Technology - Google News

Samsung’s crazy new artificial humans aren’t the smart droids you’ve been looking for - BGR
6 essential Amazon Echo tips you'll use daily - CNET
PlayStation 5 Specs, Release Date: What Sony Announced At CES - Forbes

Samsung’s crazy new artificial humans aren’t the smart droids you’ve been looking for - BGR

Posted: 07 Jan 2020 03:50 AM PST

There will come in time in the not so distant future where tech companies will use the CES event in early January to launch the first commercial artificial humans that you'll be able to take home with you. CES 2020 isn't it, and Samsung's "artificial human" project that saw plenty of hypes in the past few weeks is hardly the kind of android device you might be expecting. What Samsung's Star Labs subsidiary has shown at CES is a technology capable of creating better-looking avatars, but even that's being questioned, as the imagery Samsung used to demo Neon is fictionalized and simulated.

The digital avatars that Star Labs uses to highlight its artificial human project over on the Neon website look a lot like real humans, and we may soon see these virtual humans around. The problem with these images is that they might not highlight the actual capabilities of its technology. As The Verge points out, Samsung is making it clear at CES that those avatar demos may be misleading:

Scenarios shown at our CES Booth and in our promotional content are fictionalized and simulated for illustrative purposes only.

If the CES demos aren't real, then what are we to make of the imagery featured over on Neon's site?

The problems with Neon don't stop there, as Samsung's subsidiary is making bold claims about the Neon capabilities. These devices are supposed to show "emotions and intelligence," and should be able to respond to queries "with latency of less than a few milliseconds." They should also guard your privacy.

But Samsung doesn't explain the underlying tech that would make all of that possible. Forget the physical appearance of these artificial humans for a second, that's the last thing that matters. More important is the artificial intelligence that's able to power these "beings" — and beings, they're not. Here are other claims from the website:

You need a powerful operating system for that or a highly complex app that would be able to run on any OS out there. Google, for example, already has a powerful Google Assistant, which is probably as close as we get to an artificial human right now. Google Assistant works on virtually any device, although it feels at home on Android, where Google can seamlessly integrate it in the underlying OS and can do a bunch of smart things you'd expect from an artificial human. What Google Assistant lacks is a body and a face — the same goes for Alexa, Siri, and everything else.

Samsung's yet to prove that Bixby can be a decent Google Assistant, and Bixby could provide the brains for Neon. So Neon's brains are yet to be demonstrated.

The Neon demos prove that Samsung is more interested in developing the face of the artificial human, but, sadly, the demos do not even show actual working avatar. Instead, we're looking at misleading images.

Star Labs has big plans for the technology, however, and will push it as an artificial human project for some time to come:

In the near future, one will be able to license or subscribe to a NEON as a service representative, a financial advisor, a healthcare provider, or a concierge. Over time, NEONs will work as TV anchors, spokespeople, or movie actors; or they can simply be companions and friends.

"Neon is like a new kind of life," Star Labs' CEO Mistry said in a press release, although everything we saw so far about it proves that Neon isn't really any kind of life. Neon is like a new kind of interesting CES vaporware that should be treated accordingly.

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6 essential Amazon Echo tips you'll use daily - CNET

Posted: 07 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST

amazon-echo-2ndgen-08 — Alexa can help you set alarms and listen to music with one simple command.
Ian Knighton/CNET

Now that you've got a new Amazon Echo ($100 at Amazon), you're constantly using it to play your favorite music and get updates on the weather -- but there's a vast world of skills that Amazon's Alexa assistant can do that you should be utilizing.

For example, you probably knew that you could ask Alexa to turn on the lights when you're home, but did you know you can remotely turn the lights off within the Alexa app?

Read on for six essential tips you'll use on the daily, and check out even more Alexa tips at the end.

Connect your Echo to your smart home devices

First things first, whenever you get a new smart home device, connect it to your Echo (just make sure it's Alexa compatible). This helps you to turn off any lights or plugs you missed while rushing out the door and you can even control your thermostat while away.

After you've got your smart home devices installed and Alexa skills enabled, just say "Alexa, discover my devices."

While you're away from your house, you can open the Alexa app and say "Alexa, turn off the porch light" or "Alexa, turn off the bathroom plug."

cnet-smart-home-basement-bedroom-ceiling-fan — With Alexa, you can crawl in bed and turn the lights off with just your voice.
Ry Crist/CNET

Set an alarm from home or while on the go

Option 1: If you're around your Echo, you can say "Alexa, set an alarm for 6:30 a.m."

