DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal camera has arrived with major updates over the previous model, adding a much larger 1-inch sensor that should greatly improve quality. In addition, the new model offers 4K 120p video, the company’s latest tracking, face detection, dynamic framing and a very handy rotating display. It’s also significantly more expensive than the Pocket 2 was at launch. 

The most noticeable feature is the new 2-inch display with 4.7 times the area of the last model. It offers 314 x 556 resolution, with 700 nits of brightness and 100 percent coverage of the P3 HDR color gamut. This does make the Pocket 3 larger than the previous model, though it’s still small enough to stow in, well, a pocket. It’s about the height of an iPhone 12/13, the company notes. 

What’s extra nice, though, is the fact that you can rotate the display 90 degrees, which automatically shifts the camera from portrait to landscape mode. That allows you to fill the screen to see more detail, whether you’re capturing 4K widescreen video or 3K video (square or 9:16) for social media — while making it easier to switch modes, as well.

Larger sensors usually have a direct correlation with image quality, and DJI sent me a pre-production model (a full review is coming soon). The new 1-inch sensor is considerably bigger, nearly three times the area of the Pocket 2’s 1/1.7-inch sensor — the same found on Sony’s ZV-1, for instance. From what I’ve seen so far, it retains color clarity right up to the normal ISO 6400 limit, while keeping noise manageable as well. Video does get noisy at the upper ISO 16000 limit used in the low-light video mode, but it’s far better than any previous Pocket model.

The Pocket 3 now offers 4K 120p video (along with 2.7K 120p and 1080p at 240 fps), making the Pocket 3 a great option for ultra slow motion shooting. It uses DJI’s D-LogM mode found on drones like the Mini 4 Pro, which also allows for 10-bit capture with much improved dynamic range — along with 10-bit HLG HDR recording. It also offers “full-pixel fast focusing” for quick autofocus, which is more critical with a larger sensor.

DJI introduced what it calls a “face-priority strategy,” meaning it automatically fine-tunes exposure for different skin tones. And to improve those skin tones, it includes DJI’s “Glamour Effects 2” that allows smoothing, slimming, brightening, etc.

It’s also the company’s latest device using ActiveTrack 6.0 with facial recognition (following the Osmo Mobile 6), along with three-axis mechanical stabilization. The latter allows for smooth movement in all kinds of tracking scenarios, whether you’re shooting widescreen or portrait video. As such, it’s useful for tracking shots of kids and pets, timelapse shots, travel and more. As with past Pocket models, it works very well.

ActiveTrack 6.0 on the Pocket 3, meanwhile, is useful for a bunch of different scenarios. Solo vloggers can set the camera up on its mini tripod (or attach it to a regular tripod), then track themselves automatically as they move around. You could also track a subject with little effort, as the camera automatically keeps them centered in the frame. It also has a feature called dynamic framing that allows for more flexible composition, while still locking the subject in the frame. 

It also has some new and very useful audio features. The stereo mic can be switched from omnidirectional to forward and backward, and it includes a windscreen to help block noise. The more interesting feature, though, is support for DJI’s upcoming wireless Mic 2 (above). The Pocket 3 has a built-in receiver for that product, so you can automatically record audio from the Mic 2’s transmitter. In fact, a DJI Mic 2 transmitter is included in the “Creative Combo” bundle, giving users a fast and high-quality way to record VO or interview subjects. (No, the Mic 2 hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it’s apparently coming soon.)

Other features include creative modes like SpinShot (a quick 180-degree flip with one hand), Motionlapse timelapse, up to a 4x digital zoom and Panorama photos. The built-in 1,300mAh battery supports 120 minutes of 4K 60fps shooting, though you can extend that with the battery handle accessory by around 70 percent.

A smart thermostat can help with a number of household issues, from reducing your power bill to making sure you come back to a toasty home or apartment in the winter without needing to have the heat on all day. Google’s third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat is one of the more notable options on the market, and it’s currently $75 off at Wellbots if you enter the code ENGNLT75 at checkout. The deal takes the device down to $174 from its usual price of $259. It’s one of the best prices we’ve seen for the smart thermostat lately.

The Nest Learning Thermostat can get to know your routine and preferred temperature settings throughout the course of a typical day, then automatically create a schedule for home climate adjustments based on those. It should only take a week or so for the device to build up a fairly accurate understanding of your heating and cooling preferences and start making appropriate changes autonomously. You can make manual adjustments through the Nest app if needed.

The thermostat can detect whether anyone is home using its built-in sensors and your phone. If the place is empty, the device can change the temperatures to a range that can help save energy until your home’s occupied again. When the temperatures are in this energy-saving range, the thermostat will note that on a visual indicator. The device can also display details about your energy usage, the weather and the time.

Moreover, you can pair the Nest Learning Thermostat with optional sensors to account for hot or cool spots in your home or to maintain specific temperatures in some rooms. That could be helpful for keeping bedrooms cooler than your living room or kitchen. You’ll also receive a report on energy usage, including guidance on how to save energy in your cooling and heating systems.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-nest-learning-thermostat-is-75-off-right-now-130050665.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Google’s Nest Learning Thermostat is off right now

Nissan has introduced a new concept vehicle at the Japan Mobility Show, and it looks like a slightly pared back Batmobile with its sharp lines and scissor doors. The automaker has been introducing one concept vehicle per week since the beginning of October, with the Hyper Force being its newest and last entry. Nissan envisions the Hyper Force as an all electric vehicle designed for both racing enthusiasts and gamers. In fact, it’s supposed to come with an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) driving experience. 

