Samsung is set to bet big on the AI hype and enhance a range of home appliances with AI capabilities – including premium and budget appliances across multiple categories, like smart TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, and everything in between.
According to DigiTimes, the tech giant intends to “equip all its new home appliance products with neural processing units (NPUs)” in 2024. Samsung’s Home Appliances Division is apparently working on updating various smart device chipsets, with the goal being to enable power-efficient, always-on AI tools that’ll assist users.
This could mean a variety of new features will be made available to spruce up your home, like advanced voice recognition and a smarter version of Samsung’s voice assistant Bixby, which could answer questions and work with the rest of your smart home to help come up with lists or answer queries.
Never burn a cake again!
As noted by Tom’s Hardware, one of the more exciting possibilities the proposed AI integration could lead to is smart ovens. As someone who regularly battles with my low-tech oven, a smart oven that can suggest cooking times, tell me when things are burning, or advise me that my dinner needs to be cooked a little longer would be great.
AI integration may seem like it’s going off the rails a little bit with how quickly our day-to-day lives are getting boosted by artificial intelligence. But, if there’s one tech department that would greatly benefit from that intelligent upgrade, it’s smart home appliances.
That being said, the change may not be welcomed by everyone. There is the concern of privacy and security, and the strange new territory of giving a little more of our life to the bots. But if it keeps me from burning my cakes, I’m willing to let this one slide.
Microsoft is expanding the rollout of its Copilot AI to testers in the Beta channel for Windows 11 – but it comes with a sting in the tail.
Copilot has arrived with Beta build 22631.2129, but as with the preview incarnation of the AI in earlier builds, it’s in a limited form right now.
As Microsoft observes, this is more about getting the integrated UI for Copilot right – it runs in a sidebar, to the right – rather than testing all its features. We’re told that “additional functionality [is] coming down the road in future previews.”
Also, it should be noted that Copilot will be a “controlled feature rollout” meaning only a small amount of testers will get it initially. It’ll arrive for more folks in the “coming weeks”, so this is a rollout that could take some time.
(It’s also worth noting that not every Insider will get this build either – new testers, and a subset of existing testers, won’t get 22631 as it might cause their device to be put “into a bad state”, which sounds ominous).
If you’re not seeing Copilot and you’re in the Beta channel, then, this isn’t unexpected – but you should make sure you’re running Microsoft Edge version 115.0.1901.150 or better. (As the AI is powered via Edge, you definitely won’t get it on an older version of the browser).
For those who do receive Copilot, here comes that sting we mentioned at the outset. Microsoft tells us: “You may see inline recommendations we think are relevant through ads in Bing. We’ll continue to learn and listen to customer feedback.”
Yes, there we have it – adverts are going to be displayed in Copilot (we’ll come back to discuss that more thoroughly in a moment).
Elsewhere in build 22631, there’s a raft of tweaks and improvements, including some fresh work on bolstering accessibility. That comes in the form of the ability to now use Voice Access on the lock screen, plus there are new text editing controls when using speech dictation. (In order to help correct words that are misheard, or mistyped, as it were, by the voice recognition system – like putting ‘cereal’ when you meant ‘serial’ for example).
Check out Microsoft’s blog post for the full list of changes.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Analysis: So, ads in Copilot – testers, make your feelings known…
Windows Copilot making it to a beta build already is a pretty big thing, actually. This relatively swift progress through test builds suggests that Microsoft is serious about getting the AI integrated into Windows 11 this year. Rumors have indicated that Copilot could land with the 23H2 update, and this makes it look like that’s more likely to happen – even though we’ve said in the past we don’t think it will.
We’re still very unsure if it’s wise for Microsoft to push this hard getting Copilot out so quickly, though. The AI remains pretty barebones, and as Microsoft makes clear, it only has a “basic set” of Windows settings you can manipulate. (Turning on dark mode, or do not disturb, or ordering Copilot to take a screenshot are a few examples of Windows 11 functionality given in the blog post).
It's mostly still about the Bing AI summarizing things, or composing a picture, or writing text for you, and so forth – all the stuff that can be done already using the Bing chatbot on the web.
Over time, more features will be added, of course – and third-party plug-ins will expand Copilot’s functionality considerably – but all that seems quite a way down the line.
With Windows 11’s 23H2 update potentially arriving in October, that’s really very close now, so we don’t really get what Microsoft is planning here. It feels like the full launch of Copilot will be a basic incarnation of the AI, if it happens, and that runs the risk of underwhelming with first impressions. Oh well, we shall find out soon enough.
As for Copilot serving up adverts, this is something that Microsoft has said in the past, but the software giant appears to be pushing ahead with this frankly reckless idea. That’s not too surprising, though, as we are seeing more efforts to cram ads into Windows 11 – disguised as recommendations – lately. But obviously, it’s still a very unwelcome move in an operating system Microsoft charges you for.
We’d expect feedback to be pretty withering on this, particularly if, as it sounds, these will be more out-and-out adverts than what we’ve already seen in Windows 11 (like badging in the Start menu). And so hopefully Microsoft will have to take that into account, and curtail these ambitions. Hopefully being the keyword there…
Microsoft has quietly added a handy new feature to an early version of Windows 11 that could make fixing problems with your PC much easier.
