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Mobile Syrup

Mark Zuckerberg wants to introduce AI agents to billions through Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently told investors that the technology company sees “an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful.”

Although Zuckerberg didn’t follow up on exactly how the company plans on adding generative AI to its apps, his interest in the project was shown during the company’s earnings call for the first quarter of this year. It was reported that Meta earned $28.6 billion USD (roughly $38.9 billion CAD) in revenue along with a record 2 billion daily users of the Facebook app. Meta’s first quarter profits totalled $5.7 billion USD (about $7.7 billion CAD).

The CEO did tease potential plans for AI implementation on apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger and visual creation tools for posts on Facebook and Instagram, saying, “I expect that these tools will be valuable for everyone from regular people to creators to businesses. For example, I expect that a lot of interest in AI agents for business messaging and customer support will come once we nail that experience.”

Not one to shy away from bringing the topic back to the heavily-touted metaverse, Zuckerberg would go on to state that, over time, AI would come to the virtual world in the form of created avatars, objects, and worlds.

Initially behind on the AI push, Meta has slowly been taking steps towards bringing artificial intelligence to its systems, including spending billions of dollars on rehauling its data centers in recent quarters. Zuckerberg now says that the company is “no longer behind” in building its AI infrastructure and is planning on releasing related products in the coming months.

The news comes as AI chatbots have become all the rage lately, with companies like Snapchat and Google joining in on the craze. While Meta did release an AI language model called LLaMA to researchers earlier this year, it has not released anything widely accessible as of yet.

However, with Zuckerberg announcing that AI is “literally going to touch every single one of our products,” it won’t be long before Meta attempts a splash in the AI field. This doesn’t mean that the company is shifting away from the metaverse, though, with the next Quest VR headset slated to debut later this year.

Speaking of Meta’s journey into AR, Meta Spark is currently looking to support Indigenous storytelling through augmented reality.

Image credit: Meta

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Bang & Olufsen launches Beosound A5 portable speaker

Bang & Olufsen is back with its latest speaker offering — the portable Beosound A5. The Danish audio company highlights the product’s portability, modularity, and wireless charger inclusion.

As is the case with other B&O products, the device is designed to look and feel premium. It’s made using a mix of materials including aluminum and real oak wood. The design itself is the result of a collaboration with Danish design studio GamFratesi.

Besides the usual claim of high-quality audio, the A5 includes a wireless phone charger up top. B&O also boosts that the speaker is built with longevity in mind. The modularity of components will make it easier to replace individual parts rather than the entire speaker, according to the company.

Other additions include a USB-C power adapter, built-in support for common streaming technologies, and a convenient handle for easy carry.

Of course, none of this comes cheap. The Nordic Weave version will set you back $1,499, while the Dark Oak version costs $1,599.

You can check out the new speaker on B&O’s website.

Image credit: B&O

Source: B&O Via: Engadget

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Mobile Syrup

Chatr flash sale offers one month’s fee in credit

Rogers flanker brand Chatr is offering one month’s fee in credit on select nationwide prepaid service plans.

Plans are available for both 3G data, 4G data and talk-and-text, with all Chatr phone plans including call display, group calling and call forwarding.

The flash sale lasts until May 1st and includes one month’s fee in credit. Eligible 3G talk-and-text plans start at $30/mo and go up to $70/mo for unlimited Canada/US Talk and Data at speeds up to 10 Mbps.

Plans also exist for 4G talk-and-text with an additional $5 price increase per plan, starting at $40/mo and up to $75/mo.

Chatr confirms that a credit equivalent to one month’s plan fee will be applied on the 2nd-anniversary date. To activate their credit, users must reply to a text message following activation. Credit must be redeemed as per the instructions in the text message received following activation, and failing to do so will forfeit the credit.

As usual, Chatr offer up to 2GB of bonus data when activating select plans with automatic payments.

They also state that unused data does not roll over into the next month, with data usage being rounded up to the next full KB. Data overage and data roaming rates apply where applicable.

Full details of Chatr’s latest deals can be found here. Lucky Mobile is also offering one month of free service as part of a new offer.

