I don't know where my things are more often than I care to admit. Instead of stubbornly ignoring this it might be time for me to finally cave and pick up some AirTags. A new sale brings a four-pack of AirTags down to $74 from $99. The 25 percent discount brings the set's price to just $1 short of its all-time low price.
Apple's AirTags work within the Find My network and can help you find anything from a wallet to your cat. They also emit a sound if, say, they appear online in a room filled with things and you need a more precise location. The only big annoyance with AirTags is that you have to either slip them into something (like a bag) or attach them with an accessory like a keychain case.
Four AirTags might be a couple more than you need. If that's the case then check out Amazon's sale on a single AirTag. A 17 percent discount brings one AirTag down to $24 from $29. It's worth taking advantage of this sale if you only need one or two.
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/deals/a-four-pack-of-airtags-drops-to-74-in-this-early-black-friday-deal-130351552.html?src=rss
I don't know where my things are more often than I care to admit. Instead of stubbornly ignoring this it might be time for me to finally cave and pick up some AirTags. A new sale brings a four-pack of AirTags down to $74 from $99. The 25 percent discount brings the set's price to just $1 short of its all-time low price.
Apple's AirTags work within the Find My network and can help you find anything from a wallet to your cat. They also emit a sound if, say, they appear online in a room filled with things and you need a more precise location. The only big annoyance with AirTags is that you have to either slip them into something (like a bag) or attach them with an accessory like a keychain case.
Four AirTags might be a couple more than you need. If that's the case then check out Amazon's sale on a single AirTag. A 17 percent discount brings one AirTag down to $24 from $29. It's worth taking advantage of this sale if you only need one or two.
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/deals/a-four-pack-of-airtags-drops-to-74-in-this-early-black-friday-deal-130351552.html?src=rss
If you’re excited, or even just a little curious, about the future of augmented reality, Meta’s Orion prototype makes the most compelling case yet for the technology.
For Meta, Orion is about more than finally making AR glasses a reality. It’s also the company’s best shot at becoming less dependent on Apple and Google’s app stores, and the rules that come with them. If Orion succeeds, then maybe we won’t need smartphones for much at all. Glasses, Zuckerberg has speculated, might eventually become “the main way we do computing.”
At the moment, it’s still way too early to know if Zuckerberg’s bet will actually pay off. Orion is, for now, still a prototype. Meta hasn’t said when it might become widely available or how much it might cost. That's partly because the company, which has already poured tens of billions of dollars into AR and VR research, still needs to figure out how to make Orion significantly more affordable than the $10,000 it reportedly costs to make the current version. It also needs to refine Orion’s hardware and software. And, perhaps most importantly, the company will eventually need to persuade its vast user base that AI-infused, eye-tracking glasses offer a better way to navigate the world.
Still, Meta has been eager to show off Orion since its reveal at Connect. And, after recently getting a chance to try out Orion for myself, it’s easy to see why: Orion is the most impressive AR hardware I’ve seen.
Meta’s first AR glasses
Meta has clearly gone to great lengths to make its AR glasses look, well, normal. While Snap has been mocked for its oversized Spectacles, Orion’s shape and size is closer to a traditional pair of frames.
Even so, they’re still noticeably wide and chunky. The thick black frames, which house an array of cameras, sensors and custom silicon, may work on some face shapes, but I don’t think they are particularly flattering. And while they look less cartoonish than Snap’s AR Spectacles, I’m pretty sure I’d still get some funny looks if I walked around with them in public. At 98 grams, the glasses were noticeably bulkier than my typical prescription lenses, but never felt heavy.
In addition to the actual glasses, Orion relies on two other pieces of kit: a 182-gram “wireless compute puck, which needs to stay near the glasses, and an electromyography (EMG) wristband that allows you to control the AR interface with a series of hand gestures. The puck I saw was equipped with its own cameras and sensors, but Meta told me they’ve since simplified the remote control-shaped device so that it’s mainly used for connectivity and processing.
When I first saw the three-piece Orion setup at Connect, my first thought was that it was an interesting compromise in order to keep the glasses smaller. But after trying it all together, it really doesn’t feel like a compromise at all.
