WhatsApp has announced two new features for group chats and communities. The first is a privacy update, allowing admins to decide whether a person can get access to the group or not. Previously, anyone could join using an invite link provided by any member. Typically, banners within the chat indicating a new person has entered the group are small and can easily disappear from view after a few messages. This shift can ensure conversations and information is shared with those who it's intended to be.
The other update focuses on connecting with other people in your Communities. Last year, WhatsApp created Communities to allow multiple groups to exist under one umbrella. Now, the messaging platform is making it easier to find out which groups you have in common. The group names will appear when you search under a specific contact's name.
Thee two new features should be available worldwide in the next few weeks.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-group-admins-can-approve-who-joins-communities-115003246.html?src=rss
In February, Opera shared plans to integrate generative AI capabilities into its web browser using ChatGPT. Now, the independent browser maker has launched sidebar integration for both ChatGPT and ChatSonic and has introduced another feature called smart AI Prompts. To get these features, you'll need to update your browser and then go to Easy Setup to toggle on the "AI Prompts" option at the bottom. For the Opera GX browser for games, you also need to have the Early Bird option enabled in your browser settings.
Once the option is switched on, you'll see buttons for the chatbots on your sidebar, which you can click if you want to launch them within the browser. Take note that you'll still need to log in to be able to use either. You can also launch the chatbots by using the browser's new contextual AI Prompts that show up when you highlight text on a website.
The prompts suggest different ways you can use the chatbots with the text on page, such as turning a chunk of text into a soap opera or a football commentary and using information to create quiz questions. (I turned our post about the new quests feature for Horizon Worlds VR into a soap opera, and let's just say it wouldn't feel out of place in Dynasty. Or Riverdale.) Green prompts use ChatGPT, while purple prompts use ChatSonic's service.
Opera says these are merely parts of the first stage of its Browser AI plan and that the features launching with the second stage will be based on its own GPT-based browser AI engine. A lot of tech companies are rushing to get their own AI products out after ChatGPT shot up in popularity and Microsoft, a long-time OpenAI backer, launched its Bing Chat AI and Edge Copilot tools. Baidu unveiled its ERNIE bot a few days ago, while Google just made its chatbot Bard more widely available in the US and the UK. Opera's, announcement, however, shows that even smaller companies are keen to gain entry and secure their position in the AI race as early as possible.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/opera-adds-chatgpt-and-ai-prompts-into-its-browser-113500436.html?src=rss
Google Bard is the company’s answer to ChatGPT: an AI chatbot using LaMDA, the company’s in-development language model. We’ve been testing it, and what’s immediately clear are all the company’s warnings, whether it’s the experiment label or the regular reminders that Bard “will not always get it right.” Even the example entries, when you boot up Bard, include what the chatbot can’t do.
The big difference between Google and Bing’s integration is the alternative responses that Bard throws up alongside the conversation. You can click the dropdown arrow next to "View other drafts" at the top left of each chat bubble to see some other suggestions. Unlike Bing, Google's chatbot doesn't always cite its sources, which I think could be a major point as these chatbots creep into our daily internet lives. They’re still prone to mistakes, and I want to know where these bots get their answers from. Also, be careful what you’re searching for. Google notes these early rounds of testing will inform Bard's direction, so we’d advise not using private information. Another reason to be cautious? A bug in ChatGPT accidentally revealed user chat histories yesterday.
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Oppo’s made another flagship phone, and it’s the largest external redesign since 2021’s Find X3 Pro, with the three rear cameras – all with a 50-megapixel resolution plus optical stabilization – in a large circular island. The glass-covered upper part houses the main camera, the ultra-wide camera, the LED flash and Hasselblad's logo, while the lower part features the periscopic camera with 3x optical zoom (65mm equivalent) or 6x "in-sensor" zoom – a fancy new way of saying it crops the image. Along with the barrage of sensors, Oppo has stuck to its strengths, featuring 100W SuperVOOC fast-charging, which the company claims can fully charge the phone in a mere 28 minutes. It’s bonkers.
With DGX Cloud, more companies can build their own.
NVIDIA's AI push finally seems to be leading somewhere. The company's GTC (GPU Technology Conference) has always been a platform to promote its hardware for the AI world. Now it's practically a celebration of how well-positioned NVIDIA is to take advantage of this moment. Supercomputers are expensive, so its new DGX Cloud service offers an online way to tap into the power of its AI supercomputers. Starting at a mere $36,999 a month for a single node, it’s meant to be a more flexible way for companies to scale up their AI needs. Man, that’s still expensive.
