Apps

Bumble open sourced its AI that detects unsolicited nudes • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in Apps, artificial intelligence, bumbleNo Comments

As part of its larger commitment to combat “cyberflashing,” the dating app Bumble is open sourcing its AI tool that detects unsolicited lewd images. First debuted in 2019, Private Detector (let’s take a moment to let that name sink in) blurs out nudes that are sent through the Bumble app, giving the user on the receiving end the choice of whether to open the image. “Even though the number of users sending lewd images on our apps is luckily a negligible minority — just 0.1% — our scale allows us to collect a best-in-the-industry dataset of both lewd and non-lewd images, tailored to achieve the best possible performances on the task,” the company wrote in a press release. Now available on GitHub, a refined version of the AI is available for commercial use, distribution and modification. Though it’s not exactly cutting-edge technology to develop a model that detects nude images, it’s something that smaller companies probably don’t have the time to develop themselves. So, other dating apps (or any product where people might send dick pics, AKA the entire internet?) could feasibly integrate this technology into their own products, helping shield users from undesired lewd content. Since releasing Private Detector, Bumble has also worked with U.S. legislators to enforce legal consequences for sending unsolicited nudes. “There’s a need to address this issue beyond Bumble’s product ecosystem and engage in a larger conversation about how to address the issue of unsolicited lewd photos — also known as cyberflashing — to make the internet a safer and kinder place for everyone,” Bumble added. When Bumble first introduced this AI, the company claimed it had 98% accuracy.

Hyph set to launch a music creation app with an emphasis on remixing • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in Apps, Music, SocialNo Comments

Music startup Hyph announced an upcoming mobile app, which aims to be a music creation and remixing tool for everyone to use. With the creator economy estimated to be worth $100 billion, Hyph is targeting the over 50 million people worldwide who identify as content creators. Hyph allows users to create original songs by taking music from the app’s library and customizing it by adding instrumentals like bass, lead guitar, strings, drums and piano, or a voice recording of them singing. Users can choose music based on genre or mood. Hyph will be available in the U.S. via an invitation this fall. The app is slated for a Spring 2023 launch and will be available on Android and iOS devices. Along with sharing to social media platforms, users can also share their creations in the app with a backdrop of their chosen photo or video. The music-creation-centered social media app will also let users take songs made by other users and republish them with new edits. Image Credits: Hyph The New York City-based startup was founded this year by Max Renard, Anthony Kennedy Shriver and Alexander Dessauer. It raised $26 million in seed funding from private investors. The company aims to launch an app that allows everyone with a smartphone to “create professional-quality music,” Hyph wrote in its announcement. “Hyph will do for music creation what smartphone cameras did for photography, which provided anyone with a smartphone the ability to produce quality photos without the financial commitment and time previously required,” Renard said. Renard notes that Hyph is targeted at Gen Z, a “hands-on generation who want to be a part of the creation process.” A recent survey found that 45% of Gen Z wants to make money creating content. The Hyph team says that the purpose of the forthcoming app isn’t for creators to make money as professional musicians but to have fun making songs and sharing them with friends. Hyph owns the rights to all songs created on its app, but the company plans to share the proceeds with song creators and music contributors. In-app ads will make Hyph accessible and free for all users. However, it will have paid features and the option to remove ads for a fee. Those premium options will range from $0.99 to $29.99, the company told ZebethMedia. Renard notes that Hyph doesn’t rely on AI-generated music, instead providing a catalog of songs recorded by session musicians.

