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Apple may be considering a cheaper Vision Pro model – so people might be able to actually buy the headset
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The Apple Vision Pro is probably the most ambitious product to be announced this year, combining an interesting design and staggering price tag with some exciting-sounding tech that could make it really stand out from other virtual reality headsets (not that Apple wants the Vision Pro to be considered a VR headset). It features two 4K microLED panels that at the moment are only sourced from Sony, with the manufacturer capping annual display production at just a million units dedicated to the headset. 

This puts a spanner in the works, as not only will Apple be unable to produce as many units as possibly needed, but it also means the company has no negotiating power with component prices, as only Sony is making them. However, it seems like two Chinese suppliers are currently being evaluated to produce the microLED technology, which could enable mass production and hopefully, a cheaper model. 

According to The Information, two people “with direct knowledge of the matter” claim that Apple is “testing advanced displays” by two companies for possible inclusion in future models. 

A source cited in the article also hints at the possibility of a non-pro, more financially accessible, version of the Vision headset, stating that Apple is evaluating BOE’s and SeeYa’s – the two companies mentioned above –  displays for future models of both the Vision Pro and a cheaper headset internally code-named N109, which The Information previously reported was in an early stage of development.

The cheaper the better 

Apple already uses BOE for iPad and iPhone displays, so there is a good chance that they would collaborate again for Vison Pro panels. When the augmented reality headset was announced in June of this year, the steep price tag of $ 3,500 caused concern about who could actually afford to buy one.

In a time when people are concerned with the cost of living, who is this device actually for? During WWDC 2023 many people felt there was no clear audience for the Vision Pro, and at $ 3,500 not many people would be willing to shell out just to give the experimental technology a try. 

Hopefully, as Apple searches for cheaper display manufacturers and considers a more ‘basic’ Vision headset, it will give more people a chance to try out the impressive tech. Obviously, a cheaper alternative will have watered-down features, but I would rather spend half the price on a headset I can afford, that may be missing a few features than to be completely priced out of such exciting tech. 

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Google said to be testing new life coach AI for providing helpful advice to people
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For the past several months, Google has been consistently rolling out generative AI tech like the launch of the Search Engine Experience and giving Chrome the ability to summarize news articles. In the future, the tech giant may be taking artificial intelligence into a new frontier: offering life advice.

This information comes from a recently published New York Times article detailing the company’s next big AI project. DeepMind, Google’s own artificial intelligence research lab, has been testing new technology that could effectively turn generative AI “into a personal life coach”. They state that DeepMind is trying to find a way to have their model “perform at least 21 different types of personal and professional tasks”. As we already established, this includes giving people life advice, such as  “ideas, planning instructions, [plus] tutoring tips”. 

For example, you could conceivably ask the chatbot to drum up a workout or meal plan if you want to lose weight. Or maybe you could ask for suggestions related to specific situations like what to do if you can’t make a friend’s wedding.

Intimate knowledge

Technically, these described functions are already present on Google Bard, so this is nothing new. What’s different, according to the piece, is that the company is seeking to improve the AI’s ability to “answer intimate questions about challenges in people’s lives.” To make this whole thing possible, DeepMind apparently brought together “100 experts with doctorates in different fields… [to] assess the tool’s responses”. 

Presumably, this group includes mental health professionals. The problem is that the New York Times doesn't provide concrete details. We don’t have opinions from any of the experts on exactly how good Google’s life coach chatbot is at the moment. 

Still, the main takeaway is whatever the tech giant is cooking up, it appears to be pretty substantial.

An AI arms race

What’s particularly interesting about this life coach project is it flies in the face of company policy. Google’s Bard Privacy Help Hub recommends not to rely on the chatbot’s responses for “medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.” 

So, why the about face? The New York Times theorizes this could be part of an effort to overcome rivals like OpenAI. As pointed out in the piece, corporations and start-ups have been engaging in an AI arms race ever since ChatGPT launched, vying for the top position in the industry. Google essentially creating a “robo-therapist” may be the edge it needs.

