Month: June 2023

• 

  It's finally here, the metal Pixel Watch band. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]

When the Pixel Watch came out in October, it seemed like a decent-but-first-generation swing at a smartwatch (even though Android Wear came out about nine years ago). Part of what gives off the first-generation vibe is the Pixel Watch's lack of watch band variety. Eight months after the watch's release, Google is taking a big step toward fixing that problem by introducing metal watch bands. The "Google Pixel Watch Metal Links Band" was briefly for sale on the Google Store Friday before being sold out.

Google's metal watch band is $200, which might seem expensive for a $350 watch, but that is on par with what Samsung charges, and Apple's metal link band is $350. We have one of these bands in person now, and it's worth every bit of the $200 price tag. Google's watch band feels just as premium as a band from a luxury watchmaker, with an incredible amount of weight and a solid-feeling clasp section. With the default amount of metal links (you get six extra in the box), the Pixel Watch plus a metal band weighs 145 g, which is mid-weight luxury watch territory.

The band links have an interesting attachment mechanism. I'm used to bands that either have a long screw running through each link or a pin you slide in from the side, but the links on the Pixel each connect with an internal spring bar system. Fold one of the links in half, and you'll reveal a set of openings to insert a special pair of included tweezers. Squeeze the tweezers, and you'll compress the spring bar, retracting the two pins and disconnecting the link from the watch band.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Amid increasing use of generative AI in music, the Recording Academy has updated its rules for the 66th annual Grammy Awards regarding the role of AI in considered works, Reuters reports. To be eligible for an award, a song must have meaningful human authorship. Purely algorithmically generated music cannot win a Grammy.

According to the 66th Grammy Awards Rules & Guidelines booklet, works generated solely by AI are not eligible for the awards. However, the Academy does not completely exclude AI's potential role in the creation process. Works that incorporate elements of "AI-generated material" are eligible if they meet two key criteria, and we'll quote the booklet itself:

• "The human-authored components of the work must be meaningful and more than 'de minimis.'" (The booklet defines "de minimis" as "lacking significance or importance, or so minor as to merit disregard.")
• "These human-authored components must be relevant to the category in which the work is entered. For instance, if the work is submitted in a songwriting category, there should be significant human authorship involved in the music and/or lyrics. Similarly, for a performance category, the human performance element should be significant."

The rules also state that if a piece of work incorporates material generated by AI, the individuals or teams who programmed or operated the AI to generate that material cannot be considered for a Grammy award based on that contribution. In other words, if a song uses AI to generate a melody, lyrics, or any other element, the people who created or utilized the AI do not get credit for Grammy consideration for that specific AI-generated part. The credit and potential for nomination or award receipt go to the human elements that significantly contribute to the song.

Enlarge / Very few modern smartphones can be considered to have a "readily removable" battery, but the Fairphone 4 is one of them. (credit: Fairphone)

Whenever regulation passes that seems to herald the dawn of a new age of repairable devices, there is almost always a catch, a loophole, or at least an "it depends." In the case of recent headline-grabbing battery legislation out of the European Union, we're waiting to see what counts as "readily" when it comes to removing and replacing device batteries.

Last week, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of new rules for handling batteries of all sizes in the EU, due to be implemented within 3.5 years of passage or as early as 2027. Along with measures addressing carbon footprints for electric vehicle and industrial batteries and stricter waste and recycling targets, there was a particular line in Article 11 regarding the "Removability and replaceability of portable batteries," that likely got smartphone, tablet, and laptop manufacturer lobbyists moving:

Portable batteries incorporated in appliances shall be readily removable and replaceable by the end-user or by independent operators during the lifetime of the appliance, if the batteries have a shorter lifetime than the appliance, or at the latest at the end of the lifetime of the appliance.

"Readily replaceable," as addressed in the next paragraph, is when, after removing a battery, you can substitute a similar battery "without affecting the functioning or the performance of that appliance." For all the things specifically defined, outlined, and estimated in the 129-page "COM(2020) 798 final," there's not much more about what the phrase exactly means.

Enlarge (credit: zf L | Moment)

Child safety experts are growing increasingly powerless to stop thousands of "AI-generated child sex images" from being easily and rapidly created, then shared across dark web pedophile forums, The Washington Post reported.

This "explosion" of "disturbingly" realistic images could help normalize child sexual exploitation, lure more children into harm's way, and make it harder for law enforcement to find actual children being harmed, experts told The Post.

Finding victims depicted in child sexual abuse materials is already a "needle in a haystack problem," Rebecca Portnoff, the director of data science at the nonprofit child-safety group Thorn, told The Post. Now, law enforcement will be further delayed in investigations by efforts to determine if materials are real or not.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | numbeos)

Internet service providers in both the US and Europe are clamoring for new payments from Big Tech firms.

European broadband providers are much closer to realizing the long-held goal of payments from tech companies, as the European Union government is holding an official consultation on the proposal. As the EU process unfolds, the telco lobby group USTelecom is hoping to push the US down a similar but not quite identical path.

In a blog post on Friday, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter argued that the biggest technology companies should contribute toward a fund that subsidizes the building of broadband networks. Spalter wrote that Amazon and similar Internet companies should fill what he called a "conspicuously empty seat at the collective table of global high-speed connectivity."

Enlarge / An iPhone undergoes repairs. (credit: Apple)

Apple launched its Self Service Repair program in the spring of 2022, giving owners of some iPhones and Macs access to the same parts and repair manuals used by Apple-certified technicians. Since the program's launch, most changes have focused on adding new devices—most recently, support for M1-series desktops in December 2022. But in a new update today, Apple also announced that it is making the self-repair process slightly less onerous.

The company will now provide a "postrepair software tool" called System Configuration that will handle the process of verifying that repairs were done properly, calibrating and updating the firmware of any replaced components and pairing TouchID and FaceID sensors with the device's Secure Enclave.

Previously, these steps required a call to Apple's Self Service Repair support team, which would run users through finishing the repair process. Apple says its team will still be on standby if home repairers need help.

Enlarge / The Emira is the first new mainstream sports car made by Lotus since it was bought by Geely in 2017. (credit: Drew Phillips for Lotus Cars)

The auto industry’s gung-ho shift to electrification is particularly nail-biting for a company as historically behind the times—"analog," if I’m being polite—as Lotus. So before the company completely upends its lineage and launches—gasp!—an electric SUV, Lotus has one final offering to satiate the pearl-clutching purists of internal combustion: the Emira. Though ironically, the best attributes about this car have nothing to do with its engine.

Effectively picking up where the Lotus Evora GT left off, the Emira rights many of its predecessor’s wrongs. The Emira’s cockpit comfortably cocoons two passengers, as Lotus finally realized what the rest of the world knew all along, that the Evora’s rear seats were completely useless. The Emira’s cabin is also vastly better appointed, with soft leather and suede-trimmed surfaces. Sure, the coupe’s switchgear remains hilariously outdated, but at least the Emira uses the solid-feeling buttons and toggles from a 10-year-old Volvo (thanks, daddy Geely) as opposed to the Evora, which had crap-tastic plastic bits from a 20-year-old Ford.

The Emira also does away with the Evora’s I-got-this-on-sale-at-Best-Buy Alpine-branded multimedia head unit and instead relies on a 10.2-inch touchscreen for infotainment duties. This software is by no means cutting-edge; it brings Lotus into the 2010s at best. But at least Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connect wirelessly, which is pretty much all you need.