Monthly Archives: May 2024

Apple Unveils Accessibility Features Allowing Users to Control iPad and iPhone with Eye Tracking and Feel Music with Haptics

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Apple is set to revolutionize accessibility with a suite of new features coming later this year. These enhancements include Eye Tracking for iPad and iPhone, allowing users with physical disabilities to navigate their devices with just their eyes. Music Haptics will enable deaf or hard-of-hearing users to experience music through refined vibrations from the iPhone’s Taptic Engine. Vocal Shortcuts introduce custom sounds for task automation, while Listen for Atypical Speech enhances speech recognition for users with speech-related conditions. Vehicle Motion Cues aim to reduce motion sickness by using animated dots to minimize sensory conflicts for passengers in moving vehicles. CarPlay will see updates such as Voice Control, Color Filters, and Sound Recognition to improve accessibility. Additionally, visionOS will introduce systemwide Live Captions, support for hearing devices, and features for low vision users, furthering Apple’s commitment to inclusive design.

Designer: Apple

Eye Tracking uses the front-facing camera and on-device machine learning to enable users to control their devices with their eyes. It’s designed for people with physical disabilities, offering an easy and intuitive way to navigate without extra hardware. After a quick setup and calibration using the front-facing camera, users can move through apps by looking at elements. This interaction can trigger actions like pressing buttons, swiping, and performing other gestures. All data is processed and stored on the device, ensuring user privacy. This feature adapts to individual patterns through machine learning, providing a powerful tool for users with physical disabilities to navigate their devices easily.

Music Haptics provides a new way for deaf or hard-of-hearing users to experience music through vibrations. Using the Taptic Engine, the iPhone creates tactile feedback that syncs with the music’s rhythm, melody, and intensity. This tactile feedback allows users to feel the music, making it more accessible and enjoyable. Music Haptics works across millions of songs in the Apple Music catalog and is available as an API for developers to integrate into their apps, further expanding its accessibility. The feature is designed to be easy to use, with simple settings to turn it on and off.

Vehicle Motion Cues help reduce motion sickness by displaying animated dots at the screen’s edges, aligning visual input with the vehicle’s motion. This feature addresses the sensory conflict that often causes motion sickness, where what a person sees doesn’t match what they feel. Using built-in sensors, this feature detects when a user is in a moving vehicle and activates automatically or can be toggled in the Control Center. By providing a visual representation of vehicle motion, Vehicle Motion Cues make it easier for users to read, watch, or interact with content on their devices without experiencing discomfort.

CarPlay will also see significant improvements, enhancing accessibility for users with various needs. Voice Control will allow users to navigate and control CarPlay apps using their voice, providing a hands-free experience. Color Filters will make the interface more accessible for colorblind users by adjusting the display to distinguish between different colors. Sound Recognition will notify users of important sounds like car horns and sirens, ensuring that drivers and passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing remain aware of their surroundings.

visionOS will introduce systemwide Live Captions, further supporting users who are deaf or hard of hearing by providing real-time captions for spoken dialogue in live conversations and audio from apps. The update will also expand support for Made for iPhone hearing devices and cochlear hearing processors, ensuring seamless integration with Apple Vision Pro. For users with low vision, new features such as Reduce Transparency, Smart Invert, and Dim Flashing Lights will make the interface more comfortable and easier to navigate.

These advancements highlight Apple’s dedication to inclusive design, pushing technology’s boundaries to create the best experience for all users. To celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Apple will host curated collections and sessions at select Apple Store locations, allowing users to explore and learn about these new accessibility features. By constantly innovating and improving accessibility, Apple ensures its devices remain accessible to everyone, empowering all users to enjoy and benefit from the latest technological advancements.

The post Apple Unveils Accessibility Features Allowing Users to Control iPad and iPhone with Eye Tracking and Feel Music with Haptics first appeared on Yanko Design.

Surface Laptop Copilot+ hands-on: Quietly powerful

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The Surface Laptop has always been a bit of an anti-revolutionary device. After Microsoft struggled to make a splash with its original Surface tablets, it was created as a more mainstream option for less courageous consumers. It simply a Windows laptop, albeit a well-designed one. 

The same is true for the new Copilot+ Surface Laptop: It doesn't look very unique at first, but spend a bit of time with it and you'll notice the attention to detail around its case and keyboard, or the way its thin new bezels highlight its brighter screen. And together with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, it's also far more powerful than before.

