After months of waiting the moment is here: Meta AI features have arrived on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses for everyone – well, everyone in the US and Canada, for now.
The exclusivity to those regions is not the only caveat unfortunately. Another big one is that while the Meta AI tools are no longer locked behind an exclusive beta, Meta notes in its blog post announcement that they are still beta features – suggesting that you’ll likely run into several problems with regard to reliability and accuracy.
But while the update isn’t quite as complete as we’d have liked, it’s still a major leap forward for Meta’s smart glasses – finally having them deliver on the impressive AI promises Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made when they were revealed back at Meta Connect 2023 in September last year.
What can Meta AI do?
(Image credit: Ray-Ban / Meta)
The main Meta AI feature you’ll want to take advantage of is ‘Look and Ask.’ To activate it simply start a phrase with “Hey Meta, look and …” then ask the glasses a question about something you can see.
You could try “… tell me about this animal,” or “…tell me about this building,” or even “…tell me what I can make for dinner with these ingredients.”
The glasses will then use your command alongside an image captured by the camera to search for an answer in its database – which include data the Meta AI has been trained on, and information it has gathered from Google and Bing.
As with all AI responses, we’d recommend taking what the Meta AI says with a pinch of salt. AI assistants are prone to hallucinating – which in the AI context you can read simply as “getting stuff completely wrong” – and this Meta model is no different. It will get stuff right too, but don’t take its advice as gospel.
(Image credit: Meta)
Beyond Look and Ask you can use the Meta AI assistant like the Google or Siri assistant on your phone. This means starting video calls (above), sending texts and images, or playing music all with just voice commands.
Just be prepared to get some attention as you walk around talking to your smart glasses – we got some odd looks when we were testing a different pair of specs the other day.
Not many people have been in the same room as an Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset, let alone touched and worn the thing. But if you're itching to get close before the February 2 launch day, Apple has the next best thing on its Apple Store App.
People often forget that Apple does some of the best AR in the business, including some wicked occlusion capabilities that let virtual objects block the view of real ones that sit or move behind them – and Apple's AR rendering of its Apple Vision Pro is right up there with its best work.
If you're not already familiar with the mixed reality set that everyone is talking about, Apple's Vision Pro is the tech giant's first attempt at an AR/VR-capable headset. Apple calls the entire experience Spatial Computing. I've worn it four times now, and I've experienced movies, interactive AR experiences, incredible panoramic photography, and almost wept through realistic spatial video; and I've done most of it with little more than my gaze and subtle gestures.
It's a wildly expensive product, starting at $ 3,499, but that hasn't dampened interest (it reportedly sold out on pre-order and is a hot item on eBay), so it makes sense for Apple to give us this AR taste.
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To find it, you'll need to open the Apple Store App on your best iPhone or best iPad. In it, look for the Vision Pro, select it, and then scroll until you see 'View in your space'. Tap this, and then point your phone's camera at a flat surface like your desk or kitchen table. Keep the phone still for a moment, and after Apple finishes analyzing the 3D contours of the space, a translucent Vision Pro headset will appear. Tap it to drop it onto the table. After that, you can use one finger to move the AR Vision Pro around, and two fingers to rotate it. You can also resize it with two fingers, but then it won't be represented at full scale (it's easy to snap it back to 100%).
You can also move your phone around the rendering to see the headset from all sides, and even get close and peer into the dual, 4K microLED displays, which appear to be showing some sort of landscape. It's an opportunity to get an up-close look at the features, materials like the recycled yarn woven band, the aluminum spatial photography button, and the digital crown.
There's even a MagSafe-style power adapter attached to one side with a woven USB-C cable running off of the Vision Pro, but instead of running to a nearby battery, the cable disappears at the edge of the woven band. There's also no option to depict the Vision Pro with the Dual Loop Band that will also ship with the headset; I think that's a shame, since I bet that's how many people will end up wearing the Vision Pro.
Ultimately, this is a chance to see what the Vision Pro will look like in your real world; however, one thing this AR experience can't do is replicate the feeling of all that money leaving your wallet.
Windows 10 gamers have got a reason to celebrate with the latest preview update for the OS, which comes with an important fix for a nasty gaming-related crash, and other cures besides.
The problem with PC games is related to Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) errors popping up, either causing a crash, or even locking up the system in some more extreme cases.
