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HMD - Nokia’s parent company, is collaborating with Mattel to launch a Barbie-branded flip phone coming July. There is no information about the device’s pricing and features as of yet, but what is certain is that it is going to be the iconic flip phone from the old days, and not a smartphone.

 

This collaboration is part of HMD’s new project that aims to move away from selling its products under the brand name Nokia, and selling them under its own name instead. As part of this new venture, HMD plans to create multiple partnerships with other companies, and Mattel happens to be the first one.

Nokia’s Parent Company is Launching a New Barbie Flip-Phone this Summer



Google is expanding its existing partnership with Reddit to acquire AI training data from the company that will help it adopt better ways to train AI models.

 

More specifically, as a result of the partnership, Google will be able to access Reddit’s data API that will bring its users real-time content from Reddit’s platform. This will facilitate users of Google’s products in participating in Reddit communities and conversations. In turn, Reddit will have access to Google’s AI-powered service ‘Vertex AI,’ which will help the company enhance its search capabilities.

Reddit is Providing Google with AI Training Data as Part of a New $60 Million Deal



WhatsApp has been working on new text formatting options that it has just launched to all its users on Android, iOS, Web, and Mac.

 

Until now, the formatting options that have been available to WhatsApp users are bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace. In addition to these, the four newly added ones include bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code. These are meant to facilitate improved communication among users by enabling them to organize and emphasize specific information.


WhatsApp is Bringing New Formatting Options that Help with Organizing and Highlighting Text in Messages



Samsung has expanded support for its range of audio technologies Auracast, 360 Audio, and Auto Switch. While these technologies have been accessible on Samsung’s devices, the blog post explains the extent to which they will be supported across the lineup. According to Samsung, the updates will begin to be introduced starting with the Galaxy Buds 2 and Buds FE from the end of February, and then to the Buds 2 Pro.

 

Auracast, an industry-wide and fairly new Bluetooth technology, allows a device to broadcast an audio stream to an unlimited number of endpoints like speakers and headphones. Auracast was first launched to Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro earbuds and its latest high-end TVs last year, following the Galaxy S24 series in January.

Samsung Announces an Expanded List of Devices that Support its Different Audio Technologies



A report from Bloomberg states that Apple has advanced the internal testing of new generative AI integrations for its Xcode programming software, and will be making them available to third-party developers this year. 

 

Additionally, Apple is reported to be exploring generative AI in consumer-facing products; such as automatic playlists in Apple Music, slideshows in Keynote, and AI chatbot / search features for Spotlight search.

 

Apple’s revamped AI-powered code completion tool is similar to Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, according to Bloomberg’s report. It applies a large language model (LLM) to predict and complete code strings, as well as generate code to test apps.

Apple is Reportedly Furthering Development of its AI-powered Code Completion Tool



OpenAI is launching a new text-to-video AI model called ‘Sora,’ that is designed to produce photorealistic videos from text-based descriptions. 

 

Recently, AI video generating models have started to assert their presence in the market. We’ve got companies like Runway and Pika that have developed their own text-to-video models. There is also Google’s Lumiere figures that are one of OpenAI’s leading competitors.

 

According to OpenAI, Sora’s capabilities allow it to judge how objects exist in the physical world, as well as some complex phenomena like emotions. As a result, it can create complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background.

OpenAI Announces its Latest Generative AI Model that Creates Realistic Videos from Text



Ahead of the 2024 elections across Europe, TikTok has announced the addition of a local language Election Centre in its app that is dedicated to providing people with factual local voting information for all 27 individual EU Member States.



The social media company has taken into consideration the substantial number of people across Europe that visit its platform - more than 134m of them, many of whom are also going to be casting their votes in the upcoming European elections. Owning responsibility as a popular social media platform, TikTok will be working with local electoral commissions and civil society organizations to set up in-app Election Centers where its community can find “trusted and authoritative information.”

TikTok is Playing its Part in Combating Voting Misinformation and Deceptive Acts ahead of Election Day

 


YouTube has a bunch of new announcements: an update to YouTube Studio’s mobile app, expansion of Gift Memberships, and updated Product Tagging.

 

First off, the new YouTube Studio update will allow creators to make direct uploads from their camera roll to the app by tapping on the + icon in the app. Additionally, creators will be able to set their video monetization status during the upload process, hence making  content management more feasible.

