Google has revealed more details about how you'll be able to use the Duet AI assistant to help you rapidly whip up emails and documents. In Gmail, the tool builds on existing AI-powered features such as Smart Reply. Click or tap the "help me write" button and you'll have several options at your disposal.

Select "write your draft" and you can detail the type of message that you'd like Duet AI to generate. The tool will be able to draw from previous messages in the thread to make the draft response more relevant, Google says. If Duet AI creates a message in a tone that's perhaps too casual, you can ask the assistant to make it more formal. There are options to make the draft more elaborate or condensed, and if you're feeling adventurous, you can slap the "I'm feeling lucky" option. This, Google says, will "introduce fun variations on tone and style for content you’ve drafted."

The options are pretty similar in Google Docs, though you'll be able to make the tone of Duet AI's screed more casual if you wish. There are options to generate a summary for a section or an entire document, use bullet points (for those Axios fans out there) and to create a different draft based on your initial description. Additionally, Google says you can use a custom instruction to "refine the generated content." The "help me write" tool for Docs can pull in smart canvas features.

For now, the new virtual assistant is only available to organizations who pony up an extra $30 per user per month for the Duet AI for Google Workspace Enterprise add-on. Duet AI will be available for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as consumers in the coming months, but Google hasn't revealed pricing as yet.

Most of us could stand to learn a new trick or two in the kitchen. Getting to grips with a new technique doesn't have to be difficult though, especially if you have the right equipment on hand. To wit: we reckon the Anova Precision Cooker 3.0 is the best sous vide machine you can buy right now, and best of all, it's on sale. The device has dropped by 25 percent to $149 at Amazon.

This is the latest standard model of Anova's sous vide machines. It's one of the best prices we've seen for it to date — it has dropped a little lower in the past but this is still a solid deal all the same.

The Precision Cooker 3.0 is a great all-rounder that's easy to use. It can handle all the basics of cooking things like meats and eggs. The latest model includes digital touch controls, a stainless steel and water-resistant IPX7 design and a longer power cord than previous iterations. There's WiFi connectivity, while the eight-liter-per-minute flow rate means it can bring water to the correct temperature faster than a lot of rival gizmos.

Anova teamed up with highly regarded chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt to feature a wealth of fully tested sous vide recipes in its app. And hey, if you're not exactly sure how to get started with sous vide, you're in luck: we have a handy guide just for that.

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It's been nearly a year since Meta announced at Connect 2022 that it would give its weird Caspar the Friendly Ghost-esque metaverse avatars some legs to make them appear slightly more human. The day of reckoning is almost upon us as Quest Home avatars now sport extra limbs in the latest beta version of the Quest software.

You won't see legs on your avatar when you look down, as UploadVR points out. They'll only be visible in third-person or when you're looking at a virtual mirror (much like in many first-person shooter games). This makes sense, as there's no leg tracking option on any current consumer virtual reality system. It means Meta doesn't have to worry too much about having accurate leg animations instead of, I don't know, wacky QWOP-style physics?

In addition, it seems your avatar's legs won't crouch in third-person view when you bend your knees or sit down. That could make things a little awkward when you're trying to maintain eye contact (as much as that's possible in VR spaces) with another user.

The legs are not in the VR version of Horizon Worlds as yet, though you should see them in the mobile and web versions if you're one of the folks testing those. Curiously, Meta said last year that "legs will roll out to Worlds first" before making their way to other avatar-friendly experiences. UploadVR also notes that Meta hasn't publicly updated its software development kit for avatars, so external developers using that toolset can't play around with legs in the company's virtual spaces yet either.

This could all come to a head next month when this year's Meta Connect takes place. Perhaps the company will have more to say about its virtual legs then. One thing we know for sure about the event is that Meta will reveal much more about the Quest 3.

YouTube is updating its enforcement policies to give creators who break its rules a chance to wipe the slate clean. Starting today, those who receive a warning for violating the community guidelines will be able to take a training course designed to help them better understand how to steer clear of uploading videos that run afoul of YouTube's regulations. As long as they complete the course and don't violate the same policy within a 90-day period, YouTube will remove the warning from their account. In other words, they can go to detention to help avoid a suspension.