YouTube rolls out new design with pinch-to-zoom on iOS and Android and other updates • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in Apps, YouTubeNo Comments

YouTube announced a makeover to its interface today, including a new look, a pinch-to-zoom feature, precise seeking, new buttons, ambient mode and a dark mode that’s “even darker.” The updates will gradually roll out to all users beginning today. YouTube’s new pinch-to-zoom feature lets users on iOS and Android devices zoom in on videos so they can see more details. This feature was available as a test to Premium subscribers in August. Precise seeking will allow users to easily find an exact part in a video. Available on desktop and mobile, users can drag the cursor or swipe up on the video to see a row of thumbnails. This helps users find the exact spot in the video they want to rewatch. Image Credits: YouTube YouTube’s update also includes a new color effect called “ambient mode” that uses “dynamic color sampling” to match the app’s background color to the colors in the video that a user watches, Nate Koechley, UX Director, YouTube, wrote in the official blog post. To our understanding, the new effect is very subtle and mainly for aesthetic reasons. The purpose is to draw the viewer into the content and put “greater focus on our watch page,” Koechley added. Ambient mode will be available on desktop and mobile with YouTube’s dark theme. It’ll also be available on video playlists. Another visual change will be new buttons under videos. YouTube links in video descriptions are now buttons in order to “minimize distractions,” the company explained. To make the page even “easier on the eyes,” the like, share and download buttons will also get makeovers and be smaller in size. Plus, the subscribe button will now appear as a black-and-white pill-shaped button instead of the bright red “SUBSCRIBE.” These updates are unlikely to soften the blow of the latest price hike to YouTube’s Premium subscription plan for families. The plan will increase to $22.99 per month in November.

A closer look at macOS Ventura • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in Apple, Apps, macos, macos 13, venturaNo Comments

Sometimes it’s nice when a product launch falls when I’m on the road. I qualify that statement because, well, it’s one more thing to shoehorn into an invariably overloaded work trip. But there are some products that are just better tested on the road: laptops, earbuds, travel chargers and the occasional operating system. I’ve been running a beta of macOS 13 Ventura on my desktop since it was introduced back at WWDC over the summer. As ever, such things are not for the faint of heart. As I’ve noted before, I’ve really come to appreciate Stage Manager on the big screen. My adoption ratio for new macOS workflow features isn’t great — I usually use a majority of them for the duration of the review period and then immediately forget they exist. Stage Manager has been through the ringer on the iPadOS side — and rightfully so. The beta implementations left a lot to be desired, contributing to the company’s decision to forgo iPadOS 16, in favor of skipping to 16.1 around a month or so later. I won’t say Stage Manager was perfect from the get-go on the desktop (what beta software really is?), but I enabled it on day one and have rarely found myself shutting it off, ever since. Image Credits: Brian Heater When enabled, the feature keeps all windows open concurrently on the desktop. The primary window occupies the majority of the space, and the others are minimized on the side of the screen. It’s a bit like a toolbar comprised of open apps. Tapping any of these will swap them into the main staging area. You can also pull out a few and create a stack that will then be minimized and expanded together. An underrated piece in all of this is the fact that all of the clutter on the desktop goes away when the feature