 


Next, YouTube is experimenting with a new Community Posts feed in its mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. Community Posts has become a popular engagement feature where creators share text-based updates with their subscribers. Back in May of last year, YouTube made Community Posts available to all channels.

YouTube is Updating its Studio App, and Expanding Gift Memberships and Product Tagging



Apple’s research department is pitching a prototype of a new generative AI animation tool ‘Keyframer,’ that enables adding motion to 2D images with prompts.

 

Apple is keen on exploring large language models (LLMs) in animation for their potential, just like in text and image generation. Earlier, Apple introduced Human Gaussian Splats (HUGS) that creates animation-ready human avatars from video clips, and MGIE that edits images using text prompts, among its latest generative AI projects

 

In a research paper that the company published last week, it explains that Keyframer is powered by OpenAI’s GPT4 model and collects data in the form of Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) files. It then produces a CSS code that animates the image based on a text-based prompt. These prompts can be anything that describe how the animation must look like, e.g. “make the frog jump.”

 

Apple Introduces New Generative AI innovation ‘Keyframer’ that Animates Images



Automated transcription service Otter is launching an AI feature called ‘AI Chat in Channels,’ to its group chat functionality ‘Channels.’ Channels work pretty much like Slack chats, where people can connect with frequent collaborators and share transcripts with each other.

 

With the help of the new AI integration, groups will be able to ask a chatbot questions related to their older meetings. The chatbot will then gather information from all the meetings that group members have participated in, and generate answers to the prompts asked.

 

Otter is Rolling out an AI Chatbot in Channels to Assist Users in Improved Teamwork



Video game company Panic has announced that it is reducing the wait time for orders for its little Playdate handheld. After having shipped over 70,000 of the gaming gadgets, Panic reports that the Playdate stock is currently in “limited number” for purchase on its website.

 

Even when Playdate runs out of stock, customers will be notified that their order wouldn’t ship until a new batch of the gadget is ready to ship. However, the wait time for preorders will still be significantly shorter as compared to before, as Panic delivers its latest preorder batch of Playdate within a few days or weeks.

Panic Makes its Handheld Gadget Playdate Available to More than 20 New Countries



Meta is making an important change to Instagram and Threads’ policy – limiting recommendation of content related to politics and social issues from accounts that a user does not follow, across the platforms. Meta plans to bring this update to Facebook some time later, too.

 

The changes will be implemented only in places where recommendations are displayed to users, like Explore, Reels, in-feed recommendations, and suggested users. No changes will be made to the way content is displayed from accounts that a user follows. This means that accounts that aren’t eligible to be recommended could still post political content that their followers will be able to view in feed and Stories.

 

While users will be seeing less of political content by default, they would still be allowed to opt into seeing more of such content if they wish to. The option will be available in account settings, specifying content that is “likely to mention governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large.”

Meta Announces Changes to Content Recommendation on Instagram and Threads, Related to Politics and Social Issues



NASA’s latest project ‘PACE’ has just been launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission is aimed at learning about microscopic plant life and particles from space. PACE is an acronym for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem satellite.

 

For the first time ever, a satellite will study plankton from space, hundreds of miles above the earth, analyzing the impact of the tiniest life particles on the planet’s atmosphere and climate changes.

 

The reason why NASA is giving such meticulous importance to phytoplankton and other microscopic living organisms is because they play a key role in regulating the climate. Like regular plants, phytoplankton take planet-heating carbon dioxide in and produce oxygen via the process of photosynthesis. They also make the foundation of food chains in oceans, hence greatly influencing the health of marine ecosystems and fisheries. There are found in tens of thousands of different species, each designed to have unique interactions with their environment.

NASA Launches its First Space Satellite Dedicated to the Study of Microscopic Life and Particles



Google is merging its AI products Bard and Duet into one product called Gemini. There is now a Gemini app for Android where the Bard chatbot and all Duet AI features in Google Workspace are available. In addition to that, Google’s largest and most efficient version of its large language model, the Gemini Ultra 1.0, is being released to the public.

 

Downloading the Gemini app will set Gemini (previously Bard) as your default assistant, replacing Google Assistant when you say, “Hey Google” or long-press the home button.  According to Sissie Hsiao, who runs Gemini at Google, the AI assistant is “conversational, multimodal, and more helpful than ever before.” Mostly, the changes that have been made to Bard are limited to the act of rebranding, so both the chatbot and AI features for Workspace will feel the same way that they previously have.


