Xbox has announced a few more sustainability efforts, including an expansion of its repairability program. You'll be able to buy official replacement parts for Xbox Series X/S systems from the Microsoft Store and iFixit so you can repair your console yourself, even if it's out of warranty. Until now, Microsoft had only offered controller parts through its own store, but now you can buy components for the Series S and both the all-digital and disc drive editions of the Series X. Along with various parts and step-by-step repair guides, iFixit also has an Xbox toolkit for sale.
Meanwhile, as of January 20, uBreakiFix by Asurion will be the first Xbox Authorized Service Provider. It will repair the consoles at nearly 700 participating locations in the US. Previously, authorized in-person Xbox repairs were only available at the Microsoft Store, so gamers will have many more places where they can go to get their console fixed without breaking the warranty.
These are positive steps forward for the right-to-repair movement. They should help reduce the number of games consoles that are consigned to the scrapheap.
"By expanding the number of ways players can get support and repair for their Xbox consoles, we also help extend the longevity of Xbox devices, reduce waste, promote re-use and ultimately reduce our environmental impact," Trista Patterson, director of gaming sustainability at Xbox, wrote in an Xbox Wire post. In addition, there are no longer any single-use plastics in Xbox Series X/S packaging following a switch to fully paper- and fiber-based materials.
Elsewhere on the sustainability front, Microsoft says that, through recent efficiencies in how the Xbox Series S handles video content, there's been an average power reduction of 10 percent while media apps are in use. As for the company's game studios, they've been using the Xbox Sustainability Toolkit to make more energy-efficient games, Microsoft says.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-and-ifixit-now-sell-official-xbox-series-xs-replacement-parts-for-diy-repairs-173948884.html?src=rss
The trailer’s anchored around Matt Murdock sitting at a diner with arch-nemesis Wilson Fisk, calling to mind that famous scene in Heat between Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. The relationship between these two was one of the main reasons that the Netflix series worked so well, and the actors still have plenty of chemistry.
The footage is also ultra-violent, which should please fans of the original show. The bone-crunching looks to be extra, uh, visceral. Eagle-eyed viewers will also spot a bearded and disoriented Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, likely on his way to mow down 400 gangsters.
Daredevil’s best buds Karen and Foggy are in the footage, but briefly and without any speaking lines. We know they were only recently added to the show after a complete retool, which leaves me wondering how much we’ll see of the pair.
Daredevil: Born Again stars Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Ayelet Zurer and Wilson Bethel, among others. It’s been over six years since the final season of the Netflix show premiered, so we are more than ready to go back to Hell’s Kitchen. As previously mentioned, this show has been in the works for a while. Disney+ actually filmed a large portion of the season before scrapping it all and starting over.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/daredevils-new-trailer-is-heavy-on-violence-and-nostalgia-164430782.html?src=rss
Asimo OS was mentioned at CES 2025 alongside its 0 Series SUV and Saloon sedan EV concepts, but the Acura RSX will be the first production vehicle to get it. The operating system uses technology similar to its namesake robot to recognize external environments and understand people’s intentions, according to the company. It will also assist in the vehicle’s automated and advanced assisted driving functions.
The company's current EVs — the Acura ZDX and the Honda Prologue — are both based on the General Motors Ultium platform. Production of the Acura RSX will take place in Honda’s new Fayette County, Ohio factory. The final beams of the plant were only erected a little less than a year ago, and it's projected to have battery and RSX production up and running by the end of this year. Consumers should be able to get their hands on the new vehicle sometime in 2026.
While Honda is working hard on its EVs, its plans to merge with Nissan, announced at the end of last year, continue. The two companies have been collaborating on making EV components and software since August.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/the-acura-rsx-calls-dibs-on-hondas-proprietary-asimo-os-162231318.html?src=rss
We recommend several Dyson models in our guide to the best cordless vacuums. While the Digital Slim isn't on the list per se, it's still an option perhaps worth considering if you're in the market for a new vacuum — not least because that model is half off right now. You can snap it up from both Amazon and Dyson directly for $250.
