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The Spotify audiobook experience has been lacking when compared to rivals like Audible, but it looks like thats beginning to change. The streaming platform just announced a bevy of updates for audiobook listeners and some are downright useful. Perhaps the biggest one for me is the addition of a sleep timer. Audiobooks are great for lulling people to sleep, but it sucks when you sleep through a hundred pages and cant remember where you left off. The built-in sleep timer lets users set how long the content will play. This sleep timer already exists for podcasts and music. Spotify users can also now make audiobook-specific playlists, helping people keep track of what they want to read or, uh, listen to. The platform says this tool will help you keep your library organized and that playlists will be a place for you to aggregate the audiobooks on your reading list. In addition to traditional playlists, the streamer will publish curated playlists from the audiobook editorial team. There are new Countdown Pages, which are splash pages for forthcoming audiobooks. These let people save a book prior to the release date, making it easy to find once it actually comes out. Spotify says this feature can be used by authors, publishers, and narrators to help promote their upcoming titles ahead of launch. Spotify Speaking of promotions, Spotifys new Author Pages display biographical information on specific writers and will allow perusal of their entire catalogs. This is in a pilot program for now, with only a select number of authors having access to the tool. Theres also a new video player specifically for audiobooks, that lets "select authors and publishers submit a short video about a specific title. The platform likens this to a books jacket, offering a taste of an audiobook before pressing play. Finally, some audiobooks are getting a follow-along feature. This is described as an immersive visual experience akin to a music video that displays illustrations, photos and graphics as the audiobook is being read. Look for this in the extras section of eligible audiobooks. Last year, Spotify began offering 15 hours of audiobook listening to Premium subscribers. Theres also a subscription specifically for audiobooks that costs $10 per month that provides 15 hours of listening. The Premium subscription, however, costs $12 per month and adds ad-free music to the mix. Its good to know that humanitys collective musical output is worth $2 per month.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotify-drops-a-bunch-of-new-tools-for-audiobooks-including-a-sleep-timer-173327861.html?src=rss
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WhatsApp added voice message transcripts on Thursday. Handy for when youre in a loud environment (or if you prefer reading over listening), theyll be rendered on-device, so theyll remain encrypted and private. To set them up, head to Settings > Chats > Voice message transcripts and toggle the feature on. There, you can also pick your preferred language. Once set up, you can transcribe a message by long-pressing on it and tapping transcribe. The feature will roll out globally over the coming weeks, so you may not see it right away. WhatsApp says message transcripts are launching in only a few select languages, but the company plans to add more in the coming months. Meta, WhatsApps parent company, has apparently earmarked this week for new messaging features. On Wednesday, Messenger added the ability to leave audio or video messages if a call goes unanswered. Also new in Messenger are AI video call backgrounds, HD video calling, background noise suppression and voice isolation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/whatsapp-adds-voice-message-transcripts-170148660.html?src=rss
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When the Rabbit R1 arrived earlier this year, it was an unfinished product. Engadgets own Devindra Hardawar called it a toy that fails at almost everything. Most of the features Rabbit promised, including its signature large action model (LAM), were either missing at launch or didnt work as promised. Now, after more 20 software updates since the spring, Rabbit is releasing its most substantial update yet. Starting today, every R1 user now has beta access to teach mode, a feature that allows you to train Rabbits AI model to automate tasks for you on any website you can visit from your computer. Rabbit CEO and founder Jesse Lyu gave me a demo of teach mode ahead of todays announcement. The tool is accessible through the companys Rabbithole hub, and features a relatively simple interface for programming automations. Once logged into your Rabbit account, you navigate to a website and input your credentials if theyre required to access the service you want to teach the R1 to use for you. Lyu was quick to note Rabbit wont store any username and password you input; instead, the company saves the cookie from your teach mode session for the R1 to use later. In June, Rabbit had to move quickly to patch a security issue that could have led to a serious data breach. Once youve named your automation and written a description for it, all you need to do is carry out the task you want to automate as you usually would. Rabbits software will translate each click and interaction into instructions the R1 can later carry out on its own. When Lyu demoed teach mode for me, he taught his R1 to tweet for him. Once the software has had a chance to analyze a lesson, you can replay the automation before trying it out on your R1 to ensure it works properly. While its technically true you dont need any coding knowledge to use teach mode, approaching it from a programming perspective is likely to produce better results. Thats because you can annotate the steps the software records you doing when showing it an automation. Its also useful from a troubleshooting perspective, as you can see from the video embedded above. After youve tested your automation, its just a matter of asking your R1 to complete a query using teach mode. The resulting process isnt exactly the polished experience I imagine most people have come to expect from their mobile devices. The R1 announces each step of a task, and it can take a few moments for the device to work its way through a query. According to Rabbit, part of that is by design. Early testers found it helpful for the R1 to state its progress. Ill be honest, its hard to escape the conclusion that some of the R1 automations Lyu showed me, while creative, dont offer a more efficient way to do certain tasks than the apps people are already familiar with, a point he conceded when I said as much during our call. There are a lot of tasks that are not a single destination, Lyu said. To that point, where he believes teach mode will be transformational is in interactions involving multiple platforms. Lyu gave an example of an R1 user who taught his device to order groceries. With some work, that person could use the R1s camera to take photos of