Software Archives - Page 52 of 265

Google Maps could become smarter than ever thanks to generative AI

February 2, 2024
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Google Maps is getting a dose of generative AI to let users search and find places in a more conversational manner, and serve up useful and interesting suggestions.

This smart AI tech comes in the form of an “Ask about” user interface where people can ask Google Maps questions like where to find “places with a vintage vibe” in San Francisco. That will prompt AI to analyze information, like photos, ratings and reviews, about nearby businesses and places to serve up suggestions related to the question being asked.

From this example, Google said the AI tech served up vinyl record stores, clothing stores, and flea markets in its suggestions. These included the location along with its rating, reviews, number of times rated, and distance by car. The AI then provides review summaries that highlight why a place might be of interest.

You can then ask follow-up questions that remember your previous query, using that for context on your next search. For example, when asked, “How about lunch?” the AI will take into account the “vintage vibe” comment from the previous prompt and use that to offer an old-school diner nearby.

Screengrabs of the new generative AI features on Google Maps showing searches and suggestions — (Image credit: Google)

You can save the suggestions or share them, helping you coordinate with friends who might all have different preferences like being vegan, checking if a venue is dog friendly, making sure it is indoors, and so on.

By tapping into the search giant’s large-language models, Google Maps can analyze detailed information using data from more than 250 million locations, and photos, ratings and reviews from its community of over 300 million contributors to provide “trustworthy” suggestions.

The experimental feature is launching this week but is only coming to “select Local Guides” in the US. It will use these members' insights and feedback to develop and test the feature before what’s likely to be its eventual full rollout, which Google has not provided a date for.

Does anyone want this?

Users on the Android subreddit were very critical of the feature with some referring to AI as a buzzword that big companies are chasing for clout, user lohet stated: “Generative AI doesn't have any place in a basic database search. There's nothing to generate. It's either there or it's not.”

Many said they would rather see Google improve offline Maps and its location-sharing features. User, chronocapybara summarized the feelings of others in the forum by saying: “If it helps find me things I'm searching for, I'm all for it. If it offloads work to the cloud, making search slower, just to give me more promoted places that are basically ads, then no.”

However, AI integration in our everyday apps is here to stay and its inclusion in Google Maps could lead to users being able to discover brand-new places easily and helping smaller businesses gain attention and find an audience.

Until the features roll out, you can make the most of Google Maps with our 10 things you didn't know Google Maps could do.

Other v62 improvements

It’s not just spatial video coming in the next Quest operating system update.

Meta has added support for a wider array of controllers – including the PS5 DualSense controller and PS4 DualShock – that you can use to play games through apps like the Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) or the Meta Quest Browser.

Facebook Livestreaming, after being added in update v56, is now available to all Meta Quest users. So now everyone can share their VR adventures with their Facebook friends in real-time by selecting “Go Live” from the Camera icon on the Universal Menu while in VR (provided your Facebook and Meta accounts are linked through the Accounts Center).

If you prefer YouTube streaming, it’s now possible to see your chat while streaming without taking the headset off provided you’re using OBS software.

Lastly, Meta is improving its hand-tracking controls so you can quickly access the Universal Menu by looking at your palm and doing a short pinch. Doing a long pinch will recenter your display. You can always go back to the older Quick Actions Menu by going into your Settings, searching for Expanded Quick Actions, and turning it back on.

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TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 2, 2024
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It’s a big day for Google AI as the tech giant has launched a new image-generation engine aimed at fostering people’s creativity.

The tool is called ImageFX and it runs on Imagen 2, Google's “latest text-to-image model” that Google claims can deliver the company's “highest-quality images yet.” Like so many other generative AIs before, it generates content by having users enter a command into the text box. What’s unique about the engine is it comes with “Expressive Chips” which are dropdown menus over keywords allowing you to quickly alter content with adjacent ideas. For example, ImageFX gave us a sample prompt of a dress carved out of deadwood complete with foliage. After it made a series of pictures, the AI offered the opportunity to change certain aspects; turning a beautiful forest-inspired dress into an ugly shirt made out of plastic and flowers.