is enabled. If you maximize the window, meanwhile, the sidebar will get out of the way. The feature still has some quirks I’d suggest Apple update. Unzipping a window, for instance, drops the Finder window you’er using back into the side bar. Pulling individual windows out of a stack can also be a bit annoying. Overall, however, you can make a strong case for Stage Manager as the best Mac productivity update in years. Happy to say here that I’ve been using it on the desktop and notebook alike. Continuity Camera was greeted with mixed reception when it was introduced at this year’s WWDC. The critique is fair in the sense that it feels like putting a Band-Aid on a bigger issue, addressing the symptoms, rather than the root cause. The broader issue is that Apple has been neglecting laptop webcams for years. It’s an issue that was brought into sharp relief during the pandemic, for obvious reasons, and Apple has, more recently, been making the effort to improve video capture, through a combination of tweaks to the ISP and improved hardware. Image Credits: Brian Heater Continuity Camera was developed as a way of addressing the bigger issue with existing hardware. Instead of being forced to buy an external webcam or new Mac, it offers a way to leverage the iPhone as a kind of makeshift webcam. And let’s be real, the iPhone’s video capture is lightyears ahead of even the most recent Macs. Setup is simple, as long as the Mac and iPhone are running the same Apple account. Using a accessory like the one recently released by Belkin, you can mount it to the top of the laptop or desktop, right above the built-in webcam. The rear-facing cameras will do the webcam’s work. As far as solutions go, this isn’t among Apple’s most elegant, and as I noted in my Belkin write-up, the iPhone 14 Pro is too heavy for the Air’s lid to support at anything but a 90-degree angle. But the solution absolutely works in a pinch. I plan to keep the Belkin attachment in my cable bag, going forward. Those are the two headline features in my estimation. Though, as ever, these sorts of releases are pretty major feature dumps, with updates across the board. Spotlight gets a lot of love, this time out. It’s one of those features you likely don’t think much about. I tend to limit my desktop searches to local files, and for everything else, I use Google. Apple’s pushing to make the desktop version of Spotlight the kind of one-stop shop it has become on the iPhone. That certainly makes sense on a mobile device, but in the end, I’m not sure how much more convenient the macOS version is versus firing up a browser and searching Google. This time out, the feature offers a more streamlined design, along with searches within Photos, Messages and Notes — those, at least, are (hopefully) not things you’ll find in a browser-based search. The list also includes entertainment searches for things like music and films. However, I’d say the handiest addition here are “quick actions,” which offer shortcuts for things like creating alarms and Shazaming music. That should save you a bit of precious time. Safari tends to get a lot of love in these big system updates, and that certainly follows for Ventura. This is another place where I have to be upfront about not being a daily user. I’m just too wedded to Chrome as a browser and cloud-based account syncing service. The biggest news here is Shared Tab Groups, which lets you, well, share groups of tabs. Effectively, you make a group on a specific theme and can share them through a variety of methods, including Messages and Mail. There’s a nice security overhaul on board, as well, with the addition of end-to-end encrypted sign in through Passkeys. Think of what Google offers with Password Manager. The company has also expanded the feature to extend to non-Apple devices. Image Credits: Brian Heater There are some truly welcome additions to Messages this time out. Now you can unsend

