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Health Features

How Exciting Is The New Apple Health Features?

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On Monday, Apple unveiled new health features for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10, increasing the scope of the Health app to include eyesight and mental health.

While the new vision health features encourage good behaviors to reduce the risk of myopia, the new mental health features provide users the ability to track their feelings and moods. The most recent Apple software announcement won’t transform the healthcare industry.

health features
Image Source: cnet.com

As a result of their active approach to self-care and monitoring, consumers who don’t need significant healthcare services are instead encouraged to make little improvements.

Also Read: What’s so ‘pro’ about the Apple Vision Pro headset?

The Apple Health app in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 and the Mindfulness app in watchOS 10 provides users with an appealing and user-friendly platform to consider their mental condition. Users can browse among multidimensional shapes to communicate their emotions, which can range from happy to terrible.

Two essential behaviors for kids are advised by eye care professionals to help lower the likelihood of myopia. These actions include spending more time in the sunlight and viewing objects like devices and books from a greater distance.

Apple Watch’s ambient light sensor can now track how much time users spend outdoors thanks to watchOS 10. On iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, users can check the amount of sun exposure time that their Apple Watch has detected.

Children can connect their Apple Watch to their parents’ iPhones using Family Setup, allowing parents to track their children’s exposure to sunshine through Health Sharing.

The TrueDepth camera is used by the new Screen Distance feature on the iPhone and iPad to prompt users to move their gadgets farther away after holding them up close for an extended period of time (closer than 12 inches). Myopia can be brought on by reading or using a device too closely, according to studies.

Younger users can benefit from screen distance by developing good viewing habits that reduce their risk of myopia, while older users can lessen digital eyestrain.

The demographic who needs healthcare the most frequently does not use the services that Apple Health provides for proactive health management. According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, around half of American adults had trouble paying for health care.

Also Read: Snap hires new head of engineering from Google

About 40% of American adults delayed or skipped getting medical care in the past year due to financial concerns. Adults without insurance, Black and Hispanic adults, and those with lower incomes are disproportionately affected by the high cost of healthcare. A larger percentage of American adults avoided or put off getting medical care in each of these groups because of the cost.

The target group who requires gadgets to manage their health proactively cannot afford Apple gear, despite it having technological advancements that might considerably help people manage their health.

Apple Vision Pro

What’s so ‘pro’ about the Apple Vision Pro headset?

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With the Apple Vision Pro, virtual reality, and augmented reality headset, Apple is entering a new product category. The new gadget is not intended for the majority of people because it costs $3,500. It won’t be accessible until the beginning of 2024.

The Vision Pro wraps around your head entirely, covering your eyes with what appears to be a pair of goggles, similar to other VR headsets. A digital crown, resembling the one on the Apple Watch, is located on the top right side of the headset and allows you to adjust how much of the outside world enters your VR experience.

Apple Vision Pro
Image Source: wsj.com

This has the effect of lowering the lights in your immediate surroundings. You may change from augmented reality to virtual reality thanks to the crown.

The most prominent feature of the Vision Pro is visible when it is in augmented reality mode: A live feed of your eyes within the headset is shown on the screen that faces the outside. It is intended that this feature, termed EyeSight, will make it seem less strange to other people.

Also Read: Why Apple is changing the ‘Hey Siri’ trigger to just ‘Siri’?

Actually, the function of the headset depends heavily on your eyes. Along with your voice, hand movements, and eye tracking, the Vision Pro is controlled by you.

Additionally, it uses your eyes as a form of authentication thanks to Apple’s new Optic ID feature, which scans your irises to unlock the Vision Pro. Optic ID is similar to Face ID but for the eyes. Apple essentially wants you to do everything with the Vision Pro.

Your work can be dispersed across a number of sizable digital monitors that are hidden from view from everyone else in the space. On a virtual screen that is 100 feet wide, you may also watch movies, play games, and FaceTime with pals. Apple Immersive Video, which combines a 180-degree view of material with spatial audio, will be supported by the headset.

A new operating system dubbed visionOS powers the headgear and all of its applications. Additionally, it will have its own version of the App Store, which Apple undoubtedly expects to be fully loaded upon release. When the Vision Pro goes on sale, Apple claims that “hundreds of thousands” of iPhone and iPad apps will be compatible with it.

A new operating system dubbed visionOS powers the headgear and all of its applications. Additionally, it will have its own version of the App Store, which Apple undoubtedly expects to be fully loaded upon release. When the Vision Pro goes on sale, Apple claims that “hundreds of thousands” of iPhone and iPad apps will be compatible with it.

