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Apple HomeView Ultra, Drone and Laundry-Folding Robot Reportedly In Development

According to The Information, Apple is developing a $1,000 HomeView Ultra smart home hub with a 9-inch touchscreen mounted on a motorized arm that can follow users around a room and autonomously respond to its surroundings. It's also said to be experimenting with more ambitious home robots, including a wheeled robot that follows people, a smart home drone and a machine capable of folding laundry. Notebookcheck reports: According to the report, HomeView Ultra will feature a larger 9-inch touchscreen mounted on a robotic arm. This arm can automatically turn the screen toward the user. With a cam

Slashdot · EN

Study Claims Vizio Simply Ignores 'Smart' TV Spying Opt Out Requests

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Techdirt: Recently, reports emerged that LG TVs are sniffing around your local network, and even listening to your local environment, even when the TV is purportedly "off." Some of those voice commands were then stored in plain text and uploaded to the internet. LG's response? To deny everything. [...] That latter point is central to a new study out of Northeastern that conducted 5,943 experiments across twelve commercial "smart" TV devices. The researchers found that most smart TVs utilize automatic content recognition (ACR), a technology that captures

Slashdot · EN

Snap Reaches Settlement In Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Ahead of Trial

Snap has settled a lawsuit brought by two teenagers who alleged Snapchat was deliberately designed to be addictive and contributed to their mental health problems, avoiding a trial that was scheduled to begin this week. Snap was the last defendant to settle after Meta, Alphabet and TikTok resolved claims in the same case. CBS News reports: The teenage plaintiffs, identified in court documents as S.J. and K.D.B., had alleged in the suit that Snapchat was designed to be addictive and that using the platform from a young age contributed to their mental health issues. "We are glad to reach resolut

Slashdot · EN

How long could HDDs and SSDs remain expensive?

Thanks to shortages of microchips and other computer components, we've been experiencing high prices for years.

Engadget · EN

How to use your phone's camera to translate anything

With the aid of a quick picture, you can use your phone's camera to translate pretty much any text while you're traveling across the globe.

Engadget · EN

Why it's important to never plug power strips into each other

Power strips are lifesavers when you don't have enough outlets to power all of your electronics and some also offer protection from power surges.

Engadget · EN

The reason why some iPhone calls don't have a decline option, and others do

Sometimes your iPhone lets you decline a call and sometimes it doesn't. Here's why that happens, and a few easy ways to handle the calls you'd rather skip.

Engadget · EN

Is it actually safe to charge your iPhone at airport USB ports?

Using a random USB charger can be unsafe, even though the risk is minimal. Thankfully, you have ways to protect your devices.

Engadget · EN

This Chinese Android phone brand has launched a Harry Potter collab

Everything about this latest collectible Android phone is designed to evoke the popular franchise, from its magical packaging to its themed accessories.

Engadget · EN

Apple’s inventory surges 154% as memory chip costs climb

Apple says unprecedented memory chip costs will continue to rise, raising questions about future device prices as its inventory climbs to $14.5 billion.

TechCrunch · EN

Trajectory raises $45M to make AI model training accessible to nontechnical experts

The one-year-old startup is now valued at $300 million.

TechCrunch · EN

Apple says it’s ‘hard to predict’ when iPhone Duo constraints will improve

Apple says iPhone Duo production is ramping up, but it still can't say when supply will catch up with demand as shipping delays stretch into next year.

TechCrunch · EN

Hinge tests a cheaper plan as users become more fed up paying for dating apps

At a time when people are increasingly tired of dating apps, Hinge is testing a cheaper subscription plan.

TechCrunch · EN

Y Combinator’s Garry Tan uses AI agents so much, he spends up to $200K a year on tokens

Y Combinator Garry Tan has jokingly admitted that he's suffered from "cyber psychosis” and barely sleeps sometimes because he’s so excited to be working with his AI agents. On a new episode of Walter Isaacson’s podcast, The Builders, Tan put a price tag on his passion.

TechCrunch · EN

Ukraine’s new pocket-sized gadget turns Russian drones’ cameras against them

A Kyiv startup’s pocket-sized, 10-ounce receiver lets Ukrainian troops watch the video feeds of Russian drones, though Russian moves toward digital video and AI-guided drones that emit no signals could make the victory short-lived.

TechCrunch · EN

Apple may try to increase revenue by doing…something with third-party AI apps

Apple hinted at ways that it could spur revenue through third-party "opportunities" during its Monday night earnings call.

TechCrunch · EN

Google takes Dreambeans to India in bid to bring AI-generated personal stories to the masses

Google's Dreambeans, its latest AI experiment, now supports 13 Indian languages.

TechCrunch · EN

The Online Right’s Closing Campaign Argument: Fascist Anakin Skywalker Memes

With Democrats poised to make significant gains in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Trump supporters have been reduced to posting bizarre Star Wars fan fiction.

Wired · EN

Meta will end Quest 2 OS updates in 2027

Meta is planning to release the last OS update for its Quest 2 and Quest Pro VR headsets by March 2027, the company announced today. The last OS update for those devices is planned to be v213, and after that, Meta will continue to ship security patches and critical bug fixes through the end of […]

The Verge · EN

Apple set an iPhone sales record even without a new standard iPhone

Apple had a record-breaking quarter for iPhone sales - despite not releasing a standard model during its latest refresh. In its fourth-quarter earnings report released on Monday, Apple says it earned $57.58 billion in iPhone revenue, a 17 percent jump from the same time last year. The increase in revenue follows the launch of Apple's […]

The Verge · EN

Apple is ‘not able to predict’ when it’ll have enough iPhone Duos to go around

Apple CEO John Ternus doesn't have a timeline for when iPhone Duo supply constraints could lift. During an interview with Reuters, Ternus said the company is "working hard to get it to as many customers as quickly as possible, but at this ​point, we're not able to predict when supply and demand will be in […]

The Verge · EN

Third person dies of bird flu since virus started jumping to livestock

The threat is still considered to be low, but the virus continues to spread.

Ars Technica · EN

"At Home in Space" opens, caps Air and Space Museum renovation

The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has all of its "space" back open.

Ars Technica · EN

Flying an RC Airplane with Twin Airblower EDFs

Shortly after [RCMakerLab] posted his question on potentially equipping an RC airplane with the electronic ducted fans (EDFs) from those airblower devices – are sold mostly as a replacement for …read more

Hackaday · EN