Brian Chen

The internet is beginning to look different for everyone, with tailored ads, bespoke advice and unique product prices shown to people depending on what they say to AI chatbots. And there is typically no “off” switch. To put it another way, the tech industry is making a personalized internet just for you, but you have no say in it. “These tools are sold to us as more powerful, but we have less say in things,” said Sasha Luccioni, a researcher who focuses on A.I. ethics at Hugging Face, an A.I. company.

Near the start of each year, I look at what’s new in consumer technology to give a heads-up on which innovations could actually affect your day-to-day life amid the many fads you can ignore. It’s undeniable that generative artificial intelligence (AI), the technology driving chatbots, is rapidly changing how many people use their devices and browse the web. The AI boom is also driving tech companies to experiment with selling new gadgets that may succeed the smartphone.

With plans ranging from $60 to $200 a month for individuals and families, the price of a cellphone is soon eclipsed by the recurring service bills. What if I told you that it no longer had to be this way? Your phone bill could shrink to as little as $25 a month if you picked a wireless plan from a lesser-known service provider known as a discount carrier. The cheaper plans, based on my tests, offer sufficiently fast internet speeds and reliable phone service.

Many of us have been putting up with a persistent annoyance: a lousy internet connection. Average internet speeds all over the world have slowed. Some broadband providers are feeling crushed by the heavy traffic. And dated internet equipment can create a bottleneck for our speeds. What’s causing your slow speeds — your internet provider or your equipment at home? Here’s a method to figuring that out.

It has been weeks since the coronavirus brought our lives to a halt, shutting down our schools, offices and gyms. Stuck at home, we have had nothing but time to reflect on the things that matter. Consumer technology — most of it, anyway — is low on the list. That’s right.

The European Union wants Google to stop tying together its search, browser and app store products for handset makers. The regulators would love it if Google simply let handset makers like Samsung ship Android phones loaded with their own browsers and app stores instead of Google’s. Yet the European Union is letting Google decide how it wants to comply with its ruling. Keep in mind that Google is staffed with some of the world’s top lawyers and engineers, who will probably find compliance solutions that have a minimal impact on its business.

By the time you finish reading this column, you would be foolish not to download the messaging app Signal onto your smartphone and computer. The free encrypted messaging service has won the acclaim of security researchers and privacy advocates, including Edward J. Snowden. All have said that Signal goes above and beyond other chat tools in keeping electronic communications private. And now more than ever, we may need it. That’s because hacks are on the rise — look at how the activist group WikiLeaks posted a trove of e-mails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta, for all to see.

Many are also watching for how government surveillance may grow under Donald J. Trump, who has chosen Mike Pompeo, who advocates greater surveillance, to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. Signal is one of many encrypted messaging services, but it stands out for its uncompromising security and ease of use. The chat service retains virtually no information from users, including messages and address books, on its servers. What’s more, messages remain encrypted when passing through Signal’s servers, meaning that the app’s creators can’t read them.

Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive, has a vision for the future if regulators approve his company’s blockbuster bid for Time Warner. It goes like this: In a few years, your cellphone’s data connection will be so fast that you can download a television show in the blink of an eye and a movie in less than five seconds. (That compares with up to eight minutes now for a movie.) When that happens, Stephenson has suggested, you may as well just watch TV with your cellular connection and cancel your cable subscription.

Yet the vision may be a mirage. That is because 5G is unlikely to be deployed in any meaningful capacity in the next decade. The technology, which is supposed to offer connectivity at least 100 times faster than what is now available, is at the center of a bitter fight between carriers and telecom equipment makers about how it should work. No resolution is expected until at least 2020, said Bengt Nordstrom, co-founder of Northstream, a telecommunications consulting firm. “Anything before that will just be window dressing,” he said. Even after companies and telecommunications groups define 5G and how it should operate, they face the high cost of installing a wireless network capable of handling the fast wireless speeds. “They take a tremendous amount of money to build,” Craig Moffett, a telecommunications analyst, said of 5G networks. “The obvious question for AT&T is, where is the money going to come from to build out 5G networks on a large scale?”

Apple may well be the only tech company on the planet that would dare compare itself to Picasso.

In a class at the company’s internal training program, the so-called Apple University, the instructor likened the 11 lithographs that make up Picasso’s “The Bull” to the way Apple builds its smartphones and other devices.

Steven P. Jobs established Apple University as a way to inculcate employees into Apple’s business culture and educate them about its history, particularly as the company grew and the tech business changed. Courses are not required, only recommended, but getting new employees to enroll is rarely a problem.

Although many companies have such internal programs, sometimes referred to as indoctrination, Apple’s version is a topic of speculation and fascination in the tech world.

Last quarter, Xiaomi was the top smartphone seller in the largest market in the world: China. A report published by Canalys highlighted Xiaomi’s remarkable growth, surpassing giants like Samsung and Lenovo to become the top player in China.

Because of its huge growth in China, Xiaomi became the fifth largest smartphone maker in the world.