Tag Archives: Consumer Discretionary

The Morning After: Samsung made its own generative AI model

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Developed by Samsung Research, Gauss (named after mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss) powers several on-device AI technologies across Samsung products. It will have a few different facets but will do a lot of the same stuff we’ve seen from other generative AI (GAI) models.

Gauss Language will handle tasks like translations and summarizing documents, while Gauss Code is a coding assistant. There’s also Samsung Gauss Image for all your image-generating needs. The latter can create images based on prompts and handle edits like style changes and additions. It will be able to upscale low-resolution images too.

Gauss, the human, in the 1800s, formed the normal distribution theory, a major component of what grew into machine learning and AI. Generating a picture of a cat writing at a desk is what he would have wanted, I’m sure.

It’s easy to be cynical about Samsung’s efforts here, as the company tends to forge its own path for innovation’s sake. It made its own voice assistant, Bixby. It hovered around its devices for a few years as a flagship feature, with the company even dedicating hardware buttons on some of its Galaxy S phones to launch the voice assistant. (There were only four buttons on the Galaxy S9, Samsung, and one was for Bixby?!)

But there’s some reasoning: Running generative AI features on-device could give Samsung an advantage over ChatGPT, which, for now, requires cloud connectivity. Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset supports on-device GAI operations and will likely be part of next year’s Galaxy S24 phones. 

Samsung is already teasing Galaxy AI in its incoming translation feature, pictured here. 

— Mat Smith

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Amazon Prime now comes with discounted access to One Medical health services

Amazon acquired One Medical last year for $3.9 billion.

Amazon Prime subscribers can now access a deeply discounted One Medical membership for primary care services. Prime members can sign up for just $99 a year (typically $199) or $9 per month. Prime members who sign up can add up to five other people for $6 each. It offers all the basic health services, from annual physicals and maintenance for chronic conditions to same-day sick visits. One Medical also offers round-the-clock virtual care, or telehealth visits, and drop-in lab services. The membership doesn’t cover the cost of visits, though.

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The Overwatch League appears to be over

Blizzard is ‘evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction.’

The Overwatch League (OWL) appears to be no more after six seasons. A Blizzard spokesperson told Engadget “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction.” That’s not to say the publisher is pulling out of Overwatch esports altogether. The future of the professional Overwatch scene is unclear, but reports suggest that a return to a more open format could be next.

The writing has been on the wall for OWL for some time. The first two seasons of OWL matches happened almost exclusively in a California studio. Weeks after Blizzard started on its grand plan to run matches in each team’s city every week, but COVID-19 lockdowns forced it to shift to an online-only format.

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HP Spectre Fold review

Cutting edge at all costs.

TMA
Engadget

Sometimes, a company creates a truly cutting-edge device, even if its books take a hit. The latest example: HP’s Spectre Fold. HP’s take on a flexible-screen laptop is thinner, lighter and more polished than before. The Spectre Fold represents a true leap forward for next-gen hybrid design to the point where you might even want to buy one — until you see that $5,000 price tag. Engadget’s Sam Rutherford breaks it down.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-samsung-made-its-own-generative-ai-model-121535086.html?src=rss

Sony has now sold over 46.6 million PS5 consoles

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Sony has had a blockbuster quarter when it comes to PlayStation 5 sales. The company has sold 4.9 million PS5 units in its second financial quarter ending on September 30, bringing the total number of consoles sold to 46.6 million. It didn't quite reach last year's holiday figures, but it still moved 1.6 million units more than the same period in 2022. To note, Sony couldn't keep up with the demand for the console for quite some time due to the supply chain issues that plagued the tech industry, but it was finally able to ramp up production last year after the shortages had eased up. By July 2023, it announced that it had already sold more than 40 million PS5 consoles since the model came out in November 2020. 

To be able to reach its sales target of shipping 25 million PS5 units for this financial year, however, Sony will have to sell 16.8 million more units. That's a massive figure, considering it only sold 19.1 million PS5 consoles for the whole financial year of 2022. But according to Reuters, Sony President Hiroki Totoki is confident that the goal is something the company "can attain very easily." The company is likely expecting a boost in sales when its smaller PS5 models come out this month, just in time for people's holiday shopping sprees. 