This isn't quite a record low price for this model. The Dyson Digital Slim was $270 off for Black Friday back in November. Still, half off is a decent deal by just about any metric.
At 4.4 pounds, the Dyson Digital Slim cordless stick vacuum is about a third lighter than the company's popular V11 model. That should make it relatively easier to handle.
On the downside, the Digital Slim will run for about 40 minutes on a single charge. That means it's probably best suited for smaller homes. That said, there is an LCD display that shows how much battery life is left, so you shouldn't be caught unaware before it runs out of juice. The Digital Slim offers three power modes so you can balance power and runtime.
The vacuum has a capacity of 0.1 gallons and there's a no-touch emptying mechanism. It also turns into a handheld with a single click for those hard-to-reach places and to help with cleaning the couch or your car. Dyson says the vacuum has a fully sealed, whole machine filtration system that captures dust and seals in 99.99 percent of particles as small as 0.3 microns.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-dyson-cordless-stick-vacuum-is-half-off-right-now-153116755.html?src=rss
It's an understatement to say that cell phones have evolved in the 30-plus years since they entered mainstream society. But, despite all the stuff our smart phones offer, they'll never hit the same way those early models did. Now, there's an opportunity to step back in time, thanks to the new digital Nokia Design Archive sharing sketches, photos, interviews and videos spanning from the mid-1990s to 2017.
Aalto University, in Nokia's home country of Finland, is responsible for the Nokia Design Archive. Its team of researchers curated 700 entries and included a repository with another 20,000 items and 959GB of born-digital file. The never-before-seen content from Nokia, which released its first GSM hand-portable phone in 1992, doesn't disappoint. Anyone feeling extra nerdy (ahem, me) can even read through presentations with mood boards and concept designs.
The ensuing nostalgia dive provides not only an ode to the classic Nokia devices (and their very 90s styling), but also an interesting look into how technology evolves. "In the early ages of Nokia, there was a genuine wish to understand people, how they live, what makes them tick. Now we’re at a similar point of societal transformation with AI. Nobody has concretised what it is yet, but we need to get people thinking about what could be," said lead researcher Professor Anna Valtonen in a release. “The Archive reveals how designers made visions concrete so that they could be properly explored long before they became reality. It reminds us that we do have agency and we can shape our world — by revealing the work of many people who did just that.”
Nokia
The Design Archive looks a bit like a word graph floating through space, with topics including Mobile Games and Gaming — which provides an overview of the infamous Snake game's creation — and Phones Fashion and Accessories. The free platform offers four topic filters: products, aesthetics, design process and design strategy. Plus, you can narrow in on specific years for a better look at your favorite model's time period. The team hopes to continue adding more content as the project develops further.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/the-nokia-design-archive-has-20-plus-years-of-never-before-seen-images-sketches-and-strategy-150044971.html?src=rss
Axios is expanding its local newsletter presence from 30 to 34 cities. The catch? OpenAI is funding it. In its continued pretense of benefiting newsrooms, OpenAI has partnered with Axiosin a three-year deal to cover Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Missouri; Boulder, Colorado; and Huntsville, Alabama. What does OpenAI get in exchange for its funding? Oh, just the ability to use Axios content to answer users' questions.
Like the close to 20 newsrooms that OpenAI has already partnered with, Axios seems to have forgotten that the scorpion did end up stinging the frog. Instead, we have this starry-eyed statement from Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei: "We launched Axios Local nearly four years ago with the bold goal of bringing local news to communities across the country. OpenAI’s investment allows us to continue our expansion and aid us in bringing essential local news to deserving audiences."
Axios will be able to use OpenAI's technology to create its own AI-powered systems and products. However, VandeHei issued a memo to employees stating the aforementioned technology won't be used for reporting stories (sure, because no one has been laid off in favor of AI before — oh wait, wait some more and the list continues). The Axios announcementdoes, however, point out that The New York Times is currently suing both OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, so maybe there's some awareness of what its entering into.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/axios-partners-with-openai-forgetting-the-scorpion-stung-the-frog-144242204.html?src=rss
The rise of AI NPCs has felt like a looming threat for years, as if developers couldn't wait to dump human writers and offload NPC conversations to generative AI models. At CES 2025, NVIDIA made it plainly clear the technology was right around the corner. PUBG developer Krafton, for instance, plans to use NVIDIA's ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) to power AI companions, which will assist and banter with you during matches. Krafton isn't just stopping there — it's also using ACE in its life simulation title InZOI to make characters smarter and generate objects.
