You Can Now Use Apple Pay and Google Pay on Cash App
You are your pals can now use Apple Pay and Google Pay to chip in on group payments through Cash App. The popular digital payment app announced its launching a peer-to-peer group payment feature called Pools that lets you set up and track group payments, including those from Apple Pay and Google Pay.
"With Pools, our customers now have a dedicated, easy-to-use solution for group payments," Cameron Worboys, head of product design at Cash App, said in a statement. "They can start a pool to collect the money in seconds, and then instantly transfer the funds to their Cash App balance when it's time to pay."
Cash App's group payment feature isn't unique to payment apps -- Venmo has its Groups and PayPal has its own Pool. But neither will let you and your pals use Google Pay or Apple Pay directly to contribute.
With Cash App's group payment feature, you can can set up a pool with a target amount through the payment tab, then invite members to join and track payments (so now you can prove that Jeremy did not, in fact, contribute to the group gift). When members make a payment, you can transfer the money to your Cash balance.
The company said the feature is currently available to a limited number of current Cash App customers and that it would be rolled out broadly in the coming months.
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CNET
5 hours ago
- CNET
GPT-5's Voice Mode Can Hold a Decent Conversation, but Please Don't Talk to ChatGPT in Public
Sitting in the lobby of the auto body shop waiting for a repair estimate, I realized I'd forgotten my earbuds. Normally, that's not a major issue, but I was talking to my phone. And I wasn't talking to another person. I was talking to ChatGPT. It felt as embarrassing as asking Siri a question from across the room or joining a Zoom meeting sans headphones in an open office. I'm testing the advanced voice mode that comes with GPT-5, OpenAI's latest version of the generative AI model behind ChatGPT. GPT-5 dropped this summer after many months of speculation and delays, promising AI users a faster and smarter chatbot experience. The jury's still out on whether or not OpenAI has delivered. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) GPT-5 includes improvements to its advanced voice mode, which is essentially a way for you to literally talk to ChatGPT and have it respond in the voice of your choosing. Free users like me now have access to the advanced version (free users previously only had access to basic voice mode), and paying subscribers will receive higher usage limits. Another new GPT-5 feature allows you to choose what kind of personality you want your AI to mimic, including sassy, nerdy and robotic avatars. To use voice mode, open ChatGPT, tap the audio button next to the prompt window where you would enter an instruction and begin chatting. You can change which voice ChatGPT uses by tapping the settings icon in the upper right hand corner on the mobile app (two bars stacked on top of each other with circles on them). More human AI voices? How my experience went I decided to try to speak to ChatGPT like I would a friend, like a more enthusiastic version of myself. The AI laughed when I started the call with a spirited "Heyyyy girlfriend!" which felt both funny and condescending. ChatGPT's voice flowed very naturally in a familiar cadence, similar to the way I would talk to a particularly friendly customer service agent. That made sense as the chatbot itself told me that the upgraded advanced voice mode helped make it sound more human. The voice I used, ember, would often take pauses for breaths, like a human would during a longer sentence. I thought that was kind of weird, since while ChatGPT was doing its best impression of a human, we both knew it didn't actually need to pause to catch its breath. In my conversation with ChatGPT, it was more empathetic than I expected. It asked me how I was doing, and I said not well and told it about my car accident. In our five-minute chat, it would bookend many of its responses with empathetic statements, like saying it was sorry I was having a bad week and agreeing that dealing with insurance can be a headache. (Has ChatGPT ever had to call an insurance agent or even experienced a headache? I think not). While a sympathetic robot ear might not seem like a big deal, it can be a sign of a bigger problem. Sycophantic AI, the term used to describe when AI is overly affectionate or emotional, can be frustrating for users just looking for information. It can also be dangerous for people who use AI as therapists or mental health counselors, something OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned ChatGPT users against. Previous versions of ChatGPT have been pulled and re-released after issues with sycophantic tendencies. I also asked ChatGPT more factual questions, like the average cost of car repair labor in North Carolina