If you’re keen to play around with some generative AI tech on your phone, you now have another option: Microsoft has launched an Android app for its Copilot chatbot, and like Copilot in Windows 11, it’s free to use and powered by GPT-4 and DALL-E 3.
As spotted by @techosarusrex (via Neowin), the Copilot for Android app is available now, and appears to have arrived on December 19. It’s free to use and you don’t even need to sign into your Microsoft account – but if you don’t sign in, you are limited in terms of the number of prompts you can input and the length of the answers.
In a sense, this app isn’t particularly new, because it just replicates the AI functionality that’s already available in Bing for Android. However, it cuts out all the extra Bing features for web search, news, weather, and so on.
There’s no word yet on a dedicated Copilot for iOS app, so if you’re using an iPhone you’re going to have to stick with Bing for iOS for now if you need some AI assistance. For now, Microsoft hasn’t said anything officially on its new Android app.
Text and images
The functionality inside the new app is going to be familiar to anyone who has used Copilot or Bing AI anywhere else. Microsoft has been busy adding the AI everywhere, and has recently integrated it into Windows 11 too.
You can ask direct questions like you would with a web search, get complex topics explained in simple terms, have Copilot generate new text on any kind of subject, and much more. The app can work with text, image and voice prompts too.
Based on our testing of the app, it seems you get five questions or searches per day for free if you don’t want to sign in. If you do tell Microsoft who you are, that limit is lifted, and signing in also gives you access to image generation capabilities.
With both Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant set to get major AI boosts in the near future, Microsoft won’t want to be left behind – and the introduction of a separate Copilot app could help position it as a standalone digital assistant that works anywhere.
Nintendo has shut down the Wii U and 3DS‘ online play months ahead of schedule, leaving fans of these older consoles without access to online gameplay. Users have reported that the company shut down the service before Christmas Eve, which is earlier than the scheduled termination. A news report from NintendoLife has revealed that several gamers have shared posts about encountering error codes while trying to access online play for the previous-generation 3DS and Wii U consoles.These players believe this is part of the online play shutdown that Nintendo announced would occur in 2024. Affected users have reported receiving either ‘Error Code 006-0303’ on the 3DS or ‘Error Code 106-0303’ on the Wii U when attempting to play online with a Nintendo Account. These access errors suggest the “beginning of the end” for the previous-gen consoles, which they observed in late December 2023. Earlier this year, players were informed about the plan to shut down the online play, but the exact date remained undisclosed. Although the company had previously announced that it would keep the servers running until April 2024, it did not confirm it as an absolute assurance. Additionally, the company stated that it could pull the plug on the servers before the specified date as well. The end is near for the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo Wii U. Earlier this year in March, Nintendo shut down the eShop for these devices. So, the users will no longer be able to buy and download digital games. Nintendo has been offering online gaming for a long time. It first offered online features for its Famicom, and now it offers a subscription-based Nintendo Switch Online for its current console.
Let’s face it, almost everyone could use a bit of help saving money these days, with the cost-of-living crisis and various inflationary pressures still kicking around globally, alongside other factors that can make finances a struggle.
I’ve certainly been counting the pennies here and there, but one area where I’ve slacked off is with web browsing. I have, of course, been aware that there are ways to save money using extensions for my chosen web browser – Chrome – but I just haven’t got round to doing anything about it, or installing any of those helpful add-ons.
That’s all about to change. Read on to see the extensions that I’m going to enlist in an effort to save me a bit of cash over the course of 2024, in case you might want to follow in my footsteps.
Honey, I shrunk the price tag
Why haven’t I used Chrome extensions to help with online shopping before? It’s a good question, and one that I don’t have a good answer for. ‘Procrastination’ about sums it up, though.
Anyway, for money-saving, the recommendation from my fellow colleagues (TechRadarians, if you will) is that one of the most important extensions that I should make a beeline for is Honey (pun fully intended, in all its awfulness).
(Image credit: Honey)
What’s Honey? It’s an extension from PayPal that’s essentially an online shopping assistant, so when buying a product in Chrome, Honey will also scour the web for coupons for the best discount. These can then be applied and one way or another, I’m hoping I’ll save a bit of cash. Plus it’s possible to get cashback reward points on top, as a bonus, for those who have a PayPal account in ‘good standing’ (but only with participating retailers).
