Apple Maps still isn't likely to replace Google Maps for some users (it only got multi-stop routes last year), but Apple thinks it has another way to shrink the feature gap: give stores more control over what you see. The company has launched a free Apple Business Connect tool that lets any firm customize its location cards in apps like Maps, Messages, Siri and Wallet. They can add their own imagery, invite actions in other apps (such as booking a restaurant through OpenTable) or showcase the latest promos.
Apple will verify businesses before it gives control over a location card, but shops only have to use an Apple ID to sign up. Business Connect is available worldwide, although showcases will only be available in the US at first. They'll reach other countries in the "coming months," the company says.
The expansion comes as Apple is rumored to be finding ways to profit from Maps. The iPhone creator is reportedly preparing to bring search ads to Maps as soon as this year. If that's true, custom store info could help Apple's bottom line — a business might be more likely to pay for ads if it knows they'll lead to more sales.
Whatever Apple's motivations, the custom cards still promise to improve the Maps experience for everyday users. You should see more accurate and polished info for local businesses, and have an easier time with everyday tasks like booking a hotel or ordering groceries. It may be more helpful when you share locations with friends in Messages, too. Apple is arguably overdue on this front (businesses have had control over their Google Maps profiles for years), but you may well notice the difference.
The sleep mode on modern consoles lets them wake up quickly, but it also consumes a significant amount of energy as the system never really shuts off. Microsoft thinks it can offer a compromise, however. It's releasing an Insider test that gives Xbox Series X, Series S and One owners an "active hours" sleep option. Choose that and your console will shut down at times when you aren't likely to use it, cutting your energy use. You can manually schedule the hours if you know when you play, but an automatic option is available if you want the console to adapt to your habits.
The feature will be automatically enabled and scheduled on Xbox Series X/S systems. The Xbox One will default to always active, and you'll have to configure the hours yourself.
The company is also introducing a "shutdown (energy saving)" option that reportedly uses up to 20 times less power than sleep while still allowing overnight updates to your Xbox and its games. If you don't mind the longer startup times and the absence of remote wake, you can reduce your energy footprint and potentially shrink your bills. The update will be automatic for Xbox Series X/S users in the Insider program, and it should be available as early as today for One models.
The Xbox is also borrowing "carbon aware" downloads from Windows 11. If carbon intensity data is available in your region, the machine will schedule OS and game updates for those times when it's most likely to rely on local renewable energy, rather than simply grabbing files in the early morning. Insiders will have this perk right away if the Xbox Series X/S is configured for automatic updates, while the One will have multiple test options to help with feedback.
It's unclear how much energy these features might save in the real world. Microsoft estimates that two Xbox consoles using the eco-friendly shutdown feature will save carbon equivalent to that a tree removes in a decade, but that also assumes your device is powered down for 20 hours per day. Carbon aware downloads only matter if renewables have a significant presence in your area, we'd add. Combined with Apple's Clean Energy Charging, though, it's evident tech brands now see software as a way to advance their environmental goals.
The first major gaming showcase of the year (unless another one emerges in the meantime) is on the calendar. Xbox and Bethesda are hosting an event on January 25th at 3PM ET. You'll be able to watch it on both brands' Twitch and YouTube channels.
The so-called Developer_Direct will be presented by creatives from various studios and it will center on major features, gameplay and more details on titles coming to Xbox, PC and Game Pass in the next few months. It's unclear whether any third-party studios will be involved.
Turn 10 Studios will provide more Forza Motorsportdetails and gameplay, while there will be some info on the player vs. player experience in Minecraft Legends. Both of those games will arrive this spring. Expect to see more single-player and multiplayer vampire slaying in Redfalltoo, along with updates on the combat, customization, bosses and open world. Hopefully, we'll get firm release dates for all these games too.
You'll get a look at this year's major chapter update for The Elder Scrolls Online as well. Immediately following the Developer_Direct, Zenimax Online Studios will host an ESO Chapter Reveal Event to provide fans with more details.
Don't expect to see much, if any, of Starfield during the Developer_Direct, though. Xbox says a standalone show for that game is in the works in order "to dedicate the proper amount of time for a deep dive." Bethesda's hotly anticipated space RPG is slated to arrive by the summer.
After a fairly quiet 2022 for first-party Xbox games, Microsoft is looking to come racing out of the traps this year. Several other games are expected to debut on Game Pass in the first half of 2023, including Cocoon (from the lead designer of Limbo) and a little project called Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Microsoft's dual-screen Android phones have been less than successful, to put it mildly, and there are now hints the company is shaking up its mobile strategy. Windows Centralsources claim Microsoft has cancelled a twin-screen Surface Duo 3, which was reportedly slated for release late this year, and will instead focus on a "true" foldable phone. The new device's specs and name aren't known, but it would have a 180-degree hinge with an outside cover display akin to the Vivo X Fold.
