Apple’s recently-launched Sports app for the iPhone was updated today ahead of the NBA and NHL playoffs, which both begin this weekend.
Apple says fans will be able to “follow every matchup with added details on each series and more,” but we have not noticed any immediate changes in the app after updating to the new version. The first NBA and NHL playoff series begin on Saturday, April 20, so the extra details will presumably become visible then. Some info like playoff matchups and conference standings was already available in the previous version of the app.
Released in February, the Apple Sports app shows scores, schedules, stats, and more for a variety of leagues, such as the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, and Premier League. The app also displays real-time play-by-play information for ongoing games.
iOS 18 is expected to be the “biggest” update in the iPhone’s history. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for Siri and many apps, and Apple plans to add RCS support to the Messages app for an improved texting experience between iPhones and Android devices. The update is also expected to introduce a more…
A week after Apple updated its App Review Guidelines to permit retro game console emulators, a Game Boy emulator for the iPhone called iGBA has appeared in the App Store worldwide. The emulator is already one of the top free apps on the App Store charts. It was not entirely clear if Apple would allow emulators to work with all and any games, but iGBA is able to load any Game Boy ROMs that…
Apple’s hardware roadmap was in the news this week, with things hopefully firming up for a launch of updated iPad Pro and iPad Air models next month while we look ahead to the other iPad models and a full lineup of M4-based Macs arriving starting later this year. We also heard some fresh rumors about iOS 18, due to be unveiled at WWDC in a couple of months, while we took a look at how things …
Best Buy this weekend has a big sale on Apple MacBooks and iPads, including new all-time low prices on the M3 MacBook Air, alongside the best prices we’ve ever seen on MacBook Pro, iPad, and more. Some of these deals require a My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total membership, which start at $49.99/year. In addition to exclusive access to select discounts, you’ll get free 2-day shipping, an…
Apple’s iPhone 16 Plus may come in seven colors that either build upon the existing five colors in the standard iPhone 15 lineup or recast them in a new finish, based on a new rumor out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker Fixed focus digital, Apple’s upcoming larger 6.7-inch iPhone 16 Plus model will come in the following colors, compared to the colors currently available for the…
Apple will begin updating its Mac lineup with M4 chips in late 2024, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The M4 chip will be focused on improving performance for artificial intelligence capabilities. Last year, Apple introduced the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips all at once in October, so it’s possible we could see the M4 lineup come during the same time frame. Gurman says that the entire…
Last year Adobe launched Firefly, its latest generative AI model building on its previous SenseiAI, and now the company is showing how it’ll be used its video editing app, Premiere Pro. In an early sneak, it demonstrated a few key features arriving later this year, including Object Addition & Removal, Generative Extend and Text to Video.
The new features will likely be popular, as video cleanup is one a common (and painful) task. The first feature, Generative Extend, addresses a problem editors face on nearly every edit: clips that are too short. “Seamlessly add frames to make clips longer, so it’s easier to perfectly time edits and add smooth transitions,” Adobe states. It does that by using the AI to create extra media, helping cover an edit or transition.
Adobe
Another common issue is junk you don’t want in a shot that can be tricky to remove, or adding things you do want. Premiere Pro’s Object Addition & Removal addresses that, again using Firefly’s generative AI. “Simply select and track objects, then replace them. Remove unwanted items, change an actor’s wardrobe or quickly add set dressings such as a painting or photorealistic flowers on a desk,” Adobe writes.
Adobe shows a couple of examples, adding a pile of diamonds to a briefcase via a text prompt (generated by Firefly). It also removes an ugly utility box, changes a watch face and adds a tie to a character’s costume.
Adobe
The company also showed off a way it can import custom AI models. One, called Pika, is what powers Generative Extend, while another (Sora from OpenAI) can automatically generate B-Roll (video shots). The latter is bound to be controversial as it could potentially wipe out thousands of jobs, but is still “currently in early research,” Adobe said in the video. The company notes that it will add “content credentials” to such shots, so you can see what was generated by AI including the company behind the model.
