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Apple banks on AI to boost sales

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Apple banks on AI to boost sales
Getty Images People try out the new Apple iPhone 16 which has a button for the cameraGetty Images

With business slumping, Apple has been under pressure to show what it will offer buyers to jumpstart a new wave of iPhone sales.

On Monday, the technology giant revealed its hand – the iPhone 16 which has a camera button on the outside of the handset.

The button is an external clue to the changes Apple said it had made inside its latest smartphone, aimed at harnessing the latest in artificial intelligence (AI).

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook said the upgrades would “push the boundaries of what a smartphone can do” but the firm has tough competition, as other brands have already integrated generative AI features into their handsets.

Apple’s share price fell during its “Glowtime” event, where it unveiled the iPhone 16 as well as other products, and ended the day flat. The company, worth $3 trillion, is facing concern that it is losing its edge in the burgeoning area of artificial intelligence.

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Sales of the iPhone – Apple’s most important product which accounts for around half of its total sales – have stalled in recent months. They slipped by 1% over the nine months ended 29 June compared with a year earlier.

Apple said its new phones, which come with longer lasting batteries, more powerful chips and enhanced privacy features, were its first built specifically to handle AI and its new “Apple Intelligence” tools, many of which were announced in June.

Those include new tools for writing and creating new emojis as well incorporating OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT into Siri to help users with some queries and text generation requests.

On Monday, Apple also announced updates to its Apple Watch and its AirPod headphones, which will allow them to automatically drop the volume when users start in-person conversations and to decline calls with the shake of a head.

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It said the Pro version of its AirPods would be able to be used as a “clinical grade” personal hearing aid for people with mild or moderate hearing loss.

The company said it was expecting marketing approval from regulators for the device “soon” and the feature would be available this autumn in more than 100 countries, including the US, Germany and Japan.

Previously, the company had a feature that allowed people to pair hearing aids with iPhones and other devices.

The products were rolled out at a glossy event where protestors gathered in a designated free speech area across the street, urging executives to ramp up efforts to protect children from dangerous content in the company’s App Store.

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The protest featured a life-sized blow-up made to resemble Mr Cook.

Sales of the new range start in September, with prices for the iPhone16 starting at $799.

But the Apple Intelligence features are not set to be available on operating systems until October, starting in the US and heading to other countries in the following months. They will be available in the UK in December.

Ben Wood, chief analyst at the market research firm CCS Insight, said it was likely that many people would dismiss the company’s new camera control as a “glorified shutter button”.

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But he said it offered “very significant” upgrades, including visual, AI-powered search and he came away from the presentation persuaded that Apple would win over customers.

“The combination of Apple Intelligence and new camera features on the iPhone 16 will help spur upgrades from loyal Apple customers,” he said. “Particularly as Apple is positioning this latest update as being a future-proof purchase for customers wanting to get Apple Intelligence features as they roll out over the next few years.”

EPA Apple's new AirPodsEPA

People will be able to decline phone calls with a shake of the head with Apple’s new AirPods

Apple has been slower than rivals Samsung and Google to bake generative AI features for photo editing, translation and web browsing into its devices.

Competitors are now building them into folding, flipping and even tri-folding smartphones.

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Pre-orders for Huawei’s new tri-fold phone, the Mate XT, reportedly hit more than three million on Monday.

Gartner analyst Annette Zimmermann said because Apple was rolling out AI-ready smartphones later than rivals, it was “critical” they deliver.

She warned that rolling the features out before they were ready could risk their reputation or prompt sales losses.

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PayPal will let you pool money for group gifts and shared expenses

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PayPal will let you pool money for group gifts and shared expenses

PayPal is introducing a new money-pooling feature that aims to make it easier to collect and pay for things as a group. The feature is free and allows PayPal users to create a pool online or via the platform’s app, invite friends and family to contribute, track contributed funds, and transfer that cash to their own PayPal balance.

Provided you trust the pool organizer who will hold the power to spend or withdraw those funds, the pooling feature should provide a simple way to gather cash for things like gifts and group traveling collectively. Pool organizers can share pool joining links via “text, email, WhatsApp, and more” to people regardless of whether they have a PayPal account or not. Contributions can be made using a PayPal balance or bank account, and organizers can also set a pool name, description, target date, and funding goal amount.

Here’s what the setup process looks like in the PayPal app.
Image: PayPal

The money pooling feature is rolling out today across the US, UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Users in those regions can access it by selecting “Pool Money” from either the PayPal app menu, or in the “More Options” menu within the “Send/Request” tab. 

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Other apps like Settle Up are already available that directly focus on tracking and pooling group expenses. Venmo also introduced a similar feature last year called “Groups” with a notable distinction — the responsibility is entirely shared, which may be a better solution if you don’t want a single individual in charge of the group.

