Founded in 1946 and known for quality speakers, Klipsch celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Part of that blowout features the launch of two new sets of earphones offering not only active noise cancellation (ANC) but artificial intelligence (AI)-based gestures and a new sound-enhancement system.
Apple goes on AI shopping spree to make Siri smarter
Apple reportedly bought more companies developing artificial intelligence technology over the past five years than anyone else. A prime goal is to make the Siri voice assistant smarter, according to GlobalData, the market-research firm that compiled a list of AI-related acquisitions by many companies.
iOS 14’s adult-content blocker prevents searches for the word ‘Asian’
iOS 14’s built-in pornographic content blocker stymies searches that include the word “Asian,” according to a computer science student.
This means searches for “Asian food” or “Asian countries” are blocked if the adult content filters are enabled. Similar blocks aren’t in place for search terms including “black,” “white,” “Arab,” “French” and other national or racial descriptors.
Apple could ‘lead the industry’ in AI, says Cupertino’s machine learning boss
Apple is using machine learning technology in more and more of its features, John Giannandrea, the company’s senior vice president for machine learning and AI strategy, reveals in a new interview with Ars Technica.
Giannandrea, who joined Apple from a job at Google, said “there are increasingly fewer and fewer places in iOS where we’re not using machine learning.” This stands in strong contrast to a few years ago — and even the point at which Giannandrea landed his Apple job.
Apple keeps throwing money at making Siri smarter
Apple purchased Inductiv, a Canadian company that focused on using artificial intelligence to clean up data. They created HoloClean, which was designed to get useful predictions from “noisy, incomplete, and erroneous data.”
The employees of Inductiv joined the team developing Siri, Apple’s voice-driven AI assistant, according to Bloomberg.
Apple buys A.I. voice assistant startup
Apple has acquired Voysis, an artificial intelligence startup the high-tech company is expected to use to improve Siri and its natural language technology, based on published reports Friday.
Apple lobbies EU lawmakers on AI policy
Apple apparently wants to make sure the European Union doesn’t put too many restrictions on artificial intelligence. John Giannandrea, Apple’s AI chief, is reportedly in Brussels while lawmakers debate new rules on machine intelligence.
Apple pulls its AI from Pentagon drone program
Before Xnor.ai was acquired by Apple, the startup was working with the US military on Project Maven, a controversial Artificial Intelligence project related to drone imagery. That collaboration stopped when Apple purchased the company, according to an unconfirmed report.
Apple acquires Xnor.ai for faster, more private iPhone artificial intelligence
Apple purchased Xnor.ai, a company that creates artificial intelligence software for mobile devices. The acquisition will apparently lead to AI applications running directly on iPhones, iPads, etc., not outsourced to the cloud. This should make these tasks more private and quicker.
Is viral FaceApp stealing your photos? Not all of them
Impressive artificial intelligence that delivers some of the most convincing facial effects has made FaceApp incredibly popular in recent weeks. But there’s some concern over what happens to your photos when you use it.
The good news is FaceApp won’t steal your entire photo library. However, some of your images will end up on its servers.
Apple co-founder Woz will talk tech’s future at free event
Want to hear Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak talk about his career and the future of tech? As part of Purdue University’s Ideas Festival, Woz is headed to West Lafayette, Indiana, later this month.
Wozniak will join Purdue Engineering Dean Mung Chiang to discuss the early days of Apple, and Woz’s vision for the future of technology. The event is free to attend, but you’ll need to book tickets ahead of time.
Pixelmator’s incredible new photo editor arrives on iPad next week
Pixelmator’s new photo editing app will finally arrive on iPad next week.
Pixelmator Photo offers a collection of nondestructive, desktop-class editing tools with RAW photo support. It also boasts artificial intelligence that makes adjusting things like white balance, exposure, and color a breeze.
Apple takes on Lighthouse team after acquiring security patents
Around 20 members of the Lighthouse team are now working at Apple, according to a new report.
The hires, which include two company co-founders, come after Apple acquired a bunch of Lighthouse’s home security patents earlier this month. An email sent to customers this week requested permission to transfer security camera data with Apple.
