Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

No increase in mobile customers for Telus, Q4 results show

Telecom giant Telus says its 2022 fourth quarter financial results are the best Q4 results “on record.”

The company added 112,000 mobile customers, which remained unchanged compared to the year prior. Despite not seeing growth in the section, Telus increased its mobile network revenue by $104 million (6.5 percent) partially due to an increase its connected device subscriber base. Higher ARPU (referring to how much Telus made off each mobile customer) also played a role, which Telus largely attributes to increased roaming.

Telus also added 106,000 connected devices and saw revenue from mobile equipment increase by 9.7 percent.

However, the company’s total profits saw a sharp decline. Telus pulled $265 million in profit this quarter, compared to $663 million in Q4 2021.

More to come…

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Mobile Syrup

Beats Studio 3 Wireless Headphones are now 43 percent off

While the Beats Studio 3 headphones are not new, they do however pack some serious sound and features.

If you’re looking for a solid deal, Amazon is currently offering these up for 43 percent off in a ‘limited time deal’ for $249. This is a savings of almost $200 CAD.

The Studio 3 Wireless headphones feature Apple’s W1 chip.The Studio 3 headphones should have up to 22 hours of battery life and with the noise cancellation feature turned off, the headphones should last up to 40 hours. Apple also notes that a 10-minute charge gives users 3 hours of play.

The Studio 3 features Pure Adaptive Noise Cancelling (Pure ANC) that will actively block external noise. Included within the headphones functionalities is the ability to take calls, skip songs, control your volume and activate Siri. Additionally, the Studio 3 have Class 1 Bluetooth that allows for longer range.

The headphones come in six colour variants: blue, red, grey with gold accents, porcelain rose, matte black and white.

Check them out here at Amazon Canada

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

Source: Amazon Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Google debuts new Pixel 7 Super Bowl ad

Football fans taking in Super Bowl LVII this Sunday can expect to see a new ad for the highly acclaimed Google Pixel 7.

The upcoming spot focuses on Google’s latest smartphone’s ‘Magic Eraser’ and ‘Photo Unblur’ features, allowing users to unblur noise in photos, or delete/change the color of objects in their pictures. The ad runs 90 seconds and will air sometime during the second quarter of the big game.

See the full ad below:

It shows users erasing various mishaps from their photos. They go about deleting everything from a goofy sibling to even that one ex they probably want to forget about, all set to Missy Elliot’s “We Run This.”

The Super Bowl spot  even features appearances from comedian Amy Schumer, rapper Doja Cat, and NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

This comes as the second year in a row that Google spotlighted its smartphone line at the Super Bowl. Last year, the tech giant employed the talents of Lizzo for a commercial focused on the Pixel 6’s Real Tone feature.

Super Bowl ds centered on their hardware have been uncommon for Google. The company usually opts to use the advertising time to promote its software and services.

Image credit: Google

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Mobile Syrup

U.S. Super Bowl LVII ads will once again skip Canada, with one exception

For a few years, Canadians were able to enjoy the glossy, star-studded U.S. ads that have become a staple of the Super Bowl.

However, Bell complained that it was losing millions in revenue by not being able to run local Canadian ads, and, in 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the telecom giant. This means that every Super Bowl since has only had Canadian ads, despite the fact that many Canadians said the ads are a major reason for watching.

Alas, that rule hasn’t changed in 2023. In other words, for the fourth consecutive year, the American ads won’t show up during Canadian broadcasts of February 12’th’s big game, this time between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Well, almost all of them. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) does allow U.S. companies to purchase ad time during Canadian streams, and this year, Doritos’ Missy Elliott and Elton John spot will air here.

Of course, Super Bowl ads are sometimes released online ahead of time, so you can always try to find them that way. One of those is PopCorners’ amusing Breaking Bad commercial which sees Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) and Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) reunite for some crunchy snacks.

Movie and TV show trailers typically get uploaded quickly to their respective social media channels, too. This year, we’re expecting looks at Fast X, The Flash, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels (co-starring Markham, Ontario’s Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel).