Also Read: Apple Plans Major Retail Push With New Stores Across China, US

Those who saw a preview of the Vision Pro at WWDC were quick to praise it as an excellent engineering achievement, but several questioned whether using an AR/VR headset for FaceTime calls is the best option.

The device’s technology is better than that of headsets from Meta, Magic Leap, and Sony, according to Brian X. Chen, a technology columnist for the New York Times. However, Chen notes that he found the new FaceTime Persona function to be uncomfortable.

Snap

Snap hires new head of engineering from Google

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In the latest in an array of new hires, Snap Inc. announced on Monday that it has recruited a brand-new senior vice president of the engineering division from Alphabet’s child company Google to enhance its advertising operations.

Eric Young, previously the vice president of the engineering division for Alphabet Inc.’s Google Cloud, is going to be in charge of Snap, the organization that controls the well-known photo messaging service Snapchat when it comes to its basic structure.

Snap
Image Source: seekingalpha.com

In addition, he will take the helm of initiatives to strengthen Snap’s capacity to customize and evaluate Snapchat ads, which was made more challenging by privacy improvements on Apple’s iOS devices.

Also Read: Apple Plans Major Retail Push With New Stores Across China, US

Although Snapchat has steadily grown its user base to 750 million monthly users, Snap has had difficulty increasing income at an equivalent rate.

In April, Snap announced that it was implementing measures to make it easier for people to communicate with advertising and to make them more relevant to users, both of which it claimed would have an immediate negative impact on some marketers’ outcomes.

Young built the technological foundation for Google products including search, advertisements, and YouTube during his time there.

Following the hiring of Rob Wilk, previously the director of marketing at Microsoft Corp., to serve as president of the Americas region, and another Google employee to oversee sales products, he was appointed to the position at Snap.

According to parent company Snap, Snapchat now has 200 million active users in India monthly, 120 million of whom view stuff.

On the occasion, the business unveiled the introduction of My AI, a testing chatbot powered by AI and designed for Snapchat that can provide birthday present suggestions, long-weekend getaway plans, and even supper meal ideas.

90 percent of the 750 million active users every month of the visual messaging application are between the ages of 18 and 24.

Also Read: Summer Game Fest 2023 and games conference schedule

Following internal business data, more than fifty billion AR Lenses are played with each month by Snapchat users in India, and approximately 85 percent of Snapchat users utilize Lenses to express themselves through visuals throughout the country’s holiday seasons.

To create a local online shopping ecosystem in India above its augmented reality-enabled application, the organization has begun collaborating with Indian merchants.

Apple

Apple Plans Major Retail Push With New Stores Across China, US

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Apple will not just refurbish its current stores but will additionally build new ones in an attempt to reenergize its offline retail footprint throughout the world.

When referring to its actual retail locations, Apple hardly totally disappears; instead, it frequently updates, modifies, or even adds new sites. However, the corporation will concentrate on reviving the in-person purchasing experience during the span of the following four years.

apple
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Bloomberg describes the business’s efforts to embark on a more aggressive push into China as well as remodeling several sites in the US in an article recently published detailing Apple’s prospects for retail locations. Apple has ambitions for Paris and London so it won’t just overlook Europe.

Also Read: WhatsApp to bring screen sharing to Android phones

In addition to five brand-new shops in Europe including the Middle East, four newest shops in the United States alongside Canada, and an overall 15 more retail locations in the Asia-Pacific area, Apple is apparently in talks to open these new stores.

Regarding the refurbishments, the source claims that Apple will move or modify 13 locations in North America, about six in Asia, as well as nine in Europe. In total, this would mean that during the next four years, Apple will be constructing 53 new, relocated, or renovated stores.

If the preparations for real retail outlets go according to plan, Apple will achieve a minimum of a single goal along the way. This includes establishing three stores in India and building its first outlet in Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur.

Apple is aiming to establish an additional location close to Battersea Power Station situated in London in addition to upgrading the Opera shopping area in Paris.

According to reports, an additional store will open in Miami, Florida, along with Apple may open a new retail location in Shanghai’s Jing’an Temple Plaza.

Also Read: Crypto exchange Gemini to soon operate in the UAE

A refurbishment is anticipated for the Shinsaibashi site of the future store, which is also scheduled to open in Osaka which is the Grand Front Plaza mall in Japan. According to the report, several of these situations are currently in the debate stage as they work with plans and estimates.

Given this, it’s probable that Apple’s bold intentions for its physical shop footprint won’t turn precisely as they are described here.

In Tysons Corner, Apple officially opened its first Apple Store ever to exist in the United States. The newly opened shop is not distant from the old one, but it has a completely different design and greater room for customers.