While the use of generative AI in games seems almost inevitable, as the medium has always toyed with new methods for making enemies and NPCs seem smarter and more realistic, seeing several NVIDIA ACE demos back-to-back made me genuinely sick to my stomach. This wasn't just slightly smarter enemy AI — ACE can craft entire conversations out of thin air, simulate voices and try to give NPCs a sense of personality. It's also doing that work locally on your PC, powered by NVIDIA's RTX GPUs. But while all of that that might sound cool on paper, I hated almost every second I saw the AI NPCs in action.
TiGames' ZooPunk is a prime example: It relies on NVIDIA ACE to generate dialog, a virtual voice and lip syncing for an NPC named Buck. But as you can see in the video above, Buck sounds like a stilted robot with a slight country accent. If he's supposed to have some sort of relationship with the main character, you couldn't tell from the performance.
I think my visceral aversion to NVIDIA's ACE-powered AI comes down to this: There's simply nothing compelling about it. No joy, no warmth, no humanity. Every ACE AI character feels like a developer cutting corners in the worst way possible, as if you're seeing their contempt for the audience manifested a boring NPC. I'd much rather scroll through some on-screen text, at least I wouldn't have to have conversations with uncanny robot voices.
During NVIDIA's Editor's Day at CES, a gathering for media to learn more about the new RTX 5000-series GPUs and their related technology, I was also underwhelmed by a demo of PUBG's AI Ally. Its responses were akin to what you'd hear from a pre-recorded phone tree. The Ally also failed to find a gun when the player asked, which could have been a deadly mistake in a crowded map. At one point, the PUBG companion also spent around 15 seconds attacking enemies while the demo player was shouting for it to get into a car. What good is an AI helper if it plays like a noob?
Poke around NVIDIA's YouTube channel and you'll find other disappointing ACE examples, like the basic speaking animations in the MMO World of Jade Dynasty (above) and Alien: Rogue Incursion. I'm sure many devs would love to skip the chore of developing decent lip syncing technology, or adopting someone else's, but for these games leaning on AI just looks awful.
To be clear, I don't think NVIDIA's AI efforts are all pointless. I've loved seeing DLSS get steadily better over the years, and I'm intrigued to see how DLSS 4's multi-frame generation could improve 4K and ray-tracing performance for demanding games. The company's neural shader technology also seems compelling, in particular its ability to apply a realistic sheen to material like silk, or evoke the slight transparency you'd see from skin. These aren't enormous visual leaps, to be clear, but they could help deliver a better sense of immersion.
Now I'm sure some AI boosters will say that the technology will get better from here, and at some undefinable point in the future, it could approach the quality of human ingenuity. Maybe. But I'm personally tired of being sold on AI fantasies, when we know the key to great writing and performances is to give human talent the time and resources to refine their craft. And on a certain level, I think I'll always feel like the director Hayao Miyazaki, who described an early example of an AI CG creature as, "an affront to life itself."
AI, like any new technology, is a tool that could be deployed in many ways. For things like graphics and gameplay (like the intelligent enemies in F.E.A.R. and The Last of Us), it makes sense. But when it comes to communicating with NPCs, writing their dialog and crafting their performances, I've grown to appreciate human effort more than anything else. Replacing that with lifeless AI doesn't seem like a step forward in any way.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidias-ai-npcs-are-a-nightmare-140313701.html?src=rss
If you know anyone in the job market right now, then you’ve probably heard stories about just how tough it can be to even land an interview. Part of the problem, according to LinkedIn, is that too many people are applying for jobs they aren’t actually qualified for, which makes it harder for good candidates to stand out.
The company is hoping its new AI-powered “Job Match” feature can help address some of that disconnect. The feature, which is beginning to roll out today, uses AI to provide detailed summaries alongside job listings that let users know how qualified they actually are for a given role.
