Science and technology

Meta has entered the AI chatbot race with three major product announcements for Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp in the coming days. During the Meta Connect 2023 event – a two-day virtual event focused on AI and augmented realities – several new services were announced which will be available soon across Meta-owned platforms. Apart from their new AI ecosystem, they offer a variety of chatbots including one inspired by MrBeast and Charli D’Amelio, to assist you throughout the day.   This new feature has not been added to the applications yet, however, anyone can request for the newly announced feature for early access. Here are the steps to follow, to get early access the Meta’s AI Chat. first of all, the applications including Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp needs to be up to date and after that there are two different methods to request an early access to experience the Meta AI chat on Facebook Messenger and Instagram. First method: Open Messenger or Instagram, and tap

Apple on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down an order requiring changes to its App Store rules stemming from an antitrust case brought by “Fortnite” owner Epic Games. The iPhone maker has been in a legal battle with Epic since 2020, when the gaming firm alleged that Apple’s practice of charging up to 30% commissions on in-app payments on iPhones and other devices violated U.S. antitrust rules. Epic lost on those claims at trial in 2021, but a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Apple’s practice of banning software developers from telling customers about alternative payment methods violated a California unfair competition law. After the ruling, the trial court judge ordered that Apple must change those rules for all developers in its U.S. App Store. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the orders, though they remain on hold until the Supreme Court either makes a decision or declines to hear the case. Apple on Thursday argued the lower court orders violate

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said the tech giant is putting artificial intelligence into digital assistants and smart glasses as it seeks to gain lost ground in the AI race. Zuckerberg made his announcements at the Connect developers conference at Meta’s headquarters in Silicon Valley, the company’s main annual product event. “Advances in AI allow us to create different (applications) and personas that help us accomplish different things,” Zuckerberg said as he kicked off the gathering. “And smart glasses are going to eventually allow us to bring all of this together into a stylish form factor that we can wear.” Smart glasses are one of the many ways that tech companies have tried to move beyond the smartphone as a user-friendly device, but so far with little success. The second-generation Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses made in a partnership with EssilorLuxottica will have a starting price of $299 when they hit the market on October 17. The smart glasses also add the abil

SINGAPORE: The US is backing a new undersea internet cable connecting several Pacific islands, according to a plan for the project seen by Reuters, boosting Washington’s interests in a region where it is vying for influence with China. The Central Pacific Cable would connect American Samoa with Guam – two US territories – and extend to up to 12 more Pacific islands, according to a document showing the cable route. Guam is home to a key US military base. Details of the cable were displayed at an industry conference in Singapore by the developers, Paul McCann and John Hibbard, two veteran subsea cable consultants. APTelecom, a US-based telecoms consultancy, is carrying out the feasibility study. APTelecom, Hibbard and McCann declined to comment. The new cable could connect the US territories with Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and the Federated States of Micronesia, the plan showed. Further funding for the pr

ChatGPT users will now be able to surf the web, expanding the data the viral chatbot can access beyond its earlier September 2021 cutoff. The artificial intelligence startup said its latest browsing feature would allow websites to control how ChatGPT can interact with them. “Browsing is available to Plus and Enterprise users today, and we’ll expand to all users soon. To enable, choose Browse with Bing in the selector under GPT-4,” OpenAI said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. ChatGPT can now browse the internet to provide you with current and authoritative information, complete with direct links to sources. It is no longer limited to data before September 2021. pic.twitter.com/pyj8a9HWkB — OpenAI (@OpenAI) September 27, 2023 The startup also announced a major update earlier this week that would enable ChatGPT to have voice conversations with users and interact with them using images, moving it closer to popular AI assistants like Apple’s Siri.

The US government on Wednesday sued eBay, accusing it of violating federal environmental laws for failing to stop the sale of several harmful products on its platform. In a complaint filed in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the U.S. Department of Justice objected to the sale of aftermarket products designed to help vehicles perform better by evading federal emissions controls. It also objected to the sale of methylene chloride-containing products for paint and coating removal, and the sale of pesticides that were misbranded or restricted. The Justice Department said some of the products cause vehicles to emit “massive amounts of air pollution”, while others pose an imminent, or potentially lethal, danger to people. “EBay has the power, the authority, and the resources to stop the sale of these illegal, harmful products on its website,” the Justice Department said. “It has chosen not to; instead, it has chosen to engage in these illegal transactions.” EBay did not immedia

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Tourism Wasi Shah on ‘World Tourism Day’ announced that the ministry would soon launch a ‘tourism app’ for the convenience of the public. In a statement, the minister said that the app will provide one-click information related to tourism destinations and focus on promoting medical tourism in the country. The minister further said that the caretaker government would promote eco-tourism under a private-public partnership in areas abundant in tourist attractions. “Tourists visiting Pakistan will very soon have an official application providing authentic information and access to the state tourism department,” he added. “The app will be made available on the Google Play Store for Android users, adding, the app will have all information pertaining to tourist spots, means of transport, and other services.” The World Tourism Day is being observed today in Pakistan like elsewhere in the world to raise awareness about the importance of tourism and i