and where I could go to get a second repair estimate. It responded more like a friend would than a chatbot, which may not be the most helpful. For example, when I typed the same request into ChatGPT on my laptop, it pulled up a map with the list of stores, along with more information like pricing info and store hours. But when I was chatting with ChatGPT voice mode, it brought up fewer options and described them based on what I assume are the shop's marketing language and customer reviews, using phrases like "They've been around for quite a while" and saying that one shop is "known for quality service". You also don't get any links or sources with voice mode, which I don't love. ChatGPT automatically transcribes voice chats, so you can see the difference in the level of detail given in regular text prompts (left) and voice chats (right). Screenshot by Katelyn Chedraoui/CNET Using ChatGPT voice as a sounding board One of the things voice mode is well-suited for is being a brainstorming partner, a literal wall to bounce ideas off of. I asked it to help me plan a sky-diving-themed birthday party, and it both helped me develop new ideas and refine the ones I already had. I interrupted ChatGPT while it was speaking a couple of times, and it was able to pivot quickly. I also tend to talk quickly, and the chatbot kept up and didn't miss any of my thoughts. I let myself ramble and steer the conversation off track, and ChatGPT didn't blink a virtual eye. Most importantly, when I asked it a question about an earlier topic, it could pick up where we left off. Improvements to ChatGPT's memory are to thank for that important consideration. Now Playing: The Hidden Impact of the AI Data Center Boom 05:13 Should you use ChatGPT voice mode? Overall, I think voice mode is nice as another way to use ChatGPT, but it's only situationally useful. If you need in-depth research and more detailed information, voice mode isn't going to be right for you. But if you just want to talk to someone (rather, something) or work through a problem out loud, voice mode is a nice alternative to having to articulate your thoughts and type them out. I still believe that we haven't normalized talking to AIs in public spaces, especially without headphones. But it can be a useful alternative for people who think better aloud. For more, check out how AI is changing search engines and the best AI image generators.
Atlantic
5 hours ago
- Atlantic
The Rise of ‘Cute Debt'
On the subway a few weeks back, I noticed an ad for a 'buy now, pay later' service from Cash App. It read: 'Little payments are so much cuter.' This ad wasn't made for men, I thought. 'Buy now, pay later' is promoted as interest-free borrowing, which many people, frightened by the idea of going into debt, see as safer. But miss a payment, and the late fees kick in—$8 here, $6 there. Miss payments on a few different orders, and the fees add up fast. You could be paying much more in the end than you would if you were paying interest on a credit card. Worse, your account could be sent to a collection agency, destroying your credit score. On average, men have more total debt than women, but women are 68 percent more likely to use installment payment services such as Afterpay, Klarna, Affirm, and Quadpay, a 2024 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found. This might be less about how women spend money than it is about where they spend it. Although buy-now-pay-later services are accepted on purchases as varied as airfare and electronics, clothing accounts for more than half of the services' gross merchandise value. And women are the bulk of those customers. This is easily gleaned from the services' advertising campaigns. Klarna, for example, paired up with Paris Hilton to create the 'House of Y2K,' an interactive pop-up devoted to Millennial nostalgia selling a limited-edition 'Paris Hilton x Klarna' velour tracksuit; Klarna also partnered with the fast-fashion brand Shein on pop-up stores, including a bubble-gum-pink party bus/traveling store emblazoned with the phrase In Pink We Trust. Murals in Los Angeles and New York featured illustrations of cute strawberries and ice-cream cones and the tagline Afterpay is like eating the whole carton and spreading the calories out over 6 weeks. The business model of 'buy now, pay later' companies is not really about selling their services to women directly. It's about selling themselves to the retailers that want to sell things to women. Lots of online shoppers load up their carts but, once they see the total cost, don't follow through. Companies such as Afterpay pitch themselves to merchants by promising to solve this issue of 'cart conversion' —shoppers are more likely to click 'Pay now' if they have the option to pay less upfront. Jessa Loomis, an associate professor at Newcastle University, in England, is an expert on these companies; she describes herself as a 'feminist economic geographer' whose research focuses on the 'everyday effects' of global finance. The companies make their real money not from the fees they charge consumers, she told me, but from what they charge 'the retailer or merchants to be able to have 'buy now, pay later' embedded in their payment ecosystem.' They are essentially telling brands, ' We can get women to spend money here.' And it's working. 