The glasses were a bit wider than my face.
Karissa Bell for Engadget
You control Orion’s interface through a combination of eye tracking and gestures. After a quick calibration the first time you put the glasses on, you can navigate the AR apps and menus by glancing around the interface and tapping your thumb and index finger together. Meta has been experimenting with wrist-based neural interfaces for years, and Orion’s EMG wristband is the result of that work. The band, which feels like little more than a fabric watch band, uses sensors to detect the electrical signals that occur with even subtle movements of your wrist and fingers. Meta then uses machine learning to decode those signals and send them to the glasses.
That may sound complicated, but I was surprised by how intuitive the navigation felt. The combination of quick gestures and eye tracking felt much more precise than hand tracking controls I’ve used in VR. And while Orion also has hand-tracking abilities, it feels much more natural to quickly tap your fingers together than to extend your hands out in front of your face.
What it’s like to use Orion
Meta walked me through a number of demos meant to show off Orion’s capabilities. I asked Meta AI to generate an image, and to come up with recipes based on a handful of ingredients on a shelf in front of me. The latter is a trick I’ve also tried with the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, except with Orion, Meta AI was also able to project the recipe steps onto the wall in front of me.
I also answered a couple of video calls, including one from a surprisingly lifelike Codec Avatar. I watched a YouTube video, scrolled Instagram Reels, and dictated a response to an incoming message. If you’ve used mixed reality headsets, much of this will sound familiar, and a lot of it wasn’t that different from what you can do in VR headsets.
The magic of AR, though, is that everything you see is overlaid onto the world around you and your surroundings are always fully visible. I particularly appreciated this when I got to the gaming portion of the walkthrough. I played a few rounds of a Meta-created game called Stargazer, where players control a retro-looking spacecraft by moving their head to avoid incoming obstacles while shooting enemies with finger tap gestures. Throughout that game, and a subsequent round of AR Pong, I was able to easily keep up a conversation with the people around me while I played. As someone who easily gets motion sick from VR gaming, I appreciated that I never felt disoriented or less aware of my surroundings.
Orion’s displays rely on silicon carbide lenses, micro-LED projectors and waveguides. The actual lenses are clear, though they can dim depending on your environment. One of the most impressive aspects is the 70-degree field of view. It was noticeably wider and more immersive than what I experienced with Snap’s AR Spectacles, which have a 46-degree field of view. At one point, I had three windows open in one multitasking view: Instagram Reels, a video call and a messaging inbox. And while I was definitely aware of the outer limits of the display, I could easily see all three windows without physically moving my head or adjusting my position. It’s still not the all-encompassing AR of sci-fi flicks, but it was wide enough I never struggled to keep the AR content in view.
What was slightly disappointing, though, was the resolution of Orion’s visuals. At 13 pixels per degree, the colors all seemed somewhat muted and projected text was noticeably fuzzy. None of it was difficult to make out, but it was much less vivid than what I saw on Snap’s AR Spectacles, which have a 37 pixels per degree resolution.
Meta’s VP of Wearable Devices, Ming Hua, told me that one of the company’s top priorities is to increase the brightness and resolution of Orion’s displays. She said that there’s already a version of the prototype with twice the pixel density, so there’s good reason to believe this will improve over time. She’s also optimistic that Meta will eventually be able to bring down the costs of its AR tech, eventually reducing it to something “similar to a high end phone.”
What does it mean?
Leaving my demo at Meta’s headquarters, I was reminded of the first time I tried out a prototype of the wireless VR headset that would eventually become known as Quest, back in 2016. Called Santa Cruz at the time, it was immediately obvious, even to an infrequent VR user, that the wireless, room-tracking headset was the future of the company’s VR business. Now, it’s almost hard to believe there was a time when Meta’s headsets weren’t fully untethered.
Orion has the potential to be much bigger. Now, Meta isn’t just trying to create a more convenient form factor for mixed reality hobbyists and gamers. It’s offering a glimpse into how it views the future, and what our lives might look like when we’re no longer tethered to our phones.
