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Threat actor scraped Dell support tickets, including customer phone numbers | TechCrunch

May 14, 2024 10:21 PM0


The person who claimed to have stolen the physical addresses of 49 million Dell customers appears to have taken more data from a different Dell portal, TechCrunch has learned. The newly compromised data includes names, phone numbers and email addresses of Dell customers. This personal data is contained in customer “service reports,” which also include […]

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Here's everything Apple just announced at its Let Loose event, including new iPad Pro with M4 chip, iPad Air, Apple Pencil and more | TechCrunch

May 7, 2024 10:26 PM0


Today is Apple iPad Event day, and we’re ready to bring you all the iPad goodness you can stand, including if some of the rumors are true of what’s coming, like a new iPad Pro, iPad Air, Apple Pencil and a keyboard case. Don’t have time to watch? That’s ok — we’ve summed up the most important parts of the event below.

iPad Air with M2 chip

Image credit: Apple

The iPad lineup is getting a facelift today, and one of the most important additions is that it now comes in two sizes, the 11-inch display and a 13-inch display. The cost is $599 for 11 inch and $799 for 13-inch. You can preorder today, and it will be available “next week.” Read more

And, as a special bonus, Apple finally places the front-facing camera on the landscape edge of the iPad. Read more

iPad Pro with M4

Image Credits: Apple

The iPad Pro is being touted as the thinnest iPad ever. Features include a visual experience with an OLED display in two panels called Tandem OLED. It also has a nanotextured glass option for less glare. And, it features the next generation of Apple silicon called M4, a jump from M2. It also has a 12.9-inch iPad Air and new gestures for the Apple Pencil.

In the U.S., the 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999 for the Wi-Fi model, and $1,199 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. The 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,299 for the Wi-Fi model, and $1,499 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.  Read more

Inside the M4 chip

Image credit: Apple

The M4 chip is the fourth generation of its custom SoCs. They feature a new display engine, as well as a significantly updated CPU and GPU cores. The base M4 chips come with 10 CPU and 10 GPU cores.

Apple claims that the new CPU is 50% faster than the M2 chips which powered the last generation of iPad Pros, while the GPU will offer a 4x increase in rendering performance, all while still offering the same performance per Watt as the M3. Apple stressed that the new GPU architecture features dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, something that’s a first for the iPad. Read more

Inside Tandem OLED

“We’ve always envisioned iPad as a magical sheet of glass,” said John Ternus, SVP, Hardware Engineering during Apple’s iPad event in Cupertino on Tuesday. “And with the new iPad Pro, we wanted to give customers an even more remarkable visual experience.”

The company did that by bringing OLED to iPad for the very first time, suggesting that the technology helps get the light and color accuracy that iPad Pro owners want – but that it lacks the brightness. The company solved that by creating the Tandem OLED screen, which can support an incredible 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness for both SDR and HDR content, and 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness. The company says no other device delivers this level of display quality. Read more

Apple Pencil Pro

Image credit: Apple

Shocking as it may seem, it’s been nearly a decade since the first Apple Pencil was announced, way back in 2015. The stylus hasn’t seen much in the way of updates since then. The most significant arrived in 2018, bringing magnetic charging to the line. Last year, meanwhile, saw the arrival of a less expensive model with fewer features and USB-C charging.

It comes in at $129. Many of the new features with the Apple Pencil Pro comes from the squeeze. You can take animations, move and rotate the object and even lens blurring. Read more

Magic Keyboard

 

Image credit: Apple

Apple announced a new and improved Magic Keyboard, its keyboard accessory for iPad. This is the first major revision since 2020.

The Magic Keyboard has been “completely redesigned” to be much thinner and lighter, Apple says, and now includes a function row for quick access to controls like screen brightness. Beyond that, the new Magic Keyboard features aluminum palm rests and a larger trackpad. Plus it’s more responsive, Apple says, with haptic feedback.

In the U.S. the new 11-inch Magic Keyboard is available for $299 and the new 13-inch Magic Keyboard is available for $349. It comes with layouts for over 30 languages. Read more

Final Cut Camera

Image credit: Apple

The latest version of Final Cut Pro introduces a new feature to speed up your shoot: Live Multicam. It’s a bold move from Apple, transforming your iPad into a multicam production studio, enabling creatives to connect and preview up to four cameras all at once, al in one place. From the command post, directors can remotely direct each video angle and dial in exposure, white balance, focus, and more, all within the Final Cut Camera app.

