20 Inch Folding MacBook in Works; Pixel Sales Up 527%-In Japan; Simple Way to Remove Microplastics from Water; New Material May Bring Smart Contact Lenses

Posted: March 7, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

A folding Apple phone may or may not happen anytime soon if at all, but apparently Cupertino is seriously working on a 20 inch screen MacBook…with a folding screen! Macrumors.com reports that noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is saying “Apple’s only foldable product with a clear development schedule is the 20.3-inch MacBook, expected to enter mass production in 2027.” Right now, the largest screen MacBook is the 16 inch MacBook Pro. Apple had a 17 inch screen laptop for a while, but dropped that model way back in 2012. Kuo said the 20-inch MacBook is Apple’s only foldable product with a clear development schedule, suggesting that a foldable iPhone or iPad are not coming any time soon.

Google’s Pixel phones have been making inroads in penetration of the smartphone market, and no place more so than Japan. The phones, with their amazing software assisted cameras are really seeing a huge sales growth. According to 9to5google.com, an IDC report shows Pixel sales up 527% year over year from 2022 to 2023. That gives Google 10.7% of the market share there. Apple’s phones continue to hold a huge share of the market there, as do…somewhat surprisingly…Sharp’s phones.  Sharp retains a large share of the market due to the demand for phones designed for the elderly, not necessarily cutting-edge devices. Meanwhile, Samsungs Galaxy shipments to Japan have dropped by 39%…showing where a lot of Google’s sales increase came from. 

Scientists have discovered a surprisingly simple way to remove microplastics from drinking water. This sounds almost like magic, but bgr.com says researchers at a couple universities in China ran tests on both soft and hard tap waters, and by boiling the water, then running it through a filter, they were able to remove up to 90% of the microplastics. The results were published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The boiling left the microplastics trapped in the crusty, chalky stuff that forms when you boil water in a kettle or pot. The scientists said a filter as simple as a stainless steel mesh like used to strain tea is enough to filter out most of the lime-encrusted plastic pieces that are left behind after boiling the drinking water. Hopefully, bottled water makers will be adapting this cheap, simple process too. Kids…DO try this at home if you want to. 

One cool thing about science…often new breakthroughs are made while looking for something else. Now, the co-creator of graphene, along with a group of scientists have another breakthrough material. Konstantin Novoselov and the team say the new material lets them create a novel form of light manipulation. Thenextweb.com reports that they had been working on smart contact lenses. They discovered that the materials…dubbed  ReS2 and ReSe2, not only could help with that, but were more powerful than expected. They can adjust the wavelength of light, and change its direction…up to 90 degrees! The scientists see potential in applications for medicine, AI, and AR. For contact lenses, the startup Xpanceo thinks the use of the new material could provide faster and cheaper blood testing using Raman Spectroscopy at a much lower cost and with better performance. They also see earlier detection of things like COVID and even cancer! It will be a while before we see all these benefits, but it is a pretty amazing discovery.

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

OpenAI Responds to Musk Suit; Microsoft to Unveil New OLED Surface Pro & Laptop; Politicians Latest Plan to Make ByteDance Sell TikTok; Phase Genomics Scores Grant from Gates To Control Cow Burp Methane

Posted: March 6, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

OpenAI is asking for dismissal of all claims made by Elon Musk’s recent lawsuit. Musk was involved in the founding of OpenAI, but really left before much happened. TechCrunch.com reports that a blog post penned by Sam Altman and 4 other founders noted that Musk had promised a billion in funding, but only came up with $45 million. They raised $90 million from other donors to support OpenAI’s research efforts. Musk’s suit claims that the ChatGPT maker had breached its original contractual agreements by pursuing profits instead of the nonprofit’s founding mission to develop AI that benefits humanity. OpenAI was founded to build a counterweight to Google, according to Musk’s suit. OpenAI said Wednesday it maintains that its mission is to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, which includes developing safe and beneficial AGI while promoting widespread access to its tools. It should be noted that Musk has engineers working full speed on an AI project that will rival OpenAI. It always comes down to money…no matter what a litigant may claim about benefiting humanity.

