Short answer: Starting October 9, 2026, Gemini users without a paid plan get Flash-Lite only, according to Google’s Gemini Apps Help page. Flash and Pro disappear from the free model picker. AI Plus keeps Flash but loses Pro. Only AI Pro and AI Ultra keep all three. If you mostly ask quick questions, free Flash-Lite…
Short answer: The Pokémon TCG Deck Crafter’s Collection comes out October 23, 2026 at $9.99 MSRP (ICv2). Some stores still take preorders at $9.99. At least one is already asking $19.95. Don’t pay double for a product built for players, not collectors. Bought at MSRP, a sealed copy needs to resell for about $18 to…
Short answer: The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro reach the end of Google’s five-year update window in October 2026. Android 17 QPR1 is their last big update. The phone won’t shut off and your apps keep running. What stops is security patches, so every new Android flaw found after October stays open on your…
Short answer: As of October 1, 2026, Microsoft prices MAI-Voice-2.1 at $22 per million characters and MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash at $15 (microsoft.ai). A 10-minute voiceover script runs about 12,000 characters. So one video costs roughly a quarter on Voice 2.1. For captions on recorded videos, the streaming model is the wrong pick. The batch MAI-Transcribe-2 model is…
Short answer: The U.S. ESTA fee goes from $40.27 to $40.62 on October 16, 2026. That’s 35 cents. A valid ESTA you already hold doesn’t need renewing because of it. Applying early saves pocket change at best. The real money gets lost on lookalike ESTA websites that charge double or more. Apply only at esta.cbp.dhs.gov…
Short answer: Samsung is ending free SmartThings API access starting in October 2026. The SmartThings app itself stays free. Anything that talks to SmartThings through the API is affected, and Home Assistant’s SmartThings integration is the big one. That access moves to a $4.99-a-month Personal Plan, about $60 a year. Samsung still hasn’t published the…
Short answer: ChatGPT Finances opened to Free and Go users in the U.S. on October 2, 2026. It links your bank, card, and investment accounts through Plaid, and your credit report through Experian. Access is read-only. ChatGPT can’t move money or pay bills. It can read balances, transactions, and debts, though. Your training setting covers…
Short answer: ChatGPT’s new Try on button shows you a generated picture of yourself in a jacket or pair of sunglasses. It’s useful for color and style. It does not check fit or size, and OpenAI says so. Pick your size from the brand’s own chart, not the picture. Your selfie stays saved as a…
Short answer: Some Pixel phones stopped accepting the correct PIN or pattern after the September 2026 update. Google hasn’t published a fix. Don’t restart a phone that still unlocks with your fingerprint. Back it up right away. If you’re already locked out, try the “Too many attempts” timer once. Then check what’s already backed up…
Short answer: Sign in with ChatGPT gives an app two separate things. One is your name, email, and profile picture. The other, only if you allow it, is a slice of your Plus or Pro usage. That slice comes out of the same weekly pool you use for ChatGPT work and Codex. Set a per-app…