As you may have seen, the fix for this was applied to Windows 11 in the Moment 3 update – it was first spotted in the preview of that patch which emerged late in June.
The good news for Windows 10 users is that the fix is in KB5028244 (build 19045.3271 for Windows 10 22H2), which again is a preview patch (an optional download). This means the full (polished) fix will be available in August’s cumulative update for Windows 10, and that’s only a couple of weeks away now.
In the release notes for the patch, Microsoft observes: “This update addresses an issue that might affect your computer when you are playing a game. Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) errors might occur.”
On top of this, there are fixes for a bug that prevents some VPN apps from making a successful connection, and a glitch that means when a PC comes back from sleep, certain display or audio devices go missing in action.
Furthermore, there’s the resolution of a problem with Windows 10 where a full-screen search can’t be closed (and prevents any further action from being taken with the Start menu), and a raft of other tweaks and fixes.
Analysis: A welcome fix, albeit slightly late
There are some important cures here, then, as those mentioned bugs are quite a pain for those affected.
PC gamers on Windows 10 – the vast majority still – were particularly miffed when Windows 11 got a solution for the TDR crashes in June, with Microsoft leaving them in the lurch. And with no mention of Windows 10 back at the time, some gamers were even talking about this being a reason to upgrade to Windows 11 – that’s how annoyed some folks are by this one.
As one Reddit user put it: “Windows 10 TDR errors have been the bane on [sic] my life.”
At any rate, the fix is now here, and hopefully it’ll prove effective on Windows 10. Of course, right now it’s still testing as an optional update, so you’ll have to manually grab the patch via Windows Update, and there may still be problems with it. That said, those affected by TDR crashes might be so keen to get rid of them that any risk of side effects elsewhere may seem a small price to pay.
Whatever the case, as mentioned, the full fix should be coming in the cumulative update for Windows 10 next month (assuming no problems are encountered in this final testing phase).
Clearly, Windows 11 has priority as Microsoft develops and tinkers with its desktop operating systems, but it feels an odd situation where two-thirds of gamers are still on Windows 10, and are getting the short end of the stick with fixes like this.
Windows 11’s Moment 3 update can now be downloaded by anyone who wants to grab it, but you still might want to let caution take the driving seat (and leave valor in the passenger seat) for now.
Wait a minute, you might be thinking: hasn’t Moment 3 already been released? Well, technically yes, it has, but as we covered recently, the feature update hasn’t been made available to all Windows 11 PCs.
In fact, when Microsoft first opened the gates with Moment 3, it was only offered to those who had enabled the option to ‘Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available’. But even then, having turned on that setting was not a guarantee of receiving the upgrade – Moment 3 was still rolled out gradually in a phased manner among that user base.
However, if you’ve missed out on Moment 3 so far, now anyone can get it, as the upgrade has been released as June’s optional update (patch KB5027303).
Whether you should jump on this update right now, though, is another matter, as we mentioned at the outset. Let’s discuss that further…
That’s why it’s optional, because this is the last stage of testing for the package. And as it’s effectively beta software – albeit in its final incarnation, so likely pretty stable – you still have a higher chance of encountering bugs than with the full release version.
This is why it’s generally better to wait for that full release version, which in the case of Moment 3, will pitch up next month (it should arrive on July 11, as part of Microsoft’s monthly cumulative update for Windows 11).
At that point, of course, you’ll have no choice but to take Moment 3 onboard your Windows 11 installation (beyond the ability to delay it for a short time, if you choose – as with any cumulative update in Windows 11 Home).
Apple has announced iMovie 3.0, available from today (April 12) which allows users on iOS and iPadOS to more easily compile photos, movies, and music into a home movie thanks to two new features.
iMovie is a popular app from Apple for quickly creating movies and clips on Mac, iPhone and iPad with minimal hassle.
However, Instagram and TikTok have been using AI (Artificial Intelligence) features that make creating and sharing great-looking video clips even easier. For example, they can automatically adapt music to fit video clips. Meanwhile, iMovie was falling behind, with users having to align their music and content manually. But the new update looks to alleviate this with 'Storyboards' and 'Magic Movie'.
It’s rolling out to devices running iOS 15.2 or later and iPadOS 15.2 or later. But Apple declined to say whether these features would also be coming to the macOS version eventually.
What’s new in iMovie 3.0?
