Light, the company behind a pair of minimalist handsets, just released the Light Phone III. This is the perfect device for those who are tired of modern smartphones, with their easy access to doomscrolling and their abundance of wonky AI tools. The Light Phone III features a sleek black-and-white OLED display, which is a new design element. The previous models included e-paper screens. The big draw, however, is not…

First up, an apology. In Tuesday's newsletter, I laid out how to watch (and what to expect from) Amazon's Alexa press event. But aside from unveiling what Alexa+ will be capable of, there was no silly hardware and no upgraded Echos, but lots of demos. We learned Alexa+ will be included with an Amazon Prime subscription, and the company will also offer the enhanced digital assistant separately, for $20 per month. At…

Convenience has always been the big promise of robot vacuums. Don't clean your house yourself — instead, push a button and have a little robot putter around your home, sucking up all the dirt and debris in its path. Indeed, they are convenient, but they haven't fully replaced a manually operated cordless vacuum. Chances are, you have either a robot vacuum or a cordless vacuum in your house right now. Anker's home…

Artificial intelligence makers have faced a mountain of criticism for borrowing from the work of others to train its models. Now the world's largest publishing house is taking steps to ensure its authors don't have their work plagiarized in the name of progress. The Bookseller reports that Penguin Random House Publishing changed the copyright page at the front of its books to address using any of its titles as a…

One of the most common criticisms against Snapchat is that it's not very intuitive and is quite hard navigate as a new user. Personally, I never quite got the hang of it and find TikTok much, much easier to use. Apparently, Snap is aware of the issue, because it's currently testing a "simplified version of Snapchat." Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has revealed the existence of an experimental Snapchat app in a lengthy blog…

ASUS is now outfitting its NUC 14 Pro mini PC with a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of reaching 48 trillion operations per second (TOPS). The new model, the ASUS NUC Pro AI, will have up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V processor. With a height of only 1.3 inches, this mini PC can be carried anywhere and won't get in your way. Most of the features like ports and internals should be similar compared to its…

The final holiday weekend of summer is here and there are Labor Day sales to be had. Historically, Labor Day isn't a boon for tech deals but there are always a few decent ones that pop up, particularly in the outdoor tech space. Labor Day sales often overlap with back-to-school sales as well, so there's a good chance you can save on tech like tablets, speakers, kitchen tech, charging gear and other items that can…

Google has lost a seven-year battle with the European Commission as the EU's highest court upheld a $2.7 billion antitrust fine against the search giant, Reuters reported. Antitrust regulators originally levied the penalty against Google in 2017 for favoring its own shopping service against local rivals. "Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its…

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom feels like a kindred spirit to the 2019 remake of Link's Awakening, both in challenge and in vibes. It's a far cry from the incredibly intricate and complex worlds in Tears of the Kingdom, and while I only played for about 90 minutes (spread over two different parts of the game),I came away from the demo charmed by the gorgeous, tilt-shift art style. Not to mention being quite…

In addition to revealing its initial plans for AI and annual updates to iOS, macOS and more at WWDC 2024, Apple also discussed new capabilities coming to the second-gen AirPods Pro. Siri Interactions will allow you to respond to the assistant by nodding your head yes or shaking your head no. Apple also plans to introduce improved Voice Isolation that further reduces background noise when you're on a call. Both of…

Spotify has added another subscription option. This time around, it's offering a plan that has little to do with music. The Audiobooks Access Tier (which is US-only for now) offers 15 hours of audiobook listening each month for $10. You'll have access to Spotify's library of more than 200,000 titles You can, of course, still listen to ad-supported music via Spotfy's free tier. At first glance, it might seem odd for…

Just moments after Google announced its latest smartphone, both Amazon and Best Buy swooped in with deals to convince you to get yours from one of them. Right now, the Pixel 8a is open for pre-orders at Google's storefront, but if you go through Amazon, you'll get a physical $100 Amazon gift card once the phone ships. Purchase through Best Buy and you'll get a$100 gift card for its store, plus a one-month…

A key feature of Apple's Vision Pro VR, er, spatial computing headset is Personas that that lets people see a digital version of themselves during calls, Zoom meetings, etc. At launch, they looked a bit creepy, but Apple has improved them considerably in the latest release, according to posts on X spotted by MacRumors. They're now more realistic, so users look less like impressionist paintings and more like…

Nightdive Studios has reimagined another cult classic game for modern audiences. Killing Time: Resurrected is a refresh of the 1996 3DO and PC original. For the uninitiated, the game was notable at the time for attempting to blend full-motion video (FMV) with a first-person shooter. It truly looked like nothing else when it was released during the heyday of Bill Clinton's first term as president. Like most…

The Federal Communication Commission is moving forward with its plan to ban AI robocalls. Commissioners voted unanimously on Wednesday in favor of a Declaratory Ruling that was proposed in late January. Under the measure, the FCC deems robocalls made using AI-generated voices to be "artificial" voices per the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). That makes the practice illegal. The ruling takes effect…

Microsoft is significantly restructuring its Activision Blizzard merger proposal by selling cloud gaming rights for Activision Blizzard games to rival Ubisoft, it wrote in a blog post late yesterday. That would address a key concern of UK regulators, which blocked the deal in part become of Microsoft's potential dominance in cloud gaming — but nothing is likely to be approved until October 18th. "As a result of the…

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A newly published study in the the Lancet Oncology journal has found that the use of AI in mammogram cancer screening can safely cut radiologist workloads nearly in half without risk of increasing false-positive results. In effect, the study found that the AI's recommendations were on par with those of two radiologists working together."AI-supported mammography screening resulted in a similar cancer detection rate…

A 16-year-old pocketed $50,000 for her award-winning discovery in the brains of people who died by suicide  Yahoo NewsView Full Coverage on Google News

It's still not clear if Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake will ever see the light of day — but if you're looking for a new side story in the franchise, the company has you covered. Ubisoft announced Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown at Summer Games Fest 2023, a new action-adventure platformer "inspired by the Metroidvania structure."Presenting: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, an action-adventure…