Google’s smartwatch operating system Wear OS has struggled to keep up with Apple’s watchOS, leaving users with some software disadvantages compared to the annually updated Apple Watch. Rather than waiting for Google to update Wear OS, Fossil is today pushing out its own software update for Gen 5 smartwatches, adding five “exclusively developed by Fossil Group” features that will make its…
When Tim Cook finished up his appearance in front of the House Judiciary panel in July, the conventional wisdom was that the Apple CEO had gotten off easy. He was joined by Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, and each one seemed to have more to worry about. In…
Adobe today announced the beta launch of new features for Adobe Character Animator (version 3.4), its desktop software that combines live motion-capture with a recording system to control 2D puppets drawn in Photoshop or Illustrator. Several — including Speech-Aware…
How Duolingo uses AI in every part of its app
August 19, 2020
Language learning has surged during the pandemic. Duolingo, which is synonymous with gamified language learning, saw its fastest growth period this March with a 101% global increase in new users. From those who simply have more time on their hands to students trying to keep up in the pandemic school year, the app is a huge boon. All that extra data isn’t going to waste — because Duolingo…
How to preorder the Samsung Galaxy Note 20
August 19, 2020
Samsung announced its new Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra phones at its Unpacked 2020 online event. At this point, The Verge’s Dieter Bohn has now published his full review of the larger Note 20 Ultra. You can read that here or watch the video component of the review…
EA Play hits Steam on August 31st
August 19, 2020
After a delay, EA Play, the subscription service formerly known as EA Access, will be available on Steam starting August 31st. The platform allows you to play Electronic Arts&apos back catalog of titles as much as you want and check out its newest games before buying…
In 1996, a 2.5-minute short sandwiched between a bunch of other shorts premiered in an episode of The Simpsons. No one thought much of it at the time, but over the last couple decades, “Chalmers vs. Skinner” — rebranded to “Steamed Hams” — would go on to become one of the most iconic Simpsons moments.
A new oral history of the short published on Mel Magazine by Brian VanHooker dives…
Amazon today announced the launch of AWS Contact Center Intelligence (CCI) solutions, a combination of services that enables customers to integrate contact centers with AI through partners in the AWS Partner Network. Amazon says that CCI, which has solutions for things like…
Researchers at Duke Kunshan University, Wuhan University, Lenovo, and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou claim to have developed an AI system that detects whether a person is wearing a mask from the sound of their muffled speech. They say that in experiments, it achieves…
If you ever wondered how we’ll populate the metaverse, look no further than Hour One, an Israeli startup that is making replicas of people with AI avatars. These avatars can be a near-perfect visual likeness of you and speak with words fed to them by marketers who want to sell you something. An avatar can speak on your behalf in a digital broadcast when you’re at home watching TV.
Such…
