Tech

matter-1.4-has-some-solid-ideas-for-the-future-home—now-let’s-see-the-support

Matter 1.4 has some solid ideas for the future home—now let’s see the support

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With Matter 1.4 and improved Thread support, you shouldn’t need to blanket your home in HomePod Minis to have adequate Thread coverage. Then again, they do brighten up the place. Credit: Apple

Routers are joining the Thread/Matter melee

A whole bunch of networking gear, known as Home Routers and Access Points (HRAP), can now support Matter, while also extending Thread networks with Matter 1.4.

“Matter-certified HRAP devices provide the foundational infrastructure of smart homes by combining both a Wi-Fi access point and a Thread Border Router, ensuring these ubiquitous devices have the necessary infrastructure for Matter products using either of these technologies,” the CSA writes in its announcement.

Prior to wireless networking gear officially getting in on the game, the devices that have served as Thread Border Routers, accepting and re-transmitting traffic for endpoint devices, has been a hodgepodge of gear. Maybe you had HomePod Minis, newer Nest Hub or Echo devices from Google or Amazon, or Nanoleaf lights around your home, but probably not. Routers, and particularly mesh networking gear, should already be set up to reach most corners of your home with wireless signal, so it makes a lot more sense to have that gear do Matter authentication and Thread broadcasting.

Freeing home energy gear from vendor lock-in

Matter 1.4 adds some big, expensive gear to its list of device types and control powers, and not a moment too soon. Solar inverters and arrays, battery storage systems, heat pumps, and water heaters join the list. Thermostats and Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE), i.e. EV charging devices, also get some enhancements. For that last category, it’s not a moment too soon, as chargers that support Matter can keep up their scheduled charging without cloud support from manufacturers.

More broadly, Matter 1.4 bakes a lot of timing, energy cost, and other automation triggers into the spec, which—again, when supported by device manufacturers, at some future date—should allow for better home energy savings and customization, without tying it all to one particular app or platform.

CSA says that, with “nearly two years of real-world deployment in millions of households,” the companies and trade groups and developers tending to Matter are “refining software development kits, streamlining certification processes, and optimizing individual device implementations.” Everything they’ve got lined up seems neat, but it has to end up inside more boxes to be truly impressive.

Matter 1.4 has some solid ideas for the future home—now let’s see the support Read More »

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The voice of America Online’s “You’ve got mail” has died at age 74

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In 1995, Wired Magazine’s AOL forum asked Edwards to record 10 humorous sound files using his iconic voice. The results, which include classics such as “You want fries with that,” “You’ve got credit card debt,” and “Stop touching me!” still live on in the depths of The Internet Archive. He also ran a side business recording custom sound files for AOL users.

A screenshot of America Online's version 2.5 client in 1995.

A screenshot of America Online’s version 2.5 client in 1995.

A screenshot of America Online’s version 2.5 client in 1995.

Over time, the “You’ve got mail” line became something of a cultural reference point, as tech journalist Harry McCracken pointed out in 2011 on his Technologizer blog, with various news headlines often borrowing the “You’ve got [something]” structure for humorous effect.

Edwards’ voice greeting became so embedded in American popular culture that it inspired the 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail. The film stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as rival bookstore owners who unknowingly fall in love through anonymous email exchanges. Director Nora Ephron built the movie’s narrative around the anticipation that AOL users felt when hearing Edwards’ voice announce new messages, with the film grossing $250 million worldwide.

Elwood Edwards’ 2015 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

At WKYC, Edwards worked behind the scenes as a graphics specialist, camera operator, and general production staff member since 2002. His voice work brought him occasional moments in the spotlight, including an appearance in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons, where he played a virtual doctor announcing, “You’ve got leprosy.” He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015, performing his classic greeting along with phrases suggested by the audience.

Before his death, Edwards worked as an Uber driver. His voice continues to greet users of AOL’s current email service, maintaining an enduring connection to the early days of consumer Internet access.

The voice of America Online’s “You’ve got mail” has died at age 74 Read More »

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Corning faces antitrust actions for its Gorilla Glass dominance

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The European Commission (EC) has opened an antitrust investigation into US-based glass-maker Corning, claiming that its Gorilla Glass has dominated the mobile phone screen market due to restrictive deals and licensing.

