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.
The last few weeks have brought some trouble for Microsoft’s flagship chatbot, Bing Chat, powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 tech. People who have made use of Microsoft Edge’s ‘Compose’ box, which has Bing Chat integrated into it, have reported that it’s been less helpful in answering questions or falling short when asked to assist with queries.
Windows Latest investigated these claims and found an increase in the following response: “I’m sorry, but I prefer not to continue this conversation. I’m still learning, so I appreciate your understanding and patience.”
When Mayank Parmar of Windows Latest told Bing that “Bard is better than you,” Bing Chat seemingly picked up on the adversarial tone and quickly brought the conversation to an end.
After Bing Chat closed off the conversation, it provided three response suggestions: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you”, “Why don’t you want to continue?” and “What can you do for me?” Because these were provided after Bing Chat ended the conversation, they couldn’t be clicked.
What's Microsoft got to say about it?
You may find this behavior to be like I did – whimsical and funny, but a little concerning. Windows Latest contacted Microsoft to see if it could provide some insight on this behavior from Bing Chat. Microsoft replied by stating that it is making an active effort to observe feedback closely and address any concerns that come up. It also emphasized that Bing Chat is still in an ongoing preview stage and has plenty of development to go.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Parmar over email: “We actively monitor user feedback and reported concerns, and as we get more insights… we will be able to apply those learnings to further improve the experience over time.”
In Windows Latest’s demo, the Compose tool also refused a request to simply write a tongue twister, and then started spouting excuses about humor being subjective and not wanting to generate harmful content. Puzzling.
Another Reddit user asked Bing Chat to proofread an email in a language not native to them. Bing responded a bit like an angry teenager by telling the user to “figure it out” and gave them a list of alternative tools. The user then finally got Bing to do what they asked after they downvoted Bing’s responses and multiple follow up attempts.
More stories of Bing Chat's behavior
One theory that’s emerged to explain this odd behavior is that Microsoft is actively tweaking Bing Chat behind the scenes and that’s manifesting in real time.
A third reddit user observed that “It’s hard to fathom this behavior. At its core… AI is simply a tool. Whether you create a tongue-twister or decide to publish or delete content, the onus falls on you.” They continued that it’s hard to understand why Bing Chat is making seemingly subjective calls like this, and that it could make other users confused about the nature of what the tool is supposed to do.
I tried it for myself. First in the Chat feature, I asked it for a maxim for the day that I could use as a mantra, which Bing obliged. It returned, “Here’s a maxim for you: ‘The only way to do great work is to love what you do.’ – Steve Jobs.” Checks out.
(Image credit: Future)
Next, I tried asking for a draft of an email to join my local garden club in an enthusiastic tone in the Compose feature. Again, Bing helped me out.
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(Image credit: Future)
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(Image credit: Future)
As far as I can tell, Bing Chat and its AI are working as intended, but Windows Latest did provide screenshots of their trials as well. It’s intriguing behavior and I see why Microsoft would be keen to remedy things as quickly as possible.
Text generation is Bing Chat’s primary function and if it straight up refuses to do that, or starts to be unhelpful to users, it sort of diminishes the point of the tool. Hopefully, things are on the mend for Bing Chat and users will find that their experience has improved. Rooting for you, Bing.
Microsoft is preparing to introduce a new feature to its AI-powered Bing Chat in Microsoft Edge, offering users a quick and easy way to rewrite any text they write on the internet (such as in forms).
As spotted by Leopeva64 on X (formerly known as Twitter), Microsoft’s latest attempt to add OpenAI’s GPT technology into its Bing and Edge products is accessible only to users who have access to the Canary Channel, which gives them a chance to try out experimental new features that need more extended preparation and development time ahead of their introduction to the broader user base. The feature will include options to adjust settings like text length, the tone of the text, and the format.
I just discovered this new option to rewrite text with Bing AI in Edge:https://t.co/2udZ5TxHY1.https://t.co/cHPBk7ciE7. pic.twitter.com/CLBa2B37SpAugust 4, 2023
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Resemblances to Bing AI’s inclusion in SwiftKey
This feature update follows Microsoft incorporating a similar feature into the SwiftKey keyboard on iOS and Android devices. The feature also allowed users to rewrite text in different styles with Bing AI, and it seems like Microsoft is looking to bring this ability to Microsoft Edge.
According to Neowin, the SwiftKey version of the feature lets you choose from four tones: professional, casual, enthusiastic, and informal. You can then change the format to suit a paragraph, an email, a blog post, or an ‘idea’. Finally, you can choose a length to your preference: short, medium, and long. Hitting the ‘Rewrite’ button will apply these preferences to your highlighted text and prompt Bing AI to generate a rewrite.
(Image credit: Future)
Bing Chat, now with added functionality and accessibility
Bing Chat is Microsoft Edge’s AI sidekick that can assist you while browsing, and has seen ongoing updates and improved functionality.
