There’s a new fix available for certain iPhones and iPads that addresses issues with recording and password security. Apple released two new patches including iOS 18.0.1 for iPhones and iPadOS 18.0.1, according to the support website. The update also finally allows users with an M4-powered iPad to upgrade to iOS 18, after the initial version was pulled for bricking users’ devices.
The patch fixes recording issues with all of the iPhone 16 models in the Messages app. The iPhone’s microphone would accidentally start recording a few seconds before becoming activated with the orange microphone icon.
The password patch fixes an issue in which the VoiceOver function may read a saved password aloud. The patch works for iPhone XS and later as well as iPad Pro 13-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (third generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (first generation and later), iPad Air (third generation and later), iPad (seventh generation and later) and iPad mini (fifth generation and later).
If you own one of these devices, you can download the new patches by going to the Software Updates tab in the General section of your Settings app.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/new-ios-update-fixes-microphone-and-password-problems-173339119.html?src=rss
Meta has spent the last few years saying that “young adults” are crucial to the future of Facebook. Now, the company is introducing a number of changes to its 20-year-old social network in an effort to get younger users to spend more time in the app.
The updates include a new “local” section in the Facebook app that aims to surface information relevant to your local community, a renewed focus on events planned on the service and a new “Communities” feature for Messenger. The changes, Meta claims, will help young adults “explore their interests and connect with the world beyond their close friends.”
Emphasizing events isn’t an entirely new strategy for the company. It launched a standalone events app in 2016 and then rebranded it a year later to focus on “local” businesses and happenings. It quietly killed the app in 2021.
Meta is taking a slightly different approach this time. The new “local” section will surface Marketplace listings, Reels and posts from Facebook groups alongside event listings from your community. Local news, which Meta has also previously boosted, is notably absent Meta’s announcement.
In addition to the local tab, the company is also trying to make events more prominent in Facebook. Facebook will now provide personalized event recommendations in the form of a weekly and weekend digest that will be pushed to users via in-app notifications. The company is also changing how invitations to Facebook events work so users can send invites to their connections on Instagram and via SMS and email.
Groups on Facebook, which Meta has said is among the most-used features by young adults, is also getting attention in this update. Meta is experimenting with a “a customizable Group AI” that allows admins to create a bot that can chat with members to answer questions based on posts that have been shared in the group. Elsewhere in the app, Meta is starting to test an Instagram-like Explore section and a dedicated space for Reels inside of Facebook.
On Messenger, Meta is adding a new “Communities” feature, a concept it previously introduced on WhatsApp. Communities allows “small to medium-sized” groups to organize their conversations and interact in a way that’s more like a Facebook group. Members can create topic-based chats and there are built in moderation and admin tools for controlling who can join.
The changes are part of a broader effort by Meta to bring younger people back to its app with features tailored around how they use social media. “Facebook is still for everyone, but in order to build for the next generation of social media consumers, we’ve made significant changes with young adults in mind,” the Facebook app’s head, Tom Alison, wrote in May.
Whether Meta’s latest efforts will be successful, though, is unclear. The company says there are more than 40 million young adults on Facebook in the US and Canada, a number that’s “the highest it’s been in more than 3 years.” But that’s still a relatively small percentage of its total users in the region and an even tinier slice of its users overall.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/facebook-is-pushing-local-content-and-events-to-try-to-win-back-young-adults-161742961.html?src=rss
OpenAI has debuted a new workspace interface for ChatGPT called Canvas. The AI giant unveiled its new ChatGPT workspace on its official blog and immediately made it available for ChatGPT Plus and Team users. Enterprise and Edu users will be able to access Canvas sometime next week.
Canvas is a virtual interface space for writing and coding projects that allows users to consult with ChatGPT on certain portions of a project. A separate window opens besides the main chat space and users can put writing or code on this new “canvas” and highlight sections to have the model focus on and edit “like a copy editor or code reviewer,” according to the blog.
Canvas can either be opened manually by typing “use canvas” in your prompt. Canvas can also automatically open when it “detects a scenario in which it could be helpful,” according to the blog post. There are also several shortcuts that can be used for writing and coding projects. For writing projects, users can ask ChatGPT for suggested edits or length adjustments, or ask it to change the reading level of a block of text, from graduate school level down to kindergarten. It can also add "relevant emojis for emphasis and color."
