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29.01.2024 22:42 For nearly a decade the Galaxy Note was the undisputed king of Android phones. But when the OG phablet line was retired in 2020, that title passed on to the Ultra. While the hardware inside the most expensive Galaxy S model is as dominant as ever, over the past few years, the software in Google phones has begun to outshine anything available from Samsung. But armed with a new suite of AI-powered features, the Galaxy S24 Ultra got exactly what it needed to maintain its spot atop the Android battlefield. Design and display: Now with titanium There are three main areas of improvement to the S24 Ultra: design, cameras and all of Samsung’s new AI tools. The biggest change to its build is the switch to a new titanium frame, which follows what Apple did for the iPhone 15 Pro last fall. So no points for originality. But more importantly, because the previous Ultra featured an aluminum chassis, there’s not a major change in weight either, with the S24U coming in at 232 grams . Some other subtle changes are a new matte finish and an upgrade to Corning’s Gorilla Armor in front and back . Another benefit of Corning’s latest hardened glass is that it has improved anti-reflective properties, so while it doesn’t totally eliminate glare, it does make it appear less harsh without impacting the display's color saturation. And despite the previous model having slim bezels, Samsung reduced the borders around the display again by 42 percent, which is most noticeable along the top and bottom. The display itself proves, once again, that Samsung makes the best mobile screens on the market. You still get a 6.8-inch OLED panel with a variable 120Hz rate, except now it’s even brighter with a peak of 2,600 nits . And if that’s not enough, the phone’s improved Vision Booster adds an additional 300 nits of perceived brightness, so movies, games, and everything else always looks good no matter where you are. Performance: Setting a new bar for speed Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Inside, the S24 Ultra features a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC from Qualcomm and it’s a powerhouse. In Geekebench 6, we saw multi-core scores that were 30 to 35 percent higher than last year’s chip. This makes everything from games to switching between apps feel super snappy. The addition of a 92 percent larger vapor chamber also meant the S24 UItra never got above lukewarm even under sustained loads. Samsung also increased the phone’s RAM to 12GB for every config, unlike the S23U which started at 8GB base. Storage remains the same with 256GB, 512GB and 1TB options. Cameras: A more usable 5x optical zoom Three of the S24 Ultra’s four cameras are largely unchanged from its predecessor, including its 200-MP main sensor, 10-MP ultra-wide and 12-MP telephoto shooter with a 3x optical zoom. The main upgrade is swapping out the old 10x lens for a 5x optical zoom with a higher-res 50-MP sensor, which Samsung says reflects 5x being the most widely used focal length aside from the main cam. While this move might seem like a loss in terms of reach, the sensor’s increased resolution allows the phone to crop in providing what Samsung calls a “10x optical quality zoom” that’s surprisingly sharp. In photos of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty from across the water, the S24U produced rich, detailed pics that were just as good as what we got from a Pixel 8 Pro. And while images taken at 10X were a touch softer than similar shots taken by an S23 Ultra, they weren’t far off. In general the S24U captured gorgeous pics in all sorts of conditions. You’ll still notice Samsung’s super-saturated colors and penchant for slightly warmer hues, but in most cases that just adds an extra sense of vibrancy. Samsung also has a habit of going a bit overboard on sharpening, though it’s not a major distraction. Even in low light the S24U’s Night Mode largely kept up with Google’s Night Sight, which is no small feat. Software: Samsung’s big push into AI Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Aside from its new hardware, the biggest addition to the S24 Ultra is Samsung’s Galaxy AI features, which are an entire suite of tools that fall into three main categories: text and translation, photography and editing, and search. There’s an interpreter mode for in-person conversations along with a live translation feature that you can use during calls. Both are good enough to use in a pinch while traveling, but some things like word choice and pacing may be a bit off. The experience can also feel a bit clunky, especially when you’re on the phone and have to wait so the AI can catch up. Next, you have Chat Assist which can check spelling, grammar and adjust the tone of messages. Admittedly, the social and emojify options are a bit gimmicky, but I genuinely appreciate the polite and professional choices, as they can help prevent a text or email from sounding combative. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget In the Notes app, the S24U can also summarize, auto-format, spellcheck or translate a file, which is nice, but not exactly groundbreaking. A lot of these features are already available from other services like ChatGPT or Bard. That said, these improvements may be the biggest upgrades to the S24 Ultra’s S-Pen, which is otherwise largely unchanged. Out of Samsung’s text-based tools, my favorite is the transcription feature in the Voice Recorder app. It makes grabbing quotes from interviews super simple, though I noticed that Samsung’s UX doesn’t feel quite as polished or streamlined as what you get from Google. For example, the Pixel Recorder lets you see the transcript in real-time, while on the Ultra, you have to record a convo and then hit the AI icon to generate a chat log when you’re done. