The company said at its developer conference last week that loans through third-party service Affirm are coming to Apple Pay later this year, so the two would have been redundant. “Users in the U.S. will also be able to apply for loans directly through Affirm when they check out with Apple Pay,” the company wrote in a newsroom post after its WWDC keynote.
According to TechCrunch, Pay Later is already disabled as an option when checking out with Apple Pay, and it won’t accept any new loans moving forward. However, those with current payment plans can still access those through the Wallet app.
“Starting later this year, users across the globe will be able to access installment loans offered through credit and debit cards, as well as lenders, when checking out with Apple Pay,” Apple wrote in a statement to TechCrunch. “With the introduction of this new global installment loan offering, we will no longer offer Apple Pay Later in the U.S.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-pay-later-is-dead-long-live-affirm-loans-202524989.html?src=rss
YouTube is borrowing a page from X (Twitter) and adding a community notes feature ahead of the 2024 US election. The company wants the short viewer-created blurbs to add relevant context to videos, such as pointing out misinformation or old footage passed off as new.
Notes will roll out initially as a pilot program for “a limited number of eligible contributors,” who will receive an invitation via email or Creator Studio. The invited participants will need to have an active YouTube account in good standing.
During the pilot phase, “third-party evaluators” will rate notes’ helpfulness to help train the system. YouTube says it wants to launch notes gradually to test and fine-tune the feature before making it more widely available. Look no further than YouTube’s often toxic video comments to see why that’s necessary.
Once the feature is calibrated and widely available, you’ll see them under videos “if they’re found to be broadly helpful.” Viewers will be asked to rate notes as “helpful,” “somewhat helpful” or “unhelpful” — and tell them why (for example, it cites good sources or is written clearly).
Note ratings will be determined by a bridging-based algorithm, which looks for connections among disparate groups. For example, if people who have historically rated things differently agree on a particular note’s helpfulness, that one will more likely appear. It sounds like the system could still be abused, especially considering how many online tribes today share an unflinching belief in the same debunked misinformation. But hey, we’ll reserve judgment until we see it in action.
The feature is awfully similar to one that was rolled out initially under the Jack Dorsey era of Twitter and expanded globally after Elon Musk bought the company in 2022. At the time, Musk described the feature as “a gamechanger for improving accuracy on Twitter.” X, as it’s known today, isn’t exactly known for its accuracy, but YouTube apparently saw something worth copying in the crowd-sourced context.
As for when you will see community notes, YouTube says the pilot will launch on mobile in the US first. The company anticipates mistakes during this test phase as it tweaks its algorithms. Everyone else in the US can expect to see notes appear “in the coming weeks and months.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtubes-community-notes-feature-rips-a-page-out-of-xs-playbook-162145673.html?src=rss
WhatsApp is upgrading its video-calling chops. The Meta-owned platform is enhancing its calls with a new screen-sharing feature, a higher participant count and a speaker spotlight to try to make the platform a more viable competitor to Zoom, FaceTime and Google Meet.
Screen sharing could be handy for watching videos together, sharing content that isn’t easily shareable or troubleshooting your parents’ devices. It also allows for audio sharing, so you can easily chat with others while looking at their screen.
WhatsApp also expanded its participant count to 32 people on video calls. The new cap applies to all platforms. It’s a significant boost from the previous limit of eight people, first rolled out in 2020 as pandemic lockdowns kicked into full gear.
Speaker spotlight is another tweak in WhatsApp’s update (which is already a standard feature on many other calling platforms). In a group call, the person talking appears first in the row of participants, and their picture is highlighted, making it easier to identify who has the proverbial mic.
WhatsApp also highlighted its recent switch to the MLow codec for clearer calls. The new compression should clean up noise and echo cancellation, which is handy for noisy environments. Also, video calls will stream in a higher resolution if your network is fast enough to support it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-rolls-out-enhanced-video-calling-191519808.html?src=rss
The Yahoo News app is now AI-assisted, thanks to the company’s purchase of Artifact. Yahoo rolled out an update to its news aggregation app on Thursday with AI-powered personal feeds, key takeaways and the ability to flag clickbait headlines.