Microsoft is going to roll out OLED a new Surface Pro 10 and a Surface Laptop 6 this spring…both will drop before a big Windows 11 AI update that is also coming. According to windows central.com, they will feature upgraded displays, new processors, and be what Redmond is calling the company’s first AI PCs. The Intel powered boxes will ship this sporing, with ARM models becoming available in June. Both devices could be unveiled March 21st. They are reported to give users a huge performance increase over present Surface Pro and Surface Laptops. You will get on-device Copilot functionality, real time captions and translations, and a new feature called ‘AI Explorer.’

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has hatched a new bill that would make ByteDance sell TikTok in order for the app to remain available in the US. Engadget.com says it has the clunky name “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”, and would prohibit US app stores and web hosting services from distributing TikTok unless it divested from parent company ByteDance. This is just the latest attempt to force a sale over concern that ByteDance is too much under the control of the Chinese government. Former President Donald Trump attempted to force a sale of TikTok in 2020, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The Biden Administration has also pressured the company to divest. And a US District Court Judge recently blocked an attempt to ban the app in Montana. It really is a concern about all the data flowing to China…virtually every kid I know spends more time on TikTok than any other social media platform by far. 

A startup called Phase Genomics has gotten a grant for $1.5 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to research killing drug resistant bacteria…oh, and also to develop a way to battle methane produced by cow burps. Geekwire.com notes that one cow belches up 220 pounds of methane per year according to UC Davis…which makes cattle the top producer of greenhouse gasses coming from the agricultural sector. Methane is some 20 times worse for global warming than carbon dioxide. Phase Genomics will work on a project to create an antimicrobial discovery program to tackle this, as well as the drug resistant bacteria. The company is a spinoff from the University of Washington’s Genome Sciences department. Although it’s a cheap laugh (which I couldn’t resist), but cow farts and belches really are a serious problem…and except for vegans, no one wants to give up delicious steaks, but global warming is real, so we need a fix for this methane problem.

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

New M3 MacBook Airs Drop; Pixel Watch 3 Getting 45mm Size; Waymo-More Areas in LA and SF; Google Maps Tests Showing Building Entrances

Posted: March 4, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Without an event or big fanfare, Apple has released new 13 and 15 inch MacBook Air, powered by M3 Apple silicon. 9to5mac.com reports that the new laptops get support for two external displays and faster WiFi. The new Airs will ship the end of the week…Friday, March 8th. In a goofy quirk…you can’t drive two screens unless the laptop is closed…meaning you will have to buy an external keyboard and trackpad pad for Apple…costing even more money. On the plus side, the M3 MacBook Air has a faster 8 core CPU and 10 core GPU. The sizes are the same as the M2 models they replace. The 13 inch Air starts at $1099, and the 15 incher is $1299. The M1 MacBook Air is discontinued…so you may be able to pick one up for a good closeout price from vendors. 

A big knock on the Pixel watch is that the 41mm size is just too small. Now, Google is working on a second size…a 45mm Watch 3. 9to5google.com notes that the larger size would match the larger Apple watch Series 9. Samsung also offers 40mm and 44mm sizes for the Watch 6 and 43mm and 47mm sizes for the Watch 6 Classic. It doesn’t look like the UI will change much if at all for the Pixel Watch 6, but several watch faces should display much better on the bigger size. Google is also working on Pixel Buds Pro 2 headphones. Since the Pro buds got several new features last fall, don’t expect a major suite of new features…maybe better active noise cancellation. 

The California Public Utilities Commission has given the green light to Alphabet owned Waymo to operate its self-driving taxis. Mashable.com says in The Bay Area, the cars will now be rolling outside San Francisco…in fact, on the Peninsula all the way down to Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley. Their competitor, Cruise…a division of General Motors, is still on hold after one of the vehicles hit and dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco last year. Meanwhile, Tesla is reportedly trying to develop its own driverless taxi system using its own electric vehicles. 