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget The AI can also suggest edits for images like automatically remastering images or removing distracting elements like shadows and reflections. You can see these options by hitting the Info icon in the gallery app, which makes them super easy to access and might be the fastest way to improve your photos. The S24 Ultra can also create slow-mo clips from existing footage, just by tapping and holding on a video while it’s playing. This triggers the phone’s AI to generate new frames based on the fps of the recording on the fly and the results are surprisingly smooth. If you prefer a more hands-on approach, there are Generative AI edits that allow you to reframe shots, move subjects around or delete them entirely, while the phone fills in the blanks. It’s a simple but effective process that sidesteps the need for Photoshop in a lot of cases. That said, if you look close you may notice areas where Samsung’s AI misses more details than the Pixel 8’s Magic Editor, which is a trend I noticed across a lot of Samsung’s AI features. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget All of the new tools generally function as expected, but things don’t feel quite as streamlined or polished as a lot of Google’s alternatives. In the Notes app, there’s a word limit for auto-formatting, summarizing and more, which limits you to about three or four paragraphs at a time. That means if you have a medium-sized doc, you’re gonna have to tackle it in chunks, which gets tedious pretty quickly. And sometimes if you try to highlight areas of a photo to remove reflections, the phone will smooth over the entire area and paint over the details. In other situations, the AI will suggest edits that don’t make sense, like trying to turn a short motion photo into a timelapse. It’s possible this was my fault for importing a photo taken by another device, but I feel like the phone ought to know better. The AI is meant to work on any photo, regardless of where it came from. Even moving subjects around in a pic can get wonky depending on the shot and what you’re trying to do. And every now and then, the phone will suggest you remaster a photo, only for it to tell you that there’s nothing to fix. As a photographer, that’s a great feeling. But at the same time, why am I being told there are things to fix if that’s not actually the case? But, this is Samsung’s first big push into AI-assisted features, so it shouldn't be a shock to see a handful of hiccups. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Rounding out the S24’s kit is Circle to Search, which is the one new AI feature that relies on help from the cloud instead of taking place on-device. It’s essentially a combination of traditional text-based queries and visual search tools like Google Lens but without the need for a standalone app. The neat thing is that it can analyze images from the web or objects in photos you’ve taken yourself, which makes it pretty versatile. But Google recently announced that Circle to Search is coming to Pixel phones too, so it’s not like this is an exclusive feather in Samsung’s cap. Battery Life: Nearing two days of juice Between the power efficiency gains from its new processor and a large 5,000 mAh battery, the S24 Ultra delivered truly impressive longevity. On our local video rundown test, it lasted 24 hours and 19 minutes, which is up more than four hours compared to last year. And in the real world, its battery life was even more impressive. The S24U often had more than 50 percent left after 24 hours. So depending on your usage, it’s possible for this phone to last two days without recharging. Wrap-up At this point, you'd be forgiven for being fed up with companies trying to push AI into everything. But if you just think about these as software upgrades meant to make your phone more useful, Samsung’s push into machine learning makes a lot more sense. The S23U was already a great phone and on the S24 Ultra, we’re getting the same design, but with a tougher titanium frame, a much faster chip, a brighter display and even longer battery life. Samsung also tweaked its main telephoto lens to provide a more useful focal length but without a major decrease in reach or quality. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget But the big thing is that, with its Galaxy AI suite, Samsung finally has an answer to the sophisticated features that were previously only available from the Pixel family. Sure, the S24’s tools aren’t quite as polished as Google’s offerings, but they get you 80 to 90 percent of the way there. And as a complement to what is more or less a top-to-bottom list of best-in-class smartphone hardware, it feels like Samsung is using AI to shore up one of the few remaining weaknesses of its flagship handset. Particularly now that the company is following in Google’s footsteps and increasing software support from six to seven years of OS and security updates. However, the Ultra’s biggest sticking point — its price — remains an issue. With the S24U starting at $1,300, it costs $100 more than the outgoing model. I’m also disappointed that Samsung didn’t adopt Qi 2. It’s frustrating to see all the major OEMs, including Apple, agree on a wireless charging standard only to have the biggest phone maker in the world drag its feet. Qi 2 got approved last year and we may not see it on a high-end Samsung handset until 2025. While harnessing AI might not be a super exciting development now that everyone and their grandmother is trying to shoehorn it into everything, it does make the S24 Ultra a more powerful and well-rounded handset. And when you tack that onto a phone that already had a lead in hardware, you end with a pretty commanding device.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/galaxy-s24-ultra-review-samsungs-ai-reinforcements-have-arrived-specs-price-191508062.