Image 1 of 2

ImageFX - generated dress — (Image credit: Future)

Image 2 of 2

ImageFX - generated shirt — (Image credit: Future)

Options in the Expressive Chips don’t change. They remain fixed to the initial prompt although you can add more to the list by selecting the tags down at the bottom. There doesn’t appear to be a way to remove tags. Users will have to click the Start Over button to begin anew. If the AI manages to create something you enjoy, it can be downloaded or shared on social media.

Be creative

This obviously isn’t the first time Google has released a text-to-image generative AI. In fact, Bard just received the same ability. The main difference with ImageFX is, again, its encouragement of creativity. The clips can help spark inspiration by giving you ideas of how to direct the engine; ideas that you may never have thought of. Bard’s feature, on the other hand, offers little to no guidance. Because it's less user-friendly, directing Bard's image generation will be trickier.

ImageFX is free to use on Google’s AI Test Kitchen. Do keep in mind it’s still a work in progress. Upon visiting the page for the first time, you’ll be met with a warning message telling you the AI “may display inaccurate info”, and in some cases, offensive content. If this happens to you, the company asks that you report it to them by clicking the flag icon.

Also, Google wants people to keep things clean. They link to their Generative AI Prohibited Use Policy in the warning listing out what you can’t do with ImageFX.

AI updates

In addition to ImageFX, Google made several updates to past experimental AIs.

MusicFX, the brand’s text-to-music engine, now allows users to generate songs up to 70 seconds in length as well as alter their speed. The tool even received Expressive Chips, helping people get those creative juices flowing. MusicFX even got a performance boost enabling it to pump content faster than before. TextFX, on the other hand, didn’t see a major upgrade or new features. Google mainly updated the website so it’s more navigable.

MusicFX's new layout — (Image credit: Future)

Everything you see here is available to users in the US, New Zealand, Kenya, and Australia. No word on if the AI will roll out elsewhere, although we did ask. This story will be updated at a later time.

Until then, check out TechRadar's roundup of the best AI art generators for 2024 where we compare them to each other. There's no clear winner, but they do have their specialties.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 1, 2024
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Windows 10 users are finding themselves unable to use their apps after a Microsoft Store update.

Many Windows 10 apps update through the Store directly, which means fixes and new features can be pushed down independently of Windows OS updates. This is generally a positive thing, as said apps can be stabilized and upgraded without having to wait long periods for an OS update. But in this case, that also means if an update breaks a Store app or several, it can be problematic.

So when apps like Calendar, Photos, and Calculator were given an update like this in January 2024, the result was many users no longer being able to use them. When those users went to report said breaks to the Feedback Hub, lo and behold it was also broken. From there, a massive thread on Microsoft’s support forum kicked up, with many replying about their woes.

Because the update wasn’t an official Windows one which meant no word from Microsoft, some intrepid users unearthed what’s most likely causing these apps to break. It seems that a common thread among all the reports is old hardware, including the Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad processors as well as AMD Athlon chips. These components are technically not listed as compatible hardware for Windows 10 but have had no issues running the OS.

One of these users spoke to The Register about the underlying issue. “A common theory is that the faulting component uses some instruction extension that Core 2 doesn't support, such as SSE 4.2. I believe that some dev at MS set a compiler switch incorrectly when building a shared component (some evidence points to the Visual C++ runtime).”

However, there has been no official word from Microsoft concerning the official problem, nor when can affected users expect to see a fix. When TechRadar requested comment from Microsoft, a spokesperson said “For the latest information on Windows releases and servicing milestones, including news about known issues, please refer to the dashboard.”

Hopefully, there’ll be an update soon, as not having access to such vital apps is a huge issue in the long run. With the end of support for Windows 10 being October 14, 2025, there’s still plenty of time for Microsoft to push down a fix.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 1, 2024
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Considering how popular image generating is right now, Google Bard’s recent update that adds AI image generation seems all but inevitable.