Corning’s shatter-resistant alkali-aluminosilicate glass keeps its place atop the market, according to the EC’s announcement, because it both demands, and rewards with rebates, device makers that agree to “source all or nearly all of their (Gorilla Glass) demand from Corning.” Corning also allegedly required device makers to report competitive offers to the glass maker. The company is accused of exerting a similar pressure on “finishers,” or those firms that turn raw glass into finished phone screen protectors, as well as demanding finishers not pursue patent challenges against Corning.

“[T]he agreements that Corning put in place with OEMs and finishers may have excluded rival glass producers from large segments of the market, thereby reducing customer choice, increasing prices, and stifling innovation to the detriment of consumers worldwide,” the Commission wrote.

Ars has reached out to Corning for comment and will update this post with response.

Gorilla Glass does approach Xerox or Kleenex levels of brand name association with its function. New iterations of its thin, durable glass reach a bit further than the last and routinely pick up press coverage. Gorilla Glass 4 was pitched as being “up to two times stronger” than any “competitive” alternative. Gorilla Glass 5 could survive a 1.6-meter drop 80 percent of the time, and 6 built in more repetitive damage resistance.

Apple considers Corning’s glass products so essential to its products, like the ceramic shield on the iPhone 12, as to have invested $45 million into the company to expand its US manufacturing. The first iPhone was changed very shortly before launch to use Gorilla Glass instead of a plastic screen, per Steve Jobs’ insistence.

Corning faces antitrust actions for its Gorilla Glass dominance Read More »

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Guy makes “dodgy e-bike” from 130 used vapes to make point about e-waste

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Disposable vapes are indefensible. Many, or maybe most, of them contain rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, but manufacturers prefer to sell new ones. More than 260 million vape batteries are estimated to enter the trash stream every year in the UK alone. Vapers and vape makers are simply leaving an e-waste epidemic to the planet’s future residents to sort out.

To make a point about how wasteful this practice is—and to also make a pretty rad project and video—Chris Doel took 130 disposable vape batteries (the bigger “3,500 puff” types with model 20400 cells) found littered at a music festival and converted them into a 48-volt, 1,500-watt e-bike battery, one that powered an e-bike with almost no pedaling more than 20 miles. You can see the whole build and watch Doel zoom along trails on his YouTube video.

A pile of empty aluminum vape shells, and the juice and batteries that came out of them, on Chris Doel’s workstation. A pile of empty aluminum

To be clear: Do not do this. Do not put disposable vape cartridges in a vise clamp to “pop out” their components. Do not desolder them from vape cartridges that have a surprising amount of concentration still in them. Do not wire them together using a balance board, group them using 3D-printed cell holders, and then wire them in series. Heck, do not put that much power into a rear hub on a standard bike frame, at least more than once. Doel has a fire extinguisher present and visible on his workbench, and he shows you what happens when two of the wrong batteries happen to make momentary contact—smoke, coughing, and strong warnings.

And yet, when you see Doel get 33 kilometers (about 20.5 miles) on his vape-powered ride, almost entirely without pedaling, hitting 32 miles per hour once, the point is made. We are tossing out a lot of battery materials that could be doing a lot of other things. Doel estimates his “dodgy bike” cost about $60 in filament and materials to piece together. Most of the cells are rated for a minimum of 300 cycles, which is both not a lot, but also more than some bikes and scooters actually take on.

Guy makes “dodgy e-bike” from 130 used vapes to make point about e-waste Read More »

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Apple is snapping up one of the best non-Adobe image editors, Pixelmator

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Pixelmator, the Lithuania-based firm that makes popular Mac-based photo editing tools, has agreed to be acquired by Apple.

The company says that, pending regulatory approval, there will be “no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time,” but to “Stay tuned for exciting updates to come.” The Pixelmator team, now 17 years old, states that its staff will join Apple. Details of the acquisition price were not made public.

Fans of Pixelmator’s apps, which are notably one-time purchases, unlike Adobe’s tools, may be hoping that those “exciting updates” do not include the sublimation of Pixelmator into an Apple product at some future time, while the Pixelmator apps disappear.

