Technology

New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) Apple on Tuesday previewed new software features for cognitive, speech and vision accessibility, along with innovative tools for individuals who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak, that will be available in its devices later this year.

The tech giant introduced new tools for cognitive accessibility, along with Live Speech, Personal Voice, and Point and Speak in Magnifier in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 18.

"At Apple, we've always believed that the best technology is technology built for everyone," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.

"We're excited to share incredible new features that build on our long history of making technology accessible, so that everyone has the opportunity to create, communicate, and do what they love," Cook added.

With Live Speech on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, users can type what they want to say to have it be spoken out loud during phone and FaceTime calls as well as in-person conversations.

Users can also save commonly used phrases to chime in quickly during lively conversation with family, friends, and colleagues.

For users at risk of losing their ability to speak -- such as those with a recent diagnosis of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or other conditions that can progressively impact speaking ability -- Personal Voice is a simple and secure way to create a voice that sounds like them.

Users can create a Personal Voice by reading along with a randomised set of text prompts to record 15 minutes of audio on iPhone or iPad, said Apple.

"These groundbreaking features were designed with feedback from members of disability communities every step of the way, to support a diverse set of users and help people connect in new ways," said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple's senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives.

Assistive Access feature uses innovations in design to distill apps and experiences to their essential features in order to lighten cognitive load.

The feature includes a customised experience for Phone and FaceTime, which have been combined into a single Calls app, as well as Messages, Camera, Photos and Music.

It offers a distinct interface with high contrast buttons and large text labels, as well as tools to help trusted supporters tailor the experience for the individual they support, according to the company.

Users and trusted supporters can also choose between a more visual, grid-based layout for their Home Screen and apps, or a row-based layout for users who prefer text.

Point and Speak in Magnifier feature makes it easier for users with vision disabilities to interact with physical objects that have several text labels.

"Point and Speak is built into the Magnifier app on iPhone and iPad, works great with VoiceOver, and can be used with other Magnifier features such as People Detection, Door Detection, and Image Descriptions to help users navigate their physical environment," said Apple.

Voice Control feature adds phonetic suggestions for text editing so users who type with their voice can choose the right word out of several that might sound alike.

Additionally, with Voice Control Guide, users can learn tips and tricks about using voice commands as an alternative to touch and typing across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Users with physical and motor disabilities who use Switch Control can turn any switch into a virtual game controller to play their favourite games on iPhone and iPad, said Apple.

The SignTime feature will launch in Germany, Italy, Spain, and South Korea on May 18 to connect Apple Store and Apple Support customers with on-demand sign language interpreters.

The service is already available for customers in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Australia and Japan.

--IANS
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San Francisco, May 16 (IANS) Google has released a new update to its AI chatbot Bard, improving the ability to provide summaries of information and tell users where that information has come from.

"We've updated Bard with better summarisation capabilities by incorporating advances we've developed in our large language models," Google said.

With the new update, users will be able to ask Bard to summarise a specific article or story, or to provide a quick explanation of a topic without going into too much detail.

Moreover, the tech giant is also "making sources more useful".

"Bard can now help you identify which parts of a response match a source. For the responses with sources, you'll see numbers alongside the response. By clicking on the numbers you will now be able to identify the section of the text that matches the source and easily navigate to it," Google stated.

This is the third update to Bard released this month.

Meanwhile, Google has now removed the waiting list and opened the AI chatbot to over 180 countries and territories, including India, after initially rolling out Bard in the UK and the US.

Apart from English, Bard is now available in Japanese and Korean, and the company said it's on track to support 40 languages soon.

--IANS
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San Francisco, May 12 (IANS) Artifact, the AI-powered news app from Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, has announced a new feature that allows users to follow individual writers, making it even more of a news-focused social media app.

According to The Verge, articles from those writers will be prioritised in users' feeds, and they can choose to receive notifications when those writers post.

Writers can also claim a verified checkmark on their profile beside their name in searches and comments on Artifact.

In addition, writers can also receive notifications about how many people read their articles on the app and when other publications link to their work.

Moreover, the report mentioned, while many people use platforms such as Twitter to discuss current events, the platform has lost its appeal.

In contrast, Artifact is emerging as a more engaging platform for news enthusiasts to connect with one another and discuss the latest happenings.

In February, Instagram co-founders launched 'Artifact', which is also named a text-based version of TikTok which uses machine learning to understand users' interests.

Artifact's name represents the combination of articles, facts and artificial intelligence (AI).

The application is available for both Android and iOS devices.