If they violate the policy for which they received the warning a second time in that roughly three-month window, YouTube will remove the video in question and slap the creator with a dreaded strike (which can jeopardize their chances of making a living from the platform). A creator who finishes a course and has the warning lifted from their account after 90 days but then violates the same policy again will be back at square one — YouTube will nix the offending video and give them another warning. They can go through another training program to have the new warning wiped from their account.

Another major change is that, until now, YouTube has given creators who cross the line a single, blanket lifetime warning. From now on, warnings will be applied to rule-breaking creators' accounts based on the specific policy they violate. So, they can have multiple warnings on their account and the option to take a training course for each one to have them wiped away.

YouTube started dishing out one-time warnings in 2019 for a first rule break, which it says offered "creators the chance to review what went wrong before facing more penalties" (i.e. strikes). The service points out that over 80 percent of creators who received a warning haven't broken the rules since. Nonetheless, YouTube says creators told the team "they want more resources to better understand how we draw our policy lines" and this new approach is geared toward that greater transparency.

It's worth bearing in mind that the three-strike policy is still in place. If a creator receives three strikes within 90 days, it's still likely that YouTube will punt them off the platform. Extreme policy violations are still subject to strikes and channel termination, even if a creator has gone through these training courses. There aren't any changes to the community guidelines here either.

"Looking ahead, we’ll keep working to make our policies easier for creators to understand," YouTube said. "We ultimately want creators to have the clarity they need to stay strike free on our platform — while maintaining a healthy experience for YouTube’s entire community."

Offering YouTubers a chance to learn and grow from their mistakes is a net positive even if some bad actors might try to abuse the system by deliberately uploading a few videos that cross the line each year. Meanwhile, Xbox recently adopted an eight-strike enforcement policy, under which its users can have strikes removed from their accounts after six months.

Several months after WhatsApp released a Windows desktop client, Mac users are getting to join the party with their own dedicated app for the service. The formal arrival of the client (which had been in beta since January) on Apple's desktops and laptops means users can take part in WhatsApp group calls on their Mac for the first time. 

WhatsApp for Mac supports up to eight people in video calls and as many as 32 in audio-only chinwags. You can hop into a group call after it's already started, view your call (and chat) history and opt to receive notifications about incoming calls even if you don't have the WhatsApp client open. Sharing files should be a cinch too, as you'll be able to simply drag and drop them into a conversation.

The WhatsApp team has spent quite some time making sure that the service supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) across multiple devices with cross-platform syncing. So, it's not super surprising that WhatsApp for Mac includes E2EE protection for your chats and calls. The app is available from the WhatsApp website and it'll hit the Mac App Store soon.

Fed up of telling your friends and family not to buy an iPhone 14 right now? Me too, so here's some good news on that front: Apple has set a date for its annual September event, during which we'll surely learn all about the iPhone 15 lineup as well as new versions of other devices. You can set a calendar alert for September 12th at 1PM ET to remind yourself to come on back to Engadget to watch the livestream.

Almost as soon as last year's event ended, rumors started flying around about what Apple had in store for the iPhone 15 lineup. All models (save for perhaps a new SE) could ditch the notch and start using the Dynamic Island cutout that debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. You may need to opt for an iPhone 15 Pro if you want WiFi 6E connectivity rather than WiFi 6, however. Reports suggest the 15 Pro and Pro Max will have thinner bezels and a titanium frame as well, but we may have to wait until next year to see the rumored iPhone Ultra.

Most intriguingly of all, Apple may finally start to phase out the Lightning port with the iPhone 15 lineup and make the long-awaited switch to USB-C. The company doesn't have much of a choice there, since all tablets and smartphones sold in the European Union will need to use that charging port starting next year. It'll be more straightforward for Apple to use the same connector for all new devices, rather than trying to cling onto the Lightning port in other markets.