There is, however, a chance this tech will never see the light of day. A DeepMind spokeswoman told the Times that developers are indeed testing the AI, but evaluations are not indicative of a “product road map.”

We will say the idea of an AI that can help with creating robust workout plans or tutoring people in a skill does sound pretty helpful. Hopefully, a breakthrough will come from these experiments.

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ChatGPT pulls plug on Bing integration after people used it to bypass paywalls
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Party’s over for ChatGPT Plus subscribers as OpenAI announced it has temporarily disabled the Browse with Bing beta tool from its service. The reason? Apparently, people used the feature to completely bypass paywalls and consume content for free.

Browsing with Bing gave ChatGPT the ability to pull information from recently published sources so it could answer time-sensitive questions. However, it appears the company’s developers underestimated the feature’s capabilities. According to an official help page, “if a user specifically asks for a URL’s full text,” the AI will fulfill the request, including displaying content from paywalled articles. OpenAI stated it’s fixing this issue because it wants “to do right by content owners.” The tool will return someday in the future. Exactly when is unknown at the time of this writing.

What’s also unknown is how the AI was able to bypass paywalls although there is some speculation on the ChatGPT subreddit. One user points out that since “some paywalls are simply pasted over” articles, ChatGPT could simply read the code rendering the text and display the content without a problem. 

Analysis: Avoiding trouble

The response to this announcement has been pretty negative as subscribers flocked to OpenAI’s Community forums to air their grievances.  Some state Browse with Bing was the sole reason they purchased ChatGPT Plus in the first place. One poster says the feature allowed them to read some repositories on GitHub or forum posts that were in another language. Others said that without Browse with Bing, they’re not getting their money’s worth.

As angry as these people are, it’s totally understandable why OpenAI would disable the tool. The company has been hit left, right, and center by multiple lawsuits. Just to give you an idea, you have the lawsuit from the California-based Clarkson Law Firm which alleges “ChatGPT massively violated the copyrights and privacy of countless people when it used data scraped from the internet to train its tech.” There are authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad who claim OpenAI used their books to train the generative AI “without attribution”. And you have Georgia radio host Mark Walters suing the developers for defamation after ChatGPT claimed he embezzled “funds from a non-profit organization.”

What's crazy is all those lawsuits are just from this past month.

Needless to say, OpenAI is currently navigating some rough waters. The last thing the company needs right now is to get hit with yet another lawsuit. Better safe than sorry.

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Windows 11 SSD slowdown bug has been hanging around for months – and people are fed up
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Windows 11 continues to have a problem for some users whereby their SSD speeds are being seriously slowed down, and it’s still not clear what Microsoft might be doing about this issue.

Windows Latest highlights the ongoing stream of reports about SSD slowdowns which first began back in March 2023 (with update KB5023778).

Since then, after every cumulative update for Windows 11, including the update for June, there have been folks complaining about performance being hampered with even the best SSDs.

That also includes the June preview (optional) update, which will become the July update a week tomorrow (July 11), and so is very likely to carry the problem.

Windows Latest points to a whole string of complaints on Reddit and Microsoft’s Feedback Hub for Windows 11 (as well as the tech site’s own forums).

Here’s one example of an affected user on Reddit: “Yes, I only encountered this issue after I installed the Moment 2 update [March update] before Moment 2 everything was fast and responsive. To this day none of the patches fixed the bug for me. Microsoft should really fix game-breaking bugs before working on releasing new features.”

With the latest preview update for June (that’ll become July’s update, as mentioned), another complaint runs like this: “Oh, so there actually is a storage bug going on? My NVME SSD has around 1200 MB/s sequential write speed right now, it should be up to 4400 MB/S. Read speeds are normal.”

Analysis: Let’s have some communication here, Microsoft

We have to agree with the Windows Latest report, as we’ve definitely noticed that with the notes for every patch release on Reddit, there’s an SSD complaint in there somewhere. Either someone new hit by the issue, or people asking if the slowdown gremlin has been fixed for other folks, as it hasn’t for them. Invariably, the answer is no, it hasn’t.