Microsoft’s Windows Dev Kit 2023 lets developers tap AI processors on laptops • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in AI, Apps, Hardware, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Robotics & AI, WindowsNo Comments

At its Build conference in May, Microsoft debuted Project Volterra, a device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform designed to let developers explore “AI scenarios” via Qualcomm’s Neural Processing SDK for Windows toolkit. Today, Volterra — now called Windows Dev Kit 2023 — officially goes on sale, priced at $599 and available from the Microsoft Store in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. Here’s how Microsoft describes it: With Windows Dev Kit 2023, developers will be able to bring their entire app development process onto one compact device, giving them everything they need to build Windows apps for Arm, on Arm. As previously announced, the Windows Dev Kit 2023 contains a dedicated AI processor, called the Hexagon processor, complimented by an Arm-based chip — the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 — both supplied by Qualcomm. It enables developers to build Arm-native and AI-powered apps alongside and with tools such as Visual Studio (version 17.4 runs natively on Arm), .NET 7 (which has Arm-specific performance improvements), VSCode, Microsoft Office and Teams and machine learning frameworks including PyTorch and TensorFlow. Microsoft’s Windows Dev Kit 2023, which packs an Arm processor plus an AI accelerator chip. Image Credits: Microsoft Here’s the full list of specs: 32GB LPDDR4x RAM 512GB fast NVMe Storage Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 compute platform RJ45 for ethernet 3 x USB-A ports 2 x USB-C ports Mini DisplayPort (which supports up to three external monitors, including two at 4K 60Hz) Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 6 The Windows Dev Kit 2023 arrives alongside support in Windows for neural processing units (NPU), or dedicated chips tailored for AI- and machine learning-specific workloads. Dedicated AI chips, which speed up AI processing while reducing the impact on battery, have become common in mobile devices like smartphones. But as apps such as AI-powered image upscalers and image generators come into wider use, manufacturers have been adding such chips to their laptops (see Microsoft’s own Surface Pro X and 5G Surface Pro 9). The Windows Dev Kit 2023 taps into the recently released Qualcomm Neural Processing SDK for Windows, which provides tools for converting and executing AI models on Snapdragon-based Windows devices in addition to APIs for targeting distinct processor cores with different power and performance profiles. Using it and the Neural Processing SDK, developers can execute, debug and analyze the performance of deep neural networks on Windows devices with Snapdragon hardware as well as integrate the networks into apps and other code. The tooling benefits laptops built on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 system-on-chip, like the Acer Spin 7 and Lenovo ThinkPad X13s. Engineered to compete against Apple’s Arm-based silicon, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3’s AI accelerator can be used to apply AI processing to photos and video. Microsoft and Qualcomm are betting the use cases expand with the launch of the Windows Dev Kit 2023; Microsoft for its part has started to leverage AI accelerators in Windows 11 to power features like background noise removal. Image Credits: Microsoft In a blog post shared with ZebethMedia ahead of today’s announcement, Microsoft notes that developers will “need to install the toolchain as needed for their workloads on Windows Dev Kit 2023” and that some tools and services “may require additional licenses, fees or both.” “More apps, tools, frameworks and packages are being ported to natively target Windows on Arm and will be arriving over the coming months,” the post continues. “In the meantime, thanks to Windows 11’s powerful emulation technology, developers will be able to run many unmodified x64 and x86 apps and tools on their Windows Dev Kit.” It remains to be seen whether the Windows Dev Kit reverses the fortune of Windows on Arm devices, which have largely failed to take off. Historically, they’ve been less powerful than Intel-based devices while suffering from compatibility issues and sky-high pricing (the Surface Pro X cost more than $1,500 at launch). Emulated app performance on the first few Arm-powered Windows devices tended to be poor and certain games wouldn’t launch unless they used a particular graphics library, while drivers for hardware only worked if they were designed for Windows on Arm specifically. The Windows on Arm situation has improved as of late, thanks to more powerful hardware (like the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3) and Microsoft’s App Assurance program to ensure that business and enterprise apps work on Arm. But the ecosystem has a long way to go, still, with Unity — one of the most popular game engines today — only this morning announcing a commitment to allow developers to target Windows on Arm devices to get native performance.

PayPal rolls out support for passkeys on Apple devices • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in Apple, Apps, iPad, iPhone, mac, PayPal, SecurityNo Comments

PayPal is making it easier to log in to its services — if you’re an Apple device user, that is. The payments giant today announced that it’s adding passkeys as a log in method for PayPal accounts, allowing iPhone, iPad and Mac users on PayPal.com to sign in without using a password. Passkeys are a relatively new industry standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium — in partnership with Apple, Google and Microsoft — that are designed to replace passwords with bits of data called cryptographic key pairs. (To make matters somewhat confusing, Apple announced its own version of the passkey standard called Passkey in June.) The pairs consist of a public key stored in the cloud and a private key stored locally on users’ devices, separated to ensure that a compromised server won’t give an attacker access to account credentials. Passkeys have the added benefit of supporting a range of authentication techniques including fingerprint scanning, face recognition, PIN codes and even swipe patterns. One downside is that, because passkeys reside on local devices, it can be harder to log into an app or service with them if you’re using someone else’s phone or laptop. But in this way, passkeys are undeniably more secure than your typical password. Image Credits: PayPal With PayPal, Apple device users running iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 or macOS Ventura can create a passkey by logging into the PayPal website on desktop or mobile, typing their username and password and selecting the “Create a passkey” option. They’ll be prompted to authenticate with Apple Face ID or Touch ID to create the passkey, which will then be synced with Apple’s iCloud Keychain service. Users with devices that don’t support passkeys can still tap an iPhone to log in with a PayPal passkey, but they’ll have to scan a QR code that appears after they enter their username. PayPal passkeys begin rolling out today for users in the U.S. Passkeys will become available in additional countries starting early in 2023, PayPal says, and on platforms beyond iOS, iPadOS and macOS “as they add support for passkeys.”