LinkedIn product manager Rohan Rajiv says that the AI-powered feature goes beyond the kind of simple keyword matching that job hunters may already rely on. Instead, it attempts to understand the breadth of your experience and how it aligns with the qualifications outlined in the job description.
The goal, Rajiv tells Engadget, is to help surface the jobs a person is most qualified for and discourage people from applying to roles they aren’t. “When you're qualified, we'll be able to help you, but also, when you're not qualified, we can hopefully find you other places where you are qualified,” Rajv told Engadget.
While “Job Match” will be available to all LinkedIn users, there are some added benefits for subscribers to LinkedIn Premium, including more granular information about their job match level. Eventually, Rajiv says, LinkedIn will also be able to surface more qualified applicants on the recruiter side as well, to make it less likely for good candidates to be overlooked.
Whether any of this will actually ease the pain of would-be job seekers is less clear. The tech industry lost tens of thousands of jobs to layoffs in 2024. So did the video game industry. Media and entertainment hasn’t fared much better, either.
All that would seemingly create even more competition for the same job openings — a dynamic AI seems ill-equipped to fully address. “I think there's a portion of this that will always be labor market dynamics, but I would argue that there's a significant portion of this that is just pure lack of transparency,” Rajiv says. He notes that early tests of the feature have suggested that a “non-trivial chunk” of the problem is “more solvable than we think.”
On their part, recruiters seem to be endorsing LinkedIn’s latest advice regarding applying for fewer jobs. The company’s blog post features testimonials from recruiters practically begging unqualified applicants to stop flooding their inboxes.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/linkedin-wants-you-to-apply-for-fewer-jobs-140049139.html?src=rss
The United States, Japan and South Korea have issued a warning against North Korean threat actors, who are actively and aggressively targeting the cryptocurrency industry. In their joint advisory, the countries said threat actor groups affiliated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) continue to stage numerous cybercrime campaigns to steal cryptocurrency. Those bad actors — including the Lazarus hacking group, which the US believes has been deploying cyber attacks all over the world since 2009 — target "exchanges, digital asset custodians and individual users." And apparently, they stole $659 million in crypto assets in 2024 alone.
North Korean hackers have been using "well-disguised social engineering attacks" to infiltrate their targets' systems, the countries said. They also warned that the actors could get access to systems owned by the private sector by posing as freelance IT workers. Back in 2022, the US issued guidelines on how to identify potential workers from North Korea, such as how they'd typically log in from multiple IP addresses, transfer money to accounts based in the People's Republic of China, ask for crypto payments, have inconsistencies with their background information and be unreachable at times during their supposed business hours.
Once the bad actors are in, they then usually deploy malware, such as keyloggers and remote access tools, to be able to steal login credentials and, ultimately, virtual currency they can control and sell. As for where the stolen funds go: The UN issued a report in 2022, revealing its investigators' discovery that North Korea uses money stolen by affiliated threat actors for its missile programs. "Our three governments strive together to prevent thefts, including from private industry, by the DPRK and to recover stolen funds with the ultimate goal of denying the DPRK illicit revenue for its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," the US, Japan and South Korea said.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/north-korea-stole-659-million-in-crypto-assets-last-year-the-us-says-133029741.html?src=rss
DJI has lifted its geofence that prevents users in the US from flying over restricted areas like nuclear power plants, airports and wildfires, the company wrote in a blog post on Monday. As of January 13th, areas previously called "restricted zones" or no-fly zones will be shown as "enhanced warning zones" that correspond to designated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) areas. DJI's Fly app will display a warning about those areas but will no longer stop users from flying inside them, the company said.
In the article, DJI wrote that the "in-app alerts will notify operators flying near FAA designated controlled airspace, placing control back in the hands of the drone operators, in line with regulatory principles of the operator bearing final responsibility." It added that technologies like Remote ID [introduced after DJI implemented geofencing] gives authorities "the tools needed to enforce existing rules," DJI's global policy chief Adam Welsh told The Verge.
