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OpenAI has brought the new GPT-4 Turbo to paid ChatGPT users. The company announced the news on X (formerly Twitter), sharing that its large language model has improved math, logical reasoning, coding and writing skills. In reference to the latter, a response to its initial post states that "when writing with ChatGPT, responses will be more direct, less verbose, and use more conversational language." Notably, in December, Microsoft integrated GPT-4 Turbo with its CoPilot AI chatbot and image generator DALL-E 3.

When OpenAI announced GPT-4 Turbo in November, it highlighted major upgrades to the system powering ChatGPT. At the time, OpenAI claimed that GPT-4 Turbo could receive six times as many pages of text — 300, compared to the previous 50. Given the breadth of information provided, this expansion could mean more complex prompts and responses. The large language model can also create captions or descriptions of image prompts and handle text-to-speech requests.

GPT-4 Turbo has even advanced since its initial announcement. OpenAI had initially increased its world knowledge to April 2023, a good jump from GPT-4's September 2021 cutoff. Now, GPT-4 Turbo has information all the way up to December 2023.

OpenTable's restaurant pages still feature a lot of reviews left by anonymous diners at the moment, but that will not be the case starting next month. The online restaurant reservation service is changing its policy around reviews so that they're not as anonymous — and it's even applying the new rule retroactively. As BleepingComputer reports, it told users in an email that starting on May 22, it "will begin displaying diner first names and profile photos on all diner reviews." Further, "this update will also apply to past reviews."

"We've heard from you, our diners, that trust and transparency are important when looking at reviews," the company also said in its letter, insinuating that it's changing the way reviews work based on user feedback. As BleepingComputer says, it'll be easy to match a bad review with customer reservation records based on the user's first name and when the post was made. 

While that's not nearly as bad as Glassdoor publishing people's names alongside their employer reviews without consent, it could still be very uncomfortable for people who wanted to talk about bad experiences without the fear of not being welcomed back into a particular establishment. Sure, the new rule could ensure that bad reviews have merit, that a customer legitimately dined at that restaurant and any complaint they mention truly is worth looking into. But we wouldn't be surprised if people feel put off and even betrayed by the decision to apply this upcoming policy to old posts. 

Those who have no intention to go back to restaurants they didn't particularly like could change their first names if they wish, though future reservations will be made under that name. Users can also change their profile pictures if they want and even delete their reviews altogether before May 22. 

A wave of AI assistant devices is finally launching, and the first is Humane’s slickly designed AI Pin. Humane calls it the “first wearable device and software platform,” a magnetic clippable wearable, with a projector, camera, mic, speakers and its own internet connection.

Engadget

Is this what replaces the smartphone? A tiny device that projects its own screen, with ostensibly no touch controls, just a voice assistant to get things done. No, not really at all.

After a while trying to make a voice-centric assistant work for her, Cherlynn Low said the AI Pin is “slow, finicky and barely even smart.” Check out her detailed review.

The Rabbit R1 will be completely different, right? Right?!

— Mat Smith

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Taylor Swift’s music is back on TikTok

The deal doesn’t extend to other Universal artists.

Taylor Swift’s music has returned to TikTok after a ten-week hiatus. The music left the platform after negotiations broke down between the social media app and Swift’s label, Universal Music Group. Intriguingly, the deal did not include provisions for fellow UMG artists, so Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and Drake.

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You can’t hide your blue tick on X anymore

X began verifying ‘influential’ users who hadn’t signed up for premium.

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X will no longer allow users to hide their blue checks, regardless of whether or not they paid for premium. On Thursday, the app began notifying users that “the hide your checkmark feature of X Premium is going away soon.” X unexpectedly began adding blue checks to accounts of “influential” users with at least 2,500 followers who pay for a premium subscription. While Elon Musk suggested the change was meant to be a perk, some — including formerly verified users — were less than pleased with the presence of a blue badge, lest others suspect they actually paid for a subscription. (I would read a thesis on how Elon Musk ruined verified ticks on social media.)

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Repair your iPhones with used components

Apple’s parts pairing continues to hamper the self-repair movement.

Consumers and repair shops will soon be able to employ genuine used Apple parts to fix devices rather than having to order new components. The company claims that used parts “will now benefit from the full functionality and security afforded by the original factory calibration.” The initiative will start with the iPhone 15 this fall. As things stand, if you swap in a used screen from another iPhone for your crunchy screen, certain features, such as True Tone and automatic brightness adjustment, may not work. The upgraded self-repair program should resolve that.

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Humane’s hyped up AI Pin is finally here and, unfortunately, it stinks. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by Michael Fisher (AKA MrMobile) and Wired Reviews Editor Julian Chokkattu to chat about the AI Pin and the many ways it fails. It’s often inaccurate, it takes crummy photos, and it gets way too hot. Not so great for something you’re supposed to wear all day! Is there any hope for AI-dependent gadgets? Also, Washington Post columnist Christopher Velazco joins to discuss Apple’s approval of used iPhone components for repairs.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Topics

• Too much heat, too few features: Humane’s AI pin doesn’t live up to the hype – 1:09

• Other News: Apple will allow devices to be repaired with secondhand parts soon – 44:08

• Google’s Next 24 event announces AI video generation tool, ARM-based CPU for data centers, and Google Photos tools for all subscribers – 53:10

• Working on – 1:00:59

• Pop culture picks – 1:05:40

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Credits 

Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Guests: Michael Fisher (MrMobile) and Julian Chokkattu
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

Movie-industry shindig CinemaCon was the venue at which Paramount Pictures announced it has started work on a new Star Trek movie. Slashfilm reports Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will be a prequel to Star Trek (2009), J.J. Abrams’ glossy prequel to Star Trek (1966). It’ll be directed by Toby Haynes, most famous around these parts for helming episodes of Andor and Black Mirror’s USS Callister. The screenplay has been written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote The Lego Batman Movie and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

So that we’re clear, Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will serve as a prequel to the 2009 origin story and a sequel to 2001’s origin story, Enterprise. It will likely be set before Discovery, which was conceived as a prequel to Star Trek (1966) and Strange New Worlds, which is a prequel to Star Trek (1966). And, look, if you’ll allow me to get a little personal for a moment, I am deeply overjoyed at the news. Given the dearth of origin stories, prequels and nostalgia-parades in the Star Trek universe, an Untitled Star Trek Origin Story is a welcome, necessary and life-giving addition to the franchise.