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The Samsung Galaxy S25 could be announced on January 23 – and the Galaxy S25 Slim might also make an appearance

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Samsung Galaxy S24 hands on handheld front straight


  • A report suggests the Samsung Galaxy S25 will be unveiled on January 23
  • Samsung is apparently aiming to launch the S25 Slim at the same time
  • A leaker has reiterated that all S25 models will use a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset

The wait for the Samsung Galaxy S25 series could almost be over, as according to a report the S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will all be announced on January 23.

That’s according to South Korean site FNNews (via @Jukanlosreve), citing “industry sources.” It’s a date that makes sense, since based on past form we always expected to see the Galaxy S25 range appear in either January or February.

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NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for Thursday, November 14

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NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for Saturday, September 21

The New York Times has introduced the next title coming to its Games catalog following Wordle’s continued success — and it’s all about math. Digits has players adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing numbers. You can play its beta for free online right now. 
In Digits, players are presented with a target number that they need to match. Players are given six numbers and have the ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide them to get as close to the target as they can. Not every number needs to be used, though, so this game should put your math skills to the test as you combine numbers and try to make the right equations to get as close to the target number as possible.

Players will get a five-star rating if they match the target number exactly, a three-star rating if they get within 10 of the target, and a one-star rating if they can get within 25 of the target number. Currently, players are also able to access five different puzzles with increasingly larger numbers as well.  I solved today’s puzzle and found it to be an enjoyable number-based game that should appeal to inquisitive minds that like puzzle games such as Threes or other The New York Times titles like Wordle and Spelling Bee.
In an article unveiling Digits and detailing The New York Time Games team’s process to game development, The Times says the team will use this free beta to fix bugs and assess if it’s worth moving into a more active development phase “where the game is coded and the designs are finalized.” So play Digits while you can, as The New York Times may move on from the project if it doesn’t get the response it is hoping for. 
Digits’ beta is available to play for free now on The New York Times Games’ website

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Amazon launches Haul, a direct competitor to Temu and Shein

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Amazon launches Haul, a direct competitor to Temu and Shein

Amazon is well-known for aggressively battling out its competitors. Earlier this year, a report hinted that the popularity of Temu and Shein has been bothering Amazon and it’s mulling over something big. We now know what it was. Today, Amazon announced “Amazon Haul,” an e-commerce storefront that takes on competitors like Temu, Shein, and more.

Amazon launches Temu competitor, it’s called “Haul”

Amazon Haul allows you to discover and buy even more affordable fashion, home, lifestyle, electronics, and other products. The new e-commerce store offers a variety of products with ultra-low prices. All the products listed on Amazon Haul have a price tag of $20 or less.

You can access Amazon Haul in the Amazon Shopping app or the mobile website by searching “Haul” in the search bar. Amazon Haul can be also accessed by navigating from the main menu icon. If you have ever wondered about getting products for as low as $1, Haul is for you.

You can grab an iPhone 16 case for $1.79 or a three-piece trimmer razor set for DIY slim haircuts for $2.99. Well, these are just two of the examples, there are tons of products that you can grab. In the announcement blog, Amazon notes that orders of $25 or more are eligible for free delivery in one or two weeks. While the orders below $25 will require you to pay a delivery fee of $3.99.

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The discount e-commerce store is available to select beta testers in the US

An order of $50 or more can get you a discount of 5%. In addition, you’ll be eligible for a 10% discount on an order value of $75 or more. That’s not all, Amazon Haul offers a native shopping experience, search, cart, and checkout options to the customers.

The mystery behind low prices is that Amazon Haul receives shipments for individual packages directly from China via airfreights. It is a similar practice Haul’s competitor Temu has adopted for a long now. So, if you plan to shop on Amazon Haul, be ready for strict return policies and delayed delivery.

Amazon is now rolling out Haul to select beta users in the US. If you are an eligible beta tester, you should be able to access Amazon Haul after updating the Amazon Shopping app. Moreover, rumors are also there that Amazon is also working on smart glasses for its drivers.

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The Professional Women’s Hockey League will join EA’s NHL 25 this year

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The Professional Women's Hockey League will join EA's NHL 25 this year

NHL 25 is slated to get a sizable content update at the end of the year. EA that the six teams of the Professional Women’s Hockey League will be added to the game in an update this December. The Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres will be available to choose in the game’s Play Now, Online Versus, Shootout and Season modes.

This EA sports franchise has been putting more women’s leagues and female players into the spotlight in recent installments. Women’s teams first appeared in NHL 22 back in 2022, and last year NHL 23 showcased Olympic gold medalist of Team Canada on its cover alongside Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks.

