OpenAI has debuted three new models for transcription and voice generation — gpt-4o-transcribe, gpt-4o-mini-transcribe and gpt-4o-mini-tts. The text-to-speech and speech-to-text AI models are designed to help developers create AI agents with highly customizable voices. OpenAI claims these models will power natural and responsive voice agents, moving AI out of the text-based communications stage and into intuitive spoken conversations. The suite outperforms existing solutions in accuracy and reliability, OpenAI says, especially with “accents, noisy environments, and varying speech speeds,” making them well-suited for customer call centers and meeting notes. Continue reading OpenAI Pushes Conversational Agents with Three New Models

A new Discord Social SDK allows developers to integrate the platform in-app for games. Discord is massively popular with gamers; the company estimates PC players alone spend more than 1.5 billion hours each month on the platform. This free SDK can extend the user experience beyond the third-party content in which it becomes embedded to reach the platform’s community of over 200 million monthly active users. “Developers can power friends lists, cross-platform messaging, voice and more for all players — with or without a Discord account,” the company announced. Continue reading New Discord Social SDK Integrates Platform In-App for Games

Feeling the pressure from the “open agent” movement and specifically Chinese startup Butterfly Effect and its new product Manus, OpenAI has expanded the capabilities of its own AI technology, launching new tools to help businesses and developers build their own agents. The company’s new Responses API has the functionality of two earlier tools, the Chat Completions API (facilitating ChatGPT queries and responses) and the Assistants API (for multi-step reasoning and file access). The company is also issuing an Agents SDK, a suite of tools for creating and deploying agents that bundles the Responses API. Continue reading OpenAI Ramps Up Its Agent Functions as Competition Surges

Just weeks after Nvidia announced the availability of its $249 “compact AI supercomputer,” the Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit for startups and hobbyists, CEO Jensen Huang revealed the company is planning to launch a personal AI supercomputer called Project Digits with a starting price of $3,000. The desktop-sized system features the GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, which enables it to handle AI models with up to 200 billion parameters. Nvidia claims there is enough processing power to run high-end AI models (performing up to one quadrillion AI calculations per second) while the compact system can run from a standard power outlet. Continue reading CES: Nvidia Will Launch a $3,000 Personal AI Supercomputer

Google has unveiled Android XR, an operating system for computers and smart glasses powered by Google’s Gemini AI large language model. Samsung confirmed that it will release an extended reality headset that runs on Android XR sometime in 2025. Samsung worked closely with Google and Gemini throughout 2023, leading up to the Galaxy S24 series of smartphones that debuted at CES 2024 last January. Google announced the release of the Android XR SDK Developer Preview kit so new apps can be built and existing ones ported over to the new platform to support Samsung’s new headset and other devices. Continue reading Android XR Powered by Gemini OS for Samsung’s 2025 Headset

Anthropic is releasing what it hopes will be a new standard in data integration for AI. Called the Model Context Protocol (MCP), its goal is to eliminate the need to customize each integration by having code written each time a company’s data is connected to a model. The open-source MCP tool could become a universal way to link data sources to AI. The aim is to have models querying databases directly. MCP is “a new standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data lives, including content repositories, business tools, and development environments,” according to Anthropic. Continue reading Anthropic Protocol Intends to Standardize AI Data Integration

Looking Glass has launched a new 32-inch, glasses-free spatial display and an OLED version of its 16-inch model. The screens come in both landscape and portrait orientations and are aimed at XR professionals requiring visualization for 3D digital images, video and applications in real time. The 3D displays broadcast 45-100 views for what the company says is an uncompromised group-view experience. Sensors for touchless gesture control are available and the devices support a wide variety of software, including plugins for Unity, Unreal, Blender and WebXR. The 16-inch OLED lists for $4,000 but is offered at $3,000 for a limited time. Continue reading Looking Glass Debuts Two New Headset-Free Spatial Displays

While technology for immersive visual content has (for now) settled on stereoscopic headsets with two little high-resolution screens behind two little lenses, at CES in Las Vegas this week four different developers presented four different approaches to realistic haptic feedback for arms and hands. Buzzing, squeezing and zapping are all on offer, with fundamentally different business and technology models. New haptic products from companies such as Afference, bHaptics, Valkyrie Industries and Microtube Technologies suggest we may be slowly getting closer to more physically-engaging immersive experiences. Continue reading CES: Haptic Technology Makes Slow Strides for CE Products

