The Last of Us Part II might only be about three years old, but the popular PS4 sequel from Naughty Dog will be remastered for PS5 next year. And as you might expect, when we asked Kotaku readers (you fine folks!) about this, you all had a lot of thoughts to share on remakes, remasters, and more.
Source: Kotaku – Kotaku Readers Can’t Agree On When Games Should Be Remastered
OLED monitors risk burn-in, especially with static images. Newer models combat this using improved materials, algorithms, efficiencies, features, and heat management. However, long-term data is minimal as quality selection is recent. An unexpected quirk applies to ultrawides: playing 16:9 content creates brighter center areas versus darker sides, quickening OLED degradation. In an extreme test by RTINGS, Samsung ultrawides developed heavy differential wear in just 700 hours. ArsTechnica adds: Even OLED monitors that have already been released can see their capabilities change in a way that could impact burn-in risk. For example, the Odyssey G8 monitor got a firmware update in August that removed the ability to use the Peak Brightness setting in SDR mode. While this is just one specific mode that, again, some users might not use, it’s worth noting how this could change the amount of wear an OLED monitor could see. RTINGS’ review said that after the firmware update, the monitor’s max luminance “when displaying a bright highlight in an SDR scene” went from 331 nits to 230 nits. Samsung hasn’t confirmed the reasons for this change, but such changes highlight how OLED monitor burn-in risk can change from use to use and from update to update, across different products.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Ultrawide Monitors Remind Us There’s Still Much To Learn About OLED Burn-in
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
It may have been a chaotic week at OpenAI, but the company has somehow still found time to roll out a product. “ChatGPT with voice” is available to free users of the ChatGPT app. This feature launched for paying users in September, and if you haven’t heard, it’s a full-blown voice assistant. The feature is still slowly rolling out to devices; on my Android phone, I don’t have a “headphone” icon anywhere, even with a Plus subscription.
When you have the feature, you can open the app, press the “headphone” icon, ask a question, and a stilted robot voice will read out a reply. It’s just like the voice assistants from Apple, Amazon, or Google, but this one is powered by a large language model. ChatGPT’s voice model is purely a question-and-answer type of voice assistant, though. Usually, these things are handy for what they can do on your behalf—make a phone call, control a smart home, take a note, or make a calendar appointment—but this can only answer questions.
ChatGPT with voice is now available to all free users. Download the app on your phone and tap the headphones icon to start a conversation.
Sound on
pic.twitter.com/c5sCFDAWU6
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 21, 2023
Google and Amazon are rebooting their voice assistants to use large language models, so ChatGPT’s voice functionality is definitely a preview of the future. The demo about buying pizza for a large group is more complicated than the current Big Tech voice assistants can handle. ChatGPT’s response is also longer-winded than most voice assistants, giving a 66-word, 23-second answer describing the imagined pizza-eating scenario in excruciating detail.
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Source: Ars Technica – “ChatGPT with voice” opens up to everyone on iOS and Android
Historical epics once ruled the box office, reliably taking home both cash and trophies each year. That’s changed over the past decade or so; much of Hollywood’s big money now goes into either science-fiction spectacles or superhero franchise films, traditionally expensive period epics having fallen a bit out of fashion—at least on the big screen. Ridley Scott, though, hasn’t given up, with the Gladiator director fighting to keep the form alive: the sprawling, big-budget Napoleon is out soon, and an improbable Gladiator sequel is underway as his next film. It might be an uphill battle: 2022’s The Woman King got great reviews and still only did decent box office business, while Scott’s own The Last Duel, from 2021, got similarly good reviews while having lost quite a bit of money. Still, though, movie tastes are always a bit cyclical, and if we’re starting to see stirrings of superhero fatigue, there might be an opening for some big-budget trips to the real-life past.
Historical setting: The north Atlantic, April, 1912
There’s melodrama here, for sure, but James Cameron’s tearjerker is also a glorious portrait of a very particular moment in time, luring us in with the glamour of its era before hitting us with the costs to those living their lives on the lower decks of society. It’s also a wonderfully fastidious feat of recreation, in which the plot cleverly takes us on a tour of Titanic. By the end, we feel like we know her as well as any of her passengers.