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 22:42 The Apple Vision Pro will be missing some major native apps at the outset, including Netflix, Spotify and YouTube. One notable app to which users of the mixed-reality headset will have access when it debuts later this week is Zoom, which will support the Vision Pro's Persona feature. Vision Pro users will be able to create digital versions of themselves. If you have said Persona, others on a Zoom or FaceTime call will be able to see your facial expressions and hand movements via your avatar. So while you may not be using a traditional webcam, other folks might notice your persona cringing at one of your boss' bad jokes. According to Zoom, the app's spatial experience can be "scaled to the perfect size," so it shouldn't seem like you're miles away from someone's Persona. Although Vision Pro users will be represented as a Persona , those joining the call from other devices will be represented as a floating tile. Zoom will be one of the first major third-party apps to use this tech. Apple said Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex are getting in on the party too. The company claims that it only takes a few minutes to set up a Persona with a Vision Pro. There are more features coming to Zoom's app this spring. You'll be able to share 3D object files and view these in a virtual space through Vision Pro. Team Chat is also coming to the app, as is a tool called real-world pinning. Zoom says you'll be able to use this to pin five meeting participants anywhere in the virtual space and have the option of removing their background. The company suggests this will help Vision Pro users "feel more connected to the people in the meeting." While Zoom might not be the most exciting app for those who are picking up a Vision Pro primarily for entertainment purposes, it's interesting to see what third-party companies are starting to do with the tech. A Zoom call might not be too much different from a FaceTime chat out of the gate, but the addition of features like 3D object sharing could make it a more intriguing prospect for mixed-reality use.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/zooms-apple-vision-pro-app-will-let-people-see-your-facial-expressions-via-an-avatar-184536273.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 22:42 Meta is teaming up with the Center for Open Science to start a pilot program that studies “topics related to well-being.” It looks like the program will dive into our social media data, but on a voluntary basis, as COS says it will use a “privacy-preserving” dataset provided by Meta for the study. The agency says the study should help people understand “how different factors may or may not impact well-being and inform productive conversations about how to help people thrive.” The specifics of the study remain opaque, but COS says it’ll use “new types of research processes” like pre-registration and early peer review. That last one is important, as it sends proposed research questions to peer review before being issued to study participants. This should help stave off bias and ensure the questions are actually useful. The agency also says that all results will be published and “not just those that confirm one’s hypothesis or support a prevailing theory.” As for a totally non-scientific study on the effects of social media, using it for even ten minutes transforms any dopamine in my brain to the swamps of sadness from The Neverending Story. You could be the same. It’s no secret that social media is basically a factory that creates mental unease, and this is particularly true for kids and teens. So, why announce this partnership today of all days? It could be a coincidence, but the timing sure is funny. Meta is set to testify this week in front of the US Senate Judiciary Committee about its failures to protect kids online, along with other social media bigwigs like TikTok, Snap and X. It is worth noting, however, that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew are willing participants in this testimony. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Discord CEO Jason Citron and X CEO Linda Yaccarino had to be formally subpoenaed. However, Meta has a particularly bad track record when it comes to this stuff. After all, the company’s being sued by 41 states for allegedly harming the mental health of its youngest users. The suit claims Meta knew its “addictive” features were bad for kids and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms. Unsealed documents from the suit claim that Meta actually “coveted and pursued” children under 13 and lied about how it handled underage accounts once discovered, often failing to disable these accounts while continuing to harvest data. This would be a brazen violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. Another lawsuit alleges that Facebook and Instagram's algorithms facilitated child sexual harassment, with the complaint stating that Meta's own internal documents said over 100,000 kids were harassed daily. Facebook's "People You May Know" algorithm was singled out as a primary conduit to connect children to predators. The complaint alleges that Meta did nothing to stop this issue when approached by concerned employees. With all of this in mind, it doesn’t really take a study to recognize that the “well-being” of users isn’t exactly the most important thing on the minds of social media CEOs. Still, if the program helps these companies move in the right direction, that’s certainly cool. COS says the study will take two years and that it’s still in the early planning stages. We’ll know more in the coming months. In the meantime, you can watch CEO Zuckerberg and all the rest testify before congress on Wednesday at 10 AM ET.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-will-offer-some-of-its-data-to-third-party-researchers-through-center-for-open-science-partnership-181418016.