Category: Current and Future Trends

Augmented headphones coming about due to Microsoft’s research

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Sony WH-1000XM4 Bluetooth noise-cancelling headset press image courtesy of Sony

Microsoft is to be doing further work on headphones that follow your gestures

Microsoft Research

Thinking beyond audio: Augmenting headphones for everyday digital interactions – Microsoft Research

My Comments

As part of the “Headset Wars” where headset manufacturers are putting research in to and marketing the best-value Bluetooth active-noise-cancelling headset, there is research in how to improve the headphones’ user interface.

Currently, there are some over-the-ear headphones that use touch-based gestures for basic control routines like starting or stopping multimedia, taking or ending calls and adjusting volume. As well, some active-noise-cancelling headphones recognise you cupping our had over the earpiece as a way to override ANC, amplify the outside world and pause multimedia so you can engage in conversation with someone near you.

Why

One issue that is bringing Microsoft in to the headphone innovation space is the intense competition between headphone manufacturers when it comes to high-quality Bluetooth active-noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds. These manufacturers are seeing their headsets being used at work, at home and while travelling for entertainment and personal communications.

As well, the drive towards videocalls and video conferencing during COVID and the associated work-from-home orders has had us want to see a better way to engage in that Zoom videoconference. The various goals that came about include providing each user with a sense of dignity and privacy during these calls, especially if they need to get up to use the bathroom or answer the door.

Then there is the ability to effectively “talk to” a particular individual in a multiparty video conference when you direct your gaze at that particular person in the default multi-screen view.

It is also being seen as part of augmented and virtual reality such as having an avatar mimic you. This is even a feature that is becoming part of video conferencing and allied use cases where participants see themselves as though they are in a virtual space.

What is being brought out through the research

Here, it is about using the headphones to follow your head movements or recognising when you put your headphones on or took them off.  There is also the idea of using mid-air hand gestures as a control mechanism with this being based on LiDAR technology to recognise these gestures.

The use of head gestures and hand gestures recognised by headphones is being seen as beyond call control for a videoconference. It includes allowing avatars that represent a user in a videoconference or video game  to mimic the user they represent.

It also allows for head movement to be recognised as input for videogames. This would come in to its own with games that have the first person as their primary point of view like driving games, first-person shooters or role-playing / adventure games. I would  see this also come in to its own as another input for augmented and virtual reality.

How could this be delivered

The Microsoft Research augmented headphone technology could be delivered as an head-worn attachment which may please people who use headset styles other than over-the-head headsets. Or it could be a clip-on attachment that clips to the headband of an existing over-the-head headset. Headphone manufacturers could even integrate this functionality in to their headphone products, especially if it is to be a product differentiator.

As well, a Bluetooth or USB connection would be used to transmit the head movements and had gestures to the host computing device. Here, it may be based on USB Human Interface Device specifications that relate to augmented and virtual reality use cases. If this functionality is to be delivered as an accessory for a Bluetooth headset that has a USB-C socket like just about all of the Bluetooth active-noise-cancelling headsets, there could be USB-Bluetooth forwarding. Here, the Bluetooth headset would “catch” all the head movements and gestures from the USB-connected accessory and forward them to the Bluetooth-connected host device using the one link.

But what needs to happen is for the head movements and gestures to be recognised in a standard form like a USB HID Device Class. This can allow for operating system support and avoid the need for headset manufacturers and software developers to reinvent the wheel every time they want head-movement support in their setup.

Conclusion

What Microsoft is doing is to extend recognition of head movements and gestures beyond virtual reality and augmented reality to regular computing and communications tasks using ordinary headsets.

A Pro-Ject turntable joins the vinyl revival to the home network

Article

Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi turntable with LP record lifestyle image courtesy of Pro-Ject

This is about bringing the vinyl record to the UPnP AV / DLNA Home Media Network

The Pro-Ject T2 W wireless turntable looks to accelerate the vinyl resurgence | T3

From the horse’s mouth

Pro-Ject

Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi turntable

Product Page (English, Deutsch)

My Comments

The vinyl revival is upon us whether you are a young person who didn’t grow up with playing records or an older person who habitually played records on that stereogram or hi-fi system and maintained that record collection. But a significant number of turntable manufacturers have moved away from the purely-analogue “back-to-basics” approach to the classic LP record by bridging digital technologies with that classic music medium.

In a lot of cases, turntable manufacturers have issued at least one turntable model in their range that uses Bluetooth to stream audio from that record to Bluetooth speakers or headphones. Yamaha recently issued the MusicCast VinylPlay 500 turntable that streams the record you are playing through your home network to their MusicCast speakers and amplifiers or plays online sources using a MusicCast app.

But Pro-Ject have come forward with a network turntable that uses UPnP / DLNA to stream the music off that record you have put on to a wide range of network audio equipment using your home network.

Pro-Ject have had a significant hand with the vinyl revival. This is with designing and releasing a value-for-money manual turntable that answers the expectations of “born-again” vinyl enthusiasts and participating in the Australian edition of Record Store Day which celebrates independent “bricks-and-mortar” record stores.

The Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi turntable is a belt-drive manual-operation turntable that works with 33rpm and 45rpm records. Records are placed on a glass platter rather than a plastic or lightweight-metal platter, which does a better job of absorbing unwanted vibrations. The tonearm is equipped with a Sumiko Rainier moving-magnet cartridge most likely

Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi Turntable press image courtesy of Pro-JectBut this turntable streams the music content over your Ethernet or Wi-Fi home network to any UPnP / DLNA network audio endpoints with it supporting a best-case FLAC lossless audio stream. The Wi-Fi wireless network connection works best case to Wi-Fi 6.

