Category: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

You can now ask Bing Chat to generate images using DALL-E

Microsoft’s Bing Chat is getting a visual upgrade courtesy of OpenAI’s DALL-E.

Announced in a blog post, Bing Chat will gain the ability to generate images using DALL-E, a generative image generator built by OpenAI. Microsoft didn’t provide specifics on the version of DALL-E used in Bing Chat, but it did tell TechCrunch that it was using the “very latest DALL-E models.”

Called the ‘Bing Image Creator,’ the feature is rolling out slowly to the Bing Chat preview. Users can access it through Bing Chat’s ‘Creative’ mode and it’ll eventually expand to ‘Balanced’ and ‘Presice’ too, though it’s not clear how these modes will impact image generation (if at all). Plus, Edge browser users will get access to it in the sidebar. Of course, it’s not available for everyone yet, so don’t sweat if you can’t get Bing Chat to generate pictures for you right away.

When you ask Bing to create an image, it will generate four high-res images using DALL-E, though they sport a Bing logo in the bottom corner.

And in an effort to prevent Bing Image Creator from going off the rails like Bing Chat did in the early days, Microsoft preemptively added safeguards:

“We have ensured OpenAI’s safeguards, plus additional protections, have been incorporated into Image Creator. For example, we have put controls in place that aim to limit the generation of harmful or unsafe images. When our system detects that a potentially harmful image could be generated by a prompt, it blocks the prompt and warns the user.”

You can learn more about Bing Image Creator here.

Source: Microsoft Via: TechCrunch

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Mobile Syrup

Premium smartphones represented a majority of sales in 2022, and Apple played a major role

Apple’s iPhones helped boost the sales of premium smartphones.

According to research from Counterpoint, premium smartphone sales (devices that cost more than $600 USD) represented 55 percent of all smartphone sales in 2022.

Apple’s sales grew by six percent in the premium category, representing three-quarters of all premium smartphone sales. The company also took market share from Huawei with its decline in China. However, Counterpoint notes Apple could have seen more premium sales.

“Apple could have grown more, if not for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max supply disruption during the peak holiday season in 2022,” said Counterpoint

Other factors pushing the sale of premium smartphones include people willing to spend more on a device and retain it for a longer period of time.

Samsung represents the second largest market share, with its premium smartphone sales declining by five percent in 2022. The company’s missed opportunity in China and the late launch of the Galaxy S22 series, compared to the S21 in 2021, played a role.

Apple accounted for 23 percent of smartphone shipments in the last quarter of 2022, replacing a role Samsung once held. The research shows the iPhone 14 series launch played a role, dominating regional markets in Asia and North America. Samsung held 15 percent of the share.

Apple’s growth in smartphone shipments follows Counterpoint’s analysis that found the company made eight of the best-selling smartphones in 2022.

Source: Counterpoint

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Mobile Syrup

Pixel 8 Pro rumoured to use Super Res Zoom tech for Night Sight

The newest leak about the Pixel 8 Pro indicates the phone will offer better Night Sight performance.

9to5Google performed an APK breakdown of the Google Camera app’s latest update, version 8.8, and discovered that the Super Res Zoom technology will expand to Night Shots.

Super Res Zoom is a feature in the Pixel 7 Pro that utilizes the phone’s primary shooter with the telephoto camera when you zoom so you can get sharper. more detailed images.

It’s not entirely clear how Google will expand this feature to Night Sight shots, though it will likely kick in automatically. It’s also unclear if Google will make any changes to how Super Res works, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will launch sometime in the fall.

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Pixel Watch March update lets you check the time when your watch is off

Google’s March 2023 update is rolling out now for the Pixel Watch, bringing a handful of useful new features and fixes.

The headliner addition with the March 2023 update is fall detection, though technically, that started rolling out late in February. Fall detection has been a long time coming, but it should now be available for most people who live in supported regions. You can learn more about fall detection on the Pixel Watch here.

However, fall detection isn’t the only new feature in the March update (and it might not even be the most interesting). Another new feature is the ability to view the time on your Pixel Watch, even when the watch is powered down. You can do this by pressing the crown on your Pixel Watch.

Other tweaks include the ability to turn on power saving mode directly from the quick settings tile, the option to wake the screen by turning the crown, touch sensivitvty optimizations and more.

Google also noted that it’s working on a fix for an issue causing alarms to go off late or not at all. That should arrive “in the coming weeks” via a Play Store update to the Pixel Watch’s Clock app.

You can grab the update on your watch by heading into Settings > System > System updates. However, it’s worth noting that these updates often take time to roll out so if it’s not there right away, it should show up soon.

Source: Google Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

TikTok rolls out new guidelines for content generated by AI

TikTok has rolled out a new set of rules targeting deepfakes and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Under the new guidelines, users have to label synthetic media, which TikTok defines as content created or edited by AI, such as deepfakes.

The platform has also banned deepfakes containing ordinary citizens who aren’t public figures. Content containing synthetic media for public figures is also out if the content is used for endorsement purposes or violates other platform policies, such as hate speech.

“Material that has been edited, spliced, or combined (such as video and audio) in a way that may mislead a person about real-world events” isn’t allowed, the company says in its updated guidelines.

The changes come as TikTok faces mounting pressures from government officials in various countries.

The U.S. seeks to ban the app unless its founders sell their stake in the company. TikTok operates under Beijing-based ByteDance.

The Canadian government banned TikTok on all government devices on March 1st. Provinces and Territories followed soon after, and some municipalities have also outlawed the app.