A similar feature is also available in “Text to Video,” letting you generate entirely new footage directly within the app. “Simply type text into a prompt or upload reference images. These clips can be used to ideate and create storyboards, or to create B-roll for augmenting live action footage,” Adobe said. The company appears to be commercializing this feature pretty fast, considering that generative AI video first appeared just a few months ago.
Those features will arrive later this year, but Adobe is also introducing updates to all users in May. Those include interactive fade handles to make transitions easier, Essential Sound badge with audio category tagging (“AI automatically tags audio clips as dialogue, music, sound effects or ambience, and adds a new icon so editors get one-click, instant access to the right controls for the job”), effect badges and redesigned waveforms in the timeline.
The Galaxy S24 series uses a new processor (Exynos 2400 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 depending on the model and country) featuring faster 5G modems, resulting in faster download and upload speeds on cellular networks. In fact, the Galaxy S24 series is faster than the iPhone 15 in median 5G download and upload speeds in most countries worldwide.
Galaxy S24 with Exynos and Snapdragon chips faster than iPhone 15 in 5G download and upload speeds
Ookla, the company behind the famous SpeedTest.net website, has shared its insights on the fastest 5G smartphones worldwide. It compared all the speed test results it received on its platform and found that the Galaxy S24 series outdid the iPhone 15 in fifteen countries/regions worldwide.
In France, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Qatar, Spain, Thailand, the Philippines, the UAE, the UK, and the US, the Galaxy S24 had a faster median download and upload speeds than the iPhone 15 and previous-generation Galaxy phones. The iPhone 15 displayed faster 5G performance in Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea.
The Galaxy S24 was better than the Galaxy S23 and the iPhone 15 family in latency tests as well. These tests were done from February 1 to March 24, 2024. The median download speeds of the Galaxy S24 ranged from as low as 55Mbps to as high as 971Mbps, depending on the market. As you know, cellular data speeds vary greatly depending on the carrier, cellular technology, and signal reception.
If you’re using an older phone, you should upgrade to the Galaxy S24 to get the best possible 5G speeds. Watch our full Galaxy S24 review in the video below. Click the button below the video to buy the Galaxy S24.
Losing a funding competition didn’t set Ellen Stofan back — instead, she did a career pivot, and came across new opportunities.Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
In 2021, planetary scientist Ellen Stofan was appointed undersecretary of science and research at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the US national research and museum complex. There, she oversees its scientific research centres as well as the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Before this, she was director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where she launched a 7-year restoration of the building and oversaw celebrations marking 50 years since the first Moon landing. Stofan’s doctoral research at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, focused on the geology of Venus.
Before joining the Smithsonian, she spent some 25 years working in space-related organizations — including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and as the agency’s chief scientist. She helped to develop NASA’s plan to get humans to Mars and worked on the Magellan mission to Venus and the 13-year Cassini mission that documented Saturn and its moons.
Describe a typical day.
My portfolio is really broad, so there’s no typical day. I might be having a meeting about bringing pandas back to the zoo in Washington DC, or discussing how to dispose of the Smithsonian’s collection of human remains in an ethical way. Or talking about the budget — it’s always the budget.
Training: Persuasive grant writing
Is discussing the budget what you thought you would be doing at the start of your career?
Probably not, but the budget reflects the organization’s strategy and priorities, so you have to understand why you are putting money in certain areas. Speaking of priorities, over the past few years, I’ve been working on the Our Shared Future: Life on a Sustainable Planet research initiative, which we announced at the United Nations climate conference COP 27 two years ago. What’s amazing is the amount of science we were already doing along those lines. For example, in Montana, we have been recreating the ecosystem of an American prairie — we’ve reintroduced bison, and all of a sudden birds and insects have started coming back.
Did you plan to work in the museum sector?
