OpenAI's recent Sora text-to-video tech has blown China away, 'cold water' on their AI dreams

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 26, 2024 5:40 PM CST

OpenAI blew everyone on this planet out of the water with its surprise Sora text-to-video AI service, which has forced China's entire AI industry to work out how to deal with this, as it has the country feeling like they've lost a battle they thought they had a huge chance in.

OpenAI's recent Sora text-to-video tech has blown China away, 'cold water' on their AI dreams

China has been at the forefront of the global AI race, but the country has been on the baback footince the release of ChatGPT back in 2022 by OpenAI, and now text-to-video Sora is teased... China is speechless. It thought it was succeeding in AI, but it's so far away it's not even in the game.

The country has countless storage and data to feed into its AI, with functions like facial recognition being superior to many countries. But, the huge advancements in generative AI by other countries -- the US for example -- using text, images, and videos... have changed the AI completely, putting China in a very lagging light.

Continue reading: OpenAI's recent Sora text-to-video tech has blown China away, 'cold water' on their AI dreams (full post)

Helldivers 2 has spread democracy to over 3 million gamers so far, and it isn't slowing down

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 26, 2024 4:50 PM CST

Helldivers 2 continues to spread democracy throughout the galaxy, with the smash hit new game pulling in 1 million sales in just 4 days after it launched on February 8. But now, the game has reportedly exploded to over 3 million sales in just over two weeks since its release.

Helldivers 2 has spread democracy to over 3 million gamers so far, and it isn't slowing down

In a new report by Chris Dring from GamesIndustry, we know that Helldivers 2 improved its European sales by 40% from the first week to the second week. Normally, this doesn't happen, as games start their strong sales in the launch weeks and then fall off, but that's not happening with Helldivers 2; it has been getting more popular.

As more and more people are playing the game -- myself included -- you start to spread democracy, uh, the word, about Helldivers 2. Or gamers are reading news about the game like this, or seeing the gameplay videos popping up on social media, or seeing it on YouTube. It's everywhere right now. Dring also said that 60% of those sales are on PC, leaving 40% to the PlayStation 5.

Continue reading: Helldivers 2 has spread democracy to over 3 million gamers so far, and it isn't slowing down (full post)

Windows 11 Paint app could get another AI feature, but what it'll do is a mystery so far

Darren Allan | Software & Apps | Feb 26, 2024 2:00 PM CST

Windows 11's Paint app could get another AI feature, or at least that's what the grapevine is suggesting.

Windows 11 Paint app could get another AI feature, but what it'll do is a mystery so far

Windows Latest grabbed the scoop on this one, with the website spotting a file which is called 'NPUDetect' in the Paint client.

What does that mean? Well, as you're doubtless aware, Paint already has a Cocreator AI feature (which can knock up images as needed, using Dall-E 3 which is seriously impressive), so it's presumably hinting that another AI capability is inbound. One that will make use of the NPUs which are coming on-board modern CPUs (such as Intel's Meteor Lake laptop chips).

Continue reading: Windows 11 Paint app could get another AI feature, but what it'll do is a mystery so far (full post)

One of Apple TV+'s biggest shows faces uncertainty over budget clashes

Oliver Haslam | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Feb 26, 2024 12:45 PM CST

Foundation, one of Apple TV+'s most popular sci-fi shows, currently has its first two seasons available to watch on the streaming service. But work on the third season is starting to experience issues with a new report noting that there is confusion over its showrunner while there are also worries over the budget related to the show.

One of Apple TV+'s biggest shows faces uncertainty over budget clashes

According to a Hollywood Report report, co-creator David S. Goyer is stepping back from his showrunner duties and instead, it will be down to executive producer Bill Bost to move to Prague to oversee filming. Prague is where the third season of the show is being shot.

The same report says that Goyer and executives at the show's production company, Skydance, had clashed over the budget for the third season. Streamers, including moneybags Apple, are thought to be tightening their belts in an attempt to make sure that they aren't overspending.

Continue reading: One of Apple TV+'s biggest shows faces uncertainty over budget clashes (full post)

Weird and wonderful things you can play Doom on number 28: A robot lawnmower (yes, really)

Darren Allan | Gaming | Feb 26, 2024 12:30 PM CST

'It runs Doom' is a meme you're doubtless familiar with (as well as 'Can it run Crysis?') and the latest weird and wonderful device Doom runs on is a lawnmower.

Weird and wonderful things you can play Doom on number 28: A robot lawnmower (yes, really)

Confused? We don't blame you, but it's true. Some enterprising souls (or perhaps, more accurately, damned ones) have managed to port the 1993 shooter to a robot lawnmower.

This is a Husqvarna Automower (NERA) with a small integrated display, which the game can be rendered on, and then played using a control knob below. The latter can be used to turn the player left or right, you can press the Start button of the mower to move forward, and press in the control knob to fire.

