Kalakshar US

Snap’s next generation of standalone augmented reality glasses will arrive next year and will be smaller, lighter and more powerful than the developer-focused device the Snapchat maker introduced last year. CEO Evan Spiegel announced the upcoming glasses, which will be called “Specs,” during a keynote at Augmented World Expo (AWE).

“Specs are coming next year, in a much smaller form factor, at a fraction of the weight, with a ton more capability,” Spiegel said. He said the glasses will be “ready for public release,” but didn’t provide details on how much they may cost. The current fifth-generation glasses are available only to approved developers willing to commit to a year-long $99/month subscription.

Still, a smaller pair of AR glasses from Snap should be welcome news to Snapchat fans curious about the company’s standalone AR device, but who may have been put off by its bulky, oversized design. Spiegel shared few details about the glasses, but in a blog post Snap suggested that AI will play an important role. “It’s clear that today’s devices and user interfaces are woefully inadequate to realize the full potential of AI,” the company wrote. “Chatbots will soon give way to immersive experiences that bring AI into the world through augmented reality, empowering us to express ourselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.”

The existing version of Spectacles already has some AI-powered experiences, thanks to a partnership with OpenAI. And Snap today also announced new integrations with OpenAI and Google that allow developers to build multimodal lenses for Spectacles that can use the built-in cameras to react to the wearer’s surroundings. Developers have already created experiences for recipe generation, translation and currency conversion, Snap said.

Spiegel did confirm that the AR lenses that developers are building now will work with the next-generation of frames. So whenever they do launch, there should be an established catalog of AR experiences for the glasses. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/snap-says-new-lightweight-ar-glasses-will-come-in-2026-171020059.html?src=rss 

Nearly two years after launching Threads, Meta is finally giving in to users on one of the most requested features for the service: direct messaging. The company is beginning to test a dedicated inbox for Threads, beginning with Hong Kong, Argentina and Thailand, Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a post on Threads.

Threads has had some messaging capabilities since last year, but the feature only allows users to send Threads posts to friends via their Instagram DMs. This is more than a little clunky as it requires switching back and forth between apps. It’s also been the source of some confusion — at least among my friends — because it allows you to send Threads posts to contacts on Instagram even when they don’t have a corresponding Threads account. For me, this means I sometimes send a post to a friend on Instagram only for them to tell me they can’t view it properly because they don’t use the app.

Needless to say, all this has been far from ideal. And, unsurprisingly, DMs have been a highly requested feature from Threads users. But Meta executives — and Instagram head Adam Mosseri in particular — have been inexplicably skeptical of the feature. Mosseri said last year that he wanted to “make the Instagram inbox work” for Threads rather than build out a separate messaging feature for the app.

That’s finally changing, though. Meta is beginning its initial tests of a Threads-specific inbox this week. The feature will only support 1:1 chats — at least for now — so it will still be much more limited than what’s available on Instagram or even X. It will also only be available in a couple of countries to start, though Meta says it plans to expand to more regions “soon.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-finally-getting-its-own-dm-inbox-160001216.html?src=rss 

There’s a new (ish) retro console on the block. The ModRetro Chromatic had a soft launch last year but is now “permanently in stock” for consumers. This is another machine that runs Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, like the beloved Analogue Pocket and others.

The Chromatic features a magnesium alloy build, so it should take a licking. It also features a backlit screen — something the original Game Boy lacked. As a matter of fact, Nintendo didn’t fully embrace backlighting technology until midway through the life of the Game Boy Advance.

The console was designed by Palmer Luckey and was originally sold in a limited run last year. Today’s release includes a new colorway and the choice of a sapphire glass display for increased durability. There are also a bunch of new accessories, like a rechargeable power bank, and some nifty software features. It can now natively stream to Discord, Mac or PC, without any additional hardware and there’s a new firmware tool to update games.

The Chromatic runs proprietary cartridges, in addition to Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles. There are a handful of new games arriving with this release, including a metroidvania called Dark Plague. Each console ships with Tetris, just like the original Game Boy.

