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Posts tagged "looks"

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Samsung’s leaked XR headset looks like a very budget Apple Vision Pro
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At Galaxy Unpacked back in February 2023 Samsung announced that it was partnering with Google and Qualcomm to develop a XR headset – and if these leaks are correct we might have got our first look at its efforts so far. Well, kinda.

Very little is know about Samsung’s latest XR efforts, though it’s expected to be a standalone device rather than something powered by smartphones like its old Gear VR headsets. This new leaked prototype (assuming it’s real) gives us an insight into Samsung’s design philosophy, though according to the leaks it’s not an in-development prototype. Instead, this is what Samsung was working on until it saw the Apple Vision Pro and decided to start over.

The leak was first posted by the Chinese publication Vrtuoluo, but the article has been deleted (via Android Authority). The only way to view the original is using the Way Back Machine which has archived the original. The images it posted look a lot like a typical VR headset – such as the Oculus Quest 2 – with it apparently featuring four tracking cameras, dual RGB cameras, and a depth sensor for full-color passthrough. No controllers are included with the images so it appears that much like the Vision Pro the Samsung XR device would use hand and eye-tracking controls by default.

A VR headset cla in black plastic with a simple strap and six visible cameras on its faces

(Image credit: Vrtuoluo / Samsung)

The prototype apparently also uses dual micro OLED displays, and (surprisingly) a Samsung Exynos 2200 rather than a Qualcomm XR chip such as the Snapdragon XR 2 found in many VR headsets like the Pico 4, or a XR 2 Plus like the one in the Meta Quest Pro. 

It’s worth remembering this is just a leak however, and not one that we may ever be able to easily verify – as this is a prototype for a headset that we should never see publicly. As such we should take the information and images with a pinch of salt. That said, if this is indeed a canceled Samsung XR headset, we can see why the project is no longer in development.

Not an Apple Vision Pro rival yet

This leaked Samsung prototype isn’t close to being a Vision Pro competitor. The specs are fine, but not in the same league as the Apple headset, and the design is significantly more bulky. After seeing the Vision Pro announcement we can see why Samsung might want to go back to the drawing board.

Not being a Vision Pro rival isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. Sure, borrowing some of its cues could be smart, but mimic it too heavily and you’ll end up copying its biggest flaw – the sky-high price of $ 3,499 (around £2,800 / AU$ 5,300).

If a Samsung headset can offer many of the Vision Pro’s features at a fraction of its cost – with rumors teasing it might cost closer to $ 1,000 / £1,000 / AU$ 1,500 – then it could be onto a winner. It’ll likely be a while before we see anything from Samsung though. With it abandoning this nearly complete project for a new one it’s possible we won’t know anything concrete until 2024 or even later – we’ll just have to wait and see what it announces. 

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Windows 10 update looks like bad news for PC gamers
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Windows 10’s most recent update has been giving some PC gamers a headache, brining lag to their gaming sessions – and causing other performance issues besides.

Windows Latest picked up on feedback posted on the official Reddit thread introducing the July cumulative update for Windows 10 (patch KB5028166).

One Redditor said: “Did somebody experience after updating, game and apps became laggy?”

A bunch of replies in the affirmative then ensued, along the lines of: “Yes! I can’t do anything, it takes forever. Everything is slow.”

Another user notes: “I’ve had a few games becoming laggy and freezing at points since updating.”

A further user on Reddit observes: “The last update has given my W10 PC a bad case of constipation; Chrome and other apps take a minute or two to open, webpages often delay opening or display a ‘page is not responding’ message. I’ve not uninstalled the last update in the hope MS releases a new update soon that sorts all this out, as it doesn’t seem to be an uncommon problem.”

It doesn’t seem to be uncommon indeed, with another Redditor posting to confirm: “Had to uninstall this update, caused an ungodly amount of stuttering afterwards. Reformatted the PC, tested before and after this update after so I know this is definitely the cause of the stutter. Clearly I am not the only one and would highly recommend avoiding/uninstalling this update.”

