Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant, appears to be struggling to match its competition in terms of popularity. The number of people using Copilot has remained around 20 million weekly users for the last year, according to tech newsletter Newcomer, while OpenAI's ChatGPT has hit as high as 400 million weekly users.
The data was shared at an annual executive meeting in March by Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood, Newcomer reports, and raise some concerns about the AI future Microsoft is pitching. Microsoft uses OpenAI's models to power Copilot, and the assistant offers similar features to ChatGPT, but they clearly don't draw the same interest from users. The company has also built Copilot into Windows 11, Microsoft 365 and the Edge browser, without apparently reaping the benefit of additional user growth.
The need to revamp Copilot, become less dependent on OpenAI and reimagine the company's assistant as a true consumer product were Microsoft's motivations for acqui-hiring Mustafa Suleyman and his team from Inflection AI. Suleyman's work as CEO of Microsoft AI has culminated so far in a redesign of Copilot, and the launch of several new features, including the ability for the AI to take action for you in certain websites. It's maybe the start of a cohesive vision, but not one that's immediately connected with Windows users or anyone else.
Microsoft invested billions in OpenAI to aid the company's research and gain privileged access to its models, all in the hopes of competing with Google. Even with that access, ChatGPT arriving first seems to have had the biggest impact on turning people into AI users. ChatGPT was the AI assistant people tried first, and it's not clear what new Copilot feature will pull them away.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/it-seems-like-most-windows-users-dont-care-for-copilot-195500516.html?src=rss
The fashion-forward adventure Infinity Nikki is finally coming to Steam on April 29, complete with its iconic photo mode. The Steam version launches alongside a major update called Bubble Season that brings some new features to the game on all platforms.
First and foremost, Bubble Season will introduce co-op play. This two-player mode lets a pair of friends explore the entire game world. There will be unique co-op puzzles and new escort missions.
The update brings a new area and, of course, a whole bunch of new outfits to collect. Publisher Papergames is also bringing back some old outfits from previous seasons, for those who missed the boat. Theres even a new fashion runway gameplay mechanic with new interactions for photo mode.
Finally, Bubble Season adds a new dye mechanic, which changes outfit colors. We dont know exactly how this will work, but it looks to add even more customization options. Again, all of these features will be available on April 29 for PC, mobile and PS5.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/infinity-nikki-is-coming-to-steam-and-getting-a-co-op-mode-185014372.html?src=rss
The Legend of Ochi feels like a film that shouldn't exist today. It's an original story, not an adaptation of an already popular book or comic. It's filled with complex puppetry and practical effects, something many films avoid because CG is simply easier to deal with. And it evokes some of the scarier children's films of the '80s and '90s, like the nightmare-inducing adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches.
According to Isaiah Saxon, the film's writer and director, it was a struggle to get The Legend of Ochi made. "The attempt to make the film took longer than the making of the film," he said in an interview on the Engadget Podcast. " I think it's extremely hard to reach kids with your first film because kids are kind of behind this kind of corporatized IP world now. But I really wanted to reach kids with my first film and, and so that's why it took so long."
Whenever he received a bit of funding for the film, Saxon says he used it to prototype creatures with London's John Nolan Studios, which has built animatronics for films like Jurassic World Dominion, as well as scouted locations in Romania. "And so, through the three-and-a-half years of this work before I got a green light [to make the film], I had then accrued this visual package that was kind of undeniable," he said. "That's when A24 finally just said, okay we're gonna be bold and risky and this isn't what anyone normally does, but we're gonna believe in you here."
The result is a film that feels incredibly personal and distinct. It centers on a young girl, Yuri (Helena Zengel), who is growing up in a tiny village on the island of Carpathia. There the people fear the Ochi, mysterious primates who live in the forests and attack farm animals. Her father Maxim (Willem Dafoe in another unhinged A24 film performance) is a conservative, overly-macho man who leads a band of boys to hunt Ochi. Oh yeah, and he occasionally wears Viking armor.
