Tag Archives: author_name|Matt Tate

Alexa+ is coming to BMW vehicles

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Amazon is gradually rolling out its next-generation Alexa assistant within its own product ecosystem, but the latest recipient of Alexa+ is BMW. Amazon has announced the latest version of Alexa Custom Assistant, the platform that allows companies (including BMW) to build their own AI assistants that leverage Alexa tech, which will be powered by Alexa+ going forward.

With Alexa+ architecture working under the hood, drivers will benefit from a more natural, conversational style of in-vehicle interactions, while making use of the assistant’s more comprehensive agentic capabilities and ability to deal with more complex instructions than it could previously. Alexa+ can access more than 70 large language models (LLM), and Amazon has promised that any conversation you’ve had with one of its home devices can be continued in the car.

BMW was already using Alexa Custom Assistant as the foundation of its in-vehicle voice assistant tech, which it calls the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA), and it’ll be the first car manufacturer to get access to Alexa+. At CES 2024, the two companies also debuted a new feature that effectively allows Alexa to absorb the driver’s manual so it can answer any question about your car in real-time.

BMW has gone all in on Amazon’s ecosystem, with its connected features also powered by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform. The new Alexa Custom Assistant will come to select BMW models soon, but we don't currently have any specifics as to the exact date or which vehicles will get it. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-is-coming-to-bmw-vehicles-161455252.html?src=rss

The AI-powered Stream Ring is designed for on-the-fly voice notes

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Two former Meta employees are launching a new AI-powered smart ring. Stream Ring is the debut product from Sandbar, and it’s available to pre-order right now. Sandbar describes Stream as "your extended self," which is to say that it’s a deliberately minimalist smart ring that you can use to take voice notes and interact with a chatbot directly using the built-in touch-activated microphone.

When you create a voice note, the Stream Ring uses haptic feedback to confirm that it’s been recorded. You hold the sensor to speak and tap it if you want to interrupt and start over. It can automatically transcribe your voice interactions, whether you’re simply compiling a grocery list on the go, asking it to fetch some information from the web, or having a more back-and-forth conversation with the device. These notes will appear in the Stream app via Bluetooth, which will be iOS-only at launch.

Sandbar thinks a ring is the best form for its wearable to take as it’s always available and accessible, whatever you’re doing, so you easily can log a thought as soon as it pops into your head. It wants people to think of the Stream Ring as a "mouse for voice," and says the mic will always be able to pick up your voice clearly in a noisy room. Crucially, it isn’t always listening either, only activating when you hold the touchpad.

As for the chatbot, it’s designed by default to somewhat mimic your own voice using AI, a feature Sandbar calls Inner Voice. You can update it if you think it sounds off, or if the whole concept creeps you out you can also switch to a non-personalized voice. Away from the core voice note functionality, the Stream Ring can also be used to control media playback using gestures, and Sandbar says it’s compatible with any headphones.

Sandbar will offer a free plan that includes unlimited notes but limits AI interactions. For $10 per month you can upgrade to a Stream Pro subscription (you get three months for free with a new purchase), which enables unlimited chats and immediate access to any new features. Sandbar says your data is encrypted at rest and in transit and it will not sell your information to other companies. You can also delete data stored in the app at any time.

Other smart rings have promised a seamless interactive experience built around AI, and the Stream Ring isn’t going down the health tracking route that many other products in this increasingly crowded space market themselves on. But if the transcription feature works as reliably as advertised and Sandbar’s AI proves to be a genuinely useful assistant, the Stream Ring could be a useful accessory that doesn’t get in the way when it isn’t needed.

The Stream Ring is available in sizes 5-13 and is designed to be worn on your index finger. Sandbar promises "all-day battery life" but doesn’t go into specifics. It’s expected to start shipping next summer in the US and costs $249.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-ai-powered-stream-ring-is-designed-for-on-the-fly-voice-notes-143530840.html?src=rss

The MPA tells Meta to stop using PG-13 to describe teen accounts

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The Motion Picture Association doesn’t share Meta’s view that the content people under the age of 18 might encounter on an Instagram Teen Account is comparable to what you might find in a PG-13 movie. The MPA has reportedly hit Mark Zuckerberg’s company with a cease-and-desist letter that objects to Meta’s use of the term "PG-13."

To rewind, Meta revamped its teen-specific accounts — which were first introduced last year — last month, claiming that going forward the account content would be guided by PG-13 movie ratings. In a blog post explaining the change, it said: "Just like you might see some suggestive content or hear some strong language in a PG-13 movie, teens may occasionally see something like that on Instagram — but we’re going to keep doing all we can to keep those instances as rare as possible."

