At CES 2024, ASUS seems to have taken people by surprise with the announcement of its AirVision M1 glasses, with some viewing it as an alternative to Apple’s Vision Pro headset. But I discovered that ASUS’ glasses are much more of a novel alternative to portable monitors than something meant for spatial computing. 

The big difference between the AirVision M1 glasses and something like the Vision Pro or even Xreal’s Air 2 Ultras is that it doesn’t really support anything in the way of interactive AR. Sure, the glasses are able to project your desktop or multiple windows into space, but it needs to be tethered to a nearby device and doesn’t recognize hand gestures or other virtual objects. 

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose betwe

en a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. 

Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose between a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. 

Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose between a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose between a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. 

During my first demo, I used the AirVision M1s while tethered to a laptop, in which it behaved almost exactly like having a bit floating desktop that appeared to be hovering six feet in front of me. At first, the virtual displays were a little blurry, but after a short adjustment period and some time dialing in my IPD (interpupillary distance), I was pleasantly surprised by how sharp everything looked. When compared to something like Sightful Spacetop, which is billed as the world’s first AR laptop, not only did it have a much larger vertical field of view (up to 57 degrees), it also didn’t require any additional special equipment, as the glasses are essentially plug and play. While I didn’t need them, it’s important to note that the glasses come with a pair of nose pads to help ensure you can get a good fit, plus a prescription insert for people with glasses.

Once set up, it was pretty easy to create additional virtual workspaces. All I had to do was pull up a small command menu, press a plus sign where I wanted a new window to appear and that’s it. You can also freely adjust the overall size of the virtual display by zooming in or out. And one of the best things about the AirVisions is that using the laptop’s touchpad or typing wasn’t difficult at all. Because you can see through the virtual displays, I simply looked down and focused my eyes where they needed to go. That said, if you become distracted by something in the background, ASUS’ glasses also come with magnetic blinders that clip onto the front and provide a clean black backdrop.

However my favorite use case was when I tried a different pair of the AirVisions that were connected to an ROG Ally, where the glasses provided me with a massive virtual screen for gaming. In this way, it’s a lot like wearing a headset such as the Meta Quest 3, but for non-VR games. This is the kind of device I would love to have on a plane, where space is at a premium, especially for something like a portable monitor. That said, I’m not sure I could handle the embarrassment of being a modern day glasshole, at least not until devices like these become a bit more popular.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the AirVision M1s and Apple’s Vision Pro is price. While ASUS has yet to provide an official figure, a company spokesperson told me that ASUS is targeting around $700, versus $3,000 for Apple’s headset. And when you compare that to the price of a portable monitor, which often goes for between $250 and $400, and offers a lot less screen space, suddenly that price doesn’t seem too ridiculous.

So if you’re on the lookout for an alternative to the travel monitor, keep an eye for ASUS’ AirVision M1 glasses when they become available sometime in Q3 2024. 

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

So much of what we see at CES tends to be focused on technological innovation for the sake of innovation, or obvious attempts to tap into whatever trend is gripping the internet's attention that year. In the last few shows, though, there has been a heartening increase in attention to assistive products that are designed to help improve the lives of people with disabilities and other different needs. At CES 2024, I was glad to see more development in the accessibility category, with many offerings appearing to be more thoughtfully designed in addition to being clever. It's so easy to get distracted by the shiny, eye-catching, glamorous and weird tech at CES, but I wanted to take the time to give due attention to some of my favorite accessibility products here in Las Vegas.

GyroGlove

Before I even packed my bags, numerous coworkers had sent me the link to GyroGlove's website after it had been recognized as an honoree for several CES Innovation awards. The device is a hand-stabilizing glove that uses gyroscopic force to help those with hand tremors minimize the shakes. Because the demo unit at the show floor was too large for me, and, more importantly, I don't have hand tremors, I couldn't accurately assess the glove's effectiveness. 

But I spoke with a person with Parkinson's Disease at the booth, who had been wearing one for a few days. She said the GyroGlove helped her perform tasks like buttoning up a shirt more easily, and that she intended to buy one for herself. At $5,899, the device is quite expensive, which is the sad state of assistive products these days. But GyroGlove's makers said they're in talks with some insurance providers in the US, which could lead to it being covered for those in America who could benefit from it. That's one of the biggest reasons that led us to name GyroGlove one of our winners for CES 2024. 