Still, the update is an odd one, given that DJI is already on shaky ground in the US and could be banned from selling its products stateside as early as next year. DJI's former head of policy, Brendon Schulman, criticized the move on Twitter in a series of posts. "There was substantial evidence over the years that automatic drone geofencing, implemented using a risk-based approach, contributed significantly to aviation safety," he wrote.
This is a remarkable shift in drone safety strategy with a potentially enormous impact, especially among drone pilots who are less aware of airspace restrictions and high-risk areas. https://t.co/YJOpe2gcZe
There's also an issue with drones weighing less than 250 grams. Those models were previously geofenced via GEO in restricted areas to prevent inadvertent flight into restricted locations. However, the update will remove that geofencing, and Remote ID can be flicked off on those lightweight drones.
In fact, that's exactly what happened last week when sub-250-gram DJI model damaged the wing of a Canadair Super Scooper airplane fighting Los Angeles wildfires, putting it temporarily out of commission. That drone may not have been transmitting a remote ID, so FBI said it will need to use "investigative means" instead to find the pilot.
DJI first implemented the geofence (called GEO) around airports in 2013, and added new zones in 2015 and 2016, after a drone crash-landed on the White House lawn. It did this voluntarily, as the FAA only requires that operators are warned about restricted areas where flying is banned. Now, though, the onus will be 100 percent on the operator to keep out of no-fly zones.
"DJI reminds pilots to always ensure flights are conducted safely and in accordance with all local laws and regulations. For flights conducted in Enhanced Warning Zones, drone operators must obtain airspace authorization directly from the FAA and consult the FAA’s No Drone Zone resource for further information," it wrote.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/dji-will-no-longer-block-us-users-from-flying-drones-in-restricted-areas-130051778.html?src=rss
After a more than two-year investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Elon Musk over his delayed disclosure of the Twitter stock he amassed before announcing his intention to acquire the company in 2022.
In a court filing, the SEC says that Musk filed paperwork with the SEC disclosing his purchase of Twitter shares 11 days after an SEC-mandated deadline to do so. (Federal law, as the SEC notes in its statement, requires investors to publicly report when they have acquired a more than 5 percent stake in a company.) This delay, according to the regulator, allowed Musk to buy up even more Twitter stock at a time when other investors were unaware of his involvement with the company.
During the period that Musk was required to publicly disclose his beneficial ownership but had failed to do so, he spent more than $500 million purchasing additional shares of Twitter common stock. Because Musk failed to timely disclose his beneficial ownership, he was able to make these purchases from the unsuspecting public at artificially low prices, which did not yet reflect the undisclosed material information of Musk’s beneficial ownership of more than five percent of Twitter common stock and investment purpose. In total, Musk underpaid Twitter investors by more than $150 million for his purchases of Twitter common stock during this period. Investors who sold Twitter common stock during this period did so at artificially low prices and thus suffered substantial economic harm.
The regulator has been investigating Musk for years, and has long been at odds with the owner of X. At one point, the SEC accused Musk of attempting to stall and use “gamesmanship” to delay its investigation into his investment in Twitter. Last month, Musk shared a copy of a letter addressed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler in which Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, accused the regulator of “six years of harassment” targeting Musk. The letter indicated that Musk refused a settlement offer from the SEC related to its Twitter investigation.
Musk also faced a class action lawsuit from other Twitter investors and an FTC probe related to the delayed disclosure. However, as The New York Timesnotes, it’s unclear if the SEC’s latest action will amount to much, as Gensler is expected to step down following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to The Times, Spiro called the SEC’s action a “a single-count ticky-tack complaint," calling it “an admission by the S.E.C. that they cannot bring an actual case."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/sec-lawsuit-claims-musk-gained-over-150-million-by-delaying-twitter-stake-disclosure-002627091.html?src=rss
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives on Capitol Hill on December 05, 2024 in Washington, DC. Musk and his Co-Chair, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are meeting with lawmakers today about DOGE, a planned presidential advisory commission with the goal of cutting government spending and increasing efficiency in the federal workforce. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Sonos is continuing to clean house as the company recovers from the hits it took following a disastrous mobile app redesign last year. Just a day after CEO Patrick Spence departed the company, chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin is also leaving. He will act as an advisor to interim CEO Tom Conrad during the leadership transition before fully exiting Sonos.