As Engadget’s Karissa Bell pointed out at the time, while Meta openly acknowledged that no system is without its flaws, the analogy is a bit vague and confusing, especially as the company has tightened up some of its rules so that teens are no longer supposed to see any "sexually suggestive" content on the app. This is despite content of that nature often being present in a PG-13 movie.

In the cease-and-desist letter that The Wall Street Journal claims to have seen, the MPA has called Meta’s use of its ratings system in describing how the new teen account restrictions work "literally false and highly misleading." It said that the established movie-ratings system is not comparable to Meta’s system, which it added appears to "rely heavily on artificial intelligence." It also warned that potential issues with Meta’s classification metrics would "inevitably cause the public to question the integrity of the MPA’s rating system."

Meta did also directly reference the PG-13 ratings system in its blog post when discussing its AI experiences, where it said that teens interacting with chatbots would not receive "age-inappropriate responses that would feel out of place in a PG-13 movie." Meta told the WSJ that the changes were intended to make it easier for parents to understand its content policies by measuring them against something familiar, and that it was aware that "social media isn’t the same as movies." Responding to the cease-and-desist letter, it said that it never tried to claim or imply any official PG-13 certification from the MPA.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-mpa-tells-meta-to-stop-using-pg-13-to-describe-teen-accounts-174251843.html?src=rss

You can now stream PS5 games you own over the cloud on the PlayStation Portal

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Slowly but surely, Sony has been transforming the initially limited PlayStation Portal into a viable handheld for PS5 gamers, albeit only those with a solid internet connection. What launched as a strictly remote play device eventually got unlocked for cloud streaming, with PS Plus Premium members able to play select Game Catalog games without needing to connect to a PS5. And from 6am PT today, you can also stream select digital PS5 games that you own on the Portal.

Again, you’ll need to have a PS Plus Premium membership to take advantage of the new features, but once signed up to the most expensive tier of Sony’s subscription service you’ll be able to stream the likes of Astro Bot, Borderlands 4, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Ghost of Yotei, which are among the the thousands of games supported at launch. Naturally some of the games in your library will probably be on PS Plus as cloud-streamable games already, but newer first-party games like several of those mentioned above aren't. 

You could, of course, already also play all of these games on the Portal over remote play from your PS5. But now that the device has been untethered from the main console, it gets a little bit closer to the dedicated go-anywhere PlayStation handheld everyone wants. That's provided you have a decent enough Wi-Fi connection to get a good quality stream.

Alongside the new cloud streaming functionality, the Portal has a new home screen that adds a search tab for quickly finding games that are available to stream. The latest update also adds 3D audio support for supported games on both remote play and cloud streams when using wired headphones or one of Sony’s proprietary PlayStation Link headsets. You can also now add a passcode lock to the device, while a new network status screen is available in the Quick menu.

Sony now allows you to make in-game purchases while streaming games over the cloud without leaving a session, and if you have a friend playing the same game you’re streaming, you can receive invites and join their game from the Quick menu.

Sony seems intent on the PlayStation Portal plugging the gap between now and the PS6, which could reportedly arrive in the next two years alongside a powerful complementary handheld device that might beat out the ROG Xbox Ally X in the specs department. A next-generation native PlayStation handheld remains the dream, but in the meantime, the Portal is a lot more appealing than it was a few years ago. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/you-can-now-stream-ps5-games-you-own-over-the-cloud-on-the-playstation-portal-135025829.html?src=rss

Netflix is reportedly going big on video podcasts for 2026

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2026 is seemingly going to be the year that Netflix gets aggressive with podcasting. We already knew that the streamer will start licensing video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer in the new year, and according to a new report, agents at leading talent agencies are being sounded out ahead of a Q1 push.

Sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that Netflix has sent “dozens of requests" to agents at WME, UTA and CAA as it looks to add more video podcasts to the platform. The plan is that the company launches its video podcast offering in early 2026, by which time it wants to have a library of shows with existing audiences.

This comes after Bloomberg reported this week that Netflix is also in licensing talks with iHeartMedia, which is one of the largest podcasts publishers in the world and makes shows like Stuff You Should Know and The Breakfast Club. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Netflix wants an exclusivity deal that would mean featured shows would no longer be uploaded to YouTube. The latter is Spotify’s biggest rival in the space, and passed one billion monthly active podcast viewers at the start of 2025.

The Spotify deal Netflix penned last month includes nine sports podcasts at launch, among them The Bill Simmons Podcast and The Zach Lowe Show. Other video podcasts coming to the streaming service include Serial Killers and The Ringer’s The Rewatchables.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-is-reportedly-going-big-on-video-podcasts-for-2026-133025499.html?src=rss

UK High Court sides with Stability AI over Getty in copyright case

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Stability AI has partially succeeded in defending itself against accusations of copyright infringement. As reported by The Guardian, Stability AI prevailed in a high-profile UK High Court case, following Getty first suing the company in 2023 for allegedly using its copyright images to train its Stable Diffusion AI art tool without permission.