We’ve all been there…you find parking near a venue you haven’t been to, walk to the place, and walk all around trying to find the entrance you need. Now, androidpolice.com reports that google is testing showing some entrances and exits on buildings in Google Maps. The entrances only show when you select a place on the map and zoom in. Right now, they appear as a round white circle with an entry symbol. Also, when you select a building or venue, it turns light red, helping you to find the actual destination among other buildings. It’s still in the testing stage, so things may change before it gets wide release in Google Maps.

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

Mistral AI Releases New Rival to Chat GPT-4; Samsung Unveils Galaxy Ring; Apple Wearable Push-Rings & Smart Glasses; Lenovo’s Transparent Laptop

Posted: February 26, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

French upstart startup (see what I did there) Mistral AI has launched their flagship AI Mistral Large, their answer to Chat GPT-4, and has also has dropped an alternative to ChatGPT called Le Chat. The latter is available in beta, according to techcrunch.com. The startup was just incorporated in May of last year, and they picked up a half billion in funding just in December. Mistral AI was Founded by alums from Google’s DeepMind and Meta…originally with an open-source focus. The flagship looks more like OpenAI’s business model though, costing $8 per million of input tokens and $24 per million output tokens. A token represents small chunks of words…as the TechCrunch article says, their name would be split into two tokens…Tech and Crunch during processing by an AI model. On the other hand, anyone can sign up and try out Le Chat…just go to chat dot mistral dot ai. Mistral notes it is a beta, so could have some of what they call ‘quirks.’ Mistral has also partnered with Microsoft, which will provide Mistral models to its Azure customers. 

There are always lots of new gadgets at Mobile World Conference, and this year is no exception. Samsung has revealed its previously teased Galaxy Ring. Engadget.com reports that they did show a physical model, but didn’t give a ton of details. The ring will be centered around heath and wellness, and will come in 3 colors: platinum silver, gold, and ceramic black. Samsung plans to start selling it later this year. It looks a bit hefty…some who saw it note that it looks about the size as the Oura. It will be available in sizes 5 to 13, although they will be marked S through XL inside the band. The battery life will be less on the smaller ones due to smaller batteries inside. The Oura can make it 10 days between charges, so presumably it will be similar for the Galaxy Ring. the device will track sleep based on heart rate, movement and breathing, then provide users advice based on that. The company will also glean data from partner Natural Cycles, which already does fertility tracking on the Galaxy Watch, matching a key Oura feature.

Besides the large and pricy Vision Pro, Apple continues to look at other wearables in addition to the Watch and AirPods. Appleinsider.com says a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes that smart glasses are still in the mix…something that Apple has alluded to as a natural extension of the Vision Pro line. Besides glasses, a smart ring is being considered…and now with Samsung showing one, in addition to the Oura, that seems likely. Something you probably didn’t see coming…I didn’t…Apple is also looking at adding a set of cameras to AirPods. They will be low resolution. Rumors have this as more likely than the ring at this point. Apple has already fiddled with biometric sensors in AirPods. As for a ring, Cupertino has had a patent on a design since 2015. 

Not all gadgets that tech companies show see the light of day…and here’s one that the light of day can pass right through. Lenovo showed a laptop concept at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona that is transparent! Don’t expect to see the ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop in stores or online any time soon. According to bgr.com, it may not even make it out of the concept stage. Drawbacks include its large size, bulk, and touch only keyboard. While it IS a cool concept to be able to see through the screen, I would be concerned that tech could be developed to read and steal what you were viewing on the screen. Lenovo thinks that the transparent screen could be useful for..say…architects working on site, or other users who need to see what’s going on around them. They also see users touching things within the screen’s view, and asking AI questions about them. Whether it makes it into people’s hands or not, it sure is a cool concept!