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 22:42 Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is getting a controller worthy of its inspiration — for better or worse. The upcoming game, a spiritual successor to the infamous 1993 Zelda titles for the Philips CD-i, will launch with a limited edition controller that resembles one of the largely forgotten system’s original remotes. Developer Seedy Eye Software says using the controller on “Classic Controls” mode will let you “play Arzette, as it might have played back in 1993.” That’s when the title’s inspirations — Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon — arrived for Philips’ stab at a game-changing home entertainment system. One may wonder why a developer would want to pay homage to a pair of historical duds better known for their memed cutscenes and masochistic gameplay than, oh, fun. Earlier this month, creator Seth “Dopply” Fulkerson told Game Developer he saw “untapped potential” in the notorious titles. “The limitations the games suffered thanks to the hardware, budget and time constraints became painfully obvious,” he said. “I found it very inspiring to see how much and his team accomplished with so little. There is a handcrafted charm to the games. They are hand-animated, hand-drawn, with brilliant music, designed in a surprisingly non-linear way that encourages you to explore them.” He continued, “Though they have many, many flaws, I truly believe there is innate potential in the games. Making a new game in the same style, with improvements to the core gameplay, was an irresistible idea.” The game brings back several artists from the Zelda CD-i games. These include artist Rob Dunlavey and voice actors Jeffrey Rath and Bonniejean Wilbur . Seedy Eye Software / Limited Run Games The “retro-inspired” controller will only work with Switch and PC. The remote looks nearly identical to Philips’ paddle controller, except for a couple of extra buttons. A fair warning that, given how the original remote played, the new version won’t likely make Arzette more playable or enjoyable — just more nostalgic. Seedy Eye has partnered with Limited Run Games to distribute the controllers . The two companies say they "worked hand-in-hand to craft the perfect physical goodies that pay tribute to Arzette and this oft-overlooked era in gaming.” The controller will be available to pre-order starting February 2 at 10AM ET. The remote costs $35, will ship in a gray color and currently has an estimated November ship date. A pink variant will be exclusive to Arzette’s Collector’s Edition bundle. Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore arrives on February 14. You can watch its trailer below. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/arzette-a-love-letter-to-the-cd-i-zelda-games-will-also-revive-an-awful-controller-180450138.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 18:02 Rocksteady’s new third-person action shooter Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been pulled offline just one hour after launch when players encountered a bizarre bug that immediately beats the game. We’ve all heard of game-breaking bugs, but this may be the first game-beating bug. Obviously, players want more than three minutes of playtime out of their $70 purchase. The issue immediately locks players out of all story missions, including tutorials, in a race to reach the end credits. This also makes it impossible to receive trophies and achievements, though most purchasers will probably get hung up on the whole “the game is basically unplayable” aspect. Still, if you’re looking for the easy mode to beat all easy modes, this is it. We could have used this bug for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or Cuphead. There’s one major caveat here that’s saving this from becoming a huge story comparable with the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2099, and many other recent AAA launches. The game doesn’t officially release in most of the world until February 2. Some territories get it tomorrow, January 30, and that’s where the bug comes in. Due to the magic of global time zones, it’s already January 30 in New Zealand, which is where players encountered the issue. However, it’s not too hard to change your Xbox system clock to New Zealand time to snag the game early. Don’t do that. Give Rocksteady some time to fix the problem. To that end, the developer says they are working on a fix, which involves performing maintenance on the servers. Rocksteady urges patience, writing that it could take “several hours” before being handled. Throughout this time, the game will remain offline. In any event, the ship should right itself before February 2. Looking for a silver lining? Being as how the bug skips the vast majority of the game, the risk of story spoilers is really low for the next few days. So go ahead. Hit up your favorite social media sites and message boards.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league-pulled-offline-after-a-bizarre-game-beating-bug-161955046.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 18:02 There’s never a bad reason to have extra storage on hand. One of the easiest ways to expand your device’s storage or to back up important data is with an SD or microSD card. Most of the time, these are plug-and-play doohickeys, though it shouldn't take long for your device to reformat an SD card if need be. Some models are on sale at Amazon, including our pick for the best microSD card for most people. The 128GB Samsung Pro Plus microSD card has dropped to a record low of $11. It usually costs $20. This microSD card is compatible with a slew of Android phones, as well as tablets, cameras, drones and the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. You certainly won't need a faster microSD card than this for the two gaming devices given their maximum data transfer rates. However, you might be looking for an option with more storage. And whaddya know? Our second-top pick for a microSD card is also on sale. The 256GB Samsung Pro Ultimate will run you $28, which is $7 off and just $3 more than the record low. With read and write speeds of up to 200 MB/s and 130 MB/s, respectively, this may be a smarter choice if you're looking to capture 4K video on a microSD card. The microSD cards aren't the only Samsung storage options on sale over at Amazon at the minute. The company's 1TB T9 portable solid state drive has dropped to a record low of $110. It usually costs $145. The T9 is twice as fast as Samsung's T7, which is still our pick for the best portable SSD. The T7 is on sale too, as it happens. The 1TB model will run you $90, which is $50 off the usual price. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/our-favorite-microsd-card-is-on-sale-for-only-11-right-now-154447073.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 18:02 Arc, a browser initially built just for the Mac, has been expanding lately. The Browser Company announced a beta of its Windows version last month, and today they're bringing the Arc experience to the iPhone with Arc Search. As the name implies, the new app is focused on searching — when you open the app, you're met with a keyboard and search field, not your usual collection of tabs. And rather than just serving up simple search results from Google or your engine of choice, Arc scans the internet for various sources and creates a "page for me" that pulls together a bunch of info on your desired query. For example, I just searched for "What happened in the Detroit Lions game?" and was met with details about a controversial two-point conversion that was overturned and how it ultimately affected the game's outcome, which was a three-point Lions loss. It follows with some top search results, team reactions, more details about the referees involved in the confusing call, fan sentiments and more links to dive into. It's not dissimilar to the sort of summaries you get in Google's generative AI search results, but so far I find results to be very hit or miss. For example, in the above-mentioned Lions query, the actual final score of the game was nowhere on the page that Arc generated. That's pretty basic info that you'd expect to see up top. Other queries I tried brought back a decent overview but not a whole lot of deep detail, and sometimes there weren't other links to click on to continue researching. That felt odd, because the results I received were far from comprehensive. If you aren't interested in these sorts of summary pages, however, you can still just type in a query and hit the "go" button on the keyboard to search Google; you only get the Arc-created summary pages if you tap the "browse for me" button. You can also just put a URL right into the search field and go straight to a site if you're so inclined. Like the desktop Arc browser, the Arc Search app archives your tabs after 24 hours so you don't rack up a never-ending log of sites you're not going to go back to . And there's a nice "reader" mode like you'll find in Safari that strips away the mess found on many modern websites to make it easier to read an article. It also blocks trackers, ads and banners by default, which is pretty handy. From what I can tell, there's no way to sync Arc Search with the desktop browser — there's no way to see opened tabs from another machine, and I don't even think there's a way to sign into Arc Search with the account you make for your desktop browser. The only thing you can do with your open tabs is star one so it doesn't get closed, but there's otherwise no bookmarking or "read later" features. As the name suggests, it's a way to search and find info you need on your phone without offering the expected tools you'd get in a full-featured web browser. This makes it a bit of a tough sell to me — I love Arc on my Mac, and this so far feels like a significantly less useful experience than the full version of Arc, not to mention Safari or Chrome on iOS. While there's something to be said for the simplicity, I don't think the AI-generated summaries are worth making this my default mobile web browser. That said, the Browser Company likes to get things into the wild so its users can test them and prod them and figure out what isn't working, so I'm sure iteration and improvements will come quickly. The company already says its working on sync with desktop, and they also plan to merge the app with features found in the "Arc Mobile Companion" app that launched last spring. That app, which has now been removed from the App Store, only shows you what tabs you have open on other devices and bounces them to Safari for viewing. So it's safe to say that the new Arc app will be more capable soon. And even though it's not something I want to use as my default browser yet, Arc's quirky view on how a browser works is enough for me to keep an eye on it and see how it grows.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/arc-browser-comes-to-the-iphone-as-a-stripped-down-ai-powered-search-tool-150227704.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 18:02 Amazon and iRobot, maker of the Roomba vacuum line, just announced that they would be dropping their proposed merger. The potential acquisition was announced back in August of 2022 and was immediately the target of antitrust watchdogs, particularly in the EU. The European Commission officially announced it was looking into the $1.4 billion dollar deal last July and it raised formal concerns over the potential impact on competition in November. iRobot also just announced a large round of layoffs now that the deal isn't going through. The company says it is laying off about 350 employees, which represents 31 percent of iRobot's workforce. Colin Angle, founder, chairman of the iRobot board of directors and CEO is also stepping down as chairman and CEO, effective today. While the companies didn't mention the pressure from the EU specifically, Bloomberg notes that a veto looked likely. And while that might not have immediately killed the deal, Amazon and iRobot appear to have decided to shut things down completely rather than work through any proposed changes to make the deal more palatable to regulators. The deal was also said to be under scrutiny from the FTC here in the US, but it never quite reached the level of attention it was receiving from the EU. Unsurprisingly, Amazon's statement on the matter blasts regulators for the "innovation" that would come with Amazon scooping up yet