In any case, we won't have to wait much longer to find out all about this year's new iPhones. It's likely that we'll learn about what's next for Apple Watch too. And there's always a chance that Apple has a "one more thing" surprise up its sleeve too. As ever, we'll have full coverage of this year's fall iPhone event as it happens.

Back at I/O, we got a sense of some of Google's big plans for generative artificial intelligence, including the integration of the Duet AI virtual assistant into Workspace productivity apps. The company is now starting to roll out Duet AI to those who pay for versions of Docs, Gmail, Sheets and so on that are geared toward professional use. The virtual assistant is also making its way to Google Meet and Google Chat.

There's a free trial of Duet AI for Google Workspace. However, to use the virtual assistant in the cloud-based apps after that, large organizations will need to pay $30 per month per user, according to The Verge. Microsoft charges the same for 365 AI Copilot in Office apps. Duet AI pricing for smaller organizations hasn't been finalized yet.

Duet AI has a lot of tools in its belt that are designed to lighten your workload. You can use it to generate an entire email draft in Gmail. It can pore over emails and a swathe of documents and spreadsheets to create a summary of recent work activities (such as your company's quarterly performance). The assistant can then build a presentation for you based on its findings — but definitely review the slides to make sure all the facts and figures are accurate before showing them to your bosses. And, of course, Duet AI can generate images as well.

The virtual assistant will be able to help you out on other fronts too, including in Google Meet and Chat. It has somewhat different functions in Meet, since it can help you "look and sound your best with studio look, studio lighting and studio sound," Google Workspace general manager and vice president Aparna Pappu wrote in a blog post. Duet AI can use face detection and dynamic tiles to give everyone in a meeting room their own video tile, perhaps with the idea of making all the participants feel more engaged and connected.

Meet will be able to offer translated captions in 18 languages. Google says the app can tell when someone is speaking in another language and display translated text in real time. (For comparison, Zoom has offered live transcription to free users for nearly two years.)

Duet AI's note-taking functions should prove useful too. A "take notes for me" feature will prompt the assistant to jot down action items and capture video snippets, then send a summary to attendees after the fact. If you're unable to join a meeting right at the beginning (or you slept in, we're not judging), Duet AI can catch you up on what you missed with an in-progress summary.

Google

If you can't make it to a meeting at all, you can send Duet AI on your behalf. The assistant can get your points across to other attendees and still make sure you get a summary afterwards. However, if all participants use Duet AI as their proxy, Meet will seemingly be able to detect that and end the meeting.

On top of all of that, the company is stuffing Duet AI into Google Chat too. Google is trying to make the app more of a competitor to Slack and Microsoft Teams, which could make a lot of sense for organizations that are already paying for Workspace for other productivity apps.

You'll be able to ask Duet AI questions about topics of discussion. The assistant will be able to get you up to speed on conversations you missed and summarize documents that others have shared. Google has refreshed Chat's user interface and added more shortcuts and an enhanced search function that includes suggested queries and autocomplete. Autocorrect could help you avoid typos in your messages too. Chat communities will also eventually be able to include up to 500,000 users, while those who need to talk something out using their voices will be able to hop into a Meet-powered huddle.

As for privacy, Google says that users' interactions with Duet AI will be private to them. "No other user will see your data and Google does not use your data to train our models without your permission," Pappu wrote. "Building on these core commitments, we recently announced new capabilities to help prevent cyber threats, provide safer work with built-in zero trust controls, and better support our customers’ digital sovereignty and compliance needs."

Generative AI tools have had a largely fraught relationship with privacy so far, with some companies reportedly restricting workers' ChatGPT use over concerns that they may accidentally leak proprietary data. Italy also briefly banned the chatbot due to privacy worries. Just this week, ChatGPT owner OpenAI debuted an Enterprise offering. The company says it won't train its AI models on Enterprise subscribers' usage of the service — a similar claim to the one Google just made with Duet AI.

