Apple partners with LG for smart home products, Boston Dynamics hires former Alexa Executive to be new CEO, and Xreal reveals prices for the Aura Android XR smart glasses.
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Apple to Launch Doorbell, Lock, Thermostat Developed With LG
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple’s upcoming smart home devices include a doorbell, thermostat, and “other accessories”, and were developed in partnership with LG. Gurman says that these products will carry LG branding. LG applied to regulatory approval for some of these devices, including products labeled “the LG Video Doorbell Wired, LG Floodlight Cam, LG Outdoor Cam Plug-In, LG Indoor Cam Plug-In, LG Smart Deadbolt Lock, LG Smart Thermostat and LG Temperature Sensor.” Back in September LG Smart TVs were accused of logging audio and phoning home with the data.
Spotify expands audiobooks to more than 180 markets by the end of 2026
At the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday, Spotify announced it will offer audiobooks in over 180 markets before the end of 2026, a noticeable jump from the 22 markets that currently have access to the feature. There will be over 350,000 titles in more than 120 languages, including in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Polish. Spotify Premium subscribers get 12 hours of audiobooks a month, users in Africa and Asia will gain access through a paid add-on for extra listening hours called Audiobooks+. And anyone can buy single titles to keep. Spotify said its publishing deals are non-exclusive, so authors’ works will still be available on other platforms.
Source: The Next Web
Boston Dynamics Taps Amazon Alexa Executive as New CEO
Robotics company Boston Dynamics named Rohit Prasad as its new CEO. Hyundai, a majority owner of Boston Dynamics previously announced plans to deploy the Atlas robot at its plant in Georgia in 2028 and build capacity to produce up to 30,000 humanoid robots annually. Prasad previously led AI development at Amazon and spent over a decade at Raytheon BBN Technologies.
Source: Bloomberg
AI Music Streaming Fraudster Sentenced to 1.5 Years in Prison for $8M Royalties Scam
Back in March, Michael Smith pleaded guilty to using AI to illegally make over $8 million in royalties by generating AI songs and streaming them with bots billions of times. Now Manhattan federal court Judge John G. Koeltl ordered Smith to serve a year and a half in jail, to be followed by two years of supervised release. The Recording Industry Association of America said in a statement, “We appreciate the Court recognizing the significance of this harmful conduct and the ill-gotten gains that come from the pockets of real artists, songwriters and their label partners.”
Source: Billboard
Google’s new SynthID website can identify AI-generated media
On Tuesday Google opened up the SynthID Detector website to everyone after granting access to a select group of journalists and researchers to test last year. The site enables people to detect whether an image, video, or audio clip was AI generated. SynthID was introduced in 2023 and all Google AI products generate media with a SynthID watermark. Google says people “make 1 million requests to verify content every day.”
Source: TechCrunch
Xreal’s Aura Android XR smartglasses will cost you at least $1,279
First announced at Google I/O, Xreal Android XR-powered Aura smart glasses are now available for pre-order starting at $1,279. These pre-orders are currently limited to those who previously paid a reservation deposit. The Aura will be available in two sizes: medium (60-66mm) and large (66-72mm), shipping with the compute puck. The model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB is $1,279 and the option with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is $1,499. Shipping begins soon in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea, with pre-orders opening to the general public in the coming weeks.
Source: Engadget
Xbox has [NOT ]secured GTA 6 streaming rights
If you previously heard that Xbox secured exclusive streaming rights to the next Grand Theft Auto, you heard wrong, apparently. Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball said on X that the company is “looking forward to launching GTA VI on XBOX November 19, though the game will not be streaming exclusively or to PC.”
Source: The Verge
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