#Meta Avatars are now available in calls.
Meta is launching the ability to use Meta Avatars in video calls in Messenger and Instagram, on both iOS and Android.
Users can choose between their avatars and some animals, like a futuristic cat and llama.
Meta is also releasing animated stickers with Avatars, available on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. And soon, avatar stickers will be able to have multiple people in Messenger chats and Stories.
@thetechdroid
Meta is launching the ability to use Meta Avatars in video calls in Messenger and Instagram, on both iOS and Android.
Users can choose between their avatars and some animals, like a futuristic cat and llama.
Meta is also releasing animated stickers with Avatars, available on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. And soon, avatar stickers will be able to have multiple people in Messenger chats and Stories.
@thetechdroid
xAI, #elon Musk's new company, wants to understand the universe.
Elon was the co-founder of #OpenAI, and his new company is built to compete with it. The company's employees have strong backgrounds with OpenAI itself, as well as Google DeepMind, Tesla and other companies.
What does Elon mean by "understanding the universe"? In a Twitter space, he said that we don't actually understand a lot of what we think we do about reality, like the true nature of gravity and why there is no evidence of aliens existing.
xAI will use heavy computing to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is an AI capable of performing any task that a human can. Currently, AGI remains an unsolved task, but several companies are working on solving it. According to Elon, the safest way to develop an AGI is to make it "maximum curious" and "truth curious", and to minimize the error between the actual truth and what you think is true. The goal is to make xAI useful for businesses and consumers, like Tesla, which will use xAI technologies for Full Self Driving.
For training xAI plans to use public data, like tweets (which, ironically, is something Twitter is trying to prevent with scraping limits). Once the model runs out of human-created data it will have to generate its own data and train on it. Elon believes that training an AI to lie is dangerous, so xAI will be trained to say what it thinks is true and not what is politically correct, which will result in criticism.
More information about the first release from xAI will be revealed soon.
@thetechdroid
Elon was the co-founder of #OpenAI, and his new company is built to compete with it. The company's employees have strong backgrounds with OpenAI itself, as well as Google DeepMind, Tesla and other companies.
What does Elon mean by "understanding the universe"? In a Twitter space, he said that we don't actually understand a lot of what we think we do about reality, like the true nature of gravity and why there is no evidence of aliens existing.
xAI will use heavy computing to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is an AI capable of performing any task that a human can. Currently, AGI remains an unsolved task, but several companies are working on solving it. According to Elon, the safest way to develop an AGI is to make it "maximum curious" and "truth curious", and to minimize the error between the actual truth and what you think is true. The goal is to make xAI useful for businesses and consumers, like Tesla, which will use xAI technologies for Full Self Driving.
For training xAI plans to use public data, like tweets (which, ironically, is something Twitter is trying to prevent with scraping limits). Once the model runs out of human-created data it will have to generate its own data and train on it. Elon believes that training an AI to lie is dangerous, so xAI will be trained to say what it thinks is true and not what is politically correct, which will result in criticism.
More information about the first release from xAI will be revealed soon.
@thetechdroid
Easily replaceable batteries are coming back.
The European Parliament approved new rules that will require devices with batteries to be designed in such a way that their batteries can be easily replaced by June or July 2025.
The new rules also make production of batteries more sustainable. In an effort to reduce e-waste, spare parts shall be available for up to 7 years, and need to be replaceable with no tools, tools that are supplied with the product or part, or basic tools. This is where the EU's efforts differ from Apple's Self Service Repair program, which requires people to rent expensive proprietary equipment.
Despite the European Parliament's successful vote, the new rules are not a part of EU law yet.
(Image: part of iFixit's Nokia G22 battery replacement guide)
@thetechdroid
The European Parliament approved new rules that will require devices with batteries to be designed in such a way that their batteries can be easily replaced by June or July 2025.
The new rules also make production of batteries more sustainable. In an effort to reduce e-waste, spare parts shall be available for up to 7 years, and need to be replaceable with no tools, tools that are supplied with the product or part, or basic tools. This is where the EU's efforts differ from Apple's Self Service Repair program, which requires people to rent expensive proprietary equipment.
Despite the European Parliament's successful vote, the new rules are not a part of EU law yet.
(Image: part of iFixit's Nokia G22 battery replacement guide)
@thetechdroid
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Google brings Space Invaders into real life.
The classic game is getting an AR version in honor of its 45th anniversary, developed by Taito, film and XR studio Unit9 and #Google.
