Tag Archives: Software

Apple Vision Pro features we’d love to see at WWDC 2024

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A year since Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, and about four months since its muted launch, the spatial computing headset still feels surprisingly undercooked. Simple features, like the ability to organize icons in the visionOS home screen, are nowhere to be found. Content that truly shows off the Vision Pro's immersive capabilities is still rare (the recent Marvel experience was just a glimpse of what's possible).

According to the latest report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company will show off visionOS 2 at its Worldwide Developers Conference ((WWDC 2024), but the update will mostly focus on polishing the Vision Pro experience. We can expect native Vision Pro versions of Apple software (right now the headset uses iPad versions of many apps), as well as a Passwords app and new environments. Apple's major AI push will also reportedly be called "Apple Intelligence," a cheeky way of colonizing the term "AI."

Beyond minor polishing and bug fixes, here's what I'd like to see on the Vision Pro at WWDC 2024 (or really, anytime in the next year, Apple!).

Perhaps the most baffling aspect of the Vision Pro is how it refuses to play well with the iPhone. If you ever need to unlock your phone to use an authentication app, or quickly peep a Slack message, you'll either have to remove the Vision Pro to use FaceID, or type in your PIN and squint through the headset's middling cameras. Why?!

If Apple can already deliver sharp and lag-free macOS mirroring, it's not a huge leap to give us something similar for iPhones and iPads. Sure, ideally you'd be able to manage your text messages and other tasks in the Vision Pro without relying on other devices. Realistically, though, the Messages app doesn't always receive texts as quickly as your iPhone, and its history of texts and contacts often differs too.

Offering a quick pop-up of your iPhone's screen would erase those issues, and it would keep you within the flow of whatever you're working on in the Vision Pro. As for the lack of FaceID, Apple could tie authentication of your iPhone together with your Apple ID. You already have to sign into your Vision Pro with a PIN or Optic ID scan, as well as log into your ID itself, so Apple already knows who you are.

A Mac desktop on the Vision Pro
Mirror my MacBook Air's screen inside the Vision Pro.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

When it comes to iPads, screen mirroring could be just as useful as it is on Macs. If you were typing away on a document on an iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard, why shouldn't you be able to continue doing that on the Vision Pro? Supporting less powerful iPads could also be useful, since they could mirror downloaded media or games. Why burden the headset's M2 processor when you could tap into an M2 chip on an iPad Air?

Taking this concept a step further, it would also be nice to have Apple Watch mirroring eventually. Imagine lifting up your wrist and having a glanceable view of notifications or media controls while using the Vision Pro. What if you could immediately see a 300-inch version of your Apple TV's home screen as soon as you sit down on your couch. Apple has the potential to shape reality itself while using its headset, so why not lean into that for its own devices?

Barbie on the Vision Pro
Apple

Recent rumors suggest we'll see native versions of Apple's apps on the Vision Pro (many are just repackaged iPad apps right now), but I'm hoping to see more developers jump on the platform. There still aren't any Vision Pro apps for Netflix, YouTube or Spotify. If you want to use those services, you'll have to log into a web browser, or rely on a third-party app like Supercut. This isn't the seamless spatial computing future I was promised, Apple.

Now I'm sure it'll be tough for Apple to get YouTube to play nice with the Vision Pro, especially as Google just recently struck a mysterious partnership with the AR headset company Magic Leap. But not being able to get Netflix and Spotify on the headset remains a huge problem for Apple. Without the apps we live with every day, Vision Pro will always seem undercooked.

Apple Vision Pro
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The Vision Pro's built-in speakers are fine, but they lack the depth of a proper pair of bookshelf speakers or Apple's own HomePod. And they certainly don't have the low-end kick you'd get from a complete home theater system and subwoofer. So why can't we just send audio easily to those devices?

Let us AirPlay to HomePods on a whim! Let me sit in my home theater and enjoy the massive speakers surrounding me, while watching Fury Road at near-IMAX scale on the Vision Pro! While I enjoy using AirPod Pros for immersive audio on the go, they can't hold a candle to the Dolby Atmos-equipped towers in my basement.

I'm sure home theater users aren't a high-priority consideration for Apple, but at the moment, who else is known for spending way too much money on hardware that isn't meant for everyone?

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-vision-pro-features-wed-love-to-see-at-wwdc-2024-151822925.html?src=rss

Finally, I can make my iPhone look like total crap

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Apple has been holding its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) for over 30 years and frankly — other than no one calling them out for abbreviating it with two Ws in that span of time — I don't have strong feelings about them. Launch a new thing. Shovel AI bloatware into whatever. It's big tech's world and I'm just as trapped in it as anyone else. Imagine thinking iterative updates to a goddamn computer are a core part of your identity. Couldn't be me! 

