Tag: iphone

Rumored iPhone ‘Air’ May Be Slimmest iPhone; DOJ Will Try to Break Up Google; Microsoft Makes $349 Hardware Device for Secure Cloud Connection; Door Dash App-Can Import Grocery Lists Now

November 19th, 2024

Jony Ive may be long gone, but apparently Apple’s fetish for thinness isn’t. Macrumors.com reports that Apple Analyst Jeff Pu agrees with a recent rumor saying the upcoming ‘iPhone 17 Air’ will be around 6 mm thick. If that turns out to be accurate, it will be the thinnest iPhone ever. Note that no one knows what the handset will be called, but most are dubbing it the iPhone Air. Up to now, the thinnest iPhone has been the iPhone 6 at 6.9 mm. The iPhone Air would be about 3/4 as thick as any of the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro models. It is expected to have a 6.6 inch display, A19 chip, and the dynamic island, but only one rear camera.

We’ve been waiting to see what the Department of Justice had in mind as far as its antitrust action against Google. now we have a better idea. According to theverge.com, the DOJ wants Google to sell off its Chrome browser. This after the judge ruled Google had maintained an illegal search monopoly. Chrome is the world’s most widely used browser. Other DOJ requirements include Google separating Android from Search and Google Play…but they don’t intend to make them sell off Android. It remains to be seen what the incoming DOJ will do with regards to keeping or changing these demands after January 20th.

Microsoft has announced the Windows 365 Link. The gadget “enables desk-based users to work securely on a familiar Windows desktop in the Microsoft Cloud with responsive, high-fidelity experiences.” Engadget.com notes that the 365 Link is a small, lightweight device that Microsoft claims can immediately wake from sleep, boot up in seconds and locally process video conferencing solutions like Microsoft Teams. It doesn’t store local data or apps, has security baseline policies enabled and doesn’t allow for individuals to disable security features. Plus, logging in requires Microsoft Entra ID along with the Microsoft Authenticator app or USB security keys. The box should be available in what they are calling ‘select areas’ in April 2025 for $349. Kind of sounds like a larger, more expensive but more secure dongle to me!

Door Dash’s app is now able to import your grocery list for faster shopping. Techcrunch.com reports that you just choose a store where you want to shop and select the button Create a list or Import a list. With the create, you can copy and paste from anywhere on your phone. Import only works with Reminders on iOS at the moment, but Android support is coming. You can also now search for an item across different merchants, displaying prices and estimated delivery times all in one place.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
New Macs & iPad Mini November 1st; Android Rolling Out New Anti-Theft Features; Supremes Turn Away Suit Over Special Counsel Demanding Trump X Info; GM Working on Hands AND Eyes-Off Driving System

October 7th, 2024

Last month, we got the new iPhones, Watches, and Apple ear buds upgrades. Now, macrumors.com reports that Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is saying we will probably see updated bigger Apple Hardware as early as November 1st. This will include new M4 low-end 14 inch MacBook Pros, and the higher end 14 and 16 inch models…and also a refreshed Mac Mini with M4 and M4 Pro chips. The iMac will get the upgrade as well. One iPad seems to be in the mix for sure…the Mini. It is due for it, as the Mini hasn’t seen an upgrade in 3 years. Don’t expect Mac Studio or Mac Pro models with more powerful M4 chips quite yet. Those won’t be out until mid 2025 for the Studio and the Pro at the tail end of that year.

Google is now releasing anti-theft protection features in the US. They had previously only been available in Brazil. According to androidpolice.com, not all US users are seeing all of them even after the rollout. The 3 features are Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock, and Remote Lock. So far, some Pixel users are getting Remote Lock, but not the other two. Other Pixel users are seeing all three protective features. You can check your phone to see what you have…go to the Settings app, and search for ‘theft protection’ to see if the 3 features are available for your phone. Theft Detection Lock determines if the phone is forcefully taken from your hand, and automatically locks it. Offline Device lock automatically locks your phone’s screen when “a thief tries to disconnect your phone for prolonged periods of time.” Remote Lock is for when you know when you phone is gone for good…you can remotely lock the screen with just your phone number and a security challenge. You use the website android.com/lock.