The new companion app lets users connect multiple iPhones or iPads (presumably using the same protocols as the Continuity Camera feature launched a few years ago). Final Cut Pro automatically transfers and syncs each Live Multicam angle so you can seamlessly move from production to editing. Read more

AI improvements

Much of Tuesday’s unveiling had to do with hardware, however, there was some teasing of new AI improvements. This included the upgraded M4 chip, which you can read more about above, which features a neural engine that’s “dedicated to the acceleration of AI workloads.”

The company also hinted that improved AI capabilities would soon be in the hands of iPadOS app developers, noting that the operating system software offers advanced frameworks, like CoreML, and that developers would be able to tap into its neural engine to deliver “powerful AI features right on device.” Read more

Inside the iPad lineup

Image Credits: Apple

Apple just updated its two high-end tablets: the iPad Air and the iPad Pro. While the entry-level iPad didn’t receive an update, the company lowered its price, too. And of course, yes, the iPad mini is still around.

Not sure which one is for you? That’s ok. We have a rundown of all of the iPads and what make them different. Read more


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Apple teased AI improvements, including the M4's neural engine, at its iPad event | TechCrunch

May 7, 2024 9:13 PM0


Apple isn’t yet ready to unveil its broader AI strategy — it’s saving that for its Worldwide Developer Conference in June — but the tech giant did make sure to mention AI technologies across its device lineup at its iPad event on Tuesday. The company touted a new iPad Air as “an incredibly powerful device for AI;” its AI-powered features like visual lookup, subject lift and live text capture, among others; and, of course, its upgraded M4 chip, which features a neural engine that’s “dedicated to the acceleration of AI workloads.”

Tuesday’s theme focused on the new hardware devices themselves — devices like new iPads and an updated Apple Pencil — not on the AI advances Apple is making under the hood. But Apple made sure to note anytime its hardware advances could also help power AI technologies.

For instance, the iPad Air’s update, which now includes the M2 with a faster CPU, GPU and neural engine, was described as offering “powerful machine learning features,” like visual lookup, which can identify objects in photos; an AI-powered tool that can lift out a photo’s subject; and live text capture, which can copy, share, look up and translate text within the camera frame.

When Apple didn’t have its own AI tech to point to, it referenced third parties. While talking about the iPad Air, for example, Apple gave a shout-out to Pixelmator’s Photomator, which uses AI models trained on over 20 million professional images to improve photos with a single click.

Here’s everything Apple just announced at its Let Loose event, including new iPad Pro with M4 chip, iPad Air, Apple Pencil and more

Meanwhile, the iPad Pro jumped from being powered by the M2 to the new M4, the latest generation of Apple silicone, with a new CPU, next-gen GPU, and next-generation ML accelerators that Apple claims will deliver up to 50% faster performance than the M2. Of course, the company also played up the chip’s neural engine, or NPU, which is “dedicated to the acceleration of AI workloads.”

“Now while the chip industry is just starting to add NPUs to some of their processors, we’ve been including our industry-leading neural engine in our chip for years,” said John Ternus,  Apple SVP, Hardware Engineering, during the event.

Consumers, however, are waiting to see what sort of use cases are in store for these hardware advances — and that’s something Apple didn’t yet go into detail about, despite having the opportunity to tease an iPadOS release with new AI features or other developer-focused announcements.

Instead, Apple ran through iPadOS’ existing features, like multitasking view Stage Manager and a display mode for creatives, dubbed Reference Mode.

Still, the company hinted that improved AI capabilities would soon be in the hands of iPadOS app developers, noting that the operating system software offers advanced frameworks, like CoreML, and that developers would be able to tap into its neural engine to deliver “powerful AI features right on device.”

In other apps, like Logic Pro, Apple added new AI-powered session players like a bass and keyboard player who can join a performance alongside the drummer already available. These AI-driven backing band members can also respond to feedback provided in the app, Apple said. The company mentioned, too, a machine learning-backed Logic Pro plug-in, ChromaGlow, for adding warmth to tracks.

Image Credits: Apple

Apple made note of how AI could solve problems in areas like photography, like when trying to scan documents using a device’s camera.

“We’ve all had the experience of trying to scan a document in certain lighting conditions where it’s hard to avoid casting a shadow,” Ternus said. “The new Pro solves this problem. It uses AI to automatically detect documents like forms and receipts. If shadows are in the way it instantly takes multiple photos with the new adaptive flash. The frames are stitched together and the result is a dramatically better scan.”

Though none of the mentions of AI stood out as being over-the-top breakthroughs, they suggested that Apple’s style would be to note AI improvements as it related to upgrading the consumer experience of using its devices.

We expect to hear a lot more about Apple’s AI plans at WWDC, where the company may even announce an AI-powered Siri or partnership with an AI provider like Google or OpenAI, rumors suggest.