You have to use the Pro- Ject Control App on your smartphone or tablet to set the T2W up for your home network. But this also works as a UPnP / DLNA Media Controller, allowing you to “push” the music stream from your currently-playing LP to a DLNA audio endpoint. The turntable also has a button to “push” the music stream to the last-connected DLNA endpoint so you don’t have to get out your smartphone to do this before you lift the arm on to that album. The Pro-Ject Control App also can allow you to use Sonos or Apple AirPlay 2 compatible equipment to hear that album.

Between the moving-magnet phono cartridge and the Wi-Fi streaming subsystem exists a high-quality analogue split-passive phono preamp which also yields the sound from that album to a line-level input on an amplifier. This would come in handy with music systems that don’t have a phono input that you would typically connect a turntable to. I have done further research and there doesn’t seem to be the ability to run the audio signal to an external phono preamp such as the one built in to that 70s-era hi-fi receiver.

Pro-Ject recommends that you use the control app associated with a UPnP / DLNA capable network multiroom setup to discover the turntable and push its output across the speakers in that setup. This is to assure proper synchronous sound output because one device would be used to “collect” the signal and synchronise it across the different member endpoints in that setup. Pro-Ject doesn’t assure that the T2W’s UPnP setup will lead to proper sync across different devices due to differing buffering capabilities.

This may appeal to people who have an Internet-capable audio system that uses UPnP / DLNA and want to play records through that system via the home network without it being necessarily close to the turntable. But I would like to see Pro-Ject or another company offer similar functionality in a standalone box that can be connected to existing hi-fi equipment.

But I see Pro-Ject’s effort with the T2W as linking the vinyl revival with the home network using standards-based technologies like DLNA. Time to put that record on through the home network!

FAST streaming TV becoming more common

TenPlay Website screenshot with some FAST channels offered by the Ten Network.

The Ten Network offers some FAST-TV channels through its TenPlay platform

FAST streaming TV is a new way of offering TV services via the Internet. FAST stands for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV; implying that the service is dependent on advertising for its income like a commercial free-to-air TV station. Personally, I would prefer to refer to these services as FST services to encompass public-service broadcasters or community broadcasters who run a business model that eschews advertising or subscriptions, such as the BBC in the UK or ABC in Australia.

But this is about offering a linear TV service via the Internet without having it appear on an RF-based carrier like terrestrial (aerial), cable or satellite. This is in contrast to free-to-air and subscription TV operators who run their linear TV services using Internet means in addition to RF (terrestrial, cable or satellite) means. There is also the ability to offer interactive and personalised advertising which may appeal to advertisers and viewers.

The two main approaches

FAST services are being offered under two different approaches. One is via a broadcaster or other content provider who already has significant presence within its market including offering their own content on their own service. This approach is being taken by most of the commercial free-to-air TV stations in Australia and could work for established broadcasters or the “basic cable” content providers moving themselves off cable to over-the-top Internet delivery. This is in addition to offering the channels distributed normally through RF means being offered using Internet means and, in some cases, providing editorial content for areas different to what is received locally via terrestrial or cable using an Internet stream.

Some TV providers like Australia’s public-service and commercial free-to-air TV networks use FAST-equivalent Internet-delivered TV streams as a way to allow viewers to “jump” editorial borders and, perhaps, watch an interstate news bulletin. We experienced this by accident once when we couldn’t find the TV’s remote control and used our Apple TV and its remote control to control our TV via HDMI-CEC.

Here, we used the ABC iView app to watch the ABC TV stream but accepted the default setup which provided us with the Sydney feed rather than the Melbourne feed which was relevant to us. The news bulletin was full of Sydney-based news including NRL rugby-league and the NSW weather report rather than the Melbourne-based news with AFL Australian-rules football and Victorian weather report. This kind of viewing could be seen as of relevance to, for example, people travelling to another district and wanting to know what the weather will be like at their destination.

The other approach is a company that hasn’t created its own content but simply redistributes channels, runs the user experience and sells advertising time. Such a company can be a TV or set-top device manufacturer like Samsung, a connected-TV platform developer like Roku or someone who just offers an app to many connected TV platforms. Here, content producers would offer TV channels via Internet or satellite means to one or more of these FAST TV services.

What is this leading to

Supplementary, niche and heritage content

Some of the traditional free-to-air broadcasters are using the FAST (FST) approach to offer extra content in an Internet-first means. This is seen as a low-risk means to offer supplementary content rather than having to engage in a high-risk approach of obtaining extra RF capacity or licences for a new service.

For example, TenPlay in Australia has been exploring this approach to offer supplementary content for sports events they have rights to and even brought the Pluto TV PAST service in to Australia. Or the Seven Network used 7Plus were providing “direct-to-sport” access for the Olympic Games where you could see the fixtures relating to a particular Olympics sport of your choice.

At the moment, traditional free-to-air TV broadcasters and channels who appeared in basic cable-TV tiers are showing interest in FAST services. For basic-cable-TV services like news services, it is seen as a way to become less dependent on cable and satellite TV networks leading to a way to reduce costs and assure some editorial independence. The traditional free-to-air broadcasters see this as a way to take their content further including to “take advantage of the moment”.

