick Fury approaches Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) about putting together a team of elite TV doctors.

SEE ALSO: 'The Pitt' just showed what happens when medicine meets TikTok

I'm totally kidding — about the Nick Fury part, anyway. The Pitt's mid-credits scene is very real, and it's certainly worth sticking around for. No spoilers for what the scene actually entails, but I will say it's less of an MCU-style teaser of what's to come in Season 3, and more of a cathartic button to Season 2. And after 15 hours of trauma cases and tense staff drama, you're going to want all the catharsis you can get.

That being said, if you want a teaser for Season 3, you're in luck. At PaleyFest LA, Wyle and The Pitt creator R. Scott Gemmill revealed key elements about what's next for the series, including when it would take place.

Featured Video For You How 'The Pitt's cinematographer created show's unique immersive style

"It will be pre-Thanksgiving, moving into colder weather," Wyle told USA Today at PaleyFest. "The holidays are approaching. The weather's changing. People are turning on their heaters for the first time."

Wyle added the next season would be "explosive," which won't do anything to soothe my worries about The Pitt's staff's mental well-being. But in the meantime, the Season 2 mid-credits scene offers a sweet balm for that anxiety.

The Pitt Season 2 finale premieres Apr. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

SAVE $625: College students can score one year of Microsoft 365 Premium, one year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a Xbox Wireless Controller totally free with the purchase of a Windows 11 laptop.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Windows 11 Ultimate College Bundle   Shop Now

With the arrival of Apple's MacBook Neo, college students can rejoice in an affordable, colorful laptop. Now, Microsoft is rushing to make their laptops a little more enticing to the college crowd.

They're doing a pretty good job with the ultimate college bundle. With the purchase of a new Windows 11 laptop, students score one year of Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, plus a free Xbox wireless controller. That's $624.86 worth of product that students get completely free.

Microsoft 365 Premium is usually $199.99 for a one-year subscription, and includes access to all the essential Microsoft apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It also features cloud storage and advanced security to keep your papers organized and safe. But college shouldn't be all work and no play.

For some well-earned downtime, one year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is included too. That's access to over 500 games on Xbox consoles and PCs. Not to mention, you'll receive a free wireless Xbox controller for all your gaming needs.

To get the bundle, all you need to do is shop a qualifying Windows 11 laptop, which are available at Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, and Microsoft. Qualifying devices include the Microsoft Surface and Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 laptops.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Surface, 13.8-inch (Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,499.99 at Microsoft
  Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Lenovo Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1, 16-inch (Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD) $1,049.99 at Best Buy
  Get Deal How to redeem ultimate college bundle

Once you purchase your laptop, you'll have to redeem your offer. After setting up the device, an on-screen notification will pop up asking students to verify their student status. This requires a .edu college email address.

After your student status is verified, students will receive an email to redeem their Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft 365 Premium subscriptions. Additionally, they'll receive a unique promo code to redeem a custom controller within three days of verifying their student status.

YouTube is letting users turn off the brain rot faucet on its mobile app.

The internet's home for all things video started rolling out a new setting in its iOS and Android apps that allows users to set a very strict daily limit for scrolling through the Shorts feed, per The Verge.

Specifically, you can now set it to zero minutes, effectively eliminating the Shorts feed as a viable part of the app. You'll still be able to see individual Shorts on a user's account page, but tapping on the Shorts tab at the bottom of the screen will instantly put up a message saying you've reached your limit for the day, disallowing you from watching Shorts there at all.

SEE ALSO: YouTube AI slop is a generational threat, child safety experts warn in new petition There it is. Credit: Screenshot: YouTube

YouTube originally rolled out a Shorts feed time limit feature a few months ago, but prior to this new rollout, the shortest limit was 15 minutes. After scrolling for whatever amount of time you set, the app would stop you from watching Shorts for the rest of that day. That option is still available, both for adult users to set for themselves and for parents to set for their kids, but it now exists alongside the zero minutes option.

Shorts have been successful for YouTube over the past few years as a TikTok competitor (or just a place where videos that originated on TikTok also show up), but it's also undeniably become a source of endless scrolling through AI and brain rot content for many people. Giving users the power to turn off the spigot for themselves is probably necessary.

Picking a font can be a tough task because there are so many to choose from. So why not pick a winner using a tried-and-tested method: the elimination tournament.

Do you have a habit of "closing" apps running in the background on your phone, hoping it'll improve performance or save battery life? If so, you should probably stop, because it's doing more harm than good.

Niagara Launcher has quietly become one of the best Android launchers available today. It originally grabbed attention for completely reimagining the Android home screen, and it has continued to improve upon that concept. The latest update brings a brand new customization tool and a company rebrand.