The new iPad Pros are Apple’s first devices powered by its M4 chip

 


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OpenAI inks strategic tie-up with UK's Financial Times, including content use | TechCrunch

April 29, 2024 1:46 PM0


OpenAI, maker of the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, has netted another news licensing deal in Europe, adding London’s Financial Times to a growing list of publishers it’s paying for content access.

As with earlier OpenAI’s publisher licensing deals, financial terms of the arrangement are not being made public.

The latest deal looks a touch cozier than other recent OpenAI publisher tie-ups — such as with German giant Axel Springer or with the AP, Le Monde and Prisa Media in France and Spain respectively — as the pair are referring to the arrangement as a “strategic partnership and licensing agreement”. (Though Le Monde’s CEO also referred to the “partnership” it announced with OpenAI in March as a “strategic move”.)

However we understand it’s a non-exclusive licensing arrangement — and OpenAI is not taking any kind of stake in the FT Group.

On the content licensing front, the pair said the deal covers OpenAI use of the FT’s content for training AI models and, where appropriate, for displaying in generative AI responses produced by tools like ChatGPT, which looks much the same as its other publisher deals.

The strategic element appears to center on the FT boosting its understanding of generative AI, especially as a content discovery tool, and what’s being couched as a collaboration aimed at developing “new AI products and features for FT readers” — suggesting the news publisher is eager to expand its use of the AI technology more generally.

“Through the partnership, ChatGPT users will be able to see select attributed summaries, quotes and rich links to FT journalism in response to relevant queries,” the FT wrote in a press release.

The publisher also noted that it became a customer of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise product earlier this year. It goes on to suggest it wants to explore ways to deepen its use of AI, while expressing caution over the reliability of automated outputs and potential risks to reader trust.

“This is an important agreement in a number of respects,” wrote FT Group CEO John Ridding in a statement. “It recognises the value of our award-winning journalism and will give us early insights into how content is surfaced through AI.” 

He went on, “Apart from the benefits to the FT, there are broader implications for the industry. It’s right, of course, that AI platforms pay publishers for the use of their material. OpenAI understands the importance of transparency, attribution, and compensation — all essential for us. At the same time, it’s clearly in the interests of users that these products contain reliable sources.”

Large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s GPT, which powers the ChatGPT chatbot, are notorious for their capacity to fabricate information or “hallucinate.” This is the polar opposite of journalism, where reporters work to verify that the information they provide is as accurate as possible.

So it’s actually not surprising that OpenAI’s early moves toward licensing content for model training have centered on journalism. The AI giant may hope this will help it fix the “hallucination” problem. (A line in the PR suggests the partnership will “help improve [OpenAI’s] models’ usefulness by learning from FT journalism.”)

There’s another major motivating factor in play here too, though: Legal liability around copyright.

Last December the New York Times announced it’s suing OpenAI, alleging that its copyrighted content was used by the AI giant to train models without a license. OpenAI disputes that but one way to close down the risk of further lawsuits from news publishers, whose content was likely scraped off the public Internet (or otherwise harvested) to feed development of LLMs is to pay publishers for using their copyrighted content.

For their part, publishers stand to gain some cold hard cash from the content licensing. OpenAI told TechCrunch it has “around a dozen” publisher deals signed (or “imminent”), adding “many” more are in the works.

They could also, potentially, acquire some readers — such as if users of ChatGPT opt to click on citations that link to their content. However, generative AI could also cannibalize the use of search engines over time, diverting traffic away from news publishers’ sites. If that kind of disruption is coming down the pipe, some news publishers may feel a strategic advantage in developing closer relationships with the likes of OpenAI.

Getting involved with Big AI carries some reputational pitfalls for publishers, too.

Tech publisher CNET, which last year rushed to adopt generative AI as a content production tool — without making its use of the tech abundantly clear to readers — took further knocks to its reputation when journalists at Futurism found scores of errors in machine-written articles it had published.

The FT has a well-established reputation for producing quality journalism. So it will certainly be interesting to see how it further integrates generative AI into its products and/or newsroom processes.

Last month it also announced a GenAI tool for subscribers — which essentially shakes out to offering a natural language search option atop two decades of FT content (so, basically, it’s a value-add aimed at driving subscriptions for human-produced journalism). Additionally, in Europe legal uncertainty is clouding use of tools like ChatGPT over a raft of privacy law concerns.

OpenAI’s deals with publishers could spell trouble for rivals

Google hit with $270M fine in France as authority finds news publishers’ data was used for Gemini


Software Development in Sri Lanka

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