If you’ve been using PCs for a while, you’ll probably have found that if your computer starts acting weirdly and you can’t figure out why, reinstalling Windows can often fix things. However, this is usually a last resort, as the process can be time-consuming – and you have to make sure you have everything backed up, so you don’t lose important files.
As Neowin reports, Windows 11 build 25905 has rolled out to people who have signed up to the Windows Insider program to help test out early versions of upcoming Windows updates, and it comes with a new feature in the Recovery settings.
This new feature allows you to fix problems with your PC using Windows Update. It seems that if you select this option, Windows 11 will download the latest available update and do a ‘fresh’ install of that, while keeping your apps, files, and settings.
A great idea, but with some drawbacks
This new feature is probably one of the better ideas Microsoft has had, and if it works, it really could make fixing some Windows 11 problems a lot easier.
In the past, doing a clean install of Windows could be a right pain, as it essentially meant wiping your hard drive and starting again. In the bad old days, this also meant digging out your installation disks and activation code. If you lost those, then you were in trouble.
Even in later versions of Windows, such as Windows 11, which added an option to reset Windows, which was similar to doing a full reinstall but without much of the inconvenience, such as having to use installation media, it was still a lengthy process, as you had to reinstall many of the applications you use.
If this feature works as promised, the process should be even more streamlined, with all your apps and documents remaining untouched, and could mean the process of fixing any annoying problems is pretty fast and painless.
There are some drawbacks, however, as it appears to enable the feature you’ll need to boot into Windows 11 first – which isn’t much help if your PC is refusing to boot. It’s not clear if you can access this feature via safe mode either.
If the problem has been caused by the latest Windows 11 update, then reinstalling that update might not fix the problem, either.
Still, I’m always happy to see Microsoft introduce new ways to help fix problems, and while the company seems to have kept this new feature quiet, it could end up being one of the most useful additions in recent years. Hopefully, it’ll roll out to all users in the coming months.
ChatGPT’s iPhone app is going to offer users access to the internet via Bing – but only if you’re willing to pay for a premium ChatGPT subscription.
OpenAI’s large language models (LLM) that power its ChatGPT bot have taken the tech world by storm this year, with GPT 3 and now GPT 4 integration being introduced to a bevy of products including Spotify, Bing, and even Mercedes cars.
Some integrations go both ways too, with Bing being added to ChatGPT’s web version back in May. Now Bing has come to ChatGPT’s iPhone app for people who pay $ 20 a month for ChatGPT Plus (roughly £16 / AU$ 30).
This looks set to be a major upgrade for the iPhone app. One significant drawback to ChatGPT and the GPT 4 LLM is that it only has data that’s accurate up to around September 2021 – so if you ask the LLM questions about events that happened in 2022 or 2023 it probably won’t know what you’re talking about, and it may hallucinate (read: make something up). Giving GPT 4 access to Bing would enable the chatbot to find answers to questions that fall outside of its stored data.
Don’t expect this Bing integration to be an instant enhancement to ChatGPT’s iPhone version mind. For one thing, the feature is only in beta, so it may have a few issues that OpenAI still needs to patch out. For another, while the internet is home to more recent data that could help boost the AI’s reliability, it’s also home to inaccurate info, so ChatGPT’s answers will likely still feature errors.
How to use ChatGPT with Bing on iPhone
To use ChatGPT’s new Bing powers on your iPhone you’ll need to sign up for ChatGPT Plus. You’ll then want to download the latest version of the iOS app (v1.2023.173).
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Primakov)
Once your update has been completed, make sure you’re signed in to the app and then tap the menu button (the three dots) at the top-right corner of the screen. Then tap Settings, then New Features. In this sub-menu you should see an option to enable Browsing; select GPT-4 as your model, and make sure to select 'Browse with Bing'.
For now, there’s no Android app for ChatGPT, though one is apparently coming soon. Microsoft has also said that Bing integration will be available to non-paying ChatGPT users, but for now, it’s only for Plus subscribers. If you want to enjoy an AI-powered Bing experience for free (and on Android or iOS), you’ll need to download the Bing app and use its Bing Chat feature.
AI seems to be everywhere at the moment, and Google is building the tech into its products faster than most. Gmail is the latest Google app to get an injection of artificial intelligence, to improve search results on mobile.
“When searching in Gmail, machine learning models will use the search term, most recent emails and other relevant factors to show you the results that best match your search query,” Google explains in a blog post (via Android Central).
“These results will now appear at the top of the list in a dedicated section, followed by all results sorted by recency,” the post continues. In other words, AI will (in theory) pick out the best matches for your search, and put them at the top of the list.
Years of AI
This is coming to the Gmail apps for Android and iOS, and should be rolling out for everyone now. As yet, there's no word on whether or not the same feature will be making an appearance in the desktop web interface for Gmail.
AI has been built into Gmail for years of course, with features like Smart Reply composing short automated replies for you. In recent months, Google has been pushing more advanced, generative AI as a way of composing your emails.