In addition to its hardware sales, Sony has also reported that it sold 67.6 million games in the second quarter, though only 4.7 million are first-party titles. It will most likely post much higher first-party sales in the next quarter, though, seeing as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sold 5 million units within its first 11 days, eclipsing the performance of its prequel that sold 9 million copies in 80 days. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-has-now-sold-over-466-million-ps5-consoles-102604943.html?src=rss

Chroma Console is Hologram Electronics’ unique take on a multi-effect pedal

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There's a moment, a little over a minute into the announce video, where Chroma Console finally starts to make sense. Up until that point it seems like a really excellent, but rather straightforward multi-effect pedal. And if you're familiar with Hologram Electronics at all, you know the company doesn't really do "straightforward."

It starts small. After introducing you to the four different effect modules — Character, Movement, Diffusion and Texture — a hand cranks a knob while someone plays the drums and this doubled phasing tape effect comes out of the speakers. Interesting. Then some text on the screen lets you know that, hey, you can rearrange the effect modules. So if you want everything to feed into the fuzz mode of Character, you can do that.

Then at the 1:37 mark of the video, we're introduced to Gestures. It's basically the same sort of motion controls and automation that you'll find on many modern synths, except this is a guitar pedal. Instead of having to be glued to an expression pedal or implement some complicated MIDI setup, you can just press a button and turn some knobs. This allows you to crank the distortion of only part of a riff, or have pitch shifted sparkles erupt at regular intervals. This sort of simplified automation is all but unheard of on a guitar pedal. 

The four modules themselves are pretty versatile, though. Each of them has five different modes, for a total of 20 effects. Character is where you'll find overdrive, fuzz, compression and swell effects to shape your tone. Movement, unsurprisingly, is where modulation like doubling, vibrato, phaser and tremolo live. Diffusion is for time based effects, like delay and echo, including some with that trademark Hologram glitchy weirdness. And Texture is like a dash of finishing salt on your tone, here are filters, compressors and tap emulators.

There's also a master Drift effect which introduces hints of randomness and instability. Plus Capture, which does dual (but very similar) roles as an infinite sustainer or a looper with up to 30 seconds of record time. 

Hologram Electronics made sure to outfit Chroma Console with all manner of useful features beyond the effects, too. It's got stereo ins and outs, MIDI over 5-pin DIN and USB-C, expression pedal input and 80 user presets. The two foot switches are also assignable, so you can turn off only specific effects without getting down on your knees. 

The whole thing seems like a unique take on what appears at first glance to be a pretty simple multi-effect pedal. Chroma Console is available now direct from Hologram Electronics for $399, though quantities are limited. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/chroma-console-is-hologram-electronics-unique-take-on-a-multi-effect-pedal-221501285.html?src=rss

Samsung’s Gauss is the generative AI that nobody asked for

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Samsung has joined the generative AI rat race by announcing its own model. Developed by Samsung Research, Gauss (named after mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss) will power several on-device AI technologies and could make its public debut in the next few months.

Samsung Gauss Language can handle tasks like translations and summarizing documents. The tech will be able to write emails for you too, Samsung says. Samsung Gauss Code is a coding assistant, while Samsung Gauss Image is a generative image model. The latter can whip up images based on prompts and handle edits like style changes and additions. It can upscale low-resolution images too.

Samsung employees are currently using Gauss in-house to bolster productivity, but the company plans to make it available to the public “in the near future.” According to The Korea Times, Samsung is likely to include it in Galaxy S24 devices, which should debut early next year.

Running generative AI features on-device could help give Samsung a leg up over the likes of ChatGPT, which requires cloud connectivity. Qualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which supports on-device GAI operations and is likely to be used in Galaxy S24 phones. Google's Tensor 3, which is used in the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, handles certain GAI tasks on-device too.

Meanwhile, Samsung says it is working on “various activities that ensure safe AI usage.” Its AI Red Team is bearing in mind “the principles of AI ethics” as it focuses on potential privacy and security issues including data collection and the GAI model’s output. The company also flagged AI model development and service deployment as possible pitfalls.

Still, this is another instance of Samsung attempting to forge its own path, despite alternatives being available. Bixby never really took off, and despite its users by and large wanting Google Assistant instead, Samsung insisted on making its voice assistant as prevalent as possible on its devices. The list goes on, with things like the Chromium-based Samsung Internet Browser when Chrome is right there.

