Apple and Google's long-in-the-works effort to alert people to unwanted Bluetooth trackers that may have been planted on them has come to fruition. The companies have developed an industry standard called Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers. This makes it possible to alert someone via iOS or Android if they're being tracked with one of those devices.
When an unknown Bluetooth device is seen moving with someone over a period of time, they'll get an alert that reads “[Item] Found Moving With You." So if you're an Android user and someone has planted an AirTag on you, you'll should get a notification telling you as such. Apple and Google are rolling out the capability in iOS 17.5 and across Android 6.0 and later devices starting today.
The companies announced a partnership to tackle this issue last May with backing from industry partners such as Samsung and Tile. Apple says that Chipolo, Eufy, Jio, Motorola and Pebblebee are among the companies who say that their future Bluetooth tags will work with the new standard.
Developing...
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-and-google-roll-out-a-cross-platform-feature-to-tackle-unwanted-bluetooth-trackers-172411423.html?src=rss
Google is teaming up with HP to bring its futuristic video conferencing technology Project Starline to enterprise consumers. The company first began demoing this service in 2021 and the first iteration involved a 3D video chat booth with a projection of the person you’re talking to. We came away extremely impressed by the holographic technology, remarking on how realistic everything seemed and that the other person seemed to be in the room with you.
However, this technology isn’t quite the same as what we tried a couple of years back. Since then, Google has streamlined and simplified the system a fair amount. There’s no more video chat booth, as the whole thing has been moved to a system that features a large TV and cameras. This scales back some of the wow factor, but makes it much easier to implement.
To that end, Google and HP will be integrating Project Starline with common video conferencing apps like Google Meet and Zoom. There’s no information as to how much it’ll cost for companies to sign on to use this technology, or any details regarding the initial setup. Google says more information will be revealed later this year with actual commercialization beginning in 2025.
HP calls it an “immersive collaboration experience” and it certainly looks to be a better telepresence solution than a tiny smartphone screen. At the end of the day, though, it’s just a big display. The updated Project Starline tech doesn’t include anything resembling holographic projection.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-project-starline-video-conferencing-tech-is-coming-to-offices-171622980.html?src=rss
Things are really changing over at Apple with the announcement of a new M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air. The company has also discontinued the ninth-generation iPad and cut the price of its 10th-generation model to $349. While that was exciting on its own, Apple's 10th-gen iPad is now available for an even better deal on Amazon: $334. The discount brings Apple's 64GB base model to a new record-low price.
The 10th-gen iPad is becoming Apple's cheapest option on the market and it's a solid product. We gave it an 85 in our review when it debuted in 2022 thanks to updates like a USB-C charging port and a redesign that made it more comparable to the iPad Air. It also has a landscape-mode front-facing camera so you can join video calls without being awkwardly vertical on people's screens.
Apple's most affordable iPad also has a 10-hour battery estimate but lasted 11 hours and 45 minutes for us when playing a movie pushed from iTunes — though gaming or other active use would shorten the amount of time it works between charges. This iPad also has a 10.9-inch screen, compared to it's predecessors 10.2-inches. Plus, it uses an A14 chip (the same one as in an iPhone 12).
Apple will reportedly focus its first round of generative AI enhancements on beefing up Siri’s conversational chops. Sources speaking withThe New York Times say company executives realized early last year that ChatGPT made Siri look antiquated. The company allegedly decided that the large language model (LLM) principles behind OpenAI’s chatbot could give the iPhone’s virtual assistant a much-needed shot in the arm. So Apple will reportedly roll out a new version of Siri powered by generative AI at its WWDC keynote on June 10.
Apple Senior Vice Presidents Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea reportedly tested ChatGPT for weeks before the company realized that Siri looked outdated. (I would argue that the epiphany came about a decade late.) What followed was what The NYT describes as Apple’s “most significant reorganization in more than a decade.”
