There are changes — some big, some small. We are talking about the new Galaxy Z Flip5 5G that now features a big 3.4-inch SuperAMOLED display as a cover. Along with that, there’s a lot of other things to talk about including the new slimmer profile, new Flex hinge that shuts flat and a handful of new features that are aimed at making the clamshell foldable experience better. We got a chance to experience the new Galaxy Z Flip5 5G at the Galaxy Unpacked in Seoul and here’s what we feel about it.What it is like to have a bigger display at the front Without moving around with the specs and features that Z Flip5 offers, let’s address the elephant in the room — the new bigger cover screen. Well, it looks fresh and different from other foldables out there. But, it makes things far more functional and practical for users. That means, there’s a chance you may not have to open the phone for everything. Flex Windows — that’s what Samsung is calling it. Keeping the name aside, the bigger display is sort of a curated widget space that lets users add widgets for several apps and keep themselves updated. There are a handful of them like weather, notification, timer, etc. Then there’s a pinch gesture that puts all the active widgets on one screen and lets users choose the one they want. While the idea for a secondary display is good and lets users do things that can be easily done on a screen of this size, unlike offering the entire main display on a tiny screen to make things look cluttered. Then there’s the option for quick replies as well as using the full QWERTY keyboard in Moving over, there’s now the option to access Quick Settings to enable or disable certain features quickly. Samsung is also making things better for Samsung Wallet users by allowing them to make payments directly from the cover display. All these appear to be pretty functional and interesting at the moment, but the full potential has to be unlocked by making developers add these kinds of widgets. For instance, an Uber widget or Swiggy/Zomato widget will make more sense by allowing users to track orders without continuously opening or closing the phone. But, the FlexCam is something that will grab users attention. The FlexCam now lets users take high-quality selfies by getting a preview of themselves on the cover display hands-free. But, there’s more, Samsung has provided users with the option to view and edit the shots on the go. This is a handy feature for users as well as creators. New hinge = New feel?Flex Hinge is Samsung’s term for waterdrop hinge design that let’s foldable phones close flat without any gap. Yes, the Galaxy Z Flip5 can close without any gap. Although, the thickness has gone down by around 2mm. Certainly, the new hinge mechanism is far more smoother than before. But what makes it different to hold is the completely flat design. The phone feels new, even though it borrows the design elements from previous generations. These new changes add to a good hand-feel as well as pocket-feel. It would be wrong to say that it is an entirely different feeling, but it is certainly a better move to make everything feel more polished and premium. Small changes are making all the differenceIt’s not that a lot has changed with the Z Flip5. Samsung has made small changes that make the entire experience better and more polished. The updated cover display adds to the user experience, plus the FlexCam, new Flex hinge feels like the changes in the right direction. Performance too has been updated, but it is a little too early to talk about it. Stay tuned for our full review to read more about how the phone stands the test of time in real-world situations.