Surface Laptop Copilot+
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Aside from those slim screen bezels, though, it's easy to mistake the Surface Laptop for any Microsoft's previous models. The only tell is the Copilot buton on its keyboard, which opens up Microsoft's AI assistant to do your bidding. Just like the new Surface Pro, there's plenty of potential for the Surface Laptop to be an AI powerhouse, especially with features like Recall, which aims to remember everything you've ever done on your PC. But it's just hard to tell how successful it'll be in a brief hands-on.

In one demo at Microsoft's campus, I watched as a representative used CapCut to remove the background from a video featuring several dancers. Within a few seconds, the app was able to insert a more dynamic alternative. It's the sort of thing you can do manually, but it would take a long time to separate every dancer and map them onto a new background. Thanks to the Surface Laptop's neural processing unit (NPU), it can intelligently carve out the dancers and place them on a new stage.

Surface Laptop Copilot+
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The new Surface Laptop Copilot+ AI PC starts at $999 for the 13.8-inch model with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a Snapdragon X Plus processor. You can upgrade to the more powerful X Elite chip for an extra $300, and you can also add a 1TB SSD for an extra $200 on top of that. The 15-inch Surface Laptop starts at $1,300 with the X Elite chip.

Catch up on all the news from Microsoft's Copilot AI and Surface event today!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/surface-laptop-copilot-hands-on-quietly-powerful-215015871.html?src=rss

iOS 17.5.1 fixes reappearing photo bug

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Apple just released an update for iOS (and iPadOS) to tackle a strange bug that cropped up in the past week. When iOS 17.5 came out, some users noticed that photos they deleted were reappearing in their Photos library — now, iOS 17.5.1 promises to fix that. As Apple puts its, the update “addresses a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.”

As noted by MacRumors, some users on Reddit were seeing photos that were deleted not just weeks ago but months and years ago returning to their devices. Indeed, one person reported seeing photos from way back in 2010 popping up in their library as if they were newly shot. 

As usual, Apple hasn’t offered more details besides what is in the iOS 17.5.1 release notes, but we’re reaching out to see if they have any other details about how this bug popped up in the first place. In the meantime, you might as well go update your iPhone or iPad now. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ios-1751-fixes-reappearing-photo-bug-204830179.html?src=rss

Leaks suggest a Cheaper $249 version of the Nothing (2a) Smartphone under its CMF sub-brand

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Nothing’s sub-brand, CMF, has carved a niche for itself in the tech world with various accessories. But it seems they’re about to step outside their comfort zone and enter the smartphone arena. Leaks suggest their first phone, the CMF Phone (1), might be a budget-friendly alternative to the recently released Nothing Phone (2a). According to reliable leaker and developer MlgmXyysd, the CMF Phone (1) borrows heavily from the Nothing Phone (2a)’s core specifications. It notably, however, comes in the signature CMF colors of black, white, or its iconic orange, and sports an alleged $249 price tag, undercutting the Nothing Phone (2a) by $100.

Designer: CMF by Nothing

Just like the (2a), the CMF Phone (1) is rumored to pack a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 chipset, a capable processor for everyday tasks. It’ll also likely share the same 5000 mAh battery capacity, offering long-lasting power on a single charge. However, the CMF Phone (1) might compromise a bit on fast charging capabilities. While the Nothing Phone (2a) supports 45W fast charging, the CMF Phone (1) is tipped for 33W. This translates to slightly longer charging times, but hey, the phone costs less than some GaN chargers!

The display seems identical on both phones – a generous 6.67-inch OLED panel with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. This offers a clear and vibrant viewing experience, along with butter-smooth scrolling. The camera department on the CMF Phone (1) is still under wraps, with rumors suggesting a dual-camera system with a 50MP main sensor.

One key difference between the two phones could be in design. The CMF Phone (1) is expected to have a replaceable plastic back, a departure from the Nothing Phone 2a’s unique transparent design with integrated LED lighting elements. This plastic back might make the CMF Phone (1) more affordable to produce and potentially more durable for users who are prone to accidental drops.

The leaks also mention a “Nothing Lock” feature, which could be related to exclusive CMF accessories that snap onto the phone’s back using the replaceable cover. Storage options are said to range up to 256GB, paired with 8GB of RAM, offering ample space for apps and files for most users.

The CMF Phone (1) is expected to be a budget-conscious option, with a starting price rumored to be rather low, and although leaked images say €149, tipsters have suggested a price range of $249 to $279 USD. It is likely to come in a variety of colors, including Black, Green, Blue, and an India-exclusive Orange.

