News/New Launches
Audible Introduces AI-Powered Search Feature
Audible, the Amazon-owned audiobook and podcast platform, is introducing an AI-powered search feature called Maven, marking a significant step in enhancing user experience and content discovery within its vast library of audio content. Maven's core functionality: Maven employs natural language processing to interpret user queries and provide tailored audiobook recommendations based on specific criteria or preferences. The AI-powered search tool can understand and respond to complex queries like "I'm looking for an uplifting fiction novel with a female protagonist," demonstrating its ability to process nuanced search parameters. This feature aims to simplify the process of finding relevant titles across Audible's...
read Aug 7, 2024Mistral AI Launches Powerful New Developer Tool Upgrades
The Mistral AI team has unveiled significant updates to their platform, enhancing developers' ability to create and deploy customized generative AI applications with greater ease and efficiency. Streamlined model customization: Mistral AI has introduced new features on La Plateforme that allow developers to tailor flagship and specialist models, including Mistral Large 2 and Codestral, to their specific needs. Users can now customize models using base prompts, few-shot prompting, or fine-tuning techniques, providing flexibility in adapting AI capabilities to particular domains or use cases. The platform supports developers in bringing their own datasets, facilitating the integration of domain-specific knowledge and context...
read Aug 7, 2024ByteDance Unveils AI Video Creator, Challenging OpenAI’s Sora
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has launched a new AI-powered video creation app called Jimeng AI in China, marking its entry into the rapidly evolving field of AI-generated content. Jimeng AI's capabilities and features: The app leverages artificial intelligence to transform text prompts into short videos that match the given description, currently processing prompts in Chinese. Users can generate approximately 168 videos or 2,050 images per month through a subscription model. The AI-generated videos are formatted to be compatible with TikTok, although there is no direct integration between the two apps at present. Jimeng AI is exclusively available for...
read Aug 7, 2024OpenAI Quietly Launches Upgraded GPT-4o, Slashing Costs and Boosting Performance
OpenAI has discreetly launched an enhanced version of its GPT-4o language model, slashing costs and improving performance amidst leadership upheaval and intensifying competition in the AI industry. Upgraded model and cost reduction: OpenAI's latest GPT-4o iteration marks a significant advancement in both efficiency and capability, potentially reshaping the AI landscape. The new version of GPT-4o cuts operational costs by half while simultaneously enhancing its performance. This cost reduction could have far-reaching implications for AI accessibility and deployment across various sectors. The improved model is demonstrating competitive results on key benchmarks like Livebench, solidifying OpenAI's position at the forefront of AI...
read Aug 7, 2024EdgeCortix is Making Energy-Efficient AI Chips for Edge Computing
EdgeCortix is pioneering energy-efficient AI processors and software for edge computing, aiming to deliver near cloud-level performance with improved efficiency and speed. The Japanese startup, founded in 2019, is making waves in the AI chip industry with its innovative approach and rapid growth. A software-first approach to AI hardware: EdgeCortix distinguishes itself by prioritizing software optimization to enhance AI processing efficiency at the edge. The company's MERA Compiler and Software framework forms the foundation of their technology stack, enabling optimized AI deployment on their custom hardware. This software-first strategy allows EdgeCortix to fine-tune their hardware designs based on real-world AI...
read Aug 7, 2024AI Company ‘Prepared’ Is Translating 911 Calls in Real-Time to Help Non-English Callers
Prepared, a company specializing in 911 technology, is introducing a groundbreaking two-way audio translation feature for non-English emergency calls, potentially transforming how dispatchers handle diverse language needs in critical situations. Innovative solution for language barriers: Prepared's new technology aims to bridge the communication gap between non-English speaking callers and 911 dispatchers, addressing a growing need in an increasingly diverse United States. The feature automatically translates Spanish calls into English for dispatchers, allowing them to understand and respond to emergencies more efficiently. Dispatchers can type responses in English, which are then translated to Spanish and communicated through an AI-generated voice, ensuring...
read Aug 6, 2024Samsung Brings AI Power to Mid-Range Phones
Galaxy AI expands to mid-range phones: Samsung is reportedly planning to bring its suite of AI-powered tools, Galaxy AI, to select mid-range devices in its Galaxy A series lineup. Industry sources familiar with Samsung's plans have revealed that the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 could be the first mid-range Samsung devices to receive Galaxy AI features. The AI-powered tools are expected to arrive with the One UI 6.1.1 update, which is anticipated to roll out in the coming months. This move follows Samsung's introduction of Galaxy AI on its flagship Galaxy S24 series and subsequent expansion to its latest foldable...
read Aug 6, 2024Google Expands Smart Home Lineup With AI-Powered Devices
Google's smart home lineup expands: The tech giant is set to release two new devices that leverage AI technology to enhance user experience and functionality in the connected home space. New Nest Learning Thermostat features: Google's 4th-generation Nest Learning Thermostat boasts significant improvements in design and capabilities, aiming to set a new standard for smart climate control. The device sports a 60% larger screen, making it easier for users to view and interact with temperature settings and other information. Its redesigned look draws inspiration from the Pixel Watch, suggesting a more cohesive design language across Google's product ecosystem. A standout...