Here, a key advantage is to provide niche content whee it is not justifiable enough to acquire RF space like a satellite transponder or DVB-T multiplex bandwidth to serve that niche. It can also be seen as a way to try out particular geographic or, more so, demographic markets with content that appeals to them, also courting advertisers who offer products and services appealing to that demographic.

For example, the Seven Network have set up a FAST Bollywood channel through 7Plus to offer content that appeals to the Indian-subcontinent diaspora in Australia. Or the Ten Network have annexed the Pluto TV FAST service to Australia and offered it vla TenPlay with ad space for local businesses.

In addition, a broadcaster who has a lot of heritage built up in their intellectual property could run FAST channels based around that content. This is an approach that a lot of the free-to-air broadcasters and film studios are taking with FAST TV by offering channels celebrating this heritage.

FAST as another form of “cable TV”

In some countries like North America where the classic cable-TV business model has been valued, third-party companies like TV manufacturers or connected-TV-platform developers have simply ended up being FAST service providers. They simply ended up managing the end-user experience, partnering with channels and selling advertising time.

Here, this leads to the many-channels cable-TV experience in a new over-the-top Internet-driven package. It could especially allow the channels that were typically offered in a basic cable package to continue to exist as well as providing a platform for niche channels to exist.

There will be the “Netflix/YouTube” type of TV viewers who will have done away with linear TV in all its forms. This cohort would place emphasis on carefully choosing which shows to watch so as to avoid being seen as the couch-potatoes of yesteryear. This also includes binge-viewing of TV series that they show interest in by seeing a run of episodes in a single session.

Complementing video-on-demand and broadcast TV

FST TV complements AVOD (Advertising-supported Video On Demand) or BVOD (Broadcaster-provided Video On Demand) by allowing the same provider to offer streamed linear and on-demand content. That means that viewers who prefer the traditional discoverability of content offered by a linear service and those who prefer to view what they are interested in using an on-demand service.

A service provider can easily consider offering shows on FST and VOD under the same user interface. This could work in a similar way to the BVOD services offered by traditional broadcasters, where a viewer can see earlier episodes of a show they watched on a linear service. For example, it could be about catching up on a season of a show or watching a few prior episodes to justify whether to continue watching it.

Both these services will have various attributes in common such as to support interactive TV for editorial or advertising material from the get-go. This can appeal to both editorial content such as alternative angles or commentaries for sporting events; or advertising where you can follow through on advertised products or services that interest you.

Once DVB-I and similar integration technologies come in to play, it could be about the ability to channel-surf between FST channels and traditional TV channels. This could make FST platforms more appealing to those of us who like to continue watching TV on the big screen.

Key questions

Brand safety and social licence to operate

Most FST channels would implement production values similar to established public-service and private TV networks. As well, there would be an expectation by the FAST TV services to place ads beside appropriate content to assure brand safety and suitability.

But the Free Streaming TV ecosystem could become a breeding ground for services and channels that don’t have social licences to operate. This could be about news channels that engage in fake news and disinformation or channels running content that is socially questionable. Or there can be issues like when certain editorial and advertising content should be on air so as to make sure children aren’t seeing inappropriate material.

This could be facilitated by a FAST service that is laissez-faire about whom they partner with or what they offer. Or, like I have seen with various “free speech” social networks, it could be easy to set up a FAST service that offers controversial content because there isn’t the need to acquire a broadcast licence or agree to use cable or satellite capacity.

But this issue could be answered with FAST services or trade association who resolve to vet channels that they want to partner with. Similarly app-driven platforms could exert a “gateway role” regarding apps for connected TV services. This is something that Apple, Google, Samsung, and the video-game console platforms have done successfully.

Or countries could apply the “rules of broadcast” to the FST TV ecosystem and have it subject to scrutiny by their broadcast and communications authority like Ofcom or ACMA. It is something that may be easier if the content services or distributors are founded in or have an office in their jurisdiction.

Simplifying the user experience

TV remote control

FST TV will need to permit simplified lean-back operation with the TV remote control if it is to be successful

FST TV will also need to permit a user experience similar to what has become customary for traditional RF-based broadcast TV. This is to provide for the ability to:

  • channel-surf suing the typical up-down button on the remote control,
  • view an electronic programme guide that shows what’s on across all channels and services;
  • enter a channel number to gain direct access to a particular channel and
  • use a “previous channel” button to switch between two different channels.

Here, this avoids a long-winded channel selection process where the viewer would be expected to go up to the FST service’s menu to select another channel or to the main “connected-TV” menu to switch between FST services.

This could be facilitated via DVB-I or similar technologies associated with TV content distribution. The TV sets and set-top boxes would then be required to create amalgamated channel lists and EPGs that are, perhaps, sorted by “channel numbers”, priority lists or service providers.

Conclusion

FAST TV / FST TV could act as an over-the-top Internet-delivered equivalent to terrestrial, cable or satellite TV in providing that linear discoverable viewing experience that we have loved for a long time.

Anti-stalking features part of major Bluetooth item-location platforms

Apple AirTag press image courtesy of Apple

Apple AirTag – one of the main item-location platforms that are supporting anti-stalking measures

Apple and Tile implement item-location platforms that are based around Bluetooth-driven locator tags that can be attached to the items that need to be located. They also work with software that “pings” these tags in order to locate them on a map or make them sound an audible signal so you can locate the object attached to them.

But some people use these tags for nefarious purposes. Typically this is about tracking people who don’t want to be tracked, typically as part of stalking or as part of abusive one-sided relationships.

