Sandhya Gupta

Why Apple is changing the ‘Hey Siri’ trigger to just ‘Siri’?

Apple announced plans to change the wake phrase used to activate the voice assistant from “Hey Siri” to just “Siri” at this year’s developers conference.

Apple is replacing “Hey Siri” with the simple phrase “Siri.” The modification, which is a feature of iOS 17, will make it simpler to call Siri on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices. It comes in response to a Bloomberg story from November that claimed Apple was working on simplifying Siri’s wake phrase.

Since the underlying technical and training work is simpler versus a two-word trigger phrase, Apple has been utilizing “Hey Siri” up to this point. Even though it may appear straightforward, switching to a single wake phrase is a substantial change.

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Even Microsoft allowed simply “Cortana” as a wake word before discontinuing its voice assistant on iOS and Android in 2021. Amazon users can activate the Alexa assistant with “Hey Alexa” or just “Alexa,” and Alexa users can trigger the assistant using just “Alexa.”

Instead of using a single “Google” wake word, Google Assistant still supports the “Hey Google” or “OK Google” utterances. Google would have to carefully consider how to stop the assistant from triggering during talks when Google is mentioned if it were to switch to a single wake phrase. After all, Google has evolved into a transitive verb as a result of its dominance in search.

There will be one more tweak to Siri that will somewhat alter how you use it. Users may now ask Siri many inquiries without using the trigger word each time thanks to a recent update from Apple. Now, you just need to speak “Siri” once to activate the assistant and ask subsequent inquiries back-to-back.

With the most recent software update, all devices now support both of these new Siri features. Unfortunately, despite what many enthusiasts might have anticipated after seeing recent advances in AI like ChatGPT, Apple did not make any improvements to the way Siri reacts to customer inquiries.

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The WWDC developer conference began on June 5 and will run through June 9. During the event, the company is anticipated to reveal its first-ever mixed-reality headset, new Macs, and updates to iOS and macOS, among other things.

“Hey, Siri” is a phrase used to activate the voice-controlled personal assistant feature on Apple devices. Siri is an intelligent virtual assistant developed by Apple Inc. It is available on various Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and HomePods.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Summer Game Fest 2023 and games conference schedule

Summer Game Fest is a digital gaming event that was first organized in 2020 by Geoff Keighley, a prominent figure in the gaming industry. It was designed to be a season-long celebration of video games, featuring a series of announcements, reveals, and demos from various game developers and publishers.

During Summer Game Fest, viewers can expect a mix of live-streamed events, gameplay showcases, interviews, and other gaming-related content. The event aims to bring together the gaming community and provide them with exciting updates and news about upcoming games.

In previous years, the fest has featured major game announcements and presentations from companies like Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and many others. It has served as a platform for showcasing new titles, unveiling trailers, and sharing insights into the development process.

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At 12 p.m. PDT/3 p.m. EDT/9 p.m. CEST on Thursday, June 8, Summer Game Fest will stream live from the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles. Live streams of the program will be available on SGF’s YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Steam channels.

Multiple shows will be part of Summer Game Fest throughout the summer. At the time of writing, the showcases listed below have received formal confirmation.

Summer Game Fest 2023 Opening Showcase- 8th June 2023

Devolver Digital Presentation- 8th June 2023

Wholesome Direct- 10th June 2023

Future Games Show- 10th June 2023

Xbox Games Showcase & Starfield Direct-11th June, 2023

Ubisoft Forward- 12th June 2023

A significant live-streamed presentation with fresh announcements, videos, gameplay clips, and other nuggets from the newest independently made games are scheduled to open the Guerrilla Collective Online Showcase in June 2023. Black Voices in Gaming and New Dames 4 Games have been confirmed as participants.

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Guerrilla Collective will also highlight additional organizations in addition to a typical showcase during the course of a week of online and offline events. New trailers and teasers from organizations including Ubisoft, Xbox, PlayStation, CD Projekt, Disney, EA, Netflix, Square Enix, Capcom, Warner Bros. Games, and many more will be presented at this year’s expo.

Geoff Keighley hasn’t said much about what will be revealed during the Opening Showcase, but we do know that this year’s Summer Game Fest will feature more than 40 companies. While some of these publishers, like Devolver Digital and Xbox, do hold conferences during the events, it’s probable that others will attend this particular exhibition.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Netflix shareholders withhold support for executive pay package

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

In a non-binding vote on Thursday, Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O) shareholders decided not to endorse the company’s CEO pay package in response to a plea by Hollywood writers on strike to reject the proposed 2023 remuneration.

