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Character.ai lets you talk to your favorite (synthetic) people on the phone – which isn’t weird at all
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Character.AI's collection of virtual personalities based on real and fictional sources will speak up thanks to the new Character Calls audio feature. The artificial intelligence-fueled chatbots can now engage in two-way voice conversations for free on the startup's app.

Augmenting the synthetic people hosted on Character.AI's hub with voices is supposed to make them more fun to talk to, according to the company. Users can tap a button in the window of their chat and start talking to the bot in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. Tapping while the bot is talking will interrupt it and you can switch back to texting the same way. 

Character counts

The Character Calls is an extension of the Character Voices feature launched in March, which only allowed audio responses from the AI chatbots, not human voice interaction. Character.ai says there are now more than a million voice options available. For those who'd like to make their own Character.ai chatbot or already have some, the voice options incorporate a lot of styles and accents.

The company tested the new feature before the launch and said more than 20 million calls have already been made by more than 3 million people. Those calls included people learning new languages, practicing for job interviews, and working on game characters and storytelling ideas.

Character.ai was early to the virtual celebrity and AI-powered pal market, but it may need this new feature to help it keep up with some recent competition. Meta now offers Celebrity AI chatbots linked to official partnerships with those celebrities. And Google is reportedly working on doing something similar, potentially centered on YouTube and YouTube influencers, as well as letting people design their own chatbots.

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Can your PC or Mac run on-device AI? This handy new Opera tool lets you find out
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Opera wants to make it easy for everyday users to find out whether their PC or Mac can run AI locally, and to that end, has incorporated a tool into its browser.

When we talk about running AI locally, we mean on the device itself, using your system and its resources for the entire AI workload being done – in contrast to having your PC tap the cloud to get the computing power to achieve the task at hand.

Running AI locally can be a demanding affair – particularly if you don’t have a modern CPU with a built-in NPU to accelerate AI workloads happening on your device – and so it’s pretty handy to have a benchmarking tool that tells you how capable your hardware is in terms of completing these on-device AI tasks effectively.

There is a catch though, namely that the ‘Is your computer AI ready?’ test is only available in the developer version of the Opera browser right now. So, if you want to give it a spin, you’ll need to download that developer (test) spin on the browser.

Once that’s done, you can get Opera to download an LLM (large language model) with which to run tests, and it checks the performance of your PC in various ways (tokens per second, first token latency, model load time and more).

If all that sounds like gobbledegook, it doesn’t really matter, as after running all these tests – which might take anything from just a few minutes to more like 20 – the tool will deliver a simple and clear assessment of whether your machine is ready for AI or not.

There’s an added nuance, mind: if you get the ‘ready for AI’ result then local performance is good, and ‘not AI ready’ is self-explanatory – you can forget running local AI tasks – but there’s a middle result of ‘AI functional.’ This means your device is capable of running AI tasks locally, but it might be rather slow, depending on what you’re doing.

Opera AI Benchmark Result

(Image credit: Opera)

There’s more depth to these results for experts, that you can explore if you wish, but it’s great to get an at-a-glance estimation of your PC’s on-device AI chops. It’s also possible to download different (increasingly large) AI models to test with, too, with heftier versions catering for cutting-edge PCs with the latest hardware and NPUs.

Analysis: Why local AI processing is important

It’s great to have an easily accessible test that anyone can use to get a good idea of their PC’s processing chops for local AI work. Doing AI tasks locally, kept within the confines of the device, is obviously important for privacy – as you’re not sending any data off your machine into the cloud.

Furthermore, some AI features will use local processing partly, or indeed exclusively, and we’ve already seen the latter: Windows 11’s new cornerstone AI functionality for Copilot+ PCs, Recall, is a case in point, as it works totally on-device for security and privacy reasons. (Even so, it’s been causing a storm of controversy since it was announced by Microsoft, but that’s another story).