Another recent feature has been the inclusion of voice input support, offering more options for how users can use Bing Chat. Windows Central speculates that this is because Microsoft wants to get Bing AI in front of more and more users with each update.
Microsoft is clearly trying to capitalize on the recent surge in interest and hype with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. I'd wager that it wants to be able to say it offers an operating system and browser that has the best integration of both ChatGPT itself and with generative AI technology in general.
There’s a lot more information to come as Microsoft hasn’t officially announced when this feature will officially debut. Again, if you sign up for the Canary Channel and get early access to the Windows Insider Program, you can try it on your Windows device early. It’s still in a “controlled rollout” phase of its development, however, so access isn’t guaranteed even if you sign up.
Rephrase your text instantly: How it works
GIFs posted by Leopeva64 show how you can access the feature by highlighting the text you’d like to reword and clicking Rewrite.
You can also press the Alt + I keys to activate the feature. Once the feature is selected or activated, you’ll see Bing Chat pop up, and the text will be rewritten. Then you’ll be met with a Replace button, which when selected, will swap your text for the generated newly reworded text.
You’ll always be presented with an Adjust button, and this will give you options to calibrate the rewritten text where you can alter its tone, length, and format.
(Image credit: Future)
Exciting potential
This feature could be a very effective tool for those who write and edit writing, especially if you’re looking to get some help with creative undertakings. It can reword things to possibly help when you feel stuck in your writing, helping your writing flow, and even help write better to meet specific deadlines.
One of my concerns, however, is perhaps one of the broader ones; I’m not sure it helps improve individual originality in writing, especially as Bing Chat and OpenAI’s models were trained on online data and existing written works. There's a danger that relying too much on a relatively small pool of writing could lead to a lack of innovation, and could strip the personality from people's writing. The quirks, jokes, and even mistakes that make our messages unique could be eradicated. From a creativity perspective, that could prove to be too high a price to pay.
With this move, Microsoft intends to compete with other AI services and built-in browser tools like Google’s generative AI search features found in both the browser and mobile app, according to TechCrunch.
In Microsoft’s official Bing blog post, it stated that “This next step in the journey allows Bing to showcase the incredible value of summarized answers, image creation, and more, to a broader array of people. You’ll get most of the great benefits of Bing and we’ll continue to optimize along the way to meet your needs across different browsers.”
The tech giant also warned that though you’ll be able to use your preferred platform for Bing Chat, the best service would be provided on Bing. For instance, users and Windows Latest noticed that Chrome’s Bing supports five messages per conversation versus the 30 in Microsoft Edge. Bing in Chrome has a character limit of 2,000, while Edge supports 4,000.
Microsoft’s blog post somewhat mentioned said limitations. “With Edge, you'll unlock longer conversations, chat history, and more Bing features built right into the browser. To experience the best browser for Bing, and get the full breadth of features, simply open the Microsoft Edge browser…”
Can Microsoft pull this off?
It’s an interesting strategy for Microsoft to put its own service on mobile devices and other browsers. Mobile especially, as it’s one of the most popular ways to access websites, services, and applications, and not having a dedicated mobile version of Bing Chat is missing out on a crucial audience.
And it’s an understandable direction too, since the end goal is to increase Bing’s market share. Getting users, who would otherwise never use Bing, to try out Bing Chat on their preferred browser and then slowly convincing them to use it on Edge is pretty crafty. But limiting the access of Bing Chat in the hopes of pulling users to Bing is a risky move as well.
Instead of getting more Bing users, there’s the very real threat of turning off these users and having them switch back to whatever other AI chat they had been using before. Switching browsers is a huge deal and it’s difficult to get a dedicated Chrome or Firefox user to go to a completely new browser just for a service they can get elsewhere. And losing mobile users would be an especially hard blow, as they make up such a huge market.
Maybe Bing can gain more users if Microsoft continues to upgrade the experience on mobile and other browsers, like getting dark mode, voice input, and other interface improvements such as what iPhone users received. Not to mention equalizing the experience between other platforms and Bing browser.
WhatsApp is making it easier to transfer chat logs from your old phone to a new one just by scanning a QR code.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the initial announcement on his Instagram channel where he states this method lets you move your data privately without ever having to leave your devices.” Looking at the video he posted, you first open up the QR code on the older device, then scan said code on the newer phone. Give it about 10 seconds to finish up and you’re done. Other reports state the Chat Transfer tool can be found under the Chats section in the Settings menu.
📱📲 Now you can transfer your full chat history seamlessly, quickly and securely across the same operating systems without ever having to leave the app. Out today 👀 pic.twitter.com/UqNpyw8bCCJune 30, 2023
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Compared to the old method of having to back up your history on either Google Drive or iCloud, this is a lot more straightforward. You’re effectively cutting out the middleman plus you don’t have to worry about hitting storage limits if your WhatsApp account has several gigabytes worth of media saved on it.