another company. "This outcome will deny consumers faster innovation and more competitive prices, which we're confident would have made their lives easier and more enjoyable," said Amazon SVP and General Counsel David Zapolsky in a statement. "Mergers and acquisitions like this help companies like iRobot better compete in the global marketplace, particularly against companies, and from countries, that aren't subject to the same regulatory requirements in fast-moving technology segments like robotics." iRobot's statement was more muted. "The termination of the agreement with Amazon is disappointing, but iRobot now turns toward the future with a focus and commitment to continue building thoughtful robots and intelligent home innovations that make life better, and that our customers around the world love," said former CEO Colin Angle. Earlier in January, the European Commission was said to have warned Amazon that the deal was on thin ice. However, according to Reuters, the company declined to offer any potential remedies to soothe the bloc's concerns over the acquisition. As outlined in the original agreement, Amazon is paying iRobot a $94 million termination fee now that the deal is dead. This isn't exactly the first time Amazon and the EU have butted heads. They previously squared off over the company's handling of third-party seller information. In 2022, the two sides reached an agreement over Amazon's treatment of third-party sellers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-abandons-14-billion-irobot-acquisition-after-eu-veto-threat-140155112.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 18:02 Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air M2 is already the company's most affordable laptop with this size screen. Now, you can grab the 256GB model at Amazon for just $999 , back down to the lowest price we've seen to date. And if you need more storage, the 512GB model is available for $1,199 , also an all-time low price. The 15-inch MacBook Air is more than just a larger version of the 13-inch model, as Engadget's Nathan Ingraham discovered during his review. While it's still as thin and light as you'd expect, he found that the combination of the large screen and powerful processing made it good enough that he could see using it as his only computer. That's in large part due to Apple's M2 chipset that gives the 15-inch Air a great price to performance ratio. It also offers a comfortable keyboard and trackpad, plus battery life that actually exceeded the company's 18 hour spec for video playback during out testing. The bigger screen has a 2,880 x 1,864 resolution, but it shares the same pixels per inch as that of the 13-inch version. Though it lacks the punch of the mini LED displays found on the MacBook Pros, the Liquid Retina panel still offers 500 nits of brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate. While Apple's M2 chipset is a year old at this point, the 15-inch Air model is the most recent model in the lineup. If your focus is content creation, a MacBook Pro might be a better choice. But if you do a mix of things from productivity to video editing, the 15-inch Air is an great choice — especially for road warriors who want to carry the least amount of weight possible. If you want to grab either the 256GB or 512GB models, it's best to act soon, though, as stock tends to run out fast. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-15-inch-macbook-air-m2-falls-back-to-a-low-of-999-132652205.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 18:02 Japan's lunar lander has regained power a full nine days after it landed on the moon's surface nearly upside down and was subsequently switched off, JAXA announced. A change in the sun's position allowed the solar panels to receive light and charge the probe's battery, allowing JAXA to re-establish communication. Things were looking dire shortly after the SLIM touched down. The agency immediately noticed a problem with power generation, but was able to launch a pair of probes onto the moon's surface. The Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 snapped an incredible photo of SLIM, showing it to be upside down with its panels pointing away from the sun. The cause was found to be a malfunction of the main engine. Communication with SLIM was successfully established last night, and operations resumed! Science observations were immediately started with the MBC, and we obtained first light for the 10-band observation. This figure shows the “toy poodle” observed in the multi-band observation. pic.twitter.com/WYD4NlYDaG— 小型月着陸実証機SLIM January 29, 2024 JAXA thought there was a chance the probe could recover once the sun's rays pointed more toward the solar panels, and that's exactly what transpired. Shortly after power was regained, it snapped another picture of a previously imaged rock formation called "toy poodle" using a multi-band spectral camera. The team is also targeting several other rocks with canine-themed names, including "St. Bernard," "Bulldog" and "Shibainu." The upside-down landing may have seemed like an unrecoverable fault, but it looks like the mission can now proceed more or less as planned. While the baseball-sized LEV-2 explores the surface , SLIM will grab whatever science it can. In any case, the mission was already deemed a success, as the primary goal was a precision landing. It did just that, hitting a spot just 55 meters of its target. It's not known how much longer SLIM can function, as it was never designed to survive a solar night and the next one happens on Thursday. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/japans-slim-lunar-probe-returns-to-life-more-than-a-week-after-landing-upside-down-124507467.