Regulatory approval may not be a rubber stamp. Adobe had to abandon its $20 billion proposed acquisition of design software firm Figma after UK and European Union regulators signaled opposition to the deal and launched investigations. Similar objections from Europe arose over Amazon’s attempted purchase of iRobot, while Microsoft’s biggest acquisition ever, the $69 billion Activision Blizzard purchase, found a way through.

Apple is snapping up one of the best non-Adobe image editors, Pixelmator Read More »

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Charger recall spells more bad news for Humane’s maligned AI Pin

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Other Humane charging accessories, like the Charge Pad, are said to be unaffected because Humane doesn’t use the same unnamed vendor for any parts besides the Charge Case Accessory’s battery.

Humane’s statement puts the blame on this anonymous third-party vendor. The company said it realized there was a problem when a user reported a “charging issue while using a third-party USB-C cable and third-party power source.” The company added:

Our investigation determined that the battery supplier was no longer meeting our quality standards and that certain battery cells supplied by this vendor may pose a fire safety risk. As a result, we immediately disqualified this battery vendor while we work to identify a new vendor to avoid such issues and maintain our high quality standards.

Impacted customers can get a refund for the accessory (up to $149) or a replacement via an online form. While refunds will go through within 14 business days, users seeking a replacement Charge Case Accessory have to wait until Humane makes one. That could take three to six months, the San Francisco firm estimates.

In the meantime, Humane is telling customers to properly dispose of their Charge Case Accessories (which means not throwing them in a trash can or the used battery recycling boxes found at some stores).

Another obstacle for Humane

A well-executed recall in the name of user safety isn’t automatically a death knell for a product, but Humane has already been struggling to maintain a positive reputation, and its ability to sell AI Pins in the long term was already in question before this mishap.

The AI Pin’s launch was marred by a myriad of complaints, including the pin’s inability to properly clip to some clothing, slow voice responses, short battery life, limitations with the laser projector working outside of dark rooms, and overall limited functionality. Soon after the product was released, The New York Times reported that the company’s founders, two former Apple executives, ignored negative internal reviews and even let go of an engineer who questioned the product. Humane spokesperson Zoz Cuccias admitted to The Verge in August that upon releasing the wearable, Humane “knew we were at the starting line, not the finish line.”

Charger recall spells more bad news for Humane’s maligned AI Pin Read More »

microsoft-delays-rollout-of-the-windows-11-recall-feature-yet-again

Microsoft delays rollout of the Windows 11 Recall feature yet again

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“We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall. To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we’re taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders,” said Microsoft Windows Insider Senior Program Manager Brandon LeBlanc in a statement provided to The Verge.

LeBlanc didn’t offer additional details on the latest Recall delay or make any new announcements about other security precautions Microsoft is taking with the feature. The company’s September blog post detailed how data was being protected using Windows’ Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) features and Windows Hello authentication and reiterated that Recall will be opt-in by default and that it will be fully removable for Windows users who aren’t interested in using it.

When it does start to roll out, Recall will still require a Copilot+ PC, which gets some AI-related features not available to typical Windows 11 PCs. To meet the Copilot+ requirements, PCs must have at least 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, plus a neural processing unit (NPU) that can perform at least 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS). Users will also need their PCs to be enrolled in the Windows Insider Program; we have no idea when non-Windows Insider PCs will start getting Recall, though at this point, it seems likely it won’t be until sometime in 2025.

Microsoft delays rollout of the Windows 11 Recall feature yet again Read More »

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Not just ChatGPT anymore: Perplexity and Anthropic’s Claude get desktop apps

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There’s a lot going on in the world of Mac apps for popular AI services. In the past week, Anthropic has released a desktop app for its popular Claude chatbot, and Perplexity launched a native app for its AI-driven search service.

On top of that, OpenAI updated its ChatGPT Mac app with support for its flashy advanced voice feature.

Like the ChatGPT app that debuted several weeks ago, the Perplexity app adds a keyboard shortcut that allows you to enter a query from anywhere on your desktop. You can use the app to ask follow-up questions and carry on a conversation about what it finds.

It’s free to download and use, but Perplexity offers subscriptions for major users.