China’s cyberspace regulator released on Wednesday names of the first batch of mobile app stores that have completed filing business details to regulators but Apple App Store is not in the list. The move signals that it has begun to enforce new rules that expand its oversight of mobile apps. A total of 26 app stores operated by companies including Tencent, Huawei, Ant Group, Baidu, Xiaomi and Samsung have submitted filings to the authority, according to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Apple’s App Store is not among the app stores on the list. Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Beijing has been expanding oversight of smartphone and mobile app usage over the past several years. The country now requires mobile app stores and mobile apps to submit business details to the government. These rules are causing consternation in the industry that publishing apps in the world’s second largest economy will become very difficult and many apps may

After a seven-year wait, NASA scientists on Tuesday finally pried open a space probe carrying the largest asteroid samples ever brought back to Earth, finding black debris. Researchers “found black dust and debris on the avionics deck of the Osiris-Rex science canister when the initial lid was removed today,” the US space agency said, though without specifying whether they definitely belonged to the asteroid. Scientists are eagerly awaiting researching the bulk of the sample, which will require “intricate disassembly” of the probe. Osiris-Rex launched in 2016, landing on the asteroid Bennu and collected roughly nine ounces (250 grams) of dust from its rocky surface. Even that small amount, NASA has said, should “help us better understand the types of asteroids that could threaten Earth.” It ended its 3.86-billion-mile (6.21-billion-kilometer) journey after touching down in the desert in the western state of Utah on Sunday, following a high-stakes, fiery descent through Earth’s at

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Dr. Umar Saif said that the government will launch interest-free loans for freelancers, ARY News reported. As per details, the IT minister said that funds will be allocated in collaboration with international companies. Umar Said stated that the IT apprenticeship will be made compulsory in universities and sterilized tests to organized for IT graduates. He said that highway national roaming will start in two months which will allow consumers to use different mobile networks easily. Read more: Pakistan to set up 5,000 joint E-working centers for freelancers Earlier, Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Dr. Umar Saif has said that steps are being taken to attract global investors in the proposed venture capital for startups. The minister said he will also visit Saudi Arabia soon while the government is going to set up 5,000 joint e-working centers for fre

Lab-grown meat, which is cultured from animal cells, is often thought to be more environmentally friendly than beef because it’s predicted to need less land, water and greenhouse gases than raising cattle. But in a  preprint , not yet peer-reviewed, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found that lab-grown or “cultivated” meat’s environmental impact is likely to be “orders of magnitude” higher than retail beef based on current and near-term production methods. Researchers conducted a life-cycle assessment of the energy needed and greenhouse gases emitted in all stages of production and compared that with beef. One of the current challenges with lab-grown meat is the use of highly refined or purified growth media, the ingredients needed to help animal cells multiply. Currently, this method is similar to the biotechnology used to make pharmaceuticals. This sets up a critical question for cultured meat production: Is it a pharmaceutical product or a food product? “I

Xbox-owner Microsoft has closed in on its $69-billion takeover of ‘ Call of Duty ‘ video-game maker Activision Blizzard after the UK said Friday that a revamped deal addressed regulatory concerns. Watch ARY News live on  live.arynews.tv The US tech titan launched its bid early last year, seeking to establish the world’s third biggest gaming firm by revenue after China’s Tencent and Japan’s PlayStation maker Sony. The transaction has faced significant scrutiny from regulators in the United States as well as Britain, where the Competition and Markets Authority blocked a previous version of the deal in April. The CMA said in a statement on Friday that “the restructured deal makes important changes” and “opens the door to the deal being cleared”. The CMA would consult on the “remedies” before making a final decision, it added. In a separate statement, Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith said the group was “encouraged by this positive development in the CMA’s review proc

The company behind ChatGPT on Monday said it is adding voice and image capabilities to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform long limited to written prompts. Watch ARY News live on  live.arynews.tv Capabilities being added to paid versions of the service allow users to have conversations with the AI and even “show” it what they are talking about, according to OpenAI. “Voice and image give you more ways to use ChatGPT in your life,” OpenAI said in a post. “Snap a picture of a landmark while travelling and have a live conversation about what’s interesting about it.” Examples of how the new features could be used included taking a photo of the inside of a refrigerator to get meal recipe suggestions or a picture of a child’s math homework to get help solving problems. Related – ChatGPT is coming to smartphones Voice and image capabilities are being rolled out to ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise users over the course of the coming weeks, and are eventually heading for Apple