So, to be able to easily discern your PC’s AI grunt is a useful capability to have, though right now, downloading the Opera developer version is probably not a hassle you’ll want to go through. Still, the feature will be inbound for the full version of Opera soon enough we’d guess, so you likely won’t have to wait long for it to arrive.

Opera is certainly getting serious about climbing the rankings of the best web browsers by leveraging AI, with one of the latest moves being drafting in Google Gemini to help supercharge its Aria AI assistant.

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Meta Quest 3’s new Travel Model lets you use the headset on a plane – and stop staring at the Vision Pro wearer in the next aisle
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Augmented reality is taking to the skies as Meta is rolling out an experimental Travel Mode to its Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets. Once enabled, users can enjoy content while on a plane, a function that wasn't possible due to certain components. 

Sitting in a moving vehicle, such as a car or airplane, can confuse the internal measurement units (or IMUs, for short) and, as a result, cause the headset to have a hard time tracking your position. 

But thanks to Travel Mode, you won’t have this problem. Meta says it fine-tuned the Quest headset's “algorithms to account for the motion of an airplane,” which delivers a much more stable experience while flying. It'll also level the playing field against the Apple Vision Pro, which has offered a travel mode since launch.

You connect the Quest 2 or 3 to a plane's Wi-Fi connection and access content from an external tablet or laptop or that is stored within the Quest library. Meta recommends double-checking if an app needs an internet connection to work, as inflight Wi-Fi can be rather spotty. This means that certain video games, among other content, may play worse. 

As far as in-flight infotainment systems go, most will not be accessible, except for Lufthansa, thanks to a partnership between Meta and the German-based airline.

Quest 3's new Travel Mode

(Image credit: Meta)

New content

Meta's partnership with Lufthansa will provide unique content that is “designed to run on Quest 3 in Travel Mode.” These include interactive games like chess, meditation exercises, travel podcasts, and “virtual sightseeing previews”. That last one lets see what your destination is like right before you get there. However, this content will only be offered to people seated in Lufthansa’s Allegris Business Class Suite on select flights.

Lufthansa Chess on Travel Mode

(Image credit: Meta/Lufthansa)

If you want to try out Travel Mode, you can activate it by going to the Experimental section on your Quest headset’s Settings menu. Enable the feature, and you're ready to use it. Once activated, you can toggle Travel Mode on or off anytime in Quick Settings. Meta plans to offer Travel Mode for additional modes of transportation like trains at some point, but a specific release date has not been announced.

A company representative told us Travel Mode is available to all users globally, although it's unknown when it'll leave its experimental state and become a standard feature. We asked if there are plans to expand the Lufthansa content to other airlines and travel classes like Economy. But they have nothing to share at the moment. Meta wants to keep their pilot program with Lufthansa for the time being, however they are interested in expanding.

If you're looking for recommendations on what to play on your next flight, check out TechRadar's list of the best Quest 2 games for 2024.

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ChromeOS update lets you control which apps can see your location
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ChromeOS is slated to receive some new privacy tools in a future update, and chief among them is the ability to control your Chromebook’s location privacy setting. According to a post on the Google Cloud blog, the feature is an expansion of the privacy controls that the company added last year. They’re referring to the microphone and camera toggles from last April. Google didn’t really provide a whole lot of details in their post, but 9To5Google helped with a recent deep dive.

The site states you can determine which apps and system services on your laptop have “access [to] your geolocation”, giving you almost total anonymity. It’s not perfect. The publication explains that the tool “specifically disables Google Location Services,” however it is still possible for an app or website to have an idea of where you currently are by looking at the IP address. 

ChromeOS new privacy tools

(Image credit: Google)

Geolocation controls do exist on ChromeOS, but are limited to the Chrome browser itself. On-device software is still free to collect your information unless you go into an app and manually disable the respective tool. This update will make the process easier to do. No more micromanaging.

