Kalakshar US

Opera has rolled out a new version of its browser for gamers with the same generative AI features that launched with its One browser. The company debuted its Aria AI with the One browser that came out in June. At the time, Opera also gave its Android browser the AI treatment, but the GX browser for gamers remained AI-less. Now, the company is giving GX users the choice to use Aria’s features — if they want. They’ll have to enable “Early Bird” in settings and then switch on “Aria Extension” and “Aria Command Line” to be able to use the AI assistant. And, like in the other versions of the company’s browser, users will have to log into their Opera account. 

Once they activate the AI, though, they’ll get a new command line where they can type ctrl+ / on Windows or cmd+ / on Mac to display an overlay where they interact with Aria. They can then ask Aria questions through that overlay, which they can also launch from the sidebar. Opera said users can ask Aria gaming-related questions, such as “Has [a certain game] finally launched yet?” and “How can I kick off my streaming career?” Of course, users can easily find the answers to those questions by using a search engine the old way, but Aria provides an in-browser alternative in the same way Edge’s AI co-pilot does. 

In addition, users can take advantage of Aria’s AI Prompt capability by highlighting any text in the browser to bring up contextual information. When Opera introduced its browser’s generative AI features, it included examples in which Aria turned chunks of text on the page into soap opera dialogue or into quiz questions. Aria AI is now available in over 180 countries, so most people can access it with GX and Opera’s One browsers. Those interested can download the browser for gamers if they want to give it a try from Opera’s website. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/operas-game-focused-browser-gets-an-ai-copilot-100023864.html?src=rss 

Japan’s space agency has launched a rocket on September 6 at 7:42 PM EDT carrying a telescope that’s more advanced than NASA’s Chandra and other X-ray observatories already in orbit. The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission — or XRISM but pronounced as “crism” — is a mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in collaboration with NASA and with contributions by the European Space Agency. Lia Corrales, a University of Michigan astronomer and mission participant, told The New York Times that XRISM represents “the next step in X-ray observations.”

The telescope is considered more powerful than its predecessors because of its tools. One of them, called Resolve, is a microcalorimeter spectrometer with the capability to measure tiny increases in temperature when X-rays hit its 6-by-6-pixel detector. It must operate in an environment that’s a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, enabled by a multistage mechanical cooling process inside its refrigerator-sized container with liquid helium. But so long as it’s working, the tool can measure each individual X-ray energy and can provide information on its source’s composition, motion and physical state. 

The Times says the mission team expects Resolve’s spectroscopic data to be 30 times sharper than what Chandra’s instruments can provide. It can detect X-rays with energies that range from 400 to 12,000 electron volts, which NASA says can give us the data needed to know more about the hottest regions, the largest structures and the objects with the strongest gravity pull in the universe. XRISM’s science operations won’t begin until January, though, since scientists still have to switch on its instruments and tune them in the next few months. 

In addition to XRISM, the rocket also blasted off to space carrying the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission. The small-scale lander was nicknamed “Moon Sniper,” because it was designed to demonstrate that a pinpoint landing within 100 meters of a specific target is possible. Based on the latest information from JAXA, XRISM had already separated from its rocket and had already been inserted into orbit. Meanwhile, SLIM will keep traveling for months until it reaches the moon. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/japan-launched-an-x-ray-telescope-more-advanced-than-its-peers-072136401.html?src=rss 

Clubhouse, once the Silicon Valley darling of pandemic-era social media, announced earlier this year that it was laying off half its staff as its founders pivoted to building “Clubhouse 2.0.” Now, the company is sharing the results of its big reset, with a redesign meant to make Clubhouse “more like a messaging app.”

The audio app is pivoting from its signature “drop-in” audio conversations to friend-centric voice chats, the company said in an update. Instead of sprawling rooms where users host live-streamed conversations open to any and all of the app’s users, the new Clubhouse will instead encourage users to join groups with people they know.

The groups are, somewhat confusingly, called “chats,” and allow friends and friends-of-friends to exchange voice messages. There’s still a “drop-in” element, but it’s less focused on real-time talking and geared more toward something like an Instagram Story — a destination for checking in and sharing quick updates. The app is also ditching text-based direct messages in favor of private audio messages which, yes, it’s calling voicemails or VMs.

The biggest shift, however, isn’t just the format of the conversations but that Clubhouse is now positioning itself as more of a Snapchat, where smaller groups of friends communicate privately or semi-privately, than a Twitter, where all the app’s users are shouting into the void. “It’s not about passively listening to people speaking,” the company wrote in an update. “You can listen to great conversations on podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, and a lot of other platforms. It’s about talking with people … and becoming real-life friends with your friends’ friends, and people you never would have met otherwise.”

While the pivot to messaging app may make more sense given the steep decline in engagement Clubhouse saw after pandemic restrictions eased, it’s unclear if the company will be able to return to the same buzzy highs of 2021, when it attracted millions of users and a multibillion-dollar valuation. Clubhouse, whose founders claimed earlier this year that they had “years of runway remaining,” seem like they aren’t taking success for granted their second time around.

They ended their announcement of the redesign with a bit of caution. “It’s a big bet, and we hope we’re right…”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/clubhouse-is-pivoting-from-live-audio-to-group-messaging-001520371.html?src=rss