In an effort to position itself as one of the leading platforms for custom generative AI models, AWS has announced the launch of Custom Model Import within Bedrock, its suite of enterprise-focused GenAI services.
As the name suggests, Custom Model Import will allow organizations to import and access their own generative AI models as fully managed APIs, which means they’ll get to benefit from the same infrastructure and tools that are available for existing models in Bedrock.
AWS sees the addition of custom model support as addressing a growing trend among enterprises to develop and refine their own in-house models.
AWS Bedrock now supports custom in-house models
Besides leveraging their own proprietary models, enterprises using Bedrock’s Custom Model Import will be able to use the suite’s other tools for knowledge expansion, fine-tuning and safeguarding against things like bias. In theory, it should give customers the best of both worlds.
Users will also be able to monitor and filter outputs for undesirable content like hate speech or violence, as well as assess the performance of models across various criteria.
The service is now available in preview, and it supports three of the most popular open model architectures – Flan-T5, Llama and Mistal. AWS has committed to adding more architecture support in the future.
In the same breath, AWS also revealed the general availability of Titan Image Generator and the launch of Titan Text Embeddings V2. Trained by AWS, the company says that reductions in storage and compute costs coincide with improved accuracy, making the Titan family more cost-effective for companies that don’t have the resources to develop their own models.
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Meta Llama 3 foundation models have also arrived on Bedrock, with Cohere’s Command R and Command R+ models set to arrive soon.
On the whole, it’s refreshing to see AWS commit to interoperability by offering popular third-party and now in-house model support on its platform – it’s a move that could be set to jointly benefit it and its customers.
One of Microsoft’s top brass who headed up the design team for Surface devices (and Xbox, plus Phones) has departed the company after a lengthy term of service.
Ralf Groene, who was Head of Industrial Design, Microsoft Devices, for the best part of a decade, has been at Microsoft for 17 years in total.
As Windows Central spotted, Groene just announced his retirement on LinkedIn. His new role as a retiree is “helping friends to design things” going by his LinkedIn profile.
While the original Surface hybrid was launched in late 2012, a few years before Groene was given the position heading up the design team, he took the lead with the crafting and realization of a whole load of Surface hardware from 2015 onwards. That included the likes of the Surface Book (which first hit shelves later in 2015, in fact) and the Surface Duo.
The timing is interesting, as it’s been a period of great change at the top for Microsoft in recent times.
Late last year, we witnessed Panos Panay, the driving force behind the creation of the Surface line, depart Microsoft, and more recently, Pavan Davuluri has taken the reins of Windows from Mikhail Parakhin (Davuluri is now VP of Windows + Devices).
(Image credit: Future)
Analysis: The state of Surface – and what this could mean for the future
Back at that initial launch in 2012, the Surface line of products represented Microsoft’s attempt to build flagship hardware to fully showcase the abilities of its Windows OS. Now, over a decade since then, what does the Surface range represent exactly?
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Clearly over the years the devices on offer have become a good deal more diverse, and there are now a lot of members of the Surface family in addition to that original hybrid.
Even so, of late, things have felt rather stale, certainly with the core offering of the Surface Pro tablet (with detachable keyboard accessory). Recall last year, for example, which witnessed a very flat line-up of new Surface offerings, with little fizz to the additions in evidence – and a lot of scratching of heads about where the next Surface Pro was.
Now, of course, we have seen the Surface Pro 10, as well as Surface Laptop 6 – but only for businesses, at least thus far. Consumer models are going to be unveiled in May, but it has been a long old wait for them – and if the rumors are right, the consumer Surface Pro 10 might only offer an ARM chip (with no IntelCPUs even as an option).
That’s just a thin and rather wispy rumor mind, but it seems a risky play if it does pan out – or a measure of Microsoft’s confidence in Windows on ARM given the new Snapdragon X Elite SoC coming in, perhaps. Microsoft clearly feels that ARM silicon is coming into its own, and is now sufficiently powerful to make emulating x86 apps work smoothly enough that it won’t matter (too much) that software isn’t running natively on Surface devices. There are high hopes that said Snapdragon could beat out Apple’s M3 (also ARM-based) silicon, in fact.
In that regard, we could see something very different with the core Surface offering, then, although the design – as per the revelation of the business-focused devices in March – again stays to the tried-and-trusted, and distinctly risk averse, chassis and lines that we’re used to. It’s very much the same case with the Surface Laptop 6, too.
In some ways, we get this – if it ain’t broke and all that. But maybe with a change at the top of the design team, someone new coming in will start to shake up things more for future Surface devices to make their mark on the range in a more meaningful way.
Alternatively, could this be a chance for Microsoft to wind down its Surface line-up? To give up the fight against Apple? After all, Surface devices have been less profitable of late. However, we don’t see that as a realistic proposition, at least not yet – particularly given the push Microsoft is currently giving ARM chips as part of its big AI PC drive – but depending on how well all that goes, things could change quite rapidly, perhaps.