What ads are you hoping to see? Are you rooting for the Chiefs or Eagles? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: PepsiCo

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Mobile Syrup

Google Messages reactions now allow any emoji

Google is now rolling out the ability for users to use any emoji for a Google Messages emoji reaction.

The feature, which was first tested in mid-November – is now ready for widespread use. It allows Google Messages users to react to messages with any emoji they choose.

Google Messages Emoji Test 1

Until now, Google Messages only allowed the use of seven different reaction emojis (thumbs up/down, Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes, Face with Tears of Joy, Face with Open Mouth, Crying Face, and Angry Face).

To access the entire emoji keyboard, all you have to do is long-press on an SMS text or RCS chat and hit the “plus” button. From there, you are greeted by the entire catalogue of Google emojis.

For Andriod users, the reaction will appear just like it did before, attached to the bottom right of the message. However, this does not do away with these reactions showing up as quoted text for recipients with iPhones.

The wider rollout is now available on the latest update of the Google Messages app.

Via: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Google’s ChatGPT competitor is already sharing false information

Google’s recently-announced ChatGPT-like AI chatbot Bard is already making factual mistakes.

On Monday, February 6th, Google announced that its ChatGPT competitor Bard would go public in the coming weeks. In a blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, an example of the chatbot’s capabilities was shown.

When asked, “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year-old about?” the chatbot shared three simple-to-understand points, one of them being that “JWST took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system.”

While we know that the JWST is the most advanced telescope to peep at the universe with and can take better photos of planets outside our solar system, saying that the JWST took the very first picture of an exoplanet isn’t factual. As stated on Nasa’s website, the first image of an exoplanet was taken back in 2004, while the JWST became operational in 2022. The first exoplanet was imaged by the VLT (Very Large Telescope), stationed in Cerro Paranal, Antofagasta, Chile.

Several astronomers and astrophysicists were quick to point out the inaccuracy of Bard, with Grant Tremblay (@astrogrant) saying, “Not to be a ~well, actually~ jerk, and I’m sure Bard will be impressive, but for the record: JWST did not take “the very first image of a planet outside our solar system.” He added, “I do love and appreciate that one of the most powerful companies on the planet is using a JWST search to advertise their LLM. Awesome! But ChatGPT etc., while spooky impressive, are often *very confidently* wrong. Will be interesting to see a future where LLMs self error check.”

In a statement given to The Verge about Bard’s inaccuracy, a Google spokesperson said, “This highlights the importance of a rigorous testing process, something that we’re kicking off this week with our Trusted Tester program. We’ll combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information.”

In related news, Microsoft has partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT-like functionality to the Bing search engine. Read more about it here.

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Google’s ChatGPT competitor is already sharing false information

Google’s recently-announced ChatGPT-like AI chatbot Bard is already making factual mistakes.

On Monday, February 6th, Google announced that its ChatGPT competitor Bard would go public in the coming weeks. In a blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, an example of the chatbot’s capabilities was shown.

When asked, “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year-old about?” the chatbot shared three simple-to-understand points, one of them being that “JWST took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system.”

While we know that the JWST is the most advanced telescope to peep at the universe with and can take better photos of planets outside our solar system, saying that the JWST took the very first picture of an exoplanet isn’t factual. As stated on Nasa’s website, the first image of an exoplanet was taken back in 2004, while the JWST became operational in 2022. The first exoplanet was imaged by the VLT (Very Large Telescope), stationed in Cerro Paranal, Antofagasta, Chile.

Several astronomers and astrophysicists were quick to point out the inaccuracy of Bard, with Grant Tremblay (@astrogrant) saying, “Not to be a ~well, actually~ jerk, and I’m sure Bard will be impressive, but for the record: JWST did not take “the very first image of a planet outside our solar system.” He added, “I do love and appreciate that one of the most powerful companies on the planet is using a JWST search to advertise their LLM. Awesome! But ChatGPT etc., while spooky impressive, are often *very confidently* wrong. Will be interesting to see a future where LLMs self error check.”

In a statement given to The Verge about Bard’s inaccuracy, a Google spokesperson said, “This highlights the importance of a rigorous testing process, something that we’re kicking off this week with our Trusted Tester program. We’ll combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information.”