A24
The film begins with the Ochi, who from afar look like menacing monkeys. Yuri was raised to fear them, but after encountering one young Ochi, she begins to reject everything her father taught her. It also helps that the creature looks adorable, with large eyes and protruding ears, it's a bit like The Mandalorian's Grogu (AKA Baby Yoda), but with fur. The infant Ochi is also a complex puppet created by John Nolan Studios, and it looks uncanny at first, since these days we expect it to be computer generated. But it's clearly a physical object, with actual facial movements that Yuri can react to.
"Puppetry is such an ancient art form," Saxon said, when I asked why he pushed to make the Ochi a puppet and not a purely CG creature. "We've been making shadows on the cave wall for thousands of years, and our brain as we watch the human hand give life to a character is just fully accepting of it."
"And then there's also the charm of the failure space of puppetry. Even when you're not doing it just right, it feels alive. And especially for this baby primate, we found immediately as we were testing the puppet, that the little imperfections that came through rod puppeteering were actually exactly the way that a little baby monkey would be just discovering how to move their own body."
A24
Creating a believable puppet is just one problem though, another is orchestrating it effectively on a movie set. "[John Nolan Studios] pushed the limits of what you could do at a really small scale with animatronics," Saxon said. "We were able to prototype for years to build these creatures. And then on set, we have extensively rehearsed every single scene with all these puppeteers. There's five on the body led by Rob Tygner, who's doing the head, and he's kind of calling out the internal monologue of the animal all its thinking, all its vocalization so that everyone can sync."
Another two people control the puppet's face while staring at monitors, so there's a challenge to making them all work as one entity, Saxon says. The film's sets are also built to hold all of the people who control the Ochi puppet, and who often need to be hidden from view. And then there are the suit performers. "We have small people in ape suits with hand extensions with heavy animatronic heads that they can barely see out of. They're hot and they're out in the Carpathian wilderness in the mountains of Transylvania," Saxon said.
After seeing what he accomplished with The Legend of Ochi, it's not hard to see Disney tapping Saxon for something in the Marvel universe, like it has with so many independent filmmakers. But that likely won't happen. "I've already said no," Saxon remarked in regards to making a Marvel film, and he also has no desire to make anything based on an existing IP.
Saxon isn't entirely against using digital tools, despite his obvious love for puppetry. The Legend of Ochi still uses CG for distant shots of the Ochi, and for creating virtual sets. "I've also, over the years, learned CG and I've made purely animated 3D films. And I know the software myself and I know that it's a bespoke craft art that is tedious and full of love and attention to detail."
"It doesn't get the respect it deserves," he added. "And that's partly because there's been a kind of corporatization and overuse of CG a lot. Saxon says he was well aware a CG character couldnt carry the film, but he also knew that it was the best way to create a 3D river that didnt exist in Romania. (Its also reminiscent of the music video he directed for Bjorks Wanderlust.)
"You have to look at each opportunity and come to the technique organically for the task. You can't have philosophies about this."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/it-feels-alive-the-legend-of-ochi-director-on-the-power-of-puppets-183043579.html?src=rss
Boox, a company that makes E Ink gear ranging from palm-sized devices to desktop monitors, has a new pair of ereaders. The Go 7 and Go Color 7 (Gen II) combine a Kindle Oasis-like form factor with Android 13. For the first time in this lineup, they support handwriting, courtesy of a $46 stylus. And since the E Ink tablets ship with the Play Store, you can use any ebook storefront you like.
The Boox Go Color 7 (Gen II) uses E Ink Kaleido 3 tech, also found in the Kobo Libra Colour and Kindle Colorsoft. (However, Amazon modified the latter with a custom display stack.) Like those competitors, the Go Color 7 shows color content at 150 ppi and black and white at 300 ppi.
Meanwhile, the Go 7 has a monochrome Carta 1300 Monochrome display that shows content at 300 ppi.
Boox
Both devices have an asymmetrical form factor with physical page turn buttons on one side. They're the latest design inspired by the Kindle Oasis, which Amazon discontinued last year. Variations of this form are also found in the Kobo Libra, Sage and Elipsa lines. If you've never tried one of these offshoots, they're made for maximum one-handed ease.