--IANS
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San Francisco, May 9 (IANS) Apple will reportedly release iOS 16.5 to the public next week with a few small changes.

According to a protected Twitter account that has shared build numbers for several iOS updates up to a week before they were released, the upcoming iOS 16.5 Release Candidate for developers will have a build number of 20F65, reports MacRumors.

Since late March, iOS 16.5 has been undergoing beta testing and appears to be a relatively minor software update. This release is expected to precede the announcement of iOS 17 at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

Currently, only two significant updates and features have been unveiled for the iPhone, said the report.

The first is a Sports tab, added to the Apple News app, which allows users to access news, scores, and schedules for their favourite teams and leagues.

The second update enables users to initiate a screen recording using Siri, allowing them to say "Hey Siri, start a screen recording" to record a video of their iPhone's screen and ask Siri to stop the recording when desired, the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, Apple has released its first batch of publicly available "rapid security" patches, which are specifically designed to address security vulnerabilities that are currently being actively exploited or pose a significant risk to the safety and privacy of customers.

According to Apple, the 'Rapid Security Responses' deliver important security improvements between software updates.

--IANS
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San Francisco, May 9 (IANS) After launching the ability to pay businesses within a chat in India and Brazil, Meta-owned WhatsApp is now launching the service to users in Singapore.

Stephane Kasriel, head of Commerce and Financial Technologies at Meta, on Tuesday, announced this on Twitter. "@WhatsApp Singapore users can now pay local businesses for goods and services seamlessly and securely right within a WhatsApp chat".

According to TechCrunch, Meta has partnered with Irish-American financial services and SaaS company Stripe to roll out the feature in the region.

WhatsApp created this payment feature with Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout solutions, allowing in-app payments to be made both online and offline.

Customers can pay businesses with credit cards, debit cards, or the PayNow fund transfer system in Singapore, the report said.

"Most people I know in Singapore use WhatsApp to chat with each other. Now, they can pay local businesses using the app as well. The speed and convenience of payments through WhatsApp will help businesses expand their revenue streams with new channels and access a wider customer base," Sarita Singh, regional head and managing director for Southeast Asia at Stripe, was quoted as saying.

According to Meta, the feature to accept payments through WhatsApp is available only to a few businesses at the moment, but the company plans to expand the availability to more merchants over the coming months, as per the report.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has announced that users will now be able to use the same WhatsApp account on more than one phone via its multi-device login feature.

Users can now link their phone as one of up to four additional devices.

--IANS
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San Francisco, May 9 (IANS) Meta-owned WhatsApp has started beta testing the Wear OS app for Android smartwatches such as Pixel Watch, Galaxy Watch 5, and other devices, which will let users stay connected and access their chats and messages directly from their smartwatch.

Wear OS is an Android operating system designed for smartwatches.

According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp will ask users to link their account to a Wear OS device.

When the smartwatch app is linked to the user's WhatsApp account, an 8-digit code will appear on the watch, prompting the users to enter the code on their device.

After entering the code, the chats will safely be synced across users' devices so that they can start using WhatsApp on their smartwatches.

By downloading the latest update of WhatsApp beta for Android from the Google Play Store as a beta tester, a user can now use WhatsApp on a smartwatch, the report said.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature called 'admin review' on Android, which will provide group admins with tools to help them better moderate their groups.

When the feature is enabled, group members will be able to report specific messages to the group admin.

If an admin believes that a message is inappropriate or violates the rules of the group, it may choose to delete it for everyone in the group when a member reports it.

--IANS
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San Francisco, May 8 (IANS) Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new "channels list" feature on iOS, a new one-to-many tool for broadcasting information from people users wish to get news from.

According to WABetaInfo, the new feature will be listed within the Status tab, which is now called "Updates", where both status updates and channels are shown.

In particular, status updates will always be displayed horizontally in order to provide more space for the channels list.

Channels will instead be displayed in the section where status updates are listed, the report said.

Moreover, the company will give users complete control over which channels they follow, and when they do so, the action will be kept private.

In addition, the report mentioned that channels will support handles, allowing users to easily search and access preferred updates.

The channels list feature is under development and it will be released in a future update of the app, the report stated.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has announced two new updates around 'Polls' and 'Sharing with Captions' on its platform to make chats a little more fun and productive.

In the Polls feature, the company has introduced three options -- Create Single-Vote Polls, Search for Polls in Your Chats, and Stay Updated on Poll Results, while, the company introduced the 'Sharing with Captions' feature, which will now let users forward media with captions.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) The government has asked the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) and the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) to make sure that FM Radio is accessible on all mobile phones to help people during natural calamities and emergencies.