The United States military is not the unrivaled force it once was, but Alexandr Wang, CEO of startup Scale AI, told a congressional committee last week that it could establish a new advantage by harnessing artificial intelligence. “We have the largest fleet of military hardware in the world,” Wang told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technology and Innovation. “If we can properly set up and instrument this data that’s being generated … then we can create a pretty insurmountable data advantage when it comes to military use of artificial intelligence.” Wang’s company has a vested interest in that vision, since it regularly works with the Pentagon processing large quantities of training data for AI projects. But there is a conviction within US military circles that increased use of AI and machine learning are virtually inevitable—and essential. I recently wrote about that growing movement and how one Pentagon unit is using off-the-shelf robotics and AI software to more efficiently surveil large swaths of the ocean in the Middle East. Besides the country’s unparalleled military data, Wang told the congressional hearing that the US has the advantage of being home to the world’s most advanced AI chipmakers, like Nvidia, and the world’s best AI expertise. “America is the place of choice for the world’s most talented AI scientists,” he said. Wang’s interest in military AI is also worth paying attention to because Scale AI is at the forefront of another AI revolution: the development of powerful large language models and advanced chatbots like ChatGPT. No one is thinking of conscripting ChatGPT into military service just yet, although there have been a few experiments involving use of large language models in military war games. But observers see US companies’ recent leaps in AI performance as another key advantage that the Pentagon might exploit. Given how quickly the technology is developing—and how problematic it still is—this raises new questions about what safeguards might be needed around military AI. This jump in AI capabilities comes as some people’s attitudes toward the military use of AI are changing. In 2017, Google faced a backlash for helping the US Air Force use AI to interpret aerial imagery through the Pentagon’s Project Maven. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has softened public and political attitudes toward private sector collaboration with tech companies and demonstrated the potential of cheap autonomous drones and of commercial AI for data analysis. Ukrainian forces are using neural deep learning algorithms to analyze aerial imagery and footage. The US company Palantir has said that it is providing targeting software to Ukraine. And Russia is increasingly focusing on AI for autonomous systems. Despite widespread fears about “killer robots,” the technology is not yet reliable enough to be used in this way. And while reporting on the Pentagon’s AI ambitions, I did not come across anyone within the Department of Defense, US forces, or AI-focused startups eager to unleash fully autonomous weapons. But greater use of AI will create a growing number of military encounters in which humans are removed or abstracted from the equation. And while some people have compared AI to nuclear weapons, the more immediate risk is less the destructive power of military AI systems than their potential to deepen the fog of war and make human errors more likely. When I spoke to John Richardson, a retired four-star admiral who served as the US Navy’s chief of naval operations between 2015 and 2018, he was convinced that AI will have an effect on military power similar to the industrial revolution and the atomic age. And he pointed out that the side that harnessed those previous revolutions best won the past two world wars. But Richardson also talked about the role of human connections in managing military interactions driven by powerful technology. While serving as Navy chief he went out of his way to get to know his counterparts in the fleets of other nations. “Every time we met or talked, we got a better sense of one another,” he says. “What I really wanted to do was make sure that should something happen—some kind of miscalculation or something—I could call them up on relatively short notice. You just don’t want that to be your first call.” Now would be a good time for the world’s military leaders to start talking to each about the risks and limitations of AI, too.

WhatsApp allows users to quickly record voice messages and send it to personal or a group chat. The feature comes handy in situations when a user has to send a long message because writing a lengthy note can be a tedious task as it consumes a lot of time and effort. The Meta-owned app is now rolling out the ability to quickly send videos in a similar fashion. “New for WhatsApp – we’re adding the ability to instantly record and share a video message in your WhatsApp chats. It’s as easy as sending a quick voice message,”Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in his Instagram Channel.Video messages have begun rolling out and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks. WhatsApp says that video messages are protected with end-to-end encryption. “Video messages are a real-time way to respond to chats with whatever you want to say and show in 60 seconds. We think these will be a fun way to share moments with all the emotion that comes from video, whether it’s wishing someone a happy birthday, laughing at a joke, or bringing good news,” it said. How to send a video messageCurrently, users have to tap the “Camera” icon on the message bar, choose the “video” option, record a clip and then send it to the user or group. Now, users can now tap the ‘microphone’ button adjacent to the message bar and it will change the option to video. Users can then tap and hold the video button to record a video. When you release your thumb, WhatsApp will automatically send the video to the user or group. Just like when sending an audio clip, users can swipe to the left to cancel the recording.If users want to record a long video, they can also swipe up to lock and keep recording the video hands-free. There is a camera swap option so that users can send a video from the front camera. Furthermore, videos will play automatically on mute when opened in a chat, and tapping on the video will start the sound.