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

MouthPad

I did not think I'd be looking deep into a person's mouth and up their nose at CES 2024, but here we are. Sometimes you have to do strange things to check out unconventional gadgets. The MouthPad is as unusual as it gets. It's a tongue-operated controller for phones, tablets and laptops, and basically anything that will accept a Bluetooth mouse input. The components include a touchpad mounted onto the palette of what's essentially a retainer, as well as a battery and Bluetooth radio. 

As odd as the concept sounds, it actually could be a boon for people who aren't able to use their limbs, since your tongue, as a muscle, can offer more precise movement and control than, say, your eyes. If you're feeling apprehensive about sticking a device inside your mouth, it might be helpful to know that the battery is from the same company that's made them for medical-grade implants, while the rest of the dental tray is made from a resin that's commonly used in aligners and bite guards. The product is currently available as an early access package that includes setup and calibration assistance, with a new version (with longer battery life) slated for launch later this year.

OrCam Hear

Assistive tech company OrCam won our Best of CES award for accessibility in 2022, so I was eager to check out what it had in store this year. I wasn't disappointed. The company had a few updated products to show off, but the most intriguing was a new offering for people with hearing loss. The OrCam Hear system is a three-part package consisting of a pair of earbuds, a dongle for your phone and an app. Together, the different parts work to filter out background noise while identifying and isolating specific speakers in a multi-party conversation.

At a demo during a noisy event at CES 2024, I watched and listened as the voices of selected people around me became clear or muffled as company reps dragged their icons in or out of my field of hearing. I was especially impressed when the system was able to identify my editor next to me and let me choose to focus on or filter out his voice. 

Audio Radar

If you're a gamer, you'll know how important audio cues can sometimes be for a successful run. Developers frequently design the sound environment for their games to be not only rich and immersive, but to also contain hints about approaching enemies or danger. Players who are hard of hearing can miss out on this, and it's not fair for them to be disadvantaged due to a disability. 

A product called Audio Radar can help turn sound signals into visual cues, so that gamers with hearing loss can "see the sound," according to the company. The setup is fairly simple. A box plugs into a gaming console to interpret the audio output and convert it into lights. A series of RGB light bars surround the screen, and display different colors depending on the type of sound coming from the respective direction they represent.

CES 2024 saw not just Audio Radar's official launch, but was also where the company introduced its SDK for game developers to create custom visual cues for players who are hard of hearing. The company's founder and CEO Tim Murphy told Engadget that it's partnering with Logitech, with the gaming accessory maker "providing support as we further develop our product and design our go-to-market strategy." 

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Transcribe Glass

Google Glass was resurrected at CES 2024. Sort of. A new product called Transcribe Glass is a small heads up display you can attach to any frames, and the result looks a lot like the long-dead Google device. It connects to your phone and uses that device's onboard processing to transcribe what it hears, then projects the text onto the tiny transparent display hovering above the eye. You'll be able to resize the font, adjust the scrolling speed and choose your language model of choice, since TranscribeGlass uses third-party APIs for translation. Yes, it converts foreign languages into one you understand, too. 

The company is targeting year's end for launch, and hoping to offer the device at $199 to start. When I tried it on at the show floor, I was surprised by how light and adjustable the hardware was. I had to squint slightly to see the captions, and was encountering some Bluetooth lag, but otherwise the transcriptions took place fairly quickly and appeared to be accurate. The TranscribeGlass should last about eight hours on a charge, which seems reasonable given all that it's doing. 

Samsung's subtitle accessibility features

Though we didn't catch a demo of this in person, Samsung did briefly mention a "sign language feature in Samsung Neo QLED" that "can be easily controlled with gestures for the hearing impaired, and an Audio Subtitle feature [that] turns text subtitles into spoken words in real-time for those with low vision." We weren't able to find this at the show, but the concept is certainly meaningful. Plus, the fact that Samsung TVs have mainstream appeal means these features could be more widely available that most of the niche products we've covered in this roundup.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

At CES 2024, Govee not only revealed an upgraded AI Sync Box Kit, Neon Rope Light 2 and, because it’s 2024, there’s even a dedicated chatbot. While it wasn't available for testing at CES Unveiled, the media preview event that takes place two days before the CES show floor opens, Govee’s AI Lighting Bot will eventually be bundled into the company’s smartphone app, where you’ll apparently be able to cajole it into generating using natural language inputs, a la ChatGPT.