Controls for camera, microphone, and location privacy

Alongside the privacy upgrade, ChromeOS will also introduce more granular camera, microphone, and geolocation controls. For certain apps like Instagram, you can decide how you want it to interact with your hardware. Access to a Chromebook’s microphone can be outright denied, allowed for free interaction, or something in between. For example, Instagram can connect to a webcam, but only when you, the user, are actively using the social network. Otherwise, the connection is blocked.

The Google Cloud blog does mention other features coming down the pipeline, but they pertain more towards enterprise customers; not everyday users. It talks about local data recovery as well as an expansion of Google’s data loss prevention policy.

A company representative told us the geolocation patch will roll out to all Chromebooks within the first half of 2024 – so hopefully before the end of June. 

To find the new tools, you’ll need to first launch the Settings menu, then go to the Security and Privacy tab. They’ll be under the Privacy controls. Or as an alternative, you can go to a specific app in Settings and expand the Permissions tab. The controls can also be found there.

If you're in the market for a new laptop, check out TechRadar's list of the best Chromebook for 2024.

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Microsoft Store now lets you instantly try games without downloading them – and it might mean I finally use it
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The Microsoft Store in Windows 11 is about to get a handy new feature that lets you try games without having to download and install them – but will this innovative feature make the unloved app store more popular?

The Microsoft Store has a pretty large library of games on offer, both for sale and to download for free. However, it’s been lacking the ability to preview a game before downloading and installing it. 

That’s about to change for some games as Microsoft is now giving users the chance to play certain titles instantly right in the Microsoft Store app in Windows 11 – no installation needed. These “Instant Games” are short, easy-to-play games that can be played casually and don’t require a ton of effort to master. They will be located in the ‘Collection’ section in the Microsoft Store, which can be found by clicking on the Gaming tab in the Microsoft Store (this is what it opens to when you open the app), and scrolling to the very bottom. Once you click Collections, you’ll be greeted with the Microsoft Store’s collections of games. 

There’s no explicit Instant Games yet, but they should start appearing under a collection named “Play free games with no downloads”. According to Windows Latest, Instant Games will be indicated with an orange lightning logo. This isn’t how the games show up for me, but this could change soon. It seems like the Instant Games feature is still possibly a work in progress as Microsoft Store version 22312.1401.4.0 has an icon in the left-hand vertical menu that should take you straight to the Instant Games collection, but in Microsoft Store version 22312.1401.5.0 (a later build) the icon has been removed.

Person working on laptop in kitchen

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Looking ahead and how you can play Instant Games

Windows Latest states that Microsoft partnered with a number of game developers to make Instant Games a reality, and that there are currently 69 games that users will be able to play instantly within the Microsoft Store app. Also, it looks like Microsoft is planning to expand the Instant Games selection and work with more game developers. It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft will partner with game makers to create playable Instant Game demos of their games, as this could be a great addition to the Microsoft store that’ll help users make more informed decisions about what games they purchase and download.

Here’s how you can get Instant Games in your Microsoft Store for yourself (if they don’t show up already): 

1. Update your Microsoft Store app to the latest version. You can do this by going to your Library in the Microsoft Store in the left-hand menu, toward the bottom. If your apps don’t update automatically, here you can navigate and choose which apps to update. Also, make sure you are connected to the Internet.

2. Once updated, go to Gaming in your Microsoft Store left-hand menu (towards to top). 

3. Scroll all the way down to Collections and click on Collections (the word) to open this section.

4. Choose a game, hover over it and click the game artwork. This will take you to the game’s page and you can choose to either Play Now, or Get to download and install the game. If you click Play Now, this will launch a new window that will allow you to play the game.

A screenshot of an Instant Game, Boing FRVR, in the Microsoft Store

(Image credit: Future)

First impressions of Instant Games

When I tried it, it ran very smoothly, which makes sense as the games consume very little system resources. Perhaps inevitably, all of the games contain ads. Windows Latest suggests that you might encounter a 30-second ad when, for instance, you try to reattempt a level, but you can bypass this by simply going back to the main menu. If you close a game, your progress will be saved and you can pick up where you left up when you reopen the Microsoft Store. Microsoft’s Edge browser offers a similar instant gaming feature in its Sidebar.