But Apple and Tile have answered this problem through adding logic to their first-party mobile-platform to detect unknown or unrecognised Bluetooth trackers. It is based around the idea of a tracking device or tag that is not associatedd with your “universe” of mobile computing devices moving in the same direction as you or your mobile computing device.

In the case of Apple, this is built in to the iOS operating system and in to a first-party mobile-platform app for Android. This software identifies if the AirTag or other “Find My” device is moving with you that isn’t registered to your device or Apple ID and is separate from the registered user. As well, the AirTag makes a sound if it isn’t with its owner for a significant amount of time. It also has NFC to allow a person to use a suitably-equipped mobile platform device to identify whether the AirTag is lost, including how to contact the device’s owner and return it. This also yields instruction on how to disable the device by removing the coin-size battery.

With Tile, the software is part of their first-party companion mobile-platform app and identifies if the unknown Tile device is moving with you and separate from the registered user. But it requires that you use the mobile-platform app to instigate a “scan” process.

As well, Google has baked in to their Google Services update package for Android 6.0+ the necessary software code to detect unknown tracker devices that are following you. This includes the necessary user interface to warn you against unknown tracker devices following you and help you identify or disable these devices.

This is part of an Apple and Google initiative to establish an Internet Engineering Task Force draft specification that mandates particular anti-surveillance features in Bluetooth-driven item-location platforms that work with iOS or Android smartphones. It avoids the need for companies who want to build item-location platforms to design them responsibly without needing to reinvent the wheel.

What needs to happen to prevent covert surveillance with item-location platforms

Once the IETF specification regarding anti-surveillance features for item-location platforms is set in stone. there has to be some form of legal mandate regarding its implementation in computing platforms and computer-assisted item-location platforms. This could be through other international standards regarding radiocommunications and telecommunications devices or customs and other legislation and regulation regarding the trade in goods.

The anti-surveillance features in these item-location platform would need to be able to perform well within a crowded location especially where multiple devices of the same platform and owned by different owners are likely to be there. Think of, say a busy bar or nightclub where many people are likely to be moving around the venue.

Similarly, these features would need to work properly with situations where a passenger’s luggage is transported in the baggage hold of the same transport as its owner. This is because some passengers may use an AirTag or luggage with integrated item-finding technology in order to avoid losing their baggage.

The devices need to support universal platform-independent NFC “touch-and-go” technology to allow someone to identify lost tracking devices. This would then show up contact details about who own the device or how to return it to its owner. This is more so where a computing device that has or is connected to an NFC sensor but doesn’t run iOS or Android is used to identify the tracking device’s owner, something that would be common with laptop or 2-in-1 computers. Such a situation would come in to its own with a lost-and-found office who uses regular computers running desktop operating systems as their main office computer equipment.

As well, item-location devices should be easy to disable like removing the battery or enforcing a factory reset on the device. This would come in to its own if the device was being used to track someone and such a device was discovered by its target or someone assisting the target.

Let’s not forget that wearables like smartwatches and fitness trackers, along with headphones and similar personal-audio devices are being equipped with location-tracking functionality. This is to allow people to locate lost smartwatches or earbuds or premises owners, lost-and-found offices and the like to return abandoned devices to their owners. Here, they would have to be part of an established platform and be subject to the same conditions as tag-style devices.

There could also be one or more innovation challenges for manufacturers of various third-party devices in one or more sectors that work to detect covert surveillance of people using item-location devices. Such devices like, perhaps, turnstile-type devices could be designed to provide augmented signalling of tracker devices unrelated to a user’s smartphone but moving with the user or their possessions.

Add to this education programs for third parties like IT support, the security sector, the social-work sector and similar groups to help staff work against covert surveillance of people they work with using item-location devices. This could be about assisting with locating and defeating unwanted devices or configuring users’ personal technology for privacy.

Similarly there has to be action taken about the sale of devices that are modified to avoid detection by the person who is being tailed. This is more so where there have been AirTags sold through online marketplaces like Etsy that have their speaker removed or disconnected to avoid audible “pinging” and detection by the stalking victim. Such action could be in the form of statutory action like radiocommunications regulations regarding such devices sold on the secondary market or customs regulation regarding devices that are imported or exported.

Conclusion

What I see of this effort by Apple and Google is a significant step towards responsible secure design of item-location platforms and an example of what responsible design is about.

Questions are being raised about generative artificial intelligence

What is AI

Artificial intelligence is about use of machine learning and algorithms to analyse data in order to make decisions on that data. It is more so about recognising and identifying patterns in the data presented to the algorithm based on what it has been taught.

This is primarily used with speech-to-text, machine translation, content recommendation engines and similar use cases. As well, it is being used to recognise objects in a range of fields like medicine, photography, content management, defence, and security.

You may find that your phone’s camera uses this as a means of improving photo quality or that Google Photos uses this for facial recognition as part of indexing your photos. Or Netflix and other online video services use this to build up a “recommended viewing” list based on what you previously watched. As well, the likes of Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri or Google Assistant use this technology to understand what you say and create a conversation.

What is generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence applies artificial intelligence including machine learning towards creating content. Here, it is about use of machine learning, typically from different data collections, and one or more algorithms to create this content. It is best described as programmatically synthesising material from other material sources.

This is underscored by ChatGPT and similar chatbots that use conversational responses to create textual, audio or visual material.  This is seen as a killer app for generative AI. But using a “voice typeface” or “voice font” that represents a particular person’s voice for text-to-speech applications could be a similar application.