SAVE $80: As of April 16, you can get the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo for only $368.99 at Amazon. That's an 18% discount and matches its best price on record.

Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo $368.99 at Amazon
$449 Save $80.01   Get Deal

GoPro has long been the gold standard when it comes to action cameras, but the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro gives popular GoPro models a run for their money. It's tough, waterproof, and compact, can capture stable, crisp video in any lighting scenario, and actually last more than an hour. Plus, it's on sale for its lowest price on record.

As of April 16, the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo (which comes with three batteries and a battery case) is on sale for $368.99 at Amazon. That's 18% or $80 cheaper than its list price and matches its best price ever, according to our favorite price-tracking tool camelcamelcamel.

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Our friends at PCMag (also owned by Ziff Davis) tested the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and not only loved it, but also named it the best overall action camera for 2026. Highlights include superb 4K120 video footage, a waterproof build up to 65.6 feet, a compact and easily mountable design, effective digital stabilization, and the ability to record continuously without overheating.

What really takes it over the top compared to other action cameras, however, is its market-leading battery life. "The DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro provides the longest battery life we've seen from any action camera yet, running for far longer between charges than earlier entries in the series and bettering recent GoPro cameras by quite a bit," PCMag's reviewer writes. It'll last you over two hours at 4K60 and over three at 1080p30. Not to mention, with the Adventure Combo pack, you'll get three times that amount — an adventurer's and content creator's dream.

If you have fond memories of being able to upgrade your laptop’s components, I’m here to tell you that I’m right there with you. Except, in 2026, my view on that has changed, and I totally understand why companies stopped building user-upgradable laptops—and that’s okay.

The artificial intelligence entertainment platform Character.AI introduced on Thursday a feature allowing users to role-play in more than 20 classic books, including Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby.

"Books" lets Character.AI users engage in open-ended chats based on these and other famous titles in the public domain. Users can participate as a character from the book or as the "character" they've created on the platform.

SEE ALSO: I 'dated' Character.AI's popular boyfriends, and parents should be worried

Users can either follow the book's original narrative arc or go "off script" to interact with its characters as they wish. Additionally, Books offers "alternate universe remixes" in which players can overhaul a title's original premise, such as imagining Jay Gatsby in space. These remixes can be shared with the broader Character.AI community and subsequently browsed and played by other users.

In a blog post announcing the feature, Character.AI preemptively addressed the concern that it might encourage people to play classic literature rather than actually read it.

"Step into a story, talk to its characters, and there's a good chance you walk away wanting to pick up the original," the company said. "Not replacing books — but making them impossible to ignore."

Books lets users engage in open-ended chat with classic books like "Alice in Wonderland." Credit: Character.AI

Users without a paid subscription can try Books with a "handful of free turns," according to the company. Subscribers are able to explore the entire Books library.

Books will be available to users age 18 and older. Last fall, Character.AI shut down open-ended chats for teens, following lawsuits alleging that teens who used the platform experienced severe harm, including sexual abuse. The company settled the lawsuits earlier this year.

A spokesperson for Character.AI confirmed to Mashable that while users can prompt "romantic narratives" in Books, the company will moderate content that violate its terms of service, in addition to reviewing user reports of such behavior.

Character.AI policies prohibit certain types of behavior, including the depiction of excessive, graphic violence against people and animals; hate speech that demeans or promotes discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, and other characteristics; and content that promotes terrorism or violent extremism.

The policies also bar content that is obscene or pornographic, constitutes sexual harassment, and depicts the sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor.

"As with all of our content, [Books] interactions remain subject to our policies and our safety systems, including both automated and human review," the spokesperson said.

Street Fighter's trailer unleashes the whole crew of elite warriors from Capcom's iconic video game franchise.

Set in 1993 and directed by Kitao Sakurai, the upcoming action film focuses on Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo). Once good friends, the pair have since become estranged. That all changes when Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament, a high-stakes series of fights that masks a deadly conspiracy.

As Street Fighter's trio battles to uncover the truth, they'll face off with some of Street Fighter's most formidable foes, including M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), Balrog (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), and Akuma (Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i).

The trailer showcases these fighters and more in all their aggressive glory, including some body slams from Zangief (Olivier Richters) and some elastic moves from Dhalsim (Vidyut Jammwal). Plus, there are several in-jokes for Street Fighter fans, like a remark tied to Chun-Li's impressive thigh strength.

And of course, it wouldn't be Street Fighter without a Hadouken, which Ryu unleashes in full towards the end of the trailer. To witness that (and several other awesome attacks), check out the full video above.

Street Fighter hits theaters Oct. 16.

Some jobs seem to get put off forever, regardless of how important they are. Though I’m always tinkering with my smart home, rarely do I put my audit hat on and check the nuts and bolts.