As well as these issues for gamers and general performance slowdown, there are complaints on the same Reddit thread about KB5028166 taking ages to install.

One tech support person (presumably) notes: “On all my clients’ computers, this update takes forever after restart and there’s nothing you can do. Everyone has been calling since morning because they can’t work on their computers.”

A reply to that says the update went on for ‘many hours’ and the user ended up restarting their PC to get out of it (not advisable, really, though sometimes you may feel left with little choice after waiting for ages for an update to finish) – only to encounter the same problem again. Nasty.

Analysis: Not the first time, and likely not the last

Unfortunately, we’ve not heard anything official from Microsoft about how KB5028166 might be causing issues for gamers (indeed, we haven’t seen any official confirmation that there’s a problem at all). Clearly, though, there are a bunch of unhappy folks out there, so hopefully the software giant is investigating. Even the best PC games aren’t so great when frame rates are stuttering like crazy.

This wouldn’t be the first time a cumulative update for Windows 10 (or Windows 11) has seemingly thrown a spanner in the works for games, or has slowed down apps in general. This kind of apparently random lag attack has happened over and over throughout the years, so it’s not exactly a surprise to see this as a (potential) side-effect of KB5028166. The sad truth is that vague problems like this can be difficult to pin down, and sometimes remain ongoing issues for a while.

All we can do is keep our fingers crossed that Microsoft looks into this, and how to cure the affected PCs, and does so quickly. Or at least gives us some indication of what’s going on here. Meanwhile, you can’t really avoid the update on Windows 10 Home – only for a limited time – so you’re going to have to install it soon (besides, there are important security fixes in the patch).

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ChatGPT touches down on smartwatches – and it looks like a sci-fi dream
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ChatGPT continues its march across the tech industry as it reaches a new frontier: smartwatches. Fitness brand Amazfit has revealed it’s going to be adding the generative AI as a feature on its GTR4 device.

Looking at a recently posted demo on LinkedIn, ChatGPT will be listed as ChatGenius in the GTR4’s menu, and from there, you can ask it whatever you want. The video shows someone asking how they can improve their running performance. Then in just a few seconds, ChatGenius responds with a several paragraph answer which you can read in its entirety by turning the watchface crown. Tap the screen to erase the previous response and you can ask a new question. You can even ask ChatGenius how your day was and it’ll tell you how many steps you took plus your current heart rate.

Beyond the demo, there’s very little information out there on how ChatGPT will work on the Amazfit GTR4. Other reports claim you can ask generic questions like the weather forecast or traffic, just like any other smartwatch. It’s also unknown which other Amazfit devices will even get the feature. The video alludes to ChatGPT support depending on the watch model and your location, with the United States being the only confirmed region at the time of this writing. 

We reached out to Amazfit about the availability of ChatGPT support as well as what else it can do. Can it, for instance, show different types of data or is it limited to just a few things? This story will be updated if we hear back. 

First-party support

The fact that Amazfit was able to beat out the tech giants in adding first-party support for generative AI to a smartwatch is a big accomplishment. The closest thing to ChatGPT on something like the Apple Watch is a third-party app called watchGPT for the Apple Watch. It works pretty much the same way. You open the app, ask a question, and you get a several-paragraph response. However, there are some notable differences.

For starters, you have to pay $ 3.99 to use it whereas Amazfit’s feature is free. But you can “share the outcome of your interaction” with other people either through text, email, or social media messages.  It’s unknown whether or not the GTR4 can do the same at this point. Either way, Amazfit has managed to break boundaries before anyone else. We think it’s only a matter of time before the likes of Apple or Google eventually add first-party generative AI support to their own smartwatches. The tech is already on browsers and search engines, after all.

Be sure to check out TechRadar’s recently updated list of the best cheap smartwatches for the year if you’re in the market for one. 