Perplexity’s search emphasis meant it wasn’t previously a direct competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but OpenAI recently launched SearchGPT, a search-focused variant of its popular product. SearchGPT is not yet supported in the desktop app, though.

Anthropic’s Claude, on the other hand, is a more direct competitor to ChatGPT. It works similarly to ChatGPT but has different strengths, particularly in software development. The Claude app is free to download, but it’s in beta, and like Perplexity and OpenAI, Anthropic charges for more advanced users.

When ChatGPT launched its Mac app, it didn’t release a Windows app right away, saying that it was focused on where its users were at the time. A Windows app recently arrived, and Anthropic took a different approach, simultaneously introducing Windows and Mac apps.

Previously, all these tools offered mobile apps and web apps, but not necessarily native desktop apps.

Not just ChatGPT anymore: Perplexity and Anthropic’s Claude get desktop apps Read More »

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Pixel phones are getting an actual weather app in 2024, with a bit of AI

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An AI weather report, expanded to read

Credit: Kevin Purdy

Customizable, but also not

There’s a prominent “AI generated weather report” on top of the weather stack, which is a combination of summary and familiarity. “Cold and rainy day, bring your umbrella and hold onto your hat!” is Google’s example; I can’t provide another one, because an update to “Gemini Nano” is pending.

Weather radar map from the Google Weather app.

Credit: Kevin Purdy

You can see weather radar for your location, along with forecasted precipitation movement. The app offers “Nowcasting” precipitation guesses, like “Rain continuing for 2 hours” or “Light rain in 10 minutes.”

Widgets with weather data, including a UV index of 2, sunrise and sunset times, visibility distances, and air quality, displayed as rearrangeable widgets.

Credit: Kevin Purdy

The best feature, one seen on the version of Weather that shipped to the Pixel Tablet and Fold, is that you can rearrange the order of data shown on your weather screen. I moved the UV index, humidity, sunrise/sunset, and wind conditions as high as they could go on my setup. It’s a trade-off, because the Weather app’s data widgets are so big as to require scrolling to get the full picture of a day, and you can’t move the AI summary or 10-day forecast off the top. But if you only need a few numbers and like a verbal summary, it’s handy.

Sadly, if you’re an allergy sufferer and you’re not in the UK, Germany, France, or Italy, Google can’t offer you any pollen data or forecasts. There is also, I am sad to say, no frog.

Google’s Weather app isn’t faring so well with Play Store reviewers. Users are miffed that they can’t see a location’s weather without adding it to their saved locations list; that other Google apps, including the “At a Glance” app on every Pixel’s default launcher, send you to the Google app’s summary instead of this app; the look of the weather map; and, most of all, that it does not show up in some phones’ app list, but only as a widget.

Pixel phones are getting an actual weather app in 2024, with a bit of AI Read More »

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Over 500 Amazon workers decry “non-data-driven” logic for 5-day RTO policy

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More than 500 Amazon workers reportedly signed a letter to Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) CEO this week, sharing their outrage over Amazon’s upcoming return-to-office (RTO) policy that will force workers into offices five days per week.

In September, Amazon announced that starting in 2025, workers will no longer be allowed to work remotely twice a week. At the time, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the move would make it easier for workers “to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture.”

Reuters reported today that it viewed a letter from a swath of workers sent to AWS chief Matt Garman on Wednesday regarding claims he reportedly made during an all-hands meeting this month. Garman reportedly told attendees that 9 out of 10 employees he spoke with support the five-day in-office work policy. The letter called the statements “inconsistent with the experiences of many employees” and “misrepresenting the realities of working at Amazon,” Reuters reported.

“We were appalled to hear the non-data-driven explanation you gave for Amazon imposing a five-day in-office mandate,’” the letter reportedly stated.

Employees banding together to protest against new, unfavorable work policies isn’t exclusive to Amazon. And the reported 500 workers who signed the letter represent just a fraction of Amazon’s worker base, which regulatory filings reported consisted of 1.5 million people in 2023. However, with the global conglomerate remaining firm about its stern policy thus far, eyes are on the Seattle firm’s HR approach, which could impact how other companies decide to implement RTO policies.