I interned at the Air and Space Museum when I was an undergraduate, but at that time I just wanted to be a geologist, write papers and maybe work at a university. A thread through my career is working in great teams — that was why I enjoyed NASA so much. To explore Venus or the moons of Saturn, you have to put together an engaged team by bringing together people with different skills and ideas. At NASA, I led a team that was bidding for a Discovery Program grant, which can be used to fund smaller planetary missions using fewer resources and with shorter development times. Our proposed mission, the Titan Mare Explorer vessel, would explore the seas of liquid hydrocarbons, such as methane and ethane, on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Working with the fun, smart, creative and innovative people on the team did not feel like work at all. Our project was one of the three finalists in 2012, but another one was chosen.
How did that feel?
Not getting the grant was devastating — not just for me, but for the team. I felt like I had let them down. For a while, I couldn’t talk about the project without crying. I thought about leaving science, because I didn’t see how anything could ever match that.
It took me months to process it all. Before our bid, NASA had concluded that no research projects could reach the outer Solar System for less than a billion dollars. We were bidding for around US$400 million, and our proposal helped to pioneer the idea that, through innovation and judicious use of technology, these projects could be done more cheaply. Our mission created this small paradigm shift — and, all of a sudden, we saw people proposing projects that would go to the outer Solar System at much lower costs than before.
The display of Amelia Earhart’s plane at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo/Alamy
What is your approach to career setbacks?
You want to be the kind of person who shrugs off failure — but it’s hard. Everyone goes through it. When I was still processing losing the grant, I was invited to interview to be chief scientist of NASA. I got the job and held that position for three years. My career went a whole different way — I left NASA in 2016, and then the Smithsonian job came up.
Is the Titan Mare project still ongoing?
No, but I’m a co-investigator on a mission called Dragonfly. This drone will launch in late 2026 and will land on Titan in the 2030s. It’s going to fly around the equatorial region, where we think standing pools of liquid methane and liquid ethane might exist. There’s a lot of debate in the scientific community right now about whether life could ever exist on a body like Titan. What we will be able to learn about ‘prebiotic chemistry’ — the study of how chemical compounds assembled to form the precursors to life — from the mission is really exciting.
Did you always dream of a career in space exploration?
Not when I was younger, because my father was an engineer at NASA and the only people he worked with were men — so I just didn’t think it was a place for me. It was only by reading in National Geographic about primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall and palaeoanthropoligst Mary Leakey, who studied human origins in Africa, that I realized that not only could women do science, but they could be famous scientists.
When I began my career in the 1980s, I was often either the only woman in the room, or one of the few. And some people thought that I didn’t belong in the room, because I was a woman. I had enough confidence to think, “What’s your problem?”
Things have changed a lot, but women are still under-represented in physics, engineering and computer science, and we’re not tapping into the talent. Hiring people from groups that are under-represented in science is not about achieving diversity for diversity’s sake. We know from scientific research that diverse teams perform better.
At NASA, I looked at our workforce and thought about whether we were tapping into the best talent. People often talk about diversity, but they forget about inclusion. NASA was sensitive to this after the Challenger accident — the space shuttle broke apart seconds after take off in 1986, killing all seven members of the crew. One of the findings was that managers were not listening to their teams. It’s important to create an environment in which everyone can contribute and participate. Even if you have a diverse workforce, if you don’t make people feel included, they’re not going to stay.
What is a key priority for you at the Smithsonian?
When we were redoing the museum, one important part of our mission was to inspire the next generation of innovators and explorers. Are we telling stories so that every kid who comes into the museum, no matter their race, gender or other aspect of their life, is going to find someone who looks like them?
In the past, the story of space centered charismatic figures, such as astronaut Neil Armstrong — but look at the success of the 2016 movie HiddenFigures, which is about a team of Black female mathematicians working for NASA during its early years. Visitors might notice that, at the museum, we’re telling a much broader range of stories. In February, the first private company, in partnership with NASA, touched down on the Moon; there are now many more countries involved in space exploration, and private individuals are going into space. The story of space is changing.
Do you have a favourite museum exhibit?
