Welcome to the Techmeme Ride Home for Friday, October 4th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, Google has updated lens and is taking a page out of Proplexity's book, Open AI's new Canvas workspace, why an upcoming iPhone SE might have some interesting internals, and of course, the weekend long read suggestions. Here's what you missed today in the world
of Tech. Google has updated Google Lens to let users take a video and use their voice to search that, showing an AI overview and search results, rolling out to search labs on mobile, quoting the verge. If you can't capture what you want to search for with just a picture, Google Lens will now let you take a video and even use your voice to ask about what you're seeing. The feature will surface an AI overview and search results based on
the video's contents and your question. It's rolling out in search labs on Android and iOS today. Google first previewed using video to search at IO and May. As an example, Google says someone curious about the fish they're seeing at an aquarium can hold up their phone to the exhibit, open the Google Lens app, and then hold down the shutter button. Since Lens starts recording, they can say their question, why are they swimming together?
Google Lens then uses the Gemini AI model to provide a response similar to what you see in the gif below. When speaking about the tech behind the feature, Rajan Patel, the vice president of engineering at Google told the verge that Google is capturing the video as a series of image frames and then applying the same computer vision techniques
previously used in Lens. But Google is taking things a step further by passing the information to a custom Gemini model developed to, quote, understand multiple frames in sequence and then provide a response that is rooted in the web, end quote. There isn't support for identifying the sounds in a video just yet, like if you're trying to identify a bird you're hearing, but Patel says that's something Google has been, quote, experimenting with, end quote.
Google also rolled out ads in AI overviews for when a user's question has a commercial angle and identifies the ads with a sponsored header on mobile in the US. So when you get those AI overviews now on Google search, expect there to be ads soon. And more than that, Google is also now doing flat out AI organized search results in the US on mobile showing
users AI aggregated pages of content from forums, articles, YouTube videos and more. So doing a perplexity, I suppose, quoting TechCrunch searches about recipes and meal inspiration, for example, what are some good vegetarian appetizers or dinner ideas that wow may pull up an AI aggregated page of content from around the web, including forums, articles and YouTube videos, a customized Gemini model generates a full page experience with results that are
relevant and organized. Bell explained referring to Google's Gemini family of AI models with these a organized results pages were surfacing more diverse content formats from a more diverse content set, end quote. Google says it plans to expand these pages to other categories
of searches in the coming months, publishers may be the collateral damage. However, one study found that AI overviews could negatively affect about 25% of publisher traffic due to the deemphasis of web page links on the revenue side and expert cited by the New York Post estimated that AI generated overviews could lead to more than two billion dollars
in publisher losses thanks to the resultant decline in ad views. AI generated search results from Google and rivals don't appear to be cratering big publishers traffic yet in their most recent earnings Ziff Davis and dot dash merit apparent IAC characterized the impacts as negligible, but that may change as Google which commands over 81% of the global search
market expands AI overviews and AI organized pages to more users and queries. According to one estimate AI overviews were only showing for about 7% of searches in July as Google dialed back the feature to make adjustments and quote. Open AI has launched Canvas, a chat GPT interface with a workspace for writing and coding projects into beta for plus and team users. This is similar to Anthropics artifacts feature apparently, Goatting Tech
Crunch. AI chatbots today can't complete large projects from a single prompt, but they can often create a good starting point. Editable workspaces like Canvas allow users to fix parts of an AI chatbots output that are wrong without having to scrutinize their prompt
and generate a whole new stretch of code. The product opens a separate window beside the normal chat window with a workspace for writing and coding projects users can generate writing or code directly in the canvas then highlight sections of the work to have the model edit. Canvas is rolling out in beta to chat GPT plus and teams users on Thursday and enterprise and edu users next week. Several consumer AI providers are converging around
editable workspaces as a practical way to use generative AI. Chat GPT's new interface offers similar features to Anthropics artifacts launched in June and the viral coding companion cursor. Open AI is racing to match competitor offerings and launch entirely new capabilities in chat GPT as a means to grow its paid user base. This is just a more natural interface for collaborating with chat GPT said open AI product manager Daniel Levine in a demo
with Tech Crunch. In our demo, Levine had to select GPT 40 with Canvas from chat GPT's model picker drop down window. However, open AI says Canvas Windows will just pop out when chat GPT detects a separate workspace could be helpful, say for longer outputs or complex coding tasks. You can also write use Canvas to automatically open a project window. Levine showed Tech Crunch how chat GPT's new features could help write an email users can prompt
chat GPT to generate an email which will then pop out in the canvas window. Then users can toggle a slider to adjust the length of the writing to be shorter or longer. You can also highlight specific sentences and ask chat GPT to make changes such as make the sound friendlier or add emojis. Users can also ask chat GPT to rewrite the whole email as is in another language. The features for the coding canvas are slightly different, however.