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Hate how Windows 11 looks? Windows 2000 mod (with Clippy) brings the nostalgia
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Windows 11 is all about modernizing the desktop environment compared to Windows 10, but what if you wanted to go the other way and travel back in time?

You can turn back the clock with various mods, naturally, but a new effort transforms your Windows 11 installation to look like Windows 2000, complete with some functioning legacy apps and interface elements – such as Clippy. (Yes, the famous paperclip ‘assistant’ with a bad habit of interfering with your work when it wasn’t needed).

There are, however, some sizeable caveats as you might expect…

Windows Central reported on this project, which was undertaken by Redditor ExoGeniVI. The main point to be aware of is that it requires the installation of StarDock WindowBlinds, a third-party app for customizing Windows in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.

It uses a Windows 2000 theme (created by prozad94, a couple of years back) to bring back that OS in all its glory – or gray drabness, rather – and goes further than this with a bunch of other tweaking under the hood of Windows to add some past software versions into the mix (plus some nostalgic icons, too – like Fallout).

On the app front, we’re talking Internet Explorer 5.5 and Microsoft Office 2000, with the latter boasting a working Clippy, albeit with some slight visual glitches (the assistant’s transparency effect doesn’t render properly, being turned into a pink square background instead).

Windows 11 with Windows 2000 mod

(Image credit: Microsoft / ExoGeniVI / prozad94)

Analysis: Windows 11 Gray Mode

The sheer effort involved in getting all this stuff working is impressive, and as ExoGeniVI points out in the Reddit thread showing off the project, these apps actually work. Internet Explorer 5.5 loads some websites just fine, for example. However, it isn’t recommended for serious use (naturally, given how ancient it is – the security holes in IE 5.5 are wide enough for a busload of cybercriminals to be driven through, no doubt).

Indeed, this project is one of those firmly in the category of ‘showing it can be done’ rather than anything with any real practical application. As one person asked: “Why though?” To which ExoGeniVI replied: “Too much time on my hands.”

Fair enough, and with having to restore their PC twice during the process of completing this endeavor, ExoGeniVI also shows why you very probably don’t want to get involved in this level of tweaking.

The safe thing to do, if you want Windows 11 to simply look like Windows 2000, is just to use StarDock WindowBlinds to apply prozad94’s classic skin – with no ancient apps involved – and leave it like that. Even if you’re so inclined, we can’t imagine you’d want to live in such a bland, gray, Windows environment for all that long. Would you?

Via Review Geek

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Windows 11 looks like a flop with gamers compared to Windows 10
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Windows 11 is not proving all that popular with gamers if you go by the stats pulled from the most recent Steam hardware survey.

Obviously, this is just a limited snapshot of the gaming community who use Valve’s platform, but Steam is a major presence in the gaming world, of course, and the survey for March shows a rather paltry uptick of 1.25% compared to the previous month.

In February, Windows 11 adoption among Steam gamers was 15.59%, so it has now risen to 16.84%. It seems like a real slowdown is setting in when it comes to the number of Windows gamers who are making the transition to Microsoft’s latest desktop OS, as we can see looking back to January of this year, and December 2021.

In January, Windows 11 gamers stood at 13.56%, and that was up 3.41% compared to the previous month – a major gain. But since then, we’ve seen more modest increases of 2.03%, now slowing to 1.25%.

Windows 10 still holds a 74.69% share of Steam gamers, with Windows 7 on 4.14%, and away from Microsoft, macOS has a 2.43% adoption, while Linux slipped just a touch to bang-on 1%.

Analysis: Slow burn adoption could well pick up in the future, though

While we have to take Steam’s figures with a pinch of salt as mentioned – or any such individual report like this, which obviously has a limited capability to inform on the entire PC market – Microsoft is likely going to be disappointed with these most recent figures.

Mainly because as mentioned, when 2022 kicked off, it looked like Windows 11 was starting to gain some serious momentum with gamers, but those larger strides forward appear to have morphed into smaller steps.