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 18:02 As generative AI continues to grow, expect to see more things like the tumult over “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead.” Released on YouTube, it’s framed as an hour of new “material” by the comedian, who died in 2008. Of course, it's not that. It isn't based on old notes or lost routines, either, like recent releases from the Beatles, and George Carlin’s estate has filed a lawsuit against the makers. Initial reports from NPR said the AI was trained on thousands of hours of Carlin routines to create the material. Dudesy, the channel that created and posted the video, was later approached by The New York Times, and their spokesperson said the video was “completely written by Chad Kultgen” — one of the channel’s hosts. Both hosts, comedian Will Sasso and writer Kultgen, are named in the suit. They claim the AI-created Carlin is like an impressionist. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and the immediate removal of “any video or audio copies” of the special. — Mat Smith The biggest stories you might have missed What’s up with the toxicity around Cities: Skylines II? Seeking Mavis Beacon is a Sundance doc about the search for a lost tech icon Sony’s WH-1000XM5 ANC headphones fall to $328 X plans to hire 100 content moderators ​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! Fossil gives up on smartwatches But will keep releasing updates for a few years. Fossil Fossil is officially out of the smartwatch business. Its Wear OS smartwatch lineup hasn’t seen a new model since 2021, and the company has now confirmed it’s getting out of wearables. If you own a Fossil-branded watch , you should get updates for the next few years. But let’s be clear: It probably wasn’t the Pixel Watch that landed the finishing blow. Continue reading. Tesla recalls 200,000 vehicles because of a faulty backup camera A software issue keeps it from activating when vehicles are in reverse. Tesla is recalling 200,000 vehicles in the US, following reports the backup cameras wouldn’t engage when cars were put in reverse — which is the whole point of the things. Tesla has processed 81 warranty claims potentially related to the issue, according to Autoblog. The recall includes certain Model Y, Model S and Model X vehicles from 2023. Tesla says it delivered 1.8 million vehicles last year, so this recall accounts for more than 10 percent of the company’s yearly output. If this sounds familiar, well, it comes six weeks after Tesla recalled over two million vehicles after serious safety issues with its Autopilot feature. Continue reading. X blocked Taylor Swift searches to ‘prioritize safety’ After pornographic deepfakes of the singer went viral last week. Reuters / Reuters X confirmed it’s preventing users from searching Taylor Swift’s name after pornographic deepfakes of the artist began circulating on the platform. Visitors to the site started noticing on Saturday that some searches containing Swift’s name would only return an error message. The platform’s handling of the issue has been slow. After the images went viral last Wednesday, Swifties took matters into their own hands mass-reporting the accounts that shared the images and flooding the hashtags relating to the singer with positive content. Do you not remember the snake emoji saga? Continue reading. Engadget Podcast: The Mac turns 40 And we review the Framework Laptop 16. Thoughts, feelings and facts this week on the Mac hitting middle age, the modular laptop capable of gaming and the realization that the Apple car dream is still alive. This week, Devindra is joined by News Editor Nathan Ingraham. Listen here.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-that-ai-generated-george-carlin-comedy-special-was-written-by-humans-121501471.html?src=rss

29.01.2024 12:52 Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones are some of the most popular on the market, thanks to the improved sound quality, comfortable fit and highly effective active noise cancellation . If you've been looking at buying a pair, now is a good time to act. They're currently on sale at Amazon in black, midnight blue and silver for $328, a solid 18 percent off the list price. The WH-1000XM5 scored an excellent 95 in our Engadget review, thanks to improvements in nearly every way over our previous favorite headphones, the WH-1000XM4. Perhaps the biggest is in fit and comfort thanks to the more optimal weight distribution, synthetic leather ear cups and slightly reduced weight. Sound quality also went up, due to the new 30mm carbon fiber drivers that deliver punchier bass. We also saw more clarity that helps you hear fine detail, along with improved depth that makes music more immersive. And Sony's DSEE Extreme sound processing recovers detail lost to compression, without any noticeable impact on sound quality. The ANC is equally impressive. With double the number of noise cancellation microphones found in the M4, along with a new dedicated V1 chip, the M5 does a better job at minimizing background noise. And in terms of the microphone, we found that the M5 offers superior call quality over its predecessor. Moreover, you get 30 hours of listening time with ANC enabled, enough for the longest of flights. The main drawbacks of the WH-1000XM5 headphones compared to the previous model is that they no longer fold up, and don't have the granular ANC adjustment found on other models like Bose's QuietComfort Ultra. The other issue is the $400 price tag, but at $328, they're a solid deal — and that price applies to all the main colorways. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-wh-1000xm5-anc-headphones-fall-back-to-328-091611120.html?src=rss