'Buy now, pay later' has become the gateway drug to consumer debt for more and more women. I first used Afterpay in 2018, when I was 20. I had a sorority formal coming up, and the other girls at my SEC school would be wearing their wealth loudly. I couldn't be the one in the same sequined bodycon number that I wore to last year's spring fling. I filled my online cart with five dream dresses, planning to go back and narrow my choices down, dress by dress. But then I noticed an alternative way to pay. I could have all the beautiful gowns at once, for only a quarter of the total cost up front. The service required three subsequent payments at two-week intervals. But if I promptly picked my favorite dress and returned the rest, I'd be off the hook for the second payment by the time it was due. My plan seemed foolproof. As long as I was prompt with my returns and consistent with my payments, I could have what I couldn't afford. Afterpay quickly became a habit. Mac Schwerin: The 'buy now, pay later' bubble is about to burst Throughout my childhood, my Dave Ramsey –fearing parents warned me of the dangers of credit cards. They kept their cash in envelopes, and when the envelope labeled Eating Out was empty, we'd be enjoying Hamburger Helper for the rest of the month. I didn't really understand how interest or building credit worked. Afterpay felt like a safer alternative, but it got me used to 'carrying a balance.' When I did get a credit card a few years later, I thought I could pay 'in installments,' but compounding interest quickly made my debt mount. Before I knew it, I was paying off only the minimum each month, and drowning in debt. I was embarrassed to talk about my debt with my friends, but the more I asked around, the more I realized I wasn't alone. None of the men I asked had ever used Afterpay or its competitors. But many of the women had. 'I remember the first time I used 'buy now, pay later,'' one friend—who's now 27 and owes $16,000 in credit-card debt—told me. It was for a clothing haul before a family trip to Europe during college. 'I was like, Okay, I'm gonna return half of this. So I'll do the four payments so that I can pay a small payment now and not have to cough up all that at the same time. I didn't end up returning any of it. Shocker.' She said that, like me, she had found installment payments more palatable than putting the full expense on her debit or credit card, but that they led to out-of-control spending, which in turn led to more debt. Another friend, who first used Afterpay when she was waitressing in college, described it as 'a bite-size way to pay for things I couldn't really afford.' Buying indulgences made her feel guilty; smaller payments assuaged the guilt. 'Never once did I think that I couldn't really pay for these things. The way I budgeted was week to week.' Lots of our spending was driven by trying to keep up with our friends—not just the real ones, but also the parasocial ones we follow online. Social-media influencers seem to be just like us, only one step and hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead. 'The essence of influencer culture is a kind of low-grade gaslighting about what is possible and what is attainable,' Chelsea Fagan, founder of The Financial Diet, a media organization focused on promoting financial literacy among women, told me. Fagan began a blog to hold herself financially accountable when she found herself in credit-card debt at age 25. Social media leads us to believe that 'every purchase we make now is sort of a micro-expression of identity. Whether it's the smoothie that we're drinking or the place that we travel to or the bag we're holding, all of it is kind of an expression of the type of woman we are.' But 'there's just such a lack of transparency, and of financial honesty, around it.' One of my friends—who is in $15,000 of credit-card debt—describes social media as 'our generation's homeownership.' Our feeds, with their photos of meals or outfits, are the way we prove that we've made it, she said. 'It's like our white picket fence,' in a world where none of us can actually afford a house. Naturally, 'buy now, pay later' companies have invested in influencer marketing campaigns, resulting in a flood of 'get ready with me' videos in which women show themselves purchasing products with Afterpay. Many are clearly ads: 'Hot girls love all kinds of flexibility,' one TikTok comedian says in reference to Klarna; a catchy Cash App–inspired rap goes: 'Cash App, I can make that cash clap.' From the January/February 2021 Issue: Why is there financing for everything now? But other videos masquerade as financial advice: 'Basically, you just, like, split your payments up into, like, four manageable chunks, then you pay it over time. It's called shopping responsibly, okay?' the comedian says in another Klarna-sponsored sketch. 