The company sees generative AI as a once-in-a-decade tentpole area worth shifting heaps of resources to address. You may recall the company canceled its $10 billion “Apple Car” project earlier this year. Apple reportedly reassigned many of those engineers to work on generative AI.
Apple executives allegedly fear AI models could eventually replace established software like iOS, turning the iPhone into “a dumb brick” by comparison. The clunky, awkward and overall unconvincing first wave of dedicated AI gadgets we’ve reviewed, like the Human AI Pin and Rabbit R1, aren’t good enough to pose a threat. But that could change as software evolves, other smartphone makers incorporate more AI into their operating systems and other hardware makers have a chance to innovate.
So, at least for now, it appears Apple isn’t launching direct competitors to generative AI stalwarts like ChatGPT (words), Midjourney (images) or ElevenLabs (voices). Instead, it will start with a new Siri and updated iPhone models with expanded memory to better handle local processing. In addition, the company will reportedly add a text-summarizing feature to the Messages app.
Apple’s M4 chip (shown next to VP John Ternus) could help process local Siri requests.
Apple
Apple’s first foray into generative AI, if The NYT’s sources are correct, sounds like less of an immediate threat to creators than some had imagined. The company ran a video plugging the new iPad Pro at its May iPad event. The clip accidentally served as the perfect metaphor for the (legitimate) fears of artists, musicians and other creators, whose work AI models have trained on — and who stand to be replaced by those same tools as they become more normalized for content creation.
Samsung and Google have already loaded their flagship phones with various generative AI features that go far beyond improving their virtual assistants. These include tools for editing photos, generating text and enhancing transcription (among other things). These features typically rely on cloud-based servers for processing, whereas Apple’s approach will allegedly prioritize privacy and handle requests locally. So Apple will apparently start with a more streamlined approach that sticks to improving what’s already there, as well as keeping most or all processing on-device.
The New York Times’ sources add that Apple’s culture of internal secrecy and privacy-focused marketing have stunted its AI progress. Former Siri engineer John Burkey told the paper that the company’s tendency to silo off the information various divisions share with each other has been another primary culprit in Siri’s inability to evolve far past where the assistant was when it launched a day before Steve Jobs died in 2011.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-big-ai-rollout-at-wwdc-will-reportedly-focus-on-making-siri-suck-less-203035673.html?src=rss
The new iPad Pro and iPad Air — and the internet's reaction to how they've been advertised — may have been the big Apple news of the week, but we're turning our attention to AirPods for our latest deals roundup. More specifically, all four models in Apple's wireless headphone lineup are currently on sale. The noise-canceling AirPods Pro and third-gen AirPods back down to lows of $180 and $140, respectively, while the entry-level earbuds and top-end AirPods Max are both cheaper than usual at $80 and $450. Beyond that, we've also found noteworthy discounts on Amazon's Kindle, LG's C3 OLED TV, Keychron's budget-friendly C3 Pro keyboard and annual Paramount+ with Showtime subscriptions, among others. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-entire-airpods-lineup-is-discounted-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-164320939.html?src=rss
Google has released a security update for the Chrome browser to fix a zero-day vulnerability exploit that has been used by threat actors. This is the fifth time this year the company has had to issue a patch for one of these vulnerabilities, as reported by Bleeping Computer.
"Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2024-4671 exists in the wild," the company said in a short advisory. It did not issue any specifics as to the nature of the real-world attack or the identity of the threat actors. This is common for Google, as it likes to wait until a majority of users have updated the software before announcing specific details.
We do know some stuff about the exploit. It’s being classified as a “high-severity issue” and as a “user after free” vulnerability. These bugs arise when a program references a memory location after it has been deallocated, leading to any number of serious consequences from a crash to a random execution of code. It looks like the CVE-2024-4671 vulnerability is attached to the visuals component that handles rendering and the display of content on the browser.