So, what’s Microsoft doing about this? We’ve not seen any official replies on those mentioned threads, and according to Windows Latest, Microsoft has confirmed it has received these bug reports, but hasn’t said anything further. That’s far from ideal, of course, even if this isn’t a hugely widespread problem (we’re not entirely sure of the scale of the numbers of those affected, but there are certainly a fair few folks out there complaining).

Needless to say, those in that particular boat are none too pleased, and are bemoaning Microsoft working on new features – and lauding the likes of DirectStorage for speeding up PC games and SSD loading speeds – while leaving a flaw like this apparently unaddressed over a period of months now.

Microsoft can surely do better, if not in delivering a fix for what seems to be a pretty clear problem at this point, then at least in letting us all know what’s going on. As of right now we don’t even know if this is on any priority lists for being investigated, let alone resolved.

If we had to guess, the drive slowdown problem may be tied to multiple issues – which is perhaps why new folks seemingly keep finding themselves affected down the line – and this is a messy one for Microsoft to untangle. It’d be nice to get an update on exactly what’s going on to tackle this, though, and hopefully we’ll see that soon enough.

Meanwhile, your only recourse if affected is to uninstall the update that caused the SSD to hit performance issues. But of course, that leaves you without the latest security fixes, which could be an even bigger problem ultimately, if you get unlucky.

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People in Montana will soon need a TikTok VPN to keep accessing the app
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People living in Montana will soon need to download a VPN service to keep accessing TikTok.

Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed for the proposed ban to become law on Wednesday May 17, with the block due to be officially enforced on January 1, 2024.

The move makes Montana the first US state to ban TikTok, raising concerns over their right to free speech – so we've looked at what's at stake for the future of the Chinese social media giant in the country and how using a TikTok VPN might help.

Montana TikTok ban

Gianforte described Montana's TikTok ban as, “our shared priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance,” the BBC reported.

Perhaps the most downloaded app worldwide, TikTok has been facing growing scrutiny in the US and its allied nations recently. Politicians are especially worried about the app's link with Beijing, fearing that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could access US user data and spread nationalist propaganda.

Earlier this month, an ex-employee of TikTok's parent company ByteDance claimed the CCP had “supreme access” to all data as part of a larger wrongful layoff's lawsuit.

We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points

Keegan Medrano, ACLU of Montana

In December 2022, it was the news of ByteDance employees spying on some US journalists to raise the alarm. The video-sharing app was then banned on government devices among a long list of democracies, including the US, UK, New Zealand, Canada and some EU countries.

A total block is, however, what the US is striving for with the RESTRICT Act (now passing through the Congress) – exactly what Montana appears to have now finally achieved.

At the same time, experts argue that the US government has so far failed to bring concrete  evidence of the alleged wrongdoings. Many commentators also warn of the potential consequences of making TikTok illegal in the US, arguing that the move will restrict Americans' digital rights.

“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,” said Keegan Medrano, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Montana. 

“We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points.”  

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The law will prohibit TikTok from operating inside the state borders, while also requiring app stores to prevent people in Montana from downloading the app. Non-compliance punishments could reach up to $ 10,000 of starting fine, in addition to another $ 10,000 for every day the violation continues. 

“It would certainly be a costly gamble to keep download options available once the Bill comes into force and app stores would be well advised to comply,” Olexandr Kyrychenko, Partner at London-based law firm IMD Corporate, told TechRadar. 

All this might also create even worse security risks for TikTok users in Montana as 2024 starts won't be able to download any new updates and fix potential vulnerabilities.

VPN provider Private Internet Access (PIA) also believes that such a move would set a “worrisome precedent” over the future of digital freedom in the US. “Prohibiting the use of certain technologies or social media sites is a restrictive and likely ineffective way to protect US citizens’ data; who should have the right to choose whether or not they want to use these platforms.” 