As you can see in Govee’s concept video, it’ll apparently source lighting designs and transmit them to your Govee lights, whether they’re lighting spots, strips or anything else. In one example in Govee’s video, a user asked for a “Barbie Dreamhouse-inspired lighting effect” for their outdoor lights and spotlights, which then undulated between various shades of hot, powder and another-kind-of pink.

Of course, you’ll need even more lighting strips to accomplish grander smart lighting visions, and Govee is willing to oblige with its second-generation Neon Rope Light 2. A spokesperson explained that it will now offer smoother lighting transitions and upgraded bend clips and is made of an even more flexible material, which should be easier to shape around furniture, corners and even into shapes.

Engadget

You’ll also be able to customize the lighting effects of the Neon Rope more easily too. Govee’s app can apply lighting effects through different segments using your smartphone camera and shape recognition, hopefully better evoking your smart lighting vision. The Neon Rope Light 2 will also be Matter-compatible when it launches in the first half of 2024.

Finally, the AI Sync Box Kit 2 will be HDMI 2.1 compatible and following feedback from its users on Govee’s first kit, will support resolutions up to 8K and output video (with matching light effects) at 4K at 120Hz. Govee says its new CogniGlow AI recognition tech will automatically activate tailored lighting effects for compatible games. One example is a blue healing ‘bloom’ when a character heals in Apex Legends. You’ll even be able to personalize these AI effects if you want more subtle lighting twists. A Matter-compatible update will also land on the sync box later this year.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Be honest: How many times this year have you skipped or scrolled past a much-needed update? Maybe you just wanted to log into Twitter, er, X without setting up multifactor authentication. Putting off these minor inconveniences adds up, and it could lead to an insecure tech setup just waiting to be exploited by an attacker.

So, now you're probably spending a few days sleeping in your childhood bed, and wondering when Uncle Dave will stop talking to you about buying gold stocks. There's never been a better time to take care of the less-than-riveting admin work of locking down your digital life. Here's a quick holiday checklist you and your loved ones (including Dave) can spend an hour doing during your holiday downtime to set up for a more secure year.

Update all your apps and devices

For the most current patches and options, you’ll need to start this security check up by updating all your devices and apps. The companies behind the tech have already done a lot of the work to keep you safe, but it’s your job to make sure that you’re taking full advantage of those updates. I’d recommend starting with operating system updates then apps second because there’s usually some new features reliant on the latest OS within other software. While you’re there, set up automatic updates so that you don’t have to worry about doing this manually in the future.

REUTERS / Reuters

Sign up for or update your password manager

Strong passwords are your first line of defense to keep your accounts safe, but they’re almost impossible to memorize and keep track of. Download a password manager to store this information for you, so that your passwords can be unguessable gibberish that you’ll actually use. Long term, it’s important to change these passwords every 90 days or so, and never to repeat across accounts. A password manager will help remind you of that, and even generate new password ideas for you. Unique and regularly-changing passwords help prevent attacks like credential stuffing, as we’ve seen make headlines in the recent 23andMe data breach.

Make sure you’re using MFA or, ideally, passkeys

Strong passwords are important, but it's well-known that they aren’t enough to keep unauthorized actors out of your account. Most people are familiar with using a text message code to grant access to an account. If you’re taking time out of your day to set this up, however, I would recommend using a third-party authenticator app or a hardware key for more secure options. Or, for companies that have switched to allowing passkeys at login, that’s usually your best bet.

This will be one of the more tedious parts of the checklist, so if you can’t sit down and knock out your major logins now, at least push yourself to make these changes each time you log into a website over the next couple of weeks. Being stuck with family for the holiday might not be your preferred opportunity to make this change, but there's sure to be an upcoming major snowstorm or bout seasonal depression just screaming to be harnessed for your technological well-being.

Consider a VPN, or at least a more secure browser

A strong VPN will keep your web browsing private. Whether it’s free or paid for, defaulting to using a VPN adds an extra layer of security to the work you’re doing online. Most have options to use it across different devices, or to run automatically on startup so that you can set it up once and forget about it. I would also recommend switching over to a secure browser like Tor that runs on a privacy-first platform for more sensitive online matters. Of course there’s a catch: VPNs and Tor can both slow down your browsing, or break certain website features. Updates to the services have helped over time, but even if you use it for just a portion of web browsing, some protection is better than none.