They’re a good way to pass a few minutes, but the games I tried became very repetitive and they’re not optimized for full screen play. They open up in portrait mode and don’t have the most sophisticated graphics. It’s maybe a more symbolic offering on Microsoft’s part, as many similar games can easily be found for mobile on multiple platforms anyway. We’ll have to see if anyone actually plays these games and if this will foster any good will among users. If it’s user goodwill that Microsoft wants, there are other user requests they can fulfill like scaling back its constant prodding of users to install the Edge browser.

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WhatsApp now lets you use secret codes to lock your private chats
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WhatsApp is making its Chat Lock tool even more secure by introducing Secret Codes that will hide private chat rooms.

The way it currently works, Chat Lock takes conversations and places them into a separate folder that can only be opened with either your phone’s password or biometric login. This can be helpful if you share the device with others. However, it doesn’t stop other people who know the password from taking a peek at any time. Secret Codes addresses this by allowing users to implement a second password separate “from what you use to unlock your phone”. Creating one, according to WhatsApp’s announcement, will cause your locked folder to disappear from your inbox as an extra layer of privacy.

To make hidden chats reappear, the company states you’ll have to type your recently created code directly into the search bar on the main page. If you don't wanted the locked folder to be totally, you have the option to keep them there. 

WhatsApp is also making it easier to lock up chats. Now all you have to do is long press a conversation, tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner, then select Lock Chat in the drop-down menu.

How to add a secret code

Let’s say you have a couple of locked chats you want to keep hidden. 

To start, tap the three dots in the top right corner, then select Chat Lock Settings. Activate Secret Code and come up with a password. What’s interesting is you can use emojis in the code alongside numbers, letters, and punctuation marks and get pretty creative. Do note the password you create must either be four characters long or be a single emoji.

We have a couple of examples in the image below.

WhatsApp Secret Code examples

(Image credit: WhatsApp)

Now, if you go to the main page, the locked folder is gone (although you can disable the disappearing folder by turning off Hide Locked Chats in the settings). Type in the code you just made into the search bar to make the conversations reappear.

Finding locked chat on WhatsApp

(Image credit: WhatsApp)

Be aware this update is for WhatsApp on mobile only as the locked chats aren't present anywhere else. No word if any of these features will make their way to desktop. Secret Codes is rolling out and will be available globally “in the coming months”. Keep an eye out for the patch when it arrives. 

Jam-packed week

This past week has been a busy one for WhatsApp as the platform recently made two other updates. We first saw the desktop app gain the ability to send “self-destructing photos and videos” which will automatically delete themselves after being opened once. A little bit before that, WhatsApp released a beta giving select users access to AI assistants with most of them sporting a unique “personality” like the anime nerd as well as the dungeon master that’ll tell you a choose-your-own-adventure story.

Big things are happening on WhatsApp with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. While we have you, we recommend following TechRadar’s official WhatsApp channel to get our latest reviews right on your phone.

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WhatsApp’s desktop app now lets you send self-destructing photos and videos
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Meta is rolling out a View Once feature to WhatsApp on desktop and web allowing users to send out time-sensitive content. 

The update was initially discovered by WABetaInfo as the tech giant has yet to formally announce it. Looking at WABetaInfo's report, it’s basically the exact same feature on the mobile. WhatsApp added View Once to its smartphone app back in 2022 as a new privacy tool. Pictures or videos sent to contacts in this manner cannot be saved. Once the recipient looks at the file, it’s gone forever. This ensures sensitive material is never seen by outside parties, shared with others, or risks being taken by a bad actor. Apparently, this was highly requested as WABetaInfo claims people complained about “the inability to send view once messages” on desktop. It seems Meta heard the outcry, although it did take the company over a year to respond.  