In addition to the December update with the PWHL partnership, NHL 25 is adding an NHL Arcade mode this Friday. In early 2025, the game will also see new content tied to the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off event.

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Atlas.co wants its web-based mapping tool to be the Figma of geospatial data

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Atlas.co founders

Startup inspiration can strike anywhere. But for Atlas.co*, a freemium browser-based, real-time mapping tool that’s being built by an Oslo, Norway-based team of (initially student) engineers, the realization that there might be a business opportunity in competing with expensive legacy mapping software hit the founders during class.

“When we took introduction class to GIS [geographic information system], half of the class wasn’t able to download it because their computer didn’t meet the requirements of the software,” Fredrik Moger, CEO and co-founder, told TechCrunch. “That’s a barrier in general, right? And I think if you look… maybe 10 years back, Adobe kind of faced the same issue. And then Figma came on the field.”

Atlas wants to unlock the power of GIS data in a similar way, sidestepping the drag and cost of legacy software by offering a more flexible, user-friendly cloud-based collaboration platform and a software-as-a-service business model that starts at free and scales with usage.

Moger points to other cloud platforms — such as Airtable, Canva and Notion — as also providing the type of collaborative template it wants to bring to doing cool things with GIS data. While, on the legacy mapping side, he name-checks Esri as the main GIS platform competitor.

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Google Maps also offers a custom maps features and an API for developers wanting to embed rich interactive maps elsewhere. Though it’s not a full GIS platform. So it is unlikely to be fully featured enough for the B2B users Atlas is going after.

Typical users so far include people working in renewable energy development, urban planning and real-estate, according to Moger. Journalists have also, perhaps unsurprisingly, been among its early users — as maps can be a powerful way to quickly convey information.

Making maps really easy

Running Atlas doesn’t require particularly powerful computer hardware, per Moger. Nor does software need to be downloaded and installed, as everything runs in the browser.

A tile rendering component the team built allows it to stream mapping data from its infrastructure to the user’s browser “very efficiently,” he suggests — and that in turn means no fancy hardware necessary.

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On the user interface side, the goal is to maximize accessibility too, by designing a clean and modern software experience that’s easy to pick up. “[What] we are doing with GIS is making it available for everyone,” he said. “I think everyone should be able to build interactive maps and spatial apps really, really easily.”

Atlas was founded in 2021 when the founders were still at university. They bootstrapped during the early phase of the startup, opting to drop out of jobs they had lined up for after university to focus full-time on the startup. They launched the platform in June on Product Hunt. They’ve had close to 20,000 signups across 140+ countries, so far — mostly free users at this early stage, Moger confirms.

The main features currently include a builder tool that lets users build spatial maps and interactive dashboards. It supports data layering, too — where users can upload information to display on maps and use tools to visualize and style the data.

The software also provides spatial analysis tools for automating functionality such as proximity searches, data aggregation and density analysis. Real-time collaboration is baked in as well, with support for things like real-time cursor display to help teams work together on compiling visual location data.

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The startup has just closed a $2 million pre-seed round to keep developing the product. So hiring more engineers is top of the team’s to-do list as they focus on continuing to expand Atlas’ feature set.

Moger suggests there’s a growing need for geospatial data analysis visual and storytelling — including as a result of the climate crisis. (One topical example is satellite maps of Valencia, Spain, that have been doing the rounds in the wake of the DANA storm flooding disaster earlier this month, showing before and after shots.)

“With all the climate change that is happening, and all the actions we need to do to fight climate change, a lot of new industries actually need to work more and more with geospatial data,” he suggested. “They currently don’t hold the competence and the skills to work with existing tools. And [those are the] new users or industries that we want to target. That’s who we want to enable to use and work with spatial data.”

Moger explained that, whereas previously only one person on a target team might have served as the in-house GIS expert skilled in using legacy software, the goal with Atlas is to enable multiple team members to collaborate on geospatial data.

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The funding is led by European climate-focused VC fund Pale Blue Dot. Other “high profile” investors in the round include Ben Lang (early employee and ex-community lead at Notion), and Andreas Klinger (ex-CTO and founding team
at Product Hunt).

Commenting in a statement, Joel Larsson, partner at Pale Blue Dot, said: “Atlas.co is a significant step toward making spatial data accessible for essential causes like climate action. We’re excited to support a team that views maps not only as data tools but also as catalysts for environmental and social change.”


*Not to be confused with 3D generative AI tool Atlas; Atlas the works benefits tool for global companies; Atlassian’s teams software Atlas; Boston Dynamics’ Atlas the humanoid robot; or VC Sequoia’s interactive map of European tech talent, to name a few of myriad uses of Atlas the term in tech. So it might be time to retire this name tbh.

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