We have an X-wing fighter from the Star Wars films, which I absolutely love. We’ve also had the Starship Enterprise from the Star Trek series.
But my absolute favourite is aviator Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega aeroplane. It’s this cheeky red colour that, to me, symbolizes her saying, ‘I’m going to fly despite what anyone thinks.’
Would you ever like to go into space?
When I went to my first launch, the rocket blew up. It was uncrewed, but it’s seared into my memory. I’m not terribly adventurous. I’m happy to be an armchair explorer.
Apple’s iPhone shipments decreased by nearly 10% globally in the first quarter of 2024, hit by rapid growth in shipments by rival Chinese vendors, based on data provided by the International Data Corporation (IDC).
According to the IDC report, Apple’s shipments fell 9.6% to 50.1 million units in the first quarter, down from 55.4 million units in the same quarter the previous year. Apple experienced the most significant annual decline among the top five smartphone brands covered in the report.
Samsung reclaimed its position as the market leader, which it had lost to Apple the previous year, by capturing a 20.8% market share with shipments of about 60.1 million units, roughly the same as last year. Last year, its market share was 22.5% during the same period.
In contrast, after having last year overtaken Samsung to become the top smartphone manufacturer for the first time, Apple experienced a decline in market share from 20.7% to 17.3%.
“While IDC expects these two companies to maintain their hold on the high end of the market, the resurgence of Huawei in China, as well as notable gains from Xiaomi, Transsion, OPPO/OnePlus, and vivo will likely have both OEMs looking for areas to expand and diversify,” said Ryan Reith, group vice president at IDC Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers.
Apple has struggled to sustain interest in its flagship smartphone lineup in China since the company released its iPhone 15 series in September, which came after Huawei debuted its highly popular Mate 60 series. Interest in iPhones has also been impacted by a Beijing-backed ban from the offices of a huge number of state-owned enterprises in power generation, seaport construction, mining, manufacturing, education, and investment markets.
Apple’s drop in shipments came during a time when global first-quarter smartphone shipments actually rose 7.8% year-on-year to 289.4 million units. It was the third consecutive quarter of shipment growth across the worldwide market, according to IDC.
Samsung is one of the biggest home appliance manufacturers in the world, but it didn’t get there by accident. Samsung always thinks of clever ways to separate itself from the competition. And perhaps one of the best examples of Samsung’s outside-the-box thinking is the MyBespoke service.
MyBespoke allows Bespoke fridge customers to take customization to a new level. Through MyBespoke, customers can pay Samsung to print almost any photo they want on Bespoke refrigerator panels. If that sounds like something you’d like to do, here’s all you need to know.
How do custom Bespoke refrigerator panels work?
It’s simple. Customers only need to go to Samsung’s MyBespoke webpage, select the refrigerator model they own, and specify whether they want to print an image on the top right or top left panel, or both.
Users can then upload an image, edit, and review the design before they go to checkout. Samsung will print your custom image on new Bespoke door panels and ship them to you. A custom print costs $299 for one panel and $598 for both.
Once you get your custom Bespoke panels delivered, all you need to get them installed on your refrigerator is a flathead screwdriver and a suction cup. Samsung provides an instruction video.
Some terms and conditions apply. For example, the image you upload to Samsung must be formatted as .jpg or .jpeg and not exceed 15MB. There are also some resolution requirements depending on which Bespoke fridge model you want to print for.
In addition, Samsung says you can only upload and print photos you have the rights to as long as they’re not “defamatory, obscene, threatening, offensive, or unlawful.” You can read more details here.
If you want to buy a new Bespoke refrigerator, the 2024 models are now available for pre-order and at a limited-time early bird discount. Hit the pre-order button below for more details.
Imagine you want to attend a research conference in the United States this autumn. If you are from most nations in the global north, there’s probably still plenty of time to make arrangements. But, according to our analysis, citizens from 132 of the 134 countries in the global south need a visa to visit the United States, whereas this is true for people from only 20 of the 61 countries in the global north. (See Supplementary information for how we designated global south countries.) And obtaining those visas is not straightforward: as of 4 April, the next available appointment at the US consulate in New Delhi, India, is not until October. It’s February 2025 at the consulate in Cotonou, Benin, and March 2026 in Bogotá, Colombia.