There will likely only be small savings here and there, but as they say, it all adds up, and over the course of next year I’m hoping to be a noticeably better off by the time the online shopping dust settles.
Camel companion
3 tips for saving money with your Windows PC
1. Power settings Type ‘power’ in the search box on the taskbar and click on the option for ‘Power and sleep settings.’ In here, you can set your monitor and PC to go to sleep after a short while of not being used, making some power savings on your energy bill. 2. Power settings part deux While in the ‘Power and sleep’ panel, check out the ‘Additional power settings’ link which allows you to specify more frugal power plans if you really want to cut the running cost of your PC (but remember, doing so will impact performance). 3. Tab taming One of TechRadar’s best Chrome extensions, Tab Wrangler is great if you’re a tab addict like me. It automatically closes tabs that aren’t being used (but you can easily fire them up again), helping to save a tiny bit of power usage.
The Camelizer is another extension I intend to bag in the new year as a partner to Honey for saving money on my online shopping. It’s widely used by the TechRadar team all year round, but particularly during shopping events like Prime Day and Black Friday.
The Chrome add-on is particularly handy for anyone like myself who’s a Prime member and orders regularly from Amazon – because it tracks historical Amazon pricing.
For most Amazon products, the extension serves up a graph of how its pricing has dropped, and risen, over time. That way, I can be sure of whether any item really is at a good price, or if it might be likely to drop a good chunk again (perhaps at the next big sale), so I can wait and save more if that’s a likely prospect. This extension also gives me the ability to have an alert piped through if a product drops to a certain price level – pretty nifty.
(Image credit: Future)
If you’re in the US, the aforementioned Honey does also have a price tracking feature for Amazon. I live in the UK, though, and Honey won’t track anything but Amazon.com (US) pricing – so myself, and everyone else across the globe, needs an alternative.
The Camelizer extension (and another alternative, Keepa) are built especially for this purpose, and provide more detailed info on price history than Honey (including third-party marketplace listings, and second-hand prices for that matter).
Cashing in with cashback
Lastly, another recommendation given to me by TechRadar’s online shopping whizzes has been TopCashback. The savings made with this service – in the form of cashback returns, as you might guess, on purchases – can really add up. I’ve seen the evidence of this, and don’t need any more convincing – moreover, the Chrome extension is a great way to access these benefits.
The idea is simple: a load of companies sign up with TopCashback and when anyone makes purchases from those retailers, TopCashback gives the buyer a certain percentage of cashback on the outlay.
With the normal service, the user needs to go to the TopCashback website and search for the retailer to see if they’ve signed up to the scheme, and what items might apply. It’s all a bit clunky, but the beauty of the Chrome extension is that it automatically checks any site visited and flags available cashback offers on products, which is much more convenient.
(Image credit: Future)
To get cashback, all you need to do is click the ‘activate’ prompt that pops up when buying something. This Chrome add-on also flags up some voucher codes as a bonus.
The slight catch with the extension is that not every retailer is supported. But most are, and the convenience aspect is what swings it for me. I don’t really fancy having to constantly navigate to the website to perform pre-purchase searches (and realistically, I’ll probably forget to do so half the time anyway).
I’m also going to risk the temptation of filling up my Chrome toolbar with more extensions than the three that I’ve mentioned (Honey, The Camelizer and TopCashback). While I’m aware that there are countless others (including Rakuten, Fakespot and more), I’ll be starting the year with that golden trio – and if you fancy saving some money in 2024, you should too.
Samsung seems to be gearing up to unveil its next flagship smartphones — Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra — on January 17. Early leaks suggested that the regular Galaxy S24 could use either an Exynos 2400 SoC or a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, depending on the region. Now a new leak indicates that the vanilla model will ship with Exynos 2400 SoC in all global markets. All models in the Galaxy S23 range debuted earlier this year with a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is expected to run on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in every market.
Known tipster WigettaGaming (@WigettaGaming) leaked the specifications of the upcoming Galaxy S24 through a promo chart on X (formerly Twitter). As per the post, the Exynos 2400 chip will power the Galaxy S24 in every country other than the US, and Canada. The handset will run on a tweaked version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC called “Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC for Galaxy” in the US and Canada.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S24+, in contrast, could pack the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC for Galaxy with overclocked CPU and GPU cores across all markets. All variants in the Galaxy S23 lineup launched worldwide with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy.
