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AC News Weekly
News Weekly is a column that summarizes some of the week’s top stories to help you catch up on the latest technology news.
This is Android Central’s News Weekly, your go-to source for concise summaries of the week’s most important tech stories. Here, we delve into the top headlines offering the latest developments and innovations contributing to the digital landscape.
This week, Dbrand received backlash on Twitter, announced that Oppo and OnePlus had acquired Google’s AI models, Automattic had acquired Beeper, and the Android 15 beta brought support for archiving and TalkBack. Additionally, Google Photos makes powerful AI editing tools available to everyone for free.
D brand comes under fire
Well, it escalated quickly. 1. Yes, we made fun of the guy’s name. That was a big fumble. 2. We apologized directly to him and as a gesture of goodwill he offered $10,000. We’ve been teasing customers on social media for over a decade now. We have no intention of stopping…April 10, 2024
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Earlier this week, Dbrand, known for its device skins, was caught up in a controversy and publicly apologized for making a joke about a customer’s last name.
The company is known for being outspoken and sarcastic online, but this time it went a little too far. This debacle started when Mr. Bhuwan Chitransh contacted Dbrand on X about his MacBook skin that he purchased from Dbrand showing signs of discoloration.
Dbrand’s original post on X included a cheeky comment about a customer’s last name, which many users found racist and downright offensive. One user asked Dbrand to “keep the same energy in the apology tweet,” to which the company responded “no.”
But after that tweet was viewed more than 7 million times, Dbrand finally felt remorseful and posted an apology on Wednesday, April 10, explaining that the company had “made fun of a man’s name” and “made a huge mistake.” “I did,” he admitted. The brand also offered customers $10,000 “as a gesture of goodwill” and rejected claims that the move was hush money.
“To be clear, there are no conditions attached to this offer,” Dbrand said in a DM to Chitransh. “We just want to atone for our poor judgment and the mess we caused in your world.”
Beeper acquired for $125 million
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WordPress owner Automattic has reportedly acquired Beeper in a $125 million deal. In a press release, the company says its recent acquisition of Beeper is part of a larger story about “pushing the boundaries of messaging.”
Beeper, a messaging platform, already supports 14 different messaging services in one app. Automattic said in a press release that it will explore merging Beeper’s team with Texts.com, a service it acquired late last year. This is “the next step towards the dream of combining all online conversations in a safe, secure and effective way.”
Beeper also announced the launch of a new and improved messaging app on Google’s Play Store for all Android users.
OnePlus and Oppo to acquire Gemini
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This week at the Google Cloud Next ’24 event, OPPO announced that it will bring Google’s Gemini Ultra 1.0 to OPPO and OnePlus smartphones later this year. OPPO says the Gemini Ultra 1.0 integration will “completely change” the way users interact with their phones. device.
Google announced Gemini Ultra 1.0, an AI LLM that powers the Gemini chatbot. Google says LLM is designed to handle “highly complex tasks” and understand context to provide useful recommendations and insights. What we do know is that Gemini will be coming to these phones later this year, but it’s unclear which series of phones will feature his LLM.
Nicole Zhang, general manager of AI products at OPPO and OnePlus, spoke about the four key pillars driving the use of AI in mobile phones: to the user. ”
Pixel adds new features in Android 15 beta
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Google released the first beta of Android 15 on Thursday, April 11th, adding in-app archives, TalkBack support, and more. The first devices to get Android 15 beta are Pixel 5a to the latest Pixel 8 series, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet. The first beta of Android 15 brings more awareness to how the app experience is perceived on large displays (foldables/tablets). Google says it enables edge-to-edge features in the app’s software by default.
This update mainly benefits developers because they no longer have to explicitly tell their apps to enable such features. Additionally, if you’re building an app, you can take advantage of Google’s Material 3 Composable for additional support.
Google says users will now be able to archive and unarchive unused apps, benefiting all app stores. The OS is said to delete APIs and cached files, but leave user data behind.
Another important feature that helps with accessibility is TalkBack’s support for Braille displays. This software is only compatible with Braille displays that use the HID standard over USB and secure Bluetooth.
Google Photos offers free AI features
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This week, Google “unlocked” the AI editing features in its Photos app, making them free for all users. This means more users can access certain features and use them without additional fees or subscriptions.
The company says it will include features such as Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, and Portrait Light. These work with Android smartphones running Android 8 and above or iPhones running iOS 15 and above, and the device must have at least 3GB of space. For a Chromebook user, the functionality is limited to his Chromebook Plus device running ChromeOS 118 or later.
However, there is a catch here. Magic Editor will expand beyond the Pixel 8 series, allowing more complex editing on “all Pixel devices.” This feature remains free, but if you’re not a Google One subscriber, Google will limit the number of edits you can make with Magic Editor. Android and iOS users can only make 10 of these saves per month, which gives them unlimited storage, unless they subscribe to a Google One plan with 2 TB or more. Pixel users will automatically have unlimited storage.
These are some of this week’s biggest news. In the meantime, here are some other stories worth paying attention to.
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