Search results for 'Technology' - Page: 14
| Stuff.co.nz - 13 Aug (Stuff.co.nz)Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins are set to make an announcement. Read...Newslink ©2024 to Stuff.co.nz | |
| | | PC World - 13 Aug (PC World)The school year is almost upon us, folks. That means we’re seeing a bunch of back to school laptop deals cropping up all over the place like wild daisies. Dell has some great deals in particular. They’ll even send you a code that adds an additional 10 percent off on XPS and Inspiron machines if you provide your student e-mail address.
So, whether you’re looking to pick up an inexpensive laptop for an elementary student or a more powerful machine for a college major, we’ve got it all here. Check out the hottest back to school laptop deals from Dell below.
Mainstream laptops
Dell Inspiron 15, Intel Core i3-1215U CPU/15.6-inch 1080p 120Hz display, $279.99 ($100 off)
Dell Inspiron 15, AMD Ryzen 5 7520U CPU/15.6-inch 1080p display, $349.99 ($100 off)
Dell New Inspiron 15, AMD Ryzen 7 7730U CPU/1TB SSD/15.6-inch 1080p 120Hz display, $529.99 ($170 off)
All of the deals above are definitely solid, but the New Inspiron 15 really stands out. Not only are you getting a ton of storage (1TB SSD), but you’re also getting a 1080p display with a high refresh rate of 120Hz. The higher refresh rate should result in a smoother picture and feel. This machine has a wide array of connectivity options as well, including USB-A, USB-A, and HDMI.
Gaming laptops
Dell G15, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU/15.6-inch 1080p 165Hz display, $849.99 ($200 off)
Dell G15, Intel Core i7-13650HX CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU/15.6-inch 1080p 165Hz display, $899.99 ($250 off)
Dell G16, Intel Core i7-13650HX CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU/Cherry MX mechanical keyboard, $999 ($300 off)
We actually have hands-on experience with a slightly different configuration of the Dell G16. In our comprehensive review, we awarded it 4 stars out of 5. We loved the spacious keyboard and the powerful performance–Cyberpunk 2077 was a real pleasure to play on this machine. The frames rates were “high enough to stay competitive with the best players,” according to our review.
Although the Dell G16 that’s on sale today is a step-down from the configuration we reviewed, we expect it to perform just as reliably. It boasts an Intel Core i7-13650HX CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, which is a mighty combination of hardware. You should be able to breeze through most games on the higher graphics settings, especially in titles that support Nvidia’s DLSS technology. The 16-inch 1600p display also has a ridiculously high refresh rate of 240Hz.
Premium laptops
Dell Inspiron 16, Intel Core 7 150U CPU/1TB SSD/16-inch 1600p display, $829.99 ($270 off)
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU/32GB RAM/14-inch 1800p display, $999.99 ($200 off)
Dell XPS 13, Snapdragon X Elite CPU/16GB RAM/13.4-inch 1200p 120Hz display, $1,099.99 ($200 off)
Dell XPS 15, Intel Core i7-13620H CPU/16GB RAM/15.6-inch 1200p display, $1,149 ($210 off)
If you’re interested in long battery life, you should consider picking up the Dell XPS 13. It comes with the latest Snapdragon X Elite CPU as well as a 13.4-inch 1200p display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
Although we haven’t personally tested this particular configuration yet, we’ve reviewed other laptops with Snapdragon processors and we were floored by the battery life results. The Surface Laptop 7, for example, lasted 20 hours on a single charge. Believe me, when you’re running from class-to-class with a laptop, you definitely want a long-lasting one. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 12 Aug (PC World)TL;DR: Undetectable Humanizer — on sale for $39.99 — converts AI text to human-like prose, helping content creators bypass detection tools and enhance SEO.
As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, the tools designed to detect it are becoming increasingly sophisticated. This poses challenges for content creators who rely on AI to streamline their work. Undetectable Humanizer offers a solution by transforming AI-generated text into prose that feels authentically human, allowing you to maintain credibility and bypass AI detection.