In "SPACE INVADERS: World Defense", players must defend Earth from the aliens from the original game. Players explore their city, destroy Space Invaders and earn points. In this aspect the game is similar to Pokémon GO. Players can also compete for earning the top score for a location and take AR selfies.
The game was developed using Google's ARCore and Geospatial API technologies, which allowed them to place virtual objects in specific places in the real world.
"SPACE INVADERS: World Defense" is available now on iOS and Android.
@thetechdroid
The classic game is getting an AR version in honor of its 45th anniversary, developed by Taito, film and XR studio Unit9 and #Google.
In "SPACE INVADERS: World Defense", players must defend Earth from the aliens from the original game. Players explore their city, destroy Space Invaders and earn points. In this aspect the game is similar to Pokémon GO. Players can also compete for earning the top score for a location and take AR selfies.
The game was developed using Google's ARCore and Geospatial API technologies, which allowed them to place virtual objects in specific places in the real world.
"SPACE INVADERS: World Defense" is available now on iOS and Android.
@thetechdroid
#EXCLUSIVE: More information about the #Galaxy Tab S9.
A version of the Galaxy Tab S9+ firmware was leaked. In it, Technodroid could find the following:
- The tablet will run One UI 5.1.1.
- The firmware has the popular note-taking app GoodNotes, digital painting app Clip Studio Paint and video editing app LumaFusion pre-installed. Notably, GoodNotes launched for Android this year in beta, and the tablet's announcement might be a good time to release the app officially.
- The tablet is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor.
- We also found the default wallpapers of the new tablet.
Some of the information here isn't new, but the firmware confirms it.
@thetechdroid
A version of the Galaxy Tab S9+ firmware was leaked. In it, Technodroid could find the following:
- The tablet will run One UI 5.1.1.
- The firmware has the popular note-taking app GoodNotes, digital painting app Clip Studio Paint and video editing app LumaFusion pre-installed. Notably, GoodNotes launched for Android this year in beta, and the tablet's announcement might be a good time to release the app officially.
- The tablet is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor.
- We also found the default wallpapers of the new tablet.
Some of the information here isn't new, but the firmware confirms it.
@thetechdroid
Technodroid
#EXCLUSIVE: More information about the #Galaxy Tab S9. A version of the Galaxy Tab S9+ firmware was leaked. In it, Technodroid could find the following: - The tablet will run One UI 5.1.1. - The firmware has the popular note-taking app GoodNotes, digital…
#EXCLUSIVE: Even more information about the #Galaxy Tab S9+.
We already showed some of what the leaked firmware of the Galaxy Tab S9+ has, such as the tablet's wallpapers and preloaded apps. Now, we found some more information about the upcoming tablet.
Even though a tablet is probably not the best device to record videos and take photos on, we were able to find that the Galaxy Tab S9+ supports recording video at up to 4K resolution, with support for VDIS but not HDR10+. The tablet has a 12.7 MP main and 8 MP ultrawide camera, and a 3 MP front camera. This confirms the leaked camera specs. Also, the tablet will support neither Expert RAW nor Camera Assistant, two apps that improve the camera experience on Samsung devices, at least at launch.
For connectivity the tablet's modem supports Wi-Fi 6E. The display supports 120Hz, may support variable refresh rate and has a 16:10 aspect ratio, just like the Tab S8.
(Picture: Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra render, credit: WinFuture)
@thetechdroid
We already showed some of what the leaked firmware of the Galaxy Tab S9+ has, such as the tablet's wallpapers and preloaded apps. Now, we found some more information about the upcoming tablet.
Even though a tablet is probably not the best device to record videos and take photos on, we were able to find that the Galaxy Tab S9+ supports recording video at up to 4K resolution, with support for VDIS but not HDR10+. The tablet has a 12.7 MP main and 8 MP ultrawide camera, and a 3 MP front camera. This confirms the leaked camera specs. Also, the tablet will support neither Expert RAW nor Camera Assistant, two apps that improve the camera experience on Samsung devices, at least at launch.
For connectivity the tablet's modem supports Wi-Fi 6E. The display supports 120Hz, may support variable refresh rate and has a 16:10 aspect ratio, just like the Tab S8.
(Picture: Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra render, credit: WinFuture)
@thetechdroid
New apps are coming to the #Galaxy Watch6 series.
Samsung announced 2 apps that are coming to Galaxy Watch. The first is a version of Samsung Wallet, the company's virtual wallet app. It's launching with the Galaxy Watch6 next week and coming later to the Galaxy Watch5 and Watch4 series.