Samsung’s Galaxy S24 family is tipped to come with Android 14-based One UI 6.1 and feature AMOLED LTPO displays with variable refresh rates ranging from 1Hz to 120Hz. The Galaxy S24 could pack a 6.2-inch full-HD+ panel, while the Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra might include 6.7-inch and 6.8-inch QHD+ panels, respectively. The Ultra variant is said to come with a 200-megapixel quad camera setup, while the regular models could feature a 50-megapixel triple camera unit.
Samsung is said to pack a 4,000mAh battery on the base Galaxy S24 model, while the Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra could get 4,900mAh and 5,000mAh batteries, respectively.
Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series of smartphones was launched earlier this week and the South Korean firm’s high-end handsets have seen a few upgrades across all three models. What about the increase in pricing? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.
Poco recently launched the Poco M6 smartphone in India. Now, the company is all set to expand its X-series of smartphones in the country. The Chinese smartphone maker has started teasing the launch of the Poco X6 series in the country. The company posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) about the launch of the upcoming Poco X6 smartphone. The company posted a small video with the tagline, “Are you worthy? The power of #TheUltimatePredator will shock you! #POCOX6Series #TheUltimatePredator.”
This means that Poco will soon launch the Poco X6 smartphone in India.The company has also confirmed that the upcoming Poco X6 will be the first smartphone of the company to be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra chipset. Poco X6 likely specs Poco X6 is said to come with a 6.67-inch OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. The smartphone is tipped to pack 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of microSD card support. Poco X6 is tipped with come with a glass back and plastic frame design. The smartphone is rumoured to sport a 64MP main camera, 8MP ultra wide angle lens and a 2MP macro shooter. The handset is said to house a 5000 mAh battery with 90W fast charging support. Like all the other smartphones, the upcoming Poco X6 is also said to be available on Flipkart and it is expected to launch early next year.
Escape from Tarkov’s latest patch has arrived, and it’s absolutely packed with new features, fixes, and even a new beginner-friendly map, making it one of the biggest updates the game has seen in its seven-year history.
Battlestate Games released its 0.14 patch notes early this morning, headlined by one of the most exciting additions, Ground Zero, a beginner-friendly map situated in the city center of Tarkov intended exclusively for beginner players from levels one through 20. Acting as a sort of rookie training ground with visual cues and new starter quests, Ground Zero will shield newer players against PMCs of higher levels – however, Scavs of any level will have access, so higher-level player scavs are likely to be the apex predator here.
Another exciting addition is vaulting, massively increasing mobility and verticality around maps. Now, players will be able to climb and mount obstacles or vault over them, and even toggle “Auto” or “Hotkey” controls for greater precision. When news first broke of the impending update players had some concerns about the speed of vaulting, but judging by the patch notes and a few clips spotted in the patch trailer, BattleState has diversified the animations according to obstacle height, player stamina, and varied action speeds.
A BTR-82A will also now roam the Streets of Tarkov map, after it was announced at Summer Games Fest all the way back in June 2021. This will travel between different stops around the city and offering various services. All players will be able to travel anywhere in the city in total safety using the “Taxi” service, and PMCs will be able to transport items to their stash (with Found in raid status) and order covering fire from the BTR’s fearsome loadout. Otherwise, the BTR is neutral unless attacked first.
Other highlights include the new boss, Kollontay, a former Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) officer who patrols Klimov Shopping Mall and the Tarkov Academy of the MVD with his minions, a rework of the Shoreline map and a new achievement system that won’t be subject to the game’s semi-frequent wipes.
Plus, with overhauls to the recoil and armor systems, Escape from Tarkov stands to play like a very different game when servers re-open later today. Update deployment commenced at around 2AM EST / 7AM GMT today and, according to Battlestate Games, should take roughly six hours.
