Category: News

Categories
News

Amazon faces delays in updating Alexa with generative AI features

In the week’s least surprising news, Amazon’s reinvention of its Alexa voice assistant has reportedly fallen even further behind. According to Bloomberg, the launch of a new Alexa — billed as a smarter, more capable AI-powered voice assistant — has been pushed back. Again. “A person familiar with the matter said Alexa AI teams were recently told that their target deadline had been moved into 2025,” writes Bloomberg. 

In June, Fortune reported that the AI-powered Alexa — which Amazon demoed last September and said would be available for a free preview on its Alexa-fitted devices in the U.S. — is not even close to being ready. Former employees told the publication that the company doesn’t have enough data nor access to the chips needed to run the large language model (LLM) powering the new version of its voice assistant. The company also reportedly deprioritized Alexa AI to focus on building generative AI for its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services.

Amazon said its former employees are incorrect and uninformed on its current Alexa AI efforts, and that the Amazon Artificial General Intelligence team has access to both in-house Trainium chips and Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs).

“We have already integrated generative AI into different components of Alexa, and are working hard on implementation at scale—in the over half a billion ambient, Alexa-enabled devices,” an Amazon spokesperson previously told Quartz in a statement. “We are excited about what we’re building and look forward to delivering it for our customers.”

On Amazon’s third-quarter earnings call, Jassy said Amazon has a “very deep partnership with Nvidia” and plans to “be their lead partner on most of their new chips.” Production of the second version of Amazon’s training chips, Trainium, will start ramping up in the next few weeks, Jassy said.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has yet to convey a compelling vision for an AI-powered Alexa to the company. While he’s said publicly, “We continue to re-architect the brain of Alexa … ”, there’s been scant information about what an LLM-powered Alexa will bring to its millions of users — beyond being able to converse more naturally. More importantly, it seems Amazon has yet to prove it can do this without diminishing the features customers use the assistant for every day.

While the company searches for its vision, Jassy has installed a new head of the devices and services division under which Alexa falls. Panos Panay has been at the company for a year now, and Bloomberg reports the former head of Microsoft’s Surface division has “brought a focus on higher-quality design to a group adept at utilitarian gadgets.”

Amazon’s prior tact of making copious amounts of cheap hardware at the expense of better software is partly why Alexa hasn’t gotten measurably smarter over the last decade. However, with better hardware and a focus on building on Alexa’s strength, rather than simply turning it into a chatbot, the company could recapture Jeff Bezos’s original vision of creating Star Trek’s “Computer.” But whatever the plan is for a new Alexa, it looks like it won’t be here anytime soon.

Categories
News

iPhone 17 may to use Apple’s own Wi-Fi 7 chip

At least one iPhone 17 model launching next year will be equipped with an Apple-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip, according to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

All current iPhone models are equipped with a combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip supplied by Broadcom, but Kuo expects Apple to equip “nearly all” of its products with its own in-house Wi-Fi chip “within about three years.”

The chip will replace the Broadcom chip that Apple currently uses for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Apple’s Wi-Fi 7 chip will be built using TSMC’s 7nm process. Apple apparently wants to move “nearly all” of its products to its own Wi-Fi chip within about three years, in order to cut supply costs and rake in more profits.

All four iPhone 16 models already support Wi-Fi 7 with Broadcom’s chip, but with some limited specifications. Kuo said Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi chip will support “the latest Wi-Fi 7 spec,” but he did not provide any further details. The chip will be manufactured with TSMC’s 7nm manufacturing process known as N7, he added.

Kuo has aligned with information shared last year by Jeff Pu, another analyst who covers companies within Apple’s supply chain. Pu said the iPhone 17 Pro models would be equipped with an Apple-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip, and he said the in-house chip would expand to the entire iPhone 18 lineup the following year.

Apple is also working on its own 5G chip, which will be separate from the Wi-Fi one and built using a different TSMC process technology. This will also start to be used gradually from next year onwards. The first product to come with Apple’s own 5G modem will be the next iPhone SE. This will however still use a Broadcom Wi-Fi chip. There have been conflicting rumors about whether the Apple-designed 5G and Wi-Fi chips will be separate chips, or one combined chip with 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS capabilities.

Wi-Fi 7 allows for data transmission over the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands simultaneously with a supported router, resulting in faster Wi-Fi speeds, lower latency, and more reliable connectivity. Wi-Fi 7 can provide peak speeds of over 40 Gbps, a 4× increase over Wi-Fi 6E, if a device supports the maximum specifications.