Option 2: If you're out of the house and want to set an alarm, go to your Amazon Alexa app menu. Tap Reminders & Alarms > Alarms > Add Alarm. You can also have Alexa wake you up with music.

amazon-echo-plus-09 — Set an alarm on your Echo.
Ian Knighton/CNET

Listen to music, audiobooks and podcasts

Once you have your Amazon account linked to your Echo, you can immediately begin listening to music. However, unless you have Prime or Amazon Music Unlimited, you may run into some songs and artists that aren't available, so it's a good idea to have your other music services linked to your account.

Connect Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn: In the Alexa app menu, tap Settings > Music and select the music service.

Connect to Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, SiriusXM, Tidal, Gimme or Vivo: If you're connecting to one of these, tap Link New Service, select the service and enter your login info.

Connect to Google Play Music or iTunes: If you have one of these two music streaming services, you can only use your Echo as a speaker. You will have to manually select the songs you want to listen to on your phone. Go to your phone's settings and turn on Bluetooth. Then say "Alexa, pair." Select your Echo when it appears on your Bluetooth screen.

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Play games with your friends or kids

This one can be fun if you've got no board games and you're trying to entertain friends or kiddos. Alexa has a ton of games you can play, like Jeopardy, Harry Potter trivia, music games, kids games and many more. You can also play multiplayer games with Amazon Echo buttons.

Just say "Alexa, play a game," or if you know exactly what you want to play, say "Alexa, play [name of game]."

Alexa will explain how to play each game.

amazon-echo-buttons-and-echo — Play multiplayer games with Amazon Echo buttons.
Ry Crist/CNET

Ask for measurement conversions

When you're cooking and need to know how many ounces are in 3 cups, just ask Alexa. You can say "Alexa, how many ounces are in a cup?" and your Echo will immediately give you a conversion.

Find movies playing in theaters near you

Once you have your location set up, Alexa can help you find theaters and showtimes near you.

1. Say "Alexa, which theaters are near me?" to get started.

2. Ask Alexa which movies are playing in the theater you're going to.

3. Ask Alexa what time the movie is playing. For example, "Alexa, what time is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker playing at Regal Theater today?"

Ready for more Amazon Echo tips? See these four places you should never put your Amazon Echo in your house and how your Amazon Echo can find your phone if you lose it in the house.

Originally published last year.

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PlayStation 5 Specs, Release Date: What Sony Announced At CES - Forbes

Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:24 AM PST

Sony had a keynote at CES last night, and it was sort of a funny one, overall. The company has already given us a fair amount of information about the upcoming PlayStation 5 through some other announcements and a few articles in Wired, and that didn't leave a whole lot of new information for the typically grand stage of a major keynote. The major new piece of information was the logo, which...see below.

So here's what Sony spent its time talking about with regards to the PS5 at CES. Nothing earth shaking, but we move ever onward. I'd expect more information at an upcoming PlayStation-specific event, probably sometime before E3.

The Logo: After Microsoft unveiled the form factor for the Xbox Series X at the Game Awards, I guess Sony figured it had to respond with...something. And this is the something that it came up with, likely after more meetings than one cares to imagine. Here's the logo for the PlayStation 5, which is like the logo for the rest of the PlayStations but with one crucial difference:

PS5 Logo

Credit: Sony

Sales Figures: And here's some actual information. It's no secret that the PS4 has had a good run of it, even if sales are likely to start tapering this year as Sony starts to move forward to the PS5. The PS4 is unlikely to reach the lofty heights of the PS2, but it's already cemented its place as the second-highest selling PlayStation of all time, and currently sits at fourth on the overall list of best-selling consoles. That's just under the Game Boy, which had the benefit of a major revision with the Game Boy Color.

The most interesting number to me concerns those 38.8 million PS+ subscribers, representing a strong attach rate that's likely to only continue to improve as we move forward to the next generation. That's good news for the sticker on the PS5: if Sony is confident about how much it can make from subscriptions on top of the initial purchase, it's more likely to sell the PS5 at or close to a loss.

Those PSVR numbers are also intriguing. If Sony could make an untethered headset to compete with Oculus Quest, it could stand to really shake things up moving forward.

PlayStation 5 Features: I don't think there's anything on this list that we didn't already know about, but here it is in one handy infographic. Missing from this list is backwards compatability, which remains a bit of a question mark. We're all assuming that the PS5 will be backwards compatable with PS4 games, but recent rumors suggest that it play nice all the way back to PS1. Sony likely isn't all that interested in making any more retro consoles, so a move like that would make sense if feasible from a technical perspective.