The exploit was discovered and reported to Google by an anonymous researcher. The fix is available for Mac, Windows and Linux and updates will continue to roll out to users over the coming days and weeks. Chrome updates automatically with security fixes, so users can confirm they are running the latest version of the browser by going to Settings and About Chrome. Users of Chromium-based browsers like Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi should also update to a new version as soon as they are available.
As stated, this is the fifth of this type of flaw addressed by Google this year. I don’t mean “within the last calendar year.” I mean in 2024. Three were discovered back in March at the Pwn2Own hacking contest in Vancouver. This isn’t a record or anything. Google found and fixed five in one month back in 2020.
Zero-day exploits have been a constant thorn in Google’s side. These are a type of cyberattack that take advantage of an unknown or unaddressed security flaw in computer software, hardware or firmware. The company typically pays out big money for bug discoveries, as part of its Vulnerability Rewards Program.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-just-patched-the-fifth-zero-day-exploit-for-chrome-this-year-153723334.html?src=rss
The iPad Pro has always struck me as a baffling device. It's significantly more expensive than the (very capable!) iPad and iPad Air. iPadOS still isn’t a great environment for multitasking. And Apple hasn't yet justified why, exactly, you'd want a super-powerful tablet in the first place (simplified versions of Final Cut Pro and Audition aren't enough!). If you're trying to get serious work done, you're better off buying a slightly used last-gen MacBook Pro, instead of shelling out $1,000 or more on a souped-up tablet.
Taken individually, most of the tablet's new features seem inessential. It's the first device with Apple's M4 chip, which has vastly better AI performance than its earlier M-series hardware. It has a "tandem" OLED display, which stacks two OLED panels together for better performance. And both the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pros are incredibly thin and light (the latter model is the slimmest device Apple has ever made, measuring 5.1mm).
But when you wrap all of those advancements together and pair them up with a redesigned, MacBook-like Magic Keyboard, the M4 iPad Pro is starting to look more and more like the ultra-light computer of my dreams. A super-powerful machine that's easy to take anywhere, with a gorgeous screen for binging TV shows and a capable keyboard for writing on the go. Maybe I'm just charmed by the side profile of the iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard, which looks like it could have been designed by Syd Mead in the '90s, imagining how laptops could be transformed in a few decades.
I'll admit, the new iPad Pro looks very similar to the 2022 model. But, as the kids say, it just hits differently now. This year’s iPad Pro is thinner than I ever thought possible, and the revamped Magic Keyboard solves most of the problems I've had with earlier versions, thanks to its aluminum top cover, function keys and larger touchpad.
Part of the appeal, for me at least, is that Apple has also taken the idea of a tablet PC a step further than Microsoft's Surface tablets. While those devices can function as genuine PCs and run full Windows apps, Microsoft hasn't improved its keyboard covers or overall design in years. If you want to hold a Surface on your lap, you'll still have a kickstand digging into your legs and a pretty flimsy typing experience. The M4 iPad Pro, on the other hand, now more closely resembles an actual laptop.
Now I realize part of this gadget lust comes from covering Apple's recent launch event. I've been thinking far too much about iPads over the past few days, and it's taken a toll. You could potentially get a laptop-like PC experience from either the entry-level iPad or iPad Air when paired together with a keyboard case. But, then again, I’ve already bought a 10th-gen iPad with Logitech’s Slim Folio keyboard and I don’t actually use it much for typing. It’s fine for jotting down something short like emails, but the unsatisfying keys makes it tough to get into a writing flow.
I'd also feel better about jumping on the iPad Pro bandwagon once iPadOS becomes an even better platform for multi-tasking. Stage Manager is a start, but it's a bit clunky and hard to navigate. Sure, Apple is constrained by what's possible on smaller displays, but I could imagine iPads (along with iPhones and Macs) becoming far more functional once the company starts rolling out its rumored local AI models.