The idea is to give owners the option to drive their vehicle in the virtual world — while it’s not moving, of course — through a special VR helmet with blind visors. That helmet will give users access to a gamified driving experience, where they can race against the clock or against other online racers, including their friends and “professional drivers’ digital ghosts” on a circuit. 

As for the car itself, Nissan designed it to have an all-solid-state battery that can produce an output of up to 1,000 kW. It’s also supposed to come with advanced autonomous driving capabilities, thanks to its LIDAR system and an array of sensors meant for sports driving.

The Hyper Force has two driving modes, one of which is the R or the racing mode that bathes the cabin in red light and extends panels on the dashboard toward the driver seat to enhance the feeling of being in a cockpit. Meanwhile, in GT or grand touring mode, all the screens and panels glow blue and move away from the driver seat. By the way, if the vehicle’s panels, cockpit and graphical user interface look familiar in the video below, that’s because Nissan designed them in collaboration with Polyphony Digital Inc., the developer of Gran Turismo. 

Since it’s just a concept, nobody will be driving the Hyper Force anytime soon. Nissan president and CEO Makoto Uchida described the concept cars the company showcased at the event as “symbols of the future [that] embody [the company’s] founding spirit of ‘daring to do what others don’t.'”

Amazon’s Blink Outdoor 4 camera, which became available in August, is on sale right now for $72, down from its original price of $120. The deal is only on for a short period, starting on October 25 and ending November 5.

The Outdoor 4 captures 1080p HD footage of the camera’s view and allows you to view that footage from your smartphone. It supports live view as well, along with enhanced motion detection and two-way talk. The kicker for Blink cameras, though, is that they’re wireless, making them very easy to place inside and outside of your home. Plus, each has a battery life of about two years before you need to change their two AA cells. If you purchase the single camera system, you will get access to a free 30-day trial of the Blink subscription plan that allows you to store and share security cam footage in the cloud, and enable features like person detection.

The Blink Mini bundle, which includes three cameras, three mounting kits with stands, USB cables and power adapters is also on sale. The bundle, which originally sells for $100 will be made available for $40. Blink Mini cameras can also stream 1080p HD video and record footage using night vision, but they have to be plugged in. Like the Blink Outdoor devices, these indoor cameras are ideal for Alexa fans — the cameras can be controlled through voice to arm and disarm the system. The Blink Mini allows you to customize notifications for motion detection so get alerts for zones that you care about most. The deal on this Mini set is a great entry point for building a home security system if you don’t already have one.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blink-outdoor-4-cameras-drop-back-down-to-record-low-prices-140021330.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Blink Outdoor 4 cameras drop back down to record-low prices

Annapurna Interactive has proven to be a force since its first video game, What Remains of Edith Finch, was released in 2017. Now, the gaming company is launching the Annapurna Interactive Deluxe Limited Edition Collection for Switch with 12 unique games available on one cartridge.

The included titles packed in with Annapurna’s original game run the gambit: Donut County, Gorogoa, Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition, Neon White, Sayonara Wild Hearts, The Artful Escape and The Pathless are all part of the new collection. It also offers the first physical Switch releases of If Found…, Hindsight, Solar Ash and I Am Dead. Annapurna Interactive released a similar collection in 2020 for the PS4, selling a physical box set of eight titles.

Alongside the collection are a few extra features, such as a foreword from the company’s founder, an art booklet with information from all 12 games’ creators, a custom-designed folio package and a custom Annapurna Interactive console and cartridge case — exclusive to this launch.

You’ll have to act fast if you want one of the $200 Deluxe Edition collections, as there are only 2,500 copies available for purchase. Pre-orders for Annapurna Interactive’s Nintendo Switch sets open on October 25 at 12 PM ET exclusively on iam8bit here and should ship sometime before 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/annapurna-interactive-is-cramming-12-of-its-best-games-onto-a-200-switch-cartridge-115523032.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Annapurna Interactive is cramming 12 of its best games onto a 0 Switch cartridge

Lexus showed off a pair of EV concept cars at the Tokyo Mobility Show designed to highlight its electrified future. The first is the LF-ZC concept designed to go into production next year and includes wild features like using the steering wheel for racing games. The other is the LF-ZL flagship that represents the “future vision” of the brand, Toyota said in a press release. 

The luxury Toyota sub-brand is committed to becoming fully electric by 2035, and the LF-ZC will be a big part of that with a market launch by 2026. Unlike Honda’s Prelude concept that looks nearly production ready, however, the LF-ZC looks more like a showcase for ideas than a real car. 

Some of those ideas include “more versatile vehicle packaging” that minimizes core components. That will improve performance, according to Toyota, allowing for a low center of gravity, steer-by-wire, and an all-wheel drive powertrain. The company is also focusing on aerodynamics, promising drag coefficient of just 0.2, while still allowing for a wide stance. The design is certainly eye-catching, but is unlikely to bear any resemblance to the final production vehicle.

Details on the drivetrain are vague, but Lexus is aiming for “twice the range of conventional BEVs.” That will be achieved through the use of “advanced high-performance batteries” made with a prismatic structure, designed to increase range via improved aerodynamic integration and reduced weight. These notably won’t be solid state batteries, which won’t arrive until a few years later.