Spotify Technology is testing an AI-powered feature that will translate podcasts from the likes of Dax Shepard and Lex Fridman to other languages, the audio-streaming company said on Monday. The feature marks the latest attempt by the Swedish company to capitalize on generative artificial intelligence, the technology that has taken the world by storm after the rise of ChatGPT, to tap new users and boost revenue. The translated versions, powered by Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s newly released voice generation technology, would mimic the original speaker’s style and will be more natural than traditional dubbing, Spotify said. The company had also worked with other podcasters including Monica Padman, Bill Simmons and Steven Bartlett for the feature. The voice translations would be available in languages including Spanish, French and German for a select number of catalog episodes and future episode releases, said Spotify, which could expand the audience of the shows. Spotify has spent ag

Capcom has officially revealed the date to launch Resident Evil Village – a survival horror game – for iPhone 15 Pro and iPad during a Tokyo Game Show. During a game show event in Tokyo, Capcom – a Japanese video game company – has announced that the Resident Evil Village will be available for iPhone 15 Pro and iPad users on October 30. The Japanese video game company also revealed the pricing for the mobile ports of Resident Evil 4 Remake and Resident Evil Village. Although both games are free to start but will require $59.99 and $39.99 in-application purchases to unlock full experience, respectively. Meanwhile, the Resident Evil 4 Remake is listed on App Store as “Coming Soon – Expected to launch on Dec 31,2023.” but currently available for pre-orders. Both games, Resident Evil 4 Remake and Resident Evil village will support on screen control, game controllers, multi-touch, HDR, and additional features. The individuals who may not have been following these games, Resident Evil

A NASA space capsule carrying the largest soil sample ever scooped up from the surface of an asteroid streaked through Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday and parachuted into the Utah desert, delivering the celestial specimen to scientists. The gumdrop-shaped capsule, released from the robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx as the mothership passed within 67,000 miles (107,826 km) of Earth hours earlier, touched down within a designated landing zone west of Salt Lake City on the U.S. military’s vast Utah Test and Training Range. The final descent and landing, shown on a NASA livestream, capped a six-year joint mission between the U.S. space agency and the University of Arizona. It was only the third asteroid sample, and by far the biggest, ever returned to Earth for analysis, following two similar missions by Japan’s space agency ending in 2010 and 2020. After touchdown, the capsule laid nose-down on the sandy floor of the Utah desert, a red-and-white parachute that slowed its high-speed descent

To bring WhatsApp Messenger’s security and privacy protection to another level, Meta introduced a new feature this year. This new feature will allow users to control the contact and group chats by placing those chats into a hidden folder that only can be accessed or seen via passcode, fingerprint, and face ID. What is WhatsApp Chat Lock? To increase the privacy, the WhatsApp roll out more privacy options due to which the users can create a unique passwords for the chats which will be locked in a password protected folder, which can be reverted later, if required. The new Chat Lock feature ensures that notification from the specific contact are also hidden and will not be showed in the notification bar. With this new WhatsApp Chat Lock feature, the messenger application user have full control to keep the personal conversation beyond anyone’s reach. How to turn on WhatsApp Chat Lock on Android and iPhone The newly announced WhatsApp feature – Chat Lock – for both Android and iOS w

The climactic end of a seven-year voyage comes Sunday when a NASA capsule is due to land in the Utah desert, carrying to Earth the largest asteroid samples ever collected. Scientists have high hopes for the sample, saying it will provide a better understanding of the formation of our solar system and how Earth became habitable. The Osiris-Rex probe’s final, fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere will be perilous, but the US space agency is hoping for a soft landing, around 9:00am local (15H00 GMT), in a military test range in northwestern Utah. Four years after its 2016 launch, the probe landed on the asteroid Bennu and collected roughly nine ounces (250 grams) of dust from its rocky surface. Even that small amount, NASA says, should “help us better understand the types of asteroids that could threaten Earth” and cast light “on the earliest history of our solar system,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “This sample return is really historic,” NASA scientist Amy Simon told A

CALIFORNIA: Meta-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp has announced that it will no longer support certain Android smartphones after October 24. After October 14, 2023, WhatsApp announced that it would stop working on older smartphones with older operating systems. This means that if you have one of these devices, you may need to consider upgrading to a newer phone. According to the company, WhatsApp currently supports Android operating systems 4.1 or later. However, starting from October 24, 2023, support for the messaging app will only be provided on Android versions 5.0 or later. If your Android device is running on an older version, you won’t be able to use WhatsApp unless you update your device to Android 5.0 or a newer version. WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging applications used around the world. It allows users to communicate with each other by sending and receiving text, photo, and video messages. The service has more than 1 billion monthly active users worldw