Running a small business these days can be a real rollercoaster with its fair share of ups and downs. But you know what? Success is totally within reach if you nail that effective business management game! It’s all about finding that sweet spot where you optimize resources, boost productivity, and fuel sustainable growth. So, let’s dive right in and explore ten game-changing management techniques that can help small enterprises not just survive but totally thrive in this wild world of competition. Buckle up, it’s going to be a thrilling ride. 1. Goal Setting and Strategic Planning At the heart of every successful business is a clear and well-defined set of goals. Small enterprises must start by establishing both short-term and long-term objectives that align with their vision. With a well-thought-out strategic plan in place, business owners can outline the necessary steps to achieve these goals. The plan should be a dynamic document, regularly reviewed and updated to adapt to ever-changing market conditions and emerging opportunities. 2. Efficient Resource Allocation Managing limited budgets and staff is a common challenge for small businesses. To ensure success, it is crucial to allocate resources wisely. Prioritize essential tasks and projects that contribute directly to business growth. Consider outsourcing non-core functions to specialized service providers, as this can streamline operations and reduce overall costs. 3. Building a Strong Team Behind every thriving small business is a dedicated and skilled team. Business owners must invest time and effort in recruiting and developing talented individuals who share their vision and values. By fostering a positive work culture that encourages collaboration, creativity, and continuous learning, entrepreneurs can create an environment where employees feel empowered and motivated to perform at their best. 4. Effective Communication In the realm of small enterprises, open and effective communication is a cornerstone of success. Transparent communication channels between team members and management must be encouraged. Regularly communicating company goals, progress, and challenges helps keep everyone aligned and motivated. Additionally, actively listening to feedback from both employees and customers enables businesses to identify areas for improvement and drive positive change. 5. Data-Driven Decision Making In an increasingly data-rich world, small businesses can gain a competitive edge by embracing a data-driven approach to decision making. By collecting and analyzing relevant data, including customer behavior, market trends, and business performance, owners can glean valuable insights. Armed with these insights, informed decisions can be made, leading to better outcomes and mitigating potential risks. 6. Customer-Centric Approach The heartbeat of any successful business is its customers. Small enterprises must place their customers at the center of their business strategy. Understanding customer needs, preferences, and pain points allows businesses to tailor their products or services accordingly. Providing exceptional customer service and actively seeking feedback foster customer loyalty, and satisfied customers are more likely to become brand advocates, bringing in new business through referrals. 7. Streamlined Operations and Automation Efficiency is the name of the game for small businesses. Streamlining processes and workflows to eliminate bottlenecks and optimize productivity is essential. Moreover, embracing automation tools for repetitive tasks, such as accounting, inventory management, and customer support, frees up valuable time for more strategic initiatives. 8. Continuous Learning and Adaptation In a rapidly evolving business landscape, the importance of continuous learning cannot be overstated. Small enterprises should stay proactive in keeping up with industry trends, new technologies, and best practices. By fostering a culture of continuous learning within the organization, business owners and employees remain agile and open to adapting strategies and approaches based on market changes and customer feedback. 9. Financial Management and Cash Flow Financial stability is the bedrock of any successful business. Small enterprises must maintain a keen eye on financial management, regularly monitoring cash flow and ensuring sufficient working capital to meet the business’s needs. Implementing sound budgeting practices and diligent expense tracking contribute to maintaining financial stability and ensuring the business’s long-term viability. 10. Innovation and Creativity Finally, embracing innovation and creativity is essential for small businesses to stand out in a crowded market. By encouraging a culture where new ideas are welcomed, and experimentation is encouraged, businesses can stay ahead of competitors and continuously meet the evolving needs of their customers. Conclusion Effective business management is the real game-changer for small enterprises, making all the difference between just scraping by and hitting the big leagues in a competitive market. Here’s the secret sauce: set crystal-clear goals, work your resources like a pro, build a dream team, communicate like a champ, and make those data-driven decisions like nobody’s business. With these killer moves, small businesses can conquer challenges and turn them into golden opportunities for growth. But wait, there’s more! Embrace that customer-centric mindset, streamline your operations like a well-oiled machine, keep learning like it’s going out of style, and, hey, don’t forget the moolah – prioritize that financial management! When you’ve got all these magic ingredients in your recipe for success, you’ll be carving your own path to greatness in this wild and ever-changing business landscape. So, go ahead, grab the bull by the horns, and let your small enterprise shine brighter than the North Star. You’ve got this!