One advantage Boox's readers have over competitors is that, since they run Android and include the Play Store, you can install whatever reading app you like. Ditto for note-taking apps, browsers, mail clients, social apps or anything else you want. (But don't expect anything with video to be usable on E Ink screens.)
The Go 7 and Go Color 7 each have 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and microSD support. Each device weighs 195g (6.9oz).
Boox
Although both Go 7 readers support pen input for note-taking, highlights and markups, you'll have to spend more to enjoy that. That's because, alongside the devices, Boox is launching a $46 InkSense stylus with 4,096 pressure levels of sensitivity. The pen, which looks a bit like a gray Apple Pencil, has a multifunction button on the side and recharges via USB-C.
You can preorder the $250 monochrome Go 7 from Boox's website today. The company expects it to ship around May 7. Meanwhile, the $280 Go Color 7 is listed as "coming soon."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/booxs-new-go-7-e-ink-tablets-support-handwriting-with-a-46-stylus-182026839.html?src=rss
Google has announced that it will no longer be bringing new Nest Thermostats to Europe due to the "unique" requirements of heating systems in the region. The company launched its redesigned fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat in 2024.
"Heating systems in Europe are unique and have a variety of hardware and software requirements that make it challenging to build for the diverse set of homes," Google says. "Therefore moving forward well no longer launch new Nest thermostats in Europe." The third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Thermostat E will continue to function, receive security updates and be sold while supplies last. If you're in the market for a new thermostat that works with Google Home, though, you'll have to turn to a third-party option.
Besides leaving behind a whole continent's worth of customers, Google announced that it's also ending software support for a few older Nest devices. The first and second generation Nest Learning Thermostats, along with the second generation model released in Europe, will no longer receive software updates or connect to the Google Home app starting October 25, 2025. Google says any routines you've programmed will still work and you can manually adjust the temperature on the Nest Thermostat themselves, they'll just otherwise become a bit less "smart" after October.
As a consolation, Google is offering $130 off a new fourth-generation Nest Thermostat to affected customers in the US, $160 off for customers in Canada, and 50 percent off a Tado Smart Thermostat X for European customers.
All three thermostat models Google is dropping are over a decade old, so on one hand, the decision makes sense. On the other hand, most people don't purchase a thermostat and expect it to have an expiration date. That's one of a few reasons to be skeptical of Google's continued commitment to its Nest products. It's nice that there's a snazzy new Nest Thermostat, but there's been little indication the company will ever make a new Nest Hub or Nest Audio, beyond plans to incorporate Gemini.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/google-wont-bring-new-nest-thermostats-to-europe-181136806.html?src=rss
Almost a year since Microsoft announced its controversial Recall feature, and after several delays, the company has finally started bringing it to Copilot+ AI PCs today. The launch comes just a few weeks after Microsoft started testing Recall broadly with Windows Insiders. There are also a few other AI-powered features coming along with this release, including an improved Windows Search and Click to Do, which lets you quickly use AI features from within your existing apps. As usual, the release won't immediately roll out to all Copilot+ PCs, instead Microsoft is gradually releasing it over the next month (and likely monitoring potential issues along the way).
Recall was one of the biggest announcements at Microsoft's Copilot+ debut last May, but almost immediately, it came under fire for some glaring privacy issues. At a basic level, Recall constantly records what you're doing on your PC via screenshots, and it uses AI to search them for specific words and images. The idea is that you'll never forget where you put a document you were working on weeks ago, or which random website you've lost track of. Security and privacy advocates were initially concerned that Recall was automatically enabled on Copilot+ PCs and that it wasn't storing its database of screenshots securely. That led to an immediate delay for Recall that lasted for several months.
In November, Microsoft finally revealed how it will make the feature even more secure. Its snapshots and related data will be stored in VBS enclaves, which the company describes as "software-based trusted execution environment (TEE) inside a host application." Additionally, you'll have to turn Recall on manually when you set up a Copilot+ machine, it will rely on Windows Hello biometric security to make any settings changes, and it can be completely uninstalled if you want to be rid of it entirely.