The standard release costs $200, but the model with the sapphire glass display costs $300. New games price out at $40 and old-school Game Boy carts are available on eBay, at garage sales and maybe buried in ancient couch cushions.

There are a couple of caveats here. First of all, this doesn’t emulate games, as cartridges are required. It only handles Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles. The Analogue Pocket, for instance, can also play Game Boy Advance titles and a separate adapter brings other consoles into the mix.

There’s also the creator himself. Palmer Luckey is a controversial figure. He founded Oculus and helped bring VR to the masses, sure, but recent years has found him running a military defense contracting firm called Anduril Industries. This company has been involved with designing a “virtual” border wall complete with hundreds of surveillance towers, building AI tools for military use and, most recently, making wearables that allow soldiers to interact with AI-powered weapon systems.

He’s become a big player in the defense space, securing $6 billion in global government contracts. You’ll have to decide if you want to indirectly contribute to that cause by giving him $200 or $300 to pick up a portable console.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/palmer-luckeys-modretro-chromatic-portable-console-is-now-a-thing-you-can-actually-buy-160014434.html?src=rss 

OpenAI has inked a deal with Google to begin using the latter’s cloud service to meet its growing needs for increased computing capacity, according to a report by Reuters. This is something of a surprise, given that Google and OpenAI are rivals in the AI space.

The terms of the deal remain unknown, but reporting indicates it has been in the negotiation phase for the past several months. This marks OpenAI’s latest move to diversify its compute sources away from Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft had been OpenAI’s exclusive data center provider until January, after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman blamed the lack of compute capacity for the delay of several products. The company made a deal in March with CoreWeave to provide increased cloud compute capacity. That deal was worth nearly $12 billion.

Microsoft Azure may no longer be the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI, but it’s not as if the two companies have parted ways. OpenAI still relies heavily on Azure and the corporations are currently in negotiations to revise the terms of their partnership, which will likely revise the equity stake Microsoft holds in OpenAI.

However, this is certainly a win for Google Cloud. ChatGPT poses the biggest threat to Google’s search business in years, and this deal could indicate a softening between the two companies. In any event, it’ll certainly bring a whole lot of money into Google Cloud’s coffers. The platform made $43 billion last year and accounted for 12 percent of parent company Alphabet’s overall revenue. The addition of OpenAI to its customer portfolio will likely extend those numbers dramatically.

There is an elephant in the room. Google has famously struggled to meet customer demand for its cloud services, and this was before bringing on OpenAI. Simply put, it needs more data centers. Will OpenAI get priority access over pre-existing customers? Engadget has reached out to Google and will update this story if we hear back.

To that end, OpenAI is certainly thriving. The company recently announced that the current adoption rate of its software will lead to $10 billion in annual revenue as of June. It told investors that it has a target revenue goal of around $12 billion for the year, which it should easily meet with new subscribers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-will-reportedly-start-using-googles-cloud-servers-162311068.html?src=rss 

Sonos has announced a major software update for its flagship Sonos Ace headphones that brings some new features to the premium wireless cans. Chief among them is the long-awaited TrueCinema feature, which was first promised as upcoming when the headphones launched in 2024. TrueCinema uses a compatible Sonos soundbar to measure the acoustic dynamics of the room you’re sitting in. It then uses that data to increase the accuracy of the spatial sound in your headphones, in the same fashion as Trueplay on Sonos speakers. The idea is for the audio the user hears to mimic that of a well-balanced surround sound system thats sits right in the room you’re listening in.

TV Audio Swap is also getting an update and will now support two sets of Sonos Ace headphones synced to the same compatible soundbar, where it previously supported just one set. This feature allows users to seamlessly transfer the audio from their soundbar to their headphones.

The update also improves the headphones Active Noise Cancellation by leveraging on-board sensors to adapt to a user’s hair, glasses or hats in real time. Using the sensors, the Sonos Ace will then compensate for sound leaks.

Some improvements to call quality are also coming to Sonos Ace with the addition of SideTone, a feature that plays a user’s voice back to them at low volume while on a call. The audio fidelity on phone calls has also received a bump through this update, though details on what bitrate or exactly how it was improved are not available.

