Samsung‘s Galaxy S24 series introduced a suite of AI-powered features promising a more enhanced user experience. While these features are exclusive to the new phones, for now, there’s good news for owners of older flagships.
In an interview with TechRadar, Patrick Chomet, Samsung’s Head of Customer Experience, confirmed that select 2023 flagship device will receive the new Galaxy AI features.
The list of devices includes the Galaxy S23, S23 FE, Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and Tab S9. They will receive the new AI features via the One UI 6.1 update in the first half of 2024.
A surprising exception is the company’s 2022 devices including the Galaxy S22 series, despite being eligible for the One UI 6.1 update. Samsung remains tight-lipped on the reason for this omission.
However, when questioned, Chomet simply stated they’re “limiting” the initial rollout to last-gen devices “for now.” This leaves S22 owners in limbo, unsure if they’ll eventually experience the full potential of their devices.
Further adding to the confusion is that the Galaxy S23 FE, equipped with the same chipset as the S22 in some regions, is included in the rollout. While it’s possible that S22 owners may eventually get their hands on Galaxy AI, Samsung has offered no concrete timeline or guarantee.
Here’s a quick rundown of the Galaxy AI features coming to more Galaxy devices:
Circle to Search: Use your finger to draw a circle around an object or text on the screen to instantly learn more about it.
Live Translation: Translate spoken and written content in real-time, both on and offline. Chat with people in different languages, understand signs and menus abroad, and translate documents on the go.
Chat Assistant: Translate messages automatically while you chat, without switching between languages.
Note Assistant: Summarize and organize your notes, making them easier to review and find what you need.
Voice Recording Assistant: Turn your voice recordings into text with speaker identification. Get transcripts, translate recordings, and even summarize key points.
Article From & Read More ( Samsung confirms Galaxy AI rollout for older flagships, but S22 owners left in the dark - gizmochina )
https://ift.tt/YpPXezK
Technology
Article From & Read More ( Samsung confirms Galaxy AI, introduced with Galaxy S24 series, will only be available to few old devices - Notebookcheck.net )
https://ift.tt/6HcXayD
Technology
Quite a bit earlier than usual, first looks at the Google Pixel 9 series are revealing the company’s plans for 2024 with a wild new design and, on the smaller phone, the use of three cameras for the first time.
Ever since the Tensor reboot of 2021, Google has split its flagship releases into two. A big, all-in “Pro” device and a smaller, slightly held-back device at a lower price. The differences between the two have generally been screen size, memory, and the addition of a telephoto camera exclusively on the larger Pro model.
It seems that’s set to change this year.
In new renders from @OnLeaks and 91Mobiles, we get a glimpse at the smaller Pixel 9 which has virtually the same new design as the Pixel 9 Pro that leaked yesterday, but with a smaller size. The device has dimensions of 152.8 x 71.9 x 8.5mm. Compared to the Pixel 8, which measured 150.5 x 70.8 x 8.9 mm, that’s a little bit bigger. The screen size, though, is still mentioned as around 6.2-inches.
The big news this time around is that the smaller Pixel 9 is apparently getting three cameras. The cameras show up in the exact same layout as the Pixel 9 Pro renders, and it’s pretty obvious that the third is a telephoto lens using a periscope design. That’s evidenced by the rectangular shape seen in the render. This is great news for those who prefer a smaller device but don’t want to give up a camera sensor.
Also notable here is that the cutout presumably used for the temperature sensor on Pixel 9 Pro is also on this smaller Pixel 9.
If these both pan out, it seems there will be far less separation between Google’s two devices this year compared to any of the other Tensor-powered releases.
Google is expected to launch the Pixel 9 series later on this year, in October if previous patterns hold true.
Apple released a new version of iOS yesterday with a handful of new features, such as collaborative playlists in Apple Music and a new Unity wallpaper for Black History Month. Another interesting new feature in iOS 17.3 is something called “stolen device protection.” It is disabled by default and I encourage iPhone users to turn it on when they have updated to iOS 17.3.
This feature is the result of an investigation from Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen for the Wall Street Journal. They found out that thieves have been stealing money and accessing sensitive data that is supposedly stored securely on an iPhone and the related iCloud account.
The reason why the passcode is such a critical piece of information is that you can use it to unlock a phone and change some settings. Even when Face ID (or Touch ID) is turned on, you can still use the passcode as a fallback method to unlock a phone and change settings.
iPhone thieves have been taking advantage of that possibility to go to bars late at night and talk to strangers to get their passcodes from them.