Categories
News

Google confirms highlights an earlier Android 16 in Q2 2025, developer preview begins soon

In a major shift of its release cycle, Google has revealed that Android 16 will be released in Q2 of 2025. Google typically pushes out a new major release of Android in Q3 or Q4, but the company has decided to move next year’s major release up by a few months so more devices will get the update sooner.

Google’s updates kicked off by highlighting the future of its Android SDK. In a blog post, the company states it will bring “more frequent” SDK releases, beginning in 2025. Google states it will have a “major” release in Q2 that contains “behavior changes” for apps. This seems to be Android 16 as Google states developers should keep their eyes out for more information regarding its first preview. The company states app developers can prepare for the major Q2 2025 release by conducting the “annual compatibility testing” a few months sooner.

The minor SDK release in Q4 2025 will contain feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes to clean up any issues with the intended major Q2 launch.

Q1 and Q3 2025 will be minor, offering “feature only” updates to developers, per Google’s set timeline.

Gemini in Android Studio Updates

Following the debut of “Gemini in Android Studio” in April,the company is pushing the boundaries of its AI by boosting its coding capabilities, allowing it to edit your work by “implementing common design patterns.” Several of Gemini’s new code editing features include the ability to “modify and refractor” code based on custom prompts.

A commit message generation feature lets the AI analyze your changes and propose its own set of alterations. “Rethink and rename” lets Gemini generate names for your coding classes, methods, and variables. “Prompt Library” enables the AI to “automatically” save and manage a user’s most frequently used prompts for easy recall. Users can also generate documentation for a select chunk of code by right-clicking.

In the Android Studio, Gemini can now auto-generate “composable” previews and simplify the visualization process for your intended UI. Moreover, “coming soon,” Google says Gemini in Android Studio will support image attachments.

As Gemini in Android Studio picks up a Ladybug feature drop, developers can weed out bugs quicker and (hopefully) see fewer crashes. Additional features include test scenarios using local code context, build/sync error insights, and app quality insights for suggested crash fixes.

Play Store Updates

In a separate blog post, the company states it’s changing how apps are displayed on its store. These new formats include a full-screen mode for portrait videos in an app store listing. Google states a more “prominent” install button should now be visible to users.

Google highlights the Play Store’s “personalized” query recommendations. According to the post, users can find these recommended search queries via the “Search Home.” This is available for English with support for additional languages set to arrive “soon this year.”

Google’s “interest picker” arrived to help the Play Store understand where your interests are for accurate recommendations. The company rolled out a similar tool for games in July.

The post adds that the Play Store delivers a more robust security system when purchasing content. The company says users can now choose “on-device biometrics” when purchasing an app. This includes deciding between using your fingerprint or face to authenticate a purchase instead of inputting your account’s password.

The final two updates for the Play Store involve boosting revenue for developers and their apps alongside Play Integrity API upgrades. Concerning the former, Google states that it has “proactively” encouraged users to assign a payment method on the Play Store and within the Android OS. This has reportedly “doubled the number of purchases” in 2024 and provided a nearly 3% increase in conversion rate.

Payment options have continued to expand as users find options like Paypal, Cash App, direct carrier billing, and more. Additionally, Google highlights its Play Store algorithm for pushing what content users might buy as additional content for their favorite apps.

Google also highlighted its “gentle nudge,” an alert that reminds users of an item they’ve forgotten in their cart.

Google states, “in the coming months,” developers can opt into improved Play Integrity API verdicts to bolster their app’s defenses. What’s more, Google’s “app access risk” feature has exited beta. Developers can now “detect and respond” to apps that capture a user’s screen or control their device to avoid security disasters.

Categories
News

Google Wallet for kids will be available in 2025

After debuting on the Fitbit Ace LTE, Google Wallet with tap-to-pay will be available next year for kids using Family Link-managed Android devices. The news comes after Google first added the feature to its kid-focused Fitbit Ace LTE fitness tracker in August.

Google tells us today that supervised kids in Family Link will be able to download the Google Wallet app on their Android phones. This will allow them to make tap-to-pay transactions in stores. They won’t, however, be able to use cards saved in Google Wallet for online payments.

Parents can supervise children’s accounts via the Google Family Link app that lets parents set restrictions for content and screen time, and added the ability to see when kids leave school and arrive home in 2022. Meanwhile, their Family Link app will let them view recent transaction history and remotely remove a card, as well as block passes.

