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The former vice president, who is now seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, criticized his ex-boss over his position on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Philips Hue is introducing some new features that make it easier to match brightness levels on different lights and fine-tune motion sensor automation, manufacturer Signify announced. The company also unveiled three new lighting products, including a bulb and two panels, though only in the UK, it appears. 

The first update is called brightness balancer, developed in response user requests. If you have multiple lights in the same room with different brightness levels, the feature makes it easier to balance them by dimming bright lights more than dim lights. That allows users to create even lighting or “decide which part of the room gets the spotlight when you are syncing to your TV, movies, games or music,” Philips said.

The other feature enhances the functionality of Philips Hue motion sensors. Right now, the Philips Hue bridge app only supports two time slots for automating light conditions when a sensor detects movement, for instance cool in the morning and warm in the evening. With the update, you’ll be able to customize lighting conditions based on motion sensors with a total of 10 times lots when motion is detected. “The natural light scene can be selected as part of these time slots, to mimic the sun throughout the day,” the company noted. 

Philips

In the UK, Philips also introduced the E14 luster bulb (£30 for a 1-pack or £55 for a 3-pack), based on its smallest golf ball-sized bulb, offering millions of shades of white and color light. It also has a pair of new panel lights, the Surimu panel starting at £210 for the 300x300mm model, along with the Aurelle (above) in black, priced at £150 for a 300×300 panel. All of the lights arrive today in the UK, and the new Hue Bridge features are set to launch in Q3 2023. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/philips-hue-lights-are-getting-brightness-balancing-and-better-motion-sensor-automations-105005772.html?src=rss

Vimeo is one of the latest companies to launch AI-powered tools of its own, and as you’d expect, they’re geared towards making it easier for creators to edit their videos. The video hosting platform says most people “lack the skills, time, or resources to effectively create and edit videos,” and these features are meant to eliminate those barriers. 

Perhaps the most useful of the three new AI tools is the text-based video editor that can automatically delete long pauses and parts of the video with filler words, such as “um” and “ah,” with just a single click. Users will also be able to easily remove any part of the video they want by searching for certain words in the transcript that the tool generates and then clicking delete. If they want to create short clips for social media, they can search the transcript for a specific word, highlight and right-click on the word, sentence or paragraph, and then select “keep only this.”

Vimeo has also launched a script generator that can conjure a full script based on a text prompt written by the user, the intended video length and the “tone” (such as confident, funny or casual) they choose. According to TechCrunch, it’s powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology, made into a part of the editing suite through its API. Finally, the company has introduced an on-screen teleprompter that can display scripts with the font size and the pacing the user sets. It could help creators stay on script while maintaining eye contact with the camera.

All three tools will be available in July as part of Vimeo’s Standard and Pro subscription plans. While users can test them as part of those plans’ seven-day trial period, they ultimately have to pay at least $20 a month (when billed annually) to be able to keep using them. 

Vimeo

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vimeos-new-ai-powered-editing-tools-are-designed-for-beginners-091529203.html?src=rss

With a new update, WhatsApp wants to make spam calls less annoying and let users select the optimal privacy settings, the company announced. The first feature, called Silence Unknown Callers, does exactly that — the calls won’t ring on your phone, but will appear in your call list, in case the call is important but you have to respond. For most users, that should offer a decent blend of practicality and privacy. 

And speaking of privacy, WhatsApp also introduced a feature called Privacy Checkup. “Selecting ‘Start checkup’ in your Privacy settings will navigate you through multiple privacy layers that strengthen security of your messages, calls, and personal information,” the company said. Doing so provides options like “Choose who can contact you,” “Control your personal info,” “Add more privacy to your chats” and “Add more protection to your account.” 

WhatsApp

WhatsApp also released an emotional new video encouraging users to check in on friends they may be concerned about. The company even provides a template: “Hey, I’ve been thinking about you. I’m here if you need to chat. No one else can see this but us. And you can also turn on disappearing mode or use the chat lock feature.” It’s a way for WhatsApp to promote key privacy features — chat lock was just introduced last month, for example. It could also be counterprogramming to the notion that chat lock is tailor made for cheaters, as many commenters pointed out when it launched. The new features are now rolling out.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-can-now-automatically-silence-unknown-callers-082512152.html?src=rss

Opera says its generative AI-infused browser is ready for public consumption. Opera One is now out of early access. It’s more broadly available on Windows, Mac and Linux. You can download it from the company’s website.

Opera features an integrated AI called Aria that you can access from the sidebar. You can use a keyboard shortcut (CTRL or Command and /) to start using Aria as well. The AI is also available in Opera’s Android browser starting today.

The AI stems from Opera’s partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Aria connects to GPT to help answer users’ queries. The AI incorporates live information from the web and it can generate text or code and answer support questions regarding Opera products. In addition, Opera One can generate contextual prompts for Aria when you right click or highlighting text in the browser. If you prefer to use ChatGPT or ChatSonic, you can access those from the Opera One sidebar too.

Opera says users don’t have to engage with the browser’s AI features if they don’t want to. For one thing, you’ll need to be logged into an Opera account to use Aria.

Additionally, Opera One has a fresh look based on modular design principles. Opera says this will help the browser adapt to users’ needs by surfacing key features. “The relevant modules within Opera One will adjust automatically based on context, providing the user with a more liquid and effortless browsing experience,” it wrote in a blog post.

Opera is hoping to clean up tab clutter as well with a feature it calls tab islands. Opera One uses context to group related tabs together such as hotels and routes you might be looking at for a trip itinerary, or all the Google Docs you have open for a work project.

Meanwhile, Opera has retooled the browser under the hood. It employed a new architecture with a multithreaded compositor in the aim of offering a faster and smoother user interface. The company says this approach will also help it add new features and make Opera One stand out from other browsers based on Chromium. It said more AI-focused updates are in the pipeline for later this year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/operas-generative-ai-infused-browser-is-ready-for-the-masses-070013098.html?src=rss