Sometimes generative AI is used as a means to parse statistical information in to an easy-to-understand form. For example, it could be about an image collection of particular cities that is shaped by data that has geographic relevance.

The issues that are being raised

Plagiarism

Here, one could use a chatbot to create what apparently looks like new original work with material from other sources without attributing the content creators for the material that existed in these sources.

Nor does it require the end-user to make a critical judgement call about the sources or the content created or allow the user to apply their own personality to the content.

This affects academia, journalism, research, creative industries and other use cases. For example, education institutions are seeing this as something that impacts on how students are assessed, such as whether the classic written-preferred approach is to be maintained as the preferred approach or to be interleaved with interview-style oral assessment methods.

Provenance and attribution

It can also extend to identifying whether a piece of work was created by a human or by generative artificial intelligence and identifying and attributing the original content used in the work. It also encompasses the privacy of individuals that appear in work like photos or videos; or where personal material from one’s own image collection is being properly used.

This would be about, for example, having us “watermark” content we create in or export to the digital domain and having to identify how much AI was used in the process of creating the content.

Creation of convincing disinformation content

We are becoming more aware of disinformation and its effect on social, political and economic stability. It is something we have become sensitised to since 2016 with the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election victory in the USA.

Here, generative artificial intelligence could be used to create “deepfake” image, audio and video content. An example of this being a recent image of an explosion at the Pentagon, that was sent around the Social Web and had rattled Wall Street.

These algorithms could be used to create the vocal equivalent of a typeface based on audio recordings of a particular speaker. Here, this vocal “typeface” equivalent could then be used with text-to-speech to make it as though the speaker said something in particular. This can be used as a way to make it as though a politician had contradicted himself on a sensitive issue or given authority for something critical to occur.

Or a combination of images or videos are used to create another image or video that depicts an event that never happened. This can involve the use of stock imagery or B-roll video mixed in with other material.

Displacement of jobs in knowledge and creative industries

Another key issue regarding generative artificial intelligence is what kind of jobs this technology will impact.

There is a strong risk that a significant number of jobs in the knowledge and creative industries could be lost thanks to generative AI. This is because the algorithms could be used to turn out material, rather than having people create the necessary work.

But there will be a want in some creative fields to preserve the human touch when it comes to creating a work. Such work is often viewed as “training work” for artificial-intelligence and machine-learning algorithms.

It may also be found that some processes involved in the creation of a work could be expedited using this technology while there is room to allow for the human touch. Often this comes about during editing processes like cleaning-up and balancing audio tracks or adjusting colour, brightness or contrast in image and video material with such processes working as an “assistant”. It can also be about accurately translating content between languages, whether as part of content discovery or as part of localisation.

There could be the ability for people in the knowledge and creative industries to differentiate work between so-called “cookie-cutter” output and artistic output created by humans. This would also include the ability to identify the artistic calibre that went in to that work.

The want to slow down and regulate AI

There is a want, even withing established “Big Tech” circles, to slow down and regulate artificial intelligence, especially generative AI.

This encompasses slowing down the pace of AI technology development, especially generative AI development. It is to allow for the possible impact that AI could have on society to be critically assessed and, perhaps, install “guardrails” around its implementation.

It also encompasses an “arms race” between generative-AI algorithms and algorithms that detect or identify the use of generative AI in the creation of work. It will also include how to identify source material, or the role generative AI had in the work’s creation. This is because generative AI may have a particular beneficial role in the creation of a piece of work such as to expedite routine tasks.

There is also the emphasis on what kind of source material the generative AI algorithms are being fed with to generate particular content. It is to remind ourselves of the GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) concept that has been associated with computer programming where you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

What can be done

There has to be more effort towards improving social trustworthiness of generative AI when it comes to content creation. It could be about where generative AI is appropriate to use in the creative workflow and where it is not. This includes making it feasible for us to know whether the content is created by artificial intelligence and the attribution of any source content being used.

Similarly, there could be a strong code of ethics for handling AI-generated content especially where it is used in journalism or academia. This is more so where a significant part of the workload involved in creating the work is contributed by generative AI rather than it being used as part of the editing or finishing process.

Apple TV to become a group videophone with your iPhone

Article

Apple TV FaceTime conversation image courtesy of Apple

Facetime and other videoconferencing apps now feasible for Apple TV with your iPhone as a camera and microphone

You can now FaceTime from your Apple TV | ZDNET

Apple’s TVOS 17 Brings FaceTime to Apple TV, Find My Remote Functionality to Siri Remote – CNET

FaceTime is coming to Apple TV | Engadget

From the horse’s mouth

Apple

tvOS 17 brings FaceTime and video conferencing to Apple TV 4K (Press Release)

My Comments

A device class I always have wanted to see when it comes to videocalling and videoconferencing is a group videophone that connects to an ordinary large-screen TV set or monitor for its display and audio output. The idea behind this display concept for this use case is so that a group of people at one location can participate in a videocall. Example situations include a group of family members at the “family house” making a videocall to distant relatives during Christmas Day; or someone intent on buying a business, meeting with their lawyer at the lawyer’s office and talking with the vendor who is at another location.

A few companies are working on having their platform-based set-top boxes or streaming sticks serve this function by adding group videocall functionality to their set-top platform and it is something I was wanting to see Apple do with their Apple TV set-top box. This function works on Apple TV devices that run the next major version of tvOS i.e. tvOS 17.