According to The Verge, Conrad informed Sonos employees about the latest leadership change in a company-wide email today. The CPO role is being made redundant, with Sonos' product team reporting directly to Conrad for the time being.
A day after Bouvat-Merlin was let go, The Vergereported that chief commercial officer Deirdre Findlay was also leaving the company as part of these restructuring efforts.
Sonos has been in a tailspin since releasing a mobile app update in May that contained many bugs and was missing key features. The company's financial results took a dive, and it laid off about 100 employees in August. Sonos has made several efforts to keep customers aware of its plans to recover from the app launch, and the decision to replace top leadership seems like the latest move to win back public trust in the business.
Update, January 15 2025, 1:45PM ET: This story was updated to include details of Sonos' chief commercial officer also leaving the company.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/sonos-chief-product-officer-is-also-leaving-the-company-223256031.html?src=rss
Pixelfed is now available as a mobile apps for both iOS and Android. The open source, decentralized platform offers image sharing similar to Instagram. However, Pixelfed has no advertisements and does not share user data with third parties. The platform launched in 2018, but was only available on the web or through third-party app clients. The Android app debuted on January 9 and the iOS app released today.
Creator Daniel Supernault posted on Mastodon Monday evening that the platform had 11,000 users join over the preceding 24 hours and that more than 78,000 posts have been shared to Pixelfed to date. The platform runs on ActivityPub, the same protocol that powers several other decentralized social networks in the fediverse, such as Mastodon and Flipboard.
Many Instagram users have been seeking out alternatives to the Meta-owned platform after the company said it would eliminate third-party fact checking and revised its "Hateful Content" policy to allow denigrating comments against women and trans people, among other changes. Meta also blocked some links to Pixelfed on Facebook, treating them as spam and deleting those posts. A representative from the company said this was an error and that the posts would be reinstated.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/pixelfed-instagrams-decentralized-competitor-is-now-on-ios-and-android-205059236.html?src=rss
We’ve been hearing about the latest animated movie based on The Witcher franchise for a while now, but we’ve only ever gotten a short teaser and an equally short clip. Now, finally, there’s a legit full-fledged trailer. This is opportune timing, as The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep hits Netflix on February 11.
The big hook here? Geralt is voiced by Doug Cockle, reprising his role from the video games. Anya Chalotra and Joey Batey (Yennefer of Vengerberg and Jaskier in the live action show) are also reprising their roles. It’s set in the universe of the TV show, surrounding events that occurred during the first season, but is based on a short story by franchise creator Andrzej Sapkowski.
The original story, called “A Little Sacrifice,” involves Geralt investigating a series of attacks in a seaside village, leading to a conflict between humans and merpeople. It’s generally considered one of the better short stories in the canon. There’s an underwater city, which is always a good time.
The movie is directed by Kang Hei Chul. He was a storyboard artist for The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which was a prequel that followed Geralt’s mentor Vesemir. Studio Mir is on animation duties, the same South Korean studio that worked on Nightmare of the Wolf.
This company has an absolutely amazing pedigree. It animated the hit cartoon X-Men ‘97, but also stuff like The Legend of Korra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, My Adventures with Superman and Voltron: Legendary Defender, among many others. The studio is currently finishing up the upcoming Devil May Cry anime, also for Netflix.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-new-witcher-animated-film-finally-has-a-legit-trailer-195457579.html?src=rss
ChatGPT has had support for voice conversations since the end of 2023, but if you’re new to OpenAI’s chatbot, figuring out how to converse with it can be tricky since there are a couple of ways to go about it. In this guide, I'll explain the main differences between ChatGPT's two voice modes and how to use both of them.
What is ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode?
As of the writing of this article, OpenAI offers two different ways of interacting with ChatGPT using your voice: “Standard” and “Advanced.” The former is available to all users, with usage counting against one’s message limit. “Advanced,” meanwhile, has more granular restrictions.