Good news for Android tablets and foldable users. Google is now prioritising apps that are optimised for larger screens. In fact, it plans to downrank apps and games that are not optimised for this purpose. Recently, Google revised its Play Store guidelines and ranking algorithms to prioritise apps and games optimised for large screens. Apps and games that require optimization will be ranked lower in the Play Store, and those with high crash rates will also be included in this ranking.“Apps and games that adhere to our large screen app quality guidelines will now be ranked higher in search and Apps and Games Home,” reads the blog post, announcing the new Play Store for large screens. Although Google has previously encouraged developers to optimise their apps and games for larger screens to improve the Android experience on tablets, this is the first time it is actively enforcing these rules to encourage developers to take it more seriously.Google had previously introduced warning labels to encourage developers to optimise their apps and games for individual devices. These warning labels were intended to promote Play’s per-device technical quality standard.However, these labels have not been sufficient, prompting Google to update its ranking algorithms, and this would directly impact the number of downloads.Google’s Play Store has now been tweaked for large-screen devices, including refreshed app listings, improved rankings, streamlined navigation, and split-screen search. Game listings now have video banners at the top, and app details pages are reorganised into a multi-column layout for easier tablet viewing.Starting in August, Google will prioritise apps that can be resized without letterboxing and support both portrait and landscape orientations. These apps will be highlighted in Google Play’s “Editors’ Choice Apps” and other Play Store features.Additionally, Google is introducing new “content forward formats” that include screenshots specific to the device’s form factor. This will allow users to see how the app will appear in landscape or portrait mode.Google’s focus on developing apps and games for larger screens comes only after years of complaints from users and when the company has its own large-screen devices, including the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet.

Only a few months ago, AI content was easy to spot: unnatural inflections in speech, weird earlobes in photos, bland language in writing. This is no longer the case. In June, scammers used an AI to impersonate a daughter’s voice and rob her mother. Candidates are already using deepfakes as propaganda. And LLMs may help spammers by automating the otherwise costly back-and-forth conversations needed to separate a mark from their money. We need a way to distinguish things made by humans from things made by algorithms, and we need it very soon. A universal way to tell human-generated content from AI-generated content would mitigate many of the concerns people have about this burgeoning technology. Consumers of generative text could “reveal AI” to quickly see what was written by a machine. Software companies could add AI markup awareness to their products, changing the way we find, replace, copy, paste, and share content. Governments could agree to buy generative AI only from companies that mark their output in this way, creating considerable market incentives. Teachers could insist that students leave the markings intact to leverage the power of generative AI while still showing their original thought. And brands that want to be “AI transparent” could promise not to remove the marker, making non-GPT the new non-GMO. Fortunately, we have a solution waiting in plain sight. But to understand the elegance of this relatively simple hack, let’s first look at the alternatives and why they won’t work. Both legislators and tech firms agree that the best way to distinguish AI-generated content from content made by humans is to mark it at the point of origin, something seven tech firms pledged to do as part of an agreement the White House announced last week. There are three broad approaches to watermarking digital content. The first is to add metadata, which cameras have been doing for decades. Blocks of text are often marked up as well. When you type something in bold, or set a font’s color on a website, the word processor or browser labels your content with metadata. But it’s application-specific: Paste some bold text into your address bar, and the formatting is gone. You can also watermark digital images using steganography, which hides one message inside another cryptographically. First used by spies to smuggle secrets, there are now plenty of design tools that add hidden markings to images, then crawl the web looking for copyright violators. And encryption works for watermarking too. You can digitally sign a paragraph of text, and then tell when it’s been altered, either through a centralized system (a digital certificate authority) or a distributed one (a blockchain). This is why that movie you bought only plays in iTunes, and that NFT you’ve forgotten about still belongs to you. But these approaches have three fundamental problems. First, they require immense coordination. By contrast, a good AI markup solution would need to work seamlessly across billions of devices. The markings would have to survive being copied and pasted from one app, operating system, or platform to another. Second, any solution would have to be accessible to any human with an internet connection, without any training, immediately. It would need to be deployable to the whole world with just a software update. Third, while watermarks work well enough for large objects like images, songs, or book chapters, they don’t work for smaller objects like individual words or letters. That means these approaches don’t handle content that blends human and machine well. If you have a document that’s generated by an AI, and then edited by a human, you need a more fine-grained watermark—the digital equivalent of a highlighter. That may seem like an impossibly tall order. But in fact, this system already exists: Unicode. Unicode is the universal numbering system for text, and text is the fundamental building block of the internet. In Unicode, every character has a number. The Latin Capital Letter A, for example, is hexadecimal number 41. But there are plenty of other A’s in Unicode: There’s Fullwidth Latin Capital Letter A (Ａ, number EF BC A1), Mathematical Bold Capital A (𝐀, number F0 9D 90 80), Mathematical Sans-Serif Capital A (𝖠, F0 9D 96 A0), and plenty of others. Each A has its own name, its own Unicode value, and in some cases, its own font shape. Why not create a letter A just for AI?