For now, Orion is still just that: a glimpse. It’s far more complex than anything the company has attempted with VR. Meta still has a lot of work to do before that AR-enabled future can be a reality. But the prototype shows that much of that vision is closer than we think.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/metas-orion-prototype-offers-a-glimpse-into-our-ar-future-123038066.html?src=rss
If you’re excited, or even just a little curious, about the future of augmented reality, Meta’s Orion prototype makes the most compelling case yet for the technology.
For Meta, Orion is about more than finally making AR glasses a reality. It’s also the company’s best shot at becoming less dependent on Apple and Google’s app stores, and the rules that come with them. If Orion succeeds, then maybe we won’t need smartphones for much at all. Glasses, Zuckerberg has speculated, might eventually become “the main way we do computing.”
At the moment, it’s still way too early to know if Zuckerberg’s bet will actually pay off. Orion is, for now, still a prototype. Meta hasn’t said when it might become widely available or how much it might cost. That's partly because the company, which has already poured tens of billions of dollars into AR and VR research, still needs to figure out how to make Orion significantly more affordable than the $10,000 it reportedly costs to make the current version. It also needs to refine Orion’s hardware and software. And, perhaps most importantly, the company will eventually need to persuade its vast user base that AI-infused, eye-tracking glasses offer a better way to navigate the world.
Still, Meta has been eager to show off Orion since its reveal at Connect. And, after recently getting a chance to try out Orion for myself, it’s easy to see why: Orion is the most impressive AR hardware I’ve seen.
Meta’s first AR glasses
Meta has clearly gone to great lengths to make its AR glasses look, well, normal. While Snap has been mocked for its oversized Spectacles, Orion’s shape and size is closer to a traditional pair of frames.
Even so, they’re still noticeably wide and chunky. The thick black frames, which house an array of cameras, sensors and custom silicon, may work on some face shapes, but I don’t think they are particularly flattering. And while they look less cartoonish than Snap’s AR Spectacles, I’m pretty sure I’d still get some funny looks if I walked around with them in public. At 98 grams, the glasses were noticeably bulkier than my typical prescription lenses, but never felt heavy.
In addition to the actual glasses, Orion relies on two other pieces of kit: a 182-gram “wireless compute puck, which needs to stay near the glasses, and an electromyography (EMG) wristband that allows you to control the AR interface with a series of hand gestures. The puck I saw was equipped with its own cameras and sensors, but Meta told me they’ve since simplified the remote control-shaped device so that it’s mainly used for connectivity and processing.
When I first saw the three-piece Orion setup at Connect, my first thought was that it was an interesting compromise in order to keep the glasses smaller. But after trying it all together, it really doesn’t feel like a compromise at all.
The glasses were a bit wider than my face.
Karissa Bell for Engadget
You control Orion’s interface through a combination of eye tracking and gestures. After a quick calibration the first time you put the glasses on, you can navigate the AR apps and menus by glancing around the interface and tapping your thumb and index finger together. Meta has been experimenting with wrist-based neural interfaces for years, and Orion’s EMG wristband is the result of that work. The band, which feels like little more than a fabric watch band, uses sensors to detect the electrical signals that occur with even subtle movements of your wrist and fingers. Meta then uses machine learning to decode those signals and send them to the glasses.
That may sound complicated, but I was surprised by how intuitive the navigation felt. The combination of quick gestures and eye tracking felt much more precise than hand tracking controls I’ve used in VR. And while Orion also has hand-tracking abilities, it feels much more natural to quickly tap your fingers together than to extend your hands out in front of your face.
What it’s like to use Orion
Meta walked me through a number of demos meant to show off Orion’s capabilities. I asked Meta AI to generate an image, and to come up with recipes based on a handful of ingredients on a shelf in front of me. The latter is a trick I’ve also tried with the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, except with Orion, Meta AI was also able to project the recipe steps onto the wall in front of me.