The Supreme Court is back in session, and promptly refused to take a case disputing special counsel Jack Smith’s efforts to get the records of former President Trump from Twitter (which, of course, is now X) and keep that platform from letting him know about the demand for production. In refusing to take the case, the lower court ruling stands that upheld a nondisclosure order, which Elon Musk claimed violated his platform’s First Amendment right to communicate with Trump. Bloomberg says a judge decided the order was valid, and fined X $350,000 for civil contempt. Twitter eventually turned over 32 direct messages, which the special counsel’s office said was a ‘minuscule proportion’ of the information they requested.

It won’t be a first, but it will certainly be the most widely used when it hits the road. General Motors is working on a hands AND eyes-off driving system. Techcrunch.com reports that this will be a step up from their 7 year old Super Cruise hands-off system that is currently available. This would be what is known as a Level 3 or L3 system…not quite self-driving cars like Waymo is running in several cities or even like GM’s Cruise division has…which are just getting back on the streets of San Francisco after an accident earlier this year where a woman was dragged. Right now, the only L3 system is Mercedes-Benz’ Drive Pilot. Even Tesla’s Autopilot and so-called ‘Full Self-Driving’ system are only Level 2. No word on how soon the Level 3 setup would be available from GM, but since they are teasing it, it should be sooner, not later. GM says Super Cruise will have about 750,000 miles of roads it can use by the end of 2025.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Ca Governor Newsom Vetoes AI Safety Bill; Arm Predicts AI Will Turn Smartphones into ‘Proactive’ Assistants’; Apple’s ‘Home Accessory’ May have Square Display; Huge Verizon Outage Monday Morning

September 30th, 2024

In a disappointment to many, but a victory for Big Tech, California Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday vetoed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. No, he actually didn’t veto it for being a mouthful of word salad! Theverge.com reports that the governor felt the bill was well-intentioned, but would have possibly wiped out the lead California companies have in AI. He also said in a statement that the bill was just too broad. One safeguard that it required which still sounds like a good one was a so-called ‘kill switch,’ which would have required protocols for testing to reduce the chance for a cyberattack or a pandemic. It also had protections for whistleblowers. Expect changes and a fresh bill next term. The feds are also looking into ways to regulate AI.

Arm, the chip designer who’s chips run most of our mobile devices, is looking to upgrading the brains of smartphones and other gadgets to harness the power of AI…perhaps bringing a new series of breakthroughs to our mobile devices. According to thenextweb.com, with more compact, text-based large language models like Meta’s latest Llama iterations, which are optimized for Arm mobile chips, you can get faster user experiences. Arm also says the compact models can run more AI directly on smartphones. Arm sees new helpful mobile apps as a result. LLMs will perform tasks on your behalf by understanding your location, schedule, and preferences. Routine tasks will be automated and recommendations personalised on-device.Your phone will evolve from a command and control tool to a “proactive assistant.” Arm is shooting for 2025 to have over 100 billion Arm based devices to be ‘AI ready.’

Apple is still working on a new home accessory that rolls up the capabilities of an iPad, AppleTV, and a HomePod. People sifting through Apple’s back end code have seen a ‘HomeAccessory’ in that code the last couple months. 9to5mac.com says it appears that it will be powered by an A18 chip, which would support Apple Intelligence, and that it has more of a square display than the rectangular one on iPads. It also apparently sports a camera that will work with FaceTime and other video conferencing apps. The cam can also identify hand gestures from a distance, which would be handy (ok, sorry about that!) for controlling it in the kitchen where you might have wet or food covered hands and not want to touch the screen. It isn’t clear if this device would be something to replace the HomePod, or something different. If that is the case, it seems that a display on top might make it less stellar at reproducing great spacial audio.

By the time you watch or read this, it likely will be resolved, but Verizon has had a huge, nationwide outage Monday morning. Mashable.com reports that over 100,000 have reported outages for their mobile phones, 36 percent of those had no signal, and 14% a total blackout….this all noted by DownDetector. the worst outages were coming in from New York, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, and North Carolina. Reports started coming in at about 9am Eastern time…leaving a lot of people with just SOS mode on their phones.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple Hardware Event ’24 Recap

September 9th, 2024

More time was spent on the Watches than usual…rivaling the amount spent on the iPhones.