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Mobile Syrup

FLO to double Canada’s public fast-charging ports with $220m CIB loan commitment

Canada’s Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has invested $220m in FLO, a Quebec City-based electric vehicle (EV) charging network operator, to build over 2,000 “ultra-fast” charging ports in public places in the next four years, with its primary focus being the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The chargers are set to be distributed at about 400 sites across the country, generally located on busy highways and travel corridors, as reported by The Toronto Star.

FLO aims that its chargers would charge most EVs to 80 percent in 15 minutes, potentially easing “range anxiety” for Canadian drivers and increasing EV adoption. “We’ve been around for almost 15 years now, we’ve demonstrated the ability to give great service and we know what we’re doing,” said Louis Tremblay, FLO CEO, in a statement given to The Toronto Star. “We’re going to try, through our process, to well serve that market (the GTA) that we strongly believe in the long run will be the biggest market.”

The company has about 23 percent of the Canadian EV charging market share, and already owns more than 90,000 charging stations across North America, mostly in Canada. The investment from the CIB is its first from a dedicated EV charging fund, and will double the number of public fast-charging ports in Canada.

Ontario has been slower to adopt EVs than Quebec and British Columbia, but FLO sees potential in the Greater Toronto Area. Tremblay added that FLO will make location decisions based on several factors, including deep data the company has collected from its existing network.

Image credit: FLO

Source: The Toronto Star

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Mobile Syrup

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania comes to Disney+ in May

Marvel Studios has confirmed that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will begin streaming on Disney+ on May 17th.

This will be exactly three months after the Ant-Man threequel opened in theatres.

Helmed once again by Ant-Man series director Peyton Reed, Quantumania serves as the start to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ‘Phase Five’ and follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and their family as they are sent to the mysterious Quantum Realm and encounter the villainous Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors).

While Quantumania was meant to set up Kang as the next Thanos-level villain for the MCU, it was met with some of the worst critical reception to a Marvel movie to date. It also underperformed at the box office, a rarity for the MCU. Making matters even worse is recent abuse allegations against Majors himself, leaving his future in the MCU unclear at the moment.

Next up for the MCU is May 5th’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, writer-director James Gunn’s swan song to his ragtag group of space adventurers. On the streaming side, Marvel’s next release will be the Samuel L. Jackson-led Secret Invasion on June 21st.

Image credit: Marvel Studios

Source: Marvel Studios

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Mobile Syrup

Lucky Mobile sale offers one month free until May 1

A new offer from Lucky Mobile is on right now. If you sign up today, you’ll get one month of free service, according to the flanker brand’s website.

The offer is available on a variety of plans, with both 3G and 4G speed tiers to choose from.

The terms state that the free month is only applied after two months of service. A one-time SIM card charge also applies, as per the fine print.

The flash sale ends on May 1st.

Source: Lucky Mobile

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung’s overall profits dip 95 percent, billions lost on chips

LONDON, UK – FEBRUARY 20, 2020: Samsung tech brand leterring logo in Harrods shopping mall.

Samsung’s memory chip business is coming off a nightmare of a quarter, with high inventories combined with falling demand contributing to a nearly $3.4 billion USD (about $4.63 billion CAD) loss from the division.

As reported by CNBC, the unit is often the company’s most significant profit driver. The losses on the chips contributed to Samsung’s quarterly operating profit dive of 95 percent on the quarter.

According to Bloomberg, one of the biggest causes of the losses goes back to the start of the pandemic, which saw smartphone and PC makers stockpile chips to get ahead of supply issues. Now, companies are left with loaded inventories as consumer demand has dropped off amidst high inflation.

The South Korean tech giant will no doubt be hoping its chip business numbers improve as the year goes on, with the recent news marking Samsung’s lowest quarterly operating profit since 2009. The company will hope that new smartphone and PC launches may increase demand, as well as hopes for an economic recovery in China, which Bloomberg accounts as the largest market for PCs and smartphones.

The news may not come as a surprise, as Samsung showed signs of a poor quarter in its earlier preliminary earnings. It plans to cut its memory chip production significantly in order to cut down a nearly 70 percent decline in prices over the previous nine months.