According to the BBC, TikTok is expected to challenge the new law in court. 

In an official statement, the tech firm wrote: “We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana.”

In the meantime, we advise people in Montana to get a secure VPN service before the end of the year. This security software can, in fact, spoofs users' IP address location and make them appear if they're browsing from a completely different country within seconds.

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Windows 11 gets overhauled Your Phone app with a new name that people hate
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Microsoft has announced that it's releasing an update for the Your Phone app from today (April 1) on PCs with Windows 11, which includes a new name – Phone Links – and a redesign that lines it up with other updated Windows 11 apps.

The Your Phone app has been a useful tool since its release in October 2018. It enables you to link up your Android phone with a Windows PC, where you can sync up your contacts, messages, and some apps that are compatible.

The new Phone Links app, available as a new update as well as a companion app on the Google Play Store, features the same new design that Paint and Windows Media Player have been given in other updates to Windows 11.

However, the new name has already proved to be divisive, and makes us wonder if Microsoft is coming up with  these terrible names on purpose.

Analysis: Another bad name from Microsoft

Phone Link app in Windows 11

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has had a reputation over the years for having terrible names for its products. Whether it's Zune for its iPod-rival, or the Kin phone, which sounded outdated as soon as it launched back in 2010.

Microsoft's most recent naming confusion had been its Xbox Series consoles. Released back in November 2020, the Series S and the Series X made gamers wonder what the letters stood for. Microsoft still hasn't explained the reasoning, and probably never will.

Considering the Xbox has had '360' and 'One' to mark major releases, it's probably best to just go with the flow when it comes to Microsoft's gaming names.

To be fair, Your Phone wasn't exactly a good name to start with – users just accepted it, mainly due to how good the app has consistently been.

But, Phone Links carries on Microsoft's terrible naming tradition. Granted, your PC does link up with your Android phone, but it makes the name feel a bit on-the-nose.

Name it WinPair, Continuity, or Matchup, just to give the app some excitement at least.

But regardless, the app looks better thanks to its Windows 11 redesign, and there's still plenty of opportunities for how the app could improve for Android users in the future, especially with apps from the Amazon App Store coming to Windows 11 soon.

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Windows 11 gets overhauled Your Phone app with a new name that people hate
  • No Comments

Microsoft has announced that it's releasing an update for the Your Phone app from today (April 1) on PCs with Windows 11, which includes a new name – Phone Links – and a redesign that lines it up with other updated Windows 11 apps.

The Your Phone app has been a useful tool since its release in October 2018. It enables you to link up your Android phone with a Windows PC, where you can sync up your contacts, messages, and some apps that are compatible.

The new Phone Links app, available as a new update as well as a companion app on the Google Play Store, features the same new design that Paint and Windows Media Player have been given in other updates to Windows 11.

However, the new name has already proved to be divisive, and makes us wonder if Microsoft is coming up with  these terrible names on purpose.

Analysis: Another bad name from Microsoft

Phone Link app in Windows 11

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has had a reputation over the years for having terrible names for its products. Whether it's Zune for its iPod-rival, or the Kin phone, which sounded outdated as soon as it launched back in 2010.

Microsoft's most recent naming confusion had been its Xbox Series consoles. Released back in November 2020, the Series S and the Series X made gamers wonder what the letters stood for. Microsoft still hasn't explained the reasoning, and probably never will.

Considering the Xbox has had '360' and 'One' to mark major releases, it's probably best to just go with the flow when it comes to Microsoft's gaming names.

To be fair, Your Phone wasn't exactly a good name to start with – users just accepted it, mainly due to how good the app has consistently been.

But, Phone Links carries on Microsoft's terrible naming tradition. Granted, your PC does link up with your Android phone, but it makes the name feel a bit on-the-nose.

Name it WinPair, Continuity, or Matchup, just to give the app some excitement at least.