Where to stream: Paramount+
Historical setting: The entirety of the life of Malcolm X, 1925 – 1965
Spike Lee dodges every dull biopic trope in presenting the life of the Black activist who helped to define the 1960s and the era of the civil rights movement. It’s stylish and propulsive, while Denzel Washington practically channels the movie’s subject with his extraordinary performance.
Where to stream: Tubi
Historical setting: Medieval France, circa 1386
Ridley Scott’s previous epic adapts a nonfiction work by Eric Jager involving a trial by combat in medieval France between Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) following the rape of Jean’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer). Scott cleverly approaches the story as a European Rashomon, with the story presented from the very different points of view of each man, before we get the full picture from Marguerite’s perspective. History, and the players in the duel, might not have cared about that point of view, but Scott and the film do.
Where to stream: Fubo
Historical setting: World War II-era Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia
Steven Spielberg earned his first directing Oscar for this wrenching, essential film set during the Holocaust. Oskar Schindler, an industrialist and Nazi himself, becomes slowly disillusioned with, and then horrified by, the actions of the party, employing over 1,000 Jewish refugees to work in his factories as a means of saving them from the concentration camps.
Where to stream: Showtime, Fubo
Historical setting: 16th century South America
Probably the lowest-budget epic you’ll find on this list, Werner Herzog’s film follows conquistador Lope de Aguirre (played by a legendarily unhinged Klaus Kinski) on his hunt for the mythical golden kingdom of El Dorado. The real-life Aguirre was called El Loco for his grandiose and megalomanical plans; Herzog and Kinski capture the feel of a doomed obsession. The movie was a tremendous inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
Where to stream: Tubi, Vudu, The Roku Channel, Freevee, Shout Factory TV, Plex
Historical setting: Algiers, 1954–1962
A shockingly relevant film about the tensions between Algerian nationalists and French forces in North Africa, a conflict that erupted into a three-year war. Director Gillo Pontecorvo’s hyper-realistic film is thrilling on one level, but also deeply challenging. While the movie’s morality leans slightly toward the Algerians trying to reclaim their home from the French, it’s also clear that the shocking acts of violence perpetrated by the guerrilla fighters render any discussion of heroes or villains ridiculous.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Historical setting: Odessa, 1905
Sergei Eisenstein’s masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda has ked a cinematic life well beyond its intended purpose (that being: honoring the first Russian Revolution on its 20th anniversary). Groundbreaking and wildly influential, echoes of its style and editing techniques can be found in everything from Laurel and Hardy to Star Wars and beyond, with Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables famously recreating one of the film’s most iconic scenes on the Odessa steps, in which a baby carriage rolls out of control amid chaos.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Historical setting: The Roman Empire, circa 180 CE
Ridley Scott tells the story of a high-ranking Roman officer forced into the gladiatorial arena after running afoul of the incoming emperor, Commodus; the movie was a box-office champ and an awards-season favorite for its year, signaling a revival of the historical epic genre that never quite materialized. But since we’re talking so much about Scott, his next historical epic is set to be a sequel to this Oscar winner.
Where to stream: Netflix, Paramount+
Historical setting: Sengoku-period Honshū, Japan
One of Akira Kurosawa’s later films, and his last real epic, Ran is still among the director’s most beloved, blending Japanese history and folklore with hints of Shakespeare. Set in the 16th century, Kurosawa fictionalizes the story of real-life daimyō Mōri Motonari by blending it with King Lear. Elderly warlord Ichimonji Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to divide his kingdom between his three sons, only to discover that greed and lust for power are more powerful than loyalty. It was the director’s most expensive film, with lush cinematography and elaborate period design.
Where to stream: Prime Video
Historical setting: Moscow, 1953
Armando Iannucci brings his trademark dark wit to the story of the political power plays and jockeying that occurs in the wake of the passing of the Soviet leader. As he did in Veep, Ianucci lays bare the grasping, petty covetousness that lies behind power politics, no matter how outwardly respectable. It might not be the most historically accurate bit of history on film when it comes to the details, but it’s nevertheless among the most honest.
