Kalakshar US

Chinese gadget manufacturer Honor just teased its forthcoming flagship smartphone, the Magic 6, at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit. While many details of the phone remain mysterious, the company did announce that it would include built-in eye-tracking and an on-board artificial intelligence powered by a large language model (LLM.)

One of the phone’s key features is something called Magic Capsule, an “eye-tracking based multimodal interaction.” Eye-tracking has some potential real world uses when it comes to smartphones, as the sensors and cameras can perform actions based on where you’re looking. So you can open up an app or engage with content on the phone simply by staring at the right spot.

This could be a game-changer for those with disabilities, allowing near-total access to the device via minute eye movements. However, some folks may get a bit queasy with the idea of our phones tracking every single thing we stare at.

While the actual specs of the Magic 6 are still under wraps, Honor did announce the presence of an on-board LLM. This built-in chatbot is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset.

It’s important to note the distinction here. This is an on-board LLM. Typically when you engage with an AI chatbot or service on your phone, you’re fiddling with a cloud-based LLM that exists on a server somewhere. With the Magic 6, every piece of data that the chatbot will access is already on the phone. 

This should drastically increase the speed and reliability of results, potentially turning the phone into one heck of a personal assistant, as it’ll have access to everything on the device, including your photos, contacts, videos and more. Despite this unfettered access, the Magic 6 should actually be more private than competing smartphones, as everything stays on the device and isn’t shuffled off to the cloud.

The company showed off some nifty features that take advantage of this technology. The smart assistant, nicknamed YOYO, can create short videos based on footage stored on the phone via a simple chat prompt. You can also adjust templates, themes and music with similar prompts. The bot will also collect images and videos stored on your phone that match a specific search criteria, with more use case scenarios to be revealed at a later date.

Honor’s Magic 6 flagship smartphone was just announced and the company didn’t provide a release date or cost information. However, Qualcomm says that phones featuring its new chipset will begin shipping in the coming weeks, so the Magic 6 could be one of them. In the meantime, Honor has made quite the name for itself in the folding phone space.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/honor-teases-the-magic-6-smartphone-with-eye-tracking-and-a-built-in-llm-160009149.html?src=rss 

Linksys just released its first-ever mesh Wi-Fi 7 router, the Velop Pro 7. It’s powered by the latest Qualcomm Networking Pro 620 platform, which the company says helps it achieve “wire-like stability.” The mesh system can connect up to 200 devices per node and each node offers approximately 3,000 square feet of coverage.

Linksys says these routers use a proprietary technology called Continuous Mesh that continually optimizes the system to match connected devices and increase speed. The company says this makes the Velop Pro 7 particularly useful for gadgets equipped with AR/VR technology, like the recently-released Meta Quest 3 headset.

Mesh router systems can be frustrating to install, particularly when you’re working with multiple nodes, but Linksys claims its newest release can be fully incorporated into your home in just ten minutes. The company says its new setup technology hastens the process by nearly 70 percent when compared to other Linksys router systems.

This is a tri-band system, so it’ll connect to just about anything, which is always nice. It also integrates with the Linksys app, so you can keep an eye on what devices are connected to suss out anything that doesn’t quite belong. This app even lets you pause your wireless connection so you can focus on homework or, cough, writing about routers for the internet.

The Velop Pro 7 is available today straight from the company or via Best Buy. The bare-bones pack, featuring a single node, costs $400, with two nodes costing $750 and three nodes ramping up to $1,000. UK residents will have to wait until mid-November for the launch, with global availability coming at a later date.

This may be the first mesh Wi-Fi 7 system for Linksys, but the industry is adopting this modern wireless standard at a rapid clip. Netgear, for instance, has gone all-in on the concept with the release of its Nighthawk RS700S router and the ultra-expensive flagship Orbi 970 system.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/linksys-releases-its-first-ever-wi-fi-7-mesh-router-system-160053926.html?src=rss 

Respawn Entertainment is adding a long-awaited feature to Apex Legends: cross-platform progression. When the new season goes live on October 31, players will see an in-game message that explains how this works. The profile with the highest account level will be designated as their primary account. They’ll maintain that level, and all of the cosmetics, achievements and badges from other profiles that are linked to the same EA ID will be merged into the master account. An EA ID is required to play Apex on any platform.

Account merging for cross-progression is mandatory, Respawn said, but it means that those who play the battle royale across multiple platforms will have access to their cosmetic items and currencies no matter where they happen to be playing at a given time. You’ll also make progress on the same battle pass whether you’re playing on PC, PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch. Respawn noted that nothing will change for folks who only play on one platform with a single profile.

Cross-progression has been a long time coming. Respawn has been chipping away at the feature since at least 2020, the same year the studio enabled cross-platform play. However, work on cross-progression was delayed by hacks that impacted Apex and both Titanfall games.

Account merging is arriving alongside an intriguing new playable character. Her name is Conduit and she’s a support who is focused on shields. With her tactical ability, Radiant Transfer, she can supply nearby teammates with extra temporary shields. If her chums are out of range of her tactical, she can get a burst of speed as she races toward them, thanks to her passive ability. Conduit’s ultimate is called Energy Barricade. She’ll deploy a row of seven shield jammers that will slow and damage enemies.