For instance, an iPhone thief told Joanna Stern that he would tell his victims that he wanted to add them on Snapchat. As it’s often easier to enter your contact details directly on someone else’s phone instead of saying it out loud, the thief would say that he can type his username directly.
When the person would hand over the phone, the thief would lock the phone and say that the iPhone is locked. He then just asked for the passcode and remembered it for later.
After stealing a phone, the passcode can be used to unlock the device and change the Apple ID password in the phone settings. This way, Find My iPhone can be disabled, meaning that the target can’t remotely wipe their device.
Many iPhone users also store passwords, such as bank app passwords, in their iCloud Keychain as well as credit card details in their Safari autofill preferences. Thieves can also open encrypted notes in the Notes app to see if you’ve been storing your social security numbers in there.
They can also use Apple Pay directly. Once again, the passcode can be used if Face ID fails — thieves can also register their own face in Face ID if they have the device passcode.
Apple gives you an hour to remotely wipe your device
As a protection mechanism, Apple has introduced stolen device protection in iOS 17.3. When it’s turned on, some actions will require Face ID or Touch ID biometric authentication, such as accessing stored passwords and credit cards.
In addition to requiring Face ID or Touch ID authentication, changing your Apple ID password, changing your passcode and turning off stolen device protection also require a security delay. When you first try to perform this action, your iPhone tells you that you have to wait for at least an hour to make critical change.
This way, if someone steals your device, you have the opportunity to wipe your iPhone remotely using another device to make sure that your data remains secured. There’s one exception, though. If you’re in a familiar location, such as your home or your work, there’s no need to wait an hour to perform a critical change.
It’s not perfect, but Apple is trying to strike the right balance between security and convenience. You can head over to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Stolen Device Protection to turn on this new security feature.
Apple released security updates to address this year's first zero-day vulnerability exploited in attacks that could impact iPhones, Macs, and Apple TVs.
The zero-day fixed today is tracked as CVE-2024-23222 [iOS, macOS, tvOS] and is a WebKit confusion issue that attackers could exploit to gain code execution on targeted devices.
Successful exploitation enables threat actors to execute arbitrary malicious code on devices running vulnerable iOS, macOS, and tvOS versions after opening a malicious web page.
"Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited," Apple said today.
The company has yet to attribute the discovery of this security vulnerability to a security researcher. Although the company disclosed that it's aware of in-the-wild exploitation, it has yet to publish further details regarding these attacks.
Apple addressed CVE-2024-23222 with improved checks in iOS 16.7.5 and later, iPadOS 16.7.5 and later, and macOS Monterey 12.7.3 and higher, as well as on tvOS 17.3 and later.
The complete list of devices impacted by this WebKit zero-day is quite extensive, as the bug affects older and newer models, including:
iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch 1st generation
iPhone XS and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 6th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later
Macs running macOS Monterey and later
Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K (all models)
While this zero-day vulnerability was likely only used in targeted attacks, installing today's security updates as soon as possible is highly advised to block potential attack attempts.
Today, Apple also backported patches to older iPhone and iPad models for two other WebKit zero-days (CVE-2023-42916 and CVE-2023-42917) patched in November.
Last year, the company fixed a total of 20 zero-day flaws exploited in the wild, including:
The Diesel On Fadelite X Mad Dog Jones smartwatchAndy Boxall / DigitalTrends
“If you’re not in smartwatches today, especially as a traditional watch manufacturer, then we are the way that you get the right product for your customer.”
This is how Steve Prokup, co-founder of Mijo Connected, described the firm’s business, and it has me seriously intrigued and excited about the future of smartwatches. I spoke to Prokup over a video call during CES 2024, and although you probably haven’t heard of Mijo Connected, and it likely won’t be a name on an actual product you’ll buy in the future either, that does not mean you should ignore it. Here’s why.
Picking up where Fossil left off
Fossil / Fossil
Prokup has considerable experience in the world of wearables, having worked as head of hardware at Pebble before heading to Fossil, where he worked as vice president of engineering and senior vice president of connected devices. Mijo Connected’s other co-founder is Hai Nguyen, who also worked at Fossil on product management and research and development projects. It’s perhaps not a surprise that the company retains a connection with Fossil, as Prokup told me.
“We are not part of Fossil. But we are pursuing a similar path and do have access to some of the Fossil technology,” he said befoe adding that he was unable to expand further on exactly what that meant. It is, however, a strong sign of how seriously Mijo Connected takes smartwatches, as it makes complete sense to continue leveraging the experience of a longtime watch and smartwatch maker.