Where to stream: Hulu, Tubi, The Roku Channel
Historical setting: Tokyo, from the 1920s to 1970
Paul Schrader’s kaleidoscopic drama starts on the last day in the life of Yukio Mishima, a writer who famously committed public seppuku. One of Japan’s most significant 20th-century artists, Mishima’s rejection of modern material culture lead him to an extreme traditionalism and saw him founding his own private army. He’s an unconventional subject for an unconventional historical epic (one that sees moments from his works dramatized alongside scenes from his life), but this was a life lived on a large scale, for better and worse.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel
Historical setting: 12th century England
It’s based on a play rather than the specific history, so there’s much here that’s either dubious or flat-out wrong. Still! It’s a big, fun, old-school cinematic epic about the political and religious struggle between Henry II (Peter O’Toole) and Thomas Becket (Richard Burton), the king’s one-time friend who becomes an opponent as Archbishop of Canterbury. Burton is a little bit of a snooze, but O’Toole is clearly having a ton of fun—he’d play the character again, and be joined by Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine, in The Lion in Winter just a few years later.
Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, Freevee, The Roku Channel
Historical setting: Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, 1941
In the early going, this feels more like a solid romantic melodrama than a war picture—the film’s iconic image is of Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster making out on the beach. But it’s all in service of drawing us into the lives of the the people in the orbit of Schofield Barracks on Oahu, played by an all-star cast including Lancaster and Kerr, as well as Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed, and Ernest Borgnine among others. By the time the bombs start to drop, we’re deeply invested in these character’s lives and fates.
Where to stream: Max
Historical setting: Western Europe, 1917-1918
Idealistic soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) hopes to be a hero when he signs on, with his friends, to fight with the German army. His visions of glory and noble sacrifice are quickly shattered as he’s forced to confront horrors, and learns that survival is the best he can hope for. Though it doesn’t have quite the power of the 1930 original, it’s still a powerful film about the futility of war, set amid the trenches of World War I.
Where to stream: Netflix
Historical setting: 14th century England
Filmmaker, provocateur, and activist Derek Jarman removes any historical ambiguity from the relationship between Edward II and his beloved courtier Piers Gaveston (not that it was particularly ambiguous) while imagining medieval Europe as a postmodern fantasia, rife with intentional anachronisms and Annie Lennox on the soundtrack. Think Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, but gayer.
Where to stream: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Pluto, Freevee
Historical setting: The Mauryan Empire (covering much of modern-day India), 3rd century BCE
Hyper-stylized in its action sequences and peppered with musical interludes, the film tells a dramatized version of the life of the titular Mauryan emperor (Shah Rukh Khan), who famously discovered Buddhism and pacifism following an early life of violent conquest. Luckily, that transition comes late in the film, so we still get plenty of brilliantly choreographed action sequences in the lead-up. It was a massive success in much of Asia, and a rare Indian film of its time to receive a wide global release.
Where to stream: Netflix
Historical setting: Sengoku-period Japan, 1586
Both a dramatic and technical achievement, Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece succeeds brilliantly as a straight action movie, but establishes the members of the assembled team as unique and complicated individuals, in many ways not that much better than the bandits they’ve been hired to fight. In the movie, penniless villagers decide to hire samurai to defend themselves from raiders. Since they have nothing to offer but food, they have no choice but to seek out only the most desperate rōnin to help them. The rag-tag band of outsiders is forced to come together in the face of a merciless onslaught and, while it’s more about its historical setting than any particular real-life events, there’s striking verisimilitude alongside the movie’s style.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Historical setting: Northern Europe, circa 895 CE
Shockingly underseen, Robert Eggers’ The Northman isn’t based on any particular bit of Scandinavian history, instead blending elements of legend and mythology into a scrupulously recreated historical setting. Alexander Skarsgård plays Amleth, a Viking warrior-prince who narrowly escapes a coup that wipes out his dynasty, beginning a Shakespearean quest for vengeance at any cost. The film offers a starkly nihilistic worldview while simultaneously challenging ideas of honor taken to extremes. Nicole Kidman’s performance is delicious.
