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Google is expanding its existing partnership with Reddit to acquire AI training data from the company that will help it adopt better ways to train AI models.

 

More specifically, as a result of the partnership, Google will be able to access Reddit’s data API that will bring its users real-time content from Reddit’s platform. This will facilitate users of Google’s products in participating in Reddit communities and conversations. In turn, Reddit will have access to Google’s AI-powered service ‘Vertex AI,’ which will help the company enhance its search capabilities.

Reddit is Providing Google with AI Training Data as Part of a New $60 Million Deal



WhatsApp has been working on new text formatting options that it has just launched to all its users on Android, iOS, Web, and Mac.

 

Until now, the formatting options that have been available to WhatsApp users are bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace. In addition to these, the four newly added ones include bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code. These are meant to facilitate improved communication among users by enabling them to organize and emphasize specific information.


WhatsApp is Bringing New Formatting Options that Help with Organizing and Highlighting Text in Messages



Samsung has expanded support for its range of audio technologies Auracast, 360 Audio, and Auto Switch. While these technologies have been accessible on Samsung’s devices, the blog post explains the extent to which they will be supported across the lineup. According to Samsung, the updates will begin to be introduced starting with the Galaxy Buds 2 and Buds FE from the end of February, and then to the Buds 2 Pro.

 

Auracast, an industry-wide and fairly new Bluetooth technology, allows a device to broadcast an audio stream to an unlimited number of endpoints like speakers and headphones. Auracast was first launched to Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro earbuds and its latest high-end TVs last year, following the Galaxy S24 series in January.

Samsung Announces an Expanded List of Devices that Support its Different Audio Technologies



A report from Bloomberg states that Apple has advanced the internal testing of new generative AI integrations for its Xcode programming software, and will be making them available to third-party developers this year. 

 

Additionally, Apple is reported to be exploring generative AI in consumer-facing products; such as automatic playlists in Apple Music, slideshows in Keynote, and AI chatbot / search features for Spotlight search.

 

Apple’s revamped AI-powered code completion tool is similar to Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, according to Bloomberg’s report. It applies a large language model (LLM) to predict and complete code strings, as well as generate code to test apps.

Apple is Reportedly Furthering Development of its AI-powered Code Completion Tool



OpenAI is launching a new text-to-video AI model called ‘Sora,’ that is designed to produce photorealistic videos from text-based descriptions. 

 

Recently, AI video generating models have started to assert their presence in the market. We’ve got companies like Runway and Pika that have developed their own text-to-video models. There is also Google’s Lumiere figures that are one of OpenAI’s leading competitors.

 

According to OpenAI, Sora’s capabilities allow it to judge how objects exist in the physical world, as well as some complex phenomena like emotions. As a result, it can create complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background.

OpenAI Announces its Latest Generative AI Model that Creates Realistic Videos from Text



Ahead of the 2024 elections across Europe, TikTok has announced the addition of a local language Election Centre in its app that is dedicated to providing people with factual local voting information for all 27 individual EU Member States.



The social media company has taken into consideration the substantial number of people across Europe that visit its platform - more than 134m of them, many of whom are also going to be casting their votes in the upcoming European elections. Owning responsibility as a popular social media platform, TikTok will be working with local electoral commissions and civil society organizations to set up in-app Election Centers where its community can find “trusted and authoritative information.”

TikTok is Playing its Part in Combating Voting Misinformation and Deceptive Acts ahead of Election Day

 


YouTube has a bunch of new announcements: an update to YouTube Studio’s mobile app, expansion of Gift Memberships, and updated Product Tagging.

 

First off, the new YouTube Studio update will allow creators to make direct uploads from their camera roll to the app by tapping on the + icon in the app. Additionally, creators will be able to set their video monetization status during the upload process, hence making  content management more feasible.

 


Next, YouTube is experimenting with a new Community Posts feed in its mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. Community Posts has become a popular engagement feature where creators share text-based updates with their subscribers. Back in May of last year, YouTube made Community Posts available to all channels.

YouTube is Updating its Studio App, and Expanding Gift Memberships and Product Tagging



Apple’s research department is pitching a prototype of a new generative AI animation tool ‘Keyframer,’ that enables adding motion to 2D images with prompts.

 

Apple is keen on exploring large language models (LLMs) in animation for their potential, just like in text and image generation. Earlier, Apple introduced Human Gaussian Splats (HUGS) that creates animation-ready human avatars from video clips, and MGIE that edits images using text prompts, among its latest generative AI projects

 

In a research paper that the company published last week, it explains that Keyframer is powered by OpenAI’s GPT4 model and collects data in the form of Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) files. It then produces a CSS code that animates the image based on a text-based prompt. These prompts can be anything that describe how the animation must look like, e.g. “make the frog jump.”

 

Apple Introduces New Generative AI innovation ‘Keyframer’ that Animates Images



Automated transcription service Otter is launching an AI feature called ‘AI Chat in Channels,’ to its group chat functionality ‘Channels.’ Channels work pretty much like Slack chats, where people can connect with frequent collaborators and share transcripts with each other.

 

With the help of the new AI integration, groups will be able to ask a chatbot questions related to their older meetings. The chatbot will then gather information from all the meetings that group members have participated in, and generate answers to the prompts asked.

 

Otter is Rolling out an AI Chatbot in Channels to Assist Users in Improved Teamwork



Video game company Panic has announced that it is reducing the wait time for orders for its little Playdate handheld. After having shipped over 70,000 of the gaming gadgets, Panic reports that the Playdate stock is currently in “limited number” for purchase on its website.

 

Even when Playdate runs out of stock, customers will be notified that their order wouldn’t ship until a new batch of the gadget is ready to ship. However, the wait time for preorders will still be significantly shorter as compared to before, as Panic delivers its latest preorder batch of Playdate within a few days or weeks.

Panic Makes its Handheld Gadget Playdate Available to More than 20 New Countries



Meta is making an important change to Instagram and Threads’ policy – limiting recommendation of content related to politics and social issues from accounts that a user does not follow, across the platforms. Meta plans to bring this update to Facebook some time later, too.

 

The changes will be implemented only in places where recommendations are displayed to users, like Explore, Reels, in-feed recommendations, and suggested users. No changes will be made to the way content is displayed from accounts that a user follows. This means that accounts that aren’t eligible to be recommended could still post political content that their followers will be able to view in feed and Stories.

 

While users will be seeing less of political content by default, they would still be allowed to opt into seeing more of such content if they wish to. The option will be available in account settings, specifying content that is “likely to mention governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large.”

Meta Announces Changes to Content Recommendation on Instagram and Threads, Related to Politics and Social Issues



NASA’s latest project ‘PACE’ has just been launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission is aimed at learning about microscopic plant life and particles from space. PACE is an acronym for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem satellite.

 

For the first time ever, a satellite will study plankton from space, hundreds of miles above the earth, analyzing the impact of the tiniest life particles on the planet’s atmosphere and climate changes.

 

The reason why NASA is giving such meticulous importance to phytoplankton and other microscopic living organisms is because they play a key role in regulating the climate. Like regular plants, phytoplankton take planet-heating carbon dioxide in and produce oxygen via the process of photosynthesis. They also make the foundation of food chains in oceans, hence greatly influencing the health of marine ecosystems and fisheries. There are found in tens of thousands of different species, each designed to have unique interactions with their environment.

NASA Launches its First Space Satellite Dedicated to the Study of Microscopic Life and Particles

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