For a limited time, get a lifetime subscription to Undetectable Humanizer for just $39.99.
AI detection tools analyze linguistic patterns and syntax to identify AI-generated content. Undetectable Humanizer’s proprietary technology uses natural language processing to adjust these elements, making the content indistinguishable from human writing. Undetectable Humanizer effectively converts AI text into human-quality prose using advanced algorithms and machine learning models. This transformation not only bypasses AI detection but also enhances readability and audience appeal.
Human-like content is crucial for improving search engine optimization, ensuring your work isn’t flagged by AI tools. It enhances audience engagement and fosters trust and credibility, which can lead to higher conversion rates.
With Undetectable Humanizer, businesses and professionals can elevate their content strategy, boost SEO performance, and build audience trust.
By transforming AI text into genuine human-like content, this lifetime subscription to Undetectable Humanizer for $39.99 can empower creators to maintain a competitive edge in today’s content-driven world.
Undetectable Humanizer: Lifetime Subscription – $39.99
See Deal
StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 9 Aug (PC World)I block every single ad on YouTube. And I’m a hypocrite for doing it. But I’m not ashamed. Because through a series of blunders and malicious decisions, Google has systematically made YouTube a worse and worse viewing experience, abusing its monopoly position as the de facto home of video on the web.
I’m a hypocrite for blocking ads
Let’s start off this rant with a little context. As a web writer, I should never block advertising on the internet. The majority of the money I’ve been paid over the last 13 years has come from web ads, like the ones you’re probably seeing above, below, and around these words. A modern writer for a free-to-read site blocking advertising is kind of like a vegan butcher: problematic at best.
Google
Google
Google
Advertising is how the majority of content on the internet is sustainable. Google, Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, TikTok, the social media service formerly known as Twitter — if you’re accessing information for free, it’s almost always being paid for by ads. Google isn’t a search company, it’s the biggest advertising company on the planet. And yes, that includes Google’s subsidiary services like Gmail, Google Docs, and YouTube.
But the fact that advertising is literally vital to the web doesn’t take away its problems. Modern web ads are targeted towards people with a shocking degree of specificity. Your advertising profile, curated and updated via tracking cookies, probably includes far more data than you’d feel comfortable with if you saw it.
Ads clutter up pages and obscure the content they’re supposed to be supporting, bogging down performance with unnecessary videos and animations. And that’s when they’re not being actively malicious, spreading malware or targeted disinformation, or just plain selling scams. Google officially tries to police what gets advertised with its systems, as do other advertising giants, but this largely automated system has built-in holes that are constantly leaking the stuff of nightmares.
So yeah, I use an ad blocker in my browser, hypocritical as it is for me. And I don’t blame anyone else for doing it, either. It’s become an essential tool for any user of modern technology.
I manually turn on my ad blocker only for the most annoying and obtrusive ads. So I’m only mostly a hypocrite.
I manually turn on my ad blocker only for the most annoying and obtrusive ads. So I’m only mostly a hypocrite.
Michael Crider/Foundry
I manually turn on my ad blocker only for the most annoying and obtrusive ads. So I’m only mostly a hypocrite.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
To hold on to a shred of dignity, I don’t block all ads. I use a “reverse allowlist,” only manually blocking ads on websites that bog down my PC with a glut of performance-sapping videos and animations, and only when I don’t have an alternative. As someone who works online and keeps dozens of tabs and windows open concurrently, I really don’t have an option not to block a lot of ads, even on my beefy desktop with 32GB of memory. The reverse allowlist feature is one of the reasons I recommend AdGuard over more popular alternatives like AdBlock Plus.
Based on that criteria, I shouldn’t block ads on YouTube. They don’t sap performance (much), and as annoying as they are, they pay for the content I watch for free. Open and shut case, right?