read Aug 6, 2024AI-Powered ‘Realme S2’ Redefines Budget Smartwatches
Realme's latest smartwatch, the Watch S2, marks the company's return to the Indian wearable market after a hiatus since 2022, bringing a blend of style and AI-driven features to the competitive smartwatch arena. Design and display: The Realme Watch S2 boasts a circular design that combines aesthetics with functionality, featuring a rotating crown and tactile button for easy navigation. The watch sports a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with a crisp 466x466 resolution, offering clear visibility and vibrant colors. Its premium and rugged design caters to users looking for a smartwatch that can withstand daily wear and tear while maintaining a stylish...
read Aug 6, 2024AI-Powered Nest Thermostat Learns Faster, Saves More Energy
Key innovations: The latest Nest Learning Thermostat leverages artificial intelligence to enhance its adaptive capabilities and energy efficiency. The thermostat employs AI technology to learn and adapt to schedules more transparently, improving its ability to optimize home heating and cooling. A new Smart Ventilation feature allows the device to work with compatible ventilation systems, potentially enhancing overall climate control. The Adaptive Eco feature optimizes away temperatures, further contributing to energy savings. Design and hardware upgrades: Nest has made notable improvements to the physical design and hardware components of the thermostat. The device now features a 60% larger curved LCD display,...
read Aug 6, 2024Lamborghini Electrifies Supercars While Preserving Iconic Roar
Lamborghini, the iconic Italian supercar manufacturer, is navigating the transition to electrification while striving to maintain its brand identity and appeal. The company has recently unveiled its second plug-in hybrid model and is setting ambitious goals for electric vehicle (EV) production, all while grappling with the challenge of preserving the essence of Lamborghini in an electrified future. Hybrid milestones and EV ambitions: Lamborghini has made significant strides in electrification with the launch of its second plug-in hybrid model, the Urus SE, following the introduction of the Revuelto supercar. The Revuelto, Lamborghini's first hybrid, boasts an impressive 1,001 horsepower, setting a...
read Aug 6, 2024Google TV Streamer Debuts at $99 With AI and Smart Home Features
The big picture: Google is replacing its popular Chromecast with a more powerful and feature-rich device called the Google TV Streamer, marking a shift in its streaming hardware strategy. The new Google TV Streamer is priced at $99, double the cost of the previous 4K Chromecast model. This price increase positions the device in a higher tier of streaming products, competing more directly with set-top boxes rather than budget dongles. The move leaves Google without a low-cost streaming option in its lineup, potentially ceding ground in the budget segment to competitors like Roku and Amazon. Key features and improvements: The...
read Aug 5, 2024Apple’s AI Features in Beta Hint at Smart, Secure iPhone Upgrade
Apple's upcoming AI features for iPhones, iPads, and Macs, announced at WWDC, are beginning to take shape in the latest developer betas. These betas offer a glimpse into the underlying instructions and limitations Apple is implementing for its AI-powered tools, providing insight into the company's approach to integrating generative AI across its ecosystem. Key AI features unveiled: Apple's developer betas contain instructions for various AI-powered features that will soon be available on its devices. A "helpful mail assistant" is programmed to ask questions based on email content, potentially enhancing user interaction with their inbox. The "Rewrite" feature is designed to...
read Aug 5, 2024Runway’s New Upgrade Allows You to Bookend Videos with Specific Images
Runway's Gen-3 Alpha Image to Video tool has received a significant upgrade, allowing users to anchor AI-generated videos with specific imagery at either the beginning or end, enhancing creative control and consistency in AI video production. Enhanced creative control: Runway's latest update to its Gen-3 Alpha Image to Video tool provides users with the ability to bookend their AI-generated videos with custom imagery, offering greater control over the final product. The new feature allows users to set a specific image as either the first or last frame of the generated video, helping to maintain artistic intent and visual coherence throughout...
read Aug 5, 2024Meta Unveils AI Network Architecture to Power Next-Gen Models
Meta's AI infrastructure revolution: Meta has developed specialized data center networks designed to support large-scale distributed AI training using GPU clusters, marking a significant advancement in AI infrastructure. The company's approach employs RDMA Over Converged Ethernet version 2 (RoCEv2) as the inter-node communication transport, highlighting the importance of high-speed, low-latency networking in AI workloads. Meta's network architecture is divided into two distinct parts: a frontend network for data ingestion, checkpointing, and logging, and a backend network specifically optimized for AI training tasks. AI Zone: The backbone of Meta's AI network: The backend network utilizes a two-stage Clos topology, dubbed an...
read Aug 5, 2024AI-Powered Review Summaries are Coming to Google Play Store
Google Play Store's AI-powered review summaries are set to expand, potentially changing how users interact with app reviews and make download decisions. This development comes as part of Google's broader push to integrate AI across its services, particularly within the Play Store ecosystem. AI integration in Play Store expands: Google is preparing to introduce AI-generated review summaries directly in app listings, building upon existing AI features in searches and "App highlights" sections. The new feature aims to condense popular opinions from user reviews into a single, AI-generated voice, providing a quick overview of app feedback. Text strings labeling information as...
