I'm starting to believe in 8K TVs, and Hisense’s latest move makes me hopeful for an affordable future

The topic of 8K TVs has become complicated over the past few years. At one stage, many brands including LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL, and Hisense jumped on the 8K TV bandwagon, embracing the new technology in an attempt to future-proof their TVs. So, if 8K TVs were meant to be the next big thing, what happened?

The main factor is price. You’re often paying double for one of the best 8K TVs compared to a 4K equivalent, For example, Samsung’s 2024 flagship 8K TV, the Samsung QN900D, is roughly $4,999 / £4,999 / AU$6,499 for the 65-inch model. The Samsung QN95D, its 4K equivalent, is £2,899. (The QN95D is a UK-only model, and its US/Australia price would roughly be $2,699 / AU$4,099). Also, there’s the ongoing lack of available 8K content, with a limited number of YouTube videos being the exception. As a result of these factors, 8K TVs lost popularity amongst consumers and companies began to move away from the tech. 

I never really bought into the 8K TV hype when I used to work in AV retail, mainly for the reasons stated above. However, after testing the Samsung QN800D, a fantastic mid-range 8K TV, that skepticism turned into belief – I’m starting to get 8K TVs. Still, there’s no getting over the fact that 8K TVs are expensive. 

Recent developments suggest that this could change in the future. Hisense, maker of some of the best TVs including the Hisense U7N and the Hisense U8K, have joined the 8K association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to future investment and development of 8K technologies. But, why is this such a big deal?

Could affordable 8K TVs be on the way? 

The Samsung QN900D (pictured) is the best 8K TV of 2024, but it carries a high price tag. (Image credit: Future)

Hisense TVs are popular amongst consumers and critics alike for offering solid picture quality and features at a fraction of the price of some competitors. I tested a budget and premium mini-LED TV side-by-side, with the budget model represented by the Hisense U6N, and the premium represented by the Sony X95L. Although the X95L was clearly the superior TV thanks to its richer contrast, deeper blacks, and more natural textures, the U6N offered solid performance across the board at a $1,200 / £700 cheaper price than the X95L (X93L in the US). 

If Hisense can achieve this in the world of 4K TVs, why not 8K TVs? The company joining the 8K association could signal the arrival of more affordable 8K TVs, ones with similar features to more premium options from major rivals such as Samsung. 

In a statement, David Gold, president of Hisense USA and Hisense Americas, said: “We are eager to contribute to the 8K ecosystem and collaborate with other industry leaders to accelerate the integration of 8K technology into the home entertainment experience.” So it appears that Hisense is keen to get 8K TVs into more homes – hopefully by selling them at lower prices. 

8K TVs – should they stay premium? 

Hisense has dabbled in the world of 8K before, with the Hisense U80 (pictured) – but this was still at a premium price. (Image credit: TechRadar)

My excitement for cheaper 8K TVs does come with reservations. 8K TVs, particularly those from Samsung, are designed with not just 8K in mind, but also 4K. The aforementioned Samsung QN900D and QN800D both use AI upscaling on 4K sources, and this processing gives an incredible boost to textures, detail, color and high dynamic range in pictures. 

Samsung’s AI technology is strengthened by the quality of the mini-LED backlighting used in its TVs. Part of this is the number of local dimming zones used – the more zones the better, as I discovered during a mini-LED backlight demo. 

Hisense sometimes makes performance sacrifices, such as the number of local dimming zones used in the TV, to achieve low price tags. But can this be done at the 8K level, where there isn’t as much room for picture quality compromise? This isn’t Hisense’s first foray into 8K TVs, with the U80G from 2021 and the recent ULED X 8K displayed at IFA 2023, among its contributions. But both those sets were premium models, which begs the question: Does Hisense believe 8K should remain premium? 

Final thoughts 

Ultimately, Hisense’s commitment to the 8K association signals that it is looking to an 8K future for both TVs and projectors. Hisense has provided budget alternatives to higher-end 4K models that offer unbeatable bang for your buck, so if there’s a chance the company can do the same with 8K TVs, then sign me up.  