In related news, Microsoft has partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT-like functionality to the Bing search engine. Read more about it here.

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s everything that was revealed in February 2023’s Nintendo Direct

Nintendo held its first Direct presentation of the year on February 8th, and it was jam-packed with announcements.

See below for a recap of everything that was featured during the show:

  • Pikmin 4 — July 21st, 2023
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass Volume 3 — February 15th, 2023
  • Samba de Amigo: Party Central — summer 2023
  • Fashion Dreamer — TBA 2023
  • Dead Cells Castlevania DLC — March 6th, 2023
  • Tron: Identity — April 2023
  • Ghost Trick Phantom Detective — summer 2023
  • Deca Police — TBA 2023
  • Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon — March 17th, 2023
  • Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass — spring 2023
  • Disney Illusion Island — July 28th, 2023
  • Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass Wave 2 — February 8th, 2023 (Expansion Pass 3 and 4 were also teased but undated)
  • Harmony The Fall of Reverie — June 2023
  • Octopath Traveller II — free demo on February 8th ahead of February 24th game launch
  • We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie — TBA
  • Sea of Stars (from Canada’s Sabotage) — August 29th, 2023
  • Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection (1-3) — June 1st, 2023
  • Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp — April 21st (following an indefinite delay)
  • Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe Epilogue reveal — February 24th, 2023
  • Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games coming to Switch Online — February 8th, 2023
  • Metroid Prime Remastered — February 8th, 2023
  • Master Detective Archives Rain Code — June 30th, 2023
  • Baten Kaitos 1+2 HD Remaster — summer 2023
  • Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Time — TBA 2023
  • Professor Layton and the New World of Steam — TBA
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — May 12th, 2023 (yes — just a new trailer but no delay)

What are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: Nintendo

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Mobile Syrup

Metroid Prime: Remastered unveiled and it’s out today

Nintendo finally pulled the curtain back on the long-rumored Metroid Prime: Remastered.

Revealed as a part of today’s Nintendo Direct, the update of Retro Studios GameCube is real and it comes out today. The reveal trailer featured action from Samus’ first first-person adventure with updated graphics and motion controls.

The title is available now on the Nintendo eShop for $49.99 CAD. A physical release was also announced; however, no definitive date was given.

A Metroid Prime remake has been the subject of speculation for years.

Back in 2018, talk of a Prime trilogy remaster hit the web. Over time though it started to become clear that the project had been abandoned in favor of focusing on the first game.

Last year it was rumored the title would be out in time for the series’ 20th anniversary last November. But it seems to have missed it and it is ready now.

This comes as news on the long-in-development Metroid Prime 4 remains scarce.

See the full trailer below:

Via: Nintendo

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Mobile Syrup

Game Boy and GBA games are finally coming to Nintendo Switch Online

Nintendo has confirmed that Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles are coming to Nintendo Switch Online.

It’s been rumoured for a couple of years that the handheld games would join Nintendo’s subscription service catalogue, but it’s only now been made official during the latest Direct presentation.

What’s surprising, though, is that they’ll be available starting today, February 8th.

The Game Boy titles will be available as part of a base Nintendo Switch Online membership, which costs $24.99 CAD/year. However, GBA games are exclusive to Switch Online + Expansion Pack, priced at $63.99/year. This membership includes all of the perks of the base Switch Online subscription.

Some of the Game Boy titles available at launch include:

  • Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
  • Game & Watch Gallery 3
  • Gargoyle’s Quest
  • Kirby’s Dream Land
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
  • Metroid II: Return of Samus
  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Gold Coins
  • Tetris
  • Wario Land 3

You can also choose between Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color filters.

Meanwhile, the Game Boy Advance launch line-up is as follows:

  • Kuru Kuru Kuruin
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
  • Mario Kart: Super Circuit
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
  • Mega MicroGames
  • Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
  • WarioWare Inc.

Nintendo says more games will be added to both the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance catalogues over time. In supported games, multiplayer for up to two players will also be supported locally or online.

Image credit: Nintendo