The Writers Guild of America West argued that such a vote would be “inappropriate” during the strike, which is now in its fifth week, and urged investors to vote against the remuneration package proposed to Netflix’s top executives.

Meredith Stiehm, president of the Writers Guild West, wrote: “Investors have long objected to Netflix’s executive pay, but the compensation structure is more egregious in light of the strike.”

Similar correspondence was submitted by the union to Comcast Corp., the parent company of NBCUniversal, which will conduct its annual shareholder meeting on June 7.

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According to Stiehm, if Netflix had the money to pay its top executives more than $166 million in salary last year, it could afford to pay authors who are looking for greater pay $68 million annually.

In a non-binding “say on pay” vote, Netflix shareholders declined to accept the CEO remuneration structure for 2023. The voting results, according to the firm, will be disclosed in a regulatory filing. Just 27% of the shareholder votes cast last year supported the company’s executive compensation plan.

Following the vote from the previous year, Netflix claimed to have made adjustments, such as implementing a wage cap for its co-chief executives and a performance-based bonus program. Executive Chairman Reed Hastings will make $500,000 in salary and $2.5 million in stock this year. CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters will share a $3 million yearly pay.

Sarandos is entitled to a bonus of up to $17 million and an extra $20 million in stock. Peters will receive up to $14.3 million in bonus money in addition to $17.3 million in shares. Executive salary for Hollywood executives is a point of discussion in negotiations, according to the union.

The top 10 pay packages given to CEOs of publicly traded firms in Equilar’s 2022 research included Endeavour CEO Ari Emanuel and Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

In an effort to get the media corporations back to the negotiating table, the union has been exerting pressure on them. The standoff over better pay, residuals, and working conditions caused contract negotiations to cease on May 1st. An additional difficulty is the application of artificial intelligence.

The Directors Guild’s current contract expires on June 30, and negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which is representing streamers like Netflix and the studios in those talks, are presently underway. On June 7, negotiations with the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA will start.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Is Apple AR/VR headset the future?

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Sandhya Gupta

When it comes to new products, Apple prefers to wait and see rather than enter the market first, but the wait will soon be over. Apple’s headset is anticipated to be unveiled during WWDC 2023, the company’s developer conference, in 2023.

Apart from a few statements made by a few of Apple’s senior executives and a consistent stream of rumours, there is not much concrete proof that the headset actually exists despite years of rumours.

Apple has most certainly not confirmed the headset’s existence. Analysts and enthusiasts, on the other hand, have been closely monitoring Apple’s operations and have been able to unearth hints regarding the headset’s specifications.

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The AR/VR gear, which is rumoured to cost around $3,000, will reportedly function with current iPadOS apps like the Camera, FaceTime, Books, Home, Messages, Photos, Safari, and more, according to a recent Bloomberg article.

It is anticipated that the Apple AR/VR headset will prominently emphasise gaming, maybe as a new way to access Apple Arcade, and will include a new Fitness+ experience, similar to the Meta Quest Pro, HTC Vive Cosmos, and Sony Playstation VR.

According to reports, Apple is preparing to introduce fresh collaboration tools via the Apple Freeform app, which will enable users to talk about and collaborate on material together, as well as the ability to utilise the AR/VR headset as a separate display for a connected Mac in the workplace. Users will be able to have lifelike avatars in virtual meeting rooms with immersive videoconferencing in mixed reality.

The article also states that the headgear should be able to operate a wide range of games, reading apps, and health services, as well as hundreds of thousands of other third-party iPad apps, with little modification.

As the possibility of a metaverse is discussed, more businesses are creating AR/VR headsets, and interest in the field is rising. As is customary for Apple, the tech behemoth waited for other businesses to test the waters and for public interest to grow before entering the fray.

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The Oculus Rift, the first contemporary AR/VR headset, went on sale in March 2016. Since then, Meta—which purchased Oculus in 2014—has continued to create and release VR/AR headsets, culminating in its most recent model, the Meta Quest Pro, which will be available in 2022.