Apple

Why Apple is changing the ‘Hey Siri’ trigger to just ‘Siri’?

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Apple announced plans to change the wake phrase used to activate the voice assistant from “Hey Siri” to just “Siri” at this year’s developers conference.

Apple is replacing “Hey Siri” with the simple phrase “Siri.” The modification, which is a feature of iOS 17, will make it simpler to call Siri on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices. It comes in response to a Bloomberg story from November that claimed Apple was working on simplifying Siri’s wake phrase.

Apple
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Since the underlying technical and training work is simpler versus a two-word trigger phrase, Apple has been utilizing “Hey Siri” up to this point. Even though it may appear straightforward, switching to a single wake phrase is a substantial change.

Also Read: Is Apple AR/VR headset the future?

Even Microsoft allowed simply “Cortana” as a wake word before discontinuing its voice assistant on iOS and Android in 2021. Amazon users can activate the Alexa assistant with “Hey Alexa” or just “Alexa,” and Alexa users can trigger the assistant using just “Alexa.”

Instead of using a single “Google” wake word, Google Assistant still supports the “Hey Google” or “OK Google” utterances. Google would have to carefully consider how to stop the assistant from triggering during talks when Google is mentioned if it were to switch to a single wake phrase. After all, Google has evolved into a transitive verb as a result of its dominance in search.

There will be one more tweak to Siri that will somewhat alter how you use it. Users may now ask Siri many inquiries without using the trigger word each time thanks to a recent update from Apple. Now, you just need to speak “Siri” once to activate the assistant and ask subsequent inquiries back-to-back.

With the most recent software update, all devices now support both of these new Siri features. Unfortunately, despite what many enthusiasts might have anticipated after seeing recent advances in AI like ChatGPT, Apple did not make any improvements to the way Siri reacts to customer inquiries.

Also Read: Apple to open the first online shop in Vietnam

The WWDC developer conference began on June 5 and will run through June 9. During the event, the company is anticipated to reveal its first-ever mixed-reality headset, new Macs, and updates to iOS and macOS, among other things.

“Hey, Siri” is a phrase used to activate the voice-controlled personal assistant feature on Apple devices. Siri is an intelligent virtual assistant developed by Apple Inc. It is available on various Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and HomePods.

Summer Game Fest

Summer Game Fest 2023 and games conference schedule

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Summer Game Fest is a digital gaming event that was first organized in 2020 by Geoff Keighley, a prominent figure in the gaming industry. It was designed to be a season-long celebration of video games, featuring a series of announcements, reveals, and demos from various game developers and publishers.

Summer Game Fest
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During Summer Game Fest, viewers can expect a mix of live-streamed events, gameplay showcases, interviews, and other gaming-related content. The event aims to bring together the gaming community and provide them with exciting updates and news about upcoming games.

In previous years, the fest has featured major game announcements and presentations from companies like Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and many others. It has served as a platform for showcasing new titles, unveiling trailers, and sharing insights into the development process.

Also Read: Is Diablo 4 on Xbox Game Pass?

At 12 p.m. PDT/3 p.m. EDT/9 p.m. CEST on Thursday, June 8, Summer Game Fest will stream live from the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles. Live streams of the program will be available on SGF’s YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Steam channels.

Multiple shows will be part of Summer Game Fest throughout the summer. At the time of writing, the showcases listed below have received formal confirmation.

Summer Game Fest 2023 Opening Showcase- 8th June 2023

Devolver Digital Presentation- 8th June 2023

Wholesome Direct- 10th June 2023

Future Games Show- 10th June 2023

Xbox Games Showcase & Starfield Direct-11th June, 2023

Ubisoft Forward- 12th June 2023

A significant live-streamed presentation with fresh announcements, videos, gameplay clips, and other nuggets from the newest independently made games are scheduled to open the Guerrilla Collective Online Showcase in June 2023. Black Voices in Gaming and New Dames 4 Games have been confirmed as participants.

Also Read: Is Apple AR/VR headset the future?

Guerrilla Collective will also highlight additional organizations in addition to a typical showcase during the course of a week of online and offline events. New trailers and teasers from organizations including Ubisoft, Xbox, PlayStation, CD Projekt, Disney, EA, Netflix, Square Enix, Capcom, Warner Bros. Games, and many more will be presented at this year’s expo.

Geoff Keighley hasn’t said much about what will be revealed during the Opening Showcase, but we do know that this year’s Summer Game Fest will feature more than 40 companies. While some of these publishers, like Devolver Digital and Xbox, do hold conferences during the events, it’s probable that others will attend this particular exhibition.