In April, Yahoo (Engadget’s parent company) bought the remains of Artifact, the AI-fueled news and recommendation app from Instagram’s co-founders that shut down earlier this year. Today’s update showcases how the technology can improve Yahoo’s news feed, which brings in over 180 million unique visitors every month in the US.
The new Yahoo News, available now on mobile and later on desktop, starts by letting you pick topics and publishers of interest for its algorithms to customize your feed accordingly. One noteworthy feature is the ability to quickly glance at the “Key Takeaways” of a given story: a short bullet list of main ideas that (if you request it) appear at the top of an article to help save time. This is Yahoo’s version of Artifact’s “Summarize” feature.
You can further customize your feed by blocking keywords you want to avoid (like, say, “NFT”) or publishers whose content you don’t like. Maybe the most intriguing feature is its ability to flag clickbait, which prompts the AI to rewrite headlines that are misleading, overly sensational or withholding critical information in hopes that you’ll click. (Yes, please.)
In addition to the app, Yahoo is revamping its homepage layout. The updated UI “emphasizes top news, personalized recommendations, and real-time trending topics” and is designed to evolve over time. The company says you can opt in to receive access to new features (presumably, many AI-powered) as they’re introduced.
If you’re in the US, you can download the new Yahoo News app for iOS or Android today.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/yahoo-news-gets-an-ai-powered-overhaul-171507596.html?src=rss
“Musk knowingly and purposefully created an unwelcome hostile work environment based upon his conduct of interjecting into the workplace vile sexual photographs, memes, and commentary that demeaned women and/or the LGBTQ+ community,” the eight former employees wrote in Wednesday’s filing.
The former SpaceX engineers said some of them were harassed by other co-workers who “mimicked Musk’s posts,” in an alleged example of mob bullying under the influence of their superior’s behavior. The plaintiffs wrote that this “created a wildly uncomfortable hostile work environment.”
The group worked together on an open letter in 2022, highlighting the Tesla founder’s allegedly problematic behavior. They say they were fired in retaliation for that essay.
According to Bloomberg, the filing says the former SpaceX engineers have reason to believe Musk made the decision to fire them in retaliation for their letter. The complaint claims that when a SpaceX HR official suggested the company conduct a formal investigation before taking any decisive action, Musk replied, “I don’t care — fire them.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-sued-for-sexual-harassment-and-retaliation-by-former-spacex-engineers-190846047.html?src=rss
Jabra is exiting the consumer earbuds business. The move is shocking, as Jabra's parent company made the announcement at the same time it unveiled new models of its Elite earbuds. Peter Karlstromer, CEO of parent company GN, said the decision is “part of our commitment to focus on attractive markets where we can deliver profitable growth and strong returns.”
The company will discontinue the Jabra Elite (consumer earbuds) and Talk (mono Bluetooth) product lines. In late 2023, it pivoted the Elite line towards the premium segment in a move designed to compete with industry heavyweights Apple, Sony and Bose. However, the company lamented that its target markets “have changed over time.” Its current assessment is that “we cannot generate a fair return on investment compared to the many other opportunities we have within our Hearing, Enterprise, and Gaming businesses.”
Jabra will reduce the inventory of the to-be-discontinued products, and it expects to complete the wind-down by the end of the year. However, GN says it will service and support its devices “for several years.”
Although a bit farther under the radar than obvious competitors like AirPods, Jabra made some high-quality audio gear. Engadget’s audio expert Billy Steele called the 2021 Jabra Elite 3 “the new standard for affordable wireless earbuds,” as the company struck an alluring balance between quality and value.
Update, June 12 2024, 1:15PM ET: This story and headline have been updated to note that Jabra's parent company made the announcement it was exiting the headphone business the same day it released new earbuds, not the day after.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/jabra-says-its-exiting-the-consumer-headphones-business-a-day-after-launching-new-earbuds-164518215.html?src=rss
Game publisher Voodoo (known for free-to-play mobile titles stuffed with ads) has bought the social platform BeReal (known for a scorching hot 15 minutes of fame in 2022) for €500 million. Although BeReal has fallen off the radar since its much-hyped peak, Voodoo says the app has grown to 40 million active users.
