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AI is the star of Yelp’s fall product update. The review site has updated Yelp Assistant, its chatbot to answer users’ questions, rolling the tool out for all business categories. Its responses will draw on information from the business’ website as well as posts by other Yelp users. The chatbot will also remember past queries and preferences when it’s used for finding services. Saved information can be managed in the Yelp app under Yelp Assistant memory settings.

Yelp has been pushing more artificial intelligence into its platform, adding Review Insights in December and announcing calling features in April. The AI-powered calling is rolling out in the company’s fall update as Yelp Host and Yelp Receptionist. Yelp Host is specifically for table-service restaurants, and promises the ability to take reservations, change bookings and capture special requests. It is available now starting at $149 a month, or $99 a month for customers with a Yelp Guest Manager plan. Yelp Receptionist can manage calls for any “eligible local businesses.” Subscriptions to this AI-powered service start at $99 a month and will begin rolling out this week.

There are several other updates from Yelp, but one of the more interesting ones is Menu Vision. With this resource, pointing your camera at a restaurant’s menu will show photos of the dish in question along with reviews about that particular item. Menu Vision will arrive on the iOS and Android apps this week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/yelp-is-getting-more-ai-including-an-upgraded-chatbot-110051320.html?src=rss 

X is finally following through on its long-rumored plans to sell old user handles, and some of the most sought-after usernames could fetch millions of dollars. The company shared more details about and opened a waitlist for its “handle marketplace,” that will enable paying subscribers to request and buy “inactive” handles.

According to the company, X will make two types of “inactive’ handles available: “priority” usernames that may include “full names, multi-word phrases, or alphanumeric combinations” and “rare” handles that consist of “short, generic, or culturally significant names.” Subscribers to X’s Premium+ and Premium Business tiers will eventually be able to request some “priority” handles as part of their subscription. The company says @PizzaEater and @GabrielJones are possible examples of such handles. Notably, this process requires what essentially amounts to an indefinite subscription to X Premium, as the company says it will revoke priority handles if an account’s subscription lapses.

The process for acquiring a “rare” handle is a lot less clear. X says that it will offer some rare handles through “public drops” and that those will be given away for free “based on merit” and that multiple users will be able to apply. X will take a user’s engagement and “past contributions” to the platform into account when deciding who gets these handles. The company will also make some handles available for sale via an invitation-only process. These prices will be “fixed” and “determined by a number of factors including popularity of word, character length, and cultural significance.” These usernames could include common one-word usernames like @one, @fly or @compute, according to examples provided by X. They could also be incredibly expensive.

“Some handles are included with a Premium+ or Premium Business subscription,” X wrote in an FAQ. “Others – especially Rare handles – may be priced anywhere from $2,500 to over seven figures, depending on demand and uniqueness.” People who buy a supposedly rare handle will need to have a Premium+ or Premium Business subscription in order to start the process, but won’t be required to maintain one in order to keep the handle.

In a separate “handle transfer agreement,” X describes its handle-buying scheme as an “evolving initiative” that it hopes will be adopted by other social media companies in the future. “We are establishing a new standard for social media handles—a framework we hope the broader industry will adopt, similar to how Community Notes has influenced online transparency,” the company wrote.

Andrew Allemann, the publisher of Domain Name Wire, a publication that tracks the domain name industry, says that there are some similarities between X’s plan to sell handles and the marketplace for expired domains. “For a long time, people have been buying and selling handles off of X, and X hasn’t been getting a cut of that,” he told Engadget. “So in some ways, I think this will get some of the better handles to be more used on the platform.”

But he said he would have concerns about some of the terms in X’s policies, which allow it to “reclaim” handles if they become inactive. The company’s current “inactive account policy” defines an inactive account as one that hasn’t been logged into for 30 days. “I would definitely want a firmer contract if I were to pay money for a handle,” Allemann says. “I would want some rights baked into a contract that says it can’t just be taken away. I certainly want a longer period of inactivity before it can be taken away.”

X also has a history of commandeering desirable handles from users that were actively using them. The company took the @X handle from a San Francisco photographer in 2023 without compensating him, though he was offered “merch” and a tour of X’s headquarters. That same year, it also took the @music handle from a longtime user with more than a half million followers. Last year, the company swiped the @America handle from a reported Donald Trump critic. The handle is now used by Musk’s super PAC.

