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This episode, Cherlynn is joined by senior reporter Jess Conditt and special guest Michael Fisher to talk about the week of reviews. From the Moto Razr+ to the Pixel Tablet, we look at how these devices fit into our lives and make them better (or worse). Then, we go over the highlights from Summer Games Fest and dig into that Titanic situation.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Topics

Moto Razr+ review: a foldable with an external display you’ll actually want to use – 1:56

Pixel Tablet review: Google made a great smart display and a passable tablet – 31:53

The doomed OceanGate submarine was piloted with a Logitech game controller – 47:50

Amazon is shutting down Halo health services at the end of July – 59:15

Jess Conditt’s takeaways from Summer Game Fest – 1:02:51

Working on – 1:19:27

Pop culture picks – 1:20:51

Livestream

Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Jessica Conditt
Guest: Michael Fisher
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-podcast-moto-razr-plus-and-pixel-tablet-review-mr-mobile-123049110.html?src=rss 

YouTube has plans to go beyond translated subtitles by allowing creators to dub videos into other spoken languages. At VidCon, the company announced yesterday that it’s testing an AI-powered dubbing service called Aloud, developed at Google’s Area 120 incubator, The Verge reported. The tool would eliminate the time and often great expense required to create a dub the usual way (with human translators and narrators), allowing creators to reach a wider global audience.

Aloud promises a “quality dub in just a few minutes” using AI. The tool first creates a text-based translation that creators can check and edit, then generates a dub. Users can choose different narrators, how to publish and more. Best of all, the service is available for “no charge,” Aloud’s website states.

YouTube is currently testing the tool with “hundreds” of creators, YouTube’s VP of product management, Amjad Hanif, told The Verge. It’s currently available in English and lets you dub into Spanish and Portugese with “more languages coming soon,” according to Aloud. 

From a user perspective, the setting appears as an “Audio track” toggle in the gear icon, just below subtitles. An example of that is from the Amoeba Sisters science channel trailer, which uses English as a native language, with a dubbed Spanish language option created by Aloud’s AI. 

The ability to easily dub languages can expand a creator’s reach without the need to do anything else, Google said in its keynote. There’s no mention yet as to when Aloud’s dubbing tool will be available more widely. In the future, though, YouTube will “make translated audio tracks sound like the creator’s voice, with more expression and lip sync,” Hanif said. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtubes-new-tool-can-automatically-dub-videos-into-other-languages-093624288.html?src=rss 

The United States government has reaffirmed its commitment to move EV production to its shores instead of relying on foreign entities. The US Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO) has announced a conditional $9.2 billion loan for BlueOval SK (BOSK) — owned by Ford and South Korean battery producer SK On — to build three battery manufacturing plants, Bloomberg reports. 

The loan is the biggest the LPO has given out yet — almost four times the size of last year’s $2.5 billion loan for Ultium Cell — a joint venture between General Motors and LG. The loan’s scale is thanks, in part, to last year’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which led to the LPO’s lending budget increasing to $400 billion. For context, in the previous 14 years, the LPO has dispersed about $33 billion. The extra capital will certainly be necessary to achieve the Biden-Harris administration goal for EVs to make up half of US car sales by 2030. 

There will be two plants in Kentucky and one in Tennessee, with all three producing batteries for Ford and Lincoln’s upcoming EV. The car manufacturer also announced plans for a Michigan-based LFP battery plant earlier this year. The production ramp-up comes as Ford aims to roll out two million EVs by 2026, with the All-Electric Explorer, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit already available and an EV lineup in the works for Lincoln. In comparison, Ford produced about 132,000 EVs in 2022. Ford also recently secured its EV drivers access to 12,000 Tesla’s charging points across North America.

The LPO stresses that the loan will also bring career opportunities to the areas, creating 5,000 construction jobs and another 7,500 operation jobs once the plants start running. The investment also aligns with President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative that 40 percent of specific federal investments (including LPO loans) go to disadvantaged communities. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ford-secures-92-billion-loan-from-us-department-of-energy-to-build-ev-battery-factories-102520341.html?src=rss 

The US government is asking qualified members of the public for help in figuring out how to seize opportunities and overcome challenges associated with generative AI. Gina Raimondo, the US Secretary of Commerce, has announced that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is launching a public working group for AI technologies that can generate content, including text, images, videos, music and code. The group will also help the agency develop key guidance that organizations can follow to address risks brought by generative AI tech. 

According to the agency, the group will be composed of volunteers with technical expertise from the private and public sectors and will work together via a collaborative online workspace. To start with, the group will gather input on how the NIST AI Risk Management Framework — the framework the agency developed to “better manage risks to individuals, organizations and society associated with artificial intelligence” — may be used to support the development of generative AI tech. Then, the group is expected to support the agency’s AI-related tests and evaluations. Its long-term goal, however, is to explore opportunities on how generative AI can be used to solve the most pressing issues of our time, such as problems related to health, climate change and the environment as a whole. 

Raimondo said in a statement:

“President Biden has been clear that we must work to harness the enormous potential while managing the risks posed by AI to our economy, national security and society. The recently released NIST AI Risk Management Framework can help minimize the potential for harm from generative AI technologies. Building on the framework, this new public working group will help provide essential guidance for those organizations that are developing, deploying and using generative AI, and who have a responsibility to ensure its trustworthiness.”

The government has been scrambling to keep up with the rapidly advancing pace of generative AI technology. In April, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration asked for public comments on possible regulations that would hold AI creators accountable. The White House also invited American workers to share how automated tools are being used in their workplaces. Then in June, Representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Ken Buck (R-CO) introduced legislation that would establish a 20-person commission to study ways to “mitigate the risks and possible harms” of AI while also “protecting” America’s position as a global technology power. The legislation came after Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith spoke at Washington, DC and called on the US federal government to establish a new agency that’s focused on regulating AI. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-calls-upon-volunteer-experts-to-help-address-generative-ai-risks-063956572.html?src=rss