It’s not just trips to the United States that are problematic. Scholars from the global south face obstacles when travelling to many hotspots for scientific research, which include Canada, Japan and most European countries. By contrast, citizens from more than 80% of countries in the global north need no visa to go to Germany or Japan.
Scientists have most impact when they’re free to move
Visa costs are higher for people in economically weak countries than for those living elsewhere1. Citizens of southern Asia must pay almost US$59, on average, for a tourist visa to another country — equivalent to 2 weeks of work for an average earner in this region. Those in sub-Saharan Africa pay $52, equating to 3 weeks’ work. Yet citizens in Western Europe pay less than $18, on average, which could be equivalent to less than an hour’s work.
On arrival in some countries, people travelling from the global south might also have to show months of financial statements and prove that they have received particular vaccinations. They might be denied entry despite meeting these requirements.
Citizenship privilege is an asset experienced by citizens of the global north, simply because of the country they were born in (see ‘Unearned advantages’). As with other forms of privilege, people without it can experience safety concerns and feelings of distress, anxiety, uncertainty and inadequacy2 — in addition to the bureaucratic difficulties. This inequity affects many researchers. It’s time that academics take action to rebalance the scales.
Unearned advantages
As a US-born citizen, one of us (T.J.) is privileged by her citizenship. The other (M.C.), born in the global south, lacks this privilege. Here are four of many privileges — or the lack thereof — that neither of us has earned (see go.nature.com/3vjkmbu).
• I am (not) able to travel to most countries on short notice.
• I do (not) need to provide evidence of my intent to return home, my travel history dating back ten years or the fact that I have the financial means to support myself.
• I do (not) have to fear being deported by border control because of my race, ethnicity, language differences, travel history, other cultural barriers or concerns that I am a national-security threat.
• I do (not) have to worry about travelling to my home country to renew or extend my lawful visa status, or about how visa rejection might hamper my career.
Mobility opens up careers
The expectation that researchers will travel and work internationally is baked into academia. For example, a study of more than 40,000 advertisements for research positions on a European job platform showed that more than 60% listed mobility as a desirable attribute3. This preference stems from the idea that mobile researchers are more productive and have better skills and networks than their less-mobile counterparts, making them more competitive in a fierce job market4,5. Governments, funding agencies and research universities promote mobility in the hope that it will build research capacity and boost economies6.
The pressure to move abroad to build a competitive career is often highest for early-career researchers4. Consider short-term postdoctoral fellowship awards from prestigious organizations, such as the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the Human Frontier Science Program and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). These all require applicants to leave the country where they earned their PhD and take a position elsewhere, but the chances for citizens of the global south to work in another global south country are limited. Applicants must instead typically move to the United States or particular European countries.
Most international meetings are located in the same few countries. An analysis of global health conferences held between 1997 and 2019, for instance, found that 71% took place in high-income countries, with 31% in the United States alone7.
Travel and migration are beneficial for researchers’ careers, but many jobs and meetings are based in the global north.Credit: Zach Gibson/Getty
Together, these factors make travel and migration beneficial for researchers’ careers — especially if that movement is to or between global north countries. Indeed, one study indicates that 82% of researchers who move between countries for their first postdoc are destined for the global north8. The United States is the most common destination, but the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland are also popular8,9.
Even after a move, academics from the global south remain at a disadvantage. Foreign researchers are more likely to face bullying and harassment from mentors than are domestic researchers, and they are less likely to report it because of the threat that their visa will not be renewed. Visa inequity can cause anxiety, stress and depression10. All foreign nationals on visas are vulnerable, but scholars who have identities that make them susceptible to encountering intersecting forms of discrimination are at a greater disadvantage and thus in a more precarious position.
Close the gaps
Six steps can help to redress the balance.