X’s plan to give away handles based on “merit” raises additional questions about who the platform could decide to reward and penalize. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Allemann says that all social media users should remember they don’t own any of the content they publish on company platforms. “If you create your website, you control it, and people can always come to it. On social media, the single billionaire owner of it could decide they don’t like you, and it’s pretty much within their rights to kick you off, or demote you, or change the algorithm to impact you as well.”

Have a tip for Karissa? You can reach her by email, on X, Bluesky, Threads, or send a message to @karissabe.51 to chat confidentially on Signal.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/xs-handle-marketplace-will-sell-some-rare-usernames-for-millions-of-dollars-224852740.html?src=rss 

Home products company Kohler is launching a new Kohler Health division, and its first product is a $599 camera for your toilet. The item, dubbed Dekoda, is equipped with sensors that analyze whatever liquid or solid waste goes into the toilet bowl with “validated machine learning algorithms.” The data, which can offer insights on hydration and gut health as well as detecting the presence of blood, then goes to Kohler Health’s iPhone app, although Android support is in the works. It comes with a magnetic charging pad and a wall-mounted remote that can optionally use Bluetooth fingerprint authorization so that you don’t learn way more than you want to about your guests.

I must salute the PR person who came up with this gem from the release: “By turning the bathroom into a connected, data-informed health and wellness hub, Kohler Health empowers individuals to turn ordinary routines into proactive, personalized experiences.” Because who doesn’t want to be proactive about pee? Health data is great, no arguments here. But this seems like a pretty extreme and expensive way to figure out if you’re drinking enough water. Maybe I’m in the minority with my skepticism, however, because this isn’t the first instance we’ve seen of toilet-bowl tech for better health. Withings introduced a monitor a few years back for analyzing urine streams, which you can buy for a mere $500.

If you’re just that passionate about tracking your biometrics, Dekoda products are expected to ship starting tomorrow. You’ll also need to sign up for a Kohler Health subscription on top of the product cost, and there are individual and family plan options.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kohlers-dekoda-is-600-camera-for-your-toilet-225942144.html?src=rss 

Bed bugs: the nightmare of any city dweller, frequent traveller, and now Google employee. The team at the company’s Chelsea campus were notified on Sunday that a possible bed bug infestation had been discovered in the building and were told to remain at home so the location could be treated. As if working over the weekend wasn’t enough of a bummer. Fortunately, exterminators collected their bug bounty, and employees were allowed to return to the building on Monday morning.

Google told employees to file a report if they had symptoms of bed bug bites or saw evidence of bed bugs on site, according to an email sent by the company and obtained by Wired. They were also told to contact professional exterminators if they accidentally brought bed bugs home; hopefully Google foots the bill for those unlucky people.

According to Wired‘s sources, the infestation may have been caused by “a number of large stuffed animals” in the Google office, but the publication wasn’t able to confirm that. It’s always the ones you least suspect.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/one-of-googles-new-york-offices-needs-literal-debugging-194029103.html?src=rss 

Samsung is set to officially reveal its long-anticipated Android extended reality (XR) headset, which has been codenamed Project Moohan. The company has scheduled a livestream event for October 21 at 10PM ET.

The event will be streamed live via the company’s YouTube page and on the official Samsung Newsroom site. We don’t know how long the stream will be, but Samsung promises that Project Moohan will open up the “true potential” of mixed-reality devices.

This isn’t just a reveal for a mixed-reality headset. Moohan is the very first device that uses Google’s new Android XR operating system, which has been specifically designed for XR, VR and AR devices like glasses and headsets. We’ll finally get to see what all the fuss is about and what kind of new tools the OS brings to the table.

Samsung says that this technology “seamlessly blends everyday utility with immersive new experiences.” Hopefully we’ll get a look at both everyday utility and immersive new experiences during the livestream.

We don’t have official specs about the headset itself, but there have been plenty of leaks and rumors that will be confirmed or refuted during the stream. Leaks have suggested it includes a high-end display, advanced tracking and Gemini integration. These same leaks indicate a potential price tag of $1,800 to $2,800, making it more of a rival to the Apple Vision Pro than Meta’s new Ray-Ban Display glasses.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/how-to-watch-samsung-unveil-its-android-xr-headset-184820772.html?src=rss