Meta is rolling out some of the previously announced features to its AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses for users in the US and Canada. CTO Andrew Bosworth posted on Threads that today's update to the glasses includes more natural language recognition, meaning the stilted commands of "Hey Meta, look and tell me" should be gone. Users will be able to engage the AI assistant without the "look and" portion of the invocation.
Most of the other AI tools showed off during last month's Connect event are also arriving on the frames today. That includes voice messages, timers and reminders. The glasses can also be used to have Meta AI call a phone number or scan a QR code. CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated the new reminders features as a way to find your car in a parking garage in an Instagram reel. One notable omission from this update is the live translation feature, but Bosworth didn't share a timeline for when that feature will be ready.
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Meta's smart glasses already made headlines once today after two students from Harvard University used them to essentially dox total strangers. Their combination of facial recognition technology and a large language processing model was able to reveal addresses, phone numbers, family member details and partial Social Security Numbers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/metas-smart-glasses-can-now-tell-you-where-you-parked-your-car-195200826.html?src=rss
Physical books are heavy and given everything else a youngster has to carry around in their backpack, who needs to deal with those as well? An ereader can help to lighten the load and there's a good deal on a kid-friendly option at the minute. Just ahead of the October edition of Prime Day, Amazon has dropped the price of the Kindle Paperwhite Kids by $55, bringing it down to $115. That's close to the all-time-low price.
Along with a Kindle Paperwhite with 16GB of storage, the bundle includes a year of Amazon Kids+ access, a kid-friendly cover and a two-year worry-free guarantee. If the ereader breaks for any reason in that timeframe, Amazon will replace it. Amazon says all of that equates to a value of up to $263.
Amazon Kids+ typically costs $6 per month. It includes thousands of kid-friendly books, Amazon says. The Paperwhite is all about reading. So while Amazon Kids+ includes access to games, videos and apps on a Kindle Fire, there's none of that here.
The Kindle Paperwhite Kids has a couple extra features called Vocabulary Builder and Word Wise to help youngsters develop their reading skills. The ereader also includes a font called OpenDyslexic, which Amazon says some readers with dyslexia prefer.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-deals-include-32-percent-off-amazons-kindle-paperwhite-kids-193131655.html?src=rss
Now that OpenAI is becoming a for-profit company, its making a tidy profit in the process. The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI has raised $6.6 billion in new funding from investors, nearly doubling its value to $157 billion. The new funding also makes it the largest venture capital deal in history.
The new investors jumped on board after the artificial intelligence startup planned to switch from a charitable non-profit to a for-profit, product-focused company. If OpenAI fails to make the move to for-profit, investors have the right to pull their funding, according to Axios.
The venture-capital firm Thrive Capital founded by Joshua Kushner, the youngest son of convicted-turned-pardoned real estate developer Charles Kushner, led the new round of funding with $1.25 billion. Other investors included SoftBank, Nvidia, Fidelity Management and OpenAIs previous largest investor Microsoft.
One name that was notably absent from the investor list is Apple. The tech giant was in the process of negotiating a funding deal but apparently the agreement fell apart.
Funding isnt the only thing thats growing for OpenAI. Its AI app ChatGPT has attracted 250 million weekly active users, up from the 200 million announced at the end of August, and 11 million paying subscribers. The higher usage rate has OpenAI officials thinking they should raise the subscription price for ChatGPT to $22 a month by the end of the year and $44 a month in the next five years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-rakes-in-over-6-billion-in-new-funding-192110908.html?src=rss
Can you hear the soft, cherubic voices of corporate executives singing in unison? That can only mean one thing. Theyve figured out a new way to squeeze money out of our eyeballs. Amazon is adding even more ads to Prime Video, according to reporting by Financial Times. This uptick in corporate-sponsored splendor will go into effect early next year.
This comes less than a year after Amazon forced ads onto its streaming video platform, which is something all of the major streamers do now. We pay money to watch ads. Its pretty darn cool. In any event, it remains unclear as to how many more ads will infest that next episode of Reacher or where theyll be placed. Modern streaming shows arent made with advertisements in mind, so these ads just kinda pop up wherever.
Ads have turned into a serious revenue stream for Amazon because, again, they sit on top of our monthly Prime memberships that we already pay for. It costs extra to go ad-free. The company recently crowed that it drew more than $1.8 billion in advertising commitments at an upfront event in September. This exceeded the companys own targets. Amazon also revealed that the ad tier of Prime Video reaches 19 million monthly users in the UK alone. This tier is used by over 100 million people in the US each month.
Kelly Day, vice-president of Prime Video International, told Financial Times that the platform launched with a very light load of ads at first, so as to prepare consumers for the coming onslaught. She said the initial rollout was a deliberate gentle entry into advertising.
We know it was a bit of a contrarian approach to take, she said. Butits actually gone much better than we even anticipated. Day added that the company has not seen a groundswell of people churning out or canceling" after it brought in advertisements.