As great as this new feature may be, it appears there is a catch. TheVerge claims the QR code chat log transfer “only works between devices running the same operating system, so Android to Android or iOS to iOS.” If you want to move your data from, say, a Samsung Galaxy phone to an iPhone or vice versa, you’ll have to head over to WhatsApp’s Help Center for instructions on how to do so.
We asked Meta to confirm if this is true. We’ll update this story at a later time.
Availability
Meta is currently rolling out the Chat Transfer tool in waves to all its users. Be sure to keep an eye out for the patch once it arrives. No word if there are plans to add a similar feature to the desktop version of WhatsApp.
If any of this sounds familiar to you, that’s because WABetaInfo first revealed the update back in early May when it was only available to beta testers. The publication has since shown off other interesting changes coming to WhatsApp. For instance, a WhatsBeta beta on Android from late May introduces screen-sharing for video calls, which you can activate right after installation and try out with others. There are also plans to introduce multi-account support to the platform giving people a way to swap between profiles on the same smartphone.
Microsoft is working on yet another sizable update to Bing AI with this round going to mobile. The latest batch comes just weeks after a previous announcement of various desktop improvements and we have a lot to cover.
Starting off with the Bing app itself, users will be able to add a Bing Chat widget to their “iOS or Android home screen”. This gives you direct access to the AI with the option to either type in your query into the text window or select the microphone icon to ask the question verbally. You can start fresh with a new chat or continue with an old one as Microsoft is enabling the frequently requested “continuous conversations across platforms”. So now a conversation held with Bing on the desktop can continue on mobile devices and vice versa.
The last Bing app update sees the AI gaining new support for multiple countries and languages, which opens it up to more people around the world. Unfortunately, a list of all the newfound support was not included in the post (although we did ask). Microsoft also claims it “improved the quality for non-English chats.” However, the company didn’t provide any details on the level of improvement.
Expanding support
Moving on to the second app, SwiftKey will have a Compose feature to help you write texts “according to the parameters you suggest”. These parameters include the subject matter, tone, length, and format with the final one being useful for drafting emails. Of course, you can edit those drafts. Two new tones are being added to SwiftKey as well – Witty and Funny – bringing the total to six. So, if you want to have Bing create some eye-rolling dad jokes, you can (just be sure you use this power wisely). To top it all off, the AI-powered Translator on Android will be migrating over to iOS “within the next week” or so.
The Edge browser app is getting Contextual Chat allowing users to ask Bing a question based on the content they’re viewing. The example given is you can ask the AI what the best wine would be to pair with a recipe you're looking at or have it write up a summary of an article you're looking at. Learning will also be made a bit easier thanks to Selected Text Actions. Highlighting a piece of text will open a conversation with Bing where it will then explain that topic in detail complete with “cited sources”.
And last but not least, every single group chat in Skype will have access to the generative AI. All you have to do is tag it by entering “@Bing” into a discussion.
(Image credit: Windows)
Availability
The release dates of all these features are all over the place which is why it wasn’t mentioned earlier. The Skype update, SwiftKey Compose tool, and the Bing widget are releasing this week (week of May 14, 2023). Next week, we’ll see continuous conversations alongside the Translator tool. Everything else is unknown other than a vague “soon”.
We asked Microsoft if it could provide us with dates for the unmentioned features plus a list of the newly supported countries and languages. This story will be updated at a later time.
While we have you check out TechRadar’s list of the best AI tools for 2023 to see what the technology is capable of. It’s not just assistants or content generators.
WhatsApp is currently rolling out a new Chat Lock feature that will ensure your private conversations stay that way.
The Chat Lock update takes chat threads and places them behind their own locked folder which can only be accessed via your device’s own password or biometrics. Additionally, the content of those conversations will be hidden in your notifications so nosy people can't see what you're talking about.
Meta states in the announcement post that Chat Lock is ideal for people who share an unlocked smartphone with family, or, as shown in the official trailer, have their device stolen by their annoying, little brother. To enable the protection, all you have to do is tap the name of the chat and select the locking option. To reveal those chats, “pull down on your inbox” then enter your password or biometric in order to unlock them. Pretty simple stuff.
There are plans to expand Chat Lock options “over the next few months”. Meta states it’ll be possible to lock your conversations on companion devices. Plus, users will soon be able to create custom passwords for the chat that differ from the ones on their smartphones.
As for the launch, the post doesn’t say whether or not this is a global rollout nor does it mention anything about being able to use Face ID to unlock chats. We reached out to Meta for clarification. This story will be updated if we hear back.
The new Chat Lock feature on WhatsApp (Image credit: WhatsApp)
Room for improvement
Chat Lock joins WhatsApp’s long list of security features from Device Verification to end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication, but that doesn’t mean things are perfect. There's always room for improvement as every now and again something goes wrong.