(Image credit: Apple)
Storyboards is one of two new features where you can choose from 20 templates to fit the videos, photos, and audio tracks, and each placeholder describes what kind of clip should be in that section of the movie.
This can be helpful for content creators or those who want to test the waters with editing video in general. The feature can guide users with framing their shots and telling a story through their video, and then export it to another app.
When you edit a clip you've already inserted, you can have a voiceover, insert music, trim the clip, adjust the volume, tweak the speed, add titles or delete the clip entirely. If you decide to change a template, the titles and transitions will adapt instead of disappearing and requiring you to start the project all over again.
(Image credit: Apple)
Meanwhile, the Magic Movie feature allows you to select an album of photos and videos, and will compile these into a movie. You can re-arrange and delete clips, and the feature will adapt while keeping the theme of the project intact. This feature will analyze your clips for dialogue and movement and will arrange them to fit the movie you've picked.
There's also helpful descriptions of where to add certain clips, whether it's for a close-up shot or something else to help fit the movie.
You can also pick a soundtrack, such as a file from Garageband, Apple Music, or the Files app for example, and iMovie 3.0 will also adapt to this to fit the video, similar to TikTok and Instagram's takes.
It looks to automate how you can create a movie in a half-hour, without going through many menus to achieve the same result.
Magic Movie reminds us of its trailer feature in iMovie on macOS, where you can create small movies of movie trailers with your clips. This looks to be the next step in this feature that's been available on macOS since 2011.
(Image credit: Apple)
We asked Apple whether there will be a way of adding live transcriptions to clips. We were told that this would have to be added in another app, like Final Cut on the Mac, which was disappointing, especially as its Clips app can do this on iOS already.
Apple also declined to comment on whether these features were coming to the Mac version of iMovie, but it did say that the reason they’re on iMovie for the iPhone and iPad versions from today is due to the ease that users have in creating and managing their media content on those devices.
Analysis: A much-welcome update to iMovie
(Image credit: TechRadar)
iMovie is something that goes as far back as the iLife suite in the early 2000s, where you would have a suite of apps such as iMovie, iPhoto, iWeb, and iDVD, all to help create content on your Mac.
But since iMovie’s appearance on iOS in 2010, followed by an iPad release in 2011, its usage has changed, which makes sense for these new features to arrive on iPhone and iPad first.
Having seen the features in action, it’s surprising how few taps and clicks are required to make a movie from start to finish. It looks like an evolution of the trailer feature above, with full movies now taking advantage of this.
But, it is disappointing that there’s no way to add audio transcriptions for when you’re editing a clip for a Storyboard or Magic Movie project. With Instagram and TikTok already showcasing this feature, it would have made sense for this to come to iMovie 3.0.
However, it’s a significant update that’s going to take advantage of the cameras and the content that every iPhone and iPad user has access to. And with its ease of use, it does have the potential to become a common method for those longer movies you want to share with a social platform, or with friends and family.
Apple has announced iMovie 3.0, available from today (April 12) which allows users on iOS and iPadOS to more easily compile photos, movies, and music into a home movie thanks to two new features.
iMovie is a popular app from Apple for quickly creating movies and clips on Mac, iPhone and iPad with minimal hassle.
However, Instagram and TikTok have been using AI (Artificial Intelligence) features that make creating and sharing great-looking video clips even easier. For example, they can automatically adapt music to fit video clips. Meanwhile, iMovie was falling behind, with users having to align their music and content manually. But the new update looks to alleviate this with 'Storyboards' and 'Magic Movie'.
It’s rolling out to devices running iOS 15.2 or later and iPadOS 15.2 or later. But Apple declined to say whether these features would also be coming to the macOS version eventually.
What’s new in iMovie 3.0?
(Image credit: Apple)
Storyboards is one of two new features where you can choose from 20 templates to fit the videos, photos, and audio tracks, and each placeholder describes what kind of clip should be in that section of the movie.
This can be helpful for content creators or those who want to test the waters with editing video in general. The feature can guide users with framing their shots and telling a story through their video, and then export it to another app.
When you edit a clip you've already inserted, you can have a voiceover, insert music, trim the clip, adjust the volume, tweak the speed, add titles or delete the clip entirely. If you decide to change a template, the titles and transitions will adapt instead of disappearing and requiring you to start the project all over again.