read Aug 5, 2024Apple’s AI Push Promises Smarter Devices, Enhanced Privacy
The big picture: Apple is making a significant move into the AI space with its new Apple Intelligence system, set to be deeply integrated into Mac, iPad, and iPhone operating systems. Apple Intelligence will offer features like writing advice, an improved Siri, and enhanced automation capabilities across Apple devices. Unlike many AI systems, Apple's approach prioritizes on-device processing, with only complex tasks being sent to the cloud with explicit user consent. The system is currently available only in developer beta versions of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1, with most features expected to roll out next year. Key features...
read Aug 5, 2024Zoom Challenges Tech Giants With AI-Powered Document Tool
Zoom is expanding its video conferencing platform with a new AI-powered document creation tool, aiming to compete with tech giants Microsoft and Google in the enterprise productivity space. This move represents Zoom's latest effort to diversify its offerings and maintain relevance in a post-pandemic market. New AI-driven document feature: Zoom has introduced a document creation tool within its video calling app that leverages artificial intelligence to transform meeting content into sharable files. The new feature utilizes Zoom's AI Companion to organize meeting transcripts into templates, create tables, checklists, and trackers based on discussions. Users can collaborate on these documents in...
read Aug 5, 2024New AI Model Achieves 91.57 EQ Score, Advancing Empathetic Conversations
HelpingAI2-6B is a new large language model designed to facilitate emotionally intelligent conversations, offering empathetic and supportive dialogue across various topics. This AI model aims to revolutionize conversational AI by incorporating advanced emotional intelligence capabilities. Key features and capabilities: HelpingAI2-6B is engineered to recognize and validate user emotions, providing supportive and empathetic responses while engaging in meaningful, open-ended dialogue. The model boasts advanced natural language processing abilities, allowing for high emotional intelligence in conversations. It is designed to continuously improve its emotionally aware and dialogue skills through ongoing refinement. Ethical considerations are built into the model, as it is programmed...
read Aug 5, 2024OpenAI’s New Tools Detect Whether Content Is AI-Generated
AI-generated text detection advancements: OpenAI has developed new methods for identifying AI-generated content, including a highly effective text watermarking technique and exploration of cryptographic metadata, but is proceeding cautiously with their release. The text watermarking method has shown significant promise in detecting AI-generated work, even when faced with localized tampering attempts such as paraphrasing. OpenAI is also investigating the potential of adding cryptographically signed metadata to AI-generated text as an additional layer of detection. Despite having these tools ready for deployment, OpenAI has chosen to delay their release due to several concerns and potential drawbacks. Challenges and limitations: While the...
read Aug 4, 2024Open-Source Speech Recognition Model ‘Medusa’ Just Dropped, Outperforms Whisper
Whisper-Medusa, a new open-source AI model developed by aiOla, combines OpenAI's Whisper technology with aiOla's innovations to create a faster and more efficient automatic speech recognition tool. This development promises significant improvements in speech-to-text technology and has implications for numerous industries. Technological advancements and key features: Whisper-Medusa outperforms its predecessor, OpenAI's Whisper, by operating 50% faster without compromising accuracy: The model predicts ten tokens at a time, compared to Whisper's one-at-a-time approach, resulting in a significant speed boost for speech prediction and generation runtime. aiOla currently offers Whisper-Medusa as a 10-head model, with plans to release a 20-head version maintaining...
read Aug 3, 2024AI-Powered Google Wallet Wants to Digitize Your Entire Life
Google Wallet's new "Everything else" feature is transforming the way users can digitize and store various documents and cards, offering a significant leap in convenience and accessibility for digital pass management. Innovative AI-powered digitization: Google Wallet has introduced a new feature that allows users to convert virtually any physical document or card into a digital pass: The new "Everything else" option utilizes AI technology to analyze and categorize a wide range of documents through the device's camera. Users can easily access this feature by tapping the "Add to Wallet" button and selecting "Everything else" in the Google Wallet app. The...
read Aug 3, 2024How to Access Apple Intelligence If You’re Outside the US
Apple's new AI features, collectively known as "Apple Intelligence," are set to debut in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, offering users a range of advanced capabilities. While officially limited to US developers in beta, these features can be accessed by users in most regions outside the European Union and China with a few simple steps. Device compatibility and feature overview: Apple Intelligence requires significant computing power, limiting its availability to specific devices: iPhone users need either an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max to access Apple Intelligence. iPad users require devices powered by M1 or later Apple silicon...
read Aug 3, 2024Early Users of Google’s Imagen 3 Say It’s on Par with Midjourney
Google's Imagen 3 demonstrates significant advancements in AI-generated imagery, offering improved detail, lighting, and prompt understanding compared to its predecessors. Key features and improvements: Imagen 3 showcases several notable upgrades that enhance the quality and versatility of the generated images: Higher-quality images across various styles, including photorealism, oil paintings, and graphic art Better understanding of natural language prompts and complex camera angles Improved text rendering capabilities, allowing for accurate representation of text within images Fewer artifacts and richer detail compared to previous generations of Imagen and other company models Testing Imagen 3's capabilities: Tom's Guide, which got early access to...
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