Despite the company taking a hit on its memory chips, the smartphone division was able to recoup some of the losses with a decent quarter, thanks in no small part to the launch of the Galaxy S23 lineup.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Bloomberg Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s what to expect for Google I/O 2023: Pixel Fold, Pixel 7a, AI and more

Google is holding its annual I/O developer conference on May 10th, where the company is rumoured to show off several new devices and updates coming to the company’s line of smartphones, apps, AI and more.

Hardware

Pixel Fold 

Google is expected to unveil its long-rumoured Pixel Fold, the company’s upcoming flagship foldable smartphone. Previous rumours from Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech indicate that the smartphone will cost $1,799 USD (approximately $2,436.45 CAD) for the 256GB model and $1,919 USD (approximately $2,598.97 CAD) for the 512GB model. The handset is expected to come in two colours, ‘Chalk’ and ‘Obsidian,’ with a 512GB model only available in Obsidian.

The device is also rumoured to be paired with 12GB of RAM, a Tensor G2 and the Titan M2 security chip.

The outer display of the Pixel Fold is set to feature a 17.4:9 aspect ratio at 5.8 inches and will sport an FHD+ OLED display with a 2,092 x 1,080-pixel resolution. The inner screen reportedly sits at 7.6 inches, with the foldable display featuring ultra-thin glass protected by plastic.

Further, the handset will reportedly feature a 48-megapixel main sensor with an f/1.7 aperture. The outer selfie camera is reported to include a 9.5-megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. The battery size remains unknown, but rumours indicate it’ll be smaller than the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s cell.

Additionally, according to Prosser, the handset will launch on May 10th, and pre-orders from the Google Store open the same day. Pre-orders from partners/carriers won’t open until May 30th, and the phone doesn’t launch until June 27th.

The Pixel Fold was recently shown off in a quick clip (see above). However, the video doesn’t really give us a detailed look at the device, unfortunately.

For that, we’ll have to turn to previously revealed renders. Renders of the device were shown by Howtoisolve and OnLeaks back in December. You can take a look at the renders below.

Pixel Tablet 

The Pixel Tablet will reportedly launch with 8GB of RAM and four colour options. These colour variants include one with a green rear case with a black bezel (‘Hazel’) and the other with a white bezel with a beige/cream rear (‘Porcelain’). The other two colours remain unknown.

The tablet will also reportedly feature an aluminum body with a nano-ceramic finish designed to provide a soft matte look and textured feel. Additionally, rumours indicate it includes a Tensor G2 processor, runs Android and comes in two storage options. Reportedly, these variants come in 128GB and 256GB options, with European pricing rumoured by Quandt.

According to his leak, the cost will be around €600 (roughly $880 CAD) to €650 (roughly $960 CAD). 9to5Google reported similar information based on details from sources “familiar with the matter.”

A leaked Amazon listing showed the tablet’s dock retailing at $120, but considering this information didn’t come from Google, it’s difficult to know if this is the actual cost of the dock.

The tablet will ship with a Charging Speaker Dock and charges via the rear pogo pins, with power coming from a jack on the rear. Further, this means that Google will likely not include a USB-C charging brick in the box. The Pixel Tablet was most recently spotted at the Milan Design Week as part of Google’s own ‘Shaped by Water’ exhibit.

Google initially unveiled the Pixel Tablet back at its 2022 Pixel 7/7 Pro launch.

Pixel 7a

Arguably the least exciting part of the hardware section is the mid-range Pixel 7a.

This handset is rumoured to feature 128GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, a 6.1-inch display with a 90Hz refresh rate, Google’s Tensor G2 chip and 5W wireless charging. The A-series will also offer two 12-megapixel shooters as well. Other rumours point to the device featuring a 64-megapixel primary sensor and 256GB of storage.

The handset will reportedly experience a price jump of $50. If Google maintains that price difference for the U.S. and Canadian Pixel 7a, we could see a $649 CAD price tag. Further, the smartphone is expected to launch in a new stylish blue variant, alongside grey and white versions.