Leaked image of the alleged CMF Phone (1)

While it might not boast the same eye-catching design as the Nothing Phone (2a), the CMF Phone (1) could be Nothing’s Nord or Poco Phone moment, allowing it to become accessible to an even larger audience. With a large display, a capable processor, and a long-lasting battery, the CMF Phone (1) might shake up the budget smartphone market if these leaks hold true.

Image Credits: Sarang Sheth

The post Leaks suggest a Cheaper $249 version of the Nothing (2a) Smartphone under its CMF sub-brand first appeared on Yanko Design.

Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs will be available this fall

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A gaggle of PC makers rolled out their first Copilot+ PCs on Monday, but they all run on Qualcomm silicon. Intel chimed in today to assure us that its Lunar Lake chips, the company’s first to support all the Copilot+ AI features, will arrive in Q3 2024.

Intel says more than 80 new laptops from over 20 hardware partners will begin shipping in time for the holidays. The PCs will add the new Copilot+ features, like Recall and Cocreator via a software update. (The company didn’t provide a specific window for those.) Intel expects to ship more than 40 million AI PC chips this year, which include an onboard neural processing unit (NPU) for generative AI features.

The chipmaker says Lunar Lake will have more than triple the AI performance of the current Meteor Lake models, supporting over 40 trillion NPU operations per second (TOPS).

“The launch of Lunar Lake will bring meaningful fundamental improvements across security, battery life, and more thanks to our deep co-engineering partnership with Intel,” Microsoft Windows and Devices VP Pavan Davuluri wrote in a press release. “We are excited to see Lunar Lake come to market with a 40+ TOPS NPU which will deliver Microsoft’s Copilot+ experiences at scale when available.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intel-powered-copilot-pcs-will-be-available-this-fall-204049150.html?src=rss

ASUS’ first Copilot+ PC locks when you walk away and unlocks when you return

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ASUS isn’t sitting out the rush of AI-enhanced Copilot+ PCs, which also includes new models from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and, of course, Microsoft. The “ultra-thin” ASUS Vivobook S 15 has Windows AI features like memory assistant Recall, the image generator Cocreator, and several ASUS-exclusive AI apps.

One of the more intriguing AI-powered features of the ASUS Vivobook S 15 is its use of the AiSense IR camera. ASUS says it can detect your presence and adjust the display accordingly. If you look away, the display will dim, and it will brighten up again when you look back. And if you step away from the computer, it will lock — and unlock when you return. While we can't vouch for its effectiveness before trying it, the feature sounds super handy for security and privacy if it delivers consistently.

Another baked-in AI feature is StoryCube, an app that ASUS says can automatically organize RAW photos and videos. In addition to the standard Copilot+ features announced on Monday, the laptop also includes Windows Studio Effects, which can automate lighting adjustments and noise removal in video calls. It also supports Microsoft’s Live Captions (real-time, AI-powered subtitles).

Straight-on marketing image of the Asus Vivobook S 15 laptop against a white background.
ASUS

On the hardware side, the Vivobook S 15 runs on the Snapdragon X Elite chip with a built-in Qualcomm Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU), which ASUS claims can process 45 TOPS (that’s 45 trillion operations per second). The PC ships with a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and up to 32GB of 8448 MHz LPDDR5X RAM.

The laptop has a 15.6-inch OLED screen with a 2,880 x 1,620 resolution and an 89 percent screen-to-body ratio. It also includes a Harmon Kardon-certified audio system with Dolby Atmos sound. ASUS claims its 70 Wh battery can last up to 18 hours.

One of the Vivobook S 15’s selling points is its thin aluminum body: Its tapered design has a thickness ranging from only 0.58 to 0.63 inches (14.7 mm to 16 mm). The PC weighs a mere 3.13 lbs (1.4 kg), slightly lighter than Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air.

The laptop has a healthy port selection, including two USB4, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A, HDMI, an audio combo jack and a microSD slot. Its keyboard has customizable single-zone RGB lighting and a Copilot key for quick access to the ChatGPT-powered assistant.

The ASUS Vivobook S 15 is available for pre-order now through the company’s retail partners, starting at $1,300. The company says additional configurations will launch later this year.

Catch up on all the news from Microsoft's Copilot AI and Surface event today!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-first-copilot-pc-locks-when-you-walk-away-and-unlocks-when-you-return-195952186.html?src=rss

New Device Aims to Reduce Hospital Visits for Cancer Patients

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A revolutionary device designed to minimize hospital visits for cancer patients has received regulatory approval. Known as Liberty, this device enables patients to perform blood tests and upload the results from the comfort of their homes, without needing supervision.