The company is also readying an interactive ad experience that will allow Prime Video watchers to add an item to their cart straight from the video stream. This will work with physical remotes and on the app. Sweet, sweet corporate synergy. Yay!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/more-ads-are-coming-to-amazon-prime-video-182906957.html?src=rss
It's little wonder that investors were clamoring to plow money into OpenAI. Alongside an announcement that the company had raised $6.6 billion in funding, OpenAI revealed that "every week, over 250 million people around the world use ChatGPT to enhance their work, creativity, and learning." That's a sharp rise since late August, when OpenAI said the chatbot had 200 million weekly users double the number it had last November. As of June, 350 million people were using OpenAI's tools each month, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times. It's unclear how many people are paying for access versus those using the free tier.
It's not exactly clear why there was such a sharp increase in user numbers in just a couple of months. However, kids just went back to school and might be using the chatbot to cheat do some quick research. OpenAI can probably expect ChatGPT's user numbers to get another major boost when Apple eventually incorporates it into Apple Intelligence, which will happen in the coming months.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chatgpt-added-50-million-weekly-users-in-just-two-months-181012894.html?src=rss
ASICS, the sportswear brand, has launched a provocative campaign to highlight the mental health risks associated with desk work. Its global State of Mind study, involving 26,000 participants, revealed a strong link between sedentary behavior and declining mental wellbeing. Additional research focused specifically on office workers and found that after just two hours of continuous desk work, people start feeling worse, with stress levels rising significantly after four hours. To drive the message home, ASICS enlisted actor Brian Cox (aka Succession's patriarch, Logan Roy) for a PSA, where he plays "the world's scariest boss" and emphasizes that the real threat to mental health is the desk itself.
An unsettling report from 404 Media has shed light on some ways that the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses could be used to violate people's privacy. Two Harvard students used facial recognition tech and a large language model to unearth a subject's name, occupation and other details. Their setup (dubbed I-XRAY) can use that information to pull together other data about the person including their address, phone number, family member details and partial Social Security Numbers from a variety of sources on the web. All of this is said to happen automatically.
While this would be possible with a variety of cameras, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio opted to use Meta's smart glasses since "they look almost indistinguishable from regular glasses" and have a camera built in. A demo video shows the students using the glasses to swiftly find out information about people they meet in public. Nguyen and Ardayfio address people who appear to be strangers by name, discuss their work and bring up a place where they may have met in the past, based on information gleaned through the facial recognition setup.
Are we ready for a world where our data is exposed at a glance? @CaineArdayfio and I offer an answer to protect yourself here:https://t.co/LhxModhDpk pic.twitter.com/Oo35TxBNtD AnhPhu Nguyen (@AnhPhuNguyen1) September 30, 2024
In the video, it's explained that the students stream video from the glasses to Instagram. The stream is monitored by a computer program. Once AI detects someone's face, their I-XRAY system pulls more photos of that person from the web along with public information about them. The program then feeds those details back to a mobile app that Nguyen and Ardayfio built. It can take just a couple of minutes for this process to play out.
The students told 404 Media that they developed I-XRAY to make people aware of what's possible with this technology and they won't release the code that they used. Nguyen said that while some of the people they showed the tech to suggested they might use it to network or prank friends, others pointed out some serious safety concerns. Some dude could just find some girls home address on the train and just follow them home," Nguyen pointed out.
In a Google Doc that explains some of the tech behind their system, Nguyen and Ardayfio provide resources detailing how to remove your information from the services that they used for I-XRAY. Those concerned about their privacy may also want to consider using personal information removal services such as DeleteMe or Incogni.
This kind of technology isn't inherently new 404 Media points out that Meta and Google have had the ability to apply facial recognition to a camera feed for years, but didn't release it publicly. But the ability to use it in off-the-shelf smart glasses that appear relatively innocuous (save for a light that is active when the camera is recording) may give cause for concern.
When asked for comment, Meta referred Engadget to this section of its terms of service regarding Facebook View, an accompanying app for the smart glasses:
Your responsibility for your use of Facebook View. You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws when using Facebook View, and for providing any notice or obtaining any consents, as required under video recording, audio recording, biometric data, or other privacy, data protection, or other applicable laws, from other individuals who use your Facebook View or interact with you while you are using Facebook View. You are also responsible for using Facebook View in a safe, lawful, and respectful manner. You may not tamper with the Glasses, or otherwise obscure or modify any of the features on the Glasses that signal to others that the Glasses are recording (including the external-facing LED light).
Facebook View is intended for purely personal or household use. You may only use Facebook View for personal non-commercial purposes subject to the Terms and any other terms made available by us relating to Facebook View. Except to the extent such restriction is prohibited under applicable law, you will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, decrypt, or attempt to derive any code or extract software from Facebook View. Except to the extent expressly permitted by us, you will not prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, sell, rent, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast or otherwise exploit Facebook View or any software, content, or services made available on or through Facebook View.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/students-used-metas-smart-glasses-to-automatically-dox-strangers-via-instagram-streams-170228496.html?src=rss
Garmin has just announced its Lily 2 Active smartwatch, which is currently the companys smallest model with built-in GPS functionality. It boasts nine days of battery life when used without GPS and nine hours with GPS mode on.