According to the official Google Bard update page, using the tool is quite simple. You can activate the AI image generator by simply entering “a few words” into the search bar, “starting with English prompts.” Then you “click ‘Generate more’ for more options and download the ones you like.”

Those generated images are stored in pinned chats, recent chats, and Bard Activity, and can be deleted from your Bard Activity by deleting the prompt that generated them.

Bard’s image generation is powered by its updated Imagen 2 model, which is meant to balance speed with quality to deliver photorealistic images. The new feature is available worldwide including in the US, except in the following regions/countries: European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the UK. It’s also only available in English and only to those 18 and above, though how Google would enforce the age restriction beyond a generic ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ question is unclear.

In terms of responsibility, Google states in its official blog that “Bard uses SynthID to embed digitally identifiable watermarks into the pixels of generated images,” which makes its AI-generated images distinct from works created by humans. Most likely this feature was developed to prevent people from using generated images for commercial use, which tracks since that would open up a legal can of worms.

Google also asserts that it seeks to limit violent, offensive, or sexual content from the training data, as well as applying filters to prevent named people from being involved in image generation.

Bard with Gemini Pro will also be enhanced with this new update. The update page states that “Bard will be far more capable at things like understanding, summarising, reasoning, brainstorming, writing, and planning.” This upgrade to Bard’s AI is most likely what allowed Google to offer the free AI image generator tool in the first place, along with the support.

Google Bard Image Generation — We created the first two images with a simple prompt and clicked “Generate more” to see the second two. (Image credit: Future)

Google Bard is taking over

Google has been going all in with its Bard AI, even using it to slowly replace Google Assistant, which was the tech giant’s previous answer to Apple’s Siri. It was discovered that Google changed the greeting pop-up for various devices from ‘I’m Assistant with Bard’ to simply ‘I’m Bard.’

It was also announced that Google would be removing 17 features from Assistant in the coming weeks, including playing audiobooks on Google Play Books through voice command and asking for information about your contacts. The official announcement even implied that more features would be removed.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 1, 2024
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As the old saying goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Microsoft is seemingly giving Google a huge compliment as new info reveals the tech giant is working on its own version of Circle to Search for Edge.

If you’re not familiar, Circle to Search is a recently released AI-powered feature on the Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24 series of phones. It allows people to circle objects on their mobile devices to quickly look them up on Google Search. Microsoft’s rendition functions similarly. According to the news site Windows Report, it’s called Circle To Copilot. The way it works you circle an on-screen object with the cursor – in this case, it’s an image of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Immediately after, Copilot appears from the right side with the circled image attached as a screenshot in an input box. You then ask the AI assistant what the object is in the picture, and after a few seconds, it’ll generate a response. The publication goes on to state the tool also works with text. To highlight a line, you will also need to draw a circle around the words.

Windows Report states Circle To Copilot is currently available on the latest version of Microsoft Edge Canary which is an experimental build of the browser. It’s meant for users or developers who want early access to potential features. The publication has a series of instructions explaining how you can activate Circle To Copilot. You'll need to enter a specific command into the browser's Properties menu.

If the command works for you, Circle To Copilot can be enabled by going to the Mouse Gesture section of Edge’s Settings menu and then clicking the toggle switch. It’s the fourth entry from the top.

Work in progress

We followed Windows Report's steps ourselves; however, we were unable to try out the feature. All we got was an error message stating the command to activate the tool was not valid. It seems not everyone who installs Edge Canary will gain access, although this isn’t surprising.

The dev browser is, not surprisingly, unstable. It’s a testing ground for Microsoft so things don’t always work as well as they should; if at all. It is possible Circle To Copilot will function better in a future patch, however, we don’t know when that will be rolling out. We are disappointed the feature was inaccessible on our PC because we had a couple of questions. Is this something that needs to be manually triggered on Copilot? Or will it function like Ask Copilot where you highlight a piece of content, right-click it, and select the correct option in the context menu?

Out of curiosity, we installed Edge Canary on our Android phone to see if it had the update. As it turns out, no. It may be Circle To Copilot is exclusive to Edge on desktop, but this could change in the future.