In fairness, Samsung wants to make its devices distinct from other Android phones and tablets and give them a unique selling point. Its generative AI tech will largely run in the background too, so its not like users will see heavy Samsung branding when they ask Gauss to generate an image. But shareholders who might be feeling skittish about recent financial results may have questions about why Samsung has been investing in its own GAI tech instead of using one of the many other available options.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-gauss-is-the-generative-ai-that-nobody-asked-for-163009407.html?src=rss

The first Grand Theft Auto VI trailer will arrive in early December

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We may get official details about Grand Theft Auto VI very, very soon. Following a Bloomberg report that said Rockstar Games would announce the next entry in the GTA franchise as early as this week, Rockstar confirmed it would release a trailer for the forthcoming game in early December, as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. It's one of the most anticipated games for the current crop of consoles, especially since the fifth main installment in the series — the second-best selling video game of all time, as Bloomberg notes — came out way back in 2013. 

While Rockstar has yet to launch the title, some fans may have already gotten a glimpse of early-days gameplay footage due to a leak that a hacker uploaded online in 2022. It contained 90 seconds of gameplay from a GTA VI test build, showing one of the two playable protagonists, a female character named Lucia, robbing a store. Another clip showed the other playable character riding the "Vice City Metro," indicating that its story takes place in Rockstar's fictionalized version of Miami. The developer later confirmed the contents of the leak and said that the game's creation would continue "as planned."

Rockstar may reveal GTA VI's release period alongside the trailer next month, but its parent company Take-Two previously hinted that it's coming out sometime in 2024. 

Update, November 8, 2023, 8:15AM ET: This story has been updated to note that Rockstar has confirmed it'll release a trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto game in December.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-first-grand-theft-auto-vi-trailer-will-arrive-in-early-december-045219564.html?src=rss

The Sony A9 III is the fastest full-frame camera ever thanks to a global stacked sensor

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Sony has just unveiled its latest pro-oriented mirrorless camera, and we now know why it took them four years to develop it. The Alpha A9 III is the first full-frame camera on the market with a global stacked sensor, a sort of holy grail in the photographic world. It allows for some wild specs, like 120fps shooting speeds with no blackout, up to a 1/80,000th of a second shutter speed and zero rolling shutter — albeit with a 24.6-megapixel resolution that may disappoint some.

The new tech opens up a lot of new possibilities for photographers. Without the constraints of a physical shutter (no, there isn't one), it can shoot full-resolution, blackout-free 14-bit RAW bursts at up to 120fps with a 1.6 second buffer (around 180 shots). Sony also installed the latest Bionz XR image processor and "high-density focal plane phase detection AF" that allows for real-time autofocus (AF) tracking. 

The Sony A9 III is the fastest full-frame camera ever thanks to a global stacked sensor
Sony

"A designated AI processing unit uses real-time recognition AF to recognize a wide variety of subjects with high precision," Sony explains in the press release. "By combining high-speed performance of up to 120 fps with highly accurate subject recognition performance, it is possible to easily photograph scenes and moments that cannot be seen with the naked eye." 

The Sony A9 III is the fastest full-frame camera ever thanks to a global stacked sensor
Sony

The global shutter also allows for shutter speeds of 1/80,000th of a second (1/16,000th during continuous shooting), ten times faster than most cameras. Compatible flashes can be synced all the way up to the maximum shutter speed, rather than being limited to much lower speeds in electronic shutter mode — normally around 1/250th to 1/500th of a second. It also allows the shutter speed to be finely adjusted to eliminate flicker in video. And Sony is offering a 1-second pre-burst feature that can capture scenes before the shutter button is pressed, reducing the possibility of a missed shot. 

The Sony A9 III is the fastest full-frame camera ever thanks to a global stacked sensor
Sony

The stacked global shutter provides large benefits for video, as well. It's Sony's first camera to support 4K 120p video with no cropping and does so with no rolling shutter distortion (skewing), along with 4K 60p with 6K oversampling. It also offers 10-bit recording with S-Log3 capture in all video modes (including 4K 120p), along with S-Cinetone borrowed from the company's high-end Venice lineup that "makes human skin tones and subjects stand out beautifully," Sony said. It should be one of Sony's best-focusing cameras for video, as all the photo subject tracking features work in that mode, too.

It's got a long list of other features you'd expect on a high-end Sony camera, most notably in-body stabilization with up to 8 stops of shake reduction. The electronic viewfinder is Sony's best with 9.44 million dots, and It resolves the rear display tilt vs. flip debate by doing both of those things. And to help clear the buffer as quickly as possible, the A9 III supports fast CFexpress Type A cards on top of SD UHS II, much like the Alpha A1.

The Sony A9 III is the fastest full-frame camera ever thanks to a global stacked sensor
Sony

Other specs show an ISO range of 250-25600 (expandable to ISO 125–51200) with a minimum ISO that's a bit on the high side. That shouldn't bother photographers on sunny days, given the extremely fast shutter speeds, but video shooters will need ND filters to block some light. 