In an advisory, the IT Ministry said that it should be ensured that wherever the mobile phone is equipped with an inbuilt FM Radio receiver function or feature, that function or feature is not disabled or deactivated but is kept enabled/activated in the mobile phone.

"Further, it is advised that if the FM Radio receiver function or feature is not available in mobile phones, it may be included," MeitY told ICEA and MAIT, asking them to circulate the advisory among all the mobile phone manufacturers/brands on priority basis.

The move will help people get access to information through radio service in remote areas during natural disasters.

The IT Ministry said that during the last 4-5 years, there has been a drastic fall in mobile phones with FM tuner feature, thereby affecting not only the ability of the poor to get free FM Radio service, but also the government's ability to disseminate real-time information during emergencies, disasters and calamities.

"The FM broadcast is a robust and reliable communication system. FM stations serve as important communication links between the local authorities and people in times of natural disasters (in catastrophic situations)," the ministry added.

As per the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in times of emergencies and disaster, radio broadcasting is one of the most powerful and effective ways of delivering early warnings and alerting the public to save lives.

Further, there is need for speedy, timely, and reliable communication via FM-enabled mobile phones (apart from regular standalone radio sets and car receivers) during disasters as this can save precious lives, livelihood and also prepare us better to deal with disasters.

"The availability of a vast network of FM transmitters and FM radio in the country played a key role in India's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic," said the ministry in its advisory.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) Leading online travel company MakeMyTrip on Monday said it has collaborated with Microsoft to make travel planning more inclusive and accessible by introducing voice assisted booking in Indian languages.

The new, in-platform tech stack powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cognitive Services, will converse with the user to offer personalised travel recommendations based on their preferences and curate holiday packages.

"We have pioneered offerings at the intersection of e-commerce, travel, and technology, and are proud to introduce a feature that breaks down the barriers of language, literacy, inability to navigate complex app environments, physical impairments, etc," said Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip.

"This Generative AI integration through our collaboration with Microsoft involves simple visual cues and voice commands in native Indian languages that will alter the landscape of travel bookings hereon forth," he added.

Currently, the beta version of this integration has been introduced in English and Hindi for flights and holidays customers.

The next stage of voice assisted booking flow will cover other transport offerings. The feature has been embedded into the landing page of the platform and can be activated with a single click, said the company.

MakeMyTrip's latest offering uses the power of AI and Machine Learning to make travel-related solutions all pervasive, no matter the use case or scenario.

Microsoft's large language models and Indic language speech models, coupled with MakeMyTrip's natural language understanding capability and travel domain content creates the base for users to interact with the platform in any Indian language.

"The new update will elevate the user experience and make our platform more inclusive, accessible, and easy to navigate. The beta phase will offer us learnings to further fine-tune all use cases before rolling it out to users at scale. As such, we'll do a very controlled roll-out of this feature with a subset of our customers," said Sanjay Mohan, Group Chief Technology Officer, MakeMyTrip.

The intuitive interface powered by Azure OpenAI Service's GPT technology, will analyse specific user requirements and sift through thousands of options, to recommend, customize and book holiday packages, transforming what has been a time-consuming process into a quick and hassle-free experience.

It will also summarize hotel reviews, extracting unique traveller impressions, that is cohort specific - whether a solo traveller, business traveller, couple, family, etc.

"Bringing together MakeMyTrip's expertise with Microsoft's AI capabilities, including Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, our collaboration will help make travel more inclusive and accessible for travelers across India, with trust and security at the core," said Sangeeta Bavi, Executive Director, Digital Natives, Microsoft India.

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San Francisco, May 6 (IANS) Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature called 'admin review' on Android, which will provide group admins with tools to help them better moderate their groups.

According to WABetaInfo, when the feature is enabled, group members will be able to report specific messages to the group admin.

If an admin believes that a message is inappropriate or violates the rules of the group, it may choose to delete it for everyone in the group when a member reports it.

According to the report, the new option will be available within the group settings section in the future.

Moreover, the report mentioned that the reported messages will only be visible to group admins within a new section of the app, located within group info.

The ability to report messages to group admins is in the works and will be available to beta testers in a future app update, the report said.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out a new 'side-by-side' feature on Android tablets for some beta testers.

This feature will allow users to switch between conversations without losing track of their ongoing chats, providing more control over the WhatsApp interface on their Android tablets.

Users can also disable the side-by-side view by toggling the option available within -- WhatsApp Settings > Chats.

--IANS
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