Where to stream: Peacock
Historical setting: Joseon State Korea, 1636
A war movie that avoids looking much like a war movie at all, The Fortress takes place during Qing invasion of Joseon in 1636. The Joseon state of modern-day Korea had maintained a relationship with the Ming dynasty of China, but came under pressure from the Qing prior to an all-out invasion. The film follows the end of that story, when King Injo and his retainers sought refuge in the title’s fortress. This isn’t the story of an Alamo, though, instead one of moral compromise and politics as the fort’s defenders fight to navigate between two larger powers while under literal siege. The movie was a massive hit in South Korea, picking up several major awards.
Where to stream: Netflix
Historical setting: Dahomey, West Africa, 1823
Though the movie has much deeper ambitions, there’s something to be said for the pure joy of watching surprisingly swole Viola Davis lead a team of all-but-unstoppable African women warriors as they fight back against colonialist invaders. Set in West Africa in 1823, and based on the real-life the Agojie (also known as the Dahomey Amazons), the movie stars Davis as General Nanisca, leader of the country’s army, forced to navigate complicated regional politics even though her skills, and the movie’s most exhilarating scenes, involve kicking slave-trader ass.
Where to stream: Netflix
Historical setting: The Western Front of World War I, 1917
Sam Mendes’ World War I drama has no business working as well as it does, given that its premise includes a bit of a gimmick: It’s presented as though it’s been filmed in two continuous takes, with no cuts in between. The result might have wound up feeling like a video game, but instead the conceit brings an uncommon, harrowing immediacy to the story of two soldiers Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), desperate to deliver a message that would cancel an offensive that they know to be doomed.
Where to stream: Showtime, Fubo
Historical setting: China, particularly Beijing, in the early 20th century
Though not to be taken as a history lesson (very few narrative movies should be), Bernardo Bertolucci’s gorgeous epic makes everything of its location, shooting inside Beijing’s Forbidden City. John lone is excellent as the grown-up Puyi, made emperor of China at age two, and forced to abdicate by the age of six. The movie charts his life in defiance of, and then as a puppet of, China’s new Communist government.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Historical setting: Saragarhi (modern Pakistan), 1894
There’s not much here that’s particularly challenging, but Kesari is nevertheless a rousing story of military courage and heroism in the face of impossible odds. The film follows the events around the Battle of Saragarhi, during which 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Raj fought 10,000 Afghani attackers, 300-style, in 1897. The movie’s politics are complicated, but the performances are top-notch, and the battles are impeccably choreographed.
Where to stream: Prime Video
Historical setting: The Third Servile War, the Mediterranean in the first century BCE
Stanley Kubrick’s Roman Republic-era epic dodges most of the sword-and-sandal conventions that the movie’s release year might suggest, instead telling a rousing tale of freedom and nonconformity. Written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, Spartacus challenged not only Roman-style slavery, but the then-modern Communist witch hunts.
Where to stream: History Vault
Historical setting: Eco period Japan, 1844
Near the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the utterly sadistic (not to mention corrupt) Lord Naritsugu is to be offered a seat on the Shogunate Council, a promotion that will not only see the cruel lord’s power increase, but will likely set off a civil war between his supporters and those who hate him. The Shogun’s justice minister decides that assassination is the only way, and so hires a dozen samurai in order to carry out the execution. The kinetic and violent film reminds us that director Takashi Miike made his name in several memorably visceral horror films.
Where to stream: Hulu
No wars here, exactly, though the Civil Rights Movement was an era of violent conflict; there are few better, nor more ignored, prisms through which to view it than than that of the life of Bayard Rustin (a brilliant Colman Domingo), one of the movements leaders, and the chief architect of the March on Washington. As an openly queer man, though, he was ignored and erased from the history of the movement—at least until this suitably epic biopic.
Where to stream: Netflix
Source: LifeHacker – The 26 Best Historical Epics Streaming Right Now
The Linux Foundation today announced the release of the Xen Project Hypervisor 4.18 for this open-source hypervisor that serves as an alternative to Linux KVM use…
Source: Phoronix – Xen 4.18 Hypervisor Released With Support For New AMD EPYC & Intel Xeon CPU Features
Enlarge / Apple’s AirPods Max, a close analog to what Sonos plans to launch in April. (credit: Apple)
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman isn’t just reporting about the inner workings of Apple; he’s breaking news about upcoming Sonos products. In a report published Tuesday, Gurman revealed that Sonos is months away from releasing a competitor to high-end wireless headphones after years of vague rumors.
