ICYMI: The 8 Biggest Tech News Stories From Boston Dynamic’s New Robot to Sony’s OLED-beating Micro-LED TV Technology
This week in the world of technology: Boston Dynamics unveiled a new robot, and while it scared us to death, the barrage of negative Humane AI Pin reviews showed us that the artificial intelligence uprising may be further known than we initially feared.
But you may have missed this or other important tech stories from the past week. Don’t worry, because we’re here to help with a breakdown of the eight biggest tech news stories from the past seven days.
There’s a lot to catch up on, so let’s get into that.
8. The Humane AI Pin came… and flopped
Reviews for the first Humane AI Pin came out this week, and they weren’t great – the wearable was universally labeled as ‘unreliable’.
Marques Brownlee released a video about him Youtube Channel He called the AI gadget “the worst product I have ever reviewed… for now,” Mrwhosetheboss said. “It’s not good,” Bloomberg said. “The design and interface are fatally flawed,” and The Verge’s video interview featured frequent bouts of hysterical laughter at how bad it thought the Humane AI Pin was.
There was also a very strange controversy on social media criticizing the critics – with much of the undeserved hatred directed at Brownlee, leading to him issuing a response – but most importantly, while AI wearables seem to be the future – with Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses getting Meta AI and the Nothing earbuds getting ChatGPT (more below) – the current technology isn’t where it needs to be right now.
7. Boston Dynamics scared us with its new humanoid robot
Maybe one day we’ll ask, “Where were you when you first saw “New Atlas”?
Boston Dynamics’ all-new and all-electric Atlas update is a generational leap over the more than decade-old hydraulic-based Atlas. That robot, which is being retired, was astonishing in its own right, capable of performing countless human-like tasks such as walking, running, bending and lifting, but also showing us how a top human could perform through various acrobatics and parkour -shenanigans.
However, the New Atlas is perhaps even stronger and already shows us its uncanny flexibility in a short introductory video. Expect it to perform even more impressive physical tricks before the bot finally makes its way into factories and perhaps one day into our homes.
6. We saw Sony’s new mini LED TV backlight technology put OLEDs in the spotlight
Sony has just launched its new TVs for 2024 and the Bravia 9 mini-LED leads the line-up. Positioning mini-LED as a flagship TV technology is an extreme turnaround for the company, which had previously reserved that status for OLED.
We saw the new Bravia 9 TV in action at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, and there’s good reason for Sony’s new mini-LED enthusiasm. The company has developed a new XR Backlight Master Drive backlight design that uses a 22-bit LED driver to deliver 50% higher brightness and 320% more local dimming zones than its previous X95L mini-LED model.
This new backlight helps improve contrast and color brightness while reducing ‘blooming’, closing the picture quality gap between mini-LED and OLED. It’s also better able to capture the full range of highlights in high dynamic range movies – an important factor as movies become increasingly mastered at higher brightness levels.
5. Samsung has confirmed that its AI is coming to your Galaxy 21 phone
Not only has Samsung teased that Galaxy AI features are coming to the Galaxy S22 series soon, but this week it also appears to have revealed that its 2021 flagship phones will also be getting some Galaxy AI tools.
According to a post on Samsung’s Korean community forum, the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus, Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Galaxy Z Fold 3 will get the company’s AI-filled One UI 6.1 update “in early May,” and when it does it brings Circle to Search and Magic Rewrite to these devices.
It’s always good news to hear that older devices will get some of the technical bells and whistles of the newer smartphone releases, but if you’re rocking a 2020 Samsung device, it seems unlikely you’ll get any of these AI tools get – so we If you’re considering upgrading to a new phone that has access to Galaxy AI, we recommend checking out our Samsung phone deals page.
4. New Nothing Ear buds launched with ChatGPT
Nothing’s naming strategy is anything but self-explanatory, so to avoid additional confusion, Nothing launched two new sets of true wireless earbuds on Thursday, April 18. A model called Ear is the company’s new flagship – these arrived after the Ear (1), Ear (Stick) and Ear (2), that’s how – while the also new Ear (a) is the cheaper pair. And it’s this entry-level model that just got a coveted five-star recommendation from Ny Breaking, which you can read about to your heart’s content in our full-fat Nothing Ear (a) review.
But the fact that there are two new sets of Nothing earbuds is only part of the news here, because in addition to releasing two new earbud models, Carl Pei’s startup has also fixed it so you can enjoy your Nothing earbuds and phones can talk to ChatGPT for instant AI support.
Nothing says that once you download the ChatGPT app on your Nothing Phone (running the latest Nothing OS), you can pinch to speak using the earbuds and thus summon the chatbot for answers, without having to dig out your device. And I have to admit, that’s really something, nothing…
Meta’s AI has one new and improved websiteas well as a number of upgrades thanks to the new “state-of-the-art Llama 3 AI model” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg – and best of all, it’s completely free to use.
The site allows you to generate text and images with a written prompt. However, to create AI images you’ll need to log in and your photo will contain a watermark, which should help a bit in reducing misuse.
It’s just the beginning of the battle between AI makers, but Google and OpenAI better watch out, because Meta’s new and improved software is already looking like a major rival to what’s currently available – and it’s only going to get better become.
2. The iPhone got its first Nintendo emulators and alternative app stores
After a cautious arm shake from the EU, Apple recently said its App Store would soon allow retro game emulators like those found on Android. This week we saw the first arrive with Delta – a free app that you can now download from the App Store in the EU and many countries beyond.
Unlike rival emulators like iGBA, which quickly disappeared from the App Store due to copyright violations, this one is likely here to stay. Delta supports several consoles, including the NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS, and you can also play games with iPhone-compatible controllers. All you have to do is provide the ROM files (as long as they are copyright free of course) and you are good to go. Now all we need is a PS1 emulator…
1. The Insta360 X4 became our new favorite 360 camera
Our in-depth hands-on review of Insta360 X4 raved about the 8K video-equipped 360-degree camera. With higher resolution video than the X3, much better battery life, and welcome design tweaks, the X4 is the best 360-degree camera yet.
Full waterproofing and a decent single-camera mode make the X4 an attractive action camera, vlogging tool and even a dashcam, especially for motorcyclists who can control the GoPro has a tough job on its hands with its upcoming Max 2, as does Canon with its intriguing 360/180 3D Powershot concept. It has been very quiet in this category of cameras in recent years, but that seems to be changing in 2024.