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How you can get (AI versions of) Judy Garland or Burt Reynolds to read to you

Want to hear The Wizard of Oz read by Judy Garland or Sherlock Holmes read by Sir Laurence Olivier? ElevenLabs has artificial intelligence-produced voice clones of them and other deceased celebrities available on its recently launched Reader App, thanks to a deal with the estates of several performers. 

ElevenLabs' Reader App enables users to listen to any digital text, including articles, PDFs, and e-books, read out by synthetic voices created with AI. The company's exclusive library of voices now counts Hollywood legends among its options. Initially, the famous voices include James Dean, Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland, and Sir Laurence Olivier, built in partnership with their respective estates.

"It's exciting to see our mother's voice available to the countless millions of people who love her," Judy Garland's daughter Garland Estate representative Liza Minnelli said in a statement. "Through the spectacular new technology offered by ElevenLabs, our family believes that this will bring new fans to Mama, and be exciting to those who already cherish the unparalleled legacy that Mama gave and continues to give to the world," 

The Reader App employs sophisticated algorithms to ensure that the voiceovers are not only accurate but also convey the appropriate emotional tone and context. Those interested in hearing the voices can try the ElevenLabs Reader app for free for three months or subscribe to ElevenLabs' platform to gain access to the iOS app. An Android version is also coming soon.

If you don't want one of the famous voices, the Reader App has many others that users can adjust for whatever accent, style, and tone they believe works with the text they want to hear.  

Celeb Sounds

ElevenLabs pitches its new celebrity voices as a way of using AI to preserve and celebrate cultural heritage. By recreating the voices of these legendary figures, the company claims it honors their contributions to the world while opening the door for new, contemporary audiences to learn about them.

The famous voices are only available for individual streaming through the ElevenLabs Reader App. That means users can have the famous voices perform any narration for their own listening but not create content to share with others. This limit is supposed to keep how these voices are used respectful and appropriate.

“Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier are some of the most celebrated actors in history. We deeply respect their legacy and are honored to have their voices as part of our platform,” ElevenLabs Head of Partnerships Dustin Blank said. “Adding them to our growing list of narrators marks a major step forward in our mission of making content accessible in any language and voice.”

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“We have won the war on floppy disks" — Japanese government says it has finally eradicated ancient hardware

In a major milestone for modernization, Japan’s government has eliminated the use of floppy disks in all its systems.

The achievement comes two or three decades after the technology’s prime, and marks a pivotal milestone in Japan’s ongoing campaign to digitize and streamline government operations.

By mid-June, the Digital Agency had successfully abolished 1,034 regulations governing the use of floppy disks, retaining only one environmental regulation related to vehicle recycling.

Floppy disks are now extinct in Japan

An iconic tool used in early computers up until the 2000s, the floppy disk continues to at least partly live on as the widely recognized symbol for saving a document.

While advancements have seen the likes of CDs, DVDs and USBs come and go (to a certain degree), making way for the cloud, floppy disks continued to be used in Japan for their numerous benefits. Known for their reliability and stability, they’re also less hackable than more modern solutions.

The eradication of floppy disks follows the establishment of the Digital Agency, which was tasked with creating a more efficient and digitally adept governmental framework. Taro Kono, Japan’s Minister for Digital Transformation and the head of the Agency, has been at the forefront of the country’s digitization efforts since assuming the position in August 2022.

Speaking to Reuters, Kono stated: “We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!”

However, despite these advancements, Japan’s journey towards full digitization has faced numerous challenges. The failure of a contact-tracing app during the pandemic and the slow adoption rates of the My Number digital identification card have highlighted these issues.

However, with Kono at the helm, Japan’s ambitious plans to ditch less efficient systems could see the progress they need.

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Millions of iOS apps could have been hit by cyberattack due to this worrying flaw

A key tool used primarily in iOS and macOS app development was vulnerable in a way that opened up millions of Mac apps to supply chain attacks, experts have warned.

Cybersecurity researchers EVA Information Security claim a dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C projects called CocoaPods, carried three vulnerabilities in a “trunk” server used to manage CocoaPods. 

One of the vulnerabilities resides in the verification email mechanism that the platform uses to authenticate pod developers. To gain access to an account, the developer would enter their email address associated with the pod, and then get a link sent to their email. However, the URL in the link could be altered to redirect the developer to a server under the attackers’ control. 