What if Siri could accurately note down your shopping list, pull in prices from local stores and share it with your friends. What if it could automatically edit your vacation videos to post on Instagram? Now imagine you could do those things without losing focus from the email on your screen, or your company’s Slack channel. Multitasking doesn't necessarily need to involve jumping between several apps. With AI enhancements down the line, we could potentially complete complex tasks with natural language, and our devices could better anticipate what we actually need.
Apple
The iPad Pro M4’s price problem
Price is another obvious problem facing the iPad Pro. It has always been expensive, but Apple is really pushing the boundaries of acceptability with these new models. Both the 11-inch and 13-inch tablets are $200 more than before, starting at $999 and $1,299 respectively. While it's nice to see them come with 256GB of storage by default (up from 128GB), creative professionals will probably want to spend another $200 to get 512GB.
If you want the full 10-core CPU power of the M4 chip, though, you'd have to shell out for at least 1TB of storage, which makes the 11-inch iPad Pro $1,599. Want nano-textured glass for additional glare reduction? That's another $100. Oh, and don't forget the Magic Keyboard! That's $299 or $349 more, depending on the size. If you actually wanted to spec out the iPad Pro like a laptop, it's easy to hit a price near $2,000.
Alternatively, you could just get a $1,299 MacBook Air, or $1,599 14-inch MacBook Pro. Maybe add another $200 to get 16GB of RAM. At least with those machines, you've got larger screens, excellent keyboards, the full desktop power of macOS and more than a single port for connectivity. If you really want an iPad Pro experience, you could always keep an eye out for used or refurbished 2022 models, which come with the very capable M2 chip.
Given just how expensive it is, I likely won't be buying a new iPad Pro anytime soon. But the desire is certainly there, sitting somewhere deep within me, ready to take over my cognitive functions the minute these tablets get cheaper.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/oh-no-i-think-i-want-an-ipad-pro-now-170041331.html?src=rss
We kicked off our Tuesday with an early iPad event. And what a beastly iPad we got. Apple shook things up by slotting its brand-new M4 chip into its new highest-end iPad Pro. Apple says the new device delivers 50 percent faster performance than the M2 iPad Pro. It supports dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and hardware-accelerated mesh shading — so, better-looking games and faster graphic processing.
But that’s only half the story. The other major upgrade is Tandem OLED, which is a display of two OLED panels on top of each other. Expect richer colors and deeper blacks, but also brightness levels that max out at 1000 nits for standard and HDR and 1600 nits for HDR’s brightest spots. This switch in display tech makes it thinner than previous iPads. Actually, it ensures the new iPad pro is (somehow) thinner than the iPod nano.
The new iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch, each with 256GB of storage. And we’ve got our first impressions, already, right here.
The latest Pixel A-series phone typically gets announced at Google I/O. However, to avoid distractions from all the other news, Google broke cover early. Compared to the standard Pixel 8, which has a 6.2-inch screen, the 8a features a slightly smaller 6.1-inch OLED display with noticeably larger bezels. But aside from that, the Pixel 8 and 8a are almost the exact same size. The 8a uses the same 64-megapixel and 13MP sensors for its main and ultra-wide cameras as its predecessor, but the Pixel 7a was a great camera phone, so no major complaints here. Sales start next week on May 14.
OpenAI is trying to get ahead of the problem of these almost-real images circulating the internet by creating a toolset that detects images created by its own DALL-E 3 generator. The company says it can accurately detect pictures whipped up byDALL-E 3 98 percent of the time. While that sounds good, it’s loaded with caveats. The image has to be created by DALL-E, and it only successfully classified five to ten percent of images made by other AI models. It also struggles to spot generated images manually tweaked by a user.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-apples-new-ipad-pro-is-thinner-than-an-old-ipod-nano-111533601.html?src=rss
You may have heard Apple updated its top-of-the-line tablets at its Let Loose event on Tuesday. The 2024 model has some big improvements, including the new M4 chip, a “noticeably thinner and lighter” build, a superior OLED display and upgraded accessories. We broke down the key differences between the latest iPad Pro and its 2022 predecessor to help you figure out if it’s worth the (hefty) investment.