Apple acquires AI startup with a focus on privacy
Apple has reportedly acquired an artificial intelligence startup that specializes in on-device machine learning software.
Silk Labs’ technology processes data without sending it to the cloud, which is a perfect fit for Apple’s privacy-conscious approach to AI. It’s not clear how much Cupertino paid for the company when the deal was struck earlier this year.
New A12 Bionic chip makes 2018 iPhones into AI powerhouses
Apple called the new iPhones‘ A12 Bionic chip “the smartest and most powerful chip ever in a smartphone.” And despite the company’s occasional hyperbole and frequent marketing wizardry, it’s not kidding around.
Here’s why the A12 is so exciting — and what that means for Apple’s Core ML machine learning platform.
Siri’s last remaining co-founder retires from Apple
Tom Gruber, the last Siri co-founder to have been employed at Apple, has left the company. Gruber was previously head of Siri’s Advanced Development group, but has now retired to focus on his interests in photography and ocean conservation.
His fellow Siri co-creators Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer left Apple a long time ago. They created Siri as an independent app before selling it to Apple in 2010.
Ex-Google AI expert will fix Siri’s serious flaws
Craig Federighi is no longer in charge of Siri. Responsibility for Apple’s troubled voice assistant has been given to John Giannandrea, who is now in charge of all Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts.
Siri is seen as poor competition for Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, and Google Assistant. Its weakness is hurting sales of Apple products, including the HomePod.
Get in on the AI gold rush with these essential skills [Deals]
The artificial intelligence industry is exploding. Machines might be coming to take our jobs, but working in AI is also one of the most lucrative gigs you can get, with salaries that reach into the 6 figures. But before you get in on AI, there’s a lot to learn.
Apple doubles down on AI in Seattle
Apple’s is slowly invading the home turf of some of its biggest rivals in Seattle.
The iPhone-maker has reportedly secured more office space in one of the biggest skyscrapers in Seattle, where Amazon, Microsft and Facebook all fight for top tech talent.
Name your price for a dive into deep learning and AI [Deals]
Every day, the fields of deep learning and artificial intelligence grow more relevant. Machine learning is still in its infancy, so now is a great time to start learning. And if you’re interested in gaining some new coding skills for this exploding industry, we’ve got a deal for you.
Google is using AI to make your Drive files easier to find
Google is using artificial intelligence to make it easier for you to find the files you need inside Google Drive. Its next update will add an interface that predicts the people and files you’re most likely to want and makes them more visible, speeding up your workflow.
Colgate’s iPhone-controlled AI toothbrush is smart, but not essential [Review]
Colgate’s new iPhone-compatible smart toothbrush promises to transform the way you brush your teeth, thanks to the magic of machine intelligence.
So is the E1 Smart Electronic Toothbrush With Artificial Intelligence like having a virtual dentist at your beck and call? Here’s what we make of it after a week of tooth-cleaning action.
Apple’s AI experts are working to make self-driving cars smarter
Apple may have just reignited rumors about its Apple Car ambitions by publishing an online research paper — describing how neural networks can be used to detect autonomous car-friendly objects in 3D point clouds.
The results could be used to help improve accuracy in LiDAR technology, in which pulsed laser light is used to measure the distance of objects.
Apple is turning to India to recruit its next AI whiz kids
To help with its machine learning and artificial intelligence research, Apple is reportedly scouting for possible new employees straight out of an engineering college in India.
It’s a move which not only helps further Apple’s A.I. ambitions, but also shows its continued focus on India, a market which Apple is desperate to expand into.
Apple reveals AI magic behind ‘Hey Siri’
A tiny, low-power auxiliary processor that constantly listens for the phrase “Hey Siri” enables one of the most basic features of Apple’s AI assistant.
The processor, embedded in the iPhone’s motion coprocessor, keeps the “Hey Siri” command from running on the device’s main processor all day. That revelation comes in a research paper published today by Apple’s machine learning team. The paper dives deep into how Apple uses AI to power “Hey Siri.”