But regardless, the app looks better thanks to its Windows 11 redesign, and there's still plenty of opportunities for how the app could improve for Android users in the future, especially with apps from the Amazon App Store coming to Windows 11 soon.

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“It’s important to give people choice”: Instagram explains why it brought back chronological feeds
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Instagram has finally confirmed that the option to use a chronological feed is rolling out to all users on iOS and Android from today, March 23.

The rolling feed of images and video had changed in 2016 to one that was instead judged by algorithms. Instagram thought that users would prefer to be shown what they might like, rather than showing the latest images, with no ability to switch between modes.

However, users have been clamoring to scroll through a feed from newest to oldest, and Instagram has finally relented. Eventually, you will be given two options on your feed – Following and Favorites, which can then be set to show your posts chronologically.

TechRadar spoke to the company to find out why this change has occurred now, and whether this applies to Instagram's other features.

A logical choice, at last

This is an update that won't require you to go to the App Store or Google Play Store to update – it should appear on your feed soon.

It's a welcome change, and many had been wishing for the company to revert back to a chronological feed since it changed back in 2016. So much so, Instagram commented on this at the end of 2021 through a series of tweets.

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In the meantime, we asked an Instagram spokesperson as to why it decided to make the change. “For some time now, we’ve been working on different ways to give people more control over their experience. This is one of the many things we’re doing to give people more choice,” the spokesperson explains. “We moved away from a full chronological feed because we learned that many people were missing posts. That said, we think it’s important to give people choice – so we’re providing them with more options in Feed to tailor their experience.”

There is a small caveat to the return of the chronological feed; you can't currently set it as the default option, compared to what you can do with Twitter's two feeds. We asked if this was something that the company would consider in the future. “We’re giving new options within your Feed to give people more control and choice,” Instagram's spokesperson clarifies. “The Home Feed will remain a mix of content that you see today, including ranked content from people you follow, recommended content you may like, and more.”

Instagram Desktop creation on the web

(Image credit: Instagram)

Six years is a long time in technology, especially when it comes to social media. Since then, we've seen Instagram Stories and Reels arrive, alongside being able to access the platform on the web. We asked whether the chronological feed would also apply here as well, with some bad news, confirming just two platforms again to us. “This feature is currently only available on iOS and Android.”

Finally, with Reels attempting to take on TikTok in its rolling video, we wondered whether this would also reap the benefit of an organized feed. “Currently, Favourites only applies to posts that appear in Feed.”

For now at least, the first steps of a chronological feed have arrived. And while you can't make it the default view for your feed, alongside being able to apply it to your Reels or hashtag feeds, it's a start.

But with more users accessing the platform through iPads and web browsers on their Windows PCs, it's now a matter of when, not if, the chronological feed will also appear there as well.

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“It’s important to give people choice”: Instagram explains why it brought back chronological feeds
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Instagram has finally confirmed that the option to use a chronological feed is rolling out to all users on iOS and Android from today, March 23.

The rolling feed of images and video had changed in 2016 to one that was instead judged by algorithms. Instagram thought that users would prefer to be shown what they might like, rather than showing the latest images, with no ability to switch between modes.

However, users have been clamoring to scroll through a feed from newest to oldest, and Instagram has finally relented. Eventually, you will be given two options on your feed – Following and Favorites, which can then be set to show your posts chronologically.

TechRadar spoke to the company to find out why this change has occurred now, and whether this applies to Instagram's other features.

A logical choice, at last

This is an update that won't require you to go to the App Store or Google Play Store to update – it should appear on your feed soon.

It's a welcome change, and many had been wishing for the company to revert back to a chronological feed since it changed back in 2016. So much so, Instagram commented on this at the end of 2021 through a series of tweets.

See more

In the meantime, we asked an Instagram spokesperson as to why it decided to make the change. “For some time now, we’ve been working on different ways to give people more control over their experience. This is one of the many things we’re doing to give people more choice,” the spokesperson explains. “We moved away from a full chronological feed because we learned that many people were missing posts. That said, we think it’s important to give people choice – so we’re providing them with more options in Feed to tailor their experience.”