Additionally, Sonos is reportedly working on a Roku Ultra- or Apple TV 4K-like set-top box that would allow users to watch video from a wide range of streaming TV apps.
The Bloomberg article says the device will cost between $150 and $200 and will be a small black box. We’ve seen some prior reports that flesh this out a bit; Sonos has been working on something called Home Theater OS (which would be Android-based) for some time, and voice control is said to be a key feature. Sonos is also considering launching its own streaming video service. The device will support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, and it will seamlessly work with Sonos’ existing home theater speakers.
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Source: Ars Technica – Sonos plans Roku-like TV streaming box and AirPods Max-like headphones
Hulu is offering an enormous discount on its ad-supported plan for Black Friday. The streaming service will give you a year of Hulu (With Ads) for a mere $12. The plan typically costs $80 annually, giving you 85 percent off. Hulu’s Black Friday sale is live now and runs through the end of the day on November 28.
Hulu offers films, current-season episodes of popular broadcast television series and older TV. In addition, the Disney-owned service has original programming, like The Bear, Only Murders in the Building and The Handmaid’s Tale. Remember that the $12 Black Friday sale only applies to the version with advertisements, which doesn’t allow downloaded content for offline viewing.
New subscribers and former members who canceled their plan at least a month ago can take advantage of the Black Friday deal. Everyone who redeems it will pay directly to the streamer (rather than through an app storefront) and convert to a full-priced ($8 monthly) ad-supported plan at the end of 12 months. Hulu also offers an optional Starz add-on for $1 monthly for all new and existing subscribers.
If you’re more interested in other streaming services, plenty of competitors are offering Black Friday deals at the moment. Max has dropped the monthly price of its ad-supported plan to $3 for the first six months, while Black Friday deals from Paramount+ start at $2 per month for the Essential tier. Peacock, meanwhile, is offering new subscribers access starting at $2 per month for the first year, or you can pay for one year upfront and only be charged $20.
Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hulu-black-friday-deal-get-one-year-of-the-ad-supported-plan-for-1-per-month-182522537.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Hulu Black Friday deal: Get one year of the ad-supported plan for per month
The Epic Games Store might not be making any money, but it’s still giving away lots of good deals to anyone who’s willing to shop there. The Steam competitor’s 2023 Black Friday deals might not be as good as in years past, but the Fortnite maker is still giving all players a coupon for 33 percent off almost anything…
Source: Kotaku – Cyberpunk 2077 And Other Big Games Are 33 Percent Off For Epic’s Black Friday Sale
Those using OpenZFS 2.2 will want to update to OpenZFS 2.2.1 right away. A block cloning bug was uncovered that is causing data corruption issues for users…
Source: Phoronix – OpenZFS 2.2.1 Released Due To A Block Cloning Bug Causing Data Corruption
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)
A Florida judge, Reid Scott, has ruled that there’s “reasonable evidence” to conclude that Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk knew of defects in Autopilot systems and failed to fix them. Testimony from Tesla engineers and internal documents showed that Musk was “intimately involved” in Tesla’s Autopilot program and “acutely aware” of a sometimes-fatal defect—where Autopilot repeatedly fails to detect cross traffic, Scott wrote.
“Knowing that the Autopilot system had previously failed, had limitations” and, according to one Tesla Autopilot systems engineer, “had not been modified, Tesla still permitted the ‘Autopilot’ system to be engaged on roads that encountered areas of cross traffic,” Scott wrote.
Because a jury could perhaps consider that a “conscious disregard or indifference to the life” of Tesla drivers, Scott granted a motion to seek punitive damages to Kim Banner, whose husband Jeremy was killed in 2019 when his “Model 3 drove under the trailer of an 18-wheeler big rig truck that had turned onto the road, shearing off the Tesla’s roof,” Reuters reported. Autopilot allegedly failed to warn Jeremy or respond in any way that could have avoided the collision, like braking or steering the vehicle out of danger, Banner’s complaint said.
Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Elon Musk and Tesla ignored Autopilot’s fatal flaws, judge says evidence shows
In the wake of Scream franchise star Melissa Barrera being let go from her role in Scream VII due to perceived inflammatory comments on social media about the Israel and Hamas conflict, co-star Jenna Ortega has left the film.
Source: Gizmodo – Jenna Ortega Leaves Scream Franchise After Melissa Barrera Firing
It’s nearly Black Friday, the time of year when corporations show they’re thankful for you with discounts on thousands of products. But get this: Corporations are not as grateful as they appear (WTF?), and there are a lot of phony deals out there. Here are Gizmodo’s best tips for avoiding bad deals at any time of…
Source: Gizmodo – Don’t Fall for Bad Black Friday ‘Deals’
Here’s a gripping conversation starter to bring up over your family’s Thanksgiving feast this year: Health officials in Michigan have identified an alarming cluster of syphilis infections in women’s eyes.
The first-of-its-kind cluster—in five women all linked to one infected man—raises the possibility that a new strain of syphilis bacteria has adapted to more easily cause systemic syphilis, particularly disease that affects the eyes and central nervous system. A report of the cluster and what it might mean is published today by Michigan health officials in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Eye syphilis, aka ocular syphilis, is not new. Syphilis bacteria, Treponema pallidum (formerly Spirochaeta pallida) are known to be able to spread to the eye, as well as the inner ear, and central nervous system when the sexually transmitted infection is left untreated. This spread can lead to blindness, deafness, and life-threatening neurosyphilis if it remains untreated.
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Source: Ars Technica – Five women got eye syphilis from the same man—raising questions
A lab information management system (LIMS) is software used in laboratory and/or hospital settings for managing medical records, client data, inventory, etc.
The post 12 Best Free & Open-Source Lab Management Systems for 2023 appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – 12 Best Free & Open-Source Lab Management Systems for 2023
You can pay a monthly premium to use ChatGPT, but the free version often can handle more than enough to allow you to experience what generative AI has to offer. Without paying, you can take advantage of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model and ask ChatGPT to produce some interesting, hilarious, useful, or concerning outputs. And now, you can literally ask it out loud.
See, while the free version is useful, there are more great features locked behind the company’s $20 per month ChatGPT Plus plan. Without paying, you miss out on the more powerful GPT-4 model, plug-in support, and the ability to connect ChatGPT to the internet, among others.
Thankfully, even in the midst of a company crisis, OpenAI has had time to rollout one previously Plus-only feature to all users: voice chat.
OpenAI rolled out voice chat to ChatGPT Plus users back in September. The feature replaces the text-based ChatGPT interface with something more like a voice assistant: As you speak to ChatGPT, you’ll see a waveform reacting in kind. The assistant will automatically recognize when you’re done talking, and will switch into a “thought bubble” interface as it responds to your question or request.
The company always planned to bring voice chat to free users, and while it took a couple months, the feature is finally here:
Voice chat doesn’t actually do anything more (or anything different) than text-based ChatGPT, but it does make interacting with the chatbot feel a bit more natural. Or, at least, brings us closer to a real world Her situation.
Note: I’m using ChatGPT Plus to walk through voice chat, so it’s possible there are some discrepancies between my experience and the one presented in the free version. That said, here’s a primer on how to use it.
This feature is only available on the official ChatGPT app for iOS and Android, not the web app, so, to start, make sure to download the app to your phone. Once you open the app and set everything up, start a new chat and look for the headphones icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. Voice chat is rolling out as of Tuesday, so you should see it once you upgrade the app.
Tap the headphones, and you’ll see a pop-up explaining the “chat with voice” feature. To continue, hit Choose a voice. You have five different choices: Juniper, Breeze, Cove, Ember, and Sky, who sounds remarkably like Scarlett Johansson. (Someone at OpenAI really likes Her.)
Once you pick your voice and continue, you’re in! By default, ChatGPT will listen for your voice right away, and wait until you’re done speaking to continue. However, you can hold down on the mic to record your question or request, then let go to prompt ChatGPT to respond.
ChatGPT will save a transcript of your voice chat to the main chat, so when you exit voice chat, you’ll see your conversation as you normally would. You’ll be able to differentiate between voice chat transcripts and text conversations by the microphone and waveform icons next to your prompts and ChatGPT’s responses, respectively.