But my world-weary ears perked up when I saw this little tidbit from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman ahead of Monday's keynote: 

In the latest iPhone operating system — iOS 18, codenamed Crystal — app icons will no longer have to remain in a neat grid. Instead, users will be able to place icons wherever they choose on their home screen. Moreover, icon colors will be customizable for the first time.

Reader, it's time to make your home screen look like a complete disaster. 

Sure, there's a version of this new freedom where someone could really maximize their productivity on Apple devices (ew) or achieve a unique aesthetic that spits in the face of Apple's sanitized design language (closer, but still no). Instead, lets bask in the glory of letting our apps resemble a teenager's bedroom. Give me an overstuffed closet of defunct weather software. An unfinished homework pile of workout trackers. An unmade bed of Temple Run clones pressed uncomfortably close to a junk drawer of ad-laden Maps alternatives. 

Of course you could "make all [your] social media apps blue or finance-related icons green" as Gurman suggests. Or you could turn ever app the same shape and color, rename them all to 'Gmail' and spend part of every day trying to solve the awful puzzle you've turned your user experience into. 

I'm told this is the sort of functionality Android users have had for a while. If so, why haven't you people been taking advantage of this?? None of us enjoy using these horrible things. Let disarray delight you.

Why do we climb mountains? For the same reason we stick the cup under every single spout in the soda machine and see what they taste like together. The purest of human instinct guides them both.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/finally-i-can-make-my-iphone-look-like-total-crap-141038012.html?src=rss

Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve 19 arrives for Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite PCs

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With performance and especially efficiency that should scare Intel, Windows PCs running Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X Elite have strong appeal for content creators. The current problem is a lack of apps, but Blackmagic Design just announced that its popular (and free) DaVinci Resolve 19 (beta 3) video editing and effects software now supports Windows machines running the new chip.

"DaVinci Resolve 19 beta 3 now supports Qualcomm’s new all in one CPU, NPU and GPU processor for Windows, Snapdragon X Elite," Blackmagic Design wrote in a press release. "DaVinci Resolve has been fine tuned to optimize performance of the DaVinci Neural AI Engine, with NPU acceleration giving customers up to 4.7x faster performance of AI tools such as magic mask and 2x faster performance for smart reframe on computers using this new processor."

All the DaVinci Resolve 19 tools found on Intel PCs and Macs are on the Qualcomm platform as well. Those include the "ColorSlice" color correction tool, Ultra NR denoising, Intellitrack AI for motion tracking and stabilization, audio "ducking" and more. Since many of those are powered by AI, users should benefit from the Snapdragon X Elite's neural engine (NPU) that beats nearly every laptop processor out there. 

Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve 19 beta 3 on Qualcomm X Elite laptops
The Yoga Slim 7x 14-inch laptop with the Snapdragon X Elite chip is just a tenth of a pound heavier than a 13-inch MacBook Air.
Engadget

The Snapdragon X Elite also has outstanding multi-threaded CPU performance, topping many Intel chips and Apple's M3. The VPU (video processing unit) offers AV1, VP9, HEVC (H.265) and H.264 encoding and decoding (up to 10-bit), so users should be able to work with most native camera formats and encode for YouTube and other platforms quickly. 

Graphics performance is a bit of a weak point, though, with performance only on par with Intel's Core Ultra 7, and well below most dedicated GPUs. Meanwhile, the Apple M3 GPU (on a MacBook Air) beats it by a wide 31 percent margin. That means DaVinci Resolve effects, encoding and more that rely on the GPU might be slow compared to Wintel and MacBook M3 machines. 

Still, this is good news for content creators wishing for a lightweight road machine that can keep up to Apple's laptops. DaVinci Resolve 19 public beta 3 for Windows on Arm with Snapdragon X Elite is now available for download from the Blackmagic Design web site.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blackmagics-davinci-resolve-19-arrives-for-qualcomm-snapdragon-x-elite-pcs-123042761.html?src=rss

Apple will reportedly build a dedicated Passwords app for the iPhone and Mac

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Apple plans to build a password management app right into the next versions of iPhone and Mac operating systems, reported Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Thursday. The new app, simply called Passwords, will compete against existing password managers like 1Password and LastPass, which typically charge people a monthly fee for generating and storing unique passwords. Apple plans to reveal the app at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10. 

Apple already generates and stores unique passwords through iCloud Keychain, a feature that syncs passwords across all Apple devices you own as well as Windows PCs through a browser extension. But passwords stored in iCloud Keychain live — weirdly — in the Settings app, often making them cumbersome to find or change. Having a dedicated app for passwords built into Apple devices would not only make this easier but also give people one more reason to stay in the Apple ecosystem.