Display and dimensions
iPad Pro: 13-inch (2024) vs. 12.9-inch (2022)
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
In Engadget’s hands-on at Apple’s “Let Loose” event, Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham said the new iPad Pro’s thinner and lighter build and its Tandem OLED display are the first big changes you’ll notice when you pick up the latest model.
“In Apple’s extremely bright demo area, the iPad Pro screen showed its quality — everything was extremely clear, blacks were pitch-black and colors really popped,” he said after using it at Apple’s event. “After looking at the iPad Air display, it was obvious how much better these screens are.”
iPad Pro: 11-inch (2024 vs. 2022)
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
Another change you’ll notice when you compare the two iPad Pros side-by-side is camera positioning. The 2024 model moves its front-facing camera to the top-center when viewed in landscape orientation. The older model used Apple’s original iPad configuration, where the camera was centered above the screen when holding it upright in portrait mode.
The new iPad Pro is also noticeably lighter and thinner than its 2022 predecessor. The 13-inch model is a mere 5.11mm (0.2 inch) thick and weighs only 579g (1.28 lbs), making it 20 percent thinner and 15 percent lighter than the 12.9-incher from 2022. Meanwhile, the new 11-inch variant is 5.3mm (0.21 inch) thick and weighs 444g (0.98 lb), making it 10 percent thinner and five percent lighter than the older one.
Considering the 2022 model was already a svelte machine, it’s no wonder we found the new iPad Pro surprisingly thin and light relative to its processing power. Speaking of which…
Processor
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
The iPhone maker unveiled a new Apple Silicon version on an iPad instead of a Mac for the first time. The all-new M4 chip has up to a 10-core CPU configuration (four performance cores and six efficiency cores), which the company says translates to one and a half times faster performance than the M2 silicon in the 2022 model.
I say “up to” because, similar to MacBooks and some older iPad Pro models, Apple is shipping different chip variants depending on your pricing tier. The 1TB and 2TB versions of the 2024 model have that 10-core chip, while the 256GB and 512GB models drop down to a nine-core M4 with three performance and six efficiency cores.
The lower-tier and high-end M4 variants include a 10-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a 16-core neural engine, 120GB/s memory bandwidth and 16GB of RAM. So the different models don’t sound dramatically different — you just get an extra performance core in the more expensive tiers. We’ll have to wait until we get some extended time with them to see how that translates into real-world experience.
By comparison, the M2 in the 2022 iPad Pro has an eight-core CPU with four performance and four efficiency cores. It also has a 16-core Neural Engine (of course, an older version than the one in the M4), 100GB/s memory bandwidth and either 8GB or 16GB of RAM.
Accessories
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
The new iPad Pro also has some new accessories you can’t use with the 2022 model. That includes a new Magic Keyboard that Apple claims makes “the entire experience feel just like using a MacBook.”
You can thank its bigger trackpad with haptic feedback (like on modern MacBooks) and an aluminum palm rest. The older model used a microfiber-esque material and physically clicking trackpad, so the new one should feel more solid underneath your hands and aligned with MacBooks’ look and feel.
The new Magic Keyboard also adds a new 14-key function row (also similar to a MacBook) with shortcuts for things like brightness, Spotlight search, Siri / dictation and media controls.
Meanwhile, the Apple Pencil Pro — exclusively compatible with the 2024 iPad Pro and iPad Air — looks much like its predecessor but adds some extra goodies. Those include a new sensor in its barrel that lets you squeeze it like the lovely little stylus it is.
The new squeeze gesture can bring up tool palettes or activate shortcuts. Third-party developers can even customize the actions for individual apps. For the first time, it also adds haptic feedback to let you know if your squeeze was accepted or if something you moved has landed in its intended spot.