Levine prompted chat GPT to create an API web server in Python which spawned in the Canvas window by pressing an add comments button chat GPT will add inline documentation to explain the code in plain English. Further, if you highlight a section of code that chat GPT created, you can ask the chatbot to explain it to you or ask questions about
it. Chat GPT is also getting a new review code button which will suggest specific edits for the code in the window rather generated or use a written for them to approve edit themselves or decline. If they press approve chat GPT, we'll take a stab at fixing the bugs itself. There continues to be a bunch of rumor that Apple is going to hold some sort of October event where they will likely refresh the Mac lineup with M4 chips, maybe release a new
iPad mini. But there are also rumors about the return of the iPhone SE, an iPhone SE 4. The scuttlebutt says that probably won't come until spring of next year. But here's the speculation about what that device might have, quoting 9-5 Mac. While the current generation iPhone SE looks like an iPhone 8, the new model will have a more modern look similar to an iPhone 14. This includes flat sides and an OLED panel with a notch at the top.
Our sources confirm that the iPhone SE 4 codenamed V59 will have the same 1170 by 2532 display resolution as the 6.1-inch iPhone 14. Apple will also bring Face ID to the iPhone SE 4, putting an end to the home button with touch ID on the iPhone. However, the dynamic island will remain exclusive to the more premium models.
Previous reports suggest that Apple wants to make the new SE compatible with Apple intelligence features, and our sources say that this will be possible thanks to the A18 chip with 8 gigabytes of RAM. Apple will use the same variant of the latest system on a chip used in the base iPhone 16 with a 5-core GPU. When it comes to the camera, the iPhone SE 4 will have the same 48 megapixel wide camera and 12 megapixel front camera as the iPhone 15
and 15 plus. However, we've heard that the new SE won't have ultra-wide or telephoto lenses. Apple will likely take advantage of the 48 megapixel sensor to say that the new SE is capable of taking photos with 2x optical zoom. But surely one of the main highlights
of the iPhone SE 4 will be Apple's first 5G modem. The company acquired Intel's modem division in 2019 in an attempt to dispose of Qualcomm's modems, but multiple reports suggest that the prototype modems developed by Apple have suffered multiple failures. It seems that Apple is confident of finally getting its first 5G modems into the hands
of a lot of people. 9 to 5 max sources say that the V59 is equipped with a wireless modem designed by Apple, codenamed Centauri, the modem is quite ambitious and will also handle Wi-Fi Bluetooth and GPS. While Apple will certainly benefit in terms of money from having its own modem, the company will also use it to improve the integration between hardware
and software. 9 to 5 max has learnt that the new modem will drastically reduce battery consumption, especially when users switch on low power mode on the iPhone. This whole story continues to be really weird. Now, Matt Mollenweg says 159 automatic employees around 8.4% of staff have taken a quote, generous severance package offered to those who disagreed with WordPress's direction in recent weeks.