Coders can have ChatGPT review their code and add inline suggestions for improvements. It can also mark up your work with logs and comments to aid in debugging and make understanding your code easier. It's also capable of fixing bugs and port coding to a different language such as JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, C++ or PHP in Canvas mode.
OpenAI’s Canvas feature brings ChatGPT in line with other AI assistants that have separate workspaces to focus on certain areas of a project like Anthropic's Artifacts and the coding focused AI model Cursor.
Update, October 4, 12:55PM ET: This story was edited after publishing to include more context on the code and text functionality of the Canvas feature.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-rolls-out-canvas-its-newest-chatgpt-interface-230335185.html?src=rss
Gemini Live, Google’s AI chatbot you can talk to like a person, is about to support more languages. The company is rolling out support for the generative AI virtual assistant in over 40 languages in the coming weeks.
Gemini Live is Google’s take on “free-flowing, natural conversations” in this new generative AI era. You can use it for things like brainstorming for events, diving down learning rabbit holes or practicing for job interview questions (and receiving real-time feedback). Although Google describes it as like talking with a friend, I’m unsure how many would do all of that.
Additionally, the tool will let you chat in two languages on the same device, and further expansion of supported languages is in the works. Multi-language support will also work with Gemini integrations for other Google apps and services, like Google Calendar, Tasks, Keep and Utilities.
You can set your preferred language(s) in the Android app. In the Google app, go to Settings > Google Assistant > Languages, and choose your first preference. If you want a second one, there’s an option below that to “Add a language.”
You’ll need an Android phone to use it. Google hasn’t yet announced any plans to bring Gemini Live to iPhone. At least for now, the company seemingly prefers to use it to attract folks to its own mobile platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-will-expand-gemini-live-to-over-40-languages-in-the-coming-weeks-194521661.html?src=rss
This February, NVIDIA released a one-stop graphical adjustments app in beta, succinctly named the NVIDIA App. The app isn’t a direct replacement for the existing GeForce Experience app since it also lets you install other NVIDIA apps like GeForce NOW (cloud gaming) and NVIDIA Broadcast (improved streaming experience), which GeForce Experience isn’t capable of. However, the latest NVIDIA App updates are slowly attempting to combine the two experiences into one, as the company announced today.
For most gamers with NVIDIA GPUs, GeForce Experience is the most common option for adjusting game graphical settings, updating drivers, and some other quick settings. The new NVIDIA App can do all of that and more, such as activating AI-powered ray-tracing filters for supported games. It also features a new in-game overlay, among other features.
One of the additions in today’s update is RTX HDR multi-monitor support. Those who own multiple HDR-certified monitors can now enable HDR on them simultaneously. You can also now configure G-Sync with the NVIDIA App, something you previously could only do with the NVIDIA Control Panel, which can be confusing to navigate to some people.
Most importantly, NVIDIA is now working hard to integrate more Control Panel features into the NVIDIA app. Once the app exits beta around the end of the year, the company plans to migrate all GeForce Experience users to the new app. For now, users are highly encouraged to provide feedback.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-nvidia-app-currently-in-beta-will-replace-geforce-experience-soon-152853070.html?src=rss
Juno, a widely praised (unofficial) YouTube app for Vision Pro, has been removed from Apple’s App Store after complaints from Google, according to an update from Juno’s developer Christian Selig. Google, Selig says, suggested that his app violates their trademark.
It’s the latest setback for Selig, who shut down his popular Reddit client Apollo last year after the company changed its developer policies to charge for use of its API. The shutdown of Apollo and other apps like it ignited a sitewide protest from Reddit users and moderators.
This time, Selig says he doesn’t want drama, noting the $5 app was a “hobby project” for him to tinker with developing for visionOS. “I really enjoyed building Juno, but it was always something I saw as fundamentally a little app I built for fun,” Selig wrote on his website. “Because of that, I have zero desire to spin this into a massive fight akin to what happened with Reddit years ago.”