In a new paper published in the journal Viruses , research team from United States’ University of California  Riverside described an important discovery. The protein in COVID that enables the virus to make copies of itself, called N, requires the help of human cells to perform its job. Genetic instructions in our cells are transcribed from DNA to messenger RNA, and then translated into proteins that enable functions such as growth and communication with other cells. Following this translation event, proteins often need additional modifications by enzymes. These so-called post-translation modifications ensure that proteins are uniquely suited to perform their intended tasks. COVID takes advantage of a human post-translation process called SUMOylation, which directs the virus’ N protein to the right location for packaging its genome after infecting human cells. Once in the right place, the protein can begin putting copies of its genes into new infectious virus particles, invading more

The Ministry of Information Technology (IT) has started preparations for the auction of 5G technology in Pakistan, ARY News reported on Saturday quoting sources. According to sources, the IT ministry has started preparations for the launch of 5G services and issued instructions to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and related departments. The government is expected to raise millions of dollars from the 5G auction, with the spectrum auction likely to be held by August 2024, sources said. Sources said that mobile companies are currently using around 367 MHz of spectrum and the new spectrum auction will increase this volume to over 600 MHz. Earlier it emerged that the launch of the much-awaited 5G spectrum in Pakistan within 10 months is nearly impossible as the local mobile operators reportedly are not ready to buy 5G licenses owing to economic instability. Caretaker Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Dr Umar Saif had said that the 5G services will be launched i

Social media platform X’s head of policy for India and South Asia, Samiran Gupta, has resigned, two sources said, a top departure that comes ahead of India elections and as the company fights a court battle with New Delhi over content removal. Gupta was the most senior India employee for X, formerly known as Twitter, and responsible for “key content-related policy issues” and “defending Twitter’s position with new policy developments and support in-country sales organization,” according to his LinkedIn profile. Gupta, who was designated as X’s Head of Global Government Affairs for India and South Asia, declined to comment to Reuters. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gupta’s tenure at X ended in September, according to Gupta’s LinkedIn profile, which said he “enabled transition leadership for Twitter post acquisition by Elon Musk led X-Corp.” He had joined the company in February, 2022, eight months before Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter

While updating from an older iPhone to the latest version, there are certain steps to be taken to ensure that all the data from the old phone moves over to the latest one. Android users find it difficult to switch to iOS, as they have to face the hassle of transferring the data, but after 2018, Apple released an application called – Move to iOS – to make it easier for Android users. Most of the time, when someone switches to a new iPhone, they want all their data from old phone to be transferred to the new one. The first thing to do If someone has an Apple Watch connected to their old iPhone, have to get it disconnected otherwise the transfer process will get complicated. Moreover, if someone wants their Apple Watch to work with their new iPhone along with its data, they have to get it disconnected – the only way to make a forced data backup. If you have an older iPhone, update it now If anyone wants to upgrade their previous iPhone to the latest one, this is the right time to

YouTube – a video-sharing platform – recently announced to release of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered feature for short-form content creators. The AI-powered technology called – Dream Screen – will allow users to use AI tools to create AI-generated videos or image backgrounds for short-form videos – called shorts – just by giving prompts. YouTube’s vice president for community products – Toni Reid – stated that a set of products and features were announced that will enable people to push the bound of creative expression. It is also announced that this new AI-enabled production tools will help with editing both short and long-form videos on its platform. The fierce competition with Tiktok and Instagram reels forced YouTube to launch this new feature to gain more share of the short-form video market as the users and creators are enable to gain an edge over other short-form platforms. To make the video production work easier, the video sharing platform also announced to lau

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Dr. Umar Saif has said that steps are being taken to attract global investors in the proposed venture capital for startups. The minister said he will also visit Saudi Arabia soon while the government is going to set up 5,000 joint e-working centers for freelancers. Dr. Umar Saif said that interest-free loans to establish the joint E-Working Centers and to facilitate freelancers, resulting in millions of employment opportunities in the country. He said that there was a positive discussion with the Caretaker Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar on a 5-point agenda related to the IT Sector. The issue of dollar retention to the IT industry was discussed in detail and will give good news in this regard soon. This move will not only transfer overseas IT accounts to Pakistan and restore investor confidence, but also accelerate the flow of dollars in the country and increase the volume of IT exports i

The software company, Indolj, has rejected the hackers’ claim of leaking customers’ confidential data on the internet after gaining access to the restaurants’ records, ARY News reported on Thursday. Yesterday, it was reported that hackers stole the personal data of 2.2 million Pakistani citizens from the online database of restaurants and put it on sale on the internet. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indolj Saad Jangda said in a statement that there is no data leak of any citizen from his company’s restaurant management software. The Indolj CEO said that the hackers made false claims and the database of the software is well protected. He detailed that Indolj’s software does not possess confidential data of citizens. https://arynews.tv/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/restaurants-data-leak-indolj-ceo.mp4 Jangda added, “However, the company is still running a thorough investigation into the matter.” Hackers had claimed to steal the confidential data of over two million Pakistani c