Shortly after phone company Nothing teased their upcoming earbuds, leaked images emerged revealing what the third-generation Ear and Ear (a) models may look like. This information comes from news site Android Headlines which also mentions several potential features. Looking at their report, it appears that the next-gen models will look nearly identical to the previous model.
They maintain the transparent design the series is known for. However, if you look closely, you’ll see the words “NOTHING ear” on the side instead of the expected “NOTHING ear (3)”. This isn’t brand new info as the company has decided to ditch the old naming convention of adding the generational number at the end of their products. What’s more, the pair will be available in white and black.
The report claims the earbuds will have significantly better battery life than the Nothing Ear (2), clocking in at 7.5 hours with active noise canceling turned off, with the case, that number jumps to 33 hours. Features on the device include a resistance rating of IP54 to survive blasts of water and dust, plus support for dual connections. That last one allows the earbuds to “connect with two Bluetooth devices at the same time”. Fast charging is present on the pair too. A quick 10-minute charge will give you 10 hours of usage.
Striking design
The Nothing Ear (a) shares several of the next-gen offering’s features with a few notable differences. Dual connection, IP54 rating, and fast charging are all here, however, it’ll have an even longer battery life at “eight hours of playback with ANC off”. The charging case increases its run time to 38 hours.
Not only will it be available in black and white, but also a striking shade of yellow. The silicone tips and the shell around them look like they’ve been dipped in mustard while the rest of the body is black. The charging case for the Nothing Ear (a) is also yellow.
(Image credit: Android Headlines)
It’s worth mentioning the eye-catching color scheme was hinted at on April 3 in a previous Nothing post on X. It had an image of a yellow frog next to a black beetle with text announcing an official reveal on April 18. The tagline “Play Date” is written on there as well. It’s unknown exactly what this means. But 9To5Google posits an interesting theory – this may be a reference to the Playdate gaming handheld.
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They point out that one) the tagline in the X post and the name of the gadget are identical although written differently. And two) the device is a similar shade of yellow to earbuds. Nothing may be teasing it’s entering a new partnership with Playdate.
If you look at their Help page, Playdate states their device does not support Bluetooth connectivity although the dev team is working on it. The day of the update may on the horizon with the Nothing Ear (a) being the first Bluetooth audio device to work with the handheld.
Of course, take everything you read here with a grain of salt. It’s all just a theory given the clues. Either way, we’ll know for sure on April 18 during Nothing’s next Community Update.
Sony is so closely associated with full-frame mirrorless cameras that it’s easy to forget it also sells the A6000 APS-C lineup — particularly since the last one, the A6600, came out five long years ago in 2019. The flagship A6700 finally arrived last year, though, with a feature list that appeared to be worth the wait.
It’s the same price the A6600 was at launch four years ago, but addresses its predecessor’s main flaws by boosting resolution a bit and reducing rolling shutter. At the same time, it’s been likened to a mini-FX30 cinema camera as it has the same sensor and video capabilities.
I’ve never been a big fan of Sony’s A6000 series. But now that the A6700 has been out a while, I was keen to see if it lived up to some of the hype and how it compared to rival Canon and Fujifilm models. As you’ll see, it’s mostly good news with just a little bit of bad.
Sony
The A6700 is Sony’s first APS-C mirrorless hybrid camera in years, but it was worth the wait. It heavily reduces rolling shutter that was a pain point on past models, while bumping image sharpness. It’s an excellent video camera as well, with 4K at up to 120 fps and 10-bit log capture. The main downside is burst speeds well behind the competition, particularly in electronic shutter mode
Pros
Excellent video capabilities
Accurate autofocus
Improved handling
Minimal rolling shutter
Good image quality
Cons
Slowish burst speeds
Overheating
$1,398 at B&H
Body and handling
One of the things I’ve disliked about Sony’s APS-C bodies over the years is the usability and looks, especially compared to Fujifilm’s good-looking and easy-to-use models. I wouldn’t call the A6700 beautiful, but at least Sony has rectified the handling part.
The redesigned grip is larger and more comfortable, making it more comfortable to use over a full day. At the same time, Sony added a new control dial on the front, making the camera easier to use in manual or priority modes.
It includes a new dedicated photo, video and S&Q dial, letting you keep settings separate for each. Menus are a big step up too, as the A6700 uses the improved system from recent full-frame models. The only thing missing is a joystick, but the focus point can be adjusted using the d-pad-like dial on the back.
Steve Dent for Engadget
The A6700 is also the first Sony APS-C camera with an articulating display, so it’s better for vloggers than the flip-up display on past models. The relatively low resolution EVF is a weak point as it’s difficult at times to check focus, but it does the job most of the time. .
Another negative is the single card slot, but at least it supports high-speed UHS-II cards. Luckily, it has the same large battery as full-frame models, which gives it an excellent 570 shot CIPA rating.
Other features include microphone and headphone ports (along with support for Sony’s hot shoe audio accessories), a USB-C port for charging and data transfers and an HDMI port. The latter, unfortunately, is of the fiddly and fragile micro variety.