Source: LifeHacker – You Can Now Try ChatGPT’s ‘Chat With Voice’ Feature for Free
HP CEO Enrique Lores is betting a sprinkle of AI dust can regenerate the flagging PC market — and with shipments still in decline across the industry, he can’t afford to tease Wall Street. From a report: The world’s second largest seller of desktop computing hardware has reported a 15 percent year-on-year decline in revenue to $53.7 billion for fiscal 2023 ended 31 October. Profit before tax was $2.93 billion versus $4.32 billion in the prior year.
[…] Orders picked up in recent months. Analyst data indicates the rate of decline is slowing after resellers began clearing inventory they’d amassed in the latter stage of the pandemic, when the frenzied buying patterns seen in prior years vanished. For Q4, HP reported revenue of $13.8 billion, down 6.5 percent year-on-year. Personal Systems was down 8 percent to $9.4 billion and Printing was down 3 percent to $4.4 billion. Profit before tax was $852 million, better than the $647 million brought in a year earlier, helped by a reduction in structural costs. HP expects business PC refresh cycles to kick in next year, with more corporate customers shifting their estate to Windows 11 — yet it is the advent of the AI PC that Lores thinks signal better times.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – HP Chief Throws About AI Fairy Dust in Hopes of Reviving Slumbering PC Giant
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max is on sale for just $40 as part of a larger Black Friday event. That’s 40 percent off and the lowest price we’ve ever seen for the streaming stick. This deal is for the latest and greatest model, with support for Wi-Fi 6E and enough juice to stream live TV without cable.
What else is new with Amazon’s latest streaming stick? The Fire TV Stick 4K Max boasts twice the storage of the previous version, 16GB compared to 8GB, for holding onto downloaded content. It also accesses free live TV streams, which is nice, and includes a fairly powerful 2.0 GHz quad-core processor, which should make for snappy controls.
The streaming stick was first unveiled at Amazon’s September hardware event, and it offers support for HDR, HDR10+, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and more. It goes without saying that this thing also streams in 4K, as it’s right there in the name. You also get access to the company’s new Fire TV Ambient Experience, which displays useful information like family calendars, reminders, local weather forecasts and more.
It’s the week of Black Friday, so this isn’t the only streaming stick Amazon’s selling at a discount. You can snag the standard Fire TV Stick for just $20, a savings of 50 percent. Despite being a relatively bare-bones product when compared to the Max, it still offers FHD streaming and ships with an Alexa voice remote.
Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-black-friday-deals-include-the-new-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-for-its-lowest-price-yet-174515131.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Amazon Black Friday deals include the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max for its lowest price yet
It’s been a long time in the making, but as Doctor Who celebrates its 60th anniversary this weekend, it enters a new era—one that will, at least, close the book on the recent tenure of Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor. But as the actress begins to launch her own next chapter, she is still fondly looking back on her time…
Source: Gizmodo – Jodie Whittaker Reflects on Leaving Doctor Who: ‘I’m Always the Doctor’
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In August, the Department of Health and Human Services announced 10 drugs selected for the first round of Medicare price negotiations—a landmark effort established by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to try to drag down the country’s uniquely astronomical prescription drug prices.
Pharmaceutical companies publicly balked—and also sued—then eventually came to the table. But it was far from their first protest of the Democrat-led effort to reform drug pricing in the US, which pays far more for prescription drugs than other high-income countries.
In 2022, the pharmaceutical industry’s top lobbying group, PhRMA, gave a record $7.5 million to the GOP-linked dark money group, American Action Network (AAN), which spent millions on advertising that year opposing drug pricing reforms, some of which made it into the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Source: Ars Technica – Big Pharma fought drug pricing reform with record .5M dark money donation
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (7630) Notebook (Starts at $999, as tested $1,249) The affordably-priced Dell Inspiron 16 Plus offers plenty of productivity and gaming performance, and doesn’t sacrifice on battery life. Solid productivity performance Good gaming performance Big, fast display with wide viewing angles Excellent battery life Beats…
Source: Hot Hardware – Dell Inspiron 16 Plus Laptop Review: Understated Beauty And Brawn