Be sure to check TechRadar's list of the best AI-powered virtual assistant for 2024.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 1, 2024
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Microsoft has given OneDrive a visual and functional makeover, rolling it out in an update for OneDrive personal users.

The update was announced last month by Microsoft, promising a revamped OneDrive user experience with a revised sleek design and powerful new features. Now, the update is actually rolling out to OneDrive personal users.

The tech titan posted the announcement on its official blog and it’s begun the gradual rollout to users, stating that the changes will be available to all OneDrive personal users by the end of February. It elaborates that the changes are purposely designed to help users perform tasks more quickly in OneDrive, as well as find it easier to focus on their files.

One of the new features that users can look forward to is People View. This will show users their contacts with all of the files that they collaborate on together – so you don’t have to remember the names of files if they’re shared between you and a contact. Often, we can remember who we share files with or who shares files with us more easily than a specific file’s name. Additionally, users will be able to filter files by type, so if you want to see all the Word documents or Excel spreadsheets on your OneDrive, you can use specific Word or Excel filters while searching.

Additional OneDrive functionality

Microsoft has also expanded the Add New button’s functionality to give users the options to both upload to OneDrive or to begin a new document. Being able to do either from a single button, Microsoft hopes this will make working on OneDrive more streamlined for users.

It looks like these upgrades will apply to all users with a OneDrive account. You can access OneDrive on desktop with Microsoft 365 or online for free with a Microsoft account. In its announcement blog post, Microsoft also mentions that it’s open to feedback and you can provide your opinion in the OneDrive feedback portal.

It’s a solid set of developments for OneDrive that Microsoft willlooks set to deliver for a better organized and faster serviceOneDrive, as long as these changes arrive on time. If Microsoft continues along this path for OneDrive, I could see OneDrive becoming more and more users’ choice of cloud storage. You may be able to see these changes already if you have OneDrive but everyone or should be able to access them before the end ofsome time in February.

Still some hurdles to jump

Apple Vision Pro battery pack — (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

What’s perhaps more interesting is the announcement that Unity has launched the 1.0 version of its developer tools to create Vision Pro software. In the blog post, it said that after spending time in beta the tools are now available to “all Unity Pro, Enterprise, and Industry subscribers.”

The big upshot of this for people using Vision Pro is it’s now easier for Unity developers to create and port their apps to the Apple headset – so be on the lookout for a wave of new Unity apps heading to the Apple system in the coming months following the likes of LEGO Builder’s Journey and Tripp (with the team behind these titles having had access to the Unity beta for Vision Pro development).

Epic Games – the team behind Unreal Engine, a popular Unity competitor – hasn’t made clear when its tools will also offer Vision Pro development support if they’ll even come at all. The last we heard it was “exploring” the possibility back in September 2023.

Girl wearing Meta Quest 3 headset interacting with a jungle playset — AR game Lego Bricktales on the Meta Quest 3 (Image credit: Meta)

Unfortunately, there are still some big hurdles to Vision Pro app development that may cause problems in getting long-term support from a wide pool of app creators.

The first is that visionOS app development – even through Unity – requires access to Mac computers running on Apple silicon. This won’t be a problem for every development team, but for software makers who mostly use non-Mac hardware for development buying all-new computers would be a serious investment in a brand-new platform.

Another problem is the Vision Pro’s lack of controllers. Apple’s dedication to only using hand-tracking certainly makes the device feel futuristic but many app developers have told us it makes porting existing VR and AR software to the system a bit of a challenge. That’s because most VR headsets use nearly identical controllers, so software is designed to work with these standardized handsets in mind.

To create a Vision Pro app they’d have to rethink the whole way players interact with the virtual world, which might mean effectively starting from scratch. What’s more, Apple has a unique version of hand tracking that also relies on eye-tracking – something most other headsets don’t have. So even if an app already has a hand-tracking mode in place there are still some hurdles to jump to accommodate the control scheme.

Over time developers should overcome these and other hurdles, but we'll have to wait and see how much they affect the availability of Apple Vision Pro software in the near and long-term future.

