Microsoft quits OpenAI Board; Apple won’t join either

Here is top trending news from the world of technology. News that every tech enthusiast must keep a tab on.

1)

Microsoft quits OpenAI Board; Apple won’t join either

Microsoft is leaving its observer seat in OpenAI’s Board, less than eight months after getting a non-voting seat. In another twist to the story, Apple won’t be taking its observer seat in OpenAI’s Board either. ChatGPT’s parent company will compensate by holding a regular stakeholder meeting with both these companies. These developments come amid growing anti-trust concerns over big tech giant’s monopoly in the AI industry. The antitrust concerns have been especially concerned about Microsoft’s $10 Bn investment in OpenAI, which has given former unparallel access to OpenAI’s cutting edge AI technology. OpenAI already powers Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Copilot and several of its AI features across different products and services.

2)

Samsung officially launches Galaxy Ring aimed at health & wellness

At its Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung unveiled quite a few of its anticipated products, including the Galaxy Ring. Although Galaxy Ring’s teaser was launched earlier this year, this time the company has given enough clarity on what to expect from the product and also its pricing. At its core, the Galaxy & Ring is a wellness and health product that will help in tracking some key health metrics including sleep score, blood flow, heart rate, respiratory rate and even menstrual cycles. It will also provide you a comprehensive Energy Score to give you a better idea about where your health currently stands, followed with recommendations how you can improve your health further. The product has been priced at $400 and the pre-order has already started in the US market.

3)

WhatsApp is making it easier to exit shadowy & suspicious group chats

Nowadays we are often added to different WhatsApp groups by completely anonymous people or strangers. To deal with this problem, WhatsApp will now soon start displaying a ‘context card’ with key information such as group’s admin and who actually created the group, the group description, and whether the users was added by a person in their WhatsApp contact list. Not only this, you’ll also be provided with a button that will allow you to leave the group and a link to additional information about WhatsApp’s safety tools. This new feature will help users to stay away from spammy groups that are notorious for operating scams or involving in fraudulent activities. This feature has already started rolling out globally and will be available to all the global users in the coming weeks.

4)

Meta again lowers the minimum age for kids to access its Quest headset

Meta will soon allow kids up to 12-year-old to call, chat and join the VR experience. However, parents won’t be given a  free hand as Meta has again focused on parental control. Parents will have to cerate a special account from where they can monitor their kids interaction, including the fact that parents can even approve the contacts their kids can interact with in the VR. In the past, Meta had minimum age requirement of 13. By reducing the age bar, Meta is trying to open the doors of VR to more kids (especially pre-teens) but a strong emphasis on parental control.

5)

Microsoft’s Xbox TV app arrives on Amazon Fire TV Sticks

You can now stream Xbox games on select Fire TV devices. This is thanks to collaboration between Amazon and Microsoft that will widen the accessibility of Xbox games to a wider audience. Xbox TV app, which was launched last month, will bring Xbox Cloud Games directly on Fire TV for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. To run the games, you need to have Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max or Fire TV Stick 4K. You don’t need Xbox console or a powerful PC. The app supports various Bluetooth controllers, including the Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox Adaptive Controller, PlayStation DualSense Wireless Controller.