Vital details

There are some minor details you should know about. 

Recipients have 14 days to open the media or it’ll be automatically deleted, according to WhatsApp’s Help Center. The other person cannot take screenshots of the temporary content, but only if they have the latest version of WhatsApp installed. It is possible for others to screenshot a View Once file if they're running outdated software. As a result, the company recommends strictly sending content to trusted individuals. There are plans to rectify the privacy gap, however no word on when Meta will address this issue.

Do note you cannot send multiple temporary images at once. You have to send each file one by one. Plus, as pointed out by Windows Central, you can rewatch temporary videos “as often as you’d like”, but you have to stay in the interface. Clicking play prematurely or leaving the window will lose you access.

The update will be available to both Windows and macOS users. WABetaInfo states the update is being released in waves so only a select group has access to it at the moment. We recommend keeping an eye out for the patch when it arrives.

How to send View Once content

Sending a View Once photo is easy. After launching WhatsApp on desktop and selecting a chat, click the attachment icon next to the text box then choose an image. Above the send button is a number one inside of a disappearing circle. Clicking that icon activates the View Once function. Send the picture to someone and it'll delete the moment they close it. 

WhatsApp on web has a different layout, but luckily the process is exactly the same.

WhatsApp View Once on desktop

(Image credit: Future)

While we have you, be sure to follow TechRadar’s official WhatsApp channel to get our latest reviews sent right to your phone. 

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Windows 11’s new passkey feature lets you talk to the hand (or face) and kiss those annoying passwords goodbye
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Windows 11 is now introducing a new feature to the OS, which allows users to replace passwords with passkeys instead.

A recent Windows 11 Insider Preview Build (23486) lets you “use Windows Hello natively to create and sign in to supported applications and websites using passkeys, where you’ll be asked to prove your identity using a PIN, fingerprint, or face scan,” according to The Verge. 

Basically, this means that if you choose to log in using any of those three methods instead of using a password, two cryptographic keys are created instead. One is stored in your device and the other is stored in your choice of cloud storage service, which combine and grant you access to your device. These keys aren’t known to anyone, including yourself. You would simply use the login method of your choice and it does the rest.

Passkeys could truly be the future 

Though making a sound password with a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is usually an excellent way to safeguard accounts, in recent years identity thieves have gotten much better at cracking passwords. Not to mention that many people don’t apply best practices when it comes to creating passwords.

The concept of passkeys is a great one. Using either a PIN or biometric login method, you have two passkeys created, letting you access your device safely and without having to memorize a complicated string of characters or risk having them discovered by a bad actor. 

What’s also great about them is that you have a nice variety of choices involved in your login method. Some people feel more comfortable using biometric authentication, while others like myself prefer the classic method of using a PIN instead. Regardless, the passkey functions the same way, circumventing a password in the process.

Microsoft Edge, Apple, and Google Chrome have either already supported passkeys or will later in 2023, but this Windows Hello rollout means that people can manage logins on the OS level. However, according to Bleeping Computing, there are still plenty of kinks to work out with this system right now. But hopefully, as tech giants become more accustomed to working with Windows Hello, it will eventually become a seamless feature.

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WhatsApp beta now lets you send video messages – here’s how to enable it
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WhatsApp is currently rolling out several new features to beta testers across different platforms – chief among them are video messages that will be available exclusively to mobile devices. 

You read that right. On top of sending audio recordings, WhatsApp will soon let you send video messages as well.

The way it currently works on beta, according to WABetaInfo, is users will have to tap the microphone button next to the chat bar where it'll turn into a new camera icon. Pressing that button lets you record a short 60-second clip, which can be shared with a contact for quick communication. 

Once the other person receives the clip, they have to tap the file to enlarge it if they “want to listen to the audio”. Otherwise, it just plays the clip muted. Basically, WhatsApp is working on introducing its version of Snapchat, but unlike Snapchat, it’s unknown if the clips will automatically delete themselves after a certain amount of time has passed or not.