All of that adds up to a 6000-series camera I’d happily use for most types of work. Previously, I found those models not up to the job, especially for video.
Performance
Steve Dent for Engadget
Performance is more of a mixed bag, though. Lossless RAW bursts are possible at up to 11 fps, either in mechanical or electronic shutter modes. That compares to the 15 and 30fps for the similarly priced Canon EOS R7 and 15/20 fps for the Fujifilm X-T5. That’s quite a deficit considering the latter two have much higher resolution sensors.
The A6700 only stores up to 36 compressed RAW frames before the buffer fills, compared to 45 on the A6600 and comparable to rivals. Based strictly on speed, though, the R7 and X-T5 are better action cameras.
Fortunately, the autofocus is superb and that’s arguably more important for a consumer camera. In continuous mode, you’ll get reliable results even with fast moving subjects. And the AI tracking locks onto eyes and faces, ensuring you won’t miss important shots of rowdy kids, soccer games and more.
Steve Dent for Engadget
It also works with airplanes, animals, birds, cars or trains and insects. Unlike Canon’s auto system, though, you have to tell the A6700 exactly what you’re tracking. Once you’ve set it up the way you want, though, it’s a touch more reliable than Canon’s system, and significantly better than the X-T5..
The five-axis in-body stabilization is good but not great, offering 5 stops compared to 8 on the EOS R7 and 7 on the Fuji X-T5. Still, I was able to take sharp photos down to about an eighth of a second.
Rolling shutter was my main complaint with the A6600, but it’s now much improved and about as good as you get without a stacked sensor. It’s still present, though, so you’ll want to use the mechanical shutter for fast-moving subjects like propellers and trains.
Image Quality
1 / 32
Sony A6700 review sample photos
Sony A6700 review sample photos
With a new 26-megapixel sensor, The A6700 captures more detail than past 24-megapixel models. As mentioned, though, it’s lacking compared to the 32.5-megapixel Canon R7 and 40-megapixel X-T5.
Colors are mostly spot-on, but I still prefer Canon’s skin tones. JPEGs look good out of the camera, if a touch over-sharpened. With 14-bit RAW uncompressed files, I found plenty of room to adjust and tweak images, dialing down bright areas or adding detail to shadows. Keep in mind that when shooting bursts, though, RAW files are captured with only 12-bits of color fidelity.
There is a benefit to the lower resolution. The A6700 is better in low light than rivals, with noise well controlled up to ISO 6400. Images are usable up to ISO 12800, but anything beyond up to the ISO 102,400 limit is for emergency use only. It’s best to emphasize shadow exposure at high ISOs, as lifting those even a couple of stops creates excessive noise.
Video
The A6700 is so far above its predecessor for video that it’s useless to compare them. Rather, think of it as a cheaper, smaller FX30 cinema camera with the same image quality. The main difference is that the A6700 doesn’t have the same cooling capability, as I’ll discuss shortly.
It subsamples the full sensor width for 4K at 30 and 60 fps, so video is sharper than the X-T5 or R7. And the A6700 beats both of those models by having a 4K 120fps mode, though it’s cropped significantly at 1.58x.
Due to the relatively small body and lack of fans, you’ll need to be wary of overheating at 120p, as it’ll cut out after 20-30 minutes. For indoor shooting, you can generally shoot at up to 4K 60p without any stoppages with the “auto power temp” setting on “high.” Outside on a hot day, however, you may hit the limits and need to wait for the camera to cool down.
Like the FX30, you can shoot all video modes with 10-bit with S-Log3 capture. You can also load your own LUTs either to make log footage easier to monitor, or bake it into the final image.
Steve Dent for Engadget
Rolling shutter is still present, so you’ll still need to be careful with whip pans, fast subjects and the like. However, it’s far less bothersome than on past Sony crop sensor models.
It has a video feature that’s actually lacking on the FX3, namely auto-framing. That’s handy for vloggers as it can crop in and follow them as they move around the frame — with less quality loss than the ZV-E1 (this feature is finicky on the A6700 so be sure to test it first). It also offers focus compensation that digitally eliminates breathing, and again, this extra resolution compared to the ZV-E1 results in a sharper result.
Stabilization for video isn’t quite as good as the ZV-E1, though. The active mode is fine for handheld use and slow pans, but doesn’t do a lot to smooth out footsteps, and adds a 1.13x crop.
As for video quality, you’re seeing the same accurate colors and solid low-light capability as with photos. The 10-bit log options allow for plenty of flexibility in post, especially with contrasty images.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent for Engadget
The A6700 is easily Sony’s best APS-C camera yet, excelling at both photos and video, and offering much better handling. Despite being far more capable than the A6600, it carries the same $1,400 price.
As a photo camera, it’s slower than its main competition, the Canon R7 and Fujifilm X-T5, so those models are better for shooting action. Sony’s autofocus is slightly better though, and faster bursts are worthless if photos aren’t sharp.
As a video camera, though, it beats its main rivals across the board. All told, it’s a great option for content creators or hybrid shooters who favor video but do some photography. If that’s you, I’d highly recommend it.
