News on the sidelines for the week of March 17 - 23

The iPhone 15 Pro Max will be the thinnest phone, the launch of the 7-inch HomePod will be postponed, the iOS 16 update next week, the Apple Watch may help treat sickle cell anemia, the original iPhone will be sold for $ 55, and the Xbox will soon be on the iPhone. fone, a limited launch of the Google Bard chatbot, and other exciting news on the sidelines…

Nothing company launches headphones that compete with AirPods

Nothing has launched its second generation wireless earphone, Nothing Ear 2, and it shares many features with the Apple AirPods Pro 2, but at a reasonable price. It has a transparent design, comfortable in the ear and for long periods. Like the AirPods Pro 2, they have Active Noise Cancellation, a Transparency mode that adjusts noise reduction based on the surrounding environment.

Nothing has added any other features and lacks some of the features found in AirPods Pro 2, such as instant pairing, automatic device switching, and spatial audio.

The speaker works for 36 hours and is characterized by IP54 water resistance, and it can be paired for Android and Windows devices, and is available at a price of $ 149 at The company's website.

iOS 16.4 improves collision detection

The upcoming iOS 16.4 update will include improvements to the collision detection feature for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models, after many false emergency calls were reported. This is the third update that includes improvements to this feature, after iOS 16.1.2 in November and iOS 16.3.1 last month. And while Crash Detection is designed to automatically detect severe car accidents and call emergency services, it often mistakes snowboarders for a car accident, leading to false emergency calls in ski areas like Colorado, Utah, New York and Minnesota. It remains to be seen if the latest improvements will completely solve the problem.

WhatsApp adds new group features for administrators and members

Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, has announced two updates related to WhatsApp groups. The first, a privacy control tool for admins called Suspended Participants, allows admins to decide who can join a group When an admin shares an invite link or makes a group joinable to a community, they will now have more control over who can join.

The second update allows users to see which groups they have in common with others by searching for their contact's name, where they will be able to see the contact's group memberships.

These updates will be rolling out to iOS and Android over the next few weeks. In addition, WhatsApp is testing a new feature that allows group chat memberships to expire after a set period of time, though it is uncertain when this feature will be launched.

Officially, Google is giving limited access to Bard

Google has launched its own AI chatbot, Bard, in direct competition with Microsoft's Bing chatbot. Bard was announced last February and is now available on a waiting list basis for users in the US and UK now and will be gradually expanded. Google warned that Bard is not designed to replace Google Search but rather to complement it, and uses a version of Google Search TheMDA As mentioned earlier, he will learn from a wide range of information.

Bing's AI-powered browser can create images

Microsoft announced that Bing Browser now supports a new feature called Bing Image Creator, or Bing Image Creator, to generate images, powered by the deep learning model DALL-E from OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT. DALL-E technology is designed to create digital content through natural language descriptions, and is integrated into the Bing chat experience. Users can write a description of the image, location, and activity, and the image will be generated accordingly. Microsoft has implemented safeguards to limit the creation of malicious or unsafe images and is working to prevent potential misuse of the image creator. The feature will be available on desktop and mobile devices gradually for those who have access.

iOS 16.4 update expands duplicate photo detection feature

iOS 16.4 expands the functionality of the duplicate photo detection feature. With iOS 16, users can find duplicate photos in the Duplicates folder under the Utilities or Other section, but this feature previously didn't work with iCloud Shared Photo Library. But with the iOS 16.4 update, users will now be able to detect and merge duplicate photos and videos in the shared iCloud Photo Library to remove unnecessary duplicates. The update also includes other features and fixes for many problems, which we will talk about as soon as the update is released. It is expected to be next week.

iPhone 14 Plus is more popular than iPhone 13 mini

In a new report by DSCC, it was mentioned that the iPhone 14 Plus is better-selling and more popular than the iPhone 13 mini. The report compares screen shipment data for both models from June 2022 to April 2023, and shows a 59% increase in iPhone 14 Plus shipments compared to the equivalent period for the iPhone 13 mini. Despite this, iPhone 14 Pro Max is the most popular model, with a 36% share of total screen shipments, followed by iPhone 14 Pro with 28%, iPhone 14 with 25%, and iPhone 14 Plus with 11%. .