Most worryingly, the overall progress of Windows 11 adoption for gamers remains way, way behind what we witnessed for Windows 10. As PC Gamer, which highlighted the release of the latest Steam survey, points out, seven months after release – which is where we are with Windows 11 now – Windows 10 hit a tally of 36.97% of Steam PCs. So that’s more than double Windows 11’s current 16.84% market share on Steam.

Let’s be frank – that’s not really a great advert for how adeptly Windows 11 is managing to tempt the gaming fraternity. That said, with Windows 11 being less of a major upgrade – and more of a case of building on and refining Windows 10 – it’s not too surprising that more folks are taking a wait-and-see approach.

As far as gamers go, there’ll certainly be some seriously compelling reasons to consider a switch eventually, when gaming-focused tech like DirectStorage is supported by more games in the future. (While DirectStorage will be available for Windows 10 users as well, it’ll have much more impact thanks to the storage optimizations found in Windows 11 – and the tech will be about much more than just speeding up load times, too).

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It looks like Android 13 might include an important Apple AirTag safety feature
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Google might be working on its own Bluetooth tracker detection software for Android smartphones, according to the latest reports.

Bluetooth trackers like the Tile Mate and Apple AirTag have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years, by using Bluetooth connections, and an army of phones hooked up to the Tile or Apple’s Find My network, these tags can help users find lost objects at home and out in the wider world.

Unfortunately, plenty of bad actors use these same devices to stalk unsuspecting individuals.

Tile and Apple have introduced various safety measures to reduce the risk their devices pose, but there are still issues with the current system. The main problem is that, for Android phone users, the free Tile and Apple Tracer Detect apps don’t offer automatic detection – you have to manually initiate searches on each individual app.

Now it looks like Google is taking matters into its own hands according to a 9To5Google report. The site details lines of code it found in a Google APK that was recently uploaded to the Play Store that references tag detection for devices named Tile tag and ATag (likely referencing AirTags).

The code is still fairly bare-bones right now, but it strongly suggests that Google is working on in-built tracker detection for Android. 

It’s not clear if this detection can be set to run automatically – though this should absolutely be an option – but this feature would at least give Android device users a pre-installed one-stop-shop to check if they're being stalked by unknown trackers.

We don't know when this feature will be available, but it could drop fairly soon. There’s a chance that this tracker detection will be available later this year when Android 13 launches, and it might even launch as part of the next Android 13 beta. We’ll have to wait and see what Google announces. 

Even though there are early signs that the feature is being developed, there’s no guarantee that it will ever see the light of day.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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It looks like Android 13 might include an important Apple AirTag safety feature
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Google might be working on its own Bluetooth tracker detection software for Android smartphones, according to the latest reports.

Bluetooth trackers like the Tile Mate and Apple AirTag have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years, by using Bluetooth connections, and an army of phones hooked up to the Tile or Apple’s Find My network, these tags can help users find lost objects at home and out in the wider world.

Unfortunately, plenty of bad actors use these same devices to stalk unsuspecting individuals.

Tile and Apple have introduced various safety measures to reduce the risk their devices pose, but there are still issues with the current system. The main problem is that, for Android phone users, the free Tile and Apple Tracer Detect apps don’t offer automatic detection – you have to manually initiate searches on each individual app.

Now it looks like Google is taking matters into its own hands according to a 9To5Google report. The site details lines of code it found in a Google APK that was recently uploaded to the Play Store that references tag detection for devices named Tile tag and ATag (likely referencing AirTags).

The code is still fairly bare-bones right now, but it strongly suggests that Google is working on in-built tracker detection for Android. 

It’s not clear if this detection can be set to run automatically – though this should absolutely be an option – but this feature would at least give Android device users a pre-installed one-stop-shop to check if they're being stalked by unknown trackers.

We don't know when this feature will be available, but it could drop fairly soon. There’s a chance that this tracker detection will be available later this year when Android 13 launches, and it might even launch as part of the next Android 13 beta. We’ll have to wait and see what Google announces. 