Kids will be able to make tap-to-pay purchases using standard authentication options, including fingerprint, facial recognition, PIN, or passwords. They can also use Google Wallet to store gift cards and event tickets, but they can’t make online purchases or save health or identification cards. 

Google already built a lot of this infrastructure out for its Wear OS-powered kids smartwatch earlier this year, noting the “the positive response of tap-to-pay on Fitbit Ace LTE.” The company emphasizes how this “new experience is built with safety in mind.”

Google’s kids’ payments feature will start rolling out to Google Wallet users in the US and several other countries next year.With the move, Google is catching up with Apple, whose Apple Cash Family service already lets children use Apple Pay for purchases in stores. It also lets kids buy things online as well as send and receive money through messages.

Categories
News

Apple’s M4 Macs Lack Wi-Fi 7 Support

Apple introduced new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models this week, adding faster and more efficient M4 chips, along with some other updates like Thunderbolt 5 and nano-texture display options for some models. One upgrade we thought we might see was support for the latest Wi-Fi specification, but the new machines did not get a Wi-Fi 7 upgrade.

All of the new M4 Macs continue to offer Wi-Fi 6E, and while it does allow for access to the 6GHz band on supported Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers, it’s not the latest and greatest technology.

Apple’s Wi-Fi specifications page confirms that the Wi-Fi 7 chips in the ‌iPhone 16‌ models have a maximum physical layer data rate of 2400Mb/s and a maximum channel bandwidth of 160MHz, which is the same performance as the Wi-Fi 6E chips in the iPhone 15 Pro models and the M3 Mac models with Wi-Fi 6E on 6GHz networks (Apple’s chart hasn’t been updated for M4, but presumably the Wi-Fi 6E chips have not changed).

Wi-Fi 7 in the ‌iPhone 16‌ models does up the maximum data rate when connected to 5GHz bands compared to the Wi-Fi 6E chips used in Macs and iPads, but Apple does not support the full 320MHz bandwidth with its Wi-Fi 7 implementation. Wi-Fi 7 offers up to 320MHz bandwidth to accommodate more devices, but Apple has limited bandwidth to 160MHz, so ‌iPhone 16‌ models don’t take full advantage of Wi-Fi 7 despite having a Wi-Fi 7 chip. That limitation has been a disappointment, but the ‌iPhone 16‌ models do support Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for connecting to multiple bands at the same time for faster data transmission and lower latency on supported networks.

Apple certainly could have opted for a Wi-Fi 7 chip without limitations in the M4 Mac models, especially for the more expensive M4 Pro and M4 Max machines, but that didn’t happen. Given that people often keep Macs for several years, it is curious that Apple opted not to offer this bit of future proofing in the Mac line.

Customers who plan on purchasing one of the new M4 Macs should know that these machines continue to offer Wi-Fi 6E features and lack the faster speeds and the latency benefits that come with Wi-Fi 7.

Categories
News

IOS 18.2: First Beta Bring ChatGPT for Siri

Apple is now letting developers try more Apple Intelligence features. The company has released the first developer beta of iOS 18.2, and it adds tools like the ability to generate emoji with Genmoji and images with Image Playground, more AI-powered writing features, integration with ChatGPT, Visual Intelligence to search with your camera on iPhone 16 phones, and more.

ChatGPT is an opt-in

Anxious users need to be reassured: ChatGPT doesn’t just “turn on” by default and no data is sent to OpenAI just by turning on your iPhone with Apple Intelligence (at least that’s what Apple promises). Instead, it is a separate switch in the system settings that must be explicitly activated – along with the extensive information dialog. “If the iPhone works with ChatGPT, it can do more for you,” it says.

Setting up ChatGPT in iOS 18.2

To begin using ChatGPT in iOS 18.2, you will need to become a member of the Apple developer beta program. Once you have done that, you will need to download and install the update. From there, enabling ChatGPT is simple, just go back to your Settings. Open Settings and go to Siri & Search.

Turn on Apple Intelligence and navigate to the ChatGPT toggle to activate the feature. Once ChatGPT is enabled, it’s accessible through Siri, allowing users to engage in intelligent conversations, get visual insights, generate images, and more without additional apps.

I was curious I should cancel my ChatGPT Plus subscription. Like, was ChatGPT + Siri somehow a better or more powerful version than ChatGPT Plus? The short answer is no; if you’re a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, simply link your OpenAI account in the settings section so you can still access the premium features.