Back in May, the Writers Guild of America went on strike—partly over disputes about compensation, and partly over fears that studios could use generative artificial intelligence tools to replace human writers and creators. This month, when the actor’s union SAG-AFTRA announced its own strike, things really started to heat up as some of the biggest and most recognizable movie stars joined the picket lines. Production in Hollywood has now mostly ground to a halt, negotiations with studios have stalled, and this stalemate looks as though it will persist for some time. What do these strikes mean for the movies, shows, podcasts, and video games we consume? Will the celebrity podcasts and chat shows also go dark? Are our streaming options now going to be limited to reruns and reality shows? Senior writer Kate Knibbs joins us from WIRED’s Culture desk to discuss the shifts that technology, economics, and income disparity have wrought in Hollywood. Show Notes Read our coverage of the WGA strike, the actors’ strike. Learn how AI is being used in Hollywood and in video games. We also have a report from a Hollywood-less Comic-Con. Read WIRED’s entire series on the future of entertainment. Recommendations Kate recommends two music artists, Nation of Language and Yaya Bey. Lauren recommends the episode of WTF with Marc Maron featuring Cillian Murphy. Mike recommends the film How to Blow Up a Pipeline. Kate Knibbs can be found on Twitter @Knibbs. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys. How to Listen You can always listen to this week’s podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here’s how: If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts, and search for Gadget Lab. If you use Android, you can find us in the Google Podcasts app just by tapping here. We’re on Spotify too. And in case you really need it, here’s the RSS feed.

In May, a fake image of an explosion near the Pentagon went viral on Twitter. It was soon followed by images seeming to show explosions near the White House as well. Experts in mis- and disinformation quickly flagged that the images seemed to have been generated by artificial intelligence, but not before the stock market had started to dip. It was only the latest example of how fake content can have troubling real-world effects. The boom in generative artificial intelligence has meant that tools to create fake images and videos, and pump out huge amounts of convincing text, are now freely available. Misinformation experts say we are entering a new age where distinguishing what is real from what isn’t will become increasingly difficult. Last week the major AI companies, including OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, promised the US government that they would try to mitigate the harms that could be caused by their technologies. But it’s unlikely to stem the coming tide of AI-generated content and the confusion that it could bring. The White House says the companies’ “voluntary commitment” includes “developing robust technical mechanisms to ensure that users know when content is AI generated, such as a watermarking system,” as part of the effort to prevent AI from being used for “fraud and deception.” But experts who spoke to WIRED say the commitments are half measures. “There’s not going to be a really simple yes or no on whether something is AI-generated or not, even with watermarks,” says Sam Gregory, program director at the nonprofit Witness, which helps people use technology to promote human rights. Watermarking is commonly used by picture agencies and newswires to prevent images from being used without permission—and payment. But when it comes to the variety of content that AI can generate, and the many models that already exist, things get more complicated. As of yet, there is no standard for watermarking, meaning that each company is using a different method. Dall-E, for instance, uses a visible watermark (and a quick Google search will find you many tutorials on how to remove it), whereas other services might default to metadata, or pixel-level watermarks that are not visible to users. While some of these methods might be hard to undo, others, like visual watermarks, can sometimes become ineffective when an image is resized. “There’s going to be ways in which you can corrupt the watermarks,” Gregory says. The White House’s statement specifically mentions using watermarks for AI-generated audio and visual content, but not for text. There are ways to watermark text generated by tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, by manipulating the way that words are distributed, making a certain word or set of words appear more frequently. These would be detectable by a machine but not necessarily a human user. That means that watermarks would need to be interpreted by a machine and then flagged to a viewer or reader. That’s made more complex by mixed media content—like the audio, image, video, and text elements that can appear in a single TikTok video. For instance, someone might put real audio over an image or video that’s been manipulated. In this case, platforms would need to figure out how to label that a component—but not all—of the clip had been AI-generated.

