Google announces Android XR, a new OS for headsets and smart glasses

Pivot 5: 5 stories. 5 minutes a day. 5 days a week.

1. Google announces Android XR, a new OS for headsets and smart glasses

Google has announced Android XR, a new operating system designed for extended reality devices like headsets and glasses. The company is working with Samsung and other hardware manufacturers to develop these devices and is making the new version of Android available to developers.

Google is also developing immersive XR versions of apps like Maps, Photos, and YouTube, and a version of Chrome that allows multiwindow multitasking in the browser. The company believes AI is the key to making the user experience work with XR experiences.

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2. Phi-4: Microsoft’s Newest Small Language Model Specializing in Complex Reasoning

Microsoft introduces Phi-4, a 14B parameter small language model that excels at complex reasoning in math and conventional language processing. It outperforms larger models on math-related reasoning due to advancements in synthetic datasets, organic data curation, and post-training innovations.

Azure AI Foundry offers responsible AI capabilities for measuring, mitigating, and managing AI risks throughout the development lifecycle.

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3. MasterClass On Call gives you on-demand access to AI facsimiles of its experts

MasterClass has launched On Call, a web and iOS app that allows users to talk with AI versions of its popular celebrity instructors. The app is limited to two personas, representing the expertise of former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss and University of Berkeley neuroscientist Dr. Matt Walker.

In the future, MasterClass plans to offer more personas, including Gordon Ramsay, Mark Cuban, Bill Nye, and LeVar Burton. On Call is a standalone product with a separate subscription, and users will need to pay $10 per month or $84 annually.

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4. Anthropic’s fastest model, Claude 3.5 Haiku, now generally available

Anthropic has officially released its Claude 3.5 Haiku model to all users through the Claude chatbot on the web and mobile apps. This smaller, faster model has outperformed larger models on key benchmarks while maintaining a competitive price point.

Claude 3.5 Haiku is accessible through the Claude chatbot and excels in real-time tasks like processing large datasets, analyzing financial documents, and generating outputs from long-context information. However, it does not currently support web browsing or image generation, and fails on the "Strawberry Test."

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5. Midjourney introduces Patchwork

Patchwork is an AI-supported infinite canvas for creating fictional worlds. Users can move around the canvas by left-clicking and dragging, and zoom by scrolling. The toolbox contains tools for generating new entities, placing portals, and more.

Scraps can be selected and dragged around the board, and an action bar with buttons for image generation and character selection can be used. Patchwork is available at patchwork.midjourney.com.

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