More AI features are heading to search on the web too, while development on the ChatGPT rival Google Bard continues at a steady pace. We can expect plenty more announcements like this one in the months and years ahead.
Analysis: AI needs to be useful
Google and other tech companies seem to have no qualms about pushing out AI features as quickly as they possibly can at the moment, which is what tends to happen in a competitive, emerging field when several players are trying to get out in front.
However, we'd query just how useful all of this AI is going to end up being. Sure, having the option to generate text messages in the style of Shakespeare is quite fun – but wouldn't most people prefer to use their own words from their own heads when keeping up conversations with friends and family?
Even something like Gmail search isn't a complete win for AI. What are the “relevant factors” that the app is using to pick the top results? Are they reliable? Sometimes it feels like the old manual methods of labels and stars are the best ways to keep on top of thousands of emails taking up room in Gmail.
In an age where we're relying on algorithms for everything from choosing our movie recommendations to writing our books, there's still a lot to be said for human creativity and curation, which might be slower but can be a whole lot more useful and engaging.
The built-in password manager in Google Chrome is about to get even better as Google is preparing to add the ability to store notes alongside your passwords.
Besides storing your existing passwords, Chrome’s password manager also includes a password generator to help you create strong, unique and complex passwords for each of your online accounts.
While you can use a standalone password manager like LastPass or 1Password to store your passwords securely, Google Chrome and most other browsers now offer similar functionality. However, these paid solutions often come with extra features like secure cloud storage and password sharing in addition to letting you store notes about each of your passwords.
Now though, it appears that Chrome’s built-in password manager will be getting a big upgrade with the next major release of Google’s browser.
Adding notes to your passwords in Chrome
As reported by 9to5Google and first spotted by Leo Varela, the latest Chrome Canary release adds a new feature to Chrome’s built-in password manager that will allow you to store notes with your passwords.
Once this feature becomes generally available, you’ll see a new “Notes” field underneath the username and password fields in Chrome’s password manager. However, this option will only show up when adding a new password or when you go to edit an existing password. Varela also pointed out in his Reddit post that Google is working on adding the ability to securely send passwords to others as well.
Being able to add notes to each of your saved passwords can be quite useful for those with a lot of different online accounts. For instance, you can add a note to give context to the account, to differentiate between a work and personal account or even if you want to back up the answers to the security questions associated with a particular account.
Users running Chrome Canary can test out this feature now and Google has even added the #passwords-notes flag to make it easier to enable. As this feature is currently tied to the release of Chrome 101, it should arrive in the Stable channel around April or May but the timing of its arrival could change.
The tool was set for launch sometime in 2021, but its Microsoft 365 roadmap entry, simply entitled “Microsoft Teams: Video filters” now shows a release date of March 2022.
Lights, camera, filters
The roadmap entry explains that Teams users will soon gain access to a number of different video filters, which will give them the ability to dial up and down certain aspects of their feed.
“Before joining a meeting, you can use filters to subtly adjust lighting levels and smooth out facial features to customize your appearance,” wrote Microsoft.
The company first announced its intention to introduce Microsoft Teams video filters in summer last year, before then targeting an August 2021 release window until today's update.
It added that the feature could prove useful to a range of users, especially those working out of a dimly lit home office or using a poor-quality webcam.
Filters are also already present in competing offerings such as Google Meet, which recently revealed a new settings panel to help both you and your workspace look the best you can when joining video calls.
With Google Meet's new settings panel, users will be able to quickly access effects such as background blur, background images and styles before and during a video call.
The days of having to update your video conferencing software before joining a call are over as Zoom has announced that its bringing automatic updates to its Windows and macOS clients.
Not only do updates provide new features and functionality but they are also used to patch software bugs and other vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers to launch cyberattacks and infect your devices with malware.
Just like with other software companies, Zoom routinely releases updates for its desktop clients and mobile apps. However, not all of these updates are installed by end users which can put their devices and data at risk.
For this reason, Zoom is now rolling out a new automatic update feature for its Windows and macOS clients to ensure that everyone is running the latest version of its software before starting a call.
Enabling automatic updates
According to a new blog post from Zoom, in order to turn on automatic updates in its Windows or macOS clients, you'll first need to open the software's Settings menu, head to the General tab and select the “Automatically keep my Zoom up to date” option.
From here, you'll be prompted to enter admin credentials to allow the company's automatic update feature permission to run but this will only be required when enabling this setting for the first time.
Going forward, when a new version of Zoom is available and you're not already in a video call, you will be prompted to install the update. If you ignore this prompt, don't worry as the update will be installed automatically the next time you restart your Zoom client.
If you're not keen on receiving frequent updates, the “Slow” option is selected by default which focuses on maximum stability instead of giving you access to the latest features. Power users though can enable the “Fast” option which will let you download and install the latest features and updates as soon as they become available. It's also worth noting that critical security updates are pushed out by Zoom to everyone regardless of which option they've selected.
While some end users will need to enable automatic updates by themselves, if you're part of an organization that uses Zoom while working from home, your IT admin will need to enable this feature for you.
Ensure that you know the criteria that you are investigating- number of users impacted, regulatory risk to the company, etc. It’s only at that point that an enterprise can consider an incident respons…
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