The new Apple Watch 10’s get a larger screen with 30% more screen area. The corners are more rounded corners and the Watch is slimmer. Apple says it is 40% brighter at an angle. It now updates every second instead of every minute, but is more power efficient. They showed a new Jet Black aluminum finish. A new Rose Gold also joins the silver aluminum color.

The Watch is 10% thinner than the Watch 9 and 10% lighter. It has 50 meter water resistance. Now, there’s a larger and more efficient charging coil. Expect 30 minutes to 80% charge and 18 hour battery life. Recycled aerospace titanium is the other case material. It comes in natural, gold, and slate grey. The sizes are 42mm and 46mm..not as large as predicted. Watch 10 Starts at $399, available to preorder today, out on Sept. 20th.

Watch Ultra 2 has dual GPS, auto track detection. auto stroke detection and lap count for swimmers. It supports off line maps. There is a new finish….satin black. all are 95% recycled grade 5 titanium. The Ultra 2 starts at $799. Again…preorder today, available Sept. 20th.

The new Air Pods 4 run the H2 chip…Apple claims richer bass and crystal clear highs. They also tout ‘Personalized’ spatial audio. Now, you can nod yes or shake head no to accept or ignore calls. Apple says the 4 has better noise suppression than before. the charging case is smaller and has USB-C. You get 30 hours of charge including case.

An active noise cancellation version is now available for the Air Pods 4 and what they call transparency mode. They will switch from regular to quiet mode automatically. The sound also drops in level when they sense you are talking to someone, which will be handy. The case has a speaker to help use Find My.

AirPods 4 start at $129, the Active Noise Cancellation ones are $179. Preorder today, available the 20th, as with the Watches.

AirPods Max get new color, personalized spatial audio, and USB-C charging. Same price as before. Basically, they are unchanged.

AirPods Pro 2 gets new features to help protect hearing. Hearing protection is on as a default. They are introducing a 5 min hearing test that will run on iPhone and is developed from their 100,000 person hearing study. AirPods Pro will have over the counter hearing aid feature, which you can use after running the haring test. Easy to use pro grade hearing aid.

The new iPhone 16s are designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up. Teal and Pink join other colors. The sizes are 6.1 inches for the 16, 6.7 inches for 16 Plus. They get the New Camera Control button. You can press or slide finger to adjust the cam parameters.

The 16s run the new A18 chip, optimized to run generative models. The phone is 30% faster than last year but more energy efficient…it uses 30% less power. The new 5 core GPU is 40% faster than last year, at 35% less power.

Apple Intelligence—Apple says it will key to you but stay on the phone to protect your privacy. As touted last summer, some features will access the Private Cloud Compute off-phone. Your data only runs on the secure servers…they are allowing outside experts to check them on this.

Apple is integrating writing tools into all the apps that you write with, to help you write better. You can also make your own emoji by writing descriptions.

For Photos, if you type in a description to find one you can’t, AI will go look for it and find it for you. It can also stitch related pics into a little movie like sequence.

In Mail, you can get a little summary of the message, not just the subject line. They claim Siri will be more natural, more personally relevant, and maybe it will actually work well…that would be a first. You can type to Siri instead of dictate for more privacy. Messages can use satellite now where WiFi isn’t available…on 4 continents.

Price same as last year on the iPhone16’s. $799 and $899.

As for the iPhone Pros, the screen sizes grow to 6.3” on Pro and 6.9” for Pro Max. Smaller bezels help keep the actual device size from growing quite as much to accommodate the new screens. Colors are black, white, natural, and Desert gold titanium. Without specifying…as usual…Apple says the Pros have larger batteries and advanced power management…they claim best battery life ever.

The Pros get a new A18 Pro chip. More neural engine cores Intelligence features will run 17% faster than on last year’s phone with A17 Pro. New CPU is 15% faster than last year with 20% less power. They claim fastest CPU in any smartphone.

New cam features include a new 48MP fusion cam that can read data 2 times faster, and there’s a new 48MP ultra wide. The 5X telephoto cam is same as before on the Max, but the smaller Pro gets the good 5x telephoto that was exclusive to the Pro Max last year.