Even though there are early signs that the feature is being developed, there’s no guarantee that it will ever see the light of day.

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Microsoft looks like it’s going ahead with this unpopular Windows 11 move
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Windows 11 could be about to get a watermark on the desktop when installed on a PC which doesn’t meet the official system requirements for the OS.

You may recall that the watermark, which appears above the system tray, bottom-right on the desktop, was previously spotted in limited testing with certain Windows preview builds, but the change has now made its way to beta and release preview builds (version 22000.588) that Windows Insiders use.

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This was highlighted by @XenoPanther, a keen Windows tester on Twitter, and as the move is reportedly now widely deployed to Release Preview, it’s likely only a matter of time before the change debuts on the full version of Windows 11.

This would mean that anyone who has installed Microsoft’s latest OS on a machine that isn’t officially supported by the software will see the warning message. It informs these users: “System requirements not met. Go to Settings to learn more.”

Analysis: Get ready for more restrictions on unsupported PCs

This is no major surprise, as Microsoft has always said that people shouldn’t be running Windows 11 on a machine that isn’t up to the required hardware spec, and has even observed that doing so could ‘damage’ your PC.

A one-line warning watermark is quite annoying and intrusively placed on the desktop, but on the bright side, it could have been worse – meaning that Microsoft isn’t placing major restrictions on Windows 11 with unsupported devices, such as not allowing apps to run, or removing the facility to get vital security updates.

That said, Microsoft has always said that unsupported PCs won’t be able to get updates – even though they still can – but it seems clear enough that eventually, updates will likely get cut off for these devices.

If you have hardware that doesn’t meet the requirements, the idea of allowing Windows 11 to be installed at all is just to give you a flavor of how the OS works – not to let you keep running it permanently. And then if you like it, the theory is that you’ll perform whatever hardware upgrades are necessary (like, for example, a TPM module) to support Windows 11, or at least that’s the impression we’ve always been given.

So, in short, this watermark is likely only the first step towards clamping down on folks who are permanently keeping Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.

Via Windows Latest

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Norton looks to keep you safe from ID theft with new Identity Advisor Plus platform
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Norton has launched a new Identity Advisor Plus service for identity theft protection and restoration

The antivirus and security software provider says it developed the software to tackle potential ID theft and the restoration of ID theft, which it claims has affected 30% of Brits.

The company cited its own recent research that found over half (55%) of British adults admitting they would have no idea what to do if their identity was stolen.

Norton Identity Advisor Plus 

Dark web monitoring from Norton ID theft advisor plus

(Image credit: Norton Security)

Norton Identity Advisor Plus offers a mix of social media monitoring, personal information monitoring and dark web monitoring tools to highlight suspicious activity on existing accounts. The software also highlights if personal information is being accessed elsewhere on the web without consent. 

The social media monitoring software focuses on the most popular social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Customers can sign up to use the new Identity Advisor Plus software now, with an easy-to-use Norton dashboard allowing its experts to detect any suspicious activity on your behalf, from £29.99 for the first year

The subscription also comes with Identity Restoration Support, including a devoted Restoration Specialist who acts as your case manager for handling any information breach, collecting ID theft case evidence and overseeing any necessary communication with third parties. They’ll also talk you through any necessary steps to restore your online identity and recover stolen information until your case is resolved. 

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Norton 360 running on a PC, laptop and phone

(Image credit: Future)

The launch is the latest release from Norton as it bids to help keep customers safe and secure online.

The cybersecurity experts have also recently  released Norton 360 Advanced, a complete online security package to keep your data private and secure online. The platform includes a password manager, 200GB PC cloud backup, a secure VPN and parental control tools in order to help defend your whole family against cyberthreats. 

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We've put together a help guide on which Norton antivirus plan you should get. Alternatively, here’s our rundown of the best identity theft protection services, best password managers, best antivirus software and best VPN service providers available today.

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