Millions of people at risk

The second vulnerability allowed threat actors to take over pods abandoned by developers - but still used in apps. The third vulnerability grants the attackers the ability to run code on the trunk server. 

Since roughly 3 million mobile apps are using some 100,000 libraries found on the platform, the attack surface is quite big. To make matters worse, once the library is altered, the apps using it would update it automatically, with no interaction from the end user. 

“Many applications can access a user’s most sensitive information: credit card details, medical records, private materials, and more,” the researchers said in their writeup. “Injecting code into these applications could enable attackers to access this information for almost any malicious purpose imaginable—ransomware, fraud, blackmail, corporate espionage… In the process, it could expose companies to major legal liabilities and reputational risk.”

The vulnerabilities were disclosed, and fixed, in October 2023 - and at the time, there was no evidence of in-the-wild abuse. Today, app developers and users are not required to do anything to secure their premises.

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AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs are getting a nifty trick to help enthusiasts get the best out of the next-gen chips

The developer behind some tools for Ryzen processors, including ClockTuner and Project Hydra, has told us about an exciting new introduction for Ryzen 9000 chips that AMD is bringing in, namely Curve Shaper, a new add-on for Curve Optimizer (in Team Red's Ryzen Master software).

The release of Zen 5 is still a month away, but today I'll be bringing the curtain down on one incredible new overclocking feature for enthusiasts 😎Curve Shaper, an add-on for AMD Curve Optimizer. pic.twitter.com/L2n6rRaNGHJuly 2, 2024

As you can see, in the above post on X, the dev described the new ability as an "incredible new overclocking feature" no less.

So, what does the new Curve Shaper feature do? It gives enthusiasts control over the power curve for the whole temperature range, and prevents unnecessary boosting of the CPU (and power wastage therein) when the processor is idling or not doing much.

At present, the Curve Optimizer feature is available in Ryzen Master to hand-tune the AVFS curve of either specified CPU cores, or the entire processor, which can result in increased performance, but at the cost of higher temperatures. Multi-core overclocking benefits the likes of intensive rendering, whereas single-core better benefits gaming performance (to a large extent, at any rate).

In short, this new feature is a bid to lower temperatures when possible while engaging in overclocking Ryzen 9000 processors by using Curve Optimizer. That means you won't have to go in and manually disable the feature in the settings if you're planning on low activity instead of gaming or heavy CPU-bound processes, so everything's on track to be much smarter and more power-efficient for those wanting to squeeze the most out of the best processors from Team Red.

We'll soon get to see what AMD Zen 5 can really do

Everything we've seen about AMD Zen 5 (Ryzen 9000) from leaks to the official unveiling at Computex 2024 has given the impression that it's more of a slightly faster iteration than a revolution.

This isn't entirely unexpected from a second-generation AM5 chipset, though, as Team Red is working on how best to optimize its platform rather than reinventing the wheel. With features such as Curve Shaper baked into Curve Optimizer, those wanting the best performance will have the ability to push harder while gaining the mentioned efficiency benefits.

Also notable with Ryzen 9000 is that PC enthusiasts may get the ability to make the best gaming CPUs even better - given that X3D variants are rumored to be lined up for full overclocking support this time around (with the caveat that some safeguards are likely to be in place).

Via VideoCardz

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Forget about Wi-Fi, your own private 5G network could be the answer to your connection woes — here's how to set one up for much cheaper than you think

Private 5G networks, where individuals or companies set up their own cellular connections, could potentially provide a viable alternative to Wi-Fi. 

Vodafone, which wants to make 5G-based mobile private networks (MPNs) more accessible to the 22 million SMEs across Europe, first unveiled a Raspberry Pi-powered prototype of a 5G network-in-a-box at MWC 2023, and followed it up with an improved version at this year’s event.

Produced in collaboration with Lime Microsystems, (whom Vodafone first partnered with on Open RAN technology back in 2017), the LimeNET Micro 2.0 Developer Edition, a crowd-funded series of private 5G base-station kits, is on sale now through Crowd Supply, with prices ranging from $800 to $12,000.