As a free user, OpenAI offers a monthly preview of the tool. Subscribing to the company’s $20 per month Plus plan allows you to use Advanced Voice daily. OpenAI notes daily limits may change, but either way, the company promises to notify users 15 minutes before they’re about to hit their usage cap. Pro users can use Advanced Voice as much as they want, provided they do so in a way that’s “reasonable” and complies with the company’s policies.
Outside of those limits, the primary difference between the two modes is the sophistication of the underlying models powering them. Per OpenAI, Advanced Voice is natively multi-modal, meaning it can process more than just text input. In practice, this translates to Advanced Voice offering capabilities that aren’t possible with Standard Mode, which is limited to reading a transcript of what you say to your phone. In addition to “hearing” your voice, ChatGPT in Advanced Voice can simultaneously process video and images. It’s even possible to screen share with the chatbot, making it possible for it to guide you through using an app on your phone.
Additionally, OpenAI says Advanced Voice’s multi-modality means ChatGPT can produce a more natural voice and is better able to pick up non-verbal cues.
How do you start a voice conversation with ChatGPT?
Igor Bonifacic for Engadget
As mentioned above, OpenAI offers two different ways of interacting with ChatGPT using your voice. The steps below will show you how to access them on your iPhone or Android device.
First, you need to download the ChatGPT app (Android, iOS). The features detailed in this guide aren’t available through the ChatGPT integration offered by Apple through its AI suite.
To use Standard mode, tap the microphone icon to the right of the Message bar. If you need to grant the ChatGPT app access to your phone’s microphone, you can do so through its settings menu.
After ChatGPT begins recording your prompt, tap the checkmark icon for the chatbot to start processing your question. If you want it to discard what you said, press the x icon.
To use Advanced Mode, tap the waveform icon to the right of the Message bar. Tap the microphone icon if you want to mute your phone’s mic. You can exit Advanced Mode at any time by pressing the x icon.
How do you share a photo of your screen with ChatGPT while having a voice conversation?
If you want to screen share with ChatGPT or share a photo or video with it, tap the three-dots icon and select Share Screen, Upload Photo or Take Photo.
If you don’t see those options, update to the latest version of the ChatGPT app. You may also live in a country where OpenAI isn’t offering those features yet. See below for more information.
How many voice options are available?
The first time you use Advanced Voice Mode, you’ll be prompted to select a tone of voice for ChatGPT. Right now, OpenAI offers nine different options. I’ve listed them below, along with the company’s descriptions of each one.
Arbor — Easygoing and versatile
Breeze — Animated and earnest
Cove — Composed and direct
Ember — Confident and optimistic
Juniper — Open and upbeat
Maple — Cheerful and candid
Sol — Savvy and relaxed
Spruce — Calm and affirming
Vale — Bright and inquisitive
If you want to change ChatGPT’s voice, follow these steps:
Bring up the sidebar by tapping the two-dash.
Open the Settings menu by tapping the three-dots icon.
Scroll down and tap Voice.
Select the voice you want ChatGPT to use.
You can also change ChatGPT’s voice directly from the Advanced Voice interface by tapping the slider icon.
Are there regional restrictions on Advanced Voice Mode?
Some Advanced Voice Mode features aren’t available in every country where OpenAI offers ChatGPT. Specifically, the video, screen share and image upload capabilities OpenAI introduced in December aren’t available in the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/how-to-talk-to-chatgpt-on-your-phone-193633643.html?src=rss
The Department of Justice and the FBI shared today that they have completed a project to remove malware used by Chinese hackers from computers in the US. The effort was essentially a court-approved counter-hack that remotely deleted malware known as PlugX from more than 4,200 computers. The agencies will notify the US owners of those impacted machines about the operation through their internet service providers.
According to the DOJ press release, hacker groups known as Mustang Panda and Twill Typhoon received backing from the Chinese government to use PlugX to infect, control and gather information from computers outside China. The action to delete the PlugX malware from US computers began in August 2024. It was conducted in cooperation with French law enforcement and with Sekoia.io, a France-based private cybersecurity company. Sekoia.io has found PlugX malware in more than 170 countries.