The concept mentality extends to the cockpit, as well. Along with a yoke-style steering wheel, there’s a left-hand “digital pad” that controls functions like shifting, driver assistance functions, drive mode and more. On the left hand pad are secondary controls like music, climate, phone and AI functions. It also features digital mirrors and a heads-up display that’s de rigeur for such vehicles. 

The dashboard wide display, meanwhile, is what Lexus calls an “open platform for entertainment and diverse applications.” The seating is low, and the LF-ZC features materials like bamboo fibers and threads. It’ll also use AI tech Lexus calls “Butler” that uses self-learning to customize personal settings for each driver and user, while also allowing for a personalized driving experience.

One particularly crazy feature is using the drive-by-wire feature to somehow marry gaming with the real world. “Customers will be able to engage in e-sports using Steer-by-Wire technology inside the vehicle, for example, then implement their preferred settings through OTA to allow them to experience it in the real world.” In other words, you can tune the steering and brakes using Gran Turismo or Forza, then take those settings into the real world. 

Lexus also unveiled the LF-ZL (below), calling it a “flagship BEV concept with a vision of the electrified future.” It didn’t go into much detail about that vehicle, other than promising some very high-tech features like “Interactive Reality In Motion” that seem implausible for a vehicle at this point. “When drivers point to objects or places of interest during their journey, the car’s display promptly delivers information along with voice guidance, enabling the car to enhance the connection between occupants and their surroundings,” the company said. 

The company also talked up things like using “big data” to allow the LF-ZL to integrate into the electrical grid. Lexus also took car show-speak to a new level, promising “Omotenashi” features that will allow for a serene cabin and “unprecedented mobility.”

Treat all these promises and designs with appropriate skepticism, as it’s unlikely that much of the loftier ideas will arrive to market anytime soon (though gaming on your car’s steering wheel sounds fun). Toyota is famously late to the EV game, though it is trying to catch up quick by releasing seven “beyond zero” all-electric models by 2025. The company is also working on solid-state battery technology, promising a range of over 600 miles and saying it’s near production with a potential launch in 2027 or 2028. If it achieves those goals, great, but so far solid state batteries have been nothing but hot air. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lexus-new-ev-concept-can-be-tuned-using-settings-from-video-games-113435173.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Lexus’ new EV concept can be tuned using settings from video games

Researchers have just discovered that the moon is about 40 million years older than previously thought. Which is a big difference. In a study published by the European Association of Geochemistry, scientists looked at the age of crystal formations. The prevalence of zircon crystals in the samples, collected years ago from NASA’s Apollo program back in 1972, suggests that the surface of the moon was created around 110 million years after the formation of the solar system.

NASA’s theory is that a Mars-sized object collided with Earth several billion years ago to form the moon. This new baseline age of the moon gives scientists a rough idea of when that collision might have occurred.

– Mat Smith

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Apple will honor California’s ‘right to repair’ rules nationwide

The tech giant has come out in support of having a uniform federal right to repair law.

What?! Apple has officially come out supporting the federal right to repair regulations at an event hosted by the Biden administration. Apple VP Brian Naumann proclaimed at the event that the company “supports a uniform federal law that balances repairability with product integrity, data security, usability, and physical safety.” He added that the company intends to “honor California’s new repair provisions across the United States”. It’s a big turn from a company that has opposed “right to repair” rules. The company once said that Nebraska was bound to become a mecca for hackers when a bill was introduced in the state. That.. didn’t happen.

Continue reading.

Apple teases ‘scary fast’ event for the night of October 30

New iMacs, or MacBooks?

Apple just confirmed another streaming event for October 30 at 8PM ET. It’s been a surprisingly long time since there’s been a new iMac. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested that this event will refresh the aging iMac line, but it could also offer up a new MacBook Pro.

The colorful 24-inch M1 iMac came out all the way back in April 2021, which is a lifetime in Apple hardware years. It hasn’t been updated since, so that’s the prime target for rumors. Further rumors hint that the event may reveal the company’s follow-up chip, the M3.

Continue reading.

Crunchyroll is now an Amazon Prime Video channel

The anime-focused streamer joins Max, Starz and Paramount+.

The anime-focused channel Crunchyroll, is joining Amazon’s slate of Prime Video channels. This agreement brings two tiers of Crunchyroll to Prime Video customers in the US, Canada, Sweden and the UK. Like Starz and Max, you won’t get access free with a Prime sub, but it silos the channel in a place you might be more likely to access. A Fan subscription gives you full access to the entire catalog of anime, which includes over 1,000 titles and 30,000 episodes, while Mega Fan (ugh, naming) subscribers get offline viewing and access to four concurrent streams. It’s $8 a month for the Fan tier and $10 for the Mega Fan tier.

Continue reading.

Chevy offers $1,400 to Bolt EV owners who endured lower charging levels

It’s part of an expected class-action settlement over battery issues.

GM will pay $1,400 to owners of 2020-2022 Bolt EVs and EUVs who endured a recall that limited range to 80 percent for a significant period of time. It’s effectively an upfront payment to customers as part of an expected class action settlement. Owners must install a “software final remedy” by December 31, 2023 and sign a legal release — those who decline will have to wait for the class action lawsuit to play out. If the settlement ends up being more than $1,400, those who accept the payment will still receive the difference.