Ford has finally shown the medium electric crossover it teased last year. It’s an electric Explorer "designed for Europe" and suited to tight city streets. It's relatively compact (under 14.8ft long versus 16.6ft for the gas SUV) and includes a few technology features you won't even find in higher-end Ford EVs like the Mustang Mach-E. The 15-inch vertical touchscreen will seem familiar, but it slides up and down – you won't have to settle for an awkward position. You also won't find the physical knob from earlier Ford EVs. The automaker also utilizes the electrified design to provide a massive amount of console storage space (enough for a laptop) and a locker for valuables.
The company is looking for a music scientist to help it build the application.
According to a job posting (seen by TechCrunch), Duolingo has a small team working to build an app for teaching music. The job ad is for an "expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science research and hands-on teaching experience." They have to translate "research findings into concrete ideas" that can be used for the "learning by doing" activities Duolingo is known for. If it’s anything like Duolingo, I’ll be learning melodies and instruments I may never ever play in the real world. What’s the musical equivalent of, “Without a doubt, I want to eat ham”?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-google-expands-access-to-its-ai-chatbot-bard-112516974.html?src=rss
A good open world game is filled with little details that add to a player's sense of immersion. One of the key elements is the presence of background chatter. Each piece of dialog you hear is known as a "bark" and must be individually written by the game's creators — a time consuming, detailed task. Ubisoft, maker of popular open world gaming series like Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs, hopes to shorten this process with Ghostwriter, a machine learning tool that generates first drafts of barks.
To use Ghostwriter, narrative writers input the character and type of interaction they are looking to create. The tool then produces variations, each with two slightly different options, for writers to review. As the writers make edits to the drafts, Ghostwriter updates, ideally producing more tailored options moving forward.
The idea here is to save game writers time to focus on the big stuff. "Ghostwriter was created hand-in-hand with narrative teams to help them complete a repetitive task more quickly and effectively, giving them more time and freedom to work on games' narrative, characters, and cutscenes," Ubisoft states in a video release.
Ubisoft touts Ghostwriter as an "AI" tool — the big thing at the moment with seemingly every company, from Google to Microsoft, hopping onboard the AI train.
Like similar tools, though, the question is how to get people — namely staff — to actually use it. According to Ben Swanson, the R&D scientist at Ubisoft who created Ghostwriter, the biggest challenge now is integrating the tool into production. To better facilitate this, the production team created Ernestine, a back-end tool that facilitates anyone to create new machine learning models in Ghostwriter.
If Ghostwriter proves effective, writers should be able to spend their time and energy building more detailed and engaging gaming worlds to explore.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ubisofts-ghostwriter-ai-tool--automatically-generate-video-game-dialogue-103510366.html?src=rss
AI-Enhanced Smart Accelerometer for always aware applications
STMicroelectronics has launched three new smart accelerometers with advanced processing engines built-in to extend sensor autonomy, enabling systems to respond more quickly to external events while lowering power consumption.
To have any hope of making its Horizon Worlds VR social network catch on, Meta has to give potential users a reason to go (and stay) there. Its latest attempt to do that is something called quests that lets users complete in-game missions to earn (virtual) swag like clothing, the company announced in an update spotted by The Verge.
The feature (which doesn't appear related to the Quest headset branding) is in beta testing via a game called Giant Mini Paddle Golf. "Those in the test group will see a new 'Quests' icon in their Identity Panel, which will open the new quests board to show 6 quests (e.g. Get a Hole-in-one) and the rewards to be earned (e.g. Sea Captain Costume). With one click, travel to the world to get started," according to the description. Meta plans to roll it out to more users over time.
While limited to just a single experience for now, it's easy to imagine Meta offering quests in other corners of Horizon World as a way to give Quest VR headset users more to do. Last month, the company said it planned to release 20 new Horizon experiences built by third-party studios, so perhaps the quests feature will be part of these.
The Horizon Worlds user base was reportedly around 200,000 at the end of 2022, well short of the goal it originally set. Meta recently announced plans to open Horizon World up to children between 13-17 years old, prompting criticism from two US senators concerned over Meta's track record on protecting younger users.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-quests-give-you-more-to-do-in-its-horizon-worlds-vr-social-network-073029493.html?src=rss
You may soon see ads on Instagram in places you didn't in the past. The Meta-owned app has started testing a couple of new ad placements meant to give businesses more ways to get discovered. One of those experimental placements puts ads in its search results. When you search for a particular term on the app — say "makeup" — posts marked "sponsored" will show up in the feed you can scroll through when you tap on any of the actual results. In its announcement, Instagram said it plans to roll out the placement globally in the coming months.