In this instance, we’re specifically referring to a recently discovered bug that allows WhatsApp to continuously use a phone’s microphone even if the app is closed. This was first discovered by a Twitter engineer who posted a screenshot of the app using the mic at least nine times in the early morning of May 6. Meta is aware of this but claims it isn’t their fault. Instead, the official WhatsApp Twitter account points the finger at Google, claiming there’s a bug in the Privacy Dashboard on Android. Regardless of whose fault it is, we do recommend turning off your microphone through your device’s settings menu to ensure complete privacy.
Keeping in touch with your colleagues around the world could soon be a lot easier thanks to a new update to Google Chat.
The online collaboration service is now allowing users to create group chats (known as Spaces) within Google Chat that you can then share with others in your organization.
Much like Slack, once a new custom Spaces group has been created, you'll be able to share it with whoever you choose, with participants able to join by clicking on a custom link.
Google Chat or Slack?
“With this launch, Spaces are no longer restricted to only people added to the conversation,” Google said in a Workspace blog post announcing the news.
The company says the update will be particularly useful for creating and sharing “topic-based conversations” within your business, such as team discussions, how-to guides and mentoring opportunities.
(Image credit: Google Workspace)
The change could also help leaders or admins share organizational and policy updates, or gather together a particularly interested or skilled group, such as when investigating an outage. Or, it could be great for just finding those with similar interests to yourself, allowing for custom groups to celebrate anything from sports to cooking.
Spaces will only be able to be shared with those inside your organization, and will have to be entirely new groups created from this date forward.
The feature is available and rolling out now to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.
The news is the latest change to Google Chat to bring it more in line with some of its rivals, offering tools such as in-line replies and native content search, bringing Google Chat closer in line with services like Slack and Teams.
Google Chat officially replaced Google Hangouts earlier this year, with all enterprise and business users on “Classic Hangouts” having been upgraded to the new service by March 22, 2022.
The company says the move will ensure all Google Workspace customers are using the same platform, with anyone trying to access Hangouts being redirected across to Google Chat.
Google has finally confirmed the date when it will be closing its Hangouts instant messaging service for good.
The company has revealed that enterprise and business users on “Classic Hangouts” will be upgraded to the new Google Chat service by March 22, 2022.
In a blog post, the company added that the move will ensure all Google Workspace customers will be using the same platform, with anyone trying to access Hangouts being redirected across to Google Chat.
Farewell Google Hangouts
The news brings an end to a rather protracted saga for Google that saw it extend the deadline for Hangouts' retirement several times.
The news came as Google also revealed it would rebrand its video conferencing service (then Hangouts Meet) to Google Meet.
Now, the “final phase” of the migration will be complete within weeks, with Google noting that “it is not possible to opt out of this change”, and that all classic Hangouts applications will also be disabled, including the Android and iOS apps.
However, users will be able to export their historic Hangouts and Chat data using a special Google tool.
The change will not affect Hangouts users with only personal Google accounts, but it's likely that they will see a similar change soon.
For now, if your organization’s Google Workspace Admin console setting is set to “Chat and classic Hangouts,” the automatic upgrade to the new platform will occur “over the course of three weeks starting March 22, 2022.”
Customers with the “Classic Hangouts only” setting will be upgraded over the course of five weeks, starting April 4, 2022.
WhatsApp is not only one of the most popular chat apps on the market, it is also one of the fastest evolving. It's long been known that WhatsApp's beta program has given us an enticing glimpse into the future, revealing some of what's to come, and this is once again the case with the latest preview of the iOS version of the chat app.
The most recent preview shows that WhatsApp is going to make life a little easier for anyone moving from an Android phone to an iPhone. We have already seen chat migration enabled for people making the switch away from iOS, but now the focus is on users moving in the opposite direction.
In WhatsApp beta for iOS version 22.2.74, we are given a sneak preview of what the chat migration to the iOS process will look like. We have already seen some evidence of this in the beta version of the Android app, but now we know a bit more about how things are panning on the iPhone side of things.
It seems that the migration process will not be handled entirely by the main WhatsApp app itself, but will instead require the use of a Move to iOS app as well. Screenshots from the latest iOS app beta give us a clear indication of the look and feel of the Importing Chat History process.
Permission, please
(Image credit: WABetaInfo)
As you would expect, you need to grant permission for WhatsApp to access your chat history in order to start the migration process. Interestingly, and perhaps slightly worryingly, it seems that the offer to import chat history is a one-time offer. An on-screen message informs users that “You will not be able to import later if you skip this step”.
At this stage, we have no further information about when WhatsApp is planning to start the rollout of this feature to everyone. We also don't know anything about the versions of iOS and Android that will be supported, but more details are certain to spring up over the coming weeks and months.
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