The Mustang Panda group has been conducting infiltration efforts around the world since at least 2014. For instance, cybersecurity firm ESET found that Mustang Panda gained access to cargo shipping companies' computers in Norway, Greece and the Netherlands in March. And the group was one of several China-linked hacking organizations identified as compromising telecommunications systems across the Asia-Pacific region in reports last summer.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/doj-remotely-cleaned-thousands-of-computers-infected-with-chinese-malware-191837967.html?src=rss
Meta is preparing for even more layoffs, according to reporting by Bloomberg. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a company memo that he plans on cutting about five percent of its "low-performers."
“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Zuckerberg said in the memo. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.”
All told, this could result in 10 percent fewer staff at Meta, once attrition is accounted for. Bloomberg suggested that the forthcoming pink slips will focus on people “who have been with the company long enough to receive a performance rating.”
"A leaner org will execute its highest priorities faster. People will be more productive, and their work will be more fun and fulfilling," Zuckerberg said in 2024. Nothing says “fun and fulfilling” like living in constant fear of being fired.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/mark-zuckerberg-plans-to-lay-off-an-additional-five-percent-of-metas-workforce-182651886.html?src=rss
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 17: Mark Zuckerberg is seen in attendance during the UFC 298 event at Honda Center on February 17, 2024 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Substack tested live video last year, allowing Substack Bestsellers (the company’s top users) to stream video and connect with a live audience and even collaborate with other Bestsellers. Now, the feature is open to every Substack publisher who wants to go live. The only primary requirement besides needing an account is having at least 10 free subscribers.
Publishers who go live can read comments as they come in, similar to Twitch. They can also collaborate with other publishers by asking them to hop on a call. Currently, Substack is only supporting up to three people in a single call.
After your stream ends, you get a copy of the VOD and also some AI-generated notes. The VOD can be posted as its own post to ensure readers and fans who missed out can experience the stream on their own time. The VODs are made public by default when shared as a post, but they can also be paywalled. Substack’s AI can generate clips you can share to attract viewers to watch the main VOD if you’re interested in promoting your content elsewhere.
Substack claims that its Bestsellers are happy with the feature, which allows them to engage with their readers and viewers better than before. The full impact of live video on Substack still remains questionable until more publishers try it out. Given how many options there are for streaming live video these days, it’s far from a sure thing it’ll catch on here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/substack-is-now-letting-all-publishers-broadcast-live-video-165321645.html?src=rss
Photoshop is officially becoming a team project. Adobe has announced the creation of live co-editing on Photoshop, allowing multiple individuals to simultaneously work on the same file from different computers. If you're sick of waiting around for a document back then this is probably great news, but, if you're keen to only share the final product, then you might not want to alert your boss.
Adobe suggests a slew of uses for live co-editing in Photoshop, such as collaborating with other designers, allowing clients to directly edit and comment on a document or having students follow along to a teacher's lesson. To be fair, my design skills might be better if I had that option during my college Photoshop class.
The feature isn't completely finalized, with live co-editing only available in beta testing right now — though the company does offer a similar feature in Adobe Express. You can sign up to be part of the beta testing group here if you want to test it out for yourself. You can also look at competitors like Canva, which already offers real-time collaboration.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobe-tests-live-co-editing-on-photoshop-155202670.html?src=rss
This pair of earbuds boasts some great features, such as sound customization using the Soundcore app and multipoint connectivity, which lets them connect to two devices at once. Of course, they have active noise cancellation (ANC) to block out background noises. The ANC is unexpected for headphones at this price range, and it’s adaptive and has adjustable levels.
The sound profile of the Soundcore Space A40 earbuds is warm with a boost in the upper-bass, but the higher frequencies have some cutting, which can reduce the clarity of some finer details. However, the bass profile is still pleasant and not overwhelming like many cheaper earphones have.
The earbuds have a battery life of 10 hours on a full charge, but the case adds 50 hours more, an impressive number. The case also supports wireless charging. The main downside is that quality when using them for voice calls isn’t great, but if you stick to tunes you’ll likely be happy.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-budget-wireless-earbuds-are-down-to-a-record-low-price-154206363.html?src=rss