Faster, better connections

The modular radio platform uses the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and LimeSDR XTRX for computing and RF capabilities respectively, and features a LimePSB RPCM planar system board. There’s also a deluxe version that includes an Amarisoft 5G stack and core, two smartphones, and ten SIM cards, offering a turnkey private 5G network solution.

Private 5G networks have been shown to deliver connections up to ten times faster than Wi-Fi in high-load networks and they offer security and mobility benefits. Santiago Tenorio, network architecture director at Vodafone, gave an example to IEEE Spectrum of how it could be used in a bakery. “You don’t need a password. You don’t need a conversation [with a clerk behind a counter] or a QR code. You simply walk into the bakery, and you are connected to the bakery’s network,” he said.

Talking about the challenge that comes with developing a private 5G base station, Ebrahim Bushehri, CEO and founder of Lime Networks, said, “The solution had to be ultraportable and with an optional battery pack which could be mounted on drones and autonomous robots, for remote and tactical deployments, such as emergency-response scenarios and temporary events.”

At the time of writing, there are still 22 days left to fund the project, which has a $1 goal. “Crowdfunding,” Bushehri told IEEE Spectrum, “is one of the key indicators of community interest and engagement. Hence the reason for launching the campaign on Crowd Supply to get feedback from early adopters.”

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The year so far in AI: the biggest stories from ChatGPT to Gemini and what’s coming next

The generative AI explosion of the last couple of years hasn't slowed in 2024. There's been a slew of new products employing large language models and an almost daily blast of some new feature or tool for the existing services. 

ChatGPT is more powerful and has a new voice mode en route, Google Gemini is appearing everywhere from Gmail to Google Drive, and even Apple finally jumped into the AI (or Apple Intelligence) arena. 

Then there are the startups from Suno to Rabbit who are finding innovative ways to play with AI models, both their own and those built by the market's mainstays, with plenty more anticipated for the rest of the year. 

As we're exactly halfway through 2024, we've selected some of the most impressive, notable, and possibly infamous AI releases of the year that you can play around with today. Below that, we've also picked out a couple more AI innovations that aren't out yet but should be available before the end of the year... 

AI in 2024: what launches have mattered the most so far this year?

(Image credit: Future)

ChatGPT

ChatGPT has been the default term for the wave of generative AI products using large language models. However, OpenAI hasn't relied on that to stay ahead of the competition and has been regularly augmenting the AI chatbot and its linked services this year. 

In 2024, ChatGPT gained a Memory feature that lets it adjust its behavior based on previous interactions, plus a Read Aloud feature for turning those answers into an audio performance in 37 languages and five voices. Customization is also central to the GPT Store, launched in January, where users can build and play with customized versions of ChatGPT focused on specific tasks. 

In less good news, OpenAI got into a public spat with Scarlett Johansson over the similarity of its 'Sky' voice to the actress's in the movie Her, and it's since had to delay its planned voice mode upgrade to sometime in "the fall". ChatGPT also experience a couple of major outages in June.

Google Gemini

At the beginning of the year, Google Gemini only referred to the family of models built by Google. It wasn't until February that Google threw out the Bard branding it had used and made all of its generative AI projects fall under the Gemini umbrella. 

Some of those new and improved features appear to be about catching up to ChatGPT, with image generation tools (briefly taken down after some bizarre hallucination issues) and the Gems store that offers custom chatbots a la the GPT Store. 

Otherwise, you're likely seeing Gemini in all the other Google products you use in recent months – helping write emails, annotate photos, and taking over as the assistant on Android phones.

Rabbit R1

The Rabbit R1 took CES 2024 by storm in January when the pocket-sized, $200 generative AI device debuted, and the company drew plaudits showing off what it could do with a miniature touchscreen, 360-degree camera, and assistant powered by Perplexity AI's large language models for real-time answers. No monthly subscription fee made it seem more accessible, and sales were overwhelming. 

However, the reality of the Rabbit R1, including inconsistent battery life, sometimes sluggish performance, and a still limited feature set and other flaws, might make it more of a cautionary tale for future hardware, though still important and possibly worth buying for the right user.