Apple increases US subscription prices for Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple One bundle • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in Apple, apple music, apple one, apple tv, Apps, Media & Entertainment, streaming serviceNo Comments

Today marks another blow to subscribers and their wallets. Apple increased the subscription prices for Apple TV+, Apple Music and the Apple One bundle in the U.S. — joining various other companies that have raised the prices of their subscription plans this year. Apple TV+ will increase by $2 monthly and $10 annually. Subscribers will be charged $6.99 per month or $69 per year. This will be the first time Apple TV+ has raised its subscription price since its launch, signifying a frustrating time for streaming subscribers who have seen price hikes left and right lately. Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and YouTube Premium’s family plan all experienced price increases this year. Apple Music is seeing a price hike of $1 for individual subscribers and $2 for families. The individual plan will now be $10.99 per month and the family plan will be $16.99 per month. In June, it was reported that Apple Music quietly increased the price of its student plan in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Apple One is a subscription plan that bundles up to six Apple services like Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud+, Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+. The new prices for the individual plan, family plan and Premier plan are $16.95/month, $22.95/month and $32.95/month, respectively. An Apple spokesperson provided a statement to ZebethMedia: The subscription prices for Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple One will increase beginning today. The change to Apple Music is due to an increase in licensing costs, and in turn, artists and songwriters will earn more for the streaming of their music. We also continue to add innovative features that make Apple Music the world’s best listening experience. We introduced Apple TV+ at a very low price because we started with just a few shows and movies. Three years later, Apple TV+ is home to an extensive selection of award-winning and broadly acclaimed series, feature films, documentaries, and kids and family entertainment from the world’s most creative storytellers. Apple recently raised the prices for in-app purchases on the App Store in many countries across Asia and Europe.

Fermyon raises $20M to build tools for cloud app dev • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in Amplify Partners, Apps, cloud, Dev, Enterprise, Fermyon, funding, Insight Partners, startup, Startups, WebAssemblyNo Comments

Matt Butcher and Radu Matei worked on container technologies for years, “containers” in this context referring to software packages containing all the necessary elements to run in any environment, from desktop PCs to servers. As engineers at Deis, and then DeisLabs once Microsoft acquired it in 2017, their team explored the container landscape and built the package manager Helm as well as Brigade and other tooling. Along the journey, they faced myriad problems with containers — namely speed and cost. The setbacks spurred them and a handful of other DeisLabs veterans to found Fermyon, which today closed a $20 million Series A funding round led by Insight Partners with participation from Amplify Partners and angel investors. Fermyon offers a managed cloud service, Fermyon Cloud, that allows developers to quickly build microservices, or pieces of apps that work independently, but together (e.g., if one microservice fails, it won’t bring down the others). “Fermyon is building the next wave of cloud services atop WebAssembly,” Butcher said, referring to the open standard that allows web browsers to run binary code. “Originally written for the browser, WebAssembly has all of the earmarks of an excellent cloud compute platform … [Its] combination of features got us excited. Fermyon set out to build a suite of tools that enables developers to build, deploy, and then operate WebAssembly binaries in a cloud context.” Butcher argues WebAssembly is superior to containers in a number of respects, such as start-up time and compatibility across operating systems including Windows, Linux and Mac plus hardware platforms like Intel and Arm. It’s also more secure, he asserts, because it can safely execute even untrusted code. To explore WebAssembly’s container-replacing potential, Fermyon developed Spin, an open source dev tool for creating WebAssembly cloud apps. Fermyon Cloud is the evolution of this work, providing a platform where customers can host those apps. “Fermyon Cloud empowers developers to deploy … applications written in a variety of languages (such as Rust, .NET, Go, JavaScript) and experience brilliantly fast performance,” Butcher said. “[A]nyone with a GitHub account can create cloud native WebAssembly applications … The developer self-service paradigm reduces the friction of building applications by making it not only possible but easy for developers to write and test their code in a production-grade environment — and then deploy the finished version to that same hosted environment. Fermyon Cloud lets devs create up to five web apps or microservices and run them in a hosted environment for free. In addition to hosting applications, the service delivers release management, log access and app configuration from a web console. With employees now in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, Fermyon’s focus is continuing to build out both its open source and commercial projects, Butcher said. Fermyon Cloud will expand into an “enterprise-ready” commercial offering in the coming months, he added, as Fermyon looks to double its 20-person headcount by mid-2023 — emphasizing product, marketing, developer relations and community roles. “We are well-positioned to weather macro-economic storms due to the financing we’re announcing today,” said Butcher while declining to reveal revenue figures. “[We] have funds to last us several years.” To date, Colorado-based Fermyon has raised $26 million.