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

Google Hits Brakes on AI Images of People; AT&T, Others Cell Outage This Morning; ARM Claims ‘Software is Driver in Deal With Nuro; Samsung Will Bring Galaxy AI Features to More Devices

Posted: February 22, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Google has pumped the brakes, disabling Gemini’s ability to generate images of people. PCMag.com reports that this came after users found that Gemini was producing historically inaccurate images in some situations. Like some extreme examples? It showed what it claimed was a Native American man and woman as an 1820s German couple…and one of the Founding Fathers as African American. It also came up with Asian members in the 1929 German military. Google put out a message saying “We are aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions, and we are working to fix this immediately.” 

There were widespread cellular outages this morning starting at about 3:30 am Eastern that affected calls and even 911 service. The problems were all on  AT&T’s network. According to NPR, AT&T now says it has restored around three quarters of its cellular network. Some 73,000 customers were affected. Verizon and T-Mobile reported that their networks were ‘operating normally.’ This is more concerning than in the past, since these days, nearly 71% of adults and 82% of kids live in wireless-only households. AT&T hasn’t said what caused the outages at this point. 

Chipmaker ARM supplies most of the systems on a chip that run the world’s smartphones, and now they are diving into the world of driverless cars. Thenextweb.com says the chip maker has cut a deal with Nuro, a startup in the autonomous vehicle realm. The partnership aims to accelerate the commercialization of self-driving cars. Arm will bring its famed semiconductor IP to Nuro’s vehicles, starting with the startup’s delivery robots. In an only slightly hyped statement, ARM says ‘software is becoming the driver’ for cars! Arm is finding a nice place in the automotive segment…since 2020, they have nearly doubled their revenue in the sector. As for startup Nuro, they are shooting for level 4 autonomy, which doesn’t need a human driver under certain road conditions. They haven’t given any roadmap for how soon they think that will become a reality.

The AI push marches relentlessly on…Samsung is now going to bring its Galaxy AI features to more devices with a software update in March. The handsets affected are the Galaxy S23 series, S23 FE, Z Fold5, and Z Flip. The tablets that will get the AI include the Tab S9 Ultra, Tab S9+, and Tab 59. With this upcoming update, users will get access to Google’s “Circle to Search” feature, which lets users search from anywhere on their phone using gestures like circling, highlighting, scribbling or tapping. Another feature called Live Translate will provide voice and text translations for phone calls. Plus, users will get access to an “Interpreter” feature that generates text translations for live conversations.

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

Zuck Says Brain Signal Reading Wearable is Coming; Google Launches 2 New Open LLMs; iPhone 15 Quietly Got Battery Upgrade; Signal Adds Support for Usernames

Posted: February 21, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

We have Apple’s Vision Pro headset, and the Metaquest from Meta. Elon Musk put a brain implant in some poor soul that allegedly lets the guy move a mouse with his thoughts. As if that and AI weren’t enough, now Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is working on an electromyography neural interface wristband for tracking gesture controls via your brain waves! Androidcentral.com reports that Zuck mentioned the device on a podcast when asked about a future AI app that would ‘blow their minds’ The Meta CEO says that Meta is “kind of close to having something here that we’re gonna have in a product in the next few years.” He went on to say “In the future, you’ll essentially be able to type and control something by thinking about how you want to move your hand, but it won’t even be big motions, so I can just sit here, basically typing something to an AI.” Welcome to the brave new world!

Only a little over a week after unveiling the latest version of its Gemini AI, Google has announced the launch of Gemma, a new family of lightweight open-weight models. Starting with Gemma 2B and Gemma 7B, these new models were “inspired by Gemini” and are available for commercial and research usage. According to techcrunch.com, Google called the models ‘state of the art,’ but didn’t give much detail. Google also noted that these are open weights models, but not open source. They are available to developers and researchers to customize and fine tune, but not for redistribution…with ownership remaining with Google. Google is also releasing a new responsible generative AI toolkit to provide “guidance and essential tools for creating safer AI applications with Gemma,” as well as a debugging tool.