The cancelled Surface Duo 3 was "finalized," according to the sources. It would have supposedly addressed some of its predecessor's shortcomings with narrower edge-to-edge screens and wireless charging. Microsoft isn't said to have settled on a release window for the foldable, suggesting that the product is unlikely to arrive in 2023.
The purported insiders also say Microsoft is planning to expand its Android phone offerings. It's apparently "exploring" other form factors, including prototypes of more conventional smartphones. A software initiative, "Perfect Together," would also provide tighter integration between Surface phones and Windows, much like the iPhone's close ties to the Mac.
We've asked Microsoft for comment and will let you know if we hear back. The Surface Duo series has struggled in the market between its high prices (up to $1,500), unreliable software and performance that frequently trails the latest Android flagships. While the dual-screen design has offered some clever multitasking features, it's been a tough sell when rivals like Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold line have generally been more powerful and trustworthy.
A foldable Surface phone would put Microsoft into more direct competition with brands like Samsung and Vivo. There's no guarantee it will stand out in a growing field. If the rumored pivot is real, however, it also indicates that Microsoft is still committed to Android devices — it's not giving up just because its first forays failed to gain traction.
Netflix is slowly starting to make more waves in the world of livestreaming, as the company has snagged the rights to broadcast the Screen Actors Guild Awards. This year’s ceremony will take place on February 26th and stream on Netflix’s YouTube channel. Starting next year, Netflix will livestream the SAG Awards globally on its own platform as part of a multi-year deal. Until last year, the ceremony aired on TBS and TNT.
“The SAG Awards are beloved by the creative community and viewers alike, and now even more fans around the world will be able to celebrate these talented actors,” Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global TV, told Variety in a statement. “As we begin to explore live streaming on Netflix, we look forward to partnering with SAG-AFTRA to elevate and expand this special ceremony as a global live event in 2024 and the years to come.”
The Screen Actors Guild Awards are coming to Netflix!
Starting in 2024, The SAG Awards will stream live on Netflix globally — and you can catch this year’s ceremony, live Feb. 26 on Netflix’s YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/5WvhgKSIjW
The SAG Awards are a key precursor for the Oscars. They offer a glimpse into how Academy Awards voters are leaning, particularly for the acting categories. TV performances are honored at the event too. The Netflix announcement comes on the same day that this year’s SAG Awards nominees were revealed — on Netflix's Instagram account.
Netflix has only just started dipping its toes into livestreaming as it pursues more ways to engage subscribers and bring in new ones. In November, the company announced its first livestream event for its own platform. It will broadcast a Chris Rock standup special on March 4th.
If you're eager to use ChatGPT for work, you might soon have the option. OpenAI has shared a waitlist for a experimental ChatGPT Professional service that, for a fee, would effectively remove the limits on the popular chatbot. The AI tool would always be available, with no throttling and as many messages as necessary. The startup hasn't said when the pilot program might launch, and it's asking would-be participants for feedback on pricing.
OpenAI isn't shy about the reasoning behind its pro offering. As TechCrunchnotes, the company said on its Discord server that it's "starting to think" about how it will make money from ChatGPT and keep the technology viable in the "long-term." CEO Sam Altman recently pointed out that ChatGPT costs OpenAI a few cents for every chat, making it impractical to keep the bot completely free. While Reuterssources say OpenAI anticipates making $200 million in revenue this year, it also reportedly wants to earn $1 billion in 2024 — subscriptions might play an important role in that growth.
Whether there's a sizable audience for ChatGPT Professional is unclear. The existing version had more than one million users as of early last month, but it's uncertain how many of those are 'serious' users versus enthusiasts and curious onlookers. Schools and even AI conferences have banned the bot. Microsoft (a major OpenAI backer) is rumored to be integrating ChatGPT into its Bing search engine as soon as March, however, and investors have even tried using the technology as part of their workflows. The pilot could be crucial for gauging real-world demand, not to mention setting the prices needed to turn a profit.
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures in the US until 9AM Eastern time while it's restoring its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. On early Wednesday morning, the agency issued a notice through an Air Traffic Control System Command Center Advisory that the US NOTAM system has failed. "Operations across the National Airspace System are affected," the FAA said in a tweet, along with the information that it was working to fix the outage. In follow-up tweets, the agency said that while some of the system's functions are coming back online, it was still working to fully restore the system. Pausing all domestic departures will give it time "to validate the integrity of flight and safety information."
Update 3: The FAA is still working to fully restore the Notice to Air Missions system following an outage.⁰⁰The FAA has ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures until 9 a.m. Eastern Time to allow the agency to validate the integrity of flight and safety information.
According to Simple Flying, this is the first time the US NOTAM system has failed, affecting flights across the country. People have been reporting delayed flights since at least the evening of January 10th, and Reuters says over 400 flights flying within, from and into the US had been delayed as of 5:31AM ET today, January 11th. It's unclear whether the FAA will be able to fully remedy the issue by 9AM. As the news organization notes, a NOTAM contains information that's essential to flight personnel. Some NOTAMs for long-haul international flights could have as many as 200 pages and include details, such as runway closures and low-altitude construction obstacles.