'Let's be real—ticket prices and new clothes really add up,' an influencer says over footage of her attending a music festival. 'This is where Klarna helps me.' In small type, near the bottom of the screen, a disclaimer: 'Borrowing more than you can afford or paying late may negatively impact your financial status.' Lots of people my age like to use the phrase girl math to justify reckless spending. It's only partly a joke. Didn't buy that $700 Gucci wallet? Now you have $150 to spend on dinner out. Girl math! A man bought your drink last night? Now you have extra money for martinis with your friends. Girl math! 'I hate the idea of 'girl math,'' Bola Sokunbi, the founder of Clever Girl Finance, told me. 'Math is math. And if it doesn't make sense as a purchase, it just doesn't make sense. Don't put girl on it and make us seem like we are stupid.' The phrase 'makes it seem that it's cute or silly to not understand finance,' Haley Sacks, the woman behind the popular Instagram account Mrs. Dow Jones, told me. 'It feeds the stereotypes that money is masculine and women should just spend it.' She said many young women confuse consumerism with empowerment. But 'you don't want to glamorize being out of control.' This year, buy-now-pay-later services are predicted to hit nearly $117 billion in transaction volume, thanks largely to young, female buyers. The biggest danger is that ''buy now, pay later' normalizes using debt to live,' Sacks says in one of her videos. 'One moment, you're financing your Coachella outfit; the next moment it's groceries.' And indeed, this is happening more and more frequently— a quarter of 'buy now, pay later' customers say they use an installment-payment service to shop for food. This summer, though, FICO began including buy-now-pay-later loans when calculating credit scores, and Affirm began sharing its Pay-in-4 customers' data with the credit bureau Experian. Now that credit scores are directly at stake, savvy customers may opt out of paying in installments. For younger customers desperate to get their hands on the next new thing, it might not matter. It wouldn't have stopped my 20-year-old self's shopping spree. But at least buy-now-pay-later loans will be seen as what they always were: debt.
CNET
6 hours ago
- CNET
My 7 Expert-Tested Tech Tricks to Stop Porch Pirates in Their Tracks
If you order packages from Amazon and other popular retailers, you're probably aware of the chance of porch pirates, or thieves grabbing your stuff right when it's delivered. CNET's own survey say 1 in 4 adults in the US have had packages stolen or know someone who has. "Delivery was meant to be convenient -- but with porch theft like it is today, it's anything but," says Hyve Security. "Getting a notification that a package has arrived is supposed to bring peace of mind. Instead, it brings panic." I don't think you should ever panic about a delivery, so I've tested all kinds of home security devices, many made for your porch and front door, in a quest to find the best proven ways to stop and discourage porch pirates. Along the way I've uncovered some innovative answers -- here are my favorites. 1. Take advantage of package tracking Every major delivery company and the US Postal Service now gives updates on when a given package will arrive. In most cases, you can track its progress and see when it's been placed on the truck for delivery. Finally, the tracking will be updated when your package has been delivered. The simplest way to avoid porch pirates is to use this tracking information to quickly retrieve your package once it's delivered. If you're not able to be home during the delivery, you can have someone else keep an eye on your doorstep that day. Limiting the time between delivery and retrieval is a simple, straightforward way to avoid porch piracy. 2. Install a video doorbell Video doorbells are becoming an increasingly popular way of protecting homes. Brands like Ring, Arlo and Nest sell doorbells that double as home security cameras. When someone rings the doorbell, you can see a live video feed and hear what your visitor is saying. And the camera allows for two-way audio, meaning you can talk to whomever is on your porch. Having a doorbell security camera can benefit you in a few ways. First, burglars and thieves tend to be discouraged by security alarms. Someone thinking of stealing your package might see the security camera and think again. Video doorbells can be good deterrents to would-be porch pirates. Ring In addition to deterrence, many of these video doorbells come with motion sensors and a notification system, which sends an alert when someone is on your front porch. With AI detection, many can also identify packages and let you know when a package has arrived -- or when a package is suddenly no longer detected -- all seconds after it's happened. Thanks to how popular these doorbell cameras have become, they're widely available at competitive prices. You can easily find a great one for less than $150. 