Maro’s new app looks to help schools screen kids for depression and anxiety • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 22, 2022Posted in Apps, Battlefield 200, Disrupt, Maro, Startups, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

Maro has developed a platform that helps families and schools navigate tough conversations about mental health. The company, which exhibited as part of the Battlefield 200 at ZebethMedia Disrupt, launched its first product, Maro Parents, in 2020. Now, the company is gearing up to launch Maro for Schools next week to help schools screen students for anxiety and depression, with parental consent. Based in Tennessee, the startup was founded by Kenzie Butera Davis, who had originally planned to get Maro into schools to start helping children dealing with mental health issues. However, these plans were halted due to the start of the pandemic in 2020 as schools had to pivot online. Maro then decided to bring its platform into homes through the Maro for Parents app. Among other things, the app includes digital modules and an AI-powered bot to help parents discuss difficult topics with their children. Although Maro for Schools is officially launching next week, the company says 350 schools have already signed up to screen 100,000 students across 40 states for anxiety and depression. The program will be accessible via an annual subscription fee, but the company did not disclose the price. With the upcoming launch of Maro for Schools, the platform aims to provide teachers with accessible lesson plans around mental health. Maro for School also gives teachers access to resources regarding sex education, drug abuse and more. The platform also allows for streamlined communication between teachers and counselors, as teachers may be the first ones to detect if a child could benefit from help. If a counselor believes that a child requires additional care, Maro will connect them with referral partners who are doing virtual care. Maro for School doesn’t conduct virtual care, instead its purpose is to identify at-risk children early and then connect them with virtual care teams. “We’ve created a platform to screen children and then refer them to clinical teams that will facilitate and provide the care for the child,” Maro chief medical officer Tariq Chaudry told ZebethMedia. “We’re basically acting as a marketplace for pediatric development and mental health. We don’t want to be directly in therapy because we don’t want to dilute our company.” The launch of Maro for School comes the same month that the U.S. Preventive Series Task Force had recommended screening for anxiety in children between the ages of 8-18. Maro is in the midst of raising a $1.5 million pre-seed round and plans to use the investment to expand its current 11-person team and build out its product further. Maro anticipates closing the round within the next quarter.

Podcast app Pocket Casts goes open source • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 21, 2022Posted in Apps, Automattic, Media & Entertainment, open source, Pocket CastsNo Comments

Popular podcast platform Pocket Casts has released its mobile clients under an open source license. WordPress parent company Automattic acquired Pocket Casts last July, having been acquired by a group of public radio companies, including NPR, back in 2018. Pocket Casts is one of the most popular “podcatcher” apps outside the big tech ecosystems of Google, Apple, and Spotify, allowing users to search and subscribe to podcasts for free, with premium features such as desktop apps available for a fee. It perhaps should come as little surprise that Automattic has elected to push the Pocket Casts app code onto GitHub, given that Automattic founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg is a huge proponent of open source — and WordPress is among the top open source projects on the planet. By making Pocket Casts open source, this means that anyone can access the code, fix bugs, create new features, and even fork it to build their own competing service on top of the Pocket Cast codebase. The Android and iOS apps are available now under a Mozilla Public License 2.0, a copyleft license that stipulates all derivative projects or modifications have to be released under the same license.