What will be a key for this camera is the image quality and low-light sensitivity, given that this is an all-new sensor and there's not a lot of data on global shutters. Sony didn't release any sample photos yet from what I've seen, so upcoming reviews of this model will be key. The Alpha A9 III goes on pre-order tomorrow for $6,000, with a vertical grip available for $400 — but won't arrive until next spring. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-sony-a9-iii-is-the-fastest-full-frame-camera-ever-thanks-to-a-global-stacked-sensor-175522418.html?src=rss

Samsung’s 32-inch Smart Monitor M80C is down to $400 in an early Black Friday deal

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Samsung's Smart Monitor M80C is one of the more unique monitors on the market, as it blends a 4K display for your computer with the features of a small smart TV and smart home hub. We've seen this latest model in the Smart Monitor series go on sale a few times since it arrived in June, but right now the 32-inch M80C is down to $400 at Amazon with an on-page coupon. We could always see a better deal on Black Friday, but for now this is the lowest price we've seen and roughly $200 below the display's average street price in recent months. Other stores like Best Buy, B&H and Samsung.com have the monitor for $100 more (though you can also get it for $400 at Best Buy if you subscribe to the retailer's My Best Buy Plus service). This deal applies to the white colorway. 

You'd buy a Samsung Smart Monitor for its versatility first and foremost. The display comes with a remote and runs on Samsung's Tizen OS, the same as you'd find on the company's smart TVs, so you can access streaming apps like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and others without having to turn on your computer. You can also stream cloud games using the Xbox app and Nvidia GeForce Now or beam content directly from an iPhone via AirPlay. The Bixby and Alexa voice assistants are both built in and, since the monitor also works as a SmartThings hub, you can use it to control compatible smart home devices. There's a detachable webcam and two built-in speakers as well; neither is great, but they should work in a pinch. The whole thing is a relatively minor upgrade over last year's M80B monitor, though it now has a full-size HDMI port instead of micro-HDMI, plus two USB-A ports and a 65W USB-C port. 

That said, this is still a "jack of all trades, master of none" situation. The 4K resolution keeps it sharp, but the M80C is limited to a basic 60Hz refresh rate and lacks local dimming. It's also a VA panel, which gives the monitor decent contrast but means the image will wash out when viewed from an angle. Other reviews suggest that the M80C can get decently bright, though you shouldn't expect an especially vibrant picture with HDR content. And while the monitor itself looks clean and supports basic adjustments, this discounted model isn't VESA-mountable. 

All of this means the M80C is a bit of a niche device. If you don't care about its bonus features, you can find better values in our guides to the best monitors and gaming monitors. You can replicate many of those extra perks directly from a PC, after all. But if you want a monitor that doubles as a small TV for your home office, it should be a decent value at this price.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-32-inch-smart-monitor-m80c-is-down-to-400-in-an-early-black-friday-deal-155149266.html?src=rss

The 12 best retro gaming gifts for the 2025 holidays

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As the future of physical media looks increasingly grim, it feels like more and more gaming enthusiasts are turning to the classics, back to a time when buying a game meant actually owning it, and the games themselves were more willing to be complete thoughts rather than endless services. If you know someone who has fallen down the old-games rabbit hole, we’ve rounded up a few retro-themed gift ideas that should delight this holiday season, from video upscalers to portable consoles to vintage wall art.

Because they’re fun! Or because video game companies have generally had a spotty record of preserving their own history — and (legally) saving art, even in a minuscule way, is important. Or because, deep down, collectors just want to stave off the ceaseless march of time and hang onto any way to relive their youth before it dissipates for good. Or because they’re jaded with modern game design and crave shorter, more distinct or altogether different experiences that aren’t being served by today’s market. Or because they want to flip the games they collect for a quick buck on eBay. Or because… well, you get the idea. — J.D.

To put it simply: supply and demand. Companies aren’t making old games and consoles any more, yet a growing number of gaming enthusiasts want them. And as retro game collecting has grown more popular, sellers have become more acutely aware of how high they can price their goods. Not every retro game costs an arm and a leg, however: Popular games from relatively recent consoles are usually more affordable than lesser-selling titles for older hardware, and you can still find a good bargain every now and then by digging through local yard sales, individual eBay sellers and the like. — J.D.