Patient and Clinician Feedback

Users of the Liberty device report that it significantly reduces the need for exhausting hospital trips, while healthcare professionals believe it could enhance NHS efficiency. Following successful trials at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, the device is set to be rolled out at 12 NHS sites.

However, Cancer Research UK cautions that the device has only been tested on a limited number of patients. They emphasize the need for further trials to determine its broader applicability in cancer care.

Simplifying Blood Tests

Cancer treatment often requires frequent blood tests to monitor various health indicators, such as haemoglobin levels and white blood cell counts. Lynn Thompson, a trial patient who has been battling ovarian and bowel cancer since 2017, expressed relief at being able to perform some of these tests at home.

“The device has significantly reduced my stress and anxiety,” said the 52-year-old. “It’s incredibly simple to use, and it freed me from the physically and mentally draining routine of hospital visits, especially with my fear of needles.”

How It Works

The Liberty device, roughly the size of a small printer, allows patients to perform a simple finger-prick blood test. The analysis is then automatically sent to hospital teams. Dr. Sacha Howell, a senior lecturer in medical oncology at the University of Manchester, highlighted the potential benefits: increased patient convenience and cost savings for the NHS.

While The Christie Hospital has implemented local phlebotomy units to bring blood tests closer to patients’ homes, these units still require staffing. The ability for patients to conduct tests at home could lead to significant efficiencies.

Initial Trial Results

Early trials at The Christie Hospital show promising results, although the number of participants has been limited. The home study involved 22 patients, while regulatory approval trials included 470 patients. Cancer Research UK urges caution, noting that more extensive research is necessary to confirm the device’s effectiveness and clinical utility.

Future Prospects

Dr. Toby Basey-Fisher, CEO of Entia, the company behind Liberty, is optimistic about the device’s impact. “This is the world’s first blood count analyzer that patients can use at home,” he said. “By providing insights into patients’ health, it empowers healthcare professionals to address complications preemptively, reducing hospitalizations and treatment interruptions.”

As Liberty begins wider deployment, ongoing research and patient feedback will be crucial in assessing its long-term benefits and integration into standard cancer care practices.

The post New Device Aims to Reduce Hospital Visits for Cancer Patients appeared first on OhGizmo!.

Ferrari Alto ANGEL electric concept is a fluid roadster with the muscle of a hypercar

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Ferrari SF90 Stradale PHEV has already set the platform for future electric vehicles coming from the house of the Italian automotive giant. The three electric motors mated to the V8 internal combustion engine of the sports car give it a maximum output of 1000cv. Going fully electric will be one of the major goals for Ferrari, and they’ve promised one is coming in the fourth quarter of 2025.

What this EV will look like or exactly be (supercar, sportscar, roadster, or hypercar) is not exactly clear. What is known so far from the filed patents by the Italian marque is the indication of a two-seater sports car that will have a rear mid-engine layout for it to have a lower stance resulting in better aerodynamics. Although it is just one calculated guess we have got just the right concept to build on this speculation.

Designer: Alexandre Bernini

This is the Ferrari Alto ANGEL two-seater roadster concept that fits right in the puzzle board of what the Ferrari EV 2025 could be. The ride has a low ground clearance, the signature brand silhouette, flowing aerodynamic design and a rear that is most definitely a prancing horse loaded with ample electric power. The hourglass shape running from the front of the EV to the rear gives it a definition that’s evoking. The air intakes on the hood and the side pods further add dynamism to this Ferrari concept.

The panoramic windshield flows to the back with a geometric body panel with a shark fin fusing the two. The cool sea-green headlights run right across the front section that has a futuristic grille right beneath it. The rear has a similar flowing silhouette of brake lights integrated right across the spoiler and continuing with two light bars at both ends. Those wheels are very muscular, loaded on industrial-themed rims that look absolutely dope.

I’m drooling all over this Ferrari EV roadster and if the real thing looks anything close to this it’ll be a big hit. Compare it against the likes of the Tesla Roadster, Pininfarina Battista, Maserati GranTurismo Folgore or Lamborghini Terzo Millenio; and every time my heart will say the Ferrari Alto ANGEL!

The post Ferrari Alto ANGEL electric concept is a fluid roadster with the muscle of a hypercar first appeared on Yanko Design.