There is a new MagSafe charger that is faster and comes in 2 cord lengths, and Qi2 is supported for wireless charging if you don’t want to pay Apple prices for a magnetic charger. Prices stay the same…$999 for Pro and $1199 for Pro Max. Both are

available for preorder this Friday and on sale September 20.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘technified’ for now.
Samsung Unpacked Recap; Google One ‘Dark Web Reports’ Coming to All; Microsoft Boosting Xbox Gam Pass Ultimate Prices; Apple Hopes AI Will Boost iPhone Shipments 10% in 2024

July 10th, 2024

Covering Samsung Galaxy Unpacked events is so different from covering Apple’s. With famously secretive Apple, there is always a lot to reveal. Samsung, on the other hand, tends to leak like a sieve. Anyway, here are some high lights. The titanium Galaxy Ring bowed, loaded with an accelerometer, PPG sensors to measure blood flow, and skin temperature detection. According to engadget.com, It can track metrics such as sleep score, movement during your slumber, heart rate, respiratory rate and menstrual cycles. Samsung will give you an overall Energy Score to help give you a snapshot of your overall health, and it will offer some suggestions on how to improve things. There’s no subscription required. The ring should run 7 days on a charge, and it is priced at $400. It will ship July 24th. The foldable get a fresh coat of paint, so to speak. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 have a better folding edge to support the dual rail hinge…and they claim the crease is less noticeable. Both have Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for durability. Both rock a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip set. Both the folders got a price bump with the Z Fold 6 starting at $1900 and the Z Flip 6 at $1100. Preorders are open, and they ship July 24th. Samsung rolled out a Galaxy Watch Ultra as a companion to its Galaxy Watch. Like the Apple Ultra Watch, it is aimed at outdoor activities and extreme sports. The Ultra is 47 mm in size, and will set you back $650.00. The Galaxy Watch 7 comes in 40 mm and 44 mm sizes, and it starts at $300. It is also open for preorders, with shipping July 24th.

Google has had ‘Dark web reports’ for Google One subscribers for a while now. With the Google One VPN shutdown in June, Google says the feature will become available to all Google Account holders starting in late July. 9to5google.com reports that after setting up a profile, Google monitors the dark web so you are aware if your personal data has been found in data breaches and leaks. At the time of writing, these reports are available in 46 countries. Instead of requiring the application or login to the Google One service, this information will now be integrated into the “Results about you” section to help you stay aware of any personal data breaches.

Microsoft is goosing up the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in September…it will go to $19.99, up from the present $16.99. Theverge.com says Redmond will also roll out a new ‘standard’ subscription that doesn’t include day-one access to first-party Xbox games for less money. The price hike will hit on September 12th. This all comes as Microsoft is going to add Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and some other big first-party games later this year. The Standard subscription will set you back $14.99 a month.

Apple is shooting for shipping at least 90 million iPhone 16 models in 2024. That’s according to macrumors.com, citing a Bloomberg report. This would be 10% growth over 2023, when Apple shipped 81 million iPhone 15’s. Apple believes that Apple Intelligence will boost demand for the iPhone 16 models, and shore up sales in China, where Xiaomi and Huawei have AI features already, that has helped those brands to cut into iPhone sales there.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple Watch 10 Grows & Siri Gets Smarter-Later; Amazon Updates Echo Spot; MS Notepad Finally Gets Spellcheck; YouTube Improved Eraser Tool

July 8th, 2024

There has been more and more buzz about the upcoming Apple Watch 10. Now, 9to5mac.com reports that Mark Gurman in his PowerOn newsletter is confirming that both models of the Watch will have bigger screens…the larger one will be about the size of the Apple Watch Ultra screen. As others have leaked, the new Watch 10 series will be thinner, and will have a more powerful processor…possibly one that can run some of the Apple AI features coming soon. It looks like health features like blood pressure monitoring and sleep apnea monitoring won’t make it by the rollout in September. Apple has hit some speed bumps. Back to the Apple AI…word is, the fully upgraded Siri with AI won’t be ready for September, either. Now, it appears the better Siri will drop with iOS 18.4 in the spring of 2025. There will be some features like Chat GPT integration that will make the big fall Apple extravaganza.