China has been strict with its gaming industry for the past few years. In 2021, the country imposed a curfew for video game players who are minors. Later on, China’s cyberspace regulator mandated that children under the age of 18 should be limited to a maximum of two hours a day on their smartphones. Just when players and gaming companies started believing that China was finished with its new regulations for the games industry, regulators proposed new rules to curb the growth of gaming in the country. Last week, China’s National Press and Publication Administration proposed new rules that targets in-game spending. The new law seeks to curb spending and the use of rewards that encourage users to play video games regularly. The proposed law majorly impacted the shares of Chinese gaming giants Tencent and NetEase while denting other companies that operate in the Chinese market. Nearly $80 billion was reportedly wiped briefly from the valuations of the two Chinese gaming majors. According to a new report by the news agency Reuters, Chinese authorities have promised to make improvements to proposed rules which affected the stocks of video game companies. After the latest news, Tencent Holdings also saw its shares stage a partial rebound. How China seeks to soften the proposed gaming rules The report claims that China’s video game regulator said that it would improve the rules by “earnestly studying” public views. The draft rules, which are open to public comment until January 24.
In a note to clients, Nomura analysts wrote: “We believe these fire-quenching measures may help to slightly ease market concerns, but they are not enough to remove the overhang caused by the draft regulation.”
This news helped Tencent’s shares to grow by 5% after it went down by 12% last week. Meanwhile, shares of Tencent’s rival NetEase also went up by 10% after going down by 25% during the same time. For comparison, Tencent derives a fifth of its revenue from online gaming while NetEase gains 80% of its revenue from domestic online gaming. NetEase also recently had a discussion to partner with World of Warcraft-maker Blizzard after parting ways a year ago. The company’s Chinese subsidiary, Blizzard China shared a post earlier this month saying that it is in talks with publishing partners in China to continue the game’s service in the country. In December, China’s video game regulator also approved new licenses for 105 domestic online games which is more than the average month.
Indian telecom operators have asked the government to auction the spectrum that will be used for direct-to-mobile (D2M) services. The mobile connection providers have submitted a petition to the government to ensure that the spectrum is distributed in a “technology neutral manner.” The latest petition comes after the government started exploring a proposal to deliver broadcasting or TV content directly to mobile phones without a data connection. For such D2M services, the government is also considering to reserve 526-582 MHz spectrum. Why the spectrum for D2M services is important for telcos Telecom operators consider this spectrum to be “precious” as they are already being identified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for mobility services. The petition that was submitted by industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on behalf of the telcos was seen by The Economic Times. All the three private operators in India – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – are the core members of COAI. The petition reads: “This spectrum needs to be assigned through auctions in a technology neutral manner. The successful bidders should be able to deploy this spectrum either for broadcasting (D2M) or IMT (mobility services) or both as per the requirement and under the terms of their service licence.” As per the telcos, auctioning this spectrum will allow them to utilise the airwaves flexibly within the networks for IMT and broadcasting services.
COAI’s petition added: “This will help in ensuring optimal utilisation of this precious spectrum for IMT and leveraging broadcasting capabilities to save bandwidth on the network. This will provide a seamless experience to customers who use smartphones for both video consumption and other data-based services.” The operators have also highlighted that in April 2022, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended the 526-582 MHz band to be reserved for IMT. The regulator also proposed that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) should work with the ministry of information and broadcasting to prepare a plan for an early migration from analogue to digital transmission. This will help in vacating the frequency band from 526-582 MHz for IMT services.