“BeReal achieved incredible user loyalty and growth, showing there is a universal need to share real, unfiltered experiences with close friends,” Voodoo CEO Alexandre Yazdi wrote in a press release. “We are very excited to bring our teams together and leverage Voodoo’s know-how and differentiated technologies to scale BeReal into the iconic social network for authenticity.”
If you’ve forgotten, BeReal’s gimmick is that it promotes “spontaneous authenticity” by prompting users to capture dual-camera pictures (a selfie and whatever the rear camera is aimed at) during two-minute windows at random times throughout the day. It won Apple’s iPhone App of the Year award in 2022 as younger users (especially) appreciated its less choreographed user content.
The app’s marketing spiel is that the short and sudden posting window forces spontaneous, unmanicured content (unlike, say, Instagram). On the downside, authenticity isn’t always engaging: Some users complained that its content could get downright boring. (Care to peruse an adrenaline-pumping pic of... somebody looking half asleep as they sit at a computer?)
Although BeReal’s buzz has died down significantly since its 2022 heyday (partially thanks to Instagram and TikTok cloning its gimmick while it was still hot), the company says its user base is growing more than you might expect. Voodoo’s 40 million active users figure is double the 20 million daily active users BeReal claimed in April 2023.
It’s worth noting that Voodoo’s press release on Tuesday describes BeReal as having 40 million active users, not daily active users, suggesting those figures may not be apples to apples. And around the time BeReal claimed 20 million daily active users last year, The New York Times published a report citing an analytics firm that said the app’s daily use had dropped 61 percent from its peak: from about 15 million users in October 2022 to “less than six million” in March 2023.
Left: The original Donut County. Right: Voodoo’s clone Hole.io.
Ben Esposito / Voodoo
No matter whose figures are accurate, BeReal is now in the hands of the French gaming publisher Voodoo. Founded in 2013, the mobile gaming titan’s ultra-casual titles tend to do quite well. By 2022, it claimed to have passed six billion total downloads, and it says its apps trail only Google and Meta in mobile app installations.
Voodoo says Aymeric Roffé, CEO of its social app Wizz, will take over as BeReal’s CEO. The company says BeReal’s founder and previous CEO Alexis Barreyat will “remain involved in BeReal in the short term” before shuffling off to work on new products.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bereal-the-buzziest-app-of-2022-has-been-bought-by-a-mobile-game-publisher-175016152.html?src=rss
The company says both games will have a free demo (for “a portion of each game”) at launch, but you’ll need to make “a single purchase” to unlock each title’s full experience. Capcom hasn’t announced pricing for the new games. For reference, the App Store’s current installments in the series, Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village, cost $30 and $16, respectively (plus extra for optional DLC).
Speaking of downloadable content, Capcom says Resident Evil 7’s main game and Not A Hero DLC will launch together as a bundle. Optional DLC will include the Gold Edition upgrade, which includes End of Zoe, Banned Footage Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, the 5-Coin Set, Survival Pack and Madhouse difficulty mode.
The iOS and iPadOS versions of Resident Evil 7 will include “enhanced controls with a new Auto Fire feature.” The idea is to make the game more playable on touch screens with an option to automatically fire weapons after aiming at enemies for a set time. The game will also support MFi gamepads.
To play Resident Evil 7, you’ll need recent Apple devices. It only supports the iPhone 15 Pro series, iPads and Macs with Apple Silicon chips (M1 or later). Capcom hasn’t yet provided the hardware requirements for Resident Evil 2.
Resident Evil 7 Biohazard arrives on July 2, and Capcom says you can pre-order it today. However, it isn’t yet live in the App Store at the time of publication.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/resident-evil-7-and-the-resident-evil-2-remake-are-coming-to-iphone-ipad-and-mac-210355411.html?src=rss
As rumored, Apple confirmed at WWDC 2024 that it’s partering with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to the iPhone and other devices. GPT-4o will power cloud-based Apple Intelligence queries in iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia.
