Month: February 2024

Starting February 2, Vision Pro users can work with their Microsoft documents, spreadsheets, and other content in augmented reality.

This Microsoft Office deal gives you lifetime access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more, for over 80% off.

Withings’ latest ScanWatch 2 embeds the company’s best health-tracking technology into a high-end, hybrid wearable.

If you’re in search of a video doorbell and Ring isn’t your brand, these are our selections for the best Ring Doorbell alternatives.

Netflix’s blockbuster series Wednesday will return for season 2, and we’re sharing everything we know about the second season.

Most phone cameras have a decent portrait mode, but the Vivo X100 with Zeiss lenses takes exceptional night portraits unlike any phone you might have used

The HP Spectre x360 14 is an excellent convertible 2-in-1 laptop and the Apple MacBook Pro 14 is an excellent clamshell. Which is the better laptop for you?

Google is adding generative AI to Maps. The feature’s in early access and only available for certain areas and for select Local Guides members, but it looks to be an interesting use of the technology. Basically, the tool allows you to speak to the app using natural language to discover new places in your hometown or when traveling throughout this great country of ours.

Here’s how it works. Ask the app what you’re looking for, like a restaurant to meet the needs of your friend group with various dietary restrictions. The company’s large-language models will analyze information about more than 250 million places along with insights provided by community members as part of its Local Guides program. It should be able to spit out the perfect spot.

Google says the system will work “no matter how specific, niche or broad your needs might be.” The company gives a far-reaching example involving thrifting in San Francisco. It describes a scenario in which a person asks the app for vintage thrifting spots in the city. The AI models analyzed nearby places, along with photos, ratings and community reviews. The app spit out a range of options, complete with photo carousels and review summaries.

Because this is a generative AI, you can go even further. If you ask the app to find a good lunch spot, it’ll automatically look for something that matches the retro vibe of the aforementioned vintage shop. In other words, it remembers the stuff you like, within reason. 

This feature can also be used on the fly, with Google giving an example of asking the AI for activities in the case of a sudden rainstorm. You can further refine search results by asking followup questions. This all seems pretty neat, but the feature is certainly limited for now, as it’s just for US users and only in select areas. Once early access users give enough feedback, it should start popping up in more places.

Of course, this isn’t Google’s first AI rodeo. The company recently added generative AI features to the Chrome browser and made its AI-powered note-taking app available to everyone in the US. It’s also continuing to refine its Bard chatbot and stuffing Pixel phones with all kinds of AI tools.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-starts-a-limited-test-of-generative-ai-tools-in-maps-170012672.html?src=rss

The days of sharing a Hulu account with friends and family are numbered. Like Netflix and sibling service Disney+ before it, Hulu is clamping down on password sharing outside the account holder’s “primary personal residence” per an updated subscriber agreement. That is unless the practice is “permitted by your service tier,” indicating that users may be able to pay extra to share their membership outside of their household.

Hulu has started telling users that they’ll need to comply with the new rules by March 14, as The Verge reports. The service has been informing subscribers in emails that it’s “adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household,” but it’s unclear exactly how Hulu plans to track that.

Netflix was the first major streaming service to crack down on password sharing and, as a result, it has seen an uptick in subscriber numbers. Disney+ followed suit later last year and, given that Disney will soon own all of Hulu, it’s little surprise that the latter is going in the same direction.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hulu-is-the-latest-streaming-service-to-crack-down-on-password-sharing-161957187.html?src=rss