As well, an iPhone or iPad running iOS/iPadOS 16 works as the camera and microphone for the Apple TV, thanks to Apple’s “Continuity Camera” functionality that was introduced to MacOS and now being “haked in” to tvOS. This is to be facilitated with a stand that Apple will supply as a first-party accessory so you can have the rear cameras facing you during the video call. The iOS device will link to the Apple TV via a Bluetooth link or the fact it is on the same logical small network thanks to Wi-Fi.

This functionality is to support Apple’s native FaceTime videoconferencing platform but Apple is to provide developer support for software developers who want to build or port desktop videoconferencing software to tvOS. Zoom and Webex will be the first two third-party videoconferencing platforms to have this tvOS support.

There is the ability to use the Apple TV’s Siri Remote to initiate a FaceTime call or you can transfer a FaceTime call you are engaging in to the Apple TV so that the other parties appear on the TV screen and you can hear them on your TV’s sound setup. Most likely third party applications will support a similar process.

In this setup, you will have to use the Apple TV’s Siri Remote to control the videocall such as to mute the iPhone’s camera or microphone, hand the call back to the iPhone to continue it privately or to end the call. If messages come in to the iPhone during the call, a simple notification not attributed to the message’s source will pop up so as to keep the message effectively private.

The SharePlay functionality, which allows you to share what you are currently watching from a video source hosted on your Apple TV will still operate so you can use Apple FaceTime to tantalise another person about that show.

There are still questions to answer regarding how the FaceTime facility will authenticate users who set it up to make or take calls using only the Apple TV Siri Remote, rather than using an iPhone and transferring where necessary. As well, would the ability to transfer a FaceTime call from your iPhone to the Apple TV be only limited to the Apple ID accounts that the Apple TV device is associated with? This can be an issue where the Apple TV device is bound to one Apple ID account to represent the whole household rather than each adult individual registering their Apple ID with the same Apple TV device.

At the moment, this functionality is part of a developer-only beta software package but is expected to be fully established as part of tvOS between September to November 2023.

The first USB-C or Thunderbolt dock with a built-in power supply

Article

OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock Review | TechRadar

From the horse’s mouth

OWC

Thunderbolt Go Dock (Product Page)

Product Video – Click or tap to play in YouTube

MacFixit Australia (Australian distributor)

OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock – Thunderbolt 4 – Macfixit Australia (Click to buy)

My Comments

OWC has come up with an impressive Thunderbolt 4 dock that has features that are out of the ordinary for this class of equipment. This is a unit that is compact enough to fit in one of the pockets of a laptop bag

Here, it can connect to a host computer device that uses a Thunderbolt 3/4/USB4 connection and has plenty of connections for other peripherals. There are two Thunderbolt 4/USB4/USB-C downstream ports, an extra USB-C port, three USB-A ports with two as USB3 ports, a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI port, a 3.5mm stereo line-out jack and an SD card reader.

The use of a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port on one of these devices is astounding because, along with the Thunderbolt connection, it means that the equipment is ready for wired networks that implement the next logical upgrade from Gigabit Ethernet. It can also be of relevance with newer network-attached-storage units that support this kind of Ethernet connection.

OWS Thunderbolt Go Dock product picture courtesy of OWS

This OWS Thunderbolt Go Dock only comes with the Thunderbolt cable and a standard AC cord

A feature that makes this Thunderbolt dock special compared to other Thunderbolt or USB-C docks is that it has a built-in power supply. That means you only need to use the kind of “figure-8” AC cord typically used to power something like a boombox. This is compared to the other docks that are powered by a wall-wart or power-brick AC adaptor. I suspect this has come about due to GaN technology that allows for a very small power-supply footprint in product designs.

This means it is easier to replace the AC cord if you happen to lose it or it becomes damaged. Also you are at an advantage when you travel overseas because you can use a “figure 8” AC cord with the destination country’s AC plug. Here, you may be able to use one of these cords that became spare due to a piece of equipment breaking down or could buy one from an electronics store or supermarket.

The power budget for this device is 90W upstream to the host computer and 15W downstream to the Thunderbolt / USB-C downstream connections. The standard USB-A connections are rated for 1.5A each. As well, the power supply works across the standard mains voltage ranges used in just about all countries, making this device really about travel.

OWC supplies an “ejector” package that safely releases all the secondary-storage devices that are connected to the host computer via the dock. Here, it is more about providing simultaneous ejection of all of the devices rather than requiring the user to go through each device to safely dismount each disk or SD card.

Windows and Linux users would also have to install a Realtek driver package for the Ethernet network functionality because there isn’t device class support in these operating systems for Thunderbolt network interfaces.

This concept could be taken further with increased power output across the USB ports or to support 12-24V DC as an alternative power input. That could then come in to its own with automotive, marine and aviation use cases where you have that kind of power comes out of an accessory-power / cigar-lighter socket or aviation EmPower socket. Such a use case could encompass tradespeople, digital nomads or others who work from the back of a van.

But what I see is the idea of a portable capable Thunderbolt or USB-C dock that doesn’t require you to worry about carrying a particular AC adaptor with it because it has its own power supply built in to it. This practice could become the way to go for newer premium Thunderbolt or USB-C docking stations and similar devices whether they are pitched for desktop use or on-the-road use.

Super Wide Band Speech to come to Bluetooth hands-free setups

Article

Sony WH-1000XM4 Bluetooth noise-cancelling headset press image courtesy of Sony

The same Bluetooth codec that powers Bluetooth LE Audio will provide enhanced audio quality for your voice and video calls that you make and take with your Bluetooth headset.