Bolt EVs have had a long run of issues with batteries: The 2017-2019 models had serious defects that could cause fires, forcing GM to recall them and install special software, reducing maximum charge levels to 90 percent.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-moon-is-older-than-we-thought-111520335.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Morning After: The moon is older than we thought

Robocalls are rampant, using AI and other tools to disrupt day-to-day life and scam Americans out of their money through impersonations of family members, phone providers and more. On October 24, the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband heard the latest issue and solution floating around: AI.

Currently, bad actors are using AI to steal people’s voices and repurpose them in calls to loved ones — often presenting a state of distress. This advancement goes beyond seemingly real calls from banks and credit card companies, providing a disturbing and jarring experience: not knowing if you’re speaking to someone you know.

The financial repercussions (not to mention potential mental distress) are tremendous. Senator Ben Ray Luján, chair of the subcommittee, estimates that individuals nationwide receive 1.5 billion to 3 billion scam calls monthly, defrauding Americans out of $39 billion in 2022. This figure is despite the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement (TRACED) Act of 2019, which expanded the government’s power to prosecute callers and for individuals to block them.

In fact, much of the blame for this continued issue has been collectively placed on government agencies like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). “FCC enforcement actions are not sufficient to make a meaningful difference in these illegal calls. U.S.-based providers continue to spurn the Commission’s requirements to respond to traceback requests,” Margot Saunders, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, said in her testimony to the subcommittee. “The fines issued against some of the most egregious fraudsters have not been recovered, which undermines the intended deterrent effect of imposing these fines. Yet the Commission has referred only three forfeiture orders to the Department of Justice related to unwanted calls since the FCC began TRACED Act reporting in 2020.”

Saunders called on the FCC to issue clearer guidance on existing regulations and harsher penalties (namely suspension) on complicit voice service providers. She further expressed the need for explicit consent requirements in order for individuals to be contacted.

Mike Rudolph, chief technology officer at robocall-blocking firm YouMail, pitched the idea of using AI to flag insufficient information in the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database. Instead of properly completing and filing the required information, some phone providers avoid accountability for their (lack of) action and submit blank or irrelevant papers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-senate-begins-collecting-evidence-on-how-ai-could-thwart-robocalls-102553733.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – US Senate begins collecting evidence on how AI could thwart robocalls

Honda has brought its iconic Prelude back in the form of a new concept EV, a two-door coupe that looks surprisingly ready for production, the company announced. No details about the powertrain were revealed, but Honda said it represents a preview of the company’s future EV lineup and demonstrates its commitment to driver-focused performance.

The Prelude concept was revealed at the end of Honda’s Tokyo Mobility Show presentation without many details, other than the appearance. It resembles the latest Honda Civic, particularly in the front end. It’s less angular though, retaining the smoother lines that later versions of the original Prelude were known for. Other notable visual cues include bulging fenders, regular side mirrors (not cameras), a small spoiler and blacked out windows. The latter probably means that the concept doesn’t have much in the way of an interior yet. 

The original Prelude put Honda on the map for front-wheel-drive performance, famously coming in second to the Porsche 944 in a 1984 Car and Driver shootout (while beating a Ferrari 308, Lotus Esprit, two other Porsches and a Toyota Supra in the process). It was discontinued in 2001, with the final US model offering 200 horsepower.  

Honda was very slow, reluctant even, to embrace electric cars — bringing the breakthrough Honda E to market was an uphill battle. And that vehicle likely won’t get a follow-up, as Honda said earlier this year that it would focus on SUVs instead. However, CEO Toshihiro Mibe made clear that the Prelude concept represents the company’s way forward in terms of sporty EVs. 

“The word ‘prelude’ means an ‘introductory or preceding performance,'” he said. “This model will become the prelude for our future models which will inherit the ‘joy of driving’ into the full-fledged electrified future and embody Honda’s unalterable sports mindset. The Prelude Concept is a specialty sports model that will offer [an] exhilarating experience.”

Those comments suggest that the company will eventually built the Prelude, or something like it. That would be a way for Honda to move into EVs while still embracing its enthusiast performance heritage. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-honda-prelude-returns-as-a-concept-ev-095016392.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Honda Prelude returns as a concept EV

In addition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the Snapdragon X Elite, Qualcomm has also introduced the S7 and S7 Pro Gen 1 at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. The company said its new chips deliver six times the compute power of their predecessor’s, along with on-device AI capabilities. More intriguing, perhaps, is the S7 Pro’s micro-power Wi-Fi connectivity, which will apparently allow users to “walk around a home, building or campus while listening to music or making calls.” 

As The Verge notes, the chip uses Qualcomm’s Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) technology that can automatically switch a device’s connection. When a user strays too far from their phone while their earbuds are connected to it via Bluetooth, for instance, XPAN switches the connection to a Wi-Fi access point. It can deliver 96kHz lossless audio via earbuds, Qualcomm’s Dino Bekis told the publication, and it works with 2.4, 5 and 6GHz bands. Bekis also said that users only have to click on a prompt once to connect their earbuds powered by the chip to their Wi-Fi.

Outside of the S7 Pro’s Wi-Fi connectivity, the platforms’ on-board AI enable better responsiveness to the listener’s environment if they want to hear ambient sounds. But if they want to block out their environment completely, the chips are supposed to be capable of Qualcomm’s “strongest ever ANC performance” regardless of earbud fit. 