Just like its rivals, Apple’s Passwords app will reportedly split passwords into different categories like accounts, WiFi networks, and Passkeys (here’s our deep dive explaining how they work). It will also allow you to import passwords from rival apps and will fill them in automatically when your device detects you’re logging into a website or an app. Passwords will also work on Apple’s $4,000 Vision Pro headset, and, just like Google Authenticator and Authy, will support two-factor verification codes. What is still unclear is whether the Passwords app will let you securely store files and images in addition to passwords, something that both 1Password and LastPass offer.

In addition to Passwords, Apple is expected to reveal the next versions of iOS, iPadOS, MacOS, WatchOS and VisionOS on Monday. The new versions of the software will reportedly be infused with brand new AI features.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-will-reportedly-build-a-dedicated-passwords-app-for-the-iphone-and-mac-211812245.html?src=rss

Google Sheets’ new tool lets you set specific rules for notifications.

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I'm the first to admit that the amount of joy Google Sheets brings me is a bit odd, but I use it for everything from tracking my earnings to planning trip budgets with friends. So, I'm excited to see that Google is making it easier to get notified about specific changes to my spreadsheet without me learning to code (something I've just never gotten into). The company has announced that Google Sheets is getting conditional notifications, meaning you can set rules in spreadsheets that send emails when certain things happen.

For example, you could set it to send you an email notification when a number drops below or above a certain amount or when a column's value changes at all. You can also set rules that align more with a project manager tool, like getting a notification when a task's status or owner changes. This tool only requires edit access, with anyone able to set notifications for themselves or others by entering their email addresses. Don't worry, you can unsubscribe if someone starts sending you unwanted notifications.

To use conditional notifications, go to tools and then conditional notifications or just right-click in a cell. From there, click add rule (you can name the rule or let Google auto-label it) and then select a custom range or column. You can add additional criteria for the rule, such as exactly what a box should say for you to receive a notification. Then, you can manually input email addresses or select a column containing them. However, Google warns that if you do the latter, the number of cells must match the number included in the rule. So, if you have three cells in the rule, you can only highlight three cells with email addresses. If you get confused, Google gets into all the nitty-gritty of it here.

Google Sheet's conditional formatting is available to anyone with the following workplaces: Businesses Standard and Plus, Education Plus and Enterprise Starter, Standard, Plus or Essential. It started rolling out for Rapid Release domains on June 4 and will begin showing up for Standard Release domains on June 18. In both cases, conditional formatting might take up to 15 days to appear.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-sheets-new-tool-lets-you-set-specific-rules-for-notifications-133030113.html?src=rss

Popular US news app accused of using AI to make up fake stories

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NewsBreak, a popular free news app in the US, has been publishing fictitious stories written by AI since 2021, according to Reuters. The app publishes licensed content from legitimate news sources, such as CNN, AP and Reuters itself, but it also uses artificial intelligence tools to rewrite press releases and local news. One of the most egregious examples of a false news story by NewsBreak was published on Christmas Eve last year. The app's writeup claimed that there was a shooting in Bridgeton, New Jersey when no such incident took place. 

New Jersey's police department dismissed the claims made in the article before the app, which said it got the information from another website, took it down four days later. In January, February and March, a Colorado-based food bank told Reuters that it had to turn people away because NewsBreak published the wrong time for food distribution. It also received no response from the company when it complained about its inaccurate reporting. 

Another charity in Pennsylvania said NewsBreak published a report, twice, that claimed it was holding a 24-hour foot-care clinic for homeless people when it wasn't. The app removed all the false stories involving the charities after Reuters notified it. In March, it added a warning on its homepage that says its content "may not always be error-free," as well. Aside from publishing erroneous stories, NewsBreak allegedly copied articles from websites without permission and had previously settled copyright infringement cases with at least two publications. Reuters describes NewsBreak as the "most downloaded US news app." If you haven't heard of it before, that's probably because its users are predominantly women above the age of 45, who don't have college degrees and who live in suburban and rural US. It's known for posting links on social networks like Facebook, and clicking on one will prompt you to download the app. 

NewsBreak, which is only available in the US, launched in the country as a subsidiary of China-based company Yidian, which is partly owned by a Chinese state-linked media firm. Yidian is no longer connected with the app, but one of its primary investors is IDG Capital, a Beijing-based company that the Pentagon says is affiliated (PDF) with the Chinese military. 

Former employees told Reuters that NewsBreak's China-based engineers do most of the work on its algorithms, even though the app presents itself as a US-based company with US investors. NewsBreak CEO Jeff Zheng told Reuters that it complies with US data and privacy laws and that it's maintained on Amazon servers based in the United States. Its Chinese staff, Zheng said, can only access anonymous data stored on those servers. It's worth noting that despite its connection to China, Reuters didn't find evidence that NewsBreak has published stories that showed the Chinese government in a positive light. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/popular-us-news-app-accused-of-using-ai-to-make-up-fake-stories-140016882.html?src=rss

Meta is testing a new ad in the Instagram feed that you can’t scroll past

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Instagram ads may soon be much harder to ignore. As TechCrunch reports, Meta is testing a new type of non-skippable ad in the Instagram feed, which the company is calling an “ad break.”