The second app is Thermo Check, which uses the Galaxy Watch's IR temperature sensor to measure various objects like the water a user is about to swim in, their surroundings and meals, without requiring physical contact. Unlike the previous app, Thermo Check will not be available on the Galaxy Watch4 - it launches with the Watch6 series and will be released for the Galaxy Watch5 later.
Samsung also announced that WhatsApp is now available on Wear OS for the first time, after the announcement at Google I/O.
(Source: Samsung Newsroom)
Samsung announced 2 apps that are coming to Galaxy Watch. The first is a version of Samsung Wallet, the company's virtual wallet app. It's launching with the Galaxy Watch6 next week and coming later to the Galaxy Watch5 and Watch4 series.
The second app is Thermo Check, which uses the Galaxy Watch's IR temperature sensor to measure various objects like the water a user is about to swim in, their surroundings and meals, without requiring physical contact. Unlike the previous app, Thermo Check will not be available on the Galaxy Watch4 - it launches with the Watch6 series and will be released for the Galaxy Watch5 later.
Samsung also announced that WhatsApp is now available on Wear OS for the first time, after the announcement at Google I/O.
(Source: Samsung Newsroom)
#Apple is developing a rival to ChatGPT.
Most big tech companies are developing features based on generative AI. Google has Bard and Imagen, Meta is developing the Llama series of large language models and Microsoft is partnering with OpenAI to bring GPT-4 powered features to Windows. But Apple has been strangely absent from the trend, and its voice assistant Siri is inferior to the competition. Not for long, though.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has secret teams working on AI features. The teams built a framework to create large language models called Ajax. Using it, the company has already released AI-based improvements to search, Siri and Maps. And now, Apple has created a chatbot that some engineers call "Apple GPT". "Apple GPT" is already being used to assist with prototyping, but its output can't be used to develop features that will be released to consumers. Apple employees say that the company's tool is similar to Bard and ChatGPT and has a stripped-down design.
For consumers Apple is still trying to determine how generative AI will be used. The efforts are lead by John Giannadrea, head of AI, and Craig Federighi. People familiar with the work believe Apple is aiming to make a "significant AI-related announcement" as early as next year, while Giannadrea wants to see how the competition evolves. Apple has also made a trial of OpenAI's technology, and weighed signing a contract with the AI company. One of the planned AI features includes a health coaching service, codenamed "Quartz", that uses data from an Apple Watch to make personalized plans.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said that there are still a "number of issues that need to be sorted" with generative AI features. Then, in an interview with the TV show Good Morning America, he said that he uses ChatGPT and that it's something that Apple is "looking at closely". The company is said to be working on addressing privacy concerns related to the new technology.
Most big tech companies are developing features based on generative AI. Google has Bard and Imagen, Meta is developing the Llama series of large language models and Microsoft is partnering with OpenAI to bring GPT-4 powered features to Windows. But Apple has been strangely absent from the trend, and its voice assistant Siri is inferior to the competition. Not for long, though.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has secret teams working on AI features. The teams built a framework to create large language models called Ajax. Using it, the company has already released AI-based improvements to search, Siri and Maps. And now, Apple has created a chatbot that some engineers call "Apple GPT". "Apple GPT" is already being used to assist with prototyping, but its output can't be used to develop features that will be released to consumers. Apple employees say that the company's tool is similar to Bard and ChatGPT and has a stripped-down design.
For consumers Apple is still trying to determine how generative AI will be used. The efforts are lead by John Giannadrea, head of AI, and Craig Federighi. People familiar with the work believe Apple is aiming to make a "significant AI-related announcement" as early as next year, while Giannadrea wants to see how the competition evolves. Apple has also made a trial of OpenAI's technology, and weighed signing a contract with the AI company. One of the planned AI features includes a health coaching service, codenamed "Quartz", that uses data from an Apple Watch to make personalized plans.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said that there are still a "number of issues that need to be sorted" with generative AI features. Then, in an interview with the TV show Good Morning America, he said that he uses ChatGPT and that it's something that Apple is "looking at closely". The company is said to be working on addressing privacy concerns related to the new technology.
#Meta launches Llama 2, its new large language model.
Large language models - LLMs for short - power AI chat apps like Bard and ChatGPT. And last year, Meta released LLaMA as a research preview.
Recently the company launched an updated version. Unlike LLaMA 1, Llama 2 is free and available for both research and commercial use, with a responsible use policy. There are 2 variants of the language model - a regular version and a version optimized for chat.