In the letter, hundreds of Amazon workers reportedly lamented what they believe was a lack of third-party data shared in making the RTO policy. It said that Garman’s statements “break the trust of your employees who have not only personal experience that shows the benefits of remote work but have seen the extensive data which supports that experience.”

Over 500 Amazon workers decry “non-data-driven” logic for 5-day RTO policy Read More »

microsoft-reports-big-profits-amid-massive-ai-investments

Microsoft reports big profits amid massive AI investments

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Microsoft reported quarterly earnings that impressed investors and showed how resilient the company is even as it spends heavily on AI.

Some investors have been uneasy about the company’s aggressive spending on AI, while others have demanded it. During this quarter, Microsoft reported that it spent $20 billion on capital expenditures, nearly double what it had spent during the same quarter last year.

However, the company satisfied both groups of investors, as it revealed it has still been doing well in the short term amid those long-term investments. The fiscal quarter, which covered July through September, saw overall sales rise 16 percent year over year to $65.6 billion. Despite all that AI spending, profits were up 11 percent, too.

The growth was largely driven by Azure and cloud services, which saw a 33 percent increase in revenue. The company attributed 12 percent of that to AI-related products and services.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s gaming division continued to challenge long-standing assumptions that hardware is king, with Xbox content and services posting 61 percent increased year-over-year revenue despite a 29 percent drop in hardware sales.

Microsoft has famously been inching away from the classic strategy of keeping software and services exclusive to its hardware, launching first-party games like Sea of Thieves not just on PC but on the competing PlayStation 5 console from Sony. Compared to the Xbox, the PlayStation is dominant in sales and install base for this generation.

But don’t make the mistake of assuming that a 61 percent jump in content and services revenue is solely because Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service is taking off. The company attributed 53 points of that to the recent $69 billion Activision acquisition.

Microsoft reports big profits amid massive AI investments Read More »

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Apple’s M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max compared to past generations, and to each other

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The M4 Max is also the only chip where memory bandwidth and RAM support changes between the low- and high-end versions. The low-end M4 Max offers 410GB/s of memory bandwidth, while the fully enabled M4 Max offers 546GB/s.

For completeness’ sake, there is a third version of the M4 that Apple ships, with nine CPU cores, 10 GPU cores, and 8GB of RAM. But the company is only shipping that version of the chip in M4 iPad Pros with 256GB or 512GB of storage, so we haven’t included it in the tables here.

Compared to the M2 and M3

CPU P/E-cores GPU cores RAM options Display support (including internal) Memory bandwidth
Apple M4 (low) 4/4 8 16/24GB Up to two 120GB/s
Apple M4 (high) 4/6 10 16/24/32GB Up to three 120GB/s
Apple M3 (high) 4/4 16 8/16/24GB Up to two 102.4GB/s
Apple M2 (high) 4/4 10 8/16/24GB Up to two 102.4GB/s

One interesting thing about the M4: This is the first time that the low-end Apple Silicon CPU has increased its maximum core count. The M1, M2, and M3 all used a 4+4 split that divided evenly between performance and efficiency cores, but the M4 can include six efficiency cores instead.

That’s not a game-changing development performance-wise (the “E” in “E-core” does not stand for “exciting”), but we’ve seen over and over again in chips from Apple, Intel, and others that adding more efficiency cores does meaningfully improve CPU performance in heavily multithreaded tasks.

CPU P/E-cores GPU cores RAM options Display support (including internal) Memory bandwidth
Apple M4 Pro (low) 8/4 16 24/48/64GB Up to three 273GB/s
Apple M4 Pro (high) 10/4 20 24/48/64GB Up to three 273GB/s
Apple M3 Pro (high) 6/6 18 18/36GB Up to three 153.6GB/s
Apple M2 Pro (high) 8/4 19 16/32GB Up to three 204.8GB/s

The M4 Pro is the most interesting year-over-year upgrade, though this says more about the M3 Pro than anything else. As we noted last year, it was a bit of an outlier, the only one of the M3-generation chips with fewer transistors than its predecessor. A small decrease in GPU cores and a large decrease in high-performance CPU cores explains most of the difference. The result was a very power-efficient chip, but also one that was more of a sidestep from the M2 Pro than a real upgrade.

Apple’s M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max compared to past generations, and to each other Read More »