the shopping lists his wife produced, which the device would then use to order the familys weekly groceries from their preferred stores. Another area where the R1 could provide a better experience than a dedicated app is in situations where there are competing standards, like the situation that exists with smart home automation currently. Say youre trying to get some HomeKit and Google Home devices to work together. You wont need to wait for the Matter Alliance to sort things out. With teach mode, the R1 will navigate that mess for you. You need to think about velocity, Lyu tells me before laying out Rabbits end game with teach mode. For now, R1 users can freely add community lessons they find on Rabbithole to their devices. Lyu envisions a future where users will be able to sell their automations, with Rabbit taking a cut. Moreover, while teach mode is currently limited to navigating websites, Lyu suggests it will eventually learn to use more complex apps like Excel. At that point, Lyu contends Rabbit will be in a position to deliver an artificial general intelligence, one that will understand every piece of software ever made for humans. Of course, questions remain. One major one is whether people will pay for community lessons if they could just as easily replicate an automation on their own. Here, Rabbit expects things to play out like theyve done on existing app stores, with most people choosing to download apps they like instead of making their own. For the future agent store, we anticipate a similar situation where any user could teach their own lesson if they want to, but most people will probably find lessons or agents created by other users that meet their needs very well, the company told me in an email. I also asked Rabbit if the company is preparing for the possibility that some platforms might block people from using teach mode to automate tasks on their R1. In the companys view, bot detection systems like CAPTCHA will need to evolve to differentiate between good agents like those created by Rabbit users and malicious bots. When a user uses LAM to perform tasks on third-party platforms, they are logging into their own accounts with their own credentials, and paying those companies directly for those subscriptions or services, the company added. We are just providing a new platform for those transactions to happen, similar to you can play music on your phone and on your laptop... We do not see a conflict of interests here. Im not so sure if things will play out as smoothly as Rabbit hopes, but what is clear is that the company is closer to the future Lyu promised at the start of the year even if that future still feels years away and may be decided by another company. For now, Rabbit hopes R1 users embrace teach mode enthusiastically, as that will allow the software to improve more quickly. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/teach-mode-rabbits-tool-for-automating-r1-tasks-is-now-available-to-all-users-170036677.html?src=rss
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Black Friday deals have come for Apples AirPods: the AirPods Pro 2 have dropped to $160, which is a record-low price. At the moment, you can also get the AirPods 4 starting at $119. These are some of the most sough after wireless earbuds during this time of year precisely because the sales are so good. While we periodically see AirPods dip in price throughout the year, the best time to buy is during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday time period. However, that also means they can be some of the first tech items to sell out, so if youve had your eye on a new pair or want to gift one this holiday season, we recommend buying them now. AirPods Pro 2 are the best wireless earbuds that Apple makes with excellent sound quality and ANC, plus good battery life. They have all of the conveniences youd expect from a pair of Apple earbuds, like quick paring and switching between Apple devices and hands-free Siri. And with a recent software update, the AirPods Pro 2 can double as hearing aids for those who take Apples hearing test and the results show mild to moderate hearing loss. Whereas the AirPods Pro 2 have looked and felt mostly the same since their initial launch, the AirPods 4 received a big overhaul this year. They now come in ANC and non-ANC styles, and they have a slightly revised open-wear design. The H2 chipset inside gives them the same Apple conveniences as the AirPods Pro 2, but note that neither model supports MagSafe charging via wireless chargers. But these buds have improved sound quality and a better fit than the AirPods that came before them, and theyre noticeably more affordable than the Pro 2. If you prefer over-ear headphones, your only option in the Apple ecosystem (aside from Beats) is the AirPods Max. You can grab them for $400 right now. We always recommend waiting for a sale to buy these cans since they start off much more expensive than all of our other top picks for the best wireless headphones. They also sport the H2 chipset inside, plus good sound quality and ANC, reliable touch controls and a solid battery life. Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/black-friday-apple-deals-include-the-airpods-pro-2-for-a-record-low-of-160-165732874.html?src=rss
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Apple has offered $100 million to Indonesia as part of an effort to lift a recent ban of the iPhone 16 in the country, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company has presented an investment plan that would use that $100 million to set up a manufacturing plant in the nation. Earlier this month, Apple offered the country $10 million to reverse the ban. This latest proposal is worth ten times that, so the company certainly sees Indonesia as an important market. After all, the country is home to 280 million potential smartphone customers. The Ministry of Industry of Indonesia is scheduled to review Apple's proposal this week. This all started because Apple missed a local investment threshold by around $15 million. Indonesia mandates that certain devices sold in the country must have at least 40 percent domestic content. This percentage can be met by using domestically-sourced materials, building manufacturing plants or by employing local workers. Apple previously invested around $94 million in the country through a variety of means, but it wasnt enough to stave off the ban. The sale stoppage also applies to other recently-released Apple products, like the Apple Watch Series 10. The ban doesnt impact older Apple devices, which are still available for purchase throughout the country. Apple has opened up several developer academies throughout the country, but an actual manufacturing plant would be a major boon for Indonesia. Both Samsung and Xiaomi have already set up factories in the nation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-pledges-100-million-indonesia-investment-to-lift-iphone-16-ban-162217627.html?src=rss
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