Source: TikTok Via: The Verge 

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Mobile Syrup

Google starts offering limited access to its Bard AI chatbot

Google unveiled its ChatGPT competitor Bard in early February. At the time, the company said that its AI chatbot would go public in the coming weeks.

Now, Google is opening up limited access to Bard in the U.S. and the U.K., as shared by CEO Sundar Pichai on Twitter, and you can join the waitlist here. According to Google, the rollout for Bard will be slow, and the company did not provide a date for a wider rollout.

‘Bard’ will be able to answer user inquiries and participate in conversations in a human-like manner, similar to how ChatGPT functions. The service is powered by LaMDA, with which the chatbot would be able to interact with users to explore complex topics, collaborate in real-time and provide new and creative ideas.

“Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models,” wrote Google in its initial press release. “Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills.”

However, the company also warns that Bard is an early experiment that is intended to help people boost their productivity, but it is not a tool that is meant to replace its search engine, considering that similar to ChatGPT, Bard might also display inaccurate or offensive information.

It’s worth noting that in an early demo of Bard, the chatbot already shared inaccurate information. In a blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, an example of the chatbot’s capabilities was shown off. 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.” JWST did not take the very first picture of an exoplanet. The first image of an exoplanet was taken back in 2004, by the VLT (Very Large Telescope), stationed in Cerro Paranal, Antofagasta, Chile, while the JWST only became operational in 2022.

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.” Hopefully, Google has fixed the issues with Bard, and going forward, it won’t make such blatant mistakes.

Source: @sundarpichai

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Mobile Syrup

Bell expands it pure fibre internet to Essex Centre and Harrow

Bell’s capital expenditure program has brought pure fibre internet access to Essex Centre and Harrow.

The expansion will impact 3,000 homes and businesses in the two Ontario communities.

Bell says the expenditure program focuses on investing in next-generation infrastructure, providing faster and high-capacity fibre connections. Areas will have access to download speeds up to 3Gbps and a variety of Bell services once completed.

“Through our own fully-funded investments in world-class broadband networks, Bell continues to deliver on our purpose of advancing how Canadians connect with each other and the world,” Bruce Furlong, Bell’s senior vice president of network, said.

The company has announced expansion plans under the program in several areas, including Barrie and Owen Sound.

Source: Bell

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Mobile Syrup

Canadians can now listen to audiobooks on Spotify

Spotify’s Audiobooks are finally launching in Canada after being available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand for roughly five months.

The feature first released in the U.S. back in September 2022, before being expanded to the other countries mentioned above in November.

The addition of Canada to the list of supported countries means Canadians will be able to purchase and listen to a catalogue of more than 300,000 audiobook titles. The experience will be available in English and French Canadian, Spotify told MobileSyrup in an email statement.

“We’ve always believed that the potential for audio creators is limitless. This audiobooks experience is just the beginning of our journey — we’ll continue expanding our catalog and developing new ways for listeners to discover and engage with audiobooks,” wrote Spotify in a press relase.

Starting today, Canadians can go to the Spotify app and discover audiobooks alongside music and podcasts as a section in their library. Once you’ve found an audiobook on the app that you’d like to purchase, you’d need to head to open.spotify.com to purchase it. Once bought, the audiobook will be unlocked on the Spotify app and will be automatically saved in your library and available to listen to whenever you want. Audiobooks can also be downloaded for offline listening.

Additionally, playback speed controls are also included for audiobooks and “for listeners who want to share their opinion after listening to a book, we’ve also included a rating feature, which will publicly display the aggregate rating of the book,” said Spotify.

Read about Spotify’s expansion to Audiobooks here.

Image credit: Spotify

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Mobile Syrup

What’s new on Xbox Game Pass on console, PC and mobile in late March 2023

Every month, Xbox brings new games to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Typically, these come in waves, and now, Xbox has revealed what’s rounding out March, following the March 21st Game Pass launch of Ni no Kuni: Revenant Kingdom — The Prince’s Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC).

  • MLB The Show 23 (Cloud and Console) — March 28th
  • Infinite Guitars (Cloud, Console, and PC) — March 30th

Additionally, here’s what’s leaving Game Pass on March 31st:

  • A Memoir Blue (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Chinatown Detective Agency (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • ClusterTruck (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Double Dragon Neon (Cloud and Console)
  • Kraken Academy!! (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • MLB The Show 22 (Cloud and Console)
  • Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (Cloud, Console, and PC)

An Xbox Game Pass subscription costs $11.99 CAD/month for either Console or PC, while a $16.99/month Game Pass Ultimate membership includes Game Pass for both Console and PC, Xbox Live Gold, EA Play and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Find out what came to Game Pass earlier this month here.

In related news, Xbox confirmed last week that Ghostwire: Tokyo is coming to Game Pass in April following a one-year console exclusivity on PS5.

Image credit: PlayStation

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Mobile Syrup

Uber riders in Ottawa score the worst ratings for the second year in a row

Uber riders in Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal might want to use Uber’s tips for improving their rider rating.

Riders in these cities represent the top three places with the lowest rider ratings in Canada, repeating a trend Uber first shared last year. Hamilton, which was also on the list the year prior, and Edmonton round out the top five.

But that doesn’t mean riders in these cities can’t improve their ratings. According to Uber drivers, they can score higher if they wear their seatbelts, don’t make the driver wait to start the ride and don’t slam the car door.

Image credit: Uber

Customers who have yet to see their rating can do so in the privacy center.

Riders in Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Red Deer, Winnipeg, and Halifax represent the cities with the highest ratings.

Image credit: Shutterstock