Getty’s original claim was that Stability AI had unlawfully copied and processed millions of protected images for training purposes, therefore abusing the rights of the original creators. However, the Seattle-based company eventually withdrew its claims of primary copyright infringement as it reportedly could offer no evidence that unauthorized copying for the training of Stable Diffusion had taken place in the UK.

Today’s ruling concerns claims of secondary infringement, to which the High Court judge, Justice Joanna Smith, ruled that "an AI model such as Stable Diffusion which does not store or reproduce any copyright works (and has never done so) is not an 'infringing copy'" under UK law. This was despite the ruling finding some evidence of Getty’s images being used by Stability, as evidenced by the presence of the former’s watermark. While the judge sided with Getty on some of its claims, she said that the evidence was "both historic and extremely limited in scope."

The High Court ruling likely won’t fill companies and creators concerned about AI-related copyright infringement with a huge amount of optimism, but unsurprisingly, both Getty and Stability AI have been quick to celebrate their respective victories. Getty's statement reads, in part:

Today’s ruling confirms that Stable Diffusion’s inclusion of Getty Images’ trademarks in AI‑generated outputs infringed those trademarks. Crucially, the Court rejected Stability AI’s attempt to hold the user responsible for that infringement, confirming that responsibility for the presence of such trademarks lies with the model provider, who has control over the images used to train the model. This is a significant win for intellectual property owners. The ruling delivered another key finding; that, wherever the training and development did take place, Getty Images' copyright‑protected works were used to train Stable Diffusion. The ruling also established a powerful precedent that intangible articles, such as AI models, are subject to copyright infringement claims in the same way as tangible articles. We will be taking forward findings of fact from the UK ruling in our US case.

The company added that it was "deeply concerned" that even "well-resourced companies" remain at risk of infringement due to a "lack of transparent requirements." It also urged the UK government to build on the current laws around this issue. Christian Dowell, general counsel to Stability AI, said the final ruling from the court "ultimately resolves the copyright concerns that were the core issue."

The ruling comes just days after Getty announced a new agreement with Perplexity AI that permits the latter to access Getty’s huge media library as part of its search and discovery tools. In a press release, Getty said a condition of the licensing deal was Perplexity committing to "making improvements on how it displays imagery, including image credit with link to source, to better educate users on how to use licensed imagery legally."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/uk-high-court-sides-with-stability-ai-over-getty-in-copyright-case-180029461.html?src=rss

Alexa+ comes to the Amazon Music app

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Amazon has launched its new and improved AI assistant in the Amazon Music app. From today, anyone signed up to Alexa+ Early Access with the latest version of the app downloaded to their iOS or Android device can start using Amazon’s reimagined virtual assistant for music discovery and organizing their libraries.

To access the chatbot, you tap the “A” button in the lower right corner of the screen when Amazon Music is open. You can then test its knowledge by asking it a range of questions, from something as basic as finding a recently released song by a particular artist, to more complex searches based on a single lyric or the name of the TV show the song you’re trying to find is featured in.

Alexa+ is designed for more conversational interactions, so you can use natural language prompts and then ask follow-up questions as you would if you were talking to a friend, to narrow down its search results. Amazon says you can search for specific eras, moods and instruments, as well as telling Alexa what you don’t want it to serve up.

Alexa+ can also be used for playlist creation, allowing you to request something as specific as a high-energy running playlist with songs from a particular decade that starts with a song from a certain artist. You can also be more vague, asking for something that fits your current mood or the time of day.

Alexa+ in Amazon Music is being marketed not only as an AI tastemaker and personal DJ, but also a music expert, so you can ask it things like the inspiration for a song’s lyrics, where an album charted and questions about upcoming live performances.

Alexa+ has been gradually rolling out in Amazon’s various smart devices since the beginning of the year, with mixed results. You’ll be using it in everything from new Ring devices, to the latest Kindles and Vega, Amazon’s new smart TV operating system. It’s also built into the new Echo Studio speaker, and Engadget’s Billy Steele was impressed by the AI assistant’s more human-like conversation skills, even if it’s still prone to basic errors right now, such as getting the day of the week wrong in a response.

Alexa+ is currently available in Early Access for all tiers of Amazon Music. Eventually it’ll be free to all Prime members, and available to non-Prime members for $20 per month (more than an Amazon Prime subscription on its own).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/alexa-comes-to-the-amazon-music-app-143234227.html?src=rss

Perplexity signs deal to use Getty Images

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Perplexity AI has agreed to a multi-year licensing partnership with Getty Images that will allow its users to access the latter’s extensive library of images. Leveraging Getty’s API, Perplexity will integrate the visual media distributor’s huge collection of stock and editorial imagery within its AI search and discovery tools, with correct attribution being a key part of the agreement.