OpenAI generates images via Siri

As mentioned, ChatGPT is addressed via Siri – this can be done by voice or “Text to Siri”. If you want, you can switch off Siri’s requests that something should go in the direction of ChatGPT. If you want to use ChatGPT a lot, you can do this, but you are putting yourself more in the hands of OpenAI. It is even possible to send all requests to ChatGPT by default by simply saying “Ask ChatGPT”. The image generator DALL-E 2 is also integrated. This means you can now use Siri to create AI images – Interestingly, even before Apple itself has released its Image Playground including Genmoji and image wall function, as many beta users are currently still on hold. ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 also generate photorealistic images, which Apple does not provide.

In the Writing Tools, ChatGPT now allows you to create completely new texts. Previously, Apple’s own tools could only rewrite existing content, “translate” it into other formats and check for errors. Now there is a “Compose” button that uses ChatGPT. In practice, it still takes a little longer for ChatGPT to respond. Apple has apparently not created a “fast lane” to the OpenAI servers as part of the developer beta. Incidentally, Apple is not planning to integrate ChatGPT (even) more deeply into the operating system – New Siri functions such as the use of the user context (e.g. emails, address book, appointments) will be reserved for Apple technology and will also largely run locally on the user’s own device when they are released in the coming months.

Categories
News

New tool can easily bypasses Google Chrome’s new cookie encryption system can be easily bypassed

Google introduced Application-Bound (App-Bound) encryption in July (Chrome 127) as a new protection mechanism that encrypts cookies using a Windows service that runs with SYSTEM privileges.

The goal was to protect sensitive information from infostealer malware, which runs with the permissions of the logged user, making it impossible for it to decrypt stolen cookies without first gaining SYSTEM privileges and potentially raising alarms in security software.

“Because the App-Bound service is running with system privileges, attackers need to do more than just coax a user into running a malicious app,” explained Google in July.

“Now, the malware has to gain system privileges, or inject code into Chrome, something that legitimate software shouldn’t be doing.”

However, by September, multiple information stealers had found ways to bypass the new security feature and provide their cybercriminal customers the ability to once again steal and decrypt sensitive information from Google Chrome.

Google responded by saying that it was expected, and added that it was happy the changed forced a shift in attacker behavior.

“This matches the new behavior we have seen. We continue to work with OS and AV vendors to try and more reliably detect these new types of attacks, as well as continuing to iterate on hardening defenses to improve protection against infostealers for our users.”

Now, security researcher Alexander Hagenah built and shared a tool on GitHub he called ‘Chrome-App-Bound-Encryption-Decryption’ which does the same as these infostealers, BleepingComputer reports.

“This tool decrypts App-Bound encrypted keys stored in Chrome’s Local State file, using Chrome’s internal COM-based IElevator service,” the project page reads. “The tool provides a way to retrieve and decrypt these keys, which Chrome protects via App-Bound Encryption (ABE) to prevent unauthorized access to secure data like cookies (and potentially passwords and payment information in the future).”

Commenting on all of the above, Google essentially said it was satisfied, since crooks now need higher privileges to pull off the attacks:

“This code [xaitax’s] requires admin privileges, which shows that we’ve successfully elevated the amount of access required to successfully pull off this type of attack,” Google said.

Categories
News

Google might stick a custom Tensor chip in the Pixel Watch 5

Google’s Pixel Watch 5 might get a custom Tensor chip, giving up on Qualcomm as a supplier. This makes sense since Google is also using Tensor chips for its Pixel smartphones, but interestingly the switch will only happen in 2026, so the Pixel Watch 4 will presumably still use a Qualcomm SoC.

That said, the roadmap document that this leak is based on is itself from early 2023, which means a lot could have changed from then and up until now, keep that in mind.

The rumor comes courtesy of Android Authority, which cites leaked documents from Google’s gChips division. According to the leaked plans, the wearable Tensor chip, codenamed NPT, sports a core configuration of an ARM Cortex A78 and two Arm Cortex A55s. These are older CPU cores, but that’s a fairly typical move with wearable processors. Other than that, details are scant and it’s currently unknown which process node technology the planned wearable Tensor chip might have.

Chips aren’t usually as heavy a focus for smartwatches as they are for smartphones. So long as performance is snappy, smartwatch makers tend to focus on ways to prolong battery life without sacrificing smart features. But this is a potentially interesting development given that chip stagnation has historically been a huge obstacle for Android smartwatches.

Both Samsung and Qualcomm use older cores in their smartwatch chips – the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 has Cortex-A53 cores (which launched in 2012), while the Exynos W1000 has one Cortex-A78 and four Cortex-A55, thus being the most similar to Google’s intended design. That makes us think this wearable Tensor might just be a tweaked Samsung chip – in the same way as all of the smartphone Tensor chips so far have been.