Humane AI Pin

Like the Rabbit R1, the Humane AI Pin is a wearable device that garnered plenty of attention at CES 2024. The always-on, generative AI-powered assistant clips to your clothing and promises to provide real-time information through voice commands and record and analyze your interactions and meetings all day. 

As seems obvious, there were a lot of immediate privacy concerns given its constant listening capabilities, not to mention reliability issues with voice recognition in noisy environments. Despite these drawbacks, it has also sold rapidly, but Humane is now reportedly looking for a buyer.

Suno

One of the biggest AI stories of the year could ultimately become AI music generators like Suno and Udio. Not just because both have an impressive ability to rustle up a passable tune – complete with lyrics, vocals and instrumentation – from a simple text prompt, but because the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) industry is now suing both for copyright infringement.

This lawsuit could have major ramifications for both AI music generators, and generative AI as a whole. A storm has been brewing between copyright holders and startups who train new AI tools on vast amounts of data – and it'll be fascinating to see where this legal battle goes. It may speed up the creation of a regulatory framework and accompanying laws to back it up, but until then Suno and Udio can carry on making AI-generated tunes – for now.

AI in 2024: what launches are we expecting during the rest of the year?

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is definitely the most hotly anticipated set of AI features for the rest of the year. Apple’s WWDC 2024 event revealed that this 'personal intelligence' system is coming to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. Combining Apple’s own models with ChatGPT and other AI platforms at times (with your approval) Apple Intelligence will act to supercharge Siri as an assistant, with better guidance and understanding of context. 

That is paired with on-screen awareness, letting it perform actions related to information on the screen, such as adding an address from Messages to a contact card and hundreds of other actions. The same AI will help you write emails and messages, summarize audio files, and create and edit images with the Image Playground feature. You’ll even be able to make your original emojis with the Genmoji feature. 

To use it when it launches later in 2024 in the United States, you'll need an M-Series iPad or Mac, or an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max or newer, which means you might need to upgrade.

Amazon Alexa

Amazon has been plenty busy on the enterprise side of generative AI, but Alexa, long the byword for voice AI assistants, has only had bits and pieces of the kind of AI upgrades associated with ChatGPT and others. That may change this year, but it might cost you extra. 

There’s a rumor that something called 'Remarkable Alexa' will arrive this year. It could incorporate generative AI features, handle multiple tasks from a single command, and even place food delivery orders.

The outlook

Generative AI is still very much a developing space, especially when it comes to consumer-focused products. There might be a more mature commercial ecosystem next year, but for now, the race is all about new features for the bigger names while others explore new ways to use the available models. So that means software subscriptions and questionable hardware – at least for now.

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D-Link routers are being hacked to steal customer passwords — but it says there is no patch

Threat actors are abusing a vulnerability in an outdated D-Link router to steal people’s sensitive data, researchers have claimed.

Cybersecurity experts from GreyNoise recently reported observing hackers in the wild, abusing a critical vulnerability in D-Link DIR-859 Wi-Fi routers. 

The flaw is described as a path traversal vulnerability that leads to information disclosure, and is tracked as CVE-2024-0769. It has a severity score of 9.8/10, and was first discovered in January 2024.

A fair warning

The researchers said that the threat actors are targeting the ‘DEVICE.ACCOUNT.xml’ file, in order to grab all account names, passwords, user groups, and user descriptions, found on the device. 

The worst part is that the device reached end-of-life in early 2020, meaning D-Link will not be patching this flaw. Instead, users are advised to replace the hardware with a newer component that still receives vendor support. Still, D-Link released a security advisory warning its customers of a vulnerability discovered in the ‘fatlady.php’ component of the device. In the advisory, the company explained that the flaw affects all versions of the firmware, and allows threat actors to escalate privileges and gain full control of the device through the admin panel.

The researchers subtly criticized D-Link, suggesting that publishing a security advisory without a patch is meaningless. 

"It is unclear at this time what the intended use of this disclosed information is, it should be noted that these devices will never receive a patch," the researchers said. 

"Any information disclosed from the device will remain valuable to attackers for the lifetime of the device as long as it remains internet facing.”

However, information such as this one can serve as a warning to motivate users into migrating towards a newer device, or at least to shift the responsibility of a potential data breach towards the consumer.

Via BleepingComputer

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