Jason White, head of software at Sonos, said the company’s goal has been to share meaningful software updates that deliver new enhancements to existing products. “Our goal has always been to create products that earn their place in people’s lives for years, and this Sonos Ace update is a great example of that. It proves that your best tech investment doesn’t need to be your newest, it just has to be built right,” White said.

This update launches globally today and is available through the Sonos app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/sonos-ace-headphones-get-long-awaited-truecinema-sound-and-more-in-big-update-163012056.html?src=rss 

Looking for a budget-friendly iPad you can use for everyday tasks, like catching up on emails and messages, then reading the latest news before streaming a show? This might be the deal for you. The A16-powered iPad (a model that Apple released just a few months ago) has dipped to $299. That’s $50 off the list price.

The tablet briefly dropped to $278 at one point. However, this is the best price we’ve seen for this iPad otherwise.

This 11-inch iPad has 128GB of storage and has Wi-Fi 6 connectivity (no LTE capabilities here). The discount applies to all four colorways: blue, pink, silver and yellow.

This is our current pick for the best budget iPad. We gave it a score of 84 in our review.

We feel that Apple could stand to upgrade the entry-level iPad’s display, which does not have an anti-reflective coating and has a 60Hz refresh rate (which is the bare minimum for a new device these days). The screen isn’t laminated, either — there’s a gap between the actual panel and the glass that encases it. While this is good for repairability, we feel that it makes the screen look cheaper. Actions like writing notes with an Apple Pencil feel less natural than on the likes of the iPad Air too.

Speaking of the Apple Pencil, the A16 iPad isn’t compatible with the second-gen model or the Pencil Pro. As such, the only pressure-sensitive Apple Pencil that works with this iPad is the original model from 2015, which doesn’t attach to the tablet magnetically. The USB-C Pencil can stick to the tablet, but it does not offer wireless charging or pressure sensitivity.

Still, perhaps you don’t care about doodling or taking handwritten notes on an iPad. If that, the screen issues and the lack of Apple Intelligence generative AI features (this model doesn’t support them) don’t matter to you, this iPad might be all you need.

The chip is fast enough to handle everyday tasks, while the storage and RAM increases compared to the previous model are very welcome — especially considering that Apple didn’t bump up the price. The build quality and battery life are still solid overall too.

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-latest-entry-level-ipad-is-back-on-sale-for-299-145940023.html?src=rss 

Nintendo just dropped a trailer for a Splatoon spinoff game. Titled Splatoon Raiders, the third-person paint slinging shooter spinoff will be released exclusively on the Switch 2. This marks the first spinoff in the franchise and will take players to a new location called the Spirhalite Islands.

While details are sparse at this early stage, the trailer mentions players will take on the role of “a mechanic” alongside Deep Cut, a fictional band in the Splatoon universe. There’s no mention of multiplayer (and no footage of it in this teaser), so Splatoon Raiders may well be a single-player experience. While the initial launch will be exclusive to Nintendo’s newest handheld, the trailer says that “research is still underway,” implying there may be future releases on additional consoles.

A substantial update for Splatoon 3 was also announced, with version 10.0 landing on both Switch and Switch 2 June 12. Included in the update is the Splatlands Collection, a cache of 30 new weapons from the Barazushi and Emberz in-game brands. While they are based on previous weapons, they will sport new designs, sub weapons and specials.

The update also includes matchmaking improvements, with an added metric called Series Weapon Power, which will track your effectiveness per weapon based on your win-loss ratio in battles. This new metric will be considered when pairing you with other online players. Version 10.0 is also bringing back Urchin Underpass, a popular multiplayer map from the original Splatoon game. Nintendo says that Switch 2 players will notice more detailed visuals and improved performance with this update.

Alongside the Animal Crossing franchise, Splatoon and its sequels have been star properties for Nintendo, and have sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The Nintendo Switch 2 was released on June 5 and has been hard to find in stock during its first launch week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/splatoon-spinoff-game-will-launch-exclusively-on-switch-2-151541869.html?src=rss