3. Get your packages delivered to pickup locations We know it involves an extra trip, but because you can't always be home for a package arrival, arranging for a pickup location instead works well -- especially for more expensive items. For example, when you order from Amazon, you have the option to choose a pickup location instead of your address, including any available Amazon Lockers, Amazon Counters at participating locations and UPS AccessPoints. Other carriers have their own nearby hubs where you can arrange for pickup too. Plan a trip when you're out on your daily errands and you can be the one swooping in on your package instead of a porch pirates. 4. Consider buying a porch lockbox Package lock boxes are a very old solution to a very modern problem. Felikuk With porch piracy rates increasing steadily, more people are turning to an old but highly effective answer -- a delivery box for your door like those that Hyve, Adoorn and Keter offer. When you order an item online, you'll give instructions for the delivery driver to open your porch lockbox. Some have a slot for drivers to drop small items into but require a key to open. Others require a code that you can provide for the delivery driver. The best even offer smart app alerts and remote control over the box. This type of lockbox isn't necessarily the most affordable option: High-quality lockboxes can easily cost hundreds of dollars. But if you often receive valuable packages or live in an area known for package theft, it might be worth it. 5. Require signature on delivery In most cases, delivery drivers simply leave packages on porches or at front doors. But that's not the only option. Most companies also give the option to require a signature on delivery. In that case, the driver can't leave the package unless you're there to sign. This strategy can be inconvenient if you're not often home during the day, and a few missed deliveries can lead to packages being returned to the sender. But for a valuable package, it might be worth waiting to ensure it's not sitting unattended on your porch. Read more: The Worst Spots to Install Your Home Security Camera 6. Buy a mailbox sensor A mailbox sensor is a small device that attaches to your mailbox and notifies you when it's been opened. You can find out when your mail is delivered, as well as if someone is opening your mailbox who shouldn't be. Mailbox sensors can give you more immediate information regarding your deliveries -- especially for smaller parcels. Megan Wollerton/CNET Ring is just one of the companies that offers this product and allows you to pair your mailbox sensor with the rest of your home security system. You can arrange it so that when your mailbox is opened, your doorbell camera or another home security camera begins recording. When you open the video feed, you'll know if someone is opening your mailbox who shouldn't be. And while you may not be able to stop someone from stealing your package, you'll at least have the video evidence. 7. Make it obvious someone is being recorded Studies have shown that your home is less likely to be subject to theft if it's clear you have a home security system of some kind. According to data collected by a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 83% of burglars try to determine whether a house has a home security system. If security is present, 87% would move onto another home. So how do you make it clear your home is secure and encourage potential thieves to move along? Obvious signs such as security cameras on the exterior of your home can be enough. Many home security companies also provide their customers with signs to place on the front yard. Kasa's very affordable doorbell can keep an eye on all kinds of front door events. Kasa Now there's an obvious caveat: Many porch pirates don't notice or care about home security systems and simply try to move so fast that it won't matter (which is why this step is lowest on our list). But making it clear that you have security cameras or video doorbells that are actively recording people can still help. Some settings allow you to turn up the brightness of indicator lights on video doorbells, for example, so someone can clearly see when it pops on. For more information on protecting your home against burglars and thieves, visit our list of the best home security systems. And if you're looking for home safety tips that go beyond your front porch, check out this guide to prevent car break-ins and these tips for improving your home security now. Don't miss any of CNET's unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.