What isn’t known is what process technology this new Tensor chip will use, but it could be 3nm. Another unknown is the modem that will be used.We’ll have to see how things shake out, hopefully this is a sign that it can keep it going.

Categories
News

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 Leak New Model

Samsung recently launched theSamsung GalaxyZ Fold Special Edition, exclusively in South Korea. And now, the company is gearing up to expand its foldable lineup as the reports that say that Samsung is working on two models by codenames “Q7” and “Q7M”. These recent leaks hint that company is developing two variants of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7.

Galaxy Club claims that the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is likely to be released next summer, has been codenamed “Q7”, while the Galaxy Z Flip 7 has been given the working title of “B7”. But there is a codename for one more unknown device: “Q7M”.

Galaxy Club doesn’t have any more details about the mysterious device, but the name suggests that it is a variant of the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Samsung has repeatedly demoed different foldable concepts at tradeshows over the years, recently showing off rollable displays, slide-out screens and laptops that double as giant tablets.

In an interview with TM Roh, Samsung’s head of mobile hinted to CNBC that the company is working on new foldable shapes. “At the time when the hardware completeness and software and content integrity, the ecosystem comes to full maturity, we’ll be forced to introduce very satisfying and very almost perfect foldable new form factors in new product categories” Roh said.

Rumors suggest that Samsung has developed a tri-fold smartphone (a device that can be folded twice) to compete with Huawei’s Mate XT. According to ZDNet Korea, the device has been developed and it is ready to be mass-produced, but the company hasn’t made a decision on whether it will be released.

The Q7M codename may represent Samsung’s first tri-fold phone, but the recent release of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 SE seems a more likely explanation. Samsung has released an updated version of the Fold 6 with an improved 200MP camera, a bigger screen, 16GB of RAM and a lighter, slimmer design. This “special edition” phone is only available in China and South Korea.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 SE release in select markets could be a test run for the long-rumored Ultra Fold variant. Galaxy Fold fans have long called for a bigger screen and a camera that competes with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The QM7 could be the device that gives fans what they want, while introducing a new product into Samsung’s line-up without taking a big gamble on a tri-folding phone.

Categories
News

Apple prepares to unveil new M4-powered Mac Mini with compact design

When the Mac Mini was first introduced in early 2005, it was pitched as a compact “stripped-down” desktop — and the most affordable Mac in Apple’s lineup. Steve Jobs referred to it as a “BYODKM” system: you’d bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse, and the Mini would provide a dependable computing experience with all the benefits of macOS.

The Mac Mini has carried on ever since. There have been periods where the Mini has been sidelined and ignored by Apple for long stretches of time. But the debut of Apple Silicon gave it a new lease on life. Even if the overall design didn’t change much in the transition from Intel to Apple’s in-house chips, the Mini’s potential soared.

But now, that design is about to change. And if the rumors prove accurate, it’s going to be a radical makeover. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that the M4-powered Mac Mini will shrink in size so significantly that its footprint will resemble that of an Apple TV. The new Mac Mini will be anything but a stripped-down Mac.

Instead, it’ll likely be the most visually impressive example yet of what Apple is capable of in this new era, where the incredible efficiency of its chips allows for all sorts of hardware designs that were technically unfeasible a handful of years ago. 

Gurman has said that the 2024 Mac Mini — at least the M4 Pro variant — will include a total of five USB-C ports, with two on the front of the machine.It’ll still have an HDMI port for those of you who’ve integrated Apple’s smallest Mac into your home theater setups. USB-A is said to be a goner, but… it’s time.

Within the Mac family, the Mini still holds an important spot. The iMac is the visual stunner; the MacBook Pro delivers tremendous power on the go; and the Mac Pro and Mac Studio are both geared at professionals and creatives. But the Mini remains the line’s unassuming overperformer at a compelling price for anyone who wants a Mac that “just works.”

No matter its size, the Mini’s BYODKM remains one of its best attributes. Apple might not be planning a 27-inch iMac, but we’re about to have an astonishingly compact desktop that can be paired with any screen you want. And the software outlook is also excellent: the revamped Mini arrives shortly after macOS Sequoia, which added useful features like iPhone mirroring and (long overdue) window tiling.

As of now, the Studio easily wins out in CPU and GPU performance, and it has other bonuses, like an SD card slot and faster ethernet. I’d expect those advantages to remain true whenever the M4 model arrives.