Universities should educate their employees about citizenship privilege, to help reduce hiring biases. Institutional leaders should advocate for change and ensure that their human-resource and international-service offices are staffed by people who understand citizenship privilege and the lived experiences of immigrants. This would help immigrant scholars facing language barriers, financial pressures, homesickness and cultural shock11.
Why the mental cost of a STEM career can be too high for women and people of colour
Academic institutions should help students and researchers to offload visa paperwork to trained administrative staff. Too often, institutions assist incoming international scholars with visa sponsorships, but leave academics who are already in a post to fend for themselves when it comes to visa renewals or complications. Institutions should establish safeguarding frameworks to prevent bullying. And they should lobby for and adopt visa types that provide researchers with stability, flexibility and safety — skilled-worker visas instead of short-term ones, for example.
Conference organizers should hold international meetings in global south countries where visas are not needed, or where visa processing is fast and inexpensive, such as Cambodia, Rwanda or Ecuador. Affordability should be a consideration, because currency differences can make conferences in the global north unaffordable for researchers from low- and middle-income countries.
Researchers should be given at least six months’ notice of conferences, and organizers should help participants to apply for visas by issuing invitation letters and communicating with embassies. Some of these changes are already being implemented — for instance, the joint meeting held by the American Society for Cell Biology and EMBO has started to expedite abstract reviews and issue customized visa invitation letters to conference attendees.
Organizers should offer lower registration fees for scholars from visa-underprivileged countries, which they could calculate using a country’s per capita income or the Henley Passport Index, which ranks countries according to the number of nations to which their citizens can travel visa-free (see ‘Global mobility divide’). Organizers should also set aside funds to award more travel grants to researchers from low-income countries, and make those grants larger. All conferences should include virtual options to increase international attendance.
Lastly, early-career researchers from visa-underprivileged countries must routinely be included in conference organizing and institutional leadership committees, expanding the pool of decision makers to bring diverse immigrant perspectives to the table.
Some might argue that the world’s scientific output is already becoming less centred on the global north, negating the need for these steps. It is true that global south countries such as India, China, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates are publishing more papers and producing more science graduates than ever (see, for example, Nature620, S2–S5; 2023). However, most gatekeepers of knowledge, such as journal editors and reviewers, are located in the global north12.
Beyond perpetuating a global divide, citizenship privilege intersects with other biases that favour cisgender, white and male researchers. The professoriate in global north countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom remains predominantly white. Some countries’ policy choices pose immense challenges to making academia more equitable, including the US Supreme Court’s decision to end race as a considering factor in admissions, and US subnational policies that limit access to gender-affirming care and create a hostile environment for global immigration. Lowering mobility barriers is a key step in driving change.
Apple is testing a new anti-reflective optical coating technology for future iPhone cameras that could improve the quality of photos by reducing artifacts like lens flare and ghosting, claims a rumor out of Korea.
According to the news aggregator account “yeux1122” on the Naver blog, citing a company source within Apple’s supply chain, Apple is looking at introducing new atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment into the iPhone camera lens manufacturing process.
ALD involves depositing materials one atomic layer at a time onto a substrate, allowing for extremely precise control over thickness and composition. Its use allows manufacturers to apply very thin layers of materials onto semiconductor devices, including camera components.
In terms of camera lenses, ALD can be used to apply anti-reflective coatings, which can help to reduce photographic artifacts like streaks of light and halos that can occur in the final image when a bright light source such as the sun shines directly into the lens.
ALD can also reduce ghosting, a type of image distortion where faint, secondary images appear in the photo, typically opposite a bright light source. This happens when light reflects back and forth between the surfaces of the lens elements and the camera sensor.
In addition, ALD-applied materials can protect against environmental damage to the camera lens system without affecting the sensor’s ability to capture light effectively.
The Naver blog claims that the manufacturing process will be applied to a “Pro model” in Apple’s “next-generation” iPhone lineup, which sounds like a reference to one or both premium models in the iPhone 16 series, although given the timing of the rumor, the possibility that this method is being tested for next year’s iPhone 17 Pro models should not be discounted.