This sleek metal watch has two buttons and a display that activates with a tap or wrist turn. The buttons are used to select activities or switch screens. As with many smartwatches out right now, the Lily 2 Active can also gather information on your last nights sleep and grant insights on improving sleep quality. The sleep function also records heart rate, sleep stages, stress and respiration, among other factors useful for calculating your sleep score. You can also use Body Battery monitoring to check your energy levels.
For those who like to follow workout videos or routines, you can download workouts for strength, yoga sessions and high intensity interval training (HIIT). You can view these workouts on the watch screen to ensure you follow the planned workout correctly.
One final feature that impressed us was the morning report. The Lily 2 Active can provide all of the information above in the morning, as well as womens health tracking information. For example, users can use the smartwatch to track their menstrual cycles and pregnancies.
The Lily 2 Active is compatible with the Garmin Connect smartphone app on iOS and Android. The app lets you check data collected by the watch, and you can even challenge friends who have Garmin products.
We didnt forget to mention the colors. The Lily 2 Active smartwatch is available in two color schemes: Lunar Gold and Bone or Silver and Purple Jasmine. Those interested can purchase it now for $300.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/garmins-new-lily-2-active-smartwatch-is-pretty-cute-for-a-gps-watch-165410157.html?src=rss
Did you think Amazon Fire tablets were exempt from generative AI tools? Think again. The company just announced a spate of AI-centric features that are rolling out to the just-announced Fire HD 8 refresh and a bunch of older models.
None of these features are too surprising, but they seem useful and fun. Theres something called Writing Assist, which is exactly what it sounds like. This tool integrates with the on-screen keyboard and should be compatible with any app on the tablet. It provides grammar assistance and will transform copy into a number of pre-set styles. This is a quick way to turn whats up with my paycheck into something a bit more professional.
The appropriately-named Webpage Summaries offers up automatic summaries of websites. This tool will distill the key points in an article or on a web page to give concise summaries. Amazon says it will catch readers up to speed in a matter of seconds. This kind of thing is generative AI 101, as there are plenty of pre-existing tools that mimic this functionality. Still, its nice to have it native on Amazon tablets.
Amazon
Finally, theres Wallpaper Creator, which brings a chat prompt into the mix. Just type in what kind of background you want and let the power-hungry magic of AI do the work. Amazon says users can choose from one of the curated prompts or let their imagination run wild. The company says the algorithm will create unique, high-resolution images that can be used as a tablets wallpaper.
All of these features will be available for the just-revealed Fire HD 8 refresh, but Amazon says they are also coming to other compatible Fire tablets later this month. We reached out to the company and asked which Fire tablets are compatible and will update this post when we hear back.
This isnt Amazons only dip into the exciting world of artificial intelligence. The company recently unleashed a shopping-focused chatbot and is working on another chatbot which has been codenamed Metis. It has also been reported that Alexa will soon be getting an AI-centric makeover, powered by Claude AI.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/amazon-tablets-are-getting-ai-tools-like-writing-assist-and-automatic-website-summaries-164809318.html?src=rss
Amazon updated its Fire HD 8 lineup on Wednesday. The 2024 version of the budget tablet has more RAM, a better rear camera and some built-in AI. The device, which will usually start at $100 (with lock-screen ads), is already on sale for October Prime Day.
As its name suggests, the new Fire HD 8 has an 8-inch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution (189 ppi). One of the 2024 models big upgrades is 3GB of RAM in the base storage tier (32B). Meanwhile, the 64GB variant slides up to 4GB of RAM. Of course, this is a budget tablet, so those arent close to barrier-breaking numbers. But thats still 50 to 100 percent higher than the 2GB of RAM in the 2022 model.
Amazon rates the Fire HD 8 for up to 13 hours of battery life. The tablets rear camera is 5MP. (Thats the same as the Plus version of its 2022 predecessor, but its higher than the 2MP in the old standard version.)
The tablets will include some generative AI capabilities. Like Apples early take on AI in its 2024 updates, these include a Writing Assist feature that can jot out messages based on prompts. It can also summarize web pages, make grammar suggestions and tweak brevity.
There will also be two kids versions of the tablet: the Fire HD 8 Kids and Fire HD 8 Kids Pro. As youd expect from Amazons child-focused variants, these versions will include a kid-proof case in Disney-branded designs (including Pixar Cars, Disney Princess or Marvel Avengers). They also come with a subscription to Amazon Kids+, the companys content delivery service (including mobile games!) for the kiddos.
The Fire HD 8 is available now from Amazon, starting at $55 for Prime Day (usually $100). The Fire HD 8 Kids tablet will typically start at $140 but is on sale for $70 for Prime Day.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/amazons-updated-fire-hd-8-tablet-with-better-performance-is-already-on-sale-for-prime-day-163611329.html?src=rss