In addition, the app has teamed up with certain brands to test a format that would give businesses the power to remind or notify you of future events or launches. When you opt into the app's "reminder ads" for a particular event, you'll get notifications from Instagram one day before, 15 minutes before and when the event begins. These reminders will appear like any other Instagram notification and will show up on your lock screen.
Instagram
Ads are Meta's lifeblood, and the introduction of new ways to earn from them comes as no surprise after a year that saw the company's quarterly revenue shrink for the first time. For the fourth quarter of 2022, for instance, the company reported an advertising revenue of $31.25 billion, down from $32.64 billion for the same quarter in 2021. Its year-on-year ad revenue was down, as well, from $114.93 billion in 2021 to $113.64 billion in 2022. Meta has been severely tightening belt in recent months and let more than 11,000 workers go in November in its first ever mass layoffs. Just a few days ago, company chief Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is laying off another 10,000 workers and will restructure its divisions in April and May.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instagram-is-putting-ads-in-search-results-055701214.html?src=rss
LG is once again expanding its UltraGear line of gaming monitors with a new model. Before you ask: No, the company's latest is not a new OLED screen. But it is interesting for a few reasons. LG is marketing the 49GR85DC-B as a fast ultrawide with class-leading HDR capabilities.
The monitor features a 49-inch VA panel with a 32:9 aspect ratio, 5,120 by 1,440 resolution, 98.5 percent DCI-P3 coverage and an aggressive 1000R curve. It also features a 240Hz refresh rate, a claimed 1ms pixel response time and AMD FreeSync Premium. To top it all off, LG says the 49GR85DC-B is DisplayHDR 1000 certified, suggesting the panel is capable of peaking at an eye-searing 1000 nits of brightness and features some amount of local dimming.
At first glance, it’s a spec list that should make the 49GR85DC-B a homerun for ultrawide gaming fans, but there are a few things to note that may not make it as appealing as it seems. First, there’s the price. LG is asking $1,300 for the 49GR85DC-B. In 2023, that’s a lot for an LCD. Additionally, in my experience, VA panels are never as fast as manufacturers say they are, so don’t be surprised if LG’s latest doesn’t live up to the 1ms response time the company has listed. It's also worth mentioning few games support 32:9 resolutions.
The 49GR85DC-B is available to preorder starting today through LG’s website. If you decide to jump on this one early, the company will send you a complimentary UltraGear Gaming Pad. That's a $200 mouse mat that doubles as a USB hub and features RGB lighting.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lg-made-a-49-inch-hdr-monitor-with-a-240hz-refresh-rate-222609367.html?src=rss
Disentangling ourselves from TikTok is more complicated than simply banning the app, just ask the state of Maryland. According to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, it’s one of several states that used TikTok’s tracking pixel on a government website despite a statewide ban barring TikTok-related software from official devices and networks.
According to the report, Maryland was one of 27 states that had code for TikTok’s tracking pixel embedded in an official government website. While these types of tools are extremely common — tracking pixels help online advertisers target their ads — their use has also been widely criticized by privacy advocates.
In Maryland’s case, the TikTok pixels were reportedly found on a state-run COVID website and were related to an ad campaign from last year. Likewise, TikTok’s pixel was also found on a website run by Utah's Department of Workforce Services, which told The Wall Street Journal the pixel was used for an ad campaign targeting job seekers. Like Maryland, Utah has also banned TikTok from government devices.
The report underscores how, even with bans in place, governments are finding it difficult to disentangle themselves from TikTok completely. The company is currently grappling with the threat of a nationwide ban in the United States if parent company ByteDance doesn’t divest its stake in the service. CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to testify in a Congressional hearing on Thursday, when he will make the case that banning the app would hurt its 150 million American users.
Elsewhere, a new report in Forbes highlighted other issues that a nationwide ban may not fully resolve. According to the report, the personal data of TikTok users from India is still accessible to TikTok and ByteDance employees, despite the country banning the app in 2020. Forbes points out that this is likely due to the terms of India’s ban, which apparently “did not seem to call for deletion of app data that had already been captured and stored.”
Even so, it’s not the first time security experts have questioned whether it would ever be possible to “claw back” TikTok user data that’s already been collected by the company. In an odd way, that may make it a bit easier for TikTok to argue that an outright ban would be less effective than its multibillion-dollar plan to impose strict data controls and other measures meant to lock down US user data. That plan, known as Project Texas, has so far failed to persuade lawmakers and the Treasury Department officials involved in the years-long negotiations with TikTok.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-tiktok-ban-is-a-lot-more-complicated-than-just-shutting-down-the-app-201114677.html?src=rss