I also answered a couple of video calls, including one from a surprisingly lifelike Codec Avatar. I watched a YouTube video, scrolled Instagram Reels, and dictated a response to an incoming message. If you’ve used mixed reality headsets, much of this will sound familiar, and a lot of it wasn’t that different from what you can do in VR headsets.
The magic of AR, though, is that everything you see is overlaid onto the world around you and your surroundings are always fully visible. I particularly appreciated this when I got to the gaming portion of the walkthrough. I played a few rounds of a Meta-created game called Stargazer, where players control a retro-looking spacecraft by moving their head to avoid incoming obstacles while shooting enemies with finger tap gestures. Throughout that game, and a subsequent round of AR Pong, I was able to easily keep up a conversation with the people around me while I played. As someone who easily gets motion sick from VR gaming, I appreciated that I never felt disoriented or less aware of my surroundings.
Orion’s displays rely on silicon carbide lenses, micro-LED projectors and waveguides. The actual lenses are clear, though they can dim depending on your environment. One of the most impressive aspects is the 70-degree field of view. It was noticeably wider and more immersive than what I experienced with Snap’s AR Spectacles, which have a 46-degree field of view. At one point, I had three windows open in one multitasking view: Instagram Reels, a video call and a messaging inbox. And while I was definitely aware of the outer limits of the display, I could easily see all three windows without physically moving my head or adjusting my position. It’s still not the all-encompassing AR of sci-fi flicks, but it was wide enough I never struggled to keep the AR content in view.
What was slightly disappointing, though, was the resolution of Orion’s visuals. At 13 pixels per degree, the colors all seemed somewhat muted and projected text was noticeably fuzzy. None of it was difficult to make out, but it was much less vivid than what I saw on Snap’s AR Spectacles, which have a 37 pixels per degree resolution.
Meta’s VP of Wearable Devices, Ming Hua, told me that one of the company’s top priorities is to increase the brightness and resolution of Orion’s displays. She said that there’s already a version of the prototype with twice the pixel density, so there’s good reason to believe this will improve over time. She’s also optimistic that Meta will eventually be able to bring down the costs of its AR tech, eventually reducing it to something “similar to a high end phone.”
What does it mean?
Leaving my demo at Meta’s headquarters, I was reminded of the first time I tried out a prototype of the wireless VR headset that would eventually become known as Quest, back in 2016. Called Santa Cruz at the time, it was immediately obvious, even to an infrequent VR user, that the wireless, room-tracking headset was the future of the company’s VR business. Now, it’s almost hard to believe there was a time when Meta’s headsets weren’t fully untethered.
Orion has the potential to be much bigger. Now, Meta isn’t just trying to create a more convenient form factor for mixed reality hobbyists and gamers. It’s offering a glimpse into how it views the future, and what our lives might look like when we’re no longer tethered to our phones.
For now, Orion is still just that: a glimpse. It’s far more complex than anything the company has attempted with VR. Meta still has a lot of work to do before that AR-enabled future can be a reality. But the prototype shows that much of that vision is closer than we think.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/metas-orion-prototype-offers-a-glimpse-into-our-ar-future-123038066.html?src=rss
Google has released ChromeOS M130 to the stable channel, which means an update is now making its way to your Chromebook if you haven't gotten one yet. The latest version of the OS comes with a lengthy list of new features, starting with a Focus panel where you can quickly enable or disable Do-not-Disturb mode, create new or select from existing Google Tasks, as well as play music with focus sound or YouTube Music Premium if you have a subscription. Google is also making it easier to insert emojis, GIFs and even Google Drive links with the M130's new Launcher + f shortcut. In addition, the Quick Insert physical key on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus will be available on more devices coming out next year.
To cut the time you need to find specific files, Google has added a Suggestions section in Tote, the space where you'll find your most recently downloaded items and latest screenshots. You'll now also be able to access all your starred Drive files right on the ChromeOS shelf, even when you're offline. And if you want to pick up from where you'd left off every time you switch on your computer, then you can enable "Welcome Recap" in Settings, which will let you preview and instantly restore apps and tabs from your previous session.