28.01.2024 22:10 I'm not gonna pretend I've figured you, the Engadget reader, out. Trying to predict what is gonna get your little nerd hearts all a flutter is kind of a crapshoot. But, I'm pretty confident that a Tamagotchi in a guitar pedal is right up your alley. Ground Control Audio showed up to NAMM 2024 with the UwU virtual pet buffer pedal. Now buffer pedals are about the least exciting piece of gear you can buy for your pedal board. Probably even less so than a tuner. But, if you've got a particularly large board or long cables, a buffer can dramatically improve your tone. Basically all it does is take the signal coming in and give it a little boost so you don't lose precious high end to tone suck. Like I said, not exciting. What UwU does is no different, except that it has a Tamagotchi-style virtual pet and a handful of mini-games built in. As you play, your new pedalboard buddy dances and gains experience points. As the little cat like creature gains experience it evolves over 30 levels with unique animations. As for what happens once you cross that 30 level threshold, well, the company hasn't decided just yet. But there is still time to decide that since the pedal isn't set to start shipping until March. If simply having a new little virtual friend on your board isn't enough whimsy for you, the UwU also has three mini-games built in. There's Long Cat , Fishy Blox and Neko Invader. The tiny monochrome OLED and small buttons aren't exactly ideal for playing games , but it feels true to its inspiration in old cellphone games. Terrence O'Brien / Engadget If you're sitting there wondering, "why?" Well, first off, why not? Secondly, to keep you playing, obviously. Finding the time and drive to play or practice guitar can be tough. Especially if you're teen with a hectic life of extra curriculars or, like me, a busy dad of two with a demanding day job. The UwU gives you a reason to play beyond just knowing you should. Carving out a few minutes every day to play will keep your adorable little UwU happy and healthy. Frankly, if I had one of these when I was younger and stubbornly clinging to my belief that I didn't need to know music theory or technique, maybe I'd be a more proficient guitarist. Of course none this would matter if the UwU was a crappy buffer. But it's got 18v headroom and doesn't color your tone at all. It's even super tiny, so finding room for it on even the most crowded of pedalboards shouldn't be too difficult. The UwU virtual pet buffer is available now for preorder directly from Ground Control Audio for $139. Terrence O'Brien / Engadget This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-uwu-virtual-pet-buffer-is-a-tamagotchi-in-a-guitar-pedal-193633790.html?src=rss

28.01.2024 22:10 X’s head of business operations Joe Benarroch said the company plans to open a new office in Austin, Texas for a team that will be dedicated to content moderation, Bloomberg reports. The “Trust and Safety center of excellence,” for which the company is planning to hire 100 full-time employees, will primarily focus on stopping the spread of child sexual exploitation materials. X CEO Linda Yaccarino is set to testify before Congress on Wednesday in a hearing about CSE, and the platform at the end of last week published a blog post about its efforts to curb such materials, saying it’s “determined to make X inhospitable for actors who seek to exploit minors.” According to Bloomberg, Benarroch said, “X does not have a line of business focused on children, but it’s important that we make these investments to keep stopping offenders from using our platform for any distribution or engagement with CSE content.” The team will also address other content issues, like hate speech and “violent posts,” according to Bloomberg. Elon Musk spent much of his first year at X taking steps to turn the platform into a bastion of “free speech,” and gutted the content moderation teams that had been put in place by Twitter before his takeover.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-plans-to-hire-100-content-moderators-to-fill-new-trust-and-safety-center-in-austin-173111536.html?src=rss

28.01.2024 17:23 X has confirmed it’s preventing users from searching Taylor Swift’s name after pornographic deepfakes of the artist began circulating on the platform this week. Visitors to the site started noticing on Saturday that some searches containing Swift’s name would only return an error message. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal on Saturday night, Joe Benarroch, X’s head of business operations, said, “This is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue.” This step comes days after the problem first became known. X’s handling of the issue from the start has drawn criticism that it’s been slow to curb the spread of nonconsensual, sexually explicit images. After the images went viral on Wednesday, Swift’s fans took matters into their own hands to limit their visibility and get them removed, mass-reporting the accounts that shared the images and flooding the hashtags relating to the singer with positive content, NBC News reported earlier this week. Many of the offending accounts were later suspended, but not before they’d been seen in some cases millions of times. The Verge reported on Thursday that one post was viewed more than 45 million times. In a statement posted on its platform later that day, X said, “Posting Non-Consensual Nudity images is strictly prohibited on X and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards such content. Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them. We're closely monitoring the situation to ensure that any further violations are immediately addressed, and the content is removed. We're committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all users.” But it was still possible to find the images in days after. 404Media traced the likely origin of the images to a Telegram group known for creating nonconsensual AI-generated images of women using free tools including Microsoft Designer. In an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Friday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the issue highlights what is the company’s responsibility, and “all of the guardrails that we need to place around the technology so that there’s more safe content that’s being produced.” He continued to say that “there’s a lot to be done there, and a lot being done there,” but also noted that the company needs to “move fast.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-confirms-it-blocked-taylor-swift-searches-to-prioritize-safety-153136902.html?src=rss