Possible concerns ahead for the Vision Pro

This isn’t due to a technical limitation either, Apple chose to have it be this way. If a friend or family member just wants to give it a spin and try it, this isn’t so bad. However, with a $ 3,500 price tag, some people probably bought it hoping to be able to share it with people they live with.

This Guest Mode makes it tough to do so, and puts users and guests off of using it like this multiple times. As far as we know, that’s how things stand for now – you can have one main user account, plus the built-in Guest Mode, but there's no option to create separate accounts (guest or otherwise).

While not totally unheard of for Apple, I can imagine this being disappointing news for some recipients of the Vision Pro. For example, the iPad doesn’t have guest-sharing specific features, but this doesn’t really hinder sharing the iPad with people, and a guest mode probably doesn’t add as much to it. To be able to use the Vision Pro at all, you have to at least calibrate it to your face and eyes, so it’s a different story.

We await the Vision Pro’s arrival in US stores on February 2 and reviewers have already started posting their first impressions of the device. I can see this becoming a real drawback that users get vocal about – but would it convince Apple to change the guest mode? Because this is a bold first-gen launch for Apple, users are willing to let its vision develop and give it a chance. Hopefully Apple doesn’t burn through that good will.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 1, 2024
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Will browser extension support be enough to tempt Android users away from Google Chrome to the welcoming arms of Microsoft Edge? We might soon find out, as it looks like Edge is now prepping extension support for its mobile app.

This comes from some digging into the Edge for Android code by tipster @Leopeva64 (via 9to5Google). For now the functionality is hidden behind a flag in the early testing versions of the app, but it could reach the main app as early as March.

Certain extensions – for switching to dark mode, for blocking ads, and for changing the speed of media playback – are already showing up on a rudimentary extensions page, which is another sign that the feature is launching soon.

From the screenshots that have been posted so far, it looks as though a new Extensions button will be added to the menu that pops up when you tap the three horizontal lines, down in the lower-right corner of the Edge for Android interface.

It will be possible to install extensions in Edge for Android!:https://t.co/18lG5nYyad pic.twitter.com/Sj744tPo6zJanuary 31, 2024

Extended features

Firefox extensions — Firefox recently added extension support to its Android app (Image credit: Future)

You may well know how useful third-party extensions can be on a desktop browser, adding all kinds of additional tools and features to your browser of choice – from changing the way tabs are arranged, to letting you annotate webpages, to managing website volume.

While there are a huge number of extensions available for Chrome on the desktop, Chrome and other browsers have typically shied away from adding extension support on mobile, for a host of different reasons: the screens are smaller, there are fewer system resources available, the interface is simpler, and so on.

Now though, the situation is changing. Firefox recently reintroduced extension support in its Android app, and now it looks as though Edge will follow suit – in an attempt to try and chip away at Chrome's market share. Chrome is the default on around two-thirds of mobile devices worldwide, though that includes iPhones as well as Android devices.

You won't be able to use all the existing Edge extensions on Android – clearly not all of them will work, and the developers will have to adapt them for the different platform – but watch this space for these add-ons arriving on Microsoft's browser.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Software

Google Maps could become smarter than ever thanks to generative AI

Does anyone want this?

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The Meta Quest 3 yoinks Vision Pro’s spatial video to help you relive your memories

Other v62 improvements

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Google’s new generative AI aims to help you get those creative juices following

Be creative

AI updates

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Windows 10 apps break after Microsoft Store update, no fix in sight yet

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Google Bard finally gets a free AI image generator – here’s how to try it

Google Bard is taking over

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Microsoft Edge could soon get its own version of Google’s Circle to Search feature

Work in progress

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OneDrive is getting a glow-up, promising an optimized interface and power-packed features to help you navigate your files

Additional OneDrive functionality

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The Vision Pro’s app problems could soon be over, though some hurdles remain

Still some hurdles to jump

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Microsoft Edge on Android could soon get extensions to tempt you away from Chrome

Extended features

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