The new Apple Pencil also works with Find My (another first), so you can check on its most recent location in Apple’s location app if you lose it.
Well, it can’t all be good news. With all those upgrades, Apple is once again asking you to consider paying more for a high-end tablet. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, and the 13-inch model starts at a whopping $1,299. Those are each $200 higher than the starting prices in the 2022 model (when it was available).
But wait, it gets worse. Those prices don’t take into account the $299 (11-inch) or $349 (13-inch) you’ll pay if you want to add the new Magic Keyboard, nor does it factor in the $129 for the Apple Pencil Pro. You’ll have to pony up to make the new iPad Pro as much like a MacBook as possible: It will cost you almost what you’d pay for an entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 chip.
On the slightly brighter side, you get more storage this time around. The 2024 iPad Pro starts with 256GB, double the 128GB in the 2022 model. Moving up from there, the other storage tiers are identical to its predecessor (ranging up to 2TB for those with Scrooge McDuck bank accounts).
Full specs comparison
Here’s a table showing the full specs comparison between the 2024 and 2022 iPad Pro models, including separate charts for the 13 / 12.9-inch and 11-inch variants.
13-inch iPad Pro (2024) vs. 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022)
12.9-inch iPad Pro (2024)
12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022)
Price
$1,299, $1,499, $1,899, $2,299
$1,099, $1,199, $1,399, $1,799, $2,199
Dimensions
281.16 x 215.5 x 5.1 mm
(11.09 x 8.48 x 0.20 inch)
280.6 x 214.9 x 6.4 mm
(11.04 x 8.46 x 0.25 inch)
Weight
1.28 pounds / 579 grams (Wi-Fi)
1.28 pounds / 582 grams (cellular)
1.5 pounds / 682 grams (Wi-Fi)
1.51 pounds / 685 grams (cellular)
Processor
M4
M2
Display
13-inch Ultra Retina XDR
2752 x 2064 (264 ppi)
12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR
2732 x 2048 (264 ppi)
Storage
256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB
128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB
Battery
38.99 Wh
10 hrs (Wi-Fi), 9 hrs (cellular)
40.88 Wh
10 hrs (Wi-Fi), 9 hrs (cellular)
Camera
Back: 12MP, ƒ/1.8
Front: 12MP, ƒ/2.4
Back: 12MP wide, ƒ/1.8 / 10MP ultrawide, ƒ/2.4
Front: 12MP, ƒ/2.4
Compatible Apple accessories
Magic Keyboard (2024)
Apple Pencil Pro
Magic Keyboard (2020)
Apple Pencil (2nd generation)
11-inch iPad Pro (2024) vs. 11-inch iPad Pro (2022)
Designers, photographers and other creators may want to check out this deal from Adobe. From now through May 13, first-time subscribers can save 40 percent on the monthly cost of the Creative Cloud All Apps plan for a full year. That brings the price down from a hefty $60 per month to a slightly more palatable $36. To get the deal, you'll need to agree to a 12-month subscription commitment. After the year is up, the plan will automatically renew at the regular price, unless you cancel. If you want to pay for the whole year at once, it'll run you $396, which is also 40 percent of the standard $660.
Creative Cloud All Apps includes online access to Adobe stalwarts like Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Illustrator, and InDesign, plus about 20 additional apps — including Firefly, the text-to-image generative AI tool and the social-content-focused Adobe Express. The plan also comes with 100GB of cloud storage, tutorials, Adobe Fonts and 1,000 credits per month to use towards generative AI creation in Firefly and others.
Adobe doesn't often run discounts on their service, so this is a rare opportunity to catch a break on the tools that, for some creative pursuits, are tough to replace. The $36 monthly price tag is likely the closest most of us will get to the enviable student and teacher pricing of $20 per month.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobes-full-creative-cloud-suite-is-40-percent-off-in-a-rare-deal-170847284.html?src=rss