Google makes YouTube worse so you’ll pay to undo it
Wrong. Over the last few years Google has abused YouTube, its viewers, and its creators at every opportunity, and I’m sick of it. And since YouTube is an effective monopoly on the web (and hardly the only one Google is abusing), I feel zero shame about skirting around its attempts to make me pay for it with either dollars or attention. Vive la resistance.
Years ago I watched ads on YouTube, patiently waiting for the “skip” button to appear, gritting my teeth as that took longer and longer. I first considered blocking them when I started getting unskippable 30-second advertisements in front of movie trailers posted by Hollywood studios — ads to watch ads, in a twisted mirror of bloated theater previews. But the final straw was when Google began showing two ads at once before pretty much every video.
Tired of seeing political ads on YouTube that literally instruct you to be afraid? Too freakin’ bad.
Tired of seeing political ads on YouTube that literally instruct you to be afraid? Too freakin’ bad.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Tired of seeing political ads on YouTube that literally instruct you to be afraid? Too freakin’ bad.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
As it happens, I started seeing double the advertising at exactly the same time that YouTube Premium became an option in 2018. Of course that wasn’t a coincidence. Google decided to make the experience of YouTube materially worse at the same time that it introduced a paid option to make it better.
We’ve seen the same thing happen with most of the mainstream video platforms: a cheap, ad-supported tier appears, and suddenly the ad-free experience is “premium.” Amazon didn’t even try to hide it — they simply made everything on Prime Video ad-supported, and told everyone to pay up if they didn’t like it. Pay more, I should say, since Prime was already a paid service.
Arbitrarily making your service worse so you can pay to undo the malfeasance really gets my goat. I resolved to begin blocking every YouTube ad I could and never pay for it, simply out of spite. And I succeeded.
How I block every YouTube ad — even the ones YouTube doesn’t pay for
On the desktop the easiest way to go about this is with a standard ad-blocker. Again, I prefer AdGuard, which has generally been reliable for this purpose. And it works in pretty much every browser, including my new bestie Vivaldi.
Once you’ve made that jump, there are other ways to enhance your experience that Google probably wouldn’t appreciate. You can skip past repetitive channel intros and outros, even automatically jump past the paid sponsorships that channels are forced to use when YouTube doesn’t pay them enough (the ads upon ads upon ads). The promo page for SponsorBlock says the extension has auto-skipped over thousands of years of integrated ads for its users.
Google
Google
Google
But that’s just the desktop. What about mobile, where most of the world is actually watching YouTube? On Android this is fairly easy, if not straightforward. You can use a tool like ReVanced to patch the official app, baking those ad-blocking tools right into a customized version. In addition to blocking ads and skipping sponsored segments, it can even unlock the features that Google has placed behind the Premium adwall, like the ability to play audio in the background while you use other apps or have your phone off entirely.
The ReVanced tool, which can patch the official YouTube Android app, makes the service bearable again.
The ReVanced tool, which can patch the official YouTube Android app, makes the service bearable again.
Michael Crider/Foundry
The ReVanced tool, which can patch the official YouTube Android app, makes the service bearable again.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
In the interest of total transparency: This is something Google would probably call stealing, and it’s definitely against YouTube’s terms of service. Which is why they fight so hard against these apps.
Are you using an iPhone instead of Android, or aren’t keen on the slightly daunting task of messing with the official app? Then there are other options. You can view YouTube through a mobile browser like DuckDuckGo for easy access to ad-blocking and background audio. There are even a few apps like PopTube that are essentially third-party YouTube clients, doing their best to get around Google’s restrictions.
If all else fails, you can use a VPN to pretend you’re in a country where Google doesn’t think it’s worth it to run ads. And because I still need to earn a paycheck, here are some VPNs you might consider. As it happens, the VPN service I pay for every month is cheaper every month than a YouTube Premium subscription.
Playing cat and mouse with Google
Google is doing its best to get around these methods as they become more popular. The keeper of the keys has been experimenting with a lot of ways to make sure you’re either paying or watching ads — the original “Vanced” app had to shut down for fear of legal repercussions. Google has slowed down the performance of YouTube for users who are blocking ads, trying to make it as frustrating as possible. And every time, the ad blockers have won out. Because YouTube might be powered by money, but ad-blocking developers are powered by spite.