(Image credit: Apple)
Meanwhile, the Magic Movie feature allows you to select an album of photos and videos, and will compile these into a movie. You can re-arrange and delete clips, and the feature will adapt while keeping the theme of the project intact. This feature will analyze your clips for dialogue and movement and will arrange them to fit the movie you've picked.
There's also helpful descriptions of where to add certain clips, whether it's for a close-up shot or something else to help fit the movie.
You can also pick a soundtrack, such as a file from Garageband, Apple Music, or the Files app for example, and iMovie 3.0 will also adapt to this to fit the video, similar to TikTok and Instagram's takes.
It looks to automate how you can create a movie in a half-hour, without going through many menus to achieve the same result.
Magic Movie reminds us of its trailer feature in iMovie on macOS, where you can create small movies of movie trailers with your clips. This looks to be the next step in this feature that's been available on macOS since 2011.
(Image credit: Apple)
We asked Apple whether there will be a way of adding live transcriptions to clips. We were told that this would have to be added in another app, like Final Cut on the Mac, which was disappointing, especially as its Clips app can do this on iOS already.
Apple also declined to comment on whether these features were coming to the Mac version of iMovie, but it did say that the reason they’re on iMovie for the iPhone and iPad versions from today is due to the ease that users have in creating and managing their media content on those devices.
Analysis: A much-welcome update to iMovie
(Image credit: TechRadar)
iMovie is something that goes as far back as the iLife suite in the early 2000s, where you would have a suite of apps such as iMovie, iPhoto, iWeb, and iDVD, all to help create content on your Mac.
But since iMovie’s appearance on iOS in 2010, followed by an iPad release in 2011, its usage has changed, which makes sense for these new features to arrive on iPhone and iPad first.
Having seen the features in action, it’s surprising how few taps and clicks are required to make a movie from start to finish. It looks like an evolution of the trailer feature above, with full movies now taking advantage of this.
But, it is disappointing that there’s no way to add audio transcriptions for when you’re editing a clip for a Storyboard or Magic Movie project. With Instagram and TikTok already showcasing this feature, it would have made sense for this to come to iMovie 3.0.
However, it’s a significant update that’s going to take advantage of the cameras and the content that every iPhone and iPad user has access to. And with its ease of use, it does have the potential to become a common method for those longer movies you want to share with a social platform, or with friends and family.
Google's ChromeOS for Chromebooks was also updated to version 100, alongside its web browser, showcasing a new app launcher and other features.
In a blogpost, the company spoke of the app launcher being the headline feature here, with it moving from the center to the left of the screen, similar to Windows 11's start menu.
Searching for a term also looks cleaner here, with results being shown in a list, with the choice to look at images or news on the query. But there's also other features, such as being able to edit words with your voice and using the webcam to create gifs of yourself.
These are promising features as we approach Google IO in May, and make us wonder if we'll see some surprises at the event for Chrome OS.
Analysis: Strength to strength for Chrome OS
(Image credit: Google)
Around 2010, 'netbook' was a term that was associated with smaller-sized laptops that had a terrible battery life and slow speeds, with their only advantage being that they were available for a low price.
Tablets like the iPad would push these out of the way, but Google saw another route in this area with its Chromebooks, which only run on ChromeOS and offered a majority of Android apps.
These Chromebooks have only gotten better in recent years, especially for those who only do work on Google's apps. In certain places of work, employees are given Chromebooks as their sole machine, mainly due to their solid battery life and being able to easily access their work email, spreadsheets and documents through G Suite.
With Chrome OS reaching version 100 and Android 13 fast approaching, we can't help but wonder if there's going to be some announcements made at Google IO in May. Whether that's in gaming or a dedicated Pixel tablet that runs on Chrome OS instead of Android, it looks to be an encouraging time if you're all in on the Google ecosystem.
Google's ChromeOS for Chromebooks was also updated to version 100, alongside its web browser, showcasing a new app launcher and other features.
In a blogpost, the company spoke of the app launcher being the headline feature here, with it moving from the center to the left of the screen, similar to Windows 11's start menu.
Searching for a term also looks cleaner here, with results being shown in a list, with the choice to look at images or news on the query. But there's also other features, such as being able to edit words with your voice and using the webcam to create gifs of yourself.
These are promising features as we approach Google IO in May, and make us wonder if we'll see some surprises at the event for Chrome OS.