Here’s an upgrade iPhone 15 users got over previous iPhones that Apple never crowed about…and is actually quite useful. Through iPhone 14 models, iPhone batteries have been able to keep “80 percent of their original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions.” Now, mashable.com says a support page indicates that the iPhone 15 battery can keep 80 percent of its capacity at 1,000 charge cycles. I didn’t know this, but did find out a few weeks ago that the battery lasts a lot longer on a charge than my old iPhone 12. I packed 2 battery packs to do Disneyland with family…and never used them. In fact, I had plenty of juice left in the phone…over 25%…after 12 hours at the Happiest Place on Earth. The 2nd day, I appreciated not having to schlep 2 hefty batteries with me in the parks. Now, let’s hope for a breakthrough for EVs that will let the cars run even 8 hours on a charge…at 60 mph, that would be a 480 mile trip. I’ve driven lots further in the past, but these days, that’s far enough for my tired backside!

Signal is adding support for usernames and dropping requirements to use a phone number for conversations. Signal has been useful as an encrypted chat platform, but cnet.com reports that the latest beta lets you hide your phone number from others in the app by default…unless a previous contact already has it stored in their own phone’s contact app. Making it impossible for others to find you on Signal by phone number and only searchable by username will make the app more secure for users that crave or need encrypted chats. Note that you will still need to give your number to set up your account…so  the platform will have it. Signal is also adding a QR code option…like WhatsApp has…that will direct others to your username. Usernames must be unique and have 2 numbers at the end to minimize spoofing. The usernames are changeable, too. 

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

YouTube Dominates US TV Streaming-Nielson; Walmart Buying Vizio; iPhone 16 Rumor-Upgraded Microphones; US & Allies Police Take Down Cybercrime Giant LockBit

Posted: February 20, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Nielson’s January report…just out…on TV viewing and streaming has YouTube again the overall king of streaming services. Techcrunch.com reports that YouTube has 8.6% of viewing on TV screens. Netflix is close behind with 7.9% of the eyeballs. It has now been 12 consecutive months that YouTube has been able to hold on to the top spot. An interesting wrinkle: 61% of Gen Z reported that they favor user-generated content over other content formats. When it comes to mobile devices, it’s a different story. TikTok continues to dominate those. 

Walmart is going to acquire TV maker Vizio in a $2.3 billion deal. Rumors were floating about this last week, and now Walmart has made it official. According to theverge.com, Walmart says it is part of a move to boost its ad business. Vizio has more than 500 direct advertiser partnerships, thanks to its Vizio Platform Plus business — which the company says “now accounts for a majority of the company’s gross profit.” Vizio’s smart TV OS, SmartCast, is also used by more than 18 million active accounts. Walmart already has an existing Onn in-house brand of TVs, but owning Vizio will help the retailer better compete with affordable smart TVs from the likes of Amazon and Roku. Costco has sold a lot of Vizio sets…it will be interesting to see if they continue to sell them, or drop the line due to Walmart now making money off them. 

A rumor has resurfaced about iPhone 16 models…this one about better microphones with higher signal-to-noise ratios, allowing the handsets to hear your voice more clearly. Macrumors.com says this is mainly intended to improve the accuracy of Siri…which we all know is badly needed. Siri is also going to be getting generative AI features with iOS 18 later this year. Some of the AI features will be limited to the iPhone 16 models…not only due to the better microphones, but also a bigger neural engine in the A18 series chips. 

International law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Britain’s National Crime Agency have struck a huge blow to one of the world’s most prolific cybercrime gangs, LockBit. The agencies have frozen some 200 cryptocurrency accounts and snatched up a wealth of data…as well as seizing 11,000 domains and servers. The hackers have done billions worth of damage to organizations and extorted over $120 million in ransom payments and recovery costs. 5 defendants have been charged in the US…other gang members were busted in Ukraine and Poland, with more to come.

