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It’s shaping up to be a busy spring for Microsoft, which has multiple events lined up over the next few months. Not only is there a work and Copilot-centric event this Thursday and almost certainly an Xbox showcase coming up in early June, but Build is on the horizon. The company’s major developer conference is set to run from May 21 until May 23. However, three days apparently isn’t long enough to cram in everything Microsoft wants to talk about.

The company sent Engadget an invite to a private event taking place on May 20, the day before Build starts. Details are scant, but Microsoft says CEO Satya Nadella will dig into its “AI vision across hardware and software.” There won’t be a livestream of the briefing, but reporters who attend in person will learn the news first and get hands-on demos.

Microsoft having an “AI vision” that spans across hardware and software lines up with recent reports that the company is gearing up to release its first “AI PCs.” This week’s event is expected to include at least the business and commercial-focused versions of the OLED Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6.

The consumer variants of the systems may not arrive until later this spring, though those are expected to have significant processor upgrades that will deliver “huge performance and efficiency gains,” according to Windows Central. They’re slated to have Intel Core Ultra or Snapdragon X Elite chips with next-gen neural processing units.

These chips are said to be capable of supporting more advanced AI features that Microsoft plans to bring to Windows later this year, such as on-device Copilot and a tool called AI Explorer. The latter has been described as a searchable timeline of all of your activity on a device.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-planning-some-more-pre-build-ai-announcements-194843363.html?src=rss 

Rivian owners can now use Tesla Supercharger stations to juice up their electric trucks and SUVs, after a software update issued during the weekend. The company first announced the integration last year, along with plans to include Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) ports in forthcoming vehicles. These ports won’t start showing up until 2025, so Rivian has also started a program to send Tesla-made NACS adapters to current customers.

The adapters will be free of charge, which calls to mind the move Ford made last month as it continues to transition to the NACS charging standard. Rivian will send out one free adapter per customer, based on the vehicle’s VIN number. The company hasn’t announced whether this is a limited time offering or how much additional adapters will cost. As a comparison, Ford will begin charging $230 for these adapters in July.

Rivian owners can select Tesla Superchargers as a charging option via the vehicle’s infotainment system or the manufacturer’s smartphone app. Everything is handled by Rivian, so there’s no need to download or use the Tesla app to pay for charging. Rivian’s chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, told The Verge that this will give customers access to over 15,000 more DC fast chargers across the country.

The move to incorporate NACS charging into its vehicles will not impact Rivian’s proprietary network. The company still plans on installing thousands of DC fast chargers at hundreds of locations throughout the next few years, as part of its growing Adventure Network.

Tesla’s charging standard is widely considered to be the best available option for EV owners, as these chargers are known to be more reliable than CCS and CHAdeMO chargers. Tesla’s standard is also more readily available, with more than 55,000 Supercharger stations worldwide.

It wasn’t so long ago that Tesla’s Supercharger network was exclusive to the company’s vehicles. Those days are gone. Just about every major automobile manufacturer has announced plans to join the NACS party, including Subaru, Volkswagen, Honda, Toyota and Lexus, among many others.

As for Rivian, the company says customers can access most V3 Tesla Superchargers using the adapter, but only some V2 chargers. The just-announced Rivian R2, R3 and R3X vehicles will all come with factory-installed NACS ports.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rivian-owners-can-use-tesla-superchargers-now-once-they-get-their-free-adapter-170804461.html?src=rss 

Amazon’s Big Spring Sale officially begins this Wednesday, but as with all such sales, a number of deals went live early, including on Google’s latest Pixel smartphones. The 128GB-capacity Pixel 8 Pro is 25 percent off, which deducts $250 from the list price and brings the handset to $749. That beats the all-time-low price we saw for Black Friday last November. Larger capacity models are seeing discounts as well, with all three colors that Amazon carries included. If you’d rather buy direct, you can get the same discount from Google’s online shop, which also has the Google-exclusive Mint color.

A similar discount goes to the 128GB Pixel 8 which is 29 percent off and down to $499 instead of $699 at both Amazon and from Google. Again, that’s the lowest price we’ve tracked and the discounts extend to the larger capacity models. We named the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro the best Android smartphones on the market thanks to their speedy chips, brighter screens and improved cameras. Plus the suite of AI-enabled tools are more than just gimmicks and actually help you out with things like search, taking better photos and a more capable Google Assistant. Perhaps the best part is Google’s commitment to seven years of software support, which means these phones can stay in your pocket for far longer than the average mobile.  

As for the difference between the two phones, the Pro model has a larger screen at 6.7 inches versus the Pixel 8’s 6.2 inches. The Pro also has a screen with a 400-nit higher peak brightness, more RAM and a third, telephoto camera. Both have the same chip and many of the same AI tools.  

Those looking for an even steeper deal should check out the Google Pixel 7a, which is also down to a record-low price of $374 at both Amazon and Google. We not only named this the best mid-range Android phone in our guide to smartphones, it’s also the splurge pick in our budget Android guide. 

Your Spring Sales Shopping Guide: Spring sales are in the air, headlined by Amazon’s Big Spring sale event. Our expert editors are curating all the best spring sales right here. Follow Engadget to shop the best tech deals from Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, hear from Autoblog’s car experts on the best spring auto deals on Amazon, and find spring sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-pixel-8-and-pixel-8-pro-smartphones-are-up-to-250-off-ahead-of-amazons-spring-sale-160352403.html?src=rss 

Apple is reportedly in talks with Google to integrate its Gemini AI in iPhones, Bloomberg reports, a move that should help both companies compete with OpenAI and its (heavily invested) partner Microsoft. While it might seem like an admission that Apple is lagging behind on AI, the partnership fits if you think of generative AI models as an evolution of web searching, something Google already provides to all of Apple’s devices. According to the report, Gemini could be the cloud-based generative AI engine for Siri and other iPhone apps, while Apple’s models could be woven into the upcoming iOS 18 for on-device AI tasks.

Bloomberg notes that Apple has also had discussions with OpenAI about using its own models, and it could still end up partnering with another AI outfit, like Anthropic. Apple could conceivably even work with multiple partners until its own generative models are up to snuff. But teaming up with Google makes the most sense, especially since the search giant is already giving Apple millions to bring search to the Safari browser.

Apple needs some sort of generative AI solution that it can implement this year (its own Ajax model will likely take years to match Gemini and OpenAI), and Google needs a quick way to bring its AI smarts to billions of devices. 

There are regulatory concerns to consider — the Department of Justice has already sued Google over its search dominance, including the way it pays Apple and other companies to use its search engine. But given the specter of Microsoft and OpenAI’s partnership — which turned the Bing search engine into an artificial intelligence hype machine overnight, and is now powering all of Microsoft’s Copilot AI solutions — the potential gains could be worth the risk for Apple and Google.

There are still technical issues for Google to deal with too: Gemini was recently under fire for inaccurately rendering historical images. But even considering potential growing pains, a partnership with Apple helps both companies. And it also gives Apple room to develop its own models while OpenAI and Google deal with the growing pains of generative AI.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/of-course-apple-wants-to-bring-googles-gemini-ai-to-iphones-144604811.html?src=rss