So, what is Mijo Connected, and why should you care? It plans to build a wearable device platform that some very familiar fashion and luxury brands will eventually put their names on, allowing them to bring out desirable, unique, and fashionable smartwatches that also have the right technology and software to back up the looks.
If that sounds like a familiar strategy, it’s not dissimilar to how Fossil launched smartwatches with partner brands like Diesel, Kate Spade, and Skagen. However, it has recently stepped back from such ventures, and Mijo Connected is primed to fill that space.
Smartwatches for fashion and luxury brands
The Montblanc Summit 3Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
“Our platform enables our customers to quickly launch completely differentiated products. So, for example, a brand wants to launch a smartwatch. They don’t want some generic app — it needs to be their name. It has to have their branding, their style. Same thing for the watch, right? It’s got to look like a watch from that particular company. That’s that’s what our platform does.” explained Prokup.
“The underlying platform has a completely unique ID, so the appearance of the watch, the watch case, the strap, everything is completely designed by [the brand] because they usually have very good design teams that know how to implement their brand’s style. The same thing with the app and even the data in the cloud.” he continued.
Mijo Connected will bring its industry expertise to brands that want to launch smartwatches (and, in the future, other connected mobile devices like wireless earbuds and smart speakers), but don’t want to invest in building partnerships with software companies, manufacturers, and then learning the hard way how to make a product that’s representative of the brand. Mijo Connected will do all this instead and will bring a huge amount of customization along with it, too, according to Prokup:
“We have a very similar approach to how traditional watches are manufactured, where the movement is wrapped in different designs and different watch cases. We can go to a premium titanium case, we can put pavé [a reference to jewels set into a bezel or case] on it, or go to stainless steel and other alloys, or to plastic. If somebody wants a lower price point plastic case with a silicone strap, that is also available from our platform,” he explained.
The extent of the customization and individualization provided has meant Mijo Connected is talking to both fashion and luxury brands about working together, including some luxury brands that have already released a smartwatch in the past. But what about the software that will run on these new smartwatches?
What about the software?
Google Pixel Watch 2Joe Maring / Digital Trends
At CES, Mijo Connected launched its smartwatch platform with software company MicroEJ (which is pronounced as Micro Edge) and revealed that it will use MicroEJ’s Vee Wear operating system in the future. While you may not immediately know the name, you may have already used MicroEJ’s platform on a wearable, as it has powered smartwatches made by Polar over the last few years.
I also spoke to Semir Haddad, chief product and strategy officer at MicroEJ, during CES 2024. He talked about the importance of complete customization on the software side too, so brands can make the device their own. He also revealed that one of the company’s strengths is in how its technology makes it easy to adapt Wear OS apps to run on a non-Wear OS smartwatch. It is working with a variety of different names already, plus it has struck a partnership with the Facer app to provide different watch faces.
Vee Wear has low power demands, but that doesn’t affect performance. Both of these are long-term issues on low-cost smartwatches that may have put some fashion brands off in the past. Vee Wear smartwatches will also work with both Android and iOS phones, providing more flexibility. Does this mean Mijo Connected won’t provide an option for a Wear OS smartwatch and is only working with MicroEJ?
“MicroEJ are a great partner,” said Prokup, “but we have a platform available for an RTOS watch, as well as a platform that we’re working on for Wear OS.” The choice of software options shows how it’s covering all smartwatch customization requirements outside of the physical design.
When are the watches coming?
The Apple Watch Series 9 (top) and Apple Watch Series 8Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Smartwatches at the moment are really dominated by three main models — the Apple Watch Series 9, the Google Pixel Watch 2, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 — which are all excellent, but are not always what someone who likes traditional watches or fashion watches wants. Mijo Connected is exciting because it’s working to fill the gap in the market that was left somewhat open by Fossil, allowing brands that want to make a smartwatch to not have to go all-in and become a tech company.
The company may be new, but it brings considerable experience with it — and likely already has a good idea of what works and what doesn’t when making a branded smartwatch. That should give confidence to companies that may have avoided a connected product in the past.
So, when does Prokup expect the first models to arrive?
“We don’t have locked-down launch dates, but as you know, in this space, [the fourth quarter] is big for everybody,” Prokup hinted before adding: “We’re working on a large launch with a brand.”
Joe Maring / Digital Trends
Mijo Connected will mostly be the company behind the smartwatches and may not be a name you’ll hear unless you’re “in the know.” But Prokup also mentioned it may have a small product launch of its own, although not under the Mijo Connected name, at some point.
This would give us a great idea of what to expect from its smartwatches in the future and just how transformative they could be. This would also happen in an industry currently controlled by a select few tech brands that historically haven’t catered well to fashion and watchmakers. If all goes the way Mijo Connected is hoping, it could very well change the smartwatch market forever.