It’s unclear what aspect of Juno may have been the issue. Selig says that Google referenced its “trademarks and iconography” in a message to Apple, “stating that Juno does not adhere to YouTube guidelines and modifies the website” in a way that’s not permitted. “I don’t personally agree with this, as Juno is just a web view, and acts as little more than a browser extension that modifies CSS to make the website and video player look more ‘visionOS’ like,” Selig explains. “No logos are placed other than those already on the website, and the ‘for YouTube’ suffix is permitted in their branding guidelines.”
Google hasn’t made its own YouTube app for Vision Pro, though the company said in February such an app was “on our roadmap.” The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Selig says that people who have already paid for the app should be able to keep using it for the time being, though there’s a chance a future YouTube update could end up bricking it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/google-allegedly-got-the-juno-youtube-app-removed-from-the-vision-pro-app-store-232155656.html?src=rss
Meta has been steadily improving Threads’ compatibility with the fediverse over the last year. Now, the company is taking another significant step with an update that allows users to see more details about their followers and interactions with people from other servers across the fediverse.
Up to now, Threads has surfaced replies from Mastodon and other servers, and has alerted users to likes on their posts from other fediverse apps. But there was no way for a Threads user to see details about their followers from those services. That’s now changing, Adam Mosseri explained in a post.
With the update, anyone who has opted-in to fediverse sharing on Threads will be able to see a detailed list of their followers from other servers and view their profiles. This will give people on Threads a better sense of their reach and audience on Mastodon and other apps.
Threads’ fediverse support is still somewhat limited overall. Users still can’t reply to replies that originate on apps outside of Threads, and there’s no way to search for people on other servers from Threads. There’s also still a delay in cross-posting; it will now take 15 minutes for a post from Threads to appear as Meta also expanded the edit window for posts.
Elsewhere, third-party developers are also making it easier for users who want to post on multiple decentralized services. A new app called Croissant enables cross-posting to Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky all at once. The paid app, first spotted byTechCrunch, aims to replicate the functionality of enterprise social media management apps like Buffer.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-will-show-how-many-followers-you-have-in-the-fediverse-215441432.html?src=rss
It’s been a disastrous few months for Sonos after the company botched a major overhaul of its mobile app. In an effort to win back users’ trust, the company has laid out a plan that includes several new commitments.
“Our priority since its release has been — and continues to be — fixing the app. There were missteps, and we first went deep to understand how we got here, and then moved to convert those learnings into action,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said in a statement. “We are committed to making changes to get us back to being the brand people love by offering the best audio system for the home and beyond.”
There are two pillars that Sonos’ latest plan is based on: tackling the core causes of the app’s problems (it wasn’t fully ready and lacked critical features) and winning back users’ trust. In the first instance, Sonos is promising an "unwavering focus on the customer experience." That nebulous commitment involves deciding on "ambitious quality benchmarks" at the beginning of a product development cycle and not releasing products before those standards are met.
The company will appoint a quality ombudsperson, who will be a point of contact for employees who have quality and customer experience concerns. Sonos leadership will consult this person during the development process and before any product rollouts. The ombudsperson will deliver a semi-annual report to the executives and employees as well.
Next, Sonos is planning to make its testing processes more stringent, such as by opening up its beta testing program to more types of users and different kinds of setups. Testing periods will be longer too. As such, Sonos thinks this will help it to address user concerns faster.
In addition, Sonos has pledged to roll out major changes to its app gradually. That way, users can provide feedback and let the company make tweaks before a significant update becomes the default for everyone. As for smaller-scoped features, there will be an opt-in toggle in the app for those who want to try them out on an experimental basis.
When it comes to earning consumers’ trust again, Sonos is making a trio of pledges. First, as a goodwill gesture, Sonos is extending the manufacturer warranty for all home speaker products (home theater gear and plug-in speakers) that are still under warranty. The company has promised to keep rolling out app updates between every two and four weeks in order to "optimize and enhance the software experience."
Last but not least, Sonos will set up a customer advisory board. This will provide the company with "feedback and insights from a customer perspective to help shape and improve our software and products before they are launched."
The company plans to implement all of these changes by the end of the year, though some of them are already in place. Sonos also notes that, unless it's able to rebuild trust with users and improve "the quality of the app experience," none of its executive leadership team members will receive an annual bonus for the fiscal year that commenced today. However, the company didn't spell out the parameters for meeting those goals.