Microsoft’s latest research in text-to-speech AI centers on a new AI model, VALL-E. While there are already multiple services that can create copies of your voice, they usually demand substantial input. Microsoft claims its model can simulate someone's voice from just a three-second audio sample. The speech can match both the timbre and emotional tone of the speaker – even the acoustics of a room. It could one day be used for customized or high-end text-to-speech applications, but like deepfakes, there are risks of misuse.
Researchers trained VALL-E on 60,000 hours of English language speech from 7,000-plus speakers in Meta's Libri-Light audio library. The results aren’t perfect: Some are tinny machine-like samples, while others are surprisingly realistic.
Microsoft isn’t making the code open source, possibly due to the inherent risks. In the paper, the company said: "Since VALL-E could synthesize speech that maintains speaker identity, it may carry potential risks in misuse of the model, such as spoofing voice identification or impersonating."
We’ve all seen the 1992 movie Sneakers, right? Right?!
Amazon is expanding Prime to cover more of the web. The company says it's making Buy with Prime "widely available" to eligible third-party sites in the US on January 31st. More shops can offer free shipping, streamlined checkout and simplified returns to Prime members. The theoretical advantages are clear: You get products with less hassle, while stores are more likely to turn visitors into paying customers. Amazon, meanwhile, is hoping to boost interest in Prime subscriptions. The catch, of course, is you have to pay for that pesky Prime sub.
NASA is handing out $175,000 initial study grants to 14 new projects potentially useful for missions in and beyond the solar system. TitanAir might be the most unusual one: a seaplane from Planet Enterprises' Quinn Morley that could fly through the nitrogen-and-methane atmosphere of Saturn's biggest moon, Titan, and sail its oceans.
MIT's Mary Knapp has proposed a deep space observatory that would use a swarm of thousands of tiny satellites to detect low-frequency radio emissions from the early universe, and UCLA's Artur Davoyan’s idea could speed up exploration at the outer edges of space. His design would propel spacecraft with a "pellet-beam" of microscopic particles traveling at very high speed (over 74 miles per second) using laser blasts.
Virgin Orbit said the rocket suffered an anomaly that prevented it from reaching its destination.
Meanwhile, the UK’s first efforts at space flight have ended in failure. Virgin Orbit's historic Start Me Up mission launched from Spaceport Cornwall on January 9th as planned, but it failed to reach orbit. Apparently, the company tweeted, because of “an anomaly.” The mission carried payload satellites from seven commercial and government customers. They include a joint UK–US project called CIRCE (Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment) and two CubeSats for the UK’s Ministry of Defense. As noted by Ars Technica, this failure could have a huge impact on the company, which is struggling to launch enough missions to break even.
Bloomberg sources claim Apple is not only prepping its first cellular modem (now slated for late 2024 or early 2025) but also a combination of Bluetooth and WiFi chips to replace the Broadcom chip currently handling those duties in iPhones. While the exact reasoning for the transition wasn't mentioned, it's no secret Apple started designing its own silicon across multiple products.
In mid-2021, medical technology company Masimo sued Apple over the Watch Series 6's blood oxygen monitoring capabilities. Masimo accused the tech giant of infringing on five of its pulse oximeter patents after introducing a device that has the ability to measure blood oxygen saturation. Now, a US International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has ruled that Apple did indeed infringe on one of Masimo's pulse oximeter patents.
While the judge has also concluded that the tech giant did not infringe on the other four patents involved in the case, the ITC will now reportedly examine whether to impose an import ban on Apple Watches with the feature, as Masimo had requested when it filed the lawsuit. Newer Apple Watches, namely the Series 7 and 8, Ultra and SE, have blood oxygen monitoring features, so the ITC's decision will also affect them.
Masimo CEO Joe Kiani told MD+DI in a statement that his company is happy that the judge "took this critical first step toward accountability." Kiani continued by saying that "Apple has similarly infringed on other companies' technologies" and that the "ruling exposes Apple as a company that takes other companies' innovations and repackages them."
Meanwhile, Apple accused Masimo of being the one that copied its intellectual property in its statement to the publication. "At Apple, our teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features. Masimo is attempting to take advantage of these many innovations by introducing a device that copies Apple Watch and infringes on our intellectual property, while also trying to eliminate competition from the market. We respectfully disagree with today’s decision, and look forward to a full review by the commission," a spokesperson said.
The judge's decision was only an initial ruling that reflects the ITC's findings during its investigation, and the final ruling for the case won't be handed down until May 10th.
Why The Situation is Too Difficult For Japan to Lead the Global Semiconductor Competition; Highlights Researchers
The question still remains whether this ambitious goal by the Japanese government will help in reviving the past achievements. Back in 1988, the country accounted for 51 percent of global semiconductor sales