Gemini will work both as an AI assistant and chatbot, and could even be used in place of Search, as Google has added a toggle at the top of the app that lets you switch from Search to Gemini. This proves just how much faith Google has put into Gemini as it seems to consider it equally important as Search, which has been the most important product of the company.

Google Rebrands its Bard Assistant and Duet Features to a Single AI Product: ‘Gemini’



A new rule released by The Federal Communications Commission is enabling state attorneys general to take action against illegal robocalls that use AI voice cloning technology.

 

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressed concern over the misuse of AI-generated voices in robocalls. The practices, she said, are being used to “extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities, and misinform voters.”

New Ruling by FCC Puts a Ban on Robocalls Using AI Voice Cloning Tech



Microsoft’s AI ventures, that started with Bing, are only getting bigger and better with time. From AI in Office apps, to a dedicated AI key for laptops, Microsoft has integrated the technology in just about everything that it owns.

 

In the AI domain, Microsoft has now shifted its focus off of Bing after being met with a lack of success that it had been anticipating for the platform. In place of Bing, the company has been giving the limelight to Copilot for some time now - the AI assistant that is now a part of Microsoft’s almost every key software and service.

 


In one of its latest efforts to make Copilot stand out, Microsoft has launched a new Super Bowl commercial for Copilot that is set to air on Sunday. The meaning incorporated into the commercial revolves around what makes Copilot special, AI’s creative solutions, and the stories of gamers with disabilities.

Microsoft Launches Superbowl Ad for Copilot and Several New AI Features



CEO of Ford Jim Farley has revealed that the company developed a “skunkworks” lab two years ago – a start-up separate from the Ford mothership, which is aimed at producing electric vehicles at affordable prices. The lab’s team is being led by Alan Clarke, executive director of advanced EV development at Ford.

 

In 2023, Ford reported a loss of $1.6 billion and announced that it would reduce its expenditure on EVs, so it could fulfil customers’ needs in a better way. However, the current news of Ford’s experimentations with low-cost EVs suggests that the company is still adamant on competing with Tesla and other EV automakers like BYD.

Ford Reveals it Silently Developed a Skunkworks Lab for the Production of Low-Cost EVs



Bluesky, the decentralized Twitter rival, is preparing to be officially released for users to sign up to it. The platform has been in beta testing for a year now, where it has been able to gain over 3 million users.


CEO of Bluesky, Jay Graber, revealed that the company had been working on some moderation features and attempting to further stabilize the platform’s setup before launching it out of the beta stage.

 

As a decentralized platform, Blusky currently has no more than 40 full-time employees. Graber has reported there are 1.6 million monthly users on the app and thanks to its unique AT Protocol feature, it has 25,000 custom feeds too. Later this month, Bluesky will also start allowing third-party developers to host their own servers on its underlying Protocol, which will enable anyone to set up their own server.

Twitter Competitor Bluesky is Rolling out of Beta Testing Soon



LinkedIn is gradually altering the way Creator Mode works on its platform, while maintaining some of its existing elements as optional tools. Some of the Creator Mode options that LinkedIn has launched in the past include topical hashtags on profile, a ‘Featured’ section that showcase a user’s content, and a ‘Follow’ button on their profile.

 

In LinkedIn’s own words, it is working to open up “additional creation tool access and deeper analytics to all members.”

 

LinkedIn is starting off by shifting its focus off of ‘Talks About’ hashtags for connectivity and plans to remove the option of turning on Creator Mode from profile settings next. The Follow button will remain, and the ‘About’ section will be placed on the top of profiles, as before.

LinkedIn Seems to be Getting Rid of Creator Mode



Roblox has developed its own AI model for swift translation of text in chats, so users can understand each other beyond the language barrier. The technology can translate the messages exchanged between users in 16 languages, including English, French, Japanese, Thai, Polish, and Vietnamese. 

 

The model is built on Roblox’s own large language model (LLM) that it has trained on internal, publicly available data. Instead of creating an LLM for each language, Roblox integrated the LLM within a Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture, that ran multiple translation apps, each of which was an expert in one language.

 

Roblox’s AI translator automatically translates messages as they come in, and users can also see the original text by clicking on an icon. You can also provide feedback to the translator if you find its translations to not be very accurate.

Roblox Launches a Real-Time Translation AI Feature to Assist Users in their Interactions

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