The company debuted its new app in May in preparation for the debut of the Sonos Ace, its first set of headphones. However, to its detriment, Sonos rushed the rollout of the redesigned app. It was buggy and lacked several important and fundamental features, such as the ability to adjust alarms (it was possible, but inconvenient, to do that on the desktop app).
Sonos says that it has brought back over 80 percent of the app's missing features and it expects to have restored almost 100 percent in the coming weeks. It claims that "the reliability and speed of the app has improved with each release."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/heres-how-sonos-hopes-to-win-back-your-trust-after-its-app-debacle-144236940.html?src=rss
Now that we're a few years into Microsoft's obsession with AI and its Copilot assistant, it's clearer than ever that Windows 11's role is to show off the company's artificial intelligence prowess. At least, that's the message I took away from today's announcement that the Windows 11 2024 (version 24H2) update is now beginning to roll out. While the OS itself is getting a few new features, like long overdue File Explorer tweaks, Microsoft is far more eager to hype up new Copilot+ AI PC capabilities.
There's "Click to Do," which triggers Copilot to assist you with whatever is on your screen, like removing an object in the Photos app, or summarizing a long article. It's seemingly easy to use — just hold the Windows button down and click your target — and Microsoft says it'll offer contextually relevant tips. As with so many of the company’s AI features, you can think of Click to Do as an on-demand super-powered version of Clippy, its infamous software helper from years past. But since Click to Do appears at your whim, and there are actually some potentially useful AI features, it should hopefully be far less annoying than that damn paperclip.
Click to Do in Windows 11.
Microsoft
You'll also be able to upscale pictures in the Photos app by up to eight times their resolution. A slider will let you adjust precisely how much you'd like to increase the quality. This isn't particularly new—Adobe has its own AI-powered Super Resolution capability, as does the popular Mac photo editing app Pixelmator. But at least it's helpful to have it built directly into your OS. Generative AI-based fill and erase options are also coming to Paint, allowing you to remove objects or easily create new ones.
Microsoft has hinted at some AI-powered search improvements in the past, and it looks like those are finally arriving with the Windows 11 2024 update. Now you can find files using your own words, without worrying about esoteric search syntax. If you want to find pictures of your dog by the beach, you can just type that.
And of course, there's Recall, the company's debut Copilot+ feature for retrieving anything that happens on your computer. It was immediately criticized for being surprisingly insecure — researchers discovered that hackers could access the Recall screenshot database without administrator privilege. Microsoft immediately delayed Recall to revamp its security model: It's now making the feature completely opt-in, instead of flipping it on by default. Windows Hello biometric authentication is required to use Recall, and it's also encrypting the screenshot database and other interactions.
Recall timeline in Windows 11.
Microsoft
Last week, the company detailed more of its security methods, including using VBS Enclaves to further isolate Recall from hackers. David Weston, Microsoft's VP of OS and enterprise security, noted in a blog post that "you are always in control" of the Recall experience. That reassurance may not be enough for users turned off by Microsoft's initial security flubs, though. If anything, Recall's rollout was a clear example of how the company was cutting corners to move quickly and be seen as an AI industry leader.
"Copilot will be there for you, in your corner, by your side, and always strongly aligned with your interests.," Mustafa Suleyman, the company's head of AI, wrote in an overly enthusiastic blog post. "It understands the context of your life while safeguarding your privacy, data and security, remembering the details that are most helpful in any situation."
Security will undoubtedly be a major concern for Copilot users moving forward, and according to Microsoft's Windows head, Pavan Davuluri, the company has learned from its troubled Recall launch.
"Ultimately, users want to have confidence with anything happening with sensitive data caches," he said in a briefing with press, adding that he believes the company has "gone above and beyond" to create that confidence. He also acknowledged that AI features enable "new attacks and defenses." For example, Windows has traditionally allowed administrator accounts to have total access to everything on a machine, but now users may want to see "additional rings of protection" with AI features.
The Surface Pro Copilot+ AI PC.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Davuluri stressed that community feedback helped Microsoft make Recall more secure for users, and the company will continue listening as it carefully rolls out more AI-infused capabilities. That's also why all of the above Copilot+ features won't be rolling out to everyone immediately — they'll be available to Windows Insiders first, and then arrive via a phased rollout to "select devices and markets" in November. The Windows 11 2024 update will also have a staggered rollout starting today. If you're eager to snag it, make sure you've enabled "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" in Windows Update.