There is a small caveat to the return of the chronological feed; you can't currently set it as the default option, compared to what you can do with Twitter's two feeds. We asked if this was something that the company would consider in the future. “We’re giving new options within your Feed to give people more control and choice,” Instagram's spokesperson clarifies. “The Home Feed will remain a mix of content that you see today, including ranked content from people you follow, recommended content you may like, and more.”

Instagram Desktop creation on the web

(Image credit: Instagram)

Six years is a long time in technology, especially when it comes to social media. Since then, we've seen Instagram Stories and Reels arrive, alongside being able to access the platform on the web. We asked whether the chronological feed would also apply here as well, with some bad news, confirming just two platforms again to us. “This feature is currently only available on iOS and Android.”

Finally, with Reels attempting to take on TikTok in its rolling video, we wondered whether this would also reap the benefit of an organized feed. “Currently, Favourites only applies to posts that appear in Feed.”

For now at least, the first steps of a chronological feed have arrived. And while you can't make it the default view for your feed, alongside being able to apply it to your Reels or hashtag feeds, it's a start.

But with more users accessing the platform through iPads and web browsers on their Windows PCs, it's now a matter of when, not if, the chronological feed will also appear there as well.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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TikTok takes on YouTube with 10-minute videos – but will people watch?
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TikTok has enabled the ability to create videos that can last for up to 10 minutes, an increase from three and five minutes for different creators.

Over the last 18 months, the company has been testing different length videos that creators could publish, with a limit of five minutes that's been in place since 2019.

However, some creators wanted TikTok to extend the length, to better compete with YouTube and Instagram Reels. Now that it's here, though, one wonders if TikTok users want 10-minute videos to scroll through in their 'For You' feed.

Analysis: 10-minute videos may be a niche appeal

TikTok is a social platform where you scroll vertically to watch videos. While you can watch videos from users you follow, or another called 'For You' where TikTok's algorithm curates new videos from creators you don't follow, the app's appeal is to watch short videos to pass the time.

10-minute videos may be a stretch. We're getting perilously close to the range of a web movie or TV show. The 2003 series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a good example here, where episodes could range between three and twelve minutes. To be fair, we rather enjoyed that series. With the new 10-minute-range, TikTok could start bringing more episodic series to the platform

In the near term, though, TikTok's new competitor is clearly YouTube, a platform that's already attracting some TikTok creators anxious for more time on the digital stage.

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Longer videos on TikTok may help some creators in the topics they create, such as making pancakes, throwbacks to old TV shows, or a documentary on certain topics.

But 10-minute videos will require users to sit down and focus on what they're watching, instead of mindlessly scrolling through. On the other hand, these longer videos are entirely optional. It's possible that you won't see 10-minute TikToks in your feed. You might also choose to help the algorithm filter them out for you by not pausing to watch any of them. After all, who has an hour to spare for TikTok?

As for Tiktok, these extended videos are a sign that it wants some of its creators to cover topics that can only be explained in relatively long-form videos. Their success in that effort will depend on how users will respond to the change.

And as TikTok comes for YouTube, YouTube is coming for TikTok, too. YouTube has its own take on TikTok called Shorts, where creators can release shorter content, but it's a feature still in its early stages.

While TikTok takes on the video giant, it's also tackling its own monetary issues, making sure creators feel compensated so they don't jump to the potentially more lucrative YouTube.

The monetization efforts compared to YouTube are reportedly very small, which has meant that creators such as hankschannel are moving away from TikTok for more income on Google's video platform.

Essentially, TikTok's faced with a multi-pronged effort to excite and keep active creators: longer videos for more creative freedom and new monetization efforts to match the creators' extra effort with better revenue streams.

It's only then that the company has a chance to go head to head with YouTube, but it also depends on whether more creators and users will jump ship to TikTok and its new 10-minute video opportunity.

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