Google will surely see Duet AI as a competitor to ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. It's letting third-party companies use the underlying tech for other apps, such as an upcoming GE Appliances app that can generate recipes based on the food in a fridge (it's hard to think of an AI-powered app that would improve my life more than this). Meanwhile, as The Wall Street Journal notes, Google will make its PaLM 2 language learning model more broadly available after only granting select customers access until now.

Google (and Alphabet) CEO Sundar Pichai told the publication that the company will offer Gemini — its direct answer to ChatGPT — to cloud customers when it's ready fro primetime. Google is also scaling up its infrastructure to handle the demands of AI functionality, but Pichai admitted that the company doesn't have a crystal ball in that regard. “It’s tough to fully predict the demand,” he told the Journal. “I think we will be OK, but does it keep me up at night? Yes.”

The Polyend Tracker is one of the more intriguing music-making devices we've come across over the last several years. While it might not be for everyone, the powerful groovebox could help you get out of your comfort zone by upending your workflow. There's hardly been a better time to try the Polyend Tracker, as it's currently available for over 40 percent off. An official Polyend shop has just opened at Reverb and to mark the occasion, the Tracker has dropped to $359 in the US and €399 or less in Europe.

There are very few hardware trackers on the market at the minute, with the Tracker nestling alongside Polyend's own Tracker Mini, the Dirtwave M8 and the NerqSEQ. The Tracker has a different format than you might be used to. Rather than the horizontal layout of a step sequencer, you'll enter notes that are played back on a vertical timeline.

As you might expect, you'll be able to add and edit samples on the Tracker. The device has an FM radio function that you can use for sampling too. Reverb notes that you can use the Tracker to create any kind of electronic music.

We gave the Tracker a score of 86 in our review. Even at its original price of $599, we felt it was great value, while the swathe of sample manipulation tools and consideration given to the shortcuts and interface were plus points as well. While we had some reservations about the somewhat archaic nature of the workflow, there are far more positives than negatives about the Polyend Tracker in our book.

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A library card is one of the most useful things you can have in your wallet. Libby offers free access to ebooks and audiobooks if you have a supported library card (some 90 percent of public libraries in North America now use OverDrive's app). Not only that, you can also use Libby to read a host of magazines for absolutely zilch. Some updates are coming to the app next month that should make it easier to read the likes of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Bon Appetit and Wired for free.

Libby says there will be streamlined access to magazines, which will seemingly be easier to subscribe to and receive an alert when there's a new issue. There will be improved discovery, while you'll be able to start reading with a single tap.

The company notes that the app includes access to more than 4,000 magazines with up to three years of back issues. Unlike audiobooks, ebooks and other Libby offerings, there's no circulation cap on magazines and no restrictions on how many users can read them at once, so you won't have to wait — unless, that is, you still need to sign up at your local library first.

I'm currently building out a new home entertainment setup, so I figure I may as well finally get a dock for my Steam Deck so I can hook it up to my TV. I'm glad I haven't already plumped for Valve's own Steam Deck Docking Station as an unofficial one from accessory maker GuliKit is a bit more stylish.

That's because it takes a design cue or two from the Super Nintendo. It has a gray shell and a couple of large purple switches, which may be there just for aesthetic reasons. The docking port, which you can protect with a sliding dust cover when not in use, has a pair of vents.

On the rear, there are USB-C charging and AC adapter ports, as well as Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and three USB 3.0 ports. The dock supports up to 100W power delivery as well as 4K 60Hz HDMI video output. There's even hidden storage for four microSD cards.

It's not only a Steam Deck you can plop into the dock either. GuliKit says it works with similar handheld devices such as the ROG Ally and Ayaneo's systems. You can use it to play your Nintendo Switch on your TV as well. GuliKit notes that you'll need to place your Switch upside down so that the console's USB-C port is accessible. Still, there's something quite fitting about using a Switch placed in this dock to play SNES games.

Pricing hasn't been revealed as yet, but the dock should be available in September, GuliKit told The Verge. At least for now, the only downside is that it's based on the US version of the SNES rather than the more refined European model.