Analysis: Strength to strength for Chrome OS
(Image credit: Google)
Around 2010, 'netbook' was a term that was associated with smaller-sized laptops that had a terrible battery life and slow speeds, with their only advantage being that they were available for a low price.
Tablets like the iPad would push these out of the way, but Google saw another route in this area with its Chromebooks, which only run on ChromeOS and offered a majority of Android apps.
These Chromebooks have only gotten better in recent years, especially for those who only do work on Google's apps. In certain places of work, employees are given Chromebooks as their sole machine, mainly due to their solid battery life and being able to easily access their work email, spreadsheets and documents through G Suite.
With Chrome OS reaching version 100 and Android 13 fast approaching, we can't help but wonder if there's going to be some announcements made at Google IO in May. Whether that's in gaming or a dedicated Pixel tablet that runs on Chrome OS instead of Android, it looks to be an encouraging time if you're all in on the Google ecosystem.
Google Chrome has been updated to version 100, bringing with it bug fixes, the removal of lite mode, and most of all, a new icon.
In the 14 years since the web browser was released, Chrome has become an app that many use for anything else other than browsing the web. Partly thanks to the Chrome Web Store, you can play games, complete your school report and watch Moon Knight all without checking a web page.
Google has made a fun look back on 100 web moments since 2008's arrival of Chrome, but while this is a fun read, the more pressing matter is the new icon that version 100 brings.
It made me want to look back on another logo change from Instagram, and how its change in 2013 was so major.
An iconic icon
(Image credit: Elvin – Twitter)
Logos need to match the style of the time, and one example was when iOS 7 arrived in 2013. The design changed from skeuomorphism, which is a way of reflecting real-world objects, to a flat design that you use today on your Apple device.
This meant that the majority of apps had to change to fit this style, otherwise they would stick out sorely. The most prevalent for me was Instagram, which could have changed its logo from a camera to something that reflected part of the camera in a flat design. But instead, there was a change that set it apart from the other social platform apps at the time.
(Image credit: Instagram)
While the revamped logo reflects a camera, the colors were striking at the time, and still are today. When Instagram was celebrating its birthday in 2020, it added an easter egg to its app to bring back the classic icon.
Very smart Instagram. pic.twitter.com/6Wicd0JUWGOctober 6, 2020
See more
Oddly, the old icon fit in the world of iOS 14, so it was a shame to see it go in quick succession soon after.
But Google's efforts with Chrome's icon have been progressive. From something that looked like an evil Pokéball in 2008, to one that looks pseudo 3D for version 100.
But as tastes and trends change in technology, we may see a cross between skeuomorphism and flat design converge, with another major icon change by the end of this decade. And for me, I'm all for it.
Google Chrome has been updated to version 100, bringing with it bug fixes, the removal of lite mode, and most of all, a new icon.
In the 14 years since the web browser was released, Chrome has become an app that many use for anything else other than browsing the web. Partly thanks to the Chrome Web Store, you can play games, complete your school report and watch Moon Knight all without checking a web page.
Google has made a fun look back on 100 web moments since 2008's arrival of Chrome, but while this is a fun read, the more pressing matter is the new icon that version 100 brings.
It made me want to look back on another logo change from Instagram, and how its change in 2013 was so major.
An iconic icon
(Image credit: Elvin – Twitter)
Logos need to match the style of the time, and one example was when iOS 7 arrived in 2013. The design changed from skeuomorphism, which is a way of reflecting real-world objects, to a flat design that you use today on your Apple device.
This meant that the majority of apps had to change to fit this style, otherwise they would stick out sorely. The most prevalent for me was Instagram, which could have changed its logo from a camera to something that reflected part of the camera in a flat design. But instead, there was a change that set it apart from the other social platform apps at the time.
(Image credit: Instagram)
While the revamped logo reflects a camera, the colors were striking at the time, and still are today. When Instagram was celebrating its birthday in 2020, it added an easter egg to its app to bring back the classic icon.
Very smart Instagram. pic.twitter.com/6Wicd0JUWGOctober 6, 2020
See more
Oddly, the old icon fit in the world of iOS 14, so it was a shame to see it go in quick succession soon after.
But Google's efforts with Chrome's icon have been progressive. From something that looked like an evil Pokéball in 2008, to one that looks pseudo 3D for version 100.
But as tastes and trends change in technology, we may see a cross between skeuomorphism and flat design converge, with another major icon change by the end of this decade. And for me, I'm all for it.
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