Meta is paying to settle a lawsuit that alleges that the company shared the personal data of millions of Facebook users. The social media giant is said to have shared the info with Cambridge Analytica, the company that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. To settle this lawsuit, Facebook’s parent company agreed to pay $725 million to affected users in late 2022.According to a report by news agency AP, Facebook users in the US only have a month left to apply for their share of the privacy settlement. How to claim the settlement payment Facebook users in the US who had an account at any time between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, are eligible to receive a payment. To apply for the settlement, users can fill out a form and submit it online, or print it out and mail it. The deadline to claim the settlement payment is August 25. The report doesn’t confirm the amount of money individual users will receive. Since the money has to be divided among all the affected users, the payment amount will decrease as more users submit valid claims. Facebook and its legal problemsIn 2018, a lawsuit alleged that Cambridge Analytica, a firm with ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users of the platform. This data was then used to target US voters during the 2016 election campaign that made Trump the country’s 45th president. Before Meta decided to settle the lawsuit, the company’s CEO was grilled by US lawmakers. Moreover, users were also advised to delete their Facebook accounts. Rival platforms like TikTok have also stalled Facebook’s growth. Yet, the social media platform still boasts more than 2 billion users worldwide, which includes nearly 250 million in the US. Apart from the Cambridge Analytica lawsuit, Meta has been under the scanner over data privacy for some time. In May, the EU imposed a record $1.3 billion fine on Meta and ordered it to stop transferring users’ personal information across the Atlantic by October. Moreover, the tech giant’s new micro-blogging app, Threads, has not rolled out in the EU due to privacy concerns.

Xiaomi is all set to launch a host of new products on August 1 in India. These include the Redmi 12 5G, Redmi Watch 3 Active and Xiaomi Smart TV X series. The company has already started teasing the Redmi 12 5G smartphone on the Amazon e-commerce website. The company has been actively teasing the budget phone on social media handles and the specifications are already out. Redmi 12 5G appeared on Amazon India website recently. The website has now added a ‘Notify Me’ button on the page. This means interested buyers can keep track of the upcoming smartphone by clicking on the ‘Notify Me’ button. The Amazon listing of the series goes with the title: ‘Crystal Glass Design’. It also reveals some of the key specifications of the Redmi 12 5G phone. Redmi 12 5G: Expected specifications Amazon India has created a landing page for the upcoming Redmi 12 5G smartphone. In terms of camera, the smartphone could feature a triple camera setup on the rear. The company has confirmed that one of the cameras will offer a 50 MP sensor with Fim Filters. It has also been confirmed that the smartphone will feature up to 12GB RAM and 128GB storage. Xiaomi Smart TV X series to launch on August 1Xiaomi has announced the launch of the Smart TV X series TVs. The upcoming smart TVs will succeed the 4K TVs Xiaomi launched last year. “We are eagerly gearing up for our much-awaited launch on August 1st, 2023. Happy to share with you another product category that we will be launching – the upcoming Xiaomi TV X Series in India on August 1st, 2023. Get ready to immerse yourself in captivating content and limitless possibilities. #BigIsBack”, reads the invite.