Overall, the iPhone 14 series appears to be slightly more popular than the previous series, with a 2% increase in screen shipments year-over-year, mainly due to higher sales of the more expensive Pro models. Although the numbers of screen shipments may not exactly match the number of iPhones sold, the 11-month period provides a good indication of overall sales.

Microsoft wants to launch the Xbox Games Store on the iPhone

It is reported that Microsoft is preparing to launch the Xbox Games Store on the iPhone in the near future, but the success of the plan depends on various regulatory measures. This would give the company a larger selection of mobile video games.

Furthermore, the store can only operate if the law is passed on digital marketplaces that allow downloading alternative apps on iOS from outside its store. It is expected that Apple will allow this in compliance with the law, but it is expected that these changes will be introduced with the iOS 17 update next year for iPhone users in Europe only.

Although Xbox already provides a cloud gaming service on the iPhone, games can only be played via the web rather than the App Store, and Apple has been subject to more regulatory scrutiny due to its tight control over the App Store.

Selling an original iPhone for $55000

The first-generation iPhone was sold in its unopened, factory-sealed box for $54904 at the auction, which is $54000 more than the device's original price of $599 when it was released in 2007.

Back in February, original and sealed Ami-iPhones were sold for more than $63000, which already represents a record for first-generation iPhone sales.

Apple Watch can help treat symptoms of sickle cell disease

New studies indicate that the Apple Watch may help treat one of the main symptoms of sickle cell disease, andSickle cell anemiaIt is a genetic type, that is, it is transmitted through genes from parents to their children, and it is not contagious, and among its causes is a defect in the gene responsible for the formation of hemoglobin in the body; This changes the shape of the red blood cells to become inelastic and sticky.

According to the study conducted by researchers at Duke University Day Hospital, the Apple Watch can help treat vascular occlusion crises (VOCs), a major complication of sickle cell disease that often hospitalizes patients with severe pain. The research indicates that machine learning using health data collected from the Apple Watch can detect predictive trends in pain among people with sickle cell disease, which could provide an early warning signal before it becomes more serious.

Miscellaneous news

◉ It is said that Apple is working on an upgraded version of the headphones called Beats Studio Buds Plus, which will support active noise cancellation and transparency. It is expected that its price will be similar to the price of the original Beats Studio Buds headphones for the year 2021, as a cheaper alternative to the AirPods headphones. The new version may also have an upgraded chip, though it's unclear if it will be an H1 or W1 chip.

◉ The iOS 16.4 update in the latest beta contains references to a new set of future AirPods, and it's not clear if this is new AirPods or an update to move to USB-C charging instead of Lightning for the charging case as expected.

◉ Apple releases the release candidate for the final release of iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, watchOS 9.4, macOS Ventura 13.3 and tvOS 16.4 updates to developers and is also available to the public.

◉ After waiting years, Apple Pay has been launched in South Korea, allowing the use of Apple's payment system to make contactless payments using an iPhone or Apple Watch.

◉ Apple will open its flagship retail store in India in Mumbai next month, after several delays, soon to be followed by another store in New Delhi.

◉ Apple's project to design the first 7-inch HomePod has been postponed until next year at the earliest, as part of a series of cost-cutting measures, cutting spending and focusing on more important products at the moment.

◉ One of the reliable leaks mentioned that the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max will have the thinnest edges of any smartphone, surpassing the current record of the Xiaomi 13 phone. It is expected that the largest model will have a black frame width that is only as wide. 1.55 mm, compared to 1.81 mm in the Xiaomi 13. Both iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to have thinner curved edges compared to the iPhone 14 Pro, which could lead to an Apple Watch-like appearance.

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