The Tech Weekender | Top news from the world of technology this week
Apple CEO Tim Cook pushes for the launch of mixed reality headset, Twitter rival Koo jumps on the AI bandwagon, Microsoft announces AI Copilot for Office 365 apps and more as generative artificial intelligence war gets fierce
Apple's CEO Tim Cook and Chief Operation Officer Jeff Williams are reportedly pushing for the launch of the long-rumoured mixed reality headset this year. Speaking to the London-based Financial Times, sources from within Apple told the publication that both Cook and Williams wanted to release the headset this year despite warnings from the engineering team that it wasn't ready for launch.
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Koo, an India-based social media app that aims to rival Twitter, has integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT to help users more easily create posts. Koo users will be able to use ChatGPT directly within the app to help them draft posts about current events, politics or pop culture, Koo co-founder Mayank Bidawatka said in an interview.
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Dummy units for the iPhone 15, based on leaked CAD files for the smartphone, have shown up in a video that tests compatibility with some of iPhone 14 cases. The dummy units confirm that the iPhone 15, expected to be released later this year, will have smaller bezels, curved edges and sizeable camera bumps for a 48-megapixel camera sensor.
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Apple is busy testing Generative AI concepts that the company could integrate into Siri, its virtual voice assistant. According to the New York Times, Apple engineers have been working closely with members of the Siri team to test generative AI concepts, which are similar in functionality to OpenAI’s ChatGPT that powers Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot.
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Samsung has responded to the accusations that its "Space Zoom" technology is fake and is adding details to the photos that aren't originally there. A Reddit user who goes by the name ibreakphotos recently tried Samsung's extreme zoom feature called "Space Zoom". When tested, ibreakphotos found that Samsung's Neural Network processing was adding details to the picture that weren't present originally. Samsung has responded to the accusation by saying that its technology uses a "detail improvement function" that removes noise and enhances detail "to complete a bright and clear picture of the moon". ibreakphotos had used moon shots for the test.
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Microsoft has announced AI-integration for all of its Office 365 apps and services. The new AI assistant called Copilot will be available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and Business Chat. The AI assistant is powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 technology, the same framework that powers ChatGPT and Bing AI among others.
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The Vivobook 15 OLED is an excellent everyday laptop for daily tasks on MS Office or e-learning. It also has an impressive screen, earning it an easy recommendation in our books, provided you don’t mind lackluster battery life and a slightly chunky build. Check out the full review.