While it's heartening to see Microsoft take security more seriously after all of Recall's initial criticism, it's still worrying that it took widespread condemnation for any of it to happen. The company's rush to deliver a shiny new AI feature to sell Copilot+ PCs, and snub the likes of Google and Apple, ultimately got in the way of delivering the best product for consumers. It'll be hard to trust Recall, or really any of Microsoft's AI-enabled Copilot features, because of its initial blunder.
Less controversial is the improved Windows Search, which will let you find documents and images in your own words. That means you shouldn't have to worry about remembering specific file names or other minutia to find what you need. Like all of the Copilot+ features, including Recall, the improved search runs locally using the neural processing units (NPU) in AI PCs. There's nothing being sent to the cloud.
I'm personally the least excited about Click to Do, but there may be an audience for people who want easy access to Microsoft's AI tools. You'll be able to highlight text and quickly have it summarized or rewritten by Copilot, without dumping it into the Copilot app specifically. You can enable the feature by pressing the Windows key and clicking on your screen, swiping right on a touchscreen or hitting the Click to Do icon as it pops up throughout Windows (you'll see it in places like the Start menu and Snipping Tool).
Microsoft says Click to Do actions for images are available on all Copilot+ PCs with the new Windows 11 April update, and text actions will be available on Snapdragon systems today, and eventually on Intel and AMD AI PCs.
I've briefly used all of these features on a Surface Pro Copilot+ machine using the latest Windows 11 Insider build, but I've been waiting to test their official release before making any final judgements. I can say that Recall mostly works as advertised it was easily able to bring up a document I was viewing a week later, and it quickly found a few websites I was viewing but it also didn't add much to my Windows experience. At this point I religiously save websites I need to revisit via Pocket, and I'm well-versed enough in Windows to know where I've put my files. Recall isn't really made for me, though, it's for less experienced users who just want to find their stuff.
Even power users will like the improved Windows search, though, but that's only because the platform's search has always been notoriously awful. And while I'm not a huge proponent of AI text summarization, but Click to Do did a decent job of summarizing a few long articles.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/microsofts-recall-and-improved-windows-search-start-rolling-out-to-copilot-ai-pcs-today-170014913.html?src=rss
If youve performed a Google search lately, youve undoubtedly come across an AI Overview in your search results. This tool, powered by Googles Gemini, tries to save you some clicks by aggregating information from the links populated in your search results and succinctly delivering what it believes to be the information youre looking for. The accuracy of these overviews, however, often leaves a lot to be desired, and the tool has been plagued with hallucinations since its launch (with varying degrees of hilarity).
Now Google is bringing the tool to YouTube, testing a video version of AI overviews for a small number of YouTube Premium members in the US across limited English search queries. While Google search results show LLM-generated text summaries, YouTubes AI overviews will function as something of a highlight reel for certain videos.
In a post on YouTube Community forums, Google said that, "This new feature will use AI to highlight clips from videos that will be most helpful for your search queryThis is most likely to show when you search for more information about products youre shopping for (such as 'best noise cancelling headphones'), or when you search for more information about locations or things to do in those locations (such as 'museums to visit in San Francisco')."
This raises some questions about the revenue model for creators on YouTube and how AI-generated clip reels would affect their incomes. A major concern with AI overview in search is Googles own summary absorbing traffic that would otherwise have gone to the publications shown in the search results. Bringing these tools to YouTube is likely to raise the same concerns for video content creators.
Google will be collecting feedback on these overviews from Premium members, who can vote with a thumbs up or thumbs down on the AI-generated highlight clips. Google hasnt said how long this pilot will run for, or whether Google intends to expand YouTubes AI overview to anyone beyond Premium subscribers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/youtube-is-testing-its-own-version-of-ai-overviews-145353147.html?src=rss
Beleaguered chipmaker Intel has confirmed plans to restructure in a shift that will involve an unspecified number of layoffs. It was reported this week that the company could lay off around 20 percent of staff (it had 108,900 employees at the end of last year). In a memo, new CEO Lip-Bu Tan declined to detail the extent of the downsizing, which is largely aimed at reducing "unnecessary bureaucracy" and layers of middle management.