Microsoft Paint is getting an AI-powered image generator that responds to your text prompts and doodles

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Microsoft Paint is getting new image generation powers with a new tool called Cocreator. Powered by "diffusion-based algorithms," Cocreator can generate images based on text prompts as well as your own doodles in the Paint app.

The company has been experimenting with AI image generation in Paint for a while, and early versions of Cocreator have been available to developers and Windows Insiders since the fall. But with the introduction of CoPilot+ PCs, the feature is now official.

During a demo at its Surface event, the company showed off how Cocreator combines your own drawings with text prompts to create an image. There’s also a “creativity slider” that allows you to control how much you want AI to take over compared with your original art. As Microsoft pointed out, the combination of text prompts and your own brush strokes enables faster edits. It could also help provide a more precise rendering than what you’d be able to achieve with DALL-E or another text-to-image generator alone.

Catch up on all the news from Microsoft's Copilot AI and Surface event today!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-paint-is-getting-an-ai-powered-image-generator-that-responds-to-your-text-prompts-and-doodles-190653716.html?src=rss

AI isn’t the star of Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC push — improved Arm support is

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What if you could run an entire Windows PC on a mobile Arm-based chip, bringing the power efficiency and thinner designs from smartphones and tablets to laptops? If you've been paying attention to Microsoft's PC strategy over the past two decades, this song probably sounds familiar. From the original Surface in 2012 (running Windows RT for Arm devices) to the recent Surface Pro 9 5G, Microsoft has chipped away at this dream, only to fail miserably every time. Now with its new Copilot+ PC initiative, which includes major upgrades in Windows for Arm systems and AI, Microsoft may finally have the answer to its mobile computing dreams.

Microsoft's portable PC ambitions didn't start with the Surface line: You can trace it back to Windows CE and Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs. Then there was the short-lived era of netbooks: tiny, cheap and under-powered laptops meant mainly for browsing the web. I'll admit, I loved many a netbook, but they couldn't compete with the rise of the iPhone, Android and tablets.

Timing has never been Microsoft's strongest point. While Apple can just re-orient its platforms around its own homegrown hardware and software to pull off a monumental feat, like the move towards its Arm-based M-series chips, Microsoft has to wait on its many partners. In the case of Copilot+, the program wouldn't have been possible before Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite chips, or before developers were ready to build apps to take advantage of neural processing units (NPUs) for AI work.

"We engineered this update of Windows with the focus on AI and specifically AI inference on those devices, and [with] making sure we were taking full advantage of the Arm 64 instruction set," according to Microsoft’s head of Windows and Surface Pavan Davuluri in a briefing with media earlier this month. "[In] this updated Windows, we built a new compiler in Windows for this exercise. We have a new kernel in the operating system that is built on top of this compiler. We have new schedulers in Windows that are built for taking advantage of these workloads."

Davuluri also noted that there's a new driver compute model that better integrates neural engines into Windows, just like CPUs and GPUs. Those core Windows updates will be a major boon for AI hardware, undoubtedly, but they will also make the OS function far better on Arm chips than we've seen before. Microsoft says that more native Arm apps will be coming to Windows, including Spotify and over 400 apps from other developers. But the key upgrade, a new emulator that's 20 percent faster than its previous solution, and is said to be faster than Apple's Rosetta 2 emulator for M-series Macs.

"We made gains on the breadth and the reach of the emulator," Davuluri said, referring to the amount of apps that Prism works on. "When you combine the new prism emulator with simply the raw performance and improvement in [the Snapdragon X Elite] CPUs themselves, we're in a place where we have great native apps and we're also in a place where the breadth of the app catalog also has tremendous performance, comparable to the rest of the Windows estate today."

While I haven't been able to benchmark Copilot+ PCs yet, I've seen a few compelling demos that point to raw performance and battery life that’s similar to Apple's M3 chip. I'm just hoping the company can finally deliver a Windows on Arm experience that doesn't stink. After reviewing the Surface Pro 9 5G, which was slow and incompatible with many apps, I had given up on the idea of a decent Arm-based Windows PC entirely. But with revamped Surface devices, as well as partners like Dell, ASUS and HP jumping on the Copilot+ bandwagon, maybe Microsoft has finally crafted a decent mobile PC platform.

Catch up on all the news from Microsoft's Copilot AI and Surface event today!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai-isnt-the-star-of-microsofts-copilot-pc-push--improved-arm-support-is-190039699.html?src=rss