Aș a lead in to Prime Day, Amazon has bowed a refreshed version of the Echo Spot. According to TechCrunch.com, the Alexa-enabled smart alarm clock will sell for $79.99, but Prime members can pick it up on sale right now for $44.99. The upgraded Spot has better visuals and improved audio. It comes in Black, White, or Blue. The display shows alarms, the time, weather, and song titles. There’s a 1.73” front-firing directional speaker that Amazon says delivers ‘clear vocals and deep bass.’ The camera for video calling has been dropped…who ever wanted this in their bedroom, really? It relies on Alexa to set your time, alarms, play songs, make a phone call, or make intercom announcements through your home.

As amazing as it seems, Microsoft Notepad has been around 40 years, and Redmond has never gotten around to giving it spellcheck…until now. Engadget.com says the functionality has just been rolled out in the Notepad app for Windows 11. Not to snark too much, but I write these reports in Apple’s TextEdit, which has had spellcheck for years, and also has other correction features…some of which are irritating when writing about tech….it will un-helpfully change a word that is correct which it doesn’t know. Anyway, back to Microsoft…the spell check works the same as the one in Word or Edge…you see a red underline, then you can right click on the word and get a list of correct spellings. Amazingly, Microsoft has also just now added autocorrect! Maybe it will be smarter than Apple’s…which with some new AI seems to be less helpful than before!

YouTube released an updated eraser tool late last week. The tool makes it easy to remove copyrighted material from a video without affecting other audio like spoken word or sound effects. YouTube chief Neal Mohan posted about the tool on X and said, “Good news, creators: our updated Erase Song tool helps you easily remove copyright-claimed music from your video (while leaving the rest of your audio intact).” They have designed a new AI-powered algorithm that specifically detects and removes the song without impacting other audio in the clip. Note that YouTube says it still isn’t perfect, but it goes a long way towards removal without having to recut the whole video.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple-Thinner iPhone, MacBook Pro; Surgeon General Wants Warning Labels on Social Media; McDonald’s Drops Drive-Thru AI from IBM; YouTube is Trialing Notes

June 17th, 2024

After a bit of a waver when they dropped the miserable butterfly keyboard, it looks like Apple is back on its crusade to be thinner than ever. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the company wants to make a thinner iPhone and a MacBook Pro that will be perhaps thinner than an iPad Pro! The Apple Watch won’t evade the thinning, either. Gurman goes on to say that Apple is on the brink of introducing “a new class of Apple devices that should be the thinnest and lightest products in their categories across the whole tech industry.” The skinny new Cupertino gadgets may hit as soon as 2025 with the iPhone 17. As for the near future, here’s something cool in the upcoming iOS 18…you can change the wake word for Siri. No more Hey, Siri, or just Siri if you want. With Vocal Shortcuts, you can use your own…like Computer…like on Star Trek. This will only work on the iPhone at first…I can’t wait to say ‘Computer,’ instead of Siri…now if I can just find a reasonably priced Captain Kirk chair!

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is pressing Congress to pass legislation to introduce warning labels for social media platforms…much like the ones tobacco and alcohol products have had for decades. According to theverge.com, Murthy wrote in an essay that was published widely “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor.” The chief doc pointed to studies that found almost half of adolescents say social media gives them body image issues and that those who spend over three hours a day on it are twice as likely to face symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition to warning labels, Murthy is calling for legislation that shields young people from online harassment, abuse, exploitation, and exposure to extreme violence and sexual content in social media algorithms. Murthy proposed these protections alongside others that recommend banning platforms from collecting children’s data and restricting features like push notifications, autoplay, and infinite scroll, which he says “prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use.”

Along with a few colleagues, I have been both amazed and amused at the hype over AI…which often doesn’t seem terribly intelligent. Now, gizmodo.com says McDonald’s is sunsetting its partnership of 2 year with IBM to test AI’s ability to replace drive-thru workers at over 100 restaurants. McDonald’s told Gizmodo this experiment with IBM has “given us the confidence that a voice-ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurants’ future.” Apparently it isn’t ready for prime time yet, though. One customer watched in disbelief as the AI system malfunctioned and ordered 2,510 McNuggets Meals, totaling $264.75. Another customer struggled with the AI system for roughly a minute attempting to order a Big Mac and drink, before a human took over to speed things along. Someone else tried to order a large water and ice cream, and the AI ended up ordering them three butter containers, four ketchup packets, and a caramel sundae!