Both upcoming iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to include a tetraprism lens with up to 5x optical zoom – a feature that is currently exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max in Apple’s smartphone lineup. Apple usually launches its new-generation iPhones around mid-September.
Instagram got a surprise visitor. Meta AI, the company’s AI-powered chatbot that can answer questions, write poetry and generate images with a simple text prompt, is up in your DMs. Meta warned that Meta AI was coming and has spent the last few months adding the chatbot to products like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. We all knew Instagram would be next.
“Our generative AI-powered experiences are under development in various phases, and we’re testing a range of them publicly in a limited capacity,” a Meta spokesperson told Engadget. For some of us at Engadget, the feature appeared in Instagram’s Direct Messaging inbox.
We could tap it to start a conversation with Meta AI, where it could give definitions of words, suggest headlines and… generate images of dogs on skateboards.
Ah, the future.
— Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
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Stop reading this and just watch.
TCL
TCL, maker of many TVs, is to release its first special — a short romance movie — on TCLtv+ this summer. Minimizing effort (and artistic license), it’s using generative AI, and the result is as creepy, dreamy and blurry as all the other generative AI video we’ve seen so far. Watch the protagonists’ faces contort and blur. Marvel at the tone and color profiles switching for no apparent reason. You have to watch it: a rare laugh on a Monday morning.
The company is asking a judge to deny Epic’s recent motion.
Last month, Epic Games filed a motion asking a California judge to hold Apple in contempt for what it claims are violations of a 2021 injunction. Now, Apple is asking the judge to reject Epic’s request, alleging the motion is an attempt to “micromanage Apple’s business operations in a way that would increase Epic’s profitability.” Epic said Apple’s “so-called compliance is a sham” and accused the company of violating the injunction with its recent moves. Apple maintains it has acted in compliance with the injunction, stating in the new filing: “The purpose of the injunction is to make information regarding alternative purchase options more readily available, not to dictate the commercial terms.”
The company is temporarily removing links to California news for some.
Google, the search giant that brought in more than $73 billion in profit last year, is protesting a California bill that would require it and other platforms to pay media outlets. The company announced it was beginning a “short-term test” to block links to local California news sources for a “small percentage” of users in the state. How will this end up? Let’s take a look elsewhere.
The company pulled its News service out of Spain for seven years in protest of local copyright laws. However, in Australia, the company signed deals worth about $150 million to pay publishers. It also eventually backed off threats to pull news from search results in Canada and forked over about $74 million.
Gaming laptops are now cheaper and more powerful than ever, and many wouldn’t look out of place in a classroom. If you aim to do some serious multimedia work alongside playing video games online, it’s worth looking at a dedicated gaming system. We select the best machines for balancing work with play, with advice on screen sizes, portability and more. Jack will no longer be a dull boy.
Last month, we exclusively reported that Samsung will launch three variants of the Galaxy Watch 7. Along with that, we also revealed the model numbers of the three versions of the smartwatch. Earlier this month, one of the variants of the Galaxy Watch 7 was spotted on the Bluetooth SIG platform. Today, the battery of another version of the upcoming smartwatch has been spotted on the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) platform.
A battery from Samsung bearing the model number EB-BL705ABY has been spotted on BIS (via 91Mobiles). Going by the model number, it seems to be the battery for the cellular version of the top-end variant of the Galaxy Watch 7, which carries the model number SM-L705. The listing indicates the company is planning to launch the smartwatch in India. Unfortunately, it doesn’t reveal the battery capacity or other details about the device.
According to a previous report, the Galaxy Watch 7 might feature a 578mAh battery, which Samsung could advertise to be a 600mAh pack. The upcoming smartwatch is expected to feature a 3nm processor, which would be a first for Samsung, and is reported to be 50% more power efficient than the Exynos W930 from the Galaxy Watch 6. It should also come with an increased storage capacity of 32GB.