Quoting tech crunch. In a blog post, Mollenweg said the package offered $30,000 or 6 months of salary, whichever is higher, but the employees who took it would not be eligible to be rehired by automatic. Nearly 80% of people who took the offer worked in the company's ecosystem slash WordPress division and the rest were in automatic's cause most business consisting
of apps like PocketCast, Day 1, Tumblr, and CloudUp. Mollenweg, who co-created WordPress and is arguably the face of the open source project, tried to put a positive spin on the announcement, writing that the company, quote, decided to design the most generous buy-out package possible. We called it an alignment offer. HR added some extra details to sweeten the deal. We wanted to make it as enticing as possible. He wrote and later on added 159
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Time for the week on Long Read Suggestions. First up, remember when Cyberpunk 2077 launched and everybody hated it? Well, it turned out the promised improvements and fixes that Game Maker CD Project Red made to the game have actually worked and people generally think the game is good now. So, Eurogame took a look at how the company turned things around. Quote, naturally, plenty wonder why the studio didn't simply delay it again for longer to
properly allow for things together. For one, as Noa Kowski says, the breakdown in communication and outsized confidence meant the decision makers simply felt they didn't need to. The second was sheer exhaustion. The team was really, really tired. Noa Kowski says, you could almost feel that people just wanted some sort of closure. If we pushed it further, probably or at least that's how we felt, that would mean a lot of challenges for the team. It turned
out that because we didn't, it was probably even harder. We figured A, it's going to be probably fine and B, it could actually mean more damage for the team if we're going to keep going. And we didn't realize we were in so much trouble, I think, most importantly. Because if the first part was clearly visible, I don't think we would have taken that decision despite number one and number two, nobody sane does something like that to a game that's
been in development for so long that we were betting on so hard. And quote, all together it made for a damaging cocktail that couldn't be unsturred ambitious plans for a seamless open world with no loading tricks and initially simultaneous release across nine platforms,
old generation consoles, pro editions, new generations, PC and Stadia, visual fidelity to push the limits of high NPCs, a series of new systemic mechanics alongside a new IP, all combined with an approach where the team built its own engine as it went almost tripled in size and moved to emergency remote work at the height of the pandemic. Throughout all this CG project continued to hold faith in the methods that had seen it through past
launches that went down to the wire. Michael Noakowski described it to me best in labeling the studios unshakable optimism as simply magical thinking. Eventually, CD projects red had at last realized what the problems were. Exhausted and crestfallen the team took time to reset over Christmas and New Year. Then at the beginning of 2021, those who didn't leave the company returned to work and put the same unshakable faith that partially got them into this mess
to another use, digging themselves back out. And quote, and finally, and this is not a joke, actual practical flying cars are here. And they're almost legal, like almost, going into the legend. Most mornings when the air lies still on the ridges of the North Cascades and Central Washington State, Tim Lomb, climbs into his personal flying car, a 14 foot long bean-shaped craft called a black fly, straps himself in, and sets the machines
for rotor blades, worrying. As the 61-year-old retired smoke-jemperer levitates into the sky, the landscape opens up below him, the forest stretching along the ridge and the farmland sprawling across the valley floor below. The aircraft swings forward into horizontal flight and lumps zips off, flowing along the contours of the land, taking in the scenery.
It's stunning, very dramatic, he tells me, cliffs and trees and valleys. I've been writing paragraphs like that for a decade for magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, imagining a time in the not-so-distant future when the long-awaited promise of flying cars, more officially known as Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicles are EVTOL, is
finally made a reality. This time, though, the scene is not a flight of fancy. Lomb is a real person and he really does fly a personal flying machine, typically around five times a day. If you have $190,000 on hand, you too could buy one, or if your budget is more modest, you can book a rental ride and a different kind of electric flying vehicle for $249. At long last, the era of the flying car is here, but there is a catch that EVTOLs that
are currently available are not strictly speaking legal. The entire fledgling industry, such as it is, exists in a kind of shadow land where it's unclear what exactly the rules are and what will happen if you break them. For the manufacturers, it's a gamble, the kind of regulatory arbitrage that could allow them to jump ahead of more careful rule following competitors and become an industry dominating colossus like Airbnb or Uber, or could devolve
into lawsuits and enforcement actions. Move fast and break things is the Silicon Valley way, but it's very much the opposite of the safety first mindset of the rest of the aviation industry, where if things crash and burn, they do so literally and the public and government are not quick to forgive and quote. It's only been a week, but content from that notebook
LM stuff is everywhere. Just do a cursory search on YouTube for almost any topic and you'll find a bunch of in quotes podcasts that have popped up all of a sudden to people talking about a topic and same if you search podcasts themselves on Spotify or whatever, there's a whole bunch of new podcasts up there. I guess the slap has finally come to podcasting too. Awesome. Will this put a premium on actual human voices and thoughts or no, hard
to say? If the last 20 years has taught us anything, it's that the scale of spam and slap can overwhelm almost anything, but then again, maybe people will want the real thing. I don't know. As Neely Patel said on Threads, every platform company is about to be at war with itself as the algorithmic recommendation AI team tries to fight off the content made by the generative AI team. Yay. Anyway, no bonus episodes this weekend. Talk to you on Monday.