Apple’s Craig Federighi said the new AI-powered Siri can (with your permission) tap into ChatGPT’s knowledge base “when it might be helpful.” Examples include asking for menu ideas for an elaborate meal with specific ingredients. You can also include photos with your questions, like asking for decorating advice based on a specific detail or color arrangement in the uploaded picture. In addition, you can ask Siri about documents, presentations and PDFs.
With its new Compose feature, ChatGPT will integrate with Apple’s system-wide writing tools. Apple included an example of creating a custom bedtime story that incorporates a child’s specific interests. Notably, Apple mentioned that you’ll want to “check important info for mistakes.”
Apple
Apple says you can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and the company says your requests and user info won’t be logged. If you already subscribe to ChatGPT (Plus, Teams or Enterprise), you can connect your account and access extra paid features via Apple Intelligence experiences. Apple emphasized that you'll be in control of when it’s used, and you’ll be required to grant explicit permission for each cloud-based ChatGPT request.
ChatGPT integration will be available in iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, but the OpenAI features won’t arrive until “later this year.” Apple said it will add support for other AI models in the future, which apparently confirms that it doesn’t have a long-term exclusivity deal with OpenAI.
Apple's macOS 15 update is called Sequoia. The 2024 Mac software, coming this fall, includes iPhone mirroring and notification, a new passwords app and Safari upgrades. Of course, it also includes Apple Intelligence. The new software was announced at Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote at Apple Park.
Like the company’s other 2024 updates, macOS Sequoia includes Apple Intelligence baked in — but only for Apple Silicon Macs with an M1 or newer chip. The system-wide writing tools will work in Mail, Notes, Pages and third-party apps. The AI composition features can rewrite text, proofread and summarize content.
Sequoia also includes Image Playground, Apple’s image generation tool. It lets you create “playful images” in several styles, including animations, illustrations and sketches. The feature is built into Apple’s core apps and has a standalone app.
Typing to Siri also arrives on the Mac in Sequoia, letting you switch between voice and text-based chats with the assistant. You can also use Apple Intelligence’s ChatGPT integration, which asks for user permission to send your requests to OpenAI’s bot.
iPhone mirroring lets you use your Mac to view, control and interact with your phone. It lets you access iOS apps and receive notifications from your nearby handset. Your iPhone screen stays locked in Standby mode (one of iOS 17’s updates) while you work on your computer.
Apple
macOS Sequoia also adds a new Windows-like snap window arrangement tool. Drag an app near the screen’s edge, and macOS will automatically suggest where to tile it. You can quickly place windows side by side or in corners. Sequoia will also include new keyboard and menu shortcuts to arrange tiles even faster.
Apple highlighted new video conferencing features in its WWDC keynote. Presenter Preview lets you see what you’re about to share with your call partner(s) before they see it, potentially saving folks some embarrassment. Meanwhile, Background Replacement (as its name implies) lets you swap out your real surroundings for built-in ones or your own photos in video calls.
1Password’s developers are likely squirming today with the introduction of Apple’s new Passwords app. Building on iCloud Keychain and the passwords previously buried in Safari’s settings (and system settings on iPhone and iPad), the standalone app will include all your saved credentials, verification codes and security alerts. It syncs across devices and will also appear on iOS, iPadOS, visionOS and even Windows (via iCloud for Windows).
Safari also gets some upgrades. These include Highlights, which automatically detect relevant info from webpages, and Summaries, which provide AI-fueled recaps of web content in a redesigned Reader mode.
macOS Sequoia has some gaming advancements, including improved Windows porting capabilities in Gameporting Toolkit 2. Apple said it will also be easier to port Mac games to iPad and iPhone, potentially giving developers an extra financial incentive to make or port titles for the Apple ecosystem.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/macos-sequoia-will-let-you-see-your-iphone-mirrored-on-your-macs-screen-180215857.html?src=rss