In a press release, Getty said that Perplexity will be "making improvements on how it displays imagery, including image credit with link to source, to better educate users on how to use licensed imagery legally." As generative AI tools become more widely accessible, thorny issues around copyright and attribution have been the source of a number of lawsuits, no shortage of which have been targeted at Perplexity.

In August, the company was sued by two Japanese media groups, Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun, for allegedly copying and storing article content from the pair’s servers illicitly, as well as crediting them with inaccurate information Perplexity supplied. It was also one of four companies sued by Reddit earlier this month for allegedly using scraped data without the correct license. Even the dictionary has taken the AI company to court.

Getty itself has bumped up against AI many times on the road to its new deal with Perplexity. Back in 2022 the company outright banned AI-generated art on its platform due the legal murkiness around copyright, and it later sued the AI art tool Stable Diffusion over for allegedly copying and processing millions of protected images from its collection.

On the Perplexity agreement, Getty Images’ Vice President Strategic Development, Nick Unsworth, said that "partnerships such as this support AI platforms to increase the quality and accuracy of information delivered to consumers, ultimately building a more engaging and reliable experience."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexity-signs-deal-to-use-getty-images-152343900.html?src=rss

Google brings free Gemini access to India’s largest carrier

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Google’s AI ambitions are global in scale, so much so that it has just agreed to give Gemini away for free in India to people using the country's biggest mobile provider. Thanks to a deal with Reliance Intelligence, an AI-focused subsidiary of Reliance Industries, people signed up to Jio’s Unlimited 5G plan will be offered Google AI Pro at no extra cost for 18 months.

That means that qualifying users will have access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, Google’s most advanced AI model. They will also benefit from higher limits for the Nano Banana and Veo 3.1 AI image and video generators, plus expanded access to NotebookLM. The plan also includes 2TB of cloud storage across Google’s apps, for a total combined worth of around 35,100 rupees ($396) per user.

The offer will initially be exclusive to Jio customers between the age of 18 and 25, but will eventually extend to all people on an eligible plan via the MyJio app. Jio is India's largest mobile network operator, and a company in which Google purchased a 7.7 percent stake worth $4.5 million in 2020.

India is fast becoming a key battleground for AI expansion. Back in July, Perplexity AI partnered with Bharti Airtel, Jio’s rival carrier, to offer a year-long Perplexity Pro subscription worth $200 to all of Airtel’s 360 million customers. OpenAI is also adopting an aggressive strategy in the country, recently debuting its cheapest ChatGPT subscription to date, at 390 rupee ($4.60), in India first. ChatGPT Go offers users 10 times more message limits, image generation and file uploads than the free version.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-brings-free-gemini-access-to-indias-largest-carrier-130627625.html?src=rss

US and China agree to one-year pause on punitive tariffs

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Donald Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, have agreed to a one-year pause on the punitive Trump-instated tariffs that are at the heart of the ongoing trade war between the two superpowers. Among the issues discussed when the two leaders met face-to-face in the South Korean city of Busan were China’s chokehold on rare earth metals and the export restrictions on NVIDIA’s AI chips.

Trump had previously made some characteristically explosive threats that he would impose new 100 percent tariffs on imports from China as a retaliation to Xi’s tightening grip on rare earths, the processing of which is almost entirely controlled by China. These materials are essential for manufacturing everything from smartphones and EVs to military equipment. As part of the (for now) temporary truce, China reportedly agreed to pause the new measures for the next 12 months in exchange for Trump lowering Chinese tariffs by 10 percent.

According to The New York Times, Trump said he had discussed semiconductors during his talks with Xi, and “did not rule out” the possibility of allowing NVIDIA to sell AI chips to China. The American company was allowed to resume selling its H20 chips in China in July after an initial ban earlier in the year, only for Beijing to reportedly respond by instructing its largest tech companies not to do business until a national security review had been completed. The leaders did not discuss the possible availability of Blackwell chips — NVIDIA’s most advanced AI chip to date that is currently in development and possibly a motivating factor in China’s apparent indifference to the H20 architecture — at their meeting in South Korea.

There was also no resolution on TikTok and its future in the US. The last we heard, the Trump administration claimed to be close to agreement that would see the US gain majority ownership of the Chinese-owned social media giant where it was operating on home soil, but nothing has been finalized at the time of writing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us---china-trade-talks-see-one-year-pause-on-punitive-tariffs-140550358.html?src=rss