These features will only be enabled when headsets, earbuds and speakers powered by the S7 and S7 Pro are paired with devices equipped with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform and Snapdragon X Elite, though. That means we won’t be seeing products with the new sound chips on the market anytime soon. When they do come out, they’ll most likely be meant for Android devices, seeing as Apple has its own ecosystem.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/qualcomms-new-audio-chip-uses-wi-fi-to-massively-extend-headphone-range-091614802.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Qualcomm’s new audio chip uses Wi-Fi to massively extend headphone range

“Right to repair” advocates probably couldn’t have imagined that Apple would be one of the biggest names on their side a mere five years ago. But that’s precisely what’s happening here: The tech giant has officially came out in support of having federal right to repair regulations at an event hosted by the Biden administration. Apple VP Brian Naumann proclaimed at the event that the company “supports a uniform federal law that balances repairability with product integrity, data security, usability, and physical safety.” He also said that the company intends to “honor California’s new repair provisions across the United States” even though national regulations have yet to be established. 

Apple has a lengthy history of opposing attempts at passing right to repair rules. The company once said that Nebraska was bound to become a “mecca for hackers” when a bill was introduced in the state. It changed its tune in the past few years, however, and started selling parts and tools to consumers, as well as offering them access to repair guides so they could fix their iPhones and Macs on their own. Apple also backed Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman’s right to repair bill in California in August before Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law. 

Under California rules, device makers are required to stock replacement parts and tools and offer repair documentation for three years for gadgets that cost between $50 and $99. For devices that cost over $100, they’re required to provide parts, tools and documentation for seven years. Apple already sells parts and repair tools across the US, but if it’s following California provisions nationwide, that means those items and its repair guides would be available for years to anyone in the country.

In addition to promising to honor California’s right to repair provisions across the nation, Naumann also talked about what an ideal federal law should have. “We believe that a uniform federal repair law should do the following: Maintain privacy, data and device security features which help to thwart theft; Ensure transparency for consumers about the type of parts used in a repair; Apply prospectively, to allow manufacturers to focus on building new products that can comply with the proposals; And finally, create a strong national standard that benefits consumers across the US and reduces the confusion created by potentially conflicting state approaches,” he said. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-will-honor-californias-right-to-repair-rules-nationwide-062704819.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple will honor California’s ‘right to repair’ rules nationwide

Adult film icon and media investor Riley Reid aims to bring the transformational capabilities of generative AI to adult entertainment with an online platform where users can chat with digital versions of content creators. But unlike other, scuzzier adult chatbots, Clona.AI’s avatars are trained with explicit consent of the models’ creators who have direct input in what the “AI companions” will, and won’t, talk about.

For $30 a month, fans and subscribers will be able to hold “intimate conversations” with digital versions of their favorite adult stars, content creators and influencers. The site’s roster currently includes Reid herself and Lena the Plug. A free tier is also available but offers just five chat messages per month. 

“The reality is, AI is coming, and if it’s not Clona, it’s somebody else,” Reid told 404 Media. “When [other people] use deepfakes or whatever — if I’m not partnering up with it, then someone else is going to steal my likeness and do it without me. So being presented with this opportunity, I was so excited because I felt like I had a chance to be a part of society’s technological advances.”

Clona uses Meta’s Llama 2 large language model as a base, then heavily refines and retrains it to reflect the personality of the person it’s based on. Reid explains that her model was first trained on a variety of her online media including interviews, podcast appearances and YouTube videos (in addition to some of her x-rated work) before further fine tuning its response by having the AI chat with Reid herself.

“I’ll be able to see how it responds to users, and edit it to be like ‘no, I would have said it more like this,’’’ Reid said. “But in the beginning my focus was on things like making sure it had my dogs’ names right, making sure I was fact-checking it.”

While the AI companion will be capable talking dirty, how dirty that gets depends on the actor’s preferences, not the user’s. Reid notes that her model, for example, will not discuss physically dangerous sex acts with users. “I don’t know if the tech team thought about the sounding guys, but I was like, I thought about them,” she said.

Generative AI technology has shown tremendous potential in creating digital clones of deceased celebrities and recording artists. The process requires little more than the celeb’s permission (or that of their estate) and a sufficiently large corpus of their vocal or video recordings. However, we’ve already also seen that technology be misused in deepfake pornography and shady dental advertising. Unscrupulous data scraping practices on the public web (data which is then used to train LLMs) has also raised difficult questions regarding modern copyright laws, copyright infringement and Grammy award eligibility.

Still, Reid remains optimistic about the historically proven resilience of the sex industry. “I feel like we’re gonna be a huge part of AI adapting into our society, because porn is always like that,” Reid said. “It’s what it did with the internet. And the porn world has seen so many advances in technology.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adult-film-star-riley-reid-launches-clonaai-a-sexting-chatbot-platform-000509221.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Adult film star Riley Reid launches Clona.AI, a sexting chatbot platform

Motorola showcased some wacky concepts at Lenovo Tech World ’23 that may or may not ever see the light of day. The smartphone maker (a subsidiary of Lenovo since 2014) unveiled an “adaptive display” prototype that can be rolled into a phone, stand or smart bracelet. (It looks like a more advanced version of a prototype Lenovo exhibited in 2016.) In addition, the company highlighted several developmental AI-powered features for the Lenovo devices you can already buy.

The display concept is a rollable smartphone with an FHD+ pOLED display. The prototype “can be bent and shaped into different forms depending on users’ needs,” the company wrote in its announcement blog post. The device can stretch out entirely flat to use as a traditional smartphone, or you could bend it partway to sit on a desk (similar to foldable phones). You can even wrap the concept device partway around your wrist as it transforms into something akin to a smart slap bracelet.