RapidEye via Getty Images

Get up to date on the latest hacks and attack vectors

Keeping up with security news will help you determine what accounts need special attention versus where you can go on autopilot. Once you know whether a breach may have occurred or a password has been leaked, you can quickly make changes to accommodate. Websites already exist to see if you’ve been in a data breach, and most companies have an obligation to tell you if they’ve been impacted. When you also stay up to date on the latest scams and attacks, you know what red flags to look out for in your own inbox to stay proactive.

Tell brokers to stop selling your data

It’s surprisingly easy to stop companies from trading your privacy for cash. On top of getting in the habit of not sharing your cookies or granting location data, you can opt out of working with the top three major data brokers. Axiom, Oracle and Epsilon all have slightly different variations of the same form to fill out so that information like your home address and relatives’ names aren’t being sold for profit. This is a good start to getting your online privacy back, however, it can be more of a headache than just one opt out form.

You have to do this frequently to make sure your information hasn’t been readded to any of the broker sites, and if your information has already been sold to marketing companies, it’s too late to undo it. There are subscription service sites that can help track and continuously delete whatever information pops up for you, but starting with just Axiom, Oracle and Epsilon will still be a free, worthwhile step toward more privacy.

Samsung

Back up everything

Get an external hard drive or connect to the cloud and keep all of your data backed up. Do this regularly, so that even if your device quits or gets ransomed by an attacker, you aren't completely screwed. I’d recommend opting for something that can be set up automatically, so that you don’t have to keep constant track of it. That could look like spending the 99 cents per month on extra iCloud storage (or Google Drive or another in-house cloud tool) so that your phone gets backed up each night while you’re asleep. Windows and Mac also both do auto updates to an external drive on desktop, so you can set it and forget it.

Alternatively, you could install backup software onto a device so that it’s taken care of by a third party, but that may be less intuitive to set up. Just don’t forget to clean up your data storage every once in a while, too, so that you’re not holding onto useless screenshots or pictures of your ex from years ago that are taking up valuable space.

Make a plan to check in on your security settings more frequently

It’s overwhelming to play catch up. Going through a list like this can seem intimidating if you haven’t worried about it before. If you set up automatic updates and backups, it’ll take some of those repeat tasks off your plate. But since you’ll already, hopefully, be setting new passwords once a quarter, you can do a quick check up on your other security measures too. See if you’ve been a victim of a breach or identity theft, keep telling data brokers to get their hands off your information and find out if new VPNs or other software has been released that could make your security setup more seamless. Making it a part of the routine is much easier than annual sprees, and can help you catch a cybersecurity problem before it becomes unmanageable.

Google’s NotebookLM, a note-taking app that’s infused with a large language model, is now available to everyone in the US. The company built NotebookLM to only pull information from a custom dataset. So you might use it, for instance, to help write a paper based on a specific set of PDFs and only rely on details from those documents.

The idea is that, by sticking to a custom dataset, the information NotebookLM handles will always be relevant to your specific needs as opposed to a more general chatbot that might draw from the entirety of the public internet. Google debuted NotebookLM as Project Tailwind at I/O this year before rebranding it and it says the tech is based on its Gemini Pro model. 

Google also notes that personal data isn't used to train NotebookLM, so any sensitive or private details in your sources will remain hidden. That is, unless you share the sources with collaborators.

Along with making NotebookLM more broadly available (Google has been granting access based on a waitlist over the last five months), Google has announced a string of new features for the software. It plans to roll these out over the next few weeks with the aim of easing the transition between reading, taking notes and writing.

Among other things, the chatbot can format your notes into a newsletter, script outline or a marketing plan draft and export everything to Google Docs with one click. You'll be able to pin notes to a Noteboard space above the chat box, save and pin responses from the chatbot as notes and hide the source material if you want to focus on jotting down your thoughts with fewer distractions. You'll soon be able to ask the AI to focus on certain sources (of which you'll be able to have up to 100 in total) or jump to a citation from a chat response or saved note.