In case you use your Chromebook to record videos or audio, you can take advantage of ChromeOS M130's studio-style mic function that adds "advanced balancing, reconstruction of fine details and room adaptation" to the standard mic function's noise cancellation and de-reverberation effects. Plus, you can use Google's AI-powered Recorder app, which is debuting with the new OS and which has speech-to-text capabilities that can create transcripts labeling each speaker, as well as summarize recorded content.
The ChromeOS M130 also integrates appearance effects into the platform's video call controls, adds support for multiple calendars and allows you to move Picture-in-Picture (PiP) windows to one side of your screen to free up space. Finally, if you have a Chromebook Plus device, you'll be able to access an AI-powered feature called "Help me read" that makes it easy to find information in any text you're reading on your browser and in your Gallery.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/chromeos-update-makes-it-easier-to-avoid-distractions-120030197.html?src=rss
Addressing the needs of… someone, Nintendo has announced its own music streaming service on a mobile app for both Android and iPhone. Encompassing the music of Nintendo’s own gaming properties, from Mario to Metroid, Nintendo Music has a user interface that pretty much looks like Spotify. It’s a new addition to Switch Online subscribers, so it’s not free, but it’s a convenient extra if you’re already paying. Nintendo Music will even suggest and curate music based on your Switch activity.
One unique feature here is spoiler prevention. If you add a game, the app hides tracks and details that could give away a surprise twist, unexpected final boss or other potential spoilers, like that nihilistic ending of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.
Attempting to combine the best of chatbots and web search.
OpenAI’s latest feature searches the web in response to your natural language queries, delivering “fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources.” OpenAI says the feature looks for “original, high-quality content from the web,” integrating it into conversational answers. This includes trusted news media sources and data providers, like AccuWeather.
Now iOS 18.1 is available to the masses, Apple’s new hearing aid feature is ready for use. With an up-to-date iPhone and those earbuds, you can employ hearing assistance tools without visiting a doctor or buying pricey dedicated hearing aids. After making sure your iPhone and AirPods Pro 2 are updated, the test itself is a little hidden away inside the Health app. Here’s how to find it.
After a delay in June and a second in August, Recall now won’t be available to test until December. Microsoft is once more pushing back testing of the feature intended for its Copilot+ PCs, according to The Verge. Pitched as a sort of photographic memory for Windows, it’s meant to improve the search process on PCs. But since that demands a high degree of access to your data, it has been the target of privacy and security concerns.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-nintendo-made-its-own-music-streaming-service-111636065.html?src=rss
We’re still officially in “teaser trailer” territory for the new season of Squid Game but a lot of interesting details just dropped in the latest one for season two.
The new trailer takes us deeper into the games as Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, returns to the island presumably to take down the rich tyrants and the Front Man from the inside of the tournament. Seong is back as a player (Player 456 again, to be specific) and at least two of the games from the last season will be part of the new one, including “Green Light” and the dalgona cookie cutting challenge. This time, however, they have an experienced contestant in the sea of green, bloodied jumpsuits who can tell them how to avoid the pitfalls (figuratively and literally if the Mirror Bridge returns).
Seong seems to be on a personal crusade to save the latest batch of players who may not have any understanding of the games and its very high stakes. Unlike last season, Seong isn’t smiling when he takes his official contestant photo. The new trailer also features an impassioned Seong trying to convince the new batch of players to vote to leave the island with their lives still intact.
The next season of Squid Game lands on Netflix the day after Christmas, but for me, it still cannot get here quick enough.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-gives-us-another-sneak-peek-of-squid-game-season-two-204719198.html?src=rss
Hydrogen-powered vehicles haven’t really caught on as an alternative means of eco-friendly transportation. Hyundai, however, hopes to fix that with a bigger investment in the technology and its newest hydrogen-powered concept SUV called the Initium.
Hyundai announced it plans to start production on the hydrogen SUV in the first half of next year. The Initium can run approximately 404 miles on a single refueling and can also run on electric power as a backup that can be recharged from a household electricity supply. The vehicle will also make its public debut at the LA Auto Show and Auto Guangzhou in China next month. It’s not yet confirmed where the cars will be available when they go on sale so a US launch isn’t guaranteed.