The conceptual prototype has a 6.9-inch display and runs “a full Android experience, just like any smartphone” (well, except for iPhones). When upright in a stand mode, it switches to a compact form of Android on a 4.6-inch section of its display.

As fun as it can be to gawk at futuristic concepts, we wouldn’t recommend holding your breath for this gadget to become an available consumer product anytime soon. However, Lenovo has repeatedly proven that it isn’t afraid to go zany with shipping consumer products, so who knows?

In addition to its flexible prototype, Motorola also introduced several AI-powered concepts since that’s what corporations do in 2023. The company is tapping into generative AI’s powers to supply the people with… better wallpaper?

“With this concept, users can upload or capture a picture of their outfit to produce multiple unique AI-generated images that reflect their style,” the company wrote. You can then transform those AI-made images into a custom wallpaper for your device. A video the company published on its blog post shows a person taking a selfie of an outfit (using the rollable display device, of course), which the software then turns into a variety of wallpaper options for the bendy phone.

The company also announced that it’s working on a personal voice / text assistant for PCs and smartphones that runs on a large language model (LLM). Dubbed MotoAI, the company says the assistant could “answer questions, draft messages, schedule tasks, and so much more.” MotoAI would emphasize privacy, processing data and running tasks locally rather than in the cloud. The company says the tool could uniquely personalize your device as it learns more about you, becoming more useful over time.

Motorola also tackled document scanning, teasing a feature that can minimize wrinkles and shadows when scanning physical images or documents with a phone’s camera. “This innovation aims to improve final image quality by minimizing wrinkles and shadows to ensure documents or images appear as crisp and clear as possible,” the company wrote.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/motorola-is-back-with-another-slap-bracelet-phone-concept-215026843.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Motorola is back with another slap bracelet phone concept

Microsoft’s most recent Q1 2024 earnings report continues the company’s upward trajectory thanks to the cloud. Microsoft’s earnings reached $56.5 billion, up 13 percent from last year! Profits hit $22.3 billion, up 27 percent. Almost every aspect of Microsoft’s business is a success — that is, except for its devices, which dropped 22 percent from last year.

That segment, which includes its Surface hardware, HoloLens and accessories, has been in decline over the last two years. It fell from $7.2 billion in revenue in 2020 to $6.5 billion in 2021 and $5.4 billion in 2022. And there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that stopping. Ahead of the company’s most recent device event in New York City, it was obvious that its Surface PCs were in a rut. The arrival of the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3, while welcome, likely won’t change that.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the time of the Surface may be over for Microsoft. Panos Panay, the charismatic product lead for those devices, has moved to Amazon. The iconic Surface tablet line hasn’t been touched at all this year. Given Microsoft’s wildly successful cloud business, as well as its gamble on AI this year, is there any point in duking it out in the PC market?

Between Apple’s successful transition towards its own efficient-yet-powerful Arm chips, and more nimble PC makers who can quickly adopt new CPUs and GPUs, there just isn’t much room left for Microsoft.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-q1-2024-earnings-212522110.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Microsoft is rolling in dough, no thanks to Surface

Snapchat grew to more than 400 million users, Snap announced in its third-quarter earnings report. The app added nine million new users in the last quarter, bringing its total daily active users (DAUs) to 406 million, an increase of 12 percent from last year, the company said.

The milestone comes a little more than a year after Snap laid off about 20 percent of its workforce in an effort to cut costs as advertising revenue slowed. Those cuts, along with new product features, are apparently starting to pay off.

The company reported $1.19 billion in revenue for the quarter, an increase of 5 percent from last year and better than Wall Street analysts expected, according to CNBC. In a statement, Snap pointed to its subscription service, Snapchat+, as a key part of its strategy to grow its non-advertising sources of revenue. Snap announced last month that Snapchat+, which offers users exclusive and experimental features for $4 a month, had reached five million subscribers.

Generative AI has also been a bright spot for the company. The company’s MyAI chatbot, which rolled out to all Snapchat users in April, has reached more than 200 million people who have collectively exchanged more than 20 billion messages with the OpenAI-powered chatbot. Snap said it believes the assistant is one of the “most used AI chatbots available today.”

Developing…

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/snapchat-grows-to-more-than-400-million-users-205715066.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Snapchat grows to more than 400 million users

Apple is reportedly set to overhaul the Apple TV app. On Tuesday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that the company plans to consolidate its video offerings, placing them exclusively in the TV app on all its devices. Citing “people with knowledge of the matter,” Gurman reports that the company will launch a new version of the app “around December” as part of an upcoming tvOS software update.

As part of the move, Apple will reportedly remove its dedicated (iTunes-based) Movies and TV Shows apps from the Apple TV set-top box’s interface. In addition, it plans to axe all video-related sections from the iTunes app on iOS and iPadOS. The TV app already duplicates the functionality of renting and buying digital video content, making the alleged change more about streamlining and removing redundancies than altering any core features.

The updated app will reportedly include a left-side panel for video categories, similar to what’s found on Netflix and other streaming rivals. Apple’s TV app consolidates video content from the Apple TV+ subscription service, rented and purchased movies, live sports networks and compatible third-party services like Amazon Prime, Paramount+ and Starz.