NotebookLM will also suggest some actions based on selected text or notes. At the outset, you'll be able to combine notes, summarize several of them or create an outline or study guide.

The universal chat app Beeper just got a lot more, well, universal. The company just unveiled the Beeper Mini app, which makes the bold claim to bring true iMessage support to Android devices. Even bolder? It seems to actually work, according to users who have tried it. This isn’t done in a strange hacky way that could compromise privacy and security, like Nothing’s beleaguered attempt to play nice with iOS devices.

Instead, the code has been reverse-engineered from the ground up, so it’s basically the official iMessage protocol. The texts are even sent to Apple’s servers before moving on to their final destination, just like a real iMessage created by an iPhone. Even weirder? All of this high-tech wizardry was created by a 16-year-old high school student.

Once you open the app, it goes through all of your text message conversations and flags the ones from iMessage users. The system then switches them over to blue bubble conversations via Apple’s official platform. From then on, every time you talk to that person, the bubbles will be bluer than a clear spring day. You also don’t need an Apple ID to login, alleviating many of the security concerns that plagued rival offerings.

Beeper co-founder Eric Migicovsky was contacted by the talented high-schooler and was blown away by the tech. “No one on Earth had done that,” he told The Verge. “No one had put all the pieces together.”

It’s worth reiterating. This platform isn’t hacking the iMessage experience so it works on Android. It is the iMessage experience working on Android, as it's sending actual iMessages. The tech was created by jailbreaking iPhones to get a good look at how the operating system handles iMessages, before recreating the software.

Beeper is being really transparent here, and the company knows it's potentially skating on thin ice with regard to how Apple will respond. Apple has never been especially friendly to those it deems to be infringing on company secrets, but it did just announce forthcoming support for the RCS messaging standard. This will allow for greater interoperability between Android and iOS devices, so maybe it’ll let Beeper Mini slide for now. Being as how the app actually recreates Apple code, however, it likely wouldn’t be difficult to put the kibosh on Beeper from its end.

Migicovsky says Beeper’s iMessage code will be open source to ensure there will be no security or privacy lapses. As for potential legal hurdles, the co-founder says his company is on the right side of the law, noting there’s no actual Apple code in Beeper Mini, just custom-made recreated code. Also, he cites legal precedence in copyright law that has sided with those who reverse engineer code. In any event, Beeper Mini is available, for now, and it's free to download, though it does feature in-app purchases.

The year’s coming to a close, but there’s still plenty of time for more AI news. Microsoft just announced its Copilot AI chatbot is integrating with OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-4 Turbo, and the image generator DALL-E 3, among other upgrades. This should drastically improve the overall functionality of the service, just in time for its one-year anniversary/birthday. Wait, do AI chatbots have birthdays?

First up, there’s OpenAI’s latest and greatest large language model. GPT-4 Turbo integration will allow Copilot users to tackle complex tasks that would cause previous iterations of the software to sputter into madness. The last generation allowed for just 50 pages of text as a data input, while GPT-4 Turbo accepts up to 300 pages. The end result? More meaningful responses to queries. The integration is currently being tested by select users, with wider availability in the next few weeks.

There’s also integration with the newest DALL-E 3 Model. This chatbot generates higher quality images than ever before and, more importantly, with a greater regard for accuracy. In other words, the image should match the prompt more often than not. This tool is already available for Copilot users, and you can check it out here.

There are more features coming to a Copilot near you. The Inline Compose tool now includes a rewrite menu that lets you select a block of text, whereupon the bot rewrites it for you. This should cause absolutely no problems at all in schools (that was sarcasm). This tool is coming to all Edge users in the near future.

Coders are also getting some love, with a new feature set called Code Interpreter. Microsoft is fairly mum on the details here, but say that it will enable users to perform complex tasks like “data analysis, visualization, math” and, of course, garden variety coding. Code Interpreter is currently in beta, with a wide release planned for the near future.

Finally, Bing search is getting an upgrade powered by GPT-4. This should allow for expanded search queries for complex topics, with optimized results. Microsoft wrote a blog post detailing how this upgrade works. In short, it searches for multiple variations of the query at once and automatically files away useless information.

Back in August, TikTok teamed up with Ticketmaster to allow artists to sell tickets to live events directly through the social media app. The service, however, was exclusive to the US, until now. TikTok just announced the partnership with Ticketmaster now extends to more than 20 countries throughout North America and Europe, in addition to Australia and the UK.