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

Meta Passing on ‘Apple Tax’ to Advertisers for Boosted Posts; OpenAI’s Sora Makes AI Prompts into Realistic Videos; Latest Galaxy Fold 6 Leak May Give Details About Apple’s Rumored Folding iPhone; GM Adds 750,000 Miles of Rural Roads to Super Cruise

Posted: February 15, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta will begin charging a 30% fee when advertisers pay to boost visibility of their posts in Facebook and Instagram iOS apps. Advertisers will start getting hit with the new ‘Apple Tax’ later this month. Theverge.com reports that it is in response to a move by Apple’s App Store in 2022 where Apple extended its typical 30 percent cut of digital purchases to boosted posts, which are essentially ads. The change particularly targeted Meta and other social apps that let people pay in app to increase the reach of their content. Meta notes in a statement that small business owners and influencers who want to purchase a boost on iOS will now be billed through Apple, “which retains a 30% service charge on the total ad payment, before any applicable taxes.” Meta says people can still purchase boosts from Instagram’s and Facebook’s websites on desktop or mobile to get around the Apple fee that is being passed on to iOS users.

More new territory that AI is claiming to conquer. So we know OpenAI can pass some bar exams without the need for law school. Now, according to Wired, a new OpenAI app called Sora is claimed to master cinema without going to film school. The app is being checked out by a few select creators and security experts right now. Google and a couple of startups have already revealed text-to-video AI projects, but OpenAI says that Sora is distinguished by its striking photorealism—something I haven’t seen in its competitors—and its ability to produce longer clips than the brief snippets other models typically do, up to one minute. It isn’t perfect…but has a reasonably realistic look to the video. When released, expect Sora to have similar restrictions as Dall-E 3…that is, no violence, no porn, no appropriating real people or the style of named artists. Also as with Dall-E 3, OpenAI will provide a way for viewers to identify the output as AI-created.

A new leak about upcoming Galaxy Fold 6 phones may also give a new clue about the rumored folding iPhone. Bgr.com says Samsung is incorporating new tech into the next generation of Fold phones, the Fold 6 that may be the same as what Apple has specified for its own upcoming folding iPhone. The key point is that Samsung will use thinner hinge parts on the Galaxy Fold 6, which will reduce weight and also improve durability and repairability. Also…and always a big deal to Apple…which seems to believe a device can never be too thin…it is expected to be about 11 mm thick, which is about the thickness of a regular, non-folding smartphone. Apple allegedly is planning a flip phone similar to the Galaxy Z Flip, and they want it to be as thin as current iPhones. At 11 mm, it would be about as thick as the original iPhone. That handset was 11.6 mm. The current ones are 8.25 mm. 

General Motors has announced a greatly expanded the area in which drivers can use Super Cruise. The General has added 750,000 miles of primarily rural roads and minor highways. Techcrunch.com reports that the upgrade should be complete by 2025. This will nearly double the 400,000 mile network presently available. Super Cruise has been around since 2017, and allows fully hands-free operation under the supervision of a driver, who must be ready to take control at any time. It uses highly accurate GPS, cameras, radar sensors and a driver attention system to ensure the operator is paying attention.

Super Cruise is available on 15 different GM models. 

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

Microsoft & OpenAI-Hackers Now Using ChatGPT; Waymo Updates Robotaxi Software After Crashes; Your AI ‘Girlfriend’ = Data-Harvesting Horror Show; Sarah Silverman’s Copyright Suit vs OpenAI Advances

Posted: February 14, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s both unsurprising and scary. Microsoft and OpenAI say hackers are already using ChatGPT to improve their cyberattacks. Theverge.com reports that the companies have picked up attempts by Russian, North Korean, Iranian, and Chinese-backed groups using tools like ChatGPT for research into targets, to improve scripts, and to help build social engineering techniques. Hackers are using large language models  to help with “basic scripting tasks, including file manipulation, data selection, regular expressions, and multiprocessing, to potentially automate or optimize technical operations,” according to Microsoft. Both Microsoft and OpenAI say they haven’t detected any ‘significant attacks’ so far. Microsoft is building a Security Copilot, a new AI assistant that’s designed for cybersecurity professionals to identify breaches and better understand the huge amount of signals and data that’s generated through cybersecurity tools daily.