YouTube is testing out a new feature that will allow viewers of videos to add ‘Notes’ to provide more context and info. Techcrunch.com reports that it sounds much like the Community Notes on X…which started when it was Twitter. According to Google, the Notes feature can be used for things like clarifying when a song is meant to be a parody, or letting viewers know when older footage is being portrayed as a current event. The pilot program is available for starters on mobile in the US in English. A limited number of users are initially going to get invites to write notes.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple WWDC ’24 – Some Highlights

June 10th, 2024

After about an hour of reveals about new features for iOS, MacOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, VisionOS, etc, Apple dove into what they call Apple Intelligence…AI for the Rest of Us…their branding for their expanded AI. Most will be on device, but some things will need to be elevated to the server level. Apple has what they claim will be secure ways to only share info needed to the servers and it won’t be saved. On top of that, they have integrated ChatGPT 4.o without a charge or account. If you have a ChatGPT account, it will still work the same on your device.

The much maligned Siri is getting a hefty AI upgrade, which look good…we’ll have to see how well they actually work when the operating systems are released to the public this fall. Of course, if you want to dive in earlier, a beta will be out of all their operating systems later this summer.

As for iOS 18, you will now be able to lock Apps as well as just the entire phone…requiring FaceID or TouchID to open them. They are making the screens vastly more customizable with layout, colors, and even a custom Control Center. A couple standout areas are improvements to Mail and Messages. Mail will get some machine learning help in separating your mail into categorized ‘buckets,’ including Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. You can set to Primary, and screen out a lot of sales pitches or junk mail. For Messages, there is a huge expansion of emoji customization, and they can be used for tapback responses. A big plus if you are heading to the beach or mountains, or wilderness areas…messages will soon work over satellite, just like Emergency SOS…so you can stay in touch even in a non-emergency situation.

The WatchOS update gives you a deeper look at your vitals, including new overnight vitals. It also gets a new ‘training load’ measurement to check your workout intensity.

For iPad OS, the biggest headline to me was that scientific calculator is coming to the iPad at long last. They even have included ‘Scratch Math,’ which lets you write out formulas and the device will solve for you after an equals sign or it will automatically sum a stack of numbers when you draw a line under the last one. It will create graphs from your work, too, and you can save your work…and calculator works in Notes, too.

A new wrinkle for MacOS allows you to bring up your iPhone screen on your Mac…so if your phone is downstairs, and you want to use an app on it to order coffee ahead, you can do that. The iPhone screen on the actual device stays locked, to no one can get into it. iPhone notifications will also appear on your Mac…and with AI, notifications are prioritized and summarized if you are in Focus mode. You can drag and drop items and files from Mac to iPhone.

A big bump in Keychain power. New Passwords will let you use passwords, verification codes, etc across all your Apple devices. They will autofill as before, but you can do it on any device now…and they stay in the secure enclaves.

Photos also gets a major makeover across all devices. AI will help remove unwanted objects from images, or you can just tell Siri ‘make this picture pop’ and it will enhance the photo without going into the Edit functions and doing it manually.

There’s a lot more, but this gives you the Cliff’s Notes version, boiling things down from and hour and 45 minutes to just a few minutes.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Apple-ized’ for now.
New Intel Processors Coming; Threads Adds Swipe Left & Right Feature; Open AI & Google DeepMind Alums Warn of Serious Risk’ and Lack of Oversight in AI; Apple May Add ‘Respiration Tracking’ to Vision Pro

June 4th, 2024

Intel is putting its foot on the gas with the new Lunar Lake chip. Theverge.com reports that the new system-on-a-chip design triples the size and more that quadruples the performance of its AI accelerator, while promising a 14% faster CPU at the same clock speed. Intel also brags about 50% more graphics performance and up to 60% better battery life than last year’s model. A really big change…no separate memory sticks or chips. Lunar Lake has either 16 or 32GB of memory right in the package itself. The downside? No ability to add more RAM. The move does cut power consumption by 40% though. Intel says for those needing more memory, they will roll out the Arrow Lake chip family later this year.

Threads has made some recent revisions to its interface, and now they have added swiping right to like a post, or left to indicate you aren’t interested. The movements echo those of Tinder, where you can swipe to like or ignore potential people. According to mashable.com, Threads and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said “We’ll use those signals to show you more posts like the ones you swipe right on and fewer of those you swipe left on. I hope this helps you find more posts that you’re interested in.” The feature can be a little confusing as you can only swipe left or right when scrolling through your feed (thankfully, a little heart or crossed out eye icon shows up to let you know what’s up when you start swiping). If you’re looking at a single post on Threads, you won’t be able to swipe left, and swiping right will bring you back to feed view.