Continue reading: Weird and wonderful things you can play Doom on number 28: A robot lawnmower (yes, really) (full post)

Apple's iOS 17.4 will disable web apps in the EU and that could spell trouble for the company

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 26, 2024 12:15 PM CST

When Apple releases the iOS 17.4 software update to the public within the next couple of weeks it will bring with it a number of changes aimed squarely at the EU. Support for third-party app stores and third-party browser engines are at the top of the list of changes, but it will also see Apple ditch support for progressive web apps, or PWAs, in the territory as well. And that's a move that could see the company get into trouble.

Apple's iOS 17.4 will disable web apps in the EU and that could spell trouble for the company

PWAs are websites that, when added to the iPhone's Home Screen, act as if they were real apps and launch in a window rather than within a web browser. However, iOS 17.4's beta has already removed support for PWAs in the EU with Apple warning that it has to do that to prevent security and privacy issues arising from the use of web apps that aren't locked within WebKit's walled garden. However, the move will prevent some web apps from working and break others in ways that we might not even know about yet, and it could be enough to get Apple another fine from the European Commission.

According to a new Financial Times report Apple is already being looked at by the EC with the commission having reached out to developers to try and figure out the impact the change will have on them and users alike.

Continue reading: Apple's iOS 17.4 will disable web apps in the EU and that could spell trouble for the company (full post)

iPhone 16 Pro again tipped to sport 5x tetraprism lens

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 26, 2024 12:00 PM CST

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max back in September of 2023 both of the cameras got updates, but it was only the bigger of the two models that were unveiled with new 5x zoom capabilities. That was made possible thanks to the use of a new tetraprism camera lens that folded light in a way that allows for increased zoom without moving the camera lens and sensor further away from each other. Apple wasn't able to fit the fancy lens into the smaller iPhone 15 Pro. That looks set to change with the launch of this year's models.

iPhone 16 Pro again tipped to sport 5x tetraprism lens

We've been hearing that there are plans for the iPhone 16 Pro to sport the same 5x camera for a little while now and a new report now backs that up even further. If accurate, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will offer 5x optical zoom thanks to a tetraprism lens.

This latest report comes via Taiwanese research firm TrendForce and was shared in a press release that added fuel to the zoom lens fire.

Continue reading: iPhone 16 Pro again tipped to sport 5x tetraprism lens (full post)

iPhone's iOS 18 update won't borrow big design changes from the Apple Vision Pro, report claims

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 26, 2024 11:45 AM CST

Apple is widely expected to announce the new iOS 18 iPhone software as soon as this June, with that likely to be the month that the company's annual WWDC event will take place. That event will also likely see Apple unveil new software for the iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro but none of those software updates are expected to ship until much later in the year.

iPhone's iOS 18 update won't borrow big design changes from the Apple Vision Pro, report claims

Now, writing in the weekly Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that while the iOS 18 software update will bring plenty of changes and improvements for iPhone owners to look forward to, those expecting visionOS-powered changes will be left disappointed.

According to the paywalled version of the Power On newsletter, reported by 9to5Mac, the iOS 18 update will feature plenty of improvements but there will not be a total overhaul that takes cues from visionOS. There had been rumors that Apple would take the visionOS software that powers the Apple Vision Pro and then use that as a basis for what iOS would look like moving forward. That would include more transparency than is currently seen on the iPhone, alongside other changes.

Continue reading: iPhone's iOS 18 update won't borrow big design changes from the Apple Vision Pro, report claims (full post)

Give an image to Genie and Google's AI can make a 2D platformer out of it, right there and then

Darren Allan | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 26, 2024 11:30 AM CST

GoogleDeepMind has an 'open endedness team' and we've just found out what they've been up to in recent times - namely facilitating AI to generate 2D platformer worlds based on simple image prompts.

Give an image to Genie and Google's AI can make a 2D platformer out of it, right there and then

You can see how it works in the above tweet from the team lead at GoogleDeepMind, who is Tim Rocktaschel (also a professor of AI at UCL).

This is Genie, a 'foundation world model' (with 11 billion parameters) trained on internet videos. Give Genie ('Generative Interactive Environments') an image of any kind of world and it can knock up a 2D environment you can then run around in platformer-style.

Continue reading: Give an image to Genie and Google's AI can make a 2D platformer out of it, right there and then (full post)

Don't expect any big macOS design changes this year, new report warns

Oliver Haslam | Laptops | Feb 26, 2024 11:15 AM CST

Every year Apple announces new software for its many devices and platforms including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and this year surely, the Apple Vision Pro. You can add the Mac to that list as well, and it's the upcoming macOS software update that has been discussed in a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Don't expect any big macOS design changes this year, new report warns

Writing in the weekly Power On newsletter Gurman said that Apple is of course working on the 2024 Mac software update but there is bad news for those who are hoping for big design changes this time out.

9to5Mac reported on the paywalled version of Gurman's newsletter in which he mentioned that while there are some notable changes expected in the upcoming iOS 18 iPhone software update, things are going to be different on the Mac. We can expect a new update this year, but Gurman says that Apple's work on notable design tweaks has only just started and that the bigger update won't be ready until 2025 or 2026.

Continue reading: Don't expect any big macOS design changes this year, new report warns (full post)