The Rabbit R1 can fit in the palm of your hand and will be able to answer questions, launch a Spotify playlist or call a taxi with the push of a button. Sounds familiar, right? The Rabbit R1 isn't a smartphone in the traditional sense. Instead, it promises to be a dedicated personal assistant powered by AI, and it ships in late March for $199.
Our phones are great at many things, like snapping vacation photos, entertaining us with an endless stream of bite-sized videos and acting as our personal planners. That's exactly the problem, according to Jesse Lyu, founder and CEO of AI tech startup Rabbit. He thinks the myriad apps and functions available on our phones have stripped away their simplicity, and he's trying to change that with the R1, which debuted at CES 2024.
Watch this: First Look at Rabbit R1 Mobile AI Device
You don't interact with the R1 by opening apps; instead, you press a physical push-to-talk button to ask a question or play a song on Spotify as if you were speaking into a walkie-talkie. The phone's software is powered by a large action model or an algorithm that can learn from how humans use apps and interfaces so that it can replicate and automate those processes. Lyu likens it to handing your phone to a friend to order takeout rather than doing so yourself.
There's no shortage of virtual assistants capable of doing almost exactly what Rabbit's R1 claims to do. Google and Amazon are also injecting their own virtual helpers with generative AI smarts to make them even better at handling complex requests more easily. Lyu sees the need for a purpose-built device for getting things done that's separate from your phone and therefore less distracting. He argues that just because your phone can do the same thing doesn't mean it's the superior experience.
That argument will take a lot of convincing, especially considering how glued to our phones we've become. A survey from Reviews.org found that 89% of Americans check their phone within the first 10 minutes of waking up, and 60% sleep with their phone at night. Still, the Rabbit R1, along with startup Humane's recently announced AI pin, is another sign that tech companies are increasingly looking to build new gadgets around AI. Many have already found Rabbit's promise to be enticing enough to order an R1. The company announced on Jan. 10 that it sold 10,000 units on its first day of preorders.
The R1 has a simple look
John Kim/CNET
The R1's bright orange hue, relatively small screen and scroll wheel give it a nostalgic and almost retro look. It's incredibly lightweight and is literally half the size of your average smartphone, as you can see in the photo of the R1 sitting on top of my iPhone 15 below. In fact, its size and shape feel similar to using a flip phone like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or 2023 Motorola Razr when closed, although it's significantly lighter.
The Rabbit R1 is roughly half the size of an iPhone 15.
John Kim/CNET
The R1 physically shares some similarities with smartphones, such as a touchscreen display and a camera, but those parts are put to use in different ways.
The Rabbit R1 comes in a bright orange color.
John Kim/CNET
The R1 doesn't have a traditional phone operating system, for example, but instead uses that 2.88-inch screen to display cards in response to your requests. The camera isn't really meant for documenting your days on Instagram but rather is intended to assist with visual queries like snapping photos of what's in your fridge to generate recipe ideas.
Although it's not being positioned as a phone, you can certainly make phone calls with it since it has a SIM card slot along with Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity. It runs on a 2.3Ghz MediaTek Helios P35 processor and has 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM.
It doesn't run apps, but it can connect to your apps
The Rabbit R1 will be able to use apps on your behalf.
John Kim/CNET
The R1 doesn't have apps in the traditional sense, but it connects to services to carry out requests. Playing a playlist on Spotify or calling an Uber requires you to link those apps to your Rabbit account through an online portal. That could end up being a cumbersome process, considering you'd have to manually connect any service you'd want Rabbit to factor into your usage. Rabbit says it doesn't store any login data and that authentication methods happen on the app's system.
The device uses Rabbit's proprietary large action model to execute tasks, along with OpenAI's GPT-4 model to understand your spoken requests. During my brief time trying it, I asked the Rabbit R1 to play music and answer basic knowledge-based questions. The ears on the animated rabbit icon shown on the screen adorably perked up when I held the side button to recite my command. I'll need to spend more time with it before knowing how well it works as a personal assistant for getting things done more quickly and efficiently than my phone.
AI at CES 2024: Take a Look at the Coolest Tech From the Show
With the R1, Rabbit is taking on an ambitious goal by trying to carve out a place for a new gadget in our lives in a world that's already overrun with screens and sensors. It's interesting nonetheless to see new hardware developed in response to the increased interest in AI we've seen over the past year. Still, Rabbit's software experience has to be compelling enough to convince you to buy a new device rather than continue to use ChatGPT, Google Bard and other AI helpers on the devices you already own.