Google’s next attempt to out-fox ad-blockers is baking advertising right into the base of the video stream, encoding the ads into the same file as the video itself. This is a huge technical overhead, something that will put some serious strain on YouTube’s data centers. And I don’t think it’ll work, even if they get it functional. The ability to bypass sponsored ads hard-coded into the videos already exists, and shows up within a few hours of a new video being posted on a popular channel.
If all this seems like a lot just to skip out on $15 a month, well, I suppose it is. Especially since I watch far more YouTube than I do any streaming service I actually pay for. But I’m not the only one who’s fed up with the platform, and sadly has no real alternative. YouTube’s own creators are sick of it too.
Even YouTube creators are sick of YouTube
You can’t watch any professional YouTube channel for long without hearing about videos getting taken down for overzealous and questionably legal copyright claims, as the automated systems leave the actual enforcement of fair use to humans. There are also elaborate methods of flagging videos with copyright notices and, instead of removing the video, simply leaving it in place and taking (or stealing) the revenue it creates. This is a system designed to end YouTube’s freewheeling pre-Google days as an open haven for piracy, but now it’s been weaponized as a way for gigantic corporations to fleece genuine creators out of the fruits of their labor.
And that’s assuming that advertisers are willing to pay for it in the first place. YouTube’s demonetization system, by which Google simply refuses to pay a creator because advertisers don’t want to be associated with controversial topics, is just as big a menace for anyone actually trying to make a living on the platform. You’ll see creators censor their own speech to avoid swearing too early, or using ridiculous euphemisms like “unalive” for kill or “self-delete” for suicide, topics that appear next to highly paid advertising on television every single day.
The following (demonetized) video has lots and lots of swearing. Fair warning. See how easy that was?
Try to make a video about true crime without saying “murder,” and you’ll see why YouTube creators are always begging you to subscribe to them on Patreon. Because it’s becoming harder and harder to actually make money on YouTube…and there’s no one to blame for that, except YouTube.
And for what? When I use YouTube in another browser or with extensions disabled, I still see some of the same trash ads I used to. Blatant “training methods” for get-rich-quick scams, the same kind of garbage that was stealing people’s money on late night TV thirty years ago. Mobile game ripoffs straight-up lying about what their actual gameplay looks like. “Dating ads” with Photoshopped models that seem like they’re either fake or victims of human trafficking. And just recently, endless, endless political ads with zero standards for either production or truth.
I even get advertising for ad blockers. So Google is accepting money to advertise products on YouTube…that it absolutely forbids you to use on YouTube, according to its Terms of Service. YouTube seems to have much lower standards for the people buying ads it than for the people who make the content that enables those ads to function.
Dropout.tv
Dropout.tv
Dropout.tv
To try and alleviate my conscience, I do pay for some of the content I watch. Indeed, I use Patreon to support some of my favorite channels like Drawfee and Second Wind. The YouTube monopoly is the only way they can actually get their content seen and I don’t want them to disappear. I’ve bought D&D merchandise from creators like Pointy Hat when they advertise their own stuff, just as a means of showing my appreciation. And I’m subscribed to the comedy channel Dropout, which evolved out of College Humor, and has become possibly the only self-sustaining streaming service that’s actually worth what it charges.
But pay for YouTube directly? Not a chance. I’ve given Google too much money for phones and tablets in the past, I paid for Google Play Music for years before they once again scrapped it for a worse and more expensive service. Until Google starts respecting both the users that it serves and the creators that it depends upon, it doesn’t get any more of my cash. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | RadioNZ - 9 Aug (RadioNZ)Cook Islands` Antony Vavia, 28, is first Pacific islander to graduate with a doctoral degree in marine biology from Auckland University of Technology. Read...Newslink ©2024 to RadioNZ | |
| | | ITBrief - 9 Aug (ITBrief)Canva has acquired Leonardo.AI to enhance its AI content production capabilities. This move aims to integrate Leonardo`s technology into Canva`s design tools, benefiting 190 million users. Read...Newslink ©2024 to ITBrief | |
| | | PC World - 9 Aug (PC World)Microsoft Clipchamp’s video editor is one of the company’s best products. AI is one of the company’s top initiatives. So, voila: AI is being added to Clipchamp in three big ways.