With the new ads, which have already been spotted by some users, you can’t scroll past the feed ad until the”ad break” finishes. According to screenshots shared on Reddit and X, it appears that the “breaks” are a few seconds long, though it’s not clear if the length could change should Meta decide to make the new format official. “Ad breaks are a new way of seeing ads on Instagram,” an in-app message states. “Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you can keep browsing.”

While non-skippable video ads are common on other platforms, like YouTube, it’s a new and much more aggressive format for Instagram. It’s also notable that the company is experimenting with the ads in its main feed rather than in Reels or Stories, where video ads are more common (but for now still skippable).

Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company confirmed to TechCrunch that it was testing the new ad format. “As we test and learn, we will provide updates should this test result in any formal product changes,” a Meta spokesperson said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-is-testing-a-new-ad-in-the-instagram-feed-that-you-cant-scroll-past-195201532.html?src=rss

The Apple Watch Series 9 is $100 off right now

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The newest Apple Watch is down to one of the best prices we’ve seen it go for yet, so if you’ve been thinking about upgrading, now would be the perfect time to do so. The 41mm Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS only) is $100 off on Amazon, bringing the price down to $299. There’s also a deal on the larger version (45mm), which is down to $360 from its usual price of $430. The full discounts apply to Series 9 in Midnight and Starlight, but there are varying deals on the other colors as well.

The Series 9 Apple Watch is the best Apple Watch you can get today, and our favorite smartwatch in general. It comes with some new features made possible by the S9 system-in-package (SiP) processor. With this model, Apple introduced the Double Tap gesture that allows you to carry out certain actions on the watch without touching the screen, like pausing your music. It also has on-device Siri and an improved version of “Raise to Speak” to more easily activate the assistant.

As with the other Apple Watch models, the Series 9 is water resistant and great for fitness and health tracking, though it currently doesn’t offer the blood oxygen monitoring feature that was initially touted, thanks to a patent dispute. It has an always on display with a peak brightness rating double that of the previous model, and twice the internal storage capacity.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-apple-watch-series-9-is-100-off-right-now-163927795.html?src=rss

The best early Prime Day deals ahead of Amazon’s July sale — shop Apple, Anker and more

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Amazon Prime Day 2024 is less than two weeks away, but we’re already seeing a handful of decent early deals go live in advance of the big sale. Per usual, many of the more noteworthy discounts apply to Amazon’s own gadgets and subscription services, but there are a few good offers on devices from the likes of Apple, Anker, Samsung and Bose as well. We’re rounding up the best Prime Day deals we can find below, and we’ll continue to update this post as we get closer to the actual sale. Just remember that you’ll need to subscribe to Prime to see some (but not all) of the better discounts going on now.

Amazon Prime Day 2024 lands on July 16 and 17 this year. The shopping event focuses on exclusive deals for Prime members, which means you’ll have to be a Prime subscriber on Prime Day to take advantage of most of the savings. Amazon still offers a 30-day free trial to new Prime subscribers, so you can start your free trial now to participate in the event.

No, but Prime Day usually happens during the summertime in the United States. In recent years, Amazon has held a second sale event in the fall as well, dubbed October Prime Day, which is similar to the summertime sale.

Amazon Prime Day focuses on exclusive deals available only to Prime members. However, if you don’t pay for Prime and have no intention of doing so, you should still check out Amazon on Prime Day for sales that are available to all shoppers — there are always a few of them.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-early-prime-day-deals-ahead-of-amazons-july-sale-shop-apple-anker-and-more-110027752.html?src=rss

Google makes it easier to multi-task with minimized in-app Chrome tabs

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Sometimes, having to open a link from within another app on mobile could be disruptive and take you away from the task you were trying to accomplish. Now an update for Chrome could help keep you focused with the task at hand. When you click on a link within Gmail, for instance, and open a Chrome tab within the app, you can tap on the chevron icon in the toolbar right next to the "x" or the close button to minimize the browser. That turns the open tab into a compact, floating picture-in-picture window that you can drag anywhere on the screen. 

You can keep it minimized while you use the original app, and the moment you're ready to look at its contents, you only have to tap the floating window to restore the tab to its original size. We were already able to use the new feature on Android within Gmail. You'll also be able to take advantage of it soon if you don't have it yet, as long as your default browser is Chrome and you keep it updated. The feature is even enabled by default, so you don't have to do anything to switch it on. Of course, you can always send an in-app tab to the Chrome browser if keeping different tasks open in separate windows makes you more productive.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-makes-it-easier-to-multi-task-with-minimized-in-app-chrome-tabs-060209780.html?src=rss