When Apple ultimately made the decision to enter a market in the past, it revolutionised and dominated it, igniting interest and building expectations for the product. When the headset launches, it is reasonable to believe that Apple will have the same impact on the AR/VR space.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Google quietly ends support for decade-old Chromecast

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

Almost ten years after the $35 streaming stick’s launch in 2013, Google has discontinued support for the original Chromecast.

A support page that lists the firmware versions for each Chromecast model indicates that the end of support occurred at the end of April.

Google support pages noted, “Support for Chromecast (1st gen) has ended. These devices no longer receive software or security updates, and Google does not provide technical support for them. Users may notice a degradation in performance.”

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A little, a surprisingly well-liked gadget the size of a key, the first Chromecast allowed you to stream video from your phone, tablet, or laptop to your TV via an HDMI connector. In an era when many consumers had not yet made the switch to smart TVs, it was an affordable workaround for putting video streaming apps onto your TV, costing only $35.

Although Google has officially stopped supporting the first-generation Chromecast, the gadget hasn’t exactly received regular updates. According to reports, the device’s most recent update, which was also the first to be provided for it in more than three years, was made available last November.

Over the years, Google created a number of other Chromecasts, including a 4K variant in 2016. The 2020 Chromecast with Google TV, however, brought its own controller into the mix. The streaming stick marked a significant change in the Chromecast series because it featured its own UI instead of only receiving video from your smartphone.

The original Chromecast was released in 2013 and offered a simple and affordable way to stream content to a TV. It plugged into the HDMI port of a television and connected to the user’s Wi-Fi network. By using compatible apps on their mobile device or computer, users could cast or mirror content onto the TV screen.

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Over the years, Google has released several iterations of Chromecast, including the Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast with Google TV, and Chromecast (3rd generation). These newer models offered additional features like 4K Ultra HD resolution, a dedicated remote control, and a built-in user interface for navigating content.

Chromecast devices work with a wide range of streaming services and apps, including Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, and many others. They have gained popularity due to their simplicity, affordability, and compatibility with various devices and platforms.

Chromecast was once a popular choice for streaming media content due to its affordability, simplicity, and cross-platform compatibility.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Why are Nvidia shares soaring?

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Sandhya Gupta

Tuesday saw Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) reach a trillion-dollar market valuation as shares rose following a strong earnings report that made Wall Street reevaluate the chipmaker’s potential bonanza from artificial intelligence growth.

The $1 trillion valuation of Nvidia places it behind Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon as the fifth most valuable U.S. firm. The gaming chip manufacturer Nvidia recently made a shift to the data center industry.

When gaming and cloud adoption exploded during the pandemic and cryptocurrency aficionados began using the company’s chips to mine coins, the company’s business grew quickly. In the fiscal year that concluded on January 29, the company’s data center chip division generated more than 50% of its sales.

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This year, generative AI has become popularised by the ChatGPT chatbot, which went viral. The technology generates new content, such as poems, photos, and even computer code, using enormous amounts of pre-existing data.

The two major companies in the field, Microsoft and Alphabet Google think that generative AI will revolutionize the way that work is done. As they compete to rule the market, the two have rushed to incorporate technology into their internet search engines and efficiency programs.

By 2030, according to Goldman Sachs analysts, American investment in AI may account for close to 1% of the nation’s GDP. Powerful chips known as graphics processing units (GPUs) are used in huge computers that process data and power generative artificial intelligence. Analysts estimate that around 80% of GPUs are made by Nvidia.

The specialized type of math required for AI computation can be handled very effectively by GPUs. Generic central processing units, on the other hand, are less effective in handling a wider range of computing activities.

As an illustration, thousands of Nvidia GPUs were used to build OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, also purchased GPUs from Nvidia for his AI business, according to a Financial Times report from April. Advanced Micro Devices and internal AI processors produced by businesses like Amazon, Google, and Meta Platforms are among Nvidia’s key rivals.

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Nvidia is a leading manufacturer of GPUs, which are widely used in gaming, data centers, and AI applications. The demand for GPUs has been increasing as more industries and technologies rely on parallel processing capabilities for tasks such as AI training, deep learning, and high-performance computing.

Nvidia has been at the forefront of the AI boom, leveraging its GPUs to accelerate AI and machine learning workloads. The company’s GPUs are particularly well-suited for training deep neural networks, which require intensive computational power. With the rapid growth of AI applications across industries, Nvidia’s GPUs have become a crucial component of AI infrastructure.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

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