The tool only applies to artists officially certified by the platform, though TikTok says that amounts to more than 75,000 entertainers and event providers. The functionality is simple. The artist embeds a link to a relevant Ticketmaster event on a video. Users click a link on the bottom left of the screen and purchase a ticket, but we encourage would-be buyers to keep an eye on those hidden fees.

Music is the primary motivator here, but you can snag tickets for comedy shows and sporting events, among other types of entertainment. TikTok boasts that the program has already supported successful ticketing campaigns for artists like Shania Twain, Burna Boy, The Kooks and many more, going on to say that there has been more than 2.5 billion views of videos that utilize the in-app ticketing feature since launch.

The tool’s available now for those living in newly-eligible countries, like Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and around 17 more. TikTok hasn’t announced future availability for additional locations, but a spokesperson has stated that the company is “very excited to see how the partnership with Ticketmaster will develop over time.”

Snapchat made a similar move last year, partnering with Ticketmaster to match users with nearby live concerts. However, TikTok’s method is more streamlined and should allow for quicker access to tickets.

Microsoft's Seeing AI app is available on Android devices for the first time starting today. You can download it from the Google Play Store. The aim of the free app is to help blind and low-vision folks understand more of the world around them with the assistance of their smartphone's cameras and AI-powered narration. Microsoft says the Android app uses the company's latest advances in generative AI and it has the same features as the iOS version. Given that there are more than 3 billion Android users around the world, the app could help improve the quality of life of many people.

Seeing AI's latest features were built with the help of feedback from users. Microsoft says the app now offers more detailed descriptions of images. By default, Seeing AI will provide a brief summary of what a photo depicts. When a user taps the "more info" icon, the app will generate a far more in-depth description of the image. Move your finger over the screen and the app can tell you about the locations of various objects. Photos can be imported from other apps too.

Another feature Microsoft recently rolled out following feedback from users is the ability to ask questions about a document. After scanning a document, you can ask Seeing AI questions about things such as menu items or the price of an item on a bill. You can also ask it to summarize an article you have scanned. The app provides the user with audio guidance on how to scan a printed page.

Seeing AI offers users many other ways to find out about the world around them by pointing their camera at or taking a photo of something. For instance, the app will read out a short piece of text as soon as the camera picks it up. Seeing AI can scan barcodes and provide product information such as the name and details from packaging when available, which could be particularly useful when it comes to dealing with medication.

In addition, the app can help identify people (and their facial expressions), currency, colors and brightness. It's also able to read handwritten text in some languages.

Seeing AI is landing on Android on the International Day of People with Disabilities. The app is now available in 18 languages: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmal, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. Microsoft plans to expand that number to 36 languages in 2024.

Telegram has released a major update for its iOS and Android apps that includes an array of new and upgraded features. Since last year, Telegram Premium users have been able to get transcriptions of voice and video messages and now the platform is opening up that feature to everyone, albeit on a more limited basis. Free users will be able to convert two messages per week into text. Just hit the →A icon on a voice message and you'll get a text version of the memo. Telegram notes that it's rolling out this feature gradually, so you may not have access to it right away.

Elsewhere, Telegram is looking to improve channel discovery. Whenever you join a channel, you'll see a selection of similar public channels. Telegram is basing these recommendations on similarities in subscriber bases. You'll be able to view these recommendations at any time by going to a channel's profile.

Telegram

You can now include a video comment or reaction with a story. You'll have the ability to resize this video message and move it around the screen. You can add a video message, a feature that takes a page out of the TikTok playbook, by holding down the camera icon in the story editor to capture a selfie clip. You can adjust the volume by holding a finger on the video track at the bottom of the screen.

Reposting someone else's story is now a cinch too. Just tap the share button on a story, then you'll have the option to repost it. Only stories that have their visibility set to public can be reposted. You can add a video comment to reposted stories too.

Elsewhere, Premium users can set up their profiles with unique color combos, everyone can apply custom wallpapers to each individual chat (Premium users can set the same wallpaper for both participants) and channel admins can customize the emoji that appear as reactions. In addition, any Telegram app can now detect a coding language in messages and highlight the syntax with proper formatting.