WABetaInfo’s post hints at they will get deleted soon after being sent, though the post also states the videos won’t be sent under view once mode. So there may be some flexibility in how clips are sent. Like a lot of other WhatsApp content, video messages will be protected by the service’s end-to-end encryption ensuring total privacy. Be aware it won’t be possible to forward video messages to other users. They're for your eyes only.

WhatsApp video messages

(Image credit: WABetaInfo)

How to download the beta

To try out video messages, Android users will need to install the beta by joining the Google Play Store Beta Program and downloading the latest update. If you don’t get it, keep an eye for future patches. Only a handful of testers have access at this moment, but Meta will reportedly release the feature to more people over the coming weeks. Oh, and your recipients need to be a part of the program too; otherwise, the video messages won’t work.

The beta is available to iPhone users, but the iOS program is closed to new entrants. If you’re not already a part of Apple’s TestFlight service for WhatsApp, you’ll just have to wait for the official launch. 

Coming to Windows

Besides the smartphone update, WhatsApp is also rolling out some new additions to its beta app on Windows. For one, the desktop version is getting screen-sharing for video calls, something that was first seen on Android. From the looks of it, the Windows rendition functions pretty much the same way with the bottom control panel having a new screen-sharing icon. In addition, WhatsApp is introducing a call-back button for quickly returning missed calls – rather small upgrade, but still a helpful one. 

To try out these two features, all you have to do is install WhatsApp Beta from the Microsoft Store. It's that simple. 

Speaking of added convenience, it appears WhatsApp is planning on giving people the ability to have multiple accounts on a single Android device in a similar fashion to Instagram. Be sure to check out TechRadar's coverage on the future update.

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Google Wallet’s latest update lets you save more than just your money
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Google Wallet just got a lot more useful thanks to a sizable update that focuses on meeting users’ everyday needs.

The update comes alongside Google's big June feature drop and adds three new features to the ID, credit card, and ticket-management app. Chief among them is the official launch of state ID and driver’s license support for people living in Maryland. We first saw the ID support late last year when the beta rolled out. From the looks of it, the requirements are still the same: you need to have a “phone running Android 8.0 or later,” plus the device lock must be enabled. 

Those digital ID cards can also be used at TSA PreCheck lines at certain airports to speed up the screening process. The full list can be found on the official TSA website.  In the coming months, digital ID support should be rolling out to residents of Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia.

Moving down the list, users will be able to digitize passes that contain either “a barcode or QR code” simply by taking a photo of it. You’ll be able to upload things like gym membership cards, transit tickets sporting a QR code, and parking passes. Additionally, Google Messages will now be able to directly upload a received boarding pass or train ticket to Wallet. However, RCS (Rich Communication Services) must be enabled first. The newfound Messages support is seeing a limited rollout as it’ll only work with “Vietnam Airlines and Renfe, Spain’s leading train operator.” No word on whether or not the feature will expand to work with other travel businesses. 

Future plans

The work isn’t over yet as Google plans on growing the Wallet app even further. The company states it’s currently working with American health insurance company Humana on “developing a digital version of [the latter’s] insurance card”. Because it would contain sensitive information, this type of pass will require card owners to verify themselves before adding or using the data. People can use either biometrics, a PIN, “or other methods.” For UK users, there are plans to allow residents a way to “save their National Insurance Number” onto Wallet via the HMRC app.

Later this year, the tech giant states it’ll introduce support for “corporate badges… giving employees convenient and secure access to buildings” at their workplace. Speaking of access, Google Wallet is slated to release to more countries “in the next few weeks” although it’s unknown where exactly. We reached out to Google for clarification on launch windows for other regions and future updates. This story will be updated if we hear back.

With all this talk about traveling, you may be thinking about planning your next vacation. Be sure to check out TechRadar’s guide on the best travel and weather apps for Android if you need some help.

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