Bluetooth calls on Android are about to get better — super wideband better (androidpolice.com)

From the horse’s mouth

Bluetooth SIG

Super Wide Band Speech for Hands Free Profile 1.9

My Comments

Increasingly, online voice and video communications is moving towards speech quality not dissimilar to how you would hear an announcer on your favourite FM, DAB or Internet radio station. This would be facilitated using regular or mobile computing devices that make use of wider bandwidth technologies like the latest Internet connections or 5G mobile telephony.

But the Bluetooth link for our headsets, hearing aids or in-car handsfree setups stands a chance of being able to work with high-bandwidth voice and video communication. Here it is about implementing the LC3 audio codec that is the core of Bluetooth LE Audio to bring speech quality that could be equivalent to FM radio. It will be part of Bluetooth Hands Free Profile version and is intended to work in a “best-case” manner where both the audio device and the smartphone or computer implement Hands Free Profile 1.9 with Super Wide Band Audio.

I see this as being part of audio devices that implement Bluetooth LE Audio due to the reuse of the LC3 Audio codec. It could also be taken further as a means to reduce the Bluetooth bandwidth needed for transmitting speech in a phone call, with a goal to reduce battery requirements for hearing aids, earbuds and “sports” headsets when used as communications devices. The sound latency will also benefit especially if you are using your Bluetooth headset in an area where many people are using Bluetooth devices.

At the moment this improvement for Bluetooth Hands Free Profile is at the point of being built in to mobile operating systems. For example, it is to be added to the Android Open Source Project which represents the software logic for the Android platform and this will look after the Bluetooth communications aspect for that platform.

Most likely, I would see this feature come about with Bluetooth LE Audio headsets, earbuds and hearing aids at least. It could also be a driver to bring what Bluetooth LE Audio is about to in-car infotainment due to the use of the LC3 audio codec. It sounds like a next major step for Bluetooth’s killer use cases i.e. hands free calling and audio listening via a wireless link to your smartphone, tablet or computer.

GaN technology now approaches audio electronics

Articles

Belkin BOOST Charge 68W GaN Dual USB-C Wall Charger (Australasia) product picture courtesy of Belkin

The same kind of GaN technology that powers these powerful USB chargers is entering another class of electronics

GaN Technology in Audio Power Amplification | audioXpress

500W Heatsinkless Audio Amplifier from Axign and GaN Systems Demonstrates a New World of Extraordinary Audio Performance | GaN Systems

Previous coverage on GaN technology

Belkin joins the GaN bus with two highly-compact USB PD wall chargers

My Comments

Gallium Nitride is a relatively new semiconductor material that is being seen as “today’s silicon”. At the moment, it has been used in various optoelectronics applications like blue, white, green or ultraviolet LEDs and blue and green laser diodes.

As well, it has seen a lot of traction within power electronics use cases like power supplies, inverters and battery chargers. This has been leading to some small powerful USB-C battery chargers and multi-output charging bars. As well, this technology is helping with decarbonisation thanks to its use with solar panels, battery storage systems and electric vehicles. What has driven its use in this field is how powerful the GaN semiconductors are and the fact that there aren’t heat issues with these semiconductors, this allowing for small designs for powerful power-supply circuits.

But over the last two years, some work has taken place with implementing GaN technology within the audio amplifier space. This is similar to power-supply design but is to amplify a variable-frequency signal representing sound in order to drive a loudspeaker. Here it’s about assuring that the sound is amplified in a manner to assure its clarity and intelligibility.

GaN Systems has showcased an audio amplifier design that works at 250 watts per channel for a 4-ohm load with a very low total harmonic distortion of below 0.01% across 20 Hz to 20 kHz. This Class D amplifier circuit has been rated to perform close to a Class A amplifier circuit which represents the pinnacle for hi-fi audio amplification using solid-state technology.

What could this mean for audio equipment design?

Auralic Taurus control amplifier connected to Auralic Vega DAC

This time amplifying sound within audio equipment like amplifiers and active speakers

I see this like how silicon technology impacted audio equipment design through the 1970s.

For example, amplifiers started to acquire power output ratings of at least two figures per channel with specifications that represented an increasingly-clean sound, which led to a requirement to re-engineer loudspeakers for stronger signals. These amplifiers were more tolerant of how the speakers were wired to them thus opening the pathway to multiroom audio or advanced speaker wiring approaches. This was infact a driver for the Receiver Wars of the 1970s with the goal to see who could offer the most powerful stereo receiver that yielded the cleanest sound.

There was also the ability to do away with output transformers which was a boon for a clean hi-fi sound and for mobile and portable use cases. It was also easier to design portable equipment for increased power efficiency which allowed for longer battery runtimes with stronger clearer sound. It also led to a strong effort towards highly-compact hi-fi systems be they integrated systems  with many programme sources on the same chassis or small compact component systems.

Gigaset L800HX Alexa DECT smart speaker press picture courtesy of Gigaset AG

Smart speakers and Bluetooth speakers are expected to benefit from GaN audio-amplification technology to assure that clean powerful sound.

Most likely I would see increasingly capable active-speaker designs like smart speakers or Bluetooth speakers appear on the market which are about a clearer stronger sound that what occurred previously. They would also have a neat design even though they have a higher power output due to very little reliance on heatsinks and other thermal-mitigation designs.