Llama 2 was trained on 40% more data than Llama 1 and performs better than other open source models in tasks like reasoning, coding and knowledge tests. Llama 2-chat was trained using a technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), which works by asking humans to give feedback to the model while it is training.
Meta is also partnering with Qualcomm to make the new AI model available on-device on devices powered by Snapdragon processors, like phones and the internet of things, starting from 2024.
You can request access to Llama 2 from https://ai.meta.com/resources/models-and-libraries/llama-downloads/.
Large language models - LLMs for short - power AI chat apps like Bard and ChatGPT. And last year, Meta released LLaMA as a research preview.
Recently the company launched an updated version. Unlike LLaMA 1, Llama 2 is free and available for both research and commercial use, with a responsible use policy. There are 2 variants of the language model - a regular version and a version optimized for chat.
Llama 2 was trained on 40% more data than Llama 1 and performs better than other open source models in tasks like reasoning, coding and knowledge tests. Llama 2-chat was trained using a technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), which works by asking humans to give feedback to the model while it is training.
Meta is also partnering with Qualcomm to make the new AI model available on-device on devices powered by Snapdragon processors, like phones and the internet of things, starting from 2024.
You can request access to Llama 2 from https://ai.meta.com/resources/models-and-libraries/llama-downloads/.
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#Twitter might get rebranded to X tomorrow.
As the company's head of product #Elon Musk announced on Twitter, the Twitter brand and bird logo will gradually be replaced with a new brand - "X", and the blue color will be replaced with a black color. Elon has also asked his followers for logos, and has posted one logo concept from designer Alex (ajtourville on Twitter).
You might remember Musk's plan for creating "the everything app" X, which was one of the reasons for his acquisition of Twitter. He last mentioned X when Linda Yaccarino became the CEO of the social media company, saying that she will help transform it into the "everything app". He also recently founded xAI, a company aiming to understand the universe using AI, and the company running Twitter has been named X Corp since Elon's acquisition too.
@thetechdroid
As the company's head of product #Elon Musk announced on Twitter, the Twitter brand and bird logo will gradually be replaced with a new brand - "X", and the blue color will be replaced with a black color. Elon has also asked his followers for logos, and has posted one logo concept from designer Alex (ajtourville on Twitter).
You might remember Musk's plan for creating "the everything app" X, which was one of the reasons for his acquisition of Twitter. He last mentioned X when Linda Yaccarino became the CEO of the social media company, saying that she will help transform it into the "everything app". He also recently founded xAI, a company aiming to understand the universe using AI, and the company running Twitter has been named X Corp since Elon's acquisition too.
@thetechdroid
A critical vulnerability has been found in #AMD Zen 2-based CPUs.
Called Zenbleed, it allows attackers to steal data from the CPU. No physical access is required - according to networking company Cloudflare just loading a malicious website is enough. Modern processors attempt to speed up operations by guessing what the next operation would be, but sometimes the guess is incorrect. Zen 2-based CPUs don't correctly recover from some incorrect predictions, and Zenbleed exploits this issue.
The good news is that neither AMD nor Cloudflare are aware of any exploit of the vulnerability. AMD has also released updates that fix the issue for the EPYC 7002 series of server CPUs, and is planning to release similar updates for desktop and laptop models throughout 2023. Specifically:
- Ryzen Threadripper 3000 - October 2023
- Ryzen 4000 (laptop) - November 2023
- Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX - November/December 2023
- Ryzen 3000 (desktop), 4000G (desktop), 5700U/5500U/5300U (laptop), 7020 (laptop) - December 2023
(Via Ars Technica. Image: AMD Ryzen 3000 series processor)
Called Zenbleed, it allows attackers to steal data from the CPU. No physical access is required - according to networking company Cloudflare just loading a malicious website is enough. Modern processors attempt to speed up operations by guessing what the next operation would be, but sometimes the guess is incorrect. Zen 2-based CPUs don't correctly recover from some incorrect predictions, and Zenbleed exploits this issue.
The good news is that neither AMD nor Cloudflare are aware of any exploit of the vulnerability. AMD has also released updates that fix the issue for the EPYC 7002 series of server CPUs, and is planning to release similar updates for desktop and laptop models throughout 2023. Specifically:
- Ryzen Threadripper 3000 - October 2023
- Ryzen 4000 (laptop) - November 2023
- Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX - November/December 2023
- Ryzen 3000 (desktop), 4000G (desktop), 5700U/5500U/5300U (laptop), 7020 (laptop) - December 2023
(Via Ars Technica. Image: AMD Ryzen 3000 series processor)