Two new features are being added today, to both Personal and Work accounts: background removal and noise suppression. But there’s an enormous new feature due in the fall: video creation via an AI prompt, with video, audio and transitions all selected by AI.
Clipchamp is Microsoft’s “built in” video editor inside of Windows. It’s a Web app, but quite simple and easy to use. It might not have the power of professional tools like Da Vinci Resolve, but neither Paint nor Photos are designed to compete with Adobe Illustrator or Lightroom, either. All three are simply designed for efficiency and ease of use.
You might imagine, too, that the average user would lack professional accessories like a green screen and a nice mic, or might import footage from an outside event where the wind is blowing. The first tool, noise suppression, is designed to take care of that. All you’ll need to do is upload the footage, navigate to the Audio panel, and access the “noise suppression” toggle. Clipchamp will then filter out sounds like the distracting breeze as you filmed your nephew at the park. Alternatively, you can leave the filtering off, and capture the sounds of the waves at the beach as ambient background noise.
Noise suppression via Microsoft Clipchamp.
Noise suppression via Microsoft Clipchamp.Microsoft
Noise suppression via Microsoft Clipchamp.Microsoft
Microsoft
Removing a background isn’t all that novel. But for a video, it is. According to Microsoft, you can remove backgrounds from a movie clip. (Microsoft refers to this as removing a background from an “image” in its blog post, and it’s not clear whether you’ll have to do it on a frame-by-frame basis. It’s unlikely, though.) You can then replace the background with another image ore presumably a separate video clip.
Microsoft is also adding a much more interesting feature to Clipchamp, sometime this fall. One of the key features in Clipchamp is its preconfigured templates, for birthday parties or social media, and so on. But they’re all predetermined by Microsoft.
Clipchamp uses AI to detect, then remove the background. You’ll find a similar technology inside Paint.
Clipchamp uses AI to detect, then remove the background. You’ll find a similar technology inside Paint.Microsoft
Clipchamp uses AI to detect, then remove the background. You’ll find a similar technology inside Paint.Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft’s Microsoft 365 roadmap shows that you’ll be able to set a template via a prompt, much like generating AI art.
“Clipchamp brings video creation skills to Copilot,” the roadmap says. “Type your prompt and Clipchamp will write a bespoke script, source high quality stock footage, and assemble a video project with music, voiceover, text overlays and transitions. Open your video project draft in the Clipchamp app to continue to edit, export, and share. This feature is great for informational videos, video messaging, how-to videos, demos, and video presentations.”
This feature is scheduled for September, but the timetable isn’t fixed in stone.
Even with AI, you’ll still have to customize your final result with your own video footage, audio, and so on. But it sounds like a lot of the polish will already be applied! Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | BBCWorld - 8 Aug (BBCWorld)The treatment for beta thalassaemia is to be offered on the NHS and uses Nobel Prize-winning technology. Read...Newslink ©2024 to BBCWorld | |
| | | ITBrief - 8 Aug (ITBrief)Swedish tech company Ochno AB teams up with Amber Technology to bring their cutting-edge USB-C solutions to Australia and New Zealand, transforming unified communications. Read...Newslink ©2024 to ITBrief | |
| | | sharechat.co.nz - 8 Aug (sharechat.co.nz)AUCKLAND, 8 AUGUST 2024: Fleet management and transport technology software company EROAD (NZX: ERD, ASX: ERD) announces new AI dashcam product, EROAD Clarity Edge, during its annual Fleet Day conference Read...Newslink ©2024 to sharechat.co.nz | |
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