Huawei has announced its latest lineup of smartphones, the Nova 12 series. This series includes three models – the Nova 12, Nova 12 Pro, and Nova 12 Ultra. Here is everything you need to know about the Huawei Nova 12 series. Huawei Nova 12, Nova 12 Pro, Nova 12 Ultra: Price, availability Huawei Nova 12 starts at CNY 2999 (around Rs 34,000), the Nova 12 Pro is priced at CNY 3999 onwards (around Rs 46,000), and the Nova 12 Ultra comes at a starting price of CNY 4699 (around Rs 64,000).Pre-orders for the Huawei Nova 12 series are open now and the models will be available for sale from January 5, 2024. The Nova 12 Ultra will be available from January 12, 2024. The Huawei Nova 12 series will be available to purchase from Vmall and other authorised stores in China. Huawei Nova 12, Nova 12 Pro, Nova 12 Ultra: Specifications, features, and more The Nova 12 and Nova 12 Pro come with a glass back design with a cherry blossom pattern embedded in it. Meanwhile, the Ultra model has an integrated plain leather embossing design on its back, featuring the ‘Nova’ logo all over. The Nova 12 is available in obsidian black, cherry white, and Colour 12; the Nova 12 Pro is available in Sakura Pink, Sakura White, Yao Gold Black, and Color 12, and the Nova12 Ultra comes in smoky grey, obsidian black, and Colour 12. The Nova 12 features a 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz OLED screen, while the Pro and Ultra models boast a 6.7-inch 1-120 Hz LTPO OLED panel with 2160 Hz high-frequency PWM dimming support. Powering the Nova 12 is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G chipset, while the Nova 12 Pro and Nova 12 Ultra are said to come with Huawei’s in-house Kirin 8000 and Kirin 9000SL chipsets. The Nova 12 comes in two storage variants – 256GB and 512GB. The other two models also have three storage options – 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The three models have a 4,600mAh battery and support up to 100W wired fast charging. All three models of the Huawei Nova 12 series come with a dual rear camera setup, led by a 50MP sensor. The Pro and Ultra models have a variable aperture that ranges from f/1.4 to f/4.0. Additionally, there is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor. For selfies, the Nova 12 Pro and Nova 12 Ultra have a dual front camera setup that includes a 60MP primary shooter and an 8MP portrait sensor. The regular Huawei Nova 12 model has a single 60MP ultra-wide-angle camera. The phones come equipped with Huawei’s in-house da Vinci portrait engine, which enables users to capture high-definition selfies in three different modes – native, texture, and finish. The Huawei Nova 12 Pro and Huawei Nova 12 Ultra have a two-way Beidou satellite messaging system. Connectivity options on three models include – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, Beidou NFC, and a USB Type-C port.
With 2023 nearing its end, it is safe to say that artificial intelligence (AI) has been the buzzword of the year. Throughout the year, we’ve not only seen the rise of AI chatbots, but also the integration of AI into legacy applications such as Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop. New AI tools have also surfaced, that make light work of tasks like image generation, and copywriting. One such AI-powered tool that aims to automate your social media content creation and AI marketing is Copy.ai. Know what is it and how it works.
Copy.ai: What is it?
Copy.ai is a generative AI-powered marketing content generation tool that leverages machine learning to generate content. Built on OpenAI’s GPT-3 Large Language Model (LLM), it can generate content copies for social media campaigns, email marketing campaigns, blogs, headlines, product descriptions, translations, and more. It is available in 25 languages and features various tools such as Workflows, Workspaces, and plagiarism checker.
Is it paid?
Copy.ai is free to use for individual users, meaning you don’t have to pay anything to generate content. It can generate up to 2000 words in chat and you also get 200 Bonus credits. It also has a Pro subscription that offers 5 seats, unlimited words in chats, 500 Workflow credits, and up to 5 seats for teams. This subscription costs $49 a month.
The next plan is the Team subscription which features 20 seats, unlimited words in chats, and 3000 Workflow credits, making it perfect for growing teams. It costs $249 a month and is billed monthly. If you’re a big team, then there’s also a Growth plan offering 75 seats and 20000 Workflow credits. However, if you’re a large-scale organization, then the Scale plan is for you, with 200 seats, unlimited words in chats, and 75000 Workflow credits. The Growth and Scale plans cost $1333 and $4000 a month respectively.
Copy.ai: Features
Copy.ai offers two main interfaces for generating content – Chat and Workflows. The Chat product is an AI system that interacts with users, answering queries and creating content based on user requests. It is targeted towards individual users and is more user-friendly.
On the other hand, the Workflows interface is aimed at dealing with large-scale tasks. It is capable of automating tasks with the help of an API. It also integrates a method called prompt chaining, which helps in creating more complex content.
Another feature of Copy.ai is called Chat. Using AI, it can search the web for you, and read LinkedIn profiles and websites. It can even go through YouTube videos! You can use it to write content as well as ask it to edit and rewrite content, helping you get work done faster. This tool costs $49 a month and you get 5 seats.
Like Grammarly, Copy.ai also includes a built-in plagiarism checker. Moreover, the additional can help you save information for future uses. It also features 90+ templates for content generation including blog intro, blog outline, social media bio, discounts or special promotions, testimonials, and Instagram captions.