It depends on how you define “good.” Is it a good idea to buy a bunch of old games in the hopes that their value will skyrocket and make you a tidy profit? No, there’s little rhyme or reason to determining exactly which games will shoot up in value and by how much. There are much safer ways to invest if all you care about are financial returns. Is it a good idea to drop a bunch of cash on 40-year-old video games if you have pressing financial responsibilities? Probably not! But hey, it’s your life. If collecting retro games makes you happy, and you can budget for them within reason, that’s a good thing. Have fun. — J.D.

There’s no set definition for when a video game becomes “retro.” Personally, I think of it as any game that’s at least 10 years old and was originally released on a console that’s two or more generations old (or, for PC games, during that generation). But many others would stretch the timeline back farther, and the growing advent of “live service” games has complicated things. For instance, Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013, while World of Warcraft arrived in 2004 — are those “retro games” when millions of people still play them today? Maybe not. With games from the ‘90s or earlier, though, the distinction is clearer. — J.D.

Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-12-best-retro-gaming-gifts-for-the-2025-holidays-140016618.html?src=rss

Microsoft will let Xbox game makers use AI tools for story design and NPCs

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Xbox has teamed up with a startup called Inworld AI to create a generative AI toolset that developers can use to create games. It's a multi-year collaboration, which the Microsoft-owned brand says can "assist and empower creators in dialogue, story and quest design." Specifically, the partners are looking to develop an "AI design copilot" that can turn prompts into detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests and other game elements in the same way people can type ideas into generative AI chatbots and get detailed scripts in return. They're also going to work on an "AI character runtime engine" that developers can plug into their actual games, allowing players to generate new stories, quests and dialogues as they go. 

On Inworld's website, it says its technology can "craft characters with distinct personalities and contextual awareness that stay in-world." Apparently, it can provide developers with a "fully integrated character engine for AI NPCs that goes beyond large language models (LLMs)." The image above was from the Droid Maker tool it developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm's storytelling studio ILM Immersive when it was accepted into the Disney Accelerator program. As Kotaku notes, though, the company's tech has yet to ship with a major game release, and it has mostly been used for mods. 

Developers are understandably wary about these upcoming tools. There are growing concerns among creatives about companies using their work to train generative AI without permission — a group of authors, including John Grisham and George R.R. Martin, even sued OpenAI, accusing the company of infringing on their copyright. And then, of course, there's the ever-present worry that developers could decide to lay off writers and designers to cut costs. 

Xbox believes, however, that these tools can "help make it easier for developers to realize their visions, try new things, push the boundaries of gaming today and experiment to improve gameplay, player connection and more." In the brand's announcement, Haiyan Zhang, General Manager of Gaming AI, said: "We will collaborate and innovate with game creators inside Xbox studios as well as third-party studios as we develop the tools that meet their needs and inspire new possibilities for future games."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-will-let-xbox-game-makers-use-ai-tools-for-story-design-and-npcs-083027899.html?src=rss

Lucid EVs will be able to access Tesla’s Superchargers starting in 2025

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Lucid's electric vehicles will be able to plug into over 15,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America starting in 2025. The automaker is the latest entry in the growing list of companies pledging to support the North American Charging Standard (NACS), also known as the Tesla charging standard. Lucid will give customers access to a NACS adapter for its current vehicles, which are equipped with the Combined Charging System (CCS), in 2025. The company intends to start building NACS ports into its EVs within the same year, as well, so that newer models no longer need to use adapters.

Ford was the first automaker to announce this year that it was going to give its customers access to Superchargers after the White House convinced Tesla to share its charging network with vehicles from other companies. In the months after that, Mercedes, Volvo, Polestar, Honda, Toyota (and Lexus), BMW, Hyundai and Subaru revealed that they will also give their customers access to NACS adapters and will ultimately incorporate the standard into their vehicles over the next two years. 

As TechCrunch notes, Lucid vehicles use a 900-volt charging architecture, which became the basis of a Lucid Air promotion that called it the "fastest charging electric vehicle ever." At the moment, most Superchargers are rated at around 500 volts, and that means charging times won't be as fast as the company promises. That said, Tesla has started deploying V4 Superchargers that offer higher voltage charging in the US, and supporting NACS could convince potential customers in the region to purchase Lucid EVs. As company CEO Peter Rawlinson said, "[a]dopting NACS is an important next step to providing [its] customers with expanded access to reliable and convenient charging solutions for their Lucid vehicles."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lucid-evs-will-be-able-to-access-teslas-superchargers-starting-in-2025-055045292.html?src=rss