Waymo has voluntarily recalled the software that powers its robotaxi fleet after two vehicles crashed into the same towed pickup truck in Phoenix, Arizona, in December. It’s the company’s first recall. According to techcrunch.com, Waymo said the crashes were ‘minor’ and that neither vehicle was carrying passengers at the time. There were no injuries. Waymo operates its ride-hailing service in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. All Waymo robotaxis had been updated by January 12th. This has become much more important after competitor Cruise had to suspend operations after a couple accidents…including one in San Francisco where a Cruise car dragged a pedestrian it had hit. 

So, you are involved with an AI romance chatbot, huh? Well, you may not love this. Mozilla checked out 11 different AI romance chatbots, and they all got a ‘Privacy Not Included’ label. Gizmodo.com notes that the chatbots included popular apps such as Replika, Chai, Romantic AI, EVA AI Chat Bot & Soulmate, and CrushOn.AI. Ten of the 11 are selling or can sell your data, too! Some like CrushOn.AI collect info like sexual health, use of medication, and gender-affirming care. 90% of the apps may sell or share user data for targeted ads and other purposes, and more than half won’t let you delete the data they collect. Security was also a problem. Only one app, Genesia AI Friend & Partner, met Mozilla’s minimum security standards. Give yourself some self-love this Valentine’s Day and stay away from these data gobbling apps. 

Although stripped of a couple parts of the complaint, Sarah Silverman’s suit against OpenAI over their training AI models on her books without consent is moving forward. Engadget.com reports that the case’s primary claim that OpenAI directly infringed on copyrighted material by training LLMs on millions of books without permission survives. The court tossed causes of action for negligence, unjust enrichment, DMCA violations, and accusations of vicarious infringement. Other groups suing OpenAI for alleged copyright-related violations include The New York Times, a collection of nonfiction authors (a group that grew after the initial lawsuit) and The Author’s Guild. 

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

Galaxy S24 Customer Satisfaction Bests iPhone-First Time Ever; Google-Don’t Tell AI Personal Info; Microsoft Bringing Some Xbox Games to PS5 & Switch; EU Won’t Make Apple Open Up iMessage 

Posted: February 13, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In a giant plus for Samsung, Galaxy S24 customer satisfaction has surpassed that of iPhones for the first time ever. Bgr.com reports that the data is from PerfectRec, which says 91% of early adapters of the Samsung S24 base model gave the Galaxy S24 5 stars and 88% gave top ratings to the S23 Ultra. The base iPhone 15 got 76%, with the top line iPhone 15 Pro Max garnering 74%. PerfectRec notes that this lead may not hold as it is a survey of early adopters who are enthusiasts that are more familiar with recent models and can be disappointed if incremental improvements don’t seem impressive. They note that It is possible this is purely an Apple phenomenon, and early Galaxy S adopters behave differently.” Still…a big psychological win for Samsung at this point.

Google has made what you would think would be an obvious warning…don’t disclose personal information to AI! According to zdnet.com, Google points out that your interactions with the Gemini will allow the AI to collect information about conversations, your location, feedback, and usage information. Google goes on to state that the collected information helps them provide, improve, and develop products, services, and machine learning technologies. Gemini Apps conversations can be reviewed by human reviewers, and they are retained for 3 years. Even when Gemini Apps Activity are off, your conversations will be saved with your account for up to 72 hours…so be warned. 

Microsoft is preparing to launch a “select number of Xbox games on PS5 and Nintendo Switch.” Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment are up first, with Sea of Thieves coming to non-Xbox platforms in late 2024. “Other first-party titles [are] also under consideration.” PCmag.com says we can expect more details on February 15th, just a couple days from now. Microsoft isn’t throwing in the towel on their own hardware…they are apparently working on their own hand held device. Of course Nintendo is far ahead with the Switch and then there is the Valve Steam Box.

The European Commission has ruled that Apple’s iMessage is not a ‘core platform service’ that falls under the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Theverge.com reports that this still doesn’t get Apple totally off the hook…they may need to offer interoperability with other messaging apps. Apple’s App Store, Safari browser, and iOS operating system were already designated as core platform services. Meta had both WhatsApp and Messenger designated core platform services under the DMA, and must make them interoperable with third-party services.  

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

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