And finally, the Pixel 7a is rumoured to feature a face unlock. 

Software

Android 14

As for software, Google’s Android 14 is already available in a public beta for those interested in downloading the OS update on a Pixel device.

We’ll also learn more about the Android update in the future, and Google is likely holding back some more significant updates for I/O. Further, we can expect a new version of the beta soon after the I/O, and we’ll also learn what other manufacturers will allow users to download the beta.

AI

AI has been a big thing of late with the rise of ChatGPT and, subsequently, Google’s Bard platform. We’ll likely learn more about Bard and its language model, and specifically how the company plans to bring it to devices.

Other 

Google will also likely share updates about Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Search and other apps in its suite. The tech giant will also likely talk about security and how it plans to keep those apps safe.

Image credit: Jon Prosser, Onleaks

Source: Howtoisolve, OnLeaks, Jon Prosser, 9to5Google (2), Zing News, MySmartPrice, SnoopyTech

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Mobile Syrup

A flood of new Pixel 7a leaks give us the full rundown of specs

Leaks and rumours about Google’s next Pixel A phone are relentless. This time, we have a collaboration between leaker Yogesh Brar on Twitter, and 91mobiles. 

The list of specifications posted by Brar mirrors what we’ve seen in previous leaks regarding the upcoming mid-range smartphone.

The addition of wireless charging is a welcome one, though we still don’t have the exact wattage information. The 6.1-inch display size and compact footprint is paired with a fairly large 4,400 mAh battery. This is a rather impressive combination if true, and will hopefully lead to some excellent battery life.

Other key specs include a Tensor G2 SoC, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 64-megapixel primary camera.

Another separate leak from MySmartPrice suggests the same lineup of specs. The site has leaked some possible marketing material as well.

With this much Pixel 7a information already out in the open, it’ll be interesting to see how Google plans to hype up the phone at its reveal event.

The Pixel 7a is expected to be announced as early as next month.

Source: @heyitsyogesh Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s how to watch the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs in Canada

It’s an exciting time for hockey fans around the country, with the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs just about to wrap up. Canadian teams like the Maple Leafs and the Oilers both have a good shot at advancing to the second round (sorry, Jets fans) and the action is only set to ramp up from there.

Here are the upcoming games in the first round:

  • Thursday, April 27th: Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs (7pm ET/4pm PT)
  • Thursday, April 27th: New York Rangers at New Jersey Devils (7:30 pm ET/4:30 pm PT)
  • Thursday, April 27th: Winnipeg Jets at Vegas Golden Knights (10pm ET/7 pm PT)
  • Friday, April 28th: Carolina Hurricanes at New York Islanders (7pm ET/4 pm PT)
  • Friday, April 28th: Boston Bruins at Florida Panthers (7:30pm ET/4:30 pm PT)
  • Friday, April 28th: Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild (9:30 pm ET/6:30 pm PT)
  • Friday, April 28th: Colorado Avalanche at Seattle Kraken (10pm ET/7 pm PT)
  • Saturday, April 29th: Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings (TBD)
  • If you haven’t been able to catch any of the games yet, don’t worry. There are a few different ways Canadian fans can get in on the action. Streaming-wise, Sportsnet Now, TVA Sports, and Hockey Night in Canada on CBC would stream the games.

Additionally, fans in Canada can watch the action live on CBC TV or live-streamed through CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Gem.

The CBC Sports app is available on both iOS and Android.

Sportsnet Now is available for $14.99/month and allows you to stream the NHL, MLB, NBA and more. It’s also available through cable providers such as Rogers, Bell, Telus, Source and Cogeco. Additionally, there are more than 30 TV providers for the platform. Check out the complete list here.

The Sportsnet Now app is available on Apple TV, Xbox, PlayStation, Android TV, iOS and Android and more.

The national French-language broadcaster of the NHL, TVA Sports, also has options for streaming the playoffs. Videotron, Cogeco, Telus, Cooptel, RTC and CCAP subscribers can access streams through the TVA Sports website and mobile apps.

Further information about how to watch can be found here.

Image credit: NHL

Source: Sportsnet