As well, manufacturers could get away with designing sophisticated amplifier and speaker setups yet keep the amplifiers in these setups compact. This would benefit multichannel and spatial audio or sophisticated designs with separately-amplified speaker drivers such as “active subwoofer” or “biamplification”.

It would also impact “built-in” audio designs like automotive or marine audio. That also extends to TVs, computer monitors and similar devices  with built-in speakers. This is because there would be powerful high-quality amplifiers that can be integrated in these installations without having to worry about heat buildup.

Like what happened when silicon semiconductors came about, battery-operated devices will gain a performance and efficiency boost. Welcome to longer battery runtimes or significant improvement in sound quality out of those Bluetooth speakers or portable digital radios for example.

GaN semiconductor technology entering the audio-amplification space is demonstrating the fact that this  a significant step towards it becoming the “new silicon” for electronics design.

Pocket-sized NVIDIA external graphics module about to arrive

Article

Pocket AI external graphics module press image courtesy mf Adlink

Pocket AI portable external graphics module

Pocketable RTX 3050 GPU Has Thunderbolt Power | Tom’s Hardware (tomshardware.com)

Adlink readies Pocket AI palm-sized portable Nvidia GPU for AI applications – NotebookCheck.net News

From the horse’s mouth

Adlink

Pocket AI | Portable GPU with NVIDIA RTX GPU (Product Page)

ADLINK launches portable GPU accelerator with NVIDIA RTX A500 in NVIDIA GTC (Press Release)

My Comments

Sonnet put up one of the first Thunderbolt-3-connected portable external graphics modules that you can put in your laptop bag or backpack and allow you to improve your laptop’s graphics performance when you are away from home or work. It doesn’t matter whether you are using an external monitor or the laptop’s own display to see the results. Subsequently a few other manufacturers offered similarly-portable external graphics modules that achieve this same goal in something that can be easily transported.

Dell XPS 13 8th Generation Ultrabook at QT Melbourne rooftop bar

The Dell XPS 13 series of ultraportable computers and other Thunderbolt-3-equipped laptops can benefit from external graphics modules

But a mixture of circumstances ranging from COVID with the associated supply-chain issues and the “Crypto Gold Rush” bubble had impacted on the availability and cost of graphics processors. This meant that it was hard to find a portable external graphics module that was in the price range for even the most serious creator or gamer.

Subsequently the supply chain issues started to ease up and the Crypto Gold Rush bubble had burst which led to more graphics-processor silicon being made available. Some manufacturers even made a point of positioning particular graphics silicon away from crypto mining through means like software crippling or creating auxiliary processor cards dedicated to that task. This has freed up the supply of graphics silicon for high-performance-computing tasks like gaming, creator / prosumer computing, certified workstations and artificial intelligence.

That led to Sonnet refreshing their portable external graphics module with newer AMD graphics silicon and offering it as two different units powered by different GPUs. That allowed for some form of product differentiation in this product class.

Now Adlink are promoting a pocketable external graphics module for use with Thunderbolt-3-equipped laptops and “next-unit-of-computing” computers. This integrated external graphics module which is powered by NVIDIA RTX silicon is being pitched at artificial-intelligence use cases but can come in to play for gamers, creators and the like.

The Pocket AI external graphics module uses a soldered-in NVIDIA RTX A500 mobile graphics processor with 4Gh display memory. The Tom’s Hardware article reckoned that this offered performance akin to an NVIDIA RTX-3050 mobile graphics processor offered for recent entry-level discrete-GPU laptops.

Rather than using a device-specific power supply, the Pocket AI uses a USB Power-Delivery-compliant power supply with at least 45 watts output. This means you could get away with a USB-PD charger that works from household AC mains power or from DC power used in automotive, marine or aircraft setups; or even a suitably-rated powerbank.

It then connects to the host computer using a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 connection, as expected for an external graphics module. But there doesn’t seem to be any external connections for other devices like monitors or other USB devices.

Here, you would benefit from the essential features offered by NVIDIA for its recent GeForce RTX graphics processors including RTX Broadcast which would benefit videocall and online broadcast use cases.

It is a pocketable unit, which you may say is equivalent to something like a pocket radio or early-generation pocket scientific calculator that is run on AA batteries. This leads to something that doesn’t take much room in a messenger style laptop bag, briefcase or backpack.

The Pocket AI external graphics module is being pitched towards artificial-intelligence and machine-learning use cases where a secondary processor is needed to facilitate these tasks.

But it is being pitched towards gamers with the commentary being towards adding a bit of “pep” towards the gaming experience on something like a Dell XPS 13. It is also said to come in to its own for work like graphics and multimedia, statistics or computer programming on those kind of computers.It is also about bringing NVIDIA RTX-specific features to your computer for use cases like video conferencing, video editing and similar uses and would easily court the “creator” or “prosumer” user class.

From what I see of the Adlink Pocket AI external graphics module, it could benefit from further connectivity options like DisplayPort or HDMI ports for external monitors. Or it could be about having a downstream Thunderbolt 3//4 port to allow it to be used with Thunderbolt 3 hubs or docks.

What this device is showing is a slow resurgence of reasonably priced discrete GPUs including external graphics modules that has come about after the crypto-asset bubble had burst. It may even allow computer manufacturers to invest in Thunderbolt 4 and related connection options on laptops, all-in-one computers and low-profile desktop computers for these devices; as well as to see a wide range of external graphics modules on the shelf.

It could be a chance for more manufacturers to offer highly-portable external graphics modules with entry-level or modest graphics silicon to court people who want that bit more out of their thin-and-light notebook computers.