Conduit is said to be a superfan of the Apex Games — for one of her finishers, she takes a selfie of her and her enemy before delivering a fatal punch. The support has ties to the Titanfall games as well. She carries a battery from a titan on her back, and this powers her combat rig.

Elsewhere, Respawn has revamped the Storm Point map with six new points of interest. Respawn tweaked around 40 percent of the map to make it smaller. The aim is to push players to engage with each other more often and to deliver faster-paced action.

Meanwhile, there’s more good news for some players thanks to big changes to Ranked play. There will no longer be any restrictions on grouping up as a trio, so Bronze and Silver players will be able to play the competitive mode with buddies who are at higher ranks and vice versa.

It seems that Respawn has a plan to mitigate account boosting, whereby more skilled individuals help carry low-ranked players up the ladder. The studio is introducing a skill check system, called promotional (or promo) trials. Those who are on the verge of reaching the next rank will first have to complete a challenge to prove that they’re good enough. For instance, they may have five attempts to win a match in order to rank up. Otherwise, they can place in the top 10 three times and get three kills or assists three times within those five matches.

If a player fails this time-limited skill check, they’ll have to work their way back to the promo trial. They’ll gradually get more trial matches (up to 10) to complete their objective. If they perform exceptionally poorly and reach the limit of trial games, they might be pushed far down the Ranked ladder and have to put in even more legwork to have a chance of reaching the next skill tier.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apex-legends-will-finally-support-cross-platform-progression-150059645.html?src=rss 

We call Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 the best option for Android users in our smartwatch buying guide, and it’s now on sale for $235 at Amazon. There’s always a chance we see a better deal on Black Friday, but for now, that’s the lowest price we’ve tracked for the wearable outside of trade-in deals. The discount only applies to the 40mm Graphite model without LTE support, but it’s still $65 cheaper than buying from Samsung directly and $25 below the previous low we saw earlier this month. If you have larger wrists or want a bigger display, the 44mm version of the wearable is down to $280, which is $50 off its MSRP. The 40mm Gold model is also on sale for $250.

We gave the Galaxy Watch 6 a review score of 84 back in September. It’s not all that different than the Galaxy Watches that preceded it, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Its design is still clean and relatively durable, its interface remains simple enough to navigate and it continues to offer the usual array of health-tracking sensors. New with this model is a slightly brighter and larger OLED display with thinner bezels. There’s a bigger battery as well, though you shouldn’t expect much more than a day of use out of this 40mm model on average (the 44mm variant should last longer, though). 

Apart from the expected activity- and sleep-tracking insights, the Galaxy Watch 6 can measure your skin temperature overnight, monitor your blood oxygen levels and notify you if it senses an irregular heart rhythm. It’s still accurate at automatically detecting and logging workouts as well. All of this runs on Google’s Wear OS 4, and Samsung says the device will gain software updates through 2027.

One thing the Galaxy Watch 6 does not have is a rotating bezel for navigating the OS. For that, you have to step up to the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, which is on sale for $350 and also comes with a sturdier stainless steel case. Though we broadly like both devices for Android users, they’ll still work best when paired with a Samsung phone. Many of the Galaxy Watch 6’s software features will trickle down to older models as well, so there’s no need to upgrade if you own a Watch 5. But if you don’t use an iPhone and have been looking to grab your first smartwatch, this is a good entry point. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-galaxy-watch-6-falls-to-an-all-time-low-of-235-151528892.html?src=rss 

Starting Thursday, Uber users in Phoenix might find themselves taking a ride in a driverless car. The company, which sold its own self-driving unit a few years ago, has teamed up with Waymo to offer driverless rides. It’s the first time Uber has offered fully autonomous rides.

When someone in Phoenix requests an UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric ride, they may be matched with a Waymo vehicle if they’re in the service area and there’s one available. Users will be able to request a ride with a human driver if they’re matched with a Waymo but don’t want to travel in a robotaxi. Alternatively, those eager to try a Waymo ride can set up their ride preferences to make it more likely that they’ll match with an autonomous vehicle.

As with any other ride, users will see the price of a Waymo trip up front. They’ll pay the same as an UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric fare. When a Waymo vehicle shows up, you can unlock it by tapping a prompt in the Uber app. Once you’re inside and ready to go, tap another button to start the ride. You’ll still have access to Uber support staff at any time too.

“Today is an important step in our journey to bring safe, reliable autonomous driving technology to the Uber platform,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wrote in a blog post. “Looking ahead, we expect that the number of human drivers and AVs on the Uber platform will continue to grow, side by side, for quite a long time as we continue to scale a hybrid, global network that combines both.”

Waymo has been offering autonomous rides in Phoenix since 2020, but the Uber partnership will likely see many more people trying them out for the first time. Even so, Waymo says its vehicles already carry out more than 10,000 trips every week in the Metro Phoenix area.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uber-starts-offering-fully-autonomous-waymo-rides-in-phoenix-153055331.html?src=rss