The Initium may just be a concept car for now but Hyundai seems committed to bringing its newest hydrogen car to drivers quickly, even if the fuel source hasn’t made nearly as many strides towards widespread acceptance as electric options. The South Korean carmaker is planning on investing $4 billion to develop its hydrogen vehicle technology and infrastructure to meet its complete carbon neutrality goal by 2045 with cars like the Initium and the electric Ioniq 5 unveiled last year.
Hydrogen may be an efficient alternative to gasoline but it still has a ways to go to be competitive with electric vehicles (and that’s without acknowledging the continued prevalence of gasoline-powered cars). There are only 59 hydrogen charging stations in the US with most of them in California, according to the US Department of Energy. There are only a handful of carmakers who still offer a hydrogen powered option including Hyundai (the Nexo SUV) and Toyota (the Mirari). Honda used to offer a hydrogen car with The Clarity but it ended production in 2021, according to Car & Driver.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/hyundai-reveals-its-newest-hydrogen-powered-vehicle-the-initium-192235417.html?src=rss
It's deja vu all over again for Microsoft's AI-powered Recall tool. After a delay in June and then a second one in August, Microsoft is once more pushing back testing of the feature intended for its Copilot+ PCs. The Verge reported that Recall now won't enter previews for Windows Insiders until December.
"We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall," Brandon LeBlanc, senior product manager of Windows, told the publication. "To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we’re taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders."
When it was introduced, Microsoft positioned Recall as a way to give your computer a photographic memory, improving the search process on PCs. But since that photographic memory would demand a high degree of access to a computer's systems and data, Recall has been the target of privacy and security concerns. Microsoft has tried to assuage those worries by presenting Recall as an opt-in feature, so users will have to give explicit permission for the AI assistant to log their computing activity. The company has also detailed other privacy protections, but today's third delay could mean that it's proving more difficult than expected to keep security on lock.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsofts-recall-ai-tool-for-copilot-pcs-faces-a-third-delay-191301031.html?src=rss
It’s getting harder and harder not to view the Humane AI Pin as destined to go down as one of tech’s all-time stinkers and cautionary tales. After reviews questioning why it existed, returns that outpaced its sales and a warning that its Charge Case could pose a “fire safety risk,” the company is now recalling the latter. The issue stems from the case’s battery cells, supplied by a third-party vendor, which could overheat and cause a fire hazard.
Humane posted on Thursday that it’s conducting the voluntary recall “out of an abundance of caution.” The startup says its charging case is the only accessory affected — not the battery booster, charging pad or Pin itself. “The issue is isolated to battery cells used in the Charge Case Accessory,” Humane wrote. “It is not related to its hardware design.”
The company says one of its battery suppliers is to blame. “Our investigation determined that the battery supplier was no longer meeting our quality standards and that battery cells supplied by this vendor can pose a fire risk,” Humane wrote. The company says it’s severed ties with the supplier and is currently evaluating a new one.
Hayato Huseman for Engadget
In fairness to Humane, the recall was (in its words) the result of only one incident where a user plugged it into a third-party USB-C cable and power source. It hasn’t received reports of injuries or damage. As easy as it is to poke fun at an overhyped company’s other shoe dropping, at least it’s informing consumers and conducting the recall voluntarily rather than trying to bury it for the sake of PR. Perhaps Humane can look to Samsung for inspiration on rebounding from a product that catches on fire — and not in a good way.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) posted a blurb about the recall with more detail. It says consumers who bought the Charge Case separately will receive a $149 refund. Those who got the case as part of the Humane AI Pin Complete System will get $129 back. In addition, Humane will supply replacement charging cases, but don’t expect them anytime soon: The estimated wait is three to six months. The CPSC says about 10,500 units are affected.
Humane advises charge case owners to “dispose of the product in accordance with any local and state laws” rather than chucking it in the trash. Presumably, that’s to avoid a real dumpster fire to match the metaphorical one at Humane.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/humane-recalls-its-troubled-ai-pins-charge-case-due-to-overheating-185116736.html?src=rss