Apple has increasingly invested in video content, spending billions on programming like Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which premiered in theaters last week. (The film will arrive on Apple TV+ “at a later date.”) Original series on Apple TV+ include Ted Lasso, Severance, The Morning Show, Silo and Foundation, among others. The company reportedly (and abruptly) canceled The Problem with Jon Stewart this month following disagreements about Stewart’s planned editorial content surrounding AI and China.

In other Apple developments, the company sent out invites today for an event on October 30. The “Scary Fast” streaming event is expected to focus on new Macs. These could include a refresh of the aging iMac line and MacBook Pro, possibly running on a new M3 chip.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-reportedly-plans-to-totally-redesign-its-tv-app-194506208.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple reportedly plans to totally redesign its TV app

The moon has been a focal point for space research and exploration for years, yet we’re still far from fully understanding its origins. Take its age, for example – researchers have just discovered that the moon is about 40 million years older than previously thought.

In a study published by the European Association of Geochemistry, scientists looked at the age of crystal formations found in rock samples from the moon’s surface to determine its age. The prevalence of crystals called zircon in the samples, collected years ago from NASA’s Apollo program, suggests that the surface of the moon was created around 110 million years after the formation of the solar system. The scientists used analytical techniques including mass spectrometry to measure the presence of particular molecules in the rock. Another method of analysis, atom-probe tomography, was used to detect the amount of radioactive decay in the samples — which in turn was used to determine the age of the crystals in the rock. 

NASA holds a theory that a Mars-sized object collided with Earth several billion years ago to form the moon. This new understanding of the age of the moon actually gives scientists a rough idea of when that collision might have occurred. This finding highlights the importance of exploratory missions like the Apollo 17 mission at the heart of this discovery. The 1972 manned mission to geologically survey the surface of the moon resulted in 243 pounds of lunar material being brought back to Earth — only for it to be examined by researchers 51 years later.

To date, NASA says that more than 105 robotic spacecraft have been launched to explore the moon, so the opportunities for more findings are boundless. Although the next NASA-led manned mission to the moon won’t happen until 2025 at the earliest, we can expect more rover programs to shed more light on the makings of the surface of the moon.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lunar-rock-samples-suggest-moon-is-older-than-previously-thought-193036846.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Lunar rock samples suggest moon is older than previously thought

Universal Audio has gone all-in on the amp-in-a-pedal concept and just announced its latest entry, the UAFX Lion ’68 Super Lead. This pedal digitally recreates a trio of classic 100-watt Marshall Plexi setups from the 1960s. You get the titular Super Lead based on the classic tube amp, the Super Bass inspired by the 1967 low-end icon and the Brown, which emulates the sound of a 100-watt Marshall Plexi heading into a Variac to recreate Eddie Van Halen’s infamous guitar tone.

This is a modern pedal with high-tech features, however, so it goes well beyond simple amp recreations. The onboard IR includes recreations of different classic microphones and speaker cabinets to adjust the sound. There’s also built-in reverb, volume boost, presence and a variety of assignable preset switches that are customized by using a smartphone app. There are also plenty of artist presets to select from if you’ve grown weary of fiddling with knobs.

Qualcomm is no stranger in running artificial intelligence and machine learning systems on-device and without an internet connection. They’ve been doing it with their camera chipsets for years. But on Tuesday at Snapdragon Summit 2023, the company announced that on-device AI is finally coming to mobile devices and Windows 11 PCs as part of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and X Elite chips.

Both chipsets were built from the ground up with generative AI capabilities in mind and are able to support a variety of large language models (LLM), language vision models (LVM), and transformer network-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) models, up to 10 billion parameters for the SD8 gen 3 and 13 billion parameters for the X Elite, entirely on-device. That means you’ll be able to run anything from Baidu’s ERNIE 3.5 to OpenAI’s Whisper, Meta’s Llama 2 or Google’s Gecko on your phone or laptop, without an internet connection. Qualcomm’s chips are optimized for voice, text and image inputs.

“It’s important to have a wide array of support underneath the hood for these models to be running and therefore heterogeneous compute is extremely important,” Durga Malladi, SVP & General Manager, Technology Planning & Edge Solutions at Qualcomm, told reporters at a prebriefing last week. “We have state-of-the-art CPU, GPU, and NPU (Neural Processing Unit) processors that are used concurrently, as multiple models are running at any given point in time.”

The Qualcomm AI Engine is comprised of the Oryon CPU, the Adreno GPU and Hexagon NPU. Combined, they handle up to 45 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) and can crunch 30 tokens per second on laptops, 20 tokens per second on mobile devices — tokens being the basic text/data unit that LLMs can process/generate off of. The chipsets use Samsung’s 4.8GHz LP-DDR5x DRAM for their memory allocation.

“Generative AI has demonstrated the ability to take very complex tasks, solve them and resolve them in a very efficient manner,” he continued. Potential use cases could include meeting and document summarization or email drafting for consumers, and prompt-based computer code or music generation for enterprise applications, Malladi noted.

Or you could just use it to take pretty pictures. Qualcomm is integrating its previous work with edge AI, Cognitive ISP. Devices using these chipsets will be able to edit photos in real-time and in as many as 12 layers. They’ll also be able to capture clearer images in low light, remove unwanted objects from photos (a la Google’s Magic Eraser) or expand image backgrounds. User scan even watermark their shots as being real and not AI generated, using Truepic photo capture.

Having an AI that lives primarily on your phone or mobile device, rather than in the cloud, will offer users myriad benefits over the current system. Much like enterprise AIs that take a general model (e.g. GPT-4) and tune it using a company’s internal data to provide more accurate and on-topic answers, a locally-stored AI “over time… gradually get personalized,” Malladi said, “in the sense that… the assistant gets smarter and better, running on the device in itself.”