There has been plenty of noise about AI developer firms playing fast and loose, and now comes an open letter from a number of former and current OpenAI employees describing concerns about the artificial intelligence industry’s rapid advancement despite a lack of oversight and an absence of whistleblower protections for those who wish to speak up. Cnbc quotes the letter as saying “AI companies have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight, and we do not believe bespoke structures of corporate governance are sufficient to change this.” The letter goes on to say “We also understand the serious risks posed by these technologies,” they wrote, adding that the companies “currently have only weak obligations to share some of this information with governments, and none with civil society. We do not think they can all be relied upon to share it voluntarily.” Besides the OpenAI employees and alums, the letter was signed by a couple Google DeepMind people.

A patent has turned up that indicates Apple may be going to add respiration tracking to the Vision Pro headset. Zdnet.com reports that the patent filing doesn’t really specify precisely what the respiration tracking would do for you, but code for it shows up under the Mindfulness app, so that’s a clue. Perhaps a personalized breathing exercise routine to reduce stress or such. It also isn’t clear when the feature might be released, but we may learn more after next Monday’s WWDC keynote. We will cover the World Wide Developers Conference keynote Monday for you with a recap you can scan or view…so no need to sit through the hype and Apple ‘reality distortion field.’

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Microsoft Outage Took Down Copilot, ChatGPT, DuckDuckGo-Now Over; Spyware Found on US Hotel Check-in Computers; AI Disclosure Required in Campaign Ads-FCC; Leaked Samsung Repair Contract-Privacy Concerns

May 23rd, 2024

An outage linked to Bing’s API took down search for ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and other platforms starting at about 3AM Eastern was finally resolved by 11 this morning East Coast time. Theverge.com reports that Bing’s own search engine was also affected. The outage primarily affected users in Asia or Europe, but also hit the US to a lesser degree. If you were caught in a maddening loading loop and were unable to load search results earlier today, now you know why. As of this webcast, Microsoft was still trying to isolate the root cause…but at least service is restored.

It’s always a bit rattling to come across something like this: a consumer grade spyware app has been found running on the check-in systems of at least three Wyndham hotels across the United States. According to techcrunch.com, the app is called pcTattletale, and it covertly captured screen shots of the hotel booking systems…including details about guests. It gets worse…due to a security flaw in the spyware, the screenshots are available to anyone on the internet! A security researcher has alerted pcTattletale of the bug, but they apparently haven’t responded. The manager of one of the hotels didn’t know the spyware was on their system…others have not responded. Wyndham Hotels are a franchise, so hotels are independently owned and operated. Just one more way for people’s data to get grabbed and misused.

The FCC Chairwoman is proposing a rule requiring disclosure of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in political ads on radio and TV. Reuters says that the Commission is to vote on the proposed rule….which it should be pointed out just requires disclosure in candidate or issue ads…it does not ban AI content. Also worth noting—the rule would require on-air and written disclosures and cover cable operators, satellite TV and radio providers, but the FCC does not have authority to regulate internet or social media ads or streaming services. The Commission has already acted to battle misuse of AI in political robocalls.

Samsung has been selling self-repair kits for its latest handsets like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5. That’s cool, but apparently Samsung is demanding customer info from repair shops before they can get the genuine parts. Androidpolice.com notes that lots of people like to use third party repair shops. The info Samsung is allegedly requiring under a contract with shops includes the customer’s name, contact information, phone identifiers like an IMEI number, alongside details of the customer’s complaint. Channeling Ron Popiel, ‘but wait…there’s more!’ Samsung requires shops to “immediately disassemble” devices brought to them that have been repaired using aftermarket parts in the past, and “immediately notify” Samsung about it. If a third-party repair shop doesn’t do its part, it gives Samsung grounds to terminate their agreement, essentially leaving the shop without easy access to the tech giant’s repair parts. So far, Samsung hasn’t clarified this situation…does the customer get a partially disassembled phone back…or get it back at all? This is not cool.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.