IBM has produced two quantum computing systems to meet its 2023 roadmap, one based on a chip named Condor, which at 1,121 functioning qubits is the largest transmon-based quantum processor released to date. Transmon-based chips use a type of superconducting qubit that is more error-resistant than typical qubits, which are notoriously unstable. The second IBM system uses three Heron chips, each with 133 qubits. The more modestly scaled Heron and its successor, Flamingo, play a vital role in IBM’s quantum plan, which boasts major progress as a result of these developments. Continue reading IBM Announces Significant Advances in Quantum Computing

GitHub Copilot Chat for enterprise becomes generally available in December, and the GitHub site is integrating the artificial intelligence assistant across its entire platform, promising that AI will infuse every step of the developer lifecycle. “Just as GitHub was founded on Git, today we are re-founded on Copilot,” the Microsoft-owned company announced this month. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, the new configuration will offer inline Copilot Chat for code questions, contextual guidance and “slash commands” for /fix and /test. The AI tool is designed to assist coders with their everyday workflows with a series of “one-click” assists and other shortcuts. Continue reading GitHub Copilot Brings AI-Powered Coding Tool to Enterprise

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) is releasing an update to its smart home connectivity standard. Matter 1.2 adds nine new device types, including robot vacuums, washing machines, refrigerators and dishwashers. New certification and testing tools and core improvements to the specification and SDK are also rolling out in this major new release for the standard, which debuted a little over a year ago for things like door locks and light switch controls. In theory, Matter-compliant devices will be able to be controlled by smart home platforms like Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings and Google Home. Continue reading Matter Adds Major Appliances with 9 New Device Categories

It’s an ideal time to outfit hybrid home workers, and Lenovo is going all-in on the concept, rolling out new tools for digital business users. Foremost among the digital offerings is the ThinkVision 27 3D, a 27-inch glasses-free 2D/3D compatible monitor with real-time eye-tracking. Designed for developers and professional content creators like graphic artists or product designers who can benefit from immersive 3D visualization, ThinkVision has a max resolution of 1920×2160 for 3D and displays flat at 3840×2160, thanks to a lenticular lens in the monitor that can toggle between the two. Continue reading Lenovo Offers Glasses-Free 3D at 4K via ThinkVision Monitor

Epic Online Services, the development hub for Epic Games, has expanded its crossplay overlay initiative to include initial support for games on Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation, optimizing its free SDKs for multiplayer crossplay and making it easier for developers to link their games and communities for those platforms across multiple stores. Last summer, EOS launched a PC crossplay overlay. The current upgrade enhances “capabilities across all supported platforms,” the company says, noting “crossplay enables bigger games, bigger audiences” and global games industry growth by connecting more players with a single overlay. Continue reading Epic Offers Crossplay Support for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch

Amazon has opened Sidewalk, its low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN), to developers. Introduced in 2019, Amazon’s early focus was using Sidewalk to optimize Ring cameras and Level smart locks. The company quietly extended coverage to what it says is 90 percent of the U.S. population, and indicates it is now ready to connect “the next billion devices.” Sidewalk can be useful for a multitude of IoT devices that need Internet connectivity yet can’t always rely on a robust four-bar signal, or just don’t require a lot of bandwidth or power. Continue reading Amazon Opens Low-Power Sidewalk Network to Developers

For the most part, exhibitors in the Gaming and Metaverse areas at CES 2023 didn’t touch on the latent problems with consumer adoption of the metaverse. While worlds like “Fortnite” and “Roblox” that draw consistently high MAUs do so because they offer fun mechanics, the many metaverse platforms on exhibit generally did not provide compelling reasons for why companies — much less consumers — should spend time in their worlds. Dimension X’s booth was a standout on the floor, however, as it showcased Bonfire, a soon-to-be-released tool to enable the seamless creation of narrative mechanics within virtual worlds. Continue reading CES: Dimension X Demos Bonfire Virtual Story Creation Tools