"Im a big believer in the philosophy that the best leaders get the most done with the fewest people. We will embrace this mindset across the company, which will include empowering our top talent to make decisions and take greater ownership of key priorities," Tan wrote. "There is no way around the fact that these critical changes will reduce the size of our workforce. As I said when I joined, we need to make some very hard decisions to put our company on a solid footing for the future. This will begin in Q2 and we will move as quickly as possible over the next several months."
Intel has been downsizing significantly over the last few years. Just last August, the company said it would cut more than 15,000 jobs to reduce costs. Intel has been struggling with slowing sales it didn't act quickly enough to keep up with the industry's shift toward artificial intelligence.
Unsurprisingly, AI will be a focus for Intel going forward. "My focus will be ensuring that our team builds products that are highly competitive and meet the needs of our customer as we enter a new era of computing, defined by AI agents and reasoning models," Tan said in a call with investors on Thursday. "To achieve this, we are taking a holistic approach to redefine our portfolio to optimize our products for new and emerging AI workloads. We are making necessary adjustments to our product roadmap, so that we are positioned to make the best-in-class products while staying laser focused on execution and ensuring on time delivery."
Tan is aiming to speed things up by turning Intel into a company that's focused on engineering. "Many of the changes we will be driving are designed to make engineers more productive by removing burdensome workflows and processes that slow down the pace of innovation," he wrote. The company is planning to reduce costs elsewhere in order to "make necessary investments in our engineering talent and technology roadmaps." It's hoping to lower its operating expenses by $1.5 billion over the next two years.
Efficiencies are the name of the game here. Tan wants managers to get rid of unnecessary meetings and reduce the number of people who attend meetings as "too much valuable time is being wasted." Intel is also expanding its return-to-office mandate by requiring workers to be on site four days a week (up from three) starting in September.
Tan certainly has lofty goals as he looks to turn around Intel's fortunes. "Im talking about the opportunity to fundamentally reinvent an industry icon. To pull off a comeback that will be studied in business schools for generations to come. To create new technologies and deploy them at scale to change the world for the better," he wrote. "Intel was once widely seen as the worlds most innovative company. Theres no reason we cant get back there, so long as we drive the changes needed to improve."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intel-confirms-layoffs-as-it-tries-to-make-engineers-more-productive-143825752.html?src=rss
While the Switch 2 has backwards compatibility, Nintendo is releasing upgraded versions of its old games with enhanced framerates and resolution, as well as extra content. It's also selling upgrades cheaper than full games, which you can get for titles you already own. The upgrades for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will set you back $10. Now, the company has started revealing more upgrade prices for old games, and it looks like the ones for Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Super Mario Party Jamboree will cost you twice as much at $20.
NintendoLife first posted about the upgrades' potential prices based on their eShop listings for Europe. The company has updated its US eShop since then to show that they're also being sold for $20 in the country. If you buy the upgrade for Kirby and the Forgotten Land, you're getting access to a new part of the game called Star-Crossed World, wherein you have to uncover the mystery surrounding the meteor that struck the world. Meanwhile Super Mario Party Jamboree comes with Jamboree TV, a game show hosted by Toad. The Switch 2 version of the title uses the console's Joy-Con 2 and microphone, and if you use its camera, you can also put your face into the action during mini-games.
Super Mario Party Jamboree for the Switch 2 will be available on July 24, while Kirby's Switch 2 edition will be available on August 28. Both games will set you back $80 if you buy the full Switch 2 version instead of upgrading an old copy. Nintendo has yet to release the prices for the Switch 2 editions of Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which will be available later this year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-charges-20-for-mario-party-jamboree-and-kirby-switch-2-upgrades-140031152.html?src=rss