And what about features from this Windows 11 update that don't require Copilot+ PCs? They appear at the tail-end of Davuluri's blog post today, almost as an afterthought: There's Wi-Fi 7 support, HDR backgrounds, Energy Saver improvements to prolong battery life and better hearing aid support using Bluetooth LE. They sound like the Windows upgrades we used to see before Microsoft became completely AI-pilled, but they're certainly not as exciting as something like Click to Do.
Of course, that's all intentional. If you want to join the Copilot+ AI PC party, you'll probably have to get a new computer. And that's precisely what Microsoft and PC makers want.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/microsoft-delivers-new-copilot-ai-pc-features-with-windows-11s-2024-update-140048807.html?src=rss
Beyond debuting new features for Copilot+ AI PCs and Windows 11's 2024 update, Microsoft is also giving its Copilot AI a makeover on the web, mobile and desktop. That includes a slightly friendlier interface wherever you access it, along with new capabilities like Copilot Voice, which allows you to talk conversationally with the AI assistant. Ultimately, Microsoft is aiming for Copilot to be seen as more than just a party trick for generative AI search and image creation — it's trying to make it a core part of your daily workflow.
That starts with a cleaner and simpler UI that makes Copilot look different than a boring old search engine. That new look hits Copilot on the web, iOS, Android and Windows today. You'll also be able to access Copilot from within Whatsapp, which could be useful if you want to avoid Meta's AI assistant.
Microsoft also plans to release more experimental AI features via Copilot Labs, similar to the way Google has given users access to early features with its own Labs. There's Copilot Vision, which lets the AI see everything you're viewing in Edge, and Think Deeper, a method for letting Copilot work harder on more complex dilemmas. Both features also have the potential to create new privacy and security issues, but Microsoft appears to have learned a bit from its messy rollout for Recall on Copilot+ PCs. Notably, these Copilot Labs offerings will only be available to people paying for Copilot Pro subscriptions.
Microsoft says Copilot Vision sessions are "opt-in and ephemeral," and nothing is stored for AI training. Any data related to your session is deleted once you're done. The feature also won't work on all websites, only a "limited list of popular websites." And Microsoft notes that Copilot only interprets images and text that you're seeing on a website; it's not doing any major content processing. The company also plans to take feedback from early users, refine safety measures and "keep privacy and responsibility at the center of everything we do."
There's no doubt that Microsoft has to re-establish trust with its users after the botched rollout for Recall, a feature that was meant to help you find anything you've done on your computer, but had some gaping security holes early on. "Ultimately, users want to have confidence with anything happening with sensitive data caches," Microsoft's Windows head, Pavan Davuluri, said when we asked him about the lessons the company learned from the Recall fiasco. He added that he believes the company has "gone above and beyond" to create that confidence by establishing new security standards for Recall.
Copilot Discover
Microsoft
There are less controversial features coming, as well: Copilot Daily uses Copilot Voice to delivery a summary of news, weather and potentially reminders about tasks every day. Based on the demos we've seen, it's a lot like an early morning podcast built just for you. Copilot Discover, meanwhile, will give you tips about AI features to use (pictured in the screenshot above), depending on Microsoft services you've used in the past.
Personally, I'm still a bit ambivalent about Microsoft's near-instant transformation into an AI company. That's particularly true since we're still dealing with inaccuracies and other issues from OpenAI's ChatGPT, which Microsoft relies on to power Copilot. These Copilot features seem a bit more useful than being a souped-up search engine, but the company still needs to prove it can build AI features with bulletproof security and privacy.
As with practically any AI product these days, Microsoft is also staggering the release of these Copilot features. Copilot Voice and Daily launch today, but Voice will only be available in English in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand. Copilot Daily, meanwhile, only works in the US and UK for now. Copilot Vision will head to Labs over the coming days for a "limited number" of Copilot Pro subscribers, while Think Deeper is available for Pro users in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsofts-copilot-ai-gets-a-voice-and-the-ability-to-see-websites-you-browse-140030003.html?src=rss