Let’s be honest, it’s high time we got something insular and backward-looking after so many years of non-stop groundbreaking, original adventures shorn from the burdens of continuity.

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If you're — apparently, one of the few people — using the VPN service that comes with Google One, we've got bad news for you. In an email you're going to receive from Google if you haven't gotten it yet, it revealed that it's phasing out the perk sometime later this year. The company rolled out Google One's VPN feature back in 2020, but you could only access it then if you're paying for a plan with at least 2TB of storage, which costs at least $10 a month. Last year, the company expanded its availability across all One plans, including the basic $2-per-month option, making it more affordable than before.

At the moment, you can access One's VPN service if you're in one of the 22 countries where it's active, whether you're on iOS or Android. You can also use it to mask your internet usage on a Mac or Windows computer. Google didn't say when the VPN service will stop working completely, but it told 9to5Google that it's discontinuing the feature because "people simply weren’t using it." Instead of trying to drum up interest, it's redirecting its resources to support other and more in-demand One features. However, you'll still be able to use the free VPN that comes with Pixel devices even after One's shuts down through the Settings app on Pixel 7 devices and newer models. 

X will no longer allow users to hide their blue checks, regardless of whether they paid for premium or not. On Thursday, the app began notifying users that “the hide your checkmark feature of X Premium is going away soon.”

The change comes shortly after X unexpectedly began adding blue checks to the accounts of “influential” users with at least 2,500 followers who pay for a premium subscription. While Elon Musk suggested that change was meant to be a perk, some of his critics — including formerly verified users — were less than pleased with the blue badge appearing on their accounts, lest others suspect them of actually paying for a subscription.

Bluetooth trackers are handy little things that can help you find valuables after misplacing them. Our pick for the best Bluetooth tracker is the Chipolo One, and a four-pack has dropped to a record low price. The bundle (which usually costs $75) is currently available for just $60, which makes each tracker just $15. Alternatively, you can buy a single tracker for $20 (usually $25).

The Chipolo One can't really measure up to the crowd-sourced finding network of AirTags or Tile trackers, so it's perhaps not the best option for monitoring the location of your luggage while traveling. However, it does a more than capable job of helping you find items around the house. It has the loudest ring of all the trackers we've tested, for one thing, and there was no delay between pressing a button in an app and hearing the Chipolo One trill away.

The One can be easy to spot, since it's a colorful plastic disc. It's fairly hardy too, since it has IPX5-rated splash resistance and a two-year battery life (the battery is replaceable). One other feature in the One's favor is that it's compatible with both iOS and Android, and we found it straightforward to pair with an iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phone.

The aspect of the One that particularly impressed us was its separation alerts. Once you get around 350 feet away from the tracker, you'll get an alert on your phone asking if you might have left an item somewhere. Through your maps app, Chipolo can guide you back to the location where your phone and the One were last in contact. Of course, you can ring the tracker once you're close by to help you find it.

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Fallout games are having a moment in the wake of glowing reviews for the new TV series adaptation on Prime Video. Amazon has added two of the series’ best games as freebies for Prime members on Luna, its cloud streaming service. Fallout 4 is also getting some love, as Bethesda said it will drop the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S update for the 2015 game on April 25.

Amazon Prime members can play Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas on Amazon Luna for the next six months at no extra charge. Like other cloud streaming services, Luna requires a stable and low-latency internet connection since the games you play are processed on remote servers. Amazon recommends a network that can sustain at least 10Mbps for 1080p quality. An ethernet connection works best, but if you’re on Wi-Fi, using the 5GHz band is preferable if your router supports it.

They join Fallout 76, already announced as an Amazon Prime Gaming free game for April. As long as you claim it this month, you can download and keep it forever. It’s redeemable for both Xbox and PC. In addition, the game has a free-play week for all platforms. From Thursday through April 18, you can play Fallout 76 for free on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam. You only need to download the game and sign in with a Bethesda account.

Bethesda

The long-delayed big console update for Fallout 4 finally arrives for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on April 25. The “next-gen” (now current-gen, if we’re being technical) version lets you choose between Performance and Quality modes for prioritizing speed or spectacle. It also supports 60fps and higher resolutions alongside stability improvements and bug fixes. The stability fixes will also arrive in a Fallout 4 update for PS4 and Xbox One consoles to provide a more dependable experience for older hardware users.

The Fallout TV series is damn good — and possibly the second-best gaming adaptation behind The Last of Us. The show starts with a bang and reels you in with magnetic characters and alluring visuals. “Fallout is more than just a video game adaptation,” Engadget’s Sam Rutherford wrote in his review. “It’s a really good show in its own right — an apocalyptically good one at that.”

Fallout is now streaming on Prime Video. It stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets) as Lucy, Aaron Clifton Moten (Father Stu) as Maximums, Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) as Hank and the scene-stealing master of ornery characters, Walton Goggins (Justified), as The Ghoul.