What’s more, the inherent delay present when the model has to query the cloud for processing or information doesn’t exist when all of the assets are local. As such, both the X Elite and SD8 gen 3 are capable of not only running Stable Diffusion on-device but generating images in less than 0.6 seconds.

The capacity to run bigger and more capable models, and interact with those models using our speaking words instead of our typing words, could ultimately prove the biggest boon to consumers. “There’s a very unique way in which we start interfacing the devices and voice becomes a far more natural interface towards these devices — as well in addition to everything else,” Malladi said. “We believe that it has the potential to be a transformative moment, where we start interacting with devices in a very different way compared to what we’ve done before.”

Mobile devices and PCs are just the start for Qualcomm’s on-device AI plans. The 10-13 billion parameter limit is already moving towards 20 billion-plus parameters as the company develops new chip iterations. “These are very sophisticated models,” Malladi commented. “The use cases that you build on this are quite impressive.”

“When you start thinking about ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and you have multi-modality [data] coming in from multiple cameras, IR sensors, radar, lidar — in addition to voice, which is the human that is inside the vehicle in itself,” he continued. “The size of that model is pretty large, we’re talking about 30 to 60 billion parameters already.” Eventually, these on-device models could approach 100 billion parameters or more, according to Qualcomm’s estimates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/qualcomm-brings-on-device-ai-to-mobile-and-pc-190030938.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Qualcomm brings on-device AI to mobile and PC

At its annual Snapdragon Summit on Tuesday, Qualcomm revealed its latest mobile chipset. Perhaps the biggest change in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the introduction of on-device generative AI (akin to Google’s Tensor G3). The chipset’s AI Engine supports multi-modal generative AI models and what Qualcomm claims is the world’s fastest Stable Diffusion system with the ability to generate an image in under a second. So, you should be able to whip up backgrounds and images for social media posts in a flash.

Because GAI requests are handled on-device, Qualcomm says they remain private. There’s an AI assistant based on Meta’s Llama 2 language learning model. It can securely use personal data such as your favorite activities, location and fitness level to provide more personalized responses, Qualcomm says. The Qualcomm Sensing Hub (which powers this feature) is said to deliver an AI performance increase of up to 3.5 times that of Qualcomm’s previous mobile chipset. The company also claims the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 delivers up to 98 percent faster Hexagon NPU performance and 40 percent better performance per watt.

The camera and editing systems include support for features such as the ability to remove people and objects from a video with the tap of a finger. Qualcomm is promising voice-activated GAI photo and video editing thanks to its Cognitive ISP, along with the option to optimize different parts of a photo in up to 12 layers, whether you capture it with the front or back camera.

The Photo Expansion feature uses GAI to extend the borders of a photo, akin to Adobe’s Generative Fill tool. The Vlogger’s View mode allows you to share video from both your rear and front-facing cameras at the same time, so you can feature your face in what you capture as you narrate what you’re seeing.

Qualcomm says that Dolby HDR tech allows for image playback and capture with a fuller range of colors, tones and shades. Meanwhile, you can apply a cryptographic seal from Truepic to a photo to indicate that it’s the real deal and not something you whipped up with GAI, because that’s the world we’re living in these days. It’s a different approach to applying a label to AI-generated content.

Elsewhere, Qualcomm is promising some gaming upgrades in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. There’s support for Unreal Engine 5.2 along with hardware-accelerated ray-tracing with global illumination, which the company says is a first for a mobile chipset. This, Qualcomm says, helps deliver “lifelike, multi-source lighting” in games.

The Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 can double framerates while sustaining the same power consumption as the previous chipset, Qualcomm claims. If you’re so inclined to hook up a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered device to an external 240Hz display, you’ll be able to play games at up to 240 fps. 

Snapdragon Game Super Resolution, Qualcomm’s answer to upscaling tech like NVIDIA’s DLSS, will help games to run at up to 8K on supported displays too. The company notes that it’s open-sourcing Snapdragon Game Super Resolution.

You can expect gameplay audio to be synced to the millisecond, according to Qualcomm, meaning that you shouldn’t experience any lag while using earbuds. It’s also promising uninterrupted lossless audio even as you move away from your phone or from one room to another thanks to its Expanded Personal Area Network Technology system. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is said to support 24-bit 96 kHz lossless music over Bluetooth.

On the subject of connectivity, Qualcomm is using AI hardware acceleration in the X75 Modem-RF System. It says this can help to deliver better 5G speeds, coverage, mobility, link robustness and location accuracy. There’s Wi-Fi 7 support too.

Compared with the previous chipset, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s Kryo CPU delivers 30 percent better performance and 20 percent more power efficiency. As for the GPU, it claims you’ll benefit from a 25 percent performance improvement and 25 percent greater power efficiency, along with a 40 percent ray-tracing upgrade. Overall, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is slated to have 10 percent overall power savings compared with last year’s chip.

You won’t have to wait long to try out a phone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 if you really want to. Qualcomm says devices that use the chipset should start to appear in the coming weeks. Among the brands and manufacturers that will use it are Sony, ASUS, OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Honor and ZTE.